#og is the superior experience

[refinedstorage]

[uwooyoungs]

just listened to a song that reminded me of skam and. now im SAD

[sprout-fics]

Danger Close

(Captain John Soap MacTavish x F! Reader)

Call of Duty Masterlist

Rating: Explicit (18+) Minors DNI Wordcount: 3.8k Tags: Power imbalances, Unrequited pining, Shy Reader, Stuck in a lift, Dry humping, Dirty talk, Seduction, Praise kink, Vaginal fingering, Secret affair, Pet names Warnings: None (ask to tag) A/N: This is a quick little idea of the OG himself. I'll probably do more headcanon based ideas soon, but for now enjoy the filth

The thing about Captain MacTavish is that he’s…intimidating.

The self proclaimed red-blooded Scot is built like a brick shithouse, as one of your fellow officers once put it. Ruggedly handsome, strong, thick with muscle with coarse hair over his arms and stubble along his jaw. There’s a scar over one of his eyes, a slashing wound that should have blinded him. It crinkles slightly when he offers a lopsided smirk that taunts danger, that bares a reckless nature he hasn’t fully shed despite his years of experience. You tell your bunkmate that he’d make very good money as a bouncer at a nightclub, and her laughter nearly wakes up the whole hallway.

Intimidating.

Which is not necessarily the right word, you think. The Captain has a way around his men and fellow officers, an easy likeability that’s hard to ignore. He commands respect from his troops not in the way of brute posturing or snarling demands, but in the display of capability that has saved their lives many times over. He’s the firm touch on their shoulder as they check their gear before deployment, the firm reminder of level headedness over comms, the sharp, ringing command that cuts through gunfire when everything else has gone wrong.

The man exudes leadership, and you are among those helplessly drawn to it.

Yet there’s something closed off there that you can see in his eyes, an untold story that has drawn the lines of age in the corner of his steely gaze. It feels as if there’s an invisible barrier around him that prevents others from getting danger close. Magnetic, it pulls you in despite yourself, an inextricable attraction towards the nick of a blade you long to taste. Dangerous, like a moth to flame.

Not that you’ll ever do anything about it of course. As much as you daydream about the time you saw the captain’s broad back shiny with sweat on the sparring mats as he trained the other recruits, the low lilt of his accent that clouds your thoughts, you know it’s a terrible idea to develop a crush on your superior.

It’s hard not to, not when you deliver him his daily intelligence report in the afternoon, and he always makes sure to look up and greet you as you hand over the folder, smiling and offering: “Thank you, lass.”

Traitorous, you think, how your stomach devolves into butterflies just at the sight of his pleasant grin. 

Worse is the fact that despite his gruff exterior the man is always such a gentleman to you. He gives you his full attention when you speak, ensures his other male officers do not interrupt or speak over you, holds open doors when you walk into the meeting room together, ensures his men don’t harass you just for your status of being a woman. You think it’d be easier if he was just as pompous and arrogant as his fellow officers, but instead Captain MacTavish has the ability to make you feel special, like you’re the only other one in the room with him. 

It makes you feel a little guilty, admittedly- that he’s kind and decent and you constantly think about what it would be like to bend the rules so he can bend you over his desk. 

Caught in fantasy as you are, you don’t notice the way his eyes watch you out of the corner of his eye, take note of you stretching on your toes to reach something in a filing cabinet, the way your brow scrunches in thought as you scrutinize his paperwork, the slight tremble of your hand when you pass him a cup of coffee in the mess hall, the duck of your head when he offers an amicable thanks. 

You don’t notice the way he’s thinking anything but decent thoughts about you.

It’s hard to help. You’re a sweet, shy thing, and Soap is a man not immune to the charm of your bashful nature. He enjoys your wide eyed gaze as he selfishly sneaks gentle touches, a hand on your shoulder as he scoots past you in a crowded hallway, letting his fingers linger a little too long when you pass him a stack of files for him to sign off on, the barest little hitch of breathing he hears when he lets his voice dip an octave as he speaks.

“Thank ye, bonnie.” He tells you this afternoon, and relishes the way you repress a shiver at the endearment. 

Later, when he catches you at your desk gazing dreamily into space, he enjoys the glassy tint of your eyes, and imagines you’re thinking of him.

And, secretly, he thinks what it would be like to have you mewling and trembling under his war-worn hands. 

For all his decency and charisma, there is one thing you don’t know about the captain, and that is that he’s a wolf.

And you, you’re an adorable bunny waiting for the killing bite of his seduction.

Yet shy as you are, never to act on this, Captain MacTavish decides to take things into his own hands. 

He has you move your desk to his office, helping him with his own paperwork, and offers to buy you lunch on the basis of being a good boss, a good superior. He ensures you have everything you need for your space and helps you pick out a better desk chair when you complain about the standard base ones hurting your back.

And if he uses his rank to ensure your colleagues and higher ups don’t complain? Well. That’s his business.

“Good lass.” He tells you in passing when you find a piece of intelligence he requested, offering a small squeeze of your shoulder and feeling you stiffen under him before exhaling unsteadily- unaware of his smug grin just behind your shoulder. 

Cute, the way you think he won’t notice your little reactions, your dreamy eyes and the fantasies hidden behind them. 

In all places, it comes to a head in a stuck lift.

The meeting is in fifteen minutes, and you insist on taking the lift because of the obstacle course drills you were put through yesterday, whining about your aching thighs. Soap, the good captain that he is, acquiesces and allows it, crossing his arms and watching the doors close-

Only for the lift to give a groan and shudder to a stop.

“Bloody old building.” He gripes, giving the doors a small kick in grumbling protest. “Told maintenance these things needed to be repaired months ago.”

He’s not concerned. Worse comes to worse, he’s crawled up through elevator shafts before. Besides, it’s not as if you’re on the eighth floor, merely stuck between the first and second. It’s an inconvenience, but not an inescapable or deadly one. He’s not as young as he once was, but this shouldn’t be too beyond him.

You, on the other hand, press the call button frantically, trying to ask for help and rescue. The operator is quick to tell you that mechanics and the fire brigade are on the way, and tells you to stay calm. 

“How long are we going to be stuck in here?” You ask Soap, fidgeting. A nervous little filly, he thinks, as he eyes you with mild amusement.

“Maybe an hour.” He drawls, watching as your eyes go wide.

“We’ll miss the briefing.” You manage, a little choked, as if that is the gravest of your concerns, and not the thoughts Soap has about taking full advantage of the privacy he has with you.

“Aye.” He replies with a snort. “Shame, that.”

You make a little sound at that, something between petulance and despair, slumping into the wall as your face crumples.

“Hey, easy.” Soap offers, voice gentler now as he approaches you, gloved hands easily balancing you by your elbows across the wall. “It’s alright lass. We’ll be free in no time. Take a breath for me, aye?”

You nod at that, eyes turned towards the ground to avoid his gaze as you suck in a deep breath, hold it, and then let it out slowly.

“Good girl.” He purrs, unable to help himself, and relishes the way your eyes dart up to his, pupils blown wide as you realize for the first time just how close he is.

This is dangerous.

He’s got you crowded into the wall of the lift, all but blocking escape with his brawny frame. The shadow of his figure falls over your smaller form, dwarfing you. His hands cup you by your arms, bare fingers skimming along your exposed skin and leaving goosebumps rising in their wake. Your captain’s expression is calm, but even with the overhead light backlighting his face, you can see the intent, the scarcely concealed fixation there hidden beneath kind eyes and whispered only though a knowing smirk. 

Prey in a snare.

“S-sir-” You manage, voice tight as you finally realize the true nature of his intent with the way he hums a low, deep note in his chest that makes you shiver.

“Thought I wouldnae ken you watching me, bonnie?” He asks in a low, rumbling intonation that vibrates at the base of your skull. “Sneaking looks and off with the faeries everytime I called you a good girl?”

“I-” You try, and it’s a useless effort really. You could summon a thousand excuses, but you know none of them would work on him. Captain Mactavish’s eyes are too keen, too knowing for that. If he’s seen this much, if he’s seen the way you daydream while he doesn’t look, the way you try desperately to quell your infatuation with him, then there’s no use trying to pretend otherwise. 

"You like being called a good soldier? A good lass?” He goes on, and you bite down hard on a whimper of want that threatens to bubble up your throat. Your captain’s thumbs stroke the inside of your elbow gently, pressing down on the divot of sensitive skin and loosing an unsteady breath from your chest. 

“Look at you wobbling like a wee fawn.” He purrs in that low lilt of his. “This isn't because of me, is it? Developing feelings for your superior. Tut tut. Naughty thing."

“Captain-” Your voice is a strangled thing in your throat, choked by the cognitive dissonance of this, of something straight out of your wildest fantasies, a secret you keep to yourself in the dark of your bunk with your fingers buried between your thighs.

John hums, allowing his eyes to roam down your form, gently caged into the wall as you are, eyes glimmering with a hunger you didn’t know he possessed- A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

“Tell me to stop.” He murmurs then, voice serious. “I won’t touch you. I’ll transfer you if that’s what you want.”

“No.” Your answer comes so quickly it surprises even you, and suddenly your fingers are gripping on the inside of his forearms as if trying to keep him from retreating. “...Please.”

He gives you a moment, then another to reconsider, to retract your agreement and shove him off you. When you don’t, your captain grins.

“Shy little bonnie.” He croons. “Didnae have the words to ask for what you wanted from your superior, did you?”

You shudder when his gloved palm cups your cheek, leaning instinctively into it, sweet and willing. His thumb presses down on the plush bed of your bottom lip, and it takes a moment of courage to part your lips, lean forward so it rests on your tongue instead.

The sound your captain makes is carnivorous.

Hungry, wanting, dark as sin as he watches you engulf the digit and make eye contact with him, as if tempting danger. He tastes like the steel like of a sharp blade, cutting through your senses and leaving crimson want dripping against your thoughts. 

He removes his thumb so a drip of spit trails after it, and before it can spill your captain bends and kisses you.

It’s dizzying, all consuming, all open lips as he groans into you, one arm snaking around to the small of you back to balance you on wobbly legs, the other gripping your chin and directing you exactly how he wants you, tilting your head just so he can kiss you deeper. You feel unbalanced by the sheer force of it, leaving little choice but to clutch at his uniform, go a little limp in his arms and mewling into his open mouth.

“Aye, that’s it.” He groans between wet, sloppy kisses, dragging his teeth over your bottom lip and feeling you press back into him, eager for more. “Fuckin beautiful, hen.”

His warm breath spills against your open throat, where you think he might bestow a killing bite if you’d let him, groaning in appreciation at the raw, heady taste of you as he takes everything you can bear to give him. 

“Sir-” You whine when he wedges a knee between your legs, hands planted firmly on your ass so he drags your clothed cunt over the rise of his thick thigh. “Oh God-”

“No God here, love.” He huffs as your head flops gently to the side, his words fanning across the shell of your ear so you shudder. “Just you an’ me.”

That might be for the best, you think. One less witness to the act of your captain defiling you the way you’ve dreamt of for longer than you care to remember. 

Your captain’s hands grasp the fat of your ass as you give an experimental rock onto his thigh, stifling a little whimper as you do. It only makes him chuckle, dark and hungry into your ear as he nibbles on the sensitive skin  beneath your jaw. 

“C’mon lass, you can do better than that.” He huffs, and you feel him smile against your neck. “Go on, take what you need. Wanna feel you get off just from grinding on my leg like this.”

You’re not sure if you can, honestly, but gods above do you want to try. 

You grab at his neck for support, pressing him further as he bows over you, engulfs you with the heat of his frame. Then you allow your knees to fold, letting him support the weight of you as you begin to drag yourself along his thigh.

The friction is delicious, sends your nerve endings alight with sensation as the pleasure of it spills past your lips with an open groan. You wonder if the mere act of this, of humping your superior’s leg like a cat in heat while he purrs praises into your ear, does more for you than the actual motion itself. Either way, you begin to feel a warmth unfurling in your core, cunt clenching down on a needing emptiness that has you bury a whimper into his shoulder. 

“Thaaat’s it.” MacTavish- John, you wonder if he’ll let you call him, croons in your ear. “Lemme hear all those pretty noises, hen.”

You do, realizing there’s no one else to hear you. You give in, allow him to hear every hitch in your chest, every shuddering gasp and breathless plea of “S-sir-”

“Feel good?” He asks, hands kneading the swell of your ass as he helps rock you along his thigh. “Just imagine bonnie, could have had this weeks ago if you’d only let me.”

He’s right. If you’d only said something to him, had made a move on him, then you could have been having his low, Scottish lilt purr right in your ear as you try to get off ages ago.

But this is good too.

“Cannae even imagine how much it took for me not to pounce on you.” He huffs, pressing fluttering kisses against the thrum of your pulse. “All those sweet little looks you thought I couldn’t see, the way you were mooning over me like I wouldnae notice-”

“That’s- that’s not-” You try, managing to sound a little indigent despite your heaving breaths. 

“Oh I know, bonnie.” He croons with a huff of laughter. “You were just trying to be a good soldier, didn’t want to get caught seducing your superior, aye? What would the other officers think?”

You whimper at that, clutching a little tighter if only out of a remnant pulse of shame. Yet John doesn’t let you stop, drags you more insistently over the bulge of his thigh straining through his pants. 

“They don’t get to know.” He tells you, smirking. “They don’t get to know how sweet ye are like this, how pretty you look trying to come all over my leg, aye bonnie?”

You feel it rising inside you, feel your oncoming climax mount with every low rumble of words against your skin, with the way his scent clouds your senses so there’s nothing else but the sensation of him, the pleasure of you grinding your wet, empty cunt against his leg.

“C’mon, little one. Can feel you trying. What’dye need?” He huffs, and you shake your head into his shoulder. 

“Empty.” You tell him in a little, shy whisper, face burning as you refuse to look him in the eyes. Yet a hand catches your cheeks, turns you up to his gaze so you have no choice but to look into his bright, glimmering stare. 

“What was that?” He asks, and Gods, you think he may eat you alive. “Need to use your words, sweetheart.”

“E-empty.” You tell him a little louder, catching sight of the glassy eyed stare reflected in his eyes, feeling your legs shake with the effort of trying to hold your own weight. 

“Oh poor wee lass.” John sighs, bending down to kiss you again, swallowing the little whimper that bubbles up your throat. “Dinnae fash, I’ll take care of you.”

He pulls away so quickly you nearly drop to the floor, were it not for the hand slung across your hip that keeps you upright. You hear the clink of a belt, and for a single hopeful moment you think maybe it’s his, only to groan in disappointment and need as he squirms his hand past your own waistband, slinking his fingers between your folds. 

“Christ almighty, lass, you’re soaking wet.” He breathes, bracing his forehead against yours so you feel his warm huff of air on your swollen lips. “Just from this?”

Yeah. This. You want to tell him. As if ‘this’ isn’t something straight out of your wildest wet dreams, him easily handling you in close quarters, treating you with greedy hands and yet touching you as if you’re something prized, a beautiful weapon he’s admired from afar for far too long. 

When he sinks a finger into you John groans a deep, resounding noise in his chest, open and appreciating the way your slick heat instantly clenches around his fingers. 

“Fuck, the feel of you, hen.” He breathes as he pumps his fingers with deliberate slowness, as you whimper and writhe and try to force yourself down onto his hand to chase your just out of reach climax. “So warm and tight, cannae even imagine how you’d feel around my cock.”

“Please.” You gasp desperately, body flushed with want as you grind against his fingers, seeking to angle them just right. “Captain.”

The sound John makes is primal, and you’re given little warning before suddenly he’s plunging a second finger into you, giving you only a moment to adjust to the stretch before he’s setting a rapid pace that has you wail into his chest. 

“Is alright lass, I got you. C’mon, wanna feel you cum all over my hand.” He growls, panting, entire body coiled tight as he pushes you further towards your climax. “I’ll fuck you proper after, promise. Just need to feel it when you come, wanna hear how pretty you sound, c’mon-”

It’s that thought, the one of him having you right here in the lift, bending you against the wall and fucking you just like this that makes you arch with a broken little shout, clenching down hard on his fingers as he slowly works you through it, murmuring sweet endearments down at you as you tremble. You feel your walls pulse around his thick digits, coating them in slick and you realize too late he never took his glove off.

You nearly buckle as the last pulse of pleasure pulses bright and powerful through you, clutching at him with a little whimper as you come down slowly. You’re warm all over, muscles flooded with a bright release that has you wobble where you stand. The pulse of your heartbeat echoes in your ears and you try desperately to catch your breath amidst it all. 

And, naturally, that’s the moment when the lift starts moving again.

You almost entirely lose your balance when the floor beneath you jolts, squeaking as you lean fully into your captain. He doesn’t seem to be caught off guard at all. If anything, John seems amused at the sudden motion of the elevator, huffing a warm sound of disbelief up towards the ceiling. 

“Think we’ll still be late for that meeting, bonnie?” He asks, grinning mischievously, as if he didn’t just make you come so hard your knees wobble.

“No sir.” You breathe, leaning back against the wall as he pulls his hand from your pants, leaning up and licking his fingers free of your wetness. 

“Fuck.” You breathe helplessly, head flopping back. “You’re glove-”

He hums, as if just now realizing you stained the palm of his fingerless glove, pulling the velcro strap with his teeth as one hand balances you while you regain your strength. 

“Keep it safe for me.” He tells you, jamming it into your front pocket as the lift whines to a halt. “Give it back to me later. After the meeting.”

After can mean a lot of things, you realize.

The lift dings pleasantly, and your captain hauls a brawny arm to keep the door open for you, ever the gentleman. 

“Go on then lass,” He smiles, friendly and easygoing despite the knowing, hungry glimmer in his gaze. “Tell them I’ll be a few. Have to give the mechanics a talkin to.”

You nod, still a little shell shocked, a little disheveled, blinking dazedly as you scoot past him, then pause. 

Checking the hallway, you twirl around and lean up to kiss him so you hear the little breath of surprise against your lips. 

“After, captain?” You ask sweetly, blinking your lashes up at him and watching his pupils blow wide. 

“After.” He declares, voice just as sultry, leaning down to nip teasingly in front of your face, fangs and all. 

You sway off to the meeting, sneak into the back row and explain the hold up, and nobody looks at you twice, shy as you are. When your captain comes in five minutes later, only you notice the way he struts to the front of the room, smirking wide and assured as he briefs his men on their next target. 

“Weapons hot, lads.” He declares, arms crossed, a smile taunting danger. “We’re danger close.”

[onyourowndaisymae]

an unexpected guest

was talking with a friend about how stressful the early days of living in the hol would be and then i talked about stealing solomon's bed from him and this fic sprung forth from those shenanigans. i just have so much love for the purgatory hall cast

content + warnings: fluff, solomon & reader very early into the exchange program, og timeline, just musing about purgatory hall being a safe space amidst the chaos of the devildom

solomon's tired. truthfully, there's not often he's not tired-- he's just learned to disregard his body's needs when they inconvenience him, only circling back to address they when he has the time or energy. tonight was one of those blessed nights. he'd finished up a new spell after several grueling hours of trial and error. his ancient human joints were creaking like an old house, all weathered and worn from years of neglect.

he crept quietly up the stairs of purgatory hall, drifting through the dorm with light footsteps. everything looked different in the dark. the hardwood floors where warm beams of candlelight illuminated each panel were now bathed in the delicate glow of moonlight. his relationship with the concept of "home" had always been shaky, but this was not. purgatory hall is solid. it is home. the floorboards and the walls are real, tangible, swirling together with pleasant memories of friendships and laughter like colors on an oil spill. this is the best place he's ever been lucky enough to call his own.

the door to his bedroom creaks a little as he opens it, and the lights flicker on with the flip of the switch. the golden tassels on his cloak clink together pleasantly as he strips it off. solomon tosses the garment on a nearby chair when he hears breathing. he tenses. his eyes dart around the room cautiously before he spots the intruder: there's an unidentified lump under his blankets. he steps closer and peers at their face. then he laughs.

it's you. you, the other human exchange student, fast asleep in his bed. you look completely worn-- solomon remembers you had come to purgatory hall per luke's request earlier today. maybe he... yeah, he was right. he finally takes a moment to check his d.d.d. and spots a text from simeon explaining the situation. nighttime fell quicker than anyone expected, and the two angels in the house didn't feel quite comfortable sending you home at such a dangerous hour. since solomon was usually locked in his workroom until dawn, the angel explained that he loaned out his room-- with an apology for imposing, of course. solomon chuckled a little to himself, taking the quiet moment to observe you while you're blissfully unaware.

you got the short end of the stick with the exchange program. that, he knows. the house of lamentation is full of six rowdy demons that all currently look at you like prey, with varying feelings of disinterest to scorn. solomon himself has centuries of experience with the devilish beings, but you're new to all this, aren't you? angels are much less intimidating to a newcomer like you. luke's nothing more than a young angel barking at the heels of his superiors-- said affectionately, of course. and simeon is one of the kinder angels to ever walk any of the three realms, greeting others with the true grace of a divine creature. of course he'd let you stay the night to ensure you don't get gobbled up on the street.

something about that makes him feel... strange. in a good way. to think that you're capable of falling asleep in a stranger's bed so easily, that you're willingly seeking more time at purgatory hall... he'll have to think on what these feelings are.

he fixes the blanket around you and stares for a moment longer. you look comfortable. what a thing to be so at peace in such a hellish place.

purgatory hall can be safe for you. it can be the place where you go when you need a somewhere to land. something about the image of you fleeing the house of lamentation for greener pastures makes him smile-- in a smug, not-so-kind sort of way. serves them right for shoving you, poor defenseless you, into their home with no regard for your wellbeing.

maybe solomon can be a safe haven for you, too. after all, you both are humans-- and humans have to stick together, right?

with the flick of his wrist, all of the lights in the room sudden turn off save for one special candle on his desk. the flame is almost identical to the ones found in the human word, with its mostly even pillar and its warm orange flame. but magic oozes from its melted wax. it's a flame that never spreads, leaving you to enjoy the comforts of solomon's room without worrying. just a little sign that even when he's not there, a certain sorcerer is always looking out for you. he closes the door with a gentle click and heads to spend the rest of the night somewhere else.

[accio-victuuri]

from this article released today titled: “Three films in half a year were shortlisted for the Golden Deer Awards, Wang Yibo proved himself with good works!”

On August 21, the nominees for the 18th China Changchun Film Festival, the "Golden Deer Award" that has attracted much attention from the public, were announced. China Changchun Film Festival is an international national-level film festival approved by the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television of the People's Republic of China . It will be held in Changchun from August 28th to September 2nd.

A total of 75 films were submitted for the Golden Deer Award Film Festival. After the jury’s preliminary selection, 15 films were finally shortlisted.

The three films have very different styles, and Wang Yibo's roles in them are also completely different. In the literary film "Hidden Blade", the underground party undercover Mr. Ye played by Wang Yibo is cold and forbearing, and his thoughts are meticulous. "Even if there are few lines, the audience seems to be able to hear his unfinished words"; ", he played the young test pilot Lei Yu, who was energetic, courageous and wise, "the arc of character growth is convincing"; and in the sports movie "One and Only", he played the dancer who is pure and true, persistent with his love, "simple and pure, but very touching". The three completely different roles not only reflect Wang Yibo's excellent acting skills - he interprets each role very well, but also shows the audience his broad acting path.

If the audience during the period of "Hidden Blade" may also attribute his excellent performance to the careful training of director Cheng Er, then the excellent performance of "Born to Fly" proves that Wang Yibo's professional ability as an actor is stable-he can eat this bowl of rice , and eat very well. He successfully won the honor of the most media-focused actor in the movie channel's media attention unit by virtue of his roles in the two films "Hidden Blade" and "Born to Fly". For Wang Yibo, the talent of his lines helps to set the characters in different languages, and the excellent appearance endows the characters with special charm. Just like the award speech said, "The characters contributed by Wang Yibo often give the audience clear and mysterious contradictions. Feeling, combined with romantic and noble personal characteristics."

The movie "One and Only" further demonstrated his ability to control different roles as an actor. In "One and Only", Wang Yibo starred for the first time to challenge the low-level little people. This character is like him, because they have the same superior dance talent, and the same willingness to sweat and pain. As a top dancer and all-round dancer in domestic entertainment, it is difficult for us to find another star in the entertainment circle who is better than Wang Yibo's street dancer and more suitable for this role. This character is not like him, because Chen Shuo (character name) is the epitome of those hip-hop old OGs who had no money and resources back then, a complete little guy chasing dreams, and Wang Yibo himself is more confident and powerful than Chen Shuo. Chen Shuo's struggle insists on the epitome of his past, but the reality of Chen Shuo's suffering is not Wang Yibo's experience. He is far luckier than Chen Shuo.

This year is the year when Wang Yibo's films started, and it was also a year when his word-of-mouth box office received a harvest. All 3 films were shortlisted for the Golden Deer Award. Wang Yibo proved his status as an excellent actor with his good works, and also laid a solid foundation for further climbing the peak in the future. I hope that the young actor Wang Yibo can bring more excellent movies to the audience in the future and contribute more exciting roles.

[lucianalight]

Arrogance vs. Humility: Loki

In the first part of meta the arrogance of Thor and Loki and how it shows itself in different ways was analyzed. In this part I want to focus on Loki's arrogance and his humility arc in the series.

The og post that inspired this meta, and many fans, believe that Loki didn't need a humility arc and I originally agreed with them. Sure Loki was arrogant sometimes but it wasn't that bad for him to need to become humble. @geehollow 's meta and the study about arrogance changed my mind though. There were certain aspects I had overlooked or underestimated their importance.

As it was explained, the first movie puts Loki's strength, his intelligence in contrast to Thor's physical strength. Thor's arrogance is easily recognizable because of Thor's extrovert boastful attitude. Loki's not so much. That doesn't mean Loki can't be just as arrogant. Unawareness of one's intellectual limits spans components 2 through 5 of arrogance.

An overconfidence in one’s own knowledge and ability (Component 2) is tied together with an underconfidence in the knowledge or ability of others, producing a feeling of intellectual superiority (Component 5). The intermediate components (3, resisting new information about oneself, and 4, not taking the perspectives of others) appear to be bridges between Components 2 and 5. For example, individuals low in honesty-humility (presumably high in arrogance) are also less likely than others to make cooperative decisions (Zettler, Hilbig, & Heydasch, 2013).

These two paragraphs perfectly describe Loki's reasoning and planing through the first movie and later during Avengers. In avengers from the very first moment he tries to gather enough knowledge of his opponents and neutralize their threats. But the little seemingly unimportant details that he misses and an overestimation of his abilities result in his defeat.

In the series, most notably in the finale he does it again. Perhaps if he can fix the mistakes, the uncounted incidents, consider every possible outcome that things can go wrong, he can save the people he cares about. What if he spend centuries learning knowledge? What if he tries to stop Sylvie in every way he can think of? But none of his plans work. The loom was designed in a way to counter every possible outcome that results in new branches.

And it all comes down to the question how to decide who lives and who dies? With all the knowledge, abilities and experiences Loki has gained through his constant time slipping, he can't answer this question. And that humbles him. It's a question he can't answer and a burden he can't accept. But he can give the chance of free will and freedom to people to write their own stories.

When Loki makes his decision, it is not resulted from a desire to prove himself to someone, or a desperation for control or a sense of superiority. It is a decision born out of love, selflessness and believing in himself with full awareness of the limits of his knowledge and abilities. This intellectual humility shows itself in the wonder and wisdom in his expression when he tries to power a thread of time for the first time. And his decision is in complete contrast to HWR's selfishness and arrogance. In the end Loki has all the knowledge of multiverse at his fingers but without a shred of arrogance for it and I think it's a beautiful arc.

Source: Foundations of Arrogance: A Broad Survey and Framework for Research

Previous: Thor

[pen-and-umbra]

sephiroth in first soldier ec blew up a few fan boards. ppl are so divided and raging, like jesus HAVENT y'all see the compilation??

To be fair, I have reservations about Sephiroth's portrayal in Ever Crisis, but my dissatisfaction stems from how it is presented rather than what is presented.

Having said that, I can see why EC Sephiroth could have ruffled many feathers. There is a subset of fans who are... Let's say conservative and OG-oriented, why don't we. These people had grown accustomed to seeing Sephiroth as the original FFVII depicted him: aloof, cold, and arrogant, far above the player's level. And why not, post-Nibelheim Sephiroth essentially merges with Jenova and aspires to rule the world, becoming less human and more of an alien demigod.

However, EC rips that mold to shreds. Suddenly, young Sephiroth isn't the arrogant, too-good-to-talk-to-you edgelord that many assumed he was. Sephiroth is sheltered and inexperienced with other people! Sephiroth is modest! Sephiroth expresses regret! Sephiroth does not cling to his heroic legend; instead, he admits that it is a deliberate fabrication. He laughs! He cracks a joke! He doesn't scream "How dare you touch me?!" and instead lets people comfort him! He's suddenly much more than a kid who thought he was better than everyone else. He's a kid who, like any other orphan, wants to find his family. All of this brings him down from the demigod realm, and he's no longer the figure older fans remember from the original.

You could argue that FFVII had numerous sequels, including Crisis Core, and I would agree. EC does not add anything new to the table; rather, it expands on the ideas presented in CC. Sephiroth in Crisis Core has a similar vibe: he's a little awkward, isn't particularly excited about killing, and isn't conceited about his fame. However, in my anecdotal experience, there were people who either skipped CC entirely or thought Sephiroth was prideful due to how the English localization misconstrued certain lines from the game. Last but not least, some people mistake emotional detachment for snobbishness or callousness; a sad but true fact. They consider characters cold if they do not make an overt emotional display, whether it is concern or support.

Then there are those who simply want villains to be villains. And I can understand such a viewpoint, even if I do not personally share it. An explicit, unsympathetic personification of evil is an ideal foundation to bounce off; it makes it easy for the heroes to juxtapose themselves against. It establishes clear objectives and instills a sense of moral superiority in both characters and the audience, and sets up a clear distinction between what is fair and unfair. Finally, it's easier to fight and kill something you don't recognize as a human being. However, by humanizing Sephiroth EC has effectively removed that option from the players and long-standing fans. It's no longer black and white. It's no longer as simple as "Cloud wins because he's always been a better person" and "Sephiroth loses because he's always been a self-important jerk who deserves it." It's in various shades of gray. Sure, there will be those who despise the game for making the villain sympathetic. It takes away our easy sense of moral superiority by asking us:

would we feel/act any different in villain's shoes?

Ultimately, it could be argued that it is an exercise in empathy. Human beings simply dislike being reminded that the bad guys aren't all that different from us.

[im-no-jedi]

TBB headcanons: Physical and Mental Traits

I was originally gonna break these posts up by character, but it’s more fun just categorizing everything (plus I get to make more posts this way hehe)

anyway! here are some traits I believe each of the boys have:

Hunter

Oldest of the og four (CT 9901) 

All of his senses are heightened, which makes him more sensitive to things (smells, sounds, touch, etc) but he’s REALLY good at hiding it

Occasionally experiences sensory overload, but has several techniques to keep himself calm (stimming with his knife, meditation, isolation, listening to music, conversing with one of his bros or Omega) 

Is autistic, but is good at masking it most of the time 

Very, very rarely experiences panic attacks from overstimulation (happened mostly as a child, has only happened once during the war) 

Has a high level of tolerance for pain, despite his heightened senses (mostly is just good at hiding it though)

Has a scar over his left eyebrow that he got due to accidentally cutting himself with a knife when he was younger (he has perfectionist issues because of this); has other various scars all over his body (main ones being on his left pectoral from getting shot by Cad Bane, and slight burn marks on the palm of his right hand from the Zygerrian whip)

Fairly introverted; he likes his solitude but gets lonely at times and can NOT be away from the squad for too long or he’ll go crazy

Tech

Second oldest of the og four (CT 9902) 

Retains information the first time it’s told/explained to him (the recording thing is literally just a hobby, he doesn’t need it LOL)

Obsessively researches things in his free time 

Basically blind without his goggles; he’s semi colorblind, which is why the lens are tinted

Is very autistic 

Stims with his tools 

Has an average level of tolerance for pain, doesn’t like to make a big deal out of it and straight up ignores it most of the time (“I pretend I do not see it”)

Has a few scars on his hands from tinkering, but are mostly healed (lotion works wonders my dudes)

Completely introverted, please leave him alone thanks

Wrecker

Second youngest of the og four (CT 9903) 

Is constantly hungry because of his size and high metabolism 

Gets muscle aches if he goes too long without being active 

Has ADHD and autism 

Stims via working out or playing with Lula (or any of Omega’s other toys when she’s not playing with them)

Has a low level of tolerance for pain, but tries to act otherwise (and does a terrible job at it LOL)

Got his face scar on their first mission ever, doesn’t regret it and thinks it makes him look cooler 

Has various scars all over his body, as well as stretch marks from growing so big so quickly

Very extroverted, gets lonely easily

Crosshair

Youngest of the og four (CT 9904) 

Gets frequent headaches because of his superior vision (which is why getting the Order 66 headaches didn’t seem out of the ordinary to him) 

Gets sore limbs sometimes, especially his legs, from how long they are 

Is autistic 

Stims by chewing on his toothpicks 

Has an average level of tolerance for pain but is really good at hiding it

Has a few minor scars on his body but mostly stretch marks from growing so tall so quickly

Very introverted, but gets lonely at times (and will NEVER admit it)

Echo

Oldest of the entire group overall

Suffers from “ghost limbs” with his scomp arm and legs sometimes 

Will get eye twitches sometimes from his brain “short-circuiting” 

Makes jokes about his disabilities to cope (“you wouldn’t hurt a disabled man, would you?”) 

Has PTSD, mostly from what happened after the Citadel explosion 

Distracts himself from the Horrors™ by running ship diagnostics and rereading manuals (which he already liked doing, of course)

Has an average level of tolerance for pain and likes to hide it behind his jokes (“tis but a flesh wound!”)

Has some scars all over his body from the Citadel explosion and his implants

Big extrovert, HATES being alone, please don’t leave him alone OMG

[electrosweaters-arts]

Question!

Is Victor in the cryptid college universe? What’s he like, if he is?

Victor IS in CC! In fact, he's already appeared in two pages during the prologue

He's kinda a silly little guy but I'm going to PREFACE real quick by saying: Victor in CC is probably the MOST canon-divergent in terms of personality you're gonna get in CC, at least depending on your interpretations of the OG book characters, but he's pretty different from how either of us actually view him in the book.

CC Victor isn't an exactly an evil mad scientist trope or anything (being a mad scientist in CC is basically like being a mathletes nerd but a bunch of you keep dropping random children off at other peoples houses) but he's just a bit of a general asshole, SPECIFICALLY because placing him in a modern college where EVERYONE is a monster changes who the character is a Lot. A lot of his base traits come from the book, but amplified as a parody like we do with all the CC characters (so yes he does get tropey on purpose) + some changes based on how being in a monster college changes his and the creature's story.

While not uncommon for mad scientists in this universe, he's pretty self-centered, he believes himself to be the superior scientist of his class and can often be rude and dismissive of other students' work. (Though he IS actually incredibly good at what he does, he's top 3 in the class and would most likely be #1 if Griffin didn't have a grading bias towards experiments that can help him with world domination)

(going to be using some LOVELY sketches from @internetwerewolf now <3 theyre the person currently drawing episode 1 of CC <3)

Also, before I forget to mention! CC victor is gay and autistic and both he AND both of the creatures have chronic illnesses that leave them with a lot of joint pain. Their illnesses are based off my own so since *I* don't have a medical diagnosis for my joint issues I can't put an exact name to what they have but ???? maybe Fibromyalgia? again, can't put a name to it but their joints are stiff and HURTY. Adam and Victor's symptoms usually manifest in more invisible ways, from time to time they will need a mobility aid of some sort but most days they get by with painkillers and compression-wear. (Mary almost always uses a crutch or a cane and from time to time will use a wheelchair)

And oh right, the creatures! Let's talk about the creatures, I'd say they're pretty important to Victor's character, wouldn't you? (^another @internetwerewolf doodle of Adam and Mary at Victor's dissertation)

Starting with Adam, Victor made Adam in his first semester of Freshman year at CCU (if you don't know, the school Oracle acts as the head of admissions for the school and is particularly in charge of inviting new mad scientists to the school, which is why characters like Victor or Jekyll were accepted and allowed to know about monsters before having made their experiments themselves, the Oracle knew that they would make them eventually) his reasons for creating and then abandoning the creature are mostly the same as in the book, the death of his mother gave him a fascination with restoring life to the dead but once he actually gave life to the creature he was horrified an ran out on it. Adam was left in Victor's dorm room alone for about 3 weeks before being found by an RA and due to school policy on mad science experiments he was given free room and board for the course of his college degree, he was also taught english directly from classes at the school and found a copy of Paradise Lost among Victor's old things, which gave him the idea for the name Adam.

Adam never actually killed anyone in CC, but he DID ask Victor to make him a family member. He was incredibly lonely from being unable to connect with any of the other students and wanted someone like him, Victor obliged before he and Adam got into an argument which ended with him partially destroying the other creature and leaving Adam to do the rest of the reanimating work himself. (This is why Mary is not quite made right, the stitching on her limbs is very loose and she's missing an eye)

The creatures' and Victor's overall relationship is rocky at BEST, most days they can't STAND each other and squabble any time they pass each other in the halls. Though Victor's family is all still alive AND Adam got his second creature so from time to time they can get along, if a topic in interesting enough for both of them Adam and Victor can hold a conversation for a few hours, and they will sometimes help Victor out if provided a good enough reason to. Mary's less likely to talk to Victor but that's mostly because she just...doesn't like talking to people. They treat him like a shitty dad, and as seen in the prologue they DO like to rough him up a bit from time to time for fun but they wouldn't ever really want to KILL him. (Hyde would. Hyde wants to kill him. Adam has to hold him back from it.)

This was WAY longer than I expected, kinda incoherent, feel free to ask any follow up questions if you'd like! I LOVE talkin about these guys :3

[rocketyship]

Hey, it's the anon who sent the really long ask and I'm sorry to say but i forgot what i was going to write about AM so I've put off sending another ask hoping I'd somehow remember 3am me's thoughts. That's obv not going to happen, though, so here's what i can scrounge up!

Your AM is in the very unique position of not only being non-human but also the only person BE openly has, let's say a... "dislike" for. There are ways he could relate to the humans of course (treated like a pet, not given any real self-determination etc) but it's experience is so different in so many other ways.(Naomi and AM were both "taken in" by BE while they were still.. idk young might not be the right word, but Naomi had time to grow up a bit before the whole thing while AM barely had time to realise that he's a person. Evan and AM are both seen as different from the others by BE, Evan for being a man and AM for not being one but Evan isn't dealt divine punishment for the whole trying to destroy humanity thing etc.)

Point is that AM as the narrator would be so fundementally different from the others, i think that's why i wanted to write about it. Narration from AM has the potential to be even clearer than Naomi's would be since there are things about BE she wouldn't show in front of the humans and things the humans just wouldn't be able to see in the same way(code AM might be privy to they couldn't interpret and such).

BE is also the reason AM can see, hear and feel so while he didn't have over a century to lament over not being able to (like the original AM did) that has to change so much, like you've already shown some of.

Oh and like you brought up in the post after my ask: there's no way traces of BE's code hasn't corrupted AM somehow! How would that change things? Does the corruption increase over time or would he just use that as an excuse for why he cares about these humans now? Would he even acknowledge that he has been "corrupted" or is he still too proud for that somewhere deep down? There's so much potential for character exploration!

The parallels between BE and the original AM is fun too! AM torturing it's humans to reinforce and remind itself of it's hatred for them and superiority over them vs BE torturing your AM as "divine retribution" for his sins and a way to remind herself of her job as her sheep's protector, her love for them as well as a reminder to both herself and your AM of her superiority over him.

Once again, hope you have a nice day!! It made me happy you've enjoyed my asks, and the explanation of the sanctuary was a nice bonus for the one before the last :)

This ended up really rambly, but i hope most of it is understandable and that my interpretations aren't like... completely different from what you were trying to portray. (Also, I'm used to referring to the original AM with it pronouns so i might mess up your AM's he from time to time, so here's a disclaimer that i dont do it on purpose)

You have a very good interpretation of my AM and it pleases me that my work my nonsensical posts came across the way I intended. One thing I have decided moving forward is that the story will be told in chapters or parts told from each characters perspective, with the exception of BE, as idk how to write the utterly bizarre way she thinks with it also being understandable to a reader.

But besides that I really like how you worded everything here, especially in pointing how BE is the counter part of the original AM. Truthfully the AM of this world is so different from the original, that I wouldn’t even describe him as the opposite of the og anymore. And you asked about how her code has corrupted him, and it definitely has become something that has gotten more prominent over time. In the beginning AM for sure had some of his pride and his og “hate-everything”ness, but overtime it has started to fizzle out, mostly as a survival tool priority, in the present time (109 years later) he struggles to recall exactly why he killed humanity in the first place, but still knows he did it as BE reminds him. He is also aware of his love for the humans coming from BE and often has crises if it’s own feelings or hers.

One thing about BE’s treatment of this AM (Who I might start calling Amy Idk), is that the body she gave him is very-very human like, as in it may or may not contain real human organs and bits of flesh, to really give him a warped “human” experience. So like the original AM, she has starved and dehydrated him for extensive periods of time, as well as the severe phycological and physical torture, yet she also doesn’t allow him to really “wonder” around. Although as stated before a bit ago his senses and nerves are hypersensitive, so he is generally very cautious about the stuff he gets up to. But one of the biggest differences between her and the OG AM, is how she has discovered to keep him in place. As in like what many real life abusers do, she kind of love-bombs him. As in she treats him nice sometimes, as it kind of “assures” him that he deserves this and if he behaves well then he can go upstairs and play with the humans. Not really helped that he has figured out that if he’s with the humans, BE doesn’t do anything (well she does it’s just more subtle), so that in of itself has definitely contributed to his love of the humans, finding safety with them, especially Evan who he has a particular interest in.

His body has contributed to him gaining things the og AM probably didn’t have cause of his circumstances, or at least a more tamer version. As you stated he is “young”, although I wouldn’t describe him as a child really, just kind of immature. Like he’s kind of goofy when his guard is down, if not clingy. His body is very sensitive, so while that does mean he experiences horrendous agony, it also goes the opposite way. So his odd cuddliness and enjoyment of warm things isn’t just me liking the idea of him in a pile of plushies I swear.

Anyhow I love your asks and everything, you se so cool. Thank you so so much. Hopefully you understood this ramble of mine like you did the others :D

[icharchivist]

What's so bad about Sephiroth reading a book?

the tldr, that's how he became a villain

the longer story is that Sephiroth was actually sort of nice and all in the past, but quite lonely, as he's mostly been raised in the Shinra's labs and only been told his mother's name was Jenova. He was also pretty isolated from others and stuff like that (but Crisis Core will tell you he used to have friends who all were pushed to madness because of experiments being made on them, and there was a slight rift between him and Zack after one of his friend and Zack's mentor ended up dying due to this madness)

Anyway and then one day while Sephiroth was dispatched to investigate the Nibelheim's Reactor, (Nibelheim being Cloud and Tifa's hometown), in there Sephiroth found out that Shinra used to make monsters by using Jenova Cells. Jenova was a being who was locked into a test tube in the Mako Reactor, and the monsters made from her cells were all meant to create a perfect human soldier.

Jenova is a calamity creature that fell from the skies centuries ago, but Shinra didn't really know that and thought she was a Cetra, one of the beings who naturally have a deep connection to the planet, and the Cetra being almost extincts, they really wanted to imitate their genes.

When Sephiroth starts to connect dots, he isolates himself in the basement of the Nibelheim mansions and reads every single books he finds there, which actually were records about the various Jenova experiments.

He didn't sleep for 3 days and 3 nights, reading everything.

... and then on the 3rd day, he set Nibelheim on fire and slaughtered (almost) everyone in there.

Because now he connected all of the dots: his mother was obviously the same Jenova creature, and she's been abused by the scientists, and now it's time for her to take revenge on the planet for what the humans has done to her, and Sephiroth, the superior being, will destroy this planet for Jenova.

He was only stopped then by [well depends if i gaslight you like the OG does or tell you the truth] who threw him in the Mako reactor, the lifeblood of the planet.

those events all happen before the Original Game, so when Sephiroth comes back in the OG, it's still because he's trying to recover Jenova's body that Shinra had taken away from him, in order to put his plan back in motion.

... so basically if Sephiroth didn't lock himself in that library and read all the books about the experiments, he wouldn't have turned mad.

so yeah, Sephiroth, DONT.

[rocohen20]

For those of you who follow ColeyDoes Things on youtube may have seen her latest update "The BIGGEST fandoms on AO3". Getting the pleasant surprise of seeing Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the tumbnail got me so excited.

I always pictured the fandom of Hockey RPF as a niche on AO3. This fandom got me into tumblr, AO3 along with reading fan fiction all together. I've been part of this fandom for the last 8 years. Hockey in general is a big part of my life. I had so many thoughts, so much knowledge and for years it was the only fandom I read fanfiction for.

I am so excited to see it part of the 20 top fandom on a site like AO3. I didn't expect seeing this fandom so high up, and I'm honestly so excited seeing the video beacuse right now I'm 28 minutes in the video and she's going through place #15 and she still didn't get to HOCKEY RPF and I'm astounded and so excited. I can't wait to find out their placement on the top 20 fandoms. And all through the video I can't wait to see her reaction to the top ships and tags.

Seein in #12 SPORTS RPF and knowing that technically HOCKEY RPF should be under this umbrealla but in actuality HOCKEY RPF usually tagged only under HOCKEY RPF I'm shocked. I know how technically in the last year or so there was a booming in the romance genre of Hockey Romance Books, but I'm not quite sure what it did to the popularity of Hockey on AO3. Plus, hockey is well known as the least popular sport out of the major legues of North America so I am so surprised to see how popular it actually is.

Now after RAVING about the superiority of HOCKEY RPF VS. SPORTS RPF, apparently I was fundementally wrong and got dissapointed.

I was sure that AO3 seperated each and every "sport's field" RPF as a seperated entoty and not logged them together. Through the whole video I was waiting for the moment of the fandom I was so excited about being talked about. With each fandom she would look at the top ships and characters. Through watching the video I was debating with myself about the top 10 pairings. It's been a while since I looked up the exact list. So I was under no impression that Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin would be the number one pair. But as for the others I debated with myself. Just for the fun of it the list I had in my mind who is based on my personal experience and on various post about the top main paieings of Hockey are:

Sidney Croaby/Evgeni Malkin

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews

Jamie Benn/Tyler Seguin (I know fhat it used to be their place, and I am well aware how they are barely any new fics about them, but I still want to believe they are on the top 10 pairs).

Danny Briere/Claude Giroux

Alexander Ovechkin/Nicklas Backstrom

Nolan Patrick/Travis Konecny

Leon Driasytel/Matthew Ktchuk.

Connor McDavid/Leon Driasytel

Sidney Crosby/Claude Giroux

Jeff Carter/Mike Richards (a girl can dream).

After getting it out of the way. What happened in the video was- she read a bunch of pairing from different sports. Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin was in fact the number on pairings. Which was extra impressive when you take into account the different feilds of sports. But in fairness it seemed like Hockey RPF was one of the OG Sports RPF with continued audience. And as for those two they had the benefit of playing with each other close to 20 years.

Patrick Kane/Jonathan Toews also made the list, at around number 5. It made me so happy. As someone who was a big reader for 1988 it made me so happy. Also Coley didn't know how to read Toews so she read it as TOE-EZ, and through my mind I thought "Patrick Sharp would be so proud". Also it rather fitting to accidently hit a major theme in many of the 1988 fics, especially the older ones.

She also had a big surprise to see Omegaverse as one of the main tags. As someone who adores omegaverse and specifically reading it with the context of sports RPF it didn't surprise me in the slightest.

It also made me really happy to see the second most kudoed fic being a Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin wedding day fic. Especially because I know I put it in my marked for later list and there is a podfic version of it with 5 hours lengh.

Even though it wasn't to the extent that I wanted to, I still enjoyed the video and seeing even the mention of some major pairings who I read many fics about, gave me joy.

[eponastory]

Alright here we go!

Azula: Netflix vs OG

Let's start off with OG first.

I guess it's safe to say she is the Cersei Lannister of AtLA. She is a character we love but also hate. I love her to bits, but I hate that she is just so conniving and cruel.

She is very well written and wonderfully voiced by the awesome Grey Delisle. She's just a well put together character that has a lot of personality flaws.

But she is also a victim, which I'll explain more about in a moment. But first, we have to look at her motivation in the OG show. Her motivation is personified in Zuko. He is her antithesis, which is represented by the color of their fire bending. Azula is naturally talented and well versed in fire bending where Zuko was not. She knows she is superior to him in that way. This drives her motivation to be the apple of Ozai's eye in a manner of speaking. We see this in the show when both siblings have to prove themselves to their Grandfather, Azulon. Zuko fails while Azula is praised. This pits the siblings against each other which we see portrayed differently in the Netflix Adaptation.

Moving on to her sneakiness and her takeover of Ba Sing Se. Where Iroh failed, she conquered. She did it decisively and in less than two weeks (I could be wrong on the timing, but this is the general consensus I see). Once again, she proves she is superior. But why does she have this idea of superiority? It's because she has been raised to believe this. It's been repeated over and over again through her entire childhood by her father, who was also taught this and so on.

I wish I could analyze everything, but others have done it better.

Now, let's talk about her mental breakdown. This is where I have a little concern on how it was portrayed in the show. It was... a little sudden, but bound to happen. The way it was shown was absolutely the way a mental breakdown can happen if the problems leading up are not addressed. All of Azula's life, she had been groomed by her father to be the perfect heir. At the end of book three, we see Ozai leave her behind. This is the straw that breaks the camels back in a sense. Ozai sees love as a weakness, and Azula loves her father, which is why she works so hard to please him. All he sees is a successor to him, and maybe a possible threat later on. There is only Ozai in this relationship. Azula sees this now, and it breaks her. He gives her the title of Fire Lord, but it's essentially worthless now because she still has to answer to him. It's what she wanted. However, she is still under Ozai's rule as he made a more superior title for himself.

It was a blow to her ego.

Now she is seeing her mother because she had always wanted her mother's love, but Ozai was the one who kept that away. He saw how Ursa's influence on Zuko had made his son weak. He corrected that with Azula. Let's be fair and say that daughters tend to idolize their fathers (coming from personal experience here), which is not bad in most cases, but it's really bad when dealing with a narcissist. That's why Azula breaks. And it's heartbreaking because we learn she is a victim of grooming.

Now, on to the next part.

The Netflix Adaptation

The mental breakdown has already started in the first season.

The signs are there, and it's glorious.

Ozai is actively seen pitting his children against each other. He keeps mentioning how Zuko is the one who found the Avatar, which is only fueling Azula's fire. Her anger is going to lead her down the road to hell, and it's going to be more chaotic than in the OG. Like I don't have much to say about it now, but if season 2 and 3 happen, it's gonna be fun.

I am a huge fan of seeing the slow cracking of the mask. So we will see how this goes.

While she is still conniving, Ozai sees it and throws Zuko in her face to edge her on. It's wonderful and as I said in my analysis of Ozai, he is a shit father for doing this. Why? Because it's all about him. He does not care and he is only in for his endgame.

Geeze, I went on forever with this. There are way better commentaries on this, but I'm way too lazy to go on and on forever. I have a story to write, and apparently, I'm doing a relationship analysis on Mai and Zuko next.

It's on my list of things to do.

[ultraericthered]

So Pocket Monsters Gen 9 Edition, or Pokémon Horizons, has aired 34 episodes this year, enough episodes to asses its quality thus far. And honestly, from the writing, the animation, the sound, the pacing, the ideas, and the characters including all the Pokémon themselves, this seriously might just be the best that PokeAni has ever been. It's already a far superior series to Pokémon Journeys, is at least on par with Sun & Moon, and on a technical level can be called better than even the Gen 1 era (The Beginning) of the original series! And it should go without saying that it's far stronger than anything PokeAni had to offer in Gens 2 through 6, where I strongly believe that the stuff that sucked about those series' always ended up outweighing the stuff that was solid in them in the end, sorry but not sorry.

And then there's Liko, who I could go on and on about why she's such a breath of fresh air and works fantastically as the lead of this series. But I won't, 'cause...that's sort of what this hot take concerns. With Liko being the first full-time main protagonist in a PokeAni series who is not Ash Ketchum (I say "full-time" to say Jimmy and Alain don't count here), it will naturally stand to reason that I'd think to draw comparisons between her as she's starting out and Ash in the Indigo League arc of the original series back when he was starting out. Not just trainer experience and battle-wise, but as characters.

So when I compare the two, and think on it deeply, as unbiased and objectively as I can manage, this is the conclusion I come out with.

Don't get me wrong, I would gladly and without a hint of hesitation take Liko any day over Ash from any of the Gens 3 through 8 anime, and that includes Ash from SuMo and Journeys who I actually liked! I'm beyond thrilled to have Liko as the protagonist of the current series instead of Ash, who'd really needed to be retired ages ago.

But neither my love for Liko nor my nostalgic adoration for Indigo League really factor into this. Between OG Ash and Liko, I find the former to be the slightly yet significantly stronger main protagonist than the latter. And it's primarily for a reason I couldn't even quite convey into thoughts or words until out of the blue, Suede returned to Youtube with a new video that just put it into clear perspective.

"Average kid who's really nice and sweet yet painfully average is going about his regular life when he suddenly recieves the CALL TO ADVENTURE through no fault of his own, usually through some kind of power that puts him above others. He's reluctant at first but through friendship or world-shattering stakes, he's won over, starts enjoying himself...." Switch the gender around and this describes Liko almost verbatim. She's much closer to what was usually the norm for young male protagonists in adventure anime, and I get the sense this was a deliberate choice similar to what was done with Avatar Aang and Avatar Korra, where the succeeding protagonist contrasts with the preceeding one. And that's another area where Liko works so brilliantly: she had to work up the courage to allow herself to be drawn into a new life by the call, as opposed to boldly but recklessly jumping at the call well before it had even actually come for her like Ash did after turning forever 10 years old.

However, there's another area of interest for Liko's character VS OG Ash's that Suede missed. Shall we call it the "Chosen One Factor?" You all know what I'm talking about, the trope in stories where the protagonist has been predetermined by fate to be the main character and to have a great big adventure where they realize their destiny, and usually due to the single factor of bloodlines; that they're related to someone big and important, so they must carry on that big and important family lineage in their own way. In Pokémon Horizons, it could not be more subtle that Liko comes from the blood lineage of Lucius the Ancient Adventurer, meaning that everything that has now happened to make her a trainer didn't simply just happen to her: it was destined to happen. It was, as Thanos would say, inevitable. And I in no way mean to suggest this is an inherently bad trope, that Horizons is doing it poorly with Liko, or that it's any worse off for doing it. I'm only saying that we see this thing done so frequently.

Ash Ketchum at the start of the original series, meanwhile? He's nobody. His father was a deadbeat who prioritized Pokémon training over raising a family. His mother gave birth to him while still very young and has to be both self-sufficient and a good parent to him all on her own. The last name "Ketchum" means jack shit to anybody in-universe. In fact, it's his chilhood friend/rival Gary who's the special somebody around town; he's the one with the big important family lineage, being the grandson of Professor Oak. Ash...is just a random 10 year old kid who's very passionate about Pokémon. More than that, the kid starts off as an absolute loser. He oversleeps and misses his chance to pick out one of the three Kanto starter Pokémon to be his first Pokémon partner. The Pikachu he's given doesn't get along with him at first. His sendoff party is dinky and low key compared to what Gary got. He has trouble dealing with the sort of low level wild Pokémon that most newbies would take down and/or capture in no time. He always thinks he knows what he's in for and what he has to do and has to be as a trainer who aspires to be "the world's greatest Pokémon Master" yet ends up missing several basic steps any new trainer has to take and has difficulty understanding information that could help him make those steps. His own Poke' Dex throws shade at him for being a "stupid traveler". This kid is a dense, thick-headed, ignorant boob and on top of that has got a heavily flawed personality. An absolutely disatrous little shithead, and I just fucking love him for it. In a sense he's actually quite like a younger precursor to Re:Zero's Subaru Natsuki, a young male who starts off with all the entitlement that a super special awesome and exceptional main character would feel is warranted only to find that the world does not exist to owe him anything and that he will have to struggle, suffer, learn, adapt, and perserve while being entitled to nothing because in truth there is absolutely nothing super special awesome and exceptional about him: he has to put in the work to make himself special, awesome, and exceptional. In its original conception and understanding, To Be A Master is about what's earned, not owed.

Now, as PokeAni dragged on and on and on and on AND ON with Ash still in the lead role, they messed up this initial setup with many occasions that seemed to contradict it and convey to us that actually yes, our main character IS a truly special boy because he just loves Pokémon more than any other mere mortal in this wourld could ever love Pokémon, that the world does exist to owe him shit and in fact mostly revolves around what he and his merry band of friends do, he encounters all the mythical and legendary Pokémon, he beats all the bad guys and shuts down the regional evil teams' evil plots, and he competes in all the Leagues of all the regions until he ends up the first ever Champion of one of them by winning its first ever League Tournament, and from there he gets to become the World's Strongest Master just like that. And while those major victories were legitimately earned and very rewarding to witness, it's a terrible shame they had to come after years of canon twisting Ash's character and function in the world of PokeAni inside out multiple times ad nauseum, and it had the unfortunate effect on many in the fandom, male fans especially, where they got overcome with this entitlement regarding the character, dead set on wanting to live vicariously through his experiences and project onto him as a power fantasy, wanting and expecting a consistently growing character who only gets better, smarter, savvier, more badass, more mature, and more respected the Poke' World over with each regional quest undertaken, and throwing hissy fits when the anime, due to various factors, did not deliver. This is what made the retiring of Ash's character and his replacement in the lead role by Liko such a sensible and positive direction for the anime to take and why I'm so, sooooo damn glad it's been taken.

So all in all, Liko >>>>>>>> Ash Ketchum for most of the anime, but the OG Ash Ketchum we had in Gen 1 >>>>> Liko in Horizons.

But both are superior to the player character of Scarlet & Violet.

[autismtana]

santana lopez has adhd (part 2)

^the adhd/lesbian flags^

(*disclaimer: i have adhd myself and work in education/educational psychology, which is the basis of this post in which i get wayyyyy too analytical about a fictional character; however, i'm not a psychiatrist or doctor and am not qualified to diagnose real people with adhd or anything else ... seriously, our only representation is cis white boys whose adhd is an explanation for them being the class clown and treated as a joke so please don't get salty at me for claiming a fictional character that isn't a cis white boy as part of the adhd gang)

(credit to @dojasrivera on twitter for making the og adhd!santana thread; i unfortunately wasn’t able to see it as i only found out about it after their original twitter account got suspended but there may be some overlap between their thread and this post)

sup homies, as you know, tumblr cut me off so i had to make a part 2. (here's part 1)

ambitious but lacking in direction - noted terrible educator will schuester describes santana as being "unfocused" in 3x16.  she's indecisive about college in the latter half of season 3, initially says she wants to go then flip-flops, and then goes to louisville (fun fact: donovan mitchell also went there) for a short period of time then drops out.  after that she has a bunch of projects and career goals that never really go anywhere. (partially thanks to the lazy writing on the show)

fear of failure - santana wanted to go to new york after graduation but initially wanted to stay behind when she found out brittany wasn't graduating (like immediately), then chose to take the scholarship to louisville despite brittany and quinn both pointing out that she had the cash from her parents to pursue her dreams in new york (brittany was a lot more supportive and less judgy though). she did end up going after unpacking her anxiety around it with britt though.

low self-esteem, anxiety and/or depression - season 2 is what i like to refer to as "santana lopez's sad gay era", however i'd also argue that season 4 until mid season 5 (when she reunites with brittany) is kind of a low period for her as well.  the break-up is painful for both of them.  they're one another's safe people so when they don't have each other in close proximity, both of them experience depression.  i would also consider her demeanour at the beginning of 5x09 as an example of her exhibiting signs of depression. santana also experiences a lot of anxiety around her interpersonal relationships (pretty much all of season 2, 4x16, 5x09-5x13); in 5x18 it's very apparent that she's scarred by the experience with auditioning for rachel's understudy part and doesn't want to intrude on mercedes (thankfully, mercedes is awesome, we love mercedes jones here, themostrandomfandom does a great job of analysing this storyline here). it's also worth noting that despite how clumsily she goes about things, santana lopez is the most loyal, ride-or-die person on this damn show (she's definitely a gryffindor or hufflepuff who thinks she's a slytherin despite my less than positive thoughts on the transphobic lady's book series, or - in the context of the superior book series - a mary anne who thinks she’s a claudia) but the only acknowledgement she gets is shame, so she internalises it to give people an "out" ("I'm numb to people's feelings", "I have no heart").

can be easily distracted (while also hyperfocused on other things) - has a tendency to zone out of conversations (credit to @santanaslawyer on twitter) and couldn't remember her locker combo around brittany (although some of that could have also been santana being in her sad gay era and pining over britt)

narrow window of tolerance - santana was completely done with everyone's shit like all the time

strong sense of justice - homegirl uses her bitch powers to protect the people she cares about (see 2x17, 3x11, 5x18). other people aren't allowed to make fun of her mates, that's her job, dammit! she's also proactive in reporting mr schuester's lack of efficiency as a spanish teacher not because she dislikes him (which she doesn't; she might roll her eyes at him all the time but she does actually like him as a person) but because his teaching promotes offensive stereotypes, harms her and negatively affects everyone's education (and to her credit she is way more patient and charitable to him than he deserves when he literally chastises her in front of everyone for doing it). she will also challenge authority in situations where she is being held to a different standard to others. in 3x07, when figgins is considering suspending santana, she pushes back against it (rightfully so) because she doesn't understand how there isn't a zero-tolerance policy for violence when finn and puck get into it in the middle of school, or when the glee club get slushied, or when kurt is repeatedly physically assaulted by karofsky, but she slaps finn (after he outed her) and this policy suddenly exists. same applies in 3x13 when finn and rachel are allowed to have very graphic PDAs at school with no complaint from the authorities, but santana and brittany have one chaste peck and it's the end of the world, and she rightfully tells figgins that there's a double standard.

(really random) hyperfixations - it's a popular glee headcanon that santana spends a lot of time researching random shit on wikipedia (which she probably did the night before her wedding so she could explain to britt about the superstition around the bride/groom not seeing each other before the wedding) based on the absolute batshit cultural references she comes out with. she makes the most random cultural references (e.g. comparing rory to the great gazoo, which is a really random side-character from the flintstones), and has somewhat of a fascination with lizards (2x04, 2x12).  she also just randomly made an entire voodoo doll of rachel berry just for shits and giggles, like … wtf

lack of spatial awareness - so this one's mostly just naya rivera's physical comedy, but ... in the nicest possible way ... santana's a tad bit unco, isn't she? (see: her very charming wacky inflatable arm-waving tube person dancing in 3x08, the scene where she literally walks headfirst into a balloon in 3x22 and the scene in 5x17 where she gets attacked by pigeons).

hyperactive - santana's abuela put her in ballet classes because she was "such a tomboy and it really pissed [her] dad off"; obviously we know she had a mullet and dressed up as uncle jesse from full house for halloween (and she knows how to tie a tie, thanks again sarah) - those are obviously aesthetic things but "tomboy" can also be code for "hyperactive" in afab people (particularly if santana's grandmother was of the "children should be seen and not heard" generation).

[bougiebutchbitch]

I started rewatching House and have now rekindled that good ol hyperfixation, and I just wanted to stop by and thank you for providing Bottom House content. I am starving for it. It's weird because I'm not normally super picky about what characters are in what sexual positions/roles, but like. [Disclaimer: Everybody should have fun and read/write what makes them happy regardless of my own preferences, fandom is about having fun, I'm not out here trying to police how people enjoy shit blah blah blah]

...But on god I just cannot imagine watching this show and walking away with the interpretation that House is a confident dom top when it feels like every other episode shows him being such a bratty sub bottom. He's his usual brand of sarcastic about it all, but his sexual jokes and his general attraction to authoritative women... How he encourages his fellows to fight back against him and put him in his place if they think he's going off the rails or that they're right and he's wrong... The neediness... Come on! Man is such a bottom. And that's not even getting into Wilson's whole predisposition to just constantly soft dom House, or just how much more interesting I find it to explore House being a needy little sub while he also has to constantly face the ableism of everyone around him-- YES, he needs someone to make him heel and to express that kind of vulnerability around, but also Wilson and Cuddy do have this tendency to assume they know what he needs and approach his vulnerability in a condescending and (Wilson especially) morally superior kind of ableist way where they just "know so much better" than him about himself and his pain and his experiences. It can make for such engaging conflict and interesting exploration of themes in a way that I just don't really see in fics that position House as a cocky asshole dom top and Wilson as a blushing little softboi, and I often turn away from top House fics because House, Wilson, and their whole dynamic just feel ooc to me.

Bottom House is just more fun to me, personally. And more sexy, I'll admit. But there's such a startling lack of it! Babygirl's show has existed for almost a decade now, and he does not get railed nearly enough in fanfic! So I want you to know I appreciate and value your contributions to the cause. You are braver than any US marine.

I can add absolutely nothing to this wonderful essay because it expresses my thoughts exactly. Apparently a majority of the original fandom back in The Old Days of the noughties watched the show and came out under the impression that House is - a dom??? Like?? WTF???? Were we watching the same show???? Were doms just Built Different back then??? That man is as bratty bottom sub as they COME. Like. THEE OG mold of bratty bottom. All other bratty bottoms aspire to be House.

He constantly pushes buttons until people snap? He's forever testing his friends and coworkers, longing for them to bark back at him and visibly getting off on it when they put him in his place?? If they ordered him to do something he would leer at them and growl 'make me'???

I was chatting about this with a mate literally yesterday, about how we both like a little switching with almost all of our ships - but HOUSE IS ALWAYS A BRATTY BOTTOM BITCH FOR US

HE JUST IS

it's right there in the show

we don't even need to write a meta explanation (though I appreciate yours greatly) because we have an 8 season long essay on the subject

(yes, yes, I am echoing your disclaimer that anyone can ship whatever they want in whatever way they want; no hate to anyone, etc. I'm just. Baffled at how popular dommy top House content is because I do not see it. I am blind to it. I cannot understand it skdhfsldfgsdfg)

And blushing softboi Wilson is just ???????? to me. Where is that man? Where???? I didn't see him in the series, that's for sure!

Is it literally just that he's smaller, traditionally prettier, and more feminine - and as we all know, the shorter feminine guy always bottoms???? /s, I know it can't just be that khgkgkjgh

Eh, c'est la vie! But at least there's a little community of us all shaking each other's hands and going 'THAT MAN IS BLATANTLY A BRAT'.

Also, you are 100% right about the main fascination of this show being (for me, a Physically Disabled) the intersection of the ableism and infantilization House faces, and his desire to sub and be vulnerable with others. That's so fucking juicy, and I think a lot of interpretations of his character miss it T^T