#otp: what are you afraid of

[bookshelfdreams]

oh and one more thing i am SO GLAD we got to see the first meeting between edwin and charles, it is so sweet and understated and so so SO absolutely insane like

imagine you are curled up in a dark corner somewhere and you have been hurt plenty before so you know this time it's really, really bad. and you can't get help, don't have the energy left for it, and there never was any getting help for you anyway, was there? finding a quiet spot to hide until you can pick yourself up again has always been the only option, but you just - you don't even feel the pain, and isn't that the biggest sign that you're truly fucked? you just feel cold, and scared and you wish. you probably just wish you weren't alone.

and then you suddenly aren't, anymore. suddenly there is light, and a kind face, and a voice keeping you company, answering your silly questions, distracting you from the fear and the memories, soothing you, being there in a way no one has ever been, not in all your life

and then you realize oh it's because you were dying. dying, and haven't even noticed, he "did not want to scare you", and you do not have the words for how that makes you feel, that kindness, how it makes something crack open, how it wraps itself around the core of you like warmth you can no longer feel, and tells you you're alright, you'll be fine

so that's not so bad, then. you have someone with you now.

except you don't, you don't, because turns out you're supposed to go on by yourself, which means you will be left alone again, and no. you will not.

he tells you he's "not good with people" and you know that's a lie, and also, you don't care at all. you don't care what is waiting for you in the afterlife, as long as you get to draw out this moment. so you turn your back to the light, and walk away towards him, and you never regret that, not one bit

imagine crawling out of hell and the first person you meet immediately refuses to go to heaven so he can spend more time with you

[witchofthesouls]

Wondering how Tarn and the Nurse's story would go if they shared a world with Fusian Cannon Wedding Megatron.

The idea of fusion Cannon Wedding Megatron!AU is that the senate reserved the right to take any sparkling from unconjuxed parents ostensibly to be put in a worthy home while simultaneously making it cost prohibitive for all but the elite. Even for the upper middle caste it was incredibly burdensome. But if you could get an audience with a priest of the 13 they could interview a couple deem them worthy and chose to wave the fee.

Megatron, the agnostic, due to Gladiatorial WWE-esque Theme Shenanigans actualy ends a priest of Megatronus because he refused to be a fake priest in such a way that the last Priest of Megatronus decided "welp this is my best bet as a secuessor." Megatron ever the political activist used this to perform legally binding weddings for any sparked couples he came across.

Cue the Revolution and the risk of Deceticon newsparks being stolen increases. But there are treaties to return kiddos to their parents or next of kin. So if con, bot, neutral, or implausiblely compatible alien sparks up or is sparked up by one of his Decepticons, they are kidnapped and brought to the alrer at gunpoint for now High Priest Megatron to Marry them off "for the children's sake." The DJD has brought runaway 'juxes to the alter.

Now the DJD still has the Doner Cause because it's a way of protecting the bitties. Megatron initaly gets wind of the situation of with the Nurse and is relatively chill. Right up untill he realizes that the nurse was never married to the sire. Nevermind their Caimen with very diffrent rules and cultural norms. (Also their the mentee of a very scary Healer). Kaon doesn't even have to pull a witnessed act shenanigans to help his ship set sail. He just has to include a question in his routine report that Tarn is continuing providing doner support as outlined in the Doner clause. "As the cowardly tratitor abandoned his lover the moment he found out she sparked we did not find out he had sparked her after he was dead. Is it possible to posthumously conjux them for the security of the sparklings?" Kaon knows damn well posthumous conjuxing isn't a thing.

Shenanigans are about to ensue.

This is great because Megatron's manifesto would have revisions about religion, so instead of an atheist society, he more likely written about freedom of religion for anyone to practice. Just as a final Fuck You to the Senate with their harsh stance.

And because of the wild shenanigans, I think the Decepticons would have strong civil and family court proceedings.

Deadzone and Nurse were (ex) fiances, so Megatron could be chill with that.

But not with Tarn also sparking up the Camien. Now that's a whole-ass security risk!

Megatron wouldn't need to demand Tarn to return. The Peaceful Tyranny bulleted itself to the main flagship, ignoring everything else to get it situated after the consequences of too much excitement at the "fake" resort wedding.

A poor, sleep-deprived and absolutely exhausted Nurse would have been scooped up and thrown into the shower and polished to high-hell. You were vaguely aware of quick, sure servos working your back and sensory panels, and Helex was hogging the dryer.

This was no dignified walk. The entire Justice Division burned rubber and left scorch marks on their stampede to the Altar. Every other 'con jumped out of the way and booked it elsewhere because no one wanted to be in the vicinity that had the D.J.D. that hyperfocused.

Shockwaves rippled across the base that it wasn't a gruesome execution but a wedding.

Out of all the mechs, Tarn's.

The gossip mill was set aflame. Information between truth and rumors clashing, especially when the newlywedded mech was spotted with strange, blue Energon painted bright on his chassis.

The reality of it was far less fantastical.

You were a sack of photon-potatoes over Tarn's shoulder as he carried the cradle-pod of newsparks under his opposite arm.

At the daunting reveal that Megatron the bomb of Megatronus Prime's ordained lineage with the markings and proven insignia, you took a short break in the private sideroom (with proper permission from the High Priest) to freak out over your own lack of preparations and courtesies for said High Priest.

You did invoke part of an old bonding custom from Caminus' initial vorns when the Titan carried the survivors of the Tribal wars composed of different peoples.

You and Tarn get married with each other’s Energon painted upon the chassis.

Not only Megatron officiated the ceremony, but allowed a generous honeymoon package of timeoff and a few gifts.

[angstydiaz]

WAIT ARE THEY BACK

[singsweetmelodies]

ive read all three of your ts/f1 reblogs and i have 3 things to say

1. Youre insane

2. I know all these songs and i wanna shoot myself

3. King of my heart is a sebchal song

❤️

akira i fucking adore you and i have 3 things to say back:

1) yes 😘 and i still have one more to do whoops lmao. fuck me.

2) BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA it was all worthwhile then 😌😌😌👌👌👌😘

3) sorry babe but i will have to fight you for that one. i think king of my heart is one of those songs that everyone wants for their own dearest otp. so i will make my case for piarles.

king of my heart... i love the way it's all about "i have been waiting, body and soul." no other pairing has waited for each other like these two. they grew up together. dreamed an impossible dream together. achieved that dream together. and stayed together every step of the way. no matter what, they never fell apart. that makes years and years and years of waiting, for their dream but also for each other.

because. all the best friends to lovers stories - and songs! - are about that moment it all changes. (the say you fancy me not fancy stuff.) the crippling uncertainty for ruining everything but also the thrill of taking the step from friends to more. (the up on the roof with a schoolgirl crush.) the way nothing afterwards can ever compare to a first love, the way nobody can really know you or hurt you or love you like your lifelong best friend. (the is this the end of all the endings.) the way it's all worthwhile when they love you too, because they mean everything in a way nobody else ever truly can. (the king of my heart, body and soul.)

in short. they are the kings of each other's hearts, to me. and they always will be. ❤️

[creativepromptsforwriting]

Prompt List: Romantic Prompts (4)

Masterpost by creativepromptsforwriting

Dating

Prompt #333: Imagine your OTP (8)

Imagine your OTP where both partners want to surprise the other one with a wonderful date but all of their cleverly thought out plans fail and it looks like this is going to go down in history as the worst Valentine’s Day ever. + if it’s actually not that bad in the end

Prompt #419

“Where do you see yourself in five years?” “Sounds more like a job interview than a date.”

Prompt #468

“If I go on a date with you, will you bring the dog from your profile picture?”

Prompt #481

“I need just one date.” “You think you can woo me with just one date?” “Absolutely.”

Prompt #644

“Can we go on one date without you causing someone trauma?” “Babe, I’m a demon. What do you expect me to do?” {Submitted by: welcome-tothe-mystery-shack}

Prompt #658

A date on a ferris wheel sounds incredibly romantic, but it can be a disaster if one of them is afraid of heights.

Prompt #1026

“I thought a few candles would be very romantic.” “You almost burnt down the house.”

More: Romance Prompt Lists

[raayllum]

Rayla and Callum really are the OTP of all time like how am I supposed to go back to anyone or anything else when the level of detail and mini arcs and line callbacks are just so good and consistent like??

"The thing is, Moonshadow elves aren't supposed to show fear. Ever." (1x05) → "I'm afraid of hurting him, but I owe him the truth" (2x02)

"Then it's a cycle. You hurt me, someone will get revenge against the elves, it won't end" (1x02) → "I've been thinking about something someone once told me, about how when one person hurts another and that person hurts them back, it becomes a cycle that never ends." "Who told you that?" "You did" (2x07)

and that's coupled together with advice of "who are you? what do you stand for? once you figure that out, you'll end up where you were always meant to be" (2x05)

The way they're always thinking about the other person ("Rayla, would you say it could cut through pretty much anything?" "My wrist binding!" / "They're called adoraburrs. I thought you'd like them!" "I love them!") and think that the other person is the most annoying person they've ever met but also the absolute Best

which makes sense cause they always know how to cheer the other person up and they're best friends

and ofc how they're Ride or Die since day 1 until the end of all time

Like ship of all time, truly

[carpbread0]

NPC Life is the best

(Genshin Impact x gn reader - sagau)

(second person pov)

Prologue —> part 1 —> part.2

—————————————————-

After being tossed into the world of teyvat, you start to make your way down starsnatch cliff. Unlike what you had previously thought, the winds were quite gentle and gave you a sense of serenity that some what soothed your aching head. It was about sunrise when you had landed here so it shouldn’t take until sunset to get to mondstat.

the dirt path was a great aid to the city and in all honesty the walk down the cliff was quite nice as you got see the lovely sights of windrise and a ancient four winds temple.

there were a few adventures out and about but they paid you no mind. It was better that way. as you slowly approached the small cooking pot set almost right outside the city you decided it be best to test a few things.

Grabbing a small left over sack from the wood stump, you took out a small pocket knife sheathed in leather. Taking the small knife out you looked around to see if anyone was there. to your relief there was no one besides the pigeons on the bridge.

gently holding the knife you proceeded to make a small cut on the side of your wrist.

Gold..

quickly after your discovery you use the bandages in the small bag to cover it up. Wouldn’t want someone to see that..

gently holding the sack you found you thought it’d be best to keep it. It’s free no? Smiling happily with your newly found possession you started to walk across the large bridge.

a few characters you decided were best to avoid were obviously venti and kaeya. Venti was an archon so it was already a big no even if he didn’t know what you looked like. Kaeya is from khanria so who knows what he could sense. Both of them have visions so both of them could possibly recognize your aura.. even though venti uses a fake one, it’s still likely that as an archon he would recognize your aura regardless..

well that is if they decide to believe in the strange aura of yours. There’s a chance they won’t even bother tracking you down.

gathering your thoughts together you make your way into the city nodding at both of the guards as a sign of respect. To your surprise they didn’t even stop you from going in without a small questioning.. you guess it’s because they barely get any respect *snorts*.

walking into the city, you realize it’s about 9 o’clock and your a bit peckish after the long walk. Why not treat yourself to a delicious fisherman’s toast? looking around you as you make your way up to Sara, you find that the city is more crowded than what it seems to be in game. People by the fountain, merchants flocking the side of the paths, and even little kids playing with what looked to be a yo-yo. In all honesty it put a smile on your face. Everything was so beautiful.

making your way up to the counter of good hunter you spot a familiar sight, amber and Eula were eating at good hunter too! ‘Oh god it’s my otp AAAAAAA’

‘Calm down y/n..’

‘Calm down’

afraid of staring at the pair for too long, you glance away not noticing the strange look Eula shot at you.

after waiting in line for a little bit you manage to finally order your beloved fisherman’s toast. Using the mora inside your (stolen) bag you pay off the fisherman’s toast and find a spot to enjoy your crispy delight.

“Why hello there” a familiar but suave voice calls out to you.

“I haven’t seen you before, are you perhaps an outlander like our dear honorary knight?”

god.. it was kaeya

“Hm? Oh I’m actually from liyue.” You lie trying to maintain a calm demeanor.

“Oh? I Must say, you don’t dress like someone from liyue, I apologize for my assumption.” He looks down at you with a sly smile and inquisitive look.

“It’s no problem, really” god you never realized how hard it was to act.. you should’ve taken up those acting classes from your aunt.

“If you say so” he smiles again. “Enjoy your stay in mondstat I’d love to show you around some time traveler”

“Oh no, i mustn’t take up your time”

“Oh but I insist. Whats your name by the way lovely traveler?” He says with a confident look on his face.

“Y/n, you must be the suave Calvary captain that all the ladies in mondstat have been chatting about.” You tease him slightly to get the attention off of you

“You flatter me Y/n. Your quite the smooth talker yourself” he chuckles and smirks.

“Well it was nice getting to meet you, I must be on my way now, even though I would’ve loved to stay and chat”

“It’s no problem Kaeya” you smile softly and wave off to him as he walks away.

‘Holy fucking shit’

You felt as though your life flashed through your eyes as you finish up your fisherman’s toast. Hopefully he didn’t see through your facade.. he might’ve noticed your aura but probably dismissed it as something else. well he’s gone now so there’s no need to worry to much about him right now.

the thing you should be worrying about is going broke after all.

what job would suit your NPC like needs..

——————————————————————

carp bread- brain vomit

[vole-mon-amour]

every time I notice artists' (whose art I adore) notice like, "proshippers don't interact", I feel like I have been slapped in the face and personally insulted. you love my favourite character. I love my favourite character. we might even have the same otp. so what are you afraid of?

I mean, I thought we're all adults here? and can see that fiction is fiction and people get to explore things in fiction without harming anybody? and that's the point of fiction because it's fiction? and as long as it's tagged and can be blacklisted, it's fine? also, I thought we had an understanding on our fav character's personality, because they wouldn't discriminate like that?

(Halsin fucked a chimera. he had sex with Astarion (a vampire, which is against all that druids and nature stand for). he doesn't mind having sex in his bear wildshape. dude is naturally curiois. he doesn't care. he understands.)

gosh. the fandom used to be fun and not so sanitized. you guys are just mean.

upd: this is not about a particular fandom, even though I have a couple examples in mind. I encounter this in every fandom & it's exhausting.

[waokevale]

Looks at you with my eyes sitting in front of you like I'm interrogating you (but it's actually a really nice cozy room). I have heard tale of this WXwood ship. Tell me what you find compelling about the ship I'm considering joining you in WXwood land. Literally just say words at me I'm listening

Alright, very well then, so I shall! 🫡

At first, it was kind of an ironic ship for me, because they seemed like the classic "opposites attract"

But once I got digging, I found they're not actually that opposite, they share plenty of things in common and neither is actually a black or white character. Inevitably I became enthralled with this ship and now it's one of my top 3 or so OTPs.

Here's my reasoning and what I found:

1. WX-78 is actually a bit of a softie if you dig through their quotes enough. They act tough and logical to presumably hide whatever ounce of empathy they have left, that didn't escape them completely. (But they're not doing too good of a job)

Etc. They either use this uncharacteristically soft tone or hide a kind gesture or well-intentioned thought behind robotically constructed sentences and insults.

And of course, I don't have to show the quotes for machines or metallic structures, since WX openly sees them as their family and acts basically the same as Wormwood does with plants.

Meanwhile, Wormwood isn't always an empathetic creature. He can sometimes be callous, apathetic and even have favorites amongst plants (and people too), though he doesn't directly state that. He also isn't as dumb as he portrays himself to be, he definitely knows something, but either has too limited English speaking skills or is actively choosing not to say much.

He often sobs or cries when a creature dies, but there are times he reacts with either "whoops", "oh" or "too bad" like it's a small inconvenience at best.

And those are only some of the examples (I can't show them all since I'm answering this on my phone and therefore there's an image limit)

2. Here's a reason why, despite being vastly different at first, they'd ultimately become friends:

WX-78 actually likes plenty of things that correspond to Wormwood, it's likely for them to eventually settle, once they know enough about him.

And what are those things they like, you might ask?

Bees (going back to their previous quote) since WX is frankly enamored by bees, and since Wormwood blooms, there's countless of them surrounding him. if they were to hang around him, they'd hang around bees too. 👌

Their quote for green gem is: "PRESSURE AND IMPURITIES HAVE PRODUCED PLEASING PERFECTION" which is. well. Something.

They're very fond of pumpkins, describing them as: "IT HAS A PLEASANT SHAPE" while their seed as "IT IS A SOURCE CODE FOR PLEASING PLANTS" And guess who just happens to have a pumpkin skin ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

The lunar affinity. WX practically WORSHIPS the moon, it wouldn't be surprising that, if they found about this aspect about him, they'd get very excited and embrace it, because c'mon, it's the moon. They have dozens of quotes describing how THE MOON IS SUPERIOR, I wouldn't be able to fit all of them into this post, just trust me on that.

WX-78 doesn't hate all organic life, besides they're just playing out a role. But they do certainly appreciate some plants, such as potatoes and lureplants. The former because they can relate to them (potato battery) and the latter because "AWW, IT'S JUST AS EVIL AS I AM". Would it be too farfetched if with his influence they'd grow to appreciate organic life more?

3. Wormwood's quote for W.A.R.B.I.S armor suggests that he admires WX and would like to mimic them. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all)

4. The survivors farming animation is quite charming, I certainly loved their small interaction there. They're also shown in the official Return Of Them vignette, farming on the side.

5. I like the fact that one of them is afraid of water and the other of fire. Adds an interesting dynamic.

6. They just work. Despite wanting to "DOMINATE ALL ORGANIC LIFE" WX-78 appreciates people who can stand up for themselves. I'd guess Wormwood would be a huge pushover at first, no doubt, but with their influence, he would certainly have to grow a spine (metaphorically speaking)

Likewise, WX-78 struggles to show kindness to non-robotic creatures, because they fear they might come off as WEAK and SENTIMENTAL. Things they loathe to expose about themself. Wormwood could help them show that it's okay to love organic friends and be nice to others! (sometimes at least.)

I'd say they balance out each other perfectly and that is quite rare to see in modern pairings. While they'd definitely struggle to get along at first, they'd surely grow fond of the other one day :)

I hope this convinced you. if not, I'll try and dig up some more stuff. Then again, keep in mind that there aren't many canon character interactions besides whatever crumbs we've got from their quotes and official animations.

[maoam]

Male fans say sns holding hands with blood is not romance because it is the unison symbol.

*rolls my eyes*

First of all, it's not "just" anything because the whole point is that Naruto and Sasuke can hold hands even when they don't have hands. And their blood surely makes it look like they are fully encircling their hands.

But more importantly. Look at what Kishi wrote.

He made Naruto falter due to Neji's death, then have Hinata give him a long speech/pep talk about Neji and ninja way which made Naruto stand up and fight again. But. Not long after, he was struggling again due to many people dying and Shikamaru being near death, and Sasuke picked him up with just TWO LINES. No long speech needed. These are similar on purpose. People dying, Obito taunting Naruto, Naruto losing it, and then a pep talk.

Naruto's thoughts just kept coming after Sasuke's two lines. Sasuke was of course pleased with how much hold he has over Naruto. But yes, do you see how Kishi made two similar scenes to show how special Sasuke is to Naruto? He had to give some crumb to NH, but he didn't want to be too nice about it.

Even better: Naruto holding Hinata's hand to share the kyuubi chakra with her was the last scene of them interacting with each other. NH fans hold this scene in high regard and proof of their romance. But Kishimoto really went and cut the hand Naruto used when holding Hinata’s hand and made Naruto hold hands with Sasuke without his hand. He was saying, they don't have hands, but that's mere inconvenience, they are truly connected, they don't need hands to hold hands! Not to mention, with Hinata Naruto looks like he's being held at gunpoint (how Kishi surely felt drawing this scene), while with Sasuke he looks content, at peace, despite the fact his arm has been cut off and is bleeding.

Kishi has done this before the war arc too.

Hinata confesses her feelings to Naruto in Pain arc, how because of him she didn't go down the wrong path, how she wanted to be by his side, how she kept chasing after him, and then saying she's not afraid to die for him. Naruto tells Sasuke in the next arc how because of Sasuke he finally had a bond and didn't go down the wrong path, how he wanted to be around Sasuke, how he kept chasing after him, and then saying he's ready to die with Sasuke and reunite in the next world.

And while Naruto ignored Hinata's confession, Sasuke kept Naruto's words to him and thought about them even during the war arc. He also thought about their vow. Again, Kishi showing his preference, what truly is his otp.

Of course, SS/NH will say, well just because it's romantic in NH doesn't mean it's romantic in NS! Because they're homophobic. Because their modest intellect can't make them understand Kishi wrote these moments very close to each other, and that he's the writer, and that this was obviously all intended and calculated. Funny how the manga is riddled with countless "coincidences", it's almost like they aren't coincidences... lol.

[j0va-raine]

alright. Your otp. Imagine them. Imagine that one of them is deathly afraid of spiders. The other one? Loves them. Is OBSESSED with them. One day A is going about their normal daily whatever, and they see a spider. They scream, B comes rushing in, looking around for whatever made A scream like a girl . They see the spider and start nerding out over it. A is all like "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! KILL IT!" and B is like "Why would I kill such a beautiful creature?!" And A is just like "JUST GET RID OF IT!" And B keeps it as a pet!

[angstydiaz]

im gonna fucking SCRWAM

[anxious-lee]

|| Tiana & Naveen Tickle Headcanons ||

A/N: guys they are so important to me I can't deal 😭

-----

- tiana is 70% ler 30% lee

- when she and charlotte were little girls, they would tickle fight each other all the time; tiana was usually the winner

- in all aspects of life, she's become accustomed to taking charge and fighting her way to the top; this also applies to tickling

- as naveen warms her up to giving away trust, he teaches her how to let someone love and appreciate her instead of the other way around: what better way to show love than tickles?

- pretty competitive

- will not let up until you are calling for mercy

- make no mistake, she is not ruthless (in the bad way at least); she makes sure naveen is having fun before she brings out the big guns

- not afraid to play dirty to get the upper hand

- giggles cutely at naveen's lee behavior

- she thinks it's incredibly funny to watch the suave prince become incoherent with laughter

- teases with gentle sarcastic comments and playful banter; "is there a hawk outside? cause I just heard a great big screech!" "no? no what?? not here???"

- actually very ticklish

- she can tough it out fine until naveen finds her bad spots and then she starts to lose control

- has the brightest laugh in all New Orleans; the first time naveen heard it, he fell head over heels all over again

- worst spots are her hips and her neck

- naveen is a 50/50 switch

- he actually didn't know he had a lee side until he met tiana

- he's tickled the occasional girlfriend, but few ever retaliated

- needless to say, he wasn't ready for tiana's tickle-fighting spirit

- as unfamiliar as he is in the lee position at first, he immediately loves getting tickled

- not so much that he'd ask for it, but enough that when the moment comes where he realizes he's done for, the purest smile crosses his face

- if he can see he's about to get owned, he'll try to sweet-talk his way out of it

- one time, he tried to escape a tickle attack by trying to instigate a make-out; tiana played along, and just when naveen thought he was in the clear, she got him; he was "outraged" at that betrayal for a week

- he thinks his sweet-talk comes off as smooth, but it really doesn't; he looks like a nervous babbling mess

- tiana thinks it's really cute ❤️

- I'd say he's averagely ticklish

- you wouldn't know it though from the way he turns to jelly the moment he's touched

- his laugh turns breathless really fast; just airy giggles through and through

- actively tries not to call for mercy because he's having so much fun, but it's REALLY hard when your whole body is screaming at you to get away

- worst spots are his sides and back

- used to see tickling as a fun way for him to flirt with women, but after marrying tiana, it becomes about making her smile and enjoy herself

- has way too much fun teasing her

- "oh, is that where it tickles? is it? is it? because I had no idea"; "I think I see a smile~! Someone is smiling~!"

- THE teaser, okay?

- when naveen found out tiana was not only ticklish, but in fact very ticklish, he would not let her hear the end of it; she had to hold his cap captive until he agreed to let it go

----

My disney otp frfr ❤️

[harmoniouseclipse]

Woe fankids be upon ye

Doing a little series where I took some ship requests on my instagram to make them fankids, this one is for me tho (jeanlisa to kick it off whoo 🙌🏻) The lineup so far is Cytham, Kavetham, Lionfish (aka Freminet x Gaming aged up probably idk how old they are canonically), Cynonari, Jealuc, and Beiguang, and feel free to send me some other pairings you wanna see (as long as they are legal pls otherwise I will ignore it 👎)

I'm gonna ramble about some headcanons and lore for them under the cut, continue with caution bc I'm insane

These two are my brainrot rn, don't even joke lad. And I wanna tell yall their name meanings too bc I like them a lot 🥹 Zephra's means "west wind" derived from Greek, and it's the feminine version of Zephyr. Tyrian was a type of purple dye used by the Ancient Phoenicians, huge huge HUGE thanks to my pookie bear @miothefish for helping me out with his name!!! Also he has Lisa's butterfly earring and you can't see bc of the angle but Zephra has the rose that went in her hair holding her ponytail <3

I'm also making a massive family tree for the characters as a go along, and just the jeanlisa tree is taking up half of the canvas bc of the KoF and Sumeru characters since Cyno is their uncle and the rest of the gang are their honorary uncles 😭 I'll be posting that once the series is done/all the requests are finished/I run out of ships and otps I enjoy

Here's an alternative version with some more info on most of the characters I wanted to briefly mention in their relation to them; Tyrian likes calling Eula his aunt too even though she was never really considered one for them so it's kind of like her unofficial title she pretends to dislike but she loves it and dotes on Tyrian 🤭 She and Diluc also helped train Zephra with a claymore and Diluc kind of became a parental figure to her in her teen years after Lisa's passing 🥺 She also feels like she's outshined by Jean and that she's not smart or powerful enough to follow in Lisa's footsteps (something that Lisa wouldn't want anyways bc it led her to her death 😔) rip zephra she's just like me fr

And yeah some Kaeya angst bc he's still going thru it I fear, and Jean is single mombossing but she's worried for zephra which me too dawg, im afraid to say she might be cooked 😦 Zephra is also kind of like a weird mix of Lisa when she was her age and Jean, where overall she's well-mannered and kind but she can be competitive and feel the need to push herself too much and pull a few strings to get what she wants from time to time. Tyrian is a ray of sunshine tho, he has not yet witnessed the horrors 💔 I do think that Jean is also a lot easier on him than her mom was with her so that also helps. He's very shy tho and wants to stick with Zephra or Razor most of the time, and they both have some nasty tan lines from going out with Razor and Klee and Fischl a lot 😔 Cyno also freaking loves them and dotes on them and Tyrian is getting a TCG addiction because of it smh, Cyno is also one of Zephra's favorite people and when she's in Sumeru she stays with him and Alhaitham (bc in my universe they are married ough I love cytham)

And (I think?) Klee physically and mentally ages slower than humans so I think she'd be technically 9 or 10, and Zephra is left with babysitting duty most of the time if she's home on break or smth 😭 Klee really looks up to her tho

Also, I wrote Tyrian's last bullet point like he was super young when Lisa died, but I think he was around 7 so he actually remembers Lisa better than I intended it to sound, he was just younger than Zephra (who was 11 at the time) and just didn't have as much time with her as Zeph did, but his most fond memory of Lisa was reading with her and she probably taught them some potion-making skills too.

I think there will be some abyss angst in here too at some point, since I hc Lisa to be probably an Abyss Lector/Harold (I forget which is which) um so thinking that Zeph and Tyrian experiencing some not normal things happening and Jean doesn't know what to do since Lisa also didn't really know what that dog in her was until it was too late 😔 That's what Kaeya's for tho since he's like the heir of the abyss???? Go off king. Also some touchy ragbros angst bc Kaeya is scared for Zeph knowing how close she is with Luc and he doesn't want him to push her away because of her being from the abyss or smth (they mostly made up but it's still a fear in Kaeya's mind both for him and Jean's kids)

I think that's all I wanted to touch on for now?? Mainly just thinking about domestic fluff and angst all the time now 🥺 Zeph not being able to be open with Jean bc she feels like a disappointment but Jean would literally actually die for her and shes proud of her no matter what ough im going to lose my freak dawg guess who my favorite fankid is it's super hard ik

Send me asks or dms or whatever for more ship requests!!! I'm having so much fun with this dawg 🫶🏻

[conundrumoftime]

Fandom grandma tales: how I survived canon ruining two of the ships I liked.

(Written after a discussion with some of my TROP fan pals about how canon can break your heart re: shipping, and how fandom manages. There are spoilers here for the entire run of Babylon 5, and for one story JMS wrote after it. yes, that story. sorry.)

Babylon 5 was a sci-fi space opera show that ran from 1993 to 1998. It is sci-fi of the era of 22-episode seasons, of huge ensemble casts with characters who get their own B- and C-plots, with an effects and casting budget that doesn’t always match its ambition, and - something it was quite pioneering in, at the time - grand pre-planned story arcs. 

It’s the first fandom that I was involved with in internet spaces as it was running, or at least when its final season was (there’s Discourse and drama from earlier years that I missed). Its showrunner, J. Michael Straczynski - ‘JMS’ - was very active in (non-fanfic) fan community spaces, and you always knew exactly what he was thinking about things because he was part of the discussion around them. There was also fanfic, which he didn’t stop but didn’t go near on the grounds of legal liability for story ideas. 

Most of the fanfic in the early days as the show was airing was focused around two big ships, of which one was canon endgame (Delenn/Sheridan) and one was canon all-ends-in-despair (Marcus/Ivanova). I, as a teenager discovering a developing online fandom for the first time with all the overwhelm and excitement that causes (ask me anything about what reading fic was like before the days of tags/ratings/warnings!) got into Marcus/Ivanova and also into one of the minor ships, Delenn/Lennier.

Delenn/Lennier was never, ever going to happen in canon. This is obvious; it clashes with Delenn/Sheridan which was JMS’s baby darling OTP, the show’s big love story. Delenn is married for the later part of the show. Lennier is her diplomatic aide, is absolutely devoted to her, and they have a very intense mentor/student relationship, which it seems is kind of standard in their culture (when Delenn’s own mentor died she went briefly insane with grief and started a genocidal war over it) but is still Very Intense. He is canonically in love with her, but that’s as far as the explicit canon statements go.

However. HowEVER. Canon also gives us, for that relationship, some wonderful ship fuel. Lennier knows about every bad thing Delenn has done, including all the stuff she doesn’t/can’t tell her husband. He’s her link to her previous world and culture and stands by her even when they kick her out. She says at one point, “without him, I would stumble and fall and never get up again.” 

And then… we had Season 5, the final season.

Season 5, for various complicated production reasons, was operating a little outside of pre-planned story arcs and in this season the Delenn/Lennier stuff ramped up about three gears in one go. It was still very obviously never, ever going to be canon, and was almost certainly not intended by the creator (who wrote most of the episodes himself) to look like there was even anything there. At this point Delenn is married; any relationship with her aide would not only be going against the show’s OTP, but going against it in the sense where she’s cheating on her husband, and there is Just No Way JMS would have gone there. And yet! Season 5 gave us:

A scene where Lennier says he can’t stay, it’s too painful to be around her now she’s married, and she’s devastated and has the following conversation with her husband about it:

S: I got your message about Lennier. Is there anything I can do?

D [snapping]: Almost certainly not.

S: Is it because of me?

D: In part, I think so.

S: Yeah, I was afraid of that. Well, as we say back on Earth, three’s a crowd.

D: On Minbar, three is sacred.

S [slightly uncomfortable laugh]: Well, I don’t think I’m ready to handle that one, Delenn.

Delenn then calling Lennier back to the station to do some secret mission thing for her, which involves her sneaking out of her bed while her husband sleeps to meet Lennier in a darkened alley behind a bar, where she tenderly strokes his face and they have a whole conversation about whether her husband understands her or not.

A scene where Lennier comes back from his secret mission to meet both Delenn and Sheridan, Delenn goes to greet him with a hug, and Lennier does this very pointed step back and nod in the direction of her husband, and she pulls back and just sort of pats him on the arms instead. 

I MEAN.

But, the issue here is not what fans did about it but what canon did about it. Canon did the canon equivalent of dragging that ship outside and shooting it in the head. 

In the final few episodes of the entire series, Lennier tries to kill Sheridan, runs away in shame, and then someone finds his diary in which he’d been writing for ages about what a bad decision he thought Delenn had made and how her whole marriage was an awful idea. Even to this day, it’s fun/awful watching people go through a first-time watch when they get to season 5 and hit that. ‘Character assassination in the form of a diary’ was a whole thing for a while. It’s been 20+ years and the actor who played Lennier is stilll mad about it (not because of shippy stuff, but because he - correctly! - thinks Lennier absolutely would not have done that). 

What *fandom* did, on the other hand, was Fixed The Problem.

Delenn/Lennier was not at all a big ship when the series was airing, and for a few years after. Then the fandom dynamics started to change. With less pressure on what canon was going to do, it felt like fandom had more space to play around with things it didn’t do. Fanfic got less interested in trying to fit within the overall story being told and started spinning off in all its own directions. And *this* ship started getting bigger and bigger. People did really interesting things with it, canon divergence went in all directions, everyone wrote a fix-it story of some variety, some authors did a great series of connected stories based on an idea that Minbari have three genders, the quality of the writing has been brilliant. And I think without that absolute whiplash feeling of what happened in canon, there would never have been this feeling of “well I’m not having THAT” which led to all this.

We did not need canon! Canon had done its thing. And canon had broken our hearts enough ways with many of the other stories it told (entirely on purpose) and we weren’t just going to sit back and let it ruin us forever.

By comparison, the other ship I was into was Marcus/Ivanova. This is entirely doomed. Susan Ivanova’s love life is just perpetually doomed. The first partner of hers we meet is an ex who’s interested in getting back together, but then it turns out he’s just using her to infiltrate the station for the fascist terrorist group he’s secretly joined. Then she falls for an archrival of hers, Talia, who works for Psi Corps, the organisation she loathes most of all things - but it’s okay because it turns out Talia is starting to question them too! Maybe these crazy kids can make it work! They have one night together and then OOPS turns out Talia was being secretly controlled by a sleeper personality implanted in her by Psi Corps the whole time. Ivanova’s love life is doomed. 

So for two seasons, she has this sort-of-flirty, sort-of-bickery, sort-of-friendship going with Marcus, who is on the surface of it very much “why not fall in love at first sight like a true romantic, YOLO!” but it turns out is actually deeply messed up himself and full of survivor’s guilt and pain and, you get the clear impression, would have died of shock if she’d actually called his bluff on the OTT flirting and said “yeah, let’s go for it”. And then he sacrifices himself to save her life. It is a very tragic ending, it is absolutely the way he would have wanted to go, she wakes up both furious and absolutely distraught, says that the last thing she heard was him saying “I love you”, says she wishes she’d at least slept with him once, and says that in a way all love is unrequited. PAIN. 

So, lots of fix-it fanfic, lots of ‘Marcus comes back to life’, lots of canon divergence AUs where he doesn’t die and they live happily ever after and both get over their huge levels of unresolved pain. Pretty standard for that kind of pairing. And as a pairing it doesn’t get in the way of any big canon pairings, it doesn’t imply anything icky like mentor/student power imbalances or adultery. And JMS clearly quite liked it. So that’s better, right?

NO. It was WORSE.

JMS wrote an Marcus/Ivanova story himself, published in one of the sci-fi magazines, to try to give them a happy ending. This happy ending involves Marcus, many many years in the future, waking up from the cryogenic suspension he’s in (it’s sci-fi, keep up, keep up). Ivanova is long dead, but he isn’t about to let this get in the way, so what he does is to *create a new Ivanova* by getting some kind of DNA + computerised memory/personality bank thing, finding a doctor who will clone her, putting himself back into animated sleep until the clone reaches the age Ivanova was when she died, then - THEN, I’M STILL GOING - takes her to a distant planet where, with her memories wiped and their spaceship having deliberately been crashed BY HIM so there’s no way back, they live out their lives in peace.

WHAT.

That pairing still does okay in fandom but it’s not really taken on a post-show world of headcanons and riffing on other people’s ideas and tropes in the way that Delenn/Lennier has (and we all just pretend that story never existed). 

So! This has been my experiences in the field of What We Do When The Show Has Thoughts On That Non-Endgame Ship We’re Into. Fandom manages. Fandom will see you through. And in the words of Susan Ivanova:

Babylon Five was the last of the Babylon stations; there would never be another. It changed the future, and it changed us. It taught us that we have to create the future, or others will do it for us. It showed us that we have to care for one another, for if we don’t, who will? And that true strength sometimes comes from the most unlikely places. Mostly though, I think it gave us hope that there can always be new beginnings - even for people like us.

[mothercetrion]

it's Johnshi time (again!). here's the OTP meme I used. brief mentions of MK1 story spoilers in answers for 3, 9, 17, and 19. enjoy!

1) who can outdrink the other? Kenshi. Johnny has had his fair share of alcohol, but Kenshi built up a tolerance for it while he was in the Yakuza. now, unless it's something incredibly strong, he can hold his own longer than Johnny can.

2) who says “I love you” more? Johnny. he's better with his words and is very vocal about how he feels. he tells Kenshi he loves him at least three times a day without fail. Kenshi loves the assurance <3

3) who has trouble sleeping alone? Johnny. he can sleep alone, but it just takes longer. it's because he was in a relationship for quite a long time before his divorce and went from sleeping with his wife every night to having an empty bed. it's an adjustment, and then it's a blessing once Kenshi starts sleeping over.

4) who swears more? JOHNNY. good god, Johnny swears constantly. Kenshi swears on occasion, but it's rarely more than something like "damn" or "ass" whereas Johnny probably says "fuck" and "shit" every single day.

5) who does more of the housework? Kenshi. Johnny generally keeps a tidy space, as does Kenshi, but Kenshi is more likely to clean up if needed. Johnny isn't lazy, just busy, so he almost always helps if he's home.

6) who forgets their anniversary? Johnny. his memory is nearly impeccable until it comes to a specific date, and then he struggles. if he's reminded, like with a calendar or a notification in his phone, then he's good.

7) who steals the duvet in their sleep? it is an intense brawl every night until Johnny invests in a massive blanket. even then, the brawl continues, and it's usually started by Kenshi. Johnny will wake up to barely any blanket and Kenshi nearly fully covered from head to toe. he calls foul!

8) who keeps the other awake at night with their snoring? Kenshi; Johnny doesn't really snore. he's not consistently snoring, but he can get pretty loud sometimes. thankfully, Johnny got used to it quickly.

9) who finds stray animals and begs the other to let them keep them? Kenshi has never had a pet before and wants one so badly. I love the idea of Johnny growing up with cats, though he doesn't have one now, but he imagines that he will have one very soon. Kenshi always pets stray cats if he sees them when he's out somewhere. (Johnny has a parakeet according to an intro with Rain, so he lets Kenshi hang out with her a lot. Kenshi adores her <3 and she definitely seems to like him too, always chirping like crazy when he's over.)

10) who usually makes dinner? Johnny. he loves cooking and is very good at it. Kenshi doesn't know much about cooking but Johnny is always happy to teach him.

11) who plays their music out loud? Johnny. if he's working out at home or cooking, he'll play music on a Bluetooth speaker. their music tastes mostly align, so Kenshi has no problem with it.

12) who hogs the bathroom? Johnny. this man's skin routine is in-depth and lengthy. it's no wonder he looks so damn good! Kenshi's bathroom routine is usually short unless he needs to shave, then it can take some time. even then, Johnny takes longer.

13) who gives the most compliments? Johnny. again, he is a lot more vocal about how he feels, and he will gladly shower Kenshi with compliments, ranging from his abilities to his looks (heavily on the looks; Kenshi is damn sexy!). he always knows just what to say to get Kenshi to blush.

14) skipping

15) who isn’t afraid to embarrass the other in public? Johnny will unintentionally embarrass Kenshi with the attention he gets in public alone. Kenshi does not like the intense public attention; he's not built for the celebrity life. Johnny understands that and knows it's not for everyone, so he won't ever embarrass him on purpose, but it still happens from time to time, and he's always sorry. however, if they're not in public, Johnny will do and say anything to get Kenshi embarrassed.

16) who gives the other cringeworthy pet names? Johnny. he loves calling Kenshi something absolutely ridiculous and seeing his reaction to it. he sticks with "Ken doll" or just his name for the most part, but every now and then, he'll change it up.

17) who fusses over takes care of the other when they get sick? while they will both take care of one another, Johnny is more likely to get fussy with Kenshi. we saw in the story for MK1 that when Kenshi is vulnerable and injured, he takes on a softer voice and is a lot more gentle than I would argue he is normally. the same applies when Kenshi is feeling under the weather. he's bad to get up and wander around, and Johnny is always there to help him back to bed. he'll sit on the bed with him with a cold rag and keep him company until he falls asleep, holding his hand the entire time. Kenshi doesn't like carrying Sento around when he feels sick, so Johnny has to give him an extra hand. he's thankfully very patient and would do anything Kenshi needs him to do!

18) who finds it impossible to stay angry at the other for long? Kenshi. he loves Johnny more than anyone in the world, and there's very little that Johnny could do to make him angry for too long. Johnny isn't perfect, and he does stupid things often, but Kenshi hates being mad at him. they try to be strong communicators when things go south.

19) who clings to the other for comfort when they’re sad or scared? when Kenshi has a nightmare, often about his blinding or their brief time in Shang Tsung's laboratory, or possibly even something he went through when he was part of the Yakuza, he needs to know that Johnny is there with his own senses. he is usually panicking and frazzled, and all he wants is Johnny. he will hold him as tightly as possible until what he's feeling eases up, and even then, he refuses to let go for quite some time. Johnny would let him hold on forever.

20) who is more ‘physically passionate’? (hugs, kisses, or maybe more…) Kenshi. he's always touching Johnny in some way, whether it's hand-holding, a hand on his shoulder, or a gentle hand on his face when they're kissing. his use of touch is something he takes seriously, and it's important for him to utilize touch to bond with Johnny. Johnny absolutely loves it when Kenshi has his hands on him and will gladly let Kenshi do what he wants.