#pls don’t be mean this is the first meta I’ve posted

[bojackandherb]

Hard take but I think it’s better that Bojack did NOT die in The View from Halfway Down.

Him dying would go against the whole theme of having to live with your mistakes. Also it would’ve just been too depressing, especially for people who relate to Bojack’s struggles. What would him dying accomplish? What message would that send across? “Sad horse guy tries and fails to become a better person and to get better while struggling with mental illness, trauma, and addictions, then he finally starts making real progress and just dies.” That’s just depressing. And I know the show Bojack Horseman is kinda depressing, but there’s always an undercurrent of hope. Bojack dying would destroy that hope. Because yeah, Bojack did a lot of terrible things, but he always has the potential and the desire to get better. And maybe you hate him, that’s totally fair. Maybe you think he crossed the point of no return long ago. But the show says no, he actually can get better despite all the terrible things he’s done. And no, it doesn’t undo any of the terrible things he’s done or the pain he’s caused, but it does means he can at least stop hurting people so much, and maybe even help some people. And we do see him helping people and being a lot nicer in season 6, even though he still has a lot of flaws and ends up backsliding. He always has the potential to get better again, unless he dies.

What do you want Bojack to die for? His mistakes? The people he’s hurt? Because him dying wouldn’t undo any of the terrible things he’s done, and I don’t really think it would the people he’s hurt much peace either. In fact, considering a lot of the people he’s hurt have complicated feelings about him, I think him dying would actually give them less peace. Especially if they knew he died by suicide. Because while he’s alive they can cut him out of their lives, maybe tell themselves they hate him and that he’s a terrible person, and just be done with it. But if he dies, then there’s always these kind of thoughts like “is it still okay for me to still hate him? I may have hated him but I never wanted this. Was I too hard on him? Was there something I could’ve done better? Was I in the wrong for cutting him out? …why did it all have to go wrong?”

And yeah, it is possible that some people would get peace from his death. But probably not most of them. Especially not Hollyhock, who already knew about all the mental health struggles he had dealt with and already had a penchant for blaming herself.

And what of the people still actively in his life at that point? Todd, Princess Carolyn, Mr. Peanutbutter, and Diane. His death would’ve done nothing but hurt them, especially Diane. She was affected badly enough when she thought he might be dead but it turned out he actually wasn’t, imagine how badly she would’ve been affected if he’d stayed dead. I can’t think of any way his death wouldn’t helped anything or anyone.

In conclusion, Bojack staying alive in TVFHD was for the best, and his dying would’ve been bad for both the characters and the overall narrative of the show.

[tamelee]

pls bottom naruto is disgusting stop drawing this ooc cringe

Eh? And it hadn't even been a full day.

Anyway, do you know what this means?:

It means… that I don’t give a damn about your whiny gibberish about this top/bottom bullshit, because it sounds incredibly silly. (And wrong because I draw both?)

It’s fine to have a preference, good for you (I have one too!), but if all you care about between a character-dynamic is the single notion which establishes a rule within a fandom that demands only this particular dick in only that particular booty and nothing else, while dividing yourselves between "us and them" while seeing the people who like the same exact characters as your "enemy" and treating them as such— well, 

I have nothing to say to you, I couldn’t care less what you think about me and I don’t know you. 

But for the sake of other creators who are often a target also, some which I know quit because of this… there is a little something I'd like to say about these servers:

You don’t think I (we) know what is said in there and by who? 👀 That your rules of "what is said on here stays here" with a bunch of people online that you don't know, is actually respected? Why do you think I never join any. And bet your ass that I'm not the only one. This constant fighting between NS/SN is such an embarrassment for this fandom, seriously. I hope you realize that.

Because, instead of encouraging a (new) creator to share something about the characters you claim to love (for fucking free) you go off chastise them for not “doing it right”/“your way”, pretending it's some unspoken commission no one knew of or was paid for. Instead of being happy there’s still so much creative contribution for characters from a story that ended years ago, you go complain under fanfics and dishearten writers, often grinning away with your little server-“friends” and make fun of work someone poured their heart in. Or, you huff, puff and breathe fire as you make plans to cancel them out of pure bitterness, to the point (especially new) creators are too scared and dispirited to ever share anything again. It's easy to do anonymously, aye? And if you think that doesn’t affect their lives and sends them right back into a crestfallen pit of dark hell because it prevents them to do/share the single thing in life that gave them a bit of joy, then...

Congratulations; you’re a heartless bastard.

And you, as a fan, did yourself dirty too.

Do you know how many people don’t want to share anything at all for this fandom because you people leave comments, tags, asks, tweets constantly complaining about an incorrect portrayal of the (in your opinion) only acceptable dynamic, like a bunch a brats? Do you? Because I’ve talked to quite a few of these discouraged creators, they have to hope for the best and pray they’re spared from your scrutiny. I receive it from both sides every now and then.

Again, congratulations: you’re the reason there’s less chance of you getting what you want in the first place. 

Do you... really not realize?

The more you squabble with "your enemy" (lol) the more it affects the "us" you care about while the rest of us just bask in the glory that is SNS/NSN and couldn't care less about what you think/have to say. So, keep everyone else out of it and go mope elsewhere.

But, between you and me? There are better ways to share what you think is right. Make something yourself, because what's stopping you?

You’re perfectly capable, it doesn’t have to be art or a fic, maybe there’s just something in the story that you really enjoyed— write about it. Make a meta. Post the panel, show the moment that determined your undying love for this single dynamic and why— whatever.  Because, wouldn't it be nice having someone encourage you to create something you like? 😬 Especially because you and your server feel so strongly about it? And then you don't have to depend on others either?

Wouldn't it be nice?

Well?

Hm!?

Try it, ffs.

[proosh]

post the meta op - @ludwigbeilschmidts (and tag me pls)

As requested, @ludwigbeilschmidts;

So it took me a bit to figure this out, but I've decided to approach this as a general analysis and brief overview from my perspective so you're going to have to forgive me for being a bit rambling lmao

(Cw for discussions of historical gender and misogyny)

One of the things that struck me when doing research that Prussia was, as a nation, pretty weird in its concept of gender. I’ll mostly be focusing on Frederican Prussia here because that has the most meat to chew on and is what I’m most familiar with:

Interpreting Gil as a trans dude (so much as the concept can be applied to an early modern context) puts him in such an interesting position re: the toxic hypermasculine chauvinism of the martial culture of Prussia, and especially the contemporary standards of manhood. Masculinity was a performance and a duty, and within Fritz’ personal circle it was explicitly homosocial, homoerotic, and homosexual — Fritz himself was a raging misogynist to the point he managed to alienate and offend potential allies into turning against him by being a crude and often cruel chauvinist.

It's an interesting point to note that FW1 (Fritz' father) and his brand of extremely austere, no-frills-attached masculinity was, as similar to "modern" misogyny as it is, an aberration for the time. In the 1700s masculinity was - at least in aristocratic circles - very much typified by "effete" homosociality, high levels of personal grooming and pomp, and a personal cultivation of interest in high arts and culture.

It’s that “performance” of masculinity that interests me re: HWS Prussia, and even if he were a cis man I do believe he would be operating under a sense of gender identity that would be foreign and register as “queer” to the modern reader. He’s a soldier so he performs his duty as is expected of him, and I feel like that echoes into the other elements of his identity: gender and sexuality.

Which brings me back to my preference for interpreting him as a trans man within the the context of what he represents and why I find it narratively fascinating and fulfilling — What does this mean for him? Where does Gilbert begin and end within the performance of duty and manhood of his nation? Does he find familiarity within the “effete”, homosocial structure of Frederican era masculinity, or does he prefer the later, stricter gendered lines? He knows he’s not a woman, but what makes him a man?

There’s something to be said about the contrast between the homoerotic manhood of the Enlightenment Era and the homosexual scandals of Imperial Germany but this post has gotten long enough already and I don’t think I’ve really said anything much at all in the first place.

There’s really so much to consider and I didn’t even touch on the neurotic and bizarre gendered fanaticism of the Knights (@makwandis would be a fantastic person to ask about this!), or the recurring Cassandras within Prussian folklore, the interpersonal dynamic of being Ludwig's creator (father, mother, brother), or the delirious genderfuck of the Weimar Republic. Maybe those posts will be written at a later date if people are interested.

Thank you so so so much for the ask, I hope I’ve managed to give you something to chew on, this is really one of my favourite topics ❤️

[shirtspolh]

Flashflashrevolution grandtotal daily

#FLASHFLASHREVOLUTION GRANDTOTAL DAILY PRO#

#FLASHFLASHREVOLUTION GRANDTOTAL DAILY SOFTWARE#

High-school student Mike Everest from Durango in Colorado and his mother made $35,000 (£22,000) by building and selling weapons on Entropia in 2006 - he used most of the money to pay for his siblings’ college fees.

#FLASHFLASHREVOLUTION GRANDTOTAL DAILY SOFTWARE#

‘What typically happens with a new medium is that pop culture has to embrace it before it loses its real stigma of being narrow,’ he said.Īlthough Jacobs’ sale appears to be the largest, he is not the first to make money from Entropia, which was started in 2003 by Swedish software developers MindArk and has around 300,000 players around the world. The Epi I thought I knew says things like "civilians shouldn't be trying to earn cred, they should be trying to find bad guys".An overview of the club which has various rooms as well as shops and a teleporter The Epi I thought I knew says things like "civilians shouldn't be trying to earn cred, they should be trying to find bad guys". I'm glad that you like my post, now why do you like it? What makes it good? I don't care that he is trying to earn "town cred." Civilians SHOULD be doing that. It seems like Drago is more focused on earning town credįrom what I've seen, Dragomir is a civilian. The defense hinges on what amounts to a non-existent part of the case. Ironically it’s seems like something I’d post but that’s irrelevant. Furthermore, scum use this too much to get by with their fake suspicions. It's lazy and never actually feels like a genuine read. Why was Sloonei being voted for mechanical talk? Ts why are you gungho about it? I can't help but agree with Sloonei that suspecting someone over mechanical is suspicious in of itself. That newfound understanding can better your reads. An argument could be made that it is beneficial towards the game and lets you understand what could be going on.

#FLASHFLASHREVOLUTION GRANDTOTAL DAILY PRO#

It's not pro anything and doesn't deter the game at all. There was absolutely nothing wrong with him talking mechanically. Look at the way he associates with other players though he's stubborn and aggressive- don't read into it either way. if it's any consolation though sloonei, he's playing right into his meta. i don't wanna read ts account yet 'cause he burned me hard like twice in a row where i thought i had his town meta down a la SOUL READS but he was a wolf and it hurt She just positions herself to be able to vote in a couple different directions if needed. Baseless shade in the direction of Radishes/Turnip.įunnygurl does not take a stance on anything in here. Neglects to commit to a read on the player she seems to be most familiar with in this game (ts account). Honestly i think we really gotta have a talk about the root vegetable crew, and leetic should lay some words down 'cause he says some good stuff when he's present personally it doesn't help me read him so i guess i'm being selfish when i say "pls stop" I keep seeing mikey vs other person boxing matches and his actual alignment is like a coin flip when that happens. Is there anyone or anything we're not talking about enough? Why not? It seems that you guys have plenty of experience with each other. Well i mean i WANNA meme 'til an hour before eod but since that's UNPRODUCTIVE i wanna see a boxing match that doesn't. I don't care and it won't stop me from defending players in the future. So if you're going to call what I did as a defense to say that in scum for it then do that. I've played a lot of games where someone always suspected me cause I would defend players and I disagree with mentality that defense = buddying = scum. What I meant is that I don't care if you consider what I did to be a defense. So far I've just been trying to get you to follow up on things that you have already said, but your response has been "I didn't say that."īecause people were saying that what you did was a bad thing and I disagreed. But it doesn't mean anything if you can't tell me why that's the case. It's fine to tell me that I'm misreading things. What is wrong with what I did and how does it point to me trying to earn town creds? Town creds for what? Defending you? I gave my two cents on why mechanical talk isn't a bad thing. Ppl were trying to say that you were bad for doing that. Dragomir wrote: ↑ Tue 12:51 pm You asked a question about the game mechanics.

[halfblood-princes-crown]

elanon again and jsut finished reading book two!!

some thoughts (other than the important ones) I couldn’t put in my other ask is here

I’ll just get this out of the way, my ao3 original story thing has a new summary and new prologue BUT i will be changing the prologue again soon, to a much better one ☝️

Editing is hard but we push and push

chapter one might be two to three weeks later

moving along,

Salazar Slytherin I dont know if it’s confirmed he started the classism or not, but he did say the basisilks will kill whoever is unworthy sooo I think that that guy is a real family man 💀

‘I’m not gonna specify what I mean by unworthy because my family is always right!’

anyways Harry is either desperate for approval or just a very ambitious guy like ‘my arm is broken and i could die if we don’t guve up the match’ and he WINS goddamn

Also the foreshadowing is insane frl

(about tom)

“maybe he killed mrytle” -ron

AND IT TURNS OUT HE KILLED MYRTLE

also no one suspecting snape? understandable

I really wish there was more done with the parasel tongue

i understand why the teachers went to evacuate instead of rescue first because it did say ‘her body will lie in the chambers’ and no one knows where it is with barely any rumors to hint (except Myrtle but everyone was freaking out)

so I can tell why they sent Lockhart to ‘fetch the body’ while evacuating everyone else

also how did tom know about Aragog?

😳😳😳😳😳

Hagrid voldemort ex best friends real???

also tom sounds like a fucking loser

cant even talk to the principal 🙄🙄

IM ACTUALLY SO EXCITED FOR THE THIRD BOOK

thats all! Tell me if u want updates on that

Have an galactic day 🌌🌌🌌🌌🌌

HEEYYYY 😌 congrats on finishing

Can’t wait to see the update on the prologue!

Yes, editing is hard but we must persevere! 😤

AH can’t wait until you post the chapters 🤩

Salazar 🤔 I’ve seen so many metas on his intentions and none of them stuck to memory 😭 next time you update I’ll hopefully have an answer about that

Imma go with ambitious 🧐 Harry had a lot of ambition! Another good Slytherin trait if I do say so myself 😌

AND YES! I LOVE some good foreshadowing! That’s one of the reason why I read/watch things multiple times, because I look for foreshadowing that I might have missed the first time

The parseltongue! I agree, they should have really did something more with that 🤩 that would have been epic

Yea, the best method is evacuate first in most situations. Like you said, nobody knew where it was so the best option was to get the rest of the children to safety and then figure something out

platonic Tom x Hagrid! Snap snap people! Make it happen 🤌🏽

Not you calling Tom a loser, I’m dead 💀😭 pls

And OFC I want updates! I want updates until you finish the WHOLE series. I’m dedicated to your dedication

Have euphoric day ✨

[mabaris]

When I say that I wish Morrigan was a lesbian, I don’t just mean that I wish she was romanceable by a female warden (GOD. I absolutely do tho). That's half, but the other half of that is that she feels like the perfect opportunity for a story about compulsory heterosexuality, and that's just as important to it.

She talks a lot about how she was sheltered and has little to no firsthand experience of the world. She knows only what she’s seen and what Flemeth has told her, but part of her journey centers around realizing that Flemeth is not always right, and that there's more to life that her mother could never have told her about. (The grimoire, sure, Flemeth would never have shared with her. But what really stands out to me is that when you gain her friendship, it's something she never anticipated. Because Flemeth taught her there was no point in that kind of relationship, and she believed it unquestioningly.)

Morrigan is no stranger to sexuality (because, well, she says that she's seen her mother bring men home), but it stands to reason that she has very little idea of how it relates to herself. If she has any experience at all up to this point, it's in a similar fashion: seducing people for her own benefit, ie intentionally manipulating them, generally so she can save her own skin (and thanks to the fact that the devs forgot to put female templars in the first game :) it’s implied that these have to have been men)

(And with a male warden who tries to romance her, she says that initially she was planning on doing the same to him: she strung him along because it served her goals, and she wasn’t expecting to actually develop feelings for him in return. She wants to create an old god baby, and she needs him to be the sperm donor. That's it.)

She knows only what she's seen from her mother (or what she can reasonably deduce by herself. She knows how babies are made). She thinks things like love and romance are foolish, and Not For People Like Her, so it makes perfect sense that, in her mind, having sex with men would be one of those things that you're just supposed to do. Even if you get no pleasure from it. Even if it disgusts you. Because you should feel nothing for the other person—otherwise, you're weak and naive.

But I'm enamored with the idea of Morrigan who still doesn’t have experience with friendship or love, who plans on seducing the male warden (which, in this situation, would be Alistair, until she realizes he’s too infuriating lol) because she has the same endgoal. But in the meantime, she makes her first real friend in a female warden, and doesn’t know how to explain things because she doesn’t have any frame of reference for what platonic friendship is supposed to feel like, but surely this can’t be right.

Just like in her romance as it’s currently written, she doesn’t know how to handle serious feelings, and she definitely wouldn’t know how to handle romantic or sexual feelings for someone who isn’t a man. That isn’t one of the things she knew could happen. It's unique because in this case, it's not comp het from society, because she doesn't participate in one. It doesn't stem from any kind of malice or ingrained bias.

It's the blind spot you don't even realize you have, in the same way that she has no reason to know what a flamingo is because she grew up in a bog. It's just the result of being sheltered.

[therealvinelle]

Hi, love your metas and your fic. I think you mentioned somwhere that at the end of BD Aro was trying to prevent the fight. What were his motives? According to Edward, the Volturi are cowards, but I didn't get this feeling. Caius was begging for a battle, the guard vocally proclaimed willingness to die for the cause... hell, Jane had to be restrained from running to Bella and punching her in the throat. And I find it unlikely that their leader is less brave than them. Explain Aro's brain pls

Thank you so much! That’s really nice of you to say. And sorry for the late answer.

And explain Aro’s brain, whew. That is a very big question with a very long answer and this post will be a manifesto by the time I’m done. But you wanted Aro’s brain explained so manifesto it is.

So, before we go anywhere I have to make the distinction between Aro of the books and Aro of the movies. Those two are different people.

Starting with appearance, because casting does a lot for me and if a big deviation is made it better be like Ruth Wilson as Marisa Coulter, which is to say it better fit the character. Also, disclaimer, I think most of Twilight was miscast, and especially the Volturi. I’m forever dying at Caius looking like Lucius Malfoy. However, this is an Aro post, so we’re highlighting Aro.

Aro of the books is a twenty-something Greek with skin that has petrified and eyes covered in a milky sort of film, which totals to him looking perfect, as all vampires do, yet frail. When he walks it looks like he’s gliding. This is an otherworldly, ancient, inhuman being. He’s energetic and excitable, yes, but if anything that should add to how very other he is. Casting Michael Sheen is a clear signal that the movies were going in a completely different direction with Aro. Sheen is a great actor who played what he was given perfectly, but what he was given was a very different character.

In New Moon the book, Aro first rejects Edward request because this is Carlisle’s gifted son, and more, this is not what the Volturi do. They are not hitmen. It’s just a big no all around.

Bella enters, and the Aro she meets is a very polite and gracious man who’s delighted to see the human still alive, and pleased Carlisle’s son won’t be suicidal anymore. However, Edward fully intended to step into the sunlight in the middle of Volterra, specifically to provoke the Volturi, and he has broken the law with Bella. Further, Edward makes it clear that he fully intends to walk out of Volterra with his human still human, and that she’ll die of old age if he gets his way. Edward’s contempt of the law could not be more clear. However, Alice shows Aro that Bella’s fate is sealed, she turns or she dies. The law will be upheld. Aro is glad to hear it, and lets the Cullens all go home.

All in all, it’s a very tense occasion where Edward has put Aro in a difficult position, because he’s trying to force him to kill his best friend’s son, and Aro goes “YES THANK GOD” when Alice finally gives him an out.

New Moon of the movies was not this. Starting with the flashback (because I’m being thorough), Aro executes a lowly criminal himself.  I object to that, I think that’s a menial task and Aro doing it himself made the Volturi look less regal, not more. Cut to the present day, Aro rejects Edward’s request because he doesn’t want to waste his gift. We get the whole meeting with Bella, and Aro… well I don’t know why he does any of the things he does. This guy never mentions his friendship to Carlisle, tries to kill our plucky heroes three times in the space of one minute (one, gives Felix the order to kill Bella, stopped by Edward. Two, moves to decapitate Edward, stopped by Bella. Three, he’s about to eat Bella, stopped by Alice), and when he lets them go it feels terribly convenient.

This was a guy written to be the villain of the series, and it showed.

Cut to Breaking Dawn part I’s ending scene, and while I love the song choice for the scene, and fully agree that Aro considers misspelling Carlisle’s name to be a capital offense, the scene itself… we are presented with a villainous, power-hungry megalomaniac who’s just waiting to strike against the Cullens.

We then get Breaking Dawn part II, and I haven’t seen that movie in years but I remember the fight scene well enough. Aro kills Carlisle with the biggest grin on his face, and gives the go-ahead to his Volturi to kill the surviving Cullens and their witnesses.

Contrast that with canon, where Aro’s first words to Carlisle are «Nothing would make me happier than preserving your life today». Now, he’s making it very clear that this meeting will most likely end with Carlisle’s death, but he’s not happy about it. He’s certainly not going to kill him with a smile on his face and laughter in his heart.

The movies needed a hammy villain, and that’s what Michael Sheen played. It is not who Aro is, at all. And he’s not the only character this happened to, but again, this is an Aro post so I’m not going to start raging like Don Corleone about what they did to my boys.

So, with the movies firmly expelled from the post, let’s look at the Twilight series from Aro’s point of view.

Or, rather, we’ll have to start earlier because Aro’s decisions throughout the series are pretty clearly motivated by Carlisle. And that means considering, “why is Carlisle so important, anyway?”

Consider these things: one, Aro is gifted with the power of knowing every single thought a person has ever had. He knows your soul. Two, Aro is the leader of the supernatural world, he has been for over a thousand years.

How many friends does a person with that power and in that position have?

Three, who does Aro even come into contact with?

Starting with number three, for Aro it’s going to be 1) criminals, 2) Volturi guard hopefuls, 3) Weirdos like Laurent who are wasting Aro’s time.

(“But what about the guard!” Well, while we observe close interpersonal relationships between Aro and Jane, and Aro and Renata, and one can assume Corin to be close to the wives, the distinction between Volturi coven and Volturi guard remains. The guards are servants, in some cases beloved servants, but servants nonetheless. It would be inappropriate and weird for Aro to start slumming it with Demetri and Felix)

So, Aro doesn’t get out much, which brings us to point two. The people he does meet, and who are willing to entertain a friendship with the Volturi leader, are going to be people who want something. And that might work for some rulers, Louis XIV built Versailles specifically to make his subjects do this for him, but he had something to gain politically from that. Aro does not, his power is supreme without a need to tolerate brown nosers. More, with his own and Marcus’ gifts, he’ll know right away that he’s being used for power. He would get nothing out of it.

Finally point one, Aro’s gift. Say that we have a vampire who’s not a weirdo and who thinks Aro’s a cool dude. Well, the question now is, who would ever want a person in their life who knows all there is to know about them? I wouldn't want anybody to know every thought I've ever had, I certainly would never seek out a person to know me that deeply when I could just go find normal people to be friends with instead. Not to mention how incredibly unequal such a friendship would be.

In short, I don’t think Aro has any friends.

Enter Carlisle a very amiable person who cherishes Aro for his personality, and doesn’t mind having his mind read. Aro just found a unicorn. Carlisle on his end likes Aro so much that he lives with him for decades. Even if you want to read their relationship as platonic, that’s still a very strong friendship.

Point being that Carlisle is unbelievably precious to Aro, and so very unique. Aro has lived for over three millennia, and never met anyone like this before. There won’t be another Carlisle.

This in turn makes him willing to stretch as far as he can to preserve that friendship and, as the plot thickens, keep Carlisle alive.

Fast forwards to 2006, and Aro is sitting in Volterra minding his own business when Carlisle’s son walks into town demanding his own execution. He has not committed any crimes. Not only is assisted suicide not something the Volturi even do, but this would ruin Aro’s friendship with Carlisle. Even if Carlisle was miraculously understanding of Aro killing his son (which I can’t imagine he would be), this would never leave the air between them. Carlisle could never be around him again after something like that.

So, Aro turns down Edward’s request. “Stupid Volturi man ruining my dramatic suicide, I’ll show him who’s boss!” Edward replies, and runs shirtless into the sunlight. I’m sure Aro was just dying, you had “The Sound of Silence” playing as he stared into nothingness because how is this happening to him. A whiplash of an hour later, Bella is alive again, Aro is happy, we can be done with this now, right? Right?!

No, Edward says, we cannot be done with this. He’s still refusing to turn Bella.

And so we get that whole New Moon exchange where Aro very tellingly shoves the part where Edward WALKED INTO THE SUNLIGHT IN VOLTERRA under the carpet and out of the conversation (for comparison: Irina is executed for false testimony and Bree for breaking a law she didn’t know existed), and he even allows Bella to leave human when he could easily have bitten her himself to keep the Cullens honest. This guy went out of his way to be lenient and show the Cullens good faith.

And then a few months later Irina walks into Volterra, bearing memories of what is unmistakably a Cullen immortal child.

Aro may care for Carlisle, but this is the guy who killed his baby sister so he’d still have Marcus’ gift. He will bend far, very far, for those he cares about, but he will not break. It’s duty above love, Volturi above Aro’s personal preferences. An immortal child is not an offense that can be tolerated, and so it’ll be Didyme 2: Aro Kills Someone He Loves Boogaloo.

By now I think it should be quite clear why I think Aro was trying to prevent the fight. Battle would have meant Carlisle’s certain death.

(And that’s even assuming the Volturi won the fight. With Bella there, there was a chance the Volturi wouldn’t prevail. But even before Bella started showing off, Aro was very much hoping this wouldn’t be another Didyme situation.)

[faerielleart]

Are you ok with the fact that isayama didn't confirm who Levi loved instead of showing us hints (bc some seriously missed them). I'm just do done of all those ships wars and I would pass over Hange's death if he would have made it clear for everyone even non shippers. Have a Nice day and take care

hi anon!

ahh this might sound a but controversial i guess? but i’ll give my two cents anyway.

first of all, i want to say that i kinda disagree with this as a whole: i think that realistically the fact that they love each other couldn’t have been clearer if we take into account levi and hanji as characters. they’re awkward adults, we’re never getting a kiss on screen. they’d probably hold hands at 50. and even if we got a fucking kiss you can bet your ass there’d be people saying they kissed platonically, as they seem to say with literally every single one of their interactions. nothing new here.

secondly, and this is something i’ve wanted to say for a really long time, i feel like sometimes us levihans accidentally downplay what happens between them, i think out of fear of being harassed or because the harassment got to us subconsciously. i know because i’ve done it myself in the past.

let me put it in this perspective: why is it that we as a fandom feel the need to somehow “justify” our meta posts by adding a bit about how “their bond can be taken as platonic” every single time? you don’t see others do it with other ships. it’s only us lmao and ughhh i’m kinda over it i guess? now that the series is over i can finally let it out so pls bear with me :’) i’m not, in absolutely any way, saying you have to read levihan as romantic, but at the same time i feel like sometimes we kinda force ourselves to see it in that perspective too when talking about it publicly out of subconscious fear of getting weirdos coming at us, when other shippers simply don’t do it: they just say “yo it’s canon” and peacefully go on about their day. but with levihan it’s different hhhh there’s always this wanting to remark about how their interactions can be read both as platonic and romantic. as if it’s offensive to consider them exclusively romantic, you feel?

i’m coming clean, i never saw them platonically. never. sorry if it upsets some 🤸 i find it weird how when it comes to levihan people seem to insist that seeing them as anything more than friends is “ruining their friendship”, as if relationships aren’t supposed to be rooted in friendships lmao are y’all marrying strangers or something??? and yeah this strong insistence again is only seen with levihan and NO other ships. i wonder why.

i feel like this last chapter was the “nail in the coffin”, borrowing this expression from the dear anon from yesterday who had to say so many nice things to me.

and i mean it positively! at this point i honestly believe it’s more forced to believe levihan to be ambiguous and unresolved rather than not. we haven’t had an explicit declaration of love from anyone that’s not falco. hell, not even eren explicitly said “i love you” nor did mikasa lmao so yeah i’m kinda over people not keeping the same energy for levihan despite them having the most interaction out of all the characters, despite getting a scene where one of them literally wants to elope with the other, despite getting a confession from one of them hidden in a silly grammar particle, despite the author going out of his way to change a kanji in that same sentence to make it emotionally deeper, despite one of them doing a modified salute with dead eyes, despite the other looking as if they got the sudden realization of their lives, despite one looking completely dead inside staring at his hands until the battle, despite one being at the center of his memories standing out in the sea of light hair and smiles with dark hair and the most sorrowful expression, despite all the mf parallels with other two characters complete with the same words and the same pose distribution in the panels, despite one looking at a plane wistfully and getting paralleled with another character looking at a bird. do i have to go on? and this is only in the last arc. come on. let’s not pretend as if there are no romantic tropes, let’s not pretend as if if it were any other ship people’d be all over them. we can do it now that the manga is over, come on. come on.

to me, it’s clear as day, nothing ambiguous at all. not since chapter 126, and i’m tired of pretending it is lol and to be really really honest i feel like at this point you have to be either a speedreader or in complete denial as a rival shipper if you seriously downplay everything we got in this final arc especially.

again, just my two cents! levihan might not be endgame, but it is canon and they canonically love each other and there is nothing ambiguous about it, point blank.

thank you for the ask anon!

[amphibious-entity]

TMBS Book 1 Brain Dump

~An Embarrassingly Long Post~

I don’t know why I’m writing this or why I’m so determined to do it. Maybe to finally assume my true form and become a mega dork on main, or maybe just for fun!

This is basically a compilation of all the main points running through my head after reading The Mysterious Benedict Society (2007) for the first time. Rather than posting a ton and spamming the tag, everything’s here in one neat package! (hopefully this gets it all out of my system rip)

Contents:

The Book Itself

The Book Itself, for real this time

The Characters

A Funny Parallel

The S.Q. Section

Lines & Scenes I Liked

Spoilers abound!

The Book Itself

Upon acquiring the first three books (don’t judge me pls), I was surprised at just how long they are. Like, they’re still pretty light being paperbacks and all, but these books are hefty lads.

The first book has this Disney+ Original Series circle thing printed on it, which is kind of unfortunate. Regardless, I love the cover illustration and yellow is actually my favorite color :D It made me weirdly quite happy whenever I saw the book lying around in my room

Also, it’s really cute how there’s a letter from Mr. Benedict at the end! (It only reveals that you can find out his first name if you “know the code”, meaning the bit of Morse printed below the summary on the back.) Shock and horror, though, as I realized I’m starting to recognize some of the letters

The Book Itself, for real this time

It’s wonderful how the tone of the book really shone through to the show adaptation. Something about the deliberateness of the aesthetic, from the set designs to the fashion to scene compositions, that really sells that particular style— like it’s very clear that this story is being told to us, rather than one we’re seeing unfold, if that makes sense.

Where that narration style stood out to me the most was the first chapter. We are told (rather than shown) how Reynie gets himself to the point of the second test, and there’s this whole twisty time maneuver for that whole sequence of events that’s really interesting

A super secret fun fact about me is that I wanted to be a writer when I was younger! So this particular balance of show vs. tell is really neat, since it runs counter to my own tendencies. The sheer amount of commas in every sentence is also kind of comforting, since Ahah, I Do That in those few serious-ish attempts at writing lol

Overall this book’s style reminds me a lot of Roald Dahl’s books, which are very nostalgic for me :D The whole “kids are more competent than adults” angle helps a lot too haha

The Characters

Oh boy here’s where I get a little bit critical! Overall I did really like this book!! it’s just that that expresses itself in all this weird “”analysis”” lol

Reynie - much better in the books than in the show

It’s sort of a lukewarm take but I feel like show!Reynie is kind of boring? He doesn’t have a lot going on flaw-wise, and obviously since he’s the protagonist he can’t have too many weird traits or else the kids watching can’t project themselves onto him as easily

(I call it the difference between an aspirational protagonist and a vessel protagonist. Going off of the Roald Dahl vibes, think Matilda vs Charlie. show!Reynie is more of a Charlie)

Thus when we get to see him really struggle with the Whisperer and doubt himself it gives him a lot more dimension, at least in my opinion

It is a federal crime that the white knight scenes were not adapted into the show

Sticky - my son

I’ve long held to no one besides myself and my long suffering sister that Sticky is The Best Member of the Society

He happened to hit a lot of the Bingo squares of Stuff I Like In Characters: glasses, anxious, nice :), kind of a coward but ultimately is there for his friends, etc

For some reason I don’t talk about him nearly as much as you-know-who, but I love him just as dearly

Kate & Constance - I don’t have much to say

Kate is really interesting in this book! I like how we get to see more of her depths, in particular that one passage about her belief that she is invincible being the only thing that keeps her from falling apart? :c

Also her constant fidgeting is relatable lol

Constance is somehow a lot more tolerable in the book. I think I’m just one of those people with no patience for small children, unfortunately lol

(Some of) The Adults

It’s interesting that they had such an offscreen presence for most of the book. Giving them more time was probably one of the stronger changes of the show

However if that decision was made at the expense of the white knight scenes I think the choice should have been clear

I like the way Rhonda and Number Two are written

Milligan always on sad boy hours 😔✊

The “mill again” passage is touching but kind of messes up the pacing of the getaway, at least for me. Maybe I should read it again to make sure I didn’t miss something

Miss Perumal is much better in the show. We see so little of her in the book she doesn’t function well as an emotional anchor for Reynie, imo

The Institute Gang

Jackson and Jillson serve their purpose well, and Martina was surprising to say the least. I like the direction they took her in the show! I can’t imagine how funny it must have been to watch the tetherball subplot come out of nowhere lolol

These sections were written out of sequence, so random tidbit I couldn’t fit in The S.Q. Section: I like how he stumbles over his words. relatable

Mr. Curtain

While I think I know why they decided to not give Curtain the wheelchair in the show, we were totally robbed of Actor Tony Hale’s performance for the reveal during the final confrontation

Speaking of the wheelchair, it’s such a powerful symbol of his need for control or rather, his fear of losing it

The Contrast between him and Mr. Benedict. This point is expanded on in A Funny Parallel

Mr. Benedict

Oh boy, Mr. Benedict… How do I say this

I find it hard to trust Mr. Benedict, unfortunately

I mean to say, I do in the sense that I know he would never hurt the kids, thanks to knowing that a) this is a children’s book series and b) the meta (tumblr) states that he is really nice and lovable and stuff, but seriously. Why do the kids trust him at first?? I probably missed something somewhere

I like to think I’m an optimistic person, but unfortunately I’m also super paranoid. The premise of “a bunch of vulnerable orphans team up with a strange old man” is just so odd to me I don’t know how to explain it

I don’t know!!! I really want to trust Mr. Benedict

One of the strengths of the show is that we get to see him more often, and thus he gets to acknowledge more often that the plan is weird and that he feels really badly for putting the kids in danger and that he’s trustworthy and genuine

But his lack of presence for most of the book just makes him into something of a specter, invisible and unknowable, speaking only in riddles from across the bay

Which is why the white knight scene is so important!! I loved that scene ;-;

Because here’s an actual emotional connection! We can actually see it happening, rather than only being told that it exists

Reynie asking for advice and receiving encouragement, in words that demonstrate that Mr. Benedict actually cares about him and worries about him and agghh

It is a federal crime that the white knight scenes were not adapted into the show

But overall this whole issue didn’t ruin my enjoyment of the book at all! It’s just ->

A Funny Parallel

Okay, ready for my biggest brain, hottest take ever??

Mr. Benedict and Mr. Curtain…. are… the same

I mean obviously not entirely, given that one is benevolent and kind and the other is… Mr. Curtain

But seriously. Genius old man seeks out children (mainly orphans) to enact a plan. Said children often end up incredibly devoted to his cause and deeply admire him this is a little flimsy

Undoubtedly that’s intentional and is supposed to show the difference between them, like some kind of cautionary tale? “Let yourself be vulnerable and let others help you, lest you turn eeeeviiillll”

I guess that’s where the aforementioned epic contrast comes in. You get Mr. Curtain, strapped into his wheelchair and hiding behind those mirrored sunglasses, terrified (but unwilling to admit it) of ever showing the tiniest hint of vulnerability, vs. Mr. Benedict, who can let himself fall knowing that someone will catch him :’)

Anyhow I have nothing against the parallels, I just think it’s funny

The S.Q. Section

The S.Q. Quarantine Thread so it doesn’t leak out everywhere else <3

I’d like to meet the emo angstlord genius who read this book and decided to make SQ into Dr. Curtain’s son. What in the world

Okay I should probably preface this by saying that I absolutely adore both book!S.Q. and show!SQ with all my heart. Somehow, despite being a completely different character in both mediums, he has managed to be one of the best characters in either and certainly one of my favorites (besides Sticky of course) in the entire franchise, despite the fact that I’ve only read the first book/watched the show so far. I am confident in this statement.

But seriously! How?? Why?? I could probably write a whole other essay about why show!SQ is such an interesting character, and the change works so incredibly well. I’m just. Baffled

Okay, focus. book!S.Q. is such a sweetheart, oh my goodness. Like, 100% one of the most endearing characters in the book. Poor guy. I don’t even know where to start!!

He just seems to be a genuinely good guy at heart, despite being technically one of the bad guys. He’s genuinely happy for Reynie and Sticky when they became Messengers and helped Kate when she “fell” and was concerned about Constance when she looked sick and how he was in that meeting with Mr. Curtain and Martina?!!? aaahhhhghgh ;-; he just wants people to be happy TT-TT

Comparing him against literally every character at the Institute is probably what makes him so endearing tbh. When everyone else is so awful to the kids, it really makes him stand out. Like a cheerful little nightlight in the worst, most humid and rank bathroom you’ve ever been in

It’s kind of pointless to theorize about a book series that’s already concluded (I think?) but. Is the implication of S.Q.’s forgetfulness supposed to be that Mr. Curtain used him in brainsweeping experiments somehow? The timeline probably definitely absolutely doesn’t line up but like. How did he get to being a Messenger being the way he is now, given how cutthroat the process is? And then of course Mr. Curtain keeps him around as an Executive because he’s fun to mess with and presumably his loyalty. I’m very curious as to how their relationship develops in the other books, if at all. Those are probably where the seeds of the “let’s make them family” logic were planted

But wouldn’t it be hilarious if the reason we don’t know what “S.Q.” stands for in the books is that he just. Forgot

Another thing that occurred to me. Given that he and the other Executives were Messengers at some point, what were their worst fears? What is S.Q.’s worst fear?? Inquiring minds need to know

One last horrible little anecdote: I was thinking about book!S.Q. while eating breakfast, as one does, and suddenly it hit me.

I want to believe The Author Trenton Lee Stewart had the name for a character, S.Q. Pedalian, and was like, “Hm! What sort of quirky trait should this young fellow have?” Because, of course, in this style of fiction every character has to have at least one cartoonish or otherwise distinguishing trait to stand out in the minds of children. (For instance, Kate has her bucket, Sticky has his glasses, Constance is angry, and Reynie is Emmett from the Lego Movie)

Anyhow, he looks around the room, searching for inspiration. Suddenly he comes across a jumbo box of plastic wrap. Completely innocuous in design, save for one line of text. 300 SQ FT.

“…large… S.Q. …feet? THAT’S IT!” i’m sorry

Lines & Scenes I Liked

In no particular order!

Sticky quotes Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Evil combination aerobics/square dancing in the gym with the Executives

Everyone being happy at the end :’)

Everyone partying after Sticky reunites with his parents, and later finding Mr. Benedict asleep at his desk from the moment they shook hands :’’)

Literally any scene with Sticky in it

Any time Kate says “you boys” or “gosh”

[“Um, sir?” S.Q. said timidly, raising his hand. “A thought just occurred to me.” / Mr. Curtain raised his eyebrows. “That’s remarkable, S.Q. What is it?”] clown prince of my heart </3

S.Q.’s determined monologue about searching for clues after he bungled up the first time

Literally any scene with S.Q. in it (please refer to The S.Q. Section)

Reynie trying to resist the Whisperer.

[Let us begin. / First let me polish my spectacles, Reynie thought. / Let us begin. / Not without my bucket, Reynie insisted. He heard Mr. Curtain muttering behind him. / Let us begin, let us begin, let us begin. / Rules and schools are tools for fools, Reynie thought.]

NO MORE HURTIN’ WITH CURTAIN

Milligan showing up on the island!!

Remember the white knight hhhhhh

“controle”

A Super Secret Bonus Section

I would be extremely surprised if anyone read through all the way down here lol. Regardless, here’s a little acknowledgements section :D not tagging anyone since I don’t want to bother all of these people

Special shoutout to tumblr blog stonetowns for unknowingly yet singlehandedly demolishing my reluctance to read the books by posting a ton of cute quotes. Thank you for your service o7

Thanks to the two OGs that liked the post I made right before this one, for being my unwitting enablers and for sticking around despite being a) technically an internet stranger (hello!) and b) someone I haven’t spoken to irl in literal years (hey!!)

Last but not least thankz 2 my sister for putting up with me ranting about the book when I first got it and for asking about “CQ” sometimes lol. (i desperately hope you’re not reading this orz)

[malachi-walker]

Happy birthday, Mal! I love your fics, they evoke so much emotion in me and have made me cry many a time. I don't often reread fics, but i've reread multiple chapters of Rhythm and Blues because they're stuck with me so much. You capture the emotional pain of their trauma and the catharsis that comes with their growth so beautifully. You also write some brilliant meta and just consistently post some fantastic thoughts. Also your love for swords is very appreciated. <3 have a lovely day!

First of all, my apologies for not replying sooner. I was making my mind up about something that would definitely require the use of a read more and thus necessitate dragging myself to desktop (which I hate because my laptop predates the dinosaurs.)

But seriously. Thank you so much. This is honestly one of the sweetest comments I've ever gotten and definitely made my already pretty sweet bday even better.

So about that read more. In honor of you, @metalesbo, my friends @n7punk and @jem-jarrett and everyone else who sent me well wishes or just really loves my work... Here's the opening section of the next chapter of R&B. Enjoy. It's a long one.

Adora Eternia is about two months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she first realizes she's in love with her best friend.

Though--if asked--she would hasten to explain that it wasn't when she fell in love. But trying to pinpoint the exact moment is an exercise in catching mist: the more she tries to grasp it in her hands the more it spreads out and covers everything. It just is: pure and simple and very, very complicated.

It's the beginning of December and the whole town is covered in a thick blanket of snow. Winterfest will be here in a few weeks, so to help out the kids who want to get gifts for their friends the Right Zone administration has shuffled around the groups that usually take their monthly trips on the third and fourth Sundays of the month to double up with the other two. As part of group three, she and Catra got the first week (the other three members of their crew are week two folks anyway and thus outside the reorganization.)

It's still kinda weird to think that: their crew. For so long, it was just Catra and Adora. Adora and Catra. One unit bound together, just them against the world. But there's also something nice about being part of a small cluster, their "scrappy little lone wolf pack" as Catra had once put it with a wry grin before Lonnie shoved her over with an, "Excuse you, I'm a great people person when I'm not busy making sure you idiots haven't set yourselves on fire!"

They all got a good laugh out of that one.

But regardless, the holidays are coming up and this is the first year that any of their group has felt like actually doing anything for it, aside from wrangling together a sleepover and seeing if they can convince the kitchen staff to slip them some leftover eggnog.

They made each other promise not to go too extravagant and keep each person's gift to ten dollars or lower. Even though their quarterly stipend has increased from three hundred to four hundred to match with inflation over the past eight years, it still isn't a whole lot for three month's worth of expenses, especially when they also have to budget regularly for clothes to keep up with the seemingly endless growth spurts.

There's also the usual budgetary concern of keeping her and Catra's first aid kit well supplied...

Adora shakes her head to dislodge the intrusive thought and continues marching onward through the snow. This trip is a good thing. She won't let all the awful realities of their life taint it.

With so many kids running around and wanting to shop on their own to surprise their giftees, Right Zone had to negotiate with both the local police and whatever other civic authorities they could get ahold of to come out en masse and keep an eye on them all. The kids had still come with their usual teachers, of course, but doubling the load and also splitting up was a logistical nightmare. Which is just a convoluted way to say the town is positively crawling with uniformed officers, off duty members of the fire brigade, emergency personnel, and other such authority figures quietly keeping watch and making sure no one tries anything.

Adora knows that somewhere in the press of bodies, Grizzlor's busy wrangling two new "brats" (seven and nine, respectively, and definitely not friends.) Somewhere, a certain Magicat is probably grumbling over the indignity of being forced to wear shoes and kicking every snowpile she can, like she can send a direct message to whatever cosmic force is responsible for her current frustration.

On an ordinary month she and Catra--being old enough to be allowed a bit more freedom to do what they want--would buddy up to watch each other's backs while they did their shopping. But this isn't an ordinary month, so once they'd each gotten gifts for the other three they'd split up on opposite ends of Main Street with an agreement to move clockwise to avoid running into each other. Afterwards, the entire group would rendezvous at the small clock tower in the park a block over before heading back to Right Zone.

Ten dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but Adora had done her best: a new stress ball for Kyle, some moisturizing oil for Rogelio since the early winter shed had wiped out his supply and he'd been too busy to pick up some more, a twelve pound kettle weight for Lonnie now that their shared exercise routine was getting a bit too easy for her... Utilitarian choices, to be sure, but she's been paying attention and that has to count for something.

Catra's the difficult one, of course. Partly because Adora doesn't want to just get her something practical, but also because they share nearly everything between them already. About the only thing that is definitively off limits is Catra's guitar, and she's told Adora enough about her time with Tao over the years that Adora wouldn't even ask. Beyond that... Well, there's a reason why most of Adora's day off hoodies have small strands of orange fur stuck to them.

Still. I want to get her something that's hers. Something she'll like. Something she doesn't have to share with anyone, not even me.

In the end, she nearly walks past it. In one of the artisanal shops that dot small towns like liver spots, she finds a display of hand stamped necklace pendants, with a design sheet beside it. There are a lot of the usual nature designs and such, but the one that catches her eye is a treble clef with the five staff lines bleeding out from it. They ring the edge of the pendant in a half circle, and scattered haphazardly along the lines are the other music notes.

The lack of proper order would drive Adora insane. She understands that it's just meant to look pretty, not be an accurate representation of musical notation, but still... She knows her own (broken) brain well enough to know that.

It suits Catra, though.

"Hey," Mismatched eyes looked down at Adora as her head draped backwards over the back of their desk chair, the throbbing behind her left eye threatening to escalate into a migraine. "Guess I don't have to ask how the composing's going."

"It sucks," Adora groused back, sitting up and gesturing Catra over. She jabbed at two particular spots with the half chewed off eraser end of her pencil, two hard jabs each, like she was filing a complaint. "Most of it is just what I'm going for, but these two places here... They aren't sounding right. I've been going back and forth over structure all afternoon, but nothing I do helps."

"Hmmm..." Catra stroked her chin and nudged Adora over so she could sit on the arm of the chair (they'd never gotten around to requesting a second, mostly because Adora didn't want to risk Shadow Weaver suspecting they were getting too chummy.) "Got any scratch paper?"

Adora pointed to the pile of half crumpled notebook paper she used when making adjustments and Catra snorted. "Ok, dumb question. Just let me see here..."

Grabbing a pen, she quickly inked a fresh set of staff lines and copied the notes Adora had already put down, making sure to leave space to work. Glancing between the two, she drummed her fingers on the desk, playing along in her head.

"Hmm..." Catra murmured, worrying at her lower lip with a fang in a manner that was... Oddly distracting. "Ok, how 'bout this?"

Adora jolted, tearing her gaze from Catra's face to look at the sequence of notes scribbled onto the scratch paper. She paused, brow furrowing as she played them over in her mind's eye. It was a little unorthodox, veering away from the path she had carefully laid out... But also blending well with the next part. Almost like the notes took a quick detour and then lead the listener back to where she wanted them.

"Yeah..." Adora replied thoughtfully, the tension all over her body starting to smooth out. "Yeah, that could work."

"Awesome. Let's take a look at the next part."

They ultimately ended up spending several hours going over the entire piece, sussing out every place where Adora was having even the slightest niggle of unease. She didn't accept all of Catra's changes and Catra didn't push the matter, but the ones she did...

They felt right. More right than they had ever felt when it was just Adora running circles around herself.

When they finally finished up she looked over at Catra, tail waving sedately in that way it got when she was simultaneously engaged but relaxed, and asked, "Umm... Do you want to learn with me? I like doing this."

'I like making music with you.'

Catra paused, looking over at Adora searchingly, almost like she couldn't believe the question had come up. No matter how many years had passed between them, that look never really went away, and every time she saw it Adora's chest ached in a way that was hard for her to process.

"I'd like that."

Catra's composing style is very different from Adora's. More wild, more willing to bend and break the rules if it means maintaining audience engagement, but there's always an underlying order to the chaos. To her surprise and pleasure, Adora found herself learning just as much from Catra as Catra was learning from her. Their styles brought out the best in each other.

The jingle of a bell kicks her out of the memory. Mind made up even though it's nearly double her budget, Adora scans the stand of necklaces for the one with the treble clef pattern.

It isn't there. Adora swallows down the disappointment, though she can't help the sigh. Of course. The town was well aware of the large population of music students a short drive away and catered to them accordingly. But there are also dozens of kids out on the street tonight. It isn't that big of a surprise that the design sold out.

Not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.

She's just begun to turn away when a voice calls from the back. "Hang on a sec there, little miss."

Adora jumps, but remains where she is as a large Taurian man with a massive snow white beard trundles out from a door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "Was there a particular design you were interested in?"

Adora points at the treble clef, hope rising. "This one. But it looks like it's already sold out."

"Hmm..." The man scratchs at his chin. "Well with Winterfest coming up, I'm out of blank pendants-"

Adora's shoulders slump.

"-But," The man continues with a smile. "I can double stamp it onto the back of another. Ordinarily I'd charge extra for that, but it's my fault for not ordering enough blanks. Rookie move. Besides, it's the holidays. Now would that be all right by you?"

Nodding frantically in case he changes his mind, Adora scans the other designs, quickly alighting on one in particular. "That one!"

"The claw marks? Bit of an odd combination, but the customer is always right," The old man winked as he reached out to take the necklace from her. "My jig and press is in the corner over here if you wanna watch."

Adora was glad he specified, because as nice as the man seemed there was no way in hell she was going into a back room with a stranger. But she stood next to the window beside a display of miscellaneous knick knacks and puzzles, watching him carefully place the pendant in a cushioned stand to avoid damaging the already printed side and tighten it into place before moving beside the machine.

"You're gonna want to cover your ears," He tells her, patting the machine with one massive hand. "Had to switch to a steam press when the arthritis caught up to me. Used to do it all by hammer. This boy's okay, but he gets loud."

Adora nods, glad for the warning when he bellows "Clear!" and the machine's hammer comes down once, twice, three times with a sound like the ringing of an enormous bell. Once the machine is stopped and carefully turned off, the old man removes the pendant from the press and hands it over to Adora for inspection. "What do you think? Does it pass muster?"

Adora runs her fingertips over the impressions in the metal, memorizing the feel of it, the leftover warmth of the impact. "Perfect."

"Good. Now let's get you rung up."

Counting the five dollars she attempted to surreptitiously slip into the tip jar (the old man winked as he turned back around, so stealth fail) Adora went very over budget, but the others would have to put a gun to her head for her to admit it.

Besides, it's Catra. They already know she's the sole exception to all of Adora's carefully maintained rules.

With everything finished, she continues trudging through the snow toward the park, breathing a sign of relief as she moves away from the shopping district and the people thin out; no one wanting to go to the park in the middle of such bleak weather. Angling around a clustered group of bare trees, she spots the small clock tower in the distance, as well as the figure already standing beside it. Grinning, Adora picks up the pace a bit until she can see Catra clearly and--

Her breath catches.

Since her only experience with this kind of thing has been through books, Adora always expected this moment would be more dramatic. Like back to back in the middle of a fight, or eyes locking from up on stage. Something spectacular, like fireworks, lime explosions, like the feeling of playing a song without a single mistake for the first time. It's always seemed like such a big deal in the stories, and in a way, it is.

Because there's Catra, lost in her own world as she gazes up at the streetlight that's just come on, her left hand extended to let the snowflakes fall into her palm and the light catches the orange of her fur just right to make a blaze of color against the black of her coat. She looks so small, standing in that space all alone on a cold winter's night, but Adora knows deep down that she could never be that small, not when she's Catra, not when she means so much...

Pretty much everything about the past hour--about her entire life since they met if she's being honest--snaps into crystal clear focus.

Oh. I get it now. I'm in love with you.

It's a bad idea. Adora knows that. Shadow Weaver is enough of a menace while believing Catra is simply her roommate, her sometime tool--and Catra had ended up being all too right about the torture not stopping, even after years of Adora trying to direct Weaver's attentions away from her. If the evil old bitch figures out Adora's feelings run deeper, so much deeper...

Her heart beats double time. This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.

But it's still the best worst thing that's ever happened to her.

She must make a noise, because Catra's ear twitches in her direction, snapping her out of that distant contemplation. She turns her head and looks at Adora, lips curling in a lopsided grin. "Hey, Adora. Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Adora blinks, coming back to herself and mumbling the first excuse that springs to mind. "... Just cold."

"Well no shit. C'mere."

When she closes the distance Catra glances around warily, making sure they're the only ones around, before reaching up and retying the scarf around Adora's neck, patting it once when she's done. "There. I know I make it look good, but you don't have the advantage of fur like me."

Adora looks down at the thin AC/DC t-shirt that Catra's wearing beneath her half open coat, the line of her collarbones and neck, and makes a snap decision. "Is it okay if I give you your present now?"

Catra blinks, a little thrown by the non sequitur. "I mean... Sure? Do you want me to give you yours?"

"I'm good with either," Adora shrugs, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating, how much she wants to do this before this moment slips away. "I just want to."

There's a long moment of silence as they each examine the other, equally searching. What Catra's looking for, Adora doesn't know. She isn't sure she wants to know.

"Okay."

Breathing deep, Adora reaches into her pocket and pulls out the necklace on its leather cord. Careful to keep the pendant hidden in her hand, she passes it over, fingertips sparking as it's taken. Catra brings it close to her face, running her fingers over the four parallel slashes on the side facing her.

"Why the claw marks?"

Adora laughs, nervous butterflies positively rioting in her stomach. "Because you're a badass. Duh."

"True," Catra smirks, flipping it over and squinting at the other side. "And this?"

"Badass, loves music with all your heart. Not mutually exclusive concepts," Adora says, trying not to give away how much she thinks about this, how much she wants to take that hand in hers. She settles for a playful shoulder bump instead. "Plus we all know you're secretly a big softie."

"Excuse you, I am all sharp edges," Catra giggles, lightly elbowing her before transitioning into a soft little smile. "... Just not with everyone."

Oh God oh God oh God. That smile will absolutely be the death of her.

Swallowing past her horrible awareness of that softness, Adora asks, "So you like it?"

"I love it. Good luck ever getting me to take it off," Catra laughs, then frowns, flexing her fingers. "Hands have gone a little numb, though. Help me put it on?"

Adora.exe promptly crashes to desktop. But she still somehow manages to move, helping Catra hold back her mane so she can slip the leather cord over her head and tuck it beneath her hair. If she hesitates a moment too long in letting go, at least Catra only shoots her an amused glance. "How's it look?"

"Great," Adora manages to croak out, trying to swallow past the sudden dryness in her throat. "You look great. Umm... Happy early Winterfest, I guess?"

"Well, I'm gonna hold onto yours a little longer," Catra laughs, playfully sticking out her tongue before reaching out. "C'mere, you big dork."

Adora shuffles closer, mind and heart both screaming as Catra draws her into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of her neck. A little whisper. "Thank you."

Adora swallows again, even harder. "You're welcome."

Between them, the necklace rests, the music side pressed right up against Catra's heart.

----------

Fun fact: the shopkeep is based off a cool old dude selling machine pressed necklaces I ran into at a Scottish festival when I was 13, and he made such an impression I never forgot him. Anyway, happy Valentine's! Have a Big Gay Realization!

[janiedean]

I feel bad for all the nice J*nsa shippers who like their ship for whatever reasons (tropes, pretty art, aesthetic appeal, whatever) and know it's not canon but get associated with the misogynistic Dany hating crowd who act like Jon being attracted to Ygritte is J*nsa foreshadowing because red hair (I guess Jon should fuck Edmure Tully too? Omg give me Dark!Jon getting revenge on Catelyn by seducing her brother!) Tell me something. I'm new to the fandom but was J*nsa popular before the show? And I've heard something about the OG J*nsa shippers being alienated by the new shippers who insisted it had to be canon and acted like the series is called, "A song of J*nsa #danysux." I don't find that hard to believe because I know people who are now ashamed of calling themselves J*nsa shippers. Like, at this point, it's not only rival shippers who hate it. Even Gendrya/Braime/Jon stans/etc have started disliking that ship. You know your fandom is a problem when people who have nothing to do with Jnsa have a problem with it.

me: reads this ask

me: iwastheregandalf.gif which I can't find now but

okay anon buckle up because I am sadly well-equipped to answer this ask but before I do lemme tell you dark jon seducing edmure to take revenge on cat is LITERALLY THE BEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD but *clears throat* ALL RIGHT THEN.

disclaimer: as anon says I have no issue with like the shippers mentioned by anon in the beginning and ngl I agree, I have ABSOLUTELY ZERO FUCKING STAKES in the j*nsa vs j*nerys war and the only het jon ship I gaf about is jon/ygritte and we all know where that ended up I just... have been here since 2011/adwd was over and all the fic around was just for the books under secret lj communities and asoiaf qualified for yuletide and I have... seen... things.... and I actually have like uh had... beef... with some people in there and I know things bc ppl who hated those others told me stuff so anyway *sigh* buckle up anon I'mma tell you the story of jon shipwars through the years

in order, the old gods help me here, under the cut bc this is long as fuck

when I got into fandom also given what numbers were on ao3 one ship was popular and it was sansan. no like sansan was lit. the only asoiaf ship on ao3 with more than 200 fics. jb had twenty when i checked first. jc had like around 100-ish because of the show but sansan dwarfed anything. I posted the first jon/ygritte fic on the ao3 tag and the fourth throbb fic and like the others were all reposts from lj kinkmemes. nothing was popular before the show except for sansan when it comes to huge numbers bc grrm doesn't like fic and it was all hush hush until the show made it impossible to control and that ship was the one with a huge enough fanbase it actually had numbers, so like... j*nsa wasn't popular in the way nothing else was popular until it got screentime on the show

now, that stated, j*nsa had a... fair amount of fic for a rareship which was mostly book-based and from og shippers that were there from before the show and liked it for what it was but literally none of them thought it was gonna be canon, like it wasn't huge or anything but it had a small but dedicated fanbase who did their own thing and thought it was fun/liked the idea but that was it

that fandom had their own niche of hcs that they cultivated and shit except that like... at the end of S5/beginning of S6 there was a surge in shipping for... well obvious reasons bc it was obv sansa was getting to the wall and that would have been all nice and good but a) it was the time puritanical shipping was starting to take root and the 'shipping sansa with sandor or tyrion is hella problematic' rhetoric had started to circle coming from sans*ery shippers mostly but I'mma not open that fucking can of worms here, b) while the ending of S5 had more of a theon/sansa spike, the j*nsa stuff started getting big

now here we have to mention my villain origin story ie: j*nsa fandom had this one stan whose name I won't make because honestly it's been years and if she's still around I don't want her to remember I exist who was a bnf, wrote for... the website that created the whole larry/carol thing etc who was really fixed on this thing that j*nsa was actually canon and started writing extremely popular meta about it. now you're gonna ask how do you know, I know because this person once wrote a meta named 'why robb stark is a dick' and I told her that it was really fucking bad meta and she took it so badly she kept on trash talking me on her blog/her podcast (I was apparently the insane robb stark fangirl l m a o good lord) and like that was when some sane ppl who argued with her informed me in pvt that she was basically harping on the CANON thing when they'd have been okay with like... it being crackshipping and that she was basically cultivating a hoarde of followers who were harping on them/the ogs and basically ostracizing them;

I would like to add that this person - before her tumblr got 'accidentally deleted' and remade it therefore deleted most receipts for, er, her so-called meta which included stuff like ned and cat raised sansa as a sexual object and only wanted to sell her like cattle - had at some point started a round robin fic thing where... some of the characters mocked openly said stuff that some of the og fans had said specifically targeting them and people in that side basically went harassing anyone who didn't agree with that specific notion

now never mind that this person basically coined an entire term to describe ppl who liked white guys and excused all their wrongdoings out of my conversation re robb basically lying about everything I said as if I didn't have the receipts and tried to sell shirts with it and it didn't work and like then she got kicked out of her own website because she was telling her commenters disagreeing pretty shitty insults (considering I was called psychotic for disagreeing with her that time I don't doubt it) I think at some point she stepped back from fandom bc idk wtf she's up to these days and I don't want to, but basically at that point the dam was broken and there was a bunch of puritanical shippers harping on anyone who didn't agree with j*nsa is canon endgame stuff

this also includes an incident when those ppl were like... passing themselves as throbb shippers and ended up trying to tell t*hramsay shippers off the theon tag based on moral reasons and I ended up arguing with all of them (and they were all from that crowd) which in turn landed me in contact with other og j*nsa shippers who were like detached from that fandom bc those same people harassed them away as well ssooooo fun

anyway when S6 happened everyone was high on it and whatnot but I wasn't gonna begrudge them that I mean... you shipped it for years, canon is delivering you, good for you, but then j*nerys happened

god j*nerys happened

aaand basically...... I mean personally I was there like are y'all seriously arguing about the best incest jon ship out there but like basically the j*nsa endgame side was like AH JON IS PLAYING DANY SEE IF IT DOESN'T HAPPEN, the j*nerys obv got defensive af and both sides were sort of alternatively shitting on jon/ygritte anyway and depicting any other romantic rship jon could have as abusive™ and during S8 it just got worse and like I tried to stay out of it but basically from what I'm seeing now idk how the j*neryses are doing but on the j*nsa one it's ah jon's gonna play dany anyway and she's going to go insane like in the show so SHOW TRUTHING EVERY OTHER WAY and like again denying that sandor exists or that tyrion exists and like I barely touch my corner (sansan) but I ended up arguing with j*nsa/th*nsa people on twitter who were antis and is2g it was white-hair inducing and I know for sure the sansa/tyrion shippers were harassed to hell and back throughout so FUN

and even if the show didn't go there now since everyone there banked on the jnsa endgame thing and admitting you're wrong is like... not a thing, they still haven't let go of it and attach to that ship any shred of evidence which honestly is grasping at straws half of the time (like... the sansa/alysanne parallels like guys please no) and which is why every other ship is starting to get fed up, attaching canon proof of stuff from other ships onto theirs see that batb argument and jb is platonic but jonsa is not nvm taking all the sansan stuff and throwing it on j*nsa but then denying that sansan has canon evidence (like guys I had to read sansa touching his shoulder when saying gregor wasn't a true knight wasn't meaningful and we were seeing things please) and blah blah blah

this also goes hand in hand with the fixation on like... villanizing dany at all costs and like is2g I have zero investment in dany or her storyline I don't even remember it and I don't particularly care abt her either way and sure af I'm not for j*nerys endgame but like.... some stuff I read is completely excessive esp when fixing on how she's a completely mad tyrant who's gonna have to be put down and like... guys no

(also there's some srs stannis hate in that corner which I honestly don't get why they even care abt stannis but I had to read stuff like ppl don't recognize that dany and stannis are the real villains in this saga and like........ idek)

I think most of the og shippers are gone or don't ship it openly bc they don't want to be attached to the drama but like I also think they're pissing off everyone else bc like... I mean a bunch of them also were down with sansa being paired with other ppl as long as it meant a good ending for her except those ppl were... like everyone but the ppl she has actual contact with in canon which meant that at some point sansa/gendry was a thing and like.... you can imagine why arya/gendry shippers & arya stans were fed up, and there's also this tendency to behave like sansa is the center of the entire saga which like these books is named a song of jon snow basically can we pls make peace with it and personally I've had it with both j*nsa and j*nerys people since they started with that dumbass JON/YGRITTE WAS AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP rhetoric but I'm also fed up with the total ignoring that sandor exists/depicting us as delusional and honestly I also was by proxy fed up from the harassing of the sansa/tyrion shippers soooooooooooo

there were also instances of 'well theon is an acceptable choice other than jon bc he can't threaten her' which... i mean we all know what that meant and I'm not even commenting it bc it's one AM and I have no force to but I don't have to explain why it's not a progressive take now do I

there were also metas about how cousin incest being legal in half of the world means that jondany is a worse incest and j*nsa doesn't count as such and I was basically there like guys please just fucking own up to it but honestly I chose to forgot where I read that and I couldn't find the link if I tried

tldr: no one wants to admit that it's not gonna be endgame which considering the amount of fic they have on ao3 is imvho useless bc they have more content than like.. anything I ship that's not jb or that's actually like canon *cries in joncon/rhaegar but I mean renly/loras is canon and has less fic than them* so idk what's the problem with enjoying that instead of insisting it's gonna be canon when not even the show validated it while show truthing anyway when the only show truthing that can be truthed is the small council made of minorities and possibly jon eventually fucking off with the wildlings but not like that but like most people who thought it wasn't gonna be endgame had left/were made to leave by the time S7 rolled by and at this point since wow isn't out yet everyone is fandom-grasping at straws to find stuff to discourse on and we're here beating dead horses *shrug*

so that's... how it is but I would again like to point out that I don't judge ppl on their shipping, I don't particularly care about this entire feud bc I only ship jon with ppl he's not related to in whichever way and I try to stay out of this mess bc I don't really care to argue with ppl who have already decided to bend canon to whatever they want and will have to realize that it's not what grrm wrote at some point but like I have a very good memory and the above rant is as objective as possible also bc again I don't literally have a stake in that race I just think romantic/endgame j*nsa is not a thing and that ppl should stay in their lane and not harping on other ppl who ship whatever in general but especially when their ship is the most popular thing in fandom in the first place /two cents

[asuka--langley--soryu]

hey do you know any blogs/sites etc that „explain” nge episode by episode? not the plot but rather the symbolism and themes

oh man anon I dearly wish I could say yes but unfortunately if something like this exists then I don’t know about it :/ instead what I can offer are some links to some meta/analysis/essays and hopefully that might help or at least give you a place to start? 

so there is always the evageeks wiki which can provide a basic amount of info on some thematic elements, and at the very least is reasonably good for lore explanations. I feel kind of eyeroll about evageeks and their general community perspective, but if you need a good jumping off point i think this might be useful for that. 

when i first started this blog there was a user called ritsumaya who put out some realllyyy interesting and in-depth meta. they deleted a while ago unfortunately but i believe most of their stuff as been archived at @ritsumaya2. None of the posts are tagged or organized in any way so it’s a little hard to navigate but worth perusing/searching through imo.

Someone did reupload their analysis of asuka specifically in a slightly more readable format so I’ll link that here separately. I 100% rec checking it out, it has some really really good thoughts on her character and informed a lot of my own interpretations back in the day. I do think they go a little too into the pathologizing angle which (if it wasn’t clear from my last post lol) I don’t agree with and largely ignore, but, aside from that, I think it’s super interesting. 

in terms of other blogs, off the top of my head qmisato and adamworu put out good meta p often and also have organized tagging systems, so you might want to look at their stuff. i’m gonna glance through my archive and tag some of the meta ive rb-ed in the past, and will try to consistently tag it from now on so as to have somewhere to reference in the future. Plus I probably should have been doing that already but im like yknow a big carnival idiot and consistently cannot keep organized no matter how potentially beneficial it would be for me :) 

There are some papers on nge in my thesis sources drive, so if youre looking for something a lil more academic/theory based then you could check those out. Specifically I recommend the Ortega and Napier essays.  Link for that’s here. 

theres def other blogs on here im forgetting, as well as just other sources in general. pls feel free to drop recs in the replies if you have em!! this was just the stuff i could pull from the top of my head/knew where to find so its by no means comprehensive and i am by no means the like end all be all in nge meta archiving. also, as usual, i’m not sanctioning 100% of every word written in the things I rec, so dont hold me to their opinions. 

i hope this helps at least a little bit! 

(ps: ik reddit has analysis threads or whatever but i’ve never read anything on there id recommend so ymmv on that front ) 

(pps: also ive never watched any of those youtube video essays or whatever about nge and never will [im just like instinctively repelled by anime youtubers that arent miss watchmojo dot com top 10 list lady] so i have literally no idea about their quality on any level. ik they exists and maybe could be helpful to you if you prefer a non-written resource?) 

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

terms and conditions /j

i had a whole page of Stuff, but since this is a private tumblr now, that page doesn’t display and is totally inaccessible - so i’m reposting it here, under a read more. and i’m pinning it. nobody is obligated to read this, but i’d recommend that you do - just for your own sake, so that later on you don’t go “omg i can’t believe that is ivy’s stance i feel so betrayed” or whatever. i’m very clear on where i stand on a lot of things & i’ve not made a secret of it, lol.

- x- o - x - o -

✦ if you’re old enough to watch gossip girl, you’re probably old enough to follow me – on this blog, i’m almost never more nsfw than the show was, since most of my posts here are reblogs of gifsets, meta, etc. whenever i do post something that’s more nsfw though it’ll be tagged “#minors dni” so if you’re under 18 or if you don’t want to see that, pls filter that out.

✦ i’m proship & a multishipper, so i am very ship and let ship, basically. i use the word ship to mean “relationship dynamic that you find compelling or interesting” as opposed to “relationship dynamic that you find healthy” or “relationship dynamic that you choose to emulate.” me saying i ship something just means i’m interested in exploring it through fiction, or reading about it, or whatever. like, i ship derena, but i am obsessed with what makes them so incompatible. i write fic about them breaking up all the time.

✦ i don’t care what people ship as long as they’re aware what is and isn’t acceptable behaviour in real life, and treat people around them with respect, basically. shipping something doesn’t equal to endorsing it in real life. nah, i will not debate this –  i know it’s a dealbreaker for some, in which case, the unfollow button is right there.

✦ i am pretty critical of this show and of the characters i love, but (especially with characters like jenny and vanessa, who the fandom loves to hate) i don’t complain uniformly about characters. do not assume that i’m endorsing something awful they’ve done just because i’ve never spoken about it.

✦ also keep in mind that i’ve watched the entire show only once, so some things might have gone over my head and/or i might’ve forgotten certain things. if you’d like to bring this to my attention, please be polite, but feel free to. if i interpreted an episode or character differently, i might just agree to disagree, but i’m always open to conversation.

✦ so far i haven’t gotten any asks on this, and i’d like to keep it that way, so. do not involve me in any sort of LGBT discourse. if i wanted that, i’d run a discourse blog. i firmly maintain that people’s genders and sexualities are nobody’s business but their own.

✦ i don’t have a DNI / BYF because i’ve tried that before and all it’s ever done is make me anxious – i am not the sort of person who can check the blogs of everyone who’s following me, or who likes or reblogs my posts, and block them – i run this blog for fun, and engaging with people who make me uncomfortable (ie, the DNI list) is not my idea of a good time, so i am not going to do that.

✦ however, if you’re the kind of person who makes assumptions about people based on what they ship – especially if you bully or mock people for it – you’re not welcome here.

✦ i am a queer, trans person of colour, though, so if you’re racist, homophobic, transphobic etc, i have no idea what you get out of following me. other than the knowledge that i’ll never be friends with you, obviously. (same goes for all forms of discrimination/bigotry. none of you are welcome here.)

✦ to be honest, i’m not very good at tagging, but if there’s anything you need tagged ask me, and i’ll do my best! as long as you’re asking in good faith (ie, not like that person who wanted pomegranates to be tagged as gore), and it’s not something that triggers me personally to tag (tagging the word ‘queer’ isn’t something i can do, so don’t ask), i will 100% accommodate.

- x- o - x - o -

why am I blocked?

uhh, if you are blocked, it’s never a moral judgement or anything like that. it’s usually one of the following:

✦ you post anti-ship stuff in the ship tag, or anti-character stuff in the character tag. i will block if it’s not tagged properly, because i really don’t want to  see that when i’m just chilling out and looking for content that makes me happy.

✦ you’re unnecessarily mean, or passive aggressive, or patronising in reblogs when you reblog from me. you’re allowed to dislike my opinions / perspective, or dislike what i ship, or even hate me, i don’t know. but if you’re going to reblog from me while being rude about it, i don’t want to see that in my notifs.

✦ you use language that i find personally triggering to an extent that i do not want to see you in the ship tag. this one is – listen, if tumblr had a mute option, that’d be great, because i know this is my issue, not yours. it’s weird and complicated & honestly? personal.

✦ you deliberately did something bigoted or you knowingly supported someone who did something bigoted.

✦ you blocked me first &/or i'm on your DNI.

i don’t like blocking people if i’m being honest. but this is ultimately a personal blog, and not only that – gossip girl is a bad show, sure, but it’s one of the few things that makes me happy right now and i don’t want to lose that. i need to find a way to run this blog that works for me, and for me only. that’s all i’ve got.

[morathicain]

can you pls tell me what it is about king's personality that is so goddamn attractive. signed a poor anon who has hopelessly fallen for him.

Ram, is that you??!!

Don’t worry, poor Anon, I am with you. As well as Ram and lots of people by now. But damn, to ask me such a question? That’s not an easy one at all! But I’ll try answering it. Not sure if this will make anything better for you (or us), but let’s see ;)

Warning: This is gonna be 100% purely me word vomiting about King!

Ps. Don’t worry, I read this to my plants before posting it. Thanks to no response I’ve decided to post it like this.

Why do we love King?

Here is a quick list of „10 things I love about King“ with a long-ass meta-essay after that for anyone who’s up for more reading ;)

He’s genuinely friendly and seems very authentic.

He’s an interesting, multidimensional character with hobbies and lots of internal thoughts, who I’d love to hang out with!

King being private means he has hidden sides which he only shows people he trusts and cares about. Since we as an audience get to see those too (his room and the secret place), we also feel special to him, giving us more of an emotional connection as with characters we know nothing about.

King respects boundaries. He may push a little as he did with Ram, but he’ll definitely back away once he realises someone is definitely not interested.

He’s funny and cheeky and smart, but without boasting about it.

He loves PLANTS <3

He observes and keeps things and information in mind to take care of you.

He seems very in touch with himself, knowing his own boundaries and having no problem with being emotional and soft (like apologising honestly without prompting, saying cheesy lines and putting flowers behind Ram’s ear)

He’s weird and we’re all weird, so of course, we love him!

Lay - because let’s be honest, we’ve adopted him already.

I’d say we love him, because we kind of want to BE him and have someone like him in our life at the same time.

Well, first of all, he is genuinely and authentically a nice, friendly and interesting guy. When he cares for people it doesn’t seem fake or overbearing. He doesn’t push into people’s life with force, but gives people a choice to get active as well to be in his company. And his friendliness is soft, but cheeky instead of innocent and naive.

King respect boundaries and has his own. He won’t overstep yours and he cares for his own. Which we wish others would do and often enough we could do as well (keep others at a healthy distance). People don’t abuse his friendliness because they respect him and wouldn’t that be nice?

King seems like he would make a wonderful friend most importantly. He’s funny, he cares but doesn’t abuse anyone or needs anyone to live. He seems like someone you could have deep conversations with but also talk complete bullshit and laugh for hours.

King LOVES plants. Seriously, when I saw his room I fell directly into the big King-dwell, because DAMN. A guy being so caring and careful with plants? Having them all around? Amazing!

And it shows he has hidden interests which you can’t guess at first sight. Which means he’s an interesting, multidimensional character who has hidden sides and who shows those sides only to people he cares about. Which we as an audience are because we were allowed to witness the moment he brought Ram into his room and into the secret space. The fact we now know something about him which probably most of his friends don’t know, makes us feel as if he trusts US as well and who wouldn’t love that?

King is interested in other people.

He watches and learns and asks questions in a very respecting but genuinely loving way. He won’t barge in with his questions, but he does it in small steps and carefully, giving other people the opportunity to let him or to push him away. And he takes those pieces of information and uses them. Not in a mean way, but to make those people (mostly Ram as we know) even more comfortable or to care for them. He KNOWS Ram won’t talk to many people and keep his problems to himself because he has watched him and interacted with him. So he knows when Ram is stressed and makes sure to offer him help. We see all those little interactions pay off, kinda.

As an opposite to maybe Duen and Bohn, who never really got to know each other. There was one moment when Bohn pouted about that and asked Duen a lot of questions, but otherwise, we don’t get any scenes in which either of them uses the information about the other to make them comfortable or to care for them. King does all of this.

And it’s an ability we would love to have (reading people so well? Knowing when our loved ones are scared even when they won’t say anything? Knowing what they need when they’re afraid? Damn!) but we also value in people around us.

Which brings me to the next part.

The way King interacts with people is something we would all love to find in a friend or lover.

He’s soft and caring, but he’s also funny and cheeky. He knows when to say ‘sorry’ (and you could even argue what he said wasn’t so bad! but King wondered and decided to apologise with his heart instead of a simple ‘sorry’), how to be charming and he is also very smart. We know that thanks to him tutoring others. He is smart, but he doesn’t boast about it. Instead, he even seems a bit embarrassed when others remind him of it. He watches and reads people even when those people are hard to read and not comfortable with sharing their feelings.

And let me ask you, how many of you wonder far too often if they can tell people about their problems? Or are too shy? Or don’t want to be a burden for anyone?

Wouldn’t it be perfect to have someone who simply sees what’s going on and offers his help? Without being overbearing? Respecting your boundaries at the same time? Knowing what to say but without expecting you to answer those questions?

King simply offers you a place to stay and someone to tell your problems to, but he’s not angry or disappointed when you choose not to when you choose to keep silent. With him, you don’t even need to use your words and he still keeps being nice and charming and caring!

It’s actually the opposite with him: he is happy about everything you share about yourself, regardless of the way you choose to share it. Via text? Via spoken words? Via eyebrow-game? He will love your response and it will surprise him to be trusted so much instead of seeing it as a trade for showing you his secret space.

King is also a private person and at least I can relate to this. I can word vomit, but I don’t want everyone to know everything about me. I rather keep it for my close friends. Often enough I wish I could be as good as King saying ‘no’ calmly and without feeling guilty when others ask and want stuff, because afterwards I often wonder if it was too much and feel uncomfortable. And even when he says ‘no’ he does it in a calm and friendly way so that no one asks twice, but accepts his answer.

King seems overall very in touch with himself. He seems to know what he wants and what he doesn’t want. And he will act on this WHILE considering the feelings of other people. He’s also not afraid to show when he’s afraid (like with the dogs) and saying why that’s so without fear of losing himself or his dignity. He really seems sure of himself but in a comforting way. Maybe Ram shakes this up now, making him realise feelings he hasn’t had before like that, but it never seems as if he would ever freak out about it like Bohn and Duen did. He won’t start insulting people because he falls for a guy and experiences feelings. He’s more the type to draw back if it gets too much or he’s too confused to function, but he would never lash out at Ram.

Which brings me to the next point: King also seems like the most non-violent person. Even though he’s giddy and able to word-vomit, he’s the person who would definitely try to discuss things, apologise and try to avoid any kind of fight. Which is funny because Ram is the quiet one, but he’s definitely ready to throw a punch. King would be the one to go between two people who’re ready to kill each other (except if it’s his friend getting punched over a guy, but that’s different). I can’t imagine him hitting anyone because of anger, but rather going away once he realises he’s too angry.

And that’s an important part of him! Because you feel secure and safe around him. He won’t throw a tantrum, he won’t use his strength to intimidate you and he won’t touch you without your permission. Whether as a friend or a lover, but I think I’d feel very comfortable and relaxed around him.

He always listens (and he really listens), but knows to talk well. He’s aware of your boundaries and won’t force himself into your personal space. He’s funny and charming in a comfortable way, instead of mansplaining his way like a bulldozer. He’s emotional and honest, but also private and selective of whom to trust. He cares, but he doesn’t expect to be treated the same. He’s happy about every bit you open up and he may try to push a bit, but he’ll never be angry or disappointed if you choose not to tell him or interact with him.

Also, he was described as someone who’s interested in weird things. And don’t we all think we’re at least a little bit weird?

Isn’t the thought of someone being interested in this weird something we are, even if we don’t talk or have a hard time to find a way to interact, amazing? Someone being so interested, they will keep trying to find ways to communicate, will take us seriously (even if it’s about a lucky pencil) and be genuinely interested in us?

In my opinion, a woman with King’s character would be as amazing because those are all character traits we’d love to have around us. They are real friends for all kinds of moments and you know you can depend on them. And someone like this as a lover would be mindblowing as well!

To have King be a man is especially amazing because usually, you have male characters, who bully their way into someone’s life, who use their body to intimidate people, who don’t respect boundaries in the name of love, expect to be rewarded for doing the bare minimum and act possessive and aggressive and whiney.

And here we have someone who isn’t all this and who’s still a complex character who definitely can be insecure or confused and questions himself.

King is someone we would all love to have in our lives and he’s also someone we would like to be as well.

And last but not least: Lay.

I mean, look at him. No wonder half the fandom decided to adopt him. His hair? His overall beauty? His calm but funny nature? He’s the perfect choice for King and I’m happy we got so lucky to watch this man portray this character!

Well, that was one hell of a ride and I’m pretty sure I forgot some points as well, but I can always make another post :D

I’m sorry if this isn’t very structured and if I repeated some things (They definitely deserve to be repeated anyway). The alternative would have been one big, long scream into the void!

I hope everyone has a bit of an idea what I mean and maybe feels a bit represented as well?

Especially the anon who sent me the ask. Thank you for this!

If you have anything to add or want to interact or reblog, please feel free! And thank you for reading till now, you have proven to be very patient! <3

As a thank you: here are the plants which have to listen to my rambling about King ALL the time!

[kiseiakhun]

Fic Writer Interview

I got tagged by @atasteforsuicidal and @do-not-careissa several days ago and LOOK AT ME, I actually remembered to do a tag meme

Name(s): kiseiakhun (tumblr), Kiseia (ao3)

Fandoms: DC. I think I focus mostly on... Titans and Lanterns right now? It depends on my mood tbh. I mean, Titans are forever, but otherwise I jump between which character I Vibe with more at this particular moment. I think most people know me for my Jason Todd writing/Roy Harper meta

Where you post: Ao3, tumblr for little ficlets that I don’t put a lot of thought into. I’ve been meaning to clean them up and toss them on ao3, actually, buuuut I keep forgetting.

Most popular one shot (by kudos): 

overall: take in some oxygen, sad jayroy porn

this year: shove your kiss straight through my chest, aggressive jaykyle porn that involves Kyle brandishing a knife at Jason. I’m very proud of the knife.

Most popular multi-chap (by kudos): 

overall: leave your lights on for me, my jayroykyle wip that actually has the next chapter half-written already, I just need to finish it smh I’m so sorry it’s been so long since my last update ;;

this year: ^ same thing

Favourite story you’ve written so far: drive home to you. It’s mostly an excuse to have an angstfest, but a lot of the story is drawn from things that I’ve witnessed in my own life. Amidst the comments yelling at me for making them sad, there’s a couple peppered in from people who feel Seen in a way that they usually don’t find in fiction. And, you know, I get that. The reason I write is because I’m not finding the types of stories that I want to read.

Plus, for someone who writes mostly pwp, it’s validating to know I still have the skills to make people cry.

Fic you were nervous to post: Hmmmm. HMMM. I would say... oceans between us. Which I meant to finish when I posted it but, smh. The second part is lying around in my wips somewhere. I put a LOT more effort into this fic than I usually do, and I was scared that some elements might not come across the way I’d intended. It’s the first fic that I actually sought out a beta for.

How do you choose your titles?: Sometimes I’d already have a title in mind, or at least a theme that I wanted it to encompass. Like, for leave your lights on for me, I knew I wanted to touch on the element of light, because Kyle was the torchbearer and it’s told from his pov, and like... he’s agonizing over Jason and Roy’s relationship, whether the lights are still on, if he can enter that door. ... more often, though, I finish a fic, go, fuck, and flip through songs until I find a line that can work as a title.

Do you outline?: When I do outline, it’s very loose. For longer works, I do this thing where I sketch out a few scenes that hit the emotional high notes, and then I go in and fill the blanks around them. I... should outline more. It’s a skill that needs practice, but ughhhhh outlines hard ):

Complete: 12

In-progress: 4 on ao3, plus countless wips

Coming soon/not yet started: Hoooooboy. Uhhhh. Okay, let’s see here...

There’s a Kyle/f!Wally fic that’s like. God. 50? 55% done? And it’s already at 30k words. This fucking fic right here would be the reason why I abruptly stopped posting btw, because I thought it would be a SHORT THING for me to get girl Wally out of my system. Smh. Smh!!

Hal/f!Kyle fic where they’re vampire hunters

Stars and Constellations, fab 5 as teen/young adult delinquents. I’ve got one spaqua oneshot up on my ao3 but the main story is... much more involved. And less sexy.

JayKyle except they’re girls and it’s gay. I have like?? Two more scenes to write??? But unfortunately I have no idea wtf those two scenes are so it’s simmering on the backburner for now

So many wips for ttgb. SO MANY.

and many many many other wips that I don’t want to mention in case I get peoples hopes up >.>

Prompts: I mean, people can send them, but generally I have enough of my own projects to keep me busy. There are some prompts in my inbox that I still want to respond to. Unfortunately, I have the memory of a goldfish and my brain is a goddamn sieve

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: The fucking Kyle/f!Wally fic that’s been plaguing me for months. I know it’s not going to garner that much interest because it doesn’t involve any Bats but I... love them. Also pls I’ve been working on it for so long, I just want to be Free

No-pressure tags: I think everyone I know has already been tagged before me, because I’m the slowest ever to respond to these things... oh, @crimeronan this seems like something that would be Your Shit

Edit: also @stvlti ❤️

[floorbe]

replies ^-^ (dr v3 spoilers)

This is it fam

Thank u bro... it really is...

upperstone replied to your post “hey again! im the same anon who requested fem!reader walking in on...”

This trope is SO good!!

Honestly!! It’s one of my favorites asdfghjkl

upperstone replied to your post “@shsleyebrows​ Ahh thank u!!! And oooh, would y’all be interested in...”

Would def be interested dude!!

Okay awesome!!!!

upperstone replied to your post “how did you personally feel about the ending to drv3? how would you...”

Man i hated v3’s ending so much. It was way too meta. Space would’ve been a great take on it, i just hated the fact that they basically erased the first two games! it left me with so many questions, like, if shuichi auditioned for the show, doesn’t that mean he still has family waiting for him irl? what happened to all the people that died? did kaito get to, idk, go to the afterlife or was it like he never existed at all???? so many questions bro, team Danganronpa did us dirty :(

I agree full heartedly!!! There were SO many questions that V3 raised, not only within their own game but with the other two games as well! Like wth was happening w Ultra Despair Girls then? Or the ending of THH??? Like if  the Togami organization doesn’t exist does Togami just flounder out there? Then how is he in UDG... man. I get they wanted a more ambiguous ending but seriously :^/

shsleyebrows replied to your post “@shsleyebrows​ Ahh thank u!!! And oooh, would y’all be interested in...”

Ahh I wasn’t sure about the special requests since you already have a bunch of requests but I’d deffo be interested once you’re ready!!

No worries!! It’d just have to wait until the inbox is cleared, which should be soon, so no problems :^)

gundhamsevildoer replied to your post “how did you personally feel about the ending to drv3? how would you...”

Bro you don't mind me spamming your comments right? I'm very bored but I don't wanna bother you

No I don’t mind at all!!! I love interacting w y’all so pls do not worry! If I don’t reply right away it’s just bc I like waiting so I can do a bunch in one post so I don’t spam replies :^)

gundhamsevildoer replied to your post “how did you personally feel about the ending to drv3? how would you...”

But yeah fuck V3s ending. Still, I am kind of glad they weren't associated with THH and SDR2 because I dislike V3's cast, I think it has a great lack of dynamic and the characters are over-exaggerated along with their backstory. Which actually makes sense since it's the 53rd season and the staff is probably out of ideas and need to keep the viewers entertained. This is just my opinion though, from what I've seen fandom loves V3. Lmao to me, DR3 cast >>>> V3 cast

Yeah I agree, if they associated it with the other two games idk what I would’ve done hehe. I feel the e x a c t same, I found it so hard to like any of the characters deeply like I did the other two games. It does make sense when you realize it’s the 53rd season but still weh

gundhamsevildoer replied to your post “how did you personally feel about the ending to drv3? how would you...”

Kaito being the mastermind would have killed me really liked Mugi as a mastermind, I just can't hate her honestly she is so adorable

That’s fair! Despite my qualms Tsumugi was a rly good mastermind so I don’t blame u lolol

gundhamsevildoer replied to your post “hey again! im the same anon who requested fem!reader walking in on...”

Bruh I like this trope as well but the ones that y/n walks on the character is better because personally I would kill myself if this happened to me

Lmao same. I think I would hide under a rock for the rest of my life hghnjbnv

gundhamsevildoer replied to your post “OH COULD YOU DO THAT LAST ASk where the reader walks in on them hc?...”

I stan ur writing thank u 

You’re so sweet thank u.... ;-;