#so getting to hear people’s reactions to more complex stories is… Something

[starbuck]

seeing films live has really impressed upon me how strongly laughter functions as a response to intense discomfort for many people. it’s really interesting!

[chronicbeans]

I've heard a lot of theories about Caine's name, and while I'm not sure if anything's been confirmed by the creators (I don't use a lotta social media and stuffs so I'm not entirely in the loop if they've said things on there), but I have my own little theory. It's not really that complex or anything, but here goes nothing! This is based just on what was seen in the pilot, so I may be wrong about Caine's characterization. After all, we only have a little to go off of, so far!

So, I hear a lot of people mention the Cain and Abel story from the Bible, but I personally don't believe it is connected to that, so far.

I think it might be a reference to novocaine, an anesthetic which is most commonly used during dental procedures to numb an area of the mouth. It's not the most common drug used for dental procedures, since that's now lidocaine (which, well, also ends in CAINE), but it the most commonly known drug and used to be the most common. I mean, for one, Caine's head is literally a set of teeth with gums, and novocaine is injected into the cheeks or gums. The other reasoning I have for this is that while Jax, Pomni, Zooble (is her name is referencing something I just don't know what it is), and Gangle's names don't have much to do with their appearance, Kinger, Ragatha, and Bubble's names do. Kinger's a chess piece, Ragatha is based on a Raggedy Ann doll, and Bubble is... well, a bubble!

Another reason I have for this is a bit more metaphorical. Since Caine is and AI and the ringmaster, as well as the fact that he is clearly trying to keep the humans trapped entertained, he's essentially there to try to numb the fear, dread, and mental pain that being stuck in the Digital Circus causes. By distracting them with adventures, witty dialogue, and even going as far as to try to make a fake exit to keep them hopeful, he's basically doing what he can to just keep them sane so they won't abstract, even if he isn't the best at doing so. He can't get them out, he can't 100% for sure keep them from going insane, but he can provide mind numbing distractions and games to give them something... possibly with the hopes that someone outside the program may, one day, get them out. It's a bit like how novocaine can't *fix* the problem you're going to the dentist for. That's the dentist's job, not the anesthesia's. The novocaine can only numb you up while they do so.

EDIT/ADDITIONS: Another thing is that the reason why most modern dentists don't use novocaine is because, even though it is a minority of patients, some people have severe allergic reactions to novocaine. It is less likely to have a reaction to lidocaine, which is why most modern dentists use that, or other anesthetics, instead. This could relate to how Caine WANTS to help the people trapped, but due to his own obliviousness and habit for mischief, he more often tends to cause distress instead of joy or fun. He has every intention to help them, be it bringing joy or simply distracting them, but there is a flaw that is causing problems with him being successful at it.

[writing-for-marvel]

In The Margins

Bucky Barnes x GN!Reader

Summary: At first you’re confused by Bucky’s choice of gift for you, until you look a little deeper.

Warnings: this is meant to be a general holiday gift exchange fic and I’ve tried to make it as holiday neutral as possible but please let me know if I’ve missed something, a little light angst at the start cause it’s me, but other than that just fluff

Word count: 717

A/N: banners by @vase-of-lilies, dividers by @firefly-graphics. I haven’t written in over a month cause work has been insanely hectic so please be kind, I’m a little rusty 💜

Masterlist | Ask me anything! | Library

It was clearly a book.

Bucky’s untidy, and sticky tape littered gift wrapping did nothing to hide the size, shape or pliant feel of the present. You had been gifted enough novels in your life to know there was indeed a paperback book underneath the holiday themed wrapping paper.

And as reading was one of your favourite pastimes, you were excited at the prospect of having a new story to absorb. A complex world with compelling characters you could fall in love with for the first time, the possibility of finding a new author with a fresh and unique style that would capture your intrigue to delve down a rabbit hole of their publications.

As you unwrapped the gift, you were met with extremely familiar cover art. One that had become your greatest source of comfort, an intricate world you loved to get lost in and one you frequently returned to when times were at their toughest. These particular set of words felt like a warm and protective embrace, one that you could alway rely on being there for you when you needed solace.

You chuckled nervously, unsure why he gifted you a copy of your favourite book, one that was clearly secondhand if the crack in the spine was anything to go by.

You already owned a copy that was extremely well loved, and you knew it wasn’t a first edition based on the cover age, so it puzzled you as to why he thought this would be the perfect gift he had teased in the lead up to the holiday.

Bucky knew this was your favourite book, he had listened for hours as you dissected apart the themes, your favourite scenes, the character you identified with most and how their love interest would go to the ends of the world to protect them.

Your heart sank - had he truly not been paying attention all that time?

Perhaps you were being too harsh, maybe he was just one of those people that was terrible at giving gifts.

Every interaction with Bucky always felt as though he knew you like the back of his hand, that he could read how you were feeling as if you were his favourite book.

You smiled at him, trying to avoid that awkward exchange of pretending you liked the gift when in reality it was something you already owned, but he was already on the offence, knowing you well enough to tell you were attempting (and failing) at hiding your true reaction.

“Open it.” He chuckled, as if to say ‘give me a little credit, there’s more to it than that’.

Once you flipped to the first page it dawned on you what Bucky had actually done. Scrawled in the margins of the page was his own handwriting, having underlined certain lines and scribbled annotations beside them.

Flicking through each page his handwriting gradually became messier, but the commentary didn’t abate. And when you finally reached the chapters you loved most, you could tell he had been paying attention during all your rants because his comments included ‘I see your point about…’ and ‘I can see why you adore this part so much’.

Lost in your own little world, you could hear Bucky’s voice in your head as you read his annotations, his chuckle when he underlined certain phrases and wrote ‘this reminded me of you’. The way your heart swelled in that moment could rival when the grinch's heart grew three sizes.

It was the most extensive love letter you had ever received, the person you loved most in the world providing you with his intimate thoughts on a book you treasured with your whole heart. Every time you picked up that book you would never be alone, Bucky would now forever be reading it alongside you.

Tightly clutching the book close to your chest, you finally looked up at Bucky with teary eyes to find his own softly gazing at you, brimming with affection.

“I don’t have any words except thank you. I love it.” Your throat felt dry, though a tear slipped down your cheek. Bucky reached up and carefully wiped it away.

“And I love you.”

Next year you’re really going to have to up your gift giving game if you’re going to outdo him.

[starlightshore]

Gotta say, I love how you made so many posts criticizing people who see Chara as an abuser, yet in your own AU you depict them as a cruel, vindictive bully who tries to turn Asriel's family against her, drives her to suicide, then guilt-trips her into getting back together with them. Yet Asriel is somehow the real abuser because she's mad at them for ruining her life. I am by no means a Chara hater, but that seems a little inconsistent.

// CW: discussions of suicide, long post

wow, what an incredibly uncharitable reading of my work! thank you so much!

okay, jokey-positive aside. i shouldn't respond to bad-faith criticism like this because it's not worth my time as it's unlikely you'll actually hear me out in response. I've been online long enough to know you don't feed the trolls.

but, I'm an optimist at heart and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that you're actually upset with me and do want to have a civil conversation and are not just here to spew hate and drag me down.

Ask Fallen Royalty, the tumblr version wasn't handled the best as it was my first attempt at really trying to write this subject matter and I felt I didn't tackle it as well as I could have. that's something I plan on fixing with the rewrite.

that said, I have never called either of the siblings abusers.

they're flawed, mentally unwell and traumatized young adults/teens who are in no way equipped to handle the situation they were put in.

they both did awful things. Asriel packaged their trauma in a sanitized way for profit and sympathy points believing it'd benefit Monsterkind. they did so without asking Chara for permission. Then later, at Christmas, Asriel abandoned their family to go solo ruling. That's shitty! That's objectively really shitty but it's a very understandable reaction.

Asriel is taught that money is what moves the world and they believe they're soulless and a faker. That if anyone were to know their secret they'd hate them. so prevent that hurt, they cut everyone else out.

That's completely why Chara goes from "oh man I miss Asriel I wish I was good enough to have them beside me again ):" to 180 "Actually screw them for leaving me i hate them for this. i don't deserve to wallow in pain waiting for someone who can't even bother to text me back" them cutting of asriel is an understandable reaction for anyone, let alone a teenager! could they have been more gentle? yeah. could they have tried to fix things? yeah! but they're not a villain for not having the emotional maturity or foresight to handle a complex situation like that. they're like, literally 15/16 at this point of the story

chara also wasn't trying to drive people away from asriel? i really don't know what you're referring to with this aside from Chara deciding to tell the (at the time they believed) truth that Asriel is Flowey. At that point, Chara literally thought Asriel was replaced by Flowey. That they were two different people. That's not to isolate them- its to be honest with the family with this huge news. Toriel is shown not to care that her children are flowers, it would have never mattered to her as we see immediately that Chara is a flower and Toriel doesn't care.

chara also didn't drive Asriel to suicide. that's a blatant misread of the text. It's not that Asriel decided to die right after Chara decided to cut them off. and it's NOT like chara handed them a loaded gun or told them to do anything. all they did was say "don't lie to our family and don't talk to me, i don't want to be friends with you."

Asriel didn't decide to die until they felt their weak support system was breaking down. Yun wanted to be with Mew Mew, the Band broke up (Shyren, Napstablook and most recently Mew Mew quit), they made a big stupid movie that they hate (the epitome of their fake narrative on the silver screen), and because they ditched the premiere to check on chara (who was missing) their agents are pissed off.

Mew Mew then talks about how troubled Flowey/Asriel is and how being a secret flower hurt their social life. (The relationship with Flora being a strong example) like, Flowey always sabotages or loses those they care about because everyone else has their own life and they don't open themselves to create connections that last because they're running away. it's the culmination of everything going wrong that drives them to that point.

plus, it's hammered home later in Flowey's introspection that they feel horribly guilty for their actions as Flowey. parading as their perfect King when they secretly killed a majority of mosnterkind and did who knows what else is like. majorly fucked up.

i'm unsure if you forgot or chose to ignore the larger narrative or what's happened, but these things are in the story. they're both messed up individuals who have a hard time communicating their feelings -Chara literally brings up having emotional dysregulation disorder and CPTSD in the epilogue. Asriel's imposter syndrome and-gestures to Flowey) is also a clear indication that they've got some fundamental mental health issues that prevent them from understanding themselves and others.

it's a story about broken people who lash out against each other but ultimately come together in love.

they care so so deeply for each other! they're family. messing up (especially as children, teenagers etc) doesn't mean you shouldn't be written off as disposable. you're ALL capable of fucking up severely but you have the chance to grow and better yourself. you owe it to those who are willing to give that chance to do better. that's what the story has always been about.

I will admit that I plan on working on the pacing and giving chara more sweet moments so it doesn't come across as harsh -I don't want either sibling to be seen as a "villain" or """""abusive"""" as you call them. Except, yeah, Asriel is meant to be seen as an antagonist for a brief while, but that's set up Chara to come to that realization just the same as the audience should.

i hope this helped you understand what i was going for. if you wanna talk further I don't mind, but please talk to me as a real person. we're on the same page that abuse is bad. that people shouldn't treat each other so horribly. i don't excuse either of the character's interactions but i want to show empathy and understanding and that they can grow past that. i sincerely hope we can come to a shared perspective. if you wanna, i'd love to talk about i can make this message more clear, i'd love some proper criticism! i hope you have a lovely day and that you please be more considerate to how you to talk to others as I could have very easily read this anon hate/trolling.

[unreliablesnake]

Pairing: David “Deacon” Kay x f!reader

Note: I only saw like one season but goddammit... I had a brainrot and wrote a little something.

Warnings: age gap.

••••

“Just wait until you hear the end of the story because it gets crazier, I swear,” you said with a laugh before taking a sip of your wine.

Deacon loved the idea of just sitting there in the small restaurant near the apartment complex you both lived in and listening to you telling him those funny stories from the hospital. During these moments you were full of life and it was obvious you loved your job more than anything, so he always encouraged you to talk to him about your day.

It would have been a lie if he said he wasn't catching feelings. Because he was. And boy, did he wish you were feeling the same. Every time he saw you smile at him he wanted to pull you into a kiss, just a quick nonchalant kiss that would make him forget every problem he had. But you never showed any romantic interest in him, which soon made him realize he was dumb to assume you would ever love a divorced man his age.

He had seen your boyfriends, the young and successful titans who were ready to give you whatever your heart desired. He remembered that surgeon you dated for a while around the time he moved away from his family, the man who always gave you a ride home in his fancy Aston Martin, and the man who once yelled at you in the hallway during a nasty fight. That was the day he checked his license plate to see who he was and if he got into trouble before.

“Okay, I'll shut up now,” you said with your hands held up.

“Please, don't.” But you shook your head and took a bite of your pizza. “What's wrong?”

“You always do this. You know, asking me about my day, then watching me with this weird smile on your face, as if you were listening to the village idiot telling some funny story.”

Deacon let out a laugh while he took the glass of wine from you. “Okay, no more alcohol for you. I watch you with a smile because I love to listen to your stories.”

It was strange how he couldn’t remember when he reached out to take your hand, but when he saw your gaze move down to your hand, he immediately pulled it back with an apologetic look on his face. He could have sworn you were disappointed by the lack of contact, but he dismissed this thought immediately. If anything, you must have been relieved that he decided not to force this.

“There’s something we might need to talk about,” you suddenly said, your voice serious all of a sudden.

He let out a questioning hum to assure you he was listening, but before you could say anything, a man near the entrance began to yell at the couple sitting by the window and even pointed a gun at them. Deacon’s immediate reaction was to pull you down on the floor so you would be out of sight, then he pulled out his own weapon and told the man to drop his gun. Instead of doing that, the man pulled the trigger with shaking hands and the bullet grazed the innocent man’s arm. The woman screamed and Deacon shot the attacker without hesitation.

While he made a call to report the incident and call an ambulance, you slowly stood up and looked over at the two injured men not far from you. Even though he wanted to stop you, you sprung into action and asked the staff if they had a medical kit in the restaurant. Being a doctor meant you were ready to save whoever you could, including the attacker who was slowly bleeding out on the hardwood floor.

“Let me help,” he tried when he stopped behind you.

You turned to him with an angry look on your face before returning your attention back to your patient. “You did enough damage, Deac,” you spat.

With a sigh, he moved over to the other man and helped to bandage the wound until the ambulance arrived. His eyes wandered to you every once in a while, seeing the way you did your best to save him with the help of a waiter. He knew what bothered you. He knew you swore to save people, while his job often came with taking the life of someone. Maybe for you there was no way to get past that, and seeing him actually hurt another human being opened your eyes and made you see this contrast.

The ambulance soon arrived and the paramedics took over, leaving you standing in front of the restaurant and watching the others do their jobs. Deacon bit on his lower lip nervously as he stepped behind you and wrapped an arm around your shoulder to pull you against his chest, his face buried in your hair as he kissed your head. “Are you okay?” he asked you quietly.

You didn’t turn to look at him, you didn’t even respond to his question, but within a matter of seconds you said, “I need to wash the blood off my hands.”

He took the hint and let you go, his eyes not leaving you while you went back to the restaurant. You never returned to his side, instead you stayed inside, sitting by a table to wait for the cops to arrive and take your statement. Since he didn’t want to push you now, he kept his distance, hoping you would change your mind and talk to him about what happened.

But then a week passed and he hadn’t seen you. He briefly considered visiting you at the hospital you worked in, but he was quick to dismiss the idea. So when Hondo told him someone was looking for him, and he found you standing in the hallway, he had no idea what to say. Should he apologize? Was this what you wanted?

To his luck, you knew exactly what you wanted to say. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to push you away. It’s just… I know you wanted to protect the people there, I know that man shot another before you pulled the trigger, but you need to understand that I’m not comfortable with this. I knew what you do for a living, I heard the stories, but I guess you always tried to shelter me by keeping these parts to yourself,” you told him.

“I’m sorry you had to see that,” was all he said to you.

You took a step closer, your eyes fixed on him as you got ready to speak up again. “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about before the shooting.” He nodded, encouraging you to go on. “Maybe I’m seeing more into things than I should and I need you to tell me whether I’m right or wrong. The way you’re looking at me and touching me makes me think that you might see me as more than a simple neighbor. Or friend.”

As he took a deep breath, Deacon carefully considered what to say. He didn’t want to risk losing you over feelings you might not even reciprocate, so he cleared his throat and decided to lie. “Look, I’m much older than you. I want to believe that you’re my friend and I want to make sure you’re safe. I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”

“Sure?”

He nodded and heard a relieved sigh leave your lips. Or was it a sigh of relief? Because the next moment you muttered something under your breath, maybe an apology, then before he could ask you what you meant by that, you put a hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer to kiss him. Your lips were soft as they moved in perfect sync with his, and his hands were resting on your waist when he moved you a little closer to him. Anything to close that almost nonexistent gap between you.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, lovebirds, but duty calls,” Hondo said with a laugh when he passed by.

“We will have to talk about this,” he told you, unable to hide his smile. This was exactly what he’d been dying to do ever since that day he had his first proper conversation with you. When you nodded with a shy smile, he gave you a last quick kiss and said, “I’ll call you later, okay?”

[vihattu-thethoroughbredofsin]

Humans Are Space Orcs and Transformers (some ideas)

Okay, a few posts on the topic "humans are space orcs and transformers" inspired me to expand this topic. Maybe some ideas from one of my reblogs will repeat, but what can I do.

The canon of transformers in all works has extremely belittled humans for an obvious reason — the central theme is cool robots, and people are templates for the viewer's projection (or budget savings, because it will be easier to draw / model people, so you can save on reducing the number of frames with robots).

But if we move away from this and look towards the realistic relationship between humanity and Cybertronians, then we could come up with a bunch of interesting situations that few of the creators have thought of.

For example, transformers consider humans weak and pathetic because we are small and organic. Yes, realistic for a first impression. But why don't people treat them the same when they first meet? We humans are very sensitive to technology, because we know that even an industrial robot can fail, because the more complex the technology, the more variables that can break. Just look at the reaction of the owner of the car, if it was even slightly pushed by something (if there was no person inside, of course). Where are the people who start panicking at every fight, where is the human who is on the verge of a heart attack looking for the number of the nearest car service station after hearing that their Cybertronian friend fell into the lake? Eventually we would have realized that transformers are tougher, but the initial reaction would have been like this.

Although, why wouldn't Earth be a dangerous place? After all, water getting inside the transformer frame, stones and sand getting stuck in the welds of the transformation, cold and frozen water could be a huge constant problem, since this is a non-standard environment for their kind. But this is usually skipped, although it could be a plot reason for friendship with people who could help with this, since they are familiar with similar problems with their equipment. Yes, in some continuities it rains acid on Cybertron and all that, but this does not make the Earth some kind of paradise in comparison.

Why is there not a single moment where a hyperactive person tries to find some softer place on a bet, a wire or an energy line, for example, and bite? People like to mess around like that, especially friends. And how much Cybertronians can be surprised by their friend's phrase about wanting to eat them because of tender feelings (it won't help if they find out about the case of the plane being eaten).

Where is this here: — Energon is delicious, right? — For us, yes, but you can't. — ... — No, this is fatal poisoning for your kind! — I'LL DIE TRYING, JENNY, GEORGIE, WHERE'S THE CAMERA?!

Where is the test drive of all the possibilities of your metal friend? — And then you jump and transform around me! — I'm afraid you'll be crushed. — Okay, let's try with the dummy first.

Why has everyone forgotten Astoria's legacy and is no longer trying to inter-species romance? Where are the strange courtship on the part of humans, such as going to a premium car wash, trying to synthesize delicious energon for a date, incredible rage against someone who somehow offended a love interest? In the end, it's also a great ground for tragic stories, people don't live long, and Cybertronians are constantly putting themselves in danger. And longing after a moment of attachment in time is just as sad as a human's attempt to somehow preserve the memory of a seemingly immortal and invincible friend, which there is no one else to keep, and this, too, will not last long.

Humans are described mostly as useless friends who, for the convenience of the plot, are usually taken hostage or simply useless in this war as a species.

And it's just surprising. Humans. Useless. In the war. Humans who fought before they took a stick and a stone in their hand and from that moment improved weapons, skills and techniques of conflict management. Humans whose military demands move science to the same extent as industrial ones. And we wouldn't have found a way to fight alien robots? The first question that the military would ask scientists is how to break through Cybertronian armor and at what temperature it melts (and don't ask where they will take samples). Having suffered in the early stages, we would have regrouped and thought about what to do next. People are small, so they will fight back much more fiercely if they are cornered by someone big. This is quite common among animals, so it would be a natural thing among humans. To set traps using our specific landscape, to drive the enemy there with the help of energon, which can be poisoned, even if they take it away, they will still get hit. It didn't work out to fight with our weapons — we will improve, it didn't work out too — we will steal their weapons. Open war is not an option? You can fight a guerrilla war.

And it's not worth saying what a real nightmare we can do if the government delays recognizing the extension of humane treatment laws to Decepticons. If this law is often violated in conventional wars, then it's scary to imagine if it will be abolished here in relation to the enemy at all. And if researchers with a scientific interest get involved in this... History has a huge number of examples of what our curiosity is capable of. — And then, later, we realized how to turn off their pain receptors! — Yes, but it wasn't necessary anymore.

Allow a mad scientist to make a mecha suit out of a dead Decepticon and send the most reckless soldier to the battlefield. Not as the most effective combat unit, but as a intimidation and demonstration of what we can do with your dead brothers in arms. I have no doubt that someone would have thought of it (well, I thought of it...). Adaptivity, ingenuity, quick learning, desperation and recklessness — this is the main weapons of humanity.

And who said that transformers will necessarily be effective in war? The fact that they have been fighting for millions of years does not mean that they are doing it successfully, just the opposite (Even your vaunted IDW shows some kind of sucks instead of logical fighting). In the end, they have soldiers and units of military equipment are the same thing, in which case both are lost. In addition, if humans can retrain soldiers and transfer them to other duties, then you will not force those who transform into a tank to replace the seekers when there is a shortage. Moreover, in most continuities, in principle, Cybertronians have difficulties with reproducing numbers, because it's cool to get adult fighters and members of society at once, but when this process depends in most cases on your planet, which is most often a little dead, or some artefacts, then scores with humans begin to be compared. With certain difficulties and with the expenditure of time, but humanity can reproduce itself independently in theory wherever there are suitable conditions for the life of our species. Probably winning option could be a superweapon to blow up the entire planet at once, then yes, it's successful.

Well, just go to any forum ala "Why mechs from anime sucks!" and there will be an essay for a thousand pages about the fact that such a humanoid form is ineffective in war with a whole list of methods for breaking these things (hit the joints and the head — the very first rule).

Oh, you can say, "But in IDW, people were doing something there!". No. The humans there were mostly exposed as idiots, who, as it turned out, acted according to the plans of the Decepticons. Humans weren't even allowed to be evil on their own! They can be shown as good and evil, your favorite gray morality (which never really existed in IDW), but there is no this, just another stick in the Atobot wheel from the Decepticons.

It's just that sometimes I want to tell the authors of works on this franchise to decide not to include humans at all or, since they had to bring in their participation, AT LEAST TRY TO WRITE A STORY LOGICALLY. I understand that many authors are stuck in some kind of teenage "humans are not cool!", especially those who are responsible for the plot of comics, but this does not justify laziness in terms of the plot with people. Even if you were forced, well, at least try to do the job well and efficiently, and do not turn everything into some kind of fan fiction with crushing "stupid and pathetic flesh". It hasn't been entertaining anyone for a long time.

I'm not asking to include humans in every story, but maybe it's possible to try something new for them at least once in more than 30 years of franchise history? Humans are boring just because the authors don't want and don't know how to work with them, that's all.

[merp-blerp]

So I haven't seen Disney's Wish myself (I'm waiting for it to assumedly go to Disney+, theaters are a lot of money to spend too often), so I can't speak on the film from my own point of view yet, but I have seen the reaction to it so far and I wanted to share my thoughts on why I think some of these reactions are happening, based on my own experience of watching and listening to the Disney fandom's critiques over the many years I've done so. These are just my observations based on my experiences and it's okay to disagree, just be cordial.

Opinions below the cut ↓

I feel like a part of why Wish is the way it allegedly is has to do with something that has been plaguing Disney for a while: trying to prove bad-faith criticisms wrong instead of knowing their strengths.

I'm sure they still happen, but especially in the early and mid-2010s Disney had a lot of half-baked criticisms directed at their stories and characters. Wish might be another one of many attempts to quell these critiques. For example, I remember a common piece of writing advice would be to make villains complex all the time, with villains who are evil for evil's sake being seen as less well done (this was towards media in general, but it applied to Disney too), so Disney began the surprise villain and/or the sympathetic villain trend in their films. Now people have seen that shtick so much they want traditional villains back (me too). It's now overdone and no longer shocking or subversive in their movies anymore. [And as a little add-on, I understand why people want King Magnifico's design to be more "traditionally villainous" but I'm actually happy he isn't, as it's really hard to design a villain like that without perpetuating some kind of bigoted stereotype that a lot of traditional villains have. Even Mother Gothel, one of the last, if not the last of the classic villains Disney has attempted, had a lot of antisemitism baked into not only her design but also her actions. Disney's done that a lot, which is likely accidental, but still bad. I'd much prefer him to look and act like some guy over an awful Jewish stereotype or something similar.] People also called princesses with the temperaments of, say, Aurora, Belle, or Cinderella "boring", or hell, "sexist" in their characterization, so the heroines were made more relatably quirky, as that type of humor towards/by girls and women were very popular in the 2010s. Asha is allegedly somehow both socially inept and socially competent, which arguably isn't a flaw at all, just contradictory. (My neuro-spicy brain wants to somewhat lean towards neurodivergence when I hear that, but I haven't seen the film, so what do I know?) Now people are souring to that too, understandably, as that humor's kind of dated and overdone with Disney's heroines. These traits aren't bad on girls automatically, especially if they make sense for the environment they grew up in like Anna or Rapunzel, but they've just been done to death with Disney. Ironically, now when I see people suggest alternative traits for Asha they propose a more "sophisticated", "mature", or "self-assured" type of personality, aka, what the "sexist" traditional heroines had a lot of the time.

The newer tropes Disney tried to do in place of their old ones don't have as much staying power as the old. Once they're done so much they get stale. If they're based on trends in media rather than being actually captivating in writing, they become timely. People can digest characters like Cinderella, who are interesting and aren't overly worried about upholding trends in their characterization, for centuries whether they realize it or not. But characters like what Asha is allegedly like are based on trendy, shallow politics that aren't as deep as they sound, maybe sometimes even circling right back into the bigotry it was trying to combat (like the girl-boss stuff), and become overdone and/or dated if they aren't done well or in a new way. I feel like because of the poorly made assessments that people used to make towards Disney, Disney is almost embarrassed by their past films when they really shouldn't be. This is why the recent remakes tend to over-correct the originals. In the original Beauty and the Beast, it was not a flaw that Adam was eleven when he was made to look like a beast in my opinion, it just made it more interesting, but some reviews saw it as a bad thing, so they changed the line in "Be Our Guest" that implied his age. It was seen as a flaw that the original Cinderella didn't have a clear reason to stay with her abusive family, even though that's how familial abuse works often and it's really rude to victims to ask "Why don't you just leave?" or something like that; so Disney gave Ella the explanation that she stays because it was her father's home in the 2015 remake, which only added more flaws when you remember that she does leave the house in the end anyway. What was the point in saying that? People wanted strong female characters, so Mulan in her remake is a flawless, emotionless girl-boss. It was seen as sexist when female characters wanted romantic love because "girls don't need a man, so romance is sexist", so Disney stopped telling love stories and focused more on issues of the self, which isn't bad, but now people want Disney to tell love stories again and are disappointed that Asha didn't have a romance with the mostly cut "Star-Boy" character in Wish (again, me too, I love Disney's love stories). All of these are overcorrections to things that were never flaws to begin with, just nit-picks from bad observations of their films. There are too many examples. It's like Disney is insecure.

If Disney understood that these things weren't bad in essence, Wish would be more liked by its critics; if Disney wasn't afraid to let their female characters have actual flaws, not see romantic love as something dated, not continue to listen to these types of shitty judgments, or just take more risks again because that's what shaped the company—taking risks against the odds, Wish would be better (I assume all of the former based on what I've heard, again I haven't seen Wish myself). The pseudo-feminism and CinemaSins type of critiquing from the 2010s has mostly died out. The culture's changed. The tropes people once condemned are now being begged to be brought back. What goes around comes back around. It showcases what was truly timeless and what was just a trend in media.

In my opinion, old bad-faith "fan" responses are partially to blame for these themes in recent films, but of course, Disney is ultimately at fault because they make their own choices. There could also be plenty of other reasons why Wish feels half-done to some, like the alleged poor treatment of employees behind the scenes.

By the way, if you were a Disney fan who had these types of opinions in the past, you shouldn't be hard on yourself about it, especially if you were just a kid listening to and trying to appeal to the adults that were around you or influenced you. The latter is the boat I was in once, and now I've grown up past that. Needlessly cynical film takes and pseudo-feminism were all the rage for a while and many have had that phase of being really into those mindsets. You're not bad if you've been in it at any time in the past as long as you are learning and growing.

I'm choosing to be optimistic about Disney. Somehow I still am. They have been in a creative rut for what seems like a while now. Disney-creative doesn't seem to be allowed to tell the stories they want to tell, instead being made to cater to the wrong people. The people who like to insult Disney more than they like watching their films. They should make movies for the fans of all ages who love them. But I believe Disney can bounce back from this. Disney has been through rough patches before, but these rough patches in the past have led to eras like the Disney Renaissance. I'm hoping the backlash from Wish will lead to Disney making changes once more. They've done that repeatedly in their complex 100 years of establishment. Gone are the times when the Disney remakes were panned by fans but still made tons of money that justified their continued production. And long gone are the days when fans were actually excited about the prospects of Disney recreating their movies (because yes people felt that way once upon a time). Now the remakes aren't making as much as Disney wants and sometimes even flopping. Gone are the days when their animated films were their critical lifeline, Wish proves that they are not immune to being received poorly. It's time for something new. Or old done new. Just something different. It would be one thing if this were just another bad movie, but this was their 100th-year celebration, you think they'd be more careful to not muck it up. But apparently, all it did was reflect all the flaws that have been in Disney's storytelling as of late. That's why the backlash is so great. It feels like the last straw. Once time goes on past the 100th-anniversary era, I think the hate for Wish will die down, but that wouldn't make it less potentially flawed. When I first caught wind of this film, way before we had a trailer even, I was very excited that it seemed like a return to form for Disney, but apparently, it might not be, and that's got a lot of people disappointed, especially since this movie was meant to be a celebration. I've loved Disney for as long as I can remember and I know a lot of people are the same way. People wouldn't be so disappointed in the state of the company if they didn't care deeply about Disney and believed that they could do better. I still think Disney could be great. I still believe in them. They just need to believe in themselves again.

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! ♥

[lovely-lynn]

If You Mess With Me, You're Messing With My Family

Summary: Being a Wayne means many things. It means being emotionally constipated and stubborn. It means having guilt and hero complexes the size of an entire country. It meant late nights,it meant fist fights and screaming matches but above all, being a Wayne meant that you always had someone watching your back. Wayne's protect their own, for better or worse. No one could mess with a Wayne and Lord help the one that tries. (Also known as Lila threatens Marinette but doesn't exactly get the reaction she's expecting)

_________________________________

If there was one thing Marinette hated more than anything else in the world, it was liars. Whether it be from the media or a certain classmate. In recent weeks, Marinette had gotten really good at ignoring Lila's eyes. It wasn't easy by any means. It had taken several long conversations with Alfred to come up with a plan that would keep most of the heat off of her and eventually put an end to Lila's lies. She wisely made Alfred promise not to tell her siblings. He agreed on the conditions that she keep him informed and that she promised to let them know if it got out of hand. To say Marinette was grateful was an understatement.

Her family was overprotective to say the very least. Even Damian, as prickly as he may be at times. Marinette had no doubt that if they were aware of the situation, they would come swooping to the rescue with lawsuits and most likely some blood in the mix. It was never good when a Wayne lost their temper. Lex Luther had found that out the hard way. She smile fondly at the memory. Had it created a bit of a media storm? Yes. Had it been worth it? Absolutely.

The plan Marinette had cooked up involved a lot of sitting back and waiting, as much as it pained her to do so. Sitting back made it look like she was submissive . It made it look Luke she was bowing down. However, it was necessary. Evidence was a lot easier to collect without everyone hating you. Plus if an incident were to happen, her father would undoubtedly hear about it and that, as she had already pointed out, wouldn't end well.

Despite how much she hated it, Marinette was proud at how well she played her roll. Not that she would have expected anything else, she was the daughter of Batman after all. Lila wasn't the only one who knew how to manipulate the situation in their favor. It was a back and forth game at this point. A game that, despite being frustrating, Marinette couldn't deny she kind of enjoyed. If only to watch the poorly concealed rage on Lila's face when she realized she had been outsmarted. The key to this tactic was mind games, something all the bats were exceptionally good at. By far Marinette's favorite, was to stay silent and watch Lila talk herself into a corner. Everyone had something that caused them to slip up. Lila's was her constant need for attention. When things go quiet, Lila would talk to fill the space in order to keep the attention on her. This often caused her to inadvertently contradict herself or leave small discrepancies in her story. Then all Marinette had to do was point those out. The hard part was pointing them out in a way that sounded genuinely confused and interested instead of accusing and frustrated. She also had to leave some of the alone lest it look like she was trying to search for the bad. Marinette's problem was that she often got over excited which led to mistakes on her part. Patience was something she was working on. She chose to focus on the bigger holes Lila left in her stories. Besides, the goal at this point wasn't to expose her. It was just to sew seeds of doubt. Just enough that people began to take her word with a grain of salt. Maybe someone might actually end up googling her claims for once.

Marinette had worked long and hard on this plan and she could tell it was beginning to work. People no longer followed her blindly. There was even people who would point out contradictions before Marinette had to. In short it was working perfectly. She should have known something would go wrong.

You see the only thing Marinette hated worse than liars, was people who lied about her family. That was by far the quickest way to make her blood boil. Her brothers weren't the only ones that were protective. Being a Wayne means many things. It means being emotionally constipated and stubborn. It means having guilt and hero complexes the size of an entire country. It meant late nights,it meant fist fights and screaming matches but above all, being a Wayne meant that you always had someone watching your back. Wayne's protect their own, for better or worse. No one could mess with a Wayne and Lord help the one that tries. That is why the thing that caused Marinette to break her perfectly crafted disguise, to ruin all the progress she had made, was when she heard Lila Rossi say,

"Damian is a complete and total jerk, He's so mean to everyone. If I was his parent I would have shipped him off to some behavioral correction school," Lila stated confidently. Instantly Marinette's blood pressure sky rocketed. Though Lila at least hadn't tried to paint Damian as sweet and innocent or claimed to be dating the fierce eight year old. IF she had their would have been nothing stopping her from jabbing her pencil into her neck. Still, Damian might be a brat at times, but he was her brat and no one was going to talk about him that way. She could barely hear Alya's reply over the blood roaring in her ears.

"Wow girl, you certainly seem to know the Wayne's well," The astonishment and admiration in her voice almost made Marinette feel sorry for the gullible reporter. Almost.

"Oh yeah, well I traveled to Gotham not long ago. Me and Richard really hit it off. We've been talking ever since," Lila added a rather convincing blush at the end. Marinette's control, snapped. Dick was 24 years old, a stark contrast to their 14.

"Prove it." Marinette's voice was like steel as it rang through the classroom. Everything went silent as her comment seemed to echo throughout the room.

"Excuse me?" Lila questioned, narrowing her eyes.

" You heard me. Show us the text messages that you apparently have had with Richard Grayson," Marinette demanded. Fake tears welled up in Lila's eyes.

"Are you- Are you accusing me of lying?" Her voiced trembled rather convincingly. Marinette might have been impressed if she wasn't so angry. Marinette could feel her face flush but for completely different reasons than Lila.

"Marinette, come on, not this again. I thought we got past this," Alya cut in, disappointment lining her voice, " There is no need for this jealousy. Just because Lila has done some cool things doesn't mean that your accomplishments are lesser."

"Oh believe me I know. I never implied that I felt insecure and I have no reason to be jealous. What I have implied is that I am tired of the lies that spill from Lila's mouth. Especially when those lies can ruin someone's life and reputation," Marinette snapped. Lila let out a sob and Alya opened her mouth again but Marinette fixed her with the significant 'bat glare' as she continued, " I refuse to listen to the poison that you feed everyone you speak too. So listen close Lila cause I'm not going to say it twice, stop the lies or I will stop them for you. And I promise you that my way won't be nearly as pleasant, " The silence in the room was deafening. Several people in the room sat in shock at the cold, angry outburst from their generally sweet and gentle classmates. More people appeared to be angry about her accusations. As he temper began to boil over, she made the wise decision to remove herself from the situation. The last thing she needed was to be akumatized or give into the urge to punch her classmate.

Marinette reveled in the way that the door slammed behind her as she exited. She quickly made her way to the bathroom and took a deep breath once she entered. She paced the floor, attempting to rid herself of her anger induced energy. She still seethed with rage but the longer she was away from the classroom, the calmer she got. She had just managed to reign in her temper once more when she heard the door open behind her, admitting Lila Rossi. Lila stood with a triumphant smirk.

"Alright Dupain-Cheng it seems someone has forgotten our little conversation. But since you've been a good little girl up until now, I will give you one last chance. You are either with me or against me. Your choice but I can assure you my way won't be nearly as pleasant," Marinette had to physically hold herself back from lunging at the girl. Instead she let out a humorless laugh, more of a cackle really, that sent grown men running. She steeled herself, exuding as much confidence as she possibly could. Gone was Marinette Dupain-Cheng and left in her place was Marinette Wayne. Hero of Paris, Vigilante of Gotham, Daughter of Bruce Wayne. Marinette was done pretending to be anything less than the confident girl she was

"My father raised a daughter who was kind, empathetic, responsible, trustworthy, willing to help others, forgiving, someone who put others before herself, and someone who would do the right thing even when it was hard,"Marinette said,slowly walking towards Lila, " But my father did not raise a push over. I have never let anyone walk all over me and I'm not going to start now."

"I will ruin you," Lila spat but Marinette just laughed. The laugh was more genuine this time as she found the prospect truly amusing.

"Oh I would love to see you try. Many people have said that sentence and all of them have yet to succeed.You see Rossi, I am more powerful then you could ever dream to be," Marinette thought of all the tabloids, political figures, and haunty businessmen she had faced over the year. If they couldn't beat her, with all of their resources and influence, than Lila Rossi certainly couldn't.

"Who do you think you are?" Lila scoffed, Marinette had to give it to Lila, she had her to waiver or show any signs of uncertainty. That was more than most people could say. It was common knowledge in Gotham not to make a Wayne angry. They had proved time and time again that they will stop at nothing to gain justice.

"Marinette Wayne, daughter of Bruce Wayne. Trust me Rossi, you can't touch me," That caused Lila to pale ever so slightly, and a look of fear flashed through her eyes. A normal person would have missed it but Marinette had been trained in observation since before she knew what the word meant. It sent a sense of satisfaction rushing through her.

"I will take away everyone you care about. I will turn all of your friends against you,"Lila threatened and Marinette had no doubt that she would and honestly, she didn't care. Lila could have the gullible attention seekers who wanted nothing to do with you unless you benefited them. They didn't want friends, they wanted stepping stones. It would hurt yes,that much she knew, but she had people that would pick her back up.

"Is that supposed to scare me? "Marinette question raising an eyebrow at the empty threat. Lila might be able to convince the akuma class but her best and most trustworthy friends, the ones she held most dear, were not so easily fooled. They may live in Gotham but Marinette had no doubt her siblings could be in Paris within the hour. Whether through Zeta tube,which they had ensured was in place before she moved, or by certain super individuals.

" It should ," Lila replied, standing firm. Marinette smiled,

"Honey, I'm from Gotham, you don't scare me," Marinette mentally put Lila next to any of Gotham's villains and laughed. She left out the fact that all of those villains she had fought at least once. Her nightly activities with her family might be fairly new in Gotham but they weren't in Paris. Marinette shuttered as she remember when they found out that she was Ladybug. To say they had been unhappy was an understatement. It wasn't so much that she was a superhero that had been the issue. It was the fact that she hadn't told them or gone to them for help. It was the fact that she was facing her struggle with Hawkmoth alone. Of course her working with Chat Noir hadn't helped any. His incessant flirting and goofing off had not gone over well. That paired with the fact that he was a boy had her siblings, specifically Jason, after his head.

"You won't be so confident when I'm through with you," Lila stated firmly, fire in her eyes.

"Bring it on Rossi. But let me warn you, Wayne's protect their own. If you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us and trust me, that is not something you want to experience. Do you know why?" Marinette asked, face only inches away from Lila's own," Because we Wayne's, never lose,"and with that final statement, Marinette strode confidently out of the bathroom. She paused a second in the doorway before adding, "And Lila, if you ever lie about dating my eight year old brother again, there will be nothing that will save you from the full extent of my wrath," Marinette didn't look back as the door closed behind her and she made her way back into the classroom.

This was me venting not gonna lie. Its not my best work but I really loved the concept and so here we are. Let me know if you want me to add to this. As always let me know what you want to see next!!!!

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[eisa96]

“Glad he had his character development” Did you—Did you even hear yourself? And this is coming from fans who claimed themselves they read the main story. Don’t lie.

“he’s so violent” “bad anger issues” “poor Touya he doesn’t deserve to be hit the poor baby” “poor Kohane :((“ “poor Mita”

Where do I even start—

Mita sabotaged Vivids because he thought he did the ‘right thing’ for Bad Dogs/Akito and he thought that the other will agree with him. Which caused that reaction from Akito. Rightfully so

He does not like dirty tricks. Need to remind you that he experienced those things in his years spending his life in Vivid Street, singing. Mita absolutely knows this. Seen it. And he’s doing the exact same thing as those musicians. Why do you think Akito reacted so strongly to that?

Kohane. He made it very, very clear that he hates half-assed people that aren’t serious in pursuing their dreams. Him and An share the same strong desire : surpass Rad Weekend. And here comes Kohane, someone that isn’t experience in the field that An immediately accepts as her partner.

Before, other musicians reached their hands to An. She ended up rejecting them all. But what makes Kohane special? When she’s not even experienced. It made it seem that An is not as serious as he is in their dream; therefore trampling on it. Another thing is; when he throw those harsh words to Kohane (after the Vivids blackout incident), ever thought that he’s also protecting her?

Remember. He knows how vicious Vivid Street is. Has encountered and endured those musicians that Kohane will eventually will face. If she’s not ready in taking it seriously, she’ll suffer. Akito, in his own words; is looking out for others. And this is something that never changes.

Not everything is black and white. Even without the future events or side stories that came along after the main story, the writers already introduced Akito as a complex character that is more than he looks.

Touya. To those who read the main story, you should be very aware why Akito resulted in punching him here. If you only say that Akito has deep anger issues and that he shouldn’t use violence to speak his words here and painted Touya as the victim ; you are very, very wrong.

Akito was trying to be calm and level-headed in that situation. Up until the point Touya stabbed him right where it hurts that he finally snapped and hit him. Akito didn’t punch him because Touya didn’t want to be partners with him anymore nor because he said he won’t sing. He punched him because he belittled Akito’s dream. Touya told him that his dream is childish, that he should stop chasing after some “little event that’s only famous in (this) town”. That their songs are meaningless. The words are not only ruthless but cold.

This is the same person Akito shares his dream with and has sung together as partners for the last 2-3 years.

Touya wasn’t fazed that Akito punched him. He’s hurt that he deliberately upsets his partner by directly hitting him where it is the most painful. With his words. Both of them are hurting in this event. Not only just Touya.

People kept focusing on Akito being a ‘bad person’ in the main story but never see what his actions and words did to those characters he supposedly hurt.

Mita realized his mistakes, reflect on his actions and apologized to Vivids. He also cleared Bad Dogs name and confessed that they have nothing to do with the incident. That they only wanted a fair battle, that he was the one who did all of that.

Kohane carefully processes Akito’s words and agreed that she wasn’t taking it as seriously she thinks and found what she wants to do. And in some way, allows her to be brave in stepping forward to pursue that dream with her partner. She knows that her skills are not enough but she will try to aim on performing the best event with her partner.

Touya was not hurt by Akito, let’s make this clear. After the incident, he gets to talk about his troubles to An & Kohane and asked them not to tell Akito about it. Akito in so many ways, helped him to feel alive again. The one thing that held him back was that—He felt unworthy to stand by Akito’s side which shine so brightly compared to his ‘half-assed’ one (his words not mine). And what did Akito do? After he learns about what Touya was hiding?

He came and talk with Touya. Let him know that he doesn’t want anyone but Touya as a partner. Lets him know that it’s okay even if the other thinks he’s not good enough for him. Lets Touya know that they will do it together; as partners, pursuing their dream they share. Together. Akito again, brought light to Touya’s world again. He was hurt, yes. They both are. But this one conversation alone, helps them to learn more about one another and heal.

This is what people are not seeing.

[blushedarmybunny]

Butterfly Effect: part 3 || Jeon Jungkook x fem Reader

♡ Pairing: Jeon Jungkook x fem reader

♡ Word count: 4k

♡ Genre: Angst (m), different timelines travel, smut.

♡ summary:

There is Yn who thought that she had her shit together until there’s a dead body in her boyfriend’s basement.

Everything crumbled in a second, but wait…ummm Why she is back when she met Jungkook a year before this happened? Is time travel a real thing?

Oh so we are changing strategies now: let’s be a total b.i.t.c.h, that way Jungkook the serial killer would be as far as possible from yn, right?

Or maybe is this her chance to save the victim before Jungkook can commit that terrible crime?

Yn did not expect to drag herself into the infinite possible timelines that the fabric of the universe has, in between her adventure she might change more lives than her own.

♡ part 1, part2

♡ a/n: the conclusion to the story is soon to be published. In the meanwhile, enjoy the continuation.

Jungkook looked at you and at that exact moment you knew you were screwed.

Then he smiled and let out a chuckle.

You felt terrified at his sudden reaction, petrified.

“Look you little bitch, seems you didn’t get the message the last time we saw each other” Jungkook said to Chanyeol with extraordinary calm and sending you a look that made your blood ran cold.

“Jungkook, give me the phone please” You pleaded, he now looked at you with confusion and shook his head.

“Where are you hiding? Huh? Maybe this time you won’t be so lucky.” Jungkook cliqued his tongue and tensed his jaw, he was starting to lose it.

You did something risky and impulsive.

With precision and speed, you grabbed your cellphone from Jungkook’s hands and then you instinctively ran to the door that just a few steps aways and you just kept running with your phone on your ear.

“You are very stupid, Chanyeol” you said out of breath, you knew you only had seconds before Jungkook catches you.

“Yn?! Please can you-“ the voice of Chanyeol was energetic and surprised but you could not hear the rest of it since you turned the phone off quickly just milliseconds before Jungkook took your arm. Everything happened so fast.

Jungkook turned you around and were met with his furious stare, you were so out of breath that you took Jungkook’s shoulder to support yourself.

“What are you doing, yn?” he asked you with that deep tone, you watched him in silence for a few seconds without knowing what to answer “speak!” he exclaimed making you flinch.

“Jungkook you could…get me expelled” you murmured shielding yourself behind that excuse.

Jungkook let go off your arm and stepped back and turned back from you he seemed to be trying to hold himself back passing his hands through his hair repeatedly, you had the urge to run away again but he would be even more angry when he eventually catches you.

Jungkook walk up to you once again but he did not say a word, instead he put his hand on your back and guided you to his motorcycle, he got up and you did too, soon enough you two were driving away through the streets of Seoul.

You closed your eyes and put your head on his back. Your hair flying on the wind, you recognized the route as the way to your apartment complex.

When you arrived, you acted on automatic mode getting off the bike and making your way to your apartment with Jungkook very close by.

In the elevator as soon as the doors closed, Jungkook hands instantly explored the trail from your waist to your ass taking you by surprise, you turn to look at him but with a daring look he squeezes the flesh with a subtle amount of pressure that send a quick signal of pleasure through your entire body making you clench.

The elevator stopped on another floor, a few people got inside, the hand of Jungkook on your ass went unnoticed. When you arrived to your apartment floor without any suspicion of the other people around you, Jungkook and you made your way out to your apartment door. You are about to tap the code but Jungkook’s hand was already on it, tapping the numbers quickly.

Once inside you turned to him to talk.

“Jungkook I-“ you started to say but got interrupted by Jungkook lips on yours, his hot sticky tongue entering your mouth with sensual aggression.”Mhhn” you mumbled.

His hands on your waist, firmly grabbing you.

You two separated to breath creating a weak string of saliva that connected your mouths together.

“You want me to not worry about this situation, is that right?” he whispered with his hot breath blowing slightly in your face, you look at him helpless and nodded.

“Then make me not to worry” Jungkook said to you with dark orbits staring at you with lust in them “Make me forget that that call even happened” he got closer and set a short kiss on your parted lips, you looked at him while he walked to the sofa and opened his legs, his arms spread as he was about to have a lot of fun, then he arched his pierced eyebrow.

You knew what he was implying, your wet underwear was proof of that.

So you walked in front of him and kneeled, pulled your hair back and your hands touching with painfully slow movements his muscular thigs, you eventually unzipped his pants, palming first the shape of his dick over his underwear, you uncover his member and an excited swollen cock jumps to Jungkook bellybutton which makes him low moan.

You take his dick with both hands and spit on in, you watch your drool drizzle to his length and then you make eye contact as you are about to lick the tip. Jungkook is looking at you like a lost puppy, cheeks a little red and his lower lip captured by his teeth.

You go ahead and lick the pre-seminal liquid then slowly you put it in your mouth and apply some pressure with your tongue, he moaned again.

You start to suck all his length, your hand firmly on the base of his dick.

“F-fuck” he moaned collecting all your hair with his hand “Just like that” he said choking on another moan.

You were dedicated to your task giving him the pleasure that he required.

He was getting more and more worked up as you went a little faster.

“Yn, I’m ‘bout to cum-ah fuck” he said trying to control his heavy breathing, you give him a long suck with all his length in your mouth, and that send him.

You felt his hot semen in your mouth and you drank like it was juice.

“Yn, come here” he said out of breath, and you made your way to his lap, both of you sharing a passionate kiss, Jungkook pulling down your shorts with your help, once you were on underwear, he sneaked in his hand rubbing his palm on your slit, emphasizing the pressure on your clit, making you moan.

His fingers started to penetrate your pussy, your hips moving up and down without shame, Jungkook smacked your ass.

“You are a filthy whore, aren’t you?” he said looking at your eyes “you keep jumping on my fingers like that” he said to you while he took the string of your panty, stretch it and let go of it, whipping your ass once again, the pain turning to pleasure.

“Jungkook!” you exclaimed rolling your eyes back when your orgasm finally arrived.

“There you go” he said proud when he look his fingers soaked with your pleasure, he took the rest of his clothes off and you did the same, both desperate.

He took you from behind, his dick sliding in your pussy with a quick stroke.

He was fucking you senseless, his hips smacking your ass with energy, you felt his assertion of dominance with every thrust and every squeeze of his hand on your hip.

“hmm” you mumbled sounding and looking like a complete mess.

“Fucking take it, whore” he said spanking your ass “Yes-ah you like it” he said moaning.

You felt your high coming close, Jungkook’s dick hitting the spot that made you scream.

“I’m cumming” you manage to say, Jungkook suddenly got out of you and turned you around, face to face he put his dick inside of you again and started again to move.

“hmm Yn” he moaned looking at your eyes, his stare was intense enough to send another bolt of pleasure to your womb, Jungkook put his hand on your throat and put a little of pressure not completely letting you out of breath.

That send you the final stroke of pleasure that awarded you with an intense orgasm, he pulled out his dick just in time to spill his seed on your belly.

Both took a few seconds to process the big wave of pleasure that you just had.

Jungkook by your side his breath on your neck and your hand on caressing his hair.

“I love you, Yn” he whispered tenderly.

“me too” you responded looking at the ceiling, confusion on your head as it was usual.

…………………………………….

 The morning arrived and Jungkook was no less than a gentleman, waking Yn up with kisses and loving words, cooking her breakfast, taking a shower with her but soon after that he had to go due to a call from his job.

Jungkook kissed Yn goodbye and went his way leaving now Yn alone with her mess once again.

Yn runs to her room and grabs her purse to find the blank notebook, she opens it and run her finger through the empty pages.

Yn decides to call Seokjin to arrange a meeting, he responds very quick.

“Yn, what can I do for you?” Seokjin asked.

“I would like to see you this afternoon, are you free?”

“Yes of course, I got a feeling it’s about the notebook thing”

“It actually is, you see, I got no idea how to even start”

“it’s okay, then it might be better for you to come to my home”

“i’m a little scared” Yn confessed biting her lip with nervousness.

“Don’t worry, you can trust me” Seokjin assured her “Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, that would be too much, let me take a taxi or something”

When Yn arrived to Seokjin’s house she was no less nervous than when she was on the phone, Seokjin took noticed and decided to make her some food so that she could relax a little before the session.

“Wow you are putting on an apron and everything” Yn teased Jin, then she washed her hands and started to cut some veggies.

“I would say that I’m almost a professional at this” Jin responded cutting the meat.

After some preparation and a show off of Jin’s cooking skills Yn asked him:

“So you had jump timelines quite a few times…why did you stay on this one? Were the others that bad?” Jin looked at her direction and almost smiled but he went back to check the boiling pots.

“This might not be the perfect timeline, but the other ones were not any better, either way my sister was dead because of me in every single one including this one too, I guess I just gave up” Jin said with look in his face that could only be described as sadness.

“I’m sorry” Yn could only say “If that’s the reason that kept jumping timelines then you should not give up..” Yn tried to grab his arm with gentleness but Seokjin turned around to be face to face with her.

“I’m afraid, Yn” Jin confessed “is just heart breaking when you found yourself yet in another reality and is not…” Jin sighted and turned off the kitchen. “Lets eat, I need you strong for what is to come”

Yn was amazed by Jin’s culinary skills and bite after bite she could not help herself to reassure Jin that it was the best dish she has had in a good while. After eating they went to the living room and chat for a few minutes, the Jin looked at her serious.

“Yn, you have to be intoxicated to do this” Jin said to her setting the notebook in front of her.

“If it is the only way…”

“Don’t take it lightly, if you are going to do this you need drugs, last time I desperately tried to jump I had an overdose” Jin said with a cold tone, Yn looked at him astonished.

“You know Jin, I think I have died in the other realities so what can be worse than that?”

Jin nodded and brought to her a pill and water; Yn took it.

“Write everything you been through down, soon enough you’d be on a trance and then… well you’ll see”

Yn took the pen and stated to write, her head started spinning and her reality started distorting once again to every little moment that she has had so far. Her hand writing everything down, the incident, the cold-blooded murder, the jump, the new realities.

Soon the pages started to fill and her head was on roof with the pleasant sensations that came with the high of drugs.

“Yn, you need to read what your higher self has written down” Jin said to her watching her closely “Don’t lose concentration!”

Yn look at him with a lost stare but a call from reality focus her once more on her objectives, she passed the pages of the notebook that were no longer empty, she choose a page and started reading.

July 28, 20xx

I finally graduated, my mom came all the way here, I want to feel happy but everything doesn’t feel right, Jungkook is in prison for murdering Chanyeol, he is not coming out for a long time, his mom took the decision to end her life in the process, Jungkook doesn’t have no one apart from me and his friends that can’t visit him because their own bad blood with the police, I visit him whenever I can but I’m starting to feel like I should move on, I can’t waste my life in waiting for him when he still has another 15 years to go, I have this job offer in Hong Kong and I plan to take it and if it doesn’t work out then I would try in Europe.

February 6, 20xx

I just found out that Jungkook came out of prison, I saw it in a small news article, he came out 5 years before I had planned, something about his good behavior, I’m far away from Korea and I’m married to Jackson now he treats me well and it’s completely different from him, it’s easy to remember what the truth nature of Jungkook really is after all and putting that into contrast with the kind, educated, respectful self that is Jackson, we might try for a baby this year and I can’t wait to let the past go.

January 19, 20xx

I’ve been back in Korea against my will for 4 years now, Jungkook’s power over the mafia just go bigger and stronger, prison changed him forever, I will never forgive him for killing Jackson, my resentment grows every day and it’s scary but I now I encounter that this resentment is getting extended to the children I procreated with the monster, Dohyung just looks too much like him  and is expected to be his heir, when my daughter Eunpyo is in my arms I just cry because she cannot be free from this shit situation, Jungkook is just too powerful now, and I can’t do anything without him watching my every move, I don’t care about all this money tinted by blood I just want my simple life in Hong Kong back.

August 31, 20xx

I’m currently hiding in London, I could not take it anymore, the kids would be better without me anyway, I couldn’t be very sufficient as a mother in such conditions and with this depression, Jungkook must be pissed off but I don’t care, his overbearing control over everything in my life has led me to this decision, luckily I’m under this mafia guy protection, he might be a criminal just as Jungkook but he is vastly different and he set me free, if Jungkook dares to find me I would not think it twice and end everything, I will never come back with him.

Yn stopped reading and ran to the nearest bathroom to vomit; Jin runs after her to help her with the hair.

“I can’t stay here, there is no way” she cried after she washed herself, Jin glued to her side.

“Drink this, you will feel better” Jin passed her a cup of tea.

“I want out, how can I do it, Jin?” Yn asked sipping the cup.

“All you will do right now is rest, we can figure that out later” Jin told her.

“You don’t understand everything is about to crumble down, I just don’t want to be here anymore” Yn said tears running down her face.

“Not now, Yn” Jin severed.

Yn’s cellphone started to ring, she took the device and glance at it with dread.

“It’s Jungkook” she said to Jin with tears still in her eyes.

“He doesn’t treat you well, yn?” Jin asked but before Yn answered his question, she picked up the call.

“Where are you, Yn? I thought that you would be on your apartment?” Jungkook asked her with a neutral tone.

“I was with Hajoon, I’m on my way home” Yn lied biting her lip.

“Alright, do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, I’m about to take the subway, I can’t talk right now, see you there” Yn ended the call and sighted.

“He doesn’t treat you well, yn?” Jin asked again serious.

“Jin, he is the reason why I can’t stay here” Yn confessed “But right now I have to continue the show, until I can jump successfully into another timeline”

“Yn are you sure you want to comeback to him?”  Jin worried gaze met your eyes.

“Right now, I have to, but I’d be waiting on your call to do jumping, okay?” Yn said standing up, Jin stood up as well.

“At least let me give you a ride home”

……………………..

When Yn entered the apartment, she found Jungkook playing videogames on his phone, as soon as he noticed her presence, he smiled at her and kept playing. Yn’s head was still spinning and soon she felt bad again.

When her stomach warned her, Yn ran to the bathroom to vomit again, Jungkook took notice and ran to her side.

“Are you okay?” Jungkook asked her with a worried tone.

“Yeah, I just think certain kind of liquors are too strong for me” Yn lied and washed herself.

“You were feeling bad and your friends could not get you a taxi?” Jungkook scoffed “I told you countless times that you are better on you own…” Jungkook said.

Yn took a shower and then went straight to sleep.

At the morning Jungkook woke up Yn bringing her a cup of coffee with an blank expression on his face while he sat at the edge of the bed.

“Thank you” Yn said sipping her coffee, she tried as much as possible to explain her sick state of yesterday.

Jungkook nodded still resilient to look at her eyes.

“I don’t have nothing to do right now” Jungkook said with a low tone, Yn look at him and bit her lip, she was planning to visit Jin but with Jungkook around…

“Oh really?” Yn asked doing her best effort to hide her annoyance.

Jungkook nodded again.

“Maybe we could go for a walk later?” Jungkook suggested, Yn did not have any credible excuse to reject his plans so she nodded back in response.

“good” he said getting close to you and giving you a small peck on the lips.

You look at him as he made his way out of the room, when he wanted to he could be such a sweet guy, but it didn’t matter because now you are fully aware of the monster he was and will be if you continue with this.

……………

The ride on the motorcycle was quiet, the whole day has been pretty quiet apart from some small talk so when you two arrive to the well know childhood park you know he is will try to give some kind of talk.

As soon as you got off the bike Jungkook grabbed your hand and you started walking, Jungkook guide you until you sat on the bench in front of the butterfly statue.

“You know I care about you, right?” Jungkook said all of the sudden, to turn to see his expression.

“I know” Yn responded, deep inside she wanted to believe him but it was a lost cause.

“Then why do you make me worry so much, Yn?” Jungkook said raising his tone “Damn it’s hard to trust you when lately you behave like that” Jungkook look to the ground, disappointment and frustration in his voice.

“It’s been a hell of a week” Yn said more to herself than to Jungkook.

“That’s all you got to say?” Jungkook turned to her clearly pissed off “You come home all fuck up and your explanation is that?!”

“Jungk-“

“And that shady behavior when that fucking bastard called you the other day!”

“Look, Jungkook it’s complicated okay?” You told him off “I haven’t feeling myself lately and I have so much confusion in my head that I just been acting on impulse for the past days” Yn spoke her true self, what she actually was feeling, saying it out loud was a different kind of awakening.

“And what the hell does that mean?” Jungkook asked scrunching his face.

“Well, you know…mm” Yn tried to think well how to say the next sentence “Jungkook maybe I just need some time on my own to figure out my life because frankly every time I’m with you there is some very dramatic experiences that stress the fuck out of me”

Jungkook look at her with this deep stare his already dark eyes opening up and getting even darker.

Then Jungkook scoffed loudly.

“Yn I want you to rethink what you just said and then explain to me what the fuck is going on”

It was the tone he used that was making Yn’s patience evaporate.

“I don’t need to rethink anything, Jungkook” Yn defied him with a look “I need a break from this, it’s honestly mentally exhausting”

“Are you out of your mind, Yn? You are truly asking me that?!” Jungkook spoke with fast emotions quickly possessing him like a maniac.

 “Yes!” Yn continued to escalate the situation “it would be beneficial not only for me but for y-“

“For who else? That bitch of Chanyeol?” Jungkook said raising internal alarms in Yn’s mind “Are you fucking that bastard and that’s why you are pulling this shit show?!” Jungkook asked you grabbing your arm, you tried to pull away but it was no use.

“No! I told you a thousand times that he is just part of the university administration!” you said while clearly struggling against his force. “Let go of me!”

“I’m gonna kill that fucking bastard” He said completely serious.

“Stop Jungkook you are behaving like your father!”

Slap.

Jungkook let go of your arm while you turn to look at him with a tears in your eyes, your body still in shock of what just happened.

Jungkook quickly realized what he did and instant regret was visible. He rushed to grab your face gently, while he inspected the redness of your cheek.

“Yn, I did not want to-“

“Shut up!” you screamed while breaking free from his touch “I don’t want you near me!” you spited, Jungkook opened up his eyes in panic.

“Yn, it was a mistake I just-“

“I don’t care, I don’t fucking care” you said again raising your voice when suddenly a loud engine catch both of your attention and a motorcycle stops just besides your street. It was Seokjin.

“Yn!” Jin screams your name and you don’t have to think twice, your body just moves towards him without hesitation and at great speed. Jungkook almost doesn’t react until you got on behind Seokjin, that’s when he runs towards his own motorcycle. But by that time Seokjin had already drive away with you firmly attached to his back.

“Hold on” Jin said to you, while you hugged him tight tears on your eyes, thanking him with your heart.

But then the engine of Jungkook’s bike roar just behind you.

Jungkook is coming closer and he is not going to stop.

Your heart is racing a hundred miles per hour.

What would happen if Jungkook finally reach you?

[darcyolsson]

In the shadowhunter universe i think the circle has the most amount of fucked up relationships. Like everybodys got complex outside the norm relationships with at least two other members. The circle is so fascinating to me. The most popular and charismatic guy is evil and the few people who figure it out takes forever to do so. People are properly rebelling against their parents. They make themself a big menace as teenagers. And on the other side youve got the downworlders reaction to this. Tessa and Magnus are heartbroken. They give up on Stephen. There is so much going on but we are given so little.

YEAH i think the circle is such an underexplored aspect of the tsc universe!! i highly doubt we'll ever get any sort of series or even a full side book dedicated to them but the tidbits of info we do have from the short stories are so fascinating. it honestly brought some much-needed nuance to the tmi parents, bc even though we do have a few details about what went down (like the circle originally not being anti-downworlders, but sort of gradually moving in that direction after valentine's father died) i did feel like tmi left me wondering a bit how they all ended up as a part of an extremist group.

my favourite thing about the circle is that, at least at the start, they all have very similar views to the tmi gang: that the clave is corrupt in many ways (objectively true), and needs to be reformed. especially in tftsa it's a statement we hear simon say over and over and over again and i just LOVE that juxtaposition, the implication that if a different kind of person had gotten a hold of simon & clary and even the rest of the gang they could've ended up exactly like their parents.

and tbh, i just love reading about the circle and their drama and misery, lol. i love it when characters act really terribly i love it when characters manipulate & get manipulated and are then eaten alive by guilt. the evil we love is a gem, just robert experiencing flop after flop and ruining everyone's lives. and then becoming miserable for the rest of his life because of it. genuinely very fun. i think cc does morally gray characters very well (when she wants to, which is rarely </3) and i just love to watch miserable people be miserable what can i say!!

also, so true what you said about fucked up relationships. the circle didnt fit into the big love web i made for all of tsc because there's nothing linking them to any of the tmi/tid/tda/etc characters (thank god lmfao), but behold, i made them their own tiny love dodecahedron for funsies:

is it more contained than the 74-people big tsc love web*? perhaps. is it any less insane? absolutely not.

*which, by the way, misses many people, as i've found out in my tmi and novella reread. but they dont fit on there so i'll have to recreate it in its entirety if i want everyone to fit, which is not something i want to spend my time doing, because i am insane but not that insane

[mymistakewriting]

Howard 'Chimney' Han headcanons & thoughts

Let me start this post out with a heads up because I'm sure something I say here is going to upset someone. I've seen how divided some of this fandom is on Chimney. NOTHING I SAY HERE SHOULD BE TAKEN AS ME BASHING A CHARACTER. I have several opinions on Chimney. My opinions and feelings on Chimney are VERY complicated and I'll do my best to explain them all.

And now, let me begin with the question posed to me by @happilylovingchaos

Heritage: Because he lost his mother so young and he stayed in the United States instead of returning with his father back to South Korea after her passing, his exposure to his heritage was limited (and rather tainted) despite another family taking him in. Because of this, I'm very sure his feelings towards his heritage is complicated - he's proud of where he comes from, he'll happily answer questions or discuss it if people want to hear it.

I do fully believe he intends to make sure Jee-Yun is aware of and connected with that portion of her heritage, he does still hold it close even if he doesn't feel as connected with it himself. Additionally, I think he uses the language pretty fluidly, kind of like how Eddie occasionally slips in a Spanish word, Chimney slips in a Korean word or phrase when he thinks it matches what he wants to say more. That said, I don't think it's something he uses often.

Other: For all that the show frames Chimney as the funny guy who takes nothing seriously, ESPECIALLY when paired against Hen, I don't think he is. He's not the comic relief, he's not the guy that's always joking around. And I see that misconception a lot in the fandom as well. He definitely uses humor as a coping mechanism, don't get me wrong, but he's usually the one balancing Hen's more wild ideas. He acts as her balance - her savior complex versus his need to stay well within the bounds he's been given because he knows and has seen what can happen if he oversteps those bounds for even a moment. Better read as her savior complex versus his survivor's guilt.

He's not fit to be a full time captain. He did passably well as interim captain in the show, however he has the tendency to focus on the wrong things and he tends to freeze when he's under pressure and asked to make the calls. If he worked on that, he'd make an amazing captain. Personally, I think he should be paramedic in charge for a-shift at some point. He'd thrive in that position. However, to do so would mean he would have to take a step back from the rescue (firefighter) portion of his job to focus more on the medical side and I just can't see him doing that.

He does owe Buck an apology for punching him during the situation with Maddie. But not because it was uncalled for. Yes, he shouldn't have hit Buck because frankly, I'm half sure at the time Buck didn't know where the hell Maddie was, it was just another time that she'd up and ran away like she always did when he was little. However, in the situation? I understand why he did. He shouldn't apologize because oh he hurt Buck and Buck's everyone's favorite - he should apologize because it was a moment of high emotion and they both should have communicated better. He isn't a terrible person for reacting as a worried partner who wasn't being told the truth. It was just a shitty situation. For everyone.

This one is just fun. He's the reason Buck trained Ravi the way he did. Chimney certainly didn't give Buck an easy time during his probationary year, and Buck took that to heart. He's tough enough to handle the job because of how Chimney helped train him in his mind, so of course he paid it forward. I'm pretty sure Chimney got a laugh out of the stories when Hen told him.

Chimney handles being the partner of a domestic abuse victim beautifully. He knows that sometimes, things are going to happen that trigger a memory or reaction that don't make a whole lot of sense. The fact that he's been shown to roll with the punches and let Maddie make the calls on how fast they do something? Beautiful. I adore their relationship SOLELY for Chimney's side of it and how considerate he is of the fact that he hasn't been there, he doesn't understand everything she's been through. But he still tries to make sure she knows she's safe and loved and valued. He is exactly the kind of partner she needed after what she lived through with Doug.

[definitelynotshouting]

Ok so hi, hello, hope you’re doing well. Your hunger AU has hooked me and I have questions if you’re up for answering them. Or if they’ll be answered later that’s fine too.

1) Just how did the confrontation with Grian being outed go down? As far as I know Martyn doesn’t really have much proof that it’s Grian behind the games besides what he’s inferred from the Listeners but even then how does he back that up to the others? Did he just announce “Hey, Grian’s behind the games that traumatized us!” and everyone just agreed?

2) So now that Xisuma and the others are on the opposite side of the Dev Crystal, who’s in charge of Hermitcraft?

3) Speaking of the Dev Crystal, the single player turned multiplayer server is closer to where the Watchers are (I think). Did Grian’s moving around alert them to where he was, or is he still moderately safe?

4) Is it possible for a player to jump to a server connected to another Dev Crystal?

5) Will we get insight to how the non-Hermitcraft members reacted to the news (besides Jimmy)?

Thank you in advance 😌

Omg hello!!!! Im doing alright, a bit under the weather so thats why replies are so insanely slow rn 💀💀💀 but otherwise im doing good!!! Im so excited you like hunger au :D genuinely this never gets old for me to hear im just so excited all the time that people like it so much

The confrontation with Grian is something i haven't fully hashed out yet, but i'm currently rotating ideas around for exactly how that went down. It's definitely more complex than Martyn just telling them-- i just haven't taken the time to tease that out of my brain just yet because the exact how hasn't been relevant yet. Once i get that sorted tho i'll likely make a post for it :]

Nobody's really in charge of Hermitcraft, tbh, and Xisuma isn't much of a leader to begin with. Sure, he does necessary maintenance and code wrangling for them, but he's definitely not in charge of the community and wouldn't want to be anyway. The hermits are pretty self-governing, they're doing just fine without him!!

Closer is a bit relative, the server that Grian and co are on right now is around the.... edge of the "middle ring" of servers, so to speak??? So its not the farthest out, but it's a bit more inward in its placement than the Hermitcraft server is. The Watchers haven't been alerted, though-- full disclosure, im not putting the other Watchers in this fic because i want the main focus to be about recovery. However, they might appear in other related stories if i decide to write them!!!

I wanna say both yes and no to this. Or more accurately, not on their own, unless they're a very skilled code wrangler. I've briefly mentioned "tears" in the Greater Code before in-fic, and those sort of act like wormholes or extremely long-distance portals-- although in functionality, its less of a tear and more like taking two folds of stretched out fabric and moving them to sit next to each other. That's how people can travel to other server clusters, and i think stuff like that is mostly set up on city-server hubs like Hypixel or MCC

We will!!! We will absolutely be getting that insight within the narrative-- i plan to touch on every life member's reactions and feelings at least once in the fic. Which is a bit of a tall order but 😂😂 this is gonna be a loooong fic, so i'll have the time to do it

Hope this answered your questions!! :D thank you for stopping by to ask them!!!

[siena-sevenwits]

Jan 6 - Day 7 - Fortnight in Books

Most memorable character:

How can I pick? A few that come to mind:

Eugenides, Costis, and Attolia (Queen's Thief series) - Eugenides is such a strange and fantastic trickster archetype who's full of mercy. Costis is one of the the most endearing pov characters I've run across. Attolia is made unforgettable by her story, and I will never forget scene on the stairs, or the dance and the stolen hairpins.

Harriet Vane (Gaudy Night) She takes my breath away with how real and complex she is, how subtle and effective her arc. I would be so intimidated by her in real life but would wish to heaven I wasn't.

Will Hardy (Wayfarer) I couldn't help but like him, a country boy in 1820's London for the very first time, with, um, superpowers.

Iphigeneia and Achilles (Iphigeneia in Aulis) This girl becomes the epitome of courage and strength over the course of her play, and her parallel arc with Achilles is INCREDIBLE.

Schmendrick and Molly Grue (The Last Unicorn - reread) I love them. I love them so dearly. Schmendrick I project on, and Molly is real.

Ratty and Toad (The Wind in the Willows - reread) Toad was one of my childhood favourites, and I find I still love him. But this reread really gave me an appreciation for Ratty, the courageous poet full of imagination but also love for the ordinary, common sense but also the ability to hear what the wind is saying in the willows, and who does not fear Pan.

Lucy and L*ckwood (censoring so Meri can still see this post if she wants to - I don't think it's an issue in this case.) These kids are homemakers in the truest sense of the word. (But someone should probably get them some help!)

Kate Sutton (The Perilous Gard) I want to be her.

Piranesi (Piranesi - reread) I'll never forget him. Never. Welcoming the albatross with arms open like a cross.

Janner and Kalmar Igiby (The Wingfeather Saga) These boys made me sob with the truth of their story.

Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes and the Voice of Treason) Especially for the sake of his conversations with Watson, his south Irish accent and expressive voice, the revelation that he taught maths at a "university of the Jesuitical persuasion on the continent," and the scene in the coffeeshop. Oh, and raiding the dark room. Oh, the consternation Watson feels when he realizes that Moriarty is just naturally a more congenial person to get along with than Holmes is.

Larry, Mother, and Spiro (The Corfu Trilogy) As these are fictionalized versions of real people, I'd best be careful to be respectful in how I talk of them. But oh, gosh, the fun.

Katniss Everdeen (The Hunger Games) What a shame her inner life is so misunderstood by the general pop culture.

Helene Hanff and Frank Doel (84 Charing Cross Road) Again, real people, and not even fictionalized in this case. But i loved both dearly.

Most annoying character:

Captain Creech (The Corfu Trilogy) Hands down. Eventually I skipped every passage he was in and refused to read it. This character was portrayed in a horrid manner, and I greatly hope he was not based on a real person. He existed in story only to be disgusting, and I was clearly expected to be charmed by him, or find everyone's reactions to him funny, or something. Ugh.

[mooncalfe-art]

Was thinking about Mutant Town today, as one does, and I just wanted to come by and say that I felt really seen by that arc, especially by Mona Lisa's issues with her parents.

Going back to reread it with the context of the current struggles the queer community is facing is very... Something. A good something! But something that's hard to put into words. The rejection Mona experiences at the hands of her parents, her own reaction to finding out that Donnie was never human, and the support meeting afterwards all speak to experiences my friends and I have had as members of the queer community.

And that context adds an extra Something to all of that, but also an extra Something to Armageddon Game, particularly the mercenaries acting to discredit the turtles and other mutants to further Stockman's political agenda and Null's capitalist one. And there's extra depth added to Krisa and Zodi's story when looked at this way too, I think.

Maybe I'm grasping at straws, but I've been to meetings like that one in #112, where it dissolves into queer infighting. I've been rejected by family for being queer. I've known people who were hitting it off with someone only for it to crash and burn when they revealed they were trans. And the complexity and variety of experiences for the people of Mutant Town really reflect how beautiful and diverse the queer community is.

Anyways.

Happy Pride Month, I hope it's a good one for you. 🌈

I love hearing your thoughts! Thank you! <3

I've been wanting to give more resolution to the Donatello/Mona Lisa thing and Mona's thing with her parents but there hasn't been room/time with all the other things going on. The thing with Mona in particular is tough because obviously it's not her series and that storyline doesn't involve the Turtles, so it's hard coming up with page space for it. Hopefully I'll be able to get to it eventually, even just a one-page resolution.

I actually tried to avoid any direct parallels between mutants and marginalized people like queer people or people of color and so forth, it's too crude of an analogy. It's always felt weird to me in stories like X-Men or something where it uses mutants (or whatever) as a stand-in for real-life oppressed/discriminated-against people. It just doesn't work, so I tried to avoid where I could and write the mutant experience as more like speculative fiction; BUT that said there's obviously a lot of similar metaphors you can take from that, I think it's naturally going to feel familiar to queer people like us. All the mutagen bomb mutants are angry and wounded in different ways just like we are.

It's nice to hear you dig into this stuff, I appreciate it, especially since the Mutant Town stuff didn't turn out exactly how I'd originally hoped, I didn't get to dig into half of the things I wanted to or flesh it out nearly as much as I'd planned to. It's great to hear that some people are thinking about it on this level and seeing deeper into it. :)

[admirableadmiranda]

Something that annoys me about this “if you say this character is evil, you’re reading MDZS wrong” is that MXTX didn’t actually mean to write this “oh we’re all grey” story. She openly dislikes JGY, and she thought of JC as WWX’s crazy ex shidi with deep problems. Like, they aren’t there for you to justify their actions (god knows they did it a lot of times already) or to try to make them look good by putting them in the same bag as the protagonists just because “they’re all well fleshed and complex characters that are morally grey and flawed”.

What a way to miss MDZS’s actual message. It saddens me because WWX’s hero journey is as tragic as it is beautiful. I wish I was as brave as him, to oppose injustice even if I am alone against the world.

Yeah I totally get you anon! I’m not sure why it’s so hard for people especially in MDZS to figure out (though I have seen it for her other two works too, but not to the same extent), but she’s actually pretty clear in her work on who’s admirable and who’s not. Even when she’s deliberately using framing to get you to question what you’re hearing versus what you’re seeing, it’s pretty clear who you’re supposed to doubt the narrative about and who you’re not. Jin Guangyao is revealed as the main villain less than halfway through the book, after all!

There are works where that would be an appropriate reaction. Sometimes the heroes can too, be deeply flawed, negative people. But that’s not where MXTX is writing from and from what danmei/xianxia I’ve consumed so far, she has some of the least morally gray characters scattered through her works. She’s clearly very big on the idea that people can and will choose to do good if they want, and also that while it certainly doesn’t exempt them from flaws, that also flaws do not have to be hero killers.

Wei Wuxian is killed not because he is occasionally a little tactless and also keeps people at a distance because it is a very slow journey to trust them enough, but because his morals and willingness to stand up for them are inconvenient to the people in power. He is a flawed, well rounded character, but that’s not why he was hated or why he died. Similarly Jiang Cheng having sympathetic backstory and losses does not exempt him from being a shitty person because as we see in the novel, he’s not the only person who loses everything in his life, but he’s the one who decided to stew in it.

MXTX is so big on your choices define who you are, not your position or history. What matters most is what you do in the shadows and the light. That’s why Wei Wuxian is so heroic, he is always willing to stand by his morals even to the bitter end. It is tragic, but also it’s so full of hope, even! Look at what he has in the end of the story, it is so solidified that his choices and sacrifices did make a difference! Lan Sizhui is alive, well raised and cared for, because Wei Wuxian made that sacrifice for him. Mianmian is out living her best life with Mr. Mianmian and Mini Mianmian because she chose to follow Wei Wuxian’s bravery and has never regretted it. Jin Ling is blossoming under his patient guidance into a wonderful young man who can hold his head high with pride. It may be tragic, but so much good came from it too even if in the immediate moment it was hard to see.

And you know what, anon? We can be that too. Maybe not as far as he goes, but we can still shine bright and make the choices that have positive impacts down the road. We can be Mianmian, inspired by him to do the same that he did on the scales that we can.

The world may be a big thing to save, but we can always save little pieces of it here and there and the more of us that there are, the more powerful it becomes.