#that would add a humiliation factor for sure

[needycatboy]

man i haven't explored being a kitten outside of it just sounding cute when you say it, but the thought of getting fucked with a collar on...

just clawing at the sheets and trying so hard to be quiet, betrayed by the twinkling sound the bell on my collar makes as my body is jostled up the bed by my dog top's enthusiasm.

[spider-stark]

Sweat & Spandex

PETER PARKER X READER

Summary - You tell Peter about an idea you had, he makes it a reality.

Warnings - idk, just poorly written smut about getting fucked by spider-man i think?? mentions of him breaking into ur room? i’m bad at warnings i’m so sorry pls tell me if i should add something here

// masterlist // send me your thoughts //

WHEN YOU first approached him with your little idea, Peter hadn't been sure of it.

Actually, to be perfectly honest, when you first decided to swallow your pride and bring it up to him, he immediately began to worry about your well-being; a response that only furthered your pre-existing embarrassment.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" He asked with a nervous chuckle, leaning back against your headboard and jokingly moving his hand to your forehead, pretending to check for a fever. "You sick or something?"

You quickly flopped over onto your stomach, evading his touch as you buried your face into the pillow, trying to hide your mortification. It took every ounce of confidence you had to share the thought with him, and his sarcasm wasn't making it much easier. "I just think it would be nice!"

The innocent wording only made him laugh harder. "Okay, so you think it would be nice if I fucked you as Spider-Man?" Confusion laced his voice, and you only groaned in response, frustrated by his teasing. He continued, "I mean, you're kinda already fucking Spider-Man, right?"

Another cry fell from your lips. "It's different!" You stated matter-of-factly, the words slightly muffled against the cotton fabric of your pillowcase. "I just think you look hot in the suit, alright? Sue me!"

Peter shook his head, amusement still reverberating through his chest. "So it's about the suit?" He knew it was about the suit, but he wasn't quite done teasing you yet. "Men in spandex just really get you off, huh? So I just put the suit on and thats it?"

Silence suddenly swept through the room, an unusual reaction. Peter quirked a brow at you as you lifted your head, just a few inches, but enough that he could see the red-hot blush spreading across your cheeks. "Yeah." You confirmed sheepishly, "And maybe, sorta, ya know—break into my room and fuck me when I'm not expecting it!"

The last bit of your sentence essentially blurred together, the words spilling out of your mouth at a record pace before you shoved your face back down into your cotton refuge.

Peter's jaw dropped, shooting up from his relaxed position as the words registered in his head. "You want me to do what?!"

Luckily for you, the conversation didn't last much longer than that. After a few minutes of relentless teasing, Peter let you off the hook and changed the conversation, letting your humiliation at your admission fade into the background until eventually you forgot all about it.

Peter, however, couldn't forget about it.

Despite his initial reaction of concern and hilarity, he couldn't help but become intrigued by the thought. In the past he had never considered bringing his vigilante identity into the bedroom, yet now the more he thought about it, the more he started to like the thought.

There was a certain thrilling factor to it all, of sneaking into your house and having his way with you as Spider-Man. He liked the concept of not having to be a hero, of not having to do anything but use you in whatever way he wanted—and more than that, he liked that you wanted that too. And so, he eventually decided to take you up on the idea.

Your heart nearly stopped beating as you suddenly collided against your bedroom wall, your hand instinctively reaching for your pocket so you could call Peter, but it was pinned in place before you could even get close.

When you looked towards your wrist you were comforted by the sight of a familiar red fabric covering the strangers fingers, your breathing beginning to even back-out now that you realized who the intruder was. "What the fuck are you doing, Pete?" You asked him gruffly, attempting to pull your hand from his grip. You expected him to let go, but he didn't, keeping you pressed firmly against the wall.

You almost spoke again, almost told him that whatever joke he was playing wasn't funny and to let you go—but then he leaned in close, his breath tickling your ear through the thin material of his mask. "Should've locked your window."

From there, things escalated much faster than you had anticipated. In a matter of minutes the two of you had moved from the wall to the bed, your clothes already discarded on the floor as he mercilessly stripped you down to nothing, likely tearing the fabric as he pulled it from your body.

You had always thought Peter was hot, but seeing him like this? Was downright pornographic.

His hands were rooted on either side of your hips, the mask lifted just above the tip of his nose, his gorgeous dark eyes still covered by the whites of the fabric. His sweet lips were latched to your neck, teeth nipping at the sensitive skin, leaving little bruises in his wake.

"Tell me what you want, baby." It burned as his dug his nails into your flesh, his hips moving painfully slow as his cock pressed up against your already soaked pussy.

He refused to fuck you, not until you asked, and so you desperately tried to move your hips against his, finding some pleasure in the feeling of the tip of his dick rubbing against your clit. "Want me to fuck you?" He asked again, more specific this time, "Want your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to fuck this pretty little pussy?"

You could only whimper in response, nodding along in a state of pure delirium. His grip on your hips tightened enough to leave a bruise, the sensation eliciting a lewd gasp. Peter moved to your ear, leaving a trail of wet kisses as he traveled up your neck. "I asked you a question, sweetheart." He purred.

"Yes!" You cried out, tears pricking at the corners of your eyes as your frustration built. He was holding you in place, refusing to let you move against him, not letting you find the friction you needed to quell the burning feeling building in your stomach.

You'd never experienced this side of Peter before; having gotten used to the slow and passionate version of him that you loved so much. Under the 'guise of his secret identity, though, he seemed to gain an unfamiliar sort of confidence, a roughness he had never unleashed on you before. And you liked it.

"Good girl." Peter praised, and with super-human agility he quickly flipped you over, taking your place against the mattress as he placed you on top of him.

He didn't give you any time to adjust, a single hand sliding down your thighs to forcefully shove your knees further apart, burying his full length inside of you with one swift movement.

You could barely hold up any of your own weight, falling against his chest as pathetic whimpers poured from your mouth as he bounced you up and down on his cock, his hips sloppily meeting yours as he attempted to drive himself even deeper.

"So good," he murmured against slick, salty skin, drunk on the feeling of your pussy squeezing him, "feels so fucking good."

He was definitely gonna do this again.

a/n - this is some seriously poorly written smut that i 100% didn’t proof read and i wrote in like less than half an hour because it popped in my head and just UGh i could definitely make it better, more detailed, etc. but i have better and more important ideas to work on and i don't want this in my drafts so please just take it thank you

[sflow-er]

Some thoughts on the hierarchy at Hillerska

A few days ago, @raincitygirl76 made a really intriguing post about how the show is about the class system (find it here!), mainly focusing on Hillerska’s impact as an employer and the types of students who go there.

That inspired me to go off on a tangent and make a separate post about the hierarchy. I’ve been using Agnes Hellström’s book about the real boarding schools (‘Att vara utan att synas: Om riksinternaten Lundsberg, Sigtuna och Grenna’, 2013) as a fanfic reference, so I’m also using that here. It was written back when the schools were still allowed to charge for tuition, and I’m sure things have improved since then. However, much of the content is pretty consistent with what Lisa has said about doing research for YR and what we see in the show.

Disclaimer: I’m not Swedish, just a Nordic neighbour, and these are just my own impressions. If I’m wrong about something, please feel free to add on to this or correct me!

Let’s start with a description of the hierarchy by a former student (he attended long ago, but the author confirmed it largely held true in 2013):

”De som var grevar, baroner och friherrar var högstatus, sedan kom de som var snuskigt rika, ’uppkomlingarna’ som inte fötts rika, företagsledares barn. Därefter kom en grå massa av oss andra, efter dem lärarbarnen och sist kom externerna.” (p. 58)

So, the top tier is reserved for the aristocracy. Kids from comital, baronial, and untitled noble families. They’ve been going to these boarding schools for a long time. Interestingly, it’s mentioned in the book that some of them may have even experienced bullying in a normal school; specifically, the ones who have grown up sheltered on their family estates (likely too far away to attend the exclusive schools favoured by the elite in the cities). They might be singled out and picked on in a more modern crowd, but at the boarding schools, they are the leaders.

The next tier is for the non-aristocratic elite: the filthy rich, the ‘upstarts’ who weren’t born rich, the children of business executives. The order that this former student lists them in feels significant, because old money looks down upon new. According to the book, the old elites felt that the schools were ‘ruined’ when even just more nouveau riche and scholarship kids started coming in (they must’ve hated it when the tuition fees were abolished!!). So, kids like Alexander are likely to be treated worse than those whose family’s wealth goes back several generations - but they are still part of this group.

The next tier is for other boarding students who aren’t as rich. At the time discussed in the book, their parents often took out loans to get them in. As we know, that isn’t the case anymore, but the schools do still have ways of keeping the ‘riffraff’ out... Some of the knowledgeable Swedes here on tumblr have written about this.

Furthermore, I think we can also include the ‘optional’ costs as a deterring factor for those who can’t afford them. Back in 2013, parents were apparently advised to put at least 10.000 SEK aside on a ‘student account’ for other expenses (some kids would take taxis to the nearest town, for example, and they could also use it to buy stuff they needed from the school). I’m guessing the student account may not be a thing anymore, but as we see Sara struggle with money in S2, there will still be stuff you don’t want to miss out on. Also, the extra tutoring seen in S1 is based on real life. The price in the show seems to be pretty close to reality, although according to the book, the teachers could sometimes offer discounts to “poorer” boarding students... (I’m sure it’s not humiliating at all to accept let alone ask for that.)

On the next tier down, we find the teachers’ kids, and the former student interviewed specifically mentions that the non-residents are at the bottom. So I guess Englund or Ådahl’s kids would be treated a little better than Simon and Sara in the show, but they would still be looked down upon. It’s mentioned in the book that the teachers often live on the premises, and I get the impression that they can bring their families too (there was a story about a teacher whose boyfriend was going to move in with her there), but I’m not 100% sure.

So why don’t we hear about these other boarders or teachers’ kids in the show?

Well, the book talks a lot about how everyone is acculturated into the same inner-circle mentality. Despite the internal hierarchy, the boarding students still feel closer to equal than one might think. They all get to be part of the elite bubble, and they want to stay there. Even though it’s a community with very strict norms and very little wiggle room.

A few illustrative quotes from the book:

Trots externerna blir tillvaron så sluten, åsikterna likriktade. En lärare flyttade sin son från Sigtuna till Märsta efter att sakta men säkert ha sett honom förvandlas till en brat. Sonen är fortfarande arg över det. (p. 76)

Lundsberg hade varit ett isolerat, klasslöst samhälle där alla tyckte likadant. Inget revolterande, ingen politisk diskussion. [...] Det var en del av hela Lundsbergs koncept, att träna ynglingarna att lyda auktoriteter och inte göra uppror. (p. 133)

Eleverna på riksinternaten påminns ständigt om att de är Sveriges framtid och Sveriges elit. Där den traditionstyngda kulturen med gamla anor är som starkast är det som svårast att våga sticka ut. Ramarna blir snäva, rörelseutrymmet begränsat. Normen är vita, heterosexuella överklassbarn (med lika vita heterosexuella överklassföräldrar). (p. 144)

To paraphrase in English, these schools are closed bubbles where everyone follows the rules and shares the same opinions, to the point where even those who aren’t technically elites (e.g. the teachers’ kids) start to turn into entitled brats. Rebellion and political discussion aren’t really a thing, and the students are taught to respect authority. As we know, this isn’t just the school’s authority; it’s also the authority of the older students (we see this in the show, and there have been plenty of real-world revelations of hazing and ‘peer upbringing’ among students). And of course, it’s also the legacy of those who came before them. They are constantly reminded of their elite status, wrapped up in old traditions and conservative thinking, and expected to fit into a white, heterosexual, upper-class box.

[As an interesting sidebar, the book supports what the creators of YR (Lisa?) have said about most queer people in such schools. Nobody is openly bullied or harassed for their sexuality, but they are gossiped about, and people usually choose to stay in the closet. Being trans is basically unheard of, and traditional binary gender norms abound. Many students feel that it’s even harder for boys to come out than it is for girls.]

In conclusion, I think it’s safe to say there probably are other students at Hillerska who aren’t necessarily part of the elite - but they want to be, so they’re not going to stand out. I’m sure there’s been a lot of progress since the book’s publishing, but considering how well it aligns with S1 of YR in particular, the changes we see Wille enact in S2 do feel rather revolutionary.

[crazyyanderefangirlfan]

Right in all the Wrong ways

It was another windless night, truthfully it was always like this and it made her wish it was a bit noisy since this place already felt like time stopped but now she welcomed it.

Elly stamped the last letter and placed it on the pile, all addressed to her friends.

It’s been a year since she was taken by Lucifer, at first she was hesitant and planned to escape but many factors held her back. First is that he and his brothers were vampires which itself was a problem, second was she was physically incapable to do so and finally she fell in love with them.

The pinkette never thought the last one would happen, not with her last engagement ending in a disaster, when she found out she was horrified and tried to remove the love she held for them. Unfortunately, or not; they found out first, they were all against her taking it, they assured her they love her and wished to be with her.

With that said, she gave them three conditions. 

First, she must be immortal. They were more than happy to comply with that, but not without making sure first. When she assured them enough, she drank the potion, it tasted so bitter she felt like spitting it back out but she continued. When she finished never saw them look so happy. 

Second is that they must kill other food sources if they can’t feed on her for a while and kill those who make her jealous when she asks. They seemed too happy when she made that request and even teased her a bit. 

She recalled on one of Diavolo’s social gatherings, she was particularly weak and couldn’t feed the boys. The smug smirks of those wretched harlots that were chosen to feed the brothers made her blood boil, but their screams of agony as the brothers twisted and ripped out their necks made up for it. Especially when Lucifer announced to the rest of the nobility and food that for now they will kill them first before feeding.

Their terror was delicious.

The final was to kill the people who humiliated and wronged her in the past, she compiled a list and gave it to them. Though all the brothers were equally enraged, Mammon was the most vocal. He deliberately made a show in promising to give her each and every one of their heads. The chubby girl might also add fuel to the already scorching fire and mention her ex-fiance and what he did to her.

After fulfilling all her conditions, they lavished her with gifts and love, possibly even more than before. Now their forever lover, being treated like a queen that not even death will take her away from them.

Elly smiled, she’s been much happier in her entire life and all because of a kidnapping. Okay, that was wrong to say but still.

She was fixing her desk when gloved hands snaked around her shoulders, lips were trailing from neck to her face. 

“Beloved~” Lucifer whispered low in her ear. The pinkette smiled and turned her head to kiss him.

“Hello, dearest.” 

“To whom are you writing to?” He inquired, though she promised she will be faithful to them, they just can’t help being jealous.

“Writing to my dearest friends.”

“I see, whatever for?” 

“Do you remember the meeting I had with the others?” At the mention of that, his eyes darken. Elly couldn’t blame him or any of the other brothers. 

The meeting she had was with Diavolo, Barbatos, Solomon and Simeon. All four males were in love with her as well, it started during her first few months of being kidnapped and when the boys were still feeding to others. Even after declaring herself belonging solely to the Morningstar brothers, they still pursue her. Wanting to avoid conflict and possibly a war, she struck a deal with them. If they cannot have, they are welcome to court her best friends.

At first they were dubious, but they were soon swayed by the girl’s words.

“Ah, yes. The fail safes.” Lucifer commented, gently stroking her face. 

She playfully whacked his arm. “Don’t call them that!”

He chuckled at her reaction then glanced at her pensive face.

“Something on your mind?” The silence told him everything.

“It’s just that… we haven’t seen each other for so long.” She admitted.

Lucifer picked her up and brought to the loveseat, he placed her on his lap as he listened to her rant.

“Before taking me here, the triplets said they’ll be taking a trip around the world and Astrid went on a solitary retreat.”

“Did they not ask you to join them?” 

“They did, but grandfather is one of the most important generals so I couldn’t go.”

It was disheartening to tell them she couldn’t make it but the end was worth it. Thankfully, her friends were understanding as well, promising her to give her plenty of gifts once they come back.

“I hope this goes well, I don’t want them to think I’m using them.” The thought of them being hurt because of the possibility of them getting rejected. 

Lucifer hummed as he stroked her hair. 

“If it does not work, they can still be served as playthings.” She gave him a heated glare for saying such things.

“It was a joke.”

“It was poor in taste.”

“Speaking of taste…” His fingers brushed against her neck.

This will be a long night.

—-------------------------------------

“Gabi, we are not bringing that.”

“Why not? It will be useful.”

“You’re just bringing that to scare them.” Issy countered.

Dani giggled as Gabi grumbled as she took out the mask from out of her suitcase. The triplets were in they’re shared dorm room, packing for the week to come. 

They recently received a letter from Elly, their childhood best friend. The letter started like usual; how were they and hopes they’re doing well, then she finally brought them on topic. How she has now lovers and found people who wished to court them. 

Naturally, they were skeptical of this but they were willing to try.

“Hopefully I won’t choke mine if they start to be insufferable.” Gabi huffed, locking her suitcase.

They love her, but her choice in suitors is questionable at best.

A brief knock on their door made them fall silent, glancing at one another, Gabi took measured steps before slowly opening the door, her two sisters waiting tentatively for her. The middle sister seemed to pick something up and came back to them.

Gabi came back with a solemn expression and a small envelope with a red seal, once the other two saw it they understood immediately. 

Time for work.

Their eyes darken as they read the contents, Gabi dropped the letter to prepare along with her sisters.

The contents of the fallen letter is as read:

In the north, an ongoing of murders in numerous villages

Pay: 9000.000 pounds.

—---------------------------

The sky above was full of dark and ragged clouds, perfectly showcasing the feeling of what's happening below.

Horrified screams pierced the air, people of all ages were running for safety, even pushing and trampling others for their own benefit. Those unfortunate enough were scooped up and had their necks pulled apart. Dead bodies littered the area, while some were being eaten. 

Vampires or the primal versions of them, were happily feasting on the prey they had acquired, though this had to be they’re best one.

One had a child in their hands. The child, with an ashen face and trembling, could only accept their grim fate as the creature of night wrapped its hands on their neck, and it's hot breath on their face.

However, it never came. 

Opening their eyes, in place of the vampire’s head was a spiked ball attached to a chain. The child desperately scrambled out of its hold as the body began to disintegrate. 

The ball retracted and slung around the body of a dark skin woman with black hair and green and brown gradient eyes, wearing a white dress shirt underneath a dark blue overcoat, black pants and tall black boots. She had a scar across her nose and a murderous glare.

“Fucking pieces of shit, couldn’t you do this in another time. ” She spat. 

The other vampires hissed at the loss of their comrade but were quickly silenced as knives embedded their necks.

“Gabi, there is a child.” Another woman came next to her. She wore a dusty pink corset blouse with marie sleeves, wrapped around her waist was a magenta sash. She wore black trousers and tall brown boots.

“He’ll learn in time, Dani.” Dani huffed and retrieved her knives. She turned her attention to the child, who was still shaking in fear and close to crying.

Walking over, she crouched to his height and gave him a gentle smile.

“It will be okay, we’re here.” Her soft tone and eyes made them nod. 

“Go this way.” She pointed to the forest. “The rest of the villagers are there.”

They nodded and picked themselves up and ran as quickly as they could. Dani smiled at their back before hardening her face and she stared back at the carnage before her.

Why did they decide to strike now?

“Oi! Done talking!?” Another young woman yelled, shooting the ones surrounding her.

Both girls rushed to join her.

Gabi untangle herself from her morningstar, twirling it and launching it to her opponent. The vampire’s head exploded on impact, another tried to dodge but suffered the same fate.

Dani flinged her knives, striking with deadly accuracy, one by one the creature fell from the sky. The hairs of her neck stood on end, positioning her weapon, she turned and dodged the attack. It tried to swat her but she deflected its claw with her knife. Grunting, she kicked the creature in a kneeling position and stabbed its forehead.

Gunfire rang through the air as well as screeches of agony, the one responsible was another young woman. She wore a white cape sleeve blouse under a dark purple corset dress, the right side of the dress is higher showing off her black pants and tall black small square heeled boots. Holisters were strapped on both her thighs and on her back was a large pair of blades. Once she ran out, she drew her blades out, large scissors like swords. 

She readied her blade as the winged creatures dove to her, she  hacked and slashed through the horde. She twirled as she dodges their attacks and leaped onto one of their backs, she brought both blades together, slicing its neck like paper.

Issy jumped off its back and watched the body crash through the grown. She huffed and wiped the sweat from her brow, another successful job.

The oldest Montoya sister glanced at her and her sisters’ clothing, she tsked. Hopefully the clothes will be clean before they’re trip.

“Amazing performance, as always.” The oldest girl complimented, wiping the blood off her blade.

“Of course, with my skills we always win.” Bragged the middle sister, the other two rolled their eyes.

“I just wished we could tell Elly.” Dani trailed off, a wistful look adorned her face. It caused all sisters to be silent.

They’ve been keeping this secret from Elly for as long as they could remember, their friend has never once suspected them as monster hunters and they prefer it that way. It’s not that the girl won’t reject them after finding out.

No, she’ll want to join them. Elly would admire them and want to join their occupation, the thought made them happy but the three of them agreed it would be dangerous for her. Especially her social standing and who her grandfather is, no they couldn’t risk it.

But, they could hope to tell her one day.

—------------------------------------------------

Whistles of trains blew left and right, the smoke permeated through the air trains come and go.

Elly fiddled with her gloved hands as she waited for her friends. It’s been what? Two years since they saw each other? She hopes nothing much has changed between all of them. A hand fell on top of her own, causing her to look up, from underneath his umbrella, Satan gave her a gentle smile. 

Normally Lucifer would accompany her, but Diavolo called for him and requested Satan to go with her. For once, he did not object, mainly to investigate if his lover’s friends were trustworthy or not.

“Darling, please relax. I’m sure your friends miss you as much as you do.”

Elly smiled at that.

The girl was quickly pulled away from her lover and into an embrace. Satan stood up, growling low at those who dare rip him away from her.

“Elly!” The excited squeals numbed his ears, once the noise died down he finally took a good look at th perpetrators. 

Three identical women, triplets he persmed, were hugging Elly. One wore a purple dress with white trimmings, one wore a blue coat and pants and the last one wore a pink dress with black accents. They all hugged the pinkette tightly, as if to never let her go.

“Elly, we missed you so much!” The girl in pink cried out, Ellly laughed.

“The feeling is mutual.”

“It’s been far too long, Ellly.” The purple one commented.

“Yeah, I was starting to get bored with these two.” The blue one retorted.

The other two pinched her lightly, making cry in pain but all laughed in the end.

Satan would have found this interaction sweet and warmed his dead heart, if it weren’t the faint smell of blood and presence of something holy with them.

He kept his face neutral as they talked but he analyzed the women in front of him. Once home, he would call for a meeting with his brothers

He would hate to see this little ‘matchmaking’ would ended in possible bloodbath.

A/N: Based on @blackwings-with-angeleyes vampire au. Also, I used some of the previous ask to get some ideas, I hope you don't mind

[ghostlynimbus]

I have been thinking about my wings au again

Here's what I have currently for characters I have ideas for (but this may change, im very indecisive about this sort of thing):

^ Steve Harrington - Crowned Eagle ^

^ Billy Hargrove - Andean Condor ^

^ Lucas Sinclair - Cooper's Hawk ^

^ Jonathan Byers - American Barn Owl ^

^ Joyce Byers - Society Finch ^

^ Jim Hopper - Martial Eagle ^

^ Eddie Munson - Common Raven ^

^ Argyle - California Condor ^

I know Jason's going to be some kind of eagle, and I'm thinking maybe? some sort of kite or sparrowhawk for Will. And that's all I got rn. Totally open to suggestions on any characters not mentioned here (or generally any thoughts/questions anyone has)

**CW: Abuse**

Wing clipping is a thing in this AU. It's not permanent, but it is painful/uncomfortable/humiliating. There's a common perception that wing clipping is a serious punishment for seriously bad actions, so if people notice someone's wings are clipped they are probably going to have some assumptions about that person.

Neil makes sure that Billy's wings are clipped regularly, never letting the feathers properly grow back in. Billy doesn't gesture/posture properly because of this, and it means he comes off as more unpredictable/dangerous.

**End CW**

Wings in this AU are used for a lot of social stuff, especially a lot of communication & gestures, and they can be considered somewhat status symbols (similarly to having certain body types, nice hair, etc.) What is considered 'good' in wings varies depending on a lot of factors (and is typically pretty gendered) but generally in american culture for men/boys bigger wings are considered better, and birds of prey are favored over other kinds with eagles generally being considered the best. For women/girls, wing size isn't as much of a factor as wing shape is, and birds of prey species are sometimes considered two aggressive, nice coloration is a plus.

Regardless of gender, well maintained feathers are considered an important feature.

Overall, people that care about such things will have a lot of species based preconceptions about people (crows & ravens are bad omens, eagles are noble, sparrows and finches are timid, that sort of thing).

Billy's wings are the largest in this AU, followed by Argyle (I think, unless I add in another large winged species). Argyle likes to wrap Jonathan up with his wings.

aaand thats all ive got atm. i would be happy to talk about this more if anyone wants to!

[dabi-drift]

Since we all agree that Geten is short, can I please request him with an s/o that is taller than him?

I present to you, a short gremlin king!

Geten/Iceman With a Taller S/O:

✵ Napoleon Complex.

✵ He loathes to be seen as small, as cute…as a little boy. He's a man. He's your man! He should be taller than his partner!

✵ You adore his height (or lack thereof). At 5'2, he's so cute, the epitome of cuteness! Height never factored into your attraction, until this relationship. He just looks so adorable, and so innocent! It's funny, actually, given his personality.

✵ The aggression, the power…he's definitely overcompensating. He can't help it! There's a power imbalance, and he's scared you'll leave him for someone taller. Your dynamic isn't exactly normal, not in his eyes.

✵ In normal relationships, isn't the taller half older and more dominant? He's the one with the strong Meta Ability. He's the protective one. He'll be the breadwinner.

✵ People misjudge his age. He isn't too young for you! He's older, damnit!

✵ He isn't sure why you'd choose to date someone of his stature, but he isn't complaining.

✵ He hates being so small! He's always the small spoon, always the one hiding behind you. He isn’t even trying

✵ He can use his ice to add a little extra height, but it's a temporary fix. In the moment, it makes him feel powerful

✵ You'll probably have to reassure him a lot. His height makes him feel inadequate, weak, and unfit for you. There's a considerable difference between you, and he hates it. He can't hug or kiss you properly! You have to stoop to his height, and it's so humiliating! And he's sure it hurts your back

✵ He wants to be taller than you, or at least the same height! Life, and your relationship, would be so much easier. Then he might not look like a child having an illicit affair with his teacher

✵ You can't wear his clothes. He really wants you to :((

✵ He has to sit on your lap. How embarrassing

✵ You have a medley of admirers, all of whom are taller than him. Geten can scare them off, but the seeds of insecurity have been sown. Why wouldn't you want someone taller? It'd make sense. Why did you settle for someone so small? You can do better.

✵ You've never had a height preference. You do love that he's smaller, but that's just a consequence of your love for him. He comes first, not his height.

✵ He'll take a while to convince

[mamachu]

Yandere profile - Dream witch(Yidhra)

Template - Cinnamonest

Warnings : gn!reader(but depending on the person beware of mpreg), Noncon, somnophilia, Sadism, Isolation, violence/gore, stalking, somewhat graphic depictions of bone breaking, limb removal and body modification, and last but not least, my horrible phrasing

These are not fully based on canon and completely off my interpretation

What are they generally like? Lucid, aware? Obsessive? How do they behave?

-Every hunter picks their favorites. Yidhra being no exception, in fact, favoring a specific survivor was always apart of her pass time. The raw emotions and human nature of survivors is what makes hunting so enticing and joyful for her. She's in acceptance with her own emotions, she knows and is fully aware that this specific interest is more than just curiosity. It starts painfully slow, only things someone specifically intelligent with the ability to catch onto to things fast would notice. The way she starts to specifically target you, making sure you're always leeched before anyone else. It doesn't matter how well the match goes either, Yidhra makes sure that you at least go down by HER means. At first you'll think you've done something to warrant this kind of behavior, cursing at whatever God's have subjected you to this (ironically).

-To Yidhra it starts as something fun, feeling as if you'll just turn out like any other toy of hers, a complete ploy to distract herself from her true feelings. Yidhra develops this intrigue with her darling through watching them in their free time, the way they interact with people and going about their daily life within the manor- which somewhat confused her, there's only so much you can do here, why DOES she find it this entertaining? Soon enough she secretly keeps tabs on you whenever given the chance, this includes, and especially applies to matches. Don't get ahead of yourself thinking this means she tries to protect you either as Yidhra strives to see the expressions you make in tough situations or even more the ones you make while in pain.

-But sometimes she doesn't just wanna see you. Just once could you look at her in acceptance of your fate? The future is inevitable, you'll be entranced by her soon enough and she'll have you to herself. Thoughts completely clouded with her and her alone.

How likely are they to kidnap their darling? How quickly will they do so?

-kidnapping is a difficult feat for most among both the hunters AND survivors as long as you reside in the manor. Yidhra is one of the few to have the privilege of easily removing her darling from the manor yet she chooses not to. Keeping you locked to the manor is simply just more fun. Early on it's nice to watch you think that you have the saving grace of peace away from her while not being matched. It also adds onto a humiliation factor knowing that she can mess with you specifically while you're often crowded in with other people.

-of course the main reason for keeping you in the manor is to more easily keep tabs on you. Both of you have your own goals for being there which is set in Stone, Yidhra of course having a bit more leeway. You wouldn't be able to easily give up what you came there for which Yidhra takes heavy advantage of. If anything you're restraining your own self, which in actuality may be better than staying with her outside of the manor.

-in a last case scenario Yidhra can simply just lock you away within a separate plane of time. You're chances of escaping and ultimately having any sort of space to yourself drop to zero, and soon will your mental state. It's true isolation that eats at you and numbs your tolerance to your captors advances.

How difficult is it to escape from them? How do they keep you restrained? How do they deal with attempted escape?

-as mentioned in the last section, there really isn't anything to traditionally escape from. Either because you're bound to the manor or quite literally bound to her. And by all means you can certainly just try leaving the Oletus Manor but even that comes with its own complications- and given a scenario where you are allowed to leave, you'd still have a whole separate plane of existence with your name on it waiting for you once you're out ;)

-Thus there aren't necessarily "escape attempts" because at any time where you're given that opportunity is most likely a ply from Yidhra herself in attempt to mess with you, which she does unfortunately, do often. These "attempts" are signs that you haven't learned your place yet, which she'll be glad to remind you of. She loves to make empty threats about ripping off your limbs one by one for every attempt early on, the tear stricken facial expression that forms upon you let's her know she got the message across.

-If it becomes too repetitive however..she 100% is not hesitant to modify your body. It's one of her specialties after all, being able to shape you however she wants. The way she does it depends entirely on her mood and the offense during that day. A long drawn out process of having your calfs completely separated from your thighs, nothing given to numb the pain either. It'll be a grueling experience, especially for the first time it happens. It doesn't help knowing that she can bring back said limbs and then repeat the same process whenever she'd like. This would become tenfold if you're locked in that separate plane, since ultimately having the ability to walk,grab interact is useless!- In her "eyes" at least, but luckily for you it would also mean there's a less of a chance for it to happen, in which even if it does at least it's only once.

-it's also sometimes funny to turn you into a tiny little pesk for awhile, maybe something like a guinea pig or hamster, y'know the house pets that seem to die oddly fast and for the smallest reasons.

How easy are they to trick, deceive, or manipulate?

-debated even leaving this in here because of how obvious the answer is..Yidhra has a Playful spirit but she isn't stupid. Being that type of higher entity leads her to playing along with your attempted tricks, treating it as a game. It's foolish of you to even try at deceiving her but at least entertain her while you do it, she'll make sure your punishment is lighter if you give her a good laugh!

How do they deal with rivals, or perceived rivals? Will they get rid of them? Will they kill them themselves, or find another way?

-as somewhat mentioned earlier, there are still rules within the manor that hunters must follow themselves, meaning Yidhra would be putting herself in deep water if she actually attempted to take out another survivor she deemed a "rival". However this doesn't mean she can't make them suffer in other ways! You know you've messed up when THE Dream witch has it out you. The treatment starts out light, simple little warnings left in a spew to scare the person off. The feeling of being watched, hearing voices that leave them completely unnerved and the sorts. It's only until they don't get the message of backing off is when she fully targets them. Leaving them as the last survivor whenever the two are matched and dragging out their beaten time before she actually chairs them- no let's them "bleed out". It's not as torturous as she prefers but it'll get the message across!!

-Among the other hunters however there's a mutual ground, yet again every hunter picks their favorites, I feel weaker hunters would back off as soon as they see Yidhra's infatuation with you. It's not as if the hunters are violent towards eachother but disputes still happen. It's best to not get in bad waters with Ms.Dream Witch. Under very rare circumstances I could see her coming to an alliance with a more powerful hunter, someone who actually stands to her level, maybe someone like Hastur. It's less likely to happen but it's not as if she's completely against it.

-outside the manor is free game, there's nothing to stop her now. You can bet any man that even somewhat comes close will soon find the new fitting life of a dirty little rodent, ones perfect for being lab rats. Yidhra cannot reveal herself majority of the time which has both its pros and cons. Being able to keep her eyes on you and those that interact all the while neither of you will know of her presence. Maybe she'll send in a shrunken little warning to remind you of how these encounters usually end, giving you only a few minutes on the decision to spare the person's life. Yidhra is cruel to those who have crossed her imaginary line, the process and torture always drawn out significantly, a tiny present of whatever remains is always sent to you from a follower after the act.

How easy is it to make them mad? What does their anger look like?

-It just doesn't happen. It's not necessarily a you thing either, she doesn't give into the temptation of human emotions, specifically the ones in attempt to anger her. She's absolutely prone to have her own little jealousy outbursts but nothing made of actual anger. There just isn't justified reason for it to happen(saying that as if anything else she's done is justified).

Do they see you as above them, beneath them, or equal to them?

-In more of a surprising light, it's obvious you're beneath her in every way, shape and form- yet something you'll never hear from her is how she still somewhat holds you to a high regard. The first mortal being to ever enlight her devious feelings of love, it's pathetic on her end to actually have stooped this low. You are her human. And while you may serve to be below her know you'll always be held in high light in her mind regardless of her actions.

How determined are they for you to love them? How hard will they try to make it happen? Or are they content just having you?

-completely content on just having her tabs on you. There's no elongated fight for your affection or gruel punishments for the sole reason of not giving in. It's kinda nice, something that should be considered a privilege. She asks nothing of you but to just be there, serving as her human.

-True love in itself is a difficult topic for Yidhra, something she won't admit but knows she couldn't figure out. To treat as a pet or a lover? Both hold the same connotation to her, negatives and all. Its not to say she doesn't deeply connect to you and feel not whole without your presence, but is it safe to call that love?

Bonus: Is there anything that makes them unique, in comparison to other yanderes?

-separate from normal mortal beings yes, but can be easily grouped in with other entities is how Yidhra doesn't have to struggle with limited or harder to get resources in order to restrain you. She can do so much with just her mind and the snap of her fingertips.

-another thing is how all of her punishments, violent actions and acts of sadism towards her darling are all out of her own un-delusional will. She treats everything as game and will damn well have fun testing the limits of her darling. It all gets too boring considering there's not much you can do to fight her, so she might as well pass her time with you by prying through what makes you tick.

《♡》

-Yidhra doesn't start off as a majorly sexual person, this is one of the maybe few actually deep human relationships she's been in. She has no choice but to start off reserved in the manor, little experimentations here and there seeing as how not much can be done in a crowded area. Most of these are in the context of being outside the manor.

How forceful are they? Do they care about your willingness?

-If being insensible during the act is enough for you then early on it isn't that bad, perhaps. Yidhra is only just trying to figure out the inner workings of a human, which itself as mentioned will take awhile to come to in general. Advancing on you in your sleep is like practice, sure she may not be able to see your amazing expressions but it'll help her get the basics of things. One of the main things she does during this time is represent whatevers being done to you in your sleep as a sensual dream, so maybe you’ll have a slight chance at being able to depict what comes to you in the future. soon enough, in which I mean a long time later, she'll advance on you while you're conscious enough to understand what's happening- which of course, it's never consensual.

What sort of kinks or fetishes do they have, or would they fill?

-SadoMasochism: starting off on the obvious side. Yidhra gets off heavily to seeing people in pain, you especially. She enjoys leaving physical evidence of her time with you, long striding claw marks that cover the sides of your back, Dark bruised spots along your collarbone and in between your thighs. Which also comes into play with ownership, embarrassing to you but the collars she gets for you just look way too cute y'know? Pathetically crawl to her on your knees and worship her as your one and only and she'll give you mountains of praise. Letting her sharp nails tangle themselves in your hair and massage your scalp, telling you how good you've been for not disobeying her.

-Body modification: of course I'll include her specialty! She can shape your body into whatever she feels like at any given point or time. Breast enlargement?! Sure! A penis?! Why not? Anything is possible. Maybe she'll even hear out your own wants and change what you please, but alas the exception is things that change her own physical body.

-Tail(?) Fucking: We know that Yidhra cannot "fuck" you with her own body, being as there are no normal means of penatration from either of you. It doesn't always have to be insertion, in fact most of the time it isn't. Simply wrapping her long body around you is enough, the definition and feeling of the scales on your bare skin sears. Any type of insertion is minimal, she can't break you that bad after all!

-Voyeurism: this is especially present early on where she'll only watch you. Late at night tuning in to how you indulge yourself, what specifically pleasures you the most and all. Maybe Yidhra will actually dwell into your mind to see what you're thinking about- don't worry she'll keep it a secret!

How do they feel about pregnancy or babies? Do they want them?

-Now, the absolutely amazing thing about Yidhra is how it truly doesn't matter what you are, babies and pregnancy in itself are a possibility for everyone. Someone as powerful as herself being able to modify your body so it may carry the weight of children, or being able to swell your breasts along with it. Even funnier is how Yidhra is to say- somewhat content with children, it wouldn't be as big of deal for her to become a "mother" in a sense. Which isn't me saying she would genuinely want children, but she surprisingly isnt against the idea and it makes one hell of a good threatening punishment!

What kind of (nsfw) punishments would they use?

- How should I put this into words...THE "fuck nugget". Remember how Yidhra likes to threaten removing your limbs? Yeah. It's gorey at first, having both sets of your arms and legs be removed from your body, leaving the rest of your thighs and..appendages(?) to be wrapped. And that's actually as much as the actual punishment goes since everything else is of the average session. And Yidhra in a sense can't exactly "fuck" you in literal terms without modifying her own body, so yay for that I suppose... But it's still fun to watch you squirm in displeasure and yet have no means of escape or any resistance to what happens to you, only being able to bite down the tears and hold back pained grunts from whatever she's having forced inside you. Sometimes she'll even blindfold you to worsen this experience, so now you have actually no idea what's being put inside you or what's happening, sorry!

What body parts of their darling do they like the most?

-Eyes. Such pretty things to her honestly. Down from their color and beauty in the way they shine to how much they impact the way someone can express certain feelings. Yidhra's are so different from humans, from her darling. She'll never get to experience that same beauty, and sometimes even wonders if she had normal ones of her own would they too, show the amount of intrigue she has with you? She loves seeing the way pupils shrink and shake when the human attached is hurt in such a deep way, the way they dart from side to side in fear and question, it's all magnificent to her.

[voidix]

So my dear friend @kittytudor and I were discussing some takes the fandom has on Dazai and especially his interactions with Mori and I thought I’d share

I really hate the train of thought that goes like “they’re super smart so they know life has no meaning and nothing matters” like that’s cynical for no reason whatsoever and just nihilistic

Yea when you are intelligent you see all the bad in the world and feel like you’re powerless to stop it a lot of times but the things is

You know scientists see beauty in everything geologist will get excited about literal dirt a marine biologist about a gold fish. When you’re intelligent you see all the bad but also all the good

However it’s easier to see the bad and often times it clouds your view but part of the healing process is starting to see beauty and happiness in the smallest things and I think that’s a journey Dazai is slowly going on.

So I really don’t think intelligence is the issue here and I’m gonna assume you’re an edgy bastard if you say so

I feel like Dazai’s issue is more the environment than anything and the lack of meaningful relationships. I know we clown the scene where he says actually living is okay now 1 day after meeting Chuuya but here is the thing. This might have been the first time he had someone his age who wanted to hang out with him or even less just someone his age who tolerated him. I personally know nothing about his life pre mafia but you can assume it wasn’t a good life if at age 14 you decide the bloody mafia is preferable to wherever you’re at at the moment

In my opinion Mori didn’t encourage it per se but he didn’t try to stop it either I really think that for him he did not expect Dazai would go through with it (again) and /or as cruel as it sounds if he actually did it which Mori didn’t think was likely he had one less rival to worry about but I really think that’s Mori’s reasoning for staying “neutral” for lack of a better word on this issue

That being said I’m sure being surrounded by death and suffering did not do any good for an already depressed 14/15yo

Which leads me to the second point. I really don’t think Mori expected Dazai to leave or tried to make him leave. For Mori Dazai was a powerful asset because of his ability and because of his intelligence that y’all are obsessed with. So why would you want to push that person away and it’s not like he was encouraging him to suicide here which would make much more sense than wanting him to leave.

And I have evidence

I’m gonna start it with: Oda did not die to set an example I don’t think so no. In his conversation with Chuuya he said something like “being a leader means making sacrifices for the well being of the group” or something like that and that’s what he did here.

He sacrifices Oda to get the permit.

The strange thing is I do think Mori meant what he said to Chuuya that he is a leader but also a servant to the mafia he wants the mafia to gain more power and that’s why he did what he did to get the permit.

I do think it could be a lesson to Dazai but not in the “if you cross me this is gonna happen to you” because Oda didn’t cross him Oda didn’t want power he is the last person who was interested in that. I think if anything it was more a lesson as in “when you take over this is something you’ll have to do and I’m showing you how it’s done”

Evidence for that is he was chuckling when he mentioned that possibility that Dazai would kill him and take one someday. And I agree that Mori

Wouldn’t mind if that was better for the Mafia. Like he wouldn’t make it easy for him and he wouldn’t give up but if he is defeated he wouldn’t be angry or annoyed because like I mentioned above I do think he was genuine when he said he is also a servant to the Mafia

My other piece of evidence is that when he showed Dazai the permit he seemed proud of what he’s done. The way he presented it and the entire scenario he seemed proud more than smug. If he really wanted Dazai out I feel like he would’ve been more smug about the whole thing and we know he can do that well.

And obviously there is also the fact he offered him not once but twice to come back. And what’s interesting is that the first time the offer was secret like he sent Gin and Higuchi and it was in a shady ass tunnel

Now the other time is where it gets interesting because it was very public in front of Dazai’s colleagues the black lizard and Fukuzawa.

Now Mori is a smart guy but also he has a sense of pride as we learned so I really don’t think he would risk being humiliated in front of Fukuzawa of all people just to mess with Dazai and he seemed genuinely surprised when Dazai said “you kicked me” and he didn’t offer him to just come back no he offered to be back as an executive and having Dazai decline and clown him in front of Fukuzawa like that I don’t think he would risk that if he was just playing

The thing is Mori is smart but he has tunnel vision in my opinion. He was so focused on getting the permit he forgot that this plan has consequences that aren’t just “we get the permit”

And also one of Mori’s issues is that he never takes into consideration people’s emotions. You can predict human Behavior to a certain degree a lot of times you can know what to

Say or what to do to get a certain result but the thing is humans aren’t algorithms they don’t always operate on logic they have emotions. And these emotions can be so strong that they override any crumb of logic left which is something I think Mori fails to understand. That’s why he didn’t expect Dazai to leave he forgot about the emotional factor.

That’s what Mori lacks but Dazai has and my evidence for this is a scenario we laughed at because it was presented in a funny way but I think that’s something that shows that Dazai is better at this 4D chess game than Mori.

On the Moby Dick he knew that Akutagawa would abandon everything to talk to him. If Dazai only operates by thinking about logical Behavior he wouldn’t have told Atsushi to do this but he realises that the emotional factor is one of the strongest drives humans have.

And you know I think Mori knows that when it comes to 4D chess Dazai would defeat him but he doesn’t mind that he isn’t scared of that. In dead Apple he couldn’t have possibly known the whole business with the pill but he told Chuuya to interfere. Mori has a strange sense of trust towards Dazai even now that they’re part of different sides.

I think Mori is has always been aware that although he says he does Dazai doesn’t actually want to die and I think the scene with the hyper and hypo tension medication in 15 shows this. If you actually want to die why would you Mix medicine with effects that cancel out each other and Mori is a doctor he knows this. That’s why I think he didn’t expect Dazai to commit and that he believes Dazai actually wants to live and because of that he will try and preserve himself and by extension Yokohama which is why he told Chuuya to go in dead apple, which is why he let Akutagawa go on the Moby Dick in season 2 because he realized Dazai wanted him to go there and he trusts Dazai to a certain degree .

I really feel like his underestimated the emotional factor and this will ultimately lead to his downfall. Like he didn’t expect Dazai to leave he wouldn’t expect anyone to react super emotional to god knows what he’ll do and thereby underestimate their response to that which will make him meet his end.

I don’t think the “you kicked me” is Dazai in denial he acted ok emotions or at least that’s not the whole thing. I think that Dazai’s reasoning for saying that is this:

Oda died so Mori can get more power which was part of Mori’s plan all along so looking at the bigger picture it was Mori’s plan and actions who drove me out of the Mafia so he basically “kicked me out”

Also I wanna add that I feel like Mori because he underestimates the emotional factor he doesn’t understand to this day why Dazai left like he knows it’s related to oda he can follow that train of events but in his mind it doesn’t make logical sense why Dazai would do that which is why he didn’t manage to win Dazai over back to The Mafia because in his mind be doesn’t know the logical reason why Dazai left which is also another reason why he was so surprised when Dazai said he kicked him

Also I’d like to add that I really don’t think he felt threatened or wanted to just get rid of him

Dazai was already suicidal so if it would very easy to make it look like that. And like I mentioned before if it was the best choice for the Mafia I really don’t think Mori would be that bothered about being replaced by Dazai.

I also don’t think he thought Dazai would be more useful on the outside because once again why lose a valuable addition like that

And it’s not like

He wanted to use him

As a spy or anything we know that would’ve been arranged differently see Ango

So Mori the logical guy he is wouldn’t want his enemies to have someone with Dazai’s ability because that’s a pain in the ass and also

He wouldn’t want an insider like Dazai to join his enemies and spill all his secrets. Dazai had a very high rank and like I said I don’t think Mori expected him to leave so he had no reason to hide things from

him so even without his ability he would be a very strong asset to the Mafias enemies so there is no way Mori would think he is more useful on the outside since

1. we already said mori has tunnel vision he couldn’t possibly predict that much that he thinks Dazai is better out

2. We established that he isn’t afraid of him

3. He wouldn’t want the ability and the information to fall into his enemies’ hands

4. If he was actually scared and wanted to get rid of him making it seem like suicide or actually driving him to suicide would be much easier especially since mori is a doctor

So yeah this is long thanks if you read until the end it was super fun to write this id love to know what others think I’m sorry if it’s a bit unorganised it’s copied from my notes app

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. Why is no one talking about one of the most stupid things we've seen in this webtoon thus far? I'm talking about the fact that H&P deadass pull a "I nominate Hades as an attorney to defend me in this case uwu" and the mf accepts (clearly the had it planned) although he is part of the jury.

Now, I don't have fast pass but I really hope this whole thing is forbidded by Zeus in the next episodes. It makes no fucking sense! Hades is not a lawyer, and as a god is not associated with law/justice (him being a king doesn't excuse this, he is there to "judge" not to defend the accused).

This really proves that absolutely nothing works against Persephone ever. She is able to get away with murder and have zero consequences for her actions, all while the smurf plays daddy with her, spoils her and defends her in court WHICH SHOULD NOT BE EVEN POSSIBLE LMAO.

From OP: It’s allowed because ‘loophole’.

2. I would like to add to what that person said about the characters looking too stiff. Literally that panel towards the end of ep. 179 where P said "I nominate Hades" is the best example of this. Wtf is wrong with her hand? It looks like a wooden doll with her arm extended like that. The only explanation I have for this (aside from the fact that the art style sucks big time) is that she's trying to imitate the art style on the ancient Greek amphoras (amphorae?), but even the scenes depicted on them had signs of natural movement, with the bodies looking much less stiff of course.

3. Anyone else wanna mention the backgrounds are also just not there at this point? Like she was already bad with this in the beginning but at least there was some sketch up lines to give the impression they were in a real space, but now it’s literally just blank voids of color and that’s it, and often not good use of color either (why is the above land pink while the underworld is blue? It makes it hard too tell what’s going on). There aren’t even establishing shots to at least give the readers an idea where they are and then becoming abstract about it, it’s all abstract and flat, which doesn’t help when the characters also are so lacking in character design and aren’t really doing anything pose or action wise. The world around them don’t even seem like actual places, it just seems like a set, and a very cheap one at that. It just ends up looking so boring in all fronts.

4. I don't know why it's only happening now but Persephone's eyebrows have started to piss me off lately. Why are they pure black? And when did they become so thick? It doesn't fit in with the rest of her fair and hairless appearance, it just looks like her brow artist did a piss poor job on them.

5. it honestly makes me sad looking at the first few lo episodes. were they perfect? god no, but at least the art was unique and had some actual thought put in it, but by around episode 25 or so you begin to notice the style is becoming less and less, until you have what it is now which is completely different, and not for the better. i know styles change and all, but this is a case where it got so much worse, losing its unique factor to look so generic and lacking instead. it make me sad.

6. Ive noticed LO fans dont seem to enjoy any other greek myth works, only LO. for example there's a huge overlap in PJO fans liking Hades Games and BoZ, and Hadestown fans towards TSOA, and so on and so on, meanwhile LO overwhelmingly don't even read other HxP stuff like Punderworld and openly hate stuff like PJO. They tend to only consume LO while claiming to be "big myth fans". It reminds me of Potterheads who claim to be big book nerds when they've really only read the series and nothing else.

7. its truly a testament to how bad the writing is from RS in that she honestly thought it was a dramatic twist apollo and artemis of all people were children to zeus, despite looking exactly like him and not like their mother. also, tbh, the fact hera humiliated leto and treats the twins like garbage, it is any wonder theyre being depicted so negatively in LO? theyre only used to prop up hades and p's "friendships" to eros and daphne. artemis is even the "bad" maiden. it's all so stupid.

8. the thing to me is no retelling of myths will be perfect, how could they be? but LO takes the cake at claiming its so researched and is the actual truth and is 99%+ correct (both from rachel's words as well as by her fans) with both refusing to even admit to any mistakes and refusing any critique, especially from greeks themselves, that's where the issue is to me. you cannot claim to be so well researched only to be upset when people notice the many obvious inaccuracies. that's not how it works.

9. there's a part of me that wonders why LO has never featured any MLM romances like poseidon, zeus, or apollo's many male lovers, but then i remembered she doesn't care about poseidon and both zeus & apollo are both evil to her, her made up WLW romances are terrible, and all relationships that cant be used to prop up hades and persephone are made cruel and abusive, so maybe that's a blessing in disguise that she's so bad at even remembering LGBTQ+ relationships, much less depicting them.

-----FP Spoiler/Mention-----

10. The whole trial thing just puts into perspective how much plot points go off the rails. I was actually looking forward to finally hearing from Demeter that Persephone IS a fertility goddess and them having a argument before the trial, but then it just left on a Clift hanger. And then oh wow Hades is being her lawyer, which??, pretty sure that’s not how that works but okay whatever he’s going against his brothers. But he doesn’t even make an opening statement because the other side does instead. And then Hermes shows up and his backstory starts and everything gets so muddled. I’m not an expert on court cases but seeing the witness be called up right after and the other side just make a bunch of shi up instead of stating a pathos but accurate opening statement hurts my brain. Not to mention the jury and people just speaking out at random? Like can Rachel just write something serious for once? Or at least somewhat accurate? Legally blonde had a better comedy court case scene than whatever this is.

[lorddistancebarry]

Forest In Chains - Chapter 1

"500, 600, 700, 800, 900.." Garcello counts the cash in his hands after he was given the bag of money. After Tabi fell and didn’t get back up from the half-giant cutting loose and throwing him through the cage into the left most stands of the audience. After the red haze cleared. After basically running with fire and panicking the entire way. He still feels the burns and cuts on his arms, chest and face from Tabi's strikes. The bruising deciding to make itself known by the numbness hidden via his bangs on the left side of his face. The wounds just adding on in a pile especially when the reaper decided to stop fucking around and went all in... his body shivers as the pain compounds and the wind from the September season hits him while he sits on the bench waiting for the bus.

"You barely von that, child." a deep, voice spoke.

Garcello looks up and looks intrigued and surprised at who it belonged to.

"Ruv.." He noted looking up from his money and putting it away, quickly.

"You did not expect me?" He noted with a smirk,"Illegal fight, legal fight. I come to all, vatch them. Sarvente spoke of it being good move. I believe her."

The large Russian man walks over and sits down like a neighbor to Garcello on the bus stop. "But, I can go on many years speaking about her." Ruv noted,"Vhat about you, Young Smoke? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Garcello admits,"Just.. didn't expect to get cut and burned alive like I'm a fuckin piece of meat."

"Equalizers are not to be trifled vith. As gang or as fighters in vrestling circuit." Ruv chuckles,"Go to be undefeated, An equalizer gets sent, test you. It is cycle to see if you are actually good or you are veak bitch."

"Well, was i actually good?" Garcello laughs wryly,"Cause i feel like shit."

"No, you vere lucky, you use your strength. You are shit, but vorkable shit. Trainable." Ruv critiques as he takes out his vodka flask from his jacket. "So.. you're going to train me?" Garcello asked looking up as Ruv drinks. "Vin against Agoti or Vhitty." He directs looking to Garcello stoically,"Then I teach you. I vant to see if your are vorth time."Ruv takes another drink from his flask. Garcello takes out one of his cigarettes and lights it. A green light illuminates at the end as he inhales, steam and smoke coalesces and flares outward into a glowing green, mist smoke hybrid. "I see." He nods once,"And if I am worth your time?" "I train you.break you, see vhat you.. really are. Then ve progress from there."  Ruv stated looking to Garcello with his lone, glossy eye. Almost seeming to look through Garcello and into him.Garcello shivers looking back. Friend? Enemy? "I see." He gets up as the bus is rolling up."Well for now.. I'm gonna get dinner and go home. Thanks for checking up on me." "Anytime. I do not like promising student, be jumped by Equalizer scum." Ruv chuckles with a grin. Garcello pales a bit, "Uh... what?" Ruv looks to the fellow titan with an incredulous stare,"You scraped out vin, but you also humiliated Tabi. Young Reaper vill vant revenge..." The Russian raises an eyebrow,"You did not expect that?" "But you beat some of the Equalizer's asses and you didn't get  jumped!" Garcello points out as the whir of steam leaving the bus' brakes occurs and the door's open. "That is because of grace of God and grace of throwing truck across street." Ruv laughs wryly,"Now go, child. Before you are stuck here." Garcello waves Ruv off before getting on the bus and using his bus card. A satisfied beep of payment as he moves. Knowing the timer, he sits down quickly before the bus moves with a hiss of the breaks lifting from the ground and the bus hovers, flying down the roads and over ground locked travel.He looks out the window at the night sky and at the many lights below of Funk City. Advertisements, cars, city signs, street lights. Garcello lets his mind wander at the light pollution and the sound of hover cars flying by. Its mesmerizing. Watching everything just fly, zip, and zop by. Time could pass as the colors of the city and the energy takes him in. The concept when he was young had never gotten old or changed. The colors of the world, the lifeblood of the people moving, growing and just living. This is why he and his mother had migrated here. Such a decision had to be lived through not just decided on a whim. But this.. This wholesome peace and tranquility at this time. Away from the violence, the darkness and the weight of it all... Was a very big deciding factor. "One day... they will be able to feel this way.." Garcello resolves quietly as he looks down through the window to the city below. "Feel so.. free..." He coos starting to let the pain and tiredness get to him. Starting to fall asleep on the bus and get complacent in his space... until a growling, gurgling reminder makes itself painfully known in his core. The tender flesh of wounds on his abdomen only make it worse. His body went through hell.

It wants food, it needs it. He needs it. NOW. "First.... step... free myself." he grumbles softly as pain burns in his core and it forces him out of falling asleep and dragging on. Sitting up properly and starting to search for a close enough bus stop so he doesn't just add more suffering with a long as fuck walk that only lengthens the burning. Finding one, he pulls on the wire that signals the automated system to stop. The bus stops after a bit before landing with the soft 'woosh' of steam. Getting off the bus, he walks down the streets. Looking up to keep track of his own placement on the road, looking down to light a cigarette to ease some of the pain, looking back up now to search for those heavenly golden arches. After a minute, 6 cigarettes later.. the yellow and red light beams down upon his form. At this point, a soft, barely noticeable film of red covers everything and everyone that walks by and every sensation, smell and taste is heightened. Painfully so. "Finally..." he exhales, dry air hitting a watering, near drooling maw. He walks into the restaurant with a dragging motion of his feet. Garcello looms over to the counter with barely any real patience. People move away and those that don't, go quickly about their order then move. "Hi." he stated, "I would like.. the whole left menu. Twice. Add 6 McChicken meals. Super size it..." "I-is that-that all sir?" A timid female voice asked quietly. "Yes.." he confirms. Not really looking up. "It's going to be disc-discounted. Y-you don't mind right?" She asked.As she asks that, the red film sight as it was dies down a bit. Garcello looks up from the counter. There is only one person that ever asks about discounts in his mind. He looks at the attendant at the counter and sees the fuchsia and sky blue eyes looking up and right back at him from her gaunt, modest face and shivering, small frame. "Rebecca? What are you doin' here?!" He asked actually in shock. "Um.. well.." she shrugs,"I work here. Y/N got me the job, t-they're the manager." Garcello looks on in shock. He tilts his head back with an incredulous stare. Looking for you and seeing you wave a short, polite wave as you're working with the drive through attendants to ensure chaos is handled. Garcello looks back to Rebecca. "Don’t give me a discount girl just charge me normally. I'll treat ya." He says softly. "A-are you su-sure?" "Entirely." He nods handing over 80 dollars. "You were c-close but a bit over. Your price is 72 dollars and 12 cents." "I know." He nods,"Tips. Put the change in your pocket." Rebecca looks sheepish, looking down and shivering."B-but.." "Do it." He commands sternly. Rebecca takes the money, makes exact change and keeps it immediately. Every motion is fast and shaky like an unstable roller-coaster. "T-thanks..." she murmurs shyly poking her fingers together. "When are you two off?" He asked. "In.. 30 mins.." Rebecca looks up at Garcello. Her eyes narrow and she grimaces.."I'll get an ice baggy.. and. I'm going to be frank... I have questions. And if i have questions.. Y/N is going to want answers..." Garcello grinds his teeth,"Alright. I'll wait and we'll talk." Rebecca purses her lips then exhales,"Thank you." Garcello leaves from the counter and to one of the large benches at the furthest back of the restaurant and waits. Waiting, letting time pass as he patiently sits. His core burning with hunger and primal thoughts when the mental shock subsides. The herd is curious.. tell them. "I.. don’t want them in danger..." Lies are over... tell them something... they worry. They fear. "Garcello? Are you good?" You asked concerned, "Rebecca told me about.-" "The bruise on my face. I know." Garcello says as Rebecca comes over with the food trays. "Ice bag, 3 o clock?" Rebecca offers the baggie of ice. Garcello looks to it then takes the bag, wiggles up his cap and bangs, revealing the recently closed gashes, burns and cuts on his chin and face. Your eyes widen from the sight, brow furrowing in concern. "What h-happened?" Rebecca says before you do. You see Garcello is staring at the food, half listening. Mostly tired, dragging on fumes really. "No." You say then look to Garcello,"We talk. After you finish eating. Got it?" "Yes'm"  Garcello nods once then  finally let's his brain drop being alert.Rebecca looks to you with concern, she shakes more from anxiety. "Oh.. don't worry I know." Your reassure,"But overwhelming him is the last thing on my mind. I don't think this is a simple little 'fall' like last time anyway." "You want to h-hear it fro-from his mouth." You nod once and sit down before looking to Rebecca, she nods once with a small smile. "Both of us are signed out, we wont get in trouble with higher ups for over time."She confirms just before- CRUNCH! TEAAAR! SHHRRIIP! Garcello eats like they aren't there, there is no smacking noise. Just an absence of control from tiredness and physically going through hell. Hes going through hoops with food like a functioning sponge with water, trying to replenish what was forcefully squeezed out of him. Rebecca looks to you. "I.. haven't seen him like this.. or well this bad.. Do you think hes..." "I think so." you confirm," Maybe on drugs. But regardless of whatever it is... This cant be swept under the rug. Did you call Annie?" "I-I did." Rebecca nods,"She's coming as fast as possible. I warned her to not run red lights. I was promptly cursed out in German. I responded. She hung up knowing I was right." Garcello stops eating into his 6th McChicken. The man didn't unwrap the wrapper off, the whole ass sandwich is just getting murdered with his teeth. The devouring however stops short at the mention of Annie. With bloodshot eyes, he looks to Rebecca and you. "You.. are all going to be here?" he asked and you shake your head no. "No." You respond,"But. I'm happy you have a brain in there again. Because like it or not.. you're going to tell us what we need to know." Garcello pales in the face for a moment like he saw a ghost, his heart races in terror. His pupils contract as he knows hes cornered now. There is no wiggling out like before.

"We aren't g-going to hurt you, big guy." Rebecca coos softly. "I.. i know its jus'..." Garcello starts but its hard to put words together. "You know you can't bullshit us anymore." You finish looking at the man directly in his face. Garcello looks away looking down at the scraps of paper, unwrapped or just ripped apart making a mess on the table. "Yeah.. I cant." he confirms as Annie rampages in like a crashing tsunami and yells just as loud, scaring customers out of the restaurant. "NOW WHOMST THE FUCK JUMPED GARCELLO?! I'M ABOUT TO FUCKING BEAT THEIR SHIT IN!" Annie yells, her flesh is tinting blue from the glowing blue of her veins spidering from her skin. A sign of her stress before she drinks ‘the liquid’. "You bout to calm so i can explain." Garcello says strictly, unafraid as he’s been used to seeing the entity pour our from her veins and skin. He’s more than used to being attacked as he knows it doesn't like him. But for now it has no power here. Just like his other half. "Then talk." You egg on, as Annie takes a few breathes, grabs a chair and sits in it, the back of the chair acing the table."We're all listening." Garcello bites his lips. His S/O and his best friends, the core of the herd, his herd... now are looking at him like hes wounded. Doesn't help that he is on the outside and inside... ‘Now you gone and done it, Garcy.. but now.. what do you do now?’ He asks himself in his thoughts as he takes a deep breath in. Act as you are, You are alpha. Time to be a man.

[harmonyandco]

Harmony in the Workplace REVEALS! 

[Note: If you still want to write for this fest and didn’t originally sign up / still want to submit if you couldn’t make the deadline, please send us a DM! Lots of awesome prompts still to be written and we’d love for more to be added to the collection.]

Thank you to all the incredible writers who participated — be sure to give their stories some love with kudos and comments!

Title: Charitable

Author: WinglessQuill

Prompt: Philanthropist Harry / Orphanage Owner Hermione

Rating: T

Summary: Hermione Granger was content with her life, until Harry Potter appeared on the doorstep of her orphanage.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32208631

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Title: The factor liberatis

Author: Eolith

Prompt: Lawyer Hermione / Wizengamot Legislator Harry

Rating: T

Summary: Hermione Granger lawyer trained in the old laws is the fautor libertatis or promoter of freedom stablisshed in the Lex Petronia an old Roman law that protects slaves and she is in England reclaiming the debts of the owners of house elfs.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32189842

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Title: Full Bloom Captured

Author: VanderlustWords

Prompt: Photographer Harry / Model Harry

Rating: M

Summary: The famous McKinnons have dropped a new line of perfume: Amortentia's First Bloom No. 5. A strain of the popular but frowned-upon love potion. It's meant to boost the most attractive qualities of the wearer, a customized harmless pheromone. In pursuit of finding their perfect model to represent the brand, they've opened up a competition for models and photographers to pair up and submit an outstanding photoshoot collection.

This was an amazing opportunity for a model like Hermione Granger. It would've been—if not for the fact she's been publicly humiliated by her long-time photographer boyfriend, Ronald Weasley, leaving her for an A-List model. Hermione Granger is resigned to defeat when no photographer wants to work with her. That is—until the famous photographer Harry Potter wants her.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32187298

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Title: Lightning Lesson

Author: LadyBlack3

Prompt: [+Draco] Quidditch Player Draco / Quidditch Player Harry / Team Mediwitch Hermione

Rating: E

Summary: Hermione wasn't sure how her life came to this but dealing with the English National Quidditch team on a nearly daily basis was becoming a routine. What would never become routine to her was the feelings she was all to aware of when it came to her best friend, and the feelings she wasn't really sure what to do with for a certain blond. Fate has a funny way of forcing one's hand though, and just this once perhaps she may not have to choose.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32177770

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Title: When Fate Knocks

Author: HappyCatTaxi

Prompt: Healer Hermione / Healer Harry

Rating: M

Summary: 1796 Miss Hermione Granger is a healer, but since women aren’t allowed to be healers, she’s had to hide her gender and don a disguise. To the world, she’s Healer Herman Watson, talented and highly respected, but when she sees something she shouldn’t have, she has to flee London immediately. Luckily, her mentor knows just the right place for her to hide: Potter Manor in Wales, a hospital for Muggles and Wizards alike.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32160580

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Title: Riding the Lightning

Author: JohnBurtonLee

Prompt: [+Tonks] Punk Rocker Tonks / Punk Rocker Harry / Band Manager Hermione

Rating: M

Summary: Much has been written about England's most inadvertently hard core punk band Riding the Lightning, most of it absurdly wrong. Despite the sheer volume of gossip written about the members, very few people have picked up on the love triangle that formed the bedrock of the band's history.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32145199

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Title: The Shoot

Author: green__eyes

Prompt: Photographer Hermione / Model Harry

Rating: E

Summary: Hermione Granger has received an assignment: a photographic study of the human form. In other words, a boudoir photoshoot... and she needs to find a model. The only person she feels comfortable asking is her best friend and long-time housemate, Harry Potter. Yet she's been hesitating, for fear that it might reawaken feelings for him that she thought she'd long since buried...

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/32001724

Again, thank you to @arishatistic who has allowed Harmony & Co. the use of her art for this fest. We have received artist permission to add the fest name and have not altered the original artwork in any way. Please do not repost or use for your own purposes

Link to entire collection: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/HarmonyInTheWorkplace/works

[whenisitenoughtrees]

Congrats on 500 followers!!!!! Your writing is amazing and you totally deserve it! Would you be able to do “Can you please stop biting your lip…it’s distracting.” for analogical? If you don’t get inspo for it that’s totally fine I’m just on a total analogical kick recently lol

@wisherbystarlight thank you!! i absolutely love analogical so here you go

Title: abject impermanence

Word Count: 3,570

Content Warnings: implied suicidal ideation (in reference to virgil ducking out), negative self image

(fic masterpost)

Virgil would rather die than admit this to anybody, but he develops a crush on Logan after their first debate.

It’s ridiculous, and bothersome, and stupidly humiliating, and he has to spend a few days in his room before he feels prepared enough to face anyone again, prepared enough to put up his usual walls and throw around his usual sarcastic comments, and all the while, his heart is beating far too fast, his mind racing, insisting that he’s being obvious, that everyone knows.

(That is what being Anxiety means: he is under a microscope all the time, his every movement watched and analyzed and derided, alone in a crowd of people who wish him nothing but ill.)

It’s awful, really. Is he truly so pathetic that the first time someone treats him like his opinions are valid, he falls head over heels for them? Because he has to admit, that’s the root of all of this. The debate, and the fact that even though Logan didn’t agree with him, he still treated him with respect, like he was someone worth listening to, and none of the light sides have ever acted like that before.

And they’ve certainly never told him that they don’t mind his company.

So. He has a crush on Logan. And it takes him a few weeks to calm down enough to really think about it, but when he does, he decides that nothing has to change. It’s not like he’ll ever work up the courage to act on these feelings

(because holy shit, how badly would that go? He can picture it now: Logan sneering at him, Logan rejecting him, Logan informing him that he would never in a million years have feelings for someone so irrational and useless, and while Virgil is at it, would he kindly remove himself from his presence and never come back and— well. Maybe Virgil is irrational, but he can’t bring himself to risk something like that)

so the only thing to do with them is pretend they’re not there, right? He’ll keep all of his emotions right here, in his chest, and then one day, he’ll die, and no one else has to know a thing about it.

He doesn’t see what could possibly go wrong with this plan. Which is odd for him because usually, he can only see the things that could go wrong. But the only factor in this plan is him, and his own ability to disguise his feelings, and he’s been successfully doing that for a very long time.

(After all, it’s been years, and none of the others have managed to figure out how much their rejection hurts him, how deeply it strikes at the heart he pretends not to have.)

But he doesn’t anticipate things changing. He doesn’t anticipate trying to duck out, at least, not until the moments in between making the decision and actually going through with it, and he doesn’t anticipate anybody coming after him. He certainly doesn’t anticipate their reactions, doesn’t anticipate being told that he’s important,

(because since fucking when?)

and doesn’t anticipate their acceptance.

He doesn’t anticipate telling them his name.

And alright, maybe he could deal with all of this. Maybe he could ease his way into being one of them, edge his way into their inner circle. It’s something he once would have thought impossible, but now, they seem determined to make him one of them, to bring him into their family, and even though part of him wonders whether they’re just trying to make sure he doesn’t duck out again, doesn’t hurt Thomas, a larger part of him is ecstatic about the fact that they’re including him at all. Maybe he can let himself have this, for once.

But that night, Logan comes to his room.

“Do you have a moment to talk?” he asks, and reluctantly, Virgil takes off his headphones.

Because, yes. Of course. He’s hardly busy, and even if he were, he’s certain he’d figure out a way to put it aside in favor of Logan, because really, he’s helpless to do anything else.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, aiming for casual. He thinks he makes it, if only because he is very practiced in hiding how much of a mess he is internally. “What’s up?”

Logan looks uncomfortable, a bit shifty, even though he hasn’t been in his room nearly long enough for its effects to take hold.

“I merely wanted to check in with you after today’s events,” he says, and then pauses, biting his lip, something that Virgil finds incredibly distracting. “Specifically, to ensure that you are alright.”

He blinks. “Of course I’m alright,” he says. “Why wouldn’t I be alright?”

“Well, I was considering everything that happened, and it occurred to me that we glossed over precisely what ‘ducking out’ would have done to you in the long term.” In an oddly vehement motion, Logan shoves his glasses further up his nose. And Virgil knows very well that as the embodiment of Logic, Logan tries not to display his stronger emotions, but right now, he is the perfect picture of distress. “I find it likely that if Thomas had been unable to utilize you for an extended amount of time, you may have… disappeared, for lack of a better word, not unlike a muscle that atrophies after disuse.”

Well, yes. He knew what he was risking. But he’d felt low enough that he didn’t particularly care about himself.

He was just tired of hurting Thomas.

(And maybe, just maybe, if there was a part of him, small and insidious in the back of his brain, that found the prospect of nothingness appealing, he’ll keep that to himself.)

“I mean, yeah,” he says. “But that didn’t happen. You guys came and got me, and I’m okay now. Not gonna do anything like that again, I swear.”

“That’s not my point,” Logan says, even more upset entering his voice. He crosses his arms, holding his shoulders tensely. “No matter how illogical it might seem, I find myself wondering what might have happened had we not attempted to reach you in time, and the idea is… displeasing.”

Oh.

Despite himself, Virgil’s heart flutters.

“So, I arrived at the conclusion that assuring myself of your continued well-being would help to assuage my concern.” Logan fidgets. “As well as the fact that… I want you to be alright. For yourself, and not just because I am…”

“Anxious?” Virgil can’t resist finishing, even as he feels his face flushing underneath his foundation. God, he hopes Logan doesn’t pick up on that. He shouldn’t be reacting this strongly to something as simple as basic worry, especially after the day they all had, but to know that Logan has been thinking about him? That Logan doesn’t like the idea of him not being around, doesn’t want him to vanish?

That Logan cares enough to come check on him like this?

It’s a strong, heady feeling, and Virgil has the sneaking suspicion that his crush has just upgraded itself.

“Yes,” Logan answers, and he seems a bit embarrassed, but he holds his ground, staring Virgil straight (gay) in the eyes. The direct eye contact is intense, almost too much for him to handle, but Virgil finds himself unable to look away.

“Well, uh, I appreciate it, I guess,” he manages. “Really, it’s nice to know that you care.”

“Of course,” Logan says, and seems almost indignant at the idea that he might not. “I value our discussions,” he adds, and Virgil has to pretend that that statement doesn’t almost give him a heart attack.

But that is mostly the end of that conversation, because really, neither of them is very good with touchy-feely emotions. Logan sinks back out shortly after, and Virgil is left alone in his room, his headphones lying uselessly on his lap as his mind reviews their exchange over and over again, searching for all the places where it might have gone wrong, or where he might have messed up. He can’t really find any, and that is a realization in and of itself, almost enough to distract him from the bigger one, the one that looms over him.

It’s not just a crush anymore. He could try to deny it, but he thinks that would summon unwanted attention. So he accepts it, accepts that he is… he’d say infatuated, but infatuated isn’t the right word. Infatuated doesn’t even begin to cover what he feels when he looks at Logan, doesn’t cover the way his heart races and his words trip over themselves and the way he longs for his approval. It doesn’t cover the way he knows so many little details about him, like the way Logan pushes at his glasses or fiddles with his tie when he’s nervous or upset, or the exact way his lips curl around the edges when he’s pleased and trying not to show it. So many little details, none of which would be on his radar at all if he wasn’t—

Well. He won’t deny it. But he doesn’t particularly see the need to voice it, either.

After all, it’s not like it changes anything. Or at least, it shouldn’t. He wasn’t planning on sharing his feelings when they were a simple crush, and he’s certainly not going to share them now that there’s more.

Except, nothing is ever that simple,

(Nothing ever can be, with him. It’s what he does best, turning easy things into overcomplicated messes because he can’t let go of all the what ifs—)

because suddenly, he’s welcome to spend time with the others. Is welcome at their table, is welcome in the commons, is welcome to join their movie nights and their game nights, and most of the time, he even feels mostly okay with doing so, because Patton is enthusiastic in his invitations, and he can tell that even Roman is honestly trying. And sometimes, it makes him want to cry, because this is all he’s ever wanted, to be one of them, and now he can and it’s almost too much.

The only problem with that is that he’s spending a lot more time around Logan.

Which is fine. Great, even.

Except, sometimes, Logan will do things. Little things, inconsequential things, but things that remind Virgil all too clearly of the feelings he keeps nestled under his heart.

For instance, Logan bites his lip a lot. When he’s working, when he’s watching movies, when he’s listening to the others, and sometimes for no reason at all. It’s a stupid thing to get caught up on, but he can’t help himself. And it’s not as if Virgil’s attraction to him begins or ends with the physical, but—

Whenever he does it, Virgil can’t stop his eyes from zeroing in on his lips. Can’t stop himself from thinking about how much he would like to kiss him.

He would like to kiss him a whole lot. And he’s fairly sure he’s being pretty obvious about it, but he can’t bring himself to stop.

So, really, he should have prepared himself for the possibility of being found out. Under any other circumstance, he would have, but there’s a saying, he thinks, about love and fools.

“Can I help you with something?” Logan says, and Virgil flinches violently, the rest of the world coming back into focus. He snaps his gaze up to meet Logan’s eyes, and the expression on his face might be amusement, maybe, but it could also be annoyance, and in fact, it’s probably definitely annoyance, because actually Logan is annoyed with Virgil and maybe even angry and now their budding friendship is completely ruined and all because Virgil doesn’t know better than to stare when he really shouldn’t be staring and—

No, stop. Stop. He’s not going to do that, not right now. He wrests his thoughts back under control with an effort.

Logan was working, typing away on his laptop, biting his lip as he concentrated. And Virgil just so happened to be out in the commons as well, in the perfect position to watch him and daydream, just a bit.

He needs to reply. He’s left it too long, and Logan’s eyebrows are inching up his face as he awaits a response. And the longer he takes to come up with something, the more suspicious Logan will be, so he should just shrug, mutter a denial, and pointedly turn his attention away. Something like that.

But it’s his job to make snap decisions under pressure. And sometimes those decisions aren’t the right ones.

So instead of taking another second to think things through and deflect Logan’s interest, his mouth opens ahead of his brain and says, “Can you please stop biting your lip?”

Logan stares. Virgil feels himself wilting.

“… It’s distracting,” he finishes weakly, and prays for the ground to swallow him whole. He can’t even manage to sink out

(because his mind is screaming at him now, screaming horrified recriminations, screaming all of the worst case scenarios, and it’s taking all of his concentration to breathe properly, much less get out of here)

because the sheer force of his embarrassment is leaving him paralyzed, curled up in his chair and with nowhere to go, nowhere to escape Logan’s widening eyes.

“Is it now,” Logan says, and he doesn’t sound particularly angry, but Virgil could very easily be wrong. Or, he could be angry and trying to hide it. Or maybe he’s not angry, but irritation would probably be just as bad, at this point.

“Sorry,” he mutters, hunching in on himself. “Nevermind, forget I said anything.”

“Virgil, you’re magnifying,” Logan says softly, and that softness is worse than any anger could be, because what if he’s figured it out? What if he pities him? Virgil would take just about anything over pity. “Whatever you think you just said, I assure you that it didn’t come off nearly as badly as you seem to believe.” He pauses, tilting his head. “Though, I can’t say I’m certain of what you meant, considering—”

He cuts off suddenly, and Virgil can practically see the cogs turning in his head. He should leave now, leave before Logan draws his conclusions, but he is frozen, powerless to do anything but let this train wreck happen in real time.

“I wouldn’t ordinarily consider biting my lip to be a disruptive habit,” Logan says slowly. “It makes no noise and does no one any harm, and it’s not something I would think affects anyone else. But you were staring, which means there is something about the habit that draws your attention. I can only think of a few reasons for that.”

He takes it back. Pity would be far better than this, than this slow and measured reasoning, drawing out all of Virgil’s best-kept secrets, spiraling toward a conclusion that he never wanted anyone to know, much less Logan himself.

Perhaps that is why he says what he says. Because with this, Logan is only prolonging the inevitable, and it’s torture.

It’s like a band-aid. The biggest band-aid ever, maybe, covering one of the worst wounds of his life, but a band-aid. And it’s coming off one way or another, so he might as well rip it off now and brace himself for the sting.

“Oh my god,” he says. “It makes me want to kiss you. That’s why it’s distracting. And I’m just gonna go die in a hole now, if that’s alright.”

His face is burning, mortification rising up in him like a tidal wave, threatening to swamp him. This is, possibly, the worst thing that has ever happened to him, ever.

(It’s not, of course, because anything and everything is better than it was before he was accepted, when he was on his own and so lonely and bitter all the time. But this comes close, he thinks. It’s a different kind of hurt altogether, but a hurt nonetheless.)

Logan sets his laptop down, giving him his full attention. For a moment, he is completely silent, and Virgil prepares himself to stand and sink out and into his room, where he will spend the next few weeks huddled under the covers on his bed with his headphones on blast, hating his life and himself for being such an idiot, because here he is, ruining one of the best friendships that he has ever known, and for what? Because he was too much of a moron to keep himself from staring, from forcing his unwanted attentions upon the one side who was more likely than any of the others to notice what he was doing? It’s pathetic, and stupid, and he knows it, and Logan knows it, and—

“I don’t see why you need to do that,” Logan says. His voice shakes, just slightly. “You could kiss me, if you wanted.”

Virgil stills. He can’t have heard that right.

Logan clears his throat. “That is to say, I would enjoy it, if you kissed me. If I’d realized you were interested, I would have broached the topic sooner.”

Hysterical laughter threatens to escape him, his brain dissolving into static, because what? And he knows he needs to say something, needs to respond, but his vocal cords refuse to work, so he’s left sitting there, staring, stricken dumb.

Logan glances away, something like uncertainty crossing his face. “I apologize,” he murmurs. “I’m not doing this right, am I?”

And that is what finally spurs Virgil to action, because Logan sounds so terribly dejected, and that is absolutely not allowed. Not when it’s Virgil that’s made such a mess of things, when none of it is Logan’s fault at all.

“Do you mean it?” he croaks.

Logan blinks, his expression clearing, and then landing on comprehension. His face softens, his eyes crinkling at the corners as he stands, crossing the floor and kneeling in front of where Virgil sits.

“Of course I do,” he says, and then reaches out with one hand, cupping Virgil’s cheek. Virgil’s breath catches, the contact shooting lightning across his face and down his spine. His heart starts beating faster, and he doesn’t know whether it’s fear or anticipation or some mixture of the two. Most of him still hasn’t processed that this is happening, hasn’t made the jump from Logan can never know about my feelings because he’ll reject me and then I’ll have no choice but to jump off a cliff to Logan knows about my feelings and he is doing the exact opposite of rejecting me hoooooly shit what do I do—

“I think about you often,” Logan says. “Ever since our first debate, if I’m being completely honest.”

Virgil blinks.

The laugh escapes him, then, but there’s not much hysteria in it. It’s something warm, now, something bright and colorful and blooming as he realizes just how much of an idiot he’s been, as his anxiety slowly begins to fade away,

(not completely, never completely, because he is who he is and that will never change, and his mind is already looking to the future, at all the fresh new opportunities he is going to have to screw this up, but for now, in this moment, he has Logan here in front of him, offering to kiss him, telling him that his feelings aren’t as one-sided as he convinced himself they had to be, and it’s very difficult to be negative at all, in the face of such a beautiful thing as this, as him)

morphing into something that he is tentatively willing to call hope.

“Yeah?” he says. “Me too.”

Before he can lose his nerve, he shifts position, leans down, and kisses Logan. Lightly, briefly, and it’s really more of a peck than anything else, but in the split second in which their lips meet, Virgil can feel just how soft Logan’s are, and when he pulls back, anxiously searching for a reaction, Logan’s cheeks are dusted with red.

“Yes, um,” Logan says. “That was… good. Would you like to do it again?”

A wave of fondness washes over him, and he lets it drag him away.

“You dork,” he says, and pecks him on the lips again. He doesn’t yet have to courage to try for more, but he thinks that might come with time. If he is allowed time, if he is allowed this, and he is not prone to optimism, but for once, he might be willing to give it a go.

Optimism, and whatever this is, new and exciting and budding between them. And there is a part of his mind that is screaming at him, insisting that he’s only going to hurt Logan or get hurt himself, and that no brief happiness could ever be worth that, but—

Logan’s lips are gentle and soft, and Logan is smiling at him, and that, he thinks, might be worth the world.

(“I would be extremely displeased if you died in a hole,” Logan informs him a bit later. “Please refrain from doing so.”

He agrees, if only because of that fact that if he died in a hole, he would never get to kiss Logan ever again. And now that he’s started, he doesn’t ever want to stop.

He is not one to believe in permanence. Or in happy endings. But just this once, he’ll try it, and trust that Logan will catch him if he falls.)

General Taglist: @just-perhaps @the-real-comically-insane @jerrysicle-tree @glitchybina @psodtqueer @mrbubbajones @snek-boii @severelylackinginquality @aceawkwardunicorn @gayerplease @elizabutgayer @dwbh888 @thatoneloudowl @sanderssides-angst @gayboopnoodle @wildfire5157 @a-ghostlight-for-roman @ldavmp4

[mybg3notebook]

I LOVE reading those, so just right from the beginning, I wanted to say that I'd love to see you keep up the good work, but with that being said, I just wanted to add my two cents if that would be okay!

Overall, my thoughts on those analysis, is that they're really on point huge majority of the time. But they misunderstand the most basic part of his character. He is not psychopathic. He has emotions, feelings, but just as you said, is also a victim turned abuser, that is in constant survival mode, and is actively trying to insure his survival by means of manipulation.

The scar reading scene is the biggest example of them being, to some degree, fundamentally wrong. He is vulnerable in that scene, showing trauma and genuine shame. Even though he is doing is very consistently, he's not manipulating Tav in that instance. It's one of those rare raw moments where he drops the facade.

He was a bad, corrupt man as a mortal, but that doesn't exclude him from also showing the subtilty of simply being quote "human"

Underneath that mask, he's scared, and traumatized. And those factors manifest as him entering the cycle of abuse and that 24/7 survival ensuring strategy.

Hello!

Thank you very much. It's very nice to read someone disagreeing in a mature way, since I've been receiving several hate messages from Astarion fanatics (because there is no other way to call them, defending a fictional char as if it were a holy symbol when in the end it's all about EA and the interpretation done by a nobody). I'm glad you enjoyed these notes and I thank you for your insight. However, I'm afraid that I’ll stick with my interpretation because, so far, I don't see strong enough proof to see him in another way yet.

If you check the list of approvals and disapprovals of Astarion, he has a very psychopathic behaviour in my opinion. Psychopathy is characterised by lack of empathy and remorse, and disinhibited, egotistical traits. Reading the list of meta-knowledge I've compiled, it seems fair for me to use that adjective to describe him.

The whole interpretation of his character would be very different for me if he truly would have been a victim before turning into a vampire. But he was a victimiser before, and ended up as a vampire because of his own greed and abuse (again, all EA). In a way, Cazador “brought” justice to Baldur's Gate (a wicked justice, that is). This is why I insist that I see the story of an abuser who found a bigger abuser, not the story of a victim turning into a victimiser. He started as victimiser, and as a spawn, he became victim of Cazador, aspiring to retake his position of victimiser.

I agree with you. I never denied his “humanity” as vulnerability. I emphasised many times that, like any victimiser, he suffers his own pain. Being evil doesn't make him immune to it. But it's always about him and himself. We all agree that since he is free for the first time in 200 years it's reasonable that he is more than eager to just think only about himself. So, once more, all these characteristics we agree revolt about himself and his pain, which is what psychopath cares about. I just add the context of his mortal past, which was of an abuser as well.

For some reason if you describe Astarion with what we see in the game, some people think you are judging him, and there is this need to justify all his list of evil approvals and disapprovals because he became a victim of Cazador after failing in outsmarting him in his corruption. But the raw description of his persona is that: a psychopath, who approves most assaults, and assassinations without being provoked, he approves all sorts of cruelty, animal cruelty, slavery, torture, humiliations. He even comments/approves Arabella death's and Mayrina's tragedy as “funny” shows. We don't see remorse when he accidentally kills Tav, supposedly the unique ally he has so far. He was sure that he had gotten ridden of Tav—his secret was safe—, so he is surprised when he sees them alive, and then he dismisses Tav's anger, adding that they should thank him even, because he is not a true vampire. The datamining scenes only show he suffers his own curse, and aspires for more power to be free first, and to bend the will of others, later. I only see a reiterative psychopath behaviour mirroring Cazador. I know that if Tav doesn't fail those checks during the bite scene, Astarion says that he won't forget the gift (a gift Tav doesn’t know because only via datamining we know that scene was not about thirst). I point this out just to show how, in the only reasonable situation in which we could have seen remorse, we see none.

The scar scene, in my opinion, is about vulnerability as you say, true. And shame, shame for having been too careless in outsmarting Cazador and ended up as his spawn after accepting his bite. We see this is an issue since he is pretty sensitive when Tav suggests to outsmart Raphael. He feels that mistake deep in his bones.

I see you understand the scar scene differently, and it's totally valid. My main goal in doing this blog was to keep my own interpretation in one single place, to easily share with friends, and to keep it as an archive for when the game is fully released so I can see how wrong I was or how much the characters changed. And also, as a side-consequence, to share it with the fandom if they want to read these long posts since an Astan friend encouraged me to do it. Evidently, this was a terrible mistake according to a certain group of his fans.

Again, I never denied that he is not traumatised, nor scared (therefore his paranoid attitude with Cazador), but he comes from an evil past, passes through vampirism (which increases even more his evil traits) and spent 200 years under a sadist master. Then you see all of his approvals and disapprovals, all the confrontations you can have with him with a good-aligned Tav, and the bear-drunk scene (which implies that any attempt to keep a facade is lowered because he is drunk on blood), I can't see, so far in EA, any hint that can tell me he wants to be something different of what he is in terms of evilness (also, why would he be? Bg1 and Bg2 have many wonderful Evil chars that never changed their alignment in the 2 games, not everything is about redemption, which is exactly my point in the post of Power). He only wants to kill Cazador, hinting that he may be the next most powerful vampire afterwards (with the help of the tadpole). We all see how much he enjoys the tadpole powers to bend the will of others. But he doesn’t care in the slightest to inflict upon others that mind control that tortured him for more than 200 years. The lack of empathy in him is obvious to me: he doesn’t even hesitate to inflict on others what tortured him for centuries. All these details bring me to interpret all what I wrote. And again, I’m describing him, this is not to judge evil chars. I like evil chars too, my point is I work with what I see.

It's also true that all the info we have is in EA, but like I said before, my interpretation is neither “sacred word” nor “unable to change''. So far, I see all that list of content in EA, the datamining information, and the Dev's notes (which were really key for me to see many details I was not seeing) and I conclude what I did in those analyses. The devs notes made me realise that more than one situation was manipulative when I was understanding it in a more honest way. For this reason dev's notes were removed from the game. Sven said that the core concept in the relationships with the companions was going to be trust. Evidently Dev's notes were ruining that process. So, sadly, no more narrative peeks in the code.

So, I agree to disagree. I never had the slightest pretension of being... I don't know, “the truth” of anything. If some people think so is because they love to misinterpret what's plainly written. Or my English is truly that bad.

With all this said, once more I thank you for being the first mature message in a while, and I thank you for your opinion. I also would take advantage of this message to say that I will refrain myself from doing Astarion-related content anymore. I'm very tired of these attitudes in fandom. I don't want any more headaches. From now on, I will focus on the rest of the companions instead.

Thank you again.

[discyours]

Sorry maybe this ask is TMI so if you don't want that you can delete it .

Do you think that people who are attracted to transgender people (gynandromorphilia) have fetishes? I used to think it was transphobic because it implies that male or female individuals who appear androgynous are unnatural. But maybe it is more transphobic to deny the existence of this. Most of the harm of the sex industry is directed at females, the sex industry is anti woman. But as for the minority of MtF transgender individuals who exist and face abuse, the men who buy sex from them are not normal people. They are very deranged. Maybe it is not specifically the secondary sexual characteristics but something else. This is all without mentioning the men who get off to the idea of abusing FtM transgenders to "correct them". Surely this can't be ignored but maybe you can enlighten me you are more experienced with the transgender community. danke

I'll answer this but I do think a trans woman/detrans man could answer better than I can.

Personally I do think many (absolutely not all) of them have a kink/fetish. Not one specifically about trans people, but one that's directed at trans people because they're a good fit for it. Keep in mind I am not and have never been a trans woman. I don't know who approaches them in bars or matches with them on tinder. All I've seen is the barrage of men who join online trans groups with no introduction other than the ever-charming "I like trans".

If you've ever had the displeasure of being involved in the kink community, you'll know that a "forced bi" kink is relatively common among submissive men. A lot of them are bisexual men with internalised homophobia who want to be able to engage in that side of their sexuality without feeling "responsible" for it. They want an attractive woman to charm or even coerce them into engaging in sex acts with a man. That way the attraction to men that they don't want to acknowledge isn't actually a factor, and if they do end up enjoying it they can just tell themselves they're being great subs for their female dommes, which makes the whole thing super heterosexual if anything (/s). I don't think all of the men who have this kink are actually bi, some of them are straight but have terminal porn addictions that have left them completely detached from their real sexuality. If they actually ended up in a situation where they're about to fuck a guy, they'd snap out of it. Knowing they got so close to going through with it would come with a whole lot of shame, and anger at anyone else involved. And we all know that angry men who feel that they have been humiliated can be incredibly dangerous.

Both of these groups will end up gravitating towards trans women because it's a 2 for 1 deal on the element that allows them to tell themselves it's straight, and the element that isn't. Transphobia adds an extra element of taboo that's enticing to these types of people. One reason why the statement that trans people shouldn't trick or pressure people into having sex with them is met with so much backlash is because trans women literally feel like they're being gaslit. Imagine constantly meeting men who very clearly know that you're trans, who fetishise you for it, whose fetish includes an incredibly transparent narrative that you're "tricking" or "forcing" them into this, only to then be told by people from what's meant to be your own community that that's genuinely what you do to people. I don't need anyone to respond to this with a collection of screenshots of trans people saying rapey shit, I'm aware that it happens and I'm not defending it. But this is why even trans people who aren't like that at all tend to dismiss those types of accusations as bullshit. It's because they've already gotten them thrown at them by horny men who very much were lying to suit themselves.

As for men who fetishise trans men, I think it's some of the same (bi men wanting to explore their sexuality while still having a "ok but it's straight tho" excuse) but it's mostly pedophelia. I have a major bias here because I identified as trans from 16-18/19ish, so the grown men who were attracted to me would've been on thin ice even if I'd been cis. But I do think the fact that trans men tend to be smaller and younger looking than cis men regardless of their age often attracts pedophiles. That seems to be way more common than forced feminisation type kinks. My experience when I was trans was that to straight men it really didn't matter as long as they saw my body before they saw my face (I did get rejected a few times because they saw my face first and thought I was male), whereas bi/"gay" men who expressed attraction to me did care, and specifically found it very appealing that I was able to look like a young boy. I'm sure that other trans men have different experiences with this though, especially ones who medically transitioned and weren't teenagers the entire time they identified as trans.

Nothing I've mentioned here involves "real life" experiences because I live in a rural area with essentially no LGBT community and I find men too gross to engage with them IRL, so that undoubtedly affects my view too. If any trans/detrans people have something to add I welcome you to do so, because again my perspective is limited.

[takaraphoenix]

Buffy Season 8: Review

It’s bad. It’s just... really... bad. That’s the TL;DR of this review. There was one (1) good thing about this season and that was the return of Oz. So if you’re looking for something that hypes season 8? This is not it. If you are confused, angry or salty about season 8? Hi, yes, me too.

Starting at the beginning. At first, I was really happy that they introduced more characters of color, with Renee and Satsu. And when Renee was then even “promoted” to Xander’s love interest? Nice. The two were even cute.

But no. That was all just the set-up to fridge her. Which, I am so very tired of that trope. And that is what that was. That wasn’t just a slayer dying during a fight. The entire issue of her death focused on her and Xander, building up to their relationship, setting them up for their first date, having her be prominently featured, just to then kill her off and have Xander avenge her.

What made it feel even worse - worse than just the fridging - was that they really had to fridge one of their very few women of color. And, to top it off, spend the entire issue in which she dies having her subjected to racism. Just great. Really, you managed to make an already shitty trope even worse. That’s impressive.

The racism itself too. Dracula. They just decided to make Dracula totally racist now, huh? and it doesn’t get a pass just because Xander points out in the comic that he doesn’t remember Dracula being this racist. Because he wasn’t. This Dracula just throws around slurs left and right in a way that feels more like the writers just really wanted to use slurs. Because the character? He was suave, charming, heck he charmed the straight men and the lesbians too when he was on the show. He was a smooth talker. This Dracula? He just... He was just racist and rude in general. Why.

Moving on from the racism to the next failure in rep. The gays. At this point in time I am simply convinced that Joss Whedon is entirely unfamiliar with the concept of bisexuality.

I know I’ve already made a separate post complaining about this, but it needs mentioning in the review of the season too. Having Buffy hook up with a lesbian twice, but #NoHomo, just a straight girl in her “experimental phase”. That’s just cringey and also offensive. Just... make her... come out as a bisexual? It’s not like the writing in the show hadn’t already set her up with quite the bi vibes.

Instead, the narrative made it sound like the only options would be to be straight or to now suddenly turn “into” a lesbian. Which is also offensive on itself, because - as this very show had proven on screen - lesbians can come out later in life and genuinely, I adore Willow’s arc. For her narrative, it fit to have her come out as a lesbian, the circumstances and her life fit for that. I absolutely agree that it would have been weird for Buffy to have a sudden coming out as a lesbian at that point in her life and after everything, but referring to it as turning into a dyke was just not great.

And lesbian wasn’t the only option. Though, I’m unsure Whedon knows that, considering that 6/6 canon queer characters are homosexual and 4/4 wlw are lesbians. They just keep introducing more lesbians - which, as a lesbian I am always in favor of more lesbians. However, when you have a very small number (2) of queer characters, it figures you can not cover all the sexualities and it’s even fair that even with two, you still choose to have them both be the same sexuality. But... the more you add? The more questionable it becomes that you limit it to one sexuality only.

This arc would have so beautifully set up for Buffy to come out as bi. But no.

And while we’re on the wlw; one of the things I always loved about Buffy was that the lesbians weren’t just there for the male gaze, they weren’t oversexualized. They desired each other, they even had sex. But... in a normal frame work, to a normal amount, meaning equal to how the straights were handled. I always liked that, because especially in early days, lesbians were usually just there to look really hot and have hot sex that straight men could get off to. Well, consider me very unimpressed with the comics, because... man are lesbians sexualized now. Willow gets a hot constantly naked snake goddess girlfriend whom she can only contact by - and I am not making this up - having an orgasm. So we prelude the trip by her having sex with Kennedy, before waking up all nude in snake goddess’ realm and usually having am makeout session or sex with her too while doing whatever business she has with her. So much nakedness, so much oversexualization. Really... disappointing.

Staying on the romance but turning to the other Summers sister, I truly can’t believe they made Xander/Dawn canon. Like, I can not comprehend they decided to make that a canon ship.

Sure, Dawnie’s had a crush on Xander since the literal beginning of Dawn. And that was... cute, honestly. Fifteen year old girls have crushes on cute older guys who are nice to them. Figures. Adorable. But she kind of... grew out of that over the course of the show? Or so it seemed...

And Xander. One of the things I loved about Xander was that Dawn was always a total no go. She was Buffy’s sister, heck, she was kind of every Scoobie’s little sister. He had always had brotherly advise for her. Heck, in this comic he points out that it’s weird since he’s known her since she was little - and yeah it is. It’s not weird when two people were both little together, but when one was sixteen when the other was eleven and one has babysat the other? That’s weird.

Getting infinitely more disturbing by the fact that she... literally... just turned eighteen. If they had put this into a rather later season, or a bigger time skip, had Dawn been A WomanTM for a few years now and Xander had gotten around to separating the idea of kiddo!Dawnie from the woman she has become, but Dawn is only eighteen, she hasn’t become a woman yet. She just turned legal to bang and thus, a switch was flipped in Xander’s mind, putting her on his radar. And just... no. Why.

And even beyond this decision; Dawn spends the first third of this season being slut-shamed in ridiculous ways. Which is also tiresome. I am the last person to defend cheaters, but there’s a difference between “You cheated and are being held accountable for it” and “You cheated so now you are cursed to be a giant, a centaur and then a porcellain doll for weeks at a time, being publicly humiliated and having control over your body taken away from you”. That was... sure a choice.

Moving on to the actual main problem of this season. The plot.

Starting with the incomprehensibly dumb idea of “hey let’s retreat to Tibet, put a huge target on Oz’s new home and get rid of all of our magic. surely that will not come to bite us in the arse when the bad guys find us”. Naturally, it came back to bite them in their collective asses. This was just... No one objected or pointed out how dumb that plan was? Really? No one? Really?

Anyway, let’s talk villains. And work our way up there. The return of Amy and Warren. Once again, I ask why. I’m still salty about the 180° Amy did from sweet Wiccan to wicked bitch after her stint as a rat, but having her now... hook up with Warren, the second biggest misogynist on this show, who is also skinless. She used a spell to keep him alive but she couldn’t... give the spell a color? Anything? Anything to not make him look flayed? Because this was just unnecessarily gross body-horror.

Not to mention the... lack of reaction? Sure, some spoke grumpily against working with Warren. But... this is Warren. The guy who killed Tara when he was trying to kill Buffy. There really should have been more breather-scenes of the Scoobies talking about this, digesting the fact that the guy was still alive and more so when they worked with him.

But nevermind them, because they’re working for Angel. Because Angel’s the villain behind this season. I mean, he was manipulated into that by Twilight, but manipulated means he still chose to do it.

Now let me preface that I might not ship Angel/Buffy, but that really only factors marginally in here, because this plot would be bullshit even if it were my OTP.

We now retcon the creation of the Slayers as not just being something dirty old men did in a cave, it was now all the greater plan of the universe. Which. Might have worked had Slayers been... naturally occuring. And not created by men, forcing this upon a young woman. Sure, what people do can be seen as the greater plan of the universe too if you will, but that seems like a cop-out that absolves bad people of their bad choices and deeds.

Anyway. The universe created Slayers and vampires and the ““balance”“ between them (which is bullshit anyway because 1 Slayer vs thousands of vampires... not balanced at all), including the now supposedly destined romance between Angel and Buffy.

Both get rewarded with super-powers now so they can super-fuck and thus give birth to a new universe. That universe is called Twilight and manifests as a burning, winged, green lion who can talk (because that sure is how I always headcanoned Angel/Buffy’s children to look like /s) and who, through time-travel shenannigans, has been manipulating Angel into his own creation.

The magic pull between them is so strong that it overrides the “Angel just caused the death of over two-hundred Slayers” so Buffy fucks him.

At which point I just... this season was flat-out character assassination of Angel? He was manipulated by the bad guy. Not controlled, manipulated. He caused the death of hundreds. He threw everything he stood for and believed in out the window for the promise of a paradise where he could be with Buffy, when the real Angel has chosen other things, higher goals, over being with Buffy over and over again, because that’s what they do. That is their whole thing, they choose the good of the world over being together. They have always been a “will they/won’t they?” where the answer is they won’t, because they know they are needed elsewhere, by others. But now Angel just... doesn’t care about all that anymore, or heck about his own son and his friends, ready to abandon everything for this.

And then when Twilight is born and consequently abandoned by Buffy, who still prioritizes her friends, family and the world over being with Angel, Angel actually... needs convincing in the abandoning? Because, again, character assassination. Ultimately, Angel gets controlled by Twilight and used to kill Giles and try to kill Buffy.

But thanks to the Deus Ex Machina of Spike dropping in in the final arc, they know how to stop this. He hasn’t been in this season so far, because - truly in line with this season - he was off being the king of a race of alien bugs, traveling in their space-ship.

To stop this all, they go back to Sunnydale, where of course the “heart of the Earth” is located, the seed that contains all magic, and destroy it, and with it all magic. Also, the Master was apparently always just there to guard that seed. He is now back from the dead!

Let me summarize that once more, just for emphasis: The universe wanted Buffy and Angel to fuck so they can give birth to a new universe that personifies as a green, winged, burning lion but before it can destroy our universe, Spike, now king of an alien bug race, delivers the solution to go back to Sunnydale and destroy the seed of all magic that is being guarded by a resurrected Master.

How do you read that with a straight face? How do you pitch that? This is just so incomprehensibly stupid.

We end the comic with Buffy as a waitress, hated by many, Xander and Dawn now have an apartment and are playing house, Willow broke up with Kennedy because she realized she is in love with the snake goddess she will now never get to see again, Giles is dead, Faith somehow inherited everything from Giles and she is also the designated Angel-sitter now.

[firelordderpy]

A (Sort of) defense of Ozai burning the snot out of Zuko

Now I want to be clear, Ozai is not a good father, he’s a despot, not a good guy and definitely went too far with what he did to Zuko.

However, watching the scene again, Zuko made several very bad and most importantly public, mistakes.

It’s easy to watch the scene as a average person and be repulsed, horrified that a father would be so harsh to his own son? But from an Imperial Monarch’s perspective? Where allowing disrespect can be used by those below to plot you and your family’s demise? Where weakness is a signal to strike?

Lets break it down.

An elderly, high ranking General suggests a tactic, a perfectly viable one that new soldiers be used in a diversionary attack while the good soldiers strike from the rear.

Zuko, a young man still in military training and only there as an observer is outraged and assumes the General just planned for the new soldiers to be wiped out instead of having any retreat planned or any provisions for their survival.

As a diversionary attack, they only have to tie up the enemy forces until the the elite forces are in position and Zuko should have known this, but instead he disrespected the General, showing no nuance or understanding of tactics.

Now at this point, the Firelord’s son has broken decorum, showed massive disrespect to some of the highest ranking nobles in the nation that Ozai relies on to maintain power, and didn’t even have anything productive to add, he only insulted the General through his implication of the General’s bloodthirstiness.

Ozai must respond, in any dynasty the son reflects upon the father, Zuko is the leader in training, but he’s disrespecting the nobles and the court, ther perception that Ozai can’t control his own son is a major sign of weakness.

Ozai must act, Zuko being his son might get some preferential treatment, but that only goes so far. So he has to punish him and no matter what it will probably have to be a public punishment, he can’t just send Zuko to his room without dinner. And since matters of honor are dealt with by Agni Kai, it’s a reasonable solution.

But here we have a bad situation, either Zuko wins, and humiliates and possibly kills a top General and head of noble family, and also gets away with his insolence in the court. Or the General humiliates and possibly kills the royal heir.

So Ozai steps in. Now Zuko was pretty cocky when it came to mouthing off against an old man, but when his father comes out, he’s suddenly cowed. Now this is all in PUBLIC, everything that is happening, political vultures are watching keenly, ever slip up, every action they could use to manipulate the royal family, every weakness that could be the sign of failing dynasty in need of replacement.

So Ozai shows up with the intent of giving Zuko a public spanking to reassert that he is in control, he’s not afraid to punish even his family, and Zuko is a young punk who he can control and mold into a leader.

And if that was it, Zuko probably would have thrown a few punches, Ozai would have clobbered him, and that would be the end of it. Zuko would probably had to apologize to the General, and then next war meeting would have sat silently by, and only spoken when spoken to.

But

That’s not what happened.

Because Zuko begged for Mercy, which was the worst possible thing he could have done. The first attempt was fine, where he apologized. But when Ozai said he will fight for his honor, he wasn’t just fighting for his own honor, but the honor of his father. Zuko kept saying he meant no disrespect, but by not even trying to defend himself, and by begging for mercy when Ozai ordered him to fight, he is actively disrespecting his father in front of the ENTIRE COURT.

Imagine you are a Fire Nation Noble, the Crown Prince has just disrespected the head of a high noble family, strutted off confident in victory over an old man, but then, when facing his father, he falls to his knees and begs even after his father orders him to at least try and fight. If you’re a noble, you see a weak and cowardly heir to the throne, and a Firelord who raised such a pathetic son what would you think about the future of the nation?

Is it fair? No. But when it comes to ruining a reputation and the games in nobility, fairness isn’t usually a factor.

With Zuko begging Ozai was backed into a corner, if he accepts Zuko’s begging he loses face in front of the entire court as they see him letting Zuko off from what was already a slap on the wrist, and that they have  prince who’ll beg for mercy. On the other hand punishing Zuko when he’s begging at his feet limits his options. If Zuko fought back he could just slap him around a bit, and show the court that Zuko does a spine but is no match for him, and call it a day. Zuko refusing to fight prevents that.

Now I don’t think he should have blasted off half of Zuko’s face and banished him, but in the context Zuko dug his own grave, and kept digging it. Sure Ozai could have done something else, or only done one of the aforementioned punishments, but at that point Zuko had publicly and majorly humiliated both of them, and in an autocracy like the Fire Nation that was a HUGE mistake.

Burning Zuko’s face showed he wouldn’t tolerate weakness and disrespect from anyone, not even family, and if that’s what he’ll do to his son, then imagine what he’ll do to a noble or general who screws up.

Banishing Zuko gets a cowardly disgraced prince out of the line of succession thus allowing him to put a child who hasn’t failed in line for the throne, without removing Zuko from the equation entirely, if Zuko regains his honor or something happens to Azula, he can recall Zuko. Zuko still has the chance to regain his honor, get a spine, and learn from one of the best military minds in the Fire Nation, and if he has to come back even though he learned nothing, Ozai could still pitch it to the nobles that Zuko had regained his honor. 

Unfortunately for Ozai, Zuko’s life changing field trip with Iroh succeeded in finding the Avatar and Zuko started working against the Fire Nation military.

So TLDR: Zuko’s public actions essentially forced Ozai into a position as an autocrat where, although I think he went to far, he had to harshly punish Zuko.