#the concept of being a kid with some condition that makes them feel responsible for every bad thing happening to those around them is

[dogydayz]

could you imagine if Sega were to release a new game with seemingly no ties to any other games they've ever made, and the entire thing is like a very much story-based game with interactive world elements (almost like Presentable Liberty in overall theme and gameplay, though) where you play as a strange little girl kept in an unknown and mysterious sort of place. You can interact with her toys, go through various activities and hobbies of hers, draw and stuff as her, shit like that, and the whole time you're kept confined to a simple room where she simply overhears others outside of the room talking about her, talking about her family, talking about strange other things that seem.... Entirely otherworldly. You learn that she'd never gotten to live long on Earth, you learn that she's been isolated most of her life, you learn that she's loved greatly by her family.... And you learn that she's surrounded by very dangerous people. You still never learn her name, but as time goes on old time fans of SEGA games would begin to realize where the fuck this was all going, as references would start to be made about some strange undercover experiment being conducted, and soon you'd get to see the proper reveal of what this game is. Soon she would be finally be allowed to leave her room, escorted out by threatening soldiers, to a much darker area, where the actual storyline of the game would become known. The entire game, you've been playing as Maria Robotnik, and at this moment she would be shown Project Shadow. The second half of the game would mostly be interactions, still in her room, but every now and then a much younger Shadow would be brought to see and interact with her. No longer is the game hiding what it is, so Maria would be referred to by name, and you'd also get to see more of pre-trauma Shadow and how his mind would develop. Both Shadow and Maria would now overhear arguments and conflicts from her room, they'd hear Gerald yelling at the guards and fighting with the researchers on the ARK with him that he never really wanted there, they'd overhear Shadow being referred to as a bioweapon despite Maria seeing him as a friend, a brother even, and this would be before Shadow would've ever really known or understood his proper conflicted purpose... Aside from being designed to protect and help. You'd get to play silly mini games with him, Maria would sit him down and have tea parties with him and her plushies, and the two would just enjoy time together. Until Maria would start to understand just what exactly was happening, what those "strange guards" were planning to do with Shadow. And the ending climax would suddenly shift to a more horror-esc action part, where you play as Maria trying to divert the attention from Shadow as she desperately attempts to help him escape. And the ending, while it wouldn't visibly show what happens to her... You'd still see more of her perspective, seeing her closest companion screaming out to her as she sacrifices herself to get him out of there. And that would be the ending. To a game not ever initially called a Sonic game, to a game marketed as a small experimental piece, or perhaps hardly marketed at all. The developers would probably be some small team who simply wanted to add more to the story already shown in earlier games, who wanted to bring more life to a character with such great importance to the background of one of the franchise's most beloved characters. SEGA wouldn't do much marketing, but they'd license it and very briefly refer to it as "a fan-project made canon", but until one plays the game, whatever it's made canon TO would be entirely unknown.

[sunderwight]

Scenario where PIDW Bingge had something like the fucked up baby dimension from Fire Emblem: Fates for handling his kids.

For those who haven't played enough Fire Emblem games: in Fates you can hook up various characters who will, once they've bonded sufficiently, get married and have children. Because there is a dangerous war on and nobody has time for childcare, these babies get sent to various pocket dimensions where time moves differently, where they are raised by servants. They then reappear in the story as adults (mostly) who are also just like, barely younger than their own parents. This is of course hilariously fucked up, for even more reasons than what a simple overview can convey, and it's also just kind of shrugged off by the narrative despite the many, many bewildering implications involved.

So I'm imagining Airplane stealing this whole concept and sitting down to write about Bingge sending all of his children away in order to protect them from his enemies or whatever other excuse, creating special nursery dimensions with Xin Mo only to not really spend any time with his offspring at all, resulting in a lot of them growing up extra fast and reentering the story as adults at wildly unpredictable intervals (i.e. whenever Airplane feels like it without having to remember the timelines involved because *waves hand* time passes differently in the different dimensions too). For the daughters, this just gets them married off into alliances (if they're even mentioned at all, because Airplane doesn't want to write incest and there's basically only one reason female characters get mentioned in this story), but for the sons, this usually has them showing up as upstart challengers to their father's throne. With a conclusion, generally, of them getting their asses kicked and then being sent back to their pocket dimensions with their tails between their legs (Binghe killing his own kids would be too reprehensible, after all). Sometimes (rarely) they become loyal generals. One or two have died to fuel revenge arcs. The protagonist halo extends only limited benefits to his kids.

Anyway, Shen Yuan of course reads all of this and absolutely hates it. What do you mean Binghe doesn't even raise his own kids?! What do you mean even their mothers don't?! Shen Yuan understands that Luo Binghe is an important guy with important things to do, but handling it this way makes it impossible to even consistently visit his children on their birthdays! They'd be having birthdays every day because they're all on freaking Narnia time! And of course his sons keep growing up and trying to overthrow him, surely Binghe himself should appreciate that under these conditions, his children are going to see the servants raising them as parents more than some distant emperor they've never met...? Not to mention, if time moves quickly in these dimensions, theoretically Binghe could just stay there with his kids himself and not have to worry too much about things changing in his realm, because only a few months would pass there! He could have it both -- spend plenty of time with his kids and not worry about neglecting his responsibilities! So why doesn't he do that?!

The answer (never actually provided by Airplane) is that Bingge doesn't really feel a strong connection to his children, and because of his reverence for his adoptive mother, he thinks that giving them peaceful lives with simple people to raise and love them is the kindest thing he can do for them. If he could have had an idyllic childhood with his mother in a place where nothing could harm him, he would have never sought power at all.

But of course, Binghe's kids aren't thinking "oh gosh yeah my humble childhood in a magic dimension was much better than starving on the streets!" because that wasn't ever going to be their fate in the first place. Instead they all develop varying complexes about being sent away by their impossibly remote father and his giant harem.

Possible fic ideas involving this setup:

-Bingyuan where Shen Yuan transmigrates into the intended tutor of one Luo Binghe's most troublesome sons. SY arrives in the baby dimension and immediately bonds with the little Luo, gets really mad about the whole situation all over again, and when Bingge shows up for a rare visit, rips him a new asshole about it. Romcom shenanigans ensue.

-Scenario where SV's Shen Qingqiu and Luo Binghe decide they're ready to adopt, and SQQ figures out a back door into PIDW Binghe's baby dimensions and just sort of, ehm, borrows some of the children he knows had really bad times in the novel (not all of the idyllic upbringings worked out, there were instances of the dimensions being attacked and the servants there being killed and etc). Bingge eventually finds out. Dramatics ensue.

-When PIDW Binghe tries to summon a Shen Yuan of his own to the PIDW world using Xin Mo, it accidentally creates some stability issues with the baby dimensions. Shen Yuan get teleported in and out of these dimensions instead, bonding with the kids there to various degrees, only to be swept away every time Bingge tries to use Xin Mo to find him again. A handful of years later, a bunch of new Heavenly Demon scions emerge as adults with the Luo family's Shizun Complex in full swing, right around the same time that Bingge finally captures Shen Yuan. Hijinks ensue.

[dootiexcupcake]

I was wondering if you would be willing to write a Taki x Reader but the reader is K’s little sibling. I feel like K would be so protective of both of them 😂

Hiii !! Tysm for the ask I appreciate it 🖤srry for the late response btw!

But omg I absolutely love this concept of Kei’s little sibling crushing on Taki it’s so cute 😭

hope u enjoy 🖤🖤

I see Kei giving the most AUDACIOUS side eye when you start gushing over Taki because as you go on and on and on about how sweet Taki is, how funny he is, and how adorable he is, all K can think about is all the embarrassing and dumb stuff Taki has done.

And that’s only counting the things Taki has done in his presence…

Kei has no idea why his lovely little sibling has massive heart eyes for Taki but no matter how much K tries to get you to broaden your horizons (as he would put it), he can’t get you to shake this crush off.

After some time of you and Taki talking back and forth to one another he asked you to go roller skating with him! After you finished bouncing off the walls about It, you asked Kei to drop you off at the roller rink and to say K was shocked would be an understatement

“So he asked you to go out with him????”

“And you said yes??¡!?”

“And you meant it¿¿??”

Needless to say, it took a LOT of convincing on your end for Kei to let you guys to go out together. BUT on one condition….

Kei has to go with you as a chaperone and stay close by you two the whole time 🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾🫶🏾.

“Moms orders, of course <3”

Although it was painfully obvious who’s order that really was, nothing was gonna stop you from going on this date/not date/hangout.

^ yeah, Kei is adamant about this being anything BUT a friendly gathering so there were some rules he put in place:

- no hand holding unless you are about to fall (But it’s only ok if you are gonna fall. Taki is on his own)

- no hugging

- no gazing longingly at one another

- when love songs play you both need to be OUT the rink

The rule list got cut short when K noticed the death stare you gave him so he made the very wise decision for you all to head inside!

Once you guys got in there (and Kei paid for your skates because he’s such a good big bro~) you and Taki could not WAIT to head to the rink and start skating.

Though you somehow forgot the fact that, ahem, you can’t skate. So guess what happens when you mix wheels strapped to your feet + a very clumsy, and let’s be honest, DISTRACTED you?

“Whoops!”

You yelped as you felt yourself slipping and tumbling backwards.

Luckily for you, Taki is quite used to roller skating and he came in just the knick of time to catch you as you fall! You looked up at him and laughed a bit to yourself and also out of bashfulness because, ‘oh my gosh Taki is H oL DING me right now don’t panic don’t panic don-‘.

“You alright?” Taki asks when you finally manage to stand upright, thanks to Taki offering his shoulders as support for your hands. You nod your head and thank him for what he did, but you did not notice the second death glare of the night from Kei…

“What was that!?” He says out loud to himself..like a normal person. K is so upset that you two broke literally ALL of the rules in a single moment, the audacity! He gets ready to roll over there and separate you both but he stops when he hears your cheery laugh and your eyes crest from a happy smile.

Kei loves seeing you like that.

He thinks for a moment and realizes that Taki really makes you happy. And it’s not like Kei doesn’t trust Taki, he’s known the kid for so long, and that might just be why he doesn’t want you with him. Funny enough he views Taki like another younger sibling that he can joke around and bicker with. But when it comes to stuff like this he’s lost and just immediately goes into over protective mode. He knows the both of you are young and he doesn’t want either of you to get hurt.

“But it’s not about me, now is it?” He says to himself (quietly this time) as he stares at you and Taki for a while and sighs. His kids are growin’ up, and he knows that the only way for them to grow and flourish is if they do it on their own. Not with a strong overbearing hand.

Kei turns around and rolls back to his original place behind the side lines and watches on with a small smile. When you guys are done he pull you and Taki in for a tight hug, much to both of your confusion.

But that confusion quickly fades away when K makes an offer neither of you can refuse.

“You guys deserve some lunch, I’m buyin!”

m.list | &team list

[thelesbianpoirot]

Yes, exactly. I have very close female friends too, but I will always crave sexual intimacy as well. Even though I'm the kind of person who will only have sex with someone if I've known them for a while and I'm in a relationship with them, that doesn't mean I don't want to have it. And I honesly don't understand how your partner can bring you to orgasm and then you don't want to do the same in return? I know it's not a transaction and you can get something out of it even if you don't orgasm, but surely you want to pleasure your partner too because you're attracted to them and want them to feel good and it feels good to you to do that? Like I'm not against the concept of asexuality, I do think some people do have such low libido that it might be a useful descriptor, but it's just questionable to me how many asexuals identify as lesbians (or just how many are women in general), whereas I don't think I've ever seen a gay man say he is asexual...it's cool to just want to be celibate with your female friends but that's doesn't make you a lesbian

Forming close female friendships will make a lot of women more normal about their sexuality. It is crucial. You'll quickly see the difference between that and a real romantic relationship, even if there is a lot of over lap. We might raise a kid together, but it is no different to me from my mom living her her two friends for years because they were all single moms trying to get by. Women need each other, and you can experience that yearning for that, for female only spaces. But it is different from sexual desire. It isn't a transaction, but it should be a desire of yours to want to return a good feeling. It is a natural response of being attracted to someone, wanting to give them pleasure. I am fine with celibacy, and asexuality, but I do not believe asexuality is compatible with homosexuality, I think is it's own separate thing. Homosexuality is exclusive same sex attraction, asexuality is experiencing no sexual attraction, you can't remove sexuality from homosexuality, sorry. Low Libido lesbians exist and only want to have sex under their preferred conditions, committed relationships, without penetration, once or twice a month etc. I'm fine with this. I don't want all lesbians to conform to some standard, we are a diverse group like anyone else. You hit the nail on the head. There is no asexual gay man. There are gay man with sexual boundaries, and loads of preferences, who have been celibate for loads of reasons but you won't find one who says, "I don't experience sexual attraction to men but I still call myself a gay man". Yet online you'll find a bunch o' women who call themselves asexual lesbians, trying to barter their way out of eating pussy while calling themselves lesbians. I think we women are often insecure, and constantly trying to find ourselves, and in the process can get lost if there aren't understanding people to steer us in the right direction. And I want to kindly say to celibate "asexual" women, who don't experience sexual attraction to women, i.e don't want to eat pussy, that you are perfectly healthy, entitled to your boundaries, and deserve lifelong female companionship, but you aren't lesbians.

[maybe-homestuck-now-or-something]

okay so based on my audience here, probably nobody knows anything about Golden Kamuy, so this might be a post for no one, but Ogata really is the Vriska of that series.

(spoilers for both Golden Kamuy and Homestuck, if any fan of one actually cares about the other without already having consumed it)

(spoilers for both Golden Kamuy and Homestuck, if any fan of one actually cares about the other without already having consumed it)

- both characters were made to fend for themselves as young children, which was a traumatizing experience that left them ill equipped to form genuine connections with other people.

- both killed their own parental figure(s)

- both have killed a lot of people in general, and have formed a lot of their identity around being proud of that fact, and they're convinced that they definitely don't feel any guilt for anything they've done.

- on a deeper level, they are the types of characters who deny their own guilt, and thus their own emotional availability, to such a massive degree that they'd rather double down and keep committing atrocities as a way of proving that it doesn't affect them. outside observers may note that they are lying to themselves, and this emotional damage is stacking up on the back burner, to the point where their actions read less like proof of concept, and more like self destruction. when the dam holding these emotions back finally breaks, they'll have to square with everything they're deciding to do in the present, which makes their smug commitment to the bit read as more of a tragedy than anything else.

- both lose an eye at some point, at the hand of someone who is at their wits' end with them. both also use their indifference to this as a smug way to taunt the ones responsible.

- both have an unhealthy relationship with a person who they see as innocent. they both think that this innocent person has no right to maintain innocence when they themselves were never allowed to have that, and they try to corrupt that innocent person by way of mentorship. they think that the harsh conditions they share with that person necessitate corruption, no one can expect to get out unscathed, that innocent person isn't special, they shouldn't be able to exist untainted, and equality will be achieved when they are equally befouled by their circumstances. upon failing to corrupt the innocent character, they end up killing them. because someone like that isn't meant to survive in a world like this, if all is truly fair.

- they both function as someone who is the only one on their own team. other people don't trust them either because they are serial backstabbers. the only person they think they can trust is themselves.

- the closest they get to really bonding with another person is when they think they share someone's circumstances, particularly in relation to the way they grew up as kids. however, this never comes across as healthy, and doesn't really last, because not only is their perspective uniquely warped by the way they were abused from such a young age, but also... anytime someone in their same circumstances actually improves their outlook on life, or copes in healthier ways, they see it as a form of ideological betrayal. in a worst case scenario, they might even see it as being abandoned or neglected again, like the other person is leaving them behind or doesn't get it, and this could even be seen as a re-traumatizing event. it only drives them deeper into their isolated convictions.

- they tend to assume that everybody thinks just like them deep down. they act smug because they think everyone else is just masking, while they are being more "real" somehow.

- both illicit an audience response of "that bitch!" whenever they appear.

- Ogata even appears on the cover of volume 8... I hadn't even realized until I went to grab a pic of him off of google and that cover was one of the first images that popped up.

[pizzaboat]

I keep forgetting that I didn't really get "early intervention" for my autism. The people responsible for helping me were too lazy for that.

I just got ostracised and encouraged to start masking heavily, so by the end of primary school I would begin to panic in first year, and develop a good mask in second year that had all the adults questioning my diagnosis

"They don't look autistic! You did such a good job on them! They're so smart and impressive! Definitely fit for university!"

Me developing real insecurities: oh yeah, it's all coming together..!

And like, I'm crashing now, just a bit. And it's weird, cause I really did start liking things I didn't like at all to fit in with my peers. Mainly the girls cause they wouldn't sexually harass me in my experience.

They were bitchy, but that's just kids being immature kids.

And like, clothes, make up, hair shit all that. I have an appreciation for it because of all that, but it's not entirely me (i appreciate it but thats not how I'd express my gender identity)

And masking is what made it hard for me to realise I was trans until I was 16 and I happened to stumble across some Sam Collins videos on YouTube and I got VERY invested in the process of transitioning ftm..

(its also important to note i was away from any social conditioning and was doing less internalising cause I didnt have to mask anymore and also my dysphoria was getting SUPER bad.)

And I wasn't that blind and I started questioning why my dreams about being born AMAB took a weight off my chest, no joke intended.

It's indescribable, like, it feels like taking off someone else's skin and stepping into my own.

Like, I can finally stop pretending to be someone else..? I'm myself and not what others tell me I need to be or am.

There's certainly an element of body horror to it. It would be like if a cis man woke up with a vagina tomorrow–He'd shit himself. And if he were forced to live as a woman he'd kill himself.

Transphobes use that kind argument to say we're insane for wanting to transition, because having anything other than their own hormone levels and genitals, and pronouns sounds disgusting and horrific to them.

But what they don't get is what they're feeling at that concept of a change is gender dysphoria.

We experience that imagined horror every day of our lives and it's not a hypothetical we can walk away from after. It's inescapable for alot of us. And for some of us we internalise it.

I internalised it while masking my autism until it tore me asunder at 16 and I kept nearly having mental break downs when people tried to enforce that I was a pretty girl.

I've spent my entire life pretending to be something else, and someone else for other people. I've pretended to have a different neurotype so people will treat me as a peer and equal, in conversations and relationships because the alternative is just shit.

And I've pretended to be a cis girl cause it tied in with my internalisation and masking and feeling like a freak, or that I was inherently broken.

I did everything back then to be liked. That was the goal. My cultures environment doesn't encourage being different. Not if you wanna survive.

So yeah. I think my autism and transness linked up together to make one hell of a cocktail.

[emarli-the-doodler]

Idea 5: Vanessa visits the graves of her victims and sees ghosts

I didn't think I'd be doing more of these, but here we are.

An idea that I've seen exceedingly few fics try and cover is Vanessa encountering the ghosts of the people whom she (as Vanny) murdered after the 3-star ending.

I am unsure as to how one would make this situation happen. Maybe it could be a dream.

A scenario that I like most has to do with the idea that Vanessa visits the graves of the children she (no vanny) killed. After she was freed, she reported the location of the bodies so that they could recieve a proper burial. Vanessa knows that it isn't enough, she doesn't think that she will ever be able to do enough to atone for what she did to all of those children (it wasn't you, it was Vanny.) At the very least she tries to go and visit their graves once a week, making sure to bring flowers for them everytime. Vanessa doesn't say anything during the visits, what is there to say? "I'm sorry?" Yeah right, as if SHE is deserving of forgiveness...

I really like it because there are a lot of things you could potentially cover, including:

How would the ghosts react to seeing the freed Vanessa? Would the children be enraged? If so, what would they do?

Or would they be able to see that the person in front of them is not really the same as the one who murdered them, not mentally, at least? Maybe (relating back to idea 2: "Vanessa is good with kids") the children who were taught by her would be able to convince the other children of this.

How about the therapists? They would likely be more willing to listen, being adults trained in understanding psychological conditions.

One could discuss how Vanessa has been dealing with having 2 sets of childhood memories, a fake abusive one (put there by Glitchtrap for reasons of being a dick) and her true, standard, evidently normal one.

And, of course, we can't forget Vanessa. What would she do? It is most likely that she would curl up into a ball and await the punishment that she thinks she deserves (she doesn’t). After all, it is HER fault, right? (No, it’s Vanny's.)

If you include Gregory in this encounter, he, being the "no fear" gremlin that he is, would probably try and start to defend his… uh… paternal guardian of unspecified rank in some way, either by trying to explain that Vanny is no more, or try and actually fight the ghosts.

As you can see, there are many ways that I think someone can make a mini story out of this concept.

You can absolutely make an entire au if not a prequel/sequeal to her character I love the idea that she feels responsible but also babe, pls, it wasn't u :<

[fuck-comphet]

hey! first things first: i love the safe space you created! i wanted to ask for some advice. im a minor and i basically always knew i was a lesbian. i don’t have that much of a good relationship with my father and the only family i have is my mom, my grandmother and my great aunt. my great aunt is the most homophobic person within the three of them. also, they are VERY strict and religious. my mother is a bit more tolerant but she still doesn’t stand marriage or gay couples having kids and she thinks that most of the gay women aren’t real gay women, but they were just ‘manipulated’ by the media. What do i do? I want to come out but i don’t want them to hate me or even to kick me out the house. i’ve been struggling with my sexuality since i was eleven years old and i cannot stand suffering like this anymore, especially because recently my great aunt said that a gay woman totally disgusted her…

thanks for the safe space you created, sending you loads of love

Hi friend,

I just want to start off by saying that I am so sorry you are in this position. It's so hard being queer and needing to hide in plain sight for safety reasons. There's a good reason that the concept of found family is such a big thing in the queer community and it's because we have to grapple with the fact that biological families often love us in a very conditional way, and it's heartbreaking. It's also incredibly unfair, and you deserve so much better.

I want to stress how much your safety needs to be the priority. If you are worried about them making your life insufferable once you come out, or that they may actually kick you out, I would really recommend not coming out to them until you have a safe space to go to. I know staying in the closet is painful, and hearing people we care about straight up hate on queer people not knowing how much they are directly hurting us is the worst.

But please keep yourself safe, the queer community needs you alive, we need you safe. You are part of our family and this is a family where love is actually unconditional, and someday you will be able to claim that love for yourself in a safe out and proud way. This situation you are in now, it's not forever.

I don't know much about your situation other than what you've told me, but what I would recommend is to make a plan to get yourself to a safe space in the future. It can be a new city, it can be living somewhere else, just set up a safety net for yourself if you can. Regardless of what you choose, make a realistic plan that will allow you to live as yourself and survive at the same time. I know that being a minor, moving out and moving on with your life can feel like an eternity away, but I swear it's not. And once you know you can keep yourself safe, then whenever you are ready you can come out to your family.

In the meantime, I hope you are able to connect with your queerness and with the queer community around you as much as you can. Chat to people online here on tumblr (my ask box is always open), read/listen to LGBTQ+ books/podcasts (local libraries are a great place to start), consume queer media; queer people have always been really good at finding each other.

I hope this helps. I know that a simple ask response can't actually fix anything and I can't tell you what to do, but I hope you can hold out and feel hopeful of a better future for yourself. As always, the queer community loves you, and I'm sending you loads of love back <3

[keysmash-pizzaplex]

Idea 5: Vanessa visits the graves of her victims and sees ghosts

An idea that I've seen exceedingly few fics try and cover is Vanessa encountering the ghosts of the people whom she (as Vanny) murdered after the 3-star ending.

I am unsure as to how one would make this situation happen. Maybe it could be a dream.

A scenario that I like most has to do with the idea that Vanessa visits the graves of the children she (no vanny) killed. After she was freed, she reported the location of the bodies so that they could recieve a proper burial. Vanessa knows that it isn't enough, she doesn't think that she will ever be able to do enough to atone for what she did to all of those children (it wasn't you, it was Vanny.) At the very least she tries to go and visit their graves once a week, making sure to bring flowers for them everytime. Vanessa doesn't say anything during the visits, what is there to say? "I'm sorry?" Yeah right, as if SHE is deserving of forgiveness...

I really like it because there are a lot of things you could potentially cover, including:

How would the ghosts react to seeing the freed Vanessa? Would the children be enraged? If so, what would they do?

Or would they be able to see that the person in front of them is not really the same as the one who murdered them, not mentally, at least? Maybe (relating back to idea 2) the children who were taught by her would be able to convince the other children of this.

How about the therapists? They would likely be more willing to listen, being adults trained in understanding psychological conditions.

One could discuss how Vanessa has been dealing with having 2 sets of childhood memories, a fake abusive one (put there by Glitchtrap for reasons of trying to make her more obedient, which ended up failing) and her true, standard, evidently normal one. (in this universe patient 46 and their tapes didn't exist, save for that one line about lying about childhood, just pretend it was in one of Vanessa's tapes)

And, of course, we can't forget Vanessa. What would she do? It is most likely that she would curl up into a ball and await the punishment that she thinks she deserves (she doesn’t). After all, it is HER fault, right? (No, it’s Vanny's.)

If you include Gregory in this encounter, he, being the "no fear" gremlin that he is, would probably try and start to defend his… uh… paternal guardian of unspecified rank in some way, either by trying to explain that Vanny is no more, or try and actually fight the ghosts.

As you can see, there are many ways that I think someone can make a mini story out of this concept.

Honestly, the absolute wreck Vanessa must be after coming out of the possession. Like all the deaths "she" is responsible for (or at least feels responsible for) and how she'd cope with that is something I hadn't given much thought. I can definitely see her visiting the graves and just not knowing what to say, if anything she could say would be enough.

Honestly I could see the ghost kids going either way with her. In the original series the dead kids seemed to lash out at any adult in a security outfit so I could totally see them being aggressive towards her. On the flip side there's a theory the early games they only attack the player because Michael looks like William (though that doesn't explain Fritz), however Vanessa looks exactly like Vanny because of that whole possession thing so I think they'd be after her there too. Not looking great for her tbh, poor thing.

And yeah, depending on the characterization of Gregory I could totally see him coming to her defense if he's come to see her as a parental/guardian figure.

[superlinguo]

Conversation, cooperation and dementia

I have had more than one grandparent with dementia. This post is a series of personal reflections about the way conversation changes when someone you know well loses the ability to remember, and how linguistics has given me a framework for dealing with this. I don’t know anything about dementia other than these experiences, and there are whole sets of emotional and logistical challenges of living with dementia, or a loved one with dementia that I’m not going to address here.

Dementia presents a challenge when you’re having conversations, because the person with dementia loses the ability to track what’s been covered in a conversation - perhaps over the course of 15 minutes, perhaps sometimes in 15 seconds. This creates loops and eddies in conversational topics. It also breaks down one of the fundamental features we require in communication; the belief that our conversational partner is a cooperative one.

Cooperation is important because otherwise a well-flowing interaction is, on the surface, a series of non-sequiturs as the person speaking makes a leap and their conversational partner(s) makes the leap with them. Why are we talking about Uncle Desmond? It must be relevant to the conversation about Aunt Muriel we were just having. A person with dementia can feel from their perspective that they’re being cooperative but from your perspective they’re telling you the same story about Uncle Desmond’s first wife for the 3rd time in 15 minutes.

I’ve noticed that different family members deal with the destruction of the facade of cooperation in various ways; the helpful one tries to turn the conversation to other topics, the sanguine one lets the story play out a fourth time, the pragmatic one tells my grandmother every time that she’s already told this story and that, in fact, she has dementia. Each is trying to rebalance the illusion of cooperation, and each has varying degrees of success which I’m sure relates to my grandmother’s relationship to them, her personal condition, and everyone’s mood on any given day.

Another group we see constantly breaking the sense of cooperation is children. Kids are tiny randomness machines and keeping them on conversational tracks can be a lot of work (and work that extends beyond the years of just learning to speak grammatically). The thing with children is that we expect this from them to some extent. The challenge with conversing with a family member with dementia is that we have years, often a lifetime, of conversational rhythm with them.

The ways in which we expect conversational cooperation were broken into four main categories by Paul Grice. He called these maxims, which I always think of in the ‘guide’ sense rather than ‘rule’. They can help clarify the ways that it can feel difficult to maintain a conversation with someone who has dementia. The first that comes to mind for me is always the maxim of relation, because it does not seem relevant to return to the same story of Uncle Desmond again without new reason, and because this might lurch suddenly into a new conversational track about a cousin you haven’t talked about for 15 years. I’m sure that if I made transcripts of conversations my family have with my grandmother I’d find examples of various different ways that our conversational expectations are challenged in these small talk moments. Knowing about conversational cooperation has made me far more relaxed about approaching these conversations, in one of the more unusual ways my linguistics training has giving me a weird sense of peace about a process I have no control over.

This is where my thoughts on this topic had arrived at. I was talking to my colleague Tonya Stebbins about these experiences the other day and she introduced me to the concept of validation theory. Validation theory is an approach to interactions with people who have dementia that starts from the assumptions that you need to consider the emotive content of what they’re saying, rather than the informational content.  This allows you to engage with their emotional state. There’s an overview at this website, but I’m yet to dig into any literature on the efficacy of this approach.

To illustrate validation theory with an example I still remember from when I was very young and we were visiting my great grandmother: When a person with dementia is worried about her young grandson getting off the bus after school, even though she’s sharing these concerns with that grandson who is actually a middle-age man visiting with his own small children, the idea is to not simply point this out to her, but to attend to the underlying anxiety that has surfaced as this particular and temporally disjunct concern. Regardless of the fact that it’s been decades since her grandson stopped going to school on the bus, taking a conversational approach that spoke to her concern would be a way to address whatever anxiety she had. 

What I immediately like about validation theory is that it re-balances the onus of cooperation in the conversation. In this approach, the conversational partner without dementia is responsible for ensuring they are not failing at the maxim of relevance by attending to the implicit anxieties, worries or joys in the conversational eddies of the interaction. 

Chatting to my grandmother is both one of the most normal and most challenging things. It is as once unremarkably familiar and exhaustingly surreal. I’m grateful that a linguistic perspective on conversation has given me some coping mechanisms for navigating the more surreal moments.

See also:

Lingthusiasm episode 11: Layers of meaning - Cooperation, humour, and Gricean Maxims

Hamilton, Heidi E. (2019). Language, Dementia and Meaning Making. Navigating the Challenges of Cognition and Face in Everyday Life.  Palgrave Macmillan.

[m-jelly]

Jelly! I've been looking up Makaton since I saw your response to my demand haha

I didn't know anything about this! The fact that it goes beyond the deaf community and instead to many different people that have trouble communicating makes it so moving to me!

If you're comfortable with it only, I'd love a little content of this from you! Since some of the conditions I see might be triggering and upsetting, maybe some post war Levi bit? Where reader is trying to teach him after his accident?

And since I'm a sucker for fluff, some type of happy or hopeful ending.

Only if you want! <3

Hiiiii! I'm on it <3 I have a little something with post-war Levi and the reader. The idea is the reader is injured and needs to learn sign language and Levi learns it so he can talk to her again because he has feelings for her. It's going to be FULL of fluff.

I'll show you I love you.

Pairing: Levi x Deaf!Reader

Genre and tags: romance, falling in love, confessions, post-war Levi and pre-war Levi, long romance, the reader in injured, the reader has lost hearing, sign language, fluff, happy ending, cannon world.

Concept: During the attack to capture Zeke and stop Reiner and Bertholdt, the reader gets injured when Bertholdt transforms. Levi is devastated at losing Erwin, but he also finds out that you, the woman he secretly loves, has been hurt. Levi stays by your side during your recovery, but you are taking your injury hard. Your ear and neck are burned on one side and your hearing has gone from the explosion. You snap emotionally and don't let Levi near you for a while, then you allow him back to see you when you're better mentally. The two of you get close, but then he has to go to war. You can't go to fight with him, so you wait. Levi returns to you hurt, but you two find a light in the dark. You joke around about him missing two fingers, therefore his sign language is a little funny. You both make the most of your life and love each other.

Note for readers: Whenever they use sign language the writing will look like this.

Panic and heartbreak. Levi was in a constant state of both of these feelings. He'd watched his best friend die, saw his dear friend injure her eye and now he'd discovered that you were in the hospital. He needed to say goodbye to Erwin, but he also wanted to check on you. Levi had fallen for you and had loved you for a long time. You'd joined Hange's team a while back.

You were the communicator between Hange and the other groups, so you were often rushed off your feet like Moblit was. Levi spent a lot of time with you and you two became joined at the hip. However, he had to stop being around you so much when Eren joined and then new cadets signed up to the scouts. He had to train the kids before he could be around you. You'd both sit on the roof of the base together drink tea, or booze as you stared at the stars.

Levi treasured you and your moments together. You were his everything and he'd be lost without you.

He made his way to the hospital, then gave your name. He followed the nurse to your room to see you sleeping in bed with the right side of your face bound up and blood on the bandage. Your left ear was also covered up and blood was seeping into it. Your right was bound up as well, which meant you'd been burned up badly.

He sat down and put his head in his hands. He'd been so focused on getting Zeke, that he wasn't there to protect you and it killed him. He lifted his head when the doctor arrived. He watched them check on you, then note down everything and change your meds. Levi waited patiently because you getting better was a priority for him.

Levi cleared his throat when he saw his chance. "How is she?"

The doctor sighed. "Well Captain, she's strong. She's fighting this."

"Good." He looked at you and watched the nurse change your bandages showing off your bloodied and charred skin. "Oh, God."

The doctor placed his hand on Levi's shoulder. "The burns look worse than they actually are. I'm certain they will heal up no problem." He looked at you. "Main concern is her ears. She hasn't been awake long enough for us to see if she can hear, if not she's going to have to learn sign language.

Levi nodded as he fought tears. "Yeah. Ah, do you have a book on sign language? I want to learn some things just in case."

The doctor nodded. "Of course, follow me."

Levi took the book from the doctor when they went to his office. Levi studied the book and practised with Hange a little to make sure he had everything perfect. Levi wanted to talk to you. He wanted to communicate his feelings to you as much as possible. He wanted you to feel comfortable. He knew you'd been awake for a while, so he was giving you space to adjust and to heal.

He visited you finally with flowers in hand. Levi couldn't wait to see you and talk to you. He wanted to see how you were doing if you were well and if you wanted to go home with him after it was safe. Levi wanted to look after you and be your personal nurse.

You looked up at Levi as he entered your room. You smiled brightly at finally seeing him. Levi was your first visitor and you had feelings for him, so it was the best of both worlds for you. Your smile slowly dropped when Levi's mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out. You watched his lips, but you couldn't figure out what he was saying to you.

Levi sat on the chair and showed you the flowers. "I got these for you. I thought it'd cheer you up." He frowned a little, then he said your name. "I was so scared when I heard about you. You deserve better, you really do." He blushed a little. "I have to confess brat. I was worried about you so much because I can't lose you. I'm in love with you." He looked you in the eyes to see you were crying. "What's wrong?"

You covered your ears, then uncovered them. You repeated this over and over. You cried hard, but you couldn't hear your own cries of anguish. You hit your ears with balled-up fists in frustration. You missed hearing Levi say your name. You wanted to so badly hear him say it again, but there was just nothing. You didn't even hear ringing in your ears, it was just nothing.

Levi grabbed your hands and stopped you from hitting yourself further. "Stop." He cupped your face. "You really can't hear, can you?" He took your hand and placed it around his neck so you could feel the vibrations of his voice. He said your name and saw you gasp at feeling him speak. He smiled at you. "I'll help you. I swear."

You pulled back from Levi and smiled a little. You stared at the flowers, then signed badly because you were still learning. "For me?"

Levi nodded. "Yes. I could sign, but nodding is easier." He handed the flowers over to you. "For you."

You smiled and hugged them, then you looked to Levi. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

You bit your lip and hummed, then you frowned. "You." You winced a little as you tried to remember. "You look." You didn't know how to sign good, so you gave him the thumbs up.

Levi smiled at you. "Thank you."

You welled up a little, then rubbed your tears. You felt so trapped and useless. "Sorry."

Levi sat on the bed, then held your hands tightly. He kissed your hands to comfort you, but you kept crying. "How the hell do I fix this. I've got to do something better." Levi looked to your nurse coming in. "Are you here to change her bandages?"

The nurse nodded. "Yes. They're not so bad now, but we still have to cover them."

You pulled from Levi's touch and panicked. You didn't want him to see you this way. You thought you were broken and he deserved better. "Go."

Levi frowned. "Go?"

You nodded and looked away from him as you felt embarrassed. "Sorry."

The nurse smiled. "I think she doesn't want you to see her this way. I know you care about her, but she just wants some space. You have to remember, one minute she was fighting with others, then the next there was a bang and she wakes up here with no hearing and burns on her."

Levi stood up. "You're right. I'll come back another time." Levi smiled and waved to you.

You sniffed, then waved back.

Levi left you and went back to work with the scouts for the day. He returned the next day but was told he couldn't see you. Levi was angry at first and demanded to see you, but the hospital informed him that you had asked for him to not see you. You'd left him a letter asking him to give you time. You said you needed to heal up and face what has happened to you. You appreciated him and everything he did, but you were finding this hard and needed to focus.

Levi gave you your space but kept learning sign language for when you welcomed him back. He was told you had healed up and he paid for you to be moved to a nice home for recovering soldiers. Levi wanted you to be with him, but he understood you wanted to be independent. He kept writing to you this whole time and you both were apart for a year. It wasn't perfect, but he was glad you wrote to him and didn't give up on him. You might have hidden away physically, but you didn't connection wise.

He was shocked when you walked into his office one day all by yourself with no helper. You were wearing such a cute long skirt with an adorable top. Your skin was shiny on the right side of your neck and ear area, along with parts of your right arm and hand. You'd healed well. You were looking around his office with a present and flowers in hand. You looked over to him and put everything on the desk.

Levi stood up and looked over the items, then smiled at you. Levi blushed. "Thank you. These for me?"

You nodded. "I'm saying thank you for everything you've done for me."

Levi opened the present to see it was rare tea. "Thank you. Do you want some?"

You nodded to him and smiled. You took a seat on his sofa and watched Levi closely. You couldn't call out to him and talk casually, so you had to wait until he was looking at you for you to say something. You didn't mind though, because it meant you could both think about what to say to each other.

Levi was a little flustered and wasn't sure what to say. The letters you both sent to each other were romantic in nature full of feelings, so it was a little nerve-wracking for him. He hurried over to you and handed you your tea, then he sat and smiled at you.

You smiled back, then put your hand under his cup and lifted.

Levi blushed. "Oh! Drink." He winced at not signing. "Sorry."

You hummed a laugh. "It is okay."

He sighed, then sipped his tea and hummed. He couldn't believe tea could taste this good. He put his cup down. "Best tea ever."

"Good." You blushed a little. "Do you still want a tea shop?"

He nodded, then blushed when he took the plunge. "I want you to run it with me. Will you?"

You nodded and felt happy. Life in the scouts was over for you, so you had to think of the future. "I'll do stock taking."

"Perfect."

You picked up your tea, then sipped it. You blushed a little at how quiet it was. You shuffled a little closer to Levi, then you leaned over and kissed his cheek. You blushed when Levi turned his head and gazed at you. You blushed even more, then you downed your tea and slammed it on the table. You stood up and went to leave.

Levi grabbed your wrist, then stood up and pulled you to face him. "Did you mean it?" He turned your head when you looked away. "Look at me. Do you mean the kiss?"

You nodded shyly.

Levi held your arms and pulled you closer. He made you look at him again. "Can I kiss you?"

You nodded loads.

Levi smiled a little, then lightly kissed your lips. He sighed at finally being able to kiss you. He cupped the back of your neck, then nipped your lip and deepened the kiss to a half open mouthed kiss. He enjoyed and melted in this moment. He pulled back and lightly kissed your lips.

You placed your fingers on your lips as you blushed at feeling Levi's lips and tongue still. You smiled a little. "That was a perfect kiss. I enjoyed it. Can we do it more?"

Levi laughed and nodded. "I like you. I've liked you for a while."

"Me too." You bit your lip and smiled. "No more running. I want you and me."

Levi kissed you lightly and smiled. "I want you to live with me. I'll take care of you and we can be in a romantic relationship together."

You nodded a lot and welled up as you did. You hugged Levi tightly and gripped his back tightly.

Levi hugged you back, then let out a long happy sigh. Levi and you spent the rest of your time together in pure bliss. You moved in with him and he took great care of you the whole time. You both knew a war was coming, but you had to make the most of your time together. Your first time in the bedroom was a little challenge, because you could only talk through sign, but it did turn out wonderful. It soon became perfect because the sex was very sensual.

You and Levi talked about marriage and kids, but you wanted to wait for the war to be over. The war shook you and Levi. You struggled to let him go when he was being sent away. You held onto him so tightly, then you released him and promised you'd wait. You did exactly as you promised and waited for him. While he was gone, you worked hard on setting up a tea shop, so you could open up as soon as Levi returned to you.

When Levi came back, you were in shock at first because of the state he was in. You suddenly became his carer and helped him while his knee wasn't working correctly. You even helped him when he practiced walking to train his knee again. You saw Levi was emotional about being hurt, but you understood because you'd been there. You knew how he felt. So, you lightened the mood when you could.

You sat in yours and Levi's garden with a cup of tea as you both enjoyed the sun. You smiled at Levi. "Are you okay?"

"I'm alright. Knee is stiff."

You snorted a laugh. "It's like you have a lisp."

Levi growled. "Tch, you little shit."

"I'm not a little shit."

Levi's eyes widened. "You heard me?"

You shook your head and tapped your lips. "I read your lips."

Levi hummed in thought, then looked right at you and said your name. "I love you."

You gasped, then welled up at seeing him say it. "I love you too." You sniffed and built up the courage to speak. "I. Love. You. Levi."

Levi smiled at you. "That sounded perfect."

You took Levi's hands, then kissed them all over. You leaned closer and kissed Levi. "So, you still want kids?"

Levi blushed hard, then nodded. "I would love kids."

You grinned at him. "Then lets start trying."

[earthnashes]

And finally, to complete the set... the ZORA! owo

Link is once again there for size comparison, but I also added one with him not there just so you can have a full look at them all together. uwu Anyway, the headcanon blurbs for the characters and the Zora as a race!

-----------------------

-Mipha is the beloved princess of the Zora, the future Queen of her people, and Sidon's older sister. Mipha is actually a bit shorter than the average Zora, but what she lacks in size she more than makes up for in her strength, bravery, and compassion. Despite her prowess in combat Mipha is a healer to her core and loathes to engage in combat, even when it's necessary; she doesn't relish the idea of hurting anything even her enemies.

Mipha is by far the best magic user the Zora have to offer, her ability exceeding the typical Zora and almost matching that of a Hylian Mage. Her specialty is healing, "Mipha's Touch", though she also has great control over the waters, able to create whirlpools and miniature hurricanes at will. Currently, her father has been giving her more and more of his responsibilities as monarch, his way of easing her into the position and making the transition of power between the two go smoothly when it's time for him to step down. As a princess and future queen, Mipha has attended many important meetings with the neighboring governments and leaders, which in turn has allowed her to meet Zelda; the two of them are good friends.

-Sidon is the crown prince of the Zora, second in line for the throne, and Mipha's younger brother. He's known as a bit of a heartthrob in the kingdom due to his good looks and personality; he's charismatic, enthusiastic, and polite to a fault, and likes to use his own self confidence to lift others instead of being boisterous. He's turned down many an attempt at courtship graciously, which has done nothing to lessen the hearteyes thrown his way.

Sidon and Mipha are both well known across all of Hyrule not because of their royal status, but due to a feat they managed years back where they both rescued the crew and passengers of a sinking vessel ship from drowning during hurricane, having fought against harsh waves and blistering winds to succeed; they didn't lose a single person. It's in part of this and his capacity to be a good leader that lead the Zora Domain to choose him for the role of Champion; the king allowed it to be to a vote among his people instead of him choosing, and Mipha endorsed the idea that Sidon would be a great fit.

-Ruto is the mortal form of the Zora's Patron Deity, and like many of her fellow deities her true identity is unknown by her people. Her unique appearance is due to a rare birth condition that Zora could get, where their headtails are short or non-existent and instead they grow a traditional tail. This birth defect could be harmful to the Zora's swimming capabilities depending on how strong the tail is and how long the head-tail turns out, but in Ruto's case, she has no worries about it. Partly because, had she actually been affected she'd be perfectly fine to swim since she was "balanced" as a healer would said, but mostly because she is divine, and the mortal form is merely a disguise of sorts, therefore she isn't actually afflicted by the condition.

Ruto works, ironically, as the high priestess of the temple of the gods in the Zora Domain, one temple dedicated to her specifically. As a religious figure, she serves the additional role as pseudo advisor to the crown, where her word holds quite a bit of weight due to how spiritual the Zora typically are.

--------------

-The Zora Domain is located in the Faron River, which is the largest river in Hyrule, a river that connects to almost every lake in the kingdom before it eventually leads out into the ocean. The domain sits dead center of the huge river, which is surrounded by tall tree-covered cliff faces with running waterfalls cascading down into the water, a natural protective barrier. To reach it, visitors must either by air or by foot, and if foot they must traverse a long bridge that leads to the domain. The Zora Domain is a largely popular location to all of Hyrule, hailed as one of the most beautiful locations in the kingdom, something the Zora take great pride in.

-The Zora are one of the larger races of Hyrule, clocking in on average of about 8ft tall, but it's common for them to grow much larger depending on their ancestry; King Dorephan is one of the largest Zora to live

-The Zora hold moderate capability over magic, especially hydro-based magic, though their magical skill typically don't reach heights seen in Hylians or Gerudo. That said, they take a page from the Gerudo's books in that they combine their magic with their physical combat (unlike Hylians, who typically master either magic combat or physical combat), making them extremely diverse warriors. Their weapons typically lean to tridents, spears, and scythes.

-The Zora are not mammalian, and do in fact have ancestry in ancient fish. Despite it, they do give live birth instead of laying eggs, though mothers are unable to produce milk and so baby Zora will usually be fed blended and soft foods before they're able to eat solids. Typical baby formula for baby Zora involve fish, veggies, and some fruits blended together. The kids love the stuff.

--------------------

AND THERE YA HAVE IT! That is the final race for the Hyrule headcanon set! I might do some super rough concept work for the locations and such but outside of that, keep your eyes open for the next bit of content! Coming soon is a cute little comic about Link and how his rivalry with cuccos started (WIP of the full thing now available on my Patreon) and after that, I'll either continue with the next kingdom in the AU or start doing some more character-driven sketchdumps; I think I'll ask ya'll about it later!

Other than that if you have any questions please feel free to ask!! owo

[class1akids]

what do you think of this post? https://twitter.com/kacchanisms/status/1511982862987411462

I've seen these kind of takes a lot (they are very popular on reddit where Endeavor these days is painted almost like a good father who only ever wanted to protect Touya), but while I think there is some truth in Enji having the strongest emotional bond with Touya out of all his children, I think that it's pretty reductive to say that it was mostly a "communication problem" or that "the abuse started because of Touya's self-harm".

Even if there was some genuine bond between Touya and Enji, it was mostly in the context of training. Enji was elated that he had a kid with such a strong quirk and great enthusiasm for training. Which means his affection was conditional - it lasted until Touya was a promising candidate to fulfil Endeavor's ambition, but was dropped once it turned out that he was "defective". There was no alternate route of affection offered, no other bonding activity to help Touya cope with the disappointment (after all, he was the one born with a "weak body" due to Enji trying to meddle in eugenics).

Touya's self-harm didn't start in a vacuum - it is a response to Enji's neglect - and I'm so sick of having to make this point again and again, because part of the fandom is still stuck on abuse being only about hitting someone. Touya wants to get Enji's affection and attention back - so he's doing the only thing that ever worked before - training and showing his fire.

Enji's response to Touya trying is not to try to reassure him that he's loved no matter what - his response is: let's break his spirit more, by having more, better babies.

And let's not forget Natsuo, who never even gets a glance from his father ever.

Whatever communication problems or misunderstandings there are - it's all rooting from the abuse. It's all rooting from Enji's mindset where ultimately he created this family ONLY to achieve his ambition. That even as he saw everyone suffering and spiralling, he never once put them first or try to consider what they FEEL and what they WANT. Not until after Kamino. He denied their agency and in the logic of the household, their quirk was the only thing that mattered.

I think many people in the fandom misunderstood 290 and 301-302, because Touya wasn't beaten to death or tortured physically. When the writing couldn't be clearer - that "creating children" to be tools, to be a parent's wish fulfilment is the original sin here - paralleling hero society's attitude to quirks.

The family never had a chance, because Endeavor's selfish goal was underlying still every decision he made, even as he was even lying to himself.

I think trying to paint Endeavor as anything but the selfish, abusive asshole he was from the start, minimizing the abuse that was there from the moment of conception leads to a lot of strange takes that get popular in the fandom.

I think Endeavor's arc is interesting, because his sins run so deep, because the abuse has spiralling consequences in every direction and just like in RL, there is no silver bullet, no act of heroism that can somehow undo the harm magically. It shows exactly how much harm he did, and how little he can do to fix it. And I think that's really compelling.

[arofluxstuff]

The problem with the nuclear family model

An unnecessary division of community. It's a direct product "American dream" propaganda, and the individualistic "pick yourself up by your bootstraps" ideals.

And it is Hurting people.

This concept of families consisting of 3-5 individuals two of which are an adult cis man and woman, the rest being their biological children is completely unrealistic even for some of the people most committed to this ideal. To begin with conceiving children is difficult, and bearing children can be dangerous for the the person carrying them. This dream is one medical condition away from being unattainable whether because one of the would-be parents is unable to have kids or because of a pregancy-related complication that harms the parent or child.

The pressure to birth your own children leads to many women developing lower self-worth or poor mental health because they feel that so much of their worth as humans relies on their ability to bear children. Adoption could be a wonderful option for those who want children, not just as a backup plan but as their primary method of seeking to raise kids. However this is against societal expectations.

Even queer folks, who by nature of who they are don't fit within the mold of the nuclear family, are pressured to strive to be as close as possible to that ideal because any other way would simply prove how different they are from the clearly superior straights cis folks./s

This concept insists upon conformity and isolation. People are shamed for living parents into adulthood, and are treated as immature outcasts without further inquiry as to why they're living with family. When people do comply they are divided into groups with only one other adult who is expected to be their only emotional support and vice versa. Women can, in some cases, depend on other friends for some support but it's dependent upon whether they have time to cultivate close friendships along with the stress of parenting, maintaining a romantic connection with their spouse, and whatever job they might have. Men on the other hand are expected to not offer each other support at all lest they be viewed as weak.

This is not a recipe for an emotionally healthy environment for children to grow up in especially since many people have children out of obligation and are completely baffled as to what to Do about this tiny human in their care.

The concept of community into adulthood has all but died as friendships are steadily shuffled to the wayside as the least important of relationships in people's lives.

People on the asexual or aromantic spectrum are obviously harmed by this, as a desire for sex and romance are integral to this ideal and people who are either asexual OR aromantic will often, in an attempt to be respected, point out the ways in which they DO adhere to the standards, thereby throwing the other community squarely under scrutiny in their place (ex. "Well c'mon, I'm not a robot, I still like sex!" or "We still love just like everybody else!").

In the same vein, this affects everyone who wants non-traditional relationships such as queerplatonic relationships or polyamory. These are typically seen as childish or immoral respectively. Because the view point of the general public is that if you aren't doing relationships the way they think you should be you are at best stupid and immature and at worst gross and harmful.

And the worst part is that the only reason for this standard to exist is to make sure people are doing good for business. Each household buying one of each appliance or piece of technology leads to higher profits. People will be too tired from trying to shoulder all their responsibilities as a duo to realize that they aren't being paid enough, aren't being treated well. And I don't think I need to explain how destroying community is good for making sure no large groups are forming which might disrupt the status quo.

Families were not (and still aren't) structured like this in much of the world. There are plenty of cultures where multigenerational households are the norm. Allowing for the young to care for the old and allowing for more dependence upon one another in families with more people to share the load.

And yet even people who claim to understand that families don't all look the same and sing the praises of found families in media can't conceptualize of such a family in real life if the relationships between members aren't falling into the expected patterns of parent-child, siblings, or romantic partners.

The nuclear family is bullshit and serves as only a way to control and divide us, stop letting it trap you

[ganymedesclock]

These are questions I've had for some while and it's hard to find someone who'll answer with grace. This mostly relates to disabilities (mental or physical) in fiction.

1) What makes a portrayal of a disability that's harming the character in question ableist?

2) Is there a way to write a disabled villain in a way that isn't ableist?

In the circles I've been in, the common conceptions are you can't use a character's disability as a plot point or showcase it being a hindrance in some manner. heaven forbid you make your villain disabled in some capacity, that's a freaking death sentence to a creative's image. I understand historically villains were the only characters given disabilities, but (and this is my personal experience) I've not seen as many disabled villains nowadays, heck, I see more disabled heroes in media nowadays.

Sorry if this comes off as abrasive, I'd really like to be informed for future media consumption and my own creative endeavors.

Okay so the first thing I'm going to say is that while it IS a good idea to talk to disabled people and get their feedback, disabled people are not a monolith and they aren't going to all have the same take on how this goes.

My personal take is biased in favor that I'm a neurodivergent person (ADHD and autism) who has no real experience with physical disabilities, so I won't speak for physically disabled people- heck, I won't even speak for every neurotype. Like I say, people aren't a monolith.

For myself and my own writing of disabled characters, here's a couple of concepts I stick by:

Research is your friend

Think about broad conventions of ableism

Be mindful of cast composition

1. Research is your friend

Yeah this is the thing everybody says, so here's the main bases I try to cover:

What's the story on this character's disability?

Less in terms of 'tragic angst' and more, what kind of condition this is- because a congenital amputee (that is to say, someone who was born without a limb) will have a different relationship to said limb absence than someone who lost their limb years ago to someone who lost their limb yesterday. How did people in their life respond to it, and how did they respond to it? These responses are not "natural" and will not be the same to every person with every worldview. This can also be a great environment to do worldbuilding in! Think about the movie (and the tv series) How To Train Your Dragon. The vikings in that setting don't have access to modern medicine, and they're, well, literally fighting dragons and other vikings. The instance of disability is high, and the medical terminology to talk about said disabilities is fairly lackluster- but in a context where you need every man you possibly can to avoid the winter, the mindset is going to be not necessarily very correct, but egalitarian. You live in a village of twenty people and know a guy who took a nasty blow to the head and hasn't quite been the same ever since? "Traumatic Brain Injury" is probably not going to be on your lips, but you're also probably going to just make whatever peace you need to and figure out how to accommodate Old Byron for his occasional inability to find the right word, stammers and trembles. In this example, there are several relevant pieces of information- what the character's disability is (aphasia), how they got it (brain injury), and the culture and climate around it (every man has to work, and we can't make more men or throw them away very easily, so, how can we make sure this person can work even if we don't know what's wrong with them)

And that dovetails into:

What's the real history, and modern understandings, of this?

This is where "knowing the story" helps a lot. To keep positing our hypothetical viking with a brain injury, I can look into brain injuries, what affects their extent and prognosis, and maybe even beliefs about this from the time period and setting I'm thinking of (because people have had brains, and brain injuries, the entire time!) Sure, if the setting is fantastical, I have wiggle room, but looking at inspirations might give me a guide post.

Having a name for your disorder also lets you look for posts made by specific people who live with the condition talking about their lives. This is super, super important for conditions stereotyped as really scary, like schizophrenia or narcissistic personality disorder. Even if you already know "schizophrenic people are real and normal" it's still a good thing to wake yourself up and connect with others.

2. Think about broad conventions of ableism

It CAN seem very daunting or intimidating to stay ahead of every single possible condition that could affect someone's body and mind and the specific stereotypes to avoid- there's a lot under the vast umbrella of human experience and we're learning more all the time! A good hallmark is, ableism has a few broad tendencies, and when you see those tendencies rear their head, in your own thinking or in accounts you read by others, it's good to put your skeptical glasses on and look closer. Here's a few that I tend to watch out for:

Failing the “heartwarming dog” test

This was a piece of sage wisdom that passed my eyeballs, became accepted as sage wisdom, and my brain magnificently failed to recall where I saw it. Basically, if you could replace your disabled character with a lovable pet who might need a procedure to save them, and it wouldn’t change the plot, that’s something to look into.

Disability activists speak often about infantilization, and this is a big thing of what they mean- a lot of casual ableism considers disabled people as basically belonging to, or being a burden onto, the able-bodied and neurotypical. This doesn’t necessarily even need to have an able neurotypical in the picture- a personal experience I had that was extremely hurtful was at a point in high school, I decided to do some research on autism for a school project. As an autistic teenager looking up resources online, I was very upset to realize that every single resource I accessed at the time presumed it was talking to a neurotypical parent about their helpless autistic child. I was looking for resources to myself, yet made to feel like I was the subject in a conversation.

Likewise, many wheelchair users have relayed the experience of, when they, in their chair, are in an environment accompanied by someone else who isn’t using a chair, strangers would speak to the standing person exclusively, avoiding addressing the chair user. 

It’s important to always remind yourself that at no point do disabled people stop being people. Yes, even people who have facial deformities; yes, even people who need help using the bathroom; yes, even people who drool; yes, even people whose conditions impact their ability to communicate, yes, even people with cognitive disabilities. They are people, they deserve dignity, and they are not “a child trapped in a 27-year-old body”- a disabled adult is still an adult. All of the “trying to learn the right rules” in the world won’t save you if you keep an underlying fear of non-normative bodies and minds.

This also has a modest overlap between disability and sexuality in particular. I am an autistic grayromantic ace. Absolutely none of my choices or inclinations about sex are because I’m too naive or innocent or childlike to comprehend the notion- disabled people have as diverse a relationship with sexuality as any other. That underlying fear- as mentioned before- can prevent many people from imagining that, say, a wheelchair user might enjoy sex and have experience with it. Make sure all of your disabled characters have full internal worlds.

Poor sickly little Tiffany and the Red Right Hand

A big part of fictional ableism is that it separates the disabled into two categories. Anybody who’s used TVTropes would recognize the latter term I used here. But to keep it brief:

Poor, sickly little Tiffany is cute. Vulnerable. How her disability affects her life is that it constantly creates a pall of suffering that she lives beneath. After all, having a non-normative mind or body must be an endless cavalcade of suffering and tragedy, right? People who are disabled clearly spend their every waking moment affected by, and upset, that they aren’t normal!

The answer is... No, actually. Cut the sad violin; even people who have chronic pain who are literally experiencing pain a lot more than the rest of us are still fully capable of living complex lives and being happy. If nothing else, it would be literally boring to feel nothing but awful, and people with major depression or other problems still, also, have complicated experiences. And yes, some of it’s not great. You don’t have to present every disability as disingenuously a joy to have. But make a point that they own these things. It is a very different feeling to have a concerned father looking through the window at his angel-faced daughter rocking sadly in her wheelchair while she stares longingly out the window, compared to a character waking up at midnight because they have to go do something and frustratedly hauling their body out of their bed into their chair to get going.

Poor Sickly Little Tiffany (PSLT, if you will) virtually always are young, and they virtually always are bound to the problems listed under ‘failing the heartwarming dog’ test. Yes, disabled kids exist, but the point I’m making here is that in the duality of the most widely accepted disabled characters, PSLT embodies the nadir of the Victim, who is so pure, so saintly, so gracious, that it can only be a cruel quirk of fate that she’s suffering. After all, it’s not as if disabled people have the same dignity that any neurotypical and able-bodied person has, where they can be an asshole and still expect other people to not seriously attack their quality of life- it’s a “service” for the neurotypical and able-bodied to “humor” them.

(this is a bad way to think. Either human lives matter or they don’t. There is no “wretched half-experience” here- if you wouldn’t bodily grab and yank around a person standing on their own feet, you have no business grabbing another person’s wheelchair)

On the opposite end- and relevant to your question- is the Red Right Hand. The Red Right Hand does not have PSLT’s innocence or “purity”- is the opposite extreme. The Red Right Hand is virtually always visually deformed, and framed as threatening for their visual deformity. To pick on a movie I like a fair amount, think about how in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the title character is described- “Strong. Fast. Had a metal arm.” That’s a subtle example, but, think about how that metal arm is menacing. Sure, it’s a high tech weapon in a superhero genre- but who has the metal arm? The Winter Soldier, who is, while a tormented figure that ultimately becomes more heroic- scary. Aggressive. Out for blood.

The man who walks at midnight with a Red Right Hand is a signal to us that his character is foul because of the twisting of his body. A good person, we are led to believe, would not be so- or a good person would be ashamed of their deformity and work to hide it. The Red Right Hand is not merely “an evil disabled person”- they are a disabled person whose disability is depicted as symptomatic of their evil, twisted nature, and when you pair this trope with PSLT, it sends a message: “stay in your place, disabled people. Be sad, be consumable, and let us push you around and decide what to do with you. If you get uppity, if you have ideas, if you stand up to us, then the thing that made you a helpless little victim will suddenly make you a horrible monster, and justify us handling you with inhumanity.”

As someone who is a BIG fan of eldritch horror and many forms of unsettling “wrongness” it is extremely important to watch out for the Red Right Hand. Be careful how you talk about Villainous Disability- there is no connection between disability and morality. People will be good, bad, or simply just people entirely separate from their status of ability or disability. It’s just as ableist to depict every disabled person as an innocent good soul as it is to exclusively deal in grim and ghastly monsters.

Don’t justify disabilities and don’t destroy them.

Superpowers are cool. Characters can and IMO should have superpowers, as long as you’re writing a genre when they’re there.

BUT.

It’s important to remember that there is no justification for disabilities, because they don’t need one. Disability is simply a feature characters have. You do not need to go “they’re blind, BUT they can see the future”

This is admittedly shaky, and people can argue either way; the Blind Seer is a very pronounced mythological figure and an interesting philosophical point about what truly matters in the world. There’s a reason it exists as a conceit. But if every blind character is blind in a way that completely negates that disability or makes it meaningless- this sucks. People have been blind since the dawn of time. And people will always accommodate their disabilities in different ways. Even if the technology exists to fix some forms of blindness, there are people who will have “fixable” blindness and refuse to treat it. There will be individuals born blind who have no meaningful desire to modify this. And there are some people whose condition will be inoperable even if it “shouldn’t” be.

You don’t need to make your disabled characters excessively cool, or give them a means by which the audience can totally forget they’re disabled. Again, this is a place where strong worldbuilding is your buddy- a handwave of “x technology fixed all disabilities”, in my opinion, will never come off good. If, instead, however, you throw out a careless detail that the cool girl the main character is chatting up in a cyberpunk bar has an obvious spinal modification, and feature other characters with prosthetics and without- I will like your work a lot, actually. Even if you’re handing out a fictional “cure”- show the seams. Make it have drawbacks and pros and cons. A great example of this is in the series Full Metal Alchemist- the main character has two prosthetic limbs, and not only do these limbs come with problems, some mundane (he has phantom limb pains, and has to deal with outgrowing his prostheses or damaging them in combat) some more fantastical (these artificial limbs are connected to his nerves to function fluidly- which means that they get surgically installed with no anesthesia and hurt like fuck plugging in- and they require master engineering to stay in shape). We explicitly see a scene of the experts responsible for said limbs talking to a man who uses an ordinary prosthetic leg, despite the advantages of an automail limb, because these drawbacks are daunting to him and he is happier with a simple prosthetic leg.

Even in mundane accommodations you didn’t make up- no two wheelchair users use their chair the exact same way, and there’s a huge diversity of chairs. Someone might be legally blind but still navigate confidently on their own; they might use a guide dog, or they might use a cane. They might even change their needs from situation to situation!

Disability accommodations are part of life

This ties in heavily to the previous point, but seriously! Don’t just look up one model of cane and superimpose it with no modifications onto your character- think about what their lifestyle is, and what kind of person they are!

Also medication is not the devil. Yes, medical abuse is real and tragic and the medication is not magic fairy dust that solves all problems either. But also, it’s straight ableism to act like anybody needing pills for any reason is a scary edgy plot twist. 

(and addiction is a disease. Please be careful, and moreover be compassionate, if you’re writing a character who’s an addict)

3. Be mindful of cast composition

This, to me, is a big tip about disability writing and it’s also super easy to implement!

Just make sure your cast has a lot of meaningful disabled characters in it!

Have you done all the work you can to try and dodge the Red Right Hand but you’re still worried your disabled villain is a bad look? They sure won’t look like a commentary on disability if three other people in the cast are disabled and don’t have the same outlook or role! Worried that you’re PSLT-ing your main character’s disabled child? Maybe the disability is hereditary and they got it from the main character!

The more disabled characters you have, the more it will challenge you to think about what their individual relationship is with the world and the less you’ll rely on hackneyed tropes. At least, ideally.

-

Ultimately, there’s no perfect silver bullet of diversity writing that will prevent a work from EVER being ableist, but I hope this helped, at least!

[vrisrezis]

My mcu favs w/ crush and relationship hcs (pt 2) (not proof read)

- gonna be honest she’s not familiar with romantic feelings, takes her awhile to even realize what she feels for you

- you make her heart all melty and soft, you make her face heat up, you make her question everything she does

- you make her feel even giddy and overly happy and it kinda annoys her tbh

- she thinks you’re out to get her or something and have casted some spell but when she asks thor he has no idea what she’s talking about until she describes what she’s feeling and he just laughs and thinks she’s joking

- she’s like no. I’m serious ?

- to which thor would tell her what it is, he has a bit of an idea because of Jane

- tbh loving somebody romantically, caring about somebody to this extent scares her

- she’s lost so many people and because of it became a raging alcoholic

- if she lost you she doesn’t know what could happen

- she tries to push you away but quickly realizes she doesn’t like doing that to herself or you

- asks you to go out drinking with her often if you’re up for that

- she’d find it funny how easily you get drunk but has no problem taking care of you, in fact she would probably drink with you more often so she can take care of you because it’s the closest to intimacy she feels she can have with you (no she is not taking advantage of you or anything, it’s more just the thought of taking care of you feels intimate to her)

- also you’re cute while you’re drunk

- trans with you so you can be tougher if you’re not that tough already

- tbh asks thor to do the same with you, whether it be cuz she’s not around or because you need the extra training

- eventually Thor’s at the point where he’s like you gotta tell em and she’s like no 🖕

- but she does eventually

- she’s kinda awkward about it but she tries to sound confident with it ^^

- dating you is very different than just being her friend tbh

- like you might’ve been surprised at her asking you out, even if it’s kinda obvious to anybody that knows her well

- to any stranger you just seemed like friends with a strange rivalry relationship but that’s really not the case

- she’s much more flirty in a relationship, since she’s confident you’re with her for a reason.. she’s not the type to doubt your relationship, you’re with her for a reason

- much more protective in battle though

- she doesn’t say she loves you enough, but she shows it through her actions

- asks thor about the romantic stuff but he has no idea really so she goes to Bruce who kinda has more of a grasp on it

- tries to take you to like normal restaurant dates... kinda awkward since she had no midgardian clothes at that point

- lotsa quick kisses on the cheek or forehead

- likes cuddling as she finds it just.. kinda intimate ?

- still likes to take care of a drunk you

- quick pecks on your lips are very often

- doesn’t like the idea of going on a lot of Thor’s saving the world shits unless you’re on board with it

- thor jokes about how she’s all badass and “I don’t give a fuck about saving the world or anyone else” until it comes to you

- she kicks his ass

- but he’s not wrong

- when she likes you she’s a bit like wtf

- like she doesn’t realize it for a moment until jane explains it

- before she was her usual talkative self but there was a lot of nervousness and stuttering at times, just unusual awkwardness that made Jane raise a brow

- it makes more sense now

- since she’s aware she likes you now she often asks you to hang out, to help her out, whatever it is

- the gal is clingy af what can she say

- lotsa hugs she loves giving you hugs often does them for a greeting

- just an excuse to hold you though tbh

- at times will get tongue tied

- she tries to flirt but it just makes you confused she’s not good at it you’re not even gonna know she’s flirting

- eventually grows impatient about it and is just like “I LIKE U DUMMY! DATE ME!”

- and now you date

- she gets into things a bit quickly so if it’s too fast tell her, hopefully not a dealbreaker

- dates are often because she’s got a lot of creative ideas for dates ^^

- still hugs you as a greeting but a lot longer and intimate and a kiss follows after

- speaking of kisses she LOVES to kiss you and she does so very often

- very needy

- big cuddler

- just like “CUDDLE ME”

- so demanding

- often talks about you and how much she loves you she can’t help it

- but if anybody did the same she like “shut up nobody cares”

- even with you though she’s blunt, but much nicer about it

- likes going on just good dates, restaurants , picnic, whatever

- she eats all the food

- tries to impress you so she might say she was best friends with thor at a point

- and that she’s helped him out before and .. yeah etc

- she likes buying you clothes tbh

- especially if you don’t dress good let her dress you up pls

- would be sad if you didn’t get along with Jane

- it would be a dealbreaker actually

- she knows she’s a bit much so she feels happy you love her anyways

- vision of course will not understand his feelings

- he understands you definitely make him feel something, that something being good

- for a moment he might think he feels like this is how best friends feel towards another, or even thinking he sees you in a familial light

- tony quickly tells him that is not the case

- once vision understands what he really feels he’s not sure how to go about it, he can be quite oblivious

- he’s aware of this but still .. what does he do?

- asks tony for advice, he tells him to flirt and see how it goes

- but tbh that doesn’t work, you don’t even realize he’s flirting gonna be honest

- he’s just bad at it

- so he tries to just simply state his affection, that doesn’t work because he doesn’t know how to word it without it sounding platonic, or getting too nervous about going too far

- he doesn’t wanna overstep boundaries

- tony is in pain watching this btw

- tony eventually is just like “he wants to know if you would like to go on a date” “w- I.. yes?”

- in a relationship he is very sweet

- kinda cliche though, since he doesn’t have a concept of romance at all

- looks up a lot of the things he should know about romance he doesn’t want to ask you that

- while he has no problem protecting you, he doesn’t feel the need to be overly protective unless needed

- he’s logical, reasonable, he only gets protective if he has to, even with how he feels towards you

- but do you distract him? Yes absolutely

- he’s okay with living comfortably and normally for once with you, unless it’s something you don’t want or are not ready for

- once you’re conditioned to a certain lifestyle, even if it isn’t a good one it can be uncomfortable to get out of and he understands that

- he loves to kiss you, often initiates kisses or forms of affection

- you were the first to kiss him, it made him so flustered but so happy and now he’s addicted to kissing you

- loves kissing your hands

- if you have any insecurity he will do anything in his power to prove you wrong and that he doesn’t see you in that light

- he understands he has responsibilities but other than that, loves spending his time with you

- he understands you’re a distraction so he tries not to fight with you, he wants to prioritize the people when it comes to this kinda thing

- which you of course understand

- once you teach him what dancing is, his love language is dancing with you

- you two just stay up talking about nothing and everything

- having kids with him isn’t an option, but he isn’t opposed to adopting children

- after all, all he’s ever wanted was to be a normal significant other to you

- do not have a huge concept on her character so forgive me 🙏

- she can be a bit flirty, not that you mind though right ?

- she just loves spending all her time with you

- probably met you before wandavision

- so you’re probably already together

- even then in wandavision you two were “roommates”

- doesn’t explain all the flirting girl .

- agathas fall would be letting Wanda find out she had a soft spot for you my god

- while she’s all confidence and flirty in general, she’s a bit softer with you

- like she genuinely means the things she says when it comes to you

- eventually asks you to date her, you don’t have much room for dates outside of wandavision

- you two are always together btw

- loves dancing with you

- she has a good grasp on romance so she has no issue with it

- she is full of confidence when it comes down to it tbh

- holds your hand often

- your relationship ain’t official till like the 70s probably

- might joke after wanda has kids that you both should have kids too

- while she’s causing her mischief you back her up to make her look less suspicious

- seriously in the mist of all this she’s grateful for you

- especially when you get her out of the hell that Wanda puts her in once again

- to which she will actually confess she loves you, and cares for you

- you aren’t just like.. some person to date

- she’s not the most vulnerable obviously

- so the fact she finally is.. it’s just a lot

- “idk I just love u a lot hun . Cant I show I love u 😊”

- she’s just so overly sweet with you

- she’s so awful to everyone else at times that she just likes being .. with you and being a softie

- likes you playing with her hair

- she loves a good cuddle

- cute nicknames like hon, or hun, or just teddy bear

- with a crush quill might try to act overly friendly

- and probably flirts a lot

- he’s very like obvious with the flirting so you’d have to be oblivious not to notice it

- he can be quite protective as well

- like not just in fighting but even with just others like even before dating he’s very jealous

- if he makes a joke you’re always in on it somehow

- he tries for form a close bond with you just cuz he likes you so much

- it’s likely he likes somebody that can easily protect themselves doe

- probably has some dumb handshake with you

- honestly he acts like a close friend to you

- people might mistake you for a sibling like relationship if it weren’t for his flirting and him staring at you like you’re his entire universe

- seriously Sam says Bucky has a staring problem, quill is fucking awful

- it’s constant and rocket is always like “you’re staring”

- and he’s like “nO” and then continues to stare

- has you listen to his favorite music of course

- especially the love songs ;D

- will just dance with you to the music he puts on

- one time you guys are dancing to the music he put on like normal but it’s a slow love song, so hes like let’s so dance bae

- and then he tells you how he feels for u

- now u date <3

- lots of forehead kisses

- cuddle bug absolutely

- still a jealous boyfriend though tbh he will try to seem all tough in front of any man he thinks might be better or something he will do anything to show off

- your relationship doesn’t change just lots of kisses and hugs now and I love yous

- you’re totally the relationship that’s like “I love you more” “nooo I love you more” and the guardians hate y’all so much

- he uses nicknames like hun, honey, love, sweetheart

- let’s just say you slow dance more often, and kiss while doing so ^^

- he flirts with you still but it’s a lot more sweet rather than before where he might’ve just flirted with you in terms of like it being kinda like calling you sexy and shit like that, now it’s more like wow u look beautiful I luv u 😊🙏

- would do anything for you, even if he wouldn’t like it

- doesn’t mean he wouldn’t hesitate tho

- going on separate dates isn’t really an option since you guys fight left and right and are always with the guardians, but he decided every once a couple months you guys go on a date together and have some fun

- Loki doesn’t get crushes, so this is a new thing for him

- and tbh he doesn’t know how to take it either, especially when he realizes how strong those feelings actually are

- he hates the idea of being vulnerable in general, especially when it comes to you

- over time it just... happens

- but if there’s any indication he likes spending time with you he will try to lie his way through it, he’s a good liar of course so it probably works

- however he shows he at the very least cares about you, he shows a sign of protectiveness when it comes to potential enemies.. enemies that happen to be dangerous for you

- plus he’s around you like constantly and claims he has nobody else to harass

- he claims he doesn’t care about you at all, but even thor can tell through this lie

- the way he looks at you makes it obvious

- the way he doesn’t try to get you involved in his more dangerous schemes

- and if you do, and you get hurt he feels guilty and tries to help you feel better

- he claims he just owes you one for getting you hurt though

- eventually thor bothers him enough to get him to confess feelings, which takes a lot for Loki to even go through with

- he acts confident, even moreso after you say yes, but deep down was extremely nervous

- the male is good at making you feel important, after trying so hard to hide his feelings he is tired of it and just wants to be more honest about how he feels about you

- no issue being vulnerable, he trusts you but sometimes it can be hard

- he goes to you for a lot of his problems, even if you cannot help, just venting and you listening helps

- he was already with you a lot but now there’s no excuses and it’s even moreso

- “what? I just wanted to visit my beautiful s/o” “we literally just saw eachother 5 minutes ago can I please go to bed”

- likes pressing your foreheads together, he finds it sweet

- jealous of thor? Absolutely. Pls comfort him and tell him you’d never leave him for thor

- he’s so used to just not being as good as him, he wants to be good enough for you

- deep down there’s just so many insecurities he has

- so it causes him to worry like all the time

- having a reassuring and patient s/o is so good for him ^^

- flirting becomes a thing in your relationship

- it makes him feel more confident pls give him this

- protective, he feels like he has to be tbh because he never gets anything good in his life and if he does he loses it, he’s scared to lose you too

- if for some reason he can’t see you he makes an illusion of you to talk to

- when he fake dies you’re the first he goes to see so you don’t think he’s dead, he loves you he wouldn’t want to do that to you =(

- finally

- gonna be honest bucky with a crush is cute

- first of all he smiles at you a lot, Steve is the first to notice how much he smiles around you, it’s the most he smiles like ever

- just has a lot of nice conversations with you about anything and everything

- also whenever you’re around even if other people are around you he’s just like “hey y/n :)”

- heart eyes for you, just can’t help but stare all the time

- he has a staring problem but with you? Yeah 10x over

- Sam always has something to say abt it also

- his idea of flirting with you is really just saying hi to you, just being overly friendly which is noticeable for a guy like Bucky

- eventually would ask you out, he tries to ease into it but he gets a bit impatient

- he was also nervous asking you out but yk

- when dating him he becomes very protective

- one of the most protective bitches on the list tbh

- he gets nightmares about you dying like all the time it breaks him everytime though

- lots of cuddles, whether it be from a rough day, he’s just tired, or had a nightmare

- he likes his hair being brushed by you and played with, even when he cuts it

- he’s scared of killing you and turning into the winter soldier again

- has dreams about when he’s hurt and fought you as the winter soldier, he keeps thinking about if Steve wasn’t there to help, he really could’ve killed you and that terrifies him

- even when you tell him it wasn’t him, he appreciates it but still feels horrible about it

- touch that metal arm, but like gently Yknow . Nobody’s ever touched that arm with such kindness and it makes him soft and feel lucky

- speaking of soft Bucky is very soft, there’s many soft moments with Bucky and vulnerability

- it’s easy to be vulnerable with you but not others

- lots of handholding

- he loves hugging you for long periods of time

- still has a staring problem but now Sam openly makes fun of him

- just big dumb smile on his face as he looks at you

- especially when you’re dealing with kids, seeing you be around them makes his heart warm

- maybe he does wanna be normal, settle down and have kids

- though the thought scares him it is something he desires

- we all know he calls you doll