#the fact that they had the actual healthiest dynamic in the whole show

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

Khushi & Shyam

Upon rewatching the kidnapping track - barring the James Bond ghosts in Manorama & Khushi, Anjali and Manorama doubting Khushi’s character (cause I’ve had enough of her character assassination), and Khushi honeytrapping Shyam (ew to the kheer feeding scenes cause wtf) - I realized I deeply enjoyed the Shyam and Khushi scenes.

Yeah, that’s my hot take. Upon deeper pondering I realized that Khushi & Shyam might just be an underrated dynamic in the show. Almost ALL their scenes are stellar simply because of their chemistry and interesting history.

You see, Shyam as a character is very flat against Arnav. Each hate the other. Shyam wants Arnav’s money and Arnav warns him to stay off Khushi and attempt being the husband he pretended to be so long to Anjali. It’s just that. Literally all of their scenes post the terrace misunderstanding is a loop of this and Shyam going “yay I’ll win your trust and then you see Saale Sahab” and bro just has an Arnav protection charm cause Arnav doesn’t confront Shyam even ONCE when he sees him flirt with Khushi.

Rather Arnav abuses Khushi instead. Like… why would you not threaten Shyam as well? Arnav can literally financially choke Shyam further (I love that scene where he closes the joint account - more of that Arnav!)

On the other hand Shyam and Khushi are absolutely electric with Arnav out of the picture. During elopement I rolled my eyes, again, that all the loop was Shyam harasses Khushi, Khushi is like “lemme just do nothing about this” (cause Arnav’s misunderstanding needs to be constant!) and that’s it. Because Khushi is eternal helpless damsel who legit just needs to be mad or abused.

But with Arnav out of the picture Khushi and Shyam rise as characters more than “Arnav’s misunderstanding”.

They have to acknowledge the layers they wrote into both of them. The whole fact that Shyam and Khushi were best friends at one point of time! To think every relationship Khushi has, has betrayed or hurt her irreconcilably at one point of time and it makes my heart hurt for her. Her aunt, adoptive mother, sister, friend and husband.

Barring the villain Shyam is, during the Gupta House stay he was the only vocal advocate of Khushi in the house. Yes, Shashi and Payal always supported Khushi, but neither prevented Khushi from constantly being belittled.

Rather the max was they’d tsk over Buaji’s comments or laughing agree that she is mad.

But Shyam was the first to point out that there is a certain stillness and maturity behind the chatter. He is, perhaps, the only character who understood Khushi. He was the one who shifted Khushi’s narrative in her house. No she’s not crazy, she’s responsible. No she’s not childish, she’s an empath who would do everything to make everyone smile.

She’s having a bad day? Don’t badger her with questions, rather cheer her up with her favourite food.

(Khushi had a bad day when she joined AR, and she had a bad day when she left AR - but you see the marked difference in the way the house responds to her bad days with/without Shyam’s influence. With him, the house, for the first time, cheers Khushi up and lets her have her bad day).

When Khushi comes back from Janmashtami, humiliated, she has to spend time comforting her family and pacifying them. She has to push her insults away and bring a smile on everyone’s face. But Shyam actually asks her how she is and gives her the space to talk about her own feelings and humiliation.

She actually finds someone with whom she can share her pain without having to care for the other’s concern.

It’s liberating and the foundation of a truest friendship. I feel so bad for her that she lost this friendship!

And to see this strong friendship be a mask for Shyam’s dark deeds and desires is heartbreaking but writing wise - oof, that hurt! Imagine a false friendship being the healthiest relationship Khushi has had with anyone (thank God NK & Lavanya existed!)

The only time Shyam is wrong about Khushi is when he’s twisted in his romantic delusions. Which makes him such a compelling villain because you cannot figure him out. What are his motivations?

And with only Shyam in the house and Khushi manipulating him instead - we see the justified pain in Khushi! Like hell yes, Arnav did destroy your life. Hell yes, grieve for the fact that man gave you nothing but pain. They’re spitting facts to each other while trying to outwit each other.

Every scene is a definition of how twisted Shyam is or how intelligent Khushi is and how each takes turns manipulating the other and it’s literally super thrilling to watch. Shyam asserts that his only goal is Khushi - suddenly making him a freeloader who only wants to destroy “ArShi” makes no sense and rips away a lot of his character and motivations.

Also, begrudgingly, Shyam and Khushi exactly know each other too well. She knows where all his mind can go - and utilizes his obsession with her against him for he thinks he’s an ethical man regardless (I love the whole getting him to sign papers moment, she just pulled a Shyam on Shyam!) and Shyam knows Khushi’s weakness is family and utilizes that to buy time.

Khushi’s attachment to Arnav is as unhealthy as Shyam’s attachment to Khushi. Like seriously Arnav insults her five times before heading to the airport and Khushi isn’t afforded even a second of anger or grief. Like she literally admitted farak and he still walks off (yes he was going to go back to Khushi but he did break her heart at that moment).

And all the show keeps shoving to us is how Khushi wants to prove her innocence to a man who really does not deserve it (I’m not faulting Arnav’s anger, although tbh his anger makes sense a lot of times! But the abuse? No way).

Khushi’s deep love for Arnav right when he has been nothing but insulting (he literally told her he’s glad her parents are dead) and her rushing to prove her innocence and have constant Rabba Ve’s after he leaves instead of any rightful anger or hurt make like… no sense to me. Was that Stockholm syndrome talking?

I just find such richer writing in some of their scenes and dynamic that we get a full intelligent heroine and intelligent villain vibes where the audience is treated as smart.

Khushi’s hatred for Shyam is also so good and justified than her love and need for Arnav at this point.

I can imagine Arnav whispering an “I love you” breaking Khushi down to her going through an obsessive phase of finding Arnav and wanting him and his love and worrying for his safety. But until that point Shyam and Khushi make so much sense as villain and hero because Khushi rises beyond a star plus “bahu” who only wants her husband’s love regardless of his anger.

This is a woman wronged and she’s going to fix it by outwitting the villain.

Hell yes.

Also, Shyam is totally Khushi’s villain - a fact that the show forgets.

And no, this doesn’t mean I hate Arnav. His character consistency is brilliant. Nor does this mean I’m shipping Khushi with a man who harassed her multiple times, nope.

It’s just that this show also did something great apart from romance and romantic chemistry between the leads and that needs to be noted.

[trilliastra]

I totally can see where you're coming from and sometimes I really like cheum, I can empathize with her character in a lot of ways.

so to me the thing about cheum is she has points (like yes rip on boston we love that obviously) but she also has made some kind of jerk statements about ray, things about him being a burden or stuff like that (and yeah he did air her dirty laundry which was shitty but to be fair she had just been shitting on him) and we hear her claim that the friend group is always trying to stop/help him but we don't see that in any of in the show, we only see how terrible the whole friendship dynamic is and how it doesn't seem like ray's friends really care that much (and there's definitely an argument to be made about how it shouldn't be a friends responsibility to take care of someone who doesn't actually want help but it comes back to not seeing his friends really supporting him IN THE SHOW, like even after his car accident).

and then in this episode she blames everything on him, and while he definitely is responsible he isn't solely responsible. mew is an adult and is making these choices, and is honestly using ray as an excuse to do these things without taking responsibility (I saw a really good post on mew and lack of responsibility but heck if I'm gonna be able to find it again).

cheum definitely has the healthiest relationship but none of the friendships are healthy at all and honestly none of them are good friends to one another, not even cheum (that's my take on it at the moment anyway)

i replied to someone about this so i'm gonna copy/paste this part here:

i think it's hard to be constantly having to deal with someone who has an addiction. the fact they have to keep covering his ass, taking him home, excusing shitty behavior bc 'he was drunk', etc. it's tiring. i think she's just someone who has had enough and who hasn't yet forgiven ray for what he said about her to her girlfriend.

i don't think everything she did was excusable obviously, again, something i said in the reply, if she wasn't just as messy she wouldn't still be friends with them, but i think ray needs to take accountability just as much as mew needs his wake-up call for the self-destructive behavior.

i think she's going the wrong way at this, but i can see her getting tired of watching ray basically drink himself to prison/death. i mean, at some point when you realize all you did was for nothing, you kind of throw the towel and try to mentally distance yourself from the situation as not to feel more pain and try to shift the guilt of not being able to help your friend.

idk. all of this is coming from a therapist so i'm kind of biased and in too deep with this stuff. maybe she's just a shitty friend, which, yeah kinda. they are on their early twenties, by the time they are thirty they're not gonna be talking to half of those people anyway.

[ramblingaboutglee]

Brittana. Thoughts?

Ooh, question!

I will try to restrain myself from full-on rambling again. They’re sweet! Like, they’re not my absolute favourite ship on the show, but that’s more because I gravitate towards ones that are fun to make angsty and messy, and brittana aren’t really that? They’re two people who know one another so well, and will always support one another, and they’re just sweet on those grounds. 

Dynamic wise, I love the fact Santana will find any excuse to insult someone, but when it comes to Brittany she’s instantly supportive (shout out to “Our prom theme is dinosaurs!” “Sheer genius.”) Absolutely no one would get away with even half of what Brittany does if they were anyone else, but Santana has a secret soft side and it’s adorable. Equally, Brittany low-key being very perceptive and being willing to go just as far for Santana makes them a good match. 

Brittany able to be casual enough that there’s no pressure on Santana when she’s figuring herself out, that side is just sweet. And then as the years go by, the flipside - I feel like the break-up episode of S4 is endless drama in the fandom, but I kind of love the fact that the two that get the healthiest ending are brittana because, like, they know each other better than the rest, they are more mature than most of the cast. They’re that dynamic Glee seems to love doing, the cynic and the optimist, the cynic helping balance out the optimist from going too into the clouds, and the optimist just lighting up the cynic’s life. 

Like, they contrast each other in so many ways that you can imagine people not really understanding why they’re together, but the fact they are ends up making a lot of sense. 

(Also First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, not strictly a brittana song but it has a moment and it’s my fave cover on the whole show so I’m mentioning it here because I can)

If I’m going for a potted season-by-season:

S1 - okay I saw the “Sex isn’t dating. If it were, Santana and I would be dating,” clip before I saw the show but I didn’t realise it was basically Britt coming out so. I support her?

S2 - ...yeah I’m just going to skip this. From what I can tell S2 is very love-or-hate? And I just. Do not like any characters or ships this season. Brittana are not immune unfortunately. 

S3 - okay, there is the one Episode that probably merits a rant-post at some point, but in general I love them here. Troubletones were great, they got more chance to show why they worked well together, and mutual care. This, for me, is when a lot of ships took off, and Brittana are definitely contained with that. We see Santana in a more supportive role than her usual, see the side of her that loves, and they shine. 

S4 - yes, break-up angst, but couples that can break up and still navigate a friendship can make for compelling drama. The fact all of that care is still there - the fact that Santana seems to be less jealous that Britt’s with someone else, and more of the fact that she can actually see Sam being a good boyfriend and that potential ‘not endgame’ getting to her, it’s messy but it’s compelling. I love when Britt’s the more grounded one of the two of them sometimes as well, really shows how they complement each other. 

S5 - as a follow-on, it’s nice to see the roles reversed for them - Santana coaxing Brittany back to being cheerful, while Brittany is the distracted realist. (Who has terrible maths teachers by the way). Like, it’s small, but it’s a sweet continuation for them. 

S6 - I had a grin on my face for the whole wedding thank you

You can probably squeeze jealousy angst into them (as mentioned, I love that S4 ‘Santana broke up because it was the best thing for the both of them, but she does miss Britt even if she’s trying to put on a brave face and not hurt her’ and ooooh “To cry in front of you, that’s the worst thing I could do,” is a glorious re-use of the lyric) but for the most part, they’re two people that care for each other deeply and will do what they can to make the other happy and, yeah, sweet. 

There’s less to dig into, I feel, beyond the ‘two people that complement each other wonderfully,’ but sometimes that’s just enough. (With the caveat, as ever, I do get the most drawn into the post-graduation dynamics, which does limit brittana interactions). 

I can’t speak as to the history of them because I wasn’t there, but I know they were a huge deal to a lot of people when the show first aired, so that definitely earns them a few points too. 

...I rambled anyway didn’t I?

[pftones3482]

THIS IS SO OBVIOUS BUT I JUST SAW UR ASK GAME. AND UH. YOU CAN JUST PICK ONE IF UD RATHER BUT CANDACE JEREMY AND STACY? BC HEHEHEH FAVORITISM AND ALSO BC I FEEL LIKE ITS ME AGAINST THE WORLD IN "OH YEAH THE TEENS ARE MY FAVORITE PART OF PNF" (LIKE BARELY BUT STILL)

*cracks knuckles* oh no I'm doing all three

How I Feel About This Character:

Candace: P obvious but I love her to pieces. I think she's been misunderstood by a lot of the fandom and if you don't like her, you're wrong. I really relate to her as an older sister, and as someone who genuinely feels at times like she's not good enough for the people around her.

Jeremy: Only blonde boy I respect /j. No but as a character he's such a sweetheart, and I really believe he loves Candace with all his heart. Also Mitchell Musso as his VA? Could not have done better tbh.

Stacy: My underrated fav, I would die for her. She is my favorite recurring side character, I love her dynamics with literally every single character, and I will forever be salty at the fact that she was not utilized more in the show overall.

Romantic Ships:

Candace: Canderemy is the number one, but Candace/Stacy and Candace/Vanessa are close second and thirds. Also am fond of Candace/Stacy/Jeremy where Jeremy and Stacy are for the most part platonic but just both dating Candace and very chill with it.

Jeremy: I really only ship him with Candace tbh. We don't really see enough of his friends to see any potential chemistry between them.

Stacy: Actually love her and Coltrane together, I think they're cute. And obviously as a secondary I ship her and Candace. I also think she and Jenny would be a cute couple, but like...a casual relationship.

Brotp:

Candace: Candace and Stacy, full stop. But if we're not talking the other teens, I love??? Her and Buford's relationship, I think it's hilarious. She def considers him a little brother but like. Significantly more obnoxious than her own (in a loving way)

Jeremy: Jeremy and Stacy, brotp for life. I LOVE their stupid little scene in CATU in the fuckin Slushy Dawg truck like come on

Stacy: See above lol (but also her relationship with Phineas and Ferb, 10/10)

Unpopular Opinion:

Candace: I like the idea of her becoming a lawyer. I know a lot of people rejected it because it came from AYA (ew), but it just makes??? So much sense for her character. Like trying to prove people wrong, finding evidence, research??? It's just right up her alley, it WORKS.

Jeremy: I like Jeremy and Candace together. I'm like...stunned that's an unpopular opinion in parts of the fandom, but I genuinely think he's a great boyfriend and that he and Candace have the healthiest relationship in the whole show (and one of the healthiest across all media tbh). I don't understand the people who don't like him, I really don't.

Stacy: Stacy is a more fleshed out and well rounded than almost any other recurring character in the show and the people who think she isn't haven't paid attention.

One Thing I Wish Had Happened:

Candace: I kind of wish, just once, she had been able to show her mom something the boys did (and not have it backfire on any of the kids). It's something that I think would have brought a little bit of closure to the show as a whole, and I really think Candace deserved to be believed after all that time. She also deserved an apology from her mom for all the things she said about her tbh.

Jeremy: I wish we could have seen his relationship with his band members more. I know he's obviously not one of the main characters, so we got to see him through Candace more often than not, but it still would have been fun to have a Jeremy-centric episode in a similar way we did to Stacy.

Stacy: I mean.....we've heard me rant about the Perry and Stacy plot more than I'm sure anyone wants to admit, so I'll pick a different one lol. But I wish we had gotten to see more of her heritage in the show. There were small little bits thrown in, like her eating with chopsticks, but it would have been nice to see Stacy take Candace and the boys to like...idk a cultural Japanese event in town or something. Very plausible within the realm of the show. And it would have made up for the.....hmm. the song in SBTY that like...looking back on is p cringe.

Okay that was all very longwinded and took forever but here we are. Thanks for the ask!!!!

[girlfrandletters]

Relaxing After An Exhausting Two Week Vacation and You Are Sleeping and I Have Too Many Thoughts, As Usual

We made it home after two whole weeks of non-stop adventure. From the high peaks in Iceland overlooking a lava field, to the terrifyingly non-structured traffic patterns of Paris, we have been moving, moving, moving. Taking pictures, videos, unceasingly laughing about silly things, horrible things, fun things. I've had such an incredible time with you over this vacation and have been using it as a time to get even closer to you.

I feel more connected to you after this trip, more in tuned with your body, your mind. (The fact that I sensed that all was not well when we were at this Parisian cafe and you were antsy... because of the dairy). I know these are things that you've always been able to sense of me, but the fact that I can now do the same for you means a lot. It means that these last two weeks of constant interaction and intimacy has made us fall even more in love with each other, not turned us a way from each other, as it does for some people. I'm not tired of you, I'm not sick of your voice, I don't feel the need to be in a separate room away from your laughter or smile. It has made me appreciate our relationship dynamic even more. The fact that we can have a day of hiking to to the point of exhaustion (or not breathing, in your case), go to the hotel room, and each do our own thing on our own phones - you with your emails, me with... whatever I was doing (I honestly don't even remember). Being in the same bed, but doing separate things.

I've always desired to be with someone who understands that while I do not want to always be interacting every. damn. second. I also want to be present with each other. Being able to be in the same room, on the same bed, lightly touching, but not talking, reading our individual things on our phones, decompressing alone, but together... that has been something that I always thought I was weird for wanting. If I don't want to interact with you, shouldn't I not want to be in the same room? Should I NOT want to talk talk talk every time I see you? (Which is now every day?) But I like that I - that WE - can decompress together and then be ready for the next adventure. I like that you can be napping and I can be sitting next to you, typing away at this note, while having my foot pressed against your back. I don't feel like I need your arms around me, that you need to be holding me. I like this spot that I am in right now.

I always used to be afraid of annoying you for wanting to always be in the same room, especially if I didn't want to actually talk. I thought you might think I don't want to be with you if I was in the room and not talking. But I see now that it is, in fact, the healthiest thing I could do. Be in the room. Love you. Appreciate you. But also focusing very hard on finishing the game I'm playing, the DAHTZ I'm doing, the book I'm reading. I see now that it's healthier to be so concentrated on my own thing, and get a thrill of excitement and love when you turn around briefly to say you love me, then go back.

I love that we are two different people, yet very similar in the way we handle this relationship. We are different enough that we don't get sick of each other (because let's face it, I'm sick of my own shit, and you'd be sick of yours. Imagine trying to talk to someone who also couldn't decide on what road to take with their life. Imagine me talking to someone who gets as flared up about people as I do). Our differences balance us out, but our similarities in what we want from this relationship binds us like glue. Superglue. GorillaGlue. You want someone who loves you and appreciates you, who shows you that you mean something, who sees your efforts to be a good partner and returns it in full (I think). I want someone who cares for me and is understanding of me.

You are an unending fountain of patience and understanding. You see my rages and you temper them. But you try to understand those rages and hear what I am saying. You don't just write them off as "overreactions during my time of the month" (which is apparently a situation that women use to verbally abuse the fuck out of their partners). You know that when I get angry, it's because I care. And you're able to bring me down from a Mount Vesuvius (volcano that utterly DESTROYED Pompeii) level of anger to a little spurt of boiling water from Geysir (the OG Geysir that we saw in Iceland that wasn't actually as impressive as expected. Similar to those tectonic plates).

I love you for your love of me. I love your for our easy chemistry. I love you for our adventures, and our happiness, and our life together. I hope that when you wake up, you'll have a little more patience left for my bullshit because I'm making the impulsive decision to cut my hair and I'm pulling the trigger this time).

I am happy for what we have, and I know we will continue to balance each other out and keep building on the chemistry of this relationship.

~Girlfrand

[fireemblems24]

Ao3 Ship Thoughts

To sate my desire to read Three Houses fan fiction and jump in on the shipping comments that have upticked recently, I decided to see what ships were the most popular on Ao3.

Some of it's exactly what I expected, and one in particular is just . . . what, why?

Ao3 is probably the closest you'll get to truly determining which ships are the most popular, or at least have the highest number of passionate fans. So I was curious to see who the top ships were. Here's the ones listed, in order:

Sylvain/Felix

Dimitri/Byleth

Edelgard/Byleth

Ferdinand/Hubert

Claude/Byleth

Dimitri/Felix

Dimitri/Claude

Felix/Annette

Caspar/Linhardt

Hilda/Marrianne

If I exclude the Byleth ships, Dimitri/Dedue, Byleth/Seteth, and Ingrid/Sylvain take up the three missing spots.

Byleth's Ships

I'm shocked. Really, truly shocked that Byleth/Lord is popular. Never wouldn't guessed. I am, of course, being sarcastic. If someone asked me to list who I think would show up in the top 10 most popular ships, the first three I'd list would be Byleth/Lord.

What I find more interesting is that Byleth/Seteth is the fourth option for Byleth. AO3 writers, I officially bow to your taste. It pleases me quite a bit that, if you're not going with one of the main lords, you all want Seteth. This I can agree with.

As for the Byleth/Lord ships, I feel kind of mixed on them. Every lord interacts with characters who have more depth than Byleth, but I still get the appeal. I'm going to deep dive into all of the lords relationships with Byleth later, but here's a quick summary.

Edelgard/Byleth is shoved down your throat so hard it's nearly impossible to ship Edelgard with someone else and even shortchanges her potential to have deep, non-romantic relationships because Edelgard puts Byleth on a pedestal that no one else can reach by her own dialogue.

Byleth's character arc works well alongside Dimitri's. While the relationship is pushed and fanservice-y scenes exist, the game leaves enough breathing room to see Byleth as a mentor/therapist/teacher figure, and Dimitri has no shortage of deep, meaningful relationships with others should you not want to do the whole self-insert thing. It's a good balance.

Claude and Byleth are the opposite of Edelgard and Byleth. They read almost more like friends than lovers. It's a breath of fresh air, honestly. Claude/Byleth seems like the healthiest possible romance for Byleth/lord because the lord in question here doesn't seem as dependent. That said, it lacks lacks romance and shipping fuel. I may complain about fanservice, but the Byleth/Claude dynamic does show why scenes of holding hands in the rain and teasing about badly drawn images might actually come in handy.

Edelgard's Ships

I'm not surprised, at all, that Edelgard has no popular ships outside of Byleth. Dialogue consistently shortchanges Edelgard's relationships with others by having her verbally, repeatedly put Byleth into a special "other" that no one else can reach for her.

Though, I guess I'm a bit surprised at the extreme lack of Edelgard/Hubert. I feel these two have a lot of shipping fuel and their supports left things unresolved. I've come across the sentiment in fandom many times that ship where things are tied off nicely with a bow leave less to explore and aren't as interesting, so I am bummed out no one seems interested in fleshing out Hubert/Edelgard more.

The outlook for Edelgard fanfic and me seems pretty limited. I don't like Edelgard/Byleth for various reasons beyond this scope of this post. I was kind of hoping there were some Edelgard/Hubert or Edelgard/Dorothea character study stuff that could help me get past how much Byleth gets in the way of Edelgard's character growth, but it seems fanfic writers only want to write about her and Byleth, which is a bummer.

On that note, I'm also surprised but also glad that Dimitri/Edelgard isn't a big thing. I thought it might be because tragedy of childhood friends turned enemies by events out of their control is popular. These two seem wildly incompatible though, so I'm glad people seem to agree.

Claude's Ships

Ok. Claude/Byleth. Expected. I'm feel positively towards the ship since they seem mostly good for each other even if it's not getting my heart all fluttering.

I'm surprised there's no Claude/Petra or Claude/Hilda. Those two are my personal favorites for him. I would've given Claude/Petra the edge given how they can uniquely relate to each other, but Hilda's scene in CF really gave Petra a run for her money. Even more so that Petra and Claude have obligations to two different nations and Hilda has no such complication.

But whattttt???? Claude/Dimitri? It's in the top 10?? More people ship Dimitri with Claude than Dedue?? I thought lord/lord might be popular, but I honestly thought Dimitri/Edelgard would take it, not Claude/Dimitri. They never really talk. So I'm a bit confused about this one. Though, intrigued by the idea.

Can I take a wild guess this partly stems from Claude having no real other viable M/M ships outside of M!Byleth and fics that plays up the chapter I'm about to play in AM (Dimitri saving Claude) or "what ifs" VW routes where Dimitri doesn't . . . you know.

I am really curious about this dynamic though. Because I like Claude - a lot. He's a character I want to get attached to. From experience, the fastest way for me to like a character is to give them a significant relationship I enjoy with a character I already love and the new character gets absorbed by proxy. So, fans, please, tell me more about this Dimitri/Claude. I am curious.

Dimitri's Ships

I am as unsurprised by Dimitri's being one of the biggest repeat offenders on here as I am by Edelgard being Byleth or bust. If Edelgard is written to fanservice the player by making the self-insert her one and only, Dimitri is fanservicing the player by being a shipping magnet. The writers knew what they were doing and who they were trying to appeal to with these two characters.

Dimitri/Byleth is a given. The game plays up the romance angle, but it's not at the expense of Dimitri's other relationships.

What I'm more interested in, though, is Felix/Dimitri. Between angsty CF stories, post-AM slow-burns, or fleshing out missing scenes from their shared childhood, there's just a lot to work with and a rich context to use their relationship - spun romantically - to explore each character. Felix and Dimitri's relationship is layered, complicated, heart breaking, and potentially healing. The fact they're two incredibly attractive guys doesn't hurt its popularity either, I'm sure. I'm not surprised it ranked that highly.

Claude/Dimitri surprises me. If two lords were going to get on this list together, I would've put bets on Edelgard/Dimitri. Since Claude and Dimitri's relationship is fairly unexplored, I'm really interested to see more about what exactly this is about. Don't get me wrong. I figured people would pair two main characters who are that good looking together, I just didn't think it would rank that high.

I am, slightly sad, that Dimitri/Dedue isn't a bit higher, but happy it seems to have some steam. I get it though. Dedue's not as flashy as some of the others on the shipping list and their relationship is so full of fluff by their A support it lacks the angst Felix/Dimitri and Dimitri/Byleth can draw out nor is as much of a play around with "what ifs" as Claude/Dimitri is.

Non-Lords/Main Characters Ships:

This list, more than anything else, shows AO3's penchant for writing M/M and F/F works for better or worse. Whether this phenomena stems from lack of representation, fetishizing by the fanbase, deeply ingrained gender roles making fictional M/F ships either less appealing to many fanfic writers, or M/F romances often getting assumed leading to less substantial writing compared to friendships - I don't know. Probably all of it.

There are a few surprises here for me. Felix/Sylvain is that popular? I figured they'd make the top 10, but #1 is surprising. Though, looking through the first page of the tag, it's true Felix/Sylvain have fics just for them, but it also seems like a common pairing in Dimitri/Byleth and Dimitri/Claude fics. It's the same story with Caspar/Linhardt, who I honestly didn't expect to see. They had a fair number of their own fics, but it seems many CF fics put them together rather than focus solely on them. Felix/Annette also balances being the main focus and an adjunct pairing. Marianne/Hilda seemed to have less fics where they took center stage and more they were one of many ships listed.

Ferdinand/Hubert having a lot of fics isn't surprising. I don't really care too much for it personally, but I can see the appeal of it.

I'm surprised Catherin/Shamir is nowhere in sight. Likewise, Rhea is absolutely nowhere. Kind of sad by the lack of adult characters in general. Especially Rhea. I think it's a pretty big sign of how the writing's treated her that such an important character is totally absent in this list.

Not surprised at all to see Felix also get so many ships. He, like Dimitri, seems designed on purpose to ship with many characters. I do really wish Dorothea and Seteth would get more attention though.

What do you guys think? Anything that surprised you? How do you feel about any of these ships and there popularity or lack thereof? Are there characters/pairings you wish got more attention? Any popular ships you despise (spill that tea)?

[phoenixtakaramono]

Character Design Thoughts for Shen Yuan & Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky in ‘The Untold Tale’

(This is a Follow Up to This Post)

Hello, @averydrearydiana! Loved reading through your tags! I’m excited that you’re excited! Since I’m also seeing comments on AO3 speculating about how our transmigrators are going to appear as in The Untold Tale, I might as well give my current thoughts and have this archived on tumblr for future reference.

A fun fact about TUT is that a lot of the imagery in the story is inspired by Chinese PVs and popular C-dramas and literature. Since TUT is conceived as a lovestory to SVSSS, one element that I’d wanted to incorporate is playful attempts at satirical genre deconstruction. With that comes with me playfully poking fun at some clichés or things I’ve noticed in Chinese works.

Shen Yuan’s Celestial Design

Before I talk about his mortal appearance, I have to give a lil context about his celestial design in the story. We already know what he looks like as the celestial fortuneteller in TUT’s cover art that I’ve already posted on tumblr. As everyone knows, I was heavily inspired by this Chinese PV:

undefined

(TUT ch1 - Excerpt)

Among the things I’ve noticed are the fictional characters with white hair. We have a whole subculture of fans liking male character designs with white hair in anime and animation. Taking that a step further, they’ve even shown up in C-dramas, i.e. Teng She from Love and Redemption (technically more blond than platinum white, but shhhhh, just let me have this), Dong Hua Dijun from Eternal Love of Dream aka Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms (rest assured, I’m aware of the source material’s controversy, but let’s not get into that here), etc. One of the tags for TUT is Opposites Attract. Luo Binghe’s color coordination is aligned with black and red mostly. Now, visually speaking, what’s the opposite of that?

The yin yang symbol.

Fun fact, besides black vs white, green (SY) is the complementary color of red (LBG) on the color wheel. Now taking everything I’ve said, to take it even one step further, my thought process at the time was, “why not go the extra mile then and just have SY be albino? Within context of the Heavenly Realm, that character design makes sense.” TUT is me subtly riffing off what I can (for the good ol’ meta humor), but making the content come across as a legitimate story experience. As Protagonist A and Protagonist B, LBG and SY have to look visually striking together. With all that said, let’s talk about....

(In reference to the original tumblr post)

Shen Yuan (Mortal)

I’ll keep some elements of his albinism from his celestial form (light sensitivity and pale skin mostly), but SY’s mortal form is essentially SY pre-transmigration but within context of the xianxia genre.

For his appearance, let’s just keep this Author’s Note^ and TUT’s summary in the back of our brains. This is the fanvid I was originally inspired by for SY’s mortal appearance:

undefined

(TUT Summary - Excerpt)

For what he wears, I’m currently feeling very heavily inspired by this PV:

undefined

His mortal appearance wouldn’t be considered as “strange” or “otherworldly” compared to the “ethereal fairy-like beauty” SY retains in the Heavenly Realm, but as a side-effect of the 【PROTAGONIST’S HALO】 and his +20 CHARISMA stat, he would still be considered attractive to people even when he takes on a mortal appearance. (Mainly, I like the idea of Bing gē taking large shots of vinegar seeing SY turning heads no matter which appearance SY takes on, and Luo Binghe glaring at these “insects” for even “daring to lay their unworthy eyes on his fated person.” The thought of it just makes me laugh.)

What I mean by how SY’s mortal form being very much based on how SY appeared pre-transmigration but in the xianxia genre context, I mean he’ll have his dark hair (but longer), a “scholarly air” (as a nod to his novelist background), dark eyes, and even his glasses technically (the divine monocle mentioned in ch3, which is also a subtle nod to Sha Po Lang and a riff on men wearing monocles in other Chinese works andit’salsoforeshadowingbutshhhh).

(TUT ch3 - Excerpt)

Shen Yuan originally was an author in his forties pre-transmigration, so I like the idea him having a mature air about him in the Cultivation World as well. So for both our Protagonist B’s celestial and mortal appearances, the idea is that you can look at him and immediately recognize him as a protagonist of the danmei setting. My only two prerequisites are that his appearance screams “hello, I’m Protagonist B” and that he appears in “scholarly” attire.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Mortal)

Keeping in mind the original tumblr post where I wrote my thoughts on who I’m transmigrating him as, currently I’m thinking it’s a combination of these two PVs for his mortal form:

undefined

undefined

As a nod to him being a successful novelist, I wanted him to also appear scholarly. A scholarly crown prince, if you will. For his attire, imagine all the C-drama clothing you’ve seen actors wear in period dramas, and you already have a good idea already of the direction I’m heading down.

As the prince of the cannon fodder emperor, I very much like the idea of Airplane perhaps having a baby face and brown hair (as a small nod to fanon!SQH from SVSSS) but with a great body (a huge source of inspiration are clothing worn by Prince Yu and Prince Jing of the three princes from the C-drama Nirvana in Fire). Since Airplane will also be able to select his Character Creation stats like Shen Yuan had, one thing I’m fairly certain is that he will max out his CONSTITUTION—because “game logic” and not wanting to die. (For those who don’t know, the CON stat in tabletop RPs essentially indicates a person’s overall health, wellbeing, and vigor checks...so him maxing it out is equivalent to him being as invulnerable as a cockroach. A high CON means overall healthiness, which means your character probably is full of energy and vitality, can heal rapidly, and will rarely get sick—if ever. Low CON usually means a higher susceptibility to sickness and disease, wounds that fester and linger, and a general fatigue would haunt you, etc.) Like how SY zeroed in on his CHA, Airplane would have prioritized +20 CON (+5 modifier), especially knowing the fate that’d await him as a prince and the vicious environment that is expected for palace intrigue plots (the harem is a big factor, with concubines and consorts and even the empress sabotaging each other—just to win the favor of one man). Against poison or whatnot which is a cliché in palace intrigue plots, rather than relying on luck, you typically stand a better chance of passing the CON check if you have a high modifier aiding your checks. He’s basically become impervious to illnesses, most poisons (probably being able to spring back quickly), and is considered the healthiest prince in all the mortal imperial line. <- This could be taken both seriously and humorously simultaneously.

Airplane Shooting Towards the Sky (Deity/ Celestial)

For Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī’s “actual divine body” that is currently asleep and won’t be awakened until Airplane completes his mortal trial to “regain his cultivation powers,” the face should obviously be similar but, as Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī, he would appear regal and dignified as a god of this world:

Imagine something along the lines of mortal Airplane as the man on the right, celestial Shen Yuan in the center, and deity/ celestial Airplane as the man on the left. I envision a respectable appearance that would knock the air out of Mobei jūn and make him recognize Airplane despite any visual dissimilarities, and in a way we have the Four Beauties of China: Luo Binghe, Shen Yuan, Mobei jūn, and Xiàng Tiān Dà Fēijī.

I will say I currently have an idea of making Airplane have “golden” eyes in both his celestial and mortal forms. (Spoiler alert: in my notes, I’d written down to give Airplane yellow eyes as an Easter egg to Yanxi Palace, I believe, where there was an episode where someone of the imperial harem schemed against the empress and almost had the newborn baby killed because that and the yellow skin was an inauspicious omen. We later find out through a timely intervention that the true reason was due to jaundice—because of the diet/ pregnancy cravings she ate for a period of time which resulted in her son’s symptoms. With Airplane’s high CON and another trope I’m bringing in which’ll have to do with the Medicine King’s Valley/ Valley of the Medicine King, his yellow eyes are the only side effect that lingered from that traumatic event which would have killed him had they gotten away with their scheme. A lot of palace dramas have to do with the vicious harem plots, so this would potentially be one such example.) The reason being that this is the identifying marker for MBJ to clue in that they’re the same man he will have loved. And I think that has romantic potential.

Misc.

Now addressing the other tags, yes, essentially speaking, Mobei jūn might just very well experience his very own Big Damn Reunion trope that Bing mèi had suffered from SVSSS. Poor MBJ. He’s in a tumultuous ride of his own with him considering Airplane as his own fated person, hahaha. But for the Moshang dynamic, I want him—a demon—to find himself taken with Airplane in his mortal guise—and subsequently his true celestial appearance once he finds out. I very much also want SY to jokingly snark to his fellow transmigrator-and-writing-colleague about him getting in a relationship with his own “creation” (MBJ). And Airplane would jokingly snark back about SY “ruining his ‘first son’ as well” (LBG). If you can read between the lines of that, then kudos. I’m glad to hear you’re looking forward to the palace intrigue.

I’m especially very happy to hear you’re looking forward to the descriptions! I personally love worldbuilding in the stories I consume I’m an interior designer and realtor irl, so I’m glad my love of house details and landscape, etc shows in TUT. For the pseudohistorical vibe, in the Mortal Realm, I will be referencing the Forbidden City of our Chinese history and a couple popular period C-dramas. Take the settings of period C-dramas like Ruyi’s Royal Love in the Palace, Yanxi Palace, and Nirvana in Fire as examples for what will be awaiting us when we finally meet Airplane in his mortal body. In the Heavenly Realm, the descriptions will be heavily referencing shows that contain aesthetics such as those of Ashes of Love, Love and Redemption, and Eternal Dream.

Take this with a grain of salt just in case I change my mind later on, but in the chapter when we meet Airplane for the first time, I probably won’t say which character he is in the first scene. I’ll give plenty of hints in the first scene so that you all can make your guesses before the big reveal, but I’m fairly confident you all or most of you will be able to pinpoint who he is among the cannon fodders. We’ll meet the emperor, who is discussing with his sons about the matter regarding the approaching calamity that is Luo Binghe. Then when we transition into the second scene, we’ll know exactly which “royal prince OC” it is that our beloved Airplane has transmigrated into, hahaha.

(*Keep in mind, for everything written above, some details are subject to change. Nothing is official until it appears in the story, or I’ve actually drawn my ideas out and posted online to both my tumblr and twitter. These are just my current thoughts.)

A goal of mine for TUT is to make the story widely accessible, meaning it doesn’t matter if the reader is new to the SVSSS fandom or aren’t familiar with the Easter egg references or meta jokes or subtext or even the Chinese culture, or even if English is not their first language. Having knowledge beforehand might help someone notice more hidden details in TUT, yes, but it is a humble wish of this writer for her esteemed readers to be able to dive into the story and get the enjoyable feeling like they’re reading a genuine danmei novel. It really makes me smile whenever I hear feedback that I am able to emulate that experience.

Very exciting developments indeed are in store!

[inbarfink]

Alright, so, if we are meant to see Cactus Steven as a metaphor for Meat Steven (which... which we are, I think that’s obvious) - who is the Meat Steven to Meat Steven’s Cactus Steven?

Okay, sheesh, I think that’s too many Stevens. Lemme try again:

If Cactus Steven is a metaphor for Steven, and Cactus Steven’s whole deal is that he was messed up by his creator not being an adequate parent - who is the creator-figure who messed up Steven?

It’ll be easy to use this to dunk on Rose again, because dunking on Rose Quartz is a favorite past-time for all of us in the SU fandom and also she is literally Steven’s ‘creator’. But I don’t think she fits the bill this time. 

I mean, it’s hard to say Rose ‘mistreated’ Steven or didn’t give him enough love and kindness considering the fact that she’s been dead all of his life and so she couldn’t really choose to give him more or less love either way. And as for Rose being a ‘Role Model’ for Steven... Yeah, early on he clearly felt the pressure to be like her - but that’s when he only had a vauge idea of what she was like. If anything, a lot of the termoil in his life right now comes from the pressure to be as different from Rose Quartz as he could possibly be. 

This isn’t calling out Rose, it’s about calling out these three.

Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl all love Steven very much, but that doesn’t change the fact they have all made some parenting screw-ups that are very much the direct cause of Steven growing up to be the messed up teenager we see in SUF. 

They are the ones who were Steven’s primary role models since the start of the show, much more than the ambigious idea of his mother. Literally one of the first moments of this episode is Steven rethinking his new gardening hobby purely because he mistook Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl being worried about him clearly not taking the events of Little Graduation well as them not particularly impressed with his hobby. 

He cares about their approval SO MUCH, you guys!

The CG Trio hasn’t been great at handling their personal baggage next to the Literal Child that they’re trying to raise, which is what shoved him into that Everyone’s Therapist role. And hey? What’s the first thing Steven does with Cactus Steven after showing him off to the Gems? That’s right! He vents all of his problems unto him!

And why does Steven ‘need to be needed’? I’ll tell you why, it’s because he grew up with ‘being useful for a team of monster-fighting superheroes’ being equated with ‘getting quality time from 3\4 of your family’. Look to episodes like ‘Together Breakfest’, that highlight Early Steven’s loneliness when living with the often-busy Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl. Or to Steven’s crisis at the end of “An Indirect Kiss”:

Missions are fun, ‘protecting humanity’ sounds good, but for Early Steven - the main driving force for him to be a Real Crystal Gem is that he feels that he can only get attention and affection outta his current caretakers if proves himself useful. He’s driven by the fear that if he’s not needed for Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl - then they’ll just abandon him. And being needed included both mastery of his powers and finding his place in the group dynamic by being the cheer-spearding and helpful little kid. 

And Steven’s big revelation about Cactus Steven is that it’s copying him. And... well... bottling feelings the way that Steven’s been doing, that’s also something the CG Trio has all done (and also Greg, who is otherwise the healthiest parental figure Steven had). And maybe the way the Gems always ended up with their bottled emotions blowing up in their faces should have clued Steven in that it’s not the right way to deal with things but... he also hardly ever seen them do the ACTUAL Right and Healthy Way to Deal with Things. Maybe what he learned that bottling all of your emotions until you reach a point of total collapse is just What You Do?

To their credit, I think the CG Trio HAS realized that they screwed up long before ‘Prickly Pair’ happened. Amethyst already started pushing against the idea that it’s Steven’s role to always bottle his emotions for the sake of the adults in his life back in “What’s Your Problem”. And “Snow Day” was all about the Gems (misguided) attempts to cheer up Steven, spend some time with him and show him how much they care about him. 

The problem is that just realizing that they fucked up might not be enough. While all Cactus Steven really needed was a hug and a honest apology, I think Meat Steven is definitely the pricklier out of this pair. 

[jakeperalta]

Hi. So I was watching a Gilmore Girls marathon yesterday..they were on season 7. I am familiar with the show even if I haven't watched all of it. What's the deal with Marty lying about knowing Rory to his gf? I think she was also pretty good friends with her at that point..so what was she supposed to do in that situation when he acts like they never met? Did he do that because he still had a crush on Rory or something? And I think he also hates Logan cuz Rory rejected him and got with Logan..right? Is it ever even explained? I kinda get why Rory wouldn't say anything..cuz it might cause problems for Marty's relationship..like she would ask him why did he lie..but he was just never gonna tell her either..which is weird. Idk what I would do in the situation..but they agreed to go to dinner..then Logan tells her the truth..which didn't help..but his gf was more mad at Rory for not telling her? What happens after that? I will watch it eventually but I find the whole plotline weird. Season 7 just seemed a lot different..I guess cuz Lorelai and Chris were together..and the Luke and April drama..idk. I mean I think Lorelai and Chris sort of work..more as friends maybe than being in love and he doesnt fit in her life or town like Luke does..but parent weekend was kinda cute. I kinda missed it..did she just randomly elope with Chris cuz she wanted to with Luke before she slept with him? She is just impulsive..Rory said she would talk her out of it lol. Also why do people say Rory and Logans relationship is unhealthy? I mean I know their relationship started differently..but he told her he didnt want a gf first and then became a pretty good bf after..and maybe they are not thinking of season 7 anyway...but from what I saw..it is. Even when they disagree, they talk it out, she took care of him when he got hurt, the love rocket! But I get this is all in season 7...so I guess that's why people don't like him. Even still, it doesn't make sense to compare it to Jess cuz they were still more serious than her and Jess before that too. I think all the relationships including Lorelai have good and bad things too. Sorry this is long..but I just wanted to ask you about these and how you felt about season 7 in general compared to the rest of the show?

yeah season 7 is definitely a bit of a weird season and does have a slightly different feel because the sherman-palladinos don't write it. I do still like it (more than a lot of fans I think) but a lot of the choices the writers make are sort of confusing. the whole thing with marty feels like they're trying to dredge up the old rory/logan/marty triangle even though that was barely a thing to begin with. I can see why rory was in an awkward situation not really knowing whether to go along with pretending they didn't know each other. it also just sort of fizzles out like rory apologises to lucy and it turns out lucy and marty breakup anyway so it was a sort of pointless storyline.

I can kind of appreciate the reasoning behind lorelai and christopher because I think chris was always sort of lorelai's one that got away and it was only in giving their relationship a real shot that she realises they weren't meant to be. I do enjoy watching their dynamic but the thing that bugs me with them in s7 really is just the fact they elope without telling rory, it seems out of character considering lorelai wouldn't marry luke until her rift with rory was over because rory is too important to leave out of something like that.

I agree about rory and logan and I think that's one of the strengths of season 7, because the original plan was probably just to have logan go off to london and choose his family over rory and that be the end of them, but actually developing their relationship is a lot more interesting. obviously they're still not perfect but I think rory and logan in season 7 (up until the last couple of episodes 😬) are one of the healthiest relationships and best examples of good communication on the show!

[mrs-nate-humphrey]

how would rank nate's girlfriends (in terms of their relationships with nate and them as people)? lmao

hmm. this is hard. what’s easy is saying i loved natessa best, and hated naterine most. more under the cut!

i think i’ve mentioned enough times that most people know i think nate & vanessa were the best - they both supported each other equally, their relationship was very 50/50, they both respected & valued each other, etc. their relationship was so real and so balanced, i really loved watching that play out and think it made no sense, the way they caused the dissolution of it? especially since after breaking up with vanessa he suddenly seems really into commitment - see how he is with bree buckley!! where was that energy when you were dating someone who was actually cool, natie! 

i don’t know where to put serenate, because i love serena as a character, and i think nate was very committed to that relationship from day 1, but i don’t think serena ever took him as seriously as he deserved to be taken / as HE took her, & i don’t see that particular relationship to be fulfilling in a long-term way for similar reasons that i don’t ship danessa romantically. their break up felt organic to me. that said, serena WAS his best friend and she did care about him and want him to be happy, which is more than you can say for most of nate’s girlfriends.

blair & nate may not have had any sort of romantic spark when we saw them on the show (& honestly, i think nate was initially not a very good bf to blair)- but blair did her best to be there for him, and the implication of childhood friends is that she was there, paying attention for him & being there for him for a really long time. i think blair/nate had a really strong platonic connection that the show never went into, and i think by virtue of that they still rank relatively high from a nate pov at least. 

jenny/nate is also complicated to place, partially because i’m always going to be partial to lesbian!jenny & probably won’t write her as anything else. that said, of late, i’ve been seeing people who love her as much as me, if not more, who see her as someone who likes men, and the last thing i want to do is start a fandom war over ‘is this female character with unspecified sexuality lesbian or bi?’ because those NEVER end well. anyway i’ve become more tolerant to interpretations of jenny that aren’t her being lesbian, and i HAVE read a decent chunk of really good n/j fic. i think they had a closeness on the show that neither of them had with anyone else, where they could talk about their trauma with each other, which makes them special to me. that said, i don’t think their canon dynamic was necessarily the healthiest - jenny often used nate as a means to like, obtain social power, and nate became more passive than ever and just let jenny do whatever she wanted? it’s interesting to me because i feel, theoretically, like nate & jenny could be really healthy together but the show didn’t do that. 

i have a really weird soft spot for jenate shippers though, ever since i got those hateful jennycourse anons. i just hope y’all are having a good time in fandom, and not being dragged down by losers who send anon hate. (unconnected fun fact: sending me ship hate only makes me ship something more! and feel the urge to validate people who ship it.)

now we have a ton of guest stars & relatively unmemorable girlfriends. 

i liked lola and raina!!! raina & nate > lola & nate, for me, tbh. raina & nate had such a childlike enthusiasm and during that day that they do things they’ve never done before, they were both SO happy and it was so cute. eating ice-cream together, talking about starting an ice-cream company, raina kicking nate’s ass at just dance... i wish we’d gotten more raina. i think i actually like raina x nate more than serenate, come to think of it. we didn’t have enough of her, though. raina would’ve been such a GOOD series regular. 

i liked lola & nate!!! lola reminds me of kelsi from hsm for some reason i cannot articulate, and her relationship with nate was VERY chill. low-pressure, drama free, etc, from what i remember. twas cute.

now we are into the less nice ones!

bree :( nate was so into this relationship and there were times when he seemed like he would genuinely be happy with her, but i disliked bree as a character so much that i just could NOT get behind his happiness. it baffles me how men settle for bree buckley after vanessa abrams.

juliet, next. i never liked juliet from the beginning, and i say this as a flex ;) idk she was just really pushy, and her whole “I Can Help You Improve Your Life Even Though You Have No Idea Who I Am” thing felt like a major red flag. i felt vindictive glee about my judgement being right on that one, lmao.

sage goes here, because we only have catherine & diana next. but to be really honest, i think the problem with the sage/nate relationship was nate. he should not have been dating her once he realised she was in high school. teenagers have crushes on people in their 20s!! it’s normal!!! it’s the responsibility of the adults to Not engage and to turn them down if they try to initiate something!! 

diana is the second worst to me - the fact that she’s working for nate’s grandfather, the hashtag workplace harassment of it all... it’s really devastating.

i’ve implied before on this blog that catherine (& naterine) was the worst thing - genuinely traumatic, and it’s implied that after a point, she’s manipulating him & all the sex is coerced, which is undeniably the most terrible. like... the implications are of caon rape, so it really does not get worse than this.

i have not counted jordan steele or ivy dickens (she was never really his gf, she just kissed him + i can’t take her really seriously, given that she was cheating on dan’s dad with serena’s dad and apparently this was completely unironic and non-satirical) because the wikia says that they never officially dated & unlike jenate, those 2 aren’t even Main Characters.

[mythgirlimagines]

Time for a brand new talentswap for this fine Tuesday! Give a warm wink and a smile to Myth, the Former Ultimate Animator!

——————————————————-

BACKSTORY AND TALENT

As a youngster, Myth‘s imagination and energy was all over the place. A combination of regular consumption of books, movies, and TV, and living in a rather creative household herself, made this Myth want to bring her odd creations into the human world. Ever since she entered her first ever short animation into a prestigious film festival for preteens, she has been on a roll ever since, with romantic and fantasy anime being her main bread and butter. Her most well-known work yet is “Up in Smoke”, a Romeo and Juliet-esque animated film chronicling the romantic escapades of a two female elemental spirits, a water and fire spirit, and the rebellion against their strict family. It earned raving reviews from critics for its adorable artstyle, its loveable characters, and its heartwarming portrayal of LGBT dynamics. In fact, most of her works have at least one LGBT character, or at least have some form of LGBT subtext. She may not have a lot of human friends apart from Wyre, but she has the support of both her friends and her massive fanbase. Even as a adult, she still has it going in the animation department. 

——————————————————-

RELATIONSHIPS

Wyre Anon, Former Ultimate Animal Breeder

Due to her wild and rowdy appearance and personality, Wyre never really had many human friends, but they compensate for this with a whole arkload of animal friends, with lizards, snakes and other reptiles being her main speciality. Myth and Wyre met as children, and quickly bonded with each other over their eccentric behaviour and lack of human friends. In fact, Wyre was the one who gave Myth the eared hat and tail that Myth regularly wears. Wyre regularly brings in live animals as a drawing reference, so Myth would learn how to properly animate animal movement. 

Outfit: Same outfit as the original, but with a cat design on the skirt, a brown fox ear headband, and a matching brown prop tail. 

Anon Scar, Ultimate Princess

As the princess of a small European country called Zunduros, Scar is the current heiress to the Zundorian throne. Myth was surprised to learn that her animated shows have quite the following in Scar’s kingdom. Despite constantly carrying herself as the “Heiress of the Untouched Shadow”, the facade quickly breaks away to reveal a heavily-concerned and somewhat maternal girl, once she realises that this entertainment giant doesn’t exactly have the healthiest living habits. Nowadays, Scar is always on standby, making sure that Myth gets her daily food and rest. 

Outfit: A black Gothic Lolita-style dress, with white lace and red bows on the front, dark red stockings, red heels, red gloves, a red rose holding up her side bun.

Fusion Anon, Ultimate Musician

As the lead singer of the soft rock band, “QUIZ BOWL”, Fusion’s songs mainly center around family and parental love. Fusion’s personality matches the subject matter of his songs, being paternal and kind-hearted, despite what his height and wild fashion would suggest. Imagine Myth’s shock when this 6’3 tall boy with a large afro dyed various colors and a leather jacket claimed to be a massive fan of her adorable animated films. Ever since Myth found out and gave him an autographed art book, Fusion has been in special interest heaven. Nowadays, Fusion helps compose music for Myth’s animated films. 

Outfit: A large afro dyed various colors, a black leather jacket with an autistic pride badge on the front over a red t-shirt, black leather gloves, ripped black pants, black boots, a guitar case strapped to his back, color contacts. 

Fusion Anon II, Ultimate Photographer

As the girl behind the famous photography blog ,“bustasnap”, Fusion II has traveled all over the world to take pictures of all the scenic landscapes she can find. Upon looking at Fusion II’s photos, Myth knew that she had to use them for background references. This has led to the mysterious disappearance of many of Fusion II’s printed Polaroids. Upon finding out that Myth was the one behind the theft of her pictures, Fusion II chose to print the pictures and hand the copies to Myth. From there, Myth learned that Fusion II is a kind girl underneath her sarcastic and flippant demeanour.

Outfit: Same outfit as her original design, but with her prized Polaroid strapped to her right side. 

Just Anon, Ultimate Gamer

Dominating popular MMORPG after popular MMORPG under the name, “anon.”, Janon spends all of his time laying down and not moving from his territory. Despite Janon’s adorable appearance and fashion sense, Janon is foul-mouthed, cynical, and hates just about everybody in this goddamn con. Well, almost everybody. He has a massive soft spot for the two Jr. Ultimates of the convention. Janon and Myth like to organize little slumber parties and nap underneath a large pile of blankets, pillows and stuffed toys, where certain bothersome Anons wouldn’t bother them.  

Outfit: A Pikachu hoodie, black headphones with the Overwatch logo on each ear, formal wear and face-mask from original design.

Sparkle Anon, Former Ultimate Traditional Dancer

Coming from a long and prestigious line of traditional dancers, Sparkle’s dancing is truly a spectacle to witness on stage. Spicing up her dance moves with glitter and sakura petals, Sparkle’s moves look like they’re straight from a high-budget fantasy movie. Topping off her stellar appearance is a loud and bombastic attitude that truly shines on stage. Just like with Fusion, Sparkle is also a major fan of Myth’s works, particularly her magical girl series. Myth regularly watches Sparkle perform in order to help with animating dancing and the movement of her characters. 

Outfit: An orange kimono with pink flower designs all over it, a purple obi, white socks, brown gets sandals, a sidetail decorated with flowers, glasses from original design. 

Egg Anon, Former Ultimate Lucky Student, and Wet Sock, Former Ultimate Yakuza

Originally the twin children to one of the biggest underground yakuza chains in the world, Egg has since been cast out of the bloodline for their unpredictable luck cycle managed to nearly doom their entire bloodline, and it’s only through Wet Sock‘s control that the entire bloodline didn’t go kaput. Upon hearing about Egg and Wet Sock’s backstory, Myth thought that this would make a good premise for a film. Needless to say, despite their cursed and violent concepts, Myth managed to look past them, to find deeply disturbed individuals that just need a hug. 

Egg’s Outfit: A bandaged left eye, a half-shaved haircut, the same same clothes from their original design, but with a clover design replacing the bird designs. 

Wet Sock’s Outfit: An eyepatch on their right eye, a half-shaved haircut, a black suit just like Fuyuhiko’s.

Curious Anon, Jr. Ultimate Nurse

As the adopted child of a hospital worker, Curious ended up learning everything that they can about the medical field and the human body. Curious has became famous and beloved at the hospital for their kind-hearted and levelheaded personality, as well as their excellent bedside vigil. Because of Myth’s constant neglect of food and sleep, Curious is constantly on standby to make sure that Myth gets the proper amount of nutrition needed to function as a proper human being. Myth may not need Curious constantly hovering over her, but she appreciates Curi’s concern for her. 

Outfit: Part of their hair tied into a small ponytail, a mint green face mask, same outfit from original design, but with a white apron with a red cross design on the front, and mint green scrubs.

Anon Nerd, Former Ultimate Mechanic

Famous for his uncontrollable temper and strength, as well as his equal caliber intelligence, Anon Nerd is known for making functional machines out of literal garbage. Unfortunately, Nerd’s entire attitude doesn’t exactly make him a massive hit with other people at his mechanics store. Despite Nerd’s own workaholic tendencies, Myth just makes Nerd so angry with her blatant disregard for her own health. Nerd regularly tries to get this adorable animator to get her eyes off her drawing tablet and just go to sleep, even if it means knocking her out with a wrench. 

Outfit: Ruffled-up hair, grease stains all over his body, a black and yellow jumpsuit, black and yellow boots and gloves, scouter from original design. 

Eldritch Anon, Ultimate Team Manager

Despite Eldritch‘s jittery and paranoid behavior in public, Eldritch is unbelievably confident when it comes to leading a group. Eldritch is the number one trainer in “Fort Ritchie‘s Boot Camp”, a training center that trains children to take on the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Ignoring the whole “apocalypse” pretense, Eldritch is really good at motivating individuals to take action. Upon witnessing Myth’s poor health, Eldritch has taken it upon himself to prevent Myth from becoming zombie bait, but Myth really doesn’t want to exercise, and seems content with being zombie chow. 

Dream Anon, Ultimate Chef

As the daughter of a professional TV chef, Dream can cook healthy meals to feed all her teammates on her volleyball team. Dream is famous for being just a big bundle of joy and sunshine, as well as her energetic and overzealous attitude when it comes to cooking. Dream has taken upon herself to cook Myth only the best of meals, in order to make Myth actually drop her work to go eat with all the others. Don’t get Dream wrong, she does enjoy a lot of Myth’s works, particularly her shonen works. But would it kill Myth to eat something with actual nutritional value?

Outfit: A white chef uniform, a pink bandana tied over her head, a pink ascot, shoes from original design. 

Iris Anon, Reserve Course Student

When you first meet up with Iris, the first thing you would notice about her is her insane clumsiness and her almost stupidly optimistic viewpoint. Despite first impressions, Iris actually managed to get into Hope’s Peak Middle School’s reserve course on academic prowess alone, which makes her a veritable genius. Despite not even having an actual talent, Iris doesn’t let that, or the horrible quality of the Reserve Course get her down. Iris watched a bunch of Myth’s anime with her girlfriend, and she is currently overjoyed to be spending the con visit with the girl behind all those masterpieces. 

Outfit: A white dress shirt, a red bowtie, a dark blue skirt, white knee-length socks, black slip-on shoes, bandages on her arms and legs, glasses, star clip, and braids from original design.

Purple Anon, Ultimate Swordswoman

As the daughter of an ancient lineage of sword fighters, Purple has been taught the art of the blade by her elders, and yet she manages to surpass them all in blade-to-blade combat. Purple is hardly ever seen without her trusty claymore strapped to her back. Despite what her talent would suggest, Purple is very timid and cowardly, thanks to her sheltered upbringing. Because of her sheltered and old-fashioned upbringing, Purple also speaks in very antiquated vocabulary that is hard to understand. Myth may not understand a word that Purple is saying, but Purple would make a great fantasy protagonist. 

Outfit: A black headband, gakuran top, a long purple skirt, lilac stockings, black slip-on shoes, a purple scabbard on her back that holds her claymore.

This series centers around this adorable animator who is unhealthily attached to her work, as the people around her show massive concern for both her and her health. 

——————————————————-

PERSONALITY

Ever since she was a child, Animator!Myth has always been into the arts and a very creative soul. Her imagination is all over the place, which helps her with her works. Aside from that, Animator!Myth is also kind-hearted and happy to lend a helping hand to people who needs it. Unfortunately, Animator!Myth has a little bit gaping flaw in her personality: she is a MASSIVE workaholic. Not wanting to let down her loyal fanbase, Animator!Myth works day and night on her animated works, much to the understandable concern of her family and friends. This unfortunately means she goes for days on end without stopping for a snack or nap break, making this already childish and loopy girl somehow even more childish and loopy. Her friends are trying their best to teach Myth that overexerting yourself is no good, and taking constant breaks is the key to success. 

——————————————————-

APPEARANCE

Animator!Myth is bespectacled and slightly chubby. Myth‘s undyed hair goes down to her shoulders. As for her clothes, on her head, Myth wears a fuzzy blue hat with ears, an ahoge, and brown stripes. Myth wears an oversized blue jacket with yellow details, that holds an animator’s tablet in one of the pockets, over a pink shirt. She also wears a red skirt, black stockings, and yellow rainboots with a paw print design on the bottom. Clipped to the bottom of her skirt is a tail that matches the hat she wears.  ——————————————————-

Well, now that I have finished this week’s talentswap, let me know what you think! In the meantime, have fun and be merry!

-Fusion Anon

---

It would be so awesome to be an animator! I love this talentswap!

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

What’s Kirsty’s relationship with Jess like? (I know you touched on it a bit in the Yale ask but I wanna know more!)

Short answer: “true friends don’t judge each other, they judge other people together” meets “slow burn found family”

Long Answer: oh boy buckle up we’re getting an Outline™ bc I really don’t know how to sum it up bc it’s a lot of growth and shit!  it’s like... many many paragraphs so I’m tossing this under a cut bc i don’t want to be murdered lmao

(I’m just... v proud of how much work went into planning out their whole arc and how the dynamic shifts and how certain plots play into things and I just wanted to share it all I couldn’t chill and I’m like half sorry but thank you for this ask I love them)

So when they first meet they don’t really get along because they’re just generally both kind of abrasive and shit, like it’s not personal on either end but they both generally push people away so that they don’t open themselves up to get hurt which makes their first couple of meetings kind of rough

but then there’s the dinner at Lorelai’s and Kirsty went outside because the whole vibe was just setting her on edge, and she hears the Lorelai rant bullshit (hi lorelai he’s seventeen and your an adult grow the fuck up) and as he leaves she goes after him — she tries to apologize for “my mom being... well, the way she is” and Jess immediately snaps back that he doesn’t want her pity, and Kirsty just shrugs and goes “nah dude I get it, parents suck.  My dad is a piece of shit and my mom, well, you’ve met her... not to mention she named Rory after herself and me after my piece of shit dad so I’m sure you can guess who her favourite child is” and just keeps it very chill and Jess takes that a lot better than pity and they end up talking for a bit and are like “yeah okay I can get along with you” and like they aren’t close but they both like pissing Taylor off and giving Luke ulcers so it works well enough

Kirsty absolutely flips her shit when Taylor calls the town meeting about Jess like she tears into him more aggressively than anyone has seen before and basically tells them all to shut the fuck up and “let him at least settle in before you pull out the fucking pitchforks” and goes off on them all for trying to bully a seventeen year old kid out of a town he didn’t even choose to move to and like Luke still gets there and flips his shit too but Kirsty is completely feral calling out the hypocrisy and telling them to get off their high horses and pull their heads out of their asses — like they might not be close but Kirsty is so far beyond pissed at the idea of Taylor calling a meeting literally just to get everyone to hate Jess that she can’t just stand there quietly 

Fast forward a bit and they’re getting along a bit better, Kirsty spends so much time at the diner that she and Jess have taken to talking during Jess’ shifts and Kirsty helps out when she can so they’re starting to actually get along, Kirsty has figured out the tells for when Jess just can’t deal with people anymore and will make up all sorts of excuses to get him a break (anything from ‘hey can you read over this essay’ to ‘hey did you remember to grab that book from upstairs’ to basically anything else that comes to mind) which he appreciates and when he’s on his breaks he sits at the counter to do homework with her

By the Bracebridge dinner they’re like actually friends, and when Jess meets Tristan for the first time he’s fully prepared to hate him but when he sees how shitty Lorelai is being about Tristan he’s just like “okay guess we’re in the same boat” so the three of them end up working together to stay as far away from Lorelai as possible for most of the night and Kirsty is just very grateful for the buffer because like she just can’t deal with Lorelai and Jess remembers her comment on the “you can guess who the favourite is” and starts to see how much Lorelai’s disapproval actually bothers Kirsty

fast forward even more to Christopher coming to town and with Sherry and all that and oof Kirsty is not okay like her relationship with Christopher is terrible and Jess kind of knows this already (based on the fact that Kirsty asked Luke to stand in for her dad at the debutante ball because she wanted nothing to do with Christopher; and he’s heard her bitch about him before) but when Christopher and Sherry come to the house, Kirsty excuses herself for “dance rehearsal” and runs over to the diner and Luke is out at the moment and Kirsty is Not Okay™ and Jess is the one who sees her just standing in the doorway shaking and clearly about to start crying and he just quietly leads her up to the apartment and sits down and lets her sort of collapse on the couch and she tells him about Christopher and about how unreliable and flakey he always was and how Luke has always been more her dad than him and he always shows up and tries to play happy family and then bails as soon as he gets bored or something comes up and about how now he’s apparently changing and becoming mr family man and why wasn’t she worth changing for

and jess has no idea how to handle this whole breakdown because he's a little bit emotionally stunted (which is fair and so is she) but it definitely resonates with him and he ends up sitting next to her and telling her that if Christopher wasn’t willing to change for she and Rory then it’s because of him not her and trying to comfort her even though he really doesn’t know how, and ends up opening up to her about Liz and his life before Stars Hollow too.  It’s more than either of them have shared with anyone before and it’s very strange tbh — at this point they’re definitely veering into the friend category but neither of them would admit it, not to mention they don’t talk that often because neither of them wants to deal with a Lorelai Gilmore Hissy Fit, you know?

(also a sidenote, Tristan is completely chill about literally all of this like he and Kirsty are the healthiest relationship and have very good communication skills now and he's just like “hey I don’t live nearby and Kirsty hates cars, I’m just glad she has someone to talk to”)

and okay so now we’re at the episode where Lorelai accuses Jess of stealing the bracelet and this is just as Kirsty is getting home, and Lorelai is more of a bitch than in canon (but seriously Lorelai grow up and let Dean deal with his own relationship issues ugh) — as Jess is leaving, Kirsty turns around and calls Lorelai out on being an absolute bitch and on the fact that she’s an adult and Jess is seventeen and to grow the fuck up because she’s acting like her mother and believe it or not she doesn’t actually know everything.  Kirsty then sort of storms off, and Jess ends up walking with her and just goes “hey, thanks for that” and Kirsty goes “don’t mention it” and they just sort of laugh and part ways so she can go to Miss Patty’s but anyways I’m soft for Kirsty fighting the entire town for him

then we have the hilarious scene of Kirsty looking Dean in the eye, knowing full well that he literally just saw her getting out of Tristan’s car, and going “yes I’m completely in love with jess is that a problem” and jess going “oh Kirsty I’m really flattered but while you were gone I started talking to Paris and I think I’m in love” and they’re just such little shits I love them

and okay now I promise we’re getting close to the speedrun part of this relationship lmaooo

so Kirsty is the one who ends up tutoring Jess and like he’s not on the verge of flunking because Kirsty has already been forcing him to do his homework semi regularly but he has trouble staying on task (he’s a mood) so Kirsty is basically there to make sure that he gets all of his final projects done — they take a break to go get ice cream and the car accident happens and Kirsty gets injured and she’s having a panic attack and she begs Jess to stay with her so he does, she lies to the hospital staff and tells them that he’s her step-brother so that he can stay with her because she’s afraid of hospitals and doesn’t want to be alone.  He stays with her until they hear Lorelai and then sneaks out the window; at this point Kirsty has finally called him her friend — while high on painkillers and introducing him to Richard and Emily, who she had him call because she knew Lorelai wouldn’t (they like him much better in this !verse than canon because Kirsty knows how to play them lmao)

Lorelai still pitches a fit to Luke and Jess still leaves and jesus christ when Kirsty finds out about all of that she flips her shit even more than she did at the town meeting, calls Lorelai petty and selfish and a shit mother and tells her that she’s more like Emily than she wants to admit, and this is very possibly when Kirsty finally drops one of my favourite lines of hers — “you and Rory might be best friends first and mother daughter second but I never needed a best friend, I needed a mom.  And now I don’t want either.” — and crashes at either Luke’s or Miss Patty’s (and is not thrilled when she finds out that Lorelai called Christopher and that he’s now back and awnting to play dad again)

fast forward and Kirsty knows Jess is in New York but they haven’t talked and Sookie’s wedding happens and Kirsty and Lorelai have their huge fight (this is the other point where that favourite line might happen, I’m torn) and Kirsty packs up and moves to New York for the summer to play Victoria in Cats on Broadway

She gets to New York and she’s staying at a hotel provided by the production company and she’s lonely and miserable and she’s never really been alone before and low and behold she stumbles into some diner on the verge of tears (just a bad day and everything is too much and she’s about to break) when all of a sudden she hears “wow, deja vu.  Coffee?” and she turns around and low and behold it’s Jess Mariano.  She accepts and sits at the diner until his shift is done and then they leave together and catch up and he offers to be her tour guide, and over the next week they become really close (all of both of their coworkers think that they’re siblings at this point) and blah blah lots of details I won’t get into bc seriously how many paragraphs is this thing, but Emily and Richard end up renting Kirsty this huge penthouse apartment and she manages to convince them to let Jess live with her and they become super close and kind of codependent and skip right over the friend stage to the “this is my brother, Jess” stage lmao and basically everyone in stars hollow except for lorelai and rory (bc kirsty and lorelai aren’t talking for most of the summer and rory is in dc so she and kirsty aren’t talking much either) know because they all came out for her opening weekend and everyone thinks it’s hilarious and their new york friends think Luke is their dad bc he called them “my kids” without thinking about it

also Tristan visits as much as he can get away with and seriously he and Jess become really good friends too and they’re just like, an iconic trio okay I love them

fast forward they go back to stars hollow together the day of the summer festival thing and that’s when Lorelai and Rory find out about their friendship and Lorelai is Not Happy and then Tristan shows up and the three of them are being adorable and having a great time and Lorelai flips out and there’s yet another fight (seriously Lorelai pls stop assuming you always know best, you don’t) and the fight is angsty but there’s the softness of jess finally really accepting that Kirsty meant it when she said that things weren’t going to change when they got back to stars hollow and they don’t and it’s just great

and in season 3 they’re just still all soft and codependent and Lorelai is forced to accept that Jess knows Kirsty better than she does and Rory has some really fun “what the actual fuck” moments watching Lorelai & Luke and Kirsty & Jess have the exact same arguments because Kirsty did inherit Lorelai’s ability to annoy people into doing things like participating in town events and season 3 is just very very soft and there are so many scenes/episodes that I’m so excited for

and anyways this was so long and I’m sorry but also I’m not because like i just really love this dynamic and I want to just like skip two seasons and just write new york & season three because i love them so muchhhhhhhh and anyways yeah 

TLDR they’re a slowburn rivals to found family with a speedrun towards the end and i fucking love them so much

[just-like-playing-tag]

Ayshe

Asked by Anonymous. Thank you very much for the ask!!!

Favorite thing about her: Mh she's such a cool girl. It doesn't have much to do with her personality, but I like how she was used storytelling wise, as a mean to show that demons - even human eating demons - can be as caring and sweet and kind as any other human begin; the fact that a different character besides from Emma saw the "humanity" in demons was really important, as was her taking sides against Norman - that was, anyway, a very interesting plot twist on its own.

This stuff make my favorite thing about her, but if it has to be about her personality, then I think she's really cool!!!! I don't know she seems like a very interesting character with grey morals it would have been very nice to know more about (sighs)

Also, her character design is definitely another of my favorite things about her. She's stunning!!

Least favorite thing about her: You see it's just,,, there's so many interesting characters in this series and they all look like having so much p o t e n t i a l,,,,,, like every single of them would be worthy of a spin-off of their own. I get that it really wasn't possible to deepen more characters within only 181 chapters, but still it is kinda sad to see all these great characters being introduced and then like, forgotten about as soon as they stop being relevant to the plot.

Favorite line:

"Bitches thought I was an illiterate savage who couldn't talk

the truth is

I don't talk with peasants”

For real tho such a cool plot twist 🤧🤧

brOTP: OK HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT Ayshe x Gilda x Don have one of the best dynamics in the whole manga and I love them so much and I want to see them interact more and I just think they're neat 😔💕💕

OTP: Pretty much same as above? Though I think I prefer their plaonic dynamics.

nOTP: Uhm. Pretty much every other ship lol. You see, I consider Ayshe as someone who doesn't trust anyone; Gilda and Don have earned her trust in the sweetest, healthiest way possible; I really like the idea of them being the only people she really trusts, and who she actually feels safe being around. I believe they would help her get closer with the others, but she would never have with them what she has with Gilda and Don, as those two are the first humans she sincerely trusted, and loved.

Unpopular opinion: 🤔

I don't know if this counts as unpopular but: it actually bothers me tons not to know her age?? And I've never seen anyone talk about it. I don't know maybe it's not that relevant, but I think it heavily influences what her dynamics with the other characters might be like.

Random headcanon:

Ok I know according to the last chapter she becomes some sort of dog breeder but I have been thinking? Cool detective Ayshe? You know, like the one who never misses a shot? Maybe someone specialized in finding people (she uses her dogs!!!). Also I mean take a moment to imagine AYSHE IN A FRENCH COAT AKDNBFJSKSNDBSJSJBDBDNZBX

Once in the human world she moves in with Gilda and Don (yes I really like this ship- you wouldn't tell would you). They often have movie nights; her favorite genre is the apocalyptic horror one: she loves pointing out how badly prepared the protagonists are, and laugh at how much they lack practical survival skills (she can be heard saying “those freaks wouldn't survive a day in the demon's world” once every few minutes). The only time she actually got moved, and even shead a few tears, was when the dog from I Am Legend died; both Gilda and Don know they can never address the matter with anyone if they want to stay alive (but wouldn't have done that anyway because they're swell guys)

Song i associate with her: Uhm probably something grunge would fit her but since I don't know a thing about grunge: this quote from Time Machine - Ingrid Michaelson

If I had a time machine

And if life was a movie scene

I'd rewind and I'd tell me

Run

(Tthe whole song doesn't fit her like, at all, but I really like that one quote, I think it gives tons tpn vibes in general? Love the hype vibes of that song, it's a bop)

Favorite picture of her:

Munch

Send me a character and I’ll list

[bigskydreaming]

Part of the reason I lean so hard into the juvie origin for Dick in particular, as well as why his cop storyline pisses me off so much in light of that (given they were both the work of the same writer and wtf, why would a kid who got screwed so massively by the system ever grow up wanting to become PART of it? even to ‘fix it’ given that would require still working in service to it at least part of the time, in order to move up the ladder to positions of power within it in the first place? BUT I DIGRESS).

Where was I? Oh yeah. So part of the reason for that is because I view each of the Batkids as having their own specific metaphorical niche, based on their origins.

What I mean by that is like: the true villain of Jason’s origin and backstory is poverty as a whole. The impoverished status of his parents and his surrounding community are definitive stressors that lead directly into all the most critical elements of Jason’s origin: his father working as a henchman for various crime lords, which pretty directly loops back and into his alcoholism and abuse of his wife and son....his mother’s spiral into addiction after turning to drugs as a means of self-medicating for all the stress and shit in her own life which she needed an escape from....Jason’s own lack of options as a child seeking to support himself on the street and with petty crimes, as well as his unwillingness to put his faith in foster care or any adults in general, given how they as a whole tended to look at him, specifically due to his impoverished background and thus making assumptions about his intellect, potential, and overall ‘value’ to society.....

Jason is who he is as a character for a variety of reasons, but none moreso or more directly than the poverty that acts as a direct anthropomorphized antagonist for him....and thus, is the focal point of where Jason directs his attention and his own antagonism as an adult. When Jason seeks to take control of crime in Gotham, when he targets drug dealers, etc....its really the deliberately inflicted and perpetuated impoverished state of Gotham’s lower class that he’s combating. And that works perfectly for Jason as a metaphor and a character direction, and gives him a clearly defined niche in the Batfamily.

Then we have Tim, who I would argue has an origin and backstory defined by the apathy of the upper class as an antagonist, and thus, the perfect metaphor for him and his character direction. The self-centered tendencies of his parents, his history of neglect and the necessitated self-reliance and independence it instilled in him from a very early age - which could have very easily turned him into a copy of his parents, with that self-sufficiency turning into a mirror of their self-centeredness and repeating the cycle if he hadn’t actively broken the mold with his actions by seeking out Batman and picking him as someone, ANYONE to try and help, rather than focus entirely on himself and his own needs....and in near adulthood, Tim has become someone whose chosen focus tends to be on trying to repurpose his wealth and resources for the good of all of Gotham...essentially, the very people that for so long his parents and fellow upper class ignored and exploited.

Of course, Tim is still a product of his background as much as he’s aware of the flaws in it, much like Bruce himself, so similar to Bruce, Tim will always look at his wealth/resources in terms of the good he feels he can do with it, which he sees as more than any good that would come from just directly giving it away. In contrast to Jason and Dick, who come from entirely different backgrounds and have always prioritized their own more modest or otherwise-gained means of income or resources, even when investing in projects intended to help others - they look at things in terms of the good they feel they can do WITHOUT needing money, or as much money. Its the result of coming into resources from entirely different directions....which are sustained even as they then continue their trajectories in those opposite directions but now with added resources under their belts.

Cass and Damian are the two Batkids I would love to see explored more in juxtaposition and contrast to each other, because I feel they occupy very similar but opposite niches, the same as Jason and Tim represent the stresses of poverty vs the apathy of excess. Because Cass and Damian represent the two flip sides of parental expectations....BUT in their case, they start out on the same page. What I mean by that is the metaphorical antagonist of both of their origins and backstories IS the bogeyman of parental expectations taken to the absolute extreme. They both exist in at least one of their parents’ eyes to essentially be what their parent wants or expects them to be. An end result of carefully planned and executed molding of a next generation, with no real consideration for what that next generation wants for themselves.

They simply diverge in how they both break free of those expectations and the limitations built into them, and where they go from there. Damian finds his niche (or comes closest to it IMO, since I feel a lot of writers, at least lately, have regressed him from the considerable progress he made in this regard, and where and when he was his most fully...DAMIAN).....essentially, Damian is most fundamentally Damian, I feel, when he’s able to put aside what he thinks Talia and Bruce want or expect him to be...and instead simply prioritizes figuring out what HE wants to be and what that looks like, even if it ends up having no connection to the League or even Batman at all. Or at least not in the ways he always expected those connections to look like, as a result of the expectations that were drilled into him from an early age. Damian’s metaphor is pushing back against selfish parental expectations by saying I no longer care what your expectations are, they have nothing to do with me.

In contrast, Cassandra finds her niche in the fulfillment of not the expectations precisely, but the HOPES of a NEW parental figure, aka Bruce. Cassandra, out of all the Batkids, most fully CHOSE Bruce and everything he represented and offered, as much as Bruce chose her. She was the oldest of all the Batkids - except for perhaps Duke - when she met Bruce in the various continuities, and she had the maturity and life experiences to at least be able to recognize the different life path Bruce stood for and offered, as a contrast to the one David Cain had laid out for her and forced upon her from birth. So Cassandra differs from Damian in that while Damian grows the more he breaks away from the mold of Batman, Cassandra finds herself the closer she gets to what Bruce has always wanted Batman TO be, in the example he puts forth and holds up to show her that there’s more to life, to her, to what she can be, than simply what David told her existed.

Its no coincidence that she’s so often cited both in universe and out of it as one of the, if not the, ideal successor to the cowl.....not just because of how much she embodies the specific ideals and yes, expectations, that the cowl holds....but because she CHOSE that, with INTENT. Unlike even Dick, who Bruce has at times said is what he always wanted Batman to be....Cass is this as well, but Cass is this deliberately, because Bruce found her, and then he held up these ideals and convictions and said ‘this is what I prioritize, this is what I think is important’ and Cass looked at those and said yes, good, I like those, I like what they stand for, I want to BE those.....and she found fulfillment in fulfilling Bruce’s hopes for a next generation even without either of them FORCING that fulfillment on her, unlike what David did or tried to do. And that’s what makes all the difference in the world in Cassandra’s situation and in her and Bruce’s dynamic....and is a large part of the reason, IMO, that they have one of the strongest and healthiest dynamics of any that exist between Bruce and one of his kids.

Duke is a very unique niche as well. In short, the true villain of Duke’s origin is an ACTUAL supervillain....which coincides thematically with the direction of Duke’s character as a meta with superpowers himself, something that historically is pretty unprecedented within the Bat franchise, at least as far as Batman’s allies and direct family go. Bruce’s distrust of meta’s, or at least discomfort with them, is well established and longterm, so Duke represents an extreme break in tradition for Bruce, as well as having hallmarks to the sphere of thought that Batman and other vigilantes, by their very existence, bring about the existence of supervillains like the Joker and the Riddler. I’m still working out the kinks in this metaphor, tbh, in part because of how relatively new Duke is, he doesn’t have even the decade worth of content and story direction that Damian has by this point, to point to how some directions serve a character better than others....but overall, I see the most potential in Duke as a metaphor and niche in the Batfamily as like....as the Signal, he’s the embodiment of potential, once allowed to be REALIZED, rather than shied away from because of pre-existing beliefs or perspectives. Of course, the fact that Duke is black can’t be disconnected from this, which is part of things here as well....I’m not at all the best person to explore this particular metaphor to its fullest, so anyone who wants to take it and run with it more thoroughly if they see any validity in it at all, I’d very much like to see your thoughts if you ever write them out.

Which brings me back to Dick’s metaphor and niche in the Batfamily and franchise, and why the juvie origin works best for him IMO.....because the specter of Dick’s origin and backstory, the true villain even moreso than Tony Zucco himself, is the system as a whole. The way it is built and structured to exploit less advantaged members of society to the benefit of the upper class...such as the Court of Owls. Everything about Dick’s individual character direction falls pretty neatly into this chain of thinking, IMO....Tony Zucco murdered Dick’s parents, yes, but it was the system that took Dick away from his extended family, his planned life direction as an entertainer, everything he was familiar and comfortable with...and said it was for his own good, they knew best, he was better off this way. It was the system that ‘lost’ him in juvie when it was just more convenient than figuring out what to do with him, or just plain didn’t care, or due to the actions of a single racist case worker perhaps, or maybe even done at the behest of the Court of Owls in an attempt to wear away at the morality and resistance their future Talon might have to their plans for him. Bottom line is, everything about how Dick ended up where he was and on the course he ended up taking through life, is a direct result of the system’s manipulations of him in service not to HIM and what was best for him, as a member of society himself, but entirely at the whims or discretion of others.

Which is why Dick’s choice to become a cop both works and doesn’t work....I can see how at eighteen he might have briefly entertained the idea of trying to change the system from the inside...BUT it only works if the stories that result from that make no attempt to glorify or romanticize the work or character of any of his colleagues, and instead simply make him realize that he can’t change the system by becoming a cog in its flawed machinery, no matter his intentions...and that’s why he’s best served operating outside of it, as a vigilante. Bruce is a vigilante because he feels he exists to pick up the slack where the system fails, or is broken, because Bruce is someone who the system actually is meant to work FOR, and thus the times it doesn’t work that way, such as with the deaths of his parents....IS a result of a failure on the system’s part. In contrast, Dick, for all the superficial similarities in their origins, is someone who the system was never meant to work for, and IMO, Dick is best served as a character at the times and points when he’s allowed to RECOGNIZE this....and thus Dick is a vigilante for the sole reason that he’s someone who puts his faith in individuals rather than institutions. He’d much rather trust in the morality of singular people that he KNOWS and VALUES, rather than the morality of an uncaring system of bureaucracies and red tape.

And again, IMO Dick works best as both a metaphor and a character with a clearly defined niche and purpose when he targets the system directly with his actions. Whether its fighting their embodiment as the Court of Owls and their attempts to exploit him, or pouring his own time, energy and resources into trying to buy and renovate the former entertainment district of Gotham and turn it into a sanctuary for impoverished Gothamites to visit cheaply as a break from their stressors (I’ve talked a lot about how similar I view Jason and Dick being, at their core, so its no surprise that I see their metaphors and niches as being so closely linked, even if not entirely the same). And of course, even if you hate Dick as a cop as much as I do, his focus there still fits what I’m laying out here, for the same reasons, its just the actuality of it that doesn’t work as intended, for the reasons I already mentioned.

So yeah. That’s my post. That was a post. This post is concluded. Man I suck at denoument.

[rorykillmore]

can you rank (loosely if u don't want to play exact favorites) villanelle's most important or influential denny relationships?

i’m just putting them roughly in the order she met/reunited with them on denny, for the record. and in case anyone was thinking of coming for me, this is just what i reckon are the most INFLUENTIAL, good and bad, not a complete list of her friends or family or important interactions

okay and this is just going underneath a cut because it got long as fuck

fox is villanelle’s best friend, her -- if we lived in the, like, idk, homestuck universe (not to immediately make this cursed.) where you can have a romantic soulmate AND a platonic soulmate, he’s her platonic soulmate. and in terms of influence, i want to emphasize how much of villanelle’s denny arc, like... could not have been possible without fox. fox was the first person who was ever kind to her despite having absolutely no reason to be, and he was also the person who challenged her in such an important way at such an important time. during the whole GRACE plot, HE came back for her, and HE’S the one who essentially said “look, you have a choice. you’re not just a tool for this organization. one way or another, you need to make a choice.” which. again. a huge first in her life!

i’m trying to keep these short and sweet since i have so many to talk about, but genuinely like... i cannot understate fox’s importance as a part of villanelle’s life. and for her to even be able to have a best friend, to begin with? that’s such a like, idk. cornerstone of things Normal People Get To Have, and every day i write her i am so so happy she found him. from an ooc perspective, they’ve like, been to hell and back together also, and there’s a fierce kind of joy as writer when you look at a relationship that’s over a year old and has evolved so much over that time and get to go “we made this together!!!”

konstantin meanwhile is... well, he’s the healthiest parental figure villanelle’s ever had. which. really isn’t a high bar! their relationship has always been so tempestuous because it is built on konstantin’s manipulation of villanelle, both to use her for his own gain and... y’know, for his own survival, being able to manage her as long as he did! but he also genuinely loves her, and has gone out of his way on a number of occasions to protect her or help her or take care of her whereas it’s quite likely that most of the twelve’s handlers... just wouldn’t give a shit! i highly doubt that the twelve are the kind of organization where you’re supposed to get actually attached to your agent. and for villanelle, konstantin’s affection for her makes things more confusing, because it’s hard for her to ever draw the line between what’s sincere affection and what’s manipulation. post-canon update, she kind of now aggressively thinks he’s full of shit and is rejecting him for her own well-being which i think! is an important boundary for villanelle to be able to learn to set for herself! and you and i have spoken about how we don’t want to reconcile that immediately, but i also think... she would very much miss him and that it would be very, very strange for her to be without him when she’s ALWAYS had him to fall back on on denny, and indeed in most of her adult life in general. she needs to learn to stand without him, but at the same time.... i’m super interested to see how they approach each other now from this more honest, fractured place.

and then we have ruby , which. i still think ruby and villanelle are one of the most delightfully unexpected panfandom dynamics i’ve ever helped form PERIOD. and it’s interesting because hunter and i have always talked about how you would never expect these two characters to connect on the surface -- and you wouldn’t! but in exploring the ways they’re different, we’ve also found these really jarring similarities between them, too? and i think in a way, they’ve kind of bled into each other on top of that. villanelle’s relationship with ruby is like, INCREDIBLY formative to her learning empathy and just how to... nurture a relationship and be there for other people, but she has also become someone who ruby looks up to, and i think she’s contributed to maybe. Darkening ruby a bit, in that way.  

i also think of all the girls, ruby is the one who villanelle has the most explicitly maternal relationship with. weiss too, but i’ll get into why i think that works a bit differently in weiss’ section. but anyway, WHEN you have that kind of relationship with someone, at least when you’re approaching it with earnesty and a determination to do it Right, it challenges you with a certain kind of responsibility that i think has been essential to villanelle’s development too. not only has it taught villanelle how you love someone in a comparatively selfless way from what she’s used to, but requires from her a certain kind of self-awareness and moral awareness (if she doesn’t care about doing the right thing In General, she cares about doing right by ruby) that has allowed her to mature a bit on denny. so yeah, ABSOLUTELY one of of villanelle’s most influential dynamics. 

she’s obviously also very close with weiss, and i would also call her feelings for weiss maternal, but compared to ruby/villanelle i think weiss and villanelle’s relationship tends to take on a more Sisterly overtone on the surface. and i think that’s maybe because weiss HAS a sister who is basically villanelle’s age, who is her other maternal figure, so for weiss that’s more just how these kinds of feelings tend to Manifest. idk. you know, not to speak for jay, that’s just my take on it. but while weiss and villanelle have never really clashed the way ruby and villanelle have and then had to work through resolving that, i think in a way weiss just holds villanelle more accountable on a more day to day basis? they’re always quite honest with each other, weiss has always been quick to call her out, and like -- post-graceplot, for instance, weiss was the one who was like “i believe you didn’t mean to hurt us but you still need to find a way to make this right.”

and not that weiss did this deliberately, but she’s also the person who REALLY tested the person villanelle has become on denny and how... committed she is to loving the people she loves, via everything that went down during the hunger games. the way villanelle feels about the sacrifice she made is still really complicated -- it’s not something she feels comfortable being commended for, but it’s also not something she regrets. she’s not one to put selfless sacrifice on a pedestal, especially not in a horrible situation like that where neither of them should have had to to begin with, but a part of her... does find a deep sense of relief in finding this validation that her love for weiss - and all the girls, really - is real, and that she proved it to herself. after the games, i think maybe villanelle can be open with weiss in a way that she can’t entirely be with the rest of the girls. it’s just one of those things where if you go through something like that together, the bond it forges is quite unique.

i wavered on whether to include blake because villanelle didn’t do quite as much active development with her or yang, but i’m throwing blake in here for a few reasons.  1) post-graceplot when villanelle was kind of avoiding everyone, blake was the person who was able to approach that from the most empathetic point of view since she had just recently been on a “running away from everyone” arc herself, and i think that ultimately helped villanelle a lot in easing into wanting to make things right.

2) blake’s death during the games, and her not coming back afterwards, was a HUGE driving factor in how desperately angry villanelle became after the fact. it’s also maybe the most raw experience she’d had with grief up to that point, and it wasn’t something she was able to reconcile. that loss really helped to fuel her rage and also taught villanelle that even when you do your best to love someone else, things can still go wrong and you can still lose them, and that... wasn’t an easy thing for her to come to terms with.

and 3) she promised to fuck up adam for her if he ever showed up which, i think, should be the driving goal of the rest of villanelle’s life, 

sun and villanelle aka the single greatest example of “what if we jokingly shipped this oh god oh no wait i’m invested.” look they were always meant to be temporary but they were so goddamn sweet! while they lasted! i think planning temporary ships can give characters MOUNTAINS of development that endgame ships just can’t give you in the same way (not to say there’s not plenty of development that comes from endgame ships; i’m just saying there’s. a special kind of development that comes specifically from being brave enough to approach ending things with finality.) in villanelle’s case, that kind of stable, sweet relationship where she was tempering so much of herself deliberately could have never lasted, but it was good for her to get to experience that for a little while regardless? while i don’t think she was in love with sun, she did learn to just love him, and i think the clarity and simplicity sun approaches people in general with was something villanelle really benefited (and still benefits) from. most of all, it was significant for her to be able to see and understand that she wasn’t going to be able to be present and stable in that relationship in the way that sun deserved, and to make the decision to let him go. even if she was never OBSESSIVE about sun, villanelle still used to be a pretty selfish person who didn’t see any reason to let go of things if she enjoyed them, so i think. it can’t be underestimated, what sun taught her about love. 

emerald and villanelle have come SUCH a long way. first they were friends, then they were very bitter enemies, now they’re friends again approaching even a familial fondness. when villanelle was angry at emerald, it was never so much morally based as it was specifically based in the way emerald had hurt ruby, and penny, and had lied to villanelle herself. and although they started to resolve that after em didn’t take the chance to take advantage of villanelle during the memory glitch, i really think it was all the cinder stuff that allowed them to become close again. there are a lot of parallels between emerald and villanelle: both of them have coped by refusing to acknowledge the depths they’d sunken into over their heads with their respective organizations, both of them have been stuck in incredibly fucked up situations with older women. i think when villanelle acknowledges what emerald’s been through and is able to recognize that and feel compassion for her, she’s in a way learning to feel compassion for herself, and that’s very significant. i’d love to see how they evolve after villanelle’s canon update because i think now she’ll even have. More feelings about that. and i also think on some subconscious level as the new fall maiden she feels some kind of obligation to em, to be better than cinder was.

eve is, of course, a given on a list like this. she is such a powerful - the most powerful, in fact - influence on villanelle in any universe, and i think a lot about that in the context of villanelle having so many other people in her life now who she loves and who love her. as we’ve kind of seen on at least one occasion, if villanelle had to choose between eve and everything and everyone else she has... she would always choose eve. which isn’t something i’m trying to paint as sweepingly romantic (i love villaneve and i love how disastrous they are around one another, but i can still admit i’d be concerned for someone who would choose their partner over EVERY OTHER LOVED ONE THEY HAVE COMBINED,) but then again, it’s not even necessarily only for romantic reasons. it’s because eve is someone and something villanelle... craves, needs, finds time and time again that she simply cannot live without.

and them trying to make a relationship with one another work on denny has really provided its own unique set of challenges that’ve had an impact on both of them. eve and villanelle are deeply intrinsically connected, but that doesn’t necessarily equate to peaceful coexistence. any semblance of that, i think, is something that they’re always going to have fight for durations of, because their instinct is so much to consume one another instead! while its effect on villanelle of course can’t be described as wholly healthy - like i just mentioned above, she can be pushed into that place where she just sabotages everything else in her life for eve even still - that isn’t to say that there aren’t things about eve that haven’t changed villanelle for the better too! because to even have a romantic relationship with eve for an extended period of time like she has, villanelle has had to get better at certain things. she’s had to access a place of vulnerability and willingness to communicate that she hasn’t with anyone else, she’s had to accept eve’s own agency and individuality separate from their relationship (which is something she did on denny even before season 3 had her do it in canon!), she’s even had to do things like confront what her, say, killing bill actually meant and how it affected and continues to affect eve. it’s an absolutely explosive and constantly unstable dynamic, but there is of course GENUINE love between the two of them, and i really love all the ways in which villanelle’s been challenged to fight for that.

carolyn bears a mention because she’s undoubtedly been hugely influential  in the choices villanelle has made (and the ones which have been denied to her), especially lately. i don’t think villanelle ever particularly underestimated carolyn, but i think she was much too proud and too cocky to have imagined she’d have ever ended up under carolyn’s thumb the way she did. carolyn forced villanelle into the RID, and that was a situation villanelle was pretty complacent in for a while if only because it generally worked out for her. it took being backed into a corner to realize exactly how fucked she was, and interestingly enough i think that started to open villanelle’s eyes to the reality that she keeps ending up trapped by these higher powers, which is something that her canon update is going to heavily heavily emphasize. so. yeah, although while canon villanelle is mostly ambivalent to carolyn, denny villanelle absolutely HATES her. which. heh. may not end well. for at least one of them.

natasha is such a significant relationship for villanelle because i think, even with all the time she’s spent on denny and all the people she’s met? villanelle does not know... many people who are like her. most of her friends who know she’s an assassin either shy away from that part of her, or acknowledge it without really understanding what it means or what villanelle’s relationship is with killing and her own inner darkness. but natasha is such a PARALLEL to villanelle in so many ways, she was shaped into a weapon and told it’s the thing that defines her too, and even though she got out, she still has to grapple with that part of herself every single day. villanelle and natasha have their differences, sure, their variations in character and how their individual stories play out, but they also share a very specific understanding with one another that i don’t think either of them can really get anywhere else at the moment. and that’s a huge part of why nat has been such a significant influence on villanelle. when nat shows villanelle compassion, it comes from a deep, unfiltered place of empathy, something that could never be mistaken as Pity because they both understand what an insult that would be. when nat shows kindness and affection towards villanelle, it always seems to come from a place of “i understand the place you’re in completely, and you deserve to be treated like a human being anyway” which i think is so tragically ironic considering the self-loathing nat still carries around with her.

and i think there’s a part of villanelle that... while on denny she’s never expressed outward interest in completely changing her lifestyle or anything like that, i think there’s a part of her that looks at nat and admires how far she’s dug herself out of the hole she was in and, in some small quiet way, hopes to be like her someday.

pyrrha is pretty unique among the ruby girls in that like, rather than bonding with her gradually, villanelle kind of latched onto her immediately in a very “THIS IS TEAM RWBY’S DEAD LOVED ONE I MUST PROTECT HER” sort of way. which is interesting in its own way, because villanelle is rarely that protective of other people, and i think it goes beyond the physical (because she knows pyrrha can take care of herself) and more into the emotional. which villanelle does not especially consider herself well-equipped to handle, but hey, she’s gotta make sure pyrrha values herself beyond just what she can give or sacrifice to others!!!

on the subject, in terms of influence i have to mention that pyrrha gave her life for villanelle during the games, which is something that no one has ever done for her before, and an event which directly compelled villanelle to do the same for weiss. i don’t think villanelle knows how to even... address that, really, and can’t fully process the scope of it even though she made a similar decision in the end. in simplified terms, she feels like she owes pyrrha a debt, and one she hasn’t yet fathomed a way to repay.

elizabeth really just started out as a minor infatuation, a lil crush like villanelle gets on any pretty woman who intrigues her for more than 5 minutes. her flirtations with elizabeth were all in line with that, and i don’t think villanelle really realized how much she was encouraging elizabeth’s feelings for an attachment to her, particularly because her own feelings were not particularly intense for the first stretch of their friendship! in a way, villanelle’s relationship with elizabeth is a good examination and challenge of something i haven’t really done before with villanelle, which is that, like. it’s not her fault that she doesn’t bond or attach the way other people do (or at least, is much slower to), but she also has virtually no self-awareness of the way she engages and sometimes leads people on as a result. a lot could have been averted if she’d just... had the sense to set boundaries or had found a way to be more honest about the person she is.

but a lot’s happened since then, and now villanelle has to contend with the fact that she DOES love elizabeth, but at a time when their relationship has already just become too strained and impossible for the time being. additionally, villanelle really has no reference at all for being IN love with someone (or approaching that, anyway) in a way that’s non-obsessive and more quiet and gradual and just... very different from the way she loves eve, so she has a real hard time distinguishing this grey area between platonic and romantic feelings. because villanelle is still very literal in the interpretation of her emotions, so her reference for being in love with someone is “eve”, and she doesn’t know how to recognize anything on such a different part of the spectrum (particularly because villanelle is probably physically attracted to like, many of her platonic adult friends,)!  SO elizabeth and villanelle’s relationship is very influential in the sense that it really pushes villanelle into exploring parts of herself and emotional experiences that she hasn’t really yet.

do i need to put cinder here? she wasn’t in villanelle’s life for very long, but technically she is the reason villanelle has maiden powers, which changed her life entirely, so,

and then i’ll also toss in jigsaw (and technically also handsome jack), who will be INCREDIBLY pleased to know that his trap had a lasting effect one way or the other. don’t get me wrong, she was pissed as hell about it and would go on the WARPATH if she ever caught so much as a whiff of their involvement, but i mean. aside from the fact that lasting trauma definitely counts as an influence, i think it is one of the events that definitely brought villanelle closer to and more attached to eve, if perhaps in a. somewhat codependent and overprotective way. still can’t believe they caught villanelle saying she would give up everything else in her life and die for her gf ON TAPE,

[talking-tv]

Which couples were you shipping on gossip girl?

Listen, Gossip Girl is one of my favorite shows ever. But, not because it's perfect or realistic or of the biggest quality. It's because is one of the rare shows where literally every episode is interesting. I seriously have not one episode of that show that bores me. Whenever I rewatch it, I'm so interested and invested. It has great dynamics and it's so fun to watch. I could probably rewatch it endlessly. But, when it comes to couples on that show, I have to say that I'm not invested in any of them that much. There are some couples that I shipped at some point, but all of them I would stop shipping eventually because the writers would at some point either ruin the couple itself or the character(s) that made the couple. Let's face it, GG didn't have exactly the healthiest relationships. But, it still managed to have fun dynamics with their couples.

I can elaborate:

Derena - they were actually really cute seasons 1-2 and I did ship them, but then they ruined Dan's character, so I didn't like them anymore.

Chair - when I was watching the show for the first time, I was so young, and I guess I did want them to end up together. But, after I rewatched the show, I realized how unhealthy they were. They were also really toxic and even abusive sometimes. Beginning of s3 has them finally as a couple, and they're even not that bad at that period, but then they made Chuck sell Blair for the hotel, so that is a big no from me now.

Nair - it was really hard for me to get invested in them or since the show itself was hinting from the very beginning that they're not for each other.

Serenate - they could've actually been great, and I do remember finding them cute, but at the end it all comes down to the fact that Serena treated Nate so poorly while he was ready to do anything for her. Nate just deserved so much better than Serena.

Dair - they were actually much healthier than the others, and I was not against them. If the writers didn't focus so hard on them having Serena and Chuck as their endgame, everything would be better. I actually liked them and would ship them even more, but it was once again hard to when we knew they wouldn't end up together.

Jate - I know people shipped the hell out of Jenny and Nate, but I've never seen it. I didn't feel the chemistry and they ruined Jenny's character and Nate was always trying to save her or whatever, and I didn't like it.

Danessa - maybe they wouldn't be such a bad couple if, by the time they ended up together, both of the characters weren't ruined. Also, the whole plot of them getting together after having that weird threesome was just bad.

Chuck x jenny - do I have to say anything more? That was just one big horrible mess.

Natessa - okay so they dated in s2 and then Vanessa wasn't that bad yet, so I actually liked them together. They were mostly drama free and even cute, but I suppose that even if they had stayed longer together, I would stop ship them eventually since they completely ruined Vanessa's character later.

So, if I really have to choose any couple, I guess I would say Natessa? Idk. Just because they were cute and they broke them up before they got the chance to ruin them. But, then again, maybe if they stayed together Vanessa wouldn't get ruined? Who knows. I will forever be a little bitter that we didn't get more of them and possibly a healthy GG ship.