#the tropes they could have given us IM BITTER

[shipperssafehaven]

eddie x camila is for the people who love silent pining, who love subtlety rather than in your face romance, who love angst, who love friends to lovers, who love the 'character a doesn't like anybody but character b' trope, who love the grumpy x sunshine trope, who love slow burns, AND SO MUCH MORE

[cosmoboba]

1, 2, 6, 8! for mr strifey!

OH YEAH DADD-/JJJ

"Why do you like or dislike this character?" + 2. "Favorite canon thing about this character?" - Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7

because he's Cloud Strife. thanks for coming to my tedtalk/J

ANYWAYS i'm putting these two questions together with one answer considering that they're kinda the same thing

whenever it comes to this(/ese) question(s) for Cloud i'm just??? Not able to form a proper answer??? My answer just goes all over the place

let's start off with the fact that he fits into the delinquent trope, at least, in my eyes he does with how much retaliates(i.e Sephiroth + Shinra), BUT he does it for the right reasons ofc.

second things second....have I ever said that I'm a suckass for duality in a character? Queue in how Cloud wants to achieve a persona on the outside but is unable to contain that soft babyness within. Fucking loser I love him to death for that. AND NOT TO MENTION how he also struggles with fitting into that masculine standard and acts coldly just to make himself seem "cool", and each time I remember that bit of him I just go "he struggles with achieving being that man ppl expect him to be meanwhile my bitchass struggles with accepting my own femininity in fear that I'd get stereotyped/seen as vulnerable and weak" and it's just straight up "he's my fuckin (fictional)soulmate and god knows it"

AND NOW FOR PHYSICAL APPEARANCE CUZ IM THAT MUCH OF A SLUT OKAY.

"blonde hair and blue eyes is an overrated beauty standard" *fawning over Cloud fawning over Cloud fawning over Clou-*jokes aside technically I still think it's true like cmon now everyone is beautiful stfu with your standards

no cuz the fact that Cloud is canonically teased about looking like a big bird(chocobo) bc of his golden spikes is just....... square enix wants me fuckin dead ok

and no.

don't get me started on those....blue sky....crystal-like...orbs for eyes....that fuckers could stare into my soul....I'd allow him...and this is coming from someone whom is eye contact-shy...

hhmnmnhbbhbnbmnhhbmbnjbhbnmnbhbnmbhbnmbhbnmHBNMNBNHBNMNHN-

oh and he has some great arms too wow my good sir put me in a headlo-

6. "What's something you have in common with this character?" - Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7

let's begin with the fact that we both have been outcasted at kiddos, yeah?

Cloud hadn't been able to be accepted by Tifa's friend group, meanwhile I hadn't been able to be accepted by other kids due to my...heritage thanks to the fact that I spoke and looked different among of middle eastern group of kids

so....you can add the fact that we were both considered "weirdos" as kids to the list omg true love/s

not to mention how this both led us to being bitter? Yes I'd be lying if I said I didn't have anger issues(still do) and fought with my older brother's friends(but we're cool now). Same case with Cloud since he always put himself into fights with other kids, and eventually both of us just wanted to do smtg to be noticed/admired by someone too

Reverting back to how I explained elements of his personality that I like, which are. basically the the reasons why I love him in the first place along with other elements ofc-

so I can easily relate to his delinquency, being as I myself am a bit rebellious given the circumstance I am in irl. I disagree a lot with people around mecoughcoughfamilycoughcough I also use rebellion as like...ig a self defense mechanism to put it, which ties into how im unable to accept my own feminine urges bc like said, it's somewhat of a fear bc I dislike being categorized into the gender norm stereotype

Second is with his duality. Now this....is both a pos/ and neg/ context depending on what I'm referring to

for pos, or...neutral ig? I actually don't know how to explain what my personality is, let alone if I'd be considered an introvert. Now, I can't and genuinely don't know how to make friends anymore due to lack of emotional attachment, hence this leads to communicational loss and such, but then when I do become comfy with someone somehow that triggers into me socializing..? Like. to the point where I'm rambling and hell even overtalking

but this is just an example of many that's making me question what my personality is bc then there's times where I'm a douche but then comes the part where I feel really bad that I apologies too much

now...for the neg part

this part ties into my unfortunate hypocrisy, I honestly don't know how to control it. I don't mean hurt anyone, I have no intentions of it. But then when I get forced into scenarios just...where im afraid to actually speak up so...lying is my only gateway

yeah I'm sorry. I won't be going into a venting tizzy I prommie

8. "What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?" - Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy 7

....sigh.

okay look. YES I do get jealous when it comes to Cloud's relationship with the ladies.....but if you start misinterpreting/lying about his relationship with them then imma slap a bitch okay

no. Cloud does not hate Aerith and he doesn't want her dead either clearly you don't know what emotional attachment is let alone connection to someone special to you. Have you also forgotten how much Cloud had beaten himself over and over at how he hadn't saved her? Yeah I don't think someone with this much affection to a loved one would feel that fucked up over the fact that they died and they could've done anything to save them

no. Cloud didn't/doesn't hate Tifa for they way he was treated when they were younger. Like said I relate to what happened in our childhoods, and albeit some kids grow up to continue being a pain in the ass to ppl but some grow up to be friends later on, same case with me and my brother's friends. This ain't about me ofc tho but Tifa later on finds out what Cloud went through just to get her to notice him when they were younger, pair that with the trauma of the nibelheim incident and that just made them infinitely closer

I would like to add: no. Cloud sure as fuck DOES NOT think he's Zack. I would imagine he knew who Zack's parents were let alone would've recognized Aerith the moment he saw her. But did he? No, no he fuckin did not.

but anyways mmmm Clooudf Strriofenmnmnm<33333

[stormyoceans]

Hi Monica! Are you excited for any of the projects BOC announced today?

hello, anon!!!!

i was actually dwelling with myself on whether to make a post on the BOC lineup or not, because im not gonna lie.... im a bit disappointed with it. please keep in mind these are just my personal taste and feelings, and im still incredibly happy to see people being excited about some of the projects, but im just.. not really into any of them

i AM trying to keep an open mind about 4 minutes because sammon is the novel writer of two of my favorite BLs of all time, which are manner of death and triage, however the very few informations we have about the series are saying that it's gonna be very bitter and about an established couple, and unfortunately..... those are literally some of my least favorite tropes ;;;;;; it also doesn't help that we didn't really get a trailer, because that would have given us at least an idea of what to expect, but with what we know right now it doesn't feel like it's a show i would enjoy

as for man suang and wuju bakery, i have some mixed feelings about both of them: for man suang, on one hand i tend to like historic stuff very much and everyone seems to be very passionate about the project, which always bode well, but at the same time im sad they basically scrapped everything they already had (the trailer that came out months ago was actually GOOD) and some people are saying it's gonna have a tragic ending and im not really here for that; for wuju bakery, i do like the weird concept of an ALIEN of all things crashing into a bakery, and i always love food symbolism in shows, however i have to admit im not the biggest fan of jeff and barcode as a pairing (love them separately though)

i also wish that instead of giving projects only to the three 'main pairings', they would have given the chance to shine to some of the other actors. like im really happy that bas and tong are gonna be in man suang, but i still would have loved to see.. idk, nodt or us or jj as the leads in a series

and like.. look, im actually one of the very few people who didn't really hold on to any hope for a kinnporsche season 2 announcement because i was pretty sure it was never gonna happen in 2023 (i DO hope we're gonna get it in the future, but it's such a big production with a big cast, they simply wouldn't have had the time to do everything by the end of this year), however i think they could have done some short special stories to show the characters who had less screentime or fill the gaps that were left in the show (like the taytimetem storyline, or the reason ken decided to betray the main family, etc.). honestly everything would have been better than a reality show.......

but again, these are just my personal feelings!!! im still gonna be supporting everyone from the sidelines and enjoy seeing my dash lose my mind over these!!!!

[offbranddrpepsi]

God the way that you write Cypher makes me so happy! I was hoping you could write a angsty cypher x chronically ill reader, maybe reader’s radiant powers slowly take away their life as they use them. Maybe even like life for life healing powers. Just the whole this person is a ticking time bomb. Thank you.

HI IM SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG i really enjoy the “ a life for a life” sort of trope when it comes to powers. I hope this angst serves you well, i tried to end on a semi bitter sweet note

Title: To Give And To Take

Pairing: Cypher x GN!Reader

Status: Oneshot

Rating: SFW, Angst, tad bit of unintentional ableism 

Length: 1, 526 words

Fic below!

Even before first light your illness made life difficult. It kept you unable to do much, the toll it took on your body proving too much most days. Doctors were stumped at how to help you, simply shoving you onto family and telling you to be more active when you could. It was a cruel existence that you couldn’t do much about at least until first light happened. Suddenly you were feeling better, your body seemed to be recovering quicker than it had been and you could run for the first time in years. You would come to learn that you were gifted with the powers of a radiant, a human affected by radianite in an almost mystical way. Your powers gave you a passive healing factor that made life a bit easier, you still had rough days but you could now live on your own and go out into the world without worry. For a while it felt like you had been given the greatest gift you could have gotten, but one day you found your powers were more diverse than they initially seemed.

On your way home from work a child had fallen and scraped up their hand badly, sobbing and begging for their mother. You rushed to their aid and tempted to calm them, fishing a cloth from your bag to hold on their hand. It was then you noticed their hand had stopped bleeding and was entirely fine, a faint lavender hue dissipating from the spot. Staring in shock you and the child double checked their hand only for it to be pointed out yours was now scraped up and bleeding instead. Your powers may have come with an accelerated healing factor but that was not their main purpose. After much testing you discovered you could transfer injuries to yourself, effectively healing people while hurting yourself instead. The injuries healed much quicker than they normally would once you had them, but it made your disability worse and often left you unable to function for weeks at a time if not months. Sometimes worse injuries would lead to a hospital stay, others would leave you back where you were before first light had happened, bed ridden and hopeless. Despite the drawbacks you enjoyed being able to help people even if it meant a simple cut left you house bound for days.

It was a surprise when you had received the opportunity to help people on a wider scale, being invited to join Valorant. Valorant helped you look into the exact lengths of your abilities, helping you discover caps on the extent of your healing as well as how much you could take before things went south. Sage proved to be vital in discovering your limits as she was able to make your healing even quicker so you wouldn’t relapse as badly.  Everyone treated you like you were fragile at times, which frustrated you endlessly, but there were a few agents who didn’t. Cypher was the main agent who did a complete 180 from when he met you. At first the broker treated you like you were some fragile doll, ready to break the moment you took any stress. However, after several missions with you he seemed to change. Seeing your will to survive regardless of the obstacle softened the man and opened him more to you, you two sharing the same determination to continue living despite everything life threw at you. He started watching you more, alerting others when you were at your limit, and was often the one taking Sage’s place caring for you during your low periods. The other agents were caught off guard by his sudden genuine soft heart, but they were still glad you had someone dedicated to care for you during the bad times as well as help avoid them. Even during your lowest episodes Cypher never made you feel any less than who you were, never made you feel fragile or broken. You grew to hold him dearly, finding a kindred soul that made you feel whole finally.

Of course all good things have to come to an end as you would discover on a much more dangerous mission than usual. The mirror agents were hyper aggressive, it was like they weren’t even trying to plant the spike but instead were trying to kill you all off. You had been frantically keeping everyone healed, Skye doing what she could to take the burden off of you so you could handle the more severe injuries she couldn’t. That’s when you heard a sniper shot ring out followed by a loud scream by Cypher. The team rushed to him, Skye and Yoru splitting to cover the flank while you and Jett rushed to his aid. He had taken a Chamber shot directly to his chest, falling just short of his heart. Jett was overwhelmed by the sight but attempted to help you get him set to her best ability before zooming off to cover you while you worked. The wound was bad for a normal person and would be significantly worse for you initially, you didn’t know if your healing would be able to act quick enough to keep you from bleeding out but it was a risk you were determined to take.

Cypher seemed to know what you were about to do, taking your hand as you pressed it to the wound. “Don’t worry about me, just get my body back to Sage and everything will be fine habibi (beloved)” His voice was strained despite him trying to reassure you, it was easy to tell how much pain he was in from the sniper’s shot.

Giving him a smile and pushing his hand to the side you activated your powers, the lilac marks on your hand emitting a faint purple light. “They need you now, Skye can keep you guys up until you can get me back to Sage. Besides, I’m useless in a fire fight.”  As the wound transferred you could feel Cypher untense, the burning pain starting to be felt in your own chest. You went as gradual as you could, trying to let your healing kick start before the worst of it came, but gun fire caused you to rush it. You had never been on the receiving end of one of Chamber’s shots so the sensation was foriegn but overwhelming. Whatever bullets he used in tour de force made the shot burn like you were being eaten alive by fire ants, the spot of the impact stinging worse than any Phoenix shot. Through gritted teeth you helped Cypher up before lowering yourself to the ground behind cover, “I’ll stay here, you go give them hell for me alright” The broker gave you a squeeze before standing and placing his camera facing you, wanting to keep an eye on you just in case. He sprinted off knowing full well you wouldn’t be there when he got back, grabbing your vandal to replace the gun he had dropped in the fall.

The next time you would open your eyes would be in your room back at the base, Sage standing over you mumbling prayers under her breath. You felt absolutely awful, your chest aching painfully as you struggled to breath. Sage let out a sigh of relief as she saw your chest start to rise and fall, the green aura of her healing washing over you and relieving some of the strain. “I’m so glad you’re alright, I didn’t know if that would work given the circumstances.” The woman sounded like she was going to cry as her arms wrapped around you, “Everyone will be happy to know you’re still with us.”

“Is everyone okay?” You croaked out, struggling to talk.

“Yes, everyone got out unscathed thanks to you,” Sage gave you a nod as she moved to check a vitals machine. “You’ll be on bed rest for a while, please pace yourself this is more than your body has ever come back from so it will be difficult.” You gave her a smile and a nod as she ran off to go alert the others to your condition. There was no given date when you would be back and functioning as normal, the unknown draining you emotionally as you sat and waited for someone to come by. The familiar almost comically large hat of the person you’d saved came into the room, said hat being removed and sat on a chair. You two just looked at each other before the man raised his mask slightly, exposing his mouth and chin. A gentle kiss was placed on your forehead, mumblings of how grateful he was you were alive being lost into your skin. Arms were wrapped around you carefully, just holding you as the two of you sat there. The broker would dote on you through this episode, absolutely refusing to leave your side regardless of what missions they tried to send him on. Your bed side became his office, and to say you enjoyed the company would be an understatement. The unknown was daunting but both of you were just glad the other was alive.

[firelxdykatara]

Katara x Aang :3c

are you trying to get me in trouble

-cough-

no but in all honesty, my genuine feelings about kataang boil down to three major points: 1. it's boring, and does not jive thematically with either of their character arcs, to the point of, 2. actively hampering character development on both sides, and 3. katara deserved better.

points expanded under the cut. (please, if you're a kataang shipper and you see this, just keep scrolling. i've tagged it appropriately and put the bulk under a cut and at this point that's literally all i can do lmfao.)

send me a ship and get my (brutally) honest opinion!

1. It's Boring: This is the most subjective point on the list (I mean, in fairness, it's all subjective, but I have evidence from the show and post-canonical materials to support my other points; this one is just preference), but there's just... nothing to kataang. It's cute (when it's not actively aggravating), and... that's about it. It's not even that I dislike friends-to-lovers as a shipping trope (though it's not my overall preference), because there are a lot of friends-to-lovers couples that I do ship (kanej comes to mind, also will/elizabeth from potc, karolsen from supergirl, romione and hinny from hp, among others), but one thing that I think all of those couples have that kataang doesn't is that both sides of the pairing are teens or adults when they get together, with teen/adult dynamics and issues and stories to deal with, rather than one half being a teenager and the other being literally prepubescent.

And don't get me wrong, I have no problem with age gap ships in general. And as far as atla goes, Katara, at 14, has the same age difference from Zuko (16) as Aang has from her, and it's never stopped me--because both Katara and Zuko are well into puberty when they meet and I have no problem picturing them being into one another and growing together as they enter adulthood. Aang, on the other hand, is a child. And he acts like it. Which wouldn't be a problem, if the show weren't expecting me to believe he is a) ready for a romantic relationship, and b) ready for one specifically with Katara, who is not only older and far more mature but is specifically cast as his caretaker in a very maternal role for the entire show's run.

This show asks me to believe that a teenage girl well into adolescence is going to be attracted to and develop romantic feelings for a pre-adolescent child--and it asks me to believe this while showing us otherwise that Katara's type is actually older boys with fabulous hair and angsty pasts in all of her other potential romantic dalliances--and then enter into a relationship with him, all while ignoring the elephant in the room that is the fact that she was basically acting like his mother for the entire series to that point. (Something that is heavily lampshaded earlier in the very same season.) That just stretches the bounds of credulity way too far for me, especially when there's no evidence that Katara herself would get anything out of their romantic relationship.

There's nothing there for me to sink my teeth into. No delicious development, no parallels where they help each other grow, no internal conflicts that they have to work through together, nothing. Certainly no reason for me to actually believe Katara feels (or would grow to feel) anything for him other than the platonic affection of a caretaker. I can easily believe she loves him dearly, as a friend and quasi-little-brother, but I just can't see that developing naturally into romantic love--not the way it's presented in the show.

And even if they did manage to at least make the development of Katara's feelings believable, unless they changed something fundamental about the nature of their relationship, it'd still be boring, so.

2. It Actively Hampers Their Character Development--On Both Sides: I've written before (extensively lol im so sorry) about how kataang is actively detrimental to Katara and to Aang. In short (because ye gods this post is already getting long enough), Katara is narratively harmed by being shoved into a relationship that completely ignores her stated feelings--a relationship that had been presented as a one-sided puppylove crush for the vast majority of the series--and it inhibits her growth as a character in ways that become far more obvious in the comics and lok, where the very same creative forces that lead to her beginning a relationship with Aang in the first place reduce her to 'the Avatar's girl' and very little else, all the way through to the end of LoK (where she is a Healer and the Avatar's wife and, again, very little else).

As for Aang:

As to how this relationship is detrimental to Aang (other than the comics and LoK nonsense)? Just take a look at book 2, when he’s trying to learn Earthbending from Toph. Katara constantly coddles him. Much of the time, she’s afraid to be anything other than gentle and understanding with Aang--partly because of her fear that if she pushes him too far, he’ll run away. (Which he does, several times.) But sometimes, what Aang needs to grow is a sharp kick in the slats, which Toph was more than willing to provide--and which worked. Katara was great for teaching Aang to waterbend, but he needed more than that to grow as a person. And he can’t get that while he’s in a relationship with someone who will apologize for getting upset when he was very explicitly neglecting her.

In addition, it is pointed out by Guru Pathik at the end of Book 2 that one of Aang's chakras is blocked by his attachment to Katara. Aang takes this to mean (incorrectly) that he has to stop loving her in order to become fully realized as an Avatar, but this is actually part of the problem--because the issue isn't that he is in love with Katara, it's that he's possessively attached to her. He believes himself entitled to her love in return, rather than selflessly loving someone regardless of whether or not they return that affection. (This is obvious come the EIP episode, where Aang demands to know why he and Katara aren't in a relationship already--because he kissed her without asking [or even checking to see if she'd be ok with kissing him], which he phrases as mutual even though it very much was not, and he gets angry and violates her boundaries when she says that she is confused and doesn't want to think about it right then.)

It is his attachment to Katara--the need for her to return his love, the belief that she will and it is only a matter of time before he gets what he wants--that he was supposed to let go of, not his feelings for her in general. Unfortunately, while he pays lipservice to doing this (far too late for it to be useful--if he'd stayed with the Guru for five more minutes and unlocked his chakra there, that battle would've gone very differently), he almost immediately backtracks on that development come book 3, and there isn't another single whisper of Aang maybe growing up and moving past his one-sided and possessive crush and realizing that even if Katara doesn't feel the same way, it doesn't mean she loves him less or that their friendship is less important.

What really needed to happen, for Aang to grow as a person and become fully realized as an Avatar, was for him to grow up. To realize that his feelings were not of paramount importance, and that even if he was in love with Katara, he was not entitled to her love in return. He should have been able to move past his need for her to love him back, in order to get past that stumbling block, unlock his chakras, and regain the Avatar State in time to face the Firelord. But he didn't. As a result, they had to find some other way to just give him the Avatar State (a well-placed rock) and the means to defeat Ozai without killing him (the deus ex lionturtle) and his entire character arc just fell apart in the third act rather than reaching a satisfying conclusion.

3. Katara Deserved Better: This really ties into how her romantic relationship with Aang hampered her own development, but I'm still bitter enough about it that it gets its own bullet-point. And the biggest single reason I could never ship kataang--the thing that would've turned me off even if there were substance and a halfway decent storyline for them--is the fact that Aang kisses her without her consent (for the second time) in Ember Island Players, Katara gets angry at him and storms off, and then..... she walks out onto the balcony to make out with him.

With nothing to bridge that gap.

It's bad enough that a show aimed at children had a scene where the child protagonist kissed the object of his affections without her consent when she didn't want him to (made explicit by her angry reaction)--and this is absolutely an issue when the show is aimed at children and it may well be the first experience they've had with consent issues portrayed in media--but this moment is never addressed again. Katara just decides--completely off-screen--that she does love him Really and walks out to make out with him in the epilogue. There's no conversation, no apology for violating her boundaries, no discussion of why that was wrong or any indication that Aang understands what he did and why it upset her. They don't have a single one-on-one interaction between that kiss and the epilogue, and the only other time they are on screen together, Aang yells at her and storms off.

So, even leaving the comics and lok aside, Katara deserved much better from her own romantic plotline. In fact, she deserved to have one, rather than simply being the oblivious object of Aang's affections, given a couple moments where she blushes but otherwise remains completely ignorant of his feelings (she looks shocked and upset when he kisses her prior to the invasion, and then she completely forgets that even happened because she's confused as to what Aang is even talking about during EIP until he brings it up; that's not the behavior of a fourteen-year-old girl who was kissed by someone she was developing romantic feelings for), before the epilogue where it becomes clear that she figured all of that out off-screen and had feelings for him after all.

She's a main character, not a side-character written in solely to give one of the mains a love interest. She deserved a romantic plotline of her own. (She could have had one with someone else, with very few changes made to what was actually on-screen prior to the epilogue, but that's another conversation entirely.) She deserved to have her feelings considered at all important by the person she was going to be paired with in the end, rather than having him just assume she felt the same way and then get mad at her for never giving any indication of it when he'd never asked about her feelings to begin with. She deseserved agency in her own romantic narrative, and she just didn't get that with Aang.

So yeah, at the end of the day, my biggest issue with kataang is that it involved doing Katara dirty, and she's my favorite character and she deserved so much better damnit.

[wastelandlovingscenarios]

unanswered asks~

this post is solely focused on asks [that are not requests/reacts]  i haven’t been able to answer lately due to me being busy working on requests or just my personal life in general. if you know you sent me an  ask, my reply to you will be under the cut! i didn’t want to leave anyone’s ask unanswered and if you don’t see yours under the cut, please resend them! i’d love to see what you have to say to me. thank you guys for continuing to  support me. i love you guys very much! <3 

i havent been very active during november so if you know you sent an ask to me during this month and never received a reply, it is more than likely down here! im so sorry about the wait, ive been insanely busy.

[ THERE IS ABUSE MENTIONED DOWN BELOW! PLEASE READ WITH CAUTION! ]

1. are asks still open for prompts?

yes! it is. :) it is open till further notice! <3

2. Not a request, just wanted your thoughts. Ok, imagine a soulmate au where when the SoSu finds Kellogg and they find out they’re soulmates at fort hagen. My friends say I’m fucked up for playing around with the idea but I think with a certain backstory it could work. Maybe if SoSu’s spouse was abusive it wouldn’t be bad. But also Kellogg was just doing a job and he’s not actually that bad of a person given his story. I just think it could be an interesting idea. What do you think?

- i think its a really good and interesting idea, as much as i dislike kellogg on my end! i dont find a lot of sosu/kellogg fics so i think its pretty amazing you want to write a story based on an soulmate au trope and if you do end up posting it, link it to me! i will be more than glad to read it. personally, i believe kellogg is really traumatized and broken from his past and doesnt know how to express nor heal from it. instead he allows his bitterness to seep through his actions which is probably why he does it with no care and little to no signs of sympathy. so, i dont personally believe he was always an asshole and does have a soft side to him like everyone else. of course, this does not excuse his actions but it does create character in some way shape or form and i think its great to work around and has the potential to form a really detailed and well thought plot. i think soles spouse also being abusive can also aid in the progression of the story. good luck with it and please do share it with us when you decide to do it! im very excited to see you work with this.

2. do you write for longfellow?

- sadly, not at the moment. i haven't been able to play the far harbor dlc to its full potential and i haven't recruited old longfellow as much as i should have. maybe when i do come around to finishing it, i will add old longfellow to the list!

3. Nuooo! No more sad man Danse!  He needs some happiness too! Maybe after BB he developed some comradeship with a platoon of minutemen he could actually laugh and have a drink with. Find a new purpose in aiding and protecting fellow minutemen and their communities and families. Only people I can realistically see him being buddy-buddy with is either Struges, Preston or if you’re lucky the ex-BOS scribe that can be your armor merchant at your settlement. Dude NEEDS an emotional support system!

- UGH, you are so right! danse deserves nothing but happiness post blind betrayal!! i do strongly believe hes recruited into the minutemen a little later after the events and is immediately accepted into the faction as family, regardless of his past actions. i like to think that he gets along with almost everyone and humbles down as an individual, eventually letting go the ideals of the BoS. the minutemen is truly his first step into another chapter of his life.

4. I hate you😜nah I’m totally kidding😁 I gotta reeeeeally try to find anything subjectively bad to say to you honestly🤔. You’re friendliness comes off naturally like you’re not trying too hard to cater to anyone. You come off as genuine enough to just enjoy the fandom and the interactions you have with fans is very refreshing and inviting🥰. It’s always a pleasure to have some fun banter about a video game series we all love among each other as fans.💕

- THIS GENUINELY MADE ME SMILE!! im glad i dont come off as too rude of unfriendly to others and its reassuring to hear that! i try to be as nice as i can to everyone and im always happy to interact with anyone in the fandom so dont afraid to shoot me an ask or message. thank you for your message anon and please have an amazing day! i appreciate you! <3

5. your writing is amazing and super comforting and I love the work you do and you and you're wonderful 💖💖💖

- youre more wonderful and amazing! thank you for supporting my writing and continuing to read my works! im glad i can provide you guys with content that is comforting and i hope i continue to do so. <3 please have a wonderful day, anon and i appreciate you so much! <3

6. I’m actually a little jealous of you😖. You seem to have so much going on in your personal life yet still have time to have a little fun in the fallout fandom. You’re 19 now right? Ugh and yet you’re doing more in life than what I was doing at that age😞. It’s rather inspiring really, tho’ I’m a little envious I still wish you the best in all your future endeavors. Good luck and take care!❤️

- don’t be jealous, please. everyone moves at their own pace and thats perfectly fine! take your time and you will get where you want to be in no time. im 18 and im still trying to figure out my life day by day and lets be honest.. i wing it 99% of the time, LOL. im more than certain you will achieve a lot in your lifetime and i will be wishing you nothing but happiness and success! please take care and don’t be hard on yourself! good luck. <3

[dyaz-stories]

The classic 154

Aaah,bless you for sending this, this is honestly one of my favoritetrope I was so happy to get this!

154. “There’s only one bed”

So this is more or less a follow-upto my Pregnant from a one-night Stand AU, which I hope you won’tmind! It’s not a direct follow-up, and I’ll probably write moreone-shots around this in semi-continuity. I’ll tag people whomentioned they’d be interested in reading more of this here, feel free to let me know if you’d like to be tagged for this… or not (this would be updated super irregularly to be honest). Hopeyou enjoy!

@cammysansstuff @tsukinohimeusagi @umacaking @inuyashaeienni @coquinespike

“Yeah,yeah, I’m coming!”Inuyasha growled, walking to the door. “Ain’t no need to teardown the fucking— Kagome?”

Shit.That woman needed to stop surprising him like that, because here shewas, standing on his doorstep with her son — theirson — in her arms, and he had probably just made a total ass ofhimself. Again.

“Hi,I’m sosorry to come here without a warning but—”

“Notat all,” he managed to mumble. “Don’t stay out there, c’monin. Ah, and don’t pay attention to the mess.” He wasn’t exactlyknown for being organized and, well, the place could definitely haveused some cleaning, but Kagome didn’t say anything when she walkedin, holding Hoshiki tightly against her.

Shestill took in the small apartment. The room when they were in barelyhad enough space for a table and two chairs, plus a TV and aarmchair. There was nothing on the walls, and it all felt somewhatimpersonal. From where she was, she could see the door opening onwhat she assumed was his room. It wasn’t big or anything, but shedecided it suited him. Despite knowing him for a short while, shecould tell it wouldn’t have been like him to have more space thanstrictly needed.

Inuyashagrinned when his son reached out for him, recognizing him not onlyphysically but in his scent, just like he had identified him quicklywhen they had first met. It was then that he really looked at Kagome.She wasn’t even wearing a coat, even though they were in autumn,and she looked surprisingly lost.

“Here,let me take ‘im,” he offered.

Shehanded the boy to him without a word, then rubbed her arms, and hecouldn’t help but frown. He felt strongly protective of the woman,though they had only known each other for a while — and even then,saying they kneweach other seemed like a very strong term to describe their actualrelationship.

“What’sgoing on?” he asked her, his voice deep and serious while hemotioned to grab his red jacket and put it on her shoulders.

Atthat, she started, but there was an ocean of gratitude in her eyeswhen she looked up at him. Something that made him feel a littleuncomfortable, or at least, that was how he interpreted this strangestir in his stomach.

“Therewas a fire at my apartment complex,” she mumbled, wrapping herselftightly in the garment. “We had to go out in a rush, though theythink they’ll be able to minimize the damage, apparently but— Myfamily’s out of town and I didn’t where to go and—”

“Don’t,”he interrupted her, ignoring the feeling of dread he’d gotten whenshe mentioned the danger they had both been in but holding his son alittle tighter against him. He felt the fierce urge to protect themboth, probably a normal instinct among other demons, but its strengthtook him by surprise just now. “No need to apologize. If ya don’tmind, you can spend the night here, and then we’ll see tomorrow howthis turns out, if that’s fine with ya.”

Shegave him a weak smile. “That sounds good,” she replied softly.

“Helooks exhausted anyway,” he said, pointing at Hoshiki whose headwas already resting on his chest, “so, erm, I— I have a cradlefor him. We can put him in the living room. There’s only one bed,but you can take it, ‘kay?”

Hefelt weirdly self-conscious for how small his place was. Not that hewould have had any need for more; but still, somehow he would haveliked to be able to give them more than this.

“Youhave a cradle?” Kagome asked, tilting her head.

Hefelt himself blushing a little. “So what?” he growled, probablymore defensive than he needed to be. Yeah, he’d bought one, just incase, or quite possibly in hope,that they would come to an arrangement when he would spend more timewith the kid. Up until then, they had seen each other a few times,and she had even left him with Hoshiki for a couple of hours at apark. He understood that she wanted to make sure he would be good forthe child, and he respected that he had to earn that trust, but thatdidn’t mean a guy couldn’t dream, right?

“Nothing,”she said, shaking her head, trying with little success to hide herbright smile. She loved that he was getting more involved inHoshiki’s life, and that he clearly wanted more. The more love thekid could get, the better. “Just… I’m afraid he’s making histeeth at the moment, so the night might not be easy.”

Hefrowned a little at the information. He couldn’t help but feel alittle… Maybe not hurt, but sad that he didn’t know that. Hewanted to be there for that stuff too; not just the happy moments,but also the crappy ones. Because it was his son, sure, but alsobecause he wanted to take parts of that burden off of her. “Yeah,that ain’t easy for us,” he mumbled. “Because we heal so fast,y’know? So it can take a while. Anyway, don’t worry ‘bout it. Idon’t mind.”

Kagomenodded, uncertain of what she should say now, swaying on her feet. Itoccurred to her that she was in a near stranger’s apartment, andfor a second, she was genuinely worried about it. But seeing the manholding her baby — again, theirbaby — so gently and carefully, knowing he’d bought a cradle forthe kid, she just had that strange conviction that everything wouldbe alright. She was rather good with her intuition, most of the time.Not to plan what was going to happen to her, clearly, but she wasrarely wrong when she saw good in people.

“Wannause the bathroom while I get him ready?” he offered, taking hermind away from her thoughts. “Y’can borrow one of my shirts ifyou’re okay with that.”

“Oh,sure, thanks!“

“Just—Grab one in my room, ‘kay? The bathroom’s over there,” hepointed out, though it really wasn’t necessary considering howsmall the place was. “There are clean towel under the sink if youneed any and—”

“Thankyou, Inuyasha,” she chuckled lightly, resting a hand on his arm fora moment. “I’m sure I’ll be fine. Oh, and I’ve started usingthe gloves you gave me! He doesn’t really have claws yet, but Ithought better safe than sorry, right?”

Hewatched her as she reached in her bag and then handed it to him. Thefabric had survived the years without any problem, and he suspectedhis father had owned it for a very long time, until his mom had usedit for this, after his dad no longer needed it. His throat tightenedas he watched her putting them on the kid carefully.

Itfelt weird. To see someone actually loving a half-demon, it felt…It felt weird, but it also felt good.

Hecouldn’t help the way his eyes followed her in the bathroom, butthen he shook his head, attempting to get himself back on track.

“Let’sget you in bed before your mama comes back, buddy,” he toldHoshiki. He earned a happy babble, and he couldn’t help but smileas his heart swelled with the most intense sort of love he’d everfelt. Nothing could compare to what he felt for this little guy. Itwas very different from anything else he had ever experienced, but heknew he’d do anything for him, do anything so he wouldn’t behurt.

Andsurely, what he was feeling for Kagome was just an extension of that.

Whenshe came out of the shower, she found him sitting on a chair next toa sleeping Hoshiki, and once more, a new warmth filled her chest. Itwasn’t like she had thought she was lackingsomething,nor that she believed she wasn’t giving enough to her baby, butthere was just something truly special about seeing Inuyasha herewith him.

Helooked up almost immediately, and an unusual tension seemed to arisebetween them. She noticed the way his eyes took her in, the way theywidened just a little and then how, when he glanced away, hisshoulders and his jaw had tensed. She herself found she needed torepress a shiver.

Yeah.Things… Things were weird. It would have been useless denying theyfound each other attractive. Hoshiki was truly the proof of that,wasn’t he? But they hadn’t planned on a tomorrow. Well— if shewas honest, she wouldn’t have minded, that night. Sure, he’dgotten on her nerves a bit, but she had thought there was so muchmore to that broody guy under the surface, and she would have lovedto discover more. She had even considered bringing it up in themorning. Except that he had been gone when she woke up. Hotel roomwas paid, which she appreciated, but the encounter had still felt abit bitter.

Sheguessed she understood him much better now. Still, they had avoidedweird moments in the time they had spent together since theirencounter, but it probably couldn’t last forever. Sooner or later,they would have to address it.

“Whereare you going to sleep?” she asked him softly. She hadn’t givenit much thought, but he didn’t have a couch, after all.

“GuessI’ll take the floor or something,” he shrugged, avoiding hereyes.

Whata fucking moron he was. Offering her to take a shower? He should haveknownit would make her scent come out, and he already found itirresistible the rest of the fucking time… And the shirt? What waswrongwith him? This was basics for a dog-demon. The mix of his scent withhers just made him feel more… More… Ah, dammit.

Worstpart was, maybe it had been intentional, to a degree. He already knewthe way his instincts considered her, after all. Still, it just feltwrong. She didn’t know about it, and he didn’t how to express anyof his emotions when it came to her.

“Ohno,” she protested, frowning. “I can’t let you do that! I’dfeel horrible!”

Heblinked a couple of times, looking at her in confusion.

“Thenwhat d’ya suggest?” It came out more agressive then he’dintended, and he cursed himself. He needed to fucking work on that.At least around her, and particularly around the kid. He would hateto snap at him like that just because he couldn’t do better.

Kagomedidn’t seem to be bothered. She simply rolled her eyes. “We’readults, Inuyasha. We can share a bed.” Weliterally have a child together.

Heswallowed, then nodded. “Keh. Yeah. You’d better not take all theblankets.” Shit, why was he so ridiculous? “Go ahead. I’ll trynot to wake you up when I arrive.”

Shegave him a satisfied smile, but before stepping out of the room, shetook a few steps towards him. “I really appreciate how much youtake care of Hoshiki, and that you’re letting us stay here for thenight” she said gently. “I just want you to know it goes bothway, okay?”

Fuck.He had… He had a really hard time dealing with people being nice tohim. Thankfully — or, well, maybe not — it didn’t happen often,but he hoped he didn’t look ridiculous when he didn’t sayanything back and simply nodded.

Onlythen, looking like someone happy with a work well done, did she walkout of the room.

Whenhe joined her after a long, coldshower, she was on her side, and based on her soft, even breath, heassumed that she was already asleep. Which was a relief, probably, hethought as he silently slipped in bed next to her. Despite his words,he pulled most of the blanket on her. She had looked really cold whenshe had walked in, and he, as a half-demon, wasn’t really sensitiveto that sort of stuff.

Afterwatching her back for a few moments, wondering what was going throughher mind, and also how she could fall asleep at a stranger’s placeso easily, with an anger he couldn’t quite understand but which heassumed to still be part of his protectiveness, he finally closed hiseyes.

Heexpected sleep to be hard to find, particularly with her by his side,but while her scent made it impossible to focus just a few momentsearlier, right now, he found that having her and his son close to himmade him relax easily. Probably still something that came from hisinstincts, at the thought that his family — his pack, perhaps —was around him, where he could protect them. Not that the priestesswho was sleeping next to him would have needed any, but still.

Itonly took a couple of minutes before he was sound asleep.

Kagomejerked up as the first cry broke through the night. For one second,she felt panicked and bewildered, not recognizing her surroundings,but still hearing her son screaming. Hoshiki!She needed to— Ah, right, she was at Inuyasha’s place. Still, shetried to get herself out of bed and pull herself from under theblankets she seemed to be entangled in, despite his warning.

“That’sokay,” a sleepy voice mumbled, next to her. “Don’t move, I gotit.”

Sheturned around to find Inuyasha’s back, sitting on the bed, hissilver hair reflecting the pale light of the moon.

“Heprobably needs changing,” she said. “I have—”

“Don’tworry, I have everything I need,” he yawned, standing up andstretching himself, giving her a nice view at his back, and shedidn’t know what impressed her more, the muscles or the fact thathe had apparently truly thought this through and was taking this soseriously. She picked the latter as she let her head fall back on thepillow. Wow. It had been an eternitysince she had been able to do that. She watched as he walked out ofthe room, and listened as the crying stopped, replaced by his deepwhisper.

Aftera few moments, she got up and tiptoed to the room. She found Hoshikichanged, and Inuyasha holding him in his arms, maybe somewhatclumsily but very tenderly, trying to get him to go back to sleep.She took a moment to watch them, as she was filled with warmth onceagain. When Inuyasha looked up, she finally approached them, leaningtowards the kid over his shoulder.

“Youcan put him back in, he will fall asleep soon,” she explainedsoftly. “He’s a very calm baby, and he doesn’t fall asleep aseasily if we’re around.”

“Erm,yeah, I just— I guess I just wanted to—” He stopped himself,embarrassed. He was probably being ridiculous, but he had a hard timeadmitting how much he cared for the kid out loud. He hadn’t knownhim for long, but he would still die for him.

“Tohold him?” Kagome rested his head on his shoulder for a moment,holding out a finger for the kid to catch in his hand, but she pulledit out of reach before he could put it in his mouth. “No honey,”she cooed, “you know it took a week for mama to heal last time!”

Inuyashagrinned. “Keh, already a fighter, aren’t ya? But you should pickbetter opponents, buddy. Your mom isn’t exactly a threat.”

Kagomelaughed at his words. “Don’t listen to your dad,” shecontinued. “Trustme,I’m the most dangerous person you’ll encounter.”

“Bythat, she means she’ll be the one who’ll say no when you want togo out late.”

“Exactly.”

Thentheir eyes met, shining with the complicity of a moment shared. Shewas smiling brightly, and even he was smirking, and somethingpassed between them. They didn’t have the time to identify it, butit was probably at that moment that it became obvious that theycouldn’t walk away from each other. It wasn’t just about theone-night stand — they sharedsomething. Hoshiki, obviously, but it became clear thenthat it was about more than blood. It was about the love and the carethey had for him. They wouldbe together in this, one way or another.

“I’mgoing to bed,” Kagome said, still keeping her voice low. “You canstay with him if you want, but just know, he’s going to wake upseveral more times during the night. If I were you, I’d enjoy thesleep while I can.”

Hesighed, but followed her advice. These were things he wished he knewalready, but the best thing he could do for Hoshiki was to learn. Andboy, did he want to.

Helaid the kid back down as she walked out of the room, stroking hisface gently and earning a happy little laugh for it. Fuck. Was itpossible to love someone so much you could die? Because he definitelyfelt like that right now. He took a few more moments there, juststaring back in his son’s eyes, silently promising him that hewould neverlet him go through the same things he had experienced. He’d movemountains for him if he had to, and right now, he felt like he couldchange the world for him too. But he wouldn’t let him get hurt. Notever.

Hejoined Kagome once more, trying to be as silent as possible. Still,only a few seconds after he had laid down, she called out “Inuyasha?”

Herolled around to find her facing him, and she stared into his goldeneyes with a happy expression he didn’t recall ever seeing whensomeone was looking at him. “I’m really glad you’re here,”she said. “I think it’s really important for Hoshiki, and I’m—I’m glad it’s you.You’re doing a great job with him already.”

Damn.He didn’t know why, but he felt like crying. He hadn’t cried whenhe had found out he had a son, maybe because of all the ways he knewhe could fuck this up, but this?This was getting to him.

Beforehe could reply, as he willed back, she leaned in and kissed him onthe cheek, softly. “So you won’t mind getting up for him for thenight, right?”

Therewas a teasing tone in his voice, and he chuckled in response. “You’relucky I like the kid.”

“He’sa great kid,” she said warmly. “We can try to make you meet more,if you’d like to. I’ll see what’s happening for my apartment,and then we can figure that out, okay?”

“Let’sdo that.”

“Youshould really try to get some sleep.”

“Iwould if you stopped talking.”

Therewas another laugh. It wasn’t that different from Hoshiki, hedecided, and this had to be why he liked it that much.

Yeah.That hadto be the reason.

Kagomewoke up as the sun was rising after the first good night of sleep shehad gotten in forever.She looked at the arm around her waist in confusion, and when shetried to turn around, she found Inuyasha pressed against her, hisface buried in her neck. He seemed deeply asleep, and she couldn’tblamed him. He had gotten up several more times in the night, and sheknew of experience how hard that could be.

Shetried to get up without waking him up, but he jumped the second shemoved. For a brief moment, he looked horrified when he looked at her,but before she could gather why, he had removed his arms and wasscrambling back.

“Shit,‘m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“It’sokay,” she soothed him immediately. She hadn’t minded, really. Infact, if she was honest, it had been… rather nice. “Just stayhere. Do you have something to make breakfast?”

Therewas a moment of silence.

“Ithink I have eggs. Want me to help?”

“Youshould—”

“I’ma half-demon,remember? I don’t need nearly as much sleep as humans.”

Hermouth dropped open. Oh wow, that explained a lotaboutHoshiki, and she had no idea about that.

“Imean, you don’t have to,” she said hesitantly. “You let us staythe night, that’s the least I can do.”

Andthis was how Inuyasha found himself in front of scrambled eggs whileKagome proceeded to breastfeed Hoshiki. This felt good. It feltright. It felt… It felt like a family.

Well,up until she took a look at her phone, gasped, and got up. “Ireally need to go. Apparently they saved most apartments, but I stillneed to check it as soon as possible. You have my number, right?Just— Call me and we’ll figure something out for Hoshiki.”

Already,she was hurrying to gather her stuff. Before he knew it, she was atthe door, where he joined her to open it.

“Thankyou,Inuyasha,” she said as she walked out. “I mean it. I owe you.”Her hand brushed against his for just an instant, and withoutthinking, he briefly squeezed her fingers. The contact lasted a fewseconds more than necessary, and he hoped that it conveyed what hecouldn’t say out loud. That he didn’t want her to owe him, thathe wanted to become a part of her life, of theirlife, and that he wanted this to be normal. That he wanted her to beable to count on him.

Whenher smile widened, he decided it did.

Hehad a hard time going back in his apartment, even long after she hadleft his hallway. It felt strange now. Empty. Like this wasn’t hisplace, because his place was with them. Not— not necessarilyKagome, well, maybe not or— shit, he had no idea what was goingthere.

Still,his place was definitely by his son’s side.

Hehad never expected that the two of them would change him this much,when they had walked into his life, and now, after just a night athis place, he couldn’t stand the idea that they were gone.

Hegrinned, remembering Hoshiki’s laugh and what it had felt to holdhim.

Hewouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Wow  I hadn’t realized I loved papaYasha that much, but writingthis isgetting to me. Expectan “origin story” for this at some point ;) Hope you liked it!

[roxannepolice]

But yah rey as a character is just so frustrating you know? Cause like, yeah sure she could be complex with a powerful arc where shes forced to come to terms with the fact she wasted years of her life on self-imposed delusions in a cathartic way, or she could be a flat piece of marketing cardboard which Disney is banking on vagina+superpowers=profit without having to go through that persnicty character flaw overcoming or the like. Because like you said, hearing shes a nobody (which ngl, her assuming she was a somebody wasn’t really ever supported in tfa, just that her family was coming back and she desperately wanted them to) is apparently the worst thing but it changes absolutely nothing, not her approach, not her demeanor , if vaguely sad is the absolute worse a character is gonna experience in a goddamn space opera then yeah, full offense ill take the l on Mary sue discourse but her character will definitely be a boring ass wash. We all make fun of whiny new hope Luke but him being a kinda nuisance to both the audience and those around him is what made is transformation into full blown Jedi knight so powerful. With Rey so far what weve got is badass perfect cinnamon roll finally get her due as such, which is clearly working for some people, but I fail to see how that isn’t spectacularly tone deaf to make a protag in this genre such. Operas about drama, not patting you on the back. Rey (assuming she remains as is) would’ve been fine as a protag s the only piece of Star Wars media we ever got was a new hope. But rn she a chosen one architype (and I know that bunch of ppl are gonna go but the series ‘but shes not the chosen one, Anakin still is, the new series isn’t trying to make her one!’ but lets not beat around the burning bush, if u got a character that walks on water and the reason why is because god said so, ur dealing with a chosen one trope and if a character is star wars is made ultrapowerful in lore breaking ways because force said so? Yeah were dealing with a chosen one.) when we had both the deconstruction and the reconstruction done. Shes a straight hero when the success of the ot rest on hitting the formula near perfect the first time. What exactly is Rey, the individual character, bringing to the table? What makes her story supposedly so important the a perfectly good ending had to be made invalid to tell it? A bunch of ppl will say heroines’ journey! But if that’s the case I gotta say, wheres all the feminine shit? Im serious, if the heroines journey is reintegrating the feminine and realizing ‘oh shit mom had a point’ there where is both the feminine skills/coping mechanism and the mom? I mean I saw some ppl arguing for leia in a ‘reys Persephone!’ meta (she isn’t, you can make a much better case for ben himself as Persephone to be quite frank, yall are focusing so much on the trees ((girl gets abducted by guy)) that u forgot the forest existed, the actually story ((girl winds up queen on the underworld, well gee whiz which character just took control of that after leaving the world of living and a grieving divine mother behind, it’s a mystery apparently) behind, it’s a mystery apparently) ((but seriously though even if we hope for dark rey does anyone assume its gonna be taking control of a dark/dead coded org at least partially at this point, do you, do you really??). but given the fact she had what, one line of screen dialogue that’s breaking ur arm with that stretch. As far as skills go I guess you could make an argument for scavenging, but if that’s the case dlf did a shit job of conveying that as female-coded. Everything about rey in tfa seems deliberately androgynous, and yeah, she had her hair let down/mascara moment, but that’s tied to her ‘failure’ on the supremacy thus something nw.SPEAKIGN OF FAILURES ON THE SUPERAMCY AND LACK THERE OF. I find it kind funny that bunch of reylo bnfs (you know who they are) are all ‘hur dur fanboys/antis are dumb and don’t get story structure.’ And then going, ‘why are yall asking how/assuming rey fucked up in throne room/climax of her story in the second portion/darkest point of her character arc? Why do you hate women/ur own ovaries so much?’ because it like walking into a prefurnished house and being told by the relator ‘HERES THE LIVING ROOM’ and having no damn couch. It’s a living room, I expect a couch here. And in a movie where it’s the low point of a character arc and they drag puppet yoda out to tell me the movie is about failure, I expect a damn failure in whats clearly the climax of the characters arc for this movie. As it stands now there are three possibilities imo. 1st, rey had no failure, she is the pure badass maid o light ppl want and every inch the boring cardboard she is accused of by fanbros, remains static, and is relegated to an also ran to benlo taking the most compelling character trophy this trilogy in 10 yrs2nd possibility and the one im hoping for, failure speech wasn’t just thematic explanation but also foreshadowing, rey fucks up big and dramatic in a way that makes her manage to stand out as unique with both her contemporaries and her predecessors(last part, if its ever to much lemme know pls im sorry i just gotta get it out) 3rd and most likely possibility, rey isn’t the main character, benlo is and that’s why his failure both moral in the throne room and logistic on criat take center stage for the last third or so of the movie. Rey is merely a pov character to tell the dramatic villain protag story they wanted and have their very marketable unproblematic Disney heroine cake too.

Ok, so this discourse kinda died down by now, but thanks to that it’s possible to maybe have a calmer look at it I’m totally not trying to justify my late response.

Anyway, the good result is that quite recently my brother, who’s not overly taken with Rey - or the sequels in general, for that matter - said something which really stuck with me as a possible crux of the problem: 

She’s neither comical nor tragical. Just bland. 

This neither comical nor tragical really struck me. And the more I though about it, the more it was appearing to me that this qualm really applies to the sequels as a whole. The thing is that DLF are essentially telling a straightforward story that they’re trying to make captivatingly convoluted. And not just make, but keep this appearance over four years. And this is... a narrative teeth crasher. Like, when you’re honest about the endgame (in the context of the most structural meanings of comedy and tragedy), you can maintain a decorum, though you can also play with it, of course, whereas when you don’t want to be honest about the endgame, you end up mixing the styles somewhat messily. You can’t break or discuss with the rules without acknowledging them, so to speak. Because the originals were honest about the happy/hopeful endgame (the first episode is title A New Hope ffs), they could allow themselves deeply tragic moments like Larses’ deaths, Han getting frozen, destruction of Alderaan, etc. Because the prequels were open about being a tragedy, they could allow themselves lighthearted comic relief for the sake of lighthearted comic relief. 

The sequels... badly want us to consider the possibility of FO winning and Ben dying unredeemed while simultaneously insisting we root for those things not happening, while appearing conscious we’re definitely not buying the former and the latter only somewhat. And it’s tiresome. Dishonest. And indeed, bland. If the story is a tragedy it will be a bloodcurdlingly real one, if it’s a comedy it will be a borderline grotesque one. 

But yeah, returning to Rey, I guess as the main character she’s a lens which focuses the above problems. A very bitter tragedy of what her parents did t her prevents her from being comfortably comical whereas whoohooos I like thats and prancing like a husky on red bull over idols and visions because it’s for children so it must be hopeful prevents her from being intriguingly tragical. So I guess the intentioned effect was tragicomism but, from pov of an engaged casual fan that is my bro, it’s neither. 

As far as Rey’s heroine’s journey lacking some of the usual elements, I blame it on Disney being... a bit too ambitious, maybe. I think they tried to make a heroine’s journey that isn’t ostentaciously seeped in traditional feminine/masculine traits, maintains the structure without what could be called accidentals. On the one hand, I would point out that hero’s journey has pretty much desexualised itself over time, we are rather accustomed to “shero’s” journeys, but on the other... maybe Disney set out on a too novel a territory and may crack their teeth on it, alongside trying to out-Vader Vader at redemption. To elucidate, “toxic femininity” in which a heroine is supposed to find herself in the beginning of her journey, in Rey’s case is uprooted from any of our usual concepts of feminine-masculine social roles (it’s space, duh). My interpretation is that Rey’s version of toxic femininity kind of exists in contrast with Kylo Ben’s version of toxic masculinity - and since the apparent focus of the story is the attitude towards the past/parent figures, toxic femininity would mean her clutching onto the past. Which is why I predict that some act of IX will find Rey inebriated with apparent success in masculine world, meaning she’ll be the one rejecting the old gods this time - and I would point out that panel in Poe comic where she shows herself more sceptical towards idolisation of past don’t mind me, I’m just expressingmy trash dreams for a proper sith lady Rey.

Then again, Rian Johnson said she already found perfect balance between Luke’s clinginess and Kylo’s rejection of the past, so... idk, maybe I’m giving DLF too much credit again.

As for the Persephone thing, I guess the rub is that this reylo reading focuses less on the traditional reading of the myth (where Demeter is the actual main character and Kore is a Princess Peach MacGuffin) and more of an interpretation of it as one of the eldest (at least in Europe) versions of story depicting a transition of a girl into a woman, making Persephone more of a protagonist. 

Like, y’know, this Persephone (D. G. Rosetti, source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proserpine_(Rossetti_painting))

I’m no expert, but myths can lose their original meanings because of power relations (anyone still remember about Dionysus, the god associated with excessive drinking, going through a very Christ-like death and resurrection?) and I think it’s possible that this is the case with the story of Persephone becoming a pre-scientific explanation of seasons changing over the year. So teah, that’s how I always understood the Persephone theme regarding Rey.

But yes, I must agree that I’m confused about Disney’s handling of the mother figure, which... Look, SW became a legend of a modern myth because of how epically Lucas handled the hero dealing with his very explicit father. So yes, I don’t understand what exactly is their game with Rey Nobody from Nowhere in this regard. It’s one thing that they had a cool idea with giving her no lineage, another that parent figures are an essential element of archetypal journeys and from symbolic viewpoint the case of a female character the biological relationship is even more crucial than in male’s. And I swear to all the ewoks and porgs in the galaxy, I do hope Disney’s idea of Rey healing the mother/daughter divide isn’t through her healing the divide between Leia and Ben. Again, this isn’t the idealistic sphere. Just... no. 

Anyway, I still maintain hope (this whole meta blog is built on hope) that Rey will indeed turn out to have a proper personal mistake which will make her stand out in the saga. I do have to admit, though, that I find your last theory very likely. I mean, even when I read all the reylo metas going oh, Rey is going to have such an exciting arc in IX, she has so much to deal with though of course it’s not going to compromise her morally, it will be sooo exciting, I just... f*ck’s sake, what you’re describing isn’t a dramatic character only a dramatised role model. It’s great if that’s your thing, but don’t claim it is space opera-worthy, in operas people drown themselves because of cursed sailors, kill over a break up, decapitate over a bad dream and get dragged to hell over a dinner, not persuade their fallen lovers to change their ways, let alone patienly wait for them the understand the error of their ways (and if they do it’s doomed to end in someone dying).

[chaostwofold]

1-41 on the asks? Also gn

1. if you were to have Hanahaki disease, what flowers would you cough up?

Morning glories!! not only are they already my favorite flower, theyre extremely toxic and mean unconditional love! i have a tendency to fall for the wrong people and not realize until after,, BUT thats only half and half!! some people i loved unconditionally and contine to love them and others set me back in the recovery process,,

2. if someone were to catch Hanahaki disease for you, what flowers would they cough up?

Begonias id assume? not only are hanahaki flowers supposed to represent your feelings, they should also represent the person. begonias are known for misfortune, dark/unpleasant thoughts, and caution to new situations. on the flip side, its harmonious communications, understanding, and gratitude.

3. if you were any historic trope, what would you be? (i.e., the knight, the town baker, the witch of the forest, etd.)

hm. well, what about the urchin whos actually a prince? someone who originates from grand places, a great misfortune turns them into something undesirable and possibly bitter, and then when theyre brought back to the light of stability they provide for those who are in the same situation as he was

4. tell us about your ideal battle outfit

im long range magic tactics and healing always bc im too afraid of conflict :pensive: but the closest thing would probably be something flexible but strong, in black and the more sensitive areas like the neck and thighs covered more carefully (read: shadowhunter gear)

5. what would you be a god/goddess of and what would people sacrifice to you?

change on an emotional and mental plane. they would sacrifice those who refuse to change for the better. i determine what is better, and if they choose the wrong person to sacrifice they would pay depending on why they attempted to sacrifice someone who didnt deserve it.

6. name five iconic quotes that make you feel things.

“there is a difference between wisdom and intelligence... a person may have one without the other.” is an all time favorite from my favorite book The Soulforge by Margret Weis!!!!!!!

“plant your trees and watch them grow.” OUGH

 “There is a thin semantic line separating the weird and the beautiful. and that line is covered in jellyfish.” NIGHTVALE

“Ive been good sir / so very very good for what? / and ive given you / every single thing ive got / its feeling strange man / this whole arrangement / is gonna end with / me totally deranged” From Disobedient, from su:tm!!! it slaps man

“ What do you want from me? Why don't you run from me? / What are you wondering? What do you know? / Why aren't you scared of me? Why do you care for me?” Ah. billie eilish ily

7. scythe, battle axe, broad sword, spear or trident?

Scythe! the weapon of fate and peace,, it is used to reap the souls of those deemed to die and its used for harvesting crops!! the end of all thngs, its a graceful and symbolical weapon.

8. what combination of natural scents would you use as perfume?

Vaniila, star anise, and clary sage

9. ancient scrolls or leather-bound books?

leather bound books!!

10. describe yourself as if you were a storm.

a cyclone, probably. something threatening on the outside but extremely calm on the inside.

11. what type of flower (other than a rose) would you offer someone you were trying to court?

amaryllis, which is splendid beauty and worth beyond beauty

12. honey in milk or cinnamon in tea?

cinnamon in tea!!!

13. cabin in the woods, apartment in the city or mansion in the suburbs?

apt in the city

14. curtains of beads or lace?

bead curtains!!! retro AND can be like “hoohoo welcome to my brewery pick your literal poison im a witch”

15. vocal or instrumental music?

yall know i could never pick,, music is too much of an intimate thing too be taken lightly (whch is one of the reasons i have a burning hatred for jokey nursery rhymes like baby shark)

16. describe your ideal fantasy outfit

SOBS okay so. ough it depends man. i rlly like the idea of like. ponchos and shawls n stuff,,, id prolly go for a witch in the woods ngl (the prince REPRESENTS me the best but. witch of the dark woods is my aesthetic) so prolly like a heavy green shawl over a black shirt and jeans and combat boots or smth,,, i WOULD have a flower crown of poisonous flowers, yes

Changeling or shapeshifter definitely!! to be able to constantly change form in super mecore

18. hard candy, fruit preserves or spice cake?

fruit preserves

19. show us an a picture of your ideal crown.

you all knew it was gonna happen ( its a mountain laurel!! poisonous. of course)

20. tying your hair up using ribbon, yay or nay?

my hair is WAY too short for that but i used to do it when i had longer hair and its a definite yay

21. an evening in the forest with elves, a night in the caves with vampires or a morning in the garden with fae?

an evening in the forest with elves or a morning in the garden with fae!! i cant decide man,,, if it had been a night in a victorian castle w vamps i wouldve been tied w that too but caves are a dwarven thing

22. tell us, in detail, about a curse a witch would put on you.

hm. maybe like. a true self thing? where im forced to say what i mean, i cant say sorry for things im not sorry for, i have to say when things make me uncomfy, i just become less timid (the witch who cursed me got pissed off bc i said sorry too much and didnt answer questions properly)

23. talking with sylphs or singing with nymphs?

talking with sylphs prolly??? i dunno man ive always loved sylphs ngl

24. mint, rosemary, basil or sage?

def mint

25. favorite childhood story? (doesn’t have to be a fairy tale)

what childhood lmao (honestly?? i loved reading the grim fairytales just over and over)

26. tell us about an experience you’ve had that seemed unreal or supernatural. (doesn’t have to be scary)

uhhh one time i was accused of witchcraft bc i was “guessing” peoples fav colours at a christian summer camp and our supervisors asked me to stop bc it was freaking them out bc im not christian (i had them close their eyes, think of their colour, and i would see it bc id close my eyes) OH also one time luke spoiled some pl stuff bc he was thinking abt the spoiler too loudly

27. would you rather have poison or healing ointment in your traveling pack?

oh healing def!! i already know a bunch of native poisonous plants so itll b fine

28. tell us three sayings that you live by.

only two chances for everyone, and then i cut them off entirely

cringe culture is dead. the only cringy people are assholes

hurt luke youre dead

29. vials or mason jars?

no. no. you CANNOT make me pick. its illegal

30. describe your ideal masquerade ball outfit (mask included).

uh! moss green, its a onepiece thats baggy and tied with a golden decorative rope at the waist and tightened at the ankles!! its loose at the sleeves and the shoulders are showing whereas the neck is turtled!! there are designs showing black mambas and lilies of the valley (poisonous...). the mask is black and covers my right eye, with subtle smooth scales on it.

31. splashing around in a river with mermaids or flying through the sky with harpies?

BOTH are p mean uh. i said sylphs earlier so ig ill go mermaids??? plus im afraid of heights

32. what would you end up in the dungeon for?

as the royal magician/wizard/witch/alchemist/magic jester? calling the royal family out on their bullshit

33. if you were a fairy, what color would your wings be?

they would be black owls wings!!! (if you meant pixies, like tinkerbell, you shouldve said pixies fam :pensive:)

34. if you could have any magical item, what would it be?

deaths cloak or a truth charm to get people to tell me, you guessed it, the truth

35. what song would the bards sing about you when you passed by?

a song about grim ends ad new beginnings.

36. would you rather be a pirate or a king/queen?

royalty! so i can fuck shit up from the inside

37. would you spend more time in the field of flowers, the tavern, the docks or the marketplace?

field of flowers or marketplace!! seeing the things people create and natural beauty and solitude are both wonderful

38. would you have a painting of yourself?

a modest one with a very dark palette, with my eyes painted a gleaming golden.

39. what skill are you famous for?

i talk rlly fast

40. if you could live any fairy tale, which one would you?

im not sure,, 

41. stained glass windows or fairy lights?

FAIRYLIGHTSFAIRYLIGHTSFAIRYLIGHTS

[asgardianisms]

WHAT UP; i’m ray i’m nineteen n i never fuckng learned how to read !! i’d like u all to meet KATHERINE KAZ FOSTER, the TWENTY TWO year old daughter of JANE FOSTER & THOR and the twin sister of CHRISTOPHER FOSTER. she’s a SEVENTH YEAR with the power of THUNDER MANIPULATION. she’s my daughter and i Love her Very Much but beneath cut are some sweet lil points of info so that hopefully u guys can vaguely like her as well

if i were to describe her through songs, i’d use: woman by kesha, laura palmer by bastille, to the grave by bea miller, jim morrison by jon bellion, good girls by elle king, don’t play by halsey & me myself & i by g-eazy ft. bebe rexha. there are more, but ... im not gonna bog y’all down

personality tidbits: she’s a SCORPIO & an ESTJ ( “ the executive “ ) personality type, who i’d sort into SLYTHERIN and think would be a part of the DAUNTLESS divergent faction. if i were going to give her a single tv trope, it’d be PINT SIZED POWERHOUSE

aesthetic: leather boots & jacket partnered with tank tops and skinny jeans. dark lipstick. short, unruly hair. rings on every finger, stomped on flowers, t-shirts with feminist mottos, long painted nails, bruised knuckles, jack daniels & coke, burning matches, more wolf than girl.

quote: she wears all black just like her soul, yet her heart is made of gold.

-

simply put : kaz is a firecracker you don’t want to cross, filled with aimless anger and ready to let it explode at any given moment - but not so deep down, she’s so much MORE.

i’m going to stay as vague as i can on backstory while details are waiting to be smoothed out, but so far i can tell u all that obviously, she and her brother were raised solely by jane foster, and because of that, she has SUCH respect for her. like. i truly don’t think i could ever say how much love and admiration she holds towards jane, not just bc she’s so damn SMART, but bc she raised the two terrors themselves with little to no help

and she did such a good job. let it never be said that jane foster couldn’t raise her kids bc she did, and she obviously had as much help as was needed, but it was mostly just HER and i think both kaz and chris have unwavering respect and loyalty to their mother for that

but also the fun part -

they also both kinda have unwavering pointless anger at their dad

kaz, in particular, isn’t very ... secretive about that. let it never be said that jane didn’t play equal part in whatever happened between them, but from kaz’s point of view growing up, she didn’t have a dad and her mom worked her butt off to provide for them both - so u can kinda see why she doesn’t rly look too fondly on thor, or sif, or her half sister

i’m not sure yet what we’re going with ; but i know that we were hoping to make jane having cancer canon here too, which plays into kaz’s feelings a lot - consider her bitter that one parent who she doesn’t view as worthy ( haha ) will live for eons, while the other is fairly doomed. 

in her eyes, it’s not fair

but so MUCH isn’t fair, and that’s where a lot of her aesthetic comes in -

it’s so dumb, but kaz has these innate daddy issues that she started, in recent years, to combine with this anger at the world and what it does to people who are so deserving of MORE ( you could even say that’s why she’s as passionate as she is about equal rights, and women power, and the lgbtqia+ community, and everything ELSE ) - and she puts on this show, of being this tough girl hard ass, because it’s easy, and because it’s what she really sees as right

she can be SUCH an ass and she absolutely knows it - but she’s also very inherently good. she’s LAWFUL NEUTRAL and you know it, because in spite of having this exterior that’s very .. bitchy, for all intents and purposes, she really only gives as good as she takes when someone ELSE is being worse to her. she’s known for the fact she likes letting her fists doing the talking, but if you were to look at why each fight breaks out, it’s almost always because she was sticking her nose in to stick up for someone else, or because she didn’t take too kindly to something nasty said

she’s so good. she just has so much anger, and she’s one of those people who struggles to not feel it.

and that’s it !

hope u love her as much as i do

[kenstaroyco]

1/2 this is getting ridiculous. julie really loves the female rivalry trope. isak fucked eva over in s1, even though they were best friends, even though they spent most of the time together, and when they weren't together, they were skyping each other. did she turn on isak? no, she was hurt and they had a mature conversation about it. now, sana fucked isak over. again, they didn't turn it into a petty argument, they discussed it and supported each other. the boy squad supported isak in s3...

2/2 why is it that we've had the female rivalry trope not once, (eva x ingrid), not twice (vilde x pm girls), not even three times (sara x vilde) but now 4 times (everyone x sana) (that is if i'm not forgetting something). and like they even have any room to judge sana? all of them but chris have fucked someone in their friend group over before so get off your fucking high horses. i'm sorry, i wish it were different and i could be all girl power and stuff, but the girl squad is annoying as fuck

this is why im going back n forth with how i feel about this season/with julie. i see people making posts about how we should have faith and i somewhat agree like bc we get something everyday it’s easy for us to feel really bitter/annoyed instead of it all came out at once in a week bc we could see the problem in the episode and then maybe the solution only a few minutes later. so i know there will be a solution and that sana won’t end her season with no friends or support. i just wish with that format julie created herself, that she would have at least given us a few happy episodes. like with isak.... he literally had 5 happy episodes (where the majority of the clips were happy rather than sad aka episode 1, 3, 4, 7, 10.) but with sana it’s like......there’s been maybe one or two happy clips in 7 1/2 episodes.... that’s super tiring. so with that im hoping that the girl squad will turn around and these last two episodes make up for the misery we have been feeling with sana for 7 1/2 episodes........i just..........i can’t believe the person who made s3 was capable of making a season like this.