#they also have black sheep which would also be a really good fit

[paintedpawz]

POV: When you misspell God as D-O-G...

CULT OF THE WATER-DOG... Coming never to a Gamestop near you.

Actually, you get TWO versions of the same drawing because I wasn’t sure which lighting version I liked more.  The brightest setting gives off more a vibrancy and helps with a strong-marker lines combined with my neon pens which I’m proud of!  The darker setting matches the spooky aesthestic a little more though and makes the red fully look more blood-colored instead of apple-picking red. X’D

[elhopper1sm]

TW: Mentions of grooming

Everyone always talks about how Ian contributed to Mickey's character development but never vice versa. Like I truly believe had it not been for Mickey Ian may have accepted grooming or predatory relationships well into his twenties or beyond. Think about the show from Ian's perspective. We learn pretty early on he's the black sheep of the family. Comparisons being made to Monica the most hated member of the family and is closeted. Ian originally tends to hang out with or get with other older closeted men who've probably reinforced his their own internalized homophobia onto him. The Gallaghers are also social outcasts of the neighborhood so finding someone who could put up with his family antics and his own low self esteem. Ian was clinging to people who would show him love or appreciation even if it wasn't quality and he didn't really think he could have more. Then comes Mickey someone who is more destitute than him and of a lower social strata and the brother of his best friend. There are experiences of his life Mickey will understand and won't judge him for. Also Mickey adores Ian. He sees him as basically one of if not the best person ever. Mickey cares deeply about Ian and it's obvious. Even when he's trying to hide it. Maybe that's why in the earlier seasons he feels so quick to sort of mess with Mickey's feelings to see if he loves him it's confirmation that Mickey does love him and he needs that. Notice how after spending time with Mickey he isn't as likely to go to the people who are likely to hurt him. Mickey even keeps him from getting harmed making him feel like he deserves more than that. One of the reasons I believe Ian broke up with Mickey towards the end of season 5 is because he actually feels like he's not good enough for Mickey. Like he'll corrupt him or taint him. Which makes sense why he feels this way. One because when he was in a depressive state while making that decision. And two he was because he's constantly compared to Monica accused of corrupting Frank. Once he breaks up with Mickey he tries to join or listen in on the LGBTQ+ club at Lip's college and see if he'll fit in there. He's trying to find people who make him feel valuable and like he deserves more the way Mickey did. Even up to Season 10 he's still doubting whether or not it will work with Mickey but not because of who Mickey is but because of who he is and what's wrong with him. Which is also why I think Ian pressure Mickey to move to the West Side with him. I think in Ian's brain or own strange logic because Mickey gave him the courage to think he deserved more he thinks but getting him and Mickey into a nice apartment or better upgraded living situation that's his way of letting Mickey know he can and will and deserves to have better. Again a foolish decision to change the area where you and your partner live without asking them but I truly believe. It was because he thought it was his way of letting Mickey know he deserved better.

[chaoticfandomgirly]

I always like to say the hard truths about shows and since I am watching Suits, it's their turn. And this is because I like to analyse stuff and I know there will be people who say 'it's not that deep' to which I say that all shows have intent, it's the viewers choice about how they see it.

Louis Litt is the definition of- giving it your all but never being enough- and the people who hate on him really should reevaluate their stance.

I am not gonna lie, I did find Louis irritating in the 1st season but the more I tried to see his perspective the more I empathised. The dude is so over stressed and wants to just fit in, feel validated and get reward for his hardwork...I really feel bad for him.

Does he make mistakes? Yes. Is he a petty son of a bitch? Also yes. But I think that is true for all the characters in the show. The only difference is, that Louis is the black sheep of the group. And frankly, the amount of times he has been bought down is enough to have a villain origin story.

So, when he found out about Mike, I didn't particularly hate that. Louis was hurt and betrayed so many times that it was the last straw. He had his breaking point. He was the only one who let emotions cloud his judgement and for the first time we see his true potential as a cold-hearted lawyer who doesn't make mistakes with good intentions but makes them with intent.

He wants to be on top just like everyone else and would do anything to get there just like everyone else in the show, so he is justified in it.

So even though I am the point where things have calmed down, I felt it necessary to say it. Louis Litt does deserve more.

Thanks to all who read my rant. And for those who don't agree, please don't pick a fight. But I do welcome civil conversations.

[fandom-madness69]

I'm a day late and a dollar short but what's new?!

We have GOT to talk about the REST of the Thrill Ride O' Love scene. Especially the animatics along the walls telling Hephaestus's story. Because as jarring of a song as What Is Love? was in that scene if fucking fit so well!

First we get the Shadow Hera! Larger than life. Big regal gown, tall adorning crown, Mother of the Gods of Olympus, Goddess of Marriage.

And we get her getting pregnant with Hephaestus! All the way down to his little baby blacksmithing tools :3

And then we see her throw Hephaestus off Mount. Olympus. As is told in his story.

But there's a thing that really caught my attention here. Because in the rest of the story we see him leave out not a single important character to his story! So where is his father? The big guy himself Zeus?

Unless! They're going with the versions of Hephaestus's story where Hera miraculously convinced Hephaestus. Because we've seen Rick switch up the Medusa story. And wow do we love him for it!

But that's not my only point! Circling back to the song and then later on to the story about how Hephaestus trapped Hera, his own fucking mother btw in case that flew over anyone's head like it did mine the first few times I watched ep. 5, and so the gods offered him Aphrodite's hand in marriage in exchange for Hera's freedom.

The whole rest of the time Hephaestus has painted himself the tragic dude in the story. Not necessarily the hero but definitely the victim. We see him get rejected by his mother. By Aphrodite for Ares, from the fucking BEGINGING, and then so on.

But what really fucking gets me is not only did he do this ride exactly like this as a trap for his wife and her lover BUT that he had no fucking clue they were there! He was willing to force Ares to sacrifice Aphrodite, his OWN FUCKING WIFE, over a shield and not think twice of it. He wouldn't have fucking known they were there because as we can clearly see by this counter

He clearly wasn't alerted to the presence of his wife and her love affair! Meaning they just fucking materialized in his amusement park, like gods do.

And the words of the song. Oh the words. "Baby don't hurt me no more?" How about you're the only one who has caused any harm since your mother tossed you off Olympus? And NO I AM NOT EXCUSING WHAT HERA DID! Don't even go there. That's for another time.

You repeatedly got rejected and bro I get it. That shit hurts. As a fellow Black Sheep of the Family™️ I fucking understand my dude. And I also completely understand how much gods don't fucking understand humans. And so it wasn't even a concept in his mind to do anything other than what his family had already done to him. Backstab, betray and barter.

But to have the audacity to beg the woman who didn't want anything to do with you, still doesn't, and was forced to wed you to save her mother, YOUR MOTHER, not to hurt YOU anymore! Sickening.

But he gets it. Now anyway. Or he's starting to. Because of Annabeth. Because she found a friend who is giving her unconditional love. Who isn't making her earn it despite having told her he would earn hers! And she's doing the same. She's falling apart and building herself back up all with this one (1) boy's help. And neither of them know it yet. But ohohohohoho they will soon.

And these few moments Hephaestus spent with Annabeth gave him the biggest vibe check of his fucking immortal life. "Maybe some of us don't want to be that way anymore either?"

Like Sir are you realizing that you TOO took things too far? Not even this time like you said Athena did, which btw she's always taken it too far just throwing this in here, but really? Are you getting it now? Did the twelve year olds fighting to sacrifice themselves despite everything fucking shake your world? Rock you to your very atoms? GOOD! You victim mentality, hero complex asshole.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Yk something that I would really enjoy if Yana did in twisted wonderland? Make evil/awful characters be RSA students instead of NRC students. It would make sense considering rook,silver, Kalim, and kinda ortho? Are kind people with quirky personality that don’t really fit into the campus at all. Plus, I feel like a perfect school with no issues is too bland and too much of a dream come true. Yana never came off as the type to toss potential for a good thriller. Anyways, My vote for secretly fucked up RSA student?

It 100% has to be lotso hugging bear from Toy Story 3, he fits perfectly into being an awesome handsome swell class representative that everyone adores and respect, to outsiders though? There is something off about how he runs the classes and newcomers… 😭 ahh, there is so much I can go off but don’t wanna make this too long.

Obviously we have Hans from frozen, hector from Coco, Robert Callaghan from big hero 6, there’s prob a few more I skipped but those are the few I can think that can fit into RSA. Respectful young men with potential futures ahead of them, goody two shoes that don’t defy the law… at least what our NRC boys think. Just a simple idea though, I don’t think it will ever happen so a poor person can only dream 🙃

TWST!Lotso perpetually smells like strawberries/j

You never know, it might! Yana did say that she wanted to continue the main story of Twisted Wonderland following what I will call the “first arc” (which encompasses all 7 OB boys and Grim). There’s also future Halloween events to consider (Yana has already indicated that’s she’s very excited for the next one)!

We don’t know exactly what that “next” main story might entail, but a lot of fans theorize it will involve increased exposure to or interactions with RSA. If that’s the case, it would be very boring if the RSA students all turn out to be perfect and problem-free. I’m sure some trouble would eventually arise.

The “twist” villains of Disney seem like perfect candidates to be the “black sheep” in a school supposedly full of good-natured souls. It would also give TWST an opportunity to actually… fix??? Make up for??? Some of their poor implementation in the actual films (which is a point they’ve been criticized for, since most recent Disney movies have either had bad twist villains or no “real” villain at all). In my opinion, Hans is a particularly poorly written one—

If we want to get super modern, I think even King Magnifico from Wish (I think it’s out to the general public now?) would count as a twist villain. (Even if the advertisements all make it clear he’s the bad guy, within his own universe he is still considered a good guy!) Although… looking back at the twisted characters we’ve seen so far, all of them essentially come from older, more “classic” Disney films, so maybe the far shinier and more recent Disney villains won’t be “twisted” so soon?? 🤔 That’s just me speculating though!

[carmyboobear]

trans carmy. TRANS CARMY. Just. (Falls to my knees) listen to me. It just makes sense

It starts with him growing up an awkward kid, the outcast. I feel like he felt different than others in a way he couldn’t place which is so trans of him. I mean also his cptsd which is a big part of his character for me but that’s another gigantic post.

There are physical aspects that really add to this well. For one, he’s a short king. So trans of him. Another thing is his staple trans masc fit. White t shirt and jeans give him gender euphoria and he is sticking to that. Also the little chain…. Not universal ofc but my fellow transmascs and I love a good chain. Even him being muscular asf is so trans, like bulking up when you go on testosterone bc it’s so much easier to is so real.

AND HIS TATTOOS. UGH. The tattoos are a layered thing. It makes me think about that awful head chef carmy worked under. The lines I’m thinking about are when he’s saying to carmy like, “you think you’re so tough, you’re worthless, you have those tattoos so you can feel like you’re tough but you’re nothing”. I think the tattoos are epic but also an extension of how he expresses his gender. it validates his masculinity for him.

He’s really eager to prove his masculinity to the world, particularly to the culinary world. I mean masculinity in the sense that he wants to prove that he’s man enough, that he’s made himself into a man that’s just as good as the cis men around him. I think there’d be a ton of pressure to feel like he’s up to par, especially in a super competitive field with a lot of men.

It’s even in his name. Carmen. Carmy. The way it’s masculine and feminine, the way he might’ve been born as Carmen and just decided to keep it that way. The way he goes primarily by a chosen name, even if it is just a nickname.

I feel like it even adds layers to his relationship with Michael, too. I see Carmy, who feels isolated from his peers for being trans (and just different in general), and Michael being one of the only people to really affirm who he is. Carmy and Mike were best friends. I have no doubt that Carmy really felt secure around him, which is why the betrayal of not letting him work at the restaurant hurt even more than it already did. Why Mike’s death would be even harder for Carmy to stomach.

His transness is why Carmy is the black sheep of his family. Why he doesn’t come home. Why his relationship with his mother is strained. Of course, I think this is all primarily because he has a dysfunctional family and lots of trauma, but it still adds to my vision.

Anyway I could go on but these are the main point. I just think Carmy is transmasc as hell

[sombredancer]

Recent visually beautiful and generally watchable Russian fantasy movies

(because I start forgetting they exist at all) Ironically, all of them are adaptations of books/comics.

I Am Dragon / Он — дракон (2015) This movie is a very free adaptation of the novel "The Rite" / "Ритуал" by Maryna and Serhiy Dyachenko (Марина и Сергей Дяченко). It's a reinterpreting of an ancient tale about a maiden, a hero and a dragon. I don`t like the novel because it's very postmodern, wracks the typical fairytale plot and hurts my escapist feelings by ugly reality, but the movie is pretty fairytale-ish and nice. Firstly, it is visually beautiful and represent Slavic pseudo-medieval lore the way it should have always been in Slavic fantasy.

Secondly, as a love story between a monster and a maiden, it has got A PLENTY of tropes I'm usually looking for in Chinese dramas, so I understand very well why it was pretty popular in Asia.

Thirdly, when I said it's visually beautiful I wasn't joking. The main hero is played not by an actor, but by a male model, who is shirtless all the time (and sometimes pantless) and has a very fit and good-looking body. It's something unbelievable that someone in Russia made a movie to please women's eyes! Really, it's insane!

The folk-rock band Мельница wrote an insanely beautiful song "Обряд" (The Rite) for this movie (more matched to the book plot, though), but it was never used as OST, which is a shame. The song is about a black sheep girl, who is denied by society and asks a dragon to come for her and to take her away, because the dragon is denied by this world just like her. You can listen to it here. The band also has a song "Змей" (The Wyrm) (based on Lev Gumilev's poem), which is more accurate to the plot of the movie: the wyrm kidnaps maidens to make them its wives, but they are all dying during the flight; at the end of the song a hero-knight is ready to shoot it in order to stop it. Listen to it here.

It ends with HE, which is better than the book's obscure ending, so it is pleasure for me to rewatch it till these days.

Major Grom: Plague Doctor / Майор Гром: Чумной Доктор (2021)

It is an adaptation of Russian comic series "Major Grom" by Bubble comics. I am traditionally not very happy with the source material, but it is very good reworked to be the screen play of this movie.

It's very beautifully made in terms of director's, cameraman's and screenwriter's work, which is a rare thing for Russian movies. Also, the actors are young and handsome, especially the villain, which is a rare thing not only for Russian movies, but for the current Western movies, too. It has got a lot of allusions to Russian reality and a lot of beautiful views of Saint Petersburg, the second capital of Russia and one of the most beautiful Russian cities. And it has got some unusual visual solutions that turn it into a comic it should be.

The plot revolves around a mysterious serial killer (kinda bad Batman), a black sheep police officer and Russian Mark Zuckerberg (kind of). Mark Zuckerberg is the best guy of this movie and I like him a lot! Серёёёёжа! 🧡🧡🧡

This movie wasn't popular in Russia because of political situation in the country by the moment of its release (the both sides found out in there something insulting for them and banned it), but even if it has something like that, I honestly didn't pay attention to it. It's just a nice blockbuster with a tragic and handsome villain. The villain also has got his own BL-drama (in the comics they are really lovers, it`s as obvious as it could be shown in a Russian comic).

By the way, the villain is hot, insane, ruthless, sensitive and suffering. How does he contain all of this character treats in one personality? you may ask. He doesn`t. He has dissociative identity disorder, I would answer.

I don`t know if it works by now, but some time ago you could watch this lovely movie on Netflix.

The Master and Margarita / Мастер и Маргарита (2024) This is a loose adaptation of Russian classical novel "The Master and Margarita" by Mikhail Bulgakov. I genuinely hate this book, but the adaptation reinterprets it, divides it into very interesting layers and makes it understandable and beautiful.

It`s layered, so it will probably be hard to understand what layer are we currently on if you are not familiar with the original story. The first layer is an ugly Soviet reality, the second layer is a plot of the novel that the main hero is writing, a story within a story. The third layer is the insane intertwining of the first two layers. On the reality layer the Master loses his job and freedom because of friend's denunciation and becomes star-crossed lovers with a married woman. On the novel level he meets devil, who visits Moscow by chance, and the devil gives him and his woman opportunity to live their lives being free from everything that usually tortures people IRL. Somewhere among those layers is a little plot about Jesus and Pontius Pilate.

The movie is visually beautiful. Although it feels pretty anti-Soviet, Soviet visuals of the movie are gorgeous. There were used the Stalin-times concepts of Moscow of the Future, the CGI buildings in frame came from the real architecture projects of those times. The Stalin Empire architecture style and views are typical for Moscow (but as I know, ironically, this all was shot in Saint Petersburg). It seems to me that this movie is heavily stuffed with visual allusions to the Western works: devil's escort looks like bunch of Pennywises, Margarita is Enchantress from Suicide Squad I, the scene of blood dripping is from Blade I etc. Usually, when I see it in Russian movies, it feels like plagiarism because I can recognize the reference but there is nothing except for these references . But here we have got the plot, so the allusions work as allusions and don`t irritate me.

The movie is dark, disturbing, uncomfortable. It really makes you feel as if you watch devil and his escort marching around you; they ravage, kill and destroy everything and you can only breathlessly, helplessly and in fear watch them. The German actor playing devil is insanely good. He stole the movie and I understand why it should have been named Woland (the devil's name) instead of the current movie's name. You may want to watch it, because it's very unusual in terms of plot and visuals experience, especially when you are not familiar with the book.

[cipheramnesia]

Hiii beautiful Cipher!

Recently we were able to watch Nope and absolutely loved it!! Her at home we have a couple of roommates who are not really into horror but Nope worked for them as it is a horror that feels like a western/sci-fi.

So we come to you asking for recommendations on horror movies that work that way.

Nope is kind of a tough act to follow, because it's one of those movies that hits on all levels - story, subtext, character, plot, cinematography. You name it, and Nope knocked it out of the park. So, tempered expectations, there's nothing else which will hit quite the same, I think.

Two movies I think are quite good and complimentary are Prey and Tremors. Tremors in particular comes pretty close to the same scifi western monster movie vibe of Nope, including a pretty similar pace and similar plot beats. While it doesn't quite aim as high as Nope, it's a classic of the horror genre for a good reason, and a whole lot of fun. It leans more into humor, although it's firmly a horror movie. If you or your friends somehow never heard of it, and you don't have "hard out" triggers, my advice is go in fully blind because much like Nope it has a lot of enjoyable twists. Some triggers I'd add would be animal death (sheep), fear of heights, child in danger, and obviously fear of earthquakes or similar.

Prey was all over Tumblr so I don't think I need to add a whole lot. It's one of the movies in the Predator series, and easily one of the best. The original Predator could also work to compliment Nope, but I think Prey fits it better. Watch it in the Comanche dub obviously. It's more of a departure from being directly a Western movie but syncs up enough to fit the vibe and it's likely to find a similar positive reception with anyone who enjoyed Nope thanks to the way it balances character, story, and action while using a deft but light touch with the horror element. This is one that's not really much for twists and turns so ahead and go nuts at doesthedogdie.com if you wanna.

A few others that mash-up horror, science fiction, and western movie tropes or themes, but which don't compliment Nope as well, are Pitch Black, Turbo Kid, and Prisoners Of The Ghostland. Pitch Black is from back in Vin Diesel's early days, and feels like something right in between Aliens and Firefly. It's a low stakes, mid-budget monster movie that doesn't reinvent anything but makes for a fun ride. Turbo Kid is a retro 80s movie more than western per se, which imho leans too hard on the style and not enough on the characters, but it's full of weird mechanical devices and showdowns and standoffs. Prisoners of the Ghostland is something fully different than Nope, but it mashes up the western and samurai genres along with post apocalypse themes and an overall dreamy surrealism that puts it more in line with Mad God. But it sure is scifi western horror, kind of. Content warning: Nicholas Cage.

If we get a little further outside the western area, there's definitely some other films that are a good follow up for Nope. Immediately to mind is the spectacular scifi horror movie Attack the Block. It's another great movie to in blind on if you can, not so much for specific plot twists, as purely the story unfolding is so good and so fun that getting to enjoy it unspoiled is deeply satisfying. It's a fantastic bit of humans versus aliens that illustrates how to masterfully take a very conventional story and tell it in a way so unique that it feels new each time you watch it.

Related and tangential to the western movie is the apocalypse road trip movie, aka the Mad Max genre. One of my favorites is the little seen 80s movie but released in the 90s Highway To Hell. It's a curious bit of film with some bits that aged poorly, but for the most part it's surprisingly smart and chock full of iconic moments, including racing the devil for a soul. More recently I would suggest the Wyrmwood movies (Road of the Dead and Apocalypse), as absolutely balls out zombie movies like nothing you've seen, unless you like Z Nation, but even then they're still unique. In particular Wyrmwood Apocalypse has some of the western movie vibes, but it's uniquely bizarre in execution.

Lastly I wanna give a shout-out to Red Hill, which is not science fiction or horror, but is a banger of a modern day western movie, particularly with how it tricks the viewer into the idea that it's heading one way and then, well... something quite a bit else.

[theriu]

River Reads Midnight Sun

Chapter 2: Open Book

In which Edward faces his fears and spends an agonizing amount of time hyperfixating on Bella.

<-Chapter 1

So we jump into chapter two AND next week, as it has been six days since Edward (shockingly) succeeded in leaving town forever (citation needed)! He is chilling (ha) in a snowbank, staring up at the stars, which are truly magnificent. Or he knows they would be, except he can't quite see anything except Bella's face. Yes, the girl has haunted him straight to (checks location on a map) oh he's in ALASKA, okay! I wasn't sure where Denali was, but I was PRETTY sure even Edward couldn't drive a car to Russia. (You'll see why I considered Russia in a minute.)

Anyway, the "unremarkable" face of this girl he's literally never spoken to directly has been haunting him for six days, which is indeed troubling. While he is brooding on this, the thoughts of a new character come leaping towards him. This is where we meet Tanya, a vampire with silver skin, blonde-but-almost-pink curly hair, amber eyes, and full lips. Mary Sue Tanya is stunning and exquisite, at least from Ed's memory, since he still can't see past the face permanently branded on his eyeballs.

So anyway, Mary Sue Tanya does a cannonball into Ed's snowbank, burying him alive with snow but not burying the image of Bella. It becomes clear that she has been crushing on Ed and is sad he will be leaving soon and doesn't return her affections, although he is very polite and gentlemanly about it.

(Honestly, I liked her well enough until we got to the "I'm not used to rejection" line, and then she starts sifting through the memories of all her human male conquests next to the actual mind reader who she is attracted to, to which I say WOMAN REALLY??? I don't think making the guy you like EVEN MORE UNCOMFORTABLE than he's already admitted you kinda make him is an effective way to gain his affections?!)

ANYWAY, thankfully they get off THAT subject quickly and have a really quite nice conversation, wherein Ed apologizes for getting her hopes up by coming to her home territory and Tanya tries to be a good friend. We see a mention of her "long-lost Russian accent," thus my uncertainty about location, and she tells him she knows he won't keep running from his mystery problem because he's the type who faces things head-on. Mary Sue TANYA then runs away across the snow, so light and fast she doesn't even leave footprints, suggesting a connection between vampires and wood elves.

Encouraged by this pep talk, Gary Stu Edward also gets up and runs footprintless across the snow, determined to be brave and go back and face those "bewildered chocolate-brown eyes," and hopefully not eat the girl attached to them.

SCENE CHANGE!

Edward's back in town, and his three vampire siblings/classmates are huddled around him as they head into the lunchroom, being quite adorably protective, honestly. Alice is trying to foresee any problematic eventualities, Jasper thinks it's funny that EDWARD is the one everyone's fretting over instead of him, Emmett is acting like a bodyguard, and Ed is just exasperated with all of them.

To his surprise, nobody at school is thinking about them, suggesting that Bella didn’t blab about his black murderstare from last chapter. After all, a normal human would have asked around about it, because humans and especially teens all like to feel NORMAL and FIT IN and be a "featureless flock of sheep" and WOW, should I be more annoyed at Ed or the author for this intense bias against high schoolers?! But of course Bella isn't like those OTHER kids, she doesn't do things like talk to people when something weird happens!

About this time, Bella walks in and Alice is all, "Act human!" To which Emmett responds by taking out the snowball he compressed into an ice chunk with his superstrength and chucking it at Alice, who casually deflects it across the room at superspeed, where it cracks a brick. This does, ironically, draw attention away from them. Everyone is annoyed at Emmett, which is fair, but also, ALICE COULDN'T YOU HAVE JUST CAUGHT IT INSTEAD OF POTENTIALLY SHOOTING SOMEONE?

Ahem. So Bella's in the lunch line, and Mike Newton, Regular High School Guy And Insignificant Human Rival, is worried about her. Ed starts also worrying about if she might be sickly, what with her translucent skin. (Are we 100% sure BELLA is human?!) The vampires do a slightly better job of acting natural, and Edward decides to refer to Bella as “Bella” and not just "the girl,” "as if she were the only girl in the world," which is HILARIOUS considering where we all know this is going!

After eavesdropping on Bella and Jessica whispering about him looking at her (Bella thinks he's mad at her, after the whole murderstare incident), Bella hunkers under her hair and avoids eye contact, although Ed thinks she keeps twitching like she WANTS to look at him. Then, at long last, lunch ends and everyone starts going to class. There is another internal struggle while Ed reviews what all of his vampire family members have advised about this situation. (Emmett sounding the least helpful, as he has apparently encountered two such delicious-smelling-people incidents that... uh... sound like they did NOT go well?) But Ed is determined to prove to himself that he has the self-control to sit through biology without murdering Bella, so off he goes.

(By the way, Rosalie complains she doesn't want to have to move because they're almost finally out of high school. Again, why are you pretending to be high school students?! It's not like you'll age whether you're there or not?! HOW DOES THIS HELP YOUR COVER??)

Edward gets to Biology to find Bella at their table, doodling randomly. He decides to introduce himself. He gets briefly lost in gratuitously detailed descriptions of her eyeballs and how they are simultaneously like chocolate and strong tea, and how could anyone so frail be deserving of his unwarranted hatred last week? He's also holding his breath, but has enough air in his longs for a reasonably lengthy conversation AND a short laugh, during which Bella is... surprised/startled that he called her Bella? Because her dad introduced her to everyone as Isabella? But she's apparently told multiple people since she got here that she prefers Bella? So he probably could have learned that even without his super vampire eavesdropping powers? WHY is this weird enough to be suspicious, and HOW does it indicate she is intuitive?

Well, the book and Ed believe she is insightful and intuitive, so I guess we should just go with it. Ed does eventually needs to breath so he can talk, and even though just breathing through his mouth is like tasting the FIERY COALS of her deliciousness, and their brief moment of making skin contact is like an ELECTRIC SHOCK, he manages to continue acting normal.

By the way, along with being unconventionally if lopsidedly pretty and smelling delicious, Bella was also in advanced-placement biology at her previous school and Knows Science! Edward realizes this must mean she is ESPECIALLY intelligent for a human, which of course makes perfect sense. After all, she was the first student in two years to look him in the eye long enough to notice they'd changed from the Murderstare Incident's I'm-going-to-eat-you black to today's calmer I'm-probably-not-going-to-eat-you-except-by-accident amber/gold! My friends, may I remind you this man previously admitted he has two medical degrees, a thing that probably required some amount of physically attending college. I really wonder if Ed's standards would be more realistic if he ever once SOCIALIZED WITH HIS HUMAN CLASSMATES.

In an effort to maintain normalcy, they talk about the weather. Bella does not like the cold and wet of Forks. She clearly does not like being in Forks at all. She is vague and grumpy about why she came here, and Edward is so obsessed curious that he may implode (this is the actual word used). We learn (agonizingly slowly) that her mom remarried—and no, Edward, Bella DOES like the guy, he's nice and a minor-league baseball player; and no, Edward, her mom DIDN'T send her here, SHE sent HERSELF here so her mom could happily travel with her step-dad rather than unhappily stay home with her! Ed is certain by now that Bella "isn't like other humans" because he keeps guessing her story arcs wrong and she's just so CONFUSING and UNPREDICTABLE, and this can't possibly be because he's about 100 years out of practice having a normal conversation without a cheat code into the other person's brain.

(Okay, to be fair, there are at LEAST two moments of self-awareness where Ed wonders if he'd be this bad at reading everybody without his mindreading powers. We should give him points for that.)

But despite his difficulties, he DOES figure out that Bella is unhappy, mostly by her sending out signals that a rhino could decipher. When he confronts her with this observation, her response is, "So?" And after meditating on this for an unusually brief paragraph, Ed realizes THE ANSWER:

"She was selfless."

I'm sorry, guys, I need to break for a second, that's the first part that made me laugh out loud. Can someone lend me a combine to harvest all this corn.

(Side Note: As previously stated, I have not read the books or watched the movies, so I could be biased by the negative side of the fanbase. But my general impression of Bella has not lent itself to "selflessness." BUT, it is only chapter two and I am only going off of general hearsay! The amount of poorly concealed disgruntlement is not impressing me, though.)

Anyway, Ed guesses that she doesn't really like her situation but doesn't want people to KNOW she doesn't like it. He continues to marvel at how positively he feels towards this girl, how discerning she is, how *cough* selfless she is, not like an "average martyr" who would actually tell someone she's not 100% happy with her SACRIFICE. Bella gets annoyed, which Ed finds amusing, so there's another adjective for the list. But then she says she's annoyed because she's so easy to read, and Edward can't believe this, because he's never had to work so hard to read someone before! Again, this couldn't possibly be because she's the first person in 100+ years whose mind he can't read!

By the way, Bella also seems to be oblivious immune to the usual red flags normal humans feel around vampires! Ed tries smiling dangerously at her, but the teacher breaks up their conversation with actual classtime, so he gets to angst for a few paragraphs about why he shouldn't find this girl interesting and how dangerous this is for her and yet how MUCH he wants to know more about her. And also trying not to kill her when her thick, black hair flips in his direction and drives his vampire nose bananas.

He books it as soon as the bell rings, having survived the encounter without murdering anyone but with so many new questions about this unremarkable, shy, frail, unmindreadable-yet-highly-face-readable, delicious-smelling, selfless, quietly disgruntled human girl.

(Side Note: I have learned a new word!

"Attar—a fragrant essential oil, typically made from rose petals."

Ex: "Again, I gasped at the clean, wet air outside as though it was a healing attar."

*loud sighing noises*)

So after that brief break, he goes to class with Emmett. Emmett, IMMENSELY HELPFUL EMMETT, asks how it went, questions if it wouldn't be easier to just get it over with, reassures Ed that everyone would understand if he messed up (GIVING IN IS NOT THE SAME AS "MESSING UP," EMMETT), and then vividly visualizes a time he experienced a really good-smelling woman and ate her. Between his earlier blasé-ness about not "wallowing in guilt" over past mistakes and this section's lack of anything indicating regret about that incident, I take back any nice things I might have said about this guy. Emmett, YOU. ARE. THE WORST.

It's so bad that Ed has to bolt out of class AGAIN, although it doesn't help that Emmett follows him and continues to suggest maybe Ed should just get it over with if it's so bad, can Alice or somebody please come punch him. Ed finally gets him to leave and hides in his car. Then, "like an addict" (his own words), he searches the whole school for thoughts about Bella. From his car. My GUY, just how UNREASONABLY powerful ARE your mind radar skills???

He finally locates Bella in gym class, because Mike, who is mad about Ed talking to her, is thinking in logical, complete sentences (as one does) about how satisfied he is that Bella doesn't seem interested in Edward. He also conveniently remembers her asking "what was with" Edward last Monday (after the Deathstare Incident). So apparently Bella isn't QUITE abnormal unique enough to stay totally silent when she encounters a weird thing (not that Edward notices). Ed's response to his annoyance over Mike's satisfaction is to blast "violent music," which seems the opposite of helpful to me.

We end the chapter with Bella coming out of school and heading to her rusty old truck while Ed watches her creepily from his car. She almost hits another student's car when she locks eyes with him, and Ed has to laugh at her sudden increased driving vigilance, as if she might be DANGEROUS! Because of course it's RIDICULOUS to think that BELLA could be dangerous to ANYONE in ANY vehicle, as if the driver's physical frailty has any bearing on the damage a truck can do when crashing into cars or non-vampires at speed.

AND SCENE!

I'm gonna be honest, guys, that one was a couple degrees more agonizing than the first chapter. I dread how much more I'm going to hear about Ed's conflicting desires to eat Bella and be attracted to her simultaneously average yet fascinating allure. She's just so unusually unique and smart and intuitive and selfless and shy and frail and inspires protective instincts, you see, and she's not like ANY OTHER human he's ever encountered, even though we have evidence now that sometimes certain vampires just find certain humans irresistibly delicious, and we can probably extrapolate that those humans were somehow immune to vampire powers, too.

I also highly question Bella's above-average "martyrdom," considering she dropped her guard pretty fast around the cute stranger and basically broadcasted how unhappy she is with her decision, which makes it feel a bit like she did what she did so she could feel good about herself rather than because it was the best thing to do? Being selfless doesn't mean COMPLETELY ignoring your own needs, or justify using your good deed as an excuse to have a poor attitude. Of course, considering that half her traits that Ed notices and marvels over are actually fairly normal, I don't think any of us feel a strong need to trust his assessments of her character.

Next up is CHAPTER THREE: RISK. I'm sure it will feature Edward being very level-headed and undramatic. I think I need to build my endurance back up for this one. (And thanks for the likes and comments so far, they really help keep me motivated! =D)

Chapter 3->

[clearlydiamondz]

Loyal to Royalty

Erik!Stevens x OC

Part Four

- - - - - - - - - -

Princess Imani was the black sheep of her family, never really fitting the female royal type. When an arrange marriage between Prince   N'Jadaka and her is set up, she tries her hardest to get away… but she just can’t.

- - - - - - - - - -

The following morning, Nakia and Imani woke up early to go for a run in the morning dew. With the perfect temperature, it was a must. "Princess please slow down. Not everyone can be as fast as you." Nakia panted bending over as Imani turned around chuckling.

"Sorry, I usually don't have anyone running with me." she replied before she grabbed Nakia's shoulder making her stand straight. "Hands on top of your head. There is no oxygen down there." she joking said as Nakia hit her with her towel on her thigh making her laugh.

"Soo... it seems like you and Prince N'Jadaka is getting quite familiar with each other." she wiggled her eyebrows as Imani rolled her eyes.

"Don't think to much of it." she responded sitting down in the grass as Nakia sat down next to her.

"How could I not, you guys looked more in love last night than me and Challa." she bumped shoulders with her.

"I'm really good in what I do." she responded back as Nakia laughed.

"I see. Have you seen the tabloids?" she responded as Imani looked at her confused.

"Already?"

"You may work hard but Wakanda works harder." she laughed as Imani shook her head. "I gotta look for myself." Imani said standing up and dusting her butt off and then helping Nakia up.

They were now at the palace, in the kitchen making smoothies. Imani sat at the counter on her iPad looking through the online articles and blogs. Not only were they viral in Africa, they were top trending in the States.

The new royal couple seem to come out of no where, but boy are we excited! American business owner, Erik Stevens, are now getting married to the Princess of Kambaho, Imani, daughter of King Z'Kiri have made their relationship public as they were seen with King T''Challa and his wife, Princess Nakia. Erik Stevens, also known as N'Jadaka in his father's country, were found out to be blood after the death of King T'Challas father. It is rumored the two will be the new royal couple in the Country of Kamabaho. More insights later to come.

"I was not expecting to be trending in America." she said in shock as Nakia laughed.

"I mean yeah.. it's not like everyday Americans have someone marrying royalty." she said pushing the smoothie her way as she took it opening another tabloid. Pictures of them were shown sitting on the front row, talking and smiling with each other. Damn, they looked real good.

One of the pictures had her laughing as Erik stared at her in awe. If she wasn't a fool, it looked as if that look was genuine. She continued looking through the pictures.

"Ayo, you got to see this!" Shuri came into the kitchen with her tablet, which she had on twitter. "Don't know if you know this but y'all are trending on twitter right now."

Me: Mom can we go watch Coming to America

Mom: We have coming to America at home

The coming to America at home:

That one made her laugh loudly.

She continued to read through the tweets as Erik came in. "Goodmorning y'all." he said sitting beside Imani as she looked at him with a smile.

"We are trending on twitter right now." she told him as he chuckled.

"Yeah I caught wind of that. Some of my niggas back home in Oakland saw it and hit me up." he chuckled sitting back in the chair.

"So, this will probably mean that you will need a publicists." Nakia said cleaning up the mess from the counter as Imani groaned.

"Oh god, I didn't even think about that." she said but then she thought about it.

"Well why would we need to do that?" Erik asked.

"Well for some interviews and events to be approved, we need a middle man to direct these things." she said as Nakia nodded.

"I mean I'm not sure how comfortable you are with American tabloids but you most definitely will need to do so if you plan on talking to them. You know how messy they can get." Nakia rolled her eyes.

"Don't even get me started. Took one look at the Shaderoom and my goodness are they misrable." Shuri rolled her eyes as Erik chuckled.

"I'll have to run it by my father. I'm not sure how comfortable he is with that." she said, then Erik looked at her.

"I mean, it's only fair. That is MY home country after all." he said. He was expecting her to say something negative but all she did was sigh.

"And I completely agree. But my father has a distrust with the American government. Not the American people. They know for a fact they'll try to mounvier some way to get vibranium. Especially with us trending right now." she said scratching her forehead.

"Seems like you did your job a little too good." Nakia smirked.

"Well, Nakia and I have some stuff to work down in the lab." Shuri grabbed her stuff before putting a hand on both of their shoulders.

"I wish you the best of luck my Coming to America rip offs." she said laughing. The two of them playfully rolled her eyes. They left the kitchen as Erik looked at her.

"What do you think your father will say?" he asked her standing up as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Honestly, my best bet is he'll say no. And quite frankly, I wouldn't feel too comfortable also." she said standing up. He turned around and looked at her.

"And why is that?" he said crossing his arms over his chest and looking down at her. If it wasn't for these circumstances, Imani most definitely seen that and would be turned on. His muscles were nicely on display with the black T-Shirt, and don't get her started on the grey sweat pants.

"I mean, I took a look on the Political news tabloids. They are already talking about trading with our Country if Wakanda isn't up for it. And I'll be damned if I let that happens."

"Well that doesn't have nothing to do with talking to American tabloids." he mentioned leaning against the counter.

"Not yet it doesn't. America is like-" she stopped her self before saying something offensive about America to this American.

"Say what you need to say. America ain't all that great to folks that looks like us." he chuckled noticing she was beating around the bush.

"You give America an inch, they'll want the same amount of miles from the Sun to the Earth." she said as he laughed.

"Well, this is something that needs to be discussed with King Z'Kiri." he responded. For some odd reason, she was a little offended by it.

"And why can't we come to this conclusion together. I mean, we will be the next King and Queen." Not it was her turn to cross her arms with an attitude.

"Okay, for one drop the attitude." he said grabbing her arms and unraveling them as she rolled her eyes. "For two, you seem a little hesitant. Plus, with the two of us as rulers no way America will step over us or Wakanda." he stated. "You already know what's up with me."

That bought her back to the first night they met. He was very adamant and helping black Americans and she knew damn well he would try to prevent that from happening. Maybe she could take this as an advantage for her country to be protected.

"Okay.. I admit your right." she whispered as he turned around with a fake shock.

"Me? Right? You have a fever." he said touching her forehead as she smacked his hand away as he smiled at her. Gold teeth, white straight teeth, dimple smile. Damn, why he had to look at her like that.

"Why you staring at me like that?" he asked her. Thinking quick on her feet, she pointed to his smile.

"Your gold teeth compliments you well." he smiled even harder to show it off.

"Eh, I have a nice collection of grills. Might get you your own." he winked at her as she laughed.

"My father would have a heart attack." she chuckled then nodded. "That would be nice."

"Aye, you can't be my woman and not walk around with some gold on your teeth."

______________________________________

Her trip to Wakanda came to an end. As much as she didn't want to leave, business needed to be attended at home. She walked through the halls before she saw her father, Amarah and Oshana sat in the living quarters reading and/or watching the television.

"Oh your back!" he exclaimed closing his book with a smile on his face. "I see you represented your country very well, daughter." he smiled at her as she nodded.

"Yeah, N'Jadaka was really supportive." she said scratching her forehead. "But father, there was something that the two of us needed to discuss about the news. I'm not sure if you know this-"

"Yeah you guys reached the Americans." he said standing up. "Seems like you guys are getting a positive feedback."

"Well not that exactly. Politics." she said as he groaned.

"It's not in your place as queen to make political decisions. You need to leave that with your father and Erik." Oshana said rolling her eyes.

"Listen, I'm really not in the mood to go back and forth with you right now. Dad whenever your free, please." she said looking at her father.

"Of course."

"Well since queens are being involved in politics now, I demand to be there for this conversation." she said standing up as Imani groaned. "Don't catch an attitude now. You're not even the Queen yet. That title still belongs-"

"Still belongs to you whatever. If you are that pressed fine. You can sit." she gave her dad one last glare before returning back to her room.

"I honestly can't with that disrespectful little girl. How dare she speaks to me that way." she snaps at her husband as Amarah budded in.

"I would never speak to you like that, yet you give her this grand opportunity." Amarah said annoyed.

Later that evening, the three of them sat in his office.

"For started Erik and I thought it would be necessary for us to higher a manger and publisits. This way, we can control any information that is leaked through the public." she started off as her father looked at her confused.

"We don't have publisits and we are fine." her father said.

"I know father, but these are different times that we live in. Any tiny bit of information that leaks out whether it's the marriage or the vibranium supply that we have here, we need to control it." she stated. "We are trending right now, and by my calculations may be trending until we are married. With this, plus the uproar about vibranium we need to have a tight security on what is put out on the internet. It's not just Wakanda or Oshana that we have to worry about at this point, it's the whole world now." she convinced him.

Her father didn't want to show it in her face, but damn was he proud. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that he could depend on his daughter to run things smoothly, but he just couldn't depend on her... is it because she is a woman. Or is because she is young. Maybe it's both.

"And what does Prince N'Jadaka have to say."

"He believes that we should have some control over the media in America too. This may be doing interviews, or working with officials but we cannot let them get the chance to over step us and take our natural resources away like they have any other country." she stated as he nodded.

"This could be a proposition that we make with the council. I trust your judgement daughter." she nodded before continuing.

"So, I don't know if you have read their political news lately but they are already having conversations about trading with us instead of Wakanda." Imani started off. "Even though Wakanda signed the Sokoivia Accords, they aren't giving up their vibranium and I don't think neither should we." she said.

"I agree." he said but his wife cut her off.

"I don't see why not. Vibranium is expensive and we can make money off of the trade. " Imani closed her eyes before saying,

"It's not about the money Oshana. It's about the distrust of deadly materials being handed over to the Americans. It's the dangers of Vibranium getting to outsiders." she said as Oshana groaned.

"Girl you're acting like America is going to go on a killing rampage. If we trade with them, this will result in them not overstepping our boundaries and making money at the same time. Is that not the goal?"

"No, it's not." she snapped at her. "Look, I know you are new to this but when I say trading with the Americans for the most deadly substance would be the downfall of this country, it will destroy us." she stated.

"You let them have just a bit of vibranium, they are going to keep asking for it, and asking for more. And when we either say no, or we can no longer provide it because we are emptied out, then what. Because the last time I checked I don't see America trying to rebuilding the countries that they have stolen violable resources from. They will leave us bone dry. And don't even get me started on the accords. We did not sign it, so that gives them any other reason to put a target on us." she stated looking at her. "Do you even know what the accords is?" she asked her as her mother looked at her father for back up.

"But with the money that-"

"Do you know what Sokovia Accords are?" she repeated herself but her step-mother was silent. She looked to her dad.

"And you thought bringing her in here was a smart idea. Tuh." she chuckled shaking her head.

"Okay you wait just a minute. Now I have every right to say what I think is better for this country as queen. And I think that idea is dumb as hell."

"Lady you don't know even know what the Sokovia Accords are. Do you not know that if we express to them hey we have vibranium and would like to trade, we will most likely not even make any money from it all. Because it goes against the One Nation." she stated to her.

"Then just sign the-"

"Father please stop this nonsense." she looked at her father. "I can not sit down and have a proper argument with someone who doesn't even know what she's talking about. All she see's is dollar signs." she rolled her eyes.

"That is far from my truth!"

"You literally just said and I quote 'Vibranium is expensive and we can make money off of the trade'. That is as close as your truth then I don't what." she responded back as her father stood.

"Enough! The both of you!" he yelled at the two of them. "Daughter, I hear you and I am listening. I've told you before I trust your judgement. We will discuss this further more with N'Jadaka." she smiled but then it dropped when he said, "Further more any decision that is made will still go through me and your step mother as we are your king and queen. I will also take into consideration what she has to say also." he stated as her eye twitched. "Understood?"

"Yes my king." Imani mumbled under her breath. Her looked at Oshana.

"Yes beloved king." She bowed her head at him.

Oshana entered her daughters room, closing the door. "Well how was it?" Amarah asked sitting up from her bed.

"She's as stupid as her damn mother." Oshana spat out sitting on the bed. "They will not trade with America over some foolishness. Does she not realize how much money we would receive."

"She probably doesn't understand. America needs to know we are willing to trade with them." Amarah said. That's when a thought came to the queens head.

"Pack your stuff. We are going to America."

______________________________________

Erik stood in front of the mirror completing his last set of bicep curls. His mind racing with everything that has happened in the last few weeks, but his mind started to drift off at the thought of Princess Imani.

The way she walked, her confidence, the way she talked, the way she could take control of a room. As bad as he didn't want to admit it, he was definitley crushing on the princess. Even finding solace in the idea that they will eventually become King and Queen.

But his thoughts overwhelmed him with the thought that those feelings were not mutual. She was pretty adamant on keeping it strictly business where as she was doing what she had to do for her country. But there was no foul rules on getting her to accept him.

He was deep in thought on how to win her over when he heard his phone ring. Answering it thinking that it was her since everyone he knew communicated through their bracelets, he answered it.

"Hello?" he answered putting the weight down.

"Prince N'Jadaka has a name ring to it." the girl said on the other end. It most definitely wasn't Imani.

"Who's this?"

"Wow, so you move and become prince and forget about me?" Immediately he recognized the voice.

Arianna Cope.

His sneaky link when he was back in the states. They fucked on occasion, not really making any moves past just wanting to fuck each other. Well that was until he caught feelings. Wanting more with her than just a fuck, she laughed in his face. That was the last time he spoke to her.

"Ohh." he chuckled. "Thought you lost my number."

"Eh, I never deleted it to be honest." the girl chuckled on the other end. "I seen your new little girlfriend. She's cute."

"Beautiful isn't she."

"Bet her daddy gotta lot of money." she laughed as Erik laughed too.

"Yeah.. but she got her own too." he said walking around the gym. He wasn't going to lie, he did like her. A lot. And really did miss her a lot. But he didn't want to mess up any chances of being King. He wasn't letting no hoe or bitch get in his way.

"You always went for the girls with big dreams huh. She got you over here trending and shit. Everybody been hitting me up about you... about us." she trailed off the last part. He closed his eyes looking up at the ceiling.

"Yeah well... there ain't no real us is there." he responded as she sighed. "You made that known long ago."

"That don't mean I didn't miss you." she said. Their was a long pause before she spoke again. "You still there?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

"About me, I hope."

"I was." he bluntly said. "But not in the way you were thinking."

"Boy please, don't be acting all brand new now that you got some royal blood in you and some royal pussy." she scoffed with a laugh.

"Nah I ain't acting brand new, but you are." he laughed. "You laughed in my face when I wanted to be with you. This could have easily been you, living in a palace. Anything you ever wanted and needed and you missed that opportunity. " he was lying his ass off, but he just wanted to flex on her.

"Mhm, I still got love for you though. You know that."

"I'm sure you do." he looked up and saw T'Challa walking in. "Aye look though, I gotta bounce. I appreciate the call though." he said.

"No problem. Call me soon , okay."

"Yeah.. I'll see about that."

_______________________

@life-in-the-slut-house @gloglamsparks @waveynaee @lalaooopsie @luvvjada @nccu-rnc @prettyisasprettydoes1306 @leahnicole1219 @meeksmillsfenchfries @hinatasfleshlight @kokokonako @junie04 @sourbabynaee @sociallyawkward18 @raysunshine78 @justgetitoverwith0 @lishabaybee @rbhp @ladymac82 @musicismeb @keviekevswife1 @chaneajoyyy @youlovechicky   @sexicherri3 @amirra88 @jameica17695 @lishabaybee @softleoblue @automaticdragonmugalien @lynaye1993 @eterrealluvrr @xsweetdellzx @ajenae @forevermoremagcon @babbydollaaassignn @ziayamikaelson @blmcd57110 @kaireads2020 @ts1mp0ne @luvvvjada @cozyashhh  @hippieonboard @ejs398 @royaler1999 

[tricoufamily]

With the Villareal story reboot will we be seeing Johnny again in some capacity? Possible spoiler ig lol but will he still have an alien wife/child?

Also, unrelated, I feel like Luna keeps her cards close to her chest. Could you tell me some fun facts/headcanons about her that you have - like ones that might not have an opportunity to show in the actual story?

(Also not to get all feelings-y but like... please know you never have to feel embarrassed for being in a low place. I really hope you feel better soon. If it's worth anything, I always look forward to your posts - story or personal. ❤)

thanks so much <333

and yeah johnny's here! i don't think he'll be a huge part of the plot for a while, but we'll see him eventually

there are no supernatural elements in this version of the story, so i might make a human version of her? but with where johnny is right now, which is.....not a good place, i don't think he should be in a relationship or have a child any time soon lol

and yeah you're right about luna! before the fun headcanons just to ramble about luna for a minute lmao but i've always seen her as the black sheep of the family. most people would think hugo is, but i disagree. she's the one jacques keeps at an arm's length and always has. and without saying too much about their mom bc it'll be in the story, but luna did also think she liked hugo more. so she's always been the odd one out. she's the only girl in the house and she's treated like an alien sometimes. like yeah hugo i know you've got this whole eldest child parentification thing but you're still a Son. jacques would never say he's sexist, but he can't fit a whole woman in his head, let's be real. luna is aware that he'd never be half as happy if she did twice what hugo does.

anyway! fun stuff! djdkfldsjfs

has a wattpad account. reads one direction fan fiction. in the timeline canonically, we're only a few months away from zayn leaving, and she will cry in class

her favorite movie is eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

as a kid she was hardcore into stardoll. not the dress up feature, but the weird, scary social media side. she was stardoll famous

has a phobia of dogs

allergic to bees

[thealphavoidofficial]

Welp I’m officially obsessed with the game now, NEW CRK OCS :D

Meet Black Rose Cookie, and Gold Flake Cookie! 🥀⚜️

Now I know what you may be thinking, ‘Black Rose looks kinda Evil’, now what if I told you that wasn’t the case? Cause for these two, it’s a bit more of a ‘Sheep in Wolves clothing’ and ‘Wolf in Sheep’s clothing’ kinda situation.

All will be explained in their backstory! But first more info on them:

Black Rose: Also known as the Thorn King, he was exiled from his kingdom, which was later ruled by his twin brother Gold Flake after his coronation not long after his banishment, he lives in an old, worn down and abandoned kingdom far up in the mountains, which was promptly named the ‘Kingdom of Thorns’, where he rules over a small, but still relatively large, portion of Cookies who still follow him as their rightful king.

Personality wise he comes off as rather cold and depressive, but deep down, he cares. Due to several assassins and misguided adventures trying to kill him to ‘Save’ his subjects, he has become rather bitter, he never did enjoy crumbling any of them.

Gold Flake: Also known as the Gold Monarch, he is the current Ruler of the ‘Gold Rose Kingdom’, he had taken the throne after his fathers death, no one really knows how the previous king White Rose Cookie died, but all fingers pointed to Black Rose Cookie, who was the last seen with him. He rules over the Kingdom with care and treats his subjects justly……or……so it seems……

Personality wise, he comes off as kind and Flamboyant when first encountered, but once you chip away at the facade you’ll find a twisted, and horrible cookie underneath. In reality he is cruel and sadistic, using False Kindness to win over his subjects, and all those who question him…..well…….no one ever wonders why there are so many Gold Statues in his castle, nor where they come from. Very few manage to escape the kingdom after finding out his secret. He is also the one sending Assassins after his brother and lying to adventurers that the Citizens of the Kingdom of thorns are under the wretched Thorn Kings control, and that they have to kill him to free them.

Now! LORE TIME!!

⚠️Warning: contains - Death, murder, Black sheep of the family dynamic ⚠️

When Black Rose and Gold Flake were born, Gold Flake was always the Golden child, in the figurative and literal sense, while Black Rose was criticised for not looking anything like his father of mother, White Rose Cookie and Golden Petal Cookie.

But non the less, White Rose saw him not as a mistake like everyone else, but as a son, HIS Son, not matter how different he looked, he would love him even if he was viewed as the Black Sheep of the Family.

And when they twins came of age, White Rose stated that Black Rose was to become the next king, saying that he was the mist fit to take the throne for when he came of age, and this, angered Gold Flake greatly.

one day, the morning before the coronation, Black Rose and his father had a heart-to-heart discussion, Black Rose was worried he was unfit for the throne. This brighten Black Roses spirits greatly, and he left to prepare for his coronation.

However, after he left, Gold Flake had entered the room, and in cold Blood, Murdered White Rose.

At the coronation, Gold Flake had burst into the room announcing in a 'panicked' voice that the Kong was dead, everyone was in shock, but none, more devastated then Black Rose.

And when he thought this day couldn't get any worse, one of the guards announced our loud that Black Rose was the last person with him, and immediately, everyone turned their sights on him.

He was chased from the kingdom by Angered Guards and citizens, and fled to the foot of the mountains, where he rest to recover from his injuries.

Some Citizens followed him, however, instead of killing him, they stated they know he didn't kill the king, and that they still believe he is a good person.

After recovering, he and the small amount of Cookies climb the mountain, soon finding a Kingdom in ruins laying at the top, where they would now make their home.

meanwhile Gold Flake had been coronated king, and plans to keep his position as ruler permanent, by any means necessary, even if he has to turn every citizen to Gold Statues to do it.

[apompkwrites]

I had three instead of two this time for black sheep. This is also another resubmitted one, but I added a person.

1. Miku!Schoenheit (original one)

Miku!Schoenheit is a popular idol in the world of TWST, even being more popular than Vil and Neige due to how genuinely beloved they are and how their music fits a wide audience from kids to adults. Miku!Schoenheit does want a relationship with Vil, but only if he can get past his jealousy of them.

Miku!Schoenheit loves their siblings and often makes time to enjoy Napstablook!Schoenheit's music and even asks him if they can used his music in songs. Miku!Schoenheit also makes sure to spend plenty of time with Lisa!Schoenheit and even dedicates songs to them. Miku!Schoenheit doesn't spend as much time with Elusive!Schoenheit because they respected that the latter values his privacy, but does make sure to send little gifts to them. Miku!Schoenheit also wears a lot of EVOL!Schoenheit stuff and even promotes the brand to get their sibling out there more.

2. Venus!Diamond (original two)

Venus!Diamond is Cater's younger sibling who extremely popular on Magigram. Their popularity rivaling Vil's with how genuinely nice they even if they seem obsessed with looms and love, they tend to be very silly at times, but they could be more classy, intelligent, and serious. They actually do their best to help Yuu out whenever they can and will go out of their way to make sure Yuu doesn't pay for Ace and Deuce when they tried to blackmail Yuu into buying their food. Venus!Schoenheit flat out scolded them for trying to make Yuu pay their food and ended up buying their lunch and Yuu's lunch as well.

3. Verosika!Draconia (newest one)

Rather than stay with the Three "Good" Faes, Verosika!Draconia ended up leaving The Valley of Thorns at the same time as Older!Crowley. They abandoned their status as prince/princess/Duke because of how they were treated when they were. They blamed those faes for essentially ruining their horns which didn't completely broke off, but one of them remained shorter than the other one. They decided to pursue a career as a popstar and while they have been in plenty of drama with the help of the rest of black sheep, they began to change from their outrageous diva popstar persona into someone who genuinely cares for the others even if they don't act like it. Verosika!Draconia also teaches Yuu to be more confident and sassy with the boys whenever they start to disregard them.

OOOOH OKOK

first off miku!schoenheit would def get along with ignihyde for, like, hologram performances :OOOO

venus!diamond would def take care of both yuu and cater and nothing can stop them.

i really like the idea of verosika!draconia using their songs to call out the ugly parts of briar valley royalty? like the servants, the stuff about their parents, all of that :O

[gruesella]

I don't know when it became a common misconception that the Munsters are a bunch of sad conformists trying desperately to fit in bc they're ashamed of their monstrous nature while the Addams are not only aware of how different they are, they are proud of it. Which is really just Addams stans' way of going "neener neener, our fav is better than yours" but misses wholly that the entire joke of both shows was that neither family actually knew they freaked people out; both thought they were normal and kindly treated outsiders like friends. (tho the comics were more satirizing blueblood aristocrats and how creepy the rich are, a point they also miss.)

Under the cut for length and some possibly unpopular takes that need to be said about privilege.

Yes, including the Addams. Gomez as much in the very first episode of the series:

Truant Officer: Mr. Addams, surely you want your children to be like other children? Gomez: But they are!

Just as few people can actually explain how TAF is aware they're not normal, even less can tell me how the Munsters worry about fitting in. Especially because in my experience, people who drag the Munsters have not usually seen many of the episodes, making this claim even more confusing to me. At best I can only guess they mean that episode where everyone but Grandpa is excited to be named "America's Average Family", but that's more because they're hyped to be on a nationally recognized magazine than anything else. Who wouldn't be? There is no evidence the Munsters ever try to fit in with their white picket fence neighbors; they believe THEY are the white picket fence neighbors and do not understand why their friendliness and- in their eyes- harmless customs and hobbies bring out the rudeness in guests or neighbors. Being ordinary is not something they TRY to do; it's something they already think they are. That. Is. The. Joke! They're horror icons but want their kids to get a good education and have nice family dinners every evening! They SHOULD be disturbing and disgusting, but they're nice people with reasonable values!

But the humor in TAF comes from how confident they are that they are THE norm. They are the true Americans and assume everyone must think the way they do. This was and is an accurate attitude from the wealthy elite and even just financially well-off middle class families unaware of life outside their sheltered bubble. This doesn't make the Addams bad people btw, it just means they're naive (and in fairness, so are the Munsters, just for different reasons).

Related to that, I'm going to say something that a lot of people won't agree with but it's true. The Munsters do not "try to be normal" or are "ashamed" of their heritage; what they DO is try to assimilate. I think this is lost on many viewers but the Munsters are a working class immigrant family; frightening appearances aside, they do not meet the status quo. Millions of immigrants, since America was founded, have assimilated. Americans themselves will generally assimilate when they move. This is just a thing those living in a different culture do because it's not seen as correct or considerate to ignore cultural norms of the place you are staying in. More to the point, the Munsters very obviously represent what real life minorities went through in the very racist and xenophobic mid-20th century. They would try to balance their own culture while following what the majority (white, middle or upper class people) or adapt entirely to it... and STILL faced prejudice.

The part you won't like: the Addams meet the status quo FAR more than the Munsters. They are rich, white, straight, closer to their aristocratic status (the Munsters technically have nobility but seemingly left it behind when they immigrated, with Herman dismissing it outright as unimportant in the US), and above all, are normal-looking. Add that to their somewhat condescending pity (and Gomez' disgust) for Aunt Ophelia, who is the black sheep of the family, showing that they DO value some sense of normalcy; it's just different from an average person's. Even thinking the Addams were this edgy, rebellious goth family a lot of their fans think they are, they can afford to be quirky because of their privilege. It is not necessarily bold to "be yourself" when "yourself" is already closer to what society says you should be. I am not saying they don't do anything progressive, they are in ways of course; I'm saying this is a very tone-deaf, first-world outlook that takes for granted the fact that the Munsters as both foreigners and minorities and don't get the luxury of flaunting their MUCH MORE ATYPICAL appearances and culture to WASP America. To say they as a marginalized group are just sad conformists compared to the brave and self-loving Addams who are by contrast easier to swallow with their normal appearances and attractive wealth is... naive to say the least, and an offensive disregard to how privilege works IRL, at worst.

But it's not founded in any of the source material. In truth both families are happy the way they are; that's what makes them funny, because they enjoy abnormal things and don't see that this disturbs their neighbors and ultimately their odd ways aren't harming anyone (usually). IDK how this got lost on so many people's heads but I largely blame the fact that viewers (mainly millennials and zoomers) were weaned on the "I'm not like other girls"-y 1990s Addams remakes without ever seeing the Munsters, and as some of them have based their identity too much on the former and see the latter as a "rival" or "other", they assume the Munsters must operate on the opposite end of the scale, I guess? If that makes sense.

I personally think all of this just boils down to classism and (some) Addams fans- mainly those who are most familiar with the edgy 90s films- having this deep individuality complex which comes out not only in their resentful takes and spiteful jokes about the Munsters, but many other franchises and characters too. Like. there's a reason there's a million Addams memes on r/notlikeothergirls and maybe 2 of Lily. There's a reason most of their insults towards the Munsters are about how "trashy" and "poor" they are (NM that these are counts & countesses living in a freaking mansion in one of the richest states in America with 2 expensive custom made cars, ijbol) and much praise for TAF seems to come from how much cool stuff they have or their old family name. There is obviously a need with a good chunk of their fanbase for the characters they identify way too much with to be more special and cool than any others and I've said for awhile that some fans of the 90s version def have this rich, beautiful goth fantasy projected onto TAF, as seen quite grossly by the racist and body-shaming hate Luis Guzman received for daring to be a pudgy brown guy playing... a pudgy tanned guy.

And as someone who greatly enjoys deep dive analyses on seemingly simple fiction like these shows, I won't begrudge anyone for taking their fav fiction seriously... but if you're going to try to act like the Addams are a complex and philosophically deep franchise who did more for fiction than Munsters and then tell Munster fans "bro it's not that deep" when we point out the Addams' absurd socioeconomic/racial status protecting them from societal judgment or how it's much easier to digest nonconformit with when it's coming from a group who is already Have some perspective is all I am asking and stop being so "how very dare you" with angry blocking/downvoting when you face people who appreciate the Munsters as much as you appreciate the Addams. Like... I enjoy both but I am tired of seeing baseless criticism of the Munsters from people who never analyze TAF to that same degree and NO nuanced takes about either side, or being gaslit when I complain about that hate. (Yes, I've been told it's not a big deal and I am basically the real problem to shoot back against people who have harassed or bullied me or my moots for defending the show... seriously.)

Also, I'm putting this in the Addams' tag and I don't want to hear any griping about how I'm "tagging hate" from fans because I'm not; this is not hating them at all, this is a fandom problem with Addams fans that has gone on way too long and I want people to see it (and there is constantly negative stuff put in the Munsters' tags or spaces as well). If you're just gonna do what I said in the above paragraph, please DNI; I am venting but open to good-faith responses.

[theradicalkanji]

I have a bad habit of making my DND character's (at least ones in longer campaigns and not just one shots) have tragic backstories. I've mentioned my sparkbug's tragic backstory but not my centaur's.

When Vaun entered the campaign he was introduced as the twin brother of the centaur chieftain's heir. The title of chieftain isn't a patrilineal thing, but Diarmud (Vaun's bro) is absolutely being groomed for the mantle. He's the biggest, baddest, strongest warrior in the tribe. He's got the respect of the clan and everyone expects him to take over.

Vaun meanwhile has been focused on doing everything in his power to help his brother succeed to the point that he hasn't done anything for himself and really hasn't gotten any acknowledgement or respect from his tribe or his peers.

Both physically and personality wise, Vaun is Diarmud's opposite. Diarmud is huge and strong. He's massive and muscular. His horse half is an enormous Clydesdale. Vaun is much smaller and sleeker. His horse half is more of a thoroughbred. He's also very quiet and soft spoken.

Even color wise they are incredibly different. Diarmud has black hair and a dark coat of fur. Meanwhile Vaun has long, flowing pink hair with a light chest it brown coat.

It's understandable that people don't think they're twins ... Because they're not.

Vaun is from a neighboring tribe. Diarmud's tribe, the faolan, is from the mountains and thrive in the harsh, rocky environment. Vaun's tribe was from the Highlands at the base of the mountain. The large, rolling grasslands are perfect for herding and his tribe were known for their skill with raising cattle and sheep.

They were nearly completely wiped out by raiders. The faolan, self appointed protectors of the Highlands, arrived and quickly slaughtered the raiders, but it was too late to save the tribe. There were only a handful of survivors, one of which was Vaun. The chieftain had a son that was much the same age as Vaun, and so he took Vaun in and adopted Vaun into his family.

Vaun has no real memories of his tribe. He just has the stories that others have told him and so he finds himself daydreaming about what his life would have been like if he had been free to grow up on the plains, and has created maybe a romanticized ideal of what his tribe used to be. He's got a natural talent for farming and a love of animals as well as an uncanny ability to tame even the most unruly beasts. His talents would be perfect for a plains centaur, but his father doesn't see these skills. He holds Vaun up to the standards of the faolan which value strength of arms above all else.

Vaun wishes he could earn his father's respect, but it's hard when everything he's good at is seen as pointless by the warlike faolan. To make matters worse, Vaun's brother is the pinnacle of martial prowess.

The destruction of the plains tribe is also a sore point for the chieftain. He sees it as one of his biggest failures both as a warrior and as a leader. Whether or not the chieftain projects any of this onto Vaun is irrelevant because Vaun projects it onto himself. Vaun knows that he is a walking reminder of failure.

Vaun has nothing but love and respect for the man who saved him and raised him but doesn't feel he'll ever be worthy of him. This leaves Vaun stuck between feeling like he'll never be good enough for his new family and feeling like he's missing the life he should have had if his tribe hasn't been massacred.

It's funny and fitting that the other players at the table have made Vaun the de facto party leader since Vaun would never believe that his skills would be something anyone would want in a leader. A powerful healer and a shrewd tactician, he's focused on making sure everyone of his teammates get home safely.

Also his busted high animal handling stat has saved the day a hilariously high number of times.

[youremyheaven]

https://www.tumblr.com/youremyheaven/752283558503170048/i-guess-youre-the-anon-who-shares-the-same

this was so insightful?? thank you omg 🥹💗

ive always believed in and have been interested in figuring out what parts of me were innately me and which parts of me were just a side effect of the environment i was in but i never considered how spirituality could tie into all this

im not sure if it was you but i remember there was a post about how jyeshta could struggle with confidence and self worth and my atmakaraka AND amatyakaraka both fall in jyeshta so i might look into that

and i never considered the fact that venus influence could have possibly been influential in my chart because of past experiences and because of how you mentioned that most it girls tend to have Venusian influence somewhere so you might be onto something with how i dont resonate completely with the whole “material girl slaying and being an it girl” themes of venus (my other scorpio and ardra placements probably did this to me but anyway)

AND i remember you also reblogged a post about how venusians tend to succeed in higher fields because they know how to charm and please people and honestly i resonated more with not being interested in pleasing anyone at all, but this conversation has made me realise that i do have a tendency of being liked/preferred and “picked” as favourites by higher class or wealthier people, even when i felt like an ugly duckling or black sheep at times, unwanted and ugly and less valued and disgusted by myself— but on the flip side, sometimes people who were racist or naturally more biased and unwelcoming or whatever is unnatural in beauty to them were really mean to me, EVEN as a child. so not sure how exactly venus was working then

but your response was really sweet and insightful and honestly i think ive been needing that reply as a bit of a reminder recently so thank you for that, and i hope you receive various blessing and peace on your path ahead 🪷💗

yayy 🥺im glad you found it insightful 🥰

i havent made a post about Jyeshta but its something ive noticed with Jyeshta individuals overall

i mean not every Venusian is going to fit the stereotype of the "material slay it girl". I have two friends who both have Bharani stelliums (the rest of their chart is very different though lol) and one of them was a proper it girl, pretty much everybody my age in my city knows her name, girls wanted to be like her, boys wanted her, literal YEARS later, people still remember her. i remember talking to her ex boyfriend from 8 years ago and he told me how about 2yrs ago, someone walked up to him at a restaurant and asked him if he knew my friend,,, honestly her impact💅🏻is undeniable. her fame blurred into notoriety and she hasn't had an easy life at all, so the harshness of Venusian influence is definitely there

my other friend is just a regular person. she's not a stereotypical Venusian in this "it girl icon" way but in a harsh Venusian "I don't care about anything other than having a good time" way but I think her 5h stellium amplifies this.

Venus does not really guarantee that you will only ever receive positive treatment from others, no planet can do that. Being human means experiencing all kinds of things. When I said that about Venusian charisma and grace, I think Venusians are naturally sociable and charismatic, they dont really have to try to please anybody, in fact "trying to please" would not be Venusian at all. Venusians are often unaware of their magnetism. Lunars are the opposite, an evolved Lunar individual is fully aware of how to read a room or study an individual and behave accordingly, they're more calculated and sometimes their charm comes across as forced. Also I think people often have a negative reaction to Jyeshta women because of Jyeshta's Alakshmi themes.

Thank you sooo much, you're sooo sweet<333 hope you have a good day<333