#they become a bad decisions echo chamber

[radishhqueen]

the horrors are hitting, have a wip

[sarahreesbrennan]

Are all the themes in “in other lands” supposed to be a commentary on something? Or do you just like writing sex scenes between minors, age gaps, and reverse misogyny?

Genuine question.

Ohhh, my dear anon, I don't believe this is a genuine question.

But it does bring up something I've been meaning to talk about. So I'll take the bait.

Firstly. Yes, my work contains a commentary on the world around us. I wonder what I could be doing with the child soldiers being sexually active in their teens (people hook up right after battles), and the age gap relationship ending in the younger one being too mature for the elder. What could I possibly have been attempting when I said 'how absurd gender roles are, when projected onto people we haven't been accustomed by our own society to see that way'? I wasn't being subtle, that's for sure.

Secondly. Yes I do enjoy writing! I think I should, it's my life's work. Am I titillated by my own writing, no - though I think it's fine to be. The sex scenes of In Other Lands aren't especially titillating, to be honest. It is interesting to me how often people sneer at women for writing romance and sex scenes, having 'book boyfriends,' insinuating women writers fancy their own characters. Women having too much immoral fun! Whereas men clearly write about sex for high literary purposes.

… I have to say from my experience of women and men's writing, I haven't found that to be true.

I’m not in this to have an internet argument. I prefer to leave my anons open since not everyone has a tumblr, as @neil-gaiman says it’s an internet backwater, but a lovely one for those like myself who enjoy an essay about fictional characters! Still I will close my inbox to anons if I must. Mostly people use bad faith takes to poke at others from the other side of a screen for kicks. But I do know some truly internalise the attitude that writing certain things is wrong, that anyone who makes mistakes must be shunned as impure, and that is a deeply Victorian and restrictive attitude that guarantees unhappiness.

I've become increasingly troubled by the very binary and extreme ways of thinking I see arising on the internet. They come naturally from people being in echo chambers, becoming hostile to differing opinions, and the age-old conundrum of wanting to be good, fearing you aren't, and making the futile effort to be free of sin. It makes me think of Tennyson, who when travelling through Ireland at the time of the Great Famine, said nobody should talk about the 'Irish distress' to him and insisted the window shades of his carriage be shut as he went from castle to castle. So he wouldn't see the bodies. But that didn't make the bodies cease to be.

In Les Mis, Victor Hugo explores why someone might steal, what that means about them and their circumstances, and who they might be - and explores why someone else is made terribly unhappy, and endangers others, through their own too rigid adherence to judgement and condemnation without pity. The story understands both Jean Valjean the thief and Javert the policeman. Javert’s way of thinking is the one that inevitably leads to tragedy.

Depiction isn't endorsement. Depiction is discussion.

Many of my loved ones have had widely varying relationships to and experience of sex (including 'none'). They've felt all different types of ways about it. If writing about them is not permissible, I close them out. I'd much rather a dialogue be open than closed.

I do understand the urge to write what seems right to others. I've been brain-poisoned that way myself. I used to worry so much about my female characters doing the wrong things, because then they'd be justly hated! Then I noted which of my writer friends had people love their female characters the most - and it was the one who wrote their female characters as screwing up massively, making rash and sometimes wrong decisions. Who wrote them as people. Because that's what people do. That's what feels true to readers.

I want my characters to feel true to readers. I want my characters to react in messy ways to imperfect situations. I love fantasy, I love wild action and I love deep thought, and I want to engage. That's what In Other Lands is about. That's even more what Long Live Evil is about. That sexy lady who sashays in to have sexy sex with the hero - what is her deal? Someone who tricks and lies to others - why are they doing that, how did they get so skilled at it? What makes one person cruelly judgemental, and another ignore all boundaries? What makes Carmen Maria Machado describe ‘fictional queer villains’ as ‘by far the most interesting characters’? What irritates people about women having a great time? What attracts us to power, to fiction, and to transgression?

I don’t know the answers to all those questions, but I know I want to explore them. And I know one more thing.

If the moral thing to do is shut people out and shut people up? Count me among the villains.

[rez-urrection]

I saw someone else on here saying how Rick needs someone with a different moral compass to go with him on adventures because otherwise it'd be an echo chamber of bad decisions, and thats why he brings Morty (very outspoken against him) rather than Summer (very often outspoken against him, however very much aligns with his violent impulses)

and I agreed with that, however I wanted to add my own theory as to why he brings only Morty, which kind of goes along with theirs.

I lost their post/url so I dont know who it is who posted that, but if I find it ill reblog with a link to their post, or if one of you find it youre welcome to do that for me !!

okay, so. it seems to me that another reason Rick would take Morty most times and not usually Summer is not only because Summer is more likely to become a moral echo chamber, but because Morty is the most likely in the family to not end up another Rick.

let me explain what I mean:

Rick has witnessed the citadel and how that ended up, he's implied to have witnessed the deaths of so many people (not just Ricks) for being too confident in their smarts. he knows that his life style kind of ruins you if youre as smart as he is because you start getting to know that you are.

this won't happen with Morty.

Morty is a lot of things; resourceful, highly adaptive, good in combat (when he can be), quick on his feet and passionate. but one thing he isnt, is like Rick.

Morty gets none of his traits from Beth or Rick. he isnt inhumanely smart (in fact its canon that he's quite the opposite), he isnt predisposed to being cold and uncaring, he isnt as impulsive (he still is, just not as much), the list goes on.

not only are Summer and Beth predisposed to end up like Rick, they have, on many occasions, acted exactly how Rick would've acted in situations. and to me, it seems like that scares him.

Morty however is very different to Rick, and Rick knows that very few Mortys ever end up even a fraction of the man he is.

Mortys are not predisposed to end up cold and uncaring, in fact Mortys are predisposed to be the exact opposite. Mortys are "hardwired for forgiveness." theyre empathetic, loving, forgiving. Mortys rarely harden into the kind of person Rick is, or the kind of person Summer and Beth would be.

Morty is the obvious answer to who Rick should rely on - he'll never be bad. Morty is good at his core. at least most of them are, of course just like there's outlier Ricks (c-137 himself), there's outlier Mortys, but as a general statement, Mortys are good at their core.

kind of off topic, but I also beleive that c-137 is good at his core.

let me explain.

he is, by admission, a different kind of Rick. he wanted to stay home, to be there for the girls, he was even willing to give up his dream of science just to be there for him.

when they died, so did a part of him.

he lost the love of his life, and he lost his daughter. he lost his perfect little family.

and what did he do ? go insane trying to find the person who did this to him, and get rid of them.

the things he did on the way were kind of a "in the grand scheme of things" type of situation.

again another blog already said this (here) (hopefully that worked), but when Prime said he c-137 could've been him- he already was. he was in the exact same situation that Prime was. he offered someone infinity, and they rejected it. but instead of going the way Prime did, which was killing the people around Bird Person to force him to travel infinity anyways, he just moved on. he got upset at first and tossed some weak insults, but he moved on. because, as the above post says, its not that big of a deal. it wasn't the end of the world for him.

now, im not saying c-137 has never done anything wrong. hes done a lot of things wrong. what I am saying is he's good at his core; his goal was never and still isn't just to hurt people. his goal is revenge and in his eyes, its a ticking time bomb. anyone in his way has to be swiftly dealt with because he's running out of time.

also - of course he can't show how much he loves Morty. he doesnt know if Prime is still watching him, but he does know that the Omega Device could very well still be on operation, and he finds out he was correct in this assumption in Ultmortricken.

if he had shown his love for Morty often at all, who knows what Prime would've done with that information.

[wonjns]

tamed studies ✐

🖇️° pairing; xu minghao x male reader

🖇️° genre; smut 

🖇️° summary; classic trope of the mean idiot and the patient tutor... but uh, did i mention the tutor was a super sexy chinese exchange student who happens to specialize in brat taming??

🖇️° includes; bottom!malereader, dom!hao, degradation, orgasm denial, slight impact play, swearing, fingering, unprotected sex (dont irl!!)

🖇️° WC; 4.3k (oh my god)

° AN; this was a request !! i feel bad because i was asked to do this forever ago but i’m glad to be posting my first requested work. i tried to make it longer and worth the read in order to make up for taking so long to write it. im not rlly ur everyday tumblr blogger or fic writer so its exciting for me ! lmao @megggegg

you were,,, a brat. sort of. 

no, not sort of, you were actually just a jerk. and severely spoiled.

highschool life was hard, and college life proved itself to be even harder, especially now that you attended one of the highest reputable universities in the nation. you were up to your neck in classes, and while you performed decently in most of them, math was a travesty. being the freshman that you were, your parents had big expectations and high hopes that you would follow in the oh-so-successful footsteps of your older brother, junhui, who was in his senior year. 

jun was a prodigy - a so called “genius” by your parents who would sing his praises constantly for his ability to excel in every academic subject he touched. naturally, due to his success in school, your parents expected the same of you. every brunch and social that was held in your family’s country club would somehow end up in your mother preaching about how ‘her two beautiful sons were going to become the best doctors the community as ever seen’ - and when your skills clearly weren’t up to par with your older brother’s, it caused you to grow resentful to both him and your parents, the feeling being quite reciprocated. 

you became frustrated that no matter the amount of shopping sprees or days off you took, you couldn’t seem to settle down and wrap your head around statistics. instead of remaining level-headed and talking out your struggles with your family, your pride forced you to swallow it all up and only express yourself through tantrums... much like what you were doing right now.

“AND IF YOUR GPA DROPS EVEN A SMIDGE LOWER, WE’RE NOT PAYING FOR YOU TO ATTEND SCHOOL ANY LONGER!” your mother shouted as you stomped your way up your home’s marble staircase, attempting to dismiss yourself from yet another argument. 

“YOU WOULDN’T DARE! your little reputation couldn’t handle the embarrassment when all your friends find out.” you spat.

“that’s damn right! you’re getting your education one way or another, so its best you get ready for community college then.” your father joined in at your mother’s side.

you froze in place, hand lingering on your door knob. community college?! you almost threw up in your mouth. you let out an exasperated yell, slamming your door. the echo of the force travelled down the hall to jun’s room. out of curiosity, he steps out from behind his own door and sees your parents huffing away back to their own chambers. he cocks an eyebrow and walks down to your room, knocking gently. 

“y/n? what was that all ab-” he speaks lowly, but you cut him off, your voice still very much shouting. 

“go the hell away!”

“well damn, dude, I just wanted to ask what was wrong.” he quips. 

“thanks for you concern, asshole, but I don’t remember it being your business.” you call back, sinking your head deeper into your pillow as you scroll angrily through your phone.

junhui sighs and goes downstairs to calm your obviously seething parents, aiming to talk them down from making any rash decisions for you. despite your attitude, jun was a pretty sweet older brother, and knew you just needed a bit of help rather than be withdrawn from university all together. 

it’s not like you cared though.

⊱────────────────────────⊰

one week later, you heard another knock at your door.

making sure to groan in extra loud annoyance so that whoever was on the other side knew they were already pissing you off, you sat up in bed. you heard the knock again, this time followed by your mom’s voice. 

“y/n, come down stairs. now.” was all she stated before walking away. 

what could she possibly want at 1:00 in the afternoon? you grumbled, throwing on a hoodie before literally rolling out of your king sized mattress. you shuffled your feet along the floor as you walked down stairs. 

as soon as you reached the common area, your eyes slightly widened as you were greeted with the sight of a tall, tan skinned boy with round glasses sitting on the edge of his nose. he set a large assortment of textbooks down at the table next to him as he conversed with your parents. you simply stopped in your tracks as you stared at the.... admittedly beautiful, man.

his hair practically shined in the natural lighting, and his shoulders were broad. his lips were plump and the perfect shade of pink, and you couldn’t tear your eyes away from his sharp jawline or the way it would flex when he smiled or how his adams apple teasingly bounced when he chuckled at something your parent’s said. 

it seems you were caught in the middle of your trance, as your dad waved his hand from where he was standing. 

“y/n?” 

you blinked a couple times as you snapped out of it, realizing you were biting your lips. you slightly blushed when you noticed all of their eyes were focused on you, especially this new stranger’s shining orbs. 

“who’s this?” you speak up, adding slight attitude in your voice to cover up your obvious gawking. 

“this is minghao, a friend of your brother’s. he’ll be your new tutor until you pick your grades up.” your mom replies, and the boy slightly bows his head while he smiled down at you. 

“T-TUTOR?” you gasp, a bit over-dramatically. “what the hell do I need a tutor for? i’m not in elementary school.” you claim, stomping your foot down. 

“well until you stop getting these third grader scores on your tests, this is what we’re doing. you start today, and you don’t have a say in the matter.” your mom chimes in, never dropping her snarky smile. 

“today!? it’s saturday-” 

“anyways,” your mother continues, interrupting you. “we’re going out for the day, but jun will be back soon. we told him you should be well into your lesson by the time he’s here, alright?” 

“yes, maam.” minghao chimed enthusiastically, giving her a thumbs up. 

you rolled your eyes and groaned once more, huffing out a sigh when you at the at large table with all of the textbooks. when your parents left, minghao took a seat across from you, sitting as if he were waiting for you to say something first. 

“you have a beautiful home..” he finally spoke, looking around and spotting the chandelier above the staircase.

“yea yea, that’s what they all say. you can just get on with the bullshit, i guess. it’s not like i’m gonna pay any attention.” you respond in a bored tone, propping your head up against your hands.

minghao furrowed his brows at you as you tried to avoid his eyes, but you couldn’t stop yourself from awkwardly peeking. the older male sighs and spreads out the textbooks before mumbling something about getting started, opening the first book. it read statistics - an instant turn off for you. 

30 minutes into the first lesson and minghao peered at you, catching you on your phone for the umpteenth time. he sighed, setting his calculator down. 

“listen, I know you don’t wanna go through this, but your parents are trusting me to make sure you don’t fail another class. I sit next to your brother in a lot of our classes and he’s practically a genius, so I know you have it in you too.” 

you rolled your eyes yet again, narrowing your gaze at minghao. his eyes sort of sparkled, looking a little too cute as he pleaded for you to cooperate, but this only stirred you to piss him off more. you smirked as you ignored him, bringing your phone back up to your face. 

this caused minghao to scoff in disbelief. 

“y/n, look at me.” he spoke, causing your grin to grow wider as you ignored him. 

however, he opened his mouth again and this time your smile dropped completely. 

“look at me, now.” 

the tone in his voice was completely different - much lower than previously and demanding. you looked up from your phone and chills ran wild across your skin from the glare you caught from him. his eyes lost their sparkle, and instead looked like a deep, dark brown abyss. 

“put your phone down.” 

you could’ve swore a spell was cast on you, because you dropped your phone on the table just a little too fast for your own liking. this caused a shit-eating grin to grow on minghao’s face, one that lit your skin on fire. 

he stood from his seat, leaning across the table closer and closer to you. he stopped a couple inches from your face, and his vanilla cologne surged through your senses. 

“that’s a good boy... why are you listening so easily now?” he asked as he picked up your phone, putting it in his pocket without moving his face any farther from yours. 

you gulped, trying to get back in your groove. you furrowed your brows at him, scooting back on your own accord. 

“s-shut up. I’m just finally ready to get this lesson over with so you can get out of my house.” you sneered. but he wasn’t buying it, not one bit. 

he sat back into his chair, eyes never leaving you. the truth was that he caught how in between your attempts to ignore him, he followed how your eyes lingers on his long, beautiful fingers when he would turn the page or type in the calculator. minghao was very observant, and it was biting you in the ass.

“come over here and sit by me.” he ordered, patting the empty chair next to him. 

“no... and give me my phone back!” you retorted. 

“you need a closer look at the reading. the sooner you just listen the sooner you can tweet all you want.” 

you sat in contemplation for a while, before groaning and getting up. you made your way hesitantly around the table before placing yourself in the seat beside minghao. you were growing annoyed of yourself - why were you caving for his demands so easily? 

he sat and stared at you for a while, a smirk evident on his annoyingly handsome face. you parted your lips to ask him what was his deal, but before you could utter a sound he reached out and grabbed one of your chair legs, scooting you closer until your shoulders were merely centimeters apart. he then leaned down to your ear, speaking lowly despite you two being the only ones in the house. 

“i know your problem... you’ve just never had anyone simply take control, have you?”

you felt your face turn red, and you instantly scooted back from him.

“wh- what the hell are you talking about?!” you ask, sounding almost offended. 

minghao did nothing but chuckle and drag you right back into his space before casually turning back to the textbooks. he resumed the tutoring session as if nothing happened, meanwhile you tried to stabilize your breathing. you had no idea what this dude’s problem was, but he somehow had an excitement bubbling deep down within you. 

an hour goes by, and like magic you’re suddenly more intrigued in the lesson. it was like he had you under hypnosis with his cologne, because you slowly followed along when he spoke and were understanding more of the material. 

then, he began to quiz you. he asked you to solve a formula for him, and when you actually managed to identify x correctly, he brought one of his large hands down to rest at an exposed part of your thigh - thanks to your small gym shorts. your breath hitched when he squeezed it gently, offering you praise. 

“nice job. now look at this graph and....” 

his voice trailed off in your mind as you couldn’t get your eyes to leave his warm hand at your thigh. it felt so soft, and encased your leg so effortlessly. his thumb rubbed the smallest and softest circles into your thigh as he spoke, but stopped when you heard your name called once more. 

“y/n? did you hear me?” he spoke, pretending as if he hadn’t caught you lingering on his hand. 

“o-oh, yeah, whatever. it’s right here.” you answer, pointing to a spot on a complicated looking chart. you were fully guessing, but didn’t want him to know you were distracted. 

“wrong.” 

this time, he squeezed your thigh with stronger force, causing you to gasp. 

“the hell are you doing!” you call out, scooting back out of your chair. 

minghao was fast, though, because before you could actually move away he caught your wrist, pulling you in and quickly situating you on his lap. you squirmed, but didn’t exactly try to leave as he brought both hands to massage both sides of your thighs this time. 

“you were doing so good, what’s wrong?” he whispered from behind you, his warm breath against the nape of your neck causing visible goosebumps to rise. 

you gripped the table infront of you for stability, trying your best to keep a whine from leaving your throat. 

“I-.....I.... uhm, I-” you stuttered. you were desperately trying to find a witty comment to spit out, but it was like you completely lost your mojo, how frustrating. 

“next question,” he spoke, lightly nipping your earlobe with his teeth. 

you flinched, and genuinely couldn’t speak. his scent and ministrations into your soft thighs were completely overriding your ability to focus. he pulled the hems of your shorts back so that he could massage higher up on your thighs, the sensation causing everything he was saying to fade into the background of your mind as it started hazing over. 

“know the answer this time?” you heard him ask, and nervousness overcame you when you realized you hadn’t heard a single thing he’s said. 

you began mumbling, eyes trying to make sense of the worksheets in front of you. you feel his hand reach around your front before landing on your clothed bulge, which, much to your embarrassment, had already grown into a hard erection.

minghao chuckled loudly, “no wonder you can’t concentrate, you’re all worked up. aw.” 

he gave your member one good quick squeeze, the stimulation causing you to yelp in shock. your hand shot down to grip on to his wrist, your breathing becoming labored. you tried to look over your shoulder at him, but his free hand came up to cup your jaw, forcing your head back to the textbook. you suddenly felt his own hard-on straining in his pants, pushing into your lower back.

“minghao, i-” 

“i hope you get this next one right... or we can pack it up and call it a day?” he spoke, his voice holding a teasing tone. 

“n-no! no, i can answer it.” you responded, sounding way too desperate.

he bit his lower lip in a smirk, and went on to explain the next formula and percentages normally, as if you weren’t propped on his lap. when it was your turn to answer, you felt utterly clueless. you struggled enough to even pay attention to each word that fell off his tongue in the first place

“answer me, bitch.” he warned, his grip on your cock from the outside of your shorts slowly tightening again.

“n-n-nintey two! the percentage of x is 92″ you fumbled out, squeezing your eyes shut as it was practically guess work. 

“...excellent job.”

you let out a sigh of relief, loosening your tight hold on your calculator. you felt the exact plump lips you had admired this past hour and a half begin placing light, feathery kisses down the back and sides of your neck, minghao releasing his hold on your member. you whined at the loss of feeling, but your breath hitched as you felt him beginning to pull at your short’s drawstrings. you sat completely still while his lips worked into a soft spot on your neck, and he untied your drawstrings at an agonizingly slow pace. 

you forced yourself to maintain your breathing when he finally loosened them, slowly reaching into your pants without a word. he began palming your bare length as he kissed harder into your weak spot, sucking a red mark into your throat. you moaned, wondering how you even found yourself in this situation, yet not wanting it to stop. 

“maybe you’re not a dumbass after all, just a little slut.” he murmured into your skin. his words made your skin feel even hotter, but it still sprung your attitude right back into action.

“I probably would’ve gotten them right sooner if I had a tutor who wasn’t a horny asshole.” you respond, leaning your head back on to his shoulder as his hands work you. 

however, he stopped all his movements, groaning as his teeth sunk into your soft spot. you whimpered at the jolt, almost regretting your comment as you bucked your hips into his frozen hand desperate for more of the pleasure. 

“is that so? let’s keep going then.” 

he brought his hand away from your erection and gripped your jaw again, forcing your head up and at the math problems before you.

minghao went on to read out the graph to you, but this time brought his tongue down to your collarbone, drawing circles into your sensitive skin in between his sentences. you squirmed under him but he gripped your hips still, making it impossible for you to seek any kind of pleasure on his lap. 

you took deep breaths in between his pauses as he took his time ravaging your exposed skin, moving your hoodie aside so he could claim more territory with colorful marks. you dug your fingers into his legs, begging him to get on with it. he chuckled quietly before licking his way back up to your ear before finishing the word problem.

“so? whats the solution, little boy?” he asked, his hand finding its way back into your pants. he stroked along your length as you gathered up the willpower to speak, the pleasure becoming too much to function. 

your mind raced, hopelessly looking for clues to the answer. you tried to focus, but as the long silence dragged on you felt yourself inching closer to your orgasm, finding it impossible to keep your eyes racked on the calculator. when you couldn’t handle it anymore, you summoned an answer out of thin air hoping it was correct so that minghao could just finish you off, you were so close. 

“t-...the solution would be to plug the integers into the denominal fraction!” you sputtered, minghao’s hand speeding up its stroking. 

just as you gave your answer, your felt minghao’s face draw next to your ear, and keys jingling at your front door - your older brother jun stepping in. 

“incorrect.” 

and he ceased his actions, pushing you off his lap. 

⊱────────────────────────⊰

ever since then, you were obsessed with your tutor. you’re not sure if it was the thrill of almost being caught by junhui, or the frustration of having your release so cruelly denied by minghao, but each week it seemed like you would get worse at math intentionally. 

the brattier you were to minghao, the more dominant he was with you - and it was intoxicating. it was a constant back & forth in the secrets of your own studying whenever it was just you two in the house, although you found it pretty hard to control yourself that one time in which junhui was still upstairs. 

this week, the house was empty and the textbooks hadn’t even been opened yet before you were straddling minghao’s lap and making out. he barely had time to set his bag down and take a seat before your lips were quick to take action, devouring each other. his hot open mouthed kisses caused your mind to gloss over, moaning wantonly when his tongue pressed against yours. 

when you ground your hips down on his semi-hard bulge, his hands wrapped around your waist to keep you still. you whined at him, trying to chase the friction. 

“we need to start our lesson for the day.” minghao sighed. “your results last week were good, but we have a lot of work to do.” 

“nooo,” you fussed at him, squeezing his shoulders. “i don’t care about the math anymore, let’s take a week off.” 

you continued to aggressively kiss him before he could protest. however, minghao soon peeled his lips away from yours, the satisfying sound ringing in your ears. 

“no breaks. you need to behave, y/n.” he warned, which only made you giggle before diving back into his plush lips.

god, he tasted amazing. your lips worked eagerly against his before you felt a hard smack on your ass. you jumped, whimpering at the sting his large hand caused you. you looked minghao in the eyes with an angry pout, and that only landed you another spank on your other cheek.

minghao shifted you around his lap until your back was pressed against the wooden table. he brought a hand up to wrap around your throat, forcing you keep eye contact with him. 

“are you ready to be a good student now?” 

you shook your head, growing aggravated. you had studied so much and now all you could think of was your brothers sexy best friend whom you willfully let control you each week. you needed him, badly. and he knew it. 

minghaos hand never left your throat, and you watched his eyes study you, contemplating what he should do next. eventually, he released a slight hum, an idea seemingly coming to him like a light bulb. 

“alright, fine.” he finally spoke aloud, pushing the textbooks off of the table in one swoop. he then stood, holding your underarms to lift you from his lap on to the table. 

“if you can pass a pop quiz, we don’t have to study today.” 

you eagerly nodded your head in compliance, cooperating as he pressed a hand to your chest and lowered you until you were flat-backed on your table. he began stripping you of your pants and boxers, leaving your bottom half exposed to the cold air. you licked your lips when you watched him start to remove his belt, but felt your excitement grow dim when he stopped after only undoing a few buttons.

he crawled on to the table, one hand resting next to your head as he hovered over you. the other came and started palming your exposed cock, allowing it to grow hard. when your eyes wandered down to watch his ministrations, he called your name sharply, shifting your attention back to him. 

“you get 5 chances.” he told you, and you nodded.

damnit, those were the hardest questions of your life. 

you had managed to get three wrong right off the bat, and minghao sinisterly chuckled at you each time you whimpered at him grinding his clothed hips to your needy and exposed bottom half. 

“you dumb bitch... only two chances left.” he taunted, wiggling his two fingers infront of your face. he then took his two digits and prodded them at your lips.

you sighed when you took his elegant fingers into your mouth, swirling your tongue around them like a melting popsicle. your eyes rolled back from the satisfaction. he withdrew his long fingers from your mouth earlier than you liked, and began sucking on them himself. your face grew beat red at his actions, but you felt your cock twitch at the sight. he then reached down and lifted your legs around his hips, teasing his coated fingers at your entrance. a moan of desperation escaped you.

“tell me about the theory of probability if you can, little whore.” he demanded, circling one of his fingers around your bottom. 

the teasing and degradation almost made you moan, but you forced yourself to stay composed, as you were finally confident in an answer. you stilled your breathing and delivered the definition without breaking eye contact. he smiled at you.

“good job, baby boy.” he replied, his demeanor instantly softer as he placed a kiss on your nose. 

and without another word, he slowly sunk one of his coated fingers into your entrance. a loud moan drew from your throat, and you could’ve came from just that pleasure after being teased so much. but, even your bratty demeanor was scared to go against minghao’s wishes. 

he asked you another question, and you almost exploded in joy when you also knew that one, earning you another finger. the stretch wasn’t painful but it was doing its job, causing you to feel full from his hands alone.

“last one, baby. what happens when N is even in the variance formula?” 

you, being on the verge of your high once more, grabbed the back of his neck and brought his ear down to your lips, whispering the answer to him before licking the shell. he groaned, a smirk growing wide on his lips. 

“shit, prince, you’re a genius.” 

the tall male instantly removed his fingers from inside you, and shimmied off his own pants. your head was spinning when he plunged his erect member into you, instantly grinding with exact precision. 

you couldn’t stop the moans from falling past your lips, and only grew louder when he leaned down to suck sulaciously on your adam’s apple.

“I hope junhui comes home early to see his little bitch of a brother being such a good boy, such a smart boy....” he purred into your ear in between littering hickeys on your neck and chest while rutting into you.

the pleasure was sending you to cloud nine, to the point that you didn’t even care about the probability of someone actually coming home early and catching you. all you knew was that tutoring was probably the best investment your parents have ever made.

© 𝐟𝐥𝐰𝐫𝐛𝐨𝐢 — all rights reserved

[howlingday]

au where jaune finds a magic sword when he's younger. it becomes his best friend and agrees to help him become a legendary hero since that's what it was made for in the first place. thing is no one else can hear it speak so everyone thinks jaune's insane. he's also extremely powerful and can use his aura in really interesting ways... he's just terrible at actually using the sword. might need some remedial training in that good thing he's going to beacon TLDR: jaune's a level 15 warlock, whos just now starting to pick up his first levels in paladin how does the story change? (just wanted to see how you think jaune's build would be different if he started off with a warlock instead of being pure paladin like we see in the show)

Hero of Dark Hope

Jaune's family trip to Vacuo had gone a strange direction. Though he was told to stay close to his sisters, his sense of adventure got the better of him... Well, his sister, too, but it's not like he tried to stop her. But the sands of Vacuo are not for those weak of heart. This lesson would be learned when he fell into a sinkhole that swallowed him faster than he could scream. He fell into the freezing cold water, thrashing about the grotto waters until he floundered his way to the cold comfort of dry land.

Jaune was alone, separate from his family. He called out to them, tears building in his eyes. He wanted to be a hero like his ancestors before him, but the cruel reality that he could die alone and so far away from his family was a very heartrending thought. He sobbed and wailed for every family member he could, hoping his voice would be carried up to them.

"ENOUGH!" Jaune whirled around to the center of the pool he was soaked from. "Your cowardice sickens me! Are you not a Maiden?!"

"N-No!" Jaune called back. "I'm a boy!"

"A boy? Where is the Maiden?"

"I'm..." Jaune gulped, sensing decreasing hostility, "I'm the only one here."

"Is that so? How did you enter my chambers?"

"I... I fell through the sands up there." Jaune pointed to the dark ceiling. Light began to glow bright from the pool until the beacon revealed itself to be a large, ornately crystalline sword floating in the air. "Who... Who are you?"

"I..." A small blue child decorated with golden strands of jewelry began, sitting atop the handle on his toes. His foxlike ears flicked as he grinned a toothy smile, "...am Yoki. The spirit who resides within the Sword of Destruction."

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

"Whoa! What is that?!"

"C-Crap!" Jaune quickly tucked the hilt into his back pocket. "You saw that?!"

"Heck yeah!" Ruby said with eyes shining. "What is that weapon? I've never seen a sword like that! Can I hold it?!"

'Jaune, she's annoying me.' Yoki groaned into Jaune's ears. 'Can we blow her up?'

"No!" Jaune shouted.

"Oh! Right!" Ruby cleared her throat. "May I hold it?"

"Er, n-no. I, uh..." Jaune gulped. He made a deal with Professor Ozpin about Yoki. He doesn't tell anyone about it, and nobody has to know he has it. Well, now somebody does know. The biggest weapon's nut in Beacon, if not the whole world. Well, here he was now, so now he had to deal with it.

'Now?'

"No." Jaune said with a sharp tone, making Ruby flinch. "Oh, er, s-sorry. I was... Nevermind. I'm still saying no. See, I'm kind of not supposed to tell anyone about this weapon."

"Why not?"

"Um... It's a secret?" Jaune said with a sheepish grin.

'Wow, that was a really bad lie.'

"Wow, that was a really bad lie." Ruby echoed. "But I can respect your decision. And you can trust me! I won't tell anyone about your secret Grimm-killing weapon!"

"Thanks, Ruby." Jaune let out a huge sigh. "But, uh, since we're already keeping secrets, how about I at least bring you up to speed on me and Yoki."

"Yoki?" Ruby asked. "Why's your sword named Yoki?"

'I'm not HIS sword!' Yoki screeched, making Jaune cringe. 'I'm my own sword!'

"They're, uh, really sensitive about saying they're my sword. It's more like I'm borrowing it."

"Oh, you mean like Crocea Mors?"

"...Kinda?"

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

Jaune clashed hard with Cinder in the realm between Kingdoms. He was so close to getting people safely out of Atlas, but then SHE had to show up of all times! With Crocea Mors destroyed, he had no choice but to bring out the big guns. Or big sword in this case.

"Finally!" Cinder said with glee. "I'll have three relics in one go!"

"You'll have to kill me, first!" Jaune charged at her, blade at the ready.

"That's the idea!"

Cinder swooped low, swinging her glass sword in with an intense heat behind it. Jaune could feel it, but it would still shatter into, well, glass once Jaune and Yoki struck against her. Seeing him easily best her sword, she expanded the distance, shifting her tactics to more ranged options. Arrows sliced through the air as Jaune backed away, his aura already catching a few. He was smart enough to swat them off once he felt the heat.

'Yoki, do you trust me?'

'Not a good time to ask, but yes.'

'Good, because I have a dumb plan.'

'As if that ever changed anything.'

Jaune decided to close the distance, charging towards Cinder, who continued to fire makeshift arrows. He dove, his hair receiving a small shave of a few strands. As he rolled forward, the exploding arrow launched him like a missile along the ground. As his shield skidded against the ground, he activated the gravity dust, the shock racking his body as he suddenly launched backwards, into the air. As he soared high into the air, Cinder chased after him with manic glee on her face. He readied Yoki, roaring as he came crashing towards her.

"CINDEEEEEER!"

[vampiremotif]

i think i’ve pinned down what i love about podcasts. because yes you have this wild west landscape where bad actors can create their own echo chambers where they themselves and listeners become progressively more polarized. but it’s also gives free reign for anyone to just make a podcast about things they love and know a lot about and relay information for an unlimited amount of time to an audience that might not otherwise hear it.

which leads to absolute gems like 5 to 4, unpacking supreme court decisions and the inherent corruption embedded in the US judiciary branch; or blank check, deep dives into film director’s careers where the podcast episode length can sometimes be longer than the runtime of the actual film they are discussing; or behind the bastards, a leftist journalist going on for hours on ends about horrible people throughout history that has helped me learn more about us presidential administrations than my elementary school history teachers could’ve dreamed of.

this is all to say i know i sound extraordinarily pretentious when i say “i was listening to this podcast” or “there’s this podcast i listen to…” and it inevitably makes me think of that fucking commercial for god knows what that’s like “there’s a podcast for that.” but forgive me for loving to listen to people talk about things they love, are passionate and very knowledgeable about!! ahh!!

[decepti-thots]

(I’ll preface by saying: huge JP fan who has no problem with people not liking it)

Anyways I’m actually super curious…

How are most JP fics “boring”? 🤔 I’ve always found their dynamic to be more entertaining than most, given the dichotomy of their characters.

So I’m curious as to how you’ve wound up at “boring” of all the possible reasons to dislike it. 🤣

I'm going to be a bit blunter here than I usually would be on the topic, as I was directly asked. So I'll cut the uh… negativity? I guess? For those who prefer not to see folks talk shit about a ship they like, lol.

First and foremost Jazz/Prowl is basically just… essentially made up and purely based on fanon inventions/additions, and made up fanon stuff is usually not of real interest to me without a very strong hook somewhere in the actual canon material. It is 99% fanon by volume that draws on little to no canon material of any kind but just... years of fanon, reproducing itself and mutating almost like a fanfic game of telephone, all developed in fandom echo chambers. Which renders the characters in the vast majority of fic a) largely unrelated to any canon material I like in a meaningful sense and b) tbqh, the kind of generic stuff found in a lot of typical, large dudeslash fandoms where the characters are… they're Dudeslash Fandom Archetypes with a gloss of paint on top, you know? People come in, look for which character in a fandom fits their favourite m/m trope the most, and then squish the character down to fit into that pre-existing archetype.

And the thing is, J/P has historically made a certain kind of sense for this, because the appeal was basically that… they didn't HAVE that much canon material? In the Marvel G1 comics, they have a little more specific characterisation and canon, but the G1 cartoon is not exactly a character exploration piece ANYWAY, and for Prowl especially he is a blank slate you can functionally project an OC onto. Which like, that's fine! That makes a lot of sense even if it's not what usually draws me into something.

My issue has become that if I read one more G1-fanon-soup fest mistagged "IDW" I'm gonna scream. I like IDW Prowl (and IDW Jazz too!) for the fact that these characters have specific, strongly delineated canon personalities, arcs and dynamics, and both of these characters- Prowl especially, but both of them!- have like. Things about them which are true, and which J/P fic not only tends to ignore but actively treats in a loooot of cases as somehow Inferior To Our Fanon and something to be "fixed" with idk, the power of Extremely Generic Dudeslash Tropes. I've been in many a fandom with Migratory Dudeslash Fandoms writing fic. J/P is extremely rote to me as a result, if nothing else.

It warrants mentioning that J/P fandom is where one does find a lot of examples of just undeniably racist treatment of Jazz in fic, both the truly inexcusable phonetic accent bullshit and also a lot of bad decisions around tropes. I don't think this is a function of the ship, per se, but that its specific persistence in J/P fandom (bc trust me: this has been a point of criticism for A Long Fucking Time) is in part due to it having this long entrenched fanon-to-fanon game of telephone going on? It would be better to talk about the fandom's issues there outside ship talk so I'll leave it at that, but I can't deny it has not… helped my feelings. TBH. And I know that's where a lot of the resentment you will find in the fandom obviously stems from.

IDK. It's just. It's usually fanfic of itself, you know? J/P largely feels to me, in most cases, like fanfic of fanfic of fanfic, and I come to TF fandom for fanfic of a canon. So. Yeah. Not a fan. At all.

[nebusokuxp]

"Why are so many people in the minecraft community bad people?"

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS TALK OF POWER DYNAMICS, ABUSE, SA, ETC

This has become a fairly popular question. Whether it be a joke to poke fun at the ridiculous amount of minecraft youtubers who are awful people or a genuine curiosity.

Now I dont have all the answers. I am not saying I do. But I think I have a couple of answers. None of them are clear-cut, and I think they blend together. So, let's begin

1. It's a kids game.

Predators flock towards spaces with children. And games for children will be a Hotspot. Especially something like minecraft that had a massive ressurgance in 2020. This happens all the time, both online and offline. Disgusting people using children's products to hide their pedophilia.

2. The world is full of awful people.

The internet is a Russian roulette of fame. It doesn't matter how good your content is. Fame happens randomly and sparcely. When your content is good, you can graple onto the game and harness it. However, with something as fickle as a random chance, you're bound to get some weirdos and degenerates. And in a community as large as minecraft, it isn't surprising stuff like this is happening.

3. We don't know them

I've seen a lot of people act betrayed and shocked when bad information about their favorite CC comes out. And as much as I do, I get the sadness that comes with it. It's a bit ridiculous. What they are doing on that screen is not them. It is a performance, a show for our entertainment. With editing and practice, they can formulate an entirely different identity. So, for those acting, how we could've seen any of this coming. We couldn't, but we can learn to not attatch ourselves to people we don't know.

ENDING THOUGHTS

Sure, I liked Wilbur Soot's content. But guess what? He's not my friend or my good buddy. So , just stop listening and paying attention. In the end, the internet is an echo chamber of parasocial relationships and bad decisions made since we see ourselves as above consequences when behind a screen. So my parting advice is to stop living through the internet. See reality. Because you're gonna realise how fucked up your perception really is.

[butchladymaria]

Hello! I saw that you really like Adeline! 🐟🐟🐟 Jellyfish headcanon is adorable! Why do you think that she chose to join Blood Saints and Patients? Do you think this was really her choices?

HIIIIIII sorry for the wait!i’ve been chipping away at this one in my drafts forever but tysm for the ask!!!

jelly adeline’s concept was based on a mix of the fishing hamlet residents and the fact that some of the patients attack you with tentacle-like appendages out of their heads. i had seen a lot of speculation as to what was under the bags on the patient heads, but none of the theories i’d seen quite seemed to incorporate their aquatic elements. i’m so glad you like her!

i think before the church, adeline was a vibrant, perseverant, and intelligent soul with a deeply curious mind. i talked about this a little bit before, but my personal headcanon is that adeline grew up on a farm, the eldest of several siblings. when the family fell on hard times financially, they moved to the city which would eventually become the cathedral ward. adeline is able to help support her family by becoming a nun. in other words, she was used to handling a lot of responsibility. i also think this is around when she met and befriended maria, and in time they’d become extremely close. she easily builds a community among her fellow sisters, even in the dire circumstances which would eventually devolve into the beast plague, thanks to her unbreakable spirit and compassion for others. adeline is also incredibly clever — she developed an expertise in folk medicine growing up in a rural area with few doctors, and this coupled with her ability to work under pressure saved lives. finally, she was very well-respected by her peers, making adeline an obvious choice for sainthood. becoming a blood saint was a decision she made on account of her own strengths and abilities, and one she remained proud of even at the end of it all.

however, her time as a nun also sows the seeds for her to self-doubt and self-sacrificing tendencies. i’d liken it to the old saying about the frog in boiling water. if you drop a frog in boiling water, it will just hop out. however, if you put it in and slowly heat the water, the frog will boil to death because it grows slowly accustomed to worse and worse conditions. serving as a nun primed adeline to accept that she was only worth what she could sacrifice for others. i also think this is why maria disapproved of her sainthood. while she wasn’t aware of the church’s true face, maria could still see how it was weighing on the mind of her dear companion, and she didn’t want it to get worse for her. however, as the hunts would get longer and longer, she had less and less time to witness how bad it truly became. i also don’t think adeline ever truly confided in maria how terrible her treatment would become — she was conditioned to believe it was normal, that she deserved it. adeline ultimately chose to become a saint because she believed it was for the greater good — that despite the sacrifices she’d have to make, they would all be worthwhile. she still held unwavering faith in the church’s earnest intentions. this, of course, would prove to be a mistake.

her time as a saint only made things worse. her strenuous responsibilities isolated her even further from her friends and family outside the church, trapping her in an echo chamber. where once she was free spirited and curious, the stress of treating so many people combined with the intensifying abuse of the church made her subservient and broke her self worth. canonically, i would argue the church operates as a cult — with all the manipulation and abuse that entails.

i think what pushed adeline to become a patient of the research hall was likely the aftermath of the fishing hamlet. adeline hears the church is trumpeting a mysterious fantastical discovery — out of the eyes of the public, of course — but maria returns utterly broken. i personally don’t think maria ever told adeline the truth of what happened that night because of how much she abhorred herself over it. but from adeline’s perspective, maria had suddenly become detached and haunted for reasons adeline didn’t understand, and she was helpless to assuage her pain. what good is she if she cannot soothe the suffering of the people she loves most? even after everything she’s sacrificed of herself, it still wasn’t enough. after being isolated from her connections outside the church, she has no one to talk to who doesn’t reinforce church doctrine (whether consciously or not). maria was the only one left who would challenge those ideas in a meaningful way, both as an outsider to yharnam and an affiliate of the church rather than a servant of it. adeline feels helpless — and in her mind, if she’s helpless she’s useless, and if she’s useless she’s worthless. she feels she cannot confide in anyone or else they will see her as weak or unworthy of sainthood. i wonder if maria, in her despondence, ever told adeline that she felt she deserved the misery she was in, and if perhaps adeline saw herself reflected in that sentiment. after the church has ground her sense of self to dust, all of these emotions were the perfect and terrible catalyst which pushed her to volunteer as a patient.

ultimately, i do not think she chose to become a patient of her own free will, but i also don’t think she was physically coerced into it either. rather, it was an insidious process of psychological abuse which broke her powerful spirit in the end.

[take-youraim]

I'm not doing so well. I have so much anxiety that it’s really hard to fall asleep at night. It usually takes me a full 2 hours of laying there. I never used to have sleep problems, even though it was such a common symptom with all the other psychiatric patients I cohabitated with.

I'm struggling a lot with feelings of shame and inadequacy. I feel stupid, and lost, and just lacking in general. I feel like something is fundamentally wrong with me and it takes all of my energy to convince myself otherwise. I feel deeply sorry. I feel like life will never be as beautiful as I imagine or want it to be. I watch everyone around me take steps forward and build these big lives, and they trust themselves. I'm not that way. Every step I take is a guess and a prayer. All I want is to feel proud of myself. I want to feel vindicated of my past. I don't want the resolution of my past to be because I ran from it or distracted myself thoroughly enough from it. I want a resolution that is palatable; one marked by overcoming deep shame, and self-forgiveness.

There have been so few moments where I've felt any relief from this. Religion brought me closer to forgiveness, but that was always a passive understanding and experience of forgiveness. I was the recipient of external forgiveness, which I realize now is more or less a band-aid. I forgave myself because the Creator of the World saw me as Good. But now, I'm not sure I'll ever be able to see myself as worthy of forgiveness unattached to a greater entity. I'm not sure I'm forgivable just as I am.

I bombed my preliminary interview with Penn. That has triggered a lot of these feelings. It reminded me of my own incompetence. It made me think, “who am I to think I'm smart enough for Penn?” I feel like a fraud. I'm embarrassed. I'm lost in life with so many unknowns, and only difficult roads ahead.

I feel afraid. And deeply sad.

I want to lay in bed with my mom and hug my dad. I'm about to go the longest length of time without seeing them ever in my whole life. What if they die? I can't handle that. I simply can't. But I find myself compulsively fantasizing about their deaths. And then I contemplate if my mind, or the universe, is preparing me for an upcoming day when they really do die. And I'm terrified and disgusted that even that I'm even writing this, but the fantasies have become so frequent and vivid that I'm desperate to purge myself anyway possible, even if it means documenting the horrible corners of my mind. I also have vivid fantasies of my best friend's death, or of my own slow death to something like being trapped under a collapsed building, alone. These are things that keep me up at night, as they are now.

When will I be free of myself? I can't take it.

I think I'm developing a mild form of OCD. Or at least the associated intrusive thoughts. Working in research, from home, is bad for these thoughts and my anxiety. My studio apartment has become an echo chamber.

I hope I can do better tomorrow and have a good day. That's what I used to focus on during my stints in psych hospitals and treatment: try to have a good day. You don't have to accomplish anything. You don't have to get things right. Or make decisions. Just try to enjoy the moments. Feel the sun. Read a book. Think small, and just try to enjoy your day.

This will be my goal tomorrow.

[sapphire-weapon]

I think the problem with a lot of RE fans (and in many other fandoms too, RE just happens to be the current topic), is that there's a belief being upheld, that whatever appears in canon material has to be free of criticism, just because it's canon!

To backup my point, I'll use Game of Thrones as an example. The show literally became infamous because of the backlash caused by its last season. It's not an exaggeration to state that the vast majority of fans and casual viewers (which are worldwide!) criticised it. Am I not allowed to point out Daenerys being out of character, just because the showrunners went ahead with that arc? Is the global viewership simply "just wrong about it", because hey, the showrunners made that decision. Leave it alone. It almost entirely killed the franchise. With books becoming a lost cause, HOTD has just about saved it.

My point being, just because something's canon, it doesn't mean it's good, nor is it free from negative opinions and thought pieces. That's what gets me about certain ship arguments. They have nothing of value to add to their stance... it's just "well, this and that canon storyline happened! So you're not allowed to say it's bad or try to analyse it from a different perspective!" Genuinely, how does someone like that even finish school?

It's unfortunately quite a popular opinion to have that worms its way into every piece of popular media. Just normalise questioning, analysing and constructively criticising the things we consume. That's supposed to be part of the enjoyment in my opinion. Also to add, it's important to recognise that franchises worth millions of dollars are much bigger than your curated twitter corner. Just because you and your friends bully people online, does not mean you're the spokesperson for RE (and others) consumerism. That is a toddlers perspective of the world, lol.

>it's important to recognise that franchises worth millions of dollars are much bigger than your curated twitter corner.

this is the single most important thing to keep in mind when trying to analyze a text and/or predict where a series is going to go, imo

it's so easy for your perspective to get fucked up when you sit in an echo chamber like that

that's why when cordial!aeon anon first came into my inbox, i was like "i need you guys to play video games that aren't RE" bc like

there was absolutely zero understanding of how the games industry actually functions and/or how Joe Average, who makes up the largest majority of consumers by MILLIONS, looks at the games he plays.

i worked at gamestop for eight years and let me tell u it is actually against capcom's best interest to develop their games around appeasing shippers, because shippers are responsible for only around roughly 10% of game sales -- and even that is being extremely generous. it will come as an upsetting shock to learn that a good portion (i estimate about 30%) of people who play video games skip the cutscenes entirely. the other 60% are people who just want a game that will hold their interest and make sense as they're going through it/not be embarrassingly stupid (like RE6 was).

like. no one has a more overinflated sense of self-importance than shippers who only talk to other shippers and engage with the medium in no other way.

[abubblingcandle]

⭐star⭐ 

Ah thank you! So the biggest fic that I have posted recently that I have had sort of director's cut thoughts about is Get You Down.

For those who haven't read Get You Down - this is my Jamie & Rebecca canon divergence AU fic where Rebecca becomes Jamie's 'godmother' after they meet when he is about 10.

I'm going to put the analysis under the cut but for this ask I'm going to focus on the idea of what stays and what changes in canon divergence what if style fics.

I love writing and reading canon divergence style fics. I find it the most interesting thing to think about what impact would the little butterfly wings have and for this fic the big question was "would Jamie being in Rebecca's life for ten or so years before he came to Richmond make each of them worse, better or the same but with a friend?" and I still think there's evidence to support each of those paths and each of those paths would have been a valid route to take.

I chose to go for same but with a friend. And I did that because of what I think the duo would be looking for in a familial relationship, unconditional love. Based on what we know about Rebecca's family life I don't think she has experienced unconditional love. Her father was absent and cheated on her mother at least once. Her mother is flighty, too forgiving of her husband and seems emotionally detached and Rupert, that man never did anything unconditionally. Jamie on the other hand had the exact opposite of unconditional love from his father and I think did have unconditional love from his mother but seems to have the reaction of himself feeling like he has to earn or pay back everything she did for him even though she doesn't want that. Therefore he doesn't see it as unconditional even if she does. So you've got two people who are used to fighting for affection just wanting someone who loves them and cares for them as they are. Therefore they are not going to try and change anything about each other, they just want to be there and involved in each other's lives. Jamie will still be a primadonna and bitchy towards his team. Rebecca will still be angry that she allowed Rupert to ruin her life and their actions will still stem from that and may even be bolstered by having someone in their corner even if they are making bad decisions.

(Which is why in the fic the biggest canon divergence comes when Rebecca steps over the line and reveals she is tanking Richmond. Because there is nothing in Jamie's brain that can justify deliberately losing and Rebecca has unknowingly found the line of Jamie's devotion and stumbled over it into bad news territory.)

My point being - when writing canon divergence like this, it is so easy to see it as an opportunity to make the characters better because they had different influences in their lives but in this case I think it is more likely that the duo would act as an echo chamber of familial trauma and need outside influence to start pushing each other to be better.

[sappymix1]

day six!! princess dream and knight george. writing angst for once in my life oh princess dream my poor baby :((( see you tomorrow for the last day!!

Dream wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near the war room when her mother made the decision. 

She was supposed to be back in her own chambers, her ladies in waiting helping her remove the mountain of petticoats that pooled around her lower body and undoing the tiny buttons that ran up her back. She was supposed to be sitting still and straight as they undid the pins that kept her curls pinned up and perfect and brought water for her to wash the day off of her face. She was, most certainly, not supposed to be kneeling in the hallway, ear pressed up against the wooden door as she strained to hear what her mother was saying while Hannah, her closest companion in the royal household, stood a few feet away as a reluctant lookout. 

Dream had been tracking the war for months, studying maps and every memo her mother left out in her war room as the lines of their enemies steadily grew closer. She’d read the reports from their neighboring allies of burning homes and mass casualties. She knew what was coming for them. She’d been hoping, desperately, that someone could stop it before it arrived. 

Her mother’s words to the diplomats right now were the last chance. She trusted her mother. She did not know if it would be enough.

Every word that drifted through the door made her stomach twist. She needed them to find a method for peace. She wanted it for the kingdom, obviously. But she needed it for herself.

When she heard the words in her mother’s sweet voice drift through the door, a tiny proclamation that their kingdom was going to war, it felt like it should have been louder. It rang through Dream’s ears like it was. 

“What?” Hannah said when Dream got unsteadily back to her feet, abandoning her previous pointed disinterest. “What are they saying?” 

Dream hurried down the hall towards the front of the palace, the sound of her frantic steps echoing off of the marble floors. She could hear Hannah following her. 

“Dream, you said you’d tell me if I kept watch for you,” she complained as Dream weaved through the halls to find the staff door. Karl was on guard and he wouldn’t say anything if she left that way. “This isn’t fair. What’s your problem?” 

They got to the door, and Dream finally turned around. “Stay here so that you can let me in when I get back.” She reached out to grab Hannah’s hands in hers. “If anyone asks, just say, I don’t know. Bad sent you to wait for a delivery.”

“But where are you going?” Hannah asked, clutching Dream’s hands back. 

Dream stayed for a second longer before pulling away to grab a cape. She pulled it over her intricately patterned green dress, and then she lifted it to cover her hair. “We’re at war.” Her voice sounded hollow and scared when she said it, nothing like her mother’s. “I’ll be back in a few hours.” 

Passing Karl was easy; he just nodded and let her pass through the outer gates. Once she was through, she took off running, hiking her skirt up to keep it from becoming tangled in her legs.

It wasn’t long before she reached where she was going, a small wooden house with dark windows and two pairs of leather boots placed outside the door. It was a cold November night and running in the winter air made her throat ache. A small stream of smoke drifted from the chimney as she knocked on the door, loud and harsh against the quiet darkness. 

The walls were thin and she could hear someone coming down the creaky stairs. Then the door opened up, revealing a drowsy looking girl with tangled dark hair, blue blanket wrapped around her shoulders with thick knitted socks sticking out from under it. “Dream?” she said, voice still slightly slurred with sleep. “What – huh?”

“We’re at war.” The words tumbled out of Dream’s mouth like marbles from a game spilling from her hand onto her bedroom floor. The normal coziness of the house, fire burning low just within Dream’s view, faded with them. “My mother met with diplomats tonight. She’s making it official tomorrow. George, you have to go.” 

The gentle sleepiness faded from George’s eyes as her face hardened. She stepped outside, bringing a lantern with her, and wrapped her blanket tighter around herself. Undoubtedly, she didn’t want to wake the other knights she lived with and have to explain why the fucking princess was standing at their door step. “Dream,” she started, but Dream cut her off. 

“I’ve read the reports, George.” Her voice shook. “I’ve read about the casualties. Do you know how many people died in the last battle? Two hundred. We have to step in because our allies are losing. I am not going to be responsible for you going into battle and getting yourself killed.”

“Dream!” George said again, voice raised slightly. She stepped forward, closer to Dream, and her voice lowered again. “You know I can’t.” 

“Yes you can,” Dream said, and her voice broke under the guilt. She should be able to do something about this. She should have talked to her mother, begged her to try harder to work out a deal. She was the future fucking queen; she should have been able to stop the thing that was going to kill the woman she loved. “It will break me if anything happens to you. I can get you out of here.”

“But I don’t want to leave.” George’s face was pale and pinched in the light of the lantern but her voice was very firm. Dream thought it could have brought her to her knees. “I signed up for this. You know that.” 

She was wearing a blanket and socks big enough that they pooled around her thighs and her hair was unbrushed but her shoulders were steady enough to wear her normal iron armor. Dream hated it. George was happy and loud and silly; she had been ever since Dream had met her in a new crop of knights when both of them were much younger and less jaded than they were now. She was supposed to stay that way – dumb practice fights where George laughed so hard at Dream’s unfunny jokes that she nearly dropped her sword and late nights curled up in Dream’s giant bed after Sylvee and Hannah snuck her in even though Dream had never seen anyone so gorgeous look so out of place dressed for the royal court. She wasn’t supposed to look like someone who was ever going to see actual fighting. Dream didn’t know if it was more upsetting; the idea of her going to war ill prepared or that it wouldn’t matter that she was.

“I was supposed to be able to stop it,” Dream said miserably. “I said I’d stop it before it could get to you.”

“I know.” George gently took Dream’s face in her hands. “But it’s out of your hands. I didn’t expect you to stop anything.” George’s voice was steady, but her hands were cold and clammy. Dream could tell she was scared. “Come in. You’re freezing. You can spend the night.”

Dream wasn’t thinking about Hannah, waiting back for her. She wasn’t thinking about the other knights who lived with George who could see her. She was just thinking about the unspoken pleading in George’s eyes. This wasn’t supposed to happen to them. She nodded.

Dream had only been to George’s house once or twice, and as George led her up the stairs, she was horribly aware of how unlikely it was that she would be again. She tried not to think of it as George kissed her jaw and undid the tiny buttons on her dress with a painful intimacy that her ladies in waiting doing the same thing never had. George’s fingers were freezing against her bare skin and as soon as Dream was in just her chemise, she pulled her to climb under the layers of blankets tangled up in her bed. 

“I don’t want this to be the last time we lay together,” Dream whispered as George’s legs tangled up with hers. “I don’t want it to end like this.”

George exhaled, soft and like she was trying to brace herself. “I know,” she said, voice stilted. “Me too.”

When Dream wrapped her arms around George, she could feel her shaking. Dream buried her face into her hair, and for the first time in ages, the princess allowed herself to crack.

[aeltri]

1. Beware of idea pathogens. Idea pathogens are ideas that are harmful to our minds and society. They can be spread through social media, the news, and even our own friends and family.

2. Don't be afraid to question authority. Just because someone is in a position of power doesn't mean they're always right. Be willing to challenge the status quo and think for yourself.

3. Beware of groupthink. Groupthink is when people in a group make decisions that are not in their best interests because they want to fit in. Be willing to speak up and disagree with the group if you think they're wrong.

4. Beware of echo chambers. Echo chambers are online communities where people only hear information that confirms their existing beliefs. This can lead to people becoming more extreme in their views and less open to new ideas.

5. Beware of confirmation bias. Confirmation bias is the tendency to seek out information that confirms our existing beliefs and ignore information that contradicts them. This can lead us to make bad decisions and believe things that aren't true.

6. Beware of the backfire effect. The backfire effect is when people become more entrenched in their beliefs when they're presented with evidence that contradicts them. This can happen because people don't like to be wrong, and they may feel like they have to defend their beliefs in order to save face.

7. Beware of the Dunning-Kruger effect. The Dunning-Kruger effect is when people who are incompetent at something overestimate their abilities. This can lead them to make bad decisions and believe things that aren't true.

8. Beware of the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is a mental shortcut that we use to make decisions based on the information that is most easily available to us. This can lead us to make bad decisions because we may not be considering all of the relevant information.

9. Beware of the anchoring effect. The anchoring effect is when our judgment is influenced by the first piece of information we're given. This can lead us to make bad decisions because we may not be considering all of the relevant information.

10. Beware of the sunk cost fallacy. The sunk cost fallacy is when we continue to invest in something, even when it's clear that it's a bad investment, because we don't want to admit that we've made a mistake. This can lead us to lose even more money in the long run. - Gad Saad

[etheriadearie]

Read your big Entrapta post. It was very interesting, and over 6000 words long, LMAO. You should use plain text more though, the heavily reformatted bold/italicised/etc text made it difficult to read.

So, a few things:

1. I absolutely agree that the characters are continuing the historical trauma of the first ones. Entrapta is a truth seeker trying to get to the heart of the issue and basically discovers the Heart of Etheria with the minimal amount of investigation in season 1, with nobody else questioning what the First Ones did because it would mean they have to question their entire power structure.

2. However, Entrapta is still a villain that the Princesses need to stop. Especially as the Black Garnet Experiment was hurting so many people, and she didn't even know what sort of dangerous weapon was lurking under the surface yet! Unfortunately I think the lack of communication with her in s1 is attributed to time - she only got a single episode to deal with them and just when they were warming up to each other they were separated. I like to think if this separation never happened, the other characters would've started to understand Entrapta better and let her do her thing. On the other hand, they probably wouldn't have let her mess with a runestone. A full Rebellion! Entrapta would face prejudice against tampering with tech, as you said. Only the Horde would be willing to fully embrace it, which is why Bow's tech is nowhere close to Entrapta's - hell, people tease him for it rather than ask him about it!

(This presumably changes after s5 where suddenly tech is a vital part of society and Entrapta carried the Rebellion through the transition.)

3. I do think you're right when you say, all the other characters are caught up in their anger and hurt, but Entrapta lets it pass through, and she can see most clearly the value in other people, and treats them better than she gets treated. She does carry and push down some hurt especially around getting rejected so many times no matter how hard she tries, and sometimes she questions her own philosophies of "imperfections are beautiful" because how can she believe that when her own imperfections keep leading to her pushing people away? But she has a strong heart, and pushes through that doubt and becomes a powerful force for individuality across the show. She is unabashedly herself, and transfers that positive energy onto other characters when de-chipping them, breaking up tension for other characters on the space ship, and helping Hordak figure out who he is.

Hi! Sounds like we agree on a lot, let me see if I can respond to a few things...

Thanks! My Promise discussion is over 17,000 hah 💜😜💜✌️. And I think you're right about the text, thx for saying. I've been thinking about switching to all bold, an example of that here.

Okay to this, I think we need to deal with the outdated and blasé boring 80s villain concept..

::metadiscuss She-ra and ND Stevenson's take on villains 🦹‍♀️

To be clear, my writing is never done to condone anyone's actions. What's happening is that they're all bad (until s5). SPOP is a waking disaster for pretty much every character, good guys and bad, they are all being hurtful and those decisions are bouncing off each other in a disastrous chaotic echo chamber. And Entrapta’s story, while messy, shows the truest line of good intentions towards others and to finding the truth.

Which is why I think judging Entrapta (or Catra and Hordak) as 'villains who need to be stopped’ isn't what ND wants us to do.

Catra and Hordak are absolutely being total assholes, but, there's only a couple really evil people in SPOP, who cause so much hurt and destruction in the story, and to which we can trace back all the other characters' actions to. What makes Catra and Hordak different from these evil people is that they aren't sociopaths. For example, one such sociopath villain- Shadow Weaver- gets away with the most terrible bullshit for the longest time. She abused Catra and Adora from an early age- and Adora and Catra only manage to stop her at the very end. This is a much more realistic storyline, as irl abusers fly under the radar, some never even face consequences for their actions.

But, this complexity is how ND Stevenson set out to give us a better story than the old 80s boring blasé “villains are evil and only exist to be stopped by the heroes”. Those stories lack any creativity, making 1 dimensional badguys to be knocked over by the heroes shooting gallery style.

The biggest clue that SPOP rejects such a blasé villain take is the plot itself- do the Princesses EVER even really stop them? Anything they try to do backfires- they didn't stop the portal from opening, they never regained control of the Black Garnet- and yet did the Horde ever use it again?

They could have, right? So, the Princesses struggle to even do the most basic thing of stopping the Horde. Stopping the villains isn't something we see them do until the end. The Princesses don't work together, before Adora showed up they all hid in their kingdoms and abandoned Etheria’s populace (and often their own people) to war. (see Bow’s dad George in s2ep7). But, by making unbalanced emotional decisions that are out of control they do make things worse for themselves, and for everyone on Etheria. This is because while the Horde is wrong, their own decisions add to the trauma of the other side, particularly Catra, perpetuating and increasing the violence.

For example, about one of the most villainous moments- Catra pulling the switch- we can see how Glimmer’s own actions of empowering Shadow Weaver in s3ep4 sends things out of control.

That's the moment Catra's actions are solidified, before then she's not angry enough to do what she does. And from then on Glimmer continues to give Shadow Weaver even more power in s4, she falls for her deceptions, which contributes to Glimmer’s mistake of linking Scorpia to the Heart, looking to win by any option. The world almost ends; it's chaos.

To elaborate about the portal incident: I say confidently that what we're suppose to understand within the plot that the portal wouldn't have happened without Glimmer bringing Shadow Weaver to the Fight Zone.

Entrapta actually had that under control, she had convinced Hordak to wait to try the portal, so they could perfect it (more really, for romance). And Adora did a good job warning Entrapta about the dangers, changing her mind. So, even though Catra wanted to do it, it wouldn't have happened. She wasn't the uncontrollably enraged person we see when she shocks Entrapta and then lies to Hordak.

That all comes down to Catra being brought within an inch of her life by her abuser yet again. Catra has been powerless to stop her abuser all of her life. Seeing the Princesses enable her abuser is a bridge too far. She has to win, even if there's a chance the world will end.

Imho what Catra did to Entrapta is what she hates herself for the most. It wasn't supposed to happen, we see that on her face afterwards. Catra is (predictably) driven by fear, that no matter what she does her abuser will be enabled by others.

Even at that point in the story, Adora is an enabler of their abuser in Catra's eyes. She's wrong, Adora has no control- and feels as unsafe as she does.

This is the kind of evidence that's there if you look for it, and Glimmer's decision to enable their abuser leaves both Adora and Catra unnerved and they begin to spiral during s4. What's also true is that Glimmer is partially responsible for her own pain in s4 and the loss of her mother. (I can talk in more detail about this cascade of events, lmk.)

In fact, Shadow Weaver switching sides is nothing- she's not trying to help the Princesses win, there's nothing left for her at the Horde and she uses it as a new opportunity to manipulate for power. In s4 she drives Glimmer towards releasing the power, for her own gain. It doesn't end like she intends when the Heart is set off instead.

But, as usual Shadow Weaver is getting away with it. She only faces consequences in s5 when Catra (‘a villain who needs to be stopped') helps Adora past all the manipulations with her love confession. Why is it Catra that has to bring the knowledge of love, why is she the wise one? It's literally the story of the series, her saving Adora with The Kiss.

So the story of the series isn't that Catra is a redeeming villain- it's why she has this special knowledge. Nor is Adora some miraculous hero- she can't be a real hero until she learns to accept that love.

So Catra can't really be called a villain, she does act the part but it's more complicated than that. Hordak isn't one either- he is a trauma machine, but he helps them win in the end, too. And Entrapta is one of the least villainous people in her intentions- lead than the Princesses who try to use a horrific super weapon to win (obvious similarities to choosing the nuclear option). Instead, we should focus on the real villains- sociopathic manipulators who like to hurt others- Shadow Weaver, Horde Prime, and somewhat Light Hope.

They lack the ability to feel love or empathy, they want to hurt others, like many of the worst abusers in our societies (looking at you, capitalism). That emotional difference is where the root of evil actually lies, because it lets them hurt people indefinitely. And just like Shadow Weaver, Horde Prime got away with it for the longest time, he hurt Hordak and murdered many innocent worlds before being stopped. And what did it take to stop him? An act of love. Gay love. 🏳️‍🌈 That's a pretty great rejection of the blasé troupes if you ask me.

So, I don't agree with the 80s villain view of Entrapta and most other characters. Is Scorpia a villain? How about Kyle, Rogelio, and Lonnie? They're treated as such. It's so much better that we're shown both sides, to understand how their choices are affected by the Princesses own actions. So that way we can think about why they make the decisions that they do. It's chaos until they all agree to stop and understand each other. Meanwhile the sociopaths were getting away with manipulating them all.

Oh an Entrapta? She doesn't stop to placate anyone's fragile feelings, such as with the Princesses, because ignorance is worse than not knowing what's really going on and the deeper plot that threatens the entire universe.

Anyways... I am not worthy to speak for ND but I suspect that he'd say calling Entrapta a villain wasn't what he wanted us to see. Or with many of the other characters. Entrapta is always doing her best, she's also kind to others. Calling her villain is so surface, it's meh.

Hope that makes sense.

p.s I know my posts are long, but its because I'm trying to answer all of the questions and misconstrued comebacks I've seen all at once, every question all at once. I do wish my writings could be shorter, but then I'd leave too many things open to confusion. Also, many questions are answered in my hyperlinks- more good meta to read with a hot cuppa somethin'☕️☺️ (all hyperlinks are on tumblr)

In a show where Catra and Adora struggle so much with becoming their true selves, Entrapta is always in touch with her most authentic self. She gives me all of the happy feelings 🥰

I know, it hurts to see her suffer. 😥 She shouldn't be made to doubt. Then again, what's being alive more than doubting? Each major character in SPOP does it. Her story has so much humanity 😌

Well said!! This is what I'm really saying when I talk about how the Princesses are privileged. Like, many privileged people accept the current economic order and that's wrong- it's destroying our environment and makes 3rd world counties impoverished. I see a real similarity in how the Princesses just accept their world order. Like irl, just because they don't know it's wrong doesn't make it any less wrong.

Thanks to anybody who hung out through this long post. If you like it, let me know. But reblogg if you can, because reblogs make the tumblr world go round ☺️💫🌍✨. Thanks for writing in op, I'm glad we agree on many things (some which I didn't have time to cover).

Happy Pride everybody!! ✨✨🏳️‍🌈✨✨!!!!

p.s if you have an ama pending I have received it and will respond just as soon as it's ready. Feel free to keep sending me asks my peoples!!

-Etheriadearie

[nemesis-is-my-middle-name]

Wait wait wait. Not the same anon, but the way you analyzed Volo there kinda reminds me of N? Like definitely not how N was groomed and basically brainwashed (I think, I never actually played b/w but that's what I've gotten through osmosis), but being in that echo chamber where they become convinced that the world is Terrible and humans are the cause. Volo's was clearly something he came up with by himself with other people reinforcing his conspiracy theory, while N was basically inducted into a cult, but it feels similar to me, to a degree.

Volo definitely didn't things through. Like if it feels sloppy and not really put together, that's probably because it wasn't. It seemed kinda manic to me, not necessarily clinically, but the slapdash fervor of it that led to some epically bad decisions.

Definitely not defending him or anything, btw, what he did was horrible, just thinking about what you said. Also, r.i.p. if I got N's whole deal completely wrong due to not being overly familiar with his lore.

no that's a pretty good read on N i think! cult groomed/brainwashed is very much his Deal. and yeah, they do wind up in a same place, huh? they have different methods but both have that "everything is broken but i know a super drastic way to fix it..." which both involve invoking deities to rewrite the laws of the world to your will, funnily enough.

and yeah, manic is a fair assessment. he just got so caught up in Finding A Solution, i think, and then every good thing he encountered was easy to brush aside as tiny and pointless, and every bad thing became reinforcement of his extant viewpoint