#time. guy character flirts with girl -> doubts her abilities -> doesn’t believe she is actually as skilled when she gets her overblown

[un-pearable]

no offense but i think when critiquing jay’s (and let’s be real all of the OG four ninja’s) behavior in the pilots and early seasons, a lot of people ignore that the cultural context and attitude about misogyny and especially misogyny in children’s media is VERY different today than it was in the late 2000s/early 2010s

[lexacoolfox]

(I was about to ask you if you can do Nagito with an S/O who’s like Leviathan from obey me but since you don’t know the game, I will just describe his personality for you.)

So basically S/O is an otaku who usually spends most of their time on the internet and doesn’t usually talk to people unless if they really have to. They usually rant about whatever anime or game they’re interested in to their closest friends and they tend to use internet slang even if they’re speaking to someone (ex: “Someone go grab the popcorn lolol”) Despite them revolving their reputation around being an otaku, they don’t think very highly of themselves and is very insecure. Since Leviathan represents Envy in the game, S/O is also easily jealous and often talks about how “unfair” or “lucky” others are. They also like to invite their closest friends to events in video games. They are also a mix of shy and energetic since they have a lack of social skills but they also gets angry when they get jealous or ecstatic when they see something rlly cool happening.

I feel like that sums it all up, I hope the request isn’t too hard.

Thank you for describing the personality in such good detail! I can definitely work with this!

Nagito with a S/O like Leviathan.

You were known as the ultimate otaku! You spent most of your time on the internet. Had very pricey anime merch and manga. Your room look liked an anime paradise. You also played video games.

When you got accepted into hopes peak you weren’t the most excited. You were homeschooled mostly, you hated going out in public and being ‘social’. You were pretty awkward in public.

You knew you didn’t have to go to the school. It wasn’t necessary to attend. But your parents practically forced you to go. They threatened to take away your privilege to buy anime merch and manga for 4 months if you didn’t go. You couldn’t live that long without being able to buy the things you like. So you reluctantly went to hopes peak.

You arrived the first day and you felt extreme social anxiety. You sat in a chair and noticed a girl with a game in her hand. You saw she was playing (insert random game.) you actually really like that game.

“You play (game name)?”

“Yes. I do, I like the story and design of this game.”

“I must agree the story and design are pretty great. I personally like to play games with a story like Kingdom of hearts it’s one of my personal favorites, the first one was good and I like the second one. I can’t wait for the third.”

“I really like that game too. It’s such a fun story and the mystery behind it is so much fun. What’s your name? I’m chiaki nanami the ultimate gamer.”

“Oh I’m f/n l/n the ultimate otaku.”

“So you like anime and manga I’m guessing.”

“Yeah I do. I also don’t do to well with social interactions, unless I’m online. I honestly didn’t want to come but my parents would cutoff my ability to buy merch and manga. So I really didn’t have a choice.”

“You don’t seem to be too bad at interactions. I mean your talking to me just fine.”

“Well that’s because we’re talking about something I’m really into. Normally I have nothing to say that isn’t consider to most people as nerdy or geeky. Sorry for uh wasting your time, I going back to my desk.”

You sat back in your desk and pulled out your phone talking to your internet friends. When somebody walked next to you. You noticed but that’s all.

“Hello.”

You looked to see a boy with very white hair and a smile on his face.

“Uh hello…”

“I’m Nagito Komeada the ultimate lucky student! If I may can I know your name and ultimate?”

“Um I’m f/n l/n the ultimate otaku…”

“Oh wow! That’s mean you probably have a lot of anime merch and manga right?”

“Yes I do…Um…not to be rude…but is there something you need?”

“Oh no. I just wanted to know introduce myself even though you will probably forget trash like me.”

“Hehehehe well there’s something we have in common. I doubt you’ll remember a loser like me lol, Ugh it’s so unfair, I can’t believe I’m an ultimate for something so lame. There so many people with such better Ultimates.”

“What! If anybodies ultimate is lame it’s mine!”

“Yeah…totally… being super lucky is so much worse than a loser who just watches ‘cartoons’ and collects figures that super expensive all day.”

Before he can respond you pull out your headphones put them on and started listening to your favorite anime openings. You just wanted to go back home and play video games.

Throughout the day you overhead everyone’s amazing Ultimates, you couldn’t help but think you didn’t belong there. These people had all these amazing skills and what are you an otaku. After a while you walked out of the class and went to a hallway and looked out a window.

“Hey.”

You looked over to see Nagito.

“Oh hey.”

“What aren’t you in class with everyone else?”

“Cause I don’t belong in that class.”

“But your an ultimate!”

“So what. My ultimate is so boring compared to the others. I just want to go home and play video games.”

“What kind of games do you play?”

“Oh I play games with a story and good graphics. But I also like games that don’t have a plot like, Minecraft. It extends my creativity. I’ll also watch a random anime while playing. Normally if I’m playing the anime I put on is death note. It’s one my favorites no cap.”

“No cap?”

“Sorry I tend to use internet slang even in real life conversation.”

For the next hour or two, you mentioned the type of games you play, anime you watch, and some merch/figures you have. Nagito was mentioning a game you played very often, you told him that a event of the game was coming up. You invited him to join you and he agreed.

When joined in one the event, you sounded so much more happy and very enthusiastic. He got to see a new side of you, the both you had a quite a bit of fun. He even learned a bunch of new internet slang. (Even thought he probably not going to use it.)

You guys were now really good friends. You two just got along very well. You two would play video games, watch anime, read manga together.

When you two played games with each other online. Sometimes he glad he can’t see your face. Cause you get jealous and angry when somebody beats you. In public if your jealous which makes you mad. You silent rant on the inside of your head. But online, it’s like a explosion of yells. Nagito tries his best to calm you down when you get like that, he’s learned not to say ‘it’s just a game.’ Cause that just makes it worse.

You kinda developed on a crush overtime. You realized you liked him when he gifted you a manga, that you couldn’t get cause you got in trouble with your parents.

You didn’t know how to tell him. There was no way you could do it in person.

You thought how something cute and something he might like. He really enjoyed the game Minecraft. So on Valentine’s Day you texted him to join you in a game. You spent about maybe a week making the little Valentine’s Day confession.

“I know it’s not the most romantic thing in the world. I was also to scared to tell you in person…I really like you Nagito.”

“Aww s/o…this is so thoughtful of you. I really love it! It so you! I would be delighted to be your valentine.”

“Really! Wow! I’m just so…!! How about we meet up at our favorite cafe?!”

“Yeah that’s sounds great!”

You two went on Valentine’s date. It was great. You guys went on more dates after that, and soon became each other’s significant other.

A few relationship headcanons

He is the only one allowed to touch any of your expensive manga’s or merchandise.

You get so easily jealous of other people when they flirt with Nagito.

You and Nagito have anime marathons. Like a movie night but anime.

He loves to see your excited face when new merch for you favorite animes or a new/sequel to one your games comes out.

You and Nagito get matching anime outfits

Nagito also helps with your insecurities by showering you with compliments while also degrading himself. For example while you were saying how uninteresting you were. You told he could probably do better. he responded with ‘don’t say that, it’s amazes me that someone as worthless as me. Is given the privilege of calling someone as amazing as you my significant other!’

You also give him compliments and shower him with affection. You also do anime classics like a kabedon.

When you did do a kabedon he almost passed out by how flustered he got.

I really hope I got the character right! So komeada-simp37 if I got it wrong or wasn’t really what you were looking! Sorry! Anyway hope you have a nice day!

[criminalmutantsins]

Top 10 Favorite Young Justice Characters

10. Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle

Starting off the list is Blue Beetle. Young Justice introduced me to him, and I was hooked. He’s probably the most mellow and calming voice. His arc and relationship with Bart (friendship or not) were my favorite aspects of S2. They bounced off each other in every scene. I was very disappointed when Jaime and Bart were sidelined so much, and hope S4 changes this (particularly with Bart).

Jaime in the number 10 spot since he doesn’t really have much of a memorable personality. Still love him to bits though.

        9. Will Harper/Red Arrow

Funny enough, I did not like Will. He was an asshole in S1; S2 kind of changed my mind about him but not enough since he didn’t appear as much. What really changed my mind was the episode “Private Security” (S3 Ep.4). I started looking back into Will’s storylines and, I have to admit, his is probably one of the best character development.

The first season had him unwillingly living a lie and betraying the people he cared for. In season 2 he was so consumed into finding the original Roy for five years, not even caring or focusing about his own life. I felt really bad for Will because he was probably going through an identity crisis and thought he couldn’t live his life without finding Arsenal. Probably felt guilty.

Seeing him living his own life and being happy with his daughter was so heartwarming. I smiled every time Will appeared in the latest season (totally ignoring the Will x Artemis fiasco), especially with Lian. I’m very proud of him.

I feel bad for putting him so low, yet I adore the next characters more.

 8. Garfield Logan/Beast Boy

I have been a massive Beast Boy fan since Teen Titans so you probably can imagine how excited to see him. His origin story was unique and his brother-sister bond with M’gann was very sweet. It was pretty weird seeing how much younger Gar was than Dick, but I got used to it. I was bummed that Gar wasn’t in S2 as much; however, S3 truly made up for it. 

After watching Beast Boy being a great leader in S5 of Teen Titans, I wanted a leader-like and more mature version of him. Young Justice truly delivered with Gar being the leader of the Outsiders. It’s nice to see him treated with respect rather than as a joke because that was my biggest gripe with Teen Titans. Though it was weird seeing him not crack a joke at all.

Gar’s story with his mom was heartbreaking to see. I literally cried seeing his reaction to revisiting his trauma in S2 and S3; I just wanted to hug and tell him how awesome he is. My only complaint with Gar in S3 was that the Outsiders weren’t established until near the end of the season.

His voice actor being Greg Cipes also gives him extra points (He’s a chill guy and radiates BB energy).

 7. Dick Grayson/Nightwing/ Robin I 

Sorry to all the hardcore Nightwing fans.

I love Dick (don’t get any ideas), but he doesn’t get enough development in the spotlight. One of the things I really wanted to see from him is his growth as a main leader, and his journey to becoming Nightwing. I was really bummed when these happened between the first two seasons.

To be honest, I don’t have as much to say about him other than straightforward qualities I enjoy about him.

1.His Voice (it’s so soothing)

2.His Personality (very charismatic)

3.Very Handsome (Probably in the top 3 my most handsome YJ Men list)

I put him higher than the others since he made a lot of contribution to the story and his new words (gotta love that aster!)

6. Megan Morse/M’gann M’orzz/Miss Martian 

If I made this list during S1, M’gann would have probably been in my top 3 (maybe even No. 1), but S2 didn’t give her any brownie points.

I really liked S1 Miss Martian because of her kind heart, awkward girl next door personality. Her trouble fitting in the beginning reminded me of when I was going through a time in high school; seeing her having trouble as well helped me feel not so lonely. M’gann powers were (still are) my favorite since I am a big fan of mind-like powers. I would feel so powerful. Watching her identity crisis(?) arc was great too. I’ve had trouble feeling comfortable in my own skin as well as my social anxiety (I’m a mess) and I could understand how scared Megan was of her friends’ thoughts on her true form. 

Oh boy. Season 2 basically ruined her. Learning what she would do to enemies was terrifying to see and left me wondering what happened to Miss Martian that made her step this far. What she almost did to Superboy was almost unforgivable. You do not try to manipulate with your boyfriend’s mind when you guys have an argument! Shame on you M’gann. If Superboy hadn’t forgiven you then I wouldn’t have either.

Good thing S3 somewhat redeemed her. Her kind heart was noticeable again and she refused to do that mind trick again (thank god). Very excited for the Superboy and Miss Martian wedding! Please creators, I beg of you to not skip over it. I want to cry my eyes out in happiness!

 5. Kaldur’ahm/Aquaman/Aqualad 

Now we’re in the top 5 with Aqualad (*ahem* Aquaman) starting it off.

Creating Kaldur was the best decision the creators ever did. I love him with all my heart!

He added diversity to the original team and was a great leader. S1 was not his breakout season, though the second season definitely was.

Kladur played the villain so well that he deserves an automatic Oscar. I never doubted that he was with the heroes, but he didn’t disappoint. My favorite part about Aqualad’s performance was when he rose from the ocean slowly like a cliché villain (he made it work), and the line he said right after he “killed” Artemis; it sent me chills. Love it! 

Pretty disappointed that he didn’t appear as much in S3. Very happy that he is a part of the LGBTQ+ community and is in a happy relationship. I’m a part of the community and loved that there was finally some representation in one of my favorite shows. Even so, I have to criticize how rushed and sidelined it was. I hope Kaldur and Wyynde’s relationship gets development.

 4. Kon-El/Conner Kent/Superboy

Like Will, I did not like Superboy at first. Mainly angry and volatile characters were never really my cup of tea. I do understand why he was upset and felt bad for him; I just handle anger the direct opposite as him. My love for Conner started growing around the end of S1. He was very sweet towards Miss Martian (bless him for not caring about her appearance) and his anger was in control.

Season 2 pretty much switched my opinions on him and M’gann. It was awful what M’gann almost did to him. That scene with him being so sad that what she did ruined that special bond they had almost made me cry. I wanted to give him a hug. He grew so much too since I don’t think he would have handled the whole M’gann drama as well in S1. A lot of furniture would’ve been broken.

I gotta admit something. I almost put Conner near the bottom (maybe no. 7). A comment in a poll in Amino changed my mind. I wrote a poll asking other fans who did they prefer SB or MM. At that point I said SB, though I didn’t think much of it. Someone (specifically yjfangirl) responded “Superboy has the best development in the show.” This had me thinking about how far SB has gone. In the beginning, Conner was an angry guy who felt alone and rejected by the person who he was meant to emulate. Now he is happier and living for himself rather than to be the next Superman. He’s getting married people! A little detail I noticed when rewatching S3 was Superboy mentioning to new characters that they weren’t obligated to be a hero because of their abilities. I adored this! The main reason why Superboy was created to be Superman if the original ever died, and another one of Luthor’s puppets. But he strayed from that pressuring path and is doing his own thing. Conner doesn’t want other people to feel like he did. What an absolute pure soul.

Also, yjfangirl, first I want to say Hi (*waves*)! Then say thanks for writing that comment. It made me really think about the bigger picture with SB and my love for him as grown exponentially. You probably didn’t mean to do that, but I still want to thank you. 😊

 3.Wally West/Kid Flash

We’re in the elites now.

I don’t know how to explain it, I just love Wally. He makes me laugh, and his character growth was great. At first, Wally was this cocky flirt who didn’t take the hero work as seriously. That changed in “Cold-hearted,” one of my favorite episodes in the series. This was when I really started seeing more of Wally than being this dumb flirt. It was great seeing him actually caring about helping people since I believed for a long time that he wanted to be a superhero to just have powers rather than actually protect others. The regret in his eyes when he thought his impulsive behavior killed Perdita helped me see who he really was- this somewhat arrogant speedster who had a kind heart. Episodes that can make me change my perspective on characters are truly special.

I was very upset that he wasn’t in S2 a lot. I understand why since he gave up the life, but I was still bummed. Seeing him being so loving and protective towards Artemis was amazing. Spitfire is my favorite ship and I will not give up on them. All I want is a happy ending! The penultimate episode of S3 was a hint that it will happen. Watching the S2 finale was heartbreaking, I cried watching him disappear, his love for Artemis being the last things he said. Artemis’ reaction did not(I just wanted to hug her). 

I have more to say, though I’m leaving it for another post. 😉

 2.Bart Allen/Kid Flash II/Impulse

Picking between Bart and Wally for second place was tough. Took me a while to decide; I’ll talk about it later on.

The moment Bart made his appearance, I absolutely adored him. He is amazing and I live for his hyper, fun attitude. His arc and relationship with Jaime were my favorite aspects of S2. What can I say, their chemistry is great to see.

That scene when he was meeting the Flash family was so adorable. His excitement was infectious and spoiling his dad and aunt’s births was hilarious! I watch it occasionally whenever I need a good laugh or reason to smile.

Unlike most time travelers- at least the ones I’ve seen- Bart was very involved with what was going on and befriended his biggest enemy- evil and weirdly huge future Blue Beetle. He was pretty careful about disclosing very important information and took things very seriously. You never know if disclosing everything was the thing that brought the world to chaos.

What I found interesting was his choice on how to interact with everyone. He seemed pretty gloomy in the future, but decided to portray this cheerful, devil-may-care attitude to be more likable. I understood (still kind of do). I had terrible mental health issues and I pretended to be happy in front of loved ones because I thought they wouldn’t care about me anymore. Bart got some brownie points for that.

I was dissatisfied when his role was greatly reduced. I wanted the creators to go further with Bart by revealing his past and how it affected him. He was pretty much comedy relief. You couldn’t imagine how disappointed I was, especially with it involving my second favorite character. Season 4 better change that.

I know that you shouldn’t assume a character’s sexuality, yet I really hope Bart is gay. There needs to be more clear representation and Bart can be one of them. I’m also a Bluepulse and Bartuado shipper (fine with either one as long as Bart’s bond with each of them stays strong).

Anyway, I mentioned that I would explain why I chose Bart for 2nd place over Wally. It mostly stems from wishful thinking. I really want S4 to have Bart as a main character since I believe the future will be strong plot point in the season. Development could surely happen such as Bart opening up more about what he went through. Let all those feelings go.

I’m going to write an article on my hopes for S4 when a release date is announced. Bart and Wally will most definitely be talked about.

 …..

We are finally near the end!

And my No. 1 favorite character is…

Drumroll please!

…

..

.

1.Artemis Crock/Tigress/Artemis

That’s right people!

Artemis Crock, original member of the Team and daughter of villains!

She is such an inspiration to anyone who wants to go their own past without their parents’ support.

It’s hard to describe how much I love Artemis. She’s brave, strong-willed, and a kind person. It’s crazy how great of a person she is after all the terrible things that happened to her. I look up to her because I don’t have a healthy relationship with my parents (verbal and mental abuse) and there are times I don’t feel strong enough to stand on my own. I want to carry the amount of strength Artemis has as my own.

After all that happened in S2, it was amazing to see Artemis come back to the team and train the new generation. It must have been hard to walk away from a safe, comfortable life for a chaotic, dangerous life. I admire that in everyone, but I hold more respect for Artemis since “the life” “killed” Wally. I wanted to hug her so bad.

She’s also one of the kindest people in the show, the events in S3 being the best example. When Zatanna was crying about her dad, Artemis was there to comfort her. It was so sweet! Roy and her also took in Halo and Terra like they were a part of the family; the archer treated them like the best big sister. That rainstorm scene was heartwarming to the core.

Wouldn’t Artemis be an amazing mother? Lian and her have a strong bond like a mother and daughter; I loved it, and Lian is in good hands with Roy and Artemis. Though Jade deserves a chance to be a mother. Artemis also seemed to enjoy taking care of those kids in that S1 episode. Wally too. You guys know what I’m guys insinuating. 😉

Get ready for some fanfics on that someday.

My favorite Artemis-centered episode was the second to last episode of S3. I was waiting for this episode centering around Artemis missing Wally and learning to move on. It was great yet heartbreaking. Nothing bad happened. That Will and Artemis kiss never happened. Everyone makes a mistake. No matter how terrible it was.

Anyway, seeing Artemis and Wally living their lives and having a baby gave me life, even if it was fake. It was a vision of the future. I will believe this until there is confirmation that Wally will not come back.

Did anyone else cry when Artemis was so desperate to, but Wally wouldn’t let that happen (the real Wally would do that)? They are a great example of a healthy relationship with all the love and support they have for each other. I want that.

[ronnings]

Why Warrior Nun does a great job with LGBTQ+ characters

Preface: I like the way they handled queerness for the most part with this show and I just wanted to talk about it.  There’s an article (https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/warrior-nun-queer-representation/) by Nicole Hill that criticizes the representation in Warrior Nun (or lack thereof) and I wanted to respond to it.  I’m gonna be addressing the article’s arguments directly.  (Using the keep reading bar bc this is a long one folks)

Part One: The Trailer.  Hill mentions that a lot of fans were expecting queerness based on the trailer, and yeah they definitely implied some not-straight characters.  However, the trailer doesn’t imply the show is just for us LGBTQIA folk and the trailer doesn’t even put heavy emphasis on the gay characters.  This trailer was never meant to mislead the audience.

Part Two: JC.  Hill talks about how horrible JC and Ava were as a couple and even says “terrible, horrible, no good, very bad heterosexual flirting” and she’s correct.  This wasn’t fun to watch (JC is bland AF) and it certainly doesn’t help make Warrior Nun gay, but it is particularly logical from Ava’s point of view.  This girl has probably seen half a dozen men since she became an orphan assuming priests have come in every once in a while or something.  So basically JC is the first man she’s ever seen and been near that was attractive.  Obviously Ava is caught up with him, she’s brand new to all of this.  I don’t have a good explanation for why JC’s only flaw is that he squats in rich people’s extra houses, but I am beginning to buy the theory that he’s bland because he is supposed to represent Jesus Christ and Jesus was the ultimate good guy.  Either way I think it makes total sense for Ava to have this instant attraction and flirtation with him.

Part Three: Characters included just for diversity, and shows shying away from real storylines regarding sexuality is less than ideal for an LGBTQ+ audience.  No doubt this is serious problem in many shows, but Warrior Nun doesn’t really have this problem.  Mary and Beatrice are badass warriors and are integral to Ava’s character development.  Mary is the one who gives Ava the room to explore life before ultimately coming back to the OCS to fight for the greater good.  Beatrice was the first friend Ava had at Cat’s Cradle, she didn’t move away when Ava sat down next to her, and of course Beatrice is a talented linguist.  Their sexualities do not go unaddressed, but they don’t take up the foreground of the show.

Part Four: Why Mary and Shannon storyline was on the down low.  Shannon took vows to God and became nuns in the Catholic Church.  Mary’s found family lies within a monastery and with Catholic clergy members.  It is no surprise that the Catholic Church isn’t the most accepting of Christian denominations, and therefore I think it makes perfect sense that these characters don’t want to acknowledge their sexualities using such specific terminology.  What would have happened to Shannon if she said “I’m in love with Mary” or vice versa?  Excommunication?  Removal of the Halo?  Reassignment?  Yes, Mary is outside of the church, but has found a family with these women (and Father Vincent) so I doubt she would want to risk it despite the fact that Shotgun Mary doesn’t take any BS.  Characters consistently refer to how close Shannon and Mary were, so perhaps people knew about it but wouldn’t say anything directly because of the Church’s stance on homosexuality.

Part Five: Why Beatrice and Ava aren’t making out yet (show-runner Simon Barry has said that he wants to explore their relationship and the fear is that he won’t actually do it).  Much of the argument from Shannon applies here with the added bonus of Beatrice having extra internalized homophobia from her family.  Beatrice cries about Sister Melanie and essentially says that she doesn’t love what or who she is supposed to.  Ava is not really religious and probably doesn’t buy into a lot of the Catholic propaganda she was most certainly force-fed at the orphanage.  However, there’s no guarantee Ava got exposed to much positive LGBTQIA content while in the orphanage.  It’s very possible that if she knew about her attraction to women she wouldn’t want to talk about it with nuns because of how terrible Sister Frances was in general.

Part Six (counterargument): What about Melanie in the Warrior Nun book?  Wasn’t she comfortable talking about it way back in 1942?  Short answer to this is that we have every reason to believe the Warrior Nun book was only read by past Warrior Nuns until Ava took it from the secret room.  Has a Warrior Nun ever lived to see her successor accept the mantle (truly lived, not just still be alive)?  We only know of Mother Superion as a living former Warrior Nun, but the Halo rejected her so I doubt she had the ability to phase into the room and write in the book, or read the book.  Therefore Melanie would’ve felt safe to write about her sexuality in this book.  Not to mention she even mentions the homophobia she dealt with and internalized form her time in Dachau (fuck nazis).

Conclusion: Nuns are Catholic and therefore have a tough time being out and proud members of the LGBTQ+ community and Warrior Nun hints at that and deserves the chance to explore some wlw characters in more depth in a second season.

[bookswithelli]

a darker shade of magic: review

synopsis:

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.

Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.

Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.

After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure.

Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive.

review under the cut!

stars: ★★★★☆

First of all, although I rated this book 4 stars, there were some issues with it (mainly involving representation and characterization). I rated it 4 stars because I enjoyed reading it despite its issues, but I recognize that the mediocre representation may turn others away from this book.

characters & representation

Before I begin this section of the review, I would like to say that I am not visually impaired and therefore do not have any authority on that subject. My comments on the treatment of Lila's missing eye are merely based on my own observations and what I have heard from visually impaired people on the topic.

Lila:

A cross-dressing thief and aspiring pirate with a penchant for knives, Lila Bard brings to mind the likes of Inej Ghafa from Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows and Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean. There were times when I really liked Lila; she can be sassy and morally questionable which is always interesting to see when well done. However, her character had a few issues that I wanted to address.

“Delilah Bard looked like a king. No...she looked like a conqueror.” pg. 289

When will fantasy authors stop romanticising conquerors and colonization?! This may be a smaller issue since aside from White London (which is villainized) there is no mention of it in the overarching plot, but this line just really bothered me. It makes me think that V.E. Schwab is a fan of adult and YA fantasy authors like Sarah J. Maas and others who write their main characters to be colonizers and romanticize it in the process. I don’t think this line was necessary at all, and I wish the second sentence had been removed or modified to something a little less problematic (e.g. she looked like a pirate/captain/etc.)

"How did you lose it...your eye?" -Master Tieren, pg. 327

It is revealed near the end of the book that Lila has been missing an eye for as long as she can remember, and she wears a glass eye as a replacement. This is all well and good, but the consequences of her impaired vision are never explored. The only reason the reader knows that Lila is missing an eye is because the author tells them. The narrative never discusses how Lila's lack of an eye affects her day to day life, and it's only brought into the story when it is needed for the plot.

It’s also worth mentioning that Lila is the only female character with a large role in this book, and no matter how “feminist” her character is, there’s not a lot of women in this book that are portrayed positively and with depth.

Rhy:

I actually really liked Rhy and I loved his relationship with Kell. I love sibling love in books and we so rarely get positive sibling relationships, so this was nice to see! It’s also really important to have queer people of color in books. However, I don’t think Rhy’s character is good bi/pan representation (I will refer to him as bi in this review for the sake of brevity, but it’s worth mentioning that neither term is mentioned so Rhy could canonically identify as either).

“He would flirt with a nicely upholstered chair, and he never takes anything seriously.” -Kell, pg. 254

As a queer girl who has identified as bisexual in the past and may in the future, this is bad bi rep 101. Schwab is perpetuating the stereotype of the “promiscuous bi”, or one who flirts and/or sleeps with everyone and everything. This is not a bad characteristic in itself, but it is harmful bi rep because that is the way every bi character is portrayed in media. It reinforces the idea that bisexual people in real life are all like this, and it also reinforces biphobes’ points of view when they say that bisexual people are more likely to cheat because they sleep with more people. This is pretty much the most common stereotype of a bisexual person, so while I doubt that Schwab intended to be harmful in her portrayal of Rhy, it shows that she did not do much research on LGBT+ rep when writing her characters. I do know that some bi people were not bothered by this; however, I believe that writers should stay away from stereotypes, especially when writing characters that are marginalized. Even though promiscuity is not an inherently bad trait, it is harmful when applied to bisexual people because it reinforces real peoples’ beliefs and affects real life bisexuals. This is especially important here because Rhy is the only narrative-confirmed LGBT+ character in the first book. It's not the worst representation I've seen, since Rhy does have a personality outside his flirtatiousness and promiscuity (in fact, it's confirmed that this is a coping mechanism for him) but it's certainly not the best, and I'm just tired of seeing bisexual people represented this way in fiction.

Kell:

I know a lot of people who didn’t like Kell very much, and that is understandable. However, I found him really compelling. It’s refreshing to see a male lead in this genre who’s not jacked and a brooding asshole whose only redeeming quality is his dick size. He’s definitely moody, but not to the point where he becomes an abusive alpha male type guy (yes, I am aware that this is a very low bar). I genuinely enjoyed his character because he’s flawed. He’s stubborn and moody but he’s incredibly caring and he genuinely wants to help people. He feels alienated from his family so he rebels and gets himself in trouble. His character is written well because he’s not perfect by any means, but he’s still likeable and you still root for him.

Holland:

Holland is what every YA love interest wishes they were. Honestly. He’s given no excuses for his actions, and yet he is still sympathetic. You understand that he is under the control of Astrid and Athos, but you also understand that all he has done for years is carry out their orders, and that changes a person. His story is heartbreaking, but that doesn’t change what he has done. He knows it, Kell knows it, Lila knows it, the reader knows it. Honestly, if he were in a YA fantasy romance, I bet Holland would be the love interest; his female “mate” would change him for the better, and he would never face the consequences of his actions. That makes his arc in this story all the more enjoyable. Holland is one of my favorite characters of all time, and not because he’s a perfect “book boyfriend” or whatever, but because his story and character are genuinely interesting and executed well.

worldbuilding

I loved the worldbuilding in this book. There was a bit of an info-dump in the beginning, but I’m willing to look past that because the world was so engaging and interesting that I forgot about the dense first chapter once I got past it. Each London has a distinct feel, and they are all almost tangible. The descriptions of each made me feel like I was in the Londons along with Kell and Lila. It seems like the system would be complicated, but Lila sums it up well:

“There’s Dull London, Kell London, Creepy London, and Dead London.” -pg. 198

After the initial info-dump, Schwab weaves information about the magic system seamlessly through the book, leaving enough mystery for the reader to wonder at what might happen in the next books, but never leaving out so much that the reader is confused. I really appreciated the rules that existed around magic. It’s draining, and Antari magic requires blood, which means there is a limit to how much you can perform at once. Magic is seen to affect the world beyond the characters and their main conflict, which I was very happy about as well. There are too many fantasy novels where the magic system has no rules and only exists to further the plot, but in this world you can see it everywhere. The politics of Red London and White London are affected by magic, even where it is not necessarily relevant to the plot. You can see small amounts of magic being performed in the streets of Red London: spells to protect from thieves, etc. Magic is normal for the people in Red London, and it is treated as such in the text.

pacing & plot

This book flew along. I’ve read it multiple times now, and every time, I can’t stop until I finish. And then I want to move along to the next book immediately. It manages to keep up a great pace and still build up to an exciting climax. Schwab’s lyrical writing is not flowery, but it draws the reader in and carries them along the story effortlessly. It’s very engaging and accessible language, which makes it a good stepping stone into adult fantasy (especially if you’re coming from YA).

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. The representation that it gets praised so highly for is disappointing, but aside from that I enjoyed most of the characters and the writing was beautiful. The plot and world were engaging and made me want to read the second book immediately (even though I’m on my 3rd or 4th reread). I would recommend this book for fans of YA fantasy who want to get into adult fantasy - this book is categorized as adult, but I found it a lot easier to read than other adult fantasies. For me, this book is a reminder that you can recognize the flaws in a book and still enjoy it, so remember to stay critical, even of your favorite books :)

[detectivedreameater]

How To Tell A Lie|| Nadia and Marley

Why drink alone when you can drink with somebody else?

Finishing her beer, Nadia figured she’d have just one more before she paid her tab and headed back home. The more she did this, go out and drink or eat in public places, the better she was getting about being around people. She still hated it; it still stressed her out and made her horribly uncomfortable, but she no longer felt like she was on the verge of having a really bad time. She usually just tried to focus her weird empath abilities on one person at a time, like the bartender. It would have been better if she went out with people that she knew; might make things easier. But Nadia was stubborn, and, really, very few people enjoyed going out late on a weeknight. She had to be one of the few people in town not trying to get on a normal sleeping schedule now that the sun was back. She motioned for the bartender to fix her one more and sighed, trying to untangle his boredom from hers. 

The myriad of bars that existed in White Crest were begging to bore Marley. They were all the same. You had your tame, upper middle class bar- Dell’s. You had your weirdos bar- Soul on the Rocks. You had your cop bar, the karaoke bar, the “supernatural” bar, and the “magic” bar. And that was about it. There were little dives here and there, but none of them ever really lasted. So it was with a finality that Marley found herself back at The Perfect Pint. It was the best bar in town if you were looking for good, cheap beer and a good, cheap, lay. Which Marley was looking for both. But what she found was something even better. The girl at the bar, looking more placid and bored than even the bartender, had something a little special. Marley didn’t even need to look at her to know it. It wafted off of her like the smell of fresh baked bread. Fear. Picking up her drink, a dark stout, Marley shifted the few seats over and sat next to the woman at the bar. “Wanna know a secret?” she asked quietly, leaning in with a grin. 

 Not expecting anyone to come up to her, Nadia started a bit as the curly haired woman moved in beside her and leaned in close. She wasn’t so easily startled; well, that was a lie, but she was a bit jumpier than usual. Ever since Regan had stayed the night, she’d been sleeping a bit worse, like something was inherently wrong and she just didn’t know it. She tried not to think about it. Confident and cool, the woman had that muted quality that Nadia was learning to associate with two different kinds of people: those that were really closed off, and those that were supernaturally inclined. She cocked her head to the side, interested in how this conversation was going to go but ready to easily let the other woman down if she was just coming over to flirt. She gave a soft smile. “Sure, what’s the secret?” 

Marley shifted a little. Whoever this girl was, the fear radiating from her was almost enough to just bask in. But Marley being Marley, she wanted more. She shifted the sunglasses on her face a little, pointing towards the back of the bar. “There’s a spot in the very back where the sound gets weird, and you can hear almost every conversation in the bar,” she said, before leaning away, taking a sip of her beer. Whatever was up with this woman, Marley wanted to know everything about her. And she could easily find out-- that’s what she did, after all. She was a profiler and a damn good one. “It’s a good cure for boredom,” she said with a shrug, “just saying.” 

Not exactly what Nadia was expecting, but her grin widened a bit. “Yeah?” She didn’t really need to hear every conversation going on in the bar, but this woman didn’t need to know that. And, besides, it might be fun. She was a bit buzzed and more than a little bored from hanging around the bartender for too long, and this woman was interesting. “Sounds interesting. I bet I could tell you if they’re lying or not.” She usually played her game from a distance, reading people’s emotions and then making up stories as to why they felt that way. However, if they could already hear the conversations, then it was easier to switch things up. It was fun to occasionally be a human lie detector. “Because I won’t lie, it has been a bit boring, which I’d probably be okay with if I wasn’t about to fall asleep right here.” 

Now that was intriguing. Was this woman something “extra” as well? Interest piqued, Marley took the bait. “Oh yeah?” she tapped the side of her glass. “Well, before you go on, I should probably lay out on the table that I’m a profiler,” she said, giving a grin, “so if you wanna play the “who’s lying” game, then you’re on. But I think I’ll win.” She nodded towards the place she’d pointed out before. “Wanna make a bet?” She asked, picking up her drink and sliding from the chair. “Whoever gets the most right, wins. Loser buys the next round. Does that sound less boring?” 

Raising her eyebrows a bit, Nadia really looked at the woman in front of her. A profiler? She’d never met one before. She wondered if that was something she’d be good at, but she shot that down pretty quick. Being able to sense a person’s immediate feelings wasn’t the same as knowing their character. Plus, she was a wanted criminal with a record a mile long. Still, it’d be interesting. “Is there much use for profiling in White Crest?” she asked. There was a shit ton of crime, sure, but most of it seemed to get covered up at the end of the day. She didn’t imagine there were many suspects that needed to be interviewed. Nadia grinned, took a sip of her drink. “I’m no profiler, but I’m really good at understanding people,” she said. “I’m game. Question is, though, how do we know who’s right? But, yeah, this is already less boring.” 

“That’s the thing,” Marley said, motioning for the other woman to follow her as she led them over to the corner booth where the bar echoed endlessly for them to eavesdrop on. “Profiling is useful everywhere,” she shrugged, sliding into the booth and motioning for her to follow. Marley wanted to know so much more about her. What made her scared? Why was she here alone? What abilities did she have that could let her parse out someone lying? “Oh, leave that part to me,” she said, giving a smirk. “I have a knack for getting people to tell the truth.” As she leaned back and surveyed the rather quiet crowd tonight, she finally took in the sight of the woman full of fear. She was a rather pretty sight to behold, aside from the bags under her eyes, and the taught way she held her body. Stress, perhaps? Paranoia? Marley needed to know. “Alright, you pick first,” she said, gesturing to the crowd.

As she followed the other woman to the back of the bar, Nadia realized they hadn’t even exchanged names. “Alright, fair, Ms. Profiler. Sounds like a useful job to have.” She smiled, “I’m Nadia, by the way.” She sat down across from Marley and leaned forward a bit, resting her elbows on the table. “Really?” Nadia asked, but she already believed the other woman. Marley seemed incredibly sure of herself, especially about getting people to tell the truth. Made sense, if she was a profiler. Seemed to kind of be a big part of the job, figuring out a person’s agenda. Nadia rolled her shoulders a bit and scanned the bar. They really could hear everything. She could hear someone ordering a drink at the bar, as well as the guy that seemed to own the place trying to schmooze a few people. But she focused on the couple sitting by the window. Usually, Nadia hated being around when relationships were falling apart, but they were kind of fun when she played this kind of game, especially when she could feel the tensions coming off of them in waves. “Yeah, alright. Them.” 

“Really, really,” Marley said, giving a mischievous grin before following Nadia’s line of sight around the bar. “Please, Ms. Profiler was my dad. You can call me Marley.” There weren’t too many fun faces to pick from, and no one overly interesting, but the couple in the corner was definitely about to argue. The way the man was slumping in his chair, his posture uninterested and annoyed. The tightness of the woman’s lips, the way her legs bounced-- even the clothes she was wearing. It was easy to tell. “Alright, let’s see what they say,” she scooted a little closer so they could both listen, grinning as the woman asked her partner where he’d been the other night and he answered with “working late”. This one almost felt too easy, but Marley glanced sideways at Nadia.  

“It’s nice to meet you, Marley,” Nadia said with a bit of a laugh. And it was. Between the buzz from the alcohol and the easy confidence Marley gave off, Nadia was already a bit less stressed than she’d been before she came to The Perfect Pint. She might even be able to get a few decent hours of sleep, though she doubted it. Best not to think. She allowed herself to ease into the moment, not just focusing on the couple’s words but also their actions, their body language, and, yes, their emotions. Tense shoulders, a tight lip, and the fact that the woman’s thought were angry as hell as she remembered a woman’s name on a cell phone number all seemed to point to the fact that the man was lying, and that was even before she got a good read on him. He was just… bored. He didn’t care about this, probably would rather be anywhere else. His excuse was hardly even that. It was just meaningless words. And he didn’t care. “Well, he’s lying, sure. He’s also kind of a piece of shit. He doesn’t even care,” Nadia said. Then she looked at Marley. “I mean, that’s the kind of vibe he’s giving off.” 

Marley grinned. “Pleasure,” she said, before turning her focus back to the couple, wondering what Nadia would read from them. She had to admit, this was kind of fun. She’d initially just come over here for the feast, but it was a plus, now, that she actually had some entertainment. She wrapped one hand around her beer and let the other rest against the back of the booth as they both watched. “Mmmm, sure, yes,” she hummed, “the vibe.” It might’ve just been Marley reading too far into things, but Marley was a profiler, she never read too far into things. Nadia had something special about her, and now the itch to know that was there, too. “What sort of vibe do you get, then, from me?” she asked, turning to look at her. “Can you feel it? See it?”  

Oh. Nadia felt, in that moment, that she’d overshared, just a bit. “I mean, his posture, for one, suggests disinterest in the conversation, despite the fact that she’s chewing him out,” she said, stalling for just a bit to try and parse together what she wanted to say. The thing was that Nadia still wasn’t incredibly comfortable with being an empath, despite the fact that she was trying to learn to control her abilities a lot more. Honestly, being an empath had fucked her over so many times that she’d rather be nice and boring and normal. If normal even existed. She turned to Marley and tapped one finger against the table a few times. “You’re very confident, but I don’t think you need me to tell you that, huh? And it’s…” People knew about empaths, they were a thing. “It’s a feeling.”

Marley could have easily left it at that, a feeling. Posture. But she was nosey, she liked knowing things. About people, about things. She’d been excluded all her life, tossed from family to family, wondering if she’d ever find somewhere that she fit in, that was hers. It felt like a need, more than a want, to know things. To know everything. And so, she raised a brow. “A feeling, huh?” rolled her head a second, tapping her fingers on the side of the glass. “I won’t push it, but--” glanced sideways at Nadia, as if she was trying to parse her out. The truth was, Marley had parsed her out the minute she’d seen her. Palpable fear didn’t come from someone normal. “You’ve got a little something...extra, right?” She shrugged, settling in. Wondered what angle she should play next, before glancing over at her. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. And you definitely don’t gotta tell me. But, if it makes you feel better,” she leaned in close again, giving a wary, if almost hesitant glance, “I do, too.” 

Nadia ran a hand through her hair and sighed a bit. Under the table, her leg bounced a bit. She’d never talked about it in person until now, she was beginning to realize that. It was such a separate part of her life, different from the possessed part and the criminal part. The empath part of her had always been there, and yet it was the part she knew the least about. She wasn’t even sure on where to begin. “I little something ‘extra’ is certainly one way to put it, yeah.” Nadia+. Just like your regular human, but with added anxieties and the inability to discern other people’s emotions from her own. A real gift. She looked at Marley, really looked at her, and then nodded her head a bit. “I could kind of tell. I’m beginning to recognize certain differences that some people have in comparison to others.” Nadia was still being a bit vague, unsure how much she could say and how much Marley knew. Not that Nadia was an expert, but still. 

Nadia was getting anxious, and Marley could tell. Maybe asking about all that was pushing her too much, and if she psuhed too far, she was certain Nadia would ditch. And she couldn’t have that. She at least needed a little more information about her, but it was becoming increasingly clear that whatever fears Nadia had, being ‘preternatural’ was part of it. It was clear, now, that she was either empath or aura reader, but since she wasn’t averting her eyes when looking at people, Marley was almost positive it was empath. “Oh yeah?” she quirked a brow. Somehow, she didn’t like that. That someone could parse her out, just because she felt a little different. Shifting, she tried to relax a little. “Okay, well, we started easy, how abooooout….” she hummed, glanced around, then found someone sitting alone at the bar, cradling a half empty tumbler. Sullen, slumped, eyes staring straight into the brown liquid in his glass. “Him. What’s he lying about?” This one ought to have been harder, for an empath. Knowing his emotions alone wouldn’t reveal his secrets, but maybe if she struggled, Nadia would turn to Marley for the answer. And feed right into her palm. 

Before turning to the man that Marley pointed out, Nadia took just a moment to take in the other woman. “Yeah, a bit.” Marley was a bit different, now, still confident, but… she looked more relaxed that she seemed to feel. However, Nadia wasn’t going to push it. Instead, she looked at the man. Clothes a bit disheveled, slightly greasy hair, vacant eyes, he looked and felt pretty fucking miserable. The bartender asked him, cautiously, if he was alright, and the affirmative response could be parsed out to be a lie even if one didn’t have the supernatural know-how to do so. She turned to Marley. “I mean, duh.” But what he was lying about and why? That hadn’t been a part of the game, had it? “Maybe his drink’s bad,” she said with a slight laugh. “Hell, I don’t know what he’s lying about, or why. Could be anything. What do you think?” 

“Here,” Marley said, leaning forward finally, elbows resting on the table as she pushed her drink aside, “is where my expertise comes in. He’s not just lying about being alright-- that’s too obvious. Anyone could tell he was lying about that. Can’t you feel it? That misery?” She pointed at him. “He’s not just lying about being okay, he’s lying about everything in his life. See the untucked business suit? The loosened tie? You’d think those’d be normal, right? He’s at a bar? But no. Look closer. There’s no tuck wrinkles on the hem of the shirt, which means its been untucked all day, probably. His shoes have scuffs on them, and usually if someone’s gonna wear shoes that nice, they take care of them. Lack of polish points to apathy. He’s either losing his job or losing what allows him to keep his job. No wedding ring, no tan line to indicate he ever was-- shouldn’t a guy like that be looking for someone to hit up? There were two attractive women and several other attractive men at the bar earlier, but he hasn’t moved, nor has he looked around. He came here to drink, but, he’s only had half a beer. So, then, what does that tell you? He’s preoccupied. Which means he knows something he wants to forget. It probably has to do with this job, or,” she paused, looking over at Nadia again, “he found out something that changed his whole world.”  

After all that, Nadia raised her eyebrows, thoroughly impressed. “Wow.” But she looked closer at the guy, taking in all of the little details that Marley mentioned. Good things, solid things, more than just facial expression and body language like she normally relied on. She never took clothing as anything more than minor details, and it was clear to see what a mistake that was. “Very impressive, Officer,” she said with an easy grin and a laugh. “Never would have thought about half of that. Damn, you’re good.” She looked at the man again, this time trying to pick his feelings a bit. Horribly miserable, and his job was on his mind a bit. She could see papers and numbers, sloppily written signatures running through his head. “You’re onto something about the job. He’s upset about it, I think. He doesn’t think about things in sentences, at least not when feelings are concerned. I’ve met a few people like that, actually, it’s really cool,” She turned to Marley and then looked away, taking a swig of her drink. “But that’s kind of boring and irrelevant. I really do think it has something to do with his job, though.” 

Now she was getting it. Marley gave a big smile, sinking back into the booth, satisfied. “I know I am,” she said with a wave of her hand, picking up her drink and swigging it. “It’s all in the details, you know? Not just the body language, although that’s a big part of it. It’s more than that, though. It’s the behaviors, small and learned and inherent. Put it all together, and there you have it-- a profile.” She tapped the side of her head. “I can know more about a person just by looking at them than talking to them. Although, sometimes it’s nicer, you know,” she shrugged, “to talk first.” Glanced at Nadia before looking away. She perked up. “Oh? No, no-- please tell me more. That’s definitely interesting. You can hear thoughts, then? Like, as part of the feelings stuff?” she asked, genuinely interested. She’d heard tell of empaths and aura readers, after digging into the supernatural community and what all that entailed. Turns out, powered humans were a big part of it. She’d always been so outside of any sort of community, it felt almost unfair that humans could be a part of a society she never got to be a part of. 

“That’s really cool,” Nadia murmured. She laughed a little bit at Marley’s self-confidence, though, the more she talked with the other woman, the less it surprised her. “People seem to say a lot more when they’re not speaking, I’ve learned. Their facial expressions, their body language, their clothes, apparently,” she paused, “their feelings. It all says a hell of a lot more than words.” She shifted in her seat a bit, feeling just a bit uncomfortable talking about herself. She ran a hand through her hair again. At least Marley actually seemed interested, though. There wasn’t anything malicious about it, that she could tell. “I, uh, yeah. Sometimes I hear thoughts. Only when they’re related to what the person’s feeling, though. Sometimes it’s images, sometimes it’s a voice. People think in different ways. It’s pretty cool, I guess.” It had always freaked her out, when she was younger, not know what the hell she was seeing or hearing. She got used to it, but, damn. It had been a lot. “What about you? What’s your, uh, something extra?” 

To lie or not to lie? Would Nadia be able to suss her out if she did? The perk of knowing when other people lied was also being able to lie really well yourself. And Marley was good at both of those. Telling Nadia what she was wouldn’t work here, so she’d have to work around that. And the best way to tell a lie, was to tell the truth. At least, most of it. “Well, like I said, I’ve got an eye for detail. I can...sense things that others can’t. Not-- not like you, though. It’s not a feeling. It’s more of a...well, sense, I suppose is the word. Stuff I can’t help but be drawn to. I think it’s part of why I became a detective, although I’d also like to think I did that just for me, too. Because I was good at something, and it could help people.” That part wasn’t a lie at all, although ‘help people’ was meant for just one person. One friend, lost long ago. She sighed, letting the feeling of the memory take over inside of her-- if Nadia could only concentrate on that, she wouldn’t need to pry further into the other feelings. She traced the rim of her cup slowly. “There’s lots of people here like us, you know? You just gotta know where to look for them.” 

Nodding her head a bit, Nadia thought that all made sense, and she couldn’t feel anything off with Marley’s answer. It’s not like she’d asked her what she was, anyway. “That’s pretty cool.” She’d never thought about using what she was to do anything. Not except for help Felix, which she hadn’t been and still wasn’t exactly thrilled about. It made her feel a bit awful, actually, that she was using her abilities to help a drug dealer that she was friendly with (and apparently owed) while Marley was actually trying to do good. “It’s awesome, actually, that you’re doing something worthwhile with yourself.” She took another drink. “I’m beginning to see that, actually. How many of us there are.” Did she include herself in with supernaturals? Could she not, at this point? “Have you always known? That you were different?” It felt strange to ask, but Nadia had to know if she was the only fool out there who spent so long in the dark about it. 

“I’m just doing my part,” Marley shrugged, “plus, I really like mysteries. And solving them. Needless to say, I was a big fan of Scooby-Doo and Sherlock Holmes as a kid.” She gave a soft chuckle, picking up her glass and finishing off her drink. “I always knew that I was, you know...different. I could feel it. But I never knew exactly what I was. Not for...a long time.” And that was the truth. She could still remember the wave of relief she’d felt when she’d found out. How everything made sense. Why no one ever quite understood her. Why she never fit in. “So, why’d you come to White Crest, then?” she asked, looking over at Nadia. 

“I can get that,” Nadia said with a smile. “Wanting to do something you’re passionate about. Even if that passion is Scooby Doo,” she joked. She sobered a bit and needed to take a drink. “I didn’t find out about-- well-- all of this until pretty recently. That’s actually one of the reasons I’m in White Crest.” She decided to be a bit careful with what she said next. “I guess I was kind of stumbling around for years, and then I just woke up one day, and I was here. Decided I needed to get my life together and figure my shit out, I guess. She raised an eyebrow and lifted up her drink. “Think I’m doing a damn good job with it, huh?” 

“Well,” Marley said, waving over the bartender, “I think we all have to start somewhere, right? As long as you’re still alive, you’re doing alright.” When the bartender came over, she ordered a second drink, then turned to Nadia. “On me. Even though we didn’t really play,” she smiled gently at her. “People like us, we gotta stick together, right?” If only the words could be true. If only it actually worked that way. Friendships, relationships-- they didn’t achieve anything. And Marley didn’t need anyone. She just needed a good, steady meal, and at the end of the day, wasn’t that the most important?  

Smiling, Nadia gave Marley a bit of a salute with her glass. “Thanks. Next time it’s on me, though.” She backtracked a bit. “I mean, if you’d like to get drinks again. It’s always less sad to drink with others, and, uh, you’re right,” she scratched the back of her neck, a little uncomfortable with the notion of it but unwilling to voice it. “We’ve got to stick together.” Maybe she was a part of the supernatural community, in a way. It was a comforting thought. Now, if only she could get a decent night’s rest. Things might be looking up. 

[cerastes]

Something I wanted to ask you a few days ago but then you suddenly actually fucked off to the South Pole: Can I ask about your tabletop characters? I know there's Rasmus and a someone named Lisbeth, I think? Do you have more? I'm always up and eager to hear about fruits born from your disaster head.

I do not have more, it’s those two, my beautiful shit children. Rasmus is for my DnD game and Lisbeth is for my Fate Core game. It’d be A PLEASURE to regale you with The Lore:

If you’ve read my tabletop blogging posts, and you likely have given you’re asking about the good ol’ lovable Human Rogue, then you’re already somewhat familiar with Rasmus Kasper Istre. A 24 year old charlatan and swindler through and through, back in his port hometown, Rasmus was a notorious “fortune teller” that scammed many tourists and merchants, an act made easier by the innate superstitious nature of sailors, and while his daggers are sharp, it’s his creativity that cuts deeper, fighting being his very last option as he will always attempt to fool, sabotage and trick others first, only brandishing harm if there’s no other choice. In stark contrast with his enthusiasm when it comes to taking money from others, Rasmus is vehemently opposed to taking lives unless it’s on self-defense or if the one relinquishing their life deserves it, a philosophy he sticks to even if it bites him in the ass. This is, in fact, what triggers his escape from his town: He swindled the riches right out of a big-time Elf magnate, disabled his bodyguard that came gunning for him some time later and even had the perfect chance to off him, yet refused to do so because, as he learned during his time hiding from him, the magnate is actually a really honest if grumpy guy who treats his subordinates fairly and with love, and he’s not about to take that life, opting instead to hit the road. He used to dual wield daggers, but lost one of the daggers during a sky-high encounter with wyvern riders, using an enchanted gauntlet imbued with lightning in the spur of the moment to fight with fist and blade, and he liked how it worked out, so now he uses the lightning gauntlet to deliver close-range blasts and electric grapples with the left hand while his deft dagger whistles with each swipe and lunge of his right. To not inconvenience himself and others, he wears a half cape draped over his left arm so he can touch things and people without thundershocking them or having to remove the gauntlet and risk being ambushed (wearing a glove in the middle of a fight is kinda hard!). He loves wearing cologne, especially one made with ghostshroom extract that he makes himself. People hate the strong smell of it at first but it sort of grows into them like an acquired taste or Stockholm Syndrome, and his favorite foods are juniper berries and beef jerky. Rasmus is 177 centimeters tall, has curly light brown hair, dull green eyes, wears his beard as a stubble, and has an average, fit build. Do NOT call him “Kasper” unless you’re in the mood for a bar fight. Mostly wears leather armor and has a thing for the color green.

Rasmus is childhood friends with Claudia, the party’s Human Wizard, and the two often snipe at each other with affectionate vitriol, although their attempts to screw the other over with money are very real. No hard feelings, though, that’s what it meant to grow poor in a port town, it’s your fault if something is taken from you. He doesn’t always see eye to eye with the Halfling Ranger (Ranger is rather kill-happy, which doesn’t sit well with Rasmus), and is buddy-buddy with the Orc Barbarian, especially when brothels and taverns are concerned. He currently is invested in helping the Orc Barbarian with his character arc whenever he can, as well as furthering his own Money Quest after accidentally starting a religion, the Solar Sect (it’s a long story). After enough deeds, the party received the blessings from Phantom Animal Lords from the wilderness, with Rasmus’ title being “Rabbit”; This is an inside joke referring to how my DM and the rest of my DnD group call Rasmus “Bugs Bunny” due to his trademark outlandish and creative ways of setting up the board to the party’s advantage and problem solving. Among his faithful, he is known as the Augur-spoken Prophet, and it’s really, really spiraling out of control. Initially, Rasmus and Claudia were supposed to hate each other, but Claudia’s player and I, IRL friends since a long time now, decided to make them shitlord friends instead. We were very involved with the creation of both characters and develop them continuously together now. Check the “Rasmus” tag in my blog for more anecdotes of his balls to the walls DnDventures.

Some of his deeds include:

Killing a seemingly unkillable hero by teleporting him high into the sky and letting gravity do the work, using a circumstantial item.

Strapping the corpse of said unkillable hero to a greatshield and creating an extremely powerful shield for our Barbarian to use whenever we need some nigh invulnerability.

Accidentally started a religion when he was accused of high heresy because he defiled the corpse of a hero by turning him into a shield.

Flirting with an Elf Priestess that turned out to be the magnate’s niece.

Flirting with her further anyway.

Naked Parkour in the Elf capital.

Wrapped his phony crystal ball with a chain and used it as an impromptu weapon after being disarmed, cracking a Chaos Dwarf’s skull with a nat 20 swing.

Earned the ‘Rabbit’ title, which apparently only happens once around every 3000 years, as the Rabbit Phantom Animal Lord is capricious and her favor only goes to those cheeky and cunning enough to both amuse her and impress her. Of all those, he’s apparently the second Human to ever have earned the title. Rasmus wears it with pride.

–

The other is Lisbeth Elstad. Now, you’re no doubt thinking to yourself “Wow! No one has a name like that!” And you’re right! Consider that a stage name, or a pseudonym, if you will. In a setting that takes place in the real world after magic and everything from beyond turned out to be real and has suddenly become widespread public knowledge, 19 year old Lisbeth is incredibly inept at even the most basic magic tasks with two exceptions: Mana Layering, the act of creating sheets, layers, and shells of mana, and Alchemy, the ability to turn one thing into another through meticulous formulas and the Law of Equivalent Exchange. In addition to this narrow scope, Lisbeth has always found it oddly easy when it comes to assembling explosives ranging from homebrew fireworks to high-yield plastic explosive custom formulas such as batches of SEMTEX and C4. Finally, Lisbeth is a natural woman of science, a passionate love for biology, physics and chemistry pulsating within her noodle, unfit body. You could say she’s a Human Alchemist/Bombardier of some sort, but her most heartfelt wish is to become a doctor and pharmaceutic. Now, this probably paints the image of a kind, earnest girl that just wants to help out with a smile, right? Well! That’s not quite it! As noble as she sounds, Lisbeth is quite the thug otherwise. Think of her less as a friendly doctor in the making and more of a really shady back alley doc that looks like she came right out of a The Misfits music video. She tries, oh, lord she does, to come across as classy, eloquent, and elegant, but no matter how much Calvin Klein “One” you spray on a rabid boar, it is still a rabid boar, and as soon as her very little threshold of patience is usurped, the elegant business front crumbles and the reality of a violent, easily angered busybody who happily solves her problems with rocks to the back of the head and high yield explosives lays bare. She’s the foster daughter of a famous nomadic mercenary leader known as the Mercury Witch, leader of the White Silhouette, and worked on board their craft as assistant doctor, with the Witch forbidding Lisbeth of taking part on any training that might foster her latent violent tendencies in hopes of mellowing her out. One day, however, they took on a job in which Lisbeth and her mentor, Melicia, ended up unwittingly making REALLY Bad Drugs instead of the Good Medicine they thought they were making for supernatural creatures, Lisbeth found out, they found out she found out, shit hit the fan, everyone’s MIA.

Not much to say about her yet otherwise, as the game is still in its preliminary phase. Instead, I can tell you about the scrapped 27 year old version of Lisbeth that I heavily modified after we discussed things and realized I had to make her much younger for it to make sense with certain aspects of the plot. This version of Lisbeth is still very much the same in terms of abilities, but has quit the White Silhouette on her own terms and roams around as a masked vigilante that aids supernatural beings oppressed by humans and as a doctor that helps supernatural beings for free. Most of her time is devoted to finding locations that traffic supernaturals or pits them in underground arena fights and dismantles them with the superior firepower and flair of plastic explosives and some good ol’ infiltration. During her time in France, she was suddenly attacked by a girl in traditional Japanese priestess attire, inciting what nearly was a deathmatch between the two of them. As the mystery girl realized Lisbeth wasn’t her target, however, she immediately stopped and apologized. The girl, named Yamaoka Keiko, is a prophet and descendant of the Blind Dragons who could see the future. The problem, she explained, was that her eyes were stolen and replaced with ones that can see, and she hates it. She’s looking for whoever it is stole her blind, silver eyes to claim them back and go back to her peaceful, beloved life of comfortable darkness and peace back in her shrine. Lisbeth, however, seems to have a clue about who it could be that can steal and switch something like eyes without any difficulty, and believing this to be fate as well as her responsibility indirectly, offers to travel with Keiko in search for her eyes. The two become good friends over the course of 18 months of traveling together in this adventure, but Keiko takes an extremely grave wound one day and is left unable to move for a good while, even with all of Lisbeth’s medical knowledge. Finding herself alone and unsure of Keiko’s future, Lisbeth decides to join the official magic law enforcement outfit that she hates in order to gain access to their information network. I’ll probably use this version of Lisbeth for other things, since I don’t wanna scrap it, bwahaha, probably with Glock Elf and TechSlime (and same with Keiko).

Regardless of her version, Lisbeth has an intravenous hose installed inside of her arms that leads to a “cauldron” in her torso, utilizing “internal alchemy” to transform proteins and cells into other chemicals, which she then expels through holes on the palms of her hands. This way, she can spray, say, napalm out of her hands. Since she has absolutely no competence at all in the art of magic but has an innate talent when it comes to chemistry and alchemy, she instead “fakes” magic by creating concoctions with her knowledge. Lisbeth stands at 176 centimeters, has a lanky, thin physique, and wears silver contacts (which is why Keiko thought she had her eyes) and hair dyed a very light creamy blonde. She wears classy suits and long-skirted jumper dresses for the most part, with an Orthrus (two-headed wolf) pelt draped over her shoulders, both heads dangling off her left shoulder. Her choice of attire and appearance, much like her pseudonym, are all part of her “business front”. Despite her bluster, she’s rather cowardly, but also extremely resolute. Lisbeth is the kind of character that would usually be the NPC Shopkeeper that sells you potions and charges you a small fee to fully heal your party, but circumstance has thrown her right into the adventurer’s shoes, and now she has to deal with it crying, screaming, and complaining, but hey, at least she gets to put her knowledge of bombs to good use!

[mychaosacademia-blog]

Different jobs that My Hero Academia characters could have (as adults)

*LONG POST WARNING! MORE UNDER THE CUT*

1. Midoriya- The Good Cop™

Deku always wanted to save people and before One for All became a part of his life everyone advised him to simply go for the police. If he didn’t become a hero, he would probably become a policeman, and he’d probably make a damn good one, taking into account his perfect balance of righteousness, selflessness, and empathy. If all cops were like him, the world would be saved.

Midoriya: *holds back tears* I-it’s okay now... Because I am here...

2. Bakugou- The Impulsive Soldier

Is there any job that Bakugou could like doing more than fighting? He could initially struggle with being at the very bottom of the military hierarchy, but being put in his place for a while could perhaps help him get over his problems with accepting losing and help. And anyway, he’d climb up fast. After all, this boy’s strong and smart as heck. Just imagine him getting to drill the new recruits...

Bakugou: *yells* I’LL KILL YOU, LAZY SCUM!! 500 PUSH UPS, starting NOW!!

New recruit, terrified to the core: Aye sir!

3. Uraraka- Bob The Builder

Uraraka’s quirk would be perfect to use on a construction site. She’s a strong girl, practical and determined, and would even manage to deal with any potential accidents at work. Plus she comes from the working class, but that’s just an addition.

Uraraka: I can work hard and earn money for my parents this way too!

4. Todoroki- The Vengeful Firefighter

Get it? FIRE-FIGHTER. Now THAT would be a way to go against Endeavor and his plans, wouldn’t it? Tbh much sassier than becoming a hero.

Todoroki: It is then... *15 minutes of traumatic flashback* when I decided to devote the rest of my life to fighting fire. After all, it reminded me of my father... the reason I got this scar...

5. Tsuyu- The Lifeguard

Taking into account what hero internship Tsuyu chose, it is quite easy to determine what she would do with life if she wouldn’t become a hero. The sea is her area, and water is her friend. But she needs some contact with the land too like frogs do and she liked saving people so...

Tsuyu: Kero... *blows the whistle* Please get out of the water, a storm is coming!

6. Iida- The Pure Lawyer

Iida is the most Lawful Good person in existence, probably. He likes rules, knows them all, and is really dedicated to reminding others of them. Cases with his involvement would be guaranteed to be solved justly, regardless of the benefit of his client.

Iida: *gesticulation intensifies* Your honor, I urge you to consider Article 137, paragraph 3! And wear warmer clothes tomorrow, this weather can make you sick!

7. Kaminari- The Portable Phone Charger  Disco Bartender

Kaminari is surely someone who likes people and a good party. Even if his quirk would make him perfect for an electrician, quite certainly he’d just regard it FAR TOO DULL. This boy wants to be COOL. He’d probably try to work his way up to a manager or owner of his own club; but with his intelligence stats, this could take a while. For now, he’d make SHOCKING drinks and chat with everyone around.

Kaminari: *obviously flirting with customers and showing off his cool electricity tricks* yEAH MY FUTURE CLUB WILL BE THE COOLEST! Imagine like... MEME THEMED PARTY

Customer: *quietly* That sounds kind of cringy...

8. Mina- The Kids Entertainer

Mina just seems like someone who’d be simply ADORED by kids. She’s sweet, bubbly, so so fun, and looks like she’s dressed up already! The Alien Queen parties would be booked months in advance. And every kid would dream of getting one for their birthday...

Mina: IF YOU’RE HAPPY AND YOU KNOW IT CLAP YOUR HANDS!

Kids: *climb on her back trying to touch the horns* ALIEN QUEEEEEN!!!

9. Kirishima & Testutetsu- The MMA stars

STRONG BOIS. MASCULINE BROS. GOTTA BE THE MANLIEST and gayest. MMA ROCKS AND HAS A HEART OF STEEL! Also Kirishima would be quickly voted the greatest cinnamon roll of MMA

Tetsutetsu: *screaming and wrestling*

Kirishima: *screaming and wrestling wholesomely*

10. Ojiro- The Veterinary Assistant

Ojiro isn’t the greatest fan of the spotlight, and probably would enjoy a calm, but helpful job as a veterinary assistant. Plus, his tail can give him instant connection points with scared, caudate pets!

Ojiro: *waggles his tail*

A normally aggressive dog: *waggles the tail back and jumps to lick his face*

Ojiro: *giggles, petting the dog* See, there’s nothing to be scared of!

11. Toru- The Shop Assistant actually secretly a CIA Covert Investigator but shhh it’s a secret

We know that Toru likes shopping and would probably be great as a boutique employee. She’s sweet, she has great social skills, and she certainly has style! But at the same time... it would be hard to believe that with her quirk she didn’t get a suggestion to become a spy alongside her job. Did she agree? Did she not? I guess we’ll never know...

Toru: You look amazing in this suit, Mr. President! I think you should really buy it! *places a tiny hidden camera inside the pocket*

12. Koda- The Wildlife Rehabilitator 

There is no other job where the ability to talk to the animals would be more life-saving than a wildlife rehabilitator. Also, taking into account how shy Koda seems, he’d probably prefer to work with animals rather than humans...

Koda: Don’t worry, sweet bunny! You’re safe now!

Bunny: *noms on his plushie*

13. Aoyama- The Sparkling Model

Was there ever any doubt? Aoyama would be a STUNNING model. Just imagine...

*LIGHTS OFF*

*A REFLECTOR ILLUMINATES A SINGLE SPOT ON THE STAGE*

*EPIC MUSIC PLAYS, THE CROWD WHISPERS EXCITED*

AND THERE HE COMES......

Aoyama in his new pajamas collection!

Aoyama: I cAnNoTu StOpPu SpArKLiNg!!

14. Yaomomo- The Patient Teacher

Lecturing Mina and Kaminari among others before the exams just HAD to take lots of patience and supreme teaching skills. If she managed to make these two pass, she can definitely deal EVEN with a class of 30 10-year-olds.

Momo: *for the 13th time* Now, let’s try again! 2 times 3 is?

Some kid with IQ of Kaminari an ameba: ....4?

15. Jirou- The Sound Engineer

She’d definitely keep playing music as her hobby but she seems like a person who’d like to have a stable, technical job as her primary source of income nonetheless. Plus, her quirk would be perfect to hear out the slightest inadequacies of sound!

Jirou: So we have to add gain here, equalize there, distort over here, and probably remaster the whole thing too.

A very confused beginning artist: Uh-uh...

16. Tokoyami- The Subculture Shop Owner

Tokoyami is such a goth birb. So dramatic. So dark. If any goths or emos saw his room in the dorms they would all LOVE this aesthetic. As such, he’d make a good job at picking and selling clothes and accessories for fellow goths and other subcultures. And having Dark Shadow would just make him more famous...

Some goth girl: So you’re like... REALLY filled with a Dark Shadow of you? That’s so spooky!

Tokoyami, who already heard this question 20 times in the past 2 hours: What do you want to buy?

17. Sero- The Steeplejack

With that quirk, he pretty much wouldn’t have to worry about falling. Not to mention THE POWER OF FLEX TAPE

Sero: *swinging on the tape on top of a cathedral* This is pretty fun!

Other steeplejacks: *clinging to their ladders* Watch out!

18. Satou- The Pastry Cook

Mmmm his cakes. The world lost a treasure when Satou decided to be a hero instead of a pastry cook. Truly heartbreaking. Think of all the tasty things he would make constantly...

Class 1A, plotting behind his back: We have to make Satou fall out of the hero course

Satou, terrified: G-guys! I can bake you cakes without that!

19. Mineta- The Pimp *mild NSFW*

I am so sorry. Oh, wait, actually I’m not. Why is Mineta even trying to be a hero? I mean, should THAT be the job of his dreams?

Mineta: *manic laughter* OH MY IT’S LIKE A WET DREAM

20. Monoma- The Professional 4chaner  Internet Troll Actually why did I cross it off, that’s exactly what he’d do

I have no words.

Monoma: *sips Red Bull, typing* HA! CLASS 1A! YOU SPECIAL SNOWFLAKES REEEEEEEEEEE CUCK

21. Shinsou- The Questionable Detective

Ah yes. The police for introverts. Like Midoriya, Shinsou would probably want to save people a lot, so I reckon he’ll choose this path if he wouldn’t become a hero. Just think of how useful his quirk could be...

Shinsou: *having a suspect hypnotized* Knock on the table three times if you did it.

Suspect: *knocks*

Another detective: ...Are you sure this is ethical?

22. Hatsume- The Weirdly Motherly Engineer

I mean, she sort of already is one... But she could probably design much more than just hero costumes! What if she went to robotics... Then her babies could actually talk back to her!

Hatsume, turning on a new robot: My new baby!

Robot: *turning to Hatsume* Mama!

Every human being around: *assessing Hatsume’s age and judging hard*

23. All Might- The Hollywood celebrity specializing in superhero movies!

#LETALLMIGHTPLAYCAPTAINAMERICA2018

All Might: *looking at the shipping fanarts following the movie world premiere* ...........why has my life come to this

24. Aizawa- The Cat Cafe owner

CATS ARE BETTER THAN PEOPLE. If he had the money and time, he’d FOR SURE set up his own cafe of purring babies. And he’d be very protective over them every time he’d visit...

Aizawa: *thunder in eyes* Don’t you DARE disturb Marshmallow’s sleep, you can pet her when she wants to and ONLY IF she wants to

Mic: AWWWW MARSHMALLOW THAT’S ADORABLEEE

Aizawa: *aggressive whispering* I swear if your screams wake her up I WILL assassinate you

25. Present Mic- The Full-time Radio Host

I mean, this one is kind of obvious. How does he have 3 jobs at once anyway?

Mic: *PLAYS AFRICA BY TOTO FOR THE 3RD TIME DURING HIS 4 HOUR PROGRAM* I BLESS THE RAIN DOWN IN AAAAAAFRICAAAAA yo what do you mean I’m being cringy

26. Midnight- The 18+ Domina

Another kinda obvious one? Oh well. She’d be happy and empowered doing that, so don’t judge.

Midnight: Ah, so exciting!!

27. Tomura- The Unemployed

Tomura’s personality doesn’t seem exactly suited for any kind of work... or society, for this matter. At least as long as All For One is around, he’d certainly rest on him, gaming his days away. And after that... even though his sensei already planned for him to take over his company, Tomura prefers not to think about that.

Tomura: *hissing at any opportunity of a job* I don’t like this quest *hides in the hoodie*

28. All For One- The Plotting CEO

All For One seems to love his suit and wears it quite well, so he could certainly do well at a largely formal, managing job. And he’d be the first to exploit ALL for ONE, something that large businesses unfortunately often do...

All For One: *ruining someone’s life and fortune with a smirk* How unfortunate... for you, of course.  

29. Toga- The Professional Cosplayer

Toga’s quirk and erm... interests seem to be perfect for her to be a psycho fan of real-life celebrities, whose blood she steals for her cosplays. As these “cosplays” she makes are literally perfect, she manages to get quite a lot of money from the photoshoots. The celebrities are just very surprised noticing a fresh needle wound on their arm when they wake up in the morning...

Toga: *jumping up and down* I want to become them all! I will become them all! I want to cut them! Blood!

[sol1056]

the most handsome slash nicest guy of the bunch

I was chatting with @ptw30 (as one does, when procrastinating on adulting) about how each season of VLD has given us different pairing-bait for Allura. But if the EPs’ hints (and what seems like a growing assumption in fandom) is that the story’s headed towards allurance, that’s pushing a message that’s... not really good.

Let’s review.

S1 was totally shallura bait, all over the place. S2 continued this to a lesser degree, but it was still a regular note.

I know how you feel, but you have to step away for a while. It's what's best for everyone.

S2 made various attempts at kallura bait, and really... fell pretty flat. Both the hug-in-space and hug-in-hangar were animated as rather physically-awkward interactions, which didn’t help. Then again, having two halves of a potential pairing on opposite sides of a significant racial conflict is gonna make it tough.

Well, sure, they're bad. No doubt about that. But at the same time, couldn't at least a few of them be fighting for good? ... It just seems crazy to lump everyone together.

Especially when one-half’s defense basically amounts to #NotAllGalra. 

S3/S4 was chock full of allurance bait, all the way up to Lance’s impassioned speech inspiring Allura to magic them all out of the Naxzela explosion pokey.

This belongs to you now. If I had to lose Blue to someone, I'm glad it was you.

And then there’s S5, most of which was dominated by equal parts lotura bait and Lance Being Annoyed. Lance’s characterization regressed to shades of who he was in S1, and make it clear exactly what kind of character he really is.

He’s a Nice Guy. 

Behind the cut: behold the evidence, minor salt at VA commentary, and two relationships that stand in contrast.

Lance’s Nice Guy Behavior

In S1/S2, Lance’s flirting is both inappropriate and pervasive, and he continues long after it’s clear that Allura neither welcomes nor enjoys his attention. She’s not even drawn ambiguously; her facial reactions make it clear.

Talking? Eating? Are you asking me out on a date?

Note that the narrative undercuts her agency. She reacts with disgust (and Hunk shows a kind of tired disapproval), but the rest of the casts’ lines treat it as a joke. Her reactions are the punchline. It’s soon clear that one time Shiro smacked Lance down for the inappropriate come-on was the exception, not the rule.

It’s not even “just not that into you,” so much as “does not enjoy being treated like a sexual/romantic object in situations entirely unrelated to that.” And with one exception (when Lance lucks on suggesting the one thing that Allura might actually want to do), her reaction doesn’t change. It’s there from the start.

The way she’s animated is almost as consistent as her irritation. 

Once into S3/S4, one could argue that Lance had finally realized a friendship had more value. He stopped flirting and started treating Allura with respect, listening as a friend, and recognizing her value and skills. 

Until Lotor shows up.

Lance’s opening reaction could be from distrusting Lotor as an enemy...

Look, it’s Prince Lotor, just hangin’ out on the bridge. 

...but he quickly moves into distrusting Lotor as competition.   

Lotor: ...you and I, a royal alliance between Altean and Galra... Lance: How ‘bout we don’t imagine that?

Lotor’s line could be seen as a thinly-veiled marriage proposition, but there’s wiggle room to take his words at face-value as simply suggesting an alliance. Notably, Allura shows no major reaction, let alone anything near the negative reactions she had for Lance’s flirting. 

We get reminders all season that this isn’t a one-time thing. Lance does it over, and over. He’s jealous when Allura responds favorably to Lotor’s compliments.

He’s territorial when Allura and Lotor leave without him, attempting to follow even though the invitation was explicitly only to Allura.

The next shot shows what prompted this reaction: Allura has taken Lotor’s arm. Allura is not animated as particularly physically-demonstrative; most of her touches (except for Coran) tend to be at the shoulders. This specific arm-touch characterizes Allura and Lotor as two people used to formal interactions, and kind of old-fashioned.

The problem is the ambiguity in the framing. I can’t shake the sense it’s meant to ‘reveal’ why Lance reacted badly, and make us sympathize with Lance’s unhappiness at seeing ‘his’ girl off with someone else. 

And then we have Lance stressing over Allura to the exclusion of all else, while the team’s busy trying to fix the ship and save their lives.

What’s happening? What do you think they’re doing now?

I’ve seen arguments this is meant to show he’s just, like, really worried. The narrative undercuts that, though, because Lance is the only one expressing these worries. The others could’ve acknowledged his words, and made it clear that Lance is just saying much louder what everyone else feels. But they’re not only blasé, they’re downright annoyed with Lance to the point that Pidge demands for Shiro to get Lance out of their faces. 

Canonically, we’ve seen nothing to establish that Lance has an exclusive position vis-a-vis Allura. She’s only extended as much friendship to him as she has to anyone else on the team, yet Lance takes that as grounds to scowl, sulk, and obsess.

This is what Nice Guys do. 

To paraphrase an article otherwise not worth quoting, rom-coms teach us ‘the one’ is usually the one who was there all along. (The same article also concluded that “when you get on well already, sometimes all it takes is time (or possibly alcohol) for you to see someone in a new light” and now I think I need to go break something to get over this wave of revulsion.) 

two relationships in contrast

Of course, I can’t mention all of the above without pointing out that in-canon, we have two other characters who’ve done it right: Shiro and Lotor.  

Shiro's respectful of Allura’s knowledge and authority, not only frequently asking her opinion, but then following her orders. He has his own opinion and voices it, but he does so without dismissing Allura's. He worries but is proactive (he'll go with her, instead), and he doesn't get in her way when she makes her own choice.

When Allura insists she’s part of things and will play a role, the rest of the team is a bit taken aback. Not Shiro. His lack of refusal indicates he sees her position as valid. 

Allura: I'm a part of this fight against Zarkon as much as anyone. I'm going. Does anyone have a problem with that? Shiro: Fine. Suit up.

An awful lot of media would have you believe it’s a valid counter-point to say since she’s pretty and a princess, by definition she’s not suited to joining the charge. Shiro doesn’t bother. (Interestingly, the only one who gets sent anywhere alone in S1 is Keith, and there’s an argument to be made that Shiro’s pre-existing knowledge of Keith’s abilities mean Shiro has a greater comfort zone for that.)

Or in short: Shiro is a Good Man.

Meanwhile, Lotor is clearly framed as the ‘bad boy’ -- from his actual position as the son of the Big Bad, to his smooth appearance (that hair), to his accent that codes as ‘high class’ to Americans. If Shiro is the stalwart quasi-military guy who opens doors for women but respects their position in the chain of command, Lotor is the quintessential rebellious rich boy (and even turns out to have a mushy center). 

Yet Lotor consistently shows respect for Allura’s agency and perspective, always checking with her first, rather than presuming. He asks for consent, rather than plowing right past Allura’s dis/comfort.  

He’s deferent when it’s her area of authority, openly credits her, and seeks her opinion. The few times Lotor gets snappish, it’s usually related to his parents, and Allura shows every sign of realizing the distinction.  With no flirtation in play, there’s little reason to see him as having romantic ulterior motives. Sure, he may have other motives, but I’d have a hard time making an argument that Lotor sees Allura as a purely romantic object. 

Lotor may be ‘the bad boy’ in this paradigm, but if you look at the way he -- like Shiro -- treats Allura, he’s not a boy, either. Like Shiro, Lotor is also fundamentally a Good Man.

a dash of VA-related salt

For the most part, I’ve rarely had reason to side-eye Josh Keaton’s interviews, but the recent one where he said something to the effect of Shiro shuts down Lance’s jokes (euphemism for ‘unwelcome flirtation’) because Shiro’s jealous he can’t make those jokes himself...

Cue reaction gif.

Really? We’re talking about a character who insists on persistent attention of a romantic nature, with no regard for the recipient's clear disinterest or obvious discomfort. 

We have a name for this: sexual harassment.

Yet Josh thinks the only character who ever speaks up to shut that shit down is doing so because he’s of the ‘if you can’t, I can’t’ school of reasoning?

Josh, wtf, over. Uncool.

There are a lot of places where @dynared and I will bang heads in our interpretations, but somewhere he commented that fandom might be surprised at how the writers aren’t nearly as progressive as some fans would like to think. (Or that the EPs would like us to believe.)

There are smaller examples of that: Keith pulling a #NotAllGalra, or Lance paraphrasing right-wing tripe as “Galra-on-Galra violence”. Or the way early S3 demotes Allura, or makes her fearful, self-doubting, and incompetent. Lance is the biggest case, though: if the end-game is really allurance, that’s like an entire series of positioning the Nice Guy to eventually win his prize.

In a word, that’s disgusting. 

If they couldn’t manage a romance subplot without falling into such corrosive tropes, personally I would’ve preferred romance be left out altogether.

[weretheoneswhowrite]

Michonne and Carl Chronicles

First Kiss

“Carl, if you walk past that door one more time, I’m gonna throw my book at your head. And I won’t miss. Get in here.”

Michonne placed the book she was reading face down on her lap and crossed her arms, watching the hallway from her perch against her pillows on the bed. Carl had been pacing back and forth in the hallway, pretending to grab a towel from the linen closet, pretending to retrieve his backpack from downstairs, then not even pretending -- he simply walked past the door and glanced in at her under his layers of thick brown hair until she playfully threatened bodily harm.

“Sorry, Michonne.” Now he stood fully in the doorway, hovering in the shadow of the hall, looking nervous. “I didn’t want to bother you if you’re going to bed.”

Michonne smirked, patting Rick’s side of the bed. “It’s okay, I’m up. What’s on your mind?”His father was working late tonight, and his younger siblings were already tucked in, so it was just the two of them awake on a school night.

The fifteen-year-old hesitated for a moment, avoiding her gaze, before walking into his parents’ bedroom. Michonne waited patiently as he lingered by the foot of the bed before coming around to sit gingerly on his dad’s side, still not meeting his stepmother’s eyes.

“It’s...kinda...complicated,” came his adolescent voice, on the verge of breaking deeper than his father’s. His pale cheeks flushed hot pink as he cleared his throat and ran a hand through his long hair, which Rick wanted to cut very badly. Michonne liked it, though. It gave the kid some style, and she knew the girls at school probably couldn’t get enough of it. “Ooh, okay. I like complicated. Shoot.”

Finally, Carl relaxed a bit, tentatively propping his socked feet up and leaning back. He sighed and glanced over at her, his cheeks going almost crimson. “Uh, so...there’s this girl at school…”

Michonne’s eyes went wide with excitement, but she tried very hard not to let him see how ecstatic she was. She had a running bet with Rick about who would get to have this talk with their kids first. Her husband could be so cocky about which one of them their kids thought was cooler. Rick, bless him, wrongly assumed him being a cop and a class clown with them won him more cool points. But Michonne was confident that her easygoing attitude and natural ability to listen to them with empathy rather than judgement got her much farther in their book. She was about to be proven right.

Michonne fixed her face to show Carl patient, neutral interest, though internally she was thinking of how exactly she was going to taunt his father with her victory later. “A girl at school, huh? What’s her name? What’s she like?” Easy questions, first. She set her book aside on the nightstand and angled herself toward him.

Carl swallowed, looking very embarrassed and yet very determined. “Layla. Layla Robinson. She’s like a year older than me, but we have some of the same AP classes.”

“So you like each other?” His stepmother probed gently. Carl nodded slowly. “Well, I do. I’m not really sure how she feels.” She watched his crystal blue eyes turn dreamy and knew he was thinking about this girl. She waited, and soon Carl started to open up, visibly relaxing more in the bed next to her. She could tell that he had been wanting to talk about this for a while, and found herself becoming overwhelmed with affection that he chose her to confide in. “She’s really awesome. Really, really pretty. So smart, and, like, crazy funny. We have some friends in common, but she’s really popular, so it’s hard to know where I stand with her sometimes. She kinda teases me alot, too,” he frowned thoughtfully, “but with her, it feels more like a compliment, maybe? It’s hard to explain.”

Michonne grinned and winked at him. “Oh, I know exactly what you mean. Grownups do that, too. I teased your dad constantly when we first met. That’s how we flirted with each other.”

Carl raised a skeptical eyebrow at her as he thought back to how lovey-dovey they always were with each other now that they were married. “Dad knows how to flirt?”

Michonne laughed with genuine amusement. “Believe it or not, yes. Making fun of each other was pretty much how we got so close in the beginning. Soooo, have you told Layla how you feel yet?”

“Well, like I said it’s kinda complicated.” Carl took a deep breath and surged forward. “We got cast as Romeo and Juliet in this year’s Drama Club production and I have to kiss her. Like, really kiss her, and rehearsals start next week, and I don’t think I can kiss her without...” he exhaled, at a loss for words, flushed and avoiding her eyes again.

Michonne smiled empathetically. “You want to do a good job, but you think you might give your feelings away, right?”

“Er...yeah? I don’t know. She’s...she’s really pretty, Michonne. Like, too pretty.” Carl flopped back onto his father’s pillows and covered his face with the crook of his arm. “I’ve never kissed a girl before, and I really like her, and I’d rather just kiss her normally, but now I have to do it in front of people. This is so embarrassing. I’m gonna look like an idiot.”

“Okay, first thing’s first, mister,” Michonne curled up next to him, resting her face on her arm to level with him, “start by not making the play about your feelings for her. You don’t want to make her uncomfortable.” Carl turned to her, listening attentively. “Second, just talk to her. About the play, about the kiss…you might find she’s just as nervous as you are. She might feel a lot better knowing you’re both feeling the same way.”

Carl made a face. “You want me to tell her this is my first kiss, for real? I don’t know, Michonne…”

She reached over to give his arm a supportive squeeze. “You said she was smart, and cool. Give her the benefit of the doubt. Trust her. And she will definitely appreciate that, if she’s as amazing a person as you know she is. Then let her help decide how you guys should play this kiss, together.”

He lowered his gaze, thinking, before finally raising it again to ask: “What was your first kiss like?”

Michonne sighed wistfully, now the slightly embarrassed one, but decided to give him the reassurance he was seeking. It was just the two of them, and the house was quiet. It was a rare moment in their hectic lives raising three kids with grueling work schedules where she and Carl could just talk about whatever he wanted without interruption. She was happy to give him that, since his own mother died when he was ten.

“Well...it was sweet. I made the first move. He was really handsome but neither of us knew what we were doing, either.”

“Did you like it?” Carl turned toward her, mimicking her body position with his head on his arm, too.

Michonne chuckled softly. “It took us a couple of tries to get comfortable, but yes. It was nice. Because he was nice. Gentle. We dated for a while after that.” “How old were you?”

“Just a little older than you, actually. I was kind of a tomboy in school. Way too into track and academics to care about boys. And they didn’t seem all that interested in me, the beanpole.”

Carl scoffed, shaking his head with a smile. “No way. I’ll bet loads of guys had crushes on you! You’re really pretty, like Layla. You have the same kinda smile and skin tone.”

Michonne booped his nose. “Thanks, kid. I’m not sure if the boys back then would agree with you, but I didn’t much notice. Until the right boy came along.” Carl went quiet, processing her advice, turning things over in his young mind. Finally, he spoke again, very earnestly, “I really want to be the right boy for Layla.”

“Then you will be. You’re already off to a great start, just being considerate of her feelings and treating her with respect.”

“So, I shouldn’t tell her I like her? I should just be professional and look at this whole kiss thing like, a job. Right?”

Michonne took a minute to formulate something he could understand, and use. “I think you should take your part in this play seriously, and follow your heart for the rest. You’ll know that perfect moment, Carl...when everything feels right, and you’re feeling her and she’s feeling you. And if you feel safe enough to tell her that you like her, go for it. If not, that just means it’s not time yet. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah. I think so. Play or not, I’ll know when it’s time to lay it all out there.” “Exactly. And if she doesn’t feel the same way, you just say ‘hey, that’s okay. Let’s rock this play’.”

The sweet young man she had come to think of as her own son scrunched his handsome features up into a funny, skeptical look. “Nobody in school talks like that, Michonne.”

“Well, I haven’t been a teenager since the nineties, so touche. However you want to say it, then.”

“But what about the actual kiss part?” He probed, still looking a bit uncertain. “What if I’m terrible at it? What if I get nervous and I screw it up?”

“Naaah, you won’t. You’re Romeo!” She poked him in the stomach and chest, causing him to laugh and roll his eyes at her. “Here’s a trick: lean in, let her know you’re there, then let her come to you. And whatever happens, just let it happen naturally, don’t force it. Shakespeare gave you beautiful, brilliant words as your guide. A character that’s full of passion and romance. Romeo and Juliet were around your age, you know. They didn’t have much more experience then you and Layla. You’ll be fine.”

Carl looked relieved and a bit inspired. “Okay. Thanks, Michonne.” “No problem, kid. When’s the play?”

“Next month. We only have three and a half weeks to rehearse.” “I can’t wait to see!”

“Ohhh, maaaaan….” Carl rolled his eyes up into his head, hiding behind his hair, now. “Great. My first kiss in front of you and Dad.”

“If you practice for it, it won’t be your first kiss. And you won’t be you, you’ll be Romeo.” She winked at him as he climbed off the bed and shuffled across the room to the door.

“Yeah, that doesn’t make me feel better. Goodnight, Michonne.” “Night, Carl. Break a leg!”

He waved her off as he disappeared down the hall to go to sleep, finally. As soon as she heard his door close, she grabbed her cell phone from the night stand and opened it to his school’s website. She did a search of Drama Club photos until she found one taken earlier that year. It didn’t take her long to spot Miss Robinson. She was standing next to Carl in the lineup of thirty-some-odd kids, smiling broadly. She was indeed a gorgeous young lady, with dark, smooth skin, bright pearly whites, sparkling eyes and long, flowing Senegalese twists. She was standing very close to Carl, as a matter of fact, shoulder-to-shoulder. From the photo credits, Michonne learned that she was Drama Club president, also a cheerleader, an after school tutor, and part of the Media and Science Clubs.

She didn’t think Carl had anything to worry about. Michonne closed the website and switched apps to call her husband.

“This is Sheriff Grimes,” he answered, sounding too exhausted to drop the formality for his wife.

“Stepmama Michonne one, Sheriff Grimes zero.”

Written by: @kendrawriter​

-We're The Ones Who Write

[j0ebay]

Spiraling Ch 4

Peter Parker x Stark!OC, platonic!Loki x Stark!OC

Warning(s): light swearing, jealous!peter, holy fluff

Word Count: 2241

A/N: IT’S UP I’M SO HAPPY! So, this basically takes place after infinity war assuming all the dead people come back. I’m really stoked this chapter is finally out so enjoy and feedback is deeply appreciated!! 💙💙

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chapter 3     chapter 5

“You know you’re in love when you can’t fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams” -Dr Seuss

The night before school started for Geneva Stark was hectic to say the least. She paces around the lab with excessive questions like

“What if I’m not caught up enough on the curriculum and fail everything?”

“What do I do if everyone hates me?”

Tony lets out a heavy sigh “Those two questions alone can be answered with one sentence. You’re a Stark. You’re smart because the rest of your family is smart and nobody is gonna hate you cause you’re a Stark.”

Unfortunately, her angst didn’t go away. “But am I actually gonna be there as ‘Stark’ or am I going as ‘Starr’ cause I’m fine with either but I don’t wanna mess that up. And what if it freak out and use my abilities again?”

There’s a silence before Tony gulps and says “If you want to go as Stark, that’s fine with me and if you feel you’re starting to freak out, just take deep breaths and count to 10”

She inhales and exhales until her nerves settle. The two hear a loud thud, jolting their heads to the right to see a table come crashing down from the air. The two turn their heads back at each other and couldn’t help but laugh.

Unfortunately, that pep talk only helped a little bit as it runs through Geneva’s head at 1:00 in the morning. Turning to lay on her stomach, once again as Brooklyn Nine-Nine plays, softly on her TV, distracting her from all her problems. She flashes back to memories with Peter.

“Okay Gee. Fuck, marry, kill. Peralta, Jeffords aaaaaand” He pauses and scratches his chin, in pretend thought. She lets out a small giggle and throws a pillow at him.

“Boyle? Yeah let’s go with that. Peralta, Jeffords, Boyle.”

She lets out a long groan. Peter knows how much she hates Charles Boyle’s character.

“Umm,” She trails off and ends with another nervous giggle

“Fuck Jeffords, marry Peralta and kill Boyle?” He looks at her with wide eyes

“You wouldn’t marry Jeffords?” She shakes her head

“He seems really sweet and all but he’s already got a wife and kids and I can’t mess with that.”

Peter nods and turns his attention back to the TV. Geneva, however looked at him for a while longer, sat on her bedroom floor in the early stages of night. She knew he would have to leave soon and it made her worried sick. She hates seeing him all bruised and bloody, especially when she’s the one patching him up.

Geneva snaps out of her thoughts but holds onto the feeling of his curls on her neck whenever he hugs her. She remembers how it felt to be held close to him at night and wished for the same thing to happen again. Eventually she found it harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

She wakes up to her phone alarm blaring the intro to Iron Man by Black Sabbath and looks at her phone.

“Almost five hours, not bad” she mumbles to herself as she rolls out of bed. Trudging to the kitchen, she pulls open the fridge door, taking out the bag of bagels and the pitcher of iced tea.

“Damn you for being so loud” She silently cursed at the plastic bag, while putting the bagel in the toaster and pouring herself a glass of the caffeinated beverage.

“Well good morning to you too” She hears from the couch. Geneva jumps in surprise and sees Loki sitting, watching The Office and laughing.

“Yeah, sure, whatever” she mumbles “Why are you laughing?”

He just smirks and says “It’s just funny to see you rush around so early in the morning”. Needless to say, Loki got hit with a bagel.

Next part in Geneva’s new routine was makeup. Of course she knew what she was doing. Occasionally, she’d have to get some information or access to things out of people’s nephews or sons and the only way she really knew how to pull that off was to make herself look pretty and flirt like there’s no tomorrow. She does the works, a bit of concealer, some eyeshadow, a little bit on the eyebrows to even them out and next, mascara. This is a delicate process. One false step and she gets a whole lot of black on her eye. Gently, she brushes the product on her right eyelash. Success. Next, left. Right as she was almost done, there’s a loud bang on the door, causing her to jump and get the makeup all over her orbital bone. She hears laughing from the other side of the door as she screams

“LOKI I’M LITERALLY GONNA KILL YOU”

“You said she started today right?” Ned asks. Peter nodded, keeping his eye on the door. His hands were fidgeting with the string of his backpack. He was worried out of his mind.

‘What if she sees how overall nerds people consider us as? What if Ned outs my crush on her?’ Peter was snapped out of his thoughts by Flash walking by and loudly saying

“Awww is little Penis Parker waiting for his imaginary Geneva Stark? Face it, she isn’t real, nerd. And even if she was? She wouldn’t go for you.” while laughing. Peter’s phone buzzes

Geneva Stark✨ So where exactly are you guys? Happy just pulled in, I have my schedule on my phone and I wanna look like I know what I’m doing

“Believing in Geneva Stark is like believing in ghosts,” MJ butts in out of nowhere

“Some people don’t believe in her. The others are just fucking crazy”

Right on cue, Geneva walks through the door checking her phone to see what Peter had said.

Peter Parker🕷 Walk straight. Ned and I are by the lockers towards the left.

She instantly looks up and sees the two boys, waving at them and walking over.

“Holy loads of people. God, I do not miss public school” She says laughing.

“How have you guys been?” She excitedly asks while pulling them both into hugs.

After comparing schedules it turns out that Geneva and Peter have 6 out of 7 classes together and Ned and Geneva have the class that Peter doesn’t have with her, plus some others. All was well for the first few. The three stuck close together but next was chemistry. The problems being, Ned not being there, Peter’s web fluid drawer and chemistry being the first class Peter had with Flash.

“No one sits by me in this class so if you want to hang out with me you totally can.” He says to her, quietly.

Her eyebrows raise and the blush creeps on her cheeks

“Really?”

He nods and the two of them sit together and steal glances at each other the whole time.

During passing time, Gee goes into the bathroom to check her makeup and clean herself up. She looks at herself in the mirror trying to roll out her insecurities & imperfections by using the magic of makeup. She sees a girl with black, curly hair and black clothes approach to her left out of the corner of her eye. Geneva continues to touch up her makeup.

“Hey” says the other girl “This might be really weird for me to ask but, you’re Geneva Stark right?

Gee smiles and nods, asking “Yeah, why?”

The girl moves the hair from one side to the other

“Ah, well I kinda told this kid you didn’t exist”

There’s a pause between the two.

“Peter Parker?”

The two girls both look at each other and laugh. The girl holds her hand out

“I’m Michelle, most people call me MJ”

The rest of the day went by fairly smoothly and now, at the end of the day, Geneva stands by her locker, putting notebooks in her bag and waiting for Peter.

“Hey, Geneva can I talk to you?”

She turns around to see Ned behind her and smiles

“Yeah! Sure what’s going on?” He scratches the back of his neck

“You can’t tell Peter I told you any of this but, Gee, he-”

“Peter!” She quickly says after catching glimpse of the boy, cutting Ned off while quickly whispering

“We’ll talk about this later”

Ned nods as Peter approaches

“Hey, I’m still walking you home right?” He asks while looking down, trying to hide the blush creeping up on his cheeks.

“Y-yeah is that cool with you? I know you usually uh, how do I phrase this without spilling anything?” she asks while looking at Ned and then back at Peter.

“Oh! No, it’s fine he knows about the whole internship thing” Peter says once he catches onto what she was talking about.

“Oh, okay cool! I just, I thought that you did patrols and stuff after school ‘n whatever. But if you actually want to do homework like you talked about, I wouldn’t mind your company, if we’re being honest here. Plus,”

She says, pausing to put a hand on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze.

“You could use a break from being a superhero, or Youtube guy, or whatever you wanna call it. Let the cops do their job for once” The three teenagers laugh and start to walk out of the school.

Eventually, Ned goes in a different direction leaving Peter and Geneva to walk the majority of the way to Stark Tower with each other, stopping to get churros of course.

“Hey what did you say that one asshole’s name was?”

“Who? Flash?”

“Oh! Yeah that guy. Was he there today?”

“Uh,” Peter gulps “Yeah, he was there today. W-why do you ask?”

She laughs

“I seriously doubt anyone in that school is dumb enough to come up with a nickname as stupid and cliché as ‘Penis Parker’ but, that’s just a personal opinion.”

As if he was summoned by the light mention of his name, Flash pulls up to the two in a car yelling

“Penis Parker! Who’s the pretty girl that’s walking shockingly close to you?”

Gee laughs and says

“Well, I stand corrected. I’m Geneva”

Flash’s eyes widen.

“G-Geneva S-Stark?”

She laughs even harder

“Yeah! And I guess you’re um,” she snaps her fingers like she’s trying to remember something.

“Flash? Flash Thompson? I think we have chemistry and PE together?” He cuts her off, somewhat shocked she doesn’t recognize him.

Her eyes widen in an attempt to mimic realization

“Oh yeah maybe we do!”

He laughs and says

“So what are you doing with a guy like Peter? You need a ride somewhere?”

She looks at Peter and then back at Flash

“No, no. Peter’s walking me home. Home being Stark Tower, of course and he’s got internship stuff to do. Right, Pete?”

She looks at Peter again, subtly intertwining her hand with his.

Peter feels the blush dusting his cheeks again

“Y-yeah, internship stuff”

Flash raises his eyebrows

“You sure, Geneva? I mean, you’re way too pretty to be hanging out with someone like Penis Parker over here.”

She lets out a small giggle and says

“Maybe. Once you think of a better name than ‘Penis Parker’. Then come talk to me.”

They approach Stark Tower as she continues

“This is our stop. Uh, bye Flash”

After getting inside the tower and into Gee’s room. The two were discussing homework and just general gossip about school.

“I think today went better than I expected” Geneva says, trying to make conversation.

“Cool” Peter replies, obviously deep in thought.

“I met MJ today” She continues, trying harder to get some reaction from him.

“That’s great” He responds, still looking at her floor.

She smirks and says

“I’m pregnant”. Peter doesn’t direct his gaze up but just says

“Mmmhmmm”.

She sighs, gets up and sits in front of him, putting her thumb & pointer fingers on his chin and tilts his head up to meet her gaze.

“Hey,” she says in a soft tone “What’s going on with you?”

His eyebrows knit together in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t give me that, Pete. Something’s up. Spill.”

“Stop reading my mind, Geneva” He quickly snaps back

Her eyebrows raise.

“I wasn’t reading your mind, dumbass. I literally told you I was pregnant and all you said was ‘mmmhmmm’. You didn’t even look up so there’s gotta be something wrong. If you don’t wanna talk about it, that’s completely fine with me but at least tell me please.”

He looks down, avoiding her gaze

“It’s just, I-uh, you’re not into Flash are you?”

Your eyebrows raise

“What?” she asks

“I mean, he was flirting with you kind of a lot a-and it just kinda pissed me off y’know? Cause you deserve so much better than some asshole like him.”

She lets go of his chin and looks away, smiling.

“You really think so, Pete?”

He nods

“I mean look at you! You’re smart. You’re funny. You’re absolutely gorgeous. You’re extremely caring and you put everyone’s needs before your own! What’s not to like about you?”

She lets out a small giggle with a hint of nerves and says a soft

“Thank you, Pete” She leans forward and gives a quick peck on his cheek before getting up and saying

“C’mon, let’s watch a movie or something”.

Peter sat in shock, rubbing the spot where her soft lips met his rosy cheeks. He turns around, sitting on her bed right next to her and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Netflix?”

TAGLIST

EVERYTHING: @og-baby-ob14 @were-all-gay-down-here @softiespidey @saturn-aka-six

SPIRALING: @upsidedownparker @baglebites @spidergirl192327 @theasexualbunny  @nerdofthehighestcalibre @james1730

[iristial]

SS/Kamen Rider Ramble #100: Pudding, Loving Fathers & Flashbacks - KSL VS KSP Episode 28

Since Lupinranger VS Paotranger has no particular linear order (barring several plot relevant episodes), I decided to start with my thoughts on the latest episode. To be honest, I was worried about the plot summary since...I’ll leave that for under the cut, but I would just like to say

Stop teasing me, Toei, you’re just as bad as Kairi

Yellow Rangers seem to always be the ones with the birthday episodes. I don’t know if this is a tradition in itself or the fact that Yellow Ranger actors/actresses conveniently have birthdays that align with an episode that will be aired. But I can’t believe today was Umika’s birthday because it wasn’t given the usual fanfare. Not that I wasn’t disappointed by that - you don’t always need a lavish party to make a day special

This episode brought back the Kairi habits of pinching Umika’s nose and patting her head. I swear he hasn’t learned from the last time he did that and got the police up their backs lol

And he owes Umika three containers of pudding. The princess deserves it.

The timeless “stay away from my daughter plot”...took off better than expected. This would be what I’d shove into the faces of whoever let episode 11 be produced because sure, this episode wasn’t groundbreaking, but it gave us extra tibits on the characters and nice developments like

Umika’s father getting ready to jab Touma only to respectfully back away when Touma coolly says “I have a fiancee.” I paid a lot of attention to the have part because it shows he’s determined to bring her back and believes being a Lupinranger really will fulfil that wish

Kairi really was a delinquent and has an overall dispproval warrant by most girls’ fathers. I don’t know if I should say “yeah, thought so” or feel sorry since that could feed into his inferiority-superiority complex (judging by flashbacks it seems that Big Bro Yano was the quintessential brother...like Tadashi Hamada...better stop that comparison before I cry)

Kairi himself resolves the misunderstanding (or most of it) before the episode was half-way done. Usually doing this means transforming right in front of Umika’s father, or having Umika scold her father by saying she isn’t a baby anymore and the father would have that “in her childhood she was so innocent and always came running to me” flashbacks. But they didn’t take that route and made  another parallel between Kairi’s situation and Umika’s. Kairi doesn’t have any other family so by letting Umika have a day off and using the lucky pendant in Tsukasa’s place, I think he’s - in his own way - making up for the day he lost his brother. Not that it’ll completely remove his guilt but at least he’s preventing others going down the same path as him.

Umika wasn’t on good terms with her father since she had dropped out of school and decided to move into her workplace. Understandably her father, despite his opposition, wanted to check up on her and give her a birthday gift (he seems like a nice guy who loves his daughter a lot)...only to see Kairi flirting with teasing his beloved daughter. I doubt any father would want their daughters to be near a potential playboy (not that Kairi is but first impressions) so his little...”attack” was slightly warranted.

I never thought Touma would be given some spotlight via saying his father-in-law blamed him for Aya’s disappearance/death. But that was a nice touch, another way of showcasing a father’s love and the fact that Touma really is the big brother of the Lupinrangers (albeit a reluctant one)

Somehow the episode just vibrated family feels and I can’t put it into words, but it’s good knowing that Umika’s father does love and trust his daughter’s decisions in the end.

The Gangler possesses the ability to dive through solid surfaces and make people age rapidly. This time round I really didn’t care about him tbh

That Poderman scene was so funny I had to cackle XD

Kairi makes coffee and Touma was left staring at the mess he made pffft wouldn’t have caught that if not for that GIF series

Not much spotlight on the Patorangers ToT Even Noel took a backseat when he gave them a new mecha (that was pretty hilarious and did not suit the Patorangers style of fighting, I had to agree with him on that one)

Btw I feel...like...I don’t know, just - why are all of Kairi’s episodes parallels between his situation and another person’s relationship with a family member? It’s getting a bit repetitive and I want something new. Like, show me more about his own insecurities or just give him a situation where he has to rely on someone else’s plans because his didn’t work out in the end. Have him discover a new passion that isn’t basketball, give him moments where he actually thinks about what happens when he revives his brother. Will he be relieved at first and be more grateful to him, or will the bitterness flood back? Is he lonely if he doesn’t have someone around to at least talk with? How about getting him to take steps so that he becomes someone else - someone who is Kairi and not just a shadow of someone he admires, much like the Lupinranger who hides in the shadows? I’m probably expecting too much since this is a children’s program but Avatar: The Last Airbender was a kids’ program and that was a masterpiece so...

All the nice things aside, this episode was such a subtle tease on Kairi/Umika because even if it was meant to torpedo the ship (I’m not sure if it was), Umika’s father now seems on board with the idea of her dating Kairi. And Umika herself...well, let’s say she denies dating Kairi but her expression says otherwise. I blame Toei for picking two actors with such great chemistry - esp since they’re one year apart in age

I now firmly believe episode thirty will be the beginning of plot-oriented episodes

[officialthiamlibrary]

Welcome to another profile on Behind the Screens, giving you personal insight on who your favorite creators are and what they do when they aren’t wowing you with their creative ability.

This week, I’m excited to bring to you our first artist, Dalyane, or Da-Smiley99. Although, in her case, a more appropriate title would be jack-of-all-trades. As our resident fic writer, song-inspired pic spam creator, and incorrect quote aficionado, she shares her inspiration behind incorrect quotes, her writing persona, her meta-author plans to dictate Thiam’s relationship, and much more! Take a look :)

So, Dalyane, let’s ease our way into things. Tell us about yourself. The catch: the word count should be equal to or less than the number of letters in your two favorite Teen Wolf characters’ name. 

Stiles Stilinski + Theodore Raeken = 25 : My name’s Dalyane, I’m a ray of sunshine in human form. What I want the most is to make people happy with what I do.

And, how did you find the Thiam pack? What about Theo x Liam drew you in?

To be honest, I don’t have the slightest idea. It just came smoothly to me. When I saw Theo and Liam interacting, I was just drawn into it. I was drawn by the silent conversations in their eyes, every word that came out of their mouths that sometimes meant something else or something they haven’t said, their mutual violence towards each other. (I absolutely hate violence, but I don’t know why I’m deeply hypnotized by their banter and their complicated Like/Hate relationship). 

I’m like the most oblivious person ever, I wouldn’t even know if somebody is hitting on me, but there’s something romance-worthy (Is that even a word?) about their complicated relationship that drew me in the Thiam fandom. 

Not mentioning Theo’s past, Liam eventually learned to trust him at some point even if he was still a little hostile towards Theo. A little part of himself learned to forgive him, so he could fight alongside him. In the entire sixth season, I felt like they developed a whole new relationship based on building trust. Apart, Liam and Theo are quite strong alone, but together they cooperate, fight and act like they were a “whole”. Liam may not trust Theo yet, but I felt like his body, his own being told the opposite. I was extremely glad to see their relationship grow with their characters. So long story short, I just basically just dived into it. And it’s without a damn shame that I can say that I don’t even regret liking them together. And it’s also not because of the amazing, beautiful and breathtaking gifsets on Tumblr...Not at all.

Yes!! That sums up their relationship perfectly and worded so well. Let’s keep that going for a moment. Say this was a ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ situation and you could alter their relationship, their lives with your writing. How would they live through the following scenarios:

a. Their First Date: 

Oh, they would know for sure they’re on a date, even if it’s not a date. Theo and Liam would hear my annoying voice every five minutes. Like Liam would ask Theo to hang out at his place, it’s just two dudes hanging out, nothing extraordinary really. But I would still break the nice atmosphere by saying random things that comes from their heads. Like -Wow, Theo’s ass looks great in those Jeans, Liam thought- or -Had Liam’s lips always been that pink?- and God, they would be as red as tomatoes. Awkward much.

b. Their child’s first boyfriend/girlfriend

Theo would absolutely refuse to admit or say out loud that he doesn’t like his child’s significant other. It would hurt his pride, but he doesn’t want to hurt his small bean and his husband, Liam. Of course it’s my job! Theo would be outraged, but it would be so worth it.

c. Their first conflict as an official couple

Because of me, their fight would last for 5 minutes maximum. They would be in a situation where Theo would get jealous because he thought some random guy was flirting with Liam, when in fact he was just being super friendly. So Theo was being an asshole out of jealousy. Liam would start getting angry at him, asking what was his problem but Theo wouldn’t respond. I would just whisper in the air: “Hey, he was jealous you dummy.“ Then they would apologize to each other, followed quickly by a make out session. Yeah, you’re welcome Thiam. 

Haha, honestly, they’d be lucky to have you running the show! Piggy-backing off the craziness you’d put them through, sometimes, characters  find themselves in situations they aren’t sure they can get out of. In your life, is there a time you found yourself in a situation like that and what did you do?

Oh god. Almost nothing happened to me in my life. But I will share this particularly embarrassing moment of me. So one day I was going to my high school, I was inside the school bus. But suddenly the bus stopped at my old middle school, then our chauffeur turned to us saying our high school was closed because of the snow. 

So we went inside the middle school to call our parents so they can pick us up. But that day my mom was working, so she wasn’t available. My grandma didn’t pick up the phone either. So I was like “I can’t stay here anyway, what should I do?” Then my stupid old self just got out of the school, walking all the way to my home. Yeah, I was pretty stupid back then.

 I was freezing and couldn’t see a damn thing in front of me because I was in the middle of a snowstorm. A random guy slowed his car close to me and asked me if I want to get in. Then I remembered what my mom said about getting in a car with a stranger, Oh hell no. I lied saying I was close to home, so he would leave me alone. It worked. 

30 minutes later I think, another car stopped close to me and a woman speaks to me, “Get in, I won’t let you freeze on the road.” I hesitated, obviously. Until I saw my friend in the passenger seat. Finally, I got home safely! I was incredibly embarrassed and horrified; I felt like an idiot. I never thought that I would get home. Holy molly, that was terrifying. When my mom asked why I was home early, I lied to her saying that the chauffeur brought all the students home in the morning. Well, I’ll never ever do that again.

Oh my goodness! Girl, I’m glad you got home ok and didn’t freeze to death! Before we jump into your work, who would be on your ultimate paintball/laser tag team. Any five characters from Teen Wolf. Also, Why?

I would have Stiles on my team, because he’s extremely smart and no doubt he would make up an excellent strategy on the field. I would have Theo, he’s also smart, but he’s a bit reckless and surely takes risks a lot so it can come in handy. I would have Malia, she’s a badass and would dominate the field with some girl power! (You go girl!) I would have Corey, he’s very subtle, doesn’t make a sound and he definitely would blend in the background and that is definitely handy for sure. What a great sneaky sniper. 

For the last member of my team, I would take Mason, he will probably use his charm and his charisma to lure the opposite team’s members. Or just make jokes and references to his favorite Tv shows. That kinda does the job too.

Perfect! And now your work! *Rubbing my hands together in anticipation*

You do a little bit of it all when it comes to creating for Thiam: fanfiction, fanart, edits, incorrect quotes. Which would you say is your favorite art form? And how do you balance creating them all? 

I guess my favorite form of art is writing. I had a talent for writing since I was a kid. I could express myself better on paper than with my voice. Many people had a hard time to believe that everything I wrote came from my mind, because I can’t express myself properly when I talk. For me, writing is an art and fanfics are masterpieces. Writing has been a way for me to escape the real world, my problems and my worries. Writing is a way for me to talk indirectly to readers and expressing my feelings to them through my writing. 

It’s kinda hard to balance my creativity in my posts, because I always do something different. If I see something I like on Tumblr, Instagram or Twitter, I tried to include it in them. I always try to get better. I’m trying to find my own style and keep it. I’m saying it again, I want to make people happy with what I do and when I get positive comments on my works, that makes me want to get  better. A part of me does all of this for my followers, to put a smile on their faces or make them laugh. Seeing them happy makes me happy too.

And, if your process was a person, describe them. What do they do? Wear? Listen to?

Well, she’s pretty thoughtful. She always paces back and forth in her room, trying to find a title to her work. She bases her work mostly on the title, that is most of the time based on a song. She’s always in PJ’s and some good old crocs. She just sit on her bed, listening to her favorite songs, TV shows, movies or her favorite YouTubers. She’s a little lazy girl, I guess. I can’t really blame her, it’s how she is. :)

What would you say is both your (and her) Writing Kryptonite, haha? How do you fight it?

It’s really strange, but I can’t write anything if I don’t listen to some music. Music always has been the source of my imagination, I just didn’t realize it until a few months ago. If I don’t have my phone and headphones on me, I can’t do anything. I need music to write. Depending to the meaning, the lyrics and the beat of the songs I listen to, my works change. If I write something sad, I listen to songs about heartbreak, death, breakups, etc. If I write something fluffy and happy, I will listen to songs about happy endings, falling in love, weddings,etc. 

When I know exactly what to write (theme, feeling expressed in it and other minimal things), I know instantly what song to listen to. Every time there’s music in my ears, I get in my own writing world and my hands just start tapping on my keyboard on their own. This is pretty unique, huh? Music gets me really emotional and I can’t do anything about it. It’s very strange. Since Music is the source of my creativity and imagination, it’s very rare that I have writer’s block.                  

To get rid of my writer’s block, I simply sit back on my couch and close my eyes, listening to some soft music. I take a break, because I can’t write something for a whole day, I would get a huge migraine. I would just relax and let everything come to me.

Your love for writing with music. Is that what inspires your song edits, like this one? What makes a song shout Thiam to you? How do you choose images that embody both the song, their relationship, and your writing for it?

I always choose a song that reflects their complicated relationship and what they’ve been through. I choose songs that are very specific for them, that express their banter, their problems and their backstories. Depending on the songs I choose for my edits, the colors, the pictures and themes are different with each one. For example, for a sad song, the colors and pictures of my edits will be darker, the theme of the edit will likely be sadness, sorrow, breakups,etc. For a more happy-go-lucky song, the colors and pictures will be clearer and brighter, and the theme of the edit will be happiness, calmness, comfort, etc. 

Everything I do in my edits will change with the song I choose. I chose pictures very carefully, they have to call to me (my creative style, I mean). When I find something perfect for my edits, I just know it. It’s hard to explain it, but I can feel it in my gut when I got something good. I’m a weird phenomenon.

And, incorrect quotes. How do those come to you too? Are they inspired by things you see of hear in everyday life? 

Most of them are inspired by my favorite YouTubers: Game Grumps. It’s a gaming channel, where two grown men play some video games while sassing each other, telling semi-bad jokes, swearing 95% of the time and saying perfect incorrect quotes material. Most of them came from the mouth of these awesome guys. Is it the time when I say you should check their channel out? Yeah, go check it, please. :)

Oh wow, one of my roommates watches their channel religiously!! I’ll have to join her sometimes, when I hear them blaring from her room haha. You’ve recently started a new multi-chapter fic, Catch & Release. Can you give us a quick summary, for anyone unfamiliar. 

The story happens one year after the events of season 6. A mysterious girl come knocking on Liam and Theo’s door, seeking their help. Her name is Skye Andrews.She’s a true Alpha who’s fighting against an hostile pack that plans to take Canada. When they saw that she wasn’t a threat and saying the truth, Liam and Theo accepted to help her, also accepting coming to Canada.

And did something inspire the concept?

I don’t even know. It just weirdly came to me just like that, while I was listening to the song “Catch & Release” by Matt Simons.The story made itself when I listened to the lyrics of the song. Now you know where the title came from.

Finally, you know I have to ask. Are there any spoilers you can slip us? 

Eventually you’ll get to know all of my original characters I included in the story. I can’t give any spoilers, because I still don’t know where this story is going. But here’s something I know for sure: Nolan/Alec and Thiam will be canon at some point in the story, I just don’t know when exactly. But if you want some precise informations, my ask box is always open.

Hahaha, fair enough. I guess we’ll have to read along and see. Ooh--perfect question segway. Bonus Question-if you could read only one author/fanfic writer for a whole year, who would you read? And what story of theirs would you horde?

Without hesitation, I say Captainmintyfresh (@Thiamfresh on Tumblr). I just adore her writing so much. It calls to me and her writing style absolutely hypnotized me. She’s incredibly talented and I just can’t stop reading her works. “Airplanes” is by far her best work. I think everyone should read it; it’s a piece of art, a masterpiece. I’m not even exaggerating. Her writing is truly amazing; it gives me the chills. I really wish I could write like that. She can capture the personality and the dynamic of the characters in the Teen Wolf universe. The way she writes their interactions is truly a treat. Seriously, If I could read her works forever, I would. She’s incredibly talented.

I share that sentiment, wholeheartedly. You’re not alone! Before we wrap, I want to ask about advice because I think it’s amazing when we’re given the opportunity to learn from one another. What’s the best writing/drawing/edit-creating advice you’ve ever gotten? Is there any wisdom you could gift us?

I didn’t get any advice in writing, but I would like to give some. If you are struggling with your writing, just take a breath and lean back to look at your work. If nothing comes out, it’s useless to work endlessly and working your brains out. Just take a break and work on it later. There’s no need to be rushed, take the time you need. Writing can be hard and demands a lot of concentration and creativity. Just take the time you need, take breaks and write everything you like. You are the creator of your story.

What’s next for you? Both in life and the creation world?

Well, I’m taking a year off of college. It was becoming too much for my brain to handle so much anxiety every day. In this year, I will eventually think about where I want to go and what I want to do. Maybe it will shorten my time for writing, but I want to do the most I can. I guess there’s nothing next in the creating segment, I’m just going to continue writing and drawing. But there’s nothing huge specifically.  

Any creating is always a perfect amount, so I’m sending you all the luck and inspiration juice in the world! Anything else you’d like to share, in general. The floor is all yours! :)

This concerns anybody reading this. I’m saying this for the third time now, but I’m writing fanfictions, doing edits, drawing fanarts and writing some incorrect quotes for you (all of you). I’m doing this to bring a smile on your faces, make you laugh and make you feel so many different emotions with my work. Seeing you guys happy, makes me incredibly happy. On everything that I do, don’t be shy and comment on my works. If you like my writing style, if you like how I make aesthetics, if you like my incorrect quotes or just quotes in general and if you like my fanarts, go ahead and tell me about those things. I probably won’t respond, because I have a social life outside of Tumblr and I’m actually pretty busy.I want to get better not just for myself, but for all of you. I don’t want to let anybody down and I don’t want to disappoint anybody. I really hope that I meet your expectations. I love each one of you (I’m definitely not crying right now).

Awww! And so with that, BTS presents Dalyane, Da-Smiley99! As always, you can keep the conversation going; respond to any of her thoughts, ask more questions, send a prompt, or simply swing by for a chat with Dalyane anytime. To quote her, she would be “absolutely thrilled” to receive your thoughts! If you’d like to dive into her works, check out both her AO3 and Tumblr.

Tumblr: Da-smiley99

AO3: Dasmiley99

Ask Box: Da-Smiley ask

A huge thank you to her for being so excited about our chat and sharing us piece of her life with us! 

Have a Thiam Creator you fan over, from any platform (AO3, Tumblr, Wattpad, Instagram, FFN, etc). Definitely drop us their names. Bonus points if you include any questions you’re dying to ask them. 

Likewise, if you as the creator, would like to be a part of the Behind the Screens series, give us a shout too! We’d love to get to know you, as well.

Mic drop!

[libralita]

Truths and Roses have Thorns About Them | Chapter 7

Beginning | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter

Summary: The Marchen Tavern draws in many strange characters from all across Angielle and beyond. While it may bring wonder and mystery to those who stop, it does make keeping staff members a challenge. However, Fella Treslyn is up to the task of being the Marchen’s new cook. But is really ready to deal with all the antics it has to offer?

Fella was not daft. She just did very risky things sometimes. She informed Miss Karma that she was going out that night just to be safe but…she was going to try and meet Klaude again. It had been so long since she’d last seen him. She wanted to talk to him. To get to know him.

She had one cupcake left, he deserved at least something for the number of times he had saved her.

“Fella, sometimes you are too smart for your own good and sometimes you baffle me as to what you think you’re doing.”

Fella blushed at hearing Klaude’s voice and quickly stood up. “I-I’m sorry, I just wanted to meet you…again. We really should have a meeting place.”

“You wanted to meet me?” Fella reached into her bag and carefully took out a small box. Klaude walked over to her. “What is this?”

“It’s for you. To thank you for all that you’ve done for me.” She said, still holding it out and feeling increasingly stupid. The weight everything going on these past few days was starting to catch up with her. Klaude gently took the box from her hands. “It’s uh…I actually made them for my friend because she wasn’t feeling well.” She tried to smile and make a joke but her voice cracked. “Because that’s all I know how to do. Make food.”

“Fella…” he said softly.

“This is very unfair, Swordsman. You get to see me cry twice.” She said, in a futile attempt to make a joke, feeling the tears well up.

“A beautiful girl such as yourself should never weep.” He said gently cupping her face in his hands.

Fella let out a laugh mixed with a sob. “Just because you make me flustered doesn’t mean I won’t stop.”

“It was worth a try.” He said, gently guiding her to sit down and then sat next to her. “Please…tell me why you’re so upset.”

“As I said, I am quite useless…” She said and then shook her head. What on earth am I doing? “I’m sorry, Klaude. I must look absolutely hysterical. I shouldn’t have done this.”

She tried to get up but he took her hand. “No, I want to know why you are so upset and why you think such a ridiculous thing.”

She wiped at her eyes with her hand but Klaude places a handkerchief in hand. “I just cannot do anything. I cannot defend myself so I am constantly needing to be saved by you once the sun goes down. You even got hurt because of me. Then my friend is dealing with his own curse. There is this woman saying she’s his fiancée but she might just be trying to use him for something and I don’t know how to help him. My friend Karma is…” The words tumbled out of her mouth. All the stress that has been piling up erupted as another sob escaped her lips. “Something is wrong with her and she blames me for it. And I don’t know how to fix it.”

“First, fixing other people’s problems is not your job. We must overcome our own curses. Do not blame yourself and don’t let others try to blame you. Second, you are far more than just cooking.” Klaude said Fella felt a thumb slide under her eye to wipe one of her tears away. Normally she’d move away but she didn’t with Klaude. He was just so gentle. “Do you think my sword fighting is an impressive talent?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Why?”

“Well…you use it to protect people.”

“And you have a talent. I envy you. You brought a liveliness to the Marchen that I had not seen before. You put that joy and passion into everything that you do and it makes others happy.”

“I’d like to point out that saving me from ill-intent men makes me happy,” Fella said, chuckling her crying was stopping.

Klaude chuckled. “Yes, I am both glad that I can protect and…” he leaned toward her and for her heart fluttered when she thought he was going to press his lips to hers. Instead, he moved upward and kissed her forehead. “And that I can make you happy, Fella.”

Fella blinked as he moved away from her and then her face became extremely hot. Fella quickly covered her face with her hands. She may have teased Garlan for being embarrassed but being honest with herself…she was just as bad. If not worse.

Klaude gave another chuckle and gently moved her hands away. “Do not sell yourself as just merely good cooking.” He then made an amused noise and sighed. “There is a man at the Marchen—I  believe you know him—Rumpel. He is the most relentless flirt. While I may find it disagreeable, I cannot deny that there is a value to his ability to make women smile. You have a similar ability. Though a far better one, in my opinion. You are kind to every person you meet and always try to make them laugh.”

Fella’s face had cooled down and she turned back to Klaude. “Who…Klaude, who are you?”

“I…” Klaude then stood up. “I apologize but I have to go. I need to finish my patrol duties. Can you get back the Marchen safely?”

“Yes but Klaude—” However he was already off. “Can we meet again here?!” She called.

“I will check every night for you!” He called back, his voice sounding strange. However, Fella was left standing alone.

~

“Klaude?” Fella had found Garlan at the back of the Marchen, sharpening his sword. “Sorry, Fella, I’ve never heard anyone with that name.”

“He said that he does patrols and he handles a sword.”

Garlan cleared his throat, there was the sound of metal clanking. “It would be easier if I had a physical description of him…but I’ll ask Jurien if she knows anyone.”

“Thank you, Garlan.” She said.

“Fella!” Dion’s voice called and he came towards them. “Ready to go?”

“Going somewhere?” Garlan asked.

“I am finally going to explore that forest,” Fella said, excitedly.

“I can’t believe I’m using my last day off to take you into the forest. You have eaten quite a few those up.” Dion said, but it was teasing. Fella hummed innocently.

“You two be careful, there are dangerous animals and it can be easy to get lost,” Garlan warned. Dion promised that they would stay on the path he knew and would be back before sundown. They began walking, Fella lightly held onto his arm but enjoyed the warm day.

They spoke a little but mostly enjoying being outdoors. Though an idea wormed its way into Fella’s mind. What if I asked Dion to help me figure out who Klaude was? She turned that idea around in her brain like she was holding a stone to feel the shape of it. No… It felt like too much of a violation of Klaude’s privacy. For whatever reason, he wanted to keep who he was a secret from her. It felt…wrong to her to try and invade that. Perhaps she shouldn’t have asked Garlan about Klaude.

“Ophella?”

“Huh?”

Dion chuckled. “You’re still the spacey kiddo.”

“Bah.” She said with a snort.

“How is your relationship with Miss Karma?” He asked.

“Oh, we worked things out,” Fella said and Miss Karma had been better these last few days. They had gone back to going out. Though she seemed a little distant every now and again. Nothing like before had happened again. The cousins spoke a little more before they reached a hill that apparently overlooked part of the town. Fella just enjoyed the cool breeze. “I need to explore this more. Maybe I will get Miss Karma to take me.”

“She does not seem the outdoorsy type.”

“Do you know much about her?” Fella asked.

Dion chuckled. “No, all I know that she hates being flirted with.”

“Please don’t tell me you tried to flirt with her.”

“And live to tell the tale?” Dion asked chuckling. “No, I was already with Julie at the time. She had never really spoken with me and me to her.”

Fella found that a bit strange. Both of them in Fella’s mind would click. They were both fairly open people. Dion was pretty relaxed so Fella doubted he would get frustrated with her antics. Miss Karma did not seem to close to anyone else at the Marchen besides Fella. Maybe Waltz. Sure, Miss Karma was a kind woman who was pleasant to people but she kept most at arm’s length. How strange.

Fella shook her head as they walked back. “The path was pretty clear.”

“Fella, you’ll get hurt.”

“Just a straight line?”

Dion gave a resigned sigh and then she started running. It was only on a slight incline so she did not pick up too much speed and the path was kept pretty clear this close to the Marchen. She loved running. It was better when she wasn’t being chased by crazy women.

The only thing she did not plan for was ending. At some point, she tripped over something and tried to right herself but she had too much momentum and ended up falling, using her hands to break her fall.

“Fella!” It wasn’t Dion’s voice but Rumpel’s worried tone. He came running over and bent down next to her. “What’s wrong? Are you okay? Let me see your arms.”

Fella giggled. “I’m fine.”

“You fell.” He said gently taking her hands. “Aren’t you in pain?”

“Kind of.” Fella shrugged still grinning. “It’ll wear off, don’t worry Rumpel.”

She heard Dion coming back down from the path. “Sir, what happened to Fella?”

Fella a brief flash of annoyance. “I said I was fine,” Fella said, standing up. “I just wanted to go for a run and I tripped.”

Fella crossed her arms and ignored the slight burning she felt. She was a little sore but just it was just a few scrapes. “Don’t be so pouty,” Dion said, patting her head.

Fella huffed and moved back into the Marchen.

“Fella.” Dion called and stopped her before she could get much further. “Don’t be so defensive. You made that guy look like a wounded puppy.”

Fella stopped and sighed. “I’ll talk to him…" She then thought about an idea. "Actually Dion could I talk to you for a minute before you leave?”

Dion took her to a private area and she said. “Could you go into the market and ask around about a doctor? One that might have had a fiancée named Bria.”

“I could go ask around on my way back,” Dion said.

“Thanks.” She said, hugging him, and then she was aimed at the direction that Rumpel was. He was still outside. “Rumpel?”

She had surprised him and he let out a small yelp. “Fella! I am sorry about that. I shouldn’t have ignored what you were saying.”

“I’m sorry too,” Fella said. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you. But I really am fine. I knew there was a chance I could have gotten hurt but I still wanted to run.” She held out her hands. “Nothing but scrapes.”

“You…are a strange one.”

“You have no right to say that when we are at the Marchen.” Rumpel laughed, it was a little bit forced. “How…is Bria?”

He cleared his throat. “I actually have to get going but I will see you around, Fella.”

“Right.” She said and listen to him leave. She almost let out an audible groan. So many secrets! Ugh!

~

Fella went back to meet Klaude again and as he said, he came over. “What happened to your hands?” He said noticing her bandages.

“I was running and fell. Not from anyone! I just...I wanted to run.”

“You seem to fairly good at running.” He said, sitting next to her. “With what happened with the those…women, I was almost struggling to keep up with you.”

Fella was actually waiting for him to have a similar reaction as to Rumple. To question why she had done it and worry about her. But she was glad Klaude didn’t.

“Can I ask you something?” Fella asked.

“Maybe.”

Fella snorted. “Why did you say you were my husband?”

“Heat of the moment?” He suggested in a teasing voice. “Now that you have asked a question I get to ask one.”

“When did that become the rule?”

“Ever since I realized that you are going to keep asking questions so I might as well ask my own,” Klaude said with a chuckle. Fella shook her head in amusement.  “Where are you from?”

“A small countryside town called Bellview, it is about three days away from here by carriage.”

“Are bells your export?”

“Huh?”

“It’s called Bellview. Does your town sell bells?”

“Oh, no it’s because there are fields of these flowers that look like bells,” Fella said and then added. “…Were you making a joke?”

“…”

Fella snorted and gently patted his shoulder. Klaude chuckled and asked, “What did you do there in Bellview?” Nothing. Was her first thought and she stayed quiet. “Fella…?”

“How about…since you told me a story, I tell you one?”

Klaude shifted. “Alright.”

“Once upon a time, there was a little girl..."

"Was she cute?"

Fella nudged him. "She was born too early and was very frail and weak. Her parents watched as she survived the night. And then the next day. Then the next week. However, perhaps a witch cursed her in exchange for allowing her to live because everyone around her would forget this girl was a girl. Instead, everyone thought she was a porcelain doll. If she did anything she would fall and break. And no one wanted to the girl to break so she was held close, always needing to be kept safe.

“However, one day the girl wanted to help her siblings cook. Mealtimes were her favorite. She could forget that she could not go outside by herself or run around. She just enjoyed the company of her family and being able to do the same thing. To hear about their days. Even if she should could not experience the outside, it was fun to hear about it. Now she wanted to try and cook herself. She was only allowed to do small things but even then she loved it so much. Until she started running around with her brother and she ended up hitting her head.”

Fella absent reached up to her forehead to feel the small scar there. “The girl was no longer allowed to cook. And that small crack had scared her family. ‘What if she breaks?’ ‘We can’t let her hurt herself.’ 'She's to fragile to do anything else.' And so she was taken and put on a shelf. There she sat in endless darkness. She sat on the shelf and the only thing she could do is listen to her family. She even grew…to hate them.” Fella’s lip wobbled, she hadn’t told this story in full. A bit to Lucette, a bit to Miss Karma but she was going to say the full story.

She took a deep breath, she was not going to cry. “The one day a kind boy came into her room named Dion. He found her on the shelf and asked: ‘Why do you shit on that shelf?’ and she said, ‘I am a doll. I am to sit on a shelf.’ ‘You are not a doll. You are a girl.’ And he took her down from the shelf and secretly brought her outside. It was hard to walk at first…even scary to be outside again. The girl started to think of herself as a doll. But as she walked, she remembered how wonderful it was to be outside.

And then she and Dion played in a field. She ran and jumped and fell but she did not break because she was a girl, not a doll.” Fella smiled at the memory and gently touched the bandages on her hands. “Her parents found them and started scolding Dion however the girl stood up to her parents. She said she was going to go outside and play. And she did. No matter how much her parents tried to keep her from going outside she found a way. It was then when the girl almost broke her arm climbing out a window that her parents realized what they were doing. The curse was slowly broken.

“And then she announced that she wanted to learn how to cook. That was another battle with her parents but they knew she would not give up. So they taught her. She cut herself and burned herself and made horrible food. But…she still went on and learned. The end.”

They were both quiet as they sat together. At some point Klaude and taken her hand. He was so gentle, that even the bandaged parts did not even sting.

“Do you still hate them?” He asked.

“My family? No. I don’t. I forgave them a long time ago.”

“I do not think you have the heart for hatred.”

Fella paused. “I don’t know about that. Does anyone at the Marchen truly deserve to be cursed? From what you told me, you needed to learn a lesson but it sounds too vindictive. We are all just people. Does the witch not deserved to be cursed for taking a son away from his family? A prince from his kingdom? When does this all end?”

Klaude tried to chuckle but it sounded to force. “Ask questions like that and you’ll end up being cursed yourself.”

“It does not seem fair.” Klaude let out another chuckle but it was a little more genuine. “Why are you laughing at that?”

Klaude moved to gently cup her cheek with his hand. “I am just thinking about how I understand why you are so passionate about others being happy. You fought for your own, now you want others to do so.” He leaned closer, Fella thought their noses lightly brushed against each other. His hair tickled her face.

Do…do I want to kiss him? Fella thought in a panic. She moved away. “Sorry, I think I have to go.” I still don’t know you Klaude.

Klaude was quiet and then said. “Of course.” He said. He then helped her up. “Thank you, Fella.”

“For what?” She said, tilting her head.

“For your story…and for what you just did.”

Moving away? Klaude, why are you so strange?

She gave him a nod and then they bid their farewells. Fella went back to the Marchen safely and laid down in her bed. Should I have kissed him?

[raechelpapaya]

1, 3, and 9 for Serena and Rin!

[[ LOL this is so funny for me BC Serena has essentially stayed the same from our role playing thing, and Rin is the third OC I worked on for my original work thing and hES A THIEF BOY LOL. SERENA AND HER TASTE IN THIEF BOYS LMAO ]]

1. What drew your character to their LI and vice versa?

— For Serena, Rin is the first guy she meets on her journey in the narrative. He helps her around the town in exchange he helps with one of his missions (they run into some trouble along the way but that’s a story for another day). He’s the bad boy type, he’s teasing, he’s rough around the edges, but he’s got a kind heart. Around Serena, Rin slowly learns to put down his walls and begin to trust in others - with Serena being one of the firsts. In return, he helps Serena grow out of her shell little by little — helps her stand up for herself and what she believes in and is supportive of her. I think for Serena, what drew her to Rin, aside from him being the bad boy type, was his support. She’s not used to having an active support system around her, and hearing Rin genuinely and continuously give her encouragement when she was doubting herself and her abilities really made her feelings for him change.

— For Rin, Serena’s the entire opposite of everything he’s used to dealing with. He’s used to dealing with older women, women who are confident, who flirt back with him, women who fight back, etc.. And here Serena comes into his life — demure, shy, low confidence, and easily flustered. She throws him for a loop but he gets way too much fun teasing her. Him teasing her is almost way too common between them, even his playful flirting comes out every now and then to tease her about taking her to such and such cafe or walking through the town with her. It’s fun for him in the beginning, seeing Serena get red-faced every time he shot a wink in her direction or something akin to that. But then he spends more time with her off and on the battlefield - sees her genuinely care for him and his wellbeing, worrying for him and his little sisters, asks him if she can come over and cook for him and his sisters when he doesn’t have enough cash to feed himself and his sisters. He sees her cover his weak points in battle and sees her use the last bits of her magic to heal him and his injuries while her own body is covered in dirt and cuts and scrapes. He sees her slowly gaining more confidence in herself and her abilities as their adventure continues, and suddenly he doesn’t remember when his playful offers to take her out for tea became real. 

— (Rin’s description is ass I’m sorry)

3. When they are having a fight, what is it about and how do they deal with it?

— If it’s them just messing around, it’s usually just Rin messing with Serena about her height since he pretty much towers over her.

— If it’s them genuinely arguing? Most likely, the other has done something reckless/dangerous. They’ll talk in private behind closed doors. If things resort to yelling, Rin is usually the one to storm off in order to cool down. He always comes back sometime later, his mind cleared and an apology ready (if he knows he’s in the wrong). If Serena storms off (usually with tears in her eyes BC she’s an emotional bby), Rin waits some time before following after her, usually until he knows she’s no longer crying. After she’s done crying and they still need to talk, Serena usually holds Rin’s hand and shares what’s on her mind/what’s been bothering her.

9. How open are they with their feelings?

—Before they realize their feelings are mutual, they’re pretty hush about it. Serena’s pretty obvious about how she feels about Rin but doesn’t pursue anything BC... what if he doesn’t like her back? She’s just some small town girl and he’s a cool city boy, there’s no way he’d be interested in her, right?

— Oddly enough, Rin’s pretty much the same! He does a better job of hiding his feelings but... damn he can’t help but let his attention draw to her every now and then. He’s pretty much resigned himself to never confessing to Serena BC why would he? Serena’s got so many other better options than him, her biggest contender being the handsome knight, Marth. Still, with a little push and shove, he’ll confess.... eventually... maybe.

— When theyre together, they’re actually still pretty shy about sharing their feelings. They’re low on the PDA, but Rin plays the cool boyfriend type and will often stick close to Serena when they’re in town together. If he or Serena are feeling pretty bold, they’ll hold hands or Rin might walk with his arm around her shoulder. He calls her “babe” in public, but in private? He calls her “sweetheart” 

[hessafeelsfordayss]

Rant.

Okay, I swear I’m not trying to start anything or be a bitch, but honestly I’m tired of seeing the same negative crap. I get it, Lee is older than Jerome and her name isn’t Harleen and all the other stuff everyone is pointing out. But you have to have an open mind when it comes to Gotham.. anything is possible. I’m not hating on other people’s ideas, I love all of the ideas except the Barbara theories. I love her character, but I just don’t see her as Harley.

What everyone needs to realize is we’re more than likely not gonna have someone new as Harley, which a lot of you want. That's fine, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I highly doubt it will happen (If it does that would be cool) because the writers themselves said that it’s someone that we thought we have known and loved for a long time, we just didn’t recognize them as Harley. “ You may have already seen Harley as a person that you thought you had met and known for a long time. So we always reserve the right to sort of do that as well.” This is a direct quote from Ken Woodruff, One of Gotham's producers. He could have been trying to trick us, possibly, but I doubt he would have said that if it wasn’t true.

I don’t think Lee is gonna be Harley just because I love her. I think she is gonna be Harley because of the facts. Out of every option, she matches the most. I’m not in any way saying I’m right, in fact, I’m more than likely wrong.. but until they prove me wrong I will stick by my theory.

Let me go over each point.

Her characteristics: Now her name may not be Harleen.. but her name is VERY close to Harley. Her nickname is literally the end word for Harley (Harlee). Harley is a psychiatrist, and Lee is a doctor, but she's had some trauma training. Even though it's not her area of focus, she still has shown a lot of psychiatric characteristics. Like in season one, when she first meets Barbara, she keeps telling Barbara that she needs to go to therapy and talk to someone about what happened with Jason. Barbara wouldn't do it unless Lee was the one she talked to, which we all know why now, but regardless she did it. Then Alfred called her when he thought Bruce needed someone to talk to. I've noticed she's always giving professional advice when she thinks someone needs to be in therapy or get medical help. She may not have blonde hair and blue eyes but come on guys.. Lee is beyond beautiful. Plus Harley herself even said that she's not a real blonde. Also, Lee is very intellegent.. both her and Harley have that listed as one of their abilities. Harley is known to be obsessed with things.. if you were to look up her mental condition it would say obsession. Direct quote from Lee: "I tend to get overly enthusiastic about things, it's an issue for me. My mom always said.. Oh, who gives a crap about what my mom said, right?"

Age: Now about the age, honestly people.. do you really think Jerome, a psychotic criminal, would care about age? Honestly just think about it. Why would a deranged killer even think twice about age, especially if HE'S the one coming on to the older women? This is the same guy that flirted with Barbara, an older woman, and even flirted with Lee who is, in fact, an older woman. In my opinion, he seems to like older women anyway. And you know how some girls grow up either with a bad father, or an absent father, and they end up having daddy issues? Well, Jerome may have mommy issues due to how his mother treated him. Not saying that's the case, but it's possible. Also Jerome and Lee are both of age, so it wouldn’t be illegal. And Cameron and Morena are of age as well.

Coincidence or Foreshadow: I believe Gotham gives us clues and foreshadows things a lot. Like how Lee was introduced only SIX episodes before Jerome was introduced. Plus she was part of the entire circus (Jerome) case. She was there with Jim when the fight broke out, she was there when Jerome was first introduced, she was there when Jim found the weapon (because she kept pestering him for them to go look for it), and she was there when Jerome got interrogated. Jerome's case was the first and last time that she went into the interrogation room. Why would the writers pick his case out of all the other cases for her to be in the room? And for it to be the only time at that. Not only was she in the room, but she liked it. She has a small smile/smirk in a few scenes.. meaning it interested her. She even says "It was ugly.. but it was also kind of thrilling." Talking about what happened in the interrogation room. Also, Harley has a sister who keeps her and Jokers daughter, Lucy, in the future. Lee mentions she has a sister, who's recipe she used on their date night (Once again, The one time she mentions she has a sister, is in Jerome's episode.) Let's not forget she is the one Jerome takes hostage when he comes back alive. She is the very first person he has a casual conversation with since he came back from the dead. Not only that, but she is the ONLY person that he came in contact with that he didn't kill. He didn't even hurt her. He had more than enough reason to kill her, or even hurt her, because that would have been the best way to get at Jim, but all he did was tie her to the table. Let's not forget when they met for the very first time, she was the one to comfort him (hold him) when they found Lila's body. She was also the one Jerome and Barbara took hostage at the Gala. What Jim says to her makes me think it is a big clue.. "Don't let your hatred of me turn you into something you're not."

She adds up with all the things the producers have hinted. Lee has been changing right before our eyes.. I’ve noticed she's different in every season. In season one she was this corky, sarcastic doctor who loved crime. "What can I say, you had me at Homicide." In season two she was still sweet and a little corky but she was also a little more confident and dark. Season three it’s like she’s a completely different person. She’s way more confident and she’s definitely darker and more sarcastic. Watch all three seasons and you’ll see a big difference and know what I’m talking about.  The writers also said that Harley would be connected to the Joker Cult World. This means she will be connected to Jerome in some way. She’s met Jerome at least four times, and she's interacted with him once. Not to mention that their first interaction (with them actually having a conversation) was flirty, and she wasn’t scared of him like a normal person would have been. The writers said that Harley’s appearance on the show is gonna be the ‘launching point’ for season four. John Stephens promises “It’s crazy.” A short quote, but effective. Now I don’t know about you, but Lee going crazy seems like a pretty good launching point to me. And it would definitely be crazy because she is a loved character that people would least expect. Also, Lee has definitely experienced enough trauma to make her snap. She lost her baby, her husband was shot and killed right next to her by her ex-fiancé, etc.. Let's not forget that Mario's blood landed on her cheek and also she’s kissed him. Both are ways to get the virus.. so she's more than likely gonna get it, if she doesn't already have it. Also, she hates Jim.. I really don't see her going back to him after everything. I actually can see her going back to Arkham to work because she is either assigned there by Harvey, or she does it on her own so she can get away from Jim.

Hints from Morena: First she posted a picture of Lee and Jerome where she was obviously looking at Jerome's penis and the caption was "What am I looking at??" and she tagged Cameron in it. Then two pictures after that one she posted a picture of her wearing red and black. Red and black nails, and her shirt was red and she was wearing a black blazer over it. Also her, Jessica, Maggie, and Erin all went out. Barbara, Tabitha, and Ivy are bad girls on the show, and Lee is good (for now anyway.) I think she was giving us hints because in almost every picture of the four, Jessica and Erin were kind of grouped together, and Morena and Maggie were kind of grouped together. We all know Barbara and Tabitha have an off and on romantic relationship in the show. We also know Harley and Ivy are known to have an off and on romantic relationship. In one picture Erin and Jessica (Barbara and Tabitha) are leaning against one another, and Maggie and Morena (Ivy and Lee, possible Harley) are leaning against one another. I noticed they were always grouped like that except for in one picture. Then she recently posted a picture of her and the actor that plays Jervis on the show. You would think it's a normal selfie with a fellow cast mate, but her caption makes me think otherwise. In the picture is Lee and Jervis (with his Arkham uniform on) and the caption is a hat emoji and a police officer emoji beside it. Then she spaced and put a female symbol emoji and (I can't tell what the second emoji is) and a needle beside it. Then she put a space and then a heart. The hat emoji is meaning Mad Hatter and the Police emoji makes me think of Arkham or security. Then the female sign and needle mean female doctor. I take this as a hint that she is going back to Arkham.

And to those saying that Morena doesn't have what it takes to be Harley, watch more of her movies and you'll see Morena is a phenomenal actress. She definitely has the skill to be able to play Harley. Watch her in Deadpool.

My mind is foggy right now, so this is probably very unorganized.. but these are just a few things I wanted to put. I probably have more, but this is all I can think of for now. I understand everyone has different opinions and theories, and I respect that, but please be respectful of my theory. I'm not making this stuff up, I'm basing my theory off of facts and what clues we've been given. It's not that far fetched if you keep an open mind and really think about it. :)