#trust me if I'm being bitchy I make it pretty fucking clear

[lucky-bishop]

I’m the anon who is annoyed about the way people talk about Stiles and not the Derek/Faith anon - sorry dude.

I just don’t see Stiles as innately cruel. I guess everyone is entitled to their perception of fictional characters but Derek is not a marshmallow and Stiles is not some cruel and callous jerk. Stiles has moments of behaving that way, but I don’t think those actions define him. He has so many moments of being heroic, of being caring. He’s not a marshmallow either, but there’s nothing cruel about him and there’s nothing squishy about Derek.

Just ranting, I love you 💚

It's all good! Feel free to rant. 💖

Derek definitely gets blorbofied to a point where his canon representation is lost, but so does Stiles. I'm sorry, but Stiles cares about the people he cares about, fuck everyone else, and he also hurts the people he cares about. He is not the Pack Mom™️ who gives everyone in the pack therapy and is smiles and rainbows of the time.

Here's where I get a bit caught up (and my apologies if I'm just misinterpreting you, because this is the internet, and that happens): you say that Stiles has moments of behaving like a cruel and callous jerk and not two sentences later you say there's nothing cruel about him. How does that work?

Good and bad and black and white and moral purity help no one. Stiles does have a lot of moments of being heroic! Absolutely! I openly say he is one of my favorite - if not my overall favorite - characters from the show! But your favorite character does not fundamentally need to be a "good" person! I think Stiles is a good person, but I stand by thinking that he's cruel and that he's manipulative and that he's a bit selfish and that he's very paranoid. Do those things make a good person? Maybe, probably not, but who the fuck am I to say?

I think it's entirely unfair to say that there is nothing squishy about Derek. I think he is shown to be deeply caring time and time again in the show and if you don't see that, okay. I clearly won't convince you.

I am not some all-knowing being when it comes to Teen Wolf or anything else. I am not a fandom authority on character interpretation. But this is how I see them. This is how I understand them.

[tibby]

i want the trr meta though i used to be obsessed w that game in 2019 until trf pissed me off and i quit (should i go back and finish the series btw?)

okay here is a little rant that's been bothering me for awhile and it's not really meta but if you want specific thoughts on things i can give you those too <3 also i personally was very disappointed with trf and don't consider it in my personal canon and it's hands down the weakest book in the series, so i guess it comes down to if you care enough to see everything wrapped up nicely. happy to go into more detail about why i didn't like it if you so desire but the only win we really got from it was canon bisexual olivia.

anyway!

so i'm in the middle of replaying trr3 and i am so overwhelmed by how much kiara’s actions contradict everything she ends up saying and doing in trh3, and it just proves that they created her trh 3 issues just to create conflict without...actually considering how they work within the narrative.

like the whole point in trr3 is that kiara is understandably scared of being back at court after getting stabbed, and it's something that becomes even harder for her when the bombing occurs on her first night back at court. but she considers getting help for her ptsd after talking with mc and drake, and eventually agrees to stay. it's made very clear that this is because she feels safe with the cordonian crew, and thinks that mc's ability to bring people together is admirable and something she wants to be part of. if you marry hana, she's part of the wedding party and everything.

and then they just don’t really mention her trauma again for two books and suddenly it’s like “actually idk if you’re very diplomatic but maybe if you judged this flower festival :/” like...WHAT? the fact mc has successfully helped to lead a country and thwart numerous attacks for two years suddenly isn't enough? suddenly she's putting all her faith in a guy who was comatose for twenty years (obviously she has no idea at this point that barthelemy faked it, but he's still hardly the best candidate. kiara's a diplomat! she's friends with all of them! she's seen them in action! it's just such a stupid fucking story decision and makes no sense for who kiara is. cordonia was never attacked because of mc and liam, and taking them out of the equation to give power to one of constantine's closest friends (who, you know, was there when constantine made all his awful decisions) is just...so incredibly dumb and so not kiara.

it's made even more frustrating by the fact she’s the only one you can’t forgive. mc either doesn’t get over it or basically tells kiara to work for it. and even as poorly written as her reasoning for voting against mc was, it was still way more justifiable than house ebrim being fucking pussies. and that's not even taking into account how you’re guilted into forgiving penelope for the tariq fiasco when she had NO idea what could have happened - she just knew she was allowing a man to sneak into mc's room without her knowledge. how is that forgivable but kiara being kind of bitchy in the first two books and traumatised later on isn't?

also i love olivia and madeleine but they treated mc far worse than kiara ever did and it's weird that they get more free passes than her. i know that by trh3 that olivia is a trusted ally and mc is basically her best friend, but you have the option to forgive her pretty quickly in trr2 when she spent the entire social season antagonising mc, hana, and drake. and sure it's foreplay with drake but come on now.

and then with madeleine it’s like...in her own way she was trying to be a better person as early as trr3 and did show that she cared about mc from trh1 onwards. but her treatment of hana was absolutely horrible and inexcusable and i can understand why mc and the gang would hold a grudge against her for that, and why it could impact the way people treat her in trh2/trh3 when she's in her fragile mental state. BUT INSTEAD it seems like the cordonian crew's issues with her are based in things that weren’t actually her fault. like her engagement to prince bc of mc being slutshamed (madeleine even defended mc over the way the press behaved) or her father being a murderer when the whole thing clearly fucked her up, and she helped with his arrest. like if you choose to be mean to her in trh2/trh3 it’s not even “you were cruel to my wife/best friend and i have no desire to be friendly with you” it’s “haha ugly loser you’ll amount to nothing because your dad fucking sucked” which just feels incredibly fucking bizarre. madeleine doesn’t deserve forgiveness (which she does acknowledge at the end of trr3) for certain things she did but for some reason the book is like. Actually hating her is okay...but ONLY if it’s because of things she played no role in and was deeply hurt by :) and it kind of gets to the point where if madeleine betrays them, then honestly...i don't blame her.

tl;dr: it's just gross and transparent that olivia and penelope and madeleine are granted the option of forgiveness and kindness but kiara isn’t, and any issues that the mc has with the noble ladies are never really with the actual bad things they've done.

[fasterthanmydemons]

{ Think of this as also being from the hypothetical bitchy chick Valorie I made up for the ask I sent for Wanda. XD Again! Answer these as you can dear, no pressure. ♥ }

"Honestly, I have NO idea what you see in Avalon. Even as a friend, I don't understand how you could even want to look at her - she is so pale, all that long black hair, and those hugely creepy blue eyes," she started, obviously seeing no issue with her words whatsoever.

"Not only is she a walking cliche, but she is so whiny and pathetic. She can't handle her emotions at ALL, and we all have to pay for it. She is scared of everything, anxious all the time, and hardly ever speaks up enough for anyone to hear a thing she is saying. Not only that, but are you sure she is even a mutant, and not just some kind of a universal fluke? I mean, your sister has magic like powers and they stay consistently the same. Avalon wouldn't know stability if it bit her in the ass."

Valorie snorted, popping her gum. "It's probably a good thing for you that you're so quick, hon. Because really, I can't see how anyone would want to spend much time with her normally, let alone romantically. She has pretty much the sex appeal of those hideously creepy old dolls that nobody wants - I've seen how she looks at you, though. If I were you, I'd avoid her and get away while you can. Seriously, that freak gives me the chills every time she is near. I'm always afraid that she is going curse me or something the moment she gets near me!"

This time Valorie shook her head, while filing her nails, stopping briefly to admire them. "Take my advice, sweetie. You and your sister should both get out while you can. You don't want Avalon to end up wrecking your lives, do you?" She then chuckled, popping her gum.

"Or your libido, either, handsome. If you mess around with her, it will go right out the window, trust me. Sleeping with her must be like sleeping with a mouse, the way she squeaks all the time! I wouldn't bother, Pietro. There are better women out there. Ones who won't turn you into a toad, when you're trying to fuck her."

Pietro stood quietly, letting this woman rant and rave about things that were none of her business. It muse be exhausting, he pondered, to be so filled with hate about people and situations that had no bearing on your actual life. He wondered how her head hadn’t exploded by now from all the negativity she walked around with on a daily basis. When she had finally finished, Pietro smiled condescendingly. “Been a long time for you, ice queen?”

“Mmm... Mm-hmm... okay... here is how it is,” Pietro said, for now his anger smoldering just beneath the surface. “How I feel about Avalon and what we might do in private is not any of your concern. And if I ever hear you talking about her in this kind of derogatory manner again, is going to become very bad problem for you very quickly. I don’t like to get violent with ladies unless they are trying to kill me, but I will make it very clear why you should stop if you don’t on your own. Is clear? Yes? Clean wax from ears and try again, or you got it?” he asked. 

He started to walk away, turning around to face her as he slowly walked backwards. “I am going to leave now, and you are never going to talk about Avalon again. Understood? Oh, and my libido is just fine. Not that you will ever experience what I have to give. Is a shame, because... from how it sounds, you need a good time. Too bad I don’t sleep with hateful bitches.” He grinned and zipped away.

[snarkysarcasm]

Please don't think I'm greedy, (which I totally am) but could you do: 77. In vino veritas and 99. Magical accidents? For Gail and Holly, always Gail and Holly...

Sorry for how long this took...

---

“I don’t know about this, Ollie.”

“Will you just trust me, Peckling? Celery is always right about these things.  She just knows.”

“Yeah, but, like we’re talking magic…”

“Weren’t you the one who went to a psychic?”

Gail’s eyes narrowed, “I told you that in confidence and you swore on a dozen donuts that we would never mention it again.”

“I’m just saying that I don’t think you’re as skeptical as you could be.”  Or as she wanted him to believe.  Oliver knew his buddy too well for her antics to work.

“Fine.”

“Great.  Now pass me the eye of newt.” Oliver laughed when Gail immediately went to protest,  “I’m kidding, but I do need the jasmine.”

Gail looked at a few vials before handing over the right one.  She glanced over his shoulder as the concoction he was brewing took a strange gray color.

“I really hope you’re reading that right.”

“I am and don’t worry, Celery said that it’s guaranteed to get you what your heart desires most.”

“Oh great.  Now I know it isn’t going to work.  You didn’t say having a heart was a requirement for tonight.”

“Excuse me, Little Miss Petulant Peck.  We both know you have a heart, you just also have a brain that likes to ignore it.  You deserve good things and whatever you want most, so this is going to help you get it.  But only if you want it to.  If not we can just forget the whole thing and go shopping for weapons and shoes.”

“Here’s the newt.”

---

“So wanna tell me what happened tonight?”  Holly asked as she helped Gail into the passenger seat of her car.  

“I uhhh burned myself ummm cooking with Oliver.” Gail held up her bandaged hand as if it was explanation enough.

“What were you two making?”

“Oh some recipe Celery wanted him to try.” Gail’s voice was at least two octaves higher than normal.

“O-kay.” Holly said slowly.  She gave her friend a strange look before pulling out of the hospital parking lot.

The car ride was mostly a quiet affair.  Holly hummed softly to whatever was playing on the radio while Gail rested her head against the cool glass of the window.  She was thinking about texting Oliver to yell at him for abandoning her at the hospital just because Izzie had gotten taken into the station for underage drinking, but it seemed like too much effort.

When they reached Holly’s house, Gail finally spoke up.

“Thanks for coming to get me, Lunchbox.”

Holly shrugged, “I couldn’t exactly leave you there.  I don’t think the city wants to replace a hospital if you burned it down with the looks you were giving everyone.”

“It’s not my fault the doctor was an idiot and wasn’t listening.”

“Well you definitely made the intern cry and the senior resident also had tears in his eyes.”

“Well, maybe they shouldn’t let children pretend to be doctors.”

“Come on Grumpy Cat.”

Gail pouted but followed the pathologist into her house.  It wasn’t until they were in Holly’s kitchen that Gail remembered why she hadn’t been hanging out with her in the first place that night.   

“I thought tonight was girls’ night.”

“Last time I checked you were a girl too, Officer Peck.  Unless there’s something you’re trying to tell me, in which case I support you.”

Gail shoved her laughing friend.  “You’re such a nerd.  I meant you were supposed to be with your friends.”

“Again last time I checked you were one of my friends too.”

Hearing Holly say that Gail was her friend made her feel warm and tingly.

“Did you bail on them just to come get me?”

“No, it was already cancelled. Rachel got called in for a patient and Lisa is making a housecall for whoever she’s sleeping with this week.  I was going to ask you to help me drink this bottle of wine instead but I knew you were with Oliver.”

“So I was your second-choice.”

“You are always my first choice but you didn’t want to join us.”

“Lisa gives me dirty looks for how much of your time you spend with me.”

“That’s just her face.  I’m pretty sure she was born that bitchy.”

“I don’t know I’m still feeling rather unwanted.  I think you should share your wine with me?”

Holly narrowed her eyes, “Did they give you any medicine at the hospital?”

Gail shook her head, “I wouldn’t let them.”  Last time narcotics were involved she was almost attacked by a pink elephant.

“I’ll get the glasses.”

---

Still chuckling, Holly wiped tears from her eyes, “Alright, alright my turn: truth or dare?”

Gail didn’t want to move.  She was stretched across the couch, and using Holly as a warm pillow.  The now empty bottle of wine was on the floor beside them and over the course of the night she had made herself more and more comfortable.

“Truth.”

“What were you and Oliver cooking when you got burned?”

“Meth.”

Holly poked her in the side, “You’re supposed to answer truthfully.”

“A…” Gail mumbled the word against Holly’s thigh.

Holly gave the blonde hair a soft tug, “Try again.”

“A potion.  Okay, it was a fucking potion.”

“I KNEW IT!” Holly fist-pumped the air.

“How in the hell did you know that?”

“I met Celery at the wedding remember?  And I totally knew you were lying before.  You need a better poker face, Peck.”

“I have a great poker face.”

“Oh yeah, then what was the potion for?”

Gail sighed dramatically, “I don’t know.”

Holly pursed her lips and tilted her head to one side.

“I really don’t.  All Oliver said was that it would give me what my heart wanted most.  But I’m pretty sure I didn’t want second degree burns.”  

“Maybe you guys didn’t make it right?”

Gail just shrugged, “Maybe.  Alright.  Your turn, Nerd.  Truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Lame.”

“You just picked truth too.”

“Yeah but I didn’t want to move.  I was being lazy not lame,” Gail argued.

“Well, maybe I don’t want to move either.”

“There is no way you’re comfortable.”

Holly stuck out her tongue.  “Just ask the question.”

Gail’s teeth sank into her bottom lip as she thought about what she wanted to ask.  She was pretty sure she saw Holly’s eyes flicker down to her lips and stay there a little longer than usual.  Gail cleared her throat and Holly’s eyes shot up and a faint blush tinged her cheeks.

“Did you really mean it when you said that I was your first choice?”

“Of course, Gail.  You’re always the person I want to spend time with.  I’d choose you any time.”

Gail had never been anyone’s first choice.  Not Chris’.  Not Nick’s.  Not her parents’.  No one ever chose Gail but there was no way Holly could be lying.  Not with the way she was looking at her.  Not with the amount they drank.  

In vino veritas.

Gail was up and crashing their lips together before Holly could even process what was happening.  She knew she caught the doctor off guard but when she started to pull back, Holly pulled her closer.  She pushed Holly down onto the cushions, their lips moving together until air became a necessity.

“I’d choose you too.” Gail whispered when the kiss finally broke and Holly’s smile was wide and just the tiniest bit crooked.  Gail leaned it for a softer, more gentle kiss.

She would never admit it, but Celery’s magic had worked.