#which I'm very interested in even if the decision to establish that there are white supremacists in the far future is..........

[falderaletcetera]

I'm only a few episodes into jodie whittaker era (my first time), but thirteen has a lightness to her that's reminding me of nine and, not gonna lie, I'm tearing up a bit. and I'll be really interested to see if the comparison holds when the stakes get more personal.

[brynnterpretations]

okay, i saw your previous ship request and i'm not used to this type of stuff but i have a massive 'the boys' brainrot so: why not? let's do this! 'the boys' ship ask!

i'm a bisexual girl (what an introduction) from eastern europe (yeah, these beautiful countries with delightful swear words like: suka, kurwa and pizda). i like belles-lettres, fashion, history, a little bit of sociology, art, museums, a little bit of everything if i'm being honest.

i'm kind of jack of all trades but master of none. i have a opinion on every topic and i like to research a lot but i'm not interested in doing anything with the universal knowledge i have. yes, i may know a lot about many topics but i will never pursue a bachelor's degree in any of it. that's why i like to write stories, essays etc. because i can speak my mind freely. one day i can talk to someone about alexander the great and then at midnight i will text you top 10 facts you didn't know about kangaroos.

i also like drama, but i don't like being in the middle of it. i will enjoy when things are getting more and more complicated as long as i'm not included in it. sometimes during in-group arguments i can act as the devil's advocate for certain person but it doesn't mean i entirely agree with them - i just want to prove that not everything is black and white.

i'm in the conflict between my head and my heart, because i make all my decisions by using brains and then wonder if i haven't left someone behind. with my closest friends and family i don't have this problem but with more casual friends i always felt some type of guilt after i did something. the same case is with my humor because i will most likely jokingly bully you if you are the person i care about, but some people take it too seriously and feel offended by it😬 (fortunately, i have a cousin who shares the same absurd and sarcastic type of humor.)

and even though i'm a extrovert i prefer small groups in which i know i can feel comfortable. it's because i deal with a lot of stress in my life and sometimes i feel overhelmed by my intrusive thoughts (mm, i know you will get me). tbh i love those friendships in which you can both be weird but also have a deep conversations. besides all the things i said i'm also more future oriented so i don't hold grudges for long. i also love telling people random stories and love when they answer to me with their own silly stories.

i gues that's it. have a nice day! i hope you're doing well!! :DD

Thank you so much for the request, you seem like such a sweetheart! I hope you like it. ☻

I ship you with...

Frenchie ♡

Boyfriend

GIF Source: @screwsupes ★ (link)

You and Frenchie have what is basically the opposite of a meet-cute. On a drug-fueled suspicion that the cashier at Fumo, a NYC pizza chain, is the supe that The Boys have heard is around the area, Frenchie gets kicked out of the establishment.

But you — bless you — notice the commotion and, both intrigued and concerned (because how TF do you get kicked out of Fumo?), went out to the parking lot. After a brief conversation with him, littered with curses in both French and English, you eventually are able to calm him down a bit, and get him the pizza he was going to take back to the coup.

Frenchie's quite charmed by you — you're a good conversationalist, and the boys really needed that pizza — and you two exchange names, but neither of you expect to see each other again. However, you end up running into each other in the city a lot, particularly at the local Jitter Bean or the scattered NYC pizza places not including Fumo.

You start out as casual friends, often sharing a smoke together (or coffee if you don't smoke) outside and chatting. Frenchie loves art, sociology, and other cultural topics, so you two have very long conversations about any and all of the above. And, similarly to you, Frenchie is very much interested in these without the distractions of pseudo-intellectual academia slop and jargon, so you two hold very interesting conversations.

Probably a month or two after this takes place, he would start developing a lot of interest in you romantically. You're funny, smart, beautiful, and you two definitely share the same sense of humor. He'd start inviting you to simple dates, like watching documentaries in his apartment or getting pizza and cheap wine from a late-night shop.

From the get-go, he wouldn't hide his involvement in dangerous work from you. Honesty and transparency is extremely important to Frenchie, and he believes that, if you two are to pursue a relationship, you should know the shit he's in.

And, you do! It's not the typical roses-and-candles affair, but it's extremely sweet, and it's extremely Frenchie; after a couple months of going out, he flat-out asks if you'd like to be together. When you say yes... queue the biggest, sweetest kiss + embrace ever.

You two have a lot of late-night conversations about philosophical topics, like life, death, forgiveness, and religion. As mentioned, Frenchie is endlessly drawn to your intellect and curiosity, and will gladly sacrifice sleep to be able to hear your input.

Frenchie loves you reading to him, and while he's not the biggest reader (he's more of an art/audio guy), he'll take on even the most difficult books if he knows you like them.

Because of your shared spontaneous nature, expect a lot of fun, random dates, like impromptu museum getaways, thrift shop ventures, and long drives. Frenchie loves showing you his favorite spots in the city, especially at the city limits.

You two are the creative duo, and your relationship will reflect that, with you two often cooking and crafting (he'll make you a cute, raggedy locket to wear) together.

As evident by his friendship with Kimiko, Frenchie is a big pet-name guy, and will call you petit feu (little fire), ma moitié (my other half), and mon rêve (my dream).

Frenchie 100% understands the conflict between head and heart — it's one of his biggest challenges in life — and will always be an ear for you to talk at when it concerns making decisions, figuring out what to do next, etc. While not as much of a small-group person as you, he respects it (Kimiko's the same way), and will go out of his way to make sure wherever you hang out is comfortable.

Early on, Frenchie will introduce you to the coup, which brings us to...

The Boys ☻

Friends

GIF Source: @vcugifs ★ (link)

You and M.M. are the most well-knit in the group. M.M.'s a very, very well-read guy, which is why you start talking; English was his favorite subject in school, and you two both share a certain love of belles-lettres and other literature. After he spots your favorite book in your bag and starts a conversation about it, you two become peas in a pod.

Additionally, you two have a lot in common mentally and emotionally, and you are essentially rocks for each other. You both struggle with balancing rationality and empathy, battling intrusive thoughts, etc., and would always be there for each other. M.M. and you exchange numbers pretty early on, and you can expect a lot of sweet, dad texts from him (you will be blessed with that anxiety-breathing-triangle GIF at least once a week).

Also, don't be fooled by his serious exterior — M.M. is a funny guy, and your senses of humor match up perfectly.

While you and Annie got off to a bit of a rocky start (she can have some difficulty with sarcasm and thought you did not like her ass), you two become extremely close. While you may see her mentally buffer when you make an off-key joke, she'll get it in a few seconds and genuinely laugh. She also isn't extremely familiar with a lot of your interests but loves learning new things, especially since she didn't have the opportunity to go to college and really immerse herself in sociology and the arts, so she loves taking book recommendations from you.

Hughie would be the same, though he'd take better to your humor — the guy's first introduction to the boys was Butcher, so he had to get used to it pretty quickly. He really, really likes you and Frenchie together, and thinks you're a sweetheart.

On the topic of Butcher, you and Butcher wouldn't really mesh at first, but you wouldn't not mesh, either. Butcher isn't the most intellectual guy, so a lot of your fun facts and conversational topics would fly over his head, but once you hang around the boys more, your sense of humor would click with his. Additionally, even if he wouldn't show it often (he's not that type of guy), he appreciates your future-oriented mindset as he tends to be a right-here-right-now person.

And, lastly, Kimiko: Kimiko loves you. Similarly to Annie, it took a bit for her to warm up to you, mainly because she's pretty averse to change and also very shy. However, as you found ways to communicate with her, she'd become enthralled with you. In the Shining Light Liberation Army, Kimiko didn't get any exposure to anything else but the Shining Light Liberation Army, so she is obsessed with your input on the arts and history, and loves to hang out with you. She'd definitely invite you to hang out a lot, particularly at museums and parks.

Honestly, I could see Kimiko forming quite the crush on you, but she'd never interfere with you and Frenchie.

So, girl: you've got a lot of good friends on your side.

[notmuchtoconceal]

Bro, where do you get all your power to produce continuously? Your blog is like a high-performance testicle full of testosterone. Do you put all your sexual energy into writing? How many cumshots do you have a day?

don't cum. don't eat. don't sleep.

my balls gotta be full, my belly's gotta be empty, and my head's gotta be somewhere between wakin and dreamin.

cumming makes me unhappy. food makes me unhappy. sleep as the brother of death is the course of my inevitable submission, but now is is not time. i basically want nothing in my sister (system) at any given time except water, coffee and increasingly regulated dosages of the sacred grass. the sacred grass is worthless if overindulged.

there are some things which abstinence are best for and some things which a rhythmic loosening and tightening of restriction are best for.

only you know your own habits, inclinations and temperament well enough to make informed decisions about yourself. you ought consider a medical authority more like a form of consultation than a master to submit to. not to shit on any hardworking professionals, of course, this is purely a systemic critique -- your doctors are the same products of the book-based ideological control apparatus which prioritizes singular, orthodox approaches because our current medical establishment too grew out of complicity with the church.

as a white man, you can believe me when i tell you it's a legitimate critique when women and other minorities say their doctors don't listen to em cause they think they know better.

this is because your doctor was trained to think his book is more correct than what your body is telling you, and your education trained you to think that what an authority figure says is more true than what your body is telling you. they all have a vested interest in keeping the same opinions because they all spent money on an education to give them not only the knowledge, but the legitimacy to practice, and so they are Very Invested In Their Ideas and How They Do Things.

ex falso quod libet. that's a magical spell that tells you you'll fuck up if you don't get your facts straight. that's why it's good to ask questions, folks. if you don't know why you're doing what you're doing, you might do something wrong or not even wanna do it. being trained to be obedient has done you a tremendous disservice.

it is not disobedience to ask questions.

if someone makes you feel disobedient for asking questions, it's because they don't want you to think.

you're an adult. you deserve the real reasons for things.

to cycle back from this detour -- people'd always look at me like i was a crazy person when i told em fasting works for me. they think it's dangerous. they think it's unhealthy. they say i gotta learn moderation. they're cowards who can't think for themselves.

motherfucker, you do not wanna know how i ended up over 300lbs. if i started telling you, you'd start squirmin and beg me to change the subject. you wouldn't know how to react. the pain is too intense, complicated and fragmentary. you don't know what it's like to live with a woman who cooks too much because she buys too much because she only knows how to make people happy with food and if her husband ain't screamin at her while she's cookin, he's screamin at her when we're at the table and he's got the tactical advantage of bein in the other room. this is the routine. for years. a sham famly where she wants to look normal and cry and he keeps fuckin destroying every iota of her self-esteem to keep her needy, and so the Children Could Never Be Known for the Parents are At War With Themselves and With Each Other.

i will not elaborate further. this is the tip of the ice-burg. you cannot imagine what years of this, compounded with the myriad other problems, inevitably does to the human soul.

how could you? i didn't. i spent a good chunk of the last two years reckoning with shit i'd never considered or long forgotten.

i think too much, tho and i'm sensitive.

that was probably a perfectly normal situation for you, that's what everyone always told me was the case.

was everyone's dad just as bad as my dad and i'm just a weak-minded pussy bitch who can't deal? is everyone else a hero for being able to put up with this constant stream of incomprehensible abuse day-in, day-out, and i need to go and kiss his ass even harder for putting up with me? nobody wants an anxious crying pussy fag baby for a son. why aren't you already a man? why aren't you already making me happy? what, you expect me to put work into you? fuckin feed and clothe you, ain't that enough fucker?

i dunno, bro. you can hear your dad screaming down the block like -- three or four times a week every couple months. it's pretty regular and has only gotten worse as he's aged? other dads, you know -- there's like two or three you hear screaming maybe once every... couple years? yeah, i think you just need to accept that your family situation is abnormal and unsalvageable. neither of your parents have ever been able to take care of you, and that was the correct observation. other people who told you that you needed to obey, forgive and be thankful to them were wrong. you can't have a meaningful relationship with someone who wants to live in an alternate reality where the thing that's hurting you all isn't.

yeah, so my obesity -- it weren't fuckin genetics, it was my mentally ill family situation. most of my life my obesity seemed impossible to overcome because i was attributing it to immutable and unchangeable facets of my biology, but nope.

i was fat cause i kept listenin to my ma and my was bad for me.

fuckin simple.

other people constantly steer you wrong because they want to protect themselves, and yes, on some level they do enjoy watching you fail, as benevolent as they may seem, because they don't like that they "had" to fail, and seeing you attain your potential will hurt them.

everyone has been hurt by everyone else and when you go off the handle ranting about "other people" what you're really referring to is this collective malaise of toxic mediocrity borne of the desire to forgive others in expectance of forgiveness for themselves, which seeks to forgive perpetually not to ease the pain of overcoming, but to descend unto sloth and despair inevitably. it's not about blaming other people, bro. it's about asking people to empower themselves. when you hear "personal responsibility" you should think "empower yourself". it means the exact same thing, but one packet of words makes you feel good and wanna do things cause sometimes pleasure matters more to you than truth or reason cause it's easier.

you don't have a deep-seated aching need to be understood because you've been ignored and contradicted or projected upon your whole life, naw. you just wanna be special.

this isn't you giving yourself permission to express your real thoughts, and leading by example how others might do the same, it's just boasting. you're the resentful loser with a big ego!

don't stop and think for a second that maybe this idea where everyone ought be de-individualized pawns serving power is normal is in fact completely abnormal?

meanwhile, as for that moderation comment?

oh yeah. i did learn to eat moderately.

i played a game with myself where i would only have one piece of candy a day instead of five or six and it worked.

it was way easier when i could look at the candy as a periodic indulgence instead of a poison i needed to totally discontinue because it was widespread and ruining my life.

people who think you're an asshole are telling you they're the asshole, it's true. they mistake your energy for hostility.

they didn't spend most of their twenties looking at people who were cut-off and alone and going "oh, maybe they're just going through something" cause it confused you when people said "she's a bitch, she won't talk to me" because you see a person in pain who needs help and not a hole to fuck. once more, being so well-endowed psychologically and physically, you can't know if that other person is projecting their selfishness onto you or if your big rippling muscular alpha body just read as selfish because you look like other men they want, and oh yeah, that's what they want from you anyway.

when there are massive rifts in your psyche, it's best to think of the process of unpacking and rationalizing as the gradual looping and tightening of a thread through the folds, bundling it up with a nice bow so it won't rip again except under vigorous endurance!

performance is love.

without listening, you cannot adjust the performance.

walk away from people who won't listen.

so, to wrap this up -- fasting is not only a fast, safe and effective way to lose fat, it will also hone your willpower. your fat is stored to be used. when you don't eat, you use it. your body is on a clock and expects food at regular times, you think it was that way in the wild? naw, bro. three square meals is a product of industrial modernity. you live outside of nature. in the wild, you'd eat a whole antelope at once, then wouldn't kill another one for awhile. your body was designed to handle stress. people who compulsively tell you to avoid stress are overcorrecting in the opposite. stress is good. stress is normal. stress is inescapable. live at a level you're comfortable with.

furthermore, aside from the documented cognitive benefits of feelings of spiritual oneness, prolonged fasting induces autophagy, the process by which your body begins to eat itself for sustenance.

people act like if you don't eat for two days all your gains are gonna wither away. bro, wtf? dude, the muscles that you use are gonna be preserved. your body ain't stupid. it's gonna eat that shit it don't need first, like -- loose skin. yeah, i was also hesitant to lose the weight for years cause i thought i'd end up looking like a garbage bag, but naw bro. 110lbs down and i got almost no loose skin. my body ate it for sustenance while i wrote walls of text on tumblr.

turns out when you stop ingesting garbage, you stop being it.

if you leave yourself alone and do what you're actually supposed to do instead of what other people tell you to do, your body and mind'll sort out the contradictions on their own because your body wants to be healthy and is always striving to reattain a state of equilibrium.

don't let people talk you into eating garbage, bro.

don't matter if it's the american way of life.

[mermaidsirennikita]

ARC REVIEW: Fangs So Bright and Deadly by Piper J. Drake

3.75/5. Releases 9/24/24.

The Vibes: shapeshifters, MMF, folklore we should really see more of in PNR, what if you could cuddle your boyfriend like a cat?

Heat Index: 7/10

The Basics:

Marie is a consultant during her day job... and on the side, she's a witch hunting down dangerous magical objects. This brings her into contact with Joe, a gumiho, and his kitsune partner (in every sense of the word) Kuro. Though the spark she has with both men is immediate, there's a snag. They're working for Marie's enemy. Nonetheless—what's the harm in a little fun on the job? Until fun becomes a lot more serious... both in terms of physical and emotional risk.

The Review:

Speaking of fun—this was a lot of fun! I've actually never read a book featuring a gumiho or a kitsune before. A lot of (let's be real, white) authors would probably equate the creatures as they're both shapeshifting fox spirits, but Drake does a great job of introducing what they are, their similarities and differences, and what those forms and roles are to Joe and Kuro separately. Which is kind of a theme throughout the book, to be honest. Marie, Joe, and Kuro can all bonds from certain cultural similarities—but they're not at all the same. Everything, even down to the way they approach food, is carefully considered in the writing and handled (in my perspective—call me on it if I'm wrong, I'm an American white woman) delicately. But not with any sense of trepidation, either.

This shouldn't be something that's surprising, but let's be real... romance is what it is. And, like most subgenres, PNR has been super white, historically. It was really cool to see a departure.

On to the rest of the story!

I think that what makes this interesting is the way in which the stakes are high in theory, but in reality there's still a lot of levity. Kuro and Joe both experience Premature Shifting. There are multiple scenes in which they're like, held by romantic partners like pets. Because you know... foxes aren't really that big! It's borderline goofy at points, but it actually ends up being quite cute.

Where I, of course, being the reader I am, struggle is in the fact that the relationship really is pretty healthy. Kuro and Joe are very established and happy together, which I did love. They're also both pretty good with bringing Marie into their relationship as a new partner. Which... perhaps made sense with their experiences as supernaturals and how that may affect their perspectives... But felt a little too easy for me. Like, y'all are life partners, and it's totally believable that you'd meet this woman and feel a connection you want to explore (Kuro and Joe have shared flings and slept with other people separately as well) but I don't know. It seemed a bit quick for them to jump from "let's bone her" to "let's make her our girlfriend".

To be fair, Marie does pump the brakes on that a little. I actually loved that she'd been in polyamorous relationships in the past (and didn't have a super negative experience) and knew her hard limits. There are aspects of the story beyond the triad that affect her decision, and I felt that was explored really well.

But everyone was just... a bit too respectful and good, I supposed. Which is on trend for romance right now, and a lot of people will love that. I just wanted a bit more mess.

The Sex:

Obviously, this is an MMF romance, so you get scenes that are a bit more creative and dynamic than what you'd find in a monogamous romance. But, I'd say that in terms of a triad romance, these are on the tamer side. Still very hot and explicit! Just not super crazy. You see Kuro and Joe one-on-one in a fairly quick but sexy scene, and you get multiple scenes with all three of them together. Well-written, steamy, but if you're not super experienced with triad romances, this actually may be a good way to dip your toe in the water.

That's actually true for the book all-around, now that I think about it. If you're into to fantasy and paranormal romance and curious about whether or not you'd like a triad romance... This is very much a baby steps book. There isn't a love triangle. Everyone cares about each other and wants the best for one another. It isn't at all toxic—the opposite, really. At the same time, you get the reticent Marie, the charismatic and sweet Joe, and the more dominating (but still lovely) Kuro. It's not an array of samey people, either.

So yes—for me, the drama could've been higher. But it's still a good book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for providing me with a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[struggle-but-its-all-ocean-floor]

What I don’t get is why all those collabs and remixes with mid/has been artists? JT and Usher now… hello, it’s not the early 2000’s anymore, I’m 30 and all for the nostalgic vibes usually but with those guys? What the heck is Hybe doing. Those artists need JK and BTS way more than he needs them. They should better focus on him solely. I’m so done with this obsession with toping the charts and awards and popularity contest, I get that he’s an artist and wants to be the best but as for me I don’t fucking care about it, I want good music with good concepts and good performances with JK only and screw the rest. Honestly, I know this is a matter of personal taste, but I feel like they should better come back to the roots of kpop. They have to secure the ‘k’, not get rid of it imo. Turning kpop into mainstream pop is a sure path to failure in the long run, but I’m just a kpop fan so who am I I guess.. as much as I was dreading this enlistment period, I hope the boys will be safe and that it will be a time for self reflection for them, especially JK who seemed a bit uncertain about the path to follow for his solo- I think his solo lacked a clear vision and concept, probably the result of his lack of inspiration in the first place. Sorry I’m rambling. That being said him enlisting with Jimin makes me feel better, I’m relieved they’ll have each other. I truly hope we’ll get to witness amazing music when they will all come back.

Well, JT and Usher aren't super popular anymore but they are still famous and somewhat relevant, and have access to different demographics - in JT's case, 30-40s (white) women who were his fans as teens and young adults, and, in Usher's case, I guess it's a similar age group, but also the black community as whole according to an anon. I don't like calling people has-beens although I pretty much called them that myself. In JT's case, his reputation is on the floor right now so it's like Jungkook is on the wrong side of the Britney vs. JT debate, and it's not exactly a good look (even Forbes questioned this collab and they write more flattering BTS articles than Weverse Magazine). With Usher, I don't know. It could be a better decision than I assumed but Usher is certainly not a trendy artist these days and those are the kind of artists that could help Jungkook a lot in the short term. Even Jack Harlow helped JK, simply because people know his name, he's White, and people are way less prejudiced to check out his music, and he also has access to places JK is kept out of despite JK being way more in demand. So, truly, all these artists help JK in some way, with some drawbacks (3D alternate version is a much better song and overall Armys were definitely disappointed in the collab), but there's also no denying there are a lot more impactful artists to have a collab with. I would argue that, of all the collabs, Latto was the best one they chose and I was not happy about it at first. I'm still not sure if the woman is a racist because I saw a few racist tweets about Asian women, which could be really old and I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, but despite not being that famous, she is a) a woman, which in the music industry makes her more interesting right now, b) an up-and-coming rapper, which makes her seem like a more tasteful, music-oriented choice rather than a commercial one, and c) the fact that people don't really know her means no one is immediately put off seeing her name, which I'm sure cannot be said about the other three artists. So, Jungkook collabing with another rising star, perhaps one that has a current hit, would've arguably been a more interesting choice. I don't know, but I think JK's demographic doesn't mesh with JT and Usher fans? Their images don't mesh either? JK is a young, "rising" star, part of a very popular established group, so he needs to be associated with artists that are respected and have a fresh sound imo. I don't know... Ideally, he would partner with established artists with a fresh and current sound.

Putting the k back in kpop... I think English songs clearly do better internationally, but it's very hard for most groups to have a genuine impact abroad, so, to them, making English music only wouldn't help much. It would probably help BTS with the GP, since they are famous globally, but I don't TXT would overthrow even SKZ globally if they only made English tracks. In JK's case, because he's that big, an all English album helped, and, what's more, Koreans liked it, especially Korean celebs, and I think a lot of kpoppies loved it too. Kpop fans complain a lot about English music but usually like very Western kpop tracks (mostly as long as they are not from BTS)... I prefer kpop too, but the distinction between pop and kpop isn't that clear, and atp this debate is very useless and tired.

I think Jungkook didn't have a clear artistic vision for Golden, but he did have a clear vision of the kind of performance and vocals he wanted, as well as visuals and (maybe) impact. I don't think enlisting would change him and make him want to release a kpop-y album. It could be argued that he doesn't have very set opinions either way - English or Korean music is kind of the same to him in many ways, I think.

And, yeah, I'm glad Jikook are enlisting together, I hope they stay together the entire time...

[hadassahlowe]

Reviews of the Top 5 Biker Dating Sites 2022

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To show off who I am now. I'd rather be with someone who doesn't love me enough. For example, you are less likely to meet someone in the wild who enjoys volunteering at animal shelters than you would be if you met someone while you were actually volunteering at an animal shelter too. Well, someone has to make money here, right? Well, they gave me advice, but I made the decision myself. It depends on the date. Whether these date ranges indicate a compromised sample, inaccuracy in the archaeomagnetic dating method, or post-Puebloan activity at the site is unknown; however, because no other evidence suggestive of post-Puebloan activity was discovered in the course of our research, the last explanation is the least likely of the three. In the course of this analysis, I identify ways in which individuals’ experiences are impacted by structures, relationships, and design decisions across IndieWeb’s community and larger infrastructures. Privacy experts question whether any company should be taking action against users merely because they are believed to have been at the Capitol on Jan. 6 - before formal adjudication or even arrests by authorities. But it’s always hard because you have to do the outreach and not everyone has a network that’s even interested sometimes.

Most of us have had past relationships that were filled with loving moments, tense arguments and self-growth. You might then go on classy dates, fall in love, get married and maybe even have some kids. Again—as before the testing of the wood from the tomb of Tutankhamen—I found resistance; some famous collections of Egyptological antiquities disclaimed possessing any organic material (wood, swathings, hide, seeds, papyrus) that could be sacrificed or even the very possession of such material dating from the Nineteenth, Twentieth, or Twenty-first dynasties. Even with the extreme demands of bcrypt, the case-correction is relatively fast. Only with the right person. Are you with anyone right now? Now sometimes, these types of people are much older. Self-esteem is important, but there's also such a thing as loving yourself too much. It's a good thing I can't remember! There is a good reason we are the number one company on the market for recurring payments - we understand that your success is our success.

[undertale-data]

[Image description: An Undertale textbox with the name “Toriel” in the middle, between two of Toriel’s talksprites. The left one is wide-eyed and blushing, the one on the right shows an open-mouthed smile. End of ID]

Toriel is often referred to as Goat Mom, and love for her as a mother character is consistent throughout the responses. Some people are overwhelmed by the grief over her lost children, which makes her one of the most tragic living characters in the game. Others feel connected to her as if she were their own mom, wishing that she could be present in real life. Still there are others who acknowledge her role as a mother, and are glad that canon gives more depth and autonomy to her character than that, even if fandom does not always follow in canon’s footsteps (see highlighted response #2).

Aside from her role as a mother, Toriel fans appreciate both her rage and her silliness, showing the complexity there is to her character.

Responders also liked her visual design. Not all responders elaborated on what specifically appeals about it, but a few mention that she looks like she would give good hugs. Others refer to her as a “MILF” or are attracted to her as a furry.

In comparison to other Undertale characters, it’s notable that no responders mentioned Toriel being personally relatable. This may be why she has among the fewest fans of all the major characters. Only 2.3% (60 responders) picked her as their favorite character. Several responses noted the difficulty of choosing, so it is possible that responders who picked other characters debated choosing her.

Regardless of how many responders picked Toriel as their favorite, those who did have a lot to say about her. Read the highlights below for more details on what her fans love about her.

Highlights: (under the cut)

This was a really difficult decision for me because I am so deeply attached to many of the main characters, and it is so very tempting for me to put sans because he is the one I have spent most of my energy on and most of my friends associate me with him. However, my true favorite is Toriel. I think her being the first monster you meet to be kind to you unwaveringly and yet all of her actions are so heavy with grief and fear… I think about her. I think about her choice to lock herself away and what it must be like to raise and release child after child, knowing full well what will happen to them and that she would have the power to stop it if she would leave the ruins and I wonder what keeps her. I think Toriel’s choice of inaction is what draws me to her, and I love her relationships with the rest of the cast—especially in the true pacifist ending. Goat Mom Is Dear To Me <3

Big cozy goat mom

She's very powerful but lives a quiet peaceful life by choice and I admire her for both of those reasons. Also she's a milf and I'm very gay

Her character and whole back story interests me, how she vows to protect the lives of children and just how much she has gone through.

Toriel is a strong female character that shows femininity is not weakness.

I think she's a fantastic example of a character who is a woman, whose flaws are natural extensions of her positive qualities as well as her trauma, and who's a bit selfish and messes up, but is still viewed unquestionably as a good person. I also like how at the end of the game, her arc doesn't have her immediately forgive Asgore and get together with him, nor does it put her with anyone else. Asgore's shown to be a good person, but she's still allowed to establish boundaries, and I think it's a lot healthier for the both of them. That said, I would like it a lot if she were allowed to be single in comics and fanworks more often. Most of the time I read her, she's Sans' or Asgore's girlfriend, or Frisk/Chara/Asriel's mother first, and an autonomous character second. I think there should be more fics where Frisk goes missing and instead of Sans doing a rescue mission, it's Toriel. I think if her stats match Asgore's, she should be allowed to go a little feral, allowed to have some cool weapons and fire attacks. She's not demonized like Chara or Asgore often are, but I still think it's a shame her complex character is so often flattened to 'perfect wife and mother', and her trauma isn't explored as often as, say, Sans.

[Image description: A wordcloud in the shape of Toriel’s full body sprite. Her body is colored white while her dress is purple with a white Delta Rune symbol. Some of the most visible words are: Toriel, Mom, Love, Think, Kind, Cool, Give, and Goat, which represent the most common words in the essays people wrote about her. End of ID]

Read the full list of responses shared with permission by clicking here.

[biteghost]

What did your base your drawing style off of? Cause honestly i get a lot of Batman TAS vibes from it, which is a great vibe, btw!

Hi anon! Thanks for the message - you're right, there is a lot of Bruce Timm's art (and specifically his work on BTAS) in my art DNA. You can also find a lot of various anime/manga series in there, and if you go back far enough you'd see some other cartoons, too!

Now, I hope this doesn't come off as pedantic, but I wanna talk about how you asked this question. Don't worry, it wasn't rude or anything and I'm not trying to call you out specifically. Obviously I understand what you are asking, but I find phrasing it "what did you base your style off of" interesting.

I spoke with a couple of my peers about this, and we've all seen similar things throughout our various time on the internet - and it's getting more frequent. A lot of upcoming artists are looking for advice from professional and established artists online and approaching art and 'success' as a mathematical formula with a correct answer. A correct answer that professional artists aren't giving away - and honestly? How dare they.

(I think part of this is definitely at the fault of social media. Quantifying successful or 'good' art by how many followers, likes, shares, reblogs or retweets is... bad for brains. 'Number go up' doesn't really mean anything, and the sooner you start to ignore those numbers the easier it will be for you and your relationship with your own art.)

I did not 'base' my art or general drawing style off of anything. It was not a conscious decision I made. I didn't watch Batman: The Animated Series as a 13 year old and decided to copy the art style until I could draw the shapes in my sleep. What happened was the art moved me, it resonated with me, and I liked it so much I wanted to draw it. I made a lot of fanart for a cartoon that wasn't even airing on television anymore, and the fanart I made wasn't very good because I hadn't been drawing seriously for very long. My control wasn't good, my lines weren't confident, and my tools were limited (printer paper, black sharpies and colored pencils all the way, baby!) But I didn't care because I loved those characters, I loved that world, and I wanted to express that love and appreciation - even if myself and a few close friends were the only ones who would ever see it.

To be perfectly honest, the art style I tried to replicate as a child (before BTAS, even) was CLAMP's work Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle. My oldest sister introduced me to manga when I was 11/12 years old, and I thought the art was so beautiful. I'd never seen anything like it before - the stark black and white, the use of negative space, the VERY BEAUTIFUL characters which stole my heart and captured my imagination (Kurogane, mi amor 💕)... I tried to copy the work I saw in the manga (my volumes are very well-loved from carrying them around school in my backpack), but I hadn't tried consciously to copy what I was looking at before. I hadn't tried drawing seriously before that point. I had never cared that much about something that it made me want to create something of my own, too. But I didn't have the knowledge that CLAMP did. I didn't have the years of inking experience to understand why they did each stroke, and where they allowed their figures to be implied. So try as I might, I never got the style down because I simply did not have enough experience with drawing. Instead, it's how I got comfortable with holding a pencil and drawing with it. It gave me more confidence in myself. I think that's why when I got obsessed with BTAS a short while later, I had a much easier time making bad fanart for it. The style was simpler, and I had gotten a lot of my bad drawings out trying to make fanart for Tsubasa first, haha!

Art style is something that is not real - or not real enough that it should be something you are worried about as a young artist. If you find your 'art style' changes a lot that just means you're learning at a quick rate. It means you are taking in and applying a lot of different things that you see into your own work. That's a good thing! As you continue your artistic journey and gain more experience, your internal library of resources will continue to grow. You will develop the ability to purposefully wield those influences and styles. You will be able to look at art and dissect what you like about it and then apply it into your own work with intent and confidence. You will experiment with this, and you will hone your other skills at the same time. Line work, confident brush strokes, proportions, rendering, color theory, lighting, perspective, depth, confidence in your tools (digital or traditional - or both!) - all of this will be worked on as you experiment, as you learn, as you practice and as you continue to chase your self-expression.

I think when professional artists give the advice of "draw every day" or "keep practicing", younger artists might feel that it's not good advice. It might be a let-down, because they're looking for the mathematical formula to become successful and to get recognition quickly. But art is a skill, like anything else. It takes time to learn, to grow comfortable in, and it's something you never finish learning!!

You have to keep in mind that older artists might have been drawing since before you were born - they have years and years and years of experience. Like, I've been drawing since about 2005, which was 16 years ago! And I get teenagers asking me things like this, and it's like, buddy I've been drawing since before you were alive. I have your entire lifetime over you in terms of experience. It doesn't mean I'm better than you, but there is just a literal gap in terms of time spent experimenting, failing, and learning that you haven't gotten to do yet.

You see an artist's current work, and you have to remember that this is their CURRENT skill level that has been attained after a lifetime of working on their craft. Every piece you make is a stepping stone in your journey, and THAT is why you should draw every day. You should draw what you love. You should draw what interests you. And if you're unsatisfied or feel you can't do justice to the things you're trying to depict - focus on that skill and practice it until you're happy with it.

OC's not as sexy as you think they could be? Go practice anatomy. Read some books, study how the body works and bends. Want to make your comics more dynamic? Go read some comics you think are dynamic or cool and study their layouts, study their framing and posing. Want to make smoother animations, want to try painting backgrounds and sweeping vistas, want to up your coloring game? You gotta go seek out the materials to help you learn. You gotta be willing to read and study in order to hone your craft into what you know it can be!

Your art style is a combination of all your experiments, influences and practice. It's your struggle, it's your joy, it's your triumphs and it's your failures. The things that you like and that bring you joy combine in you to make your unique artistic voice. Don't worry so much about style. Consistency doesn't matter in art. Don't worry so much about how other people got to where they are today. You don't need to be them to be great. Just keep drawing.

[lena-in-a-red-dress]

When you’ve processed that episode, I’d love for your thoughts cause holy shit I’ve no clue what that was or that ending was for Kara in context with what we’ve seen so far… and I can’t articulate for shit

So, I've kind of already given the bulk of my thoughts. I'll probably have more as I continue to experience other people's takes as well, but here's some stuff I haven't mentioned yet:

- I like what they did with the love totem. Not for what it did with Lex and Nyxly (tho seeing Lex get dumped was indeed satisfying), but because it was how all of the totems should have been handled. Like, it was an unusual test that revealed something new about the person who underwent the gauntlet. We learned that Nyxly had lines she would not cross, and would do what she personally thought was right. Very cool.

- I like that the second half was all character stuff. Those quieter moments are always my favorite, and it was a nice palate cleanser after the shenanigans and fan service of the final fight.

- I also like that Alex doubted Kara. I can't say I like how it was presented, but I liked the conflict. Because first of all, Kara saying "*I* will fix this, *I* will save Esme" is just more of a burden than she deserves. And also there has to be a point where Alex acts on her own, and I think we found it. Especially when what was really in question was "i will not only blame myself, but also blame you, Kara, Supergirl, Hero of Earth." And by Alex going her own direction it helped her take responsibility-- even if she failed, she would fail knowing she did the best she could. I'm just saying, it made sense to me.

- Lillian and Nyxly were delicious.

- huh. I just realized that William died not knowing Kara's secret. That's kind of interesting in its own right. And I don't mean that in a mean way-- I actually liked him this season. I just mean there's probably a lot we can unpack from the fact that knowing or not knowing Kara's secret doesn't really have as much risk/safety riding on it as Kara thinks it does.

- it'd interesting to explore what a "white ops" DEO would look like. Without the legacy of the original Hank Henshaw's operation, with the cumulative lessons they've learned across the years, how their friend group persists as they each forge their own legacy. And I'd be interested to see how Kara mentors the next legacy of heroes and vigilantes, so that she doesn't have to do as much as Supergirl proper anymore.

- I also want to know what happens to L-Corp. Now that it no longer has to be Luthor/Lex Corp... does Lena return to it? Does she liquidate it? How does it become the entity that solves the daxamite lead poisoning? I don't know enough about how business works to know what options are available to fic writers at this point, if they wanted to explore L-Corp's future.

- It's also worth mentioning that in the second half of the finale, Kara was often alone. She processed a lot of her uncertainty on her own, which reassures me that this is a decision she is truly ready for and truly wants. She only went to two people for guidance, and I think it's telling that those people were her sister and her best friend, both of whom were women, and both of whom had a well-established history with Kara. It would have felt cheap if she had talked about it with say, James. Or even Nia. You know? For the conversation in question, there's only a select few she would go to, and I think the writers chose the right ones.

[itsclydebitches]

Hi! I was just watching good omens and I came up with some questions, but I didn't know whom to ask, so I was digging around for go analysis blogs and found you. *takes a breath* So, I was wondering if you had any thoughts on why Heaven's camera angles are the way they are. I noticed that, in heaven, the camera tends to focus on the characters' heads specifically, so they fill most of the screen. Either it's a meta reason or a reference to something (like Newt with the Office) that I'm not getting. That's the main thing, but I've also wondered why exactly Aziraphale uses the verb "fraternize" in the 19th century. It seemed an odd pivot from caring about Crowley's safety to Heaven's rules. Thanks so much!

Hello! Omg yes, let's talk Good Omens cinematography.

First, the obligatory Analysis Disclaimer: I doubt there's a specific interpretation that you're just not getting, some singular, "correct" reading of the scene(s). Two years past release, I'm positive the fandom as a whole has come up with plenty of ideas (I mostly hang on the periphery. I'm far from up to date with GO meta), but any and all of it will, by nature, be subjective. Thus, all I can offer is my own, personal interpretation.

So for me? It's about intimacy.

Not intimacy in the sense of friendship, but rather the broad idea of closeness. Confidentiality. Emotion. Knowledge. Understanding by means of literally getting into the thick of these conversations. I love the camerawork in Heaven (and elsewhere) because the camera itself acts like a person — an additional party to these interactions. And, since we're the ones watching this show via the camera, it makes it feel as if we're peeking into scenes that are otherwise private. Obviously all cinematography does this to a certain extent, the camera is always watching someone or something without acknowledging that we're doing the watching (outside of documentary-esque filmmaking), but GO uses angles and closeups to mimic another person observing these scenes, someone other than the characters involved.

The easiest example I can give here is when Michael makes their call to Ligur. Here, the camera is positioned up on the next landing of the staircase, as if we're sneaking a look down at this otherwise secret call. There's even a moment when the camera pans to the right to look at them through the gap in the railing, briefly obscuring Michael from our view.

Here, a standard expectation of any scene — keep your character in focus — is done away with to instead mimic the movements of someone actually hiding in the stairwell, listening in on the conversation. It creates that feeling of intimacy, as if we're really there with Michael, not just watching Michael through a screen. The camerawork acts like a person overhearing an illicit conversation prior to falling back on mid/closeup shots. We're spying on them.

To give a non-Heaven example, the camera helps us connect with Aziraphale during Gabriel's jogging scene. It's hard to show through screenshots, but if you re-watch you'll see that the camera initially keeps them both in the frame with full body shots, allowing us to compare things like Gabriel's unadorned gray workout clothes with Aziraphale's more stylish outfit; one's good jogging form and the other's awkward shuffle. However, this distance also creates the sense that we're jogging with them, we're keeping pace.

That is, until Aziraphale begins to lag. Then the camera lags too, giving them both the chance to catch up, so to speak.

Until, finally, Aziraphale has to stop completely and the camera, of course, stops with him. We're emotionally attuned to Aziraphale, not Gabriel, and the camerawork reflects that. Even more-so when we cut to a low shot of Gabriel's annoyed huff at having to stop at all, making him appear larger and more imposing. Because to Aziraphale, he is.

This work carries over into Heaven's other scenes. The closeups are pretty much a given since, whether it's Gabriel realizing Aziraphale has been "fraternizing" with Crowley (more on that below!), or Aziraphale choosing to go back to Earth, the scenes in Heaven are incredibly important to the narrative. Closeups allow the viewer to get a good read on each character's emotional state — focusing on minute facial changes as opposed to overall body language — and that fly-on-the-wall feeling is increased as we literally get an up close and personal look at these pivotal moments.

Compare a shot like this one of Gabriel to the line of angels ready for battle. We don't get closeups on any of their faces because their emotions aren't important. Yes, that's in part because they're background characters, not main characters, but a lack of emotion — their willingness to enter this war without question — is also the point of their presence in this scene. So they remain a semi-identical, nearly faceless mass that runs off into infinity down that hallway, not any individual whose inner life we get a peek at via a closeup.

I particularly like Aziraphale's conversation with the angel... general? Idk what to call this guy. He's just gonna be Mustache Angel. But, getting back on track, his scene has a lot of over the shoulder shots which, admittedly, are pretty common. From a practical perspective they're used to help the audience situate both characters in the scene — you're here, you're there, this is how you're spaced during this conversation — but it can also help emphasize that closeness between them. Keeping both characters in the shot connects them and though Aziraphale and Mustache Angel definitely aren't on the same page here, those shots help cue us in to the unwanted intimacy of this moment. They're both angels... even though Aziraphale no longer aligns himself with them. They're both soldiers in a war... but Aziraphale will not fight. This angel has a list of Aziraphale's secrets, including that he once had a flaming sword and lost it... but Aziraphale doesn't want to admit those circumstances to him. This angel wouldn't understand, even if he did. Intimacy here, connection and closeness, is something discomforting because Aziraphale can no longer embrace those similarities. They put him (and us) out of sorts, so when we get them both in frame, that connection creates tension, not relief.

And many of those over the shoulder shots are given sharp angels, or the camera is placed too close to the "off screen" party. Compare a shot like Luke and Rey to Aziraphale and Mustache Angel. Here, Luke is a clean, solid line on the left side of the screen, just enough there to cue us in to where he is in relationship to Ray, In contrast, Mustache Angel's mustache is Too Close and proves rather distracting. Rey and Luke are connecting here over being Jedi with responsibilities to uphold (or at least, Luke will acknowledge that connection later lol); Mustache Angel is forcing a connection with Aziraphale that makes everyone uncomfortable.

We are too close to him here. He feels too close to Aziraphale too. This whole conversation is upsetting and discomforting, pushing Aziraphale to finally choose which side he's on (his own with Crowley). The shots aren't meant to subtly keep the audience from getting lost and then otherwise be unobtrusive, we're supposed to be Very Aware of this angel's body and how close he's getting to the character we've come to identify with — both literally (he's leaning in) and in terms of forcing Aziraphale to finally make his choice.

When Mustache Angel marches forward and gets all up in Aziraphale's face, the camera positions itself behind Aziraphale in a way that makes it feel like we're hiding behind him, with Aziraphale taking up far more of the screen than Luke does. Like the scene with Michael or running with Gabriel, the camera often likes to mimic a "realistic" response to these events. This angry, shouty angel is getting closer, best take a step back and stay out of sight behind Aziraphale, holding his ground.

These closeups also serve as a nice contrast to the wide and longshots we get of Heaven. It's an imposing place with skyscrapers in the distance, lots of steel, immaculate floors, and endless white. It's overwhelming and it's cold. But then we cut to those mid-shots of Gabriel and Michael, telling us that they're in control of it all.

Aziraphale? Aziraphale is not in control. Not now, anyway. When he appears in Heaven we get a longshot to show off this endless void and he's just another, tiny speck in it. If he weren't flailing around — an acting move that likewise helps sell how out of his depth he is — it's unlikely you'd even notice him. Aziraphale's clothing and hair blends in perfectly with the background. He's forgettable. Easily overlooked. Someone to underestimate. And when he moves, he has to come to the camera. We don't cut to Aziraphale to establish control like we do with Gabriel. He's left to awkwardly shuffle up to Mustache Angel until he's finally come into view.

Yet when Aziraphale makes his decision, he aligns himself with the brightest, most colorful, most interesting thing in the room: Earth. Earth, with all its messy individuality, is the antithesis to Heaven's controlled uniformity and a bright blue orb hanging in the midst of all this white helps remind us of that. Aziraphale rejects becoming one of the identical soldiers and instead literally reaches out for the one thing in Heaven that doesn't fit in.

When he leaves, we get an extreme closeup for the first time. Mustache Angel is pissed and as such we not only get a good look at his face in the aftermath of Aziraphale's choice, but that extreme closeup on his mouth as he's shouting too. It's like he's shouting directly at us, the viewer who is currently cheering on Aziraphale's decision. There's a war, dammit... but we don't care. Not in the way he cares, anyway.

So there's a lot! And I could probably go on, but apparently I'm only allowed to add 10 images per post now (tumblr what the actual fuck if anyone knows a way around this please share!) and I've already had to merge a bunch of images like an animal. So let's awkwardly finish up with the duck pond scene.

...without a GIF because they apparently count as images too 🙃

Simply put, I don't think Aziraphale bringing up fraternizing is a pivot from one to the other — from caring about Crowley to caring about Heaven's rules. I mean yes, Aziraphale is lagging behind Crowley in terms of rebellion and a part of him is, at this point, absolutely concerned with how he'll come across to the higherups, but that worry doesn't stem solely from a (now very shaky) desire to obey for the sake of obeying. The thing is, Aziraphale's disobedience is, by default, also Crowley's disobedience. If they're friends and they're ever found out, they'll both get in trouble. Which, we know from the end of Season One, basically means being wiped from existence. That's horrifying! And it's a horror that threatens them both. I don't think Aziraphale cares about rules for the sake of rules; after all, he started off by giving away his sword, lying to God, is currently meeting with Crowley anyway... this angel has always ignored/bent the rules — established and implied — that don't suit him. Rather, he cares about the rules if he thinks they have a chance of being enforced. If there will be consequences for breaking and bending them. This is still about caring for Crowley (as well as saving his own, angelic skin). If they're found out, Crowley dies. And, as we the viewer learn, Heaven was indeed observing them that whole time. There was always legitimate risk attached to this relationship. Aziraphale's fear, hesitance, and at times forceful pleas to stop this stem as much from Aziraphale worrying about Crowley's safety as they do a learned instinct to obey the rules without question. He pushes to end the relationship because the relationship threatens the only thing Aziraphale cares about more than that: Crowley himself.

As for the term "fraternizing," that's a loaded one! I won't go into a whole history lesson here, but suffice to say it has military roots: to sympathize as brothers with an opponent. That is literally what Crowley and Aziraphale are doing. They are an angel and a demon, supposedly innate enemies, supposedly poised for an inevitable war... yet they've formed an incredibly strong kinship. They've both learned to love their enemy, the thing every army fears because, well, then your army won't fight (just as Aziraphale won't). However, beyond the enemy implications, "to fraternize" eventually took on a sexual meaning: to not merely love as a brother, but to lay with the enemy too, usually women from enemy countries (because, you know, heteronormativity). Nowadays, "to fraternize" often implies a sexual component. I've been rewatching The Good Wife lately and in one subplot, the State's Attorney cracks down on fraternization in his office. He doesn't mean his employees are forming bonds with assumed enemies, he means his employees are having sex on his office couch. So Aziraphale's phrasing here carries a LOT of weight. He's both reminding Crowley of their stations in the world — you are a demon, I am an angel, us meeting like this can have formal, irrevocable consequences for us both — as well as, given the fact that this is a love story, drawing attention to the depth of this relationship. They love one another, as more than just friends. Though whether Crowley's scathing "Fraternizing?" is a response to Aziraphale falling back on the technicalities of their positions, or acknowledging a love he's yet to overtly admit and commit to — or both! — is definitely up for debate.

[morethanaloveinterest]

A Thorough Review of the Black Widow Costumes Through the Years

Let's look at how the design has changed from IM2 to finally getting her own movie. (no spoilers)

We'll talk about what features each one has, how it works as representation for the (usually) sole female Avenger, and how they compare to each other. Plus what I personally feel about her different hair styles because they are very important to me (as a redhead).

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Features:

- Utility belt

- Garrote

- Black Widow symbol on high waist belt

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holster

- Flat-soled boots

- Smoke bomb discs

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (blue)

Hair rating: 9/10

Crazy impractical and with weird implications (her real hair is a wig but her fake hair is real??), but I love it

Female representation:

So, as I mentioned in my other analysis, this is a definite departure from what she's wearing in the comics. As her first appearance, that is really all we have to compare to. Those costumes tended to look more like a bodysuit with limited practicality, and was often depicted as unzipped significantly. The translation to screen might have disappointed some dudebros, but I love it. This looks like an actually useful thing to wear into a fight. It may be figure-hugging, but it doesn't emphasize any T&A or whatever. The shoes are even not heeled for once! It reminds me of the armor in Wonder Woman (vs that of Justice League) - it was clearly designed from a place of usefulness instead of solely how it would look on screen.

I know that her role in IM2 has been called a sexist caricature, but I don't think it is (something I talked about here). Compared to many of her depictions in the comics prior to 2010 and other representations of her archetype (female spy), this is top notch work.

Compared to other suits:

This suit is blue while the rest are black (or white). They talked in the special features about that decision, apparently as a way to make it less sexy. I don't know if that worked out, but props for thinking about it. The metallic gray of her accoutrements looks really good in contrast with the blue.

It clearly establishes things that all of them have - the BW symbol on a belt, a utility belt, thigh holster(s), Widow's Bites. It is less complicated than some of the others, but it gives her the opportunity to use every gadget in her arsenal (something the others tend not to do as well). It also (seems) to have flat soles on the boots, which we won't see again for a long time.

In terms of fabric, it seems to be all faux leather. It has piping down the center of each side all the way down, which many of the futures ones will feature. The collar is a bit longer and more open than we'll see until the BW movie. She does have two guns in one scene, but only appears to have one holster for some reason.

The Avengers (2012)

Features:

- Utility belt

- Black Widow symbol on high-waist belt

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Wedge-heeled boots

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (blue)

Hair rating: 6/10

Shorter is more practical potentially, but I feel like this just gets in her eyes even more. Plus it's the least realistic color, which may match the brighter colors of this film, but I'm not a big fan.

Female representation:

As with the previous one, this is a great change from the comics. And while some promotional material may have featured, um, interesting angles for her, the suit itself is not especially objectifying. The zipper is undone perhaps more in this one than in the others, but it's not like it becomes more so as the movie progresses.

As well as being impractical, the wedge heels do feel like a step down in representation as well. I can't imagine that fighting is easier in wedges than with flat soles. So I might rate this lower than the previous one, but not by much.

Compared to other suits:

As with the original, the suit is all the same fabric. This time it is black, which will continue to be the case. There is now a distinct high color (that will also be a staple going forward). The boots are now wedges, something that has the misfortune of continuing. I realize that she is fairly short and has to share the screen with much taller men (unlike the previous appearance, where it was a solo scene), but still. They aren't practical for fighting.

The low-waist utility belt and high-waist Black Widow symbol combo is repeated here, as are the fingerless gloves and thigh holsters (though now with a second one). The chest now has v-shaped details, while the lines down her legs look to have made a reappearance.

This one seems to be the most uncomfortable, if you ask me. She moves more stiffly in it (especially in the interrogation scene) and the fabric doesn't move with her as much as the previous or subsequent versions. It's my least favorite, as iconic as it is.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Features:

- Utility belt

- Garrote (presumed; she has it when in civilian clothes)

- Grappling hook

- Black Widow symbol on high-waist inset

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (very small)

- Wedge-heeled boots (I think?)

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (blue)

Hair rating: 7/10

I love the color but I would rather it be longer. And it's too straight - I like the scene where it's a little damp and curlier.

Female representation:

First, it's important to note how little of the movie she is wearing this suit. For the vast majority of her screen time (and she has a LOT of screen time in this movie), she is wearing casual clothes. I talk about them individually here, but none of them are objectifying or anything. Because of that, it really adds to the practical and realistic vibe that this movie has (which is good representation).

The suit itself also looks far more practical, just based on the fabric. It moves easily and looks like it actually breathes (how hot were the last two??). The leather look from the comics is reduced for something more useful - leather accents to allow movement as well as protection. The double-belt situation is similarly left for a more practical approach - wearing multiple belts has to be complicated if not uncomfortable.

I think the wedge heels continue, though it is hard to tell. The leather accents could easily have emphasized her chest but they don't (despite how it might look on certain posters). The high collar looks like it might actually protect her neck and she now has (small) knee pads. While the previous two were a good departure from the comics in terms of representation/practicality, this feels like it starts to come into its own as what an Agent of SHIELD might actually wear.

Compared to other suits:

As mentioned, it keeps the staples of thigh holster, Widow's Bites, utility belt, and fingerless gloves. The gadgets she uses are also used when she's wearing her regular clothes, so must be easily detachable to wear all the time. The leather is used as an accent instead of the whole, which will continue going forward. I assume it made it more comfortable and was subsequently insisted on.

Other than that, it has little screen time and is fairly simple. We see her use much of her arsenal in the opening scene on the Lumerian Star, but then we don't see it again until the almost the very end. Most of her arsenal is seen later without the suit, which is a unique feature of this film (it happens briefly in CACW as well but I don't think it does otherwise).

The Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Features:

- Utility belt with Black Widow symbol

- Batons

- Blue piping

- Full gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (regular-sized)

- Wedge-heeled boots

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (unused)

Hair rating: 7/10

Basically the same as Avengers, but I do like it slightly better. The color is a bit more natural, so it gets a higher rating.

Female representation:

She wears this suit for a lot of the screen time of this movie despite not really using her arsenal very much. I'm pretty sure she never uses her Widow's Bites at all, let alone her other staples (garrote, grappling hook, etc.). It all kind of adds to the fact that she spends little time doing any actual fighting - she brings down like 3 dudes and then babysits Clint in the opening battle. She fights like 3-4 more in South Africa before being brainwashed. She does fight a number of Ultrons in the final battle, but not for very much time. So this suit, despite definitely standing out in terms of design, doesn't really get much action and emphasizes how pared down her role on the team is (something I talk more about here).

Additionally, this is the only suit where there are obvious cups on the chest. Maybe because of her real-life pregnancy, I don't know. But I do find it off-putting, especially in the scene where she's laying on her back (in Tony's vision). The camera angles really emphasize her chest in this movie and the outfit does nothing to help refocus the gaze onto her as a person. Which is a shame because otherwise I really like the direction this one takes the idea of her suit in. But, as a curvy person myself, I can guarantee that 1) she is wearing a bra under this and 2) wearing cups over cups is horrible. So this was not done with her in mind and just really ends up reinforcing how she's barely more than a love interest in this movie.

Compared to other suits:

This suit is much more complicated than the previous one and adds a few new staples for the concept of her suits. First, it has batons - they are glowing and blue, which will not continue, but it is something she is shown as having for the rest of the movies. It makes sense for this one and the next movie (Civil War) especially as a way to give her a main weapon that is nonlethal. She can't be shooting her teammates in Civil War, obviously, and the same goes for Age of Ultron. The rest of the heroes tend to be able to knock out their enemies (even if the impact trauma would likely result in death, we can PG-13 our way to saying everyone fine). And her signature weapon being Glocks is... not great for that. It works in CATWS because that was a gritty movie where people were definitely dying in fights, but this movie has a more cartoonish (or comic-book-y) approach to combat. And Natasha being the only one straight-up murdering folks wasn't going to fly. Hence, batons.

She also has substantial knee pads, which I'm sure Heidi Moneymaker appreciates! There were some slight ones in the CATWS suit, but now they're more obvious and will continue to be so for the rest of the films. She also has real gloves that cover her fingers instead of fingerless gloves. Now, in IM2 and CATWs, she needed her fingers for hacking into computers, I imagine. But regular gloves are generally more helpful, I think. The Widow's Bites also look to have been upgraded, though I can't think of a moment when they're actually used to show it. The utility belt now has the BW symbol on it instead of it being an additional symbol on her waist, which makes sense. Finally, it has gone back to the more leathery look, though now looking a bit more like kevlar than just leather (or pleather). It helps make sense for her to be able to hold her own with the rest of the Avengers as it is a definitely jump upward in defense and offense.

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Features:

- Utility belt

- Batons

- Black Widow symbol on high-waist inset

- Full gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (armor)

- Wedge-heeled boots

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (blue; now with projectiles)

Hair rating: 9/10

Again, I know it's not practical. It's probably more practical than her initial appearance, but it's definitely one of my favorites. The color is perfect, the style is the most flattering we've seen, I love it.

Female representation:

Thankfully, the cups are gone. Sadly the wedges remain. The leather is gone almost entirely, so this looks very breathable and practical. the knee pads are still here, despite the rest of the suit being much less complicated than the AOU version.

This one is a lot like the one in CATWS, so I don't have much to add here that I didn't say up there. I would say this one feels more feminine in the design than the CATWS suit, likely due to the seams being more central and emphasizing her wasp waist (instead of just being at the edges of her torso). I don't feel like that is objectifying, but ymmv.

Compared to other suits:

The vertical seams from the IM2 and CATWS suits have returned, now more pronounced. The BW symbol being inset with a separate utility belt has also returned. It does make sense to compare the IM2, CATWS, and CACW with each other, as they appear to follow a continuum. The Avengers and AOU suits are somewhat similar to each other but definite diverge from these others.

As mentioned above, she retains her batons and they are very important in a battle against her teammates. I don't remember her Glocks being used at all, actually (correct me in the replies if I'm wrong!). She does use much of her arsenal in other scenes, including her Widow's Bites on Crossbones and on T'Challa. For the first, we see that she has her gadgets despite being in civilian clothes. For the second, we see that now her Bites include a projectile so she can still do ranged attacks.

The Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Features:

- Utility belt with Black Widow symbol

- Utility vest

- Batons/staff (with backpack)

- Shoulder armor

- Fingerless gloves

- Elbow guards (armor)

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (armor)

- Wedge-heeled boots

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (unused)

Hair Rating: 0/10

No longer red. Where are her eyebrows? I hate this. It is a bit better in Endgame, where she at least has eyebrows. But I'm very happy when it grows out.

Female representation:

This is probably best best we've seen. She and Steve both have their old suits from CACW and are obviously worn down a bit and modified to reflect the last few years they've been Secret Avengers. And that also importantly puts them both visually on the same footing - they are co-leads of the team and they dress like it as well as act like it.

There is basically nothing about this outfit that isn't utilitarian, except for her boots (which I think are wedges, but honestly I'm not sure). The vest doesn't even emphasize her chest as much as any of the previous costumes (and many of them didn't really, but this is less so). I know I'm not thrilled about the hair (which obviously also has a utilitarian purpose), but this really is the top of the list for representation. She looks great but nothing is designed to make her - any male character could be wearing the same thing.

Compared to other suits:

Definitely the most war-like of her suits. She is a spy, after all, so it needed some modifications to be ready for battle. Her knee pads are even more substantial, and she know has bits of armor on her shoulders and elbows as well. She can still move easily, but has some actual protection from attacks that she hasn't really had before.

Her batons make a staff now and she has a little armored backpack for them, which is nice. There are lot of details to make this a more substantial costume than she has been wearing, taking cues from her AOU suit but also looking like it might be something she put together on the run. The vest looks great - you could probably put so much stuff in there, you wouldn't even know.

Anyway, this looks like it is the CACW suit with the AOU utility belt, new batons, new pads, same boots, some previous iteration of fingerless gloves (CATWS?). I really like all those touches to make it look like what she could do while lacking the resources of being an Avenger.

The Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Features:

- Utility Belt with Black Widow symbol

- Grappling hook

- Batons (with backpack)

- Shoulder armor

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (armor)

- Wedge-heeled boots

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (unused)

Hair rating: 10/10

I love the color, with red going into blond. Very pretty and not something you see often. I love braids, and it's great she actually has her hair out of her face for once.

Female representation:

I'd say this is a step down from IW, but definitely better than AOU. The front details clearly outline her bust, even if they then cut through it so that it is not overly emphasized. It is still more than I would prefer, with no clear reason to exist. The plates on her stomach are presumably to allow movement as well as protection, but why is her chest basically bare of these? Not the greatest.

She continues to wear wedges, which is unfortunate. However, she does still have many of the pads she had in IW (shoulder and knee) which are large enough to be useful. But I don't know - she doesn't really do any fighting in this outfit (just briefly against Clint, where the stakes are much more emotional than related to combat). And the detailing on the chest and thighs seems a little weird to me, so I might rate this the same as the AOU suit.

Compared to other suits:

We're back to a more Kevlar look like in AOU. The belt is the same as IW or AOU as well, with the symbol on it. I'm not sure the utility belt serves much utility, though - it doesn't look like it has much ability to store things. We now have red accents, especially with the Widow's Bites, which is fun. Her batons are different from IW but still have a backpack for them.

Visually, this one does look pretty different from the others. It has no leather and appears to be Kevlar, perhaps like AOU. But the silhouette and the detailing are pretty different and unique to this suit. The staples are still there (high collar, wedge boots, thigh holsters, etc.), but the bodysuit itself is unique for this appearance.

Black Widow (2021)

Features:

- Utility belt with Black Widow symbol

- Batons/staff (with backpack)

- Shoulder armor

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (armor)

- Flat boots with tread

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (unused)

Hair rating: 10/10

Best color, great style. I LOVE braids! Especially as a way to get her hair out of her face.

Female representation:

Chronologically, this comes right after CACW and before IW. The shape of the chest on both this and the next one are pretty different from the CACW suit and more reminiscent of the vest in IW. As far as representation goes, I think that's a step up. Especially given the fact that she is wearing white - it is never see-through or gives an excuse to ogle her.

She actually has flat soles on the boots again, at last. Overall, it is very practical - maybe not as practical as IW, but very close to it. She has bits of armor again and her utility belt and backpack look very useful.

The comics also feature Natasha in a white suit. And it is... well, not always the most empowering, shall we say. Unlike this one - I really like how the detail on the chest breaks up the white space, which could otherwise be pretty easily draw the eye to her breasts. There is a change in the style to fit around her chest but it doesn't draw the attention to them. So I think it's great, and especially for something that is all white.

Compared to other suits:

Again, given the chronology, it makes sense for her to have a belt similar to the AOU or IW versions. It also has the armored parts that the IW one does. Basically, this takes a lot of inspiration from the IW suit and seems like a pretty reasonable suit to have at about the same time (slightly before). The collar is more like her original IM2 outfit, though. I can't say much more without getting into spoiler territory, but I think it takes the best parts of her previous suits and puts them all together.

Features:

- Utility belt with Black Widow symbol

- Batons/staff (with backpack)

- Knife

- Shoulder armor

- Fingerless gloves

- Thigh holsters

- Knee pads (armor)

- Flat boots with tread

- Two Glock 26s

- Widow's Bites (red)

Hair rating: 11/10

Love it, this is what she should have been doing (or some version of it) for all of the movies. It's feminine but also perfect for the fight situation. By far my favorite.

Female representation:

This seems like her most detailed suit, especially with the grey and black outlined in white. It's a definitely departure from the rest and I think it is in the best possible way. It doesn't look exactly gender-less, but there is nothing about it to emphasize that a woman is wearing it. Or, rather, to emphasize the woman as being made up of parts - it's a cohesive whole.

It looks at least close to as practical as her IW suit, though less prepared for open combat and more for spycraft (which makes sense). I especially like the strap across her chest, given that it is a perfectly good place for a strap to go when securing things on your back but is something generally avoided by her other costumes. For some reason...

Compared to other suits:

The design is a lot like her white suit. While it has a lot of the detailing that her Endgame suit had, that one felt a little off to me. A little too much emphasis on her feminine form. But this one seems almost designed to distract from that - or at least with her being female as low on the list of reasons for its design. I would still put the IW suit above it, but only very slightly. I again can't get into too much more with this one because the movie is barely out, but it's a great suit.

So, overall, she has a lot of the same features consistently throughout her suits. We might not see all of her gadgets in each appearance, but pretty much what was established in IM2 continues to exist throughout the MCU. The batons are the only real addition in AOU, replacing her Glocks as her primary weapon. The base fabric changes a lot in the suit itself, but the shape tends to be the same overall with some different details on the torso to set them apart from each other. Here are my final rankings:

Best hair: Black Widow (2021) in the black suit

Best representation: Infinity War (2018), followed by the ones where she has flat shoes (IM2, BW)

Suits from least favorite to favorite:

#9 Age of Ultron

#8 Endgame

#7 Avengers

#6 Iron Man 2

#5 Captain America: Winter Soldier

#4 Captain America: Civil War

#3 Black Widow white suit

#2 Infinity War

#1 Black Widow black suit

Thanks for reading! Check out my other costume ratings here

Please come check out my 10 Part Series on Natasha Romanoff

[fireemblems24]

Hey! It's the anon who sent the ask about the imperialism thing.

I guess it's kinda ironic because uh, the country that did the whole imperialism shtick to my country is the US. The saddest part is that it's barely acknowledged and I'm pretty sure it's not even studied in your history either. If you're curious, look up Benevolent Assimilation. Yup. That's what they called it.

Anyway I had a realization when you mentioend about why not Edelgard try to enact the changes on her Empire first? And I realised... Yeah, why not???

A possible thing she could've done that's less bloody than a war is to change her Empire first. And then befriend the future leaders of the Kingdom and Alliance while they were in school. That would've made things fairly peaceful between them and also if the changes in the Empire are working out well, she could've promoted the same methods to Dimitri and Claude for them to establish in their own countries. She doesn't need to conquer them. I mean, yeah this is a very easier said than done situation (especially since there's still TWSITD) but again, less bloody alternatives.

To be fair, Edelgard handling this entire affair in a flawed manner such as a war is also fine by me. Seeing imperialism in media is fine especially if it highlights the flaws of it because yes, it and its long term effects need to be acknowledged. But the game just feels like it's condoning her... And there's also the ton of people who agree with her who just make me uncomfortable really because it feels so close to real life. Not only that seeing as this is a Japanese game and the Japanese have a... history with imperialism (in which they also occupied my country... we don't really get a break) it's just uncomfortable.

Again, I like Edelgard and the morally grey potential of her decisions. My problem really is in the execution. I would definitely tolerate CF much more if the BE had more prominent roles as critics? I think that's the only way they'd really fit in CF tbh. Criticise Edelgard, question her actions, make her question her own actions, make her realise the damage she caused. Stuff like that would've made CF into such a good route. Like, if AM is Dimitri's character study, why couldn't we have had Edelgard's character study in CF?

I guess in the end, the main reason why I'm really talkative about the whole Edelgard issue is because I really want to love her? I see the potential in her character — I love her design, her general personality, her voice actress, the fact that she's actually different from the usual female character in these games. But I just end up liking her and not really loving her because sometimes the games feels like it's forcing me to love her so much that I just eh. I still don't like her Byleth attachment.

But yeah I think I'm going to stop bothering you all about this since I think I'm just repeating restated points again.

I briefly looked up “Benevolent Imperialism.” Sounds exactly like the kind of phrase an Imperialist would label their conquest as. I’ll have to learn more about it because surprise, surprise, our history lessons do leave that out. 

As for your comments on Edelgard, I agree with everything you said. I cannot believe her actions are wholly benevolent and in the name of bettering society only because she never once attempts to work with other leaders. She’s either so far up her own ass she legitimately thinks killing every other major power in Fodlan except herself is really the best option for everyone or there’s more to her actions than her ideals - like killing all the dragons/forcing them into hiding forever or getting back what she thinks is rightly hers because the Empire ruled those territories hundreds of years ago. 

My issue, like yours, is that this game acts like she’s some kind of saint. She’s sacrificing her own soul by bloodying her own hands for the benefit of all. Whenever she talks about all the damage the war causes, it’s not about the victims, it’s about how sorry we should feel for her because she’s dirtying herself so everyone can live in her future utopia. 

It takes a grey, interesting perspective and makes it not only very uninteresting (and at times irritating as a player who doesn’t agree with her but it forced to act like she’s the biggest victim in all this), but problematic. To say nothing of how this glorifies war and skips over any and all negative side effects, it’s far more concerning in it’s presentation of Imperialism as a good thing, as a “liberation” of the countries who are getting violently taken over against their will. 

Like you, I don’t mind Imperialism in fiction. I don’t even mind seriously entertaining the question - but what if the conqueror really does improve things? What I do mind is this really black/white presentation where Imperialism is framed as liberation, like the Imperialist actually knows better than the countries she’s taking over. What’s super uncomfortable when analyzing things deeper is how unapologetic CF is at spinning the same propaganda used to devastate other countries, many still reeling from the effects. 

You could just write it off as fiction. It’s just a Fire Emblem video game no one should take too seriously. And I’m always torn about this argument because I don’t want to police fiction - at all - but I’m also aware of how fiction can change your worldview. You’d think people would be smart enough to separate fiction and reality but they often either don’t or use fiction to reinforce their own world views. 

I’m not surprised at all people agree with Edelgard. She’s presented as a liberator, her route presents war like its only victim is the perpetrator because she’s just oh so sad everyone else is forcing her to kill them. But I’m very alarmed if anyone wholly agrees with her and thinks she’s right to invade the Kingdom and the Alliance. You can love a character and not agree with their actions. I love a character who’s quite similar to Edelgard on the surface, Reinhard von Lohengramm, but I do not agree with his actions at all, even if I root for his victory at every turn in his own story anyways, because sometimes it’s fun to watch a magnificent bastard crush everyone under their heels. 

And yeah my main frustration with her is that I really want to like her. But her presentation is so bad that I’m struggling to enjoy her in her own route. 

[ljf613]

So could you please explain Sessrin to me? I'm not in the fandom nor have I watched the show but from what little I've been told the antis (as usual) have completely mischaracterized the whole thing.

P. S. Can we please ban grooming from the fandom lexicon? It lacks semantic meaning other than age gap bad.

Well, it’s been a while since I last saw/read Inuyasha, and I’m super-behind on Yashahime, but I do love SessRin and am pretty bummed about the amount of hate this ship has been getting lately, so I’m going to do my best to share why I love these two so much. 

First off, anyone who uses the word ‘grooming’ either doesn’t know what that word means, or was not seeing the same story I was. The definition of grooming is “befriending and establishing an emotional connection with a child, and sometimes the family, to lower the child's inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse.” This never happened. Sesshomaru did not look at this traumatiized child and go “hmm, how I can I best get her to trust me so that I can convince her to sleep with me” or whatever-- in fact, a large part of their dynamic is Rin choosing, over and over, to stand by him even as he is actively trying to push her away. (And considering that I suspect many of these antis are also Sesshomaru fans, the fact that they’re so quick to launch such a serious and out-of-character accusation at him is rather strange.) 

Here’s their story in a nutshell (and, again, I may be slightly misremembering details, it’s been a while): Rin, whose entire family was slaughtered by human bandits, comes across Sesshomaru in the woods and is initially terrified because, you know, demon. However, despite her fear, she realizes that he’s been injured and incapacitated, and does her best to try and help him (cleaning his wounds, getting him food and water, etc).  Sesshomaru, who, up until this point, has been a fairly typical demonic antagonist with your standard mindset of, “humans are stupid, selfish, and weak,” is understandably bewildered by this, and tries to scare her off. It doesn’t really work. This goes on for some time. (Several days? Weeks? IDEK.)  One day, after Rin returns to her village, a tribe of demons arrives and kills everyone. Rin tries to run back to the woods and escape, but the demons eventually catch and kill her. Sesshomaru finds her body, and, for some reason even he doesn’t understand, decides to use his magic sword that brings people back from the dead (yes he has one of those) to revive her. (This is significant because up until this point he has never even used the sword, as he hated the fact that he’d gotten the stupid healing sword while his little brother got the cool, killing sword.)  And Rin, who has no one left and no home to go back to, decides to travel with him.  (One of the interesting things here is that, despite the fact that she was killed by demons, Rin is actually more afraid of humans, because they’re the ones who murdered her family.) 

Their relationship throughout the course of the story is fascinating. At first glance, it might seem like Sesshomaru is always the one saving her, but she saves him too. Rin forced him to acknowledge that the world wasn’t black-and-white, that humans were complex, that just because he didn’t like someone or something didn’t mean it didn’t have a right to exist. Sesshomaru’s arc is subtle, but by the end of the story, he’s fighting side by side with the heroes-- something that would never have happened if he hadn’t met Rin. 

Now, the thing here is that, for most of the story Rin is eight years old. Their relationship is never, ever shown as sexual, but there’s clearly love there, and the implication the story ends with is that they will likely get together once Rin is older. I’ve heard antis say that they read the relationship as being more along the lines of “Sesshomaru ‘adopts’ Rin,” which explains a lot. However, I personally never saw it that way. They were partners-- just because Rin didn’t take out a sword and fight off anyone who tried to hurt Sesshomaru doesn’t mean she she was primarily on the receiving end of the relationship.  (In a story about battling evil, where nearly all of the characters are these awesome fighters, it’s pretty cool to see a character who is not a warrior, who just gives and loves and trusts and cares, and is never treated as lesser by either the characters or the narrative because of this. I really love Rin.) I think it’s a cultural thing-- people are used to the narrative of ‘coldhearted bachelor meets and adopts lovable scamp who reminds him how to love again’ and are primed to see it even in a story from an entirely different culture set five hundred years in the past. 

(Part of it is also about shipping wars-- many of the antis ship Sesshomaru with other characters, particularly Kagura, and would rather make the argument about morality versus just saying that they would prefer something a little different.) 

Here’s where I admit it gets a little bit sticky: How much of this is Rin just imprinting on Sesshomaru and using him as an excuse to avoid her trauma surrounding other humans?  And the narrative did a great job of resolving this dilemma. Near the end of the story, Rin leaves Sesshomaru. She goes to live among humans, to learn how to be human again, so that once she’s an adult, she has the agency to make an informed decision about what she really wants. 

There happens to be an audio-drama CD that was released in Japan sometime after the show ended, which is set just after the original story ends (when Rin is eleven). In it, Sesshomaru says something to Rin which is referred to by one of the other characters as a ‘proposal.’ Now, I don’t follow anti discourse, so I’m not sure if they know about it, but I can imagine they’d have a field day with that one. “Omigoodness, he proposed to an eleven year old, that’s so creepy.”  However, there’s some context involved. The word ‘proposal’ is used by one of the other characters-- who happens to have time-travelled from five hundred years later (that is, the present day). The whole plot of the CD starts when she complains to her husband/lover/whatever-their-relationship-status-is-supposed-to-be that he never actually proposed to her, and since he doesn’t know what a proposal is (because, again, culture gap), he thinks it’s some sort of monster she wants him to go fight for her before they can actually be married, and hilaraity ensues. She calls Sesshomaru’s words to Rin a proposal as in “see, that’s what a proposal is supposed to look like.” It has very little to do with SessRin in and of themselves. 

For reference, here’s what Sesshomaru actually said in this so-called ‘proposal’ (thanks to @inu-drama for the translation): 

“Rin, have you grown accustomed to life in the village?  No one is bullying you or anything?  Did you make a kimono out of the cloth I gave you the other day?  When you are troubled, or anxious, or sad, or any other time, feel free to call on me.  I will come to you immediately.  Even if we are far apart, if you call my name I will absolutely come flying to you.  If you cannot speak, you can whistle. Whistle through your fingers, if you like.  Distance is no object. Our hearts are tied together.  With the power of trust, there is nothing to fear.  Simply having that feeling should be enough to fill your heart.  That is why it is fine for things to remain as they are for now.  We have plenty of time.  You can examine your heart at your own pace.  Until then, take care of yourself.” 

(Is there something inherently creepy or predatory about that?) 

To me, SessRin is about love, in its purest form. It’s about believing in someone when the rest of the world is against them. It’s about choosing the person who chooses you. It’s about learning and growing and changing together. 

What’s that quote-- I think it was from Dawson’s Creek or something?  “What's a soulmate?” “It's uh... Well, it's like a best friend but more. It's the one person in the world that knows you better than anyone else. It's someone who makes you a better person. Actually, they don't make you a better person, you do that yourself - because they inspire you. A soulmate is someone who you carry with you forever. It's the one person who knew you and accepted you and believed in you before anyone else did, or when no one else would. And no matter what happens, you will always love them. Nothing can ever change that.” Yeah, that one. That’s what SessRin is about. 

[theoriquewitherseld]

Heck I DO wanna know more! I'm super interested in thia fic 👀

OK I am SUPER happy receiving this ask, but alas all I can offer is a lot of excerpts,, more under the cut

When Jacques arrives at Stain'd, he finds the records to be VERY accurate: it's a deadzone. That would likely explain the weird look the conductor gave him when he requested to get off. There's no longer anybody here

Back then there must have been some, perhaps, in order to enact Lem's apprenticeship. But he still regards the situation with an air of apprehension. Large chunk of reports were missing, reports that were leading up to his disappearance. It could be that VFD hid it, of course, but intentional or not, its denominator remains the same: something monumentally terrible occured for that to happen.

And he will have to walk straight to it. Or at least, its aftermath.

The rattle of the train leaving startles him, and he shakes off his nerves. He wants so badly to get back on the train, jump on the railings perhaps but the rear has gotten quite a distance away. He's already alone.

(Oh God I just realized I have no idea what people do after they get off trains. Should there be like people taking ur tickets or something?? Ive been on a train only once and that was super long ago)

The Stain'd Station was utterly deprived of life. Everything was cracked and looked in the danger of falling apart. Litter and dirt was strewn all around. There was no place that Jacques just wanted more to bail out of immediately (except, perhaps, that one wasp-infested area but that is besides the point). It unnerves him, to listen to the echoes of his footsteps in the abandoned station, with its business nothing more than a ghost of its past. It rattles him more than the rattle of train wheels on the tracks. But he trudges on, hoping to find some clue.

Out on the street was no better. All buildings were boarded up, some windows smashed. Brown grass was growing out of the sidewalks. There was few vehicles on the side of the road: a brown rusty one with its hood popped up and its insides gone, a yellow cab so terribly dented, and a black one with its paint job scratched and all four of its tires missing. It was a miserable place, not fit for any human life, much less an apprenticeship. He grimaces in dismay. This is where they dumped his brother? Even as a containment procedure, it was a bit much. No person should be in this place.

But that wasn't the most pressing issue. The most pressing issue is where to start. He does not have the faintest idea where he is in this desolate town, much less where his brother stayed for the duration in the past — except for the address of The Lost Arms. But that information was useless without a map, and every other map he scoured to know about the town has vehemently insisted that Stain'd-By-The-Sea does not exist. Whether VFD has already tampered with those maps, he can not tell.

He had hoped there may be a clue in there, some forgotten item, a thing accidentally left behind. But with no map, his best course of action is to simply search every establishment and hope for serendipity. Not all of the best things are necessarily good things.

He hears a rumble of an engine.

His gaze snaps upwards, puzzled if whether or not he had imagined it. Then he can see the yellow dented cab making its way towards him at a snail's pace. Jacques's heart stops, and gripped his suitcase until his knuckles turned white. It was a trusty little suitcase, filled with tools and files that are of great use of him, but he's not so sure if it were of any use against a damned ghost cab. If it were really a ghost. If Kit was here, she would've scoffed at him. But he's not really feeling up to an argument, not when his feet was stuck to the pavement, body frozen into place. He stares, heart pounding like there was no tomorrow as the taxi pulls up to its side, exactly right in front of him, and stops.

But then the window rolls down, and Jacques felt very, very foolish, but immensely relieved, as it reveals a worn and much younger face of a boy with a busted blue cap.

"Well, hello there friend," he says, with a voice just as tired. "Another visitor was the last thing we expected, but —" he gives a small shrug, "— here we are. Need a taxi?"

It took him a moment to realize how stupid he looked with his mouth gaping open. "I-I'm sorry," Jacques stammered, once he found his voice. "We?"

Another younger face pops up from below the young driver, and Jacques nearly jumps in surprise. "That would be us, the Bellerophon brothers," he reveals with a squeaky but cracked voice. "I'm Pecuchet, and this—" he points upward, and his brother tipped his hat at him, " — is Bouvard, but that makes people's tongue tired, so you can call him Pip, and me, Squeak."

The driver known as "Pip" frowned. "Are you alright though? You've looked like you've seen a ghost."

His eyes fluttered. "Er  — Yes, yes, I... I am afraid I also didn't expect anyone to come here either." He tips his white hat at them in turn. "Greetings to you, I am Ja— James Moore."

Internally, he cringed. It was a sloppy pseudonym, but he can't risk revealing who he is in the potential situation VFD managed to track his trail, they wouldn't be able to hold incriminating evidence against him. Curiously, it didn't arouse much suspicion from the odd duo, except for a slight tilt of the head.

"Well, nice to meet you Mr. Moore. Do you need a ride anywhere?"

Jacques is not quite sure what to think of climbing into a cab with kids of odd names in an abandoned town. However, his relief in discovering that there is fellow life, inexplicable as it is, and a likelier possibility of gaining information triumphed over whatever reservations he had at the moment. In the pursuit of his search, with its very nonexistent lead, he'd take anything.

"I'd like to go to the Lost Arms please."

"Sure," Pip reached out behind him and opened the door. "Hop in."

He pauses, and then climbs in and closes it shut, and soon enough, the two brothers drive away from the Station with startlingly expert hands on both wheel and brakes. Jacques is fairly impressed at their coordination.

"Say," Pip starts, once they got a quite the distance away. "Apologies if it sounds prying, friend, but out of curiosity, what business does a stranger have with Stain'd-By-The-Sea?"

That shook him out of his stupor. Idiotically, he hasn't prepared for that, he was ascertain there won't be anyone here, he even got business cards and all but it's not in his suitcase (which he wants to smack himself on). His mind blanks for a moment, but he manages to scramble an answer that isn’t necessarily a lie nor a truth. "I am private investigator hired to search for someone last seen in this town."

Pip looked at him through the rearview mirror, which was a bit dirty and cracked. "Oh? That certainly does explain why someone wants to be in this town."

Jacques didn't bother to clarify he does NOT want to be here at all, but he nods his head instead.

He expertly steered the wheel. "You wouldn't happen to be allowed the details no? Sorry, but interesting things have rarely happened here since..."

"I'm afraid not, no," Jacques blinks. That felt off. "Speaking of visitors, you haven't happened to have driven someone around lately no?"

"Until you came along? Not one for the past year. No outsiders at the very least."

He deflates a little, but he's unsurprised. So he really wasn't here recently. He was about ask more, when the taxi came to a stop in front of a shabby and derelict building he would presume to be the Lost Arms.

Once again, Pip reached out to open the door for him. "Here we are then, Mr. Moore."

"Thank you," he says, retrieving his wallet. "How much is the fare?"

Pip blinked in surprise. Then his eyes flickered towards the wallet, and his eyes widened further. "Huh, I never expected a paying customer today either."

It puzzles him so much that he tilts his head. Did they just let him ride as a charity? "Well, it's only natural to pay for a service, no?"

He just shrugged. "It's alright. Keep the money, it's not gonna be much use anyways, with the state of the town. You may wanna give that to the proprietor though —" he nods to the building, "— Prosper Lost."

"Well, I shan't dare to think of leaving this taxi without giving something in return," Jacques insisted.

"How about a tip then?"

"A tip?" he frowns. "A tip what?"

"Anything really, s'long as its useful."

That got him thinking. He thought of giving them a tip of accepting money when they get it and leave this terrifying place, but decided against. He then looks up.

"Here's a tip, there's this book that..." he trails off, feeling a painful lump form in his throat. "That my associate enjoys. Champion of the World, heard of it?"

~

Ellington feels the bitter sweetness on her tongue. The air was damp and cold after the shower, having ceased into droplets. Everything reminded her the cool greens and blues of a watercolor painting. At the distance, the light of the morning sun peaks through. She's glad she's getting some pieces of her back, but some of the damage will be permanent, and some things are just lost forever. Seeing the Association and strangers and natives to Killdeer fields all work together to set things right was amazing, but also drove home on the tragedy of Armstrong Feint, whose pursuit of vengeance blinded him, destroyed himself and set back hopes of recovery for years. The pain he inflicted was an unnecessary cruelty, that if he had bothered to spare, even the tinniest bit of mercy and offered his help, he would've witnessed the return of the sea and the recovery of the environment, and they could've been together.

But he had made a decision. All of their parents did — the Mallahans, the Hixes, the Knights, the Bellerophons, the Losts. What's done is done.

She remembers a line that her father read her once, many years ago. It was the book where Snicket claimed a wizard was not so very helpful, and that her father loved because of its elaborate descriptions of trees. Many elaborate description of trees.

"'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo." Ellington murmurs to herself.

"'So do I,' said Gandalf, 'and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'"

She stares at the sky.

~

But there was a knock at the door

They both froze. Moxie is still on the phone — with who, Kellar didn't hear.

It could be anyone, Kellar thought, perhaps some coworkers who forgot their stuff, or has the intention to work overtime. It may even be some neighbor, asking for help or providing assistance. It could even be a fellow Associate. There's no reason really, to think there could be enemies on the other side.

But he walked anyway. His breathing far too loud and uneven, yet his pace cautious and fearful. He calls out, "Who's there?"

No answer.

"I'm warning you," he says slowly, attempting to keep the tremble out of his voice, "that I'm armed."

Silence. It's a blatant lie of course, but no matter how he strained his ears, he still can't hear anyone walking away. They’re not fooled.

He motions to Moxie to get ready to run. A few seconds, he could buy that. Enough seconds to scramble whatever data they need and bolt like hell. Kellar doesn't see if she saw it.

The door is inches away from him now. His heart pounded in his chest. His hands carefully placed on the dark wood, and he looked into the peephole.

Kellar had barely moved his head in time just to dodge the blast shot that would've blown away bits of his brain, but had blown off half of his right ear instead.

He screamed, it hurt, hurt worse than anything he'd known and he's sure he's lost his hearing there, but he let the wound bleed and instead ducked and braced himself against the door to keep them from opening it. "Moxie run!"

~

"Look at him. Look. At. Him." Pip hissed, and Squeak looked at them with an air of innocence. "You think that's an angel?? A beacon of innocence?? Wrong. That's bastard incarnate. The single source of maliciousness on this earthly realm. Look. Look how evil he looks. He's a little prick."

~

"Frankly, I'd love to have a sibling," Cleo said.

Kellar looked at her as if she said something deranged and jabs a thumb towards Lizzie. "No, you don't. I love my sister, but you think she won't sell me off to the circus first chance she gets?" He shook his head. "Think again."

~

"Dibs."

"What the—" Moxie then scowled. "That was too fast."

Snicket just shrugged. "I have two older siblings, Moxie. The true nature of siblings... Is natural selection."

"Are you certain you should be using big boy words like that?" Ellington asked, bemused. "I'm fairly certain you can't even differentiate a crocodile and an alligator."

~

"If I may introduce you to my family," Jacques says.

He points to Kit emerging from his side. "— Parasite number one—".

And he points to Snicket as he emerges from the other. "— and Parasite number two."

~

"Alright, does anyone have any questions?" Jacques asks tiredly.

They all raise their hands.

"That isn’t sarcastic," he snaps.

They all lowered their hands, disappointed.

Jacques sighs. "Lizzie, you've got the stage."

~

"Just what time is it?" Ellington inquires, exhausted.

"Hang on," Kit smiled, and instead of whipping out a clock, she instead produces a clarinet. She took a deep breath, and blew. Before she could even make it to the second note, they look up at the ceiling— startled— suddenly hearing a very muffled but very clear yell from Jacques, Kit, are you seriously playing the clarinet at 2 IN THE DAMN MORNING.

They look down. Kit still has a devilish smile plastered.

"It's 2 am," she announces.

[annalyticall]

Hiya! I'm curious what thoughts you may have on BL3 story wise. Do you have many criticisms/things you personally didn't like about it or thought could've been done a little better? Sorry if you've talked about it at length on here before, I've had all BL3 posts blacklisted until recently.

No problem! Actually, I don’t think I have ever talked about my thoughts on Borderlands 3 before on a general tumblr post. So, I’ll list some of my bigger thoughts on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story up until Maya’s death at about the halfway point. It did take a while to get going since I felt like the introduction to the story dragged on Pandora, but I had so much fun on Promethea and Athenas. They were such refreshing settings compared to typical Borderlands fare, and I loved interacting with my two favorite characters Rhys and Maya. It was so worried with how Gearbox was going to handle Rhys, since it would have been easy to go down the Handsome Jack 2.0 route, but I’m glad they decided to keep his eccentric quirks and his dedication to becoming a better kind of CEO than Jack was. I especially loved the detail that he purposefully didn’t open the vault on Promethea because it would have put the citizens in danger, while Jack had done the exact opposite. Maya also had a lot of interesting development going back to the planet that had abused her out of her sense of duty to protect the innocent that had no part in her abuse.

Maya’s death, however, was a very, very solid turning point in the story for me. It wasn’t so much that Maya died - I could live with that narrative decision - but it was what followed. 

Eden-6 was by far my least favorite section of the story. Gearbox rehashed the entire last arc of the story and barely added anything new. Example - we are helping a perceived “good guy CEO” (Rhys and Wainwright) by defending his “better-than-the-other-guys” company (Atlas and Jakobs) from a hostile takeover by a spoiled evil sibling that wants it for themselves (Katagawa and Aurelia). This story-arc villain is being supported by the COV as well. In the end, we kill the story-arc villain and get to a vault, where Troy and Tyreen ambush the supporting Siren character (Maya and Tannis). It’s a story that was better the first time because I felt Rhys, being an established character in the franchise, better portrays the struggles of a “good” company in the universe compared to Wainwright who doesn’t even particularly want the Jakobs company which is now inexplicably a “good” company too despite canon contradictions to that in previous games. Also, they absolutely did Aurelia dirty making her a black-and-white evil villain rather than just a rich brat. And I just don’t find Eden-6 a particularly interesting setting.

I’d say I liked the story a little better once we got off Eden-6. The story involving Tannis inheriting Angel’s powers was very interesting to me since I love the Siren lore in these games. I also really liked Necrotafeyo as a setting and the small insights into just who and what Eridians were. However, I found Typhon somewhat a nuisance to the story. The echo-logs he leaves behind are not interesting whatsoever, since they don’t really talk about the lore despite him being a great vault hunter that should have an expansive knowledge of it. Instead, many of the echo-logs are used for cheap jokes, which meant that I had almost no attachment to Typhon when we finally got to meet him and I certainly didn’t feel anything when he died.

Ava is also not a very good character. She is hypocritical and rash, which is fine on its own, but she doesn’t have any sort of character arc that leads her to become a worthy successor of Maya’s powers and Lilith’s leadership. She doesn’t really learn anything, and that frustrates me a lot since she is someone who theoretically is taking the place of some of my favorite characters in the franchise.

Troy and Tyreen were... okay. In concept, they had the winning balance of comedy vs. serious threat that Handsome Jack had, but in execution, I felt both were lacking. Their story and theme potential were perfect and Gearbox could have really done something great by either pitting them against each other so much that they turn on each other and destroy themselves out of spite or, contrarily, are so devoted to each other that the death of one would spark an unspeakable fury in the other. Yet, Gearbox did neither of those things. They kinda turned on each other, but also kinda didn’t? Tyreen’s reaction to her brother nearly killing her, then her brother dying, was almost non-existent, which was very underwhelming. I also felt nearly nothing when Tyreen killed her father, which is not... good.

Overall, I consider Borderlands 3 to be split into three parts: the “good” Promethea and Athenas part, the “bad” Eden-6 part, and the “okay” Pandora and Necrotafeyo part, which means my overall feelings towards Borderlands 3 is very mixed.

While I haven’t played DLC 2 or 3 yet, I did play the Handsome Jackpot and also really enjoyed it. Fleshing out Timothy was a great idea and I also really liked the new side characters they introduced there as well. I think Gearbox is much better at making mini-stories like those in the DLCs rather than over-arching narratives.

[neshabeingchildish]

League of Extraordinary Geniuses || Chapter 3

I’m very sorry if I’m pushing these out too soon. I can’t undo them as they come out. Whenever I’m off this week, I hope to work on other projects. This one kind of establishes something pretty important to me, even though a lot of it is perspectives from the characters and it shows some of Chase’s less flattering traits, but don’t worry. I’m not gonna do him dirty in the long run. I’ve already began on the next chapter and that one they’ll begin getting into more of the work. @kiddangers @sunbeameyes @just-a-j-reallly

The P Word

"This is like that scene in Romeo and Juliet," Chase said. Charlotte knew that he'd been there, so he didn't startle her, and she didn't pretend to not know he was there.

"I sure do hope not," she told him, "They had a bad time."

"I've honestly always wondered why it's considered a love story and not a horrific one," he said and levitated himself up to the terrace.

"Because of the people in charge," she said with a slight smirk.

"Is that your answer for anything, now?"

"Anything wrong with the world," she told him, shrugged her shoulders and looked at the moon again. "And it isn't my answer so much as THE answer." She turned to look at him again. "If you're concerned about your capsule, I promise you it's fully functional. We just made sure to program it to keep you in slumber mode until your body reached optimal equilibrium." She poked him playfully on the chest and told him, "You don't get enough sleep."

"So, you're making me?"

"The capsule is making you, but yeah…" she looked bothered suddenly. "If you want to undo it, you can override stasis mode."

"No. It's fine."

"It's just… important to me that you don't feel like I'm trying to force my will on you, be it this, or anything else. I just want you to make the best decisions for you, yourself."

"I get it… and I appreciate it, more than you know."

She smiled and glanced at her bedroom. She had enough of the moon, for now. She picked up a basin of water that he hadn't previously noticed from on the rail and headed inside. Chase followed, unsure of how to broach the subject… She poured some of the water into a tall, transparent and smooth glass on her nightstand and the rest into a canister that had "Moon Water" on the label, with drawings of the moon and stars stickers decorating it. She gave him a curious look as she put the canister away in an armoire. "What's on your mind? 

He thought for a moment while she also put the empty basin away. "I came to apologize, but there's no good way to do it. I feel extremely silly for what I said earlier." She paused in front of the armoire, closed the doors and smiled at him. 

"I've had people that I care about much less say much worse things to me."

"I don't want to be a person who says bad things to you," he told her. "I don't want to be a person who says ignorant things or intolerant things. I misspoke and I wasn't fully thinking. I should never open my mouth unless I've processed things. I hope you can forgive me."

Her eyes were glazed over and she nodded her head, "I've forgiven terrible stuff to people I didn't love. Don't worry about it." He smiled at the insinuation that she loves him, even if she only meant as a friend. "I'm used to being misunderstood, and I knew that it didn't come from a place of malcontent."

He reached out for her hand, allowing her the chance to take it, which she did and he stared at her. "You can always tell me what's on your mind, even when I hurt you. Especially when I hurt you. I hated not knowing what I said or how it was affecting you. Just seeing you look at me that way… you're one of the few people that I don't disappoint. I don't ever want to do that unchecked."

"I didn't respond because I didn't want to put words between us that I couldn't retract. Then, I'd be feeling like I guess you must be." She laughed a little and strummed his hand with her thumb. He was always impressed by how smooth her skin was. How perfect it felt to his heightened senses. He didn't frequently use or need that one. Mostly, it was for precise science in special conditions. But, whenever he had the opportunity to touch Charlotte, he naturally used it. She had the least amount of dead cells on her than anyone he knew, a fact that she told him was because she exfoliated religously. Praise whoever was responsible for that! Her… he guessed, now that he thought about it. 

"I'm feeling better now. I like it when you let me hold your hand."

"I'm not "letting you hold my hand." WE are holding hands. This isn't some favor that I'm handing you. It's a mutually beneficial show of affection between friends." She noticed the flicker of something in his eyes. It was brief, but they'd been gazing at each other, so she couldn't have not noticed. It was because of her use of the word "friends," but that's what they were. And he was one of her most valued ones. He loved that, he did. But, he wanted more. She knew he wanted more, but she didn't know if he was ready for everything that came along with somebody like her. She could be… a lot, and he still had so much social disconnect.

Changing the subject, he wondered, "Will you tell me? What you were thinking?"

She sighed. "Just that it was unpleasant to have to hear something like that from you. I have a lot of things that people have tried to get me to shove down. Everything that I do has been policed my entire life, same for my ancestors. I.. have so many things that I've had to learn to love about myself, to accept about myself and to work through for myself because of the fact that for as long as I could remember, somebody, anybody, sometimes everybody wanted me in a box. My race, gender, sexuality, romantic affiliation, relationship culture, spirituality, practices, ethics, culture, upbringing… every facet. So, to hear that you felt like I couldn't understand having that happen and processed for me was… hurtful." 

He moved his free hand to cup her face and they stared at each other. She whispered, "How else did you figure I seem to understand you so well?"

"I'm sorry," he said. He placed his forehead against hers and confessed, "I think I was so frightened by the mission that I panicked and forgot my senses. Of course, I don't actually think that about you. I just… I don't like to admit when something seems impossible to me. Changing the world, in the way that you described… the probability of success…"

"Will rise more and more with each assignment and each recruit," she finished his statement to try to help appease his fears. "I can guarantee that." He nodded his head, but didn't move it from hers. "I promise," she reiterated.

"Even if I knew that I would die trying, I would still say yes to you," he told her, as his other hand moved to cup the other side of her face.

"Why is that?" She asked, curiously, not teasingly.

"I can't say no to you…" he said and leaned forward a little bit.

"I can say no to you… when it's for your own good." She backed her face from his lips and his hands, but took them into hers, "I'm asking you as a qualified and trusted partner in the effort. Not as a woman that you care about, abusing that knowledge. I wouldn't lead you on to get what I want from you, Chase. I also wouldn't pretend that we want the same things."

He gently pulled his hands out of hers and nodded, "I understand. You.. don't want me. That doesn't change anything. I'm still here for you." She smiled, sadly. It wasn't that she didn't want him… "Is it because of Max?" His jaw clenched when he said this name.

"Not.. really. It's because of you. You're very committed and pure. Very sweet and loyal." 

"Aren't you those things, as well?"

"Yes, but… not necessarily to one person at a time…" she bit her lip and tilted her head, "I'm… polyamourus, Chase. I am comfortable being involved romantically with more than one person. I prefer it, and I'm used to it. It's not something that I ask of other people, and I've never gotten the feeling that it's something that you would be comfortable with."

"You… have multiple partners…" he said.

She nodded, "I am most comfortable with multiple partners, and I have to warn others when they show serious interest in me, or make a move… I'm not going to suddenly just want to be with one person monogamously, just because I have strong feelings for them. I have enough passion to have strong feelings for everyone that I have them for."

"And do you have them for Max?" 

She laughed and covered her forehead, "Chase, it isn't about Max. It's about ME."

"I know, but do you?"

"Yes. I love Max, very much and I have for years," she said, nodding her head.

"And is he okay with.. your… relationship desires?" 

She covered her mouth as she answered, "I feel like you're still focused on the wrong thing. The question you need to ask yourself before ever getting as close to me as you almost did is if you are okay with it." She reached for a book of matches and tucked her hands in between her legs. "I'm patient and rarely lonely. You don't have to answer it for me. You have to answer it for you. And if it turns out that you still… want to say yes to me, we can talk about it at that time." 

Chase was not the first person who she had to break this news to, and because she was in high demand and full of qualities, she knew that he wouldn’t be the last. She hated seeing him look so crestfallen, but he was not someone that she would ever lie to. She loved and respected him too much to do that. 

She saw him out and went to light her handmade incense, and a white candle. She laid down to rest, trying to release the energy of having to sort of let him down gently. She wished that hadn’t happened, but also… Chase was the type who was very territorial and jealous - she had seen it for herself from almost the instant that he had met Max, and to pretend like she could believe he would be fine with sharing her wouldn’t be fair to her or to him. She tried to focus on the positive things in her life and gave thanks for those. Confident that she would find peace in her dreams, she fell to sleep for the night.

.

In the morning, Charlotte got up, took the water from the nightstand and threw it off of the terrace. It splashed against the ground and she took the glass back inside, grabbed the basin from her armoire, and she washed the glass in it. When it was clean, she put it away, dumped the basin over the terrace, as well, cleaned it out and put it up. She cleared her nightstand of her sleeping spell and replaced it with an orange candle with flowers and crystals in it. That, she lit, now for her morning ritual. 

Silence. Affirmations. Visualization. Exercise. Reading. Scribing (Journaling). The entire process took about an hour and when she was done, she would always cover the candle with a see through snuffer. It was big enough to cover the entire candle and she would pick up the candle dish, step outside and open the lid to let the smoke out into the air. 

Once back inside, a shower, moisturizing, styling her hair and getting dressed were up next, and she topped it off with a few spritzes of her custom fragrance blend of ylang ylang, jasmine, vetiver, and sandalwood in rosewater from a fancy, old fashioned perfume bottle with a squeeze pump through a nozzle. 

Charlotte practically pranced through the courtyard to get back to the guys. She came through the doors, the sunshine blaring through when they opened, and saw Max and Chase, standing awfully close to each other’s faces. They would’ve almost looked like they were ready to kiss, except their expressions were the opposite of that sentiment. “Good morning?” She said. Chase continued to glare Max down, but Max scoffed, took a step back and looked at Charlotte. His own glare melted away and his eyes brightened. She was all glowy… Beaming and shit. Her skin was radiant, her eyes were twinkling, her jewelry sparkling, and her hair gleaming. But, her expression was bothered. He didn’t want to be a part of dulling this image. 

“Good morning!” He cheered, with a smile. “Ready for breakfast?” He asked, pointing finger guns at her and shaking them. 

She looked at Chase and Chase avoided looking at her at all. Then, she remembered the last time that they spoke. What had happened, and she wasn’t sure if him avoiding looking at her was because of that or because of whatever TF she had just interrupted. “So… Is no one really going to tell me what the heck is going on?” Chase and Max both looked at each other…

.

Max got up pretty early. For some reason, his brain was usually a go anywhere from 4 am to sunrise (he just would wake up and have to record multiple ideas, or realize that he figured out an equation for a gadget while he dreamt, or just be filled with the energy to have to think of something new that he could tackle next. 

If he had it his way, he’d never wake up early, but his mental processing and creative juices had other plans. He always woke up before the world did and he was always filled with urgency to do things when he did. Some of his best brainstorms occurred upon waking up with a start. Today was no different. He got up, began recording notes for several of his experiments in progress, checked his website and answered some questions from science heads that followed his gadget series, and sketched some designs for new ideas in his project sketchbook, and when the sun began to come up, his mind began to settle down enough for him to not lose excitement, but to focus on getting ready for the day. (This usually happened much later in the day, but anytime that he was spending at Charlotte’s, his body knew to chill out sooner, so that he could see more of her). He couldn’t really explain it, but maybe it was desire based. She was the only thing that he wanted more than to create and invent, so he was able to taper that passion whenever he knew that he would be able to see her sooner, if he did. 

She usually arose either with the sun, or after it peeked into her windows and warmed her back to consciousness, so he tossed the sketchbook aside and grabbed some clothes into his fist to wash up. 

Max generally liked to soak in a bath, then wash off in the shower. It was kind of a waste of water, but it was what he enjoyed doing. Plus, Charlotte being the super nerd that she was, she had her bathrooms set up like those prefect ones in the books, and he just felt like a little kid having a blast in a huge bathtub with these ridiculous soaps faucets. The scents would fill the entire room and he knew this was the height of luxury and that he needed to memorize every single sensation for whenever he was back in his lesser bathtub. 

After the shower, his hair was pretty much just wet and tousled. He heated his hands with his heat breath and ran them through the coif, flirted with himself in the mirror, summoned his phone to himself and strutted out of his guest chambers towards the lab. He was singing to himself and scrolling through, liking Charlotte’s morning posts, which were usually something inspirational for her fanbase and sometimes something artsy like a burning candle or a bird that landed on her terrace or something. She usually posted 3 things, and it was generally right before she left her quarters, because she tended to leave the phone behind whenever she was on a break. He was liking those and bumped right into something, lost his balance and dropped his phone when he almost fell. He groaned as he caught his footing and looked up to see Chase. “Are you drunk?” Chase asked him.

“What? I was looking at my phone. What’s your excuse? You have super freakin’ senses. None of the five let you know that I was right in front of you?” Max snatched his phone from the floor and checked it for damage.

“Maybe you’re just so insignificant that you didn’t register to any of my senses!” Chase snarled at him. 

Max furrowed his eyebrows and slipped his phone into his back pocket. The last time he’d seen him, they’d been fine. What the hell was this moody shit in front of him? “Excuse you?” Max asked. “Can you repeat it with your big boy voice? I’m afraid my hearing isn’t as good as yours is supposed to be.”

Chase wanted to escalate this. He wanted a reason to fight with Max, but also… That wouldn’t prove anything but that he was childish, and also that he was exactly what Charlotte thought he was when she rejected him last night. “Look. I didn’t notice you, okay? That's that.”

Max stepped closer and shook his head, “No. Not okay. You could’ve said that in the first place and I wouldn’t have had anything to say, but you called me insignificant? Because I bumped into you in the hallway? I don’t feel like that was called for.”

“I’m sorry,” Chase said. 

Max folded his arms and just sized him up. “What’s your problem this morning?”

“No problem. Simple mistake. My fault,” Chase said. 

Max was still studying him. His body language was all messed up. He looked tense and a little fidgety, and he was clenching and unclenching his fists. “What happened last night when you went to apologize to Charlotte?” Max asked, actually concerned, but Chase got super defensive.

“None of your business!” he snapped.

Max laughed and that just pissed Chase off more. He knew he was being childish and he knew that Max was more than likely laughing at the discomfort of the situation and the absurdity of his behavior, but still… he had not enjoyed his morning and the last thing he wanted to do was even look at Max, much less to bump into him, and now he felt scrutinized by him. Max rolled his eyes, stepped aside and muttered, “Whatever she did, you deserved it. Freakin’ weirdo…” He was going to walk away, when Chase turned him around and both of them were on the ready to attack. 

Max wasn’t sure how or why they got to this place, but if Chase was going to attack him, he certainly was about to defend himself. “Walk. Away. I swear to god…” Max said through his teeth. Their noses were practically touching. Neither flinched. Chase wasn’t sure what he planned on doing… The smart thing would be to just walk away. What was he gonna do? Fight, in this brand new castle? Over like… school type stuff? 

“Good morning?” he heard, off to the side. He flinched at the sound of her voice. He forced himself not to look at her, though he could imagine her face and he felt like she probably knew that he was just here, in a bad mood trying to bring down Max’s day, as well. And… she probably would lose so much respect for him. Max was right. He did deserve for her to turn him down. He was unsure of why he had even let himself for a moment think that she might not. 

“So… Is no one really going to tell me what the heck is going on?” 

He looked at Max to gauge if he looked like he might say exactly what was on his mind. Max was the type to just tell the truth, even if it sucked. Chase felt panicked. He had been messing up this entire time and today was avoidable. He chose to make today this way. Max lifted his nose and looked down towards Chase. “A misunderstanding that you interrupted in time,” Max said. He rolled his eyes at Chase, put his hand in the small of Charlotte’s back and led her towards her kitchen, “I am craving quiche! Quiche good for you, Bionic Boy?” Max asked over his shoulder.

“Sure,” Chase said, in a low voice, trailing behind them. Charlotte turned to look at him. She really wanted to know what had just happened. He couldn’t even think of a way to ever explain that. Maybe she would leave it alone? Because, he’d embarrassed himself enough for one trip.

.

Chase left Charlotte’s quarters frazzled. He couldn’t believe he’d made such an ass of himself and he just wanted to vanish at the moment. He should probably go home. He looked at the missions. Skylar seemed to be doing just fine getting things done while he was “away on business.” He shot her a quick text asking if they needed anything.

“Good to go!” She texted back almost immediately. He checked the reports, and everything looked good, as she had already stated. He couldn’t chill himself out. He was worried about what Charlotte might say tomorrow. Did he mess up something? Did he make it weird? Wouldn’t it be even harder to watch her around Max? Max… She loved him. She said that she did. She didn’t say that he was one of her… prospects, but she did love him and that much was clear, just from seeing them together. And, it was mutual. And… they knew each other for like… seven years, or less, but, still… More than twice as long as Chase had known her. What kind of love did she have for him? Was it the same as the “love” she had for Chase?

He should get into his capsule and rest. The stasis mode would put him to sleep. He couldn’t SLEEP though… He needed more information about polyamory. He turned off stasis mode, climbed into the capsule, washed up, dressed for bed and then began reading every single article, ebook, script to movies and storylines in shows - every single thing that he could find on polyamory. He wound up more confused and more frustrated than whenever she gave him a soft, short definition. He had collected too much information. Some of this was unreliable, and some simply not the way that she was, some of it was ill-conceived or poorly executed and now, ALL of it was in his head and he wouldn’t be able to fact check each of these details against her life, nor would he be able to forget what he had read. He was upset with himself by the time he fell to sleep and as upset by the time his alarm woke him up, because he had not put the capsule back into stasis mode.

Grumpy and tortured by the information, he got out of the capsule and decided to exercise, maybe blow off some of the steam that he had nobody to thank for but himself. He heard an alert on his phone, but ignored it, in lieu of a morning workout routine. Afterwards, he looked at the phone and saw that Charlotte had posted something whenever she got up. Max had liked it. He put his phone away and got ready for the day, making yet another masochistic decision to scan through the two’s social media pages for each other. There were less than seven years, but close to it. Many adorable and cozy photos, a few of them very very close. Some kisses shared that could be casual, could be something else… Basically, a ton of fuel for his jealousy. 

He continued going through each account and saw flirting in comments, suggestive replies to posts and other stuff that let him know… Nope… He certainly couldn’t share her with somebody else. She was right to point that out. 

For crying out loud, he couldn’t even  handle reading through past exchanges that he couldn’t even confirm were anything other than the flirtatious banter of two great friends. 

But, sometimes, Chase would let his thoughts get away with him and make him paranoid and completely irrational. THIS was one of those times. 

He thought about how comfortable Max made himself, not just in Charlotte’s home, but her personal space. He thought about the fact that he was regarded as a rebel and a bad boy of herodom, but all he had seen was an obedient puppy dog with heart eyes and uncontrollable smiling. That wasn’t the demeanor of a friend one loves. That was the demeanor of a friend with benefits, and while Charlotte was well within her rights to do whatever she wanted with whomever, Chase hated the thought of her wanting that with Max and not even so much as a kiss with him! As though the gods hated him in this moment, right as he was simmering in thoughts he fabricated for himself, storming down the hallway, reading when he should just close it all out, he ran headfirst into Max. 

The latter had just been strolling around like he owned the place and got all pissy about this accident. It wasn’t like either of them were paying attention, so who did he think he was that this had to be Chase’s fault? Who do you think he is? He’s the king of this fucking castle. He’s loved. He’s comfortable. This is his domain. He belongs here. She wants him. You’re an imposter and you’re in his space…

But, Chase had to defend himself. Even if it wasn’t Max who was telling him these things, it was Max who was causing him to tell himself these things and he couldn’t take it right now. By the time Max told him he deserved it… Deserved her rejection? Deserved to be in this state of confusion and mental chaos? Deserved to fall in love with someone who told him that she couldn’t let him? He felt like FINALLY. Finally, he could turn the anger he was feeling into something justified and he reached out to grab Max and turn him back around, surprising even himself when he did and making Max’s anger match his. Yes. Yes, now BOTH of us can be super mad. It was slightly a relief whenever Charlotte appeared, because she cut through Max’s tension, at least. The obedient puppy dog with the heart eyes was back and… Chase didn’t know where the hell he was. On the crazy train, apparently. It wasn’t even like he could blame Spike or even either of the two people here. Neither of them did anything to him. He did this to him, and he was disappointed in himself for doing it all. 

“So… Is no one really going to tell me what the heck is going on?”

Max’s deflection was great for him. He wouldn’t keep pushing. He would have breakfast, let them know he wasn’t feeling well, return to the capsule on stasis and get the proper rest that his body needed for equilibrium. It was a wonder that he wasn’t glitching!

Because of his super hearing, he heard her ask, “What was that Max, be honest?”

“I wish I knew. Dude flipped out on me over basically nothing. I don’t think it was about me, honestly. I think it was about you. Last night, he said he was gonna apologize. Last I saw him, I thought we were gonna be cool and this morning, completely different story.”

Charlotte sighed and said, “I had to have the talk with him last night… The P word talk.” 

Max blew a gust of wind out and nodded his head, “Okay, that is a rough one. I’ll give him THIS once, because of that, but… I don't know, Char. I don’t know.”

Charlotte turned to look at him and he avoided eye contact. “Chase,” she said softly. He looked up to see the two of them waiting for him. Now that he knew that they knew what was wrong with him, at least to an extent, he felt a little better, a little bit more ashamed. 

But, he fell into step between the two of them and Max started asking about what ingredients they would be okay with for the quiche. Chase owed him an apology, too, but he was fine with just saying, here and now, “Hey… Sorry that I was acting that way. I don’t know what came over me this morning. I was just jaded and wanted to bring somebody into my misery.”

Max laughed and said, “You’ll find that it’s pretty tough to do that to me, but don’t worry about it. You seem like you had a rough night. I assure you, my breakfast quiche will fix that.”

“Okay,” Chase said, smiling, in spite of himself and everything else. Max threw an arm around his shoulder as they walked and at first, it made Chase jump a little, but he didn’t toss it off of him. Instead, he decided to finally act like he had some good sense and just listen to Max go on about this perfect quiche of his that nobody else can make quite like him. 

Max was right. Chase felt a thousand times better after eating and fell to sleep on a fuzzy couch in the lounge. “Can he hear in his sleep?” Max wondered.

“No. He’s inside of his mind when he sleeps. Sometimes, he has a dream, but mostly, it’s numbers and coding,” she said and strummed Chase’s hair. 

“Do you think he’ll be able to put his feelings aside for the sake of the work?”

“Yeah. You did,” she said. 

Max raised his eyebrows, “ I did? I don’t recall that. I recall powering through, because you were back in Dystopia with your boys and that was that. I didn’t have a choice. I was there to do work that I believed in. Chase doesn’t believe in your work.”

“Not yet. We’ve gotta show him some results. I can keep him occupied with something less hard to swallow, in the meantime.”

Okay… So, what’s our first assignment, to prove to him that he belongs in this thing, with us?” 

“It’s gonna sound a lot like a horrible thing, but in the long run will be a great thing,” she said. 

He winced, “Tell me.” She smiled...