#which unfortunately for him are mutually incompatible

[kvetchinglyneurotic]

if flint from episode 1 was magically granted all the knowledge and memories he had in episode 38 do you think it would change anything

[sugar-grigri]

Hope your family is better soon !! Glad you've been taking a step back. If you ever feel like it I'd be interested in hearing any thoughts you have on yoshiden as a ship cause I've unfortunately only ever seen some questionable content but I wanna know what others see there and with your interpretations of the characters I'm really curious. Sorry I feel like that was an unnecessarily long sentence. (Also this is only if you want to!!)

Why Yoshiden has become a problem when it's such a lovable ship

it's not an analysis, it's really a question of personal taste, so if the question of ships gets on your nerves, or bores you, don't read this post! I'm a multi-shipper, so don't go to war either!

It's quite simple really, why fans have trouble with this ship, whether it's a problem of personal taste (ships are first and foremost a matter of taste), the way Denji's character is interpreted and his relationship with men (seeing him only as a hetero character), or the way Yoshida is interpreted.

Yoshida poses problems in general, and as I've said several times here, because he's a character that's hard to get to grips with. Not because he's badly written, but because he's brilliantly written; I like to describe him as an ink blot disturbing the reader. Above all, Yoshida is a character who plays a role, not only with the reader by leading him down false paths, but also with regard to his own adolescence, behaving like an adult given the milieu in which he works and the obvious incompatibility between youth and public hunters.

Yoshida rejects his adolescence, school is just a cover or the exercise ground for his mission, his uniform, something temporary that he will take off when he has accomplished his mission. Remember when he was supposed to team up with Asa and Yuko? Yoshida has completely disappeared, even though he should have been part of the mission, bonding with the two teenagers.

Yoshida disappeared to do what he was really there to do, not to bond with the others, but just to keep an eye on Denji. His black eyes are an indescribable black hole, in which we understand neither the intention of his actions nor the personality behind them. They are there only to reflect the darkness of a system to which a teenager has agreed to bow.

Denji is the opposite of this black hole: he doesn't blend into the background, he's noisy, extremely expressive, finds it hard to lie and has no trouble revealing all his thoughts, even those we might hide for fear of social rejection. Unlike Yoshida, who has joined the system, Denji has been rejected by it, and is completely outside it, even though he wanted to be part of it. Asa is a third case: she belonged to the system but now rejects it.

So I like to interpret and I like to imagine Denji influencing Yoshida in a positive way. One envies his good looks, the way he's able to please people naturally, and the other envies the other's candid, inexhaustible and almost wandering sincerity. One sees the other as an enemy, a rival, someone who can't be identified or trusted; the other hopes to get away with denigrating the other, as something rejected by the system but manipulable.

Because Yoshiden has become problematic because the roles played by Denji and Yoshida and the way each sees the other have been interpreted as truths. As a stupid little thing who can be tormented with Denji, which is Yoshida's vision of Denji. And as a shady guy, a dangerous and sadistic rock with Yoshida, which is Denji's vision of Yoshida.

Instead of imagining a ship, some great stories, where they get to know each other and get out of this cycle of mistrust, some ships are based on this fear of the other and this mutual mistrust. Toxicity is even claimed in some cases, and the resulting non-consent established as a golden rule.

Obviously, I don't share this vision. I personally like to imagine Denji (like Asa) as bisexual. Because the question of gender is a theme of CSM, Denji is also a prisoner of a version of masculinity, of reproductive functions, of the obligation to bond with girls in order to achieve personal fulfilment.

Yoshida rejects all this unnaturally, because the slightest relationship is an obstacle for him. Above all, it's wrong to say that Denji has a problem with men and not with girls. His blind trust is a problem, as he demonstrated with Fumiko.

Denji's distrust of men is obviously the result of his own experience, and is problematic because of the way he distances himself from boys his own age. Chapter 139, in which Denji finds himself totally submissive to Fumiko and rejecting Miri's proposals, shows just how problematic Denji's relationship with gender can be.

This dual problem requires a solution, and I like to imagine Denji finding answers to it in his relationship with Asa and also with Yoshida. It's not so much polyamory that interests me as seeing how characters can find answers in each other, and I like imagining the possibilities so much that I'm often multishipper to see that I can love pairs.

Because even though I know that it can be surprising and that it's a fairly rare ship, seeing Asa and Yoshida also bond whether in terms of strict friendship or love (these two possibilities also apply to Yoshiden). Yoshida and Asa have the same rejection mechanisms and deal with their loneliness differently. Yoshida denies himself through his loneliness, relying on the system, while Asa sees herself as her only pillar, relying on herself.

I know that Yoshiden is just as interesting whether it's a story of friendship or love. But I'm a bit of a stickler for seeing it as a ship based on healthy love. Firstly because I like to imagine how Yoshida can fall in love. But also because I think that seeing Denji as a queer character now represents something unlikely for some fans, which worries others given the way the ship is portrayed in a problematic way. I also want to see Denji having healthy relationships with men. And because I love Asa so much, I want to find a place for her even when I envisage Denji with someone else lol.

Of course, I also want to see Denji loved twice as much as he deserves.

[umbra-papilio]

Some notes on my au/Slenderbros headcanons

The Operator and Slenderman are two separate entities. They're both eldritch horrors, but the Operator is far more malevolent and nasty, going out of his way to torment people until they eventually break and "transform" into his proxies. Whereas Slender is just kinda vibing.

The Operator, Slenderman, Trenderman, Splendorman, and Offenderman are all part of the same "species," whatever the hell that may be, but are not brothers. The latter four collaborate with each other on occasion and won't correct you if you do mistakenly refer to them as "brothers," but they will be incredibly offended if you associate them with the Operator. They cannot stand him and the feeling is mutual.

The quartet, while still being powerful, are all far weaker than the Operator as well. The Operator feeds off of negative energy which he sows by stalking and torturing his victims - which can be adults or even children, he isn't picky - and reaps by either "proxifying" the strong ones or slaughtering and eating the weak ones. Viciously. This greatly disturbs and even disgusts them.

So they're not senseless killers by any means, but they're not exactly morally upstanding either (except for maybe Trender). Slender has an entire mansion dedicated to housing and protecting lone killers, monsters and poltergeists. The Human Realm and the Monster Realm are incompatible with each other in his eyes, and he wants to give them a place to call home now that they have "rejected their humanity." He won't outright harm them himself, but he absolutely won't hesitate to ban anyone who disturbs the peace. When it comes to outsiders, however, he can get... violent. He'll just scare off any curious human who gets too close without physically hurting them, but anyone with foul intentions will be disposed of immediately. There's a reason the SCP Foundation hasn't been able to lay a hand on him.

Trender is an odd case, an outcast even among his "brothers." He fully embraces his humanity and is infatuated with human culture and behavior. In fact, most of his time is spent in the Human Realm in a more, shall we say socially acceptable form. He loves his brothers dearly, but unfortunately due to their limited emotional capacity, the feeling cannot be fully returned, although Splendor tries, at least.

Speaking of which... Splendor is a guardian entity of sorts with the sole purpose of protecting children. He has a unique ability that essentially "blesses" any child he comes in contact with. If a deathly sick child is suddenly cured, or if a depressed child is somehow happy and smiley out of seemingly nowhere, you can safely bet that they have been visited by Splendor. On the flip side, he is the most brutal and violent out of the four, and won't think twice to tear apart anyone or anything who dares harm a child. That being said, he absolutely despises Laughing Jack and Mr. Widemouth, and is the reason why Candle Cove eventually went off the air, although how he managed to accomplish this is still unknown.

(Let me get one thing straight. This is a fandom built around horror, gore, and topics that generally make one uncomfortable. However, there are some lines I just won't cross, and SA is one of them. So, here's my version of Offender.)

Like Trender, Offender is also one who indulges in the luxuries of the Human Realm, but unlike the former, he never sticks around. He is, for lack of a better word, a "player." He lives for passion and debauchery, and sees no reason to waste his endless years cooped up in a mansion or babysitting children all day. Every night is filled with drinking, gambling, and sex with any woman who is interested, in some cases (well, many cases) more than one at once. In his opinion, women are the best thing humanity has to offer. He is not a predator, though. It's unknown how the unfortunate nickname was bestowed upon him, but he hates it with a passion. Why would he force himself on someone when their enthusiastic consent and eagerness for him is part of how fucking sexy they are? Anyways, don't think that makes him an saint. He'll still leave the second the sun begins to rise. Commitment isn't exactly his forte.

[coal15]

Do I think Buck and TayKay are headed for a big argument leading to a break up? Yes. However, I kinda think the argument part will settle down into a discussion leading to (and to be clear, I don't be thrilled about this) a mutual break up. Y'know all weepy and dewy-eyed. A 'we both screwed up and there's no taking it back so it's over' conversation ending with maudlin goodbyes. Why do I think it will go this way? Because Tim had such a huge boner for Taylor and the 'reporter angle' idea that I don't think he'll send her away on a sour note. I just hope before the dust settles and the dewy-eyes happen that we do get to see an Angry Buck not sugar coating his feelings or being swayed by the inevitable "reporting news is my job" defense.

I am 99.9% certain the breakup will happen. My .01% of doubt is only because heteronormativity means a male lead MUST have a female endgame unless he's been previously established as queer, and also Tim's afformentioned 'reporter angle' boner. Yes, at this point in would be be stupid of him to cling to bt, but there is always that .01% chance especially given the man's arrogance when it comes to his storytelling choices.

The thing is, even setting aside the argument about whose breach of trust was worse, there was a breach of trust On. Both. Sides. Now, a couple that is genuinely in love can work through and repair even serious damage and get back to a good, healthy place--but if they were never in a healthy place to begin with? If the relationship has only gotten so far because they both have voids in their life? If their main motivation for staying together is just to avoid admitting failure? . . . They won't have it in them to do that work. It's too much. Too draining. Which means Taylor would be stuck with a boyfriend she can never fully trust not to stray again. And Buck will be stuck with a girlfriend he can't talk to about sensitive and/or mysterious cases at work because he'll never fully trust her not to exploit the information for her career.

So yeah, I'm still rooting for loud and explosive. I do still wanna see Angry Buck. I want him to spell/yell out what kind of damage she might have done and why it was so unethical. From Taylor I think we'll either get a half-assed 'I'm sorry I did it but let me explain . . .' type of apology or (and this is what I would prefer) a total refusal to admit she was fully wrong. For her to take the stance that it was unfortunate she had to use 'off the record' information, but he needs to understand that reporters are in constant competition, so when there's a juicy news story out there, getting the best headline turns into a no-holds-barred bloodsport. I feel like it would be true to her character to feel kinda bad but dig her heels in on insisting it would have been stupid of her to not use the inside info she had in her pocket.

Basically I need the confrontation to make their core incompatibility GLARINGLY OBVIOUS to any locals who may only see things on a surface level. As long as that happens, I guess I can stomach a mutual breakup. Just please sweet gods LET IT END!

[misslolasynastry]

Celebrity Synastry Analysis

Married at First Sight - Season 13

Michela and Zack

Couples' Synopsis 💭: Michaela is an energetic, life of the party, extroverted personality. Zack (on the show, I noticed Michaela spelled his name with an h Zach instead of k Zack so apologies if the spelling is wrong. Lifetime uses k Zack) whos more relaxed, go with the flow, sensual romantic, sensitve type. So far up to episode 12, they liked each other but it went downhill relatively fast. Theyre very erratic emotionally where Michaela has anger problems and Zack has trouble with his emotions and conflict. First day of the wedding, they seemed anxious but optimistic. Zack leads activities and Michaela decides if she wants to participate that day. They argue almost every time theyre in the same room. Zack has gone on to say that he doesnt feel safe around Michaela due to her anger outbreaks. Michaela wants him but doesnt quite grasp how her premature reactions affect him. She wants to just start over like nothing happened, while Zack wants to take things slow. When around others, they pretend that things are fine. Most fans agree that they should part ways due to their reactive intensity. Its their trouble with communication and inability to resolve conflict without things getting excessive that make their union challenging.

Below is an example of what I give for basic synastry clients. One thing astrology doesnt account for is having a mutual connection. As 2 people can be completely incompatible and still desire each other i a love/lust way. On the other hand couples with highly compatible charts may have no feelings for each other. However, the compatible couple usually has more longevity due to their ability to relate and understand each other as problems are easily dealt with. Synastry analyzes 2person comparing their behaviors and personality traits and how they interact with each other. This can be done for couples, family members, and friends.

🌞 Sun - Libra * Taurus

Represents what each person takes pride in and is the core of their personality. Although Libra (Zack) and Taurus (Michaela) are both ruled by venus, the approach is very different. Libra Suns are intellectual, fun loving, peacekeeping, driven, and social zodiacs. Tauruses are more sensual, emotional, stubborn, and materialistic. Libras prefer things more easygoing, friendly, and fun, but a Taurus would like things a bit deeper and more personal than that. At any rate, on Zack and Michaela's wedding day they were polar opposites. Michaela was very focused on appearance while Zack seemed a little detached trying to get to know her throughout the day.

🌛 Moon - Capricorn * unknown

Represents how each handles emotions, feelings, and the way they feel nurtured. Unfortunately I was not able to find Michaela's birthday (only her birth year and zodiac) so Im going by what information I could find. At the same time, Im going to presume that they do have incompatible moons based on the way they react when sharing feelings or attempts to nurture. Zack is the Capricorn moon . Some would find this surprising based on how much he's cried on the show. But if you look closely at the chart, his moon is aspected by Uranus (erratic/unexpected) and Neptune (escapist and delusion). So if you keep that in mind, this definitely explains why hes so emotional and bolts when anxious. Capricorn moons are fatherly, reserved, hardworking, and serious often seeming cold but they're just calculated and take on a mature approach to emotions. They nurture those they love by doing things through traditional means, which involve caring and supporting family and their spouse by doing little tasks and preparing for your future together making sure you have what you need. But this emotional nature is severely hot and cold from Zack due to his fear of Michaela and previous relationship trauma. Zack would make attempts to comfort Michaela and she often had a "No, but....." rebuttal which made him feel unreciprocated. Its Zack's aspects to his moon which make him more emotional than the norm.

🗣 Mercury - Libra * (Aries or Taurus)

Represents the way you communicate, process information, and the key to what goes on in a person's head. This is often overlooked by most couples but its VERY important when you want to ne heard and understood. Based on Michaela's interviews and their arguments Id guess that she is a Taurus mercury from her high sensitivity and confusion toward the things that Zack says, and her stubbornness. But as for Zack's Libra mercury he is a peacekeeper, jokester, intellectual, very careful and calculated in the way he says things. Overall a solid ability in the way hes able to communicate and share his thoughts as all air signs. Although, hes emotionally erratic and an escapist, hes still an effective communicator if you listen closely to what he says before his moon emotions take over. However, he is also passive and people pleasing so hes quick to give up. I also noticed that jupiter aspects his mercury which makes him overly optimistic at times. Its likely why he keeps making light of their relationship to other people, despite his concerns which confuses Michaela and fans.

💝 Venus - Virgo * (Gemini or Cancer)

Represents your creativity, romance style, inspiration, and foreplay. Based on the activities and her responses to Zack during intimate moments, I would guess that Michaela is a Gemini Venus. This is based on her desire to connect with different people, preferring fun tasks and enjoying great conversationalists. Venus in Virgo on the other hand enjoy comfortability, sensual romance, and routine. Zack at his brightest, enjoyed moments where things were peaceful and intimate such as the studio date or when they were alone and quiet. He's most satisfied in solitude where he can relax and enjoy his surroundings with his partner. I noticed on each of their dates they seem a bit out of touch even on their wedding day. Where Michaela was having fun, Zack was more sensual and intimate. This also explains why on each of their dates there is some disconnect between the 2. Venus maintains that spark and ability to enjoy time together even when times get rocky. Something this couple struggles with due to their differences. Its often the culprit when couples stop having date night because they enjoy different romantic things.

😡 Mars - Libra*Cancer

Represents the way you respond to conflict, what motivates you, and the style of sex you prefer. They are both incompatible here as they seek to resolve conflict, and become triggered in different ways. I find that when couples are incompatible in Mars or Moon this is when I hear the word Narcissist the most. Because both individuals can have alternate perspectives, its VERY easy to misjudge each other's intentions and make assumptions. This is usually where communication comes in handy. Their Mars makes a square aspect meaning that this difference is so challenging that overcoming it can take some deep inward work and mutual understanding. Libra the peacemaker tends to want to resolve things straight away but give up easily. Cancer Mars are emotional when upset, so their feelings can often cloud decision making. So you have Cancer the sensitive emotional person arguing about how something made them feel, an Libra the intellectual that gets tired of explaining and trying to resolve what triggered the argument in the first place. You notice this if you pay attention closely when Zack and Michaela argue, some people only pick up on 1-2 sentences and then focus on that but listening to the entire conversation puts things into perspective. Zack will say how he doesnt like something and thinks they need to work on it, Michaela gets sensitive regarding 1-3 words and focuses on that and starts getting upset. Zack then shutsdown and becomes emotionally erratic with crying. Once Mars clashes the Moon emotions switch steps in and takes over. Rinse and repeat. I could go on forver regarding how many planets of Zack's square Michaela's mars.....ultimately making this relationship very difficult to reconcile.

When it comes to aspects traditionally I would break down them all, but when first looking at someone's chart in a basic synastry standpoint, I analyze longevity factors first. Such as aspects to Saturn, Pluto, North Node, and at times Juno. But to keep this shorter Ill stick to the 3 major aspects. Conjunctions, Trines, and Squares

😇Saturn Trine Sun - Saturn is loyal to and trustworthy of Sun who brings joy and energy into the relationship. There's a desire to be committed

😇Saturn Trine Jupiter - challenges make this a relationship for steady growth and maturity. Its slow but it is progress.

😭Saturn Square Pluto - Pluto has the ability to breakdown Saturn's defenses but then attempts to turn it for their own benefit. In turn, Saturn becomes seemingly cold, self serving, and uncaring. A battle for dictatorship in the relationship.

😇Pluto Trine Chiron - the relationship brings deep healing and transformation as both let go and learn to be more receptive to things theyd usually fight against.

👥North Node Conjunct Moon - an intense emotional bond where North Node acts a role model to Moon (Moon is Zack). They both benefit from having emotional security.

👥North Node Conjunct Uranus - Uranus (Zack) isnt easy to pin down and can be seemingly unpredictable. Through this, North Node is able to be more conscious of themselves and things they struggle with. This causes North Node to change their way of thinking for healthier more expanded patterns.

👥North Node Conjunct Neptune - both can feel spiritually bound in a strange way. Neptune (Zack) awakens healing in North Node by pulling them out of delusions and turning them toward individual lessons. However, they can both at times idealize each other or manipulate.

😭North Node Square Mercury - Mercury (Zack) can be positively influential on North Node in the things they say to help benefit their future. But North Node can be quite resistant to this. In turn both lose sight of the future and get caught up in the moment.

😭North Node Square Mars - initial tension can create attraction but this disguises anger, aggression, fight for control, and competition rather than a union. For resolve they would have to evaluate themselves rather than each other and attempt to work together on a mutual purpose.

😭North Node Square Jupiter - sense of direction can be lost as Jupiter (Zack) can confuse North Node with pleasure seeking and misplaced optimism. North Node can make them both wander aimlessly with no sense of purpose and poor decision making.

😇North Node Trine Jupiter - North Node (Zack) has the ability to accentuate both person's strengths to help steer them on the right path. Jupiter person's philosophical nature helps North Node on their life path and can benefit each career.

📒 Final thoughts: Based on their compatibility and aspects, this relationship can teach them alot about themselves, but they may not be destined for each other long term. The problems with anger and misunderstandings could very well be a long standing battle as they slowly progress over the years. Im willing to bet that theyd grow apart as they learn from each other. But in the meantime, both could use some individual healing first before ever considering to work on the relationship. With Zack's emotional anxiety and erratic tendencies, I dont think its healthy for him to be around her until they both mature a bit more. His hot and cold nature paired with her extreme outbursts could both cause them to do things they may regret later. Zack is right to leave when he feels uncomfortable but at the same time needs to put a cap on his optimism and stop putting himself in situations he really doesnt want to be in. Michaela just needs to resolve her anger and move past her defensive stance. This relationship is a strong case of battling to be right instead of paying attention to each other's needs. They both pretend things are ok even when they arent. Right now I dont believe either are ready for a relationship.

🧜🏽‍♀️ For inquiries regarding synastry charts please visit my profile introductory post, email misslolasynastry@gmail, or shoot me a message. If youd like me to analyze a celebrity couple im willing to do so as long as you have both birthdays on hand. I can also analyze family members as well.

[hp-fanfic-archive]

an introductory rec list (that no one asked for) to some of my favorite ships: drarry [4/10]

First fic I read for the pairing: Obsession by yesbocchan [2k,T] Harry thinks Malfoy is up to something evil. Until he finds out maybe he's not the only one with an obsession. [just a cute little eighth year fic i saw on tumblr back when i was first getting into fandom stuff (and back into harry potter in general) when i was near the end of high school. it’s cute, it’s sweet, and i was curious about drarry as a concept so]

Fic that really sold me on the pairing: Stealing Sweaters by DorthyAnn [12k,T] It's their eighth and final year and over the course of several months, Harry and Draco have managed to become close friends. Their friends are entirely certain that they ought to be much, much more. So they just decide to... help things along. [listen, everything that DorthyAnn writes is phenomenal, so how could i not fall in love with this ship after this?]

Absolute favorite fic(s) for the pairing: Animus Nexus by MystyVander [96k,T] It's Eighth Year at Hogwarts and it seems Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy hate each other more than ever before. Everybody is sick of it. Somebody was tired of the two enough to curse them, binding them together. What at first appears to be a death sentence to both Harry and Draco turns out to be the thing the both of them needed the most. [it’s enemies to friends to lovers coupled with accidental bonding coupled with discussions of magical theory coupled with wizarding traditions with a few misunderstandings and some angst all set in eighth year and that’s basically the perfect combination for me.] Twist of Fate by Oakstone730 [302k,T] Draco asks Harry to help him beat the Imperius curse during 4th year. The lessons turn into more than either expected. A story of redemption and forgiveness. Pairings: HP/DM (Slash) Timeframe: 1994-2002 Goblet to 4 yrs post-DH EWE Rating T for language, high angst, content. [this fic has lived rent-free in my head for three years and it fucking slaps. there’s angst and fluff and so many bittersweet moments and it’s both canon compliant and completely canon divergent and i am obsessed with it. 40000/10]

Most recent fic I’ve read for the pairing: love me now (touch me now) by swisstae [3k,G] Harry's never had a bath. Draco plans on changing that. OR in which Harry gets his hair washed and Loves It (and Draco. He loves Draco too.) [this fic is adorable and sweet and i enjoyed it immensely.]

Favorite AU(s) I’ve read for the pairing: Alternate Sorting AU (Slytherin!Harry): Malfoy Flavor by Vorabiza [199k,E] Harry’s ready to banish the Golden Boy image and take charge of his life. Unfortunately for him, or fortunately, there are surprises in store for him. [Slytherin!Harry but it’s not an entire canon rewrite like most of the alternate sorting fics i love so much, so that’s fun. also severitus and just the right amount of soul crushingly painful angst. oh and it has a delightfully fluffy little sequel. ] Alternate Sorting AU 2: Electric Boogaloo (Ravenclaw!Draco): Chaos Theory by Tessa Crowley [102k,E] Chaos: when the present determines the future, but the approximate present does not approximately determine the future. One gene varies, one neuron fires, one butterfly flaps its wings, and Draco Malfoy's life is completely different. Draco has always found a certain comfort in chaos. Perhaps he shouldn't. (warnings for: major character death, graphic depictions of violence, psychological torture, implied/referenced non-con) [as my notes on my bookmark said: GOD DAMNNNNN. I LOVE THIS FIC. I CRIED SO MUCH AND ALSO THERE WAS LAUGHTER AND JUST GOD DAMN. ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITES. so that about sums it up.] Time Travel AU: Annus Mirabilis by Ren [39k,E] Harry and Malfoy are trapped at Hogwarts around the time the school was founded. Stuck with a different way of doing magic, with no chocolate, and with each other, they have to find a way to work together if they want a chance to go home. [i almost never fuck with time travel aus but… this one slaps. also? hogwarts founders era?? hell yeah. also also? their relationship progresses in a way that feels so natural and the tension is so palpable and the writing is excellent.]

Favorite Series for the pairing: Leo Inter Serpentes by Aeternum [746k,E,6 Works] Just one conversation between two eleven year old boys goes slightly differently, and the world changes. Just how much will be different with Harry being sorted into Slytherin, and how much will stay the same? [Slytherin!Harry? Harry, Draco, Hermione friendship? Severitus? All in a complete series re-write that’s currently six completed works deep? What more could you possibly need?]

Longest fic I’ve read for the pairing: I Do What I Want by XxTheDarkLordxX [509k,E] They say you shouldn't touch what isn't yours... Too bad no one told Harry that. A simple mistake that Harry made in his first year at Hogwarts is coming back to bite him in the arse. The war is over but the threat to his life is just beginning. This story begins with a simple apology that changes Harry’s life. It starts a domino effect that leads to unbelievable connections, undying love, unique past lives, unknown villains and an unstoppable family. Follow Harry and his friends on an epic adventure filled with twists, bumps, comfort, enemies, a new life and a lot of love. (warnings for: major character death, some character bashing) [the first (or first few? i forget) chapters are written in first person but they’re an internal monologue and the rest of the fic is not in first person, just so you know. Also, the concept slaps and the fic is cute and i love to see it (and i’ve read it thrice).]

Fic(s) with some of my favorite tropes: Matchmaking: Ron Weasley: Accidental Matchmaker by Phoenix_Waves [2k,T] "There's not a sexual tension out there that the man can't accidentally detect!" George beamed. "And then ask the stupid arse question that's going to light the spark and fan the flames." Lee added matter-of-factly. A fluffy Christmas one shot featuring our favorite older Gryffindors. [god this is excellent: the obliviousness, the mutual pining, the matchmaking, having the older gryffindor kids around and having a good holiday time- it’s all excellent.] Soulmates: Kiss Me Not by DorthyAnn [21k,T] Sometimes a witch or wizard's magical signature is so completely incompatible with another that they repel one another like magnets. On the other hand, if two magical signatures mesh well together, well there are no stronger relationships in all the world. In a sample of a thousand people, the average witch or wizard will be slightly repelled by four or five people and strongly repelled by only one, at the most. The opposite is true for attraction. But Harry Potter can't kiss anyone at all. [this is actually such a fascinating take on the classic soulmates trope. there’s no predestined person for everyone and there’s no magical guarantee of anything, just magic being a little difficult and i adore that. also the writing style is excellent and the characterizations are spot on.] Accidental Bonding + Bed Sharing: Let's Take A Chance On Happiness by endless_grey [21k,E] Harry works with Luna at her magical antique shop, and everything is going pretty well until a mysterious ring makes an appearance. Cue curse-breaker Draco Malfoy and an accidental bond, and suddenly Harry is magically married to his former nemesis. They need to break the bond before Hermione's fundraiser, but Harry doesn't remember "fall in love with the git" being part of the plan. [i discovered this fic while looking for something else, but it’s so good. i love their dynamic and it’s shift as the story progresses and i love both of their friendships with luna just as much. it’s funny and a little angsty and well written and has two of my favorite tropes in it. what more can i say?]

[princesssarisa]

This article, which @astrangechoiceoffavourites recently shared in a post, is an interesting one. I've read some of Claire Dunkle's commentary before, particularly her debunking of myths about the Brontës. I think most of what she has to say is good, though some things are questionable: for example, the suggestion that the cheerful diary paper Emily Brontë wrote on her 27th birthday while her brother Branwell was deep in his downward spiral means she was callous to his suffering. (Why can't we just assume she believed he would get better at that point and didn't want to dwell on suffering that she thought would only be fleeting?) These musings on Heathcliff are likewise full of excellent insights, but again, I think a few of her assertions are worth debating.

For example, the question of whether Heathcliff has a specific aversion to being laughed at by women or if his aversion is gender neutral. I honestly think it could be viewed either way. Of course Heathcliff's relationship with women is nothing if not complicated. He adores Cathy I in her natural, rugged, iron-willed state, and as a boy he gladly lets her be not only his equal, but his superior. Meanwhile, of all the other people he knows, his most trusted confidante, to whom he reveals his deepest vulnerability, is ultimately Nelly (their relationship is fascinating!). Yet with Isabella and Cathy II, he uses his patriarchal power as husband and father-in-law to lord over them and abuse them. Although we could argue that this is gender-neutral because he does the same with his son – but then again, his son's effeminate nature is a big part of what fuels his disdain for him.

The entire novel's relationship with masculinity and femininity, not just Heathcliff's, is worthy of a novel-length analysis in its own right. I've read the argument that as a whole, the book's narrative admires masculinity and disdains femininity whether in men or in women, and I do see where that argument comes from, but I also think it's more complex than that.

I definitely appreciate Dunkle's emphasis on Heathcliff's relationship with Hareton. That essential aspect of his character arc is too often overlooked, not only in adaptations that cut it altogether, but even in commentaries on the book itself. As rightfully controversial as Charlotte Brontë's comments on Wuthering Heights are, she had insight into her sister's book that other commentators often lack when she stated that Heathcliff's most "human" aspect isn't his sublime love for Cathy I, but his unexpected regard and empathy for Hareton – which, contrary to the popular shallow reading, goes much deeper than just "Hareton's love for Cathy II reminds Heathcliff of his own love for Cathy I" – and his ultimate unwillingness to harm him. This, IMHO, is one of the aspects that clearly sets Wuthering Heights apart from the trashy romantic potboiler that it's often mistaken for; if it really did belong to that genre, then Heathcliff would never show empathy or semi-kindness to anyone except Cathy I.

About Dunkle's comments on whether or not Heathcliff is "reserved"... Well, there's no question that he's a passionate man. To deny that would be like claiming "water is dry." But it's also true that he only reveals the extremes of his passion in especially heightened moments or when he's speaking to an unusually close confidante (namely Nelly). Part of what makes his outbursts of raw rage and anguish so striking is that they're rare. And I'm not sure if I agree with Dunkle's argument that Heathcliff isn't naturally reserved, but has been taught by his hard life to wear a quiet, stoic facade. That's a valid interpretation, of course, and there's no doubt that sometimes he does put on a deliberate facade of indifference – for example, on the morning after Catherine's death, until his "May she wake in torment!" outburst finally shatters the mask. But in general, I don't see him as going through life faking stoicism like Queen Elsa with her "Conceal, don't feel." People are complicated beings: who says he can't be both naturally passionate and naturally reserved except at key moments?

Of course the question of "Nature or nurture?" is an open question that surrounds all the characters' behaviors. Could Heathcliff have ever been a good man if his life had been different, or is he inherently cruel? Is Cathy I inherently a narcissist or do her circumstances shape her too? Is Linton Heathcliff inherently weak and obnoxious because his parents were two incompatible "elements" (with all the unfortunate implications about mixed-race and cross-class unions and children of dysfunctional marriages therein), or could he have been different if he hadn't been so sheltered by his mother and then abused by his father? Do Cathy II and Hareton triumph in the end because they have inherent goodness that the other characters lack, or does the fact that Cathy II was raised in a loving home and that Heathcliff could never bring himself to abuse Hareton as much as he himself had been abused by Hindley make all the difference?

I had never though before of how surprising and strange it is that Heathcliff treats Joseph reasonably well, in fact better than Hindley did, even though Joseph was one of his childhood abusers and they mutually detest each other. Maybe this has something in common with his grudging sympathy for Hareton and lifelong confidence with Nelly. Maybe we could view him as having a fundamental respect for servants, or for people reduced to servitude, because of his own background. Even though he speaks of “crush[ing] those beneath [him]” and in large part does just that, the fact remains that the chief victims of his cruelty are people of more privileged status and upbringing than he was, even when they lack the power that he currently has.

I personally don’t see any big mystery in why he should settle into life as the master of Wuthering Heights rather than burning it down and disappearing as Dunkle suggests might have made more sense for him. In the first place, that would mean throwing away his claim to inherit Thrushcross Grange, so it would leave his revenge on the Lintons incomplete. Secondly and relatedly, he knows Isabella is out there with his son - as soon as he learns of Linton’s birth he resolves to claim him one day, even though twelve years pass before he gets the opportunity, because having his son in his power will be the key to gaining the Grange. Furthermore, he has Hareton as his ward, and is determined to insult Hindley’s memory into the next generation by shaping Hareton into a copy of himself. (A scheme which, of course, partly fails and partly goes horribly right.) But even beyond that, doesn’t it make sense that he should get satisfaction in being a better master than the “legitimate” heir, Hindley, ever was, and making the property prosper more than Hindley ever did? Isn’t that better revenge on Hindley’s memory than burning down Wuthering Heights would have been?

[reincarnatedladywarrior]

WHAT THE SOCIETY DON’T WANT US TO KNOW ABOUT LOVE

Free encyclopedias on the web would define love as a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. But come and think of it, love is not an instinct. Love is a skill. And when we say skill, it needs to be learned. A skill that the society refuses to consider as a skill. We are meant to always follow our feelings. And if you keep following your feelings, you will certainly always commit big mistakes in your life. Who wants that? No one wants that. No one wants to end up with the wrong person. Nobody wants to feel like they have been sentenced to life imprisonment by marrying the wrong person.

Unfortunately, it is primarily because people tend to idealize love just like what fairy tale movies try to project on our screens ─ an image of a perfect love where there’s a king and queen living in a castle that is bound to have a happily ever after. But in real life, that’s definitely not always the case. Love is more than just a feeling or a mutual chemistry. It is to love someone with charity and generosity in interpreting someone’s behavior; a constant recognition of ambivalence between the good and bad traits that exist in human nature. Hence, while growing up, we tend to associate an ideal partner to the idea of a good person we have created in our minds from an unconscious attempt of assessing our parents and separating their nice and unpleasant characteristics. Then, we’ll make a pretty long list of good traits that we’re looking for, only the good ones of course. But by doing so, we tend to neglect the mere fact that bad traits are also included in the package. The truth is, a ‘perfect person’ don’t and never exist and is more like a conceptual theory postulated by blind hopeless romantics.

None of us are perfect and we don’t need be perfect to love and be loved. The demand for perfection will lead you to only one thing ─ loneliness. So, one should not find a perfect person to be happy but a perfect person to suffered with in a familiar way that will help you define what genuine happiness really means. Because whether we like it or not, at some point in our lives, everyone will hurt us and all we need is to find someone worthy of the pain that is intertwined with loving. You cannot have perfection and company at the same time because to be in a company with another is negotiating imperfection every day.

Meanwhile, sulking seems to be a reflection of people’s desire to be understood by another individual. Because that’s how love was taught and how we think love should be ─  filled with understanding. That’s right but on its own detriment that’s also the reason why when a person doesn’t understand us, we get disappointed, sad or in rage. We shouldn’t expect someone to read our minds and do something that we wanted them to do for us then invalidate their feelings when they don’t act a certain way that we wanted them to behave. Love requires open communication and a cycle of giving and getting; not only an absolute selfless act of kindness towards another being. Because without communication only endless catastrophe awaits.

On the other hand,  it is also crucial to take note that love is not all about gifting someone all sorts of nice things that you could offer, although it’s considered as one of many love languages out there. On top of all of that, to love is to be a teacher and a learner. ‘If-you-love-me, you-should-accept-all-of-me’ line should be stigmatized as a sign of true love. True love is not just about accepting the way your lover is. It is accepting the truth that love has a role of transforming one another to become the best version of themselves to maintain a healthy relationship. Having said that, it’s a little ticklish but one should learn how to accept the fact that when someone tells you something about yourself, they’re not attacking you. They’re trying to make you a better person and we don’t normally believe that because it hurts our pride to actually take a look inside ourselves to find the truth…that the other person wants to educate us and it isn’t a criticism. Criticism is merely a wrong word to apply to a much nobler idea which is to try to make us better but we tend to reject this idea very strongly. Not unless it’s nothing but a below the belt statement or an insult in disguised of a joke, well then stand your ground. But sometimes you have to bear in mind that an angry person is not always what they see to appear, some of them are secretly and deeply sad pessimists. And this only further emphasizes someone’s need to hone behavioral interpretative skill in order to love properly.

Incompatibility, we are all incompatible but it’s the work of love to make us graciously accommodate each other and each other’s incompatibilities. Therefore, incompatibility is an achievement of love; it’s true love that make us gradually accept the need to be compatible.

We all have types. And we can’t probably change our types. Many of us might have certain types who are going to cause us real problems. They may be too distant, arrogant or going to torture us in some way. And your friends would casually say, cut him/her out of your life he\she’s not good for you. Realistically speaking, you cannot manage your type, let’s take that for granted but there’s an achievement here as well. It is to change how you characteristically respond to your tricky type. Most of us have formed how we respond to our tricky types in early childhood. For instance, we have a distant parent which matches to a distant lover…when we were very young, we respond to that distant parent by attention-seeking…we rattled and banged. And now we’re adults we rattle and bang in our own way. And we think it’s going to help but it doesn’t. It creates a vicious cycle that won’t get us anywhere. It is open to us to have a more mature response to the challenges that the types of people that you’re attracted are going to pose for us. And that’s an immense achievement. One thing that we can do is to recognize the inability to compromise ─ one of the shameful things that we have to admit… “This is my partner, I’ve compromised…in choosing them I’ve compromised.” “Why you’ve compromised?” “Well, I’m not that attractive myself. I’ve got lots of problems. I’m a bit naughty. Frankly, I can’t pull anyone better but they’re very nice…they’re okay.” Now, you would think loser, but that’s not true. Compromise is noble. We compromise in every area of life and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t compromise in our love life. Maybe some parents are just sticking around for the children…good! And we’ll say, “Oh, they’re just sticking around for the children.” That’s a wonderful reason to stick around, for what else they’re going to stick around. Let’s look benevolently in the art of compromise as a massive achievement in life.

Notably, a Danish Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard had a wonderful outburst where he basically said, of course you’re going to marry the wrong person and make the wrong decisions in a whole row of areas. And the reason why you’re going to do this is because you’re a human. Therefore, do not berate yourself for doing what humans do. This is what he said, “Marry, and you will regret it; don’t marry, you will also regret it; marry or don’t marry, you will regret it either way. Laugh at the world’s foolishness, you will regret it; weep over it, you will regret that too; laugh at the world’s foolishness or weep over it, you will regret both. Believe a woman, you will regret it; believe her not, you will also regret it… Hang yourself, you will regret it; do not hang yourself, and you will regret that too; hang yourself or don’t hang yourself, you’ll regret it either way; whether you hang yourself or do not hang yourself, you will regret both. This, gentlemen, is the essence of all philosophy.”

[arethereanyoriginalusernames]

Character redesign + info: Kingsley

Hey-o, what you see here is a redesign for a character of mine. Kingsley is the rival character for one of my protagonists, Ifrit. As well as his love interest. Kinda. Ok yes, Ifrit develops a crush on him, but “he’s not gay, guys!” (Ifrit’s still in the closet)

There’s more information below for this blind, sassy king of rats here, so...

Anyways, Kingsley is a human with the ability to telepathically communicate with rats. He’s 16, a year older than Ifrit. And for a 16 year old, he’s already been through a surprising amount. People are usually surprised that Kingsley isn’t at least 18 due to how he often talks like he’s a Bond villain, and like he’s seen wars come and go.

Kingsley is a member of the Dawnsview Secret Service, and a co-worker of Locket. He’s not well liked, and is even despised by all except for Locket, who has (unintentionally) become a pseudo older sister for him. And even she finds hanging around him draining. Kingsley is infamous for being a sassy, smart aleck deadbeat. He’ll cheerfully remind people of everything that went wrong with whatever they did, or what they still need to do, all with a smug smile on his face.

It’s not a surprise to learn that Kingsley hates the kingdom he serves. Kingsley has lived in Dawnsview for his entire life, but has suffered greatly under the current ruler. His parents were taken away for being unable to pay the monstrously high taxes when he was a child, and he lived as a homeless orphan for years until he was taken in by one of the members of the secret service and his soon to be boyfriend.

Since he showed “great potential” it was decided that, despite being 14, that Kingsley would join the secret service, but he would only do minor things and not be involved in conflict. He would use his rat buddies to survey the kingdom and would report if anything suspicious was found. However, since Kingsley understandably held quite a bit of hatred for the crown, he sent his rats to spy on the queen. When he was caught, he was punished by having his eyes cut out by Gear, who he unsurprisingly broke up with afterwards.

While this did dissuade Kingsley from trying anything again, it’s no secret that he holds no genuine loyalty to the throne. When Ifrit and the rest of the rebels come along, Kingsley is perfectly fine doing the bare minimum to stop them, and even secretly helping them. Of course, none of them really trust him, least of all Ifrit. Especially since his duties require him to fight against them in combat. Kingsley doesn’t really help his case by acting shady as hell, and usually have explaining things.

Ifrit and Kingsley end up developing a complicated relationship with each other. Both act as though they hate each other’s guts, and they both really want that to be true. Unfortunately, the two find themselves relating to each other on the basis that they’ve both been hurt by the same people, and that they both are handicapped in a way that makes people see them as useless. Kingsley also genuinely respects Ifrit for making the most of what he can do, and for being a surprisingly good strategist. He does take issue with some of Ifrit’s more naive world views, and the two often end up getting into heated debates. Despite their differences, Kingsley is one of the few characters who doesn’t look down on Ifrit, and engages with him as an equal, plus he does genuinely believe in Ifrit’s ability to succeed. The two have a mutual trust and respect for the other, although neither will admit it.

Their relationship gets awkward when Ifrit unexpectedly develops a crush on Kingsley, which he vehemently denies. Since he’s bad at hiding it, Kingsley is quick to catch on and jokingly teases him about it, which results in Ifrit pushing him away, straining whatever relationship they had. It gets worse when Kingsley finds out that not only is Ifrit a host, he’s an incompatible host, thus making him emotionally and mentally unstable. As Ifrit’s condition worsens, he takes more and more of his frustration out on Kingsley whenever they meet. However, for better or worse, Kingsley ends up being the one character willing to not only hold Ifrit fully accountable for his actions, but to also continue treating Ifrit the same as he did before, as an equal. He basically becomes the person who gives Ifrit a much needed dose of reality, something which Ifrit eventually becomes endlessly thankful for.

Personality wise, Kingsley can undoubtedly be a massive asshole, and he rarely shows any respect for anyone. He enjoys shocking people, and making them uncomfortable, especially if he doesn’t like them. Beyond that, however, he has a more mature, serious side. He’s good at looking at things objectively, and won’t hesitate to point out something being unreasonable. He’s very observant, and, due to past situations, he’s very choosy about who he trusts. This causes him to have a tendency to lie, or hide things from others. The same past situations have also caused him to develop a short temper, and little patience when it comes to dealing with other people. He’s rather argumentative and stubborn, and holds a great deal of contempt for those who wrong him.

Also yes, he can fight. Kingsley has his rats see what’s happening for him, plus they aid him in battle. Plus his walking stick is also a gun, and it has a sword inside. So, that helps

That’s all for Kingsley for now

Art and character belong to me

[officialthiamlibrary]

Hey! Do you know of any where one or both of them play a professional sport?

So sorry for the delay, but we are ready with our finds! These are what we could find, but if we are missing any then please let us know and we will add them to our list! 

All the Quads Are My Friends by never_love_a_wild_thing (Teen | Complete | 10K)

Tags: AU - Ice Skating, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Idiots in love, Social Media

Summary: Liam and Theo go to Figure Skating Worlds in Milan, ready to prove themselves to the skating world and end up falling in love along the way.

A Peek Inside: “Theo!” Liam shouted, “You can’t just post pictures of me when I’m sleeping!”

“Aw, but you were so cute, though!” Theo smirked at him. Liam decidedly did not blush. “I don’t think you can even see the drool in that picture.”

Liam gaped at him, trying to figure out how to express his unbridled fury without actually killing anyone. “I do. Not. Drool.” He gritted out.

Breaking The Ice by Bookwyrm (Teen | Complete | 8.8K)

Tags: AU Hockey, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, Coming Out

Summary: Theo and Liam used to play for rival hockey teams. Things got explosive everytime they shared the ice, but now they've both been traded to the Beacon Hills Wolves.

A Peek Inside: Theo sat on the ice, and gently pulled out the tissues. When no blood flowed he asked, "What the hell is your problem? Are you just the human version of an overly aggressive chihuahua or is it personal?"

Liam gritted his teeth. "My problem is you are the worst kind of hockey player. You don't care about the rules of the game or who gets hurt, unless of course you hurt them on purpose."

Rings Of Fire by LI0NH34RT (Teen | Complete | 3.1K)

Tags: Figure Skating AU, Ice Skating AU, Enemies to Friends to Lovers

Summary: Figure Skater Liam dreamed of being at the Olympics his whole life but when his partner Hayden breaks her ankle at a practice jump too risky, his dream seems over and done. 

Theo is a single skater because his attitude makes him incompatible with a partner but that doesn't stop their coach to pair them off in training – Will the flame of their hate burn them out or light up a different fire?

A Peek Inside: “I absolutely do remember that day. Actually that... unfortunate incident made me aware of the sparks the dynamic between you two has.”

“Sparks? More like fire hazard...”, Theo mumbles to himself.

It is true. Every time Liam Dunbar and Theo are in the same room, they fight. It's lucky they didn't share any ice time yet and that has mostly been due to the fact that single skater and pair skaters trained separately on a team as big as team USA.

Going For Gold by AJP_37 (Explicit | WIP | 15K)

Tags: AU Olympics, AU Swimming

Summary: Scott had just up and quit from the Olympic Swim team. 

And someway, somehow Coach thought it was acceptable to bring in Theo to take his place. 

Liam was not impressed. 

Until he was.

A Peek Inside: “But I want Scott back, I don’t want to swim with this guy.”

“Theo. His name is Theo.” Coach rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Liam when you give him the chance I’m sure he is going to be right up your alley.”

“Coach, he’s been in like three different scandals since the qualifiers.” Liam huffed, slumping down into the chair. “There was a reason why the selectors left him in college. He’s not ready for the big stage.” 

“And funnily enough that is what every single member of the team and coaching staff said about you.” Coach snapped back, leaning forward on his chair.

finding love on the offroad tracks by xTarmanderx (General | WIP | 10K)

Tags: Slow burn, Motocrossed au

Summary: When Theo Raeken is injured before a major motocross competition, his twin Tara decides to step up to the plate. While their father is overseas looking for a new rider to take over for the event, Tara begs their mother to keep it from him and let her try and race in Theo’s place. Disguising herself as Theo, she takes up the racing circuit to keep the family name attached to the event. Enter Liam Dunbar, a professional biker from a different circuit that immediately can tell Tara isn’t who she claims to be. Theo pleads with Liam to keep their secret and he agrees: on one condition.

A Peek Inside: Despite the recently added dips and new curve to the track, Theo took each challenge effortlessly and sped past his father for a second lap. This time, he risked a glance at the man and saw him shake his head, scribbling frantically down onto his clipboard. His teeth ground together and he hit the curve hard, losing momentum as he sought to right his bike. His grip grew tight, lips pinched as he committed his focus back to the track. His father may be hard on him, but he was nowhere near as unforgiving as the dirt.

Melting the Ice by ExtraSteps (Mature | Complete | 29K)

Tags: Hockey au, Scott is a prick

Summary: Liam's entire world is shaken up when Scott McCall, the captain of the Los Angeles Rams and Liam's mentor at the club, unexpectedly asks to be traded to the Dallas Stars. As Liam struggles to deal with this in both his personal and professional life, his teammate and friend, Theo Raeken, is there to help him in any way he can.

A Peek Inside: He already feels a bit better. As much as they’ve had their differences in the past, he knows that Theo would bleed for him, has in fact done so on multiple occasions, putting himself on the line to protect Liam. If anyone can make Liam feel anchored, its him.

Don’t Forget To Breathe by snaeken (Explicit | Complete | 28K)

Tags: Ice hockey, disabled character, depression, anxiety, mental health discussions, smut

Summary: Formerly a professional ice hockey player in the NHL, Theo suffered a career-ending injury on the ice which resulted in the loss of everything he held dear to him. No longer able to cope with his teammates pity, and the speculation from the media and the general public on how bad his injury really is, Theo runs away. He goes back to the hometown he left behind when he turned pro, hoping to find solace in a place which has previously caused him so much pain. After a chance encounter in a graveyard of all places, Beacon Hills local Liam Dunbar slots himself into Theo’s life, wanting to aid him in both his physical and mental recovery. Theo quickly discovers he’s not the only one who has demons, and when feelings become involved… well that’s just inevitable, isn’t it?

A Peek Inside: Even at this time of night, his phone is still blowing up on his night stand. Colleagues and fans and hecklers and press and god knows who else. He can’t bring himself to unlock it and turn off the notifications. Hopefully the battery will run dry soon. Even when he’s tried not to, he’s still seen snippets of the questions he’s getting.

[steveyockey]

are u implying that sam and dean are more incompatible because of personality differences than the fact they’re literal brothers?

okay I realize that writing the post that way made it sound like I could have been talking about w*ncest but I was genuinely just thinking that like. no one on any level of relationship with dean aside from cas has any idea what’s going on in his brain. bobby might have the closet perception just because he knew john and understood that he mistreated his kids and his personal experience with parental abuse allows him to empathize with dean but dean is NOT giving him any good leads if he can help it (very thoughtful casual reference to killing himself in 7.02 should make that clear). charlie is probably dean’s next best friend aside from cas but what does she actually know about dean? mostly just that he’s gay and a nerd which she can pick up on because she’s a dyke and a nerd. and she can guess that he has parental damage but only because she reveals her parental damage to him. the dude is super charming and does have friends, don’t get me wrong, but he is, on his most intimate levels, completely alone. and when it comes to cas that type of knowledge takes on a romantic and sexual sense because it slots together with their mirroring hunger and desire (which is for dean, previous to cas, repressed successfully and then brought to the fore in all their interactions, and for cas simply doesn’t exist until he meets dean and learns what want is), BUT there are elements of nonsexual/nonromantic intimate support that can be fulfilled by family or in fact actually are, in a society based on the heterosexual nuclear family, supposed to be fulfilled by family - dean just never gets the opportunity to actually explore those in a healthy manner because a) azazel destroyed the “perfect” “happy” winchester home (which it obviously was not but john sure as hell will pretend it was in order to justify why vengeance for his wife supersedes the care of his children) and b) dean’s so obsessed with saving his brother he never really actually understands that, in doing so, he’s constantly perverting the relationship to be this savior/saved dichotomy that can’t coexist with mutual respect. I was not equating sam and cas in the interest of comparing romantic potential, I was drawing a comparison to demonstrate how bleak it is that no one before cas has ever been capable of making dean see past his own defenses. it also just happens to be that cas can fulfill for dean both a family role and the role of romantic/sexual partner, which he does.

I was gonna just put this in the tags but fuck it, I’m moving it up here: as a gay person with siblings who know I’m gay and that being gay has made various family dynamics increasingly difficult for me but never talk to me about how I'm gay, it feels like that. they COULD totally talk to me about being gay and that would probably make our relationships better, but they don't! and part of that blame resides with me because I’m content to not tell them anything even when I’m really struggling, so we never actually have the opportunity from either side to get closer, which is unfortunate because they're my sisters, and they just have no insights into this significant part of my life. it would be very cool to have my siblings in my corner or literally any family member who could testify to my character and worth, but instead I have had to seek out those figures elsewhere, which is a very gay narrative and one that dean slots into perfectly.

[coll2mitts]

#77 Grease (1978)

Slick your hair back and grab your team jacket, we’re hand-jiving our way through Grease, a movie about bunch of hot, self-motivated ladies with their whole futures ahead of them settling for a bunch of schmucks.

Grease is a strange experience to relive as an adult, because it was (as I suspect with a lot of people) ever-present in my childhood, and I didn’t understand the great majority of references then.  This movie was intended as an 8th birthday present from my mother; I came home from school one day and the VHS was sitting on our kitchen countertop unwrapped.  I didn’t recognize it, so when I asked my mom what it was, she feigned confusion for about 10 seconds before she gave up and said, “I bought it for your birthday, I guess you get it early now.”  She promised me I’d like it when I popped it into the VHS player, and she wasn’t wrong.  I hadn’t watched this movie in over a decade and I still could recite the majority of the dialogue.

While this movie is a toned down significantly from the stage show, it is still fairly raunchy in parts.  What is kind of hilarious to me is Grease’s gradual shift in categorization over time as a “kids musical”.  In 5th grade, my sister played Sandy in her elementary school’s production of it.  I asked if she remembered any of the lines they changed to keep things “appropriate” (the Kidz Bopification, if you will) and she responded, “No, I just thought it was weird I had to go out and buy a sexy outfit.”  Conversely, my 5th grade play was about the history of America and I dressed up like Martha Washington.  I’ll never forget the 50 Nifty United States from 13 original colonies... SHOUT ‘em, SCOUT ‘em, TELL all about 'em, ONE BY ONE till we’ve given a day to every state in the U-S-A.  AL-A-bama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, CON-NE-TI-CUT...

Anyway, do I think it’s weird that a movie about a bunch of horny teenagers has become Baby’s First Adult Musical?  Sorta.  Not really.  I mean, the dudes act like children for the majority of this, so I’m not surprised, at least.  It had, for sure, turned me off from wanting to date high school dudes when I was in high school.  The high school girls, however... we’ll get there.

It’s the first day of school, and the oldest high school seniors I’ve ever seen are poised to take on their last year at Rydell High.  The “T” Birds and their very uncool matching jackets are reunited after a summer apart and their super-senior leader Kenickie, played by the late Jeff Conaway, regales the tale of lugging boxes to earn money for a sweet ride, which you could feasibly do back in the 1950s.  Danny, played by John Travolta, spent his summer getting action at the beach, which he eloquently describes as “flippin’”.  

Frenchy and her new neighbor Sandy rendezvous with the Pink Ladies, who have very cool matching jackets and the unabashed confidence to go with them.  Stockard Channing, who plays Rizzo, is turned off by Sandy’s pure, seemingly holier-than-thou persona, and is dismayed when Sandy starts to describe her sickly sweet summer romance.  Her interest is only piqued when Sandy mentions her hunky date was notorious playboy and Rizzo’s ex, Danny Zuko.  

Sidenote: When I was a child, I thought Sonny asked if her “jugs were bigger than her nets”.  I asked my mother what “nets” were, since I surmised that jugs meant breasts, and she didn’t know, which I thought was weird.  It wasn’t until THIS MOMENT that I realized he was asking if her jugs were bigger than Annette’s.  Who the fuck is Annette?  Like the Mickey Mouseketeer Annette?!  Rizzo sings about her later and I’m just like.. this revelation has lead to more questions than answers.

Rizzo hatches a plan to call Danny out on his shit and reunite Sandy with Danny at the school pep rally, as they know her boyfriend is an asshat.  He predictably reacts maturely; Not wanting to admit his previous story of getting fresh with some cute Australian girl down in the sand was somewhat hyperbolic, he plays it off like he doesn’t give a shit about her, reducing Sandy to tears.  Frenchy comforts Sandy like the supportive queen that she is and invites her to join the Pink Ladies at a sleepover.

Honestly, a Pink Ladies sleepover looks lit as fuck.  As a kid (and now, tbh) I was Jan, I wanted to be Marty, I wanted to fuck Rizzo, and I wanted Frenchy as my best friend.  I would totally be down to drink champagne, eat Twinkies and mutilate our body parts with needles.  Sandy is a bit of a late bloomer and reacts to these series of events by puking.  Rizzo decides to be a bit of a slag and make fun of Sandy for being an inexperienced virgin before shimming down a drainpipe to get laid by some jerk with a shitty car and a 6-year-old condom.

Sandy, whose night has done nothing to alleviate her heartbreak, sings a song about being in love with a coward.  Part of the deal Oliva Newton-John signed to be cast in this movie specified she have her own solo number, so “Hopelessly Devoted” was written and filmed after the rest of the movie had been completed.  This feel pretty obvious, since it gives off a very strong 1970s pop Best Original Song vibe.  When I was a kid, I used this song as a break to use the bathroom or grab a snack, but as an adult I find myself humming it every so often.

Speaking of contract-obligated solos, we’re treated to a Travolta-led “Greased Lightning”, which I always thought was weird, cause like, who is going to sing a song about their friend getting tit in their sweet car?  Jeff Conaway played Danny on Broadway, he deserved better...  Also, I’m CONVINCED this song got the Pop-Up Video treatment, but couldn’t find it online anywhere.  Otherwise, how the hell else would the fact that they thought John Travolta putting the saran wrap on his crotch was too racy live rent free in my head for like 20 years?

After encountering Sandy on a date with a jock, Danny decides he’s going to join a sports team to prove to her he can be a motivated team player.  Instead, he just physically assaults several members of his school, but it’s fine because he’s wearing a uniform when he does it.  This is enough to impress Sandy, as she accepts Danny’s invitation to the school dance.

The other gang members are going through their own drama, as Rizzo is sick of giving it up to Kenickie without receiving a modicum of respect.  

“A hickey from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card.  When you care enough to send the very best.”

Danny regresses and continues to act like a shithead to Sandy in front of her friends.

“I don’t like tea.” “You don’t have to drink tea!” “Well, I don’t like parents.”

Jan and Putzie begin an innocent and adorable romance, which proves it’s possible to start off a relationship with mutual respect, even if your friends make fun of you for it.

“I also think there’s more to you than just fat.” “...Thanks.”

I love this scene, there’s so many good lines.

Frenchy, who had dropped out of Rydell to pursue a career in cosmetology, is also in crisis as her stint in beauty school went very poorly.  After hours, she somehow hallucinates Frankie Avalon advising her to get her high school degree.

As a child, I was so proud of myself when I realized all these women played other roles in the movie, as if facial recognition was an important skill.

The day of the big dance finally arrives, as National Bandstand comes to Rydell High with roofie-wielding predator and television host Vince Fontaine.  Rizzo arrives with the leader of the rival gang, while Kenickie has his best girl, Cha Cha, as his date, because they are both very well-adjusted teenagers that know how to work through conflict by communicating and not using desperate attempts to make each other jealous.  Danny and Sandy are cutting up a rug until Sonny attempts to physically assault Sandy, and Danny just lets it happen because another one of his exes, Cha Cha, starts to dance with him while Sandy is rebuffing Sonny’s advances.  Cha Cha and Danny subsequently win the contest.  Honestly, this is so fucked up, I would have dropped Danny after this lapse of good judgement.

But no, Sandy still allows him to take her on a date to the drive-in, and it’s not until he elbows her in the boob and then tries to cop a feel in front of everybody that she finally blows him off.  Then he has the absolute gall to act emo about it because he’s afraid people will think he’s a loser.  Jesus Christ.

Kenickie is also hurting, as he discovers that Rizzo is pregnant and she doesn’t want anything to do with him, regardless of what being an unwed mother will do to her reputation.  He decides to process these emotions by racing Greased Lighting for pink slips, as he likes to live his life a quarter mile at a time.  Unfortunately, Danny steals Kenickie’s thunder (road) yet again, as he’s forced to take his place in the race because of a car door-related closed head injury.  Sandy is impressed by Danny’s driving skillz and decides to sex herself up for an unreliable and emotionally manipulative teenager.  Danny has a similar inclination and decides to put on a nice sweater to win Sandy back, which is something, I guess.  They declare they’re the one each other needs, oh yes indeed.

The school year ends, and all the boys end up paired with the girls.  Rizzo finds out she’s not pregnant and reunites with Kenickie?!  Marty ends up with Sonny even though he’s a handsy creep.  Danny and Sandy are just an mess with incompatible expectations of each other.  But at least Jan and Putzie and Frenchy and Doodie are fairly inoffensive.  The end.

This movie is great, even all these years later.  The entire cast is fantastic, even those with smaller bit parts.  I was *living* for the school staff, Principal McGee and Coach Calhoun especially.  Grease also jump started my lifelong love for Stockard Channing.  She’s great in The West Wing, but her part as Sister Husband in Where the Heart Is may be my favorite performance of hers.  I’ve watched that movie so many times I can’t even call it a guilty pleasure, I love it so much.

Olivia Newton-John wasn’t even sure she wanted to be in this movie and requested a screen test so she could see if she was good at acting.  John Travolta was enamored with her and helped convince Olivia she was perfect for the part, and he wasn’t wrong.  She gives such a strong performance as Sandy; I bought her transformation from clean-cut cinnamon roll to sexpot completely.  John Travolta was also unbelievably charming as Danny, and I found myself giggling at his line deliveries constantly.

The songs are also unbelievably catchy (albeit somewhat annoying after you’ve heard them 700 times).  Barry Gibb, my favorite Pras-adjacent composer, wrote the theme for the movie and it just bops so hard.  As a well-documented detractor of Doo Wop music, there’s not a whole lot else here for me, but that’s not going to blind me to the excellence of this soundtrack.  There is a reason this movie is revered as much as it is.  10/10, fun for the whole family, as long as the kids don’t understand the references.

[northwestofinsanity]

I was tagged by @ritchieblackless Thank you!

1. Why did you choose your url?

The “Northwest” comes from “Northwestern”.  As far as that part goes, it’s a long, complicated story, involving a character from some original stories I used to write for my younger cousins when they were kids, and my favorite vessel on Deadliest Catch (it used to be a good show).  “Insanity” comes from exactly what it sounds like.  I’m never fully sane... but majority of the time, I’m not entirely insane, so I played a pun on what became my online name to suggest I’m just a little up the road to the north and west of true insanity.

2. Any side blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

None so far.

3. How long have you been on tumblr?

February 2017... so that’s a little over 4 years as of now.

4. Do you have a queue tag?

No, and I don’t really use the queue.  I’m not active enough on Tumblr to have much use for it, and I pretty much just post whenever the mood strikes me, and when I have time to search and focus on what my hyperfixation du jour is.

5. Why did you start your blog in the first place?

The community I was in on DeviantArt (not band-related) was melting down in a really nasty way, and one of my closer friends there became abusive, so once I got everything I was in charge of there handed over, I abandoned my account.  I was in some *intense* emotional pain, and I needed distraction, and distance from the fandom.  I basically came to Tumblr to hyperfixate on my favorite bands more -it was something I’d considered, but didn’t have the time before that to commit to it.

6. Why did you choose your icon/pfp?

My icon is Jeff Pilson and George Lynch.  Dokken was one of the bands I was most hyperfixated on in 2017, and they, along with a friend who is also a fan of them, really were helping me get through that hard time when I made this account.  Besides that, Jeff and George have a really wholesome friendship despite the turbulent history of Dokken.  As for my pfp, I just chose generic guitars I found on Google Images to create a minimalist background.  I have a tight data limit, and I tend to force every ounce of life out of my devices, so I make my own stuff as easy to load as possible, and most likely to function even if an outdated, semi-incompatible browser doesn’t format things quite right.

7. Why did you choose your header?

“Classic Rockhaven” (I assume that’s the header?) comes from my love for classic rock, and the idea of rock and roll being a safe-haven for me at the time.  “Rockhaven” also closely resembles the name of a neighborhood a few miles away from my own in my hometown, so I knew it would flow right.

9. How many mutuals do you have?

I have 14 as of now.  I’ve lost a few due to some people leaving, or switching accounts

10. How many followers do you have?

429.  Some are unfortunately fomer-porn accounts I haven’t had a chance to weed out and block.  A good number are just empty, lurker accounts as well, but as long as those followers are enjoying classic rock content, that’s fine by me.  I’m grateful for the followers I have who do enjoy and interact with my posts.

11. How many people do you follow?

Officially, 38, but there are a good number of accounts I “unofficially” follow, by visiting blogs every night I have the chance.  I’d love to follow more, and am looking to officially follow a few of those, since a few of the people I already follow have gone inactive or left.  With my lifestyle, and data limits, I just have a hard time keeping up with my dashboard even with the tiny amount of people I follow, so I like to really get to know blogs first, and then slowly add them to my follow list so I don’t get overwhelmed. 

12. Have you ever made a shitpost?

I believe so, depending on where you draw the line on that.  (at least in my definition, I have).  Do snarky posts about Tumblr’s glitches and that time I drowned my phone at work count?  Or the crazy, crack-fic cartoons I drew in quarantine?

13. How often do you use tumblr each day?

On my weekends/off-days, whenever I want and can.  On my 12-hour workdays, I check my dash before I leave home, once over data while I’m on my lunch break, and then at least once when I get home.  If I’m getting home on time, and not late because the evening ran long, I’ll check on blogs I watch without following yet.

14. Did you ever have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Not that I’m aware of... I’ve made neutral posts discouraging other blogs from fighting though, because I’ve seen plenty of traumatic things internet fights can lead to in the events leading to me joining here, and I don’t want to see anyone go through that when usually, nobody wins.  At best, I think I had someone misunderstand what I said on a post where there was affectionate teasing of a certain 80s guitarist, and I meant to play along with the joke to say “don’t tease him, he’s a nervous wreck” -and added some band history for any watchers who didn’t know the story behind why said guitarist is so nervous... but it didn’t come to anything.

15. How do you feel about "you need to reblog this" posts?

9 times out of 10, I agree with what they’re saying, but I don’t like reblogging these things, because it feels like it’s being crammed down everyone’s throat -I’m much more receptive to things that don’t feel forced, along with plenty others.  To begin with, they’re not really what I’m here for.  Tumblr is a place I joined for a mental escape from the world’s problems -not a place to ruminate on them.  And when I’m seeing them when I’m half-mentally numb in the middle of a 12-hour shift with only 1 gigabyte per month of data to work with, or when I’m home after that day and dead on my feet, it just turns me off.

16. Do you like tag games?

I like doing them when I have the time at home to sit down and do them over Wi-fi.  The only thing I’m iffy with is tagging others, because I don’t want to make someone feel pressured into doing it.

17. Do you like ask games?

As long as the questions aren’t about a certain few things I will not share about, I have fun with those.  I just have to find one to reblog from someone I follow that comes up at a time I know I’ll have time at home to answer.

18. Which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I don’t know if anyone truly is, but @mccoys-killer-queen ’s sideblog is pretty well known.

19. Do you have a crush on a mutual?

No, but I do care for a number of my mutuals (including a couple I haven’t officially followed yet) a great deal, and can say I wish nothing but happiness for them, and if they were to leave, I would truly miss them (but also support it if they deemed it best -as I have with a few past mutuals).

20. Tags

Anybody who wants to!

[tiger-moran]

I have been thinking about Moriarty/Moran (nothing new there then) but especially I’ve been thinking lately about how there does seem to be this tendency to characterise Moriarty/Moran as if that’s an automatically or inherently toxic relationship, when I don’t think that’s true. And actually the reason I was probably thinking about this idea specifically recently is because of seeing a lot of a portrayal of a very healthy, mutually respectful and loving romantic relationship in Sarah/John Barnaby which I’m sure many people would think couldn’t possibly compare to Moriarty/Moran but truly, I don’t see the relationships as being that different. Of course they’re very different characters; the relationships have very different elements and dynamics and on the surface there are not many similarities, but I believe Moriarty/Moran is also a relationship which involves mutual love and respect and is absolutely not an unhealthy one. 

In the earliest days of me writing about Moriarty/Moran I know that how I was trying to portray them wasn’t necessarily perfect because my grasp on their relationship wasn’t properly developed then but in time, as I’ve come to understand their characterisation better I think (hope) I’ve got better at writing them and trying to challenge the assertion that their relationship is toxic or unhealthy. They are darker characters; their relationship does have darkness within it, and sometimes I’ve tried to address that darkness more than at other times, such as in And It All Began With You, but simply because it's a relatively dark relationship doesn't make it toxic or abusive. I think there is an important distinction between ‘characters in a close relationship who do bad things to each other’ and ‘characters in a close relationship who also do bad things’. For me Moriarty and Moran are the latter, not the former. 

Merely because they are the 'villains', that doesn't mean they harm each other. With them I am fascinated by the concepts of love and death intertwined. I love that these two men could kill each other, but that's only because it's backed up by the fact that they never actually would. I believe these are two men who love each other, truly, and that their intimate relationship is not an unhealthy one. They are killers, actually or by proxy; that doesn't make their behaviour towards each other abusive or toxic however. Hence I’ve repeatedly shown them respecting each other's boundaries; I've shown them explicitly discussing consent (something which is also extremely important for me in other ways too, since I perceive Moran to be an allo bisexual man while Moriarty is essentially gay but also aroace). For me none of those elements are incompatible with them being darker characters or the ‘bad guys’. I also write them as kinky, and there is an unfortunate tendency still to categorise kink as just abuse or as inherently unhealthy, but that is not the case in general or specifically with them.

Toxic other behaviours, or toxic mindsets, or whatever, do not make a relationship automatically toxic. And the fact does still remain that realistically, most if not all of the people those two cause harm to are probably not great people themselves. Most if not all of those people are likely to be criminals themselves. That may not justify actually harming all of them in the way Moriarty or Moran may do but I don’t believe for one moment either of them is some sort of indiscriminate killer, or someone who tends to harm people who haven’t themselves done something bad too. And most importantly for this context, I don’t think killing or harming them is something that Moran has to be forced or coerced into by Moriarty. I think Moran’s nature and behaviour and morality was shaped way before he met Moriarty, in some ways for the good, in some ways for the bad. Moriarty did not turn him ‘bad’ and he would never have employed Moran if he had believed Moran was unwilling to break the law. Moran plays far too important a role to him for him to be someone who ever had to be manipulated or coerced or bullied into doing things he didn’t want to do. Moran breaking the law at Moriarty’s bidding is therefore, to me, not an indication that their relationship is somehow a toxic one. If anything I think Moran’s behaviour was probably actually tempered and many of his violent tendencies were probably reeled in and controlled by Moriarty. Before Moriarty, I think Moran was capable of being more explosively and indiscriminately violent and much more self-destructive; after Moriarty employs him however I believe his behaviour is much more controlled because Moriarty does treat him with respect and affection and he has given him structure and stability and security in his life. Moriarty didn’t make Moran into a killer. If anything it was the army who forced Moran to be a killer.

I believe totally Moriarty is a very dominant personality overall and that includes being dominant generally as well as sexually dominant or Dominant in the kinky/BDSM sense. But again that also doesn't make his behaviour towards Moran abusive or 'toxic'. Moran has vulnerabilities I’m sure, but he’s not weak; he is strong-willed and can easily stand up to Moriarty. And Moriarty can be possessive; he can make threats towards Moran to do something very bad to him if Moran betrays him, but this is in a context where Moriarty trusts Moran and believes totally in his loyalty, and where Moran knows that Moriarty’s possessiveness is not malicious, it’s playful; it’s Moriarty teasing him in a very affectionate way and where it does play on the fact their relationship is often a very kinky one and where if Moriarty talks about ‘punishing’ Moran this means a consensual, kinky act, never abusive behaviour. Even the fact that realistically Moran can never leave Moriarty’s employment does not I think make their intimate relationship toxic or unhealthy. I still think Moriarty does not and would not try to force Moran to do anything he didn’t want to do and far from making Moran feel frightened or resentful, this idea being there in the background that Moriarty effectively ‘owns’ him and he can never leave is something that makes him feel safe and secure. 

I do believe their intimate relationship is a very healthy one, based on mutual love and trust and respect, where consent matters to both of them. I don’t believe at all that ‘villains’ and ‘healthy, mutually respectful and loving relationship’ are incompatible concepts. I am definitely not saying their relationship is perfect for every single moment or that they never argue or anything but then that kind of ‘perfection’ probably would not be a sign of a truly healthy relationship either. And I also do think there are moments when they do struggle to understand each other, because of their differences, but then that often also tends to encourage communication between them and strengthen the bond between them rather than being something that damages their relationship.

I’m also not saying that nobody can ever portray their relationship as a toxic or abusive one. I don’t like that portrayal at all and do not want to read about that kind of portrayal but I’m not saying you can’t ever portray them that way but I just... don’t agree with this idea that ‘two villains together inherently equals a toxic relationship’ that many people seem to have, or the idea that the other things they do to other people are some inherent indication of the intimate/romantic/whatever you want to call it relationship between the two of them being an unhealthy one. To assert that they can’t possibly have a truly loving and respectful relationship with proper communication between them just because they are both criminals/bad guys/villains and that all of their behaviour even to each other is all toxic and abusive is, I think, totally incorrect.

[mitigatedchaos]

(~1,500 words / 6 mins)

google Zarus

- @contemplate-everything

Hah, I had forgotten about him, but when it comes to "The Gods are Racist," he isn't what I had in mind. (I'll tag in @samueldays and @morlock-holmes as well.)

To put it simply, in any fantasy setting in which there are multiple sapient species (to call them 'races' suggests a smaller difference between them than there is, in my opinion), we must wrestle with the question of why there is any species less intelligent, less kind, and shorter-lived than the smartest, kindest, longest-lived humanoids.

There are a whole lot of different perspectives we can take on this, which makes it a fertile creative territory.

There are, broadly, four major reasons a species can be evil (or 'evil') in a fantasy setting: environment, culture, innate, or selected.

1. Environment.

In a friend's setting, orcs are not less intelligent or inherently more bloodthirsty than humans, but have been pushed onto more marginal lands that have less productivity, making it harder for them to develop 'civilized' agricultural states. They end up more likely to raid as well, as their economic production for advanced goods is lower.

A species could also be otherwise normal, but are widely hooked on evil magic drugs that just aren't available in other areas, or have a local environmental pressure that murders kind people.

2. Culture.

A species may worship an evil god and exist within a culture of self-sustaining evil norms, where social approval is based on being evil and altruistic people are considered exploitable morons. A member of that culture has, as their entire life experience, expectations formed on this basis.

3.A. Innate (Body)

A species may have a fundamental evil resource conflict with another species. For instance, a vampire who must murder one human a year to survive would have to be crazy moral in other ways (such as, I dunno, holding closed a gate to the infernal realms?) not to come out, on balance, quite evil just by surviving.

Alternatively, a species that has a very high fertility might quickly exhaust local carrying capacity and come into resource conflicts with neighbors more often.

3.B. Innate (Mind)

This is basically an AI safety argument. A species could be designed to enjoy cruelty more, or to be more xenophobic, or more paranoid, or to have more bloodlust or less inhibition, just as an AI could be designed to be a paperclip maximizer. In a fantasy setting it can be an absolute binding, but it could easily just be an increased frequency. Imagine having an implant in your head that rewards being a bad person.

A species might also not be innately more evil, but have greater risk factors, such as a natural craving for power and complexity, or an ability to consciously control their own sense of empathy for others.

4. Selected

A species (such as fiends) may be impossible to become or impossible to remain as without being evil.  Thus, the entire population of that species consists of evil people, or people who were once extremely evil.

I actually like all of these, as they provide a rich palette to paint with and can be used to create morally-challenging scenarios when used together. Giving orcs the capability to be good but having a tougher time of it will tie the clerics and paladins in knots - but also more clearly separates them from the neutral and evil characters.

And let's give four reasons for their existence as well.

1. Evolution

In our world, humans ended up being the only sapient species, but in a world with magic, evolution might go in very different directions. It could be simply that no one made goblins on purpose, but a sapient species with short lifespans, small resource usage, and high fertility has an evolutionary edge in many regions, particularly when technology levels are low.

On the flip-side, elves living for such a long time allows them to access more magic and more complex magic, resulting in a feedback loop in environments where magic resources are rich. Same for intelligence, which is used for developing and casting spells - but also for finding mutually-beneficial arrangements.

In a magic-evolutionary environment, it's possible that the species create the gods rather than the other way around, so they tend to (probably accidentally) create deities that reflect their strategies and tactics, which then reinforce them both culturally and environmentally.

2. Evil Deities

Evil deities are, well, evil. In the interests of spreading their evil influence, it would make sense to create evil sapient creatures, even if a handful of them will defect to good. The suffering of these creatures matters little to their creators, as evil deities are evil.  This seems to be the usual reasoning.

3. Divine Ecology

If gods need prayers, then a logical thing to do is to deliberately create sapient species that will worship you. Creating an evil species is like creating a brainwashed population, only it's down to the innate level so it's even more effective. This evil species also won't have moral objections to spreading your worship by conquering the rest of the planet.

Alternatively, species may not be equally easy to create. Creating an elf species might cost Divine Points, which then can't be used for shaping mountains or adding oceans or building temples or something. It might also be high-risk - long life may mean low fertility, which could be devastating if there's some kind of depopulation event.

4. Mortals & Evil Mortals

In this scenario, both the long-lived species (like elves) and the short-lived or 'evil' species (like goblins) were deliberately engineered on purpose, probably by evil wizards. Who was going to stop them? Paladins? That sounds like a quest!

This situation may have occurred much earlier, in a more advanced body-hopping fantasy-transhumanist civilization, where elves were high-end 'sleeves' and goblins were cheap and expendable bodies that people would exit once the time period was up. Then that civilization collapsed, and the body-hopping technology was lost... until now...

This gives us multiple options for a "The Gods are Racist" campaign.

1. Undoing the Dark Gods' Handiwork - A group of adventurers set out to remove the evil influence that the Dark Ones exert over orcs and goblins, and possibly increase their lifespan and intelligence to be similar to that of humans (or even elves). The Good gods support this quest.

BRANCH: The Dark Ones do exist and do corrupt the orcs, but the original technology used by the body-hopping civilization to create orcs is discovered, calling into question just who or what the good deities are, since this is completely incompatible with the creation mythology.

BRANCH: Removing the evil influence is possible (and successful), but increasing the lifespan is not, imposing a moral dilemma.

2. Undoing the Gods' Handiwork - A group of scientific-rationalist transhumanist adventurers challenge the deities, which in a more Greek god type way, have made the different species different without appropriate moral evaluation.

BRANCH: Turns out the Greek gods are just very powerful and very obnoxious wizards that have become full of themselves over the millennia. No higher entity is discovered with certainty. Subsequently voluntary species-change technology is introduced; only thanks to vanquishing the wizards is its energy cost economically feasible.

BRANCH: Turns out the Greek gods were once mortal and they would really like to retire from this deity thing. They scout the adventurers as their replacements, who end up having to make a lot of similar decisions due to similar resource constraints, just like the last batch and the batch before that.

3. Elf Supremacy - A group of adventurers find a magical device able to turn other sapients into elves. They discover this when they accidentally use it on themselves.

BRANCH: This is part of a plot by the Elf Deity (who is Evil) to transform everyone into elves, thus taking all worship in the entire world for himself. The party must root out and stop this vile Elf Conspiracy; unfortunately being an elf is considered so desirable that the conspiracy has many backers and this proves difficult. They end up having to take assistance from rival evil deities.

BRANCH: At first they use this device for immense profit, because so many people want to be elves, before discovering the effects are contagious, unleashing the (involuntary) Elf (Transformation) Plague. It turns out this was why the technology was not used before, and they must embark on a quest to stop it on behalf of the Elf Deity, before the other deities go to war.

BRANCH: As a subversion, it turns out there’s nothing especially dangerous about the technology at all.  The adventurers spend the rest of the campaign increasing their opportunities for their company, Elf Inc., to make huge amounts of money, and occasionally being challenged by conservative elements in other societies as they expand their markets.

4. Newly Unequal - All the species were equal until just a few hundred years ago.

BRANCH: This was the result of an elf supremacist wizard using magic to transfer other species' positive attributes to elves. The quest to stop him failed. Fortunately, this power is concentrated in a series of physical artifacts that can be destroyed. Elves aren't even a 'real thing,' but rather are descendants of a specific kingdom at the time of the switch, which has used this transferred power to subjugate the other 'species'.

BRANCH: Every kingdom in the world is still trying to figure out what happened as the global political situation has been rapidly destabilizing. It turns out that actually, this is what the species are normally like (in the absence of intervention), and a series of magical stations built by an ancient empire drained energy from more powerful species and transmitted it to less powerful species for the benefit of ideology and political stability. The adventurers face a moral choice in reactivating it, not least because the effect will rapidly kill some of the oldest members of the high-power species.

[dogbearinggifts]

What’s your opinion on the Patch/Diego relationship?

I definitely like it. They’ve got a bit of that opposites-attract energy going on, what with Eudora being a mostly by-the-book detective and Diego going full vigilante to take down criminals. At the same time, they both have a strong commitment to justice, which lets you see what brought them together—even as their competing (and in many ways incompatible) ways of pursuing justice points to one major source of friction in their relationship. At the beginning of the series, it’s already become acrimonious, hinting at a long and heated history; but there’s evidence they care for and respect each other as well. Eudora calling Diego to help her search the hotel. Diego losing all concern for forensic evidence when he sees her body. Those things point to a relationship built on mutual respect and selfless acts of caring—even though it’s since been poisoned by slights, sharp remarks, and lots of resentment on both sides. It’s a complicated relationship, and we’re not encouraged to see one party as right and the other as wrong. We’re just shown their dynamic, given a hint of their history, and allowed to make up our own minds. 

I think the main reason why I like it, though, is fairly meta: It allowed the writers to deconstruct Diego’s worldview in a way that was both effective and unobtrusive. 

See, at first blush, Diego’s choice to moonlight as a vigilante seems like a good one. There are a lot of bad guys out there, and they need a good guy to stop them. “When seconds count, the police are minutes away” unfortunately holds true in a lot of cases, and not always because of departmental corruption or malfeasance. In big cities like the one where TUA is set, police departments can often receive more calls than their officers can respond to—especially in high-crime areas or if the department is understaffed. Even if the department has enough officers and dispatchers, simple things like distance can mean a squad car might not arrive to a house before things get ugly. But with a vigilante like Diego in the mix, families like the one he saves in the opening sequence have a better chance at survival. 

But then Eudora reminds us that it isn’t that simple. Sure, Diego might be able to respond to a break-in more efficiently than many cops; and yes, he saved lives….but he also has no formal training, little respect for the chain of custody, and seemingly little regard for things like “rights of the accused.” He just storms in, overwhelms the assailants with sheer brute force, and gets out before the cops arrive. If any of the burglars in the opening sequence survived, a skilled attorney could probably not only ensure they escaped prison, but help them sue the police department for damages (”So you knew there was a dangerous vigilante on the streets, you knew he had a fondness for breaking bones and cracking skulls….and not only did you not take him off the streets, but one of your detectives dated him! Sounds to me like your department endorses his methods!”) Diego might have saved a lot of lives, but he’s also made sure more than a few violent criminals escaped prison, possibly going on to reoffend. 

I’m not saying what Diego does hasn’t helped people, and I do think he’s at least partially motivated by altruism. Yes, he’s trying to prove himself as a hero; but I do think he genuinely wants to help those who can’t help themselves. But as Eudora points out, his actions have negative repercussions. It’s worth noting, and noting it adds a lot of maturity to the show.