blondphobic

[blondphobic]

EXACTLY. I hate that people always go from the “he’s a brat” to the “he’s a killer” and forget everything in between, you can’t ignore the reason why he does what the does then go around saying he doesn’t care about lemuria when he dedicated so much of him for the safety of his people in every single timeline we saw to this point.

he never knows when his moments with mc are gonna be their last time seeing each other, I think he has the right to be a little clingy.

I keep seeing people saying they don't like rafayel because he’s unreliable, “he’s a merman, he’s putting a façade to deceive mc and is rude to anybody else, he condemned his people yada yada” and others surface level half assed reading of his character and man I’m tired.

to the moment the first met him (first first met him, in the forgotten sea myth) rafayel is portrait as not sharing the same disdain for humans as the majority of the lemurians, he calms the storm so the ship mc was in doesn’t sink and saves her from drowning (yes, he fucks with her a little but the intention was to save her), they only met because he snuck out and went where he isn’t suppose to be.

forgotten sea rafayel is playful, carefree and a little naive, he not really fathom the extent of his powers as the sea god until the moment of the coming-of-age ceremony and even then he challenged the deep sea. he didn’t choose mc over lemuria, he lied to save both of them.

the rafayel we meet at the sea of golden sand, the one who seems to have assumed his position as a lemurian leader (kinda) and is in fact trying to retrieve the heart by deceive mc is the most “sober” version of his character, he acts like people expect him to act like a sea god but can’t help but falling in love with mc again and again tries to save both her and his people by erasing her memories and trying to rewrite the tome of the sea god.

rafayel cares deeply about the lemurians, he has a fucking bounty on his head for going after people who are involved with ever and their experiments on merfolks, before we met him on the main story he already gave up on us (think of that one scene where talia ask him if he thinks about his marriage and he just answers ‘no’), he’s focused on protecting the remain lemurians, it’s only when mc goes after him at his studio that he decides to come with the bodyguard thing so he can be closer to her.

he’s stuck in this eternal conflict between his obligations with his people and his love for mc, the man (merman?) he believes lemurians want him to be, who’s a leader and makes sacrifices vs. the man who comes to the surface when he’s with mc, who can be carefree and even vulnerable, who plays in the rain and dances around in puddles with her, who gets excited about things that look insignificant to most of people and is passionate about everything he does.

I keep seeing fans saying that “rafayel is for the girlies who need to heal their inner child” and I think it goes both ways, rafayel is his most sincere version when he’s with mc and that’s scaring for him, in his cards he seems to be always fighting for control but never with mc, he’s fighting himself.

rafayel loves us but he’ll give up on his happiness over and over again if he thinks that is the best for mc, he’s very skeptical for someone who is a literal god. I think deep down the only thing he truly believes is that mc will always find her away back to him.

[blondphobic]

in celebration of my 1st anniversary as a lads player, i’m sharing my ranking of the current love interests and some random thoughts on them, not that anybody asked or care about

1st place of course comes Rafayel, I wouldn’t be exaggerating saying he’s everything I like in a otome character, he’s SO charismatic, caring, funny, passionate, a switch (jeez who wrote that?), endearing and more, he caught my eye the moment I started playing the game, I adore his dynamic with mc, I’m very fond of flirty banter and they delivered.

he’s so complex and by coincidence I wrote this quite-long-but-not-as-long-as-the-original-draft post yesterday about how people simplify his character’s internal conflict and that he’s much MUCH more than most fans seems to give him credit, I didn’t even know today was gonna be my 1st anniversary, I found out because they sent me celebrative messages, I wrote that just because I fucking love Rafayel. I love you, Rafayel!

2nd place comes Xavier, I’ve been in a Xav phase recently, I can’t really say why because I actually don’t know, I’m just in a Xavier mood, I like his personality and his interactions with MC, he’s very tender, friendly and sweet, I really like that, the jealousy thing kinda activates my fight or flight but I chose to overlook it since he isn’t my main and another LIs gonna step into the 2nd place next month anyway.

3rd place is Zayne, I almost put him on 2nd because I really really like Zayne but it’s more in a “we’re besties” way, love his personality, he’s very kind and considerate, I unaronically think he’s really funny and he’s such a sweetheart with MC, ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ love this guy.

4th place’s Sylus, he was actually 2nd place for some months but somehow ended in 4th here, proving that except for Rafa, my ranking changes constantly, I really appreciate him tho, he’s a very charismatic character. like Zayne he just wouldn’t work for me at long term, he’s too daddy dom archetype for my personal taste, every time he calls MC “kitten” I get the ick.

5th place and surprising no one, comes Caleb for a bunch of reasons (but not the reasons people imagine I would have), not only he just got added to the game and we barely got time to grow attached to him yet but because being honest (and controversial), I find him kinda boring.

I’m not very fond of childhood friends to lovers so this end up influencing my opinion on him, I dislike how this trope relies on fake nostalgia over moments the characters shared together and forget the fact that I, the real person playing the game, wasn’t there and therefore have no emotional connection to this character. He always going “remember when you did that?” “remember how we use to do that?” no, I don’t.

Caleb was on scream for like 5 minutes then fucking exploded now he’s back acting psycho, Infold is giving me zero to none time to build any fondness for him so for me he’s just a rando who’s trying to kidnap me, I get he went through some brainwashing shit but since I don’t know him his betrayal just doesn’t hit like it suppose to hit. I didn’t felt betrayed, I felt disgusted.

also I can’t lie, overprotective men aren’t for me, even before being brainwashed Caleb was already too much for my liking, I already have enough people in my real life who think they know what is best for me more than I do, I don’t need this energy in my silly lil hot men game, if I wake up one day feeling like spending time with a man who’s overprotective to the point of being overbearing I can just hang out with my dad.

that being said I don’t hate him, my heart is forgiven when it come to characters if they’re well-written, Infold made a good job with all of them to this point so there still hope for Caleb, Sylus was lowkey a cunt in the beginning too and everyone seems to have forgotten by now

as a bonus, my expectations to the 6th LI: I want him to be related to Ever but I don’t want him to be a ceo because that would be very boring, there’s nothing sexy about making money by exploiting workers and Sylus kinda already fill the ceo archetype, I would prefer a guy who is/was a scientist working for Ever but he discovered things he didn’t suppose to discover and now wants to leave, something along those lines, we also need a sub character because the girlies who aren’t into the dom daddies are clearly in disadvantage, give us someone even more needy than Rafayel, give us a man who’s so pathetic. He having colored hair would be cool too.

also I want to propose we start referring to the LIs as “the lads” because refereeing to them as “LIs” sounds cold to me and calling them lads is goofy so it’s makes me laugh

[blondphobic]

im sorry…does she remember that she can literally summon fire?

[blondphobic]

Does Rafayel really have to choose MC over Lemuria?

Of course, it looks like in a world where Lemuria is revived, MC cannot be there with him; and similarly, in a world where MC is by Rafayel’s side, Lemurians are forced to live on land, subject to all kinds of abuse out of human greed.

But I don’t think Rafayel even considers MC and Lemuria as separate sides. He did try to do that but in the end, I think, he doesn't want to choose one over the other. The thing is, even without the bond he shares with MC, Rafayel truly cares about all of his followers including MC (even the cat that he took care of for a short while).

If we look at how he acts with people around him, it is so easy to see that he is a very caring god. He attends Talia’s wedding to give his blessings. He prepares a gift for her, he designs her a necklace that would match her wedding dress. Through all the bickering, he sees that Thomas looks up to him and he lets him be by his side. He makes Thomas his manager and invites him to the new year’s celebrations.

He helps others hold the Seamoon ceremony for the deceased, and if that is not possible, he brings the flowers for his follower to the funeral of the man who harmed her.

He cares about the children enough to held special workshops for them, and donates art supplies. He cares about the students he gave lectures to in Linkon University when he was just there to keep an eye on MC. He gives them honest feedback, he lets them criticize his works and he remembers them by their names.

And even when he realizes that one of his students was working with Ever dissecting Lemurian hearts, even when he gets angry at the sudden reveal, Rafayel gives the student a chance to explain himself and lets him go, trusting that the student will maybe find the right path in the future.

Honestly, I think, you have to be a special kind of evil to attract Rafayel’s wrath. Because no matter how hasty he may come of time to time, he is a very patient and understanding person. That’s why he still respects the elder Lemurians even if he keeps running away. That’s why he is still with Amund, listening to his advice even when he obviously doesn’t really like him that much.

No matter how much he tries to appear as a cold person, people around him are always aware that they are in the embrace of his warmth.

And, I really don't think he values one over the other or even makes the MC vs Lemuria comparison at all. The thing is I don’t even think Rafayel’s conflict is directly related to his love for MC. Because, even before MC became his follower and he gave her his heart, Rafayel considered Lemuria’s flame as a poor imitation of the sun, a fire that is not hot but just merely warm. And, he did not like the weak warmth emanated from a flame placed in the middle of a cold and dark room. He wanted to break through the surface and bask in the sun’s glow. Maybe, he had doubts about how the Lemuria worked, how the ceremony was held from the very beginning.

And I think that’s also related to why the Sea God ceremony appeared to “fail”. That disastrous ceremony happened the exact way it was told in the prophecy, stating the fire would go out only to be reignited by him. He still left that ceremony with a newborn flame in his hands. A flame that shook the foundations of Lemuria. And I think the flame Rafayel was supposed to have and the flame he actually has after that ceremony is as different as the fire in the temple and the sun.

I kind of think there were two souls in the beginning. One was supposed to take the heart of the other, and make the heart itself the faith that ignites the flame. And the other was supposed to mix into the sea and disappear, only to come back again and reclaim the heart. And continue this never-ending cycle. This heart, taken by force in such a violent way, could only provide a lukewarm flame that cannot be compared to the power of the sun.

Past Lemuria existed as these two souls stole their warmth away from each other to keep this place, in the bottom of a fissure in the deep sea, warm. The past Lemuria existed through the torturous cycle that had to be upheld by Rafayel and MC.

And, maybe that’s why Rafayel considers his attraction to MC as an addictive painful feeling. Maybe that’s why he’s willing to burn by his love for her. And maybe that’s why it is really important that we see Rafayel leaving these feelings behind and embracing love as an inspiration rather than pain. He's ready to break the cycle now and bring Lemuria the sun, instead of a small flame.

I think what happened during the ceremony was MC showed Rafayel a way out of this cycle by giving him her purest faith without Rafayel taking her heart. Although, they still failed in the end. And ended up continuing this cycle for many more years.

So, maybe the good ending for this story is a good ending for both MC and Rafayel, and Lemuria. A good ending where the Lemuria thrives under its new sun’s glow, and a good ending where MC and Rafayel are always by each other’s sides like two koi fish swimming in a pond.

A good ending where Rafayel doesn't have to choose a side and keeps all his followers safe as the caring god he is.

[blondphobic]

rafayel canonically can do that glinda bubble thing

[blondphobic]

I keep seeing people saying they don't like rafayel because he’s unreliable, “he’s a merman, he’s putting a façade to deceive mc and is rude to anybody else, he condemned his people yada yada” and others surface level half assed reading of his character and man I’m tired.

to the moment we first met him (first first met him, in the forgotten sea myth) rafayel is portrait as not sharing the same disdain for humans as the majority of the lemurians, he calms the storm so the ship mc was in doesn’t sink and saves her from drowning (yes, he fucks with her a little but the intention was to save her), they only met because he snuck out and went where he isn’t suppose to be.

forgotten sea rafayel is playful, carefree and a little naive, he not really fathom the extent of his powers as the sea god until the moment of the coming-of-age ceremony and even then he challenged the deep sea. he didn’t choose mc over lemuria, he lied to save both of them.

the rafayel we meet at the sea of golden sand, the one who seems to have assumed his position as a lemurian leader (kinda) and is in fact trying to retrieve the heart by deceive mc is the most “sober” version of his character, he acts like people expect him to act like a sea god but can’t help but falling in love with mc again and again tries to save both her and his people by erasing her memories and trying to rewrite the tome of the sea god.

rafayel cares deeply about the lemurians, he has a fucking bounty on his head for going after people who are involved with ever and their experiments on merfolks, before we met him on the main story he already gave up on us (think of that one scene where talia ask him if he thinks about his marriage and he just answers ‘no’), he’s focused on protecting the remain lemurians, it’s only when mc goes after him at his studio that he decides to come with the bodyguard thing so he can be closer to her.

he’s stuck in this eternal conflict between his obligations with his people and his love for mc, the man (merman?) he believes lemurians want him to be, who’s a leader and makes sacrifices vs. the man who comes to the surface when he’s with mc, who can be carefree and even vulnerable, who plays in the rain and dances around in puddles with her, who gets excited about things that look insignificant to most of people and is passionate about everything he does.

I keep seeing fans saying that “rafayel is for the girlies who need to heal their inner child” and I think it goes both ways, rafayel is his most sincere version when he’s with mc and that’s scary for him, in his cards he seems to be always fighting for control but never with mc, he’s fighting himself.

rafayel loves us but he’ll give up on his happiness over and over again if he thinks that is the best for mc, he’s very skeptical for someone who is a literal god and deep down I think the only thing he truly believes is that mc will always find her way back to him.

[blondphobic]

peak philosophy in ao3 tags

[blondphobic]

i drew adrinette 😁😁😁😁😁🙏

closeups

[blondphobic]

I don't understand why antis are against ambassador katara.

I can understand not necessarily being a fan of firelady katara. Not even every zutara shipper likes the idea of it. But literally, what is wrong with ambassador katara?

I feel like ppl only dislike it because it's typically associated with zutara.

[blondphobic]

The people who simply can't understand why Zuko sought his dad's acceptance and love for so long, and why he still wants to reconcile with Azula (in the comics), clearly don't know anything about child abuse. Nor do they seem to want to understand.

A lot of people don't. That's Zuko's dad. That his sister. That's really the main thing you need to know. It's reason enough.

[blondphobic]

[blondphobic]

So I’ve had Wicked on the mind recently…

[blondphobic]

cowboy serennedy

ty for this request

[blondphobic]

lads brainrot really got me because i was writing a complaint and one of the people involved is named rafael and by instinct as spelled it as “rafayel”

[blondphobic]

this isn't a project I work on super regularly but I was pleased with how the character acting turned out here and wanted to share

[blondphobic]

this fandom really doesn’t know rafa because he would walk to caleb smirking and say: “I shall show you real fire and this time you aren’t coming back, bitch”

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Artist credits @fluffystarrie

[blondphobic]

like i'm sorry but we as a fandom have to stay firm on our anti-AI values. we cannot suddenly start giving AI a pass when it's something we "want to see" like destiel kisses. it's not suddenly fine. we're not going to start using AI to make fanfic scenes come to life or audio AI to make characters "say" stuff we want to hear. you have GOT to be firm on your anti-AI stance. if you start making exceptions then suddenly anything will fly. fandom is for real art and creations made by real people. no AI fanfics. no AI art. no AI rendered "bonus" scenes. no AI audio. none of it has a place here.