#(if you're gonna do that obviously be polite but like... come on. why is she here AGAIN)

[luxaofhesperides]

a safe place to rest - duke

(part 3 of the harmless series)

Although he hears about the baby, Duke doesn't get to meet her for a few days.

He does meet someone else though: Danny.

"You need anything before I go?"

He doesn't want to leave Danny alone in the Hatch. Not out of mistrust or anything, but because he's sure that the moment he looks away, Danny's going to disappear again. It took so long just to convince him to take a moment to breathe, to rest and recover from whatever he's gone through.

There's a frantic sort of energy surrounding Danny that has his aura all messed up, which is the only reason Duke decided against letting anyone else know that he found Danny.

He got the basic rundown from the night shift, but he hadn't had time to look more into it before Danny was crashing into him during his day patrol, eyes wide and wild and looking like his world had just ended.

"You," Danny had gasped, "You're with—Batman? Please, take these." And he shoved a bag against Duke's chest.

He had to react fast to grab it, and then grab Danny when he all but collapsed against him.

Now, he sits on top of the spare bed Duke set up in the Hatch, pale and tired and quietly devastated. "I'm fine," he insists. "You don't need to do anything for me."

Duke frowns. "Uh, I absolutely do, you think I'm just gonna leave you to fend for yourself? Come on, man, that's not how I do things."

"You don't owe me anything."

"Obviously not. It's not about owing things. I'm doing this because you need help and I can give it."

"I can take care of myself," Danny says firmly, and Duke holds back a sigh. Yeah, this guy really is Batman's kid. Horrible self-care habits and all.

"You don't gotta, though. You get that, right? You can take one day off and just rely on me to take care of you until you're back on your feet."

"No."

Duke tries to shove his emotions down, to stay neutral and calm. This is a guy who came crashing into their lives, shoving a baby into Damian's arms, and then vanishing. This is a guy who's gone through way too much on his own. Of course he's not going to trust anyone. Duke knows well how heavy everything becomes when it feels like the world's against him. He can give Danny grace.

"Okay. Just so you know, I'm asking to be polite. I'm still going to grab some extra clothes for you, and a homemade meal, so you just stay here and get some sleep. We'll talk more when I get back from delivering all this to Batman." He lifts the bag Danny gave to him for emphasis, then pins the guy down with a hard stare. "You better be here when I get back, or I am going to have no one to show baby pictures to."

"…You're gonna check on Ellie?"

The clear concern and desperation in Danny's expression make him soften. "Yeah, man. I'll check on her and let you know how she's doing. That's why you gotta be here when I get back. Got it?"

Danny bites his lip, then nods slowly. "Yeah. Got it. Thank you."

"Get some sleep."

Duke pulls the door shut, setting the alarm system to quietly alert him if anyone goes in or out while he's not in the Hatch. There's a first aid kit on the table and some water bottles as well, but it's not going to be enough to really help Danny start to recover. Duke takes a moment to curse his past self for not better stocking his crash room for emergency visitors, but in his defense, he isn't in the habit of bringing anyone back to the Hatch, not even other Bats, when the Batcave is more suited for handling lots of people.

Well, it's something to work on in the future.

He doesn't get more than a few steps away when he hears the door opening behind him and looks back to see Danny poking his head out.

"Hey, before you go…"

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Can you maybe not tell anyone I'm here? I'm assuming you know who I am, since you know Ellie."

"Yeah, your Batman's first lost kid, right? Trust me, I've heard of you."

Danny winces. "Great. Figures. I just really need to not deal with all of them right now, so if you could keep all this quiet…"

Duke looks him over, takes in the paleness of his skin, how worryingly thin he is, the dark half-moons stamped under his eyes, and promptly decides then and there that the rest of the world is going to have to go through him to even think about going near Danny. It's a complicated situation he's in and if he needs time to prepare himself for meeting everyone else, who Duke knows from personal experience can be a lot, then Duke is going to make sure he has all the time he needs.

"You got it man. They won't hear a thing about this from me. I'll lock everyone else out of here, too, so you can rest easy. They ain't getting in here to bother you while I'm still around."

"Thank you," Danny says again, sagging against the doorframe. "I'm… I really need to sleep."

"Go crash," Duke says softly. "I can take care of things until you wake up."

Bruce is the only person in the Batcave when Duke arrives. He's bent over the Batcomputer, head in his hands, when Duke parks his motorcycle and heads for the stairs to meet him on the upper level. He keeps his footsteps purposefully loud so Bruce can track him as he makes his way over, Danny's bag slung over his shoulder.

"Rough night?" he asks, just to get the conversation started.

"Yes," Bruce sighs. "There have been a number of—changes."

"Oh. Good changes or bad changes?"

Bruce lifts his head as he considers the question, then rubs his temple. "Unclear. It's nice to see everyone working together for Ellie, but I'm—concerned."

"About what?"

"About Ellie. And everyone. And Danny."

Duke leans his weight against the desk and lets the bag drop off his shoulder, then holds it out to Bruce. "Well. I dunno if this will make things any better, but Danny threw this at me while I was on patrol. I took a quick look through it and, uh. It's kinda rough. It's what he went through and how Ellie was created."

Bruce snatches the bag from his hand and immediately begins rooting through it. "Is Danny—?"

"He vanished as soon as I grabbed the bag. I think he's got a few loose ends to tie up before he feels comfortable being here again."

"What did you think of him?"

Duke looks at Bruce, looks at the papers in his hands, and thinks of Danny. "I think he needs someone in his corner. I think we gotta lot to do to make the world safer for him and Ellie. I think he's been scared for a very long time."

Nothing in Bruce's expression changes, and there's no shift in his aura, his emotions tightly locked up as always. But Duke hasn't gotten this far without learning how to see the little things: Bruce's grip on the bag tightens, his feet shift farther apart, as though he's ready to leap up at a moment's notice, and his shoulders slump just slightly under the heavy weight of all the things he refuses to share.

Sighing, Duke tilts his head to look at Bruce more closely. "Why are you down here? It's the middle of the day."

"I'm researching."

A hand loosely gesturing to the large screen of the Batcomputer has Duke turning to see what Bruce has been so occupied with.

It's not case files, as he expected. It's not even research into Danny and what happened to him.

All that's there is PDFs upon PDFs of child psychology papers and essays on recovering from trauma and research on various methods to help children with failure to thrive and malnutrition and neglect.

There's also, in one window, different safety ratings of baby cribs.

Well. Let it be known that Bruce's love language is information.

"Cool. Have you spent any time with anyone since a baby got dropped in your lap?"

Bruce's silence is extremely telling.

Duke briefly considers trying to get Bruce to go upstairs, but he knows better than to pick a losing battle. Especially after he's handed him information on Danny.

At some point, Bruce will have to go upstairs, if only to eat. He's getting old, and his body can't quite keep going like it used to. Duke will let him deal with the consequences of his own actions, or lack of action, when that time comes. He's not a mediator or peace-keeper. Duke has other pressing matters to attend to.

Taking pictures of the baby for Danny is definitely more important than navigating the minefield of family tensions and miscommunications ever present with the Waynes.

Duke reaches out and claps a hand on Bruce's shoulder. "Don't get so caught up in getting all the pieces together that you forget to actually spend time with family. They're gonna need you now more than ever," he says, and waits until Bruce meets his eyes and gives a resolute nod before Duke stands and heads for the stairs that will take up him to the manor.

The sooner he gets back to Danny, the better.

Ellie is cute.

This isn't a surprise. Most babies are cute, and Ellie is no exception.

What Duke hadn't been expecting is how protective Damian is of her, or how everyone else orbits around the two, just on the edge of hovering. Damian's prickly personality is well known, so the rest of the Waynes have taken to acting like cats: always on the same floor, ready to pop in should they be needed, but otherwise out of sight.

"Thomas," Damian greets quietly. Ellie is asleep in the baby wrap keeping her secure against his chest, her head resting on his shoulder. Damian lowers his paintbrush, turning to give Duke his full attention.

Duke takes a hesitant step into Damian's studio, then walks up to him once he isn't hissed at to leave.

"So this is our newest troublemaker, huh?" he says, looking down at Ellie. "How's she doing?"

She's so small. Her head has some black hair on it, but it barely covers her ears.

Damian lays his brush down on the easel. "She's doing much better now that she's getting regular meals and care. She still doesn't make much noise. It is… concerning."

The raw fear and care in his gaze is what makes the words tumble out of Duke's mouth. "I have some news about Danny."

If anyone deserves to know about him, it's his little brother.

Damian's gaze snaps up to Dukes, a fierce light in them, and his hands raise to hold Ellie tightly. "What is it?"

"He gave me a bag while I was patrolling, then left. I looked through it before giving it to B, and it's all… I only read the papers, not anything on the flashdrives, but Danny went through some awful shit. He was captured and experimented on by some group called NOVA. They had him for some time doing tests before he was put in isolation for acting out. And then he kinda… went into a death-like stasis. They did more tests and took some bio-material from him to try to figure out how he was surviving in stasis, and used that to make Ellie with the genes of one of the other captured metas. Danny was in stasis for around seven years."

Reading about it, learning about what Danny went through made Duke's stomach turn. It was like something out of a nightmare. Duke knows the fears metas have to live with; he carries it too, a weight he can never put down.

There's a reason civilian metas try to keep their powers a secret. Metas go for a high price on the black market, are at a higher risk of human trafficking, are seen as the best test subjects by unethical scientists wanting to find some way to replicate those powers in other people or in weapons.

Summarizing the horrors Danny had to experience leaves a bitter taste on his tongue. The silence in the studio stretches long enough for Duke to regret opening his mouth. Damian's still a teenager. He may have had a different upbringing and be able to stomach what most people can't, but this is still his brother. Anyone would be rattled hearing about this.

Then, without a word, Damian stands. He storms out of the studio, leaving Duke to catch the stool he was sitting on before it hits the ground and wakes Ellie.

When he goes to catch up with Damian, the kid is already walking into another room, tension in every line of his body.

"Richard," he snaps quietly, and Duke watches as Dick pops up from where he was lounging on the floor on one of the softest rugs in the manor.

"Dami? What's wrong?"

Damian doesn't answer, just unwraps the baby sling and carefully passes a still sleeping Ellie over to Dick.

"Damian," Dick tries again, his voice hardening, demanding an answer even as he adjust Ellie in his arms to make sure she can continue sleeping comfortably.

"I need to speak with Father," Damian answers shortly. "I will be gone for some time. I am entrusting her to you."

Dick glances at Duke, who tries not to look too stressed or tense. He doesn't think it works.

Reaching out, Dick puts a hand on Damian's head, managing to ruffle his hair for a few seconds before Damian steps away, batting at his hand with a scowl. "Alright," Dick says, "But I'm sending someone to get you for dinner if you're not back by then."

Damian nods, then turns on his heel and leaves for Bruce's office.

Neither of them move until they're sure that Damian is out of earshot.

"What was that about?" Dick asks, lowering himself down onto the rug again, one hand rubbing small circles against Ellie's back.

Duke sighs. "You'll find out soon. Just... chill for now and let me get some cute baby pictures."

Dick, as he finds out, is actually pretty good at helping Duke get the cutest pictures of Ellie.

And when Ellie blinks her little blue eyes open, Duke's heart melts and he understands how she's got everyone wrapped around her fingers.

NOVA, whatever remains of them, is going to regret ever hurting Danny and Ellie.

Danny is asleep when Duke returns. He sleeps through the night, and when Duke wakes up early the next morning to make sure he hasn't disappeared, Danny remains motionless in his bed.

Is he in stasis again? Duke wonders, panicked, as he rushes into his crash room and gently shakes Danny, trying to wake him up.

It takes a few tries before Danny lets out a soft noise in the back of his throat. He turns his face into the pillow, then abruptly tenses up and shoots out of bed. In a blink, Danny's on the other side of the room, flying up to the ceiling where Duke can't easily reach him.

Hands up, palms open, Duke says, "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. How're you feeling?"

Danny sucks in a few deep breaths before he slowly floats down to the floor. His eyes are still too wide and there's a faint tremble in his hands. "Fine," he answers blankly.

"Up for eating something? I did promise you food and baby pictures."

Unsurprisingly, it's the mention of Ellie that gets Danny moving and brings some light back to his eyes. He follows Duke out into the main room of the Hatch. There's not really a kitchen in here, but there is a fridge and a microwave, which is enough for now.

One of his workstations has been cleared off and now has chairs around it to turn it into a makeshift dining table. On it, Duke's left a tupperware of French toast, made the way he remembers his dad making them when he was a kid, and as well as a store-bought container of cut fruit.

It's not really a lot, but it's what he could do on a short notice.

Danny takes a seat, and Duke settles in on the other side of the table, pulling out his phone to flip through the many pictures he took of Ellie.

Duke keeps up a light commentary as Danny slowly eats, sharing little stories about the Waynes and all the nonsense they get up to. That turns into sharing stories about the stupid shit he and his friends gets into, followed by some of the weirdest things criminals have done to try to get away from him, including the one that said 'nuh-uh!' when Duke said carjacking is the lamest crime to commit in Gotham.

That story gets Danny to smile, and it takes way too much effort to keep from celebrating it.

All the while, Danny slowly looks through each photo of Ellie, making sure she's okay. He looks so fond and sad that it's breaking Duke's heart, and he swears to himself then and there that he's going to do whatever he can to reunite them.

"Don't you have hero things to do?" Danny asks. It's the first thing he's said since they both sat down.

Duke shrugs. "Nah, not right now. Gotham can wait. You're my priority right now."

"You don't have to��"

"Nope. If you don't want anyone else to know you're here, then you're gonna have to deal with me."

Danny squints at him. "You're both very chill and very stubborn."

"It's the only way I was able to survive working with the other Bats."

"They sound… interesting."

"You can say they're a hot mess," Duke laughs. "But hey, who isn't?" He watches as Danny pushes around the last half of the French toast around the tupperware and straightens up from where he was leaning on the table. "Want me to put that up for you? You can finish it later."

Danny looks down at his plate, then slowly nods. "Yeah. Sorry."

"No worries. You went through some shit. It's not surprising that you don't have much of an appetite." Duke reaches over the table to pop the lid back on the tupperware, then stands to put it in the fridge.

When he turns back, Danny is no longer visible.

Or, at least, his physical body isn't visible. Duke can still easily see his aura, a vibrant green that has streaks of white moving through it like a current of water, which leaves an outline of his body. Danny is also trying to sneak out of the Hatch.

"Oh," he says, "I didn't know you had invisibility. That's pretty cool. I can still see you, by the way."

Danny becomes visible again, glaring at Duke.

"That's such a Batman move," Duke grins, "I should have expected it."

"What was a Batman move?"

"Sneaking away as soon as I turned around. B does that all the time with the Commish. And everyone else, honestly. Though, to be fair, we all do it because we all learned from him. Yeah, you'll have no trouble fitting in with us."

"I don't think what I'm doing should count, since I'm using powers."

"Dude, watch this."

Duke makes sure Danny's looking at him, then bends the light around him to hide him from view. He can see the exact moment Danny realizes he's vanished when his eyes go wide and he takes a few steps closer.

"Signal?"

"Still here," Duke reassures. "Haven't moved an inch." Then he releases his grip on the light around his head, a fun little trick he figured out a few years ago that makes it look like he's a floating, decapitated head. The goons always love that one.

Danny looks at his head. Looks at his invisible body. Then looks back to his head. "That is freaky," he says, a slow smile dawning across his face. "I can do that too."

And sure enough, Danny's body becomes invisible, save for the outline of it in his aura, and now there's just two floating heads in the Hatch.

He's not sure who cracks first, but in no time, they're laughing like everything's alright. Danny's expression brightens and suddenly he's years younger, all the stress falling off his shoulders in the face of their mirth. Like this, he could be any other guy in one of Duke's classes, talking nonsense just to pass the time, quick to laugh and without a care in the world.

This is what he wants for Danny.

This ease, this calm, this lightness in his heart: Duke will keep them safe for Danny.

If nothing else, Duke can be a safe place to land for another meta who needs, more than anything, someone willing to be there for him.

(masterpost for all parts)

[crossdressingdeath]

wren--bee Saaaame. :( I wonder if how she is about elven history and lore in DAI was a holdover from when there was only going to be a human protagonist? Which would be a different version of “yikes” but, especially with Solas around maybe it could have been addressed. I’m not the biggest fan of returning characters unless there’s a really good reason tbh (and “some fans want it” isn’t one imo) but if I made a list of characters I actively don’t want to see again Morrigan would be high on the list.

Fingers crossed it is just a holdover and she'll be better in DAV, but like... I don't trust it.

Personally I'm all for returning characters as cameos. Seeing Zevran, Nathaniel and Alistair in DA2 is delightful, and King Alistair in DAI is fine (leaving out the way they bleached him and also him still acting like a child in the text of the war table mission he shows up even though he's thirty years old and has been king for over a decade). I also really like the Serault war table chain if you've finished TLC, Marquis de Serault my beloved. Even the carryover companions are fine, the games have for the most part managed the balance of giving them enough attention to be worthwhile as returning companions without letting them overshadow the rest of the cast (I'm also really looking forward to companion Harding, it'll be interesting to see how they manage a secondary character making the jump to companion) although I'm still mad about Anders not caring about Warden-related stuff (what gives, Anders, I thought you loved me). I really want to see characters like Dorian, Merrill and Fenris make an appearance in DAV given it revolves around places and topics that they would play into nicely. My issue is when the returning characters overshadow the main cast of the game. DAI is absolutely terrible about this. Two of your advisors are returning characters along with the usual carryover companion! Multiple quests revolve around the presence of returning characters! There's a quest that's largely just the game going "look how smart Morrigan is" instead of letting your elven expert and (potentially) Quiz themself talk about their people's history! Hell, the emotional climax of HLtA centres on the question of which returning character you love more! And DAV featuring Morrigan so heavily in the release date trailer and making such a big deal about her presence has me worried that it might be going the same way, especially after so much of the pre-reveal trailer marketing revolved around LOOK VARRIC AND SOLAS ARE HERE AGAIN. Bioware please, please keep the returning characters to minimum plot presence... you have such a promising new cast, I want this game to be about them, not The Returning Character Show Plus Sidekicks... We've seen more of Morrigan's dialogue than most of the companions, this is not a good sign!

Not gonna lie, I am... not happy to see Morrigan again (I could've sworn Claudia Black confirmed she wasn't in DA4 ages ago? Guess that was a fucking lie). Like, I hate her in DAI. She's awful, she just talks down to the elves about things that she doesn't actually seem to understand (see how Quiz immediately understands the Well better than her just by looking at it if they have the arcane knowledge perk) and takes a role that was much better suited to certain elven blood mage established eluvian experts I could mention. I really, really didn't want to see her again. I will hold on to some cautious optimism that Bioware's learned something in the past decade and will handle her better and this does mean there'll probably be Well-related shenanigans (let's be real, without the Well Morrigan's place in this story is well (heh) and truly gone now that we have the Dread Wolf himself on speed dial), but like... why. The fact that she's so prominent in the trailer feels like a bad sign also.

[burrythebusy]

I love going back to reread hrkg because I just learn something new every time even without the influence of the recent chapter. I particularly love analyzing Kagiura’s character. His view on love and romance and family and marriage was just so interesting before. It was so innocent, meaning he didn't think of it any more or any less than just "I get to stay with him, only me". Like that's not the average thought for a crush. And Niibashi tells him that, he's like do you even view him romantically, or do you simply just wanna keep him close? It could be interpreted as so many things. Like aroace spec hrkg is such a real interpretation.

And it gets me even more when I view it in reference to his past relationship. Like his most Romantic™ action ("What lovers do") is a lap pillow. Because she was his girlfriend and that was the reason given for it. We're dating so this is something that people thay are dating do. So his middle school self is like oh okay. And it happens and he's stiff. And he doesn't think it feels right. And that follows him to high school bc if we're dating and this is something people that are dating do, why doesn't it feel right? But yes. That's literally it. That's as romantic as it goes for him until Niibashi mentions kissing. Which he didn't even think about. He claims it's an influence of never really seeing his parents kiss. His view on love IS his parents. It's influenced by those around him (ooh). But it's also because marriage is supposed to mean you're in love. And his parents are in love and act like best friends and rarely kiss so that's what the young Kagiura thinks of love to be like.

Now I don't know what influenced him to get with his girlfriend per se. Because (!!light novel stuff!!) I think it's implied that his view of love and marriage comes after his girlfriend, not before, which would make sense considering his relationship didn't work out. It also makes sense if it came before. Because why did it start? I genuinely think that he might have liked, and i think that's what was said. But i think he liked her as a friend, and he's expected to get with girls, and if his view on marriage was getting started at any point then. That's literally a prerequisite. A relationship like best friends. So he dates her and it just doesn't feel right. And it could've been because he treated the whole relationship like a friendship with a different label which wasnt what his girlfriend wanted. And then the one "traditionally romantic" thing that comes along, close physical contact, still doesn't feel right.

Going off of context clues here. It's safe to say they never kiss or even hold hands really. It's probably the only thing they ever did, the lap pillow. It's what Kagiura thinks about when he thinks of romance and what lovers do because it's the one thing he failed to FEEL right about. And if he liked her. Why didn't he?

Obviously everything isn't surface level either, on one surface. Because Kagiura’s personality comes into play too. There's probably more to be said about his politeness, how we don't see him really challenge anybody on what they say (except Hirano for obvious reasons). If his girlfriend said dating -> lap pillow then he's gonna say okay. Sure. Even if he's unsure about it. But we don't get much of his personality from then. We only know this snippet, and the fact that it bothers him.

But we also know WHY it bothers him after ch. 6 and 7, and in 16a. Kagiura doesn't think about kissing Hirano because his view on love and romance is limited to how his parents show it, and how his ex girlfriend showed it. He hasn't developed it on his own yet, at least not consciously. He likely never kissed his girlfriend (and if he did it doesn't stick with him at all since the first thing he thinks about is literally the lap pillow) and he doesn't see his parents kiss so Niibashi asks him about kissing hirano and he's like "idk lol". Hence why, does he even like Hirano romantically? (And though you can be in a romantic relationship without kissing, the question still remains as to how he sees his feelings for Hirano, considering how juvenile they seem*)

But the difference here is that, without thinking about it, Hirano and Kagiura were becoming best friends. Kagiura didn't go into friendship with Hirano thinking he's a love interest the same way he might have with his girlfriend. Hirano treated him really well and they developed this natural thing and Kagiura started to develop a natural Kagiura version of a crush. But still, every action after that wasn't with the deliberate intention of his outlook on love. It remained natural. So that "prerequisite" was already fulfilled (and honestly, it could easily be viewed separate of how he sees romance from his parents. Again, it all happens so naturally and easily for him).

So in chapter 6, he thinks about what Niibashi said more and then the urge comes. To kiss Hirano. The first time he's probably thought about kissing anyone. So it's already an outlier to how he views romance anyway because kissing never had to be a part of it but now it is. BUT WAIT THERES MORE!

Because next he decides to indulge in something he can easily call back to. His girlfriend and their experience. People that date do lap pillows. How would that feel with someone I'm in love with, someone I now know I want to kiss? And I truly don't think he expected much from it because of his experience of not really liking it. Of it being "off". But Hirano lies in his lap and his mind blanks. And then he lies in Hirano's lap and he can't do it. Not because it feels off or wrong. But because he felt too much. A LOT in that moment. Cue his sexual and sexuality awakening/crisis. It literally scares him out of being NEAR Hirano for extended periods of time. Out of touching him. Because this new attraction is foreign to him. He now actively wants to touch him, actively wants to kiss him and at this point he already knew hirano doesn't see him that way so what do you do?

Then 16a comes. They're starting to touch for ten seconds a day because Hirano said he would try, and Kagiura’s largest guilty pleasure is literally just physical contact. Particularly with Hirano. Which he used to do so casually but can't bring himself to. So he asks hirano when it's okay and they agree to ten seconds.

To me, this is when he comes to terms with the fact that he never romantically liked his girlfriend in the first place. Because he knows hirano isn't in love with him at this point despite Hirano agreeing to try. He knows what they feel is different. Which is exactly what happened with his girlfriend. That's why he's afraid he was making Hirano feel how he felt with his girlfriend back then. Uncomfortable. "Off". And when I view it in context I always come to the conclusion that he didn't like her (let alone love her). This may not be his first relationship but it is his first love.

All this to say... literally nothing. I just love digging into Kagiura’s character, how his past does end up influencing the present in really subtle ways. I mean think about it, he feels so guilty for wanting to touch Hirano that he limits himself to the ten seconds. Like every time before chapter 14 that they touched just because (locking arms, holding his shirt or his wrist just to grab onto him, that natural gravitation) is just gone. Because now he loves someone who doesn't love him so how could he possibly put the pressure on him to touch him in the same way? He gave away his right to do that. But it hurts him. (And it hurts Hirano too). Another problem. But that guilt doesn't come from nowhere. He doesn't want Hirano to feel how he felt with his girlfriend. He doesn't want to make him uncomfortable or push his physical boundaries and make himself a sad memory in Hirano's high school years.

Kagiura is experiencing this extent of love and a crush for the first time. He lied in his girlfriends lap hesitantly but did it because they were dating and didn't like it. And I feel like a great fear of his is making Hirano feel that way too. So he wants Hirano to feel the same way desperately without pushing the physical boundary that has once made him feel unsure and weird. He loves Hirano so much that he'll limit himself as much as he can bear in this process. (Which, isn't the greatest thing. It's almost contradictory). But that's his experience. That's how he's letting it influence him. And it's so interesting to me.

Erm this is long anyway I love doing Kagiura character study. Obviously this is my interpretation and how I view his character to be. And we are all influenced by our environment in the end, especially those that have an important place in our lives (hint hint wink wink iykyk) but some people still build their own wants and desires with that as a foundation. Kagiura took his parents as the blueprint itself. THE guide, THE directions. So now I think he's on a journey of defining love for himself too.

[tearaez]

PARTY

boss!ricky, dom!ricky x fem!reader, 1.5k words, not grammar checked so please point out any mistakes you see so I can fix them, exhibitionism, unprotected sex (wrap before you tap!!), breath play/choking, pet names, please let me know if I missed anything!! Meant to be read with the song below !!

You didn't want to be here, but it's not like you had a choice. It was one of the only times that your company had an event like this, and all employees were required to attend, that included your boss. No one ever saw much of him, not even you, you'd maybe seen him a total of two or three times prior to this event, but you weren't very fond of him. For all you knew, his position was to just sit there and look pretty, you never saw him doing anything, nor did you ever care for anything that he did. On this night in specific, you felt uneasy, like you were being watched. Sure enough, there he was; Ricky stood against the wall, talking to some of the HR staff, his eyes never leaving your frame, despite being mid conversation. You couldn't deny that he was a good looking guy, especially with his outfit for the party. He wore a black velvet button down covered by a black suit vest, and some black dress pants. Although it wasn't much, damn did it compliment his slender frame.

You hadn't realized that you and Ricky had been staring at each other for a while until you felt a finger tap your shoulder, revealing a man you'd never seen before. "Hey beautiful, wanna dance?" By the way the man spoke, you could tell he was intoxicated; it only took a few seconds longer for you to notice that he reeked of alcohol. You politely shook your head, taking a step away from him, trying to set some boundaries, but he obviously didn't care. "Aw come on~ Don't be a buzzkill darling~" The man spoke, his hands making their way to your waist, gripping it harshly as he tried to pull you closer to him.

"I'm not interested.." You spoke, trying to distance yourself from him but he wouldn't budge.

"I'm not gonna ask you again. I said let's dance." You were surprised, to say at the least a his change of tone, the awkward smile on your face being replaced by a look of disgust.

"Can you not hear? I said-"

"No, she said no. Now get lost before I have you fired." Ricky spoke from behind the man, the hand that he had on his shoulder harshly yanking him away from you. You just stared at Ricky, the smirk he had on his face earlier that evening being replaced with a scowl of anger. You snapped yourself out of your trance, opening your mouth to finally say something, but he spoke first. "Meet me back in five if I matter." He nodded in the direction of the bathrooms, taking a good 10 seconds to just stand in front of you and look you up and down, before returning to the conversation he was having before you had your previous encounter.

Who were you to say no? Especially to him? Hell, the man's so good looking he could probably tell the air vents what to do and they'd listen. You occasionally glanced over to where Ricky was, checking to see if he was still there. After what seemed like forever, but was a few measly minutes, his eyes locked with yours as he started heading towards the bathroom, you following soon after you saw him disappear behind the door.

When you'd entered, Ricky was nowhere to be seen. "Ri-" You began to speak, but you were cut off by a large hand cupping your mouth.

"Shh, keep it down, don't want anyone to know we're in here, kitty." You made a face at his nickname, opening your mouth to speak before you were cut off by him yet again. "You know why you're in here, right?" He questioned, the hand that was over your mouth sliding down your shoulder onto your waist, teasingly tracing your curves until he got to the door lock, locking the door so no one could interrupt the two of you.

"Uhm.. no, Mr.Shen." You looked up at him, one of his eyebrows raising, trying to determine if you were playing dumb or not. A devilish smirk spread across his face as he looked to the side, before turning his attention back to you.

"Well, let me tell you kitty.." He started, leaning in closer to you your faces only inches apart from each other. "I want you to pay me back for helping you with that creep earlier... do you think you can do that, hm?" Ricky's hand snaked itself around your waist, pushing you against the metal door as he got closer.

"A-And how would you like me to do that, Mr.Shen..?" You gulped, your voice hoarse and never louder than a whisper, causing him to lean in closer to you, his lips now on the side of your ear.

"Don't make me explain, you know what I want." Ricky's voice was stern, his face lifting until he was eye level with you once more. "Do you think you can do that for me, kitty?" You found yourself lost in his words, mindlessly nodding at him, his smile returning. He lifted a hand to caress the side of your face before pulling you to him, crashing his lips onto yours in a deep, sensual kiss. You were too distracted by his taste that you almost didn't feel his cold hands on the small of your back, unzipping your dress before tossing it onto the counter behind him. His hand made its way to your hair, bunching all of it up in a make-shift ponytail before yanking your head back, a gasp leaving you at the action.

"listen kitty, i wanna hear you, but you can't be too loud.. can't have other employees finding out about our little meet up.." he whispered against your neck, his free hand caressing your sides once more, making its way to your panties, moving lower until they ghosted over your cunt, beginning to rub your clit at a painstakingly slow speed. You looked at him, a light blush creeping onto your face as you had realized that you were basically naked while the man in front of you was still completely clothed. After a bit, his fingers finally moved the fabric to the side, swiping through your folds a few times before one of his long, slender fingers pushing inside of you, finally earning a sound. "ah, there it is." Ricky whispered to himself, inserting another one before beginning to move his fingers, the speed increasing with every thrust. The bathroom was filled with nothing but the sounds of your dripping cunt from his index and middle fingers thrusting into you at light speed.

"Mr.Shen.." You whimpered, feeling yourself getting closer and closer to that sweet release you wanted. At your words, Ricky pulled his fingers out of you with a puff of air leaving him, struggling with the buttons and zipper of his dress pants before throwing them behind the both of you near where your dress laid.

"No more of that Mr.Shen crap kitty, just call me Ricky." He growled, taking his thick cock in his hands, pumping it a few times before picking up one of your legs, wrapping it around his waist. "I hope you can take me, because once I start I'm not slowing down." He spat, swiping his tip through your folds, sending a shiver through your body. He slowly pushed inside of you, groaning as he felt you tighten around him as he bottomed out. You both moaned in unison when he started moving, your a bit louder than his, a bit louder than what he wanted it to be. His hand starting moving upwards, this time coming to the front of your neck, pressing you against the door as he thrusted into you. "Not a sound kitty, not a sound." His hand tightened and released every few times he thrusted into you, all of your moans being caught in your throat, none but very few leaving.

"Ricky.." You managed to get out, you weren't going to last long, the time between him edging you with his fingers and him shoving his cock inside you wasn't a big break, you were gonna unravel any moment. "Please, so close.."

"Does my kitty wanna cum, hm?" Ricky teased, placing a quick kiss to your lips as his thrusts got faster releasing his hold on your neck as both of his hands went to your hips, pulling you flat to his waist every time he disappeared inside of you. "I'll allow it this time, go ahead kitty.. cum all over my cock." And with those words, you finally let go, creaming all over him. "There we go, almost there kitty, just a little bit more..." He whispered, peppering kisses all over your neck as he continued his abuse on your cunt trying to chase his own high, a loud groan leaving him as he shot his seed inside you, the both of you stilling, trying to catch your breath.

"Well, can't say I didn't have fun with you kitty, but I'm afraid this won't just be a one time thing... Meet me in my office tomorrow at 4, then I can give you a thank you for your thank you."

-------------------------

YAYAYAYAYAY after an hour of writing & markiplier videos it's finally done !! happy to have finally posted something after not having really wrote anything since my taerae rush earlier this year, my apologies :( @onlyhoons

[termitnik]

what are some common misconceptions about pathologic characters that ur sick of seeing in fandom spaces

anon thank you for blessing me with this wonderful ask this fine day

i'm gonna keep it pretty short for daniil because i don't want this to become a defense post about him and i think i've already said all there is to say but literally can we stop mischaracterizing him to this degree? it's very obvious that daniil does care about the town and the people around him given that he keeps trying to help in any way he can even when he has nothing to personally gain by doing so. and unless you're going for all the 'i'm an asshole' options in his dialogue he's actually polite and even endearing at certain points? especially that considering that during his own route he's pretty much thugging it out on his own, if anything helping the other two playable characters instead of the other way round, but in the haruspex and chageling route he's the one you turn to for help when stuff gets tough. here's a post that includes some of his lines that illustrate this point. also the implication that he's some clueless asshole that doesn't know what he's doing while artemy is The Good Doctor That Saves Everyone TM is a horrible misreading of the story and the framing of the plot. the bachelor's route is specifically a story about a person who finds themselves in such a hostile setting that, despite their best efforts, is unable to find their footing and ultimately fails at everything they try to accomplish. by interpreting this aspect of the game as daniil himself being incompetent you have missed out one of the most major points this game is trying to make.

as for artemy, i partly blame this on the developers themselves and how they handled his p2 characterisation but i dont like how the grittier aspects of his character are ignored in favor of a loving father persona. artemy can be a huge dick in classic, as can all three playable characters and a big part of why i like his and daniils relationship so much is because they're both these cold, reserved, introverted guys but allow themselves to enjoy an easier dynamic between them. i think that aspect of their relationship doesn't really work if you hc artemy as someone who is kind and cheerful from the get go.

in a similar vein i also don't like how perceptions of clara often boil down to silly teenage girl who makes meta jokes when her character is so much more than that. people completely ignore the unflattering aspects of her character, like how self-righteous she really is. i mean she's literally making it up as she goes and yet she feels so confident in herself and her methods that she finds it acceptable to trick the only two doctors into a rivalry (and then sell them out to each other for supplies despite fully believing that they intend to kill each other). also, most of the time she is not as silly and impish as people make her out to be- that's mostly the changeling. in the moments when she is herself, clara is pretty depressed.

i also dont like anna angel slander because, is she a child murderer? yeah. was she also abducted as a child herself and found herself in an extremely difficult position at a very early age? also yeah. iirc correctly shes 18 in the game and the ace of diamonds events happened years prior so basically she was a child herself. not that its wrong to criticize child murder because obviously but the way some people speak about her is insane.

also this is completely hc based and of lesser importance than everything else but i have difficulty getting behind anything remotely kinky when it comes to burakhosky because to me they will always be the kind of couple that read in silence next to each other before falling asleep at the late hour of 10:30 pm.

[samonroegf]

⠀dealer!sam monroe x cheerleader!reader

⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ ⠀ planning

⠀　　 ⠀　⠀ series masterlist

it's been a full week since that fight with your mother. a full week of heaven with sam. you had to make everyone know the sam that you know, you needed your parents to understand why you fell for him in the first place.

so this is how you ended up, walking to sam's house, to plan a family dinner. you wanted to meet sam's mom, and whether he liked it or not, you were not above going around him to do so. you knew sam wasn't here, his busiest days always spent driving house to house making deliveries.

you knew where sam lived, in a town like this everyone knew where everyone lived. so you knocked on the door, being met with a middle-aged blonde woman.

“hi, are you sam's mom?" your voice was gentle and kind as you spoke. a look of worry quickly passed over features, eyebrows knitting together, lip being chewed on. she was like sam in this way.

“oh no, what did he do?” her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked at you expectantly. you didn't think it would be so hard to prove to everyone he's not the troublemaker he seems to be.

“he didn't do anything,” you rushed out, trying not to give her the wrong idea.

“i, um, i’m y/n. i’m sam's girlfriend. i was hoping to talk to you inside if you don't mind.” confusion passed her features but quickly replaced by a stern look. she obviously thought you were here with bad news.

“if you��re prgenant, please just spit it out.” her tone was tired. obvious, that she didn't mean to be rude, just has her hands full with all three of her children. you can hear sam's younger siblings, that you didn't know he had, running around upstairs.

“i’m happy to say, I'm not here with any bad news of any kind.” anxiety bit at you like open nerve endings. this woman has a completely different perspective to sam, than you ever did. her features soften, an embarrassed look falling over her as she gestures you to the couch.

you both sit down, and she offers you some drinks, to which you politely decline. she seemed to be very kind, just doesn't know the sam that you know.

“if you don't mind my bluntness, I'm trying to do a family dinner with your family and mine.” you waited her reaction, to which she gave you a soft smile, like she thought you were a little dumb.

“i’m guessing you didn't talk to sam about this first?” her hand patted your knee, comfrtingly. like she knew you were gonna end up hurt at the end of all this. but you knew better. you laugh a little, you don't mean to, it just trickles out.

“oh, I'm not worried about sam, if I'm being honest. he's so sweet, kind, and thoughtful. i know he'll go with it.” you smiled sweetly thinking about sam.

“are you sure your dating my son?” it was supposed to be a joke, but it didn't make you laugh.

that's when you heard the front door opening, sam walks in and freezes in his tracks.

“sam, your girlfriend decided to show up, she wants to do a dinner party.” mrs.kimball says gauging sam's reaction. you're not sure you really like his mother.

“oh, yeah? is this because of everything last week?” he comes to sit on the arm of the couch where you sit, pressing a kiss to the top of your head. you almost wanted to laugh and say, i told you so. but you keep your compusure.

“yes. i think it would be good for both families.” he hums in agreement, proof that he would do it, just for you.

“oh, well. then sure, maybe tomorrow night?” his mom suggests, slight tension still in the air. she didn't recgonize sam when you were around.

“sounds great.” you keep a chipper attitude, if your mother's passive attitude won't get you done, surely this woman wouldn't either.

you stood, and gave sam a kiss on the cheek, “i have to talk to dad, see you later, okay?” he nods, and gives you a soft smile. his mom feels her reality crumbling. it seems your mothers have that in common.

“okay, doll. love you,” he says waving a bit at you. you said it back, and started on the trek to your house.

sam sat in silence with his mother for a moment. while he would much rather run up the stairs to his room, he stays. you'd put in so much work with your parents for him, it was only fair he did the same with his mom.

“so, girlfriend?” she speaks first, hands clasping over crossed legs. she'd grown so distant from sam, she had no idea who the boy before her was.

“yes. she's a cheerleader. very sweet, yes, i am good to her.” he pulled put all the sweeps, knowing he was going to get interrogated.

“she speaks highly of you, sam, just,” she lauses for a moment trying to get her words together.

“be careful. even though you avoid me, i have noticed you're happier. less snippy, and don't think I didn't notice you threw away a bunch of the pill bottles.” she pointed, she wasn't stupid. she knew what sam got up to, it was just too hard to try and stop him. the fighting, it wasn't worth it.

“i’m doing better, she makes me wanna be better. sounds so stupid, but yeah. and we're, we're gonna fix this, okay?” he rambles off, these feelings have weighed on him forever. he hates that a girl is the reason he finally fixes his familial relationships. but at least, it was something.

“good, so tell me all about her,” his mom smiled and he did the same in return. she scooted closer to him. for once, sam thought everything was finally falling into place.

you walked into your house, your parents sitting at the kitchen table, hushed arguments turn stale at your entrance.

“i want to have a dinner party with sam's family.” you speak very clearly, less bullshit that way.

“i love dinner parties.” your mother spoke dejectedly, looking at you through her peripheral vision.

“i’d like you to organize it, mom, i know that's your favorite part. i was thinking tomorrow night, well, that's what sam's mom suggested.” you mother nodded, finally turn to look at you. your father's eyes just switching between the teo of you.

“you make sure he's dressed up!” she pointed a finger at you, and your lips quieked up. she was slowly being won over. whatever your father said to her. made her realize it was young love, and there's nothing harmful about that.

[goose-duck]

My Little Brother

~~~~~~

Remember how Dante and Laurence were left at My Street when everyone was at Starlight? The Shadow Knights were also not at Starlight, so, this is how I imagine Gene reacted to Dante losing his mind a bit

~~~~~~

"Dante hasn't called me in a while...that's strange for him, he usually calls at least once a week to tell me something.” Gene worriedly states to Sasha. Sasha just shrugs, “He's probably busy or something. Didn't he and the others go to that paradise island or something?” She sounds so sure of it that Gene almost calms down, he shakes it head though, “No…he'd call. No matter how busy he is that guy always has something to tell me about. Something’s wrong.” Sasha just groans in response, not wanting to deal with Gene’s stressed mood right now. “Whatever.” She quickly responds, making it clear she doesn't overly care. Gene gives her an annoyed look and lets out a huff, “I get that you don't think it's a big deal, but he's my little brother, I'm worried! Can't you understand that?” Gene sounds almost desperate to have her understand, he'd already talked to Zenix and he just didn't really get it, despite his best efforts. “Gene, listen. I haven't even had breakfast yet. If you're so worried why don't you go talk to Laurence? He's got siblings, maybe he'll understand.” Sasha just wants Gene out of her hair and that's very clear in her tone. “Laurence? Really?” Gene deadpans. “Who else are you gonna talk to? Everyone else left.” Sasha responds. “ugh! Fine.” Gene groans out and leaves the house, slamming the door.

Gene doesn't hate Laurence, not anymore at least, but that doesn't mean he likes the guy either. Gene begrudgingly walks over to Laurence’s house and rings the doorbell. He can hear someone walking to the door slowly, Laurence must have just woken up…maybe he'd woken him up? Whatever. Laurence opens the door, still in his pajamas, his hair a mess and some drool on his chin. “Gene? What are you doing here? And why so early in the morning? What do you want?” Laurence sounds annoyed, confused and tired. The way Laurence talks makes Gene a bit nervous, he doesn't want to bother Laurence, not when he's so obviously just woken up, but he needs advice. “Hey, buddy…” Gene nervously gets out, scratching the back of his head, a nervous habit. Gene quickly continues when Laurence gives him a confused look, “so um…I haven't heard from Dante in a while…you wouldn't happen to know how he's doing?” The expression on Laurence’s face tells Gene immediately something's wrong, Laurence looks irritated but also understanding. Laurence sighs, “come in, I made tea.”

Laurence moves out of the way of the door and Gene awkwardly steps into his house, feeling like he's not supposed to be there despite being invited in. Gene takes a few more steps in, taking off his shoes as he notices Laurence isn't wearing any and he doesn't want to be rude. Laurence closes the door, keeping the warm air out of his air conditioned house. It's cool, but not so cold you'd need a sweater, it's comfortable. Laurence walks over to the pot of tea and grabs two cups, “want the red or the green?” he politely asks his unexpected guest. “oh..uh, red?” Gene answers quietly. Laurence giggles under his breath, “how'd I know?” Gene snickers a little too, “guess I really am predictable.” “Yes, Edgy Mc Edge Lord.” Laurence jokes. Gene rolls his eyes but smiles, happy that the slight awkward tension has now simmered down at their friendly banter.

Gene sees a blue teacup, very fancy and traditional looking, he figures it belongs to Garroth but decides to make light conversation by asking anyway. “Hey, Laurence?” Gene asks. Laurence hums in response, “yeah?” “who's tea cup is that? It's so…fancy.” Gene asks, trying to be nice about the eccentric cup. “I'll give you two guesses.” Laurence jokes. “Garroth?” Gene asks the obvious. “yup” Laurence responds, looking at the strange blue cup with a soft smile before letting out a sigh, “I miss him…” Laurence has a sad but loving look on his face. “you really care about him, don't you?” Gene asks, giving Laurence a soft smile. Laurence smiles a bit, closing his eyes like he's imagining Garroth’s face, his dorky, crooked smile, “yeah, I do…” he softly whispers out, opening his eyes, still softly looking at that blue tea cup. Laurence shakes his head with a soft giggle, “that man…that strange tea cup…he bought it when we first started living together. He refuses to use it for anything other than tea.” “sounds like Garroth” Gene responds, deciding to lean into Laurence’s clear love and admiration for Garroth. “it really does.” Laurence sighs again before getting more serious, “so, back to why you're here?” Gene nods, “yeah.”

Laurence sets the cups down, the red one in front of Gene and the Green one in front of himself, sitting down at the dining room table. “you can sit you know…you might actually want to for this.” Laurnce gives Gene a worried yet kind look. Gene sits down across from Laurence, “that doesn't sound great…so, what's going on with Dante? How's my little brother doing?” Gene gives Laurence a worried, desperate look. Laurence sighs, “he didn't go to the island with the others…he was supposed to…but…” Laurence trails off. “they forgot him..?” Gene finishes Lauence’s sentence for him. Laurence nods quietly, “yeah. He's still here.” “so why haven't I heard from him?” Gene asks, now having more questions than answers. “Well…he feels abandoned…he kinda went a little crazy…he's got pillows with everyone's faces on them and he won't talk to me…like he doesn't know I exist…he thinks he's completely alone.” Laurence tells Gene the truth, knowing even though it's not good, Gene would prefer the truth than a lie that might make him feel better for a few hours. “I- he- is he- of course he's not okay…what do I do?” Gene holds his cup tightly, extremely worried for his little brother now. Laurence shakes his head sadly, “I'm not sure…” Gene just sighs, finishing up his tea and leaving Laurnces house after thanking him.

Gene decides to go to Dante’s house and see just how bad this is…and maybe talk some sense into him…maybe his brother will know he's real..? He goes to the door, ringing the bell. No answer. He rings it a few more times without answer. He gets annoyed and knocks on the door. The door just opens after the first knock, no one's there though meaning the door was just left open. Gene walks in nervously looking around, he starts looking for Dante, first checking the obvious rooms, the living room, kitchen and Dante’s room. He doesn't find Dante though. Gene then decides to check outside, he sees a few pillows with faces but no Dante. Gene then hears a noise fr Travis’ room. He quickly rushes to Travis’ room, swinging the door open aggressively before stoping and staring at his brother, holding a Travis pillow and crying. “Dante..?” Gene softly whispers out, reaching a hand out for his brother. Dante jumps at the sound of his name and looks at Gene like a scared puppy, “G-Gene..?” Dante mumbles out. “Hey…hey…it's me…it's Gene…it's your big brother…” Gene gently rests a hand on Dante’s head slowly moving it down to cup his little brother’s cheek, “hey, buddy…what's…um…what's going on here..?” Gene looks to the pillow then back at his brother’s sad, tired, tear filled eyes. “h-huh..?” Dante mumbles out, “th-this…is…it's Travis…yeah…this is Travis…it's Travis…Travis…” Dante continues to mumble about Travis to himself. Gene gets more worried seeing this, “Dante, buddy…that's a pillow…” Gene whispers to his brother. “No!! It's Travis! He's still here! He didn't leave me!!” Dante gets defensive, holding the pillow tightly to his chest and pulling away from Gene.

Gene sighs, begrudgingly agrees with Dante, not wanting to have his brother pull away from him like that again, “okay…okay…it's Travis…um…so…how have you been doing, Dante?” Gene sounds horribly nervous, he is, he's never seen his brother like this before. Dante calms down a bit having his delusions reinforced by another person, “oh! Me and my friends just had a big pool party! It's was so fun!” Dante starts to ramble about the “pool party” he had with his “friends”. Gene’s awkard smile slowly melts into a distressed frown as his brother continues to tell him about his recent “adventures” with his friends. Gene cuts Dante off, trying to act normal, “okay buddy, how about you call me and tell me about that later? It's been a while since you've called…” “oh? Has it been? Sorry! Been so busy! I'll call you on the weekend!” Dante says sounding disappointed in himself for not calling his brother for a while. Gene decides to make it a bit easier for Dante, “how about you call me every Sunday at 12? Does that sound good? Even if all you have to say is “hello” I still want you to call” “okay!” Dante responds with a smile.

“hey, bud?” Gene asks softly, “can I have a hug?” Dante nods quickly and wraps his arms around Gene. Gene hugs back, holding his brother like he may never see him again, “take care of yourself, okay? I get it might be hard right now, but please…just…stay alive…I want to be able to see you again.” Dante giggles, not understanding the severity of the situation right now, “obviously! I have to stay in shape for the ladies” Gene lets out a soft genuine laugh at his brother’s antics, “yeah, yeah, whatever you say little brother.” Gene smiles at Dante, just happy to see that even if he's not okay, he's still here. He'll have to find some way to help his brother, but for now just being there, being a real physical person Dante isn't ignoring is probably good enough for today. “I love you, little brother” Gene mumbles into Dante’s blue hair. “I love you too, Gene!” Dante hugs Gene a little tighter, happy to see his brother, even if he isn't consciously aware of the reason why.

[theshiftingwitch]

Holi. My sp is a guy from my university and I already knew him a year ago, I thought he was cute but nothing else. I only talked to him once, but for a course question and he was very polite. However, this year from one moment to the next I started to like him and I didn't understand why. He and I, we never spoke again since that one time, we have no friends in common, much less in networks and I know absolutely nothing about him, but his name. * I saw him with a girl, with a physical aspect very different from mine. She was kind of blonde and stuff) Back to the present * however, I started to claim that he is head over heels in love only with me. I didn't believe it at all, but I claimed only when I could and my negative thoughts were a bit stronger. The first week I started to pay more attention to him (before I didn't care what he did) but I was more attentive to him. I just got nervous when I passed him. Then I started to get confused if he was looking at my friend or me, so the doubts stayed in my mind and my friend started talking about him as if she was interested in him too, so I got sad. But I kept affirming, I only crossed paths with him a couple of times and his friends added me to talk but he never spoke to me, and he was on his cell phone, he ignored me. But then I saw him with the most popular girl in college, she is very pretty and obviously I am very insecure because I feel that I don't fit the standard of beauty or that I am not his physical type of him. Even more so when She is like the other girl I saw him with. I felt really bad, both because I saw no movement for me and I didn't understand how if I claimed that he was in love with me, he was with another girl flirting. What's more, he never talked to me or anything and I thought how would it happen. So I gave up and stopped affirming a couple of days ago, I feel really sad and I can't affirm because I'm kind of busy with my exams. But I really like that guy a lot, I feel like I left him in oblivion and I'm losing him, even when I try to affirm that he only has eyes for me. I remember his image with her. And even worse my friend told me that he was looking at her. What should I do? I don't even believe in my affirmations and I don't do them, maybe affirm two minutes a day or so. I want him to come closer to me and start something nice together. But I get depressed. Thank you so much and sorry for so much

Let me put this as bluntly as I possibly can:

I don't care if the entire female population of planet earth wants your man, if you stick to the rules, you will have him all to yourself.

I'm gonna need you to snap out of this self deprecating crap and start applying the law seriously before I slither out of this screen and knock some sense into you myself. You affirm for 2 minutes a day and it doesn't work and you're sad and he's ignoring you? Guess what, if you apply the law he won't ignore you, he won't care about any other girl, he will be head over heels for you!!!

So which outcome do you want? Because it's up to you.

Your self esteem is low and you think you're not his type? Work on yourself concept.

https://youtu.be/82HsdaAkC-Q?si=J7acMMLfYV9yCJCe

You don't like the way you look and you want a killer glow up? Work on your desired appearance!

https://youtu.be/p3t9w_2Hjio?si=ZZh5QWp2w7Lsk_8C

You want him to be obsessed with you and ignore everyone who isn't you? Affirm a thousand times a day that he wants you more than life itself.

https://youtu.be/cAFVEBnZXZk?si=IlqxOD_lxGNGtFem

At the end of the day, the girl doesn't matter. Only what you want does. So take a break, take a few deep breaths, relax , then get your head in the game.

Affirm, visualize, script, listen to subliminals... Whatever you want, just don't give up before you even start!

Happy manifesting ❤️ (a little tough love never hurt anyone)

[fairytypingg]

fuck it we're doing this

RAGEON HCS!!!!!

Velvet;

19

leo(i think thats what i am, idk a lot abt astrology)

7 minutes older and takes it way too seriously

overplans for everything

screams cries crumbles if she doesn't have 100% control over any situation

plays a lot into appearances but is actually a chronic workaholic(gets it from her uncle)

she and veneer were raaised by their uncle actually!!

velvet has a love hate relationship with the music industry, before and after the events of the movie

TRUST. ISSUES.

cannot ever talk about her feelings she'll explode

bottles everything up like im so serious

"i'll keep all my emotions right here. and then one day, i'll die."

she vents frustration by talking mad shit in cs:go lobbies

she's really good at the game

scary good aim because of it, and that DOES transfer to real life

has 97 mental illnesses and is banned from most public spaces/ref

"i inhereted severe generational trauma and all i got was borderline personality disorder"

someone help her

she needs therapy

also autistic <3

Veneer;

19

also a leo

7 minutes younger but only remembers bcs velvet will not let him forget

he seems chill in comparison because velvet is so high strung but he is the most dramatic bitch ever

says really out of pocket shit without thinking

"yeah that's why your parents dont call you then haha- what why are you looking at me like that what did i say"

he's the epitome of unmedicated adhd

probably needs glasses

the only one of the twins with a drivers license

was very outgoing growing up because velvet hated talking to people, so someone had to do it

doesn't rly understand velvet being depressed and thinks shes a drama queen like him

"im tragically doomed by the narrative" "drink water dumbass"

hes morosexual

"if a man can locate mount rageous on a map that man is not my type"

dumb fucking ass

love him, hes just kinda stupid.

Kid Ritz:

20

idk any other zodiac signs use ur imagination

every personality disorder you can think of

emotional manipulation is a sport and he is bringing home the gold

whats wrong with him

the answer is mommy issues. and rampant childhood neglect. also when you're raised as rich as he was you're gonna come out weird

struggled to understand the concept of lying as a child so when be finally got it he retaliated by lying for sport and then never stopped doing that

prefers machines to people

hes one of those "there is a minimum iq requirement to talk to me" guys

not just a talk show host!!

he's well trained to take over his father's political position when the old man retires

current director of public security

he's known as a purveyor of gossip for a reason

the saying goes that nothing happens in the city without his knowledge

hyperintelligent

like genius iq, reading at a college level by age 5, etc

actual child prodigy in every conceivable way

notorious for being "perfect"

he's the face of Ritzworth Media Corp for a reason

evil genius

also lonely

his father is grossly neglectful and his mother is a deadbeat

did i mention he has mommy issues

never met his mom and has devoted a lot of his energy to forming an intelligence network dedicated to finding her

hates people

like very antisocial

struggles HEAVILY with empathy

his interviews are notoriously difficult since he entertains himself by making his interviewees squirm

casual sadist in every conceivable way

What's Wrong With Him/aff

Orchid;

18

use ur imagination again im not gonna look it up

rebelling against common characterization here stay with me

secretive about her past but obviously hiding something

a chameleon type of person, can change her behavior, mannerisms, and even accent at the drop of a hat

carries a deep grief with her

distrusting and calculating

she'll "befriend" you but it takes a lot of effort to actually gain her trust

she WILL discard you if she's even slightly suspicious

nobody is sure what her goal is, but she has an agenda

orchid might not be her real name either

very mysterious

generally presents as kind and friendly but it's noticibly fake

cannot stress how much she is hiding something

capable of murder and not afraid to resort to such to protect her secret

dont look in her closet

she has participated in her fair share of underage drinking and can hold her liquor pretty well, but if you manage to get her drunk enough you may be able to pry some answers out of her

has a distaste for celebrities she doesn't see as beneficial to know

gives like. really good advice

identity issues <3

the song Phony is perfect for her

she moves as if she's used to her hair being longer than it is

what is she hiding?

[foundfam2754]

S17e7 live reactions!

spoilers...obviously

am i the only one who's always nervous before a new episode? i just might too invested in this show after all

i have avoided spoilers all day, let's do this thing

why hasn't this FBI director ever come back into the storyline? i feel like it means a big twist might come back in the season finale...

is this unsub connected to gold star???

oh my god his skin jfc

man you know the quiet unsubs are the scariest

WHAT THE FUCK HIS SKULL

this guy is just saying what he needs to isn't he to get out

holy crap okay what a start to this episode

i'm closing my eyes omg

how do you even build something like that in your apartment - WITHOUT getting hurt

OMG WHAT. THE. FUCK. holy crap aisha did you direct this to scare the bejeesus out of me THAT IS HIS ACTUAL SKULL

OH I JUST SAW FELICITY'S NAME COME UP - welcome, dr. jill gideon!!

damn damn damn PG's outfits this ep!! damn

where are tara and dave? and tyler? and everyone else lol

wait also is my favorite friendship group - penelope, her best friends, and her boyfriend

HAHA emily, poor tyler

ok I kinda love tyler the profiler

"flex" lol why did that sound so wrong coming out of paget's mouth

"mr. sensitive" lol buddy's getting hit left and right

i feel like....that's not a lot of files for 4 years

anyone getting "don't 'Emily' me" vibes

not sure you can say that dave - emily "died", and you were buried underground

lol "that's adorable!"

"i don't have asthma" "you will in a minute" lmao i love their friendship

that's an incredible shot omg (of them turned back from each other, holding hands in bed)

okay as a psych major, this whitepaper stuff is really intellectually interesting

OH THE STARE TO MR GREEN

"of course I am, but not with this" lol i love chaotic emily

"Garcia" ah so he's not so in love anymore is he

aww i never really connected with gideon, but I do miss him <3

EMILY YOU WERE FORBIDDEN

aww road trip!

ergh... smarmy lawyer

elias does love a good contingency

man sicarius is a good profiler

holy crap elias you are straight up horrifyingly evil

"polite. nonviolent" lol i love how funny this season is

YOU ARE NOT FRIENDS YOU LOVE HIM HE LOVES YOU PENELOPE YOU ARE KILLING ME

also don't tell me "it's why you and i are finally friends" ISN'T flirting

"thanks, friend!" "you're welcome, friend!" okay they are straight up flirting, listen to the tone, her facial expression, his facial expression, THEY ARE FLIRTING

also calm down kids, jj's right there

"how's hotch?" "what about derek morgan?" "spencer?" lol they're really honing in that our bois are gone :(

AW BB JASON IN THE CORNER IN THE PHOTO FRAME

oh there's a difference between fiancé and fianceé? i didn't think there was

"has a goatee he thinks makes him look very distinguished" lmao

oh my god he slept with her didn't he

HOW WERE GIDEON AND HE FRIENDS AFTER THAT

lol rossi was such a player

HAHA omg EMILY YOU ARE SO BAD. i love how chaotic she's being

why do i have a feeling emma may be a figment of his imagination?

sir, she's bleeding

damn luke's so hot as he's profiling

WHAT? Okay I did not see that coming

BRO I KNEW IT EMMA'S A FIGMENT

luke and the megaphone!! i repeat, luke and the megaphone!!

lol i just realized this show is always sending luke and jj into very dangerous situations

wait this ep is so good man, the plot's amazing and heartbreaking at the same time, we got garvez nuggets, em's hilarious, and aisha's directing is goddamn incredible

NO WAY, THERE'S ANOTHER KIT?

elias is such a good villain, damn

lawyer man, maybe listen to the scary man? don't open it?

and as jill walks in, we continue the trend in this show of david rossi's ex-girlfriends showing up years later to shock him (oh god they’re gonna get married, aren’t they)

tara and luke be like "who's this lady?"

OKAY I'M SO EXCITED FOR NEXT WEEK LFG

[couldtransitionsaveher]

GUREN ICHINOSE from OWARI NO SERAPH/SERAPH OF THE END

JUSTIFICATIONS:

"Ichinose Guren was born into a religious Sect which was created five hundred years ago in a political conflict in which two brothers from the main house fought over an Ichinose woman. She had chosen the younger of them and as punishment she and here lover were violeted and disowned. The outcasts created a new sect in their name. Guren is believed to be their saviour, the one destined to liberate the Clan from their oppression, paralleling her role. The main Clan, Mikado no Oni, view Guren and everyone of Gurens family as naturally weak and subservient in a way that clearly mimics patriarchal oppression. When Guren was five years old she met Mahiru Hiiragi, heir to Mikado no Oni. Guren was very obviously jealous of her and their meeting is used to symbolise Guren learning her place in the world. Continously throughout the Guren refuses to give up on Mahiru despite her quite frankly ruining Guren's life and being unable to catch up with her. Guren gives up her humanity to inject a demon all for purposes of protecting her friends and striving to liberate her clan, while also chasing after Mahiru and her power. This eventually leads Guren to cause the apocalypse in a first act of free will. (forced to choose between the strength she desires and her own emotinonal "weakness") Mahiru mends with Gurens weapon taking over as her demon, causing Guren to become a namanari (a half demon made from two separate personalities, Gurens and Mahirus in this case who's human personality slowly starts to adapt the demonic traits). In consequence of this Guren acts all the more feminine when striving to get what she wants (to ressurect all of humanity. I think thats also trans because its a sort of rebirth in metaphor for transition.) Transition could have saved her, as i believe her gender envy for Hiiragi Mahiru caused the apocalypse." - @cannibalfrodo

"im really shit at writing out media analysis i either do it solely in my head or via fic so yall are just gonna have to trust me for this one.

the writer really horribly sucks at writing female characters but it's clear from the start (in catastrophe at 16 most noticeably, but even in the manga too) that guren isn't written like any of the male characters (even the other male protag of the manga, yuu) and much more resembles the female characters. a lot of her personality and identity is heavily sculpted by the traumatizing and pressuring life she's lived so far (being brought up as the head of a scorned branch, beaten by adults for simply being born in the way she was, raised with a lot of crunching expectations, etc). most of her actions in ca16 come from a deep want to please who she's with, or to not cause trouble with herself (#same bestie)—she knows she needs to be a son for her father, for her clan, for their retribution. she knows she doesn't have time to think on her emotions or wants, which is very evident throughout all of ca16 until the final book as more and more shit piles up on her plate and she's forced by her romantic interest, mahiru, to finally confront her "human sin" (which is loving her friends. and also being trans).

she never fully opens up to anyone, this includes mahiru, but nonetheless their relationship IS different (guren is very much like "i love you, you're so much like me but braver, i wish i were you" @ mahiru). in their first meeting again as teenagers she compliments how beautiful and powerful mahiru has grown, and does so multiple times throughout the books, most of which are immediately after her inner monologue beats her down and she goes into great depth on why she's so weak and unworthy (especially compared to mahiru).

she's not allowed to be herself, as a man and definitely not as a woman, throughout all books and manga & i believe that if she came out to her friends (who love her so much and would support her through anything) everything bad she ever does in the future (which i didn't even begin to COVER the main series) could be prevented because she'd be much more happy with herself and spectre in her relationships.

also she experiences the end of the world. truly just a girl in the world" - @9ureshin

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[mightyflamethrower]

Former president Barack Obama, the man who salvaged Joe Biden from the ash heap of political history (an unfortunate move which in turn sadly revived Kamala Harris’ DOA career), continued with his unifying ways Thursday by shaming black men who don't think that Harris is a great choice for commander-in-chief.

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urn:uuid:157f4cf5-30fb-404a-82c5-1dda2565dea0

It reminded me of Joe’s infamous line, if you don’t vote for me, then “you ain’t black.” Obama:

And you're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses, I've got a problem with that. Because part of it makes me think -- and I'm speaking to men directly -- part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that… That's not acceptable. 

He sounds like a mob boss.

Just disgusting, divisive rhetoric from the man who said in his first acceptance speech, “We have never been a collection of red states and blue states; we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

Unless you disagree with him, of course.

Do it my way or hit the highway: 

Turns Out Those Obama Remarks Got Worse—He Even Insults Black Men Who Are on the Fence About Kamala Scott Jennings Cooks Obama for Chastising Men Over Harris, Reveals Big Issue for Democrats

I’ve always hated the left’s use of the word “community.” The “black community,” the “LGBTQ community.” As if, just because people have one thing in common, they all have the same viewpoints on everything. Is there a “white community?” A “heterosexual community?”

Sure enough, it turns out that plenty of blacks were capable of their own thoughts and found the former president’s remarks to be belittling and deeply obnoxious. Former football great and one-time Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker was less than impressed, calling it a step backward:

We need unity brother, not division!

Well said.

Meanwhile, as a RedState man, I’m obviously not a Bernie Sanders fan, but his former campaign co-chair and former Democratic Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner nevertheless had it right when she asked, "Why are Black men being belittled?"

She absolutely nukes Obama’s race-baiting narrative and stuns the CNN hosts in the process:

"Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong, and some of the Black men that I have talked to have their reasons why they want to vote a different way, and even if some of us may not like that, we have to respect it," she said. Turner explained further, "So unless President Barack Obama is gonna go out and lecture every other group of men from other identity groups, my message for Democrats is don’t bring it here to Black men who, by and large, don’t vote much differently from Black women."

The reactions from the CNN crew are some of the most priceless I've ever seen. Truth is being spoken to them, and they absolutely cannot handle it.

These are just two examples, but there are plenty more out there of people who were deeply insulted by being told they had to vote a certain way just because of their skin color. (As of this writing, a search on the social media platform X for "Obama" turns up an untold number—but an unquestionably large number —of black people angrily teeing off on "hopey-changey" Barack's comments.)

Obama has been one of the smoothest politicians in the land since his meteoric rise from obscurity in the mid-2000s, but there was always a darker presence lurking underneath his big Hollywood grin.

He showed it loud and clear with this belittling speech, and he lost a lot of his luster in the process. Kamala Harris is 100 percent correct: we need “a new way forward,” but that way should not include race-baiting, the failures of Obama-style progressivism, or the constant attempts by leading Democrats to divide the nation.

[waitmyturtles]

Your post about your upcoming Bad Buddy meta got me thinking about Bad Buddy (again), and I remembered one particular thing that had an impact. Apologies if this is long and rather incoherent, I wrote this past midnight.

In the final episode, the part where we see Ming and Dissaya turn a blind eye to Pat Pran's shenanigans really struck a chord with me.

[I'm an Indian, born and raised, and queer, but it's well worth mentioning that my experiences are not universal- in fact, they may be the exception rather than the rule; I'm not quite sure.]

What it reminded me of was, that asian parents tend to come around eventually- in particular mothers. We've seen time and time again in series' that deal with difficult/not accepting family members; Bad Buddy, GAP, Wedding Plan, maybe even Double Savage (haven't watched this one but I believe the dad feels bad in the end?), that even if the parental figure(s) doesn't agree with their children's choices, they learn to compromise. Because the difference in opinions isn't worth losing their children over. Obviously, for every parental figure that comes around there's one that the children cut ties with (Wedding Plan remains a good example), but I think it's something worth seeing.

It made me think of how I was never scared of coming out to my mother, because I knew that, despite the difference in views, and her prejudice, she'd accept me, no matter whether she thought it was a phase or not.

Do I know what the point of this ask is? Not really, I was rather nervous sending this ask, especially not on anon, but I'd love to know what you think of this, since I've come to really enjoy reading the thoughts you have on these shows.

Ohhhh, wow. @starryalpacasstuff, come 'ere for a big mom hug! HUGE HUGS!

I'm gonna unwind a little randomly; I hope this is coherent. A ton of what I write about on my blog vis à vis Asian dramas are the unique characteristics of Asian families and an Asian upbringing. Parental conditional love, competitiveness, our unique experiences with intergenerational trauma. I write a lot about how Asians, in our cultural expectations of life, accept pain and suffering as an assumed part of our existences. The reason why I watch Asian dramas exclusively is that, as I'm Asian-American, I just connect far more easily to the Asian cultural experience of growing from a child into an Asian adult, than I do the experience of white Western folks growing into their adulthood. I grew up intimately with Asian cultural practices and expectations; but I also grew up with racism in my external American world, and came to my adulthood in a society that still values white Americans above all other demographics.

But one thing I'm cognizant of, that I don't think I write about enough, is that many of these characteristics of the Asian cultural scopes of life are indeed similar to those that a fully American person (for example) might experience. It's not like intergenerational trauma doesn't exist in the West. It's not like homophobia in families against a child doesn't exist in the West.

However. As an Asian-American, one thing I note about many (not all, of course) Western families and family systems is that very often: Western adults will give up their agency to be loyal to what I might call a "higher power" -- a philosophy, a political preference, a religion. If a queer person wants to come out in a conservative American family, that queer person may very well be risking cutting permanent ties with their family.

That, of course, also happens in our Asian family systems. But I think you're onto something, @starryalpacasstuff. While divorce rates are sky-high in the West -- there is also a paradigm of family systems being and looking different in the West than they do in Asia. Asian family systems still don't accommodate for divorce and blended or chosen families as they do in the West.

The Asian family systems and paradigms that you and I grew up with as Indians absolutely still value a heterosexual two-parent household -- and I'd posit that our past generations, our grandparents and great-grandparents, put HUGE, HUGE pressure on our parents to keep the two-parent family systems together and whole. And to keep the children close. It's a huge value in our Asian cultures to have whole and complete families. The West has become far more accommodating, culturally, on this issue.

And, so. I totally agree with you, @starryalpacasstuff. I think we do see the beginning of a coming-around on the parts of Ming and Dissaya. And that coming-around is certainly something we can relate to. Our parents will likely accept us for our differences. I fucked a lot of shit up with my folks when I decided to live independently of their desires -- and I don't think things really healed (and I still carry tremendous traumatic baggage) until after I had my own kids, and expanded all of our families. Because in the end, the value in our Asian cultures is that keeping the family complete and close still matters more than any one's individual biases or desires.

Ming and Dissaya are remarkably traumatized people. Ming was traumatized by the expectations of his father. He screwed Dissaya over, and literally handed his trauma to Pat on a silver platter, for Pat to embody for most of his life. And Pat flipped that platter over in his father's face and ran away. Ming, at the end of the series, is passive-aggressive with Pat, despite Pat's efforts to try to work with him. And yet -- Ming still sips Pran's scotch.

To your point -- does time heal everything? I'm not so sure in the West, with the Western predilection for Christian/Puritanical/conservative values to supersede reasonable family resolutions. But I think, because of the value that Asian systems put on having complete families, that you are right -- that there may be more room in Asian family systems for eventual acceptance of a child's "differences," despite us living in collectivist societies. This is definitely not an absolute. There are environments in which it's still dangerous to come out. But the value that Asians put on family does indeed give us a tiny bit of comfort that our cultures can move the needle on acceptance in different ways over time.

[soopersara]

I brought this up on Discord a while ago, but I finally realized why the conflict between Katara and Toph in "The Chase" bothers me so much (aside from the fact that I'm an oldest daughter too, and as as such, I'm physically incapable of seeing Katara as the bad guy for asking Toph to contribute):

Toph's motivations in the episode are very clearly stated. She wants to carry her own weight because she's sick of being perceived as weak. Which is great! I honestly love that as a motivation. It fits her character extremely well.

But then why, if Toph wants to prove herself and show the world that she isn't helpless, is her solution to that problem... not helping anyone? I mean, Katara (very politely, at first) implies that she wants Toph to help out around camp. Katara very obviously doesn't see Toph as helpless, otherwise why would she be asking Toph to contribute to the chores? And yet Toph lashes out because, according to her later conversation with Iroh, "please help us with chores" came across to her as "you're incapable of doing things on your own."

Okay. Sorry, but I'm not buying that chain of logic. If I'm supposed to believe Toph as the smart, insightful character that she is in most of the other episodes, I'm gonna need her motives and actions to match up a little better here.

So working with the pieces the show gives us, I can see two relatively simple fixes:

Keep the inciting incident for the conflict between Toph and Katara (or the Gaang as a whole - why does Katara have to be singled out?), but change Toph's motivations to match.

Keep Toph's motivations the same, but change the inciting incident for the conflict.

The first option is... less appealing, IMO, because while I can absolutely see a reason why Toph might refuse to contribute to the group, the most obvious reason for it is just... Toph being a spoiled rich girl. Which isn't an unrealistic trait for a girl with her background (honestly, that's 100% the way I read her in "The Chase" to begin with), but a) "spoiled brat" isn't an appealing personality trait, and the writers definitely wanted Toph to be appealing character, and b) I'm not sure that that's the type of conflict that could plausibility be wrapped up in a single 23-ish minute episode. Which isn't to say that it's impossible, but it's definitely outside of what I could personally pull off as a writer. If the conflicts introduced in "The Chase" had been allowed to play a more lasting part in the story, though, by all means! It could be very interesting to lean into the realistic but less-appealing personality traits that Toph might have picked up from her privileged childhood as long as the story was given the time and space it needed.

The second option is probably the way I would go for an easy-ish fix. Toph's parents treated her like she was made of glass, so it makes sense that she would have issues with others doing things for her after she leaves home. So maybe instead of getting angry when Katara asks for help, Toph settles in to eat her own dinner, but the others cook enough food for four and expect her to eat with them. Maybe Toph hasn't made her earth tent yet, and the others use a spare tarp to set up a makeshift tent for her. Maybe Toph comes back to camp after an earthbending lesson to find half of her clothes missing because it's laundry day, and the others didn't think to mention it to her before gathering up ALL the dirty clothes. Whatever the specifics may be, the Gaang is doing their normal chores around camp, and the fact that they're helping Toph without asking first gets on her nerves. She gets shouty about it, the Gaang doesn't really get what the issue is at first, she storms off, meets Iroh, has the canon chat about accepting help, returns to the group, talks things over with them, and all is resolved.

With this option, there's obviously a line to walk with how much help the Gaang gives Toph vs how much help she gives them—the reconciliation afterward wouldn't work out very well if the Gaang came off as ableist, but realistically, I don't think that's a difficult line to walk. And bonus points for this scenario, because while the original plot (unfairly) singles Katara out as the uptight nag of the group for uh... wanting to make sure they got shit done without doing EVERYTHING herself, this scenario would allow her to... y'know. Be the one who wants to get shit done around camp without the story painting her as unreasonable for it.

Obviously, these aren't the only ways I can imagine "The Chase" being improved, but introducing much more complexity would probably involve changing the WHOLE episode, and I don't have the time or the brainpower to deal with that idea right now 😂 I've just always been annoyed by how hard "The Chase" tries to pit Katara and Toph against each other. I know they would realistically butt heads about certain things because they're two very different people with two very different personalities, but THAT SHOULDN'T MEAN THAT KATARA HAS TO BE PAINTED AS A NAG WHILE TOPH GETS AWAY WITH LAZY WRITING BECAUSE "LOL, RESPONSIBILITY IS LAME."

[sleep-can-wait]

Okay, so I made a poll on whether Aiden Acharya was a book bf and this is because see him getting a lot of hate. And I have no idea why????? There's even a video (albeit a small mention) calling him annoying???? Also I see him tend to get antagonized in a bunch of fics.

There are only a few reasons I could think of as to why and those do not really make sense in my opinion:

He was distant with Aru of CoG - okay but dude literally has so much trauma when it comes to love. His parents got divorced because of it and his father hurt his mother sm because of it. Now obviously when he used the key in ToW he realised he was in love with her. And no duh he'd want to put some distance between them so that she wouldn't hurt him because of it AND HE WOULDN'T HURT HER

The Kara shenanigans - please Aiden was being polite he literally acted the same as with Mini and Brynne, like Kara was feeling left out, that much was obvious, so Wifey was the better man and helped her feel included. BECAUSE HE IS NICE. The "romance" between them was all Kara's delusions and Aru's unreliable narrating for fucks sake she once thought Brynne and Aiden once had feelings for each other because she always thinks lowly of her.

The time skip - HE WAS JUST TOLD HE WAS GOING TO DIE BECAUSE OF ARU HE IS LITERALLY ONLY 15/16 A MERE FUCKING CHILD YOU THINK HE'S JUST GONNA LA DEE DA HIS WAY THROUGH LIFE AND PRETEND NOTHING IS WRONG????? THAT IS SO FUCKED UP FOR HIS MENTALITY OF COURSE HE WOULD TRY TO AVOID HIS FATE ISTFG-

The rejection at the start of NoI - honestly pretty sure he just word-vomited like Aru in EoT he didn't get to complete what he was saying so he couldn't explain himself properly and after he kissed Aru, he probably realized his fate was sealed and he was on the verge of dying, yes he'd do everything he could to avoid it even if it means lying and taking back everything because he does not want to die has anyone realized how scary dying is??? Like he's probably terrified because god fucking dammit he's gonna die he does not want his life to end he doesn't want to leave his friends or family. It's a kids book so it's not really shown properly how awful and miserable and so fucking scary it is to be told: "you're gonna die."

The rest of NoI - literally the exact same reasoning any moment in this quest he will stop breathing and no one knows Aiden's POV, so he was probably having so many panic attacks and crying and screaming himself hoarse because he really, really doesn't want to die he doesn't want to abandon his mom, being the person Malini found worth living for. He didn't want to leave Rudy, his blood family that didn't abandon him. He didn't want to say good bye to Brynne, his best friend, nor to the other Potatoes. He didn't want to spend less than 9 days with Aru before seeing her for the last time.

I'm probably gonna get so much hate for this but I'm tired of seeing how badly Aiden is treated and I adore him and honestly he was absolutely in the right to cut off Aru, though I'm not saying it was the right thing to do, but he was allowed to do it.

Because. He. Does. Not. Want. His. Heart. Broken.

He. Did. Not. Want. To. Die.

[discar]

HZD Terraforming Base-001 Text Communications Network

Chapter 10 | Prev chapter | Next chapter Chapter Index

Marshall Kotallo: Who was that Carja woman? Aloy said she was a friend, but did not give many more details.

β: i didnt see anything

β: anyone

Marshall Kotallo: She wasn't here for long. She just used the passage through the mountain.

FlameHairSavior: That's T

FlameHairSavior: That's Talanah.

Zo: Are you texting while fighting again?

FlameHairSavior: No.

Zo: Are you lying?

FlameHairSavior: ...no?

HIMBO: Please concentrate on what you're doing.

HIMBO: I'm going to have enough trouble explaining all this to the Nora without "also, the Anointed daughter of the All-Mother got killed because she was texting too much."

FlameHairSavior: I told you not to call me that.

HIMBO: And I won't, if you stop multitasking.

ForgeLordAleMaster: I CAN PROBABLY EXPLAIN, ANYWAY.

ForgeLordAleMaster: TALANAH IS THE SUNHAWK, LEADER OF THE HUNTER'S LODGE IN MERIDIAN.

HIMBO: I think I met her at the battle.

ForgeLordAleMaster: YEAH, SHE WAS THERE. I WAS BUSY KEEPING MY IDIOTS IN LINE, BUT I HEAR SHE DID GOOD.

ForgeLordAleMaster: SHE SOMETIMES ACTS LIKE EVERYONE SHE MEETS IS GONNA HIT HER WITH A HAMMER.

HIMBO: I think I know the type.

ForgeLordAleMaster: SHE'S GOT A LOT TO PROVE, BUT SHE'S PROVEN IT. NO ONE IS REALLY COMPLAINING ABOUT HER BEING SUNHAWK ANY MORE.

Marshall Kotallo: What did she have to prove? I assume she is a capable warrior. Why would it be worse for her than anyone else?

HIMBO: The Carja don't let women fight.

Marshall Kotallo: …

Marshall Kotallo: [SkepticalOwl.png]

HIMBO: It's not MY culture.

Marshall Kotallo: I will admit I had heard that before. I simply wasn't sure to believe it. I assumed Carja squads were segregated.

Marshall Kotallo: Still, to go from having to prove herself to being leader of a powerful squad is an impressive feat.

HIMBO: I'm guessing there's a story there.

ForgeLordAleMaster: OH, BY THE FORGE YES. BUT IT'S ALL POLITICAL SCRAP.

ForgeLordAleMaster: THE HUNTER'S LODGE HUNTS MACHINES. SO WHEN THE DERANGEMENT STARTED, THE MAD SUN-KING ORDERED THEM TO FIND A SOLUTION.

ForgeLordAleMaster: THEY FAILED, OBVIOUSLY.

ForgeLordAleMaster: SO THEN HE ORDERED THEM TO FIND MACHINES FOR THE SUN-RING. LONG STORY SHORT, THEY ARGUED, HE THREW THEM INTO THE SUN-RING, AND ALL THAT WAS LEFT WAS A BUNCH OF STUFFY NOBLES WHO BARELY KNEW WHICH END OF AN ARROW WAS SHARP. EVERYTHING WENT DOWNHILL.

ForgeLordAleMaster: TALANAH BECAME THE NEW SUNHAWK BEFORE THE BATTLE OF THE ALIGHT, STARTED LETTING IN PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY KNOW HOW TO HUNT AND STUFF.

β: who was the mad sun king

ForgeLordAleMaster: YOU DON'T KNOW WHO THE MAD SUN-KING WAS?

β: how would i know that

Zo: Jiran was the previous Sun-King, and he was in power twenty years ago when the Derangement started.

HIMBO: When the machines started becoming more aggressive.

Zo: Correct. He became convinced that the Sun was angry, and could be appeased by blood sacrifice. He started raiding every surrounding tribe for captives to sacrifice in the Sun-Ring, fighting machines.

ForgeLordAleMaster: JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR, EVERYONE WHO WASN'T A SUN-MAD CARJA CRAZY KNEW THAT WAS A PILE OF SCRAPPER LEAVINGS FROM THE START. DON'T NEED TO KNOW ABOUT TERRAFORMING MACHINES AND ALIEN SIGNALS TO FIGURE OUT THAT BLOOD SACRIFICE ISN'T THE ANSWER.

Zo: Eventually, Jiran's son overthrew him and became the new Sun-King, putting a stop to the Red Raids.

ForgeLordAleMaster: HE HAD A LITTLE HELP. YOU MAKE IT SOUND LIKE THE CARJA SOLVED ALL THEIR PROBLEMS BY THEMSELVES.

Zo: Of course not.

β: who arethe carja

β: who are the carja

ForgeLordAleMaster: ...YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT THE CARJA? THE BIGGEST TRIBE IN THE REGION?

β: how would i know that

Marshall Kotallo: Did the Zeniths not teach you anything about local politics?

β: no

Zo: ...oh. Oh dear.

HIMBO: Does that mean the Zeniths don't know, or that they didn't bother teaching Beta?

Marshall Kotallo: Both, I suspect.

Zo: Beta, why don't you come up? I think this is something best explained in person.

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