#Bc DO is his own person and everyone in game recognises that

[habunshu]

in black myth wukong, do you think Erlang Shen is open to starting a relationship with the Destined One or do you think he refrained because that's technically no longer Sun Wukong(his pookie)?

There’s a distinction between DO and SWK in the game that’s understood by the denizens we meet- DO is a monkey of the mountain, and a possible inheritor of SWK, but before he submits himself to become SWK once more he’s a separate entity.

Erlang’s interactions w/ DO show he too sees DO as connected to him but not SWK at all. It also depends on how we understand the soul rekindling to work (in the non-true) endings. We see that the shell remains and another monkey becomes DO, and SWK still doesn’t come back. So it isn’t like DO is how the west understand reincarnations. DO is like a leaf born from SWK’s tree.

I would more personally describe Erlang and DO’s dynamic to be more 伯父 + 侄子, uncle and nephew, similar to SWK and Red boy. With the mentor-goals of Erlang in ensuring DO is strong enough to withstand SWK’s soul.

[leejungchans]

svt as the types of people you meet in college? it can be totally up to your interpretation of them hehe and they don't have to fit into certain college stereotypes!!!

OH i love this!!!!!! (based on my own experiences mixed with some cliches/aus/imaginings 🫶🏻) sorry this took a while to get to btw 🥲

seungcheol: the senior who manned one of the booths at your freshman orientation. did you join his club bc he was ridiculously attractive and made small talk with you? no comment. you follow each other on instagram but that’s probably about it <//3 definitely a campus crush that feels very unattainable but it doesn’t stop you from imagining what he’d be like as your a boyfriend

jeonghan: you walked past him once, and pretended you heard someone behind you calling your name just so you had an excuse to do a double-take. people this pretty existed?? and at your college/uni?? you told all your friends about him and after some snooping you managed to find his instagram. please just send that follower request, you have nothing to lose <3

joshua: i can totally see him being a student advisor omg!! so so so sweet, actually checks in on you often and is genuinely interested in knowing how things are going for you :’) does his best to give good advice, but as you became closer friends you became more familiar with his sense of humour and his advice got increasingly……interesting 😭 “your prof said what? next time trip him in the hallway!” “joshua nO” don’t do that

jun: sat in front of you in one of your courses last year, fell asleep during the lecture almost every single week. his friends gave up on keeping him awake halfway through the semester. you became friends after being randomly assigned to the same group for project and now you’re the friend who has to keep him awake during classes. he’s so cool though, and very witty and funny <3

soonyoung: even if you don’t know him personally, you always run into him on campus. grabbing a coffee at the cafe, goofing off with his friends in the quad, dozing off in the library…he’s friendly with everyone, even the grumpiest professors. you want to be his friend so bad, he just seems so fun to be around. also the only person you know who wears tiger print but he pulls it off!!

wonwoo: you have a class with him and he always sits in the back. so quiet and shy, barely talks to anyone but he’s really cute so you noticed him regardless. you got paired up for a discussion and found out how smart and well-spoken he was, and you guess he vibed with you too bc since then he started saving you a seat :’)) occasionally plays games on his laptop when the lecture gets boring, and angles the screen more towards you so you can watch <3

jihoon: a friend of a friend. you’ve never met but jun tells you so much about him, so it almost feels like you know him too. you follow him on instagram and occasionally he’ll post covers of him singing while playing the guitar. you offhandedly mentioned to jun that his voice is so pretty and soothing and much to your embarrassment he tells jihoon 😭 but it’s okay bc he’s setting up a hangout to officially introduce you both to each other!!

seokmin: the friend we wish we all had. you met on your very first day of college/uni when you had the same class. he initiated convo with you and was so sweet and friendly even though you could tell he was extremely nervous himself, protect him omg 💔 one of your closest friends to this day even if you don’t have the same majors. you enrol in random electives together and those lectures are always your favourite bc you sit in the back and goof off, just try not to get shushed too much <33

mingyu: spilled coffee on your shoes at the starbucks on campus 🙁 it’s not his fault it was really crowded and someone bumped into him causing him to bump into you!! also, he looked very guilty about it so you couldn’t find it in you to be mad. he pays for your coffee as an apology. he recognises you when you stand behind him in line two weeks later and jokes that he won’t spill anything on you this time. you became friends and now you understand why his close friends (affectionately) bully him so much bc he’s just a puppy trapped in a 6ft man’s body 🤧

minghao: literally the main character. he doesn’t walk, he struts and it works for him. so effortlessly cool and attractive. a huge motivating factor for showing up to that class is getting to see what his outfit for that day is. one time you mustered up the courage to compliment his shirt, and your heart swelled at how his face lit up immediately :’)

seungkwan: if you hear the sound of ice being shaken around in a plastic cup mid-lecture, 9 times out of 10 that’s him. he’s an iced coffee girlie he’s just like me. you became friends after he sincerely complimented you on how well you did in your midterm presentation 🤧 the sweetest most caring person ever, but he shows his affection by (playfully) judging you while sipping his iced americanos <3

vernon: took the seat across from you in the library one day while you were cramming for a test. has the coolest stickers on his headphones. you aren’t sure if he actually got any work done bc he seemed really into the music he was listening to. you accidentally made eye contact and he gave you a dorky little smile <3 you exchanged contacts the second time you happened upon each other at that very same table and he showed you a pic of his cat hehe

chan: this is sooooo self-indulgent bc i’ve had these thoughts for the longest time……he’s such a loser (affectionate) omg………..he sat next to you for a quiz and realised he didn’t have a pen 😭 blushed so hard when you offered to lend him a spare one before profusely thanking you. forgets to return it………..you thought you lost that pen for good but when he walked into class the next week, his eyes desperately searched the room looking for you, and with an sheepish smile he returned your pen along with a candy bar as an apology for forgetting…….he’s so cute i hate him so much🧎🏻‍♀️

a/n: many feelings about college bf!wonwoo and chan…….

[inchidentally]

kinda long, but bear with me--

re:the recent ask you had about lando and oscar being friends off track, possibly lukewarm take but: i personally don't actually care if they are friends or not? them being good teammates on track and on camera is good enough for me honestly.

i think it's healthy to maintain some boundaries and distance with teammates, especially when the lifestyle that comes with f1 is already so intense. sure, you can have that bond with a coworker from being in the trenches and working together, but in a way i think that bond stands nicely on its own. i especially admire oscar for recognising that at a relatively young age, maybe it's mark webber's influence because oscar's team is being very deliberate about oscar's public image in year 1, at least.

tl;dr anything we get beyond "contractually obligated" with the two guys is a bonus imho.

("ma'am, this is a wendy's!" you shout. yes it is. sorry i have many thoughts in the wendy's!!)

AJGFSAJGFSAL if anything my blog would be a waffle house at 2:45am babe so honestly any and all longposts are right at home <3

I totally agree w you and honestly it's not insignificant that Oscar has such a quiet almost grown-up life (and kinda has for at least three years now) and Lando has four careers around five hundred friends and at least 10 FWB and slightly more suitors who would gladly tie him down if they could - like, anything we get from them together is to be treasured bc outside F1 their common hobbies are padel and gaming. though I do love that Lando said he and Oscar are pretty similar guys??

there's also the fact that as you say, Mark's influence has very wisely had Oscar back off social media for his first year in F1 and we already know from them mentioning it after the fact or context clues that he and Lando do a lot of the same hanging out that Lando does with other drivers during the season. and it's actually pretty sweet that they don't choose to broadcast that too loudly. it has the same vibe as lando.jpg and that picture of Oscar smiling directly into Lando's camera and the little black heart underneath. Oscar is part of Lando's McLaren family <3

whatever kind of friends they are it's not for show - it's why their challenges and post race videos are so cute and nervous bc they don't have that bromancey jokey thing down for the cameras. at least for now they don't feel like posting it out there for everyone to see. not only is that sweet it's also extremely smart and clearly agreed on by both of them. it reminds me of this quote from Andrea:

"They actually use the same terminology, like it looks like they are in communication before reporting their feedback."

the McLaren twins will eventually start to open up to us but I agree, we should be glad we've got confirmed 2 more years of them as teammates and the friendship that we do get to see.

[mychlapci]

hi sunstreaker anon (the one who sent you the smash or pass) i have not stopped thinking about his rancid ass since i first stumbled across his wiki page so you get to bare witness to my insanity!

so like.... sunstreaker would be a prissy bitch in bed. i think we can all agree that his ass would constantly be complaining about something

"oh don't touch me there, you'll scratch my finish" or "if you go any harder it'll be difficult to buff out the paint transfers" he would do literally anything other than admit he's a kinky motherfucker who enjoys being roughed up.

this leads to most bots assuming that he doesn't want to get fragged, bc his general personality and reputation as a brutal frontliner combined means that when he says "no" (even if he doesn't really mean it and just wants to play hard to get), he really does mean "no" and then everyone leaves him alone.

sooooo here's my idea. fucking glory hole. for uh.... morale purposes.... it's anonymous and those who sign up remain unknown to the rest of the army and by this point sunstreaker has gotten real desperate, like leaking behind his panels whenever someone on the battlefield manages to rough him up kinds of desperate. and well... he'd let whatever con got a hold of him in a fight get a lick at his valve but he's conveniently never alone and someone is always there to save him. so he's really fucking pissy from lack of getting spike

so he signs up for the glory hole, bc what the fuck else is he supposed to do besides suffer

and it goes soooo well. sunstreaker spends the whole night getting his valve pounded into oblivion, without anyone worrying about pissing him off from going at it too hard. he ends the solar cycle with transfluid dripping out of him and a processor that's been so thoroughly fucked that he needs to take a good hour or so to properly get back into his own mind.

bonus points if he's got piercings (you know he does), that line his valve and conduct charger better. maybe even a stud pierced right through his anterior node with a chain attached to his valve lips so that whenever someone goes really hard, it makes him overload from sheer sensation alone.

in the following solar cycles, everyone notices how nice he's been as of late and start treating him a little better, maybe someone starts to catch onto his games and then they fuck nasty in a supply closet or something extra bonus points if the bot also used the glory hole and recognises the wonderfully plush mesh lining and the pretty golden gems pierced through the valve lips

anon, you are slowly making me positively insane about Sunstreaker.

Poor Sunstreaker, cursed with a kink that goes against everything he stands for. No one even offers to fuck him anymore, they either dislike him too much or are scared of him or someone told them what an absolute bitch he is in bed and they don't wanna deal with that. And all his no's are taken as hard no's, even if they're not, even if he's just trying to play a game. Sunstreaker is so horny all the time, he hasn't taken a real spike in ages, no one's even gotten to compliment the piercings he had done, and he's been getting increasingly desperate, so desperate that he'd let himself be pinned down by whatever non-descript decepticon he can find and pop open his panels open for them...

Sunstreaker resorting to a glory hole, pressing his pretty pussy against the hole in the wall of the stall and biting his lip as a thick spike is shoved into him without warning. They don't know who he is and he doesn't know who they are, so it's perfect. Sunstreaker can finally get fucked without restraint. His beautiful pieced valve gets split open on dozens of spikes, and soon enough the side of the wall is stained with his lubricant and loads upon loads of transfluid. The bots on the other side tug at his piercings and play with his pussy, they tease when they hear his engine revv from the other side of the wall...

I can't shake off the image of pretty, pristine Sunstreaker splayed over a filthy public toilet, his sore valve ruined and twitching as thick transfluid leaks out of him. He's overloaded so many times his legs refuse to work, he has to sit there and shake through the aftershocks, staring up at the cieling with a blissed out look on his face.

Mhmm, people recognizing Sunstreaker's pussy after that. They don't say anything but he knows they know when they start fucking him harder, treating him like a little whore <3

[ssruis]

Recommending this again bc its got updates. & also because I’m obsessed. It’s so good… go read…

Leaving my full comment here as well bc ao3 called me out for my immensely wordy method of commenting so. Y’know. Spoilers. Go read first.

Nene tucks her bag and coat under one of the seats in the stalls, then tries to find a person who doesn’t look terrifying to speak to so she can ask what they need help with. She barely recognises most of them, having not properly met with any other tech crew since the first rehearsal. Well- maybe if she just…stands here, someone will ask-

HELP… I love her so much. Nene Kusanagi. the most girl of all time.

“It’s so interesting learning about how much there is going on backstage! I guess I never really thought about it before…” Minori leans back to grab more paint, leaving another handprint on her leggings as she does. Should Nene say something…? “I bet the cast work really hard too! Having to sing and dance whilst smiling and acting the whole time too…that’s something I really want to learn!”

yayyy minori she’s so cute :) meeting of the fail girls. I love how you’ve worked in so many of the other pjsk characters in a way that feels very organic (instead of just random roles) and gives them a little spotlight even if they’re not the focus. You can tell there’s so much love and care put into everyone’s characterization.

I…have to be proud of the person I am now, if I want to be proud of the person I’m going to be.”

Wait, what is she saying? That’s not- that’s not something she came up with-

Somewhere tsukasa just got a huge ego boost. Thank god he’s not here he would be so insufferable.

He always speaks to her like a worried parent…the message might as well read ‘did you make lots of friends at your first day of school?’.

So real… he’s so annoying… Rui acting like that despite being like one year older than nene will never not be funny.

“I am about to fall over!” Tsukasa yells back breathlessly, hunching over once the piano stops.

“If you have the air to complain, you have the air to hold that last note!”

Insert the “I’ve hired a tyrannical director” tsukasa quote.

“Right? You’ll be fine.” Rui watches as A bends down to check on Tsukasa, lightly patting his shoulder. “We’re almost there.”

Tsukasa has died (cheering) (end story)

“Maybe!” Rui shrugs. “Honestly, I wasn’t completely sure at first, but I’m glad my intuition was correct. Seems like the star quality runs in the family, after all.”

“...I think you’re right,” Nene says quietly.

Nene and tsukasa relationship progression… smiles…

“N-no…” No, don’t remember me from auditions. Actually, please just forget my entire existence-

“Hopefully you make it next time, if that’s what you wanna do!” An says. “A little bit of confidence goes a long way, y’know? And you can always fake it if you’re not sure!”

she’s so funny I loved this part. The nene & an dynamic of girl with horrible social anxiety and girl who is so so cool but also so so excited to get to know everyone will never not be funny.

“Nene, your outfit looks so cute!”

But apparently there’s always one person who manages to find her. Nene looks up from her phone, Emu already barreling over to her. So long as she keeps away from the very heavy, very expensive lighting equipment, they’re fine.

The return of the pink thing… (The crowd goes wild)

Probably because you never sit still, Nene thinks. Especially right now. If Nene is rattling from nerves, Emu looks about to burst with excitement. It must be nice to be immune to any and all fear.

“I hope everyone is gonna enjoy the show tonight!” she says, smile bright even in the dark. “I bet it’s gonna be super wow wow yay yay woo woo!”

1 so true getting that thing to sit still is a losing battle 2 I love how you write her dialogue so much… perfectly straddles the line between her very silly onomatopoeia laden moments and her more serious moments.

“Every time I see the light I’m gonna know it’s you and get super super smiley!”

:) I care them

Nene repositions the light towards the stage, casting the bright circle over Tsukasa. He instantly looks up then recoils at the light, squinting up at them.

“Oi, what’re you doing! That’s bright!”

“Hi Tsukasa!” Emu calls back, waving. “You look super shiny shiny sparkly bright!”

“Oh, really?” His angry face quickly swaps to flattery, and he poses accordingly. Nene turns the light off. “Hey, put it back on!”

I laughed he’s so funny. Anytime Tsukasa gets irritated or upset (or completely unreasonably hesitant about a perfectly safe sane and normal stunt that is definitely necessary for the show) you can just redirect him with flattery. Works every time.

“Are you curious about the hair ties?” she asks. “We’re wearing them in mutual support with Saki, since she can’t be here tonight. She has one too! It’s cute, isn’t it?”

“Y-yeah,” Nene says. “Is she, um…recovering okay…?”

“I believe so! According to Tsukasa, she should be out in a few days.” Honami laughs. “She really wants to attend closing night…she keeps talking about it non-stop.”

“I was worried talking about it would make her sad, but she seems more excited than anyone else,” Ichika adds. “It’s a really great thing we didn’t have to cancel the show. It would make her really happy to be able to catch our last performance.”

“She should focus on getting better first,” Shiho says, not taking her eyes off her bass. The other two just smile and shrug. 

"Let's hope Saki can join us soon," the tall pianist says. Crap, Nene can't remember his name- Aoyagi? Nene isn’t sure what their relationship is, though he has a scrunchie tucked into his shirt pocket too. "She cares about this performance very much."

THATS SO CUTE… I love how well the L/N interactions are written. Shiho & her concern that comes off as uncaring when it’s anything but… also toya with the scrunchie too awww…

Nene stares. “What part of this is fun…?” 

“You’re all part of the team, so you all have to join in,” Rui says, and Nene groans, trudging out the pit with the others. It’s fine, if she just hides at the back, maybe she can get away with half-effort… “Here, Nene. You can stand next to me!”

Bastard. Nene jogs alongside Rui, ignoring his pleased expression.

Making a gamer exercise. Rui truly is a bastard.

“So this is what the life of a stage actor is like…” Aoyagi muses from up in front, hands barely stretching past his knees.

I giggled. Truly built like a wet paper bag, that one.

“Something like this is easy for me!” Tsukasa says, still looking strong with his hands planted on his hips. If Nene had more energy, she would stab him right now. “I’m not tired at all!”

And so he lives another day. It’s ok nene. there will be other opportunities.

“Um, no, I think you need to stay with the rest of the cast…” Nene says, aware that the company is mostly split into their separate groups. Surely she’s not supposed to stand alongside the actual important people, like the director, the lead, the important actors…even if it seems like they…want her there?

OUUGH you get it… You Get It… nene is so so loved but her anxiety ridden saw trap of a mind makes that so difficult for her to see.

“Absolutely…”

“Huh?” That’s not what she’d…

“Not!” Tsukasa finishes, holding his head up high. Nene quickly hides any and all concern.

“Makes sense an idiot like you would be stupid to get nervous. I didn’t care anyway.”

HELP…. ‘I didn’t care anyway. Idiot.’ I love how you write them so much.

It’s too soon…she needs Emu to cling to her arm and say stupid stuff so that it doesn’t feel so real-

Obsessed. I know what you are nene.

nene & tsukasa scene

I’m so happy this fic exists all the time but esp during the nene & tsukasa interactions they are so fascinating to me and you write them so well… nene telling tsukasa he’s overthinking it is so funny. I liked the little moment of him having a moment abt whether or not to send saki the pictures it reflects their whole dynamic so well. And him getting the text from saki and going SAKIII 🥺😭 was so cute.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you down here, Nene,” Rui says, and the way his eyes glint with just a little pride make her want to curl up and avoid everyone ever for the next ten hours. She settles for just crossing her arms.

Hes so annoying… I love how you’ve written their dynamic…

“But wow, the others really did a good job with you, Tsukasa,” Rui says, studying Tsukasa appreciatively. “You really look professional. And the hairstyle is very cute.”

“Cute?” Tsukasa narrows his eyes. “I’m not cute! I’m cool! Cool!”

“Yes, yes. Very cool!”

“Hm, that’s right.” Tsukasa flicks a strand of hair back, grinning to himself. “I’m so cool.”

Yuck (said fondly)

“Yes, I think you’ll do well tonight,” Rui says, taking a seat on the table at the side. Can’t he sit on a chair like a normal person?

I grinned at that. I love all the little details you put in your writing like Rui’s passion for sitting like A Weirdo… it’s like putting treats in an enrichment toy for people who are insane about these characters (me) to giggle at.

“You really know the script inside out by this point.”

“Of course I do,” Tsukasa says. “Especially after last night when you made me recite lines whilst throwing goldfish crackers at me…”

“What the hell was that for?” Nene asks Rui. 

“It was just really fun!” he says.

“Seriously, what’s wrong with you…”

“Don’t worry, we didn’t study too hard last night,” Rui says. “We even watched the original movie to help keep the atmosphere. It’s important to have fun sometimes.”

“Fun for you! You were still throwing stuff at me even then!”

“Well, a good actor needs to be prepared for the unexpected…”

they’re so funny. I can’t keep saying “I love how you write x dynamic” because it’s true for literally every dynamic in this fic…

Emu gasps, jumping back. “Oh, sorry, I mean, um- break your legs, Nene and Rui!”

“No, it sounds kind of terrifying when you say it like that…” Tsukasa mutters.

Emu and inventing entirely new sayings. She’s doing her best <3

Kind of amazing that any guy can sound so sincere singing about love whilst wearing knee-high boots and beaded booty shorts, but.

HELP MEEEE… He really will do anything for a show won’t he.

Nene wishes she could be down there too. More than ever before. To be part of something. To be alongside others. The way Tsukasa gives it his all and shines…Nene wants to try that too. There's a fire down there burning so strong that its sparks are lighting her too. 

YESS I loved this part I love the acknowledgement of her competitiveness & “I want to do better I want to be on stage” attitude, and how that drives and motivates her

“I thought so too! They didn’t seem to think it was weird at all. Even my mom said she liked it, but I think she just likes the idea of two guys dating…”

new favorite side character: Fujoshi mom

“O-oh, um, I’m…um…” Nene fumbles for the words. Well, obviously, she took off her tech stuff so they don’t recognise her…and, actually, thinking about it, it’s not like they would let her sit at the table full of cast members anyway. They’re the important ones. Not Nene. Heat rises to her face as she takes a step back, because, seriously, what had she even been thinking, deciding to sit with everyone else like this-

“Nene’s a part of our team!” Tsukasa’s voice thunders out from behind her, and Nene jumps, turning to them. “Of course she can sit here!”

“Yeah, Nene is super important!” Emu adds, jumping up to grab Nene’s arm. “Wiithout Nene we would all be completely in the dark and the audience would just be looking at nothing for two hours!”

WxS is actually a theatre troupe second and a nene hype squad first.

“Wait, Emu!” Tsukasa holds up a hand. “Next time, can you try not kicking me whilst we’re in the Irish dance line?”

“Huh, I kicked you?”

“Oh, I thought I saw that,” Rui says.

“And you’re still telling her to do things the same tomorrow!?”

“Sorry, Tsukasa!” Emu bows. “Next time I’ll try not to kick you so hard.”

“Don’t kick me at all!” Tsukasa sighs, recollecting himself.

Writing group dialogue - esp for a visual novel that relies solely on dialogue and can rely on visuals instead of writing “x said” “y said” - is such a challenge and you do it so well… you can always tell who’s speaking and it flows so nicely…

“I’ll tell Ena and Mizuki not to be too rough tomorrow,” Rui says, then his face turns coy. “I do think that bunny suit looked good on you, Tsukasa.”

(Spraying Rui with water) inside thoughts! Inside thoughts!!!

“That’s my dream role,” Emu says, almost shyly.

“Hm? You want to be Cinderella?”

“I wanna be the cow,” Emu says dreamily.

“The cow-?” Tsukasa chokes. “That’s not even a human role!”

Emu’s face falls. “But I wanna be the cow…” 

“Don’t crush Emu’s dreams, Tsukasa,” Nene says.

“It’s not even a speaking role! It’s just a model of a cow on wheels!”

“Tsukasa, we have to be kind to our fellow company members,” Rui says. “I believe in you, Emu!”

Everyone ganging up on tsukasa… you love to see it. My experience with theatre is rather limited, (in that I attended the shows my sister was in, and took photos during their dress rehearsals), but I will say that when my high school put on into the woods we actually had a girl (not my sister, she was the bakers wife) be the cow. The girl actually requested it… she wanted to be the cow... That costume was terrifying. All that to say: I believe in you emu.

“Yeah, after the past two weeks I can see that…” Tsukasa says. Nene is sure she can almost see the trauma in his eyes. Rui tilts his head, suddenly forlorn.

“How can you say that, Tsukasa…? I’ve always been so considerate to your needs. When have I ever done something mean to you?”

“You made me stand on one leg for an entire rehearsal once!”

“To improve your balance and muscle strength-”

They are so irritating.

“Maybe we should consider that for a future show?” Rui says, and Nene suddenly realises something momentous. They’re talking to her because they want to. They’re talking to her because they see her as a friend. And they’re all here because they love theatre and they love putting on shows, and Nene is the same. She loves it too. She belongs here. They’re her friends, too. 

I love this part so so much… nene realizing she belongs… I feel like her own hang ups about having friends goes unnoticed by a lot of people in favor of rui’s (which, to be fair, his are a little more blatant). it’s so nice to see a fic that examines nene & her realizing she’s a part of the group and that they all love her.

[solasan]

3, 6, 8, and 19 for Callista and/or Alarice? 👀👀👀

ask me questions abt my ocs <3

— CALLISTA:

3. what is your OC's fatal flaw? are they aware of this flaw?

her kindness lol. which i think is also her greatest virtue tbh?? but she sees the best in people even when that best isn't there, if that makes sense. she holds everyone around her to the moral standard she holds herself to, which means that she kind of expects everyone around her to be a lot better than they actually are? astarion nearly kills her the first time he feeds, for reference. she becomes less naive over the course of the game, but she'd always rather be taken advantage of (which happens multiple times) than think badly of someone / not help someone who seems to need it. she's not rly aware of this flaw in the beginning — she's spent her whole life as an acolyte in the house of the moonmaiden, where this kind of kindness is exemplified as What's Expected, and she's not been outside enough to rly know what's realistic in the world — but she becomes more aware of it as the game progresses, i think? shadowheart despairs of her.

but i'm still not sure that she'd consider it A Flaw even when she recognises that people take advantage of her; i think she more views it as a virtue, and if someone's going to fuck her over, that's on them?

6. how easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

not easily at all. astarion hates her for being so naive bc she just flat-out refuses to do things she's not comfortable with, morally. u could probably get her to turn against her morals by threatening someone she loved — and i mean someone she really loved — but even then, she'd be a tough nut to crack. she's very classic lawful good in that way i think.

8. would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?

oof. i'm not sure tbh. morally, definitely not; the guilt would haunt her forever (even pushing minthara into the pit in her office, which is probably the most physically removed kill she's done, messes with her head). but i do think she's smart enough to dispose of a body if she wanted to; the issue is more that i think her guilt would compel her to confess? i don't think she'd make a great effort to try getting away with it; she'd feel as though she should be punished.

19. how does your OC behave when enraged?

she's not loud when she gets angry; she doesn't explode or start screaming. instead she gets very very quiet. quite stiff, too; her whole body seems to almost vibrate with anger but her movements become quite economic, she moves with purpose. her voice gets very cold and hushed, almost difficult to hear, and she snaps out every syllable like a crack of ice. she doesn't get violent bc tbh she's not a violent person in general. but she might give u the silent treatment if she's rly angry, just bc she doesn't want to say something she'll regret. when she's been pissed off in camp — usually astarion's fault lol but sometimes it's been shadowheart, especially in the early days — she tends to just go off to a quiet place on her own so she can calm down. queen of breathing techniques.

— ALARICE:

3. what is your OC's fatal flaw? are they aware of this flaw?

god what part of alarice's personality ISN'T a flaw???? uhh i guess, inversely to callista, her selfishness? or maybe her greed? hm yeah ok i think greed trumps selfishness, if only bc it leads to her doing some pretty fucking stupid and life-threatening shit — turning on allies for material gain, making a deal with raphael only to almost immediately break into his house to undo it, racking up extortionate gambling debts with dangerous people, risking her life in jobs she shouldn't even be taking, etc. greed has also led her to sabotaging a lot of relationships in her life, so generally, her greed has messed her up in more ways than it's helped her.

i think she's always been somewhat aware of it, but it becomes more clear to her as the game's events progress. astarion expecting her to just kind of hand him over to araj oblodra in exchange for a potion (powerful or not) makes her take a step back and look at herself, for one thing. and i think that her and karlach have a Conversation after getting the soul coins from lann tarv in moonrise, if only bc alarice doesn't really? flinch at any of the stories? (save the last one about the kid) and that unnerves karlach.

coming face-to-face with nine-fingers is also another one; nine-fingers was kind of like a mother to her for a little while, so seeing how thoroughly that relationship has been soured by her own selfish & greedy choices rly rly makes her hate herself, so she resolves to change from kind of? late act 2 to early act 3? it's tough, though; her impulses will always be baser and more selfish, and she has to work hard to resist them.

6. how easily could your OC be convinced to do something that goes against their moral compass?

this is a tough question to answer, bc my first instinct is to say "very easily", but alarice... doesn't?? really have?? a moral compass? she has certain no-nos (no mass-murder, no rape/coercion bc of her background, no hurting kids for other background reasons, etc) but she would sell her soul to satan for one corn chip, it is a MIRACLE she hasn't become a warlock. i suppose i'll take it as how easily would she cross those aforementioned lines, and tbh i think she'd do anything for enough money (in act 1 and early act 2), even if it made her feel pretty gross about herself / she had to do some serious mental gymnastics to justify it to herself, so yeah, not super difficult. but as the game progresses those lines become a lot more cemented, particularly as she begins to make genuine connections with the party and their own morals begin to rub off on her a bit, so then it becomes pretty hard to push her past her limits. god, her and astarion are a nightmare couple.

8. would your OC ostensibly be able to get away with murder?

answered here!!!

19. how does your OC behave when enraged?

she surprisingly doesn't blow up immediately, even if her personality seems like she would. she's actually very good at just kind of... grinning and bearing it, so she can smile through her anger and even be pretty convincing if you don't know her well. if u do know her well, she has certain tells — her smile can get a little manic and her eyes go kind of cold — but until she's out of the situation that's making her angry, her survival instinct has her hiding it. once she is out, though, she'll go full on apeshit and maybe get a bit violent, depending on who/what she's angry about. where callista runs cold, alarice runs hot, basically.

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Fun things after watching The Batman

The movie sets a more crime-thriller, film noir take on Batman that really hones in on Bats as the world’s greatest detective as opposed to throwing in a bunch of action scenes as has been the norm of late for “superhero” films. The action choreo that is there feels so real and like an actual real person fighting, making Bats feel more grounded as a person, and the action set pieces just compliment all the build up through the quieter moments. Literally 80% of this film is him looking around a room for clues or inferring some sort of deduction from a conversation and I’m here for itttt

The actor who plays Tim Drake in Titans plays the scared kid who doesn’t wanna beat up the random guy. Not the same Batmen but how fun if that was Tim Drake’s origin story in another timeline

This whole time Bruce is majorly projecting on the Mayor’s son his own trauma as a kid who lost his parents to a brutal murder. In both Bruce and Bats forms, he holds eye contact with the kid. When Bats comes over to help the people trapped under the tower, and the mayor-elect Bella Reál hesitates to take his hand (bc he’s a vigilante who in many ways represents everything she’s been campaigning against, also bc he’s masked and dangerous etc) the first one to take his hand and thus demonstrate his trust in Bats is the kid. And the others follow (literally that shot with the flare and everyone following in the dark water was so beautiful I cannot)

The repeated use of Ave Maria whether in full form or hints throughout the score as a signal of impending danger

That opening title screen just stretching all the way across the theatre screen. Magnificent

Despite the “I am Vengeance” line being the mic drop-ish line from the trailer, basically everyone makes fun of Bats for using it the whole movie and then it comes back in a sinister way right at the end

People initially laughing at the idea of Robert Pattinson as Bats now saying his is one of the best interpretations of Batman so far, especially in terms of the detective aspect of the character

This version of Bruce reads as much younger than the other interpretations of Bruce Wayne. Like all of them are “would rather do XX than go to therapy” to some degree, but this version of Bats leans hard into this and feels really fresh on the scene. Guess it helps that when he’s Bruce he doesn’t switch immediately into a three piece suit and actually wears normal clothes. And he’s only 2 years into the game. I think it also adds to this image bc the playboy personality is nonexistent in this version of Bruce. He’s attracted to Selina (or at least drawn to her and the kiss just pushed it in a more romantic direction), but he also doesn’t push it beyond the opportunities she has presented to him. So idk. That seems very young of him?? I guess to be so caught up in the Batman of it all that he doesn’t recognise the potential for him and Selina until after she kisses him.

The fact that Selina’s leather suit actually has some give and slight bagginess to it. Like yes it is form fitting, but there’s clearly wiggle room and that’s a small thing but v important I think that it isn’t skin tight. Bc all other scenes she’s dressed in what I would say are very revealing clothing, as part of her job at that club that exploits women’s bodies and looks for profit. In this outfit, she clearly has so much more control and ownership of her body, and despite the typically slinky and seductive image of Cat woman, her suit feels quite practical and more like a uniform or battle outfit.

Paul Dano was freaking brilliant as The Riddler. But I also kept thinking “yo it’s that guy from Little Miss Sunshine” XD

[fandomcentralsposts]

An actual explanation as to why I think Jonah Beck from Andi Mack is autistic (by an autistic person)

Disclaimer every autistic person is different. This has become a popular hc in the fandom, and I am explaining why, based on my own traits and common signs and symptoms I've noticed in the character.

Hyperfixations:

Lots of autistic people have hobbies or special interests that they take really seriously they like to talk about it with other people even if they don't seem as interested or if its annoying them. Jonah's special interests were ultimate frisbee and guitar he would get so defensive if anyone said ultimate wasn't a sport, and he carried his frisbees with him a lot apparently even after he had stopped playing as much and when he took up guitar, he literally started wearing shirts with guitars on them bro found a new special interest and never looked back (its especially important bc it helps him cope with anxiety).

Social queues (lack of awareness)

Ik Jonah is sometimes comic relief and portrayed as oblivious, but he fr doesn't understand things like flirting like that scene from unloading zone when those girls were flirting with him and he just "Yeah uh... its free 🧍‍♂️😁". He also sometimes doesn't understand when something is really important to someone else, especially if he's concentrated on a special interest (when andi protested her school dress code in s1, for example). Also, just amber saying at some point, "If you want Jonah to not say anything, you have to be very explicit," and the fact that he accidentally got himself and the ghc in trouble in unloading zone.

Anxiety/meltdowns/sensory aversions

ofc anyone can experience anxiety, and it's not a part of the diagnostic criteria, but lots of autistic people experience high levels of anxiety in later life. Jonah canonically has panic attacks and struggles with anxiety, which (in my opinion, anywho) can be taken for a meltdown, but like I said, everyone's different not all meltdowns are out of sadness sometimes they can be angry like when Jonah flipped that board game and said "now its over". I noticed he gets them in uncomfortable social situations that are overwhelming he also said on a few occasions that he doesn't like confrontations, which could be seen as too much sensory input, which causes meltdowns

And he has food aversions from again too much sensory input when at Cyrus' grandmothers shiva he says he couldn't recognise anything on the food table even tho there was literally a bagel in front of him and he ate the fish Cyrus told him not too eat. He also says he's embarrassed of his panic attacks. I'm embarrassed of meltdowns he's so me. Also, this whole discourse of people saying Jonah doesn't have feelings he does he just struggles expressing or processing them.

Face blindness/masking

Many autistic teens and children have face blindness or facial-agnosia, meaning they don't always recognise faces they've already seen or just identify people in different ways Jonah's little line in s1 "some people never forget a face, I never forget a foot" was enough proof for me. Also, masking is when an autistic person basically hides that they're autistic by suppressing certain behaviours around certain people, and I think Jonah does this a lot in s1 to keep up this mr. popular image when Buffy said he only had 2 facial expressions could be taken as a sign of masking. I noticed it seemed like he didn't have any other friends after s1 accept from the ghc this could be because he felt he didn't have to mask in front of them (as an autistic person masking is exhausting I don't blame him) he definitely feels least judged around Cyrus and Buffy.

Stimming/repetition

Once again, it was likely for comedic purposes, but Jonah sometimes repeats things that have already been said, which is how some autistic people like to communicate whether it be repeating their words or echoing others (echolalia) I noticed Jonah do this in s3 when Buffy's talking about why she rejected Walker and he just says "I feel bad for the guy" like twice and I've noticed subtle stims when he's both nervous and happy Jonah is very expressive with his hands when he talks plus that trampoline park date must of been one fun sensory experience.

In conclusion:

[featherlouise]

I ask this like every person who's into HK that I follow so I'm also dropping this question off at your feet too;

How do you think Hollow's reunion with White Lady would go after the whole Radiance/sealing fiasco? Perhaps Pale King too if the fucker's alive?

FUCK ITS BEEN A WHILE SINCE U ASKED THIS HUH

(I'm gonna put this under read more bc it's kinda long (and all over the place so I apologise in advance))

OK SO

I think, with the state she's in during the game, she'd probably be pretty dismissive?? Like, she'd likely comment on how they're free and the infection's gone, but as much as I'd love to say it'd be a tearful reunion, I don't really think that'd be the case ://

PK on the other hand!!! There'd be A LOT of tearful apologies, ESPECIALLY once he sees their missing arm and other scars, bc HE did that to them, HE put them in the position to get hurt and HE convinced himself and them that they'd be able to forever contain a wrathful goddess with thousands of years of experience on them. The fact that they're even alive in the first place is a miracle in itself, nevermind the fact that they're able to walk around.

He'd probably claim them as his child and try to "make up" for their shitty childhood in any way he can. Which. Isn't much considering the kingdom is in shambles. Whereas before the fall of Hallownest he'd be able to shower them with presents and build a statue in their honour or name a stag station after them or something, the most he can do at this point is like. Hunt for them. And do they even need to eat?? With the whole technically not alive thing?? Eh it's the thought that counts.

On the other hand!! I think the outcome of the reunion entirely depends on where Hollow is in their recovery.

If they're barely healed and only just starting to confront the horror that was their upbringing, they'd still be battling with A LOT of guilt. As far as they're concerned, it's their fault for not being hollow that the kingdom fell. They're broken, and they were too selfish to admit that before it was too late, and now everyone is either dead or EXTREMELY traumatised.

The WL reunion would probably set back any progress they make if it's early on enough, bc they were honestly probably looking forward to the reunion. They know how much she wished for them to have been a real child, and now she can have that!! Sure it's a little late, but any relationship with their mother would be better than the cold dismissal they faced while growing up.

And then they walk into her chamber and she's nothing like the woman they remember, and they know it was childish and silly to believe she'd be exactly the same, but after coming across Dryya's body (something they will file away and confront much later, because Dryya is dead wtf how) they'd foolishly hoped that maybe their mother would take them into her arms like she saw her do so often for Hornet and their father.

But instead she barely acknowledges their presence, and dismisses them outright. As if they're a pest, not her child who has been locked away for centuries. And maybe she's right. Who are they to claim her as their mother when she's never wanted anything to do with them. So they leave.

If Hollow is later on in their recovery, like they've built up a support system, they've found themselves, figured out who they are outside of the Pure Vessel persona, I think they'd be able to recognise that their mother isn't well, and be able to stomach the dismissal and off handed insults in favour of trying to get her help. They'd definitely make use of that support system, but I think knowing their own worth would go a long way towards whether or not they let WL's comments get to them. And I think eventually, they'd be able to have afternoon tea and chat or something. But that would take A WHILE.

PK TIME OK

So I think the outcome of the PK reunion wouldn't change a TON, but there'd be a few key differences:

If Hollow is early in their recovery, they'd be VERY confused as to why their father is apologising to THEM. Bc they should be the one apologising right??? It's their failure to be what they were supposed to that led to the fall of the kingdom right?? Why is their father bringing them food??? He's never done this before?? And holy shit is he crying??!?!

Also hc that Hollow is the type of person to start crying if someone they care about is crying. So. Make of that what you will.

Overall, it'd be a mix of guilt and confusion and also relief?? Bc wow my father doesn't hate me that's a shock. I imagine the Radiance would use their wish for PK's approval against them A LOT so it's not unlikely that they've got a scenario in their head where their father proclaims that he despises them and then fortnite dances on their body after smiting them.

Later on in their recovery however, they'd be at a point where they can acknowledge that the way they were brought up was cruel, and they didn't deserve to be treated like an object, but I also don't think they'd be able to bring themselves to be angry at PK.

As the Pure Vessel, they were around PK in a lot of private moments, and it's not unlikely that he'd vent to them in the same way a person would vent to their favourite teddy bear. He'd vent about his guilt, his worries, sometimes even directly addressing them about how he wished things could be different. And bc I also headcannon Hollow to be EXTREMELY empathetic, they can UNDERSTAND why he made the decisions he did, and how he genuinely believed that he had no choice.

Honestly though?? I don't think the actual reunion would go much differently here. Maybe they'd be a bit quicker to hug back, maybe the tears would come sooner, maybe they'd be far less stiff and finally allow themselves to collapse against PK and let him hold them for the first time since they were tiny, but overall?? He'd still bring them presents out of guilt, and they'd still be confused as to why tf their father is trying to feed them so much.

OH ALSO PK would definitely go through a period of being ridiculously overprotective, like someone goes to pat Hollow on the shoulder and suddenly they've got a bitey Wyrm hanging off their arm. (Someone's overcompensating for 2 decades worth of protective instincts methinks)

Hollow's response to that would probably be a mix of embarassed and pleased, bc holy shit father wants to protect me but also nooo that's my friend he needs his arm get off

[absent-o-minded]

YR S2 Trailer Analysis - Part 1

Ahh....it's that time again. We have been truly fed with a brilliant trailer, and so, what better time to roll up those sleeves and give my silly little thoughts on it?

Please keep in mind that this, and the subsequent second part, will contain **SPOILERS**.

The Opening with Kristina, Ludwig and Wille:

And so we start, really, with the opening that sets up the premise, or rather the cause, for dysfunction throughout Season 2 - Wille's parents. The placement of this scene at the start of the trailer employs a sense of constant overshadowing, whereby everything can be linked back to the direct cause of Kristina (and Ludwigs eventhough I don't actually know what he does) shoddy parenting.

But that's just on a placement level, I want to look at the emotional standing here, because to us, and although we see it as artificial, it almost looks like Kristina and Ludwig are genuinely proud? Which is sad both in the sense of it being pitted against Wille's obvious misery to being the Crown Prince as well as in the sense of seeing an instance of his parents pride only being derived from when he's 'looking the part'. It's as if the only way for Wille to receive any parental affection is to fulfill the role that was thrust upon him, and even in this scene, Wille's discomfort is evident - You can see it in how Kristina adjusts his tie before, not even a second later, Wille is already loosening it, wanting to breathe.

Through this tiny secondary action, or reflexive response, we're already starting to see this 'back and forth' between Wille and the Monarchy, like the old arcade video games with the two characters fighting eachother. But also; This scene employs the idea that a lot (I won't say all bc that would be false) of Wille's issues can be directly linked back to his family, and so a premise of dysfunction is created as a backdrop for S2.

The Colourful Party Stare:

No, because this shit is beautiful. I want to eat this image. I just want to grab it with my hand and unhinged my jaw and-

I'm both an enjoyer and a critic of certain tropes in media, as everyone is, but one that I'm always a sucker for is what I call 'The Art of the Stare'. We see it in so many films/tv shows, and usually it's an addition to the 'Love at First Sight' trope, but the key difference here is that the trope has already been employed in S1, and so parallelism is drawn (both in positioning and lighting terms) to distort this trope into 'Love at First Reconciliation'.

In the first 'Stare' scene at the party in S1, the lighting fanned their faces and was represented by a slow rotation, mixing the colour compositions and facilitating the state of anticipation, curiosity and innocence that framed that scene. Here however, the LED (?) lights are coming out in distinct strings, framing the back of both Wille and Simon's heads, as if externalising their mental/repressed physical reactions. You have to recognise that these are beams. Elongated and narrow strings of light filtered through a tiny scope, unlike the lighting in S1 which was an open and small rotating ball. Beams have a distinct direction, and they puncture the air. They hold intent, and from the visual composition of those images, they're shooting from behind both boys as if to the other, beginning from their heads.

And that look. What is it about that look? How do I articulate that look? Maybe I can't articulate it, maybe I just need to let it exist in its own right, whatever that may be. But, the contextual aspects behind it, are everything. How do you look at a person with whom you want and need them, but those feelings are obscured by what you represent and what you have done? How are you to explain yourself, to find your voice, when your surroundings are already doing that for you? Because we're back at the start here, this cyclical structure cannot be denied nor delayed, and they recognise that - The presence of this scene is all too familiar a parallel for both us as an audience and the lads as a moment, but we have to ask, is it a moment to redefine or reconcile?

Felice and Wille Friendship:

Oh,,,ha,,,I'm already crying.

What a clever ploy on behalf of the crew to play on the audiences heartstrings more than giving the touch starved character physical comfort from the emotionally starved character? The alliance between Felice and Wille, or rather, the friendship, is something that I genuinely cannot wait to see. Look at how fucking tender and comforting this hug looks? One of Felice's hands cupping Wille's jaw and the other holding his arm? Wille with one hand absent-mindedly twirling a strand of Felice's hair and the other against her knee? Are YOu jOKiNg?

On a more emotionally stable note, I really hope that this season, Felice is not just a source of comfort for Wille, but also that it works in the reverse, and Wille becomes a source of comfort for Felice. Friendships blossom from trials and tribulations as well as miraculous times, and we already saw their fledgling friendship towards the end of S1, but I would love the idea of their friendship blossoming this season, particularly in the sense that both of their arcs may require bravery, and I really think that they could help eachother. Whilst I love how Felice is comforting a clearly miserable Wille and how he fins solace in this, it should be mutual, in that Wille encourages Felice to embrace herself and to go against the alleged 'status-quo' of the elitist environment she was born into.

H A N D S:

You could genuinely write essays on the phenomenon of hands in Film & TV, but how it's intrinsically tied to Queer Cinema.

There's just something so thrilling and nerve-wracking about hand touches, and how they signal the first sign of interest, whether it's an accidental brush or incidental hold. How it's the most acceptable form of affection in the eyes of a begrudged public, and even more so, a judgemental society. How it's daring and innocent in the same note.

What's interesting is how these touches differ from Season 1. We're aware that Wille struggles to articulate himself, and so physical touch is usually his best vehicle for communication, but Simon's reaction in the way he pulls his hand away and how it could be interpreted is interesting: Is he scared? Is he showing self-restraint? Is is insecurity? Is it reflexive? Personally, I think that Simon is aware, maybe even hyper-aware of Wille's presence, as there are maybe two or three seconds that pass before Simme actually pulls his hand away. This rift of 'push-and-pull' that is provoked by Kristina and Ludwig extends to Simon as well, and seems to underpin the entire trailer - But in this case, Simon is the one pulling away. Initially anyway. Maybe that changes the trajectory of the story? Maybe that little act plants a seed, and we see Simon (who I'm so glad admitted that he 'enjoyed the space') recognise that it's not all on him. That he also deserves to choose, just as much as Wille does.

Even later on in the trailer, we see Wille actively reach out and take Simon's hand, which shows a contrast, as eventhough we don't get to see Simon's reaction, this touch ^^ was accidental, implying that Simon is very much aware of Wille, but in that scene, it is intentional, and from what it looks like, Simon doesn't pull away. Has he let his feelings for Wille come to the forefront? Has he chosen to stay?

Who knew that hands could say so much, hm?

Sara on the Floor:

Just a little addition here to say that I'm so intrigued to see more of Sara's story this season, and how she fares with knowing what August did, but still somehow has a questionable (Idek what it is at this rate) relationship with him. Not just this, but the teaser of the first 4 minutes let's us know that she's received acceptance for what I'm guessing is residency at Hillerska, so I'm also excited to see how that whole shabang plays out.

August in his Emo Arc:

There is something fucking wrong with you, babes. I'm not gonna lie.

August definitely falls into one of those character archetypes where 'You love to hate them'. My fan mind and my critical mind are at war right now because one is shouting "FUCK HIM, I SWEAR TO GOD-" and the other is going "Wait, let's unpack this". I call it the cursed duality of being a Film student, an ever present burden on my moral agenda.

I am still as unforgiving of August as the next person. His actions can't be justified, they can be traced and understood, but that doesn't make them justified, so to know that S2 follows the lens where August's mental health deteriorates as a consequence of his guilt and regret over his actions is a very interesting take. It's clear from S1 that his coping mechanisms are dysfunctional, but the S2 trailer really solidifies this idea of peril, or turmoil, and how despite being framed as one of the antagonists in the YR Universe, he shows remorse, which is more than we can say for Kristina. To watch extent we analyse his remorse, or choose to listen to it is entirely subjective to the spectator, but I do think it's part of YR tendency to go for the unconventional 'twists' in traditionalist narrative archetypes by making the antagonist/villainous character remorseful - In most TV, the Antagonist is simply there to serve fulfill the plot implications of their role, they show up, they cause some shit to go wrong, the protagonist restores it, antagonist gets booted...

NOT HERE KIDDOS. Here we have a more nuanced portrayal of equilibrium, August being regretful further distorts Wille's pursuit of anarchy as he is trying to restore things, and it's clearly mentally affecting him to a detrimental point. What do you do when you have a regretful antagonist because - *flips through Guide to Stories: 101* - that's not in the book? How do you handle that opposition to the balance of things? How valid is regret when what you did caused so much suffering and pain?

Wille gets dragged:

"I'm staying" "That's not up to you" I'm literally going to go insane, how about that?

Wille has no agency. Nor does he have any autonomy. No decision is truly his, and that's why his decisions this season (like going after August, like trying to reconcile with Simon, like burning down the Monarchy) become so critical. How do you live as yourself when even your body and your mind belong to an institution? How do you even cope?

The answer? YOU DON'T.

Kristina has resorted to absolute isolation for Wille, practically ostracising him from everything and in doing so abandoning all fucking rationality (because that's a great call for your child). This presents yet another barrier, as in S1 Kristina took a relatively passive role; Sure, she made remarks and gave some harsh words over the phone, but this is an entirely new state of low for Kristina, as it implies that she's starting to become an active participant in deepening Wille's misery.

Now this contradicts the first four minutes of the S2 Teaser that were released as it gave the impression that there might be an inkling of genuine, authentic motherly care in her, and how she might actually be working to bridge the divide between herself and her son, but if we're assuming (bc everything is speculative) that Kristina plucks Wille out of school, then surely that paints a disappointing image of what a quick turn around she has when the state of the royal family comes under jeopardy.

Wille is entirely reduced to a moveable, inanimate commodity of the Monarchy, and this scene reinforces how even trusted people (Malin. My, my, Malin, what are they asking you to do?) are under the imposing presence of the Monarchy. It's inescapable. Even writing this, I can feel how suffocating that must be.

And more importantly "That's not up to you". That's not up to you, that's not up to you, that'snot up to you, that'snotuptoyou. No, because nothing is up to Wille, is it?

The Backup Plan:

Nah, but what the fuck is she doing?

There's a weird sense of foreboding or dread that she's already taking measures in case Wille subjects the Monarchy to scrutiny, almost as if she's pre-empting it? Maybe she is - In a lot of scenes it seems to follow a trend of abdication, but even still, she's this complicated character that seems to be omnipresent whilst also never really being there? Saying 'one feels the need' is so formal that it comes across as detached from any motherly emotion whatsoever, the 'one feels' reinforces the idea that she's hiding behind the guise of a 'Royal Voice', and so things are justified professionally.

But it begs the question, does she feel any remorse? How do we, as an audience, attempt to understand her, even if we want to? And more so, what's this 'backup plan' that's she's speaking of? It's likely a plan put in place just in case shit hits the fan and Wille does decide to abdicate, but who does that involve? Wille is the end of the direct bloodline, so who else could there be?

This could be viewed in a lot of ways - The backup plan if Wille abdicates is to appoint a cousin to reign, or alternatively, what is this backup plan is made swiftly before Wille can even confirm his decision to abdicate and involves using manipulation and brunt force? What if she's trying to think two steps ahead and the alleged 'backup plan' involves taking Wille out of school, baiting him, guiltripping him and isolating him in the hopes that he'll feel obligated to say 'Yes' just to stop the mental torture?

From the trailer, it looks like that meetings are happening behind Wille's back that are likely about him, and given the Monarchy's history of wanting quick cover ups/resolutions to things...I don't think we should take this as a good sign.

______________________

That's where I'm going to stop for Part 1, but I'm hoping for Part 2 to be up shortly (in the next day or so). Let me know what you think ! <3

[mistymark]

nct dream as college kids

RENJUN

works on campus til late

always asleep

likes to study in the library because its the only place he can get some bloody peace

texts jaemin to bring him food

went to the on-campus gym once and never went back

complains about parking on campus

complains about his friends on campus

but he loves them and always organises activities and catch ups

the glue that keeps everyone in touch despite their different degrees and campuses

laughs too loud and always gets stared at for doing it in class

once got kicked out of the library for his loudness

to be fair, he did accidentally fall out of his chair... and pull the table down with him

his id actually looks good

does half the pre-reading then just listens to lectures to understand the rest

o ve. r whe l me d

still maintains a brilliant GPA

his project group members always love him

JENO

wears hoodies and sweats to every class

still looks really good though

and distracts everyone in his classes

lives off free food at parties and tight-ass tuesdays specials

is in advanced classes bc he had the grades for them but doesnt understand shit

still manages to look bored in class even when hes confused and/or focused

sits in the back and then squints at the board bc mans cant see

carries like three things with him to every class

owns one (1) pen

he doesnt even write anything with it he just chews on it during class

everyone thinks its hot but the guy sitting beside him (jaemin) looks disgusted the entire time

has received many anonymous love letters on facebook but hasn't read any of them

not to be mean - he just doesnt find it interesting

drafted a love letter to someone in one of his lectures and then deleted it

hasn't looked at the page since

actually does the pre-reading

then gets bored in lectures when they just go over what he read about

JAEMIN

smiles 24/7 even when hes stressed

supportive af tho

always sporting the Cozy aesthetic

wears sweaters and vests in temperatures you'd think wouldnt be suitable but the boy doesnt appear to sweat???

wears rly cute glasses sometimes and !!!!!!!!

waves at people he knows

does not hesitate to run up to people and start conversations with them out of nowhere

attends Donghyuck’s parties to SpEnD TimE WiTh HiS fRieNdS

has never lost a game of beer pong

girls say he gets 10x hotter when hes drunk because hes way more flirtatious and fun

but he probably just flirts w Jeno the whole time

walks into lectures with sunglasses on and everyone knows what happened the night before

never leaves the house without food

his backpack is 30% necessities like laptop, books, phone, keys etc.

and 70% granola bars and fruit

doesnt want to spend money on food on campus

drinks way too much boba tho

is in Disney society and probably becomes co-president after a year

DONGHYUCK

throws parties for every no reason

wears the same outfit every day bc he knows he looks good

youngest kid in his frat

talks a lot of shit about how hes a player and can get any girl he wants but the second a girl looks at him hes a blubbering mess

in fact, hes probably got a huge crush on someone in his lecture that hes never talked to

attends online lectures so he can play video games at the same time

has to be told to turn his mic off during group discussions because hes eating really loudly

isn't afraid to talk in class

sometimes rocks up wearing something outside of his normal dress code because hes still discovering his style

but everything he tries suits him

basically started the bucket hat trend - he claims so anyway

won't let anybody touch his student id

no one has seen the photo but many speculations have been made over how bad it is

the only person who has seen it is one of the librarians

Chenle and Jisung made it their mission to see it but to this day they havent been able to get it

its a series on Chenle’s tiktok bET

CHENLE

became famous on tiktok over the summer so now everyone knows who he is ??

does wild shit bro

does vlogs with his friends

‘I joined the kpop dance club at my college and it went like this”

lots of videos of him and his friends going batshit crazy at night

wears expensive yet extremely tasteful clothing

catch him walking around campus in pressed shirts

never looks tired ??????? how does he cope ??????

tags jisung in love letters that are definitely not for him

tags jisung in love letters that are definitely for him

probably wants to start a youtube channel when he graduates

girls want to date him but more often guys want to be him

is super nice but

glares at anyone who says he doesnt need a degree to take over daddy’s business

did a kiss or slap challenge once and everyone kissed him and its very pure

maintains solid grades

everyone knows who he is whether they know him from tiktok or not

probably on really good terms with his professors

loves to send emails ?

JISUNG

that one kid in high school that became super hot over the summer

people from his school dont even recognise him

makes the older kids feel gross when they realise hes younger than they are and they've been thirsting over him for ages

people who wouldnt even glance in his direction in high school now want to be his friend

mostly keeps to himself and his studies

joins a few clubs and societies

got roped into Disney society by jaemin

had to attend the ball and wanted to die when he got crowned as the official prince

I dont think he did Disney society the year after

though he did think the dancing at the ball was fun and joined a dance troupe

gives his number to people in his project group then forgets to respond when they text him

does his work tho so who can complain

dies of embarrassment whenever he sees chenle has tagged him in love letters on facebook

at some point chenle has downloaded tinder onto his phone and tried to match him with people

[i-am-the-balancing-point]

multiples of 5 + gigi xx

thank you 🥰😙😙

5. What’s their outfit (transportation) like?

Apart from walking/hiking/running Gigi likes her pickup truck :) it’s not hers actually. it’s also not a single one. she just keeps stealing peggie trucks. this even is beneficial sometimes bc then peggies won’t necessarily recognise her or her companions by their vehicle. she also likes to take their beloveds on dates when she’ll pull the car up on some remote clearing and either lay on the truck bed to stargaze or blast music through the radio and use the bed as a dance floor.

She also ABSOLUTELY LOVES borrowing ATVs but cannot keep a straight face while driving them. Gigi just enjoys it so much, she‘ll giggle and grin, even for some time after dismounting. It’s the same with Jetskis so she only uses those if she’s up for a joyride.

Flying is something she hates though. She didn’t love it before the helicopter crash but after it’s just completely off the table. Nick once joked about moving plane Carmina as he worked on it at the hangar while Gigi was sat on the wing and caused her to have a full blown panic attack.

(as a side note: can you imagine how much BETTER this game would have been if it had bycicles? John asks you to, not fight him in the air, but tosses you a bike — like, literally tosses it towards the deputy — instead and just speeds off on his stupidly expensive road racer.)

10. How about Dutch? Do they get along with?

Dutch is family! I imagine Gigi to sort of unconsciously seek parental figures for herself all the time so naturally she immediately “adopts” him. He is the one who she got her hat from and checks in with her via radio periodically. They don’t see each other that often though as dutch likes to lay low on his island and Gigi is busy but she’ll drop by every now and then and bring him ammo or whatever produce Hope County can actually spare rn. He’s set with rations for the rest of his life and then some but some fresh stuff occasionally won’t hurt.

please don’t tell him Gigi does the devil’s dance with pretty much everyone in the County btw he’s become her dad by now

15. From Fall’s End which person they get along with?

Mary May 👁👄👁

She’s friends with everyone there but her and Mary May are especially close. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

20. How do they feel about Jacob?

Ambiguous. He scares her, she hates losing control during the trials, he has done unspeakable things to her friends. And yet the Seeds manage to fuck enough with her that at some point she falls for them. Gigi still hates their guts but she’ll also sneak into their homes to let them hit it and will do some real cheesy lovey-dovey shit. Is it the stress? Is it stockholm syndrome? We don’t know but we can relate.

25. Which two of the GFH make up their dream team?

Sharky and Jess. The banter is top notch and they’re a good mix of melee-, mid-range and long distance fighters. She and Jess will remind Sharky to leave the flamethrower for his shotgun a lot though… But he’s okay with it as he doesn’t wanna accidentally BBQ Stinky, plus an intense boner is not an ideal thing to associate with fighting Peggies.

30. What’s your character’s ending? (Can be one of the canon game endings or from your own canon)

This is such a good question!

Honestly, I have not really thought about an ending for “my canon” yet. I am unhappy with the bunker ending, even if modified, because it kills so many beloved characters — which is a heartache, to be quiet sincere, neither I nor my deputy could survive — but I also find the prospect of bunker time for her and the siblings, or just one of them, super interesting. That could maybe be an AU?

The leave ending offers the potential of having everyone survive at least. Gigi doesn’t necessarily have to kill the others in the car with her, she could be overpowered or taken down before being able to critically injure anyone but I also wouldn’t want to expand on the aftermath.

Gigi is very happy being in Hope County with her friends. It could all be so idyllic and easy if not for the project but that’s a luxury the are not granted. Joseph could never give up what he has built and I couldn’t kill him off either so my canon will forever remain in a limbo of constant battle between peggies and resistance, probably stuck in 2018/19.

[faeofheart]

@1396​ said:  Shipping meme : 2, 5, 8, 12 and 16! <3

SHIPPING MEME. ( hopefully this was the right one rip )

what sort of things does your muse look for in a partner?

it's funny, this one is kind of hard to answer because i don't actually have that many ships with jamie, and it also depends on the context. is this a serious relationship, with real feelings involved? or is this a relationship where jamie knows that feelings aren't really an option and will always ( most likely ) be one sided?

and for the most part, they aren't really... i mean, i could plot something out with somebody, we could develop something really cool and lovely and it seems like everything is working... but jamie just doesn't vibe, when it comes down to the roleplay of it. see, the most important thing to jamie with regards to relationships is trust. and yeah, that seems incredibly obvious, but trust is what marks the key difference between a casual relationship that won't go anywhere and true devotion. jamie has to trust you with all of themelf, and that's actually really, really rare. the raging wildfires and intense burn of summer, the overwhelming desire to rend and tear of the wolf, the longing to... sometimes just make someone decay and suffer, just for a comment, but more than that, the aching loss of their mother and the bitterness and resentment they feel towards their childhood. the good, the bad, the ugly, the seelie, the unseelie, the human, all of it. if jamie can't trust himself to be vulnerable with their partner, if they're constantly on such high alert that all you ever see is what they present, lest you take advantage, that's not a relationship to last.

aside from that, in terms of what draws jamie to a person, it can honestly be variable? because jamie is a being of change and choices, so their preference is never really... one thing ( aside from, yknow, men and masculine-identifying people. ) GENERALLY, though, they tend to be drawn to people who don't mind a little mischief and fun. in more supernaturally inclined people, they're drawn to those that make him feel safe, but also, those that take him seriously. if you're always looking down on them and acting like they're a puppy that doesn't know what they're talking about, you're just gonna piss him off. for humans, sometimes they just like... the normalness of it all. getting to feel like a human. they enjoy a stable presence, someone who can talk to them, reassure him, because jamie often gets caught up in his own head and blows things way out of proportion ( and holds everyone to a double standard. what he might forgive another for, as part of their nature, they have a little bit of a harder time forgiving himself for. )

oh and physically? while jamie doesn't discriminate, they do get a little bit hot and bothered by larger, stronger men or those who are confident and can be rather dominating.

PUTTING REST UNDER CUT BC THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG ONE APPARENTLY

 how easily does your muse fall in love?

"fall in love" or get crushes and attraction? because those aren't necessarily one in the same. jamie is someone who develops crushes easily. their childhood was... well, he didn't really get to talk to a lot of people growing up. they were homeschooled until they were fifteen, the only kind faces being their unwell mother and his sister, and the faces of the doctors and specialists he would be in to see regularly. jamie started attending public high school when he was 16, which would be the 11th grade (or maybe 10th? jamie is a late september baby, so their birthday is really early in the year ) if i remember right, and they were rather... well, high school can be rough.

so as a result, jamie tends to "fall in love" with... pretty much anyone who's kind to them for a relatively short period of time, who lets them feel comfortable and like they can be (kind of) themself. who doesn't mind when he's awkward ( which is always ) and rambly ( which is always ) and takes him seriously. though, jamie does at least have some restraint, they're not going to get crushes ( usually ) on someone in their fourties (visually. a supernatural creature that’s 1000 years old but looks 25 is fair game). thirties, however, isn't exactly off limits. and even then... that’s not exactly a rule. jamie could develop feelings for someone like that, it just feels weird since that’s like... twice his age. that said, these aren't... there's a reason jamie's usually so inexperienced in most verses: they like to flirt with those he's comfortable with, but jamie is at his heart a shy person. it's always a matter of " i flirt because nothing will actually come from this " and then when it DOES happen, he... doesn't know where to go from there.

actual, bonafide, "real" love though? that's not as common. jamie is quick to fall but slow to trust, so desperate to make people like him he doesn't want anyone to know the true jamie, lest they leave him like everyone else does. so jamie can't really fall in love without that security of knowing the person they're with knows jamie, in his entirety, and likes him anyway. and it can get rather complicated if the person they're with says the words first, because jamie's first instinct is to say them back so that there's no conflict, but he physically can't lie, so a workaround has to be found where he can say it without literally saying it.

"just trust people" i hear you saying, but he can't. to trust someone when you're a fae is a fools errand and a death wish wrapped up in a bow.

does your muse usually take the lead in relationships?

yes... and no. but mostly no. like i said, jamie is someone who likes to flirt when they're comfortable. and for the most part, there is intent there. an example of that is when jamie flirts with brock ( @fuckingvictus​ ), jamie likes to flirt and be all " why aren't we having sex " and shit like that. hell, on occasion, jamie might actually take initiative and go for the first kiss. but that's the exception not the rule. jamie lives in the world of " if i never risk it, i won't be rejected " and fails to recognise that this also means " if i never risk it, nothing will ever come of it. "

save this shy child.

what is your muse’s love language?

oh jeez this is a good one. i've never really thought about it in depth, actually. i think.... touch is a big one for jamie, both giving and receiving. they're a very physically affectionate person, and if they like you in any real way, you can expect him to lounge against you. it's very common for jamie to announce their presence by just... draping himself over your back ( but, if he knows you're liable to startle and experience panic or anxiety with this kind of thing, they'll probably tap your shoulder or make some noise while approaching first before lounging. ) in that same realm, quality time is pretty important to him, especially if you're one of the more.... shorter-lived variety, because they fear that one day... they just won't have that time. for receiving... i'd say probably touch, and maybe words of admiration? jamie rambles a lot when it comes to... well, anything, but they're always a bit too shy to express completely how they feel about someone. and if you ever wanna see them blush, all you gotta do is compliment him.

does your muse believe in soulmates?

no. at least, not unless there are very specific circumstance, like in the case of ely ( @spllcat​ ) where it's not so much "soulmates" and more " i am a familiar and in this life of mine i am bound to you " and it's like... it's not for a lack of romanticism. jamie is a romantic at heart, but it becomes a bit complicated when like... so a faerie like jamie can live an exceedingly long time. whether they can die of old age at all, jamie isn't really... sure? regardless, let's say hypothetically jamie will live for 1000 years. so this means, for 1000 years either:

jamie's soulmate is a human, born about 200 years after jamie. they live for a hundred years, and then die of old age. jamie now has 700 years left to live after the death of their soulmate.

jamie has no idea when their soulmate is born or dies, because they never once meet

jamie's soulmate dies in childhood

jamie's soulmate, of any race, is born when jamie is 900 years old. jamie has only 100 year with this person. he lived 90% of his life without this person.

it just doesn't seem realistic to him, even if they are a romantic. how can there only be one person for you? what if you're aromantic? what if you never meet? what if they die young? what if you actually can't stand them? they'll read fanfiction and watch anime and fantasize about the idea of soulmates, but they would never want them to be a thing in real life.

[firebirdsdaughter]

You know what else frustrates me…

… About RxT??? The partial return of the Aruto I liked.

Admittedly, bc of events in the show I have an aversion to Aruto and Izu scenes bc they just feel so groomy, but at least the bits of some of Aruto’s behaviour I’ve been able to see has felt like the return of the version of the character I had hopes for at the start of the series. The things he says to S are things he should have rushed in to say to Horobi, or should just have been said to Horobi, things he should have learned/realised from the calamitous way he treated Jin the first time. And while I take issue w/ how differently S is treated than Will or Horobi, I do feel bad for the guy (also this, too, is Amatsu’s fault).

Additionally, like I made a huge post about earlier, stuff like Horobi and Izu’s interaction could have been really good sans all the baggage the rest of the series left them w/. The memories stuff remains superfluous bc those memories didn’t change Izu at all, and a much more compelling subplot for her would be her taking tally of all the things that have happened and how she’s screwed up villain confrontations before to decide whether or not her going is the right choice. Will she help, or just make it worse again? Is there anything she can do? Horobi reassuring her that it’s a) her choice and b) everyone is different (such as, S is in a very different situation than he was, and this time she’s aware of the risks) would have been a great moment.

Also I still don’t understand how it’s ‘sweet’ that Aruto apparently ‘needs’ Izu to not use berserk Keys??? Like… If that’s the case, he needs to step down and get a therapist. He shouldn’t need her ~support~ to not make terrible decisions, esp bc I still don’t see what’s so unique about her as the majority of the show was written. If he needs a 24/7 yes woman siri at his elbow to not do destructive stuff… See above about needing to step down and get a therapist. This could have been mitigated a bit by having Izu act more in her alleged position as executive assistant rather than just following Aruto around making heart eyes at him, w/ him becoming aware of how groomy his behaviour towards her is and actively trying to distance himself so she makes her own choices, also him actually interacting w/ the other relationships he has that are not premade to like him. See her interact w/ other people and other HumaGear, see her actively trying to do things for HumaGear that don’t boil down to ‘help them help humans better for Aruto’s ~dream~.’ See him actually connect to and relate w/ the people around him who aren’t manufactured to like him and have others upports. If her interaction w/ Horobi had been less ‘but humans are the Best actually’ and more ‘you have a point, but this isn’t the answer, it’s possible to do this differently.’ If I didn’t feel like Izu’s only character trait was ‘supports Aruto,’ if she had other relationships like a friendship w/ Jin that didn’t revolve around Aruto, or relationships w/ Fuwa and Yua like Fuwa teaching her how to punch and Yua maybe teaching her coding or something. If we had seen Fuwa making Aruto realise that he’s been just as biased about HumaGear and that rather than being a ‘saviour’ he needs to step into the ‘support’ role. Seeing her and Aruto disagree about something and maybe even stay disagreed. The fact that it feels like Izu doesn’t care about anything but Aruto’s wishes to a downright insensitive degree and that the show presents there being nothing wrong w/ his nigh exclusive control over her life and development, right down to her ‘morality’ is quite creepy. They once had Aruto tell Horobi he wasn’t the Ark, but someone needs to tell Izu she’s not Aruto and that she doesn’t have to follow everything Aruto says exactly to be ‘good.’ I’m absolutely rambling now, but it’s just that Aruto and Izu have exactly the same dynamic that the Ark had w/ Horobi, but it’s treated as ‘okay’ bc Aruto is ‘good’ and ‘just wants people to be happy.’ And while I don’t think Aruto has bad intentions like the Ark did, I think he means well… That’s just as not okay. His ‘relationship’ w/ Izu feels more like grooming and gaslighting than actual development. He tells her she should ‘choose’ but she has nothing to choose between bc all she knows is that ‘Aruto-shachou is nice.’ Or, rather, Aruto-shachou says he’s nice. But I am going completely off book.

Anyway, I feel like I can tell this film was supposed to come part way through the series, bc it still has smatterings of the Aruto I liked, who officially got lost around the time 02 appeared in the show. Izu choosing to disobey Aruto could have been a big thing for her character, if the entire rest of their relationship didn’t feel manufactured. Her snapping him out of (yet another) berserk form would been good if it was more about just how he needs to stop grandstanding and realise that he’s not some ‘saviour’ that does everything alone and also haven’t we been through this before? Not ‘remember how perfect you are’ or ‘remember your heart’ but just ‘you don’t need to go doing this, get your head in the game.’ Gods, Izu (lightly) slapping Aruto. Not being upset just bc ‘you taught me I love you so I can’t live w/out you stop putting yourself in danger’ but that his behaviour was unnecessarily risky for everyone. Izu being ‘cutesy mad’ at Aruto for being in danger doesn’t count as disagreeing, I’d want her to actively call him out on making a bad decision and hold him accountable. I just feel like so much of the tone of them is that ‘Izu is Aruto’s perfect angel who helps him be ~good~’ and again if you need your cutesy secretary to follow you around and tell you to remember how ‘wonderful’ you are to not do stupid stuff… You need to not be in a position of power. There’s a reason I just hear You Don’t Know What Love Is by Plain White T’s playing over all of their scenes, bc Izu doesn’t know what love is, she only knows what Aruto’s told her??? And I have gone way off topic again???

My point originally was, I see some of the old Aruto here, the one I liked, the one who felt like a person and not some representation of human arrogance and bias. The one who wasn’t always getting shilled as some perfect saint and who felt like just this guy out of his depth doing his best. The guy who had decent intentions, but had his own biases and assumptions about HumaGear/ai and who I was hoping to see learn and grow and become something more. The guy I held out for being able to recognise how mbjr were all victims and show compassion and sympathy for them, who would come to recognise the issues w/ the power structure in his society and actually give indication it bothered him and he wanted to change it, who would realise he, along w/ most other people, had been taking HumaGear benevolence for granted, who would come to respect the feelings of others and how HumaGear can very justifiably be angry w/ humans sans any sort of interference, and who would come to recognise his own flaws and struggle to work on them… I miss that guy.

Instead, I’ve got mister ‘I have a bigger heart for ignoring your suffering until it effected me’ and ‘there’s no reason for us to fight anymore bc obviously that’s my call I know how you feel/what’s best for you.’

[buckyskorpion]

tess brain go hnnnnnnngh

hello this is only thing ive written in like a week and its for a new fic im SORRY but i thought i would post it anyway bc i have nothing else to offer hehe. it’s the beginning of my fic for laur’s writing challenge and boy oh boy has this morphed into it’s own beast. under the cut for those who dont care

“You know she’s not going to be happy about this,” Sam says.

“She’s never happy about anything,” Bucky replies. He flicks at a photograph pinned to your corkboard, your arm around some guy kissing your temple while you grin at the camera. There’s a bunch of photos just like it with the same dude; receding hairline, squinty blue eyes, tall but skinny in a vaguely malnourished way. One photo from what looks like a Halloween party catches his interest. You have a cardboard sign hanging over your shoulders to look like a square from the periodic table, and it reads ‘AH! The element of surprise’. Nerds, Bucky thinks with a scowl, and turns away from the corkboard.

Your office is nothing like he thought it would be, and that aggravates him. It’s hardly surprising - most things about you aggravate him. You have statues of Star Wars characters on your desk, a dying pot plant in the corner, books on quantum mechanics and Deutsch propositions left open and scribbled in on the coffee table. There’s too much personality left carelessly lying around, and none of it is yours. Bucky can’t wait to get the hell out of here.

Sharon walks in first, closing the door softly behind her and shoots them both a grimace. “She’s coming, but, uh- she’s not happy about this.”

“See?” Sam says, gesturing to Sharon as if she’s proving his point when Bucky agreed with him. He turns to face Sam lounging in the armchair on the other end of the room and flicks him the finger.

“Let’s try and contain this situation, shall we?” Sharon says. She’s nervous, Bucky notes, moving to stand in the middle of the room and smoothing down non-existent creases in her slacks. She refuses to look at Bucky, and that gives him a bad feeling. “Just listen to her yell for a bit. Bucky - let us do the talking, ok?”

Sharon is still not looking at him. Bucky nods instead of replying, baiting her to glance over, which she does. She trains her eyes on his nose and gives him a frankly insulting smile of recognition, immediately turning back to the door as her face drops. Bucky’s bad feeling intensifies.

Before he can try and figure out why one of the best Agents of SHIELD and former CIA operative can’t seem to pretend everything is fine, the door to the office slams open. It bounces back, smacks you in the shoulder as you storm into the room, and you push it back again with an aggravated shout. Sam rolls his lips together to smother his laugh but Bucky doesn’t bother. You turn a murderous glare onto him, and the shouting begins.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?” You march up to Sharon and jab a finger in her chest, forcing her back a step. “You gave me this job, why the hell are you coming in here fucking it all up?”

“We have some new developments,” Sharon says, keeping her voice even like she’s trying to placate a feral dog. It does not have the desired effect.

“Ever thought of picking up the phone?” you shout, throwing your hands wide. “Sending a text? A letter? A carrier pigeon? Anything but showing up to my six month long deep cover mission with two of the most recognisable faces on the fucking planet! Really, Sharon? Captain America?”

“She’s right, y’know,” Sam says, smiling through Sharon’s warning glare. “My face is pretty unforgettable.”

“It’s good to see you, Sam” you say, gritting your teeth like it physically pains you to derail your tirade for some niceties. “You should’ve left Barnes at home.”

“I offered to stay in the car,” Bucky says. He smiles, all teeth, and you poke your tongue out at him.

“Do you know how difficult it has been to be stuck here playing dumb with this bunch of incels for six fucking months?” You say, spinning away from Sharon now to open the small fridge in the corner. You pull out one of those mini bottles of whiskey and down half of it, baring your teeth at the sting. “Please don’t make it all for nothing or I will kill you all, and then myself.”

“The timeline has moved up,” Sharon says. She shakes her head when you offer her the rest of your whiskey and you shrug, chugging the remaining half. Sam makes an offended noise and you grab another one, chucking it towards him as he makes grabby hands. Bucky doesn’t even bother asking.

“That’s funny, because as far as I remember it’s me who sets the timeline,” you say. “And I say it’s staying exactly the fucking same.”

“Look, I know this has been a rough mission-“

“Rough? I am watching a bunch of psychopathic virgins reinvent time travel at a snails pace whilst entertaining their neo-nazi purist ideals and I haven’t been able to physically hurt any of them? Rough is an understatement.” you say.

“Sounds terrible,” Bucky says with an eye roll. Everyone in the room turns to glare at him.

“I’d like to see you spend one day with these scumbags,” you seethe, stepping forward with your teeth bared.

“Something tells me it can’t be any worse than having my brain fried by Nazi’s, sweetheart,” Bucky says. You hate when he condescends you like that, and Bucky knows it. You make to throw the empty mini-whiskey bottle at him but Sharon steps in-between you two, holding her hands up with a disappointed frown.

“Bucky, you were supposed to leave the talking to us,” Sharon says. She turns to you and adds, “And you would do well to remember that I’m your boss, agent. I give the orders.”

“Aw, let them fight,” Sam says from the armchair. “It’ll be fun.”

“Enough,” Sharon says. She claps her hands together to regain control of the room, but it’s tenuous. To you, she says, “We need you to speed up __________’s research. Find a way, I don’t care how, but in a month they need to figure out Stark’s theory of time travel.”

“Excuse me?” You glance between Sharon, Sam, and Bucky like someone can offer an explanation but no one does. Incredulously, you say, “I’ve been here slowing them down so they don’t figure it out, and now you want me to- speed them along? Give them the answer?”

“Yes,” Sharon says. Her eyes are saying something else to only you and Bucky aches to know what it is. “Sam and Bucky have come across some new intel that requires the _____ to finish their machine. We need you to help them get there in one month’s time.”

“Am I allowed to know this new, game-changing intel?” you ask. There’s a muscle ticking in your jaw that looks set to explode any second.

“Only that there is someone who is very interested in buying into what the ________ come up with,” Sharon says. “When you’ve completed your mission, you will be fully briefed.”

“Oh, great,” you say with an eyeroll. “I love ambiguity.”

“You’re a spy,” Sam says, staring at you. “That’s literally your entire life.”

“Can we focus?” Sharon asks, shooting Sam a warning glare to which he holds his hands up in a Gesture of innocence. To you, she asks, “Do you understand your mission?”

“No,” you say simply, turning away from Sam to have a silent conversation with Sharon that involves a lot of eyebrow movements. Softly, as if no one else in the room can hear you, you say, “You know why I can’t let them figure it out.”

Sam and Bucky share a look while the two spies in the room have some kind of telepathic argument. It doesn’t seem to last long. Once again, the bad feeling in Bucky’s gut returns when you look to the floor and don’t make eye-contact with any of them again. As per usual in Bucky’s life there are things left unsaid, omitted by silence, and he itches to know what has your shoulders rounding and the fight you always fling around like confetti, dying out as quickly as it flared up.

“The goal remains the same,” Sharon says, “but as I said, the timeline has changed. We will see you in a month or so, agent.”

“I guess you will,” you say. Sam claps you on the shoulder as he walks out and Sharon hands you a dossier with your new mission parameters. Bucky always feels awkward with goodbyes, especially with people he doesn’t particularly like and who don’t like him in return. You glare at your toes and say, “Don’t even think about touching me, Barnes.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he says. He shoves his hands in his pockets as he walks past you and adds, “Don’t fuck it up.”

“You’ll know if I do,” you bite back, just as the door closes behind him. Your words follow him down the hall, past the laboratories blinking with dull red security lights and the fire exit door they left chocked open when they broke in. He doesn’t like the way that sits in his brain. It clunks around, tinkering with things he’d rather leave untouched.

Spies, Bucky thinks. They always find a way to get inside his head.

[donnakori]

Oh my god you're right. Bruce had Dick as his ward for years and never adopted him until Dick was an adult but he adopted Jason immediately as soon as he made him Robin. What the hell. I can't imagine how Dick must have felt finding that out. If I were him I'd be mad at Bruce and resent him for that.

BRO IM FUMING. ive been thinking abt this all morning bc someone reminded me but like everyone talks abt jason being bruce’s first canon adoption in any continuity and like that just isnt true? i was reading old tec a little while ago and bruce used ward and adoption pretty interchangeably, and at the time ‘ward’ as a classification had a very similar definition to adoption today. especially with these writers just like. not knowing adoption law, its pretty safe to think that they just thought of dick as bruce’s adopted son. bruce certainly thought of him that way. theres this one book pretty early on in tec where some how bruce ended up adopting like this evil kid (who dies to save robins life and his statue is on wayne grounds still im p sure). but bruce asks dick if he’s okay with it, like this kid is in need of a family and some people to look out for him. and dick pushes him to do it, so bruce says “okay i’ll have my lawyers draw up the adoption papers” and it follows the same process it did with dick. so actually? in any universe dick was the first kid to be adopted, then this evil billy kid, then later jason.

but ok sure. g-d is dead and we’re in post crisis continuity right? bruce never did adopt him, and it was around the time he started communicating any form of affection really badly, and became an emotionless pillar in dicks life who sometimes expressed anger. pre crisis dick individually decided that he was growing out of robin, and as the leader of the teen titans it was time for him to step out of bruce’s shadow and become a separate force for good. he recognised that bruce’s vigilantism comes from a place of pain and revenge, but dick’s comes from compassion and seeking justice. and he couldnt continue to work bruce’s way, he cant maximise his good-doing-ability that way.

but AGAIN. g-d is dead and we’re in post crisis continuity, dick got kicked out as robin. it was one of the few things keeping him together, he barely got to spend any time with bruce and he felt so alienated from his parents’ memory, that being robin was a way to bridge his divide from them and from bruce. it was one of the few places he knew he was making bruce and his mother proud. but then? dick was off at college and on a few too many teen titans missions, and bruce got jealous and self righteously angry that dick wasnt just his own personal soldier who asked how high when bruce said jump. so he took it away from him, kicked him out of the manor, and replaced him.

he went out, found jason, and adopted him. without even telling dick. he found out through like a news paper im pretty sure. can you imagine that? dick missed out on a childhood for this, he spent hours and hours training, he spent every night out fighting crime with bruce, or going through data and being bruce’s right hand man. at every single turn, he did whatever he could to make bruce proud. that way he might be more emotionally present. and instead? he goes and adopts another kid, encourages jason to call him dad, and is about a trillion times more affectionate with him. and he always said he had the papers drawn up to adopt dick in a drawer, but what good are they there? the mind games. he did everything in his power for bruce, he bled for him, and it just wasnt enough! can you imagine how soul crushing that must have been.

and to his credit dick was really good at keeping jason out of this, he snapped at him in their first meeting and yeah i understand why, its overwhelming. but after that he made an effort, because it wasnt jasons fault. he deserved a loving family, but like so did dick. so he kept this anger directed squarely at bruce.

but robin wasnt bruce’s mantle to take away, or to pass on. it was dick’s. he created it to help people, to work with batman, and to make his mother proud. and i just. [screams]