#Community isn't a place you show up and immediately take everything from | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

dixons-sunshine · 5 months ago

Text

Yielding Isn't My Middle Name—Chapter Two | Daryl Dixon x Fem!Reader

Chapter Summary: You and Daryl get a little bit more insight on your ambushers. The leader, Liam, is extremely suspicious, but you just can't figure out why. And to top it off, a certain secret of yours gets revealed that changes everything.

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injuries.

Word count: 3.6k.

A/n: It's finally done. I powered through and got it done. Yay me! However, this chapter is pretty boring with limited action, but I hope y'all like this nonetheless!

Taglist: @dixons-girl89, @jupiter1700, @enlightndone, @shadowcitrine, @ddamm (comment/DM/inbox to be added!)

“I know, it's a lot to take in at first.” With a grand gesture and a big, inviting smile, Liam proudly showed off the beautiful landscape behind him, putting all of the luxuries they had on display for you and Daryl to see—well, as far as luxuries could go in a world ran by the undead. “But I promise you, as soon as you get settled into your new...” There was a slight pause before he continued. “...chambers, a wonderful life most certainly awaits you.”

The leader's voice barely reached your ears. The whole scenario baffled you; if they wanted you to join their community, why feel the need to ambush and kidnap you? Why tie you up and throw you in the back of a van, with a sack over your head to obscure your vision, most likely as a way to ensure you didn't know what turns they took? And why wouldn't they just ask you whether or not you wanted to join the community in the first place?

A million thoughts ran with the speed of light through your mind, but there was one thing you knew for sure; you didn't trust this Liam guy, and you certainly didn't trust this community. You could immediately tell that something was off. You couldn't figure out just yet what about it unnerved you so much.

“Dave, Marco.” At the sound of their names being called, the two guys who stood beside you and Daryl perked up, their backs straightening as they regarded their leader. “Make sure that the cooks make enough food for our newest additions. And,” he began, looking at you with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Whether it was real or not, you didn't know yet. “Call up doctor Miller and tell him to expect two patients.”

“Why two?” one of the goons questioned. He looked at Daryl in disgust, something that irked you beyond belief. “Only the sexy lady here seems like she needs it.”

From the corner of your eye, you could clearly see Daryl tense up. To the untrained eye, they wouldn't even have noticed the way the archer's body language shifted, but you caught it. Of course you caught it. You knew Daryl better than anyone, and you knew that he was getting more pissed off by the second. One wrong move, and that man was more dead than the monster's that roamed the earth.

“Jesus, Dave,” Liam reprimanded him, clicking his tongue and shaking his head in disappointment. “You knocked the guy out with some hardcore stuff. We don't know how much of the fumes he inhaled. I don't want to take any chances. Our guests need to be properly checked out.”

Dave grumbled something under his breath, but ultimately agreed. However, right before he and the other man, who you assumed to be Marco, walked off in the direction of a small building, he stopped next to Liam and whispered something in his ear. The leader nodded before waving him off. They left and soon disappeared, and your attention quickly got drawn to the leader again.

Liam turned back to regard you and your husband. His lips formed into a tight smile, his eyes squinting with the pull of the muscles. For some reason, the action sent a shiver up your spine, and definitely not the good kind you'd experience when Daryl softly traced his fingers over your back. You had a lot to be wary of, and this Liam guy certainly didn't make a very good first impression on you or Daryl. You were sure that your husband wanted to lunge at the man and pound his face into the ground with his bare hands, and you definitely didn't blame him. You wanted to do the exact same thing.

Liam motioned to someone over your shoulder. In moments, somebody was grabbing at your shoulders and hoisting you up onto your feet. You stumbled a bit, not tumbling back to the ground only because Liam stepped forward to steady you. You instantly jerked back, moving away from his touch. You would've punched him for even thinking of touching you when he was the reason you were probably light-years away from your friends and family, but the rope tightly binding your hands stopped you from doing so.

You heard grunting coming from behind you. You spun around and saw the same goon practically manhandling your husband, forcing him up to his feet. When Daryl struggled against his hold, the man decided that punching him would be a good decision. The sight of Daryl being knocked back down to the gravel unleashed a certain protectiveness in you, and you took a warning step forward.

“You stay the fuck away from him, and keep your goddamn hands to yourself!” you yelled in anger, moving over to your husband and sinking down to your knees beside him. You thanked your lucky stars that your hands were bound in front of you and not behind your back, because it allowed you to trace your fingers over his face, searching for any bleeding. “Baby—”

“M'alrigh',” Daryl mumbled, glaring up at his attacker, his eyes alight with the fire of a thousand suns. “Asshole punches like a girl. No offense, Peach.”

You gave him a small smile. “None taken.” You helped him sit back up with a lot of effort, your hands straining against the rope and getting rope burn in the process. You clambered up onto your knees and carefully stood up, struggling to maintain your balance. Daryl followed your lead, and soon the two of you were stood in front of the leader.

Liam gazed at the two of you thoughtfully, his face unreadable. His green eyes flickered between you and Daryl for a moment too long for your liking before he readapted his smile. “Sorry about that, mate,” he began, his gaze landing on Daryl before moving over to the goon that had just attacked Daryl a few moments prior. “Peter just doesn't know how to behave himself.” The aforementioned man cowered under his leader's gaze, something you instantly picked up on and locked in the back of your mind. “Don't worry, he'll be punished appropriately.”

“Sir, please, I'm so—”

“Save it,” Liam snapped, glaring at the man harshly. “You know the rules, Peter. All actions have consequences. Those are the rules. If I ease up on you, the next person will expect me to do so and order will be disrupted.” He stopped for a few moments, simply staring at Peter with an unreadable look in his eyes. “You are dismissed. I expect you to be in my office in two hours. If you're not, well, you know what will happen.”

Whether that last part was a warning or a threat, you didn't know. However, what you did know was that for whatever reason, this Peter guy was deathly terrified of his leader. He visibly slumped and averted his eyes from everyone as he hurried away, practically bolting as if being chased by something.

Now being left alone with Liam, your eyes locked with the man's green ones. You couldn't quite place your finger on it, but there was something wrong with the man in front of you. He reminded you a lot of the Governor, the more you thought about it, but at the same time, he was different. It annoyed you to no end that you couldn't quite figure out exactly what about the green-eyed man made you feel cautious.

Well, his men ambushed and kidnapped you and your husband, so that was a pretty good place to start.

“Once again, I am so incredibly sorry about that,” Liam started, his face adapting a look of sympathy. “Peter is a rather new addition to my ‘police force’, so to speak. He hasn't quite learned that we don't resort to violence unless it's an absolute necessity.” He stopped for a second, looking at you before sighing. “Miss, I truly am sorry about what Peter did to you as well. Please excuse me for saying this again, but you do look like shit.”

You couldn't understand what this man's deal was. Merely a few minutes ago, while he was surrounded by multiple of his men, he had seemingly mocked you about the injuries you had sustained. However, now he was apologizing and being sympathetic? What was this man's motive?

“Now, Daryl and Y/N, I believe?” Liam began, successfully gaining confused and guarded looks from both you and your husband.

“How the hell do ya know tha'?” Daryl barked defensively, straightening his back to appear larger—almost as if he was facing a bear.

Liam's lips twitched up into a small wicked smirk at the archer, but he very quickly disguised it with a welcoming smile. “I know a lot of things, mate.” He shrugged his shoulders and motioned to the farmland surrounding you. “I need to know things to keep my people safe. They depend on me, you know?”

“Still doesn't answer my goddamn question,” Daryl practically growled, taking a threatening step towards the man. “How the fuck do ya know our names?”

Liam didn't falter under the Dixon man's harsh glare. If anything, he straightened his posture and met Daryl head-on, his height adding an advantage over the archer. However, having known your husband for a long time, you knew it was time to intervene before he started a fight he wouldn't be able to finish. His hands were tied and Liam had who knows how many people to back him up. The two of you were heavily outnumbered and outgunned.

“Daryl,” you called to him softly, raising your tied hands to gently grip his shoulder. “I really don't think that's the thing we should be concerned about right now. It doesn't matter if he knows our names. What matters is that we have to get the fuck out of here. We do that by playing along for now,” you mumbled into his ear, quiet enough to not alert Liam of your plan.

Daryl glared at the leader of the community for a few moments longer before stepping back, sharing a determined look with you. You gave him a small smile before turning back to Liam, regarding the green-eyed man with a strained, fake smile.

“I'm sorry about him,” you began, your voice sickeningly sweet. You were taking a page out of Carol's book—you were playing the wolf in sheep's clothing, biding your time until you and Daryl could strike back. You could only hope that your earlier outburst towards Peter wouldn't be used to call your bluff. “It's just that we weren't brought here under the friendliest circumstances. And now you know our names and it's a bit creepy. He's being wary.”

“For good reason,” Liam replied with a nod, motioning for you and Daryl to follow him. You shared a look with Daryl before following behind the man, Daryl following close behind. “You can't be sure about the dangerous pricks that are out there.”

“Ironic, ain't it?” Daryl grumbled lowly, glaring at Liam through his hair as the two of you followed behind the leader. He received a slight jab to his stomach from your elbow, and he let out a soft grunt.

“You see, that's why we built this place.” Liam walked on and motioned to the fields on his left. There were multiple people working on the crops; some watering, some picking, and some planting. You couldn't be completely sure, but you swore you saw a faint glint of metal wrapped around most of the workers' legs. Were you just out of it from the pain in your head, or were those shackles?

“Well, built is the wrong word. We found this farm back when everything first went to shit. The crops and the farmhouse were luckily still standing. We... expanded, so to speak. We built the walls to keep the flesh eaters out and built more homes on the property to house our growing population.” He stopped and turned back to you and Daryl. “I hope you don't mind, but you'll have to stay in the farm house with me for the time being. We're busy building new homes but it won't be ready for another couple of weeks, maybe months.”

“Jus' one question 'fore we decide,” Daryl began, stepping forward. “Why'd ya have to bring us here by force? Why didn't ya jus' ask us to come here instead of kidnappin' us?”

Liam stared at Daryl with a blank expression on his face. His face didn't give anything away, and it unnerved you beyond belief. However, he soon gave the two of you yet another smile. You were genuinely starting to wonder if his face was starting to hurt from the excessive amount of smiling.

“There's a reason for everything, champ. However, not everyone is allowed to know my reasonings to the things I do. That's reserved for the people I trust. But do know that I did it for your own goods. Between you and me, that entire building was surrounded by flesh eaters. You most certainly would've died without my men.”

“Wha' the hell do ya know 'bout—”

“Sir? I'm so sorry to interrupt you, but Dr Miller is ready for the new arrivals,” a small, timid woman spoke up, gaining the attention of you, Daryl and Liam.

“Ah, Mariah,” Liam spoke, nodding at her in greeting. He turned back to you and Daryl, using his hand to motion towards the woman. “Please follow her to Dr Miller. He'll make sure to patch you up and ensure you're fit and ready for tomorrow.” He walked a few steps backwards and clapped his hands twice. “Welcome to Sunny Meadows! Come meet me in the farm house once you're done.”

With that, he turned around and stalked off, leaving you and Daryl alone with the woman, Mariah. The aforementioned woman turned to look at the two of you. She was nervously fidgeting with her hands, her posture slouched and her eyes couldn't decide whether to focus on you, your husband, your wounds, the ropes tying your hands together, or the ground. You were confused by her obvious fear towards you. What people was she used to dealing with? Did she really think that you were going to hurt her?

“Please follow me,” she stammered out with a nervous squeak, turning around and speeding off into the direction of the very same building those other men, Dave and Marco, had disappeared into earlier.

You hesitantly started following her. Daryl grumbled and followed your lead, glaring at any person who dared to lock eyes with him. You had to withhold your chuckles at your husband, knowing that it was neither the time nor place for that. Under normal circumstances, you'd laugh at your husband's antics. But not now. Not when your main priority was getting the hell out of that place.

You soon arrived at the makeshift medical building. You followed her in, taking in the pure doctor-like feel of the building. If you didn't know any better and somebody had blindfolded you and brought you here, you would've believed that this was a legitimate doctor's office. But you did know better.

A man, who you presumed to be this doctor Miller character everyone was talking about, placed a syringe down on the table and gave you all inviting smiles. “Welcome!” he greeted you enthusiastically—and rather loudly, too. You winced at the sound, being painfully reminded of the incessant throbbing in your skull. “You both look rather terrible. Who should I focus on first?”

“Owen,” Mariah began in a soft voice. “If I may, maybe the woman? She took quite the beating.”

“Peter?” the doctor inquired, shaking his head and sighing when Mariah nodded. “That man has sent more patients my way than any scavenging trip accident has. I don't even know why your husband still keeps him around.”

Wait, husband? Liam was Mariah's husband? Then why was he treating her like that? Why was she so scared of him? A million different possibilities ran through your mind for the obvious fear the woman held towards her husband, and none of them were good. Daryl's ocean coloured eyes locked with your eyes. He visibly shared the same confusion as you. However, the doctor's orders caught your attention.

“Mariah, is it really necessary to have their hands tied? I can see the irritation from here. Please remove their binds.” Doctor Miller stopped for a moment, regarding you and Daryl with a thoughtful look. “Sir, ma'am, speaking from experience, please don't try to run or attack once those binds are removed. Whenever there's a new addition, the walls are very guarded. You'll be shot instantly.”

Mariah gingerly removed the ropes from your arms and tried to remove Daryl's. However, your husband flinched back at the foreign touch, making the woman confused. You simply gently pushed her aside and moved over to him, starting to untie his binds. This time, Daryl stood still, and in no time at all, his hands were freed. He rubbed his wrists, the rope burns visible.

“Alright,” the doctor started. “Ma'am, please lay down on the bed. I'll tend to you shortly. Sir, you may take a seat on that chair next to the bed while you wait.”

You looked out of the window and weighed your options. However, the doctor wasn't lying; there were multiple guards patrolling the walls in the distance. There also were guards walking up to the makeshift medical building, most likely being sent to ensure you and Daryl didn't try anything.

You had no other option. You had to continue playing along.

You slowly walked over to the bed and laid down. Daryl hesitantly plopped himself down on the chair next to the bed, his eyes darting around the room. He was clearly trying to think of an escape plan, but he wasn't succeeding.

“Alright,” Doctor Miller began, walking out of the side room and rolling a machine out with him.

You instantly knew what that machine was. “No, doctor, you can't. No, don't—”

“Woah, woah, woah.” Daryl stood up from the chair and glared at the doctor, his mind instantly assuming the worst at your reaction. “The hell is tha'?”

“Sir, please relax.” Mariah walked up to the side of the bed, grabbing a tube of some sort of gel from the drawer. “We have some new equipment we've been wanting to test out. We found this ultrasound machine yesterday. We just want to test it out and make sure it works.”

Your heart stopped beating. All at once, thoughts of your unborn baby flooded your mind. You couldn't believe that you had forgotten about the fact that you were pregnant. With everything that happened, your mind neglected to remind you of that pivotal fact. And now everyone was going to know, including your husband who you had yet to tell.

“Doc, I don't think that's a good idea,” you warned him, pleaded with him, but the man didn't listen.

“Nonsense. This'll be over before you know it. It won't hurt, I promise you.”

“Ma'am, can I lift your shirt?” Too frozen to answer her, you simply stared. Deciding for you, Mariah lifted your shirt a bit and opened the tube with the gel. “This might be a bit cold.”

The cold was the least of your worries. You had taken quite the beating. What if your baby was hurt? What if your baby was dead? What if the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat? All of those thoughts flooded your mind, so much so that you barely heard Daryl talking to the doctor.

“Why does she need'a do tha'? Can't some other chick do this?”

“I was going to ask someone to come in today to test it, but she's here now. Might as well get it out of the way.” Doctor Miller started with the exam, placing the object on your stomach and moving it around. At first, the screen didn't pick up a thing, and that made you want to cry. However, the steady thumping of a heartbeat could soon be heard, and a small figure appeared on the screen.

“Oh, wow. That's a strong heartbeat,” Doctor Owen Miller told you with a smile, the ultrasound depicting a growing baby. “Congratulations, you two.”

Your heart was attempting to jump out of your chest. It was amazing to you that the little blob on the screen would soon develop into a baby, your baby. You would pick out their name and scavenge for things for your little one, and you're sure Daryl would—

Oh, god. Daryl.

Slowly looking over to your left, you locked eyes with your husband. Instead of finding the love, affection and adoration that usually swam in his ocean coloured eyes, you found something else. You found anger, shock, worry, but above all else? You could see a renewed sense of determination in his eyes.

The archer was pissed at you for hiding your pregnancy and convincing him to let you wander beyond the walls, but he couldn't think about that. He had to get you to safety, away from these monsters. He had to keep you and your unborn baby safe.

The doctor should've heeded your warning. The doctor never should've insisted to take an ultrasound. Because of doctor Owen Miller, Daryl Dixon was determined. Daryl Dixon was going to tear that whole place apart, and anyone who dared to lay a finger on you would meet an agonizing end.

The people of Sunny Meadows were going to pay.

©dixons-sunshine 2024. I do not give permission for my works to be copied, modified, adapted or translated to any other site or platform without evidence of my given consent.

165 notes · View notes

7ndipity · 1 year ago

Text

Fights with them

Ot7 x Reader

Summary: what they would be like during fights/arguments

Warnings: a lot of angst, not proofread

A/N: after days of struggling to work(hello executive disfunction) I got this request, and my brain decided to jump back into gear and I wrote this in like an hour, as well as half of another request!? 🤷idk, I'm not gonna question it, I'm just glad I'm writing again.

Masterlist

Requests are open

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•

Seokjin: as much as he bickers with the members, I think he has a rather avoidant personality when it comes to real conflict. He's said he allergic to seriousness, which can definitely become an issue if not careful, as it can one off as indifferent or dismissive. I think he usually ends up snapping and saying something short but pointed, and then walks away before things can escalate further. Always comes back all apologetic, and tries to work through things more calmly.

Yoongi: He's very upfront and sometimes blunt, and he's said before that he hates getting angry/fighting, so I think most issues would be resolved before they can turn into a full blown fight. But I also think he might have a tendency to ignore/avoid smaller issues until they build up. In the moment, he's not that loud, but he's very sharp with his words. Immediately regrets saying anything that might have hurt you afterwards. Definitely needs some time to himself to think and get his emotions under control, but would want to apologize and resolve everything as quickly as possible.

Hobi: He's almost to open too let a fight brew properly. He'll see it coming be like, "wait, let's step back and sort this out" before it gets out of hand. When they do happen though, he's loud only for a moment, and then the rest of the time, he's unnervingly quiet. As I said in his dating HCs, fights almost always culminate in tears because he can't stand y'all being upset with each other. Like, it causes him physical pain. Makes up the fastest out of all the members.

Namjoon: tbh, I think I would fight with him the most out of the members. He's soo stubborn and passive aggressive. Tries to dismiss the issue to de-escalate the situation, but that almost always backfires. Gets loud and slams things/doors, then gets mad at himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. Definitely needs time to cool off before coming back to talk to you; could be an hour, could be three days, depends on the situation. But he does always come back to talk it out with you.

Jimin: I know several of the big fight stories involve him, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's overly combative, I just think that when he feels strongly about something, he won't back down, which can be a good thing, until it isn't. If it's a smaller argument, he'll just say something snappish and then move on like nothing happened, but in bigger fights, he can rival Joon on volumeand intensity. He can also hold a grudge like you wouldn't believe, so communication is a super important part of resolving the issue so nothing brews into bitterness.

Taehyung: He has a tendency to get very wrapped up in the moment and take things personally, so even small fights can snowball into something bigger if you're not careful. Yells and tries to put up a tough exterior, but starts to crack pretty quick and will want to leave before his other emotions show too much. Another crier(same). Ultimately, can't stand being away from you for too long, the type that will climb in bed and hold you, but not speak because the wounds are still fresh. Will probably talk it out with you the next morning.

Jungkook: He's such a emotional and overly reactive person, so I see fights being a common occurrence with him tbh. With smaller fights, he stays pretty calm, but when things escalate, he's all over the place. Definitely an angry crier. For some reason, I don't see him really yelling during fights? He's more like Hobi in that, if he does, it only happens in bursts and the rest of the time, his tone is just slightly raised(like when he scolds ppl during lives). Does not like to walk away and wants to sort things out then and there, even though that's probably not the best idea, but he doesn't want to let the tension drag on longer than it has to.

660 notes · View notes

elysianholly · 9 months ago

Text

This fucking guy

My villain origin story is people claiming that Riley's biggest crime in the series was being boring. He wasn't just boring. He was a passive-aggressive chauvinist who the show bent over backward to defend. A while back on Reddit, I made a list of reasons why Riley sucks. This is that list, and I'm adding to it.

The only reason he punches Parker is because Parker is mouthing off about a girl Riley likes. Everything about this interaction suggests that Riley has heard him say similar before, and hasn't cared until the woman in question was someone he had a vested interest in.

He calls Buffy stupid for not wanting to date him (if this guy slid into your DMs and called you stupid for turning him down, lbr, this would not lead into a healthy, lasting romance)

He immediately puts himself in competition with Buffy. Even at his most inoffensive, he says things like "I don't even know if I could take you."

He has an inherently chauvinistic view of the world (established in The Initiative)

He is upset that Buffy had a significant relationship before she knew him and assumes Buffy boinked Angel in The Yoko Factor

He uses abuser language to excuse his shitty behavior like, "I love you so much I can't think straight."

He decides that Buffy doesn't love him all by himself

When he decides that Buffy doesn't love him, he confides in Xander and doesn't communicate his relationship issues with Buffy

He wants to help Buffy but only in jobs that are "manly." In No Place Like Home, for instance, he nopes out when Buffy suggests he help with the spell to identify what might be wrong with Joyce. Even if there wasn't a lot for him to do, he could, idk, stick around to be moral support for his partner who is trying to figure out what might be attacking her mother. That seems like a pretty standard partner thing to do.

He gets upset that Buffy "doesn't get all worked up over him" the way she did with Angel when "getting all worked up" in CONTEXT means "isn't constantly miserable."

He is sad boi at Buffy in OoMM for also prioritizing her mother's health after she believes Riley is healed rather than sticking around to play nursemaid

He wants Buffy to show emotion over Joyce at a time when Buffy literally cannot (if you've never had a parent in the hospital with a life-threatening illness, maybe you don't know that there are times/places to break down and "in the hospital" where you're supposed to be strong isn't one of them)

He doesn't care that his girlfriend's mother is sick, possibly with something life-threatening; he cares that he got to be the hero of the piece, the shoulder for Buffy to cry on. His only reaction to any of that was to be hurt that Buffy didn't respond the way he thought she should; no concern for her well-being or Joyce's, just Riley getting his feelings hurt because he wasn't the center of Buffy's universe or the rock for her to lean on when all went to pieces

This is further confirmed by the way he just doesn't mention Joyce's absence at all in As You Were. When he leaves Sunnydale, it's after Joyce has had a successful operation. He returns and she's not there and no questions? No condolences? It's because he doesn't care.

He doesn't ask about Buffy's death when she lets him know she died.

He starts separating himself from the Scoobies and then gets mad for not being included

He literally cheats on Buffy with vampire sex workers (there are people who say they were not sex workers, but in a show where monsters are metaphors, you have to be especially dense or willfully obtuse to not realize this is what they are)

Riley intentionally puts himself in a position where he might be killed or turned specifically to SPITE BUFFY, which demonstrates his lack of consideration for what she might have to do later if things go bad

Riley blames Buffy for being roofied by Dracula (again, monsters as metaphor)

He never apologizes or owns that he was unfaithful

He blames his infidelity on Buffy, actually

The first time Buffy learns Riley isn't happy, she's told she should've seen it, which is classic victim blaming and happens from Xander AND Riley (and a good amount of fans who want to excuse that behavior)

He is fine with torturing sentient creatures, and in fact had a stake made specifically so he could torture vampires without killing them

He goes behind Buffy's back all the time

Riley was not boring. If he were boring, he would be inoffensive. Dull to watch but not rage-inducing. But he is rage-inducing because, despite all the passive-aggressive gaslighting bullshit he gets away with, people in this fandom still believe he was "Buffy's best boyfriend." That she was to blame for the deterioration of this relationship. That he was the healthiest of the Buffyverse men. The show does, too. That's why Xander (Wh*don's mouthpiece) gives that sanctimonious little speech to Buffy (the audience in this case) in Into the Woods to scold us for not treating Riley better. Then they double down in As You Were to make Buffy fawn all over herself to let this gaslighting asshole off the hook for everything he put her through.

Riley's sin is not being boring. It's that he was actually awful. Wh*don himself once called Riley a "healthy relationship" for Buffy, and if that doesn't tell you something, there's no talking to you.

#btvs #buffy #anti riley finn #anti buffy x riley #buffy the vampire slayer #buffy meta #btvs meta

187 notes · View notes

chaifootsteps · 3 months ago

Note

I think the thing that really gets me about how Viv has written Stolas is that, on top of everything else, it's been several months of in-universe time

So Ozzie's happens at the end of s1 and it looks like Stolas is having a 'what have I done?' moment on the stairs. The next time we see him, The Circus confirms it's the morning after when he wakes up with a hangover. From there it's kind of hard to tell if he's already decided to end the deal or not and he already creeps back to blaming Blitzo for his own romantic delusions ('I'm the fool who believes when you look in my eyes', implying Blitzo ever gave him reason to assume there was something between them when he spent a whole season being annoyed by Stolas)

Anyway, Full Moon confirms several months pass while Stolas is trying to arrange the crystal. He takes a good step of letting Blitzo take breaks from the deal, but the less positive step of sending wheedling 'but I'd like to see you anyway~' type texts, which is a total mixed message on his part. (And Blitzo crucially does not take him up on it, which should tell him something) The only other thing he does is start behaving when he calls Blitzo, though since this happens offscreen it's easy to give Stolas more credit for it than he deserves (since whenever he talks to Blitzo onscreen he's always far less nice than the narrative wants to make him out to be and we still don't know if Blitzo even wanted to field these calls but felt obliged to).

Either way, Stolas had several months to reflect on what Blitzo said during Ozzie's and the only lesson he appears to have taken from it is 'Blitzy isn't returning my affections, maybe it's the fault of the deal and nothing else?' (and it doesn't seem like he can really commit to believing the deal is that bad, since in one moment he's calling himself a monster and Blitzo his prisoner and in the next acting like the deal never happened)

He still sees Blitzo like an object, only now it's 'I give him with the crystal and he rewards me with love'. He doesn't try to communicate when Blitzo is understandably lost and confused and he gets pissy the moment he doesn't get the response he wants. If we're assuming he's taking Blitzo jumping to think it was roleplay as a rejection, then he isn't handling the rejection particularly graceful. He tries to exit the scene, sure, but when Blitzo follows him he keeps ranting about how long he's wanted Blitzo (as though he expected Blitzo to know in spite of the deal still being in place and him sending mixed messages) and ducking responsibility for why Blitzo doesn't trust he's sincere

And then Blitzo reinforces the idea that Stolas has treated him like crap when he can't comprehend Stolas is being sincere, then gets angry when Stolas pulls his DARVO 'I can't believe you're making it about sex' routine, then he expilcitly refers to what Stolas has 'put him through', mentions he treats him no better than his servants and calls Stolas an asshole

At this point Stolas has plenty of evidence to realize that not only is the deal ample reason for Blitzo to hate his guts, but Blitzo has mentioned directly that the way Stolas treats him and acts is part of the problem twice now. There's something else he needs to figure out and fix.

Stolas couldn't figure that out despite having months to prepare after Ozzie's, but now he has no excuse. And what happens?

The night after full moon Stolas has presumably done no reflection on anything Blitzo said. Throughout apology tour the deal is barely even referenced so it seems like Stolas assumes he's immediately off the hook for that and Blitzo doesn't get to hold it against him (and as usual the show supports that framing by sweeping it under the rug). But not only that, Stolas is now acting like he's the one who's been wronged and he's the one who's angry with Blitzo, who needs to make it up to him.

Despite knowing Blitzo feels he treats him like an underling he just straight tells Blitzo it isn't true, reframing past events to be more favorable to him (hiding his face in a menu is now 'showing people how much I like you', using his need for the book to extort sex out of him is now 'how hard I've tried to support you')

Just like after Ozzie's, he has a moment in the song where he could try and learn something and realize he's the one in the wrong...but he doesn't.

Tl:dr - Stolas has had literal months to reflect and change for the better, but he's still fundamentally the same person who treats Blitzo like an object who should be giving him sex or love depending on what he wants at the time. And now the deal is over and Blitzo has more autonomy to call him out on his shit, Stolas still doesn't do any self-reflection. Instead he gaslights and doubles down, considering changing only in passing before going right back to the same BS he's always done.

Fans who say 'Stolas will change, just wait and let the show cook' - how much more time does he need exactly??? How many more times can Blitzo reiterate what his problem with Stolas is before we admit that Stolas is behaving in a textbook abusive way: he makes token efforts to fix the problem while not fundamentally changing, expects immediate forgiveness and being rewarded with what he wants, then holds the smallest of transgressions over Blitzo's head endlessly in return (or ignores Blitzo is behaving that way as a response to his crappy actions and treats him like he's acting irrationally) while using his tears to emotionally manipulate Blitzo into treating him like the victim

Fun fact, it was apparently going to be even worse. According to the person who leaked the entire plot of Full Moon to me back in November, it was supposed to be the one year anniversary of the full moon deal.

#Anonymous #stolas critical #stolitz critical #viv stuff #actual blog post

53 notes · View notes

iliveforyouilongforyouvesuvia · 1 year ago

Note

ok here i go full hc prompt🥳🤩🤩

m6 in the ✨✋Future🤚✨ or at least to them, relatively, from their medievaissance-y mixed bag nonspecified time period to something resembling our times! i personally like to consider it still Their World, fictional, which just progressed to look like ours now (it literally makes zero difference to anybody except the inner machinations of my annoying ass but yeah ifykyk) basically yknow shooting a medieval peasant into 2023 & giving him mountain dew type beat

The Arcana HCs: M6 in the Future

~ @tetsuooooooooooo this was so much fun, thank you for sending it in and I hope you enjoy these!! ~

-- for headcanon purposes, MC is from the future and is tasked with taking care of M6 during their 24 hours there --

Julian

It takes him less than two minutes to figure out where (read: when) he is and his response is nothing short of enthusiastic

Please, he's been around the world, and he's got a delightful guide, and he really, really wants to know if his theories about leeches ended up being correct

He actually gets a little emotional when a quick google search shows him how wrong he was and you end up having to take him exploring to cheer him up and distract him from his failures

You have a really hard time explaining to him that clinics don't allow doctors without medical degrees to waltz in and observe random patients getting treatments

You take him to see a movie and he's transfixed

The screen is so big. The actor's faces are so clear. The drama is so much more than anything he could have imagined. And they come with music?? Hums the soundtrack for the rest of the day

If you show him that one version of Jurassic Park with Jeff Goldblum in it Julian will imitate him sporadically afterwards

Enjoys fast food way more than he should. Especially instant noodles. Will spend half an hour trying to pack some to take back

Fascinated by the concept of typing

You hit a button to make the next letter appear instead of writing it? But MC, this means that everything he wants to communicate through text could be easily readable. Imagine!

Freaks out a bit when you try to take him in a car. He's surprisingly comfortable in a metro, though, so you'll have to do with public transportation and bicycles

Oh yeah, he loves bicycles. He only crashed into three trees, a wall, and a stranger's parked car before getting the hang of it

He's convinced that earbuds don't actually play music, they just trick your brain into thinking that you can hear it

Almost exploded when you gave him coldbrew coffee

Asra

They know instantly that they're in a different version of reality. Sure, they've never traveled through time, but they've traveled through plenty of other dimensions

He's the least ruffled, and unfortunately, the least impressed. Don't get him wrong, this looks super cool, but this isn't any more otherworldly to him than the otherworldly places he's already been

Wants to go on a food tour immediately. Not the nice stuff though

No, they want the questionable food. The is-this-going-to-make-me-regret-existing food. The food that, if it was shown in an anime, would be pixelated and have threatening auras around it

So chill about what you tell him to do it's almost concerning

"Here Asra, climb into this four-wheeled hunk of metal that can travel over 100 miles an hour and hold yourself in with a single fabric strap while I pilot this through hundreds of other things just like it, driven by people we don't know and can't predict."

"Cool. Where do I put Faust?"

Don't tell them about edibles unless you want them to spend their day hunting some down and absolutely going to town on them

You swear you saw his hair stand on end the first time he tried popping candy

When you took them to get their radioactive meal (a.k.a. the closest fast food chain with the fewest ethical violations) they insisted on picking up one of every sauce packet to try them all

... and when he saw a nine-year-old mixing two different fountain drinks, he of course grabbed the largest cup available and went down the line so he could taste all of them at once too

You've never seen them this jittery and sugar high, so of course the next place to go is a trampoline park, with the bright lights and loud music and bodies hurtling through the air

He should not be getting the amount of air time that he does

Has a meltdown over modern fluffy blankets. They're so soft

Nadia

Gobsmacked. As in, she's a highly intelligent woman, and therefore able to really wrap her head around what she's seeing

The future!! She's in the future, Arcana help her

But she's got you and she adores you and she knows she can trust you so she's going to be okay. That said, start explaining. Now.

First things first: how's the infrastructure? She can't see any canals or aqueducts. Or fireplaces or lanterns, for that matter, what do you do for light? And cooking? (Cooking uses fire, right?)

Literally cannot walk past anything new without stopping to try to figure out how it works and if there's a way to recreate it herself

Bicycles on a rack? She's spinning the pedal and trying to figure out the balancing dynamics of two-wheeled movement

Almost lost it when she found out that it was possible to lift the hood of a car and look at the engine inside that makes it go. You decided to take her on public transportation instead

Which turned into all kinds of excited brainstorming about public carriages, and gondolas built for 20 people ferrying people along the aqueducts, and new and terrifying uses for the catacombs

Wasn't very impressed with the fashion she saw

She knows what good quality cloth looks like. This is a women who grew up in silks and fine linens, polyester does not impress her

Except for the stretchiness. She does like that

The perfume counter, on the other hand, takes up a good hour and a half of her time. She's smelled plenty of fine scents before, but she's never been in a shop where she could sniff so many at a time

This one smells like Prakra. This one smells like Vesuvia. This one smells like the beach. This one smells like the woods. This one ...

Yeah, it was an excellent opportunity to take a nap, if you're the napping sort. You wake up to her testing perfumes on you because she ran out of space on herself

Gets so frustrated when you explain your government setup to her

Muriel

Oh no, please be very gentle with him

He likes to live in the woods because it is peaceful and quiet and it's one place he doesn't stand out in

He stands out in this place very, very much and he doesn't like it

Refuses to leave the room he appeared in until his appearance is as unremarkable as possible (which is not easy to do, by the way, the man is a mountain. modern clothes in his size are hard to find)

Does not want to go in the car. It's way too fast and it makes him seasick when he closes his eyes to shut it out

Buses are somehow easiest - they feel the least claustrophobic when they're not crowded and it's rude to stare on them

You two end up going to a natural history museum in the middle of a weekday when hardly anybody is there, and he lights up

There are so many animals, and there are enough other people in the world who find those animals interesting that they gathered so much knowledge people had to make a building to hold it all

Has never heard evolutionary theory before and is fascinated by it

Once he starts talking, it's hard for him to stop

He's not being loud at all - you can only hear him so clearly because you two are holding hands so he can't lose you - but he's being quietly submerged in his own special interest and he loves it

He just wishes there weren't so many skeletons. But he's glad the species they belonged to aren't forgotten this way

Long story short, Muriel's inner Nerd is unleashed and he goes hoarse from the amount of murmuring he does all day

Does not like getting food in public. Does not like eating food in public. Does not like being publicly perceived. As soon as it gets into afternoon and it gets busy, he wants to go home

Which is where you show him what the internet is and he's in awe

People can work from home? People can make friends without leaving their house?? People can talk without being seen???

Portia

Spends five minutes hopping in place and squealing into her clothes to let out her nerves and excitement before you can decide what to do

Then insists on taking half an hour to hear you describe every single fun or interesting thing to do so she can make a list

Yes, she's determined to hit every single one in one day

First things first: food. Take her to a cafe and watch her sigh over all the baked goods and sugar-loaded caffeine beverages

Then (if there is one nearby) a mall, so she can see all the stuff that people buy so they can have the lifestyle they do. You have to drag her out of both Bath & Body Words and Bed, Bath, & Beyond

Please, it's full of fluffy fuzzy things and good smelling mystery goo, she wants to live in it also what do you mean "no stopping at the pet store", what even is a "pet store" -

Oh. OH -

You will have to physically pull her away before she adopts all the kittens. She does cry about it later, just a for a bit, they're so cute

Next is a library and cafe, of course, because she lives for books

This place is way bigger than the Palace library! The one in the Palace is just a large room, this is a whole building!! And people get to come here, whenever they want, just to read, for free?! What?!

You had to remind her about the "no loud noises in the library" rule several times. She's doing her best, she's just passionate

Completely demolishes her first chocolate croissant

Goes feral at the amusement park she has you take her to afterwards. This woman is an adrenaline fiend. You're cursing the pop up add for it by the fourth consecutive free fall ride

The only way to get her to leave is to tell her that one of her favorite stories was turned into a movie and that you'd have to go home to watch it. Don't take her to Target to get snacks. She'll disappear

Flicks the lightswitch 30 times in a row because she can

Lucio

He's immediately panicking. Not because he's in the future, no, but because of what it's done to his arm

It's changed. It's not running on magic any more. The only way to resolve his design is for it to be some kind of high-tech electrical prosthetic that even modern scientists would have difficulty with

Once he's adjusted to using it, you're good to go

Lights up like a firework the first time he rides in a car

MC. MC how fast does it go. MC that's a very high number. MC, he wants to drive. Please. Please! Pleeeaaaassssseeee

DO NOT LET HIM DRIVE.

Makes you pull over after seeing ads for Sephora because he's convinced that he could pull off that eye makeup even better

Tries every single makeup sampler and then gets offended when one of the poor employees suggests an anti-aging cream

Him? Aged?? How dare they - oh wait that really does brighten his eyes. He'll take ten, please, they're so small, they can't cost much -

You'll have to pull him out before he sees you use a credit card, because once he does he's going to keep asking to use it and you're not sure he understands why maxing it out is a bad thing

His arm does run out of battery at one point, which does cause some panic. All of a sudden he's stuck with a limp hunk of metal swinging from his shoulder, it's not ideal

You're able to find the retractable charging cable on the side and plug him in, but then he's stuck sitting in the same spot for two hours and a bored Lucio is a dangerous Lucio

There is a solution to this, of course. You can give him an iPad with games on it. He won't move a muscle after that

The caveat is that he will turn into an iPad kid and get glued to every single screen he sees afterwards. You don't know how to fix it

Falls in love with vending machines and tries Cheetos because the leopard on them looks cool. Develops an artificial cheese addiction

#ask arcana brainrot #the arcana #the arcana game #the arcana headcanons #the arcana hc #the arcana shitpost #asra the arcana #julian the arcana #nadia the arcana #muriel the arcana #portia the arcana #lucio the arcana #asra alnazar #julian devorak #nadia satrinava #muriel of the kokhuri #portia devorak #lucio morgasson

223 notes · View notes

4dkellysworld · 6 months ago

Text

The state of self-communion

Hellooooo, haven't been here for a while. Hope everyone's doing well :) I've just been doing my own thing away from Tumblr and haven't felt like there was much to post. I do enjoy reading Reddit posts though across a variety of spiritual subreddits and sometimes I come across some gems of wisdom. It also supports my belief that all paths can lead to Home (Self) because the same truths pop up in so many different subs from people doing different things (some with barely any actual spiritual study or sadhana).

Anyway, I found this part of a Reddit post (from the Neville Goddard subreddit actually) to be really beautiful (highlighted my fave parts) because it emphasizes Oneness (which isn't something I actually see much when it comes to manifesting-centric content) and shows what it looks like in practice to treat others as if they were yourself, as if there is no separation between you and everyone/everything else, as if the world is just a projection of your mind. I like how he calls it Self-communion when he talks of communicating with another person too and treating it as if he is talking to another aspect of himself.

The first most apparent proof I have received during my early era of this understanding, was still when I was in a shitty state of consciousness, so I was met with my own creation. It was a man that stumbled upon me and a cousin out in the street, it was a hostile interaction, I won't specify what. I had no other choice but to apply what I believed in, that if all is myself, and he is only my expression of my own state of consciousness, if the attitude I undertake towards him was as if he was a pleasant gentleman (despite him clearly coming to harm me outta no where), if I dare to live FROM MYSELF from my perception and attitude towards the stranger that approached as if he was a lovely gentleman, he would be so. So I was forced to apply it, and to completely put aside all my physical reactions and all that nonsense that the physical man invented and called instincts, and I was willing unto death, to believe that I was communing with a pleasant gentleman, I do not even remember what words came out of me, but I wore the state of love, of self communion, I knew I was talking to myself in another garment called Another Man, and he was pacified immediately. He broke down and we hugged and parted ways without further speech. I knew what I did, my cousin was clueless. In another case history as well, when a family relative I have neglected to frame his ideal image in my imagination, and it came surfacing (as everything neglected eventually does), I made the bold decision to carry an attitude towards him that he would be the coolest gent there is, and despite physical evidence from the first time, I applied my new standard good attitude towards this person, him being the way he still was, it did not take long for him to change in his attitude so quickly, because my attitude defined his reality and attitude in this physical world. So he was changed, and also pacified on the spot when aggressive speech took place. All my states created the vile and created the perfection.

Here is the original Reddit post though beware the formatting, spelling and sentence structure makes it quite difficult to read lol, I just skimmed it until I found this case studies which I thought were worth reading and sharing.

Anyway, hope that inspired/sparked some love within :)

#from reddit

61 notes · View notes

bunnakit · 10 months ago

Text

do you want to get chicken noodles?

i've had several people wonder why i'm obsessed with playboyy's aob and why i'm constantly saddened by the indifference towards him on the dash so i figured i'd grab hold of my 'too much' habits again and do a breakdown of all the reasons i love aob.

as always, i'm just a little guy on the internet. i could be way off base, i could be seeing things that aren't there, i could be reading too much into things, could be forgetting points of the plot or times when people have mentioned aob in a bad light, whatever. i just ask that you be nice to me because i'm only this big 🤏🏻 (and i also took the time to make gifs of almost every single aob moment across 8 episodes and i've been working on this for 5 hours - some gifs are crunchy because i had to lower the quality to capture everything i want to address)

to preface, so much of aob isn't in what he says - you actually gain so much more to learn from aob about what he doesn't say and observing his body language and facial expressions closely. aob tells his entire story with his body, because that's how he's grown used to communicating.

episode 1 🌸

we see here aob is genuinely baffled by the behavior of teena and soong. he's used to the environment of playboyy where clients are just paychecks and there's game of cat and mouse and as a result no need for any sort of emotions or emotional manipulation. he's simply providing a service and doing a job. he doesn't have to lure and romance, his clients come to him. the idea of getting emotions involved is completely foreign to him.

episode 2 🌸

we're brought to a flashback almost immediately in episode 2 that raises a lot of questions but also shows us quite a bit. as aob walks up the stairs he moves as if he owns the place, with the utmost confidence. as he ascends we see security treat him with respect and offer wai's in passing - almost as if he is someone in charge here. this shows us what a big deal aob is among the club, how respected he is even as far as the security is concerned. i think it's a very interesting detail that helps back up aob's arrogance and confidence, because why would he be anything else?

the following conversation with the other workers is a bit confusing to me and as far as i recall we don't have all the answers to the questions it raises just yet. we do learn aob is the one that taught jump, teena, and soong during their time at playboyy. he asks them what they're going to do for a living if they're leaving and i think this conveys the idea that aob isn't as heartless as he appears. he worries for them and wonders how they'll take care of themselves if they leave.

teena makes a comment about the boss going too far but i'm not sure if we know what he means by that yet? i had actually completely forgotten about this encounter until i went back to grab screens. i want to comment on this part more but it's not really the point, i'm just really curious what the fuck they're talking about here as they seem to insinuate they've been forced to work here and even aob is surprised by that. this leads me to believe that aob might be a bigger part of the plot later on, perhaps in uncovering whatever was meant by these comments.

episode 4 🌸

i think this is the moment aob really lost favor with so much of the fandom and i do understand why, however, there's a lot that happens here that's very interesting to observe.

"Don't say 'true love' and 'soulmate.'"

i have to wonder why these were the first words aob brings up as soong laments his situation. no one said those words, aob, but you sure did.

teena then talks to soong about what he's heard and tells him he should be responsible for first's feelings in all of this to which aob makes the above expression. aob hates the discussion of feelings, believes emotions need to be removed from the equation entirely, and is baffled by the way his friends are acting about people that should be nothing more than clients and believes any form of relationship impossible.

"Try being in love." "What, stupid love?"

something about this makes me believe that aob doesn't know what love is, not real love. he dismisses it as stupid and scoffs while the others almost roll their eyes at him. it's easy for aob to give the advice he does when he doesn't have love burning a hole in his chest the way they do, he's never felt it before, doesn't know how all consuming it is.

and then as first confronts soong the camera pans from teena to aob and i find his expression very interesting. that doesn't look like a man removed of emotions. to me, that looks like a man that has just had his world tilted on it's axis and is now questioning everything he's ever told himself. he sees first's tears and the way soong stands still and listens as first falls apart. i think that moment truly startled him and drove home that the emotions between the boys and their 'clients' are very real.

episode 5 🌸

alright, episode 5 is a lot so i'm sorry for the absolute wall of gifs and texts coming for this single episode.

"Time to work, Puen."

aob meets puen on the stage and immediately his face falls as it's not him picked first but puen. later, aob walks into the back where puen is smoking and immediately takes in the sight of him.

"Are you Puen?" "I am." "You're quite hot."

"Come find me later. I want to know why you're so popular."

aob wants to know who has dethroned him and why his clients are so enamored with puen. what does puen, someone completely new to the business, have to offer that he doesn't? this is also where aob begins to look at puen and from here on he will never look away.

aob speaks so very much with his eyes. you can see his gaze drop and take in all of puen here during their 'evaluation' as he asks permission before going further with him. it's obviously quite professional but i think it also shows us that aob isn't as cold as he tells people he is; or perhaps that's just where puen is concerned.

this is really where i realized that much of understanding aob is reading into what he isn't saying or what his words are hiding.

"I knew it, you aren't that great."

but he is, because aob can't look away from him.

"...You attract clients that want to try new things. Once they are bored of you they'll dump you."

you're attracted to me and want to try something with me, but once you're bored you'll leave me.

"Why don't you teach me? I want to be like you."

show me what you want from me. i want you to like me.

"I'm sorry. I can't be a teacher. I'm a prostitute. Oh. Don't be like me." Because you can never be. Loser."

i'm sorry. i can't like you. i'm a prostitute. and please don't like me because i can never like you back. don't look to me anymore.

but puen accepts that challenge.

(i forgot to watermark this one lmao, i don't care enough to go fix it)

i'm still not entirely sure what to make of this moment with prom. why does he squeeze aob's shoulder as if to offer him some kind of reassurance? why does aob shake his head just the slightest bit and suddenly look like he's going to face a firing squad? does prom know it's already too late for aob, that he's in too deep? is he trying to prepare aob for the sudden fire in puen's veins? i'm really struggling to figure it out, really. i think it could mean quite a few things or nothing at all.

"Why are you criticizing me? People might think you're jealous of me."

puen has so very clearly learned what makes aob tick. he's learned that aob's pride is also his biggest weakness and he picks at that weak point to evoke a response from him - and it works. suddenly aob is all bluster and anger, but interestingly puen doesn't back down, doesn't even flinch. instead, he has a confident smile and meets aob's eyes with a challenge burning in his own.

aob doesn't know what to do with that. you can see it in the shift of his face. this expression is very similar to the one he makes when first confronts soong - he's on the wrong foot, confused and adrift because suddenly puen is no longer the innocent doe-eyed novice but someone who is pushing back and challenging him. no one has ever challenged him before.

they meet again later in the bathroom where aob is doing some sort of display of dominance perched on a urinal. listen, that's my blorbo, but even i can't defend that. baby get down from there, you're making even more of a fool of yourself.

"Do you want to eat chicken noodles with me?"

aob rejects the invitation and puen laments that he seemed fine earlier when they were in the room together.

"What happens in the room stays in the room, Puen. You can't have feelings for the clients. They'll be strangers when they leave."

what i do in the room with you has to stay there. i can't have feelings for you. you'll become a stranger to me when you leave.

"Why do you have to act so cold and emotionless to everyone?"

and aob doesn't answer. he doesn't even get angry. there's just a quiet look of resignation on his face and he bites his lip, almost like he's nervous, almost like puen is looking at him too closely and starting to see right through him.

"Can you have feelings for your friends or brothers?"

or for me.

"You aren't my friend or my brother. You're a competitor."

because you have to be. because i can't handle any alternative. i can't love you.

episode 6 🌸

they're in the bathroom again but this time it's puen waiting for aob asking why he's been avoiding him.

"Why can't you have sex like a couple? You taught me how to feel. So practice what you preach."

why can't we have sex like a couple? you taught me to remove the feelings from it so why can't you do that?

and i think it's very interesting that for a moment aob drops his gaze and looks away. he's been caught and called out and looks away almost in submission before pulling up his guard again.

"I don't have any feelings for a kid like you. I just can't do it. You're not sexy enough."

he attacks puen's looks but this is a direct contradiction to when they first met and the first thing he said was "You're quite hot." once again aob says the opposite of what he means.

i have feelings for you, this is why i can't have sex with you like a couple. i like you far too much.

"Fine. I'll be better than you someday."

fine. i'll make you love me.

and aob can't take it any longer. he goes just outside the door and breaks down because it's all so much; his feelings for puen, puen's refusal to back down, the turmoil he finds himself in having everything he's ever known turned upside down. he was never supposed to have feelings, least of all for someone as stubborn and determined as puen who breaks down his walls and challenges him at every turn. his will is breaking down every bit as much as he is in this moment.

episode 7 🌸

this was one of the first scenes to really make me emotional in this show. throughout this entire scene aob cannot look away from puen. all of his attention is on puen to the point where he neglects the client and even pushes him away. he touches only puen, kisses only puen. he seems almost tortured by the moment, to be so close but so far from the object of his desire.

and puen looks at him with the challenge in his eyes again, almost mocking: look at me, i've surpassed you. you can't take your eyes off me. i've won.

and aob continues to watch him, his eyes almost a caress, gaze almost reverent as if he's witnessing something holy. my man is absolutely lost in the sauce.

"You have a crush on a loser like me, huh? So you couldn't help yourself."

"This is how you pay me back?" why are you doing this to me? "Do it to me, not in front of the client. What's wrong with you?" don't challenge me in front of a client. don't push me.

but puen knows he's won, he knows he's hit the nail on the head and aob, as he always does, is growing defensive. because he's scared.

"But I'm glad that I'm important to you. Like I said, I will be better than you someday. But that day came so quickly. You lost."

i'm glad you've realized i'm important to you. like i said, i would make you love me. that day came so quickly. i've won.

episode 8 🌸

i didn't get gifs of the scene but prom asks aob if he's jealous of puen's popularity. that's all he asks. but what's interesting is aob replies:

"Jealous? I don't have feelings for him."

aob... i don't think that's what prom was asking. prom asked if you were jealous of his popularity among the clients, if you were jealous that he'd taken your throne.

and puen appears to challenge aob again, blows him a kiss almost as a reminder of their previous encounter. but aob doesn't get angry, doesn't rise to the bait. if anything he looks sad, maybe contemplative, and perhaps like he's coming to terms with something.

You only appreciate the value of something when you are about to lose it. It's just so fucking awful.

Especially when you know in your heart that you are powerless.

Because he isn't your boyfriend.

The more you want to know the more painful it gets.

throughout this entire scene aob looks so sorrowful, like he knows he has to do something soon or he will lose his chance with puen. he has to try because this powerless feeling is growing to be too much.

aob is waiting for puen at the bottom of the stairs and if you look he's bouncing his leg in a nervous tick. when puen rounds the corning his face is immediately in some semblance of a smile which is something we really haven't seen from aob. it gives the impression that he worked himself up to this moment despite how nervous he is. (his shirt is also very wrinkled, were you in a rush?)

"How are you going to haze me today?"

and this i think drives home that puen is tiring of their game. that aob is so very close to losing puen because puen is starting to believe aob's words, believe that aob doesn't like him and only wants to harass him.

so aob takes the leap.

(and i find the handle with care on the wall particularly interesting, as both of them need to be handled with care. aob, with his unfamiliar and warring feelings, and puen with his earnest and hopeful heart.)

and as aob bridges that gap puen looks taken aback and confused because what the fuck, aob isn't soft, doesn't do things like this.

"Do you want to get chicken noodles?"

aob asks, a throwback to the day puen had asked him on a date. an acknowledgement and an apology.

i'm sorry i wasn't ready then, but i'm ready now. will you still have me?

and that's why today's episode made me cry and why i love aob so, so very much. his journey learning his feelings and learning what love feels like and what love can be isn't pretty, he fights it tooth and nail the entire way, but the smile on both their faces as he jumps on puen's back gives me so much hope that they can be good for each other and support each other.

there are still so many episodes left and maybe i'll be wearing clown make up by the end of this, maybe my hopelessly disgustingly romantic heart has misled me, maybe i've read the facial expressions and body language all wrong, but regardless of all of that aob and puen are so special to me.

#please be nice to me #my stomach is in my throat #im so scared of looking like a fool #oat meta #playboyy #playboyy the series #aobpuen #aun warit #parm pawarate #userrain

75 notes · View notes

urhoneycombwitch · 11 months ago

Note

Rockstar!Eddie x assistant/manager!reader who likes Eddie, because unlike some other rockers, he minds his p's and q's, doesn't run off to god knows where with God knows who at all hours of the night, isn't overly demanding, but the damn boy jist won't let them do their job!

he wants to follow assistant!reader around like a puppy even when they're trying to tell him no! you've got rehearsal and I have to go do xyz! Or trying to go out on a date and assistant reader is like, if I want my salary, I have to abide by the contract that says I can't get involved with the contract and Eddie's trying to use his Bambi eyes like 🥺🥺 but what if we talked about the music? Isn't that still contract abiding? Just, you know, wear something nice and I'll pick you up from your room at 8. And they're like 🙄 you're going to get me in trouble, but Eddie doesn't mind them threatening his ass, because he'll pay their salary out of pocket and honestly, a person in charge turns him on (which is why he keeps pestering so assistant!reader can keep telling him off)

verrrryyyyyy this!!!??

assistant!reader who is totally neurotic/anal about everything, like perhaps seek an OCD diagnosis bestie (but it’s 1990 and no one has time for that!!)

you get hired to drag their asses to places on time but also bc you graduated top of your communications class and can get them into any building anywhere. you and eddie have a whole “do you even know who you’re TALKING TO” routine that you’ve perfected over the years.

It literally took him months to wear you down into not calling him Mr. Munson anymore. you were trying to be PROFESSIONAL while also tamping down your massive crush on Eddie.

it’s a sitch of eddie fell first and loudly but you fell… near-silently. Over the course of two 30-state tours. Bc he’s your CLIENT. You CANT do anything about your little crush. Even IF he flirts with you like it’s his job. Even IF you accidentally walked in on him changing one time and all he did was grin wolfishly at you and asked if you liked what you saw.

morning pre-show meetings w the whole team where the band is half asleep from drunken escapades the night previous but they all show up 9am (mostly) sharp bc they knew Eddie promised to flay them alive if they didn’t make your meeting.

and he’s sitting at the head of the conference room table, boots staggered on the ground, all dark denim and black leather, smoking a cigarette with his morning coffee, looking like he wants to eat you up as you pointedly ignore him so you can get through your little whiteboard spiel

and when you cap the dry erase pen and turn on your heel all efficient to the assembled team chirping “Okay, any comments or questions?” Eddie is raising two fingers in the air casually. And when you call on him with an apprehensive “Yes, Eddie?” (bc you’re expecting pushback on the schedule you’d just painstakingly outlined) he throws you for a loop when he instead says “You’re looking very pretty today, angel 🙂”

Leaving you sputtering, grabbing at some random papers on the table to shakily stack- “Any other comments or questions?”- immediately followed by Eddie raising his hand again, so you tack on “About the schedule? 🙄” and his hand goes down.

and as the marketing head takes over you can FEEL Eddie grinning at you from the corner of your eye and you’re really not trying to give him the satisfaction of your attention but it’s getting harder to deny his charms w each passing day 🫠🫠🫠

#Eddie Munson x reader #eddie munson x you #rockstar!eddie x reader #rockstar!eddie x assisstant!reader #lu’s anons #e.m. thots from lu

70 notes · View notes

elliethejellie · 1 year ago

Text

And Here You Were~

A Sun and Moon x Reader (oneshot? series? drabble? I don't know yet)

AO3 Link

What would happen if the cheery and innocent daycare attendant at the Megaplex grew attached to one person in particular? Would it become overly protective? Neglectful of the daycare duties? Is the animatronic capable of jealousy? Love? Hate?

Well, you should know. You are the one they've got their eyes on, after all...

*****

We remember the first day you showed up. It was a Tuesday, and you were terrified. Your little denim overalls and rainbow-striped shirt were a sight we never tired of seeing - it made you fit in perfectly with the colorful theme of the daycare.

"She's got some anxiety, and she is not to be excluded from naptime for any reason. She gets cranky without her naps and will just cry and cry and nobody can calm her down and-"

"Yes, yes, okay, ma'am. Trust us, we're all more than qualified to handle your little superstar while you're away. Isn't that right Sun?" the human daycare attendant pined, trying to calm your anxious mother. She looked a mess with her hastily thrown on baggy clothes and dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was up in a lazy bun, tangled as all hell, and her lips were dry and cracked. She was going through something. We pieced together through little snippets of conversation from you later on that your parents were going through a divorce, and she was fighting for custody while still trying to keep up with her demanding job. She was a strong and independent woman, so having to bring you to childcare made her feel like a failure. But she wasn't.

"Yes, of course!" Sun replied cheerily. He bounded towards your mother with excited energy - enough that it absolutely terrified you and sent you into a screaming flurry of tears. Sun's rays shrank back into his head slightly and he apologized immediately. The human daycare attendant rolled their eyes and grabbed you anyways, while your mother reached into her bag and pulled out a few different prescriptions. Sun mentally logged everything you were supposed to take - anxiety medication with your lunch if you were still not interacting, nausea medicine if you complained of a stomachache after eating, and doctor-ordered melatonin to help put you down for naptime if you weren't sleeping.

Great, another helicopter mother, Moon said inside of Sun's head. They had done that for as long as they could remember. It was how the two communicated with each other when one of them had control and the other was stuck watching on from inside. But Sun ignored his brother this time, not wanting to miss a single thing your mom was saying.

The human attendant nodded nonetheless at your mom, taking the labeled freezer bag with the orange bottles and placing it behind the front desk to be logged momentarily. "I promise, ma'am, we will look after your little superstar well, and she'll fit in just fine. Isn't that right, Y/N?" they asked you, who was finally calming down from your screaming fit. Now you were staring at Sun with wide eyes, fearful but curious.

Over the next few months, you had grown to adore the daycare. Once you opened up, you got along well with all the other kids. Your personality began to shine through, and you seemed like the perfect child. You were a great problem solver, friends with everyone, and creative when it came to literally everything. The other children in the daycare always wanted to play with you, and you always made time for all of them. If there was an issue between your friends, you would help resolve it before Sun even had the chance to make it over to you. You never broke the rules, used your manners, and somehow encouraged every other kid to follow in your leadership.

But our favorite part about you was how you never seemed to treat the two of us as one in the same. We still remember the day you dragged most of the kids to the craft corner and encouraged everyone to draw cards for Moon. When asked why by your curious classmates, you would respond with "Because he never gets as many gifts as Sun, and I think that probably makes him sad."

You grew up with the daycare, and a year turned into two and then three.

But one day - a Monday, we believe - your mother came to drop you off, and abruptly told the human on shift that it would be your last day. She looked disheveled and even more tired than usual. Her eyes were red - she had been crying. You weren't your usual self that day, either. You were whiny and reserved, hiding away in the quiet corner. You refused to play with anyone, making excuses each time one of the other children tried to get you involved. You even refused to eat, and wouldn't sleep at naptime.

It was during that last naptime that Moon had taken you away from the other kids to try to understand what was happening. Sitting in one of the castle towers next to the ball pit, he finally asked you the burning question on our mind.

"Starlight, what ever is the matter? Sun tells me you haven't eaten or played at all today," he said with a softness he seemed to reserve only for you. You were clinging to one of the half-moon pillows with so much force for your little body, it made Moon worried immediately. You only shook your head as tears formed in the corners of your eyes.

We never did find out why you weren't returning.

The daycare wasn't the same after you had left. The children fought, naptime was difficult, and Moon seemed to fade from the little superstars' minds as if he was never important. But we pushed through nonetheless. We never forgot about you. We kept your drawings up on our wall in our room and would look at them any time we were feeling down. The sadness faded from a relentless pain to a dull ache after a year. And soon, we didn't really think about you much. Other kids came and went, and we just moved on.

Or so we thought we had.

We were informed that some things were changing about the daycare, about Moon, and about the Megaplex in general. We were forced to go to Parts and Service daily for about a month, having new programs put into our coding. After the month (and many refusals to answer our questions), we were told Moon was to patrol the Megaplex at night. We were asked several test questions by Vanessa, the new head of security, to make sure the programs were working properly.

"Okay, and what do you do if there's a code blue?" she asked.

"Seek out any head personnel and get them to safety before dealing with the intruder or intruders," Moon responded, crossing his arms. "Now can you please tell me why we're doing this?" he asked for the hundredth time. And once again, Vanessa ignored him, writing something on her clipboard.

"Okay, that's it, now follow me," she said, setting the clipboard down and leading Moon out of the P&S room. He did as he was told, not because he wanted to, but because that was part of the new programming. Unless going against direct protocol, the brothers were no longer allowed to do as they pleased. If given a direct order from security personnel, they were forced to follow it.

Where do you think she's taking us? Sun asked his brother, unbeknownst to the blonde. Moon shrugged, blinking his new eyes rather rapidly as he struggled to get used to the several new overlays he now had. He could see where each of the glamrock animatronics were, Vanessa's (or anybody's) level of clearance, and even call his wire out in the rest of the megaplex now.

Vanessa led them up to the atrium and around a corner to another woman sitting nervously in one of the cushioned seats for families to take breaks on. She also wore a security guard outfit, but she didn't have the same clearance as Vanessa. In fact, she seemed to have very little clearance, Moon could see, due to the new overlay. Sun gasped loudly inside their shared mind, making Moon flinch. What?! the blue animatronic hissed back.

Sun didn't reply, and Moon made an irritated noise. Vanessa was talking to the other security guard, when she finally turned to him and smiled. "Apparently you two have met before," she said, gesturing towards you, who stood up but kept your eyes to the floor. Something tugged at the back of Moon's mind as Sun tried to bring up a memory file. But he didn't need to. You looked up and locked eyes with them, nervousness written all over your face.

For years the brothers daydreamed of seeing you again. For years they sat in their room and wondered what happened to you. For years they waited patiently, hoping that by some miracle, you would be brought back to them again.

And here you were.

139 notes · View notes

yes-i-write-fanfiction · 5 months ago

Note

Hello again!! Can I request headcanons again for young justice x female reader? The reader being John Constantine's apprentice? (the reader's powers are linked to magic such as invoking portals, stopping time, telepathy, telekinesis, etc.) Thank you in advance.

-Being Constantine's apprentice, you have a bit of an attitude. It's not your fault, honestly! It's just something you picked up after years of studying under the magician. Your first reaction to anything is a snarky comment that isn't always taken the right way. This, coupled with your stubborn nature and inexperience working with non-magic people, makes you a bit of an outcast when you first join Young Justice.

-Because of this, the first couple missions with the team is rough. They are a well oiled machine of cooperation and communication and your sudden addition makes it awkward, no one quite sure what to make of you. It doesn't help that whenever someone tries to talk to you, get closer, you immediately resort to sarcastic remarks that makes you seem distant and rude.

-The teams initial feelings about you aren't the best. Megan tries to be understanding and gentle but your snarky remarks leaves her feeling confused and slightly hurt. Do you not like her? Did she do something wrong? Because of this, Connor doesn't like you, finding you difficult to talk to.

-Wally gets on your nerves, with his one million questions and tendency to mess with your magical equipment. He likes to mess with you and make fun of magic, much to your annoyance. Dick keeps spying on you and questioning everything you do when you perform rituals, not cause he doesn't trust that you know what you're doing but because he feels like he needs to know too.

-Artemis and Kaldur are the most neutral. Kaldur tries to be a buffer when you and the team argue and doesn't really take any of your comments to heart. Artemis is mostly annoyed by Wally's insistence on antagonizing you and does her best to actually adapt to your addition to the team.

-The big break comes during a moment of downtime between missions. Wally is being his usual self, making some teasing remarks about stage magicians and rabbits in hats. Annoyed, you magic him a pair of bunny ears and a tail. Robin sees this and starts laughing like a mad man. Feeling mischievous, you do the same thing to Robin, except you give him cat ears and a tail instead. Now Wally is laughing and the rest of the team, attracted by the sound of laughter, gather around.

-Megan, amused and endeared by the sight, shapeshifts into a dog. Wanting to show off, you create an illusion of a dog. So she shifts into a bear. Now the illusion a bear. Rinse and repeat a couple times until you decide to one-up her by creating an illusion of a magical creature. Robin calls bullshit and says there's no way a creature like that exists, only for you to prove him wrong by showing him a picture of one of your phone (taking during one of your training missions with Constantine).

-You start telling them about other strange creatures you've seen, magical places you've been and supernatural beings you've met. The team listens attentively as, aside from the fact that you're Constantine's apprentice, they know nothing about you.

-After this, things slowly start to work out with the team. You grow closer, come to an understanding and you find yourself an actual place in Young Justice. After some time, you start to actually call them your friends.

-Congratulations! They would now die for you. And while you would never admit it, you would die for them too.

-As the resident magician, you are their go to person with anything mystical and/or supernatural. Some things are obvious like curses or artifacts but sometimes they approach you regarding the strangest things. Like if Mothman is real? Bigfoot? Really? Don't be silly Wally, he died in the blizzard of 96. They can never be certain if you're joking or not and you take delight in their confusion. Only Megan gets straight answers from you and that's because she tells you about Mars in return.

-Speaking of Megan, due to the fact that you can perform telepathy thanks to magic, you and her have most of your conversations in your minds. While yes, she can do so with anyone in the team, the fact that you can perform it on your own and initiate conversations is kinda a big deal. It reminds her of home.

-Wally still teases you but now when you tease back there's none of the malice that there used to be. He delights in your 'magic tricks' and loves it whenever you show off a new spell.

-The team learns about how Constantine sold his soul a couple of times and they held an intervention where they made you promise to never do that. Dick had a whole ass powerpoint presentation about the detriments of selling your soul. You made a joke about 'what if I have already done it?' and Kaldur looked so disappointed that you had to quickly backtrack and promise that you were just kidding.

-Thanks to your versatile set of spells, you have an easy time working with anyone in the team as you can quickly adapt to their powers and skills. This makes you highly valuable in both team missions and while working one-on-one with someone else.

-Not to mention that some of your spells are just hilarious.

-You hit Klarion with a spell that made him voicecrack and he got so embarrassed that he straight up went home. The team went hogwild and Robin actually bought ice cream cake in celebration afterwards.

-While you are a splendid magician, the team also trains you in combat, mostly unarmed. If, for some reason, your magical powers become unavailable to you, they want you to be able to defend yourself anyway. That's how you learned how to sword fight and how to throw a mean punch.

#young justice #imagine #DC #headcanons #john constantine #m'gann m'orzz #conner kent #klarion the witch boy #wally west #kid flash #dick grayson #robin #artemis crock #kaldur'ahm

39 notes · View notes

kaixserzz · 1 year ago

Note

I LITERLALY CANT STOP THINKING ABOUT DOTTORE AKEDMIYA DOTTOR ZANDIK ❤💞💞💞

I'm just imagining akadmiya dottore and us being all romantic whilst on an expedition with other scholars. Like, dottore isn't being verbal with love confessions and acts that'd reek of adoration for you, but he'd most DEFINITELY be acting some type of way when ppl try communicating with you. Dude, he would be so BLATANT of his favoritism for you on this expedition, he's sharing his notes only with you, he's taking you out to see cool places in the mountains of sumeru, he'd go into that giant ruin guard and act all romantic with you (all while explaining the technology of the ruin guard and trying to operate its cabin like the nerd he is🥰)

The scholars who are travelling with you two are just confused on why dottore is so mean with them but so soft with you. Obviously, he's gonna try to make it seem like he holds some sort of grudge against you too, but it's so clear how much he likes you.

Dottore could have the nastiest scowl on his face, silently challenging his fellow classmates to an argument or a fight, but the minute you call for him to ask a question or something he's suddenly walking away with a now neutral expression on his face. HED JUST SPEAK TO YOU WITH THE SOFTEST VOICE WHIKE THE OTHER SCHOLARS ARE LIKE "bro wtf is going kn😭"

I KNOOOW RIGHT??? akademiya zandik is SUCH a cutie 😭😭

he's SO bad at showing he loves you, you just have to learn how he express himself you know?

AND EVERYTHING YOU SAID ANON IS SO TRUE IM LIKE GIGGLING AT THE IMAGE INSIDE MY HEAD... he really REALLY tries to be subtle, and he thinks he's slick but nah. almost EVERYONE knows what's up but they don't understand why YOU. you're not one of the top students, but you're nice and usually sociable. more sociable than your roommate, at least.

i like to think when he's called out about his behavior toward you, he'd immediately be like "wtf are you talking about" and ignores you for like, 10 minutes max before he's back sticking at your side and dragging you where ever he wants to go.

ADBSADSA AND WHEN HE NERDS OUT!! other scholars are trying to listen in to what he says so they can learn something, but one glare from him, and they just walk away in defeat. he wants to share his knowledge to YOU and YOU only!! others don't deserve it, they don't even treat him like he's human!

and he's so cute when he nerds out too 😭😭 his eyes are always twinkling when he starts ranting to you, and he gets so giddy and proud of himself whenever you look at him in awe as he maneuvers the ruin guard. if you look close enough, his neck and the tips of his eyes are completely red all the time when you listen to him so intently!!

i can just imagine if one of the scholars were talking down at you, he'd immediately jump in and obliterate whatever ego/pride they had. he'd point out how THEY'RE ultimately the very wrong one and how your theory is more accurate with the amount of proof you have.

zandik is so bad at hiding his affections for you DSAHDSAHDA he can't help it :( but at least others would know you're off limits !!

#˚₊໒💉꒱kai talks₊˚#╰┈➤ il dottore #UGGGGGHGGHH AKADEMIYA ZANDIK IS SOOOO CUTE #tysm for the brainrot anon i LOVEEE thissobs #dottore x reader

118 notes · View notes

linkspooky · 1 year ago

Note

What’s your thoughts on teen titans 2005 blackfire?

This is actually a complicated question to answer because I do love the Blackfire we get from the Teen Titans cartoon, but it isn't really my favorite adaptation of her character. Part of the problem is she's only in two episodes. If Starfire got her own season then Blackfire would probably have to be fleshed out more just by necessity.

I guess my main issue boils down to the difference between personality and character depth. Which is something I just made up on the spot but, a character can have a lot of personality but not be a particularly deep character and vise versa. More under the cut.

Cartoon Blackfire is so overflowing with personality that she's an incredibly memorable character despite only appearing in two episodes. The cartoon adaptation does a good job in general of streamlining the more complicated comic book versions into easily recognizable personalities that fit into the animated adaptation, where you still get the gist of the original.

Robin is trying too hard to be Batman, reflective of early Teen Titans Dick Grayson's habit of overworking himself and his insecurity as leader. Starfire's personality focuses on her fish out of water aspects which was a big conflict for her originally. Cyborg's portrayal leans into the disability representation aspect of his narrative and how like an ablest society has taught him to hate himself or think of himself as less than human for his cybernetic prosthetics.

The show communicates these deep ideas in more simplified personalities compared to the comic book counterparts (they have to it's a 20 minute cartoon versus a new teen titans run with over a hundred issues).

Then we get to Blackfire who also has a strong personality that immediately communicates a lot about her character. Number one she is the archetypal big sister who makes her little sister feel inferior about everything, it's like being in middle school when your sister is a high scholer. From Starfire's perspective Blackfire has always been cooler, stronger, more adult. That's something the audience can understand pretty easily because they most likely have big sisters too who seem cool and untouchable.

On top of that though as the episode progresses we learn that Blackfire isn't just making Starfire jealous on accident. Like it could have been an accident sometimes you hang out with a new group of friends and immediately grab the attention away but it's just a misunderstanding you're just trying to integrate yourself into the group and newer people tend to attract more attention. Borrowing your sisters clothes, hanging out with their friends and taking attention away, those could all just be a normal sibling conflict.

Then you find out that Blackfire's doing this on purpose, she's just trying to edge out Starfire and steal her place with her friends. It's not just because she wants to hide out from under the law and stick Starfire with the blame to get the police off her tail, no this is something she constantly does in every interaction with Starfire. She's always insisting that she's the better sister. She's reinforcing this sibling rivalry and always trying to come out on top.

Blackfire constantly antagonizes Starfire and turns everything into a competition, whereas Starfire doesn't see things that way she just sees them as sister. There are times where Blackfire is mentioned offhand and Starfire tells stories of her growing up like (Oh, my sister went through puberty and she turned purple for three days). So the rivalry thing is also pretty clearly one-sided on Blackfire's side. Even Blackfire's attempt to conquer tamaran and marry Starfire off to some ugly alien, it's a pretty clear attempt to just hurl egg in her sister's face.

Blackfire personality-wise also has that bad girl thing going to her. She's the quintessential mean girl to Starfire's naive nice girl. Her introduction episode where she immediately takes away the attention of all of Star's friends by coming off as a cooler version of Starfire, and the night club scene where she's wearing Starfire's clothes, and dancing also calls to mind Faith, Hope and Trick, the BTVS episode where Faith the other slayer is introduced to serve as the main character Buffy's darker foil. The "Bad Slayer" to Buffy's "Good Slayer."

This is what Blackfire is set up to be, she's not only a rival / antagonistic sibling she's supposed to be the "bad sister" to Starfire's "good sister". It's a pretty shallow role but Blackfire has so much personality that she plays it really well.

The show itself doesn't really dig any deeper than the sibling rivalry and the good sister / bad sister aspect, though. Which isn't true for the comics. Which is why I consider cartoon Blackfire a good adaptation of her PERSONALITY, but one lacking in character depth.

What makes comics Blackfire such a fascinating character to me is that she and Starfire are a pretty nuanced breakdown of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic. It's something a lot of adaptations miss out on. Even the debatably canonical Teen Titans GO! spinoff Comic of the show that ran at the same time the show was running kind of misses out on this element in their origins.

"Starfire was more liked because she was kinder and prettier..." this oversimplification that their parents did love all their children equally, Blackfire was just a bad seed / bad child who was unpleasant and hateful from the start. THe archetypal jealous older sister / cain to Starfire's Abel.

That's not how it is in the comics! Blackfire is disabled in the comics, and because of that Starfire's parents heavily favor their abled child. Blackfire's narrative is a disability narrative, she's unable to fly in her world so her parents strip her of her rightful inheritance and treat her far worse than her abled children, for no other reason than she can't fly.

I'm going to borrow heavily from another post about a character with a similiar disability narrative, where they are actively abused by their ableist parent: Toya Todoroki from My Hero Academia.

Touya, as a kid, is undergoing this painful disability, and rather than acknowledge his hand in that - because Endeavor brought him into this world for selfish reasons, without thought or care to the possibility of the Incompatible Outcome - Endeavor just turns him away and refuses to see his pain. He doesn't try to accommodate or mitigate or treat the disability, just pushes the disabled child aside and minimizes how severe the disability is. [...] Endeavor then keeps attempting to have "non disabled" children to "make up for" the disabled one. [...] Touya, however, in all of his grief and his anger, can only see that once again, he is not seen, his suffering didn't matter to his father. His disability is made to be his fault and his failure, which Endeavor, despite having a shrine to him, has cleanly wiped his hands of it. This new child is not disabled; this child is perfect. This is similar to how disabled older siblings may initially fail to emotionally connect to their abled baby siblings, and fail to see the way their parents may hurt or otherwise not nurture them; resentment at what is, real or perceived, better treatment and more displays of love, care, attention, etc builds inside.

Blackfire is born with a disability, and rather than try to accomodate for her, her parents just turn away from her refuse to see her pain and then push her aside for their "non-disabled" children. Starfire is not disabled, Starfire is perfect, and Blackfire knows that their parents treat the two of them differently.

Which is why in her pain and desperation for her parent's attention Blackfire has never truly connected or noticed Starfire, because she's incapable of seeing Starfire as anything other than the "abled" sibling in the household and the "favorite." Which isn't Blackfire or Starfire's fault, it's a conflict that's forced upon them by their parents. If Blackfire's parents had just treated her like a normal child instead of scapegoating her for her disability, Blackfire would have no reason to compete with Starfire.

However, there's an added element to this which makes the Blackfire and Starfire dynamic so good, is that Starfire does not understand that she's the golden child. She thinks their parents are perfectly normal, loving parents, and that Blackfire is the problem. Starfire refuses to ever see that Blackfire was abused and from the start believes that Blackfire just came out of the womb petty and jealous.

To be fair Blackfire does commit sibling abuse when she's younger, and even eventually ends up selling out their entire planet, and her sister to her the enemy. If Starfire resents Blackfire for her actions she's justified, but Starfire reduces Blackfire in her mind to a mustache twirling villain.

It's like if Starfire saw a pair of parents abusing their child in a wheelchair, screaming at him for not being able to walk, Idk, pushing him down the stairs she'd get angry and think they're horrible parents, but she can't see that the behavior is bad in her own parents.

Once again Starfire is a victim of Blackfire's lashing out, but at the same time imagine it from Blackfire's perspective. Imagine knowing that your parents are abusing you, and having no one to confide in because even if you told your sister how you'd felt she'd take her parents side and say "it's your fault, why don't you just try behaving better?"

In the comics themselves Blackfire's intense rivalry with Starfire is really her attempt to "earn" back the love of her parents by making up for the disability she was born with.

It's also sort of ironic - many disabled children (physical, intellectual, mental etc) often continue pushing themselves to achieve their parents dreams- whether it's sports, academics, work, etc - as a way to garner attention or praise or love or "make up" for being a burden/disabled until they collapse in some way - mental health crisis, irreversible body damage, etc.

Blackfire becomes violent, obsessed with strength, because her parents have taught her that there is something wrong with her that she needs up to make up for her inherent weakness by being strong. Blackfire is who she is in reaction to an inherently Ableist society that demonizes her for her disability, and parents who punish her and a sister who (cluelessly) joins in on that.

It's a good golden child and scapegoat dynamic because as awful as Blackfire is as an adult, she didn't have to become that way. She was pointlessly scapegoated as a child, pushed, pushed, and pushed because apparently it was just too hard for her parents to love a disabled child. It's also probably one that a lot of readers don't understand because it's a little hard to swallow the idea that some parents will just treat children as subhuman for having some disability, but then be perfectly capable of loving their abled children.

What makes it such a great one though is that it eventually breaks free from assigning Starfire the hero role, and Blackfire the villain role. One thing I hate about most "Good sibling vs Bad sibling" conflicts is that they'll make the bad sibling the one who got abused. Like, wow the abused sibling that didn't get any outside help is angry and violent... no duh.

As the comic goes on they break out of their roles because Blackfire becomes a much deeper character than she initially was. She's no longer just a power hungry dictator trying to grab a throne that wasn't hers out of jealousy, she eventually wins the throne of Tamaran because she is a better ruler than either Starfire or either of her parents. We learn that the reason she's so motivated isn't because she came out of the womb a little hater, but a genuine patriot.

She's violent and ruthless not because she has to be, but because she genuinely believes it is the only way to accomplish her goals of a better Tamaran. It is really the extreme end of what her parents did to her as children. Blackfire became violent, volatile, and determined because she wanted to earn back the love from her parents. Blackfire decides she has to be strong, cold and a killer because she has to work hard to earn the love of her planet.

Her backstory all ties into these goals, and through that we can see why Blackfire treats Starfire that way. It's not just that Blackfire is jealous of Starfire, but also that Blackfire represses her need for love. Her parents never loved her, so why would Starfire? She spent her entire childhood trying to earn that love and never got it, so she tried to deny that she ever wanted love in the first place.

Blackfire is actively killing off the part of her that desires love from people, that wants a family, because she believes it will make her lose sight of her goals. If that means she ends up turning against her family and fighting Starfire, well, oh well then she never had a family in the first place.

However, she's never completely able to get rid of her desire for familial love which is why she has this weird obsession with Starfire in the first place. Starfire's basically the only one who tried to love Blackfire and have a connection with her, even if Blackfire didn't reciprocate. Which is why Blackfire is simultaneously always trying to put Starfire down, but at the same time she can't let go of Starfire either. I think Blackfire desires that relationship with her sister too, but one it's hard not to be jealous when you see your more abled sibling receiving the love and care you want, and number two Starfire has consistently all their lives sided with Blackfire's abusers over her.

Which is why instead of the sibling relationship they both want, which is to just be normal sisters and equals they're constantly forced to fight against each other. Neither of them actually wants this, it's their parents, it's outside circumstances, and it's their own inability to overcome their emotional flaws that makes them constantly fight. Which is just sad because Starfire has no connection with her younger brother, and her parents are just as ready to sell her out as they were Blackfire so the only person in her biological family who loves her is Blackfire... albeit in a twisted way.

They both miss out on the chance to have a close connection with a person who they grew up with, and will understand a lot of their lives especially because Blackfire and Starfire are actually pretty similiar (the same person in two different fonts) because neither of them can get over this conflict.

It's tragic. They miss out on the chance for a loving sibling relationship that they both want because they can't overcome the cycle of abuse that started with their parents.

Anyway, if you want a show that dissects the golden child and scapegoat dynamic between the two of them better you can watch Season 3 of the HBOMAX TItans Adaptation. Their Starfire and Blackfire are fantastic and the season actually shows the two of them reconciling.

#teen titans meta #teen titans #komand'r #koriand'r #blackfire #starfire #blackfire teen titans #starfire teen titans #new teen titans

133 notes · View notes

marciaillust · 1 year ago

Note

Hey! I just wanted to say I’ve been following you forEVER now, and that your art has been inspiring me since i was a teenager. I was wondering if you could share a little about your rendering process? How did you improve it over the years, what did you learn you wish u knew sooner, stuff like that?

(Thanks anyway, and definitely getting myself ur new comic)

Hi! oh wow thank you so much for the kind words!

My rendering process hmmmm.... I will try to sum up the thoughts that come to my mind as I'm writing this, though I might be missing some proper vocabulary

The first thing that surfaced in my brain is exposition within a picture. This is what the picture focuses on - things in the light, or things in the shadow, and how much details each of these two receive rendering wise.

It's basically like taking a photo with a phone - if you click on a bright thing (say, a window), the phone will automatically adjust the exposition and all the other bright things will be visible(lotta detail), but the shadows will become turbo dark (no details). Alternatively, if you click on a dark shadow, all the dark things will become visible (details) but the hypothetical window will become blown out and turbo white (no details). You can basically have one or the other but never both. (or I guess you can who am I to tell anyone how to make art yanno no rules up in this house)

anyway, so for example, this pic^ focuses on the things in the dark, meaning everything in direct light receives no details.

and this pic^ focuses on the light and so all the cast shadows are pitch black.

One other thing that I learned a longass time ago was that edges(and shapes) are arguably the most important part of an object within a picture. Clean edges immediately call for focus, while softer or vague edges allow things to fade in the background and communicate the idea of a thing rather than showing you the thing itself. On a related note note, clean edges also make work in progress appear about 25% more finished.

I guess this all has to do with contrast and contrast can be created in many ways - edges (soft/sharp), colours (eg. red fish in a blue sea), spacing (objects being grouped vs. a single object), the amount of detail per object etc etc etc. and all of these can be controlled to solve specific issues within a picture.

In short, if a thing is important aka the focal point, make it stand out - sharp edges, details, specific colours and a lighting situation that make it pop. And if a thing isn't too important leave it vague, communicate the idea of it rather than focusing on drawing it.

On the note of things being sharp, a thing that I always swore by is, if there are eyes in the picture those eyes better be d-o-n-e. Pristine. People will look at the eyes, eyes communicate 90% of emotion, the eyes are the it girl of the picture forever and always, nobody will look at the wonky foot, they will look at the eyes and judge the quality of the picture. If the eyes are shit the picture is shit. (I'm exaggerating but fr. eyes are a big deal.). They don't have to be turbo rendered or physically mad sharp but they need to be done. Whatever that means, take what you will from my word soup.

One thing that I've become a big fan of over the years is the concept of wear and tear. This has to do with texturing things in pictures and I looooooooooooooooove thinking about ways items are used in order to create bumps and scratches that can be featured.

It always makes things look like they belong to someone?? It makes them real? Like the tip of that bone. that bone has been places. That belt has seen use. That bag carried things. Like yanno?? I looove things that chip and have nicks. Give me wood and I'll put a dent in it I swear.

And I thing the latest thing that I'm trying to incorporate within my art, though I haven't had much time or opportunity to do it in personal art because of work, is colour variation within each element.

Like his face. His skin is obviously "beige" but you will see red, and blue and yellow and green in there too. Stuff like that yanno? I'm quite interested in taking this further in my future paintings. I'm still learning how to push what, where and how but ayyy issa journey I'll happily embark on.

And of course apart from all that it's the usual jazz, working on anatomy composition perspective doing it a lot over and over again babababababa and so on and so forth.

I haven't had much opportunity to paint since I started working on the comic last year but it had it own set of challenges for me. Linework is a completely different kind of rodeo and I've improved in different departments a lot and I'd be happy to bring those things into my paintings when I have the chance. I feel like I'm at a point where I know a lot more than what I've had the opportunity to put on paper, it feels exciting!

I hope at least some of my ramblings were of interest to you!! Again, that you for the nice message and have a nice day :)

117 notes · View notes

halsinningiswinning · 2 months ago

Text

Can we please talk about how weird the Halsin-raised orphans would be?

Of course, through no fault of their own, they're survivors of the unimaginable so a little strange umami is expected.

A wall of text awaits you under the cut. Gird your loins.

They would all have some serious trauma before even meeting Halsin due to the invasion and whatever else led them to be orphaned, then after the game he whisks them away from the city almost immediately.

Mind you some of these children may have been BORN in Baldur's Gate, and others may be refugees who spent gods knows how long just trying to get Baldur's Gate. I can understand that the city isn't a safe place for them anymore, and moving is a necessary evil, but that won't change the fact it may affect them.

Now Reithwin does seem rather close to Baldur's Gate in the grand scheme of things, the game implies it's only a day's journey apart. I'm aware the forced long rest once you reach the city is for narrative purposes, but it still gives the impression it's a day-long walk. The journey should be relatively uneventful from the view of outside threats, but moving that many children for long periods will be taxing on everyone. Assuming no one is lost or has a serious meltdown.

The cracks would begin showing immediately. Now, raising kids isn't easy and Halsin knows he's in for yet another uphill battle. However, the practical reality is that raising a child takes way more than love and good intentions.

Odds are that Last Light would become the first place the commune would set up due to its relative lack of corruption. They have rooms and supplies, and the building is in decent enough condition. There would be next to no privacy, however. Not due to anything nefarious, just simply due to how many people would be in such a small space.

Would these kids have time and space to actually process everything? Or would getting them settled in a fixer-upper situation where all hands must work to succeed keep them in survival mode for longer? They're safe, sure, but not thriving yet.

Now let's finally discuss the adults in the room.

Daddy Halsin, of course. He has a lot of love to give, and frankly, his own wounds of losing his family have also never fully healed. Wounds like that rarely do. No doubt he feels a great sense of empathy and kinship with these children.

However, he didn't exactly thrive as Archdruid. Through his own admission, he was too quick to absolve himself of responsibility. Granted he never chose to be archdruid, unlike how he chose to become a father figure, and intent can change what someone is willing to endure. The fact remains that raising wagonloads of children is a far heavier responsibility than being the leader of a small religious community of ADULTS.

Even if he were to forgo hibernation (which he almost certainly would, he doesn't have the same biological pressures of actual bears, even if the HC of him being a werebear is true) and limit how often he tranced (more dangerous to be sure, but many parents have to live in states of extreme sleep deprivation for a time) are there even enough hours in the day to attend to each child personally?

The other adult in the situation would be Art Cullagh, assuming he survives and is in any state to help. He's an interesting case because he has no obligations to help, from his perspective they just showed up at his door and moved in because Halsin said so. He'd be well within his rights to want to distance himself. The terminally ill rarely have the energy or time to raise children. It's a heartbreaking reality for many families who lose a parent while still having children in the home, but these aren't Art's kids.

Despite that, I believe he'd step up to the plate as best he could. He spent a century warped by shadows and torment, but his biggest concern was Thaniel. Granted, Thaniel was a magical entity that had protected Art, but that doesn't change the fact Art seems aware that Thaniel is just a boy. Art is a good man, practical, humble, and kind. He'd see the same wagonloads of scared, lost children that Halsin sees and would understand that standing by and doing nothing would be unthinkable.

But what could he actually do? He could offer emotional support, an ear to listen, and perhaps music lessons. Outside of that, his condition poses a serious impediment to being more hands-on.

He will also, realistically speaking, be the first death the kids experience in their new family after the move. The kids who have all already experienced the loss of their parents, now lose another parental figure.

Now let's discuss provisions.

In the modern day, it's easy to sometimes forget the truly Herculean task of feeding people is. We have massive farms, and legions of underpaid and often exploited workers to keep said farms functioning. We have fleets of transporters, on land, air, and sea to get the food where it needs to be. We have refrigeration, preservatives, and irradiation to make our food more nutritious for longer. I'm not here to discuss the negative ramifications of this right now when the game is making sure the population has adequate calories.

We also have a large portion of our society dedicated to food preparation. Every factory worker is who involved in making processed foods, and prepackaged foods. Chefs, school cooks, hospital canteens. There are people in the grocery stores who make hot food, or cut and prepare cold foods for consumption. Past all the people professionally involved, we also have societal pressure on women (predominantly) to be competent cooks, as many women are expected to cook for their whole families. In the modern day this pressure has lessened slightly, but historically we subjugated a whole gender to just ensure everyone could eat.

WHO IS GETTING FOOD FOR THESE CHILDREN? Is it Halsin? Because that also cuts into his availability for the children. Is it Art? Given his poor health, I highly doubt it. Thaniel may be able to supply the raw ingredients needed to sustain life, as nature does provide, but raw fruit and veggies alone aren't the best diet for growing children.

Odds are the burden of the eldest child will simply be shared among the oldest, or rather most grown children. They will have to step up and help care for the younger ones. Even if Halsin doesn't ask them to, most children can see suffering in others and are motivated to help. Some may resent it, but there will be many children who feel responsible for their new less grown siblings.

Now let's discuss species and how they age!

We all know the various species of the Forgotten Realms age wildly differently. Goblins cap out at a 50-60 year lifespan if memory serves, Elves can live over 700 years. These children won't all reach maturity at the same time. Some of the kids could live, marry, have kids, and die before their adopted siblings are old enough to even start dating properly. Some could have entire generations before others even have the nerve to leave home.

The children who mature faster will gain responsibilities faster, that's normal and natural, but the forced parental duties would simply be a part of it. Even if it is needed to ensure all the kids make it, it's hardly fair for the children pressured into caring for others. This is another burden people in our world have to shoulder, and we know the price they pay isn't insignificant.

I've more to say, but for now, I've said enough. I adore Halsin, I do think this is what he thinks is his happy ending. I also do believe that this fate is better than being left on the streets of Baldur's Gate, but let's not ignore the realities of what would happen. I tried to keep my headcanons to myself and instead focus on just asking questions, but I do have MANY headcanons.

#baldur's gate 3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #halsin silverbough #baldurs gate halsin #art cullagh #I HAVE MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS #im gonna go watch midsommar again to help condense my ideas #cause yeaaaaah #I do hc that some of the harpers follow after halsin to help out but there's nothing in canon to suggest this happens soooo

9 notes · View notes