#I didn't want to make this too long and derail from the characters even more. but I'd be will to share my experiences

[ohwell-itsme-but-danganronpa]

AroAce Club: The Origins

Sini: As an ace person ace Miu makes perfect sense. It's one of my fave hcs as well and I also just find it offensive when people say certain characters are "too horny" to be ace. Like....Ace people can be horny???

we need to start a club, aces united for ace Miu

Ves: sneaks into your house and turns all your ships into qprs while you aren't looking

you are my hero for this

idk how to put that in normal words, I feel unhinged things about this

I need explicitly aromantic ship content and nobody is making it

how many times can I reread Litsu's "Besties but Better" before more fics like that spawn, before I go insane?

I mean, "The Simple Truth (And Other Boldfaced Lies)" has been starting to go in that direction but it's crumbs in 1 (one) longfic that I don't know when/if to expect a next update

Hina: Can I ask what you mean by this?

I mean stories that make it clear characters are aromantic that are still relationship focused, that show how they navigate it

Hina: That seems cool, and I'd love to see this more!! I think I've only ever seen one or two aromatic ones and maybe like 5-10 asexual ones? (I know those aren't the same)

I want to read about characters being confused by the other types of attraction they experience trying to figure out their feelings just as much as I do about ones figuring out they're gay

I want those domestic slice of life one-shots that just don't have the romance in them but still make it clear the relationship is as important to the characters in it

I want to read those settling into a relationship 5+1 fics but about QPR

Clown_Chaoticz: This is so true, man, there's just a few certain things I think do best when presented in the form of something aromantic. Really wish there was more surrounding that type of closeness

Checkers: romance is a really difficult concept for me so seeing qpr and intimacy without romance is very lovely

Clown_Chaoticz: One of my favorite headcanons is that shuichi is somewhere on the aromatic spectrum, probably because I see him as the type to have some sort of feelings for everyone he meets. I saw that and went "HEH. HEHEHEHE". Meanwhile I think ouma is demisexual, or something along those lines. I wish there was something about them navigating something like that

crack treated seriously: actually getting married just for the tax benefits, an easygoing aro couple that doesn't attach much meaning to it, surrounded by supportive but not understanding friends who need to get more chill about it, it's just a formality and a party to celebrate being over with it, please we just want to be able to visit each other at the hospital if something happens, stop talking about children

Hina: Can I ask a question? How exactly does the aromatic spectrum work (genuine)

the range is similar to the ace spectrum, you get the gray, demi and all that

some aroace people use one label because the general lack of both feels like one and the same to them, but I use both separately, cause I have different feelings about those and figured them out at different times. I think I don't get romantic feelings at all, while being somehow hyperromantic (ik the term is almost unheard of compared to hypersexual, but it works the same), while having some sexual attraction left as long as it's impossible to pursue, and being mildly repulsed by mentions of irl stuff/realistic depictions while being fascinated with fiction. It was really easy for me to say I'm ace and never want to actually do anything sexual, while admitting I'm aro is still hard, part of me just obsesses over romance. And I still get sensual attraction on the crossroads of aesthetical and platonic, which is really annoying and sets off the hyperromantic spiral

Clown_Chaoticz: Yee!! Pretty much little to no romantic feelings! But still with the ability to love really deeply, just more on the platonic side of things. Personally I like it for shuichi specifically because the struggle to put people into a well defined "I feel this about you" box is very real. Mostly because I think shuichi would be inclined to search for clear answers, without realizing that his and others people's definitions of romantic are just the right amount of awkward to feel off. I'm struggling to describe it ajskhdshd I'm aromantic! And everyone's experience surrounding that is different sure but the way I can describe it for myself is that I am unable to see myself in a romantic relationship. I lowkey find it unnecessary. I like seeing it! I like thinking about it with my silly fictional people! I do not see it for myself. For the longest time I straight up did not know there was another aspect to liking someone. I thought everyone just picked who they had feelings for I thought there was a step by step process where you HAD to be friends first because there was no reason for you to further the relationship otherwise. So getting friendzoned? Did not understand why people were upset about that. Cause I thought, you have everything you need! Your still close to them!! I understand now the difference but MAN it's complicated.

like, some ace fics imply characters to lack sensual attraction too and be grossed out by kissing, but I am not, and it bothers me, because it's hard to explain it as a separate kind of attraction and draw the line

no, bc when I was pursuing dating I was hell-bent on the have to be friends first too, like, surely you have to get to know them first to be able to feel it, right? right?

Sini: Demisexual Kokichi is my fave and I cherish it. I've never thought of arospec Shuichi but that does make sense… I usually think of Tenmiko as having a kind of qpr or aroace romance. I didn't even know there were Saiou fics like that out there I know there are ones focused on asexuality that I've read, but that's it

Clown_Chaoticz: OHH!! I CAN SEE THIS!!! Tenmiko as a qpr kind of goes hard actually akhdkshdkdj This will be the only way I accept it from now on/hj

Sini: Idk, they're so coded to me- Tenko is such an aroace lesbian. She just admires and loves Himiko sm. And Himiko strikes me as not being the dating type. Like she has her crushes and stuff, she can have romantic adjacent feelings, but if she's getting involved she doesn't really want to do was is expected of her. She likes Tenko but not like that and Tenko realizes she feels the same. They simply have a deep connection : ) Literally gal pals Himiko goes off like, "We're not soulmates, we're soulbonded" and everyone but Tenko is confused on what the difference is

also I made this chart of my hcs, but tbh I could move nearly anyone to a higher tier at any time if I felt like it, any of them could be aspec, and the main reason I didn't put Kaito as aroace is me being a hater, not wanting to share that with him, he has the potential for it, and I could put saiou in any variation, maybe one day I'll write something where one is aro and the other is ace, and they still get into some weird situationship, probably within The Greater Akamatsu Polycule, they're just fascinated by each other, there'd be mind games and Literal Sleeping Together... it'd be great.

[when I shared it in the pit, I said] I need help, how do I hc characters as aro without making them aroace? I need more aro hcs, I am not even sure about Sayaka or Sonia, it was more like I'm okay with placing them there but it wouldn't be my default, why do I not have aro hcs? wtf and I am not much better with ace hcs, I was going to have Kiyo and Gundham be just ace, but the voice in my head was like Why not? Why shouldn't I make them aroace? We can have it all

Hina: I love Aroace Nekomaru

I just think that after having their private platonic interaction peeped on & sexualized by outsiders both Nekomaru and Akane deserve to be ace, she's got more going on but tbh I haven't seen either of their ftes myself so it's mostly vibes and what other people said I am referring to the massage scene

Sini: FR! They��re so chill when it comes to that stuff. In Akane’s case it could be partly due to all the harassment she received, which just makes a lot of her reactions really sad, but she deserves to be ace as a treat. Makes things a little less sad (but also more so sad)

Hina: I've gotten some hate before for headcanoning Nekomaru as Aroace because he's apparently canonically MLM but? I don't know. Based on his FTE's, he's just a really chill person and I think he values the friendships that he builds and forms with people enough where a romantic relationship just isn't something he thinks about for himself often

Sini: Nekomaru can be Aroace and still be MLM…..Idk why people think being aroace means you can’t feel any attraction to any gender ever

Now go and write about aspecs!

[re-colligere]

What would the spies look like as villains and vice-versa?

This took me a while to get to, even though I've been thinking about it for a LONG while now...it took a lot of brainstorming (especially for the villains LOL)

Below the cut, I wrote some short character blurbs for each of them, and how different they are compared to their OG spy au counterparts!

The spy gang is admittedly a bit more straightforward than the villains. To be fair I also had a faster time figuring out the OG spies too so it's okay.

Agent Buí is our very determined and optimistic field agent! Like Miss April, she's very charismatic and just a bit goofy. She does Not have the hat of holding as an agent, but she's still inhumanely indestructible like a cartoon character. She's also a tad more careful about getting others involved in the crossfire than Miss April is.

Agent Rojo is most commonly seen as Agent Buí's field partner, though his lack of stealthiness and carefulness makes things a little more dicey for them. It's fine though, because Rojo and Buí enjoy the extra challenge. Just like Hellforge, he's very skilled in combat, he lovesss confronting people, and he abides by his moral beliefs seriously. Unlike Hellforge, he's not an engineer in any sense of the word, much less for weapons.

Agent Beguni is the resident tech wiz of the group, responsible for giving the agents a lot of gadgets and tools...though Rojo in particular complains about how "lame" his gadgets are ("Don't call them LAME they're there to PROTECT you!!") Him and Terror are similar in their general...idk patheticness? /LH and their desire to be a little less scared of everything by putting themselves in a high-risk career. Though he still gets kinda pulled by Rojo and Buí out in the field even if it's so so so scarys...

Agent Laranja is the handler and de facto "boss" of the spy gang, like Bughaw is. She likes to plan a lot but the others tend to derail them REALLY quickly, and she has to improvise along with them. It's a bit of work to get her agents under control, but she does enjoy working with them. Similarities with Axyon....might be a spoiler? They both have a background in psychology. And I guess Laranja smiles a lot more here.

I didn't include Granny (Agent Sepia) in here bc I got tired sorry </3 but she would've been a retired agent OR. a director. who keeps reminiscing of the good ol' days of espionage or something.

ANDD the villains. The guys I spent the most time on. My funny little guys

Bb. Alakdan is the villain group's primary information collector and, in some ways, their primary fighter. She specializes in socializing, fashion statements, and poison-making. She has a bunch of other needles hidden in her gloves and boots too. I almost didn't include the scorpion tail because it's So damn impractical. BUT DAMN if it isn't cool (Emile made it for her methink). Like Verte, their strengths are in charisma and persuasion. Unlike Verte, Alakdan is more willing to get her hands dirty, is more confrontational, and she has less emotional baggage about her job. Another name for her was Lady/Miss/Madame Scorpia, which, if translated in Tagalog, is Bb. Alakdan.

Vivien is Alakdan's little sister and a self-proclaimed villain-to-be!! Vivi adores everyone in the villain gang and wants to be as cool as them someday...Just like in the OG au however, her sister Dani discourages her from getting too interested in her career because it's dangerous. She's a bit more involved in the villain group though, kind of acting as their evil minion/apprentice/whatever. The others really like her and will burn the world down if anything bad happened to her. Villain name to come later if I ever come up with something for her.

The Duke of Hearts usually fills the role of Alakdan's partner-in-crime in the field. This fucking guy is actually the reason why this took so long, because I can't think of a good villain gimmick for Emby other than being the Muscle for the group (which is funny, since in the first versions of the OG spy au he WAS gonna be a villain too). I settled for a magician-type guy who's very stealthy and is also great at confusing people. He's just as socially anxious and self-conscious as Roz despite his chosen role, though I guess part of that is him wanting to get over his stage fright. While he's just as physically strong as Roz is, Duke is even more averse to getting into fights; he's truthfully not a very skilled fighter. You guys get to see this doodle I made which cemented the whole silent magician-thief thing I've got for him. Another name for him would've been Mr. Stardust, or something with King/Jack/Ace (like the suits). I don't think he would've been comfortable with being called King though. He's not the King of anything.

The hat of holding is kind of a /joke but I'm kinda obsessed with the implication that the villain group MUST have one in their possession. It's not really needed for him but damn if it isn't funny SKDJFH

Lady Tragedy is the group's mastermind and leader, and everyone pretty much respects her. Extremely clever and surprisingly persuasive, agents must be careful around her lest they hear her calming, hypnotizing voice. The mask is somewhat a mirror of Dr. Axyon's mask, but I haven't really thought about all these guys' motives and backstories too hard (I probably won't). Just like Bughaw, she's a very good leader who's very considerate of her comrades. Tragedy also has decked out mobility aids. Unlike Bughaw............................Tragedy's. a villain? I guess? I think that's literally it. Another name for her was Judge Amygdala or ANYTHING with Judge in it. Judge Tragedy is just hard to say out loud (unless that's just a me thing LOL) but I like how Lady Tragedy ended up sounding.

Emile, or Monsieur Mortelle is literally just Agent Indigo back when she was in the League if we're being honest. Nothing changed about her, I guess again other than motive reasons. She also didn't have a villain name originally, but my French partner suggested something with Mortelle because, APPARENTLY, "ennuie mortelle" is a common French saying which means "killer boredom". I think it was funny so I ended up giving that to her LOL in-universe I'd like to think that Alakdan gave her that name instead because Emile was perfectly satisfied with being called. Emile. She just kinda accepted it. ALSO BTW. Yes I'm aware the gendered words don't match, I know monsieur is masculine and mortelle is feminine That's the point ok. the point is she doesn't careeeeeeeeeeee about genderrrrrrrrrrr okay. so don't get up on my business about this. The only french opinions I care about is my partner's okay /lh

Anyways yeah my braincells were spent on the designs and the names. Probably not gonna develop this any further unless I want to do something silly with them, but nevertheless this was a fun little hypothetical to play around with!

[1000sunnygo]

The fun thing about long running series is that you can trace a character's narrative evolution in real time.

The Law we saw pre-timeskip clearly aimed for One Piece.

Unless it was an elaborated lie to his crewmates (which I guess is the in-series explanation at the moment), it's safe to assume that his D lineage and self assigned suicidal mission didn't exist as a concept back then. The goal is eventually re-established with a context.

While drawing, I assumed Kidd would become important, but I didn't think LAW would move forward like that. So it's youu?? 😱

Weekly serialization, it's a Wonderland.

Weekly serialization means adding oomph on micro scale. I have a particular theory extrapolated from this statement: Law's introduction in Punk Hazard wasn't planned at all.

It might sound far fetched for how integral Law is to Punk Hazard's plot. But it's not an uncommon event, and not just in One piece. Editors often suggest heavy changes to accommodate strong cliffhangers and quick surprises. Eleven supernova were created because early Shabondy lacked oomph, Law might have appeared in Punk Hazard for the same reason.

Even without Law, the straw hats would've anchored in Dressrosa to save Kanjurou, Zou to reunite with Raizo, and in Wano to escort their friends back home. Law just happened to have something going on in all of these places.

I think both Law and Kidd's post timeskip debut was planned to be in Wano arc. Law's competitive dynamic with Kidd and Luffy in Wano is more consistent with Shabondy than anything that came before.

Doflamingo was initially one of Kaido's strongest allies to be defeated within Wano country (confirmed in volume 98 SBS). It means Dressrosa was entirely different from what we got.

Given the similarity in their Jolly Roger, Oda may have always planned Law to be Doflamingo's ex-subordinate with a complicated history, keeping his and Doflamingo's conflict reserved for Wano. But Law was popular, resourceful and the story needed a boost after a monotonous Fishman Island arc. Thus, Law gets his early screentime that snowballs into a dramatic Dressrosa arc. I'm sure Oda didn't mind.

Tldr, I think this is how it went down: Oda decides that Kidd and Law would return and fight alongside Luffy in Wano -> Punk hazard is written and introduces Kinemon -> Punk Hazard falls bland and editor pesters Oda to bring Law early -> Law appears and proposes an alliance, so the plot is now directly chained to Wano -> Oda realizes ope ope makes a good device to explain Imu's immortality -> Oda makes Law a D as he's now connected to endgame plot.

Even if the theory above is wrong, it's a fact that Law was not a part of the bigger picture but became unexpectedly relevant. To work with him, Oda had to figure the smaller details of his personality slowly as the story progressed; such as his honesty and the suicidal tendency.

Law roped straw hats into his revenge scheme while deep down wanting them to leave Dressrosa safe and unharmed. But Law in the draft for this scene looks more... certain. Maybe Robin wasn't wrong to suspect Law after all.

I guess, by the time Oda actually reached the scene, the shadiness didn't suit his personality anymore. Corazon would not approve.

Wano Law was the best written Law. His personality was fully ironed out, not just the revived rivalry with Luffy-Kidd but also a reluctance to be nice while time and time proving it's mostly just talks. It's a mix of his personality traits that were decided at his very introduction and the later decided improvisations.

This post was getting too big and derailed so I had to cut it short lol. Maybe I'm reaching with my speculations but it was a fun topic to brainstorm about.

Edit: Here's a bit of extension of this theory.

[wojcheks]

Stuck — Murdoc x F!Reader

𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭: NSFW, enemies to fucking, unhealthy relationships, undercover mission gone wrong, reader works for an unspecified organization, sexual tension, rough treatment, tied up, dub!con (?) (reader wants it but physically can't leave), choking, biting, fingering (f!receiving), PIV, unprotected sex, blood, possessiveness, murdoc is his own warning. 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 5.1k 𝐀/𝐍: first smut i've ever posted!! the david dastmalchian obsession finally got me y'all. while looking for fics of his characters i decided to write my own. i only watched two episodes with this man so i'm pretty sure he's incredibly ooc. hope it's enjoyable regardless! ❤

You were told you’d be working with a wild card during this mission.

They assured you it wouldn’t affect the overall difficulty of the job. In fact, your partner had excellent skills in all the areas useful for achieving your objective. Weapons expert, proficient in hand-to-hand combat, knowledgeable, and calculated in his actions. All good things in your line of work.

What you didn't know was that they assigned you Murdoc.

And that was information that one needed to know prior to running face first into the aforementioned man. Especially during a job that would undoubtedly involve violence. For fuck’s sake, you would tear your handler a new one after this was over and done with.

Your first instinct was to put a fist through the hitman’s face.

A fair assumption was that he was here to derail you or, at the very least, complicate things. It wouldn’t be the first time he showed up simply to cause mayhem and be a thorn in your side.

Snarling, you threw his body against the wall and the assassin’s head hit the concrete with a sickening thud. With a forearm over his throat, you pressed down, immobilizing him.

You could admit that you were being a little too aggressive than necessary about it.

His dark eyes sparked with an unsettling light, something so unthreatened and unalterable about him it made your hair raise. He wasn't intimidated, you could tell. He treated you more like a nuisance to wave away, not an equal.

You felt his throat move against your skin when he swallowed, and it made you wanna press down harder.

“Calm down, sweetheart. The night's just getting started,” Murdoc murmured while leering at you from behind a wall of long eyelashes. They were so pronounced you wondered if he was wearing mascara.

His eyes suddenly grew wider in a mockery of fear, tone climbing to a falsetto, "Oh, dear god, what did I ever do to deserve this treatment?"

His voice grated on your nerves on the best of days, and this was a pretty bad one. A scoff rose up in your throat, but you crushed it before it could escape. You wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

The clear irritation that lowered your tone into a harsh whisper, however, was unmistakable. A small twitch of his cheek indicated that the hitman found your reaction highly amusing. He made a move as if to raise his hands towards you, but you clamped down on his trachea harder, and he stopped. And as the meaning of your words sunk in, you could almost see the gears start turning behind that smug facade of his.

“Murdoc. Stop thinking of ways to make this more difficult for me, and tell me plainly. What’s going on?” 

A shade of disappointment marred his face before disappearing as quickly as it showed. “Come on, agent, you know me. Where would be the fun in that?”

“Don’t talk to me like we’re friends,” the reprimand barely left your mouth before Murdoc’s fingers wrapped around your elbow and painfully bent it at an angle, removing it from his windpipe with a sharp tug. 

Wide-eyed indignation contorted your face as your places suddenly reversed and Murdoc crushed you into the wall, not holding back either.

You weren’t some dainty, fragile damsel in need of rescue–there was hardened muscle hidden under your evening attire. And yet, Murdoc still overpowered you, both in terms of height and sheer strength.

Your nostrils flared in anger, and you threw your body weight against his grip to dislodge it. 

He made a disapproving sound and let his weight fall on the point of contact between the two of you, driving the sharp parts of his slender fingers into the softness of your neck. You tried to suck in a breath and rasped instead.

“Now, now, you’ll either continue to throw your little tantrum, which won't end well, or start being useful by helping me,” as his words caught up to him, a displeased crease appeared between his brows.

“Although, using the term ‘help’ would be a dire exaggeration. I could be finished here long before you pick yourself up off the floor.”

You knew he was aiming to hurt your ego and rile you up, throwing you off balance around him seemed to be the primary goal. If you lost control and started lashing out against his mockery, the man would undoubtedly win.

He usually attempted it when the two of you ran into each other; it was a path well trodden, with various results.

Admitting it never even crossed your mind, but you were aware, deep down, that he was damn good at it. The words he used were one thing, and as cutting and shrewd in his judgements as he was, sometimes all it took for you to lose it was the damned look on his face. Always so superior and above it all. Like he wasn’t even human.

It drove you nuts.

You geared up for another round of verbal sparring before parsing his meaning. You hissed out the next words; the pressure exerted on your throat proved to be a pretty good deterrent from speaking. “Y-you’re the partner, the informant, that I’m... I’m supposed to be working with?”

Something in your face must have betrayed the distaste stirred up by the idea because Murdoc chuckled and then finally let go of your neck to bow with a flourish. 

You coughed loudly, to get rid of the intrusive feeling of somebody being in control of your breathing. You massaged the bruised flesh where Murdoc’s gloves likely left indentation marks in their wake, then rolled your eyes at his theatrics.

“I don’t think letting your guard down around me is a good idea,” you said dryly when he finally straightened up from the exaggerated pose.

“Oh, sure it is,” another wide grin split his mouth, and you gritted your teeth in muted frustration. “And oh so thrilling, I assure you.”

You didn’t grace that with an answer.

Ten minutes and one barely civil conversation with your HQ later, you and Murdoc walked arm in arm into the towering building.

With only a few minutes to spare, you didn’t even find time to touch up your make-up. Or double check your gun. And as luck would have it, what you were infiltrating was a ball. With dancing included.

You'd groan out loud, but you knew your companion had a biting comment prepared if you so much as blinked wrong. Murdoc seemed thoroughly entertained by the whole debacle and made no effort to hide it, strutting along with all the subtlety of a battering ram.

It was supposed to be his strong suit, being a shadow or whatever, but driving you up the wall must haven taken priority.

In fact, there seemed to exist nothing that made him giddier than getting a reaction out of you, for whatever accursed reason.

“Now, wife,” his lip twitched at the word, “how about we get this party started?”

“How about you never call me that again?”

“And blow our cover? I would never do that to you.”

You glanced towards him. He caught you instantly, his dark piercing gaze dedicated to not letting you get away with anything.

Those dilated pupils peering from beneath half-open eyelids were anything but easy to withstand, but you held your ground. That is, until he gave you a slow once-over, complete with a too-long pause focusing on your cleavage.

“You are infuriating,” you snapped and whipped your head away in the other direction, barely managing not to raise your hand to cover the gap in your clothing.

The man only drew closer and raised his own arm towards you in an inviting (taunting, something inside you whispered) gesture.

“I have my charm. Shall we?”

—

“Would you let go of me, you animal?” While you tried to keep the hissing to a minimum, he wasn't making it easy.

And Murdoc’s hold on you didn’t release, obviously, the words entirely ignored. You expected nothing less.

The leather of his gloves was smooth and firm against your skin, colder than expected, artificial feeling. The sensation was unsettling, a barrier between you that you'd normally welcome with open arms, but something felt different tonight. Instead, you wished he’d take them off, bare skin on bare skin.

The visual had its… appeal.

Even if the man it centered on did not.

You stopped pulling away to not attract more attention from the surrounding people. A couple on your left already began to whisper while unsubtly pointing towards you. Making everyone think that they were witnessing a domestic dispute was a terrible way of staying unnoticed, even Murdoc had to know that. 

He didn’t seem to care about it at all. 

He pulled harder until you had no choice but to step closer towards him. Your palm fell on his chest, breath catching in your throat.

You never really noticed just how much he towered over you when in close quarters, and you wished you still hadn't. Sticking out your chin was a childish move, but having no control over your present movements brought that out in you. 

Where you stood wasn’t a ballroom exactly, but the lofty ceilings and ornate columns lining the walls gave a strong impression of one. Grandiose was one word for it. Over-the-top was another.

Massive mirrors adorned the sides, and you caught a glimpse of your silhouette, partially obscured by the imposing shape of the man gripping your side. You shivered and turned away, oblivious to Murdoc's curious gaze following.

You skimmed the crowd in an attempt to locate the person you were after. It wasn't just to distract from the heat that image caused. Obviously.

“Enjoying yourself?” The singsong lilt of Murdoc’s voice coming from above drew your attention. You reluctantly looked up, ready to chastise him for his pestering; there were things at stake here more important than his pathological need to feel superior.

With languid steps, he swirled you softly to the side, and then pressed you into his chest, his grasp the very opposite of gentle. His fingers were demanding, leaving no room for physical distance.

It felt like a display.

Like he was showing you off.

He had to bend over to reach properly, the tips of his fingers running over the gap in your dress, moving the red material to the side, exposing more skin. You grabbed onto a lapel of his coat, feeling shaken from it.

Some strange stupor fell over you. Staring up at the length of Murdoc’s neck, watching him breathe in and out, the rhythm was almost hypnotic.

You had to dispel it, needed to focus. There was a tremor in your voice, one you hoped he'd take for anger.

“Did you forget why we’re here? It isn’t some fun little outing concocted for your amusement–”

“–I’d beg to differ–”

“–but a mission of significant importance to the security of–”

“–I thought this was a date–”

“–individuals invaluable to not only my organization but society as a whole–”

Murdoc abruptly leaned forward, cutting you off. “Do you even listen to yourself anymore? You’re really starting to sound like a talking head for your little agency, sweetheart, and that’s not very attractive.”

Biting down on a “go fuck yourself”, you turned, lips touching his cheek as you answered. “I don’t recall ever asking for your opinion, Murdoc. I think it’s better if you refrain from sharing it in the future.”

He caught your eyes with an empty smile, a shark showing his teeth. “Zero promises.”

—

You didn’t end up dancing for long before everything went to shit. 

Splitting off from your partner for the night gave you some room to breathe. It also provided a unique opportunity for an assailant to knock you out cold in a deserted hallway.

Later you’d curse yourself for making such a rookie mistake—never split up without letting the other person know—but at the time you weren’t thinking clearly, a little preoccupied with things. You weren’t prepared for it, was the point, and you paid for that mistake dearly.

A sharp acute pain in the back of your skull jolted you awake. There was a building pressure behind your eyes and a pounding headache that turned your stomach.

You felt sick, and that wasn’t a good sign.

One failed attempt to open your eyes later, you realized what must have happened. Your previously done up hair was tangled with a makeshift blindfold, the cloth covering your line of sight. A twin piece wedged into your mouth stopped you from screaming for help.

Trying to push it out with your tongue brought only frustration, alongside a coughing fit.

Too much time couldn’t have passed, right?

You truly loathed the idea, but still dearly hoped that Murdoc was on his way to get you.

If someone told you a few hours ago that you’d ever count on Murdoc for back-up however, you would have laughed at them.

But life has a funny way of fucking with people, and this must've been karma for all the times you talked back to your boss. That's what he'd say, at least.

And with your shitty luck, the hitman was already gone, sporting a martini in some luxurious hotel suite, ogling strippers, or whatever men like him did to relax. Shooting innocents for fun was more likely.

That measly hope was dashed when a small groan reached your ears. A familiar chuckle followed, close nearby.

There was a hand wrapping around your wrist and you scrambled backwards, heart-rate skyrocketing. Trying to get away from the touch proved unsuccessful–your hands were connected to a chain, which was connected to a wall, keeping you firmly in place. 

Deep breaths.

Looking for information was your first priority in a crisis, so you moved a hand over the ground, searching for anything to use. It was smooth but with loose gravel in places, like the coating of an underground parking lot, or more likely, a basement. 

Attempting to calm down the thundering beating of your heart, you leaned back against the firmness, letting long fingers caress the inside of your wrist.

“M–uh–rdoc?” Your attempt at words was muffled and barely audible, but distinct enough.

“The one and only,” the assassin's response came back loud and clear–no obstruction in its way, a luxury you weren't afforded.

For a split second, you entertained the idea that he knocked you out cold and dragged your unconscious body down here to do god knows what. It didn't seem beyond him.

Fingers clamped down on your pulse point, forcefully grabbing your attention. "You're tied up, agent, and I can help you with that, but you'll have to push that ego aside for a moment."

A protest rose in your throat.

“Be a good girl and do as I say, got it?”

With a swallow, you stopped. The near silence of the room made it impossible to tell if the assassin noticed your reaction or not.

You weren't sure how close he was. How much attention he was paying. Dealing with this strange thing that's been chasing you all night was the last thing you wanted to do.

Murdoc's voice was calm and in control, a tone that inspired confidence and trust—emotions you were, as a rule, reluctant to feel towards him. But you had no choice. This was the fastest way to get out of your restraints, so, keeping your worries in check, you nodded assent.

Seemingly able to both move around and see, he hummed his acknowledgement.

“Good girl.”

“Now, scoot over to the right, yeah, just like that, use your legs. Keep going until you hit my side, you're almost there,” he directed, clearly aiming for something.

A stream of soft murmurs of apology filled the air at the pained noises you made when dragging your ankle. Someone clearly bent it at a shitty angle when they were attaching the chain, and you weren't sure if it was twisted or fractured. It fucking hurt though.

The pain must've made you delirious, because Murdoc was not the sort of man to know what an apology even was.

“Now put your leg up, the right one, try to sit up and then turn your body around. God, sweetie, it's been a while since I've seen good old-fashioned chains… not even handcuffs, they have us in chains,” Murdoc's voice ended in a high-pitched giggle, disbelief mixing with mirth at the absurdity of it.

You successfully followed directions and suddenly found yourself sitting on his propped up leg, balancing on it; your dress riding up on either side of your hips from the clumsy movements. Goosebumps rose in the cold air's wake.

Your face heated at the image you must have made, all wobbly and sweaty, desperate for guidance, barely covered up by the torn dress. Everything on display for Murdoc.

It became hard to breathe.

“That's right, just scoot closer, so I can reach you,” the tone of his voice was lower now, not quite a whisper, but close enough to make you shiver.

Keeping balance with arms bent behind you and wrists tied together was not easy. More soft pained noises, more maneuvering into position and you slid down, your ass landing directly on the hitman's lap.

Was that a gun in his pocket–?

“That's perfect, baby, just a little bit closer, so I can get rid of that pesky gag,” he grunted, sounding momentarily caught off-guard. “You do look good in it, though, I have to admit.”

Incapable of hitting him square in the jaw, you resigned yourself to leaning forward instead.

Curious fingers ran through your tangled hair, fingernails catching against your skin in exploratory touches, until finally making their way lower, towards the gag. Moments of fiddling later, the gag was gone and you could speak.

So you did. “What the fuck, Murdoc, are your hands free?”

“Shhh, agent, what if they hear us?” The way his voice caught on a snigger, bereft of any actual worry, threw a gallon of gasoline under the low level rage that's been burning in your chest the whole evening.

“Are you fucking kidding me, you fucker?"

It hurt, just how much he didn't care.

“We could die here, in this stupid basement, surrounded by nothing but trash and bound in some medieval ass chains, because you’d rather play around than do something useful for once!” Your voice grew louder and louder, and being unable to see his no doubt self-satisfied expression made it significantly worse.

“I’m asking you to help me, just once, just this one single time, you asshole. To put my well-being over your own, think of someone else but yourself! And take this stupid blindfold off me–Please–” You were on the verge of begging now, voice breaking on a plea.

A long stretch of nothing followed, disturbed only by your heavy breathing. Then, a light trace of fingertips over your cheekbone. “I didn’t know you trusted me so much, agent.”

“What–?” 

Wet lips crashed into yours and Murdoc grabbed a fistful of your hair, pressing you against him. His smell filled your senses, something sharp and spicy, with an undercurrent of leather. The sound that left you was embarassing.

His palm was so big it encircled the back of your head effortlessly, fingers unkind in their urgency. He jostled your wound and you struggled within his grasp, trying to pull away with a distressed whine. Unable to see, unable to move, your body overcompensated for the lack of senses, making it feel like he was pressing into an exposed nerve. "Mu–urdoc–”

The groan made him pull away, sticky red smeared all over his hand now. He looked at it and chuckled. "Ah, they got you good, sweetheart. Let me make it worse.”

He didn't sound apologetic at all, and stuck his mouth to the underside of your jaw, sucking on the sensitive flesh. Tongue lapping up the saltiness of your skin, he let out a satisfied groan, hand wrapping around your neck to keep you from moving.

You let out another stifled whimper, part of you wanting to pull away from his possessive grip. The other part knew it would leave a mark and craved it more than anything.

Head falling back, your chest rose with laboured breaths, small sounds of exhilaration falling from your mouth. “Fucking hell–Ah–”

His other palm grabbed your breast, kneading it forcefully, wringing more gasps out of you. You felt his lips turn up in gratification against your tender flesh.

“Does that feel good?” His usually airy tone was raspy now, the gruff whisper making you shudder against his torso. “Tell me.”

You couldn't stop it; your hips ground down onto his own, dragging against the growing hardness beneath you. The emptiness inside you was infuriating, and you couldn't even reach down to relieve the pressure. You needed him now.

A loud cry left you when Murdoc bit down punishingly on your throat and gripped your chin between his fingers. He pressed his lips against yours before speaking, as if he couldn't stop himself.

“Fucking tell me, agent. Tell me what I should do with you. So powerless, all tied up, mine to control. I could do anything, so what will it be?”

“Murdoc, please–”

“Please what?” Cold air hit your skin as he pulled the dress up and slapped the back of your thigh, then snapped his fingers twice. “Focus, agent, right here, focus on me.”

This was all wrong; the way his gloved hand rubbed the stinging spot afterwards, his demanding tone, just how wet you could feel yourself becoming the more he touched you. The more he made you his.

“Touch me, please,” the words came out as a whisper, and were met with another chuckle.

“No no no no, sweet girl, that's not good enough. You gotta work for it.”

You couldn't escape, so you lowered your head into his shoulder, hoping to somehow disappear.

“Don't hide.” He yanked the blindfold off and threw it to the side, moving your head up so he could catch your gaze.

Despite everything happening between you, the mercenary looked near unbothered. His hand on your face felt steady, his breathing only slightly elevated, an expression on his face that you could only call triumphant.

It made you burn.

Your lipstick was smeared over his mouth, the red streaks physical proof of the way he crushed your lips together. You wanted to sink your teeth into his flesh and tear, a visceral representation of what he made you feel.

If your hands weren't bound, you'd be shoving them against his chest and running your fingernails down, marking him as yours too.

As it was, you only had your words left.

"Just fuck me, Murdoc, or do you need written instructions?"

The smug smile he sent your way was answer enough.

He grabbed the dark red material of your dress and tore the bottom part in half, a sharp exhale leaving your chest at the action. Then he stroked your ass, roughly stretched it and parted your legs, toying with the muscle.

You felt beyond exposed, a butterfly pinned to a board. Hair in disarray, flimsy panties not enough cover against forceful fingers and the hitman’s searing gaze. Naked planes of skin kept growing more and more red from the pleasure he wrung out of you. His hand reached between your thighs, and you closed your eyes.

He openly stared, drinking you in. Sharp canines peeked from behind his lips, mouth half open in captivation, and the black strands of hair fell over his eyes.

"What a sight you are," Murdoc murmured and palmed you over the thin material, fingers gathering moisture that soaked through it already.

You bit down on your lip and moved against his broad fingers, your muscles straining from keeping upright for so long.

He kept looking at your face and cataloging every little expression that passed over it, his eyes ablaze with a frenzy, an expression that in any other situation would make you shudder in fear.

Hell, it still did.

Impatiently, he pulled the material to the side and easily sank two fingers inside you, moving them in and out with a beckoning movement, rubbing against your clit until you let out a sob.

His wrist grew still for a moment, watching you grow frustrated in his lap, twisted satisfaction burning in his gaze. Then he added another finger, plunging all three as deep as they would go.

“Fuck, Murdoc, you shit–!”

He giggled and shushed you, "Stay still."

"Fucking bastard–"

"You telling me you don’t like this? You're not a whore who gets off on getting finger-fucked by her enemy?"

You wailed as he hit a spot inside you. “Shut the f-fuck–up–” 

“Aw, but you don’t want me to, do you?” He shot forward, pressing his face to yours, hot breath hitting your lips as he continued, “I’m gonna make you cum on my fingers, agent, and then I’m gonna force them down your throat. Would you like that?”

Keening growing louder at the words, you moved your hips faster, panting against him, already nodding your head before realizing.

“I thought so,” the thrusting of his fingers grew quicker and you writhed in his lap, unbothered by what you looked like, only chasing your release with a single-minded determination.

Every once in a while your ass moved over Murdoc’s still clothed cock and he let out a pained-sounding hiss, his grip on your throat growing tighter.

You’d feel victorious if you weren’t so out of it.

Murdoc wrenched his fingers out of you and licked the moisture off, closing his eyes in pleasure. "God, you taste so good. How am I ever supposed to let you go?"

The sudden emptiness made you panic, and you caught his mouth in a kiss, urging him to continue. You could taste the slight saltiness from his fingers, your own flavour.

He pulled away from you with a laugh, then hissed again when you licked the side of his throat.

“Patience, agent, patience.” The grip on your neck disappeared and you heard his zipper open, a relieved exhale following.

The flicking of his wrist kept going for a few more seconds before he pulled out and ripped the flimsy fabric of your underwear off entirely. With an arm around your waist, he steadied you, before pressing the head of his cock forward.

At first, there was a dull sensation of resistance, Murdoc being bigger than you expected. But before you could protest, your cunt gave way, and he slipped in, the fullness and drag on your insides making you tighten around him.

The man rocked into you, his arm pressing your bodies so close together you could feel every laboured breath he took. You wanted to rip off the coat he was wearing, taste the naked skin over his ribs on your tongue.

You barely even noticed the changing gravity as you got pushed into the ground, your back painfully dragging against the rubble.

“I wanna spread your legs and eat you out until all you can think of is getting filled up to the brim,” Murdoc sounded almost delirious now, his hips speeding up, “wanna bury myself in you and keep going until you’re screaming–”

You encircled his waist with your legs, the pain of moving your ankle getting lost in the white noise that filled your head. You wanted him closer, you needed him closer.

Every time he pushed back in you squeezed him harder, wanting the stretch, urging him to thrust faster, squirming when he hit that spot inside you. It was almost too much, waves of pleasure twisting your insides, breathing near impossible.

"You'll feel me for days, agent, won't be able to look in the mirror without remembering my cock deep inside you," he groaned loudly, pulling you up into his lap without stopping the movement of his hips.

He bit down on your collarbone, leaving a red imprint of his teeth behind.

"Wanna mark you, scar you, make it so no one will ever touch you again–"

Your fingernails bit into the palm of your hand, his rasping voice pushing you over the edge. Knowing that you made him sound that way, that you brought out something desperate and reckless, a frenzied stream of litanies, from a man like Murdoc.

That was what did it.

Your legs tensed and clamped over his thighs, and you let out a string of curses. “FuckfuCKFUCK! Please–M-Murdoc, I–!” 

He covered your mouth with his own and swallowed the shrill sounds, kisses turning brutal as you trembled in his arms. First his tongue ran over your teeth, then he bit down on your lower lip until the skin broke, a small stream of red immediately smudging between your lips. The sting sent a pulse down to your cunt, sucking Murdoc's cock in deeper.

He kept thrusting even as you stiffened, insides clenching around him like a vice, and with a short bark of your name he spilled himself on your inner walls.

Your exhausted body was pressed against his chest and you were empty for a moment. No worries, no thoughts. The aftershocks wiped your head clean of everything.

Your torn dress fell off your shoulders, but you didn't notice.

When you came to, your wrists were free, and the two of you were laying side by side on the floor.

Murdoc was staring at you like the cat that swallowed the canary; strands of hair were sticking out of place and a thin sheen of sweat covered his face, making his skin look glossy. It made him look so young, but you knew better.

His fingers kept running over the red imprint on your chest, eyes occasionally glancing at your scratched up wrists. He seemed... content. Some of that ever-present frantic energy looked to be gone.

You exhaled softly, the man's lips grabbing your attention. There was a redness there, lipstick or blood, and you weren’t sure which option was more appealing. Either way, you couldn’t take your eyes off it.

With an unsteady hand, you ran a finger through it, captivated by the sight, and the feeling of warm, malleable flesh.

Murdoc almost seemed human like this.

In a deliberately slow move, he ran his tongue over the tip of your finger and licked the ruddiness off. Grinned again.

God, you wanted to punch that smug look off his face, and you wanted to kiss him until he couldn't breathe.

What a fucking day.

[sweater-daddiesdumbdork]

So I saw the video of ending an argument with boobs… which I fully admit to doing on petty/silly arguments with my bf.

But I have to ask Honey and Little One? How well would it work? Do Steve or Curtis try to keep the argument going? Are they instantly derailed? Do they keep it playful as their respective women laugh and giggle at their reactions?

I love these two stories and appreciate you sharing them with us!!

Oh I saw a video similar to this and laughed at the reactions so much. And thank you so much for reading both of their stories. It means so much to me that you do, these two have been my comfort characters for so long now. Getting asks like this really means so much to me.

"We don't book shame in this house!" Curtis stood with his hands on his hips, a dark brow arched in challenge as you flipped through the most boring book on his shelf.

A How-To guide to setting up a stero system. From 1960's. Obviously this had to be his grandparents, but you couldn't help but poke a little bit of fun at it. "Do you even have this stereo system?" You asked, making a point of glancing around the livingroom.

He shrugged, hiding a bit of a grin to make himself go stone faced once more, narrowing his sharp blue eyes at you, playing at being mad. "So what if I did? Maybe its in the upstairs in Ella's old room."

He was bluffing, you knew he was cause the two of you were just in that room the other day, debating about what he wanted to keep.

"Funny, I don't remember seeing it up there." You shrugged while flipping to a random page and squinting at the page. You tossed the book on the nearby couch. Waiting to see what he was gonna do, he opened his mouth to retort when you suddenly tug your shirt up.

Curtis snapped his mouth shut as his eyes went wide staring at your breasts. No bra since technically you were already wearing his stretched out tee shirt and shorts for bed. "What was that Curtis, I didn't hear you." You teased, one of your hands dropping to cup your breast, giving it a squeeze.

You could already see whatever thought he had was fizzled away as he honed in on you, giving a deep rumbling groan of appreciation. "You're playing dirty Pretty Girl."

You let the shirt pull off over your head and fall to the floor. "You want me to put the shirt back on?" you giggled, making like you were gonna bend down to pick it back up but Curtis was faster, sweeping down to snatch it away, tucking it in his back pocket.

"Hell no." He rumbled, his large hard body crowding against yours, making you back up till your bareback pressed against the old built in book shelves and his arm shot out to brace near your head, blocking you in. Now you really were giggling, heat building till you could feel it all over, wetness pooling between your legs, making your thighs squeeze even tighter together. "You wanna play dirty, I can too."

His hand traced down your throat, squeezing just enough to make you gasp heatedly and then down your sternum. Somehow this turned against you, your head going empty as you stared pleading up into Curtis's intense gaze.

It was a stare down between the two of you, his hands on his hips in a stance you've seen many times. This was his Alpha stance, the one where he was taking charge.

As if, your Little Wolf yipped excitedly, zooming through your mind as you mimicked his stance, smirking. "You know it doesn't work on me Steve."

He huffed out, his head dropping for a moment to stare at the floor for a moment, but you saw the glitter in his gaze, looking up at you. Your lips twitched, hiding a smile.

But Steve doubled down, his head tilting in that way that always made you distracted, his hair flopping just a bit that made you want to run your fingers through it, sweep it back in place, or perhaps tug on it and bring your Alpha to his knees to worship you in that way he does oh so good.

<Don't get distracted!>

I'm not, much... okay a little. Your mind buzzed with the need to do something, anything to tip the scales in your favor. Then a wicked smile curved your lips as Steve started to stalk closer to you, making you back up a step. "Little One, you can't just-"

Your hands yanked up your shirt, making your Alpha pause his stalking, his gaze flowing down your face and to your breasts, his tongue darting out to trace his bottom lip. His nostrils flared, dragging in your warm scent while his eyes so intimately traced you. A growl rose from him and if you didn't know that was your Alpha loosing some control over his desires, you would be running. In fact, that felt like a good idea.

Twisting on your toes, you go to bolt, racing down the hallway to try to get into the bedroom, but a muscled forearm captured you, pulling you back into a firm chest and making you giggle and squeal at the sensation. Steve twisted you to put you over his shoulder, keeping you tightly in place with a palm coming down on your ass. "Think you're cute, huh?"

"I think Im fucking adorable." You taunted, squealing when you felt his bite on your ass cheek, knowing his mark would be there for a few days, making you chirp happily at your Alpha. He finished bringing you to the bedroom, easing you into the nest and quickly following in it to pin you in place to keep you from running off again.

"Mmhh you are Little One and all mine." His large hands captured yours above your head while his head dipped to tease a nipple into his mouth, teasing you with his flicking tongue, making you buck.

The problem with your plan, Steve knew your weaknesses just as much as you knew his. You bucked your hips under him as he continued his sweet torture on your breasts. "Steeve" You whined, trying to twist your hands free, starting to pant with desire. "Need more."

"More Little Wild One? I thought you wanted to go down to the lake... for a late autumnal swim in the freezing cold water?" He teased, blowing cool air across your sensitive nipples, making them harden even more.

You arched up once more, pushing hard against him till he rolled so you straddled him, looming over him with your now free hands tugging at his shirt. "Changed my mind..." He helped you get it off him till you could run your hands down your Alpha's chest, grinding against him. "There is always tomorrow to convince you."

[brynnmclean]

saw a post questioning shipping Senua and Thórgestr and started to reblog it with a tag novel-- felt weird about doing that since this is lengthy and potentially derailing, so making my own post instead. Spitballing under the cut:

First off, any time someone is like, "the real reason people ship this is because they find the dude attractive," this is SO funny to me as someone who doesn't find men attractive IRL and has fiercely loved Senua since I played the first game, like-- actually I find the dynamic between those two characters to be compelling and interesting precisely because of all the baggage between them re: their backgrounds, the rough (put mildly!) beginning of their relationship, all the things they don't talk about, and them finding a common enemy/common ground to work with. The explicit parallels between them stated in-game scratched an itch in my brain. The minute they pointed out the dark rot on his arm, it was like, "oh! hello there! NOW I'm interested in whatever your whole deal is" for me. Also, idk man, I too would follow Senua around after she knocked me into the dirt and then showed me a way to fight the giants that I very much wanted to fight instead of appease.

The idea that Thórgestr was part of the Orkney Raid that killed and mutilated Dillion is VERY interesting food for thought, even if I don't personally have that headcanon (surely there are more viking raiding groups than just the Bjorg). I think the Furies or the Shadow said something similar about Fargrimr (his kin murdered yours, you shouldn't save him, etc.) so I completely get that line of thought, but I think the game left it ambiguous enough that it's up for interpretation. Would I read fic with that premise? Yeah, I'd check that out. Could Senua forgive Thorgestr if his people were involved? Sounds fun to explore.

If (ha, when?) I write fic, I'd have to think more about it especially wrt timelines, like when did the Bjorg start specifically raiding for slaves for giant food sacrifices vs. killing people for resources and wealth? How far off are we from the old gods "dying" and the volcano erupting? Was it indeed a different group of raiders who made a deal with Zynbel, attacked Senua's home, and made the sacrifice at that time to Hela?

At the very least, I think there's a time jump between the end of Hellblade I and the beginning of Hellblade II since Senua wasn't alone on that slave ship and at least one of the (brief) survivors knew her by name. I wouldn't mind exploring that gap of time, too.

In any case I do agree that it would take a VERY long time for Senua to consciously catch feelings for anyone let alone Thorgestr with all their collective baggage. The idea of them having a relationship beyond friendship in the far off future of an AU where he survives is the only one that can make sense in my brain, personally. It would take time! Time they didn't get in the game! But I think there are a lot of different roads that could take, and some of them might be healthier than others. Shipping them certainly isn't forgetting or excusing what happened to Dillion-- or even mutually exclusive from still shipping Senua and Dillion. Or, frankly, also shipping Senua and Astridr, because I can see that ship too.

One of the nice things about all the details Ninja Theory didn't expand upon and that they left that ending so open is that the sky's the limit. I'm VERY interested in seeing fandom tackle this game as we get farther from the initial release.

[rappaccini]

arcane act ii

controversial opinion: oh this isn't good its just pretty to look at

ok yeah the time jump is not good. so many important things happen that we're only catching the tail end of.

speeding past the adoption of jinx as a symbol. speeding past the firelights realizing ekko is missing. jinx goes from suicidal and self serving to Joan of Arc in one week. ?????

the sequences with different animation styles were cool... would prefer more character work. (why is this giving me what-btsv-will-look-like vibes? why does it feel like that's what they'll do-- jam in a ton of pretty-looking scenes while failing to wrap up all their loose ends and relying on fanservice to get emotional moments)

ambessa having no real strong reaction to mel being missing... no that doesn't work.

mel being stuck in the shadow realm... good on her for not being fridged yet but look idk wtf is going on there. secret lineage plotline included. if we got one hint of her being connected to any of this in s1 i coulda dug it but it truly reads like the writers threw her this out of nowhere plotline bc they didn't know what to do with her after deciding she'd survive the blast. i'm at the point where i'm like. maybe she should have died bc literally nothing would change except a slight amount of political maneuvering.

jayce... well him shooting vik was fun but idk man.

viktor becoming jesus felt about right. hate that sky's trapped in his brain forever. HATE the 'fridged woman haunting the guy who killed her to make him vaguely guilty' trope. free her.

ambessa and caitlyn's mentorship is still great. kinda want them to kiss too.

salo seeking viktor out was a great idea. wish we could have SEEN IT instead of the aftermath.

the whole scene with the sisters' mom and silco and vander... no actually i dislike how all of a sudden everyone is related to everyone. zaun doesn't feel like a city anymore it feels like a tiny town. also it doesn't click at all with how silco doesn't give a fuck about vi.

zaun in general feels so empty without silco or ekko to articulate its needs. piltover's reeling post-jinxbomb felt adequately established but zaun's... nothing. just vague shapeless chaos in a music video. even the zaun v piltover conflict feels limp. i feel like this is largely because, again, the major zaunite political players are dead or in the fucking spiderverse. and jinx is off babysitting instead of being the avatar of zaun's anger and desperation, and finding a new sense of purpose post-silco in owning her terrorist attack and riding that wave into being the face of the zaunite faction. insane to me how fucking isha just swept in and derailed that entire trajectory because i guess jinx just wants to play house.

okay so jinx's psychosis being so backseated in act i wasn't because she was drained emotionally and suicidal and is genuinely bc the writers are yoinking her mental illness back to make her more likable. hate that!

this warwick thing... i like the way it brings the sisters back together but i hate the conceit of 'hey that traumatic death that shaped you and everyone in our society? didn't happen!'

also idk the reconciliation sure didn't take long. the antipathy between jinx and vi's been built up for years, so it really feels disappointing that just like that they're cool again. hanging out like it's nothing. okay.

also get jinx jr the fuck out of the group hug.

isha has no personality. no flaws. no interests. no lines??? she's just there to be cute and sweet. such a downgrade from how the kid characters were handled in arcane i.

she truly just feels like a plot device to make jinx heroic and sympathetic. instead of the audience and vi empathizing with jinx for her own sake, it's because she's just so darn nice to this sweet kid. fuck off.

her entire death felt so... ugh to me. i'm not sad because i care i'm sad because someone's holding onions under my eyes and playing a sad song in my ear, not because this feels earned in any way. just comparing this to milo/clogger or silco is laughable.

cait sure turned on a dime. nvm her arc sucks now.

... so where the hell's ekko. why has he gotten benched in the spiderverse all season when his reactions to learning that silco died, watching the war break out, the zaunite power vacuum and people deserting the firelights for jinx and viktor could have been So Interesting. what a waste.

yeah you can absolutely sense that while s1 was labored on for years, s2 was rushed and had to condense a ton of story. riot sacrificed arcane so they could get the rest of their lolcu going and it shows!

[ai-the-broccoli]

(so I was reminded of this by @kiyomitakada's post about Sayu potentially liking girls, but it's off-topic and I didn't want to derail it entirely so)

if I had a nickel every time there was one scene in a piece of media I love where:

a teenage character (who I'll call T) is shown coming home very late to their family, and -- because they were actually doing something very unusual which they cannot reveal to their family --

either claims that the reason for the late return is that they are actually in a heterosexual relationship with someone (a lie),

or is asked by a family member as to whether the reason for their late return is that they are actually in a heterosexual relationship with someone (a wrong guess),

when actually, the real reason is that T has been engaged in unusual secret activities with a group of people... but also most especially specifically with a certain person with the same gender as T, with whom T has a legendary, intense, obsessive homoerotic rivalry (I'll call this rival R).

R -- a manipulative schemer with noticeably eyebags and a characteristic fondness for sweet food (including or especially ice cream) -- has a relationship (general meaning of "relationship"; not as in they're canonically dating) with T that is not known to these family members in question.

and later in this scene, T also makes a remark (in relation to the "girlfriend/boyfriend" matter that is brought up) at one of their family member, which was definitely not at all meant to imply that said family member is queer, but could be taken that way if you wished to

...I would have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice considering how specific this description is

for context:

Juri’s Father: …By the way, you ain’t staying out late ‘cause of some man, right…? Juri: Why would I bother with men when my old man ain’t finding women? -- Juri Ooba MSS (video / script), from Magia Record

(note for DN fans:

Juri is very gay and has like... a basically canon relationship with Yuna, with whom she has a very homoerotic rivalry going on. Like... remember the Japanese version of Playing His Game? Imagine that, but with heated physical duels between two magical girl gang leaders, instead of two supergenius' tennis match. Yuna and Juri basically do that like every time they fight each other. A lot of other stuff too, though.

No matter how gay you think they are, it's probably even gayer. The extremely suggestive dialogue aside, they have stuff like y'know. canon neckbiting and "you're going to be mine", and by now they have canonically lived as a married couple raising a child together for 14 years. No, really.)

as for the scene in Death Note, I'm referring to the post linked prior about Sayu here, in which the below panel is shown:

(note for MR fans: ...well I mean. DN is rather well-known so chances are that you probably already are familiar with Light Yagami's alloheterosexuality or rather the lack thereof, and you probably also have heard about his rivalry with L and/or the fact that it is an extremely popular M/M ship, so. I don't think I need to explain much lol)

but anyway yeah. now same as with Light's comment towards Sayu, I'm pretty sure that Juri's words were not intended to suggest that she's calling his dad gay, but rather more of a "no bitches" thing, but I mean. this whole scene and by extension this entire character side story is about how Like Father, Like Daughter they are -- AND this extends to Juri's father also having a rival (<- a guy) that he has had a grudge on for a long time (<- you know what they say; "it is a truth universally acknowledged that someone entangled in a passionate and obsessive rivalry must be gay". I can confirm there's truth to this statement because it happened to me) and is going to fight against at the same time Juri is fighting Yuna (<- cinematic parallels), etc. and we know for sure that Juri is very gay as far as rivalry is concerned, so well, honestly, who's to say that her dad is definitely straight?

[sparklingpax]

HEADMASTER JUNIORS IN THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY MUSIC VIDEO

!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOWWWW I SAW FIRST THING WAKING UP TODAY I LITERALLY FLIPPED TF OUTTT 😭😭😭‼️‼️‼️ LIKE NOT ONE BUT MULTIPLE MASTERFORCE REFERENCES IN 2024.....WHAT A TIME TO BE ALIVE FR 😭💗💗💞❤️✨‼️🔥🫶✨

wait I'm gonna take fhis opportunity to gush about the video its 1 am im only half awake there will probably be typos sorrY

..

Genuinely would have been ecstatic with just a god ginrai in the bg and I honestly didn't even expect as much but man oh MAN did they give us so much more than that 🥳🥳

oh but lemme say ginrai SLAYEDDD HE LOOKED SO AMAZING AND COOL I was literally squealing "YES GO MY SILLY GOOOO" like the Dork that I am when he was out there doin the exkaiser sword pose w the others 🫶🫶🫶🫶 EEEEEE

and also!!! Let us NOT forget ofc all the other TF series and leaders and characters and such getting their time in the spotlight and the MANY little references to all kinds of stuff everywhere and.....!!!!!! Like I have so much respect for that video 🥹 it's such a detailed, wonderful tribute to everything transformers has been, is, and continues to be. Themes of connections literal and metaphorical and the power and beautythat comes from it. UFFF and Everything was so pretty and wonderful to look at and (⁠ﾉ⁠≧⁠∇⁠≦⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠ ⁠ﾐ⁠ ⁠┻⁠━⁠┻!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very happy with it <3333

and also Yes I did have the thought It would have been cool to see the Pretenders (😭) but I also understand its probably hard enough to tastefully fit in all thr characters they did (and plus! Masterforce Mentioned At All is such a huge W youre not hearing Complaints from me 🫡) and also y'know what. maybe. maybe that was for the best because I might have simply combusted into fucking flames if they did that. Like you all think I'm annoying about those guys NOW but if I saw them animated all pretty and shape andshiny and sharp like that.........or.GOD if they had put their human forms in there...........I would need to be restrained is all I'll say

AND y'know what too it actually also fuels me with even MORE willpower than I already have to work for and eventually finish this illustration degree, somehow hopefully make it to a position where I too can make masterforce references in 4k except OFFICIAL and also have the opportunity to be insufferable about my blorbo of all time and space <333333 stupid silly ass dream of mine that may never happen but mark my WORDS if I get even the slightest opportunity y'all.....I want to do a masterforce centric project someday. Like a real one. Something for the world to see at large. I want to do something with it I really really feel like I could......,! I would achieve one of my few life goals/dreams fr......

GOSH ok anyway sorry I went on for quite a while there and then started derailing the topic at hand SORRYY 😭😭😭 but yea man I love transformers I love being a fan of this franchise I love how many thousands of characters and all the stories and universes and stuff there is and how crazy and cool it all is and that it's been a part of my life for most of my life and it's the reason I'm an artist and god that video will have me emotional for a long ass time *wails* good NIGHT 😭🫶❤️❤️🫶💖✨‼️‼️‼️‼️‼️

(-kuni 🫣)

[lucidia-sys]

In Defense of Pharma

Guys I'm really tired of seeing ppl shit on Pharma solely for the incident with Ambulon. Seeing people defend Ratchet against him. Tired of people being awful to him because of things he couldn't control. People will really support the toxic ones because of the simple fact they are a popular character that everyone loves. I'm tired of pretending I like Ratchet (I adored TFA and G1 only). I don't. He's an awful guy when you look at the case with Pharma. And personally I just don't find him interesting like other characters. Ratchet fucking ruined Pharma pre-Delphi. He was this sweet guy who did his best and I strongly believe Pharma may have BPD, so that only makes what Ratchet did so much WORSE. The way Pharma attached to Ratchet reminds me of one with their FP (Favorite Person). He believed so much in Ratchet, looked up to him, considered him one of his closest friends, his FP if you will. He cared deeply about Ratchet, and it deeply affected him when he just up and fucking left without a proper goodbye. And so began a long fucking chain of him getting fucked over. Another point that gets used against him was the virus he unleashed, that wasn't his fucking fault. Tarn was pressuring him. He was stuck in an incredibly hard point. The DJD would after him if he didn't feed Tarn's addiction, he'd still be fucked even witht he fact he did it. Pharma gets stuck in the middle of nowhere with two people he doesn’t care for, and one of them is a direct target of the group blackmailing him into killing patients. There was nothing he could have done to make the situation better. And I fucking find it such BULLSHIT that First AId went to Ambulons side rather than Pharmas DESPITE THE FUCKING FACT Amublon is a ex-con, he could very well have been conspiring with Sonic and Boom. The fact Pharma got immediately blamed pisses me off. He was just doing his job, trying to keep his job, and juggle his issues with Ratchet appearing. His FP that fucking abandoned him. This is a STRONG example of how mental illness can fuck oneself over. As someone with BPD, I heavily relate to Pharma, so I am very defensive over this (no shit I'm writing a whole thing defending him). I understand his panic. His stress. The need to prove himself. A case too is with the incident of Ambulon. Yes, the way he handled the situation was awful, but think about it. He wanted to prove himself, to prove he was better than the asshole who left him behind. So how does he do it? Give a prompt to Ratchet that he KNOWS he can't fix, prove that Ratchet is not as good as he thinks he is. And as for Tryest, it's another situation of lose/lose. I didn't pay much attention to that bit of the story but I can say that Pharma was dealing with that whole 'I need to prove im better than these jerks so everyone will like me and need me' BPD mess he has going on. A person with BPD often seeks validation from others, needing FPs to love them and respect only them, which is why he usually claims himself as the best medic. He needs the validation, that boost to his fragile ego that is crumbling with every second. Plus Tyrest promised him a place in the forged only world he was planning. It made him feel valid and needed. He chased that feeling. And then Ratchet came along and started to derail his mind. Leading him to do something that ultimately painted him in a bad light. And he proved he was stronger within the Lost Light comics. Issue 4 showed him hurtingTyrest in such a fashion that not even the best medic, not even his "beloved Ratchet" (his words, not mine), could figure out how he caused so much damage. He was pissed off. He was having a split. He was damaged. I believe we should focus more on the goods of a character, the compexity of their issues, rather than honing on one specific thing that was not that big of a fucking deal. This fandom is awful with painting certain characters as awful awful people for simple issues that can be explained very easily. NOW IF YOU'LL EXCUUUUSE ME. I'm going to take a moment to nap because I am so frustrated and overstimulated and angry rn.

[nanistar]

What are your thoughts on Rootspring, and/or Alderheart? I personally despise both of them…

Alderheart mainly because of the fact that he was written just SO blatantly to push Sparkpelt, who *very clearly should’ve gotten his arc*, to the sidelines, and also because of how blatantly wrong fanon interpretation of him is. His anxiety? Gone by the second book of the arc. He’s not interesting, he’s not realistic, he’s just… generic tom that the writing of she-cats around him bends to his whim for. I also dislike Twigbranch and Violetshine, though, but to a much lesser extent - with them, it just feels as if their writing is incoherent and all over the place.

Rootspring because of how much he derailed Bristlefrost’s arc, AND also because of the fact that Needleclaw isn’t even allowed to *be a character in her own right* because Rootspring is apparently just *that special*. I find him to be kind of an uncomfortable protagonist, too, because he doesn’t seem to take ‘no’ for an answer with Bristlefrost, and pressures her to like him back… and is rewarded for that by her eventually reciprocating, apparently. The fact that Bristlefrost’s death involved her thinking of becoming a mother and wife to him was just a big misogynistic cherry on top, considering that *was never something she wanted prior to this*! She wanted to help her clan, her family… making her sacrifice about loser sadboy Rootspring just felt like a spit in the face at that point. I love Bristlefrost, but she was done dirty in the latter half of the arc…

yeah, i mean. you pretty much summed it up.

i don't like either of them but i think i dislike alderheart even more just because i hated that whole arc.

despite my love for sparkpelt, by biggest issue with him is that his ineptitude caused sandstorm to die. she went on the journey to find skyclan with him and then nicked her shoulder on a fence and died of infection because he couldn't remember the herb... makes me SO angry. sandstorm was one of the best cats, and she couldn't even be buried with her family. squirrelflight and leafpool don't get to say goodbye. she should have died at home surrounded by loved ones, or she should have died in battle despite being an elder because that's what she would have wanted.

the worst part is he didn't even grow from it. he's like oh sad i killed my grandma for like 30 minutes and then literally never thinks of her again. he should have fully devoted himself to his studies and poured himself into his work memorizing ever plant by taste, scent and sight. he should have specialized in infection and learned to detect it long before any other med cat. and then he should have asked to be named alderstorm in honor of his grandma so he could always remember her sacrifice for him and for skyclan.

[useless19]

So, King Boo in Days. Where to start.

When I started writing Days, I hadn't played a Luigi's Mansion game aside from a little bit of LM1 years ago before I got too scared to continue (it had ghosts!). I still liked making references here and there to the series, since it's half the reason for Luigi's characterisation being what it is these days. I've since picked up LM3 and had fun with it. Even if I don't have a proper handle on King Boo's character yet, I think I've got the rough idea.

However, my main issue with actually putting him in is that he's a final boss and I don't want to treat him as not a final boss. Equally, using him to make Luigi look tougher while weakening Bowser wasn't what I wanted to do to those characters either - any sort of curb stomp battle is not going to happen. King Boo needed to show up but not make too much of a mess because he's not part of the main plot; his appearance isn't the catalyst for Luigi and Bowser to change how they feel about each other. Trying to balance the weight of such an important character with the planned out state of the main relationship wasn't something I thought I could do justice.

That doesn't mean I don't have ideas for when he might have shown up :D

First off, somewhen around Day 24 could've been interesting. Adding him to the melting pot of Luigi in denial, Bowser coming to terms with liking Luigi more than Peach, and Peach being at the castle while trying to make plans to take back her kingdom. It would've been such a wonderful mess, but not one that I could ever have figured out how to write (especially given how long it took me to put Day 21 together). It would've derailed the plot and I would've had to have redone a lot of what I had already written for Day 27/30.

On the other hand, Day ~11 could've been very interesting. I have way more notes about how that might go down:

The scent of fresh welds mingled nostalgically with the dusty aroma of crumbled stone. Luigi hummed, satisfied with his work, as he fitted another length of pipe into place.

We open with Luigi fixing the pipework in the baths (Bowser broke some of it in Day 9 and Luigi wanted something to do while Junior was getting some lessons). The baths are also having their monthly clean out/scrub, so there's no risk of falling in boiling water or anything like that. Luigi's having polite chit-chat here and there with the cleaners until a Boo jumps out of nowhere and scares him.

Not knowing why a Boo is around, Luigi packs up his borrowed tools and heads off to ask someone what's going on (the cleaners don't know any better than him, also Luigi doesn't pick up that the Boo is similarly confused as to why Luigi is here). He tries asking a few people, but no one really knows. Eventually he reaches the throne room, where Bowser and King Boo are chatting about something. King Boo notices Luigi, tries to portraitify him, only to miss when Bowser yanks Luigi out the way with the contract warping.

Here's the tricky part, there needs to be an argument that doesn't significantly mess with the status quo. Something roughly like this:

Bowser: That's my prisoner. King Boo: That's my nemesis! [Bowser falters somewhat] Luigi: You kidnap Mario all the time, King Boo. Bowser [rallying]: Yeah, exactly! King Boo [lying through his teeth]: I would've handed him over after I'd gotten Luigi. Bowser [lying just as much]: I'll hand him over after I've gotten Mario out the way and married Peach. Luigi: ... yay.

After that, Luigi goes back to fixing the pipes, but with a guard watching him now (ostensibly to stop him escaping, he thinks it's just for show, Bowser's actually put the guard there to make sure there's at least a witness for anything King Boo might try). King Boo shows up to threaten him. During this, one of the cleaners/the guard refers to Luigi as 'Princess' (importantly this didn't happen during the previous confrontation) and King Boo finds the whole magical marriage contract hilarious. He laments that he ignored Bowser's wedding invite because it would've absolutely made his death to see Luigi get entangled in this mess.

I think it would be interesting from there to have a proper interaction between King Boo, Bowser, and Luigi. Highlighting why Bowser and King Boo are allies and don't mess with each other's plots. Possibly getting into a bit of what Bowser's marriage means on a larger political scale. Potentially touching on Luigi's fear of ghosts and him having to figure out how to explain it without insulting one or both of the kings.

But then I don't know! I don't feel like King Boo would just leave it at that. Maybe Bowser could work out a deal where King Boo helps him find something to break the contract (maybe he's the reason Bowser went looking in the Silicarid desert)? Though he wouldn't have done it for free and Bowser might have to deal with consequences shortly after letting Luigi go in Day 30 and I wouldn't want to leave that plot thread hanging (that's not going to stop Bowser from make the deal because he has never cared about potential consequences in his life).

Part of the problem is that around this time Luigi's starting to feel comfortable in the castle. Adding the vague threat of Boos showing up whenever they like is going to kneecap that. He's also still happy to make escape attempts and this could prompt one of those (which is another mess entirely that I'd want to do justice).

By this point, Bowser has definitely noticed that Luigi is his type, but hadn't reached the point of wanting a relationship rather than just sex. He's possessive anyway, so he's not going to give up his prisoner without a fight.

So, yeah. That's my King Boo in Days thoughts. Hopefully that ramble makes sense!

[staringdownabarrel]

I'm glad they never gave Janeway a series-long love interest and instead just gave her Mark, stuck in the Alpha Quadrant, and the occasional love interest of the week who'd fuck off at the end of the episode. There's a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, one of the reasons why Janeway works for me is because she's not a romance-heavy character. Her focus was always on what was best for the crew and on finding a way back to Federation space.

I don't think this angle of her character really gets enough credit: it was a rare thing for a leading woman in a TV show to not be paired off with someone long-term at some point. Even nowadays, it seems like every other television show wants to pair its women off, even if it would be fine for this specific character living in these specific circumstances to prefer remaining single.

Even if they had have paired her off with someone, the only people they reasonably could have paired her off with long term are people directly under her command. That wouldn't have gelled well with her general demeanor of at least trying to be that kind of classically professional Starfleet captain who didn't get romantically involved with a subordinate.

So if they had have given her a long term romantic pairing, it would have derailed her character both as the staunch professional she wanted to be and as the progressive "doesn't need a man to be interesting" woman she was from an out-of-universe perspective.

Secondly, the canon pairings in the Berman era were awful. The only ones that were at least passable were the O'Briens, Ben Sisko/Kasidy Yates, and Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres. Some of this is just because I'm genuinely confused as to what most of the canon pairings would have seen in each other, so I think they would have ended up pairing Janeway with someone who didn't quite fit with her. Mostly they just sorta sucked at writing romance in general, to the point where even the passable canon pairings were passable in a "okay, it makes sense that these two are together, but please don't dwell on it too much" kind of way.

I think this point gets lost in a lot of fan circles, too. A lot of the focus in the more ship-y circles of fandom tends to be on these popular fanon pairings, so sometimes the actual romance writing on the source material gets lost. At least with Star Trek, the canonical romance writing is often so awful that it's probably a good thing that a lot of the shippier fans forget it exists.

Still, had they paired her off with someone long term on the show, I suspect it would have ended up being one of those things where people's response would have been something like, "Janeway and Neelix? Seriously, guys? Is this what we're doing today?"

Really, the best thing that could have happened with Janeway in a romantic sense is one of two things. One would have been if early on she had have come out and said, "Actually, I'm mostly aromantic. Mark is the only guy I've ever seen in that light."

There would have been room for this kind of scene in canon. I forget which episode it was, but early on in Voyager there was a scene where Chakotay and Janeway talk about the crew pairing off, and the general tone is that eventually it will happen because of how long their journey is going to be. It ends with Chakotay saying, "And what about you?", with the scene intending to imply that maybe there was a little spark between the two.

This scene could have been changed so that instead of it just cutting to the next scene, Janeway had have replied with, "I'm mostly aromantic. Mark is the only person I've ever seen in that light", and then cut to the next scene.

I think this would have worked because it would have given Janeway an easy out to not be in a relationship; especially if there was never any followup to that scene. It also would have made Janeway one of the very few aromantic characters to have ever been on television, and probably the only one from the '90s, so it would have doubled down on the progressive elements of her character.

The other way they could have gone about this is if they had have set up some holoemitters in her ready room and given her a holographic personification of the ship itself to fall in love with. This could have been a very literal take on Kirk's love with the Enterprise. It also would have worked with Janeway's character in general, as Fair Haven establishes she is capable of falling in love with a hologram.

The subtext here would be the open question of whether or not she's in love with the persona specifically, actually in love with the ship, or if she's in love with her position as captain. All three would be acceptable answers. Still, this is a much more fan fic-y idea and I'm not entirely sure how it'd work in practice.

[irualdesire]

Irual Predictions and musings

Some thoughts on the future Paul and Irulan scenes in Dune: Part 3

I am new to the Dune fandom and admit my knowledge is only based off the movies and what I have read online so if I get some facts wrong, please excuse it. Like others, was seduced to the series from learning Timothee and Florence would be portraying these complex and mesmerizing characters.

Their have been apparently changes from the books but I'm hoping it continues. I felt like Paul's outward indifference to his wife was a bit too harsh and was more plot point driven to avoid a triangle in the book version. Can't help but think if their situation were done in another series or hell in real life…the outcome could have gone any way. Was and still am upset how Irulan is essentially the scapegoat and blamed for the sins of her father when she had no hand in the attrocities done to the atreites house. From a writer's standpoint, think the author had a clear idea over the couple he did want but didn't want other characters to have a voice to derail it.

Sometimes in stories, characters can have a life of their own. Steering the stories as it's written to deviate from the author's original concept or outline. Personally believe Irulan was that in the book version of Dune.

However, the movies may give us a better insight into her character. From what I heard of online, she wasn't by Paul's side in many parts of the story. Yet I feel much is in the background and more subtle with these two. They were married 12 years together and she wrote many, MANY books on Paul and his families legacy. Apparently how she recounted the tales and wrote them was with affection and not filled with hate or immense bitterness where it would bleed into the archiving.

I find it hard to believe some feelings would not stir given much time would have needed to be spent together for her to be able to write what he told her down. Maybe it's the fanfictions I have read but I think other conversations would have likely arose outside of just narrating and Irulan being simply a scribe. He did put her on the council and respected her enough to put her in that position. Chani was also on there but given she was his lover and he ruled over everyone - including the Fremen, she would need to also have a voice on there.

An interesting insight into their relationship in the movies is that they will rule the empire together. That's monumental. Like equals and I hope he will make her a proper empress. In the books he saw a vision of her to know her face and who she was trained by. With this knowledge, he chose her to be his wife. Well political move but she did have other sisters but the emperor had enough faith in her capabilities to be a 'formidable empress' to make her his heir in both versions. Don't think his vision or memory diving was spoken about in depth regarding her but with coming to a decision like this - given Paul's abilities, would think he would sift through the memories and information needed to make such a decision. One he didn't tell his lover about given the movie version of that scene from Chani's shock, sadness and of course the fury at his decision to seek power as well as make the plans to marry another.

In the first movie he had the thought already in his head since he took note that the emperor's daughters were unwed. I think this was before he had a relationship with chani to. I liked the quiet reactions of Irulan in the scene when he usurped the emperor and made his intentions clear for his daughter. Irulan wasn't smug at still holding the power. Her life had just been flipped upside down. Fearful for her own family yet still staying calm to gauge what was transpiring. She had desperation to try to save her Father's life, beseeching Paul in her own way even though she didn't have anything to bargain with. Since he already made his command that he would marry her but she specifically said 'Willing' bride as long as the former emperor's life was spared. By saying willing - that could mean she also was open to being partners, with the other responsibilities that go along with being married. This was before the Bene Gesserit plans were ordered to Irulan for the breeding program to have Paul's children.

Irulan in her earlier scenes had shown she did not approve of the Bene Gesserit's drastic plan to 'wipe out an entire bloodline'. She looked and sounded appalled at the revelation especially since her father saw Paul's father like a son. Makes me sad to think that if circumstances were different and their weren't prophecies and that attrocity committed out of fear and jealousy wasn't done - (truly the Bene Gesserit's fault all this unfolded for the endgame they sought and Jennifer) …that Irulan and Paul could have very well had an arranged marriage but in a more organic, healthy way given the closeness the houses had at one point. Yet due to the Bene Gesserit having their hooks in her father, fanning the fear and paranoia…the emperor had thought of marrying Irulan off to Feyd Rautha which seems to show how his mental decline from their interference.

At one point when Irulan was 14, her father already had the desire to marry her to Paul's father Leto. Have him as a legal son if things had been different and she was of age and relations had been better at that time. So it's not a far stretch that if their wasn't bad blood..paul and Irulan would have still been connected since Leto already was with Jennifer and their was the age difference.

They established Irulan being extremely intelligent. Reverent mother mentioned she 'was her most astute student'. Makes me wonder if in movie-verse Irulan had finished her training with her by speaking in past tense or had to discontinue her training since she was also being groomed as her father's heir (Double pressure…) She was said to have a hidden rank among the Bene Gesserit so we aren't sure how strong she is (according to my knowledge anyway) Her father also complimented her for being formidable in the future. Then she is the first to think that Paul was still alive - which as we know proved she was right. She also called out the reverend mother for her schemes having failed. I hope in the third movie she will choose to put Paul first and turn her back on the reverend mother since a couple times it was already shown she disapproves of her actions.

In the books, when Paul 'dies' Irulan breaks down and cries…realizing how much she loved him at his passing. It is canon as far as the books are concerned that she did love him even though it was unrequited or on the surface perhaps? Tragic yet bittersweet how she takes care of Paul's children. Even though he threatened her life and forbade her from having her own kids…while denying her the right to bear his. Despite that treatment - with his loss I think she wanted to keep him close even though they were children he had with another woman. Just like she put such time and energy in preserving his history, it was something to keep his memory alive and help her feel she could offer something to him he would accept despite the cold behavior he gave her.

In these movies she seems curious with an air of admiration of Paul. She noted his odd warrior name but still knew what it meant and probably acknowledged him being a threat to her fathers empire given the emperor's fear and the victories Paul already had with sabotaging the spice harvesting. Florence Pugh also mentioned that movie Irulan is thinking one step ahead. Paul is able to have visions and see the future but maybe this is a hint how they do have their own battle of wits and try to one up each other. He may keep his word that they will rule the empire together but she is still trained and answering to the Bene Dessirit.

The third movie's dynamic for them may have this symbiotic relationship where they need each other but at the same time can't trust one another. Irulan with her being controlled by the reverend mother and Paul being the one that took over and exiled her father and sisters. Not sure if things will unfold differently in the movie since paul might actually kill her father since his marriage to her is meant to legitimize his claim to the throne. Her father being alive may not be needed.

My prediction is that Irulan will have a more prominent role since the director did say she would be one of the main characters. Think she will be torn between doing what she was conditioned to do by the reverend mother and being loyal to paul and his pursuits. Think she will be a spy for them and to try to have a child with Paul. The breeding program and all. Not sure if he will actually sleep with her or they are suggestive with it. He and chani are essentially on the outs as of the end of the second film. Chani being betrayed and still independent, going off to the desert. That does leave an opening for Irulan and paul to have moments together. As another fan mentioned before, the roles may be reversed. Chani going after paul and trying to sabotage his empire for the sake of her people. Paul is using them for his endless holy war so she does have plenty of drive to go against him.

I don't think she has that much influence, especially compared to Paul so she may try to do the contraceptives to Irulan or try to assassinate one or both of them to put a stop to it. Their may be a focus on their being a triangle versus chani/paul against the world like in the books. Irulan may turn her back completely on the bene desserit. Paul and irulan may be something more outside of confidants and marital obligations in the bedroom (if it gets to that point) We don't know if chani and paul stay separated or if after an assasination attempt - they mend the fence. Florence did mention timmy is her 'boo' again. Thought it was a light hearted comment given they will be married like the characters from Little women but I can't help but think that perhaps in talks with the director/screen writer, that may be the angle they are going for.

Chani in the books does have kids with paul but maybe she was already pregnant leading up to his victory with taking the throne (movie-verse) but Irulan has a child as well so it keeps with the story path from the books with paul having two heirs. Oh well, we won't know till the movie comes out lol

Back to the ponderings for the pairing~

In the movie: Irulan appears to have signs where she doesn't fully trust the Bene Gesserit. She spoke incredulously when they wanted to focus on using Paul's cousin. Is more sympathetic towards what had happened to Paul. Can be foreshadowing of them finding a middle ground together. Since the neglect and humiliation Irulan suffered in the book version was more due to guilt by association. She didn't have a choice to be taught by the shady Bene Gesserit and Paul's own mother was a former one of them. I would think he would have more empathy towards her due to her situation. Perhaps, he wanted to leave her to her own devices up until it conflicted with his relationship with Chani? That and a child that wasn't his would be a threat to his reign.

Read in numerous fanfictions that Paul would have a certain amount of possessiveness despite giving her freedom to have her own lover. We didn't have many scenes in the books with them but in terms of fan theorizing the more in depth aspects of their arrangement-relationship it is more fun that way. Paul doesn't seem like the type of character that would take too kindly to his 'wife' outwardly showing affection to another as he did with his own concubine. One of those situations where he can dish it out but can't take it.

More possessive over her feelings for him and kind of preserving it? Paul has visions and can sense emotions, peer into memories so it goes to reason he would be aware of her feelings for him even before she was. Denial and all that. She couldn't be trusted since she was still being controlled to a certain extent by the Bene Gesserit. So I would think he would delve into her to check on her intentions and mind from time to time just to be sure. Seems like something he may do and more straight forward than the mind games with talking face to face for answers. We know irulan has the abilities to mask and block parts of her mind but when compared to Paul - not sure how well those abilities would hold up.

With the Chani being fed contraceptives storyline from the book - felt that showed a level of caring from him and protectiveness that wasn't seen clearly before. Yes, their were pretexts for the actions but when Chani wanted to kill her for feeding her contraceptives for years paul told her to not to or asked her not to. In actuality, they had already been married for years by that point so his footing with the houses acknowledging his position would have already been cemented. He wouldn't have been the first monarch to have accidents happen to their legal wife to free the position to remarry or uncomplicate a situation.

Think a certain level of regret and protectiveness had developed. He enabled Irulan to do this for YEARS. Granted it served the purpose to prolong chani's life since it looked to have been an unavoidable fate for her. It wasn't incredibly malicious on Irulan's part and think Paul understood that. It was womanly pride more so than any planning from the Bene Gesserit. Since he had denied her own child and sharing his bed (that we know…) Think Paul understood the motivations and pushed her to do it. Paul would have probably done it himself but Irulan was doing his dirty work inadvertently. Was rather messed up that he didn't have a one on one discussion with chani about giving up the idea but instead let his wife handle things.

Yet, he still didn't want Irulan to be punished for those actions and this is just conjecture but believe he respected her more outside of her intelligence. That she was pushed to take action from her jealousy and yearning. Outside of just words with arguments over the failmarriage situation. Yet still not enough to earn his wrath.

Now back to the infamous marriage proposal erm…command from the movie. Another thing I noticed was that Irulan will not simply have his name and that would be the extent of her role. He put emphasis on her also being safe. Saying in few words, in his own way that she won't be treated violently or like a war crime criminal. That's what I perceived from that sentence. He also said this in front of Chani without any deliberation. He tried to reinforce his love for her beforehand but still - communication was lacking suffice to say.

I believe that Irulan could understand Paul on a deeper level than anyone because both of them have both been puppets on a string. Paul with Jennifer's plans along with the Bene Gesserit's scheming for thousands of years. Paul's rage stems from what was done to his family but more than that it's what he was turned into. Think their was a desire to be a normal human duke. We know he adapts and embraces his role as a Messiah. Irulan was also bred with the proper bloodlines to create her. To be used and fulfill a purpose. To be a player that could be manipulated. Both Paul and Irulan were plunged into a situation that stripped them of their freedom and control. Even with Paul's desire for more power for his grand purpose - he is still a prisoner just as much as Irulan. Just to fate and his visions, the path he believed he needed to take. That understanding of kindred spirits would be there if the two of them spoke about it. Here is hoping we at least get a moment of understanding between them. Anyway, thank you for reading my thoughts~

[buffyspeak]

for the Character Asks, how about I give you your pick of any/all of our 3 established Gossip Girl Main Characters bc we're writing a whole show about these 3 rich dysfunctional gays lmao

hello YES! i enjoy our rich disaster gay trio sitcom (/dramedy) headcanon chats! work with for the other two so it would largely be headcanons anyway. i decided to go with jenny since the others don't have much canon to work with.

How I feel about this character: my beloved <3 more seriously, she's the character in gossip girl i find most interesting so this is going to be. long. anyway. she can be flawed and self-righteous and self-destructive and petty and she can be awfully, egregiously cruel, she knows how to take someone's insecurities or mistakes and hit them where it already hurts -- and despite all that, she's so sympathetic. because she's also ambitious and creative and starts off the show so optimistic and relatively happy-go-lucky, even with her parents' separation. she's cutthroat because she HAS to be, because she would never be able to hang in the upper east side if she wasn't, and that's the path she sees towards her dreams and doesn't she deserve her dreams? she knows she can hack it if she can just GET THROUGH THE DOOR. she's funny and charming and witty and SAD, sadder than i think anyone in the show realizes until she's imploded by the end of season three. she develops this armor of black clothes and sharp eyeliner and bitchy witticisms in season two and season three even moreso and so many people see this as character derailment or think it makes her awful or irredeemable somehow but i look at her and see a girl who's been tread on too many times, with chuck and with damien and with agnes and the guys in the club and what they almost did. with her father, even, and his lack of ability or willingness to understand where she's coming from, that she's not just sad or lonely at school, she's in DANGER. (evidence: the reference to the fact that apparently everyone except two girls in her chem class apparently tried to light her hair on fire?) so she builds up walls and she isolates and she makes decisions that maybe aren't great but she doesn't have the support she needs and all of this makes me feel so soft and sad for her and protective OF her and protective, even, of her right to be flawed, of her right to make mistakes. every other character in the show has equally (or even worse) egregious flaws that get excused or hand-waved by not only the fandom, by the narrative. jenny is held to a much different standard. the narrative screws her and casts her aside (and yes, i get that taylor momsen wanted to leave, i respect it, and i even respect that it's a teen drama and her exit was always going to be a little dramatic, but they did not have to do what they did) and if they didn't think all of this was the perfect storm for me to emotionally adopt her into the list of blorbos in constant rotation in my head-oven well. they've got another thing coming. tldr; jenny is the Born To Die trope except it's more like Metaphysical Innocence Born To Be "Corrupted". it's so clear what they're doing even in the pilot. i will go to my grave defending her.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: jenny x therapy LMAO. actually answer is uhhh idk. might be easier to give a list of my DEFINITE NOTPS (easily guessable, i'd assume.) i simultaneously DO headcanon jenny as having had a crush on blair and think they have interesting dynamic (and lots of angst and turmoil and admiration/jealousy psuedo-political warfare that makes me understand why people DO ship it) while also not really wanting it be like. A Thing. (i also think their relationship was too fraught and blair in particular was too awful to jenny for them to ever have a healthy romantic relationship, so.) i have... a soft spot for nate and jenny let's say? i don't think canon was the right time for them to be together, obviously, and i can easily see how some of her feelings could come across as comphet (especially with him being so constantly unavailable). at the same time, i think they have a lot of sweet moments that are rooted in like, affection and genuinely liking who the other person is. he's very gentle with her and i think jenny could have used a lot more gentle moments in the show. at the same time, i'm not sure they're ultimately the right fit for each other, and i don't really imagine that they're "end game", so to speak, but i do like reading the occasional post-canon fic about them. so that's where i land on them, i supposed. in actuality, i think jenny probably realizes she's queer in some capacity eventually, but that's a whole other question lmao.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: jenny and eric! but also jenny and dan! but also jenny and serena!! it's hard to pick lmao. i think the show does a pretty decent job showing the complexities of the friendship between jenny and eric given eric's limited screentime lmao. i think they hit something very grounded and real with eric and jenny's back and forth, which how much they love and need each other and also can't stand each other half the time, how their introduction was a really simple moment of jenny showing him compassion and him meeting her back with that effort full-force, with how they both value each other more than is common in heterosexual romance-based western cultures but also can't or won't or don't know that they need to or how to admit that to one another. it's a very honest depiction of a friendship at this age and of this kind, at least for me.

i was about to say that my feelings about dan and jenny are simpler, but i don't know if that's true? i might be repeating myself here, but if there's one thing gossip girl does well, it's grounded and realistic dynamics. they tease each other lightly and they tease each other too harshly sometimes, they fight, and they try to understand each other but often can't, they secret-keep for each other until that's no longer viable, and they do their best to protect one another and it's all just so balanced. one scene that stands out to me is when jenny steals the dress in season one and dan goes into talk to her and it's so clear he's had to take on somewhat of a parental role with her since their mom has been gone? and i'm sure that's frustrating for both jenny and for dan. but despite taking on this role of care, he doesn't treat her condescendingly or with any ire, he tries to be understanding and careful and thoughtful where rufus couldn't be. and while i'd say the show does a disservice to their relationship as time wears on, i think when dan gets the CHANCE to be a good big brother to her, he always always is. he tries to do right by her and even in her harsher, more isolating days, she still tries to trust him and lets herself be jenny around him moreso than she knows how to do with other people.

with jenny and serena -- i think i love what their dynamic could have been more than what it was? watching the pilot for the first time, i was sure there were going to be more big sisterly moments between them, but they end up going for conflict instead. which is understandable; like i said, it IS a drama. but serena tries so hard to be kind to jenny in the first season and while jenny wants to BE blair, i think serena's kindness lets her hold onto her dream a little longer, imagine that there's a world where she gets in with the in-crowd and someone like serena is there to back her up. i also think there's a really intriguing theme of jenny's arc paralleling what's serena's been through in terms of assault and sexual exploitation. the "the sixteen year old virgin" really exemplifies how serena WANTS to protect jenny from going down a path of self-destruction that could lead to her getting hurt even more. and just. that's an interesting but woefully underexplored dynamic. she also has the best approach (at first) in that episode which is to just like. talk to jenny like a peer. explain her worries over a shared pint of ice cream. it's only when she panics and starts Plotting that it becomes Too Much. anyway. there's a world in which their relationship was meatier and i want to live in it!

My unpopular opinion about this character: she deserved way better than the narrative throwing her under the bus to prioritize ch*ck.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: i think i wish dan would have found out somehow about jenny getting drugged by agnes. on the one hand, nate telling him maybe would Kind of Not Be Cool, buuut it's tv the characters are allowed to be flawed and messy. plus! it makes the most sense. i feel genuinely feel that if dan found that out, she would be able to open up to him and they would figure out what was best for her (going to stay with their mom for senior year, lots and lots of therapy) sooner and without the ch*ck of it all.

[shihalyfie]

I've watched Appmon thanks to your recommendation and it was amazing! Eri, Astra and Rei were my favorites :) But after looking at past discussions online about the episodes, I've noticed so many people had a problem with its 'filler' (which i think didn't feel like filler at all), much more than any other series in the franchise (besides ghost game, probably) Why do you think this is so? Is it something in the context of its original airing's run?

First of all, congrats on finishing Appmon! I'm so glad my recommendation could get someone else to enjoy it!

Well, I'm going to be honest: I think the prejudice against Appmon having "filler" is, quite simply, a double standard. Savers actually gets this as well in regards to its first eleven episodes (it's just that since it's a fast-paced narrative after that, it's hard to make any accusations of it having "filler" after that no matter how prejudiced you are). But if you look at Adventure through Frontier, there are a lot of episodes that don't advance the plot much. Most Frontier fans agree that the hamburger episode is one of the finest episodes in the franchise despite it technically also being one of these. In fact, if you actually sit down to think about Tamers and ignore the cult that constantly insists it's incapable of having anything wrong with it, its beginning is extremely slow and there are a bunch of early episodes that don't actually advance much of anything "plot"-wise. Adventure through Frontier will automatically get a lot of passes for things that later series won't just because they have the My Childhood Nostalgia™ pass attached to them.

(I do think Appmon episode 26 is entirely skippable, but that's purely because it's a recap episode made to accommodate a timeslot change and any newcomers jumping on at that time, which obviously isn't relevant for people watching it now.)

That being said, I actually despise the word "filler" the way it's used now. The word was supposed to be used in the context of anime adaptations, especially adaptations of manga or video games; anything that was original to the anime and wasn't from its original source material is "filler" (because just sticking to the original material only won't fill enough episodes). Filler in that context was never supposed to inherently be a bad thing, it just was more often than not in practice because it was too obvious the original story wasn't made for it, and it can't advance much character or plot status quo because otherwise it'll derail it from the originally intended storyline, so it usually would end up being kind of boring. But that wasn't always the case, and I've definitely met a lot of One Piece and Dragon Ball fans who have said that some of its filler episodes are its best ones because they have interesting ideas or do interesting things with the characters even despite being so limited in what they could do.

But nowadays, people just use the word "filler" to mean "an episode I don't like" or "an episode I think is boring" -- very subjective. And even when they aren't trying to be condescending about it, they still use that word to apply to "any episode that doesn't 'advance the plot'" completely ignoring the fact that "not advancing the plot" can still have fascinating character studies or interesting ideas, oftentimes even moreso than series that don't. I've seen anime that are entirely minimal-plot that have interesting character studies and/or are episodic. Hell, I don't know many people who watched Digimon Adventure for its totally riveting plot of (checks notes) some isekai where they defeat some bosses who want to take over the world...like, how many people actually watched early Digimon because the "plot" was oh so spectacular?

I do think there's room to criticize Appmon's early pacing (in that it's kind of hard to tell where exactly they're going with the plot in the first handful of episodes, and I honestly wonder if it should have taken so long to introduce Eri and Astra), and frankly I would actually apply those criticisms to Adventure, Tamers, and Savers too -- in fact, I've had very little success introducing new fans to Adventure because it takes almost half the series to feel like it's going anywhere, and it makes it easy to get bored and drop it. But if the problem is pacing, I wish people would actually say it that way instead of saying something is "filler" and therefore useless and unnecessary just because it focuses more on characters than background plot intrigue.