#I wouldn’t be surprised if 5/5 are actually horrible people at this point

[artemisxrose]

FUCK Liam Payne! I will no longer support OT5 and I don’t even want a 1D reunion anymore. It’s so disgusting how so many of you defend these boys actions, but especially Liam, in light of everything that has come out. Maya Henry has every right to speak about her experiences. And it’s gross that I’m seeing literal threads and tweets upon tweets of people calling her a liar and saying all these horrible things. You’re proving Liam right! “No one will believe you anyways and the fans will always defend us!”

Is that not absolutely horrifying to yall? That this man is weaponizing his fanbase against women that he has treated poorly? And yall continue to enable him! Everything Maya said in her recent TikTok was true! Yall defend this abuser because of boy band nostalgia? What the fuck is wrong with some of yall? It makes me sick. It’s always “believe women” “believe victims” until it’s your fave, right?!

We don’t know these people! “He would never do that…” YOU DONT KNOW HIM! These parasocial relationships are going too far.

What’s scary is based on some of the stuff Maya said, I wonder if this is only the tip of the iceberg with Liam. He’s probably done so much shit we don’t even know about. Maybe even the other boys???

I know I’m ranting and no one probably cares but some of the tweets I saw defending Liam were so triggering and upsetting. Trending hashtags like #FreeLiam and #WeLoveYouLiam when a woman CONFIRMED that he abused her is just so sickening. This is why women don’t come forward. This is especially why victims of celebrities and people in power don’t come forward. Because this is how they’re treated. Maya literally even confirmed that Liam and his team have tried to silence her and didn’t want the book to come out. I just… there are no more words.

This whole situation is so triggering… I’m so angry and upset.

Fuck Liam Payne and Fuck all of yall defending him.

[gojos-thot-patrol]

Hello again! I don’t know if youll write angst. And it’s 1000% ok if this isn’t taken. I was recently thinking about Nanami Kento and Y/N getting into a horrible argument. Like, so bad he even sheds a tear or something.

Thank you!

I sat on this for SO LONG because I wanted to do it justice for you HAHAH. I hope you like it cause I really do.

Now Presenting...

Starring Kento Nanami, falling apart.

find pt.2 here!

Nanami wouldn’t believe the two of you were having this argument. Well, actually scratch that, he could believe it, he just didn’t want to. He knew it was coming, he knew from the moment the two of you became official. It was an argument he could never really escape. 

“I just miss you Ken,” you sighed, exasperation taking over your entire being like a fog taking over an early fall morning, “I don’t think I’m asking for a lot.”

“I never said you were.” Nanami snapped back with more edge to his voice than he ever intended. Despite all his efforts, work still consumed him. The sorcerers were worn thinner than usual lately, so he was traveling more. A lot more. He wasn’t Gojo, who could just pop up anywhere he wanted to, get shipped out to Africa for a month but still be able to come home in the evenings. 

Nanami couldn’t teleport. When he was sent overseas for the month, he was gone for a month. And they had been sending him away for months. Your breaking point was this weekend, when he came home from a 3 month long special grade mission in the states, for all of 5 days before getting assassigned abroad again. He was going to leave Monday, meaning he was home for a total of 7 days. He couldn’t blame you for being upset. 

“I don’t understand why it’s always you they always have to send!” you sighed, trying hard not to lose your composure, “I don’t understand why you can’t tell them no, don’t you want to spend time with me?!”

“Of course I want to spend time with you Y/n!” Nanami groaned, not believing what he was hearing, “I love you, but my job is life or death more often than not. If I just decide one day not to go in people die.” Nanami tried to reason with you. He knew you were loving, compassionate. He knew you didn’t want anyone to get hurt.

“That’s not true!” you argued, “They have other sorcerers!” You argued with him, losing your cool. 

“Not nearly enough!” He argued back, matching your energy despite himself. “Why are you acting like this now? I didn’t hide my job when we started dating, I made it clear what you were getting into.” Nanami reminded you. 

“Because I miss you!” You yelled, tears starting to pearl at the corners of your eyes, “I love you, I want to be around you! I hate it, being home alone on valentines day when you’re continents away from me!”

“So is that what this is about? You’re mad I didn’t take you on a valentine's day date?” Nanami scoffed, his reasoning leaving his body as he went into defense mode. 

“No you dunce!” You snapped at the deliberate twist of your words. You knew Nanami knew better. Nanami knew better. “This is about the fact that I’ve barely fucking seen you this year!”

“So what do you want me to do about it?!” Nanami sighed, “I don’t get to pick and choose where they send me. What do you think, that I don't want to be home? Of course I do, but I also have a fucking job to do!” Nanami never cursed, least of all at you. It took both of you by surprise. The two of you had never had a fight like this.

“Oh, you wanna be home?!” You scoffed, scrambling for straws. You never met for this to become a fight, let alone one so huge. “Well you could have had me fooled!” you snapped as the tears finally started to fall. 

“Why are you being so selfish right now?! If my job bothers you so much then go!” Nanami finally snapped, his intrusive thoughts getting the better of him and tumbling out. He instantly regretted it as you both stared at each other for a second. The worst part of any fight is the silence. Because it’s not silent. It’s made up of all the things you would say to each other if only you had the nerve. 

And this silence was heavy, like carrying a 30 pound soaking wet weighted blanket. He wanted to scream he was sorry and pull you into his arms and take it all back. But his limbs were full of sand and didn’t feel like his own. “Y/n..” He whispered. 

“Fine.” You snapped, finally finding the will to move as you grabbed your jacket, “Then I’ll go.”

“Wait, no, Y/n, don’t go!” Nanami begged, trying to grab your wrist as you rushed out the door of your shared apartment. “Y/n, I’m Sor-!” The door slammed in his face. 

His heart exploded in fire and glass, his soul left his body and his vision glazed over. This couldn’t be real, no way he fucked up the one good thing he had going for him. For his fucking job for christ sake. He could feel the tears running down his face as he sat on the couch to try and figure out how he got here. He went to check the time on his phone only to be met with a picture of you. He missed you already.

“How the hell are you going to unfuck this one Kento?”

[velvetjune]

replayed The Lake House dlc, so more of my thoughts under spoilers! (This is long)

I cannot believe how many things I missed during the first run of this game:

1. The whiteboard of the AI Alan Wake manuscript pages produced with evaluations. One repeating the word “scream” for half of a page gets praise for its wording and tone. “Pistol looked at flashlight in shock.” It must’ve been so much fun for the writers to make up all of these.

2. Jules Marmont has extra footage directly after the Dr. Darling video on the second floor if you go back. I don’t know what exactly triggers this video, but it was when I was doubling back to get the black rock weapon.

3. The research archives appear normally from above, then shift multiple times, before returning to normal (… as normal as the shelves infinitely repeating is). This happened in the first playthrough, but I was stressed over my survival and never noticed.

4. The research archives actually go through areas with different mediums/classifications. There’s tagged artifacts/photos, tapes, film, books, and it ends with paintings. It’s nothing mind bending, but the detail was nice to see.

5. Diana’s tape on the tortured artist and human experimentation. This, with Jules’ video, only added to their monstrosity.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Black Rock Launcher is used in a similar way in FBC Firebreak. It wouldn’t be the same, but this felt so much like a set up for the kind of strange and innovative tools that FBC employees experiment with, especially when trapped in a lockdown at the Oldest House with access to Black Rock Quarry. Maybe Emily can finally make her black rock knives!

It’s hard to not think of Alan and Alice when it comes to any other creative characters in relationships in this game and the hardships with balancing that sorta life. There’s the Bookers with Tammy, a successful true crime writer and attempted poet (!!!), and Ed, a playwright trying to get recognition and feel inspired. It feels right that he would end up taking Wake’s work to write the Marmonts (also with shades of Alan and Alice) into their own supernatural lakeside cabin, fit with a marriage that’s falling apart.

The actors for both Marmonts are incredible. They both perfectly portray their outrage, jealously, and stubbornness that’s consuming their relationship and work. This mad scientist drama could easily end up too cheesy, but they sell it. Love that these negative emotions and their attempt to enforce it on artists for their suffering lead to the crack in the lake house through them. There’s so many things to pick at in this dlc, whether for the relationships, work environments, ai, artists, etc.

Only for this bullet point, but Final Draft Spoilers: Diana thinking of Jules’ smile as her last moment before being taken, while Jules’ last moment (‘Breakthrough in the Lake House’ page) is feeling pride over his work…………

I want more office drama for horrible mad scientists for Control 2. Honestly I want anything Control 2

After briefly checking online, I’m proud of myself for quickly solving the calendar problems. I actually really liked this kind of simple task to find little clues and, by doing so, getting to know the people through their passwords. I’m terrible anything with puzzles, so very grateful to have this over something elaborate or. math.

The Dylan scene is also skippable, which is unthinkable (one of the best parts of the dlc!). There’s all this disgust and horror from Estevez towards the Marmonts’ control of the Lake House, only for it to reveal that Dylan was also trapped there and experimented on by Dr. Darling and the researchers there (all approved by Trench!). Estevez isn’t aware of this, but it was a cold reminder of how truly awful it was for Dylan and how fucked up Trench and Darling are for kidnapping a child…. And then abandoning him in a small prison cell.

The horror elements in this DLC were nice, although not extreme. Tbh I don’t consider any of Remedy’s games to be scary, even if they’re still horror, but this had good moments! The distortion of the environment and constant looping made me doubt myself. Jules’ death as a taken was violent (albeit obscured), to the level of Nightingale’s cult attack, if not worse. Loved the emotion from the Marmonts seeping into their taken personalities. Aw1 had more of this and it made the Taken far more upsetting and real.

Sometimes Alan is creepy and I enjoy seeing him through other characters’ eyes. Alan/the Dark Place manifesting manuscript pages that would perfectly dig under the Marmonts’ skins and infect them was unnerving and a little funny. shows they never had a chance. While it’s not physically like that, the words describing the Lake House slowly being sunken into Cauldron Lake and the water dripping in—Chef’s kiss

AWAN had a conversation between the scientist where she discussed fate and agency (…Alan’s indignation at her being remotely critical over her 😭 he’s such an asshole). It reminded me of Diana’s notes on whether Alan wrote and controlled her life. There’s some agency that Alan takes away just by guiding these events and trying to influence people through a story. How much is him actually controlling or changing things is another question, but having that kind of power is scary, especially from another’s POV (Saga, now Estevez and the Marmonts)

Estevez seeing Alan typing the later event of her meeting Saga and THIS being what led the FBC straight to her was a great scene of wrapping everything up. I liked the weird dark goo in the Dark Place. Fun stuff!

Poe <3 Loved this promo of her new song. 6 deep breaths coinciding with Estevez’ reassurance to herself, although the lyrics also could apply to others. Dylan trapped in his cage, yet able to connect to these worlds; Alan (+Alice) in the dark place, then post-game, ‘finding roads everywhere’. I’m playing the first Alan Wake, so the breathing made me immediately think of the deep breaths taken by Tom the Diver throughout that (+ the addition of another voice breathing near the end)

Clay Murphy wrote the screenplay to this and to Number One Fan (Night Springs), which means he might be the funniest person ever

[uptoolateart]

Having had time to process the Season 5 finale, and read people’s very interesting takes on it, my one remaining issue with it is…Adrien and Marinette’s character arcs.

Looking at Adrien first...he was on a journey, man. He started out so naïve and helpless, like this precious little bundle of light and joy who wanted to love everyone. You knew it wouldn’t last. You only hoped he retained that spirit even after he was broken...and you knew he’d break hard.

We watched him grow. Strike Back was huge. Season 5 was huge. We saw him speak up and try to take action. That fight with Gabriel in Representation? One of the best things in the show, in my opinion – what I’d been waiting for, for five seasons.

But what I’ve been saying for years is…I didn’t want him to be ‘saved’. I wanted him to save himself - with her support, of course. After all that growth, I didn’t want him to continue to be the damsel in distress. It doesn’t matter that it’s a boy being saved by a girl, this time. Sure, that turns tables, but it’s not enough. Boys shouldn’t need coddling any more than girls. I wanted partnership.

Maybe I built it up too much in my head. It doesn’t help that I wrote my own Season 5 before the TV version started airing. I guess it’s taking me some time to let go of my ideas and accept that none of it went remotely the way I expected. In a way…that’s a good thing. It’s good to be surprised. Just…

I wanted Adrien to face off with his father, knowing who he was. I wanted him to see his mother and learn the truth of it all. I wanted him to get that closure. I didn’t want everyone continuing to lie and keep him in the dark as if he’s still the same naïve, helpless, precious little bundle of light and joy he was at the start of the whole story.

I’m okay with Gabriel winning. I was actually hoping that would happen, because it’s a great idea. It was also such a Chekov’s gun – we had to see it happen, after all that teasing. Not to mention, there was no way they’d simply kill Gabriel or lock him away in prison, because both would have been too anticlimactic after all the drama. We needed something big and we got it.

I just wanted Adrien to be there for it. Not off-screen, locked in a room. And I know, I know, he took part in the battle in his own way, by having the self-awareness to remove his ring in order to save humanity and avert a Cat Blanc scenario. But Ladybug doesn’t even know what he did. She doesn’t know the extent of the part he played. She thinks she saved him. But he saved her, too…and everyone else in the world…and even he probably doesn’t realise that in full, because he doesn’t know just how bad it could have been, had he learned Monarch was his father.

Looking at Marinette…she has spent this whole show keeping secrets from people. Cat Noir really deserves to know about Cat Blanc - how much trouble has that secret caused? Now she’s keeping from Adrien the whole fact that his father was the villain, and that it all revolved around his mother. When is she going to learn that it’s not up to her to decide what someone should or shouldn’t know? That she doesn’t need to treat this boy like fragile porcelain? You cannot be in a relationship with someone where you treat them like a child. That’s called being his mother, not his girlfriend or partner.

Unless she doesn’t know. I keep coming back to this, in my mind. Maybe in this reality, she’s under the same delusions as Adrien and remembers things differently. Maybe she’s been duped into thinking Gabriel was a hero, too, because he changed everything for everyone in it, including her. If so…yeah, that’s really interesting…and horrible….

But I still wish Adrien had been there.

I just wanted him in the basement. Is that too much to ask for??? In Risk, we saw him pick up that eyepiece thing Felix left behind in the mansion. He pocketed it. He was meant to use it at some point, to find the spots on the painting and find the lift and find the basement. It never materialised, I think because they changed plans when the show got signed for more seasons. That scene was meant to happen and I can’t stand that it didn’t. I accept everything else. I just wanted him in that finale.

And as awesome as Marinette was, unifying the miraculous like no other holder before...it kind of showed that she could do the whole thing without him...and I’m not okay with that. She needs to know what he did.

So, now I’m back where I already was, waiting for everyone to realise he isn’t made of glass and he can stand on his own. Come on, Adrien, come on – show them all what we know you’re made of!

[queenjunothegreat]

I have so many MOA scene rewrite suggestions (you obviously do not have to write all of these, but you asked for suggestions so!! also sorry for this being so long)

- (this is a big sad one) Jason reuniting with camp Juptier and realizing he wasn’t very missed and was basically replaced + Leo getting possessed and firing on Camp Jupiter (I can’t remember if this was Leo’s thought process in the books, but Leo would definitely think he was a curse for Jason or something. Like first he ruined things with Thalia and now this)

- I would love to see a one-shot of Leo and Hazel’s relationship being fixed. Cause I hate the fact that Hazel had to deal with two guys crushing on her after being traumatically revived into a new time period. This could also function as a Valgrace/Lost trio fic cause Jason and Piper would definitely get jealous of Leo being constantly stolen away to go on missions without them.

- Jason’s birthday picnic with Piper

- this last one isn’t MOA related but I want to include anyways cause it’s a special headcannon to me. I 100% believe that Annabeth pestered the shit out of Leo when he was building the Argo II. Not in a mean way!!! But, she would definitely immediately try to help Leo in making the ship cause she loves designing things and she wants to see her boyfriend. I feel like she horrible at assuming/accepting that people wouldn’t want her help. Therefore, she keeps pestering Leo on ship progress and ideas. And Leo being the solo worker he is, just doesn’t know how to work with someone else. It could function great as a 5+1 fic like - “Five times Annabeth tries to help Leo, + the one time Annabeth succeeds in helping.” Basically, I just need someone to write a fic about their friendship. As well as Leo accepting he doesn’t need to do everything alone and he can ask for help.

Never apologize for longwindedness to me. I am King President of Yappingtonshireville and I ALWAYS encourage everyone to run their mouths. In fact, I am THANKING you for all these wonderful ideas 😌

First and foremost, um???? Butting heads to work besties Annabeth and Leo??? Hello??? Sign me the FUCK up!! There's not NEARLY enough fics featuring these two and that needs to change ASAP! It will also be a really good chance for me to work on my Annabeth voice for the HoH rewrite. Her being so eager and willing to help to the point where it would be off putting to anyone much less someone like Leo while also not even recognizing it is SUCH an Annabeth thing oh my god. My darling girl mwah mwah mwah.

Also! Yes! Hazel! She deserved so much better than being forced into a weird bad love triangle that didn't do literally anything for the story. Leo will have absolutely ZERO romantic feelings for the traumatized 13 year old, bur he will absolutely flirt with her when Frank is around just to mess with him. I am REALLY fond of the odea of them becoming friends (and Hazel being like "Frank, why are you being mean to Leo? 🥺 He's my friend" and Frank folding like a house of cards) and I'm beyond delighted with the idea of Jason and Piper having a mutual pouting session about Leo hanging out with Frank and Hazel more. That in particular could fold really nicely into the Jason’s birthday picnic thing!

Ooooh, I am gnawing on this Jason getting to CJ concept. I was planning on writing it from (SURPRISE!) Reyna’s POV, but I think it would be sososo good to then swap POV halfway through and have them mirror each other's thoughts without even realizing it. I am actually in the middle of writing a fic that is immediately post everyone getting back on the ship after firing on New Rome, so I will for SURE be yoinking those "Leo feels like a curse" thoughts to put in there because it is SO good.

[forgetmenautical]

sorry I need to be annoying for a second

so we’ve all seen this image? right? yeah? Okay. I know this one image is all we have to go off of right now but let me be insane for a second ok? ok

First of all. There are multiple people here. There’s the guy in the foreground, whoever’s behind mark, and mark himself. Mark has said that he’s starring so my immediate assumption was that the other people are convicts aboard the submarine. Looking at it for ANY longer though, my second thought is that these people are helping him Board the submarine. Seeing the white light behind the person in the back, that HAS to be another room, either that or the internal structure of the submarine has gone under some serious reconstruction, bc we never see a light bright enough in the submarine in-game that could emit that much glow. So the submarine hasn’t been submerged yet at this point.

This is a HUGE deal. It means that Eden or the C.O.I. are actively spending EXTREMELY valuable resources to set up bases on the moons—or at least AT-5—for what I’m assuming is the sole purpose of sending submarines into the blood oceans. I don’t remember specifically but it’s stated in-game that at the very least they (either Eden or the C.O.I., but it could go for both seeing how starved for resources the universe is after the quiet rapture) only have enough resources to build 3, maybe 4 more submarines. Submarines that they almost exclusively send convicts in to explore the blood oceans, and even when they thought they’d gathered enough data through the first 7, SM-8—the first submarine that was actually created with the intent of Returning—went fucking horribly! It was torn to shreds at the bottom of the ocean! And no one fucking bats an eye! And they continued to do it!

speaking of, this might not even take place On the SM-13. We don’t even know if this is taking place on AT-5. Whoever mark plays could be either post or prior to the events of the game, or even what happened in-game disregarded almost entirely. It’s super interesting. Judging from the trailer and screenshot though, we definitely make the assumption that it is a convict submarine, seeing as the SM-8 was more decked out with actual materials and gear required to do proper research within the blood ocean, and the submarine we see in the trailer is almost exactly like the one in-game. My best guess is that it takes place shortly after the events of the SM-13, so it can tie back to the game.

Anyway, back to my first point. The lack of resources. They still have a lot of convicts, and they can only build a limited number of submarines, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually packed multiple convicts into a single submarine under the guise of efficiency. Or even then maybe Expanding a bit upon the submarine(s) itself, seeing as they can only make so many more—they Need to make them count. It can no longer be an easy one-and-done execution with the hopes of getting something out of it.

I’m also super curious about why they’re not harvesting the blood itself from the moons, seeing as it’s a literal OCEAN of Human Blood. That’s full of iron an oxygen—an entire ocean full of rich red liquid iron and oxygen! That solves so many problems for them, and there’s multiple blood oceans on different moons, so there’s a chance that both the C.O.I. and Eden get full access to them. Do they just not have the materials they need to extract it or like…what? Is the bloods anomalous properties effecting their ability to harvest it since it’s somehow maintaining a liquid form despite the fact it For Sure shouldn’t be able to do that? What the fuck?

Anyway this is all from my memory. I didn’t re-check anything so I could be completely wrong about everything but Who cares. I needed get that out of my brain. Please add on to this I need to talk about iron lung

[catchyhuh]

WHO WOULD BE BEST TO GO ON A 6 HOUR CAR TRIP WITH!!

THE ANSWER? IT’S COMPLICATED! car trips are such a delicate science that when i did this ranking in my head it fell apart almost immediately so instead i will present the information and YOU, yes YOU get to decide who you’d be able to put up with and who you’d murder before you even reached the highway

suggested reading for you: unbearable habits. keep this in mind as you go and venture safely 

lupin:

well. it wouldn’t be boring at least. he can make conversation out of almost anything. you pass a weird tree and ten minutes later he’s going on about how one time he had to learn about some tree info to get this rare sap thing (fujiko said she heard it tasted yummy-- it didn’t btw it sucked but he just had to see y’know) and he found out that there’s like thirty types of maple trees, one of which is actually invasive in north america, which is weird because it feels like north america is the area that’s the BIGGEST on tree tapping so why would it be a problem if they had so many norway maples-- hey are you listening to m

actually not that bothered if he’s not the one driving. might poke at you about things like “obeying the speed limit” and such but he’s perfectly content to kick back. uh oh, did that lull you into a false sense of security? don’t sigh in relief yet, you have mr. passenger princess as your copilot. fucks with the radio, the ac, constantly adjusting his seat, messing with windows, all to HIS comfort level. after all, you’re only the person driving.

insists on stopping at a convenience store. if you try some fast food drivethru bullshit he’s gonna be like “what schedule are we on! why are you in such a rush? fucking-- live a little, man. there’s a sheetz here”

jumping off that last bit the payment method AT the store will change entirely depending on what type of comment you make to him beforehand. if you say “in what world is it worth it to steal a 5 dollar slushie” he’s stealing. if you say “in what world is a slushy worth 5 fucking dollars” he will be paying in full with his own money. guarantee

jigen:

reclines his seat WAY far back. like crushing the person behind him’s legs, far back. like, would probably be a safety hazard even if he was in the car by HIMSELF far back. the reason airplanes have a locking mechanism to stop you from turning the seat into a twin bed far back.

not a horrible conversationalist but it will entirely rely on how much he “likes” (read: is kinda okay with) you and his mood. he won’t push you to talk, but if you want to talk and he DOESN’T, you are getting the driest answers. however if you are anything like me and only need minimal engagement to take as a sign to keep talking endlessly, he will whittle down to the point where he starts TALK talking to you a bit more.

can easily keep himself occupied regardless of mood. just grabs a crossword or some shit. miraculously doesn’t get a headache, but if you even make one remark about the fact that reading in the car gives people headaches, he’ll INSTANTLY remind you nothing could make his head hurt more than his current company. even if he doesn’t mind your company! it’s a reflex.

if you don’t let him drive he’s going to be a bitch. i promise. if you don’t let him drive he will grumble about every little thing so you know what. just make peace with it and hand over the wheel. pop it off the little stick thing and hand it right over to ol’ smoky. at the very least he’ll shave off a half hour from the ETA, somehow. it’s jarring because he doesn’t actually seem to be going faster but surprise! we’ve reached our destination.

goemon:

well. if you were stressing over lupin never shutting up i have good news for you. it doesn’t matter who his company is, he’s just consistently a man of very few words, unless you get him off on some specific thing he’s passionate about (which is very, very niche, and will be harder to trigger than you’d anticipate), but hey, he’s okay with that. unfortunately if silence is torture for you i have equally bad news,

honestly cannot understate how likely it is you’ll forget he’s in the back if you’re both silent for more than a mile stretch of road. he doesn’t shift around a lot. when you first get in he might take about 5 or so minutes to really get comfy but he prefers the back seat. every time goemon has had a choice, he goes right for the back. more legroom. so, yeah, very easy to forget he’s present

going to act like he can keep himself entertained just tuning out his surroundings and meditating but that’s just. not true. he’s going to last an impressive amount of time, maybe three and a half hours? but he is ultimately human and when you have to make that first gas station stop the gross ass smell of gasoline is going to knock him RIGHT out of it. 

really the only way you’re pulling any significant interaction out of this is if someone ELSE is manning the car and you can either turn completely around to interact with him or if you’re both sitting side by side. mostly the latter, as he’ll be less tempted to kind of emotionally shut you out if you’re right beside each other. just don’t expect him to move to give you much more space to yourself lmao

fujiko:

unique problem where you might EXPECT her to be somewhat talkative (like a reasonable amount) but no. she’s not talking to you. she’s not even ignoring you with headphones or anything she’s just content in her own world. unless of course you made one comment that just barely slightly annoyed her, in which case she pulls out the biggest, shiniest, most obnoxious headphones and tunes you out entirely. tread carefully

if you get hungry you’re eating at a SIT DOWN DINE-IN MEAL. NO fast food NO convenience store and ESPECIALLY no 3 dollar mini dorito bags, not on miss mine’s watch. don’t even fucking pretend it’s an option. but of course, this adds like an hour to your drive time, so… half and half. you Will be dining and dashing

probably has some kind of car trip kit. firstly, the fact she’s actually taking a CAR trip must mean you need to be afraid of something, because that’s gotta be her last resort. she could fly, take a train, fucking fly a helicopter herself, fly ANYTHING herself she’s UNSTOPPABLE and she wants to kick her feet on the dash for a fourth of a very valuable day?? but beyond that. has a nice pillow (NOT a neck pillow. hurts her neck. just a real full pillow. she doesn’t nap anyway idk why she’s got that) some kinda heating thingy to keep her back from getting sore in that uncomfy seat, large cup with a delicious bev of choice, just anything you could imagine being convenient. oh my god remember the tiddy bear? google tiddy bear. she’s got one of those

very creative when it comes to filling up time without getting VERY silly. now, make no mistake, if you’re both exhausted enough multiple hours in, she MIGHT be ok playing some car color counting game (especially if the winner gets 20 bucks) but usually she’s gonna just come up with some shit like “everytime you complain about x i’m going to cut this blank check into confetti and when the ride is over i’m dumping it on you.” isn’t she such a catch!

zenigata:

well. it definitely won’t be the same moment to moment. either you’re about to be miserable for multiple hours or somehow accidentally unlock the most bizarre yet interesting information about him. no inbetween. maybe even both!

probably the only one who has even a tiny chance of falling asleep, and even then that’s gotta be a hiiiighly specific setup. most possible if you just shut up for long enough and then he’ll kinda doze, but don’t bring UP the fact that you’re trying to get him to chill the fuck out and nap for a bit, don’t even joke about it, because then if you try to employ the long period of silence he’ll just go “... wait a minute I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING” and it’ll be a whole thing

the most adamant about getting the damn thing over with. he’s not going to be a BITCH about it per se, but he IS going to be like “no no not that gas station look at that line. if we just wait till the next one it’ll save us like 15 minutes” and you look at the gas mileage and go “uh” and he goes “no we can make it. trust me.” and cut to 30 minutes later you’re both trying to push the truck to the closest pump which is STILL a good 700 feet away. save time my ass. because of this insistence he will be the one that takes the LONGEST to get from point a to point b, just because he WANTS to be the fastest and god is cruel

goes through like fifty highs and lows throughout unrelated to anything. traffic, the weather, fuck man the ac could be busted, and he’ll be fine, but then 20 minutes later he’s snippy about EVERYTHING. you are microdosing having him as a roommate. stay sane to the best of your ability because god knows he won’t

they ALL get bitchy about music, god help you if you try to fuck with the music

[empress-leo]

Rating each of the 88 IAU designated constellations based on how good they would be as a name for a member of the Black family because I’m bored and this road trip will take at least 2 more hours.

Andromeda: 10/10 no notes. It’s perfect disaster name material.

Antila: 6/10 I feel they would be the weird middle child of the family

Apus: 5/10 could be good as a domineering father figure, otherwise I wouldn’t want to call my edgy soft boi Apus Black

Aquarius: 3/10 would get made fun of and not taken seriously

Aquila: 7/10 perfect name for an adventurous lesbian that got disinherited yet is a total badass

Ara: 1/10 I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from thinking Ara Ara Black

Aries: 9/10 perfect antagonist name

Auriga: 2/10 just doesn’t really roll off the tongue well

Boötes: 3/10 not bad, but the double Bs knock it down a few points

Caelum: 6/10 good as the edgy second in command to an antagonist, otherwise unremarkable

Camelopardis: 0/10 horrible would only be made fun of for being named the objectively worse version of giraffe

Cancer: 0/10 do I even need to explain

Canes Venatici: 2/10 to many syllables

Canis Major: 4/10 could see this being used as the name for an older twin, but not on its own

Canis Minor: 4/10 ditto but for the younger twin

Capricornus: 3/10 maybe as a medieval ancestor, but not as a modern black

Carina: 8/10 younger sister name

Cassiopeia: 10/10 amazing

Centaurus: 2/10 this would probably offend the actual centaurs

Cepheus: 5/10 total emo recluse name

Cetus: 7/10 short and snappy, perfect for an overbearing father

Chamaeleon: 4/10 I could totally see them using this out of pure spite

Circinus: 3/10 at best a great-grandfather, otherwise horrible

Columba: 8/10 would be a soft and gentle older sister

Coma Berenices: 0/10 too many syllables and has coma in the name

Corona Australis: 0/10 too specific

Corona Borealis: 0/10 see above

Corvus: 10/10 the ultimate emo boi name

Crater: 8/10 would play beater on the house team

Crux: 8/10 definitely a middle child with something to prove

Cygnus: 8/10 a daddy you don’t want to mess with

Delphinus: 6/10 the secretive bastard daughter who has inherited angst

Dorado: 2/10 too many Os

Draco: 10/10 Draco Malfoy adopted by the Blacks AU vibes

Equuleus: 5/10 too many Us, other could be good for a grandfather

Eridanus: 5/10 if you place the emphasis on the i then it works, otherwise not

Fornax: 3/10 probably sounds cooler than the person with the name actually is

Gemini: 4/10 youngest child energy

Grus: 6/10 people would think it’s a nickname then be surprised it’s their real name

Hercules: 9/10 though it would probably end up being used be someone with extremely supremacist views, ruining the name for everyone else

Horologium: 0/10 imagine introducing yourself as ‘watch’

Hydra: 6/10 would defiantly be the younger brother of Hercules

Hydrus: 5/10 either the worse version of Hydra or the better version

Indus: 4/10 coloniser vibes

Lacerta: 9/10 absolutely the daughter that ran away from the family becuase she loved a Muggle

Leo: 10/10 I’m biased

Leo Minor: the inferior sibling of Leo

Lepus: 1/10 sound too much like Leper

Libra: 4/10 Le Bruh Black

Lupus: 8/10 Lupin gets adopted by the Blacks AU vibes

Lynx: 6/10 you think they’re gonna be all edgy and intimidating but they’re actually soft and apologetic for their crazy name

Lyra: 9/10 pure spice, I love it

Mensa: 0/10 I can’t think of anything I like about it

Microscopium: 0/10 like, BRUH, why

Monoceros: 6/10 the Uncle that’s a bit too into blood purity and duelling

Musca: 2/10 I- I mean, really?

Norma: 5/10 the boring and unremarkable young sister

Octans: 7/10 I could see it being used as the name of an aide

Ophiuchus: 0/10 horrible

Orion: 10/10 it’s perfect

Pavo: 4/10 that cousin you only see once every few years and aren’t quite sure how you’re related

Pegasus: 8/10 kinda heroic, I could see this being used for a main character

Perseus: 7/10 same comment as above, just a weaker version of it

Phoenix: 8/10 the hot headed brother, though given that phoenixes are real it’s kinda like naming your child cheetah

Pictor: 1/10 if a black family member ever became a grave digger, it would be Pictor

Piscis: 3/10 could be worse. I imagine this child would be mostly forgotten about though

Piscis Austrinus: 1/10 the worse version of Picsis

Puppis: 6/10 excitable younger sibling energy

Pyxis: 8/10 a name for a younger sibling who reads a few too many dark magic books

Reticulum: 1/10 horrible. Absolutely horrible

Sagitta: 7/10 people would think it’s a nickname for Sagittarius, but it actually works on its own

Sagittarius: 5/10 could just use Sagitta as a nickname

Scorpius: 9/10 almost as emo as Corvus. Almost.

Sculptor: 3/10 I could see them using it as the name of an ancestor who lived before the 17th cenfury

Scutum: 1/10 sounds too much like scrotum. Anyone who would be named this would have anger issues

Serpens: 3/10 sounds incomplete

Sextans: 3/10 in the same boat as Sculptor

Taurus: 10/10 absolutely perfect for a Father or Uncle that is an amazing duellist and is mad when his son isn’t

Telescopium: 0/10 hmm yes I would like to seeeeeee

Triangulum: 0/10 triangulate a better name

Triangulum Australe: 0/10 no that’s worse

Tucana: 8/10 either an adoring mother or the youngest brother

Ursa Major: 4/10 good older twin name

Ursa Minor: 4/10 good younger twin name

Vela: 5/10 I could see this being used, but it would cause problems with the Veela community

Virgo: 6/10 but only if pronounced as Vir(j)o Black instead of Vir(g)o Black

Volans: 6/10 semi-decent, but definitely not the oldest child

Vulpecula: 3/10 any child named this will immediately become angry

[eddiemunsonw]

It takes one kiss

CHAPTER 2 - I need it to be you

part 1 - part 2 - part 3 - part 4 - part 5

Steddie Fanfic

Summary: Steve hosts a party and ends up suffering through the consequences of humoring Tommy.

OR

Steve Harrington kisses Eddie Munson by accident and that sucked. Right?

CW / Disclaimer: Some mild overlap with S4 scenes (barely) - But (!!) Eddie lives - Mention of F-slur once.

Author’s note: My first Steddie fic! Another first woop. Let's hope you like. It has five parts that I'll be posting both on here and on my ao3: eddiemunsons. Enjoy!

Words: (of current chapter) 2696 / (complete fic) 15381

Eddie’s POV

Months passed after what Eddie now liked to call the “Natural 1 Occurrence”, or NO² for short in his head. Not very catchy, but it made sense to him. The first week after the party had been especially hard at school. The name calling had gotten much, much worse than before. At least until Harrington snapped and told everyone to move the fuck on because he didn’t want to be reminded of that horrible event that he had been forced into. Yeah. That’s how he had turned it around. 

Steve Harrington, the jock, the King, the popular guy, had been too drunk to think and just did what was expected of him and kissed one person after the next, not knowing the last had been Eddie. It was gross and he obviously never would have done it otherwise, and he had lied about the rating but never got to the point of the joke. That was his story. Lo and behold, people seemed to believe him. Popularity did that to you. Eddie did catch some whispers here and there that the guy had been totally into it and that they didn’t believe a word he said, but it fell on deaf ears. The guys didn’t want someone like that amongst them and the girls didn’t want their dreams to be crushed. Oh, the horror of losing their favorite jock to the gays.

To be fair, Eddie really, really wanted to believe Harrington. It would be a lot easier if he could believe that he would rather die than kiss him. However… he had been there. He had felt Harrington kissing him, felt the gasp against his lips and felt the reluctance of pulling back. Sure, maybe it had all been alcohol induced, but still. Thanks to his crush on the guy, he had in fact been paying attention to him. Steve Harrington was a horrible liar. And when he gave Eddie’s kiss a 9.5, he had definitely not been lying.

Which did not help at all for Eddie who was trying to get rid of his delusions that there was something there. There wasn’t. Even if there was, there still wasn’t. Whatever was going on in that beautiful head of his, it wasn’t in Eddie’s favor. Even if that kiss had been the best kiss Harrington had ever experienced, it wouldn’t matter. People like him wouldn’t own up to their sexuality until they were unhappily married with four kids and several acts of infidelity later. It was fruitless. 

Eddie knew not to engage with Harrington or anyone from his circle for that matter and was actually relieved when he finally became more invisible again. There were a few people who still seized every opportunity to call him names, but it beat the time when it had been half the school. He was surprised he hadn’t received another beating. All in all, it had been super draining to deal with negativity every day while there was already so much of it swarming around in his own mind. As tough as his shell was, he was glad it seemed to be over for the most part.

Summer break had offered a much needed, temporary escape from it all. Unfortunately school knocked on his door again and he had to drag himself back to that hellhole. He wasn’t supposed to be there, not really. Failing English just did that to you. He was convinced that Mrs. O’Donnell had something against him and whether that had to do with the fact that she had caught him doodling during her classes, he didn’t know. He had been pretty harmless otherwise, apart from the one time he had glued her favorite pencil to her desk. But, no one knew that had been him. He doubted the jocks would have laughed about it, had they known it was his doing. Mrs. O’Donnell wasn’t the only one with a personal agenda against him. Principal Higgins severely disliked him as well, which is why they really should have given him a passing grade to get rid of him. Of course, they hadn’t. Why not torture him with another year of being surrounded by the people that hated his goddamn guts, right? That’ll show him.

Eddie had managed to survive about half of the first semester when Callum had finally wrapped up his D&D campaign at the Hellfire Club. It had been the plan to end it before summer, but he had miscalculated the time that was needed for their final quest, endboss and everything. Now that it was finally done, it was time for Eddie to host his first campaign. He had been working on it all summer (and even before that) and he was excited yet nervous to start.

While it was a big change from being a player to being a DM, he liked it a lot. His first session went surprisingly well and the practice that he had done with some generic dialogue for a few NPCs had definitely paid off. Even Callum was positively impressed (although he admitted it with some reluctance) and he was definitely someone that was hard to please. Eddie knew the rules of the game in and out by now, but he had still spent extra time to make sure he wouldn’t cause any major fuckups. The rest of the party was excited to go on the new adventure and Eddie could not wait until next Friday to continue.

At the end of their session, once everyone had gone, Eddie lingered behind to make some notes for next week and checked everything that he had written down during the session. He was busy scribbling away with his Walkman on when suddenly the fluorescent lighting from the hallway came into view. He looked up at the silhouette partially blocking it, but couldn’t make out who it was. Probably a janitor about to get up in his business because he wanted to lock the school, Eddie thought.

“Who’s there? I can’t really see you,” Eddie told the stranger as he squinted at the dark blob in the distance. The figure cleared their throat and dread immediately filled his chest. He wasn’t proud of it, but he’d recognize Harrington’s “throat clearing” everywhere. Now that they shared several classes together, he had become hyper aware of everything the guy did. Embarrassing, but true nonetheless.

“Uh, Steve. Harrington,” he heard the guy say awkwardly as he approached with caution. The door loudly fell shut behind him, revealing Harrington in the dim lighting of the room as he slightly jumped, startled by the sound.

“And what brings ‘King Steve’, to the drama room?” Eddie drawled lazily, eyes lifting up to meet Harrington’s as he peered at him curiously yet cautiously. Harrington ran a hand through his hair, making the front of his hair stick up from all the product that was in there. He still looked stupidly gorgeous. Eddie tilted his head and watched how he pocketed his hands, his thumbs fiddling the loops at the front of his jeans as he bit his lip. Harrington was nervous. It would have been endearing if the guy didn’t hate Eddie’s guts. When Harrington struggled to speak, Eddie decided to do it for him.

“Listen, Harrington. I have avoided you like the plague for obvious reasons, so I would really like to know why you’re breathing down my generous, but still very personal bubble right now.”

“I need you to kiss me again.”

Eddie blinked a few times, registering what had just come out of the other boy’s mouth as he felt his own lips part. Say what now?

“Excuse me?”

“I need— I need you to kiss me again. Please.” 

Eddie looked at Harrington as if he had spontaneously grown a second, or even third head. Where the hell did Harrington gather the courage to actually say shit like that out loud? He’d heard rumors that he was hung, but surely he needed an extra carrier for his balls only if he ran this sentence around in his mind and then still decided to go through with it.

“Absolutely not. What kind of sick joke is this?”

Harrington shook his head. Desperately, almost. His hands were shaking.

“It’s not. Not a joke. I just— I need to know.”

“Know what, exactly?”

“It really doesn’t concern you, man. Please, just once.” Harrington’s voice echoed in the room as Eddie took his time taking in what he said. It vaguely occurred to him that he was actually begging. Eddie wondered if he could possibly get him on his knees and have him repeat it, but realized there were a lot of reasons why even thinking of that was a bad idea.

“That’s really fucking rich of you, Harrington. Get lost already. Whatever you’re dealing with, I’m sure you can figure it out without my assistance. Lots of lost boys ‘round.”

An exasperated sigh left Harrington's mouth and Eddie cocked an eyebrow at him. He better not try to be annoyed with him, because he did not have the patience for that.

“No, you don’t understand— I need it to be you.”

“Ah,” Eddie said with a smirk. “Trying to figure out if I made you gay? You’re gonna what, try to see if you can reverse it by kissing me again somehow? Rest assured Harrington, being gay is not contagious. It’s all you.” There was no need to take it that far, but after enduring all the harassment while Harrington got to prance around the school like nothing had happened had apparently annoyed him more than he thought it did.

“I’m not gay,” Harrington protested and Eddie noticed there was no longer any venom behind it. Not like before. He watched him curiously as his face scrunched up and he ran a hand through his hair yet again. It should have made him look ridiculous, except it didn’t.

“Okay, well. Whatever you are or aren’t, it’s none of my business, so don’t try to make it my business. Or should I remind you that you told me, the freak, to “just stay the fuck away from you”? Surely you haven’t forgotten about that, have you? ‘Cause I sure as hell haven’t.”

Eddie watched him, arms crossed in front of his chest, one sole resting on the edge of the table. Watched as he inhaled shakily, his hands moving at his sides aimlessly as he tried to work out how to respond. Eddie almost pitied him. Almost.

Steve’s POV

Steve felt like he was about to vomit. For weeks he had prepared to talk to Munson about it. To gather the courage to grovel at his feet, basically. After treating him so horribly both at the party and afterwards he didn’t think the odds were in his favor but he had to try.

As soon as summer break had started, he slowly felt better about the whole ordeal. It was easier to forget about it when you weren’t constantly faced with the sole cause of your stress every morning at the lockers. Why the hell did Munson have to have a locker so close to his anyway? So yeah, summer was great. So great in fact, that he grew confident that whatever lingering thoughts he had had about the kiss in general and… Munson, meant nothing. It was the alcohol, and the fact that he thought that he had been a girl. It made total sense. Tommy had finally stopped pestering him about it too after shoving him against the lockers in the locker room after practice one time. Dickhead.

All of that bliss of being over it got immediately destroyed however when Munson entered his class on the first Wednesday of the year. Walked in there like he owned the place, or something. Barely spared anyone a glance before he sat down diagonally from him at a window seat. Steve had caught a whiff of a mix of cigarettes and cologne as he passed and it had kept him busy all through first period. That, and the way Eddie was scribbling away in some notebook that had nothing to do with class. And when the bell rang he was so quick to get up that Steve only had about three seconds to look at his ass before he disappeared.

Those three seconds weren’t the problem. It was the fact that he had purposefully lowered his eyes from the bouncing hair on his back all the way down to his ass. 

Maybe he could have played it off if such glances only happened once, but no. He had also watched him from the bench during P.E., as he had to sit out due to a sprained ankle. Munson, who was known to never show up at anything called exercise, was suddenly running over the field during a game of dodgeball and was actually fairly decent at it. Hit Jason Carver square in the face. Steve hadn’t even noticed. His eyes had been glued to Munson’s victorious expression and the way he clenched his fist at his side.

Then there was the cafeteria. Their tables were far enough apart to not have to listen to him or be distracted by him in any way. And yet, as if the rest of the world went on pause, his ears always picked up Eddie’s laughter. And his laughter reminded him of Eddie’s lips. And his lips reminded him of their kiss. That, and the way Eddie had glanced down to his lips that one time. An action that sent a spark straight to his groin and still sent a spark straight to his groin whenever he thought about it as he jerked off. Which he really did not try to do. Somehow, some way, Eddie just popped up in his brain. At random. All the time.

And that was another thing that bothered him. Munson became Eddie in his brain. Not always, sometimes his brain cut him some slack, but more often than not his first name was prompted instead of his last.

Steve’s grades had not been doing great so far and he blamed Munson for all of it. All of this nonsense had to stop. He wasn’t gay. He liked girls. It was clear as day. He wouldn’t have done the things he had done with girls if he didn’t like them. Besides, he never had had any thoughts about other guys like this. Sure, he thought some guys dressed nice or looked handsome or whatever, but every guy could probably tell when another guy was handsome. They just didn’t dare to say it out loud in fear of being labeled incorrectly. Like him.

Right now, in front of Munson, Steve felt like his world was crumbling. The ground was slipping out from under him and it was stupid, right? To be so upset over something like this while he had the literal knowledge of another dimension in the back of his mind. Things like this should feel trivial after something like that, but they weren’t. It would be nice if he could talk about this stuff with someone without being judged, but he had no idea who to turn to. Not his friends, not his ex and certainly not any of those kids. So who else was there? He didn’t exactly have any parental figures in his life that were around.

He felt those big, brown eyes staring up at him, waiting for an answer. Of course he hadn’t forgotten how he had acted towards him. When everyone had started ganging up on him he had hated it. It was shitty behavior. He believed that their kiss had started out as more of an accident now and that they were both just drunk and too slow to react, or something. But of course it was too late to say that now. The damage was already done. As for his request, it was obvious that it wasn’t going to happen. He had to find another way.

“No,” he eventually said quietly. “I haven’t.” He heaved a sigh, breath still shaky before he added: “I’m sorry.” Steve left the drama room without another word.

[thefloatingstone]

Ok I know you probably never want to hear about high guardian spice again (and honestly fair if I were to put so much time into something I disliked I wouldn’t want to touch it ever again) but I just finished watching the 5 hour complete saga compilation of your essays (which has been added to my comfort video essays playlist bc I watch it so religiously now) and you make the point of the characters failing because Raye Rodriguez was too emotionally attached and saw them as OCs to the point where he couldn’t stand to see them do wrong.

But here’s the thing - isn’t the whole thing about being an artist or writer with OCs is to endlessly traumatize or torture them (or at least from my internet experience)?

So not only is Raye bad at writing characters, he just doesn’t know how to have OCs other than “yeah I draw them in cute setting and ship them because their color palettes go together”

(Also love your videos, love your art, please make a million more ok thank you goodbye)

askhdkasjkdjs THIS IS SO SWEET THANK YOU????

When I saw the notification I thought I was gonna get yelled at for a recent post I made saying "tumblr is actually fine right now" so this was a really nice surprise to wake up to 😂

And I get what you mean but i think I would word it differently;

I think the whole thing with OCs is to push them into situations that forces them to act in extreme ways they wouldn't otherwise, most often for the best (they can heroic, they can emotional, they can say the things they've been holding back, they can be open to be cared for, they can be emotionally honest, they can show weakness, they can show strength) but also sometimes for the worst. (they can become enraged, they can lash out, they can become violent, they can become selfish, they can harm others etc etc). Or more often than not, a mix of both (they can be selfish and therefor decide to heoricly protect the people they are selfish about because those people belong to THEM.)

But I don't think this is the be all end all. Some people may just want OCs to have as comfort characters. Some people NEED those OCs to be comfort characters, for whatever reason in real life, to just have characters who live gentle, quiet lives, form bonds with their friends, forms close connections with the community, and just live peacefully.

I think in HGS' case, the problem is not that Raye is too attached to his OCs to "put them in situations", but more he is too attached to his OCs to allow them to make mistakes in a way that might put them in a bad light. Of course, in doing so it makes the characters come across as HORRIBLE people. When his OCs make mistakes, they tend to be mistakes that stem from them actively being bad people (or just nonsensical like Rose being the one to kill the sea dragon for no real explained reason at all). But the resolution to these mistakes is most often to acknowledge "I did something bad" but then go "BUT it's because I am struggling with x y or z" and turn the apology into excuses and explanations in a way that makes the person they're apologising to have to make THEM feel better.

"Wow I'm so sorry! I never knew you were going through all that!".

But I'm going off track here.

Basically I don't think all OCs need to be pushed into extreme situations or emotions to be "good". Not at all. I just think the situations that the HGS characters are put in are not handled correctly in the lead up to those events, nor the follow through to those events.

But I do think that you cannot write characters in a professional tv show and still treat them with the same mentality as "these are my deviantArt OCs who I ship together and like drawing cute outfits in".

There has to be a certain level of criticality to the characters. You have to be able to recognise flaws they have. And that's not even a problem! Because those flaws are what make a character INTERESTING.

I'm busy having fun watching people watch Unicorn Warriors Eternal, and it's been a lot of fun seeing what people make of my favourite character, Edred. Some people REALLY fucking hate him, but most people really enjoy him. Because he is an EXCEPTIONALLY flawed character. But he's likeable because he is very obviously a good person who deeply cares about the people close to him. And also because every fuck up he does in the show comes back to bite him in the ass a few episodes later and make his own life harder.

lol YOU DID THIS TO YOURSELF, EDRED!

You cannot write your characters as if their flaws are insults when pointed out. Even if you're only writing cute, slice of life stuff without any extreme situations or emotions.

My favourite Slice of Life anime are the OG classics, Lucky Star and Azumanga Daioh. Nothing extreme happens in either shows, but their characters, especially Azumanga, are still alowed to have flaws which are treated AS flaws.

And it's fine. It's ok to treat those flaws AS flaws and not try and excuse or quickly justify the things the characters do wrong.

[kudzucataclysm]

how about some Vague Questions about Vague

1. who’s arc is going to be the most surprising? you do not have to specify if it is positive or negative lmao

2. what is The Most ridiculous thing dez/frank or jack/vincent have gotten up to separately and together. bonus points if all four of them have had a shenanigan or two.

3. who would be the worst kid to baby sit?

4. who would kill each other if they were left alone as the last two people on earth?

5. worst take someone could have about se or any of the characters that would make you lay in the earth until the heat death of the universe? what about the best take that would fully ascend you to Best Weather Boy aka god

YIPPEE!!!!!! TYSM FOR THE QS!!!

1. who’s arc is going to be the most surprising? you do not have to specify if it is positive or negative lmao

funnily enough….Thursday’s!! His arc is most definitely gonna be the one to sort of throw people for a loop and (hopefully) make people sort of..question the way they view him! like dw at the end of the day he’s still gonna be a garbage person, like. that’s just who he is lmao but when it comes to his arc for Friday and even Francis i hope to surprise people :3

2. what is The Most ridiculous thing dez/frank or jack/vincent have gotten up to separately and together. bonus points if all four of them have had a shenanigan or two.

Desmond: Helped his older sibling Happy steal someone else’s cable (unknowingly), but ended up dropping the ladder becuz a hornet was trying to sting him so Happy ended up banging their head against the wall on the way down

Francis: Almost ate a couch and died. Once beat up an old lady for cutting her in line at Pfaffs and got arrested for it

Vincent: Fortnite danced her way out of getting killed by a rival drug dealer. Got scammed out of 40$ by a crystal seller while on acid cuz she was told her “vibes were bad”

Francis/Vincent: Vince tried to force Francis to bathe and as a result ended up flooding the apartment

Jack: i honest to god can’t think of anything he would do that would be ridiculous…he’s too CoolTM for this question i think lol. but he WAS there during the whole Vincent dancing incident and he just let that shit happen

3. who would be the worst kid to baby sit?

FRANCIS. FRANCIS 100% (backed up by JJ)

4. who would kill each other if they were left alone as the last two people on earth?

Lamia and Azel for FUCK sure. Lamia wouldn’t give a fuck if she was the last person on the planet, she’s taking revenge no matter what

5. worst take someone could have about se or any of the characters that would make you lay in the earth until the heat death of the universe? what about the best take that would fully ascend you to Best Weather Boy aka god

worst take: SO MANY TBH… part of me feels like yea this is vague and i actually do wanna answer this in a more serious/nuanced way so i’m gonna do a long hard think abt it and hopefully come back with actual answers…but meanwhile have these fake horrible SE takes that @bloody-hugs came up with:

best take: honestly i dunno…like people just coming away from this story learning something new abt themselves or realizing something or just enjoying the story trying to come up with theories and their own headcanons abt the characters like. i don’t think there’d be a “best take” in regards to a story like this but ummm i just want people to enjoy it uwu that’s how i complete my ascension to godhood

[bright-haired-teacher]

also this is a blogging platform so i’m just gonna get some stuff written down, read it or not, just need to say stuff and i don’t feel like pulling out my journal rn

we had a dept meeting yesterday morning, which is pointless with 5 days left in the year but admin’s orders so w/e. and we’re all sitting together, the four of us who teach 7th and 8th and who are all leaving, and one of the reading teachers at another table and we’re just talking and one of my coworkers said something that i’m feeling 

she said she’s bitter, and she’s not going to forgive them for this. and yeah, me too. that’s exactly it. they took a thriving ela department with people who work well together, like each other, support each other, collaborate, etc. and in three years they obliterated it. all of us are going to different places. i mean obviously, because it’s not like some school is gonna be like “lemme hire these four from this one school” although that would be awesome because i love these ladies. 

it didn’t have to be this way. it really didn’t have to be this way. and all of us are feeling it. we don’t want to leave each other. admin, yes, but we don’t want to leave each other. i don’t want to work with a new ela department. i don’t. i don’t wanna go through the growing pains of getting to know them and their style and if we mesh well (and if they’re not filthy magats which i will never for the life of me understand how an educator can be but whATever) and just. i want my department. i wanted to stay here, i really did. we all did. none of us wanna pack up all our shit and go somewhere else. none of us wanna find our place in a new school. none of us wanna lose what we’ve spent years building up. the four of us have been working together for 4 years, since two of them got here. 

and i’ll admit i was reluctant at first, every single fucking teacher who’d been in the room next to me had left me up until that point. i didn’t wanna even bother to get too close because i had really liked the previous teacher, she was My People and we got along so well and she left. and i don’t fault her for that bc she got a job she’s really happy about but for me, having people leave me constantly well. i didn’t trust easily. i kept my distance at first. but now we’re all so close and we have built this amazing, strong department - one that was called the strongest department by this same admin a couple years ago - and now it’s ending, it’s over.

and that’s not even it, i mean man i came here to this school every day for seven years. seven fucking years. this classroom is like my second home and i didn’t wanna leave it. will i even find that somewhere else? i don’t think i will ever find a department that meshed as well as the four of us did together. i don’t think i will ever have what i have here and now. and we’ll keep our group chat i’m sure, but it isn’t going to be the same, it’s never going to be the same. and now it’s just hitting me that we’re all leaving. this is ending. this amazing thing that we had together is ending and i’m so fucking pissed off at these fucking horrible admin for making us all feel this way. for breaking up this amazing, cohesive department by being toxic and forcing us to do dumb shit that BY GOLLY didn’t raise the scores! they’re still shit! we told you this would happen! 

(this segment interrupted by another teacher with whom i had a rant/bitchfest about how shitty this admin is) 

just. they ruined something amazing. and i wouldn’t even be surprised if they did it on purpose, because we’re so close and we back each other up and we’re a unit. they don’t like that. the principal actually tried to get me to roll on one of those teachers like r u fkn kidding me bitch? i pretty much told her where to go. 

but yeah. this year’s ending is going to hit different. it’s just gonna hit different. 

[murfpersonalblog]

hey you may have not known but only reason why momo is so dependent and whiny abt Aizen is because

#10: He ruined her field trip.

On the “damaging but not as horribly traumatizing as the later things” scale, we have Hinamori and Aizen’s first meeting, when Aizen caused giant hollows to crash Hinamori’s world of the living training exercise. This was a bit traumatizing, insofar as nobody was expecting real combat, several people were killed, and Hinamori and her friends faced death fighting the giant hollows to save Hisagi. Oh and then Aizen showed up and “saved” them, instilling the first seeds of hero worship in Hinamori.

#9: He faked his death.

This one ranks low not because it wasn’t traumatizing (let’s not forget Hinamori’s screams) but because I don’t think it was exactly directed at Hinamori. Although it was still a dick move - faking his death was a distraction, but it wasn’t exactly the only plan Aizen could have come up with. And it was a plan that shattered Hinamori - Aizen was the person she cared the most about in the world, and suddenly she was finding his gory body. Speaking of which -

#8: He may have caused her to find his body.

I wouldn’t be surprised if this were the case, at least. Aizen faked his death on a night when Hinamori was sleeping in his room (we’ll talk about that in a moment), and then sneaked out while she was still asleep, so that she was late for her meeting. Then he pinned up the fake corpse along the short-cut route that I’m sure he knew she would take. Was Aizen planning for Hinamori to be the one to find his body, just to be a bigger dick about it? I would guess so.

#7: He got to her young.

And all of this manipulation is made worse by the fact that Aizen got into Hinamori’s head so young. He was, I believe, the first captain she saw. And she instantly had a thing for him. Then he arranged that fake hollow attack on the training mission and saved her, and then he snatched her up for his squad immediately. He got to her when she was young and in school (which is already a stressful time) and made himself the center of her world. There’s just no fighting that.

#6: He got her friends involved in the treason. 

Plus, Aizen went ahead and assigned Hinamori’s friends to his other traitorous squads. Kira to Squad 3, Hisagi to Squad 9, and Renji momentarily to Squad 5, although Renji got out. This meant that Hinamori was going to inevitably fight against her friends - as in fact happened when she clashed with Kira. It’s just an extra bit of viciousness to see to it that not only do you betray your subordinate, but you see to it that her friends betray her as well.

#5: He was possibly sleeping with her.

There is much debate on this point. I won’t go into the arguments here, but the gist of it is: Hinamori spent the night in Aizen’s room the night he faked his death, and the manga makes it look like she sleeps in his bed. It’s possible she just fell asleep and he tucked her in and kept right on working on that fake letter he was going to give her, but it’s also possible that they were actually sleeping together. And if that’s true, then it just makes all of the rest of it so much worse. Because it means that they’re emotional bond was, in HInamori’s mind, that much stronger.

#4: He made her entirely dependent on him.

As Aizen himself explained, his plan for Hinamori was to manipulate and shape her until she couldn’t function without him. And then he was planning to kill her. And Aizen had limited success. He didn’t manage to kill her (because Aizen can’t seem to kill anyone except Gin), but he did get into her head to the point that even after Aizen publicly betrayed Soul Society, Hinamori remained convinced that he was good, that Gin was the real evil. She even asked Hitsugaya to save Aizen. Because that level of emotional and intellectual bondage is damn hard to shake off. Although Hinamori does seem to be working her way through it, slowly. No thanks to Aizen.

#3: He substituted her for himself in fake Karakura Town.

I mean, why did he even do this? Just to be cruel, one supposes. Aizen, who is invincible and has god-powers, decided that the best way to get around everybody attacking him was to make them unknowingly attack Hinamori instead. So that Hinamori was stabbed violently in the back by her childhood best friend. When she was already horribly injured. Just because.

#2: The stab-hug.

I suppose Aizen and Hinamori’s relationship is best captured by the infamous stab-hug. When Hinamori realized that Aizen was still alive, he hugged her. And then stabbed her while he was hugging her. Because that’s how their whole relationship operated - Aizen acted like he was a warm, caring figure. But secretly he was slowly killing her. Or trying to.

#1: He decided that she and her childhood friend should kill each other. 

But I think the worst is the fake letter Aizen wrote declaring that Hitsugaya was the one who killed him. Which Aizen did, as we found out later, in the hopes that Hitsugaya and Hinamori would kill each other. I mean, what level of douchery IS that? If he wanted Hinamori to be dead, he might have, I don’t know, killed her before he left to fake her death. Added her body so that it looked like the entire squad had been killed. Still horrible murder, of course, but at least he wouldn’t try to get two childhood friends who cared deeply about each other to slaughter each other in his name. But it’s Aizen. So he went with the friends killing each other.(Credit to Bleach Lists)

Oh yes, Aizen terrorized the living hell out of Momo; it's a master class of child grooming.

While I suspect #5 might've happened, I also wouldn't even be surprised if Aizen never laid a hand on her--he just smooth-talked his way into her head, and she was a goner.

I genuinely feel bad for her, but it got to the point where the whump! was out of control. Like, I just got tired of seeing her, like I would NEVER bring her on missions having anything to do with Aizen. She's a liability, every single time, and Aizen knows it.

Same with Hitsugaya--his character arc is all about him needing to mature. And part of that is knowing to stop letting Aizen emotionally manipulate him--often using Momo to do it. Of course, if Isshin hadn't left Soul Society to take care of his wife, Hitsugaya would have had more time to learn. But that's war for you.

Because Shinigami are not regular civilians--they're certainly not regular people (since they're ALREADY dead). They are SOLDIERS. But way too often they lose their cool and tons of people end up dead. Just look at how everyone was freaking out when the Quincy attacked--Soi Fon included; and she got reamed for it. I know it's horrible to talk about people like they're drones, but if you're going to be a literal DEATH GOD, I expect a higher caliber of professional compartmentalization from a Soul Reaper who holds LITERAL life and death in their hands. And the plain fact of the matter is that both Momo and Hitsugaya were too young to be out on the field. I don't necessarily want them to be cold-hearted killers like Gin (who was also a child prodigy with a past with Aizen), but sheesh.

[bl0gs4class]

Blog Post 5

As we get closer to the end of the school quarter, the Afrofuturistic material we have looked at has still surprised me. Recently, we watched and discussed the film District 9. With this film, I had never heard about it before until this class. So, prior to my viewing of the film my only understanding was that there were aliens in the film. Personally, I don’t like to spoil films for myself so I originally thought the film was going to take place somewhere else in space and not on Earth. Thus, it came to my surprise to learn that the film actually takes place on Earth in the city Johannesburg in South Africa. With the film taking place in our actual world but having sci-fi elements, there was a sense of realness to the story; especially with the dehumanization that occurs. The aliens, or prawns as they were called were treated horribly and in a way dehumanized. For example, at one point in the film they attempt to evict them. Additionally, when Wikus starts to turn into a prawn the doctors do nothing and immediately disregard him and view him as an outsider. So, in all honesty, with the way the prawns were treated and essentially dehumanized in my opinion, I could not help but see parallels of their treatment to how unhoused people are continuously treated in Los Angeles. For instance, I’ve seen unhoused people consistently be evicted from areas they have a right to be. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the city/police who do the evicting don’t even attempt to help or give them resources; which further presents the dehumanization unhoused people face. 

On a lighter note, I have been surprised to learn that mythology in a way is a recurring theme that appears throughout some Afrofuturistic works. To me personally, it does make sense as to why mythology is in Afrofuturism since imagination is connected to it often. For instance, in the short story called Greedy Choke Puppy, it is considered to be a mythological story. The mythological aspect of the story is the ‘Soucouyant’ in which it is a Caribbean vampire myth. Furthermore, I’ve also noticed mythology in past works we have looked at such as Beyonce’s “Love Drought” and “Sandcastles” Grammy performance where her outfit resembles mythological goddesses in a way. Overall, I continue to be surprised by the characteristics of Afrofuturism.

[minniepetals]

hiiii can we get another part of e21 mafia au? I'm OBSESSED imma tell you, you're so fucking goooood

part 1 / part 2 / part 3 / part 4 / part 5 / part 6 / part 7 / part 8 / part 9 / part 10 / part 11 / part 12 / part 13 / part 14 / part 15 / part 16

“You’re pretty.”

Yoongi blinks upon your words, his face contouring slightly with confusion at the sudden comment. “Um…where is this coming from?” He asks, brows creased with some sort of suspicion narrowed your way as he wipes off the little white cream that strayed to the corner of your lips.

“Just…” You take the last bite of the donut, cheeks adorned by a faint blush. “Yoongi.”

“Hm.”

“Now that I think about it, how long have you and the others dated?”

It’s a question he hadn’t expected but with that cute and curious gaze you have on, he isn’t one to refuse you the story. “This is probably our seventh year.”

“Seventh…” You met them around four years ago, pinning after each other ever since the beginning, never truly coming to terms with your feelings until perhaps two years ago. How the hell do you compete with seven years?

“Hey, whatever’s in that head of yours, knock it out,” you hear him grumble as he lightly taps your head without any intention of hurting you, knowing you’re still recovering from whatever Kihyun had done to you. “Time doesn’t matter.”

“Yeah but you’ve gone through a lot together, haven’t you?”

“What are you afraid of?” He asks, getting straight to the point despite you wanting to keep dragging it out longer. Yoongi was never one who liked dragging things out in the first place.

You purse your lips together, thinking of a way to word your sentences right so that he wouldn’t come to misunderstand anything. “Well, um…I just got to thinking…like, what if you don’t actually like me but only..was only infatuated with me and nothing more? I mean you did save me from a horrible future marriage and maybe that pushed things because of the goodness of your heart but like…what if you come to find things you don’t like about me and regret ever marrying me?” You pause. “I-I mean we’re not married yet but just in case, you know? I don’t want you to regret anything and I’d rather be given the straight, forward truth, rather than—”

“What? Those kisses back at the library didn’t tell you anything?” Yoongi asks bluntly and your face is quick to heat up.

“W-what?!” He knows?! You bury half your face in your hands, staring at the man in shock before falling too embarrassed you quickly look away, questioning everything you’ve done.

He’s amused by your reaction but keeps himself calm and composed. “Listen, do you really see us as people who won’t straight up tell you we don’t like you if we did?” He asks, pointing out the truth with a sigh. “Even back when we were pretending to hate each other, did we ever stated that we hated you?”

“Well…no.”

“If you really think your failed engagement with Kihyun forced our hands because of the goodness of our hearts, do you really think we’d get ourselves into a marriage if we didn’t actually like you? You think we’d trap ourselves like that when we have the power to help you in other ways?”

“Um…”

“For having the reputation as a smart and cunning woman, you sure are dumb.”

“Hey-!”

Yoongi grabs both your hands and looks down at you straight in the face, his eyes stern and serious. “We like you, I promise,” he declares. “This isn’t just some infatuation, Y/N, perhaps it was in the beginning but how many years has it been since we’ve met? You really think being infatuated by someone can last this long without turning into something more?”

You look off to the side shyly. “I…”

“I like you. A lot.” You feel his lips on yours without warning and you stand there frozen still, not expecting such a gesture even as it lasts much quicker than your time with Jimin and Taehyung. A small smirk curls upon his face when he backs away to find your cheeks flushed red. “And in the near future, I wouldn’t be surprised if I fell deeply in love with you.”

With a small boop to your nose, he walks away, leaving you frozen in place.

.

.

“I didn’t take the two of you to be one to kiss and tell.”

The way you storm into the room, an accusatory glare with a pointed finger made their way, they almost laugh aloud at how cute you look right now. But knowing you might get even angrier at them, they decide against it.

“Wait, wha–”

“Hey, when you’re in a relationship, nothing is kept a secret from one another,” Taehyung says, cutting Jungkook off with a shrug.

“You rats.”

“Oh come on, they were bound to find out.”

“Find out what?” Jungkook asks, clueless as he looks between you and the 95 liners. Yet the three of you ignore him to continue with your banter.

“Just because they were bound to know doesn’t mean you can just snitch like that.”

“But is it really snitching?”

“No one saw. That was supposed to be our moment.”

“Why does that even matter?”

“It matters because it was special to me,” you stress, falling somewhat frustrated the two of them aren’t understanding you while Jungkook sits there, fully confused. “And I get that it probably didn’t mean much to you but couldn’t you have kept your mouths shut for like one day? I’m not used to these things and now I’m getting bombarded with questions from the other guys and it’s just…” How do you word this right without any misunderstandings? “It’s not that I’m embarrassed, I’m just…shy.”

They both chuckle. “I get that–”

“No you don’t. You’re laughing at me,” you huff.

“Oh come on, Y/N–”

With the biggest pout you can form, you cross your arms together against your chest, puffing out your lower lip like a spoiled little kid. “I should have never kissed the two of you first.”

With that, you walk right out of the room, slamming the door behind you and the two boys are quick to panic and rush out after you. “Wait Y/N you don’t mean that!”

Jungkook on the other hand finally gets what had just happened. “Wait you guys already kissed her?! Without me?!”

[ashesandhackles]

Deconstructing Harry: The boy we meet in Philosopher's Stone to the man in Deathly Hallows

I have often seen fans talk about how nebulous Harry is as a character, especially in the earlier books. They can't make sense of who he is as a character and other more colourful, more actualized personalities take over our attention from any traits Harry might display. Harry becomes more defined for a lot of people OOTP onwards where he displays traits that sometimes make him unbearable or unlikable.

Harry, as we are introduced in PS, has a very little sense of self. He is narratively self deprecating or plays down his presence or skills, not that he is aware he has any. He grew up without any presence of him displayed in the house - no photos, no idea about his parents or what they look like or what really happened to them and discouraged from asking questions. Harry as we meet him is neglected, rootless about his identity and longs for escape. For him, every day is a battle against Dudley, who bullies him or Vernon, thus setting a worldview that never truly goes away: him vs adults. But just because Harry doesn't attach traits or values to self, does not mean he does not have it.

It's an effective narrative tool though - for Harry to be our eyes of the world. Only in later re-readings can we get a grasp of the traits that become more pronounced as books go on. Also, it's not surprising that Harry develops a better sense of self when he is removed from an abusive home.

Let me begin with this:

1. Harry is a fighter

One of the things that struck me in later re-readings is that how much of a fighter Harry is, from the very beginning. He will not lie down and take abuse. The narrative presents it as no big deal, because Harry doesn't assign any importance to it - it's every day life for him.

-Verbal standing up-

See his reaction to Uncle Vernon and the letter fiasco. He stands up for himself, even if it falls on deaf ears. "I want my letter - as it is mine!". Later on, in the same book, a completely befuddled 11 year old Harry stands up to Snape too, but in a politer way: "I think Hermione knows the answer. Why don't you try her?". He gets less polite with Snape as books go on. Harry's humor is something he employs liberally with Dudley when standing up to him - "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick" and we see this trait manifest into the sass we all know and love.

- Fight or flight-

He is remarkably good at "fighting himself out of tight corners" as Snape put it. And although Snape attributes it to luck and more talented friends, he is onto something about Harry's ability to worm out of tight corners. He lives moment to moment in a dangerous situation - relying on his nerve, very fast reflexes and athleticism. He is also able to notice things in an environment that will get him out of a quick pinch. You see this clearly in Department of Mysteries in Book 5 where he comes up with the idea to smash shelves, the mad idea to escape on a dragon, the ministry escape where he manipulates Runcorn's image (as he noticed how people were reacting to him) to create chaos and get the Muggleborns and the trio out, Chamber of Secrets when he instinctively understood the diary is the source of power and stabbed it.

Where does the athleticism and ability to spot dangerous situation come from? This boy has spent a decade cheeking Dudley and running away from his gang, spotting when he needs to get out of the way as "long experience had told him to be out of Uncle Vernon's arms reach" or "ducking when Aunt Petunia aimed a frying pan at his head". The instinct to see a dangerous situation develops over the course of the books in his adventures - to the point Harry unconsciously brings out his wand in Tottenham road without thinking too much about it. He is almost always wary and less quick to lower his wand.

When hiding/ escaping is not an option, Harry is not above physical fighting - despite how small and skinny he is in Book 1. Both he and Dudley fight for a chance to listen at the door when letter first arrives for Harry. Dudley wins the fight. Later on, Harry jumps Uncle Vernon from behind and hangs on to his neck to get his letter. He even does the same thing to the troll in the same book. ( Then over the course of series, we see him beat up Sirius in Book 3, Malfoy in Book 5, strangle Mundungus in Book 6 - all of these are related to his fury over the dead, so different context. But still).

- Manipulation/ Cunning-

11 year old Harry even tries sneakily - waking up early to get his letter (unfortunately didn't work). The other sneaky methods he has employed throughout the series is - not telling Dursleys at end of PS that he is not allowed magic at home, threatens Dudley with it in COS, not telling them Sirius is innocent to play up the threat of a murderous godfather to keep them accountable, and also the smooth way he negotiates with Uncle Vernon for Hogsmeade letter. ("Well it will be hard work, pretending to aunt Marge that I go to St Whatsits" ,"Knocking the stuffing out of me won't make Aunt Marge forget what I could tell her"). He similarly displays his negotiation and playing to what he knows about people with Slughorn in Book 6, Pettigrew in Book 7.

The scene with Slughorn is disturbing, with Harry coercing a drunk Slughorn to give up his memory. You can argue that this is the influence of Felix Felicis, but I think the potion acted more as facilitation. The disturbing way Harry brings up his mother's murder to unnerve Slughorn is his own doing. ("Voldemort stepped over my father's body towards mum" "I forgot - you liked her, didn't you?"). Again, in a life threatening situation, Harry plays to Pettigrew's latent guilt: "You are going to kill me? After I saved your life? You owe me Wormtail!"

2. Relational justice over abstract justice

Harry's concept of justice is relational and based on his high empathy for the underdog. He notices power dynamic in a situation and empathises with the victim. This is in contrast to Hermione, who has more abstract, bigger picture view of justice. It's no wonder that Hermione is the one who is the most political of the three.

His high empathy for the underdog and needing to stand up for them is because he feels responsiblility that no one should go through what he went through. He stands up for Neville in PS and encourages him to stand up for himself. When he sees his father bullying Snape, it is not about an abstract "this is wrong behavior". Harry goes further: "Harry knew what it felt like to be taunted among a circle of onlookers" , Harry focuses on young Snape's mismatched clothes because he himself knows what it's like to wear clothes that are not yours or ones that make you look ridiculous. His empathy extends to Voldemort too - understanding why he may not want to go back to his orphanage and desire to be in Hogwarts, wondering why Merope wouldn't stay alive for her son, his fixation with Voldemort's maimed soul in King's Cross chapter and later asking Voldemort to feel remorse (" I have seen what you will become otherwise"). Even his reaction to Dobby in COS - "Can't anyone help you? Can't I?" when Dobby talks about his slavery. Hermione is usually seeing the bigger picture, Harry sees the individual.

3. Pathological mistrust of adults

He is less likely of the trio to take an adult at their words or be assured by them when they say they are taking care of things. He has learnt, from a very young age, that he is always expected to take care of himself. And the times he does take things to adult, they consistently disappoint him - by patronising him or acting like he is a child, neither of which he has tolerance for or appreciates. This is why he takes to Sirius and Lupin, who exhibit neither of these communication patterns. In some ways, Mr Weasley too.

Umbridge's abuse of him for him is framed as a battle of wills between her and him, as if he is an equal. And he loses if he complains - "not giving her a satisfaction of knowing she got to me". Harry's worldview has always been - adult vs him.

His inability to trust adults even extends to the ability of adults he likes to look after themselves. While Sirius is understandably a wreck in OOTP, he has by and large followed Dumbledore's orders. This doesn't register with Harry (Ron points it out: "Sirius listens to Dumbledore even though he doesn't like what he hears") and Harry's fears about Sirius, excaberated by Sirius's tendency for recklessness, comes to play.

He even showed similar distrust in Lupin's judgement in taking a potion from Snape in POA ("Harry felt the urge to knock the goblet out of Lupin's hands" and tries to hint at Lupin that Snape will "do anything" for DADA job). And he shows this once again with the most magically powerful wizard he knows - Dumbledore. ("if I tell you to abandon me and save yourself, you must do so". Dumbledore has to insist on this before Harry nods reluctantly. It's also Dumbledore's wording, but this is a wizard Harry feels safe with almost entirely because of his power - and yet Harry cannot obey an order like this without reluctance). It's not about Harry's own ability to take care of them - he just innately cannot leave people to it.

4. Humor as a value and coping mechanism

Harry has an established coping mechanism by the time we are introduced to him - quip in the face of danger/ dark humor. There are repeated instances of Harry amusing himself with snarky comments in his head when things are really bad for him. Like in PS, when they are in the hut, Harry wonders if the roof will fall in and then thought that if it did fall in, he might be warmer. In the earlier books (before his growth), he seems to value Ron over Hermione simply because he is more "fun". Harry enjoys being around funny people like Ron, Weasley twins, later Ginny simply because there is some dark stuff happening with him and he needs "fun" people for semblance of normalcy, escape. In fact, this desire is so strong, he attaches it to his romantic relationships: Ginny is a "blissful oblivion" and times with her are "something out of someone else's life". His relationship with Cho failed because her coping mechanism is discussing her trauma and Harry's is escaping it.

-dealing with conflict with people he likes, small digression-

A part of his growing up in later books includes valuing Hermione as much he values Ron and we see it in display in HBP, where he is more willing to stand up for her to Ron (something he kind of did more quietly before in POA - "can't you give her a break?" ) and also get confrontational with her instead of using Ron as a buffer between them to fend off her more boisterous/ bossy tendencies. ("let him make up his mind" "skip the lecture" "don't nag" - Ron took the heat in earlier books. In HBP, Harry is more willing to be irritable with her in a day-to-day interaction - "I hope you enjoy yourself" he tells Hermione when she states her intention to investigate Half Blood Prince. Or when she tests the book - "Finished? Or do you want to see if it does backflips?" "Do you have rub it in Hermione, how do you think I feel now?" at the end of HBP. ) In OOTP, his best method to deal with her when she bothers him was lying, avoiding her nagging and if that doesn't work, explode and treat her to display of his temper. There is more to explore here, of course - even with regard to how he deals with Mrs Weasley in Book 4, 5 and the difference of him hugging her in Book 7.

5. Fascination with the dead/ a passive death wish

Harry feels remarkably little sense of betrayal knowing that he was set up to die by Dumbledore. His self sacrificing streak is rooted in his love, yes, but I also think Harry is a little bit too fascinated by death, not surprising considering most people he loved are dead. Him wanting the resurrection stone in DH, him obsessively spending time at Mirror of Erised (to the point he feels feverish and Ron thinking he looks strange) until Dumbledore stops him, him almost wanting to fail to learn a Patronus because he wants to hear his parents voice, the hearing of whispering voices in the Veil in OOTP which only Luna could hear apart from him, the scene at the grave where he almost wishes he was "lying under the snow" with his parents, the possession scene in the book of OOTP has him wishing to die so he can be with Sirius. You can almost argue the Harry has, in many moments, shown raw desire of death. In fact, him choosing to let go of the stone and not go looking for it is a big character decision for him.

I also want to address Harry's temper and how that develops over course of series, the implications of understanding the people he loved and put on pedestal are flawed - but I am afraid this post is already way too long. So I will leave that for some time later.