#I'm not at all good at writing parent child interactions and relationships for some reason

[fleurdriviere]

(I'm so sorry if I'm remembering this wrong, if I am feel free to ignore this) I was curious about the robot lady and her daughters relationship.. Like what is it like.

👍

[jinxthequeergirl]

omg yay!! so glad i can request you some billy cuz i love him sooo much… yeah, and also: if you don't want to write this it’s okay, but then please reply to this post somehow because damn otherwise i end up waiting like a hachiko😔

how about bill and reader had a deal but eventually their interactions developed into some kind of relationship (?). i don't know, in short bill became very attached to the reader but something happened and they had a fight which cancelled the deal.

time passed and bill still couldn't forget reader. and now, already being in a mental hospital, bill is sitting in general therapy in a circle with everyone else, with an empty look at the floor "i don't want to be here, they made me" in his eyes, and then suddenly one of the therapists says: "so, i want to introduce you to a new patient: y/n!"

bill, hearing this name, is shocked because how did this even happen, and the reader just smiled

ps english is not my first language i'm writing this by translation sorry for mistakes, i love you💘

The Multi-Dimensional break up

Bill chiper x Interdemensinal being!reader

Here, take this while i work on Part 8!

Picture bill however you want to in this I left him vague for a reason (I personally go for the unconventional twink cipher)

Warning: none, it's short

~~~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~~

Sure, Ford was interesting enough, but YOU were far more interesting. He remembered helping Ford with the portal, watching him fo test runs only to pull you out.

Ford was instantly fascinated with you, running tests interagating you, you happily answered, glad to talk to someone new, and you gladly accepted when offered to help with the portal reaserch.

That's when he'd introduce you to Bill, his other interdimensinal friend helping him. You two bonded quickly, and you shared how similar your dimensions were as well as how vastly different they were.

What he liked most of all about you was how he could talk to you about things others usually didn't get, not his parents in his home dimension, not ford...no one.

"You were only a child... That must've been hard." You admit to him after he opened up to you on a whim about his past, about seeing past his dimensions, about what he did...who he lost.

"It...it's was! But look at me now! Look at all the power I have because of it!" You gave him a sideways look.

"But are you happy?..." He stared at you.

No one's ever asked him that before.

"I understand what you did...I was given a similar chance to yours...but before I made my choice I stopped to think about everyone I held dear to me, I thought about everyone else and who they held dear to themselves...and most of all I thought about myself...would this really make me happy in the long run? If I lost everything, would I care if it was replaced with what I'm being offered?"

Bill stared at you once again. A strange sinking feeling he'd only ever felt once before in his life. "What did you do?"

"Well...to put it simply my home dimension is thriving! They all lived and still lived happily...in the end, I knew if I was willing to do something like that, I could risk it all just like that, then I was the one who needed to leave."

You weren't exactly the type of being he surrounded himself with. You were....well adjusted, to say the least. He kept you around.

He grew attached to you, basically at the hip. He liked that for some reason in a sea of crazy, horrific, and terrifying things you were very calm and collected. Though you did end up sharing his affinity for all those things, giving him a good evil idea in the most calm manner he'd ever seen.

But like before in his home dimension, he began to crave more. Working with you and Ford to get the portal up and running only made him desire it tenfold. He had a vision and with you in it.

So, who better to ask for help bleed into Fords reality and take over then you. Though he didn't tell you the whole plan or truth as to what the plan held in store for everyone.

"Would it make you happy?" He felt his eye twitch. Not a question he thought you'd ask.

"If it does?" You finally looked up at him from what you were fiddling with. "If you came to me right now asking me to do this and you were a million percent positive, it would make you happy... I would say ok."

"Really? Why?"

"You should have some happiness to if I could help achieve that I would love nothing more."

"Then it's a deal."

You shook his hand.

He beamed at you, worried a moment that you would give him a long speech about doing the right thing. True that you enjoyed the bits of chaos he would sprinkle about and even partake in them. But you also had a bit of a moral Compass. It never seemed to stop you from having fun with him, and to him it didn't seem like it stopped him from his fun when you thought other wise.

But it did. You not partaking with him felt wrong. You'd become his right hand in everything. Usually, if you rode a high horse, suddenly he was too.

However, you were hell-bent on helping him with this, that was until you realized what he was doing and trying to do to Ford.

You stopped helping him immediately.

"You lied to me! You didn't tell me this was your plan! Another dimension you can treat, like your home dimension?" Bill was taken aback for a moment. And hurt that you would compare what he was doing now to what he did in the past.

"Are you seriously going to do this? To Ford!?"

"Hey! We had a deal remember!"

"You purposely left information out you tricked me!"

Bill realized he'd never seen you angry in the years he'd gotten to know you. Seeing you now almost made him hesitate, almost.

"The deal is off! And I'm going to tell Ford about your plan."

"Not so fast!" You froze in place your whole body feeling over and turning to gold. "Bill wait! Wait! Don't do this! We can talk this out!"

"I don't think so...you and no one else in any dimension is going to stop me!"

"Bill Cipher, I swear I will -"

He winced, waiting for the rest of your sentence that never came, your face permanently frozen in distorted anger. This is what he wanted, right? He wanted out of the nightmare dimension. He wanted complete and utter chaos in the real world. He was sure of it only a moment ago.

Then why did he feel so bad.

He stared at your face solid gold and gleaming now.

"Are you happy?"

He shook your voice from his head.

"You'll see y/n! I'm going to Rule this dimension and you'll regret not joining me!" He said trying to gain back his confidence.

He could.

Not when you where looking at him like that.

So he possessed Fords body, tossed you threw the still finicky portal and forgot about you.

Tried to forget about you.

Every day, something new would come up, and he would still be ready to tell you, still wake up, ready to spend his time with you.

Who knew how lonely he really was until Ford dragged you out of that portal all those years ago.

He thought about you now most of all, staring up at the ceiling in his interdemensinal cell.

He wondered if he would have beaten the Pines family if you were by his side. He wandered if he would have even gone through with weirdmagedon if you were by his side.

He truly just missed you. He regretted throwing you away like you weren't everything to him. He hoped you would eventually forgive him if you ever crossed paths or if you were even unfrozen.

He avoided bringing you up now that he was in mandatory therapy. Anytime he felt he might mention you, he paused and steered the conversation away as best he could.

"Welcome, everyone. Let's settle down."

Bill sighed, slumping into his chair. Bracing himself for yet another group therapy session.

"Before we get started, I'd like to welcome a new member to the group." He rolled his eye while the other members erupted in chatter.

"Settle down, everyone, please welcome y/n."

Bill felt his heart stop, and the air leave his lungs.

Low and behold you scanned the room looking for an open seat, you sat across from him locking eyes with him for a moment.

"I like your scar" You mouthed.

He stared at you jaw on the floor.

"How?" He asked all you did was smile before the mediators spoke up again.

"Alright, everyone, let's begin."

[wishful-thinking64]

Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss Rewrite Ideas #02

Hello! Hello! I've come to bring rewrite ideas for both shows once again! People seemed to like the first one and I like coming up with story ideas with and for practically everyone so here are seven more rewrite ideas for Hazbin Hotel & Helluva Boss! ______

#01.) Have Alastor's magic sigils be radio symbols over Vodou symbols as it not only makes way more sense with Alastor being the Radio Demon but to not play into a harmful stereotype about a real life religion.

#02.) On the topic of religion, don't be afraid to add a few more religious figures from the Bible or the Torah! As long as you're being mindful about the material you're pulling from, I really don't see this as much of an issue. People make their own spin on angels, demons, Jesus, and God all the time! But for once, this is where Viv gets cold feet even though she already has Adam & Eve there but not their two main children? Or the reason behind why their parents and everything else exists?? Seriously Viv??? #03.) In any case, if you do add the first two siblings then I suggest having Cain possibly work at the Hotel as some kind of repentance considering he's both the first real Sinner and for the fact that he feels guilt over killing his little brother. #04.) Alright, now for some ideas for Helluva Boss! I feel like we've all grown tired of seeing the, "Two people arranged in a loveless marriage," trope with how often it's been appearing and HB is no stranger to this trope and tries to use it as a way to rectify Stolas' affair with Blitzo.

I mentioned this in my third One Hell of an Unpopular Opinion series but if you want to stick loosely to HB's canon then you'd probably be better off with making Stella a surrogate mother as we still haven't seen her interact with Octavia and there was no real point in having Stolas marry Stella if all he needed to do was secure an heir. Besides I'm pretty sure that's what Paimon did in order to get Stolas as we see no signs that he had a mom growing up with how he was raised by a butler. On the contrary, should you wish to keep Stella as Stolas' wife, I'd recommend going the path not taken. By which I mean, have Stella and Stolas marry because, at one point, they did genuinely love each other but over the years that love dwindled and eventually faded out. Even though they'd be better off parting ways they choose to stay together as Great Horned Owls (the owl that the actual Stolas from the actual Ars Goetia seems to be based off of) and Snow Geese (I refuse to believe she's a swan especially since her brother has ice powers and lives in an ice castle) typically mate for life. From here, I'd have Octavia not be born out of the "necessity" of an heir but rather as a last ditch effort to see if their relationship can be rekindled as many couples in real life think that having a child or children will "fix" their relationship. #05.) Sorry for getting somewhat depressing with that last bit. To make up for it, write a fun chapter about I.M.P. having fun by rewriting Episode #05 of Season #01, The Harvest Moon Festival! A lot of people like The Harvest Moon Festival as it is though the majority agrees that it should've been a Millie centric episode. So have her be the reason they go to the Harvest Moon Festival over Stolas, show her competing in the Pain Games, and have her stand up for her husband due to having enough of her family constantly shit talking him. Overall, have Millie excel at being the bad ass girlboss that HB makes her out to be! #06.) Give Octavia some type of found family or friend group. Have her attend a prestigious private school (I doubt Stella will have her daughter attend a regular public high school) and have her become friends with the school's outcasts. The reason this group could be outcasts is because they actually earned their right to be there by getting good grades while most of the students are probably the offspring of Hell's high ranking officials. But seriously, this girl needs (and deserves) a support system STAT! #07.) Properly explain what it takes to get a soul into Heaven. I don't care if you explain this via The Ten Commandments, trusting that Jesus died for humanity's sins, or by using another set of rules from a different religion that isn't Christianity just be certain that your explanation is clear and concise and makes sense for what you have already pre-established for your rewrite. Don't do what the HH series did by saying, "Yeah, we don't know," because that is genuinely how you lose an audience. You can't have the ENTIRE premise of the show being about wanting Sinners to get into Heaven when HEAVEN doesn't even know what gets a soul there in the first place! ______ Well, those are all of the ideas I've got for now! See ya guys!

[cleverthylacine]

Just watched Ep 1 of Earthspark S2. And I'm furious.

Don't read this if you don't want spoilers. Or if you think the showrunners can still do no wrong, and are unprepared for the level of Incandescent Fury of which I am capable. But if you DO have spoilers for the whole season and understand my particular vibe, PLEASE read this and reblog with answers (but use the cut for the sake of my followers)...

Reasons why I'm mad:

A year goes by in which all of the stuff I was actually interested in presumably happened: dealing with GHOST, the Decepticons and Autobots cooperating, and also, Mo and Robby getting cool mech suits.

Then for no reason other than "Decepticons huh" the Decepticons apparently forgot their alliance, turned on Our Designated Good Guys (tm) and just randomly started trying to conquer and/or kill everything again. Or were they screwed over, yet again? I really hope so, not because I want them to suffer but because there needs to be a freaking reason why they turn on other Cybertronians when they are stuck on Earth. But I don't have a good feeling about it given the contemptuous attitudes displayed by Bee (as usual, because ES Bee is a fucking asshole) and Robby (disappointing, he wasn't like that before).

And we never did get to find out what the fuck was up with GHOST or why the Decepticons were all in jail (and no, "Decepticons huh" is not an acceptable reason--they have every reason to hate us.)

Breakdown is a terrible parent for no reason? BREAKDOWN?

The Chaos Terrans thing gives me the same willies that the Orcs in Tolkien (I am not a Tolkien fan) used to do. I am not comfortable with the eugenicist/ableist notion that people can be born corrupt and innately evil, especially not if it has something to do with HOW they were born.

Soooo... if you've finished the season (I know you've been posting a bit about it) is there any reason for me to continue?

Reasons I would continue:

Ravage continues to be basically the same Ravage I write, only much smaller.

RavWave (as a ship, not just platonic interaction, mostly because I would watch anything for that no matter how messed up)

Explanation that there actually is a reason why the Cons turned on everyone, and what that reason is. Did they want to put them back in jail? Did they want them to do forced labour? Did Megatron start whaling on Starscream again? I note Tara isn't around Con HQ, what does Tara know?

Quints are interesting and not just scary (the Quints in Cyberverse scared me more than many adult horror movie villains did, BUT they are also just kinda evil and mean and we have no idea why, which would not have been particularly interesting at all except for the fun of watching Hot Rod and Soundwave become the faction leaders while OP and Megatron were unable to be)

Chaos Terrans are not innately bad or do not need some mystical power of nuclear heteronormative family to make them good

The Decepticons get something out of the ending other than screwed

We find out more about Dot and Megs

Some Cons are good parents

More Tarantulas and Nightshade content

Hashtag continues to have a relationship with Starscream that affects the plot as it develops

We are actually told what happened during the year they missed

Reasons I would not continue:

Cons are just bad because cons are bad.

Ravage is Soundwave's daughter or pet or in some other way not actually a grown-ass adult Decepticon officer, making Soundwave a father who raises child soldiers or a guy who runs dogfights, which is not cute even if he is snatched af

(they don't have to be lovers though my shipping heart was pleased when their PDA in the deleted scenes embarrassed Starscream, but she has to be a Real Independent Person who could be someone's partner if not his)

Chaos Terrans are innately bad until "saved" by the Power of Love And the Nuclear Family (or just innately bad)

Emberstone continues to be Allspark Mark II so why even change the name?

Bee's incredible assholery is never called out (it's not funny when a starving person accidentally kills their starving teammate due to a mistake they made because they were starving)

Only Autobots and people who form nuclear families can be good parents

Everyone being friends with the cows goes to the PETA place

Cons get nothing but screwed

Please tell me this series hasn't gone where I was afraid it would. Or let me know that it has so I can decide if it's going to be so bad I'll be mad the whole time like I was in Ep 1.

Warning: anyone who clowns on this post to be a RavWave anti or say "The Decepticons are supposed to be pure evil, duh!" will get blocked.

[sillyunknownkitkat]

Type of writing : headcanons and 2 small drabbles.

Plot: Phillip and his s/o preparing and celebrating Christmas.

Tw: kinda fem-ish reader but still gn, tooth rotting fluff, Phillip being bullied by kids, a bit of angst but full comfort here dw, reader has parents. uncanny fake death situation of Phillip, reader cries.

Definitely loves cuddles on the couch and watching a movie with the fire cracking in the background.

This man loves Christmas. It's not so much all of the traditions and stuff, just you being really happy about this and the cosy ambience that it brings.

Also, he forces the shadows to wear Santa's hats.

I think he has a pretty sweet tooth, so it's one of his favorite seasons because you make him hot chocolate with little marshmallows when he gets back from work.

If you want to see his eyes lit up, then bring him a Christmas market/festival. Phillip's eyes WILL light up like kids' ones.

Now let me tell you something. This blondie can't skate at all. It's really funny to see.

And that being said, he gets bullied by the kids on the ice rink.

Still would go again if it means that you're happy.

Now, I don't want to baby him because he is a grown man, but please throw a snowball at him. I promise you that it's going to be the best snowball fight ever.

If you have played until down, you know what I'm talking about, but if don't here is a video of the said scene

So I think he'd be more Mike-like, but tbh he could also be Jessica (I hope this makes sense). Also, you don't have to be a girl or anything for this exact interaction. He's just a bit cringe.

But that's okay, it's not a crime 😊

THIS.MAN.ALSO.LOVES.TO.DECORATE.YOUR.HOUSE !!!

I hcs he probably didn't really do anything for Christmas as a child.

It's supposed that he lived in South America, so it didn't really snow or anything. His parents didn't see the point in celebrating it.

Well no matter the reason that caused him to be "Christmas-starved", he still is.

I don't think he would go all out like you can see in some Christmas light contests, but he still puts quite the effort.

Inside the house, he would keep it pretty simple but with a good amount of things. Like fairy lights pretty much all around the house, whatever these are called in a banner like display, little Santa's, snowmans, ...

Now, to my favourite part, the drabbles ^^

1. Decorating your first Christmas tree together 🎄:

You moved him with him pretty early in the relationship. He justified it by saying something amongst the lines of "I work a lot, sweetheart. As sad as it is, I won't be here often. If things go south one day, I won't ever kick you out, don't worry. See it as you helping me around the house when I'm not there, and as a payment, you get a free roof over your head, yeah?"

When he just said it, you were kinda offended, but thinking back, he's not wrong. Plus, he doesn't force you to move faster in the relationship. It's just a win-win situation. Of course, he mostly proposed this because he loves you so damn much.

He never felt like that with another person. He swears (in his head) that you have to be his soulmate. How else could you guys fit so well together?

When December came close, he asked you if you would want to make a Christmas tree with him. You said yes, obviously.

You both went to get dressed in warmer clothes before going to the local Christmas market.

Hand in hand, walking and stopping every 30 seconds because one of you saw something that catched your eyes. You both probably went a little overboard with the stuff you got, but you wouldn't wish to go back in time to do otherwise. He was so freaking happy. It made you melt every time you looked at him and his big smile.

After a while, he asks you to go get a Christmas tree (pine?) before all of the good ones are gone. I don't think you would go in a "chop the one you want" type of thing, but in a more store like type of thing. He insisted you guys should get a real one instead of the plastic ones because even tho it makes a huge mess, it's more cosy to have a real one. Don't ask me how, but you got the most beautiful tree ever. It's a nice fresh green colour, not too tall but very large and fluffy.

Once both of you are happy with what you have, you go back to your shared house to actually decorate the said tree.

It starts with unloading the car, then putting everything in the living room and finally doing what you both waited for. Decorating.

You set the tree in the corner of the living room, not too far away from the chimney. He chose to start with the fluffy garland before the light ones and finally the little balls and bauble you got.

Finally, it's time to set the star on top of the tree, and you insist he does it. After all, it's his idea.

"Don't be silly, love. C'mere, I'll help you, " He says before making a come here motion with his hand. You do. He lifts you up by the waist, and you place it perfectly.

Once he puts you back down, you both walk a few steps back to admire your work. He gives you a side hug, and you could swear he's almost crying.

You take a picture of your tree and a selfie of the both of you as a souvenir of this amazing day you guys spent.

2. Spending Christmas together but discreetly.

After his fake death, he had to lay very low to avoid any suspicion. Which also means that this year, it would only be the both of you on Christmas.

You never spent Christmas without your parents, so this was really hard for you. Not only did you have to lie to everyone, saying things like what you were too sad to celebrate this year, that you weren't able to attend, ... but you also had to make they sad and worried.

Phillip knew that it was really upsetting you but didn't know what to do apart for apologizing for making you do all of that.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, you woke up quite early and sat on the couch in front of the tree. When you looked at him once more, you started crying. The worst thing is that you felt terrible to cry. Everything was doing better than it could've. Your lover was alive and well. You had anything you could possibly need.

And yet you still felt like garbage. Even more now that you were felling guilty from feeling this way.

Phillip woke up in an empty bed. Your side was still a bit warm, so he knew that you left the bed not too long ago. Usually, he would've woken up at you getting up, but he was exhausted. He stretched before lazily sliding in his slippers and going look after you.

When he got down the stairs, he saw you curled up with your knees to your chest on the couch. It broke his heart when he heard you quietly sob.

He instantly goes up to you and sits down on the couch before rubbing your back in a comforting manner.

"Hey... what's going on lovely?" He asks in a worried tone.

After taking a couple of deep breaths in and out, you explain the reason why you were crying. He carefully listens, holds your hand, and squeezes it from time to time to prove that he is listening to you.

Once you're done, he drags you in his harm to hold you and pet your hair.

"Oh, baby... I'm so sorry that we have to go through this. That I have to make you go through this. I promise you that everything will be okay, though. I love you so so so much. You can't even imagine. That's why I'm still very happy. I get to spend the holidays with you. The love of my life. I'm going to make sure that you spend an amazing Christmas 'kay? Do you trust me?"

You just nod against him, your voice being stuck in your throat from such sweet words.

"I love you too, Phil's, and of course I trust you," you say after a little while of being in this comfortable hold.

Sorry if this is really cheesy, I just am a sucker for lovey dovey stuff 😅

While Graves is not my favorite COD character at all, I can't lie and say that writing this didn't make me love him a bit more.

Also, I'm very sorry if he's ooc, I tried my best 🥹

I wish you a very merry Christmas and lovely holidays! 🍾☃️🎄

I hope you have a good day/night and that you're safe <3

I love you everyone!

[ghostofbambifanfiction]

how do you feel about minors reading your fics or fics which might contain more explicit topics (be it substance abuse, heavy topics like eating disorders etc, and of course sexual topics). there has been conversation in other fandoms I am in on these and a lot of "adults" (I say adults bcs some of them are 23-25 which from my perspective is like oh you sweet summer child) are saying minors should not interact with their content, should not comment/bookmark/reblog, should not send them asks (anon or not) on their stuff with some of them saying they are ready to block individual suspects (aka minors who interact) in order to prevent them. and idk my perspective is that I wouldn't want to alienate anyone from the fandom, but would much rather focus on curating a good fandom experience and making sure young people dont take away too much from these fanfics because it is all fiction after all.

the reason i ask is because you are (i think) 7 years older than me but have been an integral part of my experience in the jily/marauders fandom since i was like quite young?

I think it's not up to me to check on what age my readers are or gatekeep my writing from anyone, and the same goes for any other writer. I write what I want to write, I stick the appropriate age label on AO3 and once it's out there in the world it's the reader/reader's parents' responsibility to seek out suitable material. When it comes to my writing specifically, if there are underage kids reading my fics, I'm not worried about that because my content is comparatively quite wholesome and the message I always try to instill is that an aspirational romantic relationship is one where kindness and respect, and not toxic, controlling behaviours, are key. I don't think there's any detriment to reading content like that, in fact I wish it was a more popular aspect of romance fiction in general (which is part of a wider conversation about what kind of behaviour is romanticised in fiction, but ultimately any writer is free to write whatever the hell they want). On a wider scale, when it comes to fandom in general, it's up to parents and guardians to talk to their kids about what they're read and what messages they're taking away from any media they consume. I'm a parent and I would never ever consider it a creator's responsibility to monitor what my child is doing, because it isn't their responsibility, it's mine, and I'm not here to be anyone else's mommy. If I get an ask from a 15 year old who tells me they love my fics, I'm happy that I've written something that brings them happiness, and I'm not going to alienate them, scold them, or talk down to them simply for being young.

[evablueblanket]

Will you tell me about an LU character you love and why you love them? Please please please ramble on and on! It's my favorite! I get so many fun ideas when people gush about their favorites.

I (think) I've said this before, but I am not the most analytical/observ person ever so most of what I say is probably kinda shallow :') BUT THIS IS MY RAMBLE SO OH WELL

Okay so recently, I've been on a Warriors kick. I just super love how like, everyone portrays him! Most see him as big brother shaped, which I super love. His background is just so vastly different than every other Link, which serves as a very cool contrast imo

The way @somer-writes makes Twi and Wars idiodic brothers is like, my favorite ever. I love love love LOVE how he writes Wars and Twi it's so insane the comedy that unfolds when they're just messing around xD

Warriors has this air, this *vibe* which I'm just super drawn too, I think it's just how my personality vs his works (you could theoretically draw *some* parallels with Sokka from ATLA, at least the way they each hold themselves I'd say. Also big bro stuff) (ALSO how both of them are portrayed as 'smart', which is a trait I typically relate too in characters)

When I like a character though, it's more based on the different types of relationships everyone writes them as though, I'd say. Wars and Time and Wind have this super intriguing bond that I think is cool to see how everyone interprets it! For the most part people write them as they're all aware of the War of Ages and whatnot, which lead to some nice fluff and/or angst. But when there's some time paradoxes, it makes it every so more tragic and it's really interesting to see how that can get written. I recall a fic (I FORGOT THE TITLE AND THE AUTHOR NOO) where Wars was teaching Wind medic stuff, but it was like a year before Wind meets Wars in the war. So Wars is all "sob this is why Wind is such a good medic? *Bc I taught him?*" THIS IS SO COOL AND INTERESTING

Also when there's War of Ages fics that have Time/Mask being a stupid child (/aff) they're just super hilarious. There's a series out there that has the Fierce Deity (sorry forgot the author again xD) act as Wars parent figure/older brother figure and it's just really funny to me bc ofc Wars would be a stupid overworking idiot. Loser smh

Four is also another one of the sillies that live in my brain, and I kinda wish there were more fics on how they interact. Though, if I'm being real idk how they really would cause they don't really have the same synergy as any other Links. I just like my favorites to interact, but I super understand how they wouldn't ^^

Small side bit on serious Wars (the biggest example is "Call Them Brothers" by wutheringmights which I'm almost 100% certain you've read that already cause it's soooo long and it's SO GOOD AHH) and ugh I wish I could pay attention more to get every complexity that this Wars has but the brain kinda hates me. I think it makes a lot of sense for Wars to have a grittier characterization, war does that to people. The entire fic is so visceral to me, I just vividly remember reading the flashback section about the long winter, and I don't even know how to really describe it xD

Wars has such a broad range of emotion, if one were to put him under and microscope and study him there would be SO MUCH.

HAVE I TALKED ABOUT THE AESTHETIC

HES THE FUCKING PRETTY BOY OF THE GROUP AND THAT'S SO VALUBLE TO ME FOR NO REAL REASON

Ik Wild is seen as the one with like, outfits and Legend has his jewlery, BUT WARS HAS HIS FUCKING SCARF. THERES SO MANY POSTS ABOUT WARS AND HIS EMOTIONAL SUPPORT SCARF AND I AM SO FUCKING FOR IT YOU HAVE NO IDEA

THE SHADE OF BLUE IS AWESOME, ITS SO COOL, ITS SO COOL HES SO COOL RAHHHH

*oops tehe I rambled like a lot* ty for this opportunity :D I'm super glad I decided to type this on my laptop and not my phone xD

[blueper-saiyan]

honestly so bullshit that we got Tarble tossed at us as a concept, reminded of his existence in the Battle of Gods movie and Super Broly, and then never another thing about him. Like, on the one hand, there isn’t enough of his actual character for me to be attached to him for that reason. All we really get is that he’s a lot more polite than Vegeta, willing to ask for help, was able to maintain a romantic relationship, and that he either wasn’t that strong of a fighter, or possibly didn’t want to fight? (I’ve seen different translations and I still can’t tell which of those two things it is, and there’s a huge difference between those two concepts.) I know that’s enough for some people but I’m relatively slow to form attachments to characters and I need more than a half hour special sadly. However, the idea of him has a lot of interesting potential for me.

Like, clearly he knows who his parent(s?) is/are and that Vegeta is his older brother. He was given at least that much information, so I assume he didn’t get tossed away at birth? But I guess it’s possible that he got given this information later. It could have come from the space pod’s computer or the people on the planet he was sent to (which I am pretty sure is called Tech Tech?). But I'm assuming that he was at least old enough to sort of understand what happened/who the people around him were, which would actually make him pretty close to Vegeta's age. Did they actually get to interact at all? Or do they just know of each other's existence?

Tangent, I do also think that whoever was writing the special either forgot or didn’t know that Vegeta was supposed to be like, at most 7 when his dad died so even if Tarble was born on the same eventful day that Planet Vegeta exploded, they’d only be 7 years apart at most. Genuinely, why do they draw Tarble like a child, this man should be like 35 years old, he’s Goku’s age at minimum.

Anyway, did Tarble like, know that he was sent away for not being strong enough? How does he feel about that? Like, is that a good thing to him because he ended up in a much better place than he would have been (dead or with Freeza)? How much does he know about saiyans? How much do the people on Tech Tech know about saiyans and the history involved?

Speaking of people on Tech Tech, Tarble grew up on a planet where he is blatantly not the same as anyone else around him. Goku at least was not easily distinguished from humans and so everyone just kind of assumed he was a weird human but there’s no way that happened for Tarble. What was that like? Especially if they did have any knowledge of what saiyans are supposed to be like. There's so many things that might be interesting to explore but we don't get to see any of them.

Also, the amount we see of Tarble's personality basically entirely disproves any "saiyans are inherently evil/bloodthirsty" claims.

[uroboros-if]

So I was playing through the update (very very fun!!) and I got to the part where Rafaele asks the MC how he looks. I accidentally selected a choice without "looking" at Rafaele, then went back to look first and then select a choice. I found the contrast between the two outcomes very funny — I just had to pause and write this ask because man this got a lot of giggles out of me 👻👻

Without Looking:

With Looking:

It was definitely a very nice semi-hidden little treasure to stumble upon! I probably wouldn't have found this if it weren't for accidentally clicking a choice without doing the looking first; I know that "not looking" is reflected in the wording of the choices in that certain scenario, but for some reason my brain didn't register it at all until I consciously looked closer 😭

Also, I really really like the "not looking" scenario for some reason?? It feels so familial and intimate, an exasperated father mock-sighing at his unabashedly confident child. It kind of feels like a peek into how MC interacted with their parents during their younger, more childish days 😌 It certainly gave me quite a few drabble/headcanon ideas regarding my MC and his parents, at least. I liked it so much that I decided to keep it (sorry, Rafaele)!! 😝✨

Anyways, I'm very much enjoying the new update!! Thank you for all the work you've done, and good luck with writing chapter 2! (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧ I'm really excited for it, but please do take your time! You've already given us so much content (including your blog posts, which I very much enjoy reading) :] That was all, and have a very nice day!💙✨

P.S. The relationship between MC and Nero and Rafaele is very near and dear to my heart 🥰 I'm very fond of the ROs, and am looking forward to getting to know more about them ingame — but the dads are special. I've spent waaay more time than I'd like to admit making personal headcanons and anecdotes about that little family 🥹

Ahh, I'm so glad you played through the update! And I'm even more ecstatic that you caught the changes with the looking vs not looking (The choices and comments are different for each option depending on if you looked or not!!)! 💕 I wasn't sure if anyone would be able to see and appreciate the differences!

You're right, though -- it seems so familiar and easy in a way that's intimate to anyone you've been with for a very long time. So even if it may seem like the more "disrespectful" option, it really is just everyday interaction with your family. A little taken for granted, but loving all the same.

I'm super glad you like the dads, and I know many people do as well ❤️ I find it fascinating that we especially value and devalue ROs at the same time (no /neg or criticism). A lot of people look to IFs just for the romance, that sometimes we reduce characters we can romance to being there just for that. Thus, finding characters we can get attached to, without any prior expectation to romance them, feels more special.

Again, not necessarily a bad mindset, or directed towards you, specifically--it's just been on my mind for a long time! It makes me so happy that you can find a character like that in my IF, because I definitely do not want to make important side characters less loveable or interesting than the ROs. So your fondness for the parents is really special as well, and shows that that isn't the case!

That was a lot of musing and rambling -- thank you so much for letting me know your thoughts about the update 🥺 I'll be answering an ask about flower crowns very soon for you 💕🌿

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

Now I'm gonna be predictable and ask you for Dick and Rachel for the character thing 💙🖤

My two favorite birds!!!!! Okay *cracks knuckles* here we go

DICK GRAYSON

First impression:

Hot, mysterious, "hmmm I know that face", had this edge about him that had me lean closer to my tv and go "okay, interesting, go on"

Impression now:

The love of my life, a mark on my soul, the blueprint for a Comfort Character™, my #1 TV Dad, must be protected at all cost mostly from himself

Favorite moment:

How can I pick just one? My favorite kinds of his moments are when he gets feral protective over his baby girl (like in 1x07 or 4x08) or any alteration of "I won't let anything happen to you" because all I hear is "I love you"

Extra kudos for all the shirtless scenes 😏

Idea for a story:

One that has been recently lurking at the edge of my mind is giving him an AU where basically everything is the same except his parents are alive — mostly because I want to write them interacting with Kory and the kids

Unpopular opinion:

He gets waaaay too much crap from the fandom, for even the littlest things. He's a flawed character who makes stupid mistakes sometimes. If he was perfect all the time, he'd be boring. He doesn't have to be the best leader, an A+ father figure 100% of the time or constantly kissing the earth the woman he loves walks on to be a good character. Don't like his storyline? Shit on the writers, it's their fault.

Favorite relationship:

There's only one answer to that, always will be.

His light in the darkness. His turning point. His true north. He wouldn't be the man he is now if it wasn't for this one little girl throwing a brick at a cop car and getting herself brought to his station. You can't deny that. The show doesn't. It reminds you, time and time again, who is his anchor. Who keeps him from slipping back into the dark.

Favorite headcanon:

He knows how to play guitar and a little bit of piano because the Haly Circus crew used to jam out all the time. His dad taught him the guitar, Clay was a master of keys and his mother had the voice of an angel and wrote her own songs.

RACHEL ROTH

First impression:

OHHH SHE'S A BABY!!!! I was instantly protective of her and related to her in her loneliness.

Impression now:

FOREVER MY BABY GIRL. Always proud of her, always protective of her. My best girl, my favorite witch. Daddy's Girl and The Best Big Sister-to-be™

Favorite moment:

That walk?! The confidence?! Making dad look all proud in the background?! COME ONNNNNN

Idea for a story:

A while back I wrote down some notes for a concept about adult Rachel and her relationship with teenage Mar'i, inspired by my own relationship with my older sister. There's 19 years between us and the difference between Rachel and Mar'i could end up being similar. I was thinking of writing her as a bestie but also the second mother, ride or die and voice of reason, "dad's gonna kill you" but also "dad's gonna kill both of us if he finds out so we're not gonna tell him". A lot of shenanigans, a lot of heart-to-heart.

Unpopular opinion:

She should have had the final fight with Brother Blood, since this whole thing was about and came from her brother, her heritage, her prophecy.

Favorite relationship:

The simplest reason is because I was just happy to see this child finally being loved. Finally having someone to believe in her and protect her. Finally knowing what it's like to have someone who cares. Finally being held and comforted and understood.

Favorite headcanon:

Girl can SING. But is shy as hell about it. Only Gar knows about it and only because he found out by total accident when he heard her belt out those Ariana Grande whistle notes like it's nothing. They keep it secret until Dickkory's wedding, where she gives a performance of a lifetime.

CODY I LOVE YOU! THANK YOUUUUUU

[dailykafka]

I would be very interested in hearing your thoughts on Hermann Kafka. I've noticed a notion of people excusing him or brushing over his shitty job at parenting. Brod, in one interview, basically said that Hermann loved Kafka and Franz just took everything personally. Right now I'm reading S. Friedländer's book on Kafka, and he too has this habbit of defending Hermann. That it was all with good intention and such irritations are unavoidable in father-son relationship. I'm aware that Kafka's letter to his father must be taken with a grain of salt. However, it doesn't change the fact it was coming from the truth.

In short, I would love to hear whatever you have to say about Kafka's father. From whatever perspective or POV.

Thank you for your answer.

Thank you for this ask! I could write a very long answer for this but i'll try to be brief. For a moment let's imagine we are not talking about these two but just "a father" and "a child". Throughout his diaries and then in his letter to his father, "a child" is very vocal (not just in his personal writings) about the distress that his father causes him. Whatever the situation is, no child ever wants to talk this way about their parent, no child accuses their parent of bad parenting if there are no grounds for that.

As you said, many have noted that Hermann wasn't really that abusive and that Franz was just emotional (how cold and dismissive that sounds is apparent in our time when parent-child relationships have (more or less) softened). But I think that when a child is so vocal about their parent's behavior, then that parent should reflect on their actions and try to meet the child's emotional needs (that is literally one of the most important jobs of a parent) and when one does not do so, for whatever reason, then it's clear that they are not a good parent.

Franz was a very sensitive person while his father was more cold and stiff. But that does not mean the conflict between them was unavoidable. Yes, sometimes Franz was a bit unreasonable, a bit more upset at his father's actions than other people might have been but so what? A parent should still be kind to his child (enough for him not to have nightmares of you beating him, eating him, leaving him alone in the cold, etc) and that parent should understand how to interact with a more sensitive child. Also Franz wasn't the only 'problem child', his sister also didn't have good relationship with Hermann (if I remember correctly it was even more severe with her than with Franz).

I think the reason why some people say that Hermann wasn't that abusive is because Franz lived more or less easy life - he lived with his parents, had stable job and had time for his writing. But that is material support and not emotional, which is just as important for a child. Hermann did give Franz roof over his head and the luxury of good life but he rarely encouraged him or told him that he was proud of Franz. Hermann neglected Franz (and his sisters) emotionally and when a child is so sensitive of course he internalizes it more intensely.

Overall, I think Hermann was a difficult man and Franz was difficult in his own way but Hermann was the parent and it was his job to manage their relationship in a way that wouldn't scar his child for life.

[bellatrixnightshade]

In response to "Nosy Anons"

0: Height -> 5'2" (short hehe)

1: Age -> not so sweet 16

2: Shoe size -> 9 US, I believe.

3: Do you smoke? -> No

4: Do you drink? -> No

5: Do you take drugs? -> Nope

6: Age you get mistaken for -> 13 to 14

7: Have tattoos? -> No

8: Want any tattoos? -> Kind of? I wouldn't mind a small, simple one.

9: Got any piercings? -> Nope

10: Want any piercings? -> I can wear clip ons, thank you. And I don't really take an interest in other piercings.

11: Best friend? -> I have some close irl friends-- I don't consider one my best friend though. I love them all.

12: Relationship status -> Single as a pringle

13: Biggest turn ons -> Intelligent, logical people who aren't know it alls, people who actually believe something out of conviction and thinking, not because they're parroting what someone told them, people who love book and writing discussions, a good sense of humor

14: Biggest turn offs -> Social justice warriors/Karens, superficial people, people who aren't fair

15: Favorite movie -> Not really a movie person, so I don't know.

16: I’ll love you if… -> I don't have conditions.

17: Someone you miss -> A friend that moved away (we still talk though)

18: Most traumatic experience -> Probably slicing my toe the day before my birthday or my dad getting really sick during 2020-2021

19: A fact about your personality -> I can be really reserved and serious at first, but when I warm up to people, I'll be a lot more talkative and free.

20: What I hate most about myself -> My hair, my nose, my face shape, and when I smile with teeth. My clumsiness and awkwardness.

21: What I love most about myself -> My death stare that even scares my parents when i'm mad-- No, i'm just kidding. I love being a daydreamer. And being generous with people.

22: What I want to be when I get older -> Not sure yet-- I'm torn with being a psychologist, an author, or an english professor or high school teacher

23: My relationship with my sibling(s) -> I'm an only child, lonely child

24: My relationship with my parent(s) -> Could be better, but they're good parents despite their flaws

25: My idea of a perfect date -> We have an organized list of things to do: touring the city, library, stargazing, and we just spend time together that way as we go.

26: My biggest pet peeves -> certain noises, being touched in most ways, immature people who cuss others out instead of forming any sort of rational argument or just not interacting?, favoritism, and cliquey behavior

27: A description of the girl/boy I like -> Nah, I'm not comfortable sharing about it.

28: A description of the person I dislike the most -> Nobody needs to know.

29: A reason I’ve lied to a friend -> I don't recall lying to a friend.

30: What I hate the most about work/school -> bossy authority people who have to yell at me if I don't even understand them in the first place.

31: What my last text message says -> "(My name) wants to bring a box of books to give away. The September birthdays can choose whatever they want."

32: What words upset me the most -> there are a lot of words that cut me like a knife, but I guess along the lines of "F you," and anything like that.

33: What words make me feel the best about myself -> I'm not sure. I guess if it's a genuine compliment from the heart.

34: What I find attractive in women -> intelligent, logical ones, women who are kind and patient, women who give good advice and are good with their hands, and I don't think this is the only thing--

35: What I find attractive in men -> men who respect women and girls and don't treat them like trash, men who are good with children, like their little siblings, and intelligent ones

36: Where I would like to live -> Switzerland, Quito, Alaska, Hungary, and Antarctica (though that is impossible)

37: One of my insecurities -> my weight, personality, and just how other people view me at times, and my intelligence and talent level

38: My childhood career choice -> microbiologist

39: My favorite ice cream flavor -> mint chocolate chip

40: Who I wish I could be -> Sometimes, my friend.

41: Where I want to be right now -> traveling

42: The last thing I ate -> Pumpkin spice latte

43: Sexiest person that comes to my mind immediately -> No.

44: A random fact about anything -> I can hyperextend my joints without thinking about it

tagged by: @e-everlasting-g

Tags: @liketwoswansinbalance

@harmonyverendez

@gallifreytreeflower

@eatgan

@scarletblakeney

@heyo-428

[sophiesjunkblog]

Sanders Sides/Leverage AU

So, I'm watching "Leverage" (2008), and Parker says a thing that reminds me of Logan. Now, I know that initially it would be super obvious that Logan would be the Brain, in Nate Ford's role. However, I have decided we're doing this my way, and that means I can build a whole AU off of the one thought.

Elliot Spencer/Hitter - Janus. I think that he really fits with the gray morals and quiet but strong connection to the cause. He has such a confusing background, and a lot of surprising skills he's picked up over the years that he enjoys using when he crafts his many, many intricate cover stories ("It's a very distinctive-"). He is good at infiltrating organizations as he just blends in until it is his time to strike. Besides, I think he would really love to throw people off by pretending to lean heavily on a cane or crook and then just spinning it around and smacking someone in the face.

Alec Hardison/Hacker - Virgil. I know this is very stereotypical with the whole "antisocial tech person" idea, but if it fits, it fits. Virgil is a genius at tracking people down, partially due to his over-attention to body language and speech/writing patterns, but he also enjoys hacking into security and traffic cameras to people-watch without the chance of them seeing him on his down time. He probably does less semi-grifting and is all remote if he can help it, but Janus definitely balances that out.

Sophie Devereaux/Grifter - Roman and Remus. Now, as much as I absolutely love Janus as the obvious choice for this role, I have my reasons. The twins being twins would give them so much more versatility, and be very funny at times. They can be both the elite socialite and the hardcore convict, at the same time! I think they probably work with Janus on occasion, though, similar to Parker and Sophie's relationship, and try to teach Logan some tips, at least so he won't be so suspicious when doing simple things like ordering coffee.

Parker/Thief - Logan. He's Been Through Some Things, operates by his own rules, and is extremely good at what he does. He probably hates doing the grifter stuff, though, and is very much uncomfortable to the point of stabbing and diving off a balcony to get out of it. He doesn't need to be good with people, he's good at stealing things. He struggles a little with identifying and communicating his emotions, but he really does care for his team. Slightly oblivious at times, but fully committed.

Nate Ford/Mastermind - Patton. He's a dad, and a dad to his team! He's got a bit of an issue processing (repressing) his strong emotions, and he struggles with the morality of being a thief when the "good guys" in his life turn out to be not so good. He probably really has a crisis with going to jail, but eventually is able to see things in a little less black and white. If he can help one person be safe, one child be with their parents, one family find peace, it's worth it.

I just really like the idea of them all living together and committing crimes for the good of society. It is a very good "buddy show" situation and their theoretical interactions make me smile. I'm just a huge sucker for Good Friendship Dynamic Teamwork :)

ALSO

In double-checking to see if anyone else did this, I was reminded that @ironwoman359 has also done a "Leverage" AU! I was very excited to see it, so go check it out for a different spin on things :)

[waitmyturtles]

Hi! I wanted to first of all say I've deeply enjoyed what you've written about various shows, especially your observations, meditations, insights, etc. around family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, etc. For MLC, I've been chewing over some parts of Jim and Li Ming's relationship. It was interesting to see how quickly their interactions became positive and easy after that post-funeral conversation and understanding, and it made me think that their relationship probably had a good foundation, that we met them at a time where it was strained and deteriorating to a crisis point, but since they were able to resolve their conflict they could return to and even build on the baseline they already had. I've thought about the way Jim and Li Ming are so similar being part of the reason they clash so much. I've thought about the way the past casts such a long shadow in Jim's heart. I've thought about how Jim said he and Jam ran away from home when they were Li Ming's age. There is a thing I've read and heard brought up by therapists and even seen discussed in parenting advice columns, where someone will experience something traumatic when they are young, and they'll grow up, be raising children, and when the children reach the same age they were when they experienced The Thing, the trauma can come roaring back in a big way. I wonder if that period in Jim's life--running away young and trying to eke out a living--was particularly hard/traumatic, and if Li Ming entering that same stage in life, with its very similar concerns of poverty and queerness (plus the pile-up of stressors we see happen in the show) is part of what's activating so much fear and overwhelm in Jim. There's a distinct quality to Jim in the worst of these fights where it seemed to me like he wasn't fully present, that the shadow cast by those past fears and hurts was just so very strong in those moments it was overwhelming. (I also think a lot about the fact that he refuted Jam's attempt to place blame on Li Ming being gay on himself, and refuted it being wrong or blameworthy at all, but then confided in Wen that he couldn't help but blame himself--that ambivalence of refuting the Wrong Idea on the one hand but deep down worrying that the Wrong Idea might be true was, in form if not in specific content, astoundingly relatable to me, I felt such overwhelming empathy for Jim there, but that's a different conversation) It was noticing this about Jim's arguments, and Jim's comments about him and Jam running away around Li Ming's age, that set me on this particular path of reflecting. That, and seeing how quickly things got better for them after some breakthrough communication... I thought if things could so quickly turn out this well, surely their baseline must have been better than the dynamic with which we were introduced to them--how and why, then, did it get so bad? I dunno, I just thought this could be one of the pieces of the puzzle of Why Jim Was Being Like That. Anyways, thanks for reading and being your awesome self <3

Oh, dearest Anon. Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, and for this beautiful write-up, which isn't really an ask, but actually a FABULOUS STANDALONE ANALYSIS -- I'm deeply touched you directed it my way, my heart is so full. (This is going to be a long response.)

You know me well (thank you for reading along, dear Anon!), and I was just thinking about this during dinner last night. I was thinking more on @wen-kexing-apologist's wonderful post, "Moonlight Chicken Is for the Queers," and why I'm so drawn in particular to Asian QL content, even though I'm a cishet mama.

I feel like I've been waiting my whole life for drama content about Asian families, created as intelligently and CRITICALLY as P'Aof and his related group of directors and screenwriters have done over the last few years. Watching these shows -- even though I am not queer -- is like art therapy for me. As a child of Asian immigrants, my sibs and I went through a lot, a lot. I'm reckoning with this shit now as a parent, maybe even à la Jim and Li Ming. I can totally relate to traumatic stuff from my past bubbling up in the course of my parenting -- the way I TALK to my kids, the way I interpret something they're doing as annoying, or (EVEN WORSE) them doing something "on purpose to annoy me" -- when in fact, my kids are being totally normal for their age. I have to check myself every second of every day, and it's exhausting.

We -- all of us as an audience -- I think, are very lucky to be watching this art at this moment in time. Even with the context of this material being set in a QL, I'm seeing other non-QL GMMTV shows tackle huge trauma issues (like 10 Years Ticket, which I highly recommend, and I can't wait to start on The Warp Effect, too, which I know is QL-ish). While the context of a QL provides a framework and structure around stories that feature minority figures, I believe that P'Aof and the other amazing GMMTV artists are saying something in their shows about the Asian cultures that I am from and relate to. The Asian family unit is A -- if not, THE -- dominant framework of an Asian individual's perspective on life, for their lives. I'm American, so I absolutely have grappled with this Asian family collectivist vision and the inherent contradiction of living in individualistic America. But that's why I watch these shows, and can even relate to the struggles of queer characters in these shows, even without being queer. Because being "different" in the Asian family unit is just DIFFICULT, no matter how you slice it. (I was different because... I wanted to stand up to my parents, which was not acceptable, no way, no how.) And perceptions about the Asian family unit absolutely bleed into general Asian societal viewpoints as well.

Anyway. My desire to learn more about families and who we are vis à vis family frameworks actually led me to my career, ha. With that in mind, a couple of other response points:

1) If you (or anyone out there) ever plan on becoming a parent, I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND reading an amazing book called "Parenting From the Inside Out" by Dan Siegel. In fact, I'd probably just recommend this book to anyone who wants to get to know THEMSELVES at any point in their lives, children or no children. The book essentially says: if you don't reckon with your past, and how you were raised, and how you developed and REACTED to that experience -- you will miss out on opportunities for real self-actualization as a parent and as an adult.

Anon, you mentioned that at times, Jim didn't seem to be "fully present" in fights with Li Ming, and I totally agree with that read. I want to note that being "fully present" is like "enlightenment" to me. It is an ideal state that is tremendously difficult to achieve, especially in the minute day-to-day life of a parent, whether you're a parent to a young OR an old child.

In that context, you are so very right about the micro- and macrosystemic stressors that face Jim, and I want to take a quick note of them, because they're very real. This book is somewhat controversial (theories around education always are controversial), but gets into socioeconomic and environmental stressors: Whatever It Takes, about the founding of the Harlem Children's Zone by Geoffrey Canada. Again, many controversies exist about this model and how it's been portrayed over the years, but what I want to point out is: poverty and other socioeconomic stressors (like crime, police presence, drug use, unstable housing options, lack of food, lack of internet, etc.) can literally have both physical and emotional impacts. Brain development can literally be impacted by these stressors, even with fetuses in utero, let alone young children watching their family units face these stressors.

Jim is facing a WORLD of stress -- as the very first episode of MC laid out very clearly for us. The world is getting more expensive as vendors make less, or the same income. Absolutely, the stress of being poor and gay (sound familiar?) impacted him throughout his whole life to lead him to the moment that WE see him in the show.

This leads to my next thought:

2) You've certainly heard the phrase: "my mother, myself" -- which refers in part to repeating your parents' mistakes. (I probably say this phrase about once a day, along with a tiny scream.) If you're a parent who is trying to understand yourself from the context of WHO YOU WERE AS A CHILD, and how you were raised by YOUR OWN PARENTS, that MIGHT get you closer to that ideal state of being fully present. (That's the work that Dan Siegel recommends in his book.)

That leads to my next thought, which connects these two points together:

3) You are totally right to point out the context of Jim and Jam having moved from their rural village. They're both also hesitant about Li Ming moving to America.

What did "moving" do to Jim and Jam? We don't know that much, except that they were leaving a certain fate, to become farmers like their grandparents.

I'm going to take a guess -- borrowing both from my immigrant parents' experience, and from ATOTS, ha -- that running away HAD TO HAVE BEEN TRAUMATIC for Jim and Jam. AND, Anon, to your point about intergenerational trauma: Jim and Jam almost certainly had to have shared that trauma, unknowingly, with Li Ming.

They left their first home. Jim ran away from home while being poor and gay. Jam tried to build homes for Li Ming and failed. She sent Li Ming to live with Uncle Jim. Jim then faced the prospect of building a home for Li Ming. All while being poor and gay as an adult.

That's hit, after hit, after hit, after hit. Jim and Jam carry that with them. And Li Ming carries with him the trauma of moving, and moving, and moving, as well.

Immigrants most often don't go back "home" permanently -- certainly many do, but most don't. And yet.... "home," at least for my parents, was always back in Asia. In ATOTS, "home" for Tian WAS Bangkok, and ended up BEING the village in Chiang Mai.

In MC, what was home for Jim? Oh, my heart, how that gets revealed over the course of the show. When Wen, sleeping on Jim's lap, asks him, in the living room of Jim's rented house -- "do you take this house as a home?" For Wen, and for Jim, home ultimately was what they were going to build TOGETHER.

All of those stressors -- the moving, the identity obstacles, the poverty -- prevented Jim from being able to build a home, holistically, until he met Wen. And I might even posit, ooooh, let me go here -- I might even posit that Jim's ability to level with Li Ming, to see Li Ming for the man that Li Ming is on the cusp of becoming, happened because Jim was simultaneously in the process of discovering himself vis à vis Wen's love, by beginning to build a family with Wen. I think we see Jim developing that stronger sense of presence that you, Anon, noted wasn't there during Jim's and Li Ming's fights.

In relation to what you were saying, Anon, about when things got bad for Jim and Li Ming, I also want to note that it's just really important to understand the context of how younger Asians engage with Asian elders/parents, which @telomeke writes about eloquently here. I'm going to leave this aside in this analysis, but please note that these dynamics are also hugely important in how Jim and Li Ming are set up to engage.

(Anon, thank you for noticing my obsession with Aof and intergenerational trauma, because I haven't seen anyone in dramaworld analyze it better than him.)

In any case, I don't necessarily think that things were dualistically bad-to-good for Jim and Li Ming. I think that, likely, things were ALWAYS COMPLICATED, between an uncle facing an enormous amount of pressure and trauma; and a pre- to post-pubescent teen discovering himself, his sexuality, his first attraction, and contemplating an unknown future -- all while certainly sharing the stressors of the stand-in parent that is raising him. Shit was complicated between Jim and Li Ming, and certainly would stand to still be that way, if we ever get lucky to have an update via an MC Our Skyy 3 (let's pray together for it, ha).

4) Two more quick notes. P'Aof certainly has a genius of showing many facets to the same character, and I just love that he critically shies away from singular or dualistic interpretations of his dear characters. When, as you note, Jim doesn't play the blame game IN FRONT OF JAM, and secretly blames himself to Wen that Li Ming might be gay BECAUSE of him (Jim) -- it indicates not only the intimacy he has with Wen, that he can talk about this stuff with Wen (swoon), but it also reveals the generational perspective that certainly differs between Jim and Li Ming. Possibly, in the course of Jim's busy life, trying to survive as a gay man, working his ass off, in poverty, partly while getting cheated on by that POS, Beam -- Jim just didn't have the time or space to contemplate the roots of his understanding of who he is. (Then again... not everyone is as self-exploratory as yours truly, HEH.)

5) I totally agree with you about the foundation of Jim's and Li Ming's relationship being better than we think, even if, as you note, we were privy to some of their most stressful moments. I just want to leave this post with the screencaps of their last intimate conversation, because I think in only a few words, so much was revealed. Jim revealed himself to Li Ming. At this moment -- he parented from the inside out. He told Li Ming, admitted to the kid -- kid, you made ME a better person.

That's revelation -- the kind of adult revelation, vis à vis a parent-to-child relationship, that you really don't see happen much in Western content. And it just THRILLS me, as I've written before, that this is happening in ASIAN MEDIA, because I think Asian family units definitely are ripe for the kind of brilliant criticism that P'Aof levels at them.

ANON -- sorry to unspool like this! You gave me a lot of inspiration. I'm having such an MC hangover, and you handed this to me like a hair of the dog, ha. I hope you didn't mind this long post, and thanks again for the wonderful note!

[antiterf]

Littman (author of the original Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria study) made another publication to argue that her methods are justified and I'm just going to write down random thoughts as I read through it and the original study again because... damn who's publishing these

“They are constantly putting down straight, white people for being privileged, dumb and boring." Said probably by a straight, privileged white person that's currently acting dumb.

"the development of the survey instrument was conducted with the feedback from four members of the target population for content and clarity" - so not even a psychologist went over this survey. Makes sense since it's treating gender dysphoria as meaning "identifies as transgender" yet doesn't. "My child didn't show signs of being gender dysphoric until they came out as transgender!" lucky for your teenager, they need 2 out of 6 symptoms with significant distress to fall under gender dysphoria. 5/6 can be kept secret as they are personal wants and feelings.

"Convenience samples are used all the time in research," yeah, but going to three websites that have obvious beliefs on the matter and all coming to the website for the same reason is a lot different than general social media. You could've looked for parents of trans people for your targeted population, but nooo, let's only get our samples from the same people who made the concept, your scale, with all having similar beliefs. That's just a convenience sample. God.

Ah, you're comparing your sampling to researchers looking for trans people in general. Like we all have the same belief system (not biased, guys, no prejudice here!)

"coming out" is frequently in quotes along with "cisgender" but not terms like straight or gay. Hinting that maybe this researcher is again, a bit biased. Just maybe.

"Parental report has been justified as a good method for monitoring child mental and physical health" Yeah it's too bad that you're asking questions like "what do their friends talk about" and other things about teenagers and some adults (oh look you sourced something where the age group was 0-17) where the parents are reportedly having trouble getting along with them (57%).

What kind of content someone looks at on the internet is not a good time to get parental reports.

"The issue with parental report is that it can carry biases" NO?! REALLY?!/s "I acknowledged this," but you still didn't act like there was bias in any of your examinations of the data. You can't go, "I acknowledge that this person has a bloody knife," before proceeding to ignore the bloody knife while making a threat analysis, and hell, why not get them another knife!

"More than a third (33.7%) of the AYAs asked for medical and/or surgical transition at the same time that they announced they were transgender-identified." Ah yes, .4% more than a third, to be exact.

Damn, there are barely any significant correlations in this - oh look, most of the tested ones for significance are about the relationship with their parents. There is not a single one about peer interactions or online use. The only reported for significance was "stopped hanging out with non transgender friends," and that didn't have significance.

[ariadnasdiary]

How is Yui's relationship with Ariadna, Sabine, Naomi and Amelie? 👀 Do Sabine and Amelie have any love interests (maybe some Diaboy)? 👀🩷 Does Ariadna have any other suitors besides Kino? 🤭

I love all your OCs, and would love to know more about them! 🩷

Mun Ari: ahhhh thank you so much for your kind words dear!! They are all great questions!! And I do have given them a thought!

Yui's relationship with my girls:

Yui and Ari are good friends. They used to spend more time together, but since Ari moved in with Kino they now only spend time every once in a while and only while in school sadly :(. They keep in good terms and sometimes they write each other letters. As they grow up, Ari and Yui are still friends and their respective clans have a strong alliance thanks to that. They keep in touch and one particular child of Arino sees and adores Yui as an auntie... I won't say who~

Yui and Naomi: they have met and mostly spend time together when Ari is present. Ari introduced them, they're 'a friend of a friend' basicallly(? They are also fellow rulers of their clans further in the future. Naomi does find Yui adorable and cute and enjoys spoiling both of them when the three are together ❤️. Naomi is like an older sister! Naomi has a weakness for cute, kind and 'defenseless' girls (plus points if they're shorter than her jijij)

Yui and Sabine: yeah... Sabine is a difficult person. Sabine doesn't find her worth of her time, but her father does force her to treat her with respect at least since she's not only the Eve but also the queen of the vampire clan. Let's remember that the Vibora clan only recognizes as leaders of the bat clan the triplets, so in my AU Ayato becomes the ruler and therefore takes Yui as his wife/queen, so the Vibora clan respects and supports her. Sabine isn't that mean towards her, just doesn't find her interesting.

Yui and Amelie: The wolf clan mostly remains neutral overall the political aspects. Amelie is very shy and soft spoken, so she doesn't interact or socialize actively. Amelie does respect Yui for her being Eve and as a fellow queen. They have had their tea parties both alone and with the rest of the queens, and they share various interests in common. Ari, Amelie, Naomi and Yui have had their own private tea parties or gatherings over the years and Amelie does like both Ari and Yui. Amelie is younger than Naomi, so they doesn't know each other for long compared to Naomi and Sabine for example. However, Ari and Amelie understand each other for being shy and introverts, so they have each other's back. Amelie is pen pals with Yui and they write each other letters once in a while as well and I find that cute! Amelie once took both Yui and Ari on her back as a wolf when they were pregnant when they felt tired 🥹.

Love interests:

As for Sabine: after a lot of thought, I came to realize the most logic thing to happen is for her to have an arranged marriage (of her choosing of course) with a noble Vibora man. Either as a favor for his family supporting her ascending to the throne or merely for political reasons. I did imagine that the man she ends up marring won't be either a super soft-loving husband nor a jerk one, he'll be somewhere in between and overall Sabine will have a nice and decent marriage. His husband won't have the power or influence of Sabine, but will be what Sabine needs and that's all there's to ask for in Sabine's case at least ^^.

As for Amelie: I'm not very sure ^^'. Depends in which context I might need/want her. In UTDC, she's underage and hasn't had her debut. So, the thought of marriage plus her shy personality makes it for her and her parents to seek her a proper suitor. However! I do plan on her to be able to meet a nice young man who'll love her just as she is. I even thought of ***** from UTDC [spoiler lol] since they'll make a great couple 🥹 or maybe someone I came up with like in Sabine's case, I haven't fully decided yet jijij~. Within the actual timeline... I don't find the idea of shipping her with a diaboy crazy though 👀. If I had to choose a diaboy as you suggested: some good options could be Shu or Azusa though. They are nice enough and good prospects for Amelie~. Shu could be more likely since Amelie’s parents might prefer someone of noble status better for many reasons, but if Amelie were to fall in love with Azusa por example I can see them changing their minds if Amelie were to speak out! I like how these options sound 🙊🙈.

Breaking news: Ari has another suitor!? :0

As a second love interest? If that's what you mean the answer is: In UTDC AU? Yes. In the normal timeline? No.

Let's talk about that second love interest: Isaac. As you may know or remember, was Ari's crush for almost 5 years. They were classmates and got along nicely, but Ari never had the courage to declare her feelings towards him. In the end, she ended up getting hurt by baseless rumors of him starting to date some other girl.

In UTDC AU, as a manhwa inspired fanfic to me... you need a second male lead/love interest, don't you think? LOL. So! I took Isaac once again to be the second ml~. I haven't gotten into that part yet, but I can't wait to develop this messy love square I'm planning for UTDC >:D.

But otherwise, no: Ari doesn't have any second love interest or suitor in the normal timeline 🙊

Thank you for the ask anon! It was very interesting!