#Ike will never get a break

[queerprayers]

i want to say first of all that i fully respect a community's/denomination's/culture's right to have closed practices. i am not entitled to other people's traditions, and when i am a guest in a space i understand that everything is not automatically for me. and i know i do not have to understand to respect.

and also! when i go to a catholic church and can't receive communion i want to fall on the floor weeping. what do you mean i can't have him he's right there. sorry my baptism was the wrong kind of baptism. i'm hungry and you want me to become someone else before being fed.

[aceofstars121]

Really wanna write a dsmp fic based on that one bit where techno doesn’t believe tommy is dead, but then he doesn’t get resurrected after three days and techno has to slowly come to the realisation that the person he used to care about so much (and still does deep down) is really dead.

[shadowedvales]

hot take, but the "i dump your ass" line wasn't even funny and was just super ooc…….

[brisquad-unit-4402]

slow dancing with ike

turning up to luca’s 12 minutes stream early in the game when you can dance with your wife got me in the mood to listen to some romantic oldies while writing my next request but then blue moon by dean martin came up, and i made the connection that ike is blue, and that he sings, and that you can dance with your wife and agh argh aggh just take the fluffy warmup

update from the day after i wrote that author’s note: just finished the 12 minutes stream. no spoilers but AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AUAUGH AUGH GGGHAHHH AAAAGGAAAH GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH [distant minecraft injury noise]

anyways check this out while you read i promise it’s worth it

tags: fluff, just straight unadulterated fluff, yeah okay i finally used älskling are you happy now, gender neutral reader

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

“Hey. Hug me?”

Ike wraps himself around your body, and you sink into his embrace. As gentle as the novelist is, when he holds you it’s always just enough that you feel sensitive but secure, like a treasured plushie. 

You aren’t sure exactly what got you in a clingy mood today. You both spent the day on errands by yourselves, and by the time Ike got home after you, you were both too pooped to cook, so you called a delivery pizza and called it a day. 

Maybe the candles had done it? Earlier that afternoon, you met up with a friend and he dumped some unused votives on you as thanks for a favor. When you got home, you figured you’d light them and try out the scent. Sure enough, your home was filled with an aroma that smelled something divine, and when the pizza arrived, neither of you bothered to flick the overhead light on and instead dined in the romantic candlelight with a decidedly unromantic dinner.

Doesn’t matter now. Your appetite was satisfied, and with Ike around your grasp, you were at peace. What a beautiful night, and what a beautiful man. He’s got to be an angel on Earth, there’s no way there’s someone this perfectly kind, perfectly witty, perfectly handsome just shows up naturally. And for you, no less, what a gift it is to be held by Ike!

You lift your head off his shoulder to aim for his lips, and when he meets your kiss you’re certain, this is your heaven.

The space in the crook of his neck is the perfect resting place for your head, and you lean back into him as you sway from one foot to another. A hand trails down his arm to meet his fingers and rises with his palm in yours, and just like that you’ve got him in a position perfect for slow dancing. In fact, he’s picked up what you’re trying to do already, and goes along with your lead.

“This is what we’re doing now?” Ike asks the question innocently, like he doesn’t know the answer.

“If you’d have me.”

“I’m not much of a dancer.”

“Me neither.” With the next step, you circle around your living room by the candlelight and sweet scent in the air. “I don’t really care for the complex styles of dancing with a partner. I just like doing it.”

“Well, I can’t complain about that.” Ike wasn’t lying about his inexperience. His first steps are unconfident, but he follows your initiative relatively well, and soon enough you move as one, simple but in sync.

The steps are slow, and when the circle is complete Ike lets go of one hand. You unravel yourself in a flourish, and before a moment passes you’re back in his grasp. The light tailwind brushes a lock of his hair to the side, and his seaglass eyes crinkle in quiet delight. “This is nice.”

“I’m surprised it took me this long to goad you into it,” you say. “I wish I played some music before we started, though. I don’t wanna leave, but dancing in silence is tough.”

“Let me remember something.”

Ike’s eyes close, and he squeezes your hand as if a silent plea to keep him safe, to never let him go. You keep a predictable rhythm and hold him closer. You’re leading, after all, and it wouldn’t do if you lost track of him when he trusts you to keep him steady. 

When he returns to you there’s a faraway look in his seaglass, the type of foggy clarity that only comes to him when he has a song in mind. “Blue moon, you saw me standing alone with a dream in my heart, without a love of my own…”

You dance, and Ike sings. His voice meshes well with the rhythm you lead him in. The candlelight casts shadows upon his features as you place your lips along his cheek down his neck. 

“Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for-” You don’t miss how his breath catches when your kiss falls right under his earlobe. “You heard me saying a prayer for someone I really could care for.”

The song pauses as you toy with his sensitive ears. You look up at him with a mix of pouting and pleading. 

“Darling, if you want me to sing, then don’t tease me. That comes later.”

“Party pooper,” you joke. 

But you obey, and weave your arms around his neck in a new embrace, more intimate than the last. Your head rests against his collar, and you catch a hint of his cologne. Coffee and traces of fruit follow you as you feel his heartbeat. 

The song continues. “And then there suddenly appeared before me, the only one my arms will hold.”

Ike’s hands reposition. One curls around your waist to keep you stable, while the other cards through your hair. “I heard somebody whisper, ‘please adore me,’ and when I looked, the moon had turned to gold.”

The hand on your head tilts you to meet Ike’s eyes, glistening with tenderness through the green and blue. His gaze goes straight through your heart and into your core, until his long lashes flutter closed and his lips are against yours.

Ike is soft. He always has been, and there’s so much strength in being so soft. His mouth fits against yours perfectly, and every little movement enchants you more and more.

The hand on your waist pulls you closer, tighter, and travels up the small of your back along your spine to your shoulder while keeping your head in place even as you shift to get closer to him. You’re never close enough. But you still have him by the neck, and your nails glide along the nape of his neck as you cling to him. Just like that, his sweet kiss is even more magnetic. 

Your eyes are slow to open once you part, but when they regain their vision Ike is the handsomest man in the world, and everything apart from him blurs away.

“Please don’t let me go,” you whisper. “Please don’t stop. I need you.”

“Älskling,” Ike purrs, and you can’t even pretend to resist anymore. You return another kiss like a second life. You pulse in pure adoration when you meet the other side of his mouth, so warm and inviting. Ike intoxicates you until every last thought is how he plays with your hair, how gorgeous his little noises are, how good it all feels. 

You’ve never felt more loved.

[boxwinebaddie]

hard work being a single Motha

[time-is-restored]

btw this might be me swinging a bat at a hornets nest but like. absolutely none of my disappointment from the tl finale comes from ship baiting or any relationships that didn’t happen (though to be clear, i think the tedbecca fake outs were meanspirited and served no narrative purpose - in noted contrast to the season's earlier jamiekeeley fakeouts, for example, which were explicitly there to demonstrate jamie's growth + maturity)

tedpendant is a really fun concept for me, and i LOVE the characterisation + thematic potential there!

but as someone who personally resonated with a lot of ted’s struggles, the idea that ted could leave richmond so… seamlessly, for lack of a better word, really doesn’t sit right with me. the thesis of the shows entire first season - assuming it can be said to have only one - was about how everyone needs the love and support of a community, whether that comes in the flavour of someone who hypes u tf up or someone who will relentlessly call u on ur shit (or, as happened quite frequently, both!).

rebecca, roy, jamie are the clearest examples as the characters with the most screentime: they were all deeply isolated and disconnected from the people around them, and that was making them miserable. the connections they made with the team, the vulnerability they finally allowed themselves to express (the ghost banishing ceremony comes to mind!), and them going on to want *more* out of their life are what made their arcs about *progression* rather than *regression*. without that clear theme of compassion + community inspiring positive growth in everyone who encounters it, there is, frankly, no season one.

my personal favourite scene from season one comes right after michelle walks away from ted, when they’ve agreed to get divorced. ted sits down on the bench looking gutted, and a little shell shocked - and beard sits down with him. hands him the drink, and they sit there together. silent, but together. to me, that scene is an implicit promise from the episode, to the audience: ‘it’ll be okay. it’s going to be hard, but ted isn’t alone, and his friends won’t leave him behind.’

it also makes it clear to the audience that ted isn’t the saintly-giver-of-grace who needs nothing in return, as one might assume on first brush, but rather that he’s Also struggling with his own shit (as is everyone, always, in real life!) and he has something he needs from the people around him too.

and looking at the text of s3, and the conclusion to his arc in the finale, i just don’t believe that he got it. he wasn’t just sad that he was leaving (which would be understandable!), he was completely closed off. unresponsive to the people around him reaching out, borderline confused as to why they were trying so hard!

(side note, while i completely respect the read of ted and trents last interaction being rather rude + ooc on ted’s part, i personally read a different motive into it. for me, it was more like… he didn’t understand where trents enthusiasm was coming from? like, he read that as trent being too invested in what other people think of him, and responded in a way that he hoped would emphasise that ted doesn’t *need* to laugh at everything trent wrote, bc trent Already Knows that he’s done something really cool and kickass, and he shouldn’t value anyone else’s reactions above that. basically, based on his demeanour in the episode, i genuinely don’t think it would’ve even occurred to him that trent was more invested in HIS reaction than he would’ve been with anyone else.)

again, looking purely at the text, the show had already established that ted has really strong depressive + avoidant tendencies, as well as panic attacks (largely triggered by his fear of not being ‘good enough’ in various roles, ie: a father). we saw one area he was able to calm HIMSELF abt these fears (worry for henry, which is a Hell of a choice considering the ending…), but in literally every other heightened moment, he had to rely on his support system to help him make the choices that he WANTED to make, rather than ones inspired by avoidance and fear (ie: confronting michelle abt jake, talking to his mum abt why she was visiting + his dads death).

and to be clear, this is a GOOD THING! we’re not supposed to go through life alone, no matter how bad OR well we’re doing. rebecca and keeleys friendship isn’t worth less for all the scenes where they’re both in good places. if anything, the opposite is true - it’s lovely that they both have someone who want to celebrate the achievements in their life!

and fuck it, we’re sure as hell not supposed to go through life with exactly one (1) person whom we expect to fulfill ALL of our emotional needs at all times either! like, im sure i don’t need to labour my point here, but tying everything to one (1) person in ur life doesn’t make u any less isolated than if u were going it completely alone, whether it’s a family member, a friend, or a partner. i won’t pretend to know the first thing abt what it’s like to be a parent, but i don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that no parent would be at their best if they had absolutely no support/camaraderie/general love provided to them from Anyone other than their child.

so when ted is SPECIFICALLY shown to be in a bad place, over and over again (did he come to terms w his fear to be close to henry overnight???????), and then removed from his community? of COURSE the audience is left feeling unsettled, and like the rug has been pulled out from under them. there was no time in this finale dedicated to how ted would still be in contact with anyone from richmond. no promises of visits, or phone calls - fuck, nothing about emails!! according to the text, we might as well assume this is a clean break (and the maybe-dream-sequence does Fuck All to assure us otherwise. if ted doesn’t go to beards wedding, what WOULD he go to????). and since the show has ALSO completely failed to give us even an IMPLICATION of who/what ted’s support system would be in kansas, there’s… a reasonable argument to be made that this is It for ted. that, after two seasons doing NOTHING but attesting otherwise, the audience is supposed to suddenly believe that ted can (and SHOULD!) pull himself up by his bootstraps, and cope entirely on his own.

that, to me, is a betrayal of the show’s premise. we were promised a show about how, no matter how dark things may get, none of the characters would be left to struggle alone. and then they ended the show with ted alone.

i don’t know. i guess if i had to give this post a tldr; if anyone has any gen fic/meta/Literally Anything in the pipeline, i would absolutely love to be tagged/directed towards it. i’ll be endeavouring to write something myself, as well, but it might take a while before i can return to my WIP, lol.

[widevibratobitch]

omw to play emotional support for my mom disguised as ✨fun family bonding time✨ for the rest of the week <3333 there's something so deeply wrong with me uwu teehee

[miimeeks]

oh (vent in tags)

[benefactordreams]

It's taking longer to copy and paste things then anticipated guys

[roylustang]

The rodents have been terrorizing me again for the last 4 nights. I regret to say I am no longer being nice about it.

[sameteeth]

anyways, i do think its really interesting that chuuya figures out that dazai was putting pieces into place to get him ousted from the sheep like a month ahead of time... its also really interesting to consider WHY dazai did it and the implications it carries. dazai watches shirase and yuan pressure and guilt chuuya about "doing his part" for the sheep as a person with an ability, then immediately takes action to relieve pressure from chuuya

which is kinda funny bc dazai at least in the short term is following what shirase is saying - dazai has the ability to help save the hostages, and he does lol. demon prodigy indeed. MORE IMPORTANTLY though. dazai recognizes that chuuya is being controlled by the sheep even though he is the leader. chuuya and mori make good comparisons here - this arc starts with mori bemoaning his responsibility as the boss of the port mafia, and we see chuuya consistently failing to do his responsibility as the leader of the sheep. he even denies the title of king, stating that it's only his ability that puts him above the rest. to digress a bit, i think this is partly why when chuuya joins the port mafia he so quickly submits to them - he is no longer the sole ability user, and thus the responsibility doesnt rely entirely on him to protect the group. something to be said here about the way bsd almost never touches on the ability user vs non-ability user dichotomy but ill save that. back to the main point. dazai takes it upon himself to free chuuya from the sheep. he acknowledges the limitations chuuya has to function under as the leader of the sheep and the weight of the responsibility he bears for no reason other than his ability

but then! dazai forces chuuya into the port mafia to save him from the sheep ! doesnt that seem contradictory??? isnt that hypocritical? chuuya seems pissed about it!

granted, I'd be pissed too if my friends stabbed me with a switch covered in rat poison then tried to gun me down. regardless, chuuya can see how dazai set him up to be outcast from the sheep without having to break the tie himself. chuuya is loyal to the sheep, even when they distrust him. But! this gives chuuya a chance to escape, even if it's to the port mafia. i think the important thing to focus on here is that the port mafia is an Actual organization made up of adults. the sheep are a bunch of kids, ones that are easily led. the limited pieces we see of them are shirase and yuan, who throw temper tantrums and try to clumsily manipulate chuuya when he doesn't listen to them. they admit to stealing alcohol from mafia-adjacent territory and just generally seem immature... because theyre kids. but what we see of the mafia is much different. mori is a strong leader because he is smart and rational. he thinks ahead. he, unlike chuuya, is the leader because he wants to protect yokohama, and understands the sacrifice necessary to do so. chuuya is the leader because no one could beat him in a fight. the port mafia offers a chance for growth (ignoring that these are children in the mafia ok play with me here) as a fighter and as a leader - chuuya becomes an exec when he's still a teenager i think (theres not a specific age anywhere i can find) and is a much more calm and smart fighter once he joins.

so it's good (play with me) that chuuya is able to join the port mafia. BUT he would never have been able to leave if dazai had not forced his hand. this paradox - the idea that chuuya obtains freedom from being forced to leave something he doesn't want to - is SUPER interesting to consider !! here i will dissolve into rambles. i learned about this paradox in the context of mary wollstonecraft and the vindication of the rights of women - wollstonecraft believed only educated people could truly be free, as they were not only free of oppression but also no longer slaves to their emotions, and were able to have opportunities and use their education for their own betterment. the situation with chuuya reminded me of this, because with the sheep chuuya had no one to rely on or to teach him, limiting his capacity for growth and ultimately his freedom. the sheep were reliant on him for protection, and feared him, but chuuya had everything to lose if he were to try and leave the sheep. he had nothing without them, and they needed him for his power. but they were beholden to their emotions, immature and uncertain how to actually get power. their primary motivators for action are retaliation - dazai mentions this when chuuya attacks him, and shirase and yuan mention this when they are urging chuuya to help them. but when chuuya talks to mori and koyo (<3) about their actions, both of them are much more forward thinking than that. mori is very cunning and sly, and koyo tells chuuya that even if things go south in the meeting she's taking him to to, they know how to move forward. chuuya's world has expanded beyond the sheep's limited gaze.

of course, he's still trapped in the port mafia, but if you REALLY want to discuss free will..... we'll be here all fucking night. free will is really hard to pin down and i always have to talk about determinism and its a lot to wrap ur head around and i just like drawing connections between stuff i like

[starlooove]

I think what bothers me about ppl being surprised at removing the misogyny or making aang be responsible from the start instead of running away is that this is literally fandom trends representing themselves. Like when characters have to grow y’all run to downplay what they have to grow from! STICK WITH ME FANDOM SHIFT this is what bothers me so much about fanon Harley Quinn. Like if Harley never enjoyed or felt free or whatever with joker why are you calling her post relationship arc a redemption? Even back to heroics if bruce was never an asshole or close minded or ham fisted when it came to his kids where do you think the other identities started? What do you think their relationship is growing from? Like it’s so boring lmao

[whispers-of-gallifrey]

Just watched Fury from the Deep and I love Victoria's exit so much it breaks my heart. She's so worn down by their travels always ending up full of danger and death and her always being put in the position of damsel in distress. She really doesn't want to leave jamie and the doctor but she doesn't want that life and I love that it let's her make that choice. And I love that Jamie's concerned she won't be happy living in, what is to them, the future but she acknowledges she's changed too much to go back to Victorian England, and she's highly unlikely to get back there anyway, not without more death and danger. That the doctor changes his mind about slipping away in the night and agrees to stay another day so Victoria can think about her decision properly without feeling as pressured. The fact that she knows the doctor won't say a proper goodbye because that's his way. The way she stands on the beach watching them row out to the tardis, knowing she'll never see either of them again. The fact she doesn't go back to the tardis with them to collect her belongings. Jamie's "I don't care where we go next" because he's miserable that Victoria made that decision. The Doctor's "I was fond of her too, you know" which is the closest he'll get to admitting how much he cares about them all. I just love it

[skullzy20]

why are sot players on xbox so much more ruthless than ones on pc

[thekidsare-not-alright]

it's funny when people are trying to put pete down by insulting his bass skills or whatever and they're like "he didn't even write fob's most iconic bassline!!!" (which I'm assuming is dance dance ig idk) and it's like. buddy, pal, friendofmine. sibling dearest. I'll do you one better: I can't name a bassline he has written.

great news! it doesn't matter. I'm not suggesting he's a good bassist either, because I've never really seen anything that really supports that idea. but he's not in the band to be the world's best bass player. it's a means to an end. he's a fantastic lyricist, he's a good frontman, and the three other members of fob wouldn't want to be in the band without him. I think that's all you could ever truly ask of him. nice try though

[llycaons]

omg I was like 'they have people coming in for relief, they don't need me' and this cns is like 'seems like a waste' and um. do you not want people to...eat...or be able to pee...?