#None of his kids are just Dudes who Exist. They all have some part in the mythical tapestry of Greece.
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amadryas · 3 months ago
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Breaking: Guy known as the Father of Gods and Men fathers gods and men
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creepslayer7 · 2 years ago
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Dude imagine-
For some reason Danny gets adopted by the bat fam right? But they don't know he has powers and he doesn't want them too. But he still uses them all the time out of habit.
-completely silent, pops up out of nowhere because of his invisibility, goes through walls and ends up getting to different rooms way faster then the rest of them.
They are confused how this random civilian child is sneaking around without them knowing how he does it and when they ask him about it he panics, cuz he doesn't want them to know he has powers so he blurts out the first thing he can think of-
"there's secret tunnels all through the manor."
They for some reason believe him(barely) because how else would he be able to get around like that?
But he refuses to tell them where they are or how he found them (because they don't exist) and they're all confused why they never found any tunnels when they explored the manor over the years.
They're also probably embarrassed that none of them, as the 'worlds greatest directive family' , could find these so called tunnels so they all look in secret separately from each other.
Eventually they decide that Danny has to be lying because none of them can find these tunnels.
Until Jason, who knows Danny is a halfa (and is maybe also one himself) tells them that the tunnels are real and that he uses them too. And he either uses his ghost abilities too if he is a halfa or he gets Danny to use his powers on him too.
And at this point the family has seen them appear and disappear, together AND separately, as soon as they're not looking, even in rooms where someone is blocking the only entrances.
Which sends the family into a frenzy,
- Tim hasn't slept in weeks, he has multiple maps and blueprints of the manor strewn around his table with empty coffee cups and a repurposed crime bulletin board.
- Dick and Steph have accepted defeat and have taken to begging Danny or Jason for the location of the tunnels. Even bringing up the pranking opportunities they could have, which they come to regret when Jason and Danny use their ideas on them and the rest of the family.
- Cass is frustrated and a little jumpy that she can't find these tunnels and that they can sneak up on her at any time, so they take pity on her and let her in on the secret. They also make sure she always know when they approach her so they don't freak her out.
- Duke has decided to stay out of it but they occasionally find him looking around for the tunnels when he thinks no one's around.
- Damien can't stand that they know something about their house that he doesn't and immediately pesters Bruce about it and interrogates everyone. He even considers joining Tim before deciding that it would be shameful to find the tunnels with his help.
- Bruce is confused because he figures he would know about any tunnels in his own home since childhood, but ultimately he believes that they're real because Danny, Jason, AND now Cass seem to know where they are. He is half parts disappointed they're so difficult to find, because the childish side of him would have enjoyed playing in them when he was younger, and half parts relieved, because he doesn't think he could handle all his kids popping in and out of every crevice in the manor. Though he does ask Alfred if he knew about them, to which he cryptically responds that he knows exactly how they're getting around, but he refuses to elaborate further. The more Bruce thinks about it he comes to realize that it makes so much since that Alfred knows, and he assumes that is how he is always getting around the manor so quickly undetected.
- Alfred knows that Danny (and maybe Jason) is a ghost because he saw him either disappear or appear out of thin air and talked to him about it. Once everyone knew he knew about what was going on they badgered him for answers but he felt it would be disrespectful and hurtful to Danny to 'out him' so to speak before he was ready, and he figured that they were just having harmless fun.
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class1akids · 3 months ago
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I just caught up and dude I don’t think appreciating endeavor as a character makes someone a pro-abuser how could you say that. The director was wrong about the title change but why are you dragging her kinks into it? It’s separate from more concerning things like the title and missing scenes. Her primary problem was putting emphasis on the family instead of spotlighting shouto. Now I’m seeing misinformation from ppl I follow that it’s solely about her liking endeavor when that’s not the case.
Let me clear it up - I'm not a purist in any way. Appreciating Endeavor as a character or shipping him with whoever doesn't make you a pro-abuser, but manipulating or altering canon content to fit certain untrue framing can make someone's storytelling pro-abuser.
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Let me sum up the issue and expand on what I mean:
Director announces her promotion to series director with a tweet with EndHawks plushies. Some fans raise eyebrows, but most don't react.
Director tweets about liking Endeavor fat ass and various other kinks from the same account she uses to communicate from as one of the official faces of the anime.
Director changes scenes that get widely interpreted as Shipping additions (Endeavor getting giant fire wings that don't exist in the manga and making sure his ass is in plain view)
Director changes the pre-agreed title of Todoroki Shouto: Rising last minute, even though the episode is Shouto's last episode and one for which he is very clearly the focus character connecting part A (his talk with All Might about becoming who he wants to be) with part B (the Todoroki climax and Shouto becoming who he wants to be).
She knows full well that it will anger fans. So instead of a title that applies to Shouto, we get a title that "might apply to Shouto" but also might apply to the family Endeavor. (We all know it wasn't about All Might who had three more episodes coming up and where they didn't even bother to adapt the famous middle schoolers panel). So now instead of a title that celebrates a beloved character's coming into his own as a hero, who did 90% of the work when it comes to Touya and the family, we have a title that apparently applies to the character who ironically was "never there" and even now is only there to do a murder-suicide. It obfuscates the fact that the family coming together meant total annihilation until Shouto showed up with a solution.
Trying to stretch All Might's "I'm here" which can apply to Iida and Shouto to Endeavor, who caused the entire tragedy in the making and frame the episode that this is "also" Endeavor's "I'm here" moment rather than his reckoning is a pro-abuser interpretation and clearly goes against Horikoshi's authorial intent of story-framing.
The Todoroki family climax is compressed into a 10-minute part B, where miraculously none of Endeavor's scenes are cut, but Natsuo's flashback is (isn't he family?), and so are the kindergarten kids rooting and smiling for Shouto despite them being prominent in the manga, not to mention Shouto's big double spread, Hawks hugging Tokoyami or Geten and Compress discussion. Yet there was time to give the TogaChako fight with the same amount of chapters 1.5 episodes.
The Director expresses a kink for Endeavor crying and as a strange coincidence the episode makes the change from the manga (where Endeavor is not crying) to the anime with Endeavor crying big tears.
On the episode MVP, even though most votes were for Shouto, Touya and Iida in this order, they changed the second place for the "Todoroki family", to include Endeavor even though in Light Fades to Rain they refused to accept votes for the UA Big 3 (and Mirio didn't even make the list). Ironically, this change in the counting meant that Endeavor won a place on the MVP, while All Might for whose "big and impactful moment" the supposed title change was, didn't make the MVP ranking.
Fans asked the official account to tell them if it was Todoroki Shouto Rising episode - it was trending for days. The official didn't respond or address those concerns in any way. I can tell you, Shouto fans were in real distress for days as Japanese fandom could not conceive that someone could cut the Rising title and it ruined the episode experience for many fans. Then the following week during the TogaChako episode, the official account tweeted "Rising this week and last week" which made the fans feel mocked and even more angry and wondering if the staff is truly this dense or downright malicious.
Btw, she was also behind the OP storyboard in S6 where Ochako was made to seem single-handedly save Deku while the entire Class A was erased almost completely. BK/DK fans were furious at the time too and she was widely criticized for that choice, but at least it was "just an OP" and not actual source material adaptation. So it's not just Shouto fans who feel that she's not the most impartial when it comes to the anime adaptation or understanding the manga.
I'm sorry, but the evidence is pretty overwhelming that certain changes are being made to fit Nakayama's personal ships, kinks and character preferences. I don't care normally who she ships or what fetishes she is into. I don't care if people like Endeavor, as long as they don't try to alter the canon content to deny his wrongdoings.
However, she was the one using her work account to tweet about Endeavor's ass - people didn't go digging into some obscure side account. The Japanese fandom was talking about it for days. I find that truly unprofessional.
I don't want someone in charge of adaptation of the manga who thinks that it is ok to flaunt her ships and kinks on the same platform she uses to tweet about her work. Plus her thirst tweets taint the work of her colleagues - many of whom worked hard on amazing sequences that were faithful to the source material and showed deep understanding of the content. It's disrespectful to them. They made the episode shine in spite her intents.
And it is clear that she is unable to stop herself from filtering her preferences into the adaptation. She is not writing fan fiction or making a fan video. She is adapting the manga into the one and only official anime for the entire fandom and she needs to be able to take off her Endeavor-fan hat, her EndHawks shipper hat or her Ochako fan hat and stop alienating and disenfranchising fans of other characters. Shouto fans, in this case whose Rising from now on will only exist in the manga. (Or you know the two people who were looking forward to for years seeing Geten and Compress one last time in the anime).
It's also good business not to alienate fans whose viewership generates ad money and who spend money on merch which eventually finance her job.
And with these very questionable things, I do think people questioning her real motives is both normal and fair.
Not to mention, Shouto fans are demonized for complaining, but 90% of the comments were simply asking to add the "Rising" subtitle to part B for the home DVD release which is honestly a no brainer if they want to boost the otherwise pitiful sales of the BlueRay / DVD.
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apollosgiftofprophecy · 1 month ago
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I’m not super familiar with TSATS (have only heard secondhand things about why it sucks) but would you be willing to speak about the issues you have with it?
I'll try to keep this relatively short (future Alder: HA) and to the point, because, well...there's a lot of ground to cover. If I missed anything, or if anybody else wants to add on their own grievances, consider this your ready-made platform!
Also, if you did like TSATS, this is your warning to scroll. I respect your opinion, and simply ask you to respect mine.
In no particular order (and as they come to mind-)
Hades sends Nico to Tartarus
This makes ZERO sense because Hades was the one to BAN Nico in the first place. Furthermore, he sends Nico because he, Hades, cannot just scoop Bob out of Tartarus...but then later does just that with another character. MAJOR plot hole, and a dumb one too.
this also makes Hades the WORST godly parent btw. at least Zeus didn't send Apollo to superhell.
that moment when you're an even worse parent than Zeus...a canonical abuser...
2. Where Are The Campers
For SOME ODD REASON Nico and Will are the ONLY demigods at CHB. Only ones. There is NO POSSIBLE WAY that they are the ONLY year-round campers, especially since this directly contradicts- you know, already-established canon. Austin and Kayla are both year-round campers. Damien White and Chiara Benvenuti. Billie Ng. Miranda Gardner and Sherman Yang. Harley. Cecil Markowitz. They are all year-round campers, and have been established as such since The Hidden Oracle.
There is NO WAY they ALL suddenly decided to be summer campers.
Not to mention...with some focus on Will, you'd think we'd get some attention- even a bit! - towards his siblings, right?
NOPE. AUSTIN AND KAYLA ARE OUT OF THE PICTURE RIGHT OFF THE BAT.
oh and the three newest Apollo kids- Jerry, Gracie, and Yan- just don't exist I guess. rip the new kids because THEY ARE NEVER BROUGHT UP.
3. The Tone & Pacing
Look. I know TSATS is aimed towards mainly middle schoolers. But so is the rest of the RRverse.
And you know what TSATS does that the rest of them don't?
It treats the reader in a condescending manner.
Or at least, that's what I felt. When I was reading, I got to the part where we meet the god of nightmares, and then we're suddenly hit with a PSA on gender identity and I was like "...okay. there's no need to shove it down our throats. you could have just had them correct Nico and Will without giving everyone a lecture. especially since GODS WOULDN'T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT GENDER IN THE FIRST PLACE." <- Canon! See Apollo's return to Olympus in Tower of Nero! He says mortals have strange conceptions of gender! It's fucking canon.
There was no need for that PSA. There are much more natural ways of incorporating LGBTQ+ identities than constantly talking down to the reader. Children are not dumb. They do not need LGBTQ+ topics dumbed down to understand them. I was 12 when I first read House of Hades, and after a bit of brain buffering because I wasn't exposed to much LGBTQ+ things, I understood that Nico liked guys and not girls. I understood he was gay.
And there was no PSA needed for me to understand that. Just as there was none needed during the entire series of Trials of Apollo, narrated by our first bisexual protagonist, Apollo. The only time where it could get PSA-y is when Apollo breaks the fourth wall for a split-second to essentially tell homophobes to fuck off.
Something along the lines of- "What's that? Oh, are you wondering if I'm okay with my son dating a dude instead of a girl? HA! Of course I am lol do you know who I am."
And that's that. also solangelo fic writers who make apollo homophobic...you best stay away from me, okay? okay. i know you exist.
Magnus Chase introduces Alex Fierro without getting preachy about genderfluid or trans people. because guess what! THEY ARE JUST PEOPLE.
Plus- the RRverse books are fun reads for adults too. I'm able to reread just about any book ('just about' because of tsats now...) without feeling like I'm being treated like a 5 year old.
which was what reading tsats was like tbqh.
As for the pacing? It's. So. Slow.
tsats has 60 chapters.
HOW COME HALFWAY THROUGH - AND I COUNTED BTW - WE AREN'T EVEN IN TARTARUS?
in the words of a mutual- "I shouldn't be rooting for the gays to go to Hell already."
by this point in a normal RRverse book, we'd already be on the road, had a few near-death experiences, perhaps some actual death, character bonding and growth, ect ect.
Instead we get...whatever happened in the first half. so unimportant that i honestly don't care to remember.
but i will for this post and that will be that.
4. UwU Nico & Cardboard Will
If I haven't already pissed off the stans...I am going to now.
So. Many. Times.
So many times Nico is treated like the poorest, most tragic uwu emo boi who has suffered more than anyone else. and it's done in a very off-putting and rather irritating way.
not to mention, Will suffers as a result. He didn't feel like a person in tsats. Instead of building up a character for him, everything falls flat.
Example? Will admits he feels guilty over killing Octavian. Great! Perfect time for a character moment! Dealing with trauma-guilt! How has this affected him?
What we get? Nothing. It's not treated as any sort of trauma, and that becomes a trend in this book with Will.
Apparently, Will has not suffered. Not like Nico, the poorest of meow meows. Will has no trauma. Yes, even after fighting through two wars and stressing out over the possibility of losing his father (who he loves and adores very much) for good, Will is trauma free!! He knows nothing of suffering!! Yes, the majority of his siblings were ruthlessly slaughtered, going from 20 to 3 campers by the time of ToA, but no!! Will has no trauma!! because he's sunshine hot therapy boyfriend!!
This Will does NOT feel like the Will we met in Blood of Olympus, or like the Will in ToA. These Wills are stubborn and kind, fiercely loyal to their father, and most importantly, feels like a human being.
Which brings me to my next point...
5. The Apollo Conundrum
A couple things to say here.
Will keeps acting like he hasn't seen Apollo in forever. That he never came back after going after Python.
A complete, blatant, lie because Apollo did come back after going after Python! He was there when the fucking tsats prophecy was made in the first place!
Did Mark even read ToA. At all.
One good thing came of this, I guess. At least Apollo wasn't character assassinated, even if you could argue he was anyway because he never shows up.
A direct contradiction to where we left off in ToA.
FURTHER. you know what infuriates me?
Apollo's arc about being able to change, no matter what you've done in the past or who you are, is shoved onto Nico in a very half-assed manner.
That pissed me off. Nico did not NEED such an arc. He is VERY MUCH ACCEPTED AT CAMP. WE HAVE PROOF BECAUSE THE ORACLE OF DELPHI WAS ABLE TO MOVE ON TO RACHEL.
pardon me i need to scream.
FUCK
okay. i'm good.
...for now.
6. The 'Coming Out' Scene
oh my lord and savior jesus christ this GOT ON MY NERVES.
so on paper, sounds good right? solangelo comes out to CHB, in a positive, welcoming environment! very nice!
...EXCEPT THEY ARE ALREADY OUT AND IN A RELATIONSHIP IN TOA. THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THIS AT ALL.
not to mention just how utterly ridiculous it's handled. apparently, solangelo inspired other campers to come out- a good thing- but...
this is so laughably dumb because there is NO WAY the campers aren't all cool with the LGBTQ+ community.
wanna know why?
BECAUSE THEY CAN HAVE SAME-SEX PARENTS. HELLO KAYLA, THE OG MPREG DAUGHTER
you're gonna tell me that CHB is NOT an open environment for LGBTQ+ kids? that they did NOT normalize it? really? are you really gonna tell me that? you're gonna look me in the eyes and say that?
"but sometimes it's hard to come out even in a welcoming environment!" yeah you're right there. it can be hard to do that. and i would know. because i have done just that. was shaking in my boots when i told my mom and stepdad that i was queer. despite knowing they were both supportive of queer rights.
and yet i'm saying this anyway. IT MAKES NO SENSE FOR CHB TO NOT BE AN OPEN LGBTQ+ ENVIRONMENT. ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING WHO THEIR PARENTS ARE, AND THE FACT THEY CAN HAVE SAME-SEX PARENTS.
Nico was barely at camp pre-ToA. I can totally buy him not knowing CHB is pro-queer because of how little time he spent there.
BUT THE FACT REMAINS THAT HE IS AT CHB FROM BOO TO THO, AND IS IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH WILL BY THO. ONE THAT EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT.
and yet...tsats thinks it's a GRAND IDEA to do this coming out scene.
again. DID MARK EVEN READ TOA?
you know what else ticks me off about this? it's that Will is made to come out...by Nico.
you know. Nico. the one that the fandom flipped out over because he was made to come out. by Cupid. who is vilified for it.
and yet. it's treated by the narrative as the Right and Good thing for Nico to do. because Nico is Always Right and Good and Knows What's Best For Will.
it drove me up the wall.
also personally i'm not a fan of bisexual will. it's used too often as a 'will cheats on nico' thing in fics, so i was already disillusioned to it, and in tsats it's really only there for will to briefly thirst over persephone for some odd reason. let us have a gay4gay couple please i am begging you. but that's a personal opinion and i get it if you like bi will. that's just my thoughts.
7. The Bob Thing
this is something that's been on my mind ever since i first heard of tsats.
Is rescuing Bob even necessary? Like...okay, from a worldbuilding perspective...what does he add? Or was all this just fanservice done to 'save' a character who, by all rights and purposes, should be double dead. worse than dead. nonexistent.
like. first of all...how did Bob end up trapped by Nyx, when he was fighting Tartarus? Tartarus who, btw, is able to disintegrate you and cause you to cease to exist. Which is what- canonically! - happens to Damasen.
I guess Bob is different? But...so is Damasen. Since they are fundamentality different from their respective brethren...shouldn't they both have been safe from Tartarus's power? And not just Bob?
Look. I like Bob. I was so sad when we lost him in HoH. But honestly?
I think bringing him back cheapens his & Damasen's sacrifice.
Not to mention...I vividly remember earlier in the book, Nico for some reason takes a pot-shot at Percabeth, assuming that they wouldn't care about Bob.
Like. Hello?? That pissed me off too because it's such a gross misjudgment of both Percy and Annabeth that I had to take a few minutes to cool off before continuing the incoming shitshow.
8. Will's Powers
another hot take alert.
I don't subscribe to Plague!Will. Fun headcanon, have read fics with it (subscribed to a really good one too, in fact), but not something I would accept as canon.
even if tsats "made it canon" (BIG quotations there)
here's the thing. Will doesn't need a Cool power to be useful. He has healing and light. Defensive abilities, good for a healer! Which is what he wants to be!
there's no need to give him an offensive ability. he managed perfectly fine without plague powers before this.
(coughs in "Nobody hits my boyfriend and nobody kills my dad!")
This also ties back into the whole 'Will doesn't have much of a character' thing. like okay, we've introduced this new ability! cool! it's a dangerous one, and the exact opposite of everything Will is. do we explore that? do we do anything worthwhile with it? perhaps we could take this as an opportunity for some father-son discussion?
Nope!
also for some reason Will can grow the Curse of Delos flowers by singing. something he has previously been established to not be very good at as far back as BoO- "I'm just a healer" and all that.
also also. that's not how the Curse of Delos works...they only grow on Delos, and around Cabin 7. no where else. magically growing flowers isn't even an Apollo kid power, and yes the Curse is Apollo's flower but that means nothing because Apollo kids don't grow flowers. that's Demeter.
sobs in so many contradictions
9. The...Cocopuffs.
groans dramatically.
first thing's first- What The Actual Fuck.
It's emphasized that the cocopuffs are Nico and Nyx's children.
Children Nico did not want.
Guys this is literally rape. This is literally rape why is it treated as a good thing??
i'm chill with them being manifestations of Nico's trauma. i'm NOT chill with this!! Or with Nico's trauma apparently being magically cured because of them, when he's, you know, our only character who canonically goes to therapy?
it feels like the help therapy can give is cheapened here.
plus...the Cacodemons (as they are actually called) are not good demons in the mythology. they are not good. at all. they are specifically evil spirits, and personally, I don't like the connotation that trauma correlates to them.
a better choice would have been a daimon, a neutral spirit. something that just Is and isn't bogged down by definitions of "evil" and "good".
also this is literally rape :) get it away from me.
10. The Retcons/Continuity Mistakes
Bianca Is Not Nico's Mom Get Your Damn Facts Right How Could You Make That Mistake It's So Dumb Like Oh My God Did You Even Do Any Reading For This-
ahem.
I will give tsats ONE point. The ONE THING I think it did right.
i know. shocking. Alder giving tsats one (1) W.
Will's mortal anchor when he fell into the River Styx.
It was Apollo. That is something I can definitely buy as canon. Will's love for Apollo is ever-present in BoO and ToA. That makes total sense for him!
(Plus, I'm glad they didn't make it Nico. cause like...come on. we already have romance with Percy & Annabeth, and we also have siblinghood with Apollo & Meg, parent & child would be the next, very cool and logical step!)
Too bad Apollo is shunted to the side in tsats and we never get to see him with Will... (oh, except in that one nightmare-induced hallucination. but that doesn't count because that's not actually Apollo. strike against you tsats.)
this is all i got. definitely not exhaustive list because i am NOT subjecting myself to reading tsats again. i will not be losing more braincells.
anywho, if anybody would like to add on their own grievances with this book, go ahead! i probs missed some.
and again. these are just my opinions/observations. this is NOT an invitation for discourse.
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ultralightpoe · 2 years ago
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Karma - Chad Meeks
Karma - Chad Meeks
Authors Note: Second part to the Midnights Event, if you love Taylor Swift then go check that out. And make sure to put in your request for SOUR!
MIDNIGHTS EVENT
Word Count: 5717
Warnings: A lot of slut shaming, ghostface
The amount of times i rewrote this and STILL HATED MY WORK LMAO
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Enjoy!
You're talking shit for the hell of it
Addicted to betrayal, but you're relevant
You're terrified to look down
'Cause if you dare, you'll see the glare
Of everyone you burned just to get there
It's coming back around
All you can do is roll your eyes as you see the newest post by your ex boyfriend Chris, ignoring the embarrassed flush your body naturally has as you clear your throat to relax.  This was just a string of slut shaming posts that would mean nothing in three weeks when he would dump the newest fling and she would take the stage of scorned slut. 
All you had to do was wait. 
But as you read the comments left under the childish instagram post calling you prudish your stomach was twisted and you felt like you wanted nothing more than to hide under a rock and starve to death. Rape threats and insults from his teenage boy fanclub? Handle that easily. Multilevel insults from gorgeous females that should have been on your side? They hurt like hell. 
Your eyes well with tears at the ‘No one wants her anyways’ comment left by bailytaily before you shut your phone off and slammed it onto the table in front of you. You didn’t come to the library to read comments and cry, you came to study for an exam so that’s what you would do. 
But when you threw your phone on the table you had caught the attention of none other than Chad Meeks,  who had been hiding in the library to avoid the likes of social media and their obsession with the two time ghostface survivor. 
He really didn’t want more pity about the Ethan situation. 
He had planned to keep his hood up, study and stay away from everyone but when a loud slam draws his attention from the essay he was writing his eyes drag up to you and for a second he forgets the rest of the world exists. You don’t bother to look at anyone else, instead you go straight to the books, wiping your eyes as casually as you can and Chad has to talk himself out of going to your table. 
You wanted time to yourself, she obviously wants time to herself, don’t push it….. Besides she’s not Gale Weathers approved and you don’t need another ghostface roommate.
  But he can’t take his eyes off you, and before he knows it he is gathering his things, shouldering his bag and walking over to your table. He sets it all down in a smooth motion, plopping into the seat across from yours and smiling at you when you glare. 
“So who is the dick?”
“Oh I’m sorry…. I….” You look around for a moment before looking back to him and smiling at his patient expression. “Do I need to sign an NDA before or after a white dude in a white mask jumps out to stab me?”
“Ouch. That was brutal.” He gasps, and any other moment he would be defensive. But when you say it he has to fight back a laugh. “Well I haven’t gotten any cocky phone calls so I think we’re good. You wanna tell me about the dick now?”
“Ex.”
“What’d he do?”
You hesitate a moment, eyes glancing around the library to see everyone already staring at the two of you. Of course they would, you had just been publicly humiliated and Chad Meeks had been….. well . 
But then you see his eyebrows raise, and a nervous gleam in his eye and you give in. 
You explain that you had been dating the deans son, a very popular kid that came from a very rich family. And things had been going great until you found out he was sleeping with other girls, and when you confronted him about it he had released some…..explicit photos of you. 
“So you’re the enemy right now?”
“Someone has to be.” You shrug, and turn back to your work. But Chad keeps his eyes on you as he comes up with a plan, nodding his head and smiling when he figures out what to do. 
“Let’s take him down then.” 
“Oh yeah?” You laugh, watching his smile widen even more. “How do you want to take down the prince of this school? Word of the wise? He’s an untouchable white boy.”
“Yeah?” He asks, leaning forward on the table, drumming his fingers along as you lean forward to match him. 
“Yeah.”
“Well I’m Chad Meeks- Martin.”
“So?”
“No one knows Karma like a ghostface survivor.”
And I keep my side of the street clean
You wouldn't know what I mean
You had planned to make your first appearance with him at a frat party, his choosing, and he had insisted he come over to help you get ready. 
So there he sat on your dorm bed in a loose short sleeve button down with jeans and a simple gold bracelet, oozing confidence. But you couldn’t help but notice the way he covered his stomach whenever someone talked to him, like he was hiding it even though the shirt already did. 
But it wasn’t your business. 
“Okay let’s go over the rules again.” You sigh, showing him a dress which he immediately shakes his head no to. 
“We’ve gone over the rules dozens of times.” He groans, falling back into your mattress. “No bad mouthing, no fighting, no sex talk. Your image is important, we are just cleaning it up. We will attend this party together, get pictures and I will be good to go and you will no longer be the ‘scorned slut’.”
“I do not sound that robotic.” 
“Yeah, you actually do.” He sasses, lifting his head to watch you for a moment. You walk into the bathroom and come out in a dress that has his eyebrows lifting. “I thought you said no fighting?”
You stand there confused, face heating at his attention before he wiggles his eyebrows at you.  “You plus that dress plus frat party, tell me math nerd……what does that equal?”
“Aaaaa……..bunch of fun?” You start skeptically, laughing when he claps his hands with a ‘WHOOP’ and dives off the bed to reach you. 
“Let’s take this fool down!”
So you both showed up the the party and Chad kept his hand on the small of your back as people snapped photos of you both with the flash. After a moment he grabs you both drinks and drags you to the dance floor. 
When you wake up the next morning your feed is filled with pictures of the two of you, the ones at the door where you had obviously posed but then they descend into real pictures of the two of you on the dance floor having a blast. 
Without really thinking about it you saved that photo to your phone. 
'Cause karma is my boyfriend
Karma is a god
Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend
Karma's a relaxing thought
Aren't you envious that for you it's not?
The party had been fun, Chris’ attack had not been. Honestly the joke was on you for even trying, you should have known to just leave it alone. 
Because three days after that party Chris uploads a picture of him posing in a ghostface mask with the caption ‘Screwing the survivor and she still won’t get a role’. Wow. Just wow. You were just about to scroll through the comments when there was a heavy knock on the door and your roommate was grunting out in anger.
Tip toeing to the door and sneaking a look to find Chad in the hallway, looking tired as ever as he fixes his hoodie with one hand and holds two coffee cups with ease in his right hand. You open the door slowly, an apologetic look on your face. “I’m so sorry….”
His eyebrows pinch together in confusion at your whisper before he casts a quick look over your shoulder to see your roommate and then without a word nods his head for you to come into the hall. He watches you move to grab your own hoodie and waits to lead you to the common room, handing you the coffee he got for you before shrugging. 
“That was bullshit.”
“I know and I am so sorry, honestly I can’t even imagine-”
“No. I mean a bullshit response. I’ve been stabbed nearly 20 times and that’s all he’s got? I’m not standing for half assed slander here, we are upping our game.” Chad smiles and when your eyes widen at his own expression he finds himself feeling absolutely giddy. “How do you feel about football?”
“Never seen a single game.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Cause my ‘girlfriend’ needs to be at my game, wearing my jersey of course.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because the dean attends all my games, don’t you know? He takes our groups publicity very seriously.”
You smile and hug him before he can react, breathing in the soft cologne scent before wrapping his left arm around you very slowly. 
Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that
So there you sat on a friday night, hair and makeup done up as you huddled close to your roommate for warmth, laughing as she tried to fix her leather skirt. 
The crowd hadn’t stopped cheering for most of the game and as hard as you tried you really could not figure out what was going on. The team was winning, that much you knew by the amount of yelling and dancing happening behind you. Chad had seated you in the front section of the bleachers, right next to Tara Carpenter and his sister Mindy who was still walking with a crutch. 
You had said hi to them and both had given you a skeptical look before you moved to your friend and you had no clue why that stung so much. You and Chad were just trying to take down your ex boyfriend for shits and giggles, it’s not like you had to get along with his group. 
But then the game was over and the crowd went wild, everyone was standing and cheering including the dean and within moments it had been decided they would all run to the field to congratulate, so you let people run past you and held out a hand for Mindy to help her on the bleachers before keeping a firm hold so she didn’t slip on the wet grass. 
Chad meets you both halfway, smiling from ear to ear when he hugs his sister before turning to you and pulling you into a passionate kiss. It shocks you for a moment, before you are lifted up by your waist and then the next thing you do is kiss back, because dammit Chad Meeks is one hell of a kisser. 
For a second all you could taste was vanilla and coffee, his lips warm against yours as his hands squeeze your hips. But then the warmth is gone and the cold friday air is left. When you manage to open your eyes you see him smiling from ear to ear at the dean and his son, your ex, who was glaring back. 
Oh…right. The Karma Game.
Embarrassment claws at you before you smile it off, patting his arm when you notice the way he carries his left arm a little closer to himself. ….had you ever seen him hold anything in his left hand? Ever?
“Hey, Chad?” You start, eyes tracing his arm before he smiles at you. 
“I have to go get changed, there is going to be a party. We going?” 
“I’ll wait here.” You nod and he rushes off before you can say anything else. 
Spider-boy, king of thieves
Weave your little webs of opacity
My pennies made your crown
Trick me once, trick me twice
Don't you know that cash ain't the only price?
It's coming back around
The game only amplified from there. 
Chris posts a throwback photo that he crops you out of with the caption ‘took out the trash’? Chad posts a fun little video of him teaching you to skate. Chris posts a photo of an old photo of himself wearing your panties on his head like a crown, the very same panties that you had worn in the explicit photos? Well Chad imitates the picture with a new pair of panties and you on his shoulders laughing your ass off. 
Chris heads to a party? Chad is twirling you around the dance floor with nothing but adoration in his eyes. 
Back and forth and back and forth, slowly the mean comments began to fade out and all your free time was spent with Chad. You studied together, and went for coffee and played video games. 
And your crush on him had been rapidly growing. 
Honestly you wouldn’t have been able to fight it if you tried, because who didn’t fall for him once they got to know him?
You just had to keep reminding yourself that he was helping you get revenge, that was all. 
And I keep my side of the street clean
You wouldn't know what I mean
“Oh come on!” He whines, allowing you to hear his heartbeat through his chest. He was laid out on your bed, leaning on your pillows with you laying in between his legs allowing you to push your ear to his ribs and listen. He liked the warmth and you liked the sound of his heart. Win win.  “When they go low, we go lower.”
“I just don’t think it’s worth it, you know?” You sigh, tracing shapes into his side with the pad of your finger.  “We’ve already destroyed all the scorned slut rumors and all the jealous rumors. I’m no longer getting hate, why keep going?”
“Because he posted those photos of you!”
“They are just photos.”
“Photos that you get defensive about whenever I bring them up, look at your little scrunched up face right now.” He laughs. You had asked him towards the beginning if he had ever seen the photos, and he had told you no which had made you feel so much better in general. 
“He’s not worth it anymore.” You admit, turning your head so your chin was laid on his chest and you can stare up at him. “We’ll still hang out though, right?”
“Couldn’t get rid of me even if you tried.”
“Hey, Chad?” You whisper, the pad of your finger running over a bump on his chest that you knew to be a stab wound poorly healed. 
“Yeah?”
“Can I see them?” His eyebrows scrunch up when you ask, confusion written on his face before you explain further. “The scars. I just feel like you are nervous about them and you don’t have to show me or anyone else because it’s not our business but I want you to know that I think you’re perfect and when you are ready….”
His hand slides up to find the one on his chest and he keeps it to him for a bit before leaning down to kiss it, the breath leaves your lungs and you can’t do much but watch as his lips meet the palm of your hand softly. 
“How about another time?” He whispers.
“Whenever you’re ready.”
'Cause karma is my boyfriend
Karma is a god
Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend
Karma's a relaxing thought
Aren't you envious that for you it's not?
Turns out that was a big lie. 
Now that he wasn’t trying to piss off your ex, Chad barely texted you to hang out, and whenever you texted him you always got some half assed response on how he was busy. 
You tried not to let it bother you, hanging with your friends for a couple days before trying to text him again. 
Mathnerd: Movie night in my dorm? U can pic the movie……:)
He doesn’t respond for another hour, and when you hear your phone ping you desperately lunge for it. 
Meekman: not tonight. core4 stuff. 
Ah yes. The Core4, also known as the ghostface survivor squad that hated your guts. Well they didn’t really hate your guts but they didn’t like you whatsoever, and somewhere along the way it had really started getting to you, to the point that you had asked Chad if there was something you could do to help it.  
He had only shrugged and said not to worry about it and that had been that. 
Mathnerd: ok, just lmk when ur free. 
Read. 
How wonderful…….
Sweet like honey, karma is a cat
Purring in my lap 'cause it loves me
Flexing like a goddamn acrobat
Me and karma vibe like that
“Is that her, again?” Mindy scoffs when Chad’s phone beeps. 
“Yup.” He sighs, not bothering to look at it. He already knew it was you inviting him to hang out and he had already used the core4 excuse last week. He was running out of excuses and honestly there was nothing more he could say. 
“Tell that little ghostface freak to fuck off.” Tara snaps, throwing one of Mindy’s pillows at where he laid on the dorm floor. 
“Well hello there.” Chris laughs, clearly drunk off his ass way too early in the morning. 
“Fuck off.” Chad snaps, turning back to the line ahead of him and trying to decide what coffee he wanted this morning, but it seemed your ex was not ready to leave him alone. 
“So she is happy now that she’s living her dream?”
“She is, yeah.” Chad grunts, jaw clenching as the hot breath of the fool hits his cheek. 
“OH so she finally told you then?” This caught Chad's attention, and his gut twisted as he slowly turned to the boy behind him. 
“You’ve got three seconds to explain.”
“Oh it’s no biggie, just that your girl was a part of a huge bet to see who could fuck one of you guys after that Landry kid fucked you all up-” As he talks he pulls out his phone and scrolls through his camera roll to pull up a photo of some roster. ‘THE GHOSTFACE RACE’ and four names down your name had been filled in. 
At first Chad wants to laugh because it didn’t look like your handwriting and he didn’t believe it, but then he thinks back on you asking why the Core4 didn’t like you, and you asking about his stab wounds. 
He had run straight to Mindy's room that day, explaining everything. 
“Who would have thought she was a ghostface fan.” Mindy laughs, shoving a handful of popcorn into her mouth when he flips her off. 
“Honestly the whole plan was laid out perfectly. She targeted the most trusting one-” Tara joins in and that pained feeling in Chad’s chest tightened in. 
“I don’t wanna talk about it.” He was 2 for 2 right now, and after Ethan he really could not handle another. Out of all people, why did it have to be you? And why did he fall for it so easily?
Behind your sweet adorable smile was a conniving plan to join the core4, 15 minutes of fame and all you had to do was twirl your hair and giggle. 
Ask me what I learned from all those years
Ask me what I earned from all those tears
Ask me why so many fade, but I'm still here
(I'm still, I'm still here)
“Is there a reason you are ignoring me right now?”  You snap, taking the seat  across from Chad in the library, doing your best to remain calm. But that was hard when it had been 2 weeks of nothing from Chad. “Because I-”
“Just save it, yeah?” He sticks his hand in the air as a sign to stop moving to pick up his headphones. 
“Save WHAT?”
“This whole speech you probably have planned. I really don’t need you giving me excuses. We both know you were just using me for the fucking fame-”
“Excuse me?”
“Chris told me everything! About your sneaky little plan to be a part of our survivor group? You know who else did that? Ethan.”
“Oh so you’re buddies with Chris now?” You didn’t know what hurt worse, the way Chad had been ignoring you or the way he just name dropped the man that ruined your life for months. “You hang out with him and laugh at me in between blow jobs from groupies, huh? Talk about what a slut I am together?”
A bitter laugh escapes him as he leans back and the two of you have gathered the attention of the other students and the librarian.  “Funny enough we really don’t concern ourselves with the fangirls.”
“FUCK YOU!” You shout, tears welling up in your eyes. “You are just as big of a pig as him-”
Your chair screeches across the ground and you snatch your bag up, whirling as the librarian rushes to yell at you both. Chad's chair screeches behind you and you hear him shout your name before the librarian snaps her fingers and mutters a “young man!” But he is already reaching for you and yanking your elbow to turn you around. “If I’m the pig then you are a slut!”
“DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE-”
“Oh you don’t agree? No? Should I pull up the photos of you online? The ones you willingly sent to-”
“How about I pull up the photos of your stab wounds that you like to pretend aren’t there. Or how about I just-” You swing your bag and hit his left arm harshly which makes him flinch and groan in pain. 
“Fuck…..” He hisses, holding his arm tightly before looking back at you and seeing the tears streaming down your face. The truth seems to shatter in front of him in an instant, his heart beating so fast he feels like it’s jumping out his chest and he can’t breathe. “He lied…..didn’t he?”
He didn’t need you to answer, because he had already known. Of course your ex lied, and he used the one thing that Chad was deeply insecure about. The gaping hole he had in his trust that Ethan tore had left a permanent mark, and this is just the first time he’s realized it.
“Go fuck yourself.” You sob out, mascara running down your cheeks as you furiously wipe the tears away. “
'Cause karma is the thunder
Rattling your ground
Karma's on your scent like a bounty hunter
Karma's gonna track you down
You had blocked him after that, on everything. Chad Meeks did not exist to you and you refused to check any social media to see how the world now perceived you. So you pretended that you didn’t exist either. You were not a living breathing creature in the eyes of the internet. 
Your roommate had been confused when you told her to never answer the door to him, and she had texted you each time he came over. Not that it mattered considering you hadn’t been back to your own room in weeks. 
You had friends and boys to hang out with, fuck Chad Meeks.
And soon enough Halloween came rolling around and you decided that you had to go out and look your absolute best, because there was no other way to celebrate being a slut than to dress like a slut at halloween. 
This was your time to shine. Why not since everyone else seemed to think this is what you were?
So you found yourself the skimpiest dress and a lace set of cat ears, your makeup had been sultry and your heels high. Tonight would be the best night ever. 
Chad on the other hand had spent the last few weeks obsessing, it had taken all but five minutes to figure out you had blocked him so he had begged Mindy to make a fake account to stalk you……only none of your accounts existed. 
And anytime he showed up to apologize at your dorm you were never there. 
So he took to hiding in his own single dorm, staring at the empty side across the way where a roommate should be. After highschool he had prided himself on not losing that open trust with people, but then Ethan destroyed that. 
He couldn’t trust anyone, and he couldn’t even look at himself in the mirror anymore. You had been right that day when you called him on his stab wounds and arm….after he had slut shamed you. 
“Okay, enough of this.” Tara snaps, barging into the room in a cheesy star wars costume. “It’s halloween, we always go out for halloween.”
“I think I’m sick of the masks.” 
“No. No you are not. Remember? We had a deal. After everything we went through none of us gave up halloween.” She growls, hitting him with a pillow. “Get up.”
“I don’t even have a costume.” 
“Yes you do.” 
And that was how he ended up at the frat party wearing the costume from last year, stab wounds and all as Tara flirted with some girl in a werewolf costume. He couldn’t find it in himself to leave the corner of the room, but Mindy was keeping him company so it hadn’t been that bad. 
Until you waltzed in. 
Seeing you for that first time in the library had stunned him, but seeing you now after knowing you had done more than stun him. 
“Y/n, hey!” He called, jumping from his seat before you disappeared from sight down the hall and your roommate cast him an odd look. 
“Sorry Chad.” She mumbles when he walks up, staring at his stomach for a second before snapping her eyes up to his with a pity glance. “She’s way too deep already, this is our third party.”
“Third party?”
“The other two ran out of liquor.” She sighs and his gut twists in worry as he looks around for you. 
“Oh my god.” Your roommate gasps, drawing Chad's eyes back to her only to find her staring at the door, where dozens of people in Ghostface costumes were coming through the door. “I have to go find Y/n-”
“No.” He stops her. “My twin is in the corner, the one with the crutch. Go get her out and I’ll go find Y/n.”
Step by step from town to town
Sweet like justice, karma is a queen
Karma takes all my friends to the summit
Karma is the guy on the screen
Coming straight home to me
The music was blasting through his ears, so loud he could feel the drums beating through his chest, most of the lights in the house were off and replaced with party lights which meant he was finding you amongst a crowd with no actual sight. 
He pushed multiple people and his left arm was aching by the time he reached the second level of the house, pushing his way through bedroom after bedroom until he got to the master bedroom. The second his hand touches the doorknob to find it locked he prays that he just missed you somewhere in the house and you were not in there, then he prays for whoever he finds you with. Knocking loudly with his fist and pressing his ear to the door. 
He hears a whine from you and then a shout from some guy “Busy bro!” and Chad was seeing red. He slams his body into the door twice and on the third time it busts open and the guy dressed up in a batman costume curses lowly. “The fuck man?”
“Yeah, WHAT THE FUCK MAN?!” Chad shouts, rushing to grab him by the collar and slam him into the wall as you scream out. “SHE LOOK ANYTHING CLOSE TO SOBER TO YOU?!”
The lamp on the side table falls and Chad risks a look back to where you are trying to crawl off the bed, reaching to grab your heels. “Y/n? You okay?”
You don’t answer, and for a moment Chad thinks you are angry but then he realizes you don’t hear him. Too drunk to focus on your shoe. 
“I’m gonna fucking kill you man.”
“IT WAS JUST GONNA BE A JOKE! I WASN’T ACTUALLY GONNA DO ANYTHING! IMGAY!” Batman rushes out, trying to get Chad to let go. “IWASTOLD TO GET HER INTO AROOMAND MAKEOUT UNTIL A GHOSTFACECAMEIN AND DUDE YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME!”
Right. The reason he came to look for you in the first place, the army of masked kids. He slowly lets go of the batman costume and turns to you. “Y/n, come on we gotta-”
You scream before he can get to you and then the world tilts as a masked figure tackles him. All he can see it black for a moment then the mask glints in the light as someone laughs behind it. 
“Look how scared he is!” Chris’ voice rings out as he cracks up, the ghostface mask tilting. “Aw don’t be so upset-”
You drunkenly swing the lamp that had fallen at his head, hitting hard enough for it to shatter before dropping the rest. Chris, now holding his head swings to turn at you, launching up to attack you as you make a break for the connected bathroom. 
Only you weren’t really fast enough in your state and just as Chris grabs your hair Chad is right there pulling him back to punch him. They fight for a moment, Chads arm hurting like hell, and you take the chance to kick Chris straight in the nuts when his back is turned. 
He lands on the floor with a groan and you had planned to spit on him but Chad is there in an instant, pulling you out of the room with rough hands as you whine out. “My heels…..”
But he doesn’t stop, and when you get to the stairs he picks you up to move faster. You whine for a moment as he walks with you in the air before you close your eyes.
'Cause karma is my boyfriend (karma is my boyfriend)
Karma is a god
Karma is the breeze in my hair on the weekend (weekend)
Karma's a relaxing thought
The sun is already blasting in your face when you wake up the next day, groaning as you try to cover your eyes from it, your brain beating against your skull. When you try to move you find that you are trapped by a heavy blanket, only it felt like flesh and was breathing deeply. 
And there he was, Chad Meeks, sprawled out on top of you whilst snoring into your pillow. Turning you see Mindy on your roommates bed with your roommate on the floor, accompanied by a pillow and a small throw blanket and in the corner of the room where your tiny sofa (more of a chair) sat you saw Tara curled up into a tiny ball. 
“Hello?” You call, voice cracky from sleep and your head still pounding, but they still seem to hear it. It was like even a small whisper had been an alarm in their mind because all three of them launch up and end up waking your roomie in the hassle. 
“Everyone good?” Tara groans, moving to cover the blinds to block the sun. 
“Y/n, you killed me with that tequila.” Y/R/M whines, shoving her face back into the pillow. 
“Can someone please explain to me what is going on? And why is Meeks in my bed right now?” You snap out, turning to glare at him where he is now leaning against the brick wall with puppy dog eyes. 
“Long story short-” Tara starts only to be interrupted by Mindy. “No, long stories short with you will have us here by noon. I’ll explain.”
So she did, ending up summing up the entire night within 30 seconds while you just blinked at her, hungover brain trying to catch up. 
“So was there a ghostface? Did anyone get hurt?”
“No, just a really bad prank-” 
“Well actually one of them took it too far and stabbed someone so now they are arresting anyone that wore one as a public threat.”
“And who was batman?”
“No clue…… I think he looked like Mikey from my science class.” Chad grunts. 
“You’re taking science?” Mindy gasps and he flips her off. 
“So why are you in my bed?”
“Because you said he was and I quote ‘my little teddy bear’ and refused to let go” Tara giggles and it was your turn to flip her off. 
“I would never say that.”
“You did.” Your roommate laughs and you take a chance to throw a pillow at her. She laughs before a moment of silence fills the room only for it to be broken by Chad who whispers under his breath. “Chaddy is my teddy beary…”
“SHUT UP!”
Karma's a relaxing thought
“No no, you need to get more pumped! Let’s go!” Chad yells from his spot in the center of his room, holding your hands tightly as you both bounce back and forth to the music. You had been a giggling mess and the boa you were wearing was tickling your cheeks. 
“We’re gonna be late-” You laugh until he rushes to pick you up from the ground and twirl around. You were decked out in your best Taylor Swift outfit, hair and makeup on point while he was shirtless with his entire back covered in purple hearts for the concert. Then you went as far as to cover all his scars in purple glitter, saying that he had to own it all for the concert. 
“And to think, a couple weeks ago I was whining about how I missed the way my brother was.” Mindy snarks from the door, arm wrapped around your roommates shoulders as they giggled. 
“CAUSE KARMA IS MY BOYFRIEND!” Chad sings, hauling you out of the room for a night of fun. 
Karma was indeed your boyfriend, and you would love to bestow it on any ghostface that came near him just as he will destroy anyone that hurts you .
212 notes · View notes
mermaidsirennikita · 8 days ago
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Hello, Happy New Year!
Is there a trope you would like to see more in books this 2025?
Oh, dude.
I want to see (not all tropes strictly but still):
—More marriage in trouble! This is apparently an unpopular trope, which sucks, because it's one of my faaavorites. Despite this, there are few that give me what I think it REEEEEALLY should be. Like, I love love love some books wherein the marriage wasn't consummated or was barely consummated and then they dipped and now they're back in each other's orbit. Not that many wherein it's a couple who WENT THROUGH IT together and is trying to make it work or coming back together (Out of the Woods by Hannah Bonam-Young is out later this month and is exaaaaactly what I'm thinking about).
I think the thing is that I want more genuine, emotionally-driven angst and fallible people who aren't 22, tbh.
—More heroines who are older than the heroes! Again, this seems to in part come from the fact that I want more heroines who aren't babes in the woods, but. I love an age gap with an older hero. I looove it. But the older I get, the more I'm like "Jesus, I may be dating younger when I'm 35+". Because the fantasy of an older man who's gonna take care of you can get a little wrecked when you're trying to date older men in the hopes that they'll have their shit together and they're basically realizing at 48 that they want kids and also hey, they voted for Trump....
(Not that younger guys are much better, but what does it say that most of the women I know who are single in their 40s and 50s are dating dudes 10~ or so years younger. And often happily!)
—More childfree by choice romance plsthx we exist
—More romances featuring abortion. And more contraceptives in historicals!
—Fewer virgin heroines in historical romance; I'm so tired of acting like women didn't fuck around, whether after they were widowed or before they were married. I mean, a lot of hardcore Christian culty types today think their daughters are all virgins on the wedding night and yet.... we know better... This is not new.
—More historicals with BIPOC leads. More queer historicals.
—Cheating. Part of this is because I find a lot of people in the romance reading community really annoying about this and I want to soak up their fury.
—More arranged marriages. Not marriage of convenience, that is different. Arranged marriage, as in, we are doing this because we have to and might not even know each other and there is no impetus besides political/cultural expectations.
—More historicals that aren't regency
—CAN WE GO BACK TO SELF-MADE HEROES iN HISTORICALS???? It's struck me recently that a lot of recent historicals have dukes and earls and shit and just sort of blandly go "and they are progressives, actually". Which, sure, none of us want to think about how the sausage gets made in the aristocracy (hint: Badly). But I feel like there used to be more self-made heroes. Is it because Hoyt and Kleypas and Ms. Bev don't publish as much anymore?????
Because the thing with a self-made historical hero is that you don't need him to be like, a fucking billionaire today. Because he isn't. Self-made heroes can have all the fantasy luxury you want from a duke, but they can come from an oppressed background in a way that feels AUTHENTIC. Derek Craven was a sex worker, y'all! He was born in a drainpipe! He named himself! Winter Makepeace ran a fucking orphanage and got himself a sugar mama! (Less self-made I guess, and more like... blessed in terms of his ability to make Isabel come like a freight train... But that's a job...) Rhine Fontaine changed his whole identity and become a successful, rich man out in the West!
Like, I'm not saying abandon the dukes and shit. But damn.
16 notes · View notes
alaskan-wallflower · 8 months ago
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dude i hate the chubby kyle headcanon so much like i really hate it and it’s not because i have anything against chubby headcanons in general (i hc stan, butters, clyde, and sometimes bebe as being chubby) it just does NOT make any sense to me based on his actual character. he’s canonically very athletic. and as for the diabetes thing some of these people actually have no idea how diabetes works. he has TYPE 1 DIABETES and people with t1 diabetes are more often than not thin/underweight because they don’t produce insulin which converts glucose to energy and they can’t regulate blood sugar levels so instead their bodies burn fat and muscle rapidly for energy instead. also overweight people with t1 diabetes are at higher risk of developing serious heart issues and double diabetes, so i don’t think sheila would feed and spoil him to that point. little science lesson for you all. but lately i’m realizing i think the real reason i hate it so much because makes him look like and have the vibes of kyle schwartz who’s entire existence serves as an over the top stereotype meant to be a foil to kyle who is not a stereotype. why is chubby kyle is always fucking portrayed with some gayass sweatervest on. if people really desperately want their chubby, nerdy, IBS-having, sweatervest wearing, investment banker jewish boy kyle s. is RIGHT THERE. there’s also a million other jewish characters in media that are canonically portrayed that way so can we please just have this one. kyle s. even refers to kyle as a redneck jock!! which he isn’t of course but obviously it would seem that way to kyle s, who is everything this fandom tries to force kyle to be. god sorry for ranting, i’m lowkey expecting to get flamed in the notes but we ball
…honestly yeah. me as well.
i’m a bit of a biology nerd myself. it’s a special interest of mine. i have family with diabetes (albeit type 2) and my father is a diabetes specialist. so i believe i’m qualified to talk on behalf of the diabetes aspect. not only does it make more sense for kyle to be underweight but it’s also spreading the false narrative that everyone with diabetes is overweight when that isn’t the case. apologies for the upcoming ramble. but t1 diabetes is typically childhood exclusive. it’s diagnosed at a young age for the most part, especially as seen with kyle. type 1 means that no insulin is formed at all. like…none. like anon said. and don’t think i’m regurgitating what they said. i could literally write up a whole ass essay on how to write kyle’s diabetes and i will if you guys want. i think many people think of type 2 diabetes when writing kyle. the difference between type 1 and type 2 is that people with type 2 diabetes can actually make insulin. but it isn’t enough to fully cancel out the sugar levels in the body. type 2 is also more often than not a somewhat curable disease. you can get rid of type 2 in some cases. you can’t get rid of type 1. and yeah. like anon said. i think sheila cares more about kyle’s health than she does about spoiling him with food.
and yeah. i guess the argument that ‘Ph BuT hEs OnLy 7 lBs lIgHtEr tHaN cArTmAn’ but you can really only say that he’s overweight if you know his height too. they look to be the same height. but you don’t know his exact height therefore you can’t make a case for or against it. like comparing someone who’s 5’6’’ and 120 lbs and someone who’s 5’1’’ and 127 lbs has a BMI difference of more than 6 units. cartman could be shorter. it’s hard to say. but yes. i agree with anon. i hate the chubby kyle headcanon. flame me in the notes. i don’t care. leave anon alone though. shit on my behalf. not theirs.
also yeah . it’s stereotypical as fuck. it’s kinda gross at some point. i agree with anon tho about chubby butters and clyde. maybe stan too because his father insists on feeding him ‘rich kid food’ but yeah. they’re right about kyle s. too. kyle s. is right there. or there’s mort from family guy. go slap your based hdcs on them ig. leave kyle b. out of it. the stereotype that all nerds are chubby and weak is overdone especially when it’s done to the only jewish kid in the show (kyle s doesn’t exist in fanon clearly.
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kimbureh · 2 years ago
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ramble about TBB and the absence of touch, coping, failure
Maybe this is an US American thing, but the sparse use of touching among the Bad Batch is starting to alienate me. Take the episode 'Faster' for example. Are you telling me Tech just won a race against all odds and Wrecker and Omega are just standing there 5 meters away? Have you ever watched a car race? After finishing a race, in any sports race, the driver gets immediately crowded and hugged by his pit stop team because races! Are! Very! Exciting! No matter how reserved you are,, making it through the finish line will elicit in your team more than just a cheer while social distancing.
Touch seems to be something the series doesn't portray very accurately to begin with. These grown man have lived together aboard the Marauder for who knows how many years. These dudes know more about each other than they want to. And I don't mean endearing fanfiction trope things like knowing who snores the loudest (which is, in reality, not endearing at all). No. After a week of cohabiting in such a cramped space, these guys know disgusting, visceral stuff about each other. They know who's farts stink up the place, and which types of food cause them to. They know who has a wet cough each morning and clears his throat of the mucus loudly in the sink. They know who's face will break out in hives if they forget to change the sheets that have been reeking like a badger for a week.
This isn't to say that they'd be disgusted of each other. It just puts some casual touches into perspective. (source: the entirety of nautical literature). People can still be closed up around others, but it's different if you're used to have your personal space constantly invaded by simple nature of the situation.
You just gotta find ways to cope. I can see Tech bury himself in datapads to forget for a short while everyone else exists. Wrecker compulsively deadlifting anything that isn't bolted down. Echo perhaps using his scomp link to dive into zeros and ones to enjoy the machine part of his self for a minute and black everyone else out. Crosshair's role on the battlefield is by design rather solitary, one could assume he fucks off somewhere off duty as well.
And Hunter? So far I couldn't spot any hint as to what Hunter's coping strategy could be. But perhaps that's the point: He has none. He may seem approachable towards his team mates, but the guardedness he displays towards everyone else is much truer to his character. Reading Hunter as a very insecure man who is foreign to himself seems to be quite accurate. I mean, he latches onto Omega as fast as he does because he needs her as much as she needs him, and she is a literal child. Hunter isn't aware of his wants and needs, he simply adopts what he believes to be Omega's. Crosshair sees through that immediately and calls it out from episode 1, criticizing Hunter multiple times for letting a kid call the shots
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persphonesorchid · 1 year ago
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Mark Of The Arcane || Chapter Three ||
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↣ Summary; Centuries before, in the times of the ancient Kings, a prophecy was heard. When the three kingdoms of Valerem fall to ruins, their saviour would come in blinding starlight. Who is this saviour, you may ask? None other than Min Yoongi, who was too busy being late to work to realize he definitely wasn’t on earth anymore.
↣ Part: Chapter Three; Habituation
↣Word count: 2.5k
↣Warnings: Yoongi's going through the motions, other than that, we're all good :)
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Chapter Archive | Masterlist
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Notes: Welcome to chapter three! Thank you for being patient! I hope you enjoy! A little information on Yoongi's arcane and of course, dude's trying to wrap his head around it all, but it'll get better for him soon! Don't forget to share your thoughts, i'd love to know what you think!
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“Hold on...” Yoongi puts a hand up, trying his best to ignore the ache in his side, the very real ache that feels like its sinking into his bones. He’s still trying to process everything, still trying to figure out if he’s losing his mind or not, and now this? You and Hoseok are barely paying him mind, talking in hushed tones again like he’s not sitting right there. So, Yoongi takes a moment to breathe, trying to calm down before he really starts crying.
Hoseok sighs and Yoongi tries to focus, you whisper something to him, sparing Yoongi one last glance before you’re through the door. Hoseok turns back to face him, a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes on his lips and it only makes Yoongi nervous.
“Alright...I'm going to explain what’s happening.”  He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, “That Arcane mark you carry, is the mark of the Light Bearer. It’s only been seen once, and with it comes a prophecy. Firstly, you should know that wherever you were before isn’t where you were born...” Hoseok pauses, considering something with a thoughtful look, “There’s only a few mentions of this in writing, about other worlds existing alongside our own. I’m assuming the world where you had been before doesn’t have the same properties as this one, meaning it’s without magic.”
Yoongi has a passing thought then, that he’s a fish in a tiny pool of water. Not nearly enough to filter through and he struggles to breathe, and gasps like there’s not enough air. His chest feels tight, caging his lungs behind the solid walls of his flesh and bones; unable to expand.
One side of his mind is trying to separate what makes sense of the jumbled words that left Hoseok’s mouth, and the other is trying to separate him from all of it. It was a regular Tuesday for him, he got up late as he would usually, got yelled at, met a strange woman on the street and helped her across. He’s not certain what happens after death, but this must be his personal hell. Where everything is confusing and wired the wrong way, only he would torture himself so.
Some of what Hoseok said made a little sense – if he wants to believe any of it – he was raised in an orphanage, and like some of the kids cursed with unfortune, he was simply left on their doorstep. He doesn’t resent his parents, or, whoever decided it, circumstances are not always in favour...
���I...” Yoongi opens his mouth and closes it soon after, distress drawing his brows together. He doesn’t know where to start addressing any of that, and simply stares at Hoseok for a while. The sting at his side has lessened to a dull throbbing ache, easier to ignore now and Yoongi takes a breath.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” Hoseok says softly, calmly, and its enough to reel Yoongi in just a little. “But we’ll try to make this as easy as possible for you.”
“Will I be able to go back?” Yoongi twists the fabric of the soft sheets between his fingers.
Hoseok shifts on the chair he sits in, mouth forming a little triangle as he looks away, staring off into nothing for a moment. “I’m not sure. Whatever magic that was used to send you here is ancient. It’ll be difficult to find anyone who knows how to do the reversal.”
Yoongi deflates, the little hope he had in asking the question simply fizzles out. So, he’s stuck here for the time being. He wonders if anyone back home is worried about him – not that he has friends to be worried about his absence. He wonders if the old man thinks that he just straight up abandoned his job, or what would Mrs Li think when he isn’t there to keep her company on her afternoon walks.
Yoongi can only nod, gaze shifting to stare out the window. Hoseok had secured the curtains so that they hang at the sides of the window, and a cool breeze flows softly through it. The air lacks the scent of a city, no engine exhaust or the smells of too many different foods mixing together. It’s fresh and clean and Yoongi’s at least grateful for that.
“You should rest some more.” Hoseok says, bracing his palms against his knees before he pushes himself to stand. “It will take your body a while to get used to the new environment.”
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When Yoongi wakes, it’s to a soft knocking on the door. He blinks blearily at it, brows furrowed. The light that filters through the window is now a soft orange, and Yoongi realises he’s slept through the day. He feels much better than he did earlier, though, sleepy still.
The knock sounds again and after a moment the door pushes open. It’s you again, and Yoongi stares at you from his spot. You’ve changed out of the clothes you were wearing earlier and you’re wearing something that looks like silk. The sleeves are long and flowing way past your hands and shimmers lightly with your movements, there’s a thin silver chain around your waist that clinks deftly against the navy-blue fabric of the dress. You aren’t wearing shoes, he notes, as you turn slightly to close the door behind you.
“Hello.” You greet, and Yoongi watch as you sort of glide your way over to his bedside. Your steps are graceful enough that he barely notices them, and he blinks at you, not too certain how he should address you or speak.
“Hello....” Yoongi mutters, turning his head to look across at the large floor to ceiling mirror that faces the bed he’s in. He looks like shit, if he’s being honest. He’s paler than he is usually, stress and fatigue had drawn circles under his eyes. You sit down on the chair Hoseok left, a gentle smile on your lips 
He looks back at you and you’re smiling, though, it doesn’t bring him much comfort. You extend your hand to him, and in your hand is a book. It’s dark and small, with a sigil on the cover in white ink that looks strangely like the mark on his side.
“What’s this?” He asks, and after a moment, glances at you, “Your...Majesty...”
“Oh, Y/n is fine.” You say and then motion to the book, “This book is the first record of your arcane.”
Yoongi opens the book, it’s written more like a journal, dates at the top of the pages, words that doesn’t make sense to him right now neatly penned in dark ink.
“The prophecy was given by the first seer a long time ago. There are a few snippets of it in there, we don’t know where the actual record is.” You say, “’When the three kingdoms of Valerem fall to ruin, our saviour would come in blinding starlight.’”
Yoongi’s eyes find yours, brows creasing, “And I’m supposed to be this saviour?”
You stare at him in silence for a moment, there’s a pity in your eyes that Yoongi’s too used to, something he’s gotten too many times in his life. You nod slowly, then grimace, “I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in. And I know it’s frightening.”
That’s an understatement, really. Yoongi had become comfortable knowing that he’d always be nothing more than he was, just Yoongi, breezing through his life as a man who didn’t have much of a childhood to speak of. Someone who was just another face in the crowd, a cog in the machine; nothing special. And he was okay with that. Life was…well, it was life. He’s had his ups and downs; he’s had hard times and times that made the difficulty of his life an afterthought. He was fine with that. This? This is something else entirely.
He doesn’t know what to say, so he stares at the book in his hands with a frown. This isn’t fair, is it? Yoongi’s always said he had a shit time as his day-to-day muddled together and became repetitive, working to only survive with the cards he was dealt. But it was his. Compared to this influx of information that he’s some sort of prophesied Messiah, his life was easy. He’d rather wake up in his bed right now, late for work and swearing than be sitting here trying to make sense of it all.
He could feel your eyes on him and he dare not meet your gaze. You sigh, there’s a rustling of your clothes as you stand and tuck the chair back into the corner it was in before. “Are you hungry? I can bring you something.”
He wasn’t really, Yoongi doesn’t think he could stomach anything if he tried, but he nods anyway. You’re kind, he thinks, and he doesn’t want to be rude.
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
You return fifteen minutes after, with a silver tray, smiling softly as you hand it over. There’s a silver bowl of chicken – At least, he assumes – soup, and the smell reminds him of Mrs Li’s cooking. A smaller bowl of assorted diced fruit, a slice of buttered bread and a gold rimmed glass of water. “Hoseok said anything too heavy may upset your stomach…”
Yoongi’s stomach rumbles before he can say anything and he flushes, clearing his throat, “Thank you.”
You smile again, nodding, staring at him long enough that he feels a little awkward about it. You seem to catch yourself, looking away, “Right then, I’ll be off.”
He wonders briefly if your feet are cold as you make your way back to the door, “Oh!” You turn around, “When you’re done, just knock three times on the wall.”
“Okay…” Yoongi glances at the wall and when he looks back, you’re already going through the door and closing it. He sets the tray on his lap and picks up the spoon, stirring the contents of the bowl around, finding potatoes and carrots among the pieces of chicken. Tentatively, he takes a spoonful, and it’s – quite frankly – the best thing he’s had. He didn’t realise how hungry he was until the soup was gone and he was slowing down as to not choke on the bread.
He glances at the book, resting on the table against the wall, he takes and sets the tray aside and wipes his hand against the material of his sweater before reaching for it. Opening the book, he finds the first page.
Year 871 We had not known that the shadow arcane would sire chaos, there was no way to know. So many lives were lost in the attempt to stop it, and the kingdoms are divided. We’re at a loss, it wouldn’t be long before we’re all gone. We must do something, anything to stop it—
The words trail off into muddled ink and Yoongi can’t tell what it says, the other page dates the same year, but speaks of something different. He picks through the bowl of fruit and picks up and apple slice.
Year 871 The Arcane of Light, created for the purpose of subduing the Arcane of Shadow. The strength of the Arcane is immeasurable, though, it’s volatile. We assumed that Zephyr is just unable to control such power, but he’s the only one who can wield it. We can only trust him. If he can stop this, we can end it, and perhaps, stop this from reoccurring. Arcanes has broken down into subfields, we’ve found, and as reveling as that information may be, we can only hope to wipe the Arcane of Shadow completely so that it may never bestow itself upon another.
Yoongi reaches into the bowl for more fruit only for his fingers to hit the bottom. He tears his eyes from the page, pouting at the empty bowl. He stares at the words on the page for a quiet moment before shaking his head and setting it aside once more. He looks at the wall and wonders what would happen if he knocked it, would the tray disappear? He knocks three times like you told him to and waited, its completely quiet for a moment and then the grating sound of stone against stone shatters the silence. Yoongi startles and whips his head to his left to find a part of the wall pulling in on itself, a man younger than him steps out of the darkness there, dressed in white and gold.
He bows at the waist and smiles when he straightens, “Good evening, my Lord. I trust your meal was satisfactory?”
“Uh…” Yoongi stumbles for his words, “Yes…”
The man walks over, “Wonderful! I’m Wooyoung, Head Chef.” He picks up the tray, “If you need anything, don’t be afraid to send for me.” He motions at the wall Yoongi knocked on before he was leaving back through the wall and Yoongi watches as it drags closed, shifting back into place as though it never moved.
There’s a knock on the door and Yoongi thinks he can’t catch a break as it opens, thankfully, it’s someone he’s seen before. Seokjin stands in the doorway with narrowed eyes, looking like he’d rather be doing a million other things. He comes into the room and shuts the door behind him. He’s holding a bundle of something in one of his hands and a pair of boots in the other. Yoongi can only make out navy blue.
Seokjin says nothing as he walks over, setting the folded bundle on the table and the boots on the floor. “You can’t walk around wearing…that.” He waves a hand at Yoongi’s sweater and jeans with a frown.
Yoongi looks down at his sweater and then at the bundle Seokjin brought with him, “Ah…right.”
“I’ll wait outside the door, let me know if you need help with the clasp.” Seokjin leaves him to change, and Yoongi moves over to the table.
The navy-blue bundle unfolds into a cloak like the one Seokjin and the other guards wear, there’s a long-sleeved white shirt with gold trimmings and black pants that are soft to the touch. Yoongi changes in silence, folding his clothes neatly, the only link to the place he came from, and sets them aside. He finds cotton socks stuffed into the boots and he pulls them on before putting his feet into the boots. The cloak is a little heavy in his hand as he secures it on his shoulders and clasp it at his throat. He wanders over to the mirror mounted on the wall, looking and feeling little uncomfortable.
He takes a breath, moving towards the door he pulls it open. The hallway looks completely different than it was when he first ventured out into it. The wall across from his room had a window, where Seokjin sits on the sill, talking to a bird.
“I already fed you.” He says and the crow squawks indignantly, its head leaning down to nip at his hand, “Ow! You little—”
Yoongi clears his throat and Seokjin looks up, he gets down from the windowsill, letting the crown hop off onto it, there’s a soft clink of something metal, two silver bands on the crow’s leg catching the light of the setting sun. Seokjin shoos the bird with a hand, “Go on.”
The bird ruffles it’s feathers, cawing loudly in what Yoongi could only decipher as offence at Seokjin’s shooing before it flies off. Seokjin turns to him, giving him a once over and a silent nod, “Come, Hoseok’s waiting.”
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Series Tag: @purest-expressionofgrief @i-dont-give-a-fok @xyahrinx @3sriracha @loveyoongles @studiosakuras @amon-rei @mssukeyna @freyawreya
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alpaca-clouds · 1 year ago
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Why I hate the concept of player-sexual characters
Okay, you know what? Let me talk about this. Because it really irks me. Like, it really irks me. I cannot express how much it irks me, to be honest.
I love BG3. And BG3 is doing a lot of stuff right when it comes to queer representation. Not so much in regards to any other form of representation (How is it that there is only one none-white character among your teammates? Why is there literally no body diversity at all? Why is there no fucking combat wheelchair?), but on terms of queer rep the game is doing very good. I mean, literally, most canonical relationships you interact with are queer. You meet a lot more happy queer couples than happy straight couples. Which is nice. And while I could've done with maybe one canonical trans character, you can at least play your player character as trans, which is fucking nice. So yeah, we are getting there.
But for heaven's sake, I will never, ever see player-sexual characters as bi/pan representation. Because they are not. Their universal sexual attraction serves not to define them as characters in their identity, but just for the player to fulfill their own power fantasy in whatever way the player desires. The fact that the characters do not care about what gender the player character has, is not really tied to the character or their story.
Which is why I like it so much more the way that Bioware did it with Dragon Age: Inquisition and some of the later Mass Effect games (is this true for Starfield as well? I have no idea). Where the characters do have a canon sexuality that influences who you can romance and who you cannot romance.
Like, I am in general not a big fan of the Dragon Age games, with the exception of Inquisition, because boy, I got invested into those characters and part of the reason is this. Like, holy hell, I cannot explain to you how invested I got into Dorian and his entire story. Like, back then I was still in egg-mode and I played the game with a female character - but I then did a second playthrough with a male PC just so I could romance Dorian.
Their sexuality is tied to who they are as people.
And sure, yeah, fine. Basically BG3 goes about sexuality in the way of: "The world does not care about it, so neither should you." Like, there is so many queer couples, some have kids that might be their biological kids, because magic, I guess, and nobody really bats an eye. So, I guess something like with Dorian, where part of his story was dealing with a homophobic dad would not happen here. Still, you know, with their supposed bisexuality not playing any role at all, it feels... hollow.
Because it does really feel like this part of them only exists for the player - not as part of their characterization. And I would feel a lot better about it, if it was.
I think it feels partly so offensive to me, because I am a bisexual trans dude and lived as a bi woman for so long. And as that my bisexuality has often been seen by men as something that they can consume in one way or another to act out their personal fantasies. So, player-sexuality/bisexuality in games being used for the player to act out that kinda fantasy feels... wrong.
How could Larian have done it or do it in future games? Well, pretty simple.
Bring in former relationships of different genders, let the characters comment on finding other characters (both in your party and out of it) attractive, allow the non-romanced characters to hook up together or hook up with other NPCs. Make their sexuality part of their story.
I totally would be fine with the characters all being bisexual. Sure, its a bit boring, but I also totally could buy into "in this world bisexuality/pansexuality is the norm" as part of the worldbuilding. But then show it through their interactions outside of being willing/able to hook up with the player character.
Though admittedly, this is in general one of my biggest issue with the writing on the game: Rather than having the characters talk with each other about stuff (outside of the idle banter in your party), they talk to the player character about how they feel about each other. You know, I have seen a lot of comments about how the ending feels unrewarding because apparently (I am closing in on the ending, but I am not quite there yet) after everything is said and done everybody just goes their own way, not acknowledging each other at all. But I think it is a problem in general.
Like, I get that each scene in which the characters interact more significantly than awkwardly standing in front of each other is a ton of work, because you gotta motion capture it - and also rendering it on the system make the workload on the hardware you are using a lot bigger... But it definitely would help the characterization.
To come back to Dragon Age: Inquisition (look, it is the one game I played that worked a lot with this), I had a general feeling for how the other characters related to each other, like, what their relationships were like. I knew how Cassandra felt about Solas and Varric. Or Sera about Cole. Sure, not all character relations were as well defined, but there was a lot happening there. Which here... I mean, I know how Shadowheart and Lae'zel see each other and how that evolves over time. I know how Karlach and Wyll feel about each other. But for example, there is never a scene where Karlach and Astarion argue with each other, even though they are moral-wise fundamentally opposed and probably would argue. Like, when you learn about the ritual and Astarion goes like "I totally should do it!", none of the other characters has an opinion on him planning that, let alone confronts him about it. Or where Gale gets annoyed with Karlach's approach to solving problems by just beating her axe at the problem. Or, like, Halsin and Janeira hanging out with each other, talking about druid stuff. Because outside of single cutscenes and the idle banter, the characters just do not interact a whole lot.
And I think that is a shame. Because they are already fun, engaging characters. But they totally would be more fun and engaging if they had a life outside of their backstory and their relationship to the player character. (And mind you, if you play an Origin playsthrough this does not change, because whatever character you play, still is the player character.)
Allow them friendships and romances outside of the player character. And be it just by having them awkwardly stand together and talk in front of the same tent at camp from time to time. lol
When you have that, their sexuality also would feel real - and not just like a device to propell the player's power fantasy.
Also, for fucks sake, just give us some aroace characters. Q-Q
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confused-robot-cat · 10 months ago
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In the final chapter of Digimon Adventure Tri, Homeostasis reveals that the real world can be rebooted just like the Digital World. Izzy, despite being the smartest person in the group, only thinks of how this would affect computers in the real world. The thing is, though, it is made explicit that not only would this affect the human's memories of Digimon, but it also describes how the world would "return to the quantum sea." The entire universe as we know it would turn to quantum foam and be rebuilt from scratch, like a second Big Bang.
And nobody's mind is blown by this in the movie.
Like, okay, rebooting the Digital World, alright, it's a "computer world," it's, it's easy not to think too deeply about it. But we're talking about an entity that exists beyond worlds who can, on a whim, revert all of reality as we know it to nothingness and rebuilt it from the ground up. This thing is a god. This is an actual, real god speaking to eight children about how it's going to start everything over again. And they're just like "oh no we'll forget our Digimon." Dudes, you're standing in the street with the only tangible proof anyone in history has ever had that there is at least one god with power over all creation. Fuck your fucking Digimon, react to that!
Also, nobody seems at all phased that their teacher died to save the lives of Tai, Davis, Ken, Cody, and Yolei. Tai feels no survivor's guilt? None of them miss the guy? Nobody seems to feel anything about that? We all talk about how weird it is that Kari and TK at least have no concern about the 02 kids going missing, but nobody ever mentions that Sora and Tai's homeroom teacher died.
Then there's Gennai!
When these kids met Gennai, they were lost in a very dangerous alternate world (there should be trauma there, why isn't there trauma?), and it was Gennai that guided them. He was an important figure in their lives. He even showed them how they came to be the Chosen Children and his role in that. So why, dear god why, does it not seem to affect them emotionally that Gennai has been corrupted by Yggdrasil? They accept him as their enemy and fight him, but they never stop to even think about trying to save him, to make him his true self again. They don't even question why he wasn't rebooted along with the Digimon. They just... Leave him to stay evil. Also the sexual assault of Sora. Again, this was a guiding figure in her life. A grandfather figure in a way. His presence used to bring them comfort and now he's been altered against his will and is exploiting them and acting so fucked up and... They don't seem to care that it's Gennai doing this. They hear he's been corrupted and that's all the explanation they need, suddenly it's fine, and they just have to fight him. Surely the fact this digital entity has a human face would have the psychological effect of making them hesitate just as much, if not more, as they did with Meicoomon?
So much goes unaddressed in Tri.
I really liked that Tai matured so much in these movies and was finally questioning the amount of damage they do when they host these massive monster fights in the middle of Tokyo. Yes they're trying to save people from "bad Digimon," but Greymon falling against a fucking building is dangerous. Tai is the first to recognise that, and the narrative - through Matt - sort of seems to punish him for it. But. I wanted more of that. I want to see the emotional effects of this stuff on the characters. Yeah, I don't want six movies of them moping around and reflecting and being all depressed and shit, but c'mon, they should be carrying some heavy fucking baggage by the end of all this. Instead, the conclusion to the whole six-part movie spectacular is Tai phoning Meiko and saying "hey we killed your Digimon but we're still going to let you be friends with us."
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forsaire · 10 days ago
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ACTUALLY you should tell us about your dnd characters (any of your choice. Or all of them)
Do you only use them in dnd or do you use them as OCs for other things too?
OKAY, if you so want it 😌
They're just dnd characters, never used beyond the campaign. I don't have OC's in the way you might think. I create side/supporting characters for my fics or dnd characters to play but they only exist in that context. I don't create headcanons or art or talk about them beyond that like I "own" them.
I've even drawn some of my dnd characters during sessions for fun as well as everyone else's characters. I have kept all my dnd sheets over the past ten years and its getting a bit thick.
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Let's try going chronologically order (to the best of my memory)
Annabelle Montgomery VII (f)
Race & Class: Dwarf Ranger
Accent: child, higher pitched
Fun fact: 14 children in her family, all of them named either Annabelle or Craig. Liked chasing squirrels into the forest at a whim (to explain why I was gone for long periods of time while I was away at university).
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Rizzo Ravioli (m)
Race & Class: Halfling Fighter
Accent: 1950's Greaser
Fun fact: wore a leather jacket and had slicked back black hair. Just devious. A little nuisance guy. Said something so insulting to one of the other characters that she rolled to slap and got a nat 20. I saw God with that slap.
Olivander Swolkin (m)
Race & Class: Human Bard
Accent: none (it was going to be British then there happened to be a real life breathing British person put in our dnd group. I threw that idea away quick to avoid the embarassment)
Fun fact: a performer who played the saxophone under the stage name Oli Swole. Handsome beyond believe. Was dancing with a girl when she got stolen away by one of the other characters. Absolutely cucked.
Aurora Maravella (f)
Race & Class: Half-elf sorcerer
Accent: none
Fun fact: Of noble background with wild magic. Developed motherly relationship with one of the other player characters. Had a golem she also treated like a child. One of the players made little clay figures for everyone. Aurora is now a permanent fixture shoved in the plastic container of the only set of dice I use.
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Benni Bartok (m)
Race & Class: Halfling Rogue
Accent: the exact voice from the funny little bat in the Anastasia movie
Fun fact: Just a guy. But like, good this time. Only a bit of a criminal due to his background, but just a guy. Absolutely loved doing the accent. Everyone's fun uncle. I want to bring him back again.
Sheriquin Florenzio (f)
Race & Class: Half-orc Barbarian
Accent: judgmental
Fun fact: Only played once actually. But she was like, a pretty orc. Had one funny moment where I was talking to a nerd kid and I poured my ramen into his overfilling it. You had to be there.
Kai Dwyn-Eyre (f)
Race & Class: Triton Warlock
Accent: None
Fun fact: Warlock but Intelligence based. Out there to learn and be a scribe. Got the recipe for goat cheese. Hell yeah. It's possible something happened to her family. Idk
Jackie Justice (f)
Race & Class: Human Fighter
Accent: deeper voice, dude-bro
Fun fact: Drinks her own breast milk. That uhh... that kind of accidentally happened. My friends won't let me live that one down. Talks a lot about the old "college buddies".
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Marigold Abernathy (f)
Race & Class: Human Ranger / Dilettante Harlequin when we switched to Pulp Cthulhu
Accent: Posh British
Fun fact: Part of the 1950's housewives campaign. Had an affair with the hot blacksmith Jack because her husband was awful but it turns out Jack was just being paid off to keep her busy. She killed Jack upon hearing this (girl power). Fell in love at age 15 to a boy her her father would never accept (because racism) and sent to boarding school when she became pregnant. Baby was given up and never seen again. Had to learn to become a mother when her husband (before he died due to zombies, dont worry about it) adopted a random French child that didn't speak any English. But the relationship between Marigold and Geneviève naturally grew and now she loves the child. Always looking for a nice man to actually love her.
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I mostly play dnd just for the improv roleplay and coming up with weird ways to solve a problem, im not super into historical lore or fighting. Worldbuilding is hit or miss but it should be fun and grounded. I care so much more about the quirky person selling me shoes that I can talk to about their wife leaving them and encourage him to yes, finally ask the bar maid out, than I do about patrons or gods or planes of existence or prophecies or things like that.
there they are
i also DM'd a oneshot once and came prepared with maps and puzzles and music and physical notes that people could find and read.
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apocalypticavolition · 10 months ago
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10 Characters 10 Fandoms 10 5 Tags
Tagged by @iliiuan
Rules: choose 10 favorite characters from 10 different fandoms -- no double dipping! Then tag friends or mutuals to complete the game as well.
(Oh god oh god picking favorites what did I do to deserve this???)
Top 10
Rand al'Thor of Wheel of Time - I know that like, virtually every major character in the series has a bigger following than this boy, but dammit people he's just a regular dude on an epic quest that takes and takes and takes until there's nothing left but it's not done taking yet. I love every POV section he gets and every bit of suffering he has to go through.
Uncle Iroh of Avatar: The Last Airbender - Normally it's your Sokkas or your Zukos or your Tophs who would grab me but in a cast of shining stars Uncle Iroh is a particularly radiant entry. I would die for this man. He makes me feel I'm not drinking enough tea.
Koshirou "Izzy" Izumi of Digimon Adventure - I think part of the reason Digimon stuck with me all this time is the belief the first series had (and really the shows as a whole, but especially the first one) that none of the kids were bad or flawed for being who they were, only for how they might be hurting the others. Izzy was more comfortable with computers than people but his skill set kept the kids alive on plenty of occasions and he was never any less part of the gang for being a nerd except the times he hyperfixated while the others were in need.
Karkat Vantas of Homestuck - Homestuck was... Yeah. That sure was a thing, huh? But Karkat's constant shouting and cross-temporal feud with his past and future selves was endearing, as was his obvious hate-crush on the protagonist that was resolved in the most embarrassing way possible. And frankly, his continued disbelief at the late-comic antics more than made up for how shitty the late parts of the comic were.
Mercymorn of The Locked Tomb - Virtually every character in these books is iconic, but Mercymorn, the Saint of Joy is the sort of character who would have hundreds of gif sets of her if only she existed in a visual medium. Immortality and waging an impossible war give her nothing but contempt for our heroes, our villains, and frankly anyone else she's in the room with.
Jak of Jak & Daxter - I think I just have a thing for dudes who get tortured beyond all reason and struggle between their innate heroism and the corruption that's been burned into them by outside forces. Also he gets some cool guns, you know? Can't argue with cool guns.
Garak of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - An exiled spy doomed to spend his days in a port/fortress owned by one set of enemies and administrated by another? A wide array of possible backstories, each one equally plausible except for how they all contradict each other? A slow onset of madness from the grief and isolation kept at bay only through chemical abuse and a homoerotic relationship with the galaxy's smartest idiot? And he's not even a main character!
Sheila "Dr. Girlfriend" / "Mrs. the Monarch" Fitzcarraldo of The Venture Brothers - Sheila starts out a complete joke (but then, who isn't a complete joke in her series) but grows into one of the most competent and compelling members of the cast. I'm still not quite sure what she sees in the Monarch but I enjoy how she's both fully supportive of his goals while still set very much on her own thing with the Guild of Calamitous Intent as well. I hope the show comes back so we can see what she gets up to next, or at least see her in that pillbox hat one more time.
Max of Sam & Max - Hyperkinetic lagomorphs are always a plus, and I enjoy the way he's pure id in a franchise where superegos are already in short supply. I'm gonna hafta replay the games one of these days.
Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5 - Learn the Babylon 5 mantra: Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. I have nothing else to say on this particular front.
@checkoutmybookshelf
@notmuchtoconceal
@butterflydm
@mashithamel
@bashircore
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unlicensedmortician · 5 months ago
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bad movies with j&j: divergent part three. the final part. thank god. i never have to watch these again.
- I WAS RIGHT ABT EVELYN BEING THE NEW DICTATOR
- how much time is supposed to have passed??? that’s at least 8 months of hair growth
- i wonder if they want to kill him
- not how trials work!
- four still looks like he’s in his late 30s
- jesus christ??? dude??
- oh ok he’s fine
- thank god for peter he’s the only thing that’s making these movies watchable. guy who’s the fucking worst but at least he’s entertaining
- rip tori u were the most iconic bitch here
- hm. that looks like some form of ecological crisis
- do love a good blood river
- “this hole looks radioactive” hole you say?
- also that’s not even a little bit how radioactivity works at all
- “this is fun i’m glad we did this” cryingggg thank u for ur commmentary peter
- “someone’s coming for us 🥰” wrong tone! you are being hunted
- how are you not hitting any of them they’re running in straight lines
- huh?????????? what’s going on?????
- the future is more color coding apparently
- i feel like im having a fever dream
- at the very least tris has a cunty little bob
- jester: oftentimes what a main character girlie really needs is a cunty little bob
- we’re the good guys :) welcome to eugenics city
- also how the shit do they know who these random teenagers from the isolated city tm are
- i bet she has absolutely zero body hair
- get GLOOPED
- fist the wall hole, tris
- ok i’m sure these tattoos are a cool completely fine thing
- oh! so they have aggressively overt eugenics! great!
- right ok. and none of you are unsettled by this
- oh this is terrifying. we’ve been surveying you your whole life and you didn’t know we existed until rn :) don’t worry about it :)
- oh so those are. barcodes.
- providence?? rhode island????
- haha this is terrifying. “i’ve observed every second of your life” WHAT
- she’s the ONLY ONE.
- yeah of course tris (cis straight white skinny neurotypical) is the only genetically pure person alive. what the fuck
- oh so u can get full access to people’s memories. that’s terrifying
- sure her mother might as well have been from outside
- the tattoos indicate how damaged they are that’s so cool and great. and that also determines how much access they have. awesome.
- there’s no way this guy is a good person
- when i say this surveillance technology is scarier than any horror concept i’m being serious
- really really interesting to have a black woman defending the status quo
- if they’re the good guys why is everyone else so afraid
- also like. why wouldn’t they take adults in also? what’s the cutoff point?
- “we’re here to help” while pointing a gun at a family. what. BRO YOU JUST FUCKING SHOT HER DAD?
- what the fuck they just wipe these kids’ memories ??
- the political messaging here is confusing at best
- this is the first time i’ve been anything more than completely neutral on four
- can i blame the current lack of media literacy on this franchise or
- tris. what the fuck
- who would win: guy who stuck by you through all the absolute batshit insanity of the last two movies and was like. decent through all of it. or old guy eugenicist who says he knew your mother. the answer will shock you!
- kinda ate with tris’ costuming evoking jeanine
- who media trained her
- “we’re not taking you to chicago” four is like. sure. this might as well happen. i guess. gonna make this ship crash now
- so were they gonna execute him? i’m confused
- “this ship is the only one that can fly through the camo wall” immediately crashes it
- wait lmao is this actually rhode island
- oh wow the eugenics guy is untrustworthy! who could have seen this coming
- “the factions work” they literally didn’t. that was. the point of the whole two other movies? are we forgetting those
- matthew and four should’ve been endgame thanks for coming to my ted talk
- thank you peter for always serving cunt
- yes girl completely wipe your ex husbands memory
- i don’t think anyone talked about tris’s terrible fucking tattoo enough
- yeah girl of course he’s wiping the memories of everyone in chicago
- she can do whatever she wants. she’s the protagonist
- peter cmon i liked you
- ok but like. the gas is still there? whatever
- i feel like this plot is not finished
- oh my god it’s not allegiant did so bad in box offices that they cancelled the fourth one. that’s hilarious. thank god.
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spongebobafettywap · 5 months ago
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My stance on Rogue originally intended to be black and based on Grace Jones is coincidentally the same as when I first heard Nightcrawler was supposed to be based on Michael Jackson
I was very surprised and somewhat intrigued but then I thought about it and realized that the excuses we got as to why there wasn't more efforts put in representing that intended inspiration sounded cheap AF and whatever was done in canon didn't corroborate with those intentions at all
Rogue had the artist not know what the actress looked like so... Let's just give up on the idea ! Claremont couldn't describe Grace Jones or get for one of her albums or one of her movie posters ! Nothing can be done for this black character now so let's make her white instead of anything else for representation !
The issue with Michael Jackson for Nightcrawler is the same as Grace Jones for Rogue since Michael Jackson started his musical career in the 60s, switched to a solo one in the 70s and was a big global star since the end of that decade onward so Nightcrawler would have been more than aware of his existence... But not once does he make a single reference to that big star. He makes references to Errol Flynn most of his time, an actor who had been dead for decades by the time he came to America, as well as other pop culture icons, yet MJ gets nothing when he would have already started making his famous music videos or short films. Not even Nightcrawler's fake appearance on his image inducer which he gets to choose and change at will is based on MJ, it's based on Errol Flynn. None of his mannerism are tied to Michael either, he was based on Dave Cockrum. His original concept was a demon that Dave thought off while in a submarine and when Len Wein took the character, he made him German-born. When we finally got a glimpse in the 90s at what Nightcrawler looks like when he was depowered, he was an average white dude with blue eyes... What part of him is supposed to be based on MJ
Youre right and I don't see how Nightcrawler could be based on MJ, when Nightcrawler was made it was actually back in the 60s but Cockrum never published him. The oldest sketch we have of him is from the 1973 Pitch for Legion of Superheroes.
Michael Jackson started his career at age 5 but didn't get famous until he was 10 going on 11 in 1969 with I Want you Back by the Jackson 5. How could Dave Cockrum look at kid Michael Jackson who didn't even have his 80s style by that point and come up with Nightcrawler? And even in 1975, Michael was still with the Jacksons and still rocking the big afro and wasn't really known for wearing red. So again this only works if anachronisms in real life are a thing.
Michael Jackson didn't get the Jheri Curls until like 1980 a whole 5 years after Nightcrawler's debut. He didn't get the Thriller Jacket which resembles Nightcrawler's suit until 1983.
The resemblance between them is coincidental, after 1980s you could probably some instances are based on MJ and I hope there are some examples.
And I'll be honest I would love it if the modern comics tried to add MJ influence such as his hologram device when he wants to look human. Though the quality of the comics now makes me doubt that happening.
I also feel like whoever keeps claiming X-Men characters were based on Black Musicians be it Claremont or otherwise just seem to be unintentionally showing everyone just how bad X-Men actually is in terms of representation if there's like 3 characters who are meant to be black but two have been depicted as white and one is ambiguous but Marvel loves depicting as white then wtf.
Of course Dazzler is the only one we actually have art of as a Black Woman and the only one who doesn't sound inconsistent with time with Michael Jackson or raises too many questions like how would Claremont not be able to describe Grace Jones or find a picture of her? Still though they are admitting to whitewashing a black character with that..
I'd like it to be the case that these 3 are actually depicted as black characters or a racially ambiguous brown but I don't think Marvel is gonna do that.
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imsparky2002 · 2 years ago
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Halloween Fun: Part 4
The Akuma class were surprised at how thorough the school had been with decorating every room. It was known that Principal Damocles loved Halloween, but this was a whole new level of commitment. As they entered Miss Bustier's classroom, there were gasps of shock at the decor. Cobwebs everywhere, an eerie fog on the floor, ominous messages and fake blood on the walls, and for some reason, an old phone on the teacher’s desk.
“I am loving this spooky vibe!” Alya said, taking a picture to post on her blog. “They really went all out with this place.”
“Y-Yeah...” Mylene shivered, looking at the fake blood. “It’s r-really detailed.” Ivan gave his girlfriend a comforting hug. “It’s alright, Little Mouse. None of it’s real.” he whispered. “Exactly, the staff just wanted to get into the spirit of the holiday.” Nathaniel replied, holding in the urge to chuckle. The guests hadn’t even shown up and they were already getting spooked!
As usual, Chloe took the opportunity to ridicule and tease her classmates. “Once a scaredy-cat, always a scaredy-cat, Haprele.” Chloe sneered. “It’s just a bunch of lame props! Ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous!” Mylene just gave her a frown. “Last time you teased me, I got akumatized. Do you want Horrificator to come back for a visit?” she countered. Chloe shut up immediately.
“Yo, where’s Rose and Juleka?” Kim asked, noticing their absence. As someone who was in on the scare, and providing them with his tech, Max jumped in. “Rose is at the dentist.” he said. “And Juleka told me she was out sailing with Luka and their mom.” Nathaniel added. “Juleka would’ve loved all of this.” Marinette admitted. “Yeah, but I don’t think Rose would’ve.” Adrien replied. “A cute peppy girl like her wouldn’t want anything to do with a scary holiday like Halloween.”
GhostRose hid behind the bookshelf, rolling her eyes as her classmates spoke of her as if she were a frightened little child. “We’ll see about that.” JV muttered from her hiding spot inside the fake desk. All of a sudden, the phone begins to ring. Adrien goes to pick it up. He gives a couple of “Ohs” and “Oks” and then says goodbye. He looks puzzled as he hangs up.
“Who was it, dude?” Nino asked. “That was Miss Bustier. She said she thought it would be fun if for Halloween, her ancestor taught the class.” he replied. The class began to mutter in confusion. “Ancestor?” Sabrina asked. “Yes. Apparently, her ancestor Florence used to teach at DuPont, and now her spirit stays here at the school.” he replied. “So I guess her ghost is going to teach us.”
“Oh shit.” Alix said. “I remember looking up the school’s website, and I stumbled on the list of former teachers. Florence Bustier really exists.”
Kim began to sweat and rock back and forth a little. “Come on guys, this is just Miss B pranking us. There’s no such thing as ghosts!” he said nervously. Some of the kids were about to argue with him, but were interrupted when Marinette got a notification on her phone.
“Huh, Aurore just texted me. Says they have some ‘guests’ in their class.” she stated. Mylene got a notification as well and look surprised. “Reshma says they got a vampire.” Mylene replied. “As well as... oh my god! The Phantom of DuPont?” Everyone except for Lila, Alya and Adrien gasped in shock. “What’s that” Adrien asked. As the expert on the subject, Mylene took some time to explain.
“Well, you know our school is hundreds of years old. There’s this old legend about a ghost that haunts the school, mostly the theater. They say he’s caused terrible accidents, but that he also helps sometimes!”
Kim just groaned and started rocking back and forth in his seat. “Aw come on, man!” he complained. “Every time I hear about that... thing, I feel like I'm gonna have a heart attack.” Nathaniel nodded. “One thing’s for sure. The Phantom loves to give people a fright.” he replied. Lila tried yet another attempt at gaining popularity by using her silver tongue. “Oh, I’ve met the phantom before! He can be SO romantic when he wants to be.” Lila blushed. “Most the stories say the Phantom was gay.” Marinette corrected. “G-gay people existed back then?” Lila gaped. The rest of the class looked at her with a “really?” face. Their conversation stopped as a ghostly voice echoed throughout the room.
“Oooooohwhoooo, greetings my dear stuuuuudents! How are yoooou on this fine spooooky daaaay?” it wailed. Marinette had a pretty good idea who this was supposed to be.
“Guys,” she said. “I think this is the “ancestor” Miss Bustier was talking about.”
There was a flash of lightning, and a white translucent figure rose out of the floor. It looked like one of those old Scooby Doo ghosts, except this one was floating from the ground. What the students who were in on the scare knew that this illusion was provided by a projector, holograms, and a bunch of mirrors.
Another flash, and she disappeared once more, reappearing behind Adrien and Alya, causing them to scream. She glided towards them, arms outstretched.
“Ooooooh, I am Miss Boooostier. It’s a pleasure to meeet yoouuu!” she moaned. Alya tentatively smiled and trembled a little as she responded. “H-hello, Miss Boostier. What are you going to teach us?” she asked. The spectre glided away, going through Kim’s body, causing him to yelp in fear.
“Ooooooh, well, befooore we start our frightful histoooory lessons fooor the day, we have soooome guest stuuudents of our oooown to meet!” Boostier said. “Wh-who are the guests?” Sabrina shivered.
Just at that moment, the old phone rang. Since Boostier was unable to pick it up, Marinette went up to put the phone to her ghostly ears. :Helllloooo, Miss Boooostier speeeakinnng!” Boostier answered.
GhostRose gave an ominous chuckle as she prepared to make her entrance.
“Hello... Miss Boostier.” she replied.
And now we have a teacher involved with the scares! Miss Bustier’s a fan of the holiday and decided to some of the students out with this little prank. Next up is GhostRose, so that’ll be exciting. As usual thanks to Weeby for helping me out with the dialogue. Make sure to reblog, reply, post and ask for thoughts on the content. @artzychic27 @msweebyness
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