#So I am annoyed at having to clash these two values together

[maeamian]

It may be because I mentioned my autism in the post, but I need everyone in the notes to calm down I am not confused by this situation nor do I need an explanation for how to handle it, I am annoyed that it is pervasive and all encompassing. I hate customer feedback survey culture because it doesn't want my real survey answers it wants me to snitch on employees and momma didn't raise a scab

This may just be the autism speaking, but I fucking hate when customer surveys ask me 'how likely are you to recommend this or that to a friend' because they are lying about what they're asking. I am 0% likely to recommend almost any product to any friend and especially not by brand if at all possible, but what they want to know is 'did you have a decent experience with the thing' and that's a whole other fucking question if you want that answered fucking ask that. Except if I answer the question they're asking instead of the secret question, they yell at their employees on my behalf which I never wanted either. Terrible system, would not recommend it to a friend.

[green-enby]

Heyo! Have you watched Koisenu Futari (恋せぬふたり, Two people who can't fall in love) yet? It's a great series, just 8 episodes long! I binged it in one day :) [smiley]

It focuses on two aromantic asexual people living together. This is a little appreciation post, containing some thoughts that it evoked in me as an aroace.

If you don't want spoilers, please don't read!

It's so relatable how Sakuko keeps blaming herself all throughout the show… Insecurity stemming from societal expectations that dictate romance is for everyone, and that people who don't date are somehow "failing" in life; I think this affects allos as well.

When I broke off my romantic relationship, I too felt like it had been my fault, for not having been a good enough partner, for not being able to love them in the same way they loved me.

To finally learn that you are not "defective", that there's other people like you…! I love how the two MCs don't grieve their lack of attraction; Sakuko is perfectly happy discovering she's aroace. She and Takahashi are living their "best life" together.

Sure, many aroaces do wish they were allo, and that needs to be represented too, but this series to me really shined a light over why they want that: it's because amatonormativity is rampant in the world, not because lacking attraction is inherently sad. The main conflicts in the series stem from the clash between allo society and the aroace experience, after all. I think that's neat! It gave me a good dose of aroace joy—while still showing the hurts that come with it, realistically—and I really needed it.

I didn't expect her to come out to her family so soon, but whoa, that was intense. Her mother's negative reaction is what all people who exclude a-spec people from the LGBTQIA+ community should see, to understand that we face the same issues they do.

I haven't come out to my parents as aroace yet, and watching this made me realize how awful it actually feels to be in the closet. I somehow hadn't realized I am. I've always felt safe coming out to them as other things, as bisexual back in the day, and as trans non-binary.

It might be because my confidence disappeared when they reacted badly both times, but this coming out feels almost impossible.

Comparing it to coming out as bi, it's really not that different: if you're bi, you're promiscuous and date too many people; if you're aroace, you're a prude and cold-hearted. If you break away from the status quo, you're wrong either way.

But at least, most people do eventually understand the bi experience, if they understand same-gender attraction, and fuse it with straightness, even though it's a flawed method.

With aros and aces, instead, it's such an alien concept for an allo, which makes it way harder to come out and have to explain to them how to deconstruct allo-amatonormativity. It's exhausting. Thankfully, there's people like Kazu who are actually willing to learn about us. That gives me hope.

I feel like it's super eye-opening to find out the concept of romance didn't even exist in the past. Pretty sure that in Europe, it originated during the Middle Ages from the ideal of chivalry. So it's really just a social construct, and opting out of it shouldn't be so controversial!

It's just a set of pointless, annoying rules like having to kiss eachother, having to say "I love you", and doing it all a set amount of times, otherwise it's not good enough. What if we don't want to? What if it doesn't come natural to us? If it's just a social construct, fuck it, I'm not adhering to that! We do whatever makes us happy!

Even in the series itself, Sakuko too goes through a heartbreak, even if it's not the romantic kind: she valued her friendship and future cohabitation with Chizuru above all else, but Chizuru abandoned her, because of romantic love. It's not true that aroaces have it easy.

Like our MC, we have to deal with fear that we'll come off flirty when we're just being friendly, confusion over concepts that we feel we should understand, shame over the fact that we're different, fear of loneliness, frustration and pain that we'll always come second to our friends' romantic partners, or even trauma from a relationship or sexual encounter that we didn't really want. I could go on and on.

These last scenes really got to me. Especially the second one… I admit that I cried, when she had to turn her down, and it seemed like her aromanticism had ruined their relationship. It hurts that the way I am could seriously harm someone I care about. It hurts that most people work differently and that they can't help it, and that we can't help it either. I don't like being put in that position, to cause someone a heartbreak. I have with my ex, and had to watch them spiral down… It was horrible.

Still, I wouldn't change my orientation for the world. I'm confident in my identity, I love being aroace.

In the end, we can all reach our full potential, reach a point where we feel fulfilled and that we're living our best life, find ourselves a family if it's what we want, have our dream job and house. Being aroace doesn't condemn us to a life of unhappiness. That's what this series left me with by the end; it gave me so much hope for my future.

(I'm aware I'm coming off as a bit toxically positive here haha, sorry if I'm striking a bad chord; I'm just in a really good period right now, and riding this wave for as long as I can! Hopefully I can rub it off someone else as well.)

That said, I really loved this j-drama, it was funny and relatable and emotional, I wished it had lasted longer! It seems like the author isn't even aroace herself, so I'm amazed at how good the representation was! So much thought and research has gone into it, and it shows; the result is amazing.

Thanks for reading my scattered thoughts about this! 🧡💛🤍🩵💙

[sinisterexaggerator]

Genuinely curious: How did you get hooked on Banaka?

I have an enabler, that’s why. A few, but none so great as @allsystemsblue and I thank her every day for that. Not only do we have daily discussions about those two, but it makes the ideas run wild in my head. The more and more I think about them, the more ways I see them being good together, so much so I name them my OTP.

At first, like most Bane Stans, I was like, nah, he’d hate him. Hondo would annoy the fuck out of Bane, and while that may be true, that doesn’t account for things such as nuance, or growing to be obsessed with your “enemy” to the point it becomes homoerotic. >D

But I sell myself short. I have thought way too long and hard to give a simple explanation such as this, so let me delve a little more into the idea by explaining a bit of their canon backstories, and then my own takes on how they work well together and why.

Bane grew up on Duro, specifically in New Tayana, and lived in an area called the “Descent Ghetto.” It was not a nice place. Hondo was raised for a time on Sriluur, a not so nice place either, in Hutt Space where his mother taught him how to pick-pocket, among other things. Eventually, he was sold into slavery, but he knew deep down I am sure that it was for the money. He escaped, but we can determine they both have a rough start in life.

At this level we might say there could be an understanding. A mutual respect for a man who is self-made. In this they can relate, and while Hondo has his own set of problems commanding an entire crew, both could possibly confide in one another and discuss life’s ills.

As I mentioned in a previous post, Jango and Bane are an “item” if you will, for a period of time. I have yet to decide all the determining factors or all the things I want to cover in this part of my story, but based on what I know about Jango, he was not an affectionate sort. Gruff, surly, to the point, a man of few words, and with a short temper who has little patience for bullshit. If we take that and add to it a cunning, outspoken, brash, ill-tempered, sassy, aggressive Duros, to me that equates to an unhappy ending, or a clashing of personalities are they are both so similar. In this case, opposites attract.

If Jango and Bane were to part ways, Hondo being in the picture and observing their relationship, seeing the value in Cad, becoming fascinated and absorbed in him, regardless of if Bane knows or acknowledges that fact, should he give the Weequay a chance, all those things he has been denied through Jango easily come into fruition via Hondo Ohnaka.

This man needs love, support, a friend even, healing. He is traumatized in part due to his past (my story), and Jango is not that empathetic or concerned.

Hondo is attentive, charming, a deep thinker despite his clownish façade. If Bane can get past his petty grievances, if they were to share a moment or two alone, if they had a chance to talk, to linger in each other’s presence, if BANE ALLOWED HIM A SHOT, I think Ohnaka could sweep him off his feet. He would see there was more to him than just the flamboyant, foppish pirate.

Granted, Bane is untrusting. He sees the women; men; sentients, that Hondo brings to Florrum. He knows of his sexual escapades. He knows he’s a flirt and a scoundrel, so it is tough going in the beginning for Bane to accept what he is experiencing or receiving from him is genuine.

Perhaps they engage in something together, possibly among others, that is a sexual awakening in Bane. I see Hondo as giving to Bane things he has never felt before or even knew was possible.

He would hate it. It would unnerve him. He wouldn’t know what to think, to do, how to address this feeling inside himself, and it would soon devour him alive.

Maybe he needs more of it, despite wanting to inflict violence or damage against the person (Ohnaka) that made him feel this way. It becomes a need, a thirst so infuriatingly strong in him that it must be quenched.

This could develop in to a tentative, informal, even secretive relationship. It could go on for months, weeks, Hondo one of the few people who can bounce right back after one of Cad’s terrible mood swings. He doesn’t take offense to his words, or rarely if that, something more personal perhaps, but he is able to deal with this terrible, bratty boy and knows just how to placate him, how to soothe him.

Maybe casual sex “digresses," or “upgrades” to feelings being involved, real affection occurring, yet also hidden behind closed doors.  I foresee angst, drama, hurt, comfort, and a whole plethora of other tropes occurring between these two.

One is the concept of “sun” and “moon.” Hondo is the sun to Bane’s moon. He is the sunshine one, the happy one, the one who can get this bounty hunter out of his funk on more than one occasion, despite his jealous, possessive tendencies.

To me they are perfectly complimentary. That’s basically it. Not only that, Hondo knows when he needs his space, when not to crowd him, when to stand down, and even though Bane may raise his hand against him, Hondo would never afford him the same reaction. Not like Jango.

Though Hondo speaks many, many words, actions speak louder to Bane, and Hondo can read him, whereas many cannot.

Pair that with his almost obsessive interest in Bane, and the fact he is without a doubt attracted to him from the moment Fett brings him to Florrum, and we have for a most interesting potential ship, IMO.

[totallynotsloughjykk]

me: xiao zhi and jing mei are genuinely made for each other. I can confirm as I am in fact the maker. they confuse and twist each other's worldviews and perceptions of themselves in ways that are both healthy and unhealthy, though they usually cancel themselves out or work through them together. xiao zhi's extreme self sacrificial nature and her tendency to put others before herself in any situation is thrown off by jing mei's disdain towards any concern or worry people have for her. xiao zhi is additionally very careful as to not upset others and jing mei makes these two parts of her clash frequently. this surprisingly doesn't cause xiao zhi to tiptoe around her - in fact, she's a lot more comfortable around jing mei simply because of that. however, she feels guilt for not being able to help her and tries her best to offer support even when jing mei rejects it; if it's absolutely needed she'll go above and beyond for her. jing mei has a similar way of acting, but it's another extreme. she has mildly suicidal tendencies and a general lack of care for herself, which often terrifies xiao zhi. while mostly appearing cold and uncaring, she is, in fact, very caring at heart. she's surprised that someone's genuinely worried for her and her health and wants her to be well so her first instinct is to run away from complicated new feelings she hasn't felt before. however, the more time they spend around each other, the more they extend their comfort zone and overall perception of themselves. jing mei gives personal value and societal value to everyone around her; she views relationships as transactional, and xiao zhi being doting, careful and overall a pleasant person with others confuses her and directly goes against what she originally thought was how bonds worked. xiao zhi was kind just for the sake of it, and jing mei thought she was stupid for a long time before that worldview gradually began to shift. also, her affection was completely unconditional - something jing mei had never come across before. affection was a reward to her, and she hadn't done anything extraordinary for her. this made her realize how much she had lacked it and needed it, and while she didn't really want to lean on her for it, she also desperately craved it. she wouldn't say it, though. xiao zhi's worldview was rocked by jing mei as well - she originally viewed herself as instantly 'lesser'. she never gave herself any value other than to help others, and she thought that was her purpose. xiao zhi didn't think anything of herself at all - she assumed her only positive trait was her obedience and people-pleasing skills. jing mei, as I've said before, rocked her perspective on this. she liked her just for her, nothing else. she loathed being helped and was visibly annoyed with what was usually the only thing others liked in her, and that stunned her greatly. I've mentioned previously that they cancel out each other's flaws, but I would also like to point out the problems that come with their wildly different personalities and mindsets. jing mei is terrified of vulnerability and puts on an indifferent, snarky, uncaring façade - she tends to say things she doesn't actually mean, and xiao zhi wholeheartedly believes her every time. xiao zhi gives her distance afterwards but it's not what jing mei actually needs, it's just what she thinks she wants. she feels pathetic whenever she's sad or upset or anything other than numbness or annoyance. xiao zhi takes a long time to figure her out but they gradually learn more about each other and how to handle the other's problems, flaws and character. they compliment the other in a way that no one else can; and no one else will. me: they should make out sloppy style right now

[magicpotatoobsession]

Can I ask about what shizusumi means by 'that suffering of yours is alien to me' to uenoyama? I don't really get it. Or do already have an explanation about that but I just didn't find it? And also, I am curious if uenoyama falls in love at first sight with mafuyu. It's true or maybe not.

Hello fren! Yes, I did sort of cover this in my Chapter 42/Mix_12 Initial Thoughts! Shizu is using music as a means to stay beside Hiiragi. Like if Hiiragi said to Shizu "oh, let's disband tomorrow". Shizu would be like "cool no worries as long as we get to stay together". While Ue is suffering from Mafuyu's hesitation towards music because music is Ue's life passion. Why Shizu feels the need to stick to Hiiragi like glue is talked about in more depth in this post here.

Does Ue fall in love at first sight?

Hmnnn..... I read your question and I was thinking about it the WHOLE way home from rehearsals about how I was going to answer this and the thing is....it depends on how you define and whether you yourself believe in

"love at first sight".

So I define love as being something a little more complex and comprising of several stages:

a) physical attraction: I think yes you can find someone cute when you first see them

b) emotional attraction: you develop a crush and you feel something stir in you, you feel emotionally moved by that person.

c) companionship: but to truly fall in LOVE, like GENUINE HEALTHY LOVE, you want the person you crush on to share the same needs, wants and values as you do. That's when you can envision a life together.

KEEP THIS IN MIND I'LL BE REFERRING TO THESE POINTS. I just want to recognise that there are so many different forms of attraction but for the purposes of this meta, I'll just be referring to these two forms of attraction, I hope that's ok with everyone.

Ideally, all three aspects need to be fulfilled in my opinion for someone to be IN LOVE. Therefore, love cannot be achieved at first sight so I don't really believe in "love at first sight".

So personally I think Uenoyama didn't fall in love at first sight, in fact I think Ue actually was annoyed at Mafuyu (LOL) for:

stealing his napping spot

rusty guitar strings

But then Mafuyu has those sad-ass puppy dog eyes that no one can resist so Ue, because he's inherently a really kind bean, was like "OH MAH GOD STOP LOOKING SO SADDDDD" and fixed it for him.

Ue was just annoyed, like "bruh, look after your expensive-ass Gibson plzzz".

BUTTTTTTTT 🍑

Then just out of habit, Ue played a quick chord after tuning the strings and Mafuyu did this "PLEASE TEACH ME MUSIC!!!"

Ue didn't know it at the time but he just had

c) companionship: his core need of wanting to do music with someone fulfilled.

Remember Haruki mentioned in Chapter 13 that:

Ue always seems to clash with his previous band members. Ue's life passion is music so I think whether he knows it or not, he actually really wants someone his own age (Akihiko and Haruki don't count because seniority is a thing in Japan), whether it's a friend or a partner, to be able to share his life passion with.

Ue REALLY freaking enjoyed the attention he was getting from Mafuyu following him around like an excited puppy, Ue would never admit it tho HAHAHHAHAHA. But we could definitely tell from his bored ass face when Mafuyu stopped following him HAHHAHA. But that's because @deep-fried-brain-cells both agree that HAHAH, Ue is a bit of an Tsundere LOL

So when Mafuyu says that even though, he went to the light music club, he still found Ue to be "cooler". This subconsciously fulfilled Ue's top needs and wants of finding someone that he can share his love of music with by guiding them. This really appeased Ue's core attribute because

Ue's an ~Ore-sama~ 😆😆😆

But I don't think he's in love at this point. Yes Ue did seem mindblown at Mafuyu's response but Akihiko and Haruki were also shooketh so the explosions were more shock rather than a sign of love.

---

Fast foward to when Ue heard Mafuyu sing. That's when

b) emotional attraction: Ue felt something stir inside him emotionally. Mafuyu's singing SERIOUSLY moved Ue!

From a young age, Ue found an oasis, a safe space in listening to music which then turned into a passion for composing. But somewhere along the way, he felt a bit lost and lost his passion for music. Honestly, I think Ue went through a bit of depression. (A clear symptom was how much he was napping at school T_T)

But seeing how well Mafuyu expresses himself through music (remember Mafuyu only thinks he expresses himself badly) through his singing REMINDED Ue of how much he himself used to LOVE and care for music.

Mafuyu's music shook Ue to his core.

Which is why after that moment, c) potential companionship actually finally registers in Ue's brain and he realises that maybe, JUST MAYBE,

Mafuyu's needs and wants and his own needs and wants could be aligned!

Which is why he asks Mafuyu to join the band! He wants to do music together with Mafuyu! He wants to share his life passion with Mafuyu!

Ok ok ok, so it could be interpreted that THE VERY MOMENT THAT Ue heard Mafuyu sing and asked Mafuyu to join the band,

Ue fell in love. <3

At least Akihiko noticed it.

Akihiko does that crazy 🤖robotic 🤖laugh LOL but he knows EXACTLY how overwhelming it is to fall in love FOR THE FIRST TIME. Not only that, remember Akihiko fell in love with Ugetsu not because he simply saw Ugetsu, but he heard Ugetsu play the violin and overtime understood why Ugetsu was such an amazing player. It was because like Mafuyu, Ugetsu expresses his emotions through his music. Akihiko and Ue are very similar in this way that they are incredibly moved by Ugetsu and Mafuyu who express their raw vulnerable selves through music.

Are Aki and Ue music-sexuals LOL? Is that an orientation? 😂😂😂 (honestly super relatable tho! My friends and I were literally talking about how the cohort at our music Conservatorium seem so normal and then the moment they pick up their instrument, sing or play, they all become so attractive 😂😆)

Three other hot clues as to why I think Ue fell in love the moment he listened to Mafuyu sing are:

In the anime when Mafuyu first declined to join the band, Ue first asked Yayoi about how she’s still hanging out with Akihiko even though Akihiko turned her down and Yayoi smacked him with a cushion 😆😆😆

Ue fricking searched up “how to ask someone out even after they have rejected you” on his phone 🤣🤣🤣 as a reference to try and pitch to Mafuyu again about joining the band LMAOOOOO

We hear Mafuyu’s singing in episode 2. Episode 2 is titled “Like someone in Love” 🤭🤭🤭 LERCHE studios knows what’s up.

Ue was so moved that he couldn't help but try to process his feelings but composing a song for Mafuyu <3

---

Chapter 5, Ue finally noticed Mafuyu laughing out loud for the first time and makes a mental note of it!

I honestly believe this is ACTUALLY the first time it registers in his dense-ass brain that "Mafuyu is kind of cute when he smiles????" But Ue's still thicc-headed HAHAHA

After, Ue learns about Mafuyu's past and we get the whole:

"It's Jealousy"

scene where Ue feels the need of wanting to be someone's No.1 for the first time. BUT EVEN THEN, he doesn't realise it until finally finally finally

Akihiko has the talk with Ue and makes him realise that a) he is physically attracted to Mafuyu, Mafuyu is freaking cute! Ue FINALLY REGISTERS that "holy shit"

❤️"I may be in love with MAFUYU!"❤️

lmao then Akihiko did this with his hand

TRUST ME THIS IS THE MOMENT when Akihiko made Ue's virgin self desperate for graduation HAHAHHA! Previously our nerdy composer boi was too busy doing music and napping! So it was only AFTER that conversation with Akihiko that it actually registers in Ue's brain that in addition to wanting to have some sort of c) companionship with Mafuyu and music and b) feeling emotionally attracted to Mafuyu, he is ALSO a) physically and sexually attracted to Mafuyu and then starts to FULL BLOWN ~GAY PANIC~ when he is in physical proximity to Mafuyu hahahahha. ------

So this is interesting....

For most heterosexual and heteroromantic people (I am generalising here to make a point), you'll have things happen in the linear order of a), b) then c), but for Ue it was backwards. Some may attribute this to just Ue being dense AF and while that is partially true,

CODE chapters is the story of Ue essentially coming to terms with his sexuality and navigating the bombshell of a confusion that is his first romantic relationship.

Or as @a-voice-of-my-own puts it, Ue's a BABY GAY. Humans as a whole filter reality through the way we are brought up, our experiences, decisions, what media we consume and how society reacts to us.

The lack of LGBTQIA+ representation means that LGBTQIA+ individuals lack the resources to help them easily identify sexual/romantic attraction compared to cis hetero individuals.

Furthermore, societal and political marginalisation of the LGBTQIA+ community, especially in a conservative country like Japan means that internalised homophobia and trauma make it even harder to recognise feelings of love and attraction.

So following my definition of love, I don't think Ue fell in love at first sight. Ue may have found Mafuyu subconsciously cute from the beginning (who can resist the lost puppy AWWW) but he processed that as a feeling of ANNOYANCE and WANTING TO CHEER HIM UP rather than as a feeling of romantic or sexual attraction. Even then, at first Ue just really enjoyed the attention and teaching Mafuyu music. Uenoyama and Mafuyu were becoming good friends. However, slowly he realised that Mafuyu shared the same values, needs and emotionally touched him in a way that no one else has ever before.

Mafuyu touched Uenoyama with MUSIC🎵❤️

Ue is by no means perfect as he is a growing teenager and navigating his overwhelming feelings but it's been established by everyone around Ue that he's a really honest and standup guy. The reason why Mafuyama is so good for each other is because they both value honesty.

In summary, perhaps Mafuyama chemistry was there from the beginning but to me, falling in love is a slower process than “at first sight”.

What I absolutely adore is that the moment Ue recognised his love for Mafuyu and realised that Mafuyu loves music as much as he does,

UE IS TRYING TO AIM FOR A FUTURE WITH MAFUYU AND MUSIC IN IT AND THAT'S TRUE LOVE 💕

-> For further reading, I don't know if you've checked out this post where I pinpointed exactly when Mafuyu falls in love with Ue.

—-

Masterlist of my Given Metas

If you like what you read, all I post in Given analysis content! Give my blog a follow to be notified of future posts! #metapotato

[bigskydreaming]

Hi! I was reading a fanfic and it brought up Roy and Dick's fight, which I see a lot of in fics but never what they fought about and consequently why they don't talk. I thought it was a vague excuse/reason why Roy was Jason's friend not Dick's anymore but this fic brought up when Dick was batman so I was wondering if there was actually a fight between them? Btw I really enjoy your metas! They're v thought out and well articulated. Also it's v easy to separate what's your opinion and what's fact which is. Very helpful for me

Yeah this is one hundred percent a fanon thing that's kept deliberately vague to justify why Roy in his friendship with Jason seems to have no positive thoughts or concerns about Dick whatsoever. Now granted, Dick and Roy are not nearly as close in the New 52 as they were pre-Reboot. The lack of their friendship there is definitely one of the things I disliked most about the Reboot - and I actually don't care if Jason and Roy are friends tbh, its the total erasure of his history with Dick as if he can't be friends with both, that like, bugs most.

But so like, yeah, Roy and Dick aren't super close when they interact on the Titans in the New 52, but there's literally nothing in any of their interactions that explains the complete absence of him from Roy's life or a reason that Roy would like, hate him the way he tends to in a lot of Jason-centric fics.

When you factor in pre-Reboot stuff though, it starts to get a LOT more.....uh wyd? And this is why I have trouble buying that people just write Roy and Jason the way they do because its the only thing they know from recent comics. Like one, most fans talk about how they don't even read the source comics, so there's no reason their knowledge of the characters or events would be limited to just recent comics if they're going off wiki summaries and scans anyway. And second, most fans AREN'T limited in their knowledge to just recent comics.

Like, the second people start writing Roy and Jason and Kori but with their pre-52 characterizations and references to events from THAT timeline, it all gets very messy, the way they're like, completely antagonistic towards Dick a lot of the time. Because Roy and Dick were always solid. Yes, they fought. A lot. But they always, ALWAYS made up afterwards. They had conflict about Roy's drug addiction - it didn't stop Dick from being there to support him through rehab, or Dick being the first person Roy called to help him get Lian after he learned of her existence. Dick literally held Lian before Roy ever did? He's the one who first put her in Roy's arms for the first time.

(Which is the prime grudge I and most Dick Grayson fans have about Roy and Jason fics which make Jason like, the absolute apple of Lian's eye. If you want to expand Lian's circle of loved and trusted ones to include Jason as Roy's friend and thus her uncle, like go for it! But there's zero reason that should require invalidating and erasing the fact that Dick was this little girl's adored godfather and uncle for pretty much her entire life. And the way Dick is just shoved offstage from Lian's life entirely, to slot Jason into his place as though they're completely interchangeable, its like....THAT'S the kind of thing that gets people irey about how Jason 'steals' Dick's dynamics and character relationships.

Because there's nothing saying they both can't be major players in Roy and Lian's lives! But just that they're not interchangeable! You need to develop the specific role Jason plays there WITHOUT just overwriting everything Dick actually did in relation to the two of them pre-Flashpoint, which is what you're drawing from the second you write Lian, unless you're specifically going with the few appearances we've had of her within literally just the last year.

But I mean, when people just search and replace Dick Grayson in all Roy and Lian's pre-Reboot stories and act like Jason was the one doing all of that instead.....why wouldn't fans of the source material be annoyed by a character getting credit for interactions and things done for Lian and Roy that Jason literally NEVER DID, while at the EXACT SAME TIME, conjuring some mysterious, unnamed 'Falling Out' that Roy and Dick had, that was clearly all Dick's fault, and resulted from him being basically excised entirely from Roy and Lian's lives?

Same with Kori, for the record, and like despite being Dick's ex, she and Dick have NEVER been like, estranged? She and Dick have often been close even after their breakup. None of it makes any sense, and the fact that a lot of fans don't even try to make it make sense or justify it, and expect other fans to just be fine with settling for an inexplicable reversal of Dick's every actual dynamic with these characters while setting up Jason to occupy the exact same role Dick played in these other characters' lives, like.....lol. Its fun.)

Anyway, back to your question, like, there are fights you can go with pre-Reboot as the source of various conflicts between Dick and Roy - but again, I maintain its just as crucial that they're always written as getting past them. They have a very tempestuous relationship because they are the two people MOST likely to call each other on their shit, two of the two people WITH the most shit in common due to the parallels in their childhoods and the roles they've occupied in the Titans and the superhero community in general, and the two people most resistant to being called out on their shit by each other, lol. Mostly in that case because like, they do recognize that they have a lot in common and understand each other very well, so the second the other is calling them out for something, they're usually like "ugh, if HE'S saying this, its probably true and I am just not prepared yet to be wrong about this. I need more time being unjustifiably rawr about things." Its like that thing where they both look at each other doing something that feels familiar or calls back to their own reasons for doing something and they're like ugh I'm in this picture and I don't like it.

So they clash. A lot. But always with the implicit bedrock of like, there's nothing either of them can do or say to the other that will push the other away for good.

They fought over Roy replacing Dick as leader of the Titans when Dick's wedding fell apart, even though Roy actually didn't want to do it and was kinda pushed into it by the government, but again, Dick like, got over it and realized it was for the best and forgave Roy for it that very same issue. And on and on. It always went like that. So there's plenty of stuff that can be used or pointed at as a source of conflict between the two, but the part I'll always call unbelievable is the idea that they never make up after one of these fights. Why now? What fight, specifically, is so bad between them that despite everything else they've gone through AND gotten past, they can't get past this one? Y'know?

So yeah, that's my take on this. There is no definitive falling out between Dick and Roy as many fics like to point to in order to shove him offscreen and make room for Jason in Roy and Lian's lives, and personally, I just don't find it necessary and I actually think it makes Roy look REALLY bad. Because when you're not specifically detailing all the things that Dick has actually DONE for Roy, the lengths to which he's been there for his friend, and like, specifically invalidating each and every one of them as something that never happened in a particular fic, then literally anyone who reads that fic and has their own awareness of Dick and Roy's friendship is kiiiiiinda likely to be reading that and thinking wow what an ungrateful asshole, when Roy's just written as bitching about Dick with Jason and sandbagging him without any real explanation as to WHY, beyond just 'oh they had a fight years ago.'

(And coming up with some random awful thing that Dick did to justify Roy hating him now isn't like, a superior alternative, lmao, because again, its still just trashing one character for the sake of getting him out of the way of two other characters' friendship and people are going to think what they think about that).

Anyway, my now standard stock disclaimer that like, there doesn't actually need to be a canon fight obviously, for people to just write things this way and handwave that Dick and Roy had an epic falling out years ago and now they just hate one another or whatever, or just Roy hates him or vice versa. Obviously people are free to do what they want. They don't need a reason other than "I want to write it this way so Jason and Roy are friends and Jason doesn't have to 'share' him with Dick or have his friendship be overshadowed by their greater history together." That just happens to be a reason that no Dick Grayson fan is ever really going to be happy about, lol, for what should be perfectly obvious reasons, so it honestly shouldn't be surprising to people that fans of the source material often gripe about it.

Because yeah fanfic is a tremendous opportunity to transform the source material into something better, but if what's better for some fans actively takes away what was working perfectly well for other fans the original way, they're going to say that. Especially in a fandom where so many new fans take their view of the characters and their dynamics from fics rather than the source material - when fandom has that much of an influence on what new fans perceive to be 'canon,' fans are perfectly within their right to emphasize what is ACTUALLY canon and what isn't, so that new fans at least have the opportunity to determine for themselves what take they want to go with, instead of just accepting at face value that the nature of say, Dick and Roy's relationship is just that Roy hates Dick because of some mumble mumble ancient history vague mumble details not found mumble mumble fight.

[frobin]

Hi! Ok, I know it isn't very related to Frobin (except if you decide to mention them in the answer), but I am curious about your opionion on this thing. If the end of One Piece have someone of the Straw Hat crew that can die, who can be? OBVIOUSLY I hope nobody, that this thing doesn't happen, but never say never. There're people who say Luffy to recreate Roger's connection. Someone else Usop (but I miss the reason). Or Jinbe, who has also some problems and enemies from previous experiences?

Hey there anon!

No worries about asking questions. This is a FRobin blog but it's also a One Piece blog so it's fine to ask all kind of questions about One Piece. Even though I wouldn't consider myself much of an *expert* so everything I write is very much influenced by my own impressions.

But you're asking for my opinion anyway so that disclaimer is not necessary in this case. XD

---

Okay, first of all: I'm no fan of death flags. I never see them and when I read about them I feel like people pull them out of nowhere.

So I don't think any of the Strawhats will die before or even while the big end fight. Also it's not like they will reach their goal and then just drop dead (don't forget the dream are very different too but more about that later). Like what kind of life would that be?

Also we can't forget that Oda still believes he is writing this story for 14 year old boys. So, even though death is and will be a theme I don't think he will kill off the main crew.

That would not be very clever story wise and is not how to tell a story about adventure and fulfilling dreams for young boys.

Right now it's very "fashionable" to let characters die for shock value. But the more it's done the more annoying it becomes and less of a shock and Oda won't stoop so low to use this kind of element. Why do I think that?

So far we had three deaths in OP and they all shocked us a lot. But they were also used as motivator for other characters. Whitebeards death was a motivator for a whole new Generation of pirates, as well as his crew to try to save Ace and his little brother. Ace's death was a launch of character development for Luffy, Sabo, Garp and even Sengoku and probably more. Pedros death was a motivator for Carrot and other Minks. (Even the fake death of Pell was a huge motivator for Vivi. Interestingly compared to other deaths his sacrifice did not stop the war, which would have been an adequate impact. So him coming back alive actually makes sense.)

But look how few and far between they are. Of course there was more death but the important ones are kept as those.

Why am I talking about that? Who would benefit from a Strawhats death?

Literally no one. They are all already motivated to go until the end for each other. It's more likely that a death would cause Luffy to just give up, him becoming catatonic again.

Who would Luffy fight for if he even loses one of his crew mates? Or maybe two?

If I were a Marine I would try to make Luffy think that his friends are dead and then catch him but that is beside the point.

But for One Piece, a Strawhat death it would not move the story further. There is no additional motivator needed and that would be the only reason to kill one of the crew.

Killing a Strawhat makes no sense in my opinion.

A death would only make sense after they reached their goal.

So it is possible that we see the Strawhats die but long after the story came to an end, them reaching Laugh Tale (if that is the end). And yes, I think all of them will die of natural causes and/or sickness. Most of them at an old age. I think Luffy, Zoro or Usopp being the firsts because of the trauma their bodies had endured would make most sense.

I hope that answered your question anon... and anyone who does not want to read even more about my nonsense can stop here.

But let me break down why I think that all Strawhats have plot armor against death flags, behind the read-more.

-> It is very important that I think the huge clash with the Blackbeard Pirates, which will be the end fight, will happen right before Laugh Tale. And Laugh Tale is the end-goal and the end of the main story. (I MIGHT BE WRONG!!!)<-

Everyones own story can only end after they reached their goal so let's look why I think that these dreams give the Strawhats Plot Armor.

Luffy: Become the king of the pirates. That means he has to reach Laugh Tale. I often hear that Luffy will die early because of the parallel to Roger. That does not mean he won't reach his 40s or 50s. Even after reaching Laugh Tale Roger lived a bit longer and even had time to "make a child" so, killing off Luffy in the end fight makes no sense. So maybe dying after the fight, on Laugh Tale? That could happen and would be the earliest death of any Strawhat imo.

Zoro: Become the strongest sword fighter. That means he still has to kill Mihawk. I don't think Mihawk will go and look for Zoro. So, Zoro has to survive and then return to Mihawk and have his duel. No sense in killing off Zoro. I am 100% sure that he will survive until then.

Nami: Drawing a world map. For that Nami has to travel the world many times more. After they reached Laugh Tale, Nami has only finished part of her dream. She has to visit all of the Blues, travel the Grand Line and the New world multiple times. Drawing a Map of the world will take a lifetime. Her dream will take the longest to be fulfilled.

Usopp: Become the great warrior of the sea. Now here we have a dream that is not really tangible. Usopp will be a great warrior as soon as he realises that he is one. In my opinion he already managed to become a great warrior. Time and time again he has shown how amazing he is but this is all about his own self image and so hard to grasp. This actually makes Usopp the most likely to have a death flag BUT we can't forget that he still has to return home and tell his stories to Kaya and the Usopp pirates. It's part of a promise that is only secondary but for me it's enough to think Usopp too is safe until he did that.

Sanji: To find the All Blue. Sanji thinks that the All Blue is something physical. We can't know that and if it is physical we can consider that it's maybe a part of the New World near the Red Line where all seas somehow come together. So again, until Sanji found that place he hasn't fulfilled his dream. And since I think that would be BEHIND Laugh Tale, again I think Sanji is safe. Alternatively the All Blue is just a metaphor for something completely different but I can't hink about what.

Chopper: To cure all illness. Here too, this is something that takes time. Chopper is still only at the beginning of his career of being a doctor. Finding a magical cure for every illness that exists is not something that just happens. Logically he would need to talk with many other medical experts and together they might be able to find it. When and how and if that happens is impossible to say but again that would be something that would fit best in the time after reaching Laugh Tale.

Robin: To find the truth of the void century. Right now we figure that she will find that at the end of their travel, on Laugh Tale. Maybe it will happen earlier in case the Strawhats storm the World Government. Either way she will learn the truth. But that will not be the end to her. After learning the truth it's up to Robin to bring it to the world, to write it down, to teach, to make people understand that they can't erase history and that they have to learn from it. Again, that is something that takes time and so, truly fulfilling her dream.

Franky: To travel the world in the ship of his dreams. Again that is a vague dream. But it would mean to at least return to Water Seven, so that Sunny has traveled the world once. But even then it's only been a small part of the world and traveling the world would mean to visit at least every of the seas. So far, Sunny had been in two to four, depending on how much you take the movies into account. But to fulfill Franky's dream he needs to survive a bit longer and so does Sunny.

Brook: To meet Laboon again. This is simple. But for that Brook has to reach the end of the New World and then get over the Red Line again. What he will do after that is hard to tell. But again, the Red Line is behind Laugh Tale and so I'm sure Brook too, has to survive... even though he is already dead YOHOHO!

Jinbe: Equality between merfolk and humans. Again this is something that is no easy feat and will probably take more than one generation. Also it is not only up to him and more to Shirahoshi and the World Government. This dream is about teamwork too, but who could be a better ambassador for the merfolk than him? Losing Jinbe would be a huge backfire for the cause. Jinbe too is safe in my opinion. If you have reached the end of the post, let me tell you again my headcanon about FRobin: After the main adventure Franky and Robin return to Water Seven where Franky helps to turn W7 into a boat and after that is done, they travel to the island where Ohara used to be and there they rebuild the island. More people return and it again becomes a hub for scholars and history.

[a-tale-of-legends]

I recommend you wait until after you beat the game before you answer this but how would you describe Team Fate's relationships with the Wigglytuff's guild and its members?

Hello, hi, literally just finished the game, and I am e m o t i o n a l. Anyway.

Generally speaking, Team Fates relationship with Wigglytuff's Guild is very positive! They're all on big happy family :). But I'm guessing you want some specifics, so here we go!

Bidoof: Besties. Three rookies sticking together at thick and thin. Regular sleep overs ( even though they're all technically adults, but eh who cares). Being an older brother, Bidoof tends over worry, but he means we'll. The poor fella ends up being a third wheel to Imogen and Alev, but he doesn't mind. He's just glad his friends are happy :)

Sunflora: Imogen and Sunflora has this weird relationship were they both have similar interests and such, but Imogen's bluntness and denseness tends to clash with Sunflora's, so small arguments can be had, but they resolve pretty quickly. For Alev, him and Sunflora get along well. He's not on the same level as Imogen is, but he very well respects her and her capabilities!

Loudred: Same as before, except Imogen used to HATE this guy. He was loud, brash, and would wake her up with his loud mouth. Overtime, she grown to like abd respect the guy, who clearly takes his job seriously ( and from some vouching from Sunflora). Though do except some arguing from these two, haha. Alev always respected all of the guild members from the get-go, so he always gets. Loudred to a high degree. Seeing Loudred be so loud and truly himself helped Alev be more of himself ( Imogen too, of course)

Chimecho: Both of them adore her cooking, and how they really help them stay organized. Imogen likes talking to her given how quite she is compared to everyone else. She's a good listener, and was probably the only one that Imogen discussed her feelings for Alev( though at the time she didn't understand what she was feeling and was upset that is was bothering her so much lol). While not as knowledgeable as Chatot, she does like hearing Alev's interests in history, and would often try to study more to keep the conversations going. In other words, she's a cool big sis.

Corphish: COOL UNCLE. He's fun, always willing to help. Taught Imogen how to properly swim( she knew how but it was weird with her piplup body at first). The two of them really vibe with him.

Croagunk: Neither of them know what's his deal is, but he's nice and oddly optimistic. Though Imogen can admire his business practice, and both really appreciate his swap shop!

Chatot and Wigglytuff: Grouping these two together cause duh. Imogen, in all her denseness, never knew these two were married until AFTER graduation. As in Alev had to tell her. She was suspicious when Wigglytuff said he was his most beloved partner, but she just chalked it up to them being really close friends ( which is also a very fair and valid option btw). But before all of that, she thought Chatot was annoying ( and too harsh) and Wigglytuff was weird. Of course, the more she spent time in the Guild, the more obvious it was that these two are both very capable and care about their members A LOT. Doesn't stop her from arguing with Chatot sometimes lol.

Chatot and Wigglytuff are Alev's IDOLS. He dreamed of meeting them and when he did, he thought he would faint. Though the harsh training did settle him into reality, hearing them praise them and value their safety really warms his heart! May or may have not called one of them dad by accident.

I don't have names for them yet, other than calling Sunflora Sunny, and Chimecho Echo. But other than that? Not much.

Anyway, I hope this answer suffice @namelessbaron !

[aromantic-romance-writer]

Tengen Uzui x Fem! Pillar! Reader

[I Value You The Most]

How many times have this gorgeous man made me jealous and straight at the same time, I have no idea-

So I made this to let those emotions all out lmao.

Pretty much self-indlugent though :((( sorry. And Tengen isn't married to his three unbelievably hot wives here too so double sorry-

Hopefully though, you would still be able to enjoy!

Tengen almost can't believe it. There you stood, in a pillar's demon slayer uniform (nothing really changed except the buttons were gold now, but still-), your legs wrapped in bandages. He remembers that day two years ago. He saved a certain girl whose rank was Kanoe from a Lower Moon demon.

"[L/N] [Y/N]. I'll do my very best." you say with a grin. After the Pillar Meeting, Tengen comes up to you.

"Congratulations on being a pillar!" he exclaims with proud eyes. You crane your neck to look up at him, your eyes wide with surprise.

"Y-you remember me?" You ask in disbelief.

He smiles broadly with a wink. "I do."

"Really?! Someone like me?" you ask yourself, feeling giddy. "Wow..."

"You've come a long way. We may be of the same rank, but you're not of the same flamboyant level as I am."

You laugh. "It's nice to see you haven't changed one bit, Uzui-san."

That fateful day, when the Sound Hashira have saved you and finished fighting off that demon, he gave you a proud smile.

"You did a flamboyant job staying alive all this time."

And he let you decapitate the demon's head.

Ever since, you worked harder than ever. He was your inspiration these past 24 months of relentless training and experimenting, until you yourself was able to defeat a demon from the 12 Kizuki.

And here you are now. Called the Blood Pillar.

° ° °

After every Pillar Meeting, Tengen gets more and more disturbed by the sight of you.

Almost after every meeting, you would have new bandages wrapped around your legs. And that was just your legs. He's sure that there could be more under that uniform. While some of the old ones were replaced with scars. At first, he doesn't mind. He thought that you were new to your position as a pillar and have some wounds from your missions, but it's been such a long time now. Why do you always have these new wounds and scars?

Then he remembers. Blood Pillar. Now that he thinks about it, what the hell? Blood Pillar? Exactly from what Breath is that derived from? Does that explain all these new injuires you keep getting?

After the meeting, you see him march up to you, looking all serious. Honestly scared the heck out of you. Did you do something wrong? But you aren't really interacting with him lately, much to your disappointment.

"[L/N]." he crouches to your eye level, giving you an intense stare. "Are you okay?"

You blink. "H-huh? Why wouldn't I be...?"

He frowns. Oh no, is that the wrong response? He straightens up and grabs your wrist, pulling you away. You weren't able to react correctly and even say anything as you stared at his grip on your wrist. You're not sure what to feel about it, but you can feel your cheeks grow hot.

"Where are we going?"

"I just want to have a little chat."

~

"Oh!" you exclaim as you understood what was the deal earlier back at the Ubuyashiki Estate. You were in an empty field, sitting on the fresh grass of spring. Tengen asked all about your breath style and wounds. You were seriously admiring how confident he is to just ask that to you when he knew you weren't really close. You can't even ask Sanemi about his own scars and where he got them.

"Actually, my father was a very skilled doctor." you start as he listened to you intently. "He taught me how to handle medicines and how this certain tool should be used, and the like. After the day you saved me, I wanted to become more useful as a slayer at the same time be an unexpected enemy to the demons."

"You see, I'm a marechi. And I met a demon whose Blood Demon Art makes their own blood explode or burn. And it gave me the idea, and started to experiment on my own blood. It was a painful process, but it was worth it. After I became a pillar, I learned some tricks from Shinobu-san since I spend a lot of my time getting treated at the Butterfly Estate. I learned how to make poisons painful to scabbard but painless to humans and stocked it in the sheath of my sword. But it's really pretty useless unless my blood is mixed with the poison."

You finish. You stare up at the cloudless sky, adoring the pure blue color of it. Tengen just stares at you for a moment.

"So basically, you have to cut yourself for each form you make with your sword covered in poison..." he concludes ismn a mutter. Why would you make such a breath style? And isn't it too dangerous for your wounds to get exposed all the time or for too long? Plus, demons' favorite food is marechi. Then there's also the threat of blood loss.

This was all irritating him for some reason. He never realized how he deeply cares for you. Every time he sees you with yet again a new bandage, he can't help but feela tightness in his chest.

"[L/N]." he says, making you look at him with a hum. You were taken aback at the soft expression he gave you. "Tell me every time you have a mission."

"Why though?" you ask with a curious look.

He averts his gaze, feeling sheepish. It was a first for Tengen to feel like this. He's never shied away before. In frustration, he abrputly stands. "Just because." and he scratches his head. He walks away, leaving you alone on the field.

"U-Uzui-san...?" you wore such a dumbfounded expression. Was that an order?

° ° °

You sigh in relief. You've finally managed to go on a mission without Tengen on your tail.

These past few months, he's been 'accompanying' you on your missions and it's been annoying you lately. You don't even tell him when that you'll go on a mission. You just get surprised that he's already waiting by your house. He's also doing most of the fighting as well. He wouldn't let you draw your sword sometimes. Somehow, you were able to escape from him today.

Although in those times, you enjoy his company. He doesn't really talk much and seems like he'd rather listen to you. From stories to things Shinobu tells you, to even your problems. He was always there, listening. You've noticed that the way he smiles at you have changed. He always had that reassuring smile. A smile that would tell you "I'm here, always". It reminded you of how your father would occasionally treat your wounds after playing outside. But your father have passed, and no one else would be there for you anymore.

Until Tengen came.

Truthfully, you didn't mind being lonely for a while. Your pride as a demon slayer would allow you to sacrifice your own life to save others. You believed that you lived a contented life already. Nothing more is going to make you happy nor sad. It's okay for you to die protecting others.

Again, until Tengen came.

It's always because of him, these beliefs and thoughts keep changing. He changed you to become stronger, to feel secured and reassured around him, and that something was missing in your life. You weren't sure what it was, but you refuse to pass away without it in your life.

You stop walking. The sun was setting, shedding its final rays of light on the surface from the horizon. The wind have become eerily cold. The scent of human blood was strong, but a stronger smell was coating it. You cover your nose in reflex. What a sinister smell. Pompous and confidence was strongly flowing in this demon's blood.

A 12 Kizuki?

But this scent was more disturbing than the last two Kizukis that you faced from the last two years.

You rushed to the scene, following the scent as it grew stronger and stronger. Soon, you find a distorted white figure growing from what it seems like a vase. His back were lined with infant-like arms and was humming to himself until he felt your presence.

He turns to you, widening your eyes in horror. His face was even more distorted.

"My, I think I smell a marechi." He seems to smile, though you really can't tell. "Fufu, and a pillar?"

You unsheathe your sword and took a stance. You read the kanji on his eyes that were placed vertically on his face.

Upper Moon Five.

All you've encoutered so far were Lower Moon demons, so you expect that this battle will be tough.

"Say, would you like me to show you a piece I've recently finished?" he asks, his tone sounding conceited.

You grit your teeth. "I am not interested." you cut your arm with your blade, making sure the edge is fully coated in blood.

The demon bobs his head to the side. "Since you caught my attention, I'll ignore your rudeness just this once." he grins. "What is the point of slicing your own flesh? To provoke me?"

"You'll find out soon enough." You say before charging at him.

° ° °

Tengen was running as fast as he can, and the closer he gets, the louder he can hear your sword clanging. Although he's a shinobi, so his speed is quite enhanced, he fears that he's too late. It took him this much time to figure out where you were.

He may have realized this later than he should, but you were precious to him. You gave him a reason to be stronger - to live. He won't allow himself to be weak and die before you. You were now his top priority, then the people, then himself. If he can, he'll force you out of the demon slayer corps. Oh, but he can, he just won't. Other than your safety, your happiness was also top priority.

After all those times you've talked together, fought together, he starts to cherish every single moment he spends with you. And he can tell that, although undeservedly, it was him who drove you to be who you are today.

The Blood Pillar.

Just a few more hours, the sun will start to rise. He was finally getting close, until he hears silence. The sounds of clanging and clashing stopped. His heart was practically beating out of his chest in suspense. What happened?

~

You were breathing deep and hard from exhaustion. Your body was littered with wounds and blood. You've ripped off your uniform's torso, showing a blood-stained bandage wrapped around your breasts. Gashes made by the demon were slowing you down up to the point where you couldn't swing your sword anymore.

"How foolish." he starts. "Your Breath of Blood will kill you. I can just wait here as you die from blood loss, you know."

You smirk. You shouldn't be underestimated. You spent two years shaping and creating a body immune to such threats like that. You can go for another 10 hours or more, if limitations didn't exist, of course. You were only human. You may be weak for a pillar at the time, but you'll get stronger. You have to. You might lose this battle, but you refuse to die.

Win or lose, you will abstain yourself from passing out. You won't die. Not yet.

"But then the sun will rise soon, and I should have a feast. A feast fit for a fine artist such as myself."

He attacks you, you dodge barely. He was taken aback at the fact that you can still move. He keeos attacking, and you just kept dodging until you were finally worn out.

He takes notice as a sinister smile becomes visible on his features. Just when his attack was about to land a blow on you, you felt broad arms wrap around you as you were taken away.

"Didn't I tell you to always inform me of your missions?" You start to tear up. You see Tengen's irked and perturbed expression. He was able to snatch your haori and covers you with the clothing. As he was about to stand, you clutch unto him. He just smiles that reassuring smile. "I'll be back with the same flamboyance." he winks.

As he starts fighting in your stead, you watch him with anxiety bubbling in your chest. As you watch him, you found out what was missing. Even if it was just for a day, just for a few hours, what was missing in your life was Tengen. Now that he's come into your life, he can't come out. You need him. You can't die yet. You still want to spend your life with him. He doesn't have to feel the same way, as long as he's alive and well.

~

The demon cussed under his breath in frustration and was able to escape just before the sun's rays hit him. Tengen quickly ran to you to see if you're still breathing. Fortunately, you were alive as you gave him a smile.

"[Y/N]..." he whispers as he carries you. He starts walking. "...don't scare me like that."

All you could do was hum in response, your eyes closed and just fully giving in to his warmth.

"Don't be stubborn next time and tell me when you'll go on a mission. I can't breathe easy knowing that my girl is out there cutting herself to kill a demon."

You open your eyes in surprise. "'My girl'...?"

He smiles slightly. "Mhm. Whether you feel the same or not, you're my girl and no one else's right now. You're the most valuable to me in my life. And if someone steals you from me..."

He gives it a thought. "...he has to be way better than me in every way so I have to approve, 'kay?"

You giggle lightly and snuggled against him. You didn't need to say anything to tell him that you also feel the same way, as he can hear your heart beating solely for him.

Tengen watches your sleeping face. He felt truly blessed as something as precious as your heart was beating for him. His heart was beating for you as well.

As if blessing your new-found love, the sun's blinding rays followed both of you walking home, feeling safe and secured and valued with each other.

[toloveawarlord]

The Jack of My Heart (Ch.1)

You can find my masterlist in my bio!

Pairing: Joanna Clemence x Edgar Bright

Tagging: @plumpblueberry​ @thetwinkims​ @youreawizardharr​ @starry-starry-night24

A/N: I finally have a solid story planned for genderbent Jonah series! Edgar and Joanna are already in a relationship at the start of this story. Cooper Aldrich is the Ten of Hearts, a new oc that resides in this universe!

Enjoy! Merry Christmas!

“Good morning, my Queen.”

Most in headquarters would still be sleeping soundly in their beds, the day not ready to begin for them. The sun was not above the horizon, only soft hues of red and orange brushed along the navy sky signaled the coming day. Joanna removed one last book from the shelf for reference, amber irises flickering over to catch a glimpse of him, widening in surprise at how close he’d become.

Ever so silent.

She took a step back only to hit the wall, caged in as he leaned his arm against the hall above her head. “You didn’t sleep well last night. I do hope it wasn’t on my account,” Edgar teased, brushing a mint strand away from her face. Not many would notice the tiredness on her otherwise perfect features, but the Jack had spent more time than most studying her.

“Don’t flatter yourself, Edgar. I had a lot of work to complete.” What a ridiculous notion. 

Why would it matter to her that he’d been away on family business the whole of yesterday and failed to return until an hour ago? She’d only happened to be passing by the window when she’d spotted him coming through the front gate. Of course, she wouldn’t tell him even if she had missed him a minuscule amount.

The Queen of Hearts wouldn’t waste her precious time on something so trivial.

“Oh? What work?” Jade irises focused on the curve of her pink lips, parting and then pressing together in irritation. He didn’t need her to admit it. He knew that she completed all her work in a timely manner, as expected of a Clemence. 

It was oh so adorable when she denied her feelings so adamantly.

“You see, I have a theory that you missed me so terribly that it affected your sleep.”

Her nose turned upward. “A fantasy. I’ve no such feelings. In fact, I’d rather you’d be away today as well, as I’ve much to complete and having you begging for my attention-- what are you doing?” Amber eyes were drawn down to where Edgar had sunk to one knee.

He took her hand, placing a kiss to her knuckles before meeting her gaze. “Would you like it if I begged? I surely don’t mind showering my lovely Queen in affection.” He teased as easily as he breathed, but it always worked in his favor.

Joanna bit on her lip as he turned his head to pepper kisses on her thigh over the fabric. His fingers laced with hers, no resistance, or complaints. He could expertly undo her like no one else could.

But their relationship was still very much a secret. Only a handful of those in the army were privy to that information.

The door handle clicked, signaling new arrivals. A small spark of anxiety rose in her chest. Even after she called his name, Edgar only egged her on with a hum of a response and another kiss to her stomach where he’d managed to tug her pink button up out of her waistband.

It was clearly his fault. Utterly, entirely his fault.

Her boot connected with his shoulder, shoving him off balance and onto the floor. Not hard enough to actually harm him, although with the giddy grin on his lips, Joanna imagined he might enjoy it. He must be alright if he could look at her like that.

Like he was daring her to come down there with him, to give into her desire to kiss him until she had no air left and feel his skin against hers.

But the door was shoved open as Joanna managed to shove her shirt back into her pants. It would be suspicious to attempt to throw on her army jacket, so she refrained from reaching for it. Her shoulders relaxed at the sight of Zero and Cooper assisting a half-awake Kyle into the office for the morning meeting.

“This is not your personal quarters,” Joanna fussed as Kyle lazed across the couch, one arm over his eyes and the knuckles of his other hand brushing the floor as he groaned. Amber eyes shifted to the Ten of Hearts staring at her with a curious expression. “Do you need something, Aldrich?”

Cooper crossed his arms, head tilting to the side. “I’m simply trying to remember if I’ve ever attended a meeting with you not in full uniform.” His gaze flickered to his superior on the other side of the desk, but Edgar shrugged his shoulders as if he’d no idea.

Joanna took her jacket off the back of the chair and slid her arms into it. “It’s not any of your concern. Wipe that ridiculous dumbstruck expression off your face before King Lancelot arrives.” She smoothed out the jacket with both hands.

The only noise that filled the quiet space was Kyle’s constant moaning and groaning as he rubbed his temples. All four standing officers straightened when Lancelot entered the room. He took a seat at the desk before speaking. “You are all aware of the letters we received both last week and yesterday. Reports.”

“Well, according to my informant in Black Territory, the Black Army also received similar letters a year back, and they had three cases of arson varying in severity before the guy went underground,” Cooper started, bypassing his superiors to speak first. 

It mattered little, so Joanna let it go this time.

“Black Territory was probably a testing ground, but an entire year is a long waiting period for someone who caused so much damage,” Zero continued. Most arsonists accelerated, growing bolder with their targets.

Lancelot nodded in grim agreement. It was unlikely that this person simply stopped causing fires. He could not allow someone so dangerous to roam free within his country. “The decoded letter left us with a location, did it not?”

“Yes, and with permission, I’d like to go investigate it personally. The message was much too easily deciphered, and I believe there could be something of value to be found there,” Joanna said. It would be careless to simply send a soldier.

Cooper didn’t hold back his loud, resigned sigh. “Respectfully, my Queen, it’s clearly a trap.” He’d mapped out the coordinates to find an old sawmill in the countryside. Going there would be doing what this psychopath wanted. “My suggestion would be to wait it out.”

“Wouldn’t we be risking angering him by not showing up at his first location? Arsonists are known for being narcissists,” Zero said.

“They also like to watch their handiwork. This first letter is taunt to see if we are listening. It’s worth going, and I also don’t remember asking for your opinion, Ten.” Her voice sharper than her blade. He had a tendency to speak however he felt, regardless of his rank.

The tension in the room became thick. Amber irises narrowed; the Queen of Hearts annoyed at the defiant expression on Cooper’s features. Two opposite plans clashing into each other.

Lancelot turned to the third highest ranking officer, who hadn’t said a word. “You’ve been oddly quiet.” Most of the time, it meant he was up to no good, but for important matters, it simply meant Edgar was analyzing all the information.

“I’m in agreement with Joanna. It’s undoubtedly valuable to see what is so special about the sawmill.” The Jack was more than intrigued. Whoever this person was, they might cure his boredom for a while.

The King folded his hands together, regarding his officers with absolute authority. “We cannot risk the lives of our citizens. I want this solved as swiftly as possible. Joanna will be in charge of the investigation; you will all report directly to the Queen. Dismissed.”

With his final words, the four officers vacated the office, leaving the sleeping Kyle behind. When the door closed with a thud, only then did Cooper speak again. He did not approve of this plan at all. “You should reconsider. It’s the wrong move.”

“As opposed to what you proposed? Do you really think that ignoring a narcissist is going to bode well for our citizens? We can’t predict how they will respond if we don’t go. I, for one, am not willing to risk a town burning to the ground because you were too frightened to go to the given location,” Joanna snapped in return. The two clashed often but never to this degree.

Cooper looked as though he would draw his sword and challenge her to duel at any moment. Anger swelled up inside him. “You might be my superior, but you aren’t always right, Queen.” Golden irises brimmed with aggravation. This mistake might cost them their second highest in command, and that would reflect badly on the army. But he refrained from arguing more, instead taking a deep breath. “Don’t be reckless.”

And he stalked off in the other direction, needing to cool down before he trained his squad.

“Well, that was certainly heated,” Edgar commented. He never inserted himself unless absolutely needed, especially when it came to Joanna. There were plenty of rumors about the two, saying that their relationship might cloud their judgment.

Joanna brushed her hand through her mint hair, irritation etched into her features. She hadn’t the time to deal with Cooper’s little tantrum. “Zero, I want a list of all the suspicious fires in Red Territory and Central Quarter mapped out by the time I return.”

With a salute and confirmation, Zero left the two as well.

Silence hung in the hallway. Cooper made plenty of valid points, of that she was sure. It didn’t, however, change the truth of the matter. This was not a random location. It had to mean something to the arsonist. The Queen had far too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

It wasn’t until a pair of jade irises were peering into her amber ones, gloved hands holding her face, that Joanna heard Edgar speaking to her.

“I was asking if you would like to-”

“Come with me.”

The Jack of Hearts quieted at her sudden command. Whatever she meant, his answer remains the same, but he’d wait until she’d elaborated. Her porcelain cheeks now tinted with pink. He wanted to kiss her so badly, making her oh so flustered.

“What I mean is, it would be irresponsible to go alone, and another set of eyes would be a little helpful.” Her gaze flickered around, unable to settle. She shouldn’t have blurted that out, as he would tease her endlessly about it. “Not that I need you specifically--”

Edgar grinned, thoroughly enjoying the panic as she tried to cover up what she’d said. But it was too late. “The two of us, alone, on a mission? I would be honored to join you, my queen. Then I can kiss you whenever I like without the constant worry that someone might see.” His lips brushed against hers, but ultimately denied a true kiss.

“This isn’t permission to do as you please! We’ll be working.”

“Of course, but...” Edgar bent to whisper in her ear, hot breath sending a shiver down her spine. He continued to wind up tightly, patient enough to wait until she released all that pent up desire. His voice low, speaking solely to her. “Once we’re finished with all the day’s work and retire to our private room in a small, hidden inn, I promise I’ll bring out that naughty side of yours.”

Joanna lost the ability to focus on anything other than the sound of his voice echoing in her head, repeating the same words over and over, like a sexy broken record. It became too much for her to bear. She shoved him away, turning her back to him as he snickered.

She couldn’t admit it, but she was looking forward to seeing if he’d deliver on that promise.

[arcadianmoonshadowjedi]

Personal Opinions on Rapunzel and Cassandra’s Friendship

Ok so this is one post that I’ve been wanting to make for a long time, especially since this is perhaps one of the relationships in the series with the most polarizing views ever (maybe even the number one relationship that is) ranging from people who ship them romantically to people who hate their friendship all together and think that they should’ve never been friends to begin with. So I thought it would be worth a share for me, mostly focusing on S1 and 2. This is not meant to be any hate for either of these girls because they are both among my faves in the series!

ALSO: I will NOT tolerate any hostility or rudeness on this post. If you don’t agree with my opinions, either lets have a friendly, respectful discussion or just scroll by and leave this as it is, thank you!

If you don’t know by now, I personally do not ship them, and never have I since I first started watching the series. I also never interpreted any of their interactions as romantic or saw the two of them as a “potential couple.” I would say this could mostly be due to the fact that I am a hardcore New Dream shipper who strictly believes Rapunzel and Eugene only have romantic feelings for each and I personally don’t think they would have any romantic feelings for anyone else. And I’m also the kind of person who values platonic love so much I also don’t like when they’re shipped (this applies to male-female platonic love as well).

However, I do think that their friendship really made for an interesting story. Now in my opinion, I personally don’t think their friendship was 100% toxic, or devoid of love or happiness, and nor do I think it was entirely a healthy one either, otherwise it wouldn’t have fallen apart by the end of S2.

To start off, I’ve always felt and stand by my opinion that the friendship was very flawed from both sides. The problem with Rapunzel, esp in S1 and less in S2, was that she was a socially stunted teen who was barely out of the tower and barely had time to learn about healthy friendships and boundaries, and this has caused her at several times to unintentionally step on Cass’s personal boundaries, be extremely pushy and at times annoying. Cass on the other hand, as we all know has a super “bitchy”, distrustful personality and has her own insecurities and struggles with self-esteem that negatively affect her own judgments and actions. I feel like a lot of Cass’s trust issues and tough, bitchy exterior stem from her trauma of being abused, neglected, and eventually abandoned by her own mother. I have this headcanon that even though she has no memory of this incident (PTSD can cause a person to forget a traumatizing memory but still continue to suffer as a result of it), she basically has this idea that if her own mother didn’t stay and love her, why would anyone else do so? Cassandra grew bitter to a point where she pushed people away and avoided attachment to avoid the same trauma from happening again. Of course that was until she befriended Rapunzel after Rapunzel persisted in making this friendship happen even after all the pushing away Cass was attempting to do. Based on the canon we got, I would definitely conclude that this was each of the girls’ very first close female friendship in their lives and both had a whole lot they needed to learn in order to grow and build healthier relationships in general. In my opinion, despite the flaws of this friendship, both girls did need it (Rapunzel needed a blunt gal pal who, along with Eugene, could help her discover more of the real world around her and learn more about social interactions, whereas Cassandra needed someone to help her to open up her heart more and know that she is worthy of being loved).

The reason why I don’t agree with a lot of the “Cassandra is malicious and evil to Rapunzel” or “Cassandra’s entire goal and purpose in the whole series (Even in S1 & 2) is belittle and demolish Rapunzel” claims is because I feel like they erase all of Cassandra’s positive traits and great sacrifices she has made for Rapunzel, whether it was their TBEA sneakout adventure which put her at risk of losing her job and home just to make Rapunzel happy or Cass getting her hand charred to get Rapunzel to snap out of the reverse incantation, just to name a few. To also say that Cass was never nice to Rapunzel or never cared for her erases the fact that there were several times she got out of her comfort zone to apologize and make peace with Rapunzel after a conflict (her hugging Raps in Challenge of the Brave after she completely Effed up and in Rapunzel Day One after she opened up about her feeling hurt) or whenever she comforted Rapunzel in her pain (QFAD and BTCW).

As for the claims that “Rapunzel is selfish” or “takes all of her friends for granted” claims, I’m equally opposed to that and they leave an awful taste in my mouth. Rapunzel, as we all know, was trapped in a tower for 18 whole years and has NEVER interacted with anyone besides Gothel and Pascal. Of course Eugene was the first human outside of the tower she interacted with, which throughout the events of the movie and all the trials and sacrifices that they went through, their relationship has so much stability to it. However, not every person Rapunzel interacts will share the understanding she has with Eugene. Rapunzel lacks so much social understanding and skills that there are times she doesn’t know when to have the right type of interactions (remember the bear hug?), let alone experience in royalty. However Rapunzel herself is a major people pleaser and will do whatever it takes to make those around her happy (even if gets really pushy and annoying at times) but she will eventually stop with her pushiness especially when she sees how harmful it can get. Just like Cass, there were several instances where Rapunzel will willingly fight for her, like in BTCW with Adira, even though Cass was technically in the wrong or in Freebird (An episode I’m not a fan of but enjoyed some aspects of it) when both of them fought to save each other or even Rapunzel sacrificing the last egg to turn Cass back.

As for the flaws of the friendship, I would definitely say that alot of it had to do with both lack of proper communication and understanding of boundaries. As we all know Cass doesn’t always have the “fluffiest, kindest” ways of communicating her feelings or her pain and can in turn lash out really badly and come off as condescending and rude. Rapunzel on the other hand, wasn’t really the best at reading social signals (Challenge of the Brave is the best example of super flawed communication and understanding on both sides) or understanding personal boundaries. I personally don’t believe that Rapunzel would “put up someone else’s shit to please them” but she would be more like, if they’re not pleased, Imma force them to be pleased (mostly in a cute, clumsy way, namely Under Raps when she felt the need to constantly “cheer up” Cass or “comfort” Cass in Big Brothers, even when Cass told her she didn’t need it, other examples include Rapunzel’s Enemy with Monty and Goodbye & Goodwill in Vardaros).

However I would say I saw so much improvement throughout S1 and mostly the first half of S2, where we do see them have so many friendly and goofy interactions (In Like Flynn with the pranks, the “game face” in Pascal’s Story, the Island eps, etc).

Then there comes the midseason and this is were I would say the friendship completely fell apart. And I think this is mainly where the argument that Cassandra is controlling over Rapunzel comes into play. Cassandra at the very beginning of the season, as we know the King assigned her with keeping Rapunzel safe, she basically gave up her dream of potentially becoming a guard to accompany Rapunzel. At the same time, Rapunzel is out in the real world outside of Corona and wants to discover more. We see these two have clashes of views and ideals that lead to certain debacles (Freebird is a prime example, tho I personally wish they did something else besides the whole bird plot lol) and then Rapunzel and the Great Tree, especially when Cass expresses that Rapunzel should take caution (which in itself feels "limiting" Rapunzel's desired freedom). I know that there is alot of anger over the argument that Cassandra was belittling Rapunzel by calling her naive (which I agree was a shitty move on her part). But I personally never thought it came from a place of wanting to "bring down Rapunzel and seek control over her" but more of a panic over the fact that they were in a dangerous location and the fact that the gang was nearly killed in it. Adira's points were also valid but Cassandra's insecurity and jealousy of her lead to her reacting hysterically and to make extreme accusations against her. Rapunzel was also stressed from being overwhelmed by the reverse incantation, which also led to her to shut down Cass in an unhealthy, humiliating way.

I feel like this along with the progression of S2 led to the betrayal and I feel like the whole Moonsandra arc should've been more focused on the problems with the friendship and Cass's insecurities rather than the whole Gothel drama. However, I always felt that it was a very complicated friendship that needed lots of mending and better communication on both sides, and I feel like that's where they got to in Plus Est En Vous. Both Rapunzel had grown to better understand social skills, communication, and boundaries a whole lot better than when we first saw her and Cassandra (tho S3 needed much better writing) she had grown to reclaim her self worth and accept that she was worthy of love.

As much as I was upset Cass left Corona, realistically that was what they both needed to give each other space to grow and learn in a healthy way.

[thefloatingstone]

Would you please make me a list of your rcommended comics(books or web-series any genre original content or fanworks)

Oh that’s a god one! Thank you so very much 💙 Let me see what I have on my shelf and on my hard drive. (I don’t know if I’ve ever made a list of my favourite comics before or not here on tumblr?)

in no particular order;

1: Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai

I dunno if it ever really shows or not, but Japanese historical settings are something I’m really into! I think it’s one of those dormant interests that flares up every now and then. Anyway. Usagi Yojimbo has basically been tied for my favourite comic for over 10 years now. It’s a series of stories, both short and with longer arcs, following the character of Miyamoto Usagi (roughly based on Miyamoto Musashi) travelling around the country of Japan in the early 1600s as a Ronin after the lord he served was defeated and killed in battle. Usagi, being one of his samurai, is not killed in the same battle which, considering his lord was killed, is a massive disgrace in historical Japanese culture. Basically along the thought of “If your lord died and you didn’t you must not have fought hard enough to protect him.”

Anyway, the comic is both a history lesson on Edo period Japan, a travel diary, a slice of life comic, a Chanbara, an action comic, some times even a horror or ghost story, a tragedy involving unfulfilled love and lost families, a lesson on traditional Japanese Yokai and other mythology, and now and then high fantasy.

10/10. HIGHLY recommend. The author Stan Sakai is also a wonderful person I’ve had the pleasure to meet a few times at Comic Con. And considering he like... remembers who I AM despite being an extremely famous comic artist... I dunno. I have endless respect for the man and he’s shown me great kindness in the past.

Also you know... black and white comics. They’re my jam, yo!

2: Bone by Jeff Smith

I have no idea if I even have to say anything because Bone might just, without hyperbole, be the greatest comic ever drawn.

At 1300+ pages drawn over the course of 10 years, the story starts out as a cartoon, full of hijinks and fun adventures and jokes and very slowly, reality starts setting in, things get more dangerous, the stakes get higher, the bad guys much darker. And by the time you reach book 3 of the 9 book story, you’re suddenly in a story of the “epic” variety. Not in the internet slang term but in the actual definition of the word.

You have massive wars between men and monsters, you have clashing cultures and ideologies, conflicting motivations and goals, and of course saving the world.

And it manages to do so without you EVER feeling “Excuse me but this was a cartoon book about funny jokes. This shift in tone is really weird and doesn’t work with the cartoony characters.”

It just blends and grows beautifully. And has remained as my favourite comic for... *counts* lord... 14 years now.

The book was recently released in a new colour version in case you prefer hat, but I honestly recommend “The Brick” single volume black and white version. It’s cheaper, first of all, but also I cannot express how masterful the blacks and whites of Bone are. They’re essentially Watterson level.

(also Jeff Smith is ANOTHER comic artist who is just like... the nicest person. Like REALLY nice. He’s been kind to me on occasions in that “you really didn’t have to be that nice” kind of way)

3: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa

It’s published by Disney officially... but the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is essentially a fancomic. The only reason its not is because Don Rosa became SO GOOD at making duck comics Disney hired him to make them officially and he was SO GOOD at it became one of the most important Duck artists just after Carl Barks (the creator of Scrooge) himself.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is a comprehensive biography of Scrooge McDuck’s life, not just made up by Don Rosa, but pieced together from Carl Barks’ own comics where he would have Scrooge make passing mention to events in his past or people he met. Don Rosa essentially took all these passing remarks and mentions and drew out a timeline, starting with Scrooge age 13 leading all the way up to his reunion with his family when Donald as an adult met up with him again.

It starts with Scrooge, from a poor family in Glasgow in 1877, boarding a ship for America to seek his fortune. We follow him through the years as with each chapter, he comes close to being rich and successful, only for it to fail or fall apart at the last minute, until, eventually, we see him catch his break and become the obscenely rich and successful person he’s fought and worked and bled so hard to be.

...and then the comic continues. And we see him lose himself. Greed, the constant need for MORE money and MORE success keeps going. The need to show HOW rich and successful he is takes over, until we see him and his family fall apart. And the comic echoes Citizen Kane as Scrooge realises the best time of his life was when he was seeking riches, not after he finally succeeded.

And then Donald and his nephews appear, and Scrooge’s life gets a second wind. His lust for adventure flares up again, his need to seek fortunes and treasures burns as strong as ever. And he keeps going.

The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck is a story about looking for your place in the world and fighting to create it with your own two hands, but it’s also about how you should think hard where you place your value in life, and it’s never too late to re-direct course and try again.

There is also “The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck Companion” which is a collection of stories that didn’t fit in with the original comic and would have disrupted flow. Basically like how a fanfic will have oneshots related to a larger story

Also, the producer of the band “Nightwish” created a soundtrack to accompany the original comic as a sort of “What If” in what he imagined the story would sound like if it was made into a movie

4: Cucumber Quest by Gigi D.G. ( @ggdgart )

A newer comic I stumbled upon which has skyrocketed into being a fave and I can already tell, that’s not a position it’s gonna relinquish. Cucumber Quest is a more cartoony and comedic story than the previous comics on this list. But that by no means makes it of any less value or dulls the moments that this comic decides to punch you in the gut with emotions HARD.

The art and colours are glorious and something I hope to study so I can better my own art hopefully, and the writing and humour is of a calibre that I just know I could not replicate it if I even tried. Full of puns, absurdism, awkward jokes and a whole lot of FEELINGS, It manages to make me both laugh myself into a coughing fit as often as it makes me yell “OH NOOOO!!!” when something dramatic happens.

The story follows our main character Cucumber, a put-upon out-of-his-depth wizard-to-be who is tasked with saving the world from the evil Nightmare Knight who has been summoned from his thousand year slumber by an evil sorcerer who wants to take over the world (as you do). With him is his little sister, the sword wielding Almond, who is WAY more into this “being a hero” thing than he is (and probably better at it too) as the duo make friends and travel to the various kingdoms to defeat the Nightmare Knight’s lackeys, working their way up to fighting the Nightmare Knight himself and sealing him away once more!

That all sounds.... really straightforward, doesn’t it? Well... that’s what everybody else in the comic thinks too. ...Shame that real life is never easy and straightforward.

From evil henchmen that start crushing on cool “Good Guys” with cool swords, good guys who don’t REALLY want to hurt the bad guys because they don’t seem so bad? To cool good guys with cool swords suddenly learning that being in danger is not as much fun as it sounded when they started this. To big evil final boss bad guys who are just tired of all of this...

What’s also awesome is the entire comic... all OVER 800 PAGES OF IT... is completely free to read online! But you can also buy physical copies of the first 4 volumes in book form to support the author! 

http://cucumber.gigidigi.com/cq/page-1/

I HIGHLY recommend this one too! It has canon LGBT characters! It has found family plots! It has scary bad guys that just need a hug! It has magical girl transformations! Literally anything you could want is in this comic. Including emotional wrecking angst! Did I mention FEELINGS???

(I couldn’t pick a single page so here are 3 random ones without context. Seriously almost EVERY page is so good I struggled very hard to choose)

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5: The Property of Hate by @modmad

Hey. Do you like fantasy worlds made of imagination? How about protagonists with grey morality who act like super primand proper gentlemen when they’re actually huge nerds? How about reluctant “Well I guess I’ve ADOPTED you now you annoying gremlin” adult-kid relationships? How about puns? How about abstract and colourfull character designs? Or saving the world?

The Property of Hate is Modmad’s original comic that they’ve been working on a few years now. it follows our lead character, RGB or “Problematic Mary Poppins” as I like to think of him, as he asks a young child if she’d like to be a hero and help him save his world? When she agrees, he takes her to a fantasy land... completely NOT preparing her for what she’s signed up for. The story then follows the duo through the abstract and shifting world as RGB slowly divulges information on what exactly our Hero has to do to save the world. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated and messy than merely “beat the bad guy” or anything like that.

Not to mention it seems this fantasy world has its own rules of reality and dangers. Emotions and abstract thoughts have real physical form here, and something like an “idea” can quite literally run around and create havoc, while something like dreams can fuel or destroy, and emotions like grief can cause irreparable damage.

Our Hero also learns RGB himself is a lot more complex and messy than he first appears. Seeming to be a good person trying to do good things (despite being a little stand offish and rude at times) but seems to also be carrying a past and the weight of having done some very very bad things “for the greater good”. And our Hero, as well as we, the readers, start wondering how much we should trust him, even though, just like our Hero, deep deep down we just know we WANT to trust him. And maybe he needs saving just as much as the world itself does. Even when he’s at his scariest and... not quite himself.

The Property of Hate is also available online completely for free. Modmad does have books for sale but I believe it’s on-demand or something along those lines. Please feel free to message them here on tumblr and they are happy to chat to their readers and interact.

http://thepropertyofhate.com/TPoH/The%20Hook/1

I think I’ll leave it there despite meaning to do 10 at first because this is already EXTREMELY long.

Hopefully you found something that seems interesting! Let me know if you decide to check any of these out and whether you ended up liking them or not! I’d love to hear your opinions.

And thank you for indulging me <3

(I’m trying to remember to add my ko-fi link to all longer posts like this I make. Especially since I keep forgetting ☕️Buy me a Ko-fi ☕️ )

[ourlastbastion]

Etherian Mall Ch. 2

In which Glimmer is stressed and gay

“Uuuuugh!”

If Glimmer slouched any farther, she’d have to fuse herself with the empty table she draped herself over, burying her face in her arms. She was tired and stressed, which had caused today to be one of those days where her fuse was at its shortest. Everything was terrible, plain and simple. From the moment she arrived at work today, everything had been nothing short of an absolute disaster.

They’d run out of banana nut muffins, and the newbie, some blonde, hardcore ‘save the environment’ guy who spoke like a surfer (apparently he knew her friend Perfuma?) make them in the kitchen, and boy did he make a mess of everything. There had been batter on the ceiling! Then she had to deal with customers who couldn’t seem to do basic math and kept demanding why their total came up to nineteen dollars and refused to listen no matter how many times she explained it (thank God for Bow stepping in before she ended up throwing a cupcake at the woman’s face). To top it off, the register didn’t have any more ones in it and she didn’t find out until there was a line of customers because all her customers before that moment had been using credit and debit cards, and no one else was available to watch the line while she ran back to the office to get some from the safe, which resulted in more cranky customers, which only made her mood worsen with each order.

She hated her job. Plain and simple. Who in their right mind would ever want to work customer service and enjoy it? Customers were terrible!

It only got worse, though, because of course it had to get worse. Of course Catra had to stop by with Scorpia during the lull Bright Moon’s Bakery had finally gotten, when Glimmer didn’t have either Adora or Bow to act as a buffer between her and the magicat, because they had to run over to another store to pick up more flour since the new guy somehow lost their last jumbo bag. How do you loose a bag of flour? How!?

But, ugh, just dealing with Catra is the worse. Glimmer absolutely hated that cocky grin she always got and the way she teased and flirted like it wasn’t a big deal. She hated how self-centered and confident the woman was, like she was some kind of queen. And worst of all, as soon as she and Scorpia showed up, the first thing Catra asked? “Hey, Sparkles, Adora hiding out in the kitchen or something?”

It really shouldn’t bother her nearly as much as it does. Catra and Adora have history, basically grew up together. Of course Catra would only come over to the mall’s bakery to see Adora, she had no other reason to want to stop by. But it wasn’t like Glimmer could actually be mad at Adora for it, either. Her best friend was oblivious to Catra’s blatant flirting, or maybe she was just so used to it she didn’t notice anymore, and she clearly didn’t seem to realize that Catra only stopped by of her own volition to see her. And why wouldn’t Catra do that? Adora was amazing. Adora was tall, strong and beautiful, she had a heart of gold and was a completely clueless dork.

Catra and Adora were probably going to get together at some point. They were both very attractive people, their personalities clashed, but complemented each other wonderfully, they had history and knew each other better than anyone else, and by the way they acted they clearly had a crush on each other but were too stubborn or clueless to make the first move—knowing them it was probably both. And the thought just bothered Glimmer so much more than it should.

It was completely reasonable to have a crush on Adora—it was impossible for anyone who liked women not to have a crush on her at some point. But Catra? For the love of God, Glimmer, you were supposed to have standards and good taste! Not that it even matters because you won’t end up with either of the two girls you’re crushing on. Go figure.

“Glimmer!” she tried not to show how excited she was to look up as Adora approached, dusted in flour and dough sticking to her uniform shirt. Bow was in tow, smiling just as much and not nearly as batter-covered as Adora. They slid into the seats across from her, smiles faltering to concern. “You okay? You look like you’re trying to be one with the table.”

“Because I am, my life goal has always been to become a table,” Glimmer responded dryly and then shook her head. “I’m tired, stressed and if one more person starts giving me an unsolicited lecture on why our non-vegan products shouldn’t be allowed, I’m going to punch someone.”

Bow grimaced, “If you do that, you’re going to get fired,” he pointed out.

To which Glimmer could only give an empty laugh. “Yeah, like my mom’s going to fire me,” she rolled her eyes and sunk back against the pastel-pink table. “She fires me and Shadow Weaver will take my position as assistant manager. You know she doesn’t want that.”

“I’m sure it hasn’t been that bad,” Adora had no right to be so genuine and have such an amazing smile as she tried to cheer Glimmer up, no right at all. “Look, we just have two more hours of our shift, then we can go do something else. We can watch some movies and relax.”

Glimmer finally found herself smiling a little. “That sounds fun, actually.”

“Oooh, we can invite Catra, Scorpia and Entrapta to join us! The Best Friend Squad and the Super Pal Trio joint movie night!” Bow declared excitedly.

That… sounded less fun. But Glimmer forced herself to keep smiling. “I mean, if they’re free, why not?” she relented. She didn’t mind Scorpia, Entrapta might be a bit much at times, and Catra was… Catra. But, anything would be better than being stuck here any longer.

As much as she wanted to stay sitting and chatting with her friends, especially since they just got back, she knew she couldn't, or rather, shouldn't. Her break was going to be over soon, anyway. So Glimmer pushed herself from her seat and forced herself to put on her “Hello, Valued Customer!” smile as she made her way back to the counter before Shadow Weaver could slither out from nowhere and ask her in that annoying ‘I’m being civil and at the same time demeaning you’ voice if Glimmer was done with work because why else would she be sitting with her friends and chatting rather than working? Seriously, how had Adora put up with the woman for so long? How had her dad put up with her when he was a kid?

Customers were already pouring back into the bakery, as if somehow knowing Glimmer was now off break and available to torment. She forced her smile to stay even as the smell of burned cookies filled the air.

[myassbrokethefall]

OK, my GoT thoughts under the cut. Summary: Motivations technically understandable/justifiable; execution bad/dramatically unsatisfying/anticlimactic/baffling.

Essentially: I can buy what happened to Dany and I can accept the ending for Jaime, but the way the show got to both of those points makes no sense to me, and undercut the effectiveness and the meaning severely for both.

Dany: Was I expecting this character to just fly into King's Landing with her giant terrifying dragon(s), roar at Cersei, peacefully take the kingdom, and have a parade thrown for her as she happily fulfills her destiny? No.

Am I mad that we got a "mad queen" arc? I am not. One might almost say it was inevitable and has been foreshadowed with every word of the show and the books since the beginning.

But I was expecting SOMETHING redemptive, not just "Dany goes crazy and kills everyone for no reason." I also was looking forward to clash of the two queens, both crazy for power and increasingly unstable in their attempts to hold onto it, and for it to become clear that Cersei was irretrievably gone to the dark side, and Dany was not. I was expecting Dany's reckoning with her "mad" side to involve her somehow overcoming it, or trying to overcome it, even if in some small symbolic way that ultimately ended in tragedy for her. Not just her...becoming evil, full stop.

This entire season has felt super rushed, and I also am annoyed that we have had TWO hour-and-a-half episodes almost entirely dedicated to battles. When there is so much shit to get done!!! Character arcs are getting short shrift but we gotta have all the gore and destruction, not just in one episode, but in two episodes, directed by the same dude who is their “battles” guy I guess. Having this battle almost cheapens the other battle. I was like, remember when we all united against the ice zombies and humans finally prevailed, and it showed all these other conflicts to be ultimately petty and meaningless in comparison to the fight against death and existential (and literal, lol) darkness? That de-escalated quickly.

So it's not that I didn't want Dany to go mad or I think that was impossible. But it felt very pointless the way it was executed, and felt like it happened because it's the end of the series, not because anything particularly organic made it happen in this moment. (Yes, she lost two dragons and Missandei and Jorah, and Jon froze her out. Her changing her whole personality into a crazed murderer of civilians -- in the face of a victory, no less -- still made no sense to me.) Like I could see her going crazy on the city if they threw rocks at her or something after she was like "I just killed Cersei, you simple dumbasses! I LIBERATED YOU! LOVE ME!!!! I'M THE GOOD RULER!! OK FUCK YOU THEN!!" But to be flying around, basically accomplish her goal of taking the city, and then suddenly be like "Rarrr, Dany go crazy! Because Targaryen blood! Kill all humans!" It's not like Cersei even likes the humans; we spent a long time establishing that she doesn't give a fuck about the people. There was no reason, to my mind, that Dany snapping would involve her burning the whole city that she's fought to get for so long. It felt like it was for shock value, both at the loss of life and at us going "omg Dany was the villain all along!" But it did not, to me, feel earned. Just baffling and disappointing.

If anything I thought CERSEI would do some huge evil gesture to pointlessly fuck the city just to go out in a blaze of glory, and Dany would fight AGAINST her own nascent rageahol Targaryen feelings and experience character growth and transcend her fate in order to try to prevent that from happening. Or NOT ultimately be able to do that, but at least make a gesture towards such a thing. It was just weird the way it happened. And I don't see how Dany can come back from this, as a character, and that is disappointing because we've invested so much in her. It's really deflating. It's just like, oh, I guess Dany is bad now. She was a crazy Targaryen after all! Everybody thought she might go mad, and now she did. D'oh. But it's a weird and oddly anticlimactic ending for such a character. (I realize it hasn't ended yet, but I don't think redemption is in the cards for her after this episode.)

(Also, what was Varys, etc.'s basis for suddenly deciding that she bout to go crazy and we can't trust her? Her being impatient to get to King's Landing and get going on the sacking last week? Arguably she should have let the armies rest, and I took Sansa's side in that argument, but you could make a case for Dany’s side as well, which was essentially "sure, we're tired, but if we wait longer they'll also regroup and it will be even more difficult, let's just get this the fuck done already." That to me doesn't say "I'm dangerously unstable and everyone knows it!" so much as "Our military strategies differ!")

OK. So what I was expecting was Dany versus Cersei, both power-mad, both not wanting to back down, but one of them at her essence having a heart that truly does care about justice (the beat of these warring impulses within her has been struck MANY times with Dany's character) and managing to see through the power-lust fog to remember that. Whether too late or not, for that to happen in some capacity. And this also ties into Jaime's arc.

I wasn't upset when Jaime heard about shit going down in King's Landing last week and decided that his happy chill Winterfell life with Brienne wasn't going to be that easy and he had to go back to fix the mess he helped make and sever his connection with his twin once and for all. (I mean, I kinda was, but I was like, yeah, I can see that this has to happen.) And he was fucking pissed about it and he was all, this is my shit too, I'm an asshole who has done bad stuff that I have never really atoned for, as this jaghole in the rolly chair keeps reminding me, I can't be with you until I get back in the mud with her and end it once and for all. That is where I ASSUMED they were going. And I think they sort of were, but it didn't end up that way at all.

So what I thought was going to happen was Jaime would get to the city, insinuate himself in somehow, get to Cersei, and talk her down. Or make an attempt. That this was how Jaime would finally cement his redemption, as the only person who could reach Cersei. I thought all the "I'm bad, I've done bad things, I'm as bad as she was" was him essentially being pissed that this was his task. When Tyrion was going on about you can escape and get in a dinghy and start a new life together with your incest baby, I thought, oh dear sentimental (perhaps not in an entirely in-character way) Tyrion, Jaime is going to go and KILL her ass and not a moment too soon. He knows that the blood on her hands is on his hands as well. He doesn't want to start a B&B with her in Europe; he needs to cut the cord, to use an apt metaphor. He doesn't want to, and he's dreading it, but he's the only one who can make it happen because he's the closest to her and she trusts him and he's the only hope of saving the city. He may hold her and TELL her that they can escape, and might even say "oh yeah babe there's totally a dinghy waiting for us if we can just get through the tunnels," and then he's going to stab her in the gut and avert that battle that I dumbly thought they would not stage an entire second one of after they just had one two episodes ago. Jaime the kingslayer, who slayed the queen as well, his own sister, but he had to do it and now he's finally fully redeemed. Even Dany who didn’t trust him will see that he was ultimately the only one who could do what had to be done.

If Jaime died in THAT process I wouldn't be surprised. Like if Cersei fought him and he had to somehow sacrifice them both (a la the Cleganes) in order to get her to die, he would do it, and that would be tragic but meaningful. Or if he dispatched Cersei and THEN got buried by the collapsing castle or whatever, he had accomplished his mission but it was too late for him. Hell, maybe they even make it to the fabled dinghy of redemption and he's talked himself into the idea that he can control her, and then he has second thoughts and drowns her or something because he knows he will never be free if she's alive, and neither will the world because she will always lust for power. OR EVEN if, at the last minute, he gets sucked back into her orbit and he's like "bitch we ARE gonna escape!!! WE CAN START ANEW, IT'S ALL LIKE WE DREAMED" and then she kills him or something but at the last second some shit that he puts in motion causes her to die and the city is saved that way.

But what I was NOT expecting is Jaime to be told "go get her, put her in a boat, start a new life together!" and just like, DO that, or try to. To just apparently shrug off the whole Brienne thing and get to Cersei and be like "hi baby! I missed you" and "let's hug" and then they just die in the castle FOR NO PURPOSE. It didn't redeem Jaime, it didn't tragically NOT redeem Jaime, Jaime just sort of went back there just in time to die with nothing resolved. What is the point of watching this character grow over the seasons and then be like "well I guess he realized he had to go back and die with Cersei because THEY ARE TWINS" (pretty much what the showrunners said). Yes, They Are Twins, which is why it's tragic to have one kill the other, or for him to outgrow her, or for him to give up a promise of happiness to go back and put a stop to her evil deeds because he's the only one who can. What I'm saying is, it's not the tragedy per se that I object to! But to just be like, well, he came back to her because remember they were incest twins and they love each other! They died, the end, is just...such a weird anticlimactic way to do it. “He couldn’t escape her orbit after all; that’s the tragedy!” I guess, but to me that was not supported at all in the rest of Jaime’s arc. It felt like we were pointedly amassing evidence that he WOULD be able to escape her orbit in the final inevitable confrontation. And then that just didn’t come up at all. 

And I love Brienne and I loved them together but like, I don't care THAT much, this isn't a shipper thing. I'm not surprised that Jaime ended up dying. It just makes no sense for the character for it to happen the way it did. I kept thinking we were going one way and then something would happen where I'd be like "huh??" As with my old friend Christopher Carter, I can't tell if they just didn't convey what they were supposed to be conveying (maybe Jaime WAS supposed to be intending to kill her, or to do SOMETHING other than just go back to hang out? and it didn't come through?) or if they just legit wrote it like that. Like the Brienne storyline was just a way to pass the time before the timer went off and they had to cut all that short and dump it in a drawer and get Jaime back to King's Landing so he could die with Cersei because once they thought of that ending scene 5 years ago or something.

I mean: Jaime was the Kingslayer. We were reminded of that A LOT, and also of the fact that the king he killed was Dany's father, and that Dany's father was "mad" and evil, and Jaime killed him ultimately to protect the city, and then got shit for this for the rest of his life.

And we are also shown that Dany is becoming a Mad Queen, who may be about to follow in her father's footsteps after all.

And Jaime goes to all this trouble to get back to the city, where almost these same events are playing out all over again. And...

...Jaime just goes to hang out with Cersei? And then dies? How is there not a whole situation where there is SOME parallel to the Kingslayer thing that we keep being reminded of and that is repeating itself? Such as:

Jaime slays a Mad Queen, but it's Cersei, not Dany.

Jaime has a chance to slay a Mad Queen, Dany (we've literally already had a conversation about this a few eps ago, that she was worried this would happen), but instead he is able to reach her and show her that she is different from her father and it DOESN'T have to play out this way.

Jaime has a chance to slay a Mad Queen (either could work) and prevent the destruction of the city, again, but this time he makes the other choice and doesn’t do it, and it results in tragedy.

Jaime, transformatively humanized and experiencing non-incestuous love for the first time and no longer at the top of his fighting game, no longer has the killer instinct to pull the metaphorical trigger on slaying whichever queen, and Tyrion pops in to do the job for him.

Like any of these things would have made more dramatic sense than what happened, which was, NOTHING. Jaime doesn't even get near Dany and once he gets to Cersei he's just like "hi! time to die I guess" and then they die.

(Maybe something along these lines will happen in the finale? Again, I'm not sure how at this point.) (I suppose it's not IMPOSSIBLE that Jaime could be pulled out of the rubble, but if he is Cersei might be too, and I am REALLY done with Cersei and do not want to dedicate the finale to trying to kill her YET AGAIN.)

Anyway. I was being flip about male showrunners yesterday but honestly, it feels like they are like, let's just wrap this all up fast so we can have 1.5 hours of battle scene. THE PEOPLE NEED A(NOTHER) BATTLE EPISODE.

It WAS cool seeing Drogon FINALLY destroy the Iron Fleet, but literally, why didn't Dany do that last episode. I couldn't enjoy it because that continues to be so baffling to me.

This is longer than I intended; oh well.

[attackfish]

Storytelling, Craft, and Conveying an Idea: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Jurassic Park

Okay I never had to learn to love Jurassic Park, and I never stop worrying.

Jurassic Park was the film Steven Spielberg directed just before Schindler's List, and it's nearly impossible for two films to be more different. Spielberg, at the time an acknowledged master of the summer blockbuster, didn't think he was capable of directing a film with the weight and magnitude of Schindler's List, and attempted to enlist other more respected, in his opinion more worthy directors for the project he intended to produce. It was only after these other directors turned him down that he took the helm himself. With Schindler's List came a sea change in Spielberg's film-making, after which he gained the confidence to take on more ambitious projects and make the kinds of movies that would bring him recognition not only as a man who made fun movies, but as a great filmmaker.

He did not spring fully formed as a great filmmaker. While his vision was much grander in his later films, Spielberg's summer blockbusters already showed him to be a master of the craft of telling a story through cinema. This mastery of craft underpins all of Spielberg's more ambitious movies. And, conversely, without his later grandness of vision, Spielberg's storytelling craft is much easier to spot in films like Jurassic Park.

And this is why I want to talk about Jurassic Park, not because of what it means for Spielberg's development as a filmmaker, but as an example of a finely crafted story. Artistic craft in general is the tools that enable an artist to convey an artistic vision to an audience. Storytelling craft more specifically is the ability to express ideas and themes in the form of a story so that they have emotional impact and are rendered compelling to an audience.

There is an idea among some critics and indeed some writers, that ideas get in the way of a good story, and writing a story with big ideas is a surefire way to get a very bad story. This is an understandable belief, but fundamentally misguided, because a story, no matter what the author's intent, is going to express the author's ideas, and it is much, much better for the author to know what ideas they are working to convey, so that the story and the ideas harmonize. So what ideas does Jurassic Park convey? What is the big idea at it's heart?

Like all good stories, Jurassic Park has many ideas threaded through it, but the central theme, that the movie comes back to over and over, is the consequences of human hubris.

This is a common theme in the human storytelling tradition. The Greeks for example loved it. Frankenstein is such a story. Because of man's hubris in creating life, disaster happens. With such a beginning, it's unsurprising that modern stories of hubris, Individual hubris, and especially the collective hubris of humankind, would find a home in the speculative fiction genres, especially science fiction.

I was a certified scifi and fantasy nerd growing up, so I was bound at some point to stumble across the mid-twentieth century intellectual scifi sub-genre. If you spend any time in the speculative fiction genres, you probably know the type of story. They focus around a single idea that the author wants to make you think about. They are short, they often have a twist ending, and half the time the characters aren't even named, they are so unimportant to the author. And once the idea has been expressed, the story ends. They are stories that aren't really stories. Everything that would make for a good story with real emotional impact has been sacrificed in service of beating the audience over the head with the all important idea. They are the kind of story your well-meaning English teacher recommends to you because it will blow your mind.

I mention these stories for two reasons, one is that the consequences of human hubris is one of the most common ideas they attempt to convey, which makes sense, because they reflect the anxieties of the Cold War and the dawn of the nuclear age. Because of man's hubris in splitting the atom, the world could end.

I am singularly unimpressed with the sub-genre and its modern descendants. I don't think they're half as smart as they pretend to be, and they're boring. It's not that the ideas these stories are trying to convey are without value, it's simply that they are badly conveyed. And I would argue these stories, and other similar stories in other genres, are a big part of the reason for the disdain some writers and critics have for "stories with ideas", i.e. stories where the teller sets out to convey ideas. Because these stories sacrifice all the characteristics of a good story to convey their idea more succinctly, they are indeed bad stories. And because they bash you over the head with their Big Idea, it can seem as if stories that convey their idea with more subtlety don't have an idea to convey. This is why I have a certain amount of sympathy for this viewpoint, even though as I said earlier, there are ideas in every story, whatever author intent, and it's much better to have them there deliberately were they can be integrated into the story in an intentional and thoughtful way. Storytelling and the ideas in a story don't have to be in conflict. In fact they should not be.

The other reason is because these stories are much more likely to be respected as smart, cerebral than Jurassic Park in spite of often sharing the same underlying Big Idea, because of man's hubris, disaster happens. I think this is because there is a strain of thought in the West that says that emotions and reason are in direct conflict and reason is superior. If a person is having an emotional response to something, they must not also be having an intellectual response, and this is bad. Emotional responses are bad and we should fear them. This is not true. Everything we know about human development and learning tells us the opposite, that humans learn and internalize information and ideas better when they make an emotional connection to them. Furthermore, a good story, where the ideas are integrated into the story allows the audience to tease out the themes and ideas for themselves, allowing for a simulated experience, and audience's own discovery. Humans are also much more better able to learn what they discover for themselves than what they are told. Ironically this means that spoonfeeding an idea to an audience, as the terrible stories I talk about above do means that the audience is much less likely to learn that idea, or remember it. This also means that stories are a profoundly important means of conveying ideas. Humans are built to learn through stories.

So, with all that background in place, how does Jurassic Park tell a good story? How does it create emotional impact for its ideas? How does it show its ideas in a way that the audience gets to learn by simulated experience? How do the ideas and the story harmonize with the story serving the ideas at its core?

First and very simply, Jurassic Park gets its audience to care about its characters. Everything else, all of the emotional impact, rests on this. The novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton, on which the movie is based, has a lot more in common with the storyless scifi stories I mentioned above than it does with the movie. Crichton was great at coming up with high concept premises and not very good at actual storytelling, and this is why although Michael Crichton wrote the original screenplay for Jurassic Park the movie, Spielberg called for extensive rewrites mostly focusing on characters and character development, giving characters arcs, shuffling around traits, and rebuilding some characters from the ground up.

This is how Ellie Sattler got personality and agency, Alan Grant got his dislike of children, Ian Malcolm went from an obnoxious author surrogate who existed to explicitly state Crichton's ideology while high on morphine, to an anxious intelligent audience surrogate, and John Hammond went from a greedy, grasping, conniving evil business man to a genial wealthy eccentric who wants to give children the experience of a lifetime. The children also are engaging and sympathetic instead of terminally annoying. This is also where the character arcs begin to take place. Alan Grant's initial dislike of and discomfort with children leads to his character arc learning to understand and appreciate children, and Hammond, no longer so revolting, can learn his lesson and live instead of the well deserved death he gets in the novel.

Spielberg also demonstrates his understanding that character arcs serve a purpose. While character arcs can be a useful tool to keep a character, especially one who gets a lot of focus, interesting, there is nothing wrong with static characters. Character arcs should tie back to the themes of a story, and Jurassic Park the movie does just that, Hammond's character arc especially. It's Hammond's hubris that leads to several deaths, and Hammond, his beloved grandchildren, and all of the main characters being placed in mortal peril, and it's the consequences of this hubris that force Hammond to reconsider his core assumptions about the world, how it works, and his place within it. Grant's character arc ties into many of the movie's secondary themes. of coming together, of self sacrifice, and that children are the hope for the future.

Ellie Sattler and Ian Malcolm meanwhile do not have character arcs. In both cases, the ways in which they could evolve over the course of the story would be thematically weird. Ian is our anxious audience surrogate, who complains and warns of impending doom, and is visibly anxious and sarcastic throughout. In a lesser story, he would be eaten by dinosaurs. In a mildly lesser story, he would be given an arc about overcoming his fear. This arc would clash with the main theme of the story, because Ian's fears are justified. He is the one not succumbing to hubris. Instead, what happens is Ian is shown to be both anxious and brave at the same time. He doesn't have to change to be brave. When the time comes, he can show tremendous courage and self sacrifice, and then when that time is over, he can go right back to being visibly anxious. This subverts audience expectations and makes him a richer character without changing him and dealing with the thematic implications. Ellie meanwhile also does not have an arc. Instead, she is the one who articulates the realization Hammond needs to come to. Much like Ian, she represents where the other characters need to get to. Both characters do this for Hammond. but also for Grant. Ellie gently mocks his discomfort with children and shows her own lack of the same discomfort, while Ian regularly shows concern for the children, and understanding of them and their feelings. They both push and prod the two characters undergoing arcs into the changes they need to make without feeling preachy. And Ellie especially makes choices that advance the plot in positive ways, making her proactive and more interesting without forcing her to change.

But great characters are unimportant if the audience doesn't get to know them before the emotional impact is delivered. Jurassic Park give the audience plenty of time to get to know the characters and watch them interact and bounce off each other. This process of getting to know the main characters and coming to like and identify with them means that later, we will care when they are in danger.

Spielberg also uses story structure to advance the themes of his story. The movie is structured in such a way as to build maximum suspense, but more importantly, it is designed to play on audience expectations, and to mimic within the movie the feeling of watching the movie. Spielberg knew of course when he was making the movie that his audience would go into the theater knowing certain things about the movie. There would be dinosaurs, they would be a towering special effects marvel, and then the dinosaurs would get loose and eat people. Instead of subverting this expectation, Spielberg gives it to us and sells it.

The first thing he does is show us a dinosaur, killing someone. This is off screen and only heard, and we don't actually see much at all of the raptor. This gets everybody onto the same page. If you managed to miss the whole "people will be eaten" thing, now you know. And this is something that other characters can reference throughout the first part of the movie, to build suspense and highlight Hammond's careless faith in the safety of his park. We are next introduced to Grant, Ellie, and most importantly, Hammond. Hammond in the movie is a clear surrogate for Spielberg himself, and the filmmakers more generally. This well-meaning showman will give the other characters dinosaurs in a stunning scientific and technical achievement, just as the movie will for the audience. And Grant and Ellie are sold on the park and the potential of seeing dinosaurs, the wonder and technological impressiveness much the same way the special effects dinosaurs are sold to the audience.

We are teased some more with the prospect of dinosaurs, we get to watch the characters interact, and then, at last, the movie, and Hammond, gives us what we, and the characters, have been waiting for. We get dinosaurs.

Within the movie, the dinosaurs are a stupendous, awe-inspiring fulfillment of all of the characters’ desire to see these amazing extinct creatures walking and breathing in front of them. And outside of the movie, the dinosaur special effects are a stupendous awe-inspiring fulfillment of all of the audience's desire to see these amazing extinct creatures walking and breathing in front of them. For one transcendent moment, the experiences of the characters and the audience are in near perfect unity. This binds the audience closer to the characters, causing us to identify with them, and it allows us to buy into their journey, to become stakeholders in it.

This wouldn't work if the special effects weren't really just that good. The dinosaurs in Jurassic Park are breathtaking in how real they look. It's been decades and they still look staggeringly real, more real even than the dinosaurs in some of the more modern installments in the franchise. This movie really is as close as most of us will ever get to that childhood dream of seeing real dinosaurs. And Spielberg sells it. He sells it hard, with sweeping visuals, John Williams's soaring score, and every cinematic trick in his arsenal that I don't know nearly enough about to describe. And he sells it not only because this is what the audience paid the price of admission for, but also because it does bind us to that character experience, and critically, it gets us to buy into the hubris at the center of the story. Yes we know the dinosaurs will end up eating people and it will all end in terror and tears, but aren't they cool?

They really really are.

And because we the audience buys into the hubris, there is a sense of betrayal when it all goes wrong. And this emotional gut reaction is in spite of the fact that the entire audience knows this is coming. It's the other thing we paid admission for, not just to see dinosaurs, but to see them eating people, to be thrilled and scared. The audience is given the shock of the hubris coming back to bite everyone. We experience through the story the theme of the story. And this is done so deftly it's hard to realize it's happening.

And that is why Jurassic Park is a shining example of storytelling craft, and why I love this movie.

[eternitas]

Voltron Dance Academy AU

okay for this hear me out: I am not a professional dancer and I know jack shit about dancing but this is a fun thing spooking in my brain for a while now so bear with me please okay? okay

It’s headcanon time!

An AU where everyone is a dancer and shit

Basically there are two majour big dance academies in Altea: Voltron and Galra

It all starts by the Garrison closing down and the crew having to find a new dance academy.

Lance, Hunk and Pidge were put in a trio back in Garrison and therefore know each other and for comfort Pidge goes to see Matt and Hance join bc what else to do?

Keith is with Shiro and just “wat now”

so Shiro is just “Well Matt and I will just unwind tonight, wanna come?”

 And somehow they all end up at this open dance night, where they just have their fun and all dance a bit, until the club anounces the dance stage open for the more brave guys. 

Lance runs onto the now free dancefloor only to bump into this chick.

LO AND BEHOLD IT’S OUR GIRL BLUE

But the music aready starts and they roll wth it

Lance thought he is a great dancer, but oh boi, this girl leaves him in the dust with her precise and lively steps he is absolutely WOOED

If he is a level 10 dancer she exceeds the 70 Level line by far

Still everyone cheers them on and it’s super much fun!

Especially because both have a lot of fun together and despite not knowing each other and improvising a lot they click and dance pretty well together

Even if Blue is the one leading and hogging most of the spotlight

Shiro notices a few more people at the sidelines who seem to be with the girl, cheering for her (aside of this one chick who looks grumpy af all the time)

The next song comes on and a pretty small girl and a giant come forth bringing some BANGING JAZZ and michael jackson style steps to the floor (fedora and vest included)

They do all the stuff, from tap dance, jive, swing- a wild mixture, but stylish af

The song ends and Shiro sees the grumpy girl of the group return from the DJ. He wats to hold Keith back, but the guy already sprints onto the stage and almost clashes with this smaller girl (guess who)

And oh boi as the music sets in she gives such quick ballet moves Keith is left in the dust like Lance prior

Of course this is Keith, he aint going down without a fight and show off his own skills, but she owns the stage with her grace, as if she is flying over it, as if gravity doest exist

Keith “I dance ballet almost my entire life” Kogane is put in place by nobody else but this chick he never met and he is both furius and absolutely stunned

“Let’s get a big applause for the one and only Red Lioness of Voltroooon!”

Shiro: Voltron? Lance: Hold up! Isn’t Voltron that prestigeous dance academy?

“And now exclusevely just for this night The Lions of Voltron with their debut choreography!”

Nobody of them knows what the f is going on, but the music starts and they witness an absolutely epic dance group performanc led by this one young woman with the short black hair

It’s as if they all are one entity, their moves precise and totally synched up. 

Not only the synchrone parts, but the place swaps, the double moments, the acrobatic movements, it’s absolutely fitting and a perfect picture.

It leaves the crew absolutely stunned

The club goes back to it’s usual routine and everyone disperses.

Pidge runs at Matt (who had probably his third vodka lemon in hands) and fangirled about those quick jazz steps, the smooth movements of that very small girl that was dancing

he just nods and slurps his drink because yes mhm i have no idea what is happening, but yes let’s give my little sis some acknowledgement, god I am so drunk where is Shiro I need an adult

Hunk and Lance were basically not even listening at each other and just talking in one big waterfall about how AMAZING that just was

and Shiro quickly follows Keith who makes a B line to the girl he danced again

“What’s your name and where did you learn to dance like that?”

Red just turns to him absolutely unamused and scoffs

“Excuse me?”

Blue makes a face and gives a short whistle, but before a fight breaks out Black and Shiro pull their hotheads back

“Scarlet/Keith”

The two look at each other andd exchange soft smiles

“I’m sorry, he’s-” “It’s okay, I get it. Maybe we could talk outside?” “Yeah good idea.”

The others notice Shiro and Keith leaving and quickly travel behind.

Lance just leans against Hunk and gives Blue a charming smile

“Hey gorgeous.” And she smirks back just as flirty. “Hey there handsome~”

Count Lancce absolutely LOVESTRUCK

Red just keeps glaring at Keith and murmuring “This is ridiculous, let’s just leave.”

And before Shiro and Black can really talk a loud “There you are!” has the lions turn around, Blue just groaning annoyed.

Entrance Allura and Coran

Did I say Blue had Lance lovestruck? Oh no, boi just fell in love at first sight ho mama mia

Blue: Allura PLEASE Black: Olea, just don’t.

Allura just talks in one flow to Black about how they can’t just leave during an open end night and how they still had practice yare yare

“Allura, I get that, but we all needed a small break, just a little... change of pace, we’ve been practicing the routine non stop for the entire day.”

Cue the Crew feeling a bit awkward and third wheelie.

“And who are these guys?”

Lance: your future lover~ Green: he wished Blue: pFT

“Um, my name is Shiro. We actually just saw them all dance and heared they are called the Lions of Voltron so we... got a bit curious if they meant the academy of Voltron...”

Hunk explains that the Garrison had to be closed down and that all of them were looking for a new dance school

and immideatly everyones miens change

Red: good luck with your search then. Black jut puts two fingers to her lips to shut her up.

“Actually...” She starts with a smile and then Allura approuches them as well.

“This is actually great timing... How about we invite you to apply for Voltron?”

Some character info dumb and more word building under the cut

Blue: aka Oleander Alvaro

Called Olly or Olea by most

Specializes in Latino and hip hop

Dubbed the Blue Lion of Voltron, being in Lion Class by now

Extremely outgoing and goofy, but also very emotional and ready to throw some fists if necesary

despite seeming to have her shit together she is absolutely NOT OKAY

why be okay herself when she can make sure her crew and friends are okay? : )))))

Usually seen with her hair in a ponytail tho ofc v stylish with enough short hair framing her face

Very wavey/curly hair

absolute latino beauty

She and Red may “not get along”, but when dancing they are one entity

The dances she does with Yellow are usually just for fun, beause they have chemistry

Has no problem dancing leading parts

Green: aka Silvana Forest

for some reason people only call her Forest?

Specializes in Swing and Jazz/Tap-dance

Wears contacts, but glasses when tired

Dubbed the Green lion of Voltron

a tiny with barely 157cm

Makes a lot of compicated choreographys and steps, sometimes even acrobatic stunts

The crews intelligent brain and data manager

She likes to film practice and analyze steps to give scientific and objective tips for improvements

She usually dances pair with Yellow, but also likes to have story choreographies with Red

Snarky lil shit and dubbed ”gremlin” by Blue

You think she chill? Nah bruh she’s gona roast you if she sees fit. Totally no filter and will make you feel like shitp urely with words because she CAN

Yellow: aka Sun Désert

“All your puns on my name? I heared them already”

Specializes mostly in very traditional and classic dances like Waltz and polka and stuff

Always dances the leading parts for pairs and can adapt perfectly to everyones style

dubbed the Yellow Lion of Voltron

Such a big silent and fluffy man. Very teddy bear. Cuddles are always welcome

Basically the heart of the crew and the only male

knows how to party and have fun, but is quick to be the repsonisble mom friend (i mean he’s best friends with BLUE)

Blue uploaded Sun and Forest dancing jive on Elton Johns I’m still standing and it blew up quite positively being the starting point of putting the Lions on the radar for people

Big burly black man dancing with a tiny white girl it’s the cutest and funnies image.

He’s usully very chill but if you manage to fuck up and get him angry you have a storm coming boi

Red: aka Scarlet Rose

Aside of Black nobody calls her Scarlet, always only Red. Probably becase of her RED HAIR AND HER NTIRE NAME SCREAMING R E D

Has been dancing ballet almost her entire life but at some point she didn’t want to just dance ballet.

Actually she used to go to the Galra Academy, but then she met Alfor and... well she quit and applied to Voltron

(I have an entire post idea or her backstory so stay tuned)

Specializes in Blallet and Modern, but has a good grip on tango and other latino dances thanks to Blue

the second big Lion video was Greens recording of Reds debut solo on this song  but it was also her “trial” to see if she will stay on Voltron because he two academies have different philosophies

Obviously she was accepted

Silent but different than Sun

DANCING IS LIFE

she will dance as much as she can and always be rather practicing than anything else

gets easily frustrated with herself and prefers to dance soli than doubles

easy to aggravate and high tension 25/8

Her standarts for someone to call themselves a dancer are incredibly high

still the crew loves and values her even if their start with red were very difficult

Black: aka Noir Schwarz

Specializes in honestly everything. You give her a song and she will dance to it

She is the one making the group choreograhies

leader of the crew and the BIG MOM/BIG SIS

she has a very strong bond to everyone, but the strongest to Red as they BOTH had started at Galra and know each other the longest

used to dance a lot of pairs and duos with Zarkon but they... fell out

long story

since back then Noir suffers of chronic pain in her back and shoulders that it sometimes makes it hard for her to dance

she shoulders a lot of the problems in the group and sometimes there are fights because she is being too forgiving and nice to the bullshit that happens to her

“I have to stay strong for everyone.... I just have to keep up for the others.”

She helps out the others with their routines and will jump in for duos and the like if they are in a pinch

never complains about that stuff

“I got this.” She doesn’t got this

Infos about Voltron and Galra

Voltron is an old academy run by Leonard Weiss

He wanted for Alfor to join the comitee once he finished his course but Alfor had a terrible accident and is now on recovery rehab overseas, now Allura tries to live up to her fathers legacy

Corran does EVERYTHING, without him the school wouldn’t be able to run at all

The whole study goes for 5 years all devided in different named classes with “Lion” being the currently 5th and last class

The schools philosophy is less on the accuracy of steps and how technically well you dance and more on what feelings you can convey (thats why Red was on trial for an etire year. Her steps and technique were flawless but she seemed like a puppet)

who graduates from Voltron as a bright future to them

but because of Galra being so popular and their entire schoolbody doing anything to make Voltron seem bad and like a joke of a school their applications are almost none. 

Actually the current lions and Allura are currently their only students????;;;;;

meanwhile Galra is about to be the one dominating school in the entire city and around. Thing is that they are incredibly racist and basically the entire system is bullshit. If you aren’t on the same level as their best students you are immideatly inferior and will be made down, if you are no bowing to the tyrany of the Galra then you’ll have a bad time my riend

Voltron is strict and hard but they are “human” in that sense

but if by the time the Lion class graduates they don’t have more students the school will be closed and... well goodbye Voltron

That’s why they are fighting so hard

Altean Class exams

1st Class- a Duo, a soli, 1 group choreography (end of year)

2nd Class - 2 duo, two soli, 2 group choreography (3 times a year)

3rd Class - 3 duo, 3 soli, 2 group choreographies (3 times a year)

4th Class - 3 duo, 3 soli, 3 group choreographies (3 times a year)

5th Class - the Castapendio also known as Alchemy Trial requirements: 2 classical pieces, 2 modern of those 2 duo, 2 soli, 2 group choreographies + 2 completely free dances (makes 8 dances in total) at the end of the year To practice for the Alchemy Trial the 5th Class has no additional classes to hold.