#So I'm quick to say that certain characters that are often shipped together would be good as friends too

[lalagoona]

Why do people get so mad at others thinking two characters have a "sibling-like relationship" or are simply better as friends. As long as they're not harassing you or forcing their opinion on you you can just scroll down if you ship said characters romantically.

[piracytheorist]

Violence ask game for SxF. Hmm... I think I knew your "topic that brings up the most rancid discourse", so I wanna know your opinion about either "22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores" or "25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing" please? 😳

To counter your point I would actually not say what you think I'd say for "topic that brings up the most rancid discourse" because from my experience there is no discourse around that matter. It's just some fans of a certain character firmly stuck on their headcanons and for some reason the rest of the fandom just rolls with that to the point that the latter might come to the former's defence if you dare point out some objective truths about the text.

And look, I get that there are some toxic assholes on the bird app who have nothing better to do than attack those fans, but I say it with the most genuinely kind intentions, if they feel attacked by someone simply not liking their blorbo or ship and pointing out some very well structured character flaws... they're in a very big need of a break from social media. I'm not being sarcastic or patronizing when I say they need to go touch grass. I used to be the kind of person who would see any criticism of my favourite character or ship and take it as a personal attack, and I know now it was NOT a healthy reaction, albeit understandable with the amount of toxicity in my then fandom. And that was a far more toxic fandom, trust me on that. People have the right to dislike anyone's blorbo and to make analyses and talks about how the character is not perfect. Babying a group of fans by protecting them from that idea can only lead to even more toxicity. So uhm idk if that answered your question XD

I've already answered #22 here but another thing I like from canon is how oppressive Ostania's government feels but there's very little focus on that. I understand why people would choose to focus on romance over the political situation, but I don't see the canon story being able to end with a simple "And then the Forger family fled and lived happily in a neutral country". I don't see the story ending without the cold war ending too. Again, I get it, not every fanfic needs to be so meticulous about it, there's no right and wrong way of enjoying the story or creating derivative works. It's just something I don't see that often. It's not a bad thing.

And on "25. common fandom complaint that you're sick of hearing" again, I'm not very active in the fandom, but whenever there's a complaint about how slow the story is I'm this 👌 close from commenting "This story isn't for you." The point of the story is to have a slow burn for the family, to show how they bond through small moments and experiences. The point is to have Twilight slowly shed his spy persona and little by little reveal who he truly is, and then get shocked at how much he's changed since the beginning. You cannot do that fast. You cannot create family bonds after one intense experience. You cannot have Twilight and Yor have a deep, meaningful connection from one moment to the next. You cannot have intense identity reveals without the feeling of betrayal of "I've known that person for so long and everything about them was a lie" that only can happen if they've spent a lot of time and small moments together. And you absolutely cannot have Twilight, who's spent a decade suppressing his feelings and true self to the point that he'd forgotten what his actual purpose to be a spy was, suddenly be all happy and giggly and lovey-dovey within the span of a week (nevermind that in my fic I did that, fics are a different matter). If people want a quick found family story with a romance that develops within a couple weeks they have to find a different story. SxF is not here to do it fast, SxF is here to do it real. It's fine if some don't like it and wanna bail. But they shouldn't demand that the story does something the way they like it. They have to find that sort of story on their own.

And it's not like we don't want all of that development to happen. We want to see the family grow close, to see them come together happily after identity reveals, to see Twilight allow himself to feel and love and be loved... but all in due time. It's a long-term commitment. It's the slow burn that does it :D

[yuebings]

fic writer meme

thank u @fruitdaze @uhuraisgay @cairoscene @englishsub for tagging me!

How many works do you have on Ao3?

44 currently! double 4s? during MY lunar new year? i gotta change that up quick

2. What's your total Ao3 word count?

315,042 words

3. What fandoms do you write for?

my most written-for fandom is mdzs, but i don't really write for it anymore...if you look at my ao3 profile u can kinda tell i'm a sporadic one-and-done type when it comes to fic hehe no one can predict where i'll go next. my latest fandom is jujutsu kaisen!

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

so you've been robbed by a musuem

the stone-filled sea

the family-dodging bathroom-dwellers association

and his wanting grows teeth

diving blind

it's like a wangxian sweep except for the last sambucky lol

5. Do you respond to comments?

i am trying to get better at that! sometimes i don't have the energy to go through and respond to every single one but trust me when i say that seeing the wonderful comments people leave truly makes my day

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

tbh i don't think i've ever written straight-up angsty endings (or at least the way i see straight up angst). every 'bad' ending has a ray of hope in it, or at least an acceptance that like...yes, this is the way it was meant to be, and to reject the outcome would be to reject everything that came before it. sometimes things were meant to go to shit. there was no other way to go. we were doomed but at least we loved each other. i will suffer but at least i can remember you. so on so forth.

with all that said, it's a toss up between the longest journey (di feijing & lei chun), or all things in pain (wen ning character study). 'angsty' endings, if only in the way i described above

7. What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

a lot of my happy endings aren't super-sweet happy endings per se, but rather a promise or hope that things will get better. idk what that says about me lol like maybe i have more interest in the "how to become happy" part than the actual happiness itself...? but ANYWAY i'd say the sappiest ending is i have is uhhhh feel like a brand new person (msr take edibles together) because 1) their mutual attraction is finally acknowledged 2) they're making out 3) they're high as balls. what's better than this

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not any time recently! i've rarely had negative comments before and all of them have been of such a ridiculous nature that my only response was like "lmfao ok"

9. Do you write smut?

nope! not yet, at least. maybe some time in the future i'll feel like it

10. Do you write crossovers? What's the craziest one you have written?

haven't written any, don't really read them either! i keep my blorbos locked up in their separate cages. siloed.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yes! kind of. if this counts, a couple years ago someone on wattpad stole over 100 wangxian fics (including mine) from ao3 and reposted them onto their own account without credit. we got their account taken down tho so all is well...but this is why i say in my ao3 profile that i do not allow reposts. please tell me if u ever see my work reposted anywhere........

i've also come across a fic in a diff fandom that was VERY clearly "inspired" by one of mine (lifting certain scenes and lines beat for beat) and gave no credit. so there's that as well.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

yes! it's always an honor when someone wants to translate my work :)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope! my creative process is so erratic that i feel like i'd be a nightmare to co-write with, so this is probably for the better

14. What's your all time favorite ship?

this is a hard question to answer. i don't have an ultimate favorite that always stays at the top of the pile, cuz my interests change all the time! right now i'm really enjoying platonic yuuji & megumi & nobara & gojo. in terms of what i go to most often when i want a comfort re-read...finnpoe.

15. What is a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

omg. you want a DEEP CUT? i have a wip for a rarepair in an already sparse fandom...yeongshin/seobi from kingdom on netflix (the historical korean zombie drama). i LOOOOVE that show i comfort re-watch it all the time. i love their bonded-thru-trauma-frenemies healer/warrior dynamic and i have this wip going for yeongshin getting bitten and seobi developing a zombification-reversal cure through sheer willpower and spite alone........there's maybe 2k written and i was relying on a season renewal announcement to motivate me enough to get the rest of it out but uh. fellow kingdom warriors if you're out there. i think we may be losing this battle............kingdom season 3 announcement save me..............

16. What are your writing strengths?

as a haver-of-siblings, i think i do general family dynamics pretty well! someone has told me in the past that i am good at packing meaning into very few words. i also think i'm good at angsty emotional beats (i sure like writing them, at least)

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

bro if there is any action scene in my work, writing it is like pulling teeth. what do you mean he's getting hit. what do you mean i have to think of an interesting way to describe punch #1 and punch #2 and punch #3. STOPPPPPPPP I CANT DO THIS.

in terms of technique i used to struggle with this thing where i NEED to perfect the writing i'm working on before i can move on. like i'd waste huge amounts of time rewriting a three sentence paragraph over and over and over again until it was perfect before i could move onto the next scene. i'm getting a lot better with that tho!

18. Thoughts of writing dialogue in another language in fics?

i've never done it myself, like, full on written-in-a-diff-lang dialogue, but i think it's cool as long as context clues/some form of translation is provided. and if proper research is done if the writer isn't a native speaker

19. First fandom you wrote for?

the man from uncle (2015). lol. napollya could have won in an alternate universe where armie h@mmer wasn't a piece of shit

20. Favorite fic you have written?

HOO. i gotta say it's my sambucky ghost fic the boy who cried ghost. it's by far my longest fic (even tho it isn't actually very long compared to others ive seen LOLLLL) and it took me AGES to write and ended up being quite personal!! part of the reason it took me so long to finish was bc i couldn't bear to write about sam struggling with grief/guilt when i was also going through something similar, so when i finally got around to writing the moment of catharsis i kinda felt like i was helping myself, too! which was a very interesting experience, and definitely served to lodge this fic in my heart forever and ever. it's not exactly popular but i'm proud of it :)

tagging @tantai-jin @bluecrystalrainingdaggers @vinelark and anyone else who wants to participate!

[midnightcreator12]

Let's Talk About TMNT 2012 Season 3 Episode 2 'A Foot too Big'

Because after some digging I found out that my takeaway from the episode isn't as common as I thought it was and I'm kinda confused and upset about that so I'mma make a tumblr rant about it.

Disclaimer for this real quick tho? I do like tmnt 2012. I have many issues with certain things that hold it back from being on my 'love it' list but, when they manage to write the characters well, its great, and there are a lot of good ideas and characters and pretty creative mutant designs.

Having said that, there's still bits of it that make me...cringe a little extra but I can chalk most of it down to the idea that the team working on the show were probably expected to crack out scripts as quickly as they could so the continuity suffered.

And then there's 'A Foot too Big'. An episode that I WILL skip every time because it gives me the creeps and I have NO clue how that episode got greenlit.

Trigger warning: I am going to be talking about some stuff about pedophilia and sexual assault. If these things make you uncomfortable, do not click the read more.

SO! What, exactly, is the goal of 'A Foot too Big'?

This is an important question to answer. And the answer that pretty much everyone came to when the synopsis dropped was that it was going to decided the fate of Apriltello. Many people assumed that it was the episode that was going to show Donnie that he was being too much with his crush and April would either A) confirm she liked him back by episodes end, or B) would firmly state that she wasn't interested and, thus, the ship would die.

When the episode dropped, there were many jokes about Donnie getting a taste of what he puts April through, about how BIgfoot crushing on him was karma for him creeping on April for 2 seasons.

BUT the mentality around Apriltello had become very negative by this point. Many were tired of Donnie constantly stumbling over himself and being Donnie's crush was pretty much the only thing April had going for her. She had her dad back so the season 1 goal was accomplished. They'd revealed she was part Kraang but...it never really factored into her character beyond 'oh, I have powers now but only sometimes'

So, yeah. People hated the ship and in particular hated on Donnie because, lets face it, he was the only one actively pushing it. April's reactions were minimal, at best (probably so they could keep making 'Donnie is a simp' gags)

But what, exactly, did Donnie do to be labeled a stalker and creep?

Well, he very clearly was into her the moment he saw her!

....like he's a fifteen-year-old boy who's never seen a girl before? I do NOT approve of people who chastise others for having crushes. Having a crush on someone doesn't make someone a creep, it makes them a damn person.

Well, he made a flow chart to ask her on a mission (date)!

Yeah.....he planned out an activity for them to do together. One April said yes to. Donnie overplanned the hell out of it and clearly saw it more as a date then an intel mission but, again, there isn't really anything wrong with what he did. He's being a little weird about it but, hey, teenaged sheltered boy whos never met a girl before April....who's never had a FRIEND before April.

He follows her around all the time!

Okay, yes, on its own, that is a little creepy. Except the 2012 boys explicitly say, several times, that they only go out at night, meaning Donnie only follows April at night. Yes, why would he feel a need to keep an eye on his friend whom is being hunted by aliens when she's walking around back alleys with no people in New York City at night!?

I do NOT blame him for this! I'm more surprised the rest of the turtles DON'T see any issue with the fact April will just...stroll around in the middle of the night by herself! No freaking wonder she gets kidnapped so much! Girl grew up on a farm and it shows!

His comments make her uncomfortable!

I will concede to this one. Donnie often tries to flirt and, for the sake of the joke, his flirting often falls flat. Could he tone it down a bit? Absolutely. But most of his 'flirting' is pretty tame and he often is just chatting with April or trying to be supportive or show off for her. The worst of this behavior honestly comes out when he's trying to one-up Casey. Its still not an excuse but he's not being any worse than any other 15 year old and, honestly? He does back off when he notices that his flirting is unwanted in the moment.

So, to sum up, Donnie is a bit over-eager and tries to flirt badly and tries to spend time with April. He occasionally follows her when he's patrolling because he's worried and wants to keep an eye on her which is valid because she gets in over her head a lot.

And then we have 'A Foot Too Big'. Donnie's 'karma' for being a 'creep' towards April. Where-

He gets manhandled-

Kissed without consent-

Followed around doing everyday things-

Constant invasions of his personal space-

Even after he has clearly shown discomfort multiple times-

From a GROWN-ASS WOMAN!

THIS ISN"T FUCKING KARMA! THIS ISNT DONNIE GETTING A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE! THIS ISNT A 'LOL, SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT WHEN SOMEONE YOU DONT LIKE HAS A CRUSH ON YOU'! THAT IS AN ADULT TRYING TO ENGAGE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH A MINOR! THAT"S FUCK PEDOPHILIA AND DONNIE IS A VICTIM!

Donnie NEVER physically forced himself on April, didn't invade her privacy and personal space constantly, he didn't try and push himself into her every waking moment! In fact, considering he has ZERO social skills, I'd say he's doing pretty well in trying to make his affections clear AND being respectful!

But we're supposed to nod along and agree that Donnie giving April a music box!

Is equivalent to THIS?!

That Donnie sometimes flirting in poor taste is on par with him getting kissed and grabbed without consent? BY AN ADLUT!!??

But, hey, let's play devil's advocate. Let's say Bigfoot is a teen by her species' standards! She is still sexually assaulting Donnie throughout the entire episode!

And there's still pedophilia vibes because then it means that the Finger got with a teenager! So it's still gross!

AND THE EPISODE DIDNT EVEN FIRMLY STATE WHERE APRIL AND DONNIE STOOD WITH EACH OTHER! MAKING THE ENTIRE THING POINTLESS!

I just sat through Donnie being sexually assaulted, possibly by an adult, for 20 minutes, his family laughing at him for it and definite predator vibes no matter what the character ages are just so the show can tell me 'lol, nothing has changed, we're still gonna shove this ship in your face!'

This entire rant is because when I posted a sketch of my OC simi inspired by a tiktok sound, I captioned it 'Raven is why I wasn't going to rewrite A Foot too Big' and a few people thought I meant she'd shoot the Finger.

No. She'd fucking shoot Bigfoot. The second time Bigfoot made Donnie uncomfortable, Raven and Scrap would be burying a body before nightfall.

Hell, I wasn't going to include the episode in the fic but I just might at this point just to have the catharsis of Raven getting to unlock her inner Chula Verd a lil bit!

Thank you for reading my rant. I know this is kinda old news at this point but I got mad and just wanted to throw my thoughts to the winds.

Hope y'all have an awesome day/night.

[garden-of-omegas]

⚜ FIRST MEETING [AYAKASHI - OTHER FACTIONS] ⚜

┌── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

characters: kyonosuke aizen | teach | enju | hiroyuki ino | zantetsu | doman ashiya summary: the details of your first meeting with your future mate. warnings: referenced death, alienation, obsessiveness (mutual yandere?) rating: sfw a/n: this took so long, i'm sorry! :'< I got caught up playing coral island and then baldur's gate, the worm in my brain decided it wasn't writing time. but we're here now!

~🎕

└── ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ ••✎•• ──────────

≿━━━━༺❀ kyonosuke aizen ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and an umibozu. you were often at the pier, looking at the ships coming and going, the waves raging against the stones. it seemed to be the only thing bringing you peace.

✿ you were five, two years younger than aizen. your mother was the one still taking you to the piers, but she'd promised that soon you'd be allowed to go on your own. aizen had just recently been adopted.

✿ your mother was busy on that day, and your father had an important business partner over, so no one could take you to see the boats. you weren't having it, so the guest asked his son to take you. kyonosuke gladly took to the orders, and took your hand to guide you to your favorite place. he protected you the whole way fiercely, even though realistically there was no danger. he was like a knight to you.

✿ while aizen didn't come over nearly as much as tatsuomi, you liked him a hell of a lot more. mostly because when he did come over, he'd gladly entertain you and your obsession with boats. whether it be by taking you to the pier or helping you build your boats. and when your mother died, he was always the one to track you down from whenever you'd run off to that time.

✿ aizen couldn't really describe the feeling he had, the first time he met you. but he was certain it wasn't actually the first time the two of you had seen each other. but he was quick to dismiss the whole thing and move on to making sure you were safe in his presence. aizen very very quickly became like a hero to you, pretty much from the moment he took your hand and didn't say a single complaint about taking you to your favorite place. he was just so amazing in your eyes, just like he'd always been.

≿━━━━༺❀ teach ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and an iju. no-one in town really knew much about you, mostly because you spent most of your time wandering around the mountains doing who-knows-what. but everyone did agree that you were very kind.

✿ you were 17, a whole year older than teach. after your mother's death several years prior, you'd pretty much moved yourself into the mountains permanently, only occasionally visiting your father.

✿ you'd been slowly fashioning yourself a house out of an abandoned temple when teach approached you alongside a small bakeneko who was looking worse for wear. you immediately invited them inside, your kind nature winning over any suspicion you might've had about a teenager and kid suddenly showing up. and that's how you ended up with basically an adopted son and a partner living with you.

✿ you and teach started living together after that, as sort of an unspoken agreement. and it didn't take long for it to unofficially become a small orphanage for various ayakashi children. and all this happened before you even realized it had. and by then it was a little too late to look back, not that you really wanted to.

✿ teach found you charming, in a quiet sort of way. you got things done, not a single complaint or a curse. that, and the sight of a strong alpha building a home is a beautiful sight for anyone, especially an omega guarding a kid. familiarity and all that. teach was a breath of fresh air in your life, that was for sure. most other people didn't take to your kindness that freely (too rough and tumble looking for most people's tastes). but you had a feeling that that had never and would never matter to him.

≿━━━━༺❀ enju ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a chochin obake. you were mostly known for your impressive collection of old artifacts, your obsession with it the most people saw you. unless you were scaring someone half to death for fun.

✿ you were 20, and soon to be the proud owner of an antique store. at least, you were hoping so. and enju... well, his age will remain a mystery to all.

✿ you were on a tour of a small building you were hoping to buy. one of the previous employees was showing it, as the owner was apparently too busy. though, not too busy to show up right at the end of the tour, just as you were saying your goodbyes to the tour guide. enju greeted you, which made the small flame inside your chest brighten. he managed to notice it before you quickly covered it up.

✿ you didn't end up buying that particular building, it wasn't at a good place for your business, though enju promised to show you some other buildings he owned that might work better. that ended in a few dinners and a trip to the theater, and... well, those just never ended.

✿ enju found you fascinating, especially the small flame in you. for a while he thought you were something like him, but after a while he realized he was wrong. didn't make you any less beautiful in his eyes though, even when you failed to pick up on his courting signals. you thought enju to be... strange. but also one of the most beautiful things you'd ever seen. it made your flame burning brighter somehow even more embarrassing, especially since you couldn't get it to stop doing that around him.

≿━━━━༺❀ hiroyuki ino ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and bakekujira. you were always followed around by various birds, and fish if you were close to water. this made you seem way scarier than you actually were.

✿ you were 16, just like hiroyuki. your mother had died ten years prior, so you were mostly over the whole thing. hiroyuki had just recently started in the army as a cadet.

✿ you were in the park, gazing into the lake while your little fish friends showed off to you. they were so pretty that you weren't paying attention to the amount of birds starting to gather around you. hiroyuki, a young cadet with a bit too much eagerness, saw that and became concerned. he ran to you quickly to ask if you needed help, to which you looked at him with the most amount of confusion ever.

✿ hiroyuki started noticing you around a lot after that, and realized that any time he'd seen a concerning amount of birds had probably been you. but now anytime he saw lots of birds he'd walk over and chat with you, which you were still confused about. but at least he was nice to your friends so you didn't mention the weirdness.

✿ hiroyuki mostly found you concerning. you were eerie, kind of scary, people avoided your path more than they did actual criminals... but you were still so nice. mostly you just wanted to sit around with your friends, though he was certain that wasn't all there was to you. you thought hiroyuki was weird, both for wanting to be around you and for being concerned for you. no one's ever concerned for you, aside from your father. but soon after meeting him, some part of you started looking forward to seeing him.

≿━━━━༺❀ zantetsu ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a daki. you were pretty much a hermit despite your apparent talkativeness, living on your boat when you weren't in the city with your father, which was starting to become rarer and rarer.

✿ you were 22, two years older than zantetsu. your mother had died 12 years prior, and you'd slowly been spending more time away from the city since. zantetsu was already part of the senkitai.

✿ you'd just come to the shore from a fishing trip and had gotten to roasting your catches. zantetsu had seen your fire from their current camp and came to investigate, at which point you spotted him and invited him to sit and eat with you. he was rather shocked at being noticed, and in his confusion took your invitation. which is how he ended up listening to you talk and talk for a few hours while eating roasted fish.

✿ zantetsu would find your fires every once in a while, at which point you'd invite him to sit with you again. he'd, for some reason, take your offer everytime. then he'd sit and listen to you for a few hours before leaving. after a while he even started talking back to you which got you talking even more!

✿ zantetsu really didn't know what to think of you, you were a weird ayakashi to him. at least, he assumed you were an ayakashi. normal humans don't live on their boats, he was fairly certain. but regardless, he wasn't really sure why he kept indulging you. your life was rather lonely a lot of the time, for someone who liked talking as much as you did, so zantetsu was a breath of fresh air whenever he appeared. he really grew on you, really quickly, and for some reason you didn't mind it.

≿━━━━༺❀ doman ashiya ❀༻━━━━≾

✿ you were the only child of a famous art-dealer and a hinnagami. you were known mostly for your creepy, doll-like stare and your very insistent helpfulness. no one around you was safe from your need to be of use.

✿ you were about 23, though you've always felt much older, like there was chunks of your life you simply couldn't remember. doman was over a thousand, this time around anyways.

✿ you were out and about helping one of your neighbors with their shed. it was a bit deeper into the woods, and they were too old to make the trip anymore to get wood, so you'd gone instead. just as you were ready to leave with a back full of logs, you locked eyes with a pair in the woods. a flood of memories invaded you and the eyes turned fearful.

✿ remembering your past life with doman, your old hinnagami instincts took over and you essentially abandoned everything to follow the man around. you weren't really sure why he was so insistent on you leaving, you still had some holes in your memories, but you were determined to stay with him.

✿ doman was conflicted about meeting you again. your past was turbulent and complicated, your mutual obsession hadn't ended well that time. who was to say that this time would turn out better, especially with how you looked at him, so familiarly obsessive. you loved him. it was pretty much the only thing you were certain of upon meeting him, it was like everything about your life made sense. you knew it was possibly just your instincts as a half-hinnagami, but it didn't really matter. you just knew that you belonged together.

[theroundbartable]

I just found this post of yours and it's so interesting.....

https://www.tumblr.com/theroundbartable/740670829898170368/what-do-you-think-are-merlin-and-arthurs-greatest?source=share

Can I ask the same questions but for drarry and klance?

So, I'm new for these 3 ships (like < 2 years). I finished hp books and merlin BBC just last year and finished voltron 2 years ago. Like I thought, it's hard for me to find a blog with these 3 ships so I'm so excited when I found your blog. Thanks so much for your blog, I love it.

Also, do you mind if I ask your top fav fics for these ships?

Thanks if you want to answer....

Hello, Anon :) Thank you for the question and welcome to the fandom(s) XD ^^

Original Question: "(What are xy's) personality strengths and weaknesses? Why? What do you love about their dynamic?"

Drarry:

Draco: Draco is a leader and he knows his place. His strengths lay in his self confidence, observation skills and the fact that he knows his friends (and enemies) well, although he chose neither of them. Those are, by the way, marks of a true Slytherin, which is something Draco is the epitome of. He's sly, smart (although not as smart as Hermione) and focusses on tradition and his appearance. At this point I want to say that his upbringing plays a huge part in his character development as a child.

Draco's weakness is what I believe is the reason for Slytherins being known for harboring dark mages: He's easy to manipulate. People who have such a strong foundation in their self estimation, in their tradition with focus on family, friends, and blood bonds can easily be driven to do really bad things. While Draco is a leader, he doesn't know how to stand in for himself or for people he doesn't have complete control over when he suddenly isn't in charge anymore. He obsesses easily. The ties that made him strong in the past, tie him to Voldemort's schemes.

BUT, and that is the reason why the Malfoys are pardoned in the end, Draco has a sense for justice. He is self aware enough, and empathetic enough to know that the side he's on is the wrong one. He just doesn't have the ability to break free.

(One weakness for fun: Draco is bed at insulting people. Mudblood was not his creation, it was a common term. Draco's best insults were "Potter stinks" and "Weasley is our King." He's pathetic, I love him. Ginny's poem to Harry was more insulting, like seriously.)

Harry: Harry's strength is openness, empathy, courage, luck and a certain amount of wit. Harry has his own mind and he stands by what he believes in. He is a good judge of character and knows his own limits. He also has a strong sense for justice, although he's not as rebellious as his father had been. Harry sticks more to rules than James Potter ever did. (Harry is also a pretty good Quidditch player)

Harry is quick to agitate. He has a strong competitive side and tends to be a bit oblivious to his surroundings, and often even himself. He's emotion driven and that's what makes him sort of easy to manipulate as well. However, he is quick to accept deaths and work through traumatic events without having complete melt downs.

Their dynamic:

What I love about Drarry is that if the final HP scene had been cut off, it would have made the most sense (imo). Heck, even WITH the scene, the Drarry moments are still superior to most other ships.

They begin with a rejected friendship, a friendship that probably would have been the only friendship Draco would have actively chosen for himself, that leans into rivalry, then enemies and then a mutual understanding so deep and almost intimate that leaves their adult selfs capable of being everything at once.

After everything that has happened, they couldn't possibly be together. Not with Draco still following tradition and being forced into marriage (I swear, Draco could come out and it wouldn't change a thing, except that it makes far more sense than Dumbledore's coming out, again, imo.) And not with Potter becoming an auror afterwards who made sure that Draco's family was safe. The power difference makes it all very difficult. Draco knows his place and his duties and right then, they are beneath Potter, yet, Draco understands Potter's struggles better than anyone else, just like Harry understands Draco's suffering better than other Death Eaters or Ron and Hermione ever could.

What I love about them is that despite their differences, they are somewhat equal and symbolically so. Draco is a villain who was saved by Harry, and who saved Harry (at the manor). AND, what I really love, is that Harry could only win because of Draco's wand. The wizarding world owes Harry, of course, but Harry owes Draco for the wand, for the power over the elderwand. Harry stole three wands at the manor, but it was Draco's that suited him best. I love that Draco has silver hair and grey eyes, while Harry's are pitch black and his eyes green. I love that, even when Harry himself and his friends doubted Harry's heritage to being Salazar's heir, Draco knew it wasn't Harry. I love that Draco was more aware of Ginny's feelings for Harry than Harry himself had been. I love their rivalry on the Quidditch field, I love that Harry immediately knew that Draco had the mark because Draco STOPPED obsessing over Harry. I love that Harry knew the only reason for that to happen could be Voldemort. I love that Harry misjudged him and from the moment at the tower when Dumbledore died that Draco was a pawn and never wanted any of this to happen. That Draco was doing his best under the circumstances. I'm trying to explore these moments in "Second chances", but I suppose since you follow me for Drarry content, you knew that already.

I tend to stay away from the Harry Potter fandom, and I honestly haven't read many fanfictions there. I prefer to write - well, I delayed the fanfiction mentioned above because of fandom/author toxicity. Originally, I wasn't even sure whether to upload it at all. But after 2 years of contemplation, I've come to a conclusion. I just... tend to feel bad when I dive too deep into this fandom and see people on instagram spead hate to artists and in comments on ao3, or even on tumblr and I feel bad for working on the fic in general and yeah... that's why I can't name any fics, I'm very sorry. It's emotional and complicated.

Klance:

Keith: Keith is independend, he grows emotionally stable through the years, even though he starts off rather unhinged. But he's a skilled fighter and a compassionate leader who values his teammates and their input. He's a quick thinker and ambidextrous ;) And he puts the people he loves first.

Keith's weakness is that he's unhinged and and likes to head face first into trouble. Yet, he hates responsibility and he hates putting other people in the same positions he readily puts himself in. He also struggles with his identity in the beginning before he learns to accept it. He grows a lot, which is why it's difficult to make out individual strengths and weaknesses.

Lance: (Oh boy) Lance has good instincts, is a great shot and knows people. Not as well as Hunk does, but Lance knows how to deal with them. He's a decent strategist and grows into his responsibilities. He's also flexible (I don't mean physically, I mean mentally. He goes from ice paladin to fire paladin! But I guess physically as well, lmao ;) )

Weaknesses ... Lance has so many issues! He struggles with self worth, his place on the team/in the world. He has imposter syndrom, doesn't have faith in his own abilities, considers himself the dumb one (thank you bob, you useless god), he has depression and loses his friends one by one to each other, or a time warp that holds Keith for 2 years, only to learn that he was 'too dumb' to notice that Shiro was dead (thank you, Voltron writers, wtf).

Lance is observant (he was the only one to recognize Keith's change), he is selfless and heroic right from the very beginning (the bomb) and connects well to the mice. He's sensitive and compassionate and matures into a semi confident right hand man.

I like his take on masculinity and I find his flirting endearing... but I don't like that he's reduced to being a love interest in the end. A REBOUND no less. Lance is someone who, I believe, should be loved with confidence, not with a guilty conscience and the 'realisation' that he was better than Lotor. Fuck that. (Sorry, I was really mad at that point in the show R.I.P.). I also think that SOMEONE should have said something about the Voltron show being toxic but I suspect that I'm the only one who got angry at that...

I find the marks Lance now has a weakness, because they make it impossible for him to move on from Allura. I find that a bit unfair, tbh. And I think it's sort of sad that he became a farmer. He's the first one to go into retirement and I think that marks him as the only person who couldn't fully move on and who is drowning in depression. Not that being a farmer is a bad thing, it just isn't Lance. It feels wrong.

(Btw, no offense to Allura shippers! I absolutely get where that ship os coming from, (I'm a multishipper, lol,) I just think that THIS form of them becoming canon is a disservice to the ship itself. I believe I even read that the showwriters made Allura appear younger so the ship could become canon. I have no idea, I just think they had more to build that ship on and didn't give it the chance to fully embrace it's potential)

Anyways. Klance dynamic:

Who doesn't love rivals to lovers? In this case it's officially rivals to best friends, but seriously? The bonding moment? Them supporting EACH OTHER through their emotional difficulties? Keith helping Lance with his lack of confidence while Lance helps Keith carry the unwanted responsibilities ? *Chef's kiss*

Them knowing each other's strengths and weaknesses to a T! Mutual understanding, baby! Them encouraging each other and accepting their flaws, to the point where they can tease each other without mercy. Fire and ice, samurai and sharpshooter!, team leader and co leader, both growing as people as they adopt each other's fighting styles. It's just so good. I love them.

I also love that while Lance was always told to be more like Keith, Keith NEVER expected Lance to do that. He wasn't even aware of it. Keith stepped back to give Lance what he wanted, Keith listens to Lance more than others, Keith values what Lance has to offer more than anyone else, and Lance learns that Keith sees him eye to eye and not from a pedestral.

At the game show, they chose EACH OTHER! I believe in post canon Klance, and I'll stand by it.

Keith is pining and in denial, while Lance is mostly in denial. And I love that too. They are very fun for me.

Fic recs: 1. Dirty Laundry. I HAVE to name this one! Sorry, it has an emotional choke hold on me. There are multiple one of these because the original author has been bullied into deleting the story. It's still my favorite within the fandom. Anyway: The premise is that Lance bribes Keith into being his fake boyfriend for a week, in exchange for doing his laundry. I keep envisioning Lance's home as my godmother's home and yeah... It's very well written too.

2. Read all about it Summary: Keith is Altea High’s star athlete. And Lance, a wily reporter for the school newspaper, is crushing hard. The only problem? They’ve never actually met before. So when Lance decides to broadcast his long-hidden feelings in an explicitly romantic exposé, he ends up accidentally sparking a school-wide epidemic. Suddenly the entire student body is in on the drama, but are words truly enough to win over the school’s enigmatic heartthrob?

3. Shut up and dance with me Summary: Lance and his friends have been regulars at the Altea Dance Studio for years. Not just for classes, but to hang out, practice, and spend time with good people who love dancing. Every year, they audition to be one of the few representing Altea at the regional dance competition. Lance always auditions solo, but this year he misses out on auditions and blows his chance to participate. And so does his self-proclaimed rival, Keith.

Luckily, Shiro comes up with a brilliant plan: convince Lance and Keith to audition as a duo.

With a little convincing, and a lot of effort, these two might just be able to pull it off and go to regionals... or they might crash and burn. Comment: This one MADE me try out dancing in my room and I just - gods, I love this fic.

This is all I have for now :) Thank you so much for the question, anon. I hope these things made sense to you :)

[when-life-gives-you-lemons-if]

So, I finally got around to playing the update. Here my thoughts

But before that quick fun facts, this update was great for me since I 💯 percent forgot my og mc so I got to play around with the one I headcanon about. Her name is Megara Theban, she has a daughter named Deianira Calydon Theban. (If you ever watch Disney's Hercules or a Greek nerd. you know, you know bonus if you know what Deianira name translates to but for me definition I took nice version than what really means)

One: I really like how it goes so far, and I'm just very excited to see the birthday party (totally not because I like to see the world burn and invite all my Ros. Which is totally not awkward since Meg decided to have one night stand with best boi)

Two: the Hookups are very interesting I'm more intrigued on how Harlem will play out and this isn't me just saying it because we happen to share username (pss: I do love them tho lol only what few interactions and I'm yes your my new fav haha)

Three: Brenda... Yeah I both hate and like here. On one hand I understand why she would ship /projecting since she knows and in certain cases seem them dating and they were really good together, the other she recently divorce and seeing mc have more options while not really looking for them could make anyone jealous. HOWEVER if you're playing a route and don't want ex to be ro (in other words you are going for a different route but have ex as an ex) she can be quite annoying especially when she playing matchmaker when unwanted. (Ex my meg is going for slowburn with ex so in beginning she more cold to him. But also cold to Brenda since one she involved herself in something that has nothing to due with her and two feels little bit push into unwanted relationship since she keeps bring it up and hope for them together.) Tldr: I can see if she has some haters but I see the nuance

Four: I'm very interested on how far the neighbor war will go especially now it's involves mc's work (aka the Barlow project) and what happened if find one of the homeless people did it (meaning what they arrest someone who involved aka pay to do it but they don't find the mastermind)

Lol that was long.... 😅 but very deep and insightful. It's like you really went in there and analyzed every little detail and I'm loving it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

Totally agree about the hookups VS ROs because I'm starting to feel like some of them are very interesting.. for example Officer Costa in one of the dialogue, MC can find out that they are a Widower/Widow. Imagine the love story I could write with that prompt alone. The whole way of meeting MC during a call for vandalism, then hooking up with MC and thinking well maybe it was just that... just a one night stand and Costa finding themselves falling in love with MC like... still my poor heart.💕💕💕💕

I like the Brenda take because I feel like it makes Brenda more of a 3 dimensional character. Often we have friends like that who would ship us with someone regardless of how we feel about said love interest and having MC being able to feel some type of frustration with Brenda will be a good thing.

The most feedback I get about Brenda is that... why is she always telling Barlow everything about my MC like... Girl!!! Stop telling Barlow my business!!! 🤣

But yeah... the story is getting at the point where ROs and hookups will start to be aware of each other... because Lemon is a small town!!!! and, also the plot with the neighbor will thicken... so excited to write the next few chapters. 💕

[turojo]

General RP style and preferencesRepost, don’t reblog.

Bold what applies. Strikethrough what does not. Elaborate on any points you’d like with a *

Please be honest, we all want to find the people who work best with how we RP.

𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐑𝐏 & 𝐇𝐎𝐖 ��� 𝐃𝐎 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒

| I don’t I just do whatever is on my dash when I’m online | Mainly asks | I do little short things mostly | I do my threads on discord | Long running threads that slowly build upon the muses |

𝐏𝐋𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄𝐒

| Wing it | Get a general idea ooc and then run with it & plot further if need be | Long expansive thought out story arcs |

Plotting really comes once the characters are properly introduced. Though if you have a clear idea of what you'd like then feel free to DM me. Not to say I hate plotting but most of the time its just us starring at each other blankly oop-

𝐓𝐘𝐏𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 𝐈 𝐃𝐎 & 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐑

| Oneliners only | Whatever dash shenanigans I’m online for | Para or Mulit para | Literal Novels |

I just reaaally like to type a lot but don't feel the need to follow suit! At the same time please don't give me one liners in return either : [ One liners are more for crack or quick dash ic moments.

𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐋𝐘 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒 & 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐘 & 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐒

| I lose threads all the time & don’t usually get back to them | I tend to lose threads but please tell me if I have and I’ll reply! | I drop threads pretty easily | I’m really slow but I WILL get back to you | I reply on a schedule/queue (specify if you’d like) | I usually reply within a week | I reply every day | I reply almost instantly |

But always if you're jiving for a particular thread and want it right away!! Lemme know! I know how it feels to be excited for a certain thread or a plot!

𝐑𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐏𝐒

| I don’t do these ships (specify reason if you would like) | I’m not against them happening but it is not the main point of my blog | All ships will have to be super slow burn & discussed a lot OOC, super chemistry based (Mutuals and friends only) | I love doing ships, HMU I probably already ship it just ask! | I ship really quickly | I autoship or ship within a few interactions | I mainly RP for the cute ship fluff |

All they really need is some chemistry, a little bit of discussion of why a and b go well together and some interactions! I'm medium? paced with ships depending mostly on muse so always feel free to ask ahead and no need to be shy, I quite like it! And remember across my blogs on multi single ship meaning I only ship with one of a muse and want that reciprocated.

I dont do slow burn, sorry, Im really busy and unless there's a plotted timeline in order Im p bad in keeping track or keeping progress 🧍‍♀️

𝐒𝐌𝐔𝐓

| I do NOT do smut at all (this muse is a minor!) | I’m very selective about it | I only do it on a separate (blog/discord/specify here) | I mainly only do asks relating to nfw headcanons on Sundays | I write it a medium amount | I write it all the time and love to | 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 [ GMT+5 ;; North America ]

| Mornings 8-10 | Midday 11-1 | Afternoon 2-5 | Evenings 6-8 | Night 9-12 | Ungodly hours of the day 1-onwards |

I work really late into the night because of my job so it's definetly evening based, weh

𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐘 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄

| SUPER slow and sporadic, like once a month or so | Slow and sporadic week long gaps between activity | Bi-weeklyish activity | Weekly activity | Daily activity | I’m online nearly all the time |

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐒

| I don’t do starter calls | I want to do starter calls but often don’t have time | I do selective calls (ask calls) | I don’t do calls, but always fee free to ask me for one! | I do starter calls rarely/regularly/often |

Though the fastest way to interact with me is through memes or quick plot of their relationship or idea. 𝐀𝐔𝐬

| I don’t do AUs | My blog is an AU but outside of that I don’t do them | I sometimes do them but only with a lot of plotting | I have a couple of AUs already feel free to request them! | I have AUs coming out of my ears please interact with them! | I love making AUs HMU to plot if you think of one! | There are some AUs I won’t do (specify here) |

Once I get ideas for an AU anyways! But do read up on the AU once they're available in the about sections, some are private for only a few mutuals.

𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒

| I don’t do crossovers | I’m selective with crossovers (specify reason if you’d like) | I love crossovers! |

I love the idea of crossovers of two different medias meeting without one neccessarily having an AU counterpart for the other! It's cool to explore! That being said I prefer crossovers only with fandoms or media I'm familiar with or can gleam from an about section.

[the-witch-of-one-piece]

Can u do the monster trio/kidd and law with a Latin y/n

A/N: Hello dear :) Just as a reminder up to 4 characters on a request. I will do 5 this one time only if not I will remove a character. the next time. Me being a Latina I can be a bit feisty in my own ways. There is different traditions in the Latin community along with different dialect and languages this request the language being spoken by the reader is Spanish. Everyone is raised differently too keep that in mind. I tried to make this one fun as possible. Anyways I hope you enjoy 😘

Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, Law and Kidd w/ a Latin reader

Luffy

-Both of you together two big personalities equals a good time. Luffy loves that you know how to cook your native home dishes and you tend to over make food as well Luffy will make sure it wont go to waste.

-He loves hearing about the different folklore creatures like El Chupacabra. Luffy would imagine the creature in his own mind and him wanting to eat it "sounds tasty." When you go more into the stories of like La Llorona he gets so into the story. He loves how you go into detail sometime being a bit more dramatic when saying the story.

-When he meets your family he fits right in as he very sociable with them. Your grandmother constantly filling up his plate with more food as she would love to see him eat her cooking. Compliments likes crazy "Thanks grandma." he would say waring her heart.

-There are times when he needs to act serious and he doesn't as well all know. You would get upset because he is not listening to anyones reasoning you are quick and always have direct aim as you threw your chancla at him to get his attention.

-He would get lost in a conversation if you are speaking to someone always asking "what did you say?What did they say?" constantly be wants to join in and you would translate for him as well.

Sanji

- Being in a relationship with Sanji to better explain it like a telenovela romance just the romance parts minus the drama. This man was head over heels for you.

-Sanji when he know certain holidays coming up he will make a big feast for you and the rest of the crew. He would want to know more of your family traditions and since he know it is important to you.

-When he sees you dressed up in your cultural attire he is struck by cupids arrow. He is lost in his own words you took his breath away.

-The way you pronounced words or calling him "Mi Amando" would come off you tongue his soul would leave his body.

-Date night with this sweet man would take you out dancing ,he is a very good dancer he would show off his skills. Giving you this Suavecito look then he would say "Te quiero con todo mi corazón"

-your eyes will shoot open as his pronunciation is perfect.

Zoro

-Before he leaves on a mission you would give him a blessing literally stopping from him before he exited off the ship. Him not being a very religious person he will let you do it for him he will consider it more of a good luck charm as he departures off the ship.

-When he is feeling off you can totally sense it prompting you to tell him to wear the evil eye for protection. "I'm not wearing that" he said.

-"Por qué no" you would place you hands on your hip. Zoro knows that phrase too well from you as you would use it often on him . It just opened a new can of worms from him as you go on why it is important to wear. Then you start explaining it to him in Spanish then he gets lost.

-He will finally give in and say "fine I'll wear it!"

-When you both are drinking and you have a bit too much you will do a grito. This would cause his to deep chuckle "for someone so small you do have a powerful voice"

Law

-Dating Law he enjoys you speaking to him in spanish. He pays very close attention how you roll your r's he loves your lips your words flow so smoothly. How you speak almost a bit flirtly of course you don't mean it like that it how you speak it (the tone).

-A holiday he was got into was Día de Muertos. The marigolds place everywhere. Pictures of your passed love ones displayed . Law does keep a picture of Corazon and he also does put him on display. He not the type to party or dance he wont dance with you but will see you enjoy dancing with Bepo and the rest of the crew. You brought this whole new life in his world.

-When someone is not feeling well like a cold or anything you will got into the cabinet he knew exactly what you were getting. He gives you the most straight face as bust out the Vicks vapor rub. "Vicks doesn't cure everything." he will say to you.

-"then you tell that to my abuela when you meet her." you respond with a bit of sass mumbling underneath your breath.

Kidd

-Another two people with two big personalities. Oh lord how did this happen you say. You had spunk and his fiery attitude that Kidd couldn't resist. He like a bit of a challenge...so he thought.

-He likes you are outspoken and not afraid to speak your mind. One thing you do bump heads on is who is right on certain subjects. He wants it one way and you want it the other. OH LORD Kidd does like getting you a bit riled up because he knows it will end in rough passion sex.

-New Years day is very important to you. You have your 12 grape as you eat them right before midnight he would look at you oddly as you pass him 12 as well "the hell am I supposed to do with these now?"

-"eat them 12 grapes it will bring you happiness for the next twelve months. if you eat them I will show you what's I have under these clothes after 12" wiggle your brow as you were crunching on the grapes.

-the sinful grin on his face shoving the grapes in his mouth. "the color red looked good on you anyways." he remembered the red undies you put on earlier.

[sweetbitterimpossiblecreature]

A Brief And Concise Summary Of Is Wrong With The ACOTAR Series

I think we can agree that a lot of ACOTAR is pretty iffy. Consider this a very brief refresher.

What's Wrong With Feyre/Rhysand (juxtaposed against Feyre/Tamlin)

Rhysand drugs and sexually assaults her in Book 1

This is "for her own good". Because he "has no choice". Despite the fact that, from what we know of the plot, Amarantha thinks that Clare Beddor was the one Rhysand was diddling, and is only interested in Feyre because Rhysand, "her" man male, has taken an interest in her.

If we extrapolate from this we can figure that Rhysand is the one directly putting her into danger.

Now, let's be clear: drugging someone is bad. Sexually assaulting someone is bad. One could argue there were extenuating circumstances. But if, in such a situation, what your mind goes to is "I know, I should assault this person... for their safety" I have questions about your moral qualities. There were a million things he could have done. He could have done whatever he did to Clare - that is, remove her ability to feel any pain - easily. He could have helped her escape. Under The Mountain, he - while still there unwillingly - has a lot of power, as Amarantha's side piece. Maybe this would have resulted in him being punished- however, he is hundreds of years old and a badass motherfucker, and she is a nineteen year old human girl.

Now, onto Tamlin. Obviously not a lot of people really ship F/T anymore after ACOMAF, because compared to F/R, it's boring. I read another person's post about it, which was very enlightening: they said that Feyre's personality is essentially a mirror. When she is with Rhysand, she's snarky and malicious- because she is "bouncing off" his energy. When she's with Mor she's super feminist and "in awe of her strength". On the other hand, Tamlin is kind of an empty character. He's a pretty boy with anger issues, which should be more interesting than it is. SJM manages to make him bland. Because Feyre has nothing to bounce off of, (a lot of this is from the person's post), she and Tamlin together is mainly just him introducing her to his world.

What Tamlin Does: prevents a skinny twenty year old from going on dangerous missions with him and combat-trained soldiers, accidentally blows up a room with her in it, and, at the end, prevents her from leaving the house.

This is not a Tamlin apologist post. Obviously it was really fucking gross of him to do that, and their relationship was toxic. However, a lot of his abuse stems from their inability to communicate, as well as own negligence. He does not knowingly and purposefully sexually assault her or rape her mind. And tbh, leaving a girl without combat training at home while he goes on missions with a bunch of muscled sentries is... kind of reasonable?

Again: not a Tamlin apologist post. It was abuse. However, if Rhysand is "allowed" to sexually assault, mind-rape, and drug Feyre "for her own safety", why is Tamlin demonized for preventing her from leaving his mansion "for her own safety"?

Another pertinent point: Rhys is never punished for sexually assaulting her. It is brushed off as part of his "mask" or that his hand was forced. Jesus Christ my dudes, his hand was not forced under her skirt. If he has to maintain his gross rapist abuser tyrant oppressor mask... why? Who did that benefit beside him? None of his actions remotely helped Prythian. They were done solely for his buddies - five people safe in a rich hidden city - and no one else, which is explicitly stated.

Finally, the power dynamic is fucked up. Feyre is less than twenty five years old. Rhysand is 500. There is a tendency in fantasy romance to romanticize a centuries year old man with a young girl, because the man does not show symptoms of age, and so it is easily ignorable. However, can we just briefly acknowledge how fucked up it is? Rhys is over five times older than Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein, Jeffrey Epstein, and other known predators/abusers. She is twenty. That is really fucking gross. She is in a vulnerable position and he takes rampant advantage of that.

If he had wrinkles, liver problems, and erectile dysfunction, more people would acknowledge it.

Let's be clear: I'm not saying writing a book with an uneven power dynamic is automatically bad. For example, in The Locked Tomb series, which is in my opinion THE BEST FANTASY SERIES THAT HAS GRACED THIS EARTH (lol i'm starting fires), one main character Harrowhark Nonagesimus is in a position of power over Gideon Nav, the other main character. However, this is not glossed over or romanticized. Gideon resents Harrow for this- there is a relationship of mutual antagonism, fraught with unwilling familiarity and intimacy from growing up together. They are roughly the same age. While there is a certain power dynamic (in that world, there is a dynamic of necromancer and cavalier, i.e. sorcerer and sword) the "empowered" character (Harrow) emphatically respects her and does not abuse this power, although both would of course deny this, and she does make a show of threatening and being aloof. In short, while Gideon obeys her, Gideon also has power over Harrow, and the idea of what is essentially slavery is not romanticized.

Feyre Doesn't Face Any Consequences For Her Own Actions

Let me present a radical notion: a guy preventing you from leaving his house does not justify completely fucking ruining his country and harming the people inside it.

In other words: Tamlin does not deserve what she did to him.

I know that sounds iffy. We're conditioned to think that if someone is an abuser, then they are the scum of the earth, they deserve to die, torturing/murdering/doing anything to them is completely A-OK. However, here's another radical notion: someone harming you does not justify you doing worse.

Obviously, the effects of psychological abuse can cause you to hurt other people (see: Nesta), but Feyre deliberately and maliciously (oh, God, that insufferable POV of her in Spring Court; she reads like a cartoonish Disney villain) dismantles his country. She uses sexual manipulation (Lucien), torture (causing the sentry to be whipped), and mind-rape (who didn't she do this to? lol).

A summary of the entire first half of ACOWAR: "It smelled like roses. I hated roses. For this capital offense against my olfactory system, Tamlin and the entire Spring Court deserved to burn in hell. I knew exactly what I was doing. I smiled at him sweetly: no longer a doe, but a wolf. He didn't see my fangs.............." *aesthetic noises*

Man. I'm starting to think SJM had a horrible experience at a Bath & Body Works and took it out on the rest of us. Don't do it, Sarah!! I know Pink Chiffon and Triple Berry Martini are way too strong, but don't take it out on an innocent population!!

She steals from Summer Court (there are, yk, other solutions to theft. Like maybe asking politely) and ruins Spring Court. Her boyfriend - yeesh sorry, MATE - does nothing while a dozen Winter Court children are murdered.

Now: moral ambiguity is not automatically bad. Again using The Locked Tomb as an example, in the second book (spoiler alert), Harrowhark has a sort of moral ambiguity. She was raised from the beginning to worship the King Undying as God, and so she obeys him without question. Because of this, she commits a lot of crimes in His name: she "flips" - i.e. kills - the life force of planets, and she plots murder (albeit the murder of someone who tried to kill her first). There is no attempt to justify this. There is also no attempt to paint her as a virtuous and yet also badass Madonna figure. She is desperate, plagued with the "wreck of herself", and the book clearly displays her moral pitfalls. While her POV is of course colored by her mindset, it also is limited by her lack of information, and we as readers can acknowledge that.

BACK TO ACOTAR: Feyre is seen by everyone as gorgeous, formidable, and essentially perfect. Rhys sees her as flawless, "made for him", wonderful, beautiful, blah blah blah. (THEY ARE SO BAD FOR EACH OTHER; THEY EXCUSE AND GLORIFY EACH OTHER'S CRIMES, IT'S SO BAD, GUYYYS). Tamlin is insanely batshit in love with her, or whatever. To the Night Court she's the High Lady. In this way she personifies the Mary Sue character. (Excerpt from the TV Tropes page on Mary Sues: "She's exotically beautiful, often having an unusual hair or eye color, and has a similarly cool and exotic name. She's exceptionally talented in an implausibly wide variety of areas, and may possess skills that are rare or nonexistent in the canon setting. She also lacks any realistic, or at least story-relevant, character flaws — either that or her "flaws" are obviously meant to be endearing. She has an unusual and dramatic Back Story. The canon protagonists are all overwhelmed with admiration for her beauty, wit, courage and other virtues, and are quick to adopt her as one of their True Companions, even characters who are usually antisocial and untrusting; if any character doesn't love her, that character gets an extremely unsympathetic portrayal." Sound familiar?)

There is the Ourobous scene. And yet, paradoxically, while presented as an acknowledgment of her flaws, it is in fact a rejection of them. She sees her own brutality... and instead of recognizing that she has these deep, deep moral flaws and realizing that she needs to grow and be better, she in fact "accepts" them.

Guys: Self love means: "I'm important to me, so I'm going to get a massage today after work", or "heck, why not splurge on some expensive lotion, you only live once" or "you know what? I had a tough day today. I'm going to get that strawberry cupcake". SELF LOVE DOES NOT MEAN "oh, I accept all the war crimes I have done, I love myself". LOVING YOURSELF DOES NOT MEAN ABSOLVING YOURSELF OF ALL WRONGDOING.

It's this refusal to acknowledge wrongdoing that is so grating about ACOTAR. It's so goddamn one-sided. And you can tell that after Book 1, SJM decided to completely change the trajectory simply because of how jarring Book 2 reads compared to the first one.

Also: Feyre is a very, very young girl (compared to the other ruling fey) who did not know how to read for the majority of her life. She has no experience whatsoever in politics. Her being High Lady is not a win for feminism.

Rhysand: He Sucks

First, he is 500 years old. He should be written as such, not as some 20 year old virile frat boy feminist. Fantasy is all the more compelling for its elements of realism, which is a concept that SJM does not appear to grasp.

Second of all, his morals are absurd. He is written as the Second Coming of Christ, as someone who can do no wrong, ever, and his flaws only serve to make Feyre love him more. Anything shitty he does is written as part of his "mask" and she can See Beneath It and knows that it "hurts" him to maintain this "mask".

Fellas, WHY DOES HE HAVE TO MAINTAIN THIS MASK???? There is no reason for it. If A) he does not give a shit about Court of Nightmares (we'll get back to that), only about Velaris, and B) Velaris is hidden/protected from the world, what is he pretending for?

It would not hurt him politically to be seen as someone who cares about his country.

"Pretending" to be "Amarantha's whore" does not in any way shape or form benefit the macro-world that is Prythian. In Amarantha's name, he commits atrocities. He commits war crimes; he systemically oppresses entire societies. It doesn't even really benefit Velaris, because Velaris is already hidden.

Let me put this in a real-world perspective. This would be like if Donald Trump was suddenly like: "I know I was a shitty president but IT WAS ALL PART OF MY MASK, WHICH WAS TO PROTECT THIS MICROCOSM OF PRIVILEGED PEOPLE THAT I CARE ABOUT". Like: okay? Sorry, or whatever, but I don't actually give a shit. What about the parents of the children who died? What about Clare Beddor? What about the people who were held in slavery, murdered, tortured?

Rhysand: omg it sucks that my cousin Mor was oppressed by this toxic misogynistic culture from the Court of Nightmares.

Also Rhysand: lol whatever, who gives a shit about Court of Nightmares. They all suck. They meanie. Lol what did you say? That there might be other girls just like Mor who are oppressed by this system? Lol whatever. I can't do anything, I gotta maintain my Mask. I gotta sit on this throne and show the entire Court that not respecting women is completely okay.

In summary: by parading Feyre around as his "whore" (!!) he demonstrates by example that it is completely okay for the Court of Nightmares to abuse their women.

A good ruler cares about all his people. Rhysand cares about a tiny tiny fraction of his people: those who were fortunate enough to be born into Velaris.

God, I'm exhausted. Onto Nesta:

The only character who successfully breaks the Mary Sue effect Feyre exerts on her people is Nesta. Her POV for the first half is a joy to read.

Obviously it sucks that Nesta was a huge bitch to Feyre for the beginning of her childhood. However, it was wrong for Rhysand to threaten her- he is a man male with a huge insane amount of power, and it is not okay for him to threaten to bring the brunt of it down on a young girl because she was a bitch to his girlfriend.

I've seen a lot of discourse on the morality of F/R sending her out of Velaris. Here is my two cents:

It was okay for them to cut her off of their money. If they don't want to enable her self-harm, that is their choice. Again, it's their money, even if it wasn't fairly earned (Rhysand born into an enormous fortune).

It was not okay for them to banish her from Velaris with the implication that she was an embarrassment. Let me explain.

If Rhysand and Feyre are talking to her as sister/brother-in-law, then that is that. They have the complete right to express disapproval and try to help. However, they should not be using their royal privilege against her.

If they are talking to her as ruler to subject, then they have the power to banish her from the city. However, a ruler would not give a shit about a random subject getting drunk and having sex. So, they should not be talking her about her problems as a ruler to subject.

I've heard it compared to her being sent to rehab. However, rehab is a system designed to help people with certain problems. It has specialized medical centers and involves therapy. Nesta gets her life threatened multiple times. It is not rehab.

In summary: why did SJM inflict this upon us. Throne of Glass was actually good! GAHHH! After the first few books she completely whipped around and introduced the idea of males and mates and fey and that C is actually A and the quality took a huge nosedive. Sigh.

Final horrible but unmistakable truth: The entire ACOTAR series reads like a bad A/B/O fic. I hate to say it but it's true. We're lucky there were no heat cycles. OH WAIT

[tottymatsuno]

osomats!

favorite thing about them

Osomatsu completely rejects the eldest daughter syndrome he's been assigned! You can tell he both aligns with being the oldest but literally only when it serves him. It's really realistic that when it doesn't benefit Osomatsu he is quick to point out (and the only one who really comes to mind) that theyre ALL the same age! He's the oldest arbitrarily and doesn't want the responsibility.

but another thing I enjoy about him is despite this, he's pretty quick to assume a leadership position. I think even if Osomatsu wasn't the oldest he'd still be the leader. I alssooo enjoy the trauma exploration, I also think it's neat that Osomatsu has lead a children's crusade, and is often the direct cause of the tension between the six of them. He's the blind leading the lame, he's the child rallying the others to follow him, he's the eldest and therefore the most responsible for the safety of people only moments younger. He shouldn't have been put in this position, he was NEVER allowed any time for himself!

I forget what the word is but there's a term when it comes to marginalization where certain groups/people who are oppressed will have more representation while also still being suffering under that lens. I think Osomatsu has that! He doesnt benefit from being the main character, or the leader, or anything and he isn't allowed to be treated like the child he was or the young adult he is.

and what I like the most about Osomatsu is that he just says "that's on YOU if you expected me to be more mature then the rest of you. It's YOUR fault for buying into the idea that I should be an example, we are all the same age. Follow me or don't, it's your choice."

hes neat. i didnt mean to write this essay but ough. also his DPD....having multiple subtypes of it...it's pretty well written and delicious to me tbh! I also have DPD but a much different type, and well I think Osomatsu is good and compassionate rep for someone who has been GROOMED LITERALLY SINCE BIRTH to foster this dynamic. He's never once since those cells split six times had a moment or space truly for himself. He shared the womb, the room, their parents, their friends, their experiences, his life, his family, his clothes, his thoughts, all of it without a single real second to be his own true person.

He is The Osomatsu - medical anomaly, eldest and de facto leader, he is the golden child, the one that the light is casted off of to create the five shadows. He has been assigned the original and deals with the tension he created by buying into it as a child that these things made him special and not traumatized.

Of course when he splits his breath six ways he'll feel terrified that one day he'll have to breathe for himself. That those lungs will one day be his alone.

He's just neat!!!

least favorite thing about them

maybe he should stop farting near peoples food, nasty ass. Todomatsu was right to want to kill him for that <3

favorite line

:^( heart breaking moment.

brOTP

PARKA, BENI, CHOUKEI. i dont really care for sodoku sorry lol....

OTP

Osomatsu's polycule! Totoso, Osonyaa, Osobita, and all of them together! plus I think anybody who wants him should have him so once again my little divvy princess.

nOTP

bl, also anything with him and iyami or that tougou guy. kys if you ship that <3

random headcanon

Osomatsu should learn a trade! Ooor he should become an accountant! He seems good with those sort of thinking imo. Or or.

Osomatsu should become a marriage/relationship counselor. Seems weird but Oso has a pretty keen eye at analysing and reading people, can offer sound advice and I think the intimate details would keep his nasty ass interested and invested in the problems. He'd be pretty good at it imo.

unpopular opinion

Osomatsu was totally justified in smacking Jyushimatsu tbh from the scene I posted above. I'm the 2nd eldest on my mamas side, and the eldest on my Daddy's. There's been multiple times I've attacked my siblings for hitting me first and these are people aside from one that I'm older than. Not that it's a healthy expression of anger, nor did Jyushi intend to hurt Osomatsu physically - he did. Multiple times, causing him to drop his food several times. Osomatsu warned him more than once too to watch out and imo was very patient. Osomatsu was clearly not having a good time and these brothers have physically fought over less. like literally they all fought over eating some pastries, Osomatsu did nothing wrong after verbally warning him multiple times.

When you have a ton of siblings you learn pretty quickly "keep your hands/legs to yourself" and "if you're old enough to hit, you're old enough to be hit back" I kinda think that's intergral to keep the peace within families.

I think it was the serious tone and the violence directly afterwards but imo it never crossed my mind that Osomatsu was in the wrong about this. Jyushi should've watched tf out after the first time, second time at the most. Osomatsu said it hurt. >:/

song i associate with them

favorite picture of them

[regrettablewritings]

I'm feeling a Nevada Ramirez mood (love that damn asshole) but if you aren't feeling writing for him then I give this up to authors choice. But from the current ships numbers perhaps: 3 (because I wanna get fucked up), 9 (because I have to), 10 (because I would like to know your thoughts) and 11 (because I am wildly curious)

("I'm feeling a Nevada Ramirez mood" Translation: "I want a daddy to spit in my fuckgng mouth" Sorry, I don't make the rules about language translation.🤷🏽‍♀️)

3. Which one outlives the other, and how they cope:

You'd always kind of sort of lived in a fairytale. In hindsight, though, you probably had to: It's what probably made being with his stupid ass a bit easier. Kind of like you were living in one of those stories where a monster that terrorized some bucolic tiny town could be brought down to size by a soul of pure heart. Maybe even regain his human form.

If only your story had had a happy ending.

In a way, Nevada felt he was to blame for that; clearly, sticking with you had really only encouraged that type of behavior, or so he thought.

And now look where that ended you: All that gross-ass makeup to make you look like your last moments hadn't been agonizing (the coroner insisted it had been quick, but Nevada called bullshit); those stiff clothes that you never would've worn unless you had to (Nevada never would've put you in them if he had more of a choice); eyes closed, never to see the telltale signs of the one you left behind coming undone (actually, in a sick way, Nevada didn't necessarily mind this; it spared him the humiliation).

There wasn't even necessarily any sign that you had been targeted; the general theory really was that you'd been taken out by a stray bullet. But in some part of him, Nevada couldn't believe that. He didn't want to. It just made so much perfect sense in his mind: You were just minding your own damn business, walking home after a shift ended a little later than expected. You were the very picture of innocent and unsuspecting, all vulnerable and without him. In short: That was the perfect time for some rival gang or some shit to take a shot at you.

And the thought made Nevada's blood boil to the point that it evaporated into the air, further polluting these fucking New York skies with his inner toxicity being exposed. He'd make whoever did this to you choke. But not before roughing them up a lil bit. Maybe cut off some fingers. Some toes . . . Maybe a pound of flesh as payment if there was any time left, who knows.

But first, his men had to find them.

To say that Nevada does not take your passing well would be an understatement. He's somehow more violent. Somehow a lot less tolerant of bullshit (and he already wasn't before). If anyone so much as blinks wrong, they run the risk of having a nearly feral fuck jump at them and attempt to rip their face off.

His men, who already feared and respected him, dare not occupy the same room as him any longer than they have to. They miss you as a person, of course, but they never knew just how much of a hold you had on their boss until that hand was gone.

Sure, he goes through the usual motions seen in others, like sitting in his chair, downing copious amounts of whatever was left in his liquor cabinet. And, of course, there's the stages of grieving: He's eternally stuck oscillating between guilt and anger.

He was supposed to be the one that got killed out here, him! Not you: Sweet, kind, patient, hard-headed, stupid-assed you! He got that, why couldn't God get with the program on that!? He was the dealer, the gang leader putting himself into all kinds of problems with others; you were just some innocent bystander who happened to get caught in his web, decide they liked it there, and inexplicably stuck around.

And now you're dead. He was being selfish, you were being stupid, and now you were dead.

He stares blankly at nothing before humming with a sip of whatever the hell is in his glass now, he doesn't fucking remember. Can't taste it anyway; his sense of taste disappeared, floated away with your spirit the moment he learned of your passing.

The pure-hearted soul that kept the village safe was gone; all that remained was the carnivorous beast, ready to rampage and raze the town to the ground.

9. Which one swears more?:

Just in time for the 20210 Summer Olympics, we have a new category to observe: Fucking Goddamn Cussing Up a Shitstorm! Representing Washington Heights, we have a cussing prodigy, Nevada Ramirez! Also representing Washington Heights by way of duel citizenship between the apartments, we have . . . You!

Okay but in all seriousness, Nevada is definitely the gold medal-winner here. Science indicates that cussing helps to relieve stress and for as collected as Nevada likes to appear in front of others, 5'9" is not a lot of space for stress to go. He's constantly bottling up that shit! What's worse, though, is that the fucker makes it sound elegant.

How does he make "fuck" sound so gentle when it leaves his lips with a cold-eyed glower!? Who the hell knows!

Erstwhile, you're a pretty good runner-up. Even if you were a big cusser before getting with Nevada, you could never catch up with him -- he's just had way too many experiences where he felt the need to pepper the ambience with some cursing. And if you weren't as into it before . . . I'm sorry, boo, but you'll be picking up that nasty habit of his like you were picking up the torch for the Cussing Olympics. Bon chance!

10. What TV shows they watch together, and which ones they hide from the other:

Noah . . . How did you know I was planning to do a preference on what characters watch with their S/Os? Not that I can confirm or deny that Nevada was in that one but --

Nevada didn't really watch TV a whole lot before you two got together. It was a mix of him not having a lot of time and him not having a lot of care to keep up with anything. Everything is so goddamn serialized, what's even the point?

Really, the only reason he bought subscriptions to streaming services was to keep you entertained for when he had to be out the house or some junk. But there were a few too many times where he'd come home late and find you curled up on the couch.

". . . The hell're you still doing up --"

"Ssh!"

". . . Did you just --"

"Yes, now sshhh! I'm about to see who this chick picks to go to bed with."

Of course, 'Vada is pissed; people don't shush him, he shushes them! What the fuck could be so interesting that you'd do that!? He takes his glare from you to the screen . . . and about thirty minutes in, he gets it. He'd never say it out loud, but deep down, he knows why you like Love Island. It's stupid, it's trashy, he hates these dumbass twenty-somethings making drama out of nothing, and for fuck's sake will somebody talk to the girl with the dark skin and short hair she's the hottest one there --

Of course, he tries hard not to show his interest, taking seats next to you when you're watching "because he's tired", adding his own commentary "because these pendejos need to know better", etc. And, of course, it doesn't fool you in the slightest. As amused as you are, though, you don't tease him about it; you're afraid that if you do, your stubborn boyfriend would put up a fight in the form of leaving you to watch your silly little show by yourself. And you really don't mind sharing the show with him . . . No, solitary watching is reserved for your cartoons.

Nevada may let things with you slip to a point but the moment he learns you like to watch anything animated, he's on your ass with the ruthless taunting. Which is like the pot calling the kettle black because 'Vada's secret pleasure is even worse: daytime soap operas. Admittedly, there's some sentimentality connected to them (he remembers being at his Abuela's house and seeing her get really into some telenovelas), but the fact of the matter is really more that he's invested in the drama and bullshit going on between all this lunatics who we're supposed to buy as being doctors or CEOs or whatever over-glamorized positions they're supposed to have.

He doesn't actually get to watch them often but . . . hey, that's what he pays certain grunts to do for him.

Okay I had way too much fun writing these so lemme just cut myself off now. Thanks for asking!!!

[thejustmaiden]

Jaken = Rin's Dad?

Okay, is this how a daughter treats their so-called father?

Most definitely not.

Rin and Jaken's relationship clearly screams of your typical sibling rivalry punctuated with cute and silly moments of playful bickering.

Yes, Jaken may technically be her main provider, but that doesn't necessarily equate to him being more of a father than Sesshomaru. If anything, he demonstrates more of a brotherly love towards her. As we all know, parents (which Sesshomaru embodies more based on real life patterns and parallels) will leave their older more capable children in charge of looking after their younger brothers and sisters. In this case, that would mean making Jaken responsible for watching over Rin and protecting her if need be. Ah-Un offers protection, too. Think of it as Jaken as the big brother and Ah-Un as the family dog who are babysitting while Sesshomaru as the parent of the household is away at work or taking care of business. I mean, they literally fit that description to a tee and I'm dying at the accuracy of it all! 🤣👌

[Quick! Someone write up a modern au where Sesshomaru finally gets out to have a nice date night but everything goes wrong in the most spectacular way. Like maybe Rin and Jaken catch a ride on Ah-Un to go spy!]

I recently revisited some episodes from The Final Act, and I couldn't believe how many moments like this there were where Rin got after Jaken or when she would "put him in his place" so to speak. Obviously, all of it is mostly harmless. I was only surprised by how often it occurred, not to mention how Jaken would just stand there and take it. Towards a supposed father figure, Rin's behavior is downright unacceptable. There's a certain level of respect a child is expected to show their parents/guardians, and that's just not what I'm witnessing here between them. Like at all.

Rather their dynamic has the nature of some sibling relationships like I mentioned above. So I really wish fans would stop pretending otherwise, because based on what we know of father-daughter relationships- healthy ones at least- they don't appear anything like what Jaken and Rin have. If you could please provide me other examples of where we've seen similar portrayals in fiction or in real life, then perhaps I can get on board.

Look, that doesn't have to mean that because Jaken isn't her father then Sesshomaru must be. They can both be her caretakers without necessarily filling that traditional father role. I'm just saying that if we're going to start assigning titles to characters, let's make sure we are accurate and truthful in our assessments. If you're going to label anyone Rin's dad, then it needs to be Sesshomaru. Jaken doesn't have precedence over him in terms of fatherly attributes, that just wouldn't make sense.

After all, this isn't about what you want to see, this is about what Rin very likely sees. It's safe to assume that she views Sesshomaru more like a father than she does Jaken. She knows she's safe with him (broadly speaking lol) and that he'll come for her no matter what. That sense of security and comfort is what a child seeks and what they should always feel in a parent's presence. She trusts and even idolizes him, just as a young and innocent child tends to do with their parents. At that age, parents are perfect and could do no wrong in their child's eyes. Idk about you, but this describes perfectly how Rin is around Sesshomaru.

Rin adores him and will follow him anywhere- yes, even into danger! That's what the innocence and unconditional love of a child will bring them to do if necessary. Fortunately, at the end of The Final Act we learn Sesshomaru takes Kaede's advice when he realizes that leaving Rin with her in the village is in her best interests. That way she'd be able to lead a more normal and safer life alongside other humans. Remember, Sessrin shippers, that doesn't mean he wasn't still a part of her life and didn't witness her become a young woman over the years right before his very eyes. Therefore, if they eventually do become romantically involved, then most if not all of those gifts had intimate and seductive intentions and it essentially constitutes as child grooming.

I understand from a Sessrin shipper's point of view why it'd be so much easier to claim Jaken as the father. In doing so, they diminish Sesshomaru's role in her upbringing. By refusing to acknowledge the real role he had in helping raise Rin (short periods can be crucial and impressionable too esp. in a child's early years so yes they did assist in raising her not only Kaede), these shippers are better able to justify how their filial-like relationship evolved into a romantic one. So yeah, I get it, if I were a Sessrin shipper I'd probably do the same. It's one of the more plausible arguments available to them, after all. "Let's pin Jaken as the father to fend off antis!" is the best chance they've got, but even so, it's still not good enough. But if you insist Jaken is indeed like a father to Rin, then Sesshomaru is most certainly one too. Who says she can't have two fathers anyway?

The thing is however much you want to deny or downplay what Sesshomaru truly means to Rin and vice versa, nothing will ever change or hide the truth of the matter. Please, stop acting like they're only traveling companions and nothing more. Some of y'all even go so far as to say that they're like strangers. Knowing potentially little about a person is not equal to a lack of love and affection. Making big assumptions such as this to defend your ship is actually doing you more harm than good. Let me elaborate.

According to your reasoning, if that's all Rin ever was to him was a companion and Sesshomaru had no real attachment to her, then what precisely is the basis of your ship? Recall that Adult!Rin doesn't exist yet, thus we have no real idea what she will be like or if she's even alive. So how can you make comments like that but then go on later to say "they have such a unique and unbreakable bond" or "only Rin can be the mother because she's the only human he ever cared for" if all that time spent traveling together didn't amount to much in the first place like you claimed to believe beforehand? Do you see how your rationalizing is confusing?

Contrary to what some of you may think, I'm not just saying all this because I'm an anti and I'm obligated to disagree with you, or whatever other excuse you want to tell yourself. Believe it or not, I'm attempting to give as unbiased and objective of an analysis I can based on widely accepted interpretations of family dynamics, development, and any history we know of.

Of course I respect that at times fans will perceive things differently since that's bound to happen. What's hard for me to wrap my head around however is the unwillingness of some fans- not exclusively Sessrin shippers- to apply basic common sense and sound judgment to their observations and deductions.

Looking at all our facts, then taking the small handful of scenes Sesshomaru and Rin do share together into account, one can logically conclude that their dynamic is akin to one found in a typical parent-child relationship. If you still fail to recognize Sesshomaru as a parent to Rin, then that's fine too. In the end, that won't really change the fact that he'd still take on a role resembling an adult figure overseeing a young child's care and protection. Be it as a vassal, guardian, what have you. Plus, nobody is saying here that Sesshomaru doesn't make mistakes regarding Rin's general well-being, but so do all parents. Overall, I think the majority of us agree that Rin is in good hands. Whether it's in his direct company or in his occasional supervision from his frequent visits to the village.

In other words, it doesn't really matter what exact title you assign him in relation to Rin, as the distribution of power is all inherently the same with any and all adult-child relationships. That bond never changes once you've established it either, seeing as it's a special kind of connection one can only form with a child and a child alone.

I was a teacher for a few years, and speaking from personal experience, you don't need to be a parent, per se, to take on a role of authority in a child's life. I know without a doubt that I could never and will never view any of those kids I taught in a sexual/romantic light later down the road; yes, not even once they become grown-ups who are independent and more than capable of making their own decisions. Those of you who disagree are usually missing the whole point though, because we're not trying to dictate what Adult!Rin can and cannot do like many tend to accuse of us doing. This isn't a question of taking away from her autonomy nor does it fall under "purity culture," which is why people shouldn't continue jumping to these outrageous conclusions and really listen for a change. You're deflecting from the real issue here when you choose to misinterpret what we're saying by ignoring the problem we're actually referring to. You cannot present a valid counter-argument if you persist in twisting our words.

Bottom line: once these kids become old enough to pursue a sexual/romantic relationship, of course they have that right if they're ready. All we're trying to say is you guys ought to stop pushing forward this it's-completely-normal-to-want-to-bang-your-adoptive-dad-since-you're-an-adult-and-can-do-as-you-please agenda and not expect backlash. Ship it if you want, but please stop acting like their romance would be the epitome of a pure and healthy relationship.

Sesshomaru may not wear his heart on his sleeve, but it's foolish to presume he didn't actually care about Rin during their whole time together just because he didn't openly express his feelings until the very end. Surely everybody can comprehend that people handle and process their emotions differently. The way Sesshomaru chooses to is completely valid for the most part, so let's cut him some slack regarding this already.

What I'm trying to get at is that any child whose life you played an influential role in will always be a kid in a lot ways to you even when they're old and wrinkly. Just as they will always picture you as the loved one who guided and protected them when they were most vulnerable and couldn't always fend for themselves. Can't we relate this to children we know personally and apply it accordingly?

Finally, I want to end on this note. Could you kindly take a look at these two images below for a second?

The reason I ask is because of something I recently read that's relevant to the topic. There was this pro-sessrin tweet I saw that stated Rin trying to take care of Sesshomaru when they first met is what a mom would do for a child, which in their opinion, translates to Rin being more like a mother than a daughter if anything.

First off: are you freaking kidding me????

Seriously, so now children aren't allowed to tend to their sick or injured parents?! Parents are apparently superhuman and shouldn't be offered a helping hand from a child, even if they mean well and want to help their parent who's in pain?? Now this Twitter user was mostly being a smartass, but at the same time, it was evident they genuinely thought they offered a valid enough point that warranted no further explanation or clarification.

Secondly, by saying this Sessrin fans don't seem to realize that in actuality they're contradicting themselves and proving the point we've been trying to make all along. Glancing at the first picture and moving down to the second, the role of the one being cared for and the caretaker is reversed. So then by their own logic, Sesshomaru IS in fact like a father to Rin.

What it comes down to is the names you give to the roles these characters play aren't as crucial as the dynamic they share. The specific characteristics of that dynamic are what define the importance of said role, not so much the name in the role itself. So real father or not, Sesshomaru and Rin clearly mean a lot to each other. Close relationships are defined and solidified by the devotion and belonging they have to one another, not solely by the duration of time spent together and their proximity.

Well, that's a wrap! I hope you guys got something outta this blog, and that you enjoyed or found some portions of it interesting. I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject from this fandom, but only engage in conversation if you plan to be respectful. Thank you!

[vickyvicarious]

Ship Asks: Nate/Sophie. And I'm curious what your opinion is of pineapple on pizza?

To tell you the truth, I've never actually had pineapple on pizza so I dunno? But cooked pineapple has always been delicious in my experience so I feel like I probably wouldn't mind it! I'm boring and my favorite topping is just pepperoni, so.

Who buys flowers for the others: Nate does. Sophie really enjoys getting flowers, and Nate doesn't care about receiving them, so it wouldn't make sense the other way around. He isn't always great at remembering days when she would expect to get them (Valentine's, her birthday, etc.) but he never ever ever fails to show up with roses after she has been on a stage. He actually sent her flowers like that from afar more than once before the show began. Nowadays, he will sometimes give her flowers when her acting during a con was particularly inspired, as well.

Who makes the others coffee/tea: Sophie makes her own tea, at least when Eliot isn't around. Nate cannot be trusted to understand why different water temps matter for different teas, and he takes steeping time as a suggestion at best. However, he does make a pretty good cup of coffee.

Who eats the most candy on Halloween: Nate, actually. Sophie doesn't tend to like heavily processed foods. There's a few old favorites that she is fond of, but they don't usually have them in the US, so she doesn't eat a lot of candy. Nate doesn't go wild or anything, but with Parker around there's gonna be candy there and he sometimes will munch on it as he is doing something else. When they are in Europe, this kind of reverses as Nate won't go out of his way to get candy, but Sophie might impulse-buy ones she hasn't had in a while.

Who tries new recipes all the time: Sophie likes to eat lots of gourmet foods, but she doesn't actually like to cook at all. And she isn't great at remembering ingredients or identifying them by taste or smell, either. She just likes certain types of things. Nate can cook reliably, but he doesn't tend to get up to anything fancy. He's got a few things he knows how to do but if they want anything new they pretty much just go to a restaurant or drop in on Eliot.

Who genuinely likes pineapple on pizza: Neither of them. Sophie doesn't even like pizza much (or at least she says she doesn't. She always protests a little too much about greasy foods, it's a bit more that she doesn't want them than it is that she doesn't like how they taste.) and Nate likes meat lover's.

Who wears hats on special occasions: Both of them do! Sophie doesn't wear them as often, but she has hats for all sorts of roles, including some truly elaborate derby hats. She likes getting dressed up for special events and is fantastic at putting together outfits, including hats. Nate has a huge collection of hats that he wears on a fairly regular basis. At least seven tenths of them a white, black, or some combination thereof, and he likes to wear one that matches how he is acting that day as a little joke to himself.

Who likes ‘90s R&B: Neither of them, I think. Sophie actually really likes musicals (though she is a terrible singer), and Nate tends to like the kind of stuff he listened to growing up.

Who likes long walks on the beach: Sophie really does. She thinks it's romantic and likes to do so at sunset. Nate could honestly take or leave the beach, but he loves to watch her soak in the romance and even get lost in daydreams sometimes. When they walk, they don't hold hands but Nate offers his arm and Sophie crooks hers in his. It's very adorable.

Who buys wacky picture frames: Neither of them do. Nate doesn't actually tend to put a lot of personal touches into his living spaces, outside of a few spare photos and some books. The photos are really what matter most to him - and of course, his son's drawing. Sophie doesn't tend to keep that sort of thing around at first, but she slowly accumulates some pictures of her own. The first is one of her theatre group after their first show; then pictures of the team start creeping in. Still, they don't have a lot, and they use normal frames.

Who compares themselves to fictional/celebrity couples: They both do. Not very often or very seriously, but they will sometimes. Sophie tends towards celebrity couples or references to famous people she knows/has conned, whereas Nate sometimes makes literary references. It's never more than a quick comment, "I feel like ___ in this get up," "oh, then I'd be ___" kind of thing.

Who can solve a rubix cube: Nate can. Sophie can't, but that doesn't bother her. She's a grifter, if she does her job right Nate will solve the rubix cube for her (and he has).

Who would wear Hawaiian shirts on vacation/during the summer: Nate. Nate does actually take a sick pleasure in forcing the world to deal with his terrible sleazy outfits, and if it has been too long since he last played an obnoxious role he will sometimes dress up that way in his free time. He didn't used to be like this, but now he's gotten the taste for it. Sophie finds it disgusting but in a weirdly endearing way; rather than trying to get him to stop, she just gets in character to match. Sometimes they spend an entire date night just being horrible annoying tourists or whatever for their own amusement (because as soon as Sophie goes with it, Nate "yes, ands" right along with her).

Who wears mismatched socks because they can’t keep up with the pairs: Neither of them really does. Sophie has an excellent eye for clothing and will notice if she's going to put on something mismatched. She does sometimes not care if she is only lazing around at home, but in that case she doesn't generally wear socks so it isn't relevant. Nate doesn't have very interesting socks so even if he did mix them up half the time it wouldn't matter because he buys twelve of the same pair.

.

Send me a ship and I will answer with who does what!

[aryaarianne]

ALMOST OLD FRIENDS - Arya Stark and Daenerys Stormborn

Part 2/? of A SONG OF WOMEN AND WOMEN, a personal project to celebrate every potential wlw ship I can dream of with a moodboard and mini-fic

She first assumes, when Grey Worm announces to her the arrival of a woman named Stark at their gates, that they're being graced by the unceremonious presence of Tyrion's wife.

"I thought that she was still under Baelish's protection, in the Vale?" She gives a pointed look to Aegon's advisor, privately enjoying the confusion which so rarely graced his features.

"The Lady we know to be Sansa Stark is indeed in the Eyrie," Varys notes, raising a brow at the Unsullied leader, who blinks, unaffected by his gaze. "We would have gotten word otherwise, I'm certain."

"The lady does not go by that name," Grey Worm says, frowning. "She asked that we refer to her by the name of Arya."

"Arya Stark?"

Daenerys forgets, if just for a moment, about politics and war, overcome as she is by fervant curiosity for a character that could elicit a look of such surprise from Varys and Tyrion both before she'd even stepped into the room. The excitement is quickly supplanted by exasperation.

She has the remaining Stark kin memorized by now: the bastard reanimated, Tyrion's Tully-faced wife, the heir to the North, the babe who adopted the wildings. Yet for all that the old men with whom she conspires have impressed upon her the power of the Northern house and the importance of keeping track of its members' movements, they failed to mention a she-wolf lurking so close in Essos.

She knew, of course, of the false daughter of Winterfell and the skewering of Ramsay Bolton, had been informed the moment that Varys's trusty little birds had caught wind of it. But after the poor Poole girl's true identity had been revealed to the realm, Daenerys had been assured that, with no other sighting of the dark-haired girl reported since her father's execution, Arya Stark was certainly dead. In all likelihood, the Lannisters had never possessed the girl in the first place. After all, how could a tiny little girl survive the wrath of King's Landing, let alone the wild of the lands beyond, and all with the help of no one?

How stricken her councilmen look as that little ghost they'd so easily forgotten has the audacity to arrive at their court a woman grown, wrapped in Braavosi threads like a second skin, requesting an audience with the Dragon Queen Daenerys who intends to cross the Narrow Sea. Seeing the Northern-born woman stand so alone, so alive amidst her awestruck advisors, that same queen supposes she should have known better than to listen when old men make assumptions about what tiny little girls are capable of.

She is a slip of a creature, with a long wolfish face and a moonlike complexion, speckled with a small number of freckles along her arms and neck. The shifting of her Braavosi garments as she steps into the room betrays the lithe hardness in her limbs, and Daenerys can only assume the rest of her flesh to match. Far too tough and thin for the taste of a court, perhaps, but as an urchin, as a thief, as an assassin, she is both lethal and lovely.

Arya curtsies as well as her Braavosi breeches alllow, a brow quirked as her lip twitches. "Your Grace. Thank you for admitting me to your presence."

"It is I who is grateful to you, Princess Arya," Daenerys straightens, poised and refined, barely resisting the urge to tug at the fabric of her own dress. "Any of my men would tell you how curious I've been to hear from the lost she-wolf of Winterfell."

"Not lost, your Grace," she murmurs, straightening up, the glitter in her eyes betraying their stern gray coloring. The color is so striking and cold against the Essos palette of sun, sand, and silk, like storm clouds raging beneath her brow. "Not anymore."

"A sentiment I can appreciate." Daenerys has to look away, sucking in a silent breath. "We have both been deprived of our birthright for far, far too many years." She hesitates to continue, the woman before her still such a spectacle, such an unknown. "Our kin, they share a long and complicated history together."

"Your Grace," Arya interrupts, and immediately grimaces, before shaking her head. "Your Grace, I have been called many names. I have been many things. Prisoner, servant, assassin." She smiles faintly. "Lady."

"Princess of the North," Aegon offers. Daenerys had almost forgotten there were others in the room, but Arya pays him no heed.

"Before all of that, and through it all, I am a Stark." Arya's fingers gently caress the hilt at her hip, the skinny little blade poking beneath her skirt. "But it was not a dragon who killed my brother, my mother, my father." Her eyes glint, sliding to one of her companions quick, but long enough to make a point. "It was a lion."

Tyrion opens his mouth, a clever response no doubt on his tongue, but slowly exhales a bitter sigh instead, lifting his hand briefly as if the entire matter was out of his hands.

"I came here to support your claim to the Iron Throne. I cannot, I'm afraid, speak for the North. It is my brother's stead, and I am but one woman. But give me your word that you will slay the Lannister queen and I would be yours." Arya unsheathes her swords, and pulls a dagger from her boot as well, lying the blades at her feet. "It was a lion who killed our fathers both. It is a lion who sits on your throne and sat a terror at my family's table. It is she who would stand between me and my home."

There is a moment of quiet as they gaze at one another, an exiled queen and a refugee princess, and as she looks, Daenerys sees herself, her anger, her hope and all the more in the wolf woman's face. She wonders what Arya Stark sees looking into hers.

"No longer, Princess," Daenerys murmurs, then louder, "I swear to you here and now. I would give you your home if you would give me mine."

Her council explodes into whispers, but Arya nods, lips parted and eyes fixed, until Ser Barristan breaks away from the men and draws her attention. After Daenerys has convinced everyone of the wisdom in her decision, she calls Arya forward and they begin to discuss the terms of their alliance. It should be so much more difficult, brokering peace between wolf and dragon, but there is little they disagree on and nothing that they have not decided by the falling of the sun. When all that could be said has been said, Arya pleads to be excused to bathe and to change.

"It would not do to continue in such a state into the night with the future Queen of Westeros." Her hair is a thing of the woods at night, dark brown and toussled unkempt. She rakes her claws through it every so often. "Your Southron nobles would never."

"The rules of such nobility, in my experience, is not so important, other than for the love of its practice. I will concern myself with the people of Westeros first, and I have heard they are already quite fond enough of you." The Targaryen queen is suddenly caught between the impulse to snatch her fingers for herself or to curl a fist in those tangles and yank. She does neither, simply pinning up a smile when the brunette's eyes catch her in the midst of staring. "Fond enough to wage war."

Arya does not return the favor, but her stormy eyes linger atop Daenerys's mouth before her tongue darts out to wet her own. "A sentiment I, too, can appreciate."

[papytonpropaganda]

*whispers once more* I'm off work what's your favorite UT ship and why

haha, well, it’s Papyton, of course! and I have a few different reasons for liking it so much.

probably my biggest reason is, they could be good for each other! Papyrus seems conceited on the outside, but if you pay attention, he really has some serious self-image issues--hence why he’s always looking for friends. Mettaton could help Papyrus see how beautiful and good he already is, and get some true confidence from that! and on the flip side, if you go with the idea that Mettaton is genuinely narcissistic, Papyrus could help him be a little humbler. not that he has to lose all his self-confidence--it’s just that arrogance can be a huge turn-off for people, and pride is very often what comes before a huge fall.

kind of branching off that reason, the ship just kind of makes sense--partially because their personalities can mesh well together, and partially because there are a few parallels in the game! whether they’re intentional is kind of up in the air, and some of them are, admittedly, probably reaches, but let’s take a quick look at them anyway.

both of them are the only two characters to speak in capital letters. Mettaton speaks in normal case once he gets his EX form (although in the King Mettaton neutral ending, he speaks in capitals again...), but there could still be something here. some people theorize that all capital letters indicate that the person speaking is very strident, confident, perhaps boisterous, while all lowercase letters indicate a lack of care. assuming this theory is correct (even partially), it would certainly fit both Papyrus and Mettaton!

and that kind of leads into another parallel--the personalities they show in public. outwardly, both of them appear pretty arrogant and show-offy. the main difference is that there’s nothing to suggest that Mettaton is hiding any insecurities (other than anything regarding Blooky or his old life), while Papyrus is hiding a lot. however, people tend to miss that with Papyrus, since it’s not overly obvious. most of what you see with Papyrus is his LOOK AT ME I’M SO GREAT persona, and that’s why I think it still counts a parallel.

another parallel: the way they react to insults. they both react the same way. obviously it doesn’t prove anything, but it’s interesting that, as far as I can remember, these are the only two characters for which insulting is an option--and they both react similarly to it.

Papyrus, when you choose Insult in the ACT menu, says something on the order of “Oh, don’t talk about yourself that way!” most likely assuming that the human is just lashing out about the things they don’t like about themselves.

Mettaton, when you insult him in the essay he gives you, says something like “Oh, this essay was supposed to be about me, not you...” for him, this is most likely just a clever retort as opposed to him thinking you’re really talking about yourself--but who knows!

one last parallel, this time coming from the King Mettaton ending. pretty much everyone remembers Papyrus’s iconic first lines of the game--talking about bathing in a shower of kisses every morning, having hedges trimmed in the shape of his smile... well. in the King Mettaton ending, Mettaton lists off things he’s been building, such as statues, monuments to his beauty, flowers in the arrangement of his name, aaaaaaaaaaaaand... *drumroll* hedges in the shape of his smile! again, doesn’t necessarily prove anything, but like... he also gets this really smirky look on his face, like he KNOWS he’s repeating another character. I really don’t think it’s a coincidence.

obviously none of this proves that Papyton Is Canon, but it’s interesting to think about!

another reason I love Papyton, that’s really just a Me reason, is both of these guys are my favorite characters in the game, as well as my favorite characters ever, and I just love the thought of them being happy together.

I also think, if done right, these two could be one of the healthiest ships in the game, other than Alphyne. I know some people tend to portray Mettaton as a predator and Papyrus as childlike and completely oblivious, which has understandably turned people off from the ship, but... I, to be quite frank, think these portrayals are straight up wrong. there’s nothing in the game to suggest that Mettaton would prey on anyone, and Papyrus is far less oblivious to flirting and dating than people think. reducing either character to those archetypes is just lazy and gross, imo. going off their actual personalities, I think they’d actually be pretty affectionate and loyal to each other! and as I talked about earlier, they could help each other overcome certain flaws.

and lastly, this iconic moment:

thanks for coming to my Ted Talk, tune in next week for more gay shit