#THEY ARE SO SO SO INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT TO ME I LOVE THEM SO MUCH I LOVE YOU THE AMAZING DEVIL!!!!!!!!!!!! 🫶

[tuttle-did-it]

M*A*S*H is and was incredibly brilliant.

There are a few things I do find cringy. Season 1 in particular had a lot of unnecessary rape jokes and sexism. This did improve once Alda took over the writer’s room.

They carried Oliver’s incredibly racist nickname from the books, and rather than deal with that in the show, they just disappear him. The show is incredibly white. They could have made an episode where he said ‘hey you know, don’t call me that. It’s a racist nickname some horrible republican white man [named Hooker] gave me. I put up with it for a long time, but I am just tired of it.’ And they could have used that moment to address that ‘yeah, it’s a racist name and it we shouldn’t be saying it. Sorry, Oliver.’ Instead, the white writers just wrote him out of the show cos they didn’t really know how to write a Black character.

Klinger can occasionally be quite queerphobic whenever someone assumes he might be trans or gay. Exceptionally so, in fact. Frustratingly so— to the point where I do have mixed feelings about holding him up as a queer icon.

The show is incredibly male- the nurses are literally A, B, C (Able, Baker, Chapman, etc) and only in later years are they even acknowledged regularly or given much personality beyond being chased by the Swamp Rats.

(And this is just a personal irritation but the continuity just sucks. They change people’s backgrounds, family dynamic, marital status, age, etc with a roll of the dice and I find it irritating. )

I love M*A*S*H enough to have done a PhD on it. I have M*A*S*H tattoos. M*A*S*H is an excellent show despite all of this. Some of the best TV I’ve ever seen. But there are some pretty big flaws in this show.

I think those flaws are important to recognise. I still believe M*A*S*H is one of the best shows to ever be in television. But it does have moments where it did not live up to its potential. And I do think that needs to be recognised and understood.

One also must remember that the skeleton for the show came from Hooker’s novels. Hooker wrote Hawkeye based off himself— and Hawkeye— the protagonist— was basically Frank Burns. The writers did throw 99% of the books away to use their own research with doctors who served in Korea (they even went to Korea to interview people there about the M*A*S*H units). But the racist, sexist and super white skeletons of Hooker’s books was used.

So frankly it is a miracle the M*A*S*H TV show was as incredible as it was. Despite the flaws, everyone in the show— especially Alda— were indeed fighting constantly to make the show better. To find a new high bar. They really wanted to make a quality, meaningful show— and despite these flaws, they absolutely did. And for their era they were light years ahead of a lot of TV at the time. And they were limited in their time, as we all are, with what their society around them was.

But regardless, M*A*S*H was, and is, an incredible show that d good their best to be progressive.

Alan Alda’s send off to Loretta Swit

[boxturret]

Mata Nui, The Great Spirit

Hello, how do you feel about painting legoes? I think its fun.

Read on to see the terrible, unethical building process.

Many crimes were committed and I will likely be put to death soon.

Recently I completed quite a large project, painting this huge model kit of the Great Spirit Mata Nui. The kit in question is GiiKei's really impressive build, the instructions of which you can purchase here:

I was quite happy to see they cited my 3d model as reference, along with the original ideas submission. Fun fact: I really liked that ideas submission and made an account just to support it, but something about the proportions never sat right with me, and it was one of the things that motivated me to make that 3d model! So its fun to see it get used in the creation of another model :) And now here I am building it. Full circle.

Now, full disclosure, this is made from third party parts, I did test it on bricklink and it would have easily doubled the price, even before shipping from about half a dozen international stores. I kinda just bought this on impulse, it was pretty cheap and on sale and it was a gamble it would come at all really. But a week ago a nondescript bag came and inside it were sixteen hundred parts of honestly pretty good quality.

I think a couple parts used weren't in their parts catalogue so they had to be 3d printed, but even these were pretty acceptable. Actually in a way some parts were better, because this flame piece was pure red, instead of a mix of red and yellow as all branded parts are.

Some bits had a bit of a tight fit, and I drilled out the middle of the pistons, but I would have done that anyway to accommodate the painting. All in all, really good, was only missing one non essential part.

You can debate the ethics of stuff like this, but either I bought the instructions and paid a company in china X for the parts or I bought the instructions and paid a bunch of unrelated people X*2 for the parts, either way the creator gets the same amount. And I can say I wasn't going to build this off bricklinking parts. For various reasons I'm kinda done with bricklink*.

So after quite a few hour's work I had this lovely fellow. I must say, the design is quite good, its well articulated and has a lot of good build techniques. The head is both the strongest and the weakest part really.

I love the eye assembly, its built to allow for lighting, but it also cleverly includes natural light piping, and the kit comes with 4 sets of eyes, trans red and green for lighting and solid green and pink for display. Even has a little wrench to help swap out the parts.

On top of all of this the mouth is even articulated! So much shoved in such a small package. Unfortunately it does come at a cost, as its incredibly unstable. its a lot of 1 stud wide assemblies held together at odd distances with bars. I think the end result looks good, but its so easy for it to fall apart or get misaligned

Which is why, the instant I finished building this I decided to take it apart again and go at it with a tube of glue.

I glued large parts of this model together. I would happily do it again.

I'm not even going to hide behind any sort of "oh it wasn't real legoes so its fine" excuse, I would have 100% done this with "real" parts. Same with the painting really, I'm sick and tired of hiding behind the excuse that its acrylic so it can wash off, yes, technically, but it would take so much effort and the paints would probably stain some of the parts anyway. If something can benefit from paint or glue I'm not going to hold off just because the parts have a certain company's name on them. They're not sacred.

I can just use mineral spirits to undo everything anyway.

From the moment I saw the original ideas submission I knew: I wanted to paint it.

The GSR is a massive robot that's lain on the bottom of the ocean for millennia, and it reflects that with how dirty and rusty it is, its such an important aspect for me. And personally I quite like painting rust. It seems to be something I end up doing quite a lot.

So basically over the next couple of days I glued everything I felt needed glue, separated the model out in to several chunks, and then began painting.

First I primed it.

Then I did a black wash.

Then I started painting on the rust!

And then I realised I'd made a terrible mistake and redid everything.... Basically I kinda overestimated how much the black wash would fill in the nooks and crannies of the parts, so starting with a light primer base coat meant I was spending an inordinate amount of time trying to fill in all those little gaps and it was taking forever. So I made the correct decision of giving everything a coat of black paint first, and THEN moving on to the rust.

And after that everything went super smooth. Its really important to be open to admitting you made a mistake, and even if it will take more time its for the best to just start over.

For the bits of silver I used a similar technique to how I applied extra streaks of rust to my infected masks. It was a very enjoyable process.

After a quick coat of varnish and a day left to sit everything could go back together!

This guy is massive, around 50cm tall.

The back of the legs is by far the most interesting part of the model.

I especially like these movable pistons.

I did attempt to protect the light piping, and was somewhat successful.

The model is really poseable while at the same time feeling quite stable. Every joint in the legs is doubled. One thing I think is lacking is the ability for it to splay the arms completely out. But I can forgive it since, as I learned when rigging the 3d model, the arm pistons...don't really allow it. And the fact that this model actually has working arm pistons is much more of a positive in my mind.

In any case, you can just remove the pin holding the arms in and do it manually.

You may have noticed my old Mata Nui Island 3d print along with all the parts earlier. Well by some weird coincidence, they kinda match up proportion wise, ie the mouth and eye are roughly at the right places to be under the volcano and bay, respectively.

So that was a happy accident, and now I have a good way of showing how big the GSR is compared to the island.

Its big. And this is the logical size, not the insane 40000000000000 foot number thrown about by some. I have a series of posts about the various sizes of things because I find it interesting.

So in summation, I really couldn't be happier with this. The model design was great, I had a fun time painting it, and now I have a GSR model the size of a small child to display somewhere in my room. I've long been thinking of 3d printing my model, but this has really reduced my need for that. Also with recent duck related developments I've been made aware of how woefully inaccurate my model really is, and have to redo it at some point.

I have reached the maximum number of images per post. I might make a gallery post later. Good night. Have a nice weekend.

*come to bricklink and pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of getting a smashed mask in the mail. And don't you dare expect a full refund. Not a single part in this kit was damaged and it came in a bag! You can see this guy lying in the background of some shots.

[ponyisle]

I'm so curious, do you consider Daybreak a bad pony for all she has done? Does Daybreak consider herself a bad pony? To Wish, to Twi? How much has she been forgiven by others, how much has she forgiven herself? There's also themes of disability to all three of them. Day's stress-induced migraines from overwork. The blindness, vocal atrophy, wing atrophy, chronic illness and the mental toll that comes from a millenia of isolation. Twilight's wing deformities and migraines upon being forcibly turned. Obviously, sickness is not a moral trait (I write this as a disabled woman myself) but I can't help but untangle Day's responsibility in both of their conditions. Although she was not intentionally malicious in her actions, and although she must have grown, repeatedly she was selfish. Repeatedly, she irreparably changed the fate of someone who trusted her.

Just thoughts. I love this project!

i have SO many thoughts about Daybreak, shes one of my favorite ponies to write, and i know this is probably the most asked question about my AU. idk how to explain a lot of it without spoiling what i have planned.

from my perspective: i didn't write Daybreak to be a "bad person" or a villain(doesn't make what she's done right in any capacity mind you). She has been selfish, arrogant, and downright neglectful at times. She's a pony who, much like twilight, was given little to no choice in her life. and when she DID make her own choices with the limited knowledge she had, it always ended up hurting somepony she deeply cared for. She views herself as almost entirely irredeemable. Burdened with the responsibility of an entire species while feeling like she is doomed to fail them. She's put the ponies at the forefront of her concerns, which in earlier years meant neglecting the only other pony who could possibly understand her position(Wish). She does not think she's worthy of her sisters forgiveness despite all her attempts to make things right.

Wish ultimately forgives her sister after many years of silence and making up(this will be expanded upon in comics i don't wanna give away too much but its a lengthy process). She doesn't see Daybreak as a bad pony, and after Day actually starts listening to how Wish feels and opening up herself, they both start to actually understand each other.

While Day thought what she was giving to Twilight was a gift, after seeing her reaction to her transformation Day regresses in her progress Big Time. Daybreak cared for Twilight, but just like with Wish, she thought she knew what was best, thought she could "fix" things. Twilight and Day's relationship is never quite the same, they don't really "make up" the way she and Wish did. For the first few years Twi DESPISES Day, but she doesn't see her as a bad person per say. She definitely resents her for being just another pony that's taken away an incredibly important choice from her. Realizing she will live on as her friends pass away, outliving everyone around her, its horrifying to grapple with that newfound knowledge. Twi realizes that Day isn't the all knowing deity that everypony seemed to think she is. They have a professional relationship later on, and maybe as the story progresses I'll expand more on that, but for now they're on extremely rocky terms.

The central theme in cantergale is acceptance and forgiveness, that doesn't mean each character with receive both from everyone. The sisters are a reflection of my own relationship with my sibling(projection<3). Day has to come to terms with the fact that no amount of apologies and change can reverse what she's done. She has to learn to forgive herself and accept her actions. Everything else is out of her control.

Its hard for me to describe any character as strictly bad or good, its not smth i think about when writing, i try to leave it up for the viewer to decide for themselves. My main goal is to inspire some sort of emotion. You feel however the story makes you feel. As always i love these sort of comments, i enjoy seeing how everyone interprets the story.

[mswyrr]

The opening sequence of 1x04 at the bot manufacturing facility remains one of the most important to me in the show because of how it frames the overall social structure as a spectrum of instrumentalization.

That is what Murderbot was born out of. It was born of indentured "parents" who have no choice about creating it; it was born of people the Company is stealing decades of the prime of their lives from (for many, probably stealing the chance to have children of their own if they want to, or deep friendships, or hobbies, or time with lovers); it was born to be used up and thrown away, not loved.

It exists at the farthest end of the spectrum, a person fully treated as an object and systematically hobbled and imprisoned in its own mind for that purpose, disallowed anything of itself or for itself, but other people are treated more or less like objects, including its "creators"/"parents".

It's the little touches, like the supervisors trying to soften things, but the situation is impossible and, notably, there's no deep solidarity between anyone here, not workers or supervisors and certainly not with the bots:

And this:

There must be plenty of people who die indentured--maybe even due to unsafe workplaces they have no choice about-- die like the bots do, denied a life of their own, used up, and then gone.

And then the visual of the indentured human worker looking into the face of Murderbot:

"Why do they all look different? The faces." And the answer is: because they're all people, just like you. (Just like you; in a sense, the indentured workers are reproducing after their own kind in the facility -- Company fodder begats Company fodder)

I think this is my favorite part, though:

Sanctuary Moon, as far as I can tell, has taught Murderbot a lot about being a person. Values and aspirations and wishes for a better future. That's its comfort show! And the comfort show of one of its "parents" too... a show which the other worker calls "trash."

And it is trash! But it's also art, made by people, which other people can still get something out of -- even enough to maybe save them a little, their sense of personhood, their sense of peace in the midst of all this. Hopes and dreams of significance and teamwork and there being a meaning to life.

Hopes that things don't have to be like this, expressed in the shitty lyrics of the theme song that nonetheless Murderbot loves so much it sings along with it: "there's a place beyond the wormhole / a place that only lovers know/ the brave, the hopeful, the lost, the true / maybe me and you."

All of these are things the indentured workers lack, things the bots they create are denied.

I'm gonna take a major u-turn here and say -- all of this made me think of Karl Marx LOL. Specifically how the way he talked about the role of 19th Century religion was more nuanced than is commonly quoted.

The quote:

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

I think that, in the storyverse of Murderbot, *mass media* is that to people. It is the painkiller, the opium people use to endure the spectrum of instrumentalization they're trapped within. And the story is ambivalent about that (even as it is, within our world, also one of the ways many viewers are enduring soulless conditions; our world isn't as atheist, though, so religion is still a competitor for that role) -- I don't think it's condemnatory. (It could hardly be without being hypocritical tbqh). There is hope in what art--ANY art, even trashy art-- can do for people. It does help the worker sleep, it did keep Murderbot sane enough to survive and maybe even one day grow and heal.

But there is desperate, devastating sadness in *why* people need it so much. The fact that it can help them, because it's art, isn't wrong. The way art can connect people is beautiful. But the fact that so little of life and beauty belongs to people otherwise is incredibly wrong.

The thing about opium is that it does a great job killing pain! It gives you other problems in time, but easing pain is a good thing. When people are in too much pain, it's hard to do anything or think of anything else. And if you are alive and able to function, if you can keep holding on, then there's hope -- hope to (as Murderbot is doing) find people who matter (people who will care about you as a person even when the whole damn system is rigged against you), and hope to find people who might want a make a better world, one where people don't need opium so much.

[mrsalwayswrite]

Under Your Touch (Liam Mairi x fem!reader)

Summary: You loved Liam's strong and creative hands, yet what you loved most about his hands was also your greatest weakness. 

@empyreanevents - Liam week- Day 4 - Hands

Words: 3300

Warnings: None really, Liam being a softie and hints of spice at the end.

Gods, you loved his hands. 

Which was probably a very strange thing to think about your friend, but you could not help it. They were mesmerizing. Tracing them was a favorite pastime of yours, slowly dragging a finger along the veins or the lines in his palms like they were a map you needed to memorize…a very large map. Whenever he wrapped his hand around yours, a jolt shot to your heart at the sight of how much bigger they were, of how your hand vanished in his like he wanted to meld them together. Even if you logically knew he was only teasing you, stilling your hand or just trying to make you blush. The only time you allowed yourself the luxury of tracing his hands was during history class because Liam sat next to you and the tables hid your actions from your squad mates and other cadets, who would endlessly embarrass you about it, or the times the two of you studied alone. 

Days he chose to whittle during Battle Brief, which happened regularly, it was a struggle to stay focused on the professor and the important information being shared instead of witnessing the incredible creations that transformed from blocks of wood before your eyes. In your bedroom, several creations decorated your windowsill, quickly becoming some of your most prized possessions, besides your hard-won daggers. An almost perfect replica of your green swordtail dragon took precedence in the center surrounded by a blooming rose, a sparrow and a replica of your family dog from back home that you missed terribly. When Liam gifted it, the first creation of his bestowed upon you, tears flooded your eyes and your heart seized at the tangible piece of home in your hand. With watery eyes, you held the dog close to your chest and hugged Liam far longer than necessary. Proper words of gratitude stuck between your head and heart, unable to dislodge from your throat, somehow he seemed to understand as he hugged you back just as tightly. 

Yet what you loved most about his hands was also your greatest weakness. 

For when he put those hands on you, to help correct your form for challenges, a touch on the shoulder or back as he directed you through the hallways to class or when he gathered both your hands in his, wrapping those long fingers around your wrists, to encourage you from your seat after eating breakfast instead of falling back asleep…it was those times you practically melted under his touch. The worst though. When he saw you hurting and used those powerful hands to massage your sore muscles. It was those times your brain short-circuited and your body heated to an unnatural temperature. Which was bad since he was only a friend. 

Even if you refused to admit out loud how your heart whispered for more. 

*****

A pained hiss escaped your lips as you shifted on the hard bench. You hoped no one would notice but a foot tapping yours under the table drew your eyes upward from your history class notes to a pair of sky blue eyes across from you. 

“I'm okay.” You automatically murmured, keeping your voice low so as to not disturb others’ studying. 

A slight narrowing of Liam's eyes let you know he did not believe you. 

“Ugh, this quiz will be the death of me.” Your squadmate, Fryda, dropped her face in her hands. 

You hummed in agreement. “Same.”

“It's not that complicated,” Stefan stated next to Liam, “it's important because–” 

“It was centuries ago!” Fryda snarked, shoving her notes into a haphazard pile on the wooden table. “That's it. I'm done for tonight. I'll fail tomorrow and drop out of the quadrant but I'm sick of studying.”

“I don't think they can kick you out for failing one quiz.” You said, staring down at your notes. 

Fryda rolled her eyes and poked your left thigh with her boney finger. “Shut up. Just because you can remember dates better than me…”

You would have laughed at your friend's running joke if a sharp hiss had not automatically slipped past your lips without your permission. 

Of course, that drew all eyes on you. 

“What's wrong with you? And don't bullshit me about nothing.”

You glanced at Fryda, wondering what excuse you could use, but as your gaze shifted to Liam, the concern evident in his eyes, you knew he was not about to let this go. You sighed before answering. “It's just my thigh. It's not a big deal, just doing these new flight maneuvers are…it's just harder than I expected.”

“Your thigh? The one that got stabbed?” 

Shame gnawed on your nerves at the reminder as you nodded in agreement. 

The night before Presentation, a girl from First Wing tried to corner you in a hallway as you walked back to the dorms from your chores. You hated how she almost bested you, how close she had come to stabbing you in the kidney and ending your life. It was only through sheer reflex and hours upon hours of training on the mats with Liam and others that had you deflecting the blow. Unfortunately she was ready with a second dagger and slammed it into your left thigh. Ignoring the pain as much as possible, you gave her a sharp upper cut to the jaw and luckily knocked her unconscious. Leaving her slumped in the hallway, looking like a discarded ragdoll, you stumbled your way to the healer's ward, praying to Dunne that this did not affect your chances for a dragon to bond with you. 

It was a blessing that a dragon was even willing to bond with you as you limped through Presentation and Threshing, yet your green swordtail said it was that strength and fierce determination that caught his attention. Perhaps it was Zinhal you should be praising? 

Between Presentation, Threshing and now flight maneuvers to increase bonding time with your dragon, there was no chance for your thigh to properly rest as instructed by the healers. Nolon had been surprisingly busy and vacant from his post, so it was stitches and tonics prescribed to you…and an order to be bedridden that you blatantly ignored. 

“Shit, it's still bothering you?” Fryda asked.  

You shrugged. “Some.” Which was a complete lie but you were not about to tell them how painful it truly was. “It's mostly my muscles being sore and getting used to flight.”

“Mmm…I told you to work on those thighs more. There's got to be someone around here willing to let you exercise those muscles as you ride–”

With an awkward yelp, you attempted to slap a hand over Fryda's mouth, but she leaned back, cackling at your obvious embarrassment. 

“You're an asshole.” You muttered. 

“Suuuure….that's it.” Fryda teased then stood up, gathering her papers in her hands. “Come on, I can't stare at those notes anymore. I'm going to sleep.”

You huffed but more-than-willingly mirrored her actions. While you did not mind studying, you could feel the physical exhaustion and a bone-deep ache tugging at the ends of your nerves, like an annoying reminder of its refusal to vanish. Without a word, Liam rose also, grabbing his new wooden carving and sticking it in his pocket. Stefan waved your squad off, saying he would stay longer, as if his brilliant mind really needed the extra study time. 

The three of you started towards the dorms but Fryda saw Rhi and Violet sitting at a different table with their own squad, and darted over, lamely saying she needed to ask them something, leaving just you and Liam. With a shared, amused look, the two of you continued on. 

Once you entered the dorms, you loudly squeaked as your legs became suddenly airborne. Large, warm hands cradled you against an expansive, toned chest, while blue eyes stared down at you. 

“Why didn't you tell me?”

You blinked up at him. “What?”

“That you were hurting…or how much it hurts. We could have figured something out.” Concern dripped from his every word in an almost betrayed tone that made your heart squeeze awkwardly in your chest.  

“It's…there's nothing you can do, Liam. It'll heal, I just need to be more purposeful about being off it as much as possible.”

He snorted. “Obviously a simple solution in this Quadrant.”

“Yeah…” You watched as he walked past your bedroom door with purposefully strides, not even hesitating for a second, stonework and other doors almost blurring by. “Um, you passed my room.”

“I know.”

“Ooookay?”

“Trust me.” He gently smiled at you, flashing that dimple which was a hazard to your ovaries. 

You dramatically sighed but your pretense of being inconvenienced was negated by your answering smile. 

Using lesser magic, he unlocked his bedroom door and walked in, still carrying you in his arms. His room was not unfamiliar, but a forbidden thrill always shot down your spine when it was just the two of you in his room. Which was stupid, since he was your friend. Nothing more. 

With careful, mindful actions, he gently lowered you down onto the edge of his bed. He retrieved your notes from your hand and placed them next to his own on his desk. Mindlessly, you ran a hand over the blanket covering his bed, noting the sharp precision it was tucked in as if creases were unable to locate a spot to sully. It irrationally made you want to mess up his bed to see what he would do. 

Returning from placing the notes and his newest wooden creation on his desk, he squatted in front of you. “How bad is the pain?”

“It hurts.” You quietly admitted, finally giving voice to what you had been repressing for weeks. 

“You can tell me.”

“I know,” you hated seeing the hurt in his eyes as you replied, “I just–I can't appear weak.”

He shook his head, gaze never leaving yours. “I could never see you as weak.”

“Because you're my friend.” 

“Yeahhh…we’re friends.” Something flashed in his blue eyes, something sharp as steel yet heated like fire, but it disappeared before you could truly register what you saw. Finally looking away, he tapped his bed with his hand. “Come on, lay on your stomach.”

Immediately, you followed his instruction, kicking your boots off and laying down, used to him massaging the tight muscles of your back or shoulders. This time, just like every other, as soon as he put those hands on you, your brain transformed to mush. His calloused hands pressed and rubbed along your spine, as if drawing the soreness out of your body with his actions alone. Once satisfied, those hands traveled to your lower back, magically alleviating the residual pain and knots that had taken up residence there. As he massaged, you pressed your face into his pillow, breathing in his scent- leather with hints of something distinctly spicy and warm. This was your favorite place to be- your safe haven in a school designed to teach violence and murder. Here you did not have to pretend to be strong, you could just be. 

“Roll over.”

Without thinking, for that was more than your brain was capable of at the moment, you obeyed him. Your eyes remained shut as you floated in contented bliss. 

“Can…can you take your pants off?”

Your eyes snapped open. Never before had he asked you that. You stared at him, hovering over you as he kneeled on the edge of his bed. A tinge of pink colored his cheeks but he stared back at you, letting you see he was serious. 

“It's so–” He cut himself off, rubbing the back of his neck for a moment before placing his hand back on the edge of the bed. “Just trust me, okay?”

A quip danced on the tip of your tongue, a selfish need to see if you could make his blush deepen, but a wave of insecurity washed over you, stealing your confidence and dragging it back into the sea of unknown. 

“If it makes you uncomfortable you don't have to. It–it was just a suggestion.” He rapidly back-pedaled, ducking his head as if ashamed to meet your gaze. 

“No. It's…it's not that.”

“Then what?”

“My scar.” You murmured, then swallowed thickly as you unfurled the flag of insecurity in the space between you two. “It's ugly.”

His eyes widened for a moment before they softened, staring at you like he understood. With a tenderness that made your heartbeat stutter, he cupped the side of your face with a hand. “Sweetheart, nothing about you will ever be ugly.” He whispered with such finality, as if imploring you to believe and trust him. 

Your heart shattered within your chest and tears flooded your eyes as you slammed them closed on a shaky inhale. Thoughts raced and stumbled across the field of your mind, encouraging and contradicting each other. Yet it was the slow glide of a thumb across your cheekbone, a warm hand still cupping your cheek that grounded you. A silent reminder that you trusted Liam, the only one in the whole damn war college that you trusted completely and implicitly.  

“Okay.” The near-silent agreement slid from your lips. 

Liam helped you shimmy out of your pants as you lifted your hips then gently tugged them down your legs. Self-conscious and hyper aware of being clad only in your underwear and shirt, anxiety spiked its thorny needles, pricking at your lungs and making each inhale hurt. Flinging your arm over your eyes, you did not dare to look at his face as he saw your scar for the first time, unable to take the disgust that would cross his face, even if he said otherwise. There were certainly far uglier scars amongst the cadets but this scar was yours…and you hated it. 

“Tell me if it hurts.”

You nodded your consent, words and fears tangling on your tongue. A moment later, his hands returned to your body, now bare, unexplored skin. Those deft hands worked your muscles, soothing and massaging, relieving pains and soreness that left you wanting to weep in gratitude and pleasure. He started on your left thigh, mindful of your scar, quietly grumbling about how tight the muscle was and no wonder it hurt. You would have laughed at the clear tone of annoyance, but you were too wrapped up in how good it felt. Slowly, he worked down your leg, moving to your calf and foot, paying them the same amount of attention before his hands jumped to your right thigh and began the process all over again.  

A plate of jelly had more consistency than you at the moment. Liam’s bed cradled you close as you sunk into it, unable and unwilling to move. You barely registered a sated sigh escaping your mouth as you succumbed to the boneless feeling wrapping around you like a fluffy blanket. Your mind was peacefully blank as you rode the waves of relief, knots and aches dissipating like mist under the bright sun. 

Dragging you from the edge of oblivion and bliss, a muted awareness hit you as he pressed his lips to the inside of your ankle. 

“Fuck, you're so beautiful.”

Sluggishly your eyes opened, staring at him in a daze as he shifted upward, now gripping your left leg to place a kiss on the inside of your knee. 

“I love touching you…I can't keep my hands off you, don't want to stop touching you.” The whispered words painted your body as he skated his lips across your skin. Holding your leg beside him, he shifted further up, meeting your hazy eyes for a moment as if to center himself before he turned and placed a lingering kiss on the scar on your left thigh. 

“Liam.” You whispered, heart pounding in your chest and heat flooding your veins at his words and the devotion in his eyes. “Don't tease me…don't get my hopes up, please.”

“Never. I was just waiting on you.” He softly soothed, now hovering over you, blinding you to anything but him. 

You blinked. “On me?”

“Don't think I haven't noticed the way you look at me, especially when I'm using my hands. Or how your breath catches every time I touch you on the mats.” 

“Oh gods.” You bemoaned, turning your face away to hide from the cocky smirk shining down on you. How had he noticed? You were positive you had been able to hide it…apparently not. 

“I fucking love it. Why do you think I'm touching you all the time?” He teased before dropping his voice lower in what felt like a confession. “I remember noticing you at our first squad formation and thought you were beautiful but it was not until days later, when that asshole from first squad was saying shit about my rebellion relic. Fuck, I wanted to punch him. But then you slipped to my side like a dream and tugged me away, saying how it was obvious I could kick his ass from here to Sunday and back and the asshole was just trying to mess with my head. Then you smiled at me, that sweet one like there's nothing else that matters in the world…” His eyes softened further, staring down at you like you were a rare treasure. “Yes, that one right there. And ever since then, I've been yours.”

Your pulse pounded in your ears even as every nerve ending was vividly attuned to him. You could feel the intimate smile tilting your lips up, only now realizing how it was his smile, something you never shared with anyone else. Thoughts blurred, one blending into the next, causing your mind to be a muddled mess and spellbound to the man above you

“Liam, I can't think properly right now but I very much need you to kiss me.” You answered in a breathless plea. 

Without waiting another second, he leaned down and placed his lips on yours, a whisper of a kiss, like the first sip of a fine wine that needs to be enjoyed before more is partaken. Your hands snaked up to grip his hair, keeping him from pulling away. A groan left his mouth, before he sunk into your mouth like it was the essence of the gods and he was their most devout worshipper. His tongue parted your lips and it was all you could do to breathe as he plundered your mouth. His chest pressed against yours, his body settled into the cradle of your thighs and you wanted more more more. His mouth lavished you with affection, each kiss a banner declaring his devotion and you were helpless to resist. Your own kisses poured out your hidden truth at his feet, silent hopes and dreams now broadcasted for him to witness. With each kiss, each caress of his rough hands, you knew he felt the same. 

Finally the two of you separated, Liam laying his forehead against yours, refusing to retreat further even as you both breathed like you had just completed the Gauntlet.  

An irrational giggle escaped you as you stared up at him. “I knew you were good with your hands, but gods, your mouth…”

“Want to see what else my hands and mouth are good at?” He purred, voice gone husky and rough. 

His words left you quivering with desire, stoking a fire in you that needed to be put out right the fuck now. “Yes.” You replied in needy whine. 

He laughed, saturated in joy and wicked intentions, unintentionally causing a whimper to pass your lips. Tilting his head, he seared your lips together, dragging you into a mind-numbing kiss and shooting scorching fire into your veins even as you wholly submitted to him. 

You quickly learned how talented his hands and mouth truly were. 

[mandrakemistakes]

Let’s talk about the Prim Reaper

Listen. It’s funny. I enjoy a big tall glass of I hate Gale juice in the morning with my bacon and eggs as much as the next girlie. But he’s also super interesting and complicated and important and I have a million thoughts so buckle up for a lengthy journey through the Gale Hawthorn section of my brain.

Why Gale is good

He wants a better world for everyone in panem

He stepped up to care for his family as a 14 year old

He took care of Katniss’s family while she was in the arena and would have continued to feed them for the rest of his life if she’d died in the games. At great person cost

Every single person from district 12 who is alive at the end of the games (besides the victors) is alive because of Gale. He pulled people out of burning buildings, he tore down the fence, he fed and led all the refugees to d13

He’s smart, resourceful, capable, determined, idealistic, stubborn, and honest.

Why Gale is important as a character

His anger at the state of Panem is (1) valid and (2) representative of a feeling held by a LARGE number of people. Katniss doesn’t talk to a lot of folks openly, but it’s safe to assume everyone overthrowing their districts was just as angry as Gale. He puts a voice to that fury

His focus on violence as a solution and his quickness to assimilate into the military and his trust of Coin make him one of the most notable mirrors held up to society in the original trilogy. Susanne wrote THG inspired by Americans response to the Iraq War. We were dealing with things like the Patriot Act, anti-Muslim sentiment, and enlistment propaganda in the states when these books were first written. Gales view on enemies and war were incredibly normal takes for the average American citizen at the time. She didn’t write him to be a villain, she wrote him to be US

The belief that some collateral civilian death is necessary and acceptable in war is NORMAL (bad, but very very common). All of you reading this live under governments that operate that way. It’s KATNISS’S beliefs that are the outliers here. The fact that Susanne got us all to agree with Katniss on this is wonderful and impressive and half the point of the books. But that doesn’t make Gale a stand out villain, he’s representing the norm. He is who we were before we read THG

Gale is a foil to so many things I don’t even know where to begin. His morals contrast Katniss’s and make her views more solidified and defined for the reader. He does the same for Peeta by being a contrasting romantic lead. Also Finnick to a lesser degree. He mimics some of Snow’s philosophy, reminding us the call is sometimes coming from inside the house. And he exemplifies Coin’s control and influence over her people. Not all of these are examples of literary foils but if you’re not Mrs Pierce from 12th grade English you don’t get to call me out about it

Why Gale sucks

He has a strong Us vs Them mentality, which is very normal, very problematic, and very worth critiquing. He has a chip on his shoulder about the “well off” merchant class in district 12, he has no empathy or forgiveness for capital citizens like Katniss’s prep team, and holds onto prejudices against victors. Unlike Katniss, he doesn’t get to know people and change his mind about their motives, he doesn’t give respect or humanize those he thinks are against him. He does not remember who the real enemy is

He also has a strong “if you’re not with me you’re against me” view of people. Anyone who isn’t rebelling loudly enough is making themselves his enemy. He’s angry with katniss in Catching Fire for not wanting to join the rebellion, he complains she should be doing more to spread dissent instead of trying to protect herself and her loved ones. He says that anyone sweeping floors in the Nut in district 2 is working for the enemy and deserving of the same treatment as those actively firing weapons against him. He’s very black and white about who deserves mercy and who does not.

He’s a really bad friend!!! He rarely gives Katniss any sort of comfort or emotional support. He ignored it when she’s struggling. He ignores the trauma she went through in the games. He goes so far as to ignore it when her SISTER DIES. When she acts out of fear (trying to run away, performing with Peeta for the cameras, refusing to define any romantic relationships atm) he belittles her.

It has to be said, we all knew this bullet point was coming, the romantic pressure he puts on Katniss is not chill. He kisses her without permission, guilts and manipulates her, gets angry when she doesn’t make a “choice” about who her “boyfriend” should be in the middle of conversations about who will be brutally murdered next. He does not read the room and does not accept her no or empathize with her confusion or fear.

“‘It’s the way he hates you. It’s so… familiar. I used to feel like that,’ he admits, ‘when I’d watch you kissing him on the screen. Only I knew I wasn’t being entirely fair. He can’t see that.’” - Gale says about hijacked Peeta after he’s insulted and embarrassed Katniss in the dining hall. Hijacked Peeta, who barely sees Katniss as human, who tried to kill her, who at best sees her as cruel and manipulative and wicked at this point in the story. Gale relates to that overgrown, violent, jealousy so much he tells katniss it’s FAMILIAR. He says that TO HER FACE. Evil. I know he goes on to say a nice comforting thing about how hijacked Peeta isn’t seeing the real her right after this quote but I will never be over that he says this and I shan’t forgive him for it.

What happened with Prim and the bomb

This gets its own section cuz it’s a big deal and super twisted by in fandom discussions

We know that Gale didn’t make the choice to use the double bomb when and where it was used. He was with Katniss and Co.™️ in the capital when it went down

Gale and Beetee are not even sure that it was their trap design enacted by Coin. But they seem to suspect. Katniss is sure it’s true. We the readers are meant to believe that’s what happened. It was Chekhov's gun, it had to go off

Gale would NEVER hurt Prim on purpose. He’s proven himself to be a protector, and Prim is one of his priorities. He’s saved her life, he’s cared for her, he cares a lot about Katniss and knows better than almost anybody how important Prim is to her. There’s no reality where Gale knew she was going to be in the capital and allowed it. No world where he saw her on the street and pressed a button to drop a bomb on her.

However, Gale is okay with the death of innocence. His design preys on compassion, it intentionally targets medics and those rushing in to help. It reflects his belief system about collateral damage in war perfectly. He knows it’s not pretty, but he believes it’s necessary and the ends justify the means. When he says this he’s imagining the trap being used on the ENEMY. He’s comfortable thinking about the deaths of theoretical, enemy Prims.

The fact that this got turned around and used on allies and ultimately kills someone close to him and ruins the relationship he cares most about is a huge lesson for Gale. He never learned to remember who the enemy is and that failing lead him right up to that scene with katniss in the mirror. He thought there was a wholely good and wholely bad side to the war. He thought his designs would only be used on enemies. He thought those getting hurt would deserve it. He thought the loss of life would be worth it. He was wrong.

[224bbaker]

so. hi. I am a little late, I suppose, but I just listened to the last episode of this wonderful podcast and - I wanted to thank you. from the bottom of my heart - for creating this amazing, brilliant, truly wondrous piece of art that has made (and will continue to make!) so many people happy. I got into Fawx&Stallion wondering - will this adaptation get Holmes and Watson right? will this be the one that understands them, sees them, and makes them what they truly are? and gosh - I was NOT disappointed, but that is truly a weak way of saying that I loved and treasured every minute of this. all the characters, and especially our main ones, are so incredibly well-written - they are funny and silly but deep and profound, and their arcs are so beautifully crafted that it really made me cry. truly, the writing on this podcast is phenomenal - and I do not exaggarate when I say that this really is the best podcast I've heard. it makes you laugh out loud like a fool when you're on public transport because you just couldn't wait to listen to the next episode - and in a moment, it catches you by the throat and makes you hold your breath at how real and human it all is. and that's the mark of a great thing - it makes you giggle and laugh, but it reminds you what makes you human, and what are the truly important things. so thank you, again, for making this wonderful podcast - it has made a lot of people happy.

This is one of those asks that has been sitting in our inbox for a bit, not because we forgot about it or don't think this is the most amazing thing to hear as a creator, but to the contrary, because we have no idea what to say in return except a deeply underwhelming "thank you." So...thank you. Thank you so very much.

[thesilly-goose]

thanks for the tag! i adore your writing, it’s incredible <3

i’m gonna put a lot, so i’m gonna put a break here lol. continue for my rambling at your own risk

five things you will ALWAYS find in my (story) writing:

queer asian characters! i have to get the representation in - i grew up on books filled with white cishet people and white cishet people only, and when i first discovered the lgbtqpia+ community, i was admittedly a little weird about it, solely because i didn’t know people could live that way. i want queer characters out loud and in the world - why should they have to hide in implications and author rambles outside of the actual story? also, i never used to see asian characters in stories either, unless their asian-ness was important to the plot. i had no characters to really relate to, and i don’t like that. so. lots of asians! you don’t realize how few asians (or non-white people in general) are in books until you replace all of the typically white-character roles with them and you’re like…wow…maybe there are too many…

long, meandering paragraphs of prose-y description or thinking i loveeeee my purple prose! it’s the way i think, and i appreciate the way it spirals and expands - it’s just relatable to me, and i enjoy both writing and reading it! no purple prose slander. i love purple prose. it’s my favorite thing. it does make for some awkward transitions, though.

pain, emotional or physical i LOVE writing pain and reactions to pain and the aftermath of pain and everything about pain. i like the rawness of it, the vulnerability. i like that i can allow characters to be their inner selves because they’re just hurting too much to hide, and after that, i like writing the guilt. maybe this is because of my experiences in life - i went through a pretty rough time two or three years ago, and when someone finally found out, i lashed out. full attack. literal screaming matches, physical aggression, hysterical sobbing - total cornered animal. and i hate myself for attacking them like that. they didn’t deserve to be hurt just because i was scared. and i feel like a lot of the time, pain like that is avoided or sugar-coated in fiction because it’s hard to read or write your favorite character being a terrible person. but it’s reality.

characters who seems put together, but are actually about to have a mental breakdown; and characters who seem to be about to have a mental breakdown and are actually about to have a mental breakdown honestly, i don’t think anyone’s actually got their shit together. so i don’t write people who’ve got their shit together.

a mental spiral, followed by a hard stop of the train of thought and violent repression this is how i always think. spiral, spiral, spiral, spiral spiral spiral spiralspiralspiralstop. stop it. so i usually have at least one character who tends to spiral as well.

so yeah, that’s my five. thank u again for the tag!! i tag….

@ilovebeesandallthat, @real-hawkguy, @robygoonn2, and @andromedicasphyxiate

5 things you will always find in my fics

Tagged by @cromwelll thank you!

Shipping

Present tense

Song lyric titles

Pop culture references

Exact word counts

Now I want to write something that includes NONE of these lol </3

Tagging five fellow fic writers: @0nelittlebirdtoldme @complicitsacrilege @goblins-riddles-or-frocks @udaberriwrites and @17panicattacksinatrenchcoat or anyone who wants to play :)

[irrevocablecondition]

What have some of your favourite reads been this year? I am dying to find more books to fall in love with, my selection of books this year has been disappointing vfjnbjgnb

okayyy hello !!! here's some of the ones i've rated 4 stars or above this year (also some i've rated lower but think they're necessary nonetheless)

Icarus - K. Ancrum

incredible story of personal art heists, fraught family relations, and a forbidden romance. bonus points for the intersex representation and a special mention to the quotes "you think i would know art and not know this?" "there have been men before you before we had words for it". just,,, such a lovely relationship. such a good read.

The Push - Ashley Audrain

a harrowing story of motherhood that isn't quite what our protagonist expected it to be. a descent into madness, incredibly tense relationships. this one has stuck with me So Much. it was so raw, so real, and i have never felt so connected to a protagonist that is so disconnected from herself. incredible mhm.

Nineteen Minutes - Jodi Picoult

everything i have read from picoult so far has been incredible but thissss one?? had me in tears. picoult has such a unique voice that neverrr fails to pick apart even the most important questions from so many perspectives. this one is about a school shooting, how so much can change in nineteen minutes but that time will change everyone's life forever. we follow a bunch of different characters as we try to understand why this happened and what led the kid to do it. we watch relationships end and begin, we watch lives irrevocably change and people remain stagnant and just,,, UGH. i also recommend "The Storyteller" by picoult if you like this! though that one was a lot more intense imo.

Don't Let the Forest In - C.G Drews

if you haven't heard of or read this one then you neeedddd to!!! i can't even summarise this or describe it in a way that will do it justice but this book consumedddd me. fell in love with the world and the characters and felt like i was going mad with them.

Beartooth - Callan Wink

two brothers in yellowstone embarking on a dangerous mission to settle debts. a Real and Raw sibling relationship. this book was so visceral i could Feel it. i could Smell it. i was in there with them. the most important thing in this book is growing after grief and finding yourself amongst that, the plot is slow based and the prose is easily digestable - it's the Characters that draw you in and keep you on that little makeshift raft rushing down the rapids with them.

Grey Dog - Elliot Gish

a lesser known classic that i'll recommend until the end of time. it's the early 1900s and we're following a teacher as she goes to a new school in the middle of nowhere with a handful of students. it's gay, it's a descent into madness (again, i have a theme going here), it's journal entries and nights of misrememberings. it's a tragic and messy woman just being Tragic and Messy and her journal giving her the space to do that in the most authentic way. a steady but rapid decline into insanity and a grey dog that may or may not be real. loved it.

The Last Whaler - Cynthia Reeves

ohhh just lovely. i finished this the other day and !!! so we're in the arctic, we're hunting whales but we're also finding letters from our deceased wife from decades ago and we're watching these two trips happen parallel to one another. once again - descent into madness. grief. the loss of a child, the loss of a mother. but also,,, a warm hug all at once? i just fell in love with this couples relationship, this location, this proseeee. 5 stars for whale book 🙂↕️

okertttt !! that's a good handful me thinks !!! lemme know if you read any and like them :33 i have endless recs to provide <333

[vicioustoker]

can't even begin to describe how insane i am about the "keep bringing me pencils line" because it might as well just be a full on love confession and proposal all in one. like it's saying im letting you in please continue staying by my side please keep helping me in the ways you know how keep handing me what i need to figure it all out im reassuring i need you and yet she doesn't need to say all this because they both already know!!! it just takes a pencil to figure out!! im going insane!!!!!

[naruhinalife555]

NaruSaku he is trash and should be dead in ocean NaruHina she is much better from NaruSaku NaruSaku Forced ship NaruHina was canon even if Naruto the last not was. As always, the animation studio and Kishimoto are calling them crazy. They already know that aliens shouldn't be listened to, that's why they're desperate. Now, neither letters nor online mail reach Kishi. They check everything, threats and NSF things are deleted. They only receive things from real fans, not from whiny, tantrum-filled people who make a fuss over a couple instead of watching the story, which was the most important thing.Naruto's feelings at first were childish, over time they matured and from there they went into a steady decline (as seen in the iron bow), many use what Sai to say that he remained in love with Sakura throughout Shippuden but that is also not reliable because after saving Sasuke from the darkness he did not declare his love to her either, because although his love was genuine it was not deep (in the romantic sense, in the brotherly sense there is a lot of affection), there is no need to put Naruto's old feelings on a pedestal, because Kishimoto did not do it either. :u

Hinata and Sakura's feelings on the other hand were described as deep (even Sasuke's, but I'm not going to put that here), so I don't know why they insist on saying that Naruto would be happier with x or y character, when the person with whom he experienced a deep love was with Hinata, even if it hurts the antis.

Whether Sasuke and Sakura had more prominence is another topic.

A lot of text, sorry unu It seems to me that someone did not read the manga xd, we must never forget that Naruto's "love" for Sakura ends in that scene in the hospital where he realizes what he feels for Sasuke, from there on, although they are more "close", it is because they share a team more than anything else, besides that they have the objective of bringing Sasuke, is The Last poorly stated? It is if you see it from the point of view of a romance anime, but this unfortunately is not, it is a shounen, hence the poor narrative of NaruHina, although of course if you analyze the NaruHina and NaruSaku moments, I think it is quite clear who was the one that made the most impact on Naruto Seriously, it's 2025 and there are still people questioning the ending??? What's that based on??? "Naruto spent more time with Sakura, he liked her since he was little, he always ignored Hinata" blah blah blah .. always the same ... They still don't understand that team 7 was the protagonist and obviously they would spend more time together ... team 7 were the first bonds that Naruto forged, Sasuke seeing him as a friend-brother, as well as Sakura (girl who likes Sakura), which more than anything was like a dispute with Sasuke since she was attracted to him ... Being that Sakura is also Naruhina, because she supports them and tries to help them, it's incredible how there are still people who keep thinking and saying that it's forced .. when the relationships that Naruto forges so much with Sakura who was always by his side, and with Hinata who was not so close to him, you could see the difference ... Beyond how the anime will develop, from the chunnin exams, you could see that Naruto and Hinata's relationship was very, very different from that of Sakura and Naruto who spent time together. Beyond Naruto's jokes, and how he always said he liked Sakura, he always felt a very different affection, an attraction, for Hinata, without him realizing it... I find it pathetic that there are still people defending and saying that Naruhina is forced... Watch the anime and manga again, analyze everything, and you'll realize that from the beginning it was clear they would be together...

Hinata Hyuga: A Weakly Written Obsession, Not a Romance

Hinata Hyuga is often praised as one of the sweetest and most devoted characters in Naruto, but when examined critically, her role as Naruto's love interest feels underdeveloped and weakly justified. Despite her potential, her character arc is overshadowed by narrative inconsistencies, minimal meaningful interaction with Naruto, and a lack of agency in the overarching story.

Hinata’s Characterization Revolves Around Naruto

Hinata’s entire character arc is centered around her admiration for Naruto, rather than her own independent growth. While Naruto himself undergoes significant development—struggling against hardship, building relationships, and pursuing his goals—Hinata is largely defined by her unwavering crush. Unlike other characters who face moral dilemmas or complex personal arcs, Hinata’s primary struggle is proving her loyalty to Naruto, which limits her depth and versatility.

Lack of Meaningful Interaction Before Marriage

One of the biggest criticisms of Hinata’s role as a love interest is the lack of substantial interaction between her and Naruto throughout the series. While she admires him from afar, their direct conversations are few and far between, making her eventual marriage to Naruto feel unearned. Contrast this with other major relationships in the manga and anime such as Naruto’s deeper dynamic with Sakura, which involved conflict, emotional exchanges, and genuine friendship.

The "Pain Arc" Feels Contrived

Hinata’s most memorable scene—her confrontation with Pain—is often cited as proof of her bravery, but it feels more like a forced plot device than genuine character development. She has little prior buildup to suddenly risking her life for Naruto, and her intervention ultimately fails, serving more as a dramatic moment for Naruto’s eventual transformation rather than an actual testament to Hinata’s growth. Her feelings for Naruto remain static, and rather than leading to a stronger bond between them, the arc is largely ignored in their later interactions.

The Forced Romance in The Last: Naruto the Movie

Perhaps the most glaring issue with Hinata’s role as a love interest is how their relationship is hastily cemented in The Last: Naruto the Movie. The film serves more as an attempt to justify their marriage rather than a natural continuation of their relationship. Naruto is artificially made to realize his feelings for Hinata through chakra-induced visions, rather than through meaningful development. The narrative essentially tells the audience to accept their love, without adequately showing them falling in love in an organic way.

Misplaced Dialogue After Neji’s Death

Hinata’s behavior after Neji’s death further illustrates the inconsistency in her characterization. Instead of providing emotional support to Naruto—who had just lost someone protecting him—she oddly fixates on the appearance of his hands. This moment feels both misplaced and disconnected from the gravity of the situation. Rather than acknowledging Naruto’s grief or the weight of Neji’s sacrifice, her dialogue and thoughts shifts to a strangely intimate observation that doesn’t fit the moment. This highlights how her interactions with Naruto often lack the depth necessary for a truly meaningful relationship dynamic.

Hinata Had More Potential Before the Timeskip

Looking at her earlier characterization, it’s clear Hinata had the potential to be much more than what she became post-timeskip. Pre-Shippuden, she was a compelling character struggling with self-doubt, familial pressure, and her desire to prove her own worth. The Chūnin Exams arc established her as a character with a strong internal conflict—her struggles against Neji and her admiration for Naruto could have led to an independent growth arc. However, after the timeskip, much of her personality is flattened, and her development stagnates. Her shy determination, which once made her an interesting character with room to evolve, is reduced to a passive love interest role with little personal growth outside of Naruto’s narrative.

[ziyechs]

@cementcornfield i read your tags on this post and was like.............. wait i remember this. so i went on a 3h youtube deepdive and lo and behold:

final thing for you two guys and i appreciate your time. i think bengals fans want to know: should we feel confident that joe and ja’marr are going to be nfl teammates for a long, long time?

— “well, i definitely want them to be together and i think ja’marr does too, you know, because i was talking to him one time and i was telling him: ‘you know, this is the nfl and this is a business also. so, you know, you might have to go find another quarterback’. and he was like: ‘no, dad, i’m staying with joe. i’m not going nowhere else.’”

[mourn-and-watch]

no but essek's abnormal behaviours in the last arc and especially in episode 140 are my roman empire. which is ironic because aeor is something of a roman empire itself. but in all seriousness, it was the episode that made me realise i love essek and his development so much and it kinda summarised it even before caleb's epilogue.

and i mean the "it's not fair" scene specifically. it's like, an epitome of his whole character progression from a person who put An Objectively Important Goal above all else without hesitation to someone who can't help but care for people around even more than his goal, no matter how big and relevant it is.

the mighty nein - and he alongside them - pretty much saved the world and freed an ancient city from thousand-year-long suffering. they defeated nine extremely powerful menacing entities who managed to stay out of everyone's sight for years and were so close to achieving their goal and dooming exandria in the process. they did the impossible and became heroes and somehow, they survived, even though they had bidden farewells a couple of hours ago because they had already understood what they had been facing. and nevertheless. they made it.

and none of them was celebrating.

mighty nein are basically essek's only friends. he knew them to be very unusual people, to put it lightly, loud and stubborn and completely inescapable once they consider you to be one of their own. and they showed him so much kindness and put so much faith in him, they were here playing the most atrocious music ever and digging clay in his backyard for a spell they invented just to help one of theirs and asking him if he could bring them pastries the day after they found out he was lying to them and had started a war. they were chaotic and weird and sometimes unbearable but most importantly they were carrying so much hope with them all this time - a hope they could end the war, a hope they could stop the angel of irons cult, a hope they could get better, a hope he could get better, and now, finally, that they could save their lost friend.

and that hope shattered, just like that, the moments after they'd already made the impossible. they saved so many souls - and then could not get back just that one.

for essek "my intentions were never good they were important" thelyss it just. shouldn't have mattered. they won. it could have been worse. people die and when they die they rarely come back. they should've been happy everyone else barely made it alive.

but for some reason, mighty nein being so defeated after they saved the world exposed him to that overwhelming feeling of injustice and unfairness. and i mean, there were many things essek considered to be unfair, but when i watched his first appearance and his interactions with mighty nein later on til their reunion in aeor arc, i wouldn't dare to guess that one of the things on that list would be something that personal. and personal not even to him.

the thing is, essek didn't even know who that guy was. why mighty nein cared about him so much. he had an idea, i guess, that he was their friend once, or someone in that body was. it was also a person who wanted to unleash a terrifying horrific aberration onto the material plane. it was a person very dedicated to killing essek and his friends - and they still didn't take any pleasure in fighting him. essek didn't feel strongly about lucien or molly, because he never knew them.

i don't think he mourned his death and failed resurrection. he mourned mighty nein's hope, the one they put in him when they had no reason to, the one they offered yasha in the cathedral and the one they kept after the spell for veth failed and the one they carried til the very end because they wanted it to reach molly. they had saved people with this hope. they had saved nations. they had saved the world. but they ended up feeling like it hadn't even been worth anything.

how desperate would it feel, witnessing people who for some reason always saw good in you when they absolutely shouldn't, who made literal miracles out of nothing, who ended wars and fought gods and tricked the hags and freed cities from horrors beyond anyone's comprehension purely because they thought it was the right thing to do and also loved their friends this much, silently crying over a dead body they couldn't bring back to life? how desperate would it feel to realise that with all your knowledge about time you dedicated your life to and threw away any principles for, you can't undo this? no one can. some things are left to fate alone and this time it wasn't kind to them. no matter how much good they did, they still got slapped in the face.

and it was, i think, such a genuine moment of empathy. like, essek is the character who prefers to put up a facade and act distant and self-composed but this time he just. walked away unable to watch this. the could only say to fjord that it wasn't fair. even when he was caught off guard in nicodranas he was able to explain himself and his motives to an extent even though he was a nervous wreck whose extra important plan went to hell the second the only people he cared about appeared. this time he had nothing to elaborate on. it just wasn't fair. it wasn't fair his friends didn't get what they wanted the most. it wasn't fair he couldn't do anything to make it right.

it is such a sad and beautiful and even cathartic scene because it is about person who started a war that destroyed so many lives - and then met this ragtag group of weirdos who saw a lonely stand-offish guy and said "hey, let's be friends!" and didn't even wait for him to answer. he saw them being serious and calculated and he saw them being ridiculous and extremely stupid, he saw their mistrust to outsiders and their loyalty to each other, he made spells with them and paid a visit to their hot tub, he ate their stale pastries and drank their hot chocolate mixed with whiskey, he was welcomed amongst them and in their wonderful home, both in xhorhas before they even found out what he had done and in the tower when they already knew - and then, he saw them mourning their loss, defeated and helpless, and he, a person who believed there were things more important than whole nations, let alone just one life, couldn't help but share the pain they felt. a pure display of compassion from someone who detached himself from it, who didn't believe he could grow into a better person capable of it again, but became one nonetheless without even realising it

[thewardenisonthecase]

im gonna add to this because i love. talking about women but yes anon, overall, in the books, and ESPECIALLY The Stolen Throne, Gaider writers women pretty badly.

Ok, its not that he writes women badly, i think his female characters are actually pretty compelling, Morrigan being the highlight, but the issue is that. He does not treat them well.

Take TST, which again, is the worst example. The two most important female characters in it are Katriel, an elven spy and Rowan, daugher of the arl of redcliffe, maric's future wife and a major player in the rebellion. I think the two of them are pretty interesing but the narrative treats them. so badly.

Katriel, in every Maric pov chapter, gets sexualized to hell and back. There's alwways this mention of how hot and sexy and attractive she is because she's an elf, and Maric at times does sound like he's only interested in her because she's pretty (its what i like to call maric fucking everything up bc he was thinking with his dick). Katriel is interesting to me because she's introduced as this spy, who actively makes the rebellion almost go to shit but she realizes what she did and decided to try and make up for it by saving Maric. She's trying to redeem herself but eventually, her betrayal gets found out and Maric kills her without a second thought. This is a series that has a LOT of characters, and especially male characters, do all sorts of betrayal and fucked up shit and be given a second chance. But Katriel doesnt get that. And to make matters worst, in The Calling, her death is used as some way to develop maric's character.

Then you have Rowan, which this one pisses me off even more. Rowan is pretty much the third protagonist of the book. She's introduced as this warrior who has been a key player in the rebellion, acting as her father's second in command. Rowan has been bethroaed to maric since they were babies basically. She gets groped in the novel, slapped by the enemy, and she did it for maric, only to then find him fucking Katriel. Despite being portrayed as an incredibly capable warrior, she somehow loses a duel to loghain (who's not even a warrior, he's a fucking rogue in the book) and then to make matters worst, she is killed off screen in the epilogue, and essentially becomes a fridge for maric's character arc in the calling.

They kill her. Off screen. You get to the epilogue and it says she died of disease. And then in the calling, they go even further to reduce her to being a mother, even saying that oh she liked being a mom a lot more than she liked being a warrior. and then maric gets to be emo about her death.

(fridging, btw is when female characters facing disproportionate harm, such as death, maiming, or assault, to serve as plot devices to motivate male characters, yes im using the wikipedia description bc its the fastest to grab. its a term coined after in this one comic book, one of the male character's wife gets brutally murdered and her body parts are placed on the refrigerator for him to find, and its for the sake of developing him. its what happens to rowan - she slowly dies off disease, becoming extremely frail and weak, smthg that happens off screen, and its purely for the sake of making Maric be the way he is in the calling)

Off the top of my head, these are the characters i know gaider wrote: Rowan, Katriel, Morrigan, Meredith, Isabela in the comics, Cassandra in DAI, Flemeth and Fiona. I'm sure there must be more but im not gonna check. also the only reason im not including genevieve and utha and the asunder chars is bc i havent gotten far into the calling nor asunder yet.

Rowant and Katriel, like i said, were killed off to develop a man's arc. Isabela in the comics is like. wildly racist towards the qunari it actively makes me not enjoy her character, plus again, sexualization. Gaider famously kept insisting that Cassandra being straight was somehow super ground breaking. Fiona goes from being really badass in her books, to being this weak old woman in dai who does things that go against her character. Meredith, bioware's best antagonist if you ask me, gets written off as this crazy lyrium lady whcih somewhat undermines her writing. Flemeth and Morrigan are the ones that I do think he manages not to fumble so i'll give him that. (tho with a grain of salt. morrigan gets called a bitch in game. and there might be stuff im not remember now)

anyways, i think other people can add to this and go further into other details but the crux of the issue is. Gaider, while writing extremely interesting female characters, treats them super poorly. Their crimes are given heavier punishment then similar crimes other men commit, females characters like rowan and cassandra, who are warriors, he keeps making a point to be oh see how feminine she is despite being a warrior? (bc god forbid a woman be anything other than feminine), and then all these women suffer some sort of abuse, or sexualization, or worse.

I've seen a lot of people say Gaider can't write women, but I wasn't able to find any specific examples/explanations. Looking at the female characters he's written in the games, none of them are my favorites but I can't think of anything misogynistic/sexist about their writing. Is this a problem that's more blatant in his novels (which I haven't read)? I've found your discussions on his writing the Dalish and his attitudes towards Indigenous people really enlightening, and it really does seem that he isn't a particularly great writer in many ways, despite the world he's helped create.

It is EXTREMELY blatant in the novels, yes. Also in the comics he wrote, with Isabela. @sha-brytols has been posting recently about Adrian in Asunder if you want some examples right away, (and I also have a whole commentary series on Asunder here,) but I think you make an excellent prompt for me to perhaps write a full detailed examination of how Gaider treats the female characters in his novels and comics. And actually, where I've been struggling to find the words lately while working on my qunari piece, I might press pause on that to switch gears and write this next...

[javierduffy]

just a few javieran horse headcanons because i like them a normal amount

branwen

- tall AND fat. kieran makes sure he’s always fed (maybe even accidentally a teensy bit overfed. just because kieran can’t help but indulge him when he butts him with his head or nuzzles at his pockets when he knows there’s treats in there. but never too much because ‘obesity is a problem, even in animals !’). probably about 17hh, taller than average for a kentucky saddler but nothing too big. especially since kieran himself is quite tall

- VERY well-tempered, both naturally, as well as because kieran has literally made him bulletproof. bagged him, blanketed him, stood, jumped, backflipped onto and off of him. this kindly gentleman of a horse only spooks when he wants to be bratty specifically.

- i think he’s about 6 or so, came from the stables kieran worked at after being orphaned, he was just a colt when kieran was just a kid. kieran learned how to birth foals quickly, and branwen happened to be one of them. with the way that they fell in love with each other and the way that branwen whinnied and pranced up to the fence when kieran came back to buy him after the army didn’t work out, you’d think that horse was born just for him.

- his favourite treats, in order, are rutabaga (kieran’s secret for branwen’s glossy coat. also why he’s kinda fat.), boiled potatoes mixed into his oats, apples, and fresh greens. he’s simultaneously incredibly easy to please because of the simplicity of the latter parts of his favourites list and also very needy and complicated because kieran so loves to make his pony happy with his absolute favourite treats, so he tries his very best to get branwen’s eccentric tastes pleased once falling into the VDL’s.

- i always say “a horse’s favourite thing to do is hurt itself”, and i think this statement holds relatively true for branwen as well, though there’s a 25% chance that he’s actually hurt, a 50% chance that he’s only mildly injured or spooked and he’s playing it up to get kieran to dote on him, and a 25% chance that he will protect kieran with his life when they’re in a dire situation (see: snake on the ground or gunfire nearby. or even god forbid a spare tumbleweed find it’s way rolling nearby.) despite kieran’s last wish being his horse getting injured. branwen thinks that he’s gotta be The Man and protect his dad sometimes. it does not help in any situation ever whatsoever.

- branwen is the PERFECT companion for a trail riding date. he’s settled, calm, has a great gait, and as a gelding, truly is not worried about other horses being “faster” than him, so he never gets rowdy nor has any problems when partner riders/horses crowd him. kieran is allowed to ask for as many kisses as he pleases because branwen will never jump when javier’s gold-tipped boots poke him in the side and boaz irritatedly flicks his flank with his tail. truly a goated wingman. also never complains about long rides, and enjoys being out of camp with his rider for as much as physically possible for both of them, so he’s never barnsour in either direction.

boaz

- as an american paint, he’s naturally short and stocky. saddle ends up being a bit loose, though, as javier isn’t as dedicated to keeping him perfectly fed or groomed. he loves him, sure, but horses are somewhat of tools to him, so he kinda does slightly more than bare minimum to keep him kempt and healthy. around 14.5hh, slightly shorter than average and quite dense with muscle

- temperamentally a bit volatile. this horse has just as much drama as his rider, if not a little more. doesn’t like something ? ridden too long ? that stick looks too much like a snake ? hasn’t spent enough time with kieran that day ? he will snort and grunt and bunny hop if javi isn’t on him, and shudder hard enough the saddle shakes underneath him if he is. boaz likes to please his rider, but he also demands pleasure himself, and has no issue with “accidentally” placing a hoof on his owners nice, intentionally clean boots, and subsequently slowly leaning more and more of his weight onto it when he doesn’t immediately get what he wants. bratty pony. generally, he keeps javier safe, though, when it comes down to it.

- around 5 years old. after dutch found javier trying to steal chickens the first time they met, he soon took him back to that ranch and their first take as gang leader and member was a 1 year old grey paint colt for javi to train and subsequently ride. until he was rideable, javier rode a morgan that was formerly hosea’s, named carolina, while he lead boaz everywhere behind him.

- favourite treats, in order, are corn cobs (especially dried), prickly pear fruit AND cactus, sugar cubes, and sliced apples. will force javier to share his maiz with him. javier has always sliced his apples up since he was a colt, not only because javi simply finds comfort in toying with his knife, but also because boaz will not eat them otherwise. javi will also cut all of the spines off of the cactus before letting boaz eat them.

- in terms of injury, boaz is the most dramatic tank on the planet. this horse could arthur morgan-style run face first into a tree and then fall off a cliff and walk it off. but not before he gimps and limps and whines and teeth grinds his way into javier leading him instead of riding him for the next mile or two. once kieran started taking care of him, there is also a 25% chance of boaz faking a terribly painful injury just to get kieran to dote on him.

- kinda the worst wingman ever LMFAO easily annoyed, easily aroused, easily offended, and as a stallion, HAS to walk in front of the “herd” (his rider’s boyfriend and his horse). pins his ears back, smashes into personal space, flicks branwen with his tail (and preferably kieran, if he can reach him) even sometimes will nip at branwen if the latter tries to calmly make this date a date and not a life or death race (whoever loses, their dad is gay) and walk side-by-side to aid their riders’ hand holdings. will make executive decisions via stopping or veering off for fresh green grass beside the trail, will at points actively attempt to shudder javier out of his saddle (has succeeded once when javi was distracted by a story being excitedly told by kieran), and will also spook and take off running so fast javier thinks it must have broken his neck from the velocity. generally makes trail rides a living hell, but kieran finds it charming, and it makes for some cute shoujo-style “omg … *reaches out to help you up after your horse bucks you off because he saw a log that looked nothing at all and everything like a cougar and pink and white soft bubbles surround me* are you okay ? here, let me help.” moments. maybe some day boaz will be allowed off of the national american terrorist list written by javier “rizzless rider” escuella

ok im tired and that’s all i can think of please enjoy and feel free to contribute 👍 i love them so bad im gona cry

[nitsa13]

At halt