#Therefore it isn’t discussed enough

[gacorley]

There’s some common threads I see in the anti-voting posts going around, and I feel like I need to discuss some of them. Let’s start with the biggest one:

Voting to punish evil. I see lots of variations of this. Biden is supporting Israel, therefore we can’t vote for him. Is there any viable candidate who would stop the genocide? I don’t think the anti voting crowd actually cares. They are appealing to moral feelings rather than political strategy, because strategically, you have to realize that voting is not going to change foreign policy, and that change has to be pushed by other means. It’ll probably be something in the long haul.

Democrats should run someone else. First of all, this is a shit strategy. You don’t primary your president in the second term unless your party is falling apart. This may come from people from countries where replacing the head of government is easier, but the POTUS is the de facto party head. Also, going to the lack of thought to the goal — do you know someone willing to primary Biden and able to win who would do the things you want?

Biden hasn’t done anything anyway. This is just a way to bat away pro arguments. There’s plenty of lists of progress on lots of things. Student loans, insulin price caps, regulations, anti-trust.

Putting the entire Palestinian genocide on Biden. I’m not saying there’s not culpability there, but understand that the entire US government is in support of Israel, on both sides. It was a miracle we got a handful of Senators to call for investigations. We should cut off aid, absolutely. Who’s running to do that? And keep in mind that Israel chose to engage. US officials would have liked a more limited response, not out of care for Palestinians, but because they know from experience that it will come back to bite Israel in the form of newly radicalized Hamas recruits.

Liberals just have no hope for change. This is a new one. Just some idea that people are stuck in a rut and that’s the reason the two party system exists. The two party system is a mathematical consequence of the way we vote. There is reason to hope for change. The change, though, whatever means you choose, will take decades. Keep working at it. The hope is not that this election will fundamentally change things. The hope is that many small political actions over the years will push things forward.

Funnily enough, I haven’t seen a whole lot of third party promotion, just lots of this rhetoric aiming to punish. When voting, ask yourself:

Is this problem I have with this candidate something that the other candidate would be better on?

Are there other political actions I can take that will help?

What things can change with a different President or Congress, and what needs to be pursued by other means?

Withholding your vote as a punishment isn’t really going to help. Biden doesn’t know who you are or why you are not voting for him, and there is no one with a chance of winning that will do everything you want. But you have other means. Protest, organize, donate, build up alternatives, advocate for a different system.

Vote to give yourself space and get a little bit. Do other things to keep things moving.

[cryinggirlnamedhelen]

“_____ happened to sae in spain” “sae and rin just need to communicate” all of these statements are ones that i agree with, but i think that there are way more to the itoshi brothers’ relationship than just the fight during the snow night and what happened to sae during spain, and now that people are theorizing that sae might be coming back, it seems like the perfect time to talk about my opinion on the itoshi family dynamic.

to start off with a quick disclaimer: i’ve always been a huge rin fan, and i’ve never been able to properly from a solid opinion on sae as my opinions on him are always changing. in short, sae reminds me of a celebrity that had never been media trained and therefore says whatever comes to their mind, which often makes them come off as dislikable. sae is a character that i think is funny because he is fictional, but would most likely hate in real life because of his attitude. despite this, i do think that sae is incredibly well written and that his character writing deserves to be talked about. okay, let’s start with the itoshi family yap.

to start off, i’d like to bring attention to the fact that every single itoshi sibling flashback we have seen in the series (as of 298) are all from rin’s pov. got that? okay. the itoshi brothers are known for their eyes, but never once in any of rin’s flashbacks have we seen his parents’ eyes. people often say that eyes are the gate to soul or truth, and yet rin can’t remember his parents’ eyes from his childhood. this isn’t hard cold proof that they’re necessarily abusive, but i just think that this proves that rin is likely very distant with his parents, or was scared of them in his childhood. this is backed up by the fact that rin always only asked sae for advice and never his parents.

not only that, but there are numerous red flags in the itoshi parents’ parenting skills. for starters, please tell me which parent thinks that it’s perfectly alright for their children of 5 and 7 years old to walk home alone at night with just enough money to only buy some ice cream. i understand that japan has a low crime rate, but that doesn’t meant that crime is nonexistent there.

additionally, why would responsible parents allow a thirteen year old (sae) to go to a whole other continent for his career? child celebrities are a tragic topic in itself, and just allowing sae to be exposed to much more paparazzi and toxicity in a country that isn’t as polite as japan (where sae already hates the media) seems like inefficient parenting to me. sae has been explicitly stated in the egoist bible to be academically lacking, so how does his parents expect that he’ll naturally be able to adapt to an entirely new continent when he doesn’t really know how to work in this one?

now let’s talk about how their parents treat rin. from flashbacks, we can see that rin grew up with no survival skills whatsoever and isn’t the most clever. this is just a personal assumption, and i am not diagnosing rin as i am not a professional psychologist or therapist, but i believe that rin has some sort of mental disorder. anyways, when rin’s parents discuss him, they seem to be nothing but stressed. im not blaming them for this; im not a parent, but if my child is constantly coming home with more injuries, id be stressed too. but they don’t talk to him about it, they don’t ask him about it. if you want to know what is going on in your child’s mind, then why don’t you, i dont know, ask them about it?

more about how they treat rin, during rin’s flashback of the snowy night when sae came back, rin is practicing in the middle of winter with scarcely anything to keep him warm. not only that, but it is extremely dark out. it is implied by his teammates that rin practices out in the dark alone often. rin is hard working and ambitious, we know that for a fact. but are his parents not concerned about rin’s health? are they not worried that he might get sick?

then when sae comes back, it is explicitly stated by rin that sae has lost weight, and it is shown that sae had dark circles underneath his eyes. if i were a parent and my underage child was in another continent by themself, i would be FaceTiming them as much as i can to check on them. based on from what we’ve already establish, i doubt sae’s parents had done that with him. but even if they did, how did they not see their child lost weight? how did they not see him have dark circles underneath his eyes? not only that, but people have to return every six months to their home country when they’re in another country. sae was in spain for 4 years, meaning that he had more than one visit back to japan. so how did his parents not notice?

and finally, my last piece of evidence that the itoshi parents are negligent and incompetent: how the fuck do they not realize their sons’ current relationship? first of all, when rin returns home from his fight with sae, he breaks all of sae’s trophies and pictures, and there are many cracks and loud noises. how do they not hear that? okay, maybe they weren’t home. i’ll give them a pass for that. but would they not see the broken pieces, or if rin had cleaned them up, would they not notice an entire shelf of trophies and pictures missing? do they really not go into their son’s room at all? sure, maybe it’s for privacy, but not going in there at all seems incompetent. who knows what he might be doing in there?

also, if every time you mention your older son’s name and your younger son is gritting his teeth and clenching his fist and is clearly upset, how are you just going to ignore that and not realize that you know, they might not be on good terms? because if their parents had noticed, then maybe they would have forced rin and sae to talk it out and at least try to make up.

so in conclusion, rin and sae’s relationship was definitely partially shattered by sae’s words, but more so by their parents. i know that there are a lot of people who beg rin and sae to communicate, but i don’t think that it will be that easy. miscommunication is something that they learned from their parents, as their parents were clearly incompetent in their childhoods, so i doubt that sae and rin will actively communicate with one another unless there is a third party (cough cough isagi) involved that might force them into talking to each other properly about the situation.

also side note: this entire “miscommunication comes from your parents” and the whole incompetence theme throughout this yap session also might be the reason for sae’s lack of knowledge of rin’s anger at him, as it was confirmed by kaneshiro that sae isn’t aware of rin’s one sided beef against him.

[unreleasedwrites]

Caught You, Again

“You’re eyes seem to be wandering yet again, and your cheeks are redder than rubies.. You just never get tired of me, do you?

summary: You and Gun have been in the same class since the eight grade, and you developed a little crush on him that same year. Once the ninth grade started and you two had been paired as seat mates, you started to drop subtle hints here and there with the idea of your little crush on him for the past year. Gun notices this and takes it as an opportunity to constantly tease you about it jokingly— until, he was no longer joking, and made a move by asking you out which then ended with you becoming his first and last girlfriend, because he made you into his first and forever wife. Yet, he never fails to see you in the not so hidden act of admiring him, which has him calling you a “simp,” and he continues to tease you for it.

character(s) included: Park Jonggun x fem!reader

cw: fluff, teasing, playful and flirtatious gun, gun is nice, swearing, use of Y/N, mentions of physical fights gun gets into, mentions of blood/bleeding/bruises, couple nicknames, kissing, established relationship, idk much about weddings, VERY SUGGESTIVE TOWARDS THE END!! this is really long tbh 😭😭

unwrapped on: Saturday Night, December 03 2023

wrapped up on: Sunday Evening, April 28 2024

published on: Sunday Evening, April 28 2024

“Need something?” Your seat mate suddenly questioned you as he shrugged a brow at you, who was blankly staring at him, obviously lost in your thoughts.

“O-uh— No!” You quickly replied and zoned back into reality, “Sorry, I was just thinking, I didn’t notice tha-” You added before he cut you off and said,

“If you like me, you could just say so’ You wouldn’t be the first girl to confess to me this school year.”

“Wha-! Talk about confident, also it’s literally the second week of the ninth grade..” You scoffed, a little nervous considering you have liked him since the eight grade so he technically wasn’t wrong.

“That isn’t a no~” He replied with a tint of his usual smirk.

“Wel-” You tried to speak right before he interrupted you once more “Enough with the excuses already, it’s boring.”

…

“Well?” He added and you responded with, “Well.. What I was trying to sa-” Ding, Ding, Ding— You were interrupted once again, but this time, by the bell. And it was now lunch time, so you two went your separate ways.

That was one of the occasional conversations you had with Gun, it just so happens that you two have been paired as seatmates since the eight grade and therefore, had to have spoken to one another atleast a number of times by now. They were just meaningless and short interactions that was just another way to kill time for him, yet those little conversations and interactions meant the world to you.

Fast forward into the school year and currently, it’s almost the fourth month of school— all of your classmates along with the new/transfer students have gotten to know each other, and it just so happens that you and Gun have started to talk more aswell. From little “Hey, about the homework-”, “Since were the next pair who’ll discuss, how about we-”, and “Could I borrow an extra pen, if you’ve got one?” To “What did you get for this number..?”, “Let’s hang out at my place, we could also plan our discussion for english tomorrow.”, which also turned to him simply grabbing things out of your bag when he pleases.

The formal little questions he’d usually ask you were starting to turn casual and friendly, not only his words but his tone is shifting as well.

You never thought you’d be invited to his place so casually and he’d lend you his jacket whenever you two are hanging out. Although, he insists you keep all of them since he loves the way it looks on you. It was weird. It was all so weird. So many girls like him, he’s constantly got girls dreaming to be around him as much as you get to be. Now, if you think about it— you never actually see ANY girls approaching him or hanging around him at all, aside from you, that is. People are constantly telling you about how you two must be dating, well you aren’t, but he’s never actually denied it either. He continues to tease you almost everyday and it just has you falling for him even more.

“Y/N?” Gun suddenly called out to you while you were walking out of the classroom to go home.

“Hm?”

“Dinner, just you and me. This Friday at 7 o’clock, how’s that sound?”

“Wait, what?” You rose a brow at his sudden invitation, “What do you mean, by dinner with just you and me?” You briefly added.

“A dinner date, with just the two of us.”

“That was a little, out of nowhere.. Don’t you think?”

“..Yeah.” He responded, “My bad. Maybe it was a little too soon, never mind about what I sai-” He added before you cut him off, “Wai- wait! it wasn’t too soon at all! Sorry, I was just taken a back— since I really wasn’t expecting this from you.” You said, visibly happy.

“Well then..?” He nervously asked and you responded with, “Are you kidding? That’s all I’ve ever wanted!! I’d love to, Gun.” It was evident just how excited you were. Suddenly all bubbly and red in the cheeks, Gun found that to so adorable. “I wasn’t expecting such enthusiasm from you,” Gun said as he laughed, “You’re probably in love with me, aren’t you?” to which you replied, “You asked, I answered! And would you have wanted a no for an answer?” “A no from the girl who’s head over heals in love with me? I highly doubted that response.”

Gun might’ve said those words so casually and care free but he really was surprised with how quick it took for you to say yes. Throughout the course of your friendship, it did become obvious that the two of you do like each other. But it was much more evident on your side, with how much people knew you like Gun and how you spoke about him and how you were whenever you were with him, versus how you were when you were with some other boys that were rumored to like you. Of course, Gun was slightly taken aback when he learned about all this— how could someone like you, a beautiful and simple sweet heart who doesn’t even like contact with people or going out that much, like him, a guy whose name is insanely problematic and all the rumors spreading about him are mostly true and have something to do with his violent side and the things he does outside of school, a guy who people quite literally fear.

But Gun didn’t really like thinking about any of that. All that mattered to him was how you felt and the adorable reactions that come out of you whenever he teases you about apparently liking him so much.

A few months passed since your first date and the two of you started dating after a while, even more time has passed since then because you two were now in your final year of high school. Despite going further into your friendship to turn it into a relationship, nothing much has really changed.

You guys were at your place this one time and you begged him to do skin care with you. He was reluctant at first but with your puppy dog eyes and some touchy convincing, he finally agreed.

“Stay Still!!” You scolded your boyfriend who kept moving when you were trying to apply a full mask onto his face.

“How am I supposed to? It’s so wet and slimy, kinda reminds me of something..” Gun replied.

“Oh shut it, I finally finished applying it, now we have matching masks on!! Come look at the mirror!” You exclaimed, “Tada~!”

He looked at the mirror blankly and slowly turned to you, who was overflowing with joy.

“Awh, don’t you like it?”

“It’s.. something, that’s for sure..”

You looked at Gun with your usual pout, to which he caved in and finally went along with the whole thing, saying it’s not that bad.

“Hehe, my baby looks so handsome, just as he always does~” You said as you admired Gun while squeezing his cheeks.

“You’re such a simp, you know that, right? Gun said, slightly muffled as he looked down at you with his usual smirk.

“Hmph! If you don’t want my love then you could just say so!” You said as you let go off his cheeks and crossed your arms with a grouchier pout on your face.

“Baby, there’s no need to be a brat.” He then grabbed your chin to kiss your lips (you were tiptoe-ing). Gun always knew how to deal with the unpredictable pace of your mood, given how you can go from absolutely simping over him to a pouting girl who doesn’t wanna talk about it at all with him.

“Your eyes sure as hell love to wander, dont they?” Gun teased. You went all pouty again so he coated you in some more kisses to make up for the teasing about you being a complete simp.

Those were the moments that ultimately led to the situation you’re currently in. Beneath the sunset in your favorite place, dressed in an astonishing wedding dress, paired with an elegant pair of heels, just the right amount of steepness for you to walk in, given your veil and dress that was trailing on your back. Holding an extravagant boquet with all of your favorite flowers wrapped in such delicate material.

It was all so ethereal. Gun, your soon to be husband hasn’t seen you. You were queued to walk down the aisle so very soon, which had you shaking in both excitement and fear. It’s finally the day you’ve been waiting for so very long. You knew you really liked Gun the moment you two became closer, yet you’re still stuck in the point where you were admiring him from technically— not afar because he was right beside you the entire time. But still, you were just an admirer in awe. And now you have the same last name as him and do tons of things together— cooking? hell yes, shopping? without a doubt. hopping in the shower and bathtub together? you don’t even notice him coming in until you feel a strong pair of arms wrap around you and start to wander across your body.

Another thing is that Gun may seem like a “cold” or reserved person on the outside, but he really does care about people that matters to him and knows how to observe. One of the things he observed about your “infatuation” with him was how you looked at him. He really saw right through the eyes you looked at him with— they only expressed one thing. That one thing was actual love, and it was not at all short-lived as people say what infatuation is.

It truly surprised him to see how your eyes never got gloomy or even got tired of looking at him that way even when time passed.

If anything, they became brighter and loving with every moment that passed with you looking at Gun’s dark eyes, wondering why he would ever want to have anything to do with a girl who’s had a huge crush on him for so very long.

He realized just how much importance those little details hold. As they say, the eyes don’t lie. And he sure as hell was able to experience that for himself.

He may not have wanted to admit it at first, but he slowly fell for you, in the way where you fell first but he fell harder. His entire mood and demeanor would change the exact moment that you’re around him. He could be beating up people and see that you’ve come to check up on him because he specifically told you that he was just going out to get something from Goo, but ended up taking way too long— hence, why you went to find him. He changed in an instant. Leaving behind the scene and making sure you won’t have to worry your pretty little head about it. And according to Goo, the way he talks about you is just “agitating”— which pretty much translates to “amazing” in your vocabulary, given that Goo doesn’t care about these types of things.

You’ve heard from various of his friends that he really does love you, because he doesn’t prolong any of his fights due to the very fact that he wants to make sure that he can get home to you asap. Especially when it’s late at night, he knows you like to sleep but he wants to be the one to tuck you in and cuddle and place gentle kisses on you to sleep. So even though he loves fighting worthy opponents that gets him turned on, no one can top you— he just loves that matching pj’s set that you tend to wear, with the small pink lace ribbons and the silk fabric, the short and small shorts with the sleeveless top.

Gun told you all about what he does for Charles Choi when he fully trusted you and you guys were already dating, and he didn’t expect you to stay. He was scared to tell you with there being a big chance that you’d freak out and leave him, call the cops, and do other things he wouldn’t have ever wanted you of all people to do to him.

Despite all of his fears and bad expectations of what you might do when you learn of the “bad” side of his, he still has you and always will. He really cant believe that you stayed after everything and still look at him the exact same way you did when you first met him. You somehow still retained the same feelings and love you have for him despite everything— and he is insanely in love with you for that. He loves teasing you about it though.

Going back to the present situation you’re in, you were now walking down the aisle as Gun absolutely stared at you in awe. Enthralled by how amazing you looked in white and how such a gorgeous woman was walking down the aisle to meet eye to eye with him and to hold him hand in hand.

The ceremony was breathtakingly beautiful, flowers of all sorts were surrounding the venue with just the right amount of lights that have been set upon with candles and dim lighting. The details in fabrics, decorations, covers, and even the architecture of the venue was simply incredible.

All of this “extraness” as Gun would call it, was for you. Gun wasn’t the type of person to have such a big wedding despite the small number in guests, but he knew you loved all of the things he had made to be included for the special day.

And even though Gun was relatively smart with his money, he was more than willing to go all out on this short event.

After all the agreements and words that the officiator had asked the two of you, you guys finally reached the most important part of the day, the one you have been dreaming of for who knows how long.

The officiator spoke once again, “Do you, Y/N, take Park Jonggun to be your lawfully wedded husband— To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and bad, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto him for as long as you both shall live?”

You looked deeply into Gun’s eyes, “I do.”

The officiator turned over to Gun, “Park Jonggun, do you take this woman to be your wife— to live together in holy matrimony, to love her, to honor her, to comfort her, and to keep her in sickness and in health, forsaking all others, for as long as you both shall live?

Gun held eye contact with you with a subtle yet sincere smile, “I do.”

He then carefully placed the beautiful ring on your finger, which was followed with you doing the same with his. Just after that was the unity ceremony which was such a bliss.

Of course, once that had passed, came the pronouncement— After more words and hundreds more that you didn’t pay much mind to, the officiator finally looked at the two of you deeply and stated, “I now pronounce you as husband and wife. You may kiss the bride!”

And so you guys did kiss, for a pretty long time— With Gun’s hands placed on your waist and one of your hands on his shoulder, and the other nestled against his face. The crowd cheered for the two of you as it all happened.

It was all so, so, so, incredibly divine.

Once the ceremony has ended and the after party was finally about to begin, you kept chatting with the guests, more particularly your closest friends who were also your bridesmaids. It genuinely made them wonder how you could be so in love with someone. The way you talked about him was absolutely adorable considering they’ve met Gun before, and think of him as the luckiest guy on earth, and you as the blindest girl.

And despite not knowing many of Gun’s friends that he invited, they were still so kind to chat with you. They told Gun when he came by that he really was one hell of a lucky guy to have someone so head over heals for him. To which he only agreed with them before he went to attend to the other guests.

“I don’t understand how you could like him so much, he’s garbage..” Goo said as the other guys were talking amongst themselves at the same table you and Goo were at.

“Maybe to you he is— but he is just the sweetest to me, and he’s hot as hell too.” You replied, obviously lost in your thoughts, imagining Gun once again.

“Woman, what the hell do you see in him for him to be considered as sweet? Do you have any idea how much people he’s arranged the organs of?” Goo questioned.

“Oh please, how much have you?”

“Hey. I don’t like getting my hands dirty as much as Gun does.”

“Rightttt..”

Goo came closer to you and whispered in your ear, “Did you know that Gun has liked you before you even attended the same school together..?”

“..What?”

“Yup. You may have been led to believe that you were the first to like him all these years, but he’s just never told you that he’s actually a creepy stalker deep down.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Nope! And you could figure it out for yourself!” Goo exclaimed.

“Oh please! If he hasn’t told me all this time then he wont tell me now, why don’t you just tell me more about it?”

“Fine, buttt! You can’t tell Gun or even give him hints that I was the one to tell you all this, alright?”

“Don’t worry, I wouldn’t do that,” you replied.

“Alright-y then! I’m guessing you know Gun as someone you became classmates with in the eight grade, and became friends with in the ninth. Butttt, he actually first heard of you in the seventh grade, and although he wasn’t in your school that time, he transferred the next year so that you two could be classmates. He first saw you walking out of that school and he told me all about how pretty you were and how he’d like to be friends with you,” Goo explained.

“I can’t tell if you’re telling the truth or not..”

“It doesn’t matter what you believe, just know that I am telling you the truth and it’s up to you to take it or not.” He said with a smile spread across his face.

Like all things, the wedding eventually came to an end, it may have been short-lived but it was truly memorable. Of course, what comes after the wedding is the honeymoon.

You guys went on a trip to somewhere tropical for your honeymoon, which resulted in Gun wearing almost nothing most of the time, and if he was wearing something, it’d be boxers or swim trunks, or a more formal outfit that just looked sooooo good on him.

There was this one instance where you guys were about to go to bed, and Gun would usually have on some loose pants or shorts, but this time.. He was wearing absolutely nothing, not even boxers or briefs of some sort. He casually walked over to your shared bed while you stared at him.

“Need something, babe?” Gun asked he tucked himself into the blanket you were also tucked in, but you were both still sitting up.

“Well.. No, but um…” You replied nervously, obviously pent up from the view you had right in front of you.

Gun looks at your eyes then down to his naked body (and mind you, you were wearing a cute yet small and slightly revealing matching- sleepwear set), “Hm? You’ve seen me naked countless times before, and it’s not like you’re a virgin.” He teased as he brushed some of your hair to the side.

“Yeah b-but..” You managed to utter as you were still straight up staring at his body, fresh from the shower.

“But what? Does my wife need help with her words?” Gun teased as he leaned in closer to you and slowly lifted up your top to place his hand on your chest. To which you got very tense and nervous.

I’m sure you already know what followed in the next moments..

But moving forward with a few more days that passed, Gun caught you staring— maybe even admiring one of the pictures that you took together recently, specifically zoomed in on him. You hadn’t realized or even noticed his presence so you were just looking at the picture like some teenage girl, obviously crushing on him.. As if you didn’t just get married to him to him last week.

You were cheekily smiling at the picture, even giggling to yourself at some point when you swiped through some of the other pictures of him and you. You just loved him so bad, that even though you had him right with you, you still resorted to pictures. Gun thought that was adorable. The woman he fell in love with, sat on a chair facing away from where he was sneakily stood at, was swiping away at pictures of him when you didn’t even know that you had him wrapped around your finger.

“What’s my dear wife up to this evening?” He spoke out of nowhere, suddenly startling you. This caused you to have the phone slip out of your hands, but he swiftly caught it and took a closer look at the photos you were staring at.

“What are you doing with pictures that you can’t already to with the real deal right beside you?” He asked as you got increasingly nervous by the seconds passed and you were starting to fidget.

“I was just looking at what photos I wanted to keep.. And what I didn’t want to keep, y’know what I mean..?” You replied.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, my dear oh dearest husband,” you said mockingly— “Why are you interrogating me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know? Little miss stalker,” Gun said as he sat on the chair across from you, obviously enjoying himself.

“Stalke—? Oh wait-! That reminds me,” your husband’s brow rose at your sudden statement, “Your close friend, Jonggoo, told me a little something when him and I were talking during the after party.” You added.

“And that is..?” Gun asked, skeptical of what you might’ve learned, knowing Goo very well.

“Well,” you shuffled around as you tilted your head and finally spoke, “Is it true that you only came to the school I go to in the first place because you saw me walking out there one time and.. yeah—?”

“That bastard— But, yeah. That is true.” He said without a change in expression and emotion.

You gave him a teasing smile and a soft “hehe” as you looked at him. For some reason, finding out that was true only seemed to make you fall in love even more.

“Oh hush, I don’t understand how much a person could like someone—” He said and he stood up to lift you into his arms for teasing him.

“Hey! Why are you carrying me?” You suddenly yelped. He dropped you gently on to the bed and he climbed on top of you.

“Woman, it’s not good to start something you can’t finish.”

“Tsk! My nickname is now woman?” You pouted.

“My apologies then, my wife.” He said somewhat mockingly to which you pouted even more, so he finally said it in a more sincere manner and gave you a kiss.

“Well?” He asked you as you were still in the same position, with him on top you.

“Well what?” You clarified while your eyes shamelessly wandered through his body, flustered with the position you were in and the teasing he was doing to you.

“You’re eyes seem to be wandering yet again, and your cheeks are redder than rubies.. You just never get tired of me, do you? Gun said in a teasing tone as he leaned in closer.

This honeymoon sure as hell will be going on for a long time.

notes: I think ill prolly put out a masterlist and about me post in like a month or two who knows, also this request has been with me for so long 😭 I am so so so sorry to this anon, please forgive me 😵‍💫 Also, I really hope that this wasn’t too bad and can live up to what you were expecting and requesting, I am so sorry if it doesn’t, I really tried 😭 ANDDD I accidentally deleted the actual request because I got a little lost with trying to navigate tumblr because I accidentally clicked the Queue button and yeah.. I don’t think I really proofread this tbh

- With or without proper credits, please don't try to steal or claim any of my works as your own

I genuinely appreciate opinions, feedback, likes, and reblogs

Once again, I hope this isn't too bad for a request, and I'll be doing more characters in lookism so feel free to request!!

[total-mkulia]

Yknow I think people over-hate any of the generations other than g1 but I will say that there’s something that’s never discussed that would be a legitimately valid reason for disliking later generations

TD is fundamentally a commedia dell'arte, which is an old style of play but mostly it is this thing below

Total drama g1 put a bunch of modern stock characters you would see in teenage shows— the loner goth, the alpha bitch, the dumb blonde, the punk badboy— and put them all in a camp setting to get eliminated. Not all of the stock characters were as immediately popular or prevalent (Heather’s alpha bitch is a lot more common than Courtney’s type a) but they were all recognizable enough. Which means you don’t really have to see how these characters act to know what they’re like, for the most part, and therefore you can kinda just get right into the drama. Which is great because (in my opinion) the appeal of the show is sticking these well-established teen show tropes in a somewhat unconventional sandbox and figuring out how they’d interact with each other.

Not all of the stock characters are created equally either— Gwen’s “loner goth” trope gives her some expected personality traits (sarcastic, misanthropic, judgmental of “preppier” types) whereas Justin’s “the hot one” trope doesn’t— but that’s why the elimination is so useful. Shallow tropes you don’t really know how to characterize and have interact with others in an interesting way just get booted. And, if these shallow tropes come back, like Justin did, you can just attach whatever character traits would be useful to keep the plot going. (I’m not saying it’s satisfying but if it works, it works, ig).

But then they eventually need to get rid of their cast and make a new one. And they already used up so many clear and iconic tropes. So now it’s a real head scratcher trying to come up with more. They manage to come up with some, though they’re much less prevalent— indie girls, would-be mystical types (Dawn is basically a tiktok witch in an era tiktok doesn’t exist), comedically sheltered nerdy kids— but just as many of the characters they come up with aren’t that. Instead of the geek or the homeschooled kid you get characters that lie a lot for no discernible reason or a guy who doesn’t talk but is good at inventing robots. Sure, about half the cast still has its stock characters but the other half is the writers just throwing whatever they feel like into the show.

And by Pahkitew? They’re completely out. All they have even resembling stock characters is parodies and tropes that aren’t character-specific (like Jasmine being Australian and therefore badass or some shit). If g2 is half commedia dell'arte, half nonsense then g3 is all nonsense.

A problem g1 doesn’t have. And this isn’t me saying that g2 or g3 are bad because of this, but they are different shows. And because they’re different, it makes sense why one would like one but not the other.

[marauder-misprint]

Tension

Post-Regulus Black x fem!Slytherin!reader, Pre-Sirius Black x reader is endgame

series masterlist

Not happy with how this part went but it's filler to get the story where it needs to be. Sorry not sorry

3.2k words

cw: swearing, fluff, Y/N

The common room isn’t deserted when you get back from Hogsmeade. There’s enough younger students milling around, not allowed to go to Hogsmeade yet, and older students opting to suffer through homework that your return wasn't a break in the monotony of the room. Therefore, you didn’t garner attention as you slipped into the boys’ dormitories. It wasn’t like girls never went into the boys’ dorms to hang out, but it was better you went unnoticed. 

You found the fifth year dorms and creeped into the room. You look around the thankfully empty room. You were glad that Regulus was a Black for once; their family crest is branded onto everything he owns, including his trunk. You approached his bed and then his desk, looking for something but you weren’t quite sure what yet. Nothing was jumping out at you. Then you moved to his trunk. It was unlocked. You gently moved things aside until you saw it. A fairly ornate silver ring with tiny emeralds. It was beautiful. It was most definitely expensive. And best of all, it didn’t scream House of Black. You slid it on your finger, put everything back in its place and left the dorm. 

No one noticed you cross the common room to the girls’ dorms. Once back in your own dorm, you put the ring on a small jewelry tray on your desk. With your new treasure, you could be bitter. How had Regulus not known you weren’t a pureblood? Why did he have to hold enough of his parents’ beliefs? Why couldn’t he be his own person and see reason? How had he known you thought blood status was stupid and still let that ruin what had potential to be a solid relationship? 

You shook your head as if to get the thoughts to fall out of your head. You knew you were scowling, but you were less concerned about your face right now. You had your thoughts and anger to worry about. If you listened to your impulses, you would have trashed his room a little bit, or taken more than a singular expensive ring, or maybe you wouldn’t have left the Hog’s Head as calmly as you did. If you listened to every heinous thought you had during the walk back, you would likely be expelled, or at least serving detention from now until you graduated. Maintaining your composure was the most important thing.

Over the next few days, there was a palpable tension and awkwardness between you and Regulus. You started putting distance between the two of you at meals and in the common room. You stopped studying together in the library. Regulus seemed more than content to spend time with his less amicable friends, Mulciber, Wilkes, Snape, Avery. Evan and Barty watched as Regulus still couldn’t take his eyes off you, although they could tell it was for a different reason. His expression wasn’t the same anymore. They enjoyed teasing him when he enamoured with you; now, that was gone, replaced with something they didn’t quite understand. The Slytherins weren’t exactly aware of why you and Regulus couldn’t be in the vicinity of each other anymore.   

You successfully evaded discussing it for a while. At least until the girls cornered you in your dorm where you are holed up to do homework in peace. 

“Alright, that’s not due for a few days and we need answers,” Dorcas said, looking at the assignment you’re working on on your bed. She slowly closed the book.

“Answers for what? The Herbology assignment?” 

Dorcas laughed as she sat behind you on your bed and leaned back against your headboard. 

“Black, actually,” Beatrice said. 

“I don’t talk to Sirius,” you replied, adjusting your position so you were sitting, rather than laying down.

“Once again, wrong Black,” Beatrice said. “Why would we be talking about that one?”

You shrugged. 

“Okay, so I asked if you and Regulus were a thing on the train and you said no. You got really close. And now you won’t look at him at all. Care to explain?”

“No.”

“Oh, don’t be like that,” Cora said, leaning against your bed. 

Beatrice and Pandora were sitting on Pandora’s bed which is right next to yours. 

“Be like what?”

“Y/N, just tell us what happened. We know something happened,” Dorcas said firmly, although her voice was gentle. 

“Of course something happened. You’d have to be blind to not see that something happened between the two of ‘em. We just need to know what,” Pandora piped up. She gave you a kind look, as if trying to say that it didn’t matter what happened, the girls were just extremely curious and wouldn’t drop it until you gave them something to satiate them. 

“We, uh, may have gone on a few dates,” you mumbled, not making eye contact with any of them. Your hands were much more interesting than seeing what your friends thought of this revelation. 

“I knew there was something! A spark!” Beatrice exclaimed. She sounded far too pleased with herself for your liking. 

“The easiest spark to snuff,” you retorted as you gave her a scathing look. “There won’t be any more dates. Obviously.”

“Obviously?” Cora asked.

“Do you think we’d be avoiding each other if there were going to be more?”

“Was he a bad kisser or something?” Dorcas asked. 

“Can’t be his status or financials,” Beatrice stated. 

Pandora gave her a warning jab in the side. Pandora knew you well enough to know that neither of those were a concern to you, and frankly, all of the girls should have known that. You rolled your eyes before twisting your head to crack your neck. 

“He didn’t know that I’m not a pureblood,” you said monotonously. 

Cora snorted. “How did he not?”

“As far as I’m aware, it’s not a hot topic,” you said almost coldly. “Unless you lot talk about my parents when I’m not around. And it’s not like the rest of the purity fanatics disrespect me.”

“You don’t exile your supplier,” Dorcas smirked, nudging you playfully with her foot.

“Exactly.” You turned to give her a smile. 

“Still feels weird that he didn’t know,” Cora said. 

“Okay, but isn’t Snape half, too?” Pandora asked. “Not every Slytherin is pureblood.”

“He makes up for it with curses and knowledge of the dark arts,” you sighed. “If half bloods want to survive in Slytherin, we have to make up for it somehow. Or you accept that your common room is going to be tense when you’re around and you make friends in other houses, if they’ll have you.”

“Hufflepuffs take anyone, even Slytherin rejects,” Beatrice said. 

“Guess that means I should start looking at the Hufflepuff boys. Maybe one of them will take a fancy to this rejected Slytherin,” you said, keeping your tone light and joking. 

Judging by the look on Pandora’s face, it didn’t come across as unbothered as you had intended. It wasn’t like you were going to actively search for a rebound or a new boy to drool over in general. You still wanted time to be bitter before you fully moved on. And a new boy would catch your eye whenever he did. It wasn’t something you were too concerned with. 

---

It didn’t take Sirius long to notice that something had changed between you and Regulus. You acted about the same in the classes you shared, but outside of them, your demeanor had shifted. After a few meals of observing you sit on the other end of the table than Regulus, Sirius came to the conclusion that Regulus’ advances were over. He waited a few days before bringing it up to the rest of the Marauders. He wanted to be more than certain that he was right. “Regulus’ little crush has gone south,” he said out of the blue. 

“What does that have to do with the Transfiguration test?” Remus asked, already knowing that the answer was nothing and Sirius hadn’t been listening to the rest of their conversation since they sat down for lunch.

Sirius made a face. “Nothing.” As Remus predicted. “Just look though!” 

Peter and Remus turned around to find Regulus sitting between Snape and Wilkes with you at the absolute end of your friends, sitting closer to a group of second years rather than the boys. 

“Okay?” Remus said slowly and confused as he turned back around. “Do we care?”

“Means his dating advice isn’t as good as he thinks,” James laughed. 

“Oi! My advice is rock solid,” Sirius defended. “So, where do we think he went wrong?”

“Have you considered that maybe she isn’t interested?” Remus asked.

“Oh please, Moony,” Sirius sighed with a smirk. “Blacks don’t get turned down. We turn people down.”

“No, Padfoot, Moony has a point,” Peter said. “Some girls are very against dating younger blokes.”

Sirius frowned. “What do we know about Y/N? Is she the kind of girl to be like that?”

The boys shrugged. They didn’t know much about you. You were well liked and known by a lot of people, but you kept details about yourself close to your chest. You weren’t the kind of girl to go around dating every boy with curly hair or brilliant blue eyes. You didn’t date enough to have a hint of a type. While it wasn’t a secret that you were a half blood, you didn’t share too much about your home life with just anyone. You didn’t have anything to hide. You believed it was simply better to not be an open book. 

Remus started talking about the Transfiguration test again. While James and Peter listened to him list off topics they should review more diligently, Sirius continued to stare at you. Every so often, he’d glance toward Regulus. It would only last for a moment before he looked back at you. He still stood by what he said at that first party of the year: you’re pretty and he’d like to be in your personal space. 

---

The tension between you and Regulus doesn’t go away over the rest of the term. It lessens, but it doesn’t go away. Part of you wonders if it just feels less tense because you don’t spend any amount of time with him, unless you can’t avoid it. The most time you spent near him was at the quidditch matches, and even then, you surrounded yourself with the girls. He wasn’t even within an arm’s reach of you. The games were oddly quiet in your opinion. You had grown used to Regulus’ commentary, even if it was unnecessary. 

You both knew that things couldn’t go back to the way it was before. There wasn’t any friendship left. But, you were moving forward. Tension dispersed. It eased. You had your time to be bitter. You eventually reached the point where you could sit on opposite ends of the common room and not care if you heard his voice carry from where he was talking with Barty and Evan. You could sit only tables apart in the library. You could sit with less people between you at meals. 

Sirius found Regulus alone in the library. Regulus’ face was stoney as he studied the book in front of him. Sirius slammed his hands down on the table to get his attention. The younger boy didn’t lift his gaze nor said a word. 

“Regulus…” Sirius sighed, his voice quieter than how he usually spoke in the library.

“Go away.”

“What happened with Y/N?” Sirius asked, leaning down so his head was closer to his brother. “You don’t seem so close.”

Regulus looked up to glare at Sirius. Sirius returned his gaze with an intense one. Sirius needed to read his brother, but being Blacks, they had been taught from early on to hide their feelings. Being an open book wasn’t an option for them. 

“I said, go away,” Regulus repeated with his voice low. 

“And I asked a question, dear Reggie.”

“There’s nothing between me and her,” he grumbled. 

Sirius narrowed his eyes. 

“But there was.”

Regulus nodded slowly. 

“And?” Sirius pried. 

It was quiet for a moment. The sounds of the library seemed to amplify for that moment. The scratching of quills, turning of pages and low murmurs filled the air with a new thickness. 

“I was wrong about her,” Regulus finally said.

“Oh.”

Sirius knew exactly what his brother meant. Disappointment swelled in his chest. Regulus hadn’t been able to look past something so miniscule, so unimportant, so frivolous as blood status. If it had been something else, anything, Sirius might have tried to understand. But this? This was their parents’ doing. It was their parents’ beliefs that they had instilled in him. As far as Sirius actually knew, you could’ve been the most perfect girl for Regulus, but because you weren’t pure blood, it wouldn’t be. 

“Shame. Seemed like you really liked her,” Sirius said as he stood up straight. 

He got his answer and that’s all he needed. Regulus watched as Sirius walked away from his table. Regulus wanted to say that it was just a crush or that you were just a girl. Neither felt right to say and Sirius had been right. Regulus had really liked you, but he knew what was expected of him as a Black. With Sirius already being the disappointment that he was to their parents, Regulus had to be a proper heir, and the proper heir couldn’t be with anyone less than. He knew his parents would see you as less than. 

 Sirius didn’t see you anywhere in the library. If he had, he might’ve stopped by and dropped a compliment. Maybe you would warm up to him now that his brother made a fool of himself. Sirius only felt a little guilty that his brother’s actions would put him in a better light. He thought about it the entire way back to Gryffindor Tower. 

---

You weren’t sure what made you put it on, but you wore Regulus’ ring to class. As you tried to pay attention to your professors, you found yourself spinning it around your finger and tracing over the design. A fair amount of your classes were reviewing old spells and topics so you were more than bored. 

You didn’t notice Sirius staring at you. The shine of the silver ring caught his eyes and he frowned when he recognized it. It caught him off guard; why were you wearing Regulus’ ring when you weren’t seeing each other? If he remembered correctly, it was a gift from one of their uncles. He wore it every once in a while, but it wasn’t in his regular repertoire like the family crest ring or his Slytherin house ring. Sirius even had one that was similar to the one you were wearing. His had tiny rubies rather than emeralds. This uncle believed that Sirius could still be a proper Black, even if he wasn’t in Slytherin. Now, however, the uncle didn’t talk to Sirius; he had taken his rebellion too far for him. 

Dorcas leaned over and rested her head on your shoulder in History of Magic. Professor Binns droned on about some goblin rebellion and the notable giants who participated. 

“What do you think of a Christmas party?” Dorcas whispered.

“When the ministry hosts them, they are rather dry,” you replied just as quietly. 

Dorcas scoffed quietly. “No, Y/N. One here before we leave for the semester.”

“Like the start of term?”

She nodded. You hummed in contemplation. The party had been fun before Williams threw a fit. But then you remembered that Slughorn’s holiday party was coming up.

“Not sure how many parties I have in me.”

You felt her frown into your shoulder.

“What do you mean?”

“Slug Club’s party is this week.”

She groaned quietly. Then she lifted her head and gave you a curious look.

“So who are you going with?”

You shrugged. 

“Haven’t really thought about it. I’ll probably just go alone.”

“You can’t go alone!”

“And why not?”

“Isn’t Sluggy like super uptight about it?”

You rolled your eyes.

“Who would I even invite? Avery? Wilkes? Mulciber?” You shook your head. “No, I’d rather just go alone.”

“What if you invited Black?” Dorcas asked with a small smile on her face. 

You gasped and tried to turn it into a cough. Professor Binns gave the two of you a concerned look before continuing his lecture. You knew your face was bright red.

“We still aren’t talking,” you hissed back to Dorcas.

“Not that one. Again.” She looked like she was ready to start laughing. “I’m talking about the one who’s been staring at you all day. Sirius.”

You held in another gasp that became a choked noise. You turned to look toward the Gryffindors. Remus appeared to be paying attention, Peter was definitely asleep and James looked like he was trying to stay awake but failing. And then there was Sirius. You made eye contact with him before immediately turning back to Dorcas.

“Did you say all day?” 

She nodded with a wide grin on her face. 

“Invite him. It’d piss off Regulus too.”

“No. I’ll just go alone.”

“Fine. Be alone forever.”

“I won’t be alone forever,” you defended yourself quietly. “I just don’t want to bring him. If you had someone better in mind, preferably someone I actually know, I’d consider it.”

Dorcas hummed and slumped into her chair. You ran a hand through your hair. Had Sirius really been watching you all day? How had you not noticed? Either too focused on the consistent reviews or too zoned out to care about it… The latter. You knew it was the latter. 

You ended up going to the party alone. Dorcas and Pandora fretted about it all week, practically insisting that you needed a date. You didn’t. It wasn’t required. You dressed up enough as required, so a black skirt and nice top. You weren’t going to waste money on a new dress, even if your mum would’ve paid for it, and you didn’t feel like finding one to take. 

You did get some looks as you walked in without a date, but Professor Slughorn didn’t mention your lack of date. He greeted you as he did for everyone. After a brief talk with him, you found your way to the drink table. You could mingle easier with a cup in your hand. You tried to ignore Regulus on the other side of the room. Instead, you listened to a seventh year Ravenclaw tell you about the interview at the ministry that she was going to have over the break. 

 Regulus, like his brother, couldn’t take his eyes off you. He was wondering if sharing his parents’ beliefs was the right thing, but it had to be. He had to be the right heir for the House of Black. But you looked beautiful. He nodded at whatever Snape was saying from next to him. You just captivated him way more than any conversation could. He noticed a glint of silver and green on your finger. He felt curious about it, but he wasn’t going to talk to you. The tension between you was still there and he wasn’t going to make it worse by accusing you of stealing a ring from the bottom of his trunk. 

By the time you were boarding the train to go home, you were more than ready to leave Hogwarts for a few weeks. You didn’t really want to be at home, but it was better than seeing Regulus every day.

tags: @nsr-15, @kabekusa, @made-for-oliverwood, @sunflowerscloudydays, @salvatt1, @sammyreid

[cantheykillmacbeth]

Could Mephiles from the Sonic series kill Macbeth?

Yes, Mephiles the Dark from Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) could kill Macbeth!

Mephiles is an interesting case! An argument could be made both ways, or even in some entirely unhinged direction that only Ian Flynn is capable of comprehending, but I’ll try my best to break this down.

So, we need to first discuss Solaris, the Sun God in Sonic lore, specifically in 06’s Soleana, where he is worshiped. Someone got the religion and science wires crossed and oops, Solaris has been split into two entities! One is Solaris’s raw power, an apocalyptically strong entity known as Iblis, and the other is Solaris’s mind, a shadowy creature called Mephiles. So, now we know the basics, but the thing that’s important here is who’s responsible for the bastard.

One could argue that, since Mephiles is an aspect of Solaris, then Solaris’s origin would be the one to count. However, I would argue that Mephiles doesn’t exactly exist before the Solaris Project splits the two apart and Mephiles finds an identity, being “born” in some sense. In my opinion, the split counts as the point of origin for the two entities. They both sure do behave differently from each other, and Mephiles in particular has a really strong personality that seems unique to Mephiles, not Solaris. In addition, going by our previous metric of “does it have free will”, yes, Mephiles is a separate person.

So, in this case, the Birth Parent would be the person who created Mephiles by splitting him from Solaris, and that would be the Duke of Soleana, who is male. It’s also a really unconventional birth! Meaning yes, Mephiles qualifies under both the Birth Parent Clause and the Unconventional Birth Clause!

Here’s the kicker: Mephiles doesn’t exist! Using time travel (i hate this game) Sonic and Elise stop the Solaris Project from ever happening, meaning Solaris wasn’t ever split into two, and neither Iblis nor Mephiles ever come to exist. Solaris is just fine, not ever being interfered with.

But the recent Shadow Generations has added a fun new layer! In Sonic Generations, the main villain is the Time Eater, a creature that has managed to lock Sonic and friends in a nightmare hellscape unbound by time. In this pocket dimension, time is so janky and messed up that Shadow actually crosses paths with Mephiles. And he’s mad! Because he recognizes that he no longer exists, even declaring that he wants to restore himself to the timeline by any means necessary. So even though Solaris is fine, Mephiles isn’t. Which means, by my count, that Mephiles was only created by the Solaris Project, and therefore that moment counts as his birth, since without it he was never born.

So yes, Mephiles could do it, but he’d have to pull some serious strings in order to be corporeal enough to make it happen.

(On an unrelated note, yes, Sonic ‘06 is just as bad as you thought. This takes up the space in my brain where math is supposed to go.)

Thanks for your submission!

-Mod Pepper

[sapphiresaphics]

I started this blog because I wanted reblog positive posts about Arcane and sapphic content in general. I was never expecting that it would turn into a “defend Arcane” account because I never expected this HUGE backlash to the second season of Arcane.

But in that time I’ve been observing the various reasons for WHY this backlash exists and over time I’ve noticed a distinct pattern in them.

Arcane vs Puritanism

To get into this you need to understand that America was built upon puritanical ideals. The first major settlers to America came here because they felt persecuted by Catholics in England. And while the foundation of America as a country was based more on agnostic beliefs, those underlying puritanical christian beliefs persevere to this day.

Puritans believe that if you commit a sin, you are forever tainted and no amount of piety will remove this dirtying of the soul in the eyes of god. As a result they do everything in their power to adhere to STRICT MORAL CODES. The idea being, if you never compromise on your morals, you will never be tained and god will accept you into the Kingdom of Heaven.

This isn’t a purely American concept, of course, but Americans definitely do things to the EXTREEM. And as a result both conservatives AND liberals have a tendency to have extremely STRONG senses of moral purity. Conservatives tend to want to uphold the systems in place (copaganda) while liberals want to tear down all the systems of oppression (jinx did nothing wrong).

Additionally, with the rise of kids animated shows being more nuanced, a lot of the people who are watching Arcane are on the young side. They are exposed to a world where they have these heightened moral ideals, and the media they watch backs up their morality.

A show like Gravity Falls (for example) might have some questionable jokes here and there, but at the end of the day the good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad. Bad guys get punished, good guys are rewarded. The puritan morality is upheld.

And therein lies the problem. Arcane isn’t interested in being morally pure. It’s a very HUMAN story about the ways in which systems and people perpetuate a cycle of violence that affects everybody. That’s not even a “centrist” belief, either, but because of this puritanical framework of black and white morality, BOTH sides have ironically condemned the show for not following through on their chosen ideology enough.

This is why characters like Ambessa aren’t discussed by the Arcane Critical crowd. She’s OBVIOUSLY a bad guy. She does BAD things. And in the end, she is “punished” for her transgressions and dies. Death is ALWAYS a suitable punishment in purity culture. If a character dies, it’s because they transgressed in some way and need to be punished.

(Incidentally this is where the “bury your gays” trope comes from. Because being gay was seen as being morally un-pure, and as such if you depicted a gay character in g your story you MUST kill them off by the end to maintain the status quo.)

And this is WHY characters like Caitlyn are so hotly debated. Because Caitlyn represents the rich and powerful and therefor “bad” class of people. She does morally questionable things, and therefor she taints her soul and NEEDS to be punished.

But… she doesn’t die. Nobody holds her “accountable” for her crimes. Losing an eye isn’t suitable punishment and she ends up with the woman she loved. That’s… that is not morally pure writing! That’s the show REWARDING her for doing BAD things! We can’t have that! That’s WRONG! That’s not how you write a story! The writers SUCK! This is INCONSISTENT!!!

This is also why they can like characters like Silco. Because for all of his faults, he dies. He is punished. This is also why they can like season 1 more. The bad people (Piltover) are punished by jinx. Silco, (the bad guy) is punished with death.

This is why they hate the writing in season 2 in regards to Zaun and Piltover. It’s not that the writers dropped the storyline of the class struggles, it’s that Piltover wasn’t PUNISHED enough for their crimes and are allowed to continue to oppress the poor people of Zaun.

“That’s not good writing! If you set up a story about classism (good v bad) then you MUST have bad lose!”

This is also why they have to EXAGGERATE the crimes of characters. Because Caitlyn tactically JUST going after Jinx isn’t enough. She must’ve GASSED THE WHOLE CITY OF ZAUN! Because she’s an OPPRESSOR. And Piltover is EVIL. And BAD things have to happen to BAD people! And since these punishable bad things don’t happen to Caitlyn, they have to exaggerate her crimes to justify WHY the writers suck. Because clearly at this point it MUST be the writers fault for failing to punish Caitlyn for her crimes!

I do not think this applies to every aspect of the criticisms I’ve seen against Season 2. I’ve admitted myself that there are definitely some structural issues to the season. But the more I read the “complaints” from the most vocal people about Arcane Season 2, the more I’m realizing that it really does boil down to this idea of black and white moral purity and accountability.

Which is not what a show about morally grey characters was EVER going to satisfy.

[niqhtlord01]

Humans are weird: Video Games Continued

Alien: What is this floor, and why is there so much killing upon it?

Human: Have you not seen the things you meet on it?

Alien: No, why?

Human: You’ll understand once you do. -------------

Alien: Why are these humans going back for blood?

Human: What?

Alien: If they are going back for it why didn’t they pick the blood up when they were there last time?

Human: A world overrun by worm zombies and this is what you focus on?

Alien: Inefficient time management will always be the deadliest of threats. --------------

Alien: Why is this baby in an egg?

Human: No idea.

Alien: What are these invisible creatures are stalking us?

Human: Got nada on that one.

Alien: For what reason does that other human have a golden mask?

Human: I honestly couldn’t tell ya.

Alien: Well what can you tell me about this then?

Human: You’re basically an amazon delivery driver heading up to an isolated compound and hoping it isn’t 2024 again. -----------

Alien: If you are part of an army of super soldiers, why do they always send you out in groups of 3?

Human: What do you mean?

Alien: Wouldn’t deploying even 10 of their kind at once provide absolute success in any mission you embark on?

Human: Only if one of them wasn’t from the Lamenters chapter. -----------

Alien: Why would vampires want to be on an island?

Human: I don’t understand your question, please expand it.

Alien: By your own history vampires can not cross running water, ergo they can not cross over water to get to an island; so why would vampires wish to go hunting for humans on the one place they would end up trapped on?

Human: But oceans are not running water.

Alien: Ocean water is constantly in motion via the rotation of the planet, therefore it is running water.

Human: It’s meant to be more about streams and rivers.

Alien: Yet both of those feed into oceans.

Human: I would say focus more on the vampire killing than the story, but after trying it myself I would say this discussion is a more enjoyable experience. ---------------------

Alien: Why are these humans going into hell?

Human: For democracy! ---------------------

Alien: You would think with this being the fourth game of the series they would have learned how to deal with zombie outbreaks.

Human: What do you mean? They already have a solution.

Human: If shooting them in the head doesn’t work, use more bullets.

Human: If that doesn’t work use an RPG.

Human: And if THAT doesn’t work then just nuke the whole area.

Alien: You went from, what is the sayin…… “0 to 100”, rather quickly there.

Human: Yeah, we tend to do that a lot when it comes to zombies.

------------------

Alien: What is your fascination with apocalyptic fallout aftermath?

Alien: You have so many mediums focused solely on this subject yet showing the harsh reality of the situation.

Human:  In a way it is within our desire to break down society and from the ashes of the old try to make something better.

Alien: And has it worked?

Human: No.

Alien: Why do you say that?

Human: When the price for a better future is blood of innocents there are no winners. --------------------

Alien: Is this about going on a quest to destroy jewelry?

Human: No.

Alien: What about joining a fellowship to destroy evil?

Human: Nope.

Alien: Then what is the point of this?

Human: To grow potatoes and get high. --------------------

Alien: May I ask you a question?

Human: Isn’t that what you’ve been doing this entire time?

Alien: What is this event called the “Elder Scrolls Crusade”?

Human: It’s what happens when you dangle a game in front of gamers long enough without delivering and then the gamers get angry.

Alien: Ah, much like the “Grand Theft Massacre” then? ----------------------

Alien: Which Dynasty are these warriors fighting for?

Human: Whichever one has the most interesting color pallet.

Alien: What?

Human: I always side with blue myself. ---------------

Alien: I don’t know how I’m going to fight through this army of human soldiers with just a sword.

Human: Have you tried using the rotary grenade launcher?

Alien: What are you talking abo-

Human: *Proceeds to pull out M32A1 Grenade Launcher and blast their way through soldiers with spears and swords.

Alien: This feels unfair. ----------------

Alien: What makes this sequel different from the first one?

Human: It’s colder and there are even more pissed off people you need to deal with.

[deathbecomesthem]

Blizzard

Eddie Munson x a Blizzard treat

MINORS DNI - +18 ONLY

For @jo-harrington. This was meant for your birthday, but we know that didn't happen. I love you forever.

Summary: Eddie works at the DQ and gets weird with some ice cream.

CW: Male masturbation, food play, brief discussion of vomit.

--

Eddie is torn between two paths of thought - needing cash in his pocket, therefore needing to go to work - and wondering what is the point of selling ice cream in the winter. The defroster in the van quit working in early spring, and Eddie had done what Eddie does - put it off. Well, now it’s cold again, and he’s wiping off as much of the frost accumulated on his windshield as he can with the crumbled Burger King napkins he found on the floor of the passenger’s seat.

He’s thinking about simply turning around and heading back into the trailer where he can at least crawl under the comforter in his bedroom to keep warm, and then he remembers that he can’t fix the defroster in the van without some form of income. Goddamn Rick for getting pinched again so soon after the last time. Eddie’s more than a little concerned that the next time he gets picked up it’s going to be for longer than the usual 90 days in lock up. How many strikes has it been? Surely more than three. Eventually Magistrate Johnson won’t be able to turn him loose on the good people of Roann County, even if that means facing the wrath of Rick’s favorite second cousin who also happens to be his wife. 

It could be worse, he could be working at the arcade still. It was 4 blissful hours behind the cash register before that red headed kid, Brant?, puked all over Donkey Kong. Eddie had a fleeting thought that he might be able to handle the situation, and then the smell hit him square in the face. He was out the door before Keith could get the mop from the back room, reaching back in to leave his name tag on Pac-Man as an afterthought.

Of course he knows that vomit can happen anywhere, but Eddie is fully prepared to immediately quit any job that requires him to get up close and personal with someone else’s bodily fluids. Technically, it’s a part of his side work to clean the bathrooms at the DQ after close, but technically, no one ever fucking checks, so technically, it’s the problem of whoever opens the next day. It doesn’t matter, this job is just a placeholder. Well, that’s what he tells himself, anyway.

Eddie climbs up into the cab and turns the key. The old girl coughs back, but ultimately turns over. He kisses the ends of his fingers and pats the dash. Good girl. He cranks the defroster while saying a little prayer that maybe it fixed itself overnight. Regardless, he needs that air to keep the windshield from fogging up while he makes his 15 minute commute to the edge of town. It’s a blizzard out there, and the irony isn’t lost on him. Driving in a blizzard to serve blizzards for $3 an hour.

—

“There he is,” Eddie can hear Lynn before he can see her. He’s late again. 

“Sorry,” Eddie calls as he shakes the snow off his jacket. He grabs an apron that’s just clean enough to not give him the heebie jeebies, and heads towards the front of the store. “The roads suck, maybe we should just shut it down for the night…”

Lynn is standing at the cash register, but she’s not alone. A customer is standing in front of her, and not just any customer. It’s you. Eddie slows his steps and lowers his head, as if he could disappear behind the curtain of his curls. 

“Eddie, can you please get your ass over here and take over the register? I need to get home before the babysitter decides to take off. Three days in a row, Munson.” Lynn doesn’t wait for Eddie to acknowledge her words, she’s pushing her way through the kitchen to the back door while he’s still tying his apron strings.

Eddie takes in a breath and looks up to meet your eyes. He’s pleased to see you still looking at the menu above his head so he can scan your face unobserved. You got your hair cut since he last saw you; it’s sitting on your shoulders under your blue knit hat. 

“Can I get a small Oreo blizzard -” you bring your gaze down to the person standing at the cash register and “- Oh, Eddie. I didn’t know you work here.”

It’s a blur, the next 10 minutes. As soon as it’s over, he couldn’t tell you what he said. The only thing he knows is that there’s heat in his cheeks even after he watches your back go through the front door of the store holding the paper cup of ice cream. If you had asked him before this interaction tonight, he would have pegged you as an M&M blizzard person. 

Eddie remembers that you liked M&Ms. You sometimes ate them secretly in Algebra class when Mrs. Harrison wasn’t watching. He would watch you reach into the front pocket of your backpack to get a piece of candy, and place it on the end of your red tongue. Just the memory is making the front of Eddie’s jeans uncomfortably tight. 

He sighs to himself, you’re not a goddamned teenager, Eddie. He’s looking out into the empty parking lot as your red brake lights disappear in the swirling snow. It really is stupid to be selling ice cream in this weather. The dining room is empty. Hell, the roads are empty. And you’re as hard as a rock, Munson.

Logic is out the window now, his erection is running the show while he prepares the ice cream treat. Not Oreo, but M&M. He tries not to consider that the smell of vanilla soft serve is making him even harder as the vibrations of the blizzard machine travel up his arms. He’s not thinking about where this is inevitably going to end.

Eddie locks the doors - front, side, and back - all with the blizzard clutched in his hand. Vanilla ice cream is melting down the palm of his hand. He scans the street again, only to continue to see no signs of life. He sighs in relief that there are no witnesses to what he’s about to do.

He allows himself to have a brief feeling of regret about not cleaning the bathroom thoroughly before pushing the thought out of his mind. It’s not that bad. Not really. Besides, his back is staying firmly against the door. It’s locked. He lets himself envision your open mouth, tongue peeking between lips. With his free hand, he feels the outline of his erection and moans.

Ice cream is dripping on the floor as he unzips his jeans and frees himself. He brings the ice cream to his mouth and his tongue laps at it. He strokes himself. He licks at the cold, sugary treat. He squeezes and bites the lip of the paper cup. Sticky melted ice cream runs down his chin while he runs his thumb over his slit. 

He doesn’t think about it. It’s instinct. His erection shrinks at that initial shock of cold, and then he gets his rhythm. The cup is too small to accommodate his entire length, but Eddie doesn’t even notice. He’s thrusting as hard as he can, his cock threatening to break through the bottom of the paper cup. 

Oh, Eddie! I didn’t know you worked here. You look so good. Eddie’s eyes are closed tight. He sees you with that blue knit hat on your knees in front of him. Mmmm, M&Ms, my favorite. It’s embarrassing how quickly he can come just at the image of your open mouth. Your tongue.

Eddie’s hips thrust into vanilla ice cream with crushed candy bits while his jeans are dropped around his ankles until he unloads his need into the back of that paper cup. He’s left with an M&M and jizz blizzard dripping down his thighs at 7 p.m. on a Tuesday evening in a fairly disgusting DQ bathroom. 

“Fuck it,” Eddie says, pulling up his jeans over his sticky legs. He wipes up most of the ice cream and M&M pieces from the tile floor, it would be wrong to make Lynn clean that up tomorrow. He leaves his apron and name tag on the counter before walking out the back door. 

Maybe Johnny over at the Shell is looking for a clerk.

[pitchsidestories]

Swiss chocolate for breakfast II Lia Wälti x Reader

masterlist I word count: 790

inspired by this sweet request here.<3

Milk, eggs, oats, almond butter, paper towels…

It was all right there on the grocery list that Lia was studying while she absentmindedly pushed the cart.

You knew exactly what it said on there. After all, you were the one who wrote it all down in the morning.

It was all stuff that had to be stocked up before you two would leave with Arsenal for the US tour.

Boring. Something absolutely essential was missing that wasn’t on the list.

With a dull thud you dropped a few packages into the cart.

Lia looked up from her shopping list.

Her gaze drifted from the cartons to you: “Wait, what’s that?“

You innocently blinked at her: “We travel to America therefore I need my English tea, Lia.“

“You don’t need your tea. I’m sure they will have tea there.“, your girlfriend laughed while removing the tea from the cart.

You took the cartons from her and dropped them back inside: “But not as good as this one. It’s simply the best.“

“It’s just tea.“, Lia complained but this time didn’t touch the packages.

You shook your head in disbelief. You had this conversation way too many times. “Lia, it’s not just any tea!“

Lia pointed at the three packages: “You don’t even need that much tea.“

“Yes, I do!“

“You won’t drink it there anyway.“

“Maybe the other English girls and I want some tea in the afternoon or evening…“, you explained but stopped yourself suddenly.

You looked around. How did you two end up in the chocolate section all of a sudden?

You watched as Lia gently placed something into the cart. You immediately recognized the metallic packaging of her favourite chocolate.

“Hold on. Is that Swiss chocolate in the basket? We certainly don’t need that either.“, you decided, giving her deprecating stare and trying to bite back a smile.

Your girlfriend pretended to be offended: “Of course we need chocolate! The flight is super long!“

“Pretty sure they give away chocolate on the plane?“, you playfully rolled your eyes.

“What if they don’t? And what if it isn’t real Swiss chocolate? Also that’s never enough for a ten hour flight.“

“You’re a professional football player my love you should know better.”, you teased her lovingly.  

“If you can’t appreciate my Swiss chocolate then I won’t appreciate your English tea!”, Lia decided pouting, trying hard not to laugh about your little unserious argument.

“You didn’t appreciate my tea to begin with!”, you countered, your lips twitching, wanting to turn into a grin, but you didn’t want to give in already.  Luckily this was London and not the English and Swiss countryside where you both grew up, so no one was turning their heads during the discussion.

“Okay, listen, here’s a deal, we get both, okay? And everyone’s happy.”, the midfielder sighed loudly.

“Deal.”, you nodded satisfied while the two of you continued your way through the supermarket peacefully.  

“I’m sure the new teammates will feel better and more welcomed to our team with that chocolate.”, she declared happily.

Fondly, Lia reminisced the times she joined a new football team in Potsdam or Arsenal and always brought some Swiss chocolate at the beginning which turned out to be a great way to her new teammate’s hearts.

Even your romance started with a little praline which turned up at your seat in the changing room at every home game with a little message until one read, will you go on a date with me? Marking the day where you turned into lovers.  

“And with some tea.”, you added smirking.

“Which tastes like nothing.”, Lia commented chuckling.

“Love, I’m telling you, you’re doing your tea wrong.”, you replied.

“This reminds me we need to get coffee too; we ran out of beans.”, your girlfriend remembered.

After the coffee beans were secured, she looked at her phone before glancing back to you.

“Oh, Steph texted and asked if we want to join making pizzas at Kim’s place tonight and if we’re still in the supermarket.”

“I hate when they do this. They always make us get groceries for them. Okay, text her we’ll bring everything.”, you groaned dramatically.

“I’ll. She immediately replied with a lot of kiss emojis.”, the brunette noted amused.

“Come on, we’ve to hurry up.”, you told her, while simultaneously grabbing the things needed for pizza.

“Please I’m starting to get hungry too.”, Lia said. Both of you couldn’t wait until you meet the other women as evenings at Kim were always a lot of fun which you didn’t want to miss out on.

And maybe but only maybe there would be a bit of chocolate for breakfast in the morning before you took on the long flight on the plane.

[laurasimonsdaughter]

The King of the Cats

A fun little folklore plot that shows up in Scotland, Ireland and England is the death (and succession) of the King of the Cats.

The story usually begins with a man being told, either by a cat or a disembodied voice, to inform a certain person that another person has died. Both persons are called by their full name, usually strange names, which are unfamiliar to the protagonist. When the protagonist comes home he tells what a strange thing happened to him. Upon overhearing the message the house cat jumps up and declares that they are now the King of the Cats, immediately leaving never to be seen again.

There are other versions of this type of story, more widespread over Europe, where there cat may be a fairy or troll in disguise. Or there isn’t a cat at all, but a house gnome or elf instead, and the announced death is that of a relative or enemy. But it’s the concept of a King of the Cats who can be succeeded by a cat that is currently an ordinary house cat, that delights me so.

The name of the deceased Cat King and the successor differ per story:

In this version from Lancashire they are called Doldrum and Dildrum.

In Joseph Jacobs’ version, which is an amalgamation of several English variants, they are called Tom Toldrum and Tom Tildrum. (This version even includes a whole feline funeral procession.)

The oldest recorded version of this story is from the Beware the Cat by Baldwin (written 1553, published 1561). Only the dead cat in question (Grimalkin) is never called the king of the cats, and the cats receiving the message (Puss) is a female cat, who is sad to leave her home.

In this Scottish version the successor is unnamed, but the dead Cat King is called Old Peter.

The stories sadly do not say a lot about what it means to be the King of the Cats, apart from some mentioning a sceptre and crown, but Lady Wilde does have something to say about him in her Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland (1888):

A most important personage in feline history is the King of the Cats. He may be in your house a common looking fellow enough, with no distinguishing mark of exalted rank about him, so that it is very difficult to verify his genuine claims to royalty. Therefore the best way is to cut off a tiny little bit of his ear. If he is really the royal personage, he will immediately speak out and declare who he is; and perhaps, at the same time, tell you some very disagreeable truths about yourself, not at all pleasant to have discussed by the house cat.

Her second example has a content warning for animal cruelty, so I will put it underneath a cut, but it does imply that the Cat King might be capable of reincarnation…

A man once, in a fit of passion, cut off the head of the domestic pussy, and threw it on the fire. On which the head exclaimed, in a fierce voice, "Go tell your wife that you have cut off the head of the King of the Cats; but wait! I shall come back and be avenged for this insult," and the eyes of the cat glared at him horribly from the fire. And so it happened; for that day year, while the master of the house was playing with a pet kitten, it suddenly flew at his throat and bit him so severely that he died soon after.

[zeyris-daydreams]

Not a request, but how do you think poly yandere Boothil and Robin would work together

Yandere! Boothill x reader x Yandere!Robin

Omg!! I absolutely love the idea of a Robinhill poly!! The mutual worry goes insane, and I’ll make sure to marinate their experiences in a seasoning of their experiences!

Boothill is a man who knows what loss is. After all, loss sent him on his journey, and bore a seed of vengeance in him. For Robin, loss was immaterial. It was what she felt to be loss of freedom, and loss of close ties. In that Robin and Boothill understood each other, and their experiences, albeit similar on the surface, shaped them differently.

Boothill is protective from his past experiences; scared that if he doesn’t hold his close ones, they’ll slip to never be seen again. The fear of further loss, embraced by his single-mindedness as a Galaxy Ranger, is quite the shake to deal with. It’s worsened by a sense of posessiveness, creating a similarly determined approach with you.

Robin however knows how it feels to be left with limited options, and so despite her ever-growing affection to you, she is rather reasonable. She can’t stop her feelings, but she can judge things from another perspective as well; Boothill never doubted her abilities or expertise when they combated the monkey-virus, after all. And, despite his possessiveness and jealousy, he knows she can take care of himself. She truly is an angel, in all the meanings of this word.

Then again there’s you, too, fortunate or unfortunate enough to have their gazes on you. Perhaps it is Robin to initiate, and perhaps it is Boothill. Both work out in the end; one way or another, their relationship based on trust and understanding starts to encase you too. Maybe not in the same understanding or trustful way, but still, it is based upon care for your being.

I believe Robin and Boothill may initially find their ideals to crash, it doesn’t lead to an argument. With your person, Boothill believes that the best course of action was to protect what he likes most; you, and Robin. Robin however understands it, and given she likes Boothill too, there is no fuss around the topic. Therefore no extreme measures need to be taken.

In your case… compliance isn’t promised, that’s what Boothill had told “singing queen” when discussing you over lunch. Because in case of you rejecting them, how can they ensure your safety? Robin does not wish to cage you. Boothill believes the only way to ensure safety would be to keep an eye on you, supervised.

And, given your acceptance isn’t promised, Robin is fairly easy to convince. While she doesn’t plan to hold you hostage - goodness, no. She’d never do that to someone else - she can try other ways of conviction. If you understand their care, then you’ll surely choose to stay; that is something that Boothill can get behind.

And, if you choose to stay, then it’s not keeping a bird in a cage.

Their mutual care for each other extends equally to you, really! I mean, Boothill can take care of himself! And, Robin is intelligent, she did well all this time too, dealing with so many things. . .

You have to understand why it’s just different with you. You have to.

Maybe she will have to.. tune you slightly. Slightly, promise, it’s not even going to hurt! Boothill and Robin mutually don’t want anyone’s feelings hurt. And so it’s unacceptable if you offend either of them as well - same as if you were being treated badly.

Obsessive care and being protective of you isn’t bad treatment, however. You simply have different needs from them. That’s it.

[scoobydoodean]

It’s interesting to me that Dean won’t specify to Lisa what Ben was doing when Dean yelled at him in 6.02. Dean shouldn’t have yelled at him, but Ben did do something he very much should not have done. He found Dean’s car keys, unlocked his trunk, and started messing with Dean’s guns. This isn’t something a child who’s never touched a gun and therefore has zero gun safety training should be doing, and regardless shouldn’t be happening without supervision at his age. This is an incident that Lisa, as Ben’s mom, would probably want to sit down with Ben and discuss. But when Lisa comes around and asks Dean what happened, Dean says Ben didn’t do anything, and then when pressed, says “He got into my tools. I shouldn’t have gotten mad”. They’re surrounded by tool boxes for regular tools. When Dean says this, he’s holding a regular old tool box. There’s no implication that he means hunting tools specifically. The omission of that detail may make Dean feel truthful enough, but he’s not being truthful at all. He’s deliberately lying by omission.

Not only is this omission not fair to Lisa as Ben’s mother who should be afforded the opportunity to discuss this with Ben and correct his behavior—it also overtly understates Ben’s actual actions, inflating the irrationality of Dean’s reaction which is basically… self-sabotage on Dean’s part. He is making Ben a blameless figure who essentially did nothing wrong at all—making himself out to be horrible villain who yells at kids for messing with screwdrivers or hammers, when Ben was actually doing something potentially deadly.

Why does Dean lie? We specifically see Dean close up the trunk and put the key in a box. Despite securing his weapons appropriately, does he feel responsible for Ben being able to find the key and get in the trunk? Does he think maybe he forgot to lock it properly? Is he worried that Lisa would be angry at him and blame him for Ben being able to get to his weapons? Or does it make him so sick to think of the image of Ben holding a weapon that he can’t bring himself to talk about it? Is it possible he’s even genuinely rewritten the reality of what happened? That isn’t something out of Dean’s wheelhouse. He rewrites losing Cas at the Purgatory portal as his failure because he can’t handle the actual reality of it. Does he do the same here with Ben, unable to face the fact that Ben felt driven to pick up a gun because (from Dean’s perspective at least) Dean’s own attempts to keep their family safe are inadequate and he’s already failed?

[soralymystaken]

I think a lot about Lloyd and Harumi, solely because they have one of the most unique yet complex relationship dynamics in all of Ninjago, and it’s something I don’t feel like we talk about enough.

So often I see online that their dynamic is overly simplified. I so often see people arguing between them being “true-love” or “friends to lovers to enemies,” but stating it’s just one of those is overlooking all of the complexities. Even stating it as a one-sided thing from Lloyd isn’t looking at the whole picture. Of course, there can be many interpretations of how they interact. Again, that’s the reason I adore this dynamic so much. This, however, is my personal interpretation:

Also, warning, spoilers plus some swearing.

At the beginning, we see Lloyd have the whole “love-at-first-sight” trope, and we learn that Harumi invited him into the castle. While, of course this immediately is seemed as a positive interaction, later events reveal otherwise. It continues like this: Lloyd falls deeper in love with Harumi whilst she continues manipulating him to keep him on strings. She eventually realizes his feelings, and wants plays on that, making the process work exponentially better. Finally, we learn Harumi’s motives and her reasoning, and, in the episode, Lloyd is devastated. However, I have some additions on this, but I’m gonna finish up my review of canon before getting to that. We do also know that Lloyd still has feelings, though. We primarily see thing from Lloyd still trying to save her from Garmadon’s grasp along with his sadness from her death.

The next time we see her and Lloyd’s dynamic (at least as far as I want to mention,) is Crystalized. When Lloyd is captured, he apologizes. He still clearly has feelings for Harumi, and, in a turn of events, it seems that Harumi does as well, as she convinces the Overlord to spare him and to try to get him on their side.

Okay, enough about prior knowledge, lets discuss headcanons. So, firstly, I’m 100% sure that Lloyd was tormented by Harumi’s origin story. We know how high of a standard he holds himself to, and we also know how morally-driven he is. Him learning about the real stories of the real people who he had really hurt couldn’t have been taken easily. I’ve actually written a whole fic that revolves on that fact, and how Lloyd’s lingering feelings would have amplified that feeling to oblivion. Also, for people who assume he would immediately drop his feelings when he learned Harumi’s true motives, literally just look at how he talks about Garmadon and you’ll see he can’t exactly move on that easily. Things like this take time, and, again, he has guilt because of this whole thing. Moving on from a relationship when you believe you were the reason the person tried to destroy the entire world and subsequently died isn’t the same as a high school breakup. That’s fucking devastating, and especially for someone who hasn’t had the best relationships up to that point.

However, this dynamic really starts to become cloudy when you look at Harumi. Now, look: I’m like 90% sure she only had feelings for Lloyd in S15 as fan-service, but, fan-service or not, it’s canon, and therefore I’m still gonna cover it.

So, first off, when and how did Harumi develop feelings? Personally, I think there could be three main reasons. For one, gaslighting. The whole time, she was gaslighting Lloyd into loving her. Sometimes, when you keep up a lie like that for so long and with that level of commitment, you can convince even yourself of these feelings. Do I think this is the case for Harumi? Well, it depends. If you truly do believe there is a spark between them, then no. However, if you really don’t like the fact that they were given a romantic storyline in S15, then this is a totally valid reasoning.

The second reason that comes to mind is Lloyd’s persistence. Now, just to cover all our basis, reminder that “being persistent” and “never giving up on a love that could be” are not cutesy tropes and relationship goals, and no means no. I see too much stuff online saying shit like “I never gave up on her and, even though she said no 20 times, she gave in in the end.” This is not something to romanticize. If someone rejects you, fucking respect that and move tf on. That being said, though, I think that could actually be the case in this dynamic, albeit in a much less creepy way than some fuckers online do it. Lloyd clearly, even after all of the shit Harumi pulled, still has lingering feelings: a mix of platonic and romantic. I truly believe Lloyd is someone who believes that anyone can change for the better, and applies this to Harumi. The fact that, even after all the pain Harumi caused, he still searched for her in the rubble could be the reason she developed feelings. In my opinion, this is the most likely option.

The final one is a bit colder, and is for y’all who believe Harumi is evil through-and-through. Lloyd is fucking overpowered. Harumi’s reasoning to the Overlord could be just that: the reason. I personally don’t love this one as much, but if this is something you resonate with, I would totally understand why.

All of these factors strung together make Lloyd and Harumi one of my favorite dynamics. There is so much more that I didn’t even discuss here. Is it romantic or platonic or just romantic for one of them? Did Harumi develop feelings even sooner yet denied them solely because of her hatred? Is Lloyd’s relationship with Harumi less to do with Harumi herself and more-so to do with trying to rebuild a relationship with his father through her to prove he can hold onto someone he loves? All of these are questions I’d love to dive into but simply do not have time.

Hopefully you enjoyed my little rant. I love overthinking stuff like this and also love chatting about over-the-top headcanons. If you have any thoughts on this (or other headcanons you want to share), please do!

[tryandbehappy]

I was just thinking how absolutely weird is it that Luke and June never had a proper conversation about Nick? Like, not once. We’ve seen Luke kind of poking around, trying to read her, feeling things out but he never really asked her anything. Never talked about it. And instead, he quietly stored all his resentment, watching her suffer over Nick in silence.

And in the end, it all exploded in that huge fight where he basically gaslit her about her feelings and jumped at the chance to call Nick a “fucking Nazi,” like he’d just been waiting for the moment to prove how wrong she was.

But seriously how is it that from season 4 onward, after she returned and they were supposedly “back together,” they never had a real talk about this? What kind of relationship avoids the biggest elephant in the room? It’s almost absurd. Two people sharing a life, pretending there’s nothing to discuss while one of them is clearly emotionally somewhere else. It’s not just bad communication it’s denial, co-dependence, avoidance.

Luke doesn’t ask because deep down, he doesn’t want the truth.

June doesn’t say anything because she knows the truth will break whatever fragile thing they’re pretending is still there.

And when Nick does finally get mentioned out loud, it’s not a conversation. It’s an attack. Luke isn’t trying to understand. He’s trying to erase what she feels. To reduce it to a mistake. “Stop loving a fucking nazi”

And his logic is just so dumb. He decided that June loves Nick because Nick is a “savior.” And Luke, he wasn’t savior enough, because he sat on his ass for seven years and did nothing. So now he thinks, “If I become the savior, if I really rescue her, that’ll erase her feelings for Nick.” 😀

He’s literally measuring everything in “units of saving.”

Like: “How well did Nick save her?” Oh, in season 6 episode 3? That was a very good rescue. Therefore love level: extremely high. But then Nick “fails the mission”? “Cool, now he’s a fucking Nazi. And now, thank God, June will finally stop loving him” 😂😭

Like… what the hell kind of metric for love is that? What is going on in this man’s head? Someone, please explain.

Let’s discuss.

[admirationandromantics]

Teacher's Lounge

Another request! I'm thinking about not posting updates to anonymous requests, and instead just pasting said request in here? I'll tag you if you didn't ask anonymously. It's easier and more neat.

🍋‍🟩 Hear me out, Josh becoming a temporary teacher for film with his own office, he often let you study in there seeing as the campus didn’t have enough study space to accommodate everyone and you become quite overstimulated on a normal day (@b3rryb3t)

This is therefore maybe a teacher x student thing, but you're roughly the same age anyway (maybe 2 years difference), since he graduated before you and has already come out with his debut movie. You're still hanging out with the friend group as well.

Word count: 1,6k (Unedited)

It’s hard to find good reading spots on campus. My messy room could be an option, but I can’t get inspired there. I need different surroundings than what I’m used to. Booked rooms are a no-go, especially now that exams are coming closer. They’re always booked, and everyone uses them. I’ve tried going to the library, but if there’s room, the place is never quiet. The librarians don't care. I get it though, everyone is stressed, and the only place you can work on a group assignment is the library. You have to talk, you have to discuss. This means that I’m still left without a spot to study. I’ve tried other libraries, other cafes and even at my friends place. Nothing works. Maybe there’s something in the other buildings? Somewhere quiet where I’ll feel content. 

The first building that comes to mind is the Teachers house. A large building with some group rooms and many small study sofas. Many of the teachers have offices there, but if I'm quiet, they won’t mind. These spots are usually also taken, but maybe I’ll have a chance if I’m quick. 

I walk down the hall, stopping when I see the old abandoned office. This room is usually always empty, waiting for someone to inhabit it. But it’s not empty anymore. The previously collected dust is cleaned away, the wood door has a new furnish and a brand new slide-on plate reads a familiar name. Joshua Washington. 

I widen my eyes in surprise, it cannot be. Why is he here? Didn’t he already finish his degree? He just finished his debut movie, which was excellent. I saw him at one of Emily’s parties too, which was not long ago. About three weeks. He looked good then, very good. Like he felt fulfilled and accomplished. He should feel good about himself. Not many people do that on their first big project. He did talk about a new job he got, but I assumed it was another film-related gig. Was this the job? 

My curiosity gets the better of me, and I carefully knock three times. The sound is beautiful, hard and dark wood which doesn’t vibrate as I hit it. I wait, hearing shuffling and metal clinking inside. 

“Um, yeah, come in!” 

I open the door, holding the handle hard. If I was wrong, then this would be an awfully awkward encounter. The door glides easily without making any sound. They have really improved this place. He lifts his head, meeting my stare as he does. A smile creeps on his face, eyes lighting up by the sight. I stand still, mouth agape and furrowed brows. He’s really here. 

“Well, if it isn’t my favorite student” 

“You teach here?” 

“As of this Monday, yes” 

I close the door behind me, looking around the room. It’s cozy, filled with family pictures and a couple of movie posters. His diploma is also on the wall. On one surface are many small film trophies from his childhood, and in front of all of them, the price he got last year for his first debut Hollywood movie. I look around in awe, the yellow light making everything feel so professional and real. 

“And by the way, I’m not your student, I take another course” 

“That can’t stop me from stating that you’re in a superior’s office” 

“How did you get this job?”

“They offered it to me”

“Just out of nowhere? You don’t have experience in teaching. You’re not even a professor” 

“I guess my talent shines through”

I look at him and his smug face. He’s leaning back in the roller chair, feet upon his desk. Everything here is so neat, so unlike him. He also loves being able to joke like this, but honestly, I’m still surprised by the circumstances. He made one movie, and now, the university wanted him to teach a course? 

“If I know you correctly, you’ll probably be fired by the next month” 

“And why’s that?”

I take a seat in front of him, not surprised that the chair is lower than him. Oh, how he loves his power trips. The chair is comfortable, and suits the surroundings, but I feel small. 

“Because you can’t keep your hands to yourself” 

“That’s true” 

“There’s only a question about time, when will you fuck one of your students, and when will you get caught” 

He laughs, shaking his head as he fiddles with an expensive ball pen. He looks at me in disbelief, maybe a little surprised that I said exactly what I thought. 

“Who’s to say I haven’t done it already?” 

“One week into the job?” 

“Maybe” 

“You’re disgusting, Washington” 

“That’s Mr. Washington to you” he corrects, pointing at me with the same pen. I smile at him, almost unable to hide my laughter. 

“I’m not gonna start calling you that” 

“Ugh, damn you” 

A slight silence follows, and analyse his desk. Many, many pens, his laptop, a stack of papers and a couple of memory sticks. Again, everything is so neat. It makes me feel weird. 

“By the way, I actually haven’t had a teacher-student relationship” 

“You shouldn’t” I quickly shoot back. It would not be a good idea. Being in the filming industry is hard in itself, but he also has a shot of doing something more. This was not something to take lightly. 

“At least not gonna with my own students” 

“Jesus Chris Josh”

He laughs again, loving my overdramatic reactions. He knows what gets me to tip over, how to make me irritated and upset. Of course he’ll use it to his advantage. 

“Anyways, what are you doing here? Isn’t your building on the other side of campus?” 

I sigh loudly, leaning back in the chair and letting my head fall back. I’m tired, exhausted even. But just two more weeks, and I’ll be finished with the exams. My diploma isn’t far away. 

“Trying to find a study spot, but everywhere is taken”

“Why don’t you just use your dorm?”

“Easy for you to say, you never lived in one”

He leans back, furrowing his brows and being deep in thought. 

“You could sit here?” 

I look up, surprised by the offer. Is that even okay, am I, as a student, allowed to do that? I think about it, the place is quiet, cozy and a completely different atmosphere than usual. It could work. 

“Can I?” 

“Of course, it wouldn't be the first time you’ve been in my quarters” he teases, leaning back over the desk. 

“Haha, very funny, but are you serious?” 

“Yeah, I mean, my students usually don’t come here, too busy actually understanding the material, compared to some” he points at me and my backpack. I roll my eyes. 

“Well, if getting my degree consisted of knowing the on and off button of a camera, I would excel at it”

“Careful, or you might not get to study here” 

“Okay, okay, sorry. You’re an accomplished producer and teacher who’s totally awesome” 

“And you have to call me Mr. Washington”

I scoff at his request, shaking my head. He’s still smiling, biting casually into his lower lip. 

“I draw the line there”

“Fine”

I take up my laptop, immediately starting to type. This was gonna be great. Might have some negative effects though. We’ve got a history. Too much time spent together has usually led to more uncivilised activities, but that’s not something I have to worry about now. 

***

The weeks pass, and I truly enjoy his company, even if it’s in silence. He’s busy grading papers and making schedules. I’m prepping for my exams, writing, reading, and memorising. Everything was going great, and the day of the exam finally came. 

I took one look over the questions, and my heart fell. What the hell was this? I did my best, drawing out a mind map to help me refresh my memory. It actually went quite well, if I do say so myself. Not the best, but I’m definitely not failing. 

I walk down the hall yet again, not bothering to knock on Josh’s door. His head rises, noticing my presence, and he smiles. God I love how he smiles. 

“So, how did it go?” 

I close the door, biting my lip as I turn to face him again. He looks up expectantly, eyes big and round. He rises, walking around the desk to face me. 

“It went great!” I blurt out excitedly, arms going out. He smiles, meeting me in a hug as I throw my arms around him. His hands go to my waist, pulling me closer against him. I bury my face in his neck, warm skin against mine, smelling his expensive cologne. 

“See, you just needed a place to study”

“I indeed did”

We break apart a little, arms still holding tight so none of us leaves. He leans in, eyes lowering to my lips. I know what’s about to happen, it has happened a million times before. In his bedroom, a couple of random bathrooms, the mountain lodge, but never in an office. My finger finds its way to his lips, stopping him in his tracks. 

“Mr. Washington, what do you think you’re doing?” 

“Just celebrating” he whispers against my finger, hand going up to take it away. He finds his way to the back of my head, tangling in my hair as he pulls me closer. 

“You can get in trouble”

“Never stopped us before”

His breath feels hot against my skin, head getting dizzy and body warmer. How long were we going to keep this thing alive? 

“Fuck it” I whisper against him, capturing his lips on mine.