#Without context he really look like a bully

[utapri-hana]

This screenshot gives Ren so much "the rich bully" vibes 😂😂😂

[beloveds-embrace]

Thinking about designationless reader...

Imagine how alone she must've been for all her life. It started since she was young, her parents pushing her to the corner of the home, away from the family, and naturally, her siblings would follow their parents' lead, pointedly ignoring her, and finding any excuse available to be out of her presence. She wouldn't understand them anyway, she can't tell the difference between noises nor could she even recognize scents. It just wouldn't work.

Reader thinks that maybe she could find someone, anyone in school, but kids are like sharks, except instead of smelling blood, they smell the lack of all scents on her. Most kids have a combination of their own and their family members' scents. Reader has nothing, so everyone continues the pattern, but now with more stares and jeers and hushed giggles. Reader knows that bullying is bad, but anything would be better than simply not existing to anyone. That's what the others say, at least, that she's nothing, nobody. Never to her face, though, just in the whispers shared between friends.

She eventually tries to find others like her through the wonders of the internet. There's maybe a handful more scattered in her country, but none are her age, and all have their own families who care about them. Was it just her who wasn't deserving of love, of connection? Reader reaches out to them, and they talk a little, but before long, through no one's fault, it falls through. She was bad at talking anyway, even if she doesn't have to worry about scents or sounds that aren't there, she never knew much about context or connotation. She never had the opportunity to learn about the intricacies in communication. Reader is back alone.

The military eventually scouts her, and it's the first time anyone has ever really looked at her. Sure, they look at her like a valuable tool, but a tool is better than nothing. Reader obviously joins, desperate for crumbs. She climbs the ranks, gets the job done. She is good at her job, so people respect her. She learns how to talk professionally, emails, texts, and so one, but no one talks to her on leave. No one invites her to the pub after a good mission. No one even talks to her in the mess. But people do talk to her when they have to, and that's enough. Maybe she even gets a callsign. Doe. After Jane Doe, the placeholder name for unknown individuals, and insult if anything.

Now there's the 141. They invite her to things. They talk to her. They touch her. Reader exists for them. She isn't just an unknown person stuck in the background and invisible to everyone else, and Reader doesn't know what to do. Her speech is awkward and overly professional, even in personal settings. How is she supposed to be friends with someone, multiple someones? How is she supposed to move? To act? To express? She doesn't know, but she really wants to learn. At least now she has good teachers.

ANON YOU GENIUSSSS okay but this? Perfect. AHHHH I ADORE THIS IDEA!! Esp the jane doe callsign omg yes

You weren’t used to being seen.

Growing up, you learned quickly how to make yourself small- how to exist quietly, without taking up space, without asking for too much. Because the few times you had asked- asked for a hug, asked to be let into the nest, asked why you felt so different- the answers had all been the same.

No.

Not now.

Not you.

It wasn’t that your parents didn’t love you. You were sure they did, in their own way. But love was hard to feel when your mother flinched at your touch like you were something disgusting, when your father sighed like he was tired every time you entered the room as if you were taking up space he was saving for his other children. When your siblings built their nests without you, curling into piles of warmth and safety while you sat outside the door, knees pulled to your chest and hands balled into fists to keep them from knocking, a cold ache burrowing itself in your chest.

You stopped knocking eventually.

You stopped trying.

You used to wonder if you’d done something wrong- if maybe you could fix yourself and everything would go back to normal. But it wasn’t something you could fix. It was just… you.

Scentless.

Designationless.

Invisible.

School had been worse, perhaps the worst. At least your family had pretended not to notice how different you were. The other kids didn’t bother pretending. They stared openly, whispered behind your back, laughed when you walked by. You’d caught bits and pieces of what they said- weird, wrong, broken, as if they hoped by having you hear their words, they’d convince you to leave at last.

You’d started keeping your head down after that, slipping through the halls like a shadow. No one talked to you unless they had to, and even then they either did it with a mocking, jeering tone that echoes in your nightmares or with a meek tone; as if your lack of everything is contagious. No one sat next to you at lunch, either. When partners were assigned, you always ended up working alone per your teachers’ instructions.

It was easier that way.

At least, that’s what you told yourself.

By the time you joined the military, you’d gotten good at being alone. You didn’t need friends. Didn’t need packmates. You had work, and work didn’t care if you were quiet or awkward or too stiff to laugh at the right jokes. Work didn’t care if you flinched when people got too close or froze when someone raised their voice. Work demanded to be done, and you had nothing and no one to stop you from that.

But the military also has the same teens who used to bully you so consistently. Rookies all to ready and happy to lord over you. It’s how you get your despised callsign, Doe. Jane Doe. A cruel mockery, comedy wherein you are the joke that has the world laughing.

Still, you wear it. It’s still an acknowledgment and that will always be better than never being seen. You flit from team to team, unit to unit, always an observer from afar, watching everyone around you speak a language you can’t.

But the 141 was different, when you eventually end up working for them.

They cared.

They cared in ways you weren’t ready for.

Soap was relentless, dragging you into conversations even when you barely knew what to say. He filled the silences like it didn’t bother him, kept talking for the both of you, lounging against you unbothered, until you started talking back. Gaz was gentlest, steadier. He never pushed, just lingered close enough to remind you he was there, waiting, whenever you were ready. Quiet, silent acceptance you’d never been given before, and you were yet far too afraid to so easily cling to it.

And the Alphas- Price and Ghost- were worse.

Price had a way of looking at you that made your chest ache, like he saw you, really saw you, and didn’t mind what he found. Scentless, with no designation and all. Ghost was quieter, sharper, but his eyes tracked you everywhere, presence wrapping around you like he was staking a claim you didn’t understand, like he was teying to etch every part of you behind his eyelids.

You didn’t know what to do with it.

They didn’t give you space. They sat next to you at meals, tugged you along when they went out for drinks, called you over during breaks like it was the most natural thing in the world. And it felt natural- until it didn’t, because sometimes you still felt like an outsider.

Like you didn’t belong.

You tried to hide it, but they saw through you. They always did, and they never shied away.

When you started avoiding the mess hall, it was Gaz who caught you, shoving a plate of food into your hands and dragging you to sit with him like it wasn’t a big deal. When you hung back during missions, letting the others fall into their pack dynamics without you, Soap was the one who looped an arm around your shoulders and pulled.

And when you flinched, once, at the sharp sound of someone’s voice echoing down the hall- when you tensed so hard it made your fingers tremble- it was Price who closed the distance, standing in front of you like a wall and letting Ghost linger at your back. Neither of them said a word.

They didn’t have to.

You weren’t used to being protected. You weren’t used to belonging.

But they made it hard not to.

[yois2aki]

𝑪𝑨𝑳𝑬𝑩 𝑺𝑴𝑨𝑼

how would his behavior on social media derive?

caleb isn’t obnoxious about it, but when he’s in love, it shows—especially on social media. he’s the kind of guy who acts like he doesn’t care about posting, like it’s just something he does when he’s bored, but his account lowkey turns into a shrine dedicated to you. at first, it’s subtle—just pictures from his day where you just happen to be in the background, or a blurry shot of you laughing with no context. maybe he captions it something stupid like “why she laughin.” but everyone in the comments is already onto him.

but the second he realizes he no longer has any shame to lose? oh, he’s hopeless. suddenly, his story is full of posts that make it painfully obvious he’s obsessed with you. he’ll post your conversations—usually the ones where you’re roasting him just to prove you’re “bullying” him (even though everyone can tell he loves it). sometimes, it’s a screenshot of you saying something dumb at 2 a.m. with a caption like, “this who I chose to love. :p” other times, it’s a picture of you doing literally anything with the most unserious caption, like “somebody get her.” but then, just when people think he’s all jokes, he drops something that makes everyone lose their minds—maybe a picture of you with the softest “yeah. she’s it.” and no one can even clown him for it because you just know he means it.

he’s also the type to be annoyingly proud of you. if you so much as breathe in a mildly impressive way, he’s posting about it. did you cook something? best believe he’s taking a picture before even trying it, saying “chef” with the little hands-up emoji. did you achieve something? he’s reposting it like he’s your biggest fan, because he is. he’d post you on his story just because you looked good that day, with some cocky caption like “she’s literally unreal. don’t talk to me.” and if anyone tries to joke around in the replies, saying something like “caleb bro u lost” he’d just be like “nah, I won actually. ;)”

if you post pictures—especially if you’re looking really good—caleb is on it immediately. he’s the first like, the first comment, and if he’s feeling extra, he’ll repost it to his story with something cocky like “y’all see what I get to look at?” or just a simple mine. if he’s in a teasing mood, he’ll reply to the post with something like “aight. take this down. >:(” just to see if you’ll react, but everyone knows he’s eating it up. and if you don’t send him the pictures first before posting? he’s offended. “so you're just gonna post this without warnin’ me?? unbelievable.”

oh, and if anyone dares to flirt with you in his comments? deleted. blocked. gone. one time, someone tried to be slick replying to one of your posts with a flirty comment, and caleb replied immediately with just, “?” and that was enough. he doesn’t even need to say anything—he makes it clear you’re his without even trying. and the best part? he doesn’t even think he’s being that obvious about it. he’s just showing you off the way he thinks you deserve.

[julietcpulet]

Jinmao: Not a shojo romance

I feel people who come to Apothecary Diaries have a shojo expectation of the romance. Given that’s what the anime is labeled as, makes sense. Guy and girl are gonna meet, maybe misunderstandings and some bullying and awkwardness, a kiss and then bam, romance. Nope that’s not how this one works. If you read the light novels, you know. It’s twisty and complicated and not at all quick to work out. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth sticking around for. The anime has actually done incredibly well fleshing out that dynamic within a shojo / seinen context and even adding other aspects to it that I really appreciate (the moment in the gif is one of them, her checking for fever isn’t in the LN). That being said, there is more to it and in a time where we’re used to instant reward Jinamo isn’t a payoff you’re going to get right away, or close to soon at all but if you’re someone who can appreciate growth and crumbs then maybe their journey might be for you.

So let’s lay out some perspective (spoilers below):

Jinshi went into the rear palace at around age 14, had to suppress his manhood with drugs and has been leered at by older creepy women and men his whole life while having to deal with the sex lives of others, including his own father. Maomao was mutilated by her mother, abandoned by her father and even when he came back it had less to do with her and more to do with his obsession over her mom. Her sisters pushed sexual acts on her to make her understand being a courtesan, they left her alone until she learned to be emotionless (she wasn’t born autistic, it’s learned behavior and coping mechanisms from no one caring how she felt) and her adopted father took her in but even he can look at her in a disturbed way due to her intellectual curiosity. Her intensity with medicine and bent towards self-harm are due to a lack of self-protective mechanisms because no one was there to protect her in childhood. There’s evidence even to suggest that she only experiments with poison in an effort to feel something and as she beings to feel more emotions in a normal way, she experiments on herself less and leans more towards medicine in its simple form for healing and not in poison. Luomen may have taken her in, her “sisters” kept her around, fed and did what was necessary for her but no one gave her the love and care she needed. It’s why she views love in a cynical, dismissive way and very much thinks she cannot or almost should not experience it.

With Jinshi, he has had no healthy relationship with a woman since he was young. Older women are predatory towards him due to his looks, he’s watched both his “mothers” be consorts their entire lives and waste away due to jealousy, political issues and lack of affection and Suiren, while affectionate can treat him too much like the palace prince, alternately spoiling and disciplining in a way that’s dehumanizing. He didn’t have a father figure, we can argue about Gaoshun but he frequently mentions wanting to return to his own family and end his assignment with Jinshi, not to mention his exasperation, so to me the implication is while there’s a mild affection for having seen the young boy grow up, he doesn’t consider him family. So overall Jinshi has spent his whole life being watched over by strangers who feel no particular attachment to him while simultaneously getting leered at by inappropriate court women and men.

With all of these factors between the two combined, expecting these two to have a fluffy relationship is unrealistic. They were stunted emotionally, forced to grow up too soon, abused verbally and physically in different forms and traumatized. Left without real parental or friendly support, given no emotional tools to navigate the world and told to figure it out themselves. It’s a miracle they’re not weirder than they are or more horrible to each other. They’re two people who’ve spent their whole lives having no one give two cares about them as people suddenly have one person who’s very intent on knowing them for them and that is not something either is used to. Maomao’s seeming disinterest in Jinshi isn’t about him, it’s about his position. Everything else that has to do with him personally she takes note of, his habits, his moods, how he responds to her, even the smell of his incense, those minute observations tell us she cares enough to consider him. With Jinshi, he is like the young boy who teases the girl at first because he likes her. He wants to get a rise out of her because she’s so disinterested. But that doesn’t stay forever. He’s a boy who’s had to act like a twisted version of a man his whole life but finally been presented with the opportunity to actually be a man for once in pursuing a woman he likes. When Jinshi decides to actually go after Maomao in earnest, his maturity grows too.

Maomao’s telling herself that things don’t affect her isn’t “truth”, it’s her way of deflecting, if she says it then that makes something true that likely isn’t. Examples being, acting as if she didn’t know Jinshi’s identity for the longest time, same with Loulan and how at one point she says she barely feels pain then almost cuts off her own finger before Jinshi stops her in the epilogue of LN 4. The whole moment is brought up to correlate her crying over the loss of her friends, being out of the palace and away from Jinshi but acting like she doesn’t care to her then over-experimenting and almost harming herself. This mimics her mother and Lakan’s twisted beginning but the sense is the same, Maomao doesn’t know how to deal with emotion so she pushes it away and excuses it as something else. The point being that she’s a hurt young woman dealing with a lot in not the best way and Jinshi has his own way of dealing with things too, usually by being a bit childish. When they manage to make breakthroughs they’re small but meaningful.

Their interactions can be uncomfortable at times because these are two characters who aren’t comfortable in their own skin. One had to fake being 5 years older than he was and the other had to be a parent to the only ones she’s had and those around her so acts like she’s 10 years older than her own age. Ironically as they’re interacting with each other they’re finally getting to be the young adults they never had the room to be. So yes that petulant, sometimes aggressive and childish back and forth they get into can be uncomfortable because it’s just two young adults trying to figure out what love, friendship and partnership actually might look like as they never saw it modeled properly or have experienced it. It’s awkward, slow going and imperfect but interesting if you’re willing to stick around for it.

Like Maomao running her hand through Jinshi’s hair or him kissing her on the forehead while she’s sleeping and having Suiren prepare her a bath after exhausting herself. It’s moments that show a mature, measured kind of affection they’re growing into together. It also exemplifies the different kinds of affection they show. Jinshi is more the outwardly affectionate type, expressing a want to marry her, giving her the hair stick, even the brand to prove he’ll allay her fears, while Maomao’s affection is expressed in how she cares for Jinshi, worries about his health and is thinking about him when she doesn’t need to. Different but equally complementary and necessary.

Remember too this is set during an imperial dynasty, there are going to be weird complicated roles and things we don’t see play out in the modern world now. And yes while the author could just have said throw that out and had them have an unrealistic romance across societal lines, I’m glad she’s made it realistic in how they’re struggling to make it happen across the boundary of the imperial society they live in.

Lastly, it’s fantasy. If some of the things these characters did happened in real life would they be “toxic”, maybe, although we could argue about that too but it’s not real. This is a fictional couple so sometimes I think people just want to stamp their modern view on it and say it’s a certain way when they can’t or don’t want to see the larger narrative at play. Believe me, if he really did assault her, or was a pedo or doing something completely gross I wouldn’t be writing these long monologues about them being even an interesting fictional couple. Because I do think there’s a line to be drawn in books, I don’t even like most romantasy today because the MCs are too disgusting and the FMCs unrealistic for me if that says anything. But this isn’t real life where a lot of us wouldn’t even talk to someone like Maomao who’s burning her arm on a regular basis for experiments, we’d be telling her to get help. It’s a fictional couple in a fictional world where there can be more twisty plots and that’s ok because we don’t need to take it so seriously. Watch the anime, read the light novels and enjoy it for the mental break it’s all supposed to be. Let those who enjoy the romance enjoy it and if that’s not for you then hit fast forward and there’s plenty of mystery to be had. That’s the good thing about Apothecary Diaries is it kind of has a sprinkling of genres for everyone. As for me, I’ll be excited for every Jinmao crumb along the way and writing these I’m sure annoyingly long rants I’m glad if anyone reads 😂

[maxillness]

🇩🇪 || Soft Launch || Hamilton!Driver!Reader x Retired!NR6

Summary: The second Red Bull driver soft launches her boyfriend

Warnings: Not much besides a little fighting between reader and Lewis

A/N: First time doing a smau, so any feedback is appreciated

Liked by lewishamilton and 973,782 others

ynhamilton Nothing like spending the summer break with the boyfriend and his kids

lewishamilton I'm sorry??

user The fact she's just igored lewis 😭

danielricciardo You're cheating on me? ☹️

maxverstappen1 Ha.

redbullracing We've told you to be nice, Max

user Red Bull's admin needs a raise

charles_leclerc Why's no one asking who he is?

ynhamilton 🤫

charles_leclerc Now you're just being mean

Liked by danielricciardo and 974,729 others

ynhamilton You don't realise how much stuff you have until you move, but I got breakfast in bed, so that's good 😋

danielricciardo Girl, spill the goods, who's this lucky man?

ynhamilton Nice try, badger

danielricciardo Worth a shot

lewishamilton I won't speak to you until you tell me who he is

ynhamilton Dramatic

mercedesamgf1 Tell me so i can rub it in Lewis' face?

ynhamilton Are there more muffins?

mercedesamgf1 I think so

ynhamilton You got yourself a deal

georgerussell63 Not fair

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg, greentech_festival and 973,983 others

ynhamilton went to @/greentechfestival and met my biggest fan 💪

nicorosberg Pleasure to meet you ma'am

ynhamilton Dumbass

danielricciardo Doesn't seem to be a lot of people there 🤔

ynhamilton Stayed late 😉

user Suspicious...

user Is it just me, or does her boyfriend kinda look like Nico?

user WHAT I'VE BEEN SAYING

Tagged ynhamilton

Liked by ynhamilton and 2,784,025 other

nicorosberg Remind me to never test drive with her again

ynhamilton Why so rude? I was a good passenger princess

nicorosberg Yeah, AFTER you made me buy you coffee

ynhamilton I'm just a girl 😋

user Haven't yn and Nico spend a little too much time together recently?

danielricciardo Way too much

ynhamilton I'll break up with you

danielricciardo Girl, you cheated on me

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg and 973,794 others

ynhamilton I'm pretty sure he was high

nicorosberg I was not high, tf?

ynhamilton Whatever you say, princess

user Context for the first picture?

ynhamilton Turns out, it's very easy to bribe kids to bully their father

user Girl... 💀

user It's kinds sus that Nico's always the first one to like her photos, no?

user He's a simp, you can see it in the interviews

ynhamilton He's just a girl ✨🎀

Tagged lewishamilton, mercedesamgf1, silverstonecircuit

Liked by mercedesamgf1 and 975,783 others

ynhamilton How to get your brother to talk to you without telling him who your boyfriend is, no glue, no borax?

danielricciardo Tell me who he is so i can tell him

ynhamilton You really are stupid

georgerussell Kick him in the nuts and threatened him

ynhamilton You're kinda scaring me, George

mercedesamgf1 I'll talk to him

ynhamilton Thank you, baby 😘

Tagged redbullracing, maxverstappen1, nicorosberg, danielricciardo

LIked by nicorosberg, redbullracing and 976,873 others

ynhamilton Couldn't have won today without my bestfriends beside me... and daniel of course

danielricciardo ...

maxverstappen1 I'm just more important. Ha.

redbullracing Max.

nicorosberg Congrats, schatzi 🏆

user suspicious 🤔

Tagged nicorosberg

Liked by nicorosberg and 978,983 others

ynhamilton Don't mind me, just admiring the beauty of my boyfriend... pleasetalktomeagainlewis

lewishamilton I was gonna talk to you again when i read the caption, then I saw the pictures, and I said fuck no

ynhamilton Bitch please, you're just jealous

mercedesamgf1 He's crying in a corner

nicorosberg I thought we agreed to make it official on our anniversary next month??

ynhamilton You know i'm impatience

danielricciardo Why am i not surprised...?

jensonbutton Because it's... obvious? Have you seen him when he talks about her?

nicorosberg Mean.

jensonbutton Simp

user I FUCKING KNEW IT

user Mami y papi

user When's the wedding??

ynhamilton Don't get ahead of yourself darling

[roxistic]

The Amazing Digital Circus Episode 3 Analysis and Theory (MAJOR SPOILER WARNING!)

Am I the only one who felt like this line was a little out place in the context of what Kinger was saying before?

Until I realized something.

It implies something specific. And it's foreshadowing.

What it implies:

People abstract when they feel not wanted or not loved. Queenie didn't feel wanted or loved (we don't have enough information to know why).

Kaufmo didn't feel wanted or loved and we have enough information to give us an idea as to why (people stopped laughing at his jokes; he was convinced there was an exit and nobody supported him in this idea/gave up on him/couldn’t help him in his obsession).

We're given a red herring to divert our attention. Pomni thinks Ragatha is feeling unwanted, unloved, or unappreciated by her because Pomni has ignored or been cold to Ragatha’s efforts to support her. So she turns to Ragatha and thanks her. It is important, but it distracts from who this was really alluding to.

It's Jax.

Everytime somebody shows another person that they care, he looks upset.

When Pomni shows care for Gummigoo by trying to take her with him after his reality has been shattered.

When he asks Pomni how “being stuck with the nutcase (Kinger) was” and Pomni says it "wasn't that bad, actually."

And most infamously, the face he makes for a fraction of a second before Kaufmo’s funeral.

He knows nobody likes him. He knows he isn't wanted. Gooseworx herself said that nobody likes him (which you can find on her Tumblr blog as I have hit the image limit on this post.)

Even without that statement, it’s obvious in the show. And following the logic presented here, it’s likely he will be the one to abstract. If not fully abstract, then something drastic will happen with him and he might come dangerously close to it or he may partially abstract similarly to how Pomni did in her dream sequence at the beginning of episode 2.

It would be up to the others to catch him before it’s too late and talk him down from it… somehow. Despite everything he’s done. Despite being a jerk and a bully at every opportunity.

Gooseworx said it would be somebody we wouldn’t expect. Jax seems to be the only person consistently having fun on Caine’s adventures by trying to cause as much chaos as possible, so we wouldn’t have expected him to just give up. But because of what we’ve seen and Gooseworx herself saying nobody likes him, I’m betting on him being the most likely and vulnerable candidate for abstraction.

Unless this too is a red herring and Goose is playing 5D chess with us. But that’s just a theory.

[severussnapemylove]

Haters be like “Snape was just as bad, worse even than James, because he bullied students.”

Honestly, Snape’s behaviour gets blown so out of proportion. Because other than verbal barbs and once threatening a toad, Snape didn’t really do anything. He didn’t put students in deliberate danger, didn’t hex students, didn’t assault anyone. Snape gives students detention and they have to clean. McGonagall gives students detention and they wind up in the Forbidden Forest!

One time, he threw a jar at Harry after Harry *checks notes* oh yeah, looked into Snape’s memories without permission and witnessed his worst memory of being assaulted.

So no, I don’t want to hear the “he bullied students” argument. When in context, he was no worse than any other teacher and far worse had been done to him.

[starlightwoofwoof]

okay so ……. why do I always say that when I begin posts- anyway

so I really wanted to put all my Glisten/Perfect ideas I have for my DW x MLB AU in one post because I feel like I talk about them too much- I love talking about them but yeah, I need to talk more about other characters lol

First of all, let’s talk about nightmares

Now, Glisten does seem to have nightmares normally, as seen in his interaction with Astro, which I’m extremely curious of what they’re specifically about-

but in this AU, because of Perfect’s sheer existence, he started almost immediately having them a little more often after Perfect’s defeat, and they were somehow even scarier than his previous ones (until Astro was tired of it and stepped up, of course)

This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot- I like to think Glisten’s first nightmare after his akumatization started normal at first. He’s basically on a runway with the other toons in the audience, and he’s showing off a new fabulous outfit and everyone’s hyping him up

until Glisten hears a giggle from behind the curtains backstage

“Alright, alright, we’ve had enough of ‘admiring’ you. Make way for the real star of the show!”

Perfect shows up and brings up his vanity mirror and everyone directs their attention to him instead due to ✨ magic ✨

and then Perfect bullies the crap out of Glisten yadda yadda yadda-

I haven’t thought of anything beyond that but I like to think it got really spooky and trippy- cause to be fair, dreams can get very weird sometimes

lol sorry idk why I went full fanfic mode for a split second there uh

anyway, next

who wants lore noooooooottttttteeeeeesssssss-

okay, one more thing, I’ve yapped too much already lol

sooooooo I got a comment on Perfect’s original post about how Glisten and Perfect’s ordeal was Midnight Sparkle from MLP Equestria Girls Legends of Everfree Core ……… and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I don’t think because that was exactly what I was going for

and so I was like “you know what frick it” and I redrew that one scene in the movie that everyone made bases of and all that-

this looks incredibly weird without context I hope you know what I’m talking about-

man all of this kinda makes me want to give this dynamic to other characters, honestly, definitely not on Glisten/Perfect’s level but I think it would be kinda cool-

one more thing, thank you guys for all the DW x MLB fanart recently!! I appreciate it a lot and I hope to see more :] 💙✨

okay I think that’s enough for now lol okie byeeeeeeeee

[fernslivers]

MODERN MIZU THOUGHTS PT. 2

As promised, some more various little headcanons and scenarios for a modern-day Mizu (and everyone else).

Let me know if you want more! I have lots of stuff half-finished.

This one is a little longer! Has some Mizu fucking shit up but also being soft.

Part one has some context, but most of this should make sense without it.

TW: canon-typical violence (Mizu is gonna Mizu)

RINGO

The first time you met him, soon after Mizu moved in, you came home to find this stranger cooking in your kitchen

He greeted you very cheerily, chattering right away about how he was making dinner and there was plenty to share

You thanked him awkwardly. You were…surprised and disappointed to find out Mizu had a boyfriend, given your interest, but hey… you probably didn't have a shot anyway, you tell yourself sadly.

You meet her coming down the hall, and she greets you with the usual stoic grunt-and-nod.

You start to tell her that her boyfriend seems nice, you know, general small talk.

The second the word boyfriend leaves your mouth, her head whips around

“My WHAT”

Ringo’s voice echoes down the hall from the kitchen, “I’m WHAT”

He finds it hilarious, she does not

TAIGEN AND AKEMI

Akemi is an heiress that is 100% planning to go no-contact with her family but is playing their game for now so they'll pay for her degree

Pre-law 100%, this girl could argue/cajole/convince you out of your own name

She's one of those types who can run on the treadmill for hours while looking fab

Fashion icon on campus, but a total girls-girl that loves to give advice and encouragement

Do not party with her, this girl will get you PLASTERED

Hiding her relationship with Taigen from her family, again to keep her degree money coming

Taigen was still Mizu's childhood bully

Picked on the orphan to make himself feel better about his shitty home life

Eiji transferred Mizu out of that school QUICK once he officially could, so she didn't have to deal with him for very long

They lost contact at that point, to Mizu’s relief

He's at the university on an athletics scholarship

Saw Mizu training in the gym

(This is why she needed that yard of yours)

He is the champ of the school team and thought since she wasn't on the team, she must be a rookie

She'd be an easy win, and a way to show off for the gym bunnies

She whooped his ass then and there, naturally, in front of the entire gym

And then nearly switched universities because fuck dealing with him on campus

Thankfully Akemi has him on a bit more of a leash in the modern day and HAS dragged him to therapy

He's still an egotistical asshole, but he's TRYING, OK (-Akemi)

They still bicker horrendously but there is a tiny, tiny bit of mutual respect there

Taigen hasn't stopped trying to drag Mizu onto the school team, so she still tries to avoid him

Mizu privately thinks Akemi needs to get her head checked out

But she does approve of Akemi's effect on him in general

She wasn't thrilled to know that you have shared a few classes with Akemi and are now friends

This means there might be the prospect of more Taigen in her future

Great.

Are you sure you really like Akemi as a friend that much?

JOB COMPLICATIONS

So as I said, due to her possible fathers being involved in organized crime, she has also gotten quite comfortable in those circles

She “works” odd hours, or is sometimes gone for a few days

You aren't about to get nosy. You asked her once what she did for work and she told you it was “nothing interesting” with a very clear drop it expression

Message received

She has been rooming with you for quite a while, long enough for you to call each other friends, when someone, somewhere in the wrong circle gets wind of her home address

You hear a knock at the door one evening while Mizu is out at “work”. Quiet, but insistent.

You aren't expecting anyone...but maybe a surprise visit, or Mizu forgot her keys?

Instead, a very clean, erudite man in a suit says he's here to see The Onryō

What

You make politely confused noises at him, saying he must have the wrong address, and he smiles back at you with cold, dead eyes.

“I know he's here.” His voice is still serene, icy. “It won't take long. If you could go get him, please.”

Ok, you've had enough-

He catches the door before you can slam it, and oh. He's stronger than he looks.

And oh- ... that's a gun.

You back away into the apartment, and he follows, shutting the door behind him.

He continues to threaten and demand, always in a quiet, even tone, as you continue to back away.

You're terrified, of course, because you've never dealt with anything even remotely like this

You keep trying to shout over him that you have no idea who he's looking for

Of course your phone is on the kitchen counter, nowhere nearby, utterly useless

You're again trying to explain, in a shaking tone, that you genuinely have no clue what’s going on when

Running footsteps

The door bursts open with enough force to leave it bouncing off the wall. The man whirls away from you, gun whipping around–

He barely has time to gasp before Mizu is on him.

Can humans even move that fast?

All you see is a flash of metal and

Ssshnk-THUNK

He folds like laundry, crumpling to the floor.

You didn't get a good look at whatever she did to the front of him when he turned, it all happened while you were flinching, but there is a lot of blood starting to stain the carpet around him.

You're frozen, staring at the twitching shape.

“Don't look at him, come on.”

Mizu grabs you and starts to lead you by the shoulders away from him and back down the hallway towards the bedrooms

She's careful only to touch you with her hands so she doesn't get any blood on you.

She's still in get-shit-done mode, but trying not to scare you.

As she's leading you, you start frantically trying to explain what happened, babbling about what he said.

"He kept saying about some guy called The Onryō-"

You feel her fingers tighten on your shoulders, but she says nothing.

You've never seen that look in her eyes before, and you thought you'd seen her at her most stoic.

(Gods above, you could have been killed because of her-)

“Wait– wait, my phone is in the kitchen– Mizu, the police, we gotta call–”

“I'll call."

"But I'll have to explain--"

"I'll take care of it. Just go back where you don't have to see it.”

Sitting on your bed, you can hear her quiet voice on the phone to someone, you assume the police emergency line.

Soon, you can hear the murmurs of multiple male voices.

Ah, the police. They'll probably want your statement…but… you reach for the doorknob and stop.

Something in your gut urges caution, and you ease the door open cautiously, silently, just a crack

… Those definitely aren't police.

Thankfully, the men in dark suits have their backs to you, and only Mizu looks up at the door.

You make eye contact with her and shut the door again very quickly, your mind racing.

Mizu is trying to stay in focus-mode while she deals with the problem, having called in a few favors, but the back of her mind is freaking the fuck out with repressed trauma.

Are you going to hate her now? What if you turn on her like M*k*o?

Her gut cramps at the thought of you seeing her as a monster.

She should just leave but she doesn't want to

Back in the room, Your heart is pounding.

So many dots are suddenly connecting. Should you be worried about this? Are you in danger? Is she going to…

After a while, you hear more doors closing, then… water running?

Mizu, with wet hair and blood-free clothing, knocks, saying the coast is clear.

She's SO nervous, afraid to hear you scream at her to go away

When you don't, she cautiously peers in, still expecting to get something hurled at her head

Strangely enough, you just look relieved to see her. Maybe you're still in shock?

For you, every doubt and worry leaves your mind as soon as you see her.

The man on the floor is gone, leaving only a towel covering the bloodstain.

Mizu says very quickly that she'll take care of that too, that you don't need to deal with anything.

She's still nervous, still waiting for you to call her a monster, or demand answers.

You can tell she’s watching you.

You just nod.

You're a college student that just watched a guy get sliced open with a sword. What do you even say to that?

Should you be scared of her? You're not.

But you're still a bit disturbed by the violence.

When she realizes that you're not going to freak out at her or scream at her to leave, she quietly asks if you need some space?

You shake your head quickly at that. You can still see the gun pointed at you, the man’s unflinching gaze.

You feel much safer with her around.

She's relieved, but tries hard not to show it

She carefully suggests that you both spend time somewhere other than the living room for tonight.

She's uncharacteristically soft with you, for her usual standards, but she's also way out of her depth.

She shoos you off to take a shower even though you're clean, and calls Ringo in a hushed voice while you're in there, demanding advice on how to comfort someone

When you emerge, you’re hustled into your room with some water and easy-to-eat snacks

(She's honestly starving after her job but feels bad eating like it's nothing, like it didn't bother her)

(It didn't)

She gathers some extra blankets and things from her room, then sits quietly on the bed next to you, letting you watch stupid things on her laptop.

You don't think you're going to be able to sleep, but she makes a strangely soothing presence next to you, and you drift off eventually

When you wake up, she's still next to you, awake, and looks exhausted.

The towel is gone and the carpet is clean

She just tells you, very seriously, that nothing like that is ever going to happen again, she'll make sure of it

By the look in her eyes, you believe her

She's jumpy for several days after that, checking the windows regularly and watching you strangely every time you’re on a call

You're jumpy, too, but she doesn't complain when you hover around her almost continually, constantly getting underfoot.

If anything, it seems to calm whatever worries are going on in her head

When she doesn't find herself arrested, or asked to move out, she seems to relax completely

This incident clearly tells her that she can trust you, because suddenly it's like you've passed a sacred gate of trust

Now she's occasionally coming home with a little bit of blood on her

Sometimes she sports some nicks and slices

You never thought you would be googling how to do stitches but what are crushes friends for?

You haven't actually gotten up the courage to ask what's up with all of this, yet. It just seems…unwise.

Not that you're afraid she'll hurt you, weirdly enough,

but despite the danger that you're now aware of, you really don't want her to get spooked and move out.

You don't know this, but she decides not to move out because she fears that more men might still come by, thinking that she still lives there, and clearly ignorance didn't save you this time.

You also don't know this, but this is the threshold where her feelings go from a passing crush that she represses, to something she is actually considering how to safely approach...

She's impressed with how you handled that, as a person who isn't used to violence

She'd never pursue something with someone while they were unaware, but since you know a little now…

(Meanwhile, she doesn't know that, after the shock had worn off, you found the whole thing kind of hot…)

[hanasnx]

MINORS DNI 18+

You line the end of your stick up with the cue ball, your tongue poking out from between your lips in concentration. Playing pool was never your strong suit, but you’re not trying to win this game per se. You’re interested in something far more valuable.

TOJI FUSHIGURO approaches you from the back, hanging his head to the side to get a good gander at your round behind. The baby tee you wear rides up from how you bend over, revealing the dimples at the small of your back. Not at all brief, and in great detail, Toji imagines other contexts. Circumstances in which his thumbs would find a handle on those divots, yanking you back onto him when you run away from a good dicking. Looking at you now, dressed up in a pink outfit two sizes too small, you wouldn’t know a good dicking if it hit you in the face, and he sure was considering batting your pretty cheeks with it.

You wiggle your hips, subconsciously rearing to prepare for your shot, and he chases you. Without thinking about it, he lines himself up with you, rolling his tongue between his lips as mere inches separate the bulge in his pants with your backside strapped in by that teeny skirt. His hand itches to fix onto your tailbone, steadying you so he can nudge up against you. Jus’ a little, wouldn’t even know he was there. Tuck his thumb in the crevice to give your asshole a massage while he did it, he’s really thinking about you here, you should be grateful.

You wind back, and flick your stick forward, pool balls knocking together in snapping sounds as you watch your move play out. He sniffs and swipes his nose pinching it between his index and thumb real quick, adjusting his pants by the back of his belt as he rounds you. A hand at the top of his stick allows him to lean on it marginally, the pool balls slowing to a stop under his gaze.

“You’re bad at this.” he tells you.

The curl to your lips deepens, popping your hip out as you tilt your head at him. He notes the flirtatious body language, the knowing glint in your eye. “Am I?”

His gaze darkens. “Can show you a few things. If you promise it’ll get through that thick skull o’ yers.” A small smile on his mouth stretches out the scar tissue overlaying his lips, and you visualize tracing it with your tongue.

“Oh, don’t be a brute.” you respond as he passes behind you, forcing you to follow him with your eyes. As he picks his target, he holds your gaze, hunching over the table as he lines up his stick. Powerful shoulders confined in a thin black t-shirt has you biting hard onto your lower lip. He breaks the eye contact long enough to hit the ball, but you don’t bother watching them scatter, focused on taking in every marginal move he makes, straightening to his full and dizzying height. The end of his stick comes to your exposed midriff, and hooks under the hem of your baby tee, flicking it up.

“You like it when I’m a brute.”

Indignantly, you tug your shirt back down. It’s clear he wanted to fake you out, make you believe he was gonna get away with flashing himself and any lucky stiff at this bar. You swat his arm scoldingly, but all your dumb brain can think about is how hard and thick his bicep is. “I do not! Why do you insist on bullying me?”

He grins, canines glinting in the dim and smoky light, snickering through his nose. “Easy to bully when you’re bite-sized.”

Bite-sized. That’s all that goes through that thick skull of yours when Toji’s pulling out your brains and shoving ‘em back in with every fuck into you later. Powerful and harsh thrusts, nailing your abused cervix so hard you’re sure it’ll bruise. “The fuck are you thinking about, hah? You rememberin’ those pool tips? Got ya to lay down real low on that table. Bet everyone saw up that stupid little skirt.” Toji jeers at you while he’s pinning you by your head, big hand on your hair to pin your cheek to the mattress. “Everyone saw you leave with me. Saw a slice of cherry pie get pushed around by mean ol’ Toji, only to hang off my arm out the door. A little slutty, don’t’cha think?” He’s amusing himself, you can tell by the sound of his deep voice he’s got that wolfish grin on he wears so well. Wickedly, his reckless pace speeds up so you can’t form a response.

Your limp body has no choice but to move with him, rippling with each sheath into you. Poor cunt puffy and agitated around him as his mean cock brutalizes it some more. Tears sting your eyes but you can’t tell if they’re of pain or pleasure.

“T- Toji—“ you choke out, reaching back to finger timidly at his thighs. He won’t have it, picking himself up to a kneel so he can yank you back on him. Thumbs slot onto your dimples as fingers tuck between the folds of your pelvis and thighs. That perfect ass of yours smacking against him so hard, your skin pebbles and blushes.

“Huh?” he mocks. “What’s that? S’this the part where you lie and tell me you can’t handle it? Nah, little girl, I’m looking at the way this cunt’s slurpin’ me up. Fucking take it.”

[oh-koenig-my-koenig]

(to the tune of Avril Lavigne's sk8terboi)

He was a human battering ram.

She was a recon sniper.

Can I make it any more obvious?

Headcannons - Fit for a King - König x fem!OC fanfic

Instead of making a y/n fic, I decided to create an original female character because I ususally write all of my stuff in POVs. Due to posting the chapters often right after I've written them some of the context and the characterization might not be explicit in every single piece, some of the information is only gonna get revealed down the road.

(TW: alcoholism, death, violence)

Karina Müller is almost 30 years old, she served in the Norwegian military from right after school until the death of her brother who was KIA on a mission together. She fell off the wagon after that, feeling responsible for his death and effectively being shunned by her family after that. Her pick of poison was alcohol and it got so bad that she more than once was drunk on the job which led to her getting kicked out.

The years after that she spent getting help, trying to get clean and going back to a civilian life, but the military was what she knew, so the civilian jobs didn't stick and she started to work as a mercenary, now a dry alcoholic. Which might be an issue for some contractors, but KorTac doesn't really bat an eye.

She's a compassionate person who loves to laugh, she's seen enough shit not to take any from her teammates and can stand her ground when faced with any challenge thrown her way. She's still working through some stuff, coming to terms with her past, but she has an optimistic spirit and a strong will.

Even though the Colonel seems scary at first, she learns pretty quickly that he is to be respected in training and on the battlefield, but on a personal level he's really not that bad. The 6'10'' killing machine, Austrian war criminal (insert "what murdeeer?!"-meme here) is quite an anxious person when it comes to basic human interaction.

Shouting orders at his team, stomping his enemies into the ground is more comfortable to him than just talking about mundane stuff with other people, he mostly keeps to himself (except for Horangi because that little shit would never leave him alone). And for the first time in a long time, Müller makes him wish that he could just go up to people and strike up a normal conversation like a normal person (don't we all).

König is 38 years old (we don't know his full name) and has the biggest metalhead dad vibes without actually having any children himself (his favourite band is Death, although he listens to a bunch of different ones, it's also their merch shirt Müller steals in "Are you wearing my t-shirt?").

When he started out in the military, he shaved his long metalhead hair off because that was the way to go back then, but he let it grow back when he was older and already Colonel. He has gauged ears and a plethora of tattoos all over his body because the soft pain of body modifications and working out until he almost passes out are his ways of dealing with his anxiety and stress. His body is a testament to that.

He has a huge scar on the right side of his face from when he got beaten to a pulp by his bullies at school, something he never let happen again after that (five on one was really unfair). His nose has been broken two times and sometimes his tattoos get destroyed by battle injuries, but he doesn't really care about that - or his looks in general. He's a soldier and not a model.

So the reason why he's always wearing the selfmade hood is not the scar. He prefers not to show his feelings to others, staying hidden underneath the mask for his own comfort, even if it makes him scarier also in situations where he doesn't want to be.

(CW: some nsfw headcannons ahead, talk about not wanting to have children) They're both switches, though König is leaning more on the Dom-side while Müller is a sub who likes to brat a little too much, just to see her man falter (for example when she calls him a good boy in random scene #1).

Müller is bisexual, something she discovered when serving in an all-women-taskforce of the Norwegian military (we don't really know about König's sexuality though). She decided a long time ago that she doesn't want to have children (she doesn't see herself leaving service again anytime soon and given her past, she doesn't see herself fit to become a mother), so she got her tubes tied. Which also comes in handy when a certain Colonel's favourite pasttime (well, actually second favourite) is leaving creampies inside her (no 'unexpected pregnancy' trope in this household).

König definitely eats pussy for his own pleasure, begging Müller to let him eat her out in "Sit" or losing a little friendly competition for a sexual favour in "But no funny business" (oh and he definitely steals her panties at any chance he gets). She's totally not opposed to servicing him as well, but the size of his dick makes this a whole endeavour (like seen in "Open wide, Prinzessin").

They match each other's energy pretty well, just going at it like rabbits at every chance they get, which sometimes proves to be difficult as they're sneaking around in secret.

Their arrangement is kind of a fuckbuddy/fwb-situation, they fuck hard and rough, without ever really kissing (the mask stays on), but after a while feelings start to get in the way... After all they do belong together <3

Read more at the Fit for a King - Masterlist or keep an eye out for the AO3 link - coming soon.

[dipperscavern]

i know you already talked a bit about mean!robb but what about the other stark men? do you think theyre ever mean? do you think youd have to ask them? or would you be able to push their buttons to get them to go to town in you? are they mean in different way?

i just want to know more about the starks being meanies in bed 😮‍💨

GOOODNIIIIIIIIIIGHT SAVANNAH. MEAN STARKS MEAN STARKS

okay, so, all the starks are inherently gentleman. it’s in their blood, and how they were raised. northmen don’t PLAY about their women. but, that’s not saying they can’t be mean.

cregan. i’m sweating.. okay. cregan can be “mean”, but i’m imagining a very specific type of mean. instead of punishing you, it’s more of him showing you what he really can do to you. remember when i said cregans pace in eating you out would be slower, but it would be really intense? i think it’s the same for fucking. when cregans being mean its very intense and overwhelming. like, crying into the pillow limbs shaking overwhelming. robb is very taunting when he’s mean, but cregan wouldn’t even say anything. just letting his body do the talking. however, if you could see him, you’d see the smile on his face (tee hee).

i don’t think you’d even necessarily have to ask cregan to be mean or rough. he’d see it as an attitude adjustment. oh… oh walk with me. if you’re being snappy all day, plain rude and disregarding everything he’s saying, he gives you a warning. he reminds you of his size after a particular snarky comment, backing you against the wall without even using his hands to push you. just pauses in his tracks, looks at you, sees you unwavering, and stalks toward you without word. then, if it continues, he’ll just push you towards your chambers silently with a hand on the small of your back.

he’d definitely gauge your reactions throughout the day to make sure that it’s what you’re really after, and when he’s proven right, even in the middle of an attitude adjustment he’s making sure he’s not pushing your limits too far. he’s attentive, even when he’s bullying his cock in you. 🫠

[coughs and almost throws up on myself. sits back in my office chair and leans out the open door] LINDA. CAN WE GET MEAN JON SNOW ON THE PHONE?!

with jon, he’s only able to be mean in a dirty context. sorry but u can’t convince me otherwise. out of a dirty context, robb could definitely be mean. cregan could be assertive…. hm… IM GETTING OFF TRACK.

jon is a patient man. he’s understanding, and honestly, you might have to give him some serious hints on what you want. he could definitely get the idea on his own, but it would be better/easier to talk to him about it. he would be unsure at first, afraid of hurting you, but if you push his buttons you’d get what you want. when you’re being snarky and pushing his buttons, he’d just give you these looks. his eyes are dark, and he’s clearly frustrated, but he won’t do anything in front of other people. he’d make you think he let it slide, and then you’re walking to your shared chambers & he’s suddenly dragging you there, closing the door & pushing you against it.

and… can i be real… i don’t think he’d even use his cock. you love when jon uses his mouth on you. he’s so good at it, it’s almost like a reward. but, with that being said… edging. that’s his way of being mean. he’s skilled with his tongue, he knows how to make you cum. so he won’t. he’ll get you there, he’ll make you get soooo close — and then pull away, making you whine. he’s not mad forever though, and he can’t resist making you cum for long. he just needs to get his frustration out, then you can finish <3

oh but.. freshly post resurrection jon snow. i think he needs to fuck you. hard. bend you over till you’re crying. he’s grunting and panting,. and… and…. [i go limp] [lindas voice crackles over the intercom] “SHES DOWN! CODE BLACK” [emts come and retrieve me with a stretcher]

[caffinated-squid]

My Eltingville Club Crackpot Theory/Speculation

(I was thinking about this for a while but not sure if this falls under the misogyny argument. If it does, think of this as part 1/2)

I was thinking a lot about the Eltingville Club and how they became the way they were. In this case focusing on a very hyperspecific one rather than a broad summary.

In this case, this mini-essay will be less based on concrete details of the comics and more asking people to put on their tinfoil hats and listen to my crackpot theory. That being said, The Eltingville Club can be viewed through the lens of the failure of American sex ed, as well as adults not having an eye on their kids and the content they look into, all folding into how it warps their opinions on women and relationships.

There isn’t any information given on the school itself aside from characters like Bill being victims of bullying, but the US is mainly known for being shit when it comes to discussions of any type of sex ed, mainly because of the prioritization and emphasis on abstinence and scaring kids with STDs rather than actually talking about the topic itself.

* *The goal of being able to reduce sexual behavior through abstinence fails because it doesn’t actually delay said behavior, it just comes with the add on of reinforcing harmful gender stereotypes and people having no clue how their body works without it in a sexual context.

* **Also add in the context of Eltingville being a small suburb area, so these characters are stuck in a small town with nowhere to go aside from a comic shop, and probably social pariahs by everyone else not in their group of nerd friends.

It’s clear that the parents of the Eltingville Club aren’t really involved in their kids lives. Bills mom is a single mother and also implied to be abusive, Josh’s parents spoil him and lack personal responsibility for their actions, Pete’s parents both abuse and neglect him, and Jerry has neglectful parents as well. Aside from surface level, their parents don’t really want their children in their life, or wish that they were different from not meeting their expectations.

The only other adult in their life aside from their parents is Joe, who only lets them stick around because of the amount of money they drop on comics and collectibles in the store. His first appearance shows him selling adult content in the form of trading cards to children (maybe 10 years old), he doesn’t really care what he exposes to anyone of any age because the only important thing to him is profit.

From this, I would argue that Joe played a role in their lives by encouraging the club to look into content they shouldn’t be looking into, and because it is alongside content they already enjoy, it makes it easier to consume and gives them the desire to have more of it.

I partially bring this up because a lot of the stuff Pete is interested in (such as the gore/rape clips and gory comics) isn’t just something you find in the open, you have to go digging for it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Joe was involved in helping to find said content/expose it to him.

With all of the factors combined, it has left the club brain rotted with a warped idea of women, specifically being that women aren’t actual people but just eye candy and mechanisms for pleasure while also having no fucking clue about sex itself (body parts being referred to as things or characters being confused at what the hell the comic is portraying come to mind.)

Joe can take part of the blame considering he has unrestricted adult content in the open, but he was probably not the sole cause of the characters turning out the way they did, again this is more of a tinfoil hat theory, it could have happened from chat forums or a variety of other things, this is just something that has been on my mind for a while.

Credit to @sapphicsandman for this as well, I referenced a lot of the things he had to say on the topic, so this did not come from my brain alone.

[justsumtransdude2000]

Lets talk about narrative framing in Harry Potter and how it lends itself to what I live to call the Regulus vs James vs Snape debate, aka the "why does the fandom praise Regulus and James but hate Snape, it's because they're hot isn't it?" issue.

I'm trying to come at this with a neutral perspective (despite being what many would frame as a Regulus defender).

So narrative framing, what is it? It's exactly what is sounds like; how the narrative is telling you to view something. A great example of this is house elves. They are narratively framed as a net positive, however, when you take them out of the narrative and inspect them without all of the unnecessary context, they're pretty bad. The narrative also does this with characters (obviously), like Cho Chang being framed as annoying for crying over her boyfriend who was brutally murdered. When we look at this, we are looking at it through the lens of Harry, but when we look at without Harry's motives in mind, that shit is weird.

So, how does this apply here? Well, I think the reason that Snape is so hated is cut into two parts; the first being narrative framing and the second being screen time. He is in every book. And in every book, he's being an asshole. He's bullying someone who is half or even a third of his age, or he's being speciesist, or he's being a general nuisance. A lot of his coworkers don't even like him. Of course, our lens isn't unbiased as we see all this through Harry's view, but Harry, narratively, is one of the good guys, making him someone we as the reader are supposed to trust. Also, we do know that whether or not they were influenced by Harry's POV, he did some foul shit: we know that he used to be (and maybe still is, for most of the series) a DE, we know that he tells his students Lupin is a werewolf, and we also know he hates James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin (obviously), Harry Potter himself, and, I may be assuming here but, Peter Pettigrew. All but one of these characters are framed positively in the narrative, meaning Snape isn't just narratively hated; he is up against some of the most beloved characters. There is not a lot going for him until the plot twist, which doesn't help necessarily. To a lot of fans it just made him seem obsessive and bitter, and didn't justify his actions, likely because of all the narrative framing against him. Honestly, at that point it stops being narrative framing and starts being the narrative.

Compare this to James and Regulus who we see very little of. The little we see of James is usually through Snapes memory, which I guess can kind of be considered an unbiased source, but with all the narrative against him it's hard to expect readers to trust that someone the bad guy thinks is bad is really that bad. Not to mention like right after Harry asks for affirmation that his dad wasn't terrible, and Sirius basically just goes "he changed, trust me bro!" (Harry does indeed trust him, bro). And we don't even see Regulus, we only see him through others, namely Sirius and Kreacher, who both answer questions about him scarcely. When we do hear about him it is either, "he was so soft, too soft to disobey our parents" implying something in him was good, he just wasn't strong enough to resist the bad, or through his defiance of Voldemort which, despite setting Harry back is positive for his character and how he's seen. It's important to note most people are way too scary to defy Voldemort, so this is seen as a radical act, which I think is also what JK. Molding was hoping for when writing the Snape redemption scene (because that was not an arc).

However, Snape's falls flat because we actually have to see the negative that he did, we see how it effects Neville, and Hermione, and Remus and even Harry. We don't see the bad of Regulus, we only see him through the tender wounds of his living relative and only friend, which are undoubtedly biased lenses. I think the lack of accountability shown for Regulus is because of object permanence. We only see the negative effect of his loss, not of his bad decisions. We see Sirius scrubbing a house clean of everyone but him. We see grief. And people don't grieve for bad people, right?

TLDR: Fandom favors Reg over Snape because we see how Snape's actions effect people, and the fandom favors James over Snape because the only evidence we have of him being a bad guy is coming from someone untrustowrothy.

[yuri-is-online]

Trey seeing you like his teasing and bullying, don't tempt the man. He's barely hanging on.

the following is a rough concept? warm up? from a long fic I have been writing on and off for months now. the context is that Trey is sick and Yuu has decided to bring him food before Riddle can kill him w/ Lilia on the assist.

Nothing too explicit... yet. yet

"Seriously." You sigh, focusing on the container and... quivering. Your arms are straining against the containers unintentional vacuum seal, did you run over here to see him as soon as you heard about him fainting? Or were you just too... he doesn't want to say stupid even though it catches in his throat along with his saliva when he sees you roll your lower lip under your teeth and grunt. "It's tight." Yes, something is, wound so tight it ought to snap.

"Need some help?" His voice is uncharacteristically breathy, as is the directness of the offer, and he thinks he can make out disappointment. A phantom strength allows him to sit up as his eyes narrow to let him see just that much better; he tries focusing on your teeth, it's the left canine that's denting your lip. It pushes in as he moves forward, threatens to pierce the flesh. The lump in his throat goes down as he floats more than moves up from the bed, resting his weight against his night stand.

"No." You bring the soup up to your chest before immediately bringing it back down. How silly of you, it must be really hot. "I keep telling you, I'm not doing this because I need you-" Trey moves his arm around to your other side, resting it on his desk and delighting in how clear your surprise is now that he has his glasses on.

"How kind of you." Your tongue peaks out to lick your canine and draws his attention back to your lips. Trey likes your lips, they're so... expressive. Uncontrollable, no matter how much you try to hide how much you want to have him around your lips always give you away. "But you've got to be doing this for some reason." Right now they purse, hooked on his bait and unaware of the line as he leans just a bit more forward crowding you closer to the desk. "That's just how this school works." Your lip trembles. Three more teeth peak out of your mouth and Trey can't even be bothered to list the numbers in his head to distract from where the blood leaving his head is going. He wants to bite down, sink in his own teeth in place of yours and suck-

"Trey!" Thank the seven you put thought to put the food behind you before you went to catch him, Trey's heavy even if you only have to push him back over to his bed which thankfully isn't that far. "You're supposed to be resting." You snatch his glasses from his head before he can even manage to react but he doesn't seem to upset. He wiggles his head back into his pillow, and looks in your vague direction as you finally manage to pop the damn lid off the soup and try to convince yourself the heat hurting your face is from the steam and not your own stupid feelings. "I'll set this over here and get some tea."

"Make some for yourself too." You think you hear him say as you walk on out in a daze.

Trey closes his eyes and tries to take a deep breath without hating himself too much. Something is wrong with him, that's got to be the correct explanation for this.

[sepublic]

Unlocking the Sad Backstory

I find it interesting how a lot of arcs in TOH have this general pattern of…

Character hurts others -> Character is unhappy, reconsiders their harm -> Character begins to do better -> Character’s sad backstory that re-contextualizes them is unlocked

And it applies even to characters that aren’t exactly villains or even antagonists, but for whom hurting someone nevertheless is a major premise! So to look at examples;

Amity is Willow and Luz’s bully, but we see how she’s unfairly manipulated by Lilith and is ashamed because of it. Luz reaching out to her makes Amity reconsider, she undoes the binding oath she placed on Luz. Then we see Amity’s siblings and how both parties are toxic to one another, and then we get a flashback confirming her parents are abusive. In regards to Willow specifically, Amity acknowledges she’s done harm to Willow in burning her memories, and works to fix them with Luz before we get this context.

Emira and Edric are also toxic to Amity, but in their next appearance they’re remorseful about what they’ve done to Amity, they’re working to make it up to their baby sister. And while they’re not present in the aforementioned flashback, their parents being confirmed as abusive tells you everything you need to know about them.

Lilith has a petty rivalry with Eda, but we see how much she cares and keeps breaking the law to look the other way, too. Then we see how she’s pressured by the Emperor’s Coven, and even threatened by Belos, before she captures Eda. We learn of her curse, but again; We see Lilith next and it’s reiterated that she believes this will cure Eda, we remember wanting to be kinder happened after cursing Eda. We see Lilith attempt to free Eda, and then we get the backstory about how the curse was mostly an accident. We get more info later on how Gwen’s neglect contributed to Lilith’s inferiority complex.

Hunter is the Golden Guard, he threatens to boil Luz, Eda, and King to death and wants the Selkidomus dead, but won’t even do it himself. He kidnaps Palismen to feed to Belos. But then later we see how he’s unhappy over his situation, how he feels like his uncle won’t let him help. Hunter begins to show consideration towards Flapjack and later Luz when he reveals his name, and then we get context as to how physically abusive Belos is, and where that scar came from. Flapjack returns and Hunter spares him.

Alador is either a controlling abuser to Amity, or a neglectful one. But he does hold his wife accountable when she tries to betray their daughter by going back on her end of the deal, and later shows genuine love for Amity when Alador isn’t more concerned about the family’s socioeconomic status. Amity admits how unhappy she is, Alador realizes he truly is hurting his daughter, and promises to talk with his wife over this. We later see him try, and then we see that Alador is also abused, and it’s implied his neglect comes from overworking himself in exchange for his children being spared the same.

Boscha is a bully, through and through. She torments everyone for purely petty reasons. But she also admits to feeling similar pressure as Willow, and then confesses to being lonely without Amity, Skara, Amelia, or Cat. Amity acknowledges that Boscha is lonely, but points out that Boscha needs to respect her for who she is. Boscha listens, and helps stop Kikimora. In the credits we see fully that she really was a miserable, scared child being manipulated by a grown adult.

The Collector is aiding Belos’ genocide, and (seemingly) knowingly. But they’re also fretful over the nature of their ‘friendship’ and are left betrayed and hurt. They meet King, and after being freed by him, we see how they try to be a good friend to King and are slowly listening to him bit by bit, which is why King vouches for rehabilitation over imprisonment. The Collector is already against harm to a certain point, defying what the Archivists mandate. And then we learn that they were unjustly imprisoned by the Titan, and didn’t even know about death in their childish, simplistic view of the world, seeing people as only broken and unmoving yet capable of being fixed at any time, if all the parts are there.

Gwen makes Eda feel ashamed of her curse, she neglects Lilith. But she does care for at least one daughter, and is horrified when she realizes the harm her antivaxxer actions have done. Gwen makes things up not only to Eda, but Lilith especially in taking her back home, even as Gwen explains during her reconciliation that she honestly saw Lilith as self-sufficient. And then a few episodes later, we find out her husband was mauled and left disabled by the curse, unable to continue his life’s work. And we get even more context for Gwen’s obsession in curing her daughter of the condition that gave her so much guilt.

Camila made Luz feel unwanted at home, going along with the camp, and her outburst later on was the wrong call; But she’s not punished for it, that’s not necessary. Instead she apologizes, we see Camila worry about the camp taking away Luz’s passion by salvaging her daughter’s weirdness for her, we see her be accommodating to Luz and her friends when she returns, having reflected in that time, and offering support. And then we learn that Camila was just like Luz, she fit in to survive, and she lost Manny, someone she needed to stand up for herself.

Bump is introduced as a principal willing to dissect Luz, but he also appreciates Willow’s magic and vouches for her to her parents. We see that he’s actually open-minded and cares about his students, he lets Eda enroll Luz on the fair grounds that Eda clear her own messes; Bump insists on following the coven system and places students into the detention track, but when those kids save the day, Bump owns up to a mistake he clearly didn’t like anyhow and changes things. And then we see his past, and how he’s been improving things this whole time, challenging Faust and looking out for Eda!

Even Steve technically qualifies; He’s a covenscout, he’s a jerk who knocks over someone else’s books to express his cop enthusiasm. But Steve forgives Skara for punching him in the face because he kidnapped her, and then admits to Hunter that what they’ve done is wrong, and he’s now reconsidering. Afterwards Steve has his introspective interactions with King, and then we see his face; Implying (and eventually confirmed by Dana) that he is the older brother that Mattholomule spoke of, who gave him the map to the Looking Glass Ruins that Adrian, in the previous episode, admitted he couldn’t find; Because Steve gave away the map to make his kid brother happy.

Likewise, I want to discuss two characters who don’t exactly fit this sequence, and don’t mature or get better, not of their own volition for one:

Kikimora is Belos’ assistant, she’s complicit in his executions. She tries to murder Hunter out of nothing but jealousy, helps bring Raine to Terra, goes after everyone at the Knee, etc. But then we see Kikimora is miserable because of her unsympathetic mother, who is probably abusive; She has no consideration that her daughter is obligated to their dictator, who demonstrated on live television that he’ll execute even his own high-ranking officials if they don’t go along with him, and Kikimora was there in-person. And is now expected to help with a major event involving other high-ranking officials and the dictator himself.

So we get Kikimora hurting people, being unhappy, and having a sad backstory; But we don’t have Kikimora reconsider the harm she’s doing. She accepts Luz’s help for her own sake, and instead of empathizing with Luz as a result, Kikimora betrays her when she sees a potential promotion. Kikimora is let down, we see later that she’s been demoted to the Crate Coven.

But then she attempts to bring Hunter to Belos, and it’s revealed later that she knows what happens to Grimwalkers like him, and has known about the genocide and still went along out of obsessive devotion. Despite this, Kikimora does not warrant Belos’ callousness, it’s not triumphant it’s just cruel because he was going to kill her just for being a demon, villain or saint it didn’t matter. So Kikimora is given her revenge when she helps free the Collector, who splatters Belos, an injury that leads to his eventual death, and stops the draining spell, saving Kikimora’s own life in the process!

At which point, you think she’d learn, right? But instead Kikimora does the exact same thing as Belos, which Luz calls out, despite having had her pedestal shattered because Kikimora doesn’t care about the harm to others, only herself. And so she can only temporarily be an ally, before going back to being an antagonist; The system is fine if she’s in charge, she doesn’t learn anything from what happened. And Kikimora is captured by rebelling students, and forced into community service four years later.

There’s also Belos, whom… Okay do I even need to explain??? We learn that he is upset by his brother’s death and misses him, too. And he does feel guilt about murdering Caleb and even the Grimwalkers, they weren’t purely replaceable in his eyes! But he never reconsiders his harm, he keeps repeating it, he never changes. Belos doesn’t even acknowledge that he’s doing witches and demons wrong. And while we do get his backstory, it’s clear from his priorities, the details, and Masha and the Titan’s own takeaways that he fully chose his misery, and that his backstory is not so sad with this in mind.

I wonder if the takeaway is that these characters can’t truly get better because in the end, they won’t acknowledge the harm they’ve done; They won’t admit it, they won’t do anything about it. And so they can only be counted on to care about making themselves feel better, but that’s it. And so on a pragmatic level, co-existence has to be forced.

Because with Kikimora, she’s made to do community service, and with prisons being abolished for hospitals, she’s likely on house arrest because the alternative is execution and no state should have that power. And with Belos, he proved himself too dangerous, he was well past his lifespan and dying anyway, and they were not going to sacrifice even a single, unwilling Palisman to keep Belos alive.

As for all the other characters, for whom things do work out with? I find it interesting how Sad Backstory is something for the protagonists and viewers to unlock. Maybe the idea is that the protagonists aren’t prepped to forgive a character simply over what happened in the past, just what’s happening now, and what they’re trying to do about it. You can still empathize when they’re sad, even without a backstory for context because look at Luz during Covention!

But as a whole it makes sense for the takeaways of those around them, because why should I care that you were sad, if you’re still being a jerk anyway? Now I know your sad backstory, but you’ve known it the whole time you were hurting me, so what difference does it make about you if you’re not changing; Do you just expect me to keep forgiving you out of pity?

It could be a consideration for what characters around them might realistically feel. The sad backstory, the re-contextualizing for why they’re like that, is the cherry on top to their arc; Yes this person sucks, but maybe they aren’t having a great time either. They give people a reason to be sympathetic. And then those people get to really appreciate their side of the story when they don’t have to worry about still being hurt.

Maybe it’s also a message to the audience, because with other characters showing that you still need to be careful in extending a hand, and given the toxic and abusive relationships we see, maybe this could be the context for that? An abuser’s sad backstory is the last thing on your mind; Your first thought should be that they’re hurting you.

But if they’re looking for help and actually want to improve, then you can offer it, and if they accept, then you can let yourself be caught up over their tragic past, instead of making excuses for them from the get-go because of that, RIP Hunter. When it comes to Willow, she was allowed to be angry well after learning Amity’s Sad Backstory, when she felt Amity wasn’t pulling her weight in making up for everything.

By contrast we have Eda not really giving a damn whether the curse was an accident, because Lilith still took knowingly took Luz hostage and threatened her, captured Eda. So her present actions are being unaddressed even if Lilith thinks her past one is. And when King vouches for Lilith, Eda refrains from taking vengeance; Lilith saving the family and taking the curse, past and present actions made up for, culminates in forgiveness.

It’s not enough that Lilith felt bad about it, she needed to tangibly do something about it, something genuine that doesn’t miss the point (unlike a certain emperor), and so to a no-nonsense adult like Eda, that’s when she can be forgiven. That’s when her sad backstory resonates, just as for the audience, that’s when we learn it so we can even appreciate it at all.

Some of this may just be basic storytelling conventions, like of course you’re going to get the character first and their characterizing actions, and then their backstory. But then again you could just as easily mix things up. Or it could just be an extension of this show’s larger fascination with re-contextualizing previous scenes and details. I just think it’s an interesting pattern to dwell over, and I wonder if it was intentional, how much was intentional, etc. Because with a show wanting to help kids understand abuse, to avoid it and/or realize it’s happening to them, to get help and heal, and finally figure out if they should forgive their abusers, if they want to… All of this could work in that regard.