#actually care if everyone hates it or no one uses it (ideally; people would; of course)

[selfinflictedgunshotwound]

having twin peaks thoughts & theories bc i just started watching the return (i know spoilers ofc) and i have literally nowhere else to put my thoughts so i'm just gonna dump them here.

obviously i don't every single thing about twin peaks was meant to just be like... One Thing and that's it. i think there's room for interpretation for a reason butttt the one thing i just keep going back to about the show is just that. like. it's about the corruption of innocence and the perversion of family. of cycles of violence and abuse. children being sexually taken advantage of by "trusted" adults. teenage prostitution rings. barely a single relationship in the town wherein people aren't cheating on someone/cheated in the past. bob being "the evil that men do" (tbf this is technically just albert's theory but i choose to believe it) and now this weird thing with judy/the experiment (are they the same thing? idk yet) being the thing that CREATED bob? there's this weird thing i get with the black lodge/waiting room like... good people can't survive there without disappearing completely (nonexistence) or being permanently changed (in the case of annie, ig)

and then ofc you have the tormented souls being trapped there (laura, maddy, caroline(tbh idk what was going on w her doppelganger being there?), leland(he was originally a victim too, i'm getting there)) because of the things that were done TO them. i was thinking like. in regards to the frogmoth that crawled into sarah's mouth (when she was a child) and everything that's going on w/ her in the return (watching insanely violent things on tv, "eating" men, etc.) ... compounded with leland's story about bob "I was just a boy. I saw him in my dreams. He said he - he wanted to play. He opened me and I invited him and he came inside me." ... mr. c's introduction song being a twisted version of "american woman" (i've heard this is also related to diane's doppelganger, as well. makes sense) w/ the stand-out lyrics (aka the backwards ones) being "all my headstrong women... don't let em put you in a corner. make em salute you like a flag on the fourth of july." and sarah palmer having a shortened and remixed version of "good man" blaring in her house that just repeats the lyrics "i'm a good man. i'm having fun." like. there's smth to this i'm not insane...

anyways to go even FURTHER... there being specific emphasis on being in the right time and the right place. opposites (giant and dwarf, young and old, black and white, etc.) and the planets jupiter and saturn.

the experiment violently killing that couple that was watching the glass box bc they were having sex? or because they were(n't) watching? or both? the experiment very obviously being the thing inside of sarah but it pulling off it's own face within sarah and revealing a smile that looks eerily similar to laura's (even if not exact... ppl are such pedants about things being exact in this show where literally everything is drenched in like 8 metaphors at any given time) AND the laura in the black lodge/waiting room removing her own face in the exact same way. it's weird that in this instance, laura's dialectical opposite or opposing force is her own mother who she claims she has so much in common with. but this goes even a step further because when the experiment spawned in the glass box, it has a gold orb (or smth like it) like the one laura's like... spirit? was born from? AND APPARENTLY there's a little clip of what sounds like sheryl lee's voice saying "gone" or "the one" or something like that while the experiment is flying towards them (not unlike an owl) to kill them... hm. not to mention the experiment has a proboscis-like knife that comes out of its mouth that it uses to kill the guy sexually harrassing sarah at the bar... and carrie page has a dead guy in her motel room that has a hole in his head... could obviously def just be a bullet-wound LMAO but idk let's have fun w it!

i do think there's a crazy connection between sarah, laura, and the experiment/judy/whatever. "the room seems different... and men are coming. something happened to me. i don't feel good..." obviously, i will be able to make more connections and add to this theory as i watch more but from what i've seen i think there's a huge connection to children and how easily it is for them to be taken advantage of (literally every member of the palmer family was taken advantage of as a child when an evil entity entered them. i mean. how more on the nose can you be!!) or for their innocence to get stolen (prostitution, drugs, murder, becoming child brides to abusive older men... the list goes on). and there's obvious themes of intense sexual violence and dreams and blahhhh. it's like 5:30am and i'm theorizing about a show that will never have an actual answer LMAO... to be fair though it's not ABOUT actually "solving" it for me. i think most media works well when you get what you want or need from it and just kind of make that The Point and, for me, twin peaks will always be about the tragedy of laura palmer before it's about anything else!

i really do like that theory that dale cooper is just like. an entity that laura dreamed up to save her originally but in the end, after she had finally escaped being laura palmer and that life and that house and her trauma, he ended up bringing her right back to it. it's like. how does that not make people insane?

[scare-ard--sleigh]

y'all i'm sorry but they're not gonna get rid of tumblr live lmao, that one's for the shareholders

[deathbxnny]

Loved your writing of arcane characters saying things they regret during an argument. Would you be willing to do a version with Jayce, Viktor and Silco? I apologize if you don't prefer to write about these characters, you can ignore this

Arcane men saying things they'll regret during an argument. | Viktor, Jayce, Silco x Gn!Reader

Oh, I absolutely am willing to do that, Anon!! These are going to be pretty irredeemable, though, so there is not going to be a part two to this... anyways, enjoy!!<3

Content: Season 2 spoilers!!, heavy angst, hurt/no comfort, break ups, swearing, gaslighting, toxic behavior, sfw

Reader has no mentioned pronouns.

((Not proofread))

》VIKTOR

"This... isn't you anymore, Viktor. A-And I refuse to keep lying to myself like this either!" You hissed out one night, unable to keep it in any longer. You were losing your mind in this compound of his, unable to understand how seemingly no one was able to recognize how wrong everything was. People who were "healed" by him weren't the same after. They turned into robotic and uncanny husks of their old selves.

A terrifying sight that unnerved you deeply. And only you here.

The nail in the coffin was perhaps the skeptical appearance of Councilor Salo. Never in your life had you ever seen him give a damn about anyone but himself. He lived a life of riches and materialism, far from the selfless and minimalistic lifestyle found here. But after your boyfriend healed him of his inability to walk, he suddenly preached the same ideals that everyone else did.

Peace, love, and community.

Those were the important pillars of this idyllic place Viktor had created, and yet you couldn't see past the clear red flags that weaved themselves in their white attire. You were never much of a genius like he was, but it didn't take much brainpower to understand that this was not a great place to be in. No matter how hard he attempted to convince you of that.

"... I'm sorry you feel that way. But I'm afraid I can not follow your reasoning for this claim. I am myself... just someone greater. More meaningful. Isn't that beautiful?" His voice was so gentle and patient in comparison to yours. Something that wasn't unusual to him. But the way he used that tone now made you sick. "Terrifying is a better word, actually... Why can't you see that this is just wrong? You're not healing anyone-" "-But I am. Look around you. Is that not enough for you to finally believe me, my love? I want to create a better world... one in which we can live freely together." Your mind spun, his words ringing in your head dangerously. And you hated every second of it.

This isn't the man you loved anymore. He must have died that fateful day when the sky fell from above, and he covered you with his body to save you. His last act of kindness as your boyfriend and lover before he perished and left behind whoever he was. And you'd be damned if the last good memory got tainted too.

"No. I will not let you play with my mind anymore. I've had enough." You pushed past him, wanting to finally escape this borderline cult. Originally, you had only followed after him because you couldn't bear being without him. Jayce was right, though. He really was different now.

"Hm... it seems like I was right about you after all." You stopped in your tracks yet didn't dare face him. "You truly are not worth saving... you can't grasp the beauty of what I have made. I suppose everyone's claims for your low intelligence were, unfortunately, right. What a shame." How could a devil have such a soothing, loving voice? Why did the monster that now lurked in your shadow have to have your lovers face? The cruelty was too much to bear.

Who would have thought that you'd finally leave him for good after all the years you've taken care of him? This moment felt so surreal and yet ironically freeing as well. The end was near. "Did you... ever even love me?" You asked aimlessly, but didn't wait to hear his answer.

Perhaps if you had, however, you would've seen that sudden spark of surprise in his eyes, as you slipped out of his fingers for good at last.

》JAYCE

You had looked everywhere for him. And after also asking everyone under the sun if they had seen your boyfriend, you had eventually determined that he must've somehow gone missing. Worried sick, it pained you knowing that there wasn't much you could do either, considering that everyone was too busy getting ready for a borderline war and Caitlyn became unreachable as a result. Yet just as you began to lose hope, your dear lover finally returned... but he wasn't the same.

He didn't look the same, nor did he act the same, in fact. He looked so different that it even visibly startled you when you found him rummaging through his once shared laboratory. You had just returned from another wrap around the building in hopes of finding it, and whilst you'd consider yourself lucky this time around, all you now felt was genuine dread.

"Jayce...? What happened to you? I looked for you everywhere and-" You stilled at the intense look he gave you, his face flinching for a moment, as though his mind couldn't comprehend your image. Glancing over at his peculiar weapon of choice, you felt unnerved at how even that looked uncanny. The entire situation was unnerving you deeply, to say the least. "You... You shouldn't be here." He finally muttered, his voice deeper and colder than it ever was. Jayce always had such a fun and warm voice. If you didn't know any better, you would've questioned who he was a while ago.

"Hey... tell me where you were, okay?" You said, trying a more gentle approach as you neared him, eyes focused on his clearly injured leg. Had he been kidnapped? You doubted it. So what made him end up like this? Nothing you could come with explained his appearance. His hair and beard were way longer than they should have gotten in the short span of time he was gone, too.

Reaching down carefully, you tried to inspect his leg, but he seemed less receptive to the idea. Or so you assumed, after he shoved you away roughly and held the hammer to your face at impressive speed. His eyes were glossy, as though he wasn't entirely all there. He was reliving a terrifying moment in his mind, unaware of the horror you were going through. Never could you have ever thought of ending up in this position with him. "Jayce! What the hell are you doing-?" "-Get away! I know what you are... you've been sent by him too, weren't you?" You let out a shriek when he swung the hammer at you, only giving you a fraction of a second to jump out of the way.

Falling onto your behind, you quickly crawled backward and away from him, tears welling up in your eyes. Your scream seemed to at least wake him up, though, as he finally lowered his weapon and blinked at you in surprise. "Fucks sake! What is wrong with you?" You yelled out, yet as fast as his face softened, it hardened again. "... Sorry... I need to leave." Quickly making his way past you, he only barely escaped your presence before you grabbed onto the fabric of his pants. "Why? Where are you going? Why can't you tell me anything?"

The look in his eyes made you shrink away. This wasn't your Jayce anymore. "... The future of everyone in Piltover hinges on me being there on time. Now, make yourself useful for once and get out of my way." Shaking you off harshly, he left you crying on the cold floor of the once lively laboratory, not once looking back.

》SILCO

When you first met Silco, you were both still leading simple lives in the last drop with his brother and all of your other friends in Zaun. The lanes were harsh and, at times, cruel, yet you fought through the agony of it all together. Years down the line later, you find yourself still reminiscing on those heavenly days, particularly those of your lover who had turned for the worst in the time being. And the question of why you didn't listen to Vander's warnings came to mind again then. Perhaps you were just too used to excusing everything his brother did, especially after he had attempted to drown him so horrifically, which left him permanently injured.

But even so... why didn't you just listen? Why did it take so many years for you to finally throw the towel and leave for good? Finally realise that the man you loved was a monster? A disgusting and evil monster who was willing to use the plight of others for his own gain. And for what? Money? Fame? Power? It was all an ego trip you had far more than enough of. Zaun was his playground, and an escape was impossible. You'd be, however damned if you didn't at least try to anyways. Even if just in Vander's honor as a long-awaited apology.

Pushing past the crowd in the stuffy, full Last drop, you finally reached his office upstairs. Not caring about formalities anymore, you knocked and opened the door without awaiting a reply. If death met you behind it, then so be it. "Ah, darling, in a hurry today, aren't you?" "We need to talk. Alone." Short and straight to the point. Raising a brow, he shared a look with Jinx, who was just done giving him his daily "medicine". Oh, how you hated your lover's dearest creation. Shimmer. The exact thing that had ruined your lives for good. But you pushed away your disdain for the task at hand.

Giving Jinx a dismissive wave of his hand, you waited for her to be gone for good before taking a breath to speak. But Silco beat you to it. Always so painfully perceptive. "The answer is no, if you're here asking to leave. I refuse to let you go, dear. You have no one else but me after all. You wouldn't survive on your own." He always underestimated you, so this wasn't an all to surprising response. And if you were just a couple of months younger, you would have maybe agreed and backed off. But you were sick of his games.

"I didn't come here to ask for permission, Silco. I'm here to say goodbye." The slightest, softest crack at the last word gave you away horribly. You certainly didn't expect your feelings for the man to betray you, but even that won't stop you now. Said man just hummed in response as he stood up to face the window. His hands calmly lit a cigar, very much unbothered. But you knew that your sentence had gotten to him anyway with how his hand shook ever so slightly. Out of anger, most likely.

"So you think you can do whatever you want? Leave after you've spent so many years at my side? Your hands aren't as clean as you think they are, darling. Even yours are a bright violet." A reference to the shimmer vials on his desk. He knew how much you hated it, so this felt like a jab. A jab at the deep guilt you felt every day for enabling the death of all of your friends indirectly. If only you had stopped him from the start... then maybe you wouldn't have to feel the dread that ruined you from the inside anymore.

"I've accepted my flaws and sins a long time ago. I may not be better than you... but sometimes, in order to end the cycle, you have to walk away and leave some things behind." You suddenly felt so content, his cold and terrible words not reaching you anymore. You were so close to leaving. So close to leaving Zaun and Piltover like you've always dreamed. But Silco just scoffed in disbelief.

"Hah, don't give me that self-righteous shit... I've been there for you for so many years, dear. I've taken care of you, fed you, and loved you to my best ability for so long. The least you could do is be grateful for my kindness." "So you think I'm a burden?" The silence was deafening, but it was enough to confirm your long-standing suspicions. He had lost his love for you a long time ago. Perhaps the side that loved you so purely drowned in the river with him.

"... Goodbye. I hope one day you can walk away too." You turned and began walking out then, suddenly realising that it's finally over. Shoving your hands into the pocket of your coat, you felt the ticket for the skyship you had to take. "Don't you dare leave. Don't you dare it-" All bark and no bite as usual. There was no stopping you now, and he knew it. He was letting you go after all. You could just hope that one day he'd listen to your words and end the cycle, too.

What a shame that you won't be there at his side to see it, however... maybe in another life then.

[scivors]

Andre Nikto head canons

We have little information about Niko but here's what I've gathered..

((Also I'd like to kindly add, hi, hello, my name is Mika and I am a Bosnian. The chances of me adding some accurate slav head canons are always high but never low!!🙏🏻 ALSO IM TERRIBLY OBSESSED WITH NIKTO SO IF ENJOY THIS AND YOU WANT DATING NIKTO HEAD CANONS PLEASE LET ME KNOWWW))

Genuine head canons:

Andre Nikto (Никто) is a (scary) Russian military man, roughly 193/194 centimetres (when you compare him to Simon's height) He suffers with acute dissociative disorder (better said DID) yet is still serving the military cause of how he preforms during battle.., so the military still views him as a ideal soldier for combat despite his disorder..

No hate but from what I've seen in some art works claiming it's his "face reveal" you people have to understand that under his mask, his face is disfigured.. so, no he won't be an attractive super model under that mask of his..

I don't think you people are aware how badass Nikto is as a character, almost SIMILAR as Ghost who's in the military for the same reason as everybody else, to risk their life.

Although judging by Nikto's voice lines, he doesn't care who he's killing..if it were up to him, if his teammates serve him zero purpose he'd care less if they die..(after all, you're just a target..) but being a professional, he can't allow that to happen to his teammates

If you look up closely, Nikto wears a military uniform that is different from everyone else with MP-0 written on it. Now if you don't know, MP stands for Military Police (enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state.) and zero next to it meaning "nothing" and this is important which is what Nikto refers himself as..

Yeah so about that..

I have a theory about Nikto's nickname

After being captured and brutally tortured with whatever sick tendency mister Z had in store for him. It was Mister Z that couldn't really get much Information about Andre.

They would start torturing him while repeating to Andre that he's nothing, he's no one, what he is is nothing but what he is is everything. Those words play in the back of his head and they never seen to go away.

(This is extremely relevant cause Mister Z tried to get to know a bit of Andre by looking through some research come to find his citizenship and language are censored making him a nobody. Keep in mind, if he found any information about Andre viewing from personal life etc. it will be used as blackmail..)

After recovering his scars and taken to therapy after 7 years he was diagnosed with DID

NOW moving on to the DID part

(What I said about the fact that people overlook Nikto's disorder, I mean it..

Some don't really write about his disorder which is fine but when someone does it gets messy. )

Alters aren't easy to deal with, it's actually gonna haunt you till the day that you die cause there's no cure for it. And in Nikto's case it's from PTSD and Nikto is very aware of his alters..

Let me tell you how Nikto's disorder affects him. Switching can be consensual, forced or triggered, Nikto values silence as much as the next person cause he's dealing with much inside his head already. The kind of guy that would "watch TV" while dissociating with a 100 yard glare with very slow blinking and a slight headache..

There are times where his personalities would correct him when hes referring to himself (example: I'm up..(his personality correctes him) WE'RE up..)

"He made us do this" (and other voice lines I can't recall..)

Maybe cut bits of an apple with a knife and eat it while watching TV..

He has medication prescribed for him but he didn't wanna depend on medications cause they're just drugs..they're nothing to him but just drugs..

He has dissociative amnesia too, sometimes he would wander around confused maybe even annoyed. The amnesia appears to be caused by traumatic or stressful experiences endured or witnessed..Although the forgotten information may be inaccessible to consciousness, it sometimes continues to influence behavior

Like I said he likes quiet people, someone who doesn't waste their air on small talk..

Example; don't really talk to him about the weather, unless you have something interesting to say but if the conversation is gonna go nowhere , don't talk..he finds that a waste of time

People assume just because he's Russian that he likes vodka, he doesn't like vodka...-He doesn't like any alcoholic beverage cause it makes his problems a lot worse,...maybe If you were lending him some as an offering, he'll take it but he has SOME self control, he's okay with coffee, though..

It's relevant cause he stays awake at late hours since he finds it difficult to sleep, he'll stay up late with no music, nothing, just a silent room. It doesn't matter if he tries the military tactic where you just close your eyes and turn off your thoughts, it's very different when you have voices screaming inside your head...

Despite everything he's still intelligent, so being smart + strength + sharp reflexes and you got yourself a criminal

Death doesn't phase him, but to him death is like sleeping, he's not scared of death considering that he's been through hell those past few months.

He likes the simple things, don't complicate anything..because he's quick with catching an attitude..be blunt and forward and stumble over your words..

Nikto shows confidence in the battlefield,just like König, except he has a high rush of adrenaline and will laugh at the enemies death.

Fun fact: in this one comic Price calls Nikto "psycho"

And it's without a doubt that he is one.., a sadistic, sociopathic, psychopath

After splitting, his alters can and will get more aggressive and do more harm and damage to others cause they're doing the most at protecting the host.. (depending on the alter, some wanna protect him while some wanna hurt him)

Oh by the way about the intelligence part, I mean he has a good good memory with remembering faces..

He doesn't like people looking at him funny, he'll get angry really fast and annoyed at the same time.., he won't show hesitation when it comes to approaching you and asking you what are you looking at (it's like trying to avoid eye contact with a homeless man Infront of a store, that's how scared you would be)

He's slow with jokes or any form of humor that you throw at him??? You'll be excited to tell him a joke, and when you do he just looks at you and tells you never to do that again..,or just straight up tell you he doesn't get it...??? and probably trying to explain it either he gets it or not he'll still tell you that it's not funny

He doesn't argue, or he does? Arguing with him will costs you avoiding getting objects thrown at you so you can get out of his sight..tragic, now you have a teammate that hates your guts and won't apologize for it.

[alpaca-clouds]

Why do people struggle so much with understanding pacing?

Okay, let me talk about my pet peeve when it comes to writing in any medium. Pacing.

People, who know me for long, will know that this has been the thing I have been complaining about since I was like 12. And there is a good reason for it.

See, when I learned to write, there was this guy who I greatly admired as an author. And after bugging him for a while (look folks, the internet was a very different place from what it is now) he did give me some recommendations on books on writing. And a lot of them went deeply into his pet peeve, which - you guessed it - was pacing as well.

And thus, I learned early on about story structure, and pacing, and how to pace out a story in a way grips the audience. This material I read went onto different techniques for different mediums, into how different cultures had a different ways of dealing with this, and so on, and so forth.

Some of my main take aways were, that a lot of very long stories struggled massively with pacing, and that a ton of people also very miscalculated their ability to handle characters in terms of pacing - because characters and pacing are two things that are very, very heavily connected.

I also learned something else, though: That a lot of western writing advice did not understand anything about pacing outside of the idea that stories were supposed to have three acts - or maybe five - and ideally from a certain fateful day in the early 2000s on, would follow the "save the cat" formular. (Mind you, I do not hate "Save the Cat", however, this formular has been created for movies. It works at times somewhat well for books, too. But it definitely does not for for pretty much anything serialized, because that is not what it was developed for.)

And I also learned another thing: Most people do not understand pacing either, because pacing is not a thing that is ever taught in normal school (like most things that are about creative writing are not). So, while some people might have a gut feeling that the pacing of something might be off, they rarely can actually say why. And this is only worsened by the fact that today's tiktok addicted society is so used to consuming ultra condensed media, that they will perceive anything less condenses than 1 minute tiktok videos as "too slow and boring".

So, please allow me - the guy who kinda hyperfixated on this specific writing skill - to talk about pacing. And this will be in the following points:

What is pacing actually?

How do characters relate to pacing?

Pacing, Streaming and the supposed "filler episode".

Pacing and Fantasy

Pacing in Action vs anything else

Pacing in books vs visual media

What Is Pacing actually?

Okay, I think one of the main issues when it comes to understanding pacing is, that a lot of people see pacing on a on a spectrum that goes from "I am bored" to "I can't follow the plot anymore". But that actually does not always have to do with the pacing - obviously.

Technically pacing is the speed in which the plot moves. Or, to make it more quantifiable: "How many plot points (beats) are covered per either time (in any timed medium) or per page (in anything you read)". Which makes sense at the first glance - but does actually often not line up with the subjective perception of this. Becau se here is the thing: No, fight scenes are not automatically fast paces. A lot of modern action movies have super slow paced - in terms of story pacing - action scenes. Because yes, during those action sequences a lot of STUFF happens, but nothing of it actually is in any way related to the plot.

Look, I freaking adore the Fast & Furious movies. But you could literally edit those movies down to like 45 minutes each and not lose a single plot beat. But of course, nobody would watch those movies - because yes, me and everyone else who adored those movies, is there to watch them lunch cars into space and see stuff blow up. I don't much care about the characters or the plot.

This is by the way also the kinda point that me and other people talk about, when we are unimpressed by "oh, but sex scenes don't add anything to the plot", while the same people would often not make the same argument about action scenes - even though there is a ton of movies and shows where the action scenes really do not add anything to the plot. A lot of people just do not perceive action sequences as slow pacing, because even if nothing that happens on the screen actually adds anything to the plot or moves it forward, it is undeniable, that STUFF is happening. So basically monkey brain will go: "Hehe, things go boom!"

Don't get me wrong: there absolutely are stories in which the action is moving the plot. Mad Max Fury Road is a great example. The movie is also about 60% action - but the action scenes actually add to the plot.

Meanwhile nothing tells you as much about how unimportant some of the MCU action scenes are, than the fact, that they are often done by a completely different team and will be done apart from the rest of the movie.

But yes, traditionally the idea was, that towards the "finale" of a piece of media, a lot more plot beats would happen over a shorter amount of time. You will see that also in a lot of beat sheets. There are more beats that need to happen in the third act of a story - if we go by three act structure. And often there is actually even more plot developments, as usually in a finale all the "plotlines" will kinda finish up in the end. So even plotlines where not a lot has happened to this point - this shows especially in serialized works both in TV shows and stuff like manga or comics - the important plot points will then often happen close to the finale, because it feels more "right".

In older serialized media - especially TV shows prior to streaming - you also had the same thing hold true towards the finale of a "story arc". In a lot of older shows, you would usually see a structure that looked like this.

The "rise" here technically has less to do with more stuff happening in later arcs or seasons - and more with the threat-level rising, and the convulutedness of a story. lol

But yeah, the take-away from this part should be: No, action does not equal fast pacing. There can be action-heavy shows with super slow narrative pacing - but it will to many not feel this way, because at least action is interesting to watch. Which also might be an explanation to why people are a lot worse in seeing the issue with action-scenes that are not adding anything in visual media, but might actually notice it in written stories. Because in books action scenes do not feel "fast paced" in the same way they feel in movies, where the often faster editing and the amount of motion on screen will create this effect.

Oh, and on the other side: Of course there can be slow paced plots that will leave you having problems following. At times, because they are badly written (aka: the media does not give you all the information you need) - and at times, because a piece of media might expect you to know a certain bit of information that you do not know. I can definitely think of a variety of scifi media, that just expects you to know stuff about computer stuff or space, and will not explain it to you. Which might make you need longer time to take plot developments in, and then leaves you reeling.

Another thing however that is also important is: If the pacing stays actually the same throughout a piece of media - rather than accelarating towards the finale (or finales if there are multiple) - it actually will feel wrong in some way. Often people (even I, who hyperfixates on this specific thing) struggle to point at it at first. But yes, this very much is an issue that also can happen. You want the pacing to accelerate towards certain points in the plot - and then slow down. If you had an important point, you want a few slower scenes/episodes/chapters afterwards, to allow the audience to somewhat absorb all the new things you presented them with.

How do characters relate to pacing?

Alright, now we come to the dicey part - specifically, because a lot of people (which includes narratologists, creative writing professors, and people professionally writing) actually kinda do not fully agree on this. So, fair warning: This is how I think.

A character arc in many cases absolutely is a part of the plot. Most media we consume these days are character driven, so the characters are absolutely centrally connected to the plot and the plot mainly exists to have the character move from point A to point B. Or, to make it more basic: To have a character realize that their WANT is not their NEED.

Sure, those characters will usually also accomplish something plot-related. But them accomplishing them is more often than not heavily connected to them fulfilling their character arc. (Please note: characters having a want but having to realize a need is something that is core of western storytelling. However, given that it makes for interesting character arcs, a lot of Asian media these days also will use this as a central driver for character development.)

In some pieces of media, the character arcs are way more heavily tied into the beats of the main plot, than in other. In adventure, action, and related a lot of fantasy and scifi, there is most of the time a character arc happening parallel to the main plot beats. Meanwhile often enough in more down to earth drama and romance, plot beats and character development beats are heavily interwoven. This is not a hard and fast rule - there absolutely is fantasy where the character arc is the plot arc, just as there is romance where the development does not play as heavily into the main plot - but you can generally observe it.

However, no matter how strongly the character development beats line up with plot beats, you cannot deny one thing: character beats are beats that also add to the pacing - even if they technically do not move the main plot forward. So, for example, if you have an episode in a show or a chapter in a book, where important beats happens in terms of a characters development (for example: they realize something important about themselves), this does not necessarily slow the pacing down - even if no actual plot beats happen.

What the fuck is a plot beat? What is a character beat?

This part of the essay was originally not included, but the people reading over it said I should include this.

If we say, that Pacing is basically the description of "Plot Beats per Time" or rather "Plot Beats and/or Character Beats per Time", then we also need to say, what exactly a Plot Beat is. I will fully admit, that this is one of those things in which I forget that this is not a thing taught in school.

I mentioned "Save the Cat" before. "Save the Cat" is a book about writing movies and specifically about pacing out a movie in a way that it is captivating. It mainly focuses on action, but you can absolutely use it for most other genres. And this comes with a so called "beat sheet", a collection of the main story beats that happen, showing when they are going to happen. It looks like this:

Basically a Beat is a scene, in which the plot (or a character arc) is moved forward by a bit. Basically anything that reveals something to the main characters, anything where the basic assumptions about the plot change, anything like that.

Examples for Plot Beats would be:

Character learns about something going on

Characters find out something important about the plot

Someone (either protagonist or antagonist) gets killed or injured

Characters get a new power or item that is important to the plot

Romance goes forward or a reason for the romance to happen is found

Characters find a hint for something they want to reach

And examples of Character Beats would be:

Character learns something about themselves

Character makes a decision for themselves

Characters realizes feelings about something or someone

Character overcomes trauma

And mind you, because I cannot fit this anywhere else: If you read these you might realize, why Musicals are basically a cheat for very fast pacing. Because you can put an entire character arc into a 4 minute song. This is why musical animated shows like Steven Universe or My Little Pony managed to pull some insanely paced episodes, like the Empire City episodes for SU, and the episode in which the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their Cutie Marks. Musicals are insane when it comes to this.

And something that you have to realize: While for movies and books certain Beat Sheets (Save the Cat is not the only one) work rather well, those Beat Sheets usually do not work well for Shows. And currently we are living in a time, where this becomes very noticable - because a lot of modern shows are written and aired as basically 4-8 hour movies, using often just the "Save the Cat" beat sheet (if you have read Save the Cat, you will see it EVERYWHERE, because it is so frequently used in western media), but... obviously, Save the Cat is made for something that has 2 hours, and as such a lot of modern media feels strangely slow and stretched out.

Pacing, Streaming, and the supposed "filler episode"

(Yes, this needed to be the gif for this. Because no filler episode has lodged itself quite as strong into my brain as this one.)

So, let me talk about the issue in modern media. Because oh boy.

As I said: I hyperfixated on this specific writing skill forever - and as such I was annoyed by "filler episodes" in TV shows. To explain for the youngest people (not that I am assuming a lot of those are on this hellsite lol): "Filler" was the name given to material that did not move the plot forward at all. So a "filler episode" was an episode, that was just there to fill the episode slot for the week, while no plot was happening. I am not fully sure whether the term originated with anime - but at least back in the early 2000s, before Shonen-Anime were done as 12-26 seasons that then allowed the manga to get ahead in between, "filler" was also the name used for those story arcs that the anime people made up for shows like Naruto, One Piece or Dragonball, that were not in the manga - and hence obviously also never added to any overarching narrative.

And what can I say: We did not appreciate the filler episode enough. Because this related very much to the last part: While filler episodes did indeed not add to the plot and usually by definition did not the character development, they actually still added something often enough.

They allowed the audience to get to know the characters a bit better and get a better feeling for the character relationships - and those episodes take out a bit of speed, which is actually important.

As said before: The pacing should not be even throughout an entire piece of media. In a TV series after an episode that was especially tense and pushed the plot or characters forward a lot, there should be ideally at least one or two episodes that move forward slower or even not at all. This allows the viewer to sit with the new developments for a bit - and of course the characters to have a moment to breathe and process whatever happened to them.

There is also the fact that those episodes usually give the audience a better understanding for the characters - and if you have an audience who at this point ideally care about some the characters, this will even be more successful.

And as I said. Back in ye olden days, a lot of people - me included - complained so much about Filler. But we were wrong. Fillers are amazing, as long as they do not overtake the whole show.

Pacing and Fantasy

Okay, let's talk about a thing, that is somewhat funny. A lot of fantasy - specifically written fantasy media - often has a pacing problem. And this problem comes from the Worldbuilding. Others forms of fantasy media (other than games - though pacing in games is whole different matter) have this too at times, but it tends to be worst in books.

Basically, when you are a fantasy worldbuilder, you have this whole world. And this leaves you with two problems.

a) You are afraid that people will not be able to follow the plot if you not give them a lot of information about this world and how it differs from ours.

b) Well, you build this entire world. And the people should KNOW.

So, a lot of fantasy media basically regularly will stop to explain to the reader or audience, whatever is happening right now. Some writers manage somewhat naturally put this in. Maybe they have a character that does not know a lot about for example magic or dragons, and they can ask questions and act as an audience stand-in. But even in cases, where the worldbuilding is somewhat brought in naturally (which by far is not all of them - because people usually do not naturally talk about stuff they both know, or think a lot about something they find naturally) those "explanation" pieces will make the plot come to a screeching halt.

So, the more worldbuilding you explain, the slower your pacing is.

And of course, pacing is not a reliable thing to keep people reading, and pacing will not always turn people off. But you know how people complain about how slow Lord of the Rings is? This is because of course, every time that Tolkien describes a piece of landscape over multiple pages, there is no plot happening on those pages. And while I personally think some of those descriptions are darn stunning, it is one of those things many people will not like.

However, this makes it a bit complicated. Because yes, worldbuilding explanations will slow down the pacing to a degree that can be problematic. But if you explain too little worldbuilding, people might struggle to follow the story. Which again is the most common problem if the pacing is "too fast" as well. Basically, people do not properly follow the plot and will struggle to understand what is happening and why.

But the opposite is true as well. I have read way too many fantasy books, where after the first 100 pages, I know a lot about the city the plot is set in, or about the magic system, but sadly have so far not been privy to any information what the plot is about, what the characters try to archive, or even who actually the characters are. And that, yeah... Is probably the most common reason why I put aside a variety of fantasy books in the past.

Pacing in Action-media vs anything else

Okay, let me talk about one other thing. See, the word "pacing" is at times used in some other context: In visual media, pacing will be used for the editing of what we see. Basically the amount of cuts that happen within a scene. Or, in a comic, the distribution of panels is also seen as a pacing element.

And anyone who heard people complain about how at times confusing the editing in action movies is, you know that this at times can get too much.

Still, in visual media action scenes feel usually fast - because the characters are moving around rather fast. In a visual piece of media, action scenes are often thrilling, because the characters are in constant danger of dying, and because a lot of stuff is happening. This often works better in visual media, than in written pieces. While it absolutely is possible to write thrilling action scenes, a lot of writers struggle with this, because they tend to overdescribe and that takes the speed out of the prose. But generally speaking, a couple of punches thrown - something that in a movie takes about 10 seconds - will in book easily end up in 200-500 words, which you will not read quite as fast. A bit more about that later.

And then there is the issue with the action scenes, that even is true for visual medial, is that they often really do not have any important plotbeats. Sure, if the characters have their final battle, that is a plot point. But in a lot of action media - especially TV shows - there are a lot of scenes included that really do not add anything, but just are there because folks love watching action scenes.

This goes so far, that people will think a show or movie with a lot of action scene will just be seen as "good fast pacing", even though if the actual pacing in terms of plot beats being spaced out is rather bad. As a good example I will once more nod at the Fast & Furious and the Mission Impossible movies, that often have horrid pacing and very confusing plots - but they do not feel really like it, because the movies are like 60% action scenes, and hence they do not feel like it when you watch them.

It can work at times. I spoke about my love of the F&F movies. Can I tell you a lot of the characters? Nope, but the action scenes are fun to watch!

But this also tends to mean, that in a badly paced movie or show, that is badly paced because the action scenes not adding any plot beats, everything tends to fall apart when the action scenes do not work. And often enough action scenes will still be prioritized over everything else in many of those pieces of media, making things fall apart easily.

Pacing in books vs visual media

I have hinted at this now multiple times: Written media is generally a bit harder to pace than visual media, because of the things you can and cannot control. While a writer in a book has full control over the scenario, a director of a show or movie had actually influence the timeflow of the things happening on screen. As a writer meanwhile you absolutely have no influence on the speed in which your reader will read.

Sure, you can somewhat influence it. Shorter sentences are easier read. An general lower reading level will allow people to read quicker. So simpler words, shorter words, shorter sentences will make parts appear quicker. You can use this for example in action scenes to have a bit more of this breathless feeling that an action scene on screen might have. Use short sentences. Do not link sentences up. Quick hits. Quick impressions. It can work - but it needs some training. Not to say it is fucking hard.

Generally speaking to my experience when you write a single novel, the "Save the Cat" Beat Sheet actually works rather well, if you are the kind of writer who is fairly good at planning things out. If I actually try, I will usually manage to plan out a story and predict fairly well how many words a chapter will have. So yes, for books I can very much use "Save the Cat" and it will work.

However, some things simply work a lot better when you have visual parts going on - but there are other things you can do better when you do not have the visual stuff. For example: A writer can do much more when it comes to motivation and introspection of characters. Yes, this slows down the pacing - but it is something that writing has basically over any form of media that is not a musical. (In a Musical you can characters do introspection through songs. Musicals are the ultimate way of cheating. I love them!)

Something I feel so many writers struggle with in terms of books is actually putting in a clear goal for the character from the beginning. Again: I have put too many books aside where I reached page 100 and did not yet have any goal for the main character.

That goal you give them does not necessarily need to be their final goal. Again: A lot of western storytelling deals with the incongruent nature of a characters "needs" (aka something that would actually help them) with the character's "wants" (aka what they think they would need). But at the very least the plot needs something that it can head towards from the very beginning - a hook to capture the reader.

There might be readers that are absolutely fine with just reading an exercise in worldbuilding - but you cannot expect them to be.

[zephyrusswinds]

RANT on Lionpeach; Analysis on the pairing.

** PLEASE read the full thing before coming up with an opinion, thank you **

The irony of how Azure gaslit and manipulated himself- and eventually most others- into being that he was the Hero and having the lmk FANDOM believe him is... genuinely hysterical.

The continual narrative that either Macaque or Wukong were somehow horrible within their respective pairings entirely undermines the fact that AZURE started the brotherhood, and AZURE actively sought out Wukong for the sole purpose of using him to finish his own grudges against Heaven.

I'm gonna say this right now, lionpeach is an objectively toxic ship so riddled with abuse and exaltation that I cannot reasonably understand it.

The following quote is about to summarize literally everything I'm about to say;

"The hero and the warrior"- Season 2, Ep 7

Many people in the fandom recognize the theme of a Hero and a Warrior throughout the show, the show itself even brings it up a lot in the following seasons. Now, the shadowplay is used as a thematic tool for Macaque's rage and anger towards Wukong- it's focused on Macaque believing that he'd been forgotten and his disassociation from who Wukong actually is as a person.

What does this have to do with Azure?

Well, Season 4, Ep 8

"I knew here, was a WARRIOR with MY ideals"

The warrior is lower than the hero; as well as how Macaque chooses to keep his morals ambiguous.

But the Hero is meant to be as obviously "good" as possible, what does Azure call Wukong? The warrior.

That leaves Azure as the Hero of this story.

To quote Macaque, "Everyone thinks they're the Hero of their own story. Azure's always been good at convincing people that he's the good guy, he's even fooled himself." (Part one of the Season 4 Special.)

In the original shadowplay, Macaque portrays him and Wukong's relationship as something very close and personal, only severed by Wukong being, quote "handed everything".

Azure was handed everything.

A position in Heaven.

A brotherhood.

A warrior.

I, personally, am very fond of the jokes of that one frame of Wukong being in the center of Azure's eye (around the same time of the season 4 quote, mentioned above). The whole, "HE WANTS HIM AND HE WANTS HIM BAD" thing is quite funny. So, do not interperate this as hate towards these kinds of ships.

But regardless, Azure immediately turns on Wukong when he can't take down the Jade-fucking-Emperor. I mentioned Exaltation earlier.

Exaltation has two different definitions (technically 3) as a noun; to put it succinctly, it either means great joy or the act of elevating something or someone higher than it actually is.

He held Wukong- exalted him- to a position that he was unfit for.

Perhaps I'll make another post breaking down how Wukong is very obviously mentally and emotionally unstable, but in the meantime, Azure, very subtly encourages this.

Wukong is very dillusional, it's born from his fear of mortality. And if Azure, who the entire brotherhood (aside from Macaque, of course) looks up to him for guidance, what would it imply if the suicidaly-impulsive monkey is encouraged to almost get himself killed?

Also, friendly reminder that Azure has never been stated to visit Wukong when he was trapped under that mountain. Only Macaque did. While I have my own thoughts about this scene and Macaque's emotional immaturity when dealing with Wukong's psychological instability, I wouldn't think it's crazy to think that Azure seriously didn't care about Wukong at that moment beyond "he failed and betrayed me,".

This is not to say that Azure never cared about him; however, I'm willing to argue that Azure physically couldn't view him beyond his wildly bias and false perception of Wukong.

There are more points to be made here; I'll see if making a part two is worth it.

Tldr; Lionpeach is just.. not a good ship and the lmk fandom has begun pissing me off with the lack of both nuance and media literacy shown within character analysises of these two.

I'm off to go eat some lovely pomegranates with strawberry yogurt and some honey, feel free to either agree with me, disagree with me or call me a creative slur! Goodbye my lovelies <3!

[heidilylovely]

𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 , 𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐧 Introduction to the cast!

𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝

"Plus, I'm just a "me" . Live free, Live happily. That's how I would live my life. Doesn't mean I wouldn't stop appearing to talk to you Y/N."

𝐏𝐡𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐱 𝐃𝐫 𝐌𝐄𝐈 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

ALL THE CHARACTERS BELONG TO HOYOVERSE!

"Isn't this time we introduce to the newly lover-? actors? May they be together in this universe ALIVE.!"

DR Y/N LN!

Dr. Y/N is a scientist 

 An iceberg person with a steady and calm personality who doesn't have any communication with people except for research. The genius woman who is called the last savior by the world, but no one actually knows her inner thoughts.

A mad genius who could have joined, THE genius society level, THE Intelligentsia Guild!, But she chose the express. Even she doesn't know.. Maybe, she just wants to meet the man in her dreams...?

HATES HUMANITY, BUT STILL CHOSE TO DROWN IN IT. THAN ACCEPT IT.

"Ah, I sense that you're a originally such a romantic person. Firm and Brave, but unable to let go of that innocence. Am I right? Phainon? Or. You have another name?"

Phainon

The Chrysos Heir of Aedes Elysiae, a warrior of Okhema.

A gentle and cheerful young man with a detail-oriented mind and a pursuit of perfection in everything he does.

However his smile became very bright and wants her to to notice him soon.

HE DOESN'T KNOW WHY HIS HEART...FELT FULL....WHEN SHE PASSED BY.

"Are you saying the stars in the sky are enemies. In your understanding- Those shining lights, beautiful and cruel, will swallow us all if we are not careful....In my own way I used to believe that too, But now those lights bring not only threats but also. Open up hope for the future."

There's no need to introduction this man, He is inside her dreams. He's HER dream. A nightmare..? Isn't a word for him.

DAN HENG

The cold and reserved train guard and archivist of the . Wielding a spear.

He definitely HATES you.

   "You will do anything necessary just to satisfy your curiosity. Just don't be careless with your stuff. Y/n. No one wants to get hurt."

STELLE

Very funny, Too much she thinks Stelle's annoying. 

She's def not close with her.

But Stelle thinks She do be a baddie not gonna lie 🥵.

"Man, You're so cool, EVEN if you're slightly insane with your work...Y/n."

WELT YANG

An animator by trade, Welt is a seasoned member of the ASTRAL EXPRESS  and the former sovereign of ANTI ENTROPY who has saved from annihilation time and time again. He inherited the name of the world, 

Welt's trust in her was a delicate balance—he relied on her contributions but couldn't shake his unease. Her methods, while undeniably helpful, often veered far from his ideal, leaving him torn between appreciation and suspicion. He watches her closely, not out of malice, but out of a need to ensure she didn't cross a line he couldn't overlook.

You have a knack for walking the fine line between brilliance and recklessness, "I trust your intent, but I'm watching your methods closely—don't make me regret this."

HIMEKO

She's a person who will welcome with open arms. She will understand her.

But her guard might be up.

"I TRUST you Y/N. I hope you can find something to help march.."

MARCH 7TH

March, ever the bright and bubbly optimist, made every effort to include her, always choosing to see the best in people, she believed everyone deserved a chance.

All Y/N wants is to help...Her friend. Who's now a ice. Just like how she saw her first.

March cares about her, When everyone SAW her. She held her hand and held her coat and offered her change of clothes.

"..Hey Y/N! I'll be fine. You said you're. .gonna look into it. Right? I'll be cured in no time. Good Luck. I told Dan Heng not to be...angry at you."

DR VERTIAS RATIO

If Ratio is over done with someone than Ruan Mei, It's you. Her IDEAS is too MUCH. Insanity, Ratio would perhaps check her brain. he wouldn't be super close but close enough to be considered just colleges. Dr Ratio doesn't think too highly of ppl and tends to disagree a bit

After all,

She ended universes because she COULD. 

She started a project of path striders BECAUSE she could. 

"I would think that DR Ruan Mei IS a SAINT compared to her, She does everything she can to "save" humanity. Trust me, If she had some other mindset. Maybe we all won't exist right now."

CASTORICE

Castorice is reserved and soft-spoken, more like a drenched, shivering cat than a sunny presence. She keeps to herself, but her willingness to help others knows no bounds. Her unique ability to temporarily bring back the souls of the dead comes at a steep cost—

it drains her to the point of collapse. Even during the most grueling moments of a quest, when she looked ready to pass out or worse, she never faltered. Despite her struggles, there's a quiet charm to her: she loves feeding animals and captures the world around her through black-and-white photos, a preference that mirrors her understated, delicate nature.

 All they really want to do is help their planet and stop the attacks/war. Though they could see them becoming semi friends

"You're...really double sided. You do it because you HAVE to. Not because you WANT to, Why do you HATE Humanity so MUCH?"

AGLAEA

Beneath her seemingly calm demeanor lies a cold and calculating heart. She'll stop at nothing to save Amphoruses, even if it means crossing moral boundaries. Her ruthless determination once brought her to the brink of killing Stelle and Dan Heng—an alternate path where their lives were sacrificed for her cause. Brilliant and pragmatic,

she carefully weighs every choice, always prioritizing her planet's survival. She's unafraid to manipulate others, even using Castorice's painful abilities as a weapon to ensure her people's future, no matter the cost.

"Ah, so they're trying to play the villain? How quaint. Destroying the multiverse for HELPING? I suppose it's admirable in its simplicity, though it lacks... finesse. Experimenting on humanity is a delightful pastime, but if they're so focused on hate, they're missing the real joy of it all—the artistry, the chaos, the creation of despair. Insanity? Please. They're just another monster playing dress-up. Let's see if they can keep up when the stakes truly rise."

MYDEI

Mydei has a short fuse and isn't afraid to let it show, even if it means lashing out at Phainon when he disagrees with her. On the outside, he's all tough and gruff, but underneath, there's a surprisingly soft side to him.

As long as her methods don't threaten to tear everything apart, he's willing to look the other way. His focus is clear: saving Amphoruses is his priority, and he'll do whatever it takes to protect them, even if it means tolerating things he doesn't entirely agree with.

"She's got her ways, and I don't always agree with 'em. Hell, half the time, I can't even stand it. But if she's not gonna burn everything to the ground... I'll stick around. At least she's got a damn point—saving Amphoruses... that's the only thing that matters right now."

SUNDAY

Unlike with others, he grew close to you faster than anyone else. He sticks by your side, always ensuring you have everything you need.

Sunday knows deep down that what they're doing is wrong, but his own past—scarred by trauma and manipulation—pushes him to understand, even empathize. Having once seen the world through a similarly skewed and morally gray lens, he feels compelled to help her, perhaps hoping to guide her away from the darkness he once knew too well.

"Miss Y/n, Can we hang out more together, I wouldn't mind working under your projects too. As Long It's close to you. I don't know....Maybe I'll be fine. And I want to help you too..."

DO YOU WANT TO SAID, SHE'S JUST AS INSANE AS RUAN MEI BUT RUAN MEI DOES HAVE A HEART.

BLACK SWAN

Black Swan remains an enigma, her true intentions still largely shrouded in mystery. She would undoubtedly find her intriguing, much like Acheron. Her approach would be calculated—earn her trust, get close, and then use that connection to uncover her secrets. The thrill of unraveling someone so complex would be too tempting for her to resist, always pushing for more, always looking for leverage.

"....I would rather watch you from afar. I once danced with someone like you and..Their mind.. Let's just leave it."

Let's be real—she destroyed entire universes just because she could. DR Y/N did it for her own twisted sense of power, and she? She did it purely for the thrill, with no deeper motive than the chaos itself.

She doesn't have the tragic backstories that make most villains feel human; she's just pure, unapologetic evil. Her hatred for humanity runs so deep, her Project AEONS was designed with one goal: to wipe out every last trace of it. Even the ACTUAL AEONS called her insane, and they weren't wrong. She's not just evil—she's a force of destruction.

Competing against the NANOOK on who can obliterate the multiverse faster? That's her game. Humanity? She wants to destroy it, simply because she thinks it'll be fun. She's done inhumane experiments, and in the ultimate show of her depravity.

MAYBE, ATLEAST...

HER VIEW CAN DIFFER IF SOMEONE FIXES IT.

EXTRA CHARACTERS (WILL BE ADDED LATER)

HERTA

STERALLON HUNTERS 

NANOOK!

Let me know if I should publish this As a fic here!...

[maxdibert]

I feel like the main reason why people love the marauders era so much is because it is very easy to create a bunch of aesthetics out of it. It's the 70s so people already glamorize it and make it edgy etc. and that's why the fans get lost in their stories. It's all fun and games, dancing, fighting, passion and rebellions that people just romanticize every single character and completely erase or downplay who they actually were. Like with Lily, James, Remus and Sirius. They all smoke cigarettes while listening to ABBA after a day of making silly pranks or fighting for a "cause" during a war. People just project their desires and fantasies into these characters when in reality they all kind of sucked and noone would probably want to live in an era of war and rising fascism with these people.

Honestly, I have no issue with them creating a parallel universe where it's practically a Muggle school with occasional spells because everything about that fandom’s dynamic is basically your average teen drama series. I get where that comes from, and that’s fine—the inseparable friends trope, high school drama, self-discovery, and all that stuff we’ve all related to at some point, even if those of us over 25 find it boring now because it feels far removed from our lives, which are more about paying bills and antidepressants. But I understand the fandom. I understand why they love to idealize it. I get why they’re so into creating "headcanons" that aren’t even headcanons but just rewriting the canon to reflect their image and make them feel seen.

My only real issue, the one thing that genuinely bothers me about that fandom, is that they include absolutely everyone—characters who canonically didn’t even overlap in school years, characters who are canonically psychopaths and torturers, characters who are literal garbage—and they justify everyone. Everyone except one. And that one character, unsurprisingly, is Severus Snape. The canonically poor, canonically unattractive, canonically unmasculine, canonically non-conforming to hegemonic standards of masculinity in both his time and ours. He’s the one who always gets all the hate. He’s the one labeled the homophobe, the sexual predator, the violent one. The one it’s okay to call ugly, disgusting, or make fun of for supposedly not showering or mockingly use his bully-given nickname. Only him. No one else. Just him.

And it disgusts me because that fandom didn’t used to be like this. They didn’t do bashing for no reason; they weren’t this childish.

Can someone from that crowd explain to me why they hate J.K. Rowling so much when they’re perpetuating the same garbage stereotypes? Why do they think they’re so avant-garde by changing the sexual orientation of every male character while relegating the female ones to decorative props, pairing them off so they don’t interfere with their MALE ships? Why do they think they’re more progressive for making Sirius "feminine" while villainizing Severus, a character canonically mocked for being unmasculine? Why do they label James Potter as a saint under the rainbow flag and call Snape a homophobe when it was James who canonically mocked Snape for his appearance and for not fitting the mold of hegemonic masculinity? Why do they go on about body positivity, headcanoning Regulus with crooked teeth or Lily as plus-size, while turning around and mocking Snape for—God, this is so laughably ridiculous—not fitting beauty standards? They literally have posts laughing at him for having a big nose or greasy hair and then have the nerve to act like making Lily plus-size in their fics is groundbreaking?

Do they not realize how utterly hypocritical, cynical, and cringe they are?

If this wasn’t the case, I honestly wouldn’t give a damn about that fandom. I wouldn’t care if they idolized a bunch of bullies or treated a group of budding psychopaths as misunderstood kids. Really, I wouldn’t care. But trying to sell this idea that they’re so inclusive, so free of prejudice, and that their view of these characters is doing the world a favor when they’re perpetuating the same prejudiced, discriminatory, classist, and misogynistic crap as J.K. Rowling on one of her better days on Twitter? They can go straight to hell with that.

Stop bashing a character for no reason, especially when that character canonically embodies everything they claim to be fighting for with their pastel pink version of "That '70s Show." Give me a break. Tell it to someone else.

[damianbugs]

with all this gotham war stuff (most recently the comic sc you posted on your twt with jason and bruce), can u explain what is actually going on? like, i’m not that far so i haven’t read it, but… like is it actually bruce saying all that stuff about the kids? or is it this zur person people keep talking about?

oh my friend, it's crazy around here, but i will try my best to explain it!

A GUIDE TO UNDERSTANDING WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING TO BATMAN IN GOTHAM WAR:

firstly, the comic reading list to catch up with gotham war is: as of 01/10/23 (the ones in italics are core issues to the story)

for some background on what happens leading up to gotham war:

Batman (2016) #125-136

(Optional) Knight Terrors: Batman

(Optional) Knight Terrors: Catwoman

and then the actual gotham war story:

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Battle Lines

Batman (2016) #137

Catwoman (2018) #57

Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Red Hood #1

this is everything that is out right now, but from the third of october to halloween we will also be getting: Batman #138, Catwoman #58, Gotham War: Red Hood #2, Batman/Catwoman: The Gotham War - Scorched Earth.

secondly... who is Zur En Arrh.

Zur En Arrh taking over Bruce, Batman (2016) #126

zur en arrh, in the simplest way of explaining, is this alter ego/personality (it's unclear) bruce created for himself should batman (bruce wayne) ever be psychologically compromised or brainwashed. it's not him, but a more sadistic and crueler person that is the "ultimate batman" who doesn't care about anyone or anything but getting the mission done.

during Batman #125-130, zur takes over the role of batman because bruce was losing very badly to the robot Failsafe (which is zur's own creation, that bruce has no memory of making). after getting vaporised by failsafe and sent travelling through dozens of alternate universes, losing his hand and fighting a flying shark (Batman #131-135), bruce returns to gotham incredibly mentally unstable.

During a peaceful dinner with his family, Bruce suddenly imagines the entire world on fire, Batman (2016) #136.

during everything, bruce managed to mentally fight back and kind of... merge their ideals together in order to survive and win in the moment.

and then successfully trapping failsafe back into his mind where he can no longer take over!

Bruce uses some sort of mental technique to lock Zur away in his mind, Batman (2016) #136.

except he didn't succeed! at all!

you see, when travelling through all those universes, bruce somehow brought back every single version of zur en arrh with him. now all of then combined, plus his already deteriorating and weak mental health from the last few years, bruce is currently operating under the impression that he's locked zur away, when he actually hasn't.

zur is the one partly, or even entirely, in control. right now, he's just pretending to stay locked away so bruce continues to do what he thinks is 'right' despite them being incredibly out of character for the run.

During his eight week coma, Bruce sees Zur 'locked away' and he is, apparently, not alone, Gotham War: Battle Lines (2023)

an example is when zur referred to robin as batman's solider, bruce mentally fought back to make it clear that tim was his son. but then, a few issues later, bruce refers to his children as his soldiers and that they've all betrayed him, implying that zur has always had control and isn't locked away.

Bruce and Zur get into a fight inside his mind about Robin [Tim Drake], Batman (2016) #127

so yeah, zur is not bruce! they're both batman, but zur en arrh is like his somehow unimaginably even worse twin. if you're interested more in him, i would suggest giving his character history a read! be warned it gets changed A LOT and is definitely not everyone's cup of tea (personally i hate him and need him shelved for another forty years).

now that that's all done and explained, the current state of gotham war is Bruce (thinks he's okay) fighting everyone else (except Damian) because in his (Zur's) point of view, they're all against the mission and therefore are now his enemies (he's lost his mind). totally not convoluted.

to answer your original question, yes, this is all bruce saying and doing these things but he is being HEAVILY influenced by Zur. we can't tell for certain how much of this is bruce and how much is zur, but we can definitely prove zur is partially or completely controlling him again.

even jason points it out after bruce implants that fear toxin chip into him in Batman (2016) #138:

like we can see the intention is to keep jason out of this, because compared to everyone else, jason was the most directly opposed to bruce. but zur is twisting how this concern gets expressed, since forcing jason into feeling fear everytime he gets an adrenaline rush is hardly the reformation bruce is usually encouraging. the other batfam members also talk about how uncharacteristically violent bruce is being.

"He's out of control." / "He's gone [In more ways than one.]" Batman (2016) #137

as the story progresses we see more and more of zur replace bruce, but because he can't have bruce trying to stop him again, zur is playing along and convincing bruce he's locked away. so really, bruce is at war with not only his entire family, but also his own mind. just another average tuesday for batman. he's being tricked and is unknowingly doing exactly what he was trying to prevent.

to understand what the actual war in gotham war is, give the comics listed above a read! if you find the story boring/ridiculous/stupid, don't worry, it is! the social commentary leaves a lot to be desired, as does most of the characters writings (especially selina's).

bruce and his one sided battle with zur is sort of an overarching story happening alongside it (along with a bunch of other ongoings. i don't even understand how detective comics and batman and robin are going to tie into this once it starts up again).

sorry the answer isn't a simple one, but unfortunately nothing is ever simple with bruce. also apologies in advance if any of the future gotham war comics come out and completely debunk all of this! who knows what will happen in this dramatic family drama.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

What’s your opinion on Umbridge?

Besides evil; someone once mentioned that her rules and actions like the “hem-hem” could be a form of OCD and re-reading the series… it honestly could be.

Personally I think she was too 1 dimensional (but so are many antagonists).

Like, I think Umbridge is as hated as she is becouse unlike Voldemort and the Death Eaters, she's a kind of evil that hits closer to most people. Most people probably never met a Voldemort, but they likely have encountered an Umbridge. That's why I think the fandom treats her the way we do. her evil just feels real in a way that's easier to comprehend.

That being said, personally, I don't headcanon her as having OCD or anything similar. Becouse I don't think she actually cares about order or the ministry's law. Order is her excuse for seeking control. We see her pursue order as a means of controlling people, but if she could pursue power and control without order, she would. Like, she doesn't actually care about Hogwarts education standards, or Fudge, or the laws of the ministry.

Hell, she breaks these same laws herself multiple times. I mean, she sent dementors in secret after Harry because she knows she isn't allowed. She's willing to use Unforgivables because she doesn't actually care about law and order. She cares about her own personal power. I know most of the fandom considers her "lawful evil" which, she is, but only because it serves her in the books. If the law didn't serve her, she wouldn't have been lawful.

She uses the law, order, and hierarchy of the ministry as a ladder and a shield. These aren't things she actually believes in beyond their usefulness to her.

We see in book 7 how she easily throws her family (pretending to be a Selwyn), Fudge, and literally anyone else under the bus to become part of the new regime becouse that's where she can gain more power, even if the new regime is chaos. So, no, I don't think she has OCD.

If you read her backstory on Pottermore, she actually has more to her, I just think she's often misunderstood, since, as I said, I don't think she really cares about upholding the law. She cares to do so only becouse the law serves her.

Like, her background is that she has a muggle mother and a wizard father who worked as a lowly maintenance wizard in the ministry. Her brother was born a squib. To her, all her family is a disgrace. Not because they were unloving, or even poor or magicless — they had no power. They held no influence or respect, and that's what Umbridge always wanted:

In spite of her best efforts to secure the affections of one of her superiors (she never cared particularly which of them it was, but knew that her own status and security would be advanced with a powerful husband), Dolores never succeeded in marrying.

(From Pottermore)

She only cares for her own status in everything she does. She watched her father, mother, and brother be treated like literal dirt by the wizarding world and the ministry. Umbridge wants to be recognized, to show everyone how great she is and how wrong everyone was to think lowly of her because of her family.

She has all the blood purity ideals and anti-creature stances becouse of her family too. She blames her father for not doing what she does to gain respect. She blames him for marrying a muggle and dirtying their blood. Umbridge bought into this ideology, I think. I think she really does see her family and herself as lesser, dirtier, and she's been overcompensating for years.

That's why she hushes up anyone who dares mention her family. Why she does everything she can to appeal to the people who have the power and be of use to them. She wants the respect and recognition her family was denied.

Whenever she was asked (usually by workmates who did not like her) ‘are you related to that Umbridge who used to mop the floors here?’ she would smile her sweetest, laugh, and deny any connection whatsoever, claiming that her deceased father had been a distinguished member of the Wizengamot. Nasty things tended to happen to people who asked about Orford, or anything that Dolores did not like talking about, and people who wanted to remain on her good side pretended to believe her version of her ancestry.

(From Pottermore)

She is very similar to Peter Pettigrew in that respect:

You weren’t about to commit murder right under Albus Dumbledore’s nose, for a wreck of a wizard who’d lost all of his power, were you? You’d want to be quite sure he was the biggest bully in the playground before you went back to him, wouldn’t you?

(PoA, Ch19)

She wants to be backed by the biggest bully because that's where she believes the respect and power are. She isn't a woman of order but a power-hungry control freak with self-worth issues. Her search for control and order are means to exercise her power and influence, not her actual goals. Her hate of who she calls "half-breeds" is an extension of her shame in her family and herself.

That was always my read of her character, at least.

[jellybeanium124]

Helpful lists of questions for goyim when it comes to engaging with the Israel-Hamas war 🙂

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN A POST ABOUT THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR CROSSES YOUR DASH AND YOU WANT TO REBLOG IT:

Does this post link to a source?

If the post does link to a source, is it a credible one?

If the post does not link to a source, is there one screenshotted in the post that you can find? If so, please search out that source and read the entire thing in context. And make sure the source is credible. Ideally, if you decide to reblog it, add a link to the source.

Is the post just screenshots of tweets? If so, you probably should not reblog this. Posts that are just screenshots of tweets are a massive red flag. Do not believe something because it's a twitter screenshot. Frankly this rule is for everyone about everything all the time.

What is the tone of the post? Does it make you angry? If yes, this is a red flag. Exercise caution reblogging.

Does the post frame Israel as a uniquely evil country in need of destruction? Does the post treat Israel with different standards than those that are applied to every other country that has done horrible, horrible things, such as Russia, the UK, or United States? This is a red flag. If the government of Israel falls without some sort of transition plan, there will be Jewish genocide. Anyone advocating for a one-state solution either way is advocating for one group to get genocided. A two-state solution is the only possible peaceful end to this conflict (technically my opinion but I feel comfy stating it as fact).

Does the post treat Hamas as anything other than a terrorist organization? Do not reblog.

Is the post promoting Jewish Voice for Peace/JVP? Do not reblog. That organization is not Jewish and is antisemitic.

What is the focus of the content of the post? Is the post discussing reasonable paths to a ceasefire/peace? Is the post criticizing Israel's actions without using antisemitic stereotypes? Netanyahu is a disgusting fascist who I hate, but even though he is a terrible person you are not allowed to portray him as an antisemitic caricature. Similar to how you don't get to misgender shitty trans people, you don't get to be antisemitic towards shitty Jewish people (even if he's really, really shitty).

How does the post use the word "zionist?" Does the word have any coherent meaning in the post besides "person (often Jew) that I hate?" Does it treat zionists as a group of people who are disgusting and deserve to be murdered and/or raped? Does the use of the word "zionist" completely dehumanize the person/people the label is applied to into nothing more than evil that the Earth must be rid of? This is antisemitic. Do not reblog.

QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF WHEN YOU'RE AT A PRO-PALESTINE PROTEST:

Are people chanting antisemitic slogans such as "globalize the intifada" and/or "from the river to the sea" (these are both antisemitic you cannot remove the antisemitic meaning from them, they are both advocating for the murder of Jewish people, sorry, stop using them.)?

Are people comparing themselves to Palestinians in Gaza? (this is not a joke, I saw a video of a Columbia student who compared Columbia sending out fliers to leave or be suspended to the IDF dropping flyers in Gaza saying "the army is coming in 24 hours.") If so, they care more about fetishizing Palestinian pain and making themselves feel like noble victims than the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Are people harassing Jews? This includes: preventing them from getting to class, yelling things at them like "go back to Poland," and/or physically assaulting them.

Are people defacing Jewish property/monuments? Are people defacing synagogues? Businesses with known Jewish owners? Statues and/or memorials of/for Jews?

What is the purpose of this protest? Would you feel comfortable sharing opinions that differ from the majority? Would you feel comfortable engaging in a conversation about this issue with fellow protesters? Are any of you actually educated on the complicated and lengthy history of the Israel-Palestine conflict? Is the protest about a peaceful solution, or is it just making you angrier and/or more upset? Does the protest/your fellow protestors care more about freeing Palestine so that Palestinians and Israelis can live in peace, or about hating Israel and treating it like a uniquely evil country?

If people are chanting antisemitic slogans, harassing Jews, and/or defacing Jewish things, then this is an antisemitic protest. Do you want to be associated with these people and this protest? If your answer is yes, you are an antisemite-sympathizer, which is basically an antisemite.

MORAL OF THE STORY: antisemitism is all over this issue and it's easy to get more antisemitic and spread antisemitism because bad actors use this issue to indoctrinate people who start off just genuinely caring about the issue but are not educated at all about it or what antisemitism actually looks like. BE CAREFUL. All Jews want, all we've ever wanted, is to be left alone to do our thing. Random Jews are not at fault for the horrific actions taken by the Israeli government since the terrorist attack on October 7th. We support the existence of Israel, but we do not support all of the current government's actions. We are just trying to live. We want there to be a ceasefire now. If you actually read this whole thing, thank you. It means a lot to be listened to.

For those of you that made it to the end, I'll offer one last reminder and one last gentle suggestion.

My last reminder is: "it is not your job to finish the work by neither are you free to ignore it" is a Jewish passage I really like. I think in times like these, it is important to focus on the first half. It is not your job to finish the work. The fate of Palestine does not rest on your shoulders. It's ok. Take time to decompress and log off.

My last suggestion is: one of the biggest Jewish values is "tikkun olam," which means "repairing the world." I think all action when it comes to this conflict (and life in general) should be done with tikkun olam in mind. It doesn't hurt to ask yourself "is this action repairing the world, or further tearing it apart?" no matter what you're doing. Thank you for reading.

[taeggukxiie]

I don't really like endhawks and it's not so much because of the age gape or the fan/idol relationship (la brava and gentle have some age gape and bakudeku are the pure description of fanatization/idolization trope and I like both of those ships), but more because endeavor literally embodies what Hawks hate the most.

Hear me out on this one, they have cute interactions but for me the fact that Hawks stayed by endeavor's side even knowing what he did to his children is kinda out of character. I mean the whole thing why keigo wanted to be a hero was to help people and make them smile because he went through abusive behavior all his life. Endeavor do save people but doesn't make them smile, not directly anyway. Hawks wanted to help the new generation, but endeavor traumatized the generation he gave birth to. Hawks wanted to be free, but endeavor stole freedom from his children (at least until he becomes number 1 and shoto comes to UA).

I understand hawks forgiving and accepting endeavor even after what he did, because hawks is so optimistic that he wants to believe eveyone can change for the better, but I don't understand him staying by endeavor's side. I mean, how traumatic would it be to discover that your idol who saved you and gave you a dream to follow did the exact same things as the person who traumatized your childhood? I see some narrative problems here. Or maybe it's just that hawks is too optimistic for his own good.

The thing is, I think Hawks so desperately needed a symbol to give him hope that he didn't even try to look more profoundly into endeavor's mistakes. Like he tried so hard to convince himself. Here we can see that hawks says he could keep up with training and abuse by the commission because someone supported him, probably implying endeavor. But it wasn't even true, hawks just chose to idealize enji because he saved him, but enji didn't know hawks before metting him as a hero, so he couldn't actually support him in his dream. I know it's only metaphoric, but it does mean that Keigo just needed something, someone to hold onto because of all the suffering he went through. And he chose endeavor, who was the only person indirectly "caring" for him.

Now maybe it's because I adore Hawks and I hate endeavor (the man and his actions, not the way he's written), but I can't imagine them in a romantic relationship. How could Hawks give his trust and love to the exact same profile as his father? How could they live together without hawks remembering the abuse? I think that even enji himself wouldn't trust his own reactions and feelings, hunted by the past. "The past never dies", and it's true for everyone in this story.

Look how similar they are. Honestly I don't really understand horikoshi on this one because if he wanted to give enji a loyal sidekick, then why give Hawks an abusive father?

Or if horikoshi wanted to give us grumpy x playful duo, then do it with dabihawks? They had so much potential to be our favorite bickering duo, and their drama would've been so good if they both knew each other before touya's death, became close during hawks undercover mission and then went through a heartbreaking breakup during touya's reveal.

(look at them they could've been soo good as a grumpy x playful duo aah)

Instead, we got Hawks indirectly supporting the same abuse he went through and the destruction of dabihawks' potential with the biggest absence of interactions ever after the first war.

(Also I want to add that I respect everyone's opinion and I don't hate endhawks shippers at all! It's just my point of view on the ship, everyone is free to ship whoever they want if that stays legal 🙏)

Maybe I'm going too far into the analysis (someone stop me please I'm talking too much-), but I really think that endhawks couldn't work, for hawks as much as for enji. Now the interesting thing to ask would be : would dabihawks actually work in a romantic relationship? I guess we'll never know.

[unfortunate17]

i agree with you about being frustrated with how often this fandom has top/bottom discussions but its a pretty common talking point in most fandoms so YR isn’t special for that

No I totally agree with you that it’s a common topic of discussion in a lot of fandoms, but there’s a particular way we have it in this fandom that really grinds my gears.

And don’t get me wrong, I don’t care if you hc Wilmon to be vers or if you think Wille tops or Simon tops or whatever - it’s the justification and reasoning that I’m seeing behind these headcanons that I find deeply irritating and, frankly, insulting and kind of homophobic.

This is going to get long so forgive me.

1. I’ve seen so many posts talk about how the show is “brave” and “subversive” by having Wille go down on Simon or potentially bottom, but like - what the hell are we even talking about? In what world is it subversive to show a queer character having queer sex?? What are we subverting?? This show has never shown us anything with its intimate scenes other than two guys that are deeply in love and really horny for eachother and I hate that we keep bringing this shit up!!!

2. I’ve also seen people say that it was very important for us to see Wille moving to go down on Simon in the tape in S1 because it’s “more damning evidence that he’s queer” and otherwise Wille could’ve just said he was horny and desperate but he was actually imagining he was with a girl in his denial statement. But be so fucking forreal, in what world is that a thing he could argue in an official statement to the press? He’d be the laughing stock of the world.

Wilhelm isn’t more or less gay because he went down on Simon vs the other way around. He’d still be having queer sex because he’s having sex with another guy. Arguing that the framing here is for anything other than a plot device so Wille’s face wouldn’t be visible to set up the denial is actually kind of ridiculous.

As someone very smart on here said, “I’m sorry that you apparently have a tier list of sex acts ranging from “kinda straight” to “Gaylord” 😭😭 get well soon, couldn’t be me.”

Imagine for one second Simon was the one giving Wille head? Would you have criticized the show for that?? And WHY?!

3. Next: saying that Wilmon’s relationship is “equal” because you think they’re vers is…a take and a half lmao. What the fuck does being vers have to do with a relationship being equal?? Why are we assigning arbitrary hierarchies to sexual preferences??? Why are we implying that topping and bottoming are somehow not equal and you have to carefully balance both, when, ideally, it’s just whatever the fuck everyone is into???

Wille isn’t selfish for topping. Simon isn’t sacrificing anything by bottoming. They’re fucking because they’re in love and they want to 😭

TLDR: Wille doesn’t suck Simon’s dick for class liberation. Simon riding Wille isn’t a commentary on how he’s “girl-coded.” It’s just sex, leave them alone to have a good time and stop assigning agendas to queer sex.

[signedkoko]

Hi!! I just want to start by saying thank you so much for sharing your writing with us! I check your blog everyday to see if you’ve updated and love reading what you post! 💙

In light of the season finale, I was wondering if you could do some romantic headcanons in which f!reader finally approaches Vox (after a long slowburn of mutual pining between them, though neither knows how the other feels until now) and tells him he deserves better than whatever unhealthy on-again-off-again thing he has going with Valentino? And perhaps suggests (or outright says) how she would actually take care of him/treat him better? 🫣 I would LOVE to see your take on it! Only the best for everyone’s favorite TV man lol!

Thank you so much in advance if you choose to do it, I hope that’s all clear! Please take care of yourself and have a wonderful day!

Vox X Reader [Romantic]

In which you decide its finally time to step inbetween Vox and Valentino. Reader is female.

The most feared assistant in all of hell, you certainly were one of a kind when it came to sinners

The Vees had taken you in as their head assistant, close enough to be a fourth member but far enough to be uninvited to galas, showings, and all the celebrity events

It was your ideal position; you made plenty of money to get by

Class without the hass(le) as you always put it

Your job was hard, but it was nothing you couldn't handle; all it took was knowing it and predicting the hiccups

Besides Valentino, the other two were very relaxed with you and usually only demanded that you do things that were typical of your day

And being around them so much, you naturally became an honorary member; you'd especially spent plenty of time at Vox's side

He was the hub of communication, and he offered up a space for you to call an office in his own area of the building

Not only did that mean the others could easily reach you since you were always around Vox, but it also meant you always had an upgraded space, courtesy of Vox's constant innovations

He was always so peculiar; you could tell he didn't like being around people, yet he always called for you to pick up lunch with him

Or he brought you to meetings to 'take notes' despite the fact that he could transcribe every conversation in a second

To him, he was showing that he enjoyed his company; to you, it was an opportunity to get to know him better

Admittedly, you wanted to know a lot more about him—no, you wanted to know everything

Unfortunately, the more time you spent with him, the more you'd end up being around Valentino, who always called on Vox during his fits of rage

It was confusing

Vox expressed hating him, but also tripped over every step just to appease the overlord

And Valentino took advantage of that a lot, which caused a boiling anger to eat at you

But you knew your place; you knew Vox was an adult who could stop himself, so you bitterly witnessed it

But as you and Vox got closer and Valentino got rougher with Vox, it became impossible to ignore

After hearing a screaming fit from his office, you could make out Valentino's heels stomping out the door towards the elevators, and after a good moment of silence, you heard Vox follow

But you stood up this time, and right as the overlord passed your door, you caught his arm

" Can't talk right now. "

" He isn't worth your time, Vox, sir. "

You certainly didn't waste any time, and in a moment he went from pulling his arm away to stopping in his tracks to look at you with a surprised look scribbled on his face

You felt guilty knowing that he was only surprised because you'd never tried to help him before; he must have thought you were a terrible person, but you continued

" I don't get what you see in him when there are already people who love and care for you far more than he ever has all around you. "

While you started strong, your voice eventually tappered off into mumbles, already losing the confidence you thought you had when you started initially

The silence is deafening

Until he lets out a long exhale and slumps

" You're right, I shouldn't get so worked up. But Jesus, I didn't expect that out of you. "

He was already trying to bring in humour to laugh it off, but you were more glad that he didn't take your actions as negative

" Just so you know, I'm sure I can show you what you deserve "

You couldn't help it with his validation; you had to get it out, and he seemed to pause again—before a bluescreen came up

Oh no, oh no, you immediately called for him and snapped your fingers, hoping to shake him out of it, and with a quick reboot, he was back to ask if you meant it

And of course you did, and of course he wanted to take you up on the offer

As happy as he is, Vox is frustrated that he didn't ask you first; he's usually the first move kind of guy—or at least he swears

But he trusts you will treat him better because he's always wanted you to

Author's Note - Tell me why I went so hard on the lore that this ended up being 700 words I am so sorry!!! I'm glad you like my work, I really hope I did your request justice!!! Again, idk why I went so crazy on the buildup ahhh

[indigo-greer-collins]

wanderer's soul✧.*

OKAY UH HI GUYS

author's note: i wish i knew how to make this little intro thing all aesthetic and shit, i do not though, this is my first time with this thing. i was inspired by @samfucker to write something kinda angsty about teen darlin, so thank u matt!!! this is my first time posting like an actual fic here so i am so sorry if it sucks but uhhhh i'll improve i promise! lemme stop yapping now

content includes: gender neutral pronouns for darlin, teen darlin, autistic darlin, underaged drinking, mentions of parental conflict(?), teen shaw pack, depictions of meltdown/spiralling, angst-ish(idk if its that bad)

word count: 1.6k! (woah thats kinda long)

They just needed to leave.

The circumstances weren’t ideal. To get away from a house that hated them, they had to hang out with a bunch of wolves who didn’t like them. But the lesser of the two hells was obvious.  They grabbed some old, worn-out sneakers they were unhealthily attached to; the first pair of sweatpants they could find and a hoodie that had (barely) stood the tests of time. Hanging out at a park was hardly a special occasion, so they defaulted to their usual look: homeless. But the look wasn’t complete yet. They took a flask from the kitchen and mixed some of their parents’ alcohol with some soda. Now it was perfect. Their parents had less to drink as punishment for all the insults they'd thrown at them, and as a bonus, the Shaw pack would make a way more tolerable bunch if they were slightly drunk.

The journey to the park was a blur - their feet took them in the right direction but their mind was in a different place, repeating the harsh words thrown at them by the people that allegedly loved them so much. Were they eternally destined to be surrounded by people who were supposed to care, but didn’t? That’s stupid. They cut off the line of questions they saw their brain preparing. You don’t need people anyway. People don’t want you, and you don’t want them either. Or at least that’s what they told themselves. Before they knew it, they were sat cross-legged on a park bench watching the other shifters their age play and laugh together. How did people their age even make so many friends? Big groups are so exhausting, and every conversation seemed to be some kind of stupid secret code or guessing game that only a select few knew the rules of. Everyone got a little bigger and a little older and suddenly just going up to people and bonding over legos or sandpits or hand painting wasn’t enough. You had to look right. You had to talk right. You had to act right. You even had to think right or somehow they’d know you aren’t one of them. 

No one was going to tell you what “right” was either, they just point and laugh if you happen to be wrong.

Their less-than-sober spiral was broken by a familiar face deciding to take a seat beside them without even asking. They didn’t care that he didn’t ask, but whenever it was them, people usually looked at them strangely.  “Chrissy.” They finally said, wanting to know what the hell he was up to. “Yeah?” He sounded snarky, but they were used to that. Sometimes his snark was a little better than being alone with their thoughts. “Why?” Silence fell for a short while, so they elaborated on their question. “Here, why are you sitting here?”  “Well you’re not waiting for someone are you?” The sip they took from their flask said enough. Of course they weren’t keeping the spot for anybody, they hardly had anyone to sit with. “What’s that?” “None of your business.” “Boring. Can I have some?” “No.” They turned to glare at him, to which he pouted back. They needed the alcohol to hit faster, Christian was already finding their last nerves and tap dancing on them. “Answer my question.”  “The others were annoying me, and you don’t have any friends, so I’m here now.” He put it bluntly. The bluntness was actually sort of refreshing. They looked less tense now. “Is it alcohol?” “Fuck off.” Never mind then.  “I’m snitching-“ “-No the hell you are not.” They insisted before being presented with Christian’s open palm. It looked like their options were a) share the wine that they took the time to steal with their own 2 hands or b) get chewed out by even more adults that pretended to care out of obligation. 

And with a grumble, they let him have a sip. 

Christian’s face twisted in disgust at the bitter taste, which at least amused the angsty teen wolf before they snatched the drink back. They would’ve been reprimanded for a face like that too, but that was also stupid - why did they constantly have to restrain every facial muscle so that people liked them? Is everyone constantly trying to keep up a more pleasant expression? It felt unnecessary. 

“That’s nasty.” “You did that to yourself.” They rolled their eyes before chugging more of their drink, mostly to prove a point. They then wiped at their chin with their sleeve “You gonna go back to your friends now?” “They’re not really my friends.” Chrissy scoffed, though they weren’t quite convinced that was true. He might not be best friends with everyone in the pack, but he was definitely accepted in a way that they weren’t. “And I am?” They stifled a laugh, to which he answered with a shrug. The ambiguity of that answer was frustrating, but now they were too tipsy to be bothered by it. Nobody liked being clear anymore. It was always shrugs, “whatever”s and “I don’t know”s. But everyone did know, and just didn’t want to tell them.  “Why are you drinking anyway? I thought being an alcoholic this young was a European thing.”  “I’m not an alcoholic.” They defended, narrowing their eyes at him. “You and your friends are just impossible to deal with sober, actually.” They snapped back. “So you’re drunk at every pack meeting then?” He asked with a slight tilt of his head. If they weren’t restrained by the drink in their hand, he would’ve earned a whack to the head. And everyone calls their questions dumb.  “Obviously not, jackass.” They glared again before looking back at the others. They were kicking a ball around now and yelling at each other from opposite ends of the grass. It was loud enough to drown out whatever Chrissy was rambling about now. They almost felt hypnotised, fantasising about how things could be if they could just fit in. Sure it felt impossible, but everyone made it look so easy. 

If they could just learn the rules. 

If they could just force a bigger smile.

If they could be smaller, just take up less space. 

If they just weren’t so much of them self they could be running around, playing the sports they love, yelling to friends who actually cared.

But in the end that’s all it was. A fantasy. No amount of watering down or pretending was going to make it feel right. Once these social circles form and bonds are created, there’s no magically changing them.  

“—Are you even listening?” They finally heard Chrissy say before the ball came flying in their direction. They’d barely moved their head out the way in time, but managed to catch it in their hands. In this one minor instance, luck was actually on their side. “No, I did tell you we aren’t friends.” They answered, staring at the ball in their hands. 

Everything and everyone seemed to stop. Did they have to fucking stare like that? They thought, looking up to several expectant pairs of eyes. It honestly infuriated them more that they still cared. People were always staring and squinting and waiting for them to do something. Why can’t they just let it go? Why did they have to be so self-conscious?  “…How did you even manage to kick the ball over here?” They finally asked, trying to be lighthearted. 

No one caught on though. Instead, David awkwardly walked over, blankly staring at them. Was he mad at them for the question?

“Are you okay-?” “What-? Yeah I’m fine, it didn’t even hit me—“ “Okay, you don’t have to be so aggressive, I was just asking.” He rolled his eyes before taking the ball from them. “You don’t have to be here with us y’know,” “Well they aren’t spoilt for choice, who else do they hang around?” Christian asked, making a smile tug on David’s lips before he threw the ball back to the others.  

Are you fucking kidding me? They chugged the rest of their drink and tossed the flask aside, glaring at the ground. Apparently these people were fine with Christian’s shitty jabs when it was them, but not when it was Asher, or Milo, or David or literally anybody else. This was stupid. All of it was so damn, stupid. “Wait, are you crying?” “What the fuck— no!” Their head snapped up, but inconveniently their voice was starting to break. “I was only joking jeez, I thought the drink was supposed to make you less— whatever this is—?”   This?? They furiously repeated in their head, glaring into Christian’s soul before looking down at the grass again. The drink wasn’t going to make them less of anything. In fact, all it did was make those buttons easier to push. Why was everybody so against them? Who did they wrong in a past life to be born this way? Is there nothing and no one that can fix them being such a failure? Is this really completely out of their control — had they somehow become a helpless puppet to their useless, clueless mind? 

“Christian, go away.” “Someone’s a sad drunk,” "I said get the fuck, away!” They shoved him, and he stared, taken aback by the yelling. Everyone had stopped again to figure out what was going on, but no one dared interfere with the newer freak and that snarky Aussie. Their shoulders tensed, they were heaving, every thought in their brain came crashing down on them and there was a burning sensation in their throat to match their glistening eyes. Home, some desperate part of their soul begged, home I want to go home, it insists while they pick off the empty flask and storm away. 

But for them, there was no home. For their soul there was no rest. No one could hear their hearts cries behind the bars of their mental prison. The young wolf was doomed to be an eternally wandering soul. They will never truly feel at home. 

[khaoala]

I think Kant would have gotten far less criticism or hatred if KantBison were not being shoved into our throat. Like, clearly the showmakers want us to root for KB, everyone from Style to Cop Chris saying how Kant has fallen for Bison yada yada but at the same time Kant casually talks about Bison, the supposed love of his life, getting shot dead or spending his entire life in prison....without any sign of pain in his voice or face...like he's talking about mildly uncomfy weather.

This is clearly a narrative problem but it does make viewers frustrated and Kant's character has to bear the brunt of this narrative folly. I am very sure if the narrative made it clear from the start that KB are not, under any condition ending up together, the situation would have been different....but of course gmmtv has to sell their cp (by which I mean cp merch and stuff). The showmakers already have a pair (FadelStyle) that are hitting all the right spots for how a romantic pair should be and they can be easily shown to be having a happily ever after. Ideally they should have kept KantBison 'lovers to enemies' actually ending up as enemies...but well....cp 😒

i'll start this by saying this is the one and only ask with hate for kant/kantbison that i will answer because from your oh so many words, i can already tell you fit into the exact category of people who already made up your mind about the character and nothing i say will change your perception. but bc i'm not feeling like being the bigger person, sure, you wanna talk about this, let's talk about this.

first of all, i wanna talk about your apparent hatred for cps (or maybe it's just fk, we never know) and gmmtv's system, and you know, that's so funny because that's, and i know it'll shock you, their thing😯. so maybe if you didn't want to see that, you shouldn't have started watching the show, even after knowing that the two couples would end up together in the end because guess what, this was advertised as a romcom. and we what do we get with romcoms? exactly, happy endings. a travesty.

i find it so funny when people say fadelstyle are hitting all the spots for a romantic pairing, because that's what's supposed to be (again, a romcom), they are the more traditional romantic storyline (or as traditional as you can get with a killer and a guy who only started hitting on him and continued to do so because he wanted a car) so they are supposed to be hitting those spots. it's their storyline.

see, kantbison hooked up that very first night they met, clear attraction, kant was besotted by his one night stand and was calling him a ghost because bison up and ran before they could wake up together. their first interaction together and it had nothing to do with the police, or lying or manipulating, so maybe it's not a narrative problem that kantbison are "being shoved down our throats" maybe it's just a you problem if you didn't notice what they were being set up to.

and many people have talked about this already, and if you cared to read either liz's or lauren's meta about kant, you wouldn't have come to my inbox complaining about kant not being expressive when he clearly can't let himself feel the things he wants because his priority will always be his brother (just like fadel will prioritize bison always) in contrast to style who doesn't have to carry the responsibility of raising and caring for a younger brother on his shoulders.

and darling, if you started this show thinking at any point, from the trailers, pilot or official, promotional photos, osts, novel, press, anything, that kantbison would not be a thing, again, it's not on them, it's on you and your poor observation skills. there are plenty of people way more qualified than me to talk about this and how kant actually cares for bison, and how he's torn between his heart and his brain, but you don't really care, so why bother.