#all of my mutuals are so iconic and make good characters is the thing!

[perksofbeingahalfie]

A type of character that I'm OBSESSED with is the character who is turned into a symbol for a cause they don't believe in. The character who is cast in a story that they don't care about. The common man turned into a mythic figure, but who doesn't actually participate in the mythology.

I'm talking Jinx Arcane, who is seen as a symbol of the Zaun revolution despite the fact that she never was a freedom fighter. Any violence she committed against Piltover, her breaking the people out of jail, even her joining the fight in the finale - all of it was done for self serving reasons, it was all personal. She was never on the ground putting in the work or participating in mutual aid or even trying for an independent Zaun like Sevika or Ekko or Silco, yet she is painted on the walls and looked up to as a figure, a part to play. Not as her full person. So much so that just Isha imitating Jinx is enough to spark the fire.

Spinner from My Hero Academia is almost a c list character. He's a member of the League of Villains, but not a particularly important one. He is a follower at his core, first of Stain and then of Shigaraki. But for the final war, All For One decides to elevate him to the status of leader. He gives him additional quirks and paints him as a symbol of the heteromorph population who have been constantly oppressed and discriminated against, stirring up tension and recruiting many regular citizens who have no experience fighting to AFOs side in the final war. But at the key moment, the pivitol point that could change the tides of war, it falls apart. Because Spinner was never that figure, just a flimsy icon. He's not fighting for the heteromorph cause, he's not even fighting for AFO. He wasn't a mindless pawn, he *allowed* AFO to do these things to him, but for his own reasons. As he's deteriorating under the strain of the quirks and the pressure of the masses, he says explicitly its because he cares about Shigaraki and nothing else. Because it's personal.

In Black Sails, a story all about narratives and who you pretend to be, John Silver is literally crafted into the mythical pirate king by Flint and Billy. He plays the part of Long John Silver to a certain degree, but he's never more than an actor in a role. And at his core, Silver is a liar, a *very* good one. And so Billy and Flint forget this, they forget the fact that Silver doesn't care about the war and never has. He is a man with no past and no future, no story. A man who not only knows he's in a story, but also is one of the few to escape the constraints of the narrative by surpassing it entirely. By no longer being the character he was cast as, both textually and metatextually. He refuses the narrative, and he even has the power to do the same for Flint at the very end.

And it's not even the fact that they don't care or don't believe in the cause. Because they can and often do, though extremely temporarily. Spinner does express outrage against heteromorph discrimination, and Silver does find himself begrudgingly caring about his crew. Even Jinx can rally to save the city to some degree. But it never *really* matters to them. It's never even close to the main motivator, and a character quite literally lives and dies by their motivations. They're always operating on a different level than the other characters. Not necessarily a better or worse level, but just a purely different one. Or at least a level that the other characters don't understand/continually forget about. Most of the series, Jinx is purely reactionary, not doing things with much forethought or meaning behind it, but acting on emotional impulse. Spinner is a follower who is content with being a follower, who only really cares about his friends, his found family, not the war hes leading. And Silver is perpetually in survival mode, never dedicating himself to cause nor creed bc he doesn't allow the audience to make him into something more than a creature staying alive, regardless of what they might believe.

I dunno, there's something about characters that are made into symbols for causes they don't champion, and the rest of the characters having to deal with the fallout of their misbelief that really gets me going. They're the worms in my brain that keep coming back around

[causticsodaa]

Beyond the Surface of Suo and Sakura’s relationship

**MANGA SPOILER WARNING**

This is my first post on this website, apologies if theres anything incoherent here. This post is also very simplified and lacks some information as I wanted to keep it as concise as possible. If you would like a full-blown analysis about their relationship, do let me know. I may consider making a complete writeup.

Contrary to popular belief about their “lack of interactions”, Suo and Sakura share many important and pivotal moments together scattered across the story. They may not have that big impactful moment compared to other dynamics in WBK (examples being Chika calling Endo by his full name, or Nirei yelling at Sakura in Noroshi, but we’ll get to that later), however they are important to their relationship and for their individual characters. There’s too many to list here, so I will keep it short.

From the start of Wind Breaker, Suo has always teased Sakura; even lying to him when they first meet:

We all know that Suo is a very unserious guy, and this aspect of his character is highlighted the most when it comes to his interactions with Sakura. He constantly pokes fun at him; blatantly lying to him with the sole purpose to mess with him and just being a general tease.

These aren’t even all the instances when Suo does this! I got lazy while compiling images (yes, theres *that* many moments where Suo teases Sakura), but I hope this paints a good perspective.

This makes Sakura thinks of him as “untrustworthy”, in a more lighthearted sense.

Infact, out of anyone else in the cast, Sakura is the only person who actively questions Suo’s character. (I’m not counting Tsugeura because their confrontation was a one time thing)

But here’s the thing: Even if Suo takes advantage of the fact that Sakura is gullible enough to believe anything just so he can mess with him, Sakura still relies on Suo.

He relies on him to come up with a strategic plan for their war, partners with Sugishita despite his initial reluctance, and even follows his advice on how to fight with others people (which works in his favor immensely during the beginning of Noroshi and while he works with Sugishita)

Theres also another moment I’d like to showcase (which is very underrated imo):

Here, we see Sakura taking the support of Suo’s shoulder in order to kick Endo in the face. We also see Suo defending Sakura a few moments ago as well.

Heres’s the thing: Sakura is an arial fighter. He can easily jump to certain heights by himself, much less be able to kick his opponents mid-air. He doesn’t require any support to lift his body upwards.

So why would Sakura do this?

It’s simple: Sakura trusts Suo, whether it be direct or subconsciously. And as his vice captain, Suo also trusts Sakura. Why would he appoint him as class captain if otherwise?

Their mutual trust plays a massive part in their relationship. There are many instances showing this aspect, but for now I will just analyze this iconic scene:

Both Sakura and Suo immediately jump into action in order to protect their friend, Nirei, from any immediate threat (Endo). They exchange no words, only a knowing glance to each other.

I believe that this page shows the essence of their relationship: Despite their petty banter and occasional disagreements, despite how less ‘open’ their relationship is, they are more often on the same wavelength than not.

They care for and trust each other immensely. However, many of their nuances are in hidden between the lines of their relationship due to the guarded nature of characters.

And it is with all these aspects combined that makes the Suo and Sakura duo appealing to many people.

TLDR: Suo and Sakura trust and care for each other a lot, despite their personal shortcomings and Suo incessantly messing with Sakura.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk. There was so much more I wanted to write about here (such as their flawed perspectives on each other, suo’s perspective on sakura, and how they uplift each other), but unfortunately Tumblr literally refused to upload most of my images and nuked half of this post bc it decided not to save the draft; hence the short analysis. If you have any additional thoughts, feel free to let me know :)

[lakesbian]

i have had like 10 friends rec worm to me but nobody’s given me a good like, gist of its vibe and what its abt because ‘its best blind’, could u please give a like brief summary and vibe check of it 😭 it’s so long i dont wanna try and invest that much time without knowing much abt it

so, worm is a 1.7 million word long webserial written in 2010. 1.7 million words seems like a lot, but it was also written over a relatively short period of time, which means the writing style is very easy to parse--the ideas aren't without complexity, but the language itself isn't intimidatingly dense. you can get through it at a very decent pace. i agree with your friends that there are vast portions of worm that hit best when you're unspoiled, but the thing is that worm is long enough that giving you the basic plot pitch is in no way spoilers for any of the things that i wouldn't want to see spoiled for someone. i'm actually kind of baffled they're not telling you Any Thing, because it is in my estimation one of the best books i've ever read, but it also Needs a briefing before you get into it for like five different reasons. which i will now provide. i swear to god this is brief by my standards it's just that i am very thorough

worm is a story about superheroes and supervillains, set in a world where superpowers are traumagenic--rather than appearing randomly or innately, some people gain powers after a traumatizing event happens to them. the protagonist is taylor hebert, a 15yo girl who has the power to control insects and desperately wants to be a superhero. and then accidentally finds herself scouted by a team of teenage villains instead. who's to say how she's going to react to all that!

one of the most compelling things about worm is that the superpowers in it serve as visceral, hyper-literal metaphors for the trauma and traumatized coping mechanisms of the characters with those powers. each power is incredibly specific and thematically relevant to the person who has it, and it's incredibly interesting and evocative. it feels so natural and well-done that it comes off like how superpowers are just meant to be written.

the fact that superpowers stem from trauma also means that worm is fundamentally a narrative about trauma. specifically, about traumatized teenagers and the relationships they form as they cling together while struggling through growing up traumatized & mutually coping with an increasingly intriguing, intense, and far-reaching escalating plot. worm's depictions of trauma + mental illness--including unpalatable trauma responses, including traumatized characters who are allowed to be complicated and nuanced and messy while still receiving narrative respect--are deeply real-feeling and impactful, and they're placed in the context of a well-spun + engaging story.

i really do have to stress how excellent the character writing is. worm is fully deserving of being as long as it is. over the course of 1.7 million words of character development, the average reader's reaction to the main characters goes from "sorta interesting" to "okay, i want to see where this goes" to "augh...really likable" to "i am now on hands and knees crying and these characters are going to stick around in my brain forever." wildbow has incredible talent for efficiently conveying complicated, real-feeling, and viscerally evocative characterization. many of the interlude chapters (chapters written from the perspective of different characters other than taylor) are so interesting, fleshed-out, and emotionally affecting that they make you wish you could read an entire novel about just the side character being featured. with that level of characterization for just the side cast, it's not surprising that taylor (& co) are genuinely just downright iconic. and i do not say that lightly--taylor is truly one of the best-written protagonists i've seen in anything. ever.

the other main pitch-point for worm is that it's a fascinating deconstruction/reconstruction/examination of the conceits of the superhero genre. it answers the question of--what would the world have to be like, for people with superpowers to act the way they do in classic cape media? and it does this well enough that it's interesting even if you have only a passing familiarity with cape media. i am not a big superhero media fan, but worm addresses virtually every aspect of cape media that was under the sun around 2010 in a way that's so interesting i still find it incredibly engaging. the approach it takes makes the narrative very accessible even to people who aren't usually cape media fans.

and speaking of the narrative: the end of the story is coherent and satisfying and deeply thematically resonant*. the way worm follows through on all of its main mysteries & plot threads is excellent. you don't have to worry about getting thru 1.7 million words and being dissatisfied by the author shitting the bed at the end, or anything like that. he does an amazing job of weaving together plot events in a way that makes each successive one feel rationally, thematically, and emotionally connected to what came before. there's really only one part where i feel the story stumbles a bit, but i think it was the best option he had for the narrative, and it's by no means a dealbreaker. it's in fact really impressive how cohesive and satisfying worm is for such a long webserial released over such a brief period of time.

*this is subjective ive seen some people who didnt love it but ive never seen anyone who downright Hated it who didnt also demonstrate egregious misunderstanding of literally everything worm is about. so thats a good sign

as for the downsides of worm/things that might put you off:

there is a very long list of trigger warnings for it. if you have any trigger warnings you want you should ask your friends to let you know about the relevant parts, because the fact that it's About Trauma (& about typical cape media circumstances presented very seriously) means that traumatic and violent things & their realistic aftermath are constantly happening and/or being discussed. i would not classify worm as needlessly dark or spiteful to the audience by any means, but it is intense and covers a lot of heavy topics. i do assume if your friends are all recommending it to you, they think none of the material would be too much for you, though!

worm was written in 2010 by a white cishet guy from canada. it's typical levels of 2010-era bigoted, it has a deeply lesbophobic stereotype character, it has some atrociously racist stereotype characters, the author really hates addicts, It's Got Blind Spots. i think worm is generally fully worth reading despite these, but very fair warning that it can get bad. i think what exacerbates this is that worm is generally extremely nuanced & sympathetic regarding ideas such as "crime is a result of systematic circumstance vs people just being inherently evil" and "mentally ill people who are traumatized in unpalatable ways are still deserving of fundamental respect as human beings" and so on and so forth, so it's extra noticeable and insufferable when you get to a topic the author has unexamined biases on and all that nuance drops out. the worst part is that a lot of this is most concentrated in the early arcs, so you have to get through them without being super attached to any of the characters yet. it is worth it though.

worm like. Does have a central straight relationship in it. and it's a very well written straight relationship for the most part and i like it quite a lot. but worm also passes the bechdel test with such flying colors that it enters 'unintentionally homoerotic' territory. which means a lot of people were shipping the main character ms taylor hebert with her female friends while the story was being released. which caused the author to get so mad he 1. posted a word of god to a forum loudly insisting that all of the girls are straight and 2. inserted a few deeply awkward and obvious and out of character scenes where he finds an excuse for the girls to more or less turn to the camera and go "i'm not gay, btw. this is platonic." This is fucking insufferable, and will piss you off immensely, but then you will get to any of the number of deeply emotionally affecting scenes between them, and at that point you will be too busy sniffling piteously and perhaps crytyping an analysis post on tumblr to be mad about all that other shit. also they're only a couple tiny portions out of an entire overall fantastic novel

overall: if those points don't sound like dealbreakers (i hope they aren't they're really massively outstripped by the amount of devastatingly good moments in worm, worm still has a thriving fandom over a decade later for a reason), you should absolutely give it a shot and see what you think. my final note is that you have to read up until the end of arc 8 to really see where what makes worm Worm kicks in, so aim for at least there to see how you feel about it if you're just thinking about dipping your toes in vs fully committing. i hope that was helpful and not too long :)

oh and don't go in the comments section on wordpress if you don't want spoilers. or anywhere else in the fandom at all. you will be spoiled. quite possibly for things you could not even have imagined were topics to be spoiled on.

[purple-plum-petals]

⊱ TWST Dorm Leaders’ Reactions to Overhearing Yuu call them “Hot” ⊰ || Multiple Character Scenario

╭─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╮      Character(s): Riddle Rosehearts, Trey Clover (mentioned), Cater Diamond (mentioned), Leona Kingscholar, Azul Ashengrotto, Kalim Al-Asim, Jamil Viper (mentioned), Vil Schoeinheit, Idia Shroud, Ortho Shroud (mentioned), Malleus Draconia      Reader Type: Human, Ramshackle Prefect (Gender-Neutral Pronouns)      Warning(s): Nothing! I also always use the Japanese TWST Terms (Dorm Leader instead of Housewarden, Madols instead of Thaumarks, etc.) in my writing.      Genre: Scenario, Fluff, Slight Angst (?), Mutual Pining (Romantic Relationship)      Word Count: ~850 words      Scenario: When you had asked your companion out loud, “Man, why does your dorm leader have to be so hot?”, you had no idea that said dorm leader was nearby and overheard everything you just said.      Author’s Note: This is a small sequel piece to my TWST Characters’ Reactions to Yuu Calling Their Dorm Leader “Hot” simply because I thought it would be cute to do a follow-up on how each of the dorm leaders would react to Yuu admitting they found them attractive. I decided to keep this fluffy and make it so the dorm leaders in turn also found you attractive just to keep things fairly simple. I hope you all like it – thank you so much for your support! 🥰

→ If you enjoyed my work, please reblog it if you can! Exposure on Tumblr is based on reblogging content rather than liking it, so your support would be much appreciated!  ♡ ╰─━━━━━━━━━━━━─╯

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Becomes a flustered mess at your words, deciding against walking into the room and interrupting your conversation with the person they had been looking for. Their face is red and they feel as though they’re going to implode as their mind replays what you said over and over again. You… really think they’re that attractive? Well, at least they know the feeling is mutual.

·       Riddle, Azul, Idia

Well, now isn’t that interesting… He smirks slightly when he overhears the conversation you were having with the dorm mate he had been looking for. He was in a bad mood before, unhappy he had to painstakingly walk around campus to find the person he was looking for, but your words help with boosting his mood (and his ego). Waits for a moment before making himself known, acting as though he didn’t just overhear you call him hot.

·       Leona

Immediately starts smiling when he overhears your conversation and, with no hesitation and absolutely no shame, rushes into the room and gives you the biggest hug you’ve gotten in quite some time. Was it rude to eavesdrop and interrupt your conversation? Maybe… but he just couldn’t wait to tell you how much he likes you, too!

·       Kalim

Is fully aware of how good-looking he is and wishes you would have said so with a bit more tact, but still finds his heart skipping a beat slightly at your words despite himself. Takes a moment to compose himself before making himself known, acting as though he hadn’t overheard everything you had said. He’d certainly bring up what you said in the future when you two are able to have a… private discussion together. He’s not one to bring up such things in public since he knows that the pressure of other people involved could ruin what would usually be a nice moment.

·       Vil

Oh? He doesn’t quite understand what “hot” means in this context but, from your tone alone, he believes that it is most likely a compliment. He’ll need to ask someone later about what exactly that word refers to when referencing someone. Perhaps you were talking about his iconic green-flamed magic? That would be what made the most sense, at least in his eyes.

·       Malleus

Even despite knowing how you feel about him and that you at least find him visually appealing, he still doesn’t try to ask you out. He doesn’t feel as though he’s enough for you; his problems with his self-worth put a slight hindrance on your potential relationship with one another. You’ll definitely have to be the one to make the first move; that or Ortho might have to step in which probably isn’t what either of you two want.

·       Idia

Doesn’t make a move, not because of self-worth issues, but rather because he has no clue what to do. He’s never really experienced having a crush on someone, let alone someone having a crush on him in return. Tries to discreetly gather information on what to do from Cater and Trey, but they very quickly catch on (poor guy lmao). Thankfully, they give him pretty good advice on what to do; you’ll probably be invited to a private tea party soon so you two can talk about potentially changing your relationship with one another.

·       Riddle

Doesn’t make a move because making the first move would leave him in a vulnerable position and, well... he doesn’t like the thought of that possibility. What if you just thought he was attractive and that was it? Plenty of people have complimented his appearance while not necessarily finding his company enjoyable (not that he entirely blamed them). He’ll just step up his flirting game and hope you eventually break and ask him out to which he, after some of his usual teasing, would agree to give the relationship a shot.

·       Leona

Easily makes the first move knowing his feelings will be reciprocated. Why wait around when he knows how you feel about him? They would ask you out on a date, each with varying levels of formality. Azul would have an entire three-course, candle-lit dinner prepared for the two of you at Monstro Lounge, being his usual gentlemanly self. Kalim would try his hand at cooking dinner for the both of you (only to be kicked out of the kitchen by Jamil) before taking you for a ride on his magic carpet. Vil would do something a bit low-key and private considering his career as a model and actor, most likely deciding to have dinner and a nice little self-care date at Pomfiore.

·       Azul, Kalim, Vil

Instead of asking someone else about the meaning of your words, he would decide to ask you directly what you meant when you said he was “hot” as well as apologize for unintentionally eavesdropping on your conversation. Oh, so you weren’t referring to his fire magic but rather his appearance? He can’t help but smirk at your bold declaration and tell you that he, too, finds you to be quite attractive. He’ll definitely start properly courting you now that he knows your feelings toward each other are mutual.

Malleus

[olderthannetfic]

I'm IWTV-wank-avoidance-asking Anon and it kinda missed me that it would be a wanky topic lol I was trying to see if the show is worth watching. A lot of my mutuals are posting IWTV gifs so I assume it's good, but I was curious if anyone who read the novel would think "Better read the novel". I don't realize an asking-for-rec ask would be wanky, but now that I think about who the writer is, it kinda makes sense. My bad lol

--

Ahahahaha.

Around here, I don't think anyone is precious enough about Anne Rice to start the genuine version of this wank, but Rice fandom can be... uh... very intense even on top of Rice herself having been the queen of drama.

You know about Red Beans Anne Rice, right?

Many years ago, Anne got all butthurt about a tacky-ass restaurant taking over an abandoned building that she'd had Lestat being emo in in one of the books. Instead of gothic atmosphere, it was now very PINK and LOUD. So she wasted money taking out ads in the local paper as Lestat trying to shame the restaurant owner... at which point a bunch of other restaurant owners also wasted money to respond in newspaper ads saying that they welcomed fellow businesspeople. It all ended in the restaurant's grand opening and people with plates of "Red beans Anne Rice" (i.e. red beans and rice).

--

Anyway, I read the first book back in the 90s when I was like 15. It's decent from what I remember. The thing that made it iconic when it came out in 1976 was that it was pretty heavily pushing the vampire=drug addict metaphor. This is everywhere in sexy goth sadboi vampire media now, but it wasn't as much of a thing at the time.

It was also very, very gay but in that way where (at least in the first book), nobody really says the word. That meant something in the 70s. Even by the 90s, it wasn't such a big deal, and it's a big nothingburger in the 2020s.

Book 1 is Rice dealing with the death of her child. It's all about suicidal feelings and Catholic weirdness. The main character is Louis, a.k.a. Rice's self-insert (which she confirmed herself).

Books 2 onward are about Lestat's dick.

He becomes a rockstar, vampire-bones the ur vampire, which causes him to mega level up, thus enabling him to thwart her plot to kill all men on earth aside form a few for breeding purposes, bodyswaps so he has a working penis again, fucks a nun, swaps back, gets Louis back by trying to commit suicide and accidentally getting a tan, etc... Much, much later books are about the other bonkers vampires, most of them more in the horny rockstar mold than the sad mommy of dead baby one.

In book 1, Louis is a depressed plantation owner who eats a bunch of his slaves among other fucked up shit. Claudia, their vampire daughter, is a small child who is upset about being stuck as a kid forever. One of the more disturbing parts is when Louis finds out she's fucking adult men. Lestat turns out to be a French nobleman with mommy issues despite Louis thinking he was only pretending to be upper class.

-- The TV series moved the entire plot much later in history, made Louis black, and gave him a spine. Some racists cried about this and some of tumblr cried about how it was offensive to take the plantation owner and make him black instead of doing that with the other one.

The show also made it more overt that Lestat is an abusive jackass boyfriend. This apparently came as a surprise to people with poor reading comprehension. Others have wanked about fans still liking Louis/Lestat instead of Louis/less terrible boyfriends. But... like... It's IWTV. What did they expect?

(So yes, some book fans will be immensely wanky about the show. Ignore them.)

Also, I hear they fuck on the show? Rice's vampires don't have working junk, which we know because Lestat stands in front of an entire wall of mirrors in the most bougie bathroom ever in Akasha's evil lair and discusses how his penis—I mean "The Organ"—no longer does anything.

Also, Armand in the books is the 14-year-old kept boy of a Renaissance painter with a harem of boys or something like that. (It's been a very long time since I read these.) Shit like this never makes it into the adaptations.

--

If you're curious about the history of vampire media or about a certain kind of Southern gothic shit, sure, read the books, particularly the first one with its radically different tone and much greater historical importance.

The old movie is a decent adaptation of book 1, though it makes it less gay (or at least removes Louis' weird boner for his dead brother) and messes with the ending in a way that would have made sequels veer off from the books. I haven't seen that other old movie with Aaliyah, but it looks like a campy time capsule of baaaad movies of that era.

Anyway, no, you don't need to read the book before watching the show. They changed a massive amount of stuff.

I'm in more of a Chinese media phase right now, but a bunch of friends have watched and said the show is genuinely good.

[tacoma-narrows]

Between the Sea and the Sky!

Hi everybody! Meet the TWO new guys I made between last night and today! Their names are Tarmac (an Aeromorph dog) and Soda (a pooltoy fox), and they've filled a desire for these two specific kinds of OCs I've had in mind for MONTHS lol. They were super fun to design and draw and I'm super excited to do more with them soon!! This piece is relatively simple but more so serves as their introduction hehe

See more about them, including refs and some additional pieces/information below the cut :] (it kind of turns into a huge braindump lmao)

Tarmac is an aeromorph, although a bit more towards the furry side of things rather than the plane side lol. His design is influenced primarily by the Concorde and the Space Shuttle! I couldn't decide for the life of me which of those two things I wanted to use so I thought "why not use both?" and here we are lol. I'm super happy with his design, with the black/dark gray markings mean to emulate the look of the Space Shuttle's thermal insulation tiles and then I really like how the red and blue stand out against the gray. I really like his icon too! I wanted to make it look like a stylized depiction of a plane (mainly a Concorde hehe) breaking through the sound barrier with a sonic boon! In terms of personality, I don't have a whole lot in mind yet. Mostly that he'd be the brave, adventurous type and since he can fly both in the air and through space, he's gonna be friends with Astro too :3

Soda is a pooltoy fox! I have wanted to make a pooltoy OC FOREVER (blame my mutuals for always posting/reblogging so many cool pooltoy OCs hehe). I finally got brave enough to actually give it a shot, and I love how he came out! I was mainly just thinking about summery themes and as I was just trying out different colors and stuff, I thought about orange soda, and that's the direction I ended up going! He's got a big stupid tail [affectionate] and can have either rounded bappy hands or have actual fingers, you're free to stylize that either way! I've only ever drawn a pooltoy character once ever before, so this was something way out of my realm of familiarity, but I'm so happy with how he came out! He's so shaped I love him so much already <33

So those are my two new guys! Making two new OCs at the same time is already a rarity for me lol. The only time it's happened before was when I made Rye and Pumpernickel back in August of 2021. And then making these guys when I had only gotten Astro about two and a half weeks ago means this is an exceedingly rare event for me lmao. My friends know how infrequently I make/get new OCs, so this just goes to show how much these guys have been bouncing around in my brain lately lol.

They are definitely gonna have some sort of connection to each other, but I'm not sure how I wanna go about that yet. Since I made them back to back, they are already connected in my brain, but I'm not sure how I wanna express that in a meaningful way. I don't wanna make them siblings bc, well, they're obv very different from each other lol, but they're kinda parallels (with one being in the sky and the other being in the water yknow), so as of right now they're definitely good friends with each other. I might upgrade that to bfs at some point in the future, but we'll see how things go hehe.

Anyways huge braindump of a post lmao, thank u for reading if u did! I'd love to hear your thoughts on these guys since they're so different from all my other characters! Also if anyone may wanna do an art trade of either of these guys (or Astro as well! I'd like to get more art of him too!) let me know hehe

[bouncy-dog-funeral]

Stiles Stilinski and how teen wolf fails his character and relationships

TW: mentions of charecters traumas, disibilitys not being taken seriously, toxic relationships, one sided attraction, and teen wolf hate cuz as much as I love some of the charecters… the show is kinda bad (it’s my special interest b4 I get hate)

ALSO!!!

I am just an autistic guy who’s been hyper fixated on stiles as a character for years. I am not telling you how to feel about the show or him, I’m just expressing how I feel through a long (and I mean it this is long so strap in… or don’t… I don’t control you) tumbler rant. I have not finished the show but I have done a lot of research (about episodes and seasons that I have not seen) but I’m just human. If I miss something or don’t get something right, you can just tell me!!

Stiles stilinski as a character, while not a revolution to tv, was a pretty iconic character. A show about werewolves and the supernatural was absolutely side stepped by the human of the series. From the moment he’s on screen, he brings a fun vibe and some pretty funny jokes but you’re not here to listen to me glaze a white guy from an early 2000s show. Too much of that on here any way so let’s get to the real meat and potato’s!

Stiles was failed by teen wolf. They failed to give him relationships (and I mean platonic and romantic relationships) that were reciprocated. His relationship with Scott is ok at best. In the first season stiles goes out of his way for Scott to help him find out what’s wrong with him and it’s seemingly the only reason he’s there other then to get Scott to go in the woods and to show that Scott isn’t friendless and what does Scott do? Kinda just ignore him to hang out with a girl HE JUST MET. This isn’t a one time thing either. Stiles goes out of his way for Scott 99% of the time. He’s loyal and honestly a really good friend. Scott does not meet him there unfortunately. This is not to say that Scott never helps stiles out or never shows care for him, he just kinda always puts his issues first. I think a famous example is season 5 episode 9. NOW BEFORE YOU SCOTT SYMPATHIZERS BOO ME I WOULD LIKE TO EXPLAIN MY POINT. Now Scott and Stiles have both gone through some traumatizing shit that no one, especially high schoolers but I can only give so much leniency. Scott is supposed to be a leader/alpha and although he’s bound to make mistakes, a good leader listens. He never really listens to stiles in this argument. He got told one story from Theo and just runs with it. He has this problem either way black and white thinking when everyone in this series is a person (werewolf’s and other supernatural creatures included) and being a person comes with not being perfectly good. Scott has this awful superiority complex when it comes to doing what he thinks is morally right. Scott through out the series proves that he is not as loyal to stiles is to him.

I’d also like to go over his relationship with Lydia cuz good god man. I don’t hate Lydia. I think she’s a great character that if not written in the early 2000s could really have potential but they make her mean to stiles (as most charecters are) and show no interest in stiles even as a nuisance and expect me to care about them as a couple. Now you could say the same thing about sterek (stiles x Derek) and you might even be typing up a comment now. Let me stop you. I think there is a key diffrance. We are supposed to root for stiles and Lydia. We are supposed to want them together when Lydia in all honesty is not intrested in him. It’s not a mutual arguing or back and forth. Stiles is deeply in love with some one who ignored his existence. As a afab person I feel bad for Lydia a little. Having the attention of a man that you don’t like all that much while you have a partner (Jackson in season 1 which he’s not a good partner but she’s still with someone) should get on my nerves and also kinda make me nervous. This is not me saying stiles is a creep or anything it’s just me highlighting the relationship that they share is kinda one sided. Now this is just personal preference and you might really like that dynamic but I don’t really want to root for a couple where it’s just pretty girl is there and she has some nerd who wants to be with her and she eventually gets with him cuz yay straight people. I know they grow and eventually Lydia is in love with him but I just can’t get behind it. It’s just nothing. The fact the he (stiles) yells at her at the school dance (season 1 episode 11) to get her to dance with him after she rejected the offer twice is weird!!! The whole speech is nice guy behavior on stiles part and it makes him seem down right disrespectful. I don’t care for the whole “no means I’m playing hard to get” idea. It makes stiles look like a dick, puts Lydia in the position where if she doesn’t say yes the audience will hate her, and it doesn’t progress the relationship in a healthy way. I think they would be really cute friends and you can even keep the “stiles has a crush on her” narrative and just make it to where he comes to an understanding that she has said no and they become friends. God knows we are lacking good platonic male/female relationships in media.

Now onto stiles and his disability. When I was in first obsessing over stiles in middle school or high school I was ecstatic to learn that stiles had adhd. I have been diagnosed with adhd since I was in elementary school. I was always an outcast cuz of it so to see a character, a fan fav at that, I was so happy. Getting any disability rep (especially from the mid 2000s) is crazy rare so I was happy to see it. Unfortunately in an interview Dylan o’brian (stiles actor) said that it was a joke. That even tho that in the series stiles says that he takes Adderall (a drug that treats adhd) he’s just like that. This was incredibly heart breaking to hear. Jeff Davis (creator of teen wolf) said that stiles had adhd later on Twitter but this isn’t a real relief to hear cuz either they wrote a “joke” that stiles might have adhd therefore dangling rep infront of disabled people’s faces while also having plausible deniability about having any rep in the show at all OR they wrote it in and just kinda ditched it at one point. They use derogatory terms for adhd to describe stiles like spaz just for him to be a nerotypical charecter??? Yeahhhhhh not a huge fan. If they actually wrote him to have adhd (which btw in my experience is like one of the most “accepted” disibiltys to portray in media so it wouldn’t even be taking a huge risk to give stiles adhd) then that would explain his behaviors, why he takes Adderall, why people other him when he seemingly does everything right. It was only ever a joke to the writers and I think unfortunately the actors. It made it to where other fans of the show can shut down the idea that stiles has adhd cuz “they don’t ever directly say it. It’s frustrating and overall makes me so sad.

Next his trauma. They put this man through a lot and just gloss over it. They do this with most of the charecters. Huge traumatic incadent then boom Scott saves the day we’re all fine!!! (Can you tell who my least fav charecter is through this rant?) it’s just annoying. Stiles was litterly possessed leaving him a broken man but it’s kinda just… there? No real ptsd. Hell he doesn’t even really have to deal with anything. They briefly go over that his mom died and kinda just became a shell of a person and that made his dad an alcoholic. It just happens. None of that affects stiles outside of that story line. Was it too much to write ptsd? Idk it just seems that anytime they have to write a charecter that isn’t a ambiguously white or white nerotypical untraumatized “normal” person, they fall flat *cough* BOYD *cough cough* DANNY *cough* what was that? Who said that? Any way it’s just weird and upsetting.

All of this to say…. I think teen wolf had so much potential and so many good ideas that just… didn’t make it. They failed stiles stilinski, not only that! They failed all of their character’s but I’m not crazy Coocoo about their character’s and it 1:38 in the morning so I’ll leave it with stiles. If you disagree with me that’s so fine, I’d love to have a conversation about your opinions! Just from my knowledge and experience, I feel like they could have done so much better for stiles

(Like make him a bisexual neurodivergent icon but whatever)

Have a lovely day! Thank you for listening. If you ever want to talk about teen wolf, my dms are always open and I’m crazy.

[misstrashchan]

Number 7 for the RWBY ask game!

Yang's "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!!! CAN EVERYONE JUST CALM DOWN FOR LIKE FIVE MINUTES BEFORE SOMETHING CRAZY HAPPENS AGAIN!" from V1

No super deep reason why I like this one tbh. Often I just find myself repeating this line either in my head or out loud when I feel overwhelmed and stressed out. Idk I just find it cathartic and it's just a good line of expressing anger and frustration in a humorous way when too much is happening all at once.

"Do you believe in destiny?"

The last words said before her death, carrying Pyrrha's legacy. The way it encapsulates Pyrrha's arc and her struggle with agency and existentialism. The way it continues to haunt the narrative, especially for Cinder and Jaune's characters, makes it one of the most iconic lines of the show.

"This must be really hard on her too"

I have literally written an entire meta on why I love this line.

"Some things are more important, I think. Keeping our humanity."

I absolutely adore the humble and honest defiance Oscar's line has in the face of Ironwood's "we have to do whatever it takes to stop Salem, nothing matters more". It's also really when you see Oscar coming into his own and finding himself, starting to find and assert his own beliefs (...though you can clearly see Ruby's inspiration and influence shining through *gestures to her "so all those times you talked about having faith in humanity... That was just for everyone else?"). Because Oscar is trying to believe in Ironwood's humanity. And in his own, in the face of the merge. He pays for it dearly and yet that belief of his doesn't falter, and we see it again with how he believes in Oz, Hazel and Emerald. And what he says here really is at the heart of what will lead to them saving the day I think, in the same vein as Ruby and Maria's conversation about the Silver Eyes not being about destroying monsters, but preserving humanity and life.

"She's not protecting me. And I'm not protecting her. We're protecting each other"

If Blake and Yang facing against Adam again and holding hands wasn't enough to drive me wild and giddy, this line does. So much growth in Blake and Yang's relationship culminating in their confrontation with Adam, especially with this line. Letting go of matyr complexes, and instead coming together as equals to mutually uplift and support each other, so neither has to suffer alone or feel infantalised or overshadowed as the protector or protected, instead growing beyond that into something stronger and more beautiful, the moment their love truly began to blossom.

"You atlas elites are all the same! you think hoarding power means you'll have it forever, but it just makes the rest of us hungrier. And I refuse to starve."

I love this line for the feral energy it has, the raw drive and ambition Cinder has that it bleeds far past desire and into a need, a desperation. It carries so much weight with it, the foreshadowing for Cinder's backstory as a slave girl trampled and abused by atlas elites, literally starved for food, affection and agency. I really love the way the hunger motif in general is used. On top of that it makes the foiling between Winter and Cinder very apparent

"Without you I am nothing, but because of you I am everything"

Honestly up there as another one of the most iconic lines of the show. It's said in a a moment of rebellion and triumph by Cinder over her abuser, but simultaneously is tragic in how Cinder is essentially defining herself by the abuse and pain she endured. Fully expecting this line to resurface in a moment with Salem, but with the original meaning turned on its head.

"Maybe there was something you just weren't seeing" I also wrote another whole ass meta about why I love this line

also shoutout to Ilia's "Quit taking pot shots and FIGHT ME LIKE YOU MEAN IT!" and "I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO! I don't know what else to do..." purely for Cherami Leigh's brilliant performance in delivering such raw and emotional lines.

Ozpin's fear speech is pretty great too.

There's another line from V9 that's one of my favorites too, but I know you haven't watched V9 yet so I'll tell you that one later :)

[charcubed]

I'm curious, what are the main reasons why Dean is your favorite canon bisexual in media? Love your meta and that video btw

Ooooo, anon, thank you for the kind words and for giving me an excuse to talk about my love for bisexual icon Dean Winchester <3

I'm going to be really annoying (sorry) and quote part of my meta first. It summarizes and articulates many of my thoughts on this. And then to further answer your question I'll add a bit under it!

From the very beginning, Dean Winchester has been a character tied to classic elements of American masculinity. He was introduced with a superficial veneer involving those elements, but almost immediately the early episodes provide a look at the complexity of his character underneath it. Over the years, that complexity was further explored, and he came to embody a study in things society would often have us think should be incompatible contrasts: the gruffness and grit of hunting life and its associated masculine iconography, paired with his open and deep emotional care for the world; unabashed love for classic rock, superheroes, and horror movies, as well as unabashed joy connected to TV dramas, chick flicks, and childhood favorites like Scooby-Doo; life on the road with a muscle car, but the desire for a home base with creature comforts he can make his own; motivation to always help people, but the clear longing for balance with personal domesticity and relaxation so he could save not only others but also himself.

As a whole, his character functions as an effective deconstruction of toxic masculinity and stereotypical American heroism. And while much of Dean’s most masculine traits and interests are said to come from his father’s influence, part of his journey is loving those parts of himself on their own merit not because he ever had to but because he wants to. He is not his father, and he redefines those valued parts of his identity so they are his and his alone. He also crucially learns to recognize and joyfully embody that those masculine traits were never all that he had to be, working through and overcoming shame and hesitancy along the way. The result? He’s “good with who he is.”

He and the audience are encouraged to see that there are no rules his identity and interests must subscribe to, on a micro or a macro level. The message is to disregard predetermined destiny or duty. Free will means his life is his to determine, his family can be what he makes of it and how he defines it, and what he needs and wants do not ever have to be mutually exclusive. Dean’s journey is about freedom from outwardly-imposed limitations–whether those limitations come from his father’s example and the God altering his story, or from the pervasive societal ideals and network/executive interference outside of it. Dean can and should contain multitudes, all at once.

In this way, Dean’s story is a powerfully queer narrative that acts as metacommentary. In the fullness of its execution, it is also specifically a deeply bisexual narrative.

The not-so-hidden truth is that Dean is canonically a bisexual man. His story was afforded something that’s rare for most characters and almost nonexistent for queer ones: fifteen years of lengthy, nuanced development.

[...]

Again: Dean’s identity journey is about how he can and does contain the capacity for multitudes, and it’s part of what makes him such a compelling character. He can like “this” and “that.” He can be attracted to women and men. Or, as writer Ben Edlund and director Phil Sgriccia said in a DVD commentary, Dean has “the potential for love in all places.”

I wanted to include the above verbatim because it spells out something specific: Dean's narrative is bisexual in its bones. Supernatural evolved to become a queer text, but the specific ways the show and Dean as a character evolved are very intertwined with and informed by the fact that Dean is a masculine bisexual man. SPN is a story that was not meant to be about being queer, but as it became about freedom through free will, those themes were then leveraged and emphasized in connection to queerness because of Destiel. And by the end, the free will narrative and Dean's journey as a bi man are utterly inseparable, because Dean's fight for true freedom is tied to his love for a man and their untraditional family in a way that higher forces are trying to hinder.

You cannot cut out or edit or remove Dean's bisexuality from the story, or several narratives and plot lines (not just Destiel) would at minimum be misunderstood or at maximum fall apart. And yet, simultaneously? Dean's bisexuality is also far from being the sole important thing about his character because he is written with such nuanced complexities and across so many years of material.

Of course, add onto this the overall unique situation that surrounds Supernatural as a piece of media. People talk at length about how there will never be anything like it again, including me; that's obviously true from multiple different angles and for multiple different reasons, with Destiel being prime amongst them. But a related yet distinctly significant branch of that topic is there will never be another bisexual character who is written and evolves quite like Dean.

Was Dean supposed to be bisexual from the very start, out of the mind of Kripke? Who can know for sure, but probably not. Were certain writers and members of production deliberately putting more queercoding and subtext into Dean's character/story from the very start? Who can know for sure, but potentially yes, and certainly the answer becomes unarguably definitely yes the farther you get into the show. That's part of my love and passion for him too, because all of that is deeply unique and incredibly cool.

Dean's bisexuality evolved in a way that (against all odds) actually feels organic, seamless, and like it's simply a part of his character that's been there all along. The effect when you look at Supernatural as a whole body of work is that Dean's always been bi, and his expressions of and acknowledgements of that part of him ebb and flow depending on situation–which is a very relatable notion for many queer people. And as those writing the show became more committed and certain about that piece of who Dean is, so did he, in nuanced and subtle ways skillfully embedded into his story by design. It's bafflingly, impressively cohesive; gives him an incredibly realistic feel; matches his overall character growth; and rings true to his demographic, age, personality, and experiences.

Dean and his story and the situation(s) surrounding both are simply incomparable, and that will be true forever ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

...also. Well. I simply love him, y'know? For even more reasons unconnected to this. How can you not, right? :')

Thank you for asking, and thanks for reading this bi Dean manifesto!

Putting my video that you mentioned here for anyone who's not watched it:

My new magnum opus, please stream, etc.

(or watch on Tumblr here)

[svnflowermoon]

luc's 1.5k follower celebration!!

my intro post

ok hi hello!! to begin with, wow. this is insane and honestly kind of terrifying. what do you mean 1500 people follow me?? that's like, if i was best friends with half of my school. so yeah, this is insane, thank you all so much. you all mean the world to me and you're all absolutely amazing <33

the good witch - give me a song and i'll give my opinion

style - i design you an outfit using pinterest

waiting room - i design you a room using pinterest

mona lisa - i draw a sketch of your choice

lacy - i make a moodboard of your choice (if not specified it will be of your blog)

nothing else i could do - i give you an artist, album, and song that makes me think of you

hope ur ok - tell me your situation and i'll give you advice (i am a certified (specifically romantic) advice giver come to me w your problems)

astronomy - i give you a list of things that remind me of you

how do i lose you? - give me a prompt and a ship from one of my fandoms and i'll write a oneshot based off it

this is on you - give me a ship/character/lyric/prompt and i'll make you a playlist based off it

swinging at the stars - i make you a theme (please specify who you want the icon to be)

best friend - cym, give me a theme and i'll cast my mutuals

called you again - i plan you a first date that fits your vibe

everything to everyone - i give you a romance trope and a list of relationship things that suits your vibe

wishful thinking - (mutuals only) i tell you the plan of a dream holiday i would go on with you

emails i can't send - (mutuals only) i write you a letter

rules:

followers/mutuals only!!

send requests by asks

maximum of two requests per ask

no maximum request per person, request all of them if you want

this event ends some time in february because that's when i start school again

[originemesis]

"creation took 7 days; now watch me fuck it all up in one night"

canon divergent adam / abel // haz.b.in h.o.tel

21 + / mid-low activity / private and 🐢 SLOW

ordained and entertained by skeu ; icon templates by cinna! 💜💛

Commission human icons by bbglucifer ;p <3 --- > xxx

side blog: vortex @gutstaken (changing over to Abel at some point.)

here are some cool people 😎 : @mourningstarred / deathinfeathers , @lilitophidian , @cast-you-dxwn , @2ndrib , @atomeyes , @arachn0philia , @drraphaelmd-a @brokendreamscreation , @hlylight , @chasingrainbcws @danger-tits-lute , @hclluvahctel , @themosthatedbeingg , @metaladam

about // playlist // active headcanon // current verses // rules [beneath]

Caard-Esque:

Blog is 21+ for content concerns and mun is 25+ (an old) and will not interact with minors on this blog. minors should technically not follow me here either ~ so, don'tttttt...do that? thanks! if i catch you, you're yeeted to the shadow realm.

Do not follow this blog if you are sensitive to the sensitive topics related to this particular genre. I tag with "content word cw" for the extra wild stuff, but that's about it. adam literally has the highest swear/slur count in the show and he's only in 3 episodes, so be aware of that.

I tend to be private/selective as i get fairly overwhelmed with too much activity. i really get into plots though, and i'll spam the dash with some silly original dick chauvinism from time to time when ive fed my inner gremlins past midnight. That said, I do get easily overwhelmed when I'm following too many people and multi muse blogs in particular can exacerbate this feeling, so if I do not follow back - I might just not be in a good place to atm or I just don't see possible interactions btw our characters. It's nothing personal! ^^

This is a mutuals only interaction blog for my sanity (anons being fine). if i can see plots happening between us, i'll likely follow. but i get overwhelmed easily so please don't take it personally if i don't follow back or follow back right away.

I am not exclusive, but I prioritize my plotted threads and may have some mains/activity based off that as far as my main verse goes. But I will never be fully exclusive and i enjoy exploring different character dynamics. Also multiship is fine, but I am not exclusively here to ship or write suggestive content. My muses have always and will always require plotting and scene chemistry for me to consider writing ship material. In the case I do reblog shippy prompts still feel free to send in ofc! I'll see if I can make it work or not.

If I don't get a follow back within a week or two, if blogs i follow go inactive for up to 6-7 weeks, or if there's just no attempt on either of our ends to connect for an indefinite amount of time - i'll occasionally go through my list and soft block to clean things up. if we ever want to give it a go in the future, the option is there for us to re-follow and resume! i have in the past been made to feel like I'm walking on egg shells in rpcs regarding these matters and id rather avoid it here...im just here to chill, write and leave weird surprises in dms.

I don't like the feeling of being 'collected' so...if you are interacting with multiple of my muses, I ask you have a different dynamic for mine than them. This is just an act of courtesy I also extend to my rp partners. I interact more with folks that have a special relationship with my muse, so it's needed to deep dive into more interesting topics for me. I also do not usually interact w/ other of the same muse cuz I feel like I 'absorb' how others play him and I want to keep my version separated from that. I might give it a shot some times though depending on how it's presented. And if you're just concerned with collecting another Adam for 'shipping' steer clear of me because I rarely ship unless given good reason to.

I know that Adam is a bad guy. He's insufferable and can push buttons- but I am not him and I dislike constantly feeling like I'm being barraged for his actions, especially since I consider him to be a heavily layered character that should not be shoe horned into a standard 'ok irredeemable and never allowed nice things' box. So- if you honestly hate this character please don't interact. I am here for exploring taboo topics and ways that a flawed character can make others think he's justified, betray them, make people feel COMPLICATED things... I also love torturing my muse and taking the piss out of him, so I don't need people moving in and tying to constantly put him down/ruin his current plots by being god modey or not at least asking me how we should proceed in a power dynamic, or relationships cuz you don't ship what I ship, or find my interactions with other characters 'toxic' and 'not allowed'...let me explore and enjoy what I like on my blog within reason and do talk with me on dms if you don't like how things are going with our muses and you wanna explore other routes. I love to plot and I am very reasonable.

This is my blog and my verses and my interpretation of what's going on. I am happy to accommodate to any pre determined and agreed upon thread, but I will not let other characters that are considered 'more powerful' lore wise that aren't even canon dictate what I can do on my blog or in my personally plotted verses. I am happy to adjust depending on others' verses, but I require direct and forward communication before each interaction if that's the case. On my blog, Adam (mainly) is the head of the exorcists and always has been and will be until his death. He commands, sleeps with and is generally the head boss of the Exorcists. Do not force any headcanons onto my character such as being a woman beater or groomer or etc bc that is not what he is to me or how I portray him in my verses.

This post/my rules and conditions are subject to change based on what I get up to on here.

[curtsies-from-princess-ashlyn]

"I feel so seen, so understood, and so known"

There are so many great and iconic quotes between Ricky and Gina, but the one that I think encapsulates their relationship perfectly is "But with you, I feel so seen, so understood, and so known." I think you Rinas already know why, but it's worth exploring anyway (maybe there'll be some rogue non-shipper who reads this and gets it).

Ricky was the first and only character to see Gina as more than the scary new girl when she first started at EHS. Even before connecting with her in the car (1x05), he still didn't see her intensity and drive as something to be intimidated by, as everyone else did. In fact, he sees her as exceptionally talented and that her confidence is warranted, as shown in 1x06 when he says she's good at "everything else" (he also becomes her "wow" guy throughout the rest of the series). Even though he acknowledged that others thought she was scary, he never describes her as such in his own words. When he calls her out at Homecoming, he comments that everyone else believes these things about her, but he didn't include himself in that category beforehand. I also think that comment itself is showing that he sees through her half-baked ploy and that she's more than this front she's putting on. Then, their connection really takes root in the coat check scene and they both realize how much they have in common. Throughout the rest of the season and into S2, we see these glimmers of Ricky just getting Gina - when he understands that she tends to push herself beyond her limits, and when he tenderly encourages her to be vulnerable when she's getting emotional in the S2 flashback. Even in S3, we see Ricky give Gina the support and encouragement she was wanting as the lead when the rest of the cast was wrapped up in their own issues. S4 has Gina (and the audience) reflect on how Ricky was the first person who made SLC feel like home to Gina, all through him not only seeing her as she really is, but celebrating the parts of her that she was ashamed of or others found unsavory. He saw and celebrated both the edgier and softer parts of her, and when she found a healthy balance of these qualities, she let herself finally be Gina.

Likewise, Gina served as the character who saw and understood Ricky when no one else did. We see all throughout S1 that Gina was the one character who could not only empathize with what he was going through, but also is capable of helping him work through his feelings in a positive way. An incredible example of this is 1x10, when he's in the hallway and tells her about Todd. Rather than shame him for walking off stage, she successfully encourages to go back to watch the show and support the cast, even if seeing EJ as Troy is understandably bothersome. Also, a really interesting moment of understanding Ricky and Gina share in S2 is Valentine's day that I want to highlight. In 2x01, Ricky opens his gift from Nini (a skateboard), and he has a rather withdrawn response, since it reminds him of his first gift from his mom and that she's not there for Christmas. Nini clearly has sympathy for him, but she doesn't really know what to say so he quickly changes the subject. Contrast this with his scene with Gina in 2x03, where she brings up that she's missing her mom on their special holiday, reminding Ricky that the person who does understand exactly what he's experiencing with his mom is Gina. As it pertained to theater, where Ricky felt inadequate or ashamed of his inexperience, Gina saw someone who could make the show truly special because he was new to it.

This is what makes Ricky and Gina such a special and well written ship, in my opinion. Their stories are so beautifully tied to each other and they help each other become better, and they also see and celebrate the best parts of each other. There's mutual respect, understanding, and an abundance of love and appreciation for who the other truly is.

[happilyfeatherafter]

Happilyfeatherafter’s ficrec Fridays

Back back back again, and I don't know guys, I think we should all just totally stab Caesar! Welcome back to a new fortnight of fics that I’ve read and loved recently.

If you want to find more you can see my previous rec lists here!

15 March 2024

Are You Writing From the Heart? by  @luckshiptoshore is now complete!! Congrats Luck! Full disclosure, Luck is one of my very best friends, but that just means I know not only how much of a talented fic writer she is, but also how much of her heart and soul she poured into writing this love letter to queer storytelling, season 4 Destiel as a romcom, meta text (and subtext), and finding out who you really are when society and your upbringing is fighting against you. Castiel is a ghostwriter for L.S. Shore's Supernatural novels about Neal and his brother. Caught in a storytelling rut, Cas finds himself adding the fallen angel character of Bel...what could possible go wrong? Meanwhile at his local writing coffee shop spot, he meets the handsome stranger Dean who is an up and coming standup comedian and Supernatural fanboy. They because firm friends, but that's definitely it because Cas is straight....right?! Following these two dummies as they FAIL TO USE THEIR WORDS is a total joy, as Luck's humorous and emotional writing paired with her eye for detail is so very on point, and I'm so excited more people will finally get to read this story in full.

Baker Six by komodobits because !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I cannot tell you how goddamn excited I was to get this email notification and finally be back in 91w world, and to witness these early stages of Dean and Cas' relationship through Dean's eyes at last. This barely needs a rec because it's THEE 91w Dean, but komodobits hasn't missed a beat in getting back inside their heads and I was once again swept away by this iconic love story against the odds. Head the trigger warnings as always, this is truly on the front lines as a medic in a war zone. Baker Six was written for the very good cause of the fandom Palestine fundraiser, in support of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Please donate if you can!

Truth & despair by @shallowseeker was a recent discovery and such a fascinating read! It's set in a post-15x18 verse, but importantly it features a fun Sam narrative perspective that delights in his lens by...being a bit of an unsympathetic oblivious dummy (affectionate). I really appreciate a crunchy Sam characterisation and oooboy does this pay off. Dean is steeped in his grief for Cas, and Sam is oh so concerned. He reaches out to Mia Vallens to understand his own grieving, and that leads to him making a discovery...Dean's memories of Cas' death aren't what he claims happened. With the unwelcome reappearance of Chuck (he lost...didn't he?) and LITERAL sinkholes appearing in the fabric of the universe, can they figure out what's happening to save Cas and save the world? This wip plays with physics, theology and narrative fuckery in such intriguing ways. I can't wait to see how it wraps up in the next two chapters.

The Leap by @friendofcarlotta started reading this one when Tina reshared it on Leap Day...because of course. I'd actually read it before but it more than lived up to the reread. 'Castiel Krushnic is a police officer in Soviet-occupied East Berlin. He is also gay, in a city where that’s a dangerous thing to be. One night, he meets Dean Winchester, a mechanic from the American sector. Their mutual attraction is instant, and a convenient hookup quickly turns into a passionate love affair that defies all rules and expectations.' Meticulously researched, emotional, heartrending and thought provoking. I highly recommend taking the leap on this fic!

See you in two weeks and OMG it's @deancaspinefest time!!!! I'm so excited *clears calendar*

Tag list under the cut - let me know if you'd like to be added to be notified of future recs!

@dean-you-assbutt-cas-loves-you

[tokiro07]

Undead Unluck ch.232 thoughts

[You Gotta Keep 'Em Separated]

(Topics: thematic analysis - identity/self-worth/unity vs homogeneity, character analysis - Julia and Juiz/Rip/Victor/Soul)

When I saw the cover for this week's Jump, I was honestly a little underwhelmed by the fairly bland pose; it isn't nearly as dynamic as Tozuka's usual fare, and it barely even has the iconic splashes of paint

Upon seeing the color pages, though, I understood: this man put his whole ass into what might be the best god damn color page in the entire series

Tozuka's art style has really come a long way over the last five years: the coloring, the shading, the perspective, the composition, it's all so good! I want this thing hanging in my home

If I had one complaint about it, it's that the scene it's depicting isn't dietetic to the chapter - not only does the conversation in the chapter itself immediately pick up where last week's left off, but Andy/Fuuko and Victor/Juiz are flipped

They do end up in those positions by the end of the chapter, but we clearly see Nico telling Void to retrieve the rest of the cast in the cover page, so it's not like the cover page takes place after the events of the chapter, it's meant to help facilitate it. I think Tozuka got a little confuzzled on the continuity here. My guess is that Tozuka was told he'd get the color page this week after he'd already written the chapter and he just got a little mixed up. That's my Tozuka headcanon

Honestly though, this is really just a nitpick anway; it doesn't actually hurt the emotional impact of the chapter at all, and even if it did, the damage would be so negligible that this would still be one of the best chapters of the year for a bunch of reasons

While every chapter lately has been paying off longstanding setups and themes, I don't think any has been quite so densely packed or far-reaching as this one

New Loop New Me

It was a pretty small moment all things considered, but Julia asking Fuuko to refer to her as "Julia" was effectively the end of the Remember storyline and Fuuko's insecurities about utilizing it

Philosophically, the worry was always that Juiz and Julia were mutually exclusive, that either Julia would kill Juiz or Juiz would overwrite Julia, but this debate overlooks the obvious conclusion. It doesn't actually matter if she's Juiz or Julia: the only thing that matters is that she's happy

Like everything else in this series, the whole purpose of Julia's very existence is to overcome the tragedies of the past and find joy in life, and that is exactly what she does for Juiz. She is not simply Juiz with Julia's life tacked on, nor is she merely Julia with Juiz's memories: from her perspective, she's both. She's Julia with the weight of Juiz's past and Juiz with the hope of Julia's future, and this dichotomy provides her the context to appreciate both aspects of her identity

I think the narrative trick here was that our only precedent for Julia's scenario was Victor; both of them lost their memories and had to discover themselves from scratch, so in the same way that Andy became his own distinct persona, we assumed Julia would be distinct from Juiz. The difference, of course, is that Victor created Andy to retain his memories and circumvent Remember's memory erasure, whereas Juiz became Julia to start a new life without the burden of her memories until she was ready to accept them

In other words, where each of them tried to reset the other so they'd have a chance at happiness, only Juiz embraced the opportunity that the reset presented. This doesn't make Victor wrong for having rejected it, of course, as like everything else, it's all a matter of perspective. To Victor, losing his memories would have meant death, whereas to Juiz losing her memories meant rebirth

This chapter validates both of these perspectives by having Julia and Juiz unify into one persona and by having Victor and Andy finally separate permanently

Ripped Apart

It was a huge relief to have Andy and Victor's reunification addressed so quickly, I was honestly pretty upset when Andy said the split would only last ten minutes, and man was it resolved spectacularly!

Not only does it mean that we've truly reached the endgame without losing a single member of the Union, but it's also the perfect capstone for Rip. I was worried after we skipped the Sick fight that Rip wouldn't get to have a good sendoff, but as always, Tozuka delivers!

At the end of L100, Rip entrusted Andy with ensuring that Leila survived in L101; while Andy wasn't personally involved in the surgery, he was responsible for defeating Sick and for helping Fuuko even make it to L101 to perform the surgery herself in the first place. This moment, where Rip uses Unrepair to sever the connection between Andy and Victor's souls, is both repayment for Andy's efforts and a symbolic shift in Rip's character

In L100, Rip viewed himself as the villain, the singular person who needed to be burdened with the weight of the sins needed to see his goals realized. All alone, Rip would hurt anyone, sacrifice anyone's happiness, including his own, to see his selfish dream realized. In the end, he even sacrificed Latla in a vain attempt to defeat Andy. He gave up everything and gained absolutely nothing. His happiness was Unrepairable

By entrusting L101 to Andy, by allowing himself to share the burden and responsibility, Rip created the scenario that would prevent him from losing anything. No longer a lone villain, Rip was able to become one of many heroes, thanks in no small part to Victor bypassing Unrepair to heal Andy's wounds. Now, to repay the favor, Rip uses Unrepair not to destroy happiness, but to destroy unhappiness

Thinking about it, it's appropriate that Victor was able to contribute to this change in Rip: both of them tried to push away their support systems because they believed themselves to be the only ones capable of shouldering their respective burdens, and ultimately only found happiness by learning to trust others

The idea that any given person is the most important person in the world, that they're the only one capable of making an impact, is one that the entire series has been fighting against from the very beginning, and this chapter is the culmination of that stance

Main Character Syndrome

I've seen a lot of responses to this chapter ribbing it for saying that Andy and Fuuko aren't the main characters when they are, quite literally, the main characters of this manga, but I really hope that they aren't being said in earnest, cus that's really missing the point

Andy and Fuuko are the focus of the manga, yes, but that only makes them the most important characters to us, the audience. From a Doylist perspective, this speech is a little silly, in much the same way that a character in a movie saying "this isn't a movie, it's real life!" is, but you have to remember that the characters don't know that they're characters. To be able to apply its ideas to the real world, the story needs to present the ideas as real

This is not Tozuka saying that Kururu is just as important to the narrative as Fuuko, this is Tozuka saying that you, you specifically reading this right now, are no more or less important than anyone around you. That you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, strangers on the street, and even your most hated enemies, are all equally valuable. You all have your own lives that you all are in control of, and how you lead your life will have an impact on others. You have the power to make yourself and those around you happy, and so do they. That is what makes us all valuable, what makes us all special, what makes us the leads in our own lives

Rip forgot this and tried to sacrifice anyone who could have helped him repair his fractured life. Victor forgot this and tried to get Juiz to abandon him to his eternal suffering. Billy forgot this and tried to make everyone his enemy. Even Juiz forgot this and abandoned her vision of justice, refusing to trust her Union with vital information, sacrificing the happiness of the few for the many, and ultimately losing the one person she was fighting for in the first place

It was only by coming to acknowledge that other people were just as capable, just as important as them, that each of them was able to finally reach the happiness they always wanted. It's just that, narratively, it's more impactful for them all to trust in the same people: Andy and Fuuko. Even the fact that there are two main characters reinforces the theme that there is no one person who can shoulder everything alone, as each of them shares the burden with the other

Yes, it's silly for the titular character to say he's not the main character, but even with his immortality, he never would have made it this far without all of the people standing behind him here; the man he used to be, standing right beside him, can attest to that

It's perfect, then, that the entirety of the Union now stands in opposition to a single enemy: Rule Number One, Soul

One Is the Loneliest Number

Okay, technically they're facing Soul and Sun right now, but it honestly looks more like Soul is piloting Sun like a mech than teaming up with him at the moment. That's not teamwork, that's possession

Both in theory and praxis, Soul represents a sort of ideological dark side of everything that the Union stands for. As Andy says, when Soul was introduced as a Rule, there wasn't a way to differentiate people; everyone was the same. But where Andy says this to mean that no one is better than anyone else, Soul's perspective is that no one should be able to stand out from the crowd

Rather than unity, Soul represents homogeneity. In the original world, all souls were just floating masses of energy - no names, no faces, no voices, no abilities, no interests, no goals. Vacant lives, eternally stagnant, devoid of purpose or meaning, doing nothing to differentiate themselves from one another and with no means to do so even if they wanted to

No wonder God got bored

Variety is the spice of life, after all, and it seems that Soul doesn't have the stomach for it. As the original Rule, Soul doesn't simply represent the literal human soul, but also strict adherence to the Rules themselves, and that means no deviation can be tolerated. The connection between souls, the ability to divide one soul into two, these are aberrations that were never intended to be possible when his Rule was introduced

But as we established a few weeks ago, the mere introduction of a Rule inherently begs the question of its inverse: what happens if you tether two souls together? What if you cut a soul in half?

These are the kinds of questions that surely came about when each UMA was introduced, and are surely the reason why God embraced the discovery of the Negators as glitches in the system: the Rules are much more fun to watch when someone's trying to break them

Looking at it from that angle, one might even argue that God is actually the ultimate enemy to the Rules: Sun and Luna aren't actually on the side of the UMAs, the UMAs are just a mechanic in their game, and are perfectly expendable if it means that they'll get to have more fun

If that's the case, then Soul's possession of Sun's body is just as much an act of rebellion against God as it is an act of defiance against the Union - by stealing Sun's body, Soul homogenizes their identities and threatens to take control of the Rules themselves, potentially bringing the world back to its origin

By forcefully merging himself with his creator, supplanting one identity for the other, Soul takes the weight of the world upon himself, refusing to share it with anyone else, and all of the themes of the chapter come full circle

This may impact my theory about Soul's Phase 3 from last week, as it's seeming less and less likely that Soul will be able to take the lessons of changing his perspective to heart, but I think the idea of Soul taking everyone's powers for himself could still work to reinforce the themes presented here. As always, we'll just have to wait and see, and also as always, I'm only getting more and more excited to do so!

Until next time, let's enjoy life!

[jamisonwritestf2trash]

Your tf2 headcannons make me smile :), how about the mercs going into their favorite game for a day and they have ti survive

Would The TF2 Mercs Survive In Their Favorite Video Game World? (+ Their Favorite Video Games)

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Awe! I'm so glad I can make you smile 😭Honestly makes me so happy in general to be able to make stuff people enjoy! For the sake of this to make seance I'm going to pretend that all these games work on real human time and take 24hrs for a day to pass (If the game takes more than one day to beat) or the game to be finished. (If the days passing is unspecified)

Also! Mutual appreciation comment time! Thank you for being a mutual I love your asks and thank you for all the likes 💖

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Okay enough of that to the prompt!

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TW: BLOOD, GORE, AND MENTIONS OF DEATH!

SPOILERS TOO FOR, OUTLAST, UNDERTALE,

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Demo- Borderlands 2

Of course Demo would love a game with mayhem, destruction, and humor. He also loves the fact that (for him at least) the game never gets boring, or dull. He always has fun when ever he loads up the game, so waking up one day in the game was both super exciting, and terrifying. I think he would survive, but then die as soon as the day was almost over, like he's not dying the second he wakes up, he's pretty good at the game after all, but he'd get confident, and then two seconds before the day his over he's shot in the head or something 😭

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Engie- Minecraft

I know, I know. It's not a fresh, new, or even controversial take, it's just what everyone assumes, but I wholeheartedly agree Minecraft is his favorite game. He loves the freedom to build, he thinks it super cool he can use things that he would normally not be able to build with. He also loves being able to play with his friends (Pyro and Scout) specifically. He's beat the game at least ten times, and knows the game inside and out. Waking up in the game was suppressing, but to be honest, I think he's had weirder situations happen. He immediately knows what to do, and is on it. After only twenty minutes of being in the game, he's already working on a house, by time the night is actually here he's somehow found diamonds and is working on his nether portal, is so upset to wake up in his bed the next day. He's bitter he couldn't finish the game. Doesn't die, obviously, but did have strong words with a skeleton after receiving an arrow to the back of the head.

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Heavy- Animal Crossing New Horizons.

I'm going to say it, this man doesn't really like violent video games. I know, controversial. My thing is, I don't think some of the mercs want to spend all their time killing, and then come back and kill fictional characters. But I could be wrong, but that doesn't matter because Heavy like Animal Crossing. He loves the villagers, loves the mundane tasks, loves how just, relaxing playing the game is. If he woke up on his AC island he'd be so happy. Hugs all the villagers, fishes, catches bugs, talks to Blathers about literally everything he can. This man is just having a great time, and I for one, am happy for him. Doesn't die (Even if he could, he still wouldn't) But did get stung by wasps at least once trying to catch them.

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Medic- Outlast (For the sake of the game being finished in the way Outlast is played medic is forced into the same confines Miles is put in)

Are we shocked that this man loves one of the most iconic horror games ever made? Loves how many boundaries it destroyed, how gross some of the parts are, and how bloody other parts can be. Giggles at all the gory scenes. ALSO WHEN SEES THE DOCTOR??? When he wakes up in the world, he's very excited until he remembers how pretty much useless Miles is. He still, remains confident in his survival skills, still goes through the physical issues Miles goes through, and finds that to be rather inconvenient, (Regrets always complaining about how upset Miles seems to get, but he understands now that maybe, just maybe, when you aren't able to heal almost immediately, that losing a finger or two isn't super easy to cope with) but regardless, he does survive, he doesn't die because of a lack of skill or overconfidence, but dies do to the plot advancement, you know?

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Scout- Apex Legends

I think in the same vein as Engie, this probably isn't a fresh take, but it still fits. Scout is good at Apex, like really good. I think it's easy to make him a silly little guy, but he's ruthless when he wants or needs to be. This man is an Apex champion more than most people, has more kills than you'd ever think, and is honestly a better teammate in Apex than on the field with the other mercs 😭 He wakes up in Apex world and he's so thrilled, he's ready to put his real-world skills into his favorite game and does pretty well until he's knocked down by an enemy, he hides behind a box and waits for his teammates to come help him, they start moving father away, he moves over to them, they move again, he bleeds out as his two other teammates walk away from him. (Totally never happened to me) then they didn't pick up his banner, so eventually, he just woke up after dying and is so pissed. It did make him a bit kinder when it comes to helping out his teammates, in hopes that he'll never go through that again.

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Sniper- Superhot

Way too good at Superhot, it's almost troubling how many hours he's put into the game. You'd swear you could see the enemies shaking anytime they appear on camera. Sniper sometimes uses this as an opportunity to practice dodging, but also just has fun fighting against an enemy. Loves the slo-mo shots he can get. Loves splitting enemies in half with different weapons. Also love the mind control and weird story setup of it all. If he woke up suddenly pixilated, fighting other pixilated entities, he's either freaking out or shrugging it off. Probably the latter, knowing him. He survives well, with only a few close calls, it's a lot easier when your hitbox isn't an entire VR headset after all. Genuinely has fun being put in the Superhot world for a day.

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Spy- Hitman

Now, I thought I'd be so clever and come up with original ideas, but I was wrong. I think Spy plays Hitman plays for ideas, how weapons would look, how messy a kill would be, etc. Also loves being able to have very minimal risk when he's "killing" It stresses a guy out when you live life trying not to get caught every day, you know? As much as this man likes this game, he is so pissy when he wakes up in this game. He's basically just living a full 24 hours of his regular day job and is exhausted by the end of it. He does a good job, doesn't get caught, and manages to keep his suit clean. Has never been so received to wake up.

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Soldier- Call of Duty Modern Warfare

A man who loves war likes a game about war, who would have guessed? No, but in all honesty, the military aspect is one of his favorite parts of it, he also loves the range of weapons and all the different roles you can play in the game. I'm not going to lie though, if he woke up in the COD world, he'd probably have a breakdown. Like he'd freak thinking everything before this was a fever dream, but he'll eventually figure it out. He would kill at any task he was given, and survive, he'd wake up and immediately feel better because as much as he loves the game, he never wants to go back.

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Pyro- Undertale

Pyro loves Undertale so much that it's insane. Has played his game, at least 30 times. Has never, not even once, played the genocide route. They cannot bring themselves to kill a froggit, let alone Papyrus or anyone else. When Pyro wakes up in the Undertale world they are thrilled, jumping up and down, giggling, screaming, you know all that fun. Literally gives Toriel the biggest hug ever. They have the best time of their life. Manages to do a deathless run, somehow, probably because of the insane amount of times they've played through it, but is heartbroken that they wake up after only being able to get through the neutral route.

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I'm sorry this took so long! I loved this prompt but I hit a slump, and I've been fighting with myself to get it posted, I'm sorry if it's not great, I hope you like it though 💖

I'll try and be more consistent I promise 🫶🏻

[kandisheek]

FIC REC WEEK 51 – HOLIDAY SEASON

Like A Painting by magicasen

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: E Words: 3,740 Tags: Mistletoe, Humor, Fluff and Smut

Summary: Tony wasn't sure what compelled him to go for it. A dare? Curiosity? A check on the bucket list? Either way, what mattered was that Steve Rogers had never found a challenge he wouldn't take.

Reasons why I love it: I adore magicasen's writing style, and this fic is a prime example of why. It's funny and sassy with a healthy dose of feelings mixed into the fluff, and I love every second of it. Plus, the smut at the end is super hot. Definitely check this one out, it's amazing!

Only in My Dreams by betheflame

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 1,256 Tags: No Powers AU, Superfamily, Travel

Summary: Steve is stuck away from his family on Christmas Eve and is a little grumpy about it.

Reasons why I love it: Sleepy Tony is ADORABLE! I just had to preface this. Anyway, I love how Steve makes sure to get home for Christmas by any means possible, and I'm so excited about the news Tony has for him. This fic is super sweet, and you should definitely read it!

Some Good Old Festive Fun by itsallAvengers

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: T Words: 13,712 Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Protective Avengers, Getting Together

Summary: Tony's injured, night is falling, and he's stranded in a cabin with a handful of teammates who are woefully under-equipped to deal with the oncoming wave of HYDRA soldiers that are about to blow down their door and pick them off. Honestly though, Tony's more pissed about the fact that this all happened during Christmas. Were everything going to plan, he'd be copping a feel with Captain America under the mistletoe right about now. Sometimes he really hates his job.

Reasons why I love it: I'm a sucker for a good hurt!Tony fic, and this one is one of my favorites. I love how the team rallies around him, and of course, protective Steve is an absolute treat. Add to that some mutual pining and Avengers family feels, and you get a recipe for a fantastic fic. I love this one so much, and I bet you will too, so I hope you give it a shot!

Christmas With the Starks by nightwalker

Pairing: Steve/Tony Rating: G Words: 7,211 Tags: Domestic Fluff, Love Confessions, Mutual Pining

Summary: Steve wasn't sure what he was expecting when Tony invited him to Stark Mansion for Tony's quiet family Christmas, but it wasn't food fights, getting outed on Twitter by Tony's butler, or accidentally becoming a gay icon. Fortunately, if he's learned one thing since waking up in the future, it's how to adapt.

Reasons why I love it: Aww, I love Tony's little family. Their banter is wonderful, and I love how Jarvis' picture gives Steve and Tony the opportunity to come clean about their feelings. It's super sweet, and I really hope you give it a shot for yourself, because it's amazing!

I got that good thing for you by canistakahari

Pairing: Steve/Bucky Rating: E Words: 5,830 Tags: Fluff and Smut, Cookies, Christmas Tree

Summary: When it comes down to it, Steve will do anything for Bucky. Even if that involves fulfilling a very specific seasonally-adjacent fantasy.

Reasons why I love it: This might just be my favorite holiday fic ever. Bossy, baking Bucky is amazing, I can absolutely see him doing something like this. Generally, they both feel super in character and definitely give off the vibe that they've already been married for 84 years. And the dialogue is absolute perfection. I adore this fic, and I hope you give it a shot for yourself!