#and I think most people don't understand how bad and messy it can all get

[thetriumphantpanda]

take me to florida | joel miller

summary | turning up on his doorstep covered in blood was not was Joel had expected of you, and when you open your mouth, he expects it even less. There's a shitstorm in Texas you both have to escape from, but how long can it last?

pairing | Joel Miller x F!Reader

word count | 4,496

warnings | it's a lot. Descriptions of murder (stabbing), blood, violence, domestic violence and the death penalty (yeah idk either don't ask), basically reader does a bad thing to someone who did bad things to her. One singular slap (reader to Joel). Mentions of adultery and cheating. Explicit smut - grinding/dry-humping, fingering, rough sex, biting, squirting. No use of y/n. No outbreak AU.

authors note | *taps mic* is this thing on? Hi! It's been a whilst hasn't it?! I've been doing life, enjoying being offline and in love and all of that stuff, but the new series has my brain WHIRLING and I wanted to share this with you all. I wrote most of this back in the autumn last year and was inspired to finish it, so here you go. Let me know if I've still got it! As always if you enjoy this, please like, reblog, comment or scream in my ask box. I've missed you.

Divider by the wonderful @saradika-graphics

It’s viscous, dripping down the back of your hand, seeping through the webbing of your fingers. Crimson staining the floor as it drips from the tip of the knife, pooling around the body, slumped against the wall now. Your limbs are heavy, vice grip on the handle easing, arm dropping to your side as the knife clatters to the floor. Your chest is heaving, sucking in air, you steady yourself by putting your palms against your knees, bending over, trying not to throw up. There’s a pool of blood forming against the toe of your shoe, deep red staining white canvas. No-one ever mentions how messy it is, but then again, not many people stick a knife into their husband’s ten times. There are splatters across the wall, you can feel some of the warmth seeping down your forehead, you can taste it on your mouth when you lick your lips to wet them.

You let out an animalistic groan as you straighten up, the fucker deserved it, you think, picking the knife up from the ground, wiping both sides of the blade against the white of your tank top. Pushed you and pushed you until you broke. Put his hands on you one too many times with no remorse, no punishment. Called you a useless whore for the last time. There was some sick sense of satisfaction the bloomed when your mind replays the the look of shock on his face when you’d stabbed him the first time, like he couldn’t believe you had the guts. By the fifth time, there wasn’t anything behind those eyes of his, but you added five more just to be sure.

There’s a rage simmering underneath your skin still. Rage at the fact that no matter how many police reports you’d filed, how many hospital trips for split lips and black eyes, the law were going to come for you, and you’d go down, no doubt about it. That distinct feminine rage that a man could push you to the limit and back, and it’s still going to be your fucking fault when you stand in front of a jury and plead your case. The mad woman, the violent woman, the unhinged woman. It makes you want to scream, makes you want to thrash, maybe it makes you want to stick the knife into your own middle and twist it deep. You don’t though. You take the knife, run it under the tap until the water down the drain runs clear, wipe it dry with the towel and then shove it into your bag.

The mad woman indeed, you think, unhooking your car keys from the hook by the door. Well, if they wanted to fucking fry you, they were going to have to catch you first.

The darkness makes this easier. The hood pulled up over your head, covering your face just enough that the few passing cars don’t notice a thing on the drive there. There’s only one place you think to go, one person you know will understand, probably getting ready to go to bed on the other side of town, none-the-wiser that you’re on your way to him, covered in blood with a murder weapon sitting on the front seat of your car.

His home is unassuming. Two levels, two bedrooms, one for him - brown wood and dark - the other for his dead daughter - still pink with the sheets messed up, not made or changed for years as some sort of fucked up shrine. His truck, parked on the driveway, right next to yours. Most of the houses on the road have their lights turned out, families tucked up and sleeping for the night, but the light in his lounge is on - hard day at work, you think - as your fist knocks against the wood.

It takes him a minute, but then again, it always does, with his aching knees and his sore back, but he opens the door anyway, looking at you with confusion for a second, like he’s forgotten you’d arranged something, until you look up at him, let the light hit your face and show the blood spatters, drying and flaking, then his eyes are concerned, his big hand on your shoulder, dragging you inside.

“What did he do?” He’s asking, voice gruff.

He does this a lot, when you turn up in the middle of the night, bruises on your arms or lip split and sore, threatens to kill him, threatens to kill the cops who won’t do anything. Soothes your wounds, puts plasters on you, and then fucks you into his mattress and promises to run away with you. Well, jokes on you Joel Miller, you think as he leans you against the kitchen counter to look at you, I already fucking did kill him, and now you’re going to have to run away with me.

“What did he do to you, baby?” Voice still gruff, but tinged with concern this time, his hands cupping your face, turning it into the light to try and find the injury.

You cup his face too, congealed blood in the palm of your hand smearing across his skin, catching in the coarse whiskers of his beard, “He didn’t do anythin’ Joel.” You whisper, watching as the realisation hits his face and he takes a step back from you, dropping his hands like you’ve burned him.

“What did you do?”

You smile at him, the way he looks a little scared, “I killed him, Joel.”

He sucks in a breath, takes another step away from you, pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, “Why the fuck would you do that?”

You scoff, “Why the fuck do you think?” You snarl, “Had his hands around my neck,” You say, moving your head to show the red marks where his fingers had squeezed, “Told me I was a stupid whore and just squeezed harder.”

Joel’s eyes soften as he takes a step back towards you, “So I stabbed him,” It’s so matter of fact, “It was that or it was me Joel, do you understand?”

“Well then we go to the police,” He says, trying to reason with you, “One stab wound in self-defence and they’ll understand.”

“Ten.”

“What?”

“I said ten, ten stab wounds.”

He’s silent now. Those brown orbs staring directly into your soul. You can see the snarl of his top lip, the faint twitch in his left eye, “Fuckin’ hell, baby.”

And then it’s a whirlwind. You’re stood in his bathroom and he’s taking off your clothes, forcing you into the shower and scrubbing your skin raw like he doesn’t trust you to be thorough enough in doing it yourself. He shoves your blood-stained clothes into a bag, along with his own, worried that there’s enough blood on that shirt that they’ll come after him too. He dries at your skin, gives you the single set of clothes you keep at his house to change into, dressing himself frantically. Then he’s shoving more of his clothes into a duffle bag, avoiding your eye as he swipes the picture frame off his chest of drawers - the one of him and Sarah, soccer trophy in her hand - and shoves that in the bag too.

When he’s satisfied he has everything he needs, his palm grips the scruff of your neck and guides you down the stairs, like he’s scared you’re going to bolt, only letting go to put his boots on and pick up his keys. He makes sure to turn all the lights off, even the one on the porch, letting you go again to lock his door, then his hand is back on you, guiding you roughly to his truck, where he opens the door and waits for you to get in.

“Where are we going?” You ask.

“Just get in the fuckin’ truck baby.”

You’re two hours into the drive before he speaks, clearly trying to focus on getting as far away from the scene of your crime as he can. He’s silently fuming, having had to go back and put you back in your own car, have you drive behind him until he pulled onto the side of some deserted country road. He sat you back in the passenger seat of his truck, took the bag of bloodied clothes and put them in the boot of your car. You watched in the rear-view mirror as he doused it in petrol from a can and then set fire to it.

Neither of you looked back as you drove off.

“Are you okay?”

It makes you laugh, a full body-shaking laugh, the kind of laugh where you have to bite your lip to stop yourself. His hand is back on your shoulder, rough and tight, as it shakes you, “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“What the fuck do you think is wrong with me?” You spit, “I just killed my fuckin’ husband Joel, don’t ask stupid fuckin’ questions.”

He’s sailing down the highway, hand still gripping at your skin, “Do you have any idea what we’ve just done?” He asks, eyes forward, not looking at you, “You have any idea what they’ll do when they catch us?”

“Yeah, I got some notion.” You sigh, sinking back into the seat.

“What did you do with the body?”

You shrug, “I just left it there.”

“How long do you think we got?” He’s finally letting go of you, both hands back on the wheel.

“Couple of days,” You hum, “He ain’t due at work until Monday,” It was Friday now, “No-one’s gonna look for him until he doesn’t show.”

Joel nods, finally relaxing into his seat as much as he can, but he’s tense, you both are, and you’ve got to be careful. One wrong move and this is all going to unravel.

It’s silent then for another couple of miles until he speaks again, “I’m sorry,” He says quietly, “I’m sorry he did that to you and I’m sorry that you had to do that.”

“I’m not.”

It comes out at easy and breathing. Your asshole of a husband deserved it. Years of beating you around, of belittling you in front of your friends and family, all those nights of being curled up, forced to unravel and undress and lie there in the dark whilst he used you. You’re not sorry you had to do it at all.

You’re in a motel in Alabama when the news hits. It’s a shitty place, middle of nowhere vibes, with a receptionist who couldn’t have given less of a shit about the two of you when you arrived. Handed the keys to a room to Joel once she’d insisted on him paying cash for the three nights he wanted. Joel’s not long come back from the store down the road - a large bag of chips, two cans of soda and some candy shoved into a plastic bag, enough to stave off the hunger for the evening.

You’ve actively avoided the news until now, settling instead on trash tv for background noise, but it’s Monday, and you know that as soon as your shitty dead husband didn’t turn up for work, it would be a shitstorm back in Texas. There’s a woman, sitting behind a desk, looking incredibly morose over a dead man she doesn’t know. You listen intently to what she’s saying as Joel cracks open your can of soda and hands it to you.

It’s the basics right now, he’s been dead a few days, a brutal murder and the police are following all open lines of enquiry. They don’t mention you, they don’t mention Joel and there’s no appeal for witnesses. You sigh out some kind of breath of relief that you’re okay for now, but you know in the back of your mind you have to get moving. It’ll only be a matter of time before your photograph is pasted across the news channel, Joel’s too - you have to move on.

“Where are we going to go?” You ask quietly, sipping the sugary cold syrup from the can.

“Where do you want to go?” He replies just as quietly.

“Mexico?” You offer, it’s the only place you know that criminals go, crossing the border and down into South America to disappear into obscurity.

“Gone in the wrong direction for Mexico, baby,” He shrugs, “Maybe we head into Florida, lay low as much as we can, and then move on from there if the heat follows us?”

“Sounds good.”

There’s something about Florida that feels freeing. Sure, you’re in a dead end town, nowhere near a beach where you could enjoy the sun, but there’s something about the air here that feels different. Joel manages to find a small apartment for the two of you. Conscious that he doesn’t want anyone to know your faces when they start getting plastered across the news channels, he phones a number from a newspaper, asks for the keys to be dropped somewhere outside and three days ago you’d let yourselves in and settled down.

Joel had gone out and bought new clothes for the two of you, the old ones thrown in the bin, not sure any amount of laundry would have taken the smell away. He stocks up on simple groceries, and for the third night in a row, you sit down to spaghetti with tomato sauce from a jar. You’ve got the news on again, low on the volume, but just enough that you catch the news anchor speaking, “We have a development in the Austin murder case to bring you tonight.”

The spaghetti in your mouth turns to lead and what’s already in your stomach threatens to reappear when Joel turns around to find his face plastered across the TV screen.

“Austin local Joel Miller has been reported missing today by his brother,” The anchor continues, “And police have been open in explaining that they believe his disappearance is connected with the murder of an Austin man, found days ago in his home, stabbed to death.”

The camera cuts to a shot of Joel’s house, covered in police tape with an office stood outside his closed front door, and then to add insult to injury, the familiar face of Tommy Miller comes into view. He’d known about you, met you plenty of times, you think he liked you even, pulling cold beers out of the fridge for you and asking you how your day had been.

“I just wanna know where my brother is,” His Texan twang rings out, but you’re not watching him, you’re watching Joel, and the tick of his jaw as he grinds his teeth, “I don’t know where he is, but Joel, if you’re listenin’, come home brother, whatever has happened, just come home.”

Joel’s fist clenches the TV remote, turning it off, bathing the room in a dead silence that feels stifling. You don’t know what to do, except chew the spaghetti in your mouth for what feels like the hundredth time in an attempt to make you swallow it. He won’t look at you, instead he stares down into his bowl of unfinished food, jaw still twitching in the way it always does when he’s angry or stressed.

“Joel…” You trail off when he brings a hand up to signal you to stop talking.

“Don’t say anythin’.”

“They just think you’re missing,” You offer, trying to lessen the blow.

He snorts, shakes his head and looks up at you finally, his dark brown eyes blown almost black.

“Missin’, huh?” He scoffs, “And when Tommy airs this whole affair we’ve been havin’, tells the police everythin’ he knows about us, what then?”

You scoff right back, getting up from the table, chair scraping across the floor as you do, “So what, you wanna run on back to fucking Texas and leave me here?”

“I didn’t say that,” He sighs, standing up too, “I’m just sayin’ it ain’t gonna be long until they realise what really happened, and then what?”

“We move on, just like you said.”

“We don’t have that kinda luck baby,” He’s started to pace, “They’re gonna find us eventually, and I don’t know how you’re gonna talk yourself outta ten stab wounds.”

“Oh fuck you, Joel,” You spit, sanity hanging by a thread, “Yeah I stabbed him, maybe I even fucking enjoyed it, but you’re just as guilty in this as I am, you’re harbouring a criminal right now, even if they don’t know it yet.”

“I’m as guilty as you?” He pries, stepping closer to you, making you step back against the kitchen counter, “I didn’t stab him baby,” His voice is dripping in sarcasm, “That was all you,” He drags out, taking another step towards you, “They might arrest me baby, but when they catch you, they’re gonna give you the damn chair.”

It all happens in such a blur, his taunting tone and the way he’s caged you in against the kitchen counters. Before you even know what you’ve done, your hand has flown up and slapped him right across the cheek, following by a spitting “How fucking dare you.”

You’re both breathing heavily, the sound of sucking breath the only thing you can hear in the room. His eyes are darker than ever as he takes one more step, tangles his fist in the hair on the back of your head and tugs hard, before his mouth is hot and open against yours, tongue sliding against yours. It’s the first time he’s touched you like this since you left Texas, hot and full of want as he presses his entire body to yours, your lower back digging into the edge of the counter. You groan into his mouth, let your arms wrap around the broad expanse of his shoulders, and melt into the hand his puts on your lower back.

There’s a fumbling of limbs when he finally lets go of the grip he’s had on your hair, palms against the globes of your ass as he pulls you up, legs wrapping around his waist. He’s kissing you as he walks to the couch - it’s old, pattern faded, and when you sit on it you feel the springs pressing into you from below, but none of that matters when you’re legs are splayed wide across his thighs, straddling him as his hands rip open the blouse he bought not two days ago. It’s torn from your body, cups of your bra pulled down, nipple sucked into his mouth, his tongue swirling it into a stiff peak before he’s switching to the other one.

Your hand is on the back of his neck, gripping tightly to the unruly curls there, body leaning back in pleasure as your start to subtly grind your hips down into his.

“I fucking hate you,” You breathe, knowing you don’t really, not deep down, just for right now, “This is all your fault.”

“All my fault?” He asks, voice gruff as his teeth nip at the delicate skin on your breath, “I didn’t force you to stab him.”

He sucks your nipple back into his mouth, this time adding his teeth, not enough to hurt, just enough to make your cunt throb.

“You shouldn’t have spoken to me that night,” You moan out when he lets your nipple go with a pop, moving to the other one, “If I didn’t know you existed this never would’a happened.”

You hear him chuckle a little against your skin, as if it’s not a bare-faced lie. Whether he’d have been here or not, you’re sure that knife would have found it’s way into your husband one way or another. Joel just adds a complication, another person who doesn’t need to be caught up in this.

He doesn’t reply, all he does is grip harder to your ass through your jeans and drag you across the growing bulge in his own. You can feel him pushing up into you, the friction of the clothes between you making you sigh as you continue grinding yourself across his jean-covered cock.

It goes on like this for a while, kissing and biting at each other, until Joel has enough. His hands move from gripping painfully to your ass to effortlessly unbuttoning and unzipping your own jeans. You lift up just enough for him to pull them down over your ass, taking your underwear with them. There’s awkward fumbling whilst you try and manoeuvre them off your body whilst staying as close to him as possible, but eventually you get there.

Before you can settle back to rubbing your wet pussy along the bulge of his trousers, his hand cups you. The heat is stifling, almost unbearable, hot skin against hot skin, but when his fingers find you soaked, and he’s pressing two inside you, everything makes sense again.

Nothing outside of this room matters. Not for the next few hours. The police, the dead husband, the nightmares that have started to creep in at night. None of it matters anymore. Not when Joel curls his fingers just perfectly, making you cry out to the ceiling with your head tossed back. When it’s like this you remember why you did it, to be with him, and only him.

“Knew this would’a shut you up.” Joel murmurs into your skin, face pressed between your breasts as he nips marks into the skin there.

Your hips are working in time to the thrusts of his fingers inside you, shamelessly grinding yourself into his palm so it’s not just his fingers inside that are setting you alight, but the palm of his hand rubbing against your clit on every move forward you make.

You can feel yourself tightening around him, getting closer, and you know he can feel it too, his fingers getting harder inside you with each push.

“Come on baby,” He coos, “Let go for me.”

And it’s always been that simple. He only has to say it and you do. Soft screams filling the room as your cunt spasms around his fingers. Body shaking as he holds you to his own, working you through it.

There’s no real reprieve for you after. Joel shifts you so you’re lying face down on the couch, and through the haze you can hear his belt buckle being undone and the zipper of his jeans being pulled down.

His hand fishes underneath your body, pulling you up so you’re draped across the arm of the couch, ass splayed upwards and legs spread wide. His hand runs up and down your swollen cunt a few times, gathering your wetness which you know he’s using to pump his cock with, before you feel the head of him at your hole.

He’s unforgiving when he pushes in, giving you everything all at once as he surges forward inside of you. He’s touching the deepest parts of you and you swear you see stars. You hear him sucking in breath behind you, his two hands gripping your ass to pull you open you he can watch himself slide in and out of your cunt.

There are no words spoken between the two of you, the only sounds that can be heard are the sounds of his skin slapping against yours, the obscene squelch of you cunt when he pushes in, and the moans you both let out.

He’s rough, but you don’t mind. You want it to consume you, the pleasure and the tinge of pain every time his cock nudges at your cervix. It means you don’t think about anything else, just how good this feels, how good he makes you feel and how right it feels now that there isn’t someone else to think about. Joel has always felt right, like the person you were always meant to find, but it’s different now.

One of his hands comes up to grip your wrist on the arm of the couch, dragging it underneath you until you feel your cunt.

“Rub it for me baby,” He growls into your ear, “I wanna do this one together.”

So you do - you circle your clit with your middle finger, pressing harder and harder on every circle as he pounds into your cunt like it’s the last time he’ll have you like this. He’s gripping the back of your neck, pushing you further down into the material of the couch.

“Come on baby,” He groans above you, “You can do it.”

“Joel,” You squeak out, almost pathetically, “I think I’m gonna-”

“Go on then baby,” He says, “I’m right behind you.”

You let yourself go, feeling your cunt squeeze his cock as you gush around him. Your mouth is dropped open but there is no sound, only the hot spark that flushes across your body when he buries himself as deep inside of you as he can and stills, filling every inch of you with his cum.

His body falls onto yours, both of you struggling to catch breath as you recover. Joel eventually moves enough so that you can both lay down, pressed up against his body, almost uncomfortably so. His skin is hot to the touch and you can see small bruises on his neck and chest starting to rise where you’d bitten him - you suspect you must look the same.

There’s silence for a while, his hand tracing gently up and down your back, before you can think to ask anything.

“What are we gonna do, Joel?”

It takes him a while to respond, probably weighing up his options. There aren’t many. He goes home and has to explain everything to the police and goes to jail, or he stays here with you, keeps running and hope for the best.

He’s quiet when he says it, but you can tell when he does speak that whatever he’s feeling is genuine. He’s too far in now, there’s no going back, and you both know that.

“We keep runnin’ baby.”

[rawliverandgoronspice]

.

there are many reasons for which the za/um story fucks me up, but I still think most people talking about it can't really understand the gnarly entanglement and the extremes that a truly rancid and toxic work environment in which driven people who want to tell meaningful things through videogames, and the mixture of that with deadened corporate interests, can push the same people to get lost into.

I do believe there were a lot of flaws in the way it may have been presented to the public before, but I think people are a little quick to think they themselves would have extracted the correct and pure and pristine conclusions out of a situation that looks like such an absolute loaded clusterfuck.

gamedev can be so fucking messy, and things can be both very simple and painfully complicated and impossible to ever rub fully clean too. I don't even know if it's possible to convey how insane you can feel in such a context if you didn't live through it yourself honestly.

of course, capital interests are what matter and they do rot everything, and that creatives were robbed of their own world is beyond heartbreaking and awful, and no matter what anyone did or didn't do this should have never happened. this should be centered and highlighted. but I think people who tried to remember the team beyond the core of auteurs (that I respect beyond words, let's be super clear here) and how they experienced the whole ordeal were also not wrong to try to do that, even if it was done in a very clumsy and hurtful way, and navigated a minefield with the grace of a drunk elephant and served really disgusting interests in the process.

but the way you get rolled over and chewed on and used as a pawn and thrown out when no longer useful when you are the little guy stuck in a battle of giants, can be very very bad and no fun at all, and the audience tend not to give a damn about those people without the Big Names and Big Responsibilities, which do faciliate this kind of careless abuse that doesn't even register as abuse in the head of these people. And I think it's important to have the little guy's perspective centered too every once in a while, even if it does complicate things on a human level.

I don't know. It's just a steaming pile of garbage from top to bottom.

[taki118]

Kirishima and Other Women

Among the criticism and complaints of Raise Wa Tanin Ga Ii aka Yakuza Fiance the most common is about how Kirishima "cheats" but what if I were to tell you this aspect of him actually serves an important point within the narrative? Because it does, in fact it serves a few.

First and foremost this is common in the Yakuza subculture. The series is a bit of a send off to Yakuza subculture and media with references that tend to go over your head unless you are into it (most go over mine). This is no different. While this isn't as narratively important it is important to know overall, the series embraces all things Yakuza the good and the bad (unlike some other Yakuza series but that not a rant for here) And like it's implied pretty much all the guys in the series to it to some degree yes even Shoma. I only have some knowledge of this myself so I won't get into it but I would recommend looking into cause it is interesting and makes sense for the series to incorporate on some level due to this and it would feel wrong to not mention it here.

Now lets go onto to something more meaty and kinda spoilery, so don't read if you dont want. (though I don't think it will ruin your enjoyment)

So these other women actually help to better understand Kirishima and his relationship/feelings towards Yoshino. One detail the anime leaves out is who these women are and they are women. All college age or older, and all some kind of working professional who has skills or connections Kirishima does not have. Remember Kirishima is not technically Yakuza so he does not have access to resources that actual members of the group have but because he is involved with that world still he has to find a way to make up for what he resources he lacks. The safest resource he has found over the years is women.

Just like how Yoshino unintentionally raises the ire of women, Kirishima does the same to men both intentionally and unintentionally. He has difficulty connecting with people which is a topic in and of itself, but because of this he has learnt how to gain connections on a superficial level so he only does so with those he can feel some control over or feels safer. AKA Women. Kirishima knows he's attractive, and he knows how easy it is to charm people but those he had an ongoing connection with are those who understand it's a game and want something back.

It's all quid prop quo, he does something for them and so they in turn do something for him. FYI I'm pretty sure what he's getting out of it isn't psychical pleasure, information, connections and a safe house for sure but actual enjoyment from sex? Not likely again the anime doesn't show it very well but many manga readers have noted how disconnected Kirishima looks during these moments. (Which I will fully get to later) It's an exchange when Yoshino calls him a gigolo she's not wrong, and there is a greater discussion to be had here about how early Kirishima started doing this and all the messy stuff that comes with it but because we don't have enough information on how that started I won't get into it. (and its a little off topic)

Overall all though this shows the audience that Kirishima has a kind of warped view of sex and intimacy, he views it as a resource he can use much like his fighting ability, to him it's the same thing. At least at the start.

When Tsubaki tells Kirishima that he is actually very easy to understand when she has Yoshino there to compare, I believe this was a hint the author was giving us. To understand Kirishima and how he really feels about Yoshino one just need to look at how he is with other women.

It is INCREDIBLY telling that the closest thing Kirishima has to an ex-girlfriend is Nao, because notice how that term is never used within the story by the pair as to what their relationship was. Nao calls Ozu an ex but not Kirishima, he's just a guy she had a fling with (with a weird age gap) even though she seems to care more about him than Ozu (another deep dive I'll probably do). Kirishima also never uses the term, he does note that he did like her to some degree more than likely a little more than the other women he has similar situationships with but it was still at its core transactional. They both wanted what the other could offer more than them as a person. (also just fucking for weeks isn't a relationship) Kirishima always keeps everyone at a distance, keeps everything close to the vest, makes sure the situation is advantageous to him so he can't get screwed over, every single one. Except Yoshino.

You see it constantly in the series as Kirishima WANTS to connect with Yoshino. He wants to better understand and connect with her in ways he has never bothered to before. In fact you can argue that Kirishima is actually more emotionally unintelligent than Yoshino as he has such difficulty in understanding what Yoshino wants from him. He's so use to being fake, to acting the way women around him want him to that it throws him through a loop that Yoshino doesn't want that. She forces him to be a person not a persona.

Because of that, like Tsubaki says, he is desperate to understand and connect with her unlike with the women who he is connected to in a superficial way. I know it weirdly upsets some viewers that these women "Know" Kirishima in a way Yoshino hasn't but they don't actually know him Yoshino does. People often conflate love and sex as being the same thing but its not, sometimes it overlaps (and like that should be the standard but its not). This series sort of forces you to confront that assumption, because the real moments of love are in the smaller things.

It's Kirishima helping Yoshino with her garden, its him trying to get her focus on him, its him talking to her about mundane things, its him seeking out the things she wants, its him telling her his birthday, and yes it's him sleeping with other women to keep her safe. A LOT of people don't realize this but it is right there in the text he only reconnected with Nao because it would make the situation in Osaka more advantageous for him to keep Yoshino safe. There is a very good likelihood that if the situation would 100% not get Yoshino involved that Kirishima would have just stayed out of it. (which like damn sucks for you Nao) In actuality Kirishima likely would have preferred just a normal trip to Osaka with Yoshino (even though the chaos does help him confirm his own feelings again) Kirishima wants so desperately to be connected to Yoshino in anyway he can but you don't see that in how he is with other women, and it's in seeing that you can see his authenticity.

For further reference to something I noted earlier look at how Kirishima looks in these scenes with women both during and after sex.

There's little to no actual emotion or care, he operates almost robotically like you see when he fights someone he doesn't really give a shit about. It is something he's doing cause he has to not cause he wants to. Now compare these reactions to how he reacts when he finds out he accidentally/unconsciously felt Yoshino up

It's this flurry of emotions you can't even fully quantify like he can't even fathom he really did that. Kind of a strange reaction to give to someone who has done way more for way longer, but it makes perfect sense if you remember love and sex are different. With these other women he didn't care, sex didn't mean anything they could have been anyone and in all honesty if he could get away with not doing it he'd probably prefer it. But he loves Yoshino so he actually cares, he is actually turned on, he actually feels something.

THAT is the point of the side women. Kirishima is very hard to understand his character is a mystery for a majority of the series (and to a degree still is) these women help to solve that mystery if you take the time to really look at what's happening and not get parasocially angry that he is "betraying" his love for Yoshino. In his mind he's not because love and sex are different, sex to him until Yoshino is just a tool, its one of the many things that Yoshino changes in him over the course of the series. Lets not forget that one of his side women actually makes him realize the situation with Yoshino isn't all that great (the scene is better in the manga) cause he doesn't have the emotional intelligence to realize that himself and is a catalyst for the two actually growing closer. Like I keep having to cut myself short cause I'll just go off on how wonderfully complicated and uncomplicated Kirishima is as a character, but this is an important aspect to understand and shouldn't just be written off as "He's a red flag".

These women give us insight into how Kirishima is Pre-Yoshino and shows us how far he's come Post-Yoshino, in a way that could not be done otherwise. So maybe it makes you uncomfy for a bit but it's not bad writing it serves a purpose that could not be done otherwise.

[sabrinasopposite]

drinks or coffee?

college!charlie baker x photographer!reader

I'm feeling so good At a bad party We don't have to talk I know that you want me Gotta keep it nice We cannot be naughty We can get drinks Or we could get coffee

summary: y/n is stuck in this lame, boring and bad college party, yet she starts to find more reasons to stay there as she was talking to her crush, charlie baker.

Y/N adjusted the strap of her vintage camera, letting the weight of it steady her. She stood in the corner of the crowded apartment, where strings of fairy lights stretched across the ceiling, casting warm, uneven glows on the peeling walls. The party was alive, pulsing with music and laughter, but Y/N felt like she was outside looking in, a ghost in a room of vibrant, living people.

She raised her camera, the familiar click and hum of the focus grounding her. Through the lens, the world always made sense: fragmented, composed, controllable. She scanned the room, her eye catching on flashes of movement and laughter, on the way the light hit someone’s cheekbone just right. But when her camera landed on him, she froze.

Charlie Baker.

He was leaning against the worn-out bookshelf on the other side of the room, casually laughing at something one of his friends said. He had that effortless charisma Y/N couldn’t look away from.

His dark curls fell perfectly messy over his forehead, and his faded denim jacket looked like it had seen its fair share of oil changes and late-night drives. He was all sharp angles and soft smiles, an easy magnetism that made everyone around him feel seen.

Charlie wasn’t like the others on campus who dressed to impress or strutted their way into conversations. He was real, grounded in a way that felt rare. Y/N had heard bits and pieces about him—how he grew up in a big, chaotic family, how he used to be the star of the football team but decided to trade that life for working with his hands.

Word was he wanted to drop out of college altogether and become a car mechanic, though most people couldn’t understand why someone who looked like that wouldn’t want to be famous instead.

Through the lens, Y/N could admire him without fear. She could notice the little things: the way his hands moved when he talked, rough and calloused but deliberate, or the faint grease stains on his jacket cuffs. He had a habit of glancing down when he laughed, like he didn’t realize how captivating he was.

Her heart tugged, a quiet ache she wasn’t sure what to do with. She lowered the camera and sighed.

“Still hiding behind that thing?”

Her breath hitched. She turned to find Charlie standing beside her, a crooked grin on his face. How did he move so quietly?

“Still asking obvious questions?” she shot back, hoping her voice sounded steadier than she felt.

Charlie chuckled, a low, warm sound that made the noise of the party blur into static. His smile was lopsided, like he wasn’t sure it belonged to him. “Touché,” he said. “So, what’s the verdict? Getting any good shots, or is this place a creative wasteland?”

Y/N shrugged, her pulse racing. “It’s... lively.”

“Diplomatic answer.” He tilted his head, studying her the way he might study a car engine that wouldn’t start, his brown eyes sharp and curious. “What are you really thinking?”

She tightened her grip on the camera strap. You’re making it impossible to think. Instead, she said, “I’m thinking that not every party needs to be immortalized.”

“Maybe not,” he said, leaning a little closer. “But I’m betting you’ve already found something worth keeping.”

Charlie was the kind of guy who could make anyone feel at ease. He had this way of giving people his full attention, like whatever they were saying was the most important thing in the world. Tonight, though, it felt like his focus was entirely on her, and Y/N didn’t know what to do with it.

He asked her about her photography, genuinely curious, and she found herself talking more than she expected—about her gallery submission, her love for capturing fleeting moments, how the camera helped her make sense of the world.

“You must have the patience of a saint,” he said, his voice low and warm.

“Not really.” She smiled, feeling her cheeks heat. “I just know what I’m looking for.”

His gaze lingered on her, a beat too long. “Yeah,” he said softly. “I can see that.”

Y/N’s stomach flipped, and she quickly looked away, pretending to adjust her camera.

It wasn’t fair, the way Charlie existed. He was every bit the campus heartthrob, but there was nothing flashy about him. He didn’t chase attention—it just followed him, like moths to a flame. He continued to carry the conversation as he told her about his love for cars, how he’d spend hours in the garage back home with his dad, rebuilding engines and making junkers run like new. “It’s honest work,” he said, his voice tinged with longing. “There’s something satisfying about fixing something with your hands, you know?”

Y/N nodded, though she didn’t fully understand. What she did understand was the way his face lit up when he talked about it, like it was more than a job—it was who he was. She found herself noticing everything about him: the way his hair caught the light, the faint smudge of grease on his forearm, the way his voice softened when he talked about home. She wanted to capture it all, not with her camera, but just for herself.

As the party wound down, Charlie stayed, lingering in her orbit like a half-finished thought. Someone called him away, and she thought the moment was over. But later, as she stood on the balcony, trying to let the cold air clear her mind, he appeared again. “Thinking about calling it a night?” he asked, his voice soft.

“Maybe.”

He hesitated, then smiled, something shy in the curve of it. “I was thinking of getting coffee. You know, to detox from all... this.” He gestured vaguely toward the party behind them.

Her heart raced, but she shrugged, keeping her face neutral. “Maybe. We’ll see.”

When she finally decided to leave, he was waiting by the door.

“Still up for coffee?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

She hesitated, a thousand thoughts colliding in her mind. But then she nodded. “Yeah. Coffee sounds good.”

They walked through the quiet streets, the tension between them humming like the low purr of an engine. At the café, under the golden glow of the lights, Charlie leaned forward, his hands wrapped around his cup.

“You know,” he said, his voice soft, “I wasn’t really thinking about the party tonight. I was thinking about you.”

Y/N’s breath caught, her fingers tightening around her own cup.

“I’ve been seeing you in a different light,” he admitted. “And I don’t know if I’m reading this wrong, but...”

She met his gaze, the courage rising unbidden. “You’re not.”

His smile widened, slow and warm, and suddenly, the weight of unspoken words lifted. The night stretched ahead of them, full of possibility, and for the first time, Y/N felt like she didn’t need her camera to hold on to it.

🥡 taglist: @blackynsupremacy @alelo23 @collywobblvs @tvdelrey @angelsgalore @callicela @seulgi-burgundy

pt 2 is out !

[yesimwriting]

How do you think Lestat and bestie!reader would get along exactly? Like, how Lestat views her and their dynamic 😪

I'm so glad you asked this omg. I have a few Lestat drabbles/asks in the drafts that explore their dynamic, but they're not ready yet, so here's some character analysis.

- - - -

Lestat initially hates bestie reader with the intensity that Armand wants to hate her with.

In Lestat's defense, let's look at the Louis and bestie reader situation from his perspective. He openly gives Louis his space for 77 years, and then when he reunites with Louis, the person he's most infatuated with isn't the man Louis has built a life with for nearly 8 decades, it's a random mortal girl. And then Lestat has to read a book all about Louis in which Louis discusses that girl and him for more or less the same amount of pages (Daniel was fs messy about the chapter distributions).

Also, Lestat has to read about Louis, who has been grappling with the implications of the dark gift since the very beginning, discuss how excited this random mortal girl made him about his existence.

I believe that the murder attempt straightened Lestat out in some ways. The fact that Louis and Armand came to him to basically rub their relationship in his face and Lestat was just like 'cool' shows a level of restraint that pre-lobotomy Lestat would have never been capable of. So, I don't think he's as jealous or as villainous to bestie reader as he would have been in the early 1900's. So, instead of trying to kill her, he's just very snarky about things.

Now, in bestie's head, Lestat is a villain. Louis couldn't tell reader much about Armand's actions for her own safety, so he just told her about every bad thing Lestat has ever done. Also, the fact that Armand is no longer going to be around has put bestie in an unreceptive mood (for obvious reasons), so she really doesn't want to understand Lestat. She doesn't want to like him.

She's also feeling a little insecure, because the second Louis leaves Armand starts telling her about all of the people Louis has let himself lose for Lestat. (Armand definitely brings up all the ways in which Louis let Claudia down in order to stay with Lestat.) So, for the first time ever, bestie doesn't feel like a priority in Louis's life.

When they do finally meet, there's something about bestie reader's anger and general disposition that reminds Lestat of Louis. He only sees it for a second, but it's enough for him to almost get the point of her.

However, when bestie immediately clocks him and hits him with a completely snarky and accurate read, Lestat is like 'no, I won't be doing this <3'. When Louis lets Lestat know that he will, in fact, be doing 'this' because she's not going anywhere, he dislikes her even more.

To her face, Lestat swears he doesn't need her approval, but also...his life would be so much easier if he had it. So, when Louis asks him to try to get along with her, Lestat is going full Lestat charm offensive. Not even in a romantic or sexual way, he's just being the fun, likable version of himself as a way of 'tricking' bestie reader into liking him.

And, because it's hard to not like Lestat when he's in likable mode, he does start to crack the ice a little. I can see them discussing certain theatre productions and pop culture. They'd also bond over teasing Louis about not wanting to go out to clubs/parties with them...but most of the time, they end their discussions with a flat reminder that they're not friends. (don't tell armand about this, he'll wait for the UV to hit 11 and then go outside)

It's important to note that bestie reader mainly starts giving Lestat a genuine chance because of how badly Louis wants her to. I believe that since early on in their friendship, Louis has secretly been dreaming of Lestat and bestie reader meeting.

I also think that in some ways Lestat and bestie reader are similar, which complicates them further. Lestat looks at her and sees the positive impacts he might have been able to have on Louis if he had been a little different. Also, I think something about her presence would remind Lestat of Claudia, which uneases him further. Bestie reader sees the true extent of what Louis is willing to forgive when he loves someone, and I think that makes her more wary of how she treats Louis.

In short, they're basically 'Girl, so confusing (ft. Lorde)'. Let's hope they work it out on the remix.

[loveemagicpeace]

💧A little deeper stuff💧

✨First of all, having one of these aspects does not mean that you have bad birth chart or that your life is messy, unlucky or anything. It may just mean that one area is more challenging than another. And also if u have a lot of good aspects means these aspects are not so influential. ✨

⚡️One of the hardest aspect is mercury opp saturn-negative thoughts can take over your mind and you can start thinking that people think the worst about you. Especially if mercury is in your first house (because mercury in the first house represents awareness of yourself and things around you - and you can start imagining too much about yourself).Problems with your body or your appearance may arise.

🥥Chiron in 1st house-it can mean that there is a lot of trauma related to you and your appearance. The key here is to accept yourself as you are.

💕Venus opp saturn-it can mean that you don't love yourself enough or that you don't value yourself enough. Self-love can be difficult, especially if Venus is in the 1st house. It can also mean that you want to be more beautiful or you want to change your appearance. There may also be problems with whether you deserve money, material things, luxury, enjoyment. Maybe you have doubts about whether you really deserve it and it's hard for you to accept it.

❤️‍🔥Jupiter in 2nd house-these people will always have money no matter what. Their earnings will be easy and free. Many times it means that you are serving abroad.

🧚🏽Uranus & Neptune in 6th house can be the reason that you have strange diseases for which you do not understand exactly why you have them (sometimes the cause is unknown). Many times changes happen all at once and suddenly. Neptune can give an illusion about your body and appearance. Sometimes you may feel like you are not very aware of why things are happening to you.

🦋Sun in 12th house-many times I notice that these people have mental problems that are related to their personality. Because the sun represents you as a person and your personal identity, where you shine and how, but above all you. And when the sun is in your 12th house, you cannot express your personality enough and find it difficult to find yourself and who you really are. It's harder for you to show your energy and light. You can't shine enough or in the way you want.

🪐Saturn in 7th house-I notice that many of these people's parents live separately or get divorced already in their early years. And I think it's harder for these people to find love because it's hard for them to believe that it really exists. But they learn a lot about it in life.

Also, people with saturn in the 7th house learn the hard way what love is. Many times they have one really difficult relationship behind them, which changes their life, but because of it they find a part of themselves that they didn't know before. Because saturn represents what we learn but the hard way and And what marks our life the most. For ex.: someone with saturn in 3rd house- maybe it could be friendship (this house represents a best friend), elementary school/high school, maybe high school love. Saturn in the 8th house - in your early life you may have experienced a lot of secrets, betrayals, infidelity, a lot of dark things that you don't want to talk about with anyone, these people should talk to someone about all the things that are bothering them. It can also be the death of someone who has a great influence on your life.

🪴Pluto in 4th house-They usually have very influential mother and their mother can be very controlling. It's not always like that. You can also have very powerful bond with your mother or very distant and very unhealthy relationship.

🪻1st house placements can also make you feel very lonely sometimes. Because first house indicate you independent from others. I think people always think these people are very selfish ,independent & that they don't need anybody. It's not like that, they just have their own energy. And they focus on the things that are here at this moment and that they can control. But in reality, sometimes they can feel very lonely.

🫧A lot of lonely souls have pisces ,capricorn ,sagittarius placements. All of them are independent signs and do not need anyone in their lives (in the sense that they know how to manage on their own or go through life alone, because they have always been used to it). The reality is that they can often feel alone in the process.

🌙Moon in fire signs many times they have a lot of sadness, anxiety inside because they are emotionally independent all their lives and do not want to burden others with things and many times they are taught to go through life alone and with independence. Many times they carry anger with themselves. Their emotions show mostly through anger. They do not allow themselves to be weak.

🪁Saturn in 1st house people have a very calm voice and many times they calm you down a lot. Very caring people. I don't know what it is about them, but their whole presence is very calming and when you are with them you feel as if they know how to protect you. Many times they give off a fatherly energy and are very non-judgmental people.

💿Pluto in 11th house- you will always transform yourself through friends, dreams, vision, hopes, wishes. Friendships often end because you don't feel that people are dedicated and sincere enough. Many times you experience betrayal, jealousy from people. Also one thing that can change between you and your friends is also that you two no longer share the same interest or hopes ,wishes. Also opinions and look on the life. People with this placements don't believe in politics or things the media say. They know very well what the truth is. They hate people who always conform to others, not sincere kindness or naivety.

🦋Chiron in Scorpio- There can be all of things that are related to secrets ,jealousy ,controlling. Maybe even violence in their early year. But most of all these people don't like that someone else control them. They have to learn to trust people, but trust is hard to find because they are often disappointed. You can heal a lot of people who have complex problems. Or problems related to relationships ,toxic relationships. You can give them good advice or a literally help them. You can heal a lot of broken souls.

🌇Chiron in Sagittarius- It's hard for you to find faith into something. Maybe believing into things is hard for you. These people can also have trauma with church or church can make them feel unsafe. You can heal all the people with your optimism ,good energy, positive thoughts. U can heal people with giving them great advice about life & teach them how to live. But you can also heal yourself in a way that you believe in something that's it's your own.

🌌Pluto in 1st house- I talked about this before. Pluto represents depth, how deep you go to discover the truth, dark things, secrets, jealousy, intimacy, sharing your soul with another person, what you want to remain hidden. With pluto here means that you seen all -all the hurt all the damage ,the dark stuff in your life. Because it's in your first house and it's related to you. You can attract a lot of people who don't actually have good intentions with you. You can also attract a lot of jealousy people then don't want to see you doing good. You have hard time accepting people in your life because you feel that everybody is going to hurt you in some way.

🌠The only sign who truly understands karma is Capricorn, especially Capricorn rising because it's in the first house. And 1st house means everything you are aware of and everything you see. Also Saturn is your chart ruler. So it's especially strong and I deeply believe the people who have Saturn as a chart ruler that they always receive good karma. And Saturn will always protect them from the evil people and from the situation that are not good for them. Remember all the things that happened to you in your life. And then remember how saturn save you from them. For ex.: some relationship that was actually turns out to be toxic ,from friendship that turns out they never been honest with you , from accident or things that literally happened to you.

✨Ig- bekylibra✨

🎸For personal readings u can sign up here: https://snipfeed.co/bekylibra 🎸

-Rebekah🦋💿💫

[notbojack]

I love your hcs for the linkuei trio, very funny :3

Can I request hcs of annoying things they do? Like they're messy and stuff like that. I don't think I've ever seen anyone exploring a part of them like that and I'm curious what it would be like 😅

I'll do as best as I can pookie :D

the Lin kuei bros and annoying things they do

Bi han

Dang. Here we go again

The first annoying thing about him that's very noticeable is that he has a resting bitch face

No matter if he's actually annoyed, indifferent etc, he WILL have that same frown. He def had some misunderstandings because of it

"Stop giving me attitude young man" "I'm not doing anything"

Actual conversation between an elder of the clan and him btw

He's judgmental. That we know ofc

If you do something that he deems is not the "right" way to do it, he will try to correct you. That is SO annoying when trying to get something done and someone beside you is like "that's not how you do it"

Anyway-

It's hard to make him laugh honestly. If you make a bad joke he'd just slowly turn to stare at you

When he jokes, it's probably a smart quip said in a deadpan tone that most people have to actually think about it for a few seconds to get it

Yk when teachers randomly come up to your desk to stare at your work in a tense silence while you stress out? Yeah that's bi han

He'd just come randomly to you at training to see if you're getting better. Does he know it stresses out most students to get stared at when training? It's a mystery, but he doesn't look like he cares much

Sigh. People, I'm sorry to say it, but he probably wouldn't like shy people

He just doesn't understand how someone can be shy. For him it's a sign of weakness

He won't mind if someone is mostly silent and efficient, but he will mind if someone is too shy to get job done

He mostly cares about competence after all

Oh, last thing, he's a sore loser

He's not allowed to play board games in this household anymore

Kuai liang

Why is Tomas being a pretty princess behind kuai liang-

Anyway

He's similar to bi han. He honestly copies him without noticing. At least he did that when he was a kid

It can come off as annoying if you're trying to joke around and he does bi han's slow turn

You have to explain the joke for him to crack a smile most of the time

He's stubborn. Yk the type of stubborn to actually write up a Wikipedia text to confirm his opinion even when he's wrong. Ik they're not familiar with the internet, but he'd be the type to do that if he was so

He gossips

Ik it sounds odd said like that, like "how can a trained ninja gossip like a schoolgirl!". Well, he does, just more discreetly

If someone starts talking shit about someone he dislikes (example bi han after his betrayal COUGH COUGH) he WILL get in the conversation

Though he tries to be subtle, he's obviously liking tea time from time to time

Guys.. he forgets anniversaries

Don't take it personal though. It could be valentine, anyone's birthday, new year, it doesn't change the result

I can see him randomly ask for the date after people act weird and then hearing what date it is (again, any special event) and he'd be like "really?" LIKE BRO DIDN'T KNOW

I think it's because he doesn't care much about what date it is, having other things to worry about

He's ridiculously charming

Ik people when hearing that would be "how is that annoying?" Well, it is if you're his partner and see other women flirt with him. He'd probably be polite but refuse the advances

Still annoying af though

That and because he can get away with many things because of it. Countless of times when they were kids, one of his brothers would get scolded instead of him because their father believed more in kuai liang and thought he could never do such thing

He did

He just has a way with words. He understands social cues and use it to his advantage

Yes, it is pretty manipulative, but most people just see him as a cool dude anyway so he gets a free pass

Tomas vrbada

Bbg (war criminal)

He's a prankster. That can be annoying when he does it to you instead of his brothers

He will always pretend to have done no wrong with a smirk that CLEARLY tells you he's the one you did it, but you have no proof of it

As I said, he's a little shit-

He will tease about quite literally anything, just to annoy

Why? Why not

Yes, he is a kind and noble man. No, that does not keep him away from being mischievous

If you have some typpa crush on him, he WILL know. No matter how much you try to hide it, he's unfortunately very observant

Example, he will flex his muscles while training if he notices you looking, though subtly and making it look accidental of course. He might even wink at you if he's feeling particularly bold that day

He's one of those that "doesn't want to take sides" when a conflict comes up, though he ends up taking a side anyway because he's forced to

Is a nerd about animals. He's the type that's like "Well actually-" if you get a fact wrong about an animal

He knows, he's been a hunter before

It is irritating if you talk about your favorite animal and he corrects you. like bro let me enjoy stuff

"I like raccoons, they're funny-" said anyone (or you) before Tomas corrects them by saying weird ass facts about raccoons

He's a "no, you pick" in a relationship most of the time. And most of the time, it's chill, but sometimes it is kinda hard if you both say that. It just won't end

Yk that annoying couple that's giggling and all "no, you pick!" Until it actually turns into an argument? It reminded me of that

He's insanely lucky at board games. Like BRO wdym you just picked a card that said you own the bank now?!

He'd taunt about it too

As I said, he's very perceptive. Don't try hiding stuff, he will know if you're hiding stuff or if something is wrong and etc

"Did you eat my dessert in the fridge?" "No" "I know you're lying"

Actual conversation between one of his brother and him

He'd pester until he gets the truth, too

Well that's all bbg, I hope it's alright!

Gifs not from me. I got inspired by some mk fanfics and environment lol

[shera-dnd]

I have decided against my better judgement to be weird about the Dawntrail MSQ

and we can't talk about an expansion set in the fantasy americas without talking about

COLONIALISM

oh yeah, we're going there baby

So disclaimer that I may be brazilian, but my ass is white as hell, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. Also if any native americans have made posts on this please let me know so I can boost their analysis as well

Also also I'm more than happy to delete this post if I mess up. I'm genuinely trying to make a thoughtful analysis, so if I fuck up just say the word and this thing is gone from this website

Oh also also also, Dawntrail MSQ spoilers ahead!

So FFXIV has had a... messy relationship with colonialism over the years

The fact that the major antagonists for the first half of A Realm Reborn a literally called "beast man tribes" is absolutely not a good start to this story

Add to that the fact that The Twelve (Eorzea's gods) are shown to be kind all powerful deities, while the Primals (the tribal gods) are evil spirits summoned to bring destruction to the world

and yeah no ARR is not good with that shit. It's EXTREMELY not good. If I hadn't been told it got better later on I would have dropped this shit before I got to Titan

But they have been taking steps to unfuck things. First we're shown that even the "civilized societies" (in this case the catholic elves) can summon Primals, then that Primal summoning isn't an actual native custom but was introduced by foreigners with malicious intent, and that not all "beast man" practice that

Then they changed the names of the "Beast Man Tribe Quests" to "Tribal Quests" and then finally to "Allied Society Quest"

Which would have been an empty gesture had like half of the post-Shadowbringer patches, as well a lot of Endwalker, not been about forming alliances with those people and working together with them, recognizing that they have as much right to the land and to life as any Eorzean, this all culminating on the Primals being summoned with the express purpose of helping you protect the world you all share

I guess they realized that they couldn't have their big bad for most of the game be the evil expansionist empire, if they didn't like actually reflect in their own imperialist fantasies they were propagating

Then the teaser trailer for Dawntrail drops and everyone in the fandom is like "wait... are we gonna do a colonialism?"

And memes were abound of how all those lessons from before don't apply to the "New World" of Tural

THANKFULLY the actual questline leading to Dawntrail helped to settle some of those worries

We're not going to Tural to explore a new uncharted land, but are actually being invited over by the local royalty in order to aid them with their right of succession. We get introduced to the nation of Tuliyollal and how it's a thriving land with its own culture and not just a "terra nil" waiting to be colonized

Still there are some worries that this is gonna turn out poorly and that we're just gonna end up being white saviors

But I think they managed to avoid that pretty well

For starters neither the Scions nor the Warrior of Light are the protagonists of this story. You're all simply supporting character's in Wuk Lamat's story

A story that centers her people, her culture, and her family

And it's not even one culture. They don't portray Tuliyollal as this monolithic mish mash of every single native american culture

No, the lands of Tural are in fact comprised of multiple different people's and nations, each of them with their own customs and traditions which are informed by their history and the lands they live in

In fact learning about their cultures and partaking in their customs is the whole point of the Rite of Succession. It's all set up so that the next Dawnservant would be someone who understands and respects each of the peoples that comprise Tural

(I could, and probably will, write about what Dawntrail has to say about what makes a good ruler)

And our girl, Wuk Lamat, is shown to be the rightful heir because she really goes out of her way to understand each of the nations and show her appreciation for their customs

Putting her well above her Sharlyaboo brother Koana, The King of Unresolved Daddy Issues Zoral Ja, and whatever the fuck is going on with Bakool Ja Ja

(I joke, I love my two headed traumatized dumbass)

Tho I will admit that this does end up giving the tribes a somewhat "planet of the hats" vibe. Like their named NPCs are diverse and interesting, but you can just assume that most random NPCs of any given people are gonna act according to the stereotype

Which is unfortunate, but I have hopes that with the next few patches and the addition of Dawntrail's own Allied Society Quests, we'll get to see more to them

But that... is only up to lvl95 and the end of the Yok'Tural (southern Tural) segment

because then we get to Xak'Tural (northern Tural) and holy shit does it feel like they drop the ball there

Like they really COULDN'T keep themselves from making Shaaloani a fucking Wild West map

Instead of doing anything with the actual cultures and histories of Native North American people, they just do wild fucking west

Because there's ceruleum in them thar hills! And apparently Koana turned most of the region into Sharlyaboos too

So we get a bunch of Wild West frontier towns mixed with native american tribes and mud brick cities. We have trains and guns and a sheriff and a duel at high noon, but now everyone got native american names

At least there's one group off to the northern side of the map who seems to stick to tradition and live in harmony with nature, and that group is shown respect by the other people of the region

so we at the very least avoid the "cowboys vs indians" crap, but my god does that region just feel bad compared to everything else they had done so far

Then we get to the big twist: THE CYBERPUNK PORTION OF THE GAME

because yes, we go full fucking cyberpunk

so turns out that a whole segment of Xak'Tural got colonized by the kingdom of Alexandria, including the lands of the Shetona (Erenville's people)

And I feel like this is the most poignant section of the MSQ when it comes to colonialism

Because here we have Alexandria, an empire that has reached the limit of what it can do sustain itself on its own world, and so has decided to spread out and colonize others in order to gain resources

We see the Shetona and other natives of the region being separated from their families and kept in isolation from the rest of their people

And tho Queen Sphene is shown to be a kind and caring ruler who gives people a choice when it comes to joining the empire, WELL SHE'S STILL THE QUEEN OF A FUCKING EMPIRE

Like her form of kindness and just stagnant peace is put in stark contrast with Wuk Lamat's own love for her people and more proactive pursuit of happiness and harmony

(again with the "what makes a ruler theme")

Also the people that choose to be assimilated into the Alexandrian Empire? Yeah, they're doing so because Alexandria has advanced medical technology and you can only receive their aid if you're a citizen

Not only that, but you have to be a working citizen. We see later on a character being denied medical aid, because he lost his job, thanks to the King's decision and at no fault of his own

yeah this is cyberpunk, not just sci-fi

ALSO can we talk about how the technology used for that medical aid and the little gizmo they give you to signify you're now a citizen, will literally erase the memory of the people you lost

So the Turali who are assimilated into Alexandrian culture not only lose ties to their culture and their loved ones, but are not allowed to grieve their loss, because what they once had is slowly being erased

How their choices add up to survive on their own OR be assimilated

How this all takes place IN NORTH FUCKING AMERICA!

THE CYBERPUNK CITY IS LITERALLY SET IN THIS WORLD'S EQUIVALENT TO THE UNITED STATES

So yeah, I don't think is is accidental. I genuinely thing that they're making a point about the realities of imperialism and colonialism, as well as taking some shots at the US while they're at it

Of course this part is still centered around Wuk Lamat, and instead of having a moment of "the only ones who can stop the evil white europeans are the GOOD white europeans", we have Wuk Lamat be the one to save the day, defeat Sphene, and save her people from the colonizing empire

So I would like to argue that everything that happens from lvl97 onwards is them picking up the ball again and making a real point

buuuut that comes at the cost of us being unable to engage with the native peoples of Xak'Tural outside of the context of colonialism

Which genuinely fucking sucks, and I hope it will be remedied with the post-Dawntrail patches

As well as handling the whole shared land situation they ended up with and how this might end up in a Land Back sort of movement, and oh boy can they mess shit up royally there

So in conclusion FFXIV has had a messy relationship with colonialism and imperialist fantasies and tropes, but the devs seem to be making a concerted effort to undo their mistakes and show respect in their depictions of american natives

They still fuck up

boy do they

but they're at least trying, and I'd say Dawntrail so far has been quite well executed

so yeah, look forward to more insane rambles like this one I guess

[floppnopikka]

୨⎯”STANLEY PINES DATING HEADCANONS”⎯୧

He would call you nicknames like 'sweet cheeks' 'sugar pie' 'honey crackers' 'hot stuff'

When you ever feel like you're in your lowest moments this man doesn't know what to do to comfort you BUT he will try his very best to cheer you up. In the Book of Bill, his life has been in his lowest moments and there was no one to comfort him except for his mom, Jimmy Snakes (probably) and Stanford. Taking you to dinner (his treat ofc but only because he hates seeing you all depressed) go fishing and getting a free souvenir from his Mystery Shack.

This man is STRONG, never doubt his strength, he can punch, kick, and punch again. All his fats are his muscles so if you ever have anything heavy to carry just let him do it or if you got a sprained ankle because of your clumsiness, expect this man to insult you first before carrying you like you weigh nothing, ok he might struggle BUT JUST FOR A LITTLE BIT.

Needs constant reassurance, this man has always been looked down and stepped on in his whole life only for himself to stand up again without anyone's help. If you happen to get in a relationship with him, he will ask and look at you for support and words for him to keep going. He can get a bit dependent on you but not always, he knows how to stand up for himself after decades of insults from others and your praise may seem skeptical for him but knew better than to trust your words.

This man cannot read without his glasses, if you see him without his glasses and he's trying to read something on his news paper or watching TV, you can see him squinting his eyes in a verge of closing them.

If someone harasses you or talks bad about you, this man will definitely talk shit to someone and punch them so hard they will end up in the hospital.

He's prideful and won't back down to any teasing you call him (in a playful manner) but when it's serious moments, he'll have a hard time expressing his feelings because it always turns to anger or walking out but when he does something wrong, it'll take him a few minutes to apologize because he was never one to apologize or people would just ignore his apology.

Stanley isn't a fan of those cheesy romantic things like, giving flowers, chocolates, writing poems and stuff like that. Unless it's valentine's day or your birthday, he'll ask Mabel and Dipper for help on how to greet you, set you up with him. Just because he's not that type of man doesn't mean he's not showing his love and affection for you.

When you're not around, he would fr brag you to anyone 'Have you seen Y/N? well, bad luck for you buddy, you literally missed a sight for sore eyes. Which happens to be my significant other!' and then he would laugh at the child or 'Look here buddy, Y/N is someone who's very passionate on anything they do, I mean look at them! don't you feel the raging flames of passion they're putting there?' he pointed the direction where you stood and then it's just you arguing with a karen in the grocery store while he grins lazily as he sips his soda 'Yup, very passionate'

When you two got into an argument and didn't end well, he would stay up all night thinking about it, tossing and turning on the bed with a groan. He will apologize but it's messy because he doesn't know how or it's too hard for him to do say it. "Look, I made a mistake and I... I know what I did was wrong and I just wanna say..." long pause "...m'sorry..." in the most quiet yet audible apology you'll ever hear but if that didn't budge you he'll try even more "Ok! ok! I really... am! I'm sorry, ok? what I did to you was wrong, I'll give you space if you need it and... I'm sorry, again, really" but you can't stay mad at him for long so you forgive him in an instant.

Overall, a patient and understanding partner is what he needs perhaps someone who has the same ego as him would be fun, an adventurous partner would be his cup of coffee since he is the most wanted criminal in America, you two would be partners in crime >:)

A/N: hope y'all like it, might be ooc of Stanley Pines

[newkatzkafe2023]

I want something to do with portal-portal2 but my brain cannot think of anything that could put wukong into it 😭😭

If it springs you any ideas like of Y/N that is either Chell, Weatley or even Glados I'll take it 😆

GLADOS IS MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS I LOVE HER ATTITUDE DISPITE BEING AN A.I🤩

(Lmk Wukong) When you first met during the journey to the west, is when Wukong took note of your passive aggression. You were harsh and cruel to everyone around you and had no problem putting others in danger, and almost killing people. That caused you to clash with Wukong alot who was learning to be a better person, until he accidentally got a glimpse into your life. Which he started to understand and tried to help you overcome your personal trauma, though it took a long time and well you started to see him as somebody hard to kill and Wukong decided to change your mind.

(NR Wukong) Well.....you know the term test monkey because that's what you do alot, and it took him some time to notice. You would think this pissed him off and it did....at first, but this is probably the most attention he's ever got from you. It was super easy to trick him and it felt like all you had to do was tie a beer bottle to a rope and dangle it infront of him. However Wukong is also intelligent in his own right and mostly turn your dangerous puzzles into fun mini games, and excise routines basically patronizing you. You would low-key growl and huff as you would leave him with your test notes, Wukong finds it adorable how his cold wifey-poo tries to kill him with science and household items your marriage has never been so lively.

(MKR Wukong) My god, the sarcastic remarks you both would exchange would make everyone go crazy. You're both bitter, irritable, cold, violent, and gentle in neither of your vocabularies. How you would make passive-aggressive comments and mildly harsh insults towards each other, not to mention how neither of you are against killing your enemies. However, you both do little subtle acts of affection and kindness for each other, like Wukong sharing his food, and you would bake little peach cupcakes for him to eat. You both are dangerously protective of each other, and with that, you both became less of the deadly couple and more of a passive-aggressive, tsundere married couple.

(HIB Wukong) Oh goodness your relationship looks kinda toxic, from the outside looking in but it's not the case really. It's just..before you both got together you both had treated each other coldly and harshly, only cause Wukong had put up his walls and your dry cutthroat insults and sarcasm. It wasn't until Luier and Silly girl had entered your lives and you both had to put aside your bullsh*t to take care the kids. Your gentler side comes out when you bonded with Luier over puzzles and knowledge, so you would make kid friendly test for them to do. Over time you both learned to love each other with the help of your unusual little family.

(Netflix Wukong) Ohhhhhhhhh man I feel he would be the most passive aggressive Monkey on this list, so their will be alot of back and forth. Your harsh monotone Voice brings back bitter terrible memories, but what's interesting is that you don't judge him nor rebuke his bad behavior. However you still passive aggressively insult him and comment on his acts and Impulses, you would also roll your eyes at best. Though you do have a gentler side to you as you would act as a listening ears and would bake him a cake as an act of remorse for when you get out of line for him. In otherwords you love Wukong it's just you have a....funny way of showing it.

(BMW Wukong) Oh boi you admittedly picked the wrong one, especially when he can mouth off to you without hesitation. He had heard about you from Erlang Shen about you were offing people in the form of tests or puzzles, and well....the after math was.....messy. When Wukong finally were a little manipulative and incredibly dangerous, as you only saw him as another test subject and took him to your test sight. However Wukong either breezed though the tests or completely destroyed it, and it really tried your patience. It guess worse when you dubbed him as difficult to kill and called him a genocidal armored lunatic and told him never to comeback, oh if only it was that easy....

(Destined one) First of all who the hell do you think you are???🤨 the Destined one would not take your bullsh*t at all, like all you do is try to trick him into doing tests like a god damn lab rat. Then you would have the gall to go and passive aggressively insult him to his blank face, like you seriously get on his nerves and that doesn't happen very often. Now he won't ever fight you but he will be spiteful when it comes to your little tests, and if the Destined one ever spoke. I feel like the Destined one's insults and harsh comments would cut deeper then yours ever could, and that's probably why your interested in him and you wanna know what makes him tick. You never expected to marry him though, but that's a different test result for another time.

(Lotmk Wukong) Now i feel he wouldn't ever notice your cold monotone murderous and tricky disposition, and he naturally loves and cares about you without condition. Everybody would usually go mad trying to figure out why Wukong would look at you like you hung the moon. He also loves listening to you talk because he thinks your voice is pretty, even when you're currently roasting him. Though you would show your affection for him by singing soft opera songs to him and baking a cake for him............ it must be nice to have rose-colored glasses glued to his face.

FEEL FREE TO REBLOG🤖

[owlstro]

Thank you for the great stuff you been posting so far.

2. tw astro x gn reader? We couldn't escape in time and now we gotta deal with the guy, fluff or angst I am alr with either :b.

3. I think you forgot to tag the shrimpo one?

TWISTED ASTRO X GN READER , fluff

note: 1. UR WELCOME!! im glad thst people have been enjoying my works!! havent seen alot of dw x reader soo i decided to take matters into my own hands!

2. i decided fluff since im better at writing it!! Altho the entire thing isn't very long so my bad lolsies..

3. OOPS!! i was pretty tired when i made that one, ill be sure to fix it, thank you for letting me know!

art: @ samwichtheunforgettable on Pinterest

Well this is a doozy, despite all the adrenaline you felt you couldn't get close enough to make it into the elevator. You were understandably freaking out and panicking.

Once you sorta calm down to actually think logically, you decide to hide. You don't know what to do, all you can do is just hide and hope no Twisted finds you.

Well, technically those hopes DID work, all of the Twisteds wandered the area like zombies, except one. Of course, you were gonna die eventually.

Although after some chasing and hiding, the Twisted kept following you, even almost slowing down when you ran out of stamina.

You were quite confused about why they didn't hurt you when you slipped and fell over.

Till you noticed who was chasing you, or well.. more accurately, following you. It was Astro, Twisted Astro.

You didn't know what he wanted, but it definitely wasn't something malicious. He looked lonely, sad even.

You stared at him, he stared at you. It was awkward for the two of you to say the least.

You suppose, if you're gonna find out how to communicate with him.. It would preferably be somewhere safe than a random hallway.

You lead him to the hiding spot he first found you in. Still feeling uneasy about a literal Twisted following you and the fact you haven't died yet is a miracle.

Astro looked at you curiously, wondering what you'll do next. You were just observing his body language. His arms and legs twitched quite often, most likely due to an absurd amount of Ichor he had to.. consume?

You tried communicating with him with words, while he could vaguely understand, it wasn't all too helpful.

You tried conveying your thoughts and MANY questions, on why he isn't attacking you like the others are, through body language but it seemed it confused him more. Man, being a Twisted sucks.

You tried all sorts of things, all of them ending up him confused or the both of you confused by what you were doing.

You just sighed and sat down, never-mind all of this.. How are you gonna return to the group? This is a mess.

Your eyes hovered over every small or big object you could see in your sight, not really making a single coherent thought.

You knew Astro was still there with you, probably staring but you didn't pay too much attention. You DID appreciate his presence, because Astro always gave off that calming aura of his.

But you didn't know how to feel about his corrupted.. or well, 'Twisted' version of him.

You could hear him shuffle a little closer to you as your thoughts spiraled into madness.

Then, his nightcap (that weirdly acted like it had a mind of its own.) wrapped around your torso.

Oh, well this brought you out of... whatever your brain was on.

You heard him mutter something or at least you saw him try to say something, due to all of the Ichor he consumes.

"It's fine, you don't need to speak." You eventually say, not wanting to make his throat hoarse. Seriously it must hurt drinking the Ichor.

Twisted Astro weakly nods, seemingly figuring out whether or not to lean on you or wait for you to lean on him.

You answer his thoughts by leaning on Astro. Your head on his shoulders.

"These circumstances aren't ideal, no far from it, but at least you're here." You say, almost feeling sleepy but your anxiety about the other Twisteds forced you to wake up.

final note: SORRY IF THIS IS MESSY. i couldnt think of many headcanons for him MY BAD GANGG. i might edit this but yea.. sorry this took so long! school had me swamped, HOPE U STILL ENNJOYED UR REQUEST!!!!!!

[dazedantics]

You were disoriented.

The whole building was dark but filled wall to wall with blindingly colorful neon lights. People lounged about on plush lounge chairs, hands dancing across heated skins, others swayed enticingly to the raving music. Dopey grins and giggles echoed through the place, speech slured and broken unnecessarily. A heavy smoke filled the air, encouraging inhabitors to give in to the chill haze.

It was getting difficult to breathe.

But you had to talk to the Queen. All you needed was a quick signature from them and then you were free to leave. Plenty of others had asked for the same thing before and had gotten their wish with no problem ... Eventually ... This should be easy.

Slipping around the fluid bodies, you trudged closer to the stand.

The court was large, podium standing at a height much grander than you, further emphasizing how small you were in comparison. But sitting with his boots up on the ledge sat the Queen. So engrossed with his gaudy phone, he didn't notice you as you approached, nor did he turn to you when you cleared your throat.

"... excuse me, Your Majesty?"

He laughed, thumb scrolling through his feed.

"Your Majesty ...?"

He bit his lip, shifting to rest his cheek on his knuckles.

"Your majesty!"

At last, he hummed in response. "Hm? Yeah, what's up?"

You took a shuddering breath, wiping the sweat from your brow. "Sorry, for interrupting, Your Majesty, but I have a request. I've gone through all the regular customs in trying to move back to my hometown and all I need left now is to get your help signing all the papers ...."

Still looking at his phone, he chuckled. "Ah, I didn't know this had become a trend. I really need to get on it."

"... a-as I was saying, I've brought everything you need to sign and I understand it'll take a few days to actually go through but-"

"Hey you, look over here. Say 'Queensies!'"

You were caught off guard as the Queen shifted around in the stand so you were facing the same way, he raised his phone up and pouted his lips with a wink while he made a peace sign with his hand. The flash from his camera seemed to heightened your jumbled mind and you could feel the start of a migrane coming on. He shifted back into his seat, cheeks glowing with a smile, feet on the chair, knees to his chest and he kept typing on his phone.

"Hashtag hard at work, hashtag servant of the people, hashtag queen cay!"

You rubbed your eyes, "Y-our Majesty, please-"

"Awe, look at this, we're so cute. You know you're not so bad looking, but I think you could smile more. I could give you a makeover one day when I have time. Busy, busy, busy, you know how it is."

"I just need your pen on the paper-"

"Ooh, you know what," he lifted the tubed pen from the messy storage under the desk, "I should make that the point of the next party," he took a puff, exhaling a cloud of color changing smoke, "tips on making the most of your looks, hashtag becoming a sexy bitch," purple, blue, green, orange, yellow, "That'd be great, right? I'll schedule it right now."

You chest rose and fell heavily, trying to gain enough breath to beat the smoky air, but you only inhaled lungfuls of his puffs.

"Mmm, I haven't really gotten around to this shindig though, have I? I think it's time to mingle. You don't mind waiting a bit longer do you? I promise I'll be back soon, but I gotta let the people know I care, lmao."

Your brow curled as he stood, brushing himself off and tidying up his stand.

"You care?"

"Hey, card suit boy? Make sure to close off any appointments for the night, I'm gonna be busy till tomorrow, m'kay? Thanks hon, you're a doll."

You looked down at your bundle of papers, subconsciously crumpling the edges, "you haven't listened to a thing I've said ... and writing your name doesn't take long at all ...."

"Hey you, what was your name again? Anyways, coat on or coat off? It's very nice, makes me seems all posh-like. But it can get stuffy dancing all night. What do you think? Off right?"

You glared up at him. "It's no wonder so many other people are trying to leave."

"I think I'll go with off. Ah, look at that! Cute! Am I eating or what? Gotta take a selfie of that. Chu~ hashtag diamond swag. There we go, now I think I'm ready to-"

"You're a shit ruler."

For once, his emerald eyes turned to you.

"Excuse me?"

You stumbled backward, nearly tripping over your own two feet. "You heard me. All you do here is throw your flashy parties and take forever to help the people who come to you everyday. Do you even know the problems that are going on outside of your so called palace? People are trying to make the necessary changes adhering to the Queen's rules and standards but everything needs your approval and supervision to get started. Nothings changing cause we need to rely on an indolent guy like you. I feel bad for anyone planning on living here."

You turned, planning on leaving and finding another way to get your things done. But you were stopped by a firm chest you bumped into.

You were met with the boy who had been up in the pedestal.

Confused on how he got down to you so fast, you looked back.

"You have quite a mouth on you, don't ya?"

He was still sitting up on the stand whilst being an inch in front of you.

He prowled forward, each step forcing you to take one back until you bumped into something. You looked over your shoulder. It was ... him? Three of him? But, how?

"I'll admit I haven't been the best I could be, but I've made sure to give you all a place to let go of your worries haven't I? Look at the people here tonight. They all go home with a smile on their face and come back saying they're happier than when they left. This kingdom has the highest happiness rating in the world if the surveys are to say anything. Doesn't that merit me some credit?"

He brushed back a tawny curl of hair, tucking it gently behind his ear. The shimmery gold and scarlet makeup he wore shone distractingly under the bright lights.

"And the people all chose to anoint me Queen, didn't you? Surely there was a reason for it. I'm not that bad, am I?"

You inhaled sharply, clinging to his shoulders to keep yourself upright. "M-maybe you were good at first but ...."

He chuckled, resting his gloved hands on your waist. "See? I just got a little content is all. Just need some time and motivation to get back on track." His thumbs rubbed soothing circles into your sides.

The duplicate of him behind you spoke up, nuzzling his nose into your neck. He spoke in a soft, pouting little whine. "It's hard being a ruler, you know? Can't take care of everyone."

The version of him from up on the stand piped up, voice echoing throughout the chamber. "But if someone wants to take my place I wouldn't mind at all. It's what's best for the kingdom, right? Ah, I know!"

Then the three of them spoke at once, "why don't you take the throne?"

"Wh-what?" You squeezed your eyes shut and tilted your head to the side in attempts to sooth the ache in your head.

Soft kisses were trailed up your neck.

"Yeah! Since you think I'm not fit for the job, you might as well show me how it's done, right?"

"I ... I can't ...." You yawned tiredly.

"Ah, it is a bit overwhelming to start all at once though, huh ...?"

"Tell you what ...,"

"You can stay here with me for a while ...,"

"And I can teach you everything you need to know about this shindig ...,"

"After that ...,"

"I can step down once you're ready. Or ...,"

"If you want me to stick around as your right hand so things go even smoother, I'd be happy to. Keeping our cute little subjects satisfied is the top priority after all ...,"

"Having a new hand to guide them, but with the help of what they're familiar with ...,"

"Would be the perfect path to success, yeah ...?"

"After all, the first Queen did have her helpful little King of Hearts to run things. And the length of their reign was golden ...,"

"I think it's a perfectly swell idea, don't you ...?"

"What do you say ... um, I'm sorry, what was your name again?"

"My name ...?" You looked around with hooded eyes. Maybe it was cause of your state of being right now, but there seemed to dozens of the orange haired boy filling up the lofty room. "Y/N ... I think ... Y/N L/N."

"Ah, L/N and Cay-kun~! Has a nice ring to it, don't you think? Queen Y/N and her loyal Diamond. Why, the whole town would be in a rave after that don't you think? We'd go viral."

You weren't sure which one of him it was, but he guided you deeper into the room, past the grand stage and into a connecting room. Foggy, weak, addle minded and out of breath, you couldn't do much else but lean on him as he guided you to who knows where.

"Why don't you rest here for a bit, then tomorrow we can discuss the arrangements when you're thinking clearly."

"Oh ... o-okay ...." You breathed out, inhaling for every clear breath you could.

This place wasn't somewhere anyone should stay in for long periods of time, much less live in. How did this guy do it?

"Perfect!" He laid you down to rest on a much too soft bed.

The blankets seemed to swallow you as he gave a wave, smiling as he began to walk away.

"Guess I'll be demoted to King soon, but happy to be of service to you! See you tomorrow, Queenie."

Your lids grew too heavy, shutting as the egnimatic Queen walked away and you succumbed to the pillowy sanctuary of the mattress, the papers you held forgotten and now in Cater's hand.

[raayllum]

Can you explain why Claudia is so upset with Terry when they reunite after he leaves? And why Terry, of all people, looks so guilty with her that he can't even look her in the eye? It's one of those things where you know this should all be reversed, but isn't. Why? Why is the betrayer so hostile to the betrayed?

God I loved the messy as fuck whatever they had going on Claudia and Terry dynamic in S7, and I think there's a few reasons why

One of the cruxes of Claudia's character is that she is attached to seeing herself as a good person, and others as not-good by comparison. This means that she can engage in the exact same behaviour and justify it while assuming that others' reasonings couldn't possibly measure up.

This cognitive dissonance is not exclusive to Claudia (Callum and Rayla in particular have a tendency to justify each other's choices in ways they don't with other characters, i.e. Rayla viewing dark magic use being 'evil' except when Callum is using it and he's the 'goodest' person she knows) but the focus on 'my view of myself' largely is. Most other characters in TDP are focused on "I still view this other person as a good person," not being focused on "I view myself as a good person". But Claudia is, and it's this core desire being increasingly pitted against "I will do vile, awful things to keep my family together" that are constantly duking it out.

When Claudia finds Soren and Terry waiting for her, it's clear that not only has Terry joined her brother, but has turned against her (as he could've left and then just fucked off somewhere else). This association with Soren, I think, is one of the things that gets her haunches raised, since Soren made it very clear what he thinks the last time they saw one another in 4x07:

SOREN: You have to stop trying to release the greatest evil this world has ever known. CLAUDIA: I knew you wouldn't understand.

All Claudia hears is "there's something wrong with you." That she's the bad guy and on the Wrong side (which, to be fair, Soren also calls her and Viren bad humans when trying to wake Rex Igneous in 4x09). And, by extension, that Soren is better than her. More correct, more moral, more Right.

And Claudia cannot stand feeling judged. She cannot stand being treated like 'the bad guy' (because of course from her perspective, everything she does is right) and she struggles to hold a conception of "I did something genuinely wrong and can still be a good person" (see: "We're not going to the dungeons Soren, we didn't do anything wrong") usually leaning into one or the other, and normally the latter.

So Terry being with Soren is also "you think I'm wrong, you think I'm bad, and you think you're Better than me" (vs Aaravos' "believed we could be better, so he gave us magic"). She thinks the pair are there to stop her, and she's not wrong, on a certain level.

So when Soren makes a gesture of good will, openly contingent on Terry wanting to spare her ("You're here to save me? How generous [...] I can change, and you will help me. Did I get everything?" Karim vibes), it's just seen as "you're showing off how/why you think you're Better than me" and was, quite frankly, never going to work.

Soren setting down his sword came closer, as it's more reciprocal, and it also symbolizes Soren setting down his mantle/duty (the same sword that killed Viren the first time, presumably). But Soren makes another mistake; the same mistake he made in 4x07:

Dad is dead, Claudia. You don't have to do what he wants anymore.

Set down your staff, Claudia. Dad's staff.

But while Claudia has been doing stuff for Viren, she hasn't done what he wanted in a long time. She's been doing what she wants ("You are not letting go, Dad!") for a hot second, and now alongside Aaravos. (I need to write a scene on her and Aaravos' talk in 7x06, but that's for another day.) And that has included taking down elves and dragons as a whole (and any elf that doesn't help her) for a while.

The dragons and the elves, all the arrogant fools blinded by the searing light of their own self-righteousness.

They are wrong, and she and Aaravos are right ("So much we can make right"). This is a very black-and-white viewpoint in many ways, one that some characters are faster as dismantling than others, but I have no doubt that Arc 3 will push it to its breaking point for all of them. Soren and Terry have thrown in their loyalties with the elves and dragons, since Terry was previously a "good elf Exception" alongside Aaravos because they were both helping her and, as previously discussed, Terry has now turned against her, and all the baggage Claudia carries about such a thing is now dumped onto him by proxy (which Terry doesn't necessarily know or understand).

So what does he look so guilty over?

Honestly? The illusion plan. I'm sure he's worried that Claudia might get hurt, and that things might escalate / go south, but he is ultimately there with a plan that is not what he wanted. What Terry wanted was to find the real Lissa and give Claudia a real chance to connect with her mother and maybe change her ways. But it's not real. It's deception, and he knows it.

TERRY: You lied to me! AARAVOS: I never lie. I simply said we needed a big feather and a very small feather. That is all. TERRY: No. You say you never lie, what you do is worse. You tell people half-truths and let people fill in the rest. You make people lie to themselves. It's deception. It's manipulation, and it's wrong.

She betrayed him, and now in his own way he's betraying her.

So what makes him decide to turn around and do something... similar, shall we say? There's a few things. The first is that they're on a time limit and have no way to reach Lissa. The second is that it's plausible the others were going to do it anyway, and Terry accompanied them because 1) he couldn't stop them, 2) he felt responsible, and 3) hoped that his presence would make a positive difference to Claudia.

The second is the other half of what Aaravos says to Terry, I think.

TERRY: I'll tell Claudia. AARAVOS: Oh, it will change nothing. She loves me. [...] And what of Claudia, then? She knows so much more than she tells you, and she keeps it that way to protect you.

Now, Terry rightfully understands that Claudia wasn't keep things from him to protect him; she did it to use him and to keep him from leaving ("I knew he'd leave once he found out"). However, Terry being willing to live in a half-truth and employ one on Claudia because he genuinely believes it will help her, because he thinks it's a truth he needs to withhold to protect her ("You have to promise me that no harm will come to Claudia" is most easily kept if she backs down)... that I can believe, especially since it lets him believe that she's capable of change/quitting. He wants to Save her, not use her.

That doesn't mean he thinks it won't Hurt.

[gaygentbrontosaurus]

what Haikyuu characters would be as roommates

(everyones in uni and an adult tho I am not living with any high school boys ever)

Hinata Shouyou

Nice, that being said doesn’t have any common sense or boundaries, doesn’t know where his stuff is, so he keeps using yours, LOUD and kinda smelly

Kageyama Tobio

Has no idea how to be a human or do ANY chores, can be trained to be a good roommate (takes time tho)

Tsukishima Kei

Could be the best roommate ever (quiet, clean) or the worst (passive aggressive), depending on who he rooms with, always asks before bringing people over, piss him off tho and he will throw a rager with Bokuto

Yamaguchi Tadashi

Probably one of the best on this list, cooks, cleans, always asks before bringing people over, husband material

Ennoshita Chikara

Also a strong choice, father in the making, can be kinda intimidating at first

Nishinoya Yuu

Hahahahaha just no

Tanaka Ryunosuke

Weirdly? A great roommate. Compassionate and understanding, respects your boundaries, ready to sweet talk you into parting with his friends, but rarely throws any parties at home

Sugawara Koushi

Seems like a good roommate but actually isn't one. He is really polite, but you think its all fake and he silently gets judgemental about the way you do chores. Also you feel like he knows all your secrets.

Azumane Asahi

Has no opinion or won’t voice any, so you will be always concerned if hes actually fine with the rules you set

Sawamura Daichi

Father - so great roommate, could fix a door or make dinner

Yahaba Shigeru

Hot take; hot but nasty, one of those pretty boys that wipe their hands into the couch after eating (looks are everything, living spaces? Def not), takeout boxes in the sink, kyoutani is always over and you can hear whatever they’re doing

Kyoutani Kentarou

Won't see him, always at yahabas, surprisingly clean and quiet at home

Iwaizumi Hajime

Good roommate, but you will probably never feel the need to talk? Like maybe 5 words per month and its about when the trash will be collected

imagine meeting oikawa one day when you know literally nothing about iwa

Oikawa Tooru

See yahaba, but more vocal and NEVER cleans the shower even tho his stuff takes up 80% of the shelves in the bathroom

Matsukawa Issei & Hanamaki Takahiro

Why have one bad roommate when you can have two?? They share a room, have the weirdest bed set up and sometimes sleep on one bed bcs you literally can’t get to the second one, but at least they’re fun

Terushima Yuuji

Always talks about hookups but actually has any and you know it cause you’re roommates, tolerably messy, just a guy

Aone Takenobu

Good roommate, clean and proper, but you are scared of starting conversations with him

Ushijima Wakatoshi

Has an Oikawa poster on the bathroom mirror and sometimes talks to him, so many plants in common spaces its starting to annoy you

Tendou Satori

Still pretends his hair is natural, even tho you are roommates and you know how long it takes him to style it. Acceptably messy, but everything is acceptable when he brings homemade sweets.

Shirabu Kenjirou

Uses a ruler to cut his hair so he is definitely insane. Lives like a man (no furniture, no bedsheets). Peaked in highschool - did you know he went to shiratorizawa?

Daisho Suguru

Surprisingly a very good roommate, everyone hates him tho and you don't know why.

Miya Atsumu

Just no. Straight man (derogatory)

Miya Osamu

Nice roomie, but Atsumu is always around which is not so nice. Still husband material.

Suna Rintarou

Bad roommate. Ok on most days, but impossible to argue with. When the dish soap runs out he will use hand soap bcs soap is soap right?

Haiba Lev

An adult that needs an adultier adult to live with. Cannot operate a dishwasher or a washing machine, good thing that his sister or yaku are over so often.

Kozume Kenma

Do you even have a roommate? The only time you see each other is at 2 am when you both want to shower.

Yamamoto Taketora

Like tanaka, but more awkward. At first tries a bit to hard to be your friend.

Kuroo Tetsurou

Good roommate, cleans, cooks, considerate of you but nosy af and will use the knowledge to pester you.

Yaku Morisuke

Mom material, seems like a good roommate, but will aggressively mother you.

Akaashi Keiji

An amazing roommate until he's not. When he’s mad or stressed he will make sure no one has a good time and you're sometimes afraid to leave the room when you know he has a deadline.

Bokuto Koutarou

Loud both awake and asleep (turns, snores, talks in his sleep). Tries VERY hard to be your best friend.

Sakusa Kiyoomi

You will go insane with his cleanliness standards.

Yachi Hitoka

Great roomie.

Shimizu Kiyoko

Good roommate but will always be better than you and give you gay panic.

Ukai Keishin

Heavy smoker so better get used to the cigarette smell.

Takeda Ittetsu

The only person on this list YOU can intimidate. Too busy to be home.

after discussing pros and cons of living with everyone we decided to do our top 3 and bottom 3 roommates

My friend that i did this with:

top:

3. Lev - seems fun and his sister can come over anytime ;)

2. Tanaka - I need someone to force me out of the house lmao

1. Iwa-chan - living with him would literally solve all my problems and i already own a pull up bar come to me iwa-chan

bottom:

3. Suna - literally my brother vibes and not sharing a wall with him drastically improved the quality of my life

2. Tsukki - if I was a haikyuu character I would be tsukki and I could never live with myself

1. Suga - i will not be judged on the way i vacuum the living room carpet he can keep his opinions to himself

Me:

top:

3. Takeda - i like things my way and he will do as i ask, also he is never home

2. Kuroo - he's H O T, even tho he pesters me hes still h o t while doing it

1. Ushijima - hes weird im weird i feel like we gonna vibe. bonus points that my plants will never die anymore

bottom:

3. Atsumu - loud, dirty, god complex

2. Hinata - he will use my favourite bowls and i will not have the courage to tell him to stop because it feels so minor but actually is not

1. Akaashi - just no, my mom actually acts like that and its stresses the fuck out of me, I’m not gonna live with my mom 2.0

what's your top/bottom three and why?

[shut-up-danny-kun]

I've read hundreds of Star Trek TOS fics by now and it never ceases to amuse me how many different ways there are to fuck up Spock's characterization...now hold on just a minute - this post has a more interesting point than “fanfic writers stupid”, I promise you.

Every time, it's a spin on the massacre wheel. It's kind of amazing. Will he be overly emotional to the point where he's not himself anymore? Will he be so cold it's unpleasant and kind of hard to understand how he's lived to this point? Will he be extremely horny for no good reason? Will he speak in a way that sounds complety wrong?

I chuckle and shake my head. Of course, I KNOW what Spock is like, and MY interpretation of him is the most perfect and correct one. Obviously. He's just a very nuanced character, formed by many people in an unconventional way, with traits that seem to contradict each other at first but ultimately form a rich and unique character that so many people fell in love with specifically because he's so complicated...

Or...is he?

Let's entertain the idea that there isn't one correct interpretation of Spock, that all of these messy bits of characterization are not part of a bigger picture, but...just what they are: a product of many people with starkly different visions, working on a show that refuses to properly develop its characters. What then? Well, then Spock is a Rorschach test. Each viewer connects the random dots in their own way, and ignores the ones they don't like.

Let's use an example: me! In my interpretation of Spock (the most correct one, of course) he is, first of all, gay and on the asexual spectrum, reserved, largely uninterested in casual flirting or sex. When he is interested in the aforementioned things, he tends to be quite ashamed of it.

Makes sense, right? I can show you plenty of evidence for why that could be true. However, in the beginning of the first bloody season, Uhura sings a song about how Spock is actually kind of a heartthrob who likes to drive women insane with how hot he is, and Spock smiles. He smiles at her, as if agreeing and being very amused by all this! This interaction goes against pretty much everything I think about Spock. So what do I do? I explain it away in the most bizzare fucking way possible. See, Uhura and Spock are friends (there is no evidence for this), and Uhura knows everything I've just told you about him (through telepathy I guess? Not like he'd ever tell her!) and she's just trolling him (why would she do that? That is NOTHING like Uhura!). I need to do some Olympics-level mental gymnastics here, the opposite of Occam's razor.

“But Danny,” I hear you say, “it's just the start of the show! They hadn't figured out his character yet!”

To which I say: you can say that about anything! You can blame it all on a bad writer for that episode, and ignore virtually any scene that doesn't jive with your headcanons. It's there, and I can't ignore it.

So...how am I different from the people that want Spock to be thar heartthrob Uhura is singing about? That evidence is as much a part of canon as my favorite lines. Well, I'm not any different, that's the thing. And all those writers I complained about also have a point.

It's kind of a nihilistic take, I know, but maybe the reason Spock is such a cultural icon is because he is...whatever you want him to be: just concrete enough to spur on your imagination, yet vague and contradictory enough to let your brain fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong: I absolutely do not believe in this. In my mind, it just so happens that I'm one of the, like, 5 people ever who truly understood Spock (and one of them is Jim Kirk himself). But I still think it's something worth thinking about next time you're mad at a fic.

[ngage2003]

The way a part of the slenderverse fandom seems so to opposed to anything less than healthy relationships between characters is crazy to me—I understand the anxiety when it comes to getting down in the germs about these guys but none of them are heathy.

In Marble Hornets specifically, even Jay and Tim, who are arguably the most so, have problems, and honestly probably wouldn't be really near each other if not for the circumstance. I mean we have seen how Tim reacted to Jay's behavior in season 3 (cough entry 59) and he only forgave him because of Brian's meddling and his own fear at the situation.

Tim isn't flawless though. Later in the series he also gave Jay his medication without his consent on a whim, and Jay- god don't even get me started. These two clearly care about each other to some extent, and I do ADORE their bond, but Jay routinely lied to Tim and DOXXED HIS MEDICAL RECORDS, all while complaining about the fact there wasn't more information.

Yes, he also ran after Tim when Masky fronted in Entry 61/62 out of concern and fear, and he also isn't a totally emotionless dickbag as he does try to be there for and comfort Tim in Entry 66 in his own stunted way, along with trying to help him in the tunnel in Entry 65 before Tim tells him to run and Jay gets too scared not too.

But you can't ignore the fact these character are messy and real because of that. Honestly, the compulsion to is bizarre to me.

Idk I have been worried to talk about my thoughts on character relationships (platonic or otherwise) because some people seem allergic to the idea of characters like Jay or Tim as anything less than perfect victims, or Alex being less than a monster, but I think exploring their moral complexities is fun! People aren't ever purely good or bad, and sometimes people can do good things for selfish reasons, or have bad thoughts without acting on them, and exploring that side of them is fun.

I don't know. Thabks for coming to my tedtalk