#and i know this is the case for some people as well that have entire worlds in their heads but can't get it out for some reason or the othe

[antianakin]

Absolutely hating the "have a child to remember him by/he never got to meet his kid" trope aside, I think the problem there is trying to make us more sad/feel the tragedy of Cassian dying in Rogue One, when as you've sad, it was already tragic. All of the Rogue One crew dies never knowing if anyone actually receives the plans, let alone manages to break away from the fight to get the plans back to the Alliance. Then actually manage to destroy it. They sacrificed everything for a slim hope. I thought that's where Andor, esp S2 would go with the theme, really following up on Luthen's "I burn my deceny (life) for a future I won't get to see". Especially with deaths like the heist crew, especially Nemik, or all the prisoners who fought back and escaped on a slim hope they'd make it to shore. With Andor going to the main rebellion in s2, I would have liked to see more of the every day rebels and all the things Cassian references having to do that he wasn't proud of, all to pass the torch.

(and this isn't as big a thing, but with how much Cassian hammered in he's had to do things he didn't like/were morally gray just to help the rebellion survive in Rogue One, I expected...more from s2 Andor, of the hard choices he had to make. Besides the young soldier he kills off screen for seeing too much and leaving the Ghormans, people he admitted were doomed to fail, he doesn't really do much that either wasn't necessary for self defense or attacking hostile imperial troops. I guess that's another big downside in jumping the years so much.)

Yeah, the baby feels like it just isn't necessary to get across ANY of the things it's meant to get across. We didn't need the baby for the story to feel like it had hope and people to remember it after Cassian dies. We didn't need the baby to make the story any more tragic, either, it's already plenty tragic on its own. And we didn't need the baby to know that Bix was happy or healing or had moved on, especially since at no point had we ever heard Bix talk about wanting a family or anything like that (the one thing she states that she wants more than anything else is to WIN). So instead of feeling like this really beautifully emotional moment, it just ends up feeling both redundant and blatantly manipulative, as if that baby on its own is meant to bring up those emotions regardless of whether it was adequately set up for this character (or Cassian's) or not.

You could've maybe emphasized the idea of someone who has to survive to remember them with someone like Kleya, who is already a survivor when she didn't want to be, or Mon Mothma who is the single character on this entire show that we know is guaranteed to see the Empire fall and so the burden of remembering EVERYONE HERE might actually end up on her shoulders. That this is her burden. Cassian isn't the only messenger here, she is too.

And yes, I think that there were some missed steps in Cassian's development this season. Unlike some fans, I don't feel like the Cassian we see in Andor is so wildly different from the Cassian in Rogue One that they may as well be two different characters. I think there's a LOT of obvious similarities between the characters, and the fact that Cassian had some different motivations in season 1 wasn't an issue because that is a very necessary thing to do in order to allow the character to GROW, especially when said character already has a pre-established end characterization that the story has to get to (you can see this happen in the Kenobi show as well where he's acting wildly out of character at the beginning in order to allow him space to grow into the wiser character we know from A New Hope; it's also not dissimilar to intentionally making Anakin in TPM be a sweet young boy and not a little antichrist devil child).

But once you've established where the character has started, you then have to make sure you get them BACK to the character everyone is expecting them to become. In Cassian's case, we need to emphasize his commitment to the rebellion and just how much he's been willing to do for this cause, but also his growing ability to see some of the cracks in the organization (or that he's always known the rebellion is flawed but it just doesn't matter because the cause is more important than those flaws).

And not only do we not really get to see all of the terrible things he is willing to do for the rebellion (he is said to have killed a young soldier but he justifies it with protecting BIX, not the cause; then he abandons the mission on Ghorman because he doesn't want to be a part of helping oppress them for the cause; then he goes to assassinate Dedra and doesn't actually manage to complete that task), but he's constantly refusing orders both from Luthen and the other rebel leaders later, which makes his decisions regarding Galen and Jyn have less weight. The whole thing with him choosing to disregard orders about killing Galen because he cares about Jyn and doesn't want to kill her father is that this is UNUSUAL for him, this is a major choice he is making because he CARES about what the consequences of killing someone might be. In this moment, he is choosing Jyn over the cause, and that's supposed to be really big for Cassian. The same is true with the gathering of the volunteers for the Scarif mission because he knows the rebellion isn't going to believe her, but he DOES, he trusts her, and he's willing to let her take the lead this time. This isn't development for his character if you establish that Cassian barely follows orders anyway.

So, yeah, we missed out on Cassian's building commitment to the cause and to the rebellion, on how much he's willing to sacrifice and give up in order to do what's necessary to take out the Empire, regardless of whether he likes the order or not.

And the baby thing fits into this, too! Because this would've been a PERFECT place to really set up how committed Cassian is to this rebellion. Instead of Cassian trying to convince Bix into leaving with him and then Bix "choosing the rebellion for both of them" and just leaving him behind to go have her baby by herself because Cassian has a destiny or whatever, switch those roles. Have Bix realize she's pregnant and that's what finally convinces her that she can stay anymore and she tries to convince Cassian to leave because she can see how much he hates the things he's being asked to do and how he keeps giving up more and more pieces of himself each time it happens and she tries to tell him that she's pregnant in order to convince him and you can SEE just how much it hurts him to hear that and know that he still has to say no.

Because this is the choice he's making, this is a choice he has arguably already made but it's a choice he has to keep making every day of his life now. And the baby makes it harder, but he still chooses the rebellion because he'll ALWAYS choose the rebellion, that's who he is now, it's who he's chosen to be. The person who would have left with Bix probably died on Narkina 5. The person he is now can't go with her. Either the Empire dies or he does now.

So when you see Bix and the baby at the end, it's not this "oh man it's so tragic because Cassian never even knew and now that baby is his legacy or his hope for the future personified despite him never even knowing it existed." It's "This is so tragic because THIS WAS HIS CHOICE TO MAKE, and he dies for the cause knowing that Bix and his child are out there somewhere and he has to hope that this is enough, that giving his life to get the plans off of Scarif will be enough to help bring about the end of the Empire and make them safe." It's not impossible to fit the pregnancy into a better character arc for both Cassian AND Bix, they just... didn't do that.

[rupnows]

Can you blame the parents? (In Samantha Rupnow's case, partially)

Here's a long post this Friday. After remembering that crossixir.com exists, I decided to pay it a little visit recently because I knew it hadn't been updated in quite a long time. When I opened it, I was greeted by this:

Which is really funny, because I sincerely doubt you can even slightly consider yourself a fan of this case without knowing that Jeff holds at least some of the responsibility for the incident. To cut the owner of the site some slack, we can assume that they meant the criminal complaint filed against him was what he was truly "innocent" in, but regardless of how much Sam wants to brag that she's this master manipulator that totally played him and got the gun through her own volition, she's an entirely unreliable narrator. I think developing a parasocial relationship with anyone involved in a case that you're currently researching is inevitable for anyone mentally ill enough to be involved in the TCC, and I don't necessarily think that's bad. What I can say is that it is necessary to learn how to take a step back and examine the incident from an outsider's perspective, instead of taking Sam's word as law. There's no reason to believe she genuinely tricked him into it, because that's just not in her character. What is in her character is exaggerating things for her manifesto. They also seem to say that the issue here is that Jeff didn't know about her plans, but that's meaningless in what the actual charge is: giving a dangerous weapon to a minor. Regardless of whatever he thought he was doing-- teaching her gun safety, bonding with her-- he's still complicit because that's a crime in any circumstance. We also know that the police visited the Rupnow home concerning her worrying online activity, and whilst we don't have the entire story, you can make the parallels to the Gray family yourself.

So, back to the topic and the title: can you blame the parents? I think that's an incredibly touchy subject when it comes to most crimes, because it isn't applicable a good amount of the time, and the perpetrators themselves argue against it. To get the argument of supposed hypocrisy out of the way, I should address my previous point about Sam being an unreliable narrator. What naysayers here will call out is that I'm basing my perception of Jeff and Melissa off of Sam's words, when I just stated that she couldn't be entirely trusted. However, the difference comes in the frequency and the circumstances of Sam speaking about her parents, as well as an actual witness seeing the substantially unusual scale of their arguments. As seen in the criminal complaint against Jeff, Sam had complained directly to a friend at Isthmus Montessori Academy that her father and her had a difficult relationship and that Jeff was a "drinker." This friend also stated to the MPD that he had seen an argument between Jeff and Sam where they were "in each other's faces." He also stated Sam informed him he was verbally aggressive. We know that Sam had a strained relationship with him based off Melissa's statements as well: as soon as she found out her daughter was the culprit, she became emotional and repeated that she was going to kill Jeff over and over again. So, I don't think we can necessarily absolve Jeff of blame. Let's hear some statements from the girl herself:

I’ve grown around people who do not care or give one single care in the world and smoke their lungs out with weed or drink as much as they can like my own father.

I’ve never really liked my father to be exact, because honestly why should I, our hate is mutual to each other, he will never see me as his daughter. He will never love me like he loved his ex or her kids or even alcohol but that doesn’t matter, it doesn't matter anymore because nobody heard me out and just made fun of me my entire life and I’m sick of it.

My so-called family never included me because I was too weird for them, my father never treated me with respect. My father will always make me stand out in the worst possible way yet, bring up how I fail school or can’t get out of bed simply because I don’t want to leave. He makes me look like a freak to his family and friends, he says so much but look at his bad side.

This doesn't exactly paint a good picture of Jeff, especially considering the evidence we've heard before. I believe wholeheartedly that Jeff's actions (and inaction) contributed to Sam's mindset preceding and during the shooting. Now, does this mean all of the blame is Jeff's? No, I think various other factors can be brought up: Melissa and her parent's general relationship issues, online grooming, school harassment, a lack of a support system, etc. But I see little reason to ever argue that Jeff deserves no blame or responsibility for what happened, and I especially reject the notion he's innocent in any capacity, considering his overly flippant attitude towards his own daughter's death. (If you haven't read his statement, he literally only tells people to lock up their guns, rather than address anything like mental health.)

But what about Melissa? Well, with her, I think it's a lot less open-and-shut. We don't have nearly as much evidence to label her as a bad person or state that she deserves some of the responsibility for what happened at Abundant Life, it's mostly statements from Sam and a more general view of her disliking her PARENTS, not necessarily Melissa. Regardless, I'll try and create a profile of her. To me, it seems like Melissa was absent in Sam's life, something that I wouldn't really say was her own fault. Jeff and Melissa's relationship was incredibly turbulent, and they divorced and remarried several times, this affecting Sam's mental state so much that her therapist gave her a diagnosis (or at least a recommendation) of PTSD. Sam had this to say about Melissa and her parents in general:

Once in awhile I get that same feeling just I know how to control it, that one night I begged for my mother to help me but she was in the next room to me in her apartment where she was with her boyfriend, awake cause all I heard was her walking right past me, and my room.

I was the wrong child of the family, my parents admit they didn't want me, nor never did even if i've grown. I’m always the one who sat out or sat in another room because they didn't want to interact with me at any point in time, then I stayed in my room all day during the day and night and after and before school as well. My mother tried overdosing when I was around 12 or something, I don’t care if she would have survived or died from it but yet she was still here, doesn’t mean she actually was in my life.

I see my parents as failures for everything they’ve done to me and just kinda fucking with my life. There never was helpful advice given to me, it was all bullshit, the world itself is bullshit to be fair though so why should I or you see so much in it.

I think the overall sentiment is that Melissa wasn't complicit, but I think her and Jeff marrying and remarrying and putting Sam through all the moving and custody battles at least contributed a bit. I don't exactly feel comfortable enough with my conclusion to directly state she deserves BLAME, but I will say that at least a little bit of accountability is necessary in this instance. However, Melissa is remorseful in contrast to her psychopathic ex-husband, and seemed disgusted and angry with him when she found out what had happened. That alone gives her a lot of leeway when it comes to blame. Still, Melissa stated that she had eavesdropped on Sam's conversations with her online friends and heard her daughter complain about her, but still didn't seem to change her behavior or try and patch up their relationship. That's where the partially comes from in the title.

I don't know how to conclude this. I'll probably write something over the weekend about the overall spread of blame/responsibility across various aspects of her life.

YES I KNOW ITS LONG I SAID THAT AT TWHE BEGINJIJNG

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Some people actually believe that Chat Noir and Adrien the model are both masks that Adrien is putting on, and that he doesn't know who he really is. Do you see any reason to believe that?

That's a complicated question because what does it mean to know who you are? Most people are constantly growing, changing, and learning new things about themselves, leading to better self awareness. How much self awareness do you need to have before you can say that you know who you are? I don't know if there's even an answer to that question!

Similarly, what does it mean to call Adrien and Chat Noir "masks"? Is this saying that everything Adrien does is a lie? A general observation that Adrien is a people pleaser who tries to be what he thinks people want him to be? A statement that Adrien is still finding his place in the world? Not sure I agree with the first two arguments and the last argument feels like a given for most characters in the show. They are all teenagers, after all. That's a prime age for self discovery and a good message for kids, making this one of the rare areas where it makes sense to embrace the character's age in a realistic fashion!

Further complicating this question is the fact that Adrien has some truly terrible writing. His character is a vibes-based enigma with almost nothing of substance to go on. It's a big part of why he's popular! He's incredibly easy to project onto without blatantly contradicting canon, making it easy to create all kinds of fan content that feels reasonably in character to other fans.

To show you what I mean, let's look at one aspect of Adrien's character and discuss the subtle ways that it makes no freaking sense. Note that this isn't meant to be an argument on how to write Adrien the "right" way. There really isn't a "right" way to write him because canon is swimming in contradictions. This also isn't meant to be me dunking on his character. I think he could have been great! This is a discussion on character design and how Adrien was failed pretty hard. He's the character equivalent of the season four plot. A recent ask accurately described the way fans approach that plot: people pick which narrative they think the show was showing based on who their favorite character is.

The same is true for Adrien. Fans pick the version they think the show was showing based on the traits and backstory elements they like the most as the following will hopefully prove.

Is Adrien repressed to the point where he's basically a blank slate?

Throughout the series, we're told that Adrien was homeschooled for his entire life. Prior to canon, he never had friends. Never went to concerts. Never did much of anything, really. At times, this makes his character feel like he was born yesterday because how can someone reach 14 with so little life experience?

The episode Wishmaker is built around this characterization of Adrien. In that episode we learn that Adrien can't remember having any sort of childhood dream or obsession. He doesn't even offer something nuanced like "well, I loved pirates, but I don't think I ever wanted to be one." As far as he concerned, he never had any dreams at all.

When he's hit by the episode's akuma, we flash back to when he was a literal infant and learn that Adrien's childhood dream was being whatever his parents wanted him to be:

Adrien: When I was a kid, I always wanted to be what my parents wanted me to be!

Wishmaker is also the episode where we learn that Adrien still has no hopes or dreams:

Adrien: My father arranges it all for me, but when I think about what I really actually wanna do, nothing! My mind is empty!

Viewers who look for logical writing probably expected this to lead into an arc where Adrien figured out what he wants to be. That is not the case. Confrontation - which takes place a whole season later - sees all of the teen characters declare what they want to be when they grow up. Adrien is the only one who has nothing to offer, leading him to write this as his official statement about what he wants to pursue in lycée (rough equivalent to American high school):

I've been thinking a lot, and still not know what I would like to do later in life. The only thing I know for sure is that I love Marinette Dupain-Cheng. But I guess that doesn't really help you. I'm sorry. Adrien Agreste.

Put this story line together and you get a picture of a character who has never been allowed to express himself. Someone whose life has been incredibly controlled to the point where he has no idea who he is on his own. A blank slate of a person. There's just one problem with that read: a blank slate could never create Chat Noir.

In Origins, Adrien was handed a magic ring and told that he was a superhero now. His immediate reaction to that information was to run off into danger, not even waiting until he learned how his new powers worked:

Plagg: Claws out! That's how you transform. Adrien: Got it. Plagg, claws out! Plagg: No, wait! I haven't finished explaining!

And when he meets his new partner, he's immediately comfortable talking to her, ready to have fun and joke around:

Cat Noir: Well, hey there. Nice of you to drop in. Ladybug: Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't do it on purpose. Cat Noir: I bet you're the partner my kwami told me about. I'm... Cat Noir. Yeah, Cat Noir. And you? Ladybug: I'm Ma... err... Mar... uhh... (pulls the yo-yo and it hits Cat Noir's head) Madly Clumsy. I'm so clumsy. Cat Noir: No sweat, clumsy girl. I'm learning the ropes too.

All of this goes against the blank slate message we were given in via Adrien's backstory and episodes like Wishmaker and Confrontation.

People aren't born knowing how to crack jokes and flirt. Those are skills that you pick up by engaging with media that has that content and/or by engaging with other people who exhibit those behaviors. People also aren't born knowing how to interact with others. That's yet another skill that you learn though experience and it's worth noting that it's not a single skill. Casually interacting with people your own age is a very different skill from interacting with your parents' friends or with your coworkers.

In other words, Chat Noir is clearly not be the product of someone who was locked away from society, forced to live a life devoid of joy and self expression. He's too polished for that. If you're going to take your repressed character and have this be their instant reaction to the prompt "hero," then they can still be repressed, but they won't be repressed to the point of being a blank slate. The pieces simply don't fit together unless you add in something like the repressed character being an actor in a show about superheroes.

With the backstory we're given, it would make infinitely more sense for Adrien to start out as Catwalker and become Chat Noir as the series went on, but that's not what canon did. Adrien starts as his most extreme, fun-loving self which means that he had a self to express!

These facts beg some obvious questions: if Adrien was so repressed that he can't even think of a thing he pretended to be when he was a child, then where did Chat Noir come from? At what point in his life did he learn how to have fun and pun? Why does he think that his over-the-top flirting style would work? Where did he even learn it? How did Adrien learn how to interact with people his own age? Your guess is as good as mine.

Some More Contradictions

The above is just one example of what I mean when I call Adrien a "vibes-based enigma." The facts of his character don't add up to a real person, so people just kind of go with the vibes they get from him and write his character based on those.

Here's another example: it's pretty popular for people to say that Chat Noir is Adrien embracing freedom, a take that makes perfect sense given his backstory and the way he's played in Origins. However, it's hard to call this canon. Outside of Origins, there's not much in canon to back up this read. Adrien never talks about Chat Noir giving him freedom and there are even multiple episodes that arguably go against that read.

Kuro Neko and Kwami's Choice both see Adrien give up his ring for reasons that have nothing to do with how fit he is to be a hero. On both occasions, he doesn't weigh the pros and the cons of this choice or even regret the choice after it happens. That's a pretty strong mark against the freedom read. If giving up Chat Noir is giving up his freedom, then giving up the ring should be a much bigger deal. We also don't see him using the ring to sneak out outside of akuma attacks and other hero responsibilities. I think Glaciator may be the only time that Adrien used the ring for personal reasons. So does Adrien value freedom and if so, how much? No clue. It's the audience's choice.

What about Adrien and Chloe? How close were they as children? No clue. Audience's choice.

How much did Emilie and Gabriel use the rings when Adrien was growing up? Are there any senticommands still controlling him to this day? No clue. Audience's choice.

Does Adrien enjoy any of his extra curriculars? He seems to like fencing and playing the piano, but is that just him making the best of a bad situation? And did he get to pick any of these activates or where they all forced on him? No clue. Audience's choice.

How did Adrien manage to grow up without any friends while being an avid fencer and also apparently playing basketball? Two sports that usually involve teams! No clue. Audience's choice.

How did Adrien get involved with modeling? Whose idea was it and where did the idea come from? Did he ever enjoy it? How old was he when the modeling started? No clue. Audience's choice.

Where did Adrien learn to pun? He says that his father has no sense of humor, so it clearly wasn't from Gabriel. Did Emilie like puns? No clue. Audience's choice.

Why did the Agrestes keep Adrien locked away? Why was Chloe allowed to be around him? How often was she allowed around? Was he allowed other friends? If no, then why not? If yes, then who? What lead Gabriel to suddenly change the rules and let Adrien have some freedom? No clue. Audience's choice.

What about Adrien and Felix? Were they ever close or was Felix always cruel? Adrien doesn't seem to view Felix as a bully, but we never see Felix be nice to Adrien so I have no clue. Audience's choice.

Why does Adrien act so different as Chat Noir vs Adrien? No clue. Audience's choice. You can probably come up with something more coherent than the kind of bs things the writers say about this one.

I could go on but you hopefully get the picture. Or more actually, the lack of a picture.

As a quick side note: it's perfectly normal to not give the fine details of a character's backstory, but that's because most characters have uninteresting backstories that don't need elaboration to make sense. For example, learning that Marinette wanted to be the knitting fairy when she grew up doesn't raise any questions about her childhood. It's just a cute fun fact. Learning that Adrien had no childhood dreams? That raises all kinds of questions that genuinely matter to the story and his character, but we're never getting those questions answered. The more the story goes on and the more hints we get, the less Adrien's character makes sense especially once you add in the sentibullshit.

Final Thoughts

There's no way to put the puzzles pieces of Adrien together and get a solid character which means there's a wide range of valid approaches to Adrien's character. On top of that, canon has not done a lot to develop the finer details of his backstory so there's a lot of room for interpretation there, too. As I said above, that's one of the reasons why he's so popular. He's very easy for people to project onto without blatantly going against canon. Stick to the very basic facts of canon, keep him in his core roles, and your Adrien will probably work for most fans even if he's wildly different than someone else's version.

I can give you my thoughts on what to do with Adrien, but much like my approach to Nino, it's more about shaping Adrien into a character who fits the story and his core roles than it is about making canon Adrien work because canon Adrien doesn't even work in canon! My lore bible has pages of notes on Adrien because canon gave me so little to work with and it's so important to get his character right! Before I move on, I'll note that Adrien is a stronger character than Nino, but not by much. Cardboard is stronger than tissue paper but you're not making houses out of either of those!

In case anyone was curious, I cannot say the same for Marinette and Alya. While they've also been hit by the inconstant characterization bat, their roles in the story and the handful of things that are consistent about them make them strong characters. Or, at least, strong in the world of Miraculous. I wouldn't call them strong in most shows, but in this one they're about as good as we're ever going to get. At the very least, they doing better than characters like Nathalie, Nino, Lila, and Adrien!

As a quick pass to show what I mean so you can contrast this with Adrien: Marinette is creative, a natural leader, and quick to overthink. Alya is inquisitive, likes to put together stories, and has almost no self preservation instincts when it comes to getting a good story. While Adrien has some consistent traits like him being a loveable goofball, his traits are way more generic than the girls' traits. He's especially weak when compared to Marinette which is frankly an insult to both of them since they are supposed to be a couple and you generally want strong characters for the main couple of a long running show. Side characters can afford to be less developed because they don't matter that much. You develop the character to the level needed for their role and Adrien is so underdeveloped that he's basically raw dough. Enough substance that you have a general idea of what he's supposed to be, but nowhere near ready for consumption, thus so many final forms feeling valid to fans.

[astroyongie]

https://www.tumblr.com/astroyongie/782909605040816128/hi-this-is-my-first-time-requesting-somewhere-so?source=share

Please do for skz too

How Would Stray Kids React To Seeing Their EX Out With Someone Else

-> Astrology based

Bangchan

Oh well it seems like Bangchan is the type that will observe from across the room where you and your new partner are, with a soul-piercing gaze. yet you can't read him, he seems calm and unreadable.

Does not react visibly mostly because he doesn't want you to have the wrong story about him. But the temperature in the room just dropped 10 degrees.

Birth chart based, Chan believes he still has some kinda of psychic ownership over you and it's something he would struggle with a lot. thinks stuff like “That’s mine. Even if it’s not mine anymore.”

Will remember your new partner’s face forever, for strategic reasons. because you never know when he will have to run over someone with his car

Chan possibly walks by, looking hot and untouchable, just to haunt at you as he truly wants to show that he doesn't care.

Minho

I believe that Minho would have a hard time with it and he might react strongly. like, immediate internal explosion: jealousy, betrayal, rage, desire all at once.

the moment he sees you with that new person, he will feel physically ill but pretends not to notice since he doesn't want you to know that he is affected by your presence.

Can’t stop watching. his birth chart also shows that he might stalk your new partner online later for extra info or ask “who the fuck is that?” to your friends or his own

Will spiral into 3 AM obsessive thoughts and possibly ritualistic revenge plotting because well, Minho is just like that really

"No one touches what's mine and gets away with it." that's definitely his energy and thoughts about the whole situation

Changbin

Changbin's first reaction would be: scrutinizes your new partner’s outfit, posture, and job stability. anything he can to show superiority.

I believe that pain would hit in slow, subtle waves. he won’t make a scene, but will judge hard as he sees you laughing with this new partner of yours

Lowkey, i think changbin would think something like, “Do they even floss? I gave them structure, and now this?” like he can be extremely judgy

More bitter than jealous. Might fixate on flaws as self-protection and also to help him feel a little better about the fact that you have moved on.

based on his chart, he is the type that could go home and deep-clean the entire house while overthinking everything or most precisely on his case, going to the gym and sweat a bunch.

Hyunjin

well with Hyunjin.. the moment he sees you with your new partner. it would feel to him like a ghost just walked through him.

based on his chart, he may pretend to be fine, even sweet to you an them, smiling and introducing himself — but internally he is drowning in nostalgia.

"Were you ever real with me?" — cue inner violin solo. No but he would truly feel like his world is just over since you have moved on

Jealousy hits in a tragic, poetic way. Probably writes a vague caption later., writes some lyrics for his musics or even paints to express his emotions

Hyunjin might even dream about you that night and confuse it with reality, or think it means you still want him

Han

Well the moment he sees you with someone, it becomes obvious. Han is painfully aware of how the situation looks to others, but he would try to keep calm and a graceful composure.

Internally, he is hurt but immediately goes into charm mode to outshine your new partner. He wants people to see that you have lost him and not the other way around

Might flirt with someone nearby just to see if you notice. it's also just enough to see if you would get jealous.

Han probably thinks something along the lines of “They downgraded, and that’s embarrassing for me.”, because again his ego would hurt

based on his chart, Han would try to process feelings later over wine, friends, and curated playlists.

Felix

The moment Felix sees you with someone else, you can bet that he will smile automatically and waves even. he wants to avoid awkwardness at all costs.

Doesn’t show jealousy about you or your partner but he feels it intensely under the surface- yet he would try not to show it too much

based on his chart, after the encounter he spiral, and ask himself stuff like “Did I do something wrong? Was I not enough?”

Possibly compares himself as someone who is unfavorably to the new partner in your life. to him you deserve better and he hopes you will be able to realize it

for sure, Felix would text three friends of yours to ask if you are doing okay and also to have info about your relationship

Seungmin

the moment he sees you with a new someone, segueing would be laughing too loudly, flips his hair, but he does not ignore you, his little evil side showing.

based on his chart. Seungmin would passive-aggressively flirt with someone hotter while keeping you in his peripheral vision to see if you were looking.

Lowkey hopes the your new partner trips or spills something and makes themselves a fool so he can judge it later.

but honestly things are easy with him: Jealousy turns to pettiness, which turns to self-doubt, which turns to online stalking.

he might post a fire selfie captioned “unbothered 💅” on his social media to send you hints but then he would cry 10 minutes later in his bedroom

Jeongin

I think that jeongin would be visibly triggered by your presence with someone else, and he would be instantly hot in jealousy, and even comment out loud something like “Oh? Already??”

but I believe he would react with boldness to the situation, with either flirting with you, confronting your new partner, or makes a dramatic exit.

he wants to win the breakup on sight. “I’ll find someone hotter. Tonight.” he would whisper to your discretely, as if he was trying to get you back

based on his chart, he might act fine, but his body language gives it away. jeongin has fiery eyes and sharp movements shows his jealousy

Could actually hook up with someone just to outdo you and your partner.

[mysecretlittlelibrary]

Hello can I request nightcrawler X2 x reader who’s also a mutant and new to the whole good guy thing after being left by magneto please! (also can you include admiring Kurt’s angelic symbols and getting him flustered and soft romance😽)

~Just How Fast Life Changes~

Pairing: Kurt Wagner x Reader

Word Count: 4.5k

Warnings: None, I mean not really, I mention the end of X-2 but nothing bad.

Genre: fluff so much fluff- minor angst

Summary: You were so sure Magneto was always looking out for you it's almost devastating when he leaves you stranded, in an incoming flood. Luckily Charles always has a plan and a desire to help.

***

"Magneto!" You dash out of the underground base, having narrowly avoided those pesky X-men. Magneto and Mystique are in a helicopter that's barely off the ground. There's someone else with them but you don't recognize the kid. Mystique seems to see you long before Magneto does, but she doesn't drop the copter for you, in fact she looks directly at you as she takes the thing higher and higher into the air, leaving you stranded.

You're- shocked? You know Mystique never liked you much but she's never outrightly screwed you and this is screwing you in the most extreme sense. The dam is breaking and you're sure it's only a matter of moments before you find yourself face to face with the exact people you just avoided trying to escape in the first fucking place.

"God fuck her." You sigh to yourself. You should've got rid of her as soon as Magneto called you. You don't have time to dwell on it, you need a way out of here and fast. It's hard to hear but there's a faint crunching of snow behind you and you spin around in time to see the entire group of mutant brats coming directly your way. Shit.

"What'd you do with the fucking helicopter?!" One of them growls at you. The one with the claws. He's holding a child, otherwise you'd expect him to lunge at you.

"Nothing you asshole! Magneto took it."

"Aren't you on his side?" The redhead frowns.

"Well somebody didn't get that memo." You scoff. You don't know whether to feel angry or embarrassed. Here are your enemies looking at you with confusion because the people you came with left you to die.

"Are you out of your mind?!" The one with the weird glasses snaps his head to Charles. He's the only one whose name you know, since Magneto talked of him often. He must have said something, but you're not sure what would warrant that response.

"Scott-" the woman with white hair seems to be attempting to calm weird glasses- Scott she said? Calm him down.

"No fucking way she just tried to kill us!" He shouts back. Ah, so you're the topic of discussion that has him so up in arms.

Before anyone can make their case in opposition, a giant aircraft comes careening into the open snow behind you and you stumble out of the way towards the group to avoid being crushed by it. A ramp comes down at the back of the aircraft and you watch them pile into it- except the man with the claws. He takes the child he's holding into the woods first and you're not sure why because he returns shortly after to join the others.

"Hello." A voice says next to you and you jump back in surprise.

"Shit, you scared me." You say. It's another member of their weird little team. This one is blue, like Mystique, though it would appear he teleports, not like Mystique.

"They are arguing over whether or not we should take you with us." He says, you can't pinpoint his accent but you like the way some of his words have a z sound.

"Why are you telling me this?" You look at him skeptically.

"Because from what I have gathered the bald man has the last word and he says we take you which means we most likely will in which case the arguing is a waste of time that we do not have."

"I still don't get why you came to talk to me about this."

"Are you going to come with us?" He stares at you intently.

"Doesn't really seem like it's up to me."

"They can argue all they want but it means nothing if you will not board the craft, in which case I can tell them to leave. So are you going to come with us?"

"If I don't come I drown." You say.

"Do you want to drown?" He asks which- seems like an odd question but he asks it with a surprising amount of sincerity in both his voice and eyes.

"No."

"Then I will take you aboard. Make things quicker so we don't all die here." He says.

"The man with the weird glasses seems rather adamantly opposed to my being there." You say.

"Then that is a problem for the man with the weird glasses to solve for himself." He shrugs. "I will wrap my arms around you to teleport us back into the aircraft."

"Okay." You say. You have to remind yourself that this is your best chance of survival, whether you trust these people or not. The blue man slowly wraps his arms around you just as he said, he's careful and mindful of where he touches you, so are you. Suddenly you're in the aircraft with at least a dozen eyes on you.

"What the fuck, you brought her on board?!" Weird glasses goes again.

"We do not exactly have time to sit here arguing about it for 30 minutes."

"It won't matter who's on board if I can't get this damn thing to start!" The woman with the white hair is up at the front frantically pushing buttons and switching toggles on the aggressively complicated looking panel. Her statement gets weird glasses up to the front with her, trying to help you guess.

"Y/n." You hear quietly and snap your head, wondering who here could possibly know your name. Based on the amount of frenzied conversation as they all try to fix the thing before the dam bursts the only person not occupied enough to have called your name would be- Charles. You shuffle over to him, cautious, but curious as to why he called you.

"I am sorry for the chaos, and what has happened to you."

"I don't need your pity."

"It is not pity dear, it is empathy. Magneto and I were once close too. I understand the... shock of his betrayal when it comes."

"We don't need to have a heart-to-heart about anything okay I'm not sticking around." You tell him.

"Jean." He mutters, someone's name, it gets the attention of the others and you back away from him to avoid whatever is going on.

"Wait where's Jean?" The one with the claws asks.

"She's outside." Charles responds. That seems to get everyone into a frenzy. Weird glasses is yelling at the woman with white hair, she's desperately trying to do something, anything, but is unable to- you finally realize who is missing in the sea of unfamiliar nameless faces. The redhead.

Amongst the frenetic yelling you're able to pick up only a few things. She's controlling the ship, preventing them from saving her, she plans to sacrifice herself to get her friends out of here. It's chaos, they're all screaming over each other you can't even tell what anyone's saying, then the jet lifts, you can hear the rush of water just outside and next thing you know the man with the glasses is crying in the arms of the man with the claws, the woman with white hair is focused on flying but you don't even need to read her mind to see that she's also grieving. Even the kids all seem solemn. 

You're a bit shocked to witness this. They must really care about the red head and perhaps each other overall? It's interesting, as an outsider looking in and trying to understand their dynamics.

It takes a few hours to return to- wherever you are, from Alkali Lake. You do a quick scan of everyone's thoughts to get your bearings. The first thing you get is relief, but past that some information. New York. A mansion. They live here. So do the kids. The guy with the claws is first off the jet but he returns quickly, with a wheelchair. Must be for Charles. The other adults fuss over him as they transfer him from the jet to his chair. The kids shuffle out slowly and you climb out after everyone else. Everyone's just standing around for a moment, recalibrating themselves, settling their nerves you suppose.

"Y/n." Charles calls and your eyes widen, he's not even facing you. You walk over to him. "Come with me, I'd like to talk with you for a while." He says and the guy with the glasses starts to follow you. "Alone, Scott." Charles stops to toss over his shoulder.

"Professor, I really do not think that's a good idea." He says.

"I think I can handle this one son."

"Scott! Can I get your help over here?" The woman with white hair calls to him and he reluctantly walks to her and mutters something. Your curiosity gets the best of you, you slip into the mind of the blue one to hear the conversation as you follow Charles.

"I wish Jean was here-"

"She's not." The man with the claws says.

"But if she was she could at least listen and I'd feel much better about leaving the professor with-"

"Yeah well she's gone. And we're not going to waste time pondering the what ifs because it'd be disrespectful to her sacrifice. Now I need you to get it together, the kids are scared, they need us, and I can't do my job if I have to worry about whether or not you can do yours." The woman with white hair grits out quietly to weird glasses. She must be trying to avoid the kids hearing her. You're impressed, she's hurting but she refuses to let it slow her down.

"Wow she's tough." You mutter.

"You're snooping." Charles says with an almost imperceptible smile. You clear your throat and straighten yourself.

"Force of habit." You say sheepishly.

"I find that people respond better when you get to know them organically rather than through telepathy."

"Right."

"Then they usually let you rifle through their minds freely." He jokes, flashing a bright smile your way. You chuckle a bit.

"Ya don't say." You muse and he nods sagely. Charles pushes open a door to reveal what's clearly some sort of office.

"This is my office." He says.

"I gathered." You nod.

"I thought it'd be better to have a conversation here so you don't have to worry about the others."

"Okay."

"What's your plan?" He asks and you shrug.

"I don't have a plan. Or rather, Magneto was my plan. I didn't think I'd need a backup." You say.

"Well we did just lose a telepath." He hums.

"That can't possibly be how things work around here. The dude with the weird glasses was crying with the claws guy over the red head, you don't just replace people in that kind of environment."

"No you're right, I'm not suggesting you replace her. That would be unfair. To everyone actually. I am simply suggesting that you consider joining the team."

"I don't know if that's a great idea." You shake your head.

"I don't see why not."

"I can think of one major reason. The guy with the weird glasses does not like me at all."

"He'll get over it. Scott's stubborn but he's a good guy and if you manage to get it, his loyalty will never waver."

"They'll be looking over their shoulder for as long as I'm around. They'd probably never believe that I'm not going to run back to Magneto with anything I learn here."

"Will you?"

"Even if I walk out this door and don't ever come back here, Magneto will never see me again. Not for anything good anyway. But that doesn't change the fact that the guy with the glasses doesn't trust me."

"He can, in time. After all trust is earned but I have faith in your ability to gain it, if you so desire and you put in the effort to do so. You can start by learning names. 'The guy with the weird glasses' is Scott. The one with the claws is Logan, the woman still with us is Storm, the red head was Jean Grey."

"I'm sorry for your loss." You say.

"I'm sorry for yours as well." He says and you're unsure how to react to that. Your situation with Magneto is a loss of some sort. He may not be dead but he might as well be, he's dead to you anyway. "My name is Charles."

"I know."

"Of course you do." He chuckles.

"Not from snooping. Magneto spoke of you."

"He spoke of you as well. Fondly."

"Weird." You say and Charles smiles slightly, almost sardonically.

"My last name is Xavier, you'll hear a lot of people refer to me as Professor or Professor X. This is publically known as Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, we colloquially refer to it as the mansion or x mansion here but we keep the fact that it's a mutant school generally a secret from any nonmutants." He continues his explanation.

"What about the teleporter?" You ask the question before you can even stop yourself. He's given you everyone else's name but not the teleporter.

"Ah, Kurt. Kurt Wagner. He's new here. Much like yourself, hopefully."

"You- really think I should join your- what is this even?"

"We're a team, and a group of educators, and a family- and things are probably going to be rough for a little while following this incident, but I think the others would benefit from you being here as much as you would. Besides, I feel you could be good for some of our students."

"Look I don't have another plan, so I'll give the gifted school thing a shot. I'm not promising to stick around, I don't wanna spend the rest of my life arguing with weir- Scott." You correct yourself. If you're going to live here Charles is right, you should probably use names.

"Do you even agree with Magneto's plan?"

"I agree with Magneto's grievence. Why should we be punished for our very existence? None of us asked to be this way."

"But you don't think humans deserve to die." It's not a question, it's a statement.

"Fear can be fed, which means it can also be starved. I want to believe things can be better without killing all humans but I won't sacrifice myself in the name of keeping peace with those that seek to wipe me out." You say. Charles nods almost solemnly.

"Welcome to the X-men." He says after a moment.

"You call yourselves the X-men?" You ask and even you can recognize that you sound a bit judgy.

"It sounds more conceted than it is. It's not because of me, it's because mutants have extraodinary power." He explains.

"Right. Are we done then?"

"For now" He nods.

"Cool." You exit his office, unsure how to feel about that whole conversation. You're gonna live here now, teach students, fight bad guys probably. So many weird turns today. You're barely two steps from the door when you hear a voice next to you.

"Hello."

"Fuck! Do you do that a lot?" You look at Kurt incredulously.

"No. It's just that you were in there a long time. I got curious."

"Were you eavesdropping?"

"Never! I was just waiting for you to come out." He says.

"Why?" You tilt your head.

"The man with the weird glasses has been not kind to you, I thought he might drive you away."

"Well if that's his plan he'll have to try much harder. Charles has asked me to stay."

"Will you?" Kurt asks.

"For now." You nod.

"For now? You plan to leave?" His brow furrows.

"Only if it does more harm than good." You shrug and keep walking. You're gonna try and find the kitchen, get some water, maybe start talking to people start getting an idea of what this next chapter will be like.

"I do not believe that is possible." Kurt says keeping pace with you.

"I think it depends on how Scott reacts to my staying here." You muse.

"What?" You hear from behind you. You and Kurt spin around to find Scott coming from around a corner.

"Hm that's probably not how Charles wanted that news broken." You muse. "Charles asked me to stay. Join the X-men, teach some gifted youngsters and all that."

"What the fuck?"

"Hey man take it up with him." You shrug.

"Oh I will." Scott shoves between you and Kurt, presumably to find Charles.

"Before you go Scott which way's the kitchen?" You call after him. Scott stops in his tracks then very angrily points in a direction.

"Thanks!" You say pivoting to that direction. In the kitchen, you track down a bottle of water while Kurt looks at you with a curious expression.

"What is your name?" He asks. He must have only just realized he didn't know it.

"Y/n." You tell him.

"Y/n. Beautiful. My name is Kurt Wagner." He smiles.

"I know." You smile back.

"You know?" He blinks at you with surprise.

"Charles told me. He was giving me everyone else's name and so I asked him yours. I hope that's okay."

"I-"

"Either of you seen Storm?"

You turn around to see Logan poking his head into the kitchen.

"No." Kurt shakes his head.

"Weren't you with the professor?" He asks you.

"I was, now I'm here."

"You stickin around then?"

"For the forseeable future probably. Charles asked me to join the X-men."

"That would explain why Scott's in there throwing a fit right now then."

"You can hear him?"

"Oh yeah."

"Are you also angry that I'm staying?"

"Makes no difference to me as long as you don't hurt the people I care about."

"I'm not going to hurt anyone."

"Then you and me are gonna be just fine."

"Okay." You say keeping your face neutral, but you're incredibly relieved to hear that he's not going to give you any grief. You're not sure you'd be willing to stick around if you had  to deal with it from more than just Scott at the same time.

The next several months are not the easiest. With everyone trying to reestablish normal within the mansion after the whole debacle it's sort of difficult to find your own footing in that environment but you think you're starting to get the hang of it, at least you hope so after almost eight months socially anyway. Honestly the teaching part hasn't been that bad, you've only got 2 classes, they used to Jean's students apparently and while most of them got split amongst the others Charles thouught two was perfectly manageable for you, which it has. I mean the kids are cool and with help you think you've been doing a pretty decent job.

Charles has pretty regular meetings with you, checking in, keeping track of your adjusting to living here. It's a little odd but you appreciate that he seems to care about your quality of life.

Regarding the others, Storm has been the most open. She offers help, and asks how you are, extending more kindness than you expected. You're sure it's not easy for her since you're arrival coincides with the death of her friend but she's been very cool and you've been getting closer to her as of late which is nice.

Scott has been- pretty much as you expected. He's no longer openly protesting that you're here but he definitely gives you shit. It's annoying but you're no baby dear so you make sure to give it right back. It's tricky though, you know he's still grieving, from what Storm tells you Jean might as well have been his wife. It must be incredibly hard dealing with that kind of loss. Doesn't give him the right to treat you like garbage though. When the others conclude that he's more emoitonally stable you'll demand an apology for his bullshit but until then you'll just- gently push when you can.

From what you can tell Logan is not a people person. He's great with the students but he clearly prefers to be alone. He's polite to you, and you can tell he's trying really hard to be kind, probably to make up for Scott's lack of it. He chats with you occasionally and offers a helping hand every so often. You really appreciate the effort he's putting in to being friendly.

And then there's Kurt. Charles jokes that you're basically a packaged deal now. He's not too far off, you spend a lot of time together, sharing meals, spending your free time together, trading stories about yourselves. He has really been your saving grace here. There's such a comforting warmth you feel when you're around him and even though you're the telepath sometimes you swear he can read your mind, guessing what you need before even you know on occassion.

"Hello." Kurt pops up on the other side of the counter from you as you as you're making lunch in the kitchen. It no longer catches you off guard when he does it.

"Hello." You glance up from the cutting board to smile at him.

"I thought we agreed I was making lunch today?" Kurt tilts his head at you.

"I'm just cutting some fruit."

"Good because I have that pull apart bread you like in the oven and I made soup to go with it."

"You made the pesto bread?!" You gasp.

"I did, you said the other day that you haven't had it in a while so I thought I'd fix that."

"Are you kidding? That recipe's a bitch to make. Thank you."

"Before you start thanking me let's make sure I did it right." He smiles walking over to the oven to pull out the tray.

"Everything you've ever made me is delicious."

"Yeah but I'm usually not making something you already love in very particular way that's easy to mess up." He says.

"You couldn't mess it up if you tried." You scoff. He carefully transfers the hot pastry onto a large plate and puts it onto a tray along with 2 bowls of soup, your bowl of fruit, and a set of utensils for each of you.

"Your room or mine?" Kurt asks handing you the tray of food.

"Yours we did mine last time." You say. Kurt moves behind you and wraps his arms around your waist. You try not to stiffen, or react at all in his hold knowing it's only for the sake of getting you from the kitchen to his bedroom.

"Very well then." He says and his voice in your ear sends a shiver up your spine. A moment later you're in his room and you gently place the tray in his bed before taking a seat, careful not to disturb the soup.

"Oo I'm excited okay." You gingerly separate a piece of the bread and pick up your soup bowl. Kurt watches with baited breath as you dip the bread into the soup and try it. He desperately hopes he got it right. As you chew your eyes fall closed and your whole body relaxes. It's fucking fantastic, you can't help but groan at how good it is. As if there was really any doubt.

"I hope that's a good sign?" Kurt asks. As much as he loves watching the pure bliss roll over you he needs to avoid getting overexcited because you're reacting to food. Plus he selfishly wants to hear you say he did well.

"It is a very good sign. It's perfect. Here try it." You dip the remaining part of your bread in your soup and feed it to him without even thinking about it. Kurt takes the piece from you with a smile. He never mentions it because he thinks you'll stop if he does, but he really likes it when you feed him.

"Okay, yeah it is pretty damn good." Kurt nods.

"Oh come on we knew it would be."

"I wasn't sure it'd live up to the standards. You can be pretty particular about your favorite foods."

"But you've never let me down." You smile.

"And I never plan to." He says. The two of you continue eating and chatting until all the food is gone, fruit bowl included.

"Thank you for lunch." You say once you've finished.

"Thank you for eating with me." He says.

"You made me food, how could I turn down that offer?" You shrug. Your eyes scan over his face as he looks away from you with a small smile. In all your story sharing with Kurt, you haven't been brave enough to ask about the markings decorating his skin. You find them curious and want to know more but you're not sure if it's a touchy subject given what you have already learned about him.

"Hey, where'd you go?" Kurt asks.

"What?" You blink at him.

"You're staring off, I can tell you're thinking about something pretty intently."

"Oh- it's nothing just- what are the markings on your face for?" You ask.

"Are you just now noticing them?"

"Well, no, but it's rude to ask people about why they look the way they do. I just figure we're close enough that I hope you know it's a well meaning question."

"I did them." He says.

"Why? What do they mean?"

"They're angelic symbols, one for every sin."

"Like the seven deadly ones?" You tilt your head.

"No. What? One for every of my own sins." He explains.

"Oh." You say. You shuffle closer to him trying to get a better look at the markings on his face. If he has 'one for every sin', whatever that means, they must cover much more than just his face. Kurt tries not to squirm under your gaze. "Do you mind if I touch them?" You ask softly, as if you could scare him just by asking.

"Go ahead." He says immediately. You lift your hand and carefully trace each line on his cheek, feeling the intricate patterns under the pads of your fingers. Kurt holds very still as you do, his breathing is so soft you can bearly hear it, he's worried that if he moves too much, makes too loud a noise he'll shatter the atmosphere that has you treating his scars with such gentleness he might die.

"They're so, beautiful."

"Beautiful?"

"Breathtaking honestly. I've never seen anything like it. You've created this wonderful work of art." You say so sweetly Kurt could melt. You feel a slight warmth spread through your fingertips from Kurt's face and you smile slowly. His deep blue skin may not be able to turn pink but blood still warms his cheeks like anyone else.

"I've never heard anyone speak that way about them." Kurt finally shifts but only to avoid your gaze with the cutest little smile you've ever seen.

"That's a shame. It's the truth. I really like them." You say turning his face with a guiding finger under his chin. His eyes widen, you're barely inches apart and he's not sure what to do.

"Thank you." Kurt whispers.

"You're so pretty." You tell him.

"That's- new."

"Do you hate it?" You ask.

"I couldn't hate anything to do with you." He says.

"You always say the sweetest things."

"I would really like to kiss you, could I? Please?" Kurt asks.

"I thought you'd never ask. Yes." You say. Kurt shifts forward just enough to press his lips to yours. Your fingers tip his chin, pulling him closer, kissing him longer. It's so tender you practically fall into him. His arms wrap around you, pulling you against him.

"I can't believe this." He breathes when you pull away.

"What?" You smile.

"I did not expect you to ever see me."

"I've always seen you. From the moment you asked me if I wanted to drown." You chuckle.

"What?" He laughs.

"It was such an odd question but I could see the sincerity in your eyes and I knew that was a look I never wanted to forget." You tell him.

"I'm glad you decided to stay."

"Me too." You touch your forehead to his. You don't need to be a telepath to know how deeply he cares for you and that familiar calmness wraps you like a warm blanket. You can't believe you ever thought Alkalai Lake would be your worst heartache when it would bring you here. To Kurt.

***

[shsl-tsumugi]

I understand where people are coming from about t9’s eos in terms of “so, what now?” but we need to remember that t9 has always been a multimedia project (the anime, webcomics and short novels that can be found on the archive website are proof of this) and that the game just so happened to be its most successful medium by far

all im saying is, please continue to create what you love for this project even if the game itself is going under, im sure in some way the characters stories will be continued in some other medium (think voice dramas, more novels or manga) in the worst case scenario that this game cannot be saved (and I have hope that it will! just not so easily)

Im seeing alot of sentiments repeated about giving up on creating fancontent for this game but personally I believe that now more than ever we should still be doing what we love, its understandable to feel like the motivation to create things for this game has been zapped away from us but I dont want to see more people throwing away what they’ve been working on/planning to work on because they feel like its for nothing because theres still a community of people who cherish what the game left for us

Your love for this game, its stories and characters is more than enough for these works to exist and for people to continue doing if thats what you truly enjoy

EDIT: if anyone is curious about the multimedia aspects of tribe nine, I would suggest checking out the archive site! you can access it by going to the https://tribenine.tokyo/en/ site, scrolling down and clicking this button!

the archive site is entirely in japanese but scrolling through the main page, you can find them listing the anime, game and webcomic as its main mediums

additionally the webcomic (which is an adaptation of the anime currently up till episode 4 where minato tribe goes against adachi tribe) can be accessed through an app called Hyke Comic (a japan exclusive app), you can purchase additional chapters to read via an in-app currency but certain chapters are made free to read!

BUT if you go to the menu tab and click on “SPECIAL” you can find a ton of additional neat stuff including twitter icons/banners, wallpapers, video archive (including trailers and insert songs for all the tribes) and short webnovels based on illustrations

BTW THE NOVELS ARE REALLY COOL BC THEY DETAIL STORIES THAT ARE NOT TOUCHED ON IN THE ANIME NOR GAME!!! ex. theres a detailed version of the events at the facility for ojiro and kazuki including the conversations leading up to kazuki’s defeat against ojiro as well as his escape from chiyoda to minato. So far only minato, chiyoda, taito and adachi tribe have novels here!!

please take the time to check out the rest of the multimedia aspects of tribe nine!! i’m 100% sure that the game’s story can be continued through similar means and i’m here to spread the word on the other parts of the project people might not know about!

[becuzmdsaidineededpersonality]

So, as an author who has published a mediocre F/F novel, I used to (kind of) feel this way about it too. But having been on "the other side", talking with tons of other lesbians and sapphic-leaning bi + pan women, and other F/F authors...I get it a bit now...

(sorry for the rant coming up and the fact I am probably going to have to put this into several reblogs to fit it all)

Now, this is just my own experience, so I am obviously biased. I am also going to keep it intentionally vague both to protect myself and others.

Part One: The Industry

About...two (?) years ago, I got the chance to be put on the "fast track" to publishing because I knew somebody who worked at the university with me and they were having this event that with this publisher that marketed itself as an indie queer publishing house...but it was more like the LGBT publish wing of a larger overall publishing house. It was supposed to be a way to publish "young queer talent." She knew I had talked about getting back into writing and I guess decided this was a way to get off my lazy ass and actually finish one of those manuscripts I was info dumping about.

So I got to work, did the thing, and sent it to the agent...editor...gatekeeper? (not really sure what her official title would be considered in this case so we will just go with agent because she was a practicing one when I worked with her but my experience was out of the norm compared to what most experiences will be) who worked directly with said indie publisher.

So first, I should state that like with any piece of media that goes through and is distributed by a bigger corporation, the creators don't have as much control as most people would like to believe.

Now, I want to reemphaize that the book I wrote was relatively safe, followed a lot of common lesbian media trope standards, was a historical fiction (very common media lesbian trope) and that...at most would have been a M or a PG-13...so we are talking very tame, very standard here. Nothing crazy or groundbreaking.

And wouldn't you know it...literally the agent talked about the main two characters should be gay men instead of two lesbians because "when people think of xyz time period, they think of gay men." Now, keep in mind I am not the first to write and release a fictional (or even non-fiction) story from this time period about a lesbian. I had no idea if the others I was able to find sold well or are well liked, from what I had seen on goodreads they had decent enough scores and from what I read were decent enough reads.

Now, I said no and explained that you couldn't just change the two main leads of a story to two men without having to go back and change almost the entire story. And luckily, that connection I mentioned before had stepped in for me and I was able to proceed.

But then there was an issue with the fact they were both lesbians. The agent then wanted a love triangle plot with some dude she made up who wasn't in the story. It really sucked and I said no. Then there was an issue with the fact the characters used and referred to themselves as the term for "lesbian" in the language of the characters in the book. They wanted to leave the sexualities of the characters more ambiguous. There were a couple of other things but I still remember the thing about this cut to black sex scene...I think this was the biggest fight in this whole mess.

They didn't want it in there. It wasn't graphic. It wasn't explicit. But you would have thought I wrote full blown porn with the way they were acting. And we fought about it and sent re-writes back and forth to each other, eventually meeting somewhere in the middle. It was allowed to stay but with a few adjustments to make it more...I think they said palpable...

It was published along with a couple of others. I was the only one who wrote a story with two lesbians leads who only have female love interests. In fact, I was the first for this publisher to have a lesbian lead in their story at all, from what I had seen and heard from others there.

I was the only author from that event who did not get a physical book release. I was also the only one without cover art. They just left me with a background color and the title in font. It was put at the very bottom of the page for the event release. They did not mention it on any of the social media posts for the event. I never got invited to do a Q + A type piece like the other authors did to help promote it. The cherry on top of it all was the M/M and gay male focus stories clearly had so much more creative control over their stories. They got to have full blown sex scenes. Their characters got to call themselves gay men and bisexual men. Their stories got to take place in a variety of locations in a variety of time periods with a variety of different life styles.

Now, the book still sells I guess...after all I do get some money from it every couple of months...which is nice and it wasn't why I wrote it and sent it out into the world but still...I can only imagine what it must have been like if I had wanted to be a full time author and had wanted to get my start. Or if God forbid this was something I was relying on for an income source.

And once again, I had a connection. I was invited to do this. This wasn't what most authors go through when trying to publish a story about something or rather someone who is "not economically viable."

I WAS ONE OF THE LUCKY ONES.

They likely go through much worse. And while the details still aren't clear because most of us will just tell you and others vagueness and all want to be anonymous to protect us from being seen as "difficult" or "controversial", there are still some stories you can find here and there similar to mine...rumblings about books that never came to be because of an industry that made it so hard for them to exist...so on and so forth...

Part Two: The Never Ending Critics From "Your Own Side", being pigeonholeed as a "lesbian writer", and the assumption of fantasy

Controversy and anything LGBT in media go together like PB+J. It is ineffiable. The grass is green, I know. At a conference one time, I overheard a woman saying "you can write a story about two pieces of toast falling in love and these fuckers would still find a way to make it problematic" and yeah, kind of have to say I have to agree.

So I had two professional (?) reviews...or at least people who weren't just posting a comment under something...both were women I knew...

The first review went like this: "This is a book about lesbians written by a lesbian for lesbians and it's really awesome that this was a lesbian book written by a lesbian and it's really awesome that lesbian readers have a book about lesbians written by a lesbian. Also, did I mention this book is about lesbians and was written by a lesbian?"

Now, I had a pen name and she used my actual name in her review and also basically outted me because I never once put anywhere with that pen name that I was a lesbian. Also, I never once said the book was for lesbians...anyone could read it. Obviously, lesbians more likely to but still. Nothing about the actual plot. Nothing about the characters (I don't think she even named them in her entire review) She later told me she had never even read the book and just gave me a high score and all this "lovely" praise for no reason other than wanting to "support me." Okay then...

The second review was with an individual who I butted heads with a lot in the program we were in together. I knew she was going to have an issue with it because of that scene...and sure enough...but we talked about it. She had actually read the book for what it was worth and our conversation, though we disagreed on many things, was a good one. I remember it fondly.

Now, because my book never really made it past a very niche circle and the most drama that came of it was it's publishing and this very small localized drama and certain other individuals who I had a falling out with spamming bad reviews...I don't really have much more personalized experience on this...so let us turn our attention to other more well known examples.

I think there are a couple of reasons that could potentially explain why so many lesbian and bisexual women you mentioned BUT I think a really big reason is how women and especially women who are lesbian or bisexual, get judged on our writing by the wider public, the larger LGBT population, and other lesbians and bi women...and a lot of times the harsher criticisms come from the latter group when you put something out into the world that is about a lesbian or a sapphic.

It's not secret that women and female characters are judged harsher, not taken as seriously as male main characters, and not given a chance by the public and fandom spaces...this can be for a multitude of reasons, a lot of which can be chalked up to misogyny and distrust due to all the tropes shoehorned in that make everything feel so...well...uninspired and repetitive at best, frustrating and even somewhat offensive at worst.

Problem is a lot of people don't understand and have never seen behind the curtain of what it really takes to get a book published, popular enough that you or I will discuss it on here. So when they see the same tropes being applied to fictional women in media over and over again, they take out their anger on the wrong people. And I can be guilty of this too.

But nobody, no matter how cringe or corny or tropey their book is, should ever have their sexuality called into question because of what they write.

We've already heard a lot of how a lot of this is attatched to bi women and the biphobia that comes with bi women being assumed to be lying about who they are because they "write bad F/F stories" but now, I want to also focus on how this discourse can and does affect lesbians.

Take Kelly Quidlen for instance. The amount of vitriol and harassment this woman gets for writing "cringe" F/F stories is nuts, especially since she's said and done stuff that probably warrants a stronger reaction but that's neither here nor there.

Now, this leads into another issue which is the fact that any book a woman writes is assumed to be her own fantasy and something she wants to actually happen, especially in the world of romance novels, which sadly, even if you write a story that should not be put in the romance category, by virture of being LGBT, it will still be put there by distributors and review websites, which is another issue for another time. So if she writes a cringe F/F story, this means she isn't actually who she says she is and will judged on that alone.

Also, coming out if you want to write a story about LGBT characters and topics, isn't an option anymore and agents will literally tell you that to your face. "Queer author who wrote this for queer people" is a marketing strategy now.

So I can completely understand why someone would want to write a story about a GRSM who is the opposite of what they are. M/M can provide a sense of separation between the book and who the author is in their private life.

Part Three: The Beast

A few months ago I was having a conversation that I actually surprisingly had had on the Internet before hand.

You see, I am I recently graduated women in gender studies masters program. (OK now nobody jump up with their pitchforks all at once, hear me out) my “specialty” (?) Or rather the kinds of media I was volun-told I would be writing about is/are video games, mainly due to a controversy that I had gotten myself into while I was still in undergrad. Anyway, you have a lot of interesting conversations but you also have a lot of conversations that make you wanna poke screws into your eyeballs and nail your ears to the wall. I am constantly at odds with my creative self and my intellectual self because I know that the society that we have created often makes it where these ideas conflict with each other in ways in which women are portrayed on screen and how different individuals think that women should be portrayed on screen and on the page.

Anyway, this conversation involved a couple of individuals and we were discussing representation in video games. We were talking about how AAA gaming might be one of the only spaces where sapphic and lesbian characters may have more representation than achillean and gay male characters do. Now I'm a bit skeptical of this because I think when you look at protagonists sure but NPCs probably not… but that's not really relevant to this conversation. We were talking about how it doesn't really matter how you portray a lesbian character in a video game because eventually there may or may not be a male mod who is going to make sexy mods of that character and that now that character is “ruined.” They said that the only way that there would ever be a video game that would be a truly progressive haven would be if all the characters were gay men and there were no female characters at all, that way these mods that make these sexy mods who often tend to have sexist outlooks on life wouldn't be able to do anything about it and this would be kind of like a punishment for them.

As a lesbian myself and someone who has studied so much media over the years and someone who has interviewed countless indie game creators who have made stories about lesbians and how hard it was to get even close to the amount of funding that stories about a protagonist that you can just swap genders and the genders that they're attracted to get in terms of crowd sourcing, I obviously pushed back on this idea because it fundamentally is focused more on punishing sexist people than it is creating actual meaningful representation with good storytelling for lesbian and sapphic women out there.

But just like when I had this conversation on the Internet, my voice was kind of drowned out because “well, you’re a lesbian, so you’re biased.” Now obviously the people that I was having this conversation with probably wouldn't want this to become a reality in the future and this was more just of an intellectual theory being practiced in a conversational academic setting rather than something that should or would be put into practice. We also are just master students at that time so I don't really think our opinions would matter that much to the greater gaming industry as a whole just yet. But I sometimes become terrified about how prevalent these ideas are in the mainstream as well. As I said before, this was a conversation I first had with randos on the Internet who were saying the exact same thing almost word for word and I was getting pushed back for saying how deeply problematic and frustrating it was that somebody would actually even entertain this idea as being a solution to sexism in gaming spaces.

This brings me to my final point. There's this thing that I experienced and I didn't really have a word for it when I was trying to publish my first book. You remember how I mentioned that when I was in the submissions process and it kept getting sent back because they wanted me to completely remove that cut to black sex scene and how later on I realized that it wasn't really so much that the indie publisher that I was working with didn't we time to go above a certain maturity rating but rather the fact that it seemed like they just didn't want my story to go above a certain maturity rating because it was two women who were only interested in other women and if it had been two men who were only interested in other men, it would have been a completely different story.

It's called the beast and you see it everywhere you go. In the tropes that are very commonly used in all sorts of lesbian media is the most indicative that this exists. Now I complain a lot about lesbian and sapphic media because I am so picky in general about the kinds of media that I like and if it doesn't meet the standard of entertainment that I want I probably am not going to focus on it unless there's something particularly egregious in there that I just have to talk about.

But this also hits close to home because I volunteer at a shelter that specializes in LGBT youth and let me tell you, these young lesbian and bi girls are not watching the lesbian movies that are coming out. They aren't really reading any of the books either. Now I like a lot of these stories but I had to set aside my own bias to get to the bottom of what really was going on… and what I found was that it wasn't really so much a hatred and dislike of stories about lesbian and sapphic characters but a hatred and aversion to tropes that are commonly used within these medias over and over and over again that often intersect with tropes that are very commonly used and associated with tropes put on female characters in general. I made a joking post a couple of days ago about the newest lesbian film that came out and let me tell you, the synopsis and story behind in this movie made me so angry that I actually broke my own promise to a friend of mine and we decided just not to see it because even I'm sick of it and based on how badly it’s numbers are doing, I am not alone in that sentiment. (Yes, obviously other factors are going on)

But as I said before, this has to do with the way that the publishing industry wants lesbians to be portrayed and in a world where you don't really have a lot of options to go about your own way of doing Things and you will literally lose opportunities if you don't do things a certain way, this will only continue.

But what I mean when I say the beast is... well, it made a joke that if anyone were to ever write a movie about my life, not only would it be extremely boring but you would get so much hate and you would be raked through the coals, I can already see the articles now. Ohh because I lived my life like a lot of other lesbians and sapphic women around me do I am not monogamous ( I’m not poly either) and I am not demisexual. I have sex with lots of women and I like to hook-up. I like to cruise. I like to meet up. I like go-go dancers. I like lesbian bathhouse events.

But even then, the book that I wrote wasn't something that reflected my own life or even something that I necessarily wanted to write. When I look back on why I chose to do it the way that I did, I realized that I was being subconsciously influenced by the lesbian media around me and the common tropes that are there. This is why I'm not mentioning the title or the publisher that I went through because I fear the beast too. But anyway, I'm just some rando on the Internet, my opinions mean very little. I hope some of this made sense and people who know got what I am trying to say.

I know it’s entirely hypocritical of me and doesn’t really make much sense.

But I’ve just reached an age where it makes me really sad and a bit frustrated when I see women who publish books about m/m romances when they themselves talk about being bisexual or lesbian.

They can write whatever they want and they do often write really beautiful ones, obviously because I’m reading them (which is where the hypocrisy comes in ) but it still makes me sad. You didn’t want to write about us ? About a group you say you are apart of ? The first published book you are putting into the world you don’t want to it be about those who are like you?

There is one author who has published her first book and I want to read it because it sounds really good. But it’s also upsetting me because I remember a few years ago she was talking about how bi and lesbian women shouldn’t be shamed for reading m/m fiction because there isn’t a lot of f/f fiction out there and like I agree I don’t think they should be shamed for it. But how you can say that (I mean I don’t agree with it but it was obviously something she believed to be true ) and then NOT add more f/f fiction into the world ??

I understand there is probably a multitudeof reasons like internalised homophobia, backgrounds in fanfiction, believing f/f fiction won’t sell as well, f/f books not being picked up as often, internalised sexism etc.

But it just makes me feel gross. Especially when I look at these stories and think “we could of had this plot but with sapphics ???????!!”

But it really does annoy me. As much as it makes me a raging inconsistent hypocrite who has no room to talk

[toddtakefive]

thinking about todd and his resolve toward… not quite isolation, but being alone in a room full of people again. he goes along to the study room to sit on his own and do his homework, he sits at the poets table and follows along with what’s being said while keeping quiet, he goes to the meetings at all but doesn’t necessarily contribute (in fact, if you watch him when cameron is telling the story ‘from camp in sixth grade’, you can see that he recognizes it before any of the other poets but doesn’t voice it until they all have). he’s not alone, necessarily, if you want to get technical about it, he’s just lonely, and he’s generally okay with that. he doesn’t have friends and that’s fine, he doesn’t participate in class and that’s fine, he doesn’t have a relationship with his family and that’s fine—he could live without any real connection and he’d have been, more or less, fine.

the thing about when he says “i can take care of myself just fine!” is that he isn’t really wrong, you can infer that he’s been doing it his entire life anyway, it’s that ‘taking care of yourself’ isn’t the same thing as really living or being happy. todd’s an introvert, certainly, and even as he gets closer to the group he defaults to sitting quietly in the background, but he’s also denying himself community out of fear not introversion. todd isn’t friendless because he’s an introvert, although that definitely plays a part, he’s friendless because he pushes anyone that might want his company away. if anyone has every wanted for his attention in the first place. (neil’s unwavering interest in him is unique (even when it comes to the rest of the poets, who are fine with todd coming along and joining the group, but aren’t really hellbent on him being there in the beginning) and his refusal to accept it is a direct result of being so lonely growing up.)

there’s obviously something to be said about the implications of his parents neglect, and the more than likely fact that he grew up friendless, and how those both play a part in in him being so skilled at dodging social interaction/being so avoidant of it, but by the time we see him in the movie he’s all but accepted his fate as being alone his entire life. he’s already accepted being the family disappointment, and he’s already accepted he’ll never amount to anything, and he obviously doesn’t like it, but he’d have managed living with that knowledge without the confirmation that it was all wrong. would he have been miserable? almost certainly. but he’d have managed. he’d done it for that long already, anyhow.

[petrichal]

obligatory "Oda thank you for sharing this world with us" post

[tackminyard]

show tempe gang crossover with the morris islanders would actually have been the best episode of bones ever. btw

[anxiously-sidequesting]

To me personally malistaire is the funniest and most pathetic villain wizard101 has ever had AND I MEAN THAT SINCERELY!!! Between doomed children who have been manipulated, groomed, and isolated into becoming products of their environments, someone scorned who has been punished unfairly by having your biological heart torn out your chest and turning your children and all of reality against you to satiate their own ego, a nonhuman entity so powerful and so clueless they unintentionally threaten the lives of everyone around them, Malistaire FELL DOWN BRO. Like yeah you're bitchless now. You and me both. Get in line. Everyone in this room is bitchless. We are ALL living that ✨💅🏾💃🕺 Single Life™. You are a middle-aged man. Cope

[longagoitwastuesday]

.

I'm only two episodes in right now, and thus far I find the show neat, but nothing unforgettable; which is a normal occurrence, I'm after all just two episodes in.

I was told the anime had both a sort of noir film and western air and I think it's interesting how the music reflects that (it so reminds me of Morricone and spaghetti westerns specifically at times). I do love the mix.

Something else I find very interesting, and the is quite common of old scifi, is how the development of futuristic aesthetic has changed through time alongside the evolution of our technology in real life. Futuristic aesthetic used to be way more mechanical and manual than it is now, not in a steampunk kind of way but in a manner that in hindsight does somewhat recall that. It makes me think about how cars' engines, while at their core remaining mechanical, have become more and more electrical with time. You can see in these old futuristic renditions that cars used to be more mechanical. I do prefer that. I like machines because of their machine part. I also find extremely interesting how one can dream up a whole new world or technology, yet it is hard to get rid of what is considered at the core of the functioning of that technology; wasn't there a Jules Verne book in which something like the Internet worked similarly to wired telephones?

Spike is neat. He's very funny and goofy in that actually-he's-sad-and-haunted way. I must say I do love those things. Pretty sure he's going to die. The very beginning of the first episode seems like a flashback, which I think is kinda confirmed by the ending's imagery. And yet it also seems like a flashforward, as if past and future converged in one, and the present were just a necessary thread stitching them together. He was there once, but he'll be there again; it will be for the same reason, and he will die again in a second death that will be but one, since it's the same. You know, that kind of deal. That's the feeling I'm getting out of him, especially given the whole "You'll meet a woman and you'll die / Again? I've already done that" scene in the very first episode.

In that regard, in a way it reminds me a bit of Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez, or some other play on repetition of one's life in which you can foresee the ending from the beginning because they're the same (in general GGM has this happen a lot through his writing). Following that same line, the first flashback, despite giving big noir film vibes aesthetically, also reminded me of the western High Plains Drifter. I rather like that film.

I think of the song "Blue", which is part of the reason why I'm watching this. I think of it now with what I've seen. Hard to tell the difference between life and death, dream and reality, once you've already died and are on borrowed time. Like a watch stuck always on the same hour, the same minute, the second hand trembling but never advancing.

[unproduciblesmackdown]

anytime there's production trivia for something i've actually seen like "& the director didn't tell any of the actors this was going to happen so as to get Not Acted Surprise, from the Actors" it's like that's so funny the way i didn't ever see that part as like wow that seemed so particularly genuine to me compared to other parts of this work or other works in general. but on the other hand there'll be scenes in something where a surprising event occurs around multiple characters and there'll be trivia like "wow the way nobody (else) knew this was going to happen beforehand, in so impactful a scene, that makes sense" and then someone involved will be like that's not true

[lingonberry24]

It is unfair having to reparent parents and explain to them the basics of respectful communication. Like. The flow of knowledge was supposed to go the other way. Why.

[icewindandboringhorror]

A very interesting cloud formation!

[abyssalpriest]

Damnit lev lmfao. I was thinking about Shiva wearing corpse ash being resonant for other reasons, something about his relationship with the Bright Skinned Ones and death and whatever. No, no. More fucking importantly: Oh I wonder why Shiva is known for. you know. wearing bodies. his appearance is a mass of bodies joined together. yeah