#and she just says these things completely unprovoked

[beneath-the-moon-and-me]

in reference to the tag about my family being confidently incorrect my brain has been stuck on what my sister said about how we shouldn't teach diversity in schools because "kids already know how to treat each other". ok so can you specify? different kids with different families with different morals all know how to treat each other the same? so when kids bully other kids for being neurodivergent, queer, disabled, that's "how they should treat each other"?

or is it that you're intolerant and the thought of your kids learning to not dehumanize people that are different is counter productive to your biggoted views, but admitting that would mean you would have to admit that you're an intolerant, miserable black hole of a human being 🤔.

[whysofeinous24]

Who's the slut again?

Warnings: SMUT name-calling(slut, baby, and whore) I think that's all

A/N: I NEED SUGGESTIONS I can't come up w/ shit by myself

DOMreader SUBbillie

Billie had been teasing r all day what happens when r flips the script on billie

I woke up to billie peppering kisses all over my face. I scrunch my nose at the sensation opening my eyes to see billie smiling at me.

"good morning mama how'd you sleep" she says in a raspy voice.

"I slept great with you beside me" I say smiling back at her.

"CUT THAT CUTE SHIT OUT" she says hiding her face in the pillows.

"Aww don't hide your face you're too hot for that" I say laughing a little . She looks up and flips that covers off the both of us.

"let's go I've got some stuff to work on in the studio an I want you to come with me." She says hopping out of bed and walking into the bathroom, before I could protest that I was too tired.

I hop up too and take a quick shower before putting on billie's favorite bra and underwear set 'she'll like it for later' I think before I put on my black ripped tights jean mini shirt a black tube and some silver rings and necklaces. I do my hair in two messy buns before heading to the door putting on my black and white chunky Converse and waiting for billie by the door.

Billie comes down and my mouth salivates at the sight before me. She's in a button up with a loose tie around her neck with some dark blue baggy jeans a black belt with a silver buckle to keep them up and her hair down her shoulders

Billie looks me up and down and says "you're playing a dangerous game with me baby"

"yeah says you" I say in a bratty tone

"don't catch an attitude slut" she whispers in my ear before walking out the door. I follow behind still starstruck that she'd say such a thing to me unprovoked. It was kinda.... hot.

We arrive at the studio after a silent car ride with billie's hand running up and down my thigh. She's got me all hot and bothered and she's barley even touched me. She opens my door for me and we head inside.

Billie starts recording her gasping vocal for the end of lunch so I'm expected to be quiet but quite whimpers can't help but leave my throat as a see the buldge of the strap in billie's pants.

She pauses and follows the direction my eyes are in and she says

"what a needy slut" under her breath but it can clearly be heard in the silent room.

I look up at her with a more confident look in my eyes.

"keep calling me that an I'll make you one" I say with my new found confidence.

"Yeah you say that as if you weren't just whimpering at just seeing the strap in my pants" she says laughing at me.

"fuck you eilish" I say now a bit annoyed

"yeah you'd like that wouldn't you" she says still laughing.

She raps up her vocals and we head home the same silent car ride and billie's hand on my thigh happening. We enter the house and I immediately grab billie's wrist and pull her too the bedroom and instructed her to give me the strap.

She obeys and hand it to me I strip into my bra and underwear.

"strip billie. Everything off" I say in a stern tone

She does as told and strips until she's completely naked in front of me. I bite my lip at the site.

"look at you following instructions like a whore" I say through my teeth still angry at all the shit she pulled today. She whines at my words.

I push her on the bed and spread her legs. I push the strap again her clit and she moans with her eyes closed shut.

" ah ah open them baby" I say in a teasing tone.

She opens her eyes and I instantly shove the whole strap into her. She closes her eyes once again. I slap her thighs.

"I said Open. Them. slut" I say even more angry now.

She does a few tear prickling her eyes.

"aww is the whore too tight for my strap" I say in a gentle voice. She nods quickly

"well I don't fucking care" I say returning to my angry tone.

I slam in and out of her at a fast pace turning her into a moan and whiny mess.

"WHO'S THE SLUT AGAIN?" I say raiseing my voice above her loud moans.

"me its me I'm the slut" she says broken up by moans in between.

I laughed "you're not even aware of what ur saying so dumb off my dick aren't you whore"

She nods quickly too caught up in the feeling of my strap hitting her guts to even understand what I'm saying.

I speed up my thrust and her moans becoming pornographic between her yelling my name and just screaming. I fucking love it.

"please let me cum I'm so so close" she whines.

"go on cum for me like the slut you are" I say mocking her tone of voice laughing in the process.

She squirts on my strap and I slow my thrusts allowing her to ride out her high. She pants and moans my name.

I pull out and bring the trap to her mouth.

"suck it clean" I say sternly.

She does and I whimper at the site.

She release the strap with a pop still looking at me through her lashes.

I take off the strap and we get in the shower beginning our aftercare.

[coffeecacao]

Okay, let's talk about the coming out scene, because people are saying Taash was the one out of line.

Shathann is a sympathetic character. That does not make her a good person. She saved her child from a life of servitude by leaving the country she loved and tried to preserve that culture in her child. I respect that. I also wish there was a way to encourage Taash to embrace both sides of their culture.

BUT.

From the moment we meet her, Shathann criticizes literally everything her child does. Taash runs an errand for her, and Shathann criticizes their posture, pronunciation, gender presentation, AND sexuality, completely unprovoked, yes, in one fucking conversation. Shathann invites Taash over for dinner and then makes Taash cook that fucking dinner. And this has happened before, as stated in the dialogue. Taash is so affected by this behavior and probably worse they have endured their entire life that they say "you don't get to tell me who I am" at a simple question about their heritage, out of pure instinct.

Now to the actual scene.

Taash invites their mother to their new home and prepares a dinner for her, which Shathann immediately criticizes and has Taash make vegetables to go with. Can you imagine inviting someone into your home for dinner you prepare only for them to shit on it and ask you to cook more. And Taash does so, with a grunt. I'd be like bitch you're in my house, I cooked, eat. But they just do it.

Then they say it. "Im nonbinary." Shathann asks what that means, completely fair, and Taash explains that it means they're not a man or a woman.

Shathann asks if this is because she criticizes their gender presentation. Now listen. I have a parent who thinks nearly everything "wrong" with me is a reaction to their actions. It pisses me off. So Taash is getting reasonably frustrated, and insists that's not why. VALID. They were asked a question and they answered.

Let's talk about the Qun and gender identity. Yes they have a word for people who identify as a different gender than they were assigned. But this is implied to apply to trans men and women, not nonbinary people, so Shathann is asking Taash if they "just" identify as a man, because that's something Shathann can better understand, something more convenient for her to process. Sort of like when trans people come out to someone and are asked if they're "just gay."

No. And Taash says no. They have explained who they are. If Shathann was just having a hard time processing it that would be one thing, but she basically talked over Taash and tried to suggest that they were just a man, which they are not. Taash is being vulnerable. Taash doesn't even HAVE to tell Shathann this, but they want to, they think she deserves to know.

And what Taash says next is not purely to do with this one conversation, as explicit in the text. "why am I never enough for you." Never. Not now. We have seen Shathann critique Taash in every scene they share, and that's with a whole other person present who is not in the family. We don't know what happens in private. Shathann signed her child up for a fucking war without even talking to them about it. What Taash says is the build up of years of being talked over and criticized for everything they do, provoked by offering themselves to that person in a vulnerable position only to be talked over and criticized more.

"Why am I never enough for you."

And Shathann does not answer. She doesnt say "of course you are." Even if she disagreed with Taash's identity, which would be shitty, she could still affirm that they are enough for her. She doesn't.

She fucking leaves.

Maybe she thinks that's what Taash wants. Maybe not. But if someone asks you something like that, you affirm them. You say they are enough. Especially if they're your fucking child. But no, this conversation is too inconvenient for Shathann, she's not getting her way like she did when she signed Taash up for a war without their consent, so she just leaves. She could've said "I don't understand, but I love you." She couldve said anything. But she just left.

I'm sad she died. Im glad she accepted her child in the end. But no, Taash was not in any way out of line in this conversation.

Shathann was.

[sea-of-dust]

Unexpected Affection

Kafka, Stelle,Blade x GN!Reader

Summary: They never really showed this level of affection before...

Notes: 🗿 just gonna cram this in so those two people that unfollowed me come back. Had a werid urge to cram asuka in here he looks like one of those little fluff dogs, dude.

Warnings: suggestive humor and scenes, betrayed audience (IM SORRY 🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️),Barely proofread

She's always showing you affection

Touching your hand if you were to sit across from her. Offering to carry you home if too tired. She's very happy to do things for you!

You think her being like this is almost her way of repaying you for being patient while she's out stellaron hunting

She'd text you whenever she was free she'd love seeing how fast you'd respond. "The missions taking a while, I'm sorry if I'm late" you'd type almost immediately after she sent that "don't worry about it! Stay safe." With a small thumbs up emoji afterword. Her heart melts, you can't be this cute.

She loves greeting you by getting home first and sitting down on the couch. "Long time no see~" "Kafka..." the way you say her name she wishes to record it. Your greeting smile and small sweets you prepare for her always make her warm up a bit.

"How did you know I was coming back?" She'd lean into the hug rubbing your arms with her thumb. "I don't so when you don't come back I just kinda eat those alone-" She takes a bag of those snacks with her now, how could you say something like that with a smile on your face-

The longest time she's been out was two months barely being able to text you. So as soon as the mission was done, she excused herself. Waiting for you to come home so she could great you.

"Kaf-" You couldn't even finish your sentence before she kissed you suddenly, holding your hands pinning one to the wall. She kisses you with an eagerness, almost a need for you. You pull away to catch your breath, she'd fail to hide her want for more almost hearts in her eyes. She goes back in holding your waist as she enjoys the long kisses in between short gasps for air. She'll get her fix of you,slipping her toungue in feeling yours squirm everytime they touch, she really can't get enough of you only backing off when she felt shes had enough. "I prepared dinner for us" she wraps her arms around your shoulders, leading you to the dining table completely decorated.

She pulls out a chair for you as you sit down with her and catch up. "So how was the stellaron?" "Alot more active than usual took too much work" a sigh escapes her lips. You two continue to chatter on while eating.

As soon as you two finish eating, she helps you clean up. She can't take your hands off you while you wash dishes. She slowly rock your waist to sync with her movements. She takes off her gloves to touch your face. "As unprovoked as ever" she mumbles leaning into you "Why yes it takes alot of focus to wash dishes" she smiles at the joke leaning in to kiss you "Why yes the dishes are quite a vicious foe"

She just likes being near you. You smell nice...also you're able to keep her from turning into the local raccoon.

you would catch her looking at trash, always somehow be there to pull her away last second. "Come on, Stelle!" You drag her away.

She'd like to place small kisses on your cheek whenever you're not paying attention. She almost did this infront of the star rail crew. "The next planet..." You grab her face, holding her there. "heard that place is hotter than 12 volcano" March and Dan Heng would kinda continue to convo with her kinda stuck there

She can't sleep without you nearby. She's like the demon in the dark you run up the stairs from. She'd just stand there in the doorway as the light kinda makes her look like a shadow. "Uhhh Stelle" "..." you're barely awake yet you could tell it was her. You tsk before lifting your blanket lazily. "Come here" she nearly runs into bed with you cuddling into you. "You need a night light...maybe I'll take one from March" you pat her head as she scoots closer to you.

You had a maid run up to you shrieking about someone jumping out of a closet. "I'll go check it out miss I'll contact you if you it's anything serious" you go to check the room walking in and closing the door. You hear something in the closet and peak in only to have the doors fly open, Stelle almost jumping out trying to stop herself realizing who it was. "So you jump scared the room service lady" she nods "....wanna try that on sampo?"

She gets caught up in boxing and actively shows off how good she is. She always looks for you in the audience and shows off her win. "Congrats Stelle, but put him down!"

She won't admit it but she maybe maybe- likes pda. Maybe she does like holding your hand in public or the thought of you kissing her without a care. You'll never get her to say it tho. She just brushes her fingers on yours, occasionally hoping you'd hold onto her hand.

You found her in a trash can as usual but this time one on her head. You looked at her flabbergasted. "Stelle- get that off of your-" you were interrupted by her pulling it up and kiss you. Her tongue slipping in a bit, lowering the trash can down for a bit of privacy. You pull away, "Stelle what the-" she kisses you again before you pull her off gently "wait till we're on the express k?" You blush softly. She pounts a bit but still waits pulling the trashcan lower.

Turns out she forgot when you got back to the express a few days later when she does remmber tho she nearly runs at you slamming your door. "Eh what?" You rub your eyes seeing the raccoon in all of her glory "Stelle?" Your eyes a bit hazy yet you could still tell it was her, she nearly jumps on you immediately taking off her jacket. "Youre always up to something-" she cuts you off putting a finger to your mouth "shush" she smirks teasingly "been waiting for this for a long while now~" her voice is so calm yet you could almost feel mischief radiating off of her.

She kisses you for a long while, only pulling away to catch her breath quickly going back to it moments later. She didn't even care when March came knocking, wondering where she was. If anything, she just became more passionate. She adores your little tired noises every time she does something to fluster you. The infamous rubbing circles in your back always managed to get an embrassed squeak out of you. As soon as you pull her off breathing heavily, she'll notice just how flustered she made you. Her job was complete staying with you that night so she could do it all again in the morning.

He isn't too open even when in a relationship

You know he loves you he just doesn't say it outloud. You usually have to make moves and he'd slowly respond to those things, he's almost confused. "You're so stiff" you hug him from behind "as stiff as a board~" leaning into him a bit. As you hug him he's not really sure what to do. Does he hug back backward? Does he turn around and hug you? Does he just embrace it? So may questions running through a very straight faced man

The quickest way you flustered him is when you ask about the future while laying your head on his lap. "Blade... you think you might settle down with me when there's no longer stellarons to hunt." He didn't move, but it was clear to see the blush on his face. As he softly pats your head, you could almost hear him mumble a "I want to..."

He offen tries to sneakily hold your hand. "Oh?" He would stay straight faced, holding your hand behind your backs. Gripping your hand a bit tighter sometimes. "Is this your way of being flustered?" "No" he'd squeeze your hand. "Uh huh"

He wants you to braid his hair. He'd sit down with his back facing you, and you'd be so confused. When you finally offered, you could tell he almost ran but didn't wanna embrass himself. "Alright, sit -" he sits with his back turned to you in the same spot as usual. "Oh...so THAT'S what you meant." "What did you think I mean?" "That you were mad at me. " "...." he got his hair braided but still sensed undying guilt

He'd be so confused if you bought him any sort of gift. He's grateful, but... how to use it. "Blade...it's a fake flower, and when ya open it!" You carefully twist off the bud. "It's a chapstick!" He looks down at it, then back at you,"are my lips that crusty. " "No! No! I just got it cause I thought you wanted one! Always notice you staring at mine when I use it" he doesn't tell you, but he's been wondering about indirect kissing via chapstick.

All this thinking of kissing is gonna get in the way of stellron hunting it's too the point Kafka picks up on it and starts teasing him. "Bladie~, you seem flustered." "..." she smirks. "Is it that cute person you're dating!" He's pink trying to hide it, but he's blushing just thinking of you. "Your little play thing surprised you haven't given up on revenge just to stay with them longer." she walks in circles around him, annoying him but fluttering him none the less

He caught you asleep while waiting for him, so he tried to sneak into your arms without waking you. He'd fail...horrendously. you'd feel soft breaths and your arms going around a figure patting your head as you slept. Jokes on him, after you caught him doing this for a multitude of times, you just decided to pretend not to wake. Hopefully, making him feel like he's getting better at this.

He hides his cravings to wanna kiss you, but when he wants them, it's so odvious. He stays around you more often with almost no room for air, his frown deepening and eyes softening almost as if softly begging for something.

When he finally acted on this urge, it was only when you figured it out, kissing his cheek as he turned into a blushing mess. "Oh ho~, it seems someone got a bit excited for that," you smirk teasingly, hugging him. "Did you want one of these too?" His breath was heavy, his hair covering some of his face, but you could tell you had him on the ropes. Suddenly, he cups your face and leans in hesitantly before kissing you, slowly getting more passionate as he grips the clothes near your waist. You softly laugh at this, hearing him scoff, taking this chance you kiss him again in a slightly teasing way as he fully embraces your affection. He gets more egar gripping your clothes a bit tighter as his small kisses turn into deep, long ones with short gaps for air. He'd look so ashamed whenever he pulled away for breath. "If you're tired, we could save it for later." You smirk teasingly. "...just one more," you kiss his cheek. "..." You smirk, kissing his lips. "You're cute whenever you want something, you know"

[lady-griffin]

I wanted to quickly write out my feelings/thoughts on the song in Arcane’s new teaser trailer.

It could just be trailer music, but I believe Arcane Season 1’s trailer used Dirty Little Animals; so, it doesn’t seem farfetched to say this song will be in Season 2.

I just really loved the song.

It fit with what we see in the trailer as well as certain things I want for S2.

The music has a religious quality to it, not so much it’s like a hymn but with the chanting or choir, it feels very much – invoking a bigger force than one’s self, a calling to something bigger.

I also love that it's children singing, because again, the vibe I'm getting is a calling of arms.

Piltover abandoned Zaun’s children and while we’re obviously not going to only see children fighting Piltover; we are going to see a lot of young people going against Piltover or fighting for Zaun.

Which shows the true power imbalance and the injustice of it all. Piltover might think they’re doing what’s right and acting in the name of justice, but they’re just doing what they’ve always done -

They're putting the Undercity back in its place, back in the ground where they belong, because how dare they think they can attack them. How dare they start a war unprovoked.

The thing is, they're not just fighting evil chembarons or scary chem-tanks; but innocent people as well who have every right to hate and distrust them.

I can imagine there being a scene of someone (Caitlyn being very likely) telling people that Jinx is lying to them and this is all because of her...

But they're not going to reach a single person.

I also doubt Jinx is going to lie or really go out of her way to be anyone’s icon. Most likely she’s just going to be Jinx and look whether or not people should look to her as a savior, is certainly a valid discussion, but not one Piltover gets to have any say in. Because yeah, of course people would look to Jinx; she hurt Piltover.

The trailer is very much in the vein of Piltover and Noxus going against Zaun, taking a stand against them (against tyranny... okay Jan), gathering their forces, and all that...

But this time, it won't be the same.

With the vibes the song is giving, Jinx being this icon of liberation, and just who Jinx is in general – they’re not prepared for Jinx and Zaun. Ambessa is not prepared for Jinx or Zaun. Heimerdinger is not prepared for Jinx.

Caitlyn and Vi might be... but I sense some friction between those two is going to arise from that.

And yeah, the music just gives all of those vibes to me and is invoking so many thoughts.

Plus, music is so integral to Zaun, in a way that it’s not to Piltover. It’s everywhere. All the soundtrack’s songs (lyrics) are focused on Zaun characters or in Zaun scenes. The first scene is Powder singing clearly a folk song of sort, that’s all about asking Piltover for something as small as a penny and now, they're tired of asking.

Jinx didn't start this war. Piltover did.

Excuse my ramblings, I just really liked the song and it was just fitting with what I thought or hoped would happen. I could be completely wrong about all of this, but either way I’m super excited.

[star-eyed-angels]

Oblivious

Changbin x female reader

angst/fluff 1.8k

Where your boyfriend is a little oblivious and awful at names.

AN: Request for @jin-from-the-block hope you like it❣️ Some. pre-valentine's angst because I clearly enjoy hurting my own feelings.

______

It’s the week of valentine’s day and everything feels like it’s falling apart. The apartment you share with Changbin has practically become a war zone. Every time you both enter a shared space the bickering and snide comments turns into an all out screaming match. It’s come to a point where he doesn’t bother coming home, choosing to spend the night at the dorms. To Changbin’s credit you’re doing the same thing. You’re all but hiding from your boyfriend at this point, taking longer shifts at work just to avoid him. 

Changbin can’t figure out exactly what went wrong. All he knows is that it started a week ago. One day everything is great and he feels like the luckiest guy on earth. Then the next you’re looking at him like he’s a stranger. At first he’d brushed off your behavior, thinking it was just because you were having an off day, but by dinner time the fighting had begun. 

Now it’s the day before Valentine’s Day and you’re still giving him the cold shoulder. He can’t help the way he keeps glancing at his phone, waiting for a text from you that will let him know everything is back to normal. Hours pass with him holed up in the studio, not a single call or text from you. At first he’s angry. Angry at you for the cold attitude you have towards him. But now as he unlocks his phone scrolling through the notifications for any sign of you, he’s just sad. Normally you’re blowing up each other’s phones when you’re apart, but now it’s just silence.

The sound of something hitting the desk startles Chan and Jisung from their spots across the room. They both look over to see Changbin with his head on the desk. Chan and Jisung share a look, Jisung jerking his head towards Changbin. 

“Bin, you good?” Chan calls out gently. He only gets a grunt in response. 

“Hyung, why don’t you just go home? You’re mind’s not here anyways,” Jisung says, spinning his chair around. 

 “I can't, she doesn’t want me there.” he lifts his head, dragging his hands down his face. 

“How do you know that?” Chan says, now facing Changbin as well. He huffs, glancing at his phone with a sad look.

“She won’t even talk to me. And everytime she does it just turns into a fight,” his says sadly. Jisung and Chan share another look. Jisung gives their leader a look, Chan only shakes his head. 

“Look, Jisung is right. You haven’t been able to focus in days. There’s no point in you forcing yourself to stay here,” he says. He quietly stands from his chair, going over to shut Changbin’s laptop carefully. 

“You should try and talk to her, sitting here isn’t going to help fix whatever is going on between you two”. Changbin glances back down at his phone screen that’s lit up with his lockscreen. The picture of the two of you staring back at him. A picture of his favorite day, spent completely with you. It makes him miss you even more. He decides then that he’s going to get through to you one way or another. 

He’d walked into your apartment hoping to have a normal conversation with you. Instead you’d looked up from your place on the couch and huffed, turning back to your phone. 

Only this time Changbin’s had enough, fed up at your unprovoked attitude towards him. He’s getting you to talk to him.

“Okay enough already, what’s your problem? You’ve been giving me the silent treatment for days now and I’m over it,” unable to suppress his anger any longer.

You scoff, getting up and trying to make your way into the bedroom. You’re still not in the mood to talk with him, the rational part of your brain tells you to stop. But your broken heart holds you in its shackles. Changbin follows you, unwilling to go another night like this. 

“See! There you go again, walking away like a brat!” He says bitterly. You whip around to look at him, jamming a finger into his chest. It startles him slightly, not used to this side of you.

“Don’t call me a brat Changbin. I’m not a fucking child,” you seethe. 

“Well you’re acting like one,” he fires back. Any thoughts of having a rational conversation with you have since disappeared. 

“I have every right to be fucking pissed at you,” you defend. Your mind stuck on what he’d done to upset you. 

“At me? What the hell did I do?” he asks in disbelief. You scoff, crossing your arms in front of you. Changbin groans, running his hands through his hair. 

“God, can’t you just use your words for five seconds? You say you’re not a child, but look at how you’re acting! You won’t even tell me what’s wrong, I’m not a mind reader, I can’t just magically know why you’re acting so goddamn crazy!” he yells. You blink back the stinging in your eyes at his words. 

“Fuck you.” you finally say, your voice cold and empty as you do it. Changbin feels his own eyes sting at your response. He stares at you for a few more seconds before he shakes his head in defeat.

“I don’t get why you’re so angry at me, I haven’t done anything to you. You won’t tell me what’s wrong, and if I did something I want to fix it, but I can’t if you don’t tell me. So please, please just fucking talk to me already. I can’t keep dancing in circles with you y/n,” he pleads quietly. 

The way he says your name makes your stomach curl. The pure exhaustion in his voice makes your heartbreak more than it already has. You stare at him, searching for any sign he’s lying to you. He stares back at you with his own heartbreak in his eyes.

“You really have no idea, do you?” you ask softly.

Of what? Why you’re acting this way? No, absolutely none,” he responds just as quiet. When you turn away Changbin sighs, turning to leave. 

“Okay fine. Don’t talk to me. I’m going to the dorms. I’ll be there if you decide you want me” he says. He’s about ready to bolt before he starts crying in front of you. 

“Six.” you say quietly. 

“What?” Changbin turns to look back at you. You’re still facing away from him, staring down at the ground. He watches you take a deep breath before you finally turn to face him. 

“Six times. You’ve called me by her name six times,” you say solemnly. 

For a moment Changbin just stares at you, confused at what you’re telling him. Then it finally kicks in at who the her you’re referring to is. HIs blood runs cold as the images of his ex dance across his mind.

“No, I didn’t,” he’s quick to defend. You shake your head, feeling the stinging sensation in your eyes again. 

“Yes, you did. It started when we were out at the cafe, and I didn’t say anything because I know it’s the cafe that you found out she was cheating on you in,” you start to explain. Changbin moves to say something, but you don’t let him get a word out. 

“Then it happened on the way home, and again I didn’t say anything because it’s an honest mistake. But then you kept doing it. And then you said it when we were in front of your members and I just-” you sniffle, swiping your hand across your face quickly. 

“Baby, I didn’t- I-” he’s at a loss for words, instead he just gapes at you. Your heart sinks a bit, more tears pouring out at his reaction. 

“When you said it in front of your members they all looked at me like I was something to pity. That’s why I left early. That’s why I’ve been avoiding you. Because to be honest I can’t bear to look at you,” you finally confess, your voice cracking the more you continue. Changbin stares on in horror, his eyes watering. 

“Things happen and I know that, but you look at me like you’re so in love and then you say her name. How am I supposed to be okay with that? How do I not think about everything that she is and I’m not. I can't look at you and wonder if she’s what’s on your mind, that she’s the one you want,” you cry out. Changbin’s crying at this point, his head dropped into his hands. The action does little to stop the small hiccups that escape him. 

“And if-” you pause, the mere thought of what you’re about to say makes you nauseous, “and if you’re cheating on me or talking to someone else can you please just tell me? Because if you don’t love me anymore I need you to tell me now, I don’t think my heart can bear much more of this,” you plead. You’re also crying freely at this point, the heartbreak you’ve been bottling in finally overcoming you. Changbin has already been feeling lightheaded from the amount of crying he’s done in such a short time. But those words nearly make his knees buckle. 

“No! No, god no. I know I’m stupid and clearly an oblivious fucking idiot. But I would never do anything to betray you that way,” he says firmly. You turn away from him, still too emotional to really look at him.

“I know I’ve fucked up, and I don’t think I’ll ever forgive myself for making you feel this way. But I’ll only ever want you, and I’m so sorry for hurting you like this,” he says softly, “You- you’re it for me. You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, everything I didn’t know I needed”. 

You’re still searching for any signs that he’s lying when you turn towards him. He only looks at you with his watery eyes and a serious expression. You start crying harder, reaching out to him. He’s already taking a step towards you the second your hands reach for him. He crushes you against him, like if he lets you get too far you’ll leave him.

“I’m so sorry baby. I wish you would have said something,” he says, burying his face into your hair as he hiccups quietly.

“It’s okay-” you start but he’s quick to cut you off. He pulls away from your hair, making sure to look directly at you. 

“No. It’s not. If I do anything to hurt you I need you to tell me. No more of this holding it in, I thought I was going to lose you for good,” he says softly. You press a gentle kiss at the base of his neck, hugging him tighter. 

“You won’t, I need you just as much as you need me,” you say quietly. Changbin’s sure you can feel his heart flutter at that. 

“I love you, he mumbles, pressing soft kisses to your head. 

“I love you, too” you say, also sure that Changbin can feel the effect his words have on you.

[smol-blue-bird]

They also lean way too heavily on the foreshadowing, which is funny because these books obviously end in a foregone conclusion. If you're picking up a book on the empress Theodora, you are fully aware that she's going to marry into royalty by the end. There's no need for the authors to lay it on ridiculously thick. But every Theodora Novel has at least one scene where Theodora is like "You know what would be fantastic? If I lived in the palace and wore purple every day. In fact, I feel in my bones that this will happen to me. I am fully convinced that this future will come to pass. Actually, nevermind haha, I'm just being silly... unless..."

Another hilarious thing Theodora Novels always do is include at least one scene in which all of the relevant female characters (usually Theodora, her sisters, Antonina, etc) loudly and publicly discuss birth control options, abortions, pregnancy, and the general stigma surrounding stage acting. And, like, I know why they do this—the author always want to establish very early on that 1.) effective birth control does not exist in this setting, 2.) abortions and childbirth are scary and dangerous, and 3.) "acting" is seen as disreputable, and these characters are not glamourized Hollywood starlets. But it always sounds incredibly stilted and bizarre, because these characters are always just swapping information they already know with other women in the same boat. They always walk up to each other like "Hi, person who is my friend and who will marry Belisarius in the future! Did you know that acting is stereotypically associated with sex work in the Byzantine Empire, the society in which we live?" And Antonina will just smile placidly and reply with "Gee, I sure wish there was a contaceptive pill or an IntraUterine Device we could use to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but unfortunately, that technology does not yet exist in the sixth century AD." And the author will just breeze past this like this is a normal conversation for these characters to have

[brighter-by-the-daly]

Millie Bright x Reader

Big Mouth

AN: Sparked from @wileys-russo’s comment on a previous fic ~ “Millie and her big mouth would most definitely out someone”

It was the 70th minute in the quarter final of the World Cup as the team were shuffling around preparing for a corner. England had been marked all evening and Columbia weren’t letting up anytime soon, you were in serious need of a new strategy and fast if you wanted to progress any further in the tournament. You were floating around in the box trying to break away from your marker whilst listening out for instructions from your captain, suddenly feeling hands on both your shoulders and being viscously shoved to the ground. You were in shock as the attack was completely unprovoked and the ball wasn’t even in play yet. The corner was delayed for a moment as you scrambled to your feet and as a warning was handed out to you, your teammates swarmed the ref to object. How could you push yourself to the floor? Is she completely oblivious to the abuse you had been receiving the entire match? As an arm pulled tightly on your shirt in another direction you were prepared to receive a yellow if it meant not allowing yourself to be bullied any longer. “Get the fuck off me!” you screamed, expecting to turn and face a Colombian player but surprised to see it was actually Millie pulling you towards her for protection. Your demeanour changed immediately as you let her move your body like a rag doll; wherever she wants you, you’re there. Squeezing you infront of her, the taller woman pressed her body tightly against your back and her arm wrapped around your stomach to keep you in place so you were finally unmarked for once in this game. Millie quickly grabbed Rachel too and directed her in front of you, sandwiching your body between them. “Hold Rachel” Millie directed bluntly, “tighter”. Squishing you so close together you could barely breath as Rachel reached around your back to hold you all in place too. Making three unmarkable players, others copied in doing the same to give you the best chance to advance. Millie muttered directions into your ear as close to your face as possible so the opposing team couldn’t hear your tactics, the last thing you remember before the ball was kicked in by Alex was Lucy joking about where she fitted into this threesome and laughing to herself.

‘I knew what I had to do but did I do it? Did I fuck!’ Being grabbed and pulled by the older women took all your attention away from what you were actually supposed to be doing and that was scoring, that’s why they were protecting you in the first place you idiot! As the ball was kicked, the girls instantly spread out taking the Colombians with them, leaving you stood by yourself in acres of space with a gawped expression on your face. Seeing the ball flying towards you, Millie’s voice hollered your name just in time for you to zone back in to your surroundings and plant the ball neatly into the net.

Back in the locker room discussions were flowing about your goal, winning the game and being awarded player of the match. Lucy was in the corner joking with the older girls about your spaced out look just before the ball hit your head, you were huddled at the other end of the room with your friends from youth level. “You did look so out of it before you scored” they laughed in agreement with Lucy. “I was taken off guard! I didn’t expect to be sandwiched between Mills and Rach” chuckling to yourself but the comment was met with quizzical eyes and confused expressions. “Were you-“ Hempo started before you finished the question for her. “Turned on? Yes” shrugging it off as no big deal. “Ohhh from the train? I saw you guys do that and could already imagine the memes! That wasn’t what I was gonna say though..” Hempo still had the confused look that seemed to never leave her face. “Wait, what did you think?” you asked, wondering if you’d just over shared unnecessarily. “That you got shoved pretty hard, I thought they took the wind out of you!” your best friend’s voice was muffled inside the clean shirt as she tried to push her head through the arm hole. Helping her get dressed like a mum would a toddler you told yourself that next time you must remember to let people finish their sentences so you don’t make a fool of yourself. Yet somehow you ignored your own advice and still kept talking. “Yeah I think I’m gay now!” you blurted out jokingly. “You’re gay?!” Millie bellowed behind you, luckily she didn’t seem to have heard the rest of the conversation but this still wasn’t ideal. “Who’s gay?” “(Y/n).” “(Y/n)’s gay?” “About time she told us!” Glancing around the room at all the voices chiming like dominoes at overhearing the gossip you were shocked to see how many people thought you already were. “Was it the train?” Lucy laughed with a smirk in the corner of the changing room she hadn’t moved from, “the TikTok edits are gonna loooove that!” The brunette was always showing off edits that had been made of her on the app, always seemed proud of them too. “Nooo! I’m not gay!” you exclaimed to make sure the whole team heard you. “You’ve gone all red tho!” Millie pointed out whilst poking your cheeks making you wish the ground would open up and swallow you. Backing away from the blonde who was making you flustered you ran for the showers, eager to wash away the thoughts and the sound of being outted. You’re not gay, you were just turned on by some very attractive women that you spend all your time with holding you in a certain way, that doesn’t make you gay and certainly not for your teammates!

The next day at training you felt the same forcefulness as the day before, two hands landed heavily on your shoulders shuddering you out of the daydream you were in. A blonde messy bun flopped in your face as her arms wrapped loosely around your collar bones. “Hey, sorry for shouting about you being gay, I shouldn’t have done that I was just on a high from winning” she said pulling you into her once more. Your body instantly became stiff with being so close to the defender again and as words jumbled in your mind unable to form a sentence, you just nodded in response. “I’m here if you wanna talk okay, love you” kissing your cheek before running off to join her group. Hempo was watching the interaction from afar and made her approach when she saw Millie had left. “You’ve got that same look on your face as yesterday” she laughed, “yknow just cause you fancy a woman doesn’t mean you’re gay” bending down to tie her shoelaces. “Thank you! That’s what I was trying to say yesterday, at least someone believes me” you breathed a sigh of relief. “I meant, gay and straight aren’t the only options (y/n). You’ve got bi, pans, demi and-” she trailed off listing sexualities you had never heard of before as the realisation hit that not even your best friend believed what you were saying. “Y/n, work with Bright over your link ups, they could use some work” Sarina shouted over the pitch interrupting your friend who was still spelling out the queer alphabet. Hempo looked at you sympathetically but also a little amused, “good luck!” she nudged as she ran back to her spot. You reluctantly walked over to your skipper who was as loud as ever, shouting encouragement and silly remarks about taking your time but once you got there you couldn’t even hold eye contact with her. Making an excuse that you didn’t feel well before running back inside, Millie’s eyes followed you, squinting in confusion. She knew something was wrong but didn’t know how to approach you in a way that would make you open up.

Once you’d arrived into the safety of your hotel room you threw yourself on the bed to scour the internet to look up all the unfamiliar words Lauren was telling you about earlier. Taking silly quizzes to find out what sexuality you are always came up as 100% NOT straight which made you even more confused. You’d never thought about it before but you’ve never really felt attraction to anybody, relationships never lasted long because you just didn’t feel anything. After a few hours of flicking through an LGBTQ+ encyclopaedia your eyes landed on a definition you were unable to divert your attention from:

Graces, gray A’s, or gray asexuals: Individuals whose sexual attraction exists within the gray area between sexual and asexual. They experience sexual attraction infrequently or not very strongly. Other terms that are used to describe this identity are semisexual, asexual-ish, and sexual-ish.

‘That would explain my very rare attraction to anybody I guess’, you thought to yourself. My demeanour and fashion sense could come across gay sometimes but that word doesn’t seem to define me, neither do any of the others. I must be a Gray A.. or Grace? That seems to fit well with me the most.

Sitting back to admire the screen while you soaked everything in there was a knock at your door. “Hey, can I come in?” nodding without words as the blonde entered your room and sat down on your bed. “Can you just talk to me please? I know I’ve upset you and just wanna make it right” she pleaded. “You haven’t upset me Mill” reassuring her as you sat down next to your friend. “It’s just..” you started to explain but hesitant with how to word it. “The other night when you pulled me into you it made me feel something.. different. It turned me on okay and then everyone started shouting about how I’m gay and I just got confused. But I’ve done some research and I think I know why now.” Planting the laptop onto her knees so she could look at what you had highlighted. “I’ve never heard of this?” she muttered while reading the definition. “Me neither, but it explains why I’ve never felt attracted to anyone and then suddenly I was” you shrugged, relieved with having an explanation now. “I do have that effect on people” she mocked swiping her hair from her shoulder. “You’ve got such a big head!” rolling your eyes and slapping her arm. “Hey!” she pouted, trying to slap you back but you’d moved out of her reach. “Matches your big mouth!” your laugh exaggerated but comforted in the fact that everything was out in the open and the awkwardness had floated away. “Okay, so we cool?” “We’re cool” “I won’t go grabbing you without warning anymore” “hmm. I liked it” punching her bicep lightly. “Good… cause my love language is touch” her hand glided from your shoulder down to your fingers, linking your hand in hers. “Really? Cause I hadn’t noticed!” your heavily sarcastic tone earned you a glare before being swamped in a huge bear hug.

[bestworstcase]

but no really the narrative is about to snap like an overstretched rubber band

it’s not just that everything ruby has bottled up erupted at a really bad time it’s that she lashed out as viciously as she could at everybody—it’s that she said those things to hurt them, to claw at them the way they’ve been unknowingly inconsiderately picking at her wounds, and all of it landed. it’s that she spent this entire journey locked up inside her head, but once the pressure finally forced her out she knew exactly what to say to stab them where it would hurt the most. and it shocked all of them because they’re all so, so comfortable with thinking of ruby rose as this perfect ideal. the leader. the one who always knows what to do.

she didn’t just fall off her pedestal, she ripped the pedestal out from under herself and smashed it up and hurled the pieces at the ones who put her there, and then she left.

and these kids were taught to think in black and white, hero and monster, good and evil. the ever after defies simple binaries like that and their discomfort with that shines through in their reliance on the book to guide them and uneasiness with the increasingly obvious fact of the book’a fictionality; they’re not really emotionally equipped to handle a story where alyx is a person, neither a set of moral lessons nor a monster.

ruby rose was the hero.

then she experienced trauma flashbacks and froze during a fight, and she became a selfish girl who doesn’t care about saving the village and won’t even bother defending her friends.

and then every hurt feeling she’s been smothering for years boiled over and she said all the meanest things she could think of because she’s in SO MUCH pain that the only thing she can do is reflect it back into the world, and when blake tried to console her she said shut up. don’t do that. and ran away.

as far as any of them can see this happened literally out of fucking nowhere, completely unprovoked—sure jaune snapped at her first, but ruby exploded at everybody—at the cruelest possible time.

how do they make sense of this? how do they resolve the chasm that just ripped itself open between the idea of ruby rose and the reality of ruby rose? jaune already planted the seed of vilification—do they cultivate that, grasping for an explanation and finding maybe that’s who she really has been all along, or do they uproot it, setting aside their own hurt feelings to say no, that’s not who she is, something is wrong and she needs our support right now?

[thisnameisnotspokenfor]

Idk what this is

A chapter snippet/word blob that came out of my brain I guess idk if it’ll be in the Final Cut.

The star’s smile vanished as he looked at her with…scrutiny?! Oh she was in for it now wasn’t she? “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the slanderous wicked poor-visioned miss skeptic, come to kick a man while he’s still down. Have you?” He said in a scolding manner that Asha wasn’t quite sure was serious or joking.

“Not unprovoked,” she huffed as she crossed her arms. “And my vision is fine…you’re just salty that I completely annihilated you.”

“Salty? My dear we were on a boat in the middle of that ocean and neither sea nor person was as salty as you. The ocean Asha! THE OCEAN!” He exclaimed as a few crows cawed in surprise before taking off.

“I wasn’t salty!” She protested. It…it was true! Sure she’d been feeling…off but to say that she’d been salty was just wrong! Right?

Unfortunately for her the star didn’t seem to back down as he smiled, slowly walking towards her as he asked her slowly, “Really? So why couldn’t you take your eyes off me?”

She hadn’t realized just how close he’d gotten until he’d rested his hand on the wall next to her head. His finger patiently tapped its stone surface with a dark sharp nail. She couldn’t. Wouldn’t take her eyes off him, not when he was practically in front of her.

Tap tap.

As satisfying as it had been to silence the star, she had to admit that in hindsight it was somewhat foolish. He was a star, a being of otherworldly power and temperaments with secrets that had been the reason why the doomsday clock had started ticking once more.

Sure he was her friend, but he was also an alien! And she’d do well to remember that when it came to possibly testing his temper. “I was watching everyone. Not just you,” she lied with as much calm as she could. “Kind of have to given how we were both attacked by hooded assassins, who could literally be anywhere or anyone don’t you think?”

Tap. Tap.

Now even the crows were watching with a little less friendly anticipation than they had the first time Asha had met them.

“Fair enough,” the star shrugged as he took a step back just as Asha remembered to breathe. Whoa did he actually buy that?! “Paranoia is a usual effect of your first assassination attempt. But after the first thirty or so it’ll just feel like another Wednesday-,” he promised as Corvias landed on his shoulder once more. “Or was it Tuesday?” The surrounding crows shrugged as he scratched his head. “I don’t think I have a very good track of time. But that might just be my insanity talking.” He paused, looking at her as Corvias readjusted herself on his shoulder. “What were we talking about again?”

“Uhh,” Asha paused nervously looking from him to the crowd of children before nodding, “you agreed to help me!”

“Asha you are such a bad liar,” the star disapprovingly shook his head.

“You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing!” She protested.

“It could be, especially if you’re not an inherently honest person either,” he huffed while crossing his arms.

She sighed. Now she could see it. Defeat and the end of her sanity, lingering on the horizon as she’d grumbled, “Don’t get mouthy with me Cepheus, I need your help with the children! This is for the children! I want them to have fun! Don’t you want to have fun?”

[pinkeoni]

El's Superhero/Monster Dichotomy

El's monster conflict starts in season one, when she blames herself for the gate opening and for Will's disappearance.

This conflict seems to be "resolved" when she kills the actual monster, the demogorgon, making herself a hero and not a monster. This is even suggested earlier by Mike, who innocently tells El that she isn't the monster because she saved him.

Although this "resolve" is actually quite tragic. She proves herself to be a hero which does offer a conclusion to this conflict within this season, but she sacrifices everything for this.

This conflict comes back in full for El in season four. She no longer has her powers, and she's in a new environment where she's alienated and bullied. On top of everything, her boyfriend can't even say "I love you" to her. It's not a stretch to say that she feels monstrous.

This is only reaffirmed for El after her incident with Angela. Now, obviously this wasn't a good thing for her to do, but El also completely disregards all of the pain that Angela made her feel, perceiving herself as this violent monster who attacks innocent girls unprovoked. We know this is what she's thinking when she says as much to the cops.

I don’t think El wanted to kill Angela, which is why she says “I don’t know,” but she’s unsure because she’s unable to trust her own judgement. At this point she sees herself as a killing machine, so she must have wanted to kill Angela, even if that goes against her true reasoning.

Now, of course we the audience know that El isn't the monster, and everyone close to her knows this as well. But what matters isn't how others perceive her, it matters how El perceives herself.

Her argument with Mike doesn't absolve any of her feelings either, which is of no fault to either Mike nor El. El was too in her head and it wasn't something anyone could talk her out of, and she also wasn't aware of Mike's own internal conflict which was informing all of his responses. Mike can't say "I love you" to El because of his own issues, but to El, he can't say "I love you" because she is an unlovable monster.

Mike really means well when he says "You're a superhero," but it makes things much worse in El's mind. Instead, it creates an unreasonable expectation—

El believes that if she can't save the world, then she must be a monster. She doesn't allow herself to be neither— a human being.

NINA doesn't do much to alleviate El's dichotomous thinking, if anything it only encourages it. She only shifts the monster label on to someone else, that being Papa, and since she wasn't responsible for the massacre like she, and even the audience was led to initially believe, she's able to cleanly reclaim her superhero status. She was the one who defeated the perpetrator, in a moment that visually echoes the end of season one. She's the hero again!

She marches into her battle with Henry with a new sense of high confidence. And she loses.

This isn't El's fault, but she blames herself for Max's condition anyway. Will points out that Max wouldn't even be alive if not for El, but it doesn't matter for her.

To El, getting her powers back doesn't make her a superhero. And if she's not a superhero, well, then she must be the one who destroyed the world.

The resolve of El's conflict wasn't to get her powers back, she just believed that it would fix her problems. But the core conflict is still there— her black and white way of thinking.

So what does this mean moving forward?

Ironically, I think that El can actually learn something from Henry:

I don't think that El's arc in the coming season is going to be about becoming the hero again, but rather unlearning this train of thought. The world isn't made of monsters and superheroes, the world is made up of human beings who all make choices, her being one of them. She isn't responsible for the decisions of others, and it isn't her responsibility to take care of the mess that others create. She's a brave girl who decided to use her powers to try and save her friends, and her failure doesn't make her guilty for the fallout.

I wouldn't be surprised if El pushes herself to be the superhero who saves the world once again, although, the show has already revealed to us what happens when she does— it destroys her.

[magicalgirlypop]

no, the sailor moon 90s anime is not more feminst than the manga

i've seen people herald the 90s anime as this beacon of feminism just because it focuses on the relationship between the inner senshi instead of usagi and mamoru's relationship. there's this idea that the manga being more about romance makes it inherently less feminist than the anime. but i want to shut that idea down.

people keep circulating these three screenshots to prove the 90s anime is this feminist masterpiece

but just a scene prior in the SAME EPISODE, rei calls usagi ugly COMPLETELY UNPROVOKED

yes there's teasing between friends but come on. usagi didn't even do anything to warrant being compared to a monkey.

and speaking of rei... she's so heavily lesbian coded in the manga. literally her nightmare in the dream arc is getting married and settling down in the trad family sense. which she destroys with her akuryo taisan like the lesbian queen she is. also her distrust of men is a big part of her character in every adaptation... except the 90s anime which made her boy crazy and have that plotline where she gets with mamoru for a while for the sake of a rivalry with usagi!

there's the whole jealousy thing with chibiusa which is honestly weird no matter the adaptation and idk why ANYONE thought that was a good idea. but its somehow WORSE in the 90s anime. at least, at the very LEAST in the manga she actually communicates with mamoru about her insecurities and the whole jealousy thing only lasts in the black moon arc (which continues staying the worst arc regardless of the adaptation). in the anime... it lasts well into the end of supers... TWO SEASONS after usagi found out chibiusa was her and mamoru's daughter!

and lets talk about how they made usagi jealous over small things in supers! look i get it, she's a teenage girl and she gets jealous easily. but when you get jealous of a child who is also your future daughter and an old woman your boyfriend tried to help, that's when you have issues. there's an entire fucking episode where she stalks rei just because mamoru is staying at her house for a day!

and the most egregious thing which makes me laugh at any claim of the 90s anime being much more feminist than the manga.. is how they handled prince demande. you know, the guy who kidnapped and sexually assaulted usagi? in the manga and crystal, he's killed off unceremoniously.

but guess what ikuhara, the feminist king who knows to write SO MUCH BETTER than naoko, did. he tried to make demande sympathetic. he made usagi sympathise with him.

yasssss ikuhara you go make the pedophile sexual assaulter sympathetic, you feminist king! you definitely know SO MUCH BETTER than naoko!

and people thought crystal was antifeminist? get outta my face with that at least crystal didn't try to make the fucking borderline rapist sympathetic, he disintegrated in a pile of dust like he deserves.

you might be thinking "get outta here no one says the 90s anime is more feminist than the manga". well yes people do. you'd be surprised. i went to an old anime confession blog and found these posts back when crystal was still new and still had a MASSIVE hatedom

and these are just some of the posts. there's so much more. people who dared to enjoy crystal were called misogynistic for... liking a show. even today i see people bash naoko for the smallest things while praising ikuhara as a feminist king and lgbt ally who did more for the community than naoko (which is funny because the 90s anime has an episode where makoto has a crush on haruka and the girls are like "nuuuuuu mako you can't date haruka you're a girl" which wasn't in the manga). when he wouldn't even have been able to make the anime without naoko's manga.

there's an interview with naoko takeuchi where she says that the difference between the manga and 90s anime was that the 90s anime had a male perspective as it was directed by men while the manga mostly had a female perspective as it was written by a woman.

and it honestly really shows when you watch the anime again.

was the 90s anime progressive for its time? yes. is the manga peak feminist literature? no. you can prefer the 90s anime over the manga but don't go acting like its inherently more feminist than the manga just because it doesn't focus as much on the romance aspect. the manga focusing more on usagi and mamoru's romance doesn't make it inherently less feminist.

[minetteskvareninova]

I finally realized why it always rubs me the wrong way when people compare Alicent to Hürrem: despite multiple genuine similarities between the two, people often use it to imply things about Alicent (and Rhaenyra) that are just plain untrue. Notably, Hürrem has legitimate reasons to worry about her sons' lives, while Alicent... Just doesn't. I am sorry, she really fucking doesn't.

First off, let's make something very clear - recent history of their worlds is very much on Hürrem's side, while with Alicent, it's a lot less clear. Notably, while the oldest members of the Ottoman dynasty, when the empire was just really just a small emirate in Anatolia, were able to peacefully coexist with their brothers and other male relatives that could challenge their power, as the empire grew, so did the propensity of potential candidates for the throne to fight over it. By the time Süleyman I. became the sultan, fratricide was very much an established practice. Ottoman succession laws were rather murky, and at the time the show takes place, the good old "to the strongest" principle was in place when it comes to deciding which prince was to become the next ruler. There was some sense that the oldest has more right to the throne than his brothers - hence Mustafa being considered the strongest candidate, along with his general popularity among the janissaries - but Selim I. did win the throne from his older brother, so it was hardly set in stone.

Then there's Westeros, which is a lot more complicated. Sure, you did have Maegor I. usurping and murdering two of his nephews, where the third was only saved by going into hiding, but notably that was only after the oldest one rose in open rebellion towards him. Now, Aegon the Uncrowned wasn't really in the wrong there, considering Maegor had at that point already burned the Starry Sept and generally showed himself to be the absolute worst. Aegon was fully within his rights to be worried about the fate of himself, his own family and the whole country. But it's worth noting, because even the most tyrannical king Westeros had up to that point didn't just shank his nephews completely unprovoked (as was at the time the show was set already an established practice for the Ottomans). Hell, Maegor previously fully supported the reign of his older brother, apparently for no other reason than because of affection between them. Even after they had a falling out because of Maegor's bigamy, Maegor went into exile rather than directly challenge his brother's rule.

Then we have Viserys I., whose claim was also contentious, but after it was cemented trough legalistic means, noone ever went directly against him. It's worth noting that Rhaenyra's claim too was established trough legalistic means (her father's decree) and just like Viserys' claim, it also went against the common practice of Westerosi succession. Admittedly, Rhaenyra's claim was much less stable, mostly because of her gender, but still. In addition, there is absolutely no indication that Rhaenyra would ever go the Maegor route if her throne wasn't usurped; admittedly, she would've kept a close watch on her brothers (and they might be in danger if there is ever an unrelated crisis during Rhaenyra's death - possibly, maybe), but that's far from the "certain death" scenario Alicent presents to Aegon the Trashy. And considering the alternative is a civil war, which also endangers the lives of her children... Yeah, keeping your head down and trying to appear as faithful as possible to Rhaenyra suddenly seems like a pretty viable option, doesn't it?

But that would mean Alicent has to firmly go against her manipulative father and place her trust in Rhaenyra just after she lied to her about *gasp* having premarital sex, and she just isn't emotionally ready for that.

Look, I am not saying Alicent doesn't have good character-driven reasons to be horribly, horribly wrong. But she is. By God is she wrong. Superficially, hers and Hürrem's situation are similar. But one of them is probably right, while the other is just wrong. And that makes all the difference.

[lafiametta]

Something I love about Ani and Igor in those scenes is that both their points are understandable.

Like of course Ani is scared of getting assaulted, she tries to fight off who she believes is an attacker and is overpowered. The positioning of that scene is very deliberate, reminding Ani (and us) not just of the immediate possible danger, but the reality of how powerless she is, as a working class women and sex worker). She has everything she (thinks) she wants taken from her without her say and she's hurt, angry and humiliated. From her point of view, he's making fun of her fear (bless his clueless heart I think he thought they were bantering a bit), so of course she wants to lash out in response.

But we are also shown clearly that Igor is not at all prepared for the situation that goes from 0 to 100 in seconds, from his POV she physically attacks him unprovoked (and honestly while it's completely understandable that she felt threatened, she is the one who escalated it to violence) and he tries every other option before tying her up (not very well but still). Its clear he does this because he knows she'll run (immediately proven right) and he knows that means more trouble. I also don't think he really gets that she was scared when he tied her up. He knows she's angry and he knows it wasn't right, that's why he looks so disturbed on the couch and tries to apologise in the car. But because he cant see her face, he cant see what she's actually feeling (good set up for the final scene). Also, since he's ESL, he's probably taking certain phrases literally and her saying he WOULD'VE raped her instead of she was SCARED that he would just confuses him even more.

Again, great writing, great actors.

Great points, Anon! And I think that's why the home invasion scene is so good: on different levels it's terrifying and hilarious and sometimes it's both at the same time. Ani is just a “little girl” (at least according to Toros), but she draws first blood and bites a guy in the shoulder. Igor's a big scary henchman who also says “please” when he pleads with her to stop trying to run. And, yeah, he doesn't see how really scared she is for much of that scene because he can't see her face. It's only when Toros shows up and orders Igor to let her go that it becomes more clear to him and he starts looking much more abashed. (But part of the miscommunication in the scene when they're talking in front of the TV also stems from Igor's inability, because of his perspective as a man, to see that threat of sexual violence as an actual harm. He would never have thought of doing it, and so, at least at first, he can't imagine that she would have had that particular fear. And of course the language barrier just complicates things even further.)

But, yeah, he totally thought they were bantering. She's talking to him, at least, and for Igor, that probably felt like a massive victory.

Ani: Would you shut the fuck up, you psycho rapist? Igor: *mentally composing the stories he's going to tell their grandchildren about how they met*

[bobbydagen24]

yes JD and Bruce are abusive and Bro zone are Toxic overall and its worrying to me how some in the fandom either can't see this or actively choose to ignore it.

( I Guess this is my return to Trolls fandom posting tho I won't be Doing it as Regularly as I used to )

for starters people seem to write off the argument scene as if its somehow JD and Bruce behaving out of character or its understandable and morally complex when it really isn't

they knew this was a source of pain for Branch ( them being absent for a most of his life since he was upset with both of them when they first met up again )

but they Decided to mock and belittle him for wanting them to be a family again

completely unprovoked since Branch didn't even say anything to them that could possibly trigger such a cruel response such as if he had lashed out in anger

which would have been understandable given he didn't even want anything from his Brothers at the start but Jd and Bruce basically emotionally lured him back in via love bombing

aka acting overly chummy with him and basically ignoring any actual more serous emotions such as Bruce just ignoring Branch's valid feelings of upset towards him

and then wanting to Dump him at the first sign of inconvenience and cruelly emotionally abusing him when he didn't just quietly accept what they wanted

like this is textbook abusive behaviour if you see someone behaving like this its a red flag and its worrying how the fandom ignores this.

simply because Jd and Bruce have surface level likable personalities again something most abusers have as it makes them seem very trust worthy

I said before in another post that the fandom Judges Bro zone on a surface level and this is what I meant as they look at the two or 3? scenes

of them acting like nice people and just Decided that's who they were even tho in said scenes they only acted Decent when literally everything was going their way

as soon as JD and Bruce faced any kind of problem they acted badly which is far more likely to be their true colours because you Really see someone for who they truly are in these kinds of moments

same with Crimp literally standing by and keeping quiet over kidnapping and torture simply because she didn't want to have the inconvenience of finding a new Job.

its strange to me how people write this off as not being the real them when its how they behave for most of the movie and they act in ways that show it

you can be as condescending as you like such as other Bro zone Defenders have been to me in the past by saying stuff like

"" your blatantly missing the point of the character ""

but truth is that isn't valid because Guess what? just because the writers want you to see a character one way does not mean that is who the character they put into their work actually is

we have to judge the characters based on the content we have of them in the work of fiction not what the writers intended them to be

because those two things don't always match up a writer could try and write a certain character as being sympathetic or a good person at heart

but if the content in their own story does not back that up its no one's fault but the writers it isn't the fault of the audience for calling them out on writing shitty people and not Realising it.

and writing a message that amounts to Blood entitling people to Treat you badly and abandon you and not give a shit about you for years on end like Bruce and Clay and Floyd did

( which shows that their care towards Branch and each other is very surface level when they were willing to Drop each other so quickly both in past and present day and only acted nice to each other when it was convenient and easy )

yet its on you to "" fix "" them and forgive them because lord knows they won't be the ones to put in the effort and change and admit to any wrongdoing

like for as much as the fandom complained about Creek's return in TBGO which yes was Rushed as Hell at least he actually admitted to wrong doing and apologised

something Bro zone never did besides Clay but even that was a weak sounding apology that didn't even sound very emotional or sincere tbh.

people complained about Creek's lack of Remorse yet Bro zone show a lack of remorse throughout except for literally one brief animation panel which the fandom loves to go crazy over because its literally the only thing you have that indicates any regret

but it comes after Branch finally stands up to them and leaves so 1. he never sees any remorse or acknowledgment of wrongdoing from his "" Brothers "" yet he still gives them another chance

and 2. it lasts like 1 minute and it comes after they were literally emotionally tearing him down for no bloody reason so that alone should not be enough for the fandom

it Really is the equivalent to your partner getting angry and hitting you and then feigning a little bit of remorse after you threaten to leave them

and later on you give them another chance because they promise to change while never actually admitting to doing anything wrong and of course the cycle repeats.

which I kinda suspect is what the writers are Hoping for because this movie's message Honestly feels like it was written by an abuser

who feels their victim should have to make the effort and put up with whatever shit they throw at them and give them unlimited second chances

no matter how many times they Hurt them.

to be clear I don't actually have a problem with all people who simply like Bro zone's characters my problem is

there's a stark Difference between liking say a morally Grey Douchbag character

and liking a character who is a bad person and making excuses for them plenty of people like characters like Joe Goldberg or Walter White

but there's a difference between fans who enjoy them because they are complex and enjoyable Villains and bad people vs fans who feel like they are actually great people deep down

and thus attempt to justify every single one of their actions and behaviours because otherwise they'd feel bad for enjoying their characters.

those are the Bro zone fans who Bother me and who I feel aren't taking away very Healthy messages from this movie

because they are not good people they are not a good family and you can still enjoy a character who is a bad person but it is not okay to try and justify every single one of their actions

and make stuff up in order to make out like they were actually good people or they were actually bigger victims than they really were or that their actions are somehow complex when they really aren't

Hence why the fandom does so much art portraying them as loving and caring because the actual movie itself sure didn't do that.

and why so many fans make stuff up in order to portray JD and Bruce as secretly being more caring for Branch or more sympathetic in the Grander story when they Really aren't

in short I'm worried about the message this movie is sending out to people about personal Relationships and how they seem to be taking it to Heart

people are not perfect but there is a stark Difference between someone not being perfect and someone showing a lack of care or Regard for you your whole life

and showing no basic Respect for your feelings as a person and mistreating you by weaponizing one of your greatest Trauma's simply because they are slightly annoyed by you

that is not excusable behaviour that is Toxic this movie and Bro zone's Defenders do not understand the Difference and it worries me

and it worries me how a real life child who is in a bad family situation may see this movie and Relate it to their own experiences thinking their neglectful or abusive family

may not be perfect but its on them to forgive them and keep shoving second chances on them because they "" aren't perfect ""

but them showing you the Bare minimum of affection every now and then must mean that they really care about you and you have to stand by them.

just like Branch did with his family this movie's message is not only Toxic its irresponsible for a movie viewed by many young children to put out there.

that's why I'm so against this movie and its message and think it needs to be called out more

it isn't just down to me simply disliking it because I didn't enjoy certain aspects its because I legit think this movie could be Harmful to kids in real life

if they take the message on Board it worries me.

anyway this most likely this won't be fixed by a future film the next movie will probably do what Despicable me 4 did with Dru and just not feature them for the whole film

and have them as a quick cameo at the very end and Honestly its probably for the best Bro zone had potential but the writers messed up badly

and created a terrible family who mistreat each other and only show surface level care when its convenient and the writers Genuinely Don't Realise it

and their fans don't care because JD and Bruce act like silly fun guys so they could literally do anything and the fans would still like them and Defend them.

but being likable does not equal being a good person tho and someone showing you tiny scraps of care and affection every now and then

but most of the time mistreating you or not even giving a shit about your very existence does not mean they are a good family member to you

people Deserve better Bro zone Defenders please Realise this otherwise you will end up in a bad Toxic Relationship which no one Deserves.

[aita-polls]

WIBTA for telling my girlfriend I cheated?

Okay so this is probably going to be a lot. People involved are me (24F), my girlfriend M (25F), our best friend A (22M), and our other best friend, A’s boyfriend, S (20M).

So. For background, we’ve all been friends for years and it was very much the four of us against the world. I met M first because we were roommates at college, and she knew A and S from our classes, who were already dating at the time, and introduced us. I’m a lesbian, S is gay, and M and A are bi. We’ve always been a very openly affectionate and sometimes sexual friend group, ignoring the fact that me and S never did anything because of our incompatible genders/sexualities. No one had sex outside of our partners, but we were definitely much more close than most friends, and casual making out etc. was a thing that happened between me, A and M quite often. It was always while we were in a group, never alone or without anyone’s knowledge. I was never attracted to A, again I’m a lesbian, but due to a mixture of just naturally lax boundaries and sexual trauma I don’t really see sex or sexual activity as anything sacred or meaningful so I didn’t mind messing around with A in that way for fun. We never explicitly said not to do anything alone, but we never said it was okay either, it was just never really a situation that came up.

So. This is where it becomes a lot. At the beginning of 2024 S was murdered. A and I found his body. The legal stuff is still ongoing obviously but the person responsible was caught. It was violent, random, and completely unprovoked. S was the kindest person any of us had ever known. None of us coped with this well. We’ve all always been very impulsive, emotional people, S was kind of the token responsible guy keeping us (occasionally) grounded even though honestly more often we were convincing him to join us instead 🥲

We all responded in different ways but none of them were good. A was a complete mess exacerbated by the fact that the last time he and S had spoken it had been an argument. I was just angry at the world and the only time I wasn’t sobbing or yelling I was drunk or high. M essentially vanished off the face of the earth for a month and ghosted us and didn’t talk to us at all.

I’m not going to offer excuses for what happened. I could say we were messed up, I could say I felt abandoned by M or assumed she’d left me, I could say we were coping, but none of that matters because what matters is A and I slept together. This was about 5 weeks after S’s death and M’s disappearance. It was very abrupt, kind of impersonal, and sort of just. “I need to do something and you’re the person here” vibes. I obviously was not actually attracted to him as a man, but I just didn’t care who it was in that moment and I gather neither did he. I had followed him into a sort of out of the way campus building people don’t use much because he was very fired up and upset, we talked about S and M and how fucking devastating and enraging it all was, he just grabbed me, and it went from there. We were both very dissociated throughout it and agreed it wouldn’t happen again.

A few days after this, M got back in contact. She apologized for disappearing and said she was coping in her own way and needed isolation but that it wasn’t fair to us. She said she wanted us all to put everything that had happened since S’s death behind us and not talk about it because she assumed we had all done things we weren’t proud of in grief and that she didn’t want us to dwell on them. She just wanted us to heal together and stick together from now on.

We agreed but I felt fucking awful. I spoke to A about it after this and it was complicated further by him admitting that he had been attracted to me since the day we met and that this was part of how fucked up his emotions felt because he was full of guilt both for feeling that way and for arguing with S before he died. He said S had been aware of him wanting me and had been relatively fine with it but that it wasn’t an outright crush, he didn’t have romantic feelings for me, it was just physical attraction paired with us being close friends and him trusting me. I reaffirmed that I’m a lesbian and am not genuinely attracted to him like that and that I love M and want to be with her, and he said he completely understood and that he was still in love with S. We both agreed it had been a grief thing for us and only happened as a result of our mindsets and emotional states in that moment.

However I still feel horrifically guilty for not telling M. Part of me thinks she’s guessed something happened and that’s part of why she said to forget anything we’ve done, but I don’t know if that’s just wishful thinking to weasel my way out of confronting it. A very firmly believes I shouldn’t tell her both because of her wishes and because he thinks since it didn’t mean anything it would ruin our relationship for nothing. But I still feel that it was a huge betrayal and that my confusion at her disappearing and my grief doesn’t just mean I get to pretend it didn’t happen.

Everything is still so fresh and we’re still trying to cope, and we haven’t even gotten to the trial and facing him yet. Sometimes I almost go to tell her and it feels like she knows and changes the subject so we never get the chance. But I don’t know if I’m just making things up. Would it be a bad idea to keep pushing and just sit her down and tell her straight up, should I wait until we’ve all moved on a little more, or should I just shut up about it forever?