#and so is baffled by how she’s reacting to his behavior

[sufferu]

Y'know re zero reminds a lot of umineko and higurashi. Stories where the protags are dying and resetting over and over again to fight against fate. For a chance that is "infinitely close to zero"(yes literal quote---thats how unlikely victory was) or that one dude from toaru that died 100 billion times, resetting through horrific worlds.

What do they have in common? The protags save/forgive/pity their torturers. WHDAA cast has every right to beat some sense into Subaru damn. I get the whole "understanding the heart of others" theme. I love it, but like--there should be a line somewhere that got lost in the corpses of previous loops. Especially, since most of the time they are redeemed because they have a tragic backstory. Like "ofc I forgive you for torturing me for 100 years because your parents are dead"

Penny for your thoughts?

God I need to watch Higurashi. Too bad I cant FIND THE DAMN SERIES ANYWHERE— also I’ve heard of Umineko but I have no idea what it is lol. Maybe I’ll check it out. Same with A Certain Magical Index.

And — honestly, to an extent I agree with you lol, cause even if I haven’t watched any of those series I am very familiar with the “all is forgiven” trope that tends to happen in anime a lot. I think it often tends to feel a little unbalanced, ESPECIALLY if the perpetrator is some sort of waifu character. Like — okay, there’s this anime that came out a few years ago called Ranking of Kings that I actually really liked for the most part, except the way they handled the main villain (a woman named Miranjo) was just BAFFLING. She did all this horrible stuff in the first half, but then the second half was basically just — everyone bending over backwards to excuse/forgive her simply because…that’s what the author wanted to happen. And the thing is? I was one of like five viewers (judging by those comments :/) who would actually have totally been on board with her redemption if they hadn’t done that. I thought she was a fascinating character, possibly my favorite in the series, and I even saw the potential for her becoming a better person if they were to go that route. But then they hammered it in SO MUCH because the author wanted the audience to like her SO BADLY that — it just RUINED her.

That’s what I think the problem often is: the hand of the author becomes too obvious, and as their actions get excused by the narrative practically bending over backwards to get the audience to like the characters, the characters get flattened down and all their edges sanded off. To be entirely honest it’s the main issue I have with how Rem is often portrayed in this fanbase, because — a really large subset of fans seems to have looked at that HOT MESS of a person and decided that taking her “perfect waifu” facade at face value was the more appealing option, lol.

—It totally makes sense for Subaru, though. As a character this is, it makes SOO much sense that he’s like this. And…I’m actually holding out hope that it’s gonna be addressed as an issue in-universe at some point, due to 1) some very choice descriptors on his part of all those horrible things being “good memories” that are VERY worrying and 2) post-amnesia!Rem very explicitly ending up in antagonistic role to her old self regarding how they each want Subaru to develop going forward.

As for my own react fic…yeah. Rem is. Rem is gonna be in some SERIOUS hot water. If I may: I think that a lot of react fics tend to gloss over her behavior a little too much for my liking, due to her being a popular character (or even a favorite of the author lol) and as such the fic goes out of its way to make sure that the conversation leads to everyone forgiving her one way or another. …I, personally, do not plan on pulling my punches one single bit.

;)

[daydreamerdrew]

Iron Man (1968) #60

[bohnerrific69]

── .✧ naked (drabble/headcanon)

pairing: peter maximoff x fem!reader

words count: 1.0k | warnings and tags: suggestive themes (there's no smut btw), voyeurism, genitalia/body (peter) descriptions. english is not my first language (im still learning by self-thaught!)

⟣ masterlist | author's note: unbeliavable that the first thing of that i write AND post here it's just some quick silly headcannon/thoughts off peter horny behavior. 🫠 right now i have too many wips on the queue to finish, so maybe in the future i rewrite this as a oneshot properly! (enter my taglist here)

Peter is the kind of guy who, when reaching the peak of his independence having his own house, and when the summer arrives with its dreadful heat waves, would simply take off his clothes and walk around the house naked. Well, at first he got a little apprehensive of doing that, staying on his nice boxers for a few days - only two - till finally letting his body free as mother nature blessed.

Until a while later, a moving truck showed up at the neighbor's empty house and he saw a beautiful and hot girl, you, moving there. He even greeted and welcomed you to the neighborhood. At first he was unsure to talk to you all of sudden, but then it's not like he hadn’t started bumping into you on the street almost every week chatting with you and discovering how easy was to made you laugh at even the silliest things making every encounter more enchanting than the last one. I’m sure these quick encounters were pure coincidence... Unknowingly, getting Peter attracted into you even more than he thought.

But on another hot summer day, walking around the house naked, he came across something unexpected, he saw you through his open window… Well, that wasn't the surprise, you were his neighbor, it was quite common to sometimes see you by the window. The unexpected factor was... that you were looking exactly like him, perfectly naked just like mama gave you life. You was stand up distracted with some magazine in one hand and a lollipop in your mouth while listening to a song and moving your hips sensually following the beat.

And on rare occasions, this being obviously one of them, Peter stopped moving, stooding freezed there without moving a muscle with wide eyes and mouth dropped open, his face turning pink as fast as it could, stunned by the vision of that gentle girl with such an innocent smile and shy attitude when was nears him, to be honest seeing you like that baffled his brain, a thought of you being in that situation not even pass near horny Peter's mind, but certainly turned everything on him on fire.

Okay, it was her house and she lived alone, but with the window open?... Y-yeah, Peter wasn't the best person to talk about this topic now.

Everything in his mind and body was acting so fast, his heartbeat? Oh gosh if someone could hear, it would probably sound ticking so fast like a bomb ready to explode... But nothing made him move until you stopped looking at the magazine in your hands and saw him by the window too, the windows being at the same height and directed front to one another.

Your reaction was almost the same as him, freezing still while your brain tried to collect the informations of his pretty toned body that his lucky mutant genes (and too much X-Men training) blessed him. The jacked abs with pretty biceps too, the divine slutty waist highlighting his v line, the happy trail with silver pubes and-

Oh. Oh good lord... He was fucking turned on.

His dick was awaken and glued on his abdomen just by seeing you. Aforehand you could get on with your analysis, you notice his cock twitch slightly making you return to reality and your conscious remembering your situation right now. But before this could make you react, Peter got free of his trance milliseconds earlier than you, in the blink of an eye he was no longer there, his powers made him simply evaporate from there.

In the panic you just screamed and runned out of camp of vision from the window, dropping your magazine in hands and stumbling on some other ones scattered on the floor, making you fallen ridiculously on your bed, quickly getting into a fetal position and covering your face with the hands like that would help you protect yourself from the embarrassment, of course that not works and you just feels all your body be engulfed by a heavy shame and feeling your cheeks burns, you get one of your pillows and just screams and curses into into it.

After freaking out, you wanted to check out if he was still there, so still feeling the rush of adrenaline now with your legs trembling by the scare that you just got, you get out off the bed and crawled on the floor till were below the window and sitting on your own heels and pulled the curtains close. You sighed nervously, getting on your knees and hiding behind the curtains, you opened a crack into it so you could spy with one of your eyes if he was still there, and… Nothing.

His window still was open but there was no one on the room, you got away from the curtains and sit on the floor with the back against the wall looking at any point of your room, feeling a million thoughts running in your mind nonstop like “What the fuck just happened?”

While focusing on your breath, feeling your heart pounding on your chest, reasoning that despite the embarrassment that… You kinda of like it?... Liked that your cute neighbor that you find smokin’ hot attractive, but never had the courage to say anything, saw you like this and was being so affected by it, being fucking turned on, with his big brown eyes and pink flustered face looking at you so shocked but... admired? Quite hard to know, it was everything so quickly, but you hoped that it was, his dick was sending an obvious message.

Now focusing on what matters… Good god what was that perfect body?! If you could pull him, you sure that would be the luckiest woman alive.

Being weirdly satisfied you laid on the floor, covering your mouth with one of your hands and coming down from your high, starting giggling like an idiot and kicking your feets on the air so embarrassed by the situation but thinking how funny the life is and experiences are not individuals, like as walking naked in your own house because the weather was hot and run into with your hot neighbor by the window doing the same thing.

Well, let's not think for now off by the fact that he lived at the house by your side. And probably tomorrow you would have to say good morning to him.

— as it is my first "fanfic" thing that i write and post here, just tagging some mutuals to boost the post. sorry if i'm bothering! 🤎🦋

@lemoniiiiiii @fear-is-truth @jazz-berry @marchsfreakshow @silverzoomies @am3ricanh0rrorwh0re @acrosstheunivcrse @tiffysdeath @wcnderlnds @evvyyypeters-fics @evanpeterswifeyyy @evanpetersbf @frankenkyle19 @taintandviolent @enchanting-evan

[jennysparksandtheauthority]

The fallacy of realism in Life is Strange Double Exposure. Another more or less analytic rant :)

Okay. I lied. This is the real LAST commentary about Deck Nine's fiasco. Or maybe not.

ANYWAY. I'm reading a lot of discourse of how it's realistic that Max and Chloe would break up.

Even the devs have been on Twitter saying the most basic stuff you've heard a thousand times before:

As someone who’s been in a loving, committed relationship for more than a decade (and we met in our early 20s), that shit MAKES NO SENSE FOR PRICEFIELD. Move forward? Yes. Absolutely. But you can move forward with another person. Moving forward doesn't have to mean leaving your partner behind, and certainly not for these two.

Max and Chloe didn’t create a “trauma bond”. People seem to forget they were childhood best friends. They went through trauma together. There’s a difference.

Each time my wife and I went through devastating shit (cause life is a bitch sometimes), I leaned on her, we carried each other. We went through rough days, of course, we fought sometimes, but we grew together. I fell more in love with her seeing her taking decisions, reacting to me, dealing with her own shit, taking care of me when I didn’t have the energy to take care of myself as I would take care of her when the roles were reversed.

Sure, some relationships don’t survive when they go through bad times.

But Max and Chloe? These two literary broke space and time for each other.

Characters have to be profoundly CHANGED at the end of stories for them to be meaningful, for stories to move us. This has been established since we began to tell stories around campfires thousands of years ago. It's been engraved in conventional storytelling even way before Aristotle gave it a name in his Poetics.

At the end of the BAE romantic path, Chloe was ready to die for Max, and for a whole town of people who mostly despised her. She had changed profoundly. She had understood the meaning of love and loyalty and devotion, because Max showed her.

Max was ready to face the consequences of choosing Chloe. She had changed too. She had understood that loving Chloe made her better, braver, determined, that the past was in the past and that she couldn’t keep rewinding. That she had to accept herself, fight back, take ownership of her destiny.

When they left Arcadia Bay they were both devastated, but ready to fight for each other and move on. The Chloe that gave Max that reassuring touch and that loving look at the end of the game would NEVER, under no circumstances, break up with Max by letter saying all kinds of mean shit. This destroys both their characters' arcs from LIS1. It's an unsuccessful, poorly camouflaged reboot.

Maybe if the break up was presented differently it wouldn’t have enraged so many people. Maybe. We’ll never know. I’d still argue that having a path where Chloe is dead, the decision to break them up was absolutely unnecessary. But to have made that decision, and to justify the OOC behavior and the outcome of their relationship by saying “it’s realistic” (some people have taken the devs' discourse to heart) is just ridiculous and dissapointing, and just straight out unprofessional. This kind of revisionism and lack of understanding of the themes and motivations of the first game is truly baffling, so much so it’s hard for me to believe how NO ONE at Deck Nine or Square Enix with some level of responsibility and proper education in media stopped the madness.

Writers choose what to include in a story, meaning they bear responsibility for the narrative choices they make, regardless of whether those choices are realistic. Fiction is an inherently constructed art form. Authors decide what to include, exclude, emphasize, or downplay. Using “realism” as a justification can be seen as a way to avoid responsibility for narrative decisions, especially when those decisions are unpopular or ethically troubling.

This is writing 101, and I can’t believe a supposedly professional game dev studio is acting like children writing their first fics on Wattpad and falling into the realistic fallacy.

In “The Decay of Lying,” Oscar Wilde famously argued that “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life,” suggesting that art should not be constrained by realism. Another example is the philosopher and literary critic Roland Barthes, who in “The Death of the Author,” argued that the meaning of a text is not determined solely by the author’s intentions, thus challenging the notion that invoking realism absolves a writer of their choices.

They CHOSE to break them up.

They chose to villainize Chloe, the canonically queer, fan-favorite character that was at the heart of the story along with Max. Together.

Crying realism doesn’t make it any less senseless, knowing damn well they knew how it would affect people.

So, Deck Nine, Square Enix: please take some fucking responsibility.

BONUS (Michel Koch ❤️):

[propertyofwhitney67]

Is there a prompt limit? 👀 If not, I'd like to see Kylar's little sister paired with Yandere Whitney. Maybe she gets kidnapped and smut ensues? She's so docile and calm about it due to kylars usual behavior that whitney gets to do anything he wants

Just Like That

M!Whitney x AFAB!Reader

Prompt Event: Yandere & Kidnapping

Words: 736

Tw: Yandere, kidnapping, smut, fingering, unprotected sex

Note: No limit to how many you can send in but it does close at 5pm est today

I was confused when I didn’t see Whitney at his usual spot in the park. He’s normally always here when It rains. I did a small circle, looking around for him. When I came to a stop, a figure off in the distance caught my attention. A sharp pain in my neck startled me, I gently pulled out a dart. A dart? I tried to get a look at who the figure was, but I didn’t get the chance as everything faded to black. 

My head hurt like hell when I woke up, “Agh…” I groaned, holding the back of my head and squeezing my eyes shut. Something next to me shifted, and I could feel something or someone watching me. I slowly opened my eyes, still holding the back of my head, finding a smirking Whitney propped up beside me. I furrowed my brows, confused. “Whitney? Why weren’t you in the park?”

Whitney scrunched his nose, confused that I wasn’t reacting as he had planned. He wanted me to scream and beg, but I was calm and a bit confused at my sudden change of scenery. “That’s your question? Not, why did I take you or even a please let me go?” He asked, genuinely baffled at how calm I was.

I shook my head but cringed at the sharp pain that shot through my head, “Agh…”

He cooed at me condescendingly and pulled me onto his chest, “Aww, poor baby.” He slipped a hand down under my skirt and rubbed my clit through my underwear. “I know just how to make you feel better.” I didn’t fight back, enjoying his touch, and he noticed. “I guess I should thank your freak of a big brother for unintentionally desensitizing you.” I moaned as he pulled aside my underwear and plunged two fingers into my tight hole, scissoring me open. 

It didn’t take long for me to cum from his skilled fingers, “Whitney…” I whined, clutching at his hand as he continued to finger me through my orgasm. 

When my walls finally stopped spasming around his fingers, he pulled them out, licking them clean. “Fuck…you taste amazing.” I whined at the loss of his fingers, “What? You want more, you greedy slut?” He pushed me off his chest and face down on the bed, “I could do anything, and you’d let me.” I nodded, causing Whitney to chuckle. “I don’t even have to train you.” He positioned my body like I was a doll, face down with my ass up. He smirked, flipping my skirt up and pulling down my wet underwear. “Perfect…” He mumbled, staring at my now bare cunt.

I could hear him undressing as I obediently stayed still, waiting for him to make his next move. “You’re going to take care of me?”

Whitney chuckled lowly, “Oh, I’m going to take care of you alright.” Without warning, he roughly thrusted into my cunt. Not giving me time to adjust to the size of his fat cock, just chasing his own pleasure by setting a fast pace. He wrapped an arm around my chest, pulling me into a kneeling position while still roughly thrusting into me. I moaned as he hit the perfect spot inside me and rubbed fast circled on my clit. He groaned lowly in my ear as my walls tightened around his fat cock, “Your cunt was made for me.”

I whined and leaned my head back on his shoulder, “Whitney…” I could feel my orgasm building and my stomach tightening. “Please, please, please…”

He smirked, hand leaving my puffy clit and cupping my breast. “I love it when you beg.” I moaned as he pinched my nipple, rolling it between his fingers.

It didn’t take long for my orgasm to wash over me, my cunt clenching down around his fat cock. “Ah!” I moaned and gripped his arm, “Fuck…”

“Fuck!” He moaned, fucking me through my orgasm. “Just like that, slut.”  He quickly followed after me, painting my walls white and fucking his cum into me.

He held me tight for a quiet moment before pushing me back down onto the bed. I landed fast first, his cock leaving the warmth of my tight cunt. I whined, some of his cum leaking out of me and staining the sheets under me. He laughed at the sight and cleaned himself up, leaving me there. “I knew I chose the right slut.”

𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

𝘒𝘰-𝘍𝘪

[deviljho]

actually watching breaking bad in the year 2024 after hearing about & seeing the skyler discourse from afar for years was crazy, like it didn’t ever surprise me that people would incorrectly and misogynistically perceive her as walt’s nagging wife who prevents him from cooking meth and being cool and badass (???) but after actually watching the show it’s even more rage inducing to think about how her character was perceived by the general public because she is quite literally so normal. like the way she reacts to walt’s frankly baffling and concerning behavior is so normal. she’s WORRIED about her husband who has an extremely serious type of cancer which even with treatment and surgery could kill him…and he’s like mysteriously disappearing for days at a time and lying his ass off about it in increasingly stupid ways…like at no point in the show did i feel like she even remotely came close to earning the reputation she garnered during the original airing, and even now i would say most random ppl who you talk to abt brba will mention disliking her when they watched the show…it’s just sad. i’m glad there is a lot of pushback on it online & that there is a lot of praise for her performance bc she does a great job and is a great character…idk it was just crazy like she is literally so normal and her reactions are so justified…she should’ve been allowed to kill walt with a hammer

[hyperfixingfr]

CW for abuse. Idk if I've said this already but a conversation with @rainbowwwzo last night prompted a thought. Why are we still trying to claim 2 and 3 have good families?

1 & 5 have amazing families (Cree aside). 4 has a family who's trying their best, although probably need to look into why their son has behavioral issues instead of sending him to boarding school. But they still have their best intentions for him!

However, 2 and 3 have both been shown to have abusive and neglectful families. Somehow, I still see some of you claim they aren't that way despite the piles of clips that prove them to be horrible for their children.

For one, Numbuh Two is PHYSICALLY ABUSED. He's wacked over the head with a cane for anything mildly annoying he does. And his mother does NOTHING. Even when in the same room watching it happen, she does NOTHING. His grandmother can't even remember his name. He results to LYING to try and get her to love him, and even that doesn't work. Do you understand how that would impact a child? Do you understand that his fear towards fighting in the show and tendency to yelp or scream is a trauma response, because he's abused? I'm not saying you need to headcanon the boy with 98 mental illnesses or something... But you'd really be mischaracterizing him and ditching what is so obviously shown in canon if you didn't have this impact him in some way, shape or form. I feel VERY strongly about his home situation being misportrayed in particular because I was once in a situation where I was living with only my abusive, demented grandmother and my mother who was too weak from her own mother's abuse to save me from being abused too. My home situation looked just like his and it almost offends me when people claim he'd be happy go lucky, no heavy mental battles, content with his life, best outcome of the group. Because I can tell you right now, absolutely not.

For Numbuh Three, she gets the most ignorance. Her father was shown to be emotionally immature, screaming, yelling and slamming when he couldn't scoop *ice cream*. I hate to say it, but do you think a man who can't even handle letting ice cream melt a bit would be treating his daughters right? Absolutely not. We'd be lucky if all he did was emotionally abuse them. But judging by his reaction, it unfortunately seems he'd lay hands if upset enough. He reacts this way constantly. And his wife isn't any better. She seems to be projecting herself onto her children. She seems dull and uninterested in doing anything worth-while, and seems more keen on keeping them entertained indirectly instead of directly via playing with them. She raises so many red flags that you'd only see in emotionally abusive or absent parents. And even if she weren't, you cannot discredit the fact that she'd be letting her husband do it to them instead. Because she hardly does anything about it besides saying "calm down". We all know Kuki's innocence is a fake mask, but it baffles me how many people cannot piece together that she puts it on to protect herself from the environment her parents have created. She acts innocent to protect her feelings, most likely from her father. If she acts innocent, people let her off the hook more, which means less yelling.

Tommy and Mushi both take on personality traits found in abused children. Tommy seals himself off after realizing he can't always have his brother available (would've been achieved had he been in the KND) which means he wouldn't have the support of anyone that likes him or at least tolerates him. Hiding away in his room would be the best way to avoid conflict from Lydia. While Mushi takes on a evil, "I need to be the center of attention" demeanor. She goes to extremes just to get back at people who had her best interest in mind. Usually children give up a grudge like that quickly. It's not as bad as Tommy's signs, but it does imply she's attention hungry.

I'm not saying to make them both look like emos listening to MCR daily. But please, take 2 and 3s home lives into proper account. Especially when trying to portray it. I don't like seeing all of these misportrayals of people saying they've got perfectly happy families because they don't and it's very obvious they don't. At least to me, who had experienced both an abusive grandmother + hopeless mother and emotionally immature angry all the time parent. Missing the basic "2 and 3 have bad home lives" feels like you've missed the point of the show. Of course kids with bad home lives are gonna be there fighting for a better home life. The show is about fighting for basic rights for children. Completely glossing over a very in your face instance(s) of children being treated less than human is crazy.

[sincerely-astra]

YOU DID IT!! I DIDN'T THOUGHT YOU WOULD ACTUALLY WRITE IT!! THANKS! 💞💞💞

And I'm really sorry to bother you, but can I now ask how would the yandere choir react with Trishna confessing to Hank and her feelins being accepted? (I mean, Hank and Trishna had a romantic song together, and they even would kiss in the OG story so-) (also it would be really cool if you include that Hank kisses Trishna, but it's okay if you don't!)

I just know Hank is now fucked up

Also I think it's really funny that they just hate Hank and Trishna is like " ??? "

☁️Yandere Choir x Trishna - Trishna confesses to Hank🌧️

Thanks for requesting it, I honestly find Trishna pretty relatable and liked researching her and many other cut characters!

⚠️WARNING: General yandere content!⚠️

Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg:

Walking into school, Ocean was fully prepared to see her crush, only to not find said crush anywhere. Right as she was about to spam the girl's messages, she found her and Hank confessing to each other in some secluded spot in the courtyard. This was not how Ocean wanted to spend her morning.

Literally just seeing Trishna and Hank together made her blood boil normally, so seeing Trishna awkwardly confess her love for him AND have Hank confess that he loves her as well made Ocean want to scream. Her fingernails dug into her palms as her hands made fists, her body genuinely shaking from the anger she was feeling at that moment.

This was totally unacceptable, beyond that even.

Ocean worked so hard to get Trishna away from that filth, to get her to see her own worth and see that Ocean was clearly the better choice. Was she even thinking about the future?! For crying out loud, Ocean was quite literally buried with college, scholarship, and even job offers, and what did Hank have? Some sappy words and a stupid song?? She thought Trishna was better than that!

She can't and she won't stand for this. Ocean is quick to start speedwalking over there, mind running a million words a minute as she watches the two figures in front of her start to get a little closer and a little touchier. She had made up her mind from the moment she caught sight of them, she was going to break them apart and she was going to give Hank a piece of her mind for deluding Trishna to the truth, the truth that he wasn't good enough for her and that Ocean is so much better!

She was so blinded by her rage that she almost missed it..., almost. Right there, under the shade of trees on that bright Monday morning, Hank leans in and captures Trishna's lips with his. Their bodies entangled together as Trishna shyly reciprocated, her too leaning in as Hank started to smile.

And that right there was Ocean's last straw, the thing that broke the camel's back and left the ginger's mouth agape. They were kissing. Hank was kissing Trishna, the love of her life and the only person she had ever felt genuine, pure feelings for.

Hank and Trishna were in love.

They were in love.

Love.

Trishna and Hank, much to their surprise and disappointment, were broken off from each other, not even a couple of seconds into the kiss by a fuming Ocean O'Connell Rosenberg. Trishna was aware of Ocean's distaste for Hank, but she was baffled by the ginger's behavior... She could have never imagined in her whole 17 years of living that she would be watching the girl start yelling and berating Hank, spewing things like how unacceptable it was to be doing this in school and that it was against school policy as it was considered, "PDA."

Hank didn't even know how to defend himself in this situation, as he too was rightfully confused, only being able to get in a few sheepish apologies while Ocean ranted on and on. It was clear as day to the two of them that this wasn't really about PDA or school rules, but as to what it was about actually? They had no idea.

It took at least 30 minutes before Ocean's rant was finally over, her voice growing slightly hoarse at the end of it as Ocean desperately tried to stop her tears of frustration from appearing on her face. Ocean was quick to grab ahold of Trishna's wrist, muttering angrily to herself as she dragged one of the two lovebirds away from the other.

From that moment onward, Ocean had to have grown 10 times worse than before...

She was incredibly swift in ruining Hank, his reputation, grades, his friends, and family, every aspect of his life was falling into shambles. Ocean even managed to get him kicked out of St. Cassian High School, the only high school in Uranium, leaving Hank to have to move. Ocean surprises herself sometimes with how much she can get away with just being the A+ student that she was.

Obviously, Trishna was upset at this newfound development, her first relationship was ruined for reasons she couldn't make out. She practically begged Hank to stay with her, so that they could work things out but he declined. He didn't want her to get wrapped up in his mess and he really was starting to think Ocean was right... He didn't deserve her.

After this incident, Trishna, even though she was upset with Ocean for yelling at Hank, would spend pretty much all of her time with Ocean since in her eyes, Ocean was the only one who hadn't abandoned her. Ocean, likewise, would keep Trishna incredibly close, switching all the girl's classes to match with hers and spending all their time at school together.

Ocean is also a lot more careful with who she allows to spend time with Trishna, which basically means no boys (except for Mischa, Noel, and Ricky) are allowed to talk to her and girls are on thin ice (except for Constance and Penny.)

She is not afraid of ruining more lives if anyone dares show interest in her.

It's also worth mentioning that Ocean is somehow way more braggy than before, she always feels the need to show off to Trishna.

Noel Gruber:

Oh...

To say that Noel wasn't feeling like his world was ending was an understatement of the century.

There he stood in the school's courtyard, early in the morning to meet up with Trishna as they always do, and only a few yards away from the brand new, ever so "lovely" couple...

His breath was hitched as Trishna rambled to Hank, most of the words flying out of her mouth making no sense to both of the boys, but they both could distinguish the words, "I love you." Those 3 words meant so much to Noel, they were the only thing he had ever wanted to hear since the day he could conceptualize words. He wanted to be loved by another, not by his mother or any other person who had some obligation, he wanted to be loved in its purest form by someone who chose to love him.

Maybe that's why it hurt so much to hear Trishna pouring her heart out for the boy because that's what he once wanted to hear from Hank and also what he wished to hear from Trishna.

He wants to hear her say that she loves him like he is really her own blood, that he is the only person who is worthy of being flooded with her love.

And Hank was going to get in the way of that.

He was going to take her away from him, he had a fleeting feeling that the boy might reject her feelings, but he was sorely mistaken as Hank's cheeks grew red and he too started confessing to Trishna. His Trishna.

The anxiety Noel was feeling in this moment was unbelievable, he wouldn't be surprised if he just looked down and his stomach was physically churning itself. His breathing turned shallow and he felt his palms grow sweaty.

He's had anxiety before, in fact, it was usually anxiety about this very moment happening, so he knew he could get himself to calm down. He tried to do some breathing exercises and tried to distract himself, it almost worked, he was so close to having that gut-wrenching feeling be rid in his stomach, but almost as soon as that relief came, it quickly came back as Noel saw it.

The "it" is Hank leaning in and kissing Trishna, a kiss that was clearly being reciprocated by Trishna as she too leans in.

Noel just goes right back to where he started...

His heart was beating like crazy, he was sweaty, practically hyperventilating, and he could only focus on the pair's lips as they stayed locked onto one another. Noel was sure he looked so stupid right now, but he couldn't bring himself to care when he literally couldn't think straight.

They are kissing.

Trishna and Hank love each other and they are kissing.

The girl who he considered his little sister, the only person who he trusts and cares for more than his own well-being is in love and is kissing the boy who he knows is no good for her.

In a sick and twisted way, it was ironic that a scene from so many movies, books, and his own poems was materializing itself right in front of him. Sure, it wasn't some man who he loved kissing another girl but the gut-punch felt just the same.

The self-hating spiral was all the same.

Noel needed to get out of there, he couldn't stand looking at the two do this any longer, if he had, he's sure he would've just crumped right then and there. Even though his freakout, he made sure to leave quietly, not giving Trishna nor Hank any clue that he was even there, to begin with. They would never have any idea that he knew they were together.

Well, not Hank, but Trishna knew that Noel was going through something. Ever since he saw them kissing in the courtyard, Noel had been incredibly distant from Trishna, outright avoiding her in most cases too. Trishna had no idea what she did wrong, but, god, did it hurt her. She could feel Noel slipping away from her by the minute and she really didn't want to lose her best friend brother without even getting to know what she did and apologizing for it.

It took longer than she would've liked to admit, but after a few more days of this distant treatment, Trishna finally worked up the nerve and caught Noel before he left school to ask what was up.

Noel knows what he's doing is petty..., it's not Trishna's fault she was being stolen from him by a grotesque rat. But it was all he knew to do with himself, he couldn't face her when he was in such a dark pit, not when she didn't even know that he knew she and Hank were dating.

And yet, here he was, being confronted by her for the very reason he was trying to avoid her. Tried as he might, he could not divert the conversation topic away from the issue either... He mentally cursed and praised Trishna in that regard, she was always so incredibly smart. So, he took a deep breath and told her.

He told her everything, from how he caught them in the courtyard that day, to his spiraling, to why he had been avoiding her in the first place; he was scared of losing her to Hank.

Learning of how awful her relationship with Hank was making Noel feel, Trishna couldn't help but feel bad herself... She would never in a million years wish Noel harm and knowing that she did just that, even indirectly, made her want to start sobbing. (Which she almost did.)

As Trishna was super quick to apologize, explaining her point of view, and asking what she could do to make it up to him, Noel started to get this funny idea...

He really didn't think this was going to be a possibility, but he had to give it a shot, he needed her to be rid of Hank.

In the most guilt-trippy way possible, Noel Gruber, Trishna's best friend and brother figure, says that he would forgive her if she stopped dating Hank. This could all be over and everything could go back to like how it used to be if she were to break off the just blossoming relationship she had with the boy she's been crushing on forever...

Oh Noel..., how did you always make these things so hard on her?

Not that she could ever say no to him.

It took no more than a day for Trishna to nervously call up Hank, Noel right by her side supporting her through every step of the way, and tell him that their relationship was over and that he couldn't he couldn't see her anymore. As confused and sad as Hank was, he accepted it before she blocked him for good.

After this incident, Trishna goes out of her way at every opportunity she can to show Noel she cares, never wanting him to feel as bad as he did then again.

She is also quick to stop dating for that exact reason.

Mischa Bachinski:

Mischa Bachinski was totally okay with this.

In fact, this was probably bound to happen at some point and he's just glad this obstacle was going to be dealt with so early into their relationship.

Sure, Trishna's blushing cheeks and Hank's flustered grin made him feel slightly nauseated the more he watched the two spew out their feelings for one another, but as he said, this was only a small issue in his and Trishna's romantic journey.

He's not worried at all even when the two start getting kind of touchy in a non-platonic way or when he sees Hank holding Trishna's chin so she can't look away from him and his gentle gaze.

It's just a phase..., that's what he keeps telling himself as his hands clench watching the scene in front of him.

It's just like what happened with him and Talia. For so long, months of his life were dedicated to that woman. He was so sure he loved her..., that he wanted to fly back to Ukraine, marry the girl, and spend the rest of his days growing old with her.

But that wasn't what he wanted, he thanked Trishna for showing him the truth that he never loved Talia, she was only a distraction as he waited for Trishna to show up in his life.

And now, he supposes it's his turn to show her that he's the only one she needs as well.

Even if watching them kiss made him feel absolutely miserable, he could endure it if it meant that she'd eventually open her eyes to the truth.

Mischa will wait for her. He waits for weeks after Hank and Trishna's relationship starts, waiting for the day that Trishna will come running to him to tell him that she was wrong and Hank wasn't right for her, he was.

Any day now.

...

What is this?

Officially speaking, it had been 4 months since Trishna and Hank started dating and there had been no signs of change with Trishna.

There had been no days where she even looked slightly off about the whole relationship, no days where she thought twice about going out with Hank, no days where she looked at Mischa and had everything click in that pretty little head of hers.

Something was wrong, but Mischa hadn't a clue on what.

Every single time he read a message from Trishna saying that she wouldn't text him for a while since she'd be on a date with Hank and every single time Hank had come up to him asking for gift or activity ideas for the two's next date he was seriously starting to tweak out.

He hated thinking that this is what Trishna must've felt as he was still going out with Talia, this waiting game was agonizing...

And in all honesty, watching the pair act all lovey-dovey was giving him some bad memories of all his time wasted on Talia, he thought he was so in love with her that he didn't even question their love-

Oh, that's what's happening.

Trishna, the love of his life and the girl whom he would walk to the moon and back for was just confused. Trishna thinks she's in love with Hank, she thinks she's in love with him so she doesn't even question their relationship and that's why she hasn't noticed her true feelings. How could he have been so blind to notice?

He needs to redirect her, she just needs guidance so she can see that she loves him and that Hank is just standing in their way.

Mischa was incredibly confident that he figured it all out and pretty much immediately made up his plan. Over the course of the next few weeks, he would try to subtly redirect her, get her to see that he was all that she needed. He would be more touchy than usual, he made her cancel dates to hang out with him, etc.

But of course, Trishna didn't exactly get the hint with just that..., so he tried to be even more direct and then even more direct, so on and so forth until even he could recognize that it just wasn't going to work out.

In all reality, his plan did the exact opposite and after a while of his plan backfiring on him, Trishna caught on and told him, "Look, I know you are worried for me and all, but Hank is really sweet and I do love him. You don't need to look out for me anymore."

As her words reach him, his smile faltering and his hand gripping his phone so hard he thinks he might have cracked it, Mischa was hanging on by a thread. He has no idea how he kept himself together after hearing that or just listening to her ramble on and on about all the sweet things Hank has done for her and how she thinks he might be the one...

God, the situation was worse than he originally thought.

Mischa, as is obvious from the moment he saw Trishna and Hank get together, is in hardcore denial. His thought process was that Hank must have screwed with her head more than he thought and now he needs to fix it, for her sake.

He needs to protect her.

It didn't take long for Mischa to be able to get Hank alone in one of the school's empty corridors after school, nor did it take long for Mischa to start throwing some punches. Hank should be grateful Mischa has some semblance of self-control, or Hank would've ended up not being in this realm of existence anymore.

Hank's body was covered with bruises, scars, and everything of the like as Mischa beat the poor boy to where he practically couldn't move. Mischa was sending a message Hank should only hope needs to be sent one time.

Stay away from Trishna, end of story. Through all of Mischa's threats, that was the one point he made sure was crystal clear.

And as any normal person who is concerned for their own well-being, Hank didn't shy away from doing exactly as he was told staying far away from Trishna and avoiding her like the plague. Their relationship was officially over... yay!

Trishna was, of course, distraught at the news. The only boy she had ever loved all of a sudden didn't love her anymore and now was acting like she never existed... It was like something out of her nightmares! She cried for who knows how long in Mischa's arms, wishing and practically begging whatever god was out there that this was just some bad dream.

It wasn't though.

Commence Mischa's manipulation!

Trishna spends all of her days with Mischa glued to her hip, not even just because he wants to be there but because she desperately begs him to be there. She stays far away from any other guy, or girl for that matter, as she feels like Mischa is the only person she can trust not to hurt her. Mischa is definitely not complaining and Trishna pretty much lives in his basement now.

This is just one step to getting her to see that they were meant for each other.

Ricky Potts:

Ricky had been looking for Trishna literally everywhere...

He looked in the choir room, in the cafeteria, the library, her classes, everywhere he could possibly think of and yet she was nowhere to be found!

In all honesty, he was starting to get a little frustrated... He knows she gets to school early, so where else could she be?

The only place he had yet to check was the courtyard, primarily because the grass made it difficult to maneuver around, but also because he tended to avoid spaces with a lot of people. But with Trishna being found nowhere else, he can't really afford to be picky, can he?

That's how he found himself walking along the pavement, avoiding any student who he did pass by in the weirdly empty courtyard. He was really close to just calling it quits..., Trishna hadn't even been responding to his texts so he might as well just go sit somewhere and dream up some more adventures in Zolar, but then he heard something...

Whipping his head to the side, just past two oak trees was Trishna with Hank, both of them holding hands and blushing like there's no tomorrow.

Admittedly, the sight made his nose scrunch up and his brows furrow... His mind prancing around with different possibilities as to what could have been happening here.

He knew of Trishna's crush on Hank, but they were still just friends, right? ...Nothing was happening to change that status, right?

...

As Ricky neared the pair, he heard her say those things. He heard Trishna exclaiming her love for none other than Hank, saying how she's always loved him and praising him like he just cured world hunger. She really was truly enamoured with him and that made Ricky's heart break a little.

And then came Hank's confession, accepting Trishna as his girlfriend and professing his love with all the sappy words he could've possibly come up with.

Maybe Ricky shouldn't have let this continue... Maybe he should've put a stop to this the moment he saw them both together, their love for each other as clear as crystal. Ricky shouldn't have been so careless as to let Hank steal Trishna away from him.

Ricky Potts was never truly a bitter person, life has never been particularly kind to him and he doesn't see a reason to wallow in self-pity if that's how it's always going to be. But watching this scene straight out of a movie playing out in front of him, watching Hank's lips reach for hers, and watching them share such an intimate moment... Yeah, he does feel bitter.

It was a bitter feeling that he'd never felt in his 17 years of life, one that was etched into the fiber of his very soul as it tried to drag him into a pit of despair with no way out.

It pleads for him to give up and just accept that this was happening and that he and Trishna were never meant to be.

This was just how his world was.

...But it doesn't have to be.

He didn't have to just sit here and watch his crush get stolen away from some other guy, he didn't have to just stand by helpless like every other moment in his life, he didn't need to endure this. The savior of Zolar wouldn't stand for this, so why should he?

It was there on out where he made a plan, he had found his sense of urgency and was going to get Trishna back even if it meant playing a little dirty. He needed her, in this cruel world where she only understood him, he couldn't have his one lifeline taken away from him. Surely, she needed him to right? Why else would she have been so endlessly kind to him? What would explain why she told him things she's told no one else? They needed each other.

The next couple of days had gone by like the flicker of a light, while Trishna and Hank had fun being in their newfound relationship, Ricky spent those days coming up with his plan. Ricky was the strongest guy out there, nor was he inexplicably smart, but he knew how to get under people's skin. Ricky was observant.

He was already pretty engrained into Trishna's life, they were best friends after all, so they spent lots of time together. So, it wouldn't be suspicious for Ricky to just want a bit more time with his friend, no? it's not weird of him to make her cancel dates with Hank or take up all of her time so she can't go talking to him.

He just missed her is all.

Trishna and Ricky were close before, but after this, they were incredibly close-knit, spending every second of their lives together.

Trishna would sometimes feel like she was suffocating from how much time she spent with Ricky..., they were just always together and it felt like she never had time for anyone but him with how much she felt the need to cater to him. Heck, she hadn't seen Hank in weeks!

That's probably why it wasn't that surprising when Hank had asked her to talk to him, only to reveal when they got to a more secluded area that he thought they should break up.

His tone was gentle, and his words were flowery as he tried to make it not seem like it was all her fault, but she knew the truth. She hadn't been a very good girlfriend to him. Although the truth hurt, it hurt so badly that she had to split up with the guy who the light of her life, but she could tell it was for the best.

It wouldn't be fair to either of them if she made him stay in a relationship where they couldn't tend to each other's needs.

They were no longer together, Trishna and Hank's relationship was no more and Ricky felt like he had won the jackpot.

He was so relieved she could see that Hank wasn't meant for her, surely now she could see that he was all that she needed.

Penny Lamb:

If anyone were to ask why Penny Lamb was standing behind a tree, hands gripping onto its bark for dear life at 6:30 AM on a Monday, she wouldn't have answered and likely would've just kept glaring at the tall brown-haired individual in front of her.

Hank.

That's a name that as of right this moment is making her blood boil.

Who does he think he is, accepting Trishna's love and confessing to the shorter girl as well, he knows she cares for Trishna deeply, so what made him think this was an acceptable thing to do?

Penny never considered herself an angry person, often avoiding conflict as much as possible even if it put her in harm's way, but right now, she was seriously starting to believe that she could be.

Trishna has feelings for Hank, she knows that everyone knows that, but it's just because Trishna doesn't know how great Penny can treat her! Hank doesn't care as much as she does, he doesn't care about her interests, her fears, her struggles, Penny does! She just needs to get Trishna to see that.

Then Trishna would know that she cares, that she loves her more than anyone else could ever possibly know. Trishna could see that she didn't need Hank, Ocean, or Noel, she needed no one else other than her.

She doesn't need that boy.

...The boy was currently passionately kissing her lips while his arms snaked around her waist.

And Trishna was reciprocating, making the hatred Penny had for Hank grow 10 times more.

Penny couldn't take watching this anymore, it was like torture watching Trishna love him the way she should love her. Penny needed to end it, and she needed to end it now.

Before the two's kiss could end, Penny walked up beside Trishna, trying to subdue her anger for at least a minute to get Trishna away from Hank. She tapped Trishna on the shoulder, startling Trishna and Hank, and ever so slyly asked Trishna if she could help her with something, throwing in a fake apology in there for good measure.

Trishna, not wanting to upset her friend or not help Penny in her time of need, was quick to nod and say goodbye to Hank, letting Penny lead her to god knows where for her "help."

Although Penny was jumping inside for joy that her tactic actually worked, she knew this was far from over. Their relationship wasn't going to dissipate overnight after all, and if she learned a thing or two from Ocean, words could hurt.

Penny was more than glad to hurt Hank in any way she could.

And hurt she did.

It started small, just a few negative comments about his appearance, intellect, character, and anything she could nitpick about Hank, she did.

Then her words started to grow more nasty, nothing too bad, but definitely enough for Trishna to notice and take the information in, being reminded of Penny's words every time she looked at the boy she loved.

There were a few times Trishna would ask Penny to be nicer, but that maybe only lasted for a few days before Penny was right back at it. It wasn't like she was telling lies, just the harsh truth. She shouldn't have to settle for anything less than what she deserves and he is definitely bottom of the barrel.

And then came the blame game, Penny would make up tons of photos and videos as "proof" that Hank wasn't as good as he makes himself out to be.

Penny was a good storyteller, Ezra could tell you that much, which is why her stories of catching him doing horrible acts seemed so real, so plausible to Trishna. Whatever Penny set her mind to, she made it out to be like it actually happened.

For so long, through all of this negativity and horror stories about what Hank was "really like," Trishna felt herself wanting to be farther and farther away from him.

She really did try to not see it this way, to defend his honor and say that he wouldn't do these horrible things that Penny supposably saw, but it got to a point where she was tired of defending him. Where she would look at another photo of him doing something illegal and she could only mutter, "Oh, Hank..."

How could she defend someone who only kept doing the things that she swore were a one-time mistake? She just couldn't, she slipped farther and farther from Hank's grasp, not being near the doting girlfriend she was before.

And one day, she just broke.

Trishna went to him after choir practice and broke it off, explaining how she couldn't be with someone who acted like he did. Hank did try to defend himself, saying how he never had done such things and was baffled at the photoshopped pictures and deepfake videos of him doing things he could never dream of, but Trishna was done with the lies.

Just like the kiss, Penny saw the whole thing, from Trishna leading him to a private area to her breaking their relationship off, to Hank trying to defend himself, and so on and so forth. Penny was immensely glad all her hard work paid off, that there was no point where Trishna thought she was seriously lying and wanted to break their friendship off.

Because Trishna knows she's only doing what's best for her.

Trishna knows deep down that Hank was only a minor setback that was just meant to show her how much Penny loves her.

Penny couldn't care less if it was the morally wrong thing to do because Trishna was hers.

Constance Blackwood:

"I love you, I love you so much that I think I might actually die if I can't spend the rest of my life with you. You are the first thing I think of when I wake up and the last thing I think of when I go to bed... It hurts how much I love you, please, tell me this isn't just me. Please tell me that you love me as well..."

Those words rang in Constance's ears like firecrackers on July 1st, echoing in her mind as she felt her body shaking, tears springing up in her brown eyes.

This was it, the biggest joke life has ever played on Constance Blackwood, the biggest prank of all time.

Watching her crush confess to another person.

The world never liked her, did it? With all its mocking words, cruel pranks, and the awful way it made her feel, nothing was ever going to change and she would be stuck in the hell hole known as Uranium forever alone.

Watching Trishna and Hank stare at each other lovingly, Hank accepting her confession with his own words of devotion to her, hurt Constance to her very soul.

She thought Trishna was different, she thought that this time, life had thrown her bone and there was finally some light at the end of its treacherous tunnel.

Constance thought she finally, truly loved.

How could she have been so wrong?

And watching the one person she thought was different in this town kiss someone that wasn't her made her actually want to bawl... Like, it was tearing her already fragile heart apart, and had to look away before it could leave it permanently scarred (like it wasn't already.)

But of course, Constance wasn't going to speak out.

She wasn't going to go up to them and tell Trishna how much watching them get together hurts her, she wasn't going to allow herself to be selfish this once and proclaim her love for Trishna right in front of Hank, she wasn't going to do that.

It was going to be like how it always was.

Constance Blackwood was going to walk away as if nothing happened, as if her whole life wasn't crashing at the seams even if it was.

Trishna was her whole life, the only girl she even had the slightest thought make like her back, the only girl who she didn't pressure herself to always be "okay" around.

Her whole world was crashing and there was nothing she could ever do to stop it.

...

Trishna knew something was off with Constance.

Lately, the girl had been really distant from her, always holding onto some kind of tension, and even sometimes flat-out avoiding her.

Trishna wouldn't have made a big deal out of it normally, maybe she just wanted some space away from her? She could respect that. But as days turned into weeks turned into a good 2 months, Trishna was getting more worried by the minute...

They used to be so close, what happened to make things change this dramatically? Did Trishna do something wrong...? Did she really make Constance, the nicest girl in town, upset?

She couldn't help but wonder...

Constance on the other hand, was just trying to avoid her feelings of heartbreak like the plague, even if that meant avoiding Trishna a lot of the time. She just couldn't take it some days... Looking at Trishna was a reminder of everything that she has ever dealt with in life, all the pain and hurt. Even if she loved Trishna so dearly, she couldn't do that to herself.

The only solace Trishna had in this trying time was Hank, her ever-so-loving boyfriend whom she adored.

She had mentioned this issue to him a couple of times, Hank's usual advice being to give Constance some space and she will open back up over time. But seeing Trishna so worried as she brought up the problem again, he knew he needed to take a different approach to it.

He gives her a quick peck on the lips, something that always managed to keep the rambling girl at least a bit quieter, and he gives the simple advice, "Maybe instead of just waiting around and worrying, you should go ask her what's wrong." Trishna was really tempted to kick herself for not thinking of that.

With Hank's advice in mind, Trishna planned the first sleepover the girls would have in months, a seemingly innocent afternoon that Constance admitted she needed to have desperately. Maybe these silly feelings can reside and their relationship can just go back to how it used to be.

What Constance wasn't in fact ready for was for Trishna, in the middle of making popcorn for a movie they were going to watch later, to ask out of nowhere, "Why have you been avoiding me these past few months? ...Did I do something wrong?"

Of course, Constance denied that saying that she didn't do anything wrong and using the excuse that she was just hanging out with Ocean more, but Trishna was quick to see through this.

After a bit of back and forth between the two girls, Constance finally broke down and said it, saying what had been on her mind these as of late.

...Well, everything but the fact that she was hopelessly in love with the girl, but can you blame her when she was already at her lowest?

She told her how she caught them confessing a while back and how she doesn't like Hank, admitting to Trishna that she thinks she should break up with the boy, for Trishna's sake. It was, a lot to take in for Trishna, to hear her best friend doesn't like the boy she's been dating and has been crushing on since forever, but more so, she was incredibly sad that her relationship was causing Constance so much grief.

Of course, she wants to say Hank isn't a bad guy and that she was just being a worrywart, but watching Constance just break down, crying in her arms as she explains everything to her... Trishna didn't want to hurt her anymore.

It took a good chunk of time but even more, tissues before Constance was finally calmed down, her heart laid out vulnerably in front of Trishna as she silently begged her not to break it.

Constance's eyes said it all, no longer bright and happy, but racked with grief. She will no be the bearer of pain to Constance and no longer, she can't, or how she still call herself this girl's friend?

With a sigh, she promised Constance right then and there that she would break up with Hank.

Constance Blackwood was finally shown some of the light she should have been given such a long time ago.

[sweatertheman]

its baffling to me how people take susie's behavior towards noelle (being nice to her, failing to pick up on her advances, feeling awkward around her, mostly just trying to keep distance so as not to potentially turn away one of the few people to treat her decently) as "susie has a crush on noelle too! she just doesn't know it yet!" but then turn around and take her behavior towards ralsei (being flustered by him constantly, asking if he's going to put his hat back on, openly admitting to thinking he's made for hugs, wanting to spend more time with him, teasing him all the time) as "they're just friends! she isn't into him!"

like, are y'all even looking at the game?!

it seems more likely to me that susie thinks about noelle because she considers noelle a friend, and that she feels awkward around noelle because literally every interaction they have is made awkward by noelle constantly stammering and blushing and staring at her! its impossible not to feel awkward when the other person is always acting weird and you don't know why, and also there's pink and hearts everywhere!

jesus christ!

to be honest, it took me a little while to realize just how awkward noelle's behavior towards susie makes things and how that's probably why susie also acts awkward. and, not to brag, but i am REALLY smart. very media literate. no wonder other people haven't realized yet!

taking susie's behavior about noelle when she isn't around, it really doesn't seem like romantic interest. notices her strange behavior and immediately suspects noelle is going to ruin her friendship with kris by invading their special dark world stuff, gets pissed off noelle didnt give the chalk she had to alphys. thinks of how noelle would react to stuff in castle town (sad noelle had to forget their fun adventure,) thinks noelle would like gingerbread (christmas, makes sense,) recognising the way noelle smells (admittedly weird, but susie also eats ralsei's dummy and smells kris' hair, so).

like jeez it feels hypocritical.

[doesthatsuggestanythingtoyou]

Uhm Hi! How are you? I hope you're doing amazingly well 😊 i was just wondering if I could request a Lady Lesso x reader

Where Lady Lesso she found out that she was pregnant and get really nervous about telling Y/N,not knowing what Y/N would say nor how she will react to it so she didn't tell the younger woman but Y/N had noticed her girlfriend's silly actions and behavior so when the days over she told Lesso she needs to talk to her,and Lesso being nervous than she already is thought Y/N's going to leave her when Y/N had said that Lesso tells her she's pregnant but Y/N can't believe it but none other than that she's happy and can't stop asking if it's really hers

Thank you 🥰 I wish you all the best! Stay and keep safe always 💞💛 have a great day/night

-🤓

Simultaneously

> lady lesso x fem!reader

> requested? yes!

> warnings: none

> a/n: tysm for requesting this! i had fun playing with the characters banter lol

“Stop fidgeting, Leonora!”

“I can't help it, Clarissa!”

“Have some patience for the woman, Dovey. She's pregnant after all.” Emma butted in while grading her papers. Although she couldn't believe that Leonora was pregnant, actually she could believe it, after all Leonora did marry an Ever, but her getting knocked up? Oh she was more surprised than ever.

“Be quiet, Anemone!”

“Oh sorry, we wouldn't want Y/N to know what's happening, right? Even though she is the mother of the child.” How it happened, Emma didn't want to know.

“She's coming! Be quiet!” Dovey whispered. She was happy for Y/N and Lesso, but she was Leonora's friend before yours, so she would help the other dean as much as possible.

•

Knocking, you heard hush voices talking on the other side of the door.

“Come in!”

Pushing the door open, you raised your eyebrow at the sight of your wife having... tea? with Emma Anemone and Clarissa Dovey.

Frowning, you put your hands on your hips and asked. “What are you three plotting?”

“Nothing bad.” came Leonora's answer.

“Coming from you?” you scoffed and sauntered towards them. “Perhaps poisoned teas?” you picked up a cup and sniffed it before downing it.

“Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, I would've done it before marrying you.”

“Oh but where's the fun in that, my love?”

“You know, I'm starting to think you're a Never disguised as an Ever.” Emma commented. Sure, she knew you very much, as she was your sister after all.

“The feeling is mutual, my dear sister.”

Smiling, you sat on Leonora's lap and kissed her forehead. “I wouldn't do that if I were you.” came Dovey's comment.

“Do what?”

“Get off me, darling.” Leonora pushed you, not harshly but enough to send you tumbling down.

“Ouch!” You put your hands on your chest. Truly you weren't hurt by the fall, you were hurt by your significant other not wanting any physical contact from you.

Pulling yourself from the floor, you rolled your eyes. “I'm starting to doubt this marriage, Leonora.”

“Don't start, Y/N.” Emma warned, but you gave a sneer and stomped out of the room.

•

Days passed and you couldn't be bothered to speak to your wife. Although she was acting different, and by different, her eating habits, from eating anything in the morning to only eating vegetables, became a surprise to you. Leonora would always eat up anything she could digest, but now, she was careful.

Another change is her clothing, sure she would always wear something tight beneath her vest, but now all she wore was her vest and a white polo.

Deciding to end whatever was happening between the two of you, you grabbed her arm and dragged her down to the Doom Room just as dinner ended.

Slamming the door shut, you pointed to the chair in the middle. “Sit.”

“How you know this room exists is quite baffling to me.” Albeit joking, she followed your order. It wasn't everyday her Ever wife became dominant with her.

“We need to talk.”

With your words, Leonora froze. Her eyes widened at the thought of you leaving her. Her nervousness didn't help, as well as the swelling of her bump.

Swallowing, Leonora clenched her jaw. “About what?”

“We can't keep doing this, Leonora.”

“Can't keep doing what?” If you were playing a game, she would play with you until you surrender.

Breathing deeply, you closed your eyes. “Leonora, just apologize.”

Now it was her turn to breathe deeply, you weren't leaving her, you just wanted an apology from her. And she knew exactly what her apology was for. “I'm sorry for keeping it a secret from you.”

“Tha– what?”

“I'm sorry for not telling you sooner that I am pregnant, with your child.”

It felt like time froze for Leonora, she couldn't look at your face. Whether it had disappointed written all over it or joy, she didn't want to know.

“Leo...” Lifting your hands to your mouth, you walked towards her softly. “Oh my love.”

You cupped her face and leaned your forehead against hers. “Look at me, my love.”

Leonora knew she couldn't resist you, not when you were this close to her. Drawing her eyes to you, she saw you smiling tearfully at her. Returning your smile, she let a tear roll down her cheeks. You weren't disappointed at her.

“It really is mine?” you asked as you lifted your hand to caress her stomach.

“Of course.”

Laughing, you sniffed and gave your wife a tearful kiss. Oh how grateful you were for her.

“I love you.”

Both of you said simultaneously, looking at each other's eyes with more love than any Ever with a happy ever after could have.

[ruinaimagines]

Hello, hello! Quite happy to see you back, was getting a bit worried seeing you be inactive for so long! That aside I was curious what your thoughts would be on how the Sephirah would react to an employee teaching nothing there to shitpost!

These poor poor sephirah… And thank you for the concern! I assure you that even if I depart I am likely a-okay. This was a fun one, hope you enjoy

Sephirah Reacting to an Employee teaching Nothing There to Shitpost Headcanons:

Malkuth would be absolutely baffled upon hearing whatever ungodly things you taught this aleph to mutter. It’s enough to make even a workaholic like her freeze in her tracks with sheer confusion. Why.. Did you teach it to say that?? She imagined that an employee capable of repeatedly working with such dangerous abnormalities would be a bit more mature.. Her assumption was wrong. She might scold you a bit but I think she’s too fascinated with it to actually care too much. Usually she always has something to say.. But this? No words. Kind of thinks some of the bizarre things you taught it to say are funny but would never admit that because she does not want to tarnish her attempts at being the prime sephirah.

Lord, I think you would send Yesod into cardiac arrest. Probably calls for a meeting to figure out who’s responsible for this and chastises their immature behavior being unbefitting of a corporate employee. It depends on how good you are at keeping a poker face because his pure seriousness about this is absolutely priceless. You’d think he was yelling at you for kicking his dog or something. Sighs with a really stressed tone and probably utters something under his breath as the meeting ends. If you are found out you’re likely going to get a huge scolding and have to work overtime. It’s worth it though.

Hod is sort of nervous first and foremost because she is concerned about the safety and potential repercussions you can experience for training an abnormality in such a way. After seeing how much fun it is for you though she’d support it considering the place is usually so dark and dreary.. It’s a nice contrast to see some people enjoying themselves. Doesn’t understand half of the things the meat dog is saying, but over time you may find she is gradually developing a quiet sense of humor towards the stupid things you do.

Netzach helps you. He does not care at all for this place, let alone formality, so you can guarantee he’s probably making his own suggestions. Also finds it funny to see Yesod so distressed over this. He doesn’t really interact with the abnormality itself but he will cover for you if you need it, implying it's someone else or even taking the blame altogether just so you can get away with it. You two are a devious duo and there is an impending sense of dread whenever you are in the vicinity. This is pretty much the only time he puts effort into planning things out and it’s all for some dumb humor. Definitely have inside jokes.

Tiphereth is like Yesod but worse. Huffs about how she’s the child yet you keep acting like one, doesn’t get half of the things Nothing There says but immediately knows it’s something bad, and can always tell when you are plotting something. If you work in her department with the abnormality, she has on multiple times threatened to move you out, and has even gone through with it once. It somehow does not stop you. Stares at you with the intensity of 50 suns the moment you have the audacity to step in the slightest direction of Nothing There. She has scrounged every single part of the corporation’s terms and conditions to find some rule you’re violated, and made multiple reports on why you can not keep getting away with this. Only Yesod really agrees.

Chesed is thoroughly entertained by this. He may not outright participate like Netzach, but he silently encourages it by urging you to continue telling your stories. Most of the time he’s just sitting around doing work in his office so he’s not going to say no to something new. Doesn’t really take part in your scheming but always knows when something is done because of Tiphereth, it’s his alarm that you’re up to trouble. Has hosted you in his department to hide away from the others like a fugitive before.

Gebura hates abnormalities. She does not understand why you are doing this, especially when it poses an unnecessary threat to your own safety. Overall views abnos like Nothing There as detestable creatures incapable of domestic feats like training. That said, hearing it cuss out and insult employees –even sephirah– at times is pretty funny. It says things that no man working there would ever have the courage to, and that bluntness is laughable at times. She believes that if you are going to mess around with it somehow then this is one of the least awful ways.

Hokma is too tired for this man. He’s old and too caught up in philosophical ramblings. Doesn’t necessarily tell you to stop, but if you bring it up he will turn it into what feels like a 4 hour session dissecting the implications that’s vaguely reminiscent of when grandparents go ‘back in my day’ and proceed to verbally produce an essay. You’ll be asleep by the time he’s finished and remind yourself to never directly approach him about it again. I think he would let you off easy because he totally would have thought about doing this when he was younger.

Binah’s reaction is completely incomprehensible. You’d think by the way she was staring you down with an ominous aura that she was unimpressed by your childish attempts at playing around. You couldn’t be more wrong. She is going to cease an opportunity to mess with people at any point, and will directly help you with getting Nothing There to shitpost. You think Netzach would plan things out? She has a full schedule that she presents to you to optimize the teaching process, carefully plotted out with graphs and condensed sheets of paper. You will figure out how to make it speak full sentences bordering on some revolutionary discovery all because it’s humorous. No one knows she is helping you because she is so good at keeping it hidden behind a neutral look on her face. No one would dare question Binah after all, not with her intimidating composure, which makes it so easy for her to take part (not even you initially thought she would go along with this). It’s a secret alliance between you two.

[seeyouslater]

Spoilers for Creep and Creep 2:

Note: I will be switching names for the killer when I start talking about the sscond movie, since that is how he's referred to by other characters.

First off, can I just say, I appreciate how weird and out there these movies are? The cinematography choices in both films work well for the stories they are telling and add to the atmosphere. By not being able to see both characters on screen at the same time, it leaves the audience to guess how the other half is reacting- when it is not audible.

Aaron's decisions throughout the first movie, while addressed later by Josef, baffle me to no belief. I understand (in some way) wanting to get closure and answers. The police are not assisting the capture of Josef and are not taking Aaron's concerns seriously. Due to this I can see where Aaron's mindspace might have been in that moment. He's scared, it's obvious that Josef can freely access his apartment without his knowledge, and Josef's claimed to be and have done several things that have been proven wrong. Aaron wants this to end and maybe a part of him wants to help Josef.

The two things I do not understand is 1. He does not bring a weapon with him. It can be reasoned he didn't want to escalate the situation by bringing one, but I still would have brought at least mace. 2. He turns his back on him! I do not care how harmless this man is, he has threatened you, and I would never turn my back on someone like that.

Remember when I said there were only two things I didn't understand?? Well, I've now realized that's not true. 3. Who is Angela? She answers the phone when Aaron answers and seems to know that Josef is unstable. I was reading some theories on Reddit and they all seem viable. From her being the actual Josef's sister (implying that real Josef can be perhaps as unpredicable as on screen Josef and real Josef's house is used as the next lure-murder scene after he himself gets killed), to her being on-screen Josef's wife/sister, to his accomplice. A third movie is in production, so I hope they explain this and it isn't just a continuity error.

Finally, we get to the second movie. Right out the gate, Sara is iconic and by far my favorite character from both films. She's just so openly accepting and willing to take people as they are, with all their eccentricities. Which is a hazard for what she does on YouTube but alas, I believe it is this quality that saves her.

Sara is able to get Aaron to see a different perspective on his work, life, and most importantly, purpose. Aaron no longer sees killing as his whole life's purpose and starts to remove himself from the narrative of prolific serial killer to prolific serial killer with a unique ending. This ending is what ultimately saves Sara. Instead of just being another one of his countless victims, Sara, by virtue of her being genuinely and honestly herself, has convinced him that she can create a better story than he ever could.

This ending sequence, however, is the one thing that bothers me as far as Sara's behavior goes. She is given the opportunity to run away, and she does not. She charges at Josef, and he's able to get the knife back. After this altercation, he stabs her and starts monologing. He talks about how he will now continue his work as a serial killer, switching from himself killing, to dying, to them both dying, to just her. It is evident that all the work Sara did to get him out of that cycle is gone now. Sara is able to hit him.om the back of a head with a shovel, but yet she doesn't make sure he's dead?? It seems from the framing of the last scene that she doesn't even call the cops?! I get not wanting to kill him (even though he tried to kill her but that aside), as that's never an easy thing to do. She one hundred percent should have called the cops on him though. Then he would be a wanted man and would not be able to come after her like he does. I do like to think that instead of Josef killing Sara, that either she becomes his accomplice or is able to get away/finally kill him, but I doubt that anything other than the first scenario will happen.

All in all, I thought these movies were funny more than anything, and that made it more enjoyabpe than anything. To be able to laugh at it and the absurdity of it all. That's exactly that's how I approach the Scream movies too and it makes it a more enjoyable watch.

[maya-matlin]

Five ships: Jonnor, Morisol, Spaige, Bhandallas, Beckdam

Five characters: Ellie, Ashley, Liberty, Terri, Emma

Bonus: Name your five most seemingly unpopular Degrassi opinions :)

1.) Spaige

2.) Morisol

3.) Jonnor

4.) Beckdam

5.) Bhandallas

1.) Liberty

2.) Ellie

3.) Emma

4.) Ashley

5.) Terri

As for my opinions:

1.) I'm not sure how to phrase this without it coming across like I'm excusing Tristan's biphobia or trying to shut down fans' rightful and completely understandable criticisms re: Tristan's biphobic moments. But, I think Tristan sometimes gets scapegoated as the biphobic guy. Degrassi always had a massive biphobia problem, and it didn't begin and end with Tristan. It's present as early as Paige's time on the show. Like many shows at the time and even some present day shows, they refused to label any polysexual characters. It's always "I like people". "I'm not into labels." "I don't like this gender, but I like you." "I'm open minded." Anything that talks around the possibility that a character could be anything besides straight or gay/lesbian. Obviously, sexual orientation isn't limited to a specific label. Oftentimes, people choose to remain unlabeled, fall somewhere under the queer umbrella, or consider things like this very complex and therefore don't take on a label. It's the casual way Imogen goes from "I like people" to being referred to as a lesbian during her final season and expressing disgust when contemplating getting involved with her canonical ex boyfriend. The writers' Twitter "confirmed" Imogen as pansexual years later and that's also how I interpret the character's sexual orientation, but.. it doesn't change how they chose to portray Imogen's sexual orientation. However, it's also true that society is only now starting to catch up and has started writing their characters accordingly. Tristan's ignorance about Miles's sexual orientation and refusal to put his insecurities aside and accept that he's in love with a bisexual man until his final season has no excuse. There could have been an arc dedicated to Tristan unlearning this behavior and being a better partner and person in general. This never happened. Degrassi did the absolute bare minimum by having Lola be the one to validate Miles's identity presumably after enough people called them out on social media following the premiere of Next Class season 1. Tristan sort of halfway accepts that Miles is bi, but it's Miles who has the dialogue explaining while there's never acknowledgement that Tristan hadn't accepted Miles up to this point or made him feel any type of way. And on that note, Miles isn't shown reacting to any biphobia. We don't know what he thinks, whether he's mad, feels rejected, insecure, feels as though he needs to be "less" to be accepted by his boyfriend, etc. I don't think I made any sort of point, but basically I feel like everything gets reduced to "Tristan is trash," and that's the end of the conversation when I feel like it goes much deeper?

2.) Eli wasn't out of character during seasons 13 and 14. There's a precedent for Eli lashing out and blaming Clare when things don't go his way or she does something he perceives as wrong. Also, while the timeline was baffling, Eli's only human and it's not surprising that he'd struggle with loneliness once he and Clare were physically separated. As for season 14, Eli being possessive and saying inappropriate, vaguely misogynistic things to Clare 100% lines up with canon. Eli also seemed fully lucid to me when he was calling Clare a whore. He was clearly getting off on that and only changed his stance when he realized she was carrying his child.

3.) This is so minor, but I don't give a flying fuck that Alex Steele came back as Tori and not Angie. It's television. Actors play multiple roles all the time. It's kind of annoying that this overshadows Tori's whole character and existence. I don't think she was around long enough to be super complex or anything, but I liked that character for who she was and the monthly comments complaining about this since like 2011 have been annoying.

4.) As much as I love the idea of Spinner and Terri getting together and possibly becoming endgame in a scenario where Terri sticks around, in actuality I think Spinner would have dropped the ball hard. Considering how he behaved with Paige during season 4, I doubt he would have been the best boyfriend to Terri with or without Paige's interference. As shady as Paige was, Spinner's interest switched from Terri to Paige extremely quickly.

5.) Ashley was depressed throughout her time on the show barring the year she spent in London and everyone missed it, the writers included. I don't know that this is actually unpopular, but she's constantly misunderstood and accused of being "moody" and "dramatic" and it's just very obvious to me that she's unhappy a lot of the time and feels very stifled. She's desperate to find some sort of way to express herself whether it be by writing and performing songs or altering her physical appearance. And at the end of season 4, I genuinely think her mental health had taken its toll which forced her to cut contact with Craig and get the hell away from Degrassi. While she came back seemingly with a new lease on life and appeared happier during season 6, by season 7 she was back to feeling limited and suddenly, the plans she made with Jimmy that used to make sense felt all wrong. IDK.

[yautja-lover]

Headcanons of each Yautja on how they'll react to their human mate drinking c'ntlip.

Feral Predator's Reaction:

• Feral has just gotten back from his hunting trip and came back to Earth to visit you like he normally does, who accidentally left a bottle of c'ntlip behind from his last visit.

• He walks in to find that you have some how managed to drink almost half the bottle of the c'ntlip, let alone manage to stand while singing and dancing to your little oomans heart content.

• Your speakers blaring out loud playing 'Rude Boy' by Rihanna the sound almost starling your beastly and loving mate when he opened the door.

• Not only that you were completely naked.. well, almost naked .. nearly giving your mate blue balls at the sight of you wearing a see-thorough robe while singing and dancing.

• Singing the bridge of the song without even noticing that you have a visitor until you got to the last three lines "Come here right now.." while signaling him to move closer, which he did.

• "Take it, take it baby, baby Take it, take it Love me, love me" the two of you grinding against each other, until things got heated quickly during the chorus.

Scar Predator's Reaction:

• You were teaching Scar the human culture of how much fun it could be to drink and dance, you were planning on using a human intoxicating beverage.

• But somehow managed to grab the wrong 'pink drink' mistaking the bottle of c'ntlip for a bottle of Smirnoff Pink Lemonade, granted Scar poured the drinks for you but neither of you seem to notice your mistake.

• Or maybe, neither of you seemed to care.. I mean you deserve to have some fun dammit!

• While he poured the drinks you turned on the radio and taught Scar how to loosen up and have fun.

• It wasn't until 'I Need a Big Boy, Give Me a Big Boy' Speed Up remix by AA Records came on, when the two of you were bouncing up and down dancing silly while you sang along and he clicks his tucks to the beat of the song.

• At some point, Chopper was interested in what you two were doing and joined along "It's cuffing season And now we got a reason to get a boy I need a big boy Gimme the big boyyy, It's cuffing season And all the girls are leaving to get a big boy I need a big boy I want a big boy"

• Scar wraps his arms around your waist and lightly swings you around, as you sing "I need a big boy with polar bear arms, Keeps me warm when there's a storm."

• Meanwhile Celtic just stands there unfazed with his arms crossed, now that this has become a thing with you and his younger brothers while standing there thinking 'oomans are so pauk-de weird.'

Wolf Predator's Reaction:

• When Wolf found you drunk from drinking c'ntlip he was so pauk-de confused and a bit concerned on how much you've drank.

• Your behavior changed smashing things.. mainly your cup, being insanely loud instead of being your shy and quiet self.

• PAUK! You weren't even speaking your own language and the weird part was he's never heard you speak another language, except for when he's teaching you his own language.. but you weren't even speaking that, like what the pauk?!

• "Men trærne de danser Og fossene stanser Når hun synger, hun synger 'kom hjem' Men trærne de danser Og fossene stanser" what baffled, him the most was at some point during the song you would sing in your normal language. "When she sings, she sings 'come home' When she sings, she sings 'come home' then go right back to that other language.

• Wolf is just constantly tilting his head at you, like a confused puppy while keeping an eye on you.. especially, when you start making the 'sssh' noise to no one in particular then sing again.

• "I stormsvarte fjell jeg vandrer alene Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem I eplehagen står møyen den vene Og synger: når kommer du hjem?"

• After you were done you then, shouted "To Wolf everybody!" and downed the rest of your drink before slamming the cup on the floor, as you shout "Another!" while looking at your mate expecting him to pour you another glass.

• Of course, Wolf looks down at the smashed cup on the floor of his ship then looks back at you with a 'you really think I'm gonna pour you another glass, after that?' look before picking you up and taking your drunk-ass to bed.

Fugitive Predator's Reaction:

• You were having a really hard time and just needed a drink to forget about your troubles, your mate wasn't having the best week either.

• So the two of you started drinking the c'ntlip together until both of your head's start getting that buzz feeling.

• At some point, you started singing the sailor song from Jaws "Show me the way to go home, home, home I'm tired and I to go to bed I had a drink about an hour ago.." while Fugitive looks at you confused.

• So you ended up showing him the movie and watch Jaws while drinking.

Crucified Predator's Reaction:

• You weren't even sure why or when you started drinking the strange pink stuff but here you were drinking it like it's soda while listening to the radio.

• When Crucified walked into the room 'Still Alive' by Demi Lovato came on being a Scream fan, you started singing along while using the bottle, as your mic "Woke up under water Throat chained at the collar Couldn't get any farther From the daylight Was I still dreaming Stuck to a machine or Choking and screaming with my hands tied."

• Your mate is just staring at you in awe, as you sing and dance along to the pre-chorus "Callin' and callin' but nobody comes Fallin' and fallin' no air in my lungs Getting so comfortably numb Don't know how I opened up my eyes But I'm..."

• Crucified started dancing with you and twirled you around, as you sung the second pre-chorus "Chasing the ghosts that would haunt me at night Facing my past cause I'm up for the fight Somebody turned on the light I'm not afraid to open up my eyes And I'm..."

Yautja Language - English Translation

c'ntlip - intoxicating Yautja beverage

ooman - human

pauk-de - fucking

pauk - fuck

Norwegian Language - English Translation

Men trærne de danser - But the trees they dance

Og fossene stanser - And the waterfalls stop

Når hun synger, hun synger - When she sings, she sings

Kom hjem - come home

I stormsvarte fjell jeg vandrer alene - In storm-black mountains I wander alone

Over isbreen tar jeg meg frem - I make my way over the glacier

I eplehagen står møyen den vene - In the apple orchard stands the old man

Og synger: når kommer du hjem? - And sings: when will you come home?

[ailelie]

Okay. The Legend of the Five and character motivations.

Since the characters are all forced to face their deepest anxieties at one point in the film, we do have a good idea of part of what is driving them. The exception is Owen. Owen is a mystery (he is also the sequel teaser).

Javier is searching for his long-lost dad and refuses to accept his father doesn't love him.

Kaylee fears that she doesn't know how to engage with people and chooses to be an observer because she knows she'll never have real friends.

Caitlyn fears that she has nothing to contribute to world beyond being popular in high school, that she has peaked and there's nothing left for her.

Zoe is grieving her mother and feels guilty for missing her last moments to be with her.

Owen maybe fears that he isn't a smart or brilliant as he and others think he is and, without his brains, has nothing left to contribute. Again, this is a guess because we don't see Owen's fear. We also know that Owen is very curious, which could potentially lead to problems.

I would have loved for Javier's desire to find his father translate into a fear of losing people and for him to be the one protecting the group and watching out for everyone. (This also explains his behavior re: Owen. When Caitlyn shows interest in Owen, Javier brings Owen in rather than risk losing Caitlyn. In the movie, Owen is visibly baffled by Javier's behavior).

Caitlyn is the only one who bests her own mirror. She then touches and hugs the others, reminding them they're not alone (and giving them some fire energy), to help them best their own mirrors. I would have loved to see her insecurities earlier on (there's even a moment when Kaylee tells her she's peaked in HS; Caitlyn should have reacted more to that). With her insecurities built sooner, her defeat of the mirror would have felt like more of a triumph. Also, what she has to give is that she inspires the others. (At one point, when Owen is afraid, she talks to him and helps him be brave).

Kaylee is harder, but I would have loved for her drawings to have become a bridge to others rather than a barrier. Earlier she drew pictures to upset people, but what if she had had an opportunity to draw as a way of getting past an obstacle or helping the group find someone or something? Or if she drew a portrait to make someone feel braver rather than smaller? As 'Ether,' Kaylee is the force that connects everyone together. I would have loved to see that in her arc as well--the girl who fears she will always be alone being the girl who connects everyone together.

As for Zoe, I already talked about pushing the food thing a bit more to really manifest her grief. But! Zoe only touches the artifact in the early scene because she hears her mother. She first rejects the sorcerer and refuses to help her, but the later (off screen) agrees to help. This would have been so much better if the sorcerer had promised to use the power of the tree to bring back her mother. This would have (a) sharpened the betrayal when the sorcerer admits she was behind the cancer, and (b) would have increased Zoe's personal stakes when she decided to destroy the tree.

As for Owen, I would love to see his curiosity get him into trouble and for, at some point, to have someone tell him that his value isn't in having answers, but being the one to ask the questions no one else thinks to ask.

How could they have fit this in? Maybe they could have shortened the walking montage and removed the utterly pointless gnomes posturing at each other and farting on campfires to make fireballs that hurt nothing and no one.

[spidersmiceandeverythingnice]

I actually really like the take abt Rowaelin's interaction in HoF and how it relates to Tamlin's behavior in the HL meeting. I read Heir of Fire and kind of just blanked on the interaction between Aelin and Rowan lol. I know he punched her and that’s it, so I don’t really know anything else on that.

I think the reason people are so quick to condemn people like Tamlin and Rowan for their behavior in these scenes is because their reactions are much more common than the things they’re reacting to. There are a lot of people who’ve been through harmful, abusive relationships where they were faced with physically abusive s/os, and so they find it harder to understand the interaction between the two of them, especially since Rowan and Aelin later end up endgame. Same thing with Tamlin. A lot of people can empathize with how Feyre is debased and humiliated in the High Lord Meeting by Tamlin, but not many people can relate to how Tamlin’s essentially lost his entire Court and all his hard work over the course of the war’s progression.

Not everything’s black and white! What Tamlin said during the HL meeting was unprofessional and not a good thing to say, but he did just lose everything to Feyre’s incompetent actions.

It’s just that people are able to relate to the things that happened to Aelin and Feyre more, so they’re more willing to condemn them. For example, in the Harry Potter fandom, you’ve got people who will ship the MC with a genocidal maniac who they’ve glorified to hell, but you won’t see a single person on Earth saying a single positive thing about Umbridge. And wanna know why? Because not many people can say they’ve been through what victims of Voldemort have been through. But a shit ton of people can say they’ve faced injustice in the face of an authority figure.

Oh absolutely - you're correct about this one for sure. It also doesn't help that in a lot of ways, Aelin and Feyre are meant to be self-inserts. (Aelin has this to a lesser degree and apart from her physical appearance, she's allowed to be her own character with her own motivations; Feyre, however, is just straight up an SJM self-insert married to a character whose meant to resemble SJM's real life husband, who got pregnant in part because of that fact that SJM decided to start having her own kids irl.) They're meant to be somewhat relatable because they're female YA/NA protagonists and therefore they're "role models" for teens and young women. You're meant to project upon them - again, this is especially true for Feyre, the only SJM heroine whose narrative is given in the ultra-initimate first person.

I recently tried to have a discussion on Reddit (my first mistake, I know) with someone who got extremely testy when I pointed out that Rhysand and Tamlin BOTH abused Feyre, and Feyre just decided that Rhysand's abuse was justified while Tamlin's was not. This person immediately came at me with, "Well some of us have actually BEEN thru abuse!! I was also abused just like Feyre!" This person revealed that details of their abuse in their comments. And when I explained that one, I'm absolutely not going to tell an internet stranger my personal experiences with abusive behaviors just for clout on faerie novels, and two, abuse is still abuse no matter why it happens - they just kind of got pissed that I was calling them an "abuse apologist" - which I wasn't.

(Abuse is, in fact, a behavior - which is something i dont see discussed very much. People don't magically become "abusers" because theyre bad evil masterminds; every person alive is capable of abusing. Whether it's a pattern or a one time event, it's still abuse! This is why, in interpersonal relations, it's important to have boundaries and to communicate - and to decide what matters more for you personally: the intent of an action, or the impact or it. This is what nuanced discussion of abuse looks like.)

Writing nuance is tricky and it kinda baffles me that ToG succeeds at it when ACOTAR doesn't seem to want to touch on it. Rowan is allowed to be an asshole and face consequences - so is Aelin. Things work out for her because she's got bad Main Character Syndrome and half her Genius plans are executed off screen, not because everyone automatically falls on their ass to like her and worship her.

The thing with ACOTAR is that it literally tricks you into thinking nuance exists in the story when it's text is presenting the most black and white morality tale imimaginable. (And I'd originally say that it's due to the first person narration but given some of the ass-backwards narrative justifications written into Silver Flames, I genuinely think this is just an issue with SJM-world.) Tamlin can't be justified in his motivations and can't be a victim of abuse or violence because he is Bad. Rhysand had a good reason for hurting Feyre, so she forgives him and considers him a selfless martyr - he is Good and we the readers are also meant to forgive him. Bad people deserve violence and good people commit violence for good reasons, so it's not Real violence and doesn't actually do any harm to anyone who matters.

The thing for me is - then I absolutely can't forgive a man who drugs a girl in order to make her into a toy for his own amusement. The fact that this was written into the love story of the MAIN HEROINE completely breaks my immersion and my ability to relate to her in any way. I cannot imagine falling for someone who is so openly manipulative and cruel no matter what inane supernatural force had linked my soul to this person.

I can, however, absolutely relate to feeling used and experiencing extreme self-loathing and lack of esteem, and wanting to insult people as cruelly as possible while in the depths of despair so that it creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of isolation whilst i get to experience a fleeting moment of righteous vindication - which is why characters like Nesta and Tamlin are far more palatable to me than Feyre.