#and then he went on a rant about how women want to be independent and free or whatever and men cant find partners or whatever the fuck

[smartichokes]

.

[dailymothanon]

HAWAI’I ⁉️ This design was made by my girlfriend and I’ve wanted to draw her for quite some time and it goes so hard I think about it often, god bless her design skills 🙏 I hope y’all love this hawai’i design too cuz I dig it so much and and and uuh. Listen. She’s just so pretty

(history rant below btw)

alright alright I KNOW I talk about Alaska to death but I’m just real passionate sometimes, and I think alaska’s history is heavily disregarded, so this time I’m gonna talk about the Aleutian islands

to start off the natives of the Aleutian Islands are the Unangan and Sugpiaq so keep that in mind

To show y’all how devastating Russian contact was by itself for them, in over the course of just 50 years, the native population of the Aleutians dropped by 80 percent. EIGHTY PERCENT. By both violence and European disease

one of the biggest events that broke the Aleutian natives back of resistance was the Awa’Uq, or Refuge Rock Massacre. Literally devastating shit, there’s not even a definitive number to how many natives were killed, from the range of 300 - 3,000. Those people were all men women and children, man. What triggered this? No idea, I couldn’t find anything, it was just something they chose to do i guess. Some jumped to their deaths trying to escape, men were forced into slavery, and women and children are taken as hostages to ensure the men’s cooperation, terrible terrible stuff. This process was continued all throughout everywhere the Russians went in Alaska as well. Also, the bodies were never buried, they were just abandoned and disrespected and no one could even come back there from all the decay and smell.

Awa’Uq means “to become numb��� or “where one becomes numb”

And in this event, it was caused by only 130 Russians. They suffered no casualties.

that massacre happened in 1784, btw, so to put perspective on that, this is the same year The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris, establishing the United States as an independent and sovereign nation, so Alaska’s been around for quite some time

There were obviously more stuff but I think I should space these tidbits around in future posts and also cuz I’m too tired to type anymore currently 😌 uhhh. I apologize for being a lil more serious with this rant, again, I think Alaska’s history is too forgotten and overlooked as just a “oh Alaska was a part of Russia” and that’s all, and that makes me a little upset that that’s all we’re shrugged off as

Overall, I’d say, Alaska stopped having huge devastating events by the 1990s or early 2000s, but I think a huge fear of Alaska’s is that he is afraid of history like that jumping all out again, feeling all terrible like that, being dreadful of things going bad all over again. Especially because no one’s gonna help (perhaps that’s just what he thinks), unlike the Lower 48 who have each other, surrounded by people that could help, yknow? I like deep conversation sometimes guys

[dedahblog]

My favorite ichiruki fanart from 2022.

(Please don't reupload )

This started as a mini rant but of course, everything went out of control.

Ichigo trying to look suave and confident, staring at Rukia straight in the eyes.

But in reality, everything, from his posture, his nervous smile to his eyes show an intense vulnerability and a shameless yearning to be loved back.

It summarizes the duality of his feelings for her.

On the one hand,

Ichigo sees Rukia as an independent woman who deserves to choose what she wants. He doesn't want to hold her accountable about how much she means to him.

Thus, he is adamant about not burdening her:

by accepting that she won't come back with him and live in his closet forever (yep pretty shocking) when he expected her to,

by smiling for her sake when he was losing his powers even though his heart was torn apart,

by not complaining to her directly or to other people about how she didn't come to visit him when he expected her to.

He kept this resentment to himself

On the other hand,

he still wants her in his orbit to keep up with the speed of the world as he says.

In the farewell sword panel above, "Tell everybody to say hi" was just an excuse because he selfishly wanted to look at her one last time before she faded away

Besides, in the SS arc, he took her feelings so personally because he sees her as an other side of him. He sees her as someone whose personal happiness and sadness are interwined with his.

Saving Rukia and assuring her happiness her independence to choose what she wants was also about saving himself from his guilt of being saved by the two women who protected him and saving himself from the despair he felt when he saw Rukia crying.

That's why, he wants to be certain that everyone who wronged her apologize to her (Byakuya and Urahara)

Everyone who neglected her show her how much she means to them, (Reji)

This might seem to be an egocentric way to love someone but it also leaves Ichigo is a vulnerable position where everything is up to Rukia :

If she decides that her happiness is not intertwined with him,

(please don't flashback back to that crappy ending, it doesn't exist)

he could never be angry or bitter because he respects her individuality too much. However, his yearning is too obvious to hide.

That's why I love this fanart. It shows his innocent but obvious emotional blackmail. He is showing her how he is not shying away from being put in a position below her. He wants her to see a vulnerability that he never shows to anyone

But at the same time, he would never dare to impose his feelings on her so he is silently imploring her to notice him :

"Even if you don't need me as much as I do... maybe I can... change your mind ....or not , if you don't want, ... you don't have to... but if you do, well ... I ..."

[dancingsunflowers-ocs]

𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙙𝙤𝙬 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝘽𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙊𝘾 ✸ 𝘓𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘢 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘻𝘰𝘷𝘢

It started with a women and her son. The women was strong willed, care free, and beautiful. She was elegant and wise. She loved her son deeply and wanted him to be independent and brave. She taught him the ways of the Grisha and she told him stories of how they were ostracized and unwanted from the rest of society. From his mother he learned how to be tough and to stick up for himself. He became very protective of his mother and wanted nothing more for her to be safe and happy. The women one day decided she wanted more for her son. Seeing as a child would want more than just his mother for company, she went into town and sought out a strong Grisha whom she would take to bed.  When the girl was born, the boy knew that he would do anything to keep her safe and happy just like his mother. As she got older she began to show her powers as a Tidemaker differing from her mother and brother. Even though their powers differed, they taught her everything they knew. 

As the boy grew more powerful and gained more control, the girl stayed by his side. He never made a decision without consulting her first and together their grew the second army. Unlike the boy, the girl quickly fit in with all of the other Grisha her age. She ate with them and went to classes with them, even though she was way beyond their knowledge in summoning. She was an extremely social being. As she grew up she became a bigger part in the court. She would often accompany her brother to the Grand Palace and she became an excellent diplomat. She was poised and elegant like her mother and resembled a queen. She was beautiful and quickly caught the eye of many of the boys at the many balls and dinners she would attend at both palaces.

She noticed her brother hovering and did not mind in the slightest for she did not have her eye on any of the boys except for one?

She had met with the royal family many times and quickly became close with the youngest prince because of his witty banter and his playful nature. Them being very close in age, they have hung out together since he was thirteen and her and her brother moved into the  little palace. Other than her brother he was the girl’s closest friend. They often snuck out at night to run through the grounds and play by the lake away from the palace. They confided in each other about their troubles— mainly ranting about their annoying older brothers— and laughed together throughout their growing years. They shared both of their first kisses together and, knowing of her brothers distaste for the girl having a relationship, snuck around the two palaces stealing kisses in empty palace rooms and at their spot along the lake after it was dark. Her brother remained protective of her, and he remained oblivious of their relationship as she promised him she had no interest in anyone. He knew that she was old enough to make her own smart decisions but he was terrified of someone hurting her so he kept her to himself. And hurt was exactly what happened to her

G͏E͏N͏E͏R͏A͏L͏ I͏N͏F͏O͏R͏M͏A͏T͏I͏O͏N͏:

F͏u͏l͏l͏ N͏a͏m͏e͏: Larissa Anastasia Morozova

A͏l͏i͏a͏s͏: N/A

S͏e͏r͏i͏e͏s͏: The Darkest Sea

L͏o͏v͏e͏ i͏n͏t͏e͏r͏e͏s͏t͏: Nikolai Lantsov

A͏g͏e͏: 21

S͏e͏x͏u͏a͏l͏i͏t͏y͏: Bisexual

P͏r͏o͏n͏o͏u͏n͏s͏: She/her

G͏r͏i͏s͏h͏a͏ T͏y͏p͏e͏: Tidemaker

F͏a͏m͏i͏l͏y͏: Baghra (mother) Aleksander Morozova (older brother)

A͏P͏P͏E͏A͏R͏A͏N͏C͏E͏:

E͏t͏h͏n͏i͏c͏i͏t͏y͏: W͏h͏i͏t͏e͏

N͏a͏t͏i͏o͏n͏a͏l͏i͏t͏y͏: N/A

S͏p͏e͏c͏i͏e͏s͏: H͏u͏m͏a͏n͏

F͏a͏c͏e͏c͏l͏a͏i͏m͏: Claudia Jessie

H͏a͏i͏r͏ C͏o͏l͏o͏u͏r͏: Black

E͏y͏e͏ C͏o͏l͏o͏u͏r͏: B͏l͏u͏e͏

P͏E͏R͏S͏O͏N͏A͏L͏I͏T͏Y͏:

Q͏u͏a͏l͏i͏t͏i͏e͏s͏: Witty. Kind. Independent. Confident. Soft. Brave. Emotional. Compassionate.

M͏o͏r͏a͏l͏ A͏l͏i͏g͏n͏m͏e͏n͏t͏: Neutral Good

M͏y͏e͏r͏s͏ B͏r͏i͏g͏g͏s͏ T͏y͏p͏e͏: ENTP

H͏o͏g͏w͏a͏r͏t͏s͏ H͏o͏u͏s͏e͏: Ravenclaw

L͏I͏K͏E͏S͏:

↳ reading books

↳ adventure

↳ visiting the coast

↳ respect

↳ stating opinions

D͏I͏S͏L͏I͏K͏E͏S͏:

↳ manipulation

↳ arrogance

↳ disrespect

↳ forced marriages

✨ Taglist: @eddysocs @megandaisy9 @ginger-grimm @arrthurpendragon @misshiraethsworld @faerieroyal @daughter-of-melpomene ✨

[abyssmita]

I JUST found out about FGM through a yt short (i genuinely had no idea so I had to scroll the comments to understand) and I'm literally horrified. Even then as I scroll I find comments by men comparing it to male circumcision.....

Scrolling a little further I saw a comment by another Indian woman saying that she found out rn too and sympathizing with the victims, there's a reply to it stating how women were treated worse in Hinduism (sati, dalit women, menstrual cycle restrictions, draupadi etc.) and that the commentor shouldn't be "acting as if she's living better"???????? Wtf??? I can't even start to talk about what exactly went thru this person's head before making that comment because I simply cannot make the connection.

MOVING ON, ANOTHER reply comes from this another Indian guy to the previous replier, saying "you don't know anything, hinduism much better yadda yadda sati wasn't forced on women like jauhar isn't, isolating women during menstruation was justified because they didn't have Dettol back then, draupadi cheerharan was done because she insulted duryodhan first and it was 'tit for tat'"

There's just so much to unpack here. I'll be going on a rant.

I love my religion a lot, it means very much to me. And I understand that many of the wrongs in it started due to external influence and patriarchy. But that does NOT negate the fact that they were WRONG. No sati wasn't "women's choice". No independent healthy person with free will would want to burn themselves alive unless they are either 1. Manipulated to think that's correct, or 2. Being alive is a bigger threat (which was the case in jauhar). Even IF some women "chose" to die with their husbands, it was not out of love of free will, it was because they were conditioned to think that's what an honourable wife should do. they were made to believe a wife is nothing without her husband, she's merely an extension of him and should be discarded when he is no longer alive. And I also hate those people who glamorize the practice of jauhar, as if it wasn't a direct consequence of patriarchy. Yes, the women were brave to take such a step for their dignity, but WHY ARE WE IGNORING THAT THEY WOULDN'T JUST JUMP INTO THE FIRE IF THEY WEREN'T ABOUT TO BE TAKEN AS LITERAL SEX SLAVES? No it wasn't their "choice", they had no other option left. It was either an "honorable" death or a miserable life. This is just bear vs man all over again honestly, it's getting so tiring.

You at gunpoint, two cups infront of you, one laced with poison, either you drink one or he shoots. You'll pick one up, you'll take your chance. But you wouldn't touch any of those cups if not for the gun to your head. Stop justifying crimes against women with a false illusion of choice. You are no better than the perpetrators. If you can put the responsibility of such incidents on the victims, you can very well do the same thing to another person.

And I can't even start talking about the draupadi thing, man how in the world was duryodhan having her assaulted and sexually harrassed infront of the entire Kingdom a justified reaction to her simply LAUGHING at him (which DIDN'T actually happen, jsyk.) I'd really like to cut open the brains of the people who can think on this wavelength and actually see for myself how the thought process happens, and then preferably smash their brains straight to sauce because no monster who genuinely thinks like that deserves to be alive.

Another point I'd like to make is that how these two men somehow managed to take the point STRAIGHT from the cruelty against FGM victims to something that is completely different to the case at hand. Speaks a lot about exactly how they have behaved in the past few centuries, doesn't it?

Also, those who are unaware of FGM like I was, I request you go and research that topic. It is not a thing of the past, it's happening to very little girls right this moment as we speak. When we live in times where women struggle to be considered human, much less equal to men, the least we can do is be aware of problems our fellow women suffer from. Even if male circumcision is a highly debated topic, it is not at all comparable to FGM. Funny how most of us know about male circumcision and yet have never heard of FGM.

[khaleesiofalicante]

I was randomly thinking about the firstprince 'discourse' on Star Wars and how that would manifest in the rwrb au. I genuinely can't see David being interested in Star Wars (you do you, babygirl) and I didn't want to include Harry Potter (since Casey McQuiston also removed the HP references in the rwrb new versions). So, I was thinking about what film/media Mavid would both really enjoy but still disagree on. And I found it!

It's Disney! These are Disney bitches!

The following snippet was written at 4 a.m. after I was bullied by @springlily25 via WhatsApp.

“Cinderella and Snow White?” Max asked furiously. “You’d prefer Cinderella and Snow White over Moana and Coco?” 

“Yes,” David replied. 

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Max demanded. He was kinda used to yelling at David over their late night phone calls now. The other man is absolutely ridiculous. The yelling was warranted. 

“Can’t a man like classics?” David asked him. 

“Those classics are outdated as fuck,” Max growled into the phone. “They are not inclusive, they are so stereotypical and not to mention it’s all so anti-feminist.” 

“Anti-feminist?” David asked. 

“Oh, look at me. I’m a helpless little girl who only cares about dresses and going to balls,” Max whispered in a feminine voice. “Come on, dude. It’s so not feminist.” 

“So, what does that mean then?” David asked. “The point of feminism is to be independent and fierce and bold?” 

“Duh,” Max said. 

“I don’t think that’s true,” David said after a short pause. “ Feminism is about making sure you can be whoever you want to be. Feminism means that there is no right way to be a woman and regardless of what kind of woman you want to be, there will always be systematic barriers. Whether you’re a woman who wants to go to war and be a badass or whether you’re a woman who wants to stay at home and take care of babies, you are still going to suffer and you’re still going to be held back because you are a woman. If feminism dictates, what women should do and shouldn’t do, that’s not feminism at all. That’s still the patriarchy. For the record, I think it was absolutely badass of Cinderella to go to a ball. She never went to the ball to see the prince. She went to the ball because she wanted to have fun. She just wanted to go to a party, Max, why would you be mad at her for that?” 

Max was quiet for a long time. Partly because he never heard David so many words in a row and never so quite passionately. And he didn’t expect to like all the words as much as he did. 

Maybe he was wrong. Maybe David could teach him a thing or two. 

“I’m sorry,” Max said, because his parents raised him with right. “You’re right.” 

If the situation was reversed, Max would have laughed loudly, and made fun of David. But David didn’t do any of that. When he spoke, he sounded a little embarrassed. 

“I’m sorry too,” David said. “I didn’t mean to get quite so intense and passionate.” 

“ I like you intense and passionate,” Max quipped and David coughed on the other end of the call. “Reminds me that you’re not a robot.”  

David huffed at that. “But I went on a rant. That was a rant, wasn’t it? I’m not exactly allowed to talk about things like that, so when I do get the opportunity, I tend to babble a bit.” 

“You should babble more,” Max hummed. 

“I literally can’t,” David chuckled dryly.

“Why not?” Max demanded. “Do you know how many people look up to you? Especially little kids! You’re a fucking prince. It’s important that people like you share your opinion on stuff like this.” 

“I… I realize that, but as I said, I can’t,” David said quietly. 

“Why the fuck not?” Max pushed, he was good at that. “You are allowed to have opinions and talk about things too.” 

“I’m a prince,” David chuckled, his tone drier than before. “The moment an opinion leaves my mouth, it turns into a statement.” 

Max knew that. He was the son of the President for crying out loud. Of course he knew that. And he hated that. 

“Well,” Max said eventually. “That’s just sad.” 

David was quiet for a moment before he finally responded. “Yes, that is indeed sad.”

[aishabellasbigblogofeverything]

i hate how fandoms never want to hear that black women are beautiful or desireable like??? i'll give you an example- whenever chan (the leader of stray kids) flirts with white stays or calls white ppl pretty or whatever everyone loses their shit and it's all good right? well there were these two times he did that but with these black girls. naturally black stray kids fans went nuts, me included. idk it just felt nice- but white stays proceeded to just insult the hell out of us, call us crazy, etc etc etc, like what? but when you were doing all of that fangirling it was fine??? i just hate double standards so much. sorry for the rant but i felt like you of all people would get this yk?

Exactly, they hate knowing that Black women are attractive too because then they're white femininity is challenged. Take how whenever Black girls end up with white guys in fiction suddenly white women are all "nooo he likes this random white girl that only showed up for one second of the movie instead!" or decide he's gay(but then only ship him with white boys, never Black boys), and claim the Black girl is a strong independent woman/hc her as aroace(and aroace people still deserve representation but them doing this and noticeably never hcing them as lesbian shows that they don't think Black girls deserve any love at all), because feminism! Girl power! Except it's not! They just want to remain seen as the most attractive, desirable, feminine race...I saw this with how white music crits hated Pretty Girl Rock because it was "shallow" and told girls to be vain and only brag about their looks...! No! Black girls deserve to feel beautiful and that's what the song and music video is about! And in the comments a long time ago when someone said "Black women are beautiful", a comment from a white woman said "all women are beautiful, not just Black women, let's not put other women down to lift each other up, shall we?!" like there is nothing y'all have that Black women don't! It's racism, that's it! They know they can't compete unless they first drag us down! Look up Tignon Laws and come back to me and tell me they haven't been doing this shit for ages. 

This is why we desperately need intersectionality. 

[solarapplejuice]

akasaka, kana arima is your best character i promise >n<

this is part 2 of an rant about my gripes with the oshi no ko manga. you can find part one on my blog but the short version is that akasaka seems like he doesnt like oshi no ko anymore and has been fucking quick-shotting the most important story beats of the entire narrative and it sucks that all of this build up is being wasted like this.

my second main gripe that kind of ties into the first is that kana arima and to some extent akane feel like they got hit by this the most. it's disappointing because akasaka i feel like makes pretty tightly written women esp compared to a lot of popular mangaka. love is war, a romance story, a very heterosexual romance story, has the most internally-consistent and independent women ive seen in most manga. he can do it! and while oshi no ko was always going to have some weird love triangle shit between akane, kana, and aqua, it should have gotten a pass for how well it would have tied into their broader character arcs.

the problem is that i feel like a lot of things about kana and akane's characters should have been shuffled around: their roles in the story, the events that happen to them, and their involvement with aqua. specifically, i think its bullshit that akane is the one who has the most involvement with aqua's revenge, and NOT kana. once again i am biased because kana is my favorite character and i think she's the best written, but also once again i will explain myself! first, comparing kana and akane. kana was always the bigger skeptic of the two; she's more cynical and seems a lot more familiar with the nitty-gritty of the industry having been a part of the more toxic-parts herself thanks to her upbringing, and thus knows how to navigate around it and would know how to sniff out BS.

akane's home base is theater and live-performance, a community she has a lot of support and connections in. but as we've seen, she's out of her depth when it comes to the film acting community, and had a really bad experience onboarding. her disposition makes it feel like while she would have poked and prodded at aqua being the daughter of ai hoshino, she should have kept her distance. she was driven to attempting suicide by people getting pissed over a fake controversy surrounding her looking like she didnt get along with her coworkers, why would she want to be involved with the very real controversy of the top idol's kids?

maybe i'm too stupid to see why it makes sense for her to get her head in so deep but it feels like akasaka wanted to do a "look at this cool, shy character. you think she's some beta who is too weak to be involved in the murder mystery but she's actually a HOT, CALCULATING, YANDERE MASTERMIND who would do anything for her bf <333" like come the fuck on. this isn't a dig against her (it's actually a dig against aka hehehe) cuz i like her and she has so many interesting things going for her like her talent for acting and her push-and-pull friendship with kana.

and speaking of which, kana! what if SHE was the one to get involved with aquas revenge? she's already disposed for it; she's more cynical and more skeptical, and likely would have made the connection on aqua HOSHINO being the diva's daughter without having to stalk her background and act out her life in order to figure it out. she would likely also get farther in the investigation as someone already involved in the film, acting, AND idol industry. and it would have been a great opportunity for her and aqua's tragic love to grow closer and fracture more violently!

but the biggest case for this is arcs. akane's character arc is, i'd argue a shut-and-done case by the time she enters aqua's revenge plot. most of her problems after her run-in with being cancelled revolve around her unrequited love for aqua, something that - i'm sorry - is not super compelling. the chance for everything that they went through to happen with kana is right there and would have been infinitely more interesting since aqua actually LOVES kana in that way. not that it has to happen - i know that aqua's whole thing is keeping his distance from the people he loves, but i think in this case him getting with akane is ultimately a waste of our time as an audience as much as it is for both of them. especially since when akane is not concerned with aqua, her role in the story is to give other characters cryptic advice in a very "im more experienced, grounded, and reasonable than you" way. she doesn't have problems unless you count aqua as a "problem" >u> once again i don't necessarily think it's a bad thing and i think it's good that there are stories where a big arc gets resolved early and said character just meshes well with others in the story later, it's just that once again the romance feels super forced because aka just needs to have his Blue Hair and Yandere cute gf character rizz up our pathetic boy mc 0~0

compared to kana, aqua's revenge arc lines up with her arc perfectly and they would bounce off of each other so well if it was allowed to happen! she'd probably keep her distance as her tendency is to avoid risk the moment she makes the ai hoshino connection, but would eventually onboard herself the moment she realizes that this too could be a way to support aqua not just as an actress but as a dear friend. aqua would ACTUALLY try to push her away seeing as she's not as crazy as akane and they would fight over how much she knows and is trying to do. something would happen - kana would be way in over her head, kamiki could make an attempt on her life, aqua blows up, in any case kana would realize she needs to look after herself more, paralleling her realizing that she can shine by herself as a genius actress while also lifting up the people around her like the star ai never got to be. this, in turn, would make aqua realize the fruitlessness of his revenge as he's pushing away the people he loves, the people he wont let into his heart out of fear of them getting hurt and his own inability to let himself be happy out of his "duty."

hell, there's still room for "lies is love" to be a theme here! kana could lie about just how much she actually knows as much as aqua could lie about how much he doesn't want her around. there's so much that could be done here that just makes more sense, but instead everything about kana feels like it was done in the wrong order. why does her lowest point come AFTER her beef with akane during the play arc where she learns to love acting for herself again? furthermore, why does she still like aqua and want to get close to him in the one chapter when he laughs and acts like he doesnt actually care afterwards? if akasaka wants to show aqua having self-destructive tendencies, then there should be destruction! there should be consequences; this is not the time for kana to be distancing herself from aqua because of her insecurities, but because aqua is fucking unstable and treating her like shit. the story wanting to have its cake (aqua being a lil shit) and eat it too (kana still simping for him) is. uh. not good, and i dont like it!

these decisions leave kana feeling super listless, changing a lot while not moving anywhere, and make aqua look like more of a dick than he actually is and needs to be. you can make the arguments that kana not being successful or growing is representative of how harsh the idol industry is or aqua keeping her out of the dark being a part of his character, and like. sure. maybe it's just me but i dont think that's an excuse; it just makes the story boring and a little too bleak for what it is. as much as oshi no ko is a scathing look at the corruption of idol culture, it also very much loves idols and entertainment as a whole, and shows what it could be like if people understood each other and weren't just in it for their own egos or money. seeing our main characters, the people were supposed to root for, being forced into increasingly bad places, forced to make shit decisions all the time just doesn't feel good for everything else that happens.

i want to see kana grow more as an idol and as a person, and i want to see aqua both genuinely pay for his actions and learn how to come back from them. it sucks that the story seems to be validating him and ruby's revenge plot when it was setup from the beginning to be a bad idea. it feels like im getting pranked; was their revenge plot actually the morally good option for everyone involved after all? did i just misunderstand the entire story? i'm genuinely asking this, i'm not the best at analyzing the writing i love and i'd like another fan to call me out if i'm completely off base here. because right now i'm not liking what akasaka is cooking, and it's making me wish that major parts of this story were rewritten and useless plot happenings were instead given to more compelling storylines. instead of akane and aqua dating, we could have had 45510 worm its way in the story. the play arc could have happened later, and aqua and ruby's complicated relationship could have panned out longer. it could have been so good. it could have been!

[the-path-to-redemption]

Chapter 2 rant will be out later, but I just...God, fucking queer rep in RWBY is a living nightmare and I just have to throw some thoughts out as a queer person.

You have a Nazi lesbian (Coco) who admits to check out women without their acknowledgement behind her sunglasses (ew tf). Another lesbian who's a terrorist (Ilia) and her main motivation was jealousy? Despite being part of an oppressed group? A singular catty gay man (Scarlet), and while that isn't necessarily bad, fucking hell it's still very annoying that he's the only gay person and is just written as an asshole. Background lesbians Saffron and Terra, not bad but again, bare minimum. A trans woman whose VA was treated like dirt. And 3 nonbinary characters, two of which are talking animals.

Like, how many characters does RWBY has? And this is it? This is the line up for queer rep that got you all foaming at the mouth for? This is below minimum effort, and it took them YEARS to actually confirm any of them as queer. RT was an independent company, they're not The Owl House or Legend of Korra where queer rep is constantly being squandered by higher ups, they just didn't want to.

And Blake and Yang...fucking hell. Preface, I have no problem with the Butch-Femme relationship between wlw characters. That's real life, I've seen plenty of gay couples where they didn't have a problem addressing themselves according to heterosexual labels (i.e. a gay man calling himself the wife). It still doesn't erase the fact that they're gay, and it's part of the identity.

What I fucking hate, HATE, is that neither Blake or Yang were written as the masculine queer woman initially. Both of them are femme, or were femme, but ever since the baiting begin Yang has been designated as the "man" of the relationship. This just felt extremely weird, since now you have Blake barely taking care of herself in dire situations and Yang standing up to her. Not very "we protect each other" like they claimed in Vol 6. Queer representation should not take away the characters' already established traits for them to be queer, that's lazy writing that reduces them to being nothing more than their sexuality.

All of this felt hollow; the queer characters are stereotypes or just assholes, and aside from their sexuality there's little to no substance to them. If you want substance, you have to spend time and money looking at supplementary works instead of those substances being written in the show.

What was Scarlet's life like? His relationship with Sage and Neptune, or his complicated thoughts about Sun? What about Saffron? What does she think about the rest of her family? Of the Arc family name like Jaune did? Speaking of Jaune, it's so easy to just let him be gender nonconforming back in Vol 2. But no, he must be masculine because God forbid a man wears a dress without transphobic jokes being made at his expense.

TLDR: RWBY's queer rep is boring at best, abysmal at worse. The characters felt hollow, and the effort that went into making them queer is nonexistent. And personally speaking? If South Park managed to support gay rep in the 90s, an independent company that created a show decades later have no excuse of not trying to say "this character is gay" from the get go.

[away-ward]

Going off Anons ranting about Alex of her being jealous of Emory kind of makes. Even taken the whole Aydin and Will dynamic out of it which definitely didn't sit right with Alex of how wrapped-up these guys were with Emory, I think Alex might be a bit envious of the independent women Emory is and of what she had accomplished on her own despite all the pain hardships life threw at her.

Emory wasn't wealthy, she didn't have a safety net to fall back on be it financial or familia. She is an orphan who grew-up with an abusive brother and a sick grandmother too take care off. Everything Emory accomplished she did so on her own, she got herself a scholarship by working hard, she took care of her sick grandmother despite the pain she had to suffer though went off too collage and got herself a good education and made something out of herself without the help of her wealthy friends, unlike Alex who basically accomplished everything because of her friends, no shame but let's be honest Alex wouldn't be in the position she ended up in if it weren't for her privileged and well connected friends.

Emory Scott is hard-working, goal oriented, independent, determined, discipline, honest and righteous essentially everything Alex aspired to be.

And even though Emory has had her own flaws and demons work through at the end of the day as she said herself she will always survive no matter what life throws at her and even if Will would leave her, because that's who she is a survivor which exactly why I think Will loves her and and Aydin respects her so much and I think these aspects intimidated Alex quite a bit.

It does make a lot of sense, if this was the case and what PD intended. I'll always stand by that the idea of Alex's role in the willemmy storyline wasn't bad a bad one, it just needed to be better executed. If Alex's jealousy and feelings of inferiority towards Emory, and they had nothing to do with Emory's relationship with Will, just Emory alone - a girl so completely different than the ones she has become accustom to being surrounded by - had been brought out more and clearly defined (not spelled out and made overtly obvious, just better expressed) it might have soothed some of the friction between Team Alex and and Team Emory (whyyyy do we have teams. This isn't twilight). Then we could have all focused on the bigger issue.

How stupid Will was most of the time. Anytime Emory didn't do what he wanted, he reminded her that he could get any girl he wanted. Later, throwing Alex in her face whenever he got the chance to make her jealous of his "happiness." Seriously, someone should wring his neck. Too bad he'd probably enjoy it.

I prefer this idea to the idea that Alex liked both Will and Emory but decided to risk their lives to just to see how it would all play out, then later expecting Emory to sacrifice her safety because she just magically knew Emory stilled loved Will, "because how could you not." And then be angry when Emory hesitated as if this weren't a situation that needed to be well thought through for the best results. All this and never once admitting maybe she was wrong for any of i...

Anyway, are we at the point where we can accept fanon interpretations?

Not that anything I say here is any more true than someone else but I like this more.

[da1ntyangel]

july 8th - i acc have had a good day, i did feel myself getting irrationally jealous at one point of the day for no reason, i don't know exactly who i was jealous of tho? both, neither, just the idea of the friendship. it's mostly nostalgia based tbh.

but i was able to explore my own mind, i was just created draft ideas for drama but was able to create a plot line travelling through history, focused on addiction (cliche and drama gsce esque ikik) but it started with the fww and the greed of the countries, focused on a soldier under the command of someone whose very addicted to like violence. turning to substances for comfort from the PTSD (would've been she'll shock)

i would have had a link to the women's work going on around the time and how they were given their own independence. like a newfound independence (maybe would go into workaholism, or money) but then we'd flip to after the war and when the men came back into the workplace

then we'd have a workaholic man and his wife who is addicted to love and indulge in the "housewife" toxic fantasy and how their addictions which are praise worthy damage their further identity

I have imagery of him entering late and her sitting at the table with cold meals, rushing to warm his up, (blatantly ignoring hers and leaving it cold, maybe a quick frown at it) but despite this, he stays focused on a. newspaper or doesn't look at her once, she's rubbing at his shoulders but he just ignores?? her, not ignores but doesn't indulge in her fantasy but she's frustrated by his workaholism.

i would expand these past ideas. but i would also add ref to the 60's and change perceptions on drug addiction

how veterans went homeless and fell into drug addiction

it reminds me of a video i saw about how homeless people don't want to take drugs but it's the only thing that can knock them out and make them sleep cause it's too cold. its sad and would break the traditional GSCE esque discussion of "peer pressuring your friends" which is obvs and issue but i personally believe the biggest peer pressure is from the voice inside your head.

anywayyy,

i also had singing rehearsals this morning, and my voice is quite pretty again (in my opinion) but i need my belt and power back, i want to have a "wow" factor, im just... there.... the niceness i get is pleasantries not as genuinely shocked as my inner ego needs. i think it's because deep down i do want to pursue music, but i just, it's a pipedream, i love academics and i love my mind but im captivated by music. i have a concert tonight soooooo

also had a lesson where we discussed sexual innuendos, in poetry we study, it was quite a nice lesson, half of our eight person class wasn't in so it was sweet. my best friends sisters birthday is today so she wasn't able to participate in the concert w out group anymore, which I get.

honestly, this is just a rant diary, i just want to remind myself, i have a life, im not boring, i need to document my life for my wellbeing!!

tww/ slight dieting, no ed, I don't have one but just in case yk

im also going on a slight diet, nothing crazy, i can't do anything crazy cause 1. love food too much, and 2. my mum is like a hawkkk man

it's just, i eat so much and feel like shit after, and my postures bad, i need to physically get more fit.

[stary-night]

Vent: Parental issues, misogyny

My dad's misogyny is so weird... Like the other day he brought up the idea of systematic sexism and I was saying "oh yeah I have friends who are women in STEM who have had some bad experiences". And he went on this whole rant about how "people have been lying about this my whole life, women have it so much easier, they get scholarships and jobs straight out of school" blah blah blah. He implied that I only did as well as I did in science fair in like middle school because I was a girl (or perceived as a girl but that's a different ongoing 7 year gender crisis post), which like I don't really care but it's such a random thing to bring up when I'm in college?!?

And today my mom was reading a Quora story about someone who hit their partner and I was like "man I would break up with them because that's when you know the respect is lost" and my dad was like... angry that I wouldn't want to stay in this purely hypothetical abusive relationship. I don't understand his problem or what he gets out of being like this.

Like the emotional abuse I sort of get because he wants me to believe I'm in the wrong so I still visit him when I'm fully independent and he doesn't have to care about how his actions affect me. But also sometimes he just does random stuff like this and I'm at the point where it just confuses me.

[watevermelon]

✧ MSBY Soulmate!Atsumu x Reader

➳ Summary: You knew all about his personality, whether through the rumor vine or the numerous warnings your friends gave you. But there was no avoiding it - he was your soulmate after all.

➳ fluff; mutual pining; small jealousy; slight angst with a happy ending ➳ Navigation

—-xXxXxXxXxXx—–

When he first met you, Atsumu hadn’t wanted to hear it.

This was in the prime of his life, being scouted for a Division 1 volleyball team was his life-goal and the only thing standing in his way was the upcoming Olympics. Which, of course, he was rumored to be included on as well.

Even back in high school, there were tons of fans and girls alike who would willingly fall to his feet. Regardless of his reputation, they were eager to share a single night despite knowing it would probably be their last. And Atsumu reveled in the excitement of the attention, feeding off the cheers and shallow admiration many threw at him both on the court and in the bedroom.

Atsumu didn’t want a soulmate, someone whom he was shackled to for the rest of his life.

No, initially he didn’t want you.

As for you, the feeling was mutual to a degree. Soulmates were a touchy topic for many, conversations about colors and contrast was something you could not personally relate to. The moment you met your soulmate, it was described to you as suddenly bathing your entire life in color.

A part of you was curious about your soulmate, where he was in the world, what was he doing and who he was with. But never had you centered your life around it, more like a passive curiosity that you hoped would one day be satiated.

You were a student of Inarizaki during its prime, the members of the volleyball team very popular among the student body. You had made acquaintances with Osamu and Suna through one or two classes, but never were you particularly close to them.

Your close friends often warned you about the leader of their trio anyway - Atsumu Miya and his drove of fuckboy energy. 

There was no doubt that the twin had multiple fan-clubs and obsessive flings surrounding him. You remembered once feeling sympathetic for his soulmate - thinking about how hard it would be to get him to saddle down to a single person. Especially, with the way he lived his life, it seemed the setter could care less about the concept of soulmates to begin with.

No, Atsumu would be a terrible soulmate for whoever was unfortunately linked to him by the red string of fate.

And while he was admittedly very handsome, you did not particularly care about the setter to actively reach out to him.

Besides, it was not like he even knew who you were to begin with.

The years went by and any thoughts you had about the setter were filed away in the quiet recesses of your mind, only appearing once in a while when Miya  Atsumu showed up on some article or newspaper cover for something regarding volleyball. You were silently proud of his accomplishments and representing your school and perfecture, achieving his dream and all, but hadn’t particularly cared about him in the first place.

That was all until one day, you walked into Onigiri Miya years later.

Even though Osamu was the quieter twin, he either had a good memory or was oddly sentimental, since he remembered your name immediately when you took a seat at the bar.

“I see the years have treated ya well.” Osamu started casually, almost making you blush at how the twin could say something like that as if totally normal between old friends. “How’ve ya been doin’?”

“I’ve been working in the city, just something temporary while I finish grad school.”

“Ah, you’ve always been smart.” He complimented.

“Nothing compared to you though.” You countered, “You look really happy doing this. And you have a few branches opening, I heard.”

“Keepin’ tabs on me?” He baited.

“Just like hearing about the success of our classmates.” You shrugged.

You were sure Osamu had something sassy to say back to you before he got called away by another customer. He motioned for you to stay as he walked to the other side. 

Your eyes followed him for a few seconds, watching how despite working around food constantly, he still had an athletic build after all these years. 

(Really, the dude was built like a dorito chip.)

And while you would have liked to stay and flirt with the pretty onigiri twin, a similar voice started from the door. A light chime signaling the front door opening, you heard a greeting toward Osamu, making you turn in your seat in interest.

Only to double-over in surprise as your world was suddenly too bright.

You had no time, not even seconds to get your bearings. Your life of white and black tones was suddenly full - the table covers were black and red, the plants at the windowsill were green with different arrangements of orange. You took in your surroundings quickly, soaking up colors for the first time in your life.

It seemed the other man was just as surprised, cursing as he went before you lifted your eyes simultaneously to look each other in the eyes once more.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Atsumu asked under his breath, but you heard it all the same.

What on earth could you possibly say to that?

Within seconds, the situation was whirling around in your brain that this was possibly the worst possible moment of your life.

You were soulmates that didn’t want each other - for opposite reasons, surely. You did not want to be with Atsumu since he was too much of a player to take the concept seriously and attempting anything with him would only result in heartache. And Atsumu didn’t want you because he surely had an endless amount of women he would rather be with.

“That’s what a girl wants to hear.” You countered as you crossed your arms.

You hadn't expected your first meeting with your soulmate to be met with expletives and it seemed Atsumu finally remembered a semblance of his manners.

“Sorry, ya caught me off-guard.” He started, “Now ain’t the greatest time for me.”

“Oh boy.” You murmured as you turned back in your seat at the bar, Atsumu taking the open one next to you.

“Wait, (L/N)? From Inarizaki?” Atsumu asked after he motioned toward Osamu in greeting.

“That’s me.” You formally introduced yourself, extending a hand out to him. He regarded you quietly before taking his phone out for you to take and put your number in.

“I knew it, I don’t forget a pretty face like yers after all.” Atsumu smoothly said. This was your soulmate and all you felt in response was resentment, thinking about all the women he probably used that line with. You handed him back his phone as he continued, “Wow, look at ya all grown up.”

“And look at you, a professional volleyball player.”

Atsumu looked at you with a critical eye, not one that you could really decipher, but it was clear he was looking at you very thoroughly. “Been to one’ve my games before?”

“Only a few times in high school.” You replied, facing his stare head-on as his smirk only widened. You weren’t sure what this was, but with a player like Atsumu, you were sure he was already sizing you up in a way you didn’t want.

Something told you that if you looked away, you would lose.

And so you held your ground, matching his intense stare as your onigiri meal waited for you at the bar-side.

Thankfully, his name was called out by his twin and Atsumu’s attention was grabbed away before you could break. 

“I didn’t know ya knew each other?” Osamu started as he returned, a glass in hand as he wiped it dry with a towel.

“We don’t.” You said instead.

Atsumu’s smirk tightened as he answered, “Just found out we’re soulmates, actually.”

Osamu put the glass down and turned to you, “'Tsumu fucking with me?”

“Unfortunately, no.” You answered.

“Unfortunately?” Atsumu emphasized as he turned to you more fully, the infuriating smirk still on his face for some reason, “I’ll have ya know that Imma great catch.”

“Debatable.” Osamu countered.

You laughed at his quip before looking at Atsumu, “Yeah, but I’m sure you don’t even want to be ‘caught,’ right?” You shot-back at the setter, “Unless you’re going to try to convince me that you still don’t want to entertain the droves of women at your feet?”

“Think ya have me all figured out?” Atsumu asked as he leaned closer to you, a quirked brow on his face. You looked toward Osamu who looked strangely amused, eyes going between you and Atsumu.

“I think I know enough to know why ‘now ain’t the greatest time’ for you.” You replied sassily as you shot back his first words to you, pushing at his chest to give back your personal space.

Atsumu just took your hand and put it in his own, calling your bluff. “Oh? Like how my time and attention are on Olympics while I’d rather treat my baby properly?”

“Oh god.” You said as you laughed.

You laughed.

To his face?

All the setter could think about was how interesting you were.

He had expected his soulmate to ‘fall at his feet’ as many had in the past. To cling to him for attention and to demand an exclusive shackle to them. But here you were: beautiful and independent and even physically pushing him away.

You grabbed your hand out of his light embrace and turned back to your food, smiling at what you thought was just another line he would feed to his other one-night stands. Atsumu bit his lip in frustration and looked briefly at Osamu, who was watching the two of you like his own personal source of humor.

If you were any other girl, Atsumu would wave you off. Say that he didn’t have time for one girl who didn’t care, he had dozens who would willingly take the spot instead. 

But you weren’t just any other girl, you were his soulmate.

And he could already feel the strange draw towards you.

Not even a few months ago he would scoff at the supposed soulmate bond. All the other members of the Black Jackals had found their other half and what they ranted on and on about made him sick. Bokuto somehow found a way to insert something about Akaashi at almost every conversation and Atsumu would constantly catch Hinata, even during midgame, staring at Kageyama.

They sickened him.

And yet somehow he now understood.

Seeing his soulmate before him, you were one of the first few people in a while that he felt like he had to prove himself to. There was probably an endless amount of expectation against him, he was sure. Being old classmates and seeing his name on a tabloid almost every other month would definitely do that.

And somehow only minutes into speaking to his soulmate, Atsumu wanted something different.

“I could always prove it to ya.” He shot toward you, making you laugh again. 

Alright, this shit ain’t gonna cut it.

Atsumu licked at his bottom lip before pulling your bar stool closer to his, relishing in the way your eyes widened in surprise as he did so. “Come on, ya lookin’ at yer soulmate. Just say what we both want and we can leave here together right now.”

You shot him back an incredulous expression, a challenging look in your eye as he put the ball in your court. It was strange to feed off the provocation of someone else; a new type of adrenaline in him as he wanted to get to know you.

“Sorry, but I’d rather not leave with a man who has hickies down his neck from some other woman.”

Atsumu almost felt himself click his tongue in frustration, but you were not exactly wrong. Just a few hours ago he was inside someone he couldn’t even name with a gun to his head, but that was a world before you.

A world before color and the sassy soulmate who seemed to want nothing to do with him. 

And while Atsumu wanted to prod a bit more, or at least get you to concede that he was the greatest option in the world, his phone rang out with Sakusa’s icon flashing on the screen.

Your eyes were drawn to the noise and you commented, “I’m sure you already have plans today anyway.”

Dashing that thought away, he lifted his phone to your eyes and showcased the proof to you. “Think again, my teammate is on the other line ready to chew my ass out.”

“Oh.” That shut you up, before shrugging and turning back to your food, “Well, I’ll see you around Atsumu.”

He leaned toward you, lips dropping beside your ear and lightly stating, “Keep ya schedule open this week.”

You hesitated for a second before saying, “Maybe.”

Atsumu answered the call and started gathering his things, his thoughts only half on Sakusa as the spiker complained about his cleaning habits in the locker room.

“We should probably exchange numbers again.” Osamu took out his phone, motioning it in your direction. 

You took it with a smile, to which Atsumu scowled and made a point of reminding his twin. “Yer better know she’s my soulmate.”

Osamu sighed outwardly and you just laughed adding, “And he’s the better twin afterall.”

Atsumu’s eyes darkened, phone completely forgotten as he took a step toward you, “I’ll remind you later who really is the better twin.”

He made it so easy to tease him, to challenge the world Atsumu built-up around him. You wanted to break it for some reason, to knock him down a peg for being stuck with a player as a soulmate.

And so you shot back, “I’d like to see you try.”

Atsumu smirked as his hand casually grazed up your thigh and squeezed at the skin there. “That’s a promise.”

He shot both of you goodbye’s before returning to his phone call and walking out the door. Atsumu had the last word for now, but you weren’t going to fall to his feet so easily. Turning back to Osamu was no help either, his expression amused as he watched the entire moment play-out.

“An here I was wantin’ to ask ya out.” Osamu stated plainly before shrugging as you sat still in your chair at the irony.

You expected that to be the last you’d see of Atsumu for a while - weeks or months or maybe even years as he entertained the long list of women that would be much easier to maintain than a soulmate.

He called you the next day, inviting you over for dinner and a movie before the weekend started.

You steeled your spine, telling yourself that the gorgeous setter was not going to get to you in a single night. He lived on the better side of Tokyo, just his zip-code alone was a flex of his wallet. And so when you reached his penthouse floor, you took a deep breath in the elevator before you entered his domain.

Again, you expected him to make good on his promise before, to make a move and prove to you that he was a playboy, asshole that you knew from high-school, but instead you had a pleasant first night.

Atsumu Miya entertained you with a home-cooked meal of all things, the two of you sat across from each other at his mahogany dining table.

“Who would’ve thought you would know how to cook well?”

“Ya know who my brother is?” Atsumu joked, “As if 'Samu will me live if I was an ass in the kitchen.”

“Of course, you’re just an ass in other places then.” You shot back, receiving a playful look of offense from the setter, before continuing. “But this tasted amazing, so thank you.”

Atsumu had that smirking expression on his face, like he was carefully watching you, picking you apart in his mind as he thought about the next ten moves in this strange game.

The setter put a hand on your knee under the table and you expected that to be the move, for it to slide up the rest of the way. But instead he tapped the area twice before he stood, grabbing your empty plates and motioning for you to go to the living room. 

“Why dont’cha get comfortable for the movie while I wash these?”

You weren’t disappointed, per se. 

Just surprised, if anything.

And the night continued on just as tamely, playful and even flirty banter between the two of you over the action movie that played out. At one point he draped a casual arm across the back of the couch, resting his hand on your shoulder and pulling you to lean against him.

You had witty banter back and forth and when the movie finally ended, Atsumu commented how it was getting late. Surprised again, you took the out and allowed him to call a car for you. Atsumu walked you down to the street and only when he was opening the door for you, did he lightly pull you at the waist to chastely move your lips together.

Lasting only seconds, he pulled away just as quickly and ushered you into the car and whispered in your ear, “See you soon, (F/N).

Everything you had expected of the playboy you thought you knew was shattered, no sudden move to get you on your back on his bedsheets. Yes, he still said plenty of flirty things to you, but he had yet to actually act on it. Was that simply a bluff before? Or was he playing a longer game to get you off the defensive?

“Yer so cute, (F/N).” Atsumu complimented you once as you lounged on his couch another day, “There are days I can barely keep my hands off ya.”

And before you could recognize how quickly your life was changing, that first initial date snowballed into more dates and somehow you had gotten to the point where you would visit his place fairly often. Whether for dinner or a simple hangout, it seemed Atsumu was keen on inserting himself into your life little by little.

And somewhere along the way, you started to doubt your earlier musings of a fuck boy with no regard for a soulmate. Maybe he had changed from high school? Or maybe, he had changed when he met you?

Or at least, that’s what you wanted to believe.

He had convinced you one night, when you came over for dinner or whatever it must have been, when it started to absolutely downpour outside. He insisted that he did not feel safe sending you home in this weather, to which you countered that you had travelled in worse.

That did little to subdue his worries and instead you found yourself in an oversized jersey getting tucked into his bed that night.

“What’s that face about?” He asked as you laid there together, bed sheets up to your shoulders as he placed an arm beneath your head.

“Nothing, just thinking.”

You thought the first time you’d ever see his bedsheets would be when he was inside of you, not tamely laying beside you and kissing your forehead goodnight. And when he pulled you closer to him, cuddling you to sleep that night, that was one of the safest times you had ever felt.

If this was just a game, if you were just another one of his girls, he would have made a move that night, right?

And so you believed that Atsumu was honestly as earnest in his actions as he said, trying to get to know you for you. Not because you were just another woman to put as a notch on his bedpost, but because he was genuinely interested in you.

That was until you saw the first dating scandal since you had met the setter.

He had plenty of other scandals before this, many women had been attached to his name before, but never had you cared in the past because that was simply his reputation and you barely knew him. But now you had an active role in his life, how could you not know about some woman he was apparently also spending time with?

You did not want to believe some random tabloids over the trust of your soulmate. At least, that was until one day you overheard Atsumu on the phone with his twin.

“Listen, I took out (F/N) that first time cause ya told me to.”

That shit hurted.

The entire foundation of your relationship was based on the fact that his twin pressured him into getting to know you? Did Atsumu even want to get to know you in the first place? Was he really playing with your feelings this whole time?

You turned and went back to his living room, filing this away in your mind as you took a seat. If Atsumu didn’t actually want you in his life, then you would surely give him the space he wanted to begin with.

But you had missed the rest of that phone conversation.

“But I feel like I’ve already fallen for her. I don’t know, she’s different. Ya, ya. I know, I won’t fuck it up this time.”

And so you resolved to put between each other the space he wanted initially.

When you first met, he was pretty vocal about not wanting a soulmate at the time. But he had convinced you along the way, that maybe this was something the both of you wanted.

You were wrong.

Phone calls went ignored and you stopped replying to texts after a few curt replies. You needed distance if you were going to get over Miya Atsumu and his inevitable line of one-night stands.

Your soulmate was supposed to be the one person in the world who completed you, who understood you whole and made you feel loved. And while you were on the precipice of those feelings, it all quickly came crashing down with reality.

Atsumu Miya did not want you.

One night, as you were studying for grad-school, you were working on your part of the group project and were expecting a call any moment now from your other partners. 

When the phone rang out, you picked it up without regard to the name on the screen until it was too late.

“Hey, (F/N)? Haven’t heard from you in a while.” Atsumu’s voice started immediately and it was not like you could hang-up on him now.

“Sorry, I’ve been busy trying to make rent, y’know. Not everyone can be a world-renowned professional athlete.”

There was a small pause on his end before, “... you could always stay with me if you have financial problems.”

What?

Why would he offer that? Just to make you suffer when he brought other women home?

“Don’t say things you’ll regret, haha.” You try to put back that earlier distance, “I’m sure you have a laundry list of girls who are eager to hear back from you after all.”

“What? (F/N), that’s not--”

You cut him off there, “Listen, I’m waiting on a couple people for a school thing. I’ll see you around, Miya-san.”

Miya-san.

Miya-san.

Where had he fucked up?

In the weeks Atsumu had gotten to know you, it was a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach that he hadn’t felt for anyone. It was like the unspoken bond crap that Kita had explained to him in high school or that Suna, who recently found his own soulmate, raved about was actually real.

For the first time in his life he wanted to spend time with a woman for longer than a single night. He wanted to bring you home, kiss you good morning, and possibly have a home with both your names on the mailbox.

And while not even a few months ago he would have scoffed at shit like that, Atsumu wanted it and felt that for the first time it was in his grasp.

So where did he go wrong?

The last thing he ever wanted to do was actually make you feel unwanted and he feared that his initial words might have sparked something within you.

It was no surprise when Atsumu showed up at your apartment unannounced the next day.

Not expecting any company, you waltzed over to the door, thinking it might be a package delivery, and opened it in your pajamas.

Atsumu walked right past you and into the living room, words striking with the specificity of a cobra. “Are you just fucking with me?”

You sputtered before closing the door, “What? 

He ran a stressed hand through his hair, but maintained eye-contact with you. “Yer my soulmate and I wanna get to know you. Am I alone in wantin’ this?”

“Shouldn’t I ask that of you?” You shot back, “You made it clear as day that you didn't want me as your soulmate to begin with!”

Atsumu sighed and took a step closer to you, closing the distance to lightly grab at your elbows. “For fucks sake, that was months ago. Don’t tell me that all that time together meant nothin’ to you?”

“Of course it meant something to me!” You exclaimed back, before pushing at his chest while he did not budge a single inch away. “Don’t act like I’m the one half-assed in this.”

He scowled back, “What is that suppos’ed to mean?”

You did not hesitate, "I know you only spent time with me because Osamu told you to.”

Atsumu recoiled in surprise and you took that as your escape, pushing his lingering hands away as you made for the kitchen. But the setter was out of his stupor quickly, trailing behind you.

“Fuck, what did ‘Samu tell you?”

“He didn’t have to tell me anything, I found out the truth myself.”

You could tell Atsumu’s stress level was skyrocketing, from the way his hair was mused without care and angled strangely in certain ways.

“Ya got it all wrong, it was just that first time!” Atsumu replied right behind you.

“What do you mean?”

“‘Samu was the one who told me to call ya the next day, but I was going to eventually ‘cause I wanted to get to know ya myself.”

You slowly took in his words, but it was hard to make any sort of decision with the setter right in front of you. A part of you, one that attributed it to the soulmate bond, was basically begging you to forgive him and wrap yourself in his embrace. That part wanted to feel those muscular arms around you once again, to feel safe in the arms of the one person in the universe meant for you.

But, afraid of getting hurt and without much argue left within you, you tossed back. “Yeah, eventually.”

Atsumu put a strong grip on your waist, holding you there in place before you could run away again.“‘Samu told me to, but I could’ave easily not done nothin’ that first night or any time after.”

You bit your lip at his words, Atsumu was laying all his cards on the table and he wanted a response from you. 

And he wanted it now.

“Please, ya know me better by now.” Atsumu turned you in place to face him, leaning down to whisper his words against your forehead. “I know Imma bad deal - I can’t imagine what ya thought of me back in high school and even earlier this year. I have a bad history and an even worse reputation.”

“But after just a few weeks, I don’t want ya out of my life ever again. Just hearin’ ya call me by my last name yesterday nearly killed me.” Atsumu continued, trailing his lips further down until your foreheads were touching, “Lets give this a try - a real one. Give me the chance to make you happy for the rest of our lives.”

You closed your eyes, trying to ignore the insistent inner tug on your heart and how the setter was encompassing all your thoughts. “Atsumu… I--”

“Stop overthinkin’.” He interrupted, “I don’t want to bombard you. But I promise I won’t ever purposely hurt you.”

You took in a harsh breath, wondering how on earth this could be the same Miya Atsumu who plagued your high school. He had changed, not just from then but from the short amount of time you had already shared together. Opening your eyes slowly, Atsumu was still clutching you around the waist, but his eyes were carefully scanning your expression.

“Okay.” 

You replied, leaning into his touch more as the smile on the setter’s face widened.

He did not waste a single moment, leaning down to capture your lips with his. You stood surprised for a second, before pushing up to meet his gentle touches. There was no sudden epiphany, no instant speech of undying love after. But there was no denying the harsh flutter intensifying after every inflamed touch. 

Your heart pounded hard in your chest as you leaned more into the setter, knees going weak as his tongue roamed your open mouth. Your only focus was on how soft he felt against your mouth, how addictive it was to have Atsumu invaded all your senses. From the intense smell of his cologne to the light tickle of his blond hair against your head, Atsumu was dominating your every feeling.

And so it was quite a surprise when Atsumu gave you one final peck, before moving to your forehead and placing a light butterfly kiss there and backing off entirely.

“Fuck, just look at you.” He commented as he leaned back, looking at you up and down. There was no doubt the sight that greeted him, you messy with drool, tousled hair, and rumpled clothing. “Even in your sheep pajamas, it’s hard for me to keep my hands off ya.”

Your blush intensified at his words, putting a playful hand on his chest and muttering a small, “Shut up.”

“Never.” He quipped back, putting another kiss on your forehead before pulling away, only your hands still joined. “Now let’s get your apartment packed.”

“What?” You asked, confused. Your mind was still nothing more than a cup of spilled milk after Atsumu had all but ravaged your senses.

He smiled before pulling you back to your living room. You followed wordlessly, his previous statements slowly pouring into your brain after the intense liplock. It was hard to focus on anything when the attractive setter was making a point to kiss you at an open chance.

“As in packed to move in with me.”

[theoriginalcarnivorousmuffin]

After that gorgeous sequel rant, would you be willing to share your thoughts on reylo?

Ugh.

Once again, that is the most succinct, easiest, answer I can supply. But it's so short, and that just won't do.

I mentioned in a recent post that Dramione comes in a myriad of disguises. Every fandom usually has at least one Dramione ship, you can usually guess which characters the ship will consist of, and while you might not be able to articulate exactly what about it makes it so damn similar to Dramione you will recognize it on sight.

Usually, to me, a Dramione ship features a strong, independent, female lead who may be varying levels of sexually empowered, varying levels of intelligent (Hermione loves to tell us how smart she is but it's not the heart of the ship), is strong, courageous, and noble who depending on the story du jour might slide into depravity.  The real give away is her love interest, always a man, usually a young man of comparable age, who has the bad boy appeal that's not too bad boy where he often is redeemed to the good side for 'reasons' in the course of the story.

Reylo is such a Dramione pairing.

You don't believe me? Look at the authors who write it, I haven't done this too often myself, but I guarantee you that a not small majority of them will either write Draco/Hermione or will have it all over their favorites and bookmarks. It's the same damn pairing.

But worse.

Because Kylo-Ren and Rey aren't really characters.

"Whoa, hold up!", you say, "That's just slander and uncalled for!" Well, change my mind. Rey Palpatine and Kylo-Ren are a series of character tropes and archetypes thrown to us by Disney screaming "LOVE MY CHARACTERS".

Rey is our noble, very Luke like, hero who is a scrappy desert rat with overwhelming mystical powers only acknowledged when the movies feel like acknowledging them (guys, admit Rey kicked Kylo-Ren's ass every time they fought with 0 training, come on, it's not hard).

However, there is nothing underneath her surface. Her hero worship of the resistance feels dull and given to her because it's expected. Of course Rey likes the resistance! The resistance is great! Sign her up! Rey has been living in the desert at the edge of nowhere for presumably 15 years, I'm shocked she's even heard of the new republic let alone the resistance. Despite essentially starving and only having a home that's a broken down old fighter, Rey saves a random droid. We're not really given a compelling reason of why she would do this, that she has a deep respect for droids/is horrified by their use, really really really hates the random trader she sells things to, or really really really hates the empire (if she even realizes it's them behind the bounty). She does it just so that a) the plot keeps moving b) to show Rey is... noble... I guess?

Remember that even Luke (who I have some problems with as a character) started his journey with more backstory and personality than this. Luke loved the empire and desperately wanted to become a pilot. He was very put out that his aunt and uncle kept saying, "Uh, no, bad idea." Luke was ready to skip town and sign on up for flight academy, he just got distracted by pretty women, er, his sister.

So, Rey is never given a compelling reason to do any of the things she does in the series. Just vague feelings of hero worship. And, of course, the drama over her parents. Just... I feel like Disney took out a hat, put a bunch of pieces of paper with words on them, and drew out the one that said "orphan angst about parents" and said "See, now she's conflicted! What a character!"

So yeah, Rey is your cardboard generic hero who is so generic she's not even a person. She has no hopes, no dreams, no fears, just these vague things we're told as an audience she cares about but never shown in any legitimate manner. Rey likes the resistance and rando droids, Rey imprints on Han Solo as the father she never had, Rey has this thing about her parents, Rey is attracted to Kylo Ren.

And that last one, oh boy that last one. It sold me less on the attraction to Kylo Ren than... oh... I don't know... Palpatine's secret Sith planet of doom. I mean, we all saw it coming, The Last Jedi it was very clear where that was going and then Abrams went for it even harder. But what we had was a series of skype conversations where Rey went from "Gr, you killed my pseudo father!" and Kylo-Ren responding, "Yeah, well he was my real father AND HE WAS SO MEAN" to "Oh Ben, I will fly to you through space and we shall save the galaxy together!"

I am given no reason to believe Rey's change of heart. Han Solo's death just suddenly... doesn't really mean much to her anymore (the man was murdered by his son in cold blood so that his son could feel better about himself). She believes Ben Solo is good now because Luke is a dick (never mind that, no matter what a dick Luke is, Ben Solo still murdered dozens of children and then went on to gleefully massacre his way through the galaxy). We're told there's a Force Dyad, which is um... not this thing the writer's made up because they were too lazy to convince me that Kylo-Ren and Rey would end up together in any organic way.

So, yeah, why does Rey like Kylo-Ren? Because the Force told her too? Because it was somehow all Snoke's fault in a way that's never properly described? (Indeed despite us spending quite a bit of time on Kylo-Ren's decision to remain Kylo-Ren being a very internalized thing) Because we saw him shirtless in yoga pants this one time?

It's bad when that last is actually the most legitimate reason I can think of out of the whole lot.

Now let's go to Kylo-Ren. If Rey is boring and nonsensical then Kylo-Ren is a dumpster fire and non-sensical. The guy reminds me a lot of Commodus from the film "Gladiator", the man is cowardly, vile, and murders his father in despair that his father never will be capable of loving him/passes him over for the throne. Kylo-Ren's murder of Han Solo is extremely similar to the murder of Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator". Han Solo is a flawed father, trying to make his peace with his son, who approaches him unarmed and Kylo-Ren decides to murder him in order to solidify his place in the dark side.

Only, the films never acknowledge that every action Kylo-Ren takes is horrifying.

We're told "oh, Kylo-Ren exists because evil Snoke corrupted him" but also shown repeatedly that Kylo-Ren chooses the darkest path again and again and again. He "struggles with the light" but I don't see it. His opening scene, he has massacred a village and is torturing a man for information (this is presumably a daily routine for him). In the same film he later tortures Rey for information. He serves on a Death Star which wipes out billions in an instant. He murders his father to feel good about himself. He dresses as a man who was reviled and feared throughout the galaxy, a man who murdered countless children, and a man who dressed the way he did because he was barely hanging onto life, because Kylo-Ren thinks it makes him look like a badass. Think about it, this is like if a fully abled Kylo-Ren is wheeling around in a wheel chair, perfectly capable of walking, because he thinks that Professor X is so cool. Now, replace Professor X with Hitler, this is what the movies gave us.

Yet, the films seem to take it for granted that Kylo-Ren is a redeemable character. He's just lost and misguided, he's really struggling with the light and dark side! They don't just tell us this over and over again (which they do) but also just assume we know it.

And base the entire Reylo pairing off of it. Reylo believed Kylo-Ren could be redeemed, they battle Snoke together, then Kylo-Ren stabs her in the back and continues the assault on the Resistance and asks her to be his Dark Queen (TM). Reylo is shocked and appalled, I'm just wondering what movie she thought she was watching, because that was coming a mile away.

Later, when Kylo-Ren is redeemed, we're never given a reason why it happens. Leia just gives him a nagging, one word, phone call and then Han Solo shows up to go, "Ben, are you going to do the right thing?" and Ben goes, "Mumble, grumble, fine" because there's only an hour left in the last film.

Kylo-Ren, like Rey, is the writers' desperate attempt to create a compelling anti-hero with all the anti-hero sauce we love. They just won't admit they made an overgrown genocidal toddler.

Wow, this turned into why I hate both Rey and Kylo Ren, but, uh, back to the ship. Basically, the films give me 0 reason to ever believe it, and even if I wanted to, even if I said "Alright brain, let's make these characters real people for once", I still wouldn't like it. Because the ship itself is just as flat as the characters. It's spicy but not too spicy bad boy gets together with strong female lead.

I know a lot of people enjoy this, and I won't say it's any less legitimate than any of the weirdness I ship, but I'm not one of them. And the whole thing just makes me go "ugh".

[discipleofkleio]

Thoughts on the new Netflix series "The Watcher"

Spoilers below cut as I've finished the series already and I rant about my opinions/frustrations. It takes about 7 hours to finish so do that first before reading if you're at all curious.

Why don't people talk to each other? Seriously, if the family had actually talked to each other about suspicious shit and whatnot it would've been easier for them to all be on the same page.

Getting letters about your house that mention various years and living next door to historical society members seems like a good opportunity to go to them and ask 'hey do you have any history on the house'

also city archives would likely have old blueprints that could've been referenced, as well as birth/marriage/death certificates, that almost anyone can access with certain levels of permission (i.e. being the current owner of the house, don't know enough about genealogy to know what you need there) so...

Even if it's legal in NJ, I very much dislike a particular plot point regarding the 16 year old daughter and a 19 year old getting together and everyone making it out to be like the parents are crazy for being against it (additionally her making a tiktok accusing her parents of racism just because she knew it would get them in trouble and she wanted revenge for being grounded for having a sexting relationship with a 19 year old at 16? surely even the most upset 16 year old would realize in this modern day that that could absolutely ruin the family forever and not do it? Also the fact they made her the active one in the relationship and the 19 year old just went with it was kind of gross because yes it's only 3 years but he owns the company that was setting up security at their house - that's how they met)

The show kind of felt like it was written by and for certain levels of society and their fears - mentions of police being defunded, that's why your case is slowed down; kids using tiktok to accuse parents of racism for trying to just be parents; multiple conversations where women secretly try to convince a wife to divorce her husband for no reason other than she can and should be independent? It all came to feel like very "upper class white middle-aged man in stagnant career" driven anxiety in terms of various drama points.

It's not a bad show, just annoying to me in many places, especially with how the main characters refuse to actually talk to anyone around them or even attempt to get to know anything about the neighborhood they moved into when so much of the sleuthing that they could have done could have been done for free down at the local library or by just even attempting to calm down for five minutes to ask neighbors if they know anything without immediately accusing them. Seriously, jumping right from "we received a strange letter" to "every single one of our neighbors is a suspect and we can't trust or talk to any of them" without any down time seems like it's just to draw the drama out.

There needs to be another season where they unmask whatever conspiracy is going on completely because if they don't it's very frustrating. I suppose that might be the point what with the PI being like "unsolved cases nag at you forever" and they want to be memorable but if that's the case I wouldn't recommend it to anyone because it's not a satisfying narrative in a thriller story to have no solid conclusion.

[natvrefairy]

Hi, I saw ur request rules and wondered if I could ask for a merlin X reader (romantic) and it's like really fluffy? Thx 😊

A/N: Of course! I'm so happy my first request is for Merlin, because both him and the entire show are just so iconic. I really hope you like this. :)

Something Meaningful (Merlin x Reader)

Requested: Yes!

Reader Pronouns: They/them

Word Count: 1,529

C/W: Uther is dead. A little bit of self-doubt on Merlin's side. Occasional rant. A little bit of stream of consciousness. (Cause I'm experimenting with that technique.) Fluff!

Context: Morgana's alive and good. Mordred and the rest of the knights are also still alive, but they're not really mentioned. Arthur and Gwen are King and Queen. Arthur's allowed magic in Camelot, and they know about and accept Merlin! And LGBTQ+ is accepted! (Cause reader is they/them, and there's no angst here. ^^)

✎﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏﹏

When Uther died, Camelot was a bit of a mess. Not that it wasn't before; Uther's reign wasn't a particularly cheerful one. But although he wasn't the kindest person, people still loved him, and his death simply came as a shock to everyone.

Arthur took it the hardest. But honestly, that was to be expected. When most people lose their parent, they get time to grieve, but Arthur didn't have the luxury of time. Uther died, and Arthur was thrown into power.

The first few months were the worst. Not just for Arthur, but the whole castle. But with Guinevere and Merlin by his side, he got through it. And with Arthur as King, it no longer mattered what anyone thought of his relationship with Gwen, because she was now the Queen.

But with Guinevere becoming Queen, a small issue arose. The Lady Morgana no longer had a servant.

Morgana, being as lovely as she was, truly didn't care about the loss of her maidservant. She still had her friend, and enjoyed her independence. But her brother thought it necessary, so the job was given to (Y/N).

Gaius didn't appreciate losing his other helper, but he couldn't say no to the King, so that was that.

But then, Gwen also needed a servant. And once again, the job was given to (Y/N). Merlin most definitely did not approve of his best friend's drastic increase in work load.

"I always knew you were an ass, but I didn't realise you were stupid as well." Merlin told Arthur the following morning.

Arthur's new title as King didn't change Merlin's attitude towards him in the slightest.

"Merlin, you can't address me like that."

"I did before, why is it any different now? Your highness."

"I am the King."

"Doesn't change the fact that you're an ass."

(Y/N) managed to talk Merlin down, but that didn't mean he liked the idea of them having to rush around everywhere all the time. Although, at least it was only Gwen and Morgana, who were both perfectly capable of taking care of themselves.

If it was two Arthur's, that would be an entirely different story.

That was about two years ago now. Camelot has had law changes since; such as the lifted ban on magic, allowing people to freely practise their gift, and the new acceptance of anyone identifying as other than cisgender/heterosexual.

And finally, at long last, the land of Albion was united.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Having both grown up in Ealdor, Merlin and (Y/N) were always close. (Y/N) would constantly seek out Merlin and William, the three of them soon becoming best friends. When Merlin set off to Camelot, (Y/N) tagged along to look out for him, Will staying behind with his father.

Unlike Merlin, (Y/N) didn't possess any magic. But although being completely normal, they always went out of their way to try understand what their friend was going through. They never understood Uther's hatred towards magic. Even without having any themself, they absolutely adored Merlin's gift. Witnessing him in action never failed to put (Y/N) in a state of awe.

But of course, Merlin is much more than his magic. That, (Y/N) always knew, even when he didn't believe it himself. They were always there for him, and he was always there for them. That was how it always was, and how it always will be.

Which is why it was so hard for either of them to pinpoint exactly when their feelings grew. They always cared deeply for each other, but at some point, both completely unaware, those feelings blossomed until they were both completely and utterly in love.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The two friends were granted the evening off, and unbeknownst to (Y/N), Gwen and Morgana had something up their sleeve. Having long figured out the pair's mutual yet oblivious feelings, the women decided to take matters into their own hands.

This involved giving them the evening off, and directly telling Merlin to confess.

"I'm sure they feel the same way," Gwen encouraged, "I know it's hard, but try something meaningful. If you can't say how you feel out loud, do something special instead."

So here Merlin was, a nervous wreck as he lead (Y/N) outside of Camelot, to a small forest clearing. What if they didn't like it? What if they turned him down? Then it could lead to disaster and they won't want to be his friend anymore and everything they had built will go to waste.

"Merlin," (Y/N) grasps his hand, immediately gaining his attention, "whatever has you stressing out, it's okay. I'm here, and I always will be. We'll face it together."

Taking a deep breath, he had them close their eyes, before gently leading them in the right direction. Glancing around to make sure everything was in place, he tried his best to calm his nerves.

'You can do this,' he thought to himself, 'you can tell dragons what to do, and they listen. This should be easy.'

"Merlin?"

"Oh, right, sorry. You can open your eyes now."

Opening their eyes, (Y/N) gaped at the scene before them. A rug laid out on the grass, all their favourite snacks and fruit laid out in front of them. Glancing between the dinner and Merlin in a combination of joy and surprise, they struggled for words.

"You did all of this?"

"Well, I may have stolen some things from the kitchen, but... I hope you like it?"

(Y/N) laughed - one of Merlin's favourite sounds - and pulled him over to sit down.

"Thank you."

Just their smile was enough to calm Merlin's nerves, and everything melted away as they began to eat, telling stories and laughing. Everything between them seemed perfect.

That is, everything except for the unsaid feelings.

As they finished and the moon began to rise, they cleared up a bit before laying down to stargaze.

"Star-gazing was a good idea," (Y/N) said softly after a while, turning their head to face Merlin, "but I have to ask, what was this all for?"

"What? Aren't I allowed to just spend time with my best friend?" Merlin replied, a little too quickly.

"Of course, but that's not what I mean. You seemed really nervous earlier. I can tell when you want to say something, Merlin."

He turned his head away in embarrassment, so (Y/N) shifted their body to properly face him.

"Hey, look at me," they said, placing their hand on his cheek and tilting his head back towards them, "you know you can always tell me anything. We've been through so much together. Nothing will scare me away."

Merlin gazed into their eyes in silence for a moment, before speaking up, voice barely a whisper, "It's hard to say it out loud. Can I just show you?"

"Of course. Whatever's best for you."

Slowly, he moved one hand to rest on (Y/N)'s cheek, hesitating slightly as his gaze shifted between their captivating (E/C) eyes and plump lips. Finally, deciding it's either now or never, he leaned forward, tilting his head as he captured their lips in a tentative kiss. He felt them stiffen slightly, his heart racing as his mind flooded with unwanted thoughts. This was the end. They were going to shove him away and never speak to him again.

But then, the thing he expected least of all happened; they actually reciprocated the kiss.

Their hand moved to his hair, butterflies going wild in their stomach. They never expected him to feel the same way about them, and now they couldn't even think straight. The only thing they could concentrate on was the feeling of his lips on their own.

Eventually, the sweet moment came to an end, leaving each of them completely breathless, faces only inches apart. They gazed into each other's eyes, catching their breath while they both tried to process what just occurred.

Then, all at once Merlin freaked out and started a rant, desperately trying to explain himself. Apology after apology flooded out of his mouth, raving on and on about how much he loves them and how he probably ruined everything and should have just kept his feelings all to himself.

(Y/N) cut him off with a small kiss on his lips, leaving him staring at them in shock when they pulled away.

"I love you too, Merlin. I thought I was so obvious about it," she laughed softly, gently running her fingers through his hair. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life, and I'm glad you feel the same."

His shock vanished, and he gave that heartwarming smile of his as he wrapped his arms around them, pulling them close. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."

And so they stayed there like that, laying and enjoying each other's company in the comfort of their mutual feelings. They stayed there until they decided it was time to head back and face Gaius' concerned wrath on them staying out so late. But for once, it didn't bother them listening to his lecture, because their lives had just changed for the better.