#and they’re in the background because the show is about a child and thus the focus is on her and her experiences

[literallyanythingabouteverything]

Jeeeeeez, the Hilda fandom is a fucking mess

[wingletblackbird]

One unfortunate implication about Leia's childhood that I've been thinking a lot about but I'm sure a lot of fans don't like to:

A lot of people like to talk about how wonderful a father Bail was to Leia and how he cared for her and raised her well, but they overlook or downplay how he was lying to her about her origins, heritage, and identity (especially since he kidnapped her and thus had no claim to her). If Leia was as Force-Sensitive as the narrative shows, she likely would have had acute Force intuition to discern when someone was lying. So once Bail realized that, he had two options:

Admit her accuracy about his lies and eventually tell her the ugly truth

Gaslight her about her Force senses to save face

From the trust we see her put in Bail and the shock we see her display about her true paternity, it's obvious that he chose the latter. And I'm pretty sure that that would have (however unintentionally) done some serious psychological damage on her, even if subtly. In fact, it's a miracle what we see of her self confidence by ANH and I wouldn't be surprised to see that gaslighting result in a distrust in the Force that led to her decline to learn much about it like we see in TFA.

With regard to what Bail (and Breha) told Leia, I’m inclined to think her Force-guided intuition wouldn’t have been an issue. Mainly because I think they did tell her the truth, just a highly censored version.

For example, when asked about her biological parents/background, they tell her she’s a war orphan. That’s technically true.

If she feels like they’re keeping secrets, she’ll attribute it to the Rebellion, which is also technically true.

I think Leia has reason to be nervous about the Force once she learns of her heritage. I don’t think having the truth hidden from her necessarily made that worse.

Leia doesn’t (for a long while anyway) know how the Organas came to adopt her. For all she knows, Obi-Wan gave a child to them to protect and told them the bear minimum. If they did know the whole truth, they kept it quiet for her own protection. Vader is terrifying. Why wouldn’t they want to shield her from that?

Leia might be rightly angry at them, but I think she’d find it forgivable.

[moony-2001]

Lore Olympus ep. 256 critique

A note from last episode

One thing I forgot to mention in my last episode critique is why would Apollo even be allowed to take the throne? Hera still exists. Zeus has brothers who could step up. Other legitimate children. Obviously, Apollo is the “de facto” ruler for the sole reason that the plot needs to be driven forward somehow, but realistically Apollo would be, like, the last person who’s allowed to step up. Speaking of which, where is Artemis? She knows what Apollo is like. Why doesn’t she step up if they’re letting literally anyone rule?

Ah, yes, of course. Our fearless protector of women, everyone. I have so many things I could say about Artemis and her portrayal in this comic but for the sake of keeping this post relatively short, let's move on.

The fucking nightie

Oh. My. God. The nightgown.

I literally had to put down my phone when I first saw her in this. The rage I felt and still feel when I look at her.

Persephone is a queen and she just found out her brother-in-law/supreme ruler is in critical condition after being poisoned with a "mystery substance". Jfc have a little decency. And I don't want to hear "Oh WeLl ShE oBvIoUsLy DiDn'T hAvE tImE tO cHaNgE" or "sHe DoEsN't HaVe AcCeSs To ClOtHiNg" because she so obviously did. Hades is wearing a full-ass suit. She had time to cut her hair and "accessorize" with a stupidly oversized hat and cape. She is a QUEEN. She has access to all the clothing she could possibly want. Persephone has no excuse for showing up in a skimpy little nightgown.

I just-

Persephone is not a good queen

Let’s be real here. Persephone is a terrible queen. What have we, as readers, actually seen her do for the betterment of the underworld.

She doesn't even follow through on her "promise" to help with the influx of the dead. Instead, she focuses on her own personal problem of her powers taking a massive shit because of a deal she made with an unknown being (which was her own choice). I mean, who could've foreseen the consequences of making a shoddy deal with being you've literally had no previous interactions with. Not me, that’s for damn sure /s

Let's see what Persephone has done thus far leading up to and during her reign as queen:

terrorized lower-class citizens

caused the return of Kronos

caused a child deity to be held hostage/abused by Kronos

Tartarus being controlled by Kronos (caused by Persephone)

the mortal realm dying

still hasn't established Elysium

verbally abused recently deceased mortals because they're confused and haven't provided a resounding yes to help with... whatever it was she was trying to do.

lots of sex

letting 2 beings who have no business listening to a leadership meeting listen in anyways because it's "background noise"

Yep, all the actions of a great queen.

Also, side note, when have we ever seen Hecate be nosey? Please correct me if I'm wrong, but Hecate has pretty much always looked out for her best interests and tried not to get involved in others' drama. Am I surprised that Rachel is changing a character's personality? No. Am I disappointed? At this point, also no. Let's continue on.

The meeting

The meeting was certainly… something. I will say I loved Apollo getting his shit rocked by Ares. But after that, Apollo says this:

I mean... he's kinda right? Yes, it was all a big ploy to get specifically Persephone there, but Apollo isn't wrong. Persephone does have a habit of hiding in the underworld and letting Hades deal with her shit instead of facing her problems head-on. Yet another fantastic trait to tack onto her resume as queen.

And on that note, we circle back to the beginning of this post. After Hades has his big-boy temper tantrum, Athena and Amphitrite rightfully point out a few things:

Athena is right, Apollo has no claim to the throne, not when Hera is still around and especially not as a bastard child of Zeus. In terms of a line of succession (especially since all of his children excluding Hebe are grown), Athena would be the best candidate for this temporary position. She's the goddess of wisdom. Who else could fit this role? Poseidon and Amphitrite are busy ruling the oceans, Hades and Persephone are off doing whatever, Ares is all brawn and no brain, and Hephestus wants nothing to do with his family. I mean, we haven't actually had any kind of serious interaction involving him since like halfway through s2 I'm not counting those 2 little portions in s3 with Aphrodite.

And once again, we have a character that is so close to figuring it out but I guess we can't be affording too many brain cells to Amphitrite since she was to share with all the rest of the characters. Also, rip Aphitrite and all her pretty loops and swirls. I miss the individuality the characters had back in s1.

Before the meeting can continue any further, Demeter bursts in deeply distressed and crying out:

B-bbb-but how can we tell if the mortal realm is actually dying if we don't have a handy little message at the end of the chapter that clarifies whether or not this is a metaphor???? Rachel, you know your audience only has the reading comprehension skills of a kindergartener, how do you expect us to cope??

Sorry lol.

Final thoughts

Surprisingly I found this chapter to be a little short, but I don’t know if that’s just me. Again I wouldn’t say that this chapter is any worse than 255 but it’s not great either, y’all know the drill by this point.

Until my next post! I’m hoping to be all caught up by early next week? And then I can start posting more fun things that aren’t chapter critiques 👀

[cassierobinsons]

to the anon from a few days ago: sorry i'm only just getting back to you on the sam + classism discussion. putting this under a cut because it's rambly

To me the whole Sam classism thing is very much like coming from an immigrant family the people you will meet who complain about "illegals" because they didn't do it "the right way". Like generally, these are not people who hate immigrants or approve of ICE or anything like that, but they still feel a certain moral superiority in having improved their situation "the correct way". I don't think Sam thinks homeless people should all be sent to prison or anything, but I think he still looks at himself as having done something morally correct in getting out of his situation (even though he really didnt in the long run excluding the finale). You see this attitude with other things like when he asks Max why didn't you just leave. I don't think he has no empathy for these situations, but there's like a mental block of not understanding the barriers that other people might face that he didnt.

Oh i extremely know what you mean as a fellow child of immigrants. my mum will make a snide comment while watching the news and i’ll be like 🤨 oh so now we’re pretending that your friend [DATA EXPUNGED] is here totally legally huh. it comes from a small-c conservative belief that there exists a group of people who are less "deserving" than them.

“Morally correct” also happens to be how the fandom sees sam's escape from the family, when it’s just Morally neutral? Like it’s a good thing. But says nothing about sam’s moral fibre because it was for self-preservation reasons. that's not a bad thing either! and i obviously don't think fandom is bad for thinking of sam's hard work as an admirable trait but there needs to be some acknowledgement of his perspective is a little skewed.

Max is a great example to use because sam isn’t being spiteful, but he is being thoughtless and most of it is due to him literally being a man in his early 20s but like, it’s also because of how he grew up and how he got out.

sam’s judgy moments are at their most interesting in s1 because there’s so many of them and because they’re so intentional. Like, intentional on the part of the writers, not sam. his response to max is a reflection of how idk, myopic? sam’s read of dean and their family situation is. It’s an in-universe character flaw he has to work on in order to repair the bond between them, just as dean’s seething resentment over sam’s departure is something he needs to work on too. s1 is about both of them learning to see other as their dad's victim.

I think in general in the fandom you get these sort of knee jerk reactions like "no they can't be racist/sexist/homophobic/classist/etc, they don't hate xyz people" but really no one is saying they do. Like no one is saying Sam spits on poor people. No one is saying Dean thinks women are beneath him. But they both clearly have some ingrained beliefs that are ultimately prejudiced! These aren't immutable characteristics. In fact, I think for the most part if someone had an actual deep discussion with them about it they'd probably come around fairly easily, but that doesn't mean Sam scoffing at Dean hustling pool or Dean saying "sweetheart this ain't gender studies" aren't bad things to do. Like they're often understandable character flaws based on the characters backgrounds, but they're still there.

Honestly, i’d argue that plenty of people ARE saying that dean sees women as beneath him or that sam despises the poor or vice-versa etc. but like. Hmm. this is a tv show for a narrow group of people written by an even narrower group of people and thus the show reflects the views & prejudices of the people writing them. There are moments in which we’re supposed to approve of dean’s sexism but there are also moments where we’re supposed to disapprove while simultaneously approve of or at least be okay with sam’s sexism. There are moments where we’re supposed to think sam’s being a judgy snob, but there are still others where we’re supposed to wrinkle our noses at how uncouth and lumpenprole dean is in comparison to college boy sam. And that goes for the many other -isms in the show. characters are often used as vectors for the beliefs of the writers, good or bad. It’s up to the individual how they choose to make peace with that, but the problem with this fandom is that discussions about isms get heavily wrapped up with stan wars. 

Lemme give an example. It’s incredibly common in samgirl spaces to paint dean as a homophobic neanderthal. they usually do this by taking a shitty comment from season 3 and extrapolating it until they’re talking about s15 dean as if he can’t so much as look at a gay person without threatening to kill them in that sense they’re no different to the desticule circa 2020-2023 WHOA WHO SAID THAT anyway they pretend it’s just a heehee haha jokeyjoke but like. it is 2024 and they STILL can’t engage with conversations about queer dean without talking about deangirls as if they are personally endorsing homophobia! As a result if someone points out that sam makes just as many homophobic jokes as dean does and he’s just slyer about it they flip the fuck out because they’re lowkey projecting and think you’re judging them as hard as they judge you. This is why the mildest criticisms of sam prompt an insane amount of backlash. 

(i talk a little more about this phenomenon here)

and so we come to discussions about sam and classism that feel like people trying to defend him at every turn because they sincerely think we're trying to cancel him and it's pissing me off because if we can't even suggest fictional character sam winchester is maybe a little classist how the hell are we going to address the DERANGED lvls of classism throughout this fandom. i've never been in a fandom where so many people think going to college makes a str8 person better equipped to talk about queerness than actual queer people until i joined spn fandom.

(discussions about racism/racialised misogyny get a lot more complicated and a lot more depressing than anything mentioned above so i'm not approaching that topic for now. "but-" don't care didn't ask plus i probably have more melanin than you. i don't wanna talk about it!!!)

anyway. idk what i'm saying. i think i get where the defensiveness is coming from but it's annoying. what if we just mutually agreed that we're not to blame for spn's bigotry but we also have a responsibility not to reproduce that same bigotry? what if???

EDIT: coming back a day later to say that I do agree with your assertion that a deep conversation could be enough to change them! I just think that a certain part of fandom is allergic to acknowledging ANY flaw at all and that's the biggest hurdle in these discussions.

[recordsfm]

╰   ☆  ◞  renee rapp / cis woman / she/her  ———  no way is that SAVANNAH-LYNN COOKE? you know they’re TWENTY-ONE YEARS OLD and they’ve been in los angeles for TWO YEARS. they’re chillin’ as a STRIPPER at LUX. oh and they’re notoriously known for being JADED but there are some people who have seen them be CHARISMATIC. i heard they’re a part of a SOLO ACT called SAVANNAH ROSE, yeah they’re a SINGER/SONGWRITER to be honest they sound a lot like RENEE RAPP, LAUREN SPENCER SMITH, KELSEA BALLERINI & KELLIE PICKLER. they’re actually UNDERGROUND.

PART ONE: STATISTICS. 

feel free to omit some questions as you see fit.

basic information:

FULL NAME: Savannah-Lynn Rose Cooke

NICKNAME(S): Sav, Savy, Venus

AGE: 21

DATE OF BIRTH: October 10th 2002

PLACE OF BIRTH: Macon, Georgia

GENDER: Ciswoman

PRONOUNS: she/her

ORIENTATION: Bisexual

LANGUAGE(S) SPOKEN: English.

NEIGHBOURHOOD: Southcrest

LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: Southcrest Terrace

family ties:

MOTHER: Tammy-Jo Cooke

FATHER: Harrison Cooke (dead)

SIBLINGS: None

SPOUSE / PARTNER: None

CHILDREN: None

PETS: None

occupational information:

OCCUPATION: Sex Worker

POSITION (IF APPLICABLE): Stripper

NAME OF THEIR ACT: Savannah Rose

SO THEY PLAY INSTRUMENTS? IF SO WHAT?: Piano, guitar, flute.

ARTIST INFLUENCES: Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Honey K.

CURRENT MONTHLY SPOTIFY/APPLE MUSIC LISTENS ON AVERAGE: 200

personality:

 WESTERN ZODIAC: Libra

CHINESE ZODIAC: Horse

POSITIVE TRAITS: Charismatic, Caring, Flirty

NEGATIVE TRAITS: Jaded, Stubborn, Clingy

HOBBIES: Singing, Dancing, playing guitar, writing poetry

AESTHETICS: Glaring spotlights, leftover glitter, crumpled dollar bills

PART TWO: QUESTIONNAIRE. 

start at the beginning, who are you and why are you important?

"My name is Savannah Rose, I'm a 22 year old from Georgia and I'm a singer."

how long have you been making music?

"It kinda feels like forever. I did pageants as a little girl so my mama had me doing all sorts of singing bits and stuff like that. But when it came to actually playing instruments, I think I was about ten? so 12 years?"

how would you describe the kind of music you make?

"For me it's pretty real and raw. Vulnerable. It's very much just a girl and her guitar vibes right now but I'm trying to work on that."

who are some of your biggest musical influences?

"Honestly, Tay swift is my girl. I love how she just writes her truth and doesn't accept peoples bad behavior. But I really did look up to both Shania and Honey K and Jenna for a long time."

what is the first record you ever bought?

"The first one I ever bought? My dad took me to the midnight release of Red by Taylor Swift at target... My mom was so mad because I was tired and cranky for my pageant the next day, but in the end it was worth it."

what has working in the music industry meant to you thus far in your career?

Savy pulled in a deep breath. The last thing she wanted was to dox herself in an interview. But at the same time it was so hard to care. At least now she was taking off her clothes for more money then she ever made in pageants. "I haven't found much success doing just music yet. I'm hoping to change that soon."

what are some stand out moments from your career so far?

"Well, this interview is probably the biggest one so far."

how would you describe your style of performance? what makes your shows worth seeing?

"I try to make sure everyone is having a good time. I mean you always have those people who who will never be happy, but I'll do everything reasonable to make sure you're having a good time."

what are you still hoping to achieve in your career?

"All I wanna be able to do is make a living doing what I love to do."

what’s next for you?

"Well, honestly I'm hoping to get discovered. Signed onto someone's label so I can put out my very first album and see how it goes from there."

PART THREE: BACKGROUND:

Savannah was an unwanted child. Though you've never know at looking at it from the outside.

Tammy Jo was promising Miss Georgia contestant who had her title stripped from her once she got pregnant unexpectedly from a one night stand.

With a baby on the way, there really wasn't much more that Tammy or Harrison could do other then get married. Even if the two were complete opposites.

Due to her dreams being dashed, Tammy Jo entered her three month old daughter into a beauty pageant, much to the dismay

[featherlouise]

🤲 CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AU CONTENT? CAN I HAVE SOME CRUMBS OF THOUGHTS? 🥺

I love mothfriend a reasonable amount for a character that I don't even know how he looks like

Ur not gonna be happy about this lmao

TW for child abuse!! I don’t go into detail and I don’t plan to, but take care of yourself :)

SO I mentioned that when Hollow is initially taken by the cult, PK has a meeting in a far off kingdom, which just so happens to be OOF’s base of operations, and he brought bby Hollow along for the ride (they’re about 8/9ish at this point)

While PK is in the meeting, Hollow is left standing outside ‘guarding’ the door. (I say ‘guarding’ bc they weigh less than a bag of flour and they’re like 4 ft tall so they’re not exactly intimidating yet lmao)

SO

It’s been established in my other AUs that if a person is stained/poisoned with void, they can hear void speak. The more void in your system, the clearer you can hear it.

Bby Hollow has never tried to speak to their father before, not only because they aren’t aware that they can, but bc they fear the consequences of being found out. BUT when they’re suddenly grabbed around the waist and hoisted over a stranger’s shoulder, their first instinct is to cry out “FATHER!!” Into the void. Bc they may not know exactly what’s going on, but they do know that they’re being taken away from their post and don’t know where they’re going but they want their dad.

Meanwhile, in the meeting room, PK hears a child’s voice cry out for their father and he feels a visceral need to kill, maim, protect that has only ever surfaced once before, when the pure vessel was injured during a training accident. But! This meeting is important, and he can address the strange voices in his head later, once he and his child the pure vessel are home safe.

Bit of background info about the moths in this AU!!

Those who follow the Radiance are able to have some influence over dreams. It varies between each person but only the most in tune with their goddess can wield the dreamnail and enter Her realm - those who are most adept at dream magic are destined to lead the Order, and become the next Seer, leaving their past identity behind.

(Idk if it’s mentioned if there’s only one dreamnail in game but if it is uhh. There’s more than one. There used to be more when the moth tribe was thriving, but most have been lost)

Over the years, moths have developed a number of tonics and elixirs that can influence a person’s dreams. An expert moth alchemist can induce or rid a person of nightmares, make them see their worst fears come to life in Her realm, or show them their wildest dreams. They can even keep a person sleeping for days on end if they want to.

It’s also imperative that every member of OOF learns to lucid dream from a young age. What use is worshipping the Light if you’re completely unaware when you’re in Her realm?? Surrounded by the purest form of Her light???

Back to Hollow!!

You can BET that they kick and scream (albeit silently) and cry as much as possible bc they don’t know these people and they don’t want to go with them.

It’s only after they manage to gouge 4 deep lines across the face of the one holding them that their kidnappers give in and shove a sleeping draught into their eye and hope for the best (they don’t fall asleep but they do become sleepy asf - thus begins the journey of trying to find an elixir strong enough to put the bby void god to sleep when they keep absorbing everything they give them)

Hollow is immediately brought to the Seer, who induces terrible nightmares about PK. They dream of being tossed back into the abyss, of their father running them through with his blade after finding out about their ‘betrayal’ (their being alive-ness)

(Feel free to shoot some ideas of horrifying dream scenarios to traumatise this small child with)

When they wake up, screaming, crying so hard they’d be choking on their tears had they the ability to do so, they’re faced with the Seer, who pulls out every manipulation tactic in the book to sway them over to Her side, to ‘make them see reason’ about their father’s ‘true nature.���

She takes them into her arms, tells them that they’re safe now, and once they’ve calmed down, tells them the (VERY EMBELLISHED) story of her people. She tells them that her homeland was destroyed by the pale usurper, and that her people’s goddess only wanted to take back what is rightfully hers. The infection was never supposed to hurt anyone, but when the deaths of his people didn’t convince the Wyrm to give Her back Her land, she was left with no choice. It’s the Usurper’s fault really, for what kind of king is he that the deaths of his own people won’t convince him to give Her land back???

And Hollow, having never been given comfort in their life, even after that one time they were really hurt during training and their father got this look in his eye like he wanted to scoop them up and wrap them in a blanket and never let them go, immediately sinks into the Seer’s embrace, becoming more and more horrified by her story.

Their father wouldn’t do that, would he???

But then they remember

The countless bodies of their siblings, piled so high that the floor is no longer visible

The sickening crack and squelch of tiny bodies hitting the edge of platforms, being impaled on spikes

Their father’s face, impassive as he tossed them away. But that didn’t really happen, did it??

No cost too great

ANYWAYS

Also also, soul magic is HEAVILY associated with PK, so any use of it is banned, even to heal.

Thing is!! One thing that’s consistent about every vessel, is that they tend to be more adept at either soul or void magic. Every vessel can use both, but they tend to have one that they excel more at.

So. For example, Ghost is better at Void magic, hence why their more powerful spells are void based, whereas Hollow has more control over soul magic, and has far less control over void spells.

HOWEVER one thing that’s indisputably wired into every vessel’s head as an instinct is soul healing. If they get hurt, they heal. Simple.

No matter how hard Hollow tries to explain this however, all the Seer hears are excuses to use the filthy Wyrm’s power. Why must they betray Her like this?? After the Order rescued them?? Took them in?? Nurtured them??

Any time they’re caught using soul to heal, they’re refused medical attention. By the time they hit 15, they’re covered in cracks and scars.

LONG STORY SHORT Hollow in this AU can use all of PV’s attacks but they’re void instead of soul :)

WOW this is long so imma stop here for now lmao

I’m realising this is more background info than actual story at this point lol

[hanakihan]

okay small facts and details that happened in this AU:

Ashborn indded was Sung’s predecessor, but he wasn’t conneceted with them through blood. Since Ashborn wasn’t married and never had a child he assigned his closest friend as his heir thus making Sungs his heirs.

Sungs don’t have strong heirarchy or inheritance, so Jin-Woo became next heir simply because he wanted Jin-Ah to be free of family responsibilities so she can pursue her dream

Even though Sungs come from Ashborn who got his nobility through knighthood, now Sungs are famous for holding mines and they specialize in sapphires 

No one actually presses Jin-Woo into finding a wife and getting a child because of nature of their noblehood that allows to make non blood related person a heir as long as they’re adopted any way into family. Thus Jin-Woo himself doesn’t pursue any relationship and honestly is just bored out of his mind. He’s a man who enjoys a good hunt or mining, he even has a collection of unique gems

Jin-Chul comes from near borderline poverty background, but as an orphan he refused to become a street rat and steal, so he signed up for navy. Since he’s been a hardworking kid that showed knack for enginnering and constructing as well as constantly observed other sailors, Go Gun-Hee noticed him (since Jin-Chul got assigned to his ship) and unofficially took kid as his protege, hence why Jin-Chul was able to get proper education that otherwise would’ve been impossible.

After Gun-Hee was excused from service (basically he critisized higher ups’ decisions) he opened a small trading company and considered inviting Jin-Chul to work for him but understood that doing so will strip Jin-Chul of a chance to build his carrer and pursue a dream. Jin-Chul never forgets about his foster father and constantly exchanges letters with him.

After Gun-Hee’s retirement, his crew was spread to other ships. Jin-Chul as a very good engineer was assigned to constructing team of ‘Titanic’ hence why he has a notebook filled with ship’s construction and details, and that’s how he ended up as a part of crew, even if his main job was focused on lowest decks.

Jin-Chul actually invited Gun-Hee on cruise sailing, but man declined, saying that he will welcome Jin-Chul in port when ship will be back (Jin-Chul later was so glad Gun-Hee declined, he can’t even imagine Gun-Hee’s frozen corpse among others).

Jin-Ah and Jin-Woo got sent by their parents on a cruise since it was holidays and both Jin-Ah and Jin-Woo had nothing to do, so they wanted their children to have fun.

Despite being nobles, both Jin-Woo and Jin-Ah don’t like interacting with other norbles. Jin-Ah has more freedom, so she either stays in cabin reading books or goes to middle class deck to chat with people here. Jin-Woo doesn’t has that much luxury so he needs to attend at least some parties and socialize (and he hates it).

Jin-Chul actually met Jin-Ah earlier than he met Jin-Woo. They didn’t meet personally, but Jin-Ah found Jin-Chul’s notebook he forgot during his short stay in middle class deck. Later that same notebook helped Jin-Ah to survive first hours of disaster since it contained notes and floor plans of entire ship before she crossed paths with Jin-Chul. 

Jin-Chul and Jin-Woo’s first meeting happened on 1st class deck after Jin-Woo sneaked on working Jin-Chul who got startled and nearly broke Jin-Woo’s nose with his elbow. How romantic.

Neither of them fell in love at first glance, but Jin-Woo was first to acknowledge his love after hangover since night prior he went to lowest deck to drink with Jin-Chul and meet the crew since Jin-Chul was speaking good things about them.

Jin-Chul is constantly covered in coal since he’s a part of coal team. Said coal gets on Jin-Woo’s clothes but he absolutely doesn’t mind. Jin-Ah jokingly asks if her brother dives nose in into coal pile.

Jin-Woo secretly invites Jin-Chul to his cabin from time to time for talk and chess matches. That’s when Jin-Chul gets officially introduced to Jin-Ah.

Jin-Woo and Jin-Chul have no sense of personal space when it comes to each other, they caually can read same book almost touching cheeks or noses. Jin-Ah finds it cute and gross.

None of the crew likes the captain since he’s known for his zero to none skills, but since he has good looks, charm and charisma he got assigned to Titanic because route is secure and there shouldn’t be any issues. 

When lower deck gets a signal of emergency and news reached about an obstacle right ahead, Jin-Chul observed commands of captain about engine speed and realized that at this rate they will not just kiss said obstacle, they’ll fucking crash into it. He consciously broke navy subordination and asked men to follow his instructions and no one complained because they have more faith in Gun-Hee’s protege than in a prick of a captain. Jin-Chul knows it’s a semi-crime on ship but he brushes it in back of his mind to think about after. Thanks to Jin-Chul sure hit became a possible near miss but since commands on lower and upper deck contradicted each other, it became a sure graze. Knowing things won’t go well after yell on upper decks, he ordered his men to get closer to exits and hold tight, which allowed many men to survive the impact. Jin-Chul was unfortunate enough to be in compartment that got opened.

Prior to disaster Jin-Woo and Jin-Ah had an argument regarding Jin-Chul, Jin-Ah has no bad feelings towards Jin-Chul, but she believes that there’s anything more than a momentary attraction (she’s simply scared of Jin-Woo giving up his heirhood to her). She flees to middle deck in frustration, and after Jin-Woo called down and decided to explain everything properly to Jin-Ah, he went out to find her and that’s where he felt the collision.

Panic arose quickly and Jin-Woo ran in opposing direction to find his sister. Panicked Jin-Ah nearly fell in lower decks but managed to navigate her way around thanks to Jin-Chul’s notebook. She started to slowly panic when she saw water getting into ship and it started to slowly tilt. 

Jin-Chul saw the insane damage on lower decks, as well as gush and many corpses floating in water, mostly peasant people and illegal passengers. He tried not to think too much about it, he really did, but seeing floating corpses of children didn’t help. On his way to upper decks he tried to help everyone alive he encountered, even as water was quickly getting in.

In middle decks Jin-Chul stumbled upon Jin-Ah and started to escord her on upper decks, since due to panic she eventually lost her way. Jin-Ah apologized to him, but he has no idea for what, since she didn’t elaborate.

On passage from middle to upper deck they encounter Jin-Woo, but their meeting cut short by construction falling appart. Jin-Chul says Jin-Woo to get out so they can meet outside on lifeboat. Jin-Woo relucantly agrees (that’s the reason why Jin-Ah ended up with Jin-Chul, instead of going with Jin-Woo: she wasn’t able to reach Jin-Woo before construction falls between them, plus Jin-Chul knows ship’s floor plans and Jin-Woo has faith in him to keep Jin-Ah safe).

Jin-Woo on upper decks helped with evacuation, anxiously waiting for these two to appear. When situation became critical, he was ready to run off to find them, but other passengers forcefully dragged him in boat. 

Jin-Chul and Jin-Ah managed to get out from sinking ship, but ended up in cold waters. Jin-Ah reached hysteria levels and started to panic so much she started to sink, so Jin-Chul placed her on nearest floating surface, giving her his old coat and asking her to look and listen to him so she won’t see floating corpses around them. They kept chatting about silly things, Jin-Chul tried to joke and laugh, telling that Jin-Woo will come to save them, and initially hysterival Jin-Ah starts to calm down and stops wrecking wood piece. As a medic she doesn’t even register at fitst that Jin-Chul, staying in water, accquires hypothermia.

She notices lights of one of safeboats and starts to yell as hard as she can, turning her attention away from Jin-Chul. Jin-Chul feels how his muscles give out and breathing becomes hard, black slowly covering his vision, he doesn’t notice when he lets go. When Jin-Ah turns back, she’s alone. She starts to weep. Jin-Woo and other survivors find her alone on a wood piece, wrapped in man’s coat, shaking and crying, barely able to say anything but pointing at water surface. Jin-Woo gets her on boat and she manages to tell him that Jin-Chul disappeared in water. Jin-Woo dives right in with no hesitation. 

He finds him sinking and manges to catch and drag him on surface before his own muscles give out. He thought about giving Jin-Chul oxygen underwater but remembered Jin-Ah’s nagging how unrealistic this in books, because Jin-Chul is unconscious and his lungs may be full of water at this point. When he gets him on boat, Jin-Ah, who’s out of shock, intructs people on what to do with Jin-Chul. When they manage to get most of water out of his lungs, Jin-Woo wraps him in coat. Jin-Ah doesn’t know what to tell to her brother aside from apology, but Jin-Woo just hugs her, happy that she’s alive.

They all reach shore and get medical treatment. Gun-Hee’s also here and that’s how he meets Sungs. He thanks Jin-Woo on saving his adopted son, but Jin-Woo just replies that Jin-Chul was the one to save them, so he thanks Gun-Hee instead. Jin-Chul later wakes up in hospital covered in many blankets and hot towels placed on him. He’s running a fever so he constantly wakes up and falls asleep again, but others are just happy he’s alive at all. When he’s slightly better to stay awake for longer, he gets diagnosed with pneumonia, which means his sailing career is off limits. He has mixed feelings about it, but he asks how many survived. Later he and Jin-Ah have proper conversation where she properly apologizes to him, but he says she has nothing to apologize for. He asks her to give him her palm and he slightly squeezes it, saying that her hands shake no longer, that she’s a brave young lady whom he saved, so now she can save others without fear.

Several days after Jin-Chul gets informed that he’ll be trialed in his involvment in disaster, since some people informed about lower deck not following captain’s orders but his instead. Jin-Chul gets dragged into court despite not being fully healed, and things look grim for him, because even if he explains things, no one really understands it. Before court started, Jin-Woo asked Jin-Ah to seek and bring Gun-Hee in court, since as a retired high ranked navy his words have weight. Gun-Hee arrives on time and starts to destroy captain’s whole career because he got course of events from Jin-Chul when he woke up and his protege’s actions were correct. People who know starts to give their testimonies in defence of Jin-Chul. He’s found not guilty and all charges were lifted off him. He became sort of a local legend and hero. Gun-Hee invites Jin-Chul to work for his trading company and he happily agrees, even if he can’t sail anymore. He also becomes a consultant in ship’s constructions to prevent such fast sinkings. 

Jin-Ho, a local journalist boy, goes to take interview. He ends up receiving whole story from both accounts, as well as Jin-Ah’s and instead of writing a small publishing he writes whole book that becomes a bestseller. 

Jin-Woo and Jin-Chul get happily married after whole mess. Jin-Ah becomes sort of personal doctor for Jin-Chul to make sure he won’t die of pneumonia, while Jin-Woo spares no money to keep his husband healthy as much as he can. Jin-Woo also makes sure to keep eyes on his loved ones.

Jin-Ah and Jin-Ho later marry as well and Jin-Woo plans to make their child next heir if they won’t be against it, of course. 

Bonus cute or dumb things:

Jin-Woo actually got hit by Jin-Chul’s elbow but played it smooth.

After first proper introduction, Jin-Ah just straight up said ‘You’re equally stupud with him, you’ll fit just fine’ to Jin-Chul (same energy as ‘You’re dumb, i like that in a man’ meme)

Jin-Woo, being unused to strong ‘non high sociaety’ liquor barely manages not to die from brew lower deck men served him when they all were drinking, hence why hangover

Jin-Chul and Jin-Woo once ended up visiting music room and Jin-Chul asked if it’s true that all nobles can play musical instruments. Jin-Woo with the most serious face replies that yes and proceeds to play that awful ‘My heart will go on’ flute cover much to Jin-Chul’s amusement. 

Jin-Woo drags Jin-Chul to dance on barrel since lower deck were having a party, they both end up falling from it because it broke under their weight.

When Jin-Woo tried to clean coal off Jin-Chul’s face, he got some on his fingers. He didn’t notice and remaining of their meeting Jin-Chul tried his best to keep normal face because Jin-Woo accidentially made himself coal whiskers with dirty fibgers

Jin-Woo taught Jin-Chul to play chess while Jin-Chul taught Jin-Woo various card games. 

Jin-Chul honestly had no idea he was the reason Sungs got separated at time of disaster. Jin-Ah later explained it to him but before Jin-Woo’s proper confession he still had no idea what’s the issue here.

Jin-Woo also was the one to ask Jin-Chul to look after Jin-Ah if anything happens on ship. That’s exactly what he tells Jin-Ah when she hystrically asks him why he’s going on such lenghts to help her, but he also adds that since she’s a doctor she must know that all need help and all are worth saving.

Each Sung makes their own jewelry to gift someone instead of proposal ring. For Jin-Woo it’s a sapphire brooch while Jin-Ah made a sapphire necklace. When Jin-Woo gave Jin-Chul his brooch saying he can sell it for good sum of money, he meant it, but also hope Jin-Chul will see it as an actual proposal. Jin-Chul declined but appreaciated the gesture. Then after court Jin-Woo tries again but this time properly gifting Jin-Chul the brooch asking if he’ll be willing to share future with him. This time Jin-Chul agreed and now he wears this brooch where his heart it.

Jin-Chul was very nervious about introducing Jin-Woo to Gun-Hee, but it turns out they became very familiar during time Jin-Chul was unconscious in bed. Sungs equally welcomed Jin-Chul with opened hands. Some time later Gun-Hee’s trading company and Sungs signed a very good contract.

Jin-Ah became Jin-Chul personal doctor to look after his health and repay her rescue. She’s absolutely done with both Jin-Chul and Jin-Woo, but she also confessed Jin-Chul she’s the one who had his notebook. He’s surprised, but really happy that his notes helped Jin-Ah to survive first hours and he gifts it to her. Later notebook becomes a family treasure that gets passed from generation to generation.

Jin-Chul’s pneumonia is actually bad, but Jin-Woo prefers coughing fits and occasional fevers to barely present breathing and cold body. They all came out of this with trauma, and Jin-Woo is really clingy to his husband, especially in bed, to make sure he always stays warm.

Every year Sungs host memorial party where all survivors gather to remember dead ones but also celebrate life. 

Jin-Woo and Gun-Hee share mutual satisfaction when prick of a captain starts to have mental breakdown upon hearing his verdict. 

man you have no idea the sheer DESIRE to write something about Titanic esque chulwoo AU

The main drill is that Sungs come from a rather wealthy old noble family (courtesy of Ashborn as their predecessor being royal knight or smth), Jin-Woo is a next heir while Jin-Ah studies to become a doctor (or a nurse depending on timeline it happens im not even completely sure with setting but probably og titanic vibe mixed with Korean Idek wheeze) and parents send them on a cruise ship for vacation (and in hopes jinwoo will meet nice noblewoman or any woman since sungs are pretty chill about bloodline)

Then there’s Jin-Chul who’s a ship engineer/captain in training courtesy of navy captain on pension Gun-Hee. Gun-Hee comes from rather humble background but managed to reach rather prestigious position of first navy and then civil ship captain but now he’s on pension, and this man is an example to Jin-Chul that you can reach your dream despite your upbringing. Jin-Chul himself also comes from rather humble background on verge of poverty but money and fame never fascinated him, but ships and sailing did. When Jin-Chul was assigned on Gun-Hee’s ship as a new engineer, Gun-Hee saw talent in boy and unofficially took him under his wing teaching him to be a captain. Then Gun-Hee left (or honestly more likely was forcefully dismissed) and Jin-Chul got assigned as one of engineers/coal workers on this giant ship, but Gun-Hee still sails under his own name as a trader or smth like that.

Cue sailing day and at evening Jin-Woo excused himself since noble parties bore him to death and anyway, evening is beautiful and sea is calm. Wandering around he stumbles upon Jin-Chul doing small repairs and who nearly hit Jin-Woo in nose with his elbow because he came too close without announcement. Jin-Chul stiffly apologizing because he knows how annoying nobles can be but is surprised when Jin-Woo is the one to apologize for being so careless and invites him for an apology tea or coffee since compared to other choices Jin-Chul seems as a perfect company thanks to his sharp tongue, wits and knowledge.

Some day of cruise pass and they become rather close friends, Jin-Woo visits Jin-Chul in lowest decks which surprises everyone here and they have a rather nice drinking and dancing session, while in turn Jin-Woo helps Jin-Chul to sneak in 1st class deck so they can chat and play chess in peace of room (and so he can introduce Jin-Chul to Jin-Ah). Jin-Woo even tries to gift Jin-Chul his sapphire brooch so he can sell it for nice sum of money and get his own ship or even open his own company or smth, but Jin-Chul politely refuses, satisfied with their friendship.

Cue disaster night. Now think about captain being an incompetent prick (maybe even on levels of Costa Concordia captain damn) and fucking up entire probably miss into sure hit (even if Jin-Chul risked it and asked people to follow his instructions despite it being a big ass discipline insubordination but no one really minded because people saw that captain gives shit orders) but since bridge was still under captains command, instructions contradicted, but it still allowed a graze hit rather than direct one. So yea this gets worse, Jin-Chul was in section that suffered from impact and got tore, barely got out of here along with most of his men. Seeing how fast water fills decks he tells people to go higher and himself runs to find Sungs or other people he knows. Apparently he finds panicking Jin-Ah and through dangers of ice cold water and falling construction manages to cross paths with Jin-Woo until they got separated again. They manage to get out of sinking shell that nearly becomes their coffin (because he promised Jin-Woo to take care of and save Jin-Ah no matter what goddamnit), Jin-Chul manages to place Jin-Ah on some drifting wood before starting to sink because of cold water.

Now, I’m a sucker for happy endings despite shit looking really bad, so let’s say Jin-Woo with others on safe boat manages to find shell shocked Jin-Ah wrapped in Jin-Chul’s coat, pointing at water and trying to say something with her teeth chattering and managing to say that he’s drowning, Jin-Woo saying ‘not on my fucking watch’ and jumps after, managing to grab him and drag on surface, man is absolutely freezing with lips blue and not really conscious but still weakly breathing.

ANYWAY they safely get back on shore, they all get medical treatment, Jin-Chul earns himself pneumonia (well fuck his sailing dreams ig), Sungs’ gratitude for saving their children and a fucking trial because captain blamed entire catastrophe on lower deck crew defying his orders and following engineer’s ones and that’s a big ass crime in navy. Things ain’t looking good because they want to prosecute him in shortest time to give people answers who’s the guilty one, Jin-Woo is really ready to throw hands with people, Jin-Chul’s patient explanations through coughs ain’t helping because no one can confirm accuracy of his words and that’s when Gun-Hee himself enters court saying smth like ‘maybe you should interrogate deck staff too to hear what commands captain was giving’ and then our sir proceeds to destroy this captain‘s whole career. Jin-Chul is cleaned of accusations and becomes a sort of a good example semi-legend, but thanks to extreme colds diving he now can’t sail on long distances but fear not Gun-Hee invites him to work for him since Jin-Chul is out of commission and Jin-Woo once again gifts Jin-Chul a sapphire brooch but this time asking if Jin-Chul will share future with him. Jin-Chul honestly having ??? reaction while Jin-Woo with the most deadpan face asks ‘You seriously think I’ll dive into cold waters of ocean at night to drag you on surface and then using my body warmth to keep you alive if i didn’t cared about you???’

[monicahar]

Genshin guys if they were in a romance anime

characters; scaramouche, gorou, thoma, kazuha, childe

; i wanted to recommend some romance shows to watch for valentines(since it'll get pretty lonely for some people), but I also wanted to write something! Thus, this post was born. There’s a few changes I made to each story to fit the characters but please beware; there are MAJOR spoilers for mentioned animes!

btw kazuha's part has gotta be my fave😩

Scaramouche — Kaguya-sama : Love is War!

"How impudent." a scoff escapes his lips, gesturing his hand in an irksome manner, “Did you hear those baseless rumors about us dating? They’re being quite loud these days.”

Kunikuzushi, or as other people call him, Scaramouche, the vice president of Teyvat’s most prestigious high school!

"Whether they think we're dating or not, matters little to me. Are you getting swayed by all the love talk, perhaps?" smoothly did you reply, flipping through the pages of written club activities as you sip your cup of coffee in your desk.

"Swayed?" he turns to look at you with a faux smile, offended by your statement, "Are you underestimating me?"

Your eyebrow piques in surprise at his rejuvenated response, your eyes not leaving the documents you're holding, "Forgive me, I merely thought you were finally entering your lovesick phase. It's rather below you, but it's normal these days."

"Normal, huh." he turns to the window that shines sunlight upon the room, "Don't tell me you're also entering that so-called phase."

"Hmm...I'm afraid I don't have anyone I have feelings for right now." A lie. One of the biggest lies you've said.

You were indeed in love with someone, that being Scaramouche himself. No one knows how hard you've worked for your position as the President, no one knows your extreme admiration for the boy, no one knows that you've only surpassed him on grades because you wanted to be good at something that he can consider you as a worthy partner, no one knows your faked indifference every time you pass a test, coming out as the top—a few points away from Scaramouche's, and most importantly, no one knows all the blood, sweat and tears you've shed just to be put on the same pedestal as someone who's as highly reputable like Scaramouche. No one knows. And you're not planning to let anyone know either.

"Likewise." he closes his eyes, "So you shouldn't accuse me of such things when you're not experiencing anything of the matter."

You do your best to ignore the wave of disappointment that washes over you, opting yourself to focus more on the bills and debts of different club and school activities. Atleast he's not interested in anyone yet.

Hope still lies in your heart. Deep down, something tells you not to give up, and not get intimidated by the status of your vice president. He'll like you someday if you try hard enough, and who knows, maybe he already likes you but he's also keeping it to himself much like what you're doing right now?

Well, it still doesn’t help the anxiousness in your heart whenever you think about what you both could be if you had confessed your feelings. Late at night, you’d lie on your bed and think if a romance between you two is possible. Maybe you’re fitting for each other, with your intelligence and his wealth. But is his title as a member of the Raiden family willing to overlook your background as a normal girl who’s working part time at multiple jobs just to support her family?

If only he put down his pride and confessed, if he actually did have feelings for you.

The indigo-eyed individual silently curses himself, nearly slipping out his true intentions when he brought up the newly risen rumors about you both dating.

He's the one who spread the rumors in the first place, placing an anonymous post on the school's website. All of this was part of the futile attempt to get you to confess your undying love for him.

He can't confess his own feelings, his pride is too high for something like that, he thinks. Someone as well-known like him shouldn’t be on their knees begging for a date.

Even though he's not certain of himself whether you like him or not, the chances are pretty high. If you weren't in love with him like he thought so, then he'll simply make you.

He's the son of one of the richest businesswomen in the country, Raiden Ei. No one can resist such a rich and handsome looking man such as he, right?

Though the known family of Raiden is quite a boost to his chances being with you, but this also places the big burden of a high reputation upon him, heightening the expectations of him by the people around him.

Would it be okay for his family if he dated a woman of no background like you?

Although your excellent grades and achievements make up for it, the question still remains unanswered inside him. The risks are high, but he's willing to try.

Is this what you call being lovesick?

Gorou — Rascal does not dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

His hands skimmed through different books, trying to find a reference to what he's currently studying. The library was as quiet as any other day, people around him peeking through shelves which he suspects are for the same reason as him.

Everything seems normal and no one seems to notice it, but he feels...a strange presence.

Call it kind of a dog—instinct all you want, but he can feel it.

But before he could catch sight of the shadow-like person lingering in the library, it would just escape to a corner in the nick of time before he could fully scan the figure through his peripherals.

Awkwardly scratching the back of his head, he just brushes it off as just imagination, thinking that he was probably being delusional since everyone else wasn't paying any mind to the presence.

That is, until he saw it.

A girl.

An oddly familiar one.

You quietly stared at the people around the library, waving right in front of them, to which they don't acknowledge.

Your locks swayed behind you as you walked nonchalantly, briefly brushing your shoulder with his, causing him to stiffen up as you both stare at each other.

You stop your steps right beside him. Adorning a quite revealing bunny suit as you glance around the library, before landing your gaze back to him.

"You can see me?" You crudely asked as you faced him.

Finding himself speechless and unable to speak at the weird predicament he's in, he nods.

"Oh?" Your brow raised at the revelation, "Well, forget any of this happened." you promptly leave him in the dust amongst the busy people in the library.

He stands shocked at what happened, watching your form slowly disappear as you walk out the library's doors.

"...[Name]—senpai." The name escapes his lips before he even knows it. The muttering of your name managed to clear the fog in his memory.

You were a senpai from the same high school as him, but you were on a education hiatus due to your job as a celebrity. He forgets that he has a pre-alumna figure like you.

Gorou's cheeks slowly heat up at the image of your bunny suit. The way the stockings showed till the low of your hips, your chest puffed up due to the tight clothing and the collar you wore gave him strange feelings.

But... His eyebrows furrow as the heat in his cheeks dissipate. Why did no one else notice you? Did they...even see you?

Whatever it was, he was bound to find out soon enough.

Thoma — My Dress Up Darling

"It's creepy to talk to dolls, you know!"

Thoma grimaces at the memory, gripping his grandfather's hina doll in his palm rather tightly.

His only friends back then had drifted away from him after showing his love for grooming the little figures, causing him to shut away himself from social life. If no one likes what he likes, how is he supposed to get along with them anyways?

Don't get him wrong, he isn't trying to be emo or anything. He grimly accepted that in order to have friends, he'd have to pretend to be someone he's not—which is something he'd never do, even if it meant him being lonely. The few people that do talk to him, are either unaware of his tendency to talk to hina dolls like Ayaka, or just using him for their advantage—like now, as we speak.

"Sorry, Thoma, I'll make it up to you by buying you something tomorrow!" A classmate of his bows half-hearted before going out the room with his friend. They transferred their cleaning duties to him, knowing he'd agree for the sake of being polite, even if it hurt him.

The cycle would've continued on like this his entire high school life, until you barged inside the arts and crafts room, unintentionally interrupting as he spoke to his hina doll.

He had chosen to work on the kimono for his doll inside the school's crafting room for the sewing machine, since the one from his home had stopped functioning. Deciding to take a break from the stitching, he tried to talk to his doll—which led to his current predicament.

"What..." You find yourself trailing off in disbelief as Thoma looks down at the floor with a bashed expression, terribly humiliated that someone as popular as you had seen his strange self in the flesh.

It'll only be a matter of time after this when word has spread out and he wouldn't even be able to enter the campus without a laugh coming his way.

"That's..."

Thoma closes his eyes shut. Waiting for your horrified reaction and disgusted words.

"That's so cool!" you squeal.

"Huh?" His gaze shoots up to meet yours, which were sparkling in admiration for...him?

"You can make clothes, Thoma?" Your eyes trail to the sewing machine, where it lay dormant and quiet as a piece of cloth is underneath the needle. "How though? We don't even have an eco class or anything."

"Ah..." Thoma stands up from his seat to look at your properly, "My family owns a hina doll shop."

"Oh? Did you make this doll then?" Your head drops to inspect the figure in his hands more closely, making his cheeks heat up at the proximity.

"N-no...its my grandfather's. I only know how to make their clothes." came his quiet reply.

You hum in understanding, smiling at the doll as you marvel its features, "Look at this hottie."

Thoma feels a slight quirk on the corner of his lips from your compliment. This was the first time that someone had shown in interest in what he loved doing.

"But...clothes you say, right?"

"Hm? Yeah. Wait—what are you doing?!" The blonde immediately turns away from you, cheeks heating up rapidly as you suddenly start taking off your blouse.

The rustling of clothes fill his earshot, his mind getting filled with perverse images of your bare form. Time is going so painfully slow with how you're changing clothes, his relief is sounded when you finally say,

"You can turn around."

You were wearing one of the saddest dresses he'd ever seen. You slightly look down as you catch his offended look, "You see, uhm...I tried making a dress...but as you see, it isn't turning out quiet well."

"That's...sad." You wince at his jab, his hands patting your poorly made dress, "What were you even trying to do with this?"

You pull out your phone to show him a picture of a girl in a maid outfit, his jaw dropping from the amount of differences between the one you're wearing and the one you're supposedly referencing.

"I just want to cosplay...okay?" You let out an exasperated sigh as you plop down on a chair, "It's something I've always wanted to do so please..." You turn to meet his emerald orbs.

"Help me?"

Thoma finds his breath stopping at your pleading look. The way your lush lips pout in anticipation, your eyes glassy, and a slight shy blush covering your cheeks.

"Am I really up to the job...?" he's unsure.

"Uhm, you don't have to do it if you don't want to...it's just that I really like this one character that I want to be her. I completely understand if you don't want to heed to my selfish request." you quickly reassure with a disappointed and forced smile.

"I'll help." he says without missing a beat.

If you were so supportive of his passion for hina dolls, then it's only fair he does the same for you, right? He's new to the world of cosplay, but if he's able to use his abilities to make someone happy, he'd gladly let you guide him into this new territory.

"Really?! Thank you, thank you! Then let's first get started with who I'm gonna cosplay, you see—" you happily show him the girl from earlier, "She's Saint Slimy Girl's high school: Madame's Shameless Miracle Life In The Disgraceful Clubs 2's Kurde Shizuku!"

"Ah." He's mortified as you happily rant about this passion of yours, finding no strength in him to ask about your sanity. He doesn't understand a single thing. Sex slaves? Normal to go an all girls school as a boy? Love-circumstance rape? A harem? What is all this?

"U-uhm..." he finds himself speechless, but...is it really okay to back out now?

Especially when you look so happy talking about this...erotic game...

Sigh. He already knows that his life from now would definitely be more complicated than before. But can he really complain if you're certainly gonna make it more eventful for him rather than being bland?

Kazuha — Komi Can’t Communicate

At first, he was incredibly perplexed. Why were you so eerily quiet...? He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t a little freaked out when you glanced at him for the first time with an intense fixation. He could feel himself slowly sinking in dread as you continued to stare harder, but for some reason, he couldn’t look away. Was it the fact that you were incredibly stunning? No. Was it because this is the first time a girl had noticed him ever since middle school? Yes-er, no. Was it because of the fact that he could hear your silent yearning for friendship? Yes. But he still wasn’t certain despite his infamous talent to hear emotions. Who knows? Maybe he was hallucinating after all those years of coping with his past emo-self that always talks about the wind. He ultimately decided to not mind you, and turn his attention back towards his locker.

The first day of his new school still hasn’t ended, but it was still the last period. Forgive him, but he just can’t seem to leave you alone. His ruby hues scan your form as you ignore all the chatter from your classmates, and awkwardly fumble with the sleeves of your blouse, seemingly hesitant to even speak. Fate visibly made fun of him for putting his designated seat right next to yours, but as much as he hated to be put in the spotlight as the ‘boring guy attempting to woo the pretty girl’s heart”, he was worried about you. You didn’t say a single word during the entire day, prompting yourself to write on the chalkboard during introductions and shaking tremendously when you were called for a question.

So when the final bell rang as everyone has shuffling out of the classroom, he trusted his hunch about your lack of communication skills and decided to confront you when everyone else has left.

“[Name], [Surname].”

You leisurely look up from your desk with befuddlement at the airy voice he’s upholding—temporarily pausing your previous action of packing up your stuff.

“Pardon me for asking, but are you...” he pauses, contemplating if what he’s doing is somehow worth it, “...struggling with talking to people?”

A uncanny noise escapes your lips.

“H-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-h-”

Kazuha blinks at your reaction, before he snickers at your difficulty with speaking—kindly reassuring you as he replies, “If you want to say something, why not try writing it on the board?”

A brighter expression perks up on your face, immediately rushing to the board with a small skip in your steps; “How did you find out?” plastered on the board as you bring down the chalk, turning to face him directly.

The silver-haired boy hums in thought, before coming down to a proper response, “You could say that I somehow felt it.” 

A blink in your eyes ensues as you notice that he kept it vague to a degree, did he not want you to know something? Oh well, you continue writing on the board—”No one has noticed it before, so i couldn’t really explain to anyone.”

“I see...” Kazuha was always know as the guy who has flowery words on his arsenal at all times, so...why was he speechless?

Both of you remain quiet as chalk rubbing against the sanded plank against the wall, it’s sounds remaining heavy as your excessive writing remains ongoing.

“I really want to talk.”

His breath hitches.

“My face always freezes up when people talk to me. I wish I could talk to them more normally. When I was in middle school, I hated lunchtime. I despised it, since I always ate alone. I tried everyday to join in their conversations, but...I really can’t do it. 

I tried, and tried...but I still couldn’t say anything.”

The silence is one of an irony, deafening Kazuha’s ears despite the quiet atmosphere.

“What should I do? How do I start a conversation? And what do I do after that? What if they don’t want to talk to me? What would I do next time? What if they think I’m boring? What if they think my smile isn’t bright enough? What if I’m like this my whole life? What do I do?”

Realization dawns on Kazuha—you were just trying to make friends, but your lack of confidence seemed to have gotten in the way of your normal life. You weren’t a goddess like everyone thought; You were just a normal girl.

“I must be bothering you, Kazuha. I’m sorry for rambling, I’ll go now. You can just forget everything I wrote.” your hand raises up with an eraser on hold, dragging it across the board to remove the evidence of words in chalk. You turn once again to the boy, before bowing respectfully—thus, your departure out to the door of the classroom betides.

Your stride halts when your ears pick up on a chalk being used once more, swiveling around to see Kazuha also writing on the board—”It’s a nice weather today, don’t you think?”

An astounded expression makes it way to your features, not expecting him to reach out. 

Even with twitching palms, you approach the board, arriving at his side as you pick up an extra chalk, “Yeah. “

The silent, yet thrilling conversation on the board transpires pleasantly, both of you—quite compelled at the thought of this chemistry you both have as you two chatter about your middle school days, a television show that aired last night, current difficulties with studies, to which teacher you disliked the most.

“My dream is to have 100 friends.” your writing paints the board—an answer correlated to his question about your dream.

You step back to marvel at how filled the board had gotten the past hour, your eyes gander to Kazuha’s hands, watching as they swiftly write something you guess is a comment about your goal; he also steps back, awaiting your reaction as you scan his composed writing.

Your breath halts for a moment, your [c/c] hues widening in aghast.

“Then I’ll be your first friend, and help you make the rest.”

Childe — The Class President is a Maid!

“Hey guys, look at what I found.” The guy smirked in mischief as he beckoned his friends over, eyes wandering at parts of your body that shouldn’t be looked at with such a disgusting lust.

“Leave me alone.” Your usual authoritive voice was long gone, your words coming out weak. Being hopeless in this situation, you shut your eyes as you wish that they would just get on with it already. These scum.

“Hah! You guys heard that?” The cigar between his lips ghosts over your cheek due to his proximity. “I dare you to repeat that again, woman.”

“Oi.”

Your eyes instantly go wide when an arm gently encases you into a warm and broad chest, pushing the wierd guy away from you with a harsh slam.

You recognise that voice everywhere.

Childe. Tartaglia. Ajax. Whatever he goes by, he's well known as the pretty boy at your school who constantly causes trouble for you.

Be it that you're a feminist or not, there's just something incredibly annoying whenever you see him coldly and blatantly reject girls from all over the campus. He doesn't even sugarcoat his words a bit. Does he have no mercy at all?

"She may be cute, but she's not yours to touch."

You refrain to look at him with how much your face heated up at his comment, your hands tightly gripping your maid skirt in embarrassment.

This occupation of yours is questionable, but it works perfectly with your schedule and it pays just enough for you and your family's daily necessities. It's hard to find jobs like these, especially when someone is as young as you.

The once smirking men have became utter cowards when they realized who just spoke, opting to run away in fear of angering the force Childe is.

Once their footsteps had left your earshot, you immediately pull yourself away from Childe's arms, his position going lax as he asks if you're okay.

"...sorry."

"Hmm? For what?" he asks, but smirks in a knowing manner.

How annoying.

"Sorry for yelling at you...earlier...thanks for the he..."

Childe's hands swiftly came to your rescue the moment your head fell back. Turns out, the loss of strength just now was due to your fever.

His hand goes up to hold yout forehead, examining your temperature, before letting out a small laugh as you attempt to regain your full consciousness. Key word: attempt.

"I never took our President to be one who neglects her own health..." He teases as your face grows hotter at his embarrassing remarks, "Tsk. Tsk. How childish."

"Shut up..."

Feeling you go limp against his figure makes itself known to him that you've finally fainted out of exhaustion. Childe laughs quietly to himself once more. "No. I won't."

During all that conversation, he was practically trying his best not to ogle at your maid outfit-

[sepublic]

Hunter: The Main Character who’s a Side Character

I’ve said it before with Any Sport in a Storm, but it really is so fascinating how a lot of previous development in Seasons 1 and 2 culminate in our protagonists imparting similar lessons to Hunter, and/or being in the same state of mind to receive that mutual growth with him.

It’s just... How they actually build off of past development and arcs so they matter as does their sequence and it adds up; With the payoff for all this careful setup being that it acts as a launching pad for characters to not just take their growth to the next level, but to pass that wisdom to Hunter as well. And that allows Hunter to grow faster than he might normally have; It reminds me a lot of how Eda learned a lot of lessons as a kid firsthand and passed them onto Luz, even as she learned and reiterated a couple things of her own...

And now we get to see Luz and her friends to the same, as the payoff and reward to their own journeys established in Season 1, that we actually worked on and reap the benefits of, while continuing to still build on that for the sake of said protagonists and not just Hunter. Because as Luz helps Eda too, Hunter does the same. And it really does feel like fate (it kinda is from a meta writing perspective) that Hunter meets these people one by one, and they all contribute their own past growth via a contained lesson, and all of their collaborative development combines to uplift Hunter and help him.

Because helping people with what you went through, so it’s easier for them, is SUCH a recurring theme in this show that you could make a drinking game out of it. It all comes into place and they’re not just building stuff for themselves but for Hunter, and it feels so sweet how everyone has lowkey adopted this kid into their found family mutually. Everyone is playing their part because it takes a village to raise a child.

It’s just so compelling and clever and efficient of the writers to take advantage of episodes they established, the work of those who came before makes things easier for those who come next, as it should be; And Hunter feels like... A sort of marker of our protagonists’ progress, part of his purpose is to reflect their own growth back at them, and now he’s narratively checking up on each of them, one by one, to celebrate and summarize what each protagonist has gone through. He’s like a vessel for the audience to do a character arc roll call with and I love it.

And what goes around comes around, because they not only pave the way for Hunter’s redemption, as the most indoctrinated protagonist who has the most to unlearn and thus learn; But we see how Hunter pays them back and makes them realize thing about themselves, in their recognition of the self in him, like a mirror. Hunter is a mirror not just to but for the protagonists, so Luz gains some contemplation about her future; Amity understands what unconditional love is; Willow has someone who gets to know her for who she is; And Gus learns to trust and believe in himself again.

Hunter is just... An almost chameleon character, multi-purpose with so many parallels, like a changeling. And he’s a wonderful narrative tool for our protagonists and a compelling character that we and the characters see themselves in, so there’s just that fun dynamic for them to bounce off of. I really do think Hunter helps enrich our protagonists and give appreciation to their past growth; He’s like a culmination of our beloved cast in a sense, a representative/champion on their behalf. I can see why Dana loves this dude...

In any other story Hunter would be the main character, which I think is meta and sonder; Having our POV be Luz, who wanted to be a main character but recognizes that so does everyone else, everyone is just as real with just as meaningful lives and backgrounds and perspectives as her. And it’s then interesting to explore the type of accumulative character that the main protagonist usually is, since usually it’s them finding others who are a reflection of them, rather than this subversion of the other way around; Our protagonists finding Hunter one at a time.

Hunter is almost like that kind of protagonist who serves as a consistent commentator, a fellow observer with the audience to the REAL protagonists’ stories per episode as we travel around, an episodic, anthological type of story almost. But again, he’s from a different perspective, which adds to the unique subversion and twist; As does Hunter’s deconstruction as a chosen one, his supposed destiny just a scam to keep him in line, just like Adegast’s scam for Luz. I did compare him to ‘Nevareth Bladestrife’, who complains about not being chosen as the hero despite being main character-bait...

Hunter really does feel like that type of central main character where everyone else reflects a different facet of him and exists to get his development and lesson of the day going, but... In the role of a side-character and seen as such from the POV of our ‘side characters’ who would in another story exist just for Hunter’s sake. He didn’t even properly debut until Season 2! And I feel Hunter ultimately uplifted these characters for me, and gave them an additional compelling dynamic to work with and explore themselves with. It’s all so weird and meta and subversive and strange and I just... IT’S SO FASCINATING Y’ALL!!!

[astaroth1357]

Demigod MC Series: Hestia

This is another eternally virgin goddess, so we're doing another pseudo-demigod by adoption (like we did with Athena).

Demigod MC: Intro, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hades, Dionysus, Demeter, Athena, Hades Pt. 2, Poseidon, Ares, Hestia

Hestia is the goddess of the Hearth, Home, Architecture, Domesticity, Family, and the State. She's high up there (firstborn of Rhea and Cronus), but several factors have led to her falling into the background when compared to the other (flashier) Olympians. She swore to never marry, rejecting proposals from both Poseidon and Apollo, and is something of an antithesis to Aphrodite.

Lucifer

Honestly? He thought they were exactly what they were after. A weak human with no experience in the magical world what-so-ever.

Well… He was half-right.

On the surface, this is a pretty weak human. They don't have super flashy powers or a divine birth from the gods… but they do have a very protective adoptive mother.

The brothers had just settled in for their first dinner with the new human when the goddess herself strolled into their dining room, asked who was in charge, then dragged Lucifer away by the ear!

She's not even his mother, yet he felt the intense urge to apologize and put himself in his own room… Oh, the humiliation… at least she did the same to Diavolo…

The Prince was only able to calm her down by promising absolutely NO harm would come to her child… on their heads...

By the time the goddess finally let him go, Lucifer was about ready to shackle the MC to his wrist so nothing could touch them but he settled on keeping them with him like an assistant of sorts. They were in charge of helping him with the paperwork so he could keep an eye on them. 

What he didn’t expect was for them to be so… good at it? They could keep his offices clean, they managed his daily schedule, fixed up the House, and still have time to bring him tea and sweets every night!

They could even reign in his brothers somehow… They weren't strong or intimidating, but one or two mildly unhappy words out of them and everybody would be on their best behavior.

Was everyone positive they're only human...?

As much as he hated to admit, he may have a slight deep case of falling for the housekeeper… He would make a move, but well…

He has Beel to contend with first.

Mammon

Okay so, watching Lucifer get dragged out by the ear just like Raphael used to do to him was hilarious!!! The whole room got a good laugh! 🤣

Until Hestia glared at them and suddenly they all felt like they'd disappointed someone important….

And all that fuss over some dumb human??

So what if they made amazing food?

So what if they could clean the entire mansion in a day?

So what if they were the walking equivalent to a warm cup of cocoa on a winter's day??

So what if they were just the kindest, sweetest thing in this godforsaken hellscape and he would throw himself in front of a bus to keep them safe-

-Wait, when did that happen?!?

Seriously, Mammon's attachment to the MC came out of NOWHERE to him. One day, he was threatening to eat their soul and the next he's freaking out when they stub their toe!

He swears they have to have some kind of magic about them! A charm, or a spell, or… their lovable smile and warm, loving hugs...! 😊

Damnit!! They're too cute!! He needs them to go away but also never leave, thanks. 😒

In all seriousness, though their kind nature puts Mammon's tsundere self at a bit of a disadvantage, his protective instincts shoot through the roof whenever they're involved.

Naturally, that means his day is spent running them away from hungry lesser demons or shielding them from Beel and Lucifer's tug-of-war matches… He's a busy guy these days. 😖

Leviathan 

They're so… so… MOE!!!

That was his immediate thought when Mammon brought them home. He was expecting a defenseless human, but not one that could have stepped out of one of his slice-of-life manga!

To be honest, his instant thought was try and find a place to sit them on his shelves with the rest of the adorable characters he loves… 😅

And that was before they even opened their mouth! Five words into their introduction and he was ready to get their face on a t-shirt!!

Honestly, combine their natural cuteness with their household skills and they made for perfect waifu/husbando material… 

Not helped by the fact they found one of his maid/butler outfits while doing the laundry one day. Not only did they ask if they could wear it, they actually non-ironically liked it and started wearing it around the House!!

Oh he got cornered by Beel, Lucifer, and Mammon separately that day because they thought he was using them for fetish fuel… But it was their idea, he swears!!

I mean… He didn't discourage them or anything either but still…

If Beel hadn't claimed them on Day One, Levi might have eventually thrown his hat in the ring too... Oh well… he can pine from a distance… What else is new? 😔

Satan

He has a video of Hestia dragging Lucifer out of the dining room on his phone and it's one of his most treasured possessions now. 😌

He is perhaps the only person in the House who was not at all impressed with their little human.

So they could cook? So could he. So they can clean? That's not impressive. They could manage a household? Big deal, he's more or less been in charge of the same thing for centuries!

As far as he saw it, there was nothing the MC could do that he couldn't do as proficiently or even better. There was nothing remarkable about this human at all!

… except for one thing.

That maid/butler outfit of Levi's? The one they like to wear around?

It has cat accessories…

Either they don't notice or they don't mind it but they essentially walk around the House cleaning things with little kitty ears attached to their head and a bell on their collar…

Dammit… Why did Levi even buy that?!?

Satan ended up getting in trouble for enchanting their outfit to give them REAL ears and a tail "accidentally..." Lucifer strung him up by his toes, Beel gave him a black-eye, and Mammon still calls him a "perverted cat freak" but it was worth it, he says, worth it!!

Asmodeus 

Oh Beel…

Asmo saw Beel's feelings for the MC coming from a mile away. He didn't even need to confirm it with a sniff check, he had them scented by the end of their first night!

Lucifer, on the other hand, now that was a surprise... 😏

Ask him a century ago if Lucifer would ever consider a human lover, godly mother or no, and he'd have laughed! Yet here he is, giving gifts and sneaking whiffs of their adorable new housemate!

Of course, that's causing some commotion because they're pitted against each other, but Asmo finds it kind of cute honestly. 

Beel and Lucifer aren't fighting, not for real. The whole house knows Lucifer would win in a real brawl, but neither of them actually want to hurt the other… They're far too close for that.

So Beel tosses Lucifer around with kid gloves and Lucifer holds back considerably against Beel. It's pretty much just two brothers who love each other squabbling over the same toy… 🤭

Honestly, Lucifer might have bowed out by now and just let Beel have them but now his pride's on the line… thus an endless tussle between family and the sweet MC is in the middle, clueless to it all!

Tragic, is it not? But it certainly makes things more entertaining around here! (Good thing too since Beel beat him to the punch… If it's a fight against those two, he'll have to keep any of his own affairs with the MC under the radar... 😏)

Beelzebub 

He has claimed this one. Full stop.

For a bit of perspective: when Barbatos needs cooking tips, he calls Hestia. Hestia, the Divine Master of All Things Cooking. Hestia, the goddess who raised this MC… 

Needless to say if they have any magic at all, it's in the kitchen.

If food is the way to Beel's heart, this MC has claimed his heart, soul, and probably all of his vital organs. Their food is astounding!! Always perfect every time and so good it brings him to tears!

It started the night of that first dinner, prepared by MC. He was too busy scarfing down the table to even notice a goddess showed up and then he proposed to the MC with their own pig roast by meal's end!

They said no to marriage, but an instant pact agreement suited him just fine.

Beel didn't waste a single moment before he started treating them like a potential mate, territorial aggression and all, but there was a bit of a catch… He kept the MC totally oblivious to it.

Surprisingly, Beel's can turn the "They're MINE" part of his brain on and off pretty well. He's nothing but sweet and cuddly to the MC when they're around and even with his brothers!... as long as they don't try anything.

The moment he caught whiff that Lucifer might be pursuing them too, it was on. Suddenly the two brothers who almost never fight were in competition against each other! But of course, both have an unspoken rule to never do so in front of MC.

And now poor MC believes it's common for demons to "play wrestle" like puppies and hugs are traditionally supposed to be so hard they could snap spines… 

And it doesn’t look like they'll be backing down any time soon… Oh dear...

Belphegor 

You know what? For once, everything goes exactly to plan for Belphie!

No really, this MC has no hidden powers, no magic horses, not even Demon Nip. They are a helpless, trusting little human who just wants to help their big teddy bear get his twin back!

So, you know how it goes. The charm, the lies, the treachery and all of that. He even gets to kill them!! Oh, happy days!! 😁

Come to think of it, they did smell an awful lot like Beel… But who cares, as long as Lucifer suffers right?? And this whole "living together in harmony" crap fails, right?!

Wrong. 

Beel went ballistic. Lucifer did too, but Beel was what really hurt…

Belphie can safely say that in all of his life, Beel has never physically attacked him. Not once, or at least, not with intent to kill… 

But when the sixthborn's fist went crashing through the wall right by his ear that day, he knew his brother's first instinct was to aim for his head… and his second was to miss, as he still loved him, but only by just a little.

What the hell did he just do??

Thank their father for Barbatos and all the funky time stuff he can do because bringing the MC "back" snapped his angry brothers right out of it. 

Things should have been smoothed over at that point but as everyone was finally settling down for tea, Hestia made another appearance in the House… this time carrying a butcher's knife!

Time fix or no, Diavolo had promised her no harm would come to MC and at least one continuity of them DIED… so punishment was now on Lucifer and the Demon Prince himself!

Belphie, in a rare case of guilt and an expression of brotherly love, offered to take their place since it WAS kind of all his fault. His gesture softened the Goddess of Family juuust enough to lighten his sentence from execution to hard labor.

And thus, the MC had their own housekeeping assistant for a whole year, complete with bitter reluctance and a matching maid outfit! Cat-theme and all!!

He's sending nightmares to anybody who laughs… guaranteed. 😒

[phoenixyfriend]

Anakin and the Jedi Babies: Where There’s a Whill, There’s a Windu

Context: original post, chrono

(Summary of the AU: Disaster lineage got tossed back in time. Anakin stayed 21-ish, but Obi-Wan and Ahsoka got deaged, took new names for time-travel reasons (Ylliben and Sokanth, or Ben and Soka) and have been officially adopted by Anakin.)

----------------------

“You’re attached.”

“You’re just now noticing?”

Master Windu eyes him for a few long moments, and then joins him on the ground. Anakin can’t help but smirk. There’s something gratifying about having respect from the man, in this life.

“The other members of the council are concerned.”

“And you aren’t?”

“I am, but for other reasons,” Windu says.

Anakin doesn’t meet his eyes, doesn’t even respond for a long minute. He just looks out over the Room of a Thousand Fountains, spread out below them like hundreds of jungles pieced together in a jigsaw of flora. It’s been his favorite room in the Temple since he was a child, and it’s always overwhelming.

“Most of them have accepted that you adopted them because of Mandalorian customs, and that you stayed where you were due to the will of the Force,” Windu continues. “But they are… uncomfortable with how blatantly your attachments show.”

“Mandalorians are loud and refuse shame. It rubbed off.”

“You said you would kill for these children.”

“I’m their father. That’s kind of expected.”

Windu’s expression is tired. A little tired of stress, but mostly tired of Anakin’s shit. “You know what I’m trying to get at.”

“Do I?”

“Skywalker.”

“No, I’m serious. I need you to spell this out. I’ve had a million slightly-contradicting lectures on this topic, and I’ve been told pretty clearly that I misinterpreted a solid half of them. If you want a constructive conversation, you can’t be vague. I’m thirty-three years old and a father of two, Master Windu, so yes, I’m attached. What you mean by that word is going to change where this conversation goes.”

It’s gratifying to see the Master actually think it over.

“Ylliben’s tattoos have been causing the most recent stir,” Windu finally says. “They nearly all relate to family, whether new or old, and the symbolism is concerning to those who are already upset about the Mandalorian upbringing. They worry that he’ll remain too tied to people he grew up with, and unable to maintain neutrality in future diplomatic ventures, or at risk of a fall if one of the people he’s seen fit to memorialize is injured or killed. The assume a similar state of mind may be applicable to your daughter and yourself, especially given the off-color jokes about how possessive your children are about each other.”

“They’re worried about emotional immaturity,” Anakin summarizes. He offers a wan, unimpressed grin. “They do realize he’s fourteen, right? Nobody’s emotionally stable at fourteen. The hormones are out of whack.”

“I’m aware,” Windu grinds out. “And I’m aware that your histories, of war and all such things, make your ties much stronger, but you can see why the Council worries, especially those who are wary of the memories your children carry but won’t explain. I’m the only one you’ve told, Skywalker.”

“Plo and Depa know.”

“Plo and Depa aren’t on the council.”

“Yet.”

“Skywalker.”

He relents. “It’s not about Mandalore, Master Windu. It’s about Tatooine.”

Windu lets that sit for a few moments, and then sighs. “I don’t know enough about Tatooine to parse that.”

“Shmi and I are former slaves,” Anakin says, as bluntly as he can. “I was freed at nine, she at eleven, and for all that we are free, we’re not freeborn. We were born slaves, and raised slaves, and we were freed too late to forget that life. The way we think is always going to be affected by the way we grew up. That applies to all sentients, more or less, but it’s… the slave mentality is completely at odds with Jedi teachings, because Jedi teachings can only be taught in a safe environment.”

Windu nods slowly, and says, “That does make sense, but it’s… forgive me, but that’s why we don’t normally take children older than four.”

“From the perspective of teaching cultural values, that makes sense,” Anakin allows. “Teaching a Jedi child that’s cared for with communal resources that they do not need material things to be happy is fine; trying to convince a slave child of the same, someone who grew up being told they do not deserve material things, and that their owner can take anything at any time, including family? I lived that life, trying to adjust to ascetic Jedi values that coincided poorly with slave rules. I know exactly how poorly that transition can go when the person caring for the child doesn’t know how to handle the points of conflict.”

“Do you regret joining the Jedi?” Windu asks.

Anakin shakes his head. “My Jedi master, bless him, cared, and tried very hard, but he wasn’t ready to handle a kid like me and in hindsight, I know that. He needed grief counseling, and I needed therapy, and neither of us was getting it. I don’t… I don’t believe anyone in the Temple would have known how to handle a kid like me.”

“But you don’t regret it.”

“I was meant to be a Jedi,” Anakin says, as firmly as he can without getting unnecessarily bitchy about it. “My struggles with the Code aside, I was meant to be here. But the Temple doesn’t have any resources for children who come older, and I think… I think you do need that.”

“You just outlined why a child can’t follow the Code if they come from a different enough background,” Windu says.

Anakin shakes his head. “No, that’s not—I think a kid like me can learn to be a Jedi, if a little unconventional, if they’re taught correctly. The desperation to cling to anyone and anything you have can be unlearned. It takes time and effort, but it’s possible. Soka and Ben are good at balancing Tatooine care with Jedi control. If you talk to Ben, you get an entire philosophical breakdown about it, but I’m more concerned with the child psychology, because that’s what could have broken me.”

Windu frowns. “You’re building up to something.”

“I think the Jedi need programs for children found older who can’t become full Jedi,” Anakin asserts. “Even those who cannot reconcile what they absorbed growing up with the Code and Jedi tradition… they, we, need guidance. The Council tried to reject me for being too old, and now that I’m grown I understand why, but… Master Windu, what do you think would have happened to me if I hadn’t had my Master to fight for me, and had been turned away?”

“We’d have looked into placing you back with your mother and, upon finding out that she was still enslaved, secured her freedom,” Master Windu says. “Qui-Gon Jinn had taken responsibility for you, and thus you were a ward of the Temple until such a time as you were safe again. It would have been cruel to keep you from your mother if we were not to raise you a Jedi, and crueler still to allow you to return to slavery.”

“And you think I’d have been safe with her?” Anakin asks. He needs Master Windu to understand this. “You think that would have ended well?”

“You don’t?”

“Ventress,” Anakin says. “Maul. Aurra Sing, even.”

Windu considers that. He looks across the grand, green room of the garden, and finally speaks. “You think you’d have been found and corrupted by a Sith.”

“I’d already helped Naboo win a battle. I was a powerful child with no support system in this respect, eager to please,” Anakin says. “Ventress and Maul both got twisted into Sith Apprentices. Aurra Sing was just a bounty hunter, but… even if the Jedi had never found me, and the Sith remained unaware, do you think I’d have ended up better than Sing? Or would the pressures of slavery have led to my Fall anyway, eventually slaughtering my owner, the Hutts, the entire system of Tatooine’s hells?”

Windu rubs a hand over his forehead. “I understand what you’re getting at.”

“It’s not just me,” Anakin says, as carefully as he can. “Even without the Sith, there are plenty of Force-Sensitive children in terrible situations that are liable to Fall just because of how power is wielded by those at the bottom. Refusing to take on students who are already at risk… the Jedi are meant to monitor Force users to prevent Sith and other dark-aligned people from harming the galaxy. It’s one of our primary duties. If the Jedi are allowing darksiders to rise just because of an age limit…”

“I get it,” Windu says, just a little aggressive. “I understand. Give me a minute.”

Anakin tries to wait. He’s older now, he can do that. He can be patient.

He tries to convince himself that it’s true.

“You have a point,” Master Windu finally allows. “And with the knowledge that the Sith are out there, still, it’s a more salient point than most would think. The EduCorps already has a subdivision for teaching meditative techniques to low-level force users who need to learn shielding but aren’t sensitive enough to be Jedi, or are just too old, but I see your point about encouraging a program for powerful Force-Sensitives that aren’t discovered early enough to integrate into the community in full.”

“And a more comprehensive Search pattern for the Outer Rim?” Anakin suggests. He shrugs at the look he gets. “What? You’ve seen my midicount. I was on Tatooine for almost a decade, and the only reason anyone found me was that Qui-Gon had to crash a ship in the middle of nowhere. I’m sure the Force led him to me, given all the coincidences, but that’s still a solid nine years that nobody did, despite how I apparently ‘shine like the sun’ or whatever.”

“Humble.”

“The last time I took a midichlorian test on a portable counter, it literally broke the device. That’s not arrogance, that’s just absurd.”

Windu looks exhausted by the comment. Anakin can’t bring himself to feel too bad about it.

“What about Jedha?” Anakin suggests instead. “Jedi find the kids, but if they’re too old to be Jedi, we could coordinate with one of the temples at Jedha to see about having them raised in the traditions of the Whills? They’re a little less orthodox, aren’t they?”

“In some respects,” Master Windu says. “More constrained in others, but… it’s a possibility. Most of the overlooked children, yourself included, are from parts of the Outer Rim that aren’t part of the Republic, Skywalker.”

Anakin shrugs. “And many of them would have been happy to be found and collected by a Jedi, even if they couldn’t become Jedi. Not the Dathomiri, since they’ve got their own thing going on, but… from what I know about Ventress, she actually did have a Jedi Master before the situation on Rattatak became… what’s the word… untenable? He died and she was left alone, and she’d been a slave already and it just… did not end well for her. But that was a planet overrun by pirates and warlords, and would have been approved as a planet the Jedi could help without it being a weird colonialism thing… if the Senate weren’t made up of cheapskates, at least.”

“Skywalker.”

“My name isn’t actually a reprimand, you know.”

“You’re not supposed to just say that,” Windu groans, running a hand over his face. “The Senate’s choice in funding is not optimal, but insulting them in that way, even in private—”

“They’re assholes,” Anakin says, and doesn’t let his humor show. “Except my late wife, but she’s not part of the Senate in this time, so I feel no shame in accusing the entire shitshow of being cheapskates.”

Windu looks about ready to push him off the ledge.

“You’re never allowed to go on diplomatic missions, are you?” Windu mutters.

“Unless it’s to Mandalore,” Anakin clarifies. “Also, never send me to Tatooine. Ever. Please. I kriffing hate that planet.”

“I’m going to assume you have plans to kill a Hutt if we ever send you to—”

“Yes.”

“Okay,” Windu sighs. “I’ll discuss this with the Council, see how they feel about reaching out to Jedha for your suggestion regarding the Whills.”

“And you’ll tell them not to worry about my kids?”

“Skywalker, they are never going to stop worrying about your family,” Windu tells him.

“That’s fair.”

[army-of-mai-lovers]

in which I get progressively angrier at the various tropes of atla fandom misogyny

tbh I think it would serve all of us to have a larger conversation about the specific ways misogyny manifests in this fandom, because I’ve seen a lot of people who characterize themselves as feminists, many of whom are women themselves, discuss the female characters of atla/lok in misogynistic ways, and people don’t talk about it enough. 

disclaimer before I start: I’m not a woman, I’m an afab nonbinary person who is semi-closeted and thus often read as a woman. I’m speaking to things that I’ve seen that have made me uncomfy, but if any women (esp women existing along other axes of oppression, e.g. trans women, women of color, disabled women, etc) want to add onto this post, please do!

“This female character is a total badass but I’m not even a little bit interested in exploring her as a human being.” 

I’ve seen a lot of people say of various female characters in atla/lok, “I love her! She’s such a badass!” now, this statement on its own isn’t misogynistic, but it represents a pretty pervasive form of misogyny that I’ve seen leveled in large part toward the canon female love interests of one or both of the members of a popular gay ship (*cough* zukka *cough*) I’m going to use Suki as an example of this because I see it with her most often, but it can honestly be applied to nearly every female character in atla/lok. Basically, people will say that they stan Suki, but when it comes time to engage with her as an actual character, they refuse to do it. I’ve seen meta after meta about Zuko’s redemption arc, but I so rarely see people engage with Suki on any level beyond “look at this cool fight scene!” and yeah, I love a cool Suki fight scene as much as anybody else, but I’m also interested in meta and headcanons and fics about who she is as a person, when she isn’t an accessory to Sokka’s development or doing something cool. of course, the material for this kind of engagement with Suki is scant considering she doesn’t have a canon backstory (yet) (don’t let me down Faith Erin Hicks counting on you girl) but with the way I’ve seen people in this fandom expand upon canon to flesh out male characters, I know y’all have it in you to do more with Suki, and with all the female characters, than you currently do. frankly, the most engagement I’ve seen with Suki in mainstream fandom is justifying either zukki (which again, is characterizing her in relation to male characters, one of whom she barely interacts with in canon) or one of the Suki wlw pairings. which brings me to--

“I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!” 

now, I will admit, two of my favorite atla ships are yueki and mailee, and so I totally understand being interested in these characters’ dynamics, even if, as is the case with yueki, they’ve never interacted canonically. however, it becomes a problem for me when these ships are always in the background of a zukka fic. at some point, it becomes obvious that you like this ship because it gets either Zuko or Sokka’s female love interests out of the way, not because you actually think the characters would mesh well together. It’s bad form to dislike a female character because she gets in the way of your gay ship, so instead, you find another girl to pair her off with and call it a day. to be clear, I’m not saying that everybody who ships either mailee or yueki (or tysuki or maisuki or yumai or whatever other wlw rarepair involving Zuko or Sokka’s canon love interests) is nefariously trying to sideline a female character while acting publicly as if she’s is one of their faves--far from it--but it is noteworthy to me how difficult it is to find content that centers wlw ships, while it’s incredibly easy to find content that centers zukka in which mailee and/or yueki plays a background role. 

also, notice how little traction wlw Katara ships gain in this fandom. when’s the last time you saw yuetara on your dash? there’s no reason for wlw Katara ships to gain traction in a fandom that is so focused on Zuko and Sokka getting together, bc she doesn’t present an immediate obstacle to that goal (at least, not an obstacle that can be overcome by pairing her up with a woman). if you are primarily interested in Zuko and Sokka’s relationship, and your queer readings of other female characters are motivated by a desire to get them out of the way for zukka, then Katara’s canon m/f relationship isn’t a threat to you, and thus, there’s no reason to read her as potentially queer. Or even, really, to think about her at all. 

“Katara’s here but she’s not actually going to do anything, because deep down, I’m not interested in her as a person.” 

the show has an enormous amount of textual evidence to support the claim that Sokka and Katara are integral parts of each other’s lives. so, she typically makes some kind of appearance in zukka content. sometimes, her presence in the story is as an actual character with layers and nuance, someone whom Sokka cares about and who cares about Sokka in return, but also has her own life and goals outside of her brother (or other male characters, for that matter.) sometimes, however, she’s just there because halfway through writing the author remembered that Sokka actually has a sister who’s a huge part of the show they’re writing fanfiction for, and then they proceed to show her having a meetcute with Aang or helping Sokka through an emotional problem, without expressing wants or desires outside of those characters. I’m honestly really surprised that I haven’t seen more people calling out the fact that so much of Katara’s personality in fanon revolves around her connections to men? she’s Aang’s girlfriend, she’s Sokka’s sister, she’s Zuko’s bestie. never mind that in canon she spends an enormous amount of time fighting against (anachronistic, Westernized) sexism to establish herself as a person in her own right, outside of these connections. and that in canon she has such interesting complex relationships with other female characters (e.g. Toph, Kanna, Hama, Korra if you want to write lok content) or that there are a plethora of characters with whom she could have interesting relationships with in fanon (Mai, Suki, Ty Lee, Yue, Smellerbee, and if you want to write lok content, Kya II, Lin, Asami, Senna, etc). to me, the lack of fandom material exploring Katara’s relationships with other women or with herself speak to a profound indifference to Katara as a character. I’m not saying you have to like Katara or include her in everything you write, but I am asking you to consider why you don’t find her interesting outside of her relationships with men.

“I hate Katara because she talks about her mother dying too often.” 

this is something I’ve seen addressed by people far more qualified than I to address it, but I want to mention it here in part because when I asked people which fandom tropes they wanted me to talk about, this came up often, but also because I find it really disgusting that this is a thing that needs to be addressed at all. Y’all see a little girl who watched her mother be killed by the forces of an imperialist nation and say that she talks about it too much??? That is a formational, foundational event in a child’s life. Of course she’s going to talk about it. I’ve seen people say that she doesn’t talk about it that often, or that she only talks about it to connect with other victims of fn imperialism e.g. Jet and Haru, but frankly, she could speak about it every episode for no plot-significant reason whatsoever and I would still be angry to see people say she talks about it too much. And before you even bring up the Sokka comparison, people deal with grief in different ways. Sokka  repressed a lot of his grief/channeled it into being the “man” of his village because he knew that they would come for Katara next if he gave them the opportunity. he probably would talk about his mother more if a) he didn’t feel massive guilt at not being able to remember what she looked like, and b) he was allowed to be a child processing the loss of his mother instead of having to become a tiny adult when Hakoda had to leave to help fight the fn. And this gets into an intersection with fandom racism, in that white fans (esp white American fans) are incapable of relating to the structural trauma that both Sokka and Katara experience and thus can’t see the ways in which structural trauma colors every single aspect of both of their characters, leading them to flatten nuance and to have some really bad takes. And you know what, speaking of bad fandom takes--   

“Shitting on Mai because she gets in the way of my favorite Zuko ship is actually totally okay because she’s ~abusive~” 

y’all WHAT. 

ok listen, I get not liking maiko. I didn’t like it when I first got into fandom, and later I realized that while bryke cannot write romance to save their lives, fans who like maiko sure can, so I changed my tune. but if you still don’t like it, that’s fine. no skin off my back. 

what IS skin off my back is taking instances in which Mai had justified anger toward Zuko, and turning it into “Mai abused Zuko.” do you not realize how ridiculous you sound? this is another thing where I get so angry about it that I don’t know how useful my analysis is actually going to be, but I’ll do my best. numerous people have noted how analysis of Mai and Zuko’s breakup in “The Beach” or Mai being justifiably angry with him at Boiling Rock or her asking for FUCKING FRUIT in “Nightmares and Daydreams” that says that all of these events were her trying to gain control over him is....ahhh...lacking in reading comprehension, but I’d like to go a step further and talk about why y’all are so intent on taking down a girl who doesn’t show emotion in normative ways. obviously, there’s a “Zuko can do no wrong” aspect to Mai criticism (which is super weird considering how his whole arc is about how he can do lots of wrong and he has to atone for the wrong that he’s done--but that’s a separate post.) But I also see slandering Mai for not expressing her emotions normatively and not putting up with Zuko’s shit and slandering Katara for “talking about her mother too often” as two sides of the same coin. In both cases, a female character expresses emotions that make you, the viewer, uncomfortable, and so instead of attempting to understand where those emotions may have come from and why they might be manifesting the way they are, y’all just throw the whole character away. this is another instance of people in the fandom being fundamentally disinterested in engaging with the female characters of atla in a real way, except instead of shallowly “stanning” Mai, y’all hate her. so we get to this point where female characters are flattened into one of two things: perfect queens who can do no wrong, or bitches. and that’s not who they are. that’s not who anyone is. but while we as a fandom are pretty good at understanding b1 Zuko’s actions as layered and multifaceted even though he’s essentially an asshole then, few are willing to lend the same grace to any female character, least of all Mai. 

and what’s funny is sometimes this trope will intersect with “I conveniently ship this female character whose canon love interest is one of the members of my favorite non-canon ship with another female character! gay rights!”, so you’ll have someone actively calling Mai toxic/problematic/abusive, and at the same time ship her with Ty Lee? make it make sense! but then again, maybe that’s happening because y’all are fundamentally disinterested in Ty Lee as a character too. 

“I love Ty Lee so much that I’m going to treat her like an infantilized hypersexual airhead!” 

there are so many things happening in y’alls characterization of Ty Lee that I struggled to synthesize it into one quippy section header. on one hand, you have the hypersexualization, and on the other hand, you have the infantilization, which just makes the hypersexualization that much worse. 

(of course, sexualizing or hypersexualizing ANY atla character is really not the move, considering that these are child characters in a children’s show, but then again, that’s a separate post.) 

now, I understand how, from a very, very surface reading of the text, you could come to the conclusion that Ty Lee is an uncomplicated bimbo. if you grew up on Western media the way I did, you’ll know that Ty Lee has a lot of the character traits we associate with bimbos: the form-fitting pink crop top, the general conventional attractiveness, the ditzy dialogue. but if you think about it for more than three seconds, you’ll understand that Ty Lee has spent her whole life walking a tightrope, trying to please Azula and the rest of the royal family while also staying true to herself. Ty Lee and Azula’s relationship is a really complex and interesting topic that I don’t really have time to explore at the moment given how long this post is, but I’d argue that Ty Lee’s constant, vocal  adulation is at least partially a product of learning to survive at court at an early age. Like Mai, she has been forced to regulate her emotions as a member of fn nobility, but unlike Mai, she also has six sisters who look exactly like her, so she has a motivation to be more peppy and more affectionate to stand out. 

fandom does not do the work to understand Ty Lee. as is a theme with this post, fandom is actively disinterested in investigating female characters beyond a very surface level reading of them. Thus, fandom takes Ty Lee’s surface level qualities--her love of the color pink, her revealing standard outfit, and the fact that once she found a boy attractive and also once a lot of boys found her attractive--and they stretch this into “Ty Lee is basically Karen Smith from Mean Girls.” thus, Ty Lee is painted as a bimbo, or more specifically, as not smart, uncritically adoring of Azula (did y’all forget all the non-zukka bits of Boiling Rock?), and attractive to the point of hypersexualization. I saw somebody make a post that was like “I wish mailee was more popular but I’m also glad it isn’t because otherwise people would write it as Mai having to put up with her dumb gf” and honestly I have to agree!! this is one instance in which I’m glad that fandom doesn’t discuss one of my favorite characters that often because I hate the fanon interpretation of Ty Lee, I think it’s rooted in misogyny (particularly misogyny against East Asian women, which often takes the form of fetishizing them and viewing them only through a Western white male gaze)  

(side note: here at army-of-mai-lovers, we stan bimbos. bimbos are fucking awesome. I personally don’t read Ty Lee as a bimbo, but if that’s you, that’s fucking awesome. keep doing what you’re doing, queen <3 or king or monarch, it’s 2021, anyone can be a bimbo, bitches <3)

“Toph can and will destroy everyone here with her bare hands because she’s a meathead who likes to murder people and that’s it!”  

Toph is, and always has been, one of my favorite ATLA characters. My very first fic in fandom was about her, and she appears prominently in a lot of my other work as well. One thing that I am always struck by with Toph is how big a heart she has. She’s independent, yes, snarky, yes, but she cares about people--even the family that forced her to make herself smaller because they didn’t believe that their blind daughter could be powerful and strong. Her storyline is powerful and emotionally resonant, her bending is cool precisely because it’s based in a “wait and listen” approach instead of just smashing things indiscriminately, she’s great disabled rep, and overall one of the best characters in the show. 

And in fandom, she gets flattened into “snarky murder child.” 

So where does this come from? Well, as we all know, Toph was originally conceived of as a male character, and retained a lot of androgyny (or as the kids call it, Gender) when she was rewritten as a female character. There are a lot of cultural ideas about androgynous/butch women being violent, and people in fandom seem to connect that larger cultural narrative with some of Toph’s more violent moments in the show to create the meathead murder child trope, erasing her canon emotionality, softness, heart, and femininity in the process. 

This is not to say that you shouldn’t write or characterize Toph as being violent or snarky at all ever, because yeah, Toph definitely did do Earth Rumbles a lot before joining the gaang, and yeah, Toph is definitely a sarcastic person who makes fun of her friends a lot. What I am saying is that people take these traits, sans the emotional logic, marry them to their conception of androgynous/butch women as violent/unemotional/uncaring, and thus create a caricature of Toph that is not at all up to snuff. When I see Toph as a side character in a fic (because yeah, Toph never gets to be a main character, because why would a fandom obsessed with one male character in particular ever make Toph a protagonist in her own right?) she’s making fun of people, killing people, pranking people, etc, etc. She’s never talking to people about her emotions, or palling around with her found family, or showing that she cares about her friends. Everything about her relationship with her parents, her disability, her relationship to Gender, and her love of her friends is shoved aside to focus on a version of Toph that is mean and uncaring because people have gotten it into their heads that androgynous/butch women are mean and uncaring. 

again, we see a female character who does not emote normatively or in a way that makes you, the viewer, comfortable, and so you warp her character until she’s completely unrecognizable and flat. and for what? 

Azula

no, I didn’t come up with a snappy name for this section, mainly because fanon interpretations of Azula and my own feelings toward the character are...complicated. I know there were some people who wanted me to write about Azula and the intersection of misogyny and ableism in fanon interpretations of her character, but I don’t think I can deliver on that because I personally am in a period of transition with how I see Azula. that is to say, while I still like her and believe that she can be redeemed, there is a lot of merit to disliking her. the whole point of this post is that the female characters of ATLA are complex people whom the fandom flattens into stereotypes that don’t hold up to scrutiny, or dislike for reasons that don’t make sense. Azula, however, is a different case. the rise of Azula defenders and Azula stans has led to this sentiment that Azula is a 14 y/o abuse victim who shouldn’t be held accountable for her actions. it seems to me that people are reacting to a long, horrible legacy of male ATLA fans armchair diagnosing Azula with various personality disorders (and suggesting that people with those personality disorders are inherently monstrous and unlovable which ahhhh....yikes) and then saying that those personality disorders make her unlovable, which is quite obviously bad. and hey, I get loving a character that everyone else hates and maybe getting so swept up in that love that you forget that your fave is complicated and has made some unsavory choices. it sucks that fanon takes these well-written, complex villains/antiheroes and turns them into monsters with no critical thought whatsoever. but the attitude among Azula stans that her redemption shouldn’t be hard, that her being a child excuses all of the bad things that she’s done, that she is owed redemption....all of that rubs me the wrong way. I might make another post about this in the future that discusses this in more depth, but as it stands now: while I understand that there is a legacy of misogynistic, ableist, unnuanced takes on Azula, the backlash to that does not take into account the people she hurt or the fact that in ATLA she does not make the choice to pursue redemption. and yes, Zuko had help in making that choice that Azula didn’t, and yes, Azula is a victim of abuse, but in a show about children who have gone through untold horrors and still work to better the lives of the people around them, that is not enough for me to uncritically stan her. 

Conclusion    

misogyny in this fandom runs rampant. while there are some tropes of fandom misogyny that are well-documented and have been debunked numerous times, there are other, subtler forms of misogyny that as far as I know have gone completely unchecked. 

what I find so interesting about misogyny in atla fandom is that it’s clear that it’s perpetrated by people who are aware of fandom misogyny who are actively trying not to be misogynistic. when I first joined atla fandom last summer, memes about how zukka fandom was better than every other fandom because they didn’t hate the female characters who got in the way of their gay ship were extremely prevalent, and there was this sense that *this* fandom was going to model respectful, fun, feminist online fandom. not all of the topes I’ve outlined are exclusive to or even largely utilized in zukka fandom, but a lot of them are. I’ve been in and out of fandom since I was eleven years old, and most of the fandom spaces I’ve been in have been majority-female, and all of them have been incredibly misogynistic. and I always want to know why. why, in these communities created in large part by women, in large part for women, does misogyny run wild? what I realize now is that there’s never going to be a one-size fits all answer to that question. what’s true for 1D fandom on Wattpad in 2012 is absolutely not true for atla fandom on tumblr in 2021. the answers that I’ve cobbled together for previous fandoms don’t work here. 

so, why is atla fandom like this? why did the dream of a feminist fandom almost entirely focused on the romantic relationship between two male characters fall apart? honestly, I think the notion that zukka fandom ever was this way was horrifically ignorant to begin with. from my very first moment in the fandom, I was seeing racism, widespread sexualization of minors, and yes, misogyny. these aspects of the fandom weren’t talked about as much as the crocverse or other, much more fun aspects. further, atla (specifically zukka) fandom misogyny often doesn’t look like the fandom misogyny we’ve become familiar with from like, Sherlock fandom or what have you. for the most part, people don’t actively hate Suki, they just “stan” without actually caring about her. they hate Mai because they believe in treating male victims of abuse equally. they’re not characterizing Toph poorly, they’re writing her as a “strong woman.” in short, people are misogynistic, and then invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of feminist theory to shield themselves from accusations of misogyny. it’s not unlike the way some people will invoke a shallow, incomplete interpretation of critical race theory to shield themselves from accusations of racism, or how they’ll talk about “freedom of speech” and “the suppression of women’s sexuality” to justify sexualizing minors. the performance of feminism and antiracism is what’s important, not the actual practice. 

if you’ve made it this far, first off, hi, thanks so much for reading, I know this was a lot. second, I would seriously encourage you to be aware of these fandom tropes and to call them out when you see them. elevate the voices of fans who do the work of bringing the female characters of atla to life. invest in the wlw ships in this fandom. drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic (please, drop a kudos and a comment on a rangshi fic). read some yuetara. let’s all be honest about where we are now, and try to do better in the future. I believe in us. 

[hamliet]

The Crows Summon the Sun

Or, Hamliet’s review of Shadow & Bone, which gets a 4.5/5 for enjoyment and a 3.5/5 in terms of writing.

The true heroes of this story and the saviors of the show are the Crows. However, the problem is that the show then has an uneven feel, because the strength of the Crows plotline highlights the weaknesses of the trilogy storyline. But imo, overall, the strengths overshadow (#punintended) the weaknesses. 

I’ll divide the review into the narrative and the technical (show stuff, social commentary), starting with narrative.

Narrative: The Good 

It’s What The Crows Deserve

I went into the show watching it for the Crows; however, knowing that their storyline was intended to be a prequel, I wasn’t terribly optimistic. And while it is a prequel, the characters have complete and full arcs that perfectly set them up for the further development they will have in the books (which I think should be the next season?). Instead of retreading the arcs they’d have in the books, which is how prequels usually go, they had perfect set up for these arcs. It’s really excellent. 

Jesper, Inej, and Kaz are all allowed to be flawed, to have serious conflicts with one another, and yet to love each other. They feel like a found family in the best of ways. Kaz is the perfect selfish rogue; he’s a much more successfully executed Byronic hero than the Darkling, actually. Inej is heroic and her faith is not mocked, yet she too is flawed and her choices are not always entirely justified, but instead left to the audience to ponder (like killing the girl), which is a more mature writing choice that I appreciated. 

Jesper is charming, has a heart of gold despite being a murderer and on the surface fairly greedy, and MILO THE EMOTIONAL SUPPORT GOAT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. I also liked Jesper’s fling with Dima but I felt it could be better used rather than merely establishing his sexuality, like if Jesper and Dima had seen each other one more time or something had come of their tryst for the plot/themes/development of Jesper. 

Nina and Matthias’s backstory being in the first season, instead of in flashbacks, really works because it automatically erases any discomfort of the implications of Nina having falsely accused Matthias that the books start with. We know Nina, we know Matthias, we know their motivations, backgrounds, and why they feel the way we do. It’ll be easy for the audience to root for them without a lot of unnecessary hate springing from misunderstanding Nina (since she’s my favorite). Matthias’s arc was also really strongly executed and satisfyingly tragic. Their plotline was a bit unfortunately disconnected from the rest of the story, but Danielle Gallagan and Callahan Skogman have absolutely sizzling chemistry so I found myself looking forward to their scenes instead of feeling distracted. Also? It’s nice seeing a woman with Nina’s body type as a romantic and powerful character. 

Hamliet Likes Malina Now

Insofar as the trilogy storyline goes, the best change the show made was Mal. He still is the same character from the books, but much more likable. The pining was... a lot (too much in episode 4, I felt) but Malina is a ship I actually enjoyed in the show while I NOTP’d it in the books. Mal has complexity and layers to his motivations (somewhat) and a likable if awkward charm. Archie Renaux was fantastic. 

Ben Barnes is the perfect Aleksandr Kirigan, and 15 year old me, who had the biggest of big crushes on Ben Barnes (first celebrity crush over a decade ago lol), was pretty damn happy lol. He’s magnificantly acted--sympathetic and terrifying, sincerely caring and yet villainous in moments. Story-wise, I think it was smart to reveal his name earlier on than in the books, because it helps with the humanization especially in a visual medium like film. Luda was a fitting (if heartbreaking) backstory, but it is also hard for me to stomach knowing what the endgame of his character is. Like... I get the X-men fallacy thing, but I hope the show gives more kindness to his character than the books did, yet I’m afraid to hold my breath. Just saying that if you employ save the cat, if you directly say you added this part (Luda) to make the character more likable (as the director did) please do not punish the audience for feeling what you intended. 

I also liked the change that made Alina half-Shu. It adds well to her arc and fits with her character, actually giving her motivations (she kinda just wants to be ordinary in a lot of ways) a much more interesting foundation than in the books. Also it’s nice not to have another knock-off Daenerys (looking to you Celaena and book!Alina). Jessie Mei Li does a good job playing Alina’s insecurities and emotions, but... 

Narrative: The Ehhhhhhh

Alina the Lamp

Sigh. Here we go. Alina has little consistent characterization. She’s almost always passive when we see her, yet she apparently punches an officer for calling her a name and this seems to be normal for her, but it doesn’t fit at all with what we know about her thus far. Contradictions are a part of humanity, but it’s never given any focus, so it comes across as inconsistent instead of a flaw or repression. 

I have no idea what Alina wants, beside that she wants to be with Mal, which is fine except I have no idea what the basis of their bond is. Even with like, other childhood friends to lovers like Ren/Nora in RWBY or Eren/Mikasa in SnK, there’s an inciting moment, a reason, that we learn very early on in their story to show us what draws them together. Alina and Mal just don’t have that. There’s the meadow/running away thing, but they were already so close, and why?  Why, exactly? What brought them together? The term “bullies” is thrown around but it isn’t ever explored and it needed to be this season. If I have to deal with intense pining for so many episodes at least give me a foundation for their devotion. You need to put this in the beginning, in the first season. You just do.

A “lamp” character is a common metaphor to describe a bad character: essentially, you could replace the character with a lamp and nothing changes. Considering Alina’s gift is light, it’s a funnily apt metaphor, but it really does apply. Her choices just don’t... matter. She could be a special lamp everyone is fighting over and almost nothing would change. The ironic thing is that everyone treating her like a fancy lamp is exactly the conflict, but it’s never delved into. We’re never shown that Alina is more than a lamp. She never has to struggle because her choices are made for her and information is gifted to her when she needs it. Not making choices protects Alina from consequences and the story gives her little incentive to change that; in fact, things tend to turn out better when she doesn’t make choices (magic stags will arrive). 

Like... let’s look at a few occasions when Alina almost or does make choices. For example, she chooses to (it seems) sleep with Kirigan, but then there’s a convenient knock at the door and Bhagra arrives with key information that changes Alina’s mind instantly despite the fact that Bhagra’s been pretty terrible to her. If you want to write a woman realizing she’s been duped by a cruel man, show her discovering it instead of having the man’s abusive mother tell her when she had absolutely no such suspicions beforehand. There’s no emotional weight there because Alina doesn’t struggle. 

When she is actually allowed to carry out a bad choice, the consequences are handwaved away instead of built into a challenge for her. Like... Alina got her friends killed. More than once. I’m not saying she’s entirely to blame for these but could we show her reacting to it? Feeling any sort of grief? She never mentions Raisa or Alexei after they’re gone, just Mal, and I’m... okay. They were there because of you. Aren’t you feeling anything? Aren’t you sad? The only time Alina brings up her friends’ deaths is to tell Kirigan he killed her friends when they were only there because she burned the maps. She yells at Kirigan for “never” giving her a choice, but she almost never makes any, so why would he? Alina has the gall to lecture Genya about choices, but she herself almost never has to make any. 

Which brings me to another complaint in general: Alina’s lack of care for everyone around her when they’re not Mal, even if they care for her. Marie dies because of her (absolutely not her fault of course) but as far as we know she never even learns about Marie. She certainly doesn’t ever ask about her or Nadia. Alina seems apathetic at best to people, certainly not compassionate or kind. 

The frustrating thing is that there is potential here. Like, it actually makes a lot of psychological sense for an orphan who has grown up losing to be reluctant to care for people outside of her orbit and that she would struggle to believe she can have any say in her destiny (ie make choices). It’s also interesting that a girl who feels like an outsider views others outside her. But the show never offers examines Alina’s psychology with any depth; it simply tells us she’s compassionate when she is demonstrably not, it tells us she makes decisions when it takes magical intervention to do so. It’s a missed opportunity. This does not change between episodes 1 and 8, despite the episodes’ parallel structures and scenes, which unintentionally reinforces that Alina had little real development. 

Inej and ironically Jesper and Kaz embody the concept of “mercy” far better and with far more complexity than Alina does. The Crows have reactions to the loss of people who even betray them (Arken, etc), learn, and course-correct (or don’t) when they are even loosely involved in having strangers die. They’re good characters because they change and learn and have their choices matter. When they kill we see them wrestle with it and what this means even if they are accustomed to doing so. Jesper can’t kill in front of a child. Kaz wonders what his killings do to Inej’s idea of him.

Narrative: The Mixed Bag

Tropes, Themes, Telling vs. Showing

So the show’s themes in the Alina storyline are a mess, as they are in the trilogy too. Tropes are a very valuable way to show your audience what you’re trying to say. They’re utilized worldwide because they resonate with people and we know what to expect from them. The Crows' storyline shows us what it wants us to learn.

Preaching tells, and unfortunately, the trilogy relies on telling/preaching against fornicationBad Boys. It’s your right to write any trope or trample any trope you want--your story--but you should at least understand what/why you are doing so. The author clearly knows enough about Jungian shadows and dark/light yin/yang symbolism to use it in the story, but then just handwaves it away as “I don’t like this” but never does so in a narratively effective way: addressing the appeal in the first place. If you really wanna deconstruct a trope, you gotta empathize with the core of the reason these tropes appeal to people (it allays deep fears that we are ourselves unlovable, through loving another person despite how beastly they can be), and address this instead of ignoring it. Show us a better way through the Fold of your story. Don’t just go around it and ignore the issue.

The trilogy offers highly simplistic themes at best--bad boy bad and good boy good, which is fine-ish for kid lit but less fine for adult complexity, which the show (more so than the books) seems to try to push despite not actually having much of it.

Alina and Mal are intended to be good, we’re told they are, but I’m not sure why beyond just that we’re told so. Alina claims the stag chose her, but in the show it’s never explained why at all. Unlike with Kaz, Inej, Jesper, and hell even Matthias and Nina, we don’t see Alina or Mal’s complex choices and internal wrestling. 

Like, Inej’s half-episode where she almost killed the guy they needed was far more character exploration than Alina has the entire show, to say nothing of Inej’s later killing which not only makes her leaps and bounds more interesting, but ironically cements her as a far more compelling and yes, likable, heroine than Alina. We see Inej’s emotional and moral conflict. We can relate to her. We see Kaz struggling with his selfishness and regrets, with his understanding of himself through his interactions with and observations of Inej, Alina, the Darkling, Arken, and Jesper.

We don’t explore what makes Mal or Alina good and what makes them bad. We don’t know what Alina discovers about herself, what her power means for her. We are told they are good, we are told she knows her power is hers, but never shown what this means or what this costs them/her. Their opportunities to be good are handed to them (the stag, Bhagra) instead of given to them as a challenge in which they risk things, in which doing good or making a merciful choice costs them. Alina gets to preach about choices without ever making any; Inej risks going back to the Menagerie to trust Kaz. Her choices risk. They cost. They matter and direct her storyline and her arc, and those of the people around her.

Production Stuff:

The Good: 

The production overall is quite excellent. The costumes, pacing, acting, and cinematography (for example, one of the earliest scenes between the Darkling and Alina has Alina with her back to the light, face covered in his shadow, while the Darkling’s face is light up by her light even if he stands in the shadows) are top-notch. The soundtrack as well is incredible and emphasizes the scenes playing. The actors have great chemistry together, friend chemistry and romantic when necessary (Mal and Alina, the Darkling and Alina, Kaz and Inej, Nina and Matthias, David and Genya, etc.) All are perfectly cast. 

The Uncomfortable Technicalities Hamliet Wants to Bitch About:

The only characters from fantasy!Europe having any trace of an accent reminiscent of said fantasy country's real-world equivalent are antagonists like Druskelle (Scandinavia) and Pekka (Ireland). When the heroes mostly have British accents despite being from fantasy Russia and Holland, it is certainly A Choice to have the Irish accent emphasized. The actor is British by the way, so I presume he purposely put on an Irish accent. I'm sure no one even considered the potential implications of this but it is A Look nonetheless.

The Anachronisms Hamliet Has a Pet Peeve About: 

The worldbuilding is compelling, but the only blight on the worldbuilding within the story itself (ignoring context) was that there are some anachronisms that took me out of the story, particularly in the first episode where “would you like to share with the class” and “saved by the horn” are both used. Both are modern-day idioms in English that just don’t fit, especially the latter. The last episode uses “the friends we made along the way.” There are other modern idioms as well.

IT’S STARKOVA and Other Pet Peeves Around the Russian Portrayal 

Russian names are not hard, and Russian naming systems are very, very easy to learn. I could have waved “Starkov” not being “Starkova,” “Nazyalensky” not being “Nazyalenskaya,”  and “Safin” not being “Safina” as an American interpretation (since in America, the names do not femininize). However, “Mozorova” as a man is unfathomable and suggests to me the author just doesn’t understand how names work, which is a bit... uh okay considering a simple google search gets you to understand Russian names. They aren’t hard. I cannot understand why the show did not fix this. It is so simple to fix and would be a major way to help the story’s overall... caricature of Russia. 

Speaking of that... Ravka is supposedly Russian-based, but it is more accurately based on the stereotypes of what Americans think of Russia. Amerussia? Russica? Not great. 

The royals are exactly what Americans think of the Romanovs, right down to the “greasy” “spiritual advisor” who is clearly Rasputin and which ignores the Romanov history, very real tragedy, and the reason Rasputin was present in the court. The religion with all its saints is a vapid reflection of Russian Orthodoxy. The military portrayal with its lotteries and brutality and war is how the US views the Russian military. The emphasis on orphans, constant starvation, classification, and children being ripped from their homes to serve the government is a classic US understanding of USSR communism right down to the USSR having weapons of destruction the rest of the world fears (Grisha). Not trying to defend the Soviet Union here at all, but it is simplistic and reductive and probably done unconsciously but still ehhhh. 

However, I’m not Russian. I just studied Russian literature. I’ve seen very little by way of discussion of this topic online, but what I do see from Russian people has been mixed--some mind, some don’t. The reality is that I actually don’t really mind this because it’s fantasy, though I see why some do. I'm not like CANCEL THIS. So why am I talking about this beyond just having a pet peeve?

Well, because it is a valid critique, and because it doesn’t occur in a vacuum. The Grishaverse is heralded as an almost paragon for woke Young Adult literature, which underlines itself what so frustrates me about how literary circles discuss issues of diversity and culture. Such praise, while ignoring its quasi-caricature of Russia, reflects a very ethnocentric (specifically American) understanding of culture, appropriation, and representation. All stories are products of their culture to various extents, but it bothers me on principle what the lit community reacts (and overreacts sometimes?) to and what people give a pass to. The answer to what the community reacts to and what it gives a pass always pivots on how palatable the appropriation is to American understandings and sensibilities. There’s nuance here as well, though. 

I'm not cancelling the story or thinking it should be harshly attacked for this, but it is something that can be discussed and imo should be far more often--but with the nuance it begs, instead of black/white. But that’s a tall ask. 

[matildashoney]

love on tour

hiiii. i haven't written anything in so long, i'm not really sure if i even know how to do it anymore.

since we last talked about me not writing anymore, i moved to a new state, started graduate school, have been spending a lot of time with friends, have started going to concerts again (safely, of course), have seen harry twice! and i'll be seeing him again this weekend with a bunch of friends, turned twenty two, started a new job and i'm starting a second one next week. things in my life are absolutely hectic but since tour has started it's made me miss writing.

a lot.

so, with that being said, i think i'm going to start back up again. i have a series in my head that i think i want to roll with, and i'm going to try this out one more time. please bear with me as i try to figure out what i'm doing, again, lol.

love you all very much. enjoy violet and harry.

Harry rushes through the curtains, adrenaline pulsing through his veins and sweat dripping down his forehead, his mask sticking tightly against his face. His eyes are searching for the one person he hasn’t seen since before he was wheeled away in the metal box to go underneath the stage, the person that he knew was dancing in the corner with her friends, unnoticed by anyone else in the room. His lips are pursed together in a straight line when he can’t find her, his ears perking at the sound of her laughter rushing through the hallways as she wipes her hands on her trousers and links arms with their mutual friend to walk back to where her boyfriend would be waiting for her, as he told her he would be before he left ninety-some minutes ago.

This is Violet’s first show since officially stepping out as Harry’s girlfriend. Harry Styles and Violet James are officially dating in the public eye, after navigating nearly two years beyond their initial split, the getting back together and taking it further than it’s ever been before, it’s astonishing to see that they’ve made it this far. Jeff and Lilah have been loving this so fondly with all the press about their relationship thus far, and it’s only made the transition that much more insane.

“V,” Harry calls from the end of the hallway, reaching his hand out and grabbing towards her, smiling when she whispers something to her friend and walks towards him, laying her hand in his and letting him bring her into his chest. “Mm, you smell good.”

“That’s because you smell like sweat,” Violet laughs, pulling her mask down slightly to kiss his cheek, smirking when he brings his own mask to his chin and meets her mouth in a quick kiss. “Taste like it, too.”

“Don’t like the sweat with the ‘stache, love?” he says, kissing her temple sweetly and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. “I didn’t see you in the crowd. Where’d you run off to?”

“Lilah and I were in the back dancing,” she explains, leaning into his chest and hearing the rush of the crowd begin to leave the building. “Curfew” as they called it – or when they had to leave the venue – was at eleven, and they were nearing their time to get kicked out. “I didn’t want to get in the way. Get distracted very easily, H.”

“I do not.”

“Do, too,” she argues, shaking her head and stepping out of his grasp around her body, wiggling her eyebrows as she begins to hurry towards the dressing room where he would be getting changed and showered for the evening.

“Not this, again,” Harry grunts, hurrying after her and following her into the dressing room, ignoring the shouts and hollers from his friends and bandmates as he hustles after her. He knows what’s in store for him behind the shut door, and he’s been waiting for it all night. Especially since she refused to do it in front of his friends and bandmates and crew before the show.

Violet was still getting used to all this. Violet, or V as Harry calls her fondly, is still getting used to all the ‘having everyone around all the time’, ‘everyone in your business always’ thing. Violet never had to deal with that, even as a young engineer in the industry. That was one of the many perks of being behind the scenes. Her name was always in the background. Until now.

“Violet, come here. It’s just us; we’re alone. Cross my heart.”

“What are we? In primary school?” she teases, walking out of the en-suite bathroom and peeling the mask off her face, tossing it on the spare couch in the corner and walking towards her boyfriend – who was insatiably pouting – standing near the door. “You make it so easy to tease you, H.”

“I know, I know,” Harry smirks, wrapping his arms around her waist and hugging her tightly for the first time all night, a real embrace, one where their hearts are pounding against their chests and their mouths are mere inches from each other. “Thank you so much for coming. Know you’re busy working on some stages and all, but it means everything to me that you’re here.”

“Why wouldn’t I be here? I’m your girlfriend. It’s not like I’m crashing the whole tour with you.” Harry pulls away and quirks his eyebrows, silently saying, but you could if you wanted to. “I’m not crashing the whole tour with you. We already talked about this.” Violet made it clear to Harry that she wouldn’t be staying for the entire tour from the very beginning – she wouldn’t be that type of girlfriend, as much as she wanted to be. “I’ll be here until Tuesday and then I’ll see you for Madison Square Garden and Halloween and the last stint in LA.”

Harry chuckles quietly to himself, “Can say it, love. Harryween.”

Violet shakes her head, “I refuse to feed your ego, like that, as much as I love you. It’s a Harry Styles show on Halloween.” Harry smirks and wraps his arms tighter around her waist, holding her as tightly to his chest as physically possible, soaking in the way she brushes through his hair sweetly and hums quietly to herself to the music playing in the background of the arena. “That was amazing, as always, you know. I love seeing you on the stage. It’s where you belong, baby.”

Harry’s eyes crinkle at the corners with his smile, the genuineness of the moment making his heart well with love and affection for the person he’s lucky enough to have a second chance with. Convincing her to go out with him again wasn’t easy, she isn’t very persuadable when it comes to things that she’s already made up her mind about. Harry considers himself lucky that she wasn’t so set in stone when it came to things with him.

Harry always thought of himself as very lucky, especially considering how things turned out with his career and his dream but having her with him, here, halfway across the country when she’s working with their label on about four other stages, at the minute, and not being the one that got away, made him feel especially so. “Thank you for being here.”

“Happy to be here,” she smiles, kissing his cheek and squeaking with a giggle when he lifts her onto his waist and walks her into the bathroom with him, settling her on the counter before stripping and stepping into the shower. “I could’ve waited outside, you know. Until you were, you know, at least a little bit decent.”

“Not anything you haven’t seen before, baby.”

“Is it anything I prefer to see?” she says, squinting her eyes playfully, as though she is trying to see through the steam beginning to surround the bathroom.

Harry smirks and pokes his head out of the shower, “Come in here and find out.”

“You know the rules, H.”

“They’re stupid rules, V,” he mumbles beneath his breath, shaking his head with a quiet laugh. His showers never last very long in the arenas, a quick in and out to rinse off the sweat from the stage and feel semi-clean; nothing like the showers he takes when he gets to the hotels, where he can take his time and really feel refreshed.

“They’re not stupid!”

“They’re a little stupid, my love.”

“Don’t add the ‘my love’ in there to break the insult!” she says, handing a towel towards him as he steps out of the shower and shakes his hair against her legs, dampening her thighs with a hearty laugh. He’s always a child at heart, but especially around Violet. “That’s rude, Harry.”

“I think you’re just making excuses, Violet.” Harry wraps the towel around his waist and walks to the counter, spreading her legs just enough to slide his body in between her thighs. “I’m happy I’ll be seeing you in two weeks. I don’t like being away from you for that long.”

“I know you don’t. You’re a little clingy, my love.”

“Don’t add the ‘my love’ in there to break the insult,” he mimics, shaking his head and laughing quietly. Harry knows he’s clingy; it’s just who he is. He’s always been this way, especially since they’ve barely spent any time together since getting back together at the wedding nearly two months ago. Violet and Harry decided to try again and then Harry was leaving for tour literally two weeks later. “Are you sure you can’t stay a little longer?”

“Unfortunately, I’m sure,” she says regretfully, giving him his shirt and watching as the muscles on his back tense beneath his movements – she’ll take advantage of feeling them later – as he dresses himself. “I’m definitely going to miss you.”

“Oh, yeah?” Harry smirks, his sweatpants settling on his hips and his shirt hanging loosely from his torso. “I think I know why you’ll miss me, but we can pretend it’s ‘cause of other reasons.”

“You’re deranged,” Violet says, jumping off the counter and wrapping her arms around his waist, holding him tightly. “Absolutely deranged.”

[an-ambivalent]

WARNING: This post contains yandere and violent themes (mentions of murder and brainwashing) and other toxic and creepy behaviours that can be triggering and uncomfortable to read. So read at your own risk. This work is purely fictional. I do not condone this toxic behaviour irl. 

Fandom: Naruto 

Pairings: Itachi x Reader | Shisui x Reader | Sasuke x Reader

Status: Headcanons and scenarios mixed hybrid, requested. 

Ask:  Scenario where Yandere!Itachi, Yandere!Shisui, Yandere!Sasuke and Yandere!Obito realizes that they all have feelings for you and since they're family, they decided that they are going to share.

A/N:   I’m didn’t add Obito to this scenario because I don’t see this dynamic working with him in the mix. Although Obito is an Uchiha, frankly speaking, Itachi didn’t ever trust him. Sasuke used him for his own means didn’t care about him other than that either way. As far as Shisui is concerned, he never really interacted with Obito. 

Itachi and Shisui are best friends, and Itachi and Sasuke are siblings (who do care for each other). Sasuke is stubborn about his own ideals but he can still be persuaded by Itachi, and given that Itachi and the Uchiha clan respected Shisui a lot, Sasuke would do too. So, a dynamic with these three choosing to co-operate is plausible. But with Obito.... not really. I just don’t see how he would fit in this scenario.  So, hopefully this explanation clarifies why Obito wasn’t added to the scenario.

No beta, we die like men. I wrote this at like 2 am so idgaf about grammar errors atm ^.< 

Your background: To be in a position where you can interact with all these three simultaneously, you would have to be part of the Uchiha clan yourself. The only other way might be that you’re Itachi’s classmate and progressed exactly like he did. But then, it just feels like copying and pasting Itachi’s character and that’s no fun.

No ‘duplicate version of another character’ in this household. So there’s two choices for your background that can nonetheless lead to the same scenario. Thus, you can choose whatever floats your boat: 1) you’re the first daughter of the main branch of another clan of your choice, and for some time now, your clan and the Uchiha clan have been planning to form an alliance together. What better way to do that than to arrange a marriage between the two first children of the main branch from both clans that “coincidentally” have to be the same age?

2) You’re an Uchiha child, born to parents who are from one of the side branches of the clan. There isn’t many other kids to interact with, and despite being a side branch member, your father is one of the most respected shinobi in the clan. So, your future as a ninja is given, and with his interactions and meetings  with Fugaku, he takes you along with him. As a result, your introduction with Itachi is inevitable. And so by extension, you will also meet Shisui and Sasuke. And given your father’s good relationship with Fugaku, mayhaps your parents went ahead and arranged your marriage with Itachi behind your back and not notifying you yet.

PSA: For the age balance, you are Itachi’s age in this scenario. Shisui is 2-4 years older than Itachi and Itachi is 4 years older than Sasuke. Having a maximum of 8 years age gap if you were Sasuke’s age, or Shisui’s age, would be a lot LOL. Besides, Itachi would be the mediator between Sasuke and Shisui, so you building a relationship with him first makes the most sense.

Introduction / Meeting

Itachi

You and Itachi are forced to spend time together as ‘playmates’ while your parents discuss ‘official business’ (the arrange marriage) with Fugaku and Mikoto. Itachi is overly polite but there’s an icy coldness underlining his polite greetings and one-word answers he gives to your questions when you try to start a conversation.

You aren’t dumb. You were raised with high expectations placed on your shoulders so although you’re not a prodigy at his level, you have more than enough intelligence to know that he’s patronizing you. And unlike him, you aren’t an immature coward who hides behind their passive-aggressive remarks. Whatever you have to say, you communicate it bluntly. So, you don’t hesitate to spew out what you really think of him (a coward who takes his frustrations out on others aka you, who is also in the same situation, instead of facing his problems), and leave his pretty boy face behind in shock.

You were five when this happened.

Sasuke: Overtime, your ‘playdates’ with Itachi became a norm. You were forced to visit him many times and spend time with him given that he is your future husband. (You don’t know that yet, but at this point, Itachi has his suspicions that something is up).

His baby brother is his entire life. Sasuke makes him smile in the way no one else does, so its no wonder you met him eventually.

You were first held Sasuke was he was about fourteen months old. He was a small, chubby, innocent little thing with his already haughty attitude. He had no problem crying in the arms of the people he didn’t like, which was almost everyone outside of his immediate family. But when you held him, despite Itachi’s warnings that “he doesn’t like everyone” but he instantly liked you (much to his displeasure), you instantly became attached to him. Then in the following years, you babysat him a lot. He was the cute little younger sibling you wanted but never had, so you spoiled him to bits. And with the attention and love you gave him, Sasuke loved you too. Not to mention, unlike everyone else in his family, who picked Itachi over him, you picked him over Itachi.

How can he not fall in love with you?

Shisui: More often than not these days, Shisui would silently watch and observe Itachi. For a six years old, it was terrifying for him how he was already adapting to the shinobi lifestyle is so easily; being an emotionless robot and extremely talented.

But, over the past few days, gone were the seemingly emotionless robot. Instead, he had changed into a boy who acted like how a six year old was supposed to act: whiny, pouty, and frustrated (to an extent), but happy at the same time. It was entertaining for him to watch Itachi’s expressions shift from one to another every moment as he grumbled about you underneath his breath. Shisui was ready to tease him about it, but you had beat him to it.

You had appeared out of nowhere and were hosting the two-years-old Sasuke on your shoulders for a piggy back ride. No one was given any time to react, before rude remarks were slipping out your lips that just humiliated his precious friend into a fumbling mess.

Itachi had tried to get back at you, he really did. But your mouth ran like a sailor and you had a witty remark prepared for everything. It was such a contrast to the “perfect princess” show you put on before your and his parents. And each time, your response was more embarrassing which eventually made him lose his cool. Seeing him flustered, despite how much he loved you, little Sasuke tried to  jump to his nii-san’s aid. Shisui was prepared to snicker and chuckle to himself, if he it wasn’t for the most beautiful sound he had ever heard: your laughter. It was so raw, pure, genuine and innocent, he was instantly immersed. Barely anyone from shinobi clans, and given how they were raised, acted so open. And you brought out a different side to Itachi -- it was intriguing for him to witness.

He wanted to get to know you more. He wanted to hear your life more. He wanted you to share your secrets with him on how to bully Itachi so easily. So immediately, he put out his hand and gave you a wide grin.

“I’m Shisui. What’s your name?”

Realising their feelings

Shisui: Shisui knew he loved you ever since your first laugh. It was love at first sound. However, with the respect to you belonging to his best friend, he would never make a move on you.

Maybe, there might be some lingering touches here and there that lasted a bit too long between ‘friends.’ Maybe sometimes he was harsher on you during your training spars so he would have an excuse to touch you and help you bandage up your injuries. Maybe sometimes, he ‘jokingly’ wrapped his arms around your waist and kissed your cheek to ‘get a rise out of Itachi’ and not because he wanted to touch you.

But he never made a move on you because he knew you were Itachi’s. And as long as you were still his friend and spent time with him, he didn’t care too much.

But he should’ve known better. Just as how he can understand Itachi and cares for him like he is his brother, Itachi is the same towards Shisui. He knew how Shisui felt about you, and although one part of him just wanted to you have all to himself, it didn’t feel right that Shisui had to hold himself back when he needed you too. If only, it wasn’t for your clan, and the Uchiha, and their damn village that believed in monogamous relationships, then he would happily share you with Shisui.

Itachi: There were many rules and obligations Itachi has to adhere to due to his clan. Although he did them, he didn’t want to. He hated it. His thoughts were different from his actions so he was constantly experiencing cognitive dissonance. But, you weren’t part of that. For some reason, when he was eleven and his suspicions were confirmed by his parents and the clan elders that you were set up to wed him when you both turn thirteen, that was one thing he didn’t hate or didn’t want to do. In fact, it was alarming for everyone in the meeting how easily he obliged.

Confirming how he felt towards you, it honestly did not surprise him. He had assumed this was the case for a while. Ever since you called him a coward due to his habit of upholding a facade, he tried to be more honest. Not in front of his clan, evidently, but to the people that mattered. Shisui, Sasuke, you, and himself.

The old Itachi, had he not met you and fell in love with someone, would have buried his feelings without a care. But for you.... it was a different story. He acknowledged his feelings and never tried to get rid off them. How could he? You were the perfect lover for him. You got along swimmingly with Shisui. You took good care of Sasuke, and his younger brother was so attached to you. You were an exceptional kunoichi, put up the perfect facade before your own parents and his, and weren’t afraid to challenge him and speak your mind.

And best of all? You were already promised to him. So, he saw no reason to bury his feelings for you.

Sasuke: Sasuke always knew he loved you.

Ever since he can remember, you had always been by his side no matter what.

His father didn’t pay attention to him. His mother did, but she scolded him too when he just wanted to spend time with Itachi.

Itachi spent time with him but lately, he has been ignoring him. It’s not the same. And him and Shisui always leave him behind to get things done that they say he’s “not mature enough to know.”

But Sasuke does know.

He knows what they talk about his and your back because thinks of those things too. It’s everywhere: princesses, their prince, their love story and happily ever after.

He wants to kiss you to show you how he loves you like the couples in fairy tales. He does. Despite his nerves that are causing fluttering butterflies in his tummy, he builds up the courage to have his first kiss with you.

But you’re faster than him. You just move your head so he kisses your cheek instead, and then laugh out loud before ruffling his hair and telling him, “you’re adorable. But you should save your first kiss for your true love.”

He likes being adorable for you, but why won’t you understand?! You are his first and only love.

There will be a day when you finally understand that.

Sharing You:

ok.... listen.... Uchiha clan massacre (and yours too for scenario A) but both Itachi and Shisui. And although its mission issued by the damn village, that’s not why they’re doing it. It just so happens that its the perfect solution to all their problems because they get rid off the obstacles in their way, and they will have to leave the village. They can take you away far, away from everything, so you only have them left.

Obviously, they will take Sasuke with them too. Except this time, there’s no also hurting and torturing him and enticing him to seek revenge. If anything, when Sasuke is horrified, Itachi tells him the truth. There’s lies as well, but, they would need to brainwash him to some extent so he willingly stays with them. Itachi tells him of how if the clan lived, then he would never get to be with you, or see you again because they were going to hurt you.

“Do you want that foolish little brother? You made big claims to make [Name] yours and protect her, so are you really going to mourn those who were going to take her away from you? She’s my bride, and because I care about you, I will share her. But for that to happen, you need to listen to me and Shisui and not be pathetic as to get in our way.”

Itachi had a way with his words, and it was terrifying how much they could influence Sasuke. And now that they had, and no one else was going to be in the way -- not any clans, the village -- nothing.

It is just going to be you and them for the rest of your life.

[animecreator3000]

About the Boueibu iceberg

@delphoxqueen asked me to explain about my list for the iceberg so here it is. I might update this from time to time with links and stuff if I stumble across the original posts. This is all from what I know so feel free to add new info. Also, spoiler warning for RobiHachi and the Boueibu manga and novels. (This is like a masterpost it’s very long)

1. There’s a theory in tumblr about which decade the series is set in, using data like the friday the 13th calendar in s2 ep11. In HK we got a second number for when the next monthly Pretty Boy Contest was happening and using the one from Love it was theorized that around a decade had passed since then, which ended up being true.

2. The stage play had a few original songs and characters exclusive to it so unless you watched the full performance, you probably weren’t able to witness all of them. One of the characters is called “Robato Deniro”, as romanized in the stage play booklet I own.

3. The nurse and the cafeteria staff from the s1 mobile game appear in the background in around the first half of s2 ep3.

4. S2 had an unfinished manga that was only available online and was never released on physical format; it was centered around the defense club and sometimes the conquest club and Beppu brothers. All that’s left from what I know are the scans linked on magicalgirlsandcerulean’s blog.

5. This isn’t that obscure because it’s talked about in the anime, but I’m mentioning it because I think many people dropped it before the ova, where right at the beginning it is revealed that the alien that resucitated Mr. Tawarayama twice was, as described by Io, a “mulberry-colored naked mole rat-looking thing”, and was nicknamed “Moley-san” by Yumoto. At least in the anime, we had never heard before of who this was and it never appeared on screen nor was mentioned again.

6. In HK ep8, Karurusu promises the knights to grant a wish if they show him how earthlings spend summer. Kyoutarou reveals at the end of the episode that he wished that summer lasted one more day so he could spend it doing nothing, which prompts Ichiro to theorize that it’s the 32nd of august, and the next day is the second 1st of september.

7. The stage play was was held from march 10th to 13rd, of which the latter is Ryuu’s birthday. There’s an additional recording of a small celebration with cake focused on Ryuu and Io.

8. Atsushi mentions his older sister in the flashback at the beginning of s1 ep4, but she never appears or is mentioned again.

9. There’s a few posts on tumblr theorizing about what happened to the Hakone parents since Yumoto only says in s2 ep3 that according to Gora, “they are busy with their hot springs tour”. En mentions that it’s a bit suspicious, but it’s all the information we have from the anime. Posts talk about the parents perhaps passing away from an accident or an illness, thus the reason why Gora was so worried about Yumoto’s cold in s1 ep10, but from another post I think it’s implied in the second novel that they actually left their home when Yumoto was still a toddler.

10. It’s no secret that the surnames of the characters are all real onsens in Japan that even the seiyuus have visited, but apparently the Arima onsen has two different kinds of water, “kinsen (gold hot spring)” and “ginsen (silver hot spring)”, with different properties each, and the Kusatsu onsen water also has certain properties, both that were used to build the characters. Additionally, Ryuu’s favorite food are Sato Nishiki cherries, which are grown in the same prefecture, Yamagata, as his onsen, Zaou.

11. The press club lose relevance after s1, with only Kinosaki and Tazawa reappearing briefly in s2 ep2 to interview the Beppu twins after they arrive at the school. Tazawa doesn’t even have lines. Hireashi is mentioned by Zundar in ep11.

12. What the heck

13. Exclusively in the manga we see that Arima met Kinshiro and Atsushi when they were little and they were good friends, but when they met again as adults, Kinshiro seemingly didn’t remember Arima. Atsushi, however, stated that Kinshiro’s talent is remembering people’s faces and names, so Arima wonders if he’s just trying to distance himself from him. He also explains to Akoya that he follows Kinshiro and obeys him because as a child, he was fascinated by his radiant smile. This is never talked about in the anime.

14. Like the previous point, the anime never shows Akoya being bullied, at most just a slight dislike of his full name, but the manga shows that he was made fun of for it and how he actually hates his surname, to the point of introducing himself formally to the president and vicepresident of the student council as “Holy Angel Akoya”.

15, 16, 17, 19. Batonama lives were the livestreams done through the franchise by the defense club seiyuus on youtube and niconico. They’re all on youtube, without any kind of translation.

Love-ko is a girl with a shell bikini drawn on a piece of cardboard that was used as a girlfriend in the Batonama Love! lives, acted by the seiyuus themselves.

RobiHachi has one episode full of official Boueibu artwork and a parody of the series too, a Love-ko doll appears, and Wombat appears as well, named “The Don”. It received an english dub, so for a bit, people were excited that Wombat was going to speak in english too. Also, various mechas appear in both Boueibu and RobiHachi.

18. The director of Fairy Ranmaru (Masakazu Hishida if I’m not wrong) revealed in an interview that he was inspired by Boueibu and aimed to make a show like that.

20, 21. The website super-groupies.com has results for defense and conquest club lingerie sets, dc and VEPPer tote bags, the Beppus’ scarf rings, dc bath sets and the pumps magicalgirlsandcerulean mentioned. I’ve found the s1 Loveracelets and Caerula Adamas’ ring on different sites, the True Loveracelets on TheChara’s twitter and the Happybraces (apparently called “Hapibure”) on broccoli.co.jp but I’m not sure where exactly they were all announced and sold, so I’ll just drop that.

22, 33. Boueibu was originally pretty much a copy of Sailor Moon, I think they were all going to be called “Lackluster Moon” and that stuff and be literally Sailor Moon genderbent. They were all different from color palettes to physical features (except Yumoto’s), and Ryuu was a shota, even smaller than Yumoto. Their names were also very reminiscent of the five Sailor Senshis’. Even if they made it more original, the show is still clearly inspired by Sailor Moon (just look at Caerula Adamas lol) and Pretty Cure. It has also referenced, very blatantly, animes like Doraemon, Detective Conan, Aikatsu and even Vocaloid, when Kyoutarou tries to guess what Karurusu is saying with ““Just Google It, Asshole”?” in ep1.

23. Wombat’s real name and the name of his planet sound like gibberish to the earthlings and ends up being named after the Earth animal, but Zundar, Dadacha, Karurusu and Furanui all have original names. And I think Hireashi means “goldfish”?

24. If you google “zundar technology”, it’s actually a company in Shanghai, China. Aren’t Wombat and Zundar always talking about “advanced alien technology”?

25. Zundar and Dadacha are siblings, so are Karurusu and Furanui, and so are their father King Kamopapa and their uncle minister Wao, but neither are the same species and, except the first two, not even the same color. But they are supposedly related because they share birthmarks or something like that...

26. Everyone who’s in this fandom knows about the pixel blur and voice pitch censor from s1, but I’ve added it anyway because it’s so rare for mahou shoujo and shounen animes to explain why the heroes aren’t recognized when transformed.

27. A good while of s2 ep11 is spent discussing Zundar’s ex-wife and his problems to give child support. Naturally, he gets mad at this.

28. “Money doesn’t betray” (s1 ep6) and “The despair hidden behind your smile that comes from not being understood” (s3 ep11) are sentences that came out of nowhere and implied that the people they were said by (Io) or about (Taiju) respectively had some kind of angst going on but were never explained at all. They’re famous for just that.

29. The Beppu twins’ house in Andromeda shown in flashbacks had strange green circles that apparently are from another anime I don’t know but honestly I didn’t get it very well... It was revealed on a tweet from Takamatsu.

30. Alien language mostly appeared in s2 due to the many flashbacks of Aki and Haru in Andromeda, but in Boueibu s1, it appears on the Zundar Needle before it is shot on the human. It appears a lot through RobiHachi as well, due to being a story about travelling through space. There might be an alphabetical chart somewhere, but I can’t assure it exists, I might even have dreamed it.

31. Hikaru Midorikawa as the melon monster, Kousuke Toriumi as the bishounen monster, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as the kotatsu and panda monsters and Takuya Eguchi as the remote controller monster in s1 and 2, before going on to voice the main cast in HK. Keisuke Koumoto voiced Hatchi Kita in RobiHachi as well as Akihiko in Boueibu, and the characters look similar.

A new addition is that so far Boueibu is the only anime I’ve seen where children weren’t voiced by female seiyuus, but by actual children. Personally, it’s charming and makes it so much more realistic, specifically since no women appear in the franchise at all either (not counting Protag-chan in the game).

32. Speaking of seiyuus, Can I Destroy The Earth? had a dub shown in ep11/12 (?) that made Gora the villain that wanted Earth to stay the same and not progress, against the monsters that supposedly wanted to bring good things to earthlings. Aki and Haru quickly dismissed this dub as fake. (I made a mistake in the title in the previous post btw)

34. As seen in the glossary in the Boueibu Mook (I think, but might not be the mook), Caerula Adamas’ speeches are based on an old japanese detergent commercial that went “Gold, silver, pearl, gift”.

35. In the manga there’s a short parody of the first chapter of Sailor Moon with “Pretty Boy Guardian Gakuran Akoya”. The conquest club manga was released before the anime, so I remember reading somewhere that a fake website appeared for the Gakuran Akoya manga, before turning into the conquest club manga website in the day of its release.

36. Cgi was used a few times in the anime: s2 ep10 for a short sequence of the defense club on a rollercoaster and the carousel monster, ep11 for a cenital shot of the Battle Lovers singing, and HK ep12 for the Honyalaland soldiers and the Wao mecha.

37. The toothbrush incident in s1 ep7. (It’s definitely well-known but it’s so weird lol)

38. “We hope we can see each other again someday!” Something along those lines was the last text to appear in the last episode of HK, implying a s2. We all know how that went.