#anything better. probably because they're sexist men

[chemicalarospec]

.

[caesarinsalata]

A List of My Headcanons for Edward Elric: Full Throttle Edition!

What I mean by the subtitle, is what I think happened in the parts of the story, between, that weren't shown. Like what happened during their travels and locations they went too or things they did that are NOT in canon

Share your thoughts if you share any Headcanons with me or have any ideas to expand upon these, because I feel these are topics and ideas that are so interesting to ponder!

Onto the List!

(I'm adding a break cause this post is VERY wordy~)

The precursor to the rest to "set the scene":

HC 1 - Ed does NOT have a sexist or elitist bone in his little body!

This is something EVERYONE knows about him. Given the plethora of female role models in his entire life, he grows to respect and/or fear women. He treats everyone equally and bases his opinion on them based on their actions.

As well as despite having a fat pocket full of cash because of his status, it never goes to his head. He happily gives his money to those that help him. He sometimes uses his status to get what he wants, but not always for selfish reasons. It's usually to help his cause or someone else.

HC 2 - Edward wore Winry's clothes when he was hiding out in Resembool waiting for her and Al.

Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but these boys burned EVERYTHING they owned. Maybe except for what Ed carries with him in his trunk, whereever that thing may be on the regular basis no one knows. But! I'd like to believe that after the incident and the time skip, Ed most likely didn't have ANY of his original belongings, right? I mean yeah, he could go to fabric stores and transmute himself some stuff while passing towns. At the same time, he probably couldnt just walk into a store or town very often for fear of being recognized because of being a fugitive at the time. He could always have his big strong body guards go get him clothes, but they don't understand his style, so he wouldn't ask, right? Besides, what's the fun in that?

I believe, that while he was waiting in Resembool and Pinako told him to go take a shower, because imagine how dirty and stinky they'd be traveling in the forest and by night for days?? I feel she would've given him Winry's clothes, to change into.

And you can very well argue 'His clothes look like they're made for men. They aren't women's clothes. They aren't the same size and Eds grown, they wouldn't fit!' Ah! But what if, he just transmutes them to better fit his shoulder width and leg length?

That's what's fun about this thought, he could very well still have clothes at the Rockbells and just transmutes them bigger when they don't fit by combining fabrics. But if he did in fact burn everything he owned in the fire, he'd have to use something for material for clothes when he's under the radar.

But if he didn't wear Winry's clothes, what do you think he grabbed to transmute himself some clothes while down in Resembool? If he doesn't transmute himself clothes in hiding, then what if he uses Pinako's sons old clothes or old clothes from hohenheim? Pinako's bound to have clothes laying around her house from all the boys running around.

HC 3 - Ed PREFERS his hair up (braided or tied) over down.

Okay, so hear me out....if you put aside the fact that he obviously wears it tied back for convenience purposes because of being very mobile and active. BUT! At the same time when you think about when Ed comes back after the time skip and he reads the note of the description they're looking for: Red coat, blonde w/braid, and short. And he says: "Guess I'm stuck with this look for now..." It makes me think:

Obviously, he cares about his looks, right? Not in a selfish way, but he cares about his appearance and he feels confident in his old red and black attire with his signature braid. But he can't have that right now because he'd be easy to spot.

So, Ed's OKAY with his hair being down, but only if he's not doing anything. As soon as they get caught and he's carried to the car, he puts his hair up. It would just get in the way.

But like I said, I believe, he just prefers it being up, especially when he's doing something. In this instance, since he cant braid it, he just puts it in a ponytail.

Which this preference for his braid makes sense later when he's fighting Pride, cause it's in a braid again. So he obviously feels he looks better with the braid.

But when he changes it to a ponytail when he's older is probably just for mature reasons so he looks older. Plus he's letting it grow, so it's harder for him to braid when it's much longer than his shoulders, so I feel he's just like 'Fuck it, ponytail it is!'

Before this post gets too long, I'll stop here and maybe make continuations as I think of them. Feel free to expand upon these ideas or tell me your ideas! I love delving deeper into character personalities and properties they have.

[raointean]

Funniest responses* to the "What does "Mary Sue/Gary Stu" mean?" question

(In reference to my silmarillion fandom linguistics project, the results of which you can find in my "survey says" tag)

*not necessarily the full response, some are just fragments from longer responses. Also, I'm not filtering by "correct" or "incorrect" responses

Like a China doll that has been polished so much it’s face has worn off.

an overly idealized self-insert, one who exerts a black-hole like effect on the surrounding story and characters

Typically a derisive term.

It's like, an OC in a fic who is written to be "too perfect". All the canon characters fall in love romantically or platonically with the Sue/Stu, and they're given uncompelling and unexplainable abilities to solve all problems and be better than anyone else in the story. Often associated with self-insert OCs.

Everyone likes them. They're often instantly good at anything they try. The narrative's darling

Mary Sues are way more common than Gary Stus because people like to shit on girls having fun i guess

even my mom has heard about this one)

Often has a tragic backstory and unusual physical features

Very op character, too flawless (luthien)

OC

often this is used pejoratively against self-insert characters

everyone likes them (except the villain for arbitrary reasons)

Originated from Star Trek fan fiction

May have a comically tragic backstory. Usually in a relationship with the authors favorite character. May be a canon character a fan author has twisted beyond recognition.

Annoyingly perfect female protagonist (Mary Sue been used to mock and belittle stories about women. I've never seen Gary Stu in actual use: male characters with the exact same abilities are just 'strong')

Unrealistic, overpowered, or flawless main character, usually assumed to be a self-insert for the author. However some of the best characters are Sues and Stus, so the term is considered not very nuanced

has little canonical reason for being Like That excepting that it makes the author happy.

A term for an overpowered wish-fulfillment avatar

with a host of "desirable" traits (lustrous hair, shining eyes (sorry I mean orbs))

Overpowered perfect character in a bad story; always negative

Sweet harmless prim rule-following vanilla

super over powered oc who the plot revolves around usually female sometimes self-insert blah blah misogyny. i don't think this term should hold much weight.

idealised character, probably original. Think it was invented by people who enjoyed bullying younger writers on LJ

Batman, gender swapped, would be accused of being a Mary Sue.

they have no flaws except that "theyre just too perfect and thats hard uwu (sad face)"

Sue if female, Stu if male

An OC who is better at everything than the existing characters, unusually beautiful, and often "fixes" all the difficult/sad parts of the plot by Being Amazing and Knowing Everything. Usually written by immature writers. "Tenth Walker" fics and "So-and-so's other/secret daughter" fics are nearly always "Mary Sue" stories. (Also a phrse that gets thrown at any interesting and powerful female character by insecure and sexist men.)

Overpowered (often self insert) character that is loved by everyone

The feminine is much more often used, because sexism

I think the term was often used in a very demeaning way in the past, but it can still be s useful term in modern fandom

Self-insert in an overdone, heroine kind of way. Was originally a derogatory term, but diesnt really have much reason to be.

overpowered, flawless character who has reasonable justification for every Really Stupid decision they make

warp the plot and other characters around them due to their need to be The Most Awesome

Also Feanor

(and also no one ever wants to admit canon characters are already Like That, especially in comics)

for example, a girl's only "flaw" is that she's so small and petite she needs help from the big strong male character. This could be developed into a "serious" flaw with her easily becoming codependent, but with a Mary Sue, this idea would not be pursued (#226)

As for Gary Stus, I think I would also consider a male character a Gary Stu who NEVER shows emotion but still gets the girl in the end. (#226 cont.)

I think the terms are very gender stereotypical in their nature so it kind of makes sense that the descriptions I gave play into those same stereotypes - not to say this shouldn't be questioned, but when I'm asked to define a Mary Sue/Gary Stu, it's very connected to gender stereotypes to me. (#226 cont.)

self-inserty character... over cool

Special Origins (mixed race, super powers, one of a kind etc)

Term used by haters to criticize a character they interpret to lack flaws but without having to do any literary analysis.

A negative connotation word about a character who is unbelievably talented

not every op character is a ms/gs, only the ones that are perfect

(disproportionately applied to women)

someone with a level of pilot-armor so thick it breaks immersion

Bunnies hop at their feet. Darkness flies before their sunny aura. And then everyone appplauds

A self insert character with a protagonist halo

Practically perfect in every way

usually get a romance with The Blorbo

You're asking for an essay here...

Often feels like someone's first D&D character.

considering the source material, I wouldn't use it for a silm fic

I kind of enjoy these sometimes lol

A self insert in a fandom who is you but the idealized version to an unintentionally hilarious degree, often to the point of being awkward and poorly written, “passed off” as an OC

Often associated with preteens (writers and characters)

Central common traits include lack of consequences, unjustified competence or skill, and poor social skills.

what if i was the coolest person on earth

The "Oh, yeah? Well, I have a shield that can block laser bolts" of fiction.

An OC who is too perfect/has no flaws, usually written by someone just starting out

OC thats a bit... inept at doing things in their New World

similar to the og star trek fanfic Mary Sue

there has been criticism in recent years of the term Mary Sue being used in a misogynist (and just plain mean) fashion

& occasionally parenthood.

/ refers to the fact that these two people are portrayed to be in some sort of relationship in the fic

The tea is SMOKING, y'all! 🍵

[dogboyklug]

UH-OH! a comic about being trans. by me. part one of probably three :]

i felt bad about being transmasc so i decided to just give up and write about it until i hopefully didnt. i feel a little better getting this all on digital paper but there's still. a lot to draw. so. oops

i'll be posting the next parts. whenever they're ready (which will hopefully be soon) and linking them all here, so whenever you want just check back with the base post and i'll prolly add some links and maybe clean things up. yay!

text transcript / partial ID under the cut!

transcript:

looking back, there were a few signs i might have been trans.

[a sequence of events showing little me flinching and going "ow" at being called his deadname, little me reading a book and going "haha im like a tomboy but i dont like sports or being active or anything im just. a boy. haha", and little me having an active breakdown, crying and holding his glasses, with partially obscured text in a dark cloud around him. the only text visible shows his thoughts, and shows he's worrying that he's sexist for mostly only liking and relating to boy characters.]

...some.

however.

there were also a few things i considered signs of me not being trans at all.

EXHIBIT A:

[a drawing of little me, looking at his 3ds. he's thinking "as long as i make sure that i always play as the 'main girl character' in these games i wont cry because im a girl because i wont be me as a girl i'll be Them. roleplaying. as them".]

no dysphoria.

[caps] EXHIBIT B: [end caps]

[a crude drawing of little me staring at nothing. he's thinking "i don't hate women. and i don't like being mean to other people."]

[caps] I WAS A FEMINIST. [end caps]

and not toxically masculine.

i knew about trans people, but i didn't know trans MEN existed.

[a drawing of little me, with the caption "clueless". he's staring slightly up, and saying "huh?!"]

my mom was nonbinary, with a few trans friends, but people [caps] WANTING??? TO BE MEN??? [end caps]

to be

gross,

disgusting,

hateful,

cruel,

oppressive,

men?

[the background slowly gets darker until it reaches the final word, and that word is a significantly bigger font than the rest of the words.]

for a while, primarily due to my lack of research

[drawing of little me, staring at his computer (which is labeled "deviantArt machine") and going 'huh'.]

i figured, if i WAS trans, I was probably a trans women.

but of course, that was silly

you can't be a trans woman if you're already afab.

and there's no other ways of being trans,

right?

[a crudely-drawn drawing of a deviantArt favorite's tab. none of the favorited pieces have any detail, though several are the same width and length as classic deviantArt stamps.]

hm.

hmmmmm...

[a crudely-drawn drawing of a representation of one of the favorited stamps. it's a massive, pink stamp with the text "SHE/HER!" in it in all caps and pink lettering. bottom text states it is a "she/her pronouns badge by ...", though the rest is cut off.]

HMMMM...

[a picture of a mouse hovering over the 'favorite/unfavorite' button. the star is filled in, indicating clicking it would unfavorite the piece.]

[two wordless panels, side-by-side, showing little me staring at his screen, hovering his cursor over the unfavorite button.]

[two more panels, showing that little me has unfavorited the she/her badge. the panel showing his face shows he is grinning wildly, his hair has poofed up in excitement, and his glasses are now blue-ish purple.]

OHO!!!!!!!!!!!!1

.................and that's

quite literally

how it happened.

before i knew how bad the entire site was, i would frequent dA. CONSTANTLY.

it was baby's very first "social media" webpt site.

[a drawing of a tiny, cartoonish kitten with a small turf of hair, staring at wonder up at a computer, one hand on the mousepad. it is labeled "dramatic reenactment of me making my d a account."]

i wasn't really SHELTERED as a kid, i just didnt know fuck for shit, and my baby anxiety made learning annoyingly hard.

so i turned to memes as a sort of wire mother as opposed to my real, cloth one.

jokes can be easier to understand than reality, sometimes.

(this isnt a good thing.)

so, i sort-of-came-out on deviantart, home of the wacky, wild and weird, where i learned he/him pronouns were an option, and a choice.

[a drawing of little me, with blue glasses, gazing up at the sky and smiling triumphantly.]

and some crazy trauma but that's for a different comic. if i make it.

[a drawing of little me being hit with a cartoonish star, which is meant to represent the trauma.]

sooo...

that's it, right?

[little me, with a cartoony bandage on his head, gently rubbing his wound.]

my mom was supportive & anyone who wasn't ...isn't in the picture now

that's the end

...right?.

end transcript.

[foggymartin]

It's always awful to see pretentious twats on the news, but especially when they talk about things they've had no experience in. Seeing upper class, Christian men go on and on about how we should make Britian a "Christian" place again is out of this world. Seeing upper class (and let's be real, probably Christian) men talk about how people in poverty should just *work in these shitty jobs provided by our fucked government and earn minimum wage* because what are they going to do? They basically don't have a choice. Seeing *upper class christian men* talk about women's rights, gay peoples rights, people of colours rights, like it's some kind of epic tale in a book. They have no fucking idea what they're talking about, for any of it.

Christianity is a fucked religion (controversial, I know) with again, pretentious twats speaking the "words of God" which are a load of shit. Most of the time it's used as an excuse to be a homophobe or a sexist. Okay, David, why don't we follow every single rule ever put into that musty book? Why don't we tell left handed people they're going to hell? Or tell people who are mean that they're going down there? Why is it gay people? Correct me if I'm wrong, the Bible stated "man must not sleep with *boy*" and not "man must not sleep with man." You know, because pedophila feels like more of a crime then *gay people.* just a hunch. Commenting "Jesus loves you" or "find god" on any post that is someone different. An alternative person. It's so stupid. Why do you care? Follow your little religion and fucking leave us alone.

Poverty is a huge problem across the ENTIRE world, and I'm sure that speaks in volumes about how fucked up of a world we are. The fact that these people who are fighting to survive every day are being told to "just work" by people who never had to work a day in their life for shit is infuriating. Upper class people in general irritate me. I think it's the arrogance that they have. They're a bit.. Snobbish, you know? Even from just teenage girls being naive and laughing at poorer kids for not having an iPhone, to rich adults looking down on these people with such disgust. Seriously viewing these human beings as less then their pretty little £1000 poodle. What the fuck. The government taxes people - taxes the poor people who literally can't afford it if they want to eat. And just the normal people. Why not tax the rich more? People say "oh, we do tax them." Not as much? Do they need all that money? Do they really? Why can't they lend some of that "well earned" (passed down from generations) money to people who need it. I'm sure they'll live.

People on the news talk about women and gay people like they're a shit stain on a wall, but I'm sure the stain would get better rights. It's debates about women's rights to give birth, women's rights to wear what they please, women's rights to turn down a man. Literally fucking anything a woman does is shit on by society. Gay people are debated - should being trans be allowed? Is being gay a sin? Hmm, such tricky questions... Why not just let them live? People point out "oh, that school shooter was trans" or "that rapist was gay" not to say that school shootings or rape cases are bad, no no, just to shit on the LGBTQ community. Nobody points out that a school shooter was a white man. Why don't we just say "that school shooter was a horrible person who deserves to die" and not focus on the community they were a part of? Maybe mourn the lives lost instead of rejoice in the fact that you've got new things to hate the LGBTQ community for.

What a pleasant world we live in, huh? I could go on more, but I wont. I'll probably spiral into a ton of stuff about capitalism and why it should be torn to the ground.

Jesus Christ, I wrote more than intended. Happy reading

[talas-first-lady]

Post the ranking of the male legends. Let the world burn. Let chaos reign. It's on brand for the show (please read this in a funny tone)

The official, correct ranking of male Legends from best to worst along with foolproof evidence which you can trust because I am a lesbian and I am not swayed by men of dubious attractiveness.

1: Gwyn Davies

Pros: Invented time travel so he could save the poet he spent his entire adult life pining for. Has some of the absolute best throwaway lines of S7 (with flawless delivery). Has literally never done anything wrong ever.

Cons: Not around for long enough, which was in no way his fault.

2: Ray Palmer

Pros: Delightful. Hilarious. Has great chemistry with every other character. Loves showtunes and Star Wars.

Cons: Spending billions of dollars to create a suit so you can be a superhero in a city that frankly has too many superheroes already is not a good look. Also he's way too intense in relationships.

3: Nate Heywood

Pros: He somehow manages to be the perfect combination of himbo and really smart. It shouldn't be possible. Also, I too am an overeducated nerd who is really into Tala and Maisie, so I relate to him.

Cons: He really sucks whenever he's in a relationship.

4: Jefferson Jackson

Pros: He's such a good guy through and through. He has been put through some deeply unfair things but still manages to always be a positive force. Deserves all the hugs.

Cons: His accent is ridiculous and I can't take him seriously because of that.

5: Mick Rory

Pros: Has any character on the show evolved as much as him? Probably not. He's a sweetheart. He writes romance novels. His relationships with other characters are always amazing.

Cons: We all had to watch him birth alien eggs through his nose and that can never been unseen. Way too attached to his shitty ex boyfriend.

6: Wally West

Wally is right in the middle because he is true neutral. Does he make the show better? Not really. Does he make the show worse? Not really.

Pros: Good karaoke choices.

Cons: It's really dumb that Death Totem Sara appeared to him as his ex (who he really wasn't with that long and who was very much still alive) instead of his mom (who was his only family for his entire childhood and fairly recently died).

7: Gary Green

Pros: Sweet, funny, endlessly relatable. He adds so much character to every scene he's in.

Cons: Does not understand boundaries at all. He's also very inconsistently written because obviously they didn't plan for him to be an alien from the beginning.

8: Behrad Tarazi

Pros: I enjoy the way his relationship with Zari has developed. And he's a great singer.

Cons: Weed is not a personality. They didn't bother to give him an actual personality until season 7, at which point I was already over him. I also don't like his fixation with Astra which was entirely about finding her pretty on Highcastle Abbey and has nothing to do with who she actually is.

9: Carter Hall

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly before he could really annoy me.

Cons: Manipulative towards Kendra. Actively detracted from the 100th episode.

10: Martin Stein

Pros: Victor Garber. A+ singing.

Cons: Drugged and kidnapped Jax in the pilot. Racist, sexist, deeply selfish. He started to improve slightly but it wasn't enough.

11: Rip Hunter

Pros: Saw the potential in Sara Lance.

Cons: Told Gideon he loved her and then TURNED HER INTO A TRAINING SIMULATOR FOR THREE YEARS. He also flew her into the sun and into an atomic bomb. Lied to all the original Legends. Lied to Ava.

12: Leonard Snart

Pros: Had the good sense to die quickly. Also, I do enjoy him on The Flash.

Cons: Cruel and abusive to Mick almost constantly. Talk about kicking someone while they're down. He's an asshole to everyone, but the way he speaks to Mick is unforgivable.

13: John Constantine

Pros: He's a useful foil for some of the more optimistic Legends. Decent bisexual representation. Never met a weird unidentified substance he didn't want to put in his mouth.

Cons: He forced Charlie to face thousands of years worth of trauma, got Behrad and Charlie's friends killed in the process, and put the entire world at risk. Why? To save Astra, who he immediately forgot about and left to struggle on her own (again). He sent Desmond to hell. He abandoned Nora when she was a kid. He altered Spooner's memories despite knowing that having her mind messed with is a major source of trauma for her. Put the entire world at risk again by teaming up with Bishop. Lied to and manipulated Zari and had the gall to call it love. Also, if both Ava and Mick don't like you, you are clearly highly suspicious.

[breadboysteals]

TW: vent/ramble/suicide note/ there's too many damn slashes/bad grammar/ no punctuation: I hope republicans genuinely realize that "make America great again" means nothing like I'm not trying to start arguments or anything but it genuinely does not mean anything like when was it great because any time before now was a pretty bad time for America pretty racist unless you mean when trump was president but everyone was more homophobic then I mean we're not not homophobic now and it wasn't considerably less during his serve but it's not like a lot was better the economy was better during his term but that's because of Obama so it doesn't really correlate with trump trump didn't change things very much like every president now only changes like two things besides Obama that dude was a beast like I've heard he bombed shit and he was a bad dude but like he kind of fixed America for a little bit so maybe he should've been allowed I mean Teddy Roosevelt was a great president but he was a bit sexist but everyone brushes that off because he was fucking awesome god I rant for so long I barely remember my point at the beginning let's get back to that MAGA does not have any significance those words in that order have no meaning I mean you could say "America was great under trump so let's make America great again" but your supplying no context I mean it's just something that means nothing but is easy to chant like if i said "make gators eat taters" it obviously means nothing but it is a hell of a chant idk if it is a good chant though I am pretty high I mean why else would I ramble on for two pages hey if you some how get to this point and could read it even though I used no punctuation and probably a shit ton of grammar mistakes comment "make gators eat taters" and I mean republicans are really voting for likability and he's not even a likeable guy he's just a guy you know like voting for Andrew Tate like "sure he's a shitty guy and he's ugly but he has everything you could want maybe my incel ass will find everything too" I mean they all just became so afraid of being alone and it being your fault you decided to blame everyone else for being alone NEWSFLASH it's nobodies fault besides yours you caused your loneliness you can't help that so you go online spit some shit about women being bad and only liking attractive people ignoring the fact that it's just because your personality is shitty so that other men on the Internet will like you (gay asf btw) then you take whatever sex toy you have that fits your tiny dick and masturbate to overwatch porn for about 2 seconds then you jizz into whatever slimy toy you have and play call of duty with the 13 year old kids who are gonna end up like you and the worst part about it is you don't even get death you have all the water and food your mom brings down to you so that you never have to leave that chair and the only other option is to have self esteem issues and just fucking starve yourself to death in your mom's basement that's the only way any of you can get out of this life hopefully your mom makes you pay rent so you actually have to go out and work your minimum wage job and talk to regular people I know I said I wasn't gonna start any arguments but who's gonna read all the way down here I mean I could just put any picture down here too

See ts it's naked men and apes walking jk jk it's some depiction of evolution I was told a while back was incorrect but I have to assume they just mean it didn't make those dramatic jumps which yeah of course they're not gonna put a million slightly different monkey pictures on a god damn textbook

I'm terrified I'm absolutely terrified I'll end up like them fat alone with a huge drinking problem that I went to rehab for then immediately fell back into the pattern because my brother is an asshole or the other option living in my dad's basement and smoking weed all day and starving myself to death yeah that shit I said about starving yourself to death yeah that was about my brother it's a shitty way to end up but at least he has to pay rent so he goes to his job horrible way to end up and well I guess there's the third option I get good grades I write a good essay and I go to a good college but the whole time I'm in debt and empty inside I bottled my emotions up for so long that any slight thing that makes me mad I'll make a huge argument I like that one it's not likely to happen but I like it because at the very least I'm trying that's why it's not likely to happen I don't try to do anything not in a "I would succeed if I really tried" type of thing that losers say after they lose a game but a "well at least I did something" kind of trying I doubt I would succeed succeed but hopefully I'd get into some subpar college do what I like doing for at least a while you know till I kill myself that's where the story ends that's where it's always been leading I'm just waiting for the time to get there.

[bunglegaydogs]

Hiiii I'm just sending an ask because they're all different posts (read : I'm lazy) so please don't mind me lol

First and foremost, YOU ARE AMAZING AT EXPRESSING YOUR THOUGHTS AND YOUR ESSAYS ARE ALWAYS SO NUANCED?? SO YOU SAYING THAT WAS A HUGE COMPLIMENT OMG- I love reading your bsd essays so much and it's just now that I realised that they're all your essays abaammw some of the best in the fandom really. I'm always baffled when in the middle of an essay you go "I may not be articulating my thoughts right" or "this is kind of just put together" because girl you're amazing! Never stop writing these please ajajahsbw ALSO! Hearing your little thoughts and feelings pop up in the middle of an essay makes it so endearing to me. Like, that's a whole ass person writing these many words just to express how much they like this show and they're so adorable! (So sorry if that's offensive idk if calling someone adorable is)

Also, completely unrelated lol but this is exactly why I prefer to ask people questions instead of googling! Knowing that the person explaining is a human has their own opinions and hearing their feelings and experiences is so much more better and relatable than reading stuff off a Google website. Also your pfp is the cutest everyone has cute pfps nowadays 😭 anyways yes cute pfp :D

Actually getting to the point now:

1) yes yes Oda and Dazai's relationship is so dear to me I love them sm and I adore seeing Atsushi all caring for his mentor 😭 he's basically Dazai's emotional support cat!! Dazai let the boy in please I'm begging you he can purr probably and it would melt away your stress pls pls (Maybe everyone in the ADA sees Atsushi as their emotional support cat...)

2) Mori is a piece a shit, and you should be allowed to say it. I'm never biased in my writing but I loathe that guy with my very being and the whole people who like Mori thing really got me reconsidering...was *I* the bad guy for not liking a character when I actively liked a character very similar to him? Then I realised, I completely respect and treat equally all the people who don't like/hate Dazai. I don't treat them any different just because they don't like a character. And that's what I should expect too!

There's no post defending Dazai, and yet I still like him because I accept his wrongdoings and want him to keep getting better, like Oda told him to. Yknow, the argument would be MUCH different if Dazai was a woman and not a man, imagine bashing someone for liking a teen girl and not liking the guy who groomed her to be his heir. Yeah, really puts things into perspective. I'm not sexist, I treat (respectful) men and women equally, but Mori is just. No.

3) I haven't see it before in any canon source material but I feel like it's definitely true. It's clear that Dazai WANTS to want to keep living, but he can't bring himself to want it because of all the pain he's endured. He literally said in dark era that the reason he joined the mafia was to try and seek meaning in life by being close to death and violence. It's ironic, Dazai feels the most alive when he's about to LOSE that privilege. It could also mean that Dazai only realises the "value" in living when he's about to lose it. Perhaps he thinks of things he could've done, things he'll regret, and that helps him to stop before he actually does it. But in my opinion? I don't think he finds anything of worth in that time. He just convinces himself that he does. This is a personal hc but it's probably likely to be the case.

If you've listened to the song My R, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.(totally recommend btw!).The girl in the song speaks to herself about her woes and the 'other' version of her comforts her telling her about all the things that she DOES have, but by the end of the song, she has lost everything of meaning and she can't comfort the "girl". It is only revealed that the girls she comforted are different versions of HERSELF that she stopped from jumping.

Anyways, in conclusion, SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE THIS BOY A HUG HE DESERVES IT

oh my god oh my god oh my god

i am sat here on the verge of TEARS in my goddamn chuuya cosplay

okay okay give me a second i need to collect myself

you are singlehandedly the SWEETEST person ever im sobbing

literally i cant- thank you so fucking much! you dont understand how much this all means to me WOWOWOWOW <33333333

literally, my brain doesnt let me consume my content positively and so i always think that theyre quite bad or that im the only person who thinks that or that im saying all the wrong things lol

i have so many words and thoughts floating around in my little brain that i just cant find the words for, so thats honestly what those rants are, my delusional 4am thought processes when i deep things too much

and YOU THINK??? genuinely, thank you!!! i love reading people's essays and thoughts, so hearing you say that genuinely just warms my absolute heart <3

and yes yes i do get quite sidetracked very often and start just rambling and adding my own personal twists- genuinely i thought that was annoying for people to read, but you're just putting a big smile on my face right now :) and PLS DONT THINK CALLING ME ADORABLE IS OFFENSIVE I LITERALLY GIGGLED READING THAT SHIT FR. <333

i like to add personal experiences and thoughts into it, just to get my point across, put it into an irl perspective and let people also relate and see what im getting at. (unfortunately) i have the same experiences as most of these characters, and so that is why they're so dear to me and why i get very defensive and passionate writing about them!

and yes! getting your answers and stuff from irl people instead of strange irrelevant responses is much more preferred lol. it's more raw and in depth and definitely a lot more personal! and thank you so much!!! it's genuinely one of my favourite dazai panels istg hes such a pretty mf

1.) i love love LOVE their dynamic, i think it's one of my favourites in the show along with skk and ranpo and yosano. it really fucking hits hard, as all family dynamics do with me fr, idk what it is about them, they just get me. and yes!!! i love when atsushi shows that he cares for dazai it MAKES ME FEEL NICE <3 and that's so real oh my god hes a tiger please PLEASE he can fucking PURR (there was a tumblr post i saw, i can try and find it but it made me actually cry laughing)

THIS ONE i was fucking howling but yes! their relationship is also one that really really gets to me! and yes, he is just the ada's support cat, it's canon, i'm ranpo's sweets

2.) thank you thank you THANK YOU mori is an actual degenerate human being. he's not made to be liked or appreciated or revered, it's just fucking AEUGH. i'm not going to demonise the people who enjoy him as a character, but seriously, it's a big red flag to overlook the canon pedophilia. i saw someone make a defense against him saying "yes, but he's never actually touched kids, so that doesn't mean anything" SORRY? they also went on to say that he "restrains himself" from having pedophilic thoughts with elise, and basically praised him for that. needless to say, it got me feeling fucking icky. and yes! i feel exactly the same. i always think that "oh, maybe i'm the awful one for not liking him? am i bad?" even though, no, i'm perfectly fine thinking that way and i am allowed to think that way. and exactly again! dazai is my favourite character, but i recognise his flaws and his mistakes and don't forgive them. but he's actively trying to "be a better person" (i say this in quotation marks because dazai sees everything he does as inevitably pointless, but still wishes to uphold oda's dying words. i am definitely going to make a post about this in the near future lol) and i dont make my analyses biased towards him, and i stay on neutral ground UNLESS personal opinion comes up, to which i then say that it's my personal opinion, not fact, and that it's anybody's choice to think however they want. if somebody doesn't like dazai; okay! i'm interested in talking with them, and we can both talk about things we're very passionate about and have healthy conversations! unlike some people i have seen on reddit, goddamn. but no, we're not the bad people for hating that knobhead fr. we should all treat and be treated the same as any other fan in the fandom and get along, and i wish we could ALL do that in non-toxic ways. 99% of this fandom are the loveliest people ever, but that 1% just needs to get a grip like omg. we should treat others how we want to be treated, regardless of who favours what ship and who likes what character. and real!!! if gender roles were reversed for dazai, this would be much more problematic, and that's upsetting! dw dw, i dont think its sexist, i think its putting things into perspective bc, either way, its shitty how he was treated. i fucking hate mori. whenever i see people defending him to like, the bone, like not getting into a decent discussion and being civil but instead bashing everyone who says otherwise and completely overlooking the abuse, manipulation, grooming, pedophilia and just him as a sick and twisted person in general, it just really irks me. as someone who has in fact had to deal with separate strands of abuse including many fucking counts of sexual abuse and pedophilia, it disgusts me seeing people overlooking it and it makes me feel fucking sick. that shit is not just something to be overlooked because of the fact that you enjoy mori as a character, he's not supposed to be a character that's consumed positively, he's a bad guy. a lot of characters in bsd are morally grey, but mori is just fucking morally black. he's downright evil.

(TW for suicide and self harm next btw :) )

3.) yes yes yessss!!! again, bringing personal stuff into it, i deal heavily with the whole topic of suicide and self harm. i've attempted twice and still deal with thoughts of it every single day, as well as self harm. so, this is one of my main reasons of dazai being my absolute favourite character, because of the representation and actual presentation of these topics. at first, we're shown them in a whimsical and whacky way, then it gets so much darker once we get into the dark era. it's a complete tonal shift, and it really sets in the gravity of the situation for him. and, as you said, he wants to have that ability to want to keep going and living, and he wants to be able to put the effort in, but he can't/ he physically cannot. as much as he would want to try, he can't. and yes, when he said that it fucking BROKE me fr. just at the chance that he's not able to keep living on anymore as a human is the one thing that keeps him alive, i fucking love asagiri's writing, it's so complex and beautiful. and its so so so real!!! youre literally right idc lmao. youve so eloquently said it im crying, youre putting all my thoughts into words <3

and yes!!! i have listened to the song, i absolutely LOVE it! and i never fail to think of dazai whenever i listen to it </3 and, i also think it's very very much like dazai, because of the multiple different versions we see of him too. chuuya hasn't exactly changed much, but he has gone through some very very complex and deep character developments, such as in fifteen and stormbringer. hes a lot more "tame" and respectful now, and a lot more mature. (except with dazai lmao) aku, we see he's changed slightly thanks to atsushi, but still no major character fucking flip arounds. all these characters we've watched slowly become better and more complex throughout the series. dazai? he just does 180s every single fucking year. hes different at 14 and 15 than he is at 18. hes different at 18 than he is at 20-22. and the different faces he puts on for each and every person, all his masks that he has. there's much variety to dazai; you never know what you'll get. there's so many different sides to him, because he doesn't know who he is. as odasaku saw him, "a lost child crying out". no matter the age, no matter the state, dazai is always going to be harbouring that broken child with him, trying to hide it and build up walls around it, because the only time he's ever shown it, he's gotten hurt or betrayed and lost some key figures in his life. trust issues much?

anyways i am sorry i am sorry i rambled too much lmao

in conclusion, YES, GIVE HIM A FUCKING HUG OH MY GOD PLEASE I JUST NEED SOMEONE TO HUG HIM PLS GOD LET ATSUSHI GIVE HIM A BIG HUG WHEN HE COMES OUT OF MEURSAULT I SWEAR-

thank you so so so SO much for your kind words!!! sweetest person EVER fr <333333

thank you my love!!! /p have a lovely day/night :) <3

[borathae]

Jungkook glances at the hand on the bottle. This has never been his instinct to do. He would take any of the girls' bottles like this, but he never developed the instinct with his own drinks. He thinks it's insane how different the world is for someone just because they have something different between their legs.

I think this is a moment of realisation that most men (the decent ones) have much too late, and only when they're involved in the daily lives of women around them.

It's satisfying to watch reality sink in, however. It's usually expressed as a potent mix of horror and absolute disbelief, that the world is so very different from what they're used to, from what they even thought was within the scope of possibility.

"Of course I do. You know, Shiwon was always a good guy but he never really said anything when men were being pigs until you came around and actually stood up for us."

"But Shiwon always says something to sexists."

"Yes, because he saw you doing it and realised that he needed to change his ways."

This is soooooo valid 😭😭😭. I wish more people would inspire, and BE inspired like this.

"So keep being yourself and keep standing up for us. You're helping, even if it feels frustrating to do."

He shakes his head, "it's not frustrating to help. It's frustrating that I even have to help."

Yes! Absolutely, 100%! I wish people would actually get this, and I'm so proud of fictional kookie for just getting it.

Also, absolutely love Moonbyul. I have a friend just like her who'd probably do the exact same as her in any such situation.

~🐥🐯🐰🫂

"Even Bunnies Bite" really helped me.

First, it gave voice to many of my own frustrations, the ones I share with most women, i believe.

Secondly, the concept of someone peaceful and shy and cute turning all angry and protective was pure comfort.

It's actually so nice to know that you're safe when he is with you.

This almost made me cry and wish for someone like that. I have people who come close, but not quite.

Thirdly, there's been a death in my family, and I've been a bit...out of it. This story really helped, and idek how, but it was like a warm, cozy hug 😭

~🐥🐯🐰🫂

No but I like when men have this realisation! It shows they're actually decent humans 💜

hehe thank you so much for enjoying it and finding comfort in it!! I'm really happy to hear that you did 💜💜 also I'm sorry for your loss! I hope you feel better soon 💜

[weaselbeaselpants]

BreadtubedebacledebatebothersomBS

I followed a few 'breadtube' (media analysists with a leftist liberal-leaning political view) people before they even got associated with the term 'Breadtube' and had being left-leaning as their 'brand', so I'm just really hyper aware of their 'eras', what they were talking about at what time, and of their shifting worldviews because I'm familiar.

As @padawan-historian said, I think it's irresponsible and presuming bad faith to assume lefttube essayists are the b-all-end-all of the discussion and that their audience always sees them as that. Yeah, maybe I and other -white ppl- viewers didn't hark about it as much as we should have, but the fact that we noticed then and now that Lindsay left out the anti-indigenous stuff in Myer's work is proof enough that no, we don't follow her blindly or think she covers everything perfectly. We like her because when she does cover everything she has to say, we think she's really good at doing it and that's what we admire about her and other essayists. It's not that we can't be our own well-spoken people, it's that we like her perspective.

As far as any breadtuber being dismissive and/or not addressing the fights they've gotten into online for the sake of their critics and concerns about their attitude- I GET why they are so pissy about people telling them what to do...but that does not make it okay.

Lindsay's first big internet gig was taking the 'girl equivalent' to a centrist movie reviewer(Nostalgia Critic) only to break from that mold quickly and try to be her own person. She faced a lot of discrimination directly from her bosses and from 'fans' (sexist assholes), was told to film and be okay with SA jokes despite being a survivor, has been targeted by GamerGaters ect. I've been here since before GamerGate happened and it was BAD. I get why she's done with people chiding her to do a thing like they're her personal PR manager is annoying and even destructive -but I don't think that make's it okay for her to group all her critics together like that when she did her 'mask off' addressing.

Jenny Nicholson was in the Brony fandom (could probably end it right there but let's keep going), she's faced a lot of weird AT BEST behavior and parasocial fans for a long time. She really has had -multiple- impersonators and a LOT of people presuming she said a thing when it was really one of those impersonators....and I also think her lashing out at John Boyega and his fans then blocking people who were @ing her for a response was a really bad move.

You absolutely don't have to stan or even like a white/cis/straight/abled creator who you think is talking down to you, and whom their audience (me) you think is racist for dismissing your dislike of them. I will say, however, you absolutely need to pay attention where you're getting some of info from- with Contra, with Lindsay, Sarah Z, Jenny there are legit creeeeeeepy assholes and parasocial stans who want to use legitimate criticisms to better their vendettas. PLEASE for the love of god don't listen to anything Doug Walker or Mike Michaud tell you about Lindsay -those men really don't care about anything but their own brands.

[lady-shadow-and-darkness]

Guys. Sincerely, as a female and a feminist, not everything is misogynistic. You all need to learn the difference between when someone is discriminating against a woman for being a woman, and when someone is criticizing a woman for literally anything else (which I find in some cases are valid).

You can't simply call every single criticism you receive sexist and refuse to better yourself?

"Your technique is a little off-"

"Are you saying that I can't do anything right because I'm a woman?!"

You're misrepresenting what they're saying and this makes the term "misogyny" lose its significant and very real meaning.

You're not always a victim and I hate the victim complex. And you know what, oftentimes the person calling it sexist isn't even the actual woman in the equation and they're probably just chronically online and attribute everything to sexist ideologies.

The idea that men will inherently discriminate against women is, newsflash, sexist as well.

[notasapleasure]

Also can I hear abt the Marthe/Kiaya band AU thing?

Well first, thank you for reminding me it was all in the file named 'bad very bad no good' and just comes after the already published horrible Jerott/GRM (cw rape, dddne!!!). Haha yes, Jerott's my favourite character, why do you ask? This is now uhhhh a 78 page document.

As for Marthe/Kiaya, there's nothing concrete written really, just allusions to it, and I think I was probably gonna follow canon in that way and not go into direct pov on them.

I've just pasted the couple of scenes with Kiaya below to go with my uhh minimal commentary/thoughts! They hopefully demonstrate my idea that she's quite happy to take any favours or gifts going, whether they're offered by Marthe or Lymond, but she keeps her cards close to her chest regarding what, if anything, she intends to offer in return. She sees an investment opportunity in the form of Lymond, as discussed with La Dame (named Thomasina Durand in the AU; also reminder that the Aga Morat is 'Baron Morgan'), but unfortunately Marthe is not viewed in the same way. We're too early for Tori Amoses and Fiona Apples - Marthe's too abrasive and too stubborn, too 'difficult' to market at the scale Kiaya deals in, too threatening to be a Kate Bush, too fierce to be a Toyah, too normal to be a Siouxie Sioux, etc. But Kiaya won't say no to a pretty woman offering to take her to bed *shrug emoji*

Marthe is mad that Francis is trying to muscle in on her tactics - she tries to persuade herself of the belief that anything he does to Kiaya she can do better, but she's been round long enough to know that men always get the contract deals first. It does mean that Kiaya can pick and choose just exactly what kind of nice time she gets to have. She is living her best life :)))

I don't know that Marthe falls *in love* with her, but she absolutely yearns for the power and influence Kiaya (appears) to have, and she imagines that the two of them would be unstoppable if Kiaya would just stop being some kind of gender traitor and back her and her music. She's grown up with her foster mother/grandmother telling her she'll never be enough, but never really understanding *why* (beyond 'misogyny') and never fully internalising the message, so she's always in a state of believeing/not believing it. Rationality about the sexist world she inhabits is constantly warring with ego - she's seen enough 'exceptions to the rule', women who are extraordinary enough to break through, but she's also seen the flip-side and knows no-one ever makes it on their own, they're always a product of a certain kind of marketing and industry support, and so there's a kind of love/hate relationship to the idea of Kiaya and what she can offer. She's always hopeful she can persuade her to take her side, and Kiaya will never be moved.

Kiaya has an open relationship with Dragut, though they'd never be such vulgar hippies as to describe it like that. They make their influence and power work for them wherever they are - fear, lust, money, whatever is most appropriate. She does have a genuine appreciation of music and what will go down well with the public, though she's probably personally rather condescending when it comes to what's popular - away from work Kiaya won't listen to anything younger than 200 years old, because that's the stuff that's truly impacted the world. Marthe playing an antique instrument to her in the privacy of her hotel room is an utter treat, a delight, a morsel of ambrosia - but it's not going to make her any money!

Eventually, I think Oonagh is a helpful person to give Marthe some perspective on band AU Kiaya. Oonagh has met women like this, power-brokers like this, people who take and take and take but simply never give anything of themselves back. Oonagh understands Kiaya with one glance at their first meeting, and when Marthe overhears her assessment of her something probably clicks and she's able to restore perspective on the 'relationship' that never was. She has a new strong force of a woman to learn from and admire :))

--

Intro to Kiaya in the bandverse (as it currently stands, but of course she meets Philippa in New York before then).

The following day, with Jerott pacified by the diazepam Onophrion had brought and administered - after assuring Francis that one calming dose would not render him addicted to a new drug - Francis managed to sleep through the hot afternoon. He almost felt refreshed, almost felt hungry enough for one of Morgan's enormous steaks, when he made his way to the bar that evening.

He found, however, that Morgan already had company, and stopped in the middle of the room when he recognised the woman sitting next to him.

Her back ramrod straight, her suit and make-up immaculate, talent scout and agent extraordinaire, Kiaya Çalışkan smiled at Francis and there was mischief in her eyes.

He'd never met her, but everyone in the industry knew her. Though she moved in different circles to Margaret Douglas, her reputation for unearthing talent was no less remarkable, and her track record for securing deals with the big labels was formidable. If Margaret was a king-maker in the British post-punk scene, Kiaya Çalışkan was handmaiden to the globe-straddling empires of artists whose work transcended local or national scenes and matched the invisible, unpredictable zeitgeist of the youth from Tokyo to New York to Berlin. She was even rumoured to have contacts working behind the Iron Curtain, subtly chipping away at the soundtrack of Communist repression on behalf of global capitalism's need to discover new markets.

In short - she was not the sort of person Francis expected to encounter in a barn lying well off the beaten track, in a state not known for its wild creative scene.

Morgan beckoned him over. "Frankie, come and join us!"

He moved stiffly, all the while trying to read what was in Kiaya's expression, as Morgan changed nothing about his own habits, pawing at Francis' leg beneath the table when he sat down.

"It seems I've done you a disservice, boy," Morgan beamed at him. "You are a real rock star..."

Francis didn't take his eyes from Kiaya, whose smile broadened, her white teeth echoing Morgan's.

"Mr Crawford," she said warmly. "It's so good to meet you."

"Did your car break down on the I-70 too, Kiaya Hanım?"

Kiaya turned her smile to Morgan - all condescending business politeness. Her dangling, jewel-speckled earring glittered against her thick mahogany hair when she spoke; the angle she displayed for Francis showed off the profile of her handsome, curved nose. "You tell him, Baron," she purred.

Morgan wore a smug expression. He swilled the bourbon round in his glass, and Francis wondered what time their business meeting in the bar had begun. He was drinking like this wasn't his first of the night.

"Miss Caliskan is a regular at my establishment, Frankie. She knows where to find talent. She's even signed up some of the bands she saw here - big fat contracts and advances to match." He raised his brows significantly.

Kiaya Çalışkan offered to get Francis a glass and share the bottle of wine before her, but he shook his head.

"Coke is fine, thank you."

"I keep tellin' him it'll rot his teeth..." Morgan cajoled.

"You know my partner Dragut, don't you?" Kiaya watched his response carefully. "I believe the two of you worked together in New York, earlier in the decade?"

Francis managed to keep his expression mild. He did indeed know Dragut, or he had known him - as to whether they could have been considered colleagues was another matter, however. As Francis recalled it, he had been considered a possession of the mob, while Dragut had been in their employment as a bouncer at the club Francis was compelled to play at.

He inclined his head. "Indeed? Yes I do know him. It appears we live in a small world, Kiaya Hanım."

Her eyes widened, glittering with ambition as she gave him a feral smile. "Growing smaller by the day, Mr Crawford. As our empire grows - Dragut runs his business out west now. He heads security for a casino in Vegas. It's a wonderful place for acts to get their big break. But he likes to know I'm staying somewhere safe when I travel across country alone."

Morgan beamed with pride. "She doesn't fly, because she might miss the next big thing out here at the Oasis..."

"And I thought it was because she was afraid of heights," Francis accepted the glass of soda he was handed and prepared to hear Morgan make his usual order on his behalf. But tonight, Morgan gestured, palm up, and invited Francis to choose.

Supposing this was some kind of acknowledgement of Francis as a 'real' musician, he picked a burger and then froze in surprise as the chair next to him was pulled out.

Marthe looked down at him with a cool smile. She'd applied the red lipstick of the Doña María costume and her black lace turtleneck and miniskirt had been cleaned of dust. Her hair fell in a blonde cascade over one shoulder and she extended a hand to Kiaya Çalışkan.

"We met in New York briefly, I believe you're a good friend of my foster-mother's."

Kiaya took Marthe's hand and raised her brows, a polite smirk on her lips. "Yes. Marthe, isn't it?"

Francis saw Marthe's neck flush pink as she sat down, hastily calling the barman back to place her own order.

"And I'll have...what wine is good here?" she looked at Kiaya Çalışkan.

"Oh! You're drinking wine? Just bring a second glass for her, please. She can share mine," Kiaya waved a hand to dismiss the man.

Baron Morgan chuckled and his fingers massaged Francis' knee beneath the table. "Well well. The little lady has decided to join us. I hope all this raw masculinity hasn't been puttin' you off, darlin'?" He was definitely tipsy, Francis decided.

Marthe gazed at him without expression. "Not at all. But if there are business deals being made, I shouldn't like Francis to have the only say."

Morgan laughed again. "Oh darlin'. You have no idea," he moved his hand higher up Francis' leg, his arm visibly stretching, and Francis jerked his thigh to shake him off. Morgan's laughter repeated itself, his gaze on Francis unperturbed as he took another drink.

Marthe's blue eyes absorbed it all, and she smirked at Francis. "No, indeed. It's far too subtle for me."

Kiaya Çalışkan had been generous with her information. Baron Morgan now assumed he knew all of Francis' troubles and desires, and quizzed him in ever more prurient detail about his life. Meanwhile, Marthe seemed to be doing her best to get a contract signed then and there, though Kiaya Çalışkan appeared unmoved by all her achievements and ambitions. Francis grew ever more frustrated as the other three drank and boasted and plotted and he realised he wasn't going to get to talk directly to Kiaya that night.

He believed that she did pass through Morgan's Oasis regularly, but the coincidence of meeting the mistress of his old acquaintance, Dragut, here still made him suspicious. Yet she acted like she really was just stopping in for a night, and was delighted to find a diversion as amusing as Marthe along the way.

After eating, when Francis was starting to feel tired and heavy, the other three were boisterous with drink. He didn't remember which one of them had suggested it first, but Marthe was looking at him fiercely.

"We should play."

"Yes! Play!" Morgan clapped his hands and then clapped Francis' shoulder.

Kiaya Çalışkan inclined her head and raised her glass. "It would be a pleasure, Lymond, if you chose to play for us."

So he blinked and drew a breath and summoned the energy to stand. He and Marthe helped themselves to instruments displayed on the wall near the stage, but brought their guitars back to perch on the table nearest to Baron and Kiaya.

Tuning up, Francis fought the heaviness in his eyelids, yawned, and listened to Marthe's murmured suggestions.

The first song, she insisted, should be one made famous by Francis Rankin Crawford.

"Really? They won't know that here," Francis grumbled, bending an ear to his instrument as he twisted the tuning pins.

"They will. They do. I used to play it with my band all the time. People loved it."

"In New York."

"It's not another planet. Kiaya will know it. Morgan, if he's half the judge of talent he claims, will know it."

Francis said nothing. He struck a chord and looked at her, and Marthe nodded and double-checked her own tuning.

Together, they played the song that Francis' grandfather had popularised - a French ballad reworked for the English-speaking masses. Together, their riffs wove in and out of each other, their voices were uncannily matched. To their audience they looked angelic: two fine-boned blonds leaning their heads away from one another, their legs crossed in opposite directions, their talent exquisite and their unison innate.

They played a few more songs: the Wayfaring Stranger, a folk ballad familiar to Marthe for its American roots, and a cover of Heaven by Talking Heads. A hint of competitiveness crept in and they ended with another folk song, The Old Man Came Courting: they embellished it with call and response, duelling guitar and voice, the tempo building to a breath-taking gallop.

It was more than enough to woo their audience.

"My, my..." Baron Morgan said as he applauded. "To think I came across real, genuine treasure at the roadside."

"They are golden, aren't they?" Kiaya agreed, her appraising smirk roving over both of them.

Marthe smiled back and Francis rubbed his forehead - he just wanted to go and sleep.

It wasn't permissible though, not yet. Morgan stood and drained his glass. "Great chat, as always, Kiaya," he slurred the name down to two syllables, so it sounded like Kee-ya, but she didn't seem to mind. "You really are a fount of wisdom."

Kiaya poured more wine out for her - and for Marthe. "I wouldn't want you to miss out due to a lack of information, Baron. Information is money," she gazed steadily at Francis, though it was Marthe who approached her.

"As is time," Morgan said profoundly. He took the neck of Francis' guitar and lay the instrument down on the table. "The staff will put it back," he said, looking heavily down at Francis' face.

It was a summons, much as Francis had suspected was coming. He levered himself off the table and lingered a moment, feeling Marthe's scornful stare as he and Kiaya locked gazes. "Are you staying long?"

Kiaya Çalışkan shrugged. "Perhaps I'll stay to see you perform. Perhaps not." She glanced at Marthe. "There isn't usually much to do out here, comfortable as it is."

Morgan chuckled and turned Francis by the arm, indicating he should walk ahead. "Enjoy the amenities, ladies," he put his hat on, touched a finger to the brim in a salute, and then prodded the small of Francis' back.

--

And the other Kiaya section that's written:

Outside the shower, he put the past - near and far - away, and bent to the rucksack Morgan had salvaged from their broken down car. In it, precious little of Francis' belongings remained - all that they could pawn they had got rid of, and he was left with one spare set of threadbare clothes and a fat, broken-spined paperback collection of contemporary poetry.

He pulled on the other clothes, the shirt of pale-checked cotton, ran his hands hastily through his wet hair, and left again in search of Kiaya Çalışkan.

If Morgan was going to cover the county with posters announcing their performance as 'Lymond and band' there would be no chance at all of arriving stealthily at Graham Reid Malett's ashram one state over - even if the Rajneeshees were sheltered from the outside world, Swami Geetesh would not allow himself to be ignorant of events so close by. It had set Francis' mind: they needed to get away sooner rather than later. He was relying on being able to strike a deal with Kiaya Çalışkan that would get them out of the Oasis and back on the road.

Standing outside his room, peering at the vehicles on the other side of the car park - Morgan's truck, a van used by the ranch staff, a collection of motorbikes glittering with chrome, and a two-seater red soft-top that had to be hers - he was debating where to start his search when a door to his left, over by the pool, opened and he heard Marthe's laughter.

She loitered on the lintel, her Doña María outfit rumpled, her lipstick long gone, and her boots in her hand. She leaned forwards and murmured something that didn't carry, and Kiaya Çalışkan's ringing, plummy laugh answered it.

Francis stepped back into the doorway of his and Jerott's room, but saw that Marthe was already aware of him. She stalked along the decking that fronted the row of rooms like it was a catwalk, her eyes fixed on him and a challenge in her smile.

"Don't tell me you didn't get breakfast in bed, Frankie?"

"No, some of us have actual business meetings to conduct..." Francis circled around her and saw Marthe's eyes spark with annoyance as she realised that he was heading in the direction she'd come from.

Her lip curled as she turned to face him. "And does your roomie know where you've been spending your nights?"

Cold, commanding, Francis took a step back towards her. "I believe he's had his own share of troubles to concern himself with," he said in a tone of warning.

There was that uncanny, funfair mirror feeling again: her eyes, that were so like his, narrowed with an echo of his own dislike; her long mouth curved without mirth, and she raised her chin haughtily. "He doesn't know the half of it, though, does he?

"He doesn't need to," Francis said firmly.

"Oh come on," Marthe said scornfully. "He's more repressed than a citizen of Cuba - it might do him some good to get the five star guest treatment…"

He felt himself turn chill as the blood drained from his face, and Marthe took in his white fury and moved away uneasily. Francis remembered, viscerally, the sensation of being pinned up against Morgan's kitchen counter - he'd braced himself against the marble slab as Morgan stood between his legs, his hips flush with Francis', while Francis tried to keep up with his sloppy, impatient kisses. He remembered each time that week when Morgan had forced himself beyond Francis' generous boundaries, had slapped aside what was offered and grasped for more instead. He remembered cleaning handprints off the piano in the studio at St Mary's and he remembered the blood on Jerott's face, the small, hunched, astonished look about him as he had struggled to come to terms with what Graham Reid Malett had done to him there.

His hands were balled fists, trembling with fury. "And while we're at it, shall we all request some electro-shock therapy to fix our own damaged minds?" he hissed.

Marthe blinked and grimaced. "Excuse me?"

"It's no different, is it?" he raised his brows. "You can't change someone by holding them down and telling them they're wrong."

Still a little ruffled, made standoffish by Francis' tone, Marthe looked him up and down. "Does Morgan play rougher than you like, then?"

"He's a perfect gentleman," Francis backed towards Kiaya's room. "I merely prefer not to share..."

She shook her head, her mouth curled in disgust as he turned to try his own hand at seducing Kiaya Çalışkan and her contracts.

"Fuck you, Francis," she spat and stalked away.

Francis stood outside the end room, straightened his back and stretched his shoulders and neck. He let out a sharp breath - and with it any extraneous, irrelevant feelings about what he was doing.

This was necessary, he told himself. It wouldn't always be necessary - he had to make himself believe that - but it was now, in order to allow him to protect the people he cared about, the people he'd put in danger. And he was wiser than he had been, he knew what he was dealing with. He knew now how to make sure that no one got all of him, the way it had been with Margaret Douglas. How to draw up the terms that would allow him to endure the signing away of autonomy, that would guarantee he wasn't going to let anyone down again, because he still retained just enough of himself - just enough - to arrange their freedom and safety.

Kiaya opened the door at his knock. She was wearing a fine robe of white cotton that, held loosely together by a knotted cord, revealed her black, lace-embellished slip beneath. She tossed her glossy hair back over her shoulder and smiled at her guest. "Good morning, Mr Crawford."

She was professional enough not to act coy or naïve: she stepped aside and gestured for him to enter. "I had some breakfast sent over from the kitchen and there is still coffee in the pot."

Her room was larger than the twin he shared with Jerott, and had a small counter with a kettle on it and shelves above for crockery. There was a tray with fruit salad and a half-empty plate of pastries on it, and Kiaya poured him a coffee and handed it to him enriched with cream and sugar.

"I would ask how you knew, but your acquaintance with Thomasina Durand explains it." Francis leaned his hip against the counter and smiled coolly over his mug.

Kiaya's brows raised in polite acknowledgement. It might have been said that she was impressed at his observation from the previous night regarding her contacts - but he didn't expect her to know everything about his history with Marthe's foster-mother, writer of the industry-leading column 'Doubting Tom'.

"Perhaps I simply saw a tired man who has not yet had breakfast, and made a good guess?" Kiaya suggested, raising her own drink, black as her hair, to her lips.

Francis met her playful gaze and his eyes narrowed. "It's said by many an average agent that this industry runs on hunches and gut feelings alone - but you and I know better. It's about who you know, and what they've decided the future will be."

"Intuition and observation still play a part," Kiaya replied robustly. "Why would I waste a meeting with Ms Durand discussing your rider, Mr Crawford?"

He laughed and allowed her the point, pausing to drink the sweet drink in his cup and experience the sensation of being revitalised. He accepted a seat in one of the two small armchairs that her room was provided with, and managed a grateful nod when she placed the fruit and pastries on the coffee table between them.

Unselfconscious about her scant outfit, Kiaya crossed one long, olive-brown leg over the other and combed her hair idly with manicured nails. She watched Francis and smiled. "Of course, during our meeting, Madame Durand and I did talk about you. She truly has high hopes for your career."

Francis put down the fork he had held poised above the fruit bowl. He laced his fingers in his lap. "Indeed? I thought I must have disappointed her by now? If not, it wasn't for lack of trying."

"Madame Durand has faith in you, Mr Crawford. Faith can't be shaken by a few petty squabbles in the press, nor, you should know, by any level of proximity to another's...tragic misadventure." She raised a brow and took an engraved silver cigarette case from the pocket of her robe.

Francis sat stock still, determined that she would not see him react to the implication in her words.

"Indeed, she was quite impressed at what you achieved on behalf of that Libyan boy. A shame that he seems to have had to resort to farm labour after the success of his album. It can be hard to find an audience for world music."

Still Francis didn't move. His mind was whirring into frantic action though, trying to determine what she might do with the information that Salah was on site, and whether she also knew about Archie and Onophrion; whether she had learned about them from Morgan, or whether she planned to tell Morgan.

Finally, he shook his head when she offered him one of the long, slim cigarettes as she lit one for herself.

"How did you know?" She had compelled him to ask it anyway, it seemed.

Genuine amusement cupped her eyes as she watched the ash fall from her cigarette into the ashtray. She considered how honest she was willing to be and then shrugged. "Dragut knows I'm safe when I stay here. He keeps his own contacts among Baron's staff to ensure it remains that way. All sorts need to visit an Oasis in the desert,  after all - predators can get...mixed up with prey."

Francis felt his lips pull into a smirk. "And which are you, Kiaya Hanım?"

She eyed him from below heavy lashes and her mischievous expression echoed his. "I am merely here on safari."

Francis barked a laugh and picked up the fork again, spearing a grape and a cube of melon. "And as such, you must not interfere with the ecosystem? Or is it a hunting safari?"

"If you are asking whether your friends are in danger of exposure on my part - the answer is no. Their plans do not interest me," Kiaya smoked with the vigour and speed of a steam train, yet each clipped, decisive gesture remained elegant.

She added nothing more, and once again it was Francis who was forced to ask, "Then what does interest you?"

"Ah," she grinned. She seemed pleased that he had asked, that he was willing to play along with these little games. "What interests me is how a man with a golden path laid before him spends more of his time in the gutter than pursuing this path. How, with each new album, though the sales increase and the fans multiply, he ends up poorer and further from the act of creation than he has ever been. How a man whose music could change this messy world instead shuns the platforms from which he could use it to do so and pursues dead ends in the desert."

As he gazed into her knowing expression he felt his skin prickle with goosebumps. He moved his hands, gripping the arms of the chair to stop them quivering. "I have found that music is less effective as an instrument of change than I once hoped."

Kiaya's smile was unmoved. "That is because you are focussing on the little things. Take a broader view - imagine what your music sounds like to those who have never heard it before. Imagine hearing lyrics in your own language that arrange the world in a way you had never realised was possible."

He allowed his brows to rise at this and let out a snort. "The little things?"

"Your destiny is not with a bastard child born in the desert, Mr Crawford. It is not with the child's mother - she is a husk, she has no more to give to the public sphere, and her art could not stand alongside yours." Kiaya's lips still curved, but her eyes were cold and hard as brass.

Francis felt something hysterical flutter in his chest and he laughed at the ceiling. "No. Of course. Destiny is always impersonal. What are destiny's thoughts on theft, however? On music that might change the world, as you'd say, being repurposed to fund a cult?"

"I understand that cults can change the world, too," Kiaya replied. "Are you telling me you have unreleased material to recover?"

He smiled crookedly, knowingly at her, though the bile rose in his throat. "And if I did? What would it be worth to you?"

Kiaya carefully extinguished her cigarette and toyed with the lace trim of her slip. "If it is already out of your hands, there is nothing to prevent me from recovering it myself. Is that not so?" she raised a brow in challenge.

It felt like acid inside him, his hatred of this bargaining - it was even more loathsome, somehow, than simply bargaining with his body - and it seemed like the feeling might dissolve through the front of his chest and neck, exposing a gaping, red ruin: the need of the man behind the musician. "All I ask," he said as steadily as he could. "Is for a ride to Salina. From there, I can arrange finances, I can ensure my people are safe. I will go to Nevada and finish what I came to do, and then you will have what I can recover from the man who stole from me; you will have those master tapes and more. I will sign a deal with you, and - " the words stuck in his throat.

Kiaya watched him mildly, amusement in her expression. "And?"

"And the terms will be as you wish," he forced himself to say.

"Mm..." she looked down at the lace on her thigh, at her glossy nails plucking at it. "It is a nice offer, canım. But I can't let you leave here like that."

"Excuse me?"

"You've made a commitment to Baron Morgan. You want to make a deal with me, while you say this is how you will honour that commitment?"

Francis released a disbelieving breath of laughter. "I didn't think you would be subservient to him..."

Kiaya's smile was now a little patronising. "It is useful for me to stay here. Why would I jeapordise my relationship with him?"

"With my material to your name, you'd never need to stay here again," Francis cocked his own, challenging brow.

"Hm," Kiaya moved decisively to light up another cigarette. "That will be up to me, Mr Crawford. In the meantime, if I sign you, it will be after seeing you perform."

"You could be waiting a while," he said sourly. He felt doubt begin to nag at his assumptions regarding this conversation and what Kiaya Çalışkan truly wanted.

She shrugged. "Then perhaps in the meantime I will make a visit to Nevada. I know who it is you have business with there."

Francis' fingers curled tightly against the arms of the chair. "Graham Reid Malett is a dangerous man."

"My partner is a dangerous man, as you should well remember."

"Dragut is honourable - as you tell me you are. Honour won't stop Reid Malett."

Her eyes sparked with - excitement? Francis suppressed a shudder.

"I think, Mr Crawford, I am beginning to understand something of what Madame Durand sees in you. You are ruthless, and ambitious. I cannot wait to see you play."

"You don't need to. I'll play for you now." Francis twitched a shoulder, acting like the change of topic suited him, even as he reeled from the imagined damage Kiaya Çalışkan and Dragut Reis could do to his plans. Should they thunder into Graham Reid Malett's Nevada ashram without a care, the victims and hostages Geetesh had tucked and woven into the fabric of the place would be in direct, mortal peril - of that Francis was certain.

He made to stand - "I'll get the instrument I played last night from the bar. A private concert, Kiaya Hanım..."

"Sit," she cooed. "Eat your breakfast. There is no hurry, Mr Crawford."

He was already on his feet and she rose to join him, standing close so that he smelled her perfume beneath the cigarette smoke.

She shifted the balance of her weight so that her hips tilted towards him. "Sit," she repeated, her fingers pressing to his chest.

He stood there, looking into the canopy of her eyes and trying to see beyond the cool imperviousness. He allowed one hand to rise to her arm, smoothing over the thin, rumpled cotton of her gown from her elbow to her shoulder. She didn't move as he lowered his gaze from her eyes to her mouth.

"Of course," he looked at her again. "I could perform any other way you choose..." She was watching him with a closed, amused expression, her fingertips still on his chest. So he leaned forwards and murmured, "Sit? Or would you prefer me to kneel?"

The way her brows raised and her lips curved seemed to give him his answer, so Francis sank to the carpeted floor as gracefully as his tired body allowed. He touched his hands gently to her hips and then moved his fingers to the bare skin of her legs, softly running his touch up the outside of her thighs beneath the robe, working his way up to the lace hem of her shift.

Kiaya smiled down at him. She tucked her hair back behind her ears and then reached for him, raking her fingers through his curls, tilting his face up to her.

He tried not to flinch as he recalled Morgan's grip tugging on his scalp.

"How nice, canım," she purred. "But I've had my fill of such gifts this morning. You may return in the evening, and we can continue our...negotiations."

He let out a harsh laugh as she drew his head back, and leaned his jaw into her palm. Privately, he cursed Marthe and her own selfish agenda, her untrustworthy, libertarian approach to her career. "That won't be possible, my lady, not if I am also to keep my word to our good host."

"Not at all," Kiaya beamed, running one thumb over his lower lip. "Baron has some business to take care of - I believe he intends to source some of your records. He won't be back from Salt Lake City for a couple of days."

Francis did all he could not to let the hope these words sparked show. If Morgan was away it was the best chance he'd have of getting out of here - he could be in Salina that very day, get a car with Gaultier's money, and be back to pick up the others before Onophrion's kitchen shift was even halfway done. No more bargaining: he'd be able to leave Jerott and Marthe, Salah, Archie and Onophrion somewhere suitable and safe and make his own way to the ashram for the reckoning he was due.

"In that case," Francis said smoothly, "I shall be only too delighted to return later."

"I am pleased to hear it," Kiaya Çalışkan smiled and turned away. "I haven't enjoyed business quite this much in some time," she added over her shoulder when Francis had got to his feet.

He blinked back dizziness - he was still hungry, still tired - but caught her wrist before leaving, pulling her close again.

She was warm and soft against him, scented with jasmine and sandalwood, leaning her hips readily into him as she pulled back to smile at his expression.

"A down payment," Francis's lips curved in something like a smile, and he moved to kiss her, recalling the taste of Margaret Douglas' lipstick and her moans of pleasure at knowing the power she had over him.

Kiaya Çalışkan smiled before she opened her mouth and then returned the kiss, filling his senses with the buzz of caffeine and nicotine.

"How nice," she repeated in a murmur as he released her and turned to leave. "You'll go far, Mr Crawford. Just as Madame Durand predicted."

[curious-shadow-cat]

....

"HB isn't sexist!!"

None of the women characters can go on with their own show without it being about men...

Loona, Millie, and Via.

-Loona: To put it bluntly for her episode, she cries about some guy, that she barely knows, dating someone that's not her, she doesn't want to be friends she just wants to date him. She's immediately normal and having fun at the party when another guy she barely knows shows up suddenly and is paying attention to her. Oh and the show wants you to believe that Loona's a badass for "standing up for her dad" against Bee, who is whats-his-names' gf. Even though he was in the wrong and trashing up Bee's party when all she tried to do was give everyone a good time including Loona.

-Millie: Dunno wtf they were thinking but it was an episode that seemed like they were just making fun of the fans that wanted to get to know Millie more that didn't focus on Blitz and Stolas for once. And Moxxie. Oh and suddenly out of nowhere she felt "unimportant". To who I don't fckin know. It was just Millie has a "Fun day" while Moxxie does his job, like they were suppose to, and it mostly focused on Moxxie doing that but failing while Blitz was trying to find his sister through out the episode.

-Via: My god, can they not find anything better to do with this character that doesn't involve her crying over her dad not spending time with her? She's 17 and doesn't do anything other than wonder when she's going to hang out with her dad again. Kid goes missing in the city and this powerful demon, or whatever he is, uses this as an excuse to spend time with Blitz. Loona did all the work and still defended her dad in the end because the show demanded it. Stolas did nothing but flirt with Blitz. He didn't put effort into trying to find her at all, he was more worried about Blitz's safety than hers.

-Stella: She didn't get her own episode I just want to point out that she was mostly focused on screaming at Stolas over cheating on her and then looks like an idiot when her brother's there and gets her plans taken over by him. I don't think she's ever talked to Via when Stolas is around because she's too busy screaming in his face. That's literally all they want to do when they're around, they both ignore Via so they can keep screaming at each other over ANYTHING for no reason.

I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out Velvette from HH had dad issues like Charlie or Via. That's probably the real reason why she went to that meeting so that Vox didn't see Alastor. Oh yes, he's suddenly into Alastor now. And they were best friends once even though Alastor hates anything that's not from his timeline.

[ultfreakme]

What are your top ten favorite scenes in Avatar the Last Airbender?

Thank you so much for the ask!!! Oh my god. This so hard, I've never thought of individual scenes as top favorites but I've tried my best and narrowed it down I think?

Katara v Pakku 'You can't knock me down!': So I watched Avatar when it was first airing as a kid, there weren't many dark-skinned main characters around, especially not girls who fight and certainly not against sexist men who try to stop people from learning. So when I saw this scene, I was at the edge of my seat, it taught me a lot about bravery and I still cheer and clap for Katara when I re-watch the fight.

Sokka throughout The Fortuneteller: I'm an atheist and people didn't exactly take kindly to that when I was a kid & I was infamous as the 'weird kid who probably has no morals'. So seeing Sokka outwardly express skepticism about the spirits & 'higher powers' was very comforting.

Sokka inventing the air balloon solution: I think it was one of the first scenes where I really started liking Sokka. The thing about hot air actually made me read my school textbooks & google stuff to figure out how air currents work, so that helped me with a few science classes about molecules.

Aang in The Storm: It was one of our first glimpses into how he felt about running away, the guilt, the sadness, the pain of being the last of your people with no one to turn to and thinking its all your fault.

Toph fighting the Earth Rumble goons when Aang & her dad are watching: The way she moves is so freaking cool!!! It was her showing exactly how capable she is, she isn't kidding when she says she's the world's best earthbender because yeah, who the heck else could do what she does???

Hama's flashback: Once again I watched this show as a kid, so this was the first time i got confronted with the fact that there will never be a 'perfectly good' or 'perfectly bad' side. People are complicated & I understand what pushed Hama to do what she did but that doesn't excuse it so in that vein;

Katara sucking the water out of the field to fight Hama: It's just badass even if it is angsty.

Aang pulling Ozai down by his beard and encasing him in rock: I mean-- like that is just objectively cool and very embarrassing for the 40-something year old guy. Aang was in top form.

Zuko in the bunker with Ozai: I don't watch too many new cartoons but I don't think any show has ever so explicitly called out the abuser and made sure the abuser is acknowledged as unforgivable. It really put into light for me a lot of things about child-parent relationships, what its supposed to be (forever angry at Boku No Hero Academia for using their Zuko-based character to forgive and redeem his abuser, lf you don't know anything about BNHA this means nothing to you jbcfjhbh sorry).

Yuekka last kiss: They're the ship that first introduced me to tragic romances,. My heart was broken and I kept waiting the entire 3 seasons down to the last episode for Yue to make a return and say "hey guys! so I'm a spirit I'm alive!". I still like it because idk I love angst a lot and the whole story of a princess finding glimpses of freedom in a boy who's traveled the world and yearning for it gets to me.

I'm not remembering other scenes that may have had more impact on me just yet, but a few honorable mentions; Ran and Shao's dance(I LOVE DRAGONS 100/10 they make everything better always), Zuko in the Cooler, Sokka and the cactus juice, Aang's anxiety episode.

Thank you again for asking! This was so fun to do~~

[kittyandco-archive]

All of canon s/i with Hux, maybe?

CACKLING EVILLY

ABSOLUTELY (sorry if i'm too mean about the sequel fandom and i try not to generalize, but y'all, on average, are something else...) and i want to preface by saying i have nearly 5 years of lore built up, this doesn't even begin to cover it or how much i love him so HERE WE GO:

✍️: Overall, how does the fandom treat you? Are you a beloved character, or hated? Are you popular, or a minor side character? Anything in between?

there seems to be kind of a clear faction between kylo & hux fans and then the trio fans, so i would probably be liked by the former rather than the latter. my s/i is pretty immoral, but she is a bit more sympathetic too. (and let's be real, people tend to either be way too forgiving by their own standards of fem-aligned villains or are sexist toward them without realizing it -- it could go either way here)

my s/i is definitely a minor side character, and would very likely be relegated to the comics rather than show up in the films (but i might speak as if she were in the films in some of these answers). hux has his ONE solo comic, which i love, but if he were to get an entire series, my s/i would play a huge part in it!

(the comic actually helped shape my s/i's background quite a bit. in it, hux and kylo crash land on a jungle-like planet, much like the one my s/i is from!)

📝: How would your story in canon go? How would you influence the events of the original story?

OKAY i think our arc would primarily be offscreen but be one of the reasons hux was treated so much worse (like a joke and a punching bag and i hate it especially knowing his history :)) sounds like someone else i know :))) please stop) in TLJ and *with great malice* TROS. he FUMBLED IT completely with me and my planet, and he lost what little respect he had from kylo and snoke.

so, he crash landed with kylo onto my planet once (though they left quickly), but was rather familiar with the terrain. he wanted to prove himself and assumed full responsibility for extracting a special material, that is only found on my planet and can only be harvested by my planet's people, to make a new weapon. they couldn't just go in guns blazing because it would risk destroying this precious resource. instead, he used what he knew about diplomacy to try and threaten convince me to let him have it.

but my s/i, the princess (soon-to-be-queen; no king or queen anymore) of this planet, was like umm No :) this is the only way my outer rim planet that basically no one knows about (this is also a recon mission for the first order) can survive. also i don't want to. :3 (not to mention she has plans to make the entire outer rim system her own empire, so she has no time to deal with the pesky first order 🙄 bunch of nobody losers)

he couldn't just gun me down then and there because then he couldn't know how to fully take advantage of this resource he's after. only i know how to handle it; it's been a royal secret for generations.

so he and his men occupy my planet for a time. he's fully invested in besting me already. the rivalry has already been forged

WELL, HE FAILS AND FALLS IN LOVE WITH ME and when he returns to home base, he comes up with nothing. and none of this was portrayed in the films, i'm just explaining why he's there in the first place and how it all gets started :p

basically... i get him in big trouble... and give him a reason to escape once kylo has a change of heart at the end of TROS. maybe he comes back to live with me ;w;

🤪: What is your trait that fanon would exaggerate?

my s/i is very flirtatious... so that would be exaggerated big time more than likely. for better or worse

🥰: How would someone who loved you portray you?

my s/i's fans would HAVE to be the type to love the type of villain that knows they're hot. you know the type. they won't be afraid to delve into how her self-perception is, in many ways, both her strength and hubris.

😡: How would someone who hated you portray you?

nothing more than an object probably. like great job, you're literally Proving The Point and completely ignoring her arc and (imho) complexity

👯: What canon character are you most similar to?

THAT'S ONE REASON I LOVE THIS S/I SO MUCH -- i don't see anyone like her in the SW universe. but she does have a lot of similarities to hux (obvi), only she displays these similarities in a more ostentatious way

aesthetically i take more inspiration from the prequels, particularly royal figures and the lush green planets that are displayed more prominently in them. there was a severe lack of romanticism in the sequels in comparison, so i aim to fix that

🌦️: Would you be accompanied by mostly fluff or angst fanfics? Both? Explain why.

i see it as rather evenly split!

the angst factor is so THERE, especially when we may be separated, or... That One Thing That Happened In Canon That I'm Not Discussing

on the other hand, the fluff would come from my s/i helping hux come out of his shell a bit... feeling love for the first time 🥺 doing cute things together in the jungle or on the star destroyer, or on starkiller, as they explore each other's vastly different worlds

(also this is one ship i write a TON of fics about so i'm taking a bit of inspo from what i typically write)

🏷️: What is you and your f/o’s ship name?

we actually do not have one! my catch-all hux tag is just a cute nickname my friend gave him years ago. i used it as a placeholder, and it just stuck

❤️: How popular is you x your f/o? Are you a rarepair?

idk if we'd be able to compete with The Ship He's Commonly Depicted In, but our fans are dedicated!

💞: Aside from with your f/o, who else would you commonly be shipped with? Why?

phasma 👀 which i am NOT mad about because i already think about it quite often. probably because they're both commanding figures in spaces otherwise dominated by men. and our personalities would clash sooo much 🥰 my s/i can be the annoying little girlfriend

☕️: What are the most common plots of shipping fics between you and your f/o?

honestly i'm not sure; i have better answers below!

🛌: What tropes show up in fics involving your ship?

i can see arranged marriage as a tempting one honestly... and i wouldn't be mad 👀

fish out of water is already rather present in our ship, but it could be ramped up to something more, which i'll explain below!

🪐: What would be your most popular AU and why?

my s/i is often described in an ethereal sense. otherworldly; at least to hux, she is. when writing them, i make a lot of comparisons to mirages, visions, and even bloodthirsty creatures. it could be interesting to make my s/i literally something inhuman, like a spirit/ghost/etc. ... ghosts do exist in the GFFA (unless only force-sensitive people can see them? but w/e)

💘: Why would people love your ship? Why would people dislike your ship? How might it start debates?

people would like us if they're enemies-to-lovers enjoyers like i am. also the fact that two severely immoral and messed up people find solace in each other and only each other. i LIVE for that. also the banter is just so cute. he's so prudish and my s/i is not; he's overly disciplined and my s/i is spoiled, and they joke with each other about it. but they also learn from each other. they both have secret soft and protective sides that only emerge toward each other.

and others would dislike it for the reasons i just said people would like it honestly. like i'm not even trying to redeem either of them. let them be messed up. but also let them be in love! (but it would be nice if hux maybe realized he had another purpose than ending up exactly like his bitch dad, and i want to help him realize that)

🙈: Why would your ship be thought of as cute/fluffy? Why would your ship be considered problematic?

no, not at all KJDSAKJSJKD LIKE IT HAS ITS MOMENTS EVENTUALLY, but for the most part i think people would really lean into the fact that he hates my s/i for a long time, though that is because, in part, she makes him feel feelings he didn't even know existed. it's like seeing shrimp colors for him. and if he even had thought about courting before, it would be someone pretty much the complete opposite of my s/i... but now he would never want anyone else. 🥰

and my s/i doesn't like him either, but she still wants to string him along. just because!

the cute stuff comes in a bit later, when we kinda lose ourselves in getting to know each other despite the reason he's there, and despite the fact that he will likely have to leave me in one way or another.

IT'S SO PROBLEMATIC(TM), we're problematicking all over the place

first of all, the fandom dislikes hux for Many Many reasons that are dumb and that i won't get into, but that alone is enough to get us struck from the Acceptable Ship pile. we're so mean to each other, we want to use each other for our own gain, he inflicts so much pain onto me (not physically or anything, it's just... rough. it isn't necessarily personal, it's just by virtue of being in the first order's line of sight)... it's all the classic enemies-to-lovers goodness that i ADORE

🎞️: What ‘canon’ scenes would the fandom point to as evidence for the validity of your ship?

I MEAN MY S/I FLIRTS WITH HIM CONSTANTLY IT ISN'T A SECRET... and if i'm going the comic route, i can easily portray the entire process from meeting to confession... BUT on hux's part, it would definitely be when he kills the assassin that tried to take my s/i out. even if he claims it's because he wanted to do it, himself, we all know... come on now

💌: How would your dynamic be portrayed? What might people focus on most? Any misconceptions?

it depends on who it is, of course. i know there would be Discourse because no one can handle a completely autonomous fem-aligned character let's be real. especially if she's evil and uses her Feminine Wiles to get what she wants (or, you know, just enjoys having many partners, and my s/i certainly does until she falls for hux, but whatever I Guess). and i really don't want anyone to be weird about that, or about hux only liking her because of that.

i mean, i actually address that in many fics. my s/i laments that he may only want her for that reason alone because she's run into that before and embraced it for a while. but now that she's finally vulnerable and not pretending that she's impenetrable, she wants to address it because she trusts him

that's where i get into the good fan portrayals though: their walls crumbling to let someone in, learning new things from each other despite being know-it-alls, betraying basically everything they knew and everyone they were loyal to just to get closer because they've been so lonely, and they've found a home in each other! UGH

👀: How does your ship with your f/o influence both of your characterisations and the world? Would there be any interesting metas written about your dynamic?

i think i answered this in the above question, more or less. our ship would definitely humanize him more, which i think the comic was trying to do in the first place by giving us parts of his frankly very painful backstory (i can't even look at the first couple of pages). (the comic is so DELICIOUS btw. if any hux fans are reading this PLEASE READ IT if you haven't already.) and i think it would be nice in SW to have a villain-on-villain ship... and Honestly, love is a more compelling reason for him to change than "i want to see my worstie fail."

‘Imagine Your S/I Was Canon…’ Self-Ship Asks

[epickiya722]

Of all "hot takes" some people have about BakuDeku, whether from an anti or a BkDk shipper, the one I hate the most is the "bully actually likes girl who he pulls her pigtails".

It's stupid and to me it doesn't fit for them.

Bakugou and Midoriya don't seem like the type to always have been in love with each other since kids. They seem like the type who would fall in love much later in life. Why? Well, they have goals to become heroes and by canon, neither has expressed being interested in romance at this time or in their past. I just see them falling in love at the youngest being eighteen to early twenties when they have their shit together.

But during their middle school years?

I doubt either would have been like "Oh I've always been in love with you since middle school".

Bakugou already expressed why he bullied Midoriya. Simply put, he misunderstood how Midoriya saw him and has his own insecurities. He had people enable his behavior also. Sometimes, I wonder if the other characters are invisible to the audience because the way people like to just bring up Bakugou and not others whom mistreated Midoriya makes me think so. There were whole adults who bullied Midoriya.

From Midoriya’s side, it wasn't like he wanted Bakugou to bully him. He was aware he was being bullied and it was wrong. He couldn't say anything because who would believe the quirkless kid? And I'm sure he didn't say anything to his mom because he didn't want her to worry. Midoriya is the type who hides things out of the sake of not wanting to bother others. (Trust me, I know the feeling all too well.)

I feel like antis pull the "pigtail pulling bully" card just make BakuDeku seem even worse as a ship than what it is. Yeah, their relationship isn’t the best, but jeez. When you pull that card, even if don't like romantic BakuDeku, you are implying it is romantic somehow in some way. You're admitting that Bakugou has feelings for Midoriya and vice versa. In a way, you're shipping it without shipping it.

And with shippers, it may be because they like the idea of Bakugou and Midoriya being in love since forever, the "childhood romance" trope. The "those feelings have always been there, I was just stupid at the time" trope. It's cute, a guilty pleasure. But BkDks, you're not making the ship look any better if you're using that card. You're playing right into the antis' hands.

Now, if that's how you feel about BakuDeku, the "bully pulls girl's pigtails because he likes her" take, alright. I don't care.

But to me? I just don't see it. I don't.

That "bully likes girl" thing from my knowledge was something our parents told us to make us "feel better" about being bullied and that it stems from sexist views that men are dominant and women are submissive. That a girl should just accept that kind of attention because at least she is getting some attention, unwanted or not. That boys will be boys, they can get away with it. When the victim and bully are the same gender, that's when "honey, it's wrong" and "they're probably going through something or have issues they are unaware of yet".

That's the time people want to show concern.

So to apply it to a ship with two characters of the same sex and where it was clear as to why one of them was a bully and the reasons are nonromantic, it just... it's just strange to me. It doesn't make sense.

If we all know that bullies in real life most of the time bully someone because they have their own issues to work or their home life sucks in some way, why apply it to BakuDeku when we have the reasons why Bakugou is a bully?

What, Bakugou can't have his reasons be nonromantic? He can't have issues and faults and admit to them because he knows he was wrong?

And for Midoriya, why put him in more of the "submissive" role like that? Make him see naive than what he really is in canon?

I don't care to hear answers, these questions are rhetorical.

Just expressing a take that I hate and annoy me.