#anyways he's like her fav cause he gives her money or whatever

[arinmoss]

my grandma still hasn't called and its been like 2 weeks so idk if she'll let me stay with her lol but my mom said i should just stay with my brothers and like. no wtf. i am not staying with 2 dudes with drinking problems and anger issues i think id rather just fucking kill myself actually. also i never told my mom but like my brother ben is the brother that pushed me into the counter and started shouting and yelling at me calling me a stupid dumb fucking bitch (amongst a bunch of other things he shouted but i cant remember it all) and like i remember shaking and crying and felt like absolute shit and she wants me to fucking live with him?? again?????? your JOKING

[yuseirra]

Today's analysis/thoughts~~ I really should leave the story at that but the thoughts keep coming to me, here's what I thought of today!

It's the final arc, isn't it? So if the author goes: "5 chapters until the finale!" now or something - I’ll have to grab the author by the collar… because that would mean they just threw the story away.

But when you combine the chapters, they’re connecting ones that don’t make sense together, so I’m left wondering, “What is this supposed to achieve?” That’s what I’ve been thinking.

The author will handle it, of course, but if this is the end, the movie arc seems unnecessary. Even if it existed, if Hikaru’s reaction had been a little different, or Ai hadn’t told Aqua, “I’d love it if you could help me save this person together,” everything would’ve clicked into place. However, those chapters really stand out to me, and I judged them to be crucial, so I based my interpretations on them. I really like those chapters and consider them to be my favs, too...

I feel like the psychological bridge between the movie arc chapters and the current developments could actually be tied together by the two songs. They work like a sort of adhesive, making me wonder, "Oh, could this be it? Is this what it's about?" Otherwise, I’d just let the story go, thinking, “Whatever happens, happens~~”

Anyway, Ai imagining a happy little family with this person, where they’re pretty and happy…

Or, when Kamiki was in his happy times with Ai…, with a bright smile that’s identical to Ruby’s—something you’d never see now, and a smile that Aqua would never have because of his personality— smiling that brightly…

I very liked those kinds of things.

Like them holding hands or being wrapped in each other's arms… I think they had a beautiful relationship. It could have been that way if not for the terrible life situations Hikaru had to put up with.

That explains why Ai left those words behind.

And it also explains how Kamiki couldn’t give up on Ai and couldn’t bear the fact that she was gone. They did a lot in reaction to that to somehow reverse the situation from their own point of view, and in that process, they completely broke down. If this person hadn’t loved Ai so much, or if they didn’t love her at all, they wouldn’t have fallen apart like this…

Really…I'm sure they never anticipated Ai’s death, nor did they ever wish for it, so that's why when it happened, the shock was immense, and they became so desperate that they completely changed.

If they had knowingly caused this to happen, they wouldn’t have been so extreme, risking everything, pouring their entire life into risky behavior. Why would they go through all of that? They have talent, good looks, and seem to make good money, so what’s there to be unsatisfied about? If they had some idea of what might happen, they’d have gone through a process of rationalizing it. He wouldn't be all about "feeling Ai's presence" the way he is, that seems like the only thing he wants.

From their actions, you can see Kamiki hasn’t come to terms with Ai’s death at all.

He loved Ai so much, and in a world without her, he felt like he simply couldn’t go on. He just can’t break free from those feelings…

If you look at this person’s life, Ai was the only one who ever gave him real happiness, love, or cared for him in a meaningful way. And regardless of how good or bad you are as a person, when someone like that disappears from your life, no one can stay sane. The narrative structure really supports this well. Ai had the president and his wife, her B-Komachi team members(although it wasn't completely friendly), and eventually her children. There were at least people she could share affection with, however small that might’ve been. Even toward her fans, Ai expressed love in her own way. But… if you look at Kamiki’s portrayal, he had none of that, and the relationships he did have were either destructive, indifferent to his situation, or not bad but still not dependable. So, even if Kamiki’s base personality was really good (actually, it's because he had such a good nature that he could smile and endure as long as Ai was there with him, even if she was the only one. He would have recovered; he could have lived if Ai existed. Looking at it, Ai really was that kind of person for him. Despite that, Kamiki never clung so unhealthily to her. It’s only after her death that he lost his mind. When she left, he let her go, and later tried to send her flowers with a smile. If he had been obsessed with her—most people would have been to some degree—then the songs wouldn’t have come out this way, and Ai wouldn’t have left behind so much regret about him. Ai was a character who had the insight to recognize someone’s true character. That’s why I believe Kamiki really was a good person. It’s rare to find someone like that…).

Anyway, I don’t think I can discard the reactions from the movie arc… Since many aspects of Kamiki's emotional state and why he acted the way he did can be derived in those chapters. I feel what he had with Ai was indeed genuine.

When you combine them with the songs, everything meets in the middle and harmonizes perfectly.

The movie arc’s depiction (where they really did love each other and had a good relationship) and the current chapters (where the character has completely lost his mind)

and the songs (something had an influence on Kamiki while he was in a desperate, unstable mental state, wanting to meet Ai again after her death)

—when you put those together, it makes sense.

If you just look at only the movie arc and the current chapters, there’s a gap in between.

Really, this manga…

It’s strangely keeping so many things hidden. If Kamiki were the final boss or the true villain, they wouldn’t handle it like this. I don’t think he can be the final boss or the true villain, anyway… The author will figure it out. But if they were going in that direction, directing it this way would backfire. If Kamiki had done all these bad things, they should show everything and make us cheer for Aqua. But I can’t bring myself to think Aqua’s in the right. He just seems foolish, and it’s frustrating to watch him. He’s not cool at all. It’s annoying. How can he not understand his mother’s heart? He doesn’t listen. He’s stubborn.

Kamiki's a depressed person who’s suffered too much, gone mad, and had no one to help him…

In the song "Fatal,"

“How many times have I wished for it? For a hand to soothe the festering wounds in my heart” < doesn’t a lyric like that come up?

Haha, isn’t this exactly Kamiki? It makes sense that he’d miss Ai so dearly. How would he NOT long for her? She’s gone!! He has no one!!! He believes she died because of him. That’s why he’s gone insane!!!

His own son is trying to kill him, self-harming, drowning him… If he dies, then seriously, what was this person’s life even for? I don’t feel sorry for Aqua. He’s not cool. No one ever wanted him to die, not even Kamiki, who was trying to send him away. Aqua is such a fool!! And anyway, he’s not going to die, is he? So it doesn’t even matter. Saltwater will only make his wounds worse, that idiot. I don’t feel sorry for him at all. He stabbed himself! (I’m so mad). No, I care for Aqua, but the current situation frustrates me~~~~~ why is the story making me feel this way about the main character? And it's not like I'm a person who can't read between the lines. I think A LOT. and I think that's why I've been suffering from reading this piece, UGH.

Honestly, Hikaru’s character analysis can be summed up in just a few words if you look at it simply:

A guy who went insane because he missed Ai too much. This is basically the summary, and I don’t think this will change. After all, the songs are about that—those are the parts of the story that have already been concluded, fully complete.

But when you delve into the details, there are contradictions, lots of unanswered questions, and things don’t seem to fit together. It’s confusing.

However, it doesn’t seem like his character has actually changed that much either. I feel like this was somewhat expected. I just didn’t anticipate the extent of how far he’d gone off the deep end. It was always about the extent for me.

But, when you think about it…

If Hikaru hadn’t really intended to harm Ruby, then Aqua’s actions would have looked completely foolish, so perpaps it was inevitable that something would show he had truly gone mad.

Aqua was trying to avenge Ai by going after this man, but when you think about it, this man really was the one who loved Ai more than anyone else in the world, wasn’t he? They were mutual—both loved each other deeply, and they cared for one another. Kamiki was genuinely a good person, but because of Ai’s death, he broke down because he missed her too much.

So, if Aqua wants to kill him and get revenge for Ai, there’s actually not much justification for it. The address he gave? Honestly, I think that was completely done out of good intentions. Given how he was described as noble, he probably wasn’t such a strange guy up until that point. Considering the fact that Ai and he were mutual, and Ai wants to save him, I think it’s highly likely that he wasn’t guilty of anything major, at least when it came to things involving Ai.

Therefore, if Aqua really planned to die together with him for the sake of revenge or tried to kill him, it'd have just resulted to Aqua just having made a huge mistake. (I mean, in the movie arc, Ruby’s understanding of her mom grew, but Aqua seems like he doesn’t even understand his mom and, despite playing the role of his dad, doesn’t understand him either. Is this because there’s some hidden backstory where he knows his dad’s true nature? What’s going on? Is this because Hikaru really did target Ai on purpose and try to kill her? But if that’s the case!!! If Aqua wanted to kill him over Ai, we’d hear something about Ai, wouldn’t we? He’s only talking about Ruby. In their conversations, it’s Kamiki who brings up Ai directly… even when he’s sinking into the sea he’s thinking he wants to feel Ai’s presence forever. From what I see, aside from asking Ryosuke to deliver flowers, I don’t think he did anything wrong concerning Ai. Maybe he just wanted to deliver flowers, but everything spiraled out of control, driving him insane.)

It all happened by chance. If this guy hadn’t gone insane to the extent of targeting Ruby, then Aqua completely messed up this time, and Aqua is lucky that Hikaru turned out to be such a strange person.

Honestly, this whole development is frustrating.

I can’t even root for Aqua right now, and it just leaves me feeling conflicted. And isn’t Aqua the protagonist? But this whole revenge thing—I'm not even sure if the basic premise is solid. I used to like Aqua, but now I’m left confused—did he really do the right thing? Has anything really been resolved? I don’t know.

This is nothing like a satisfying, cathartic revenge. I’m not even sure if he truly protected Ruby. I mean, sure, maybe he did? But this resolution isn’t good for Ruby either. I don’t think this aligns with what Ai wanted or what Ruby wanted.

Even the dramatic scene of Aqua falling into the water—he’s doing the exact opposite of what Ai wanted, saying, "My mission wasn’t about revenge." That’s what makes me mad. What’s he doing? He said he’d grant Ai’s wish, right? Well, then what he’s doing now is not that!! What would’ve happened if his dad wasn’t as crazy as he thought?

So, plot-wise, even though this direction might fit with Aqua being the protagonist,

I still don’t understand what any of this is supposed to be… Two people who lost Ai and fell apart are now trying to kill each other. It’s frustrating. This doesn’t feel right. It’s like there’s some other culprit who caused all this, but instead, it’s just these two broken people destroying each other.

This isn’t the end of the story, no way. I’m not worried at all, the plot is too weak for that to happen.

I’m not even a bit concerned about Aqua’s life; it wasn’t a wise choice he made to begin with.

Maybe Taiki will come and pull him out of the water, take him to Kana’s concert in his car.

And as for Kamiki… if Ai’s wish holds any meaning, maybe he has a chance for redemption.

Honestly, if he’s saved somehow, that would be something worth watching. The fact that we don’t know anything concrete yet suggests that his thoughts and words may be insane, but his actions might not have amounted to much at all (yeah...I also think that's really low chance). Still, I don’t expect much—I just hope there’s a reason behind why this character’s life was written to be so miserable.

I have some idea of how the manga might progress overall, but as I’m reading it chapter by chapter, I can’t help but get caught up and swayed by everything happening in it… I should probably just read on and accept whatever comes. As long as Kamiki doesn’t have hundreds of hidden corpses somewhere (because then the genre really would take a turn… lol), I think it’ll be fine. That would be so freaky and scary and ridiculous and it'd make me go what is this manga even??? Hope that won't happen because Ai, really did love this man with all her heart. And I think he tried...to do his best for her in his own way but somehow that made him turn this way... hope that's handled as something tragic and melancholic, not just.. some disastrous, freaky, undesirable mess.. it wouldn't contribute to the story in any way.

[romanarose]

Fic Recs

I'll admit I've been slacking. A lot. It was a high anxiety summer as you know, and I've finally been able to pretty much cut ties with an abusive friend who was causing a LOT of those anxiety and panic attacks. BUT I want to rec some of my fav writers and fav stories.

To keep the presure low on myself I am only linking ONE story per writer, whatever story that speaks to me. I do hope if you like the story you'll check out more from them!

Please remember to reblog their stories if you read them, and if you feel inclinded, leave a kind comment! Big comments are fantastic but even a short "Great story!" Means the world!

Dead Dove Do Not Eat and all dark fics will be in red. Might make a whole other dddne tag list on my dark blog on of these days lmfao

Moon Knight

Fractured Moon by @melodygatesauthor : DDDNE Yandere Moon boys x reader, non con, extreme violence but such good interpretations of the boys

Friendly Favors by @runa-falls best friend steven, friends with benefits??? friends to lovers??? yes plzzz

Rydal Keener

Oxford Comma by @whatthefishh : Collage AU, Rydall is cunty, serves cunt, and eats cunt. What can I say.

TLOU (Most of what I'm reading rn if im being honest)

Linger On by @ramblers-lets-get-ramblin : Pre-outbreak!Joel, angst, yummy smut, ft. my boyfriend, Tommy (Angela said I can be Tommy's gf)

Caught by @toxicanonymity : Inspired Keep Cry'n, Joel catches you when you try to run, masterbates onto your face. part 2 has TOMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Maintainence Man series by @gracieispunk : Joel is a, well, Maintenace man in our building! He is married but that doesn't stop him from fucking you

Hungry Hearts @atinylittlepain : If ya'll know me, you know I love Bruce Springsteen. I have 2 fics named after springsteen songs, one joel one javi/santi/reader. I've fallen behind on the series but loved it enough to make fan art! terrible fan art but still! Pre-outbreak, takes place in two timelines- college age and then the 2000'. Joel has Sarah, reader is ellies mom which I think is fun.

Exit Wounds by @strang3lov3 : No fic masterlist so I tagged the main masterlist. Now listen. I love Tommy Y'all know I love tommy... but cheating on tommy? Im so sorry baby. But ur also an asshole lol. Had it coming.

Creep by @theywhowriteandknowthings : I- ugh just read it. darkish but nothing insane like the wrong way lmfao. pretty mild comparatively but use discression but THAT TWISTTTTTTTT

Only Daddy That'll Walk the Line by @millerscoffee Yellow istead of red bc its not like. dark but Joel's pretty mean

Not A Survialist Girl by @tightjeansjavi again yellow bc joel's a dick lol but THE DIRTY TALK?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Miguel O'Hara

Halo by @missdictatorme : Miguel O'Hara goes full Nathan Bateman and fucks his ai. Whore.

Only You Only Me by @astroboots : so im behind on this one too. What about it! Im terrible I know but like Hungry Hearts above I may be a slow reader but I didn't forget and also did stupid fan art of this great fic too. lol. Anyway plz read this, I cant give a great summary bc im only a few chapters in but if youre in the oscar fandon you know cici writes only bangers

No One But Me by @koshkamartell : You try to break things off with Joel and begin spending time with the hot librrian in Jackson. Joel does not like thi

Triple Frontier

Under Neon Lights by @campingwiththecharmings : sexy drunk sex with my baby boi, santi <3

Through the Scope by @ssuperficialspacecadett : Reader works for Benny and falls for frankie. Great relationships with all the boys, reader has sexual trauma so you knoooooooow i eat these fics up!!!! lovely to see all them be appriciated with special focus on FRANKIE my precious lol guy

Shared Breathes by @frenchiereading : DAD FRANKIE x teacher reader. Triple frontier may have forgotten Frankie has a baby (he deserved the money for her) BUT WE DID NOT!!!!!

The Story of Us by @pimosworld : You served in the military with the boys but they made a deal not to sleep with you. Years later after helping you escape abuse, one by one they begin to waver aka you fuck them all. FishBen as a bonus!!

Goddamn have I really only been reading TLOU XD lmfao makes sense bc thats mostly what Im writing. That and the Javier pena x reader x santi and then the will fic but im soooooooooo much of a TLOU whore rn its insane.

Im sure ill remeber some more amazing TF fics soon but for now here we are!

Gonna plug real quick my latest one shot tho bc it's a holiday and I can self promo if I want! Shana Tova, moon boys x non jewish!reader where the moon boys share a part of their jewish identity with you!

THANK YOU TO ALL WRITERS FOR YOUR HARD WORK, I APPRICIATE YOU!

If you ever seen my like and not reblog know its just bc I forgot and im sorry. If you ever tagged me in a tag game and i never responded its bc I forgot and again IM SORRY

If I didnt tag anyone and you think i didt think your fic was worthy THATS NOT IT im simply overwhelmed with how much ive read and how this summer was and i just havnt organized it all. Im sorry!!

[sketch-guardian]

TW FOR MOVIE SPOILERS AND MASSIVE WORD VOMIT

On the horror movie thing I’d feel like hush,your next,purge and the strangers would most likely disturb them in a sense cause all of those movies show what people do with out reason and what they’re willing to do out of greed

In hush the protagonist says to the killer (around the middle or beginning) she’ll keep her mouth shut and not telling anyone cause she doesn’t know the killers face the killer in return just takes off his mask so he now has a reason to kill her

Your next would probably be a movie Uriel would like cause the protagonist makes good decisions however near the end of the middle (it’s been a while since I watch it forgive me if the timing is wrong) we find out it’s all a planned thing between the protagonists boyfriend(?) and his younger brother to get more money out of the life insurance and any money the parents had from their company

Purge is well purge people will do whatever the fuck they want the moment they realize there won’t be consequences they’ll kill,torture kidnap etc each movie of the purge series constantly shows how depraved people can and will become if they had no punishment for their crimes

The strangers would definitely be one of my fav movies cause you never know who is at the door in both movies the killers do it without reason just for fun or in how one of the characters said “because you were home”/“because you answered the door” (this happened in the first or second movie around the ending of the movie I think) cause at the end of the day they kill for fun

Each if these killers have some sort of sadistic joy out of killing

Or hellfest for example is another movie of a smart protagonist (kinda) but we’re not gonna focus on the protagonist much on this one at the end of the movie you see the killer coming home to his daughter which makes it a lot more realistic since you don’t know who it could be it could be since most killers are mundane when they aren’t killing they could be a dad,a neighbor,a coworker just anybody anything besides a killer you wouldn’t know what they do in their free time. And that’s what makes it scary

Teach me your secret for writing so much in such a short time, please😂I need it for my headcanons🙈especially because I fear these days it could take me some days or weeks to reply to asks😥since I have to study, having my degree thesis on September 10th, where I will have to give a speech, I'm terrified😭

Anyway, don't worry, I don't mind spoilers or word vomit, but thanks for mentioning those things for others too, just to be safe☺

Regardless, I think you're right🤔I believe "Hush" would mostly upset Nathaniel (due to the stalking theme) and Domnra (due to the cruelty reminding Domnra of who cursed him with Mobim in the past)

Uriel would like "Your Next" because the protagonist would actually fight back and kick ass and Zuri would like it for the plot and betrayal that lies beneath

"Purge" would mainly disturb Uriel (due to the absent justice) and Remiel (who would feel bad for all those poor souls)

"Strangers" would especially upset Demya (due to the thought of a possible invasion of her nest)

While "Hellfest" would slightly disturb Azul, not so much for the plot, but for the end, because he would try to empathize. If Azul were a parent, he would actually attempt to tone down his demon lifestyle, turning to murder only if necessary, he would also pity the little girl in the movie and what she could become in the future

The only one who wouldn't bat an eye at those movies would be Odon (to be fair, Odon still remains an ancient eldritch horror and it took them a few centuries to learn what empathy or other emotions felt like, they would hardly be shaken up by such themes basically)

[brendathedoodler]

I saw the tags that mention AS Four and Shadow are a canon couple SO please can I see what you're thinking? Honestly, the more headcanons and stuff that I hear for this AU, the more excited I get about it ^u^

And I'm not just saying that cuz Four is my blorbo, I promise

Thank you!! Tbh Four is one of my favorites so I’m always eager to talk about him

I may or may not have paired my fav Zelda game with my fav character

The romance starts, unsurprisingly, with Vio and Shadow.

The two were already close before this and had begun to banter with one another regularly. Now, though, they were together, taking over the Yiga clan.

It went back and forth, their usual banter as Shadow joked and teased about their plans (or their false plans, anyway, for fear of any ninjas that may be listening in). Vio responded in his usual deadpan tone, often rolling his eyes with a small smile on his face.

Shadow rested on the throne, Vio sitting on the armrest. With how small the two were, Vio had eventually shifted to sitting right next to him. He wasn’t entirely paying attention, and eventually ended up on Shadow’s lap.

They kissed there on the throne of the Yiga clan, illuminated only by the light of the nearby torches.

A few days later and the entire scheme collapsed (but so did the Yiga base). They continued on. The moment Vio and Shadow shared went unmentioned, but both were thinking of it often.

The group decided that they needed to more practice as Four. Their break was over, and after the near defeat with Vah Ruto, they’d need to prepare before facing Vah Naboris. They agreed to do some shrines.

The first issue came when they arrived at the shrine deep in the desert next to the fairy fountain. They planned to awaken her, but Red admitted that he’d spent all their money on arrows. This infuriated Green because Red had sold the molduga parts he’d been farming for the past few days to get the money for arrows. They were now broke. To top it off, Blue revealed that he’d scammed some sucker out of his sand boots, but then dyed the sand boots blue. The other three, being stubbornly unwilling to wear something that wasn’t dyed their own color, got mad at him for it.

After a few minutes to cool off, they all agreed to combine and just do the damn shrine anyway. The thing with combining is that none of them have any true privacy; whatever memories one of them has during their time split will be immediately shared with the others.

The fact that they were all already frustrated combined with the fact that neither Vio nor Shadow had told anyone else about the fact that they’d kissed caused them all to immediately split and start arguing.

Blue accused Shadow of playing favorites, Green was mad because keeping secrets like that wouldn’t help them when they were trying to be more of a unit, and Red felt betrayed that Vio hadn’t said anything to the rest of them. It didn’t help that they were all hellishly jealous because they also wanted what Vio and Shadow had. The entire thing was a mess.

Needless to say, Vio and Shadow were left alone there, unable to actually do the shrine because they needed to be whole (and Shadow couldn’t go in the shrine anyway).

Now, Shadow adores all of them and really didn’t mean to play favorites. He def needs to give them some space before trying to prove that, though.

Vio, meanwhile, is bad with feelings and tries to logic his way through an apology (to which Shadow just says “lmao good luck with that”).

Anyway, Shadow goes and has a moment with each of them, though it’s less romantic and more just trying to make up and connect with each of them (he’ll have a particular romantic moment with each of them eventually but this isn’t it).

Vio also goes around and gets everyone some “sorry for keeping secrets from you” gifts. For Green he gets the exact amount of rupees that Red ‘stole’ from him (they have a shared inventory but Green is still mad about the molduga parts Red sold), for Blue he got a bunch of Yiga weaponry but put the effort in to make the handles blue instead of red, and he went and commissioned some custom jewelry from Isha for Red.

At least now that everyone was less pissed, they finally regrouped and started doing some shrines. Tbh sorting out that disagreement really did help with their overall cooperation as Four.

Eventually they faced Vah Naboris, and that battle was the first time Four truly felt like a single person since he woke up. The feeling didn’t last, but it had been nice.

Anyway, more about the romance! Each of the colors has their own particular moment with Shadow, and then Four too. Though, after the incident before, he’s making an effort to spend more time with each of them instead of just Vio.

Green and Shadow kissed on the back of a crumbling Talus they fought together. It wasn’t their smartest idea, seeing as the thing was crumbling under their feet. The entire fight had been exhilarating, and the adrenaline running high when Green had grabbed Shadow’s tunic to initiate. When the Talus dissipated Green broke his leg falling, but it had absolutely been worth it (two health potions later and he and his leg were fine).

Red and Shadow kissed doing something more domestic. They’d been cooking together, whipping up some magic foods in preparation for hiking up the frosty mountains. The others had gone off to do who knows what, and Red and Shadow remained, flipping through a cookbook and filling Red’s slate with delicious meals for the road. There had been plenty of cuddling, teasing, and messing around. The kiss was a simple peck on Shadow’s cheek to thank him for helping out, but nonetheless Red’s face matched his name by the time the others returned.

Blue and Shadow kissed as they explored together. Shadow loves banter, and Blue is so easy to get a rise out of (and maybe he was playing it up for comedic effect). It just went back and forth as the two travelled, on the search for shrines (or any little thing they might stumble across). They kissed after a rather typical exchange. Shadow was being a pest, Blue told him to shut up, and Shadow responded with "make me”. What else was Blue supposed to do? Not kiss him? Ridiculous.

One last scene I have in mind is when Four unlocks the Master Cycle Zero. Shadow sitting just behind Four, arms wrapped around his torso to keep on. The wind in their hair as they drive across Hyrule Field in ancient technology that they don't fully understand, whooping and hollering with joy.

[musclesandhammering]

Every Single Issue I Have With S*lki (It’s Not Just The Selfcest)

Here goes. I threatened to post this a few days ago and never did, but I just saw a s*lki stan Twitter account claim that Loki caring about Sylvie more than the whole multiverse was a Good And Romantic thing and it pushed me over the fucking edge, so now you all have to read this. I’ve divided it into categories cause there’s just THAT much.

OOC Bullshit

• First and foremost, no amount of mental gymnastics you do will ever make me believe that this specific Loki- the one that just invaded New York, that just came off a year of Thanos Torture, that just got done being influenced by the sceptre, that was literally in the middle of a crisis already, and then on top of that went through all the trauma of Ep 1- would even be worried about a romantic relationship. That would be the furthest thing from his mind. Go back and watch how he acted in Avengers- you think that guy would abandon his previous mission to become a snivelling simp for a girl he’d just met 3 days prior? Yeah, there’s no universe in which that makes sense.

• “It’s very in character for Loki to fall in love with himself lololol-“ NO, it’s literally not. Out of all the characters in the mcu, I don’t think I can think of anyone that genuinely hates themselves more than Loki. He even referred to all his other male variants as “monsters” and said meeting them was “a nightmare” in this series. He’s got so much self-loathing, plus the fact that he genuinely thinks himself to be an evil backstabbing scourge- so there’s no evidence at all suggesting that he would ever develop a fondness for, or even be inclined to trust, another version of himself, after only knowing them for 3 days.

• Building on that, the whole concept of Loki falling in love with a version of himself just feeds into the annoying ass misconception that he’s a narcissist. No matter which way you stack it, he’s not. If you’re referring to NPD, he doesn’t fit the criteria, and if you’re saying “narcissist” just as a slang term meaning “selfish and arrogant”, that still doesn’t accurately describe him. But when creators like Waldron and Herron do things like having him fall in love with himself, it makes it so much easier for casual viewers to think that he is.

Shitty LGBT Rep

• It’s kinda sus that Loki’s are allegedly genderfluid and yet the only female-presenting variant we see (and apparently the only female-presenting variant there is, cause the male Loki’s all seemed unfamiliar with the concept) is treated as some kind of mind-bogglingly special paradox. Also very sus that, out of all the Loki variants, the one our Loki falls in love with just so happens to be the only female one. What a coincidence.

• The fact that the creators of the show went around bragging about Loki’s bisexuality and Marvel purposefully (lbr) allowed stories about Loki possibly having a male love interest to circulate, specifically enticing queer viewers to watch the show (you know, the definition of queerbaiting), and then instead of having a male love interest (Loki was the first queer main character, so it was the perfect opportunity) they gave us *gestures to this dumpster fire* this… it’s just a middle finger to LGBT fans. The fact that they would rather have this relationship with all its myriad of problems than have a gay relationship is just……. Very telling.

• While him being with a woman obviously doesn’t refute his bisexuality, the fact that they showed/talked about him being interested in 3 different women (flight attendant, Sylvie, Sif) and never even hinted at him being attracted to a man, definitely makes it seem like they were trying to cover up his bisexuality to smooth things over with the more homophobic viewers. You know? It’s like “I know you’re pissed that we sorta confirmed Loki as bi, so we promise we’ll never mention it again! Or even hint at it! As a matter of fact, we’ll give him lots of female lovies and make him seem as straight as possible! That’ll take your mind off of that horrible crumb of queer rep, right? Please please please keep giving us your money!!!”

• Aside from all the other issues, at its core, the biggest reason why I think I’m so irritated with s*lki is that it took one of the most interesting, complex, and diverse characters in cinema atm and squished him into a tired ass unnecessary heteronormative subplot…. Like literally every. single. other. protagonist. ever. Loki is such a unique character, and it’s so so so incredibly disappointing that they stuck him into that same boring cookie cutter romance that happens to every other character in every other movie I’ve ever seen. It’s a disservice, and it’s honestly just not compelling or entertaining at all.

Thematic Issues Galore

• His arc didn’t need a romance. With anyone. It was unnecessary and it didn’t make sense plot-wise. In fact, one of the reasons he was my fav prior to this was because he was the only big-name mcu character whose story wasn’t muddied-up by a romance that didn’t need to be there. So much for that.

• He wasn’t emotionally ready for a romantic relationship with anyone. Hell, just a genuine friendship would’ve been pushing it for him at this point. He was in such a bad state that any relationship he got into would’ve been toxic and unhealthy for both him and the other person, and it doesn’t make sense why the writers would want to put him in one when there were so many cons and essentially no pros (other than “Uwu aren’t they cute together”).

• Sylvie’s character in general was unnecessary and Loki’s character was robbed just by her being there. The whole show became about her post-Ep 2. They spent most of the time giving her backstory, building her up, telling us how awesome she is, trying to convince us to like her, etc when what they really needed to be doing was building Loki up- cause I gotta say, if I had to describe TVA!Loki in a few words, they would be Flat, Boring, and Weak.

• The romance overtakes the plot. They spend time portraying their supposed connection that could’ve been spent adding depth and complexity to literally any of the characters. They make the big Nexus Event them giving each other googly eyes on Lamentis when it could’ve been so many other way more profound things that speak to the fundamental nature of Loki’s. They have the climax of the finale be “oh no she betrayed him to kill He Who Remains” when it could’ve been something way more compelling (Loki having a moral crisis over whether or not to kill HWR, Loki contemplating the state of the multiverse and weighing the pros and cons of freedom vs order, Loki looking into some What If situations and getting emotional about what could’ve been regarding his family, Loki realising the gravity of HWR’s offer and finally coming to terms with how important he is to the universal cycle, etc etc). The entire plot suffered in favour of a romance that half of us didn’t even want.

• It essentially reduced all of Loki’s potential character growth down to “He did it for his crush.” He seemed to at least have some motivations of his own in Ep 1-2 (feeble as they were) but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, literally every action he took was just him being a simp for her. Why did he lie in the interrogation? To try to protect Sylvie. Why did he fight the minutemen and Timekeepers? To survive kinda, but mostly cause it was important to Sylvie. Why did he get pruned? Cause he got distracted trying to confess his crush to Sylvie. Why did he try to get out of The Void? Cause he thought Sylvie needed him. Why did he stay in The Void? Cause Sylvie was staying. Why did he try to enchant Alioth? Cause Sylvie told him to. Why did the multiverse get cracked open, leading to an infinite number of Kangs waging war on all of existence? Cause Loki didn’t wanna hurt Sylvie in their fight at the Citadel and then get distracted by her kissing him. It’s uninteresting and honestly pretty embarrassing.

• Throughout their “relationship arc” the writers do their absolute damndest to convince us that we should like Sylvie more than Loki. And you know what? It’s the most hypocritical shit I’ve ever seen. They preach and preach about how Sylvie’s life has been so difficult/we should feel bad for her/she had it so bad/poor poor sylvie/she had it SO much worse than pampered prince Loki…. But then they never even touch on any of Loki’s trauma of hardships (the ones that have been ignored for literally 3 movies now). They frame Sylvie as a good person and a Freedom Fighter after she spent literal decades/centuries mass-murdering brainwashed TVA agents and showing exactly zero remorse for it….. but then they make it their mission to constantly remind us that Loki is a terrible person and constantly put him in situations where he’s forced to acknowledge his wrongdoings/show remorse/admit to how “evil” he is for being a mass murderer for like 2 years. They show him on-screen having a wider range of powers than her, and perpetuate his whole shtick of being a “master manipulator” or whatever….. But then they make Sylvie “the brawn” more competent, intelligent, and physically capable than him. Tell me how it’s a good thing for a ship to be so narratively biased toward one character.

Missed Opportunities

• If they absolutely had to have a romance subplot, then they could’ve paired Loki with one of the characters that have already been established OR one of the characters that were a big part of the whole TVA storyline anyway. It would’ve been so interesting if they’d revealed that Loki had a history with some of the players from previous films (Sif and Fandral both come to mind). It also would’ve been really interesting if they’d given Loki a love interest that actually had some allegiance to the TVA as a whole (Mobius maybe, but not necessarily. It also could’ve been Renslayer or B-15). Hell, imo it would’ve been cool if they’d followed through with that “See you again someday” line that he said to the flight attendant in Ep 1. ALL of these characters have way more chemistry with him than Sylvie, and they were also already relevant to the plot without wasting half the show to give background info on them.

• If they absolutely had to have a hetero-presenting love story involving an enchantress-type figure, then there’s a whole Enchantress (Amora) that was actually Loki’s love interest in the comics. Plus, fans have been screaming for Amora to appear in the mcu for years. Plus, Tom literally pitched an Amora/Loki storyline way back in 2012-13. Also, Lorelei (another enchantress) is also one of Loki’s love interests in the comics, and she already exists in the mcu (she was on Agents of SHIELD). There were several different established characters for them to choose from. Creating a whole knew amalgamation of a character and going with the “she’s a Loki variant” storyline was just completely unnecessary and made no sense.

• They completely robbed us of a Chaos Twins dynamic. Had they handled Sylvie better and not forced her and Loki to smooch, the two of them could’ve had a really really complex and interesting sibling relationship. Loki could’ve stepped into Thor’s shoes and sort of used that new role to gain some self importance, and Sylvie could’ve finally had somebody to look out for her/teach her magic/be there for her. It would’ve been very aesthetically pleasing, the vibes would’ve been out of this world, it would’ve been way more profound than this bs, and frankly it would’ve been much more entertaining to watch.

• Loki’s relationship (read: obsession) with Sylvie completely overshadows all Loki’s other relationships in the show. Loki and Mobius were literally the focal point of the series in Ep 1-2, but after Sylvie showed up in Ep 3, they barely had any interactions with each other, and Mobius pretty much faded to the background entirely. Loki had the beginnings of a pretty interesting antagonistic relationship with Renslayer (with her wanting him pruned, then arguing with Mobius that he couldn’t be trusted), but after Sylvie showed up the dynamic shifted to focus on the history between her and Ravonna. Loki and B-15 started off very badly and openly disliked each other throughout Ep 1-2, and then in the end of Ep 2, Loki showed a little bit of concern for her when she was possessed, hinting that they might be inching toward a reconciliation- especially considering how obvious it was that Loki was gonna uncover the TVA’s sins eventually. There was so much potential for him to be the one to give her her memories back and convince her to change sides, but no, of course that honor went to Sylvie. In fact, after Sylvie showed up, Loki and B-15 never even spoke to each other again.

Various S*lki Fails

• If they were trying to convince us that this affection was mutual, they completely failed. There’s nothing I’ve seen that even hints at Sylvie feeling the same way about Loki that he does about her. At most, I’d say she has a slight endearment to him. She finds him likeable and she’s grudgingly fond of him, but she definitely isn’t in love with the guy. Maybe she thinks he’s cute and hopes that he gets out of this mess alright, but her mission obviously comes before him- whereas, it’s been confirmed multiple times that Loki cares about her above anything else. She doesn’t trust him, she looks at him like he’s an incompetent fool half the time, she shows little to no reaction during most of his confession moments, and she kissed him as a means to distract him so that she could get him out of her way. Look, all I’m saying is, when you get into a relationship where one of you is way more invested than the other, it never ends well.

• This goes without saying for a lot of us, but the selfcest is just straight up odd and cringey. If you’re cool with that sort of thing, fine! People can ship what they want! But don’t pretend it’s not at least a little bit uncomfortable. Yes, I know they’re not technically siblings so it’s not technically incest, and they’re also not technically the exact same person, but they’re similar enough that it makes things weird. And yes I know selfcest can’t happen in real life, so there’s no way to judge it morally, but neither can most of the other stuff that happens in these shows/movies (the Snap, Loki destroying jotunheim, superhero with powers being held accountable, mind control) and yet we still find ways to judge their morality, because they all mirror real-world events. (The snap= genocide; Loki destroying Jotunheim= bombing other countries; superhero accountability= weapons accountability; mind control= grooming and coercion). And lbr the closest real-world mirror to two versions of the same person (who may or may not share DNA, family, backgrounds, physical and emotion characteristics) being romantically involved with one another is incest. And you can be ok with that if you want- that’s your prerogative- but don’t get pissy just cause a lot of us are squicked out by it.

• The whole mirror metaphor (learning self love via each other) thing just fell completely flat. First of all, having Loki learn to love himself by looking at someone who mirrors him did not, in any way shape or form, require them to be romantically involved. But they were. Of course. Secondly, the creators have contradicted themselves so many times on whether Loki and Sylvie are the same or not, that it doesn’t even really register to the viewer that the mirroring thing was what they were going for. Finally, Loki and Sylvie are shown to have so little in common- and to have only the most bare minimum of similarities personality-wise- that it doesn’t even make sense that Loki would “learn to love himself through loving her”. Like? They’re nothing alike. So how would he make the connection that he himself is actually pretty cool, based on her alone? There’s virtually nothing in her that reflects him.

• I know the objective of the entire show was to convince us of how awesome and unique Sylvie is, but honestly her relationship with Loki just did the opposite. A hallmark of a Mary Sue is having her constantly upstage the male lead, and then having him instantly fall madly in love with her anyway. And that’s.. exactly what happened here. Everything they’re doing to try to force her character to be more stan-able is really just forcing her to look more like their self-insert OC. Which is exactly what she is. It would’ve been so much more satisfying if she didn’t have to try so hard to look cool, if they didn’t have to try so hard to make her backstory tear-inducing, if they didn’t have to turn our protagonist into a snivelling simp just to prove how incredible she supposedly is. Very much #GirlBoss energy and we all know how performative and cheap that is.

• The entire thing was too rushed, there was too little build-up, and it was nowhere near believable. As stated above, it’s ridiculously unlikely that Loki would canonically even be interested in Sylvie, and this show did nothing to explain why he was. He just suddenly was. There was nothing they showed us as viewers that would justify a guy as closed-off and preoccupied as Loki falling head-over-heels for a girl he just met. Their was no explanation, no big revelation, no reasoning, it just… kinda happened. And I’m also severely skeptical of any love story that has the characters go in this deep after only 3 45-minute episodes of exposition.

I’m sure there’s other stuff, so if anyone thinks of anything, let me know and I’ll be more than happy to add it. Tagging @janetsnakehole02 @raifenlf @natures-marvel and @brightredsunset800 for expressing interest. This is all your faults.

[myherowritings]

anywhere the wind blows

SUMMARY. After hunting a bounty near Wangshu Inn, you sensed the faint scent of qingxin blowing in the familiar wind. It seemed like it was leading you somewhere.

PAIRING. xiao x reader

WORD COUNT. 2.2k

GENRE. fluff, pre 1.3 release

A/N. my first genshin fic of my fav character xiao !! i’m definitely still getting used to writing for this world and for him but i hope this isn’t too bad 🥺 i’m so excited for xiao’s story and banner and can’t wait to learn more about him! if 1.3 comes and totally undermines the small guesses abt the lore i added into this fic then…we pretend we do not see u.u ANYWAY PLS ENJOY xx sof

“A rock shieldwall Mitachurl with a resistance to cryo,” you murmured to yourself with a satisfied smile, picking up the ominous mask and heavy horn that it dropped from the fight. “No more terrorizing Wangshu for you.”

You had just accepted a bounty handed out to you in Liyue and arranged for the proper party to come pick it up. The rewards were promptly transferred to your tab and you bade the team who came to collect the Mitachurl a swift goodbye.

It wasn’t normally on your daily agenda to hunt bounty for money—though the mora was quite appealing, you couldn’t lie—but when the beasts were too close to civilization and scared both residents and passerbyers in Liyue alike, you felt a greater need to step in. And now, after a job well done with some mora in your pockets, you realized just how tired and hungry that search made you.

Looking up, you saw the peak of the inn from a distance and followed the silk flower-covered path there. It wasn’t often you frequented Wangshu Inn, but you have visited enough to know their Jueyun Chili Chicken and Almond Tofu were pretty solid reasons to drop by again.

Your appearance was rather disheveled from your fight with the Mitachurl but you weren’t too messy-looking—certainly decent enough to interact with other humans you hoped. Smoothing down your clothes and practicing a smile, you headed over to the outdoor dining area and were greeted by a waitress who led you to an empty table as she asked for your order. The exchange was pleasant enough and you were soon left to your own devices once your food swiftly arrived.

It was dark out in Wangshu. The bounty hunt took most of your late afternoon and by now the sun had fully set. The dining area was quiet and empty with only the moon watching over you.

You hummed, taking in a mouthful of the sweet Almond Tofu. The night was nice and peaceful and quiet, just like most of your evenings.

A familiar breeze blew against your face, chilling yet warm. Captivating. There was a faint smell of qingxin, like the flowers you grew fond of during your explorations around Liyue’s stone forests.

The wind was different from what you experienced in Mondstadt. That air was light and playful. Free.

The wind you felt just now, on the other hand, seemed to convey something more wistful. Almost yearning.

And it wasn’t your first encounter with this qingxin-filled breeze either. When you helped comfort Little Luo back in Qingce Village and fended off the pesky Hilichurls on her trail, this wind blew around you and cooled the heat from your cheeks. Around Bubu Pharmacy when you spent time with Qiqi, a zombie you happened to stumble upon one day, you felt the same curious breeze.

Part of you felt like you were being watched over. But not in a bad way. It made you feel safe and protected, yet empowered enough to continue your bold expeditions and help the people of Liyue when you were needed.

The wind stuck around as you finished your meal, the aroma of Almond Tofu wafting through the air from the wandering breeze, almost as if it was seeking a taste. Once your plates were cleared and your drink emptied, you headed inside the inn and hoped they had a spare room on such a short notice and—to your surprise—for once they actually did.

On the way up the stairs, you passed by an open balcony near the top of the inn where you caught a glimpse of a lean figure with dark hair looking up at the night sky. You normally would have walked away from the balcony and left the man to his own devices, promptly going to your rented room to get some much needed rest, but the familiar scent of qingxin flowers dancing in the wind made you freeze mid-step.

Wangshu Inn wasn’t too far from mountain tops where qingxin grew… It could have been a mere coincidence.

But in Liyue, you knew that believing such things could be a coincidence would simply be fooling yourself.

The person on the balcony gave no indication that he felt your gaze, but you knew intuitively that he had already sensed your presence despite not having moved a single inch. His stance was so steady you might have thought he was a statue if not for his teal-tinged hair blowing in the wind.

Could he have been the cause of the qingxin breeze that recently started following you around?

“Hi,” you said gently to more formally announce your presence. On the off-chance he didn’t realize anyone was there, you definitely didn’t want to startle him. But judging by the unsurprised expression on his face as he slowly looked over his shoulder, you sincerely doubted he was one to startle easily. “May I stand here?”

His eyes were scrutinizing but not unkind as they looked you up and down. You took your time examining him as well— From the top of his silky-looking hair to the blue tattoos wrapping around his arms and to the mysterious horned mask hanging from his hip.

“I suppose you may,” he finally replied with a single nod, his voice neither welcoming nor rude.

You stood a few feet away from him, leaning against the wooden balustrades as you let the cool air hit your face. The night was quiet and calm, dimly lit by the moon peeking through the foggy sky. Sighing, your eyes fluttered shut in contentment as you felt the wind soothe the aches from the bounty hunt in your muscles.

You wouldn’t normally let your guard down like this in front of someone you just met, but for some reason you weren’t the least bit on edge. He didn’t seem like a stranger. And you had a feeling that maybe he wasn’t.

“Have we met before?” you found yourself wondering aloud. The mask on his hip looked familiar, though you couldn’t pinpoint exactly why, like you’ve seen it in a book you’ve read. And the air around him certainly felt familiar, though it seemed strange to describe why.

He didn’t respond.

Huffing, you tried a different approach. A more direct one. “Have you been following me?”

His brow raised but he uttered no words.

Was that approach too direct?

After a moment of silence, he said, “Were you not the one who followed me out onto the balcony? If I remember correctly, I was here first.”

“But were you not the one who drew me here with your qingxin-scented breeze?” you shot back, tone more curious than biting.

To your surprise, he said nothing to deny it. “Attentive, I see.”

“I’m not sure it’s quite that I’m attentive rather than you wanting me to know.” You hid a smile. He wouldn’t have made it so obvious otherwise, you were certain of it. For someone who held more power in his little finger than you could possibly fathom, you knew that him alerting you of his existence couldn’t be a mere accident.

“You’re right.” He shrugged. “But it’s not so much that I wanted to call you here than I didn’t mind if you happened to stumble by.”

You ran the palms of your hands over the railings, craning your neck to the side to face him. He was a puzzling creature, giving off the aura of something greater and more powerful than a human. The ominous mask dangling around his hip seemed to serve as a word of caution to indicate a menacing side he hadn’t shown you, but his calm stance and the small tilt of his head made him seem curious—almost inviting.

It was intriguing, to say the least.

“And why did you want me to, as you say, stumble by?” you said. “Not that I mind.”

“I don’t know,” he answered honestly, shaking his head and looking confused himself. “Intuition? I noticed you fighting, helping the people of Liyue. You’re doing a...good job.”

You shrugged, rubbing at the back of your neck as you shied away from his praise. “So you summoned me here to thank me?”

“I don’t know,” he said again, his impassive tone sounding almost frustrated.

At the small frown playing on his lips, you couldn’t help but let a noise of laughter escape you. He gazed at you in question. This whole situation seemed strange and peculiar, straight out of a dream you’d have at random only to forget the next morning. He seemed strange and peculiar, like a figure out of a story book lost in the ruins of Liyue.

And yet you found yourself enjoying this odd encounter.

“Well, Mr. Stranger, since you seem uncertain of so many things still, are you going to continue to have your wind follow me around Liyue until you figure whatever it is out?” you questioned teasingly, not at all minding that prospect.

He glared, looking slightly embarrassed. “It’s not that I was following you. I only sensed someone in need but happened to see you rushing along the way and decided to let you handle it. The less involvement in the affairs of mortals, the better.”

So he wasn’t a mortal himself, you thought, his words confirming your previous suspicions. Still…

“Is that so?” You quirked a brow. “And what is this if not for involvement in the affairs of a mortal?”

He folded his arms and didn’t say a word.

“Let me guess— You don’t know?”

“Hmph.”

You smiled. “Well, I guess it’s okay you don’t know. It’s okay not to know sometimes, you know?”

He blinked. “You aren’t making sense.”

“And you are?” you retaliated. “I still don’t know who you are or anything about you yet. But… I know you smell like qingxin flowers and feel like a cooling breeze. And I know that I rather enjoy it.”

The mysterious entity looked out into the mountain scenery, gloved hand resting on the dark balustrade. He seemed both lost in thought and completely aware of his physical surroundings at the same time. Suddenly, he spoke up.

“Xiao.”

Your gaze met his as he nodded once. “Xiao?”

“My name. Now you know who I am.”

You laughed, startled by how blunt he was. “I guess you’re right. Nice to meet you Xiao.”

“Hm.” Xiao waited one moment before he asked, “Do you plan to keep exploring Liyue?”

At his question, you briefly considered your options for the near future. You liked Liyue and there was so much you had left to see. Was it like home to you? No— Not yet anyway, though it could be if the situation was right. But that didn’t mean you wanted to leave just yet.

Not when you may have found a reason you would want to stay.

“For the time being, yes.”

He nodded in satisfaction. “That’s good. You being there to help the people of Liyue means less involvement with mortal affairs for me.”

Though his tone was haughty, he didn’t seem like he actually minded what he considered mortal affairs. If he did, why would he be so alert when he sensed people in need?

“And, if you ever need assistance during your ventures, I’ll be there.”

Xiao’s words comforted you as you looked at him, his hair blowing in the wind. Maybe one day you could reach out and touch it. But not today.

You sensed this meeting was about to end. The breeze picked up and you could feel him getting ready to leave. Whether he was going to leave to go to bed or leave the mortal world, you weren’t sure. But you would rather treasure this encounter than dwell on an inevitable—and hopefully temporary—farewell.

“Thank you, Xiao. And if you ever need assistance with...whatever it is you do, I’ll be there too!” you said confidently. “As I’m sure you’ve seen, I’m pretty handy at weilding a sword myself.” You doubted he would ever need much help in the physical or martial department. “Or, I could simply lend an ear as well.”

It happened so fast, you weren’t sure if it was actually there, or if your eyes were playing tricks on you— Xiao smiled. At least, you thought he did. But in the mere blink of an eye, it was gone.

Still, you don’t think you would ever forget that peaceful image no matter how hard you tried. Not that you wanted to.

Sensing the night coming to an end, you asked, “When will I be able to see you like this again?”

He paused. “In this human form, you mean?”

You nodded, though you figured the answer would be those three familiar words he had said many times tonight.

“I don’t know.”

A wry smile played on your lips. Knew it.

“The mortal realm is not where I naturally belong,” explained Xiao, amber eyes glowing brighter than the moon in the sky. “But I will meet you again in this state soon.”

The scent of qingxin grew stronger as the wind picked up. His skin grew paler, almost translucent as he met your gaze one last time for the night.

“Even if it takes time, at least the wind will tell me when you’re near.” You smiled, raising your hand in a wave. “Goodnight, Xiao.”

“Sleep well, traveller.”

And in your dreams that night, with qingxin in the air, you felt contentment and serenity in ways you never had before. You would see the entrancing being who called himself Xiao again. Soon. But you had the wind to keep you company while in wait.

[incorrectgreekgods]

My Friend’s Opinions On Various Greek Gods From Greek Mythology

Let me preface this by saying- I’m the one into mythology. My friends are going off of a two month unit three years ago and whatever mythology they’ve read/absorbed from modern media. None of this is taken to be offensive, and it is all based off of Ancient Greek Mythology and not hellenic polytheism. 

Now! Here are five of my friend’s impressions:

Isadora

Zeus - whore Poseidon - water Hades - meanie Persephone - gets caught by meanie Demeter - no fuckign idea Hera - i think she's a mommy? Hestia - also no fucking idea Athena - big brains Hermes - hehe that's my bestie Apollo - golden hourrrr Artemis - baddie asf Hephaestus - big muscle blacksmith Aphrodite - pretty Ares - meanier meanie Dionysus - naked drunkard

Santana

Zeus - needs to keep it in his pants Poseidon - water guy Hades - vibes=immaculate minus him being like a killer Persephone - she’s chill funny Demeter - idk this man Hera - a little jelly of her mans but she’s chill Hestia - idk this girl Athena - thriving Hermes - speedy man with funny shoes Apollo - bow and arrow guy i think Artemis - baddie Hephaestus - who is this man Aphrodite - pretty one i think Ares - needs anger management Dionysus - drunk uncle

Sasha (who popped off???)

Zeus ⁃god sky, lightning, etc. ⁃sleeps with literally anything that breathes ⁃Terrible husband to Hera but they somehow make it work ⁃Last son to be barfed up by Kronos ⁃Leader of the gods (but like super bad at his job because the gods are always fighting?)

Poseidon ⁃Water ⁃Likes his angry, drunk cyclops children ⁃Sleeps with a lot of things too but is overshadowed by Zeus

Hades ⁃Death ⁃Hella depressed ⁃Honestly a pretty chill dude until her abducts women ⁃Husband to persephone ⁃The third wheel of him, Zeus, and Poseidon

Persephone ⁃Purple, flowers ⁃Demeter’s daughter ⁃Hot as fuck ⁃Pretty chill after being kidnapped ⁃Married Hades - lil bit of a shady situation but whatever they seem happy

Demeter ⁃Agriculture, growing ⁃Carries a scythe around and honestly that’s so badass ⁃“What sort of women doesn’t have an axe?” vibes ⁃idk what else I mean got super mad when her daughter was abducted but Id be concerned if she wasn’t

Hera ⁃Marriage, family ⁃Kinda ironic seeing as her husband is cheating on her 24/7 ⁃But also their marriage has stayed together so maybe she does have the secret to making a successful partnership ⁃Anyways she is jealous of zeus ⁃OH also she turns the lovers of his she catches into animals which sucks for the lovers but DAMN I love her

Hestia ⁃hearth, home ⁃SO sweet ⁃Nobody on Olympus deserves her ⁃Poseidon tried to marry her which in my opinion was a terrible idea

Athena ⁃Wisdom, strategy, cunning, war ⁃Thriving hard ⁃Big brain moment ⁃Um owl? ⁃Makes fun of other gods while they make fun of her but she always wins

Hermes ⁃Traveling, messages (LMAO originally I wrote massages and now I can totally see it) ⁃Sneaky little shit ⁃Has little shoes with wings and two snakes ⁃Makes stupid mistakes but manages to get out of punishment ⁃Gay ⁃Gay for Apollo  

Apollo ⁃Sun, music, arts ⁃Muses (I think he’s slept with all of them right?) ⁃Would 100% be the most followed person on Insta just for his golden hour shots ⁃Pan ⁃Gay for Hermes

Artemis ⁃Hunting, forrest, femininity ⁃Fucking awesome ⁃Sleeps with all her huntresses but it just hits different than Zeus ⁃Bow and arrow and other cool stuff to kill people  

Hephaestus ⁃Forge, metal work, armory, blacksmith ⁃Chucked from mount Olympus when he was a baby ⁃Serious daddy and mommy issues ⁃Loves Aphrodite but she is just not on the same level

Aphrodite ⁃Love, beauty ⁃Doesn’t seem to give two shits about anyone but she’s honestly thriving ⁃She and ares are in a thing but she’s definitely owning that relationship

Ares ⁃War ⁃Stupid? idk he seems to loose every war he starts ⁃Loves of Aphrodite but he knows he’s about to lose her

Dionysus ⁃Drunk all the time ⁃Um I literally have no idea what he does other than party and get drunk ⁃Respect for his lack of goals in life

Emily

Zeus - wanna lightning bolt your small dick off Poseidon - cool water guy who made Odysseus’ life bad lol TEAM POSEIDON Hades - underworld dude with a weird ass dog. kidnapped then married Persephone. Reminds me of creepy old men on the internet your parents warn you about.   Persephone - fucking hot and should be more appreciative that hades wants her that badly (jealousy) Demeter - seriously please hack my face off w your scythe my agricultural top Hera - milf. that’s all. AND WAY TOO GOOD FOR SMALL DICK MAN Hestia - hearth? Huh? Athena - baddest bitch around. intelligent, owl, blood kink, probably. Hermes - mailman with shoe game. GAY Apollo - music, the sun, def part of the lgbtq+ community. Artemis - BADDEST BITCH AROUND. Huntress, cool weapons, and i would pay so much money to have her rail me dominatrix style ( bring the bow please) Hephaestus - blacksmith right? simps for Aphrodite (as he should). mommy AND daddy issues. Aphrodite - beauty, love, hot asf Ares - war, and has serious anger issues. I’ll give you my therapists card babe Dionysus - drunk all the time, reminds me of moms who have the wine glasses that say “it’s moms turn to wine”.

Norie

Zeus - shitty husband, couldn’t keep it in his pants Poseidon - water guy, hate this mf cause of Medusa, def least fav god Hades - underworld ruler, people who like him think their quirky (Ik cause it used to be me) Persephone - so hot, pls rail me, sry she got stockholm syndrome but like I would be flattered if anyone cared enough to kidnap me Demeter - top, grain mf, could fuck me with her scythe Hera - could top me, needed a good divorce lawyer Hestia - goddess of hearth? Don’t rly know much abt her but like I think she’s the oldest of her siblings Athena - smart one, owl bitch, also a whore for war Hermes - idk remember much, mischief, wings? Apollo - bisexual disaster, music bitch Artemis - hunter, could shoot me with her bow and I would say thank you Hephaestus - no thoughts at all, wait is this the guy who was with Pandora? Idk but like I think he was a blacksmith Aphrodite - hot Ares - war, a little over the top Dionysus - drunk, alcohol addiction rivals isadora’s

[ithinkthingsaboutstuff]

A sharp knife and a broken heart (TUA)

Hi y’all 

with the new season on the way i thought i should re watch the first season and finish my little deep dive on the characters so far I have done Grace, Number 5 and Alison  I have focused on one aspect of the characters and expanded that to show how it shapes and even evolves over the season.

today i will be looking at my fav knife wielding mama’s boy, Diego.

[note I did not finish this one and I can’t find the strength too, so I’ll post the draft, so whatever]  

I have touched on Diego in another post, here! basically this post was about the time line of events that lead up to and after the funeral. to summaries, Diego was the first to the house after hearing that their ‘father’ died, and then covered up for his mom before everyone even got to the house. now that is just a logistic’s post.

what i am looking at today, is the main or at least one of the main parts of his character. A deep dive into one thing, I will be looking at Diego’s broken heart.    

now its no secret that Diego feels and cares more then he lets on (especially with Luther but i will get to that). 

lets lay out what we know about Diego 

1- he was the first to leave 

2- he was a cop

3- he was and still is the only one still in the ‘hero’ game

4- he loves Grace more then anyone else

1- he was the first to leave 

now on the first point, he leaves when he is about (what i assume) is 16-17 basically a short time after Ben died. As Diego was one of the first to not take their “fathers” bullshit (5 was the first and got stuck in dooms day prison) 

but i think, both of these events shaped the man he is in more ways then one.

when 5 is gone Hargreeves can “pass it off” as 5′s fault like making him an Icarus tale for the rest of them, and since they where still prepubescent (12-13) they were more incline to believe him. also in ep 2 (run boy run) this scene shows that none of the kids (other than 5) were willing to stand up to Hargreaves and the way he runs things. they all follow the rules and then 5 disobeys and then he is gone. So if that doesn't put the fear of god into then what would.

but i think this was different for Diego I think is when he started to understand that their father didn’t care about them at all. I think he suspected but this was the first sign of the cracks forming.  so he stepped away from his ‘father’ and went towards his mother, as shown in this scene here

gif link

Diego feelings about grace are very sweet and shown really well in the show. and it says a lot about Diego that he does not see her as a ‘robot’ but as mom. i would say that it is very likely that Diego was the first to call her that, and the last, (ouch i hurt my own feelings). moving back to the point. Diego feels very deeply but about a few people his family (not Hargreaves tho) and Patch, and that’s it. but what his is willing to do for others is pretty amazing (but more on that later).

now we don’t know much about Ben in tua but (and i am going off the comic description as well) he was said to be the kindest and most gentle of all the siblings. so basically he was a good/nice person (or at least the best of them, or on how they would measure it anyway). 

so when Ben died that was the last straw for Diego, my money is on that Hargreeves tried to pull the same thing he pulled with 5, by making it seem like it was Ben’s own fault for being weak and soft. And that was Diego fully understood how little he cared about all of them and so even tho he would not see Grace (which i believe was the only reason he stuck around so long). that trick was not going to work twice so he left.

because if someone as good as Ben meant nothing then what was is he.

2- He was a cop  

now the biggest part about this is two fold 

1- he still wanted to help people he just wanted to do it another way to Hargreeves way.

2- when he realised how little good he was doing and how corrupt the whole thing was so he walked away and started doing things his own way.

the fact he wanted to be cop (and went through training for it) shows that Diego truly wanted to make it on his own. he did not want special treatment and wanted to prove to himself and everyone else he could stand on his own two feet.

now we are not sure of the exact reason why he left the force but it is suggested that he could not stand how little justice and results was actually getting done, however i think there is another factor.

Vanya’s book. this exposed Diego to everyone around him so everything he did for years to prove himself was undermined in just one whole day. But he didn’t give up he still helped people and did whatever he could to protect people from harm.

3- he was and still is the only one still in the ‘hero’ game

we know that he was still very much involved with the vigilantly thing. and the only on who is. So despite is hate and anger towards Hargreeves (and Luther to a degree) he still believes in the ‘mission’ of The Umbrella Academy, at least the part about saving people. he is very dedicated to this, to the point that his whole life revolves around it, with 

1- his living situation / employment are at the same place and he would also train there. 

2-  has no real relationship other then the one he has/had with patch (and grace, but i will come back to that)

3- he literally wears nothing else other then his hero suit.

now why would he keep up fighting like this, what is the motivator, i think its two fold.

1- he wants to prove Hargreeves wrong.

he was number 2, second best and second rate (to Hargreeves anyway), and he cared about people more then the ‘mission’ so my money is on Diego ‘letting’ some bad guys go in favour of saving the public or his family. Hargreeves saw that as weakness and “you can’t save the world by helping one person” type thinking on Hargreeves part (cause he is a dick).

so in other words Hargreeves always thinks of the bigger picture the number 1 priorities (much like Luther to a point) but Diego looks at the ‘little’ picture, like family’s, peoples lives and actual justice for people who are suffering/in danger.

so when he does leave he makes a point to still be a hero but does the opposite of what Hargreeves wanted for him which was to ‘save the world.’

So Diego decided to save individual peoples worlds instead.     

2- he never wants any other family to lose ‘their’ Ben 

I think a key driver for all of the siblings was Ben’s death (as is canon), But in Diego it hit home that a family can be broken by losing a single piece of it. and Ben’s death really broke his heart in a way that he would not wish it on anyone and would do everything in he power to prevent. his first line in the series is “Your family is safe now” 

we don’t know who he is addressing with this statement as the family is to close together, and we don’t see his face when he says it. But (and i am reaching here) I think he said it mostly for his own benefit, as this is a family he could save unlike his own. 

and i think he uses and carriers that pain to make sure no one else has to feel it.

4- he loves Grace more then anyone else 

now this is somewhat obvious, but i wanted to break it down more.

1- like i said before i believe he was the first and the last person to call her Mom 

2- he makes an effort to truly understand her (asking her if when she talks is it like Hargreeves telling her things and if she was angry with Hargreeves) 

3- treats and sees her as a real person (not wanting her shut down, validating her feelings)

4- he covered up a murder for her (or what he thought was one) cause he knows if anyone deserved to die it was his ‘father’ and Grace was the one who deserved to do it ( “he treated you worse then anyone” line for example) .

5- when he saw she was broken beyond repair (or when he thought it was) he shut her down to save her anymore pain.

6- when she wanted to leave his response after asking a question was “you can do whatever you want Mom”   

now all of this paints a distinctive picture about Diego. But the question still somewhat remains, Why does he love her so much? and Why does he care and devotes so much of himself to her?  now Grace is an great mom as I covered in her deep dive so look at that for more, but lets focus on Diego.

[weaselbeaselpants]

Weird week behind me weird week ahead of me but I’ve done a lot of self reflection and came to the weirdest epiphany. The older I get the more I realize all my ‘problems’ with VivziePop - her thoughts on criticism;  the choices she makes in story telling; some of the people she’s worked with (not that any of that’s my business; I’m not her mom) really aren’t about Viv, but more about her fandom.

I’m speaking of the preHazbin era Viv here and as someone who’s only watch horny fish jump at the surface rather than jump straight into the Hazbin-fandom, but given my ‘noncritical’ fellow fans have told me that the Vivziefandom now is also terrible - I guess I’ll go over my experience and make the most out of what I do know.

I followed Viv in 2009 and fell off in 2013 cause I kinda just lost interest and found myself wrapped up in other fandoms. I’ve always felt amicable about her content; I could give or take designs or the way in which she wrote characters -- ((Zech represent!!!)) but it’s honestly surreal and really fun seeing this person I recognize make it big and improve so much. Like I’ve said before I am very happy and very impressed with Viv doing all she’s done in the span of TWO YEARS. wow gurl.

Trouble is, there was the particular breed of fan who really made me...uncomfortable. They felt almost possessive of Viv’s attention. They sang praises about her work in a way that just made me want nothing to do with it because I was worried if I drew those characters these people would be like ‘hey, I’M Viv’s fav artist, not you!”. They would  unironically write Viv messages like:

“you are a GOD” -- “I’m so not worthy compared to you” --“I wish I was as talented as you” -- “YOU ARE EVERYTHING AND CAN’T DO WRONG VIV”.

The kind of messages which were meant to sound flattering but, intentional or not, came off as gaslighting, like they were guilt tripping Viv about being better than them. This behavior, treating your favorite artist/internet personality like your superior and groveling like Starscream, it strikes a nerve with me; partly because I was this way with my favorite artists and influences back in the day,  but also because once I got a taste of that treatment myself I realized just how bad it could be:

There was once a girl on dA who was jealous of me because of the attention I got on my art instead of her. I told her that I wasn’t gonna stop drawing but also that there was nothing wrong with her art and she’d find her place. It was weird being put in that position where someone is very clearly upset at you but also looking for your approval.

The second was some scumball who I blocked in 2016. He wouldn’t speak to me, only write condescending, backhanded comments on my art; check on my profile daily; call me a bootlicker (cuz I took commissions) behind my back; redrew my art and would talk about me in his personal artist notes about how I ‘probably wouldn’t see this’ - oh yeah all the while he did fan art of my characters but again never spoke to me when I replied. When I finally messaged him about his behavior he said he thought I was “really overrated” and “bad for the fandom” cuz I took money and kept him from getting the love he deserved. It took messaging another person within our fandom, one I had been in spats with online before, to finally realize I shouldn't put up with that bs....

That guy who was stalking me btw did so while I was well under 1.K watchers and am still pretty obscure. Anyway, I had one guy unhealthily watching me for the wrong reasons. Just one. This is why when Viv says she “hates creeps” I 150% believe this woman and am not about to call her a liar who just can’t take criticism. Like, if you really think that, I’m sorry but you don’t know what Viv’s gone through from both her critics AND fans.

Of course, a lot of people will be like “I bet you’re just jealous and really just want that kind of attention yourself so you’re preaching to the choir”, but like...no. I am envious of just about any creator who’s the social butterfly I’m not, but, like, if I'm jealous of an artist none of that is that artists’ fault. Ever. It’s my own issues with being comfortable with myself are at stake. If I criticize Viv’s work it’s not because I see her as competition or my Squilliam Fancyson; it’s because I’m a critical fan of animation and cartoons and have my own thoughts to share on the cartoons of an artist I’m familiar with.  Jealousy/envy/mixed-admiration/godIwishthatwereme.jpeg feels are totally natural and valid emotions when you’re a creator. Envy becomes a problem when you internalize, weaponize, and scrutinize people on the basis of them being what you aren’t which -yes - some people do in the name of criticism. ((Although, I would hardly say some of the nastiest AntiViv folk are jealous as much as they are angry that this project they think is harmful is getting attention and using that as justification for some really shitty behavior of their own, which no, this post is not a part of by virtue of coming from a critical fan.))

Critique can come from either a good place or bad place; good critique can be used to bad ends and bad critique can come from a well-meaning place, and vice versa.   It’s the difference between many a criticalfan having a sour taste in their mouth regarding the Viv’s base but persisting in a critique+admiration separate of that, and this asswipemonster trying to weasel his way into Spindlehorse while also bashing Viv on a public forum for clearly vitriolic reasons. He was a creep.

So yeah um please stop insisting that every Hazbin critic is just jealous’ because a) there are people who have a past with Viv’s base and that clouds their judgement, but in a lot of cases that doesn’t invalidate their feelings or thoughts on her work separate from that, and b) I’ve seen what clingy gaslighting jealous fans are. Spoiler: they’re not so much Annie Wilkes as much as they are Tommy Wiseaus. You don’t want Tommy Wiseau following you.

Another bad vibe I really picked up on that I can kinda confirm is still probably the case now: people think that they know Viv and the Spindlehorse crew and have the right to send them shit they don’t need or WANT to be seeing.

Like, I talked with Viv once ages ago. I don’t remember what I said other than we were talking about Frankenweenie, I think. She was nice. Outside of that she said “thank you” to my comments on her deviations but that’s it. I DO NOT KNOW THIS WOMAN AND unless you’ve worked with or are a legit friend/mutual of hers, NEITHER DO YOU. But I don’t think every Vivzie stan/critic knows this. Whether it be people assuming she MUST think they’re headcanon is now canon-canon cuz she liked a comment they made; or some critic thinking they must have seriously hurt her pride because they’ve been blocked by her on twitter (or you know, maybe she and the rest of Spindlehorse is tired of getting @s and don’t have to time to read through your analysis so they’re gonna just block and move on cuz they’re busy).

Just because the creators talk with fans doesn’t mean fans are literally their best friends and have a part in the show’s direction. And yes, critics and reviewers fit that bill as well. Know your damn boundaries people.

If you find/make some kind of contribution as a viewer that’s awesome but you should never expect nor DEMAND the creator see it. The most obvious horror stories involving this and Helluva/Hazbin have been the Instagrams made by the crew being harassed by incestpedo enthusiasts, but it applies even to just @ing creators as well.

I’ve seriously had someone tell me to just take my criticisms directly to Viv and like...no. Why would I do that?

I respect Viv and the artists working with her enough to know that they’re working their asses off on an animated series and should not be bothered. I don’t want them to stop all they’re doing and reply to me. I want them to keep working. Also, that kind of logic makes me wonder how many critics Viv’s found because she found it on her own or if some obsessed fan told her about it - which is really messed up cuz if it IS just good critique you’re, again, just pestering her, and if it wasn’t critique but full on harassment WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU MESSAGE HER ABOUT THAT ANYWAY? I’m sure she doesn’t need to be reminded that people drew and said really awful shit about her on Tapatalk. My point being I’m sure what people think they’re doing is

“OOOoh Viv lookitwut this person is doing in our fandom we need to ban together against this toxic behavior”

but what they’re actually doing, and sounding like, is -

“Hey Viv I know you are working so hard on the show and you’re trying to figure out where to go from here but LOOKITWHUTTHISHATERSAID. LOOKATIT! VALIDATE ME VIV AND PUT’EM IN THEIR PLAAAAAACE!”

TL;DR Viv’s fanbase back in the day consisted of everyman artists and interests but there was this one breed of fan -who I hope was just a vocal minority- that ruined it for everything else.

Call it stanning or ‘simping’ or as it’s classically known, ‘white knighting’, whatever it was it really soured a lot of people on her because of those fans.

That’s why the DollCreep drama got so bad from what I can tell. Doll and Viv had a falling out and then called out eachother online where people who took it upon themselves to speak for them starting throwing mud.

Back in the day I remember Viv used to get mad at artists for ‘stealing’ her style. I think this attitude from Viv directly has vanished but I remember it happening because one of the people she thought was stealing her style did art for me at some point and they were basically shamed/chased off deviantART by a gaggle of these really nasty Vivfans.

inb4> “VIV WAS AWARE AND STILL WEAPONIZES HER FANS THO”

I don’t know that. And honestly, where I’m inclined to believe she’d do something like that then I think Viv is really different and has improved her business and public image from her college days. I’d be very disappointed in her if she was pulling a Butch Hartman or Derek Savage, but I just don’t think she is one, k?

Viv is more self critical and aware than any of these uber protective-gatekeeping fans give her credit for. She said on the Pizzapartypodcast that she knows the Hazbin pilot wasn’t perfect; she’s been able to identify the problems with old Zoophobia; this woman knows that criticism of all kinds need to exist and from what I see she sounds like she’s trying to get used to that. It’s just, you know, when you have nasty antis badgering you, stalkers, obsessive yes-mam’ fans, opinionated shit posters, r34 artists, entitled shippers and the NDAs of a company alongside your own branded image - all that negativity, even the constructive bits, tend to clump together and you just want to scream at it so you can finish the damn cartoon already!!!!

TL;DR: PART TWO

VivziePop/mind is basically indie Tim Burton.  Her work is fun, shallow and made with love but is marketed as being for everyone when it’s really not. Parts of it I love to watch; parts of it drives me crazy cuz of reasonswhatev this isn’t a review.

BUT any fanbase where people tell me I should just “expect what’s coming to me” when I’m trying to argue against dragging creators into fandrama is troubling. People have a parasocial bond with fandoms and their creators and they need to learn when to back off.

[dreams-got-dimmer]

New Girl Pt. 2 (Bolin x reader)

Okay here’s the thing I haven’t seen enough steamy Bolin fanfics yet and while I would rather be reading them, I thought maybe I’ll just write one and help out the others who desperately want to read about their fav thicc earth bender.

Summary: multiple part fic?? + AU kind of

(The reader is 18, Bolin is 18 and mako is 20)

Reader desperately needs a place to live and finds an advertisement for two brothers who need a roommate. Maybe more than just living arrangements may come out of this deal... (reader x Bolin) (slow burn)

Disclaimer: I’m changing the story from first person to second as it would make more sense to the reader. If I ever plan on doing POV for Bolin, which I want to it will be in third person. I know it’s a switch up, but I think the story will flow nicer using second and third opposed to using first

Word count: 2399

Warnings: slight angst?

PART 1 PART 3

“so uh, yeah, this is your room,” Bolin rubbed the back of his neck, “I know it’s not much, but hey it’s something right?” he started to fidget on the balls of his feet.

“So bashful, now are we?” you couldn’t help but notice Bolin’s nervousness now that you two were alone. Mako was only on his break when you had arrived and had to get back to work so he left Bolin to show you where everything was in the loft, especially your room. Red heat started to seep into Bolin’s cheeks at your words. As much as you wouldn’t have minded teasing him more you decided to save him the embarrassment.

“I’m just joking,” a small laugh escaped your lips, “I know how hard it can be to meet someone new, especially when you end up alone together,” started to walk around your new room taking in everything it had to offer, which wasn’t much. But that was the best part about it. It was simple and you could make it your own in no time. The poster wasn’t lying when it said the loft had a view of Air Temple Island. Even being a fire bender, watching the wave push and pull was always calming to you. You could see yourself spending hours just drinking in the sounds of the ocean. You turned back to Bolin and smiled, “You seem pretty outgoing, but I can understand how it can be easier to meet new people when your brother is around,” saying that reminded you of all the times you’ve been on your own meeting new people. Sure, it was going just fine now, but it hasn’t always been this way.

“Y-yeah of course, definitely because my brothers not around, heh,” Bolin went back to rubbing his neck. He didn’t do a great job at assuring you that his brothers’ absence was why he was nervous, but you weren’t going to pry. “Anyway, how do you like the loft. I hope it becomes your home as much as it became mine and Mako’s,” The warmth in Bolin’s cheeks finally started to fade as he smiled at you, “It’s better that I could have ever dreamed of,” you admitted. Your parents house was nothing too extravagant, but it was able to hold you and your family somewhat comfortably. The shelter did it’s best to be welcoming and you couldn’t be more grateful to have a warm place to stay, but it couldn’t beat what you were looking at now. Thinking of the shelter reminded you that there were still items of yours at the shelter. It wasn’t much, but you still didn’t want to leave them behind.

“Do you want to come with me to the shelter so I can pick up the rest of my things?” you changed the subject. Bolin seemed nice, but you weren’t too sure how willing he would be to help you with your things, “I would love to go!” he nearly shouted it, “Then you can tell me more about yourself and I can show you my favorite restaurant,” He broke out into the same smile you saw earlier when Mako agreed that you could move in. It was genuine and precious, and it made your stomach tie in a knot.

Bolin might singlehandedly be the sweetest and goofiest person you had ever met. He insisted on going out to eat first and as you both walked and made it his mission to keep you laughing. The nerves he had before were practically non-existent now. He told you all about pro-bending and even though you’ve been to matches and knew the rules you couldn’t bring yourself to say anything because of how enthused he was to talk to you about it. He even promised to bring you to practice and matches. And even though he was an earth bender he wanted to show you moves you could use in a match and maybe he could even get Mako to show you something too. You happily agreed to everything Bolin offered because 1. It did seem really fun and 2. You couldn’t wait to show Bolin what you were actually capable of with your bending. It’s not like he was trying to be rude, but maybe Bolin assumed you didn’t know how to do much since your parents restricted it. The thing is strict parents cause sneaky kids and you were the sneakiest of them all. You had been sneaking out since the young age of eight and you had learned a lot more than anybody even knew. So, maybe it was a good thing that your parents were that way. If they weren’t you may have never had the knowledge of bending that you have now.

Even though you were going to pick up your things the day was starting to feel like a date. Bolin had brought you to Narook’s, which he happily told you had the best noodles in all of Republic City then proceeded to eat three bowls to himself. You were beside yourself that you had never gone here before. Bolin wasn’t joking that these were the best noodles in all of Republic City and you almost wanted to get mad at him because he just introduced you to your newest money pit. It would be so worth it, though. Especially if you got to have days like this with Bolin. He even refused to let you pay no matter how hard you tried to get the waiter to take your money. If it was a date, you wouldn’t have been angry in the slightest. He was charming you by the second and the way his eyes would shift from jade to emerald within seconds did nothing to stop you from being lost in everything that Bolin was.

The sugary sweet feeling you had in your chest soon turned sour. The feeling wasn’t even caused by the two of you facing the shelter it was what Bolin said that made your insides curdle and all the happiness of the day went numb.

“I can’t wait to introduce you to Korra! She’s the avatar and everything about her is amazing,” he looked at you with lovesick eyes and it made you wish that you were Korra, “She’s beautiful and talented and she’s even on the Fire Ferrets with me and Mako,” a blush crept back onto Bolin’s face and you wanted more than anything that it was you who was making him blush. You wanted to slap yourself in the face for thinking this way. You just met him. He wasn’t anything to you. You tried not to think about how he himself helped you have the best day you’ve had in years, maybe in your life. You’ve been with guys, but none of them have ever made you feel this happy, especially within the first hours of meeting and you and Bolin hadn’t even kissed. You weren’t about to let some boy you just met control your emotions like this, even if he was impossibly adorable.

“I’m thinking of asking her out. I’m just so nervous,” Bolin confessed as he began rubbing the back of his neck, which was oddly attractive by the way. No, stop you can’t keep thinking like that. You tried your best to shake away any thoughts of jealously and the minute attraction you had for the earth bender, “you’re a girl, what would be the ideal date for you?” He pleaded as his lip jutted out into a pout. You gulped. If it wasn’t bad enough that you misread this day so far, this day was the best answer you could give him. Scraping together every ounce of courage you had, you decided to be honest, “My ideal date,” you pretended to muse even though you didn’t even have to utter a single thought to know what it would be, “Honestly just do what you did today and I’m positive she’ll love it,” you breathed out as Bolin’s eyes widen. That was enough honesty for the day. You looked away from him quickly trying to ignore his lips parting.

“We should go get my stuff now,” you shrugged, “There’s not much anyway, so it should be easy,” you didn’t wait for his answer as you rushed into the shelter. Bolin trailed in moments after you and you kept your head down not wanting to talk to him yet. Maybe you just ruined whatever friendship you had with Bolin by telling him the truth. Your thoughts came to a halt as you crashed into something, actually someone.

“Spirits I’m sorry,” you sputtered looking up. You eased when you saw it was just Anzu one of the volunteers at the shelter. Not only that, she also had become one of your close friends during this month stay. The two of you were complete opposites and it was hard to understand how the two of you clicked so well. She was everything you weren’t.  She was perfection and grace. Anzu embodied everything that was ethereal. She was golden and her strawberry blonde hair flowed in a way that made it seem like she was underwater. Anzu grabbed your arms to steady the two of you and began to smile.

“Always so clumsy,” Her laugh tinkled in your ears, “and who is this?” curiosity lined her voice as her eyes shifted to look at Bolin.

“shut it Anzu I am not,” you grumbled crossing your arms, “And this is Bolin he’s my new roommate along with his brother Mako,” happiness spread through you again, “Bolin this is Anzu she’s my best friend, but she also volunteers here,” You motioned between the two and Bolin waved enthusiastically. “No way!” Anzu exclaimed, “You found a place to stay?!” She grabbed a hold of you nearly shaking you, “I’m so so so happy for you. I’m going to miss you, though,” She frowned a bit pulling me into a hug, “Please visit all the time, how am I going to stay sane without you?” you pulled away from each other.

It was a bittersweet feeling because Anzu was right. She had made staying at the shelter bearable and not only that, she had gotten you out trouble too many times to count. She’s even responsible for you being able to stay at the shelter even though you burnt part of the living quarters down out of anger and frustration when you first showed up.

“I’m sure we’ll be able to survive, but I’ll make sure to visit as often as I can,” you assured her.

You both hugged again not really wanting the moment to end, “I’ll let you two get your things, It was nice meeting you Bolin, I hope to see more of you soon,” Anzu breathed out as she glided away down the hall.

You started down the hall thinking about how much you were actually going to miss not seeing Anzu every day. “what happened here?” Bolin stood wide eyed as you approached your room and you didn’t even have to look at what it was, “I did that,” you muttered, glancing at the burnt hallway. Your parents had the audacity to show up at the shelter after a week of staying there. They had more to say about what a horrible monster you were. How they wished you were never born. It was a disgrace to them that a bender was born into their family. The staff was kind enough to force them out of the building, but it only did so much to aid your already broken heart. That interaction was the last straw for you and it precedented the substantial breakdown that caused the burning of half of the bedrooms. No would could get close to you no even Anzu. You had no idea what to feel. It was too much the hate, frustration, and brokenness of it all. It caught up to you and the only outlet you could use was destruction. The next day you apologized profusely to everyone at the shelter and promised that once you started making steady money you would help pay to rebuild that section of the quarters.

“You,” he paused, “Did that?” Bolin was in utter disbelief. You were desensitized to the area having to look at it for the past weeks, his words made you look at it with fresh eyes. There was no denying that it was a gruesome sight. Most of the walls were charred through and there were tarps to keep the outside elements from getting in. All the furniture was pretty much disintegrated and looking at it too long just made your stomach sick, “can we just get my things?” you pleaded feeling small, “I don’t really want to talk about it,”.  You pushed your door open and before you could take a look for the last time at the place you had been staying, Bolin pulled you into a hug. He bowed his head into the crook of your neck and let out a sigh.

“I’m sorry for whatever happened,” He drew back and looked at you earnestly, “Me too,” his hug felt like warmth and hot tea on a bad day. He was surprisingly gentle for how muscled he was and even if you didn’t want it to end you plastered a smile on your face, “Let’s get my things so we can get the hell out of here,” You motioned towards you room. It didn’t take long to gather your extra clothes and odds and ends and before you knew it you were spending your first night in the loft. You looked out at the ocean and let the sounds of the tide help you mull over what happened during the day. You were able to close a chapter in your life that you didn’t think was going to end and as for Bolin he was your roommate and hopefully friend and you weren’t going to jeopardize that just because there was some semblance of attraction for him. Besides, he seemed to really like Korra and that’s what mattered, not the inconsequential feelings you might have for Bolin. You were sure you’d wake up in the morning and the tiny crush would dissipate, for you had bigger things to worry about, like finding a job and actually making friends with Bolin and Mako instead of pining over them.

-------

a/n: wow guys I'm amazed at myself that I have written this much. But if you have made it this far thank you! I wanted to do a slow burn for this fic and it’s actually a lot harder than I thought, but I am trying my best. I’ve never really wrote fiction before so if you guys have any advice on how to improve my writing, please let me know! again thank you so much for reading this far (: I hope to see you again soon 

-S

Taglist:

​ @yellowoctvber @doubtedbus409

[hankwritten]

TFComics Rewrite

I am currently plotting an outline for a TFComics, and I want to get my thoughts about fixes to canon and possibly get feedback. Since this is a rewrite there’s really no *spoilers* or anything, so I’m willing to answer all questions about what I plan to do. Also some characters I’m not so sure about how I want to retool them, so if your have ideas for your fav let me know!

Disclaimer:

This rewrite is intended to critique the content/choices made in the construction and telling of the Team Fortress 2 comic series. It is not a personal attack on the artists/writers/directors or any of the creatives that made contributions to this series, nor is it meant to substitute or replace the official release. This work is transformative in nature, and relies on an understanding of the source material to be understood. TF2 and its characters belong to Valve.

TFCR is working on the assumption that the audience has read the original comic, and as such will skip over scenes and plot points that are unchanged from the original. I don’t think it needs to be said, but this fanfiction will not make sense if you are not familiar with the source.

I also recognize that there are strengths within the comic’s writing and weaknesses within my own. Namely, that Valve writers are gods in the realm of comedy, and I’d rather not try to match them in the regard. As such, I will state up front that these will not be as funny as the TFComics. That is not to say there won’t be jokes (either ones transplanted from the source or some of my own) or that the tone of this will be terribly grimdark, only that my focus will be on improving story structure and character development as those are what appeal to me.

 The Broad Strokes

The goal of TFCR is to give a more engaging story for all the mercenaries we know and love, as--let’s face it--the TF2 mercs are side characters in their own damn story. These are some of the planned improvements.

There will be reason for each of the mercs to actually be there. As it stands, the motivations for almost every character besides Pauling and Saxton Hale are vague and unsatisfying. We’d usually say something along the lines of “money” for hired killers, but clearly Scout doesn’t even know if they’re getting paid, and some of the other characters are even worse. The hunt for the Australium is, therefore, boring. MacGuffins usually are, but at the very least the characters should care about the item even if the audience doesn’t. This work aims to give each of the nine mercs a motive and a reason to be in the story instead of just replaceable joke dispensers.

Explain what “Team Fortress” means, and how it relates to RED and BLU. Long and short: the nine mercenaries we see on the team are not from either RED or BLU but rotate between the two, and were the individuals selected to fight the robots. That means all things do happen to all characters. As Valve pretty much goes with “whatever is funniest at the time”, it’s very hard to make a cohesive theory about “where the hell is BLU team?”, but I’ll do my damndest. We’ll also examine Team Fortress’s relationship with the other capital T Teams, and why they’re considered the “rejects” of the bunch.

Comics 1 & 2 will be removed from the timeline as they serve no purpose, only taking what needs to be known about the plot’s setup and jumping straight to A Cold Day in Hell.

We will introduce the Classic Mercs right away so they can generate threat and play against the TF mercs when they do actually meet head to head.

We will not be killing off Gray Mann. (Not preemptively anyway.) In fact, there will be more focus on him and Olivia as villains facing off against the Admin, providing her foil as the TF2 and TFC mercs provide foils for each other.

I considered waiting until the final comic was out to begin working on this, but that may never happen. Jay Pinkerton said he may reveal what plot they had in store eventually, but considering it took Half Life over a decade to get the “I was once a Valve writer but my NDA has expired and now I can go buck wild” treatment, I’m not holding my breath. The main reason I wanted to do this is that the Administrator’s motivations are not interestingly foreshadowed, to the point where there aren’t even any good fan theories out there. That said, WritingDispenser and Riddle of the Sphinx helped come up with a pretty fun one, which was actually the inspiration for me to get off my butt and start plotting this.

There will be no queerbaiting. This refers both to HeavyMedic (which has been simultaneously used as wink wink nudge nudge joke many times and as encouragement for fans to play their stupid hat game) as well as lesbian Pauling (since femme lesbians are the preferred method for front facing LGBT representation across almost all media, but video games especially). If you need to understand why lesbian Pauling is an issue, Sarah Z coined the term “queercatching” in order to describe word of god confirmations on characters sexualities that are not followed up on in the text. I recommend the full video on it.

Due to the importance of immortality in the theming of the comics, respawn will not be a thing. Deaths we think should have happened previously will be explained as close calls, or that Medic can heal a short time after death. Medic and Scout’s deaths will be cut in the story itself, as after Sniper died and came back, them doing the same thing kinda lost their punch.

Scout

There will be no ScoutPauling hints. It doesn’t make sense to give screentime to this relationship because Valve obviously doesn’t think it’s going to go anywhere so why make Scout turn down advances from other hot women? I mean I get Expiration Date was a Thing but it feels like Scout’s whole motivation shouldn’t be reduced down to chasing a girl who doesn’t like him back.

He’s here because he lost his life’s savings in bad investments and needs the money. That’s it. Which is still somehow more than his canon motive which is question mark question mark question mark

He, Soldier, Spy, Demo, and Pyro all start the adventure with Miss Pauling.

Engages with Heavy on a genuine level when they go to collect him, Heavy doesn’t blow him off when he tries to level about dead dads.

There will be no DadSpy reveal. The way Spy treats Scout has never been “deadbeat dad feels bad about abandoning his kid” but more “this is someone I would kill without a second thought if I felt like it” which makes his reveal in comic 5 feel very disingenuous. I don’t think Valve even had this plotline in mind until comic 3, as #2 still has Spy seeming only to care about Scout’s Ma and not Scout himself. It also makes “seduce me!” retroactively weird.

Uhhh hooks up with Zhanna. This one isn’t critical I just think it’s funny.

Soldier

Soldier is going to be the Ur example of the Admin not treating her people well, as we’re going to lean into the whole “Soldier was only mildly messed up until the whole lead poisoning” thing.

He’s here because he’s blindingly loyal to the cause. He’s actually going to very little from canon because of this actually.

Might be the reason Team Fortress has a reputation of being the lower tiers of the Teams, but that doesn’t mean he’s damn good at his job. Fatal flaw is that he’s unstable, and even though the courthouse plotline won’t be in this fic, it should be noted that he actually does cause problems for the other protagonists due to his short temper. He’s a risky asset, but still essential.

There will be a minor explanation for the WAR! Comic, but I think that’s better saved for Demo’s analysis.

Pyro

Pyro is the character you could cut entirely from the comics and have the least change. Now, they’re going to be Pauling’s right hand. Let me explain.

Engineer and Pyro are implied to live together, and Pyro doesn’t have anything better to do than go with Engie after Team Fortress is disbanded. Rather than having a reveal, we will see some of what is going on with the Admin and friends early on, and see what leads up to her sending Miss P the note that kicks off the whole plot. However, while Engie needs to stay and look after her, Pyro’s skills aren’t useful here, and they are sent as a direct messenger to help Pauling.

They’re loyal, and unlike Soldier rarely mess up orders. They’re also partially mute, making them ideal for handling sensitive info. Pauling trusts them to handle the burning of “Elizabeth’s” paper trail.

Will be using they/them in the narrative voice, but other characters will refer to them as he/him. I considered going with it/its because that’s bubbled up in popularity again, but ultimately I decided against it.

We’ll get glimpses to their train of thought, but like the comics they will remain virtually silent.

Demo

Demo’s role in the cast is going to be very similar to Spy’s. The events of WAR! involved him nearly dying and Soldier taking the win, and he’s very bitter that after all those events *apparently* mercs can just be switched around teams willy nilly and don’t have to kill each other anymore. (As the audience, we know this is because the Admin found out the “make them so angry they won’t ask questions” wasn’t a long-term viable solution, and instead brought TFI forward as a neutral third party that was pretending to mediate the gravel wars.) But Demo’s suspicious, and is only along because he really has been miserable since he lost his job.

This conflict will eventually come to a head, more on that in the Sniper section.

Is fairly forgiving with his teammates. Doesn’t like Sniper but I’m willing to drop a little angst during that submarine scene. Is glad to see Medic actually. Here to be some glue to hold this merry band together.

The Eyelander will not be forgotten after 2 comics because I love this character concept and I think it was underutilized.

Drunk jokes will be kept to a minimum. What I liked about WAR! and Bombinomicon was that it took Demo and showed that they knew how to make him funny without making him one note, which they sort of did in the early TFComics but stopped in the later ones in favor of him….being asleep for the whole plot. I promise 100% awake Demo in my rewrite.

Demo likes Pauling on a personal level, but has trouble reconciling her with his feelings on TFI.

Doesn’t get knocked out by moonshine because. Seriously? Poisoning the Demoman with alcohol? In what world does that work.

Heavy

Not too much to change. Scout doesn’t accompany him when he goes to look for the secret Australium cache, and he engages with Mags and Saxton (which will be when the audience finds out what they’ve been up to) and actually cares about what’s going on with them. He thinks Darling is up to something. Which he is, he’s attempting to unseat both Gray and Helen due to long family history.

Will at least mention Medic. Their reunion falls a little flat since it mostly relies on Meet the Medic for context, as they don’t really interact in the comic. There can be a bit of a flashback to what it was like as all these mercs broke up.

I know uhhh Valve seems to think found family is really dumb, and that these murderers could ever like each other is silly or something, but the mercs do? Like each other? For the most part anyways. 

Bronislava and Yana come alone for adventures, not just Zhanna. Again, no real reason, but sometimes I get to have tacky fanfic stuff in my own fanfic because I Wanna.

Engineer

Engie ruminates on his family history of allowing all this bullshit to happen and just kind of shrugging. Basically Moss’s analysis of the Conagher themes.

Has put a lot of time, sweat, and tears into BLU and now TFI, isn’t willing to let it fall now, even if Admin is basically living on borrowed time. He’s doing this because of the ‘ole sunk cost fallacy.

Also we get to see more of Pauling and Admin’s relationship through his eyes.

Medic

Congrats on being the one merc with an actual arc, Medic! As a reward, you will not be changed much.

I’m actually going to use Medic’s section to say that the Classic mercs will be referred to by their first names in order to differentiate them, and we’ll get little previews of what they’re like from Medic’s perspective before we actually see them fight Team fortress. The battle at the submarine will be more of a fight in this sense, working it out so it seems like surrender is the only option after Sniper is killed.

Final fight with Cheavy will be...not blocked so awkwardly. I mean this is now a textual medium so my work is already halfway done, but still the pacing is so weird. Shudder.

Sniper

These are the big guns. Most changes, even more than Demo. He’s been actually hunting for New Zealand/the Australium cache on his own, and doesn’t want Pauling interfering, saying for a he knows she could have been the ones to kill his adoptive parents.

(She hasn’t, but the Admin did actually order them killed in an attempt to stop Sniper because she thought she could prevent the exact thing that is going on right now which is that Sniper is considering trying to get at it.)

Sniper doesn’t know this, but Pauling, Demo, and Spy eventually convince him to share his findings and help them get to New Zealand.

Spy

Similar to Demo but is less conflicted about it. He knows just because he likes someone doesn’t mean he won’t have to kill them later. 

Spy knows about who killed Sniper’s parents, and tells Demo, sort of as a test to see where his loyalties lie. He also knows that Pyro is Pauling’s confidant for certain things.

Demo questions him about what he’s doing here, whose side he’s really on. But you know. Spy is Spy and he was never really on anyone’s side but his own. When it comes down to it, it might be exactly as Scout thinks: that he’s ditched them all and run off when he had the opportunity. But, big damn hero, comes back in the end.

He’s here mainly to “keep an eye on things.” Also maybe because his gf asked him to keep an eye on her son :)

[cvastals]

i brought forrest in like a month n a half ago then panic dropped him bt hes back w a vengeance......... this intro is fully jst copy n pasted from when i originally posted it bt . tosses it out anyway in case anyone hasnt read it before winks n struts into the sunset

* zethphan smith-gneist, demiboy + he/they | you know forrest abbott, right? they’re twenty-two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, their whole life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to bizarre love triangle by new order like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole golden retriever excitement when someone strikes up conversation, paint streaked overalls worn without care, polaroids of places travelled scattered across the wall thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is october 23rd, so they’re a scorpio, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

background.

for 10 years it was just forrest and his mama lydia in their cozy little trailer at lilac ridge, he’s never met his dad who left as soon as he discovered she was pregnant, not really interested in raising a kid with someone who struggled to get by even while working three jobs

from a young age forrest had to take care of himself since his mama worked sm, but he always got the concept that it was for him to live a good life and necessary for them to get by, she rly showed it well by making sure he knew how much she loved him whenever she cld b around :’)

it was around this time that things were starting to look up - his mama met a really nice man named marcel n while things moved really fast for them they seemed to be a perfect match, soon she was engaged and giving birth to triplets and they even moved into his place in aquila drive, everything was coming up roses

unfortunately as soon as things were good they sort of came to an immediate crash - lydia n marcel tried for another bebe before their wedding but she ended up having a miscarriage :( this sort of sent her into a depressive spiral for a really, really long time

it was bad enough that marcel eventually had enough, she wouldn’t take her medication, wouldn’t talk to a therapist, couldn’t even get out of bed, so he said she had to shape up or go back to their place in lilac ridge, and stubborn as she was she packed everything up that night and the 5 of them went back to their little trailer, this time with a lot less room and a lot more responsibility on forrest’s shoulders

since he was about 14 he’s juggled an abundance of jobs to help his family, it was especially hard when they moved back to lilac ridge, he mostly took care of his little brothers and mum when he could but he had school and work on top of it, it rly was the sort of stress no one shld go thru but he did at a rly young age for quite a long time

details.

still lives at lilac ridge w his family, his mum got a pretty well paying job as a psw but it’s still difficult when u have three 12 year olds running around so forrest watches over them a lot while working as a tour guide at the aquarium, selling art pieces at community events, and odd photography jobs, whatever will put money on the table

grew up incredibly shy and pretty anxious, he’s just used to people leaving so it’s hard for him to trust but he’s also a classic golden retriever boy, if people give him an inch he’ll take it right away but he struggles with approaching people himself, definitely wasn’t too popular in school bc of this

did a double major at the community college for photography and visual arts :yum:

he tries not to doo Too many photography jobs cuz he loves it more as his escape than anything, travels around irving a lot to find random locations and will just spend hours taking pictures, u cant see any of the walls in his tiny bedroom theyre jst covered in his own pictures and art

could paint for hours too tbh, does a lot of art classes whenever he has time and money to spare

has never been in a relationship or even with anyone, the most he’s done frankly is casual make outs at parties or wtvr, always kinda chickens out if it ever goes any further……….. has not picked up on the fact that hes a demisexual/demiromantic king<3 probs doesnt even kno what that is LKSHDGKLHSDG

bc of this wtvr friendships hes made hes definitely romanticized, frankly by accident, he can just grow attached quite easily and since hes demiromantic anytime hes ever had a crush on someone its been ppl hes close to n has learned to trust. it confuses him a lot. LKSDHGKLHSDLG

constantly walks around in paint covered clothes.

obsessed w 80s pop its easily his fav genre (taste)

ok i think thts all……….. i hv rn……………….. lks around hands on hips

connections.

childhood friends!!

also ppl who forced their way into his life, basically jst approached him first n as soon as they showed him any sort of kindness n affection he was automatically like . ok we’re attached fr life sis<3

neighbours at lilac ridge?? mayhaps??

ppl at parties who’ve made a move or he’s hooked up w but when it came down to the Nitty Gritty he was like . oh………….. i think my mums calling me……….. i gtg……………………….. jst no explanation. LKSHDGKLHDSGL

i rly lov the idea of him hvin someone he loves to use as his muse……. either fr his art or photography<3

mayb someone who he actually was almost in a relationship w once upon a time bt it jst didnt work out, timing was off or he backed out cuz he felt bad that he probs cldnt give them his full attention w helping his family etc.

coworkers at the aquarium!!

old college classmates/ppl who take art classes w him??

ok i think those r all the ideas i hv rn. we can also brainstorm. lets get wild.

[fragnanceinth4w]

True Ending ?

Before you keep reading this has massive spoilers for the game... Like Seven route, Secret Endings, Jumin route, V route, Judge or Forgive..... Don't read if you haven't cleared the game haha thanks

Welcome to me ranting about how toxic the MysMe fandom is again !!! Or just read me yelling about the game in general.. This time I'm going talk about Seven, or Saeyoung if you prefer jdkskdjd.

First off, let me start by saying I have nothing against him, LIKE NOTHING I REALLY DON'T LIKE ABOUT HIM. I love him so much and he's my son 🥺 And of course he deserves to be healthy and happy and all. My only problem is not with the character itself, but with the character's fandom. Same goes for Ray but we're not about to start another thing now 🤡

Everyone talks about Seven as if he's the "true route" "true ending" and "canon". No. He's not?? I mean, I don't know, I never asked Cheritz specifically, so if anyone reading this has proof where Cheritz directly says he is the canon ending and he's the one the MC is supposed to end up with, PLEASE message me, and I will shut up. Trust me, I just did some research and I can't seem to find where Cheritz confirms that... And this is about the "reset" theory as well, where does it say that Seven loves you in every route? Because if that's true, I'm going to feel... Really guilty about it. Jk I won't lmao. Why would he like me in the first place? He doesn't even know me... I didn't even try to get close to him lmao. So if you find something that I can't seem to be able to find, I'm a message away. :)

I don't like Seven's ending. I don't like it, like AT ALL. And not because you don't end up with Jihyun (People talk that way about his route.. Saying you don't end up with Saeran) but because he DIES. It's pretty much self-explanatory that he dies in all the other routes (except his!!) as well,(excluding Saeran, because I haven't played it yet.. But I heard he gets a bad ending there too) since he stays in Mint Eye and we all know he'll end up dead anyways.. It's what he wants. He wants to protect everyone and he is willing to give up his life to save them. But in Seven's ending, not only they (kind of) SHOW HOW HE DIES but he also DIES RIGHT IN FRONT OF JUMIN, HIS CHILDHOOD BEST FRIEND. Jihyun is literally the only one he has. He doesn't have a mother, his father is basically ignoring him with his shitty gold diggers and he's not close to anyone in the RFA. HE IS COLD BECAUSE HE THINKS SHOWING HIS FEELINGS DOESN'T MATTER. He doesn't even want to become friends with anyone at all.

(Another kinda big parenthesis here, the reason why he doesn't like women isn't because "Does Jumin Han is gay" or whatever, I DESPISE that stupid "joke" so much, it's not funny at all, and it's so unoriginal. It's the other way around, he and Jihyun are the ones that are most likely to be straight,since they both were canonically "in love" with Rika and in their respective routes, they end up with MC. The reason why he doesn't like women is because of the amount of women his father dates. He doesn't know that there could be someone that would truly care about him, not for his money, but for he, as a person. He thinks all women are the same, and he's not completely wrong.. most of us are like this. It's all so much deeper than "he's gay!!" and it is not funny or something you should joke about. He is not a character that should be used for LGBT+ representation or whatever.)

Back to our topic, Jumin and Jihyun were best friends for about two decades. (not one!!! They didn't meet when they were 15, tf) (And they also shouldn't be shipped together????? They're best friends, their friendship is so pure.. Stop misunderstanding it??????????) How would you feel like if you watched your childhood best friend, the one you've been friends with for 20 years, pretty much the only one you still have by your side, just die? And you could do nothing to save him?? You do not overcome something like that.. It's permanent trauma. And it's even worse considering that this is not his route, meaning that now he's left with nobody. Since Seven and Jumin share a story mode, (I mean Deep Story..) the Sarah storyline is canon, and Jumin probably ends up with her.. Which only just makes things even worse for him.

You know let's just say, this is Seven's route. It's not Jumin, so obviously he can't be happy, or as much happy as Seven. I can accept that.. What annoys me is that everyone says Seven's ending is the true ending.

How is it the true ending though? The only ones that actually end up happy is Seven, Saeran and MC. Again, THIS IS NOT WRONG, IT IS ONLY NORMAL TO NOT BE ABLE TO HAVE EVERYONE HAPPY.

Right?

No??????? Have y'all even played Judge or Forgive???????????? I mean of course you haven't, y'all's asses are stuck to Saeran route and sobbing over how "his AE isn't out yet !!!!!!!!!!!" like bitch shut the fuck up at least you got a kiss CG. Anyways, if you even bothered to do V route and his AE, Saeran doesn't die !!!! He actually is happy !!!!!!!! You know who else is happy? SEVEN IS HAPPY. Like actually happy.

This is the reason why I consider V's ending the true ending.. Of course part of the reason is because he's my fav but I actually can support my opinion with arguments.. Unlike y'all saying Seven route is true ending because his route has the most plot twists (????? and how does that make it the true ending ?????)

You see, V's ending actually leaves pretty much everyone satisfied. Of course not everyone is HAPPY HAPPY but at least nobody dies??????? Seven and Saeran finally meet and Saeran "forgives Seven for abandoning him" (yeah I ain't blaming him, there was nothing he could do really) and like they're actually happy lol. Yeah they're HAPPY HAPPY because they don't need a girl more than they need each other.

I remember making a post on Instagram were I talked about how I consider V's ending the canon one because it leaves everyone happy and someone just commented that Saeran dies in his route?? I answered saying that he actually is not dead and he is safe and happy in the end and they kept talking bullshit like "yeah but he's not really happy" UHHH????? HE IS??????? JUST BECAUSE HE'S NOT WITH THE MC DOESN'T MEAN HE CAN'T BE HAPPY????

Tbh this is just my personal opinion but I think Saeran needs a family more than he needs MC... I haven't played his route yet and maybe it's because I played V's too many times but I CANNOT picture him as my boyfriend or husband.. I see him as my son. And I think that he'd be happier with Seven (his brother) and V (his father figure) rather than just MC as his wife. Then again, that's only my opinion.. It just kinda annoys me how obsessed he is with you at the start of Another Story and how you kinda support that obsession if you get his route.. That's not really true. I think the MC only wants to help him, but why can't we do that in V's route..? Do y'all really HAVE to date someone to believe they're happy?

How about everyone can think whatever they want?? Like, we can choose whatever ending we like?? (Bad Endings excluded, cough cough Rika stans, cough cough toxic Jumin "stans") If someone thinks Yoosung is the true ending, that's up to them.. Do not just go around saying Seven is true ending as if it's confirmed and actually canon.. Because it's not. We don't care about how much you like him and how cute and funny he is. Shut the fuck up.

I've been typing for literal days so Imma just saying this lastly, EVEN RIKA IS HAPPY IN V'S AE. I don't really know about Judge Ending cause I heard it's fucked up but in Forgive Ending, she actually becomes a better person. Like truly regrets everything she did and actually does good to people. This is the only Rika I approve of.. Shut the fuck up toxic Rika stans 🤢🤢🤮

Anyways yeah that's all.. My personal opinion, don't you even think about fucking attacking me you toxic assholes (only talking about the toxic part of the fandom...) But we can argue :^)

Have a great day / night ~ ✨

[wolfwhiteflowers]

I found this on twitter and wanted (try) to answer them here instead. :B Great questions! thanks. @LM_Nocass twitter.com/LM_Nocass/ status/1292935841258647553

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𝐚 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐥/𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐨𝐥/𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐥 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮'𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐝 (𝐩𝐥𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲); 2:28 PM · Aug 10, 2020 --------------@LM_Nocass

1. Which part of herself does Carol see in Daryl?  ||um same brokenness past and seeing that there’s good parts in him. He’s not like Merle and Ed. 2. Which part of himself does Daryl see in Carol?  ||They both know what it’s like to be abused and have an understanding. He sees strength in her. /...I think they slowly start to think they’re not alone on feeling like the odd one out or fighting to live before Apoc. They eventually think they’re a lot alike and connected right away. s1-s2. I guess they both started to grow at the same time and look after each other’s back ever since.

3. If there was no za and they met each other, would they be so close? Why?    ||Yeah I think so. But not so close or “early” on. Probably lil glimpse of like oh they’re alike and good people. But other things in the way...like Carol or Daryl be stuck in bad situations and die or something. Y’kno Daryl would’ve been like “mini Merle” or like.... dead from stopping a fight or prison. Carol could just be dead or lost herself from being with Ed. ...Unless they got away from their abusers :) I can see there’s a chance of them getting close.   *”mini Merle” I think I got this phrase wrong. Mini Merle is Merle’s hand weapon thing. I meant that Daryl would have become more damaged,lost, and be similar to Merle then. ..like a younger Merle.

4. How do you think, Alexandria's ppl ship them or they don’t care? Why?  || BTW, I think of what the writers want or had in mind.. Anyway, when Rlchonne happened or Abe and Sasha went canon, it just seems like very neutral whatever way. Well I guess the show isn’t that .. charactery and romantic. -_-  Anyway, I think they care and are supportive and of all Team family but mind their business. I think practically everyone knows about Caryl and their close relationship. I guess they’re like in the same boat as us or general fans. We would be happy if they get together but if not then like ....hmm you guys are so together~  Um..I guess people would be going WTF if Caryl grew apart.

5. AU: real life. Which one of them is more attractive to believe in supernatural stuff? Why?   || they both seem to be into that. erm I’ll say Daryl.

6. AU: real life. Which one of them is more attractive to send a lot of Red heartFace throwing a kissSmiling face with heart-shaped eyes and etc? Why?   || Carol is more open to display of affection. But Daryl got his heart on his sleeves. He’s straightforward tells/show you how he feels and means it.

13. What would do today's Carol if she met someone like Ed?  ||Probably she be able to stand up to him when he starts to be controlling and she speak out and say it’s not right. Idk..maybe them talking it out will make Ed change himself if he wants to. And she walks away from him early on. 14. If today's Carol met past Carol, what would she say to her?   ||You’re stronger than you think you are. You are enough. These hard times made her wiser in Apoc./life. She’s always a mother..when they’re gone, they’re still with her. 15. If today's Daryl met past Daryl, what would he say to him?    ||This doesn’t always have to be this way/Merle-life. You’re not alone. Good people will stick with you. Trust them. Your goodness matters. You don’t need to depend on Merle. If Merle wouldn’t change now then he won’t later on. Idk... Daryl is so loyal and to his brother. So it’s just he gotta let Merle/his past go. 16. Why does Daryl prefer the crossbow, not a bow?   ||I guess that’s what hunters like to use most often. Idk. 17. AU: real life. Which one of them is most likely to surfing in the Internet for hours? Why?   ||Carol because she mentioned internet in s4. lol Okay um yeah Carol I guess. I think she likes to research on things. Daryl is more outdoorsy kind of person. 18. AU: real life. Which one of them will have a private acc on social medias and who won’t care?   ||I think both would be private...or heck Daryl not private but barely any content. lol Just hunting, nature stuff and games.

19. AU: real life. Which one of them will send memes?   ||Carol because she like goofy or sassy jokes.

20. AU: real life.  What profession is suitable for Carol? Why?  ||hmm housewife, teacher, nurse, or something to look after the community.. She likes to cook but Idk if she likes to do it often. Some job to care about the people and place.

21. AU: real life. What profession is suitable for Daryl? Why? ||A hunter, mechanic, or construction worker. Something like hands-on job.

22. Which of them has a black sense of humor?   ||I think Carol have a dark/black sense of humor. Daryl is ..more less humor-y. more sarcastic. idk what im saying.

23. Had Daryl ever thought about having children? If he did, he would prefer boy or daughter?    ||I think he never really thought of it till he’s away from Merle/past life. But Idk I think he doesn’t really think on it. He just wants to protect all kids. He’s Uncle Daryl. I don’t think he has a preference.

24. Is Daryl asexual or demisexual? Or other? Why?    ||Read ? #10. I say so far it seems like he’s demisexual from what Kang said and from what people/fandom been always questioning him from the show and from that 6 years in woods plot. (Also the show isn’t that showy on romance and relationships so I didn’t think they would bother to address his romance/sexuality but they did so ok.) I guess I always think of him as demisexual...or someone who would be friends to lovers kind of person. He’s the closest with Carol so..slowburn to canon, yeah? /// This makes me think of Carol’s relationships and how she is fine having sex anytime ..no emotions involved way...She doesn’t really have or know a good emotional canon relationship except almost with Zeke, I guess. 25. Carol’s fav movie genre(s)? ||Romcoms <3

26. Daryl’s fav movie genre(s)?  ||action / horror :O 27. When the show ends, what kind of ending do you want for them?   ||I want good writing and that flows right. Caryl be Caryl. I guess them riding off to the sunset to New Mexico. Or..looking after team family in ASZ or TF working together to find/help Rick and living their best lives in a community. A happy ending pls. 28. Which one of them is good at math?  ||hmm Carol. Daryl would be good at reading..science.

29. If there was Caryl movie, what song(s) would you add to it?   || hmm a song to add, I would pick ..”You and Me” by Pink I think. Or, “X and Y” by Coldplay. Or, “Cosmic Love” by Florence Machine. 30. Did Daryl help you?   ||I really appreciate the writers and the acting did with Daryl and Carol. They’re really unique, interesting and relatable characters. Daryl helped me to keep being myself and do what’s right even when you feel odd ball out. Idk I also like that we see characters like Daryl and Carol what we stereotypical think they may be like in s1 but then we see they’re relatable and we can be more open minded to other people.  I liked that we see him getting a chance to grow and see how loyal he is. 31. Did Carol help you?  ||Yeah. I really like how she’s like I guess most people in s1, quiet, timid, not quite fit into the Apoc. world, but learns to trust herself, get braver and open up. She’s like so strong and brave now but it’s not surprising to see that in a way because we see her character development and I like how writers and acting, made it so relatable and realistic to me. We all can be like Carol. //I think she’s a great character to watch for mothers who lost kids or was a abused wife/person. Same with Daryl as a abused child/brother in that Merle’s lifestyle.

32. What did Caryl give you? Hope? Strength?  ||I really like what became Caryl in the show for years. They became one of my fave ships. They’re unique and I love that we see their strong bond and connection. They’re soulmatey and angsty. Idk I feel like they gave hope that there are people that will get you and have your back. And strength, they grown so much and made me think about myself to keep facing my fears and be in a healthy relationship. 33. Carol’s fav music genre(s)?   ||Country pop. Idk.. I think McReedus are into Rock music so. 34. Daryl’s fav music genre(s)?   ||Country rock. ...Idk Metal music.

35. Describe Carol in one word. ||Brave

36. Describe Daryl in one word. ||Loyal or uh a word that means does what he think is the right thing to do...and caring. Uncle.

37. What do you expect from them in season 11?  ||Idk I’m really clueless. TWD right now is really not by the comics anymore and it’s hard to speculate now. I’m kinda hoping they have something a plot that relates to taking care of the Grimes kids and a plot/s that relates to Rick’s journey/TWD show. Idk well I guess they be figuring it out what to do with Maggie and politics with the ..spoiler- new communities.

I hope for good writing and if they go canon, I hope they write good relationship/romance writing. As in they don’t separate them and break up a bunch of times or be boring. eek. I hope it’s like they still be like the subtle canon ship..like RIchonne as there is something else they have to do together. Like they be canon but they talk about the new plots/problems/family in s11 and their relationship grows.

38. Your favorite Caryl season(s)? Why?  ||It’s season 2 or s10. I feel it’s the most Caryl interaction and them deepening their relationship. 39. When do you think Daryl was ready to start a relationship? Or do you still think he isn't ready? Or he is ready rn?    ||Whenever the writers are ready. :\  I think as a character he’s ready...yeah especially s10. He’s not hiding and being emo in the woods in s9. He’s not the (Rick’s)sidekick character anymore. He’s I think grown a lot by being with people and opening up being a leader-like now, domestic?,leading character, and I think he’s now more ready to have romantic relationship if he wants to. And for Carol ..rn is like does she feel worthy or ok to have love again. ooh angst. 40. Which of them is owl, and which of them is lark? Why?  || I think Daryl is a lark/early bird because he likes the quietness and time to hunt, and Carol is a night owl because she likes to know what else is going on when it’s the dark.

[sasuhinasno1fan]

Flowers and a bit of flirting- Lukadrien June Day 19

So usually it’s Adrien who get’s flustered, so I did a bit of flustered Luka. Another cannon divergance, the Miraculous don’t exist an our fav gods are house pets, including a cheese loving cat. Yes, mama Agreste is alive and well but like my last cannon divergence, they separated. I don’t know why I keep doing this to Adrien but he’s allowed to act more like his Chat self with his mom, so yeah. I swear, I’m not trying to salt Gabriel, it’s just hard to not make him be the villian sometimes. Yeah, anyway, please enjoy. @lukadrien-june​ Flower Language

Luka stopped his bike at the security box for the movie set, waving to the familiar guard.

“Again?” the guard asked.

Luka shrugged. “I’m just here to deliver them.”

the guard shook his head, grabbing a visitor pass and handed it to Luka, the routine familiar and quite honestly getting old. “When is he gonna get the hint?”

“Probably never, which is great for my bank account.” Luka answered, pushing his bike past the gate.

People were rushing around, two different scenes being filmed for different movies. The Graham de Vanily movie studio was busy as always and Luka was heading towards the trailer for their biggest star, Ms. Emilie Graham de Vanily. The sad part was that her recent new surge in fan wasn’t for her amazing acting or the tireless work she does for charity. No, the reason she was in the public eye was her public divorce from famed fashion designer Gabriel Agreste and full custody of their unnamed son. From what they were told, due to some horrible disagreement before a trip to Tibet that was cancelled, they finally called it quits. Some say it was because Gabriel cheated, others say that they never really loved each other, most say that they fell out of love and few speculated that maybe their son had been the main reason. Gabriel was getting ready to release his as the face of the fashion name but Emilie said no and filled for full custody.

Now the flower shop Luka worked for was getting huge orders of flowers to be delivered to the known actress by her former husband as a way to try and win her back. From what he’d seen of pictures of the two, Gabriel had real love in his eyes whenever he looked at his wife but whatever happened between them Emilie had had enough because most times when Luka arrived to drop off the flowers, he would separate the large bouquet into smaller ones to give to staff members and her co stars. Thankfully those who were given the smaller bouquets didn’t say anything about where they came from and just accepted them.

Gabriel had obviously been doing homework as his orders had flowers that asked for forgiveness and said how much he still loved her. Shame they were rejected. One time, she’d been so annoyed, she cut them up, dumped them in a box and gave Luka twice what the bouquet was to send the mess of flowers back to the original sender. She felt embarrassed after but Luka wasn’t going to blame her. She was obviously still hurting and all the extra attention wasn’t making her feel any better or letting her move on.

He reached the familiar trailer and knocked on the door. He was focused on pulling the large bouquet out of his basket that when the door opened, he started with his usual spill.

“New delivery Mme. Graham. If you’re going to split them, I can go ahead and get started.”

“Probably best since my mom is allergic to those flowers.”

Luka turned and instead of the kind blonde woman he was used to seeing in the doorway of the trailer, there was a blond guy, slightly younger than him with bright green eyes. He had the same smile Emilie would wear, if not a bit mischievous like a cat. He was cute, like really cute.

“Adrien, who is it?” Emilie came around, smiling at Luka. “Luka, nice to see you again. Another delivery I see.”

“Uh, yeah. It’s purple aquilegia, which mean ‘I can’t give thee up’.” Luka answered, his eyes trailing back to the guy, Adrien.

Emilie shook her head, seeming drained. “If he paid any attention, then he’d remember I’m allergic to those. Could you split them up for me dear? Adrien, why don’t you help him? By the time you get back, I’ll be filming and you can finally start on your homework. I don’t care if it’s physics.” she cut in as Adrien opened his mouth. “You need to finish it before we leave. Help Luka sort and deliver those and I’ll see you later, ok sweetheart?”

“Yes mom.”

Mom, so this was the mysterious son.

Adrien climbed down from the trailer and planted himself next to Luka.

“So you’re Luka. Mom tells me my dad sends you here almost everyday and you know flowers.”

“Yeah. I don’t fully like it because of awkward it obviously is but the payment gets spilt into my pay check so I can’t complain. Here, hold these.” Luka pulled out a roll of plastic they wrapped the flowers in and a pair of scissors. “Learning the language of flowers is pretty interesting too. There’s so much you can say with a simple bouquet.”

“Has anyone ever said F you in flowers?”

Luka let out a laugh. “Yes, there is actually truth to that Tumblr post. Why, asking for a friend?”

Adrien hold the roll loosely as Luka pulled a length off. “I mean, a friend of mine really doesn’t like this new girl in our class. She lies a lot and almost got away with everything when she messed up and we caught her out on it. She’s got the rest of the school under her thumb and it takes everything in us to keep Marinette from wanting to rip her head off. I’ll admit, I could do the same to my dad, but only cause he doesn’t realise that he keep putting my mom in a difficult position when he sends the flowers. But my mom would say it’s none of my business.”

Marinette? Like his ex-girlfriend and still good friend Marinette? Well, it had to be a common name.

“Well if your mom isn’t totally turned off by flowers, you could give her red camellia. They mean admiration. Your mom is pretty strong. She’d get along with mine I think.”

“So those pierced ears and nail polish are to hide your bad boy exterior?”

“I am the farthest thing from a bad boy. For one, don’t wear a lot of black, that’s more my sister’s thing. I might like Jagged Stone, but I’m sure most of France does too. And motorcycles scare the hell out of me. I’ll stick with my classic bike.”

Adrien let out a small life, his eyes crinkling. “Guess I shouldn’t put people in boxes. I’ve been known to be a huge flirt amongst my classmates and they can get pretty annoyed by my puns and most people who look at me expect this quiet kid.”

“Something tells me if there’s a prank pulled, everyone looks to you first.” Luka teased.

Adrien bleped at him, shrugging his shoulders. “I’ve had a good teacher in the form of my cat. Just flash them pouty eyes and they’ll never be mad at you.” he flashed him those same pouty eyes he talked about and Luka had to look away to save him from turning red. Fuck, he was really cute.

They continued talking, finishing separating all the flowers and putting them back into the vase. He let Adrien lead him around to the people not working with his mother until the vase was empty and he escorted him back to his mother’s trailer.

“Have fun with your homework.”

“I’d rather do a hard pass but mom’s right. It’s physics so it won’t take long. So, I guess I’ll see you around?”

“I guess so.”

Adrien gave him a wave and smile before disappearing into his mother’s trailer and Luka walked back to the gates. Usually when he left, his thoughts would usually consist of wondering when this would end and Gabriel would back off. Now, all he could think about was bright green eyes and a mischievous smile.

                                                      ___________

“Another one?” Adrien asked as he opened his mother’s trailer door and saw Luka standing there with another large bouquet, yellow chrysanthemums this time. “What do they mean this time?”

“Slighted love.”

Adrien seemed to flinch at that. “they did have a huge a argument over the phone last night. Mom’s making me stay with a friend tonight to avoid hearing more of it. She’s not here, so we can go ahead and split them up.”

a loud protesting meow called from inside and Adrien shook his head before looking into the trailer. “Plagg, calm down. You’ve gotten enough treats from mom.”

“Plagg?” Luka asked.

“Like plage. I’m a weird child.” Adrien said, taking the roll of plastic from Luka.

“Not that weird. My snake is called Sass. I think I was just lazy.”

“Well can’t be as weird as my classmate’s pet monkey, aptly named King.”

King the monkey? Wait a second.

“Random, but do you go to Collège Françoise Dupont?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Your home room teacher Mme. Bustier?” Adrien nodded, looking lost. “I think you’re in the same class as my sister, Juleka?”

the eyes brightened in understanding. “Oh! You’re that Luka! The guys told me about you. They’ve been trying to come up with ways to make you join their band, Kitty Section.”

“And I would, if I wasn’t trying to earn money to get into this music college I want to go to. Your dad is paying a hefty amount towards my education. My sister mentioned they had a new student in class. Guess it makes sense why she didn’t say who. No one really knows who you are yet do they?”

“Not yet. Mom wants to wait until after the filming is done in case she needs to be there. I mean, if you know Alya, she knows and my closer friends do. I trust you can keep a secret?” Adrien asked, sliding up closer to Luka.

Luka controlled himself, trying not to look bothered. He was usually so calm and cool. What was it about Adrien that made him like that?

“I can. Don’t worry. Just don’t tell my sister you know me. She might beg you to help convince me to join Kitty Section.”

“I don’t know. I saw the costumes Marinette sketched. You’d look interesting as a kittycorn.” Adrien laughed a little.

“I look amazing in anything.” Luka said, tossing his hair similar to how he’d seen Chloe Bourgeois do whenever she came by the house boat to tease his sister – which tended to lead into his mother yelling at her from the stern. Chloe’s father might spoil his daughter, but no one bothered a pissed off Anarka Couffaine.

“I’m sure you do.”

Adrien admitted to being a flirt, but that knowledge didn’t stop the sudden blush from popping up on Luka’s face.

                                                     __________

Alyssum, primrose, diosma and gloxinia, with a few white clover flowers to fill in the space. Mme. Anciel usually took care of making the bouquets, though she gladly taught Luka after seeing how he retained the information about the language of flowers.

“Luka, we’ve got a new order. Could you grab me some purple columbines from the green house?” Mme. Anciel said as she came out from the back where she usually made the orders. She had black hair like her son, though her eyes were hazel and tanned skin from always being in the sun. “Oh, is that a new order?”

“Oh, no. I was just messing around. These were older ones, don’t worry.”

Mme. Anciel took in the bouquet in the green vase. “Worth beyond beauty, unconscious beauty, you’re simple charms enchant me and love at first sight. And think of me. Who are you trying to send a message to Luka?”

“Oh, no one. I was just messing around.”

the florist raised an eyebrow. She’d been in the business long enough and spoke the language of flowers well enough to see a person’s whole heart in them. Luka knew he wasn’t tricking her.

“Ok, there’s this guy.”

“Sounds like my son before he started dating, but go on.”

“Well I met him on my deliveries and he’s really cool and funny and such a flirt and that usually wouldn’t bother me but I like it when he flirts with me. Which isn’t like me, but still. He’s a really cool guy.” Luka shrugged, feeling embarrassed. Not a normal feeling for him but one he was ok with. Adrien was doing strange things to him.

“You’ve only really been doing deliveries to Mme. Graham de Vanily, so he must be from there. He an actor?”

Luka shook his head, thinking of Adrien and how easily he could look innocent with those pouty green eyes of his. “No, his mom works there though.”

“Who’s mom works where?” Marco came in, from where he’d been hiding in the back for his break. He was smudged with dirt and if Luka didn’t know how into his story writing Marco let himself get when in the safety of his home, he’d think Nathaniel came by for a visit.

“Luka’s crush.”

“You have a crush?”

Luka rolled his eyes. “Maybe. Why are you bugging me about this? Any mention of Nathaniel and you go red.”

“Maybe I want to break the calm musician facade. Who are they? Customer?”

“Customer's son.” he didn’t want to give too much away. Adrien and Marco might go to the same school and Marco might date Adrien’s classmate but he wasn’t sure how much he was privy to. “We’ve been talking whenever I go drop off deliveries at the Graham de Vanily studio.”

“Guess M. Agreste is good other than giving us a big pay check. He helps Luka find love.”

“It’s always the shy ones.” Luka muttered under his breath.

“Will you give it to him?” Mme. Anciel asked.

“Maybe not.”

“Why not? Good way to ask him on a date.”

“I don’t want to assume anything. He might not even be interested.”

“Darling, if he’s got you making bouquets like that, there has to be something mutual.”

As much as he would of liked to avoid it, Mme. Anciel all but forced the newly made bouquet into his hands as he got ready to deliver a new bouquet to Emilie. She accepted the gilliflower bouquet, though it sounded like it was going to be re-homed anyway.

“Adrien’s inside the trailer if you wanted to talk to him. He talks quite a bit about you at home, asking me a lot of questions about you.”

“Good things I hope.”

“Well, you haven’t given me any reason to say bad.” she said with this sort of smile he’d usually see on his mom when she was trying to get him and Juleka to admit their sexuality, like she already knew, she just wanted to hear it from them. It had to be a mom thing.

Adrien was laying on the couch, pinned by a lazy looking black cat. He smiled at Luka when he came in, though he couldn’t move.

“Hi. I would of come out to greet you, but someone refuses to move. He dug the Camembert from my mom’s fruit basket and is now so full he won’t move.” Adrien said, staring down at his chilled out cat, who only flicked his tail. “Did you not give me mom the flowers?”

the bouquet for Adrien was still in his hands. He could of lied and said it was for someone else, but he decided to take a chance. “They’re for you actually. I was thinking about you and made this.”

“Really? Thank you. That was really sweet of you. Did my mom tell you primroses are my favourite?” Adrien asked, putting his phone down and taking the flowers, a large smile on his face.

“No, just thought they suited you.”

“Well I love it. Thank you. Um, do you think it’d be ok if you stayed a bit, unless you had to go back to work.”

he thought of Mme. Anciel and what she might do to him if he returned sooner than what had become usual whenever he dropped off flowers for Emilie. Then he thought of spending time with Adrien without having to focus on flowers for a little while.

“Yeah, sure. I can stay. What where you playing?” Luka asked, sitting on the edge of the sofa next to Adrien.

He tugged on Luka’s sleeve to pull him closer as he picked up his phone. “Any good at otome games? I’m trying to woo this guy and he’s being shy.”

“I have a feeling you’d be fine regardless.”

Not a date, but it would do for now, until he could actually say what he was feeling without hiding behind flowers.