#as far as I'm aware they have one canon interaction but that never stopped me

[jumpscaregoose]

funbari chronicles tamajeanne my beloved

due to not being on the bird app I have somehow been unaware of the funbari chronicles assets account. this was a mistake on my part

[alexandraisyes]

You on the TSAMS writing team?

But your stories are just for crying and masturbating at the same time lol

These are the most OC things I've read in this fandom, and look, I've also read things written by Infamous Doctor lmao

Well, aren't you a salty little shit?

It's almost like I write my AUs to not reflect on the canon timeline. It's almost like those are personal fanworks that I do for fun in my free time with my friends and partner because I enjoy writing. It's like they aren't meant to be accurate portrayals of the canon story or characters since it's an, oh I don't know, alternate universe. And clearly, if you both cried and masturbated to my fics then I'm doing something right because that's the point of them. To have fun and be unhinged and not worry about canon and just explore different dynamics in my own little world of my making.

I have fanworks that have nothing to do with sex or angst or anything like that on my safe-for-work archive, but I think that sex is funny so I write about it. Sue me for enjoying a specific genre of literature. I guess that means that my works for the canon timeline of the show have all been for naught, and I should just stop analyzing canon because I'm clearly not allowed to have both cakes. Right? I can't enjoy my own personal stories that aren't supposed to reflect on canon at all and it's supposed to feel "OC" because the interpretation of the characters changes for every AU because I also enjoy canon. Right?

I explained the other day that when I talk about TSAMS there are two things that happen in my head. There's the canon timeline that I do my "professional" writings on. The same writings that the VAs and most of the mod team have joined my thread on the official discord for. And then there's the silly little version in my head that I play with like dolls that has nothing to do with canon and never was supposed to be and that's the version for my friends. See also:

I'm not hiding the fact that I make NSFW content and I never had. It takes 30 seconds of research to find that content if you want it, and you've made it obvious that you've engaged with that content, so I don't think you have room to talk, anon.

Let me break it down in terms that you can understand.

I am not pushing to get me on the writing team. I am not the one flooding the TSBS server, I am not the one writing letters, I am not the one overwhelmingly wanting me on the team. I am just some dude who "writes fics to cry and masturbate to" and also analyzes the canon story with my excessive knowledge of psychology and neurology and other miscellaneous information. People know me better for the second than the first. Most of the people who are pushing for this to happen have never read a single one of my fics (as far as I'm aware), and have purely read my analyses. Do not insult me by insinuating that I cannot separate my personal and professional level work, because I do it every day.

I have been making deep-dive, psychological, and lore-accurate analyses of the show for over six months. I have almost never been wrong when I make an analysis, and people come to me to help them understand the lore. My reputation in this fandom is high for several different reasons, but most people don't know me as "The sad porn author" because that's the smallest fraction of the content that I produce that it's actually insignificant. I can see what kind of opinion you have of me, and it's at once amusing and insulting, so do me a favor and stop interacting with my content, because you're bringing all sorts of vibes that I don't agree with onto my blog.

Also, there was no reason to drag DoctorF into this. They are a wonderful and kind individual and they're also doing their own thing for their own amusement. If that's something you have issue with, since you clearly do, then do yourself a favor and stop interacting with their content.

And again, in case you missed it the first time. I'm not the one that wants me on the writing team. It's everyone else. Maybe you should think about what the implications of that is, instead of being jealous that no one knows who you are. And good job being so brave and putting on your big boy shorts just to shit in them by hiding behind anon. Go clean up your act, anon, you've wasted my time and I loathe people who waste my time.

[hiso03]

what makes you ship halbarry, mine is the amount of symbolism and moments they manifest about them being compatible with each other and even the main lore knows theybare one😭😭

sometimes I wonder why these two aren't together yet since they are basically soulmates 😭😭

This is probably the question I have been waiting for the most and for which I have to have the longest possible answer. I will try not to go too far, but I will also try not to miss any points that I consider important.

I think I can start by saying that I love their dynamic, I've always liked it. To start Barry is a more serious guy, shy and introverted, always thinking about some situation and planning. And Hal is more outgoing, noisy and confident, he NEVER plans and is too impulsive.

They are opposing poles, not radically opposed as with other characters in the league, but they remain opposing enough to provide contrast to the relationship. There's also the fact that the two of them are fully aware of those differences, and even though they don't like some at all, they've never tried to change anything between them. Even when people constantly point out how different they are and how no one understands how they are friends. (Even they can't understand how they're so close if they don't resemble each other at all)

(Personally this panel is one of my favorites, as I love how Hal immediately jumps up to Barry's tastes, making it clear that while he doesn't like to do the same things Barry does, he doesn't find it as bad or boring as some might think.)

In general, the series of “The brave and the bold” I like because it allows you to take a close look at their relationship and give us lots of interactions of them, allows us to see a little more of their real character and their friendship.

There is also the fact that in that series they constantly show how well they know each other Hal and Barry manage to combine their skills to help each other. They always take advantage of each other's ability to resolve conflicts, and even when they fight or argue, they resolve them quickly. Another of my favorite numbers is the last volume of the series, when Barry falls into a terrible and painful depression and Hal is the only one who supports him.

Literally Hal tries to have some stability in his life to let Barry stay with him, helps him like Barry has always helped him and says one of the phrases I love the most.

“The poor man needs something to hold on to, so he will stay with me, maybe our friendship will be a comfort to him, he will always be able to count on that until the day we die.”

In this same comic is where Barry tries to sacrifice himself and Hal stops him, to that I add that in a previous issue we also show that one of Hal's biggest fears is losing Barry. The thought of seeing him die or get hurt is something that scares him.

Hal's not afraid to die, he's afraid that Barry will die and it's his fault, that I can't save him. And that point added to everything that's going on with Parallax and Crisis on Infinite Earths feels like a stab for both of them.

It's fucking tragic.

Generally in many moments of Hal as Parallax or The Wraith, Hal talks about Barry, continues to talk about how amazing he was as a person and a hero, talks about how he remains his best friend even though Barry is still dead. (That reminds me a lot of when I'm with my friends and some of them start talking about their boyfriends even though they're not there and we didn't talk about them originally)

And when they both revive, Barry constantly lets him know that everything that happened with Parallax wasn't him and tries to support him, try to be there for him for as long as he couldn't help him when his friend needed him the most.

We also have the fact that Barry has canonically been a blue lantern, and well, hope and willpower isn't exactly two opposing poles, on the contrary, it's likely that both entities are reciprocal forces. That they stick together and support each other, just like Hal and Barry do.

I also like to think that they had a somewhat similar childhood.

Both lost a father or mother, and that led to the loss of the rest of their family and childhood, they had to grow up faster than the other children, became more independent, and soon discovered that the world was cruel and unjust.

Although we also have other universes like:

The universe of Injustice where the two of them continue to support each other and remain together despite the mess that is around them, and there is even a panel where Hal as a yellow lantern is going to rescue Barry after Constantine abducted him.

Or we also have the fact that red and green in the chromatic circle are two opposite or complementary colors that are usually used when you want to create a harmony on a visual level. That is, from the choice of colors we can know perfectly well that they are opposite poles, but they complement each other so well that it creates a visual harmony when you see them together. (For some reason Christmas usually uses these two colors as its main ones).

There's also the fact that Hal and Barry met before the league was formed, and even when they met Batman and Superman, Hal wanted him and Barry to work it out on their own. (Barry refused because someone has to put prudence on their duo)

And we have the fact that in the story of how they met, Hal calls it his “first date”. (Let's pretend he didn't say that when he and Barry weren't literally on what looked like a date, where they went to dinner at a restaurant where there was live jazz music and Hal actually had a good time sitting on Barry's cell phone).

(Hal hates jazz, but he's still there with Barry at a dinner party while putting up with music he doesn't really like. That's pretty.)

I think it was also in this comic where Hal lets Barry use his ring to get you both out of there.

There's also universe 36 where we have two variants of Green Lantern and Flash that canonically speaking are couple. It is worth remembering that the two of them did not stay together, since in an event they participated in, the Flash of their universe dies. (It seems there can't be a crisis without a sprinter dying) Luckily at DC Pride they made the green lantern of their land look for their Flash, and they revived and were happy.

(They're supposed to be neither Hal nor Barry, but the truth, their designs and even their names feel like very inspired by them, so I scored it as a little extra point although I don't know if you can consider it).

We have DC vampires that although in that universe, Hal kills Barry because they won't let him turn him into a vampire because he would end up killing everybody. Hal finally gives us that line where he admits that he REALLY wanted to conquer the world with Barry, which kind of fuels his tragic gay romance.

Anyway, I would like to go longer, but I can't find some panels that I was looking for to explain me more, plus I feel that this is already long enough and meaningless to make it clear that I love them both. I just want to add that I think probably the thing I like most about them is that they both admire each other. Both their heroic parts and their civilian parts, and I think that's very sweet and nice, added to the fact that they're always there trying to support each other or show off parts of their personality that you can't appreciate with all their friends to the same extent. I like that they always have symbolism and like many times in the comics it refers to some moments that they have lived together. This makes me have the theory in my head that maybe some cartoonists and writers also like them in a sense beyond friendship, but since NOBODY dares to take the leap of faith and make them canon, they let us drop some crumbs so as not to lose faith.

(If anyone got here, thank you so much for reading all this even though it doesn't make much sense in some parts, I apologize for that and make up for it with some panels of them two)

[bushkit]

MiD LGBT HEADCANONS (cause why not)

(These headcanons mostly apply to my rewrite but I feel they fit in canon too. Any hate/homophobic comments will result in a block 🥰)

Ava: Biromantic Asexual, She/Her

Not really sure on this one, maybe cause I don't think about Ava very much, but I guess she gives off bi and ace vibes? Like she does make some saucy jokes despite being possibly ace, which I find kinda funny and relatable. I'm not sure though.

Asch: Straight Demiromantic/Sexual, He/Him

Being a prince, I'm sure Asch has been high on the market for nobility who are interested in marrying him. These girls do whatever they can to get his attention in hopes he’ll choose them. But despite their hardest, sweetest efforts, Asch is always unimpressed. He’s not an idiot. He’s absolutely aware of what these women are really after. If he died right in front of them they’d probably shrug and walk off, and then mourn over what they've lost…… their precious newfound status. Asch knows that’s all they really want, they don't want him for love, for a genuine lifelong relationship, when they look at him all they see is a prize. And boy is it an immediate turn off. Asch finds it very difficult to find a lover, he has high expectations, and it takes a lot of interaction for him to even develop a crush. Asch mostly just doesn't even bother. He finds his status and the people he's constantly surrounded with make his chances of finding love slim to none. He just focuses on his kingdom and nothing else. But even still, there's a part of him that longs for a genuine partner. He doesn't want to be completely alone forever.

Leif: Bisexual, He/They

Leif is the most bisexual person I have ever seen in my life. He’s very flirty, and is not afraid to show his impeccable rizz to both men and women. He usually comes off too strong and sends everyone running away, but they're trying their best! He’s overconfident in his abilities and usually fails, but he slays nonetheless. Slay the day you fruity king. As for pronouns, he's fine with any but feminine pronouns. Usually he goes by he, but he also really likes it when people refer to him as “they”. They pronouns make them feel deadlier, and he just finds it comfortable and more fitting to his personality and lifestyle.

Rhys: Aromantic Asexual, He/Him

Rhys has never felt actual attraction before, and in all honestly he isn't complaining about it. He's doing perfectly fine on his own, all he needs are his books and companionship. When it comes to love, Rhys is far more fascinated by the science of it. He loves to observe the behaviors between lovers, how unique each couple is, how relationships may change others over time. He’s okay with spending his life being helpful to his kingdom, and thinks romance will get in the way of that.

Noi: Pansexual, He/Him

Since childhood, Noi has always been absolutely charmed by the idea of love. He’s constantly dreaming of a happy life he could share with someone, no matter who it was. When it comes to potential romance, gender is out of the question for Noi, as long as they love each other he's happy. It’s difficult for him sadly, as someone who's considered weak by many partnered with societies view on love in general, it’s hard to find someone who truly wants to be in love like he does. But that doesn't stop him from being caring to others, and he will never give up hope that he will find a lover some day. (I LOVE YOU MY BABY NOI YOU WILL FIND LOVE)

Pierce: Gray (panromantic) Aromantic Asexual, He/Him

Pierce was a difficult one. He's so quiet and reserved most of the time that it leads me to think his romantic preference is something he keeps to himself. I don't think romance is very important to him at all, but I also don't think he's against romance as a whole. In a way he's kinda like Rhys, more fascinated by love, but though hesitantly, he’d actually be willing to give it a try. Being so laid back, I don't think Pierce really has a romantic preference, leading me to believe he's likely panromantic.

——————

So ya that's it ✨

[simplynims]

A Quick Meeting

Wanted to brush up on my writing skills by writing an interaction between Dennys sister Wrinley and Ashley. "Dennys" doesn't technically have any siblings in canon (As far as I'm aware) so I mixed in a little bit of Dylans canon lore in here for fun.

A buzz of the front door rang out through the apartment as Ashley stands there waiting outside on the welcome mat. It had been a fun month or so of hanging out consistently with Dennys and the others. They were originally going to meet up at one of the bars and grills in town for drinks that night but Dennys car gave out as soon as she arrived back home from work. With no car and the grill being too far to walk to, Ashley offered to pick her up at her place and go from there. But as he stands infront of her apartment door, he realizes this is technically the first time he's actually visited her apartment? Yeah, Denny has visited his apartment before a handful of times but has only stayed for a couple of minutes at best. The most time spent there was probably during his Mitski break down- Ashley stops himself for a second, scrunching his face at the sour memory.

Luckily for Ashley, he doesn't need to dwell on it for too long as the door opens up. Instead of the red head he was expecting, a shorter woman with brown curly hair and a curious look on her face greets him.

"Hello. Can I help you?" She says, peaking out through the cracks of the opened door way. "Uh, yes actually, Dennys lives here right?" Ashleys met with a puzzled look as he explains further. "Red hair, tattoos on her arms, face piercings?" It clicks for the girl as she realizes who he's talking about. "Ohhhh! You mean Dylan? Yeah, she lives here. You must be Ashley right?" She exclaims, opening up the door for him and ushering him inside. "Yeah, that's me. You must be her roommate?" The woman nods as she closes the door.

"Uh-huh! I'm Wrinley by the way, Dylans my sister." Wrinley continues as they lead Ashley into the living room. "She told me to let you in if you knock, she's still getting ready but I'll let her know you're here. Just hang out here, I'll go get her in a sec." With that being said, she quickly walks off deeper into the apartment. Ashley stands there awkwardly for a moment before sitting down on the couch. Dennys never mentioned she had a sister? Then again, she seemed pretty quiet about her personal life and he never bothered to ask about her family. Looking around the living room, it's a bit surprising how..Pink everything is? It wasn't in your face but a lot of the decorations were more on the pastel side of the spectrum. He assumed it was Wrinley who probably decorated everything.

"Dylans almost ready, she says they'll be out in about 5 minutes. Hope that's okay?" Wrinley appears as she plops down on the other side of the couch, a brownish cat hot on her tail before making itself comfy in her lap. "Oh, no that's fine, I can wait don't worry!" An awkward silence brews for a few moments before Ashley spoke up again.

"So, you're her sister? Never knew she had any siblings." He asked, trying to break the awkwardness between them.

"Yep! It's just me and Dylan so far here in the area, but she's been a good roomie. If you don't mind me asking, how'd you guys meet? She's mentioned she's made some new friends but she wasn't very specific, plus I'm kinda nosey and wanna know what she's up to." Wrinley admits, giving the small cat in her lap a few scratches as she listens.

"Oh, uh- We actually met at her work place a month or so ago, she was our waitress for the night." He explained, being vauge about the whole break up situation with Lexi on purpose. Wrinley might be Dennys sister, but he's not about to explain that whole situation with her just yet.

"Oh cool! I'm glad she's having fun. She's been much happier since meeting you guys I've noticed." She comments before continuing. "I know Dylan can take care of herself especially when she's out drinking, but make sure she gets home safe 'kay?" Wrinley points at him. "Don't worry, I'll make sure she comes back safe and sound." Ashley reassures her as Wrinley squints her eyes at him. She's quick to smiling again though as she responds. "Good! I'd hate there to be a missing persons report on the news with your name on it."

"Wait what-"

"Sorry about the wait, I had to look for my jacket. Are you ready to go?" Not a moment too soon Dylan makes her way over to the two. "Dennys, hey! Uh, yeah- Yes, lets get going." Ashley stammers out, still a bit irked by what Wrinley said. Dylan raises an eyebrow at the uncomfortable tension, giving her sister a look that Wrinley brushes off. "You two have fun! Text me when you're heading home 'Dennys', hehe." She teases, earning herself a playful roll of the eyes by Dylan. "I'll text you later Wrin. C'mon Ash, I need a good drink after todays bullshit." She groans, eager to down whatever alcoholic beverage awaits her at the Bar & Grill. After saying their good-byes, Ashley follows Dylan out to his car before heading off to meet up with the others.

"..Did Wrinley say anything weird to you while I was getting ready?" Dylan prodded during the car ride. Ashley hesitates for a moment. "...No, why?"

"Because I know how Wrinley is like and you get awfully sweaty when nervous." She points out.

"Okay first of all, I do not get that sweaty when nervous-"

"You do." Dylan teases with a smirk.

"SECOND OF ALL-" Ashley laughs. "Kind of? If threatening to put me on the news as a missing persons report counts as 'weird'-" Dylan snickers a little at that. "I wouldn't worry about it too much, she's a good person just protective is all. She wouldn't actually hurt anyone unless provoked."

"Good to know I'll live another day at least."

[zanysmurf]

Sorry if this has been asked before but what is Zany's Smurf gimmick?

see, you think this would be an easy question to answer and by all means it should be! so get ready for a disjointed one. multiple, even. i just kind of say things here:

my original idea was that he'd have a gimmick similar to flighty (always doing various "zany" activities when he's not helping greedy) or jokey (annoying misc. mischief). "zany" is a word people use to describe like any cartoony nonsense, basically interchangable with "wacky", OR a noun to mean an eccentric person (which he was supposed to be) so it's hard to narrow that down. that was supposed to work to my advantage but at the same time it really didn't LOL

one of zany's activities is taking dares when he's bored and he'll do the dumbest things. jokey likes taking advantage of that and smurfs such as smurfette are like "oh for smurfs sake leave him alone. stop daring him to stick his head in dirt for hours" and greedy would say something like "you shouldn't do that type of stuff you need self control." [a smurf dares him to eat 30 cookies] "30???? i can do more than that"

the thing is: i created zany in 2019 for the sole purpose of interacting with my favorite smurfs / shipping him with greedy. i didn't want to use jokey for that stuff, i wanted something that felt more like me at the time. i was like. having a lot of trouble figuring all this out because i usually just wanted to focus on his dynamic with greedy. in older posts you might see him in scene gear with a patterned bandana because i was generally embracing my younger self back then and self-expression / having fun. he fell under 'smurfs if it was modern' or 'what if a modern day smurf was in the show's canon like a time traveler' au imaginings whenever i wasn't picturing him in the show canon, but i think i've drifted away from that (though i still completely get the appeal of the scene zany design)

speaking of him and jokey, i figured maybe they'd pull pranks together or something and when i learned the historical definition of a zany i was like *JAWDROP*

anyway: i'd say zany's gimmick was meant to be unpredictable by nature, but he could also be a vehicle for lighthearted poking at the show itself. ie. he'd be in a cage and notice the bars are tall and wide enough apart so he'd just slip right out. greedy/another smurf would say "how did you do that". and he'd shrug. that's more self-aware than i usually go for but if i was making a joke like that i'd want it to be silly

overall zany is a lot of things the show wouldn't allow: peyo hated when hb made new smurfs so a bunch of them never made it into the show / only lasted a while. his design is very simple but says nothing about his gimmick in a way that i feel would piss off both hb AND peyo. (which tbh i was thinking about redesigning him in some way at some point). there was also a bit of dissonance in terms of "i want this character to be more fleshed out than the show would allow, but i treat the other characters a similar way so it's fine" and making jokes like he's just some minor smurf who by all means shouldn't exist in-universe, ie. "omg remember zany he was in scampering smurfs in the background at 5:06". at one point he had a backstory and stuff that really honed in on the latter idea of "he's too different/not supposed to be here" ie. he used to be something other than a smurf or created artificially but i don't think i even like those ideas anymore

in comparison to fan characters/sonas i've made recently, zany is not one i'm particularly proud of. i love him and greedy but everything was suuuuch a mess. as the above demonstrates, i had far too many conflicting ideas. maybe that's part of the joke of who zany is. or maybe one of these days i'll try and give him something more cohesive. we'll see

[kestalsblog]

Why All Might from My Hero Academia is a Great Character

1. Even though he's continuously referred to as "the symbol" of hope and peace throughout the series, he proves again and again that he's more than just a symbol. He actively embodies the characteristics he's said to symbolize, and he's never arrogant or big-headed about his position as Number One Hero. If anything, he's overly modest and doesn't care enough about his own well-being (as evidenced by all the Sir Nighteye stuff). A lot of times in stories, the big hero turns out to be a big jerk in private, but that's not the case with All Might. He's sincerely a good, kind person - a constant reminder and inspiration to the other characters. Good people do exist even in broken worlds.

2. He promotes the concept of heroism to even the worst heroes like Endeavor. Although he's aware of Endeavor's jealousy at the beginning, that doesn't stop him from encouraging the latter to become the kind of hero he should be independently from what kind of hero All Might is. All Might doesn't expect others to be exactly like him in order to be hero, and I like this philosophy he promotes of a person constantly bettering himself. This is clear through his interactions with Izuku and Katsuki. He believes in both of them equally, and he isn't encouraging Katsuki to be more like Izuku. Instead, he wants Katsuki to discover the better version of himself.

3. He's representation for people with disabilities that prove they can still have valor and compassion and dozens of other amazing qualities even in the absence of physical strength or fully-abled bodies. We always see All Might in his weakened state, but he's never viewed as weak even in his physically diminished form. We don't see other characters rushing to assist him or commenting negatively on his altered appearance (aside from villains); the biggest response from others is generally some surprised reactions to the blood out of his mouth. He also doesn't mope around with speeches about how he's lost everything constantly, which to me personally feels special and inspirational. It's a reminder to those with disabilities, even those who become disabled later in life, even those with fatal disabilities, that life can still be rich and heroic.

4. This one might be kind of silly, but I also really appreciate how All Might is not the stereotypical amazing-hero-but-doofus-or-pervert anime character trope. He's clearly intelligent and well-spoken, and if anything, there's an absence of sexual/romantic scenes featuring him. (I know All Might is not canon-confirmed to be asexual anywhere, but I have a good friend who is asexual and claims to feel a certain level of representation through All Might because he's the primary hero and never given a romantic interest/storyline).

5. In a lot of ways, he doesn't fit the traditional macho-masculine stereotype outside of his physical physique in his powered version. He's often seen crying, panicking, getting flustered, etc. I'd even go so far as to say he can be socially awkward sometimes, and I love this about his character. He's not the coolheaded, absolutely perfect hero who's always 100% calm in any given moment despite being known for "saving people with a smile on his face" guy.

If I had to give All Might a critique, I'd say it's that perhaps giving someone as young as Izuku One For All wasn't the greatest choice, but I'm going to overlook this as necessary for the plot line/catalyst for the whole story. We know OFA has to be passed down, Izuku was the best choice, and All Might probably felt he was running out of time due to his condition. Overall, I really love All Might because he defies a lot of the stereotypes associated with hero characters and in the end is just a sort of awkward, normal guy who just so happened to be extremely kind.

He was both rewarded immensely and punished severely for that kindness, and yet we never see him bent with regret. He achieved what he wanted to do with OFA. He saved people.

[modern-inheritance]

take your time to think about this one: izzy and oromis, do you ship it? why or why not?

Hey anon, sorry this took me a week or more.

Straightforward answer: that is a big heckin' no, my guy. I've never understood why people ship them. The only interaction we see happen between them (that I remember) is when Oromis and Glaedr reveal themselves to Eragon and Co. in Ellesméra, and it isn't all that pleasant of a conversation. Maybe it's because they're both the most plotwise important elves we meet in Eldest and we didn't have many others to pair up? Iunno. I guess I'm not much a fan of shipping in general.

To explain further, I honestly believe there is a chance Oromis is on the Aro-Ace spectrums. I'm projecting a bit, as I'm Aro-Ace myself (and damn does it show when I try to write courting dialogue....), but Oromis never mentions (as far as I'm aware) any romantic or sexual relationship he had or has when telling Eragon about himself and Glaedr. That's not unusual, especially as elves in canon IC are played as polyamorous and not nearly as monogamous as humans and dwarves and thus their romantic lives seem to be less of a huge point in their stories, but Oromis just strikes me as the married to being a Dragon Rider type. So that's considered MIC canon.

I also think that Inheritance Cycle canon Islanzadí, while respecting him and often seeking his advice, may have seen Oromis remaining in Ellesméra as a threat to her power. But I've never been all that keen on canon Islanzadí, so that might be biased.

In Modern Inheritance, Oromis and Islanzadí are somewhat friends, though they both understand that their friendship isn't exactly warm and is more a business relationship. When Arya would come back from the Varden on brief supply runs, Islanzadí would talk with Oromis after she left to try and get an update on her daughter. Oromis would tactfully give her the bare bones information but would always remind her that if she wanted more, she would have to speak to her kid and stop being such a (obviously not his words) utter tit about the whole banishment business. Before that, though, Islanzadí frequently asked Oromis for help or advice on how to best secure the elves after they fled into Du Weldenvarden.

Since it came up, I want to clarify for Modern Inheritance. While MIC!Elves are more okay with the whole poly stuff than humans or dwarves, as well as having multiple (spaced out) partners in a friends-with-benefits type situation, in MIC once an elf picks a romantic partner it is definitely more common for them to remain monogamous until they decide the relationship has run its course or they end up mated for life. Some just pick a romantic partner, skipping the whole sample box bit, others just keep going with that buffet. Ignore my terrible comparisons, I didn't get much sleep.

[oakwolves]

that post you made about raine a while ago made me realize they never have a deep or meaningful conversation outside of eda, so i have a question: who would you have wanted to see raine interact with in the show more? i think seeing the rebel trio with them, darius, and eberwolf would have been really cool and fleshed out all their personal motivations on how they rejected the emperor, or even luz since both of them push away their loved ones when trying to protect them

There is a somewhat hinted relationship between Raine and Hunter but aside from Raine giving him some sort of knowing glance in ASIAS it's not really expanded upon. I could see them becoming closer post-canon. Considering Raine's whole thing is rebelling against the Emperor's Coven maybe Raine saw Hunter (unmasked) at some point and wanted to figure out how to get him out of this situation. But they can't because a) Hunter at the time is still heavily brainwashed by Belos and b) they're fully aware of what happens to witches who step out of line.

Obviously looking at my url I'd love to see them interact more with Darius (shipping aside I just really want to know their history at hexside, since Raine implies that he acted the same way with them back in school. Does Darius have a habit of not letting others in on his plans until he actually executes them?). I think they're a fun duo from what we've seen. I think it's wild that they (and Eber) were seriously about to go into the emperor's mind had Hunter and Luz's antics not interrupted them. I'd like to see them interact with the other BATTs members

Now I hate Odalia but I'm interested to know why she specifically chose (puppet) Raine out of all the coven heads to make them do her job in cleaning up the other puppets. I don't doubt that there was some bad blood with Raine + their friends against Odalia + Alador (assuming Darius stopped being friends with them in between Raine transferring and Lilith cursing Eda) Or maybe there was no specific reason and Raine just happened to be the closest one there and Odalia is unsurprisingly an asshole

Perry! This one's an absolute reach but I like to think they were at least well acquainted in high school, even if they didn't talk much individually. Maybe they hung out in the library between classes.

I don't think I've seen Raine interact with Lilith much honestly. (I know this one is still kind of tied back to Eda but hear me out)It probably happened off screen but I think we should've at least seen them have a heart to heart about everything leading up to the curing. Obviously Lily feels SUPER guilty about doing it to this day. Even if Raine doesn't fully understand why she would do such a thing, they'd maybe feel a little bad for unintentionally driving a wedge between the sisters and indirectly pushing Lilith to do what she did (at least, that was how they thought Lilith felt. Eda obviously continued to adore and admire her older sister before she was cursed. To her, she probably didn't realize Lilith felt pushed away. [and that's a topic I'm sure many Clawthorne fans have definitely addressed in more detail but this post is about Raine] ). But anyways! That aside, I could see them post canon taking the opportunity to restore their friendship, this time on more stable terms.

This one is a huge wild card but personally considering we've seen Amity under Lilith's tutelage (temporarily at least) it would have been interesting to have Skara with a slightly bigger role under Raine. They'd probably not recruit her into the BATTs just yet or even let her know of the group's existence (I don't think they'd think it's right to have teenagers do the risky things the BATTs do since they run the risk of getting arrested or worse.) For the moment, she'd basically be an apprentice. And the BATTs, as far as she knew, would be part of Raine's mentorship program as adult students

[timaeusturntech]

Tripp pants are a requirement for everyone at the wedding, it's just that ours (and Kermit's) have to be more flashy than everyone else's. I'm sewing a cutie mark onto the ass of mine and nobody can stop me. Also, the vows will practically be a full-length feature film. Though now I'm curious, what kind of cake are we having?

Listen most of the doubles I've met are fine (except this one where every time I'd talk about someone I want or whatever they'd be like "guess what :3 I'm like that" like alright fuckwad get out, this is MY blog.) Dirk splinter superiority complex is a real thing and I'm blaming you for it. Dove inherits southern accent and love of Mccafferty, I inherit...being better than everyone. I guess. Also it's funny because I've met a gazillion Hals but only one other Dirk besides you. So based off that you're technically best Dirk

JAKE FUCKING ENGLISH. HATE. LET ME TELL YOU- (gets shot)

Yeah. I don't like Jake. Back when I first formed it was a lot worse and I've sort of(?) gotten over it (not really). I remember a while back there were a lot of people in my inbox being like "well what if he felt bad about how he treated you?" and "I wonder how much you think about him?" which honestly only made it worse with those implications. I don't really have any issues with Jake fictives, never have but FUCK. I hate that stupid fucking piece of shit and I'd give him the IHNMAIMS treatment minus the toxic yaoi. I'll never be in toxic yaoi with Jake English

Oh yeah, for sure. The guests all have to wear vanilla Tripps, it's the dresscode. We can have all kinds of cool patches on ours though. Hell, I'll sew a matching cutiemark on mine's ass. The romance, swoon. We'll be a better ship than Appledash ever was. And I'm not actually too picky on cakes, at least flavor-wise. Probably orange or cherry or something like that. The decorations will be exacting, though. Thirteen tiers, each with shittier references than the last. I manage to somehow JPG artifact several of the layers. There are SBAHJ toppers. You know how it goes.

Lord, the superiority complex is real, I fear. I experience the 'I am More Dirk than them' moments far too often. And then spazz when I feel as though someone is better at being me than I am, but that's just the subjectively worse side of that coin. We've met plenty of Dirk introjects but I'm honestly not sure we've ever met another Hal besides one in an ex-friend's, so that's interesting. I wasn't aware there was a niche of Hals out there that I was missing out on. I almost feel betrayed, here. Guess it's alright though since I've also been bequeathed the 'Best Dirk' award out of lack of competition.

I would also give Jake English the IHNMAIMS treatment without the toxic yaoi. Dude. Dude. Again, I've mellowed out slightly about it as well - I'm not running off fictives or anything anymore, which was very much a real thing I used to do, like I said. But there is certainly still a large measure of resentment there, and I don't interact with content of him or fictives whenever possible. He's already pretty intolerable in source, but my memories of him just make it that much worse. He's such a fucking dick. And honestly this is a pretty well-known thing for people who've talked to me more than once or twice, but a solid seventy percent of the reason I can't stand him is the way he treated you/Hal. Pisses me off because although I haven't always been the best about the way I treated splinters, obviously I've fucking grown and learned to treat them like fully realized people. That's something that he, at least in canon, was never capable of. In general he was never capable of treating the people around him with respect. I may have had problems with boundaries, but that was always out of care for my loved ones, not a total lack of shits to give for anyone but myself. Fucking English, man.

[hoxooster]

@littlebigadventure2 Actually, I never considered making a callout post. When DesBea was in the group, I wasn’t aware of her bullying other users (besides Red) or stalking anyone until well after she left lilspacewolfie’s Discord server. Beyond having to deal with her shoving her torture fics in everyone’s faces, and her going out of her way to push other people down, I had no thought towards making a post on her behavior. To be quite honest with you, I thought that she was just an adult who was being childish to gain attention, and that she only had beef with lilspacewolfie. Red wasn’t interested in making a callout post, because the bullying seemed like a minor issue, and I thought the same.

Then the callout post came out after I left the Red’s Ramblers Discord server.

Suddenly, behavior that I had reread in her messages back when I deleted them (in February of this year) from lilspacewolfie’s server, and that I was reminded about in conversations with others who experienced the same things whenever they interacted with her, made me realize the full scope of the worrying nature of her actions.

Because, I vividly remember how she went out of her way to pester Red. How she followed lilspacewolfie around in our stealth Payday 2 games without saying anything—in either voice or the text box—and would spam voice lines while standing directly behind her to make her scream in fear. And, how she also refused to stop when asked. No matter how many times the entreaties were repeated to her, or who was doing the asking—even if it was multiple people.

I remember how, in another time of us telling her to knock off her shitty behavior, she proclaimed in the Discord text chat—on a channel that was specifically designed for NSFW talk (mainly as a place to discuss fanfic ideas and bounce them off of the rest of the group)—that ‘anyone who writes NSFW in their fics are terrible people, and they’re disgusting.’ Red and I were taken aback by it for a while, then she asked for my help with addressing the issue, so I advised her to respond in a way that would basically tell DesBea, "Writing allows you to create whatever you want. People don't need permission to write about NSFW, or anything else for that matter, just because YOU don't like it. Just don't interact with it if it's so disgusting to you." DesBea tried to play it off with, "Well, I'm ace, so I don't understand it. Why do people do it? It's so weird. And I like reading anything and everything that has NaviMind in it." Red responded on her own with something along the lines of, "Yeah, but if you don't like to read NSFW, then just don't do it??? AO3 has tags on it so you can avoid things you don't like. Again, it's not hard." And this wasn’t the only time she used her, ‘I’m ace, but maybe not aro’ excuse to try to win or deflect her way out of arguments, but it was one of the more memorable ones. For all the wrong reasons.

I also remember how she would try to talk over other people in text conversations and make everything about her fics and ‘Bain is an alien’ and ‘the Payday gang are a hive mind’ and ‘imagine the guys feeling every bit of torture Bain went through with the Dentist’ and ‘this person’s writing sucks because it doesn’t include my head canons’ and so on.

But, as far as we knew at the time, this all only happened in the Red’s Ramblers Discord—and to people who seemed like they didn't really care too much about it. So, after she left, Red and I treated the whole situation as ‘DesBea was throwing a child’s temper tantrum, because she wasn’t getting the attention she wanted. Now she's out of here permanently. Good riddance.’

Then time passed, shit happened, and as I was leaving the server, I was deleting everything from people who had already left. I read back through her stuff and thought, “Yeesh, am I glad that she didn’t stick around.” Then I thought nothing else of it.

So, now we get back to the original callout post.

I wasn’t shocked about the content of anything that she wrote, but I was surprised by the targeted severity of it. And also the fact that she, as a ‘responsible’ adult, was knowingly being inappropriate with her messages that she was sending to a minor in that server.

Now, my mother is a middle school teacher, and I have helped her for 20 years with her work—this includes taking those ‘signs of abuse in children’, ‘bullying in the workplace’, and the ‘know that you’re expected to report bad actors on threat of legal action against you if you don’t’ tests for her, then giving her the rundown after (she’s bad with newer computers and programs). So, because of those, I know that you are, legally, NEVER ALLOWED to say what someone else does and does not consider as harassment towards themselves. I don't care if anyone tries to the pull the, 'yeah, it's only illegal where YOU are,' argument--it's a law that was put into place here because it's based on what should be common fuckin' courtesy, respect, and compassion afforded to and shared with victims in the aftermath of their trauma. If you want to consider the few messages you saw of hers as ‘gripes and misunderstandings’, then fine. If you want to interact with her, then knock yourself out. But, don’t, for one second, think that you can come in here and ‘weigh in’ on everything that has been said--which was at great personal embarrassment for some, and far too horrifying for others to even say anything beyond hinting at what transpired because of the trauma involved—and call any of it ‘not a big deal’.

In fact, since you didn’t reblog from the version of this post that has some concerning information on it, I’m going to assume that you didn’t see it, so here’s a photo of it:

On the original callout post, there's a reblog that's also from dracoleopardo that gives a bit more context on DesBea messaging at least one minor with inappropriate content. Which was followed up by lesbian-ferret mentioning that she had heard about accusations concerning DesBea going out of her way to pester the VAs—maybe with her torture fics or who-even-knows-what-else—which could have its own potential legal ramifications for DesBea, if they're true and the VAs decide to file anything against her.

So, there are people here—and possibly even persons who do/have work(ed) for Starbreeze—who have actively been hurt by her actions, some even to the point of attempting to do something irreversible to themselves. Is that what you would class as a ‘gripe’ or a ‘simple misunderstanding’?

Are muffy-official’s feelings about the whole DesBea situation that she experienced in their server not valid, because you, an admitted outsider to this issue, think that it’s ‘not a big deal’?

Is the original callout post ‘uncalled for’, because you don’t think that this was ‘worth talking about in an open forum’?

Is it ‘fearmongering’ to want to warn people—especially those that have been hurt by DesBea—about her multiple accounts that she has been known to use to block evade people who’ve blocked her on only one or a few of those accounts?

You asked me if I ‘thought of the consequences of my actions’ when I first made this addendum post.

I did.

I thought about the consequences of her messaging new people to our fandom to try and ingratiate herself upon them—which she did after an hour or so of the original callout post already being posted and it being spread around in reblogs by other people in the Payday fandom.

I thought about the consequences of her bullying more people in our fandom, especially those who are in terrible mental states or personal situations.

I thought about the consequences of her messaging any of the minors that are hanging out here in our corner of the fandom, and what any of those messages might contain.

I thought about the consequences of her continuing to stalk people in our fandom under her myriad of usernames, and none of them any the wiser about it or able to protect themselves.

I thought about the consequences of anyone in our fandom not being presented with all of this information, and thus being unable to react in an informed way if she tried to message or @ them or comment on their posts in the future.

And I also thought about the consequences her actions would have on her life on the internet, if she kept being allowed to behave and conduct herself around here in the ways that she has been.

But, we have to give her a pass, right? Because she’s ‘mentally unwell’—despite the fact that she continually refuses professional help. Or, because ‘she’s being childish for attention’—despite the fact that she’s an adult and she does know better. Or because it was ‘all just a misunderstanding’—despite the fact that she was bullying people almost to the point of harming themselves, and was knowingly being inappropriate in her messages to at least one minor.

I thought about the consequences a lot. I thought about how her actions and my own addendum post to the original callout post could effect and affect everyone in the Payday fandom. And, yes, I even thought about it in regards to Tumblr’s ToS.

So, while, yes, my post is targeted in the sense that it’s focused on DesBea and the accounts of hers that I’m aware of, it is not considered harassment under Tumblr’s definition in their ToS. This is because I’m actively calling for people to make their own decisions on whether or not they wish to block her, and I’m reminding them to not harass her. Multiple times. If you want to consider all of our efforts to try and warn people, while still reminding people to leave DesBea alone—despite how emotional our replies might have gotten and how many swear words have been thrown around--as harassment, then fine. Block me. Block all of us. Block everyone of us who created the posts, and every last person who reblogged it to signal boost it, so more people in our corner of the internet could see it.

I refuse to see any part of this as a 'non-issue' or as 'fearmongering'. DesBea has hurt multiple people in the Payday fandom in multiple ways in multiple places under multiple names. There are quite a few screenshots that have been provided as evidence to her behavior, and anecdotes from people in our fandom who've never interacted with each other before—all of whom are saying the same things about how she acted around them. If that's not what you consider as a 'good enough cause to make a callout post', then I don't know what to tell ya, hoss.

Do as you will.

On the DesBea situation:

I would've added my thoughts to the original post, but as I am not a part of their Discord server, I didn't think that that was any bit appropriate. However, I wanted to share some of my own personal experiences with her, so that y'all can see that her behavior in their server is a continuing pattern--I don't have pictures of what she said as proof, sadly, but I will explain why.

I'm also gonna slap this under a Read More. I apologize for its length, but the original callout post should be enough of an explanation as to why this post needs to be as long as it is.

And, as a quick aside, if any of you wish to completely block DesBea, NOT HARASS HER OR FEED INTO HER BEHAVIOR IN ANY WAY, be aware that her usernames are:

commence-screaming

des-paa-cee-toeee

pd3thoughts

If any of you know of any more, please tell me, and I will update this post. I don't want to be around her anymore than most people who've also interacted with her do.

About 2 years ago, I was invited to lilspacewolfie's server, Red's Ramblers, and I very quickly became a moderator there. Over time some people joined and a few left, but Ramblers remained stable through it all. DesBea joined later on into the server's lifespan, was around for awhile, said some nasty things, was given a warning (in the general), and just left without saying anything one day. After reading the screenshots in the callout post, I'm actually quite surprised by how much of a fit she threw in her efforts to make you guys apologize to her. Much like in the original post, with her gone from the server, things improved for everyone else, but the whole ordeal was rather confusing for all of us, in the aftermath.

See, DesBea was trying to be just as harmful in Ramblers, but it never really went anywhere.

Her hateful and self-pitying tendencies were the same around us as it was in their server. She really loved to talk shit about Yadoking and her writing--she would do this both in passing on random posts in the server, and while some of us were in-call when we'd play Payday 2 together as a group. It never smacked of genuine criticism for Yado's writing ability or style, as she only ever used childish language when doing it, and she would always do it right before she would try to push her own ideas and fics onto any of us who were online at the time. She was even trying to bully lilspacewolfie--which I will go more into later--over the tiniest of things. DesBea, in all of her posts, was either pushing someone else down, trying to make us all read about her rather disturbing fic ideas or headcanons, or trying to make herself look like the victim by claiming that she 'had bad experiences with abuse in the past' and that her 'PTSD was triggered over something someone in Ramblers had said' when we were trying to halt her bullshit.

It was all very aggravating to deal with, to say the least, but it also didn't have very much staying power, since most of us were just ignoring her in the server. And I do mean that, as most of the users in the Ramblers Discord server refused to interact with her posts over time, and people usually ignored her whenever she tried to insert herself into their conversations. It's probably why she left without much of a fight when lilspacewolfie posted "If you're being an asshole in this server, you better stop that shit right now" in the general chat. (That's not what she said, but y'all get the jist.)

Now, as for her bullying behavior in the server, I can't say for certain if she was targeting anyone besides lilspacewolfie (and badmouthing Yado from time to time, who wasn't even in the server), as I'm not a very outgoing or talkative individual. Despite the length of this post, I'm naturally quite taciturn, and even though I was a moderator in Ramblers, nobody in the server ever messaged me about any issues that they were having with anyone. But, I can say with accuracy that DesBea would go out of her way to harass lilspacewolfie--the creator and owner of the Red's Ramblers Discord server. Whenever she would join calls while we were playing together (but she was just watching from the server), she would only ever type in the voice chat channel, where she would wax poetic about her own fics and get rather offended that 'lilspacewolfie was intentionally ignoring her'. If we were playing a game of Payday 2 with her, DesBea would intentionally follow lilspacewolfie around as a character that she didn't particularly care for and spam callouts to scare and irritate her. And, when another user in the server was having an issue that caused them a lot of distress and made them go quiet for awhile (which had nothing to do with anyone or anything in Ramblers, when they were asked about it), DesBea tried to blame lilspacewolfie for it based on a lighthearted joke that she had made that dogged on Houston. So, not only was she trying to harass lilspacewolfie, but she was actively trying to turn others in the server against the owner of the Discord, as if she could muscle her out by making her out to be a villain.

Over a joke about a FICTIONAL character.

Because she started insinuating that lilspacewolfie had caused another user to 'go into a depressive spiral, and chased them away from the server with her insensitive comments about Houston', I got involved to shut that shit down. DesBea was always weirdly attached to me, because she had DM'd me a few times on Tumblr in the past. I can only guess that she thought that these few smatterings of messages made me her friend, and since, apparently, some people here think of me as being "Mr. John Payday", she figured that she could use me as an intimidating wall to hide behind whenever she was called out on her bullshit.

She was wrong.

After a while of still trying to get others in the server to hate lilspacewolfie for 'being mean to one of the other users in the server'--who ended up coming back once their mental health had improved, by the way--she finally left after the "Stop being a dick" post, and it took us a couple days to notice. So, all-in-all, it was a very weird and irritating experience, but, in this context, it shows a worrying trend of behavior that she ended up spreading to other servers.

Now, like I kind of glossed over earlier, I WAS a moderator in Red's Ramblers. (I ended up leaving the server last month due to personal reasons that're not germane to this situation, and I have no desire to talk about it on this forum.) As I was still a mod before I left, I took the time to delete every post and reaction made by people who were no longer in the server--this amounted to 7 people, DesBea included. So, all of her posts that I could've screencapped as evidence are gone, and even if they were still there, I wouldn't have access to them anymore, anyway. In fact, the only thing that I have left is this picture I took of my response to her whole "You're a bad person for hating Houston" spiel that she was going on and on about:

(I censored this to give some privacy to the person who DesBea tried to use as a cudgel to smack lilspacewolfie with blame for their condition at the time. Even though most people here probably won't recognize them from their in-server nickname, I didn't want to take any chances.)

But, anyway, as you have read from the callout post and these personal anecdotes that I have provided, her behavior in their server was an unsurprising, but also a very worrying trend that has effected at least 2 Discord servers and a good chunk of some of the people who were or still are in the Payday fandom.

If anything that y'all have read over these posts has angered any of y'all to the point of harassing her, PLEASE DON'T. Don't send her hate--anonymously or not. Don't engage with her. Just block her and make sure that others in the fandom are aware of her behavior, so they can avoid her if they wish to as well.

And, again, please tell me if she's operating under any usernames other than the ones I've listed. I was tired of her bullshit a long time ago, and I have no desire to entertain her further under yet another pseudonym.

[kitchenisking]

Fic Rec🥰

Oh, Alpha of Mine by whentheywrite - (Rating: Mature, Words: 9806, sterek)

When the alpha came for him, it was at the library. But Stiles had never wanted the bite.

It’s Not Pretend When It’s Real by isthatbloodonhisshirt (wasterella)  - (Rating: T, Words: 32742, sterek)

“At least we got this far,” Stiles argued. “Could’ve been worse. For now, they know he’s taken by someone in the pack.”

“Mm hm,” Lydia said, giving him a look. “You realize that you are now going to have to pretend to date Derek, right?” 

Stiles rolled his eyes. “Oh no, what a hardship. That sucks, boo hoo.” He motioned Derek emphatically. “He’s like, my best friend.” 

“Hey!” Scott insisted. 

“He’s like, my second best friend,” Stiles amended. “It’s fine, we’ll figure it out. Right?” He turned to grin at Derek, who was scowling at him.

Stop Crossing Oceans by greenleaf - (Rating: Mature, Words: 11654, sterek)

“There are no absolutes, Scott! No hard rights or hard wrongs! The world doesn’t fucking work that way and we can’t afford to think like that, because people are going to die! We signed up for that the moment we got involved with all this!”

“We? We?” Scott hisses. “Don’t you think you? Don’t forget that you’re the one who dragged us into that forest the night it all started, Stiles. So if it’s anyone’s fault, it’s yours.”

Something inside Stiles cracks, so strong and so deep that he practically hears it.

don't know what i'm supposed to do (haunted by the ghost of you) bycrazyassmurdererwall (smartalli) - (Rating: T, Words: 30926, sterek)

Stiles sees dead people. Yep. Seriously. 

(He’s got this. He’s totally got this. So what if one of them is Derek’s mom?)

We'll be Better Around the Second Time by Cantabo - (Rating: Mature, Words: 26589, sterek)

It's been months. Months of fading contact with the pack. Months of the silent treatment from his father. Months of nothing but himself and the occasional lesson with Deaton to entertain him. 

It's too much, and eventually, Stiles leaves.

For years, everything goes great, until of course his dad gets injured, and he is suddenly forced to deal with people he thought he left behind in his past for good.

OR: Stiles gets pushed out of the pack, hits the road, makes new friends, learns how to grow up, and falls in love.

Part of the Pack by JusteAmusant - (Rating: Mature, Words: 13035 sterek)

Season one of Teen Wolf, seen through Sterek-colored glasses. Canon Divergence after season 1 idk there's slow burn Sterek and a puppy, and way more Derek sneaking in through Stiles' window

“He could have shifted in front of them,” Derek hisses. “That means they find out about him, and in turn find out about me.” He pauses. “What the hell is that?”

“It’s a washing machine, what the hell does it look like? It’s a puppy.”

In which Derek is a struggling Alpha, but still the Pack Dad, and oh god, does that mean Stiles is the pack mom?

cool story, bro by drunktuesdays - (Rating: Explicit, Words: 13087, sterek)

Based on a truly ridiculous conversation with Kalpurna about a hypothetical Stilinski Twins situation that ended up sounding something like: 

“FUUUUUUCK, is it a sweet valley high situation where Stiles is very aware that his twin is way more attractive and confident than he is, EVEN THOUGH THEY'RE IDENTICAL, and he always ends up with the hotter significant others and more friends and Stiles guesses that's why he's attracted to the pack at first, because it's something that's just his, not his twin's too. But of course, Stiles's twin gets bit and now he's part of Derek's pack, and Derek doesn't snap at him like he snaps at Stiles, never slams him into things, fucking FIGURES, STILES'S TWIN GETS EVERYTHIIIIIIIING.”

Kalpurna/good ideas OTP.

Slugs, and Snails, and Puppy Dog Tails by yodasyoyo - (Rating: T, Words: 8116, sterek)

Written for the prompt:

kid!Derek being super taken with kid!Stiles. And their interactions.

But I'm Only Human by spaceprincessem - (Rating: T, Words: 3266, sterek)

“Who did this to you?”

He watched Stiles flinch, taking a small step backwards with wide, fearful eyes. Derek felt his heart ache and he used all of his will power, the sweet lingering scents of vanilla and cinnamon, to anchor himself.

“Derek?” Stiles asked, his voice trembling slightly.

“Stiles,” Derek said hesitantly reaching out, the boy's bruised and bloodied face illuminated in the street lights, “who did this to you?”

Blood is (Not) Thicker Than Water by Anxiety_Baker02 - (Rating: T, Words: 78000, sterek) (this fic is just so so good!!!!!!!!!🙈🥰😍)

Stiles hasn’t seen his extended family in years- mostly because they’re assholes. His cousins bully him relentlessly, and his aunts and uncles aren’t much better. So when he hears that they’re coming out for a family reunion, he’s understandably upset. He knows the next week is going to be hell, and it’s made worse when a new pack shows up, vowing revenge on their pack. 

Also, Sterek happens.

[butwhatifidothis]

Tumblr is starting to VERY MUCH dislike how long the other reblog chain is getting, so this will be Reblog Chain 2 of my jotting down notes of this fic. Here is the first reblog chain for Chapters 1-20

But it appears as though I was correct in sleeping off Chapter 20, because Chapter 21 is. Hm. bad. Very. Not good.

Chapter 21:

Transcript under the cut:

Chapter 21: It's Called Scars so it Gonna Be Ass

- To be blunt, the constant need to reaffirm that yes, Edelgard went through terrible experimentation and that yes, they were very horrific, is tiring. This is chapter 21. The experiments occurred in chapter 2. Every single chapter between now and then have, at some point, mentioned that INDEED, Edelgard DID in fact go through horrific trauma. It is tiring to the reader to constantly have to reread the same thing - we know it happened. We know it was terrible. There's no need to constantly say so; we already understand as readers.

- "Every time the spark of life broke through Byleth’s blank face, it brought a flickering hope to the Flame Emperor’s heart." ->

- Firstly: Awkward use of the Flame Emperor epithet (its usage is on and off with how appropriate its been - this is off).

- Secondly: Once again, Byleth's face was rarely if ever blank. She was never the Ashen Demon, as even the last chapter showcased. The author is mistaking reservation with emotionlessness, which is simply wrong

- "There had been so many empty days and nights, without friendship, love or joy. With nothing to hope for, except someday, the peace of the grave." -> Suicidal tendencies: another trait that Edelgard doesn't have... (strikes against canon: 89)

- ...but Dimitri does. Counter: 12

- "Dimitri, too, was troubled by the thought, grasping the side of his head and frowning. As the spasm passed, he turned to Edelgard and smiled warmly." -> It seems a little callous to so casually toss Dimitri's symptoms into his interactions with others when such things simply don't occur in the canon interactions. It's not impossible, or strictly against canon, but it does not feel natural; it's more as though the author is shining bright neon signs that say DIMITRI HAS MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES than a genuine attempt at writing Dimitri's mental health issues. This is not the first time this sort of seemingly thoughtless showcasing of symptoms has happened (Noted separately: Dimitri having drastic mood swings)

- "No, this world must be ruled by humans…not cruel gods who ignored the prayers of little girls." -> This statement follows Edelgard internally chastising the actions of not gods, but the Children of the Goddess. This is a weaselly attempt at dodging Edelgard's racist beliefs that Nabateans should not be allowed positions of power by shifting the belief to apply to miscellaneous gods instead. While not inaccurate per se - she does also canonically believe that gods should have no power in human affairs - it is not honest

- "Byleth nodded with childlike simplicity. “We should all try to get along.”" -> Again describing Byleth as childlike and/or innocent. Counter: 3

- For those curious: yes, the rat scene is implemented, yes it is sloppy, yes it is out of character for Claude - so much so that it is being noted separately - and yes it is forced to all hell

- What will be noted here, however, is that this is yet another instance of a man being demeaned/humiliated for the honor of a woman. See quote: "Byleth was on him in an instant, a tempest forming in the sea of her blue eyes. “That isn’t funny.” She crossed her arms sternly. “Jokes are about bringing people together...about making them smile. Right now, the only person laughing is you.”" with Claude reacting awkwardly. Once again, Man Bad Woman Good

- In a showcasing of a complete lack of self-awareness within the fic: "“Maybe if you’d have taught the Deer instead…but since you seem to have no ambitions outside of cleaning up Edelgard’s messes…”" -> This is Claude being portrayed as the bad guy, not the one being completely and utterly right

- " She slapped Edelgard on the back, and smiled heartily. “I agree, Dimitri!” Edelgard grimaced, trying to hide the fact her teacher had just struck the wound she had received during the mock battle." -> As well as where undoubtedly countless scars would be, yes? Scars that still cause Edelgard pain? In fact, Edelgard has been slapped on the back by Byleth and Jeralt numerous times before, and yet expresses no pain or discomfort.

- Another thing, that I had not noted though ought to have: Edelgard, a victim of sexual assault (in this fic), rarely seems to mind people touching her. She gets a little surprised if someone tries to get her attention with touch, yes, but Byleth's constant unprompted and random touching of Edelgard is never said to do anything but bring warmth and joy and comfort to Edelgard. It seems as though Edelgard suffering through sexual assault is just another source of trauma for the author to dump onto her for nothing more than pity points

- This is incredibly harsh to say, yes, and I would usually refrain from attributing such harshness onto a piece of text, but remember that Edelgard's scars only cause her pain when it's convenient, that she only experiences headaches when it's convenient, that she experiences PTSD episodes (when Claude mentions the rat) when it's convenient (note that in this fic he does it outside of battle, where her getting triggered wouldn't compromise her chances at victory). Edelgard not being touch averse and being a victim of sexual assault are not inherently something bad - survivors react to trauma differently, after all - but it is another in a steadily longer line of instances where Edelgard is simply given trauma for the sake of making her pitiable to the reader and the love interest, not something that Edelgard genuinely has to struggle with.

- "As Claude and Dimitri looked at their classmate expectantly, Edelgard was wracked with another bout of guilt. Deep in her soul, the princess knew these peaceful days would end soon. When that happened, no feast or vows of friendship could make up for the chaos and horror she would unleash. It would be better to pull away, close off her heart, rather than fuel the flames of her inevitable betrayal." -> Aka, "Feel bad for me, I feel guilty for planning to cause the death and ruination of countless innocents' lives all because I convinced myself that my way is the only way to get things done my way without ever actually trying to see if more peaceful ways could have worked. I'm going to orphan children, force families to fight each other, have the land be rampaged by banditry, and overall bring chaos onto these days that I ADMIT ARE PEACEFUL all because I feel that my way would be better. Wah wah pity me but I don't wanna be pitied I promise wah wah."

- "Byleth shrugged with a characteristic blend of innocence and spirit. “I guess I just like winning.” She began to blush and grabbed Edelgard’s hand. "It's so exciting! I’ve never had anyone other than Papa to celebrate with before!”" -> Byleth = innocent/childlike. Counter: 4

- The fic likes to reaffirm again and again that Byleth is "now" only acting like this due to Edelgard's presence in her life. Note also these statements written previously: "Every day, [Edelgard] was watching the person she loved grow and change. Become who she always was supposed to be." This, perhaps unintentionally, again enforces the "Lesbian Love is Pure and Innocent" trope; these wlw are only allowed to be their good girl, innocent selves - who they were always supposed to be - due to the pure lesbian love they have found with one another

- Count Bergliez didn't know of the experiments initially, but he eventually found out and did nothing to stop them, fleeing from a young and tortured El who was pleading for him to save her - Unnecessarily painting Count Bergliez as a spineless coward too afraid of Duke Aegir to save a child in pain

- Once again, a man fails to save a woman and further traumatizes her

- It should be noted that Bergliez is fearful not for his own life, but for that of his children, who were the ones Duke Aegir threatened. He, very similar to Ionius, cannot save Edelgard, except Bergliez (unlike Ionius) has a tangible, physical, explainable reason as to why he couldn't, and yet it is him who is painted as the bad guy, not Ionius. He is worthy of Edelgard's scorn and hatred, but Ionius only receives a begrudging feeling of betrayal from Edelgard that she feels guilty for harboring, even though he failed her far more than Bergliez failed her.

- "Daughters must always be loyal to their fathers" trope

- "No decent person thought the things Edelgard did. Just as her body had been twisted and shattered by the experiments, her mind bore terrible scars. Scars that the monster kept hidden, so she could walk in the world of men." -> Dehumanizing oneself as a monster as well as having violent thoughts (that specifically stem from trauma) one feels guilty for harboring are not traits Edelgard shows in canon... (strikes against canon, 90, 91)

- ...but Dimitri does. Counter: 13, 14

- "world of men?" Did the author perhaps mean "world of man," as in mankind? Keep note of

- The reason as to why Bergliez is said to have witnessed young El's tortured state and did nothing to help her is revealed: in canon, he dislikes her. It is blatantly and objectively said that he and Edelgard share a mutual displeasure in the other's company. What this fic had him do will be used as an excuse as to why he doesn't hate her, since no one is allowed to dislike Edelgard on the "good" side

- Edelgard, upon being asked if revenge is the reason she is doing what she's doing (reuniting Fodlan): "“No.” Edelgard put her hand to her chin thoughtfully. “I think for a long time, it was…but after a while, I realized that revenge wouldn’t satisfy me.” She looked at the blue sky above. “After you go through that much suffering…when you beg for help, day after day, and no one cares...you realize that nothing will ever truly make you feel safe again. The only thing I want is for this madness to end.”" -> This is internally inconsistent. See chapter 15 note: ""You know why they created me in the first place.” / “To reunite Fódlan,” spat Hubert. “It was all my father talked about.” / “And I will give it to them. "" This directly connects Edelgard's want to reunite Fodlan to the wants of her tormenters (as this states she is doing it out of spite). Note how Hubert spits at the idea of reuniting Fodlan, and how it was all his father - portrayed as a villain - talked about. This is not what this Edelgard wants, at least not of her own independent want. Earlier in this very chapter, Edelgard internally states a want to hurt Bergliez for leaving her behind. To say that she now no longer thinks vengeance would satisfy her, or that none of the reason that she is doing everything she does is out of a want for revenge, is ridiculous

- Edelgard to Bergliez, upon being asked what will happen to him and his family should Edelgard rise to power: "“All those who distinguish themselves will be rewarded. Given your history, I have little doubt you will be among them.” She nervously played with her white gloves. “All I ask is that when I seize back control of the throne, I can count on the military’s support.”" -> Yes, all who distinguish themselves to Edelgard, for Edelgard's cause, that Edelgard can see and/or know of. How likely is it that a poor farmer who is exceptional at fighting will actually be noticed by Edelgard and be given the credit he deserves, when others who may not be as meritable but do have some merit have the connections to show themselves directly in front of Edelgard? What means will Edelgard give the poor soldiers (that she or Byleth aren't already friends with, notably Dorothea and Leonie) that will allow them to be able to be seen by her and have their merits recognized? Edelgard is the one who says who gains power after all, so it is her they must prove themselves to, but how can they realistically do that?

- What about professions that are not immediately beneficial to Edelgard's cause, such as the arts? How will they fare in Edelgard's society, when their works and talents yield no tangible, objective results (such as, say, farming)?

- Something the fic will address?

- Edelgard does not nervously do anything in front of those she is trying to negotiate with in canon, not even Thales. Strikes against canon: 92

- "[Bergliez] could only laugh in response. “I think we’re going to get along rather well, my lady…and the other?”" -> Except Bergliez and Edelgard don't get along well, ever. Pre ts they are stated to dislike each other, which continues even onto post ts with Bergliez being the only noble Edelgard couldn't bring to heel. Strikes against canon: 93

- As predicted: No one is allowed to dislike Edelgard on the "good" side

- Literally forgot Hubert was with Edelgard and Bergliez lmao

- Ionius tried to consolidate power to be rid of the consort system due to his unending love for Anselma -> A ridiculous idea, plain and simple. Ionius was Emperor. If he wished to be rid of the consort system there was no need for him to try and take away all power from the other Imperial houses.

- If Ionius truly loved Anselma, why did he allow her to be exiled from the Empire? Why didn't he step in and use his influence as Emperor to help her?

- Edelgard, when she is Emperor - passed down a supposedly empty crown, at that - showcases the all-encompassing power the title of Emperor truly holds to one willing to use that power. That Ionius supposedly wanted to do all of these reforms and yet nothing at all was done, ever (save for ruining Houses Hrym and Ordelia, something even this fic has as canon), if Ionius did want to make these reforms, means that he was too spineless and cowardly to truly go through with trying to pass them. This again unintentionally showcases how awful a ruler and weak-willed a person Ionius was when he had power when trying to paint him in this righteous light.

- Lambert was stated to be trying to pass reforms before he died in canon, not Ionius. From parents to the children, the author is attributing traits from Lambert onto Ionius just as he (author's confirmed gender is male) attributes traits from Dimitri onto Edelgard

- " Her father and mother…she had thought their romance a fairy tale-a story from her father to make a motherless child feel valued. But…they truly had loved each other." -> Edelgard does believe Ionius when he told her of the story of when he and Anselma (supposedly) met each other. There is nothing to indicate that Edelgard thought it to be a lie: in fact, in canon: "But I choose to believe there was genuine love between them." Strikes against canon: 94

- It seems as though finally, after around 18 chapters, Edelgard's scars will finally cause her genuine inconvenience due to her complex about them as well as her trust issues. She has a gash on her back from the Battle of Eagle and Lion, but will not have it treated if Manuela isn't the healer, and yet the woman is occupied dealing with the rest of the students who were injured. How will this fic deal with this?

- Ingrid, referring to her and Sylvain: ""We just switched from Felix lecturing us all day to listening to Edelgard moralizing, didn’t we?"" -> The author is trying to compare a childhood friend whose friends have had years to get used to their barbed tongue to a stranger that directly insults the dreams of one of them. Something which Ingrid canonically hates having be done to her, even from Felix, a childhood friend. Once again, Ingrid being so casual about Edelgard being so disrespectful of her dreams is out of character. Strikes against canon: 95

- "Sylvain shook his head knowingly, ignoring Felix’s truly alarming scowl. “You should have seen his face, Edelgard. Dimitri would go on and on about this girl he met when he was a kid…and Felix would complain about her for hours!” He looked at Felix and smiled. “For all his whining about the “Boar,” nobody loves Dimitri more than him.”" -> Oh? A romantic gay male relationship presenting itself within the fic?

- Another vision of SS experienced by Edelgard. Word from a nameless guard: "The woman, Byleth, leading their forces... She’s not human! She killed half my battalion with one swing of that sword of hers. She didn’t speak, she didn’t shout, she didn’t even change her expression!” The panicked man was teetering on the edge of hysteria. “All those people rallying around her, and it’s like she doesn’t care at all. Like she's a walking corpse!"" -> Obviously saying that Byleth becomes the Ashen Demon if not allowed to be with Edelgard.

- Unintentional statement: Byleth can't be the pure innocent (lesbian) woman without Edelgard's (lesbian) love granting her purity, reverting her to a monstrous, corrupt demon incapable of humanity

- See chapter 20 note: "Implying that choosing SS - aka, choosing the Nabateans - makes Byleth less human. Intentional?" Confirmed to be intentional. Also false: in canon, even when accounting for CF's lesser chapter count, Byleth emotes far more on SS than on CF, which matches with CF having Edelgard call Byleth detached in their A support. Strikes against canon: 96

- The same nameless soldier, same context: "And those Faerghus kids…” / Edelgard leaned forward in her chair. “Ingrid…Sylvain…what of them?” / “They…they were animals. Screaming and ranting about revenge for the King.” -> Is the author really demonizing Sylvain and Ingrid for (potentially!) being mad at Edelgard for murdering one of their childhood friends? Is that really the depths the Edelgard worship will sink to, that friends becoming enraged at a friend's unjust murder from a warlord is being portrayed as something sad for the warlord? Just what else should Edelgard be pitied for?

- "The scared girl desperately tried to drown out the thoughts that reverberated incessantly. / They’re going to despise us…it’s destiny. And how could they not? If we were truly good, the Goddess would have saved us…protected us. But She didn’t. The Goddess took Mother. She took our family. And soon, She’ll take everything else we love. She hates us. / It’s what we deserve." - Now confirmed that Edelgard hears multiple voices in her head tormenting her. That trait that, once again, Edelgard does not have... (Strikes against canon: 97)

- ...but Dimitri does. This is the third time this chapter that this has happened, and far from the only chapter to display such baffling characterization of Edelgard via Dimitri's traits. It is nonsensical.

- " Why had [Edelgard] even been born at all? Nonexistence would have been preferable to watching every faint dream be dashed, to suffering alone over and over. She was just…so tired of being alive." -> Once. Again. Suicidal tendencies/thoughts is not a trait Edelgard shows in canon... (Strikes against canon: 98)

- ...but Dimitri does. The fourth! The fourth time in one chapter the author desperately wanted to just write Dimitri!

- If the fic wanted to take Edelgard in a different direction than canon does and has her display some of these traits, it would be more passable, but this fic is under the delusion that it is in any way following canon closely, especially in regards to Edelgard, and so this can only be seen as a desperate attempt from the author to have Edelgard be sympathetic by donning the skin of an actually sympathetic character such as Dimitri

- "Edelgard looked at herself in the mirror. The back of her academy uniform was stained red, the rhythmic, soft dripping of blood assaulting the princess’ ears." -> And no one commented on this? No one was worried? Not Ingrid, Sylvain, and Felix, who were sitting right by her? Not Lysithea, who saw her take the blow to her back and never get it healed? Not Dimitri, who delivered the blow? It just so happened that literally no one at all noticed this?

- Byleth literally slapped Edelgard on the back earlier? Wouldn't her hand come back red with blood if it were seeping through the uniform?

** The scene that follows the previous note is too long to quote, despite how truly terrible it is. Long quotes, even extremely long quotes, have been presented in these notes before, but the length this quotation would be if the full extent of it were written here would be a mess, and quite frankly, at that point it would do one better to simply go to the fanfiction itself and read the text from there. With the context received from these notes, if one wishes to see the words for themselves, go to chapter 21 of The Emperor and the Goddess, enter Ctrl + F (or Find in Page on mobile devices), and enter the phrase "Byleth crossed her arms, clearly frustrated" verbatim. The following note will not be quoting the entire scene from the fic (merely summarizing it), though context is needed to understand how truly bad the scene is. **

- To have hope in this fic performing anything correctly is proving to be a fool's dream, for it has yet to do anything right; that includes the aforementioned gash upon Edelgard's back. As stated, it did not draw the attention of those who were sitting around her nor did it draw the attention of the one who witnessed the injury itself, nor of the one who delivered the injury itself, so no one commented on the gaping, bleeding wound Edelgard was "hiding" from everyone as she turned her (bleeding) back to them and left for the baths to clean up (it must be heavily stressed: immediately after leaving it is revealed that the blood is seeping through her uniform). As she was washing - naked, of course - Byleth just so happened to step into the baths with only a towel wrapped around her "for modesty," much to the horror of Edelgard, for she does not want Byleth seeing her scarred body. A slight argument arises between the two over Edelgard getting her injuries checked, before Byleth warns Edelgard that she will go to Rhea and force her to go to the infirmary should Edelgard continue to refuse treatment, which drives Edelgard past the brink. She raises her arms from the bathwater and presents her scars (""Fine!... If you want to see so badly, here!""), to the horror of Byleth ("Byleth Eisner was not a woman given to strong emotional reactions, but she staggered back, hands over her mouth."). Edelgard cries in hysteria, fear of her beloved teacher running away in disgust over her ugly, mutilated body overwhelming her. But Byleth, childlike in her innocence, shared that she too is scarred in strange ways, and that she too is scared of failing those around her - that she has no ambitions save to help and protect those around her. Byleth reveals that it is Edelgard whom Byleth looks up to for always being so strong and always moving forward, and shows that without Edelgard Byleth wouldn't know how to handle the pressure everyone else puts on her. The exchange ends with Byleth reassuring Edelgard that she is beautiful and not the monster she thinks she is.

- There is no nice way of putting this: this is a classic example of how not to write someone opening up to another about something. Edelgard views herself as weak, ugly, repulsive, a monster, shameful, but it is Byleth's love and affection that gives her comfort and warmth, that gives her hope of something more. It forces Byleth to behave wildly out of character (the author can try to excuse this with "well she wouldn't normally behave like this!" all he wants, it doesn't matter when it goes against the base, canonical Byleth. Strikes against canon: 99) in order for Edelgard's scarred body to be seen as something that is repulsive, that is ugly, that is stained, so much so that the pure, childlike, innocent Byleth couldn't stand to see something so tainted. And yet it is that same pure, childlike, innocent Byleth's pure, innocent, childlike love that pushes away the pain of Edelgard's scars for just that moment. Other characters become suddenly blind and/or forgetful of Edelgard's obvious, bleeding wound so that it is Byleth who can be the one to save Edelgard with her pure, innocent, childlike presence and her pure, innocent, childlike uncertainty about her own insecurities (but only when it is convenient for Edelgard, as even Byleth didn't noticed the gaping, bleeding wound until she was alone with Edelgard where no one could interrupt their bonding moment). This scene is inorganic and forced, ham-fisting Edelgard and Byleth in the same room - the wash room, where both are either naked or nearly naked - so that Byleth is the one to find Edelgard, no one else. No one was worried enough about the sudden exit Edelgard took from the conversation she was having to follow her and make sure she was alright, and Byleth just so happened to enter the baths right after Edelgard. The scene is, to be frank, insulting.

- There have been a couple of joking references to a book titled Stones to Abigail in these notes, but in all seriousness, this scene plays unsettlingly similar to a scene in said book, where a scarred girl who is naked reveals her "ugly" and "revolting" scarred body to the love interest, who goes on to soothe and comfort the naked girl as best they can. The resemblance is uncanny

- Byleth described as childlike/innocent. Counter: 5

- Edelgard, in canon, never expresses feeling herself to be ugly, or repulsive, or a monster. Strikes against canon: 100

- Again, Edelgard's scars are only important when they are convenient - this time, in helping develop the romantic relationship between her and Byleth

- There are ways in which scars can be utilized without being problematic, but certainly not when this much focus is placed on them and yet they are only truly present when they cannot hinder Edelgard.

- Perhaps particularly insulting is this phrase from Edelgard: "Did she actually love Byleth at all, or just being saved by her?" Yes, Edelgard, you do simply want to be saved by Byleth, because that is precisely what the narrative has been drilling into the reader's heads ever since Byleth showed herself. Byleth is Edelgard's light, Byleth is Edelgard's hope, Byleth gives Edelgard back her humanity, Byleth is Edelgard's one source of joy, Byleth is Edelgard's entire life, and nothing, absolutely nothing in this fic has shown this to ever be a bad thing. This dependence on Byleth to bring Edelgard joy at the near complete expense of everyone else has been propped up as something romantic, and yet it's now, 21 chapters and over 85K+ words in, that we're supposed to believe that this was actually Edelgard being unhealthy? Even though the author himself said that this was what he enjoyed about their relationship, how much they found each other in each other? Even though we see what the author thinks would happen to the two of them should they separate - Edelgard, lonely and afraid without her beloved teach, and Byleth, the Ashen Demon who cares for nothing without her beloved student - in her visions of SS? This is a joke

- It cannot be overstated that Byleth came to the bathhouses completely independently of Edelgard. She did not come to specifically see her because she followed her out of worry for Edelgard due to her injury - she only knows that Edelgard's injured in the first place due to seeing bloody bandages that Edelgard removed in the bathhouse, before Byleth arrived.

- Author's notes: "On Bergliez, we find out very little in-game, but he 1) offers himself for execution so his men can go free in SS and 2) seems to be actually competent at his job. I thought a nuanced portrayal was more interesting, since I've been writing Aegir as the absolute worst person in the world." -> Note: this is what the author believes to be a nuanced take on someone. Someone who likes Edelgard entirely and does nearly whatever they can to help her, but they did one thing that's morally gray (leaving a child behind to save his own children from the same fate) that is portrayed as objectively bad, so now they are nuanced. While perhaps this sort of character would be truly nuanced in better hands, as it is with his actions being portrayed as something that is obviously so completely and utterly wrong and him someone who deserves complete and utter condemnation - and yet Ionius, who does far worse for far less understandable reasons, gets a comparative slap on the wrist - it causes confusion as to Edelgard's lines. Bergliez seeing her the one time and never helping her is enough for her to want to hurt him as she was hurt, but her father repeatedly coming to and "being forced" to watch her actively be tortured and doing nothing does little to invoke similar depths of resentment? Even granting the idea that "she gives more slack to her father," Ionius is objectively and far worse than Bergliez, down to doing hard things to protect their children, and yet it is only Bergliez who is shined in this unpleasant a light

- To be clear, Bergliez's decision was not a good one, but understandable. It is a gray decision to make. But notice how he is called "gray" and "nuanced" and yet Ionius is nearly completely innocent, as described by the author himself, despite their being no given explaination as to why "he was a figurehead" should be a good enough reason to wash him literally standing there and watching as his children - some of whom aren't even teens yet - get slowly tortured and killed.

- "There are many localization changes I understand (Byleth wanting to get drunk after the battle is one of them), but Treehouse's decision to remove Ionius' entire reason for power centralization (eliminating the consorts) was a big, big mistake." -> Given the history of this author's grasp on the Japanese language, this needs to be checked, as he cannot be trusted as a source as to whether this is true

******* Notes of Claude mischaracterization: Chapter 21, section 1, paragraphs 1, 21 & 23, 27 *******

[nightowlwriting]

summary: you've always known there's a soulmate on the other end of your injuries. when you're working the victory pit during the harvest close festival, though, it's the furthest thing from your mind. ironically, it's the closest mollymauk has ever been to you.

word count: 4.0k

warnings: canon level violence, mentions of molly activating his swords, canon level allusions to war and corruption

title credit: the steve miller band

note: takes place during episodes 17/18, requested from the soulmate abc list: damage done to a person also translates into their soulmate’s body (cuts, bruises and all).

masterlist - request - support my work? - ao3

Throughout your childhood, you’ve been called blessed. It started with bruises and scuffs. Little things that are perfectly normal for a child to receive and not remember. The problem with your bruises and scuffs was that they were not your own. When you grew into your celestially gifted powers, it started to make more sense.

Your family had stories of soulmates bestowed upon their clerics, but it wasn’t something that had happened in many generations. Nobody was really concerned until the wounds you received from your soulmate began getting worse - deeper, taking longer to heal, more life-threatening. It worried you, and your family, but it pressed you to become a better cleric. To find your source of power and lean into it. You heal yourself each night before bed, hoping that you’re giving some sort of comfort to the person you’re connected to. Even if you have no energy spells, you pull a pearl you were gifted when you left your hometown and press your lips to it and let it fill you with the love and warmth of life and still heal yourself. It’s your nightly ritual and, since you’ve started doing it, you haven’t missed it once.

Except once, but really that doesn’t matter because of how you miss it. It’s the Harvest’s End festival and the Victory Pit, and you’ve been conscripted to work it. You hate working for the Crown, but it pays well and allows you to help people. Your clerical skills and magic get used every day and you help the people that really need help. Still, the inevitable war looming over the Empire worries you. You’re skilled for your age, more so than the other clerics who perhaps have years over you, and War Clerics don’t have the longest life expectancy. After the last time that your soulmate died, and the grief and pain it inflicted upon you, you don’t want to do that to them. You try not to think about the several times you’ve felt their death and resurrections, though, because it worries you.

Most of all, it tells you very important information about them. They’re some sort of adventurer, best case scenario. The worst case, though, is that they’re a criminal. Regardless, you’ve become fond of them. The cuts don’t really hurt as much anymore, but they still pucker and scar when you heal them at night. There have been a few times when you’ve gotten hurt and you know that they’ve received those wounds, so perhaps they know about you as well. You hope they do because it would be awfully lonely to be the only one out of a pair to be aware that there is, in fact, a pair.

Still, your soulmate is the furthest thing from your mind as you funnel people into the Victory Pit. Clerics double as security, mostly because the Guard want to watch the fights more than they want to keep people safe, and you grit your teeth trying to keep your prepared spells at the back of your mind. You have several healing spells in your mind, but a few offensive ones as well. In Victory Pits of the past, you’ve had to use them. Now, you’re just sore and aggravated with the hickey that appeared on your chest last night - that you did not receive yourself. It doesn’t bother you that whoever you’re linked to is getting lucky, but it would be nice if you didn’t have to look at the proof for the next week or so.

Someone stamps on your toe and you bite back your curse, skittering backward and colliding with someone who is cursing. “I’m sorry,” You apologize on instinct, turning and grabbing the person by the arms. You’re momentarily struck by how beautiful they are, but you’re at work. “Are you okay? I’m a cleric working in the Pit today.” They glance down at you, baubles and trinkets swinging from their gaudy horns, and you realize with a start that they're purple. It’s not that tieflings are rare in Zadash, but purple ones are. The group they’re with also has a blue tiefling, a small green halfling, and a half-orc. Truly a strange band of people.

“No, no,” The person you’d run into says, voice smoother than you’d anticipated, “I’m alright. Are you okay, darling?” They smile down at you, completely red eyes smiling with merriment as they settle their hands on your biceps in a mirror of how you’re holding them.

“Please, I ran into you,” You shake your head, “Besides, I’m working. It’s my job to make sure that you’re okay.” You give them your name, telling them to seek you out if they shall become injured.

“Oh,” They sweep you grandly underneath their arm, squishing you into the side and stepping toward their group for a few steps, “I will get painfully injured today, but I will seek you out specifically, darling. My name is Mollymauk Tealeaf, and I am fighting with the Mighty Nein. You may call me Molly, all my friends do. I am a man of many friends, and you are one of them now. Keep your eyes on me today.” He winks and then sweeps himself away with a flourish, leaving you standing and a little flustered.

After that, the Victory Pit starts faster than you anticipate. You're stationed in the Pit itself, one of the more powerful offensive clerics on the roster today when you start to put the pieces together. You're not sure why you didn't notice at first, but Mollymauk - Molly - has a lot of scars. A lot of familiar scars. You trace a particularly deep scar on your collarbone as you watch the first Pit fight and wonder. What are the odds? Could Mollymauk really be…? A horrible thought hits you, and you can feel yourself pale. He's fighting in the Victory Pit today. He's going to get hurt, which will either confirm or deny whether or not he's your soulmate but if he is… Shit, you're in for a rough day. You know that The Mighty Nein is slated for the first fight against an Otyugh. They're nasty creatures, although not really native to Zadash you've still had to heal up some rather awful sucker wounds in your time.

You're glad to see that Mollymauk holds his own in the fight, and stays far away from the Otyugh. It's hard to keep your eyes off of him with the idea that he might be your soulmate and you get the sense that he's a melee fighter more so than a magical fighter in the beginning, but then he activates his swords, and the pain blossoms in your ribs as he drags his blades along his.

There's no question now. Mollymauk Tealeaf is your soulmate. Watching the way he fights and interacts with the Nein during their fight with the Otyugh everything about the injuries you've received from your connection with him makes so much more sense. You actually find yourself… Weirdly proud of your scars, then. You've heard about the Nein, how they're swords for hire and defeated the Fey Spider in the tunnels, but still. Mollymauk seems like good people. Maybe it's naïve to hope on your part because he's your soulmate, but you'll take it until you're proven different. You've been doing things like that for most of your life, and you'll be damned if you stop now. You know you can hold your own, too, so that helps. The next fighters pass in a haze to you, as you stand ready to save someone from death the Banderhobb fight passes with no need for clerics, and the fights with the Giant Crocodile and Ice Troll are much the same.

When the Mighty Nein is back up, your senses fire to life. The next monsters are Winter Wolves, nasty creatures with powerful ranged attacks. You steady yourself against the half-wall you're stationed behind, readying yourself for whatever pain Mollymauk is about to feel. The beginning of the fight is tense, and your fellow clerics watch you curiously as your hands grip tight and relax intermittently on the wall in front of you. When one wolf whirls and releases a nasty, icy breath you heave a sigh of relief that Mollymauk wasn't hit but then the other does the same thing. You feel it more than see Mollymauk get hit, sharp shards of pain washing over your skin so intensely that your eyes roll back in your head and the only thing that keeps you from collapsing is the fervent grip on the wall. Someone lays their hands on you and you feel a swell of magic before you shake them off. "I'm fine," You grit out, "Save your spells for the competitors." Even though you could use the healing, there's a reason clerics wait in the wings at the Pit. It's very possible that someone could be on death's door before the end of the day and if they die because you wasted a spell you'd never forgive yourself.

By the time you fight the darkness from the edges of your vision, Mollymauk is delivering the killing blow to the final Winter Wolf. You're not sure how he's still standing, let alone aware of his body enough to swing his swords like they weigh nothing. Your knees practically knock together as you gather your wits, wiping a hand down your sweaty face. The trials only get harder, and one hit almost took you down. You know you should heal yourself but you're not really sure if your nightly heals affect Mollymauk and, while you have no love for the Empire, it wouldn't be fair if your heals do help him. (And, again, there's the preemptive guilt of maybe not having enough energy for a lifesaving spell. You're just too selfish to use your pearl, too, so you have to make do and conserve your energy.)

The next group comes out and whispers flitter down the row of clerics to you: Owlbears are next. They're awful creatures, nasty when there's only one but two are damn near unmanageable. You happen to know these two aren't even mated, but that hardly matters. It's going to be a bloodbath at best, and at worst there'll be a death. Reaching over the wall, you unhook the latch that keeps it connected just in case you need to rush into the field. The beast-keepers are technically supposed to be the first on the scene, but you're also technically more powerful than they are. You rarely listen to the rules at the Victory Pit, mostly because you're a Crown Cleric and not from the Temple of the Platinum Dragon.

The fight is intense and the clerics next to you barely hold you back when several members of the team go down. They have clerics on their team, yes, but it's hard to tamp down your instincts when you were practically raised by your family for clericdom. It's only when you hear the whispering chatter that the beast-keepers are gathering the magical manacles that you jump into action, flinging open your door and sprinting into the field. The gasp from the crowd barely registers in your mind as you dodge an attack, skidding underneath and stopping next to what looks more like a bloody lump of cloth than a humanoid. The beast whirls on you, but you're faster. You've cast spiritual weapon before it can strike, the air in front of you and the injured party member shimmers and then, the first thing you thought of, a replica of one of Molly's scimitars but three times the size, appears and blocks the strike.

The Owlbear reels back again, going for another, but you're right there to block it. The beast-keepers are going to get an earful from you when you're done with the Pit, but for now, you're relieved that they've managed to subdue the beast and you can focus on the fallen. They're not in great shape, and with a precursory feel of their pulse, they're incredibly close to death.

You put your hands on either side of their neck, close your eyes, and pray. It's not necessarily a religious relationship with the deity that gives you the powers you have to heal, but it's still technically a prayer. The contestant heaves a deep breath, and you can feel the life rush into them from the fold between this plane and the next. The other clerics have gotten everyone else, so you focus on your patient. They probably need two or three more spells before they’re fully stabilized, which is going to burn through either your higher energy spells or all of your lower levels. You grit your teeth as you roll your patient onto the blade of your spiritual weapon, using it as a makeshift gurney. They’re already calling for the next team as if the clerics they’ve hired aren’t already spread thin trying to keep this team from dying. The Mighty Nein are at the doors, holding them open for the clerics, and you barely catch Molly’s eyes as you bring your patient off of the Pit floor and into the waiting room. The scimitar disappears as you lay them on a cot, quickly finding the worst wounds and sealing them with magic, burning through a lot of the spells you prepared and the arcane energy that it takes to cast.

The next beasts are angry and wily - displacer beasts - so you don’t really have time to think about how Molly is lingering near you, trying to find a time to talk to you while you’re trying to keep this person from dying. You stabilize them eventually, but the scarring will be intense. There’s nothing that you can do about that with what you’ve got now. Outside you can hear the next team win against the beasts and stress begins to bundle in your shoulders at the thought of how quickly the Pit is moving. Molly is hovering over your shoulder as you step back and begin clearing the blood off of your hands, despite his group being called out once more.

“That was my sword,” He rumbles, keeping his voice down and stepping even closer to you when you turn around. You track his tail thwipping through the air behind him, either very agitated or incredibly curious. Either could be incredibly accurate, and you don’t really have enough time to parse any information from the rest of his body language.

“Yes, it was,” You want to grumble, but it comes out softer than you intended, “Sorry, but you’re being called and I have to get back to my station so that you don’t die.” Molly tries to catch your arm when you slip around him, but with a promise and a smile you turn back to face him. “Don’t fucking die out there, and then we can talk, okay?” You wish that you could tell him, warn him really, that they’re about to face a Hill Giant. An incredible creature, really, but pushed to a near unreachable limit by the beast-keepers and their prodding, angry spears and arrows. It makes you sick to your stomach, but this is your job. The Empire pays your bills and keeps you fed - they would not tolerate any dissent from you on the matter of the Victory Pit and the treatment of the creatures captured specifically for death, no matter how strong of a case you can make. Instead of telling Molly what he’s up against, you casually brush the back of your fingers against his hand and let your magic make its way into his system. He should be okay, you think, the blessings of a cleric are strong.

Making your way back to your station, you fidget with your uniform. One of your friends - using the term loosely because you’re more like coworkers - catches your sleeve as you pass him. He’s grinning, mischief in his eyes. “You’ve never given a contestant your blessings before, what’s so special about him?”

“I didn’t do anything,” You pull away from Brock, “I just told him that if he wins, we can have a conversation. That’s all.” You shoot him a pointed look and then, after glancing around to make sure nobody else is looking, a wink. Brock grins and relaxes into his station, shaking his head. You’re known to push the limits, but outright break the rules? It’s almost unheard of for you. Everyone knows you’re blessed with a soulmate and Zadash is a bustling metropolis, frequented by the sort of people who get the injuries you sometimes show up to work with. They know you’ll need to stick around to find them, so you’ve only pushed the limits the Empire gives you, not outright shoot past them. By the time you’ve found your station again, the Hill Giant is almost out onto the Pit floor, and Brock has probably figured out why you’re so soft on one particular contestant.

The giant knocks out one of the pillars, roaring so deeply it vibrates in your chest. He’s pissed, rightfully so. The spines sticking out of his body make you sick to your stomach, and you have to look away. Your eyes find the halfling that was with Molly earlier, but as she sprints off toward the human woman, you realize that she’s a goblin. An interesting myriad of people traveling together, but you’ve seen strangers come through your town. She fires off two of her bolts, missing entirely, and you watch one arc through the air and strike off of the helmet of a Guard, who yelps.

You snicker as she takes off again, and the human man fires off his magic. It’s strange to see magic come from another person, especially magic that is clearly learned and not given. It almost makes you wish that your magic was learned instead of bestowed upon you but that would mean losing Molly, who you’re already rather fond of. You’re watching the man try to keep his cool and almost miss the other tiefling casting - a giant fucking lollipop appearing out of the air, smacking the giant, and then flames rocketing out of her hands to hit him, as well. You grin when you realize she’s a cleric, too. You wonder if she has a soulmate, but it would be improper to ask.

When the giant reels back and hurls a large chunk of wall, you suck in a breath. Everything is happening so fast, and Molly… Not only will it hurt to take the hits, but he’ll get hurt. It’s not just about you, but if he goes down so will you, and then you can’t help anyone. You’re almost relieved when the giant turns toward the half-orc, but then Molly is sprinting up toward the giant’s legs, his swords out. He’s a melee fighter, getting right into the thick of it and making your skin crawl. Molly’s swords carve through the giant like butter, making you cringe because the giant is pissed, and Molly won’t have time to get away from whatever is about to happen to him.

When the giant whips around, his eyes are fully black and bleeding down his face. You’re almost certain that’s Molly’s doing, but you don’t really have time to figure it out. The giants club swings up, and then down, and before Molly hits the ground your world has gone hazy with pain and darkness.

The pain and darkness keep their hold on you for what feels like forever. You know that eventually you’ll wake up, but floating in the darkness of unconsciousness you think of Molly. Did someone heal him? Is he okay? You’ve felt the other times he’s died, the way it rips you apart inside, the way you sleep for what feels like days before you wake up. Is this the same way? Has Molly died, even for a second, and you’re left to suffer the consequences? The stories your family told you all ended with soulmates together, no longer bearing the injuries of the other, because of the love that they share and the way they give and take equally. Nobody told you stories of soulmates where one dies over and over again - or at least comes close to doing so rather regularly. You’re still floating in the abyss when you hear his voice. Molly’s voice startles you because normally it’s the deity who blessed you with magic that comes to you, reminding you that everything is going to be okay.

But this time it’s Molly. He’s saying your name, asking you to wake up so that he can see your eyes again. Faintly, as you drift closer and closer to the surface, you can feel the light tracings of fingertips against the crest of your cheekbone and the faint wisp of breath against your hair. He keeps speaking, telling you things that you’re not sure you’ll remember when you finally float to the surface.

That happens faster than normal. When your eyes finally feel light enough to open, Molly is there. He looks a little worse for wear, but you can tell he has at least one healing spell in him. When he realizes you’re awake, a large grin splits his face. “There you are, darling,” He sighs, leaning forward in his chair to be even closer to you, “Scared me for a moment there.”

“Now that I’ve found you I highly doubt that you can get rid of me, Mollymauk.” Your voice is hoarse as you push yourself up, one of Molly’s hands curling around your shoulder to help you sit up on the cot. When you’re upright he moves from the chair he had set up next to your bed to sit next to you, his entire side pressed against yours. “You are a man who is constantly in danger.”

“That I am,” He leans against you, his horn pressing into the side of your head but you don’t mind. He’s warm and nice. The aches in your body numb a little bit just by being near him, but Molly seems like he has a bit of an ego so you don’t mention that. “Do you know why we feel each other this way?”

“Have you heard of soulmates, Molly?” You drop your voice to a whisper and turn your face to him, your lips pressed against his lavender forehead, “My family has legends of them, given to clerics to help them become the best healers they can be. Pushed to their limits by the other’s injuries, but also filled with an overwhelming need to be good enough. To have enough power. To protect, and love, and heal.” You kiss his forehead, hoping it’s not too bold, and let one of your last healing spells flow through his body. The last one you cast on yourself.

“It’s rotten work to love me, darling.” Molly finally says, one hand searching yours out, “But I do feel much better having met you. I feel connected, loved.”

“It’s not rotten work to love you, Molly. I’ve loved you for a long time, and I do not plan on stopping now.” You kiss his forehead again and his head turns, his own lips pressing against the side of your neck as he sighs, “Perhaps your work is not done in Zadash, but it should be soon.” You drop your voice to a conspiratorial whisper so that only Molly can hear you, “War is coming, Mollymauk. You, The Mighty Nein… You should run before you’re conscripted to fight.”

“And you?” He asks, red eyes never leaving yours as he pulls you impossibly closer, “What about you?”

“I… I’ll come with you, if you’ll have me.” You watch the shock flicker across his face for a brief moment, but then it settles into something that you can’t find a name for. “But if not, you don’t have to worry about me. I won’t be conscripted to be a War Cleric, not at first. They’ll take the clerics from the temples before they take me.”

Molly caresses the side of your face with his other hand, a small and hesitant smile playing on his face. “Darling, of course, I’ll have you. The Nein will, too. We’re meant to be together, after all.”

[onewomancitadel]

In your mind whats the most romantic thing Jaune could say/do to Cinder to make her fall in love with him in canon? What kind of scenario would absolutely make you squeal like a little girl?

This is probably one of the hardest questions I've answered in part because I'm a fic writer, and the way I tend to analyse romance in canon is how the characters address each other's wounds and needs, since that's actually a basis I can argue on. I can't really argue on the basis of what would 'make' Cinder fall in love with Jaune because that's a narrative inevitability, and I'm trying to argue about what would make their characters interact - so the constraints of interaction, not interaction itself.

Being that I'm a fic writer, all of this canon speculation augments and supports my fic writing. That is to say, I'm a canonshipper, and if I'm writing fanfic, I'm doing so because of certain things that compel me about canon. I'm not promoting my fanfic in this ask (lol, where else would I feel comfortable doing so, though) but trying to convey that I kind of have a split fandom life - so this is an angle I've explored in my fanfic, that I fear I may not be able to convey well in formal-ish writing here.

I think it's very funny how this is a lighthearted ask, and is a welcome reprieve, but you've actually touched on something really interesting.

I know you've stipulated 'in canon' which might suggest you're aware I write fic, but I generally think of my fic as a form of its own canon speculation. Anyway, the point I'm working towards is that if I had to identify the exact what that makes her fall in love with him, it's going to be an in-universe realisation that I discuss on a narrative level: he's not like anyone else. He's not the first person that's nice to her, he is genuinely unlike anyone else and special in a way no one else is. I mean, he really really really isn't the first person that's nominally nice to her - this is how I've had people frame the romance to me, which is anathemic - in fact he's the first person in the story to really, openly, vocally hate her and want to kill her.

I can't convey enough that this is a major deal because that makes his forgiveness and empathy towards her more powerful than anyone else by virtue of the fact he's been set up as a one-sided enemy... one she's never really had reason to fear on a level that he could actually hurt her in a way she'd never recover from (like other Maidens or Ruby's silver eyes) - I'm not saying Jaune is weak or a poor combatant, but that I even doubt he ever could've physically harmed her in a serious way, that is, on some level he was holding back (we see that some Huntsmen struggle with human combatants and I don't think this is purely a case of characters needing to train... it's a mechanic telling us something narratively). Compare the Nuckleavee with his fight with Cinder, in the same sequence of volumes. Something doesn't add up there. So if she's never had to fear him actually physically harming her in a serious way, then how does he affect her? We already know from the V5 confrontation it's because his show of vulnerability is powerful. He's literally on his back and beneath her but he has all the cards. Weiss might get hurt, but then his Semblance emerges. Jaune is vindicated and Cinder stops him killing himself.

So, he has to surprise her---

oh. Okay. So that's already set up.

I've discussed before the point of the Relic of Choice confrontation, and that I think it's when the romance would become textual. By textual I mean something that you can't deny, that is outright acknowledged, and was previously a subtextual development. I also might go so far as to speculate this is when she'd know. The same might be true for Jaune. I really don't think it's going to be one-sided at any point on either side mostly because as affronting it is to him, it is to her. If the risk for Jaune is that she's his enemy, the risk is true for Cinder but even more because she's metaphorically dead and she doesn't have any true vulnerable connections to anyone around her and also she believes that the truth is no one loves her. In addition to that, if Jaune's hatred for her is one-sided... and he really wanted her attention in V5... and then had let go of that in V8... I like the idea of him getting what he wants in a way he didn't know he wanted (her noticing him) and him realising that hating and running from her were the wrong options, so what's the real one?

If it's equally affronting then the equal development only makes sense, and we've seen equal development with the R/WBY romances already. The nature of Ren/Nora seems applicable to Emerald/Mercury, for instance - Mercury knew how he felt, Emerald's feelings came to the fore later than him and she realised it after he left. If I could compare a romance I don't personally ship but feels very likely, Ruby/Oscar seems to involve somewhat equal development but Ruby probably won't confront any of her own self-involved feelings for a while, not certainly until her mother wound/persona is dealt with. Oscar, meanwhile, is probably aware of what's going on for him, but it's a very slow developing romance.

So Cinder might be less aware consciously, but it will still be happening.

You asked about fangirl squealing. I'm not ashamed of fangirl squealing: as if I didn't screech when Rey and Kylo first interacted in TLJ and all our fan theories about the Force bond were confirmed. I'm very proud of it, I think engaging emotionally with fiction is sort of the point and being deeply moved by it is something you should be proud of. So, speaking on a personal taste level, I prefer 'subtlety' - or the traditional conventions of romance. Physical, emotional, spiritual, vulnerable tangibility. No knock on people who need a kiss to signal romance, you're just probably not familiar with romance but familiar with its depiction in other types of media that doesn't develop it (which is a shame to me).

Given that we know touch is a big deal for Cinder - she doesn't let anyone touch her, snatches her hand back from Emerald, burns Watts when he puts a hand on her, can only touch Salem with her Grimm hand when Salem helps her up, the only other physical touch she's known has been torture - and we know that's been flagged to us... I might expect very subtle and vulnerable touch that she allows to be a romantic flag to us, because that's not just something affecting her, but something she's allowing. One may go so far to speculate Jaune's Semblance might have some romantic coding paired with it.

He doesn't need to touch the person he's using it on... so if he's touching her that might suggest... something a bit more... oh I shan't say

I think it's really suspicious that we've had that flagged to us about Cinder so it's begging for a positive reprisal and by none other than the person with a Semblance that help heals and works on a deeper spiritual level? Come on. Don't play with me. This is obvious arithmetic.

So she might be taken very aback by it and he might be too, because he obviously would know he doesn't need to touch her to use his Semblance, come on, he doesn't NEED to but he did ANYWAY. That should be making both of them ask questions whilst I'm calling for smelling salts and my fainting couch.

It is also to my great dissatisfaction and loss and struggle that bridal carries are not romantically coded in R/WBY. It's very unfair and I've had to come to terms with it. There is a bit of the 'saving the maiden' angle to it but it's not a romantic one. So that means Cinder being carried by Emerald and hating it once she wakes up might not be flagging to us that we get a positive bridal carry, say, and that it would be romantically coded. It's okay, it's fine, I can suffer. But if it happened in canon I would fucking faint. I'm not kidding, I think I'd actually go lightheaded enough it might fucking happen. Fucking hell. Fucking hell. Life is so unfair, I can't believe I might not ever get a romantically coded Knightfall bridal carry. It's fine, that's what fanfic is for. It's fine. It's fine I'm fine. No it's fine I can just suffer. Don't mind me.

Anyway, I've focussed on touch and vulnerability in this ask, and I mentioned him surprising her. If you've read my fanfic you know what direction I'm going with this and it's that I think if Jaune at any point ever finds out what happened to her - the real truth of it - he wouldn't condemn her the way she'd expect. That would make her think twice. I certainly think that the other heroes wouldn't condemn her but they only know her as their enemy and wouldn't be in a position to empathise. To actually feel it on a deep emotional level. That Watts and Salem has used part of what's happened to her against her and Emerald and Mercury knew how she was treated by Salem but likely won't have a part in getting her out... that's begging for someone to find out the whole truth.

Why would we be shown it if not to wonder? And how can that person learn her backstory without it being repeated? I honestly think that if they were really clever they'd frame it such that Jaune has visions in V9 or beyond that are concealed to us, and we only find out the truth when he next sees Cinder. That would be narratively economic. I really don't know why else we're shown near enough the truth of Cinder's life, with all of that space afforded to her - beginning the volume setting it up, even - if it's not going to be significant in some way. They didn't use it to punish you for caring, let me tell you that much; there are much more effective ways to do that, and you absolutely do NOT hint at Cinder being the one thing standing between Salem and Oscar that will help save the world when it seems to late IN THE SAME EPISODE. IN THE SAME SEQUENCE OF EVENTS.

Getting carried away there. But there's no way you can divorce character desires and narrative service, and that's why, ironically enough, this question is really hard.

It's also hard for me to divorce Cinder falling in love with Jaune from Jaune falling in love with Cinder, because whatever makes him special to her is true in the reverse. If his vulnerability and specialness is powerful being shown her vulnerability might move him. She might surprise him.

The injustice of Knightfall is that, quite honestly, they are suited for each other. Were it not for the ancient, eternal conflict between Salem and Ozma and the brother gods which has them planted on opposite sides and the Dark Curse, they would totally be in love and honestly sorry not sorry I think they're soulmates. So if at any point they learn things about each other against the reality of being enemies you're going to be encountering weird stuff that makes me want to squeal. If her sense of humour makes him laugh I'm going to fucking squeal. If his attempts at courtly love that were previously rejected totally work on her... ugh imagine unconditional love and someone who loves you in every way and accepts all of your flaws and follies. I'm going to pass out.

There's also the fact that if you're exploring love, power, and destiny in Cinder's story, the realisation that love, and a power in a way she never knew it - giving yourself over to something - and destiny - in a way she almost knew - would completely compel her. That Jaune wanted to be a Huntsman and he didn't know the perfect way he would be one. That he wanted to hunt her down and didn't know that finding her really was the key.

Once you start talking about that stuff, that makes me swoon. That they figure out where they've needed to go this whole time once they see each other properly. Smelling salts, please.

Touch, vulnerability... bridal carries... tears in their eyes... choosing not to fight when they otherwise could... confused conversations... finding things out about each other... being surprised... figuring out your destiny... that's the stuff.

If he caresses her face, especially the scarred side, I'm going to fucking die.

[angrycowboy]

LOL, what is it about Maria and Alex's friendship that you think is so exceptional? Like this is the woman who told her BFF that her dalliance with the guy he loved meant nothing & then went behind his back to pursue him anyway. I'm not suggesting that Alex has dibs on Michael or that Maria should have sacrificed her feelings, but a conversation was sorely required. The fact that she didnt tell Alex was selfish. So why is Alex/Maria's friendship so great and above all other Alex's relationships?

I've been sitting on this for a while, because really, it pissed me off. And I wanted to take a step back from dealing with this fandom and it's asinine opinions about Maria and Alex. 

People are selfish, and that's one of the great things about this show, is that we get to see characters who are flawed, and not perfect. Who fuck up and have to deal with the consequences. But we also get to see adults having adult relationships, and learning how to navigate them. 

Maria has had feelings for Michael for a long time, whether or not she verbally admitted to them, her interaction with Alex in 1x02, and her flirty banter with Michael in 1x04 shows us she has thought about it. The M(alex) fandom has chosen to ignore those interactions, citing "no chemistry" and "Miluca are better as friends who banter." Which, ignoring canon is fine - we all do whatever to make things more enjoyable to us. But the disconnect exists where people then start treating FANON interpretations as CANON, and get angry when they don't come to fruition on screen.

Maria resisted her feelings for Michael, even as she was flirting with him - and sleeping with him in 1x09 opened the floodgates, so to speak. Now she knew she was fucked. But Alex came to the Pony in 1x10 holding more cards than Maria, because at the time she still didn't know Michael was the guy Alex had been in love with in high school. Maria may have still been trying to resist what she was feeling, but those feelings were still there. And Alex is there to talk specifically about Michael knowing something happened between them. Alex even admits to her "how could you [know]?" because he is aware that he is the one who kept that vital piece of information that it was Michael Guerin he fell in love with. 

I love Alex Manes to pieces, but he's a bit stunted emotionally (which is also why I love him). He's been dealing with his own demons, and he's still not comfortable being out. But keeping Michael at arms length, he's learned, hasn't done them and their relationship any favors, and Alex knows he loves Michael. As with their conversation in the junkyard, Alex feels like they need to learn the little things about one another, and rely on more than just sex and that indescribable connection. Because he's broken up with Michael twice (technically three times, if you count "it can't happen again” in 1x02), and he's starting to realize he can't keep walking away and showing back up like he has been. Because now he sees Michael attempting, for the first time in ten years, to move on. And Alex starts to recognize that as a result of his own actions in regards to Michael.

It's truly astonishing to place all the blame on Maria, who resisted her feelings for Michael for so long, who in 1x11, admitted with tears in her eyes, how much she enjoyed him showing up for her. Who told Liz in 1x13 that she felt guilty for falling for the guy Alex fell in love with in high school. She did not invite Michael to the Pony at the end of 1x13 - he showed up on his own. And as far as Maria knew, Michael and Alex hadn't been a thing since high school. Furthermore, at no point does Alex seem to clear the air either that he is looking to rekindle his relationship with Michael. 

Kissing the guy you like, who is unattached and not in a relationship with anyone is not a crime. There's no "going behind Alex's back" happening here when Maria believed there was nothing going on between Michael and Alex based on things both of them told her. 

What makes Alex and Maria's friendship great is that they don't let something like another guy be the thing that destroy their relationship. The foundation is shown to be much stronger than that, especially between 2x05 and 2x06. Don't forget Alex knew in 2x04 that Maria had found out about aliens, and he appears to be the only one she'd talked to while blocking out everyone else. She knew he knew about aliens and had been in on keeping her in the dark and still spoke to him (don't forget she shut Liz and Michael out completely during that time). And when she was ready, she went to him to talk. She didn't go to Liz first, she went to Alex. Did she go in armed with an excuse (the computer) just in case? Yes, but it's not hard to believe she wanted something to fall back on - a safety net if needed. Plus, don’t forget, she went to Alex for help in tracking down what happened to her mom - Maria took that first step in asking for the help she rarely let herself do before, and it was Alex she went to.

Alex recognizes she is allowed to be angry at being kept in the dark, and Maria acknowledges that Alex is allowed to be angry at her for not bringing up Michael and her feelings for him. The conversation is two adult friends, admitting they fucked up in regards to each other. And the show had established in 1x02 that not only had Alex been back in town for a while (and his showing up at the Pony was out of place, but the way she greeted him indicated they had seen and spoken prior to that interaction) but that Alex and Maria have kept in touch over the years (she makes no mention of his injury and doesn't even acknowledge it, which indicates they've already spoken about it). In 1x07, Alex goes to Liz because he knows Maria is silently struggling with her mom, and Liz has been absent getting caught up in her work. It can be inferred from that episode that Alex has perhaps also been helping Maria with Mimi as much as possible - probably in looking into the care facility they later take her to. 

One thing I see fandom focusing on is Alex helps Maria but Maria doesn't help Alex, which indicates that equally reciprocal friendships are the only type that are valid. It ignores Alex as an established character, who prefers to handle problems himself and work them out on his own, as well as someone who prefers to show his love for others through spending time with them. Maria has largely been on her own over that decade, and has trouble accepting help from others because of that isolation. Alex recognizes it, and that's how he effectively gets the day outing for Mimi to happen, by recruiting Liz and turning it into a mini-reunion day of sorts.

Alex and Maria are both selfish - in fact, every character on the show has shown to be selfish at one time or another. None of them are perfect and all of them are flawed. So why the focus specifically on Maria's selfishness? Where is the equal treatment on Alex for also being selfish? The show even addresses it in 2x05 and 2x06. More specifically with Maria still harboring doubt about her friendship with Alex if she chooses to forgive Michael and enter back into a relationship with him. In the truck, she asks because she believes for a moment that it could be the thing that creates a rift between them, despite all the years they've been friends, and despite Alex even assuring her in 2x05 "the mess between [Michael and Alex] will never be [Maria's] fault." And Alex recognizes that insecurity, and tells her, "nothing could ever make me stop loving you." Plus, don't forget Alex had spoken more candidly about his own internalized homophobia and the effects his father's toxic masculinity has had on him, with Maria, than he has with perhaps any other character (and I'd argue it's why in 2x08 he is comfortable opening up to Forrest, because he knows he's already got Maria in his corner, he's already talked this out with her).

In regards to it being "better" than his other relationships, I believe the tag was that their friendship was better than the romantic relationships they are involved in - and I still stand by that. Because while a romantic relationship can pull me in, it's usually the ensemble, and the friendships and relationships between the characters that keeps me interested. Because not everything needs to be or should be just about romance, friendships are just as important to portray in media.