#as much as I'm willing to accept ot3

[vole-mon-amour]

Trying to write your wip from one fandom when your heart and thoughts are in another fandom is... something. When I can't write for one otp that I had for longer than 5 years and that I'm sure will stay with me for another five, that is... yeah.

Honestly, I just need 3x11 and 3x12 to come out now. I have so many ideas for RoyJamie, I just need to know which direction to take and what to fix. Somehow I'm sure there's gonna be a lot to fix, unfortunately.

[obizenyukii]

top 10 obizenyuki moments (+all of the honorable mentions that i almost picked bc these three are too much .) DISCLAIMER: these are my opinions and also i talk a lot. <3

under the cut bc this is so long oh my god

number 10

THIS PANEL OF THEM BEING SO AT PEACE RESTING BY EACH OTHER'S SIDE. OBI DEEP IN CONTEMPLATION AS HE WATCHES OVER SHIRAYUKI AND ZEN. THEM SLEEPING SO SOUNDLY BECAUSE THEY CAN LET DOWN THEIR GUARD AROUND HIM. I'M FINE.

every time i see this panel i just feel so happy. they belong together.

number 9

needless to say you'll miss the young miss, but you'll be lonely without me too, i bet. this entire conversation . obi saying this as a light joke but also because he knows how much they both mean to zen. obi searching, in a way, for a reassurance that he /is/ needed and wanted as well, since it's so obvious that shirayuki would be. zen's response. this is a moment that shirayuki isn't physically in so i bumped it down a few places, but it's still so meaningful for the ot3.

number 8

obi longing for zen and telling his bestie (zen's gf, who he's known for also occasionally longing for) about it casually under the stars (and saying he'll say that to zen under the stars) . i know what you are .

this moment is absolutely iconic and one of my personal favorites <3

number 7

ot3 date <3333 the entire next chapter is just a bunch of cute moments of them (honestly could have had like 300 pics on this post if there wasn't a limit). them spending time together, goofing off, having fun and enjoying each other's company. give me 10 more of these dates please.

number 6

whenever i reach out my hand, you would grasp it?

the most iconic trio of all time you will not change my mind. this moment being an unsaid promise between the three of them to always come back to each other . lay me to rest

number 5

THE FACT THAT YOU'RE NOT DASHING OVER TO HER RIGHT NOW IS ALL THE ANSWER I NEED. THE TRUST. GOD. SHE CAN HANDLE HIM. I'M ON THE GROUND.

this moment is not as talked about (at least i haven't seen much of it discussed) but it's SO important to me. so much is being said without needing to spell it out. obi and zen keeping watch from afar, content in each other's company but also making sure shirayuki is in their sight. this is so romantic to do under the stars . they make me unwell. i need a vacation

number 4

obi and shirayuki always keeping zen in their hearts no matter what, despite him wishing not to weigh on them. this also touching on zen telling obi he wishes the title he gave him won't be a burden to him. the bond they have is highlighted so beautifully here. it's pure love <3 i'm sick to my stomach. /j

(& the bonus of obi and shirayuki seeing zen off together and looking at his retreating figure fondly. this is so romantic . i'm crazy .)

number 3

the iconic whenever i'm with you two it's always like this ;^;; <3 obi's love towards these two started to take root here. you don't understand because it's love dude . you don't understand because you were never attached to someone like this. you never had a home to come back to, never had the acceptance and understanding you have in them. dumbass. (said fondly)

it's okay, he learns it later <3

number 2

zen, furiously questioning obi and shirayuki on their health, making sure they're fine, and finally pulling them into a hug. his relief to have them safe and healthy in his arms. them realizing how worried he was . this is probably the most iconic obznyk moment and is a contender for n1 for sure, it was tough choosing between the n1&n2 moments ;; . god this moment. zen's "that's the most important thing" . don't talk to me i love them

number 1

the iconic line that is also my ship tag, if it's for you and mistress, i'm willing to go anywhere </3 this moment was what solidified the ship for me when i was only an anime only (shudders) slowly getting into the fandom. the anime was enough but this entire chapter had me setting my house on fire (joke). the brainworms never stopped. the entire chapter is so crazy ot3 but this moment is my favorite and overall the message/highlight of obi's resolve & his answer to zen's questions. it also showed more than any other moment obi's love & dedication to shirayuki and zen. shirayuki isn't even in this scene but it's still my favorite ot3 moment in the manga so far <3

and now, some honorable mentions. these following moments were all contenders for top 10 bc obznyk is so good. also these are not all of the obznyk moments in the manga ofc. there are many that i couldn't find in my screenshots and tried to find skimming through the manga but failed lol. these are just some classics/faves.

zen's iconic heart eyes

pretty early on in their relationship development, zen liking seeing them together ;;

zen being so happy around obi and shirayuki ;-;

zen introducing himself as obi and shirayuki's companion <3 it's just spelled out at this point lol

zen's heart eyes pt 100, if this post didn't have a limit i would've posted so many more of these

shirayuki and zen fretting over obi and then spying on him (while obi knows and is having the time of his life stringing them along) because he was seen with a pretty lady

it's like a part of me is always by their side <3 <3 <3 this would've been n10, but it's now the official number 11 moment

shirayuki and zen putting their full trust in obi to the point of fully letting their guard down, and obi realizing that for the first time, he's wholeheartedly wanted.

zen and shirayuki being the obi detection/protection squad <3

there's so much more. i love them so much <333333

[lunar-years]

Re: the fic tropes from the s2 hiatus, I have a related thought or question.

I would welcome your thoughts or recs (including recs of your own fic) because I admittedly found the OT3 WAY more easy to believe in fic in the s2 hiatus, in terms of Jamie joining an established RoyKeeley, even if the signs for the RK break up were there in retrospect. I now find it hard to believe in, post finale (well, post fight - up until half way through the finale we were looking good.) I still read lots of OT3 things that diverge at different points in the show, up to and including mid finale, and them simply not taking their bullshit argument to Keeley’s door, but I CANNOT see a path back from that after they do it, only to RJ, in a strictly canon compliant post finale fic. Of course Keeley becomes friends with them again but the events of canon made me feel like she fully closed the door on either of them in that scene for good, and I can't see it working out the way I once could. That's a let down, and makes me sad especially after 3.11! I used to not even like RJ without K, I much preferred OT3.

So what are your fave fics that deal with them getting together post finale - as in, one that doesn't diverge and that deal with what actually happened? I want a fic to really to sell me on it, if that makes sense, because the show really didn't in the end, it felt like it killed it. (Even with the barbecue scene - it felt like potential for RJ + Friend Keeley to me.)

Can you help me believe in the possibility again?

Hello!! First off, let me apologize in advance for what I'm fearing might end up a lengthly response to what was a very simple question, and frankly more than you probably wanted to know lol. That said, I feel like I need to preface my suggestions a bit first to help explain my breakdown of the recs so here's just a few things to keep in mind:

So, I don't see Keeley kicking them out after their bullshit argument to be a permanent door closure on the possibility for a relationship, which obviously influences my enjoyment of post finale ot3 fics greatly. Instead, I sort of just view it as Keeley drawing a hard boundary on what she's willing to put up with, and categorically deciding that she not going to engage with either of them when they're being that idiotic (enormously valid of her). HOWEVER, I honestly believe all it would take is a genuine apology from them to allow them both back into her good graces (look at how easily she forgave Roy after he gave her that sort of half-arsed [imo] apology letter! Now, obviously that didn't fix anything between them, and Keeley was in a particularly vulnerable place when it happened, and possibly their subsequent decision to sleep together then made things worse for their future romantically, but they are also undeniably back to genuine friendship + complicated feelings about ~more~ in the very next episode! I think this situation would go very much the same way.)

NOW, I'm not saying that's like... an entirely healthy and well-adjusted basis for a romantic relationship right off the go, just that I do think that Keeley would accept their apology and return to being friends with both of them really speedily. And that I don't think the lingering romantic feelings between them all (that imo, we do see hints of all season) would disappear. The big problem with roykeeley that led to the breakup was their inability to communicate their needs and feelings and what they wanted out of their relationship, alongside an inability to be truly vulnerable about their emotions. But i think s3 made it very clear to me how much the love is still there between them, and I'm of the belief that all it would take to fix them would be an honest conversation where they acknowledge they've hurt one another, admit they still love each other, and come up with a plan to move forward. I think the solution would be similar for budding ot3--they just need that heart to heart moment to hash it all out, because the love is there!

As such, the most "realistic" path forward for ot3 post-finale the way I see it is for all three of them to agree to be ~just friends~ for the foreseeable, giving Keeley time to focus on herself & her career and explore the self-discovery that comes with being single for once, as well as giving Roy time to develop a routine with therapy and work esp. on the issues that promoted him to initiate the bullshit finale fight with Jamie in the first place. I do not necessarily think anyone but Jamie is necessarily ready for any relationship where we leave them in s3, so I feel very similar about routes forward for RJ, JK or RK and I do for RJK. Eventually though (because let's face it, I do think they're all deeply horny for one another as well as share deeper feelings) the simmering, underlying sexual tension would boil over and the friendship would develop into more.

But all that said...I also am very easy to please and can be made to believe in pretty much any route to ot3, so I enjoy most interpretations of how they get together post finale/*that* fight. I love that it was left so open-ended, it makes it so easy for me to enjoy most fics about how they might get together

I say all this not to argue over your different interpretation (which is a totally valid one!) or to try to suggest everyone needs to see it how I see it, but rather to sort of warn you I guess that some of the fics I'm recommending might not be as successful for you as you were for me, because I see the situation so differently.

I think a lot of canon-compliant post finale fics (mine included tbh) tend to sweep the fight moment under the rug (as in, it gets mentioned that the boys apologized or what have you, but there's also been at least a few weeks time jump since the finale and the three of them have kind of moved on from that evening) because myself and other authors maybe see it as less of a major dealbreaker that needs to very addressed before the three can more forward. I have tried to curate the fics out accordingly into categories that will hopefully steer you in the right direction, but it's also been a while since I've read a lot of these:

Category A: Very convincing (imo) canon-compliant getting-together post finale fics that don't necessarily address the final fight head on:

The Third Wheel by scintilla10; a very cute one-shot based around the idea that Jamie and Keeley have a heart to heart in Brazil and then bring that energy back home to Roy.

Upside Down by @morethanslightly; post finale, they're all friends! then Jamie and Keeley go to Brazil and more occurs :)

take away the glass by @izzyspussy; OK...so to be fair... This one explicitly states in the leading author's note that it ignores everything that happens in the finale, lol. However, it's so good and otherwise (imo) very in line with canon that I'm recommending it to you anyway, even though it doesn't match the brief. JamieKeeley get back together first, which is a unique take I haven't seen in any other fic that nonetheless feels SO fitting for the dynamic in s3. I just really think this is the post-series fic that could convince you on the three of them again :)

Oh, Lord, You've Never Been So In Love by asexual-fandom-queen; post finale friends to lovers, the fight is mentioned in what i think is a very effective way, but not really focused on.

Triangles by @catalogercas- I love fics where Phoebe is the one to knock some sense into them :)

Category B: Post-finale ot3 fics that DO address the finale/fight of it all head on:

How to Build A Triangle (or accidentally fall headlong into one, or whatever the fuck) by SquaresAreNotCircles; very fun but also They Talk About It! Pretty in line with how I see how things actually playing out in canon, tbh.

boyfriend lessons by @mixtapestar; so this is in alignment with "they apologize, Keeley forgives them and they all move on" which I realize might be enough accountability for the way you view the fight, but there's fun twists and I love anything that involves shenanigans and also their Brazil trip.

it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning - butterflybook; a quick one-shot about the boys apologizing & Keeley forgiving them (author notes this happens quickly, but they share my sentiment that that is pretty in character for Keeley)

Category C: Maybe less convincing, given canon, in terms of like, long-term stability for the relationship without further conversation and hard work, but definitely convincing for in-the-moment rampant horniness:

three turns by scintilla10; this is about Keeley inviting them back in immediately after kicking them out for horny purposes, so I'm not sure you'd be convinced by this lmao. But it's also so fun, so I thought I'd throw it on the list anyway for others people who might be interested and/or if you read some category A stuff that gets you back in the ship and then want to try something different

Triple blend by Dancey96; this definitely takes some liberties with what Keeley may have said before kicking them out. so it's "canon-compliant" in a very loose way I don't think aligns with what was actually intended in canon, lol. BUT! It works for them and it's fun and it's hot and it's a fun way to play with what happened so maybe it would make you feel better about the scene! idk

Heart Trouble by @morethanslightly this is another play on the scene that maybe doesn't address their problems as much as you would need, but gosh it is sexy and fun!

Category D: My own fics that may or not be your speed but I'm throwing in to self promo anyway:

Confetti ; This follows the concept that they're all friends post finale and then slowly the dynamic starts to change; fluffy getting together fic ft. Roy's family

last to leave the party ; another iteration of the above but this time it's years of friendship between the three of them post the finale before the something happens that causes things to shift back around to romance

Actually, the one I'm writing now (RJK friends with benefits) is I think going to be the one that addresses what you are looking for most head on (in terms of dealing with the direct aftermath of the finale and staying completely canon compliant). So stay tuned!

If anyone else has any suggestions or would like to self-rec one of your own fics for anon, please add them/share them with me!

[mxanigel]

what we have is each other

The lovely @socially-awkward-skeleton and @captastra tagged me to play with this relationship template!

That's a fantastic template for two people. And I hope to use it for Vix and Shadowheart once I explore more of their journey. But. Uh. My current brainrot is my AoT OT3. So I'm stealing this opportunity to share the latest version of their chart (OT3 template here).

Explanatory rambles below the cut!

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Hange is a chaotic non-binary mess of a leader soldier, Levi is a clean freak who blunt and crass and so deliberate with emotions that he doesn't express them like others do, and OC Shion is a broken sunshine character seeking joy on her better days and clawing for meaning on her worse ones.

[greeting each other] Levi consistently uses demeaning terms toward Hange. "Idiot," "four-eyes," etc. When he uses their name, it's a big deal. I haven't figured out what he'll call Shion, but since she confessed so early in their relationship, he didn't have a chance to come up with something like what he calls Hange before Things Changed between them.

[First to confess] ahaha yeah Shion first tells Levi she loves him in chapter 9. We're on chapter 23 and neither Levi nor Hange have used those words. (but we're getting so damn close aaaaaaa)

[First to kiss] Levi kisses Shion after she confesses. He can't articulate why. She doesn't press him to. He knows she's important to him, something he shows in a thousand little ways. (Hange's a force of nature and takes all of this in stride in chapter 10 in very Hange-esque ways.)

[Dies for the others] OHOHO the WAYS this could happen depending on timeline and adherence to canon. Dare I explore a worldstate in which Shion dies to save Hange's life? WE SHALL SEE

[Prone to hide their feelings] This condition is in Levi Ackerman's blood okay. And an innocent chapter 8 conversation leads Hange to hide their feelings for both Shion and Levi to some extent. Their affection? Not at all hidden. Their romantic feelings? BURY THAT SHIT. Until they can't keep it buried any longer.

[First to apologize after a fight] Shion is not one who tolerates strain between herself and those she loves. Especially if she's the person responsible for it. But when that strain exists for reasons outside of her control… she won't apologize for the sake of apologizing. And she's learning not to apologize for who she is or how she feels.

["Excuse me, they asked for no pickles"] Shion will sit there and roll with things (and may encourage others to do the same depending on the situation) but there is no freaking way Levi or Hange would accept any of the three getting pickles when they didn't ask for pickles, lol.

[Spoils the others] How said spoiling occurs depends on the person, but they're each ready able and willing to spoil the other two.

[Wakes up first] Levi canonically doesn't sleep much. So I headcanon that Hange has experimented with sleeping draughts (experiments which always piss off Levi regardless of effectiveness because Hange takes it as a personal challenge to slip him one without him noticing). But for this relationship, he's the first one awake which has already manifested multiple times in the fic. The very limited scenarios in which he wouldn't wake first are super fun to play with~

["What's updog?"] I took this line less literally, seeing it as which of them are the most casual in speaking to the others, most likely to make puns, etc. And that's 100% Hange.

[First to propose] Once the OT3 shakes off its rocky romantic restart, this is unnecessary. Hell, even before the official confessions, they're already a unit.

[Wants children] I actively avoid giving my OCs children. I stopped writing for one in part because it seemed like children were a likely outcome. And then Shion comes along and turns that on its head. So. There's a kid in one possible future. With three parents who love her very much.

[Didn't know they were dating] The they-were-already-a-unit thing I mentioned earlier comes into play here. I have mixed feelings about the word "dating" here only because it tends to have romantic connotations, and both Shion and Hange's initial feelings are strongly platonic. But given how much I adore Levihan and that this is my first-ever OT3, plus after thinking long and hard about how Shion eventually feels about Hange and vice versa, I decided all of their feelings would be considered romantic.

[Initiates contact] Shion holds back SO HARD from being affectionate toward Levi, but he picks up on that (and appreciates it) and works to communicate when he's more open to that sort of thing. Not that he's good at it, but he tries. Meanwhile, Hange is alllll about touching and other affectionate gestures, which helps further lower the barrier for the other two.

[Approached first] Shion kind of sort of approached Levi first (remember, she was holding back) and Levi, once he's open to taking another step, doesn't hold back. But I'm thinking about this romantically, and Hange is highly reticent to show romantic advances toward either one knowing that Shion has feelings for Levi.

[Says the L word first] Shion 100%.

[The oblivious one] I'm using "oblivious" a bit loosely here; Levi takes a while to sort through what to name his feelings, and Hange hangs out in denial for quite some time.

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No-pressure tagging people to play with either template and/or just skimread my OC+blorbo rambles~ @poetikat @mxkelsifer @milesmentis @arendaes @outpost51 @dr-paine @saraptor @perhapsrampancy @spindleweedss @marythegizka

[unblot]

Ship Bias forrrr... Jack & Deuce?

@paramythas // ship bias // accepting

honestly both jack and deuce are characters i think have really great chemistry with a lot of different people, including with each other. I'm pretty open to most ships with them (so long as it's appropriate) so I'd be down to write other ships besides these. that being said--

JACK

Jack/Epel

Jack/Kalim (This one is a rp born baby. I know it's out of left field lol)

Jack/Yuu (Especially Yuuta from the Octavinelle manga.)

Jack/Vil

Jack/Deuce

DEUCE

Deuce/Ace

Deuce/Barbara (Yes the genshin one, *blowing a kiss to Tulip*)

Deuce/Epel

Deuce/Jack

Deuce/Idia (This one I generally prefer platonically but I love their relationship so much that I'm willing to explore it in multiple forms)

Bonus OT3 for both of them: Epel/Jack/Deuce. I LOOOVE the three of them together.

[surreality51]

Questions 5, 18 and 19, if you are happy to answer more than one question?

Thank you!

Thanks for the ask, @pearandalmondtart!

5. What is the perfect environment for you to write in?

Anywhere and everywhere. I rarely get time to myself, so I write a lot in tiny spurts using Notes on my iPhone. I'll write while waiting in line, at the gym, or on the floor after I've finished reading bedtime stories to the kids. Part of this is due to my circumstances of being a working parent, but part of it is also how my brain likes to write. I find it incredibly hard to sit down and write a fic from start to finish, especially a longer fic. I use more the "BitTorrent" method of writing, where I jot down pieces of scenes and dialogue as they come to me, in whatever order they come to me. Sometimes this means I write a scene from the middle, then jump to the beginning, then write the last scene, then dialogue from a third the way through, etc. Then I have to somehow string it all together when I finally sit down at 1am when the whole house is asleep. Yeah....not the most efficient way to write, but you do what you gotta do.

18. What is a line/scene you’re really proud of? Give us the DVD commentary for that scene.

I'm going to be greedy and name two scenes from The Promises We Make, because that's the longest fic I've written in over a decade and gosh darnit I'm proud that I actually finished it.

FWIW, spoilers ahead.

Scene #1: Mirka confesses to Rafa that Roger loves him and Rafa asks her why she’s telling him this

For all of Mirka’s shortcomings, she did not lack for courage.

“It was a hard truth that I needed to accept. And that is why I’m here: because he has a choice to make, and he believes there is only one way forward for him. I know him. He will choose me and the kids, every time. In his heart, he has already made the choice, because he hasn’t said anything to you. And he never will.”

She gathered herself and looked Rafa full in the eye.

“But I also know the choice has cost him. He made the choice alone, without talking to me about it, because he was afraid. He didn't want to hurt me. But what he has forgotten is this: I don’t want to hurt him either. I love him too much to let him live with regret. Do you understand what I am saying?”

Rafa gave the barest nod. Mirka reached out and placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart. Rafa automatically covered her hand with his.

“So I have made a choice too. I’m choosing to make room for all of us. I don’t want to watch him watching you with longing in his eyes. I love him too much for that.”

This exchange was hard but pivotal, because I had to figure out the answer to why--why would Mirka willingly share Roger with Rafa? If you want to build an OT3, you need at least two sides of the triangle to be balanced, and the third side to accept each other. Any imbalance on the third side would cause the whole thing to collapse. So the Mirka-Rafa relationship is key to making any Fedal relationship where Mirka is not shunted to the side both possible and believable. I wanted to give her agency, to make it her choice. For that to happen, I needed to answer the question of why. And it had to be from a position of strength, not "because I'm afraid I will lose Roger otherwise."

And so to find the answer, I thought about what makes marriages strong and what has been important in my own marriage, and one thing I came up with is brutal honesty about your desires, dreams, wants, and needs--how important it is that these things align, and how a married couple might drift apart if they don’t actively try to stay aligned with each other on these aspects. This is where the hard work of a long-term marriage lies, in the constant alignment and realignment of each partner’s priorities with the other’s so that you both keep rowing in the same direction. It’s a constant, unending effort that requires honesty about which direction you really want to row in. 

It occurred to me that Roger, in his position, wouldn't be willing to risk what he has (Mirka and the kids) to pursue what he wants (Mirka and the kids and Rafa). He wouldn't do that to his family because he loves them too much, and he’d be afraid of jeopardizing what he has. Plus, there’s no guarantee that Rafa feels the same way AND is willing to jeopardize his marriage with Mery for it. In fact, it’s such a long shot as to be a moot point, hence Roger choosing to keep his feelings to himself. But that necessarily means that he's lying to Mirka, if only by omission and thru his inaction. It's for all the right reasons, but his choice still creates an area within their marriage where he is not completely honest. 

Once I realized this hole in their marriage, one that has been steadily growing in size over the years, I had the key to giving Mirka the power to do something about it. I wanted her character to have the intelligence to see this hole in her marriage and the courage to face it. And it was important to me that she approached it not out of fear of losing Roger but out of love for Roger. She approaches it in a way that shows the strength of her character and the durability of her faith and trust in Roger and what they had built together.

Because what any Fedal+Mirka OT3 fic needs to acknowledge is that Mirka is the one who stands to lose the most if things go south, so it takes real courage, trust, and faith for her to let Roger go and yet believe that he will stay. I wanted to honor her for that strength.

Scene #2: The sister scene to the one above. Rafa confronts Roger about what Mirka told him. 

“So what else did my lovely wife tell you?”

Rafa huffed a low laugh. “She told me you are in love with me and it is very obvious and we are being stupid about it.”

“Oh, is that all?” Roger replied lightly. “She’s not worried about me cheating on her with you and blowing up the careful balance you and I have maintained for the last ten years and risking my marriage and yours and the press finding out and everything going to hell?”

“No, she says we are stupid if we have doubts about our love for our wives and our families. I think she is insulted that you did not talk to her about this.”

“So she sent you to talk to me about this instead of coming to me directly herself.”

That was a dangerous ball. Rafa paused to consider his response.

“I think,” he said slowly, feeling around for the right approach, the most truthful approach, “maybe she thinks you don’t really believe her if she just told you with words, because you are too scared of the consequences, so she wanted to show you that she is okay with this.”

Roger considered their twined fingers quietly for a long moment.

“She must be very mad with me if she went to all this trouble.”

“Yes, very mad. You are very stupid.”

This scene was necessary to close the triangle, because we have Roger-Mirka as pre-established, chapter 1 deals with the Rafa-Mirka side, and now Roger and Rafa need to hash things out. It took me a while to figure out how we could get to Roger opening up and finally acknowledging his feelings for Rafa. I knew that Rafa needed to push him, because Roger was never going to do it on his own, for the reasons outlined above. It also occurred to me that Mirka couldn’t be the one to push Roger, for the same reasons as above. So it had to be Rafa. But how would he do it? 

Rafa is a very open and straightforward person, but he’s also highly emotionally intelligent and sensitive. It made sense and felt right to me that he would be very matter of fact about it, in a “why you being stupid?” way, once he himself had come to terms about what he wanted and what the situation was. 

So how would he approach Roger? 

By straight up calling him an idiot, of course. 

Because in a way, Roger was an idiot. First, because he assumed/hoped that Mirka wouldn’t notice his feelings for Rafa. (Haha, the entire tennis community and half the internet has noticed his feelings for Rafa, I don’t know how he expected Mirka not to notice.) Second, he assumed/hoped that Mirka “I have one job and one job only” Federer would do nothing about it and just let it lie there festering and unspoken between them. Third, he assumed/feared that Rafa “I left my pregnant wife’s hospital bed to be with you” Nadal would never be able to reciprocate even if they did acknowledge their feelings for each other, for all the practical reasons listed above. 

Clearly, he had underestimated Mirka, their relationship, Rafa, and even Mery. Hell yes, Mirka is mad about that and is gonna do something about it. But she ain’t gonna do all the hard work for them, Rafa needs to step up as well, and he does. 

tl;dr: Roger is an idiot, both Rafa and Mirka are calling him on it, but they love him anyway.

19. Who is the easiest/hardest character for you to write about? Why?

Rafa is definitely hard for me write in terms of realistic dialogue, just because he has a non-standard way of speaking English. I need to listen to more interviews with him, because his grammatical “errors” are not random, they are probably rooted in how English and Spanish differ. Or at least that’s my guess. The point is, I need to listen to his speech patterns more to figure them out. 

He’s also less familiar to me as a person/character. I admittedly watch a lot more Roger interviews and feel I have a pretty good grasp on his character. He shares a lot of the same attitudes, motivations, way of approaching things as my husband does, so it’s easy for me to understand and draw on that in my writing. But Rafa I feel like I know less well, partly because I haven’t watched 700 hours of interviews of him, partly because he’s somewhat limited in what he can express in English interviews, partly because he’s an introvert who naturally lives more in his head--whereas with Roger it’s a bit more “what you see is what you get” though not always--and partly because I don’t have someone in my life who is similar to him, so I haven’t been able to pull on my own experience and observation. 

Mirka is hard to write in the sense that we don’t see or hear from her directly very often. Much of what we know is either from before 2005, second-hand from Roger or biographers, or what we can observe from afar when she’s in the stands. We can make a lot of inferences from this--such as her being an introvert, very driven and determined, ambitious, mentally strong, disciplined, detail-oriented, highly organized, warm, positive, and steady/supportive of those around her--but we still have a lot of blanks to fill in. Some of it I fill in using my own experience being in a long-term relationship where the two parties are practically attached at the hip and work together to achieve shared goals, but admittedly some of it is just wish fulfillment of seeing a female character who can hold her own in an environment like the male professional tennis circuit and not be reduced to just a WAG.

Mery is by far the hardest to write because I know so little about her, hence why she gets the short end of the stick in my fics. I definitely need to change that. Maybe I should write a fic that is just texts between Mirka and Mery about their boys being idiots. :D

[hellofanidea]

oh yes pls talk about the sidney/sledge/shelton dynamic i'd love to hear your take on it!

Okay okay okay so disclaimer that it's been a while since I last watched The Pacific, and I don't spend as much time in the fanworks for it as I do other stuff, so mea culpa if I'm fucking up or just repeating any widely accepted fanon

BUT

Maybe it's just because I really love all three of them and want them to be happy, but I feel like they'd really get on together, both as Sledgfu and Best Friend Sid, or as an ot3 dynamic.

And Stella this is partly your fault bc you reminded me about Sid/Sledge and. I have lots of thoughts and feelings about the potential for that. Mostly because it's friends to lovers and that really is absolute catnip for me, but also the potential of it always being there but never being fully realised? Their positions as two wealthy young white men in the American South during this era preventing them from venturing into romantic territory but them keeping that strong, loyal, friendship nevertheless? They're always going to love each other, the know that, no matter how that's expressed. That's not going away for either of them.

Now, you might then expect there to be an issue with jealousy once Snafu is introduced, and you'd probably be right, at least at first. From both of them! Sid grew up with Eugene, has had all those experiences, knows him inside and out, and Snafu would probably be wary of that, of that closeness. But Snafu knows the ins and outs of the new Sledge, the one who's come home from the war different than how he left. Sid isn't as in the dark as the other people around them on that front, but he still wasn't there for the traumatic, formative, experiences that have shaped this returning Eugene like Snafu was.

There's also the more obvious cultural hangups. Snafu would probably be pretty disdainful and distrusting at first of this rich white boy. Yes, that also describes Sledge, but he's always going to be Snaf's exception to stuff like that. They've seen too much, been through too much together for it to bother him the way it does with other people.

There are two things that I think would break down these potential issues for the Sid/Snafu friendship. The first is that they both love Eugene. Eugene also loves them both, in whatever way that may be. And once they can recognise that in each other, and the importance of each other in Sledge's life, that's... kind of like half of whatever battle might have happened. At the very least they're now willing to tolerate each other. Or bond over shared trauma (both were on Guadalcanal when Sledge wasn't) and their concern for Sledge.

The second is that Sid and Snafu, once they really got to know each other, would probably just get on? On top of that shared military experience, Sid being Sledge's friend means they probably have that same sharp sense of humour under that Southern charm, which Snafu would appreciate and find easy to bounce off of. There's also the fact that Snafu doesn't tend to be needlessly cruel. Most of his anger or mockery is reactionary, almost defensive. It's unlikely he'd spite Sid or get nasty with him for no good reason, and any additional abrasiveness Sid can probably roll with. Basically it tracks that if Sledge and Sid are friends, and Sledge and Snafu are friends, then Snafu and Sid are probably going to find enough parts of each other to get on with.

Tldr; Sid and Snafu should be buddies post-war because, like Sledge, Sid's personality and sense of humour would likely endear him to Snaf, and Snafu's nowhere near enough of an asshole to dissuade someone who grew up with and remains friends with Eugene Sledge.

[dorunasch]

For the ask game: Kai, Misakou, Misaki?

Thanks 💖

Give me a character & I will tell you: Kai Toshiki

How I feel about this character: I have a lot of feelings about kai that i've said before so here it is again. disregarding the cardfighting aspect of kai’s fall to link joker, he felt increasingly inferior to the people he admired and respected most - ren and aichi, who had become more confident and more respected by their peers - and feared on a deep level that they would be able to move on without him and leave him alone. this debilitating fear of irrelevancy caused him to spiral into a deep depression where he grappled with his own inadequacies and ultimately gave in to isolating and self-destructive behaviors in a misguided effort to regain his relevancy in their eyes, and managed to convince himself that he was not their equal but their superior. in trying to prove his worth as a friend to them, he managed only to further damage their bonds.

when he finally realized this and was offered the chance at being forgiven, he rejected it and determined that he was better off not existing at all rather than risking ever hurting the people he loved again. and when he finally did accept that he had been forgiven, he was constantly reminded that his own shortcomings had affected his friends and ended up spending years trying to overcome the guilt he felt at how much he had hurt them. this is why he had such an overwhelming obsession with saving aichi during legion mate - he couldn't bear the thought of aichi suffering because of his sins.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: aichi, miwa, ren, gaillard

My non-romantic OTP for this character: even though i ship them romantically, miwa. miwa is the perfect best friend for kai, someone who knows how to call kai out on his bullshit but also wants kai to be happy. he's willing to put his own feelings for kai behind him just to make sure that kai doesn't revert back to a shadow of himself, isolated and alone.

My unpopular opinion about this character: kai toshiki is canonically a shy, socially awkward, and insecure nerd who hyperfixates on a card game to fill the void in his life left by an absence of loving, trustworthy adult role models and every time someone portrays him as aggressively sexual or forceful i lose five years of my life

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: kai and aichi hugging, but like, mutually and not with one passed out in the other's arms

My OTP: kaichi

My OT3: kairenai or kaigaiai

Give me a character & I will tell you: Tokura Misaki

How I feel about this character: i love misaki. she hides her own insecurities by allowing others to perpetuate a "boss lady" persona for her so she doesn't have to worry about people trying to get her to open up. when this finally happens, when she becomes part of Q4 and later the miyaji cardfight club, she comes to realize that it's not really so bad opening up after all. i'm glad she became the true boss lady in G series to the point where shin and kamui were both scared of her, but that she's also gentle and becomes a mentor for the younger kids.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: kourin, miwa

My non-romantic OTP for this character: kai. i think misaki and kai have a lot in common and a lot of ways that they coped with their trauma (parents dying) unhealthily by appearing uncaring and "scary" to those around them, but they both come to understand each other due to their backgrounds (particularly in legion mate, where misaki and kai are both grieving the perceived loss of kourin and aichi, respectively)

My unpopular opinion about this character: she deserved to win at least once in legion mate but i doubt this is an unpopular opinion lmao

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I really wanted misaki to have been the one to fight kourin during the link joker climax, like in the manga/v series psyqualia arc. i think it could

My OTP: misakou

My OT3: none

002 | send me a ship and I will tell you: misakou

when or if I started shipping it: i think during the school play episode, when misaki was the only one who had faith that kourin wouldn't blow them off and actually show up for their performance.

my thoughts: they were both known for closing themselves off from those around them but learned to trust and open up to each other. misaki went through hell to see kourin again. i say this so much, but they deserved to have a reunion. they deserved it and bushiroad denied it. a bitch don't forget!!

What makes me happy about them: misaki is one of the very few people in the world that sees kourin as a person worthy of befriending and getting to know outside of her status as an idol. they are very comfortable around each other, to the point where they can be open and vulnerable in a way they can't be with others, like in the manga/v series when the cardfight boys go out of their way to give kourin some time to rest and misaki is the only one the boys trust to help kourin relax.

What makes me sad about them: kourin doesn't! even get! her memories back!! misaki wears kourin's hair tie for years afterward and they don't get a reunion...

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: lmao what fanfic

Things I look for in fanfic: LITERALLY THE EXISTENCE OF MISAKOU FANFIC LMAO

My kinks: kourin doesn't lose her memory

Who I’d be comfortable them ending up with, if not each other: miwa for misaki, but i don't have anyone else for kourin

My happily ever after for them: if kourin MUST lose her memory, i want her to be compelled to visit card capital, hearing that lots of strong fighters play there, and request that someone teach her how to play. misaki then works to rekindle their relationship from the ground up and they fall in love all over again.

[bethanyactually]

since you're not drowning in characters yet...ella lopez from lucifer, alexis rose from schitt's creek, and matthew cuthbert from anne with an e 🐇

I'm going to be honest...I think the only one of these I will really be able to do is Alexis. I love Ella and Matthew both, but I don't have that many thoughts about them--I love them and enjoy them when they're in front of my eyeballs. :) So, Alexis Rose:

do I like them: Alexis is a character who, if you'd told me in S1 how MUCH I would grow to love her, I would have been very surprised. But I do love her a lot. 5 good qualities: She's smart, she's such a supportive friend, she's willing to try new things, she's very confident, and she's super accepting of people wherever they are, even if they're very different from her. 3 bad qualities: She can be shallow, she maybe places more importance on appearance sometimes than she needs to, she's willing to let others pick up the slack if she doesn't feel like doing her share. favourite episode/etc: Her graduation episode!!! otp: I don't really have one, honestly. She and Ted were extremely sweet but I can see her finding happiness with any number of people. brotp: Alexis and David, duh. :) ot3: nah notp: ? best quote: Her theme song, of course headcanon: She is amazing at whatever she does in the future. <3

Thanks, Toni!

[lea-andres]

#2 Amy

Ooh, Amy!

How I Feel About this Character: When she's written right, I absolutely love her. She's so hopeful and optimistic, but also a bad bitch who will not back down from what's right. And she's always willing to see the good in someone (Gamma, Shadow, Bark in that one IDW comic). But man, when they get her wrong it bums me out so much. 😕

All the People I Ship Romantically with this Character: OH BOY HERE WE GO JUST OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD AS I THINK OF THEM-

Sonic, Shadow occasionally, Silver occasionally, Rouge occasionally, Honey occasionally, Mighty occasionally, Sticks...

Huh, I thought there was more, but that's all I can remember right now. I don't ship Amy with people too often, admittedly. Amy ships don't make me as rabid as say, Espilver. 😂😂😂

Non-romantic OTP for this character: Team Rose. I know that's technically an OT3, but c'mon, I love them, and I wish we got to see more of them.

If I have to pick ONE character (BOO... 😂), Then Bark. That IDW comic convinced me he's taken her on as a little sister, I don't accept criticism.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Amy's fangirling over Sonic is fine (as a fictional character thing, she'd be a horrifying person IRL). I think it's funny most of the time, honestly. It's when it's her ONLY personality trait I don't like it.

My OTP: I'm gonna get booed off this website, but honestly SonAmy might be my Amy specific OTP. But again, it doesn't rank terribly high in the grand scheme of all the ships I ship. 😂

My Crossover Ship: I don't explore crossover as often as I should. 😭

A Headcanon Fact: Amy practices witchcraft, the tarot cards are just the most public aspect of that part of her lifestyle. She's not too public about it because she's worried about the reactions she'd get.

EDIT: I FORGOT WHAT I WISH HAPPENED DAMMIT! I wish we get to see the tarot cards more, also see my headcanon for another thing I wish they'd do with Amy.

[tuesdayscanons]

I was thinking about why Maddie is willing to be with Dimitrie in the "Xzayvier and Addie Half-Sibling Verse" thingy but has issues when Fentonino fawns over other women (especially when she has complicated feelings towards Fessie, one of Dimitrie's partners) and I think it has to do with her perception of commitment.

I made this chart a while back and it still very much applies.

Maddie would feel more comfortable with Dimitrie being poly because—

She expects less commitment from him, he definitely seems more content in the dating stage

She knows Fessie and Stephen so it's not as threatening? Like she might have an inferiority complex thing when it comes to Fessie, but she knows Fessie would provide something different than her.

As for the other ships—

Maddie is less worried about Dimauri; it surprises her that he even agreed to be in a romantic relationship in the first place, so she doubts he's going to like someone else enough to dump her for them.

Fenton (2017) is pretty loyal, but he also is open to being poly iirc...I feel like they could feasibly form an OT3 with another muse? Idk how to explain it, but Maddie would kind of see it as her and Fenton working together to love someone else? Fenton has enough loyalty to make Maddie feel like he wouldn't leave her but is chill enough for things to be open, if that makes sense?

With Stephen...I'm not all that sure tbh. Maddie is still trying to figure out how the dynamic works.

Stefan can't be possessive of Maddie without expecting her to be possessive of him...if he thinks she's valuable enough to punch people who even look at her, he shouldn't need anyone else.

And Feathers...Maddie has just accepted that Feathers is going to do whatever Feathers wants to do.

[dokidoki-tae]

What if you want to ot3 instead? That "Uncle Hide" stuff annoys me too because it's like they're tryna put Hide in his place or some shit, like, "oh yes, he has third place." Bull like that. And I'm just like, cowards, either make this a polyamory, or accept that Hide's not third place. He ain't even first. His character ain't even bound to Kaneki at the this point. He's transcended into a savior.

Hide is pretty much on a whole other level compared to other characters. Hide has actually managed to do something in the story that push it forward without things becoming cicular. Basically, everything people do ends up being the same cycle as the past, kill or be killed without bringing up ghoul/human relations. Amon still cant accept himself, Akira wants nothing to do with them, Seidou is just doing what he wants, Goat doesnt seem to care about anything unless Kaneki wills it, Kaneki only cares about ghouls... And there is Hide trying to take back the CCG and hopefully in a good direction seeing as Marude and Matsuri have managed to work with each other despite Matsuri’s hatred towards Marude and Marude’s occupation as a former ghoul investigator. Our boy is going places. So yeah...fuck “Uncle Hide”