#basically it was inspired by me being frankly Done with some of the like. bad portrayals of polyamory bullshit in some t/tduo fics

[ctntduoarchive]

sometimes i still think about that one k*rlnap as heros with c!q as vigilante and c!wil as his weird villain bf or whatever

[hazelsmirrorball]

The BatFamily

Summary: birthday party and pranks are the batboys specialty. parings: Batfamily x Fem!Reader warnings: implies Jasons death authors note: I hope you guys like this short little story. It’s so random but I hope you guys understand it. It’s basically inspired by the office.

The bat family didn’t really care a lot about birthday parties. To them, it was a constant reminder that they had to live another day with the burden of remembering everything bad that was going on in their life.  So Birthdays went in the category of holidays they didn’t have time to celebrate or to give it that much importance like other families did.

But when Y/n L/n became a family friend, everything changed. Because contrary to the family beliefs, Y/n loved Parties, more specifically birthday parties. She made it her mission to celebrate the stupidest things that would happen in their lives. Your tooth fell off? party. You survived dying? party. You where struggling that day? Let’s celebrate to cheer you up. Y/n didn’t take it as a joke, it was her thing and she made it perfectly.  She would count the days every year, she would even go to the point of celebrating their Birthday week . Planning and prepping was her specialty. It was the only excuse to dress up as whatever she pleased without a care in the world.

Having Y/n in their life brought some changes. One primarily being celebrating  birthdays in the batfam and quite honestly they weren’t completely against it. For their birthweek, Y/n made them feel love they thought they could never have. To please their friend they took Birthday as seriously as she did and this year wasn’t going to be different. Now that they've been doing it for four years in a row and each birthday they were excited to see which theme Y/n was going to come up next. Y/n had previously begged Jason Todd to organize his party, since he was the only family member that was against it. After begging him for hours, Jason finally agreed.

So Y/n decided that Jason’s party theme was going to be a costume party. But The family had a different plan for the party, a twist on their traditions. They took the time to prank someone on their birthday to balance out all the love they got on their birthweek. Each party they chose a victim to play the ultimate prank. This year's victim was Jason's turn and the family went all out. The only one that wasn’t aware of the prank was Y/n and the birthday boy. But even though she didn’t know what they were doing, she was still an essential part of the prank.  

Y/n loved Jason so she made it her mission to make the party something for the books. This year Y/n wanted to have a twist. She had bought several cameras and placed them around the house with mics to do a type of mockumentary. To the point where she paid someone to walk around with a camera just so she could have good shots.They’ve been following the family for the past week and quite frankly they liked the feeling.

Confessional room.

Dick Grayson entered fixing his hair. He walked up to the velvet couch and fixed his posture, smiling widely.

“Hello! As you guys know, I’m Dick Grayson and today I’m dressed as my biggest inspiration” While Dick spoke Bruce passed behind the frame smiling proudly not really seeing his outfit.

“I’m being cupid today. The love master, since I’m very good in that department I thought I might as well dress as him. And let me tell you. I’m really proud of the outcome.” Bruce rolled his eyes when he saw who his” inspiration” was while Dick got closer showing the details Y/n have done on his face. His eyes were covered with several shades of red sparkles and small heart details. His body was barely covered, the only piece of clothing he had on was the makeshift diaper. On his back were neatly placed white wings and his heart shaped bow and arrow.

“The best thing about Halloween has to be Y/n’s costumes. Oh lord, last year she had me scared for my life”

a year ago.

Dick paced desperately through his room pulling on his hair anxiously while staring down at the mess he had created in his room. He had spent the past five  hours trying to find his suit but it was nowhere to be found. He needed to find it and he needed to find it now. He wasn’t going to wear his old disco suit, he wouldn’t hear the end of it if he did. He had missed patrol once and he couldn’t miss it again.

Dick Grayson looked around the room feeling his body go completely hot and his breath go uneven. He was stressed, beyond stress for that matter.

“For fucks sake” Dick groan while desperately opening his closet door and pulling out his old suit trowing his head back.

“Hey Dick! I need your opinion on this costume I found in your room” You said while poking your head through his door. He couldn’t see your body quite well but he did notice the familiar domino mask. When Dick nodded his head in approval Y/n opened the door quickly. Her body was covered head to toe by Dick’s suit. He could feel his face go hot and his mouth hanging low.

“I hope you don’t mind me using this. I found it laying on the floor and I thought it would be a good idea for a last minute costume”

“Don’t worry! It looks amazing on you. You can wear it as long as you want Y/n”

Dick couldn’t even hear when Jason started laughing at him when he showed up to patrol in his “disco suit” because all he could think of was Y/n L/n wearing his nightwing suit.

Confessional room.  

“Okay! Maybe scared for my life wasn’t the right expression but she did have me feeling some type of way. So that’s why I’m dressed as cupid this year. Might shoot some arrows today, you never know.” He said with a wink and a sly smile.

The camera switches to another part of the manor, where you could see Tim sitting by the kitchen aisle with a cup of coffee in his hand. His eyes slowly start to close while his face starts to lean to the front, slowly falling asleep.

Confessional room.

“Well, I didn’t really know what I was going to dress up for this year. So Y/n and I did some brainstorming.  I wanted to do something funny without trying too much. So I thought of things that would compliment me and while I did that I almost fell asleep. Y/n thought that I’m always sleep deprived and after a long discussion we ended up with sleeping beauty.” He said with a soft smile. Tim had a loose pink shirt with some pink pjs to match. His head was adorned with a small tiara and he was holding a pink pillow.  The camera cuts quickly showing a Damian entering with cartwheels.

“ I simply refused to dress in something as absurd as what Grayson is wearing. I needed something proper but something that would also represent me. So, Y/n made me a ninja costume” Damian responded with a prideful look on his face.

The camera switches again to an anxiously Jason looking through the window waiting for Y/n arrival.  He walked back and forth trying to calm his excitement.  Damian looked at Jason from where he was sitting and quickly rolled his eyes.

Confessional room.

“Oh, if Jason knew that we picked out Y/n’s outfit he would kill us” Dick responded with a smile. Next to him was Tim and Damian.

“ We strategically convinced everyone to follow our plan without working that hard”

“I even indirectly convinced Y/n to pick Jason's costume” Damian responded.

Jason bit his lips anxiously while attempting to spot her. Jason Todd was one of Y/n's closest friends and even though he was almost forced to say yes to have this party and he wouldn’t admit it out loud, he was loving it. He always counted the days for the birthdays just so he could see what Y/n had come up with this year. He loved her creativity and the pure effort she put on her work. Instead of putting a cake for the supermarket or a simple costume from the store, she would spend months prepping her ideas. Jason admired a lot for that, he couldn’t imagine himself doing that much for someone.  He rarely gave things a try, that was his thing, but for some reason he knew that he should give his all.

But this year he decided he was going to do something different, he wanted to get Y/n’s approval in some sort of way and the best way he could do it was by dressing up. So when Y/n had shown Jason that she was going to wear a Red Hood costume she had designed Jason fell over heels and secretly decided to dress up matching with her. What’s the harm in that?

The cameraman got closer to Jason in an attempt to film his reaction to her costume when she arrived. As soon as Jason saw Y/n walk out of the car his heart dropped. Bruce looked at the camera with a shocked look on his face but he then proceeded to hide it with a newspaper.

Confessional room.

“Did I know what Y/n was going to wear that for the party? yes. DId I know Jason was going to react this way? also a yes. Will I continue to talk about this, maybe” Bruce responded while fixing the cowboy hat that was on his head.

Jason looked pissed off at the camera and with arms crossed.  

“I hate them” he muttered while the camera pointed towards his body showing his robin costume.

“Hey! Jason shouldn’t be mad, because at least they are matching” Dick responded to the camera trying to hold his laugh

Confessional room.

The camera cuts towards Y/n sitting down in the confessional room with her perfectly done costume.

“I really don’t know why everyones so serious,” Y/n responded while looking at the confessional camera, her body covered in her joker costume.  

[voidpunkanathema]

if not already asked, leon for the character ask :) basic but opinions vary!

(Also asked by @shinekittenace)

Why I like them: I fully expected this guy with his John Cena-esque go getter attitude and aggressively marketable ace to annoy the shit out of me, but the truth is is that hating Leon is like hating a puppy. You just can't. He's just a nice fuckin dude that wants to keep everyone safe even though he's just one man. There's also the fact that he's essentially a grown up ex-protagonist which the game delves into a little with his complicated emotions surrounding losing the title he's had since he was eleven by the end of the game and the fandom's done some FASCINATING psychological deep dives with. 

Why I don’t: I feel like GameFreak failed a bit with show don't tell with him. Some of the ways GameFreak try to make him seem really intelligent and capable are...a little on the nose to say the least. Like for instance him estimating how much Hop has grown during his introduction scene COULD be taken as a hint they don't get to see each other often but nah I really do suspect they wanted the kiddies to be like WOW THIS GUY IS SO SMART HE CAN DO MATH lol. I do kiiiind of suspect the fandom put more effort into analyzing the guy and the kind of havoc being a massive celebrity since the age of 11 can wreak on your personal life than GameFreak ever did but that's very much not a bad thing IMHO. I'm not one of those IF IT'S NOT STRICT CONFIRMED CANON IT'S OF THE DEVIL people (and honestly rather detest them) 

Favorite episode (scene if movie): I...don't think the Anime showcased the better sides of his personality well (he loses the protective streak and just kind of comes off like a self-absorbed manchild that everyone loves because he can defy basic Pokemon battle logic in the same way Ash can. He's a protagonist But Annoying This Time) so I'm not terribly interested in seeing more. 

Favorite season/movie: See above. 

Favorite line: Tbh I don't have one particular standout one immediately coming to mind and I'm feeling too lazy to go through his quotes page rn. His catchphrase IS fun to meme about I will say. 

Favorite outfit: He absolutely kills everything that's not the Sponsorship Cape tbh. The guy has GOOD fashion sense despite the memes, corporate was just holding him back. 

OTP: Raihan/Piers/Leon for reasons I already went into in the Raihan response lol (the vibes between him and Rai are interesting and pretty damn hard to deny but Piers is holding up 90% of my mental health on his bony little shoulders rn and also I wanna see him and Leon interact more) I'd also love he and Sonia to work thier shit out, they are cute as FUCK together in Pokespe 

Brotp: The platonic Raileon enjoyer strikes again. Id also certainly take he and Piers being bros too. Also he and Nemona would be absolutely insufferable together and I'd love to see it someday lol 

Head Canon: One thing that was inspired the anime and a certain infamous wall punching scene is that through no real fault of his own he and Raihan's relationship was actually dangerously close to fraying for a bit. He WANTS to be a good and supportive friend to his favorite person but he's gotten fame and empty adoration pretty much handed to him for long enough that he can't REALLY understand what's going on in Raihan's head, the immense pressure he's putting himself under and the frankly unhealthy behaviors he's starting to develop. It's gonna take the pressure of the championship being gone for Leon to stop being the impossible standard Raihan's harming himself with and start being an uncomplicated source of companionship again. On a brighter note he's a good enough guy that once he becomes Chairman he's gonna prove he deserves that position by taking steps to reverse Rose's power consolidation to make sure no one person can cause that much trouble for the nation of Galar again. He'll prove his worthiness to rule by NOT being a total corporate dictator. 

Unpopular opinion: I've bitched about finding him annoying in the anime enough so instead I'll say I actually don't mind how involved he was in the game plot, it's honestly kind of weird other adults HAVEN'T been like "why are we letting random ten year olds go into very dangerous situations unaccompanied" before if you think about it

A wish: The same as the others, I'd love to see him again IF he's not miserable or acting like an ass. 

An oh-god-please-dont-ever-happen: Don't get lost in spacetime my neurodivergent king you've been through enough 🤞🤞🤞

5 words to best describe them: The tragedy of Superman, Pokemonned. 

My nickname for them: Lee suffices.

[everythingunderthestarsthings]

Aelita and William - Quiet besties

My own post about Odd and Yumi's friendship inspired me to write another set of headcanons for an equally unusual pair - Aelita and William!

So these are my friendship headcanons for Aelita and William!

Main masterlist/Blog navigation post

Code Lyoko Masterlist

I realize Aelita looks terrifying in this picture, but let us deal with it, shall we?

Aelita and William are the pair that get the least screentime on the original show.

Also, I said I would rewatch Code Lyoko for more accurate headcanons, but college is killing me, so bear with my hazy recollections of the show.

Early on, Aelita thought William was just the guy that made Ulrich jealous cuz he also liked Yumi. He was nothing more to her at that point, so she treated him with civility, that was all.

Similarly, William didn't think much about Aelita at all.

That was, until the whole Aelita remix happened.

William was indirectly the reason Aelita got into DJing and music. He legit thought she had been doing it for years!

Aelita probably pulled him aside after her first show with the subdigitals (you know, after the return to the past) and thanked him, cuz she felt without him encouraging her and he obviously did encourage her she would've never got to that point.

Baby boi is flustered but he's also sincere, cuz he likes Aelita. She's got wicked skills and she's nice and she's a close friend of Yumi's, so he's hoping to get in her good graces.

So now, they're a little more friendly with each other, but with Ulrich's and William's competition for Yumi's heart (those two treated it like war. Atleast, Ulrich definitely did), their interactions were limited again.

When the group needed a new addition, William was the obvious pick, because he'd proven useful to the team. Aelita was okay with the idea overall, but she had some reservations about inducting someone with a normal life into X.A.N.A.'s hell.

The gang didn't exactly tell William everything that happened, so he was basically just a little oblivious to Aelita's past, but willing to help her and the team with X.A.N.A. He's an adrenaline junkie, and again, wanted to be close to Yumi.

Aelita felt really bad when he was caught by the Schypazoa (forgot how to spell it, too lazy to look it up) and X.A.N.A.-fied. The show didn't focus on Aelita's thoughts throughout the series, because obviously, Code Lyoko is a kids show and Ulrich and Yumi were always the ones assosciated with William. We only see glimpses of it -- how she's happy when he suddenly shows up the next day, how she risks everything in the episode where they bring William back home. Fortunately, those glimpses are just about enough, and give us an idea of how she feels.

After he's saved, the gang basically ghosts the fuck out of him, and Aelita is the only person who voices out that they're being unfair to him. He's gone through all of this bullshit -- frankly, her and her father's bullshit -- and she feels partially responsible.

Now, William, after returning to Earth, has to deal with his new ruined social life (thanks to his clone) and also grapple with the fact that X.A.N.A. brutally fucked him up.

He wasn't able to recall his memories after materialization, but I think he gradually gets flashes of memories of Lyoko, what he did to the team, and the number of times he targetted Aelita under X.A.N.A.'s influence. X.A.N.A.'s intentions and history with Franz Hopper would have also become known to him.

X.A.N.A. also had a good idea of what Aelita wanted to do -- retrieve Franz Hopper and destroy it. William eventually pieces everything together and his memories are whole.

Below is a small conversation that I think definitely took place after the supercomputer was shut down by the gang (before evolution):

William: Hey Aelita? Aelita: Yes? William: It's done? Aelita: *realizes what he's referring to* Oh, yes. We just shut it down two hours ago- William: Ah. That- must've been hard for you. Aelita: *after a few moments of stunned silence* Yeah. And hey, I know we never had this conversation, William, but on the first day you were on Lyoko- William: The Schypozoa? Not your fault. I was being cocky. Aelita: No, I should've done something to- William: It's okay, Aelita. Really. Thank you for bringing me back. We're sort of even. Aelita: If you say so. William: And uh- listen, I know you have Jeremie in love with you and the others adore you, but if you ever want to talk about Lyoko, I'm here. Aelita: Oh. Aelita: Thank you. Aelita: And you, likewise.

By the time Evolution rolls out, we see William and Yumi on quite friendly terms again. This must've been the basis for it.

Aelita discovers that William is sensitive. That he's so much different than she thought. William too, discovers that she's far braver than he gave her credit for. But all of this happens in the tiniest intervals.

Both of them have insomnia. Though she loves the others, and they're the ones who have been on this journey with her since the very beginning, William alone is able to relate to X.A.N.A. in a way no one else could. And to William, Aelita's far kinder than most people he's met.

I don't think the others are very aware of Aelita and William's friendship, because when with the team, for a long time, William's voice was muted. Or altered because of anger and misunderstanding. He has a right to be angry -- the others just ghosted him after he had come back from Earth, when he'd desperately needed a friend.

Aelita, on the other hand, had to grapple with X.A.N.A. returning during Evolution and the whole drama with her mother and Tyron.

Aelita spent her nights googling her mother's name, her age, anything to get her wherabouts -- that is, if they're not fighting X.A.N.A. or Laura.

And with time, William and Ulrich get on much better terms -- so much that it needed to be Ulrich who could get William back from X.A.N.A.

They shut down the supercomputer again, during the end of evolution, and Aelita is in tatters.

She can't find her mother, she can't beat X.A.N.A. and she doesn't want anything to do with X.A.N.A. after this. She's done.

Unknowingly, she seeks out William again. They're good friends, albeit a quieter pair, but their friendship sparks up the most when they're in the dark and need someone else who was in the dark too.

Evolution basically cut out Aelita and her music! I think she put a stop to music cuz of everything that happened in Evolution, and William helps her by getting her back to it.

This is when he properly teaches her how to mix and how to create unique sounds (she's a natural, but she doesn't know the theory, right?).

He teaches her how to let X.A.N.A. get to the background -- that she was all that mattered. He had taught himself how to not let X.A.N.A.'s influence define all that he was as a Lyoko warrior and as a person, after all. She had helped, but this was all him, and he likes that he could teach her how to do so.

I also headcanon that Aelita would be the one to introduce him to his future partner.

Aelita and William are the quiet friends. The duo you never knew worked, because they work only in specific ways. Yet, they're the only ones who can soothe a particular ache in each other.

[cogbreath]

what is your opinion on pro ship discourse? I know it is a tough or awkward subject, you do not have to answer this

im not proship myself but at the same time it seems completely unrealistic and infeasible to try to put a stop to it, people r gonna write and create stuff like that no matter what, and i genuinely do believe that some of it is done for shock value/attention , and giving it a response or acknowledgment is what they want. basically i take a sort of "dont feed the trolls" mentality about it. i dont want to see it but i also dont want to let it get to me. the internet is a place where theres some truly heinous and nasty shit out there and i feel like you'll destroy yourself mentally if you make it a major thing to worry about.

i do kinda live online but the fsct is that for the most part (outside of some things ive heard abt happening at like fan conventions) that it can be avoided by logging off. so becsuse of that as well i dont find it exactly an issue thats worth prioritising the way some ppl who r against pro-ship stuff are.

way more important things to spend your life worrying over.

what i find very annoying is the whole "dont like dont read" defense, and its really pathetic and stupid the way proshippers act like their writings are immune from criticism, or that any criticism that is against the subject matter in their writings is invalid, and they cry "harassment" too often.

frankly you shouldnt be surprised also that ppl will tell you to kill yourself and think thst youre disgusting if youre writing that kind of stuff, and i cant feel sorry for you if you dont have the backbone to take it. if its a problem then stop writing that stuff lol. if u have the guts to do it you should have the guts to handle the hate.

also the way some of them literally compare criticism to actual book burnings and police violence??? which is racist and ludicrous.

a lot of them also looveeee to use lolita as a gotcha but the truth is their writings are nothing like nabokovs in terms of quality and worth, and they dont seem to realise he wrote that as a critique of the normalisation and glamourisation of pedophilia.

out of morbid curiosity i once read a fanfic that touted itself as being inspired by such. i wanted to see what that author thinks being inspired by nabokov's work means, and not big surprise, it was masturbatory slop.

sure its possible that you can write fanfic that involves dubious subjects like that and do it well, but its rare.

irt to people who say they write it to cope, i have my doubts on that as well unless its a story where its clear that characters involved will grow and heal, or its very clear its written as a cautionary tale or something to that effect. maybe some ppl out there legit do cope with writing something that i find to just be nasty masturbatory slop, i dont know, but i dont know if thsts actually a healthy coping mechanism.

many ppl say that if you want to do that you should make it all original, but i think we are past that point, and fanfic is a medium that a lot of ppl use to express and cope about things. I've done it myself (albeit unpublished) and i find that argument to mostly be based in that they feel its cringe bc its fanfic rather than anything to do with genuine criticism.

ive also noticed the emergence of new terms like "comship" ? i kind of forget whst this means i think its like being neutral on it? i find it a bit shitty that ppl consider neutrality on it to be a bad thing? i csnt blame someone for not giving a shit about it. i think its lame to expect everyone whos involved with fandom to pick a camp to sit in, especially when the subject matter is often triggering. someones neutrality could be bc they dont want to think about it too much for that reason.

and as far as it goes though for RPF? i think it's really not THAT bad of a thing. especially bc in all honesty its moreso about that persons public persona. & just because its parasocial doesnt mean its wrong to do, thats simply a descriptor of the dynamic between fanbases & public figures. there is some absolutely NASTY and questionable stuff out there especially like for kpop bands 😭

that being said public figures do have the right to be uncomfortable about it either way and i do find it unfortunate and disrespectful that fans arent willing to listen to them when/if they say they dont like having it written about them. ABSOLUTELY shouldnt write it about irl minors though regardless.

oh and also like if ur writing it about like. ur coworker or someone u kno personally thats kinda really creepy . but its also not wrong to fantasise about people thought crimes arent real. just. dont publish it or show them that

anyway feel free to disagree with anything i have an open mind abt this most of its based off personal inference i havent rlly ever discussed it much ^_^

[laufire]

lately I've been... not exactly rethinking, but, adjusting? the way I think about "fanon".

I've made it no secret that I don't care much for it, in a general sense. whenever I'm truly invested in the canon source to the point where I actually read and even write fanfic, it's because there's something (often multiple things) about canon that managed to capture my attention. so I have little interest in versions of it that have passed through a game of telephone for years and feel unrecognisable to me.

when it comes to my own writing, ninety-nine times out of a hundred I like to work with canon. not necessarily adhering to it, but using its foundations as groundwork. my go-to ideas are usually: what if this one (1) event went a different way? how much would change? what would be the ripple effects and how far would they go? or, what if I focused on this trait of a character and took it to the extreme? or, what if we look at this plot point canon used but didn't explore, often because it wasn't the point of a larger story, and shifted the focus towards it? and so on.

but that's my approach and I don't intend to proselytise about it. however, when it comes to the much-maligned/mocked abstract "fanon", I do take issue with a few things. again, it's not about wanting stories that adhere to canon; canon is there and not going anywhere. fans have sometimes influenced canon sources to an extent, but it's always far less meaningful or ruinous than some people would have you believe. official adaptations have done far more damage to ongoing source materials (and influenced subsequent adaptations, who take inspiration from it even when it contradicts the source), and I try to stay blasé about those -emphasis on "try", if I'm honest.

my issues are largely about 1.) flanderization, and b.) lack of originality. the first, well. nobody likes to see characters/storylines they like (or even just enjoyed on an intellectual level) and see them reduced to a few basic, exaggerated traits, some of which don't even apply to them lol. the latter it's about my particular annoyance with the echo-chamber effect in certain fandoms; someone popular does something, it gets reproduced over and over, and it becomes ~fanon gospel. I've read fics that had interpretations of the characters (sometimes even my favourite characters!) that didn't match my own, yet they were well-written, didn't lack depth, and strived to do something different with them than what we usually see. I value all those three things, so I liked them.

this gets even more complicated in the dc comics fandom (and other canons built on collaborative writing, but dc comics is the most extreme example), because if we're being perfectly honest, canon often has those same issues, and worse ones. there are several events that used to be key to a character's journey that aren't considered canon anymore. or, at least, the canon status of said events is very much in the air, and there are even runs that imply they had to have happened but they happened differently, with little explanation about what those differences were. canon writers (maybe just some of them?) are also given room to cherry-pick things from various continuities, presumably as long as it doesn't contradict editorial's (sometimes seemingly arbitrary and/or dumb as fuck) stipulations, and at this point it's more productive to judge whatever changes they implement on their internal logic than on how well they coordinate with everything else. just as it is, IMO, perfectly understandable that fans of a character would dismiss a specific writer's interpretation; their choices don't occur in a vacuum, they do come to some things in bad faith, and some of them display their biases without shame (which I frankly prefer, but you know. you can both be frank about your preferences and write characters you dislike with some grace lol).

lastly, because this is something I've tried to word on other occasions... I get the impression that those of us who are, let's say, "canon-adjacent" in our fannish activities, are seen as possessing a holier-than-thou attitude. it's... maybe not unwarranted in some cases? I know I personally come across as pretentious and even arrogant lol. and I probably am, although I will say I do play it up for ~humorous reasons, especially if something has really annoyed me. but in this respect I can genuinely say that I don't approach this thinking "I am aligned with canon and therefore Superior, unlike those fanon-loving people who Don't Get It!!"

it comes from a place of genuinely loving canon. from looking at the universe it presents and appreciating both what was created to fill and the new possibilities it presents. from loving the characters and admiring their creation. from looking at all the pieces of the puzzle and a desire to play with them. and with dc comics in particular, vast and ever-expanding as that canon is, from a desire to know more about it.

yes, even I rag on it. that also come from a place of love. if I never shut up about some artwork it's just a sign that I care about it passionately xD

[hopeymchope]

Kazutaka Kodaka's "DEATH COME TRUE" starts with your character — a small young man in a hoodie named "Makoto" — waking up in confusion, initially unclear on where he is or how he got there.

So. You know. Kind of a familiar start.

For the uninitiated: Kodaka is the guy who created/wrote Danganronpa.

Yeah. Now you're getting it. These opening moments feel like an olive branch to everybody who played and embraced the first DR title.

Also, if you're a Danganronpa fan? Briefly skim through this trailer for DEATH COME TRUE featuring illustrations of each DCT character as drawn by DR character artist Rui Komatsuzaki in his signature style. SO COOL.

Makoto winds up having amnesia, which is clearly a beloved trope for Kodaka. And if I'm being honest, the whole "protagonist who wakes up with some level of amnesia, leaving them to suss out where they are and why" is a beloved trope for me as well. As I've learned what kinds of stories and media leave me most satisfied and/or engaged over the years, I've come to accept that I am, frankly, a sucker for that well-worn setup.

I'm obviously a sucker for Kodaka as well — his writing has produced BIG FAVES of mine and has yet to disappoint me. I adore and admire his GDC presentation on creating memorable characters, considering it rather inspirational. Though I sadly haven't experienced everything he's done (anybody wanna translate "School of Ragnarok" into English?), I'm obviously In The Tank for this "game."

HOWEVER... ! At the risk of outing myself as a Bad Fan®, I only finally played (er... watched?) DEATH COME TRUE just last night. In goddamn April 2023, almost three friggin' years after its initial release. See... I was aware that this is basically just an interactive movie where you make binary choices on occasion, and I was ALSO aware that it's short enough to be completed in one playthrough. And so, in spite of the writing pedigree behind it, I wound up holding out for a pretty major sale before picking it up. I saw such a sale like one or two weeks ago, so here I (finally) am!

Makoto wakes up in a hotel suite where he IMMEDIATELY sees a news broadcast that identifies him as a wanted serial killer, much to his understandable horror. He then finds a woman laying in the suite's bathtub that's either dead, asleep, or unconscious. While he's still getting his bearings, there's a knock at the suite's door, and you're thrown into making your first of many choices.

I rather doubt it's considered standard practice for the evening news in Japan to put jokey newscasters wearing loud suits in front of pastels to announce warnings about at-large serial killers. But hey, what do I know?

As I'd previously heard and read, you only "control" your character insofar as you select one of two binary choices at various points in a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-type way. This remains true until you're in the home stretch of the story, which is when they finally start bringing in some choices with more than two options... but those choices have less impact than the usual binary ones, so that expansion of the concept comes out as a wash.

This is a mystery story with murder as a major component, as is Kodaka's primary wheelhouse. The main story only takes about 2.5-3 hours to reach whatever is your ultimate ending (and there are really only two legitimate endings that aren't bad endings/deaths). Along the way, Kodaka fans will recognize a number of themes and concepts he's used over the years, but I won't spoil what they are. Some of them are reused in a straightforward fashion, while others are tweaked or mildly subverted from what you might've seen in his various Dangan tales. And if you're unfamiliar with Danganronpa? Then it's surprising and it's a little weird that you're reading this, but it's gonna make the story of this game much more surprising and twisty for you.

One thing you won't see coming: His swag.

That's not to say that a seasoned Kodaka fan like myself wasn't adequately surprised and engaged at plenty of points, though! I was worried that the "live-action choose-your-path movie" format would leave me less invested than visual-novel-style mystery game with more direct control, but in actual practice, I was UTTERLY absorbed. That's right: To the surprise of precisely no one, I strongly liked DEATH COME TRUE. And given that Kodaka was both the writer AND the director of this "movie," I was really pleasantly surprised by his skill behind the camera. (Though I don't talk about it very much on this Tumblr, I've long been a movie/filmmaking fan, so let me put on that hat for a minute.) There are some dramatic camera moves and angles that served to heighten my adrenaline/tension during key moments. And although I can't say for sure how much he 'directed' his actors, the cast is goddamn excellent. EXCELLENT. I found myself rewinding to watch their eyes and subtle movements in various scenes. The performances sucked me into the narrative just as much as the story. I'm a filthy American dork who doesn't consume much Japanese live-action media, so I was only aware of two of the actors in here from their relatively minor roles in American movies. Furthermore, I didn't know the lead actor, Kanata Hongō, from anything at all! But based on his performance here, I want to look up more of his work.

Chihiro Yamamoto is the only actor here who seems to think she's playing a Danganronpa character — for both better AND worse.

Did I feel ANY disappointments during my experience? One obvious one is the brevity of the experience: I would've been happy to spend twice as long with these characters in this world. But for something like $6-$12, it's satisfying enough. My only other two disappointments were: A) The ultimate "culprit" behind everything was too easy to peg. As soon as that character first comes on-screen, they struck me as the obvious culprit behind everything, so it's unfortunate that they wound up being that predictable. And B) There's one character/actor who is just deeply underutilized/unexplored. They provide a bizarre, fascinating presence that barely has any role in the proceedings, and by the time the ending reveals of the story roll around, I can't help but wonder how they fit into this story at all?

Don't take those gripes as anything major, though. DEATH COME TRUE is never gonna have a super strong place in my heart, but I spent those few hours entranced and will fondly remember them. ALSO: You unlock achievements and videos by experiencing as many deaths as possible, so there's actually a benefit to screwing things up! The videos include behind-the-scenes "Making Of" footage as well as the full-length takes of the newscasters who are heard in the background of the opening scene. It's the latter that's especially fun, because the performers clearly knew that they were recording material that would be muffled/obscured, and they have a good time getting weird with it.

It's hard for me to look over my death medal collection without imagining they're accompanied by death metal, because homophones amuse me.

Look: Kodaka has always been clear that this was a very quick project that was rapidly thrown together and executed before he settled in and focused on writing the scenario for Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. It's his baby, but it's also a side gig. With that in mind, the shortness of the experience is more understandable. It also means that you shouldn't expect it to have the depth of his other narratives/games. It's a Kodaka snack, not a meal. But this still a snack with a ton of nutritional value and flavor packed into its small size and minimalist packaging. Take a night to experience it. As long you don't pay full retail, I doubt you'll regret it.

[hansensgirl]

baby, but you.

summary. | He hopes you can feel it, because nobody else can heal it but you. Baby, but you.

warnings. | smut, hate fucking (ish), enemies to lover, slight angst, birthdays, degradation, praise, spitting, unprotected sex, penetrative sex, rough sex, yearning, crushing, riding, couch sex, breeding, possessiveness, and more. 18+ MINORS DNI AND DO NOT REPOST MY STORIES.

word count. | 3.6k

pairings. | Bucky Barnes x Reader.

a/n. | happy birthday @asadmarveltrashbag ilysm!!! thank you so much for being there for me since like day one, for being such a good role model and for just being amazing. thank you so much for listening to me rant and giving me advice, i’m so grateful for you. i hope your birthday is amazing today, i love you so much!! don’t forget to reblog! if you take ANY inspiration from my fics (and i’ll know, trust me) and you don’t give credit, you will be blocked and i’ll let others know.

He stands afar from you. A cold, calculated stare that you’re almost tempted to challenge with your killer one. There are only about two and a half meters of space separating you two, and even that’s not enough. You’re like a cat and a dog, constantly fighting about God knows what. Sometimes it’s the stupidest of things; other times, it’s the most reasonable. Either he has the television on too loud, or you come home too late. The other neighbours… Well, frankly, they don’t live here anymore.

It’s because they can’t handle his screaming when he has nightmares. You scoffed when you first heard it from your landlord, finding it absolutely insane that nobody is used to the sounds of a nightmare. As if they’re any better. You handle it like a champion, simply just putting on earbuds and your favourite songs at the lowest volume until you fall asleep. You almost feel bad for him when you see him with deep bags under his eyes.

But one short, snarky remark from him has the sympathy in you draining. Almost like the way his hands are the palest colour ever, and his skin doesn’t have the redness it should have. Almost as if the colours on a painting have been scraped off. You shouldn’t be noticing these things, really, but you just can’t help it. He’s almost a shell of the man he once was, at least in his words, but you believe that with some care (not from your hands, ew), he’ll be back to normal.

He shouldn’t notice the way you sigh every time you get home. The way you drag yourself through the carpeted hallway, out from the metal box that Bucky doesn’t trust. He doesn’t charge anything that has to do with heights, so that’s why he’s settled for the second floor. The drop in his stomach brings back so many memories that he can’t bear to remember.

Sometimes, he picks up the rumble of your stomach that he knows you’re embarrassed about, only because when it happens, you become the most fearful sailor to ever cross the shore. You always arrive right before Bucky falls asleep, leaving him at peace. ...No, no, no. It’s not like that. He totally doesn’t wait up until you come home safely before he can actually fall asleep so he can have a sense of calm. No, that’s absurd. Another absurd thing is the ungodly hour that you arrive home.

“Listen, you’re the one who bumped into me, okay? Let’s just leave it at that,” you huff, swinging your keychain between your fingers. Your digits are so soft, only ever coarse when you touch the skin between them. His hands, however, are almost the opposite. They’re rough and dry, but the crevices are a bit damp with sweat from pure nervousness. “No, no, you bumped into me, and we’re going to leave it at that, okay? Okay,” he nods, even though he’s talking to you.

“No, you bumped into me, and that’s that. Goodbye, Mr. Barnes,” you finish, throwing your bag over your shoulder and stomping down the hallways. You don’t look back once, simply just strutting your way to that darned elevator that you loathe. Suddenly, a hand wraps around your arm and turns you around. “I didn’t say you could go; we’re not done until I say we’re done,” he growls, gripping your arm tight enough to have you whimpering.

“No, fuck you. I’m tired of constantly listening to you bitch and moan about things that aren’t even my fault. God, it’s like you’re twenty fucking years old with no maturity, it’s fucking pathetic,” you spit, trying to yank your arm away. But compared to a supersoldier, your strength is equal to a cool spring breeze hitting a concrete building—basically nothing. Bucky’s chest heaves, and for a moment, you’re scared.

But even though he has a temper, he could never hurt you. He’s not the Winter Soldier; you’re sure of it.

His jaw clenches, and you stare at him intensely. Work is long forgotten, just like the fact that today is your birthday. That nervous, jittery feeling that would pool in the pits of your soul isn’t there. You wonder if it’s because you’re all grown up now, or maybe it’s because you’ve been so busy that your birthday seems like any other day in your eyes. Your eyes fall to his lips, almost on instinct. They’re pink and plump, slightly damp from the wetness on his tongue.

He gently pushes you inside his home, and you stumble back in shock. “I have to go to work–” you start, but he cuts you off. “I don’t give a shit. I need to teach you a lesson,” he snaps, pulling off his leather jacket. It has blue hues to it, sometimes grey if shone under the correct lighting. It’s overall black, suiting that dark soul of his that some people claim he has. You keep your mouth shut, clutching onto the strap of your backpack that rests on your right shoulder.

Suddenly, that fiery haze of yours has faded out, and you just watch him dumbfounded. Your jaw is slightly slack, but your eyes aren’t bulging out. Bucky pulls off the unusual leather gloves that always seemed to be a little too big on him. The space between his fingers and the cloth is always too much, and you even contemplated ‘accidentally’ giving him a new, better-fitting pair.

They flop onto the floor with an almost laughable sound, but you know you shouldn’t even dare to crack a smile. “Always going on and on about something. You just need to be shut up for once, don’t you?” Bucky questions, snapping his head towards you. “N- No…” you whisper, looking down to the ground. Suddenly, you prefer looking at wood floors to handsome men such as Bucky.

“Oh… Right, I forgot. You don’t know what’s good for you, that’s why you go to work and come home so late in the night. Bet you don’t have any time to fuck around with those pathetic twenty-year-old douchebags. That’s why you touch that little pussy of yours before you head to work, right?” he questions, and you gulp thickly.

Did he really hear it all?

“Please, I heard the way you finger fuck yourself in the shower all the way here. You really need to learn how to properly lock your door. You’re lucky those old ladies were here when I heard you, or else I would’ve come all the way over there and taught you a real good lesson,” he snaps, and you genuinely feel like doubting every little thing you do. “And you know what’s so funny, doll? I even hear the way you moan my name when you’re about to come,” he whispers, standing so close to you, and you wonder how he even managed to get here.

Your faces are inches away, His warm breath fans against your skin, and Bucky can feel the nervousness seeping through your pores. “Need a refresher? Or are you just going to stay quiet?” he questions, raising his eyebrows. He has a stupid smile on his face, and you’re not sure whether you want to kiss him or slap him. Both seem very appealing, but God, that devil on your shoulder always did have a loud voice.

Your bag joins his gloves on the floor, and you tilt your head upwards to kiss him. Your lips slowly slot against his, the taste of stale coffee immediately fills your mouth as Bucky shoves his tongue past your lips. He cups the side on your face, and your hands remain bent in the air. You don’t know what to do with yourself, so you place them on his shoulders, hoping for the best. He tenses up for a bit, and you start to pull away.

He doesn’t let you go too far. His hands keep you near him, and he stares into your eyes. Blue, blown-out orbs give Bucky an even darker look, and you’re practically sailing the same ship. “Don’t… Don’t go,” he whispers, leaning his forehead against yours. “I won’t, but-” you begin, but he cuts you off with an open-mouthed kiss. It’s so rough, so passionate. Teeth and tongues clash at each other, and you whimper against him as his hands move from your face.

They run down your body before gripping your hips and pulling you closer to him. His front presses against yours, and you can feel his defined muscles through that black t-shirt of his. You wrap your arms around his neck, such a simple act and yet he’s swooning like the lovesick fool he is. No, no, no, he’s not lovesick, and he’s not swooning. He’s just wanting, and that is all, just like you are.

You roll your hips for friction, desperate for something. The faint feeling of Bucky’s hard cock sends shivers down your spine, and you just know he’s huge. He could probably split you in two if he really wants to, and maybe it’s what you want as well. God, just the mental image of his cock sliding in and out of you is so pleasurable. Wetness soaks your panties, and you moan into his mouth.

“Say ‘ah,’ slut,” he mumbles before pulling away from the kiss again. You quickly do so and watch as Bucky puckers his bruised, red lips. You’re not sure what to expect; a stupid, silly kiss or something else. Your tongue is stretched out inside your mouth, and you wait for him as your chest rises and falls. Your eyes watch him as he spits into your mouth, a wad of spit dripping onto your tongue and your eyes nearly fall out of their sockets.

You quickly swallow it as if it’s some sort of antidote to an incurable disease. “Oh, you’re such a dirty fucking girl, aren’t you? I bet you’d let me do anything to you, right? Let me fuck you silly, throw you around, treat you like the spoiled brat you are,” Bucky growls with a fierce smirk on his stupidly gorgeous face. Sculpted by the Gods themselves, you wonder why the world has been so mean to him.

No, no, no, you don’t. You’re just desperate and needy.

“You really are stupid, and I haven’t even touched that little pussy of yours yet, and you can’t even answer a simple li’l question,” Bucky says out loud, expressing pure shame and disgrace. You shake your head before placing your hands back on his hard, defined chest. There’s a specific spot on his chest where the fabric is too sheer. You can see the way his soft hair has been shaved down to a mere stubble, and you wonder what he’d look like if it was grown out.

“I- I’m a dirty girl, I’d let you do anything to me, James,” you whisper to him, looking up at him with unintentional doe eyes. “I know, baby, I know,” he smirks before pushing you backwards. You expect to collide with the wooden floors harshly and startle the downstairs residents, or maybe even on a carpet that would try to break your fall but would end up failing.

You don’t expect to fall back onto a soft, cushioned couch. It’s more so an armchair that is a greyish-blue colour, one that you’d see and Ikea and want so bad, but you’d quickly change your mind once you see the whopping price it’s set at. Bucky towers over you, and you tilt your head up, still watching has the features of his face twitch a bit. His hands run down to your thighs, smoothing over the fabric of your jeans before his nimble yet strong, thick fingers reach to the button and zipper.

He makes quick work of stripping your clothes off for you, and you try your hardest to do the same for him. But flying, clashing hands that are oh so desperate can’t really do much. So as he pulls your wet panties down your feet, you hurriedly kick them to the floor. Bucky pulls his shirt over his head, and you’re not sure if you’ve lost it or if time truly has slowed down. You’re able to memorize each freckle, each scar, each mole and each muscle of his upper body.

He’s beautiful, absolutely beautiful. Though everyone has their measly little flaws that can be so bothersome, in your eyes, he has no flaws. “Fuck, you’re so fucking pretty, baby,” he breathlessly tells you, making you struggle to fight the cheerful smile that forces its way onto your face. “You’re pretty too, James,” you tell him, reaching backwards to unclasp your bra.

Now, there’s nothing special about it, really. It’s plain black, and in some areas, it physically pains you, leaving branded marks behind that feel good when you gently run your hands over them. Nonetheless, you look gorgeous with it on. But when it’s on the floor, treated like nothing, you’re even more beautiful. Your slick has stained your inner thighs with stickiness, and your clit throbs with need.

Bucky parts your legs, watching as strings of wetness pull apart from each other. “Fucking hell, is that all because of me, slut? Say it, tell me who you’re so wet for,” he demands, and your breathing hitches. “S’all for you, James, I’m so wet because of you,” you whisper to him, and he smirks devilishly. You clench around nothing but air, desperate for his cock to be inside you. “I want you so bad, James, please fuck me,” you beg to him desperately, and he chuckles.

Bucky goes to start taking off his pants, unbuckling his belt and pulling down the zipper that sometimes gets caught onto the fabric of his boxers a little too much. The black fabric slips off his skin like an extra layer of skin, and the sight of his hard cock beneath his briefs is so sexy. You let out a shaky breath, and you can just see how fucking huge he is. Impossibly long with a thickness that’ll leave you limping for at least a week or two.

“You know what’s so fucking hilarious, baby? Just moments ago, you were cursing me out, fuming at me and calling me pathetic, but look at you; you’re the pathetic one here. Practically drooling for my cock, so needy as soon as I put my hands on you,” Bucky scoffs, and you know he’s so right. He pulls down his boxers, and you watch as his cock springs out, slapping his lower abdomen and near his pretty Adonis bone.

He roughly pulls you up and sits down on the couch before dragging you onto his lap. You straddle the sides of his thick thighs, and his big cock presses right next to your pussy, between your legs. Beads of precum drip down the shaft of his cock, and some of it even sticks to your skin. “You want my cock, baby? Well, go ahead, you can have it,” he tells you, resting his hands on your hips.

You exhale nervously, knowing that his cock is gonna stretch you out so much, it’ll be borderline painful and pleasurable. You lift your hips up a bit, and Bucky’s hand grasps the base of his cock. He’s sticky and pulsating, a raging red that is almost purple if you squint your eyes enough. He drags it from your swollen little pearl all the way down to your drooling hole. The mild friction is absolutely amazing, making you moan softly.

Bucky shudders as he slowly pushes the tip of his cock inside of you. He almost wants to tease you so badly, make you beg for it until you’re sobbing and going all ditzy for him. But he’s not all the mean, and he can’t possibly be so cruel to the birthday girl. In one swift motion, Bucky pulls you down onto his cock, burying himself inside of you. You toss your head back and cry out as he stretches you painfully. The wet squelching pounds of your pussy are loud, but your moans are much louder.

He curses and bites down on his bottom lip, falling in love with the way your pussy hugs him tightly and the velvet feeling of your walls. No, no, no, he is not falling in love. He’s just desperate, that’s all. It takes you both a few seconds to adjust, and the painful stretch dulls down to immense pleasure. You struggle to control your breathing, though, because you’ve never taken anyone or anything as big and him. Months of wanting and needing him have finally come down to this, and you wouldn’t want it any other way.

He hopes you can feel it because nobody can heal it but you. Every single day he thinks about you, and his heart hurts. His heart hurts when he watches you leave and come home, it hurts when you both fight, and it hurts when he believes you could never love him. His mind still tells him that, and yet here you are, riding his cock on your birthday. He notices the way your bottom lip wobbles a bit, and he pities you.

“Shh, it’s okay, baby, you’re doing so good. Ride my cock, birthday girl, I know you can do it,” Bucky praises with the most innocent smile ever. You nod your head and slowly begin to rock your hips, moving them up and down his cock. Bucky is torn; he doesn’t know whether he should stare at your pretty face or at where you’re both connected. Your slick coats his cock and leaves it glistening, and he watches as it disappears and reappears over and over.

His hand returns back onto your hips, and he gently guides you up and down his cock. Your pained whimpers soon turn to loud, slutty, desperate moans, and Bucky begins to fuck up into your cunt, meeting you at every thrust. “Fuck, yeah, that’s my good girl. Riding my cock so fucking good,” Bucky coos, and you can’t help but giggle. Warmth fills your chest, and pleasure blooms immensely in your core, and it’s the exact same for Bucky.

His balls slap against your ass, and his cock drives in and out of you. You ride him at a quicker pace, moaning loudly, and he nudges against your sweet spot. “You look so fucking sexy riding my cock, baby. Could watch you forever an’ ever,” Bucky purrs, gripping your hips even tighter. Electricity crackles up your spine, almost like a burning wire in a destroyed fuse box. Everything is so sensitive, and the searing pleasure builds up inside the two of you.

Beads of sweat drip down your neck, and it is the same for Bucky. His skin shines just like his cock does, and the veins on the side of it throb with every movement. The wet noises and the sound of skin on skin fills the room almost impressively. The neighbours would’ve already filed noise complaints if they still lived here, but they don’t. So Bucky’ll fuck your brains out until you can’t make a sound.

“Fuck, you’re close, aren’t you? Can feel the way that nice little cunt is squeezin’ my cock,” he groans, staring up at you with his jaw slightly slacked. Your eyes have glazed over, and you stare at Bucky’s face. You ride him using his dick for all your needs and wants. It’s just like you’ve imagined, even down to the pleasure you’re feeling. “Mhm, gonna come all over your big cock,” you whimper at a specific thrust.

And he’s close too. Though the serum should make him last longer, your pussy just defies those rules. He fucks into you faster and rougher, and your legs have turned to jelly. You collapse onto his chest and let him pound your pussy into oblivion. Bucky’s chest rumbles with a chain of moan and curses, and you look up at him. His metal arm is icy cold, just like his eyes. But his orbs are darker than regular ice. They resemble black ice more than anything.

The elastic band in your stomach twists up tightly until it can’t do anything but snap. And so it does. The dam breaks, and you’re suddenly coming around Bucky’s cock. Your cum coats his cock and drips down his balls as your body seizes up. Your jaw falls open, and your eyes roll back while you moan loudly. “Fuck, you look so pretty when you come,” Bucky breathes, letting your head fall into the crook of his neck.

You cry out loudly as Bucky sloppily fucks you through your orgasm and chases his own. “I’m gonna fill you up with my cum, knock you up with my kids. Fuck, you’d look so hot with a bump, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off of your body,” he moans deeply, feeling his balls tighten up. He tosses his head back and curses, hitting his release. Ropes of cum shoot inside your cunt, painting your walls and even leaking out a bit. Somewhere, deep down inside Bucky, he truly hopes it sticks.

He moans loudly as his hips give a few shallow thrusts, prolonging his orgasm. You both sigh, slick with sweat and other bodily fluids that neither of you cares about. “Happy birthday…” Bucky whispers, pressing a kiss on the side of your head. “T- Thank you… How’d you know, though?” you question, even though his cock is still inside you. “Just did… Listen, I’m sorry–” he starts, but you cut him off. “Shh, I don’t care about anything but you, baby,” you tell him, whispering gently.

“Baby, but you.”

[absolutebl]

Hello, hello!! It's me, your favorite graduate, back with a burning question! ;)

I am in the middle of episode 11 of Why R U? (literally paused in the middle of it because I am WAY too invested in FighterTutor and am seriously dreading what is coming) - what a messy, cringey show. There are so many freaking characters, and my question is inspired by one that I have come to love, Kae. He is Tutor's boss at the bakery, and after he (bravely, in IRL standards) confronts Fighter's dad I realized just how much I appreciated his character and how annoyed I am that the show couldn't cut down its cabal of unnecessary characters to focus on more interesting ones. Not only is he an astonishingly great example (for a BL!!) of a queer "elder" in the community - he protects Tutor from creepy customers, gives him a job when he needs one and looks for help when he needs more work, is working-class himself, and tries to give advice to this lonely queer kid he's taken under his wing - he also seems to be a rare less-stereotypical portrayal of a Thai person with darker skin (if not the only, honestly, in my limited experience watching these shows).

So! My question is, are there any side characters or even guest characters (like Kae is billed as) who you wish had been given more latitude or importance in the plot/story of a BL?

OMG what a great question. YES SO MANY. Let me see if I can come up with a top 10. Does it have to be individuals? Can I pick a few couples (I won’t go too far because therein lies madness)? 

Top 10 Side Characters I Wish We Got More Screen Time

In no particular order.  

1. Touch & Daisy in Secret Crush On You

Is anyone surprised by this choice?

2. Choi Yu Na, JaeYeong’s bisexual bestie in Semantic Error

She was just... so effortlessly cool. Do I need to say more? 

3. TulHin in Love By Chance 2

I LOVE THEM, OKAY. Classic whipping boy, my goddamn catnip. And these two actors had amazing chemistry. Ae’s whole arc and character should have been dropped from this script in favor of more time with these truly damaged goods. Yes, I said it. Sorry Perth. 

AND ALSO 

4. Keen in Love By Chance 2

Can’t believe I chose multiples from MAME trash but heh, whatever is necessary for the truth right? Basically this show needed a massive rewrite, but it could have been done. 

That’s what’s so frustrating about MAME’s stuff, it’s so close to being amazing...  It’s like this fantastic 5 course meal but you will be barfing at some point. Maybe the end? Maybe the middle? Maybe multiple times? It’s a regurgitation surprise! 

5. Fong the Philosopher in Still 2gether 

Khaotung is untaped genius at physical comedy. I love him in this role SO HARD. I think we got a lot from him in season one, but I wanted more in season 2. 

6. PokeTongue in Gen Y 2 & What Zabb Man

Look we all know that during Gen Y 2 they were actually pretending to be in some other show. And frankly, we all would have rather been watching that show. Then they got given an actual other show and we STILL wanted more of them. 

7. ChampDoc in TharnType 2

I take the 5th. 

8. Beer in Oxygen

I just wanna look at James but he’s getting his own series (Bed Friends) so I’m okay now. 

9. Sky & Pai in La Cuisine 

Talk about crumbs. What? I mean WHAT WAS THAT? They had these two in their back pocket all along and DIDN’T use them? WHAT? 

10. VegasPete in KinnPorsche

Oh I fucking said it. You were all thinking it from ep 10 on, weren’t you? Why the hell didn't this start in ep 5? Vegas was entirely unnecessary as a love interest for Porsche. It would have been fine, no BETTER, if Porsche & Vegas had developed as a friendship and Vegas had NOTICED Pete in a significant way much earlier.* 

* Don’t comment on this. I’m not interested in this weird KP fandom imaginary-connection muck-wanking thing you’re all AO3ing all over Tumblr like a bad rash. And I could not care less about the original y-novel.  

Honorable Mention

All the GLs that should have had more screen time like the cuties in Meow Ears Up, InkPa in Bad Buddy, and Friend Zone 2, and I could keep going.

 The angry roommate ex lover in Love Class. I just really loved the actor and was very intrigued by the character. We could have spent much less time exploring the stalker story and more time with this boy and still kept the dumb sort KBL length. All in all, the weight of this narrative was all over the place but not using this character to the fullest was a problem.

The two besties of the seme in Mr Unlucky, SO CUTE.

The nerdy support boy who knows what it’s like to be gay and the artsy girl with serious self defense skills from Blueming.

The whole university friendship group that *almost* happened in Cherry Blossoms After Winter.

Tim in My Secret Love, preferably shirtless. 

Nutch in Not Me. 

Mew the ex boyfriend in Together With Me. I don’t know what they were doing with his character. And they didn’t either. But ho boy was he EASY on the eyes. So easy. I mean it takes work to pull attention away from MaxTul and he had ALL MY ATTENTION. 

And (drum roll please) . . . 

K.O. & HAO MEI (Love O2O) 

I will die on this tiny hill of censored bromance. More of them would have substantially improved this show. 

I'm not picking shows that couldn’t be saved. 

So I love KhunKaow in Brothers and CopyNampu in Top Secret Together and SanAei in You’re My Sky, Saint in Our Days, Jun in Love Area 2, but I don't think more of them could have save their respective shows because then it would have been MORE terrible show to watch. I call these the "I'm your huckleberry" awards. I give one each year to the couple that was the only good thing in an otherwise irredeemable show. Like Val Kilmer in Tombstone (bite me).

Current as of Aug 2022, there are a bunch airing right now that could make this list. 

(source)

[equallyshaw]

The Medicated Series: features OC’s with medical issues such as depression, anxiety, physical disabilities such as MS or Rheumatoid Arthritis as well as any other autoimmune disease such as Crohn’s, endometriosis, infertility, etc. (not an autoimmune but you get it) I feel, as a person with a physical disability, that there is a lack of representation and have always wanted to see myself in y/n stories. Always have and always will.

Links for information regarding rheumatoid arthritis:

https://www.cdc.gov/arthritis/basics/rheumatoid-arthritis.html

triggers/warnings: talks of pregnancy, medications. and angst. also SOFT. SOFT.

Original Character: Eliza Nicole James, 23 years old. Brunette Hair, Blue Eyes, short and curvy.

Word Count: 3.8k (will get longer over time, trying to adjust to this new format from a previous one)

Part Three:

—

Becca's POV:

I settled into the starbucks table, honing in on the atmosphere to pull me through an hour of work that I had to get done. I sipped on my cold brew, skipping songs in my playlist, hoping to find one that would get me moving. It had been a week since Cale and I had last spoken, and quite frankly I was ok with it. Yeah, not amused but alas, it is what it is. It was for the best. Right?

Eric and Becca were hitting up the groupchat and I rolled my eyes over there fullishness. I couldn't help but laugh at them for going after eachother, apparently my job was not needed. I'd go after them any day, though. I turned back to my notes and statuses, of what was still needed to be done and what had been done for the upcoming board meeting for the hospital. Things were going according to Eric's and I's two year plan. I was about to turn 24, and after graduating from University of Denver was I was 22, we set out to expand the program after years of me practically begging the higher up's as a patient and had gotten nowehere until I met Eric one day outside a board meeting, he had been moved by what I had to say and wanted to take the chance to expand the program. Here we are, working with some of the best children in the field. Like Martha who was my little irish dancer who never seazed to make me laugh and reconsider ALL of my decisions. Phillip, who knew how to say the right words when I have a bad day. Piper who constantly pushes forth the idea that being in pain doesn't need to hold you back and as a ten year, she is kicking it in Soccer and Softball. A fucking warrior. They inspire me each and every day, so how could I leave all that behind to go somewhere new that I didn't have any idea about. Who had no idea who I was and probably, would look at me differently because of what I have. I don't have the time or patience or the fucking need to do so. So, maybe my decision was made. Maybe, I do in fact turn down Joe Sakics' offer. But he's, Joe Fucking Sakic. How could I do that? I'd be a fool to do so.

Before I could move onto another topic of thoughts I was taken back, by the movement in front of me from a far. A group of three guys walked in, laughing at something. And you best know- me and the few others gave them the dirtiest glare. You just don't do that a 9 am on a Thursday. Common respect. They followed the train of glares and apologized, and I looked down not really taking in who they were.

I shook my shoulders, typing away at an email that needed to be sent. Coffee orders were said, but I didn't hear the names.

Until you know who, decided to walk up to my table.

I continued to type away, trying to ignore him but he would not move- ever after the two other guys had walked out. I sighed, taking out my airpod and looking up at Cale who had a soft smile on his face, with a eyebrow raised. I sighed, pointing towards the chair in front of me and he gladly took it. "What can I help you with?" I asked getting straight to it. But Cale didn't answer that, "How are you today?" He asked the one question he always started off all our conversations with. I hated how many fucking times a person would ask me that, and even though it was Cale- it got old real quick. Always having to tell people, but at the same time atleast somebody was asking.

"Im doing well actually, this past week has been great." I answered honestly and he nodded, cheeks turning pinker. "What can I help you with?" I asked again and he nodded, "Would you want to hang out again soon?" He asked and I shook my head. "Fat chance, Cale." I said heatedly. He was taken back, he had never been on the recieving end of my snarky tone before. "We need to talk, Eliza. We need to talk about things." He responded and I shook my head again. "I don't want to, it wouldn't be worth my time in the end. Even for you, I don't want to. This is a doomed friendship anyways." I spat trying to ignore those bubbling fillings inside of me. One's about how he actually might like me and one's of wanting to have him hold my hand again. Nervous tears filled me eyes, "Who said it was doomed?" He questioned trying to read my face. I looked away, trying to hide my nervous tears threatning to spill. "Hey.Hey." He said softly, grabbing ahold of my hand and bringing me back to the conversation. "I want to believe you Cale, I really do. I don't know if I am ready to open up to somebody again and be shit on. Hell, I really don't wanna be around a group of people who barely know me and fear that they will judge me. They all do Cale, and I know you will too." I rasped, pulling my hand away. Cale did not like that. "But im not going to. Why do you keep comparing me to somebody else? Why can't you believe me? I want you to believe me, when I say what I say." He said catching me off guard as I began to put my stuff away. I stared at him for a second, before sighing. "Believe me Cale, if I could I would." I responded before getting up from the chair and walking out towards my car. He quickly followed after.

You could if you really wanted to he thought, but brushed the anxiety away.

"Eliza, stop!" he said as I opened my car door. "No Cale, please just leave me alone." I said throwing my bag in but my feet wouldn't move me to actually get in the car. My body wanted something differently than my mind. I shut my door and crossed my arms. Cale stared at me with hopefuly eyes. "You know I can't do that, Eliza." He blurted. I looked down eating my own words, "Fine, we do need to talk but not here." I said and he nodded getting excited. "How about you come back to my place right now if you can and we can chat. If not, I am available this weekend at any time." I said. "Ill follow you right now." He smiled before opening my car door for me and allowing me to get in.

I gave him a weary smile before turning it on as he walked over to his.

"What the fuck am I doing?" I said leaning my head against the steering wheel.

I was meandering in my room when I heard my buzzer go off, signaling that somebody was here for me. I walked back out towards the kitchen and buzzed them in and thanked the front desk attendent Jasmine. I went back to my room and stared at the mess I had made this morning. Groaning I looked at all the medications I needed to get refilled, and one's that were good until the following month. Today I was going to refill my monthly medication container, so I didn't have to worry about it the following day. Yet, I hated doing this. It took too much time up, when I could be using that energy for something else.

I didn't hear the knock on my door, as I buzzed through the first week of pills. My phone started to ring with Cale's contact and I softly smiled, getitng off my bed and walking over to the door.

He was leaning against doorway as I opened the door, a smile appeared on his face as I did so. "Hi." I said sheepishly, opening the door further to let him in. He smiled, "Hi." he responded.

"Give me a few mintutes, I am in the middle of something right now." I apologized making my way back to my room as he took off his shoes and jacket. "What are you doing?" He questioned, debating if he wanted to come over to my room. He had never been in there, because we always spent our time together in the living room or kitchen.

"Just some arthritis things." I said walking towards the door and seeing him eye it. "Come in, I don't bite." I mused opening my door more and he walked in as I walked back to my bed. He took in my room that was covered pretty minimal despite having vintage antiques spread around, making the room feel cozy. This definetly adds up, he thought. She was an old soul, and this room matched her personality perfecetly; he thought. He took a one over before, looking at the bed filled with medication bottles.

"I know it's a lot." I smirked, as he sat down at my desk's chair. "Do you take these every day?" He questioned seeing all the pills in my hand. I nodded, putting them in the Tuesday's container. "Yep, everday for years unfortunetly. All pain or anti inflammatory medications, and then we have the oh so lovely steroid. Which my body loves, but I loathe to take." I said honestly, and he took it in like a sponge. He took my movements and my little comments under my breath in. "How long have you been taking all this?" he said inspecting the medicine bottles.

"This, this and this- 6 years. this for 2 years and this 1, since I was diagnosed." I said showing him each pill. He nodded, thankful that she was opening up. "Oh and cannot forget about this lovely thing." I mused showing him my weekly injection and he visibly cringed. I smiled softly, "It's not the best but it helps me with my energy." I explained.

"It gets boring after while." I confessed closing the last day of the month, smiling. "All done. Finally." I smiled putting it on my night stand next to my phone. I then proceeded to round up all the pills bottles and put it in my storage container that I put under my bed. "Hmm. Seems a tad bit lighter, think it's time to get some more." I mused standing up all the way. Cale smiled at me, and I think I felt a shiver run down my spine. A good shiver. "So, what did you want to say?" I questioned cutting to the chase as I sat on my bed. Butt went down first, then the legs kicked me back into the bed more, my arms doing as much as they could. Cale watched the whole thing and was amused, especially as I made fake grunts. I rolled on my side and put my head and rested it on my hand, facing him. "Comfy?" He questioned and I nodded, "Yes, now please continue." I said.

"First off I just wanna say, you do not need to open up to me right now. I will never force anything out of you. But, I just feel lost honestly. You know, im trying to build a friendship with you -

[there it is: friednship, not relationship]

- and I want to be there for you, if you want me to. I am trying here, that's all I want for you to know. Is that im trying, and I will never intentially try to upset you in anyway." he shared nervously. I nodded, sighing and rubbing my eyes.

"I know. I know im not making this easy on you, Becca told me and I can honestly see it when you speak to me." I paused, "I have not had the best time making friends Cale. People in college did not really talk to me. Only Becca did because we have known eachother since we were 10 years old. She's been through it all. The last time I opened up to anbody was a year ago and well once I opened up to them about the realities of Rheumatoid Arthritis, they dropped me. So quickly." I paused, barely whispering the last part. I knew if I kept talking, i'd start to cry. Cale sensed my hesitation and tried to speak but I stopped him. "You say you won't drop me or leave me, but I can't help but fear you will. And we could go back and fourth all day, but everyday I know and talk to you, that will always be at the back of my mind. That's why I never 'spoke' to anybody or tried to get to know any guy because once they realize that I may never want to have kids when Im older it's a turn off, or that they want to go hiking at Colorado's peak but I can't go because if I do, I may fall off the mountain. Or how I would love to go sky diving, yet once we hit the ground, I would probably break my knees. So yes we could go back and fourth all day, and you might say that none of that matters but to me it does. To me it shows all my faults, fears and turnoffs. I live my life very calculated, always watching where I put my feet so I don't fall or slip. Never run late, always up early so I don't have to rush. So Cale, yes I might be a great friend to talk to I won't be a great friend in doing things. I am so fucking weak, that doing the mundane things for you would be difficult for me." I confessed, tears slowly making there way down my cheeks. I looked down trying to hide them, but all Cale did was move out of the chair and sit down in front of me and pull my chin up. He wiped them softly, staring into my blue eyes.

I tried pulling away from him, but he held my chin in place, and made me look back up at him.He got closer, so close I could feel his breath, "Then show me who you are, I want to know and see it all." He muttered so clearly before doing something I had never had done. He kissed me softly, fearing he'd break me. I pulled back, my eyes continued to be closed and I was internally freaking out. "Hey." He whispered pulling me back in to look at him. I reopened my eyes to his soft and welcoming hazel eyes. He had a soft affectionate smile, which made me melt then and there. I shifted away from him, pulling away from his grasp, pulling my short legs out in front of me and folding them into a pretzel style.

Cale watched me as I scooted around, waiting for me to get comfy again. Once I was comfy, I scooted a bit closer to him and did something that was so not me. I placed my lips on his, and he slowly pulled me in closer so now my waist was paralell to his. The closest I could possibly get to him without straddling, which I knew for sure would be uncomfortable for me. We parted after what felt like a few minutes, resting our foreheads against one another. Catching my breath, because that was something again, I'd never done before. I touched my lips, smiling into them and Cale caught that.

He grabbed my hands and pulled them to his lips, before resting them in his lap. I looked up to meet his gaze and sheepishly smiled, very unsure what to do in this moment. "No one's ever done that to me before." I rasped out while blushing and his grew even redder as he smiled. "That was uh, my first kiss." I confessed. He smiled sweeetly, "I'm glad I was your first, Eliza." He said genuinly. "You know i've never had a boyfriend right?" I said getting anxious. He nodded, "Becca told me last week after you left the car." he said and I nodded and cringed at the outburst I had. "Again, people will look at me like im drunk. I promise you Im never drunk." I joked. He was amused by that.

"Did you like the flowers I got you?" he questioned and I nodded, "Fortuntly I am a sucker for expensive peonies." I gushed. "Well, I am glad you loved them. Now I know what to bring you." He mused and I nodded. "How was the infusion?" He questioned and I shifted in my seating for a second. "It went well, as always. This week has been good I think because of it." I smiled. "Well I am glad." He responded rubbing my hand with his thumb, soothing me. "Did you um, did you want to possibly come with me next time?" I questioned. Cale was taken back at that question, because it was so sudden. He nodded exctitedly, "Ofcourse, just tell me when to pick you up. I'll make sure to have coffee and breakfast waiting for you too." He said supportively and I smiled a wide smile.

My face ligting up like I had just won the jackpot.

"Well, thankyou. That means more than you'll ever know." I said looking down at his lips before flicking back up to his eyes. I couldn't get enough of this feeling, this blissful moment. One that I didn't want to pass or let go of. He looked down at my lips before looking back up at me. I sported a slight nod, letting him know I wanted another kiss.

He moved closer, and painstakingly moved at a snails pace it seemed before placing his lips back on mine. I shifted closer again and rested my hands on his cheeks, trying to be as close as I possibly could without literally being on top of him. He wrapped his hands around my lower back keeping me steady, and holding me close. I pulled away for a brief second, looking into his eyes. That were so welcoming and almsot charming. I unconciously smiled, seeing some small scars around his face from years of hockey. I traced them softly, taking in every inch of his face. I felt his thick eyebrows, which made me jealous. "Wanna donate me some eyebrow hair?" I joked, before rubbing my thumbs on his cheekbones. He blushed and chuckled softly.

"Anything for you." He said honestly, looking up in to my eyes.

geez, I could get used to that.

His eyes twinked as he gazed at me. I smirked, giving him one last kiss. One that left us wanting more, and so unfufilled. We pulled apart, and I shifted over to my right to get off the bed. Cale followed after me, as I made my way to the kitchen. Once I went to look at the time on the stove, Cale softly grabbed the base of my back and pulled me in close. Now it was his turn to stare into my eyes, one's filled with happy tears. One's that were captivating and inviting. The warmth they offered, was enough for Cale to swoon even more. Cale did not want to look away, but he did inspecting the little popped blood vessles in her cheeks. Her pale cheeks that held freckles from her many summers in the sun, the way her dimples appeared as she smiled, or the one scar in her eyebrow from many moons ago hid behind her soft brown eyebrows. He traced her jaw, putting his hands underneath and clasping behind her ears, and drawing her in once again.

"God, you are tiny Ms.James." He joked and I rolled my eyes as he grew more serious.

"I wish you saw you, from my point of view." Cale said vulnerably. I bit my lip nervously, as tears pooled my eyes. Cale could see the sudden change in my face and rubbed my cheeks with his thumbs, trying to comfort me. "Well Mr.Makar, that'll be something you'll have to show and remind me everyday." I softly spoke, fearing that if I spoke anymore I'd cry. He nodded, placing a soft kiss on my lips. I wrapped my arms around his back, holding onto this moment. He parted for a second, "I promise." he exclaimed before reconnecting his lips to mine.

—

I wrapped myself in a knitted blanket, taking in the sudden snow shower that decided to show up the following morning. I took the day off and opted to work from the comfort of my home. Which meant, that I could spend the day with Becca who still worked at home with the hospital system. After seeing everything that I had gone through, after getting her bachelors degree in Human Resources she decided to get a job through another local hospital because she saw how I was treated by doctors throughout the years, nurses, technicians and ER staff. She wanted to help change things or atleast make people better at having better bedside manners.

Becca had the biggest heart for me, and after all these years she has been the most faithful and paitient with me. She was my other sister, being there in the worst of times. Never complaining or geeting angry with me. She'll be an amazing mom, no doubt. Unlike me, who goes through a daily back and fourth with the idea. I just dont know, if I am cut out for it. I know i'll be an amazing mom emotionally, but physically I wouldn't and that makes me incredibly sad. I have always said, that I'd only have kids if the right partner came around. Other than that, no stork would be visiting me in this lifetime.

I sighed, sipping some of my hot coffee and setting it down beside me and pulled my laptop up. Today was Feburary 15th, and I had less than a month- not even to decide if I wanted to work for the Colorado Avalanche. I had been silently debating for the past few days but knew the answer would come mere hours before march 1st. My phone buzzed alerting me that somebody had texted me.

[Cale: Will you be around tomorrow morning?]

[Eliza: Yes! I have no plans tomorrow morning, why?]

[Cale: Would you wanna go get breakfast or brunch?]

[Cale: Or lunch or dinner, or even coffee. whatever you prefer.]

i smiled softly at his generosity.

[Eliza: I'm up for brunch anyday. :)]

[Cale: Awesome! I'll be over to pick you up around 11?]

[Eliza: I'll be waiting!]

[Cale: Can't wait, I hope you have an amazing day today. Hopefully you don't get too many annoying emails from Eric.]

[Eliza: lol, he sure has many already today. I hope you have a good practice. Make sure Nathan doesnt fall too much-- Martha needs updates. ;)]

[Cale: hahah yes! Ill be sure to remind nate about it :)]

I shut my phone off for a second, before opening up instagram to actually post a photo for once. Something I rarely did.

@elizajames: 🤍☕️💐✨

- 96 likes, 5 7omments.

@becca: love these, love you :)

↳@elizajames: love you to the moooooon and back.

@jessicajames: omg i want the flowers !!!!

@jessicajames: also the coffee seems delectable

↳ @elizajames: it is ! as always.

@becca: you should do photography or something

↳ @elizajames: omg omg go away lol

@ ElizaJames has followed. @ calemakar

—

I hope you guys enjoyed!!

Please give this a like, and reblog - and if you want you can follow me for more stories i have up my sleeve.

[witchinghouracademy]

This is not an attack or callout.

I want to ask people to stop tagging me on the same posts of fumikomiyasaki, putting her on my dorm or school tags, lumping us together because of having fanschools, and just in general reminding me of her presence. I will explain why and get this finally off my chest. 

I do not want anyone harassing her, or sending her hate, or anything. If she’s a good friend to you, good for you! I also don’t care that she has more followers, and younger ones at that, which are most likely to harass me. I just want to make it very clear i want NOTHING to do with this person and I will block and avoid people for it if I must, and it’s not personal against you, but I’m just tired.

The short story is fumiko has been “heavily inspired” by my creations constantly, said racist things on my server and in general was pretty rude when I tried to approach topics in a civil manner. 

There was a trend where whatever I did, fumi would follow shortly after. Whatever ocs or dynamics I made, she would make similar ones not even a week after. Whatever new thing I made as decoration to my dorm/school, she would soon copy it without a word towards me. This was a pattern, and one that made me incredibly uncomfortable, but I did my best to label it as my own imagination and get over it. Tropes are common, and I could stretch myself to think that whatever tropes I played with, she would just coincidentally follow with the same combination and similar design elements over and over and over and over.

This isn’t new. I’ve had teenagers who admired me and they only knew how to show it by copying me. I have always done my best to approach it with empathy and patience, explaining why that wasn't the best route for either of us. And usually it was resolved amicably.

When the pattern with fumi had gotten too much, I approached in the same vein. Calmly and politely, even having a friend help me articulate my points better as I tend to get anxious and fumble my words. I wanted to make sure my tone was neutral and that she didn’t take it as an attack, but as a request to be more careful of this in the future.

Fumi denied everything, despite this pattern being noticed by others too. She tried to make me feel bad about bringing this up at all, as she was very stressed and tired from work. I don’t think I told her or many people, but at that time I myself was having severe breakdowns every week due work and at the edge of relapsing on self destructive habits. Thing is, frankly, neither of our irl situations mattered for this conversation. This wasn’t a fight, not to me. It was a conversation to set boundaries, as adults do.

Fumi did not take it like that. She was defensive, eventually boldly lying to my face twice. 

One, by saying that there was no way certain concepts were taken from my school since she had those from the start of making hers, so the only explanation was that maybe we got the same ideas at the same time.

Of course people who were there will remember my school was made first, by half a year or so. Fumi’s first dorm, Syncrean was made for my school. And when I took a hiatus she then made her school to put Syncrean there. She never even changed the picture of her ocs with the witching hour uniform for like a full year.

Second was that she had never ever ever taken anything from my school.

So, a while back I made an information sheet for students. I was very open about taking inspiration from another artist’s info twst sheet, and gave credit even if I deviated on points and the aesthetic was different so it fit my school. I guess fumi thought she could just say she took inspo from her too.

The original sheet was an A4. My sheet had a stupid random size because I cut off some edges by eyeballing so it’d look better. And Fumi’s sheet not only was basically mine but mirrored, but had the exact same size. Again, a size I got to by cutting off edges randomly. There is no way she could get that size by chance. She outright traced mine. 

Here are the original sizes, unchanged whatsoever. Layer them up and they match size down to the last pixel.

So, after that, I don’t care if she swears she never ever took “inspiration” from me, because she demonstrably lied to my face twice, with things I can easily disprove. Obviously I’m not trusting the rest of it.

(As for the racist thing, she basically equated racism against people of color to fantasy-racism against beast and monster people. This is a shitty anime trope, so I explained to her in private that it wasn’t okay to equate poc to beasts and monsters. I explained I wasn’t calling her racist, but that what she said was racist. It took me FOUR tries for her to stop denying it. Instead she claimed 1) she didn’t say anything like that! (I had to show her a screenshot of her own message,  2) that others had put those words in her mouth and she parroted them without thinking (still a problem), 3) people had prompted her to make that specific comparison (perhaps in another server, not on mine, I still have the screenshots of the whole convo) or 4) that it didn’t matter because she didn’t post it on her blog. She seemed very done that I was still talking about this, and it was very clear to me that she didn’t give half a shit if she said something harmful or learning to avoid repeating this mistake, despite me explaining that others in the server had been uncomfortable by her words. Only her image was important I guess.)

Honestly it has put me off posting things on here. I hate checking my notifications and seeing mentions of her, and I can assure you I would not be so tired of her if I didn’t have to constantly see her (tumblr blocking truly sucks).

I'm genuinely uncomfortable with seeing her name pop up if i can help it. I don't want to be reminded of this over and over when I enter this site. That's all.

[equestrianwritingsstuff]

Inspired by @misscrazyfangirl321 prompt for @trope-appreciation-tuesdays

Redemed villain having nightmares about what they did.

Warnings: intensive talk of torture, negative self-talk/esteem, death thoughts, creepy dream material, creepy whumper, death mention

~

It was dark.

That much was certain.

Everything else? Not really.

The world was somewhat squishy like they were trapped in jello. Or was it honey?

Or maybe blood.

Villain opened their eyes. The previous darkness melted away, along with the squishy sensation, as they found themselves tied to a metal chair. Their ankles were bolted to the floor by a short chain only giving them about an inch of movement.

Their wrists were tied to the side of the chair by barbed wire. It dug into their skin, causing them to bleed.

Villain, for some apparent reason, had a strong sense of deja vu. It was as if they were in this predicament before, yet they were certain they weren't.

The room around them was concrete. They noticed dark blood splatters across the walls and floor. Some were streaked as if a poor victim was dragged.

Chains hung from the ceiling. Chains with cuffs. Chains with electric wires. Chains with barbs.

There were more chairs than the one that Villain was strapped to and these, like the dangling chains, each had their own identity. One was obviously used to electrify its inhabitants whereas one was placed behind a tub of water.

It was quite frankly a room designed for torture.

Villain started to squirm. It was now obvious why they woke up strapped to a chair and they wouldn't await the inevitable torture that was yet to come.

One of the shadows moved as a masked figure stepped towards the thrashing villain.

"Here's the deal, Whumpee, if you stay still and don't move..." the voice trailed off as a smirk formed on the pink lips. "Basically if you squirm you get more pain. Kapeesh?"

Villain found themselves nodding but it was involuntary- as if they were being mind controlled.

But the fact that their neck moved was not their biggest concern. First off, their name was not Whumpee. If their parents named them that, they would've changed it already. Second, the voice was familiar. Like an old friend that they knew very well. And third? Well Villain once spoke those words themselves many years ago.

Villain's heart clenched. This was retribution for their mistakes. Revenge for their past. Villain began to twitch even with the threat of more pain hanging in the air.

"Well, let me say you are pathetic," the masked person chortled as their hand went up to their face. "Whumpee. Hmph, name just dooms you doesn't it."

Whumpee, Villain's eyes started to well up in tears as memories started to painfully flow back into their consciousness. They once killed someone with that name- after torturing them until they went insane. But that was years ago... they were a changed villain. A hero, some may say, but right now Villain was far from that telling.

They were a villain through and through and now it was time to pay. Payback in the worst possible way ever.

What was that old saying? "An eye for an eyes?"

Villain's mouth started to dry up as they reminded themselves of the pure cruelty they put Whumpee through. Sensory deprivation, starvation, drowning, electrocution... the list went on.

"Are you scared?" A knife at their throat. Possessive and taunting, ready to snatch away any bravery left in Villain's veins.

"Well you see," their torturer began again, their voice devoid of any emotion other than straightforward amusement. "I do not care that you are scared. Actually I want you scared. Scared." The torturer spat on Villain's face.

Didn't Villain do this same thing years ago? No, that wasn't a question. It was a statement. Villain did do this years ago. There was no coming back from it no matter how "reformed" the public believed them to be.

You killed Whumpee, they told themselves. You worthless scum, you deserve death. A death like Whumpee's.

Alone, cold with no one to comfort them.

A hand caressed Villain's cheek. Villain looked at the torturer. It was only fair wasn't it? An eye for an eye...

Tooth for a tooth.

The torturer stuck their thumb into Villain's mouth, yanking it open.

"You will never eat again, so you really do not need these beauties," the torturer cooed, bringing the knife to Villain's gums. Villain didn't even need the soft explanation. They knew what would be said and then later done.

"So white and perfect. It's a shame really."

"Please," Villain whimpered outloud.

"It is a shame, no question about it."

The knife cut into Villain's gum, digging underneath the tooth, popping it out...

But the expected agony did not come. The masked torturer smirked at them. A grin haunting and foul as two slender fingers hooked under the black mask.

The grin widened into a malicious smile just the mask was peeled off to reveal Villain's face-

Villain woke up screaming. Sweat plastered their hair to their forehead. Their plaid covers were strewn about. They were vaguely conscious of the the strong arms wrapped around their chest as they sobbed.

"Shhhh," came a sweet voice. Not sarcastic like the torturer- no, like Villain- but actually smooth like maple syrup.

"They w-w-want... reven-revenge... for Whumpee," Villain's voice hitched at the end as they mention their late victim's name.

"Nobody does." Two fingers against Villain's jawline. The hysterical villain jerked back and the fingers receded.

"It was a bad dream," the voice continued to lull. "Go back to sleep I am here."

Villain turned around and hugged the warm body that encased them. They breathed in the welcoming smell: cinnamon perfume with the faint aroma of mint toothpaste. Hero, their teammate.

Then a horrid thought struck Villain. They would kill Hero. They couldn't be here.

Villain blindly sat up, away from their friend, and started to crawl away. Only they got caught up on the tangled sheets and nearly fell off the bed.

"Villain," Hero lightly groaned. "You are beyond exhausted. You also breathed in a lot of smoke earlier. You need rest. Go. To. Bed. I will be right here." Their voice was friendly, but stern like a generous teacher. Villain slowly nodded and allowed Hero to gather them back up to place them back under the covers.

Before they shut their eyes, Villain reminded themself.

I am good now. A hero. I don't kill, I don't steal. I am reformed. I save. I keep. I console.

It was a memorized oath that served more as a inspirational quote to Villain.

I am a hero.

-not edited

[ganymedesclock]

a thing about your headcanons that really intrigues me is that, much as Knuckles seems to have originally been done as a contrast or rival to Sonic back in the Genesis days, your take on them has a opposite approach to the responsibility they feel, but done in opposite ways. Sonic runs from responsibility and doesn't want to think about it, while Knuckles feels guilty about NOT being responsible to an extreme, and since people don't often deal with how they're similar, i really like this

Honestly, this is a thread that is not exclusive to Sonic and Knuckles, but actually ties in heavily to a major theme I'm considering and working in Worlds AU.

Basically, "freedom" has always at least nominally been a theme associated with Sonic. It's in his motifs, it's in his attitudes, it's the quality that people tend to envy when they compare themselves to him- whether that's Knuckles who feels bound by fate and obligation, Tails who feels like he might not be enough or can only keep up, Amy who dreads the drudgery of her ordinary life by comparison. Hell, one could say it's even in the many one-off characters who are introduced with Sonic blowing into their life, changing things, inspiring them to grow, and then leaving- Elise, Merlina, Chris Thorndyke, Chip, Shahra.

But it's a theme that's kind of been weakened in the direction that the games took.

In Sonic SatAM, the concept of freedom vs. tyranny was rife in the setting. Robotnik had his boot down on 90% of the world and the remaining pockets are either actively dwindling, or struggling along as best they can through limited resources. All characters are- at any time- in danger of losing specifically their freedom; not their minds, but control of their bodies. And it's a compelling hook.

But the gameverse has very long not been that, and since Sonic Adventure, the world of the games has been very metropolitan. There's a bunch of cities and countries and everybody's going about their daily lives and Eggman's still a wannabe conqueror but he's now become abstracted, a supervillain, who might have this big scheme or that, but- basically until Sonic Forces- we have never had Eggman really decisively in control. And in his absence, there are not really ever any consistent or clear threats to freedom except that, yeah, we guess if we let someone like Solaris or Perfect Chaos or Black Doom run wild long enough that would kill people and then nobody would be free, but... that's an abstract and inelegant way to speak to one of your main center themes.

(and I personally don't like Forces basically trying to reinstate- even if temporarily- the SatAM status quo, even if I think some people like the IDW comics have done interesting things with that, but that's my personal relationship with the character of gameverse Eggman and how I view him distinctly from SatAM Robotnik, as absolutely iconic as the latter is)

I don't think you need an encroaching dystopia per se to make a meaningful discussion out of freedom- I think using the modern gameverse's more colorful, populated world opens up a lot of possibilities for that. So, a major thematic thing I've landed on is that abject tyranny- while the easiest 'threat to freedom' to scan and oppose- and an important one!- is not remotely the only thing that challenges freedom.

A big thing is responsibility.

Responsibility is the thing that most of us sacrifice our freedom to on a daily basis. That may sound dramatic, but it's true; we may have other reasons for it, but we don't just run off somewhere else or go have an adventure or leave our job because we feel responsible to things. And responsibility isn't a bad thing- it's good to feel reliable or trustworthy. If you enjoy your job or your coworkers, you want to do well at it. Having a house is a responsibility, we take care of them. Having a relationship of any kind is a responsibility; so is having kids. If none of us were ever responsible, society would fall apart and we'd all live lonely lives. Moreover, we'd have very little power- ironically a lack of responsibility can lead to a lack of freedom in some regards.

But also, it's very easy to give too much of yourself away and not have any left. I mentioned before that many characters are consistently depicted, across many continuities, idealizing Sonic- because Sonic's free! Sonic doesn't buy groceries or pay taxes or do boring stuff, he certainly isn't stuck in a frustrating or isolating situation, and this can even tie into one of Sonic's major themes- he refuses to be talked into accepting lesser evils.

In Sonic and the Black Knight, Merlina tries to explain to him why she's using Excalibur's scabbard- why she's doing bad things, trying to justify it that she can't just let the kingdom end, even if that means needing to twist it into a horrible place to live- to which she at one point, in frustration, asks if Sonic understands, to which he responds, "No, and I don't want to."

While it's not exactly a perfect moral stance (those don't exist), there is something to be said powerfully for the idea that Sonic as a person has a certain rejection of responsibility as a chain to let bad things happen. He rejects loyalty to a thing that drives you into cruelty.

And this is really interesting, when we consider- specifically in the very first game that featured Shadow and featured him explicitly as a dark antithesis to Sonic- that is exactly what happens to Shadow.

Shadow is not, by default, an amoral person. Pre-trauma, we see that he doesn't want to hurt others, and frankly, as much as "ow the edge" circles (and is somewhat warranted), we can often see that he's standoffish but fairly civil; someone who is dealing with a lot of stresses and problems, but doesn't often relish hurting others unless he's already desperate, frustrated, or looking for an outlet or solution. And in adventure 2, Shadow is led into nearly ending the planet on account of loyalty; to the idea of Maria, to what he believes she asked him to do (and what he believes is owed to the people who killed her)

It's kind of conspicuous that if you think about it, most of Shadow's arcs in various games that focused on him are about questions of what's owed- to him, or to the world. Does he owe a debt to Eggman? Rouge? Black Doom? Gerald? Maria? Does the world owe him a debt of anger and pain to be paid back in vengeance, or, is he the one who owes the world a chance? Does he owe himself a chance? These are questions of Responsibility.

So to bring this back to Sonic and Knuckles, I think that's an interesting context to set them apart, because both of those two definitely have a special relationship with the Chaos Emeralds. Knuckles is the guardian of the shrine that doesn't just have positions for the Master Emerald, but all seven smaller ones as well; and Sonic... well, Sonic consistently and regularly does stuff with the chaos emeralds nobody else does. He transfers super forms to other people, or even awakens them in people who haven't done it before (as implied with Burning Blaze in Sonic Rush). And at least according to Sonic 3&K, his arrival (?) was foretold.

But Sonic... does not feel responsible about the chaos emeralds. If something's happening with them he wants to know but it's about curiosity. When the chaos emeralds are corrupted, tarnished, and lose power, Sonic... juggles them, while he's confused about his own (related) corruption. It's weird, it's concerning, but it's not an obligation. He gets distracted buying ice cream in the same scene.

By contrast, the only time Knuckles feels confident shattering the Master Emerald, it's as an obligation- he has to protect it from Eggman even if it creates more work for himself, and he later freaks out and nearly crashes the shuttle he and others are on when a near-miss scatters the master emerald pieces he's collected across the ARK. I can only imagine half of the plot of Sonic Unleashed would've given Knuckles an ulcer if he'd been around for it. You did what to the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic????

Basically, I think while freedom vs. tyranny is definitely Sonic's brand, you can have a lot more fun and shore up the thematic strength by also factoring in "responsibility" as a secondary theme and this strengthens or illuminates many characters and their arcs.

[storiesforallfandoms]

pranks ~ cody fern

word count: 1569

request?: yes!

@kellysimagines​ “Can you maybe make a cody one where him and the reader have been dating before they both got on American Horror Story and they play also love interested and she is also a youtuber and one day she wants to prank him on set by scaring him and recording ir and him being in his costume and she also scares him at home and records everytning and when they are on an interview for ahs they show all the clips?”

description: in which she loves to scare her boyfriend, who claims to be afraid of nothing

pairing: cody fern x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

“Is Cody in costume yet?” I asked the makeup person as she put the finishing touches on my makeup.

“He is,” she confirmed. “He’s waiting in his trailer to come get his makeup done. Why do you ask?”

My eyes flickered to my vlogging camera, which was set up in front of me, then to the closet that was just behind me. The makeup artist noticed my look and raised an eyebrow at me. “What are you planning?”

I looked at her through the mirror and simply smirked.

Nearly ten minutes later, I was tucked away in the closet with the door only opened a tiny bit. My camera was set up to film both the makeup chair where Cody would be sitting and the closet.

The door to the makeup trailer opened. Through the slight crack of the door, O could see my boyfriend walking in wearing his Michael Langdon costume. He sat down in the chair I was sat in minutes before.

As I expected, his eyes automatically drifted to my camera. “Is that (Y/N)’s?”

“Yeah, she left it here,” the makeup artist replied.

“She never just leaves her camera around. That thing is basically her life.”

“She was rushed to set for something and forgot it. Could you bring it to her when you go, though?”

Cody looked at the camera again, a slightly skeptical look on his face, but agreed anyways.

The makeup person started on Cody’s makeup. His eyes were closed as she applied the red eyeshadow to his eyes. Taking this opportunity, I pushed the door open very slowly, purposely causing the door to creak. I ducked away from the crack as Cody’s eyes snapped open to look at the closet.

“What was that?” he questioned.

“What was what?” the makeup artist asked.

“The closet door made a noise. I think it moved.”

“Probably something in there pushing the door open. Stop moving or we’ll have to start over.”

I covered my mouth to stifle my giggling. I hoped Cody couldn’t hear anything. I peaked out the door again to see his eyes were closed again. The makeup artist saw me through the mirror and smiled mischievously.

I pushed the door again, causing Cody to turn and glare at the closet again. “The door is definitely moving!”

There was a moment of silence where neither of them spoke. I decided to take this opportunity to pop out, screaming something intelligible and scaring Cody so bad that he toppled over from the chair.

“(Y/N)!” he exclaimed. “You scared the shit out of me!”

I couldn’t stop laughing as I collected my camera and filmed Cody on the floor, trying to recover from my scare.

“It was a good one though, wasn’t it?” I asked.

He playfully glared at me before starting to laugh as well.

~~~~~~

Some months later, I was laughing at the clip again, this time on a talk show with Cody. We were promoting Apocalypse and the talk show host had brought up mine and Cody’s relationship outside of the show, specifically my pranking videos on him.

“The amount of times she’s pranked me is a little embarrassing,” Cody admitted once the laughter died down. “I felt like I should’ve figured this out by now.”

“You trust me too much,” I teased and playfully bumped his shoulder.

“You really do,” the host agreed. “She has scared you so many times that there are compilations online that are upwards of 10 minutes long of her just pulling scaring pranks on you.”

At this, the host pulled up a shorter compilations videos of me scaring Cody at home, as well as another few times on set with the help of our co-stars.

It was true, I had pranked and scared Cody more times than I could count at that point. Besides just normal couples vlogs, my viewers seemed to be really into videos where I scared Cody. Whenever I asked on social media what type of content they’d want to see in upcoming videos, it would always be the same answer: “Prank Cody more!”

After it was announced that Cody would be playing Michael Langdon, and pictures and videos of him in his costume started coming out, it was like the requests for these pranking videos became more and more, especially after I was also announced to be on the show playing a meek witch that was charmed by Michael to help him do his bidding. Everyone wanted to see the fictitious anti-Christ being scared by his both on screen and real life girlfriend. After the first episode of Apocalypse premiered, some people even said it felt like a funny parallel to see me being the one in control in real life when my character was so timid around Michael.

I giggled as a video of me in my costume played, in which I popped out in the middle of a scene Cody was filming with Evan and scared the both of them. I got Evan so bad that he nearly hit me when he jumped. That clip became one of my most viewed for so long.

“(Y/N), why do you do this?” the talk show host asked, also chuckling along with the videos. “What inspired you to start filming these pranking videos?”

“I don’t know exactly how I came up with it, but I remember it started shortly after Cody and I started dating,” I recalled. “We had done a couple’s Q&A video on my channel and one of the questions asked was what scared us most. Cody had the audacity to say that nothing really scared him all that much, and that got the wheels turning in my head.”

“I never said nothing scared me,” Cody argued. “I said there was nothing I could think of at the time.”

“That’s the same thing!” I said. “If you can’t think of what scares you most off the top of your head, it means nothing scares you. Or you think nothing scares you.”

“Well then, what scares you?” the host asked me.

“Easy, the dark and spiders. I’m terrified of both. I always have to have even a tiny bit of light on at night, and if I see a spider I will start crying.”

Cody playfully rolled his eyes at my explanation, but I continued with my story. “Anyways, because he said that I had this idea that I wanted to scare Cody. So, I set up this prank where when he came over to my apartment next, I had the shower running. When I heard him walk in I started calling out and telling him I had slipped and badly injured myself but couldn’t get to the phone to call anyone.”

“That alone had me so scared,” Cody added. “I was terrified that she had done something to really hurt herself and had been there for a long time.”

“But, when he came into the bathroom, I was actually stood behind the door wearing a Ghostface mask and holding a prop knife from a movie I was working on at the time. Cody ran right past me to the shower at first, which made the scare so much better when he opened the shower and I wasn’t there, only to turn around and find me wielding a knife right behind him.” I couldn’t help but laugh at the memory. “He jumped so high and screamed so loud! I’m so glad I caught it all on video.”

Cody gave me a look and stuck his tongue out at me. I did it in return and smiled.

“After that, it just became a highly requested thing on my channel,” I finished. “People liked to see what I could come up with to scare Cody, and frankly I like trying to be creative to try and do it.”

“I don’t like it,” Cody muttered.

“Do you think you could ever get revenge on her?” the host asked Cody. “Or have you tried before?”

Cody and I shared a look before we both started laughing.

“Please,” I said. “There’s no way he could scare me. I know him too well for that.”

“I wouldn’t even try. She would figure it out right away I’m sure.”

Before anyone else could say anything, I felt a pair of hands grab my shoulders and someone scream in my ear. I screamed and jumped up from my seat, narrowly avoiding straight up punching whoever had grabbed me. The audience erupted into laughter and cheers and Cody and the host laughed together.

The culprit of my scare was one of the crew members, who was snickering as they ran back to their place on set. I watched with wide eyes before turning my attention back to Cody, who was still cracking up laughing.

“You jerk!” I exclaimed, hitting his arm as he just continued to laugh at me.

“I finally got my revenge!” he proclaimed. He stood to try and hug me, but I backed away with him. “Come on, babe. You have to admit that was clever.”

“Oh, I’ll admit it was clever,” I told him. “But you just started an all out prank war. No holding back now babe.”

Cody’s eyes widened to match mine, which the audience and the host laughed at again. I merely smirked at him before placing a kiss on his lips and sitting back down to continue the interview.

[captainjimothycarter]

Steggy Reading Challenge

Thanks to @steggyfanevents for running this! I might not have gotten a lot of reading done but I got 2 bingos!

1.1 Tony Stark: Failsafe by KorrohShipper

“Barring our resident Capsicle, there’s no way an old and wrinkly—sorry Aunt Peg—woman would become this!” he gestured all over her, and Peggy briefly conceded point to him. It was, frankly, hard to believe that a woman over ninety years of age, whose face was framed by the lines of years, her head crowned by silver, is now suddenly the young, fresh-faced, brunette that she had been all those years ago.

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1.2 Angie Martinelli: That Swell Liberty Gal Carrying A Torch For You by Redrikki

Angie was sure that skinny Steve had been a real swell guy, but there was no way he'd been good enough for her Peggy. A series of conversations makes her change her mind.

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1.4 Established Relationship: Hard At Work by babylawyer/@babylawyeroq

When Peggy can't make date night because of work Steve brings their meal to her office and is rewarded for his efforts.

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2.1 Winter Holiday: A Red, White, and Blue Christmas by TriplePirouette/@3pirouette

White Christmas AU. Peggy is pulled from Project Rebirth, setting off a chain of events that leaves Steve and Bucky unharmed at the end of the War, but never having met her. Until, that is, their paths cross as professional performers. Steggy Secret Santa gift for Roboticonography

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2.3 Published Between 2015 & 2020: A Better Night by Shatterpath

Steve had never had good luck with women. Maybe a random encounter and a bit of matchmaking can help him out.

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2.4 Coney Island: Goodbye, Dreamland by littlereyofsunlight/@littlereyofsunlight

“You don’t think the Cyclone will make you queasy this time, do you?” Steve shook his head. “I haven’t had any problems with my stomach since the serum.” He thought for a moment, then added, “Not that I’ve been on a roller coaster since then, but the way Nat flies the Quinjet has to count as a thrill ride sometimes.” Peggy had only been up the one time when Natasha was flying, but she really couldn’t fault his logic. Steve and Peggy take a trip to Coney Island in an alternate-timeline in which Peggy is brought to the future and Ultron never happened.

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3.1 Steve Rescued From The Ice: When In The Depth Of Winter by fluffernutter8

Peggy notices how the cold troubles Steve and tries to fix it.

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3.2 Breakfast In Bed: Valentine's Day Morning by rachlovesligers/@rachlovesligers

Peggy's Valentine's Day is off to a near perfect start when Steve and their children surprise her in the most adorable way.

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3.3 Free Spot: Wrapped In Red by behindthelabels/@behindthelabels

After receiving some bad advice from his best friend Bucky, Steve Rogers decides to find out how the other side lives by using a photoshopped picture on his online dating profile. A modern Skinny Steve and Peggy AU loosely inspired by Love Hard.

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3.4 Reread an old fave: Kingdom of Skulls and Shields by Capandcarter

Peggy is assigned to steal a strange artifact from a ship, but the crew and its Captain have other ideas.

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3.5 Avengers Compound or Tower: Barging In by thegaywhocouldfly / @thegaywhocouldfly

Peggy has a surprise for Steve. Unfortunately for her, Steve never remembers to lock the door.

4.1 Shield: Grateful For You by Capsbestgirl4

What's Thanksgiving without family? Peggy is an ocean away from her family and Steve's family has basically disappeared. Together they are able to remember what being around family felt like.

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5.1 Peggy or Steve's Parent: Between Me and You by sirenitta

"I've washed plenty of windows in my life, I'm quite good at it." "Don't you, y'know, have people to do that for you? 'The perks of being royalty' and all that?" "Well, yes, but I was a very naughty child."

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5.4 Found Family: Clear As Mud by doctorhelena/@doctorhelena

The Commandos were more observant than one would wish, sometimes.

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5.5 Stegglings: I'll Be Home For Christmas by rachlovesligers/@rachlovesligers

All Peggy wants is to be at home with her family in time for Christmas.

[eyrieofsynapses]

I feel like the correct way to interact with yj cartoon sometimes is to have exactly zero context of if this comic compliant or not. Cause like once you have a concept of what is comic canon and especially if you like that canon, yj cartoon’s crushingly grounded unwimspy logic approach to comics books, basically creating characters that are essentially original characters like Artemis is, and is so focused on trying reinvent the wheel and leave their stamp on comics (trying to “fix” them) and basically rewriting common storylines to fit their grand epic battle, looses a lot of their appeal. At least for me.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this one. Don't get me wrong, I like comics plenty--but YJ was the show that got me to go read them in the first place. It holds a special place in my heart for that. Frankly, I really love their take on the comics, in that it's a very creative and unique way of reinventing a lot of it. Personally I find their grounded approach to be an interesting way of exploring a more realistic side of superheroing. But even then, they still have a lot of fantastic elements.

I wouldn't say YJ is trying to "fix" them anymore than the Teen Titans cartoon, Batman:TAS, Superman:TAS, the Justice League and Justice League Unlimited animated series, Static Shock, Batman Beyond, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, The Batman, Harley Quinn, e.t.c. are, never mind every live action show and all the films. Every one of those adaptions takes their own unique spin on the comics. YJ is no different. If you consider YJ’s adaption to be a problem, why aren’t theirs? 

And as for the original characters, honestly? I would say YJ did better. Yes, really. To begin with, if they'd based it solely off the comics, they wouldn't have had the same level of representation. There aren't any POC on the original comic YJ team, nor on the original Titans (the Fab Five, not the New Titans). But both of the original characters the cartoon introduced are POC. And they weren’t just token characters, either. Both of them were written with the same depth and care as the rest of the Team. 

Also remember that Harley Quinn was also an original animated character. Kaldur’s introduction birthed Jackson Hyde, an openly gay black comic character. His arc with Black Manta was a revelation for the Aquaman comics. Original animated characters are nothing new. They are, if anything, an extremely good thing. 

Look, here’s the plain facts: YJ pulled off more POC and queer representation in one animated series than the original Teen Titans and the original Young Justice combined. Yes, it was a much more modern production. Yes, it did that via two original animated characters. But if it had stuck to the comics, it wouldn’t have done that. 

I’m not saying it’s racist or queerphobic to be irritated at the addition of original characters. Honestly, there’s a good chance some people wouldn’t think about that until it’s pointed out. But it is important to keep in mind the context of those characters, as well as the reasoning behind them. 

Furthermore, consider this: if every single adaption of the comics was a play-by-play of the original, where would the originality be? The point of adaptions is to make something new. It would be incredibly boring if all of them were just retelling the same thing over and over again. Isn’t it fun to watch the show play with dynamics and poke things in new directions? 

Artemis and Kaldur, outside of being much-needed representation, are fantastic characters that lent an entirely new take to the DC universe. Artemis’s arc is insanely precious to me. We’ve watched her grow and heal and change in ways both good and bad. The strength she showed throughout was a huge inspiration to me at a time when I needed it desperately. It still is an inspiration, even years later. I cannot possibly express how much Artemis means to me, in so many ways, and I adore her with my whole heart.

There are so many reasons why I love Kaldur--he’s witty, he’s wise, he’s an excellent leader, he’s a warm friend, and I could go on. I’m a bit of a “momfriend,” as they say, and my gods but he can be relatable sometimes. And you know something else? He was the first bi character I ever saw on TV. I literally spent a solid hour just bouncing around with joy after watching him with Wyynde. Sincerely, Kal is incredible, and every time I rewatch YJ I find myself falling even deeper in love with him. He’s a beautifully written character and incredibly well developed.

Honestly, at the end of it, here’s what I have to say: if you think the comics are better than YJ, and all you’re going to do is complain about why YJ failed? Why are you watching it? Go reread the comics, or write fic about them. If you’re trying to find more of the content you loved in YJ, apparently you didn’t find it, so why not just leave? 

Anyway, look, I’m cool with discussing some of the flaws in YJ’s storytelling. I like analyzing things and explaining what could be done better. For me, it’s about learning, finding places where I can fill in with fic, and thinking a level deeper. But fundamentally, I love this show. I analyze it because I like it, not the other way around.

If you want to complain about it, please do so in your own posts on your own blog. Your opinion is, of course, your own, and you’re allowed to have it. But I would prefer you discuss it outside of my blog.