#because honestly these are some of the biggest red flags for me as to why ziam remains real if there ever was any lol

[orchidniins]

Forehead Kisses | Arthur Frederick

Summary: Arthur being the biggest green flag and taking care of his sick partner. Pairing: Arthur TV x gn!Reader Warnings: Fluff Word count: 1.3k+ A/N: Short one to start the week. I have a ton of requests that I'm currently working on at the moment (honestly I'm a lot slower at writing than I thought) and I'm hoping to get out 2 longer fics next week (if work doesn't keep me busy that is) 🤞 Thanks anon for the request! Hope you enjoy!

Masterlist

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

As you step into your apartment, the door creaks softly behind you. You clutch your forehead, rubbing your temples in an attempt to ease your pounding migraine. Each step you take only worsens your body pains, leaving you feeling as though you've been hit by a truck. You shed your jacket and kick off your shoes, your body craves rest, wanting nothing more than to just curl up in bed. However, thoughts of the work you still have to complete nag at you, not wanting anything to pile up for the rest of the week.

Tossing your keys onto the table, the loud clatter disrupts the quietness of the room and you mentally curse yourself. You try to move as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb Arthur, who had mentioned his plans to live stream for a few hours today. And despite your best efforts, an uncontrollable fit of coughing wracks your body, sending a sharp pain shooting up to your head again. You groan out in pain, unable to ignore the discomfort.  

Arthur was in his office in the midst of a live stream, chatting away with his viewers when he heard you from the living room. Pausing the game he was playing, he swiftly excuses himself from the stream, taking off his headset and exits the room.

You glance towards his office, the soft click of his door catching your attention. Upon spotting your red nose and sunken eyes, he doesn't hesitate for a moment, swiftly hurrying to your side. "Hey, darling, are you okay?" His voice is laced with genuine concern as he assesses your condition.

"I just had a bit of a headache, so my boss sent me home early," you shrug as you explain, trying to downplay the situation. "It's probably nothing, maybe just because it's cold and windy outside—" Your sentence is cut short by cough, prompting Arthur's concerned gaze. "Why didn't you tell me before you left for work?" he asks, furrowing his eyebrows. "How long have you been feeling like this?", his hands come to rest on your shoulders, rubbing them soothingly.

"You see, this is why," you remark, sounding slightly exasperated. "Weren’t you going to stream today?" Arthur immediately responds, "Don't worry about that, darling," he assures you, still just as worried.

"I'm fine, babe," you quickly reassure him, not wanting to worry him any further, knowing he'll drop everything to take care of you. "I'm feeling better now that I'm home. I'm actually gonna get some work done." But before you can continue, Arthur shakes his head adamantly. "No work, absolutely not. You need to rest," he insists firmly, his voice leaving no room for argument as he gently guides you towards the bedroom.

“But…I don’t want stuff to pile up”, you attempt to protest. But Arthur remains resolute, his gaze soft as he looks at you caringly. "There are others who can handle your work for now," he insists gently. "Right now, you need rest, medicine, and some tea." 

You look back at him with a small pout, hoping to sway him, "Off to bed you go," he says, as you two step into the bedroom.

"But Arthur," you begin, whining, but he cuts you off with a pointed look. "No, Y/N," he says, giving you a pointed look.

Finally, you concede, a sigh escaping your lips. "Fine, I'll sleep for an hour, but promise me you'll wake me up so I can finish up work." Arthur simply nods, accepting the small victory.

After changing out of your work clothes and into something more comfortable, you sit down on the bed "Just stay put, I'll get you the medicine," he says, but you attempt to get up from bed, insisting, "No, no, it's fine, Arthur, I'll get it myself." However, he gently pushes you back down. "No, I've got it,"

"But what about your stream?" you worry, but Arthur dismisses your concern with a laugh. "Just sleep, darling," he urges before leaving momentarily to fetch the medicine. Returning with water and the medicine, he hands them to you. "Here, take it," he instructs, watching as you comply before he helps you settle into bed.

"Do you need more pillows or a blanket?" Arthur asks, but you quickly decline, insisting that you're fine. "You just get back to your stream. Don't leave your viewers staring at an empty chair," you joke weakly. Arthur chuckles, "You just worry about getting better," before you interject, "It’s literally nothing, Arthur. I’ll be fine after a small nap. Just make sure you wake me up in an hour okay?" He responds with a sarcastic chuckle, “Yeah sure darling”, and you soon start to feel yourself getting drowsy. He brushes the hair out of your face, planting a gentle kiss on your forehead before quietly leaving the room.

Ignoring your request, Arthur allows you to sleep for as long as you need to, making sure to check up on you every 15 minutes or so. If he hears even a peep from the bedroom, he excuses himself from his stream to ensure you're okay or to make sure you've taken your medicine, sitting beside you until you drift back to sleep.

After another 30 minutes or so, Arthur decides to end his stream early, apologizing to his viewers before quietly slipping back into the bedroom to check on you. He walks up to you and sits beside your sleeping form, noticing a thin sheen of sweat on your forehead. Gently grabbing a towel, he wipes it, causing you to slowly wake up. "Sorry, sorry, go back to sleep," he quickly apologizes, feeling slightly guilty for waking you. However, you decide to sit up in bed, “No it’s fine,” you say, giving him a small smile.

He smiles softly and leans in to kiss you on the forehead, gently rubbing the sleep marks on your face. "How are you feeling?" he asks.

"Better," you reply with a slight smile. "My head doesn’t hurt as much." Leaning to grab a tissue, you blow your nose before asking, "What time is it?"

"It's around 7 pm," Arthur responds gently. "You've been asleep for about 3 hours."

"You told me you’d wake me up," you start to say, your tone slightly whining.

"Yeah, but you are really sick," Arthur interjects gently. "You don't need more work, you need to rest."

"But—", you begin to speak, but then you cough, a sharp pain shooting to your head. You look at him sheepishly as you groan, finally accepting, "Yeah, fine. I’m sick."

Arthur nods understandingly as he laughs at your admission. "I'll be right back, let me get you some tea," he says, getting up before quietly leaving the room.

He comes back after a few minutes, finding you sitting with your eyes closed, leaning against the headboard. As he walks in with the tea and more medicine, setting them down on the nightstand, he sits on the bed next to you, causing the mattress to dip slightly and the movement wakes you up.

"Hey, I’ve got your tea," he says softly, offering you the cup. "It'll help with your throat."

You pick it up and take a sip, feeling the warmth trickle down your throat, soothing the ache.

You look at him with a small smile, "Thank you, baby."

Arthur smiles warmly, replying, "Anything for you, love. You know I always wanna take care of you."

"I love you," you say softly, placing your palm on his hand that was resting on the mattress.

"I love you too, more than anything," Arthur responds, his eyes filled with affection.

His hand comes up to gently rub your cheek. As he leans in for a kiss on the lips, your hand comes up to cover his mouth, saying, "No, you'll get sick too. And then I’ll have to take care of you, and you’re the clingy type when you’re sick."

He feigns hurt for a moment before bursting into laughter. "Okay, okay, forehead kisses only," he agrees, planting a gentle kiss on your forehead, eliciting a smile from you as he leans and places a kiss on your forehead.

✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧ ✩₊˚.⋆☾⋆⁺₊✧

Check out my other fics and oneshots here. Not working on any new requests currently but feel free to drop into my asks for a chat! 😊

[emmedoesntdomath]

it has occurred to me that this was supposed to be a parkner blog. so here’s some parkner thoughts. 

fun fact- harley’s a little gay boy from tennessee who grew up hearing that the devil came for kids like him who wanted to kiss the wrong person. so when harley moves to new york, he’s not immediately waving a pride flag. instead, he has a beat up leather jacket, an old car, and a smirk that could cut glass. peter is sold and practically swooning because hello, gorgeous. but he’s also like,,, harley’s from tennessee. what if he’s like, homophobic??? and not an ✨ally✨??? and then harley full on outs himself to an asshole who harasses peter on the street with an ‘I’m gay, dickface’ and just. punches him hard enough to break his nose. (peter is THIS close to proposing okay)

harley forgets everything. out of sight, out of mind. keys? gone. phone? poof. jacket? who? and peter’s memory is kind of shit, too, honestly, but karen’s memory is fucking golden (perks of being a computer) and she’ll remind peter to remind harley to grab his stuff. harley still doesn’t know peter has karen do it, so he just thinks his boyfriend’s awesome. peter’s not gonna correct him. 

peter doesn’t wear nail polish that often, but when harley casually (definitely not feeling casual internally, but that’s fine) mentioned that he was considering sometimes wearing it, peter went ALL OUT. like, he added color, he added glitter, he made his nails the biggest and brightest part of his being. harley called him an idiot, but he would always grin when he saw them, so peter considered it a win. 

harley likes country music. but only the country music from 70s-90s. the rest is absolute slander to him. 

(yes, I wrote a whole ass fic about that, and no, I’m not sorry.)

peter can’t draw for shit. he just can’t. harley swears by stick figures. (watch the insidious part two promo with ty. you’ll get what I mean.)

peter does unironically call himself biderman. harley calls him homophobic. 

harley’s defining emotion is offense and/or what he calls his ‘bitch, fucking excuse you?’ emotion, and he’s very proud of this fact. 

peter’s favorite color changes pretty consistently, but he’s really attached to his blue and red, especially when they’re together. 

harley’s is dark red (darker than peter’s), and gold. he will deny to his denying breath that it’s tony’s colors, because ‘why would I care about the old man? fuck off’

they aren’t allowed to have a dog, because new york (peter is so sad about this, okay), so harley just brought home a pet lizard one day. no warning. no call. peter asked zero questions and named her mrs. cheeto. 

[delicatenerdbluebird]

My Random Takes on The Secret History (contains spoilers)

The biggest tragedy that comes with being Richard Papen coded is you need a group like Julian's Greek class to feel normal about yourself because the rest of the world makes you feel like a misfit.

That Richard and Camilla scene where she reveals being physically abused by Charles... I feel that scene is a strong criticism of abusive households. Like Richard was used to seeing his mother getting beaten by his father and sometimes he was also a victim of his violence. And in 'that' scene, he fantasizes about doing the same to Camilla and worse. This shows it's a never-ending cycle no matter how you see it. The kids are gonna end up developing fucked up fantasies if their exposure to fucked up things is constant.

I strongly believe Henry was gonna make Richard the scapegoat had something gone sideways. And honestly, it makes perfect sense. Richard insisted on joining their class. He was an outsider. Henry could have easily made up something like Richard was envious of their group, he was jealous of his and Bunny's closeness and so he ended up killing him, something along those lines that Richard wanted to be accepted and we would not accept him instantly, naturally because of our prior history. Knowing how Henry was good with words, he could have made Richard an obsessive, disturbed freak to the FBI for all we know. Remember how Henry saved him from getting frozen to death? This incident can be perfectly used to portray him as a mentally disturbed person who would rather freeze to death than go back to his home to a normal eye.

Now Julian. Oh, Julian I knew was the red flag the moment it was mentioned he does not accept students who have different ideas than his. But to think that fucker would turn out to be the biggest crankiest bitch?!! I mean I am soo mad he was the one who fed those Dionysiac ideas to them and in the end, he just ran away?! I was baffled by how he treated Henry during that confession scene he did not even listen to him completely... Henry does not stutter HE WAS STUTTERING and Julian shoved the letter back to him... I mean the disrespect! This scene (for me at least) was a reality check that no matter how loving, cool, caring, and impactful you might think your teacher is, at the end of the day, they are gonna be a teacher and you are gonna be just a student. It destroyed my heart when Henry said he loved Julian more than his own father 😭 The worst thing you can do is take advantage of the vulnerabilities of someone who not only respects you but also loves you dearly. This mf can move mountains and I would still hate his old rat ass!

Charles and Camilla Idek what to make of them. Charles turned from a pitiable character to an entirely disgusting one for me. I accept Francis' theory that he wouldn't have made that much fuss about his interrogating situation if Camilla and Henry weren't a thing. Remember when Camilla and Henry had some secret code and he got mad why he didn't know about it? I do think camilla and henry were always a thing before it became apparent to everyone. Besides the book is from Richard's perspective, and he does seem oblivious at times.

I am not aware of the popular takes in the fandom so I don't know if this is gonna be a hot take or not but Camilla gave pick-me-girl vibes. She did not have any girl friends and looked down upon Judy (I am not asking them to be besties exactly but a little respect won't have killed) Judy only developed a weird impression about them during that party scene when Camilla dropped her drink onto her and did not apologize (or was it the opposite? i dont remember exactly but the point is Judy is not the type to judge others for no reason...she judged them after that party) Camilla's attitude could be attributed to the fact that Charles was controlling but idk

The Secret History reminded me of The Hollow Men by T.S. Eliot (some of the verses below):

We are the hollow men

    We are the stuffed men

    Leaning together

    Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

    Our dried voices, when

    We whisper together

    Are quiet and meaningless

    As wind in dry grass

    Or rats' feet over broken glass

    In our dry cellar

   

    Shape without form, shade without colour,

    Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

So basically I am yapping here because my friend hasn't finished tsh yet and I just needed to let it all out 😩

Not to mention I absolutely love my expensive gossip boy Francis 🥺 ☕

(Thank u for reading it this far!!)

[somewhereincairparavel]

An in depth analysis on Jiper - Why it was much more toxic than we realize.

okay. I know Calypso is known for her horrible treatment of leo, but hear me out, Jason grace was in a toxic relationship without even realizing it. I've recently reread Hoo, and I can't believe that it only just struck me how much of a red flag Piper was in the relationship. I made a whole analysis on this, and I'm going to put it here.

If you are a fan of jiper or Piper Mclean in general, then, this might be triggering for you to read, so I recommend you not to. You can agree to disagree with my analysis, just be respectful about it. I don't dislike Piper, I just dislike the way she is written, so no harm intended on her character.

so let's begin.

♦ She obsesses over him for a long time and then complains that he doesn't give her attention, like mf, he's trying to save the world here. She compares their relationship to percabeth wishing jason wasn't so serious all the time, when she was the one who claimed she liked his rule following nature and chose to date him. Before she got him, she complained that he would never like her, after she got him, she complained that he is too uptight.

Like, him being a rule follower is a part of his personality, take it, or leave it. She really doesn't like him for who he is and seemed very intent on wanting to change his morals. Like wanting his to trash the rules for her, she puts unrealistic expectations on him and gets disappointed when he doesn't meet them.

This highly contrasts Jason's treatment of her, when she vocalises her jealousy of Reyna being so "pretty, powerful and Roman" and jason says that he only wants Piper to be Piper, not anything else. Jason knew better than anyone else what is was like to pretend to be someone he's not.

♦she claimed jason as some kind of prize to drew, I physically cringed when the other Aphrodite kids cheered for her when she when she said jason was her boyfriend and he just didn't know it. Like. Jason said it himself, to Hera, "I belong to no one". If only he'd heard what she said about him behind his back lol.

♦She guilt tripped him so hard till the point he promised her that he would never go to camp Jupiter unless she came along, that's like the biggest red flag ever… Camp Jupiter was like his only home, his sister is busy, his mom is dead, and he wasn't even supposed to go there?

♦she got jealous of Reyna, annabeth and Thalia without any context, simply because they are acquainted with him in some way. Even after all the war chaos, jason reassured her patiently like twice that he only had eyes for her. She got jealous when he spoke about camp Jupiter, is he not allowed to talk about his home, the place he's grown up in for 12 years? She controlled jason like a puppet and took advantage of the fact that jason is very passive and had abandonment issues. If you read into their dynamic, Jason was in an unhealthy relationship without even realising it, because he clung on to anyone who gave him affection, it's honestly sad. He hadn't thought that anything was wrong in their dynamic because of his sheltered upbringing in camp Jupiter and lack of experience in love. His sister was lost for years, his dad is a douche, his mom is dead, so you really cannot blame him for not wanting to leave Piper.

♦ Also, in TOA, she was absolutely despicable, We see that jason is still very confused about why she broke up with him, and didn't properly understand why she dumped him bc he thought that they were still going strong, so we can get the hint that piper never exactly gave him a proper reason or anything and just ended it abruptly. Despite all this, he still respected her choice without any resentment against her, and chose to die so she could have more time with her dad. Fucking thoughtful and selfless.

♦ She doesn't voice out her concerns on their relationship to jason. Only the jealousy thing, but other than that she never seemed to tell jason about her issues she has with their dynamic, jason is more of a blunt kinda guy, so her lack of proper communication really hinders their dynamic in many ways, this is clearly seen in the fact that jason was deluded into thinking that their relationship was going great.

♦ She was also quite cold about their breakup, when Grover asked her why, she said stuff like "you thought what? That we'd be together forever like Percy and annabeth?" Like that's so cold and for what reason?? She ended stuff with him, and was acting like she got dumped.

[Take this single paragraph below with a grain of salt, since this one can only be derived out of assumptions, since it wasnt really confirmed properly, as there seemed to be a LOT going on]

♦ coach hedge and mellie thought he dumped her, so it can be implied that she might have dramatized the break up, if that is true, then she practically victimized herself in front of them. She drew so much attention to herself after the breakup, but then gets all cold when people ask her about it. Leading everyone to dislike jason for the breakup. If she did indeed tell mellie and hedge an aggravated version of their break up, then you can't tell me she did all that "unintentionally". I may sound harsh here but it seemed to me that she just wanted sympathy and attention, it's not all surprising either, considering how she chopped her hair off so that her dad can pay attention to her. So we can see a pattern here, she does go to great lengths to gain everyone's sympathy. I honestly don't know if she does it subconsciously or not. But take this paragraph with a grain of salt, since we dont actually know what she told hedge and mellie, so only strong assumptions can be made.

♦ Mellie treated jason which such hostility that even self absorbed Apollo could take the time to notice it. Jason asked apollo if piper told him that he dumped her or something, so even jason sensed that people were blaming him. he didn't even complain about it either. on the contrary, he literally said it was okay if mellie blamed him and that it was better that way.

”One more thing,” I blurted out. “About Piper. It’s just…you seem like such a good power couple. Did you really—did you break up with her to make it easier for her to leave LA?” Jason stared at me with those azure eyes. “Did she tell you that?” “No,” I admitted. “But Mellie seemed, ah, upset with you.”Jason considered. “I’m okay with Mellie blaming me. It’s probably better.”“Do you mean it’s not true?” In Jason’s eyes, I saw just a hint of desolation—like wildfire smoke momentarily obliterating a blue sky. I remembered Medea’s words: The truth was enough to break Jason Grace.“Piper ended it,” he said quietly. “That was months ago, way before the Burning Maze. Now come on. Let’s go find Caligula.” ‘ ~The Burning Maze, Chapter 23 Last Page

♦ Don't even get me started on how she found someone else weeks after her ex boyfriend whom she was with for a year died for HER. I'm sorry, but I couldn't even think of dating someone else for a long time if I were in her position. It's canon that literally even annabeth cried herself sick when she heard about his death and they weren't even close, and Percy couldn't even mention jason without breaking down, Percy and jason barely knew much about eachother. Heck, even hera, a literal goddess who only saw jason as a pawn, started sobbing at his death. So compared to those, piper literally had the reaction of a stale bread. I'd expected her to react in a similar way to nico, just genuine devastation and anger. Now she is using someone else as a rebound when she isn't even emotionally healed?

Connecting all of these points, it's such a shame how jason got taken advantage of for his passive nature. It dawned on me how jason was SO trapped in the relationship with only Piper as the centre of his world. I know Piper was just a teenager herself, but that doesn't make me feel any better about her treatment of him tbh, she's also seemed to have lots of internal misogyny, bringing down the other girls for ogling at jason as if she weren't the one who did the same like 5 minutes ago. Any thoughts? Rick really fumbled the bag with Piper imo, especially in the trials of Apollo.

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for complaining about my friend's girlfriend?

💫🔥 <- for searching

I (15X) know this girl in my grade who we'll call F (15F). F is genuinely one of the biggest assholes I've ever met. She has dumped my stuff out of my bag during class, she has repeatedly gossiped about classmates (calling them ugly, stupid, etc.), she has used 'autistic' as an insult, she has used slurs she cannot reclaim, she has outright denied my ethnicity (my ethnicity is not well known, and people confuse it for Pakistani and/or Bangladeshi), and she has punched me before (twice). She has also said she's straight, but once dated a girl in the past because she "felt sorry for her". This is just to give you a scope on who she is as a person.

Flash forward some time, and I'm talking with a friend who we'll call D (15F). I'm fairly close with D, and we talk about a lot of topics together. D then shifts the conversation to relationships, specifically about how she recently got a girlfriend. Obviously, I'm happy for her, and I say as much. I don't push for any details, and she doesn't give any, which I'm fine with and I don't think much of.

The next day, I walk into lunch and sit with D and some other friends. I start unpacking my lunch, when suddenly I overhear D say "yeah, F is a really sweet girlfriend."

Immediately, I turn to D and ask if I heard that right. She confirms, yes, her girlfriend is in fact the one and only F.

I'm dumbfounded, and my friends appear to be as well. I had no idea D and F were friends, let alone close enough to start dating, and immediately the red flags started going off in my head. Very tentatively, I tell D that dating F is a mistake, and I tell her a little bit of what F has done (specifically, the gossiping and the punching me).

You know what D's response is? "Oh, she doesn't mean it! She's really sweet."

This floors me. All I can think about is how awful F has been to me, and why D would ever give F a chance. I continue listing the things F has done, though over and over, D keeps telling me that F is actually really sweet, and that she just has some mental health issues.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I keep trying to tell D to not date F, and D starts making jokes about how I "keep digging dirt up about her girlfriend". And while I did notice that D was starting to become more annoyed, and giving me more clipped answers in response, I continued to try and convince her to leave F.

A few weeks later, I texted D to ask if she's still dating F, but to my surprise, she told me F broke up with her. She even showed me the breakup text F sent to her, which basically said "I'm a horrible person and I can't date you, you deserve better than me." (Which is objectively true, honestly, but I didn't think F would say that...)

Now I'm wondering if I was too hard on D. I'm not sorry for telling her about F, but I don't know if hounding her was the best option. D has become more distant lately, and we haven't really held a real conversation in a while. I'm wondering if it was because I wouldn't stop reminding her how awful F was.

AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[lifeonmarz-blog]

Astro Observations: synastry edition

- Hard aspects to Saturn is common in long distance relationships. - Moon square Pluto will put a relationship to the test frfr. - Sun square mars, may the biggest ego win. Me and this guy would always joke about how we both needed the last word. - Moon opposite Saturn gives me the hebbie Jebbies cus why are you treating them like that?

- Mars conjunct Jupiter = best friendsssss. I love this aspect it feels like you can talk about anything with this person. When anything happened in my life this person got the phone call. - Uranus is so fun in synastry the relationship most likely isnt conventional or long term but it adds such a child like enjoyment. Practicality goes out the window and its just about enjoying the present because there be some ghosting going on sooner or later but yesssss show up at my door unannounced i love shit like that.

- Too much 12th house is just a major red flag for me. Intentions are always in question. Gives love hate vibes. They could treat you differently based on who's around. Ive had many 12th house relationships atp i roll my eyes when i see this between me and someone lmao. Not all 12th house is like that though for example me and this guy had venus in 12th house both ways. I loved the way he treated me. Ive never experienced someone be so nurturing and giving so soon, but i just didnt feel the chemistry. On paper it made so much sense but the passion just wasnt there. I felt confused and ungrateful like i was wasting something but hey you cant fake your feelings. - Im going to make a separate post just on 12th house but Jupiter in the 12th gives such empty promises vibes. Its not even that the person is lying i think alot of times they wanna do the things they say but they overestimate their abilities or just take on too much. - Mars square Neptune is tragic the relationship has no real direction. Following the leader right off a bridge.

- With venus square Asc you don’t really like the way the person comes off. Things about their personality could have you second guessing if you really like them. Y’all can play tag with each other neither really trying to commit for whatever reason you dont see the relationship being the right fit but you like the idea of being together. It’s honestly just sad tbh lmao -Venus conjunct Moon is so sweet u feel like u always have a home in this person. Your phone calls will get answered with them. -Someone had a stelluim in my 7th house i thought he was gonna be husband material at first but nope he acts more like a fan. -9th house synastry is nice. You look up to this person in that area.

[ebonysplendor]

TOUCHSTARVED (Demo) 💔🫴

TL;DR: People are always saying "Touch grass" but even that might be dangerous in this scenario. If you thought Mike Tyson's hands were lethal, wait until you find out how our hands work.

Game Link: https://redspringstudio.itch.io/touchstarved

Notable features: Self-Insert, Multiple LIs, DnD vibe, MC backstory selection, Multiple endings/routes, Choice-Heavy Spiciness: 3.5/5 -- Nothing too explicit and no sex scenes or anything like that, but it does get pretty suggestive and there's some flirty jokes and comments here and there, especially with one particular LI LI(s) Red Flags: ...I mean, aside from one of them being a suspiciously smooth talker and the other essentially implying that they'd corrupt us, the biggest red flag is one of them having the cleanest pickpocket skill in history

Wanna know more? Meh, there's not an age limit, but the game pages does say it's for older audiences so, me personally, ... I'd say at least sixteen, but the older, the better. Anyways, let's get into it!

Okay, I'm sorry, but I have been coming across some damned gems lately!

Once again, this was one of the visual novels I downloaded forever ago, and what the heeeeeell, this was so good! Like, no, it was REALLY damned good. I'm not going to get into my ranting and raving like I tend to do because then the intro will get all long, but just know that, once again, I am geeked. Like, why have these game developers been going in so hard lately?!

I honestly have so much more to say, but I really want to get to the summary and the review portion, so I'm going to half-ass this intro and leave it here. That being said, this is NOT a yandere visual novel; however, it is a dark romance visual novel, so, it's still not the super teeth-rotting, cutesy, fluffy stuff.

Anyways, I'm going to tell you as much about the game as possible without ruining the game itself (like usual). Be mindful that, because it's a demo, there's not really an "end" nor is it even leading up to the end. The best way that I can qualify the demo is deadass...a demo. Like, it's a literal introduction and acts as a showcase to the rest of the game. More accurately, it flows exactly like how you'd think the prologue to a story would, "Chapter 0", honestly speaking.

Anyways, I'm done yapping; let's summarize. Just a heads up, though, it's gonna be a little lengthy, so...get comfy. All right, now let's get into it.

So boom.

In the spirit of keeping things as brief as possible: We're cursed, and that curse flows throughout our hands, front and back; it is for this reason that we keep them completely bandaged to ensure our own safety (kinda) and for everyone else's sanity. We believe that we can find a cure in this city called "Eridia", which is known to be this city of vast knowledge, and within this city of vast knowledge is this place called "Senobium". Senobium is where we're hoping our answers lie.

Lmao, I know that's a hell of an opener, but that's quite literally what's going on. We have been cursed since the start of forever, and we're essentially tired of feeling no sense of belonging anywhere, so we're trying to fix that; however, shit goes very left, very fast.

As we're on the way to this oh so great city of knowledge, we get hit with this ominous fog, and everyone who's travelling with us immediately knows: this is not good. No sooner than later, we're pretty certain that we hear someone getting killed nearby and the carriage that we were in is suddenly flipped over and blood gets shed very quickly. As expected, and for plot purposes, when the carriage got flipped over, our ankle took some extra damage which makes running a very unlikely option. Because of this, this terrifyingly dangerous creature wastes no time approaching us. Wanna see what it looks like?

That, my friends, is what is referred to as a "soulless", and it can rip you to literal shreds within seconds.

For whatever reason, this thing darts past us and disappears into the mist, but we don't ask questions; we just bolt behind the carriage for cover, and we're thankful that there is still someone alive after the attack. It would be much more comforting, though, if the guy wasn't praying, because that meant either one of two things:

We were very much so fucked, and he was trying to put in a good word for himself real quick before he potentially met his maker

or 2. We are very much so fucked, and the only thing that is applicable in this scenario is to pray and hope it disappears

but either way, we are very much so fucked.

That being said, we simply can't accept that. We don't pray, because we don't have the time. We've literally come too far to get taken out right outside the very city that holds our salvation, and that's all the reminder that we need when we see those city lights through the haze.

That reminder doesn't last long, though, because remember that soulless that vanished? Well, it came back, and the guy that was praying essentially brushed up against our hand, trying to get us to dip out with him because, duh, situation kind've popping off. Now, you remember that curse I mentioned? Well, our bandages kind've tore off during all of this ruckus, and all it takes is the slightest touch to make a person go from this

to this.

Yeah, so...not good.

Anyways, the situation essentially keeps escalating until we're one hit point away from death...but it never happens, because the next time we open our eyes, we see him.

Maybe we are dead, because hello~! Lookin' like an ethereal being in all of that white and attractive features! Like, gyatt DAMN. That is one fine ass angel!

Honestly, there are a lot of guys, and a lot of swooning, and a lot of introductions, so I'm going to kind've rush through those parts, especially since I don't want to ruin too much.

So, to get back on topic, essentially what goes down is that he -- his name is Kuras, by the way -- found us pretty much dead where the attack went down and brought us into the city to treat us. Now, this isn't because he's a hero or anything, but because he's a doctor and helping and healing is quite literally his entire thing, and damn, did he heal the hell out of us...suspiciously so.

Kuras tells us that, in Eridia, knowledge and secrets are what really fuels the area because it's so valuable. That being said, he can't get into exactly how he healed us so damn near perfectly. That also being said, he pretty much implies that the Senobium isn't all that's cracked up to be and that we aren't likely to find what we need there. Now although, we aren't fully believing of this due to desperation, he does point us in the direction of someone else. Some guy named Leander that we can find in some place called "The Wet Wick".

We follow Kuras' directions...but who the hell is--

--LEANDEEEEEEER~! HELLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~! ...Yeeeeah, this is the one I'm gonna romance first lol. Kuras is gonna have to chill for a second.

Anyways, we're here with Leander, and what happens here is...he is so obviously a playboy, but the man is smooth as shit. I mean, damn, the man gave us flowers as soon as he laid eyes on us and was talking about some "New here? I'm certain I would've remembered a face as lovely as yours". A classic playboy line, a fuckboy move, possibly, and I always manage to gravitate towards/pick them in these damn multi-LIs stories. Back on topic though, we ask Leander about the Senobium, and, much like with Kuras, he tells us that it's not only a taboo topic, but that the place is bad news.

That being said though, he's pretty confident that he's able to find an alternative to our ailment, but that we'd have to be willing to trust him a bit, which is a tall order considering the backstory we may have chosen. We bite the bullet though, because we discovered earlier that he was a pretty damn good mage, and we're really desperate. We give into his confidence...and it actually panned out well. So well, in fact, this man, once again, takes the opportunity to spit game and puts the gold in our hands next to the gold on his coat and be like "Look, we match". That man is smoother than damned butter, and I'm down bad.

Anyways, he gets us a room to sleep in for the night, and tells us to go explore, but be careful. So we do, and we run into this guy.

Yeah, so, remember that room that Leander got for us? This guy, monster, thing just swiped the key. Lol here we go...

The thing is, we could easily get it back, but something feels...off...about him. So, we play along with his game for a bit before we're just like "A'ight, can I just get my damn key?" but he kind've avoids the topic and, of course, our desire to reach the Senobium comes up. As expected at this point, he's flatly like "It's overrated" and to simply forget about it. Well, damn...

The encounter goes for a bit more before Vere -- we finally got his name after someone called him out for causing trouble -- leaves with the someone who called after him. Despite all that we've heard about the Senobium, we can't help but see it up close and in person to at least make the journey and trials and suffering worth it.

And we do, we make it there, and we see this figure there.

But when someone calls after us for gawking at the building, the figure disappears as quickly as we saw it. Aside from this though, a feeling of hopeless kind've takes hold and we're just...it's just like damn at this point, ya know? But then something kind've weird happens.

This red-eyed woman, who is clearly supposed to be dead as apparent from this gaping hole that she showed us on her body -- no, you don't get it. It was a literal hole that you could see through -- spoke of this seaspring that could cure, quite literally, anything. Not having much faith in the Senobium anymore, but still desperate for a cure, we follow the woman and receive directions to this mysterious seaspring and are told about some gang leader named Ais.

We get there, and we come to the conclusion that someone probably lives here. We call out, there's no answer...you already know where this is going.

BUT I DID NOT EXPECT THIS MAN TO BE THIS DAMN FINE. AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO~! Okay, okay, okay, okay, so I'm going to romance Leander first, DEFINITELY this daddy second, and Kuras is gonna be my solid third. Okay, moving on...

He -- this is Ais, by the way -- pops up and scares the shit out of us. Actually, it wasn't him that scared us, it's his loyal pack of red-eyed soulless that scares the shit out of us, and for obvious reasons. Anyways, for the sake of trying to keep this from being longer than it already is, he's actually a pretty chill dude. Once again, he is also anti-Senobium, but he is straightforward in that, "Yes, that seaspring will literally clear up whatever you've got going on, but boy, is it going to drive you batshit crazy". Well, not batshit, but it makes you a part of this thing called a "groupmind"; that explained the red-eyes. Ais described it as "one big happy family in your head". Oh...okay, so...not a good idea. Guess we weren't as desperate as we thought. He gets one of his trained soulless to take us back towards the city.

After everything that had went down today, we decided that we should officially call it a night. On our way to the room Leander funded for us, we run into some...complications.

Ah, yes. Why would we have been able to just walk across the city and to our room? That would've been too easy. Any chance that this one is tamed, too, and Ais is just messing with us again?

Oh...oh wait...this one doesn't have the red eyes. ...Yeah, we bolt. What makes this whole situation worse though? As fast as we are running, this soulless is keeping up pretty damn easily. Also, did I say that this was the worst of it? It's not, it gets so much worse actually. Tell me why, in our panic, we literally ran ourselves into a dead end. Beautiful. What are the odds we'll survive this thing a second time around?

Pretty damn high apparently. Bless this person because we were about to get one-hit'ed!

They help us up and...wait...didn't we...?

Oh yeeeeeeah! This was the person from the Senobium! ...Damn, they're short lmao. That being said, we were all:

"Yo, you were at the Senobium!"

And they were all:

"So what if I was?"

Mmm...a feisty lil stallion. Big sass. I would be, too, if I was that short. Like, damn, they are not as tall as the baes. Kuras could take their ass out with one stomp if he really wanted to.

Anyways, they scold us about being alone at night and how it's not safe and all that. We follow them for a bit, and granted, we saw that they meant business, but it's still weird that if it's so dangerous, why were they travelling alone and why did they stop to help us?

"There was a bounty on that Soulless; you were just in the way. Not killing you isn't the same as helping you." Wha--?

Well, fuck you, too then! You get romanced last, Shorty McDouche.

We essentially get spicy back, and now, they're all blushy and shit as they start walking us back to our room. Yeah, take that shit, Mhin -- their name is Mhin, by the by -- but we don't have to deal with their sass for much longer because guess who comes along?!

IT'S BAAAAAAAE!!!! .....gyatt DAYUM Mhin is short. Then again, they could be taller than or the same height as us, but we did mention that everyone was significantly taller while Mhin was "Huh...they're shorter than I thought".

Anyways, they both escort us back to the Wet Wick, and wouldn't you know it?

Not only are all the baes here, but they all apparently know each other! All those different personalities hanging out together? Well, isn't that a wild concept. Even still, since they're all here...

Maybe we can get to know one of them a little better...

END OF DEMO LOL. Well...actually there's more after this, but of course, it depends on who you go to talk to. This is definitely long enough, though, lol; you'll have to play the game yourself to find out more, not to mention all the details I left out.

Whoo, FINALLY. The summary was long, but that was because the demo was long, and it had a lot going on. I swear I excluded so much detail, you have no idea, but guys...

When I tell you that this game was so good.

When I tell you that this game was so good.

FRIENDS. When I tell you. That this game. Was so. Good.

I don't think I can emphasize that enough, and I'm not even going to lie to you, at first, I was not feeling it. It's crazy to say that now, but I swear, I was not feeling this game at first, because it was feeling real Dungeons and Dragons, and as much I want to get into that...I can't. It just never vibes with me, and it's like I can't ever effectively get into it. That being said, it was rough at first, but then--!!

Listen. The story started storying, and the baes were baeing, and I was like, there is a visual novel to be played here. I knew it was a demo when I had started it, but when I tell you that I was legitimately upset when that "Thanks for playing!" message came up? DISTRAUGHT.

Anyways, my take on the game (as if it wasn't clear enough): it was great. Fantastic, even. It's just really odd how it flows like a fantasy story book but a DnD map at the same time, and yet they made it work so beautifully. The art style; those of you that have been rocking with me know how I feel about art style. Absolutely enthralled with the art. It looks straight out of one of those DnD campaign or character books. The baes! Don't get me wrong, all of them aren't my cup of tea, but the baes that I'm feening for?! Even the ones that I'm not feening for, honestly. They are sooooo handsome. Like, I want them al-- well, I want like 3 of them, to be best friends with 1 of them, and to throw hands with the other one lol. I mean, like, they're a'ight; I'm gonna have to get to know them because they a lil' too slick at the mouth lmao, but we all know that's probably going to be the sweetest of the bunch.

But yeah, this game is legit. Again, absolutely going to spend money on this one, if that's what the full version will entail. Now, just to add a bit of degeneracy...

IF THE DEVS MAKE THIS INTO AN 18+ GAME WITH A SPICY SCENE. MY SOUL. WILL BE THEIRS.

Okay, okay, okay, anyways, but like, the game really does have mad potential. Like, look at this:

You can pick your back story, and look at what it looks like when you pick your LI!

There are routes! You pick your LI by route! Can you imagine how huge this game is going to be if there are routes for each character and choices within those routes? I am literally so excited! Run me the full release, dev(s)!

Anywho, this post is waaaaaay long, and I could ramble way more about this game, but I shall not. If you'd like to give this game a playthrough yourself -- and I'm telling you that you need to -- I'll put a link to it right here for ya. If you'd also like, you can give the dev(s) that ever desperate "Please. I need more. This game is so good. I will literally sell you my lung and both of my kneecaps. I beg" and let them know what it is! Donations are also super helpful should you be in a position and mindset to do so!

All righty, that's finally all from me! Sorry about the length on this one, but there was so much that needed to be said, and I could honestly say more. For the sake of length though, I'll leave you with this:

Play this game, but also, please remember to drink water, don't be dumb, and hope to see you around~!

TOUCHSTARVED (Demo)

[martianbugsbunny]

Kay babes, I already posted a salty kinda tongue-in-cheek thing about Kalluzeb, in context of *MANDO SPOILERS* Zeb appearing sans Kallus in the Mandalorian. Because in honesty, he should be on Lira San with Kallus enjoying retirement, but I have no beef with him doing whatever it is he’s doing other than the part where he’s doing it without Kallus, because that is a huge red flag for me.

I thought I would have to worry about the following issues when it came to Ahsoka, but I guess they’re either setting him up for an appearance in that or they’ve decided to explore his post-Empire story in Mando, which is fine. If ye be free of indignation about Kalluzeb/Zeb just being gay, read on! If you’re an apple riddled with the worms of homophobia or if you’re very strongly anti-Kalluzeb, then this is not the post for you, and I would rather you just left now than got mad at me in the comments.

I’m going to specifically discuss this in terms of Ahsoka first, because I’ve had this in my drafts for months, so I wrote it before Zeb getting no-homo’d was a present and immediate danger. This may not be the best-written I’ve ever produced, but it is fairly logical, so please take it in context of the first section being written months ago, and the last section as being written today, and then you’ll be sitting pretty.

So it’s basically common knowledge at this point that Hera and Sabine will appear in some capacity in Ahsoka, and probably going to be in contact with our queen herself. I have doubts that Zeb will be a significant part of the show; maybe a cameo here or there, or they mention him but he stays off-screen. If Hera/Sabine gets off a comm in the back of their spaceship and Ahsoka’s like “hey, who was that?” and Hera/Sabine says, “just checking in with Zeb,” there is a choice. And because I have no faith in anyone to canonize Kalluzeb, this is what feels much more likely to happen: The writers will either throw in a single line after that (such as Ahsoka replying with “oh, cool, how’s his wife?”) or there will be no mention of a spouse. And believe you me, there is literally no reason that Zeb, who would be off-screen at that moment, and whose Rebels ending involved no female Lasat, should have a wife for that throwaway moment. It adds nothing to his story and it would be completely out of nowhere, probably never to be explored again. Mentioning a wife would literally just be the galaxy’s biggest, flashing-neon “no homo” (or, in Star Wars terms, you might say that he got Zorii Bliss-ed). There’s no reason to do it. Not saying he has a wife technically doesn’t even disprove the concept that he might have a wife *sarcastic snort*. So if something like that does end up in Ahsoka, we all know why. There is legitimately no other reason to add in a throwaway line like that other than to disprove the concept of Kalluzeb. Or maybe just to disprove the concept that Zeb is gay. I would honestly rather they never mentioned Zeb at all, even in passing, than throwing that kinda thing in our faces. There is no reason to disprove it. Leaving Zeb with a slightly ambiguous relationship poses no problem. No plot hole. No loose end in desperate need of tying up. There is no reason to officially, explicitly de-canonize Kalluzeb or gay Zeb, because there is no significant woman in his life he might possibly have a solid, built-up, understandable relationship with, and because his most significant person (I would argue) is a man. I can’t say it enough. This is the test. Either we get Zorii Bliss-ed again, or Zeb gets to continue enjoying the grey space. (Because I don’t have enough faith in Filoni, the man who still has not made Ahsoka a splesbian [lesbian in space] to canonize arguably one of the most dramatic potential romances in Star Wars history. Even though Kalluzeb makes sense. Even though Kallus’s entire reformation arc is started by Zeb. Even though in his little screen time as a Rebel, it is still obviously Zeb who means the most to him out of all the Specters. Even though Zeb, who is often portrayed as being kind of rough, is much kinder and more honorable towards Kallus than he deserves, before they’re on the same side.)

In context of Mando, the same rules apply. There is no need to mention him having a wife. There isn’t any urgent need to even explicitly canonize Kalluzeb, other than the fact that Star Wars needs to improve its queer representation by leaps and bounds to get up to standards, and also that Kalluzeb makes a whole lot of sense. I am terrified of him existing in post-Rebels media because thus far, he is without Kallus, and with the way their Rebels storyline ended, there’s really no reason he should be. Kallus should be by his side.

UNLESS Kallus is A) currently enjoying retirement on Lira San, and Zeb is off-world for short periods of time every now and then but goes home to Lira San and Kallus or B) they’re saving Kallus for a moment when Kallus shows up late to whatever business he and Zeb have and we get a quiet, “hey, husband of mine” and there’s no fanfare, no Zorii Bliss situation, just two gay dudes being married and living their lives together.

This is it. This is where I find out if it’s even crossed Filoni’s mind (or the minds of other miscellaneous writers, but he really sticks to his characters) to leave our plausible couple be. This is where I find out if his viewpoint of *paraphrased* “it wasn’t my intention, but I won’t de-canonize it” (https://gizmodo.com/star-wars-rebels-producer-dave-filoni-is-totally-fine-w-1823593680) holds up if he’s going to explore characters close to Zeb (which includes Kallus) post-Rebels.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

Hey Steph, I just re-watched TST so my brain is on Morstan mode. What do you think about Mary? Personally, I always liked her. I was a bit weary with the whole shot Sherlock thing but I have got to give her credit for being a fabulous character. Amanda did a great job portraying her, Mark and Steven did a great job writing her. -- I just wondered what your pov was because you are like a deity to this fandom, or at least to me.

Anonymous asked: Hey, I was just wondering, is it bad that I like Mary. I honestly love her character and I think she works great with John, only rivaled by my love for Johnlock. Of course I don't enjoy her shooting Sherlock but all-in-all, I think her character is great. Also, I think Amanda played her beautifully. I know that when Mary was first introduced, the character and actress got quite a bit of hate. Personally I don't get it. Maybe people are blinded by the shot... Personally I love her...

======

Hey Nonnies!

Oh gosh sorry I missed these asks, I dunno why I never replied to them... I hope y'all don't mind me putting them together since they're so similar and my answer would have been the same for both anyway.

First off, thank you for your kind words, Nonny One, I hope you're still around and I hope that I'm still worthy of your love.

Secondly, if you've both been here a long time, you'll know that I was a HUGE advocate for villain Mary Pre-S4. I was the biggest Mary stan there was because I loved the direction they were taking her character. I coined the term "the mary problem" and wrote a tonne of meta about her and her potential reveal of being the main villain, possibly working with Moriarty, because quite honestly, it was the only thing that made (and still the only thing that makes) sense with the show's narrative pre-S4, AND with all the red flags Sherlock was pointing at in TAB. You can check out some of the MANY meta I wrote about her on this page here and some on the TAB meta page here. Her character was fascinating to me, and I genuinely believed that they were going to make her a villain and that the climax for S4 was going to be epic.

But then S4 actually happened. She was still a villain but now more deplorable and unlikeable than ever because Mofftiss tried SO hard to convince us she wasn't and to just ignore everything before S4. They ruined her character, just like S4 did for all the characters. I suspect some behind-the-scenes shenanigans with a petty AA went down – and this is ALL hearsay and my speculation so just take it with the teeniest grain of salt. I think it pissed me off more because they tried to redeem this irredeemable character who abandoned her husband and child and subsequently put all of them in danger. The flip was so out of left field and made NO fucking sense.

S4 is a clusterfuck of bad writing and bad ideas and plot holes.

My feelings these days about Mary are complicated right now. I like what she COULD have been, not what she inevitably became because of bitterness behind-the-scenes.

Again, my speculations and nothing more.

Cheers, Nonnies, and thank you for your questions.

[cursedvibes]

Kaori and Jin itadori for the character ask

Thanks for the ask! This is interesting because both of them are basically 80-100% headcanon. We barely know anything about them.

Kaori

Sexuality Headcanon:

Hm, I think she dabbled a bit with girls in her youth (maybe also because of societal pressure), but ultimately leans more towards men. I imagine her and Jin got together quite early, end of highschool/early university maybe, so she didn't experiment all that much with other people. Doesn't mean the two didn't have their own fun together though.

Gender Headcanon:

Since we know nothing about her, I have just decided that she is a trans woman. Who is gonna proof me wrong? Her and Jin were thinking a lot about what approach to take with family planning. Kaori didn't care that much either way, but she still tried to look for options for Jin's sake. That's when Kenjaku came in and offered her a womb transplant. Unfortunately, she didn't get to use it much.

A ship I have with said character:

Well, uh, Jin. Also I'm not gonna lie, I have been thinking about her and Kenjaku as well, especially after we found out that they still hold onto her CT. I could absolutely see Kenjaku creeping up on her when scouting for a new body and maybe even try to hit on both her and Jin.

A BROTP I have with said character:

Uh idk, Wasuke? I imagine he was at first a bit sceptical of Jin being in a relationship with her because of some latent transphobia and homophobia, but he got over it pretty quickly and became one of her biggest supporters, even after death. You could say he always showed more concern for her than Jin.

A NOTP I have with said character:

Don't really have any. Not many people shipping her anyway.

A random headcanon:

Because of her CT and I think it would be funny if both of Yuuji's mothers would be into STEM, I think she was a physicist and working on actual anti-gravity devices. So she was a bit of a mad scientist herself.

General Opinion over said character:

I'm not sure I can have much of an opinion on her with how little we know, but what we do know is very intriguing and leaves a lot of room for speculation. Hopefully, we will learn more about her when we get into Yuuji's origins.

Jin

Sexuality Headcanon:

Kind of similar to Kaori, although I would say he's more firmly bisexual, he just doesn't have that much experience with men. Certainly not in terms of actual relationships.

Gender Headcanon:

Cis man. Not really the ideal societal image of one with his very polite and submissive soft or unassuming attitude and focus on being primarily a father. But I imagine that's what Kaori and Kenjaku liked about him (for different reasons).

A ship I have with said character:

Mainly just Kaori and Kenjaku. His relationship with Kenjaku is still so fascinating. I really hope it was willful ignorance that kept him by Kenjaku's side and made him pull through with having a child with them. He knows something is wrong, that this isn't Kaori, but he's just so desperate to have a family and a child and might not know how to handle the grief over Kaori, that he just ignores the many red flags Kenjaku is waving in his face. Him just being under some illusion or mind-manipulation CT would be really boring and remove so much agency from him. Let him be a fucked up, slightly obsessive husband to his evil wife!

A BROTP I have with said character:

idk, I don't think he has many friends

A NOTP I have with said character:

Honestly, just Toji. I don't see that at all. It's not even aesthetically appealing to me. They both have children and that's pretty much the only thing that connects them. I don't know why Toji would be interested in Jin and vice-versa.

A random headcanon:

He's still alive lol...no, I think he would have shown up already if that was the case. If he is, he's a really shitty father for letting Yuuji go through all that. Another hc would be that I think he never got that well along with his father, the situation with Kaori was just the tipping point that pushed them into actual hostility. But I imagine divorced/widowed Wasuke wasn't the best dad, especially because he seems to have a gambling addiction that probably didn't get any better with his grief.

General Opinion over said character:

Little fucked up guy, but really interesting. What little we saw of him in canon makes him come off kinda creepy in the stepford smile kind of way in my opinion and I like that about him. I mean he must've charmed Kenjaku somehow and what better way to do that than by being a little insane.

[who1ssheesh]

Xanxus's s/o being best buds with squalo!!

Xanxus’ s/o being best friends with Squalo

Pairings: Xanxus/reader, Squalo/reader |PLATONIC|

Notes: maybe I’ve taken “buds” way too serious + Xanxus is a little piece of shit here I’m sorry……I’ll prolly will make Squalo s/o being buds with Xus soon lol. I also think I will expand on this one, feels rushed on some moments here and there

Warnings: swearing, not proofread at all, possible break-up 💀

If we take the route you’ve become friends with Squalo after starting to date Xanxus, then ooh boy, that’s a rocky start

Superbia admires Xanxus’ strength and specific traits – Squalo never in his life can terrify people around just by mere existing and suffocate with the strength through red wild eyes alone.

But other than that don’t they HATE each other with each letter in capital?

BTW Xanxus, on the other hand, is so ignorant he won’t admit any of Squalo’s strong traits to save his life, and captain acts much more reasonable here. So maybe you’re the one hinting to your man that he should go at least a little bit softer on his right hand

So. Squalo didn’t think Xanxus would date someone….like…….smart…….

He kind of expected a typical mob wife to be a candy of the eye and suck out (pun intended) money since Xanxus doesn’t care about people, you just gotta be useful to him

He can’t even lie he was dumbfounded seeing you for the first time. You are……..normal. He doesn’t mean ugly, you are pretty in a natural? Regular? way, not in a “I want to be a supermodel way too hard” way. Help me, I sound sexist.

It’s not an insult to you, it’s an “I can’t believe someone ambitious and smart got along with HIM”

100% the first time you see him is when Xanxus is beating the shit out of him with glasses again, and you were looking terrified to say the least. And Squalo was so NASTY, he really wished you would see this as the biggest red flag because he doesn’t want to see that bitch happy.

I mean it, there is just no way to get those two along, it’s a weird hate-infused destructive relationship between them.

You talk for the first time somewhere in the hall after that incident.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Squalo doesn’t answer, but you swear you heard an angry screech of his teeth in return.

You stumbled into each other pretty accidentally. You could be getting coffee for Lussuria (of COURSE you had  to be friends with that-, he would think) and somehow you always got one for Squalo. You are subtle, most of the times not even talking to him, just acting like……you merely treat him as everyone else and don’t pay attention to his tantrums.

You are immune to tantrums with your boyfriend, you’re the reasonable one in the relationship lol

You are the first one to call Squalo out.

“Quit your bullshit”

• You know what’s funny? It worked. Now welcome hell, you can never escape but it’s funny at least.

• You start talking just a little bit, one step at a time, a rare sight seeing Squalo genuinely laugh at something. He enjoys your humor and your brute language, he can now see why you get along with Xanxus.

• You start gossiping with him a lot, he is such a bitch, no wonder Lussuria likes him. As we know, nothing brings you closer than this.

• Anyways, you forgot your furious manchild idiot of a man. And he doesn’t like what he sees, Xanxus unironically thinks you are fucking with Superbia, he is raging and is THIS far from shooting you two

• It’s a long and heated argument, honestly 90% chance it can lead to a break-up. THAT’S IT THANKS FOR READING

• No, but really it’s the first time you have such a scary interaction, it probably includes you having a breakdown.

• Squalo is around there as well, and he is sure to let Xanxus know he won’t let anything happen to you.

• It’s a hard one for your relationship, you probably don’t talk for several days, Squalo will feel guilty despite hating Xanxus with all soul. Xanxus may be a bitch, but you are not.

• Will be your voice of the reason - he can’t and won’t in any way pamper you or pity, but Squalo is good with spitting facts, 10/10 friend material

• Could be having some interactions with Xanxus about the situation, could be not, depends on his mood. But certainly will call his boss a fuck-head

• Sadly, I can’t see your friendship with Squalo go well with Xanxus. Squalo may be the reasonable, but your boyfriend in not

• You both develop a pretty defending relationship, Squalo is sinking with his buds trust me it’s a pride think. So at least you are going to be irritated at him throwing stuff at Squalo -> another argument.

• You don’t go too far though, you both respect each other’s independence and don’t act as mother hen. Rare mature friendship here

• You start going hanging out with Varia a lot, maybe you even meet some of his buds out of Varia. Xanxus is going to be around too btw, some can say he is acting calmer around you

• Squalo is a friend to insult you a lot even as a joke, so thick skin is required. Will be mad at you A LOT, but still is the one to come over at 2am 1000 km away if your car broke down or sum. But if it’s a shitty reason he will get mad and say to fuck your boyfriend’s brain instead.

• Even if you don’t try, you pick up some fencing knowledge lol. Squalo starts rambling a lot and really appreciates you listening. Does so in return, can interrupt you with a dumb joke or some nonsense but just wants to show you he listens

• Squalo can be away for long at missions and develop a habit of bringing you cards with a shitty dad jokes, insults or all together

• You humor synchronizes well, there are a lot of inside jokes, Squalo thinks those are the most important in a friendship lol. Excluding drinking bets

• Has some lines. Won’t get over your house if you are alone. Fair maybe? He wouldn’t be happy if his gf brought Xanxus at their house while he is away. Exception for some emergencies and business questions

• If you ever interested, Squalo will get you tickets to sword fight events. Especially where he participates lol. You don’t have to go, but….he gets you those cause wants to see you ok?? You brobably will go there with Bel or Lussuria

• BROFISTING A LOT AND I WILL DIE ON THAT HILL. Sometimes that piece of shit bumbs you with a metal hand on purpose

• Since you don’t see each other in a sexual or any romantic light at all, Squalo often forgets you are a woman and could be smaller or not so tough (in a physical sense) and can hit you too hard

• You two rating others’ attractiveness 100%💀💀💀💀 Sometimes Luss involved

• It takes a really long time, but the 3am late chats while smoking at a balcony are a thing (I have doomer panelka vibes in my blood, doing that rn whatchu gonna do about it)

• He one day comes you for a serious advice because he’s unsure, and you are the only one Squalo trusts. You appreciate that a lot. Like…a lot

• He will do a lot in return to show his appreciation for your support, you know there is always a man behind your back, ready to catch you if you fall

• I don’t know, to be honest, of Xanxus ever makes peace with your friendship. He is not jealous, it’s about…trust. He is dead inside thinking that in critical situation you can chose Squalo, and Xanxus realizes his tantrums (that fight) break your trust in him even more, which makes Squalo more valuable to you. So in conclusion….Xanxus breaks his life again and is scared.

• But at some point, you don’t have to feel sorry for him, he also wounded you, and he knows that (he should). Squalo 100% will evaluate your ego and aggression a lot, you become confident in protecting your boundaries.

• So if ever Xanxus makes you choose (and holy shit I can imagine him doing this-), you don’t have to chose him just to please him? But it’s hurting someone’s trust either way.

• If you prioritize Xanxus, your relationship with Squalo grow noticeably colder. You obviously won’t develop an “I can’t trust you my life” friendship, but you notice Squalo is not angry about it and even sees a certain reason in your decision. He respects your view on the situation (since you are with Xanxus longer than being friend with Superbia) and sees this as a logical conclusion - that’s the character he likes you because of, ok? You still have a joke here and there or go crazy together rarely just like with any Varia guardian. You will notice Xanxus’ gaze anyway, but it’s a different one - he knows he is the one for you and can’t get enough of that fact.

• Well…….if in the end Xanxus hurts you too much….Squalo is flabbergasted to say the least and feels a lot of responsibility in here secretly, even tho he understands you both are adults + Xanxus can fuck himself piece of shit go and die + voi + ratio. He becomes distant because of this, all while you are weeping here all alone and having second thoughts. I’m the end, he comes at you door in the most Superbia fashion - with a slap and now you have 23 hour training sessions to get your mind clear or sum (he is trying). He gotta get you back to your feet with confidence and pride better as ever, because he is a friend. He goes to help at 2am, gets you when you are all out of breath and here to beat some cense back to you. He helps you get your place in a mafia life once you are chipped off of Xanxus and are all alone, he honestly the one to see you succeed and make yourself a name AND he will hardcore convince you to become a swordsman as well if a potential is seen. It could be decades, but you are still here for Superbia as he is for you, and everyone knows you are always around each other - loud, arrogant, bashful and foul-mouthed. And he still bumps you with a metal hand on purpose istg

[thisismeracing]

I'm sending this in bc I have been gathering random thoughts but don't worry about answering right the way!

okay first

-mick is kind of a golden retriever but in my opinion he is more of a blue eyed labrador

maybe bc he's a little shy and g retrievers are all out a have a very energetic vibe even when with strangers they're over energetic, but I feel like mick is more of a shy person who might be social but doesn't initiate any interaction + mick with short hair looks exactly like a labrador don't lie to yourself guys

-mick invites estie everywhere bc he's a very intuitive person (not that you need it to see it) but he feels like estie is always kinda left out even when he is invited to things - he is a empath and you can't change mind

-I know how bad it is to "diagnose" people out of nowhere BUT as a neurodivergent my self I feel such a neurodivergent vibe from him?!? am I the only one?

-out of all the drivers he's the one who seems to try to get out of his bubble the most (if we count Seb and Lewis out) he engages and tries to learn + support a lot of things that are socially important, out of the younger drivers he is the one who shows most interested in it too. I worry so much that once Lewis retires (still crying about Seb), we will basically have no drivers who strives for diversity and equality as strongly as they do

-I will say that i'm a gemini and the person I had the best romantic relationship was a Aries, Idk why people hate them?? They are literally one of the best zodiac signs, there is nothing about them I don't like, I don't know what that says about me

now I will also admit that the worst romantic relationship I've had was with a Cancer, he was the most emotionally manipulative person I ever met, please avoid them at all costs romantically (just a warning- I mean a tip)

btw love you lots and love how you answer everything that is sent in

- 🎀 anon

-oMG I- I CAN TOTALLY SEE IT AND I HAVE TO AGREE!! HAHAHAH I can't unsee it! Now, every time I pass a lab I'm gonna think about Mick lol

-I had the same feeling tbh. I think he is the kind of person who likes to make everyone feel loved and welcomed, so sometimes even without noticing he gravitates towards the less famous in the crowd. 🥹

-I think this may be like on the estie bestie point: he just radiates such good energy that we can't help but identify with him, maybe that leads us to "getting X vibe" like you just did 💗 (I'm not elaborating much on this point bc I feel like this is a very personal and delicate subject so yup).

-I've been refraining to think about Lewis' retirement because I have the same feeling you do. It's not that the others don't care (some really don't tbh), but there's a difference in how he acts and how some of the grid acts. Lewis tends to use his voice more, just like Seb did/still do, and this is what we need: people who understand that their biggest power is their voice, not only their money when the conversation is creating diverse and prejudice-free spaces.

-I honestly don't understand much about astrology, though I do believe in it. But if Mick has any red flags related to his star sign you can bet I'm acting colorblind about it 😘���🏾 I've never really stopped to notice how people talk about Aries, I'm making a point out of it now. Maybe Gemini people like to do exactly what others told them not to hahaha thank you for the tip!! I'm gonna keep an eye open for them!! 👀✍️🏾

aweeee, love you too, honey!! thanks for the ask, I'm patiently waiting for the next round *mwah* 💖💖💖

[yxstxrdrxxm]

He's still the biggest red flag of the current event, but I wanna know if you'd go "yeah, but he's hot so I'd try anyway" lol.

I mean for me, if you did make the boss dateable in some Alternate Universe (even if it's only for a short time), for funsies, I'd give it a shot.

I'd flame out and burn out hard, but I still think I'd give it a try. I'd be a falling fireball, and I'd hit the ground hard. But at the very least, it'd be entertaining.

Also for me, as aesthetically pleasing to the eye the boss is, I'm more intrigued by his story and what skeletons he has in the closet.

I mean, Navia-mun, you hint at his red flags and his treatment of Cupid and Eros, which means there's a story there. Whether or not he's sympathetic is another issue entirely, but I'd like to hear his story.

Also, given his very bright red flags (attire not withstanding), I also think he'd be super interesting to write as a yandere, if he isn't already one in your mind.

To what extent will he go to, if someone's caught his eye? What sort of things would cause him to be obsessed with someone? Which aspects of his personality would end up coming out more if he does end up being matched with someone?

I think these are all interesting questions the Boss character raises, and I would like to see what sort of character he is or would be, if he was datable.

This was a super long winded ask, but the short answer is yes. Yes, if you made him dateable, I'd shoot my shot and see if I end up his match. And then if not, at least my attempt will be an entertaining fail.

Hm... You know, this actually gave me an idea. Unrelated to the event, but as a what if scenario.

(utc for an imagines. tw for yan behavior and tendencies, obsession and possession, isolation, implied murder but not in a way you'd think, manipulation, heavy lean to unrequited love, toxic relationships... And other tws that can spoil him because its a yandere blog. I think that speaks for itself.)

Boss is a yandere that is a mix of possessive and obsessive. In his worklife, personal life, and even to his friends and family, people can just tell that he's distant. Distant and a bit of a cruel man to those who he sees to have some sort of vendetta against him.

He had people that wanted him. He actually had some that were so, so convinced that they were fated to be together. However, it only took one day spent with him to leave, yelling and crying about how he is so 'abusive' and how 'his workers shouldn't tolerate the bs they all go through because of him'.

How amusing, he thinks. Do they honestly think that they had a chance? A sliver of hope that, in some way, he'd love them like how they do? To him, he saw them as obsessive freaks. He was just dishing out who he is.

Now, him falling for someone is almost laughable. He'd probably be the one who'd question why he'd find some form of interest in a romantic relationship. After all, he sees it more as an inconvenience. He doesn't exactly... Get the appeal as others do.

If he were to, God forbid, fall for someone... That someone better be prepared for a man who is more than ready to simply find any means to get to talking with you. He won't plan on showing his hand that he's managing MixMatch and is associated with Celestia Inc. to some degree, since he hates mixing work life with personal life. He'll just... omit it.

Boss is twisted in his perception of who he enjoys being around with. Quite often, you saw how he simply treats his employees like they were just people who can't understand him. It's laughable, actually.

What isn't laughable is his power.

He's not vocal with what he enjoys, opting to simply let you be the judge. You hold the 'gavel', per say; and although he may be the defendant in your eyes, he aspires to be the prosecution.

He wants you to view him more favorably, so it would be convenient for him when things go awry.

He'll treat you better in dates if he had to. God forbid you tell him that he didn't, for he'd rectify it and say that work made him so, so busy to focus on his personal life. He'd be meticulous to what you like and don't like, what you don't tolerate and do...

... And while you're busy focusing on how nicer he became, he'll slowly taint your views, working and worming his way to someone that you can't push away anymore.

He'd slowly push you till you were unable to get your support system back. He'd make extra sure that you yourself will tell them that you can't be near them anymore. He wants you to do the work for him, since if you loved him so much... Wouldn't you do this for your relationship together?

He'd make sure that you understand your place, even if you aren't his worker at the company. He'd deny any sort of reward until he thinks you've 'straightened up'. He wants to see you squirm and struggle on doing just that, because he himself wants to see if you can be strong to withstand the eye of the storm itself.

He'd shower you with love on the first few years, making sure you're well fed-- no, spoiled without a single bat of an eye, and then he has you in the palms of his hands. He's quite well off, so it wouldn't be long to satisfy your greedy mind with things you wished you could afford.

Then... He'll stop.

If you ask him why he stopped, well... You clearly forgot who you're dealing with.

Bit by bit, your relationship will sour. You'll have to work your way into getting the basic necessities because you've been far, far spoiled for his liking. He'll make you writhe as you try to get his affections.

Then, the cycle repeats. Over, and over, and over, and over. He'll make you so spoiled, then he'll deprive you of it.

He doesn't care what violations he's breaking. He doesn't care if you sobbed and kept saying you can't. He does not care if you tell him you're going to die because of how hard he's been on you.

You wanted this life of luxury. You wanted him.

It's not his fault that you can't read the fine print, is it? That you're so busy obsessing over a man's appearance, riches, and even his manners that you forgot the basic decorum. You forgot to act like a proper individual cause you went 'gaga' over him.

And he hates it. He hates that behavior you have.

Really, he doesn't love you like how you love him. He doesn't give any fucks. All he wants is someone who's so dumb to like him just so he'd have a little toy.

What, you're getting mad because of it? Shocker! He doesn't care.

He's not afraid of getting his hands dirty if he was threatened. Unlike you, he had to work for everything he got. In his eyes, no one deserves the fame unless he permits it.

You're fun as a little toy he had, but he grew bored of you. He doesn't want you anymore.

Maybe he can tip those men off to deal with the mess he's faced with.

[ofreporterintinct]

You'll always be my home.

@IloveMusicals

A home that was supposed to be real 

Something real that was more real than Iris ever expected. Especially after the tragic death of Eddie; the same day I found out about Barry my best friend. The man I could confide anything in. I found out his biggest secret of all that he was the flash. The speedster in red; that ran circles around our city. Ran to be a hero. Barry was a hero on his own without the suit, without the speed. He’d always been someone I admired. His strength; his way of moving forward from the pain. Honestly Iris knew she had been dim to the truth. She had hidden her heart from the reality. The reality of him; of the possibility of us. Iris never wanted to lose him; their friendship. Which is why she played it safe; she liked Barry; we had a connection. 

One of love, passion; but when it came to dating Iris was in those easy early stages of an us. She had went on a few dates coffee dates at jitters, a nice restaurant an italian place her favorite. But she felt like we we were pretending not be ourselves. Was it harder because we had known each other for years? Was the spark completely within our heads? The brunette felt the questions beaming at her. We eventually found our own footing with each other; we talked; we felt okay with Barry speeding off as long as he came home to me. As long as I got my goodnight kiss; the kiss every girl dreams of. It was steady; it was safe for us. That was until Barry started acting weird; he made me feel like he either wanted to escape me, or he wanted to walk on eggshells all of a sudden around me. I was left feeling confused; not to mention that awkwardness around my father; who was like a dad to him too. I felt unsure of myself; I was confused. 

I was sitting in my home living room with my head held into my hands. I heard the door assuming it might be Barry; or hoping on my part to explain himself for his own behavior at star labs, instead I was met with my dad’s he had tear strung eyes; I reached his glaze as I uttered. “ Am I not enough? Did the dream not live up to the reality? I asked more so to myself than him. I felt his arms wrap around me; as he whispered “You’re always a enough Iris, any boy who doesn’t see it, doesn’t deserve you.” I nodded with a prickle of tears that peeked against my eyes. “ Thanks Dad.” He whispered something about saving me. In response I had furrowed brows in confused. “ What are you talking about?’ He realized instantly he said his thought aloud. I felt numb when he said it aloud. 

Savitar? Who was that? He had mentioned apparently I died in the future to this Savitar; and it clicked in my mind; Barry; he saw the future? He thinks I die? More red flags ran up within my head as I stood to my feet more determined than ever. I wasn’t a wounded flower. I didn’t need to be saved; I needed some clarity from Barry; the man who felt it was okay to keep life altering secrets from me. With heels of my shoes leading out of the house; I was a women on a mission. Iris didn’t want to message him and say those dreadful words “ We need to talk” Was he ending this? No but she needed to know what was going on especially if we’re life was in danger. 

The brunette had drove to Star Labs; knowing her boyfriend; a speedster at heart. She had gotten to the lab; stepping inside where the lights peeked on. I had said hello to Caitlin who smiled as I spotted Barry in the hall; I was a girl on a mission. A stern expression; as I asked. “ Who is Savitar?” I asked being coy; knowing if Barry trusted me he’d be honest if he was playing scared he’d hide it and my answer of what to do would be made up. I liked Barry; may even love him; he was the boy I craved; the one I longed for. But not based on lies; what we had was meant to be real with each other. 

That meant letting me in. Arms pulled to teether across my chest.

[outofcontextbokumono]

After reading your posts involving Allen it made me curious about what you think about Skye because regarding hm bachelor's he's always been one that people either really hate or love

honestly i never played ds (as much as i really want to, but i should probably finish ttott/si/gab before i start another game 😭) so i don't exactly have any strong opinions on skye one way or the other....but i can say he doesn't give off the same vibe allen does at ALL. in fact based on the events i've seen i think he's fucking hysterical. he really radiates the energy of your average "mysterious suave bad boy womanizer" from literally any other early 2000s media and then 20 years later you look back at that hunk of a man you fell for at 13 and realize he is the biggest fucking LOSER to ever exist. i absolutely love that for him.

gonna be real for a sec, but i promise i'll get back to skye lol- i honestly totally understand why some people like allen, and i hold nothing against them as long as they aren't actively trying to defend that aspect of his character (and yes, i have actually seen someone do that before...huge red flag yall). i see where they're coming from, too, i think allen's line about your cow dying was hilarious and i think i would've LOVED him as a character if they just... didn't make him a raging misogynist AHHSDHHFHASHD

allen has some funny ass dialogue on a surface level and the bewilderment you get from finding out about it is definitely hysterical. but the fact that its a real thing that real people do unironically just,,, isn't something i can look past LMAO. to me it's like.... rewatching icarly in the modern day. its funny and the shock factor is entertaining but you have to take a break from watching eventually bc otherwise after a while it just Hurts.

skye on the other hand....absolutely nothing he does is threatening at all. he just seems like hes trying too fucking hard. nothing he does is something any real person would do if they had at least 3 functioning braincells.

and the fucking.... "chick beam"........the way he can supposedly make women stop in their tracks for a good 30 seconds by yelling it out like it's an anime special attack.....the way it's literally NEVER explained or elaborated on at all....that is comedy gold. that's classic harvest moon to me.

unlike allen skye doesn't make me feel like he'd call me a homophobic slur. do you think the chick beam determines off of one's sex assigned at birth or just what skye assumes (or knows) someone's gender to be? i feel like if skye met a trans woman he'd be like "oh, you ARE a lady, then? well in that case, i suppose today is my lucky day😊" and then he'd fire his chick beam at you and steal your wallet and run away

[brydeswhale]

My Giant Anti-Jonsa Hate Post, AKA why a person might not ship Jonsa other than hating Sansa :P

I'm warning you ahead of time, this is mostly me rambling. I'm not smart. Lots of smart people you can read, go read them.

So, I've noticed this tendency amongst some Jonsa shippers to sort of dismiss any criticism as Sansa-hate. Sometimes they are actually correct, some people only read ASOIAF in order to see Jon as a typical hero and any female character as simply the reward Jon gets for being a hero, which is so weird. There is a similar feeling that the biggest reward a female character can get is Jon's dick, so, um, yeah.

Having said that, I have a lot of reasons not to ship Sansa with Jon outside of how my ego feeds into my reading. I have read pics with them as the pairing, tbh, if you're a Sansa fan you kind of get pulled into it just because it's so hard to find ANY fics where Sansa gets treated decently that I just treat Jon in those fics as an original character.

I will now list my non-jonsa feels, in no particular order.

I do not believe the text supports it.

A lot of smart people have dug through the text and pointed to what they believe are clues. I'm not going to go through all of these because some of them are, IMO, a reach so far that the proponents have hired a gibbon to do the reaching.

One of those that kind of makes me super perplexed is the whole Jonnel/Sansa thing. Shippers will point to that as some kind of sign that their ship will sail, but honestly, I do not think so. Or at least, I hope it's not a portent of Jonsa.

Jonnel Stark and his plot line with the original Sansa seem to have more in common with the modern story of Alys Karstark and her flight from her uncle and cousin, who attempted to usurp her claim to Karhold by forcibly marrying her.

That is to say, it's a dark, sad story, made all the worse by the fact that Sansa eventually died, and she and Jonnel never had issue. In fact, Jonnel didn't have kids with his second wife, either. Possibly divine punishment for usurping and marrying his niece, IMO.

Most of the other "Jonsa" foreshadowing, I'm sorry to say, seems similar to that, basically. Either it's a sort of retelling of a completely different event happening in the present, or it's a sort of a weird, long reach. Like the idea that the comet is meant to foreshadow Jonsa, which is, honestly, so weird it's laughable, or pointing to times that Jon has complimented Sansa's looks. Some people even try to fit the Bael the Bard story to Jonsa.

It doesn't seem to fit with the how the text treats incest, in my opinion.

Much is made of the show's revelation that Jon and Sansa, despite being raised as and considering each other siblings, are biologically cousins, what with the revelation that Rhaegar kidnapped a teenaged Lyanna Stark and murdered her through reproductive abuse. For a lot of people this makes the incestuous aspect of the text "not count"(which is annoying for other reasons I will discuss later).

I just don't think "they're actually cousins" really works here, either, though.

GRRM sort of seems to use incest as kind of a shorthand for corruption. The Targaryens are the main example, their inbreeding a symbol of their incapacity as humans, and Craster is a giant screaming red flag but there are other incestuous marriages that seem to operate as symbols for the people involved, most notably the elder Lannister and Stark marriages.

The marriage of Tywin Lannister is an interesting sort of backdrop for the Lannister family as a whole. Joanna is often regarded, in both fandom and the series itself, as a sort of softening influence, a better version of Cersei, the true queen of Casterly Rocks, whose relationship with Tywin was very normal and healthy.

However, when examining Tywin Lannister's serious case of narcissism, I find it very unlikely that he would be capable of anything resembling normal in a marriage. It seems likely to me that his love of Joanna was more likely based on the same thing Cersei and Jaime's relationship was based on, AKA a damaged, narcissistic monstrosity. The marriage, IMO, was based on the fact that Tywin was attempting to emulate the elitist principles of the Targaryens. Only a Lannister could match a Lannister, in other words.

Then we examine the children of this incestuous union. I don't think its a coincidence that Cersei, Jaime, and Tyrion are as fucked up as they are. The example they have of a relationship is fucked up and incestuous, so it wasn't surprising that the twins emulated it. And Tyrion being Tyrion is also not shocking. Joanna may have demanded a place for him, but how much of that was motivated by love, and how much by a similar narcissism to Tywin and Cersei's, the idea of the child as the extension of the self.

But, @brydeswhale , I hear you say, because I have audio processing disorder, what about the Starks?

Well, tbh, I'm pretty sure the Lyarra/Rickard thing being incestuous was an afterthought, another way to mirror the Lannisters, but I do not think they're intended to be an example of incest done right. Rickard had some pretty weird obsessions of his own, if certain people are to be believed, and Lyarra is a near non-entity.

And while their kids seem to be, well, less fucked up than the Lannisters, it's still worth noting that two of the four are dead, of the two survivors, one dedicated himself to ensuring his family's full isolation from the rest of the country and the other joined a penal colony full of slave soldiers dedicated to what amounts to a border patrol that, whatever its origins, seems intent on enforcing an economic and cultural barrier to a random set of ethnic groups beyond the Wall, so good job there.

And even when Brandon and Lyanna were alive, well, no fault to Lyanna, she seems like a good kid, but Brandon was apparently an antagonistic dick and, well, he doesn't seem to have been very respectful of women.

Incest almost seems like a code in GRRM for "something is very wrong here and it won't end well, even for the innocents" and I just don't see him choosing to go against that.

As an incest survivor, the lightness with which the Jonsa fandom treats that aspect of it is messed up.

I don't tend to talk too much about my past as a CSA survivor, but yeah, there is it is. It kind of weirds me out, DOESN'T trigger me, just weirds me out, how casually the ASOIAF fandom treats incest bc, um, yeah, its not really casual. I feel like GRRM treats it with a great deal of gravitas, but fandom kind of skips over it, which is weird.

The "Real" siblings stance is obnoxious

There exists, within fandom, a tendency to devalue families outside the biological family.

It's not specific to ASOIAF, don't get me wrong. It's the same thing that had people giggling over Thor's defensive "he's adopted" or talking about which Robin is "the real son". It also lends itself to pairing in those fandoms based on those same ideas. It's not incest, after all, if they're not really related?

This might seem like small potatoes to some people, but the problem with this is that it's also a problem outside fandom, and it's something I've dealt with my entire life.

See, my family also isn't "real" according to this rule.

I have foster siblings, step siblings, half siblings, so on and so forth. I have siblings I'm almost completely alienated from, siblings I love more than life itself, and siblings who are ex-siblings, pining for the fjords, kicked the bucket, bought the farm, blah, blah, blah.

So to hear people talk about how Jon and Sansa aren't real siblings because of the complexity of how their relationship came to be, how close they are, whether or not the moon was full when they met, is actually kind of hurtful.

It tells me something about the people using this trope and what they subconsciously think of my family. How "real" we are to them, and how much we matter. It kind of makes me think we don't really matter, that because we don't share DNA, we don't count.

Also:

Jon is one of my least favourite characters and Sansa can do better.

To Be VERY VERY clear:

I'm not saying don't ship them, don't read it, etc, etc. If you want to, it's up to you. Like I said, I read it sometimes, just because it's so ubiquitous. I have plenty of pairings that other people might hate, or think are immoral, etc. These are just my feelings, tbh.

I just think dismissing all criticism or even plain distaste for this ship down to not liking one character or another, or whatever, is kind of messed up. There are lots of valid reasons not to like a ship, and it's worth considering all of them.