#because it's stupid and that was mostly the point

[gloryofdawn]

Dragon Prince spoilers ahead.

Back in the days of like

Season three?

We got a look at what Dark Magic looked like the first time someone uses it. Before this point, my friends and I were up in the air on whether it was inherently evil or not, mostly on the basis of whether a tool can be evil. After we saw Callum in his Dark Magic induced fever dream, however, we all pretty solidly landed on "Using Dark Magic Corrupts Your Soul."

I stated this in a conversation on Reddit, as was the style at the time, and people were coming out of the woodwork to scream that it was a stupid headcanon, not explicitly stated in the source material, and I was an idiot for thinking so. No matter how much I talked about inference, supporting evidence, and context clues, I was shouted down in every conversation it came up in, to the point that I left the subreddit.

Later seasons would vindicate me, as it is later apparently said that Dark Magic makes a hole in your soul that can, if you continue to use Dark Magic, corrupt you. Unfortunately, not only am I long since off Reddit, I have no idea who the jackasses mocking me were because this was years of comments before I actually left Reddit, so I can't exactly rub it in their faces (and would not be above doing so if I knew).

"but the text never explicitly stated it!!!" hey, so that's actually what they tried to teach you in those english classes you barely passed 😁

[metanarrates]

Hello. Sorry if this a stupid question u can ignore if u want.

How can someone get better at media analysis? Besides obviously reading a lot.

Im asking this bc im in a point where im aware of my own lack of tools to analyze stories, but i don't know where to get them or how to get better in general. How did you learn to analyze media? There's any specific book, essay, author, etc that you recommend? Somewhere to start?

I'm asking you because you are genuinely the person who has the best takes on this site. Thank you for you work!

it sounds like a cop-out answer but it's always felt like a skill I acquired mostly thru reading a ton, and by paying a lot of attention in high school literature classes. because of that I can't promise that I'm necessarily equipped to be a good teacher or that i know good resources. HOWEVER! let me run some potential advice to you based on the shit i get a lot of mileage out of

first off, a lot of literary analysis is about pattern recognition! not just pattern recognition in-text, but out-of-text as well. how does this work relate to its genre? real-world history? does it have parallels between real-life situations? that kind of thing.

which is a big concept to just describe off the bat, so let me break it down further!

in literature, there is the concept of something called literary devices - they are some of the basic building blocks in how a story is delivered mechanically and via subtext. have you ever heard of a motif? that is a literary device. it's a pattern established in the text in order to further the storytelling! and here is a list of a ton of common literary devices - I'd recommend reading the article. it breaks down a lot of commonly used ones in prose and poetry and explains their usage.

personally, I don't find all the literary devices I've learned about in school to be the most useful to my analytical hobbies online. motifs, themes, and metaphors are useful and dissecting them can bring a lot to the table, but a lot of other devices are mostly like fun bonus trivia for me to notice when reading. however, memorizing those terms and trying to notice them in the things you read does have a distinct benefit - it encourages you to start noticing patterns, and to start thinking of the mechanical way a story is built. sure, thinking about how the prose is constructed might not help you understand the story much more, but it does make you start thinking about how things like prose contribute to the greater feeling of a piece, or how the formatting of a piece contributes to its overall narrative. you'll start developing this habit of picking out little things about a text, which is useful.

other forms of in-text pattern recognition can be about things like characterization! how does a character react to a certain situation? is it consistent with how they usually behave? what might that tell you about how they think? do they have tells that show when they're not being trustworthy? does their viewpoint always match what is happening on screen? what ideas do they have about how the world works? how are they influenced by other people in their lives? by social contexts that might exist? by situations that have affected them? (on that note, how do situations affect other situations?)

another one is just straight-up noticing themes in a work. is there a certain idea that keeps getting brought up? what is the work trying to say about that idea? if it's being brought up often, it's probably worth paying attention to!

that goes for any pattern, actually. if you notice something, it's worth thinking about why it might be there. try considering things like potential subtext, or what a technique might be trying to convey to a reader. even if you can't explain why every element of a text is there, you'll often gain something by trying to think about why something exists in a story.

^ sometimes the answer to that question is not always "because it's intentional" or even "because it was a good choice for the storytelling." authors frequently make choices that suck shit (I am a known complainer about choices that suck shit.) that's also worth thinking about. english classes won't encourage this line of thinking, because they're trying to get you to approach texts with intentional thought instead of writing them off. I appreciate that goal, genuinely, but I do think it hampers people's enthusiasm for analysis if they're not also being encouraged to analyze why they think something doesn't work well in a story. sometimes something sucks and it makes new students mad if they're not allowed to talk about it sucking! I'll get into that later - knowing how and why something doesn't work is also a valuable skill. being an informed and analytical hater will get you far in life.

so that's in-work literary analysis. id also recommend annotating your pages/pdfs or keeping a notebook if you want to close-read a work. keeping track of your thoughts while reading even if they're not "clever" or whatever encourages you to pay attention to a text and to draw patterns. it's very useful!

now, for out-of-work literary analysis! it's worth synthesizing something within its context. what social settings did this work come from? was it commenting on something in real life? is it responding to some aspects of history or current events? how does it relate to its genre? does it deviate from genre trends, commentate on them, or overall conform to its genre? where did the literary techniques it's using come from - does it have any big stylistic influences? is it referencing any other texts?

and if you don't know the answer to a bunch of these questions and want to know, RESEARCH IS YOUR FRIEND! look up historical events and social movements if you're reading a work from a place or time you're not familiar with. if you don't know much about a genre, look into what are considered common genre elements! see if you can find anyone talking about artistic movements, or read the texts that a work might be referencing! all of these things will give you a far more holistic view of a work.

as for your own personal reaction to & understanding of a work... so I've given the advice before that it's good to think about your own personal reactions to a story, and what you enjoy or dislike about it. while this is true that a lot of this is a baseline jumping-off point on how I personally conduct analysis, it's incomplete advice. you should not just be thinking about what you enjoy or dislike - you should also be thinking about why it works or doesn't work for you. if you've gotten a better grasp on story mechanics by practicing the types of pattern recognition i recognized above, you can start digging into how those storytelling techniques have affected you. did you enjoy this part of a story? what made it work well? what techniques built tension, or delivered well on conflict? what about if you thought it sucked? what aspects of storytelling might have failed?

sometimes the answer to this is highly subjective and personal. I'm slightly romance-averse because I am aromantic, so a lot of romance plots will simply bore me or actively annoy me. I try not to let that personal taste factor too much into serious critiques, though of course I will talk about why I find something boring and lament it wasn't done better lol. we're only human. just be aware of those personal taste quirks and factor them into analysis because it will help you be a bit more objective lol

but if it's not fully influenced by personal taste, you should get in the habit of building little theses about why a story affected you in a certain way. for example, "I felt bored and tired at this point in a plot, which may be due to poor pacing & handling of conflict." or "I felt excited at this point in the plot, because established tensions continued to get more complex and captured my interest." or "I liked this plot point because it iterated on an established theme in a way that brought interesting angles to how the story handled the theme." again, it's just a good way to think about how and why storytelling functions.

uh let's see what else. analysis is a collaborative activity! you can learn a lot from seeing how other people analyze! if you enjoy something a lot, try looking into scholarly articles on it, or youtube videos, or essays online! develop opinions also about how THOSE articles and essays etc conduct analysis, and why you might think those analyses are correct or incorrect! sometimes analyses suck shit and developing a counterargument will help you think harder about the topic in question! think about audience reactions and how those are created by the text! talk to friends! send asks to meta blogs you really like maybe sometimes

find angles of analysis that interest and excite you! if you're interested in feminist lenses on a work, or racial lenses, or philosophical lenses, look into how people conduct those sort of analyses on other works. (eg. search feminist analysis of hamlet, or something similar so you can learn how that style of analysis generally functions) and then try applying those lenses to the story you're looking at. a lot of analysts have a toolkit of lenses they tend to cycle through when approaching a new text - it might not be a bad idea to acquire a few favored lenses of your own.

also, most of my advice is literary advice, since you can broadly apply many skills you learn in literary analysis to any other form of storytelling, but if you're looking at another medium, like a game or cartoon, maybe look up some stuff about things like ludonarrative storytelling or visual storytelling! familiarizing yourself with the specific techniques common to a certain medium will only help you get better at understanding what you're seeing.

above all else, approach everything with intellectual curiosity and sincerity. even if you're sincerely curious about why something sucks, letting yourself gain information and potentially learning something new or being humbled in the process will help you grow. it's okay to not have all the answers, or to just be flat-out wrong sometimes. continuing to practice is a valuable intellectual pursuit even if it can mean feeling a tad stupid sometimes. don't be scared to ask questions. get comfortable sometimes with the fact that the answer you'll arrive at after a lot of thought and effort will be "I don't fully know." sometimes you don't know and that can be valuable in its own right!

thank you for the ask, and I hope you find this helpful!

[vintagerpg]

New year, new week of gamebooks, mostly! Let us begin with Steve Jackson’s House of Hell (1984) AKA Fighting Fantasy Gamebook 10. Many consider this one of the best in the series and I tend to agree, even though I kind of forget about it when FF faves come up in conversation. Which is crazy, because look at that cover by Ian Miller! How do I forget that exists? What a stupid brain this is sometimes.

My intellectual failings aside, House of Hell is kind of an FF outlier. For one, it’s set in the modern era (and possibly the only FF that does this). For two, there is a Fear mechanic, in which you accumulate points as you encounter scary things and if you hit a certain threshold, you drop dead — this is unique among all the books in the series. For three, you talk quite a lot and fight not very much (and when you do, you’re bad at it because you’re a normie and probably unarmed). Talking to characters who are clearly villains who’d like you dead is actually necessary for your survival and success. And there isn’t really an optimal path through the book. Rather, multiple deaths and playthroughs will inform you of aspects of a greater mystery to solve as you seek to escape the house. And it is extremely hard. Puzzle elements, including many secret passages (I kind of love and hate these, as they make the book very difficult), complicate navigation. I only wound up getting somewhere close to the ideal ending when I started to get very, very frustrated with the construction of the book, and because of that I am still not entirely sure I solved it. That was a couple years back, and I still don’t have the energy to give it another crack.

And that, too, speaks to its enduring appeal. I still think about it, and will probably play it again some day to see what, if anything I’ve missed. Precious few gamebooks keep calling me back like that.

It helps, too, that it’s genuinely spooky in parts! Tim Sell’s illustrations are gruesome in a camp sort of way, full of blood and screaming faces and Satanists (and certain Hammer mainstays). The book was released in the US as House of Hades, because we’re a big bunch of babies, I guess. On the other hand, my UK edition lacks the “scandalous” human sacrifice illustration, so I guess we’re all babies in the end.

[lyricwritesprose]

As someone who is currently discovering My Adventures With Superman and frankly rolling around in it like catnip, I feel that having Lois catch on fast was absolutely right for the show.

First of all, this show just moves hella fast. For whatever reason. If you want slowburn, it's all cool, there's other media out there, but that doesn't happen to be what this one is doing.

Second of all, the plotline does excellent work at establishing who Lois is. In fact, the show is doing an excellent job of establishing who just about everyone is. Clark is just Good, sweet and kind in a way usually reserved for Disney princesses, but he is also too cautious and rule abiding and unwilling to rock the boat until Lois is involved. Lois is brilliant, driven, a bit emotionally damaged and about one thousand percent insane, but believing in Clark keeps her from becoming too ruthless. Jimmy has got to have cast iron self control, I mean, this is a guy who has endless curiosity about cryptids and yet managed somehow not to grab a video camera and interrogate his Obviously A Cryptid roommate—simply because Clark is his friend and he wanted to respect his boundaries, I mean, seriously, what an absolute mensch. Guy deserves to be the most famous Best Friend in American media. And even the minor characters, like, Perry . . . is clearly offscreen eating antacids like they were fucking M&Ms, and it is mostly the fault of the aforementioned trio. But back to Lois and Clark.

The thing is, there may be actually more potential for juicy emotional complications out of a Lois who knows than a Lois who doesn't. I mean, first of all, you have to figure out what you even mean to him, and how much he lied to you, and then you have to work out how to connect to an actual alien who is sitting in a psychological place where no human ever has before, like Maslow's hierarchy of needs probably doesn't even apply to him, and second of all he is absolutely Going Through Shit because he has enemies and no idea what the fuck is going on and his space ship speaks a different language. Yeah, love, that's good, that's nice—but it's not going to be enough. You have to have a lot of other things, like good communications skills and raw insane courage, and if you don't have them you're going to have to learn them fast because this television show, as mentioned before, is not even interested in trying a slow burn plot.

To be clear, I have just gotten into this media, but by this point I trust them to come up with emotional torque because, I don't know, despite (despite? Not sure that's quite the right word) the silliness and the occasional Excessive Amounts Of Anime I feel that they just understand the assignment. This show is about Being Good, about hope and friendship and love. And not necessarily in a schmaltzy care bear sort of way, but in a "we understand that this is stupid hard in a world like this and maybe we should do it anyway," way.

i 100% believe every single adaptation of superman should be judged for accuracy based on how well they understand just how completely unhinged lois lane is as a person. because if you think THE lois lane wouldn’t do [fill in the blank], you’re wrong. she absolutely would do that and she will not be apologizing for it. superman being in love with her only succeeded in making her more comfortable and willing to do insanely dangerous things than she already was. because yes, she will 100% launch her body off a skyscraper just to prove a point. and guess what, idiot? she was right, so it was completely worth it and she will be doing it again. i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again, lois lane is absolutely bat-shit crazy. clark just happens to be really REALLY into her particular brand of crazy. like there is nothing lois won’t do with the right motivation. she is an absolute force of nature and that should scare the shit out of you.

[bethanydelleman]

hi! I finished northanger abbey and do I have thoughts! I really liked it, I'd give it a solid 8.5!

you were right, catherine being a teen girl is relatable, but actually the most "relatable" character I think, is isabella. i genuinely gasped almost every time she spoke because I've met a few isabellas and austen really put it on page. every now and then I almost expected her to say "omg stop teasing meee" or steal James hat/hoodie. she gives me that *friend who leaves you alone at the club while you're drunk to flirt with some rando" vibes. kinda sad because at first she did seem a lesbian in love with catherine.

and john thorphe!! I'll admit he did scare me a bit a few times, him grabbing catherines arm to stop her from exiting the carriage was so creepy. and just like.. him trying so bad to remove her agency and turn her into his little doll. both of them are worse than wickham to me. not necessarily because of actions but like.. they just feel like people who'd be easier to meet irl if that makes sense?

i loved henry tilney so much, you low-key spilled when you said he was the best austen man, im sure. but i will forever be upset that austen didn't delve into his love confession/proposal like whyy.

but God did I love how foils are in this book, with the tilneys opposing the thorphes when it comes to relationships with catherine. her true soulmates!

honestly I kinda wished I'd read this one in my language because perhaps I would have understood the whole subtext re: general tilney better. but I did understand everything so it's fine.

also I have to defend my girl and say she's actually incredibly emotionally smart, she clocks the general and even isabella, she's just in denial for a good while, and james (way more experienced) is led on more than her so im annoyed by the dumb allegations i saw. she's 17 in 1800s leave her alone!

and I love eleanor obv!

alsoo this is kinda off topic but i soo think modern!henry would be a fashion student and modern!catherine would LOVE lisa frankestein! i just know she would. nd it would hit as a concept !

all this to say I really liked it, I'll start with sense and sensibility next! so excited cause I know it's about two sisters so it'll be like getting a book with jane and elizabeth pov! ty btw! your advice was spot on!

Firstly, congratulations on reading Northanger Abbey in your second language! That is impressive. And I'm so happy to hear you loved it.

Secondly, I totally agree about the Thorpes. They really feel like people you could meet today and both of them are so slimy. I think they inspire more genuine feelings of disgust than a more over-the-top villain like Wickham or Willoughby. And they are great foils for the Tilneys, all talk and no substance. The Tilneys are the real, genuine friends that Catherine will value forever.

Catherine does have good instincts. I really think the point is that she identified the evil in General Tilney, she just went a bit far with how that evil would express itself. Some people hate her and call her stupid, but I never would. She mostly got it right.

I hope you enjoy Sense & Sensibility just as much! Report back if you want.

[japeneselunchtimerush]

Something I really want to talk about is momoi and her kurofes interview. Theres so much to think about in terms of momoi's own view of herself. But I'm mostly disappointed because of some of the questions.

First of all this question???? The complete uncertainty in her answer??? Like she truly believes that her analytical and organizational skills aren't that great. Which is so insane because she's known to be able to produce stacks upon stacks of data for one team. Plus she has data on every single player(and when I say every I mean EVERY) So this really puts into perspective momoi's opinion of herself and her skills which does point to what is probably low self esteem and hidden insecurity which people never talk about.

I FUCKING HATE THIS SO MUCHHHHH

WDYM THIS IS MOMOI'S INTERVIEW AND PEOPLE ARE STILL TALKING ABOUT AOMINE. THIS IS NOT ABOUT HIM!!!!

I think the first question is stupid because it's obvious if you read the manga that they're relationship hasn't changed all that much except for the fact they're happier post seirin vs touou. So this question didn't even have to be asked and just serves no purpose to this interview whatsoever.

The second question also sucks because the kurofes interviews are about getting to know the characters themselves and their circumstances. Asking a question that's about aomine(and just aomine mind you!!! maybe it would have been a tiny bit better if the question was about funny stories of both of them) makes it lose all purpose.

Or maybe I'm just biased and want to know more about momoi and her childhood moments rather than aomines.

(And if I said these questions suck because there are only like 3 questions about momoi's goals and skills and the rest are like this)

[yandere-fics]

♡ Someone Tries To Rescue You From Them ♡

(Lemme know if you have ideas for the kingdom and seaside versions of this.)

♡ You'd been with Miriel for awhile at that point and mostly it had been happy. She was a bit overwhelming at points with how she would cry if your attention wasn't on her for long enough but it could have been much worse for you so you never really felt like you needed to escape or get away from her. In fact life was better being with her than it was being without, while you did have to cater to her moods, she made a lot of money and you had a lot more privileges than you would have as just a normal mateless human in the city. That didn't stop others from seeing you as a poor soul that needed saving though. Most people didn't say it outright though, you'd only had a few people over the years who had told you they felt horrible for you. This one took it to a whole new extreme though. ♡

♡ You knew there were groups that tried to smuggle mates out of the city to little to no success, not that you would even want to leave the city, you were semi content living life with Miriel. Leaving just wasn't at all something you found yourself wanting or needing. The stranger had not been content with this answer though. You'd encountered them at the mall, Miri would have normally been with you but she had meetings all week and to make up for neglecting you she had allowed you to go out alone for once, probably the first time you had gone out alone since moving in with her and they were quick to come up to you. Perhaps they felt safe doing so because they'd seen your mate was an elf and knew she wouldn't smell them on you. Either way they came up and almost tried to drag you off, shushing you as you panicked and assuring you they were trying to be helpful. ♡

♡ It was very short lived though because as it turns out Miriel had borrowed the company security for the day and had sent them to tail you for your protection. Needless to say you wouldn't be going out without her ever again. ♡

♡ Your relationship with Eliza was new and so you hadn't even moved in with her yet much to her growing dismay so she was over at your place basically any time she wasn't at work trying to convince you that you needed to live with her which you politely turned down every single time that offer was made. Eliza was already overwhelming as it was and living with her was only going to strip you of the limited freedom you'd been left with since she had announced herself as your mate. You obviously couldn't put off this move forever, it would only be a matter of time before she would force you to live with her but for the time being you were content to put it off. That was how the group noticed you. it was rare for a human to deny their supernatural as much as you were so the obvious assumption was that you were someone who they should try to save even if your mate was a werewolf making it more dangerous if they were caught. ♡

♡ Despite not really wanting to move in with Elia though it didn't necessarily mean you wanted to escape her either though. Escaping was a dangerous decision that you couldn't make lightly, only a select few even managed to escape and those that failed were left with an angry aggressive mate determined to punish them to ensure they'd never try again. They were determined to get you to make that decision though leaving letter after letter in your mailbox, never at your doorstep, they couldn't risk the werewolf who visited daily finding out someone was leaving you letters or else she might try to find out what was actually written in the letters and then their entire operation would have been blown. You didn't really feel like you should tell Eliza about the letters though, even though it was annoying you, you didn't want them to get hurt when they were just doing what they felt was right. ♡

♡ Eliza wasn't stupid like they thought though. There was a large influx of letters that her puppy was receiving, she saw you grab your mail every day and it all came from the same source so eventually she opened the letters, exploding in rage when she did and demanding you move in with her. ♡

♡ The mate of the wolf goddess. A role everyone couldn't help but pity within the werewolf territories. You were practically a sacrificial lamb. No werewolf would dare take you from your mate even though they all felt bad for you. You being with her was a necessary evil due to the horrible reputation Selene had. So no, there was no one who was stupid enough to try and take you from the god who had single handedly wiped out the other werewolf gods during the great war. They would need a death wish if they wanted to even attempt such a thing. As it turned out though there was someone who had a death wish or perhaps they were just plain stupid and didn't realize the supernatural they saw with you was a literal god, either way one day someone did finally attempt. ♡

♡ Selene rarely left you alone, she was very clingy and demanded a lot of physical affection, the exception to this was when she went on her run. In human form she couldn't really smell when people were in her territory, only feeling the smallest bit of uncomfortability like something that wasn't supposed to be there was and in her wolf form the problem was honestly even worse. She had breathed in a lot of fumes from the war damaging her smell significantly so the person was actually able to sneak through the forest in order to get to you and try to convince you to go with them even as you struggled. Eventually they just decided the best course of action would be to toss you over their shoulder and try to bolt with you like that, assuming you were just too scared of the monster you were living with to think about this rationally. You on the other hand had been thinking about this rationally. You rightly knew this was entirely pointless because as soon as she finished her run she'd just hunt you in minutes. ♡

♡ Just as you had thought, as soon as Selene finished her run she was immediately distraught and angry not to find her mate waiting for her like you were supposed to before catching the faintest whiff of someone else being there though it was hard to pick up on, she immediately charged in your direction, catching you and mauling them in no time. ♡

♡ You behaved yourself very well for Kassien and you liked doing that, you didn't enjoy disobeying her. For one you got a lot of privileges for being her good girl and also she was sweet to you. You knew most wouldn't believe that considering demons were extremely aggressive but it was true. There was many perks that came with staying put and just listening to what your scary demon mate said. Running away was not an option you wanted or had even considered. You knew she'd just find you so even if you didn't like her it was pointless and best case scenario where you did somehow get away you would just be sad and miss her so no, there would be no attempts at getting away from you. ♡

♡ Others however seemed to see you as some sort of hostage which you couldn't entirely blame them for, most people mated to demons did not like it and usually tried for a very long time to escape their demon. Even those who said they were happy had been worn down into believing that after a long time so you couldn't get mad at them when they approached you one day on one of the outings you were given without Kassien that week. It had annoyed you somewhat though because you knew you were going to have to explain this to Kassien when you got back home because she would smell that they had grabbed your arm in order to get you to listen to them. You tried your best to shut the conversation down so that you wouldn't have to get them killed later but ultimately you were her good girl and so you weren't going to lie to Kassien about what they had told you. Part of you felt bad knowing they'd likely be torn to pieces but they were the ones who had harassed you about this when you clearly didn't want to so it was their fault. ♡

♡ Just like you had thought the moment you returned home Kassien was instantly asking you who it was who had touched your arm and like a good girl you told her in a heartbeat, smiling when she gave you a kiss on your cheek in appreciation for you telling her the truth before running out the door to catch the bastards, telling you to order whatever food you wanted while she was gone. ♡

♡ It wasn't truthfully too uncommon for some demon to sneak into angel territory and mess with the mates. Even for demon standards Angels were known for being quite strict with their mates so occasionally a mid ranked demon would sneak in and try to cajole the lower ranked angels into leaving their angel mates for the chance of possibly meeting a demon outside who would be a much less strict mate. You'd know several angels growing up who had left and had found out they had another mate only to be dragged forcefully back to angel territory by their original mate, devastated because they had grown to like the mate they met outside. You had never been dumb enough to even attempt it though, you knew these demons couldn't just be doing it out of the kindness of their heart, they had to be making money off of 'rescuing' potential mates from angel territory. ♡

♡ Nikki and you had known you were mates since you had been very little and seeing as she sprouted four wings marking her as a high ranked demon you were put towards the center of the collection of mates to ensure nothing bad happened especially not to the high ranked mates. It was rare they were able to make it over to you without alerting the people patrolling but it still happened, mostly the more daring people who assumed since your original mate was high ranked if you had another mate they would also likely be high ranking and so they could trade you for a large amount of money. They weren't gentle with you either, they couldn't risk you yelling and alerting people so often they would try to gag you or release gas to make you sleep or any number of things, your mate would feel the distress through your bond and come rushing and then the person would be drawn and quartered in front of everyone in the community as punishment. ♡

♡ That was why Nikki decided to move to the city with you, she was sick of demons always sneaking in to try to free you and you liked not being stressed about when the next attempt would be. ♡

♡ Everyone in the city pretty much knew who the serial killer was due to her not exactly being discreet though since she only targeted people who were rich and came from outside the city it was unlikely for anything to happen to her. Anyways the point was since they knew she was the serial killer, they also had a vague idea about her having a mate. There were rumors online about this mate, some even saying they had seen you when she had kidnapped you but nothing concrete. Just the knowledge that the mate existed and if you tried to find the killers apartment then there was a chance you could stumble into this mate and be murdered for glimpsing them. She'd moved apartments a couple of times due to people finding the apartment location before eventually finding a place that no one knew she was there with her mate. Until someone who felt horrified for her poor mate decided to trail her home to rescue you. ♡

♡ Runa rarely went out excluding like once a week for supplies and perhaps a kill if there happened to be a lot of rich people visiting in town so that didn't leave a lot of time for anyone to sneak in to set you free, they didn't know you really could have freed yourself already if you wanted to because when Runa slept she went into a comatose state. The moment she finally left the apartment they practically ran in desperate to find your apartment and let you go leading to you panicking when a strange person bust your apartment door down while you were just trying to clean up Runa's mess from spending the night prior gaming with you in her lap. Your shriek was immediately heard down the street by Runa who had only left a few minutes ago and instantly came darting back in order to protect her mate from whatever had happened, stabbing the person over and over when she saw them trying to grab you. ♡

♡ The both of you wound up having to move once again once she calmed down enough from seeing someone trying to take you. The two of you never did find out what they were even attempting to do. ♡

♡ Nora had grown extremely possessive and dominant over the course of your relationship because you never pushed back against her when she did stuff that crossed a line so it was clear to everyone around you that although your partner was not a supernatural, she still displayed the same tendencies that supernatural's did. However due to her being human it also meant she didn't truly have a legal claim to you or at least that's what the assumption was. Since there was no claim on you like supernatural's had though they automatically would assume it would be okay to intervene in the relationship and try to help you out despite you not really having a desire to be set free from her. If her behavior had bothered you in the slightest then you would have said something during the beginning stages of your relationship which you didn't. You were literally perfectly content. ♡

♡ It was small things at first, just commenting on your girlfriend's overprotectiveness whenever they saw you walking without her and telling you if you ever needed a couch to crash on they would be more than happy to lend that to you growing tense when it seemed like you didn't understand what they were implying. You'd respond to those comments saying your girlfriend would always take care of you so that wouldn't be necessary. Then it evolved into sitting you down privately and telling you that your girlfriend displayed alarming and controlling behaviors which you easily brushed off with a laugh, reassuring them that Nora wasn't dangerous. You'd then go home and tell Nora about the strange encounter you had today, her chuckling along with you while making mental plans to go scare that person into never speaking to you later. Some did try to tell you about Nora's threats only to be met with you telling them it's not funny. ♡

♡ Most who persisted wound up learning that while human, Nora did in fact have a legal right to you as hers. Of course they couldn't tell anyone this though because upon learning her true identity as an assassin, they died. ♡

♡ You wanted to leave Sawyer, you really truly did. In fact you thought about it quite a fair amount but you also knew this was just not ever going to happen. The moment you entertained the thought of escaping the city she would call you into her office and tell you she knew what you were thinking so you needed to cut it out or go into the isolation room. Eventually you just stopped giving escaping an serious thoughts. You however were a prime target for the niche groups that had been plaguing the city and trying to free people's mates, mostly for cash though some were bitter they had no mates and just wanted to take mates away from the people who had them. ♡

♡ Anyways it wasn't a threat Sawyer took seriously because any time a group would gain traction, Sawyer would send them into the forest for tampering with the mating bond and that would be the end of that. She still didn't like knowing people wanted to take you from her though and as soon as any group set their eyes on you she'd keep you inside for awhile until every last group member was found and put in their place, either through foresting or she'd send Nora to kill them. ♡

♡ Seriously though anyone who thinks about taking you from her must have a very bad death wish, you won't even die messing with her, you'll encounter a torture far far worse. ♡

[loveablevileness]

AOA Loki romantic headcanons

Little mess because he can't believe that you have reciprocated his feelings.

Have no idea what to do at first.

Once you take your place in his heart, there's no way back.

Trying his best to be honest with you from the start, not wanting to hurt one of the most important people in his life.

Dates take place across all nine realms, but mostly on Midgard.

Remembers your preferences in order to make good gifts in the future.

Trying not very noticeable to put his arm around your shoulders in the cinema.

If it's home date, Loki will try to impress you with his cooking skills and can accidentally set the kitchen on fire overdoing.

Totally will get matching shirts at some point.

Cuddles, kisses, snuggles, etc., this god is touch starved.

Holding your hands a lot, that's making him feel better and closer to you.

In sad days, Loki loves to rest on you/next to you with no need for talking, your presence calming him.

Tell you stories from his life.

He tries to stay close to you if you're on an adventure together.

A sudden declaration of love at a dangerous/stupid moment.

[silkenwinger]

cherry

mdni. part 2 to this; one sided enemies to lovers (?) konig x reader.

You aren't sure this job is good for you, but you would be miserable doing anything else.

That is the unquestionable truth of the matter. Normal society rejects you, then chews on you and spits you out; and you may have taken a bite as well, bitter as it was. There was an attempt, fresh of finishing high school: it was so corroding to you your only other option was joining the army. When that grew unsustainable, too, KorTac. And you are determined to make it work: the unstable people that work with you mostly irritate you, besides some precious exceptions, but you know how they operate. You know how to cope with them.

But God if they don't make it hard!

“As I said before,” you seethe between your teeth, “Novik was spotted by our squad last week in Pashyk. We have reason to believe he might still be there.”

The lieutenant you’re speaking to just listens with dead eyes. He then blinks, and turns to speak to his squad member again.

“We will go ahead as planned…”

Fuck this shit! Not only you’re forced to work alongside another squad, full of people you don’t know, but you’re also going totally unheard. What even is the point of going after an arms dealer if you’re just going to miss him every time because you’re going to the wrong places?

In the ample debrief space, you turn to protest with your side of the room. Roze doesn’t look thrilled either, having her own recon being dismissed so blatantly. It’s harder to tell what the guys are thinking, with that whole mask business, but Horangi has that battle tension in his shoulder, a sign of unreleased disapproval and anger. König… doesn’t look very different. His posture is straight, he’s not hunching to hear the others better. He could be approving the other plan, for all you know. At the end though, you can’t have too much internal conflict, especially when you know the lieutenant knows the commanding general a good deal. Personal preferences and friendships are even more relevant in a PMC than in the normal army, which is saying something.

“It’s like they thrive on doing the wrong thing,” you vent to them later as you make for the mess, fists closed. The other squad had won the battle of deciding your next step, favoured by the higher ups.

“You tell me,” replies Roze, taking her gloves off as she moves to the food stand. “A full night of work dismissed because of their old info.”

“I say we let them do as they please and just sit on the side. We are still getting paid,” says Horangi as he sheds his mask away. Oh, potato salad… 

“I would rather not catch a stray bullet from them, you know how some of their aims are,” you snicker, looking around to make sure none of them are in hearing range. You grab the cutleries.

“It won’t happen,” states a voice you haven’t heard for some minutes now. König’s. He’s standing next to you, as he does often nowadays.

It’s been some weeks since you���ve slept together. You don’t know exactly how your relationship has changed. All you know is that you’ve found it increasingly hard to insult him often and he clings to you like he’s made of velcro (and you are too). And he stuck to you already before. Despite being tempted, so far you’ve managed to not fall into the trap of giving in to your impulses again– both due to your work demands, but also because you have exerted self restraint. Since you know that König has feelings for you, the poor fool, it’s good that you aren’t leading him on. It’s the kindest thing you’ve ever done for him.

Sitting down to eat, you look at König in front of you as he raises his hood to eat. A scowl tugs at your lips, but you distract yourself with food to not think about him. Great, the potato salad is fridge cold as well. And salt less. Could this day even get worse?

“You look stupid,” you say before you can reign it in, pointing at König and his mask. He gulps audibly. Horangi and Roze don’t even mind your insult, as used as they are to them, and keep having their own conversation.

“There’s no way you aren’t getting it dirty, putting it back on every time you take a bite,” you continue, frustrated. There you are again, taking it on König. He should win an award, or fire you.

“You’re right,” he says, tone cheery, “I used to eat in my room so it was cleaner.” The unspoken is so obvious it hits you in the belly, like a well placed punch that takes your breath away. You’re so uncomfortable with the eye contact he’s holding that you look away first.

Why did this have to happen to you. When taken rationally, and without the fumes of lust, what you and König have going on is neither normal nor healthy. He should have a normal companion that elevates and cherishes him, and you should go to something that starts with t and ends with herapy. But no, you’re not going: you went while you were still in the army and it was completely useless and annoying. Plus it’s not even free in KorTac like it was back then.

There’s no other way than to sit down and hope it passes. There’s many women in KorTac; König is a tall and powerful man with a particular kind of charm. Soon hormones will do their part and lead him to other, more well adjusted shores. Far away from you and your unstable moods.

The rest of the afternoon you mope around trying to do something, anything to distract you from your impending mission. You go to the gym and do more series than usual, until your arms burn; you shoot at the range; you beat some poor recruits in hand to hand training; but still it haunts you. It’s both worrying about what you will encounter and anger at being dismissed, unheard. Exacerbating your anxiety is the feeling someone is watching as you walk about the base. You feel eyes on you as you walk through corridors and as you enter rooms. 

The flesh tires before the mind, and so you retreat to your room hoping to sleep at least some hours. Like the internet recommended, you pick up a book to facilitate sleep. See? You can do mental work on your own, no shrink needed. You’re trying to read the same sentence for a minute when someone knocks at your door. You raise your voice as you ask who’s there.

Dogs come back to the place where they’re fed, and much to your chagrin, some men are all dog. And they will scratch at doors.

“It’s me…” a soft voice speaks from the other side. You recognize it immediately and don’t particularly enjoy it being there, but you’ve been trying to get better. So you tell it to enter.

König enters your room like he’s making his way through a mined zone. Not very dissimilar for him when you’re concerned. Still, he lowers his head as he passes through the door and takes some tentative steps. The sound of his boots walking on your carpet is clunky and uncertain. You slide the covers off and sit straight on your bed.

“Is there a problem?” You ask him, neither cold nor warm. You have a hunch he’s not here for any official reason, but you want to hear it from his mouth.

“No, there is no problem,” he rushes to say. You give him no reaction because you already knew that.

Looking at him, so tall and awkward, standing in your room with his hands in front of himself, moves in you something that would have been disgust a month ago. Now it’s something more akin to pity and wanting to strangle him for his way of being. You sigh, already done with his bumbling ways.

“Sit down, will you?” You tell him, and he immediately sits down at the desk chair. It takes a remarkable amount of control to not tell him good boy at that.

“Was it you creeping on me all day?” You ask him directly, like a band aid taken off by surprise. You know the answer to this already as well.

He fiddles a bit with his fingers and then nods, adding a spoken yes on his own. Your eyebrows lower in anger.

“What makes you think that’s a normal thing to do? Seriously, you disgust me at times.” He jiggles his feet, making the chair creak in strain

“I saw you were upset. But I would be making you even more upset, so I thought I would look at you from afar.” His words tumble out of him like the water of a river in flood, like he cannot control his thoughts transforming into spoken phrases.

“I’m not something for you to gawk at.” His attraction to you confuses and upsets you: you cannot understand what you did for him to like you, and maybe that’s what unsettles you. That there’s a whole world out there that sees you and chooses to perceive you in a way you cannot control. Dislike, scorn, indifference: these are reactions you can understand applied to your person, but that König would instead choose to pick like is unbearable. 

“I just wanted to see you were well,” he confesses, his voice soft. For some reason, he keeps digging his grave even deeper. You feel blood rush to your face.

“You’re unbelievable. You hide yourself all the time and I have to be seen and controlled? You’re the most hypocritical person I know.” His head snaps lower now, and you think to yourself this is it. This is the time you get to break his heart completely, that you make yourself unredeemable in his eyes. No longer a fussy creature he can please by doing what she says, but a fully blooded woman that doesn’t deserve his care. Leave her to her devices, his brain should be telling him. This woman is worthless and a constant headache.

Your blood chills in your veins when his hands raise to go to his nape. The fabric of his hood falls in front, a waterfall that stops to reveal the unknown. You find König’s eyes living on a man’s face. 

He’s scarred, that much is true. His nose might have been broken as well. You’re speechless to the fact that he chose to take off his mask, and instead of saying anything dumb, you decide it’s your turn to gawk. His hair is longer than normal in the military, this much you guessed right, and a pleasing auburn that matches his body hair, for as little as you saw them that other time. He looks nervous, and younger than you know he is. Overall, you like his face. It matches his personality: rough in exterior facade, showing that he’s been through a lot, but soft in behavior and gestures. 

“This way,” he manages to let out, “you see me as well.”

This idiot. He’s making you do it again. You’ve really tried, but it’s like he bewitches you.

You jump out of the bed and cross the room in three wide steps. König doesn’t even know what hits him when you’re already sitting on his lap. It’s quite spacious.

“This doesn’t count as an apology for stalking me,” you tell him, inflexible, your legs straddling his. But then you start holding his face in your hands. He looks like you’ve hung the moon for him, and while the sensation is heady, it’s also uncomfortable. You distract yourself from it by kissing him. You start slow, more like nibbling at his lips, uncharted territory. He tries reciprocating, thankfully not using his tongue yet, just pushing his lips against yours, chaste and innocent. You laugh against his mouth and he starts giggling too, a weirdly intimate touch that you weren’t expecting. You’re no longer laughing at him so much as you’re laughing together.

“Follow my lead,” you tell him simply, and he nods, nose brushing against yours. You begin kissing him again, this time for real, your tongue tracing first his lips and then the inside of his mouth. When it slides against his own, you urge him to reciprocate. He does, albeit shyly, but when you start really going at it he gets the hang of it. Truly, an adapting genius. You run your hands in his hair, soft and smooth, while he keeps his hand diligently on your hips, straying neither up nor down. You guess, for his patience again shown when you mistreat him in public, that he deserves a reward of sorts. When your hands move away he makes a strangled sound, but shuts up real quickly when he sees them grab the hem of your t-shirt to take it off. Already braless for bed, your tits go from being completely unknown to him to being in front of his eyes. The expression on his face, unguarded and unrestrained, is almost laughable again, but you’re feeling neglected and you don’t want to turn this into a full bullying session.

“Touch me. Don’t be shy,” you tell him, index finger in front of his lips, and again he nods, resolute. He cups your breast like it’s the holy grail, and that’s exactly what you were afraid of. That you’re an idol instead of a human being to him. Even if it’s a flattering idea.

“I won’t break, you goof,” you berate him but guide him as well, putting your hand over his, showing him how you like to be touched. The other you grab to put on your lower back. Instructed by you, his touches become more real, more vivid; he runs his hand against your side, your hip, then goes back to grope your chest. The sensation makes you move forward, grinding your body against his, and your wet pussy sends a sting of pleasure up your body from the contact against his crotch. König moves to suck your nipple then, now dedicated to covering your chest with care. His suckles are gentle but intense, a motion that is never too rough nor mild; when he is done with one breast he switches to the other without any input, and you smile, ruffling his hair a bit. He looks up at you then, face adorably red and flushed, and moves back to kiss you on the mouth again. Taken by surprise, you emit an embarrassing sound that wakes you up. You break off the kiss, drizzle of spit briefly linking you two, and rush to get off him.

His expressions are so clear now that he’s masked. And right now he’s looking at you like you just burned his house to the ground, sweaty, flushed and miserable. Unable to stand that look on his face, you clear your throat.

“Get on the bed,” you only say, and cringe a bit at the high pitched tone of your voice. König lights up again at your words, like you’ve built his house again and it’s even bigger and more splendid than it was before. He walks with his legs wide, visibly working around his erection, and the sight almost makes you facepalm. Thankfully, you can busy yourself by taking off your pants, doing it so rushedly your thumb’s nail makes a red scratch on your thigh. Watching you from the bed, König starts taking off his clothes. You didn’t tell him to do that but you will grant him this much after turning away from his kiss. He awaits, loyally, sitting on the opposite edge.

“Well? Lay down,” you tell him from the edge of the bed, bracing yourself for the next act. It’s something that you’ve thought about these past days, but to think it will happen now that he’s maskless prickles on your spine. Once you’re done, you turn to see his feet are right next to you, and he’s not quite laying down but more like sitting up with his legs stretched out. These military beds weren’t built for men like König. 

You crawl over to him; you’re not trying to be particularly seductive, but maybe you’re doing it anyway, because his mouth is slightly open, oafish look on his face and all. So irritating– you can’t wait to make it go away. You reach his midsection on all fours, and your hand locks around his cock like you’ve done it a hundred times. He’s leaking all over, the poor thing. His leg twitches: you observe his expression as you pump him a couple of times and, satisfied by it changing to something less stupid, you straddle him again. You’re unsure you can take him without any preparation, but being on top allows you to change your mind quickly. Guiding his cock inside you, you flinch a little at the start and stop midway through, taking a few breaths. You’re plenty wet, and you’ve taken it before, but it’s still a challenge. Thankfully you’re made of stern stuff.

“I’m sorry…” says König, and you could really slap him for saying something this stupid while you’re trying to put his dick in you.

“Don’t be,” you reassure him anyway, huffing. That’s on you for being greedy. Finally, after a while of praying and relaxing and moving a bit after bit, you can take him to base. You sigh as he fills you whole and more, and he moans a contented noise. One of his hands comes to hold your hips, gently, gallantly, as if to say Do what you must and I’ll be there. Readjusting your legs, you start riding him. This has been your plan all along, but the feel of his long, hard cock inside you is more overwhelming than expected, and maybe you’ve missed him just a touch. Moaning, you grasp at his chest, until one of your hands grabs his neck and you dig your nails into the pale strong meat of it. König shouts, a sudden and sharp noise– you grind against his body to give something to your neglected clit. 

“You– you can, hngh, move too you know…” you tell him, out of breath and aching sweetly as you bounce on his cock. You want him to feel involved as well… not like he’s a toy you use to get off. 

“Alright,” he says, smiling at you like he doesn’t have a worry in the world, and you feel an undercurrent of shame again. His heels point on the mattress then, and he starts matching your thrusts from the bottom, the head of his cock reaching a point so far inside you you’re almost certain has never been reached before. Your moans have become needy cries as you match König’s movements, his grunting almost quiet, concentrated on fucking the way you want. Before you know it, two strong arms have bound you by your torso, and your chest makes contact with König’s. He’s holding you, like you’re making love and not taking out frustrations on each other… You could scream, but the change in position and angle has you curling your toes even more, pleasure mounting inside of you. König is panting in your neck, a desperate noise, and you join your arms to hold him, too, his breath hot against your body. Soon enough of his touch, of this spiked beast being tamed by his kindness, you come, letting out a disjointed mewl. Feeling your pussy constrict him even more, König hurries his last strokes, coming inside you with his head in your chest. His rumbling drawl sends rippling tingles all over your body.

You lay there on top of him for a while. Maybe you’re also a bit scared to look him in the eye after kissing and holding him. You reason this is what he’s wanted all along, and maybe you’ve been wanting something along these lines too. Finally, your knees done for, you slide out of him, leaving a mess on your thighs and his, and try to stand but miserably fail, knees buckling. Humiliated, you angrily jump over to lay down next to him. Only you could ruin your post orgasm bliss… all by yourself. Unexpectedly, König speaks.

“Can I hold you?” He asks, tone dangerously sleepy. Your bed is not equipped for two grown adults of your size sleeping on it; and your odds are not good against König in your sleep. The chances of you falling off are very high. But since you can’t go anywhere for a while, you might as well oblige him.

“Yes,” you tell him, but snuggle to him before he can do it to you. His hands are greedy now, too: he brushes your hair and your neck and your ass, reverent, back to his worshipping mood. He takes his time exploring your body, blue eyes dragging over the details, your scars, your birthmarks. Embarrassed by his lavish exploration, you hide your head in his neck. You want him to lay down more comfortably, but maybe he prefers this to having his feet hang off.

“Oh, I didn’t tell you, but I’m on birth control,” you mutter against his muscles. It’s very stupid to tell him this after he already came in you twice, but considering you’ve sprung it on him very suddenly both times, you cannot blame a guy for not asking.

“I know!” He exclaims instead, joyful. “I heard you saying so to Roze three months and five days ago, in the helicopter!” He taps his long fingers against your back, maybe to the beat of a song or a lullaby, and you shudder. Again, his obsession for you is simply inexplicable. The mean streak returns as your lungs fill, like a cat ready to scratch.

“You’re freaking me out,” you grimace and take your face off from his neck, trying to lay down on your back as much as you can in the limited space, back arched. His laugh is light and airy, reverberating through your simple room. It tugs a smile off you too and it makes you feel like everything will be alright, at work… and maybe with König, too.

[squid-bunny-msi]

1998 OR 1999 JIMMY ASK EXTENDED

When I can't sleep I just be typing anything

SO THAT ONE ANON WHO ASKED which Jimmy do I choose, if 1998 or 1999, I give all the points on why it's hard to choose

1998 Jimmy

1998 Jimmy comes from the beginning of MSI, despite starting in 1997, it's only in 1998 when we can see "decent" footage of the shows. The outfit coming from the veery early years adds an emotional layer to it

The aesthetic of 1998 Jimmy is also kind of my aesthetic too, in fact, his style, I feel like I can't describe it well, but it's like an "alt/darker" style of the 1999 one? (duh, it's black). What I mean is, What core is this? Jesus Christ tie, split dye hair, black suit, watches in his wrist, along with the old recordings that made everything darker and crunchy, nobody knows about them and they're just in a tiny room with punk posters? It's like a memory from long time ago.

Before 1997-8 era, there was 1995, with the self-titled album. 1998 is the first time I see the cross tie being incorporated, which I think it's one of the most iconic parts of Jimmy's outfit, which he kept wearing from then on. I think the cross tie connects MSI's debut work with their then kept secret PINK works and the self-titled album.

When I first knew about MSI, I found 1998 Jimmy particularly handsome, back then I didnt like much the 2008 Jimmy because I found him ugly (lie, i DID like him i was just embarrased to tell people cuz I used to only like anime guy ahh faces and he's more like handsome in an ugly way..heh..), then I found 1998 Jimmy, and then 1999 Jimmy and OUGGGGGG🤤

When I draw Jimmy, this era is the one I draw by default, currently it's a tie between the 1999 one.

He has black in his outfit and I love black.

1999 Jimmy

I think this outfit, along with the 2008 one is the MOST ICONIC outfit of Jimmy. If you draw Jimmy in any of those two, it's instantly recognizable to people in and outside the fandom

His pink outfit gives a statement that goes with the band's intentions: He wanted people to get mad to a guy running around in a pink suit. He told this in an interview

An entirely pink suit along with fairy wings is a very original concept for a punk's look if you ask me. Usually we have the perception of punks as people with mohawks, jackets, black t-shirts and spikes, but instead we got twink man with a pink suit singing crazy with fairy wings 😭😭😭🙏 gives a twist ngl, and I like that A LOT

This might seem crazy but I think all the info you need to know about him is right there if you just look at his 1999 outfit: bright pink suit, skirt, cross tie, dyed funky pink hair, stupid fairy wings and Adidas shoes. If you analyze each one of these elements and make an assumption on who he is or how he acts (without knowing him), you'd probably get it right.

He's very fun to draw! Right now I've simplified his shape and now I draw him faster and easier, he's also fun to paint because he uses bright pink.

This was the outfit he used the most in FGWSSS and Tight era I think (mostly FGWSSS), which are considered the classics of MSI, which makes this outfit more iconic imo.

He's so stupid looking in this one but handsome as well

Here are the main points of why I like both 1998 and 1999 Jimmy and why it's hard to choose between them. Its 3:30am Thank you for coming to my TAlk tuah 😂😂😂

[ariadne-mouse]

In honor of our new extremely flirtatious and available paladin-bard Braius Doomseed, in good fun here are some possible very serious ship names for him with, well, everyone, with my personal very serious faves in bold:

Braius + Dorian: Stormseed, Doomstorm, Brorian, Doriaus

Braius + Laudna: Braudna, Loomseed, Skinny Cow, Black Ooze Inc, Doom & Dread

Braius + Imogen: Imogus, Brimogen, save a horse ride a minotaur, Doomult

Braius + Ashton: Greydoom, Doommoore, Brashton, Just Don't Me

Braius + Fearne: Bearne, Fraius, Callowseed, Doomway, Callowdoom

Braius + Orym: big doom little moon, Brorym, Seedseed

Braius + Chetney: Chetius, Brockopea, Doom Pea, Pock o' Seed, Chaius, Bretney (it's bretney betch)

Braius + Essek: Bressek, Doomshadow, Shadowseed

Braius + Teven: Doomklask, hero worship, Braiueven (sorry), Traius, HR Violation

Braius + Ludinus (look, he's here and being on a mission to defeat him does not preclude hotness): Brudinus, Da'Doom, Luaius (sorry)

Braius + Veth (she's not here but she would if she could be and I have to respect that): Breth, Doomatto, Vethseed, Doomveth, Broomvatto, seagull at the buffet table

Please pipe up in the tags/comments with your favorites and additions to this heavy-hitting discussion.

[elephantshoetoo]

To the point about El knowing what homosexuality is because she's watched TV...

Gay representation on TV in the 80's was basically non-existent. The only show I can remember watching that even referred to gay people at all was Three's Company, which boiled down to Jack Tripper, a straight man, pretending to be gay so he could be roommates with two single women. So whenever their landlord was around, he put on an exaggerated gay persona with all the stereotypes -- the queer lisp, the fruity mannerisms , the overly sexualized unwanted advances, etc... He was a caricature of a gay person for the purpose of laughing at gay people, because that was high comedy in the 70's and 80's. I'd like to think we've evolved considerably since then.

El mostly watched soap operas and romance movies, which had zero gay representation. As a kid, I watched soap operas with my grandmother in the 80's and I can't recall a single gay character. Ellen coming out on her sitcom was so groundbreaking because it just wasn't done before that, and that wasn't until 1997! Will and Grace didn't air until 1998.

So no, the fact that she'd watched TV does not mean she'd had any exposure to or understanding of queer people at all.

And I agree, because El grew up without all the societal biases and rigid gender roles, she'd be the perfect person to help Mike see how completely stupid, arbitrary and baseless homophobia really is.

Thoughts about El's understanding of homophobia and how it can be presented

Basically I was thinking about whether El knows what homophobia is or not (obviously she wouldn't be homophobic). Because she grew up away from society and had very little interaction with others, and unless Papa and the others taught her it, I don't think she knows? And from what we've seen, I don't think there's anything to suggest she was taught it.

And while she was present when Troy and James were making homophobic comments about Will to Mike at the gym, again I don't think she understood what they were talking about, just that they were bullies and "mouth breathers".

And so this led me to think about how El would react to either Mike or Will coming out to her or just talking about it. If she doesn't know about homophobia or doesn't understand/realise why it exists, it can give the audience a rather simple view of how stupid and nonsensical homophobia really is, if that make sense.

For example, Mike could talk to El, apologising to her and expressing how "disgusting" or "wrong" he feels or something for loving Will instead of her, but for El to express genuine confusion as to why he feels that way. For her to ask why he feels wrong for loving someone, and why it's any different for a boy to love a boy, or a girl to love a girl. Because at the end of the day, homophobia really is so stupid, and it's so easy to see it when you've never come across it or grown up with that prejudiced societal view before.

I used Mike as the example here because while I would not be opposed at all if Will were to come out to El, I do think he'd come out to Jonathan before, and I do want to see Mike and El talk (platonic Elmike save me). I want Mike to tell her that he does love her and that he does care about her, but not in the way he's "supposed to", in the way that boys are supposed to love girls. And for El to also say the same (as I also think she's not in love with Mike). I want them to realise that it's better for them not to be together like that, and that it's okay for them to change and figure who they are and who they want to be, emphasising the core message that it's okay to be different, in whatever way that is.

I'd really like to see different perspectives of how people view and disagree with homophobia. Having someone like Jonathan, who knows what homophobia is and disagrees with it and is accepting, is awesome! But also seeing another perspective from someone like El, who's never even heard of it and who provides a very simple but insightful view of it, would also be very impactful.

[gophergal]

Guilt tripping people does nothing but cause vulnerable folks to spiral and make folks who dont live with moral OCD feel negatively toward your cause

[egophiliac]

CROWLEY SSR THOUGHTS

there is zero basis for this, but I can't get this thought of my head

I don't know why I decided to draw it this way

[sparklyfaerie]

Great characters don't have to be good people. How many people love a good villain? Or a morally grey anti-hero? People love dynamic, interesting characters. That doesn't mean we ignore or condone their acts of evil; it just means that they're entertaining to watch.

I'm a Spike fan and a Xander hater, myself, but I don't ignore Spike's badness or Xander's goodness. It just so happens that where I fall on my opinion of the characters depends largely on their narrative treatment, rather than their actions.

Xander has a habit of talking down to and slut shaming a lot of the female characters in the show. Buffy in particular. He weaponises his jealousy in the early seasons. He's a bad boyfriend to both of his girlfriends (puts down Cordelia consistently and cheats on her, which he is never shown to have any remorse for, and constantly talks down to Anya), and is weirdly obsessed with Buffy's sex life.

He lies to Buffy about important things (remembering the SA attempt when he was possessed, Willow trying to curse Angel again, told Buffy that 'no one said anything [to him]' about Buffy and Riley's relationship imploding when Riley had actually come to Xander with concerns that Buffy didn't love him beforehand) and is never held accountable for it.

He gets away with bespelling the whole town when he tried to use magic to get back at Cordelia when she spurned him. That it was unintentional that it affected all the women in town is irrelevant; he still attempted to take Cordelia's free will away in order to humiliate her, which is kinda evil of him, ngl. Yeah the way she treated him kinda sucked at that point, but a) the narrative treats it as such, and b) he was just as bad if not worse.

But like, he bespelled the women of the town into throwing themselves at him and at the end Buffy thanks him for not taking advantage of her??? Nuh-uh, sorry, you don't get a thank you for being a decent human being after already doing something so incredibly fucked up.

What really, really gets me in season 5 though is that he scolds Buffy for letting Riley go, even though the man just cheated on her (and in a way that was really dangerous, he could have gotten turned) and attempted to gaslight her into thinking it was her fault, and then proceeded to give her an ultimatum that she had to fix the relationship or he was gone. Buffy initially saw through his BS, but Xander was the one who convinced her that Riley was in the right??? And then lied to her that no one told him anything about the relationship not going well??? To make her feel stupid or like a bad partner or something??? Riley was the only one of Buffy's love interests that Xander approved of, and that was only because he was the epitome of Xander's masculine ideal and he could project onto him.

(Actually no one but Buffy even attempted to hold Riley accountable for any of his BS in season 5 but that's a whole other rant.)

There's more reasons I hate Xander, but they're mostly in season 6, and I won't be That Guy™ and spoil it. The point is, the narrative never, ever holds Xander accountable for any of these things. He's always framed as being in the right, or if not, then the incident is just ignored entirely. He's even occasionally rewarded for his bad behaviour, like when Cordelia publicly took him back after the aforementioned bespelling of the entire town.

He never grows in any significant way. He's still essentially the same person in season 1 as in season 7. And I hate that.

Spike on the other hand goes through a ton of changes and very rarely gets away with anything bad. I want to say 'never', but I'm not 100% confident about that and may be misremembering. Point is, given how hard it is to remember if he does get away with anything, that says something about his narrative treatment. Hell, he's punished simply for being non-human by a literal torture device inserted into his brain.

He's a problematic character, to be sure. He does a lot of fucked up and morally questionable things; no one is denying that. The stalking is... yeesh. Crush is just an entire cringefest. The bot is gross. To say nothing of the 120ish years of mass murder behind him. But he's punished for all of these things. He was wrong and the narrative treats him as such, and this will continue as the show goes on. Again, I'm not going to spoil, but Spike does some really fucked up things and his character really goes through a lot punishment and changes as a result in the later seasons.

The reasons people love him are many and varied. He's a little pathetic. He's a romantic (even if it's a twisted, fucked up kind). He has sensuality and sex appeal. He's funny. He's a great character to watch because he's so different from the main cast that it's always interesting to see what he'll do.

That's all I can really say about him without talking about seasons 6 and 7. Of course, you may despise him, and that's your prerogative. There are a lot of people who hate Spike for completely valid reasons. But no one can claim that he's boring or doesn't grow and change.

ok I’m only on season 5 but can someone explain to me how Xander is the universally hated one for, from what I can tell, some bad choices and worse jokes, while Spike, the fandom’s babygirl and beloved heartthrob, literally stalks Buffy, holds her captive, and then commissions a robot version of her when it’s made clear he’ll never have her. like someone please explain it because the math is not mathing.

[mantisgodsdomain]

In Plato's theory of epistemology, anamnesis (/ˌænæmˈniːsɪs/; Ancient Greek: ἀνάμνησις) refers to the recollection of innate knowledge acquired before birth. The concept posits the claim that learning involves the act of rediscovering knowledge from within oneself.

In other news, we are continuing to post our Febuwhump fic to AO3, finally. This one isn't even Leif's Request spoilers.