#because of his feelings of like . whats the point. these people should not care about me there is noooo point.

[strawberriesoup]

don’t come crying₊˚⊹♡

♡ genre: minho x reader, oneshot, friends to lovers, angst, fluff

♡ warnings: swearing, kissing, heartbreak

♡ wc: 2.7k

♡ a/n: HAPPY VALENTINES DAYY here’s a quick, bite-sized minho oneshot that i somehow wrote yesterday and today. it’s not proofread in any way so good luck reading (JK I HOPE YOU ENJOYY)

if you make it all the way through, please leave some feedback! i always love to hear other people’s thoughts!! your feedback is what keeps me writing stories like these <33

♡ taglist: @jisunggy @hannamoon143 @fly-you-dam-fools @chancloud8 @hannieslittlerockstar @vixensss @skzpvol @gxtwllsn @yinzgarden @kayleefriedchicken @nightmarenyxx @dwesion

if you would like to be added to my series taglist or my general taglist, send me a comment or an ask! <3

―୨♡୧―

Objectively speaking, Minho is an asshole.

Said asshole is currently sprawled over your couch, eating your cookies, and he has the nerve to berate you about who you chose to go out with on Valentine's Day? He’s insufferable.

Your eye twitches as Minho scornfully regards the picture of your date— which you had only sent him after he had nagged you nonstop for ten minutes— pointing out that his hair color didn’t quite suit him, and also that he should probably shave more often.

Having had quite enough, you snatch the phone from his grasp, earning yourself a loud “Hey!” of protest. Shutting the screen off, you toss it on the ground and cross your arms, glaring at his form on the couch next to you. If you were a jerk like Minho, you definitely would have smacked him by now. But, since you’re not, you press your mouth into a straight line and blink widely at him.

“You done?” You ask thinly.

Minho stretches before responding, whole body quivering with the effort.

“No, but I suppose I should shut up now if I want any more of those cookies,” He examines a nail with apparent disintrest.

“Good choice,” It takes everything in you to not wipe that goddamn expression off his face. He just looks so… ugh. You can’t even look at him right now. The sight of his face incites a type of rage in you that should probably be studied. “Why do you care so much anyways, huh? It’s not like your date is any better,” then you gasp, tapping the side of your head in mock remembrance, “Oh, wait, that’s right! You don’t have a date, do you?”

The roll of his eyes and curl of his lip give you your answer before he can even speak.

“That’s what I thought. Now you can shut up and eat the fucking cookie,” You snap, pushing yourself up from the couch. Minho’s voice trails after you as you storm off to your room.

“Just don’t come crying to me when he stands you up tomorrow!”

Your door slams shut before you have to hear another word from his mouth.

This is dumb. He’s a perfectly fine guy! Minho’s just being overdramatic for absolutely no reason whatsoever. Have you been wrong about guys before? Yes. Has Minho been right the majority of the time? Also yes. But that doesn’t mean he’s right this time.

You sigh dreamily just thinking about it. Just last week, he had asked you to be his valentine with a huge bouquet of crimson roses and box of chocolates. Call it childish, but you have been absolutely giddy ever since. The world seems three shades brighter, and you walk with an extra skip in your step. That is, until a certain someone had to go and open his big, opinionated, mouth.

His words circle in your mind, but you shake your head quickly to clear it. Minho’s probably just in a foul mood because you have a date and he doesn’t. Why he’s taking it out on you though is beyond you, but you try not to take it to heart too much.

You have a good feeling about this one. You just know it will go well tomorrow, and you can’t wait to rub your success in Minho’s smug face.

જ⁀➴

You have a bad feeling about this.

Your date-to-be is sitting across from you, leaning back and listening to you talk. You two had decided to touch base at a cafe before tomorrow, just to go over plans. As you are reviewing the meetup time, you swear you can sense a hint of annoyance in the curve of his lip. His knee taps up and down, as if impatient. No, that can’t be right. Minho’s words had just gotten to you, that’s all. Nevertheless, your stomach sinks a bit as your date finishes off his coffee and stands up.

“Yup, sounds good.” He tosses his empty cup in the trash, “I gotta go, but i’ll see you tomorrow,”

Without so much as a wave goodbye, you watch him head out. The door announces his departure with a pleaseant ring.

There you sit, half-finished latte in hand. He didn’t even offer to pay.

You hate to admit it, but Minho might be right. You don’t understand. What did you do wrong? Did you come off as too eager? Minho does always tell you that you’re too clingy, you guess. But it just doesn’t make sense, you had seen your date just the other day and he was all smiles, holding your hand as you walked and wrapping his jacket around your shoulders when you shivered. You must have done something wrong for him to be acting like this, there’s no other explanation. Unless he’s just had a particularly bad day.

You nod as you push out your chair and stand. That might just be it. Still, Minho’s words of warning run rampant in your mind, despite your efforts to push them to the back of your mind.

Everything will be fine, Minho’s just a hater.

જ⁀➴

Just because he’s not here yet doesn’t mean he’s not showing up.

This morning you had put on the cute little dress you had planned with a hum on your lips, a good nights sleep having managed to put some pep back into your step. When you had finished touching up your hair, you were not at all surprised to find Minho spread across your couch, watching a show and eating a bowl of cereal like he owned the place. You’re quite used to it at this point, he doesn’t know how to stay at his own house for the life of him. No words were exchanged, Minho merely glancing in your direction in greeting before returning his attention to the show.

Good. You like him better when that big mouth of his is shut.

You tap a heel nervously, the inside of your cheeks sore and raw from how much you had been chewing on them. How long has it been now? Half an hour? It might even be more, it feels like you have been standing beside this bus stop for ages. Countlesss couples had passed by, fingers intertwined as they tuck their partners hair behind their ear, or stifling giggles as whispered jokes are exchanged.

He’s not coming, is he?

Of course he’s not, you were a fool for thinking he would. Your unanswered text stares up at you, the read receipt sitting gut-droppingly below it. Hot tears prick at your eyes as you hunch your shoulders into yourself. What do you even do now? Just… go home?

Your feet move on their own, carrying you in the direction you came. When you started running, you’re not sure, but the chilly breeze stings your flushed face as you push your way through the busy sidewalk.

You pull out your phone as you run, tapping on Minho’s contact. Your blurred vision makes it nearly impossible to type a sentence. A simple, ‘you were right’ is all it reads.

Sent.

જ⁀➴

Minho had graciously not blessed you with his presence when you stumble through your front door, cheeks stained with tears and nose running. You don’t even know if he read the message, but you’re sure once he does, he’s going to be a smug little shit about it, as per usual.

It’s all you can do to not hurl yourself onto your bed and just sleep for the next three days. Maybe you’ll wake up and this will all be some bad dream.

Your disheveled appearance in the mirror stares back at you dully, assuring you that this is not a dream, and you did indeed just get stood up on Valentine's Day.

The cold of the mirror chills your hand as you lean forward on it, breaking eye contact with yourself. Your mind still can’t comprehend it. Why? Why are you always second best? Every single time you open your stitched up heart up to someone, they rip out the seams and leave you with the pieces. Frustrated tears sear behind your eyes, but you purse your lips and shove them back down. There’s no point in crying.

A single knock. Your front door opens before you can take a breath to answer it. Only one person would be so bold as to enter your place without so much as waiting for a response. The one and only, Lee fucking Minho.

You can hear him shuffling around the front door, most likely kicking off his shoes. There is absolutely no way you are going out to greet him, he’s only here to rub it in your face that he was right the whole time. And while yes, that is in fact true, it’s really the last thing you need to be hearing right now. Your fist unintentionally curls in on itself as you hear his footsteps approaching your door.

You cross from your mirror to your bed, flopping down and burying your face in the pillow. Maybe it will block out his voice when he comes in and starts yapping.

A long moment passes. You don’t hear his movements anymore. Then, softly, three knocks sound against the wood of your door.

You decidedly do not answer. He really can’t take a hint, huh?

Instead of opening the door immediately like usual, Minho waits a moment before knocking again. The knocks are just as soft and careful as before. The switch in mannerisms has your eyebrows furrowed. What’s the matter with him?

“What do you want, Minho.” Your voice is muffled, face still stuffed in the pillow.

This time, your door opens. The soft padding of his footsteps cross your room, but you don’t raise your head. You’re not sure what keeps you hidden. Embarrassment? Anger? Both? Nevertheless, you won’t be showing your face anytime soon.

The edge of your bed dips as he sits on the edge of it, not a word uttered. Yet. You tense as he takes a breath in, preparing your heart and mind for whatever he’s going to spew at you.

And yet, no such thing happens. A hand lightly sets itself on your shoulder, making you jump slightly in surprise. As he draws his hand soothingly across your back, your shoulders drop and you let out a shaky sigh.

When you finally gather the courage to look up at him, you find his gaze fixed on his lap. There, he holds a small handful of assorted wildflowers. You look from Minho, to the flowers, then back to him. Since when were his lashes this… pretty?

“It hurts, you know.”

His voice, nearly a whisper, cuts through the silence. He keeps his eyes locked on the flowers as he fiddles with one of the petals.

“Seeing you give some loser a chance,” he continues, “And you get hurt. Every. Time.” He searches your face, that little wrinkle between his eyebrows visible. “When are you going to decide you’ve had enough?”

You’re trapped in those big brown eyes of his, filled with a mixture of concern and genuine confusion. Despite his efforts to be the biggest nuisance in your life, he cares about you, even if he rarely shows it.

At your lack of response, Minho sighs and drops his hand from your shoulder, bringing it to his little bouquet of flowers. His little bouquet that suspiciously resembles the flowers planted outside of your building, along the sidewalk.

You flip over, facing the ceiling. It’s easier than facing him.

“I don’t know. I really don’t. I just… I just want to be loved, y’know? Every single time, I think: ‘this one’s different’,” You let out a rueful laugh, “guess you were right, huh, genius?” You prod him in the side with one finger.

Not even a witty retort falls from Minho’s lips. In favor of an answer, he offers to you the bunch of flowers.

You turn your head, watching as a pink petal flutters from the bouquet and lands gracefully on your sheets. Your eyes never leave his face as you reach out slowly and accept his gift.

A beat of silence falls as you bring the petals to your nose. The quiet is unusual. With Minho, the bickering is practically non-stop, a quick response always on the tip of both of your tongues. But now, only the quiet whistle of his breath fills the room.

“Is this..?” You tilt your head at him as you draw yourself into a seated position.

He blinks a couple times. You wonder if he’s ever asked anyone to be his valentine before.

“It’s- yeah.” He states simply, rolling his bottom lip between his teeth.

Minho’s demeanor is somewhat relaxed, but the way he keeps twisting his ring to the tip of his finger and back gives tell to his nervousness. His lips are pursed a bit at the corners, his little dimples making an appearance.

This is a side of him you rarely see. In fact, he’s never acted this way before. His blunt quips replaced with a type of openness that seems foreign even to himself.

You know what. Fuck it.

Grabbing his chin, you draw close to him. His eyes widen and he freezes in place. You take in his features with a squint. The angle of his brow, the fullness of his lips, that little beauty mark at the end of his nose. Instead of making your stomach twist in annoyance, his face ignites a little flame in your chest. You’ve always known Minho as an attractive man, you’d have to be blind to think otherwise, but you’ve never seen him quite in this light.

This whole time, he’s been trying to protect you. In his own, strange, Minho way.

His throat bobs as he swallows, lips parting. The sight of his bunny teeth peeking from beneath his lip is the final straw. You close the distance, capturing his lips in a swift kiss.

The moment is brief, and you pull away just as quickly as you had leaned in, his chin still grasped between your fingers.

He blinks rapidly for a couple of seconds, a habit of his you’ve picked up.

You break into a smile at his reaction, giddy at finally having the upper hand.

“You know, you could at least— oof!” Halfway through your sentence, you are interrupted by Minho’s grip on your arm as he yanks you towards him.

He catches you as you fall backwards over his lap, his arm supporting your back. You’re at a loss for words, your mouth opening and closing dumbly a couple of times. Minho lets out a huff of laughter and rolls his eyes.

“You’re actually an idiot, hope you realize that,” he observes.

“Just kiss me, you asshole,”

Grabbing the collar of his shirt, you drag him down to you. You can feel him smile against your lips as he tightens his grip around you, one hand drifting through your hair while the other holds you steady.

This. It feels right. More right than any of those other guys had made you feel, despite their fancy gifts and extravagant shows of so-called ‘love’. Maybe the reason none of them had worked out was because deep down, you truly only want one person. And that person is here, holding you between his own two arms, quenching the thirst for him that you didn’t even realize you had until you tried a sip. His lips move in harmony with yours. He’s firm, but not desperate. Gentle, but confident. Your body melts under his every touch, until you can't imagine being anywhere else but here.

He pulls away first, cheeks flushed a pretty shade of pink that matches the flowers sitting forgotten on the mattress. He quirks an eyebrow wryly at you.

“So much for not coming crying,”

Your eyes widen in disbelief, “Excuse me? I did not!”

“Did too.”

“Did not!”

“Did too.”

“You’re such an ass, Lee Minho.”

જ⁀➴

[sweetlyvibe]

𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐞’𝐬 𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬 – 𝖲𝗎𝗇𝖺 𝖱𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗈𝗎

𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗦𝗞𝗦 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗢𝗨𝗧 :

◞ 🌹 ﹒ Suna doesn’t do grand gestures. He isn’t the type to make a big deal out of things, and he certainly isn’t about to start now. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t care—it just means he’s going to act like he doesn’t while secretly overthinking everything.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ When he first started considering how to ask you out, his initial plan was to just say, “Yo. Be mine for Valentine’s?” and call it a day.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ But then he thought about how much effort you put into the things you cared about. How you always made sure your friends felt appreciated, how you noticed the little things about people. And suddenly, just saying “yo” didn’t feel like enough.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ So he started paying extra attention to you—more than usual (which is saying something, because he already watches you way more than he lets on).

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He noticed the way your fingers always lingered a little longer over certain things when you were shopping, even if you didn’t buy them. The way you always sighed about wanting to try that new dessert place but never actually went. The way you casually mentioned wanting a specific kind of perfume but then immediately said, “But whatever, it’s expensive.”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ Yeah. He filed all of that away.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ The day before Valentine’s, he casually dropped a small note into your bag during class. You didn’t even notice until hours later when you were unpacking your stuff.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ It wasn’t anything dramatic, just a folded piece of paper with a single sentence scrawled in his lazy handwriting:

You’re mine on Valentine’s. Don’t be late.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ No explanation. No meeting place. No time. Just that.

𝗪𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗛𝗘 𝗣𝗥𝗘𝗣𝗔𝗥𝗘𝗗 :

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He wanted the date to feel low-effort while secretly putting a ridiculous amount of effort into it.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ First, he picked up that perfume you liked, because even if you said it was whatever, he knew you actually wanted it.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ Then, he reserved a table at that dessert place you kept talking about. He acted like it was no big deal, but this place had a waitlist. He somehow got in. Don’t ask how.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He also bought you something small—something he knew you wouldn’t expect. When he saw that limited-edition keychain of your favorite character, he grabbed it immediately, even though he rolled his eyes at himself afterward. What am I, a simp?

◞ 🌹 ﹒ ( Yes. Yes, he is. But he’ll never admit it. )

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He wasn’t nervous about the date itself. He was nervous about making sure you felt how much he cared—without him having to actually say it out loud.

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘 𝗜𝗧𝗦𝗘𝗟𝗙 :

◞ 🌹 ﹒ Suna was already at the meeting spot when you arrived, leaning against a wall with his hands in his pockets, looking effortlessly cool like this was just another normal day.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Took you long enough,” he muttered when he saw you, but the small smirk on his lips gave him away.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He refused to tell you where you were going, just leading you down the street with his usual lazy pace. “You’ll see,” was all he said when you asked.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ When you finally arrived at the dessert place, your eyes widened. You had been talking about coming here for weeks, but you never actually got around to it.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ You glanced at him suspiciously. “Did you—?”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Tch. Don’t make a big deal out of it,” he muttered, looking away. Embarrassed? Maybe. Cute? Definitely.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ The two of you spent the next hour taste-testing different desserts, with Suna making dry, sarcastic comments about the over-the-top presentation.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Why does this cake look like modern art? I feel like I should be analyzing its deeper meaning instead of eating it.”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “That macaron is the size of a coin. It costs how much?”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ Despite all his complaining, he still ordered extra for you and acted like it was totally for himself.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ At one point, when you got a bit of whipped cream on your lip, he reached out and wiped it away with his thumb, completely unbothered.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “What?” he said, noticing your stunned expression. “You looked stupid with it there.”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ After dessert, the two of you walked around for a while, the cool evening air making the moment feel a little more surreal. He wasn’t rushing anything, just walking at his own pace, completely at ease beside you.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Hold this,” he said at one point, shoving a small bag into your hands.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ You blinked, looking inside—and froze.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ It was the perfume. The one you had offhandedly mentioned but never expected to own.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Rin,” you started, but he cut you off with a lazy shrug.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “It was on sale,” he lied. (It was not on sale. He paid full price.)

◞ 🌹 ﹒ That’s when you noticed something else in the bag—a small keychain. Your favorite character. The one that had sold out weeks ago.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ You looked up at him, your chest feeling weirdly warm. “…You’re lying.”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He sighed dramatically. “So ungrateful. Should’ve kept the receipt.”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ But when you reached out and slipped your fingers into his, lacing them together without saying anything, he went completely still.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ For a second, he just stared at your joined hands, his face unreadable. And then, finally, he let out a small, barely-there chuckle, giving your hand a light squeeze.

◞ 🌹 ﹒ “Guess that means I did okay, huh?”

◞ 🌹 ﹒ He didn’t let go for the rest of the night.

[oceansoul001]

After 170 hours I've finished Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and I cannot even start to describe this emptiness I'm feeling now, knowing that there is no more of this great story waiting for me to experience (at least for now). What a wild ride it was and what a surprisingly amazing game, with all the twists and turns of the plot, all the memorable characters that I deeply cared about and rooted for, all the emotions of Henry's journey and all the thoughts about war, revenge, duty, and finally making peace with the past and moving on. The emotional spectrum of the game is astounding - it can so flawlessly switch between being extremely funny or delightfully absurd to being heartbreaking or devastating in the heaviest moments. But as the game’s content is so dense and rich, that writing down all my thoughts would require a whole book, or at least a dissertation, I would like to specifically touch upon one, nomen omen touchy subject. The Henry-Hans romance.

I'm not sure if it is possible yet, but I would also like to skip over all the controversy-driven discussions regarding this romantic subplot, clearly lead in bad faith and mostly by people not even engaging with the game, and be able to talk about this topic and analyze it as it is, without questioning its right to even exist in the game. Why do I focus on this quite small and optional aspect of the game at all? Well, I’m not gonna lie – I always find the RPGs with possible romances more engaging and captivating, as love – as a general emotion, with different shades of it – is in my eyes one of the crucial aspect of any hero. So if we are already talking about the love towards parents or other family members, patriotic love for your country, or king, platonic love between friends and comrades, and then all of a sudden omit only the romantic love, something is not adding up for me. If you want to give me a rich RPG experience, give me at least one good romance option, and I’m sold. But it is not easy at all, especially the “good” part.

But as KCD2 is a very unique game when it comes to its different aspects – like the demanding, slow-paced gameplay, or the unique blend of open-world with more contained main plot missions – it is also very unique when it comes to the romance options, or, let me say it aloud – when it comes to THE main romance option, the most integral romance option, the most naturally developing romance option in the game. The Henry-Hans (optional) romance that we can observe growing very slowly throughout this 100+ hours, is for me one of the best and most meaningful depictions of love in any RPG with player's agency. This relation, even if you opt out of romance, simply has it all - is intertwined with the plot, is rooted in character development and has the possibility to depict characters together during many different situations throughout the whole game. And this is how a good romanceable character should be written in a video game – as an independent character first and foremost, NOT as a character that was created with a sole purpose to serve as said romance option. In this case Hans ALWAYS plays a meaningful part in the story, and ALWAYS shares an important bond with your Henry, regardless of player's decision whether to engage with the romance or not. But many other games seem to forget about that, or don’t manage to create the bond between characters first, before the option to romance them appears.

And then comes the hard to describe aspect of THE FEELS. The slow development of this relation, the steady growth of feelings, up to the point, when you cannot deny it any longer, and when you cannot allow yourself to not act upon them - because of the circumstances, because of this sense of impending doom, that makes all the risks worth taking, as any of you might anyway be dead the next day. Audentes Fortuna Iuvat, remember? The risk that Hans takes in the decisive moment of this relation is THE epitome of his saying, and I don’t believe it is a coincidence when it suits so perfectly to the whole theme of the game and to Hans as a character in general. And this bold risk taking is so gut-clenching and heartbreaking, but also heartwarming in this one stolen moment of happiness that seems unreal. Say what you want, but you simply cannot tell this kind of story, invoke this kind of feelings - without first having two equally developed characters, that the player equally cares for and have cared for before any romance possibility was on the horizon. Add to the mix very real external hardships (all good romances need a hardship to overcome!), that due to the time and place make this relation tragically doomed before it even has begun, and there you have it - one of the most compelling romantic stories I have experienced in a video game, hands down.

And please don’t start with medieval this, medieval that, before you stop and think about greatest medieval love stories (that we know of) – these are always stories of impossible love, of doomed love, of forbidden love. Of two people, that cannot and should not be together because of the class they belong to, because of the promises made, because of duty, because of sin and religion dogma. Don’t tell me you cannot see the comparison between Henry and Hans, and, say, Tristan and Isolde, THE number one medieval chivalric romance couple, where they commit sin against God and betray their King at the same time, every time they are together. Don’t tell me that Henry, who clearly aspires to all the ideals that we associate with knighthood – chivalry, protection of the weak, devotion to land and rightful king, and generally noble idealism, let’s call it – is not the perfect hero of chivalric romance, with Hans being of course his damsel-princess, way above his league, already promised to another and soon to be in a loveless, political marriage, spending parts of the game either captured in some tower or stuck in some castle, having to wait for his knight to safely return to him. It is all there, I am sure not accidentally, and it fits all the themes and motifs known from both actual medieval literature and their pop culture representation SO WELL if you think about it for a second.

And there's one more component that elevates this particular relation to S-tier for me. You can have superb writing, you can direct the most impressive cutscene, you can have the build-up ready - all of these won't matter and won't work if the actors don't sell you the romantic feelings in the key moment. Which I assume is not easy, when for the most part you play other aspects of these characters and probably were not cast with this specific plot point in mind. But here comes Luke Dale, showing us the side of Hans Capon that we have not seen before, with the most heart-wrenching expression of his fears, with voice breaking at the exactly right moment, the trembling, the anger, the despair, but also the tiniest bit of hope - and in just two broken sentences he conveys it all, and it's all so bloody real. It's a masterwork, and I'm so happy that I could witness it in game, even more - become part of this relationship as the playable character himself.

I sincerely hope that the end of the main game is not the end of this subplot, as there is still so, so, so much more to explore with these characters in these circumstances. And their relation is so unique, comparing to popular fiction in general, but even more so in video games, that it would be a great loss to just leave them be as they are at the end of the game. I cannot wait for the possibility to go through more emotional turmoil with Henry and Hans, probably because I cannot even remember when was the last time I’ve fallen in love with fictional characters so much and so fast, as with these two. And as already said, love is the key. 

[yimpysdiner]

Ridiculously long analysis of Jimmy's dialogue (PART 2)

PART 1 HERE Continuing with the next section,

Mimicking?

The whole ordeal of Jimmy copying Curly's "yeah?" in speech has already been pointed out, but there's something else I wanted to look into. This section is gonna be relatively short but this interaction still sticks with me. It's fairly easy to miss as you can brush it off but given Jimmy often repeats words or phrases from those around him I find it interesting.

This interaction was so awkward that it has me thinking about it over and over so honestly this may be one big nothing burger and more so headcanon territory but hear me out.

Jimmy gets quiet here as either 1, he expects them all to die on that ship as he said before crashing it or 2, he's terrified of any sort of attention their whole ordeal may get if they survive. The awkward silence is only filled by him commenting on ladies. Daisuke is no stranger to talking about "beach babes" and as Swansea puts it, "thinking with his downstairs long-nose." Honestly, Jimmy is a scumbag and gross around women, but I don't think this is the sort of situation where he cares to be impressing any ladies. This reads to me as him trying to "fit in" with Daisuke in a way. The way he often mimics people and says things they'd relate to defuse situations and get on their good sides feels like a form of masking. I'm no professional, no idea what in specific this would be, but Jimmy strikes me as the kind of guy who finds it really difficult to positively navigate a lot of social situations, especially if he feels uneasy like he was here. This parts super rambly sorry, this is just something interesting about him to me, how he'll latch on to other people's personality traits and mirror them.

Lashing out

We all already know Jimmy's not a very stable guy, very small things irritate him, he has levels to his anger however.

His base line irritation is just little remarks like this, things that you would scratch your head at but they're small so you can't quite bring them up. It's not completely aggressive, but it's definitely not very friendly either

I won't shove all the same screenshots of him lashing out during the birthday party here, but there he only lashes out in front of everyone else when he's able to make it seem like he's in the right. He insults everyone to their faces, but he's able to pin all the blame on Curly, letting out his anger while also in some sort of way getting people on his "side." Here he's *already* sewing seeds of doubt about Curly into the other's mind, so his little plan to blame Curly for the crash later on only works out all the more in his favor.

Then there's moments like when he's giving Curly his pills. He isn't exactly yelling, more so going on with his angry, paranoid rambles. This of course is followed by the implication he beats Curly while feeding him his painkillers, physically taking out his anger on someone who can't fight back. Side note, the only times he ever gets physical is when they're in a position of being unable to fight back (drugging Swansea, the implied drugging of Anya, and of course when Curly is left defenseless.)

I believe this is the first instance of Jimmy actually full on yelling while having one of his tantrums, which is why I say his anger is written in levels. It's not all one flat base of him cussing like a sailor and screaming his head off, remembering this and *what* exactly makes him tick helps me when deciding how I should write him reacting to certain situations. There's other instances where he's clearly panicked and flustered, stuttering and rambling because of high stress situations such as when Daisuke is on the brink of death and it's all his fault, which we'll get to later.

Hopelessness

Something I noticed when going back through everything is Jimmy seems completely and utterly hopeless about everything in his life. It starts out in the cockpit scene, one of the very few times he's genuinely vulnerable.

This line initially just seems like Jimmy is some power tripping guy who likes being the right hand man to the Captain, which is entirely possible (and true, given how quick he is to assume the Captains role himself), but it leads me to suspect something else as well.

These are out of order, but I think like this is better demonstrates Jimmy has never really felt the sense of control over his life like he has until he got this gig with Curly. He feels comfortable like this, which is why Curly wanting to "throw it all away" in his eyes baffles him. I really wish the devs gave some insight to what Jimmy's life on Earth was, why *he* ran from it all to assume a position where he felt he was finally in the drivers seat.

When Jimmy is faced with the reality of what he's done, his first worry is when he gets back home, he'll be caged in the same position he was, back at square one with no control over his life, rotting in a prison. Even if he did get out, as he said, none of it will matter, not with an assault on his permanent record. Maybe he held onto hope that he and Curly would find something new to do, but because he made the choice to force himself on Anya, that'll never happen. His knee jerk reaction to that? Kill himself. Kill himself and take everyone down with him, because if he's not in control, he may as well be dead. "The Tulpar crew was never found."

Remorse

Jimmy isn't entirely uncaring for what he's done. He suffers delusions for each and every one of the people he fucked over, all except Anya. Instead, he sees visions of the child he created, the ever looming reminder of what he did, no matter how hard he tried to block out Anya from his mind, it will always, always haunt him. Him crying to Curly and pleading forgiveness from someone who can't properly give it to him anymore is already a sort of in your face scene, that and the scenes with the horse delusions.

I want to talk about Daisuke and Swansea actually, as he had a much more direct role in their ends. In his mind he can say, oh, Curly ran in and did that to himself, oh, Anya swallowed those pills and did that to herself. It's Daisuke and Swansea who show up more broadly as themselves in his delusions as he was the sole reason for their passing. As Daisuke is dying, he is incredibly distressed the entire time.

Daisuke being so prominent in his mind has always struck me as interesting, seeing him in the vent, a grave, in the graveyard, all the flowers, the real genuine panic when trying to fix what he did. He never wanted him to die, he obviously feels immense guilt in making him crawl through that vent.

As for Swansea, Swansea can read him like a book, and he lets Jimmy know exactly what he thinks of him before he's shot and killed. He appears in the graveyard with Jimmy, also leaving a lasting impact on Jimmy's psyche.

To say Jimmy feels nothing over what he's done, or that he wouldn't care about people dying or anything like that is wrong on so many levels when the entire last half of the game focuses on him having to literally fight his own demons. It all culminates into him saying he fixed everything, deluding himself into being a hero as some sort of final comfort to his broken mind before he offs himself, "saving" Curly after dismembering him as if that makes up for all his wrongdoings. Jimmy is so layered and interesting and human, and that's what makes him a fantastically written character. It's what allows you to see yourself in him and reflect, see those insecurities he harbors, those toxic traits he exhibits, every little ugly part of him meant to be a mirror to your own actions. Denying him his humanity and making him an emotionless, aggressive, constantly angry person strips him of everything he's meant to be.

Sorry for the huuuuge yapsesh, but I thought going over these would be fun, it also helps me keep my characterization of him as accurate as I can possibly make it. If you have any thoughts let me know!!! I am very very invested in him and I love to hear what others think of him, even if I may agree or disagree.

[butterfly--empress]

And Another Thing...

Because actually, the more I think about it, the more it just pisses me off...

If The main writer wanted this to just be a simple formulaic "magical girl powa" kids show that sells merch. With no overarching story plot.

MLB could've just simply BEEN that. A cutesy Sailor Moon inspired story!

MLB could've just BEEN an all female superhero team with Marinette as leader, Alya second in command, and Chloe and/or Kagami being her love rivals/friends for Adrien's affections.

And Adrien could literally just BE THE DAMN LUKEWARM LOVE INTEREST that she wins in the end. Because the Deuteragonist of this show, sure as shit ain't been him since at least S4, let's be so for real.

Nothing against Alya, I love her, but girlfriend has overshadowed what used to be Adrien's role.

But in this version of MLB, being an all girl team of superheroes with a secret identity. Marinette's absurd 'whacky' antics in this show could easily be ignored/deflected/handwaved away, if we never knew much about Adrien outside of him being a popular, good looking rich kid, whom Marinette crushes on and daydreams about often.

And TA doesn't have to twist himself into a pretzel to defend his poor writing choices, when the only POV that matters is Marinette's.

There would be no need for the lore, or vaguely changing it when he feels like it. Or worrying about the unnecessary drama of the whole 'they can't know each others identities' main plot that has all become meaningless.

The original main plot of the whole secret identities for romantic drama and the reason many of us were drawn to this show to BEGIN WITH, is moot when the writer constantly refuses to do ANYTHING with the setup he writes for himself.

He won't let none of his characters have any real development and growth and only seems to care about ONE-HALF of the original two man team.

And I'm over it. 4 episodes and a lame ass Special that literally excuses the main heroine's reasons for LYING to her One True Love has shown me this show is NOT interested in doing anything beyond what it's given.

All of us invested or holding your breath for any real progress with the romantic/main subplot are going to be waiting for naught.

I was already convinced but now I'm certain:

There will never be a big reveal. And if there is one, it'll be purposely left to the VERY end of the series. And it won't even be satisfying.

Nothing will EVER be done with the Lie. Why should it? Marinette finally has the boy she wants, and even if it ever got addressed, the writer would handle it in the most contrived way possible that somehow excuses Marinette's decision anyway.

How much you wanna bet, he'll just end up retconning his own story to SOMEHOW scapegoat Marinette's bullshit to be Lila's fault?

Or Chloe's? Because even when she's not around, not in the same school, city, or even country, the writer STILL finds a way to hate on Chloe.

No...wait even better! Adrien finally finds out and to avoid allowing Marinette to own up to her fucking mistake/betrayal of trust, she decides to 'sacrifice' her memories and being Ladybug...and oh my fucking god.

......This is why TA had Marinette entrust Alya as the new leader isn't it? He thinks he's so goddamn clever!

Marinette's gonna fuck up big time in this season and then get temporary or semi-permanent amnesia to forget EVERYTHING to avoid owning up to her mistakes?

And instead of people seeing the manipulative writing to handwave away how she's been very selfish and self-centered, and her need to control everything. People are going to praise TA for believing or redeeming her bad decisions/behavior on how much she was finally willing to 'sacrifice' herself for a change for Adrien.

*groans*....god this sounds even worse.

You know what, this post had a point and I spiraled again.

Oh yeah...MLB should've just been another inspired typical 5 teamed magical girl knock off because hoping the writer does anything worthwhile with his Deuteragonist, is just waiting for Levithan to reveal itself from the deep, dank, ocean depths, and in this timeline the world's in rn, that's actually more plausible than hoping for meaningful character arcs after 6 seasons of MLB...

[invisible-lint]

Fixing Spring: Chapter 2

Tamlin x Reader

Summary: Tamlin works on his apology skills

Warnings: none

Word Count: 1k

Chapter 1

You lounge in the chair, sipping from your glass to hide your grimace. The physical work you and Tamlin had filled your days with has been easy compared to this. It turns out he is truly terrible at apologizing. 

"Tamlin. For the last time stop explaining yourself. An apology isn't supposed to be about you. It's about how what you did impacted the other person." 

"I really think the motivation behind the action is important. I-" he's cut off by the apple you throw at him, hitting him square in the chest. He's stopped growling at you when you throw things at him, but still glares.

"I'm sorry I threw that apple at you. I'm growing tired of hearing you say the word motivation. It almost certainly will happen again, because somehow despite having a small army of older brothers, you manage to be more annoying than all of them. Do you think that is an effective apology? Do you feel better?"

He crosses his arms, glowering at you, but there isn't much heat behind it. 

"I suppose I can see your point." 

You smile sweetly, settling back into your chair. "I thought you might. And don't forget that you decided to arm me with the bowl of apples." 

"You asked me to pass it over to you!" 

"I can always find a spray bottle instead."

"I'm not a poorly behaved dog!"

"I'm not sure you want me to comment on that." 

He does growl at you then, patience wearing thin.

You sigh, expression growing soft. 

"Tam, I'm hard on you because I know you're better than this. I know you are more than capable." You throw another apple, grinning when he catches it. "And like it or not, it's either help you get your shit together or hope the male I unfortunately call a father doesn't decide the Autumn court should be bigger. Which neither of us want."

"Because you like me or because you hate your father?" 

"A healthy mix of both. Now try it again. Lucien is going to be here at the end of the week. I'm sure you can have a passable apology by then." 

You watch Tamlin as he takes a bite out of the apple, leaning against the desk next to your chair. He opens his mouth, about to practice his apology again, but hesitates, mouth quirking down into a frown.

"What is it?" 

"I don't deserve anyone's forgiveness. I'll still apologize to Lucien, he deserves as much. But when... if he chooses to forgive me, it is more than I deserve." 

You take his free hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We've talked about the self loathing."

He shakes his head. "This isn't self loathing. I'm reflecting, like you said I should. I was so terrible to Lucien. And to you. I sent Feyre away, knowing the fate I was dooming us all to. And then afterwards... I was so focused on trying to protect her, trying to find a way to break the bargain, that I drove myself halfway to madness with the fear of losing her. And then I did anyway, not in spite of what I was trying to do, but because of it. I have done everything so wrong, and hurt the people I care about most. Including you. And there are no words I can say that will change it or fix what I have done. I am so sorry, but that doesn't feel like enough." 

"No," you agree. "But it's a start. We can't change the past, but we can learn from it and try to grow so we don't make the same mistakes again." 

Tamlin nods, carefully nudging your chin up with the back of his hand so that he can look into your eyes, sincerity shining in his eyes. The tenderness of the gesture has your breath catching in your throat. 

"I owe you an apology too. I promised refuge when you left your home. And I failed to provide it. I hurt you with the choices I made, and I didn't listen when you tried talking sense into me. I am so sorry.  I do not deserve the kindness or help you have given me, but am so incredibly grateful for it. There is nothing I can do that will truly make up for what I have done, for what a terrible friend I have been to you, but I will spend the rest of my life trying.”

You ignore the way your heart twists when he says friend, shoving it away to unpack later, a small smile forming on your lips.

“See, I knew you could do it. That was a pretty good apology.”

“I meant every word of it.”

“I know. And I accept your apology. Although I do think there's one more thing you should apologize to me for. I was so right about Ianthe.” 

He breathes out a small laugh, relieved that that's what it was. “You were right. I should have listened to you.” 

“Oh, that's even better than getting an apology. I don't think any of my brothers have told me I'm right, despite how often I am. Lucien may be your best friend, but I am your best advice friend.” 

He chuckles, ignoring the way his heart twists in his chest when you refer to yourself as his friend. Now is not the time to think about that, there's so much to do still, he’ll have time to think about it later. You're tugged up suddenly, pulled into a hug. You lean into the embrace, wrapping your arms around him, glad that he can't see the look of surprise splashed across your face from this angle. 

“I've never appreciated you enough. And I should have. What would I do without you?” 

“Probably wander Spring as a smelly beast for the rest of your life.”

He laughs fully, and the sound has you smiling into his shoulder. “It can't have been that bad.”

You pull your face away from his shoulder looking at him with mock sincerity. “Tamlin, that was the worst smell I have ever smelled. And I grew up with seven older brothers.” 

He laughs again, smiling at you fondly, an emotion you can't name in his eyes. You untangle yourself from his arms, taking a step back as you realize you'd do anything to have him keep looking at you that way. The thought startles you, and you realize something truly terrible; you're still in love with him. 

A/N: It's been a hot sec! I'm hoping to get back into posting more regularly, like 1 or 2 fics a week! I tagged people who requested to be tagged way back when I posted the first chapter, feel free to lmk if you no longer wish to be tagged in future parts!

@mirandasidefics @makershoe @lilah-asteria @rcarbo1

[almacambiondaughterofsaleos]

This Defense Of Stolas Is Just So Laughable

Critical Crusher Bot, the anti anti helluva boss fan, is at it again with his braindead two cents on how to defend Stolas and it's a doozy. The main points that Stolas is getting back his autotomy, male abuse victims should be taken seriously, he's a victim not a villain, lack of nuance, bashing so-called gotcha culture, trying to invoke there is no moral correctness, and that it's a survival story, and he owes Stella nothing for cheating on her.

First thing first is that the autonomy thing is bs and hypocritical when Stolas himself violates Blitzo's autonomy by forcing him into the full moon agreement and sexually abusing. Seriously, this series and his defenders wants you to think Stolas is a brave victim of abuse standing up for himself against his abuser, while trapping a lower class demon into a sexually exploitative relationship. That's pure tone deaf bs. He's not a victim he's an even worse abuser than Stella because unlike him she never sexually abused him and most of all she didn't try to make herself out as the victim when called out for her actions. And none of this pos fans actually took Blitzo as an abuse victim seriously and brushed it off as he could have just said no at any time, but we know that Stolas had all the power but they don't want to admit it.

Also yes Stolas was the villain because you don't sexually exploit someone and expect to be seen as the bad guy. The only reason why he's seen as the "good guy" is because the narrative wants to. And that goes into the bs of nuance and no moral correctness. Because there is no nuance, because it refuses to see things through Stella's way and just make Stolas the pure woobie abused by her while she's demonized as the most evil thing ever. Also that no moral correctness is also bs because that's a cop out to say we don't want to think about how what a pos Stolas can be and people have a right to call him out. Just because someone is designated a victim doesn't mean they are absolved of horrible things they do especially if they are an abuser themself.

Also this ain't no survival story. Stolas always had the power to leave he just did out of some misguided savior complex to give his daughter proper family when in reality she was exposing her to a toxic environment that could go off at any time. He could have left it years ago and have nothing to do with her. But again this pos just put all of this on himself because he's a sucker for punishment. Calling Stolas a survival story is an insult to real survivors of abuse who had all the stacks against them and little support. Also Stolas destroyed that family life out of selfishness and now wants to look like the victim for destroying his daughter's life while his defenders overlook that.

And that's the other part, these people say we are looking for gotchas, but that's it we are looking at the fact that Stolas is presented as something in narrative when in execution he comes off as something else. He comes across as a horrible person uses every excuse he can to absolve himself of any wrongdoing to the point that even when you point out the hypocrisy people will pull up another one. That's the real gotcha which is nothing is ever his fault and you should feel shame for bringing it up.

Also just because you feel he has no obligation to his wife he does have an obligation to his daughter and he destroyed it completely by cheating on her mother. And don't use the abuse card, because he as said before could have just divorced her easily but instead became a cheating prick who sexually abused a lower class demon to feel any sort of happiness. He even multiple times chose being with Blitzo with her three times. You can't even tell me that he cares about Octavia and then says he doesn't owe anything to Stella. He really at heart is just a selfish pos who only cares about what he wants and no one else not even the person he says he loves. Because when he's around Blitzo all he does is take from him rather than give. It's a parasitic relationship that's deceptively depicted as a healing, complex relationship when in reality it's toxic as hell, but the narrative and fandom don't want to admit it. If they actually can't state the obvious morals about Stolas their support for this show crumbles and they have to question what this series actually stands for by condoning such a depiscable character.

[atopvisenyashill]

I'm not debating dark!Dany, because I think there's a lot of things that point towards that as well as a lot of things that don't, so I could easily see it going either way at this point. But I don't understand people characterizing Dany killing Mirri Maz Duur as "she burned her slave to death" because that had zero bearing on the situation? She doesn't burn her because she's a slave, she burns her for murdering her son, and if any other character had murdered her son, it seems pretty obvious that she would react the exact same way. And personally, that's a fully understandable and reasonable reaction to someone killing your child.

I've been seeing this characterization a lot recently, and you're someone who's takes I really enjoy, so I wanted to ask you why you specifically see it that way because it's a very confusing viewpoint to me.

A boy came, younger than Dany, slight and scarred, dressed up in a frayed grey tokar trailing silver fringe. His voice broke when he told of how two of his father's household slaves had risen up the night the gate broke. One had slain his father, the other his elder brother. Both had raped his mother before killing her as well. The boy had escaped with no more than the scar upon his face, but one of the murderers was still living in his father's house, and the other had joined the queen's soldiers as one of the Mother's Men. He wanted them both hanged.

I am queen over a city built on dust and death. Dany had no choice but to deny him. She had declared a blanket pardon for all crimes committed during the sack. Nor would she punish slaves for rising up against their masters.

“mirri killed her son” is devoid of the context that mirri is a slave though. that boy in the above text is a child, younger than dany. the slaves are adults, like Mirri. and like Mirri, in their anger, when given the option to harm someone who enslaved them, they chose harm, and they killed his family. if you were to describe it out of context “he doesn’t hate them because they are slaves he hates them because they murdered his family and raped his mom” it sounds awful. but when you factor in the power dynamic at hand it suddenly becomes uncomfortable and much more complex as a situation.

mirri, just like those slaves, is only in this situation because she is a slave. dany has the power to order her burned because she is a master. it’s absolutely relevent to the situation because the only reason this situation exists is because dany owns slaves and mirri is one of the slaves she owns.

let's take a comparison here - jon isn't a classist prick to pyp, grenn, small paul, and all the other boys, they're bullying him. that sounds like a wild thing to say but it's not wrong. they are bullying him, they are making fun of him because he is a bastard who should "know his place" underneath the people like alliser thorne and they enable alliser's behavior towards him with the repeated use of the "lord snow" nickname. but as tyrion points out the bullying is not devoid of context - in fact the context is more important because it explains the aggressive behavior. in reality, pyp, grenn, and small paul don't really care that much about jon being a bastard, they just don't like being made to feel like they're idiots and jon's prickly behavior does just that. it doesnt really matter that jon is being prickly because thorne is purposefully antagonizing him over being a bastard because ultimately, what the boys see is jon's class status and an attitude that strikes them as arrogant. the moment he starts using his prickliness in defense of them rather than against them, that trio becomes his devoted friends - and while people like chett and thorne really do care about the fact that jon is a bastard, as we see in chett's prologue chapter, chett is also very bothered by the fact that sam is immensely privileged and can read better because of it. is it sam's fault that he was born privileged? no. and yet his privilege results in a loss of station for chett and it leads chett down an abysmal and dark path. yes chett is responsible for his own decisions. but you cannot divorce chett's bitterness from the fact that he is lowborn and sam is highborn. it's not about "well chett is mean" it's about one person having immense privilege and one person being born in the dirt. it's not about "well dany would have killed mirri even if she wasn't a slave" it's about how dany was born with a fancy last name and mirri is raped repeatedly and watches everything she has built be destroyed directly because of something dany wants to do.

beyond that. i think that rhaego’s death is actually much more complicated than a cut and dry “mirri murdered dany’s son so dany burned her alive.” mirri does not act maliciously towards dany until after everything is said and done - because she does not have ill intent. no she isn’t selflessly helping dany. rather she is hoping to alleviate the humiliation and danger with being a slave by making herself useful. this meta here is a good breakdown of the entire situation from mirri's pov but look at what mirri is doing and saying, what she's actually doing, and not just dany's confused thoughts.

One of them, a thick-bodied, flat-nosed woman of forty years, blessed Dany haltingly in the Common Tongue, but from the others she got only flat black stares. They were suspicious of her, she realized with sadness; afraid that she had saved them for some worse fate.

“Silver Lady,” a woman’s voice said behind her, “I can help the Great Rider with his hurts. " Dany turned her head. The speaker was one of the slaves she had claimed, the heavy, flat-nosed woman who had blessed her.

Mirri Maz Duur studied Drogo, her face still and dead. "The wound has festered."

Mirri Maz Duur came with her, eyes heavy from sleep. “Drink,” she said, lifting Dany’s head to the cup once more, but this time it was only wine. Sweet, sweet wine. Dany drank, and lay back, listening to the soft sound of her own breathing. She could feel the heaviness in her limbs, as sleep crept in to fill her up once more. “Bring me …” she murmured, her voice slurred and drowsy. “Bring … I want to hold …” “Yes?” the maegi asked. “What is it you wish, Khaleesi?”

“You knew,” Dany said when they were gone. She ached, inside and out, but her fury gave her strength. “You knew what I was buying, and you knew the price, and yet you let me pay it.” “It was wrong of them to burn my temple,” the heavy, flat-nosed woman said placidly. “That angered the Great Shepherd.”

“It is not enough to kill a horse,” she told Dany. “By itself, the blood is nothing. You do not have the words to make a spell, nor the wisdom to find them. Do you think bloodmagic is a game for children? You call me maegias if it were a curse, but all it means is wise. You are a child, with a child’s ignorance. Whatever you mean to do, it will not work. Loose me from these bonds and I will help you.”

i don’t think she poisoned drogo. i think she attempted to help him to appease dany, because she doesn't want to be resold, & drogo doesn’t follow her directions. i think she’s actually very upset as it starts to sink in that drogo, to steal a tyrion line, is not just vicious he’s a vicious idiot.

and then dany asks her to do some pretty serious and dangerous magic. mirri gives dany very clear instructions.

“The time for that is past, my lady,” Mirri said. “All I can do now is ease the dark road before him, so he might ride painless to the night lands. He will be gone by morning.” Her words were a knife through Dany’s breast. What had she ever done to make the gods so cruel? She had finally found a safe place, had finally tasted love and hope. She was finally going home. And now to lose it all … “No,” she pleaded. “Save him, and I will free you, I swear it. You must know a way … some magic, some …”

Mirri Maz Duur sat back on her heels and studied Daenerys through eyes as black as night. “There is a spell.” Her voice was quiet, scarcely more than a whisper. “But it is hard, lady, and dark. Some would say that death is cleaner. I learned the way in Asshai, and paid dear for the lesson. My teacher was a bloodmage from the Shadow Lands.” “You must. Once I begin to sing, no one must enter this tent. My song will wake powers old and dark. The dead will dance here this night. No living man must look on them.”

jorah does not listen.

dany is right, mirri is trying to teach her but while mirri certainly sets a trap and knows very well if it goes off people are going to die, i think framing her as an evil conniving witch who got killed ONLY because she is partially responsible for rhaego’s death, completely ignores mirri’s frame of mind and the precarious situation she is forced into by dany herself. she is a slave. she is dany's slave. you cannot divorce that from what dany does to her or what she does to dany.

[oopsiedaisydeer]

ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀʏ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ ʟᴏᴠᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱʜᴏʀᴇ

…𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩!𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦'𝘴 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘣𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘢!𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵

monday

Goldie’s question catches Matt off guard, but it’s not the first time she’s asked him something like this. They’re sitting at their usual spot by the pier, the air tinged with salt and cool wind. Goldie’s sipping her tea, her focus more on the steam than on him, but when she asks, “What’s Valentine’s Day?” Matt looks up, blinking.

“Uh… it’s this holiday,” he stammers. “Where people give each other cards and gifts and such. Mostly about love, I guess?”

Goldie looks at him, intrigued. “But is it just for couples?”

He shrugs, unsure of what to say. “Not really. People give cards to friends sometimes too, or, like, family. I think it’s just about showing you care.”

Goldie thinks about that for a moment, her fingers tapping against the side of her cup. “Sounds nice, I guess. Do you... have you ever done anything for it?”

Matt glances at her, a little unsure. “I don’t know. I usually just... keep to myself, I guess? I gave a valentine to a crush I think when I was younger.”

She laughs softly, a little too loudly, but it feels comfortable. “That’s cute.”

Goldie watches the way his ears turn red, smiling to herself. She wonders if anyone has ever given him one. She wonders if he’d want one.

Matt watches her smile, small but warm, and something about it makes his chest feel too tight. He looks away, kicking at a loose stone.

Then, almost as an afterthought, he adds, “Sometimes people ask each other to be their Valentine, too. If they like each other.”

Goldie stills. “Oh,” she says, like that changes everything.

tuesday

Goldie is thinking about Valentine’s Day more than she wants to admit. Not because she expects anything in particular, but because it’s a nice thought. A whole day dedicated to showing love. She imagines the kinds of things people must do. Flowers, handwritten letters, sweet little gestures.

She wonders again if Matt has ever been someone’s Valentine.

When they sit by the water later, watching the ships dock, she lets herself daydream. Maybe she should write him a card, just because that’s how the day works. Maybe Matt will show up with something small too, or just say something different than usual. She observes the way his fingers drum absently on his knee, the way his eyebrows scrunch under the gaze of the sun.

It would be nice to receive a Valentine. It doesn’t have to mean anything. 

But the thought lingers, warm and hopeful.

Matt catches her staring at him at one point, mid-sentence. “What?”

Goldie blinks, feeling caught. “Nothing. Just thinking.”

He raises a brow but doesn’t push it.

Later when they’re walking home, Goldie walks alongside Matt, her mind buzzing with thoughts of this friday. The sun hangs lazily in the sky, casting a golden glow over everything, and she couldn’t help but wonder aloud, her voice soft and faraway.

“Do you think... love is supposed to be like in the movies? Like when they say someone’s the one?” she mused, her gaze drifting upward, imagining some far-off scene. “I wonder if people really feel like that. I mean, imagine someone just... knowing you, all the little things, like what tea you like or how you prefer your eggs.”

She smiled to herself, lost in the idea of it. “And then… just knowing everything about you... like, even your dreams. I guess it’s silly, though, right?”

Matt glanced at her, tilting his head in thought, but Goldie was too absorbed in her own ponderings to notice. She kept walking, her feet barely touching the ground as her mind floated in whimsical fantasy.

She’d only just learned about Valentine’s Day and how everyone was supposed to be so giving, but she couldn’t help imagining how it might feel to receive a grand gesture, to feel special in a way she hadn’t before. She wasn’t sure if she wanted it, but the thought of it, just for a moment, made her heart skip a beat.

She watches the way he tugs at his sleeve, suddenly fidgety. 

Maybe he’s thinking about it too.

wednesday

Goldie is more restless than usual. Every little thing Matt does feels like it means something… his lingering glances, the way he fixes her bike chain without her asking, how he walks just a little closer than necessary. She knows she’s being ridiculous, but it’s too fun to stop.

Matt notices the change in her. As they bike to the store, the quiet feels heavier than usual. Goldie pedals ahead of him, her hair catching the wind, and he watches her, trying to place the feeling in his chest.

“You’re acting weird,” he says as they slow near the boardwalk.

Goldie blinks, like she wasn’t expecting him to say it out loud. Then she grins. “Weirder than usual?”

There must be something off with her, though Matt can’t quite place it. She’s been quieter than usual, like her mind is somewhere else. He doesn’t bring up Valentine’s Day, even though, for the first time ever, he’s been thinking about it. He can’t help but notice how she seems to be waiting for something, glancing at him in that way she always does when she’s trying to figure him out.

While they lock up their bikes in front of the store, the quiet between them feels heavier, and when Goldie asks him about his plans for the weekend, he finds himself shrugging it off. “I don’t know, I'll probably just go for a swim or something.”

Goldie laughs a little too loud, and he sees the way her eyes linger on him. It’s not that he doesn’t want to tell her. He does. But the words never come out.

When she got home that evening, her thoughts on the holiday still lingered. She found herself sitting at her desk, a blank piece of pink paper in front of her. Something about the idea of making a Valentine seemed fun, and before she could think too hard about it, she started doodling, drawing little hearts, waves, and a cute fish tail in the corner. She stopped herself halfway through, wondering if it was too much. What if Matt thought it was silly? But the thought of him, even just in passing, made her smile.

She folded the paper neatly, putting it aside, not sure what she’d do with it but feeling strangely happy she’d made it. It felt like something a secret admirer would do, even though Goldie didn’t quite understand the concept of keeping love a secret.

thursday

As the days drift by, Goldie found herself caught up in the magic of Valentine’s, her thoughts often romanticising the idea of someone noticing her in a way that felt special. She hadn’t really thought of Matt in that way… at least, not until now.

They were sitting on the porch, a warm breeze swaying the flowers in the pots nearby. Matt was humming under his breath, and Goldie, in a rare moment of silence, realised she was watching him, her thoughts circling back to the holiday.

“I don’t know… Maybe I’m just being silly,” she said quietly, biting her lip as she tried to push the thought from her mind. “But do you think someone could, like... like you in a way that’s different from the usual stuff? Like, really see you, you know?”

Matt looked over at her, eyebrows furrowing slightly, but she wasn’t looking for answers. It was just a thought that had popped into her head, one that seemed to float like a balloon she couldn’t catch.

“I guess,” she continued, absently, “Maybe it’s just... the holiday thing. People get caught up in it. But still... I wonder if someone really did know all the little things about me... would they still... you know?”

Matt smiled, a little confused but intrigued. “I think someone who’s into you would probably find everything about you cute.”

Goldie laughed softly, her cheeks flushing as she looked away. “Yeah, I guess,” she murmured, still lost in the dreamy possibility of it all. She didn’t realise it then, but her words were telling a story she hadn’t fully heard yet… one about her own quiet desire for someone to notice her in exactly the way she had just described. And maybe they already had.

friday

The day arrives. Goldie doesn’t know what she expected. Maybe a casual invitation to hang out or even just a mention of the holiday. But as the hours go by, nothing happens. She keeps her eyes and ears peeled all day, wondering if he’ll drop by with or mention something simple. A card, a text, a silly gesture. But as the school day ends and the day fades, the absence of anything Valentine’s-related makes her stomach tighten.

She still brings his card with her. Just a small handmade one, nothing special. Just because he’s her friend, and she likes showing love.

But when she finds him, someone else is already there. Another girl, handing him a card with a shy smile. Goldie watches from a distance, her own card suddenly feeling too warm in her hands.

She doesn’t know why she feels so ridiculous. It’s not like she wanted anything. Not really.

Matt thanks the girl, taking the card with a small, awkward nod. As she leaves, his gaze flickers up… searching, maybe. And then he sees Goldie.

She hesitates for a second before tucking her own card into her pocket.

When she sits beside him later, she acts like nothing happened. She doesn’t know if he notices. Maybe he does, but he doesn’t say anything. They sit together, the two of them, watching the sunset, but the silence feels heavier. The teasing glances, the subtle touches. They don’t seem to mean as much anymore, not when her heart feels like it’s been left unanswered.

Matt watches her laugh at something trivial, but it doesn’t quite reach her eyes. He doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t know how to ask what’s on her mind. But when she leaves, he notices something.

His stomach twists, something sharp settling in his chest. A rush of confusion. Why hadn’t she said anything? Why had she tucked it away like that? He knows what it is, what it could’ve been. The card she made for him, and the words she never spoke.

His fingers twitch with the urge to ask her about it, to say something, anything. But the moment’s passed, and she’s already slipping away from him. The silence between them is louder than before, and for the first time, he feels it… really feels it. The space between them has never been this wide.

He stays frozen, holding onto the words that never came. 

Matt watches her leave, the ache in his chest like the waves brushing against the shore, constant and soft.

creds to rose for the dividers !! @bernardsbendystraws

a/n: this made me a bit sad :(

taglist: @blushsturns @sturnslutz @snoopychris @sturnshood @sturns-mermaid @shadowthesim237 @pasteldreams @certainfestivalnerdshepherd @sturnsrecord @sturntiolo @throatgoat4u @cowboylikenat @recordeeznuts @middlepartmatt @mattscherries @m11rx @leoslaboratory comment to be added/removed from this au's taglist!

cya soon <3

[kathlare]

we don't talk anymore

Lando Norris x Amelie Dayman

Summary: A brief interview response from Amelie sends shockwaves through social media, reigniting speculation about her past friendship with Lando.

Wordcount: 1.3 k

Warnings: none

full masterlist // request over here!

December 3rd, 2021 - Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

liked by f1wagsgossip, laneliemyship, and others

f1gossippage: Amelie’s new interview is out, and of course, that question came up… When asked about her past connection with Lando, she brushed it off with a polite smile and said, ‘We don’t talk anymore.’ 👀 This isn’t the first time either of them has confirmed they’re no longer friends—looks like that chapter is well and truly closed. 📖🚪

View all 5,482 comments

f1teaqueen: Seven months and still no contact? Damn, that fallout must’ve been BAD. 😳 → paddockmess: @f1tequeen Right?? And the fact that they were literally inseparable before? Wild.

f1fangirl23: Oof, that was cold 😬 wonder what really happened... → speedyboi44: @f1fangirl23 Fr, she didn’t even try to sugarcoat it 😂

racingfanatic88: Not sure why people are acting surprised, they’ve been distant for a while now.

racedayvibes: Why do interviewers always bring up Lando? Like, leave her alone. → formula1fan99: @recadayvibes Because they know we’re all waiting for that answer. 😂

drivetounite: Can we please stop with the ‘are they or aren’t they’ stuff? It’s clear they’re over it. → f1daredevil: @drivetounite Yup, they’re both moving on. But can’t lie, I wanna know the full story!

trackdaydreamer: Amelie’s smile said it all—‘Don’t ask me about him again.’ → speedracer77: @trackdaydreamer I feel like she’s tired of people bringing it up. Let her be.

f1fan_for_life: Can we just appreciate how calm she was in that moment, though? The self-control is real. → fasttrackkidd: @f1fan_for_life I think she just didn’t want to give anyone more fuel for the fire.

f1_queen22: I don’t get why people are so pressed. If they’re not friends anymore, so be it. 🤷‍♀️

f1obsessed: Not her just casually confirming (again) that they’re done done. 😬 → speeddemon44: @f1obsessed At this point, they remind us every few months like we might forget 😂

checkeredgossip: The way they keep confirming they’re not friends anymore makes me wonder just how bad the fallout was.

-------------

The roar of the engines in the Qatar paddock was a dull hum in the background as Lando scrolled through his phone, trying to distract himself. He was due out for practice in a few minutes, but his mind was elsewhere. Specifically, it was replaying a short interview clip he’d just seen. Amelie.

She’d been doing some press for the new season of Euphoria, and, as always, the interviewer had asked about her connection to Formula 1. Inevitably, his name had come up. Lando had braced himself. He knew it was coming. It always did.

He’d seen other interviews where she’d been asked about him. She’d always been… polite. Vague. Something along the lines of, “We were friends,” or “It was a long time ago.” Enough to shut down the conversation without being overtly hostile. He could live with that. He preferred it, actually. It was better than her airing their dirty laundry, even though he knew he was the one who screwed everything up.

But this time… this time was different. This time, there was a coldness in her eyes that hadn’t been there before. A finality in her voice that made his stomach twist.

“We don’t talk anymore,” she’d said, her smile tight, almost forced. Just four words, but they hit him like a punch to the gut. He’d known, of course he’d known. They hadn’t spoken in months. But hearing her say it, so casually, so dismissive… it stung. More than he cared to admit.

—Fucking hell,— he muttered, tossing his phone onto the table. He knew he was being stupid. He knew he should just forget about it and focus on the race. But he couldn’t. Her words echoed in his head, a constant reminder of what he’d lost.

He thought back to their last conversation. Or, rather, their last argument. It had been brutal. Tears, accusations, slammed doors. He’d said some things he regretted. She’d said some things that still made his blood run cold. They’d both been angry, hurt, and probably a little bit drunk.

He’d thought, at the time, that they’d eventually get over it. That they’d find a way back to each other, like they always did. But they hadn’t. And now, hearing her say those four words, he knew they never would.

He glanced at the clock. Time to go. He grabbed his helmet and gloves, trying to shake off the thoughts that were swirling in his head. He needed to focus. He needed to push Amelie and her cold dismissal out of his mind. But it was hard. Damn hard.

—Lando, you alright?— Will, his race engineer, asked, noticing the tension in his posture.

—Yeah, fine,— Lando mumbled, pulling on his balaclava. —Just… thinking about the track.—

Will gave him a knowing look, but didn’t push it. He knew Lando. He knew when something was bothering him. —Alright. Just remember the plan. Focus on the tires, get some good data.—

Lando nodded, forcing a smile. He knew Will was right. He needed to focus. But Amelie’s words were like a barbed hook in his brain, digging deeper with every lap he drove.

He climbed into the car, the familiar scent of fuel and leather filling his nostrils. He buckled his harness, his movements automatic, his mind still replaying the interview.

“We don’t talk anymore.”

He slammed his fist on the steering wheel, a surge of anger coursing through him. —Fuck her,— he muttered under his breath. —Who cares what she says?—

But he did care. He cared a lot. He’d tried to convince himself that he was over her, that he didn’t think about her anymore. But the truth was, she was always there, in the back of his mind. A ghost of what they’d been.

He pushed the thought away, focusing on the lights on the steering wheel as they counted down. He needed to be present. He needed to be fast. He needed to prove… prove what? That he didn’t need her? That he was fine on his own?

The lights went out, and he floored the accelerator, the car leaping forward. He attacked the first corner, pushing the car to its limits, trying to channel his anger into speed. But even as he shaved milliseconds off his lap times, her words echoed in his ears.

“We don’t talk anymore.”

He knew he was driving recklessly. He could feel it. He was pushing too hard, taking unnecessary risks. But he couldn’t stop himself. He needed to prove something. To her, to himself, to the world. He just didn’t know what.

—Lando, easy there,— Will's voice crackled through the radio. —You’re pushing too hard. Bring it back a bit.—

He ignored him, his focus narrowed, his vision blurred. He was chasing something, he wasn’t sure what. But he knew he wouldn’t find it at the bottom of a champagne bottle or in another girl’s arms. He knew, deep down, that the only way to escape the ghost of Amelie was to face it. But he wasn’t ready for that. Not yet.

He crossed the finish line, his lap time a new personal best. But it didn’t feel like a victory. It felt hollow. Empty.

He pulled into the garage, the mechanics swarming around the car. He climbed out, feeling drained, exhausted. He knew he needed to talk to someone. Max, probably. He’d understand. He’d been there.

[coldsaturn]

I finished my reread of TKM (in its Italian translation, for a change) in preparation for TGR, and I have thoughts

There's something inherently addictive about a character knowing they're on a countdown and trying to make the most of the time they still have

"I didn't tell her." They were the only two in the car, but it took Neil a moment to realize he was being addressed. He glanced over at Aaron, but Aaron was gazing out the passenger window. "Neither did I," Neil said. "She asked you about Andrew." It wasn't a question, but Neil said, "Yes. You too?" "She doesn't ask me anything anymore," Aaron said. "She knows there's no point. I haven't ever said a word to her." //Of course they hate each other so much, they're way more similar than they're comfortable with

Aaron, Matt, Renee, Wymack, e Andrew are all like "should we tell Neil he's now in a relationship or?" but they all decide to leave Neil in his painful obliviousness for the same reason. The fact that it will be Roland to tell him will forever be iconic.

On the translation for "Every inch of you," Andrew said. "That doesn't mean I wouldn't blow you." I forgive the translator every past mistake. That line got me like a freight train in the face.

"Whatever Kevin saw on Neil's face, it was enough to kill his curiosity. Kevin slowly closed his mouth, withdrew his hand, and went back to drinking" // Kevin in this scene

Andrew keeps on being hilarious even unmedicated.

"Cool it," Ricky warned them, with his hands out toward both of them. "We've got enough trouble to deal with right now without your bullshit." // I want a book about him

The whump level of attention Neil gets starting from his Evermore stay and onward is absolutely delicious.

Neil spends the night with Kevin watching Exy matches, then Nicky tries to get Neil to go for ice cream and Neil is about to say no when he sees Andrew and suddenly he's all existential "Exy can't be everything" lmao

Andrew going against Kevin multiple times to favor Neil is my new kink

"I don't want to be that person anymore. I want to go back for you." // Andrew has five (5) people he'd save in a zombie apocalypse. That's an entirely respectable number of people to care for that intensely. Neil chose one and one only.

It's almost impossible to comment anything once we start snowballing toward the end because that would require putting the book down, but I'll make an effort: Andrew's fierceness is heartbreaking. He threatens people left and right and most of the Foxes around him treat him like he's an immortal, vengeful god. Kevin trusts him to protect him from Riko, Neil hilariously trusted him to protect him from Riko and the mafia behind him. Riko himself reacts to him with caution like he's dealing with a rabid dog that might just be faster than a gun drawn in self-defense. Andrew threatens the FBI and Abby, and it's like he genuinely thinks he can win against multiple armed and trained adults. But he's not invincible. He's so far from that it's painful. He can be overpowered, his strength is proportional to his body, he has been brought down again and again. Hes' just a dude. But so many around Andrew treat him like his strength is a bottomless well, for better or worse, and I wonder what his self-confidence would be if he didn’t receive so often positive feedback on his ability to take everything and everyone down with him. I don’t think he’s even aware of it, but I’m glad it’s there nonetheless.

"She taught Coach Exy," Neil reminded him. "And what, he didn't notice that he knocked her up?" Aaron asked. // AARON lmao

Still can't believe Andreil got off on Kevin's drama queen tattoo and didn't even bother trying to hide it

Still can’t believe Andreil had a full on makeout session at Evermore. Somewhere, in a parallel universe, dark Andreil from the perfect court felt a tremor in the force

Reading my bound trilogy gives the pace of the entire work a completely different feeling. This truly is one single story, and not three separate books. Once you feel them being whole in your hands, without boundaries between one and the other, you can truly appreciate the avalanche that this story is. You start slowly with all the puzzle pieces around you and then accelerate until you reach the last 200 pages where you can't even find time to breathe, the entire narrative a single unified crescendo built on the 500 pages that came before.

Neil is an amazing protagonist, but he could have been unsufferable so easily if Nora hadn't done such a good job of keeping him an active character with a mountain of agency. The things that happen to him are obnoxiously incredible, but he never becomes the cliché passive protagonist bound by plot because they have nothing of their own to keep themselves upright. Everything that happens to him he reacts to with equal if not more force; hell, half of what happens he instigates with his own hands. So many books give you an empty protagonist meant to be the stand-in for the audience, just an empty shell so the reader can project onto them and fantasize about a different reality. Neil is complex, absurd, uncomfortable, and doesn't care if you relate to him or not. As a reader you are a fly on the wall and are treated as such. Neil isn’t here to make you feel good about yourself.

Insane rereadability rate. Read one book per day and I didn't even feel it, I already miss it and want to go back to the beginning to ride the roller coaster again. I'm a decade older than when I read this trilogy the first time, but these books are still a dopamine injection straight into my eyeballs.

[maxdibert]

hello, i've been seeing some of your james potter and sev posts on my dash and i think u have some rlly good pts. i think the disconnect between your argument and james potter stans is that u're clocking the behaviors and mentality of CANONICAL james very accurately (can't believe i've never thought of the full extent of what a limp dick noodle he was) while they're living in a fantasy headcanon world they've completely and totally made up, complete death to the canon.

and i agree with the death of canon, rowling often had characters to make bizarre decisions to further the plot/add backstory drama that feels like no real person would logically do ESPECIALLY in the marauders era. some of their interactions feel so hand-wavey to explain sev's hatred, but we never rlly got confirmation as to how pervasive/frequent/unbalanced it rlly was other than the flashback scene. sirius claims snape retaliated against them just as hard, but he isn't the most reliable person to get this info from.

ive also fallen into the trap, the ideal of fanon james, where he's a poc disaster bi (im a queer indian myself and the prospect of this was so innovative and exciting) and kind/funny/selfless, but i can definitely tell this isn't the same character anymore, to the point that he should just have another name entirely or something. there's no neat, clean solution bc james stans wont acknowledge canon and all the baggage the name carries, also they aren't exactly stanning the problematic white cishet classist that youre so right and valid for despising.

There is one key thing in everything you've said that stands out to me: it doesn't matter how much people want to transform him, it doesn't matter how far they want to twist and manipulate the character until only his name remains—the reality about James Potter is very simple. He is a cishet, white, aristocratic man who used his social power to pick on people with fewer resources and get away with it. He is highly problematic, and it's even more problematic to try to turn him into a PoC or change his sexuality to make him seem more likable, because that is not James.

I don't care if people tell me, "Oh, but I like the fandom's James," because the fandom's James does not exist. That is not James; it's another character, someone people have invented to justify being fans of a character who was a piece of trash and admiring him. But that is not James Potter—it's an OC with his name, but it’s not him. The only James Potter that exists is the one from the books or the canon-compliant versions you find in fandom that try to stick to the canon. All the others are not James Potter; they are Frankenstein’s monsters.

[violinios]

kind of a Dream analysis?

i don't know how to start this without saying "sorry for my bad english". i'm not confident when writing long texts in english. will include personal visions/headcannons.

i want to talk about Dream's childhood and adulthood more, and how he was also abused by the villagers, yet people think Dream was extremelly loved by them. not only that he was loved, but also that he was one to blame for the events that happened during the apple incident.

there's a difference between Dream feeling guilty for not being able to do anything and him actually having blame for what happened in the village. (cof cof, survivors guilt.)

first of all, can we talk about how Dream and Nightmare were BOTH suffering on the villagers hands, but in different ways? Nightmare wasn't the only victim of the malicious people. let's start with the fact that both carried a burden since they were young. two 6 year old children aren't capable of protecting anything from those who are older and are susceptible to being manipulated by adults.

they took advantage of Dream's naivety, they exploited him and that was extremelly overwhelming. there was no adult in who Dream could actually trust besides Neil, because Dream was the one who had to support everyone else with his help, including the adults, and ended receiving no support back at the end of the day. he is seen as nothing more than an extension of that tree: it only serves to offer you fruits and satisfy your needs. people forget that this tree also has its own needs and act as it will survive and serve them forever (this kind of neglect will be further explored in my second point). this burden they carried on their shoulders made them mature in a younger age than they should actually have matured, but they're still childish enough to not being able to know how to deal with a situation like that. you can't give a child the responsabilities of an adult and expect them to not grown up way too fast, but you can't also expect them to fully understand the task they received and do it correctly.

they both were neglected as children. yes, even Dream was, don't leave him out of this topic. they had no proper education, never had a childhood a normal child would have and were never given anything unless if the villagers wanted to manipulate Dream somehow with gifts and stuff. they didn't actually cared about none of their needs. the only ones who cared about Dream and Nightmare were, well... Dream and Nightmare. yes, Dream DID cared for Nightmare, he was worried for his brother, but as Nightmare got extremelly depressed, he started to isolate himself from Dream and didn't knew how to express his emotions/was trying to protect Dream's feelings. he was naive, yes, but the fandom acts as if he was completely ignorant about Nightmare's suffering, when Dream TRIED to help him, he noticed something was wrong but Nightmare hid it from him. i just don't understand how people are blaming a 6 years old for what happened in that day. i wish people understood that Dream didn't had a good childhood either, and tried to understand his side.

Dream's traumas/the effects the traumas gave Dream during his adulthood are also extremelly overlooked. the neglect from the villagers makes Dream suffer in the future with self-neglect instead as some kind of self-punishment. he has a self-forgetting mindset. the only way he seeks pleasure is by making others feel pleasure too, and the only way to feel satisfaction is through connection with other people. he might feel guilty when he allows himself to feel pleasure, as if he doesn't deserves happiness. why be happy when there are people who need it more than i do? he "forgets" to connect with himself, as if he has no identity when he's alone, as if there's no 'himself', no 'Dream', only the 'guardian of positivity', and this leads him to not knowing how to access his inner self. merging with groups or individuals is the only way he can feel like he's an individual too, because they NEED him, but they don't need Dream by who he trully is, they need a idealized version of Dream. the one that can handle anything and serve them without receiving anything back (that's basically how his relationships with the villagers worked). that's why he doesn't investigate his own feelings, and instead, uses unhealthy coping mechanisms to scape reality on his free time, and i think those are one of the rare moments where he feels like he's getting in touch with himself (even if this is unconciously making him run away from his own feelings and scape trauma).

[tessa-liam]

A Marabelle Series...

One-shot, upcoming chapter snippet

Thank you @snoopdogcone for your ask...prompt: First Valentine's Day Date after a big break up!

Choices book: The Royal Romance, book2

Pairing: Drake Walker x Riley Brooks (F!OC)

Rating: Mature

Category: angst/fluff. One-shot, ask/prompt

A/N: not Beta’d, please excuse all errors.

A/N2: CFWC Valentine's Day 2025, prompt: Ouch! - First Valentine's Day after a big break up.

Premise: It's Valentine's Day, Drake is remembering the last fight he had with his now ex-girlfriend, Melanie. Sitting alone in the beer garden, his outlook on life instantly improves when Riley Brooks enters and bumps into him.

As the familiar strains of a Cordonian folk song hummed from the far corner of the beer garden, Drake downed the remnants of his beer and scowled to himself.

He should have known it wouldn't work out with Melanie. Hell, it was Valentine's Day, for Chrissake. A holiday invented to screw with bachelors everywhere. All of the cute little couples strolling by outside with their perfect life. Ugh. If I have to listen to someone ask for an 'appletini', I might just drown myself in that damn thing.

On the one day when his lack of romanticism would be glaringly evident to the rest of the bar crowd, the last thing Drake wanted to do was to be around people. As the dour thought crossed his mind, it seemed that the very world conspired against him.

Just then, another patron bumped against Drake's arm. As the person went to apologize, she turned to him and stopped.

"Drake?" the feminine voice said with surprise. "It's me... Riley."

As he shifted in his chair, Drake recognized the woman's piercing hazel eyes and charming smile. It was hard to forget someone like her, who was bursting with charisma and personality. He knew instantly who she was, but he played ignorant.

"Well, I needed to get out of my apartment..."

"Oh, hey, Riley. What brings you here today?

"And the brew at the bar is free today." Drake smirked.

"Yes, that, and not knowing anyone here besides Melanie."

"Ah, so it is Valentine's Day that's got you so worked up," he grinned, shifting a little on the small stool.

"If I was alone," he continued, "there'd be no difference. I usually make a point to keep myself too busy to even realize it's today, so as not to feel so fucking inadequate and depressed."

"Really, you've found this day a blight upon your lonely existence? Because that's totally not how everyone else on the street looked as they sauntered down the road holding hands and giggling," Riley chided him, doing a spot-on imitation of the most saccharine romantic she could think of.

"This, I would not deny. Clearly, others have the magical ability to connect and establish real relationships with actual human beings. This does not work for the emotionally stunted, who prefer a good bottle of whisky anyway. Their company is sufficient; it does not care who is paying for dinner."

Riley rolled her eyes as she took a sip of her appletini, smiling ruefully at him as she chewed on an ice cube. It felt nice to make conversation with him. They were usually working when she saw him and not really talking about anything significant. She would occasionally shoot him a glance or two, but it wasn't really an equal exchange.

"Maybe I can remedy the issue of no company on the date," she grinned, enjoying their light banter. "But where is the famous Melanie today?"

"Melanie," he started, his mouth turning into a sneer when he mentioned her name.

"Oh shit, did she leave you for the romantic stroll under the street lamp?" She patted him on the back empathically.

"Well, not exactly..." he trailed off, unsure of the word choice for describing his previous romantic involvement.

"Well, I take that as good news for you. What happened, Drake?" She brought her eyes up to meet his, cocking her head to the side. She sincerely wondered why anyone wouldn't be attracted to a tall, dark haired, chocolate eyed handsome gentleman. It must be some serious defects and faults for Melanie to say goodbye.

"When did it end? Or should I say, how long had you been expecting for this to happen?"

Drake had the sinking feeling that he'd managed to summon the relationship proverbial demons into the conversation, but for better or worse, he was starting to really like the company of this clever-tongued woman next to him.

"It wasn't expected. Not by a long shot. It ended about a week or two ago."

She frowned, studying his face carefully for the nuance of regret she detected. When he couldn't meet her gaze, she figured out there wasn't any lingering feelings between Melanie and him. The frown turned back into a wicked little grin.

"Damn," he breathed, looking away from her stare. It was unnerving, being so vulnerable.

"Let me guess," she started, gazing at him with her pale, inquisitive eyes. "Things have gotten bad because of all the witty and intelligent discussions. You've driven each other so crazy that you can't stand being with the other anymore. Sound familiar?"

Drake laughed to himself and swiveled his bar stool to face her, resting his back against the bar. He wasn't going to be the only vulnerable one anymore, not if Riley kept probing like that.

"Actually, yes, it was those witty and intelligent conversations that killed the romance."

"I'll drink to that."

"Seriously?!" Riley looked away, glancing at the array of glasses behind the bar. "What kind of geek dates someone and talks for fun, then ruins everything?"

✨️💘✨️

[cyanide-latte]

TIME FOR MORE OC LORE I GUESS?

I had a weird dream last night that was apparently about Professor Cerulean (so ofc he's been on the brain all morning.)

The first half of the dream was sad and semi-intense, in that he was moving through a nightmare sequence of people he cared about all withering and dying before his eyes, including a potential past romance? Eventually he woke up from the nightmare in a cold sweat, panting and needing to make tea or coffee as a means of grounding himself.

From that portion of the dream, I've definitely learned that he's panromantic, though I think he might be somewhere on the ace spectrum as well? And technically agender in the sense he just...doesn't care about gender applying to him. He's quite comfortable with he/him pronouns but doesn't think of himself as actually having a gender. He's definitely had a past romance he's cut short due to lifespan issues, and I think the answer to his heritage is that he thought his mother was fully human and his father fae, but it turns out his mother is half-fae. So he's like. Quarter-human. Which means his aging and lifespan are kinda fucky. (He is definitely also very reluctant to get attached to anyone in any capacity as a result.) He'd probably appreciate Marcille from Dungeon Meshi, honestly.

But then the dream shifted to comedy.

Because as he was sitting down, preparing to drink his beverage, there was a knock at his door.

He goes over, opens it, and @tixdixl 's Vex and Xiáng and @ramshacklerumble 's Cusi are all standing there. He goes "no" and shuts the door. Immediately reopens it, scowls, shuts it and reopens it to go, "I'm busy, go away." Shuts it, reopens it, scowls. Shuts, reopens, says "you shouldn't even have been able to FIND this doorway," shuts it again, rapidly reopens and shuts it several times, and finally asks in that proper Blue Caterpillar enunciation "Why, are you, still, here."

At which point Cusi shoved past him and they all went into his house.

Which tells me that somehow his entire fucking house is enchanted so that its side door will randomly open and connect to a door in NRC (usually a closet or something,) so he doesn't have to travel himself to go between NRC and home. And that technically nobody but him should be able to figure out what door his house will connect to. Feels like a Howl's Moving Castle reference crossed with a Through the Looking-Glass Red Queen reference, re: "all the ways here belong to me".

Anyway, that's it, that's the ramble, that's the post.

Taglist: @elenauaurs @inmateofthemind @ramshacklerumble @tixdixl @winterweary

@distant-velleity @rainesol @thehollowwriter @theleechyskrunkly @twst-migraine

@jovieinramshackle @the-trinket-witch @treydia (DM me if you'd like to be added or removed from the taglist for my TWST OCs stuff)

[luciusdaskel]

OMG??? An in-depth analysis sprouted from my in-depth analysis??? Gah???? I never caught on to the whole "good kid" side of it! Thank you for bringing it up!! Actually thinking on it now, it makes so so much sense. Not only that, I think other villains (specifically LBD) knew or guessed about that trigger. I recall LBD using MK's need to be good (driven from Macaque's grooming) against him, so he'd be manipulated ON BOTH SIDES OF THE COIN. And you're right, the past 9 eps and special never once really praised MK, unlike Macaque. I have seen, and full heartedly believe, a theory that Wukong was groomed by Azure Lion as well. We don't see much but that would explain Wukong's emotional distance/lack of complements and lack of touching support, something Macaque used against the two of them. But that's a separate theory altogether.

I fully understand MK's insatiable thirst to be a good person, even it it kills him. No clue if I had a Macaque in my life but I fully get where MK is at through the show. At first just wanting to do it for fun and possibly even just for the glory then it devolves into a need not a want. When you don't get that praise then it becomes a dark hole that only gets bigger until it swallows you whole. Which it nearly did for MK.

Side note, the part of being numb to the grooming could also just be a side effect of the original grooming BUT also possibly a negative from Redson being a villain turned friend. I mean... think about it, you want NEED to be good and also there was a crisis. If he doesn't help Redson, the world could be taken over and or his home city is gone, but if he does help Redson then he could risk being hurt like he was with Macaque but there's a chance that Redson actually means well and therefore if my first enemy can be good and like me then maybe I can be good enough for that other enemy too?? This type of spiral can be subconscious, even if consciously the person says they don't want that person in their life, that abuser still created a irreparable hole. Especially when this void literally only appeared likely a week in advance.

I'm not saying that "Oh Redson being redeemed is bad for MK" but what I'm saying is that without anyone actually adressing Mac's grooming from then, it lead MK into a possible negative side effect that made him hopeful or numb to Macaque's grooming. I'm just trying to see it purely from MK's eyes with the lens of him being groomed. Hm... maybe I should analyze Shadow Play and season 3's Macaque episode. I wonder what nuggets I could gather from season 4... I mean by that point MK out right calls out Macaque for being him feel like shit because of his lessons. Which is valid and really is true when you consider 99% of MK's self-esteem and identity issues really started because of Macaque.

Getting a bit personal here, I am currently in my own emotional hole where I crave someone's validation. Validation I will never get and that hurts and only makes me crave it more by the day, even as I scream again and again that I hate him and I do NOT want him. It hurts, a lot, and I can recognize the effects and what it's doing. The reason I got into psychology is to help people, because if I help people then I feel better with this black hole inside of me. I will do whatever it takes to help someone even if it hurt the ones I do care about and even ruin my own health.

I believe it's called a savior complex and it sucks. So I know exactly how MK feels in the show and not really in the best ways either lol- Not meant to be a vent but just showing my own feelings to express MK's feelings. If that makes sense-

Also LMK rewrite project??? Sign me up!!! Let me know if you'd like help or not, I love being able to help with things and or gathering information or ideas to add to the table!

I didn't hold back here because I didn't know I even could hold back lmao- I just saw it and knew I had to share everything. Sorry for the ramble, I just love your analysis on top of mine!

Macaque Episode Analysis ramble

So I was talking with a friend about the possible psychological and therapeutic take aways from each episode of Lego Monkie Kid, since I love Psychology as a whole, and came to a conclusion. Macaque's episode has a fuck ton of things to analyze. Such as - Not every role model you meet will be a good person Trust your teachers Don't push yourself too hard otherwise you'll get hurt, manipulated and possibly die (let's be real, Macaque would've killed MK if Wukong didn't step in) And, grooming They will all be covered as I explain the episode in depth. When MK first meets Macaque he thought he was Wukong but even after Macaque declines, MK still had stars in his eyes of pure admiration. He clearly looks up to Macaque since he was just as cool if not cooler than Monkey King. Within the very next second Macaque started the process of grooming, after a tiny test to see how strong MK's admiration was. "[...] I thought uh Monkey King was training you. [...] but you can never have too many teachers, I'm sure Monkey King would agree. [...]"

Then Macaque starts to train MK. This shows the duality of Wukong's more MK's current strength and capabilities training versus Macaque's more destructive and dehumanizing training. With Wukong's "Patience and focus, step into the strike", clashing with Macaque's far more brash "You don't use a weapon, you ARE the weapon." This is effective at isolating MK from Wukong and his teachings because MK feels like he is actually powerful now.

As Wukong says, MK's body isn't strong enough to handle the power. This applies to real life too. If someone tries to weight lift something too heavy for their skills, they could get seriously hurt. This is the just magical equivalent of weight lifting. But because of Macaque's influence, MK fights back and isolates himself from Wukong, his trust worthy mentor. This leads Macaque to his final part of his plan, lure MK into a trap with his full hearted trust in him.

Then Macaque finishes his plan by stealing MK's powers. Let's be honest, with how things were going and by our impression of Macaque in this episode, Macaque would have likely killed MK if it weren't for Wukong. OR left MK to die with the staff pressing him against the moutain. What can we gather from this? Well, first and foremost, MK's admiration made him an easy target for manipulation, and what resulted was MK nearly dying from the ordeal. Check for "not ever role model will be a good person", since Wukong is ALSO a role model, but a good one because he doesn't literally groom MK. (More on that in a minute.) Wukong was right and MK does what he taught him then admits his wrongs by the end and opens up on why, which Wukong responds with "Hey, your heart is in the right place, kid. We can work on the rest." MK learned to trust Wukong when he was teaching him something because ultimately that's what saved his life. I'm not saying trust EVERY authority figure, but one that is teaching you something that you trust and know will not hurt you. Get yourself a Wukong for your MK. Macaque's training has lasting impact on MK, making him feel like he needs to give himself up for others. Before this episode, MK never had the need to sacrifice himself or really seemingly blamed himself for anything. Macaque's dehumanizing training left MK with lasting damage to his mental health and also led to MK not being able to pick up the staff, granted that was after Macaque gut-punched the power out of him.

Ouch...

So, I hear you ask, "Ok, you made your point about various things, here but what about grooming? That's a bold word." Yes, it IS a bold word, especially considering the fandom space being primarily for children. However, I will clarify that grooming does not only apply to sexual circumstances.

This is from the official Canada public safety about child grooming. Notice the none sexual tactics.

"Make promises of a better life" - Promises to make MK stronger/a better fighter/hero

"Cause divsion saying "your parents are too strict" or "your parents don't understand you"." - Macaque says "Other people are going to tell you to be patient. They are slowing you down." to directly conflict with Wukong's training, further dividing MK and Wukong.

"May threaten or pressure your child to do what they ask, which could lead to sextortion." - Might not be explicit but it is implied MK had some minor doubts by the end of the training and was literally pushed into battle. Also he threw MK into the weapons rack on their first session, showing that MK was "weak" and prompted him to take up his implicit challenge, his trick. It's unclear if Macaque ever threatened MK while training, but I doubt it and he just pressured him and manipulated his drive and determination.

One that people might argue is "Approach your child online by pretending to be someone they're not - may falsely identify themselves as a person from school, or someone their age, to build a connection." but I believe it applies. - Macaque comes in creating a show with his own kaiju form, either to make himself popular or to attract MK or Wukong. Regardless, he seemed uncomfortable at first but once he prompts up "But you can never have too many teachers", that's when he starts creating a false identity, a trustworthy teacher who knows better than Wukong. That's also neglecting the fact Macaque pretended to not be that smoke demon.

If that's not "pretending to be someone they're not", then I'm not sure what is. Also for specifically adult grooming,

More signs I feel apply are;

"The person becomes withdrawn, or they may seem troubled by something but unwilling to talk about it. Alternatively their emotions might become volatile." - When Wukong points out MK has been running around other mentors, MK sounds calm and cold, like he was withdrawn. Then when Wukong presses on, MK yells at him and doesn't talk about exactly what was bothering him other than "You just don't like that there's someone who actually teaching me what I need to know."

"You notice them using or wearing something new, that you didn't buy [or teach] for them." - I added teach because Wukong points out he never taught MK how to break a wall like that, and was concerned and upset that MK learned that too quickly. Within that same scene, after MK yells at him, that's when Wukong notices the new symbol on MK's jacket and frowns. That's when he knows MK is being groomed, and by who.

"Groomers often aim to isolate their targets from their family or friends." - Well, we never see Mei, Pigsy, Tang, or Sandy in this episode, after the first meeting and they act like MK was gone for a month or more (could easily be a week lol). On top of that, Macaque was causing a divide between MK and Wukong. MK was very clearly pretty isolated already, and so Macaque just had to remove MK for MK's full reliance.

"The person might be spending more time on the phone, or online, than usual. But they won’t say what sites they’re visiting, or who they’re talking to." - This speaks for itself, but it's likely MK was training more and more with Macaque than being around his own friends, especially considering by previous point.

This video goes into great detail on how it happens, why the victim is manipulated easily, and what it does to someone. Granted this video is about a long-time grooming, but I believe the point and the awareness stands. If Macaque had been grooming MK for about a year or more, I feel MK would be closer to these signs than he is in the cannon LMK. Anyways! I hope you had fun with my analysis, and let me know if you'd like more! I love to just ramble about the psychology of certain characters or the takeaways of LMK episodes! I'd love to do Wukong, Macaque as a whole (not just the episode), MK, Xiangliu/Nine mayhaps?? Or even the Focus episode or something else- I have a minor analysis on the focus episode already in my head lol