#but he'd also be a terrible enabler

[tiredesperdad]

I've been thinking about their dynamic way too much since I've started playing age of calamity + replaying breath of the wild so here are some of my thoughts about Teba and Revali under the cut.

Like sadly age of calamity barely scratches the surfaces but man their relationship could be so interesting and if you ask me there isn't nearly enough Revali&Teba fanfic out there. I need them to bond in those "the champions live" AUs, I need it!

Anyway....

So we have Revali. Champion of the Rito. Master of the sky and greatest archer they have ever seen. He worked his ass off to create his gale and he's regarded highly among the Rito even a hundred years after his death. But also he was most likely still very young. There are different headcanons but I'd like to think that he was of similar age as Zelda and Link. We don't know anything about his family but either he wasn't really close with anyone while he was still alive or he lost everything in those 100 years he was gone (most likely a bit of both). He's a bit of a drama queen. He acts arrogant but we know from the champion's ballad dlc that he was rather insecure and putting up a front. He's the kinda guy you sometimes just wanna tell to shut up.

Then you have the Rito who look up to him. Nobody had a blood connection to him or really remembers him as an individual, not like the other champions. He's kind of a legend among the Rito.

And that brings us to Teba.

Teba, like the rest of the Rito, always looked up to their champion and the stories they were told about him. He's the best warrior the Rito have at the time of breath of the wild. He has a son and wife but still acts pretty reckless. Saki and Harth describe him as impulsive and Teba describes himself as rather blunt and direct. He seems like a bit of a grump but also is caring.

And now put those two together.

Like I just love this dynamic of Teba meeting /the/ Rito champion, the guy he spent his whole life looking up to and he's barely older than a fledgling. He's a kid whose kind of a dickhead but also absolutely has all of the skills that are remembered about him. But also like holy shit he's so young. And alone. There are no blood relatives left, everyone he knew is dead. He probably didn't even have many connections while he was still alive. Revali went through a lot of shit, too. Like depending on the AU he not only woke up 100 years later but he probably remembers the fight against windblight ganon, he remembers the fear, he remembers dying maybe. But also he's too proud to admit it and he doesn't open up to anyone.

But then there's Teba who is blunt, he's direct. So I'd like to think he'd be the perfect person for Revali in such a scenario because let's be real, Revali needs someone who will call out the bullshit once in a while and just flat out tells him what he doesn't want to hear but needs to hear. Maybe someone who sees him for the person that he is and not just the champion Revali.

Also I feel like at some point the Rito (in Revali's time) were looking up to Revali so much he really just lived that front of the Rito champion. He couldn't show weakness, he always had to be strong and perfect and couldn't make any mistakes. But that shit can't keep going and Teba probably would just.... kick his ass about it once in a while.

Plus I'm 100% accepting from age of calamity that Revali is good with kids and takes on Tulin/trains him (maybe even the other kids).

Anyway.... Just.... Revali's and Teba's dynamic man. I just love the thought of Teba being that adult that Revali so desperately needs but I also like the thought of these two shitheads impulsively going off all the time and driving Saki and Harth crazy. You have Revali who is about to do something stupid and everyone is like "ah thank god Teba went to stop him" but Teba 100% would go along with it almost every time.

Also sidenote: Give me those Kass and Revali bonding moments. There are exactly zero Kass&Revali fanfics on AO3 and it's killing me, I love Kass so much, please give Revali a calm adult who will play songs for him, thanks.

Also another sidenote: I know mute Link is a big headcanon in the fandom but I've always imagined that he's much more talkative after losing his memories and that would be the reason why he and Revali would get along a lot better if the champions ended up being alive after the 100 years of Link sleeping. A big reason why Revali dislikes Link so much is because he doesn't speak his mind and shows no emotions so I think they absolutely could get over this with Link just being more open (and Revali swallowing his pride for once) because he doesn't have to put up a front anymore.

[hesperisms]

// The Alphabet of Zayne

"If you can't grasp it with one hand, try using both hands..."

// summary: my attempt at the lewd Alphabet A-to-Z of Zayne.

// content warnings: 18+ (mdni), the whole thing is lewd, says so on the tin.

// a/n: goes without saying, but these are just my personal headcanons around Zayne. yours may be different and that's A-OK. Sylus Alphabet coming up next.

likes, reblogs, comments are always appreciated!

A // Aftercare (what they’re like after sex): Being a doctor, Zayne has you up and out of bed into the bathroom right away, giving you a cheeky pat on the backside if you protest as he hustles you out of bed, telling you that you need to go pee (he does not want to be the cause of a UTI and will feel terribly guilty if he has to support you through one). If your legs are too shaky he will carry you bride-style into the bathroom himself and will happily join you in the shower cleaning up after your sessions because it gives him more opportunities to worship your body.

B // Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner): Zayne likes his hands, mostly because you've convinced him that they're fantastic. He's always had skilled, dexterous and lithe hands and they've enabled a very successful career, but they became his favorite body part the day you gushed over how hot they looked when your couples glint photobooth photos came back. It amused him that you couldn't explain what you loved so much about them, but now rather than hide his scars, he will find ways to roll up his sleeves around you and give you a subtle show after work because he knows it turns you on. Conversely, his favorite body part of yours is also your hands; how they fit so small in his, the way you brush your fingers over his bottom lip when you cup his cheek, the way your fingers feel snaked through his hair in the throes of passion, how delicately they wrap around his cock...

C // Cum (anything to do with cum, basically): When Zayne cums, it's a lot; multiple bursts, thick and milky white, never watery. Even his precum is kind of thick and milky and there's a lot of it, he's an oozer. He's never been the type of man to masturbate before he met you and even now, he needs to feel desperately needy to, so he's pent up a lot and unleashes it on you every time you're together. Given his high sugar content in his diet and his predilection for sweet treats, his cum always tastes vaguely sweet, one of the reasons why you let him continue to eat as many sweets as he does.

D // Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs): If you give him the opportunity, prior to you taking a work trip, Zayne will sometimes steal your panties. You don't even question it when he starts to buy you lingerie sets and panties. There's no need to call him out on it, he's not greedy; he'll only ever take one pair at a time and you always find them washed and returned to your panty drawer by the time you return home. It started by sheer accident; he slipped your soaking wet panties off under your dress when you two were fooling around in public one night and he didn't want you to lose them so he pocketted them and you both forgot about it. The next day you'd gone away for work for a few days and when he found them in his pocket doing his laundry, full of the scent of you it had driven him into a rare masturbation session.

E // Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?): Zayne was a virgin before you. He'd never especially been interested in women, his studies had always come first and then his career, so relationships took a back seat and then before he knew it, you were back in his life, taking your rightful place with him. When things started to get more serious with you, he started to do some research privately so that he wouldn't disappoint you in bed, nothing lewd like watching porn but journals on erogenous zones, g-spot identification and stimulation, clitoral sensitivity and squirting. He wanted to be prepared for anything you might throw at him, because while you were his first, he's reasonably confident he's not your first, but he's never wanted to ask and have it be confirmed.

F // Favorite position (this goes without saying): Girl on top. He loves having you in his lap, straddling him, your perky tits bouncing right in front of his mouth, he gets to look into your eyes while you ride him, he can't get enough of it. This position feels like a cheat code to him, it lets him hide some of his inexperience because it lets the natural curve of his cock apply pressure to your g-spot and he can circle his thumbpad on your clit to provide you with extra stimulation. He's very intense in his need for you, so if you're not careful you'll find your chest and neck covered in love bites after a session in this position.

G // Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.): Zayne has a very dry, cheeky sense of humor, so jokes made in the heat of the moment sometimes get misunderstood and taken seriously. That said, he leans to the more serious side when he's being intimate with you, but during foreplay he will make jokes, tickle you, laugh with you.

H // Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.): Zayne is meticulous in his personal grooming, he knows body hair can trap in body odor, so he maintains himself impeccably. His chest and his armpits are naturally bare, but he shaves his treasure trail completely and manscapes his pubic hair into a cropped short, neat little bundle. He's very particular about his hair, he doesn't like it out of place, but he'll make an exception for you stroking his hair or grabbing fistfuls of it in a moment of pleasure.

I // Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect): Zayne is obsessed with you, so he's very romantic - every session with you is him making love to you. He wants to look into your eyes, capture every moan, every whimper, every tremble and lock it away in his memory for the times you're not with him, he wants to worship you head to toe. Every time he's with you, whether he's being slow and teasing or more desperate and needy, he's seducing you.

J // Jack off (masturbation headcanon): As mentioned above in C and D, masturbating is rare for Zayne - if he's getting off, you need to be involved in some way or it's just not worth it for him. He's never been the type of man to watch porn and get off for the sake of it, it needs to mean something for him so he'll only ever masturbate if you've called him or facetimed him and stirred him up, or if he's had the opportunity to steal a pair of your panties to keep him company while you're out of reach.

K // Kink (one or more of their kinks): You and Zayne have naturally slotted into a soft dom / pleasure dom type of situation in your bedroom antics. He knows you have a praise kink from the way he felt your heart rate surge the first time he called you a good girl, and driving you wild drives him wild, so he loves to play into it for you. Conversely, the first time you held up one of his expensive silk ties and said you'd been a bad girl that needed to be tied up, he felt an incredible rush of blood to his loins. When you look up at him doe-eyed through your lashes and call him Sir, it sends a jolt straight to his cock.

L // Location (favorite places to do the do): Zayne doesn't like to rush his lovemaking and he's a very private, stoic person, so he prefers the bedroom, or the couch. He has slipped on occasion and made love to you in his office with the door locked and his evol having frozen over the handle so it can't be turned, but he has a reputation to consider so those moments of weakness are few and far between. When you're in his bed, he can encourage you to be as loud as you like and he can join you in really letting go.

M // Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going): In a word, You. Your pleasure is like a drug to him, he is obsessed with worshipping your body, feeling you come undone on his cock, his hands, his tongue, committing every little mewl and cry of passion to his memory. He needs to hear you screaming his name in pleasure, nothing turns him on more.

N // No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs): Zayne doesn't swear, he doesn't like to hear swearing from you either. He feels quite strongly that you can express yourself lewdly and dirty talk without needing to resort to it. He also won't do anal - if you try and bring up the suggestion to him, he will go full Doctor mode and explain to you in detail why anal sex isn't going to have any benefits for you. Finally, being the jealous and possessive type, Zayne will never share you with anyone in any kind of polyamorous situation or a threesome. You're his and his alone.

O // Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.): Zayne is a munch, he loves to eat you out. When you get back from a work trip he will be on his knees in front of you at the door, slurping away at your pussy like a man that hasn't eaten a proper meal in days. Due to his lack of experience sexually he's a messy eater, loud and dedicated to suckling orgasms out of you back to back until you shove his face away from you. He loves to kiss you after he's eaten you, rubbing his sopping wet lips and chin all over your mouth so you can taste yourself on him once he's done. He's very touch-sensitive so he rarely likes to receive head because he finds it hard to edge himself and not just cum down your throat, but every time he lets you, he insists on kissing you afterwards.

P // Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.): Depending on the mood that you've stirred him into, Zayne is either slow and sensual, or slower but intensely forceful. His idea of rough sex is not hard and fast, but pulling all the way out slowly, then slamming back into you and pressing his hips deeply into yours until you cry out, making sure you feel him as deep as you possibly can.

Q // Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.): Zayne doesn't like quickies at all. If there's a situation of you two having a potential quickie, he would rather edge and tease you and leave you wanting until later when he can get you home or back to your hotel room and properly pleasure you. If you're being insistent, he might slide his hands under your skirt and finger you at traffic lights to get you off while he drives you somewhere, but he won't partake himself, he'll save it for later in private.

R // Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.): Being a doctor, he leans towards the risk-averse. He's open to roleplaying sexually with you, open to some more vanilla bondage aspects like tying your hands with his tie or spanking, but he doesn't get too exotic. Despite you being the love of his life and woman he wants to marry, he insists on condoms even though he knows you're on the pill because the pill isn't 100% effective on it's own. If you asked him about stopping the use of condoms however, he'd be open to it...but it needs to be your ask, he'd never ask you himself.

S // Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?): Due to his inexperience, once he's inside you Zayne tends to cum somewhat quickly and only lasts a few minutes, but being a surgeon and very fit, his stamina is through the roof so he recovers incredibly quickly and is ready to go another round in a very short amount of time. He'll cum, eat your pussy to another orgasm and by the time you're done falling apart on his tongue, he'll be ready to slide back in and go again for you.

T // Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?): Zayne bought you an app-controlled egg vibrator during a particularly long stint away from you where he'd been working remotely for almost a month. It has a two fold purpose: he gets to ensure he's still pleasuring you even when he can't be physically with you, and he gets to be sure you're going to bed and sleeping at a reasonable hour. It has a pavlovian response in you, the closer to 10pm you see the clock get, the wetter you start to get until you see the little push alert that tells you he's logged into the app and is waiting for you to turn the toy on.

U // Unfair (how much they like to tease): Zayne is an incorrigible tease. He will stir you up relentlessly whispering all sorts of tantalizing nothings in your ear in public, but if you try and touch him and act on them, he won't let you. He will edge you in his lap, holding your hands behind your back, coaxing the answers he wants to hear out of you or he'll stop touching you.

V // Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.): He is a MOANER. Zayne is very vocal, gasps, moans, whimpers, growls, pants, all of it escape his lips shamelessly in moments of passion, when he orgasms it's loud and needy, moaning your name in a throaty whine of pleasure. It's another reason why he tries to keep his sexual activities in private and will only have sex in public if he's absolutely sure no one is around (ie: in a secluded garden in the dead of night) because he is LOUD.

W // Wild card (a random headcanon for the character): Zayne would love to experiment with using his evol in a pleasure situation, but he's a little intimidated by the prospect of an evol backlash when he's so unrestrained so he hasn't bought it up to you yet. The idea of making a little ball of ice he can roll against your clit, or a toy of ice he can slide into you is something he's interested in exploring in the future though.

X // X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes): Zayne is circumsized, given both his parents are doctors too, and he's a grower, not a shower. He looks fairly average soft, but grows to about 7.5 inches when erect. He's got a curve straight upwards to his cock and it sits high, which makes it perfect for straddling him. He's got average girth, nothing excessive, but you're so small compared to him that it still requires warming you up before you can take him.

Y // Yearning (how high is their sex drive?): His body years for yours all the time, it takes no time at all for you to feel him get hard against you if you cuddle him too long, if you rub your ass against him deliberately to tease him, if you shift in his lap a little too much when you're cuddling watching TV or playing games together. It depends on your moods and situation as to whether or not you'll both act on it and have sex, but his body is keenly enamored with yours.

Z // Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards): Due to his PTSD from his time as a battle medic at Mt Eternal, Zayne can sometimes be a light sleeper, so a session with you can be just what he needs to exhaust him enough to fall into a deep, peaceful sleep without his regular nightmares. He tends to fall asleep very quickly in your arms, because it's where he feels the safest.

[shycorvid]

I feel like the Fentons are bad parents trope are really missing out on the Lancer is actually a terrible teacher trope. Sure, he had his good teacher moments (just like the Fentons had their good parent moments), but he also enabled all the bullies and clearly favored the A-listers over all the other students. The dude's basically never matured past the high school popularity mentality.

Don't get me wrong, I love the stories where he's the one concerned for Danny and tries to get him help, but more than likely he'd be the teacher who sees the troubled student and gets their parents involved, only to make the situation worse because the parents are the ones making the student act out in the first place.

[jurijurijurious]

So I've seen posts on social media talking about how some viewers have cried at the finale of Wolf Hall, with some coming back with: "I have no sympathy for Cromwell, he did XYZ, orchestrated deaths, etc" which yes is all very fair, but I feel this kind of talk both dismisses the intelligence of most viewers who already know this about the character, but also I think sorta misses the point slightly.

I admittedly cried, probably for the final five minutes of the last episode, because the whole story was unbearable and presented in a way which felt suffocating. I saw a constant rolling cycle of death and waste. I saw men and women gamble and play high stakes, often using other people as bargaining tools, and it was horrible. I saw a capricious, terrifying king killing friend after friend, servant after servant, usually once he'd wrung them out to dry and often used them to enable terrible things or as a means to an end.

Wolf Hall is written from inside Cromwell's head, of course things are coloured in his favour, that's the point. You're seeing Cromwell's history, not an unbiased account. Maybe this isn't so clear in a TV drama. But you're also seeing how normal people, how very likeable people - who have families, who pet cats, who play cards, etc - do terrible things, and how many people around them don't stop them. Because people will always be people. And we have every right to cry at the horrifying inevitably of it all.

It's not true history but it's an excellent drama which lays bear some of the absolute worst of the human condition.

[artofhazbinhotel]

I don't like when people portray Vox as being abused by Valentino, I don't think there's a power imbalance and I feel there's a line they won't cross because of respect, their communication skills are shit but Val ain't punching or slapping his business partner like he's just some worker. Also if he did Vox wouldn't take it, he'd fight back, he's not this uwu soft boy people like to think. Vox sells a way for perverts to stalk people, is a stalker himself, he knows what Val does to angel and doesn't care, he promotes Velvette's love potions and Valentino's work, and is an enabler who gladly associates with them. All of the vees are terrible people, the only difference is Vox and Velvette aren't r*pists

[liaragaming]

I've seen so many posts about how Varric's death is cheap, a poor twist, disrespectful to his character, etc. But I can't disagree harder.

First off, there seems to be an idea in Fandom that characters can only die in ways that matter or are effective in order for a death to be "respectful." And it's such a shallow way of looking at death. I get the idea of Varric dying for "nothing" being upsetting. But that doesn't make the manner of his death "disrespectful" to who he is.

Varric 100% walks into the situation with Solas knowing he could die and deciding that the risk is worth it. He cares about Solas. He has to try to help him. And if he plays with his life, then he's willing to do that. Varric would happily pay that cost for the sake of a friend.

The fact that his death happens in a manner that he chooses and is 100% in line with his character... I don't know how you get more respectful than that. Varric has always been willing to bend over backwards for his friends - secretly paying off the Carta to keep Anders and Merrill safe during DA2, admitting to Inky in DAI that he's a terrible spy master because he has to make sure everyone's families are okay. Varric cares SO MUCH. Of course, he'd willingly give his life trying to sway Solas. It doesn't matter that he wasn't successful in that attempt. What matters is that he tried. He's willing to risk it all and pays the price, and he still tells Rook to try to talk Solas down. Because that's who Varric is.

Varric's death is fucking perfect. I'm sorry.

As far as the "twist" of Varric's death, I agree the twist of "he's been dead the whole time" in and of itself rings hollow. But I don't believe that's why the devs wanted Rook believing Varric is still alive.

The point is that Rook needs Varric. There's so many times that they go to him for advice and support. And there's dialogue options between them that show Rook wasn't ready for the responsibility of leading the team. In the Fade, they tell him they couldn't have done all this without him (to which Varric replies they already did). Even when they believe Varric is in the infirmary, they tell Varric they're only taking over until he gets better. At other talks, they'll mention needing him out in the field. The point of Varric being secretly dead the whole time allows Rook an outlet for voicing their insecurities.

Rook believing Varric is alive also enables them to push forward and lead the team because they believe they're only doing so temporarily. And they aren't dealing with the grief of Varric's passing like Harding is. They think Varric will get back up and take over soon, and that enables them to step up in a way that no one else could have.

Varric's death is 100% true to character

Rook thinking Varric is alive allows them to (1) go to him with their doubts; (2) tackle their fear of being in charge, believing it will only be temporary; and (3) be on task without needing to grieve first.

Rook believing Varric is alive allows a first-time player of Dragon Age to connect with Varric rather than having someone they don't know die at the beginning with no emotional pay out.

I personally think the way Varric's death is handled is hecking brilliant.

[unforth]

@esper-aroon has enabled me, so here let me scream at y'all about The Imperial Uncle.

Okay, so I recently read The Imperial Uncle (Huang Shu) by Da Feng Gua Guo from Peach Flower House and I really loved it??? It's first person pov, mlm, about the Emperor's uncle Jing Chengjun, who is mistrusted by everyone simply because of who his parents were and his position, and so he's basically given up on trying to convince people that he's actually a nice, decent person without ulterior motives. He's super trapped by his position, and there's so much he can't say and do, and he's also a hopeless romantic, like, from his own mouth all he really wants is to sleep beside and wake up next to someone who actually gives a shit about him, and even that is basically out of reach in his life. Like, the book starts with his wife (who he has never once had sex with) storming into a meeting he's having and announcing he's a cuckold and she's pregnant.

But also, this poor bastard really thinks he knows what's going on and his very smart. Very unreliable narrator. He's actually kinda a hilarious, impulsive himbo. But the TL:DR is that his loneliness and isolation and the extent to which he's politically trapped routinely lead him to make absolutely terrible decisions.

E. Danglar's translation is absolutely gorgeous, too, and... idk, if you love political plots, melodramatic idiot main characters, a dose of pining, and a slow burn that eventually pays off, come take a look??? (some people think it's a love triangle??? idk, I never really got that vibe, I never felt it was really in doubt which of the two potential dudes he'd end up with, but maybe I only feel that way because I got it right, lmao).

Anyway, I can't stop thinking about how these two idiots end up finally finding each other and getting together, and I have an entire AU in my head (a modern corporate one) and part of another (canon divergent from like a decade before the book starts), and I just want people to love this book as much as I did and scream with me about it.

[merakiui]

don’t forget during the Halloween event (the one where they go to the underworld) ace asks to go check on you when ur missing without anyone asking! And tells u how scared he was that u were missing 🥺

Aaaa yes!!! He's so fond of the player. It's very cute. orz he loves spending time with them as well. There are so many times in which Ace invites the player to Heartslabyul events or it's implied he spends time over at Ramshackle. >w< but if anyone were to ask why he seems so attached to you, he would just deny it and get huffy hehe. Insisting that that's not it! Definitely not! Absolutely not!

Ace is genuinely such a good friend to have. If anyone's giving you trouble, he'd be the first to speak his mind on it. A very strong character! His involvement in Heartslabyul book is always very impressive to me because he was the only one out of all of those students to actively and outright resist and speak against Riddle's tyranny even when it landed him punishments and Off With Your Head.

It's such a powerful moment when he stands up to Riddle and gives him the reality check he needs but has never received:

Trey and Cater are near Riddle in a somewhat defensive position. They're still trying to protect and shield him because it's what they've done best in order to mitigate bad behaviors. They know it's wrong, but the mindset of "if it's mostly under control, it's okay," is easier to enable because it's much harder to tell Riddle to his face that what he's doing is wrong. All of what Ace says is true. It's a very valid point! His entire monologue is amazing, especially these parts!!!!!

There are different types of intelligence. Riddle's is very textbook and academic. He's so smart, but when it comes to things like friendship or social situations and cues he's mostly lost because he wasn't given the time as a child to explore and experience (natural) friendship like a normal child. Ace is right; it's terrible that he was raised in such a way, but then Riddle isn't entirely faultless himself. It's up to him to decide whether he wants to continue to perpetuate the cycle his mother subjected him to, just as it's up to him to decide if he wants to change and better himself. No one else can do that for him. They can tell him so, but nothing will change if Riddle doesn't recognize that he needs to reflect and improve.

I also like Ace in that chapter because he's so real and raw with his words. He doesn't sugarcoat it. He lays out the reality of the situation, acknowledges that it's not great, but also explains that just because it's a bad situation it shouldn't be used in a way to enable or excuse Riddle's actions.

Ace plays such a vital role in Heartslabyul's arc. If not for him, this confrontation would not exist and the dorm would likely still function as it did pre-overblot. He's a good friend. He'll call you out on your nonsense if he thinks it's detrimental or just isn't right and that's a very good quality he has! :D

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for repeatedly losing my temper at my kinda-friend? I (17F) have anger issues and I'm working on mitigating it, however, losing my temper always involves yelling and insulting people. Usually I think this is bad and apologize profusely when I lose control.

However, this kinda-friend (16F) who I'll call E, has absolutely no respect for other people's personal belongings, space, or time. She always grabs and plays with my things during class, or our mutual friend's items (16F), and as all three of us are artists, we carry around pretty expensive equipment. (Think Micron ink pens, Winsor & Newton paint, Derwent pencils, etc., just as reference. Thankfully no Copics lmao.)

The mutual friend will be referred to as J.

So, E has been told by both of us to stop taking our art supplies and playing with it, to the point where I'll yell sometimes, and she absolutely refuses to listen to us. She'll claim that she's forgotten what we've told her and put down the item just for her to pick it up again five seconds later. The problem is that she sometimes breaks these items or injures us - she'll play with my x-acto blade and cut me, or break J's graphite pencils, or push my watercolor palette off the desk. I've really tried to be patient about it, but it's proving to be difficult.

J is quite soft spoken, so I end up doing most of the reprimanding. E also brings up inappropriate topics that make J and I uncomfortable, as well as disturbing us when we're busy and then sulking when she doesn't get our immediate attention - once I told her three times to let me do my classwork before snapping, and E cried. She never does anything in school and hates all of our teachers, so she's pretty rude to them. All my work gets copied by her. She really annoys me, but I do feel terrible that I seem to lose control so often around E, since no one deserves to be yelled at.

However, this all came to a peak today when R (16M) and I won prizes for winning a mini-game and asking an interesting question during a seminar at school respectively; the gift was a black notebook that I didn't even like, which is an important tidbit to keep in mind. R left his gift still wrapped in his bag when he left the classroom for break time, so it was just J, E, and myself in there. Upon seeing what I had unwrapped, E went to R's bag and opened it - since all four of us are friends, we thought E was just being "jokingly" invasive as usual and were on alert, but didn't stop her.

J asked what she was doing and E said she was grabbing the gift out of R's bag. This caught my attention, so I asked why she was doing that. E told us that she wanted the book, and when J reminded her that the gift was, in fact, not hers, E said (and I wish I was kidding because this is replaying in my head in 4K HD right now like oh my god pls) "I know. It should be mine." Had she asked for my notebook, I would've given it up happily. I've got too many empty sketchbooks and notebooks at home.

I immediately stood up, but allowed J to handle the situation because I didn't trust myself not to react violently. J eventually lost her temper too and that's when I jumped in and started my yelling routine. I always feel bad whenever I do this, because it's not something I enjoy, but in this particular situation I just can't muster up the guilt? E is extremely irritating, but she tells us she has a horrible home life, so I try to be understanding. Except this was just completely intolerable. R even said that he'd predicted this would happen and to just give her the damn notebook - I vetoed that so we wouldn't enable E.

I really don't know if my reaction was overblown because I shouted a lot and said things like "you were given a brain - use it" and "you're a terrible person with no morals". It's ridiculous to say all that because it's (at the end of the day) high school drama, but I really can't understand why she acted that way. I don't know if I'm in the wrong in this situation. I wish she would listen when we tell her nicely not to do something, but even when I was blowing up at her, she was just smiling as if it was a joke. Should I apologize? I've apologized before when I lost my temper, but I have completely lost all will to be civil with her after this. The teachers are tired too - when she disappears from class or talks back, they just let her be. We can't really go to them because she'll feel betrayed and then get mad at us, which is a whole ordeal, because she's known to destroy and sabotage other people's items because of a grudge.

This is really lengthy. I apologize. I just feel terrible about the situation because I don't feel any guilt for my anger like I probably should. So, AITA?

What are these acronyms?

[zykamiliah]

Hey, sorry to bother you, but I've been seeing something in the fandom that kind of confuses me, so I'm leaving this ask to my favorite svsss blogs.

I've been trying to get more into Shen Jiu's character, as he is pretty interesting and arguably a fan favorite, and I've noticed that, so far of the fanfics I've read, he is more often than not depicted as a good teacher. A harsh one, but still good? Or not terrible?

One that likes teaching, is involved with his students, taking the little of what we've seen of Shen Yuan's teaching methods and just, giving them a twist, "improving" them even sometimes.

Often it ends up being a show of how Shen Yuan was clumsy, not that good of a teacher (or of a Shen Qingqiu) and I'm... Kind of confused by this trend? Like, is it rooted in canon? Obviously this is still more interesting to read than the "SJ is just a tsundere that never did anything wrong ever" thing, but it feels kind of similar.

I cannot imagine a character as genuinely bitter and angry as Shen Jiu enjoying being a teacher, having a nurturing bone in his body or even being hands on in the teaching of his disciples, several of which he literally bullied out of his peak. But maybe it's just me and I'm wrong?

Was Shen Jiu a good teacher?

I guess I'm just curious of where it comes from. I like Shen Yuan's character, and it often feels like people take Shen Jiu's to show how bad at everything SY is, even if it isn't consistent with SJ's character and often lack nuances, in my opinion.

(Or even if the story claims loving SY while also stripping him away of everything that makes him interesting other than his obliviousness, but that's a whole other thing.)

Sorry again, and I also apologize for the long ask, I'd just figured you or someone that follows you might have an answer.

(Also, I get that fandoms gotta fandom, and I'm not saying people shouldn't write it or anything, I may be a strickler for canon but I'm not the police. Write what you want. I just wonder where it comes from, as I figure that knowing its origins might help me in the future, but I promise I'm not trying to start discourse or anything, so I hope I've made my point clear enough without offending anyone.)

hello!! :DD

well sj being ooc in fics is a common thing by now. people tend to portray him softer than he's in canon, to the point it sometimes turns his whole character upside down. in extreme cases, you'll be dealing with a bitter, more tsundere version of sy with sj's backstory, which is secretly what many people want IMO lol often this people also perceive sy as an incompetent dumb nerd that only knows about monster lore and has no other skills or abilities aside from that-- essentially, they fall for the unreliable narrator's trap of believing every lie he tells about himself.

it's never outright stated, but sj didn't like children, so is fair to assume he didn't like teaching or caring for them either. taking into account qing jing peak's toxic atmosphere pre sy's transmigration, AND the fact that sj was paranoid about being overthrown since he hadn't developed a golden core even after becoming a peak lord and taking lbh in, I don't think he'd be interested in teaching anyone anything. in a lot of cultivation novels, disciples are just given manuals and left to self-study them (like he let lbh use the fake manual, expecting lbh would die from using it. haha. such a good teacher!). this could be the case. aside from that, I don't personally think sj would want to provide any kid guidance. and that's not mentioning how he allowed and enabled bullying, targeted talented disciples, and overall was more worried about his own cultivation and survival and reputation than other things or people.

so where this fanon sj comes from? I'm not sure, really, but I think some people just want a version of him that's palatable AND defensible, like my friend furby says, a declawed sj that's just a poor misunderstood meowmeow who deep inside is secretly good and nice. it's a thing that people who struggle with liking "villainous" or "morally bad" characters do: twisting the narrative around to justify this character's actions. It doesn't help that he's SO complicated, and people who have very black-and-white thinking struggle to place him in either side of the spectrum-- it's the problem mxtx outlined through sqh and sqq's voices

ch.14 house arrest

ch.19 shen jiu

really, the fandom has just proved mxtx's point xD

anyway, there's a lot of misconceptions about sj. there are some pretty wild theories around. some fans also treat his abuse as The Worst Abuse in comparison to the Child Abuse he did, because of the (unconfirmed) hints that sj was sexually assaulted by qiu jianluo, as if SA is the worst kind of abuse and child abuse falls back on the tier-list ¯_(ツ)_/¯ because obviously anything that involves sex in inherently worse, apparently

in other cases, people are simply more familiar with the fanon version of the characters, and that's who they portray in their writing. after all, many people read the novel once and then go on to read dozen of fics; it's normal the fanon sticks more on the brain than canon (not judging! it happens to me as well lol) and those fanon versions are more popular because, as i said, this version of sj is more morally palatable (and bland and less fun ┐(︶▽︶)┌)

thank you for the ask!! :DDDD ❤️❤️❤️ i love receiving asks~

[sarucane]

How did Stede leave pirating so easily?

So in the space of 2 episodes, Stede goes from being "the motherfucking man" to an innkeeper, and there's really not *much* in between there--all his scenes are primarily about other characters in the finale. So I wanted to rant about what I think fills in this gap.

Why did Stede become a pirate in the first place? Well, because he wanted to be a "real boy." He wanted to have a life that felt like his own, a life that wasn't swaddled in comfort (completely, at least). He wanted to break the monotony, the despair of a life without room for deep emotions or agency. And he became a certain kind of pirate because he wanted to be someone important and good in the lives of others, not just a marginal figure.

But why did Stede become a pirate the second time?

Ed.

Sure, there were other reasons: he didn't belong with his family anymore, didn't fit in his old life, and trying to have his cake (having run away) and eat it too (coming back) was just hurting everyone. He changed, and they changed, and a foundational truth of this show is that you can't change back.

But the reason he didn't belong with his family anymore was that he had gotten his original wish. He'd become a "real boy," someone who felt things deeply, who didn't need to keep one foot in his old life by hanging onto his wealth. He'd become important and valued in the lives of his crew, which they demonstrated when Chauncy challenged his right to the Act of Grace

But the moment Stede crosses the line forever between his old life and his new one is when he tells Mary "his name is Ed."

When Stede leaves, he falls in with the marooned crew--but he spends more time pining for Ed then talking to them. There's a place for him with his crew, and he fits in it, and we see in E5-6 that he cares deeply about doing right by them.

But neither Ed nor Stede fully fit into the crew when everyone's back together. Ed's caught up in his own self-reckoning, and Stede's splitting attention between the crew and Ed. In a way, they've outgrown Stede: they no longer need his help to enable the community on the ship. They've reached a point where they can deal with the conflicts in E4 by themselves, can absorb Archie and then Izzy and give both of them space to relax and integrate. They like having Stede as captain, but they don't need him anymore. In E7, Stede takes Olu leaving as a betrayal, but even that goes back to Stede being more focused on Ed than on the crew, and acting out over hurt feelings from a fight.

The only thing left that Stede can only get through piracy is the lure of fame. And that's a real perk--Stede genuinely enjoys his taste of infamy in E7. It's fun, it's a fulfillment of a childhood dream.

But it's also hollow, and it's a trap. It's hollow because Bill isn't Stede's real friend, and the loss of Steak Knife wasn't worth Stede dying by challenging Zheng (nor was Stede's ego worth Steaky's death, but that's another thing). And it's a trap because Stede really is a terrible pirate. Stede has to deal with the pirate world without Ed three times during the show. The first time, the Spanish almost kill him; the second time, Spanish Jackie almost maims him; the third time, he challenges Zheng to a duel and refuses to back down, then tries to "ambush" British officers who kick his butt. Stede's fantastic when he stays in his lane of nontraditional piracy, but if he became a really successful traditionally infamous pirate, he'd no longer be Stede.

So Stede doesn't need the infamy of success as a pirate, any more than he needs is pretty clothes (though he likes both). Stede doesn't need to stay a pirate to keep his relationship with the crew, and they don't need him either. Stede doesn't need to go out and be a pirate to feel real things, or think he's "adequate" enough for his father.

But Stede does need to give his relationship with Ed a real chance, to be what they want it to be. And Ed just cannot be a pirate anymore--there's too much damage and pain. Plus, living on the ship, their lives in danger all the time, heightening everything, pushing their actions out of their control. Their relationship was crushed under that pressure in S2, and it's still a pretty fragile thing. They need space and time. And by leaving the ship, they can have it.

For Stede, piracy meant belonging, love, and fulfillment.

He has those things now: He's got Ed. He doesn't need piracy anymore.

[violet-moonstone]

thinking about how teenage dagur was sent to outcast prison for years despite doing the the same things the outcasts themselves were doing

and while yes, we all love dragons because we saw httyd 1 and we know how loveable they can be, dagur really has no reason to think of them as anything other than monsters to hunt, nor does he have a reason to trust berk for allying with dragons

and how he was basically a kid with no structure in his life, trying to prove himself as a leader, surrounded by yes men who enabled his terrible behaviour

and how prison only made him a worse person, and if he had been sentenced to something else instead - like helping to repair communities he'd harmed or take care of dragons, he probably could have had a redemption arc a lot sooner. he had no strong emotional bonds in his life and i think continually engaging in empathy would have made a difference.

don't get me wrong, I love villain dagur in race to the edge

but also...alvin, a mentally stable grown man, gets let off the hook for changing his mind at the last moment

and dagur, clearly an unstable kid in need of help, is thrown into a dungeon for shit the adults in his life took part in

also yes, I know this show takes place in a time before things like therapy but restorative justice is not a modern invention and there are examples of cultures in history using that instead of just execution or imprisonment

anyway

yeah...ive been thinking about dagur a lot recently, if that's not abundantly obvious

[lady-loveluck]

unfortunately my brainworms reside in peter spankoffski, so here are some little headcanons!!

sfw

- he's not cis. i don't imagine him as a trans guy, though, i think that stephanie did his makeup or put him in a skirt or something one time and it activated his brain a little bit too much to be normal.

- oral fixation. he. bites. EVERYTHING. he didn't fully stop using a pacifier until he was almost nine years old, and that was just because ted kept enabling him to avoid peter gnawing on him like a chew toy. his nails are destroyed, his lips are shredded, and he somehow still insists that he doesn't need anything to help with it.

- blatant autism mention. he has a special interest in chemistry and astronomy, and fixations on lego, star trek, pokemon, and spiderman, among many others.

- he's got TERRIBLE vision. yeah, he wears glasses, but he NEEDS those things. his vision is fucked. he one time lost his glasses before a hangout and ruth and richie basically had to be his eyes, he couldn't read a single sign and nearly tripped on cracks in the sidewalk a million times. terrible experience for him, hilarious experience for ruth and richie.

nsfw....

- bottom. for the most part, at least. he could maybe top if he really wanted, but he defaults to bottoming pretty easy.

- praise kink. he has an INSANE praise kink. call him a good boy? he's drooling. call him pretty? he just came. it will possibly make him cry after, though. what bullying does to a loser. also body worship because he is horribly insecure and he deserves it as a treat.

- honestly??? he's a freak. he'd be into some weird shit! he'd piss his pants and cum from it for sure. he'd absolutely let stephanie spit in his mouth. if she smacked his ass while pegging him, he'd probably cum so hard he passes out. freaky guy.

- also he'd like wearing a skirt during sex. i don't care what anyone says. he'd like being feminized and having stephanie run a hand through his hair while calling him a pretty girl. which would also maybe add to the not cis thing.

-👅

Sharing this for the Pete enjoyers uwu love these hcs!

[cyberphuck]

It peeves me a little that most fanart of Laurent Captive Prince makes him into this soft, uguu pantybottom boy-- (spoilers for the entire Captive Prince trilogy under the cut and discussion of sexual assault, torture, grooming, suicide and incest)

--when in the books he's a ruthless vessel of hatred and vengeance who is super okay with torture, rape, and torture involving rape for the first two books and only didn't get around to ordering the rape-torture of anyone in Kings Rising because he was too busy having a shitload of people publicly flogged to death. I love Laurent, I love his character, I love his story arc, I love his development through the books, but I feel like so many people forget that he becomes a more open person by the end of Kings Rising, not a softer one. The guy who knew Aimeric was being groomed by the Regent but threatened him with his go-to type of torture (the rape kind), publicly humiliated him, then goaded him into and enabled his suicide is the same guy that defends Damen in the third book and the same guy who immediately commits regicide afterwards. He's still ruthless, he's still dangerous, and although he'd feel conflicted about it, I think that he'd still order the rapetorture of anyone who stood between him and his goals. Do you think that he'd hesitate for one second to order a bunch of dudes to fuck Kastor to death (or at least pointedly look the other way if dicks started pouring in through the windows) if he'd thought there was time for that? Laurent isn't like Damen, and never becomes like Damen: not only does Laurent kick people when they're down, he keeps kicking them until they are dead of Kick and makes sure everyone knows who killed them and why. Pacat is asking you to consider all of Laurent in the last book, not just the parts that are nicer now that he's had non-incestuous sex and discovered clothing that doesn't take two hours to put on. Nik comes in to remind you what Laurent had done to Damen in the very recent past when he sees the Scars From The Time Laurent Tried To Have Him Whipped To Death While Also Keeping Him As a Slave and goes ballistic. Oh yeah, you say, Laurent did do that. Damen made a choice to forgive him for it, but the scars are very much still there to say right, right, Laurent is dangerous. We forgive him for it, he is making changes, holy shit he just killed someone with a chair. That Damen acknowledges that Laurent has done terrible things and still loves him shows what kind of man Damen is and how his opinion of Laurent has changed as they've grown closer and also had sex. He's not surprised when Nik points out the scars, and he doesn't try to hide them from anyone. He didn't forget about them. He just chose to forgive. Pretending that none of that happened, or that none of that is a part of him anymore, and turning him into Damen's Arm Candy is doing everyone a disservice. Laurent, Damen, Aimeric, Nicaise's severed head, everyone. Laurent killed so many people to get here and he deserves recognition for it.

[kuruna]

Something I keep thinking about with AZ and Xan is them remembering events from their past differently (since you know, memories are rarely if ever objective and are influenced by the emotions experienced at the time of their formation). I've mentioned before that Xan sorta idolized AZ to an unhealthy degree, and a lot of that idolization was caused by the simple fact that the AZ that existed in his head and the AZ that existed in his life were entirely different people! The AZ that existed in his head was a messiah, not an... intelligent but moody guy with anger issues 😭

I've talked about it a little bit, but a Very significant event in their childhood was an event in which AZ's leg was damaged while he was trying to save Xan from being harmed in a rockfall. They were playing somewhere they shouldn't have (Xan's idea 💔), and so Xan blamed himself for his injury. Xan was too little to do much of anything to help at the time. His feeling of helplessness and having to find someone who was Bigger and Stronger who could help shaped the way Xan interacted with AZ from that point on.

Xan was scared of getting his brother hurt again and so he took on the role of Protector... he was willing to sacrifice himself if it meant helping his brother. AZ loves and cares for his brother.... but he was also a young teen at the time, and an asocial one at that 😭 he kind of took advantage of this for awhile. It was only as he grew older he started to dislike Xan's clinginess/protectiveness.

And later during the war against Galar, AZ proved that he was in fact powerful and capable and more. it sorta made Xan spiral. His brother didn't need his protection! His brother didn't even want his protection. If Xan couldn't be there to keep him safe and watch over him, then what purpose did he serve?

Hmm... Xan's controlling behaviors when AZ was king... in addition to the dynamic between them at the time being the way it was, was probably due to Xan disliking when AZ did anything that clashed with the "messiah" image of him he'd formed. When AZ acted a bit too Human 😭 and also... AZ and Xan both had a terrible habit of really strongly attaching themselves to a singular person (Xan had more friends than just AZ, but AZ was the most important person to him), but... while Xan attached himself to AZ, AZ attached himself to Floette. He didn't share that same closeness with his brother.

Anyways 💔 I think AZ regrets enabling this sort of behavior even if he didn't even realize he was doing it at first 😭 And I keep thinking about whether or not Xan's idolation died with the use of the Ultimate Weapon... It's a question I have a hard time answering for myself! I think Yes, for the most part, but that there's also some part of it that remains because even now... perhaps now more than ever, actually... his brother is more akin to a god than a human. ...I started typing this up because I was thinking about how talking about the past probably leads to AZ being like !?!?!?!? because of how their memories differ from one another, and in turn having to reveal things that he's not proud of having done... AZ wonders if some things that happened later on could've been avoided if he'd simply been nicer to his brother to begin with 😭

[lemonfairy-yearns]

Template by @espresso-ships

and for fun I'm going to over-explain my answers >:)

who's most likely to-

get a tattoo of their s/o's name: its Beetlejuice. bro has a lot of old tattoos of people he thought he'd be with forever but ditched his weird ass after they saw that(among other things). Pontiferous would NEVER put a lover's name on himself because in fae etiquette that would be like taking ownership of someone permanently, and that's a little too far for him.

fall for a scam: Pontiferous has almost NO digital/telephone "street smarts", but since he's usually surrounded by royal advisors or Beej(a professional scam artist), He's safe enough from wiring all his money to whoever asks nicely.

beat up someone who was mean to their s/o: both of them certainly WOULD, but Beej is more willing to use his trickster powers on a dime to amuse himself and/or on anyone who inconveniences him/Ponti. He often just starts messing with people just to make Pontiferous laugh(which works). If Ponti were to administer karmic justice onto someone being rude to his Bug(Beetlejuice), the person being rude better enjoy their new existence as a box of chocolate dipped cockroaches set on Beej's beside table. pushing Pontiferous to this point a bit harder though.

send an illicit text to the wrong person: Pontiferous is a very steamy romantic but TERRIBLE at managing his phone contacts. He has a line outside his bedroom of fairies who got the wrong text but would like to have a word with the prince if they may be so bold ;3 . Beej can barely get his phone to turn on with his greasy fingers, so he just writes Very Formal Emails on his ancient PC (because he's been a bio-exorcist for so long he has cracked getting messages to the people they're meant to get to. He's got a website and form letters and everything ooOOoh, web designer moment.)

Drink too much: Beej enjoys drinking more, and Pontiferous LOVES to spurn him on so he can see how much Beej can put away before he starts committing property damage. Also Beej is a Cocktails enjoyer, whereas Ponti enjoys drinks with alcohol added as a bonus flavor(eg: whiskey coffee, Bailys hot cocoa).

Forget an anniversary: Beetlejuice doesn't even realize that they have an anniversary(he hesitates to think they're even dating) and Pontiferous is too "polite" (read: cowardly) to remind him. but he has the exact date and time written in a book to give to Beej when they both eventually assert that they are indeed dating.

Burn the kitchen down when cooking: Beetlejuice, but make no mistake it is PART OF HIS RECIPE. he has a PLAN do NOT get in the way.

Apologizes first: Pontiferous is the king of over-apologizing, usually just to get people to shut up and because he needs to be thought of as polite, but. He's tired of being nice. He wants to go ape shit. Beej enables this.

Initiates a kiss: at any given moment, Pontiferous may need to be tied down to keep him from making out sloppy style with that freak for 6 solid hours. his advisors are so tired of his ass, why does he want that one???