#but tbh that's like completely against her character. it would be more in line for her to sacrifice herself to let him go

[idontdrinkgatorade]

i think i finally have a concept to replace one of my old OC concepts and believe it or not it actually came in a dream

[catastrophicdisasters]

apologies, i'm still angry abt TUA S4

so, if we take out all of the blatant issues with the season (character assassination, 'resolutions' that create more plotholes than they solve, rushed scenes that make no sense, side plots that go nowhere, raymond vanishing for no reason, etc etc), what are we left with? let's see:

fatphobia (multiple jokes made about 'chubby Diego', when David just looks hydrated and healthy)

SA played for jokes (it's clear that Klaus having sex while possessed is supposed to be funny, but he's being held hostage and forced to do this for money, when we already know he didn't even want his powers back??)

cheating

problematic / borderline problematic age gaps (either way you spin it, either Five is physically 20-26 while Lila is likely mid 40s, or Five is mentally 70s while Lila is mid 40s; Aidan was 19 while filming, and Ritu was 34)

waiting for the actor to come of age before introducing a romance (we already know what some fans can be like over Five/Aidan, this will not have helped; I would be horrified if I found out the show runners had planned a romance arc with a coworked 15 years older than me and then waited for me to turn legal age to execute it)

sexism (i was reluctant to call it that but i also don't know what else to call it - Lila basically had her agency stripped away to become the love interest two men fought over; Steve wanted Five to have a romance and didn't care who with - use Lila simply because she was there)

complete disregard of character trauma (Klaus being buried alive despite it having been mentioned in every prior season that he was locked in a mausoleum by Reginald, including literally being left to die)

possible overstepping of an actor's boundaries (i've not been able to verify this, but i've seen it said that robert sheehan has requested not to do sex scenes?) (still havent been able to prove this; wasn't an issue with other roles so... hesitant to leave it)

actors requests being ignored (David asked multiple times if the Lila cheating sideplot was required, but clearly it went ahead anyway)

bad cgi

that awful vomit montage

Reginald (im not quite calling it abuse forgiveness but uh. it's not far off tbh)

i don't even know what to call this, but basically told the Hargreeves the abuse they suffered was their fault because they shouldn't even exist??

what did i miss? (im sure there's something)

from the replies:

the song in the ep3 dance scene uses a slur for romani people (and is also about a man and an underage girl)

SA dismissal (it's literally never addressed that Allison SA'd Luther last season. like, at all. everything's just a-okay now!)

more sexism (Allison's arc was also reduced to serving men; there's a single line to explain that Ray left, with no mention of why (i could go OFF about this but this post isn't supposed to be about mishandling of characters); even after everything, all her bonding with Claire comes through Klaus's storyline. also, Sloane is just gone and nobody gives a shit - Luther has one line and that's it??)

so many issues with consent (all of the girls shown in the place Klaus works look drugged / Klaus doesn't want to be there and doing any of that, it's all against his wishes / they all get their powers back against their wishes - although they do tell Ben that wasn't his choice to make / Klaus gets his powers back against his will when Allison is pressured to do it to save his life)

[alicentsgf]

why are people so pressed about how Alicent ends up this season??? Like hotd hasn’t been good since s1 people also criticized everything back then but tbh Alicent from s1 was always headed to where she ends up?? I thought it was common knowledge that her last choice would always going to be duty vs love and s1 stated very well that Rhaenyra is that freedom for Alicent???? I absolutely hated the things they put Alicent through (alicole sex and for what? All of her sons being a dick to her??) her arc this season was badly executed but to blame and think that the writers are catering to rhaenicents? seems a bit stretch when the ship is hated by the majority of the show. We can argue in the journey of how Alicent get to the point she is now but it was clear for the beginning that the head of TG?? She would never be, sometimes I think that thanks to most of the general viewers didn’t understand Alicent as a character the writers thought if we put her in these humiliating scenes the viewers would understand that she is a victim of the patriarchy and the men who surround her, but I guess not even with that the GA and fandom as whole could ever understand her character and honestly im good with it, she’s a walking contradiction and i have read her character like that since the beginning, good riddance tho to the obnoxious people that kept bad talking Olivia for only doing her job (this is not a dig to you but the extended fandom that are attacking Olivia again for her character)

Why are we upset now? Because we dared to hope lmao. And now we're realising theres absolutely no coming back from this (it was already mostly ruined i know).

I think the issue is the choice between duty and love should have been made when she chose her children and grandchildren over viserys wish for rhaenyra to rule. Choosing love didnt have to and shouldnt have meant choosing rhaenyra. Like finally FINALLY she lets herself cast duty aside, because "what is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms", "you never love anything in the world the way you love your first child", "you imbecile (affectionate)", etc etc. That is what works in line with the original story AND the sympathetic sides of alicent we saw with in season 1. Sure motherhood shouldn't define women but this is a story abt a fucking lineage !! What do people expect. Of course its going to be about parents and children.

F&B might have been bare bones, but it at least had a strong political backbone to it thats been completely removed this season. That direction would have offered more oppertunities for alicent to be explored as a multifacted character. The problem is that because they angled this as a story primarily about misogyny rather than a story about the inevitability of the targaryen line imploding, they maybe thought they couldnt do that without making alicent look like an unsympathetic agent of patriarchy. (Most of the audience read her that way anyway so they did a pretty crappy job avoiding it). Rhaenyra represented a certain freedom for alicent in the story, sure, im not against that at all, but for the writers to suggest literally being with Rhaenyra is what alicent needs to do to achieve freedom from duty? To free herself from the shackles or patriarchy?? (🙄) Its so laughable. Alicents little grandson had to have his head sown back on for his funeral and Rhaenyras faction sent the assassin. Her daughter was traumatised. You dont just fucking come back from that. Really we should have known when viserys died how this was gonna go and I think in some ways we did because a big number of us were upset with the misunderstanding then, we just didnt want to believe what this signaled about where they were taking alicent. People are upset now because alicents character has become totally unrectifiable. We just never believed they'd diverge so much from the known plot points of fire and blood.

As for this bit you said:

" I think that thanks to most of the general viewers didn’t understand Alicent as a character the writers thought if we put her in these humiliating scenes the viewers would understand that she is a victim of the patriarchy and the men who surround her, but I guess not even with that the GA and fandom as whole could ever understand her character and honestly im good with it, she’s a walking contradiction and i have read her character like that since the beginning."

I have thought this myself and unfortunately I think you're right. In an effort to make alicent sympathetic they have created the most convoluted character i've ever laid my eyes on. Towards the end of season 1 we were already saying her being so forgiving after driftmark made no sense, but i was compelled enough by her because of olivias performance of that scene with the knife to be willing to wait to see where they took her this season. And its been an exercise in more of the same stupid shit. The issues in season 1 have just been amplified by the realisation that season 2 is just the same thing again and again and again for alicent. Shes just a punching bag and im sure thats in an attempt to get the audience to feel bad for her, because i cant see any other reason for it, but its just so badly written that shes no longer compelling or interesting or likeable really at all. Theres nothing to root for when you dont know who someone is. I have so little to say about her this season and that hurts honestly. Olivias performances deserved much better writing.

[zhuoyichenpretty]

Ep 27 Commentary

Again, a little hastily thrown together, but there's a bit of meta in there! Somewhere...If you squint...

Spoilers under the cut:

Lmao I did not make it five minutes into this episode without crying.

I'm not sure if this is the consensus but tbh I'm doubly glad for PSJ's character in the way her relationship with WX sort of throws off the conventional tropes WX's character toes the line of falling into and instead develops a narrative that is squarely their own. It's important to me how much she personally centers WX (and WX returns the favor, bringing PSJ back into the fold every time I worry she's being sidelined). The way she turns to WX in this opening scene, it's distinctive that PSJ grieves for her, alongside her own angst over their friends' apparent sacrifices. And I like the contrast of their gazes, her anger as Ying Long laughs at them, and WX's deadened stare.

In PSJ's presence, WX's words become more than a self-loathing lamentation (which, also, very understandable, if I were her I'd have snapped by this point too) or a monologue to a seemingly uncaring ancient audience; it's a burden shared between two people. And actually, it's a burden that PSJ grabs hold of from WX and forces her to share. That slap was crazy work tbh, the force of it, but ultimately how much more it looked like it hurt PSJ to deliver than WX to receive. And the way WX first looks back up at her after the slap is so painfully vulnerable and young. Something about the tilt of her head and the line of her brow. We don't get a direct shot of it in that specific moment (another thing kept private between characters!) but just from WX's profile, her gaze is so expressive in its hopelessness, its despondency. In the immediate aftermath of the sacrificial freezing, I would wager PSJ is the only thing WX looks at and can actually see.

And while I'm sure PSJ would grieve deeply on her own over losing ZYC and ZYZ, those tears, that sob she lets out, and the way she holds WX imo all very specifically seem to be her heart bleeding for the woman she loves. Such subtext, plus the preceding wordless and purely physical scene of the suicide attempt and slap, is to me altogether kind of uncommon for female characters in this style of drama to be afforded (at least the ones I've seen) so it does make a difference to me that we have that here. All in all, I love the rashness they are allowed, the respective impulsivity that we're offered because they have each other to ultimately fall against.

Gotta love how obviously PSJ is sick of Ying Long's shit. Also PSJ always the master of wasting zero time like thank you girl I do want to see what's in that box.

What do you mean ZYC has preemptively given WX back the gift of comfort after grief and loss, the assurance that it will pass? That he's kept the flowers all this time and has thought through his own potential demise with such clarity and has prepared for soothing the grief of those who will be left behind before he's even gone, precisely because he's been in that very position? I really truly can't with ZYC. I've hardly seen a modern male protagonist with a heart so full of this particular brand of intensely sensitive, complex, attentive, and careful love, and so freely given, too.

Also CDL (Wen Xiao's actress) coming up with new ways to cry is honestly impressive with how many crying scenes the show puts her through. Her sobbing as she explains the flowers to PSJ is so raw to me. I really think she excels at these extreme line deliveries.

Bingyi!!! Also Ying Long your completely unfettered adoration for Bingyi is showing through your gaze man stand upppp (but also I get it).

The barest hint of a smile in Bingyi's expression as he recounts Ying Long fighting alongside him. This man is in looooove.

I like that they put reverb in Ying Long's voice for the consistency with present-day Ying Long but I also kind of wish they did that for Bingyi's voice.

Ying Long I know you died for the sake of the world and all but the fact that you made Bingyi cry like that.....twice.......and he kept your soul and your dragon bone in his own clan's tomb............oh how he must have mourned you..................Bingyi I would treat you right just saying

Oh god the Bingyi clan's tender-heartedness. Literally one of my favorite traits in a fictional man thank youuuuuu.

That paralleling of scenes when ZYC comes back from the future and we get to see him and ZYZ as Ying Long and Bingyi staring at each other wowowoww the soulmatism is insane. There's so much affection in ZYC's voice and gaze.

Headcanon that ZYC sucks at math because there's five of you/?? wb YING LEI heLLO?

Yes!!! The triumphant OST music as they're brought back!! That shit hits so hard, I really gotta appreciate the soundtrack once again. And oof the first moment ZYZ is unfrozen and just looks at ZYC and then the fact that when ZYC fully turns around and they meet eyes the literal lyrics say, "I've found you" twice, once for each of them. what in the ROMANCE wow

The queer panning!!! On PSJ and ZYC my two belovedssss ouch. But yeah the camera could not be clearer on who's watching whom and pining for and yearning over whom. Maybe a pan to ZYC alone would be ambiguous but both PSJ and ZYC? Gay.

Ying Long dragon bone pulsing like a video game objective to get their attention during the emotional reunion makes me giggle ngl

Oh god the mpreg joke. I've come across this scene so many times by now but I literally cannot sit through it without biting my fist I cannot believe this made it to the final cut lmfaooooo

Also given how many transitions this drama is missing in terms of scene-to-scene flow and continuity, I really love that we get to watch them walk away and pick up the flowers and the box and PSJ her bow and arrows.

The way ZYC waits up for WX after her convo with Bai Yan. His concern for her re: Princess Longyu and the flashback to when they were young...her implication that he's one of the sources of light in her life and how we know she's the same for him...this is the platonic m/f bond of the year for me I think. He loves her so so much!!! And that's her mf bestie!!!!

I devolved into just reactions by the end there I'm sorry!! But I'm running out of time so that's a wrap!

[ivomartins]

I see many people consider Dmitry a redflag LI but to me he's a morally grey character: he finds a strange girl amidst the rift and assigns her a place in the squad instead of, you know, just taking Lane hostage when she's made it clear she's pursuing her own goals and only compels to the squad's decisions because she has to.

I understand why the interrogation episode is icky for many people but for me the devil is in details: Dmitry stops the interrogation because he doesn't want to hurt Lane further, and the whole situation can be seen as a necessary evil from the squad's pov, given Lane's actions. And at the same time, Lane doesn't deserve that shit either: she's all alone in a trust-no-one situation, and now she sees very clearly that the squad is not her friends.

To me that's what moral greyness is: different interpretations of the situation, when you can see motivation of both parties without whitewashing them.

Dmitry's conversation about turning your weakness into your strength adds another facet to his character, just like the stolen babushka gift 😭. I love the way Alexandra shows that he actually cares about Lane through him wanting to give her a chocolate bar or helping her with the work and sacrificing his sleep.

And the soulmatism of their branch is so well done. It's not "your mc is promised to this LI although you'd rather have her killed him in a cold blood" but "yes the situation we found themselves in is fucked up and bleak but at least we have each other because in another universe we'd pass each other by without looking back"

And I love how you can see Dmitry lashing out in the latest episodes, with more and more people in the squad dying, because he's responsible for their lives, he's the leader. And you, as a player, can choose Lane's reaction to his behaviour.

But the thing that truly made me sympathize with him is him telling Lane "It would be sad to lose my humanity while hunting for monsters and become one in other people's eyes. I hope I haven't cross that line yet?.."

That's how you write morally grey characters! 🙌

P.S. His latest CG fucks

i'm shook tbh that some people consider dmitry a red flag LI 😭 like yeah. the interrogation scene was iffy and lane didn't deserve that. but the world has literally gone to shit and this is a man who's been forced by circumstances to blur the lines of his morality for the greater good and the safety of the people around him ??? when we take that and the post-apocalyptic survival-of-the-fittest setting into consideration, plus the fact that lane was sus from day 1 and didn't really make any effort to prove herself trustworthy, the interrogation makes perfect sense

and like you said the morally grey nature to dmitry is the most interesting thing about him especially when it ties into the development of his bond with lane like !!!! with cain there's affinity in their position as outcasts and the apathetic nature they share, suspended above everything, untouched by what otherwise jars everyone else in the squad

but with dmitry their affinity lies in dmitry having a different nature to lane and still being drawn to her despite that, still accepting her to the point where she points a fucking gun at his head and he doesn't even flinch 😭 and doesn't even hold it against her later on like ??? there's so much devotion and unconditional acceptance to it and for me personally as someone who's on the whisper path it's definitely giving "the hero loving the monster and cherishing their blood-soaked hands" kinda dynamic

like it's "human" organic soulmatism like you called it, to balance out the otherworldly ambiguous soulmatism with cain. ugh i can't enough of it

i also love how he's been lashing out too and that not even lane has been exempt from that because he's just under that much pressure. i just adore how every single character has been written with their own role to play in the story, completely independent from lane, and they all get to develop just as much as she does as the story goes on 🥹

(and yes his cgs have been superior, even to cain, since day 1. i will die on that hill)

[sugaimhome]

country house setting kth -  part three

pairing: 19th century taehyung x reader

minors do not interact!!!

warnings (this part): age gap (10 years, readers 18, he’s 28), masturbation??,  smut, smooching, some kind of breeding kink is mentioned? idk either tbh, hes soft af, sex, yandere (? he’s very obsessed with her and her innocence, still, lol), hints towards previous abuse, distant father figure, the messed up society of 19th century britain. 

words: 7k

series summary: your isolated manor house has nothing interesting going on. but when the abandoned manor near to yours has a new occupant, things change. taehyung is obsessed with you from the day you first knock his door. he’d do anything for you, even if it meant going against your father’s wishes, even if it meant you losing something very important to your future marriage on the way, something that would force your fathers hand.

part one  part two  part three  masterlist

explanation of the title: a literacy genre where fictional characters are often isolated and alone living in a country house.

A/N: its been a month since the last chapter... i am so so sorry for taking such a long time but i am really happy with this. please enjoy the little cliff hanger at the end, though we all know what the answer will be... don’t we?

Taehyung woke in the morning, bars of light that filtered through his bedroom hitting his face. Here, the sun rose and woke him every morning. It dyed everything in his room orange, a colour that seemed to light his body and fuel his very essence. He had never been a morning person, but these past few days, that seemed to have changed. Taehyung had let you sleep in, he had pressed his ear to your door, just hoping to hear you, to make sure it all hadn’t been a dream, just hearing your soft breathing through the door. He sighed, knowing you were safe. 

“Care.” he had whispered into the chilly air as he climbed down the wooden stairs, being careful not to creak them and wake you up. Care was something he had not felt in a while, he had had friends in London, of course he had, but they were never the kind of friend you cared for. They were friends that were there but only when they wanted to be. It was hard to explain, hard to think about, but Taehyung did not feel a slight tinge of regret for leaving them without a note. He had loved his father, as every child loves their parents, but his care for him extended little past the age of 10, and that was over 15 years ago. He’d never met his mother, and his sister, the only one he had cared for out of all of them, had betrayed him. Care was a thing of the past, but he felt it for you… Pausing on one of the stairs, he lets that information sink in for a little bit. He had known you, what? Two days?

Now, he watches you. You're staring open mouthed at the blurb of a book you had picked up in this little bookstore. The two of you are stuffed down a thin line of two shelves of books, you’re between Taehyung and a wall, meaning that you’re completely safe, giving Taehyung an odd sense of calm he hadn’t realised he had needed, and had no need to feel, you were at a market, what was going to hurt you here? The book you had picked up read “Northanger Abbey - A Lady.” Once you had finished reading the back of the book, slowly, with your pinky nail tracing the words, you sighed, looking up at Taehyung and saying. “I didn’t know women could write!” you’re whisper- shouting with happiness. “Isn’t that amazing?” you ask him, and he only nods in response. It was amazing. You look at the book one last time, being gentle with its new, but fragile, spine you place it back on the shelf. 

“Would you like the Novel?” Taehyung asks, reaching towards it. It was only 12 shillings, that was nothing to him, you were worth thousands more than that.

“Oh,” you reply, that delightful blush spreading on your cheeks when you get shy. “No, I don’t expect that of you.” 

Taehyung could see that you were torn, part of you really wanted the book, the only books you had had access to were the ones in your fathers library. Y//N wanted the book. That was clear, but you also didn’t want to upset him, you didn’t want to use his money. He sighs, knowing he’ll have to work hard for you to allow him to buy this. “When was your birthday?” he asks. 

“March” you reply, your head tilting to the side in confusion. “Why?”

“Then I should buy it for you, as I didn’t get you a present.” 

“March was months ago!” you exclaim, a beautiful smile on your lips. “You didn’t even know me then!”

“That was very rude of me, not knowing you, let me buy it.” Taehyung grins, picking up the book and holding it at arms length from you. You don’t even try to fight him for it, you just follow behind him as you head towards the owner. He smiles at the two of you as you approach the counter. “Good Morning” Taehyung says, he can just see you smiling up at him from the corner of his eye. 

“Good Morning” the man says, watching Taehyung place the book down on the desk. “Oh, thank goodness someone's finally buying this, I haven't been able to sell it in months”

“Oh! Why's that?” you exclaim, turning your mouth down with the shock of it. Was it a bad book?

“Women shouldn’t be writing” he says, turning his nose up at both you and the book. “Sewing, that's your job.”

You step back a little in shock, the man's spit pretty much hitting you in the face. Taehyung steps in front of you, holding your hand behind his back. “Thank you very much, but we’ll be leaving that here. Have a good day.” He slides the book towards the shop owner, its wooden cover making a shrill noise as he pushes it down against the wood. Then the two of you are storming from the little shop, the bell and the door tinkling and slamming behind you as Taehyung rushes into the street. 

When he turns to you, he’s disappointed to see you pouting. “I am sorry” he says, looking down at you, he desperately wants to touch your face but such shows of affection in public are frowned upon. “I would have gotten you the book but-”

“It’s okay” you cut in, reaching out to hold his hand again, against his, your hand is warm. It sets flames up his arm and into his soul. “I didn’t know people could be so-”

He watches you as you pause, looking for the right word. “Rude” he finishes, and damn the public he raises his hand to your cheek, letting you find comfort in his soft touch. “I promise not everyone is rude.” 

It’s an unrealistic promise, he knew for himself that kindness is less common than it should be, people like Y/N shouldn’t be exposed to the awful part of the world. He takes in a breath, refraining from storming back into the shop and punching the shop owner in the face. “Shall we go?” you ask, possibly noticing his rising anger. 

“After the Dress-Makers” he replies, by then his anger would have dissipated anyway.

“Dress-Makers?!” you exclaim, pulling your hand away from his. Taehyung had half expected this reaction.

“You need dresses that fit you better.” he sighs. “Please let me buy you one.” 

“Only one.” you reply, trying to sound in control.

He nods his head. Once the shop had your measurements, he could buy you as many dresses as he wanted, and you could do nothing about it. Taehyung also promised himself he would go above and beyond getting you that book, you had looked so interested in reading something that wasn’t from your fathers library.

“Then we’ll go home, dinner will be ready then” he says, watching you as a curious emotion crosses your face. “If, of course, you want to eat with me.”

“I would appreciate that.” you reply, looking to the floor with that shy blush again, it makes Taehyung's stomach flip. 

***

“Where have you been all day?” your father shouts from his study. Obviously, much to your displeasure he was very aware of your absence, you had thought that you had just maybe gotten away with it. You were still on a high, flying amongst the clouds with the birds from your day with Taehyung and you were struggling to find the lie that you knew you would ultimately tell him.

“Walking the grounds!” you shout back, making your way up the stairs quickly so he wouldn’t see the dress you had borrowed from Taehyung's sister. Your father could be rude and inconsiderate, but he would definitely notice your different clothes. When he doesn’t reply, you realise you’d gotten away with it, and after shutting the door to your bedchamber / art room, you allow yourself to fly onto your bed, little specks of dust catapulting upwards with your disturbance. They dance around each other in the bars of light. Taehyung had insisted on walking you home, naturally, and he had kissed you again on your doorstep the way he had the night before. With one hand tangled through your hair and another gripping your waist. You realise how naive you felt in that moment, you had never known that such things as this were possible, and now, staring at your awful painting of two people kissing across your room you almost debate chucking it into the fire. Yet, despite your naivety, you knew there was more, there was more to a kiss than what Taehyung had already shown you. You could tell because, even when he pulled away from you, you could still see his hands itching to keep hold of you, to do more. You just didn’t know what that was, and you desperately wanted to. 

Tomorrow you will go to dinner with him again. You had met Victoria today, his maid, and you had loved her, her food had been amazing too. She had fussed over you this morning like no one had ever before, correcting your corset and pinning your hair back in light curls, something you hadn’t even known you were supposed to do. All of that had to go before you came home though, your father would definitely be suspicious if your hair was styled in the modern fashion. You sigh, half hoping your father would move to London for a month like he used to do years ago. It was always at the most random of times, and you would be left to roam the grounds and house with little restraint. He hadn’t been on one of those trips in over nine months, so that hope was out the window. 

All you wanted was for you and Taehyung to be alone forever. You had known each other for two days, but you knew that it was right. 

***

Months flew by. Most nights you would go to Taehyungs and eat, but you didn’t sleep there again. He kissed you whenever he got the chance, his hands roaming more comfortably around the rest of your body, but he hadn’t gone any further with you, a further that you knew existed just out of your grasp. There were a few times where you nearly got caught, like now, your father knocking the door when your head is resting comfortably against Taehyung's shoulder, the two of you just talking and watching the fire flicker. You had to hide upstairs whilst your father discussed a very important matter.

“Good Evening, sir” Taehyung greeted him as he opened the door, he did well at hiding the shock from his voice. “You are more than welcome to come in.” 

You can imagine him stepping aside to let your father into his home, somewhere that had been free of his taint for months. “Thank you, but I am in a little bit of a rush.” 

“That is not a problem. How can I help you, sir?” Taehyung replies, with perfect calm and patience in his voice. 

“It is just that I have received an urgent message, business you see, to return to London for a month.” you can almost hear the sigh in his voice. “I would appreciate it if you could watch over the grounds for me. Y/N should be home, but I would be a fool to trust the incompatibility of women these days. You don’t mind, do you?” There's an odd humor to his last phrase that has your stomach hitting the floor. Your value to your father seemed to lessen and lessen with each passing day. 

“No problem at all.” Taehyung replies, you can hear the tightness in his voice, with the want to defend you. Your stomach that had hit the floor rises again. A whole month with just the two of you. Bliss. Paradise. A miracle. “When will you be leaving?” he asks.

“By sunrise tomorrow, I would like to be on the road before Dawn.” 

This really was a last minute trip. Wonderful. 

“I will come up and make sure everything is in order as you leave, I will see you in the morning sir.” Taehyung says, in his voice, a sense of command that even your father could and would not deny. 

You assume your father nods his thankfulness as the door shuts downstairs. You worry momentarily that he had been looking for you, and you weren’t home. “Y/N” Taehyung shouts, pulling you from your thoughts. “He has gone!” 

You're sprinting down the stairs, holding your dress so as to not fall, Taehyung is at the bottom, arms open wide, waiting for you to fall into them. You do, wrapping your arms tightly around him, and he does the same, pulling you tight to him and kissing your head. “You better run home,” he laughs. “He’ll be looking for you soon.” 

Morning comes around quickly, your outside helping load all your fathers bags onto the carriage when Taehyung appears over the hill, it takes every strength in your body not to move to him, as you were so used to doing now. He greets your father, shaking his hand. Then he’s helping you move bags, the three of you working in an odd harmony. Once everything was loaded, and your father nods goodbye as he climbs into the cabin. You allow yourself to feel the first itches of happiness, of joy. “Goodbye Father��� you say, waving as you watch the coachman push forward the horses, the carriage slowly inching away from you. Taehyung and yourself stand and watch as the carriage disappears into the distance, you wait for a while, to make sure he won’t turn around again. Once you’re sure he’s not coming back, you turn to Taehyung and smile. 

There's a small grin settled on his lips, as if he is holding back a huge smile. He tilts his head at you before glancing at the house. As you turn to look at your home, with your attention away from him, he sees an opening and you squeal as he sweeps you up from the ground. Carrying you along to your door with one arm under your knees and the other under your back. You giggle as he leads you up to your home. “Show me your art again.” he asks. Unlike before, you're happy to comply. You had wanted to show him for so long. He drops you to your feet at the bottom of the stairs and you race him to the top, a race he could have easily won, but he stays behind you to catch you if you fell, or to humor your childish side that would only be happy when you won. At the top he glances down once to your heaving chest, spreading a blush across your cheeks, before allowing you to take his hand and lead you towards your chamber. Your art had improved a lot since he had last seen it. Trading in the majority of your landscape art for pictures of the most important thing in your life at the moment. Him:

Taehyung stood outside the house, his back lent against a pillar as he pulled smoke from a pipe. 

Taehyung’s hand in yours, something that had taken you ages to master. 

Taehyung with his head tilted to the side in anger as he slides a book back towards the owner.

Taehyung walking through the fields, holding one of your new parasols in his hand as the rain falls around him. 

Nearly every painting had a connection to him, he stands open mouthed at your door, his eyes flicking between the paintings and you. 

Just over a month ago, you had realised that you had loved Taehyung. At first you panicked, and didn't see him for days. Love was for people who were married, love outside of marriage was a sin, that's what you had thought anyway. But you grew to not care. Marriage or not, you loved him, and there was no undoing that. You hoped that today that same love would get across through your art. Every moment you spent painting him had been the epitome of your love for him. But now, as he stands there with an open mouth you wonder if this is perhaps a little weird, this surely wasn’t a normal thing to do, maybe he had taken it the wrong way. Perhaps he saw you as mad. 

“You make a good model” you say, hoping to break through the silence. Luckily, he laughs, turning to you and grabbing your hand. You relax, he wasn’t mad. He wasn’t about to call you a fool and storm from your house. To your surprise, he leads you to your desk, sitting you down on your wooden chair and crouching on the floor between your legs, he's staring up at you and you find yourself blushing. 

“Taehyung?” you whisper, hoping for an answer to this uncharacteristic behavior. 

“What does all of this mean Y/N” he asks, and your stomach drops, this suddenly feels like an interrogation. You gulp, hoping some divine being will answer this for you. You realise you’ve been sitting in silence for a long time when you speak.

“Um, well, they are paintings of you.” you close your eyes, hoping the confession will be easier without looking at him. “And I painted them because you mean a lot to me.”

You open your eyes again. “Is that all?” he asks. His head tilted to the side as it did when he was both confused and angry.

You knew that this thing that you had with Taehyung was not eternal. The only thing that made something like this eternal was marriage, and considering he hadn’t settled down, and he was already 28, you doubted that it was on the cards for him at all. What makes you say the next thing, you are not sure. Perhaps it was the years spent in your manor, like  Rapunzel, and it was Taehyung that had saved you, a knight in shining armor. Perhaps it was how you were sure that Taehyung already knew. But whatever it was, the words fell from your lips like they were meant to be. “Because I love you.”

Time and space freeze around the two of you. For a moment, you think Taehyung will get up and leave, he twitches as if holding back from doing that very thing. “It's okay if you need to go.” You say, trying to feign understanding instead of feeling complete disappointment, you lace your hand through his hair, letting the soft strands fall through your fingers like waves. It's an oddly intimate moment, with that confession hanging between the two of you, your promise that he could go, yet you're holding him down by touching him. He buries his face into your dress, it's an odd action that makes you freeze up, in doing this he has obscured his face from your eyes. “Taehyung?” you murmur, hoping for at least a response to your confession, was he staying or going?

Your shoes are being slipped off before you have the chance to even say anything, then Taehyung appears from the folds of your dress with a gummy smile on his face. All you can do is say his name again in confusion. Both shoes are placed slightly away from you on the floor, Taehyung had brought those for you, much to your displeasure. You had never wanted to abuse his kindness. He doesn’t reply to his name, in fact, you’re sure you're staring at a man you had never met before, he had never done anything like this. His hands run up from your feet, up your stocking covered calf. His arm was completely under your dress, fingers playing with the clasp of your stockings just above your knee. All of this, and he's staring directly at your face, watching every reaction that you make. He’s so close to you, the warm skin of his hand against your bare thighs has a feeling starting up in your lower stomach that almost makes you want to pee. You had felt like this around him before, when you were kissing, but never to this extent. Thinking that there's something wrong with you, you try to slide away on the chair, but Taehyung's finger is wrapped around your stockings and you can’t move. 

“What is it?” he says, genuine concern plastering his face, it’s the first thing he's spoken to you since you said it. 

“Feel like I need to use the bathroom” you say with a blush so profound that it feels like it covers your whole face. Instead of moving away from you and letting you use the toilet, Taehyung only smiles, a comforting light shining in his eyes. 

“You don’t need the bathroom, your body is reacting to me.” he says, and it's the most scandalous thing you've heard him say. You’d spent all these months wondering what came beyond a kiss, and your body had known all this time. “Are you okay?” 

“Yes” you breathe. The air around you lit by the morning sun lights up every small,  beautiful,  feature of Taehyung like the mole on the end of his nose, and the one on the right side of his lower lip. This is a moment you would paint. His hands rolling down one of your stockings, placing the delicate material to the side as he placed kisses to the inside of your legs, running his hands up and down your soft skin. You felt like you had ascended into another world. 

“Tell me if you need me to stop” he says, hooking his finger around your other stocking, and as he pulls it down your leg, peppering kisses as he goes you say,

“No. Don’t. Never stop” which seems to spark something in his eyes. Something untamable, and this time he chucks your stockings behind his head instead of placing them lightly to the side. You watch them as they fall on the side of one of your paintings, the stocking soaking up and blurring the fresh paint. You couldn’t bring yourself to care. In fact, you wanted Taehyung to ruin everything about you, and paint it fresh. Only him.

With your dress above your knees, Taehyung has one of your legs flung over one of his shoulders. Constantly kneading the flesh of your calf. Then, he's stepping back, standing above you as you fight to regain the breathing you didn't realise you lost. He stands there for a moment, just watching your chest heave against the confinements of your corset. "Do you wish to keep going?" He asks.

"Yes, please" you say, reaching a hand up to him. He takes it, the rustling of your dress the only sound as he pulls you from the chair. He pulls you onto his lips, his mouth catching yours easily, he does what he always does, putting a hand on your waist, holding you close to him as all the blood in your body rushes to your lower stomach. Then he's walking you backwards, weaving you through all your paint points and paintings. There's a humorous side to it that has you smiling into the kiss. You weren't sure where he was taking you, but you let him take you there. When your legs hit the cold metal of the side of your bed, you tense a little. Taehyung pulls away from the kiss, placing a light kiss to your forehead, but he keeps you close, both arms around you, smiling down at you. 

"Do you know where this is going?" He asks. playing with the laces at the back of your dress. 

"No," you say. You had very little idea of the adult world, you'd read a book once 'A maiden's guide to marriage.' you assumed it had been your mother's before she married your dad. Sex. But you had assumed that was something only married people could do. 'Sex outside of matrimony is a sin" the book had read. "Is it a sin?" You ask, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"Are you calling me a sinner?" He asks, returning that same open eyed vulnerability to you. Alongside it is a playful smile, one that has you smiling back.

"Perhaps" you say. Smiling. 

"Normally this is reserved for marriage" he says, tilting his head. 

"I know" you breathe as he begins to pull at the laces of your dress.

"Okay" he breathes, he leans down, going for a kiss, but instead of your lips he kisses your neck and all you can do is whine. You had never made such a noise before in your life. Tangling in the delicate laces, his fingers undo your dress, you suddenly feel the weight of this situation. 

"Will I be ruined?" you whisper, as he sucks at your neck. Though he pulls away from you to reply, a frown seated on his lips.

"Maybe, in the prying eyes of society. Yes." at his words, you feel your mouth flatten into a frown.

"Will you see me as ruined?" you ask.

"No. Never." He's holding the side of your face, peppering kisses on your hairline. His other hand stays behind your back, holding your dress together. "We don't have to do anything" he reminds you, nothing but sincerity in his eyes. You remember what you had thought earlier, that you wanted Taehyung to ruin every single part of you. You had meant that, 

"I want to do this" you say, staring into the delicious deep brown of his eyes. "With you." Your voice is sure, you're confident you'll be fine. All that matters is Taehyung stays with you even after, and you know he will, maybe not in marriage but always in friendship.

"I'm going to let go of this now." he says, giving a light tug on the laces of the dress that he's holding up to indicate what he's talking about. Just before he does he tells you "I'm going to talk you through every step of this, so you know if you need to tell me to stop."

You manage to murmur an "Okay" before your dress is released. It falls, pooling around your waist. Left exposed to the eyes of Taehyung and the cool air, your skin rises into little bumps. The intricate details of your corset is what holds your breasts into place as Taehyung does nothing but stare at you. "Taehyung?" you whisper, hoping to distract him from you.

"Mmmh" he replies, looking up at your eyes. "What's wrong?"

"You were staring" you reply, the need to pull away from him and fold into yourself is overwhelming.

"Because you're so beautiful" he smiles back, bunching your dress up in his hands, as if to pull it over your head. "Could stare at you for hours, I'm going to pull this over your head now, okay?"

You think you murmur okay, but everything seems a little blurry to you. Either way, you allow him to pull your dress over your head, raising your arms to help him get easier access. “See,” he begins “Absolutely beautiful.” he leans down, pressing a kiss to each side of your chest, all whilst maintaining eye contact with you. He folds up your dress carefully, placing it on the back of your wooden chair. It was the first dress he had brought you, the same day as the man at the bookshop spat in your face for being a woman. It was difficult being a woman, you had known that before Taehyung, but that day had solidified it for you. Taehyung kisses you on the forehead. “Now for these.”

He kisses you on the neck, sucking harsh marks onto your skin, whilst pulling at the laces of your undergarments. “If you need me to stop-”

“No, don’t stop,” you say. He smiles before doing as you requested and not stopping, he pulls down your undergarments, hardly even looking at you below the waist despite being completely bare to him, then he’s onto your corset, untying the the bow quickly, delicately pulling apart the laces and slipping it over your head. You cover your breasts on instinct, once he’s placed your corset gently to the side, he stares at you with such softness in his eyes, such kindness, that when he reaches up to pull your hands away, you let him. He stares at you for a moment, you wonder if he notices that one seems ever so slightly bigger than the other. You wonder if he’s judging you. 

You were unsure if this was how it worked, you being completely bare and him being completely clothed, but Taehyung didn’t seem to care either way. He mumbles something you don’t catch, before practically headbutting your left breast, causing you to cry out as he sucks at one of your nipples. He has his hands on your bum cheeks, holding you in place as he pulls at your nipples with his teeth, your head thrown back in pleasure, you had never felt anything like this in your life.

“Oh my goodness” you breathe, your hands felt empty, so you threaded them through Taehyung's hair. He switches nipples, the sensation remains painful but you feel like you’re floating on a cloud. Some instinct takes over you, knowing that this can’t go any further if Taehyung remains completely clothed, you begin to fiddle with the top buttons of his shirt, hoping that they’d pop open. He whines as your fingers brush his skin, it’s as if your touch distracts him away from your breasts as he pulls away and helps you unbutton his shirt. He’s breathing heavily, chest heaving up and down under your palms, and so are you as you see his skin, touch his skin. His chest is soft to the touch, his stomach smooth under your hands. His shirt joins your dress on the other side of the room, all you can do is stare at him, at the way he’s shaped, how smooth he looks. You run your hands up and down his body, even when he’s leading you backwards on the bed, until your back touches the neatly organised sheets. He hovers over you, his knee slotted in between your thighs, the fabric from his trousers rubs blissfully against your naked centre. 

“Are you okay?” he asks, when you nod eagerly he smiles. “I wanna go down on you, but we’ll save that for another time”

“Down on-?” you begin, confused at this new term.

“I’ll explain it another time. Can you open your legs?” you do as you’re instructed, the new phrase being quickly forgotten as he stands up, looking down at you wide open for him. Taehyung reaches down, grabbing your hand lightly. You think he’s going to kiss it, like they do at balls and dances, but instead he leads it down your body, resting it atop the small mound of hair above your area. “Can you touch yourself? Need to make sure you’re super prepped and comfortable.”

With the way he talks, the surety that you know what you're doing, you’re almost embarrassed to say that you didn’t know what that was, you had never touched yourself in your life, only in the bath, and that had only been to clean. With the painting of confusion sketched into your features, Taehyung’s mouth falls to the side. You feel wrong, as if you had missed out on something important in your life. “I am sorry” you apologise, feeling guilty for your naivety. 

He doesn’t respond, instead he starts undoing the laces of his trousers, pulling them down over his legs and kicking them to the side, leaving him in just his undergarments, you almost wish he had taken them off too. Then he drops to his knees, his face level with your intimate area. You can feel his breath against your skin. “What do you know about being a woman?” he asks. When you reply with,

“Not much”

He kisses the inside of your thigh. “Place your hand here.” he says, indicating for you to put your palm on your mound of hair, and you do. “Use your middle finger to rub this spot. I am going to touch you.” When you don’t stop him, he reaches up between your legs and presses his finger straight on what seemed to be a ball of nerves, for you’re almost shooting up the bed with the sudden shocking pleasure of it. “This is your clitoris,” he says. “It makes you feel good.”

You do as you’re told, using your finger to lightly rub around the clitoris, it felt so good, you could see what Taehyung meant. Whilst you circle this new discovery, Taehyung stands up again, watching your hand as he undoes the final laces of his undergarments. You wanted to throw your head back, but you also wanted to watch him. This part, you had been expecting. Somehow, as you had grown up, regardless if it had it been from the animals that surrounded you on the farms or just some kind of knowledge that everyone was born with, but you knew that that was a penis, and in that moment you knew that it was to go inside of you. Taehyung's penis, was beautiful, and had you ever seen another penis in your life, before or after this moment, you know it could not have been compared to Taehyungs. It was quite big, and you wondered what part of you could accommodate such a thing as that, it was also hard, erect, pressing against his stomach like something or someone had angered it. You’re sure your mouth falls open with shock. You don’t miss the smug smile that adorns his lips, this was something he was proud of. You could see why. 

You feel so safe with him, so at home, that when he runs a finger through the folds of skin just below your clit, you only revel in the feeling of his skin on yours, the shock of pleasure it sends up your core. He mutters something about being “wet” before climbing back on top of you, moving your hand away from your clit at the same time. “Are you ready?” he asks. You nod your head, but before he does anything he leans down, connecting your lips. The two of you stay like that for a while, Taehyung relaxes his arms that were holding him up from touching your body. He’s pressed against you entirely, his shaft pressing into your thigh. You had never been close to someone so emotionally as this. You feel so safe, so loved, you almost cry. This is where you wanted to be for eternity, between Taehyung and bedsheets. When he pulls away from the kiss, his eyes are dilated, wide as if he was holding something feral back, he hides the animalistic look from his eyes by leaning down to kiss your neck. 

When he pulls away again, leaving angry welts on your neck, his eyes are soft again. “Are you okay?” you ask him, running your hands up and down his arms. 

“Yeah, are you?” he asks.

“Yeah. I am good.” you reply, the two of you smiling. 

“It might hurt, we don’t have to do this, if you’re not ready.” he presses a kiss to your forehead.

“I am ready. I trust you.” 

“Okay” he breathes, as he presses up to your center. “I am going to push my cock in now.” 

Cock. That was another new one. You don’t have long to think about it as he pushes his cock against your entrance. It takes him a considerable deal of effort to even push past an inch of you, but he stops, letting you adjust to the intrusion and the feeling of him inside of you. 

This was either hell, indicated by the pain this brought. Or heaven, due to the sparks you felt coming from your core, the warmth spreading along every bone in your body. Probably hell you think, this was a sin. Taehyung watches every breath you make, every look on your face as he pushes in another inch. Tears prick into your eyes here, but Taehyung kisses them away, his heart-shaped lips wet from the moisture of your eyes. “Just breathe,” he suggests. You had stopped breathing at some point, holding your breath in pain, but when you breathe again, steadily and heavily, the pain wears off.

“I am okay,” you smile up at him. And in the attempts to make a joke, you say “Push your cock in more.” 

“Don’t say that again” he replies, muttering something about “innocence” before doing as you instructed anyways, pushing himself in another inch. He does this a couple more times until your pubic bones are flush against each other and you can feel him so deep into your stomach it's impossible to think of anything else beyond him, beyond how good you felt. There was pain there, waiting to flare up, waiting to protrude over the pleasure, but for the moment all you felt was a tightening pressure in your core. Taehyung spends this time running his lips up and down your skin, kissing over your scrunched up eyes, and asking you every couple of seconds if you were okay, each time you replied with a breathless yes. 

He pulls out, glancing down at his slick covered cock, before starting the process all over again, this time faster. The pain flares and dwindles again, like a flame. 

Again, he pulls out, pushes in, slowly.

Pulls out, pushes in.

Until he’s not pulling out completely, his movements fluid, like the brook between your houses as he transitions from pushing to pulling. The pain was non-existent now. With your eyes rolled back into your head, and your hands gripping onto his arms, your nails scratching down his back, you never want this to end. “Feels so good” you manage to say, your breath caught on each push in of his cock. 

“It’s only me that can make you feel like this” he tells you, he looks half out of it now, his eyes distant but still loving. “Only me.” 

“Only you.” There's a surge of pressure in your stomach, a building power that you were almost too scared to let free. Somehow, your body seems to communicate this to Taehyung.

“Don’t look so scared, it's an orgasm, it’ll feel amazing.” he moans a little before speaking again. “Let it go.” 

You do. Obeying him. White light blinds you, but you can still see Taehyung moving in and out of your vision with every thrust. It's like nothing you’ve ever experienced before, nothing you will experience again unless it was with Taehyung. It’s like jumping off a cliff, enjoying the view as you fall, like a brutal ending, or a happy one. This was a fairytale, a fantasy you hadn’t known you were waiting for. The bliss of feeling so full of him, so consumed by him. You never wanted this to end, you wanted him to be inside of you forever, he fitted so well. Through your orgasm he sucks on the flesh around your nipples again, leaving red marks over your upper body. You never wanted these marks to leave, you wanted them to be an eternal product of your love for Taehyung. You are completely out of it for a moment, but when you return to clarity, even with all your limbs tingling, the sensation of Taehyung's thrusting seems to have increased tenfold, it hurts in a beautiful way. 

He smiles at you, it's a soft smile, before wincing in pleasure and thrusting faster, already you can feel another pressure in your lower stomach. “I'm close,” he mumbles, bringing one of his hands down to press onto your clit.

***

Taehyung couldn’t think. Couldn’t think beyond how good this felt, how close he was and how desperately he wanted to bring you along with him for a second time. Your face when you had orgasmed the first time was unforgettable, he had never heard someone moan so loudly in his life, face scrunched up in that tumbling feeling of pleasure. He had done that to you, and he was damned for being proud. No one would ever get this experience of you again, he knew that, could see the future now. So he sucked at your breasts again, marking you as his for everyone else to see. 

The second he touched your clit he knew you were close again, tightening around him like a vice. “Together” he manages to say, refraining from going too fast and hurting you. When he orgasms, his essence shooting into you with each sloppy thrust, he contemplates the use of his seed, beyond pleasure. As he watches you writhe under him, twisting and turning in the sheets as you orgasm again, shocked with the feeling of his cum inside of you, he’s shocked to realise he wants to get you pregnant. Wants to see your stomach rounded with the product of this, have versions of you and him running around in his life. He had never wanted this before, been too scared to have this before. Tears well up in the corner of his eyes, tears that you brush away as they fall down his cheeks and he goes soft inside of you. He should be embarrassed, men shouldn’t cry. But you didn’t judge him, he felt safe.  

Damn the knees and the rings. He thinks as he falls against you, smothering you in his weight, but remaining inside of you, plugging his seed into you until it could take root. He tries to speak, but it comes out inaudible, something like “mazer ze.”

Which only makes you laugh. “Sorry?” you ask, a massive smile on your face.

This time, his words came out right. “Marry me.” 

Your smile drops, eyes going wide. “My father-”

“Don’t think of him, we’ll find a way around him, only think of me.”

[hadsephone]

Could you elaborate more on "Amber shaped Persephone as much as Anais and Rachel did"? Like did she actually have say in things like lyric changes or staging or is it more about her actual legacy and how long she was in the role for?

The second one! to my knowledge she didn't have any direct say in the actual book/script, but ever since they started workshopping the show it was Amber's personality, acting, singing, etc that helped to shape Persephone. She's a very unique and one-of-a-kind performer and her specific mannerisms are what made Persephone, Persephone. Like, I don't really know how to describe it, but if you've seen her in other shows or at solo concerts you can definitely see a very strong overlap between "Amber characteristics" and "Persephone characteristics" and how Ambersephone was a perfect mix of acting as a character while also using her own mannerisms.

Amber was in the show for six years, across four different productions, and that's not even counting workshops. Theatre critics and fans genuinely viewed "Amber Gray" and "Persephone Hadestown" as synonymous in a lot of ways.

Many of the replacements have done a fantastic job at continuing on Amber's legacy while still putting their own unique twist on the role, and that's amazing! Amber is not an easy person to follow and I really do love most of her replacements. I love how they honor Amber's legacy while putting their own spin on the character.

Also there's just so many aspects of Persephone's character that are just...Black culture. For example, her dance in Way Down Hadestown is a jazz funeral. And tbh it's really offensive to have white actors in that role doing the same thing. If Amber had never played Persephone, Persephone would be a completely different character.

Persephone was exclusively a Black/mixed-Black role for almost 5 years.

(As a white fan, I'm not going to comment on non-Black POC playing the role. I ADORE Maria-Christina Oliveras and Shea Renne, who both are Asian-American, and I am not going to comment on whether or not it's 'okay' for mixed Pinoy actresses to play a Black-coded role, because while I do think Persephone should ideally be Black, I'm not going to advocate AGAINST Filipina leads. White Persephone is a million times more offensive than nonBlack-POC Persephone ever will be. That being said, since I've acknowledged that Way Down is a jazz funeral, I do wish that Shea and Maria had had the chance to honor Filipino culture in their portrayal, in the same way that every other Persephone honors Black culture.)

Basically: Amber Gray and Amber Gray's specific portrayal of Persephone is literally what built Persephone. Especially from a racial aspect, there's so many parts of Persephone's character that you literally cannot separate from African-American culture and casting white people as Persephone is so disrespectful to Amber's - a biracial black woman's - legacy in the show. Also, if Amber had actual say in Persephone's lines, I can guarantee the Chant II verse would never have been cut.

[utilitycaster]

The answers Marisha gave in this 4SD felt a lot more realized than in the past, which is good! But it still makes me feel like this character concept is incredibly ambitious and when juxtaposed with the various "I don't want to think anymore"/"go with the flow" statements I'm not sure she realized that.

The biggest example is that Laudna has two conflicting traits: she is extremely sensitive to betrayal, and she is very quick to trust even after experiencing a number of betrayals in her life. And when I say "conflicting" I mean that they are in conflict with each other, not that it doesn't make sense for a character to be a complicated person with traits that frequently work against them; in fact that's in my opinion a fantastic way to create a compelling character. But it feels like the why is only just starting to get explored in any capacity, and because of that even good choices raise more questions: why is this only coming out now; why so young a regression; why has it peeked out so weirdly and inconsistently in the past; why haven't the repeated betrayals in the past two months affected her mindset and made her more closed off. It once again makes me really wish we'd gotten a sustained outburst after the party reunited, because that would have made far more sense - a fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me situation.

I agree with the opinion that Laudna conceptually just fits far more with being an actual child herself - her desire to befriend children frankly comes off slightly weirder (not line-crossing or anything, just a little off) than it would had she died younger, as does her approach of dolls, and her failure to do anything with Delilah would make a lot more sense if she was at an age to be much more reliant. It would also make her inability to just blend into a city much more reasonable; no one is going to rent to a lone 11 year old. It really does feel that when the creepy child idea was rejected - which is a valid choice - it wasn't reworked sufficiently to fit someone who died in her late teens or early 20s.

I also don't really get the idea of her childlike nature being without malice. A pretty consistent theme for the various traumatic childhoods the characters of Bells Hells (and, tbh, past parties as well) has been the cruelty children are capable of - Ashton even says it in 3x78. Delilah being stuck with someone without malice would honestly lead to a situation in which Laudna was very trusting of her, which isn't the case, which again goes back to the conflict of betrayal as a trigger vs. being so quick to trust. Given that Laudna was frequently bullied and rejected as a kid, one would think she'd be aware of this. The specific example of Delilah calling Ashton a child and Laudna making him a doll still works wonderfully, but the overarching theme falls apart in places.

I think things have been on an upswing as of late, but ultimately we're at a point where, without some retcons I don't think Laudna will ever truly make complete sense because it's just such an intensive concept that did not get the work that required, and still feels reliant on a now-rejected premise.

[musclemanveryregular]

[ID: Margaret the (not actually a) robin from regular show is on the lwft side of the image at her old job as a waitress. Cloudy Jay, the cloud lady from regular show, is on the right side of the image sitting on the floor in her apartment, leaning against a couch, watching TV. /end ID]

Original poll with info for Margaret

Original poll with info for Cloudy Jay

Master post link

A few things I forgot to mention plus scenarios below:

Margaret:

-Again, transgender and hot.

-likes long walks on the beach, and fine dining.

-reporter so she can take care of you if need be.

Here's what I think would have happened last week if you want to read that:

No romo, no lesbo, no hetero, no bi(mo?) version: You've been working for the Park in the background for a while. You used to hang out there all the time so you knew a few of the people, but then they got back from space and a job opening ad appeared, which you applied for, which you got accepted for, and you are now fairly acquainted with the guys there. And one person you met at one point was Margaret. You exchanged numbers at the wedding of your coworker, Rigby. She seemed like a fun time to hang out with.

And now here it is on the weekend and you have absolutely nothing to do.

So you call up Margaret and you offer to bring the weed, although if you die from weed you probably don't have weed, and she says she prefers edibles and that she has plenty.

Getting to her place you find that theyre 5 mg a piece. (Now I dont know your tolerance level, if you've only ever smoked and never really done much in terms of eating then it may not take much to get you far. As an ediblehead they're so nice because you get this 2 hour delay that is like a super punch. So essentially of you have things you need to take care of you get a time limit on when you need to get things done before they kick in. So I personally take a medically prescribed Adderall (if it isn't Saturday, and it is instead Sunday I dont take the Adderall) play neopets to complete my dailies and the ongoing plot and then do as much cleaning as I can(though again only on Saturdays because I dont take the Adderall on Sundays) before they hit me like a truck and I start doing weird things like writing fanfiction about cartoon characters on polls about those characters.)

So you eat what you think is about right for you and you end up eating just a tad too much maybe? Or maybe this stuffs just more potent than what you're used to of edibles and you get really really high.

But it's incredibly chill theres lots of pillows and blankets and the lights are on super low and there's candles lit everywhere, and the room smells so so so so good. So you just hang out and vibe and sleep over in a little blanket fort in separate sleeping bags in semi separated rooms in the fort with a dulled light and blown out candles.

Possibly romo, possibly lesbo, possibly hetero, possibly bi(bo?): everything above but you both are kissing each other so much throughout the night. And fall asleep together in one big sleeping bag.

Cloudy Jay:

-uh hold on, I need a moment actually.

-tbh, im not sorry, but she's trans too

--c'mon. Mordecai is a chaser.

-shes also hot.

-not as financially stable but hey, who is these days?

-a little clingy in the romo area

Here's what I think would have happened last week if you want to read that:

No romo, no lesbo, no hetero, no bi(ero?): So it's been a month since you hung out with margaret and you've been hanging around this (new, to you) cafe with Mordecai and Rigby lately. You've been working with them for a moment now and you're getting to know their usual hang out spots. Apparently this cafe is where one of their old co workers, High 5 Ghoul (you think?), met his wife. The guys go sit down while you wait in line for everyone, they've been working outdoors while benson put you on babysitting his daughter while he's out of town with his old band having finally mended their path and now spends the occasional weekends playing at all the big venues. She's really well adjusted for her age and isn't much trouble at all so it's no where near as tough as yard work.

There you notice a girl in front of you in line made of clouds who has a t shirt that has a reference to [insert hyperfixation and/or favorite topic here]. So you get to talking about your hyyperfixation and/or favorite topic and you have an absolutely wonderful time. She heads out back to her work but not before giving you her number so you can hang out and watch something pertaining to that interest this weekend.

You get there and she has two pre rolled blunts that are pretty well packed she got from her dealer, who always insists on selling her the fair price of a gram and then rolling her joints FOR her? Like, what's that all about huh??? She knows how to roll them but like, why would she pass up on this??

You and her smoke and enjoy the show the rest of the night with some video games then fall asleep on different bunk beds.

Could be romo, maybe lesbo, maybe hetero, maybe bi(lo?): second verse same as the first except there's lots and lots of kissing and you fall asleep together in the same bed.

Aside: if you take the possible romo (etc) option you will end up having this girl wanting to date you. You don't know this in story and must decide if you'd end up making the same mistakes as mordecai or not fumbling this babe.

[animeomegas]

hmmm i dont know how much youve interacted with him but any thoughts on rex? i adore him and marz a lot

I'm going to start with Marz because I know a lot more about her character! Okay, let me first establish how I view the Stratospheric ship, because I think it will help frame a lot of what I'm going to say. My interpretation is that they are:

A cult.

Failing completely at their attempt to remove class, gender roles, cultural differences etc. and their interest in trying shows ignorance to an absurd degree.

Selfish and creepy. Bringing people so young paired up like that as if they're breeding pairs of cattle, and having children aboard the ship even though they could have easily predicted the untold hardships that would have befallen them.

That's the overview to my opinion on the adults of the colony. Obviously those born on the ship or who were too young to consent, like Utopia, don't inherently fall under those critiques. I should also make it clear that this isn't a criticism of the game, as I believe this is a supported interpretation, and it's super interesting!

The way I view the children is inherently based in this backdrop. They are, mostly, tragic tales. They are victims of the circumstances forced upon them. Each of them is a tragic tale in a different way.

Marz is the tragic tale of someone who loves the Earth and who was denied the opportunity to experience it against her will. She loves the arts, fashion, the ideas of concerts and people and cities... And she gets none of that. She gets a society where survival takes so much energy, there isn't always space for the things she loves. In one of my playthroughs, she only remained Governor for a short while, because she prioritised art, but it simply wasn't feasible when base line survival needed all the attention.

And the adults decided to take a risk on colony life. She never did. And she has to live with the consequences.

(also, wtf is her augment??? Who thought that would be a good idea??? Shame is an important emotion for humans navigating social situations, developing their moral compass, and making friends???)

I really feel for Marz, because she yearns for something more. And the chance of it happening in her lifetime (if at all) just feels so slim.

...

Rex... I don't know as much about him tbh. I think the Heliopause are a group of... absolute nutters, para military dictatorship vibes all over the place. Although it's much more overt in the narrative than the negatives of the Stratos' way of life.

But I haven't found out Rex's backstory really. I think his bar idea is cool, and I love giving him hugs haha. His character design is probably my favourite haha. I'll have to update more specific thoughts when I actually befriend him properly!

[cartoonsinthemorning]

Hi, I'm the anon that asked you about toudencest. Thank you so much for answering! Seeing you gush so much inspired me to ramble some more myself.

Something that hit me hard is that, dungeon meshi is a story fundamentally about desires. And the biggest difference between the touden siblings is that while laios is very forward with his own desires, falin interiorize her own heavily. That's why she appears so effaced and demure. Falin is a soft spoken girl who put other's people needs over her own against her own benefits. And people like toshiro, and marcille to a lesser extent, very much encourage that side of her. While toshiro connect with her love for bugs, it's no wonder why someone from an highly gender comforming culture see her as an ideal wife. Meanwhile, she hate how marcille dote on her like a child and a sketch from ryoko kui show her wearing large hoodies and baggy jeans to marcille's chagrin. And below, she's seen wearing outfits that marcille approve of (tight tops and skirts) looking deeply uncomfortable.

What I'm getting at is that the image most people have of her doesn't reflect who she really is inside. But with laios, it's different. He's the only one who can get her to be genuinely excited about something. He's the only that can get her to smile for her own sake and not just for other people. The way marcille was dreading to see falin be a gushing mess with laios is crazy. The way he give her that knowing smile when asking her if she wants to taste the living armor is crazy. The way he's the only one to chastize her for putting her life in line for everyone else's benefits is crazy.

In his flashback, we see falin express the desires to travel somewhere without him. It is sad but I also think it's interesting how laios is the only one who acknowledged that falin has her own desires that might contradict with his. In fact, what this flashback prove is that he might be the only one that she's comfortable expressing her true desires to.

Btw, from your marchil art I deduce that you're a Manga reader? My nap gave me an amazing idea but it's very spoiler heavy for the end of the Manga. If I have your permission, I would love to share it with you.

AAAAAAAAAHHHH YES YES YES YES I agree with you completely, thank you for putting that down so eloquently! Absolutely no hate for the other ships, but yeah. All other interactions Falin has, with characters close to her other than Laios, make me various degree of uncomfortable, tbh. In particular, that "gag" of Marcille being so vocally against the look Falin is comfy in, and gushing at the oufit that makes her uncomfortable... ugh. Marcille, I love you, but can you please be a bit less of an overbearing toxic mother figure? fghjkl Sorry if I'm criminally late to reply to your message, dear anon, but I'm all caught up with the manga now, you can send me your idea anytime. I'm super curious about it!

[tending-the-hearth]

stex appreciation month day 2: pearl

favorite actor:

i am so so normal about reva rice as pearl i promise i'm so normal JOKE i'm actually completely obsessed with her she's just everything to me she is THE pearl, when i think of pearl i think of her, her voice is gorgeous, she has the mannerisms of pearl, i just love her so so much

and lmao get ready for more reva appreciation when it comes to poppa/momma day

favorite song/scene

going off of the reva appreciation, "make up my heart" is one of my FAVORITE songs from the show

if we're also talking duets "i do" is literally one of my top five favorite romantic duets it's everything to me

another honorable mention goes to ich bin ich <3 favorite bochum song fr i don't get the hate for it i just smile every time i listen to it

favorite costume:

STRONG tie between super curly-haired bubblegum pearl and sleek silver/white pearl, both from the bochum production!!

i think the pink gives off a very futuristic vibe and goes perfectly with dinah's mostly blue outfit, especially since each character has one definitive color, but i think apparently i'm in the minority when i say i absolutely adore the silver bochum outfit???? it creates the most beautiful juxtaposition between prusty whenever they're next to each other, because the whole point is that rusty is an outdated steam engine while pearl is fresh off the line and brand new.

(also... her name is literally pearl... it makes so much sense that her costume would be pearlescent)

but bubblegum pearl does have my heart, especially when she gets a super cute curly pink wig!! platinum blonde version of the super curly wig + silver bochum costume would be everything to me

favorite ships/friendships:

prusty my beloveds that is my MAIN pearl ship!!!!! do not separate them!!!

friendships obviously the other coaches, but i also do think that pearl and dustin would become such good friends, their relationship just seems like it'd be so sweet, with dustin being rusty's closest friend and pearl being his partner, they'd just adore each other platonically 😭😭😭

tbh i don't know why but i also feel like electra and pearl would end up being really good friends? i can't explain why, but i just think post-race the two of them become close

headcanons:

you know when one person is like, healthily obsessed with their partner? that's pearl. she and rusty love each other more than anything, but pearl can and will make rusty the center of attention. she LOVES bragging about him, and absolutely takes every chance she can to gush about him.

she knows every single constellation, and also has the best navigation system out of everyone in the train yard.

my girl has the biggest grudge against greaseball for a while, she puts up with him purely because he's dinah's partner, but it takes a while for there to be a type of peace between them

[9haharharley1]

I'mma keep it coming with I wanna see your head canons for Danny tbh I wonder if we're similar about the boy. So I guess 002

How I feel about this character:

I love him, I really do! I had such a crush on Danny when I was a teen, made worse (or better, idk) by the fact that when the show aired, I was also just entering high school. So it was one of those, "oh look! A socially awkward teen also has to deal with the stress of living! He's just like me fr (minus the ghost powers on my part)!"

All the people I ship romantically with this character:

Romantically? Vlad, Valerie, Clockwork, and Dan, but mostly Vlad.

Want to see him get railed and ruined and crying? Dan, Nocturne, Skulker, Wulf, Walker.

My non-romantic OTP for this character:

Tucker and Sam (provided Sam can get over some of her holier-than-thou attitude)

My unpopular opinion about this character:

This boy doesn't have a dominant bone in his entire body. I don't like reading top Danny fics, my boy deserves a break, and I'm also not a fan when he's taller and beefier than Vlad either. I stan a short king and I will take no criticism.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon:

It's a kids' show, so I know this was never gonna happen, but I would have loved to see him have a full psychological break. I'm talking an entire episode dedicated to Danny having a complete and total panic attack, Batman the Animated Series style. Parents want to catch and study him, one of his best friends keeps pushing him to do the superhero thing, parents and peers are pressuring him to date said pushy friend, he's failing in school, he can't retaliate against his primary bully, his future is screwed if he doesn't watch himself, the ghosts keep coming and they won't fucking stop, his sister keeps giving him these worrying looks like she's worried, why should she be worried? He's fine, everything's fine, he's only half-dead, what's the big deal?

Danny eventually has that panic attack the closer he gets to graduating, unsure of his future, scared he's gonna fail and never be able to leave Amity Park, terrified that all he has to look forward to is fighting ghosts and running/hiding from his parents. His future is forever uncertain because the alternate time line, and his friends can't understand, even if they're trying, but they just can't know what's going on with him, and he sees the fear in their eyes every time he brings up that dark future. He could go to Clockwork, but Clockwork will only give so much advice. He doesn't share more than is necessary to keep time in tact, so he eventually breaks and goes to Vlad. Who else could possibly understand if not the only other halfa in existence?

Basically, I would have loved to see him become increasingly overwhelmed until he had no choice but to run away and go to Vlad's. They make a temporary truce long enough for them to bond over their shared plight.

my OTP:

Pompous Pep, of course (you will pry this ship from my cold, dead hands)

my cross over ship:

None

a headcanon fact:

Danny totally had a crush on Vlad the first time they met. He thought he was handsome and charming and all that gross first crush stuff, and he actually enjoyed talking with him, even if him hitting on his mom was super fucking weird. Danny could look past that because he knew his mom wasn't interested, was happily married, and when Vlad wasn't focused on her, he could be pretty cool. Too bad he had to go and ruin it by revealing his evil intentions.

[mintteapullet]

Just finished The World that Stood Against Us (Made Us Mean, to Fight for You) it was fantastic.

Love literally everyone else immediately understanding the danger of Yuuji getting hurt even has Yuuji doesn’t understand beyond that he’s bleeding and was pushed because he’s a child and one of the other people in the world who will never have anything to fear from Gojo is so good.

“Yuuji, because he's a pup and doesn't know the beast who sits in his mother's skin, turns, and upon seeing Gojo-Sensei begins to openly weep.” << Obsessed with this line

Feral Omega Gojo is a gift. Love Megumi sweating bullets along with everyone else even though he’s the safest after the twins. Also someone get Ijichi a raise that man deserves one before his heart gives out from all the stress Gojo causes him.

Megumi getting angry about Todo calling himself Yuuji’s brother is also so good, that’s his little brother how dare you put yourself on his level. Calling him a suck up, Megumi being bitter about it I love it.

Also Yuuji being completely oblivious to the danger everyone else is in >>> only second to feral omega Gojo tbh.

Megumi over exaggerating and stepping in so no one starts that back up is so clever. His pride may never recover but it probably saved someone’s life considering how easily Gojo could be set off again if he hadn’t stepped in. They should all thank him. Not me though I was hoping Gojo was gonna spill blood. But the rest of them should.

Nobara hiding behind Maki is so sweet, Maki is her favorite and she’s not subtle about it nor should she be. Also please let Yuuji get his steak!

Love the Second years, Megumi, Gojo, and the twins hanging out. Gojo shielding the twins with Infinity after also goes hard. Of course he is one of his babies got hurt, he’s being overprotective but also it’s Gojo and that should be expected. Also there’s no way Megumi didn’t also have Infinity on him right? Your his pup too dude no way he’s not keeping Infinity on all three of you. Gojo teasing Megumi is also so good.

Loved this very much but I am left with one question: Who pushed Yuuji?

Ah!!!! Thank you so much!

Exactly! Yuuji is just a little kid, so any understanding of the world is gonna be centered around "I'm hurting and I want it to stop". He has no understanding that everyone else would have a reason to fear Gojo. His mother has never been a threat to him, so it isn't even a option

Im not even gonna lie, it was my favorite line to write. I love it when parents go from 0 to 100.

Im terms of Gojo's priorities it's basically categorized at the moment as "My pups and students" and then "everyone else". Tsk-tsk, Megumi should know better than to be even worried about his own safety. The twins and him are the ones who have zero chance of getting a scratch.

Megumi is such a bitter bitch (this isn't a drag against his character, I love that about him) and is still bitter about getting his ass kicked. And calling Todo a suck up was another favorite of mine to write. Megumi, while he tries to keep his distance, definitely gets a lot more privileges than he even realizes when it comes to Gojo

Even better when they go hand in hand. I needed more feral omegas who'll rip oit throats for their babies, and I suppose be the change you wanna see, lol

Maki is basically the coolest person in the universe to Nobara (and yes, Megumi was bitter about losing his little sister's admiration to his upper classmate). I like to think to satisfy both pups Gojo took them to some restaurant that served both

The second years are pretty used to their teacher and the pups, so this is probably a common occurrence. Gojo is very much a overprotective parent, but in his defense, assassination attempts on heirs are common as HELL and he's pretty shaken up from earlier. Usually his presence alone is enough to deter threats. I'm glad that Gojo teasing Megumi was enjoyable, I was a little worried it mightve been ooc and that I pushed it a little too far. It was fun to write though, especially Gojo complaining about what a grump Megumi had become.

I actually hadn't thought about who was the one to push Yuuji, cause I didn't want anyone maimed (though, Mai or Noritoshi would probably be a no, considering their involvement with other clans would immediately be taken as hostile action)

[incorrectsibunaquotes]

okay so no one asked (and you know my opinions on reboots/remakes— especially a house of anubis remake 🤮) but i was curious about how a remake could consolidate plot lines into a short Netflix series bc you know a streaming service would never go over like 10-13 episodes… and tbh to make a story like HHA/DHA/HOA work, you need a ton of episodes. HOWEVER, here are some things they could do to cut it down:

(note that this is being drawn from the english version of anubis)

combine nina/eddie/kt into one character. doesn’t matter of this character is male or female. it pulls us in faster as an audience (imo) if our main character (MC) is not a total blank slate like nina is at the top of the show. by having this american character come in with a connection to the school and general world of the story already (aka a father who is the headmaster), it means less time is spent on telling us exposition vs showing us. also if our MC comes in with a secret parent, it adds a second layer to why patricia is as suspicious of them as she is.

another character consolidation option would then be to have fabian not be into the MC, and actually have him be into joy. so while patricia is having her enemies to lovers moment with our MC, fabian perhaps doesn’t approve of her more aggressive method of searching for answers about joy, and teams up with the MC to get answers in a kinder way— motivated by the fact that he is also worried about joy.

revert to the original het huis anubis plot point of the cup of ankh/the grail NOT being broken up into pieces. that way it’s easier to reduce the number of clues necessary to build the cup, and also eliminates the necessity for a chosen one reveal at the end of the season.

cut down on the number of students in the house and/or combine them. it hurts me to say it, but for a show like anubis to fit into less than 15 episodes, the mick and mara subplot has simply got to go. since we’ve already combined nina/eddie/kt, however, we have plenty of familial drama that can take it’s place and actually get more development (especially if there was another season of this adaptation)

i’m sure there’s other stuff i could come up with, but the bottom line is, there’s no way to really cut up the plot of this show in a way that doesn’t completely sacrifice everything that actually makes it good lol. this series simply wasn’t created with a streaming service style in mind and that’s why i’m so against a remake. it would feel hollow. but if anyone else has any ideas about this just for fun, lmk in the tags

[la0hu]

okay arcane season 2 part one spoilers.

is vander actually 100% dead and singe is just making warwick from an actual wolf and his own blood???? i was literally so excited to see vander again and see vi being forced to fight against a fucked up resurrected version of her father figure

the sevika jinx unnamed child found family is so hilarious to me. they are so dysfunctional and should not make any sense and it's awesome. the moment where sevika shields jinx, who's clutching the child as they brace against the gas release at the end of the vi/jinx fight, that was so cute and also so fucking weird to see lol

also the vi/jinx fight happening immediately?? i would've guessed it was gonna happen at the end of the season, not at the end of the first arc??? and lowkey i was kinda upset at how quickly vi was like "my sister is dead, jinx is completely separate from her" like well. actually no you are literally still trying to kill your sister

viktor leaving was lowkey anticlimatic and i wish his design were cooler. where's the machine herald swag

i'm liking jayce a million times more now. lowkey i'm very confused at how easily all of piltover and the rest of the council just let go of him as a councilor. like it was that easy for him to just step down?? another aside, heimerdinger is like. so much more annoying to me now like i need the old man to shut up. i also need more lines and action from ekko, seriously underutilized character. might be more in the next two arcs, i'm guessing

i'm not loving the weird black rose magic villain that's targeting ambessa, not as a plot device. like i came here for the piltover/zaun classism oppression etc. feud and the fucked up relationships in traumatized found families, not for any bullshit with noxus.

also -- WHEN IS VIKTOR MEETING JINX????? PLEASE

jinx has so many more lines in this season so far, and it really is to her benefit, which has been great. last season it was really hard to gauge her self awareness, and it made her feel childlike, which i guess was intentional. but this season i was almost surprised by how she's able to recognize everything she's put into motion, and all the fucked up emotional stuff that's been happening to and around her. voice acting has been amazing

caitlyn entering her villain arc is unsurprising but still kinda interesting, tbh. ambessa positioning herself as a "mother" figure to her and warmongering is very fun. though i think she's a bit past redemption at this point, considering what she said to vi when they broke up. like it's so fucked up she was like "i can't believe i thought you were different from the rest of them" like okay. topsider bitch!

had a lot of hesitation around the little kid character who i guess jinx is supposed to be an adoptive mom/sister figure to. like i think it's corny and heavy-handed but tbh so is the rest of the show, and so far it's been executed well enough that i can't launch any serious complaints against the writing. the moment where the kid is aiming a gun at vi while trying to protect jinx while jinx is telling the kid in earnest to get out of the way was very fun framing.

i'm still not over sevika and jinx. i don't even know how to describe the dynamic. like step siblings who hate each other? sevika is like, mom's asshole boyfriend vibes? WAIT I GOT IT it's literally just coworkers who hate each other. there's no family love at all, it's just the weird affection-adjacent feeling you get for a coworker you would otherwise despise if you met in a non-work context. amazing. and they're being forced to foster a child together