#but the way in which they are fascinated by each other is different

[overthinkinglotr]

One thing it took me a while to appreciate in the LOTR films were the parallels between Frodo and Boromir—

At the end of Fellowship of the Ring, the two of them are both planning to “break the fellowship” for their own reasons.

Frodo wants to protect the others from the corruption of the Ring. Boromir wants “the strength to protect his people.” Both would have to sacrifice the fellowship for this— “to bear a ring of power is to be alone.”

They convince themselves it is their duty to save the world on their own: that this is their quest and their burden, and that they must take it even if it they do it alone, against the will of the rest of the Fellowship.

Boromir tells Frodo “I know why you seek solitude. You suffer— I see it day by day.” Earlier in Lothlorien, Boromir had walked away from the group to grieve alone.

When Boromir is first introduced, he has a large flashing arrow over his head saying “this man is going to be corrupted by the power of the Ring.” The other characters are often mistrustful of him, deeply wary, or treat his corruption as an inevitability. Gandalf warns Frodo about how “evil will be drawn to you from outside the Fellowship and, I fear, from within” while casting a side-glance in Boromir’s direction.

When the Fellowship is refused entry to Lothlorien because of the One Ring, there’s a scene where the other members of the Fellowship can’t meet Frodo’s eyes, looking away whenever he looks at them— it’s as if they’re starting to perceive him as the burden, and not the Ring.

Boromir notices this, and tells Frodo “you carry a heavy burden; don’t carry the weight of the dead.” He does not take his own advice: he carries the weight of Gondor’s dead. Fighting on the front lines of the battle between Gondor and Mordor has left him with far less hope than the other characters; he acts resentful of the other characters, because he believes they don’t truly understand the threat Mordor represents, because they haven’t spent the past few years on the front lines like he has. He tearfully confesses his kingdom “looks to him to make things right and [he] would do it”— it his duty to singlehandedly save Minas Tirith. The weight of this burden is what makes him so susceptible to the power of the Ring— which, in turn, is what makes everyone else so wary of him.

By carrying these burdens, Frodo is also becoming isolated from the other members of the Fellowship, the way that Boromir is.

At night on the banks of the Anduin, Frodo/Sam and Aragorn/Boromir have arguments that parallel each other— Sam tries to help Frodo and Frodo pushes him away; Boromir urges Aragorn to go to Minas Tirith and Aragorn pushes him away.

After the climactic battle at Amon Hen, they’re both in despair— Boromir believes his death means the end of the kingdom that has been relying so heavily on him, Frodo believes he is doomed to travel to Mordor on his own. But both are are ultimately “saved.” Aragorn swears to defend the people of Gondor, who he accepts as his people, and Sam refuses to let Frodo leave alone.

The parallels continue in the next films as well though: Frodo is ultimately corrupted by the Ring, just as Boromir was; he’s crushed under the weight of the burden he took on. But it’s just fascinating to see how much they have in common, despite being so different on the surface.

[room-surprise]

This is a topic that is very near and dear to my heart, but I'll try not to write too much about it right now. Elf gender studies indeed!

I go into this to the best of my ability in my giant Dungeon Meshi Essay (Real World Cultural and Linguistic Influences in Delicious in Dungeon) and there will be more detailed discussions of the subject as I complete each chapter. You can except a more comprehensive section on the subject in the chapters about the dwarves and the elves, with some minor mentions in other upcoming chapters.

Right now I have a very brief overview in chapter 3, in a section titled "GENDER, MAGIC AND SOCIETY IN DUNGEON MESHI."

Gender presentation and society is a topic that comes up in many small ways in Dungeon Meshi, despite never being directly addressed. It's difficult to discuss sometimes because a lot of it relies on:

Knowledge of gender norms across multiple real-world historical societies, and how gender norms have changed between ancient times and the modern world.

Lots of small clues Kui has left us.

Things which we must intuit from Kui telling us what isn't normal or good, without telling us what the actual socially desirable behavior is.

Cithis is a particularly fascinating case, and @dunmeshistash hits on multiple key points in their answer that I'll discuss once I get to the elf chapter. Sorry it's taking me so long to finish 😂

Before I go, I'll just throw this out there: these two outfits are considered unisex by the elves. These outfits are also very much like a "ethnic national costume," and other elven fashion seems to be based from this starting point.

To the elves, these tunics are like a plain T-shirt and denim jeans are to us today. Most likely every elf has one of these, and many elven outfits are built on a base that starts with this, including the Canary uniform.

Kui intended for the Canary uniform to be unisex, and worried that it came across as looking too feminine, but I think she did a fantastic job of designing an ancient world military uniform that doesn't just look exactly like something that exists in the real world, while still feeling plausible and grounded.

Ancient world clothing will always look feminine to modern eyes, because modern ideas of what makes clothing masculine or feminine is rooted in the cultural divide between the Greco-Romans and their barbarian adversaries, the eventual gendered division between dresses and trousers, and The Great Male Renunciation, where western men's fashion began to exclude the wearing of bright colors, patterns, and many other elements of fashion, which all then became associated with women's clothing.

The most masculine, macho dudes of the ancient world would look like "guys in weird dresses" to many of us today.

I would actually say that the feature that's the most unusual about Cithis and Misyl's clothing is their modesty. Kui tells us elves don't wear a lot of clothing, to the point that the queen goes around nearly naked at times. This suggests that Cithis and Misyl are counter-cultural rebels who wear their clothes in an unusual style. Cithis also wears much, much more makeup than any other elf, which makes her stand out as someone who doesn't care about what elven society thinks of her appearance. She's being different on purpose... And unlike Benichidori, she doesn't care if people see her without makeup. She's not trying to hide anything, she's trying to communicate something else.

I would say that Cithis' presentation, to elves, probably seems like a cis woman doing female drag. She's emphasizing her feminine qualities in a way that elven society might find tacky or distasteful - too much, too far. It may also be designed to target and appeal to other races, who have a stronger sense of gender binary... Since the Canaries do travel outside of the elven empire and deal with non-elves regularly.

So then, the gender-swapped Cithis is also dressed "modestly" for a male elf (knee-length tunic), and presenting himself in a more stoic, stern way. This may mean that Cithis is presenting an "overly masculine" male elf, like a cis man doing male drag. Stoic and aloof might be some of the things elves consider attractive in a man.

But because elves have such strongly unisex gender presentation, most likely the traits overlap, and many elven women also present themselves as stoic and aloof, and many elven men probably present themselves as smiling and coy. I imagine somewhere in the middle is what is considered "ideal elf-like behavior" for both genders, and deviating too much either way is seen as weird.

Anyway, time for me to get back to work 😊 I hope this is helpful for you, though.

cithis's overtly feminine presentation is so fun to me... the long dress and the cleavage window and the makeup and the fact that she's the only one who changes super noticeably in the genderswap is just . Idk its cool, esp with how androgynous all the other elves are

It is very cool! Cithis has a very overt gender presentation that we don't really see in other elves, even Otta who makes a point to present as male doesn't read as super masculine to the level of "hyper-feminine" that Cithis is

Elves seem to have their own fashion preferences independent of gender (from what we can tell from the gender swap)

Which makes sense, Lycion himself wears a very feminine hairstyle even in the original, so Pattadol also keeping the same hairstyle while she's a man is consistent! Meanwhile Cithis seems to be way more conscious of her own gender when dressing?

I wonder if presenting more feminine is more common than presenting more "masculine" for elves? Would a male elf dressed like Cithis be strange? I don't think Cithis is completely unique in how feminine she is cause we do see a few other elves with similar traits. Flamela has a exposed cleavage, Mysil has a long skirt, Daltian clan "Aunt Uranesse" seems very feminine with makeup and adorned hair, Cithis has it all at once but the pieces aren't unique I guess is what I'm saying

They say that for the most part there isn't much difference between male and female fashion but even here we have an elf in what we would call a "feminine" looking long dress

I wonder if those are things that male elves could wear without other elves finding it strange too 🤔

I wonder if there's an equivalent for "very masculine" in elf fashion, tbh I don't know what that would even look like, male Cithis just wears a very average looking version of the uniform (minus the boots and arm armor) even the neck piece is on instead of her choker. Otta does "dress like a man" to the point other elves get her gender wrong tho so there must be an equivalent? (besides the fact she wears the male uniform) Or maybe is her behavior along with the fashion that makes them read her as masculine and the fashion alone wouldn't?

Anyway it is very interesting!!! But I have no idea what to make of it!!!! Elf gender studies when

[eternalbuckley]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ WISTERIA VINES. (an aemond targaryen series)

— chapter one: Your Romeo. Your Juliet.

SUMMARY: You and Aemond find out that you got the roles of Romeo and Juliet but didn't know yet about the other one. You only found out that Aemond will be Romeo through a phone call with Helaena. And Aemond got the news about you from his older brother. How do you both react to these news?

word count: 4,415

genre: just some tiny angst i think? | no specified reader, queer!reader, bipoc!reader and plus-size!reader friendly

warnings/tropes: modern au, Y/N and they/them pronouns are used a few times, english is not my first language, slightly proofread and edited — if I forgot something, please let me know!

a/n: i'm more than excited to finally share the first chapter of this series. i've been working on this whole project for a while now and i really hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as i enjoy creating it! this will be my last fanfic this year, so i hope you'll have a great start into the new year or had a great start (whenever you're reading this) <3 reblogs, feedback and comments are highly appreciated and welcomed! ♡

disclaimer: please do not repost or try and take ownership of my work or post this anywhere without my consent. i don’t give you my permission to use my writing for any ai related things, don’t do it. do not translate my work and post it anywhere — i give you no permission to do that. i only post my stories here, so if you find my work anywhere else please let me know!

dividers by saradika-graphics

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ navigation | wisteria vines masterlist | main hotg masterlist | series taglist

You nibbled nervously on your nails while you sat on your couch in front of your opened laptop, rocking with your leg as you waited for an e-mail from the production team that produces the ballet show of Romeo and Juliet of the upcoming ballet season. Ever since you’ve first seen a performance of this production, you wanted to be a part of the ballet as well, especially in the role of Juliet. You’ve always dreamed of it and worked hard for your dream.

You’ve already worked with the choreographer before and would love to be able to work with her again. You’ve worked with her on two different productions before; the Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty. You loved working with her and were fascinated by how she was able to put her visions into reality.

You first got into ballet shortly after you turned five and started having ballet classes. It didn’t fill you with joy in your early stage of being a ballet dancer, you sort of disliked it, but you grew to love the art of this dance over the years. One of the main reasons for falling in love with ballet was a performance you saw with your family in a theatre when you were almost seven years old. You were fascinated by the dancers, the costumes and the whole representation of the stage. It was magical for you and since then, you were determined to get better each day, hoping you’d be as good as the dancers you saw on stage. Eventually, you were allowed to use pointe shoes for the first time when you were thirteen years old – causing you to be the happiest person.

Officially, you have been a professional ballet dancer for a few years now. When you were seventeen, you had the opportunity to be able to dance in a bigger role in a Nutcracker production, which changed you into a better person and was a big step for your ballet career. It was one of your favourite times you’ve ever had, thanks to different people who were involved in the whole process.

“Come on…” You whispered to yourself and refreshed your e-mail inbox for the hundredth time today, hoping there would be an e-mail for the production. You wished there would be a positive message – a message which would tell you that you were a part of the production in the next ballet season. You’d be happy enough to be a part of the production in general, but your main aim was to get cast as Juliet. But after all, you would be happy either way.

You stood up with a sigh and walked into your kitchen to get yourself a glass of water. While you poured the water into your glass, you got a notification on your phone – an e-mail.

‘Casting Results for Romeo and Juliet’

You widened your eyes and immediately sat down your glass on the counter to sprint to your laptop and refresh your inbox to read the e-mail. Your pulse increased and your palms started sweating as your nerves almost exploded. You deeply breathed in, opened the e-mail and read the first lines.

“Hello Y/N,

we are more than happy to tell you that you have been selected as our Juliet for the Romeo and Juliet ballet of the following season. Congratulations!

The complete casting list will be released in the following days. The date for the first rehearsal will be sent to you with the official casting announcement – please make sure you’re prepared for everything!

Until then, relax as much as you can. We’re sure everything will be more than perfect this season! We’re very excited for it.

See you at the first rehearsal,

your production team :)”

You reread the lines multiple times, you couldn’t entirely believe it yet that your dream has just come true. “OH MY GOD!” You happily screamed out loud, jumping on the spot multiple times – you were more than happy. A few tears slipped out of your eyes while you unlocked your phone to call your best friend – Helaena Targaryen. Your hands shook a bit from feeling overwhelmed by the news.

You met her through ballet classes you took together when you were nine and ten years old, and you became best friends very quickly, grew up together and were inseparable. You were thankful to have her at your side. You were there for each other whenever you needed each other and built each other up whenever the other one wasn’t doing well. Especially when Helaena had a knee injury when she was eighteen and sadly had to give up on ballet. She wasn’t doing well mentally and lost her love for it. For a while, she tried to avoid it at every cost after her injury. Even you. You never blamed her for acting the way she did, you understood her. You would probably act the same way if you had to stop the thing you loved because of an injury.

It wasn’t an easy time for Helaena, but over time, she found other interests, and slowly got happier again when she discovered her interest in fashion and designing. It filled her with joy to create her own clothes and bring her ideas to life – it was Helaena’s passion. Being able to design clothes in the way she wanted brought her self-confidence back and gave her a voice. While you thrived in the world of ballet, she thrived in the world of fashion. You support each other in every step and success you’re able to make. Over the years, she had designed your costumes for different performances you were a part of. Seeing you in her creations whenever you danced on stage made her proud. Both of you moved in together shortly after your nineteenth birthday and had been living together for six years by now.

Your phone rang a few times until Helaena eventually appeared on your display. She wasn’t home because she was currently in Winterfell for a design job.

She smiled at you and leaned against the bed headboard in her hotel room. “Hi babe, what’s–“ Helaena began to speak but immediately sat up and gasped as soon as she saw your happy expression, “Did you get a part?!”

You nodded quickly while you walked over to the couch in your living room and sat down cross-legged. “YES! I will be a next Juliet,” you grinned proudly and excitedly while you put your phone against the plant pot that stood on the coffee table.

She clapped, “Oh my god, yes!! Congratulations, babe, you deserve it so so much,” she matched your excitement but then became a bit more serious for a moment, “Wait… Do you already know who your Romeo will be?”

You shook your head, “Not yet, the e-mail said that the complete casting list will be announced soon. I don’t know when, but I hope soon, and I hope it will be someone who’s…” You noticed her serious expression and how she nervously bit down on her lip, “Wait… What do you know?” You furrowed your eyebrows – you were confused.

“Nothing…” She cleared her throat to hide the nervous tone in her voice, but you knew she was lying because she wasn’t looking at you anymore.

“Helaena,” you said warningly, “Tell me what you know?”

She sighed and nodded her head. “Aemond just called me before you did,” she began, and your face faltered for a moment – you knew what this meant, “He will be your Romeo.”

“Oh… Uhh,” you cleared your throat in surprise, “That’s fine. Really. I’m sure it will be fine, I mean… He’s a wonderful dancer, and I adore his passion, but…”

“You’re afraid it will be weird between you? Considering that you’re not together anymore?” She interrupted you without a second thought. Her face showed sympathy as she asked you a question you tried to ignore for yourself.

Your shoulders were slightly slumped, and you nervously bit down on your lower lip. “Yeah,” you nodded slowly and shrugged. “But we’re professionals, and I’m sure we’ll be able to work through it in the next months. I doubt there will be any problems; we ended on good terms. In some way. We agreed to stay friends, remember?” You inhaled and put a few hair strands behind your ears.

“Babe,” she tilted her head, “You two can’t really be in the same room with each other. Every time you stare at each other like two lovesick puppies that obviously still love each other. When was it the last time you actually saw each other?”

You were aware that you and Aemond were extremely professional and wouldn’t let personal feelings ruin any experiences for your careers. But even if you agreed to stay friends and that you wouldn’t let any personal feelings between you, you had to stop dancing with him entirely. The weird tension between you was too heavy after your breakup. You and Aemond used to be dance partners, even before you got into a relationship. You only hoped it would end well.

“I don’t know. It probably has been a few months by now.” With an apprehensive sigh, you leaned against the backrest of your couch and placed a cushion on your lap to play with the fabric. “And besides, the moments you mentioned probably happened shortly after we broke up. I’m sure he and I moved on and can be professional. You know how important our careers are for us.”

Helaena hummed teasingly and nodded her head, “Of course, of course…. I’ll pretend I believe it now.” She chuckled as you rolled your eyes and huffed. If she were here, you’d have thrown the cushion at her. “Whatever! This only means that I’ll finally be able to design another dress for you,” she smiled and clapped excitedly. You chuckled and smiled at her through the screen, her excitement made you happier.

You talked for a few more minutes with her before she had to end the call because she got called by one of her clients. You sighed after the call ended. This was not what you had planned. This was not what you thought would happen. You weren’t exactly sure how to feel about it that you’d be dancing together with Aemond, especially in such a story as Romeo and Juliet. If you were honest, it didn’t bother you that you’d have to dance with him, but you were nervous. More than nervous that something might not work out in the way it should be.

You weren’t lying when you told Helaena that you and Aemond decided to stay friends, but she wasn’t lying either. You barely saw each other or were able to stay in the same room for long without staring at each other when the other one wasn’t looking. There were still feelings between you. Feelings that both of you tried to ignore and deny, even if it was obvious that they were still there. Especially to Helaena – she knew what you and Aemond still felt for each other. She deeply hoped that you would get closer again someday and maybe be honest with yourselves and each other.

You met Aemond and the rest of Helaena’s family when you were having a sleepover at her place for the first time when you were ten – it was like a little celebration of your friendship. During the first years of your friendship with Helaena, you barely talked with Aemond or any of her brothers, you barely knew them, only the things Helaena had told you about back then. The interests were too different, even if Aemond was into ballet and a ballet dancer as well. You couldn’t really find a way to connect with him.

Surprisingly, you had talked with Aegon more than with Aemond, despite the slight age gap. Aegon was like an older brother to you and treated you like a second sister – even if he technically had two already. He was happy to see that Helaena had someone who shared her interests and didn’t judge her for the way she was. You had met the other half of their family only a handful of times so far. Even if everyone tried to be polite with each other as much as they could, you were able to notice the tension between everyone – some had more and some had less tension, but it was there.

But over the years and the older you were, you grew closer to Aemond and became friends. You found interest in each other and realised that both of you had sides inside you that neither of you were aware of. You had been spending more time with him after Helaena had her injury and wasn’t able to dance anymore. Whenever you weren’t with her, you spent your time in the studio with her younger brother. You started to like him more after you got to know each other better. You trusted him, he trusted you. Both of you motivated each other for your dancing and after some time, you tried to dance together, and it was like you were made for each other. Dancing with him always seemed more than easy and the chemistry between you made it even more magical. You supplemented each other, which resulted in both of you being able to dance in a Nutcracker production together when you two were seventeen. It was the start of the best time of your lives.

Both of you were able to turn your hobby into your career and danced together in many productions, even the teams behind every production were mesmerised by the chemistry between you. Many times, you were asked by other dancers if you two were in a relationship – which you had to deny every time. Although, you had a crush on each other, but you never told each other, even if everyone around you seemed to notice the underlying feelings between you.

Especially Helaena noticed it, then and even now, and she loved teasing you about it. Even Daeron and Aegon seemed to notice something after some time. They cracked jokes about it many times before, about how well you’d fit together. Both of them didn’t even notice the glares Aemond gave them or how his and your cheeks heated up. Nevertheless, it took some more time until Aemond got the courage to officially ask you out on a date when you were rehearsing for a production. You didn’t realise in the first place that he was asking you out but once you did, you agreed happily.

You were the one who was able to bring out a happier and more cheerful side of Aemond, one he mostly only shared and barely let out due to different things that had happened in his life. Especially since he was ten years old and got into an incident with his younger nephew and lost his left eye to it. Since then, he has been wearing a prosthetic eye, which brought him his own difficulties from time to time. There had been days when the pain would be unbearable for him, and nothing could help him to ease the pain. Before he had been with you, he wanted to get through this alone and show everyone that he was strong enough, but he slowly let you comfort him and be there for him, the more he trusted you. But even then, there had been days when he pushed you away and wanted to be alone.

In your presence, he was mostly able to forget about his burdens and worries and could feel peaceful because of you. Especially whenever you danced together, he was much calmer and able to forget about his problems during these moments. He may have gotten rude comments about him being a ballet dancer from different people throughout the years, but he paid them no attention. Ballet saved his life in a way only you could understand.

Luckily, your relationship didn’t end because anything negative happened between you. It was rather a decision the two of you had made together almost a year ago, so both of you could focus more on your careers as ballet dancers without any distractions. You had been quite busy with your schedules and barely saw each other that much anymore, given that you and Aemond had to work on different performances and were busy with your training, classes or rehearsals all day. At the time, it was the better decision to part ways and stay friends.

Even if that worked in some way, neither of you wasn’t truly able to move on. Even if you had agreed to stay friends and act normally, it wasn’t easy to see each other afterwards. You kind of grew apart even more and only saw each other rarely. Before and during your relationship, Aemond used to visit you and Helaena a lot, but after your breakup, he rarely stepped into your and Helaena’s apartment. Only if he knew that you weren’t there.

It hurt Helaena to see her younger brother and her best friend growing apart like that, she felt kind of helpless. She didn’t want to get between you, but she understood your decision and tried to be there for each of you as much as she could. Even if it could be difficult for her sometimes – she tried her best, and so did you and Aemond.

After a while of thinking about old memories, you cleared your throat and got up from the couch to distract yourself. You didn’t want to spend the rest of your day thinking about your ex-boyfriend and what you experienced together. You wanted to focus more on being happy that you were finally going to have the opportunity of your life – you were a next Juliet in the ballet world.

You walked into your kitchen and took a sip from the glass you poured yourself before you received the email with the news of the casting. Your phone lit up with a message from Aegon – he congratulated you on getting the part in the production. You smiled and shook your head, Helaena must have texted or called him after her call with her client. You quickly opened the message and replied to him before you started to cook yourself dinner.

Meanwhile, Aemond cut some vegetables for his dinner and was on the phone with Aegon. He just told him that he got the part of Romeo and was more than excited to start the rehearsals – but Aemond didn’t know yet that you were going to be his Juliet. He hoped that the other dancers he’d work with would be as professional as he was.

“How was the first concert, by the way?” Aemond asked his older brother and got a pan out of his kitchen counter – fully unaware that Aegon was texting you.

Aemond furrowed his eyebrows when Aegon remained silent, “Brother?” He placed the pan on the stove and continued to cut the vegetables.

“Hmm? Yeah?” Aegon cleared his throat on the other side of the phone, “Sorry, what did you say?” He changed the position of his body while lying on the couch of his hotel room, a quiet groan leaving his lips as he tried to find a comfortable position.

“Your first concert… How was it?” Aemond repeated his question with a short sigh and added the vegetables to his pan and turned on the stove. But he didn’t get a reply again, which caused him to snap slightly, “Aegon, are you even listening, or what are you so busy with?” Aemond hated it when his brother wasn’t listening or was only half-listening.

“I’m just–“ Aegon paused and thought about his next words for a moment before he continued, “I’m wondering… How does it feel for you to know that you’ll dance with Y/N again?” He furrowed his eyebrows in contemplation.

Aemond stopped his movements, and the grip on his knife tightened with Aegon’s question. “I have no idea what you mean?” He hoped that he just misunderstood Aegon, that it was just some mistake, but how could it be a mistake? Aegon used your name, he must mean you, it could only be you. The words echoed in his mind as he gulped with the consideration that Aegon was telling the truth – that he’d have to dance with you again after everything that happened.

Aegon chuckled nervously. ‘Didn’t he already know that he’d have to dance with Y/N?’ He asked himself and cleared his throat. “I uhh…,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he couldn’t save himself anymore, “Helaena called me before you did and told me that Y/N got the part of Juliet. And you’ll be Romeo. So… They’re your Juliet. I thought… You already knew.”

Aemond stared at his cutting board, did he hear his brother correctly? You were going to be Juliet? No, he must have misheard something, right? This newfound information caused him to stay quiet for a few moments. He wasn’t sure what to do with that information. On one side, he was happy that he got the part of Romeo, but it meant to dance with you. He felt conflicted about it, he knew that dancing with you always felt magical and easy, but he wasn’t sure how it would be after everything that had happened. Even if it has been a year since the end of your relationship, he didn’t know what to expect. He should’ve expected that this could happen, but he didn’t.

“I certainly didn’t know that at all. I only got the news of my part…. They’ll announce the complete list of dancers soon, but I didn’t know about Y/N.”

“Sorry, I–“

Aemond cut him off and shook his head, even if Aegon wouldn’t see it. “Do you know if they know that we will... You know,” he cleared his throat, he felt somewhat tense, “Dance together?”

“I don’t know, perhaps?” Aegon replied, quite unsure of his answer, “If you already have told our sister about it, then I’m quite sure that Y/N knows too by now.”

Aemond hummed and pursed his lips. Should he text you and congratulate you on getting the part for Juliet, or should he wait until you see each other for rehearsal? But what if you didn’t know yet that he would be your Romeo and that you’d find out because of him? It could be strange. After all, he knew what the whole Romeo and Juliet ballet meant to you, so it wouldn’t be weird to congratulate you for getting the role you always wanted, right? But he wasn’t sure if he should reach out to you after all.

“We’ll talk later. I’ll prepare my dinner now. I’m sure that you… Must prepare for your show tonight. Bye,” he quickly ended the call and let out a desperate sigh. This wasn’t how he thought he’d spend his next months.

You haven’t seen each other in months, how would things be between you two? He was excited about the production if he was thinking about his career, but he was nervous about his personal feelings.

Later that evening, you found yourself sitting on the couch of your living room, one of your favourite blankets wrapped around your body while a movie was playing on the TV in the background. You shivered a bit, even if the room was warmed up by the fireplace. But you weren’t sure if you shivered because you were cold or because you were feeling nervous. You stared at the screen of your phone, eyeing the chat with Aemond – you were considering if you should text him or not. After all, you were about to spend your next months together, almost every day until the last performance at least. It wouldn’t hurt to text him quickly, right? But did he even know about you being his Juliet?

Your thumb hovered over the chat with him, your nerves causing your hands to sweat a bit, and your pulse beat strongly in your ears. It was just a simple text; it shouldn’t be anything you should worry about. But your pulse was still beating strongly, your mind flooded with a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions.

Little did you know that Aemond was in the same situation as you while he was lying in his bed. His blanket covered half of his body while only the small lamp on his nightstand brought some light into his bedroom. One arm was placed under his head while he held his phone in his other hand. His thumb hovered over your chat as well. He desperately wanted to text you and let you know how happy he was for you that you were going to be Juliet. He was happy for you, but the thought of dancing with you caused his nerves to hit him deep inside. Aemond rarely felt nervous, but if it involved you? Completely different. You made him feel things no one else could, even after your breakup and not having seen each other in a while. The thought of you increased his pulse immediately.

After some more thinking, both of you tossed your phones away, letting out a long and exasperated sigh. Both of you covered your faces with your hands while your shoulders relaxed. This wouldn’t be easy. If you couldn’t even text each other a simple ‘Congrats’, how should things go when you would dance together? How were you supposed to spend your days together in such intimate moments? You’d have to be close – very close with each other and trust the other one. You were sure you could trust each other, but you were afraid of what else might happen.

And that’s when it hit both of you all of a sudden – he immediately sat up, his shoulders tensed while yours did as well as you both realised what it meant to be dancing as Romeo and Juliet.

You’d probably have to kiss each other.

On stage.

In front of so many people who would watch the performances.

It would most probably be a part of the choreography, and neither of you could change it, even if you could – neither of you wanted it to be changed, either. It is such a delicate moment between the characters and displays the feelings between them – it would be foolish to erase that moment. The next months surely would be interesting.

[whetstonefires]

You know I'm realizing one reason you keep seeing mdzs modern AUs where the Jiang parents are alive mainly so they can dramatically fail and betray Wei Wuxian by cutting him off financially--defaulting on his college tuition or formally disowning him etc--isn't just that people want to translate the Burial Mounds II arc into modern terms while keeping Jiang Cheng clean of it.

(Despite the fact that the internal logic of Jiang Cheng's character is largely built around him being a person who would abandon someone he intensely cared about under these specific circumstances.)

It's because it's hard to set up a modern analogue for the way that Jiang Cheng is responsible for Wei Wuxian, as his Sect Leader.

We live in a highly individualistic society. People are trying to write Wei Wuxian Tragically Wronged, and because there's a normative expectation that people in the position of parents will provide you with resources, and certainly won't withdraw them without warning, but no such assumption that people in the position of siblings necessarily owe each other support, making this work in modern setting with Jiang Cheng in his canon role would require a lot of extra work, just to get a less readily resonant result.

But I keep thinking about it. Because something that's getting lost here is, not just the nuances of character and relationship, but like...it's sort of key to the story that cutting Wei Wuxian off was, in fact, Completely Socially Appropriate.

The level on which it was a betrayal is subtle, and deeply cutting. And intensely tied up in the very different opinions each of Jiang Cheng's parents had about what obligations existed in their family wrt Wei Wuxian, and what these meant.

The level on which it was the obvious, normal course of action is blatant. That is to a huge extent why it happens: because Jiang Cheng's instinct to conform is a survival instinct, reinforced by trauma, and Wei Wuxian's choices meant he had no coherently compelling reason not to obey it, and enormous peer pressure to do so.

The fact is that Jiang Cheng was making a reasonable choice, the actual thing 'anyone would do in that situation,' unlike Wei Wuxian and Jin Guangyao's respective wildly warped ideas about what that is.

Wei Wuxian wasn't betrayed by Jiang Sect like your foster parents cutting you off because you're disobedient. Wei Wuxian was betrayed by Jiang Sect like your brother refusing to drop fifty grand to bail you out of jail.

Of course Wei Wuxian tells him not to. And of course the fact that Jiang Cheng already chose in the moment not to pay a cent because Fuck You Wei Ying still stands there glaring, a precedent that can never be taken back.

And then later he's betrayed by Jiang Cheng like your brother cooperating with a police investigation into a manslaughter you really did commit, that's being handled like domestic terrorism. And then like your brother calling the cops on you. And then like your brother helping the cops find where you're hiding.

I'm personally fascinated by the way Jiang Cheng's lifelong resentment for the way Jiang Fengmian reliably bailed Wei Wuxian out of everything informed those decisions to do the normal thing, the way he's reacting against his dead father as well as against Wei Wuxian and the actual situation.

But even without that daddy issues angle, the fact that the person who made that choice was Jiang Cheng, and that it was simultaneously the reasonable appropriate normal upstanding citizen rational thing to do and so shitty Wei Wuxian would be entitled never to forgive it is sort of. The Point.

Of the scenario, and also to a considerable degree of the entire finely tuned narrative construct that is Jiang Cheng.

[wanderingmind867]

I need to say it: although i love the teen titans, I think marvel's original x-men had more characterization. The first seven or eight teen titans stories are really fun, but the characters still feel a bit similar to each other. But the X-Men already had all their core character development done by issue eight or nine, and it was pretty in depth. Let me try to explain.

Cyclops was lonely, an orphan with nowhere to go and no friends outside the team. He's a very serious and awkward young man, the team's field leader (and later official leader). Jean Grey had parents who knew nothing about her powers, so that made for plenty of drama. She was also the one girl on a team in the 60s, so her characterization was a bit weaker sometimes. But she was still impressive. Angel was the son of rich parents, and that brought him strife. He had to bind up his wings, to prevent them making a scene and messing up his personal life. He's literally chaining/binding a part of himself down, which is sad. He presents as the most arrogant of the team sometimes, but that's predominantly because he's insecure and compensates by acting like a rich, overconfident fool. But he's still a brave, kind young man.

Hank McCoy was The Beast, but he hated his powers and his abilities. He didn't want to be a superhero, not really. He wanted to be a normal kid, studying and getting good grades. He learned to make the most of his issues, but he still didn't enjoy being called a "Beast". It's demeaning. He's a good student, a stellar athlete, and yet he's just known as "The Beast". It hurts. No wonder he prefers being a ladies man in Greenwich Village with Bobby Drake. It let him express himself without being seen as the freakiest member on a team of freaks. He was the only one with easily noticable physical deformities, after all. His ape-like limbs were pretty hard to not notice, after all. Especially with a name like "Beast".

Bobby Drake was retroactively made a closeted gay kid in the 1960s, which adds some fascinating layers to him. But even without knowing that, you notice that he's a got an inferiority complex from being the team baby. He's the youngest team member, and he usually comes off like the goofiest member of the team. But he still knows he's underestimated because he's younger, and that stings. So he has his issues too.

Now, you see, I don't think I can make long notes on the Teen Titans yet. Their comics haven't taught me too much about them. Beyond their different power sets and a few mild personality differences, they could all be mistaken for each other. The X-Men were already incredibly distinct after ten comics. And that's how you know that Marvel was just way better with characterization than DC. Stan Lee and his crew knew how to make characters incredibly three dimensional and human. DC really seemed to struggle with fleshing out their characters.

[invested-in-your-future]

Having just started to rewatch Arcane S1, one of the things that I like about it is how it lays out its premise and follows through on it.

In episode 1, Benzo tells Vander that the young people want to write their own stories, and won't be held back by the caution of elders, even well-meant. At the end of the same episode, Vi promises Powder that one day the city will know their names.

And the rest of the season follows through on that, both through Vi and Jinx driving the story in spite of Silco's efforts to stop or control them, but also Cait's refusal to take dismissal lying down, and Jayce continually pushing against Heimerdinger. They drive the story and won't let themselves be held back. (It felt, in many ways, like a better-executed version of what RWBY volume 6 was trying to do).

Which is why the most disappointing aspect of S2, personally, is the way that aspect got lost, as the story became dictated by the hexcore, by Ambessa, by outside forces compelling the protagonists to react instead of driving events the way they had before.

Yeah, one of my biggest issues with S2 is that it offloads every major resolution to an outside plot device.

Vander resolves the sisters' feud. The Magic Robogod subplot resolves the Viktor and Jayce subplot for them AND the class divide (LOL). The child plot device resolves Jinx's role (without even starting it). The random traitor girl resolves Caitlyn's position.

Now, don't get me wrong—reacting is an important aspect of character writing (and character building)—outside stimuli are usually how characters change and develop.

The issue is that Arcane S2 is not interested in having characters react.

Viktor's struggle with his humanity could have been fascinating, but he just shifts between his S1 self, a messiah, robot god, and plot device man in an instant, sometimes within the same episode. Vi and Jinx's feud gets resolved via the Vander subplot, but do we get Vi's characterization and screen time dedicated to her processing what happened? No. Likewise, Vi's "I don't care" would have hit harder had she been allowed to react to Caitlyn going full dictator and struggle against it throughout the season—Caitlyn being even a bit remorseful would hit differently for her if we had seen that struggle where Vi is happy to have her back now.

The show posits those plot devices as "resolutions" but doesn't actually use them at all beyond that—it's as if writers are content with having "closed off a plotline" rather than portraying its effects on the characters or HOW they change.

They created all those new out-of-nowhere subplots and plot devices, and then characters aren't really allowed to react or change due to them—because the plot devices are there to close plot threads rather than characterization.

The annoying part is that Arcane S1 gave all the tools needed to tell the same story but through the lens of the key characters' journey.

Season 1 ended with the inciting incident that every character in the cast could be reacting to throughout Season Two.

Jayce's push against Heimerdinger could shift into Jayce's push against Viktor as the city pushes for more aggressive use of Arcane in "handling the unrest."

Vi and Jinx confronting each other was already set up perfectly—it didn't need a death retcon MacGuffin to solve. By just playing out the character conflict here to its conclusion, Vi and Jinx WOULD have ended up in similar positions they did.

The show didn't need Vander, Black Rose, Noxous, or Magic Robo Gods to convey the cycle of violence, resolve the ongoing civil war between the two cities, or address the destructive nature of unrestricted use of arcane/technology.

They could have done that already and not wasted precious final season screentime introducing all the additional subplots.

And that would have led to a proper, worthy follow-up to Season One's greatness.

[avo-gal]

Varigo villian au lore (pt2?? Ig?)

Soz this took longer than expected lol.

So originally I had two ways for varigo to meet but this is the one I ended up liking more.

Varian

In this au when Rapunzel frees Quirin that was sort of Varian's breaking point bc Quirin didn't survive the Amber. Quirin possibly being alive and things going back to normal was the only hope Varian had left without that he.. lost it to keep it short. Andrew tries to work his way back in and Varian practically freaks out and kills him. Whether it was intentional or not he's still not sure. But a part of him that sick twisted part enjoyed it. So now his mission is to kill all those that cross him and in doing so rise to power. Varian in this au is (for lack of a better word) very insane. He's kinda similar to jinx from arcane? Except less childish. He's like a mix between Jinx and Silco personality wise.

Hugo

Hugo meanwhile is still a thief. He finds the abandoned village of old Corona and decides to raid one of the few remaining houses for any goods. That house was old and messy. The rooms were filled with blueprints, designs, lab equipment, tools, metal, etc. Hugo is fascinated with these designs and is a good engineer. that's when a raven haired boy sees him and initially freaked out and is about to kill him (which he's kinda into cause like damn). But Hugo is able to schmooze his way out of that with a good ol "I hate the rich. You hate the rich. We should kiss- I MEAN build these robots and weapons and take over the kingdom together!" Over the course of about a year (more or less) Varian and Hugo build everything and take over (it actually wasn't too hard). Hugo in this au isn't too different from his regular self. He's more energetic however and isn't afraid to get gorey. He is def a masochist in this au lol. Whilst Varian does constantly give him opportunities to have the same level of power as him Hugo never takes it. One reason is he does want the responsibility another may be that he likes being below Varian.

Varigo

Over all Varigo have a sort of situationship? They'll refer to the other as their partner, boyfriend, fiance, etc. But their relationship is very toxic. I wouldn't say manipulative exactly more power hungry? Or fear fueled? They do care very deeply abt the other (since they are the only ones that care abt the other) and if U hurt one of them the other wouldn't hesitate to kill you. But they often threaten each other physically and emotionally (and not always in a playful way). Hugo on the outside seems like he's only in the relationship for the money and sex and Varian seems like he's only in it for reassurance and weaponry. But they both have common interests and are almost unstoppable when they work as a team. There are a lot of layers to both of them the closest couples I can think of to reference them to is stolitz more so in the earlier seasons and maybe Harley Quinn and the Joker? I'm not very good at explaining their relationship but they are very fun to write lol.

Donella

I haven't given Donella much thought in this au. I think after finding out Hugo has taken over Corona with Varian she tries working with them offering her men and resources.

TTS Cast (may change)

Rapunzel, Cass, Eugene and the others have a sort of rebellion in the snuggly duckling. I haven't thought too much magic hair wise but I think Raps has lost her powers by now so they have a very low chance of winning. The current state of this au is abt a year after Vat7k would have happened.

Someone asked on the last post if I plan on writing a fic for this au.

The answer is not currently no. If I did write a fic for this I would want to have more planned out and there's alot in this au I'm still not sure abt. If it got enough attention or if someone also wanted to write a fic I might do a couple's one shots just to sort of show the characters and how they act in this au. But for now I'm prob just gonna stick with occasionally posting abt it. As I said if it gets enough attention or if I come up with more for the au then I might do something big or post more often abt it.

Okay byeee U guys are amazing make sure U eat today <33

🥗🍟🍕🧁

[elainsgirl]

Hey! Just wanted to say I love seing a strong Elain supporter on this app!

And to make a quick comment on what makes me giggle about the over blown fascination with Gwyn's character that I noticed. I see the same argument that Elain is 'boring' and Gwyn is a 'warrior'. Even while reading fanfiction I see the same pattern. Elain is usually portrayed in rather canon fashion. Demure, gardening, trying to help, getting spying lessons from Az and twins. Helping her family through non warrior strenght. You can actually see it playing out like that since its close to the canon material.

Yet Gwyn is always 'the warrior'. The savior, hero of Prythian, leader of Valkyrie. With a sword healding hand protects the world and the man she loves! And I always smile at this, cause it just proves how majority of tiktok fandom has created their own fictional version of Gwyn. Cause in the canon material we never saw her be a warrior.

They say Elain did nothing, but neither did Gwyn truly. All she did was cut a ribbon and manipulated a beast (which again begs the question - lightsinger?). But apart from that, she really wasn't written in a warrior way. According to the book she didn't even finish the rite technically. Book Gwyn is rather gentle and shy, trying to rebuilt herself from the traumatic events in her life. She's afraid of everything and if they wanted to pick a mate for Az they should have picked Emerie. She carried Gwyn up the mountain. She's an illyrian, and having an illyrian love interest for Az who hates him illyrian side would have been awesome. But no. They pretty much picked a red-haired Elain.

Awe, Thank you 💕

Elain has always and will always be my No.1 girl,

Gwyn is a sweet character. She has the perfect, likeable traits. Flawless. Little depth or complexity. Besties with Nesta. Perfect at everything. Badass. Etc etc. She has enough background to give you the general gist of who she is but not enough that her stans can’t self-insert or shape her to be the way they want which is evident in their fanfics, theories and Hcs. Fanon Gwyn and Canon Gwyn are two completely different characters, canon Gwyn is not that popular. Fanom Gwyn that Gwynriels have built up is. Thats why Gwyn is so popular, she is the ideal fmc gwynriels want whereas “boring” Elain isn’t. Lmfao, even eluciens change Elains personality to be more extroverted and fit Lucien better instead of adhering by Elains canon traits, are we suprised? No. Canon and antis do not mix well.

The hilarious thing is - People did ship Az and Emerie bcs of the reasons you listed. But then Emerie turned out to be possibly gay so anti elriels had to find another character to ship Az with God forbid he ends up with the woman he actually wants. In comes Gwyn and Ta da! You have her being shipped w gwynrieo despite neither showing any romantic interest in each other. The whole gwynriel ship is based on fanon which cool. Thats good for them but you can quite literally do that w any characters.

If Mass wanted Az to end up with a badass, bubbly warrior she would have had Mor and Az end up together. Instead of bringing in a whole new Li for Az so late into a series that too in a standalone book. There is 0 difference between Moriels dynamic and Gwynriels. Same ship, different font. Yet Mass broke up Moriel and chose to develop Az and Elain romantically and plotwise. Why? Bcs she wants the two beautiful, quiet introverts to end up together.

[a1sart]

I made marble sky ocs <3

they're like toxic doomed yuri I love them

also I did not intend for their color palettes to literally just be the lesbian flag but y'know what I think it works

[pastafossa]

Late to the party, first time watching DD completely, not in bits and pieces.

Ya know, thinking about it, in TRT, you've added ANOTHER parallel to Fisk and Matt.

They both fall in love with women who enable them.

Vanessa reassures Fisk that he's doing the right thing, that he's not to blame for what happened as a kid.

Jane reassures Matt that he's doing the right thing, that he's not to blame for what happened as a kid.

They both calm the raging fury that's inside of them.

I'd love to see Venessa and Jane have a conversation, just one. Just to see their personalities bounce off of eachother. I have a feeling Jane would start to show her teeth and Venessa would start to show her second face by the end of it.

(Not fully caught up with trt)

YESSSSSSSS! And that's the thing, like - the parallels between Matt and Fisk have always been an amazing piece of writing for me in canon. They set it up so beautifully, weaving in all these layers where you see how similar they are, but also slightly different: their first drink with their father (Matt while stitching up his dad, Fisk trying to please his dad), their father's deaths, the rage, trying to 'fix' the city, etc. And so it felt right to show something similar with Matt and Jane versus Fisk and Vanessa who, spoiler alert: I also fucking love as a couple.

Both are arguably healthy (ish) relationships in their own way. Supportive, loving. Like you said, they encourage or enabling the other depending on the circumstance/where you're standing: you're doing the right thing. I believe in you even when no one else does. You can do this. You're not to blame for what happened then. They're kind to their partners. And neither of them are as innocent as Matt and Fisk initially think.

But much like Matt and Fisk, there are slight differences, showing the different ways the wheels can turn even in similar people, namely in the way Vanessa leans into that personal darkness, and Jane is, at least for now, trying to lean away from it. Because Vanessa's very comfortable, confident with strolling through that darkness, as is fitting for a villain power couple. Jane meanwhile is more like someone who's trying for the second time to cross a Decent Person wire above a darkened I Want To Murder Many People canyon but she slipped and is now hanging onto it upside down, holding onto that rope with her teeth, fingers, and toes all while Circumstance butters her fingers and Matt desperately uses his balancing pole to swat at Circumstance from the nearby wire Matt himself is barely walking labeled 'Violent Catholic Vigilante Issues'.

ANYWAY, I agree. I think Vanessa and Jane would have a lot to talk about, and the push and pull between them both would be really interesting! Because there's so much they agree on, and yet, there's just enough different that ooooh... that slow build in tension would be delicious. How long before the masks fell, and they both got a true sense of the other? Only time would tell.

[amelikos]

Spinel's relationship with Blacky really gained layers, I'm kind of fascinated.. the thought that they live in their world only they can understand.

[muninnhuginn]

feeling so normal about li bing and qiu qingzhi btw

[pynkhues]

https://www.tumblr.com/pynkhues/769063810095087616/im-curious-about-your-thoughts-on-something-i?source=share

Okay this whole post just blew my mind

Ahaha, I hope in a good way!

[moe-broey]

Another important thing though...

[ailinu]

preserve us from edgelords. good lord.

[anghraine]

Sometimes I see a fandom take that is so utterly foreign to my understanding and experience of the same canon that I'm just sort of staring at the wall as I process the reality that we're members of the same species and that's just how people are.