#but also i love the concept of assholes becoming a family-like group of friends

[nowordspageempty]

literally my favorite thing about seijoh is that in some way, shape or form all of them are kind of assholes

like with some of them it‘s more obvious (matsuhana, kyoutani, also kind of oikawa) and with others a bit less (watari, kunimi, yahaba, kindaichi). (Iwaizumi is kind of a grey zone), some of them are more of an asshole (oikawa, kyoutani, kindaichi lmfao, kunimi and matsuhana) and others less (iwaizumi, yahaba, watari) but either way it does become clear that they are all a little bit awful (and i say this with as much love as i can lmao)

[splickedylit]

please tell me more about the stuff in the tags of your last fic, I love xenolinguistics! What if brother and sister were just correlated do to our gendernorms? What is sister in Alternian?

I mean, to be clear, that post is an excerpt, and far from the full fic which is still in process! But uhhh let's see. So in the tags you're addressing, I said

"what if 'motherfucker' and 'brother' are translated different but they're related words in alternian…. #what if 'brother' and 'sister' aren't different words theyre just translated in english based on gender but there's no distinction actually #it's all the word I tend to translate as 'kin'/'family'/'fam' but gendered by english-speakers for comprehension"

My thought wasn't that there was a word for "sister" in Alternian, any more than a word for "brother"! In keeping with the minimal amount of gendering I try to do when I write trolls, I was thinking there could be a single word that just basically means "troll who is part of my 'family'", (although "family" here is its own kettle of fish on Alternia, more on that later). To a conversational learner of Alternian, it would be fairly natural to translate it according to the gender of the person being addressed, since calling someone "brother" or "sister" has more linguistic precedent than the gender-neutral address I've used in clown-fics before, which is "kin".

(I don't think I got that from canon, as far as I remember I came up with that because I wanted more queer characters and needed a gender-neutral church term of address for them, lol).

Bear in mind my worldbuilding is also partially predicated on the way I tend to write the clown church, which is a little more based on real life juggalos than some clown churches I've seen written in fics--I like the idea that purplebloods are still violent assholes to each other, but that they have a weird kind of cohesion, a default allyship with each other via the church that isn't quadranted and isn't necessarily in cahoots, but just expects a certain amount of kinship. "Family", or "troll-closer-than-friend", something that's not quite a quadrant but is closer than the average troll gets to have with other trolls, usually. I like the thought of other blood castes finding that deeply unsettling--and I also feel like it makes a certain amount of sense; both for the sort of weird troll equivalent of an ethnoreligious group and also for a comparatively smaller ruling class that has to keep the much more numerous, psionically-gifted masses in line.

But also as individuals they will certainly still challenge, undercut, and murder each other sometimes haha. They're Alternian trolls after all. ANYWAY

Terms of address in Alternian are actually a really fun concept, especially if I was playing around with the concept I talked about a little in later tags on that same post--that you can present yourself as a superior, inferior, or intentionally give zero inflection either way, which is risky in its own way if the person you're speaking to doesn't agree that you're equals. That actually meshes nicely with one of the few bits of xenolinguistics we do get in the comic, which is that apparently the troll word for "friend" is the same as the word for "enemy"! Which you could work in a couple of ways!

the word just essentially does mean "friend"/"troll I'm close to"--if you are actually friends, then cool. If not, it becomes more like a guy in a bar calling you "pal" and stepping into your space. Humans have their own dominance and submission tone indicators, and imposing closeness or familiarity on a person you aren't familiar with to that degree can be a threat in any language, so it would feel right to me if Alternian had the same thing but much more aggressively codified.

The word is understood as "friend" when it's said in a submissive/friendly/fawning stance, and "enemy" when it's said by a superior or dominant troll. This is actually also fun because it means that unless a highblood is explicitly lowering themself to use a less dominant tone, they're speaking to their social inferiors with pretty overt hostility.

To bring it back around to the original topic, I honestly like option two a little better--if any term of address can be dominant/hostile, submissive/fawning or neutral/equal, then Gamzee when he's introduced using the "equals" inflection of "brother/sister/etc" would carry on his canon vibe of not really acting like A Real Highblood. And then when murderstuck hit, he could drop all the way to a supposedly super friendly and harmless inflection on the "it's me :o)" sentences and an aggressive one on the "AND ALSO ME :o(" sentences.

"Motherfucker" is a fun one because carrying on the thought I was having in those tags, I was imagining "motherfucker" would be a very similar word in Alternian to "kin"--but smushed together with the Alternian for "fuck" and used in all sorts of ungrammatical ways. "Motherfucker" would make sense to me as an Anglicization of a word that in Alternian might mean something more like "(friend-closer-than-friend)fucker". After all, trolls don't have mothers--I think I've written before with the alternate headcanon that it refers to the Mother Grub, and is kind of profane/gross in that sense, but I also like the concept that part of the reason that we see so many purplebloods throwing "motherfuck(ing/er)" around is because they're also the ones who have a concept of "family" via the church, and a nonexistent translator was like "for readability I have not translated this literally but have instead used the nearest human equivalent" lol.

[millimononym]

long post?

Ok so while i do hate season 3, i do like the idea of D'jok being the one being manipulated by the seasons' main villain instead of Sinedd for once (not counting how it was done in s3, the rest of the post is gonna be completely detached from that. Actually now that i think about it after i wrote it, it's barely even about the first sentence in the post. I got carried away ok)

While it also serves as a parallel between Sinedd and D'jok(you tend to be open to being manipulated when you've lost your friends for one reason or another), it also kind of makes sense when you think about it in the context of the universe.

Like, why DID we need D'jok to relearn the "don't let the fame get to your head and don't be an asshole to your friends" thing again and again? The obvious, out of universe answer would be that the writers didn't know what to do with his character arc so they just repeated it, but that's the boring answer(though i do think it's the correct one).

Why DOES D'jok go through these constant relapses of character(which allow him to be vulnerable to manipulation in the first place)? i think an interesting concept would be that he's coping with the fact that he's unsatisfied with his life, at least later on, in season 2.

Maybe at the start, it was really just about fame getting to his head, which led to him damaging the relationship he had between him and his best friend, which led to Micro-ice running away, which snapped Djok out of it and made him rethink his values. If even his childhood friend couldn't stand his behavior anymore,so much that he'd RUN AWAY, then surely he was doing something horribly wrong. But everything turns out fine in the end and goes back to normal. Better than ever, even. His belief in fate and that he was destined to be something great is surely proven right. He's famous and rich now, he knows what happened to his biological parents, he's got a great friend group and a girlfriend who loves him. He couldn't have expected or wanted anything more.

Could he have, though? Him becoming the team captain after Rocket's disappearance in s2 was more stressful than he'd ever imagined it'd be, and he sees things in a different light while he cracks under the pressure. After four years of what seemed to be perfection, he's slipped back into his old habits again as a defense mechanism. Maybe he wasn't really that happy anymore. His friends sure weren't, and his outbursts didn't help. Not to mention his father getting framed for terrorism, and his friend becoming a completely different person than the one he once knew. But everything goes back to relative normalcy, through all the pressure, and his near death experience,the Snow Kids manage to barely get a win against the Xenons in the finale. Everyone's happy.

Except him, maybe. I imagine you tend to rethink your life when you almost die. Was all this trauma and pressure him and his friends were going through really worth it in the end? Surely it was, it had to be. He now had an adopted family, biological family, fame and money, it's all he could have dreamed of as a kid who believed in destiny on Akilian. So why wasn't he content with it? Why did he slip back into his old habits even though he logically shouldn't have, if he was happy?

Was it because what he thought to be fate wasn't as great as it once seemed? He knew this couldn't last forever. The Snow Kids were bound to lose their title eventually. If that was the case, then did it all really lead up to this? Did he really hit his peak so early? At the age of 21, or 16 even? Did he really go through all of this just to be remembered as someone who was a famous footballer at 16? Did he treat all of his friends like shit, go through all of the trauma he did, just for that? It couldn't be like that.

So he relapses to his old behavior to cope with such thoughts, which leads to tension between him and his friends and leaves him open to being a target of manipulation, especially by people who seem like they have his and his careers' best interest in mind. So instead of leaving his friends because of simple arguments, he leaves because of what was essentially a culmination of years' worth of insecurities. He eventually realizes though, hopefully for the last time, that his friends are more important to him than any idea of fame. Even though this wouldn't last forever, he's still got his friends who went through it with him together.

[aquadestinyswriting]

Hello hello and happy STS (and late blorbo blursday)! If you don't mind, please classify your OCs according to the following: bimbo, mean bisexual, even meaner lesbian, she/they, he/they, token straight that's on thin ice, astrology bitch who has everyone's birth chart memorized, short king. Bonus points if you can explain why for each. :D  (You are free to leave out any that do not apply to your OCs' friend group.)

Happy belated sts to you Jax, thank you for the question. I', sorry it took so long to respond, this was one I had to think about quite a bit before I could answer it. Under a readmore because there's a lot of categories and I have a bit to say about each one. I suspect you're going after the vibes more than the actual literal interpretation here, but some may be more literal than others.

Bimbo: I think the closest is maybe Kidri Toroksdottir, a character that will be showing up in The Trouble with Meredith series as one of Merri's younger friends. It's not that she's not intelligent, but she is lacking in the general common sense department.

Mean Bisexual: That'll be Thaddeus Darkhide by a mile. He's super snarky and 'tells it like it is' a lot. I think he's one of three wizard's tower characters who doesn't have unresolved trauma, so that bitchiness is all him just being an asshole. He is also canonically Bi, it just hasn't come up yet.

Even Meaner Lesbian: Since we're going with the vibes here, I'm electing Reginald Schreiber this particular title. His pettiness rivals the meanest of mean girls and it's not just that he's petty and mean; he is particularly underhanded about it. The man is all sweet smiles and pleasantries, while he viciously stabs you in the back with his words.

She/They: While I'd love to put Dwena here, this one has to go to the canonical, gender non-conforming from conception npc, Cece Lamore. Cece is one of those characters who was in the campaign and will only show up in my writing if she becomes relevant, but she fits this one so well I couldn't leave her out. While Cece is most likely a transwoman (the DM who created them wasn't very clear on the matter), I don't think they'd mind the gender neutral pronouns so much because they would probably take on a male identity if necessary to avoid the authorities who are currently on the hunt for them. Cece is one of those characters we loved to hate though and she was so much fun when she did show up.

He/They: I'm gonna go with Thazaar for this one. While he does use male pronouns for the sake of convenience while he's on the material plane, I reckon Thazaar is probably more agender than anything. If anyone wants to refer to him as anything else, he honestly won't mind. When Thazaar visits his grandfather and that side of the family though, he does present very differently because Celestials don't really care about the gender norms of the material plane.

Token Straight on Thin Ice: That'd be Laurence Tate, my husband's character. He's funny, helpful and kind, but honestly a bit of of an arrogant sod. He's on really thin ice for a bunch of different reasons that I won't go into because then this bit would be eight paragraphs long. And, yeah, I know for a fact that he is definitely straight.

astrology bitch who has everyone's birth chart memorized: This one's purely on the vibes (because I'm not sure he believes in Astrology); Snotgrut. Now, hear me out, Snotgrut loves information, especially if that information pertains to the people he hangs around with. It's his way of figuring out how to interact with the people he cares about. This is a goblin who will 'put-pocket' magic rings in peoples' pockets to keep an eye on them via scrying and usually doesn't tell anyone he's done it. I get the feeling (and I'll check with his original player) that he has full dossiers on everyone just so he doesn't get blindsided by seemingly random outbursts of emotion. If was into astrology, you bet he'd have full charts for every last one of his found family, would memorise them all and then use them to work out why, for example, someone's so pissy about something innocuous.

Short King: This one has to go to Felix. I'm sorry, but that little gnomish fellow just wins at being a decent man. He's not perfect, he does suffer from foot in mouth disease a lot and is very self-deprecating, but he's about as close as we're gonna get. He is Elowyn's first cheerleader, is kind, empathetic, stands up for what he believes in and will do anything to make sure the people he loves are happy and safe. He used his only Greater Wish spell, a gift given to him by the Gods to help in the final, climactic battle of the campaign, to make sure Meredith got to have her happy ending when she didn't even know if she'd just been made a widow not even a two months after she got married. I still get teary-eyed every time I think about that.

[brawltogethernow]

thoughts on peter and gwen if it's no trouble?

brutally honest ship opinion meme - I'm catching up on 6-month-old ask meme prompts it's fine.

Hang on, I need to dig into the 2011 reaction gif folder.

They were gonna get muh-huh-huh-hah-uh-rried-d-d-d-dhhh.

PeterGwen are...the most thematically load-bearing non-familial relationship in this comic. Which makes it very funny (depressing) how many writers and fans are like "ah this is the Basic romance". PeterGwen is...inevitable, by choice. They're two asshole STEM majors (PeterGwen is asshole4asshole whereas PeterMJ is bitch4bitch, these are distinct) who ALWAYS conduct themselves at each other with the MAXIMUM amount of drama. They are a vintage romance comic nested inside a vintage superhero comic. The clash of their personalities is such that they don't know how to go to the store together without composing a sonnet about it. A hypothetically uninterrupted PeterGwen trajectory wouldn't dock in suburbia - it would be pastel and primary Morticia and Gomez. Gerry Conway was correct in concluding that the only way to really stick a fork in this relationship was to kill one of them off, because if you took the alternate route I've proposed in the past of keeping them from tying the knot by having Gwen become the supervillainous member of the friend group they would have eventually crashed back together weirder, more dramatic, and more powerful. I'm enamored with their bullheaded, fatal refusal to leave each other alone, which is why I like taking a poly approach to Gwen revival concepts. (Also they're both fun and they're fun together.)

I'm gonna inline the panel down that link again because: their vibes.

So THAT'S the dynamic that was, or should have been, enshrined when Gwen's death became a keystone event in the Marvel universe. They're in the foundations of PeterMJ, Harry's stints as the Goblin, all the clone shit, etc. They're echoing eternally through this franchise in way more substantial ways than the dozens of multimedia homage scenes of characters getting thrown off tall shit. If you like Spider-Man and you think you don't like PeterGwen yes you do.

And holy shit the DRAMA of a relationship where a timer starts ticking down when two people first meet. The ANGST. This is one of the reasons I don't love Spider-Gwen shifting to going by Ghost Spider because "death always follows Gwen Stacy" like, no!! That's such a stale toast way to interpret Peter's Gwen being dead and Gwen's Peter being dead. The much jucier read through which to allow the characters to see the shape of the narrative trends that guide their lives is: The laws of the universe have decreed that once the two of you enter a room together only one of you gets to leave it alive. (I was very occupied with this concept writing Three Graves but did not convey it very well, I intend to work it into Neapolitan, I know what I like.)

[hoes4hoseok]

enhypen as red (taylor’s version)

HI IT’S BEEN A HOT MINUTE I just want to preface this by saying that assigning members to songs for red was so hard because of how many options there are so if you disagree LMK I want to hear other opinions :) thank you as per usual to @lethekoo

jay as treacherous

“I’d be smart to walk away, but you’re quicksand”

falling for jay would be so excitinggg; he’d absolutely sweep you off your feet & it’d all happen so fast that you’d sometimes wonder if it was really happening

& it isn’t necessarily great for both of you, but you’re just so caught up in the moment that you don’t care and want to see what’s in store for the two of you

OKAY WAIT I THINK I CAN DESCRIBE THE FEELING: falling for jay would feel like jumping off a (short) cliff into cold water with your friends. I won’t elaborate.

sunghoon as stay stay stay

“all those times that you didn’t leave, it’s been occurring to me, I’d like to hang out with you for my whole life”

I KNOW THIS ONE TAKES A SECOND TO UNDERSTAND but I absolutely can imagine sunghoon walking in with a football ice hockey helmet the morning after a fight just to get a laugh out of you

& I also think that he’d think it’s funny when you’re mad. not if you were actually mad, he isn’t an asshole, but if he accidentally picked up the wrong cereal & you were scolding him, he’d be trying to suppress his grin in the corner EEEK I’m squealing just thinking about it tbh

OH & he wouldn’t be able to stand it if you were actually upset, especially with him…somehow, I get this feeling that he’d know exactly what to do?? give you space, let you vent, apologize–he would definitely consult the group chat for assistance though LOL

ni-ki as holy ground

“sometimes I wonder how you think about it now, & I see your face in every crowd”

I get the feeling that dating ni-ki would become a memory that you would close your eyes and everything that you associate with that period of time would come rushing back

sure, you’d move on, but your relationship with ni-ki would be something you’d always think back to with a smile on your face because goodness you two were magic together

just imagining dancing in the living room to this song with him is enough to sell me on this one it would become a CORE MEMORY

sunoo as sad beautiful tragic

“time is taking its sweet time erasing you”

ACK okay I gave sunoo if this was a movie on speak now & I have similar reasoning on this one

you would have so much hope that he was the one for you because you were together for so long and it was great…until it wasn’t

& after this long, it would be really hard to continue to be friends, so you stop seeing him altogether which just hurts because he was your best friend too and it’s a whole that’s nearly impossible to fill

jungwon as begin again

“I’ve been spending the last eight months thinking all love ever does is break & burn & end, but on a wednesday, in a cafe, I watched it begin again”

okay I literally assigned jungwon daylight on my lover post so it’s no surprise that I’m saying this: jungwon would treat you RIGHT

even if you aren’t each other’s soulmates, he’d make it clear to you that partners shouldn’t make you feel more confused than loved

& he wouldn’t JUST be a gentleman, he’d make you feel like you’re falling in love for the first time all over again because oh my goodness no one has ever made you feel this funny & loved (I’m sorry this got so personal I want this so bad it’s my fav red song 💔)

jake as run

“darling, let’s run, run from it all, we can go like they’re trying to chase us, go where no one else is”

hehe okay a relationship with jake would also be adventurous, but not holy ground or the very first night adventurous

more like the kind of adventurous that would make you want to pack nothing but a toothbrush and go on a road trip to nowhere when one of you had a bad week

& FOR SOME REASON this concept is even cuter if your relationship was a secret from your friends and family and you just escape together after a rough night UGH SO CUTE I wanna write about it

heeseung as the very first night

“I miss you like it was the very first night”

OKAY HONESTLY I can vividly imagine spending a few days with heeseung that are super magical and fun

until you get separated :( & you seem fine to your friends because it was really short but you can’t stop thinking about him!!

you talk to him on the phone all the time but you’re trying to keep it platonic, but then again, how could you just pretend you didn’t feel so much in that week

what happens?? WHO KNOWS (deadass...tell me if you want a full fic for this because I COULD GO ON AND ON)

txt version ☆ itzy version ☆ lover version ☆ masterlist

[blazingstar24]

Jeez just thinking about Caleb telling Essek that he’s part of the M9 and they don’t leave each other behind. And how much that affected Essek. Because while we have no canon idea for Essek’s family relations, what we have gleamed is that it’s not exactly a warm welcoming one. So for Caleb to tell him that he is a part of their family now and they will have his back, it shakes Essek emotionally.

And especially in the context that Essek doesn’t know Molly. He only know Lucien who has been nothing but an evil asshole. And yet the M9 is willing to risk it all to save him. To fight a godlike horror to bring him back. To cheat death itself. And if you think about it, the M9 is doing what defines their group: giving people and themselves a second chance to be better. Molly’s creed that they took to heart. Leave a place better than when you arrived there. Be a better person than you were the day before.

The M9 is defined by the concept of second chances and becoming better. Caleb and his past. Fjord and the Wildmother. Yasha and her past. Nott becoming Veth again. Beau and her growth from a troubled person into a confident exhibitor. Jester and her growth from a naive tiefling into a mature cleric who has saved numerous lives while still being her. And they extend this concept of second chances to the people they meet who are willing to change as well.

And this is why it hits Essek so hard. With the attempted resurrection of Molly, the M9 are saying they don’t care that Lucien was an evil asshole. They know Molly can be better and deserves a chance to do so. So for Essek who has betrayed the M9, has done so much wrong, this moment right here for him cements that the M9 hasn’t given up on him and never had.

Of course I’m a shadowgast shipper so Caleb saying it makes it so much more amazing. But even the conversations with Fjord and Cad after cements this. Essek is so shaken up about them failing to res Molly the first time. And I wonder if it’s because Essek saw how much love the M9 has for this person who for all Essek knows, was terrible. Attempted to bring back evil into the world. But they loved him so much they poured everything into bringing him back. So when it fails, it’s like saying their love was all for naught. Or that despite how much love they had for him and gave to him, nothing changed.

And for Essek who has be changed so much by the M9’s love, that’s jarring. Because he has put stock and faith in their love, so to see it fail, would make him question his ability to be better, to change. Then Fjord comes in too! With his talk about how things go on and how he still believes in Essek. Basically saying that no, it was not all for nothing even if Molly didn’t return(yet). But that it comes down the individual to take that love and become better for it or with it.

I’m just rambling at this point, but seeing how emotional Essek got just shows how far he’s come and how much love he has for this group. Pre ep 97 Essek would not have cried at his friend’s sadness. Also because he wouldn’t have had friends. Basically the M9 taught Essek to love someone other than himself and now he has to deal with things like being sad because your friend is sad.

[epicene-humanoid]

some trans Jeff thoughts:

he realized he was trans in elementary school and just went fuck it I'll just start introducing myself as Jeffery and see if anyone decides to stop me (as we know, jeff winger can get away with almost anything)

he got top surgery the second he could afford it (around the same time he started at his law firm), and probably bribed someone to keep it a secret

"I'm jeff winger and i would rather look at myself naked than the women I sleep with" are the words of a man proud of his transition

he's really insecure about his fashion sense, which is why he mostly dresses like the douchey guys at his firm in the start of the show, he thought you can't go wrong with the sleazy lawyer look

he will never admit it but he feels super good about the dean hitting on him, because the dean is a (cis) guy, acknowledging that Jeff is more manly than him

i think he starts out stealth and comes out to everyone one by one, probably starting with abed because he knows abed won't judge him and will probably just see it as an interesting backstory.

abed just says it's cool and maybe worth a prequel exploring Jeff's transition, and jeff asks him to predict how all of the members of the group will react to him coming out.

abed's predictions:

britta will be over-the-top supportive and do a ton of research about trans history, probably put together a slideshow just to prove how progressive she is, and jeff will be a little bit weirded out, but also touched that she did all that for him, though he would never let her know that

shirley will be confused, because she doesn't know how someone she trusts and knows so well could be part of a group she was raised to hate, but ultimately realizes that there's nothing actually against the lgbtq people in the bible, and, as a cool character development arch, starts to advocate against use of the bible to justify bigotry

troy will just think it over and decide that Jeff's physique and coolness are even awesomer knowing how much work he'd had to put in to be like that, and respects Jeff's manliness even more

annie will give him a hug, say something sweet about how she'll always love him, and worry about his health, because even she read somewhere that taking testosterone makes you more likely to have a heart attack, jeff will explain that the risk is still only as high a cis guy, and she'll be the one to always remind him to take his shots

peirce will say at best say "jeff winger used to be a chick?" and at worst call him a slur, either way there's sure to be a lot of misgendering from him, and pestering to know Jeff's deadname (needless to say, Jeff just doesn't tell peirce)

the whole group goes out of their way to keep their beach trips a secret from pierce (the girls don't want him there anyways, he's too liable to be creepy) even though jeff knows that even if pierce saw his scars, all he would have to do is make up a story about some childhood accident and pierce would never question it

sorry this ended up being super long. can I hear some of your headcanons for him?

YES ALL THIS!!! yes yes i’m fully accepting this as canon oh my god

i’m about to type a whole ass ESSAY at midnight because i have been DYING to talk about this for months ajfdksljk,,, this is going to be obscenely long and i might end up adding even more to it as i continue to rewatch the show because there is truly no shortage of trans jeff content (especially when you’re trans and see transness in every little thing ajdkslfkjs)

spoiler warning for literally everything about this show under the cut <3

i 100% agree, i feel like he realized he was trans super young, especially since in the show we see him as a little kid a couple of times. 

like look at little jeff with the oversized sweatshirt and little ponytail!! that’s childhood trans fashion. not to be dramatic but part of me thinks that jeff’s dad left before he fully came out to his family (which gives him even more angst about it, because until that one Thanksgiving episode, he’s never able to prove to his dad that he’s a better man), but part of me thinks that his dad left after he came out (which adds that spicy i-should-have-stayed-in-the-closet guilt that he has to work through). 

either way, because his dad wasn’t there, he had to base his concept of masculinity on something else, which was becoming a lawyer!! there’s some line that’s like “after the dust and divorce papers were settled the only man i looked up to was [the lawyer guy]”. like, replacing your father figure in your mind with the concept of “a job where you can talk your way in and out of anything and distort other people’s concept of reality”? that’s trans.

 and the fucking THANKSGIVING EPISODE... i struggle to watch it without crying hehe <3 yeowch! the dichotomy of willy jr. being the “wrong” kind of man because he’s “too soft” but jeff also not being enough despite adhering to all the social standards of masculinity... fuck!! this whole scene of him telling his dad “i am Not well adjusted” and talking about how he gave himself an “appendix surgery scar” when he was a kid and he still keeps the get-well-soon letters from his classmates under his bed? oh my god. the implication of people loving him not despite his scars but because of them?? trans. i can’t think about this episode for too long or i’ll start yelling.

OH and this scene? where he talks about how his mom got him a girl costume for halloween?? and everyone said “what a cute little girl” and after a few houses he stopped correcting them?? and “once the shame and the fear wore off, i was just glad they thought i was pretty”?? THAT’S TRANS... the man needs validation oh my god... and then in all the halloween episodes we see he has these ultra-masculine costumes (a cowboy, David Beckham, one of the fast and furious guys even though he never watched the movies, a boxer with his DAD’S boxing gloves... god) costumes are about becoming something else and he always chooses to be hypermasculine and that is trans.

THE PHYSICAL EDUCATION EPISODE!!!!!!! being uncomfortable during P.E. is a queer experience. period. but him being specifically uncomfortable in the clothes someone else is assigning to him? trans. “are we gonna talk about clothes like a girl? or use tapered sticks to hit balls around a cushioned mat like a man?” TRANS. and him eventually stripping in public? celebration of transness. and the fact that he eventually becomes comfortable in both the uniform and his own style!! trans!! god i love this episode. 

AND AND AND!!! the gay dean coming out episode!!! where it’s the three of them discussing the best way for the dean to come out as gay despite not entirely identifying with that label!! so we have both frankie and the dean who are sort of ambiguously queer, and jeff who’s a stealth trans man who’s probably only out to only the study group at this point. this scene where the dean and jeff have this like eyebrow communication while frankie is talking is just so cute. queer-to-queer communication. “I am so curious” “oh?” “intellectually.” “oh...” ajfdksljfk this scene just screams high school GSA to me and i love it so much.

and SPEAKING of the dean!! i totally see you on that. i feel like jeff has some internalized homophobia/biphobia (like he’d throw punches over someone else, but when it comes to himself he has a lot of shame). and also seeing the dean so confident in all his different outfits/costumes has a weird affect on him bc it’s like “okay, the dean, a cis guy, can do that, but i as a trans guy could Not because that’s Breaking the Rules”. which, like, throwback to the halloween thing. of course there’s no right way to be masculine, but mr. winger does not know that.

another thing!! the episode where their emails get leaked? that includes his emails with his therapist. fuck!! he was outed to the whole world in that episode!! no wonder he was so fucking angry!! this whole episode (and really any time he mentions his therapist) is so interesting when you think about them as a person he talks to about his transition. OH which adds to the thing with the dean!! “and you told your therapist you wanted to be alone this weekend” and “not you jeff, i know you’ll be visiting your dad” ”I told you to stop reading my emails”. luckily his study group has his back and just makes fun of him for emailing astronauts lmao

and WHO can forget “they’re giving out an award for most handsome young man!!!!” what else is there to say about this line besides: he’s trans. you know he didn’t get awarded enough for being a handsome young man when he was a kid, and no amount of compliments when he’s fully-grown can really make up for that. some people crash a kid’s bar mitzvah to cope with the fact that they struggled to be seen as themselves when they were a teenager <3

also his weird relationship with pierce? where he kind of hates him (understandably lmao) but at times has this almost-friends-almost-father-son relationship with him? especially in this episode where he’s forced to bond with him and ends up having a good time by accident (at a barber shop no less, the perfect place to Be A Man with your Man Friend). idk what to say about him besides the fact that pierce says his mom wanted a girl when he was born and made him dress like a girl (and his middle name is anastasia!) so if they’re gonna do any bonding over transness it’s gonna be that. 

okay one last thing and then i’ll shut up for the night. this episode kills me (and almost kills jeff hahahahelpi’mcrying). it’s a very Trans thing to not be able to visualize your future self, it just is. growing up trans at the time he did? i don’t know what kind of future he saw for himself, but i’m so happy that he ended up with a group of friends who became his family and love him the way they all do. i’m so emotional over this asshole it’s ridiculous. 

in conclusion:

they’re trans, your honor <3

[f1yogurt]

Classic F1 MBTI: Niki Lauda - INTJ

Source: Quora, How do I spot an INTJ?

I read this quora page the other day and picked out my favorite quotes about being an INTJ to describe Niki. It's long but enjoy.

They are the person that everyone thinks is an asshole, great at their job, no one wants to hang out with, but the company can't function without them.

Irritated by useless foolishness. INTJ trademark.

We loathe inauthenticity. While we might admire someone’s efforts to attain success… it is the effort we admire, not the success itself. We respect people for WHO they are, not WHAT they own. So if a person is lacking in character, then all the money, cars, yachts, etc. in the world won’t impress us at all.

Many of us have a distinctive way of speaking, controlled and professorial, precise. In private, if we know you well and our guard is down, we are like fluffy effusive children.

But almost nobody sees that side of us. In public, we present as academic.

If you feel like you’re being obliviously lectured to by a quiet weirdo with stabbing eyes, you might be talking to an INTJ.

The one who doesn’t speak until he/she is spoken to, who doesn’t talk until he/she has something to say and who usually provides the answer no-one else has thought of in as few words as possible.

We can be loud when we want to be. But our loudness is most likely witty and sarcastic, not attention seeking.

A lot of people think that INTJs are objective kind of people but I think we're just obsessed with getting answers. (and being right)

We rarely get swept up in fads, which makes us seem a little old-fashioned (but more 19th century old-fashioned than 1950s, if that makes sense). In reality we rarely look backwards, and are among the least nostalgic of people. We are very future oriented, too much so in fact.

They think, you can see them thinking: Personally I have fun while observing INTJs’ thinking processes, I almost can see thoughts all over their head, making a hot mess. Also, they tend to zone out of their surroundings, its just them and their thoughts.

We don't care if people hate us and won't make any effort to be liked. If you like us, then it's cool and if you don't, it's still cool.

We will do anything if you mess up with our family or close friends. Never ever underestimate an intj as you will never know what they are capable of.

Whenever there’s a strong emotional group pile-on (everyone getting incensed about some issue, or being all righteous, or any strong emotion), watch for the person not participating. Reasoning via emotion is antithetical to INTJs, and it’s very disturbing to see the pitchforks come out. We understand how emotion leads people to do terrible things, and are instinctively afraid when groups become emotionally intense. We will not engage, even when we agree. These emotional pile-on’s make some INTJ’s despair for humanity.

We’re actually fiercely loyal friends. We’re honest, diligent and great at solving problems. We will have your back no matter what!

At work, we are happy when a crisis happens as it presents an opportunity for us to respond to a problem.

We look like we are angry when we are just sitting there doing nothing. Probably thinking about a new concept or theory, to be honest.

They tend not to show their emotions: They. stare. Like a wall. They show nothing. Do you know how hard it is to talk to you when you stare like me with a blank face? As an INFP, I am intimidated, I feel judged, INTJs make me super super uncomfortable most of the time. SHOW ME SOMETHING LMAO I WON’T BITE!

Perfectionism.

“It’s correct, but I’ll do it my way.”

Having difficulty expressing your feelings and affection.

If we decide we don’t like you, we’ll then be polite. That’s it.

If we decide we do like you, then expect loads of sarcasm and teasing.

He is very witty and funny.

He loves to laugh. Loves it, like wow. It is very refreshing. He pulls humor out of left field.

He loves it when people ask his thoughts on things. He gives the most interesting assessments and predictions.

He used to be cruel and caustic, and that, too, made him stand out. He is excellent at insults; and again, they can come out of left field.

He loves debate.

He enjoys making fun of people.

Their sense of humor is sarcastic and dry. They don’t try to be funny, it just happens in the moment, and they may just chuckle when no one is around.

They have this natural charisma: It is maybe because they tend to be cold and cold people attract warm people, but every INTJ I have met had this charisma that I do not know how to explain. They do not need to be attractive at any form but you just feel drawn into them. You want to get to know them due to this mysterious look on their faces. Yeah. At least I do.

Harsh from the outside but soft from the inside. As an INTJ I heard too many people saying that I’m emotionless but the ones that are close enough to me said many times, you are vivid and have a very kind heart.

[relaxxattack]

wait omg what are the canon endgame wof pairings you DON'T like? 👀 no pressure of course, im just not a fan of several of them either and im interested to hear what you think :]

honestly most of them?? like idk 😭

ripnami for one is just odd to me. like i don’t dislike riptide but there’s an age difference and a like, immediate love type thing, and the romance is just sorta Boring and Annoying imo?? maybe that’s just cuz im gay though

starflights whole debacle was ATROCIOUS. like i understand why he mightve had a crush on sunny— she was like one of the only other people he knew growing up— but they were all essentially adopted siblings and she obviously felt platonically towards him? and then fatespeaker was brought in, and one part of fans hated her for replacing sunny cuz they shipped sunnyflight, another group of fans hated her for obviously being practically written AS a sunny replacement, and then the last third just fiercely loved her out of spite. so like. starspeaker is Cute, sure, but it just feels like a weird work around to the supreme awkwardness of sunnyflight.

clay and peril? ehhh. clay seems like, SO aromantic to me, so that’s one reason i dont like it, and the other is just. peril as a character always felt like she was handled weirdly. like im not sure if she was a good concept poorly executed, or a bad concept that sort of followed itself through well, but either way my feelings on her constantly go back and forth. i get that she’s probably just like, genuinely mentally ill, but i don’t think the author really represented it too well? but at the same time, i don’t think i’m one to talk on the rep of people like that. (is sociopath the right word??? i literally don’t even know). basically it bothers me how she swings from like. yandere to hilarious older sister character. i love her, but i also feel weird about her. she’s like a girboss in a bad way.

glorybringer… okay theyre really cute, it’s just their development feels a little silly to me. then again, it’s a children’s book. also there’s an age difference, although idk how much that counts for dragons??

moonbli: i hate moonbli okay. they dumped qinter— one of the Only Well Developed Ships— for moonbli. ive ranted before about how much i hate the winter-qibli-moon love triangle, but GOD it’s so bad. like— in book six, moon is fascinated by both the boys. winter treats her like shit, but she can hear that in his thoughts he actually thinks she’s incredible. qibli is nice to her, but he’s like, super sus for some reason. moon actually TELLS DS that she doesn’t like either of them, but she Must pick one because her futures say so? like UM??? (she’s aromantic but denying herself or something) meanwhile in the winter pov book he’s absolutely tortured by guilt and his abusive family, so eventually he breaks off to find moon because he feels bad for treating her bad cuz he’s in love with her. also they have some Moments together. then in qiblis book, he’s also in love with moon, but spends the entire book bonding and flirting with his roommate winter! who is no longer an asshole now that he’s broken off from his family. moon is busy hanging out with some 2000 year old guy who attempted literal genocide, but it’s okay because he’s sad. anyway after like 200 pages of flirting, winter and qibli meet up with moon again and they’re happy because they’re both in love with her or something. except winter is upset because moon is defending the guy who tried to genocide his race and is going to do it again. moon and qibli decide this makes winter the biggest asshole in the entire world, abandon him, and then defeat DS together without him. then moon decides she “chooses” qibli and moonbli becomes canon and they leave winter in some random ass town. like? WHAT THE FUCK??? and we’re supposed to enjoy the moonbli ship :|

like no fuck off and PLEASE give us aromantic moon and mlm qinter please. THERE ARE NO CANON MLM RELATIONSHIPS. and im not just saying this cuz im a gay guy, like qinter legitimately had so much good development throughout arc two and then they get dropped like a hot potato

and then finally we have… whats left, turtlejou? i could take it or leave it ig. too much weird magic stuff there. i would actually maybe prefer turtle and peril just because they’re Actually Friends and their dynamic in book 8 was cool and way less creepy then cleril.

sundew and willow? they're cute but ive seen the mean lesbian and nice lesbian trope many times and they just didn’t pull it off too well. still better then 90% of the ships here though.

SORRY THIS GOT SO LONG I HAD A LOT MORE TO SAY THEN I REALIZED…. IF THIS SOUNDS AGGRESSIVE ITS AIMED AT THE AUTHOR NOT AT YOU ANON

[kidney9-9]

Summer Vacation

Anonymous asked:

heyyyyy, if you are taking smutty requests could you do one where Toms family and the readers family are really close and go on holiday together but Tom and the reader hate each other. Throughout the holiday the keep teasing each other just to take the piss but eventually it gets too much for them, then their families go out but they don’t go and it’s becomes too much and they f*ck😏 and then after they are kissing and their families come home and think finally(im a sucker for enemies to lovers)

hi anon! hope you like this! before you read, please read the warnings! No mention of protection but can be imagined :)

Masterlist

Tom Holland x Reader (Smut with plot) Warnings: cursing, anger, kitchen sex, enemies-to-lovers, harsh teasing (non-sexual), dom!Tom, and oral sex (female receiving) Word Count: 4.7k

When you learned your family booked their annual summer vacation with the Hollands, you complained. The son, Tom Holland, also known as that one fucking asshole who threw sand in your eyes as a kid, was the main reason of your complaint. Since the day he threw sand in your eyes, the two of you despised each other, always jabbing each other with mean insults or shady comments. He was the reason you absolutely fucking hated vacations with your family.

He always called you “cow-girl” because of the unfortunate incident of a cow stepping on your foot during one of the vacations. You always hated when he would call you that, especially around other groups of people, other than your families. It caught on during elementary school, and you were teased the rest of the year because of it. On the other hand, you started calling him “poop-boy” after he tripped and slipped right into the cow poop after that same cow stepped on your foot.

Your families always teased the two of you, always telling you that you would be a great married couple. The two of you would instantly deny their teasing, which was the one thing the two of you had in common. Your dad always jokingly patting Tom’s back, telling him, “Oh, welcome to the family, son.” Which always made you uncomfortable as well. Whenever your family met any of the people you dated, they’d compare them to Tom, which made you hate him even more.

Hate was a strong word, but that was the only thing close enough to what you could describe your feelings of him. Even though you “hated” Tom, you couldn’t help but admit he was fucking hot. It made things even worse after seeing him on vacation, with only a pair of swim trunks on, and immediately thinking about how you wanted to jump his bones and shout at him.

He was lounging on the sunbeds of the summer house your and his family rented together this summer on a sunny beach when you got there. He had a beer in a hand and sunglasses on, talking to his brother and not bothering to look over to you and your family. His mom greeted all of you with a warm smile, “Welcome guys! It’s lovely to see you all here! How have you been?” You smiled politely back at her as she and your mom started animatedly chatting. Your dad sent you a grin and then looked over to the boys, “Hey Tom! Harry, come over here!” He called out with a wave.

Harry was such a sweetheart. You had no idea how he was related to Tom, because of how sweet he was to you all the time. He would call you big sis, and the two of you would always hang out the most during vacations. You looked over to the two of them, smile dropping as Tom lifted his sunglasses and glared at you.

What a lovely greeting, you thought, as him and Harry strolled closer to you and your dad. Your mom had gone inside to put the suitcases away in the rooms. “Hi Harry!” You said sweetly, pulling him for a quick hug. Harry grinned back to you, “Hey guys, happy you can make it.” Your dad nodded to his statement, smiling. But looking back at Tom, you could see he was not having it.

“I’m not happy cow-girl came along.” Tom grumbled out, taking a long sip of his beer. You rolled your eyes at the nickname as both your dad and Harry started laughing, “When are you guys getting together?” Your dad questioned teasingly and the both of you grimaced at the thought. When Tom glared over at you again, making Harry punch the side of his arm mouthing, “Not now.”

The four of you walked inside while Tom continued to glare at you. Harry frowned at Tom’s obvious rudeness again, while you could practically feel the holes burning through your head. You stopped thinking about that for a second, as you looked around the entrance of the summer house with amazement. It was completely beautiful. The house was open concept, a beautiful big living room, a dining room off to the side, and the kitchen had a large island.

Tom scoffed at your awe, “Already impressed? Wonder what type of boys you take home.” Your dad acted like he didn’t hear that, just glanced back to the three of you with raised eyebrows before heading off to greet Tom’s dad. You jeered back to Tom instantly, “What? You take home spoiled girls? That’s your thing, huh?” Harry coughed out a giggle between the two of you as he walked into the kitchen, slicing a piece of the cake that his mom made earlier. 

He offered some to you, which you declined politely, since you weren’t in the mood to stick around Tom any longer. It was like a pissing contest between the two of you, trying to reach the farthest point to anger each other. “At least I can actually take them home and introduce them to the family.” Tom shot back, making you laugh sarcastically.

“Like your family wants to meet the bratty girls you bring home on the weekends.” You retorted, glancing back to Harry as he took a bite of his slice with a slow nod at your statement. You grinned in victory as Tom scoffed at his brother, slapping the side of his arm annoyed.

Your smugness didn’t last too long though, “I’m heading upstairs, see you later Harry.” You said, looking down at your phone with a grin at the message that popped up. It was one of your friends, sending you another funny video she found online. “Can’t even look at him when you’re speaking? Who’s the fucking brat now?” Tom spoke up, making you scoff at him, rolling your eyes.

It was always like he had to have the last word. You ignored the two boys hollering at each other and you, as you walked up the stairs to the bedroom your suitcase was in. You laid back on the bed with a sigh, glancing around at the mirrors on the wall. It was sort of creepy to you, seeing so many mirrors hung up in a room, but you shrugged it off when you stood back up, starting to unpack some of your clothes. You took your bathing suit out, quickly changing into it so you could go swimming down at the beach. When you looked down there, it seemed like no one was out, and it was peaceful.

You frowned again, realizing it would be anything but peaceful with Tom there.

Down at the beach, you quickly ran into the water, not caring about anyone watching you as you splashed your way in. It was so relaxing to float in the water with the sound of the waves. The sun was bright too, but not the type to make you squint your eyes at. Harry laughed, following you in as you both started splashing water at each other. “Ow! My eyes!” You yelped out as the salty water stung, making Harry stop for a moment.

You giggled quietly as he came closer concerned. Tom watched from the shore with a frown, seeing you clutch your face in pain, and debated if he should go in to check on you. Even though the two of you were far from friends, he still felt a little sting of worry when you didn’t let go of your face, and it made Harry panic.

Tom’s worry reminded him of the time you two met, when he accidently smacked sand in your eyes. He remembered how angry and upset you were, officially declaring him your “enemy” as a six-year-old. He really didn’t want to hurt you, but he just wanted to impress you with cool sand tricks. He saw you playing with toys he wanted to play with, and thought you looked cool, and as he introduced himself, and flicked sand up into the air, it just landed straight in your eyes. You had to go to urgent care when you opened your eyes, making everyone at the park gasp. He felt horrible, but you did say he was your “enemy”, so he felt like he didn’t even have to apologize.

When Harry got to you, spinning you around to face him, your hands were still on your face and you laughed loudly, scaring Harry as you pushed him down into the water. Tom scoffed at your actions and himself, for even being worried about you. “Harry! Next time you have to make sure to splash her eyes!” Tom called out, making you irritated. You glanced back to Harry as he laughed at his brother’s joke.

“Why’s your brother such a dick?” You questioned seriously and quietly to Harry. Tom took a seat back on the chair, putting his sunglasses back on with a sigh. “I don’t know why either of you act like that. If you guys got along, you’d be great together, as friends or…” Harry trailed off seeing your glower at him.

“Not you too!” You groaned out, walking back to shore to dry off. It was already dinner time even though the sun was still out, and you could see back through the windows of the summer house, as both yours and Tom’s family pilled to the front entrance, dressed formally. You dried off quickly with your towel, and threw it back on Tom, making him gasp out of his sleepy-sun rest. “Cow-girl.” Tom bit at you, making you roll your eyes.

“Poop-boy, our families are leaving.” You responded, using his nickname. Tom sighed at it, not bothering to comment as Harry made his way to you both. He stood between the two of you as you all walked back to the house. “You’re going Harry?” You asked, confused as he began to walk faster, or even speed walk. He grinned back to you two, “Yeah! You aren’t?” His question hit both you and Tom.

At the same time, you responded, “Not feeling like it.” While Tom replied, “Nah, too early for me.” The both of you looked at each other with a groan, as Harry laughed. He could already tell that the two of you were going to get on each other’s nerves when everyone else leaves for hours. Harry quickly ran off inside, once the three of you reached the entrance, running into the families.

You glanced to everyone, explaining, “I’m just not really wanting dinner right now. Might go lay down.” Your mom nodded back to you, “Oh bummer! Maybe tomorrow night you can come.” All the parents agreed as Harry sprinted downstairs, stumbling in an outfit now, making everyone laugh. Tom slapped his brother’s shoulder playfully, “Can’t believe you’re leaving me here with that thing.” His voice stung out.

“That thing” was a vicious and horrible comment about you. You usually dealt with cow-girl just fine but when he referred to you like that, it made you upset. His comment quieted everyone down from the laughter and chatter, and they quickly said their goodbyes and left. When your family never spoke up for you in front of everyone here, from Tom’s mean attitude to you, it hurt as well. But it was because they never understood that even though it could’ve just been a joke, it still stung.

Tom sighed out when they left, and gazed back to you, annoyed. He was still thinking about what you and Harry did in the water and it just irritated him that you had the nerve to act like Harry hurt your eyes. You shifted on your feet for a second, looking back to him and shrugged, not wanting to deal with his rude behavior. You walked over to the kitchen and got yourself a glass of water.

Your phone beeped, and it was your friend again with another funny video, and you laughed at the thumbnail on it. Tom strolled over to the kitchen and leaned up against the pantry, “Is that your boyfriend or something?” He asked, absentmindedly playing with his fingers. The way you would smile at your phone was starting to annoy him.

“Uh, no? Why?” You questioned back, facing him. Tom rolled his eyes, “Oh yeah, I should’ve known.” Your irritated sigh came out at his words, and you just weren’t in the mood to argue, so you dropped it. Another beep on your phone brought your attention back, and you laughed loudly at it. It was a picture Harry sent of him, clutching his seat belt funnily. 

“What is it now?” Tom asked, pushing himself off the pantry door and glancing over your shoulder at the picture. He chuckled at Harry’s antics, but your tensed up by how close he was. This was the first-time you guys laughed together, at the same thing, in so long. His breath was hitting your neck as he stood behind you looking at the phone. You felt your cheeks burn at it, knowing your neck was sensitive. Tom stayed a second longer than necessary, only stepping back when you glanced back to him.

The two of you stood in silence for a few moments, before Tom cleared his throat, “Poop-boy is a stupid nickname, by the way.” You laughed at that, fully turning around after setting your phone down. “Yeah, so is cow-girl.” Another awkward silence ensured after that, and you sighed at it, glancing back to the cake with interest.

Tom got out two plates, seeing you eye the cake and set it on the island, to fix both of you a slice. “So, have you seen my recent movie?” You frowned at that, sure you have, and you liked it, but you didn’t want him to know that. Even though the two of you were having a rare friendly interaction, it didn’t change the fact he was an asshole to you most of the time. “No, I don’t watch any of them.” You responded, making Tom scoff.

His family and yours have been friends for so long, and it bothered him, that not once did you watch any of the work he did. And when you continued, it only pissed him off further, “Acting is a talentless job, there’s no value in it.” Sure, you realized you should’ve stopped but seeing him angrily clench his fists together after pushing a plate with a slice of cake to you. Tom breathed in, trying to calm down before he did something stupid, like blow up on you again.

“And besides, don’t you only do minor roles? Seems irrelevant.” You pushed, trying to hide your smirk as Tom banged his fists into the counter. “Minor roles? Are you kidding me? That’s my life’s work! You could have just said no!” Tom exclaimed back, in disbelief and anger at you. You shrugged your shoulders at him. You did actually like his movies, and his roles but if you told him, it would only boost his cocky attitude up.

“Do you even know what I do for a living?” You questioned back, making Tom pause. He didn’t know anything about your work. You never said anything about it, at all and it made Tom hesitantly shake his head, “No.” You laughed in disbelief at that, “You don’t have the right to bitch at me then.” You didn’t want him to know about your job, seeing as he would only criticize you more.

Tom stepped forward to you again, “Excuse me? Who’s the fucking bitch here? I know it’s not me.” His voice came out in a sneer and you frowned at it. You didn’t say anything, just picked at the slice he gave you with the fork. “Say it again for me, bitch.” Tom spat out, grabbing your wrist harshly.

“Fucking hell Tom! I’m sorry!” You yelped back, trying to tug your hand away from his but he pulled you in closer to him, making you drop the fork on the floor. You gazed back up to Tom as he stared at you, realizing he shouldn’t have grabbed you like that. He let go of your hands with hesitation, but you stayed in place, standing almost a breath away from him. “Fine, fuck, I’m sorry too.” He mumbled, looking down at you, with his face softening just a little.

You stayed still as silence burned through the two of you, as Tom’s face started going red. You couldn’t tell if it was from anger or something else. You felt a buzzing run through you as the two of you made eye contact, and you couldn’t help but slip your gaze down to his lips slowly. He stood still, gazing at you as you slowly moved your eyes back to his and blushed.

He burned too, just thinking about what your look at his lips could mean. You broke out of the stance, bending down to pick the fork up with a sigh and you stood back up as Tom stayed in place, looking at you. With a teasing attitude, you placed the fork back onto the counter, and swiped your finger over the top of the cake, collecting the frosting.

You gazed back to him with a smirk, stepping back closer to him, as you placed the finger in your mouth, swirling your tongue over the frosting. You closed your eyes, memorizing the flavor as he quietly gasped at you. When you slightly moaned at the taste, Tom finally reached out, snapping your finger out of your mouth, and pulling you to his body, with no distance.

You glanced to him in surprise as he leaned down, and then oh, fuck. You realized what was happening. Tom slammed his lips to yours with a grunt, and you took a second to process it, before kissing back twice as harshly. He pushed you back against the counter, taking his lips off yours for a moment, and he glanced back up to your eyes, “This okay?” He questioned, and you quickly responded a breathy, “Yeah, fuck.”

He pushed into you, trapping you between his arms, with your back against the counter. His lips pushed onto yours again and you opened your mouth instantly, making Tom groan lightly as he pushed his tongue through your lips. His lips were softer than you expected, and the way his tongue swirled and curled, you were stunned by his expert techniques. But you quickly pushed that thought away, as you pushed your tongue onto his, fighting for dominance.

It didn’t work out though, as he pulled away from you again, and muttered out, “Up.” You quickly hopped, and he picked you up, pushing you on top of the counter Your legs wrapped around his waist, pulling him in closer to you, and the two of you moaned at the feeling. You started to feel a wetness pull in your bathing suit, which wasn’t from the sea. Tom pulled away again, gasping for breath as he tugged your top piece, trying to take it off.

You reached behind you, tugging the top apart, and letting it drop in front of the two of you as Tom gasped, leaning down and capturing a nipple in his mouth. You moaned out as he licked and bit down, in a repeating motion, and you felt yourself getting even more aroused when you looked down to see Tom’s erection.

His cock twitched over and over again from the two of you, and he couldn’t help but think, how fucking hot this was. In all the ways he ever thought of you as a bitch or just “cow-girl”, he didn’t ever expect for you to feel so good under him. And the sounds you were making just made him want you more. “Fuck, why didn’t we do this sooner?” He groaned out, reaching up to kiss you again.

You moaned into his mouth with a shrug. It didn’t really matter to you, all you wanted to do was this, now and in the moment. Tom sighed into the kiss, as you tugged him closer again with your legs. You swirled your tongue onto his lip, and you pushed your hand through his hair, tugging at it. He groaned again and you bit down onto his bottom lip, making him open up again. The sloppy kissing between the two of you started to cause a dribble of shared saliva down your body.

You pulled away for breath again, and Tom quickly tugged his swim trunks down, revealing his throbbing cock to you. He looked back at you, suddenly more aware and spoke up, “Do you want to do this?” his voice came out in shallow breaths, and you quickly responded, “Yes, please.” Tom groaned at your begging, and tugged down your swim bottoms, making you gasp in excitement.

Tom breathed in deeply at the site of you glimmering wet. He couldn’t stop himself as he dived down and kissed your core. You gasped out again, and he started licking, and sucking. It was amazing to him, he couldn’t stop once he started, when hearing your moans and the taste. You moaned loudly, and squeezed your legs around his head, while pushing your hands back into his hair, tugging and sliding your fingers through it.

The pulsing intensified as he sucked straight onto your clit, and you yelped out, “Tom, please!” He pulled away, feeling another twitch rush through his cock. He breathed in unsteadily, “What do you want, babe?” You furrowed your eyebrows at the nickname but retorted, “Tom, please just fuck me.”

He sighed out, feeling himself flush more as he stood back up, and pulled you closer to his hips. In a slow movement, he pushed himself in with a loud groan. “Oh fuck!” He groaned out and you moaned as well, feeling the fullness in you. Tom shuddered when he bottomed out, “Fuck, how are you so fucking tight?” You groaned when he moved back and slammed into you again.

“Fuck Tom!” You moaned out, as he started to pace himself. Both of you were breathing loud and unevenly, moaning out when he would sink in again. You wrapped your legs around him, to pull him in even more making him tremble. Tom suddenly bent his legs, and scooped you up, you held onto him as he carried you back to the pantry door, slamming back into you. You gasped out at the different position and he took the chance to kiss you deeply, groaning into the kiss.

He continued to hold you up against the door as you moaned into the kiss. You pushed your head away from his, pulling his head back with your hand and leaning down and kissing his neck sloppily. He groaned again, pushing one hand down to your clit and rubbing it suddenly. You gasped at the sensations, feeling like you were nearing an orgasm. As if Tom could feel it as well, he started rubbing harder onto your clit and with a loud gasp and moan, “Tom- I’m fuck, I’m coming.”

“Come for me.” He grunted out, and in an instant, you felt like bliss. You came hard and fast, moaning out his name loudly, as Tom neared his end too. He moved himself out of you as he came hard, groaning loudly. His legs felt like jelly, and you quickly dropped your legs, standing up while trembling and breathing heavily. “Holy shit.” You whispered out, sinking to the ground of the kitchen with Tom following along.

You sat with each other for a few minutes, trying to catch your breath. “That was fucking good, poop-boy. Didn’t know you had that much stamina.” You laughed out, making Tom shake his head at you. But this time he was smiling too, “Fuck you, cow-girl.” The both of you looked at each other silently for a moment before bursting out laughing together.

It was so strange to be here with him, laughing with him. And especially fucking him. That felt good though, but you just hoped it wouldn’t bite you in the ass. You glanced out the window, noticing it was already nighttime, and that the sunset was already gone. You pushed yourself up with a groan, as Tom stayed on the floor still. “I’m going to take a shower.” You murmured to him, making him gaze up to you.

“I can join if you want?” Tom responded instantly making you giggle again. The sex glow was visible on both of you, and especially his face, with his doped-out smile. You blushed again looking at it, finding it attractive. “No, I think they’ll be back soon.” You whispered, smiling back to him.

But where did all of this leave you two?

You thought about it for a long time in the shower, maybe over an hour. It wasn’t like the two of you could just go back to hating each other like nothing. That would hurt too much, for the both of you. You could see that Tom didn’t want to go back either, by the way you guys interacted after the sex. And it was also fucking good, one of the best in a long time and you assumed so for him too. After all these years, and you finally fucked some of the tension out? Yeah, it was great. But you guys couldn’t possibly just start a relationship like that.

You stepped out of the shower after making sure you got all the mess off your body, hoping to talk to Tom about everything. Was it going to be a one-time thing? You anticipated not. You quickly got dressed, seeing the marks Tom made around the one nipple and laughing at it. It was already bruised, which surprised you.

After getting your pajamas on, you headed downstairs again, seeing that Tom cleaned up the kitchen, but was still in his swim-trunks. “Hey,” You greeted quietly and almost shyly, his head instantly looked up to you and he smiled brightly.

Oh, fuck. That was so fucking cute and hot. He walked towards you with the same sex-doped grin you had. The front door opened, but the two of you were too entrapped in each other to notice, as Tom leaned down to kiss you again. You instantly wrapped your arms around the back of his neck, smiling into the kiss. And that was when you heard the screaming. The two of you bounced away from each other as Harry hollered, “Finally!”

Your dad had shouted, “When’s the wedding?!” And the rest of them too shocked to say anything. You and Tom glanced at each other awkwardly, not expecting them at all. The stare the two of you shared together was an invisible conversation, where you agreed to deny everything.

“What are you talking about?” You questioned back, acting baffled as Tom started, “Yeah, you guys are drunk…”. Harry snorted at your defense, “I don’t care, just as long as you guys didn’t do it in my room here.”

Tom shook his head at that laughing, as you raised your eyebrows back to Harry. He came between you and Tom again and pulled you into a group hug. “If I’m not the best man, fucking make me the bride’s maid of honor.” His voice came out in a hushed tone, and the three of you fell into laughter. - tags: @lozzypoz321​ taglist is open!

[the-sound-of-her-wings]

I Am Not Starfire, And That's Okay

I recently read I Am Not Starfire and I had lots of thoughts, which are under the cut. It is spoiler-heavy and an analysis of the main character, who I find to be a charming, flawed, and incredibly human character.

Mandy is a fascinating character and a great look at a teenage girl who feels ostracized by the people around her and who feels disconnected from her parent. Mandy is by no means flawless, and that's what makes her very interesting. It also makes her relatable.

Mandy starts by talking about how she's noticeably different from her mom, being the "Anti-Starfire". She's a regular kid, can't fly, and doesn't own a swimsuit, while her mom is a superhero, can fly, and always wears bikinis.

On page 11 she mentions "her mom hasn't liked how I looked since I was twelve. She wears less than a yard of fabric every day, yet somehow, I'm the one who's dressing weird". While I understand people who call this slut-shaming, and I'm inclined to agree, but I think it's a little more nuanced than that. The next page reads, "My friend Lincoln convinced me this is the cultural divide that happens between family generations born in different countries or universes. His parents were born in Vietnam." This tells me that the authors intended to point out the difference in dress more as another difference between Starfire and Mandy, and less as a reason to blatantly slut-shame Starfire. I think there's absolutely a conversation to be had about why the authors decided to use this language instead of conveying the point differently. I also think it speaks to how Starfire has more or less been sexualized from inception, and how people look down upon her character because of that. In the context of this book, though, it's one of Mandy's character flaws that I think fits her both as a character and reflects what I've seen from actual teenage girls. Our society coaches us to view women who dress a certain way as less than women who don't and unlearning that takes time and effort. I don't think this comment about her mom should have been put in there by the authors, but I do think it fits in with the values American society in particular teaches about women.

Page 15, 16, and 17 all point to a far more complicated state of existence than Mandy points out within the first few pages. For one thing, Mandy has to deal with people who love her mother and only want to use her to get information about her mom and the other teen titans. This is shown by the "Titan groupies" who ask her to tell Starfire what they say about her. Another thing she has to deal with is the expectation to be a superhero and have powers like her mom, and the questions about who her dad might be. She gains her first real friend, Lincoln, because he tells the people asking about her parentage that they are assholes.

It is revealed that Mandy has a crush on Claire after she gets assigned a group project with her. Mandy is in denial over the crush. She thinks about the fact she's meeting Mandy at the end of the day throughout the rest of the school day, causing her to explode something in Chemistry Class. I find this to be highly relatable and gives her character a softer side to the edginess she desperately tries to portray herself as.

While talking about the project with Claire, it is revealed that Mandy ran out of her SATs and didn't complete them. While Mandy tries to paint this as a cool badass moment, the way the comic artist portrays the scene makes me think Mandy had an anxiety attack. Mandy didn't run out of her SAT because she's some kind of alternative badass who doesn't need to take them. Mandy ran out because she got overwhelmed by the sounds of people chewing and the pressure of the test. While she frames it differently, it's clear to me that Mandy is avoiding taking the SAT again because she doesn't want that to happen again.

When Claire invites her to hang out with her friends, Mandy gets treated like she isn't there, or as some kind of unwanted outsider. The topics they discuss seem to be specifically made to make Mandy uncomfortable, like mentioning how stretchy jeans are only made for fat people, and asking if aliens don't go to college. Jaded by this, Mandy makes up that aliens actually have to go through this huge blood right and battle to the death, but tells Claire's two friends she was joking before leaving. This tells me that Mandy deflects her pain by using humor to cope and has no issue clowning on people who are trying to belittle her for being an alien.

Starfire tries to bring up going to college after this, and Mandy just flees to her room. She hasn't told her mom she didn't take the SAT yet or that she isn't going to college. She feels distant from her mom, which is explained further through a montage of birthdays where she never got her powers. Her mom expects a lot from her, and Mandy thinks Starfire is disappointed about her lack of powers.

Later, Mandy invites Claire over to her house to complete the project they are working on. The Titans are still there when Claire arrives, but she seems to ignore them, as they leave shortly after. Mandy and Claire bond as they continue the project. Mandy reveals to the reader that she's never had a girlfriend, except for one time at sleep-away camp where she kind of dated a girl for four weeks. She didn't tell her who her mom was because she was tired of living in the shadow of a superhero. But the relationship ended because Mandy had lied about who her mom was, and the girl she was dating didn't understand why she would lie. I think this really shows just how much Mandy actually wants to be a normal girl like everyone else, to the extent that she'd lie about who her mom was. Her edgy demeanor at school and around town where her mom is known to be her mom is a defense mechanism to having lived under the shadow of a superhero her entire life.

When it's revealed that Claire took a photo with the Titans at Mandy's house, Mandy is understandable heartbroken, and furious. She thought she had been making a real connection with Claire, but this photo makes her think she's been used, again. Claire seems genuinely baffled by Mandy's reaction to this, thinking little of it. But to Mandy, it is a breach of trust from someone she thought cared about her. I think her angry reaction to Claire makes sense because of this, even if it might have been disproportionate to the offense.

On top of this, Starfire has discovered that Mandy walked out of the SAT and doesn't plan to go to college. After a heated conversation, she runs away, but her mom finds her. And then Blackfire finds her. Turns out the fake story she told Claire's friends earlier in the story was actually true, even though Mandy didn't know it.

Since Claire actually cares about Mandy, she tracks down Lincoln who explains to her why Mandy reacted badly, and that she should probably apologize for taking the photo. Claire also admits that one of the friends from earlier, Deb, actually dared her to take the photo. Claire is a good person at heart, but this action shows that she can still be influenced to do something that would hurt another person. And while she might not have known it would hurt Mandy, Deb probably did.

Starfire and Blackfire fight since Mandy has no powers, but Starfire gets injured causing Mandy to realize just how much she loves and cares about her mom, even though they don't see eye to eye on most things. This finally unlocks her powers, as she's let go of most of the resentment she's held against her mom. She even gets asked for an autograph by someone in the audience after the battle.

The story ends with Mandy training her powers, studying for the SAT, and reconciling with Claire, sharing a kiss, and becoming girlfriends.

I've seen a lot of discourse that frames Mandy as being "not like other girls". I don't believe this framing actually fits Mandy very well. The only girl Mandy ever says she is not like explicitly is her mom. She is the only woman she compares herself too, and the only person who she seems to have a lot of resentment for, aside from people who use her to get to Starfire. Additionally, Mandy falls for someone who is what a stereotypical, normal popular girl is often portrayed as. She's preppy, wears makeup, gets good grades, has friends, and runs a fairly popular Instagram account. If Mandy was extremely into the "Not like other girls" rhetoric, she would've made fun of Claire for all those things. Instead, she admires her for them. Mandy is fat, has acne/freckles, dresses goth, and wears a nose ring. If this is the reason people are identifying her as a "Not like other girls" girl, then they don't understand that trope. Simply dressing differently from your peers, being fat, and hating your mom does not make her the "not like other girls" trope. It actually makes her like other, real-life girls who dress and act similarly, because that's who they are, not because they somehow think they are better than other women.

I'd also make the argument that, fundamentally, Mandy IS different from other girls on the account of having a superhero mother and potentially a superhero father. Her life is completely altered by Starfire's existence as her mom and is likely only relatable to the children of other superheroes and celebrities. She is not like other girls because of her mom, and that still doesn't make her someone who falls in line with the conception of being "not like other girls".

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope others do too. I read Mandy as a flawed character who was trying to figure out how to exist outside the Shadow of her mom- and eventually succeeds, by learning to embrace her mom. I would've preferred if Mandy had a slightly darker skin tone, as her features seem black-coded to me and Starfire is also often black-coded. Otherwise, I do think this was one of the best DC Graphic Novels for Young Adults I've read, alongside Teen Titans: Beast Boy and Teen Titans: Raven.

[ugh-tsumu]

Natatangi-Balakyot Lore

Compiling my Natatangi-Balakyot lore for the nth time so I don't keep scrolling down. If you're not interested in this, feel free to pass by hehe. BTW, this is very inaccurate! I've twisted some facts and myths into my liking so :DDD

Concept art and more established back story under the cut. And once these are finalized, I'll transfer them to my art blog (haha shameful plug @leiaimnida)

In this alternate universe, Filipino Gods and Godesses have decided to bestow some of their powers towards mortals. These mortals are then called Natatangi which means unique. The Natatangis sole purpose is to protect and fight for the Islands of the East (Philippines). The first generation of Natatangis were able to pass on their borrowed power towards their off spring which enables them to keep on protecting the Islands of the East.

1.) Ligaya (Maskara Festival)

Unlike the rest, her ancestor was not given a blessed weapon. Instead, her ancestor was given a blessed mask. There is no official name for the mask but the Natatangis are used to calling it binasbasang maskara which literally just translates to blessed mask.

The mask works as a buff of some sort. The user's strength, speed, attack speed, endurance — everything at this point is buffed with the mask on. That's pretty much it. Given this fact, the user cannot really just rely on the mask. They have to be skilfull on their own, ykkkk

An additional aesthetic of the mask is that it stores the faces of those the user have slaughtered — yes, the smiling faces are real people's faces. And they are smiling because the user of the mask forcefully carved the smile them selves.

Her weapon of choice is a sharp abaniko fan. The sharp abaniko fan, although, not given by the Gods, was rumored to be powerful enough to slice through Bakunawa's scales. Yas kwinnnn. Also, the goddess who blessed her ancestor with her power is Bathalumang Suklang-malaon (Goddess of happy homes).

There are many taboos within the Natatangis (they're kind of a boomer, honestly) but all I can think of right now is that not full-blooded Filipinos as Natatangi because apparently, it happens! Like Isabella's case. Ligaya is probably one of the many members who is neutral when it comes to having non-Filipino or half-blooded Filipinos as a Natatangi member.

She comes from a village from Bacolod. Townsfolk from her village would describe her as stern, uptight, and serious. However, they would also describe her as loving, honest, and a mother-figure. She's really uptight because her family never failed to remind everyone from their lineage that their village fell into great depression back then. Everyone was rotting, the crops weren't growing, they don't have...anything, honestly. It's not really something Ligaya would want her people to experience once more so she's become workaholic and strict. Give her some slack.

Some facts about her....hmmmm....no, she doesn't wear the mask all the time. She likes children (very much) and elder people. She doesn't seem like it but she's literally what you'd call a "mom friend" in a group of friends. She has qualms with the other Natatangis who are assholes to the younger Natatangis and love interest? I haven't thought about it yet.

2.) Isabella (Sinulog Festival)

Isabella came from Sugbu. For her case, like Ligaya, the power bestowed upon her ancestor was not in a form of a weapon but in an ability. Isabella's ability is necromancy and at the same time, she has the power to give life to inanimate objects. That's pretty much about her power. She is also not the type who can fight in the fronts so she's usually the type the Natatangis can relyon for a stealth attack or as a back up because of her ability.

The goddess who has favored her bloodline/bestowed her ancestor the power they now have is Bathaluman Sidata, bisaya goddess of death.

In order to fend for herself, she's trying ("trying") to learn how to use a punyal. But also, she also has small wooden dolls that she can always use to fight for her. Just in case...

Now, remember the taboo? Let's just say Isabella is a hot topic, because she's half-Spanish and Roman Catholic. Which, you know, was introduced to us by Spaniards. Something everyone has tea with.

The thing about her is that her ancestors at some point, fell in love with foreigners? I mean, the world is a big place so it's understandable. That is why their bloodline is...hmmm...not the favorite of some because are they really Filipino then? That's their issue about her family.

What I like about her is the thousand potentials of character growth! She's not entirely a Filipino—heck, she didn't even grow at the Philippines—and she's a Roman Catholic. Most of the practices of the Natatangi are against the belief of her religion. Isabella's torn between sticking to her faith, to what she believes is right? Or sticking to what her calling really is? What her spirit urges her to follow?

Isabella's really insecure, let me tell you. I mean, she's not friendless but a lot don't like her. She's also in a foreign land she's all alone. But she's also the type who won't let anyone see her weak HAHAHA which I think is cute! She has this air that like, she doesn't want anyone to mess with her because deep inside, she's sweating bricks with the fear that the other Natatangis are going to press on her again.

I think she's the closes to Ilang and Bagting (in which i will talk about later) and maybe she's on an okay terms with Ligaya. Not friends, but not enemies something like that.

Some facts about her...hmmmm sHE HATES MANNEQUINS HAAHHAHAHA which is ironic because you know, Catholic churches here are fond of it! Apart from that, a stupid nickname for her is Mais Con Yelo because of her clothes CUTIEEEEEE Love interest? HMMMMM

3.) Ilang (Panagbenga Festival)

I KNOW HE GIVES HUGE EARTH NATION VIBES BECAUSE HE IS AN EARTH BENDER IN A WAY!!!!!

Ilang's bloodline is given the ability to bend/control/manipulate the Earth. The goddess who gave them such power is Bathaluman Magbabaya, a Bukidnon deity who is equivalent to Zeus. Apart from being able to control the Earth, Ilang can also communicate with the flowers.

Fun fact about him is that when he is at his calmest and happiest, the flowers around him bloom CUTEEEEEE

Ilang can also use a variety of weapons given that he is a hunter from the tribe he came from. Speaking of tribe, Ilang's family has always been adored or looked upon to by the other tribe people. It is because ever since, his family always protected the tribe. So yes, they're almost like an idol to them (fun fact, at the second pic, it was the ladies of his tribe who made the cape/cloak out of leaves and flowers HIHIHI and the flowers never die because when he wears it, he brings them back to life!!!)

That's pretty much it about him. Remember how I said he's one of the few who was okay with having Isabella around? It's because....hmmm...it sounds bad but basically, his tribe has received aid from Americans from the past which gave him the impression that not all foreigners are bad (which is true!) but it's something that the other Natatangis would like to object. They see him as someone who has been colonized by the foreigners at heart.

3.) Kagirim (Taong Putik Festival)

Mommy hehehe

Kagirim is from Nueva Ecija. It was deity Kapapu-an who gave her ancestor the ability to blend or become invisible through the use of mud. Yes, she can turn invisible. What a baddie

Kagirim is an excellent fighter so there's that. She's more of an assassin if you add her power to her fighting style.

Kagirim is one of the oldest Natatangis. Let's just say she was from the older generation of Natatangis. That's why even though she isn't the leader, she's still well-respected by others, you know what I'm saying? It's safe to say na she holds a position at the council? She's that powerful regardless of not having a title.

As a person, she's really introverted and she has this air of sophistication around her. She....hmmm....you know that type of teacher who looks so snob that it scares you to approach them? Yeah. That look. She's really...gurang attitude-wise. She hates small talks, unnecessary jokes, and she's like Ligaya when it comes to sternity.

She's one of the many who has been very vocal about her hatred towards foreigners. Which means, she hates Isabella. Yes. To the brim. And along with that, she hates those who tolerates foreigners, too, like Ilang. And maybe Ligaya. A little.

Usually, the cause of Natatangis hatred towards foreigners (especially Spaniards) is the fact that they never stop on trying to colonize the islands. Not only that, they've inflicted pain towards Filipinos, too.

What Kagirim really despises, though, are Japanese. It is because she've seen them. She've seen how cruel these foreigners can be towards their own land. It was her own people whom she saw being chased by Japanese soldiers. And even when she wanted to help them either by bringing them to a safer place or help them turn invisible with her mud, she just didn't have much time. In the end, she saw her own people being slaughtered right before her eyes, unable to help them.

It is something that maybe differentiates Kagirim from the other younger Natatangis. They haven't experienced their cruelty first-hand soooo

Facts about her...hmmm....if you don't see her around, she's probably somewhere muddy. Preferably, a muddy swamp where carabaos bathe.

4.) Ading (Higalaay Festival)

MY MIND WENT BATSHIT CRAZY WHEN I WAS THINKING OF HIS BACK STORY

Okay, so FIRST, let's start with the power bestowed upon them. I have decided to thoroughly choose which gods and goddesses gave a portion of their power to their chosen Natatangis so the previous deities are tentative for the mean time.

But anyways! The power given upon Ading is the power to copy a different individual. YUPPPP their only condition to be able to copy somebody else is that they must have at least one item from their target. It can be their belonging, or clothing, a strand of hair, fluid, etc.

So like Kagirim, he's more of an assassin type given that he's also quite skillful, too. Now that we've talked about his power, let's talk about his curse.

Soooo upon researching, I realized that Higalaay festival wasn't always called Higalaay festival. Upon knowing why, it's actually because the local government kept on changing it so there's that. And then that gave me inspiration...

Let's just say that one of his ancestors, the previous Natatangi, abused the ability of the power which disappointed the god who gave them their power. As a punishment, the deity cursed them that they will always—ALWAYS—be loyal to the person(s) whom they consider is their true friend. It's almost like imprinting? Yes...

Ading, as a person, is a self-serving character. You can say na he is a gray character or something. And to be honest? The only thing stopping him from joining Balakyot (evil league) is that he has someone whom he thinks is his true friend who is on the side of the Natatangis. I can't decide whether this true friend is a co-Natatangi or someone he just knows. So there!

Hmmmm....Ading is also queer! And uhhhh he likes to travel (which is why he has that weird basket—SKL, my grade 12 class had to perform about Kaamulan Festival and we made those weirdass baskets HAH) and even though he's the type who likes to travel a lot, the type who'd definitely rat the Natatangis or would betray the Natatangis out, the Natatangis oddly trust him on keeping important objects/items HAHAHHA wala lang. Cute.

As for the taboos, I think he doesn't care for as long as it does not concern him. That's pretty much it. And his color motif is black and gold because it's inspired by this costume I saw on a recorded parade and also because City of Golden Friendship unya nawung ug kwarta ang mga kagay-anon CHAR

[authoratmidnight]

I can’t remember if I’ve done a ‘why you should watch Mairuma’ before on here but I’mma do one anyways.

Do you like found family?

Do you like the concept of magic schools?

Do you like friend group shenanigans?

Do you like isekai (’other world’) types of stories?

Well, allow me to introduce you to Mairimashita! Iruma-kun aka Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun

The title alone certainly tells you some of what you’re in for but here’s the run down.

14 year old Suzuki Iruma has just been sold by his (crappy) parents to a demon for a lot of money. Why? Idk b/c they suck. So what’s a kid to do in this sort of situation? Get adopted by said demon to become his grandson of course.

The demon lord, Sullivan, has no kids of his own, but he sure wants a grandchild to spoil and dote on. So time for a ‘life hack’ (his words not mine) to obtain one.

Which of course means that now, Iruma has to go to school (which he’s never done before b/c his parents basically made his work as soon as he could walk), specifically a demon school. There’s also another hitch. See. Demons consider humans a delicacy (despite the fact that mot of them think humans are just myths) so Iruma now has to try and keep his head down and survive school and ensure no one finds out his secret. But going unnoticed is really hard when your guardian is ALSO the headmaster at the school and draws attention to you at every possible opportunity because ‘look at my adorable grandson!’

It’s a delightful mix of comedy, drama and heartwarming as Iruma tries to navigate this absolutely absurd world, make friends and keep anyone from discovering that he’s not a demon. Which such shenanigans as

-summoning his first familiar (a human using demon summoning magic, what could *possibly* go wrong)

-making his first friends

-learning all about demons/their way of life

-joining a club!

-befriending some upperclassmen

-idols

-nearly dying multiple times b/c he is still a human and lacks many things demons have like wings. and magic.

And including a cast that contains(to list a few):

-a ball of pure chaos

-the biggest Iruma simp ever Iruma’s biggest supporter ever (outside of his grandpa)

-giant jock-nerd with big ambitions (he’s very good tho)

-a subversion of the asshole teacher trope (as in, despite how he acts he /does/ care about his mischievous students, he’d just sooner launch himself into the sun before admitting it out loud tho)

-a manga loving student council president

-a soft senpai

-doting grandpa

-said grandpa’s cat-person butler (also dotes on Iruma, sort of like a surrogate parent)

The anime itself is incredibly bright and colourful and wonderfully expressive. To quote someone else describing the anime it’s ‘early 2000’s anime meets Saturday morning cartoon‘.

It has both a sub AND dub and tbh, they’re both good. Aside from wording choice in a few places they’re basically the same. It’s not particularly long at 23 episodes. Very bingeable. And you can watch it on Crunchyroll!

Oh but wait, there’s MORE!

See, there’s a second season, arriving on April 17th, set to be 22 episodes in length and should contain such shenanigans as:

-Iruma joins the student council

-the introduction of several new characters

-Iruma’s class working together to achieve a simple goal (get a new classroom cause theirs kinda, sucks)

-Fun times at the local amusement park (until it goes tits up)

and more!

We only have a trailer thus far but it looks spectacular and the animation even better than season 1! I know I am excited for it. (we don’t know yet who’s gonna get it for subbing purposes)

And if you still want more after watching everything, there’s a manga as well! With 198 chapters it’s still ongoing (but well ahead of the anime). The art is beautiful and the story is great! While there’s no official english release (yet, at the time of writing this, we’re keeping our fingers crossed) there IS a dedicated translation team and new chapters are released weekly.

So I absolutely recommend checking this series out! :D

[tyrantisterror]

I’m salty so fuck it

Let’s talk about how The Mandalorian does a better job of exploring the concept of “letting go of attachments” than anything George Lucas has ever had a hand in writing.  Spoilers for, like, all of it.

The protagonist of The Mandalorian is, from the moment we meet him, defined by his attachments, and for justifiable reasons.  Orphaned by war as a child, he was rescued and adopted by an orthodox religious group that follows a warrior’s creed - space vikings, essentially, with a bit of Samurai bushido sprinkled on for flavor.  He lost his family and home - they gave him a new family, a new home, and the training and tools to survive war and other extremely violent situations on his own if need be.  Why wouldn’t he be dedicated to that creed?  Why wouldn’t he idolize it - attach himself to it, if you will?

This attachment isolates him from others.  Because his is a warrior culture, the Mandalorian works as a mercenary - one of the few jobs where he can battle people to the death often without having to follow orders that contradict his creed.  But most people don’t want to associated with, you know, a murderer for hire, so he doesn’t exactly have a lot of friends.

Likewise, his fellow mercenaries don’t care for him much either.  Most make fun of his culture and traditions, viewing them as silly at best and weaknesses at worst.  Some are also envious to the point of contempt at how his special mandalorian gadgets and training give him an edge on them in the field.

Hell, even other Mandalorians don’t care for him that much.  Many of the followers of his sect accuse him of not truly living up to the creed because of the clients he is forced to take to make ends meet.  Mandalorians of other sects look down on him for following outdated traditions, while simultaneously sneering at him for not caring about the newer traditions they hold dear.

It’s such a consistent and important part of his identity that it’s hammered home by both his name and key visual.  The iconic Mandalorian helmet he wears, which his creed forbids him from ever removing in front of another living soul, hides his face.  We don’t learn his actual name until the end of the first season - all other characters refer to him as “the Mandalorian” or variations of that word.  His creed IS his identity to most people - his true self is hidden to all others.

Defined by his attachment.

And, as is necessary for a story about this idea, the conflict of the show arises when he develops a new attachment that conflicts with his old one.  The Mandalorian is paid by remnants of the Empire to track down and capture a person, who turns out to be a child.  A child orphaned by war, who is in peril and likely doomed to die unless someone intervenes.

Is it any surprise, then, that he immediately becomes attached to this child?

But this is a conflict, both to his status as a respectable and honest mercenary, and, relatedly but more importantly, to his Mandalorian creed - as by creed, this child, his prey, is his enemy.  Helping the child is dishonorable - it puts him and his people in danger, and it puts his honor into question.

The Mandalorian is faced with a choice similar to those faced by Luke Skywalker and Anakin: do you follow the philosophy of an ancient group of warriors who saved your life, or do you save one person you love at the possible expense of countless other lives?

He, like any good person, chooses the second option.  He betrays his employers and rescues the kid.  The employers, of course, try to get the kid back, and this results in a whole TV series full of violence that ensues as a result of this choice, with many innocent people dying as a result.  Hell, the first victims are most of the members of the Mandalorian’s sect - they choose to come to his aid depsite previous misgivings, and are almost entirely slaughtered to a man as a result.

Now, in a George Lucas helmed Star Wars story, the Mandalorian would be chastised for choosing the second option.  In a choice between one life and several, a George Lucas Star Wars story says “choose the needs of the many, asshole” every time*.  “Let IG-11 cap the little bastard, you should have,” Master Yoda would say.

*well ok except for Return of the Jedi, but still

Hell, in season two we even have a character make basically this argument, albeit briefly.  Boba Fett, a fellow mercenary who encounters the Mandalorian - one whose father once followed the same creed, but who himself says, “I give my allegiance to no one” when asked if he follows it, and thus defines himself as being, well, unattached to anyone or any creed - suggests killing the child when the Empire captures him beyond hope of immediate rescue, as it would end the conflict and deny the villains their prize.

But, pragmatic as that is, it’s also, well... you know... saying we should kill a fucking child, which is kinda fucking evil, right?

Right?!!

Instead, the Mandalorian and indeed, most if not all of the good people he encounters on his journeys, chooses to risk all in the effort to save this child.  The process forces the Mandalorian to consistently abandon parts of his identity that he is attached to.  He begins the series hating robots (they killed his family, it’s a whole situation), but he puts that hatred aside when one particular robot proves vital to the child’s safety, to the point where that robot is the first character to see his face since he put on the helmet.  By abandoning that hatred, he finally found someone - a mechanical someone, sure, but someone - who could see who he truly is, and his life is saved because of it.

He is told to see out the Jedi, who are historically enemies of his people (of course they are, the fuckers let children die all the time) because only a Jedi can help the child hone its powers while keeping it safe.  Despite the peril, he does so.  He encounter unorthodox Mandalorians who, by the version of the creed he follows, would be excommunicated for their heresy - and after some misgiving, accepts them because he needs their help to save the child.  He lets a former enemy see his face, one of the greatest heresies in his creed, because doing so was necessary to save the child.

And, in the end of season two, he lets go of the strongest attachment of all.  When a Jedi finally comes to take the child - a child the Mandalorian has grown to love like a son, the only family he still has - the Mandalorian allows the child to go.  Because as much as he loves the child, as attached as he is to it, he knows it is better for the child to be with the Jedi than with him.  

That’s how you write a story about letting go of attachments without coming off like a selfish fucking asshole.

[me4ml]

Why don't you like Maribat? Why do you think it's a spite or salt ship?

This is presumably because of my Adrigaminette post or the whole Maribat being on the ship list thing.

Quick disclaimer: if you read/ship/write/like Maribat, cool! This is not an attack. This is me answering why I, personally, do not like it. It’s tagged anti, and salt, so it should be filtered. Please don’t harass me over it.

Another note before we start: a lot of what I’m about to write is based on what I’ve read, fic wise or meta, and I blocked off the Maribat tag and fandom a long time ago. It may have changed over there-I doubt it, and I have zero desire to go and look-but this is based on what I’ve seen and read about.

There are, principally, three reasons I can’t stand Maribat, why I think it’s a spite/salt ship.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written in Maribat.

3). Maribat is a mutated salt fic.

If you want to see my reasons why, the rest is under the read more.

1). I don’t like Damian Wayne.

Damian’s not just my least favorite Robin, ranking behind any of the others who have born the name. He’s my least favorite Batfam sidekick overall.

Part of this is his introduction, where he’s a violent, murderous, arrogant, entitled, snotty little brat of a thug. Lest we forget, one of his first acts is to go out, kill a guy, cut off his head, stuff a grenade into the decapitated head’s mouth, and try to blow up Tim. This is his introduction! There are a number of other occasions, including how he treats Jon, his best friend, and the rest of his siblings.

Another part is that he believes that he deserves to be Robin simply because he’s Bruce’s son, and therefore has the blood right to be Robin, to become Batman, and damn anyone else, who are all pretenders. Doesn’t matter that those characters might have a right to become Robin, or the future Batman, he’s the bio son, he deserves it!

Additionally, Damian feels.....not unnecessary, but repetitive, in his actions/characterization. There are other characters who can perform pretty much the same way for whatever storyline is necessary, without including Damian.

Trained by an abusive family to be the best, as an assassin and warrior? Cassandra.

A killer who breaks the main rule of his mentor, which causes tension and strain in the family? Jason.

Incredibly intelligent and talented? Tim.

Damian isn’t unique in what he does, and while that can make him an interesting character, it can also make the focus on him unnecessary.

As well, so much of Damian’s actions and motivations feels like he gets away with stuff, in-universe, because he’s Bruce’s biological son, and so Bruce gives him too much slack, and out-universe, because the writers let him/the fans will defend him. He gets woobified, or leather pantsed. Which leads to:

2). I don’t like how Damian and the DCU are written for Maribat.

For all his (numerous) faults, when written well, Damian can be an interesting character. For example: How does he deal with being deeply insecure? By putting on a mask of arrogance and overconfidence.

Some more examples: How does Damian act like an actual child, when he’s never had a childhood? How can he be a hero, if he’s been trained to be a killer? Can he ever catch up to his siblings, or will he feel like they’re always better than him?

Damian’s sense of being Batman’s son, of being the heir to the Cowl, slams right up against the idea of the Batfam: that there are people who have just as much of a right to call Batman their father/father figure, people who are just as talented and skilled and capable as Damian himself is, if not more. Watching Damian develop, when he’s written right, is actually enjoyable; mainly because when it’s done right, it shows Damian actually progressing and growing, becoming more of a person, with friends and interests. Most times, seeing Damian with his pets can be adorable, same with when he hangs out with Jon.

Is he still a brat? Still sometimes a bit too much of a Demon, an al-Ghul? Yes, but that’s always going to be part of him, and as long as he’s shown to try and grow, or gets called out on that, it’s less of an issue (There’s a completely different rant to be written about how DC likes to chuck character development or backstory into the trash when it suits them for a new run. Damian gets hit with this, as does Tim, or they get handed the idiot/conflict ball, but not the space for it).

Maribat hurls this all out the window. Damian’s bad traits are all “fixed” offscreen-he’s developed, matured, gotten better, whatever you want to call it. It’s basically a writer’s hand wave to make Damian into the character who will be the lead of the story, perfectly suited for his main role of being Marinette’s boyfriend and utterly devoted to her every whim and will. He’s enchanted by her at first glimpse, and defends her against everyone who hates her, because no one can understand her like he can!

Uh, what? This is not Damian Wayne. Even at his best, he’s no broody boy, pulled from his “dark path” by the love of a gentle girl. He’s a Jerk with a Heart of Gold-emphasis on the Jerk. There’s a reason his nickname usually involves “Demon.” Is Damian trying to get better? Yes. But even then, he’s not the type to immediately fall in love. He takes a while to warm up to people, for them to earn his trust, and Marinette would not be like that?

Let’s say that Robin is in Paris for a case, he runs into Ladybug and Chat, and after they explains what’s going on, Robin gives them a stare over his mask, and goes “TT! What a worthless hero, I would have caught him already.” LB and Chat would probably want to deck him, and that’s before he keeps talking.

Same with if Damian transfers to the class, or they meet on a field trip to Gotham. Damian’s not gonna care about some random French teenagers on a tour, or if he was transferred he’s gonna be trying to figure out why his father sent him to Paris, and be focused on the mission, not making friends.

Of all of the Robins, the ones that would be the most likely to capture Marinette’s interest would be Dick or Tim, not Damian. He would remind her too much of Chloe, as Damian, and as Robin, he would be dismissive of Ladybug’s abilities, which would absolutely piss her, and Chat Noir, off.

In characters that aren’t Damian, no one seems to be written properly over in Maribatland. One huge example is that Marinette is so beloved, so pure, that she can make any character fall in love with her, and reform by her pure goodness, including a fic where the Joker-THE JOKER!-becomes her “Uncle J,” and pranks Lila on her behalf.

Uh-huh. Sure. Completely and totally something that one of the biggest, most sadistic twisted, notorious villains in pop culture would do. Maribat winds up worshipping the ground that Marinette walks on, cause she’s “Teh best evar!”

Which then leads to my third and final point:

3). The whole Maribat concept is a mutated salt fic.

Most of the themes you’ll find in Maribat? You will find in nearly every salt fic.

Maybe my biggest issue with the whole Maribat idea is that it doesn’t feel like a proper crossover, which, at their best, explore how characters from one universe and their rules would interact with characters from another universe, and the rules of that one. Putting ML and DC together is a rich opportunity to play with concepts in both worlds!

And yet, it’s mainly used to bash ML characters who the writers despise, predominantly Adrien, Alya, and Lila, with members of the class thrown in depending on feeling, and potentially even Marinette’s parents! The only “good” ML characters are the ones who are on Marinette’s side, usually Luka, Kagami, a Chloe who for some reason has been redeemed and is now Marinette’s best friend, and whatever members of the class the writer decides to throw in there.

You’ll notice it’s not called “MiracuBat”, or LadyBat and Bat Noir-it’s MariBat. It’s meant as a focus on Marinette, making her-the hero of the Miraculous Ladybug franchise, someone in-story in story who is incredibly smart and talented and the leader of her team, future Guardian-even more awesome.....by beating down everyone else around her.

Marinette is simultaneously treated as an beaten-up, beaten-down walked-on carpet, and the best person to ever exist ever, go who only needs a group of new, different, better people to recognize that and save her from the clutches of those greedy and ungrateful assholes! That doesn’t include the fics where she’s the unknown child of a superhero or supervillain, making her even more special.

It’s Chameleon salt, class salt, with pointy ears and a cape on.

Some specific examples.

Adrien: Adrien is a spineless doormat who prioritizes Lila over Marinette, or an entitled bastard sexual harasser, only fixated on Ladybug, or even both. Sometimes it’ll get worse, as Adrien will threaten or abandon Marinette if she steps off of his “high road,” and Chat will be a budding rapist, stalking or capturing Marinette after he’s learned she’s Ladybug, while ignoring her prior to that. He will, of course, have his ring stripped and handed off to Damian, who is the “true” soul of Destruction and so therefore a “perfect match” to Marinette’s Creation soul. Occasionally it will be Jason, or Tim, or Dick, but the key thing is that it’s not Adrien!

While Damian’s issues are magically fixed, Adrien gets no such courtesy. Adrien has been abused, just like Damian, and while Damian’s abuse is more extensive and extreme, abuse is abuse. If anything, if Damian met Adrien, he would probably see another abused kid, and want to be his friend/have his “adopt stray person!” Instincts go off. I can much more imagine Damian dragging a bewildered Adrien into the Batcave and yelling “Father I’ve found another one for you to adopt!” than I can Damian immediately hating Adrien, or Chat, simply for breathing.

We never see Clark taking Adrien under his wing, or Bruce, or any of the other Batfam; nor any of the other Justice Leaguers. We never see Selina try to fight Bruce over the kid, because he’s cat-themed, and Selina can train him, this one’s hers Bat, get off!

Adrien’s never treated as a kid, or given actual development. A major complaint among salters is that Adrien is treated as perfect and never develops, and in fic, rather than developing him, Adrien either remains static, with his flaws narratively exploded, or is developed negatively. He’s there to be beaten up on and punished by the writers, if not actually physically beaten up by characters in the fic.

Alya: the not-so-good friend, the cheap excuse for a journalist, the awful person who abandons Marinette for Lila and her “connections.” Never mind that Alya was Marinette’s friend from the beginning, or that Marinette’s chosen her multiple times for a Miraculous. One instance of questioning Marinette about Lila, and Alya’s a backstabbing bitch.

Maribat treats Alya as neglectful, bossy, domineering and submissive at the same time to Marinette and Lila respectively, and as a journalist, the worst of the worst. She’s played as a two-bit paparazzo, and once again, the DCU is used to punish her. We don’t see Alya get mentored by Lois or Clark-indeed, if they notice her, it’s with disdain or disappointment. Often, they’re crushing her under their heel, calling her not only a bad journalist, but a bad friend/person. This forgetting, of course, that Alya runs her blog as a hobby so far, she’s only a teenager, and that she’s had Marinette’s back against Chloe and Lila.

The Class: the dupes or allies as needed. Class salt levels depend on what the writer needs. If they’re pro-class, they’re all on Marinette’s side, aside from Alya Adrien and Lila. Chloe, for some ungodly reason, is “redeemed” nigh instantaneously, and often will become Marinette’s best friend, if that isn’t Kagami already. Kagami will drop Adrien like a wet tissue, never trying to reconcile him with the clas, or encourage him to stand up for himself, or if she does, Adrien, of course, will not listen.

If the writer is anti-class, whoo boy. Openly mentally, emotionally, physically abusive to Marinette, the worst gang of people you would ever have the displeasure of meeting, they all need to be in Arkham.

We never see any of the class make friends with the Batfam, the Titans, Young Justice-unless they’re on Marinette’s side, of course. There’s no Alix stopping Selina at the Louvre, for instance, or Max hanging out with Babs. It’s all based on how Marinette is treated as to whether or not the class is portrayed as being worse than the worst of the Rogues Gallery.

Wrapping it all up, Maribat has made me dislike the entire concept of a DC/ML crossover.

Even if someone had written an non-salt, in-character crossover, I don’t know if I would read it, simply because the well has been that poisoned.