#can you tell one of my favourite dynamics is Problem and Problem Solver

[flypug]

thread where your muse works in mission control and sully is the pilot who's always two seconds from death

[obeymematches]

Hi! I saw you were doing matchups so I’ll try to keep this from being too long while also giving you the necessary info. I'm pan, pronouns are she/her they/them, I'm a libra, and my MBTI is INFP. According to friends, I'm very caring, selfless, open-minded, and supportive, BUT because of these things I tend to overlook myself and let people use me for support without them ever taking an interest in my life. (1/4)

My friends also said I can slip under people’s radars because I don’t start drama and keep to myself. So people usually don’t know much about me, and I come off as mysterious. I can be too patient at times, and let frustrations build, all for the sake of being polite or nice. Honesty is a very important quality to me. I don’t hate lying, but I don’t love it. I’m a “I’d rather you tell me the truth and risk hurting me now than lie and end up hurting me more later” type of person. (2/4) I love to cook, write, read books, listen to music, and gaming. Making tea/coffee is something I find relaxing. I love learning new things, doing research on current interests. I’m pretty open with my feelings. I don’t struggle with showing affection and I tend to be touchy-feely with those I’m close to. I’m always willing to talk things out if there’s any problems. Some may call me too diplomatic, but I prefer to nip problems in the bud before they get worse if I can. (3/4) Uh, idk what else to mention. A dream date mayhap? I’ve always wanted to go see a meteor shower because I have NEVER seen one. If someone ever asked me, I’d be STOKED. And maybe marry them on the spot, who knows. (4/4)

Hi lovely!

Thank you for sending in a request! I hope you enjoy the results!! 

oh i feel that “too polite and too patient part”, were it not for my friends i’d still be listening to some randos on the street trying to sell me overpriced stuff i’d never need

but lets talk about you now! ok so i think this could work out well with Satan - your mysterious nature would definitely draw this curious demon in. But Solomon is also a strong candidate! 

here is why!

ok so the fact that you are the mysterious type too can get his attention, as that means he could trust you with his many secrets

Solomon can get along with whoever he wants to, basically - i mean spoiler but he made pacts with demons ranging from Asmodeus to Barbatos and we all know how different personalities they are (you don’t mention being the jealous type so his pacts probs won’t be an issue for you) 

The fact that you are selfless and caring makes things much easier and that might be why he fall for you for real

Like sure he wants to be on very good terms with you because of your strength but that plan fails when it turns out that you are actually. so nice. and cute. and reliable. and fun. and you say you like his food even though he can clearly tell you are just polite. and you never forget about him even if he is busy doing his own thing. 

imagine him facing the fact that this isn’t going to be like making pacts oh dear he’s in it

As limited time as you have because of the brothers he is going to do anything to spend more time with you. He’s going to sneak you out on the regular, just you wait!!

I mean he’s not a liar but he likes to have fun from time to time, you know what I mean? 

as he is testing the waters he might pull some chaotic stuff out of his pockets but don’t worry those are not going to happen at all once he admits liking you more than he planned. (Or if you show signs of annoyance regarding his behavior.)

He is the biggest people pleaser of the whole game and i haven’t seen that being admitted a lot so i just leave it here. He is going to do whatever it takes, however you like to be romanced, he will do it. If you like your man consistent, you hear from him every. single day. If you like the thrill of spontaneity, he is ready for last minute dates! 

That means he is the best when it comes to indulging in your hobbies! 

Thank gods you like cooking, hopefully you can also teach him some stuff! i mean he is teaching you magic and you teaching him cooking is a cute dynamic 

oh he is going to read all your favourite books (even your favourite childhood books), listen to your music any time you wish, play your favourite games - he is not about to let Levi be your player 2 !!!! sorry!!!!

You are both intellectual and diplomatic people, so don’t be afraid to be yourself and don’t care about how others would see you. no such thing as “too diplomatic”. 

If you tell him about your interests he is going to do his own research on the topic any time he is not with you - so the next time you meet he is ready to share what he knows !!! 

he is going to think you are absolutely cute when you are being affectionate with him! might be a bit flustered because feelings but pay it no mind he is having the time of his life rn

He is also a problem-solver just like you, so if any conflicts arise it doesn’t take a tool on your relationship at all. Not that this relationship would come with a lot of conflicts on the first place

Ok so one of the reasons why he is a good candidate is that he is also into METEOR SHOWER DATES ! so he can make your dream come true no problem !! 

[valvntinass-blog]

me ?? late 2 the party ?? ofc ( it’s also be i’m a complete embarrassment & also wanted to attemPT to write smth worthy of reading ) but hey there, demons. it’s me, ya girl, aka shan aka probably the worst ?? anyway i’m chillin in the gmt timezone probs for the rest of my life bc who has the money to move anywhere else these days ?? i’m 19 w she / her pronouns & spend waY too much time on photoshop & instagram so i’ll probably disappear for hRS just to make smth or go cry over some insta model ?? ummm i watch too many tv shows ( s/o to the og joey tribbiani up there ) & am alsO a huge film buff !! ( kinda mad bc apparently the newest transformers is supposed to be the last one like ?? whY end it like that ?? ) anywaY imma stop rambling bc i’m a rambler & am literallY just gonna copy & paste most of my app bc i’m too lazy to write it all out !!

˚✧* ( CINDY KIMBERLY, FEMALE + SHE/HER ) welcome the exuberant valentina morales. this club’s great for twenty year olds. plus, i hear you’re the skux, huh?that’s interesting, since you’re so manipulative and devious. but i guess it makes some sense given you’re coquettish and alluring as well !

BIOGRAPHY ;

    ❛ congratulations, you’ve had a beautiful baby girl ! ❜

    these are the words that francisco & nadya morales would never forget. for years, the power couple of barcelona had been trying for a daughter, after being blessed with a handsome son, alvaro morales. & then by some miracle they had her. a gorgeous, tiny baby with jet black hair & dark brown eyes. her name ? they called her valentina.

    that girl was a sweet child. she had a smile that could make the wind blow & a laugh so contagious that when other hear it, they had to join in, afraid of missing such an beautiful experience. she lived to make people smile, to see them happy & be the one who makes them happy. she loved to pick roses & to smell flowers, be surrounded by nature & love. she was happy.

    her parents were naturally busy, however. her father, being the owner a well-known &successful business, which had been passed down from generation was always travelling to different places, sometimes taking his family with him. whereas her mother was a model who people loved worldwide, so valentina, so small & young was left in the HANDS of her older brother.

    valentina grew close to him. he was like her best friend, he confident. he helped her with her homework & protected her from anyone who would try to do her harm. he loved her, & she loved him, & whenever all the family was together it was complete bliss to her. she couldn’t think of anything she wanted more than this.

    growing up, it was clear to see that valentina had talent. not only were her features soft& pretty, much like her mother’s, but she had a love for the camera & the camera had a love for her. she wasn’t quite sure what career she wanted, however her mother did. but as a child, growing up in spain & knowing little english, how could you ever do something with that ?

    she did, though. she was taken to small photoshoots at home to kick start her career, &for a relatively shy & timid six year old, this was scary yet oddly exciting. needless to say, valentina loved it. but she loved something else, too. at school, they did plenty of plays &productions which valetina threw herself into. she loved it. she loved acting & singing &dancing, almost as much as she did modelling. then she knew what she wanted to be — she wanted to be a model, but she also wanted to be an actress.

    she was comfortable. she loved her life & wouldn’t change a thing. but then her parents dropped the bomb that they were moving & val felt her dreams shatter into a million pieces. moving to america was hard at first. she barely knew any english & the city was intimidating. but as she lived on & met the tempest, the hellion, & the quixotic, things started to even out & as time when by she was pretty much in the same place she was before she moved.

( TRIGGERS ; CAR ACCIDENT, DEATH )     but then came that night. when the crash happened, her heart broke. she never even got to say goodbye to her brother which just made her hurt more. it made her nights restless ; she couldn’t close her eyes without seeing it so she seeked comfort in other people. she slept around, not really thinking about what people would call her. she needed the distraction, & distracting it was. her parents disagreed but she ignored them. she learned to separate her emotions from her thoughts so she became devious, flirtatious, poisonous. anything to forget about the empty feeling in her chest.

    over the years, val has altered incredibly & now works as model for img models. she goes to college, however recent opportunities have made it so she hardly has time for it any more & so tends to cut class to work on her acting career. she tries her best to work her schedule around her friends as well as her arrangements for the night time. never the same person, is a rule she’s set for herself. she’s scared of attachment & anything that could mess with her feelings. god help everyone if that happens.

PERSONALITY ;

val has two sides to her. there’s the sweet side, which can throw people off when they experience her devil side. she’s been described before as a ’ quiet genius ’, meaning that she can seem all cute & innocent but in the meantime is probably planning your downfall. she’s incredibly destructive, reason being why she doesn’t believe in romance or love so her interest in the tempest is quite confusing &annoying for her. but val can be very possessive & jealous, so if she ever found out about the quixotic’s feelings she’d probably flash a smile but secretly would be thinking of all the ways she can destroy them. even though they’re one of her best friends & val is incredibly loyal, nobody gets in the way of what she wants. val can be very withdrawn, however, which would probably be an issue for the hellionbecause she’d rather be out sleeping with someone than she would talk about her issues.

ENTJ ; as an ENTJ, val is very leader-like. she focuses on the most efficient &organized means of performing a task. this quality, along with ger goal orientation, often makes val superior leader, both realistic & visionary in implementing a long-term plan. val tends to be fiercely independent in her decision making, having a strong will that insulates them against external influence. generally highly competent, val can analyze & structure the world around her in a logical & rational way. due to this straightforward way of thinking, val tends to have the greatest difficulty of all the types in applying subjective considerations & emotional values into the decision-making process. as an ENTJ she often excels in business &other areas that require systems analysis, original thinking, & an economically savvy mind. she is a dynamic & pragmatic problem solvers. she tends to have a high degree of confidence in her own abilities, making her assertive & outspoken. In her dealings with others, she is generally outgoing, charismatic, fair-minded, unaffected by conflict or criticism. however, these qualities can make her appear arrogant, insensitive, & confrontational. she can overwhelm others with her energy& desires to order the world according to her own vision. as a result, she may seem intimidating, hasty, & controlling. she tends to cultivate her personal power. she often ends up taking charge of a situation that seems ( to their mind, at least )to be out of control, or that can otherwise be improved upon & strengthened. she strivea to learn new things, which helps her become a resourceful problem-solver. however, since she relies on provable facts, she may find subjective issues pointless. she appears to take a tough approach to emotional or personal issues,& so can be viewed as aloof & insensitive. in situations requiring feeling & value judgments, she is well served to seek the advice of a trusted feeling type. when striving toward a goal, she often puts personal needs aside until the work is done ( & may expect others to do the same ). for this reason, she may be considered self-sacrificing by some, but ’ cold & heartless ’ by others, especially those who prefer feeling.

HOW VAL FEELS ABOUT BEING A MEMBER OF THE EXUBERANT CLUB ;val is very prideful, so being a member of one of the most affluent clubs in new york really does make her hold her head a little higher. she’s already boastful, but to have this privilege is just as good as winning an oscar to her. she loves the privacy & the inclusivity of the place, meaning that she finds herself feeling very comfortable & rewarded.

HEADCANONS ;

001 ; valentina is more known for her talent in modeling & acting, but what many people don’t know is that val loves to dance. since she was a child, whenever a song came on the radio she would be moving whatever she could in the back-seat of the car & one time, when she & her brother went to the mall her favourite song came through the speakers & she just dropped what she was doing & started dancing. she’s an avid fan of music & so can dance to any song, especially spanish songs because that’s a part of her heritage & they’re generally good for dancing.

002 ; val is a very dedicated vegetarian. she says it’s to aid her diet ( because god-forbid if anyone thought she cared about anything for one second ) but in truth it’s because she’s highkey against animal cruelty & won’t eat something that another creature has died for. to be honest, she has a huge love for animals & is the ambassador of a cause that’s fighting against animal cruelty, & although her reasons are genuine she tells her peers that it’s just for the promotion. yeah, right.

003 ; she absolutely loves roses, specifically white ones. whereas people are forced to believe it’s just because of the aesthetic — after all, everything val does is for the aesthetic — the reason is actually deeper than that. when she was little, her family went to a rose garden & her brother told her to pick her favourite rose. she spotted a pristine white one, the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen & he picked it for her to take home. the rose lasted a good couple of weeks before it died, leaving val feeling devastated. she’s never told anyone that story in fear they’ll see through her cold mask.

004 ; she’s an exquisite baker. before moving to america, she used to visited this bakery on the weekly. her parents were good friends with the bakery owner & so when val wanted to learn how to bake something new, she’d always go there &they’d teach her all their tricks. val likes to bake for her friends her friends on the daily yet claims that it’s just to pass the time rather than a genuine hobby, but if you go to her place you can guarantee that there’s always cookies on the table.

005 ; is still very connected to her life in barcelona. she visits her friends & family there as often as she can & loves indulging in her hispanic lifestyle. although spanish is one of her main languages, she’s fluent in many others & won’t hesitate in using them to her advantage should the opportunity arise. she’s very culturally orientated & still favours her old life, however she claims to love america more than anything & that clouding her emotions is the best thing she ever did.

[crookedtalks]

Bookish Thoughts: Absolute Power: Tales of Queer Villainy

Book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33789743-absolute-power

Goodreads synopsis:  DANGEROUS WOMEN: TALES OF QUEER VILLAINY—edited and with an introduction by lesbian comics tastemaker Erica Friedman—brings you thirteen short stories of power, destruction and chaos by women who love other women almost as much as they love taking over the world! These 238 pages of deliciously dastardly stories of super-powered villainy are contained in a wraparound cover by artist Agnes Czaja (Anything That Loves) and contain contributions from a group of visionary writers.

Well, this book took me a lot longer than I thought to finish reading. ^^; This is the second anthology I’m reviewing on this blog, and I must say I enjoyed this anthology more than the previous one. I would give this anthology a 3.75 stars out of 4, but it’s not quite a 4 star read - so only a 3 star on goodreads (why no half-star system goodreads??).

I got this ebook from the kickstarter campaign and I was very excited to read it, and to support it, not only because it features queer characters (as main characters) and queer romance, but it is also written by queer authors, which is even rarer, and I feel that it is important (personally) that these books get read and reviewed too. I feel like book reviewers whether on social media platforms like youtube, or book bloggers can do a bigger part to lend their voice to these more neglected books, and I want to do that more on this blog, starting with this book.

I really loved that the queerness of the characters wasn’t the whole/sole plot point for the stories (as if that’s the only reason why queer characters are protagonists) and that the queer characters in this anthology are all spread across a spectrum of moralities (the villains and the heroes). The stories were also very different from each other, with each of the stories having their own colourful worlds and and uniquely powerful voices. Overall, it was a fun ride, much like a rollercoaster at a theme park. I’ll definitely me checking out more releases by North West Press in the future. In bold are the stories that I particularly liked (keep in mind that I have a preference for more serious stories), with a small comment on each of the stories in the collection. 

1. Final Grades by Erica Friedman

This story had a really interesting setting of a supervillain school, which I thought gave the reader a very interesting “frame” going into the story. There’s a plot twist at the end which was not completely unpredictable though, since it was already revealed at the start of the story that only a single person has ever graduated from the supervillain school. 

2. Date Night by Tristan J. Tarwater

Another classic supervillain story, where the supervillain goes on a date which gets interrupted by her sidekick. Her date though turns out to be someone unexpected. A fun, fast paced short read with some somewhat predictable twists (which kept the story moving and interesting) and flashy action near the end.

3. Eden’s Revenge by Missouri Vaun

Unlike the previous two stories, this is not a supervillain story but more of a vengeance story where our protagonist/villain is seeking revenge against the man who caused her sister’s suicide. It was all right, I didn’t really gel with this story as well though for some reason. Part of it could be because I didn’t really care for the protagonist - again, most likely a personal preference thing. Not sure about how I feel about the protagonist’s revenge plan being explained as “insanity” at the end of the story though...

4. Gentleman Jack by Barbara Ann Wright

Our protagonist/villain, a smug cross-dressing robber with charm abilities, meets her match in a stubborn, slightly uptight law women armed with science. This has potential to be a satisfying rom-com plot. I kind of wished that the story was a teeny bit longer just to see their cat-and-mouse relationship develop, but at the same time it ended at a place where it felt right. Great character chemistry.

5. Fallen by Audrey Chase

A much more serious story than the previous ones (which were all pretty light-hearted), which also has the gore factor turned up significantly higher. The grittiness and violence in this story was a refreshing change, and showed how terrifying and devastating a villain’s actions can be. This story, I feel, has one of the more interesting “grey” villains, with less clear-cut motives and “evilness”, which I really liked, but may not be for everyone. I would say this is the first story in the collection that I would peg as a tragedy.

6. The Devil Inside by JD Glass

A reporter visits hell to interview the devil herself, then gets interrupted by a mutiny. It was a fun read at first, with the little quips and jokes (eg. hell monsters needing moisturizers for their dry non-human skin), but it soon got on my nerves when the jokes started to get a bit too repetitive/play too much into stereotypes/too random and irrelevant to the plot, only present to provide some cheap humour, and it felt like the writer is a bit too confident of how funny they are and is smugly rubbing it in your face; however, humour is a very subjective thing and it might just be that it didn’t hit the right buttons in me. I felt like the “twist” at the end was confusing and didn’t make any sense/fit into the plot too. 

7. Glitter Bomb by Emily Kay Singer

A fun, nonsensical read that relishes in just how absurd its own plot is. Obviously, this is not a story you read for a “deep” plot, or even a plot that makes sense, which is fine because the author is obviously aware of that, and plays around with the common “superhero story” tropes, which makes it even more entertaining. It ends with a tidy, sweet and romantic ending (for people who like happy endings).  

8. For Want of a Heart by A. Merc Rustad

Oh man, this story made me cry a few tears. Maybe because for a moment I really clicked with the protagonist and identified with what she was going through in the story. Not a happy ending (no spoilers though!), but I really loved the use of language, in this story for some reason. I feel like this is a bud that could have been expanded into a much longer, more elaborate complex story, with more fleshed out characters and more complex motivations, which in some ways is a shame. Personally, probably up there as one of my favourites in this anthology, although I felt that the ending was a bit rushed which made the reveal at the end less impactful.

9. Absolution by Claire Monserrat Jackson

You can tell that the author has really put some thought in terms of world building - the history that was briefly mentioned, the magic system etc. This story takes place in a futuristic post-apocalyptic world where the Fae (fairy-land) has sort of burst through into the human world and caused all sorts of problems, and our protagonist in this story is a spunky (presumably powerful) for-hire problem-solver with magic powers, who has a undead “Afterlife” chain-smoking sidekick. I really liked the characters and the world-building, and there seems to be an entire novella the author has written based on this world, which I will definitely be checking out.

10. So Many Things Seem Filled With the Intent by Jude McLaughlin

Our main protagonist visits the lab of an evil mad scientist with her girlfriend, which is great because all the previous stories have yet to feature an evil mad scientist. This story felt like an small exploration of the “mad scientist” trope, featuring both a “good” mad scientist (our protagonist’s girlfriend) and an “evil” one, but at the same time, the scientist characters felt distinct from each other and developed enough. I liked the sense of rivalry between the scientist characters, and personally I liked the main protagonist quite a bit. 

11. The Prado By Chance by Leia Weathington

Our main protagonist is an underpaid, underappreciated, and unabashedly corrupt FBI agent who one day gets a little surprise on one of her under-the-table “missions”. I like how our protagonist needs to rely mainly on her cunning to manipulate and carry out her plans and not any kind of super power or ability like the other stories; it makes the protagonist feel immediately a few degrees more human and closer to home, especially since greed and corruption are very human in nature. 

12. Jaguar Light by Susan Smith

Our protagonist, a petty criminal who lives in accordance with her desires and fancies, teams up with her nemesis when another villain gains power that gets out of control. I really liked the incorporation of Aztec mythology as the source of power for our protagonist in the story; I also thought that the main villain was pretty lame (and I’m not just referring to her name), because there I didn’t feel any real punch behind her desire for power. She’s pretty flat as a character, and with such weak motivations that I didn’t feel that threatened at any point in the story at all. Her connection to the protagonist was also kind of explained in a one-liner which feels a little too casual. However, I liked the dynamics and contrasts between the protagonist and her nemesis.

13. Chrome Crash by Mari Kurisato

This story is a little messy and hard to describe but I’ll try my best: the story splits into two at the beginning, following the history of two girls with powers who seem to be unrelated at first, but we discover their connection to each other as the story progresses. It sounds vague I know, but I had the feeling of looking into murky water when I was reading this story. One thing that confused me the most was that at the beginning of the story we got a whole chunk of a part of one of the girls’ pasts, which I thought was her origin story at first in relation to the rest of the story, but upon nearing the end I realized that it had no bearing on the original plot of the story at all - it was not an origin story, nor explained any of the character’s personality, traits, trauma, etc, etc, and that whole chunk could have been taken out with no change to the original story. Also, regarding the connection between the two girls as mentioned earlier: the whole time when I was reading the story, I was asking why? What is the purpose of their connection? What I feel, is that this story is some sort of chopped up lite version of another story where important bits that make the story coherent are missing, which is such as shame because I really like the villain characters, small traces of the what is good and what is evil debate, the exploration of the involvement of politics and the military in superpowers etc. It had such great potential.

This review is a lot longer than my usual review and took much much longer than I thought it would to write. I may be slightly harsh in my comments on certain stories, and I’m certainly biased towards some stories than others, so I’ll say again here that I enjoyed this anthology and would encourage anybody who would like to read short stories about lesbian villains to pick this up.