#easy to say when my ship is the most popular but...
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
the-badger-mole · 1 year ago
Note
Aang has to be one of the least popular protagonist I have seen on ao3. Out of all the main characters who appeared in season 1 and beyond (aamg, Katara, Sokka, and Zuko) aang has the least stories. I have never seen that happen to a main character before. Aang has like 13,000 stories and he is a side character in a majority, so it makes me think, why do so many people argue aang is such a great main character when he seems to be the least liked even by his fans.
This isn't me trying to do some popularity contest, it just seems like even fanfic writers can't do anything interesting with his character, which is sad because he has a lot of potential to be an amazing character.
Child who lost everyone he has ever known to war and time, waking up a hundred years later with the weight of this new world on his shoulders while still grieving his previous life, is such an interesting character, and the show did nothing with that and so neither did the fans.
You know what show did that premise justice? Futurama.
I think Aang's lack of attention comes down to him being ultimately a boring character. Yes, the premise of Aang had potential, but then Bryke turned him into a Gary Stu. And not even a particularly good Gary Stu. I think the lack of fics centering Aang have few explanations. Making Aang a more interesting character would take a lot of work. A lot more than people who aren't his biggest fans are probably willing to put in. It's easier to treat him like a side character, because frankly, that's what he should have been.
Second, fans who do like Aang- like his canon story and his canon ship- probably don't have a ton to add. I think that's not uncommon with a lot of canon ships. Most of my ships have been canon and although I have written for those shows, I'm a lot more prolific with Zutara- my one non-canon ship. I sincerely doubt I'd still be this invested if Zutara were canon. I'd still love them, but the same way I love Usa/Mamo. Content to just let the story be what it is, for the most part, unless inspiration strikes.
I also imagine some of it has to do with not wanting to admit how awful the canon made him seemingly by accident. In order to make an interesting story about Aang, they'd have to add some conflict, and no die hard Aang fans seem to be anymore willing to do that than Bryke were. Take that with a grain of salt, though. This is just my opinion. I don't spend a bunch of time reading Aang fics.
Third, the lack of Aang centered fics may actually be based on his popularity. I don't know. I think there are way fewer Aang fans than there seems to be, it's just that the main Aang fans are so loud. I wouldn't be surprised. After all, he's the most boring of the main cast, his tragic backstory notwithstanding. I only know two or three Aang/Kataang fans in real life, and they are very, very casual fans. Most of the other ATLA fans I know prefer other characters/ ship Zutara. Obviously, online Aang isn't the most popular character either. Oh, sure, there are plenty of polls that put him/his canon ship at the top, but if you look at the actual fan content...well, you can see for yourself.
91 notes · View notes
shadamyheadcanons · 20 days ago
Note
i love that you don’t put sonic as a jerk in your headcannons but rather supportive! this is so cool, because sonic really wants all of his friends to be happy and with amy wouldn’t be different, specially since they’ve known each other since they were children and sonic himself said that she is a special/dear person to him so i agree he would be happy if amy and shadow got together. as much as i love sonamy, i also love shadamy (sorry for the long ask it’s just that is not that common seeing sonic being portrayed like this in some ffs)
Thanks for the compliment! This one means a lot because I think I’m actually harsher toward Sonic sometimes than a lot of modern shadamy writers are. I say “modern” because new “Amy goes for Shadow because Sonic is a jerk” stories are actually few and far between. It’s easy to think they’re all over the place because there absolutely are a lot of them, but the ones I run into are usually from, like...2012. If you sort by Date Updated on AO3, it tells a different story, pun intended. I believe there are three main reasons for this:
1. Since half of shadamy fans started shipping them in SA2 two and a half decades ago, a ton of us are in our 30s now, writing more mature stories with more fine-tuned characterization. This is one of the advantages of having an ancient ship.
2. It’s a tired trope. We’ve all read a million of them. Most people don’t like how Sonic acts in them for his sake, but my biggest gripe is that they undersell what Shadow has to offer. He’s not just good for Amy because he’s Not Sonic, he’s good for her because of who he is.
3. Sonic treats Amy much better than he used to. The reason “Sonic is a jerk” fics were so common 10-20 years ago is because he was a jerk, almost exclusively to Amy.
These fics exist because no other character works better than Shadow as an arbiter of justice for something that bothered a lot of Amy fans at the time.
More on this under the cut. Lots more. I got kind of carried away.
It’s easy to forget how bad Sonic was when we have games like Frontiers and comics like IDW and Mega Drive now:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Between new fans who aren’t as familiar with older games, longtime fans who haven’t looked at their history in a while, and fans who love Sonic and just don’t want to see him in a bad light, tons of people sweep his old behavior under the rug without even realizing it.
I don’t think any of that is fair to Amy.
A brief reminder of their dynamic in the past:
1. Constant abandonment. He ran from her in Sonic Adventure...
Tumblr media
...Sonic Heroes...
Tumblr media
And four times in SA2 alone! More on that later.
2. Standing her up on dates. This mostly happened in Sonix X...
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
[Episode 42, episode 45]
...but there was also Sonic and the Black Knight, where he didn’t show up, didn’t apologize, never made it up to her, and made no attempt to reschedule.
Tumblr media
3. Uh...literally hurting her, for some reason...?
At the end of Sonic Riders, when he didn’t feel like properly handling a hostage situation:
Tumblr media
Oh, welcome back, episode 42! Didn’t expect to see you again:
Tumblr media
The new version of Sonic Generations altered this cutscene, thank god, but back in 2011, players saw this:
Tumblr media
4. And the worst part of this, to me, is that he lets her get her hopes up. It’s not just the almost-dates he skips. Knuckles teases Sonic in Heroes, saying, “Are you playing with that girl’s heart again, Sonic?” It’s intended as a joke, but then he does things like this:
Tumblr media
Sonic X, episode 52. You know what roses are, Sonic, you know how she’ll interpret this, and you know you won’t follow through.
I know I’m picking on Sonic X a lot, but it was pretty popular at the time, even among fans who didn’t touch the games or comics. This was how they saw these characters growing up, and it made its way into countless fics.
But even after all these years, no matter which continuity you work with...he still won’t give her a solid “no.”
Not liking someone back is fine. Not being interested in a relationship is fine. But letting her believe she’ll win you over if she chases you long enough isn’t, and that’s what he’s doing to this day.
Fans throw around the same tired old “justifications” over and over for why he is/was like this to Amy, but they don’t hold water. People say he’s mean because he doesn’t know what to do with his feelings for her, but he liked Elise, too, and he was nothing but kind to her.
Tumblr media
(Putting this here because although fans don’t like to admit it, Elise was indeed intended to be a love interest. She and Amy are presented on par here, so if you think he likes Amy, then he liked Elise, too. You get exactly the same result regardless of who you choose for this trial.)
The other frequent “justification” is that he ran and lashed out because he was afraid of her, often accompanied by awful Amy hate (“stalker,” “psycho,” etc.). This also doesn’t work because Sonic was always harsh to Amy no matter how gentle she was. Classic Amy is the sweetest, most adorable little munchkin in the world...
Tumblr media
...and he still ran away.
Tumblr media
^ These are from the same exact comic, by the way: IDW Sonic’s 30th anniversary. Five pages apart. How in the world could anyone not want her around?
Amy had more spunk in Adventure and Adventure 2, but she was just as sweet, and he still treated her like a pest to be swatted. The ending of her story in SA1 is this:
Tumblr media
But...why should she have to? He treats everyone else with the same baseline of respect, at least until they give him a reason not to. Why is it just Amy? He wasn’t just mean to her, he was uniquely mean to her. She didn’t act out until Heroes in 2003, when she’d already been ignored for years. Standing on the sidelines wasn’t working, so she tried being more “proactive.” Was it the right way to do things? No...but I honestly can’t hold it against her. It makes sense in context. She was a kid, and kids act out when they’re neglected.
And this is where Sonic Adventure 2 comes in.
SA2 was pivotal for Amy. Nearly everyone tossed her aside; Sonic left her behind four separate times in this game alone. First was right after she broke him out of jail on Prison Island. He ran off the second her back was turned:
Tumblr media
Second, he and Tails both walked away from her after Eggman blew up the moon. She easily could’ve gotten arrested here.
Tumblr media
Third, Sonic and Tails made a plan to stop Eggman right in front of her, blatantly leaving her out of it as if she wasn’t even there:
Tumblr media
...which, if you’ll recall, led to Eggman holding her at gunpoint:
Tumblr media
...and when Sonic set out to rescue her, this was his recap:
Tumblr media
This does not work as a joke given how they treat her. He pretends she doesn’t exist to her face, then says this behind her back.
And immediately after that, when it was time for them to save the world, they left her alone again.
Tumblr media
I can’t speak for anyone else, but I was furious by that point.
But then...something interesting happened.
Tumblr media
A photoset or gifset can’t do this scene justice, but I think most shadamy fans have already seen it plenty of times. For the few who haven’t, you can watch it here.
The contrast between Shadow and Sonic is impossible to ignore. By building up this moment the way they did, the writers primed us to notice it.
Sonic runs from Amy’s hugs, while Shadow would like more of them, please and thank you.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sonic pretends she doesn’t exist, while Shadow’s moved to tears and changes the course of his life because he values what she has to say.
Tumblr media
Anytime they’ve interacted since then, he’s been uniquely respectful and gentle with her. It’s what she deserves, and for a long time, this was all we had. He was all we had.
The other half of the equation is that it is very, very easy to picture Shadow taking Sonic and the others to task for their mistreatment of her. As a blunt person who’s not afraid to confront Sonic, Shadow is the most believable candidate to this day. The only person to fully respect her from the start also happens to clash with the person who hurts her most often? Of course those fics exist. It’s a perfect storm.
And it’s no wonder that this attitude persists somewhat even now, because Sonic is still doing this, even if he’s “nicer” about it. That prison escape from SA2? The one he never thanked her for? He still gives all the credit to Tails for that, even up through Frontiers:
Tumblr media
Amy. Amy broke you out of prison. Tails broke in, and then she snuck through a maximum-security prison, somehow stole a card key, and saved your life. We’re in the 2020s, but he’s still disrespecting her. And don’t get me started on the TailsTube Secret Santa episode.
It feels like Sega wants us to forget all of this ever happened, and it has some very confusing results. From that same Sonic 30th anniversary comic from above, the one where he and the others abandoned her:
Tumblr media
Like...this? This is lying. He’s just lying to her. I can’t tell if they think we all collectively have amnesia or if it’s some weird, mean-spirited joke at her expense. I genuinely don’t know what they’re trying to say.
It’s not enough to pretend it never happened and move on, not to me. Sonic should be held responsible for what he canonically did. Him supposedly being bad with feelings didn’t make it hurt her any less, and he’s older than Amy, so he should’ve been the mature one.
The longer the writers keep this up, the worse Sonic looks, and I don’t think that’s what they’re aiming for. Ignoring the problem is not a solution. Amy might forgive, but I’ll never forget.
I just want to see a canon apology so I can reason out why she put up with it for so long. I want to at least be able to buy her having a crush on him. I can do that when he’s being selfless and heroic. I can’t do that when he treats her like the plague, and pretending he never did doesn’t match the Sonic I legitimately like. I bet a lot of s0namy fans would like to see a resolution like that, too.
Sorry to turn your thoughtful compliment into a rant. I really do appreciate it, and I’m glad you enjoy the stories!
176 notes · View notes
redbayly · 5 months ago
Text
Zutara Shipping is Canon
Let me explain myself.
I was enjoying an afternoon walk (as I mercifully live in a decent area to go for walks to clear my head) and I started thinking about the Ember Island Players episode when it struck me.
Shipping Zutara is canon.
Now, don't get me wrong, this isn't about if Zutara itself is canon or not (it's totally canon and I will die on my hill of willful self-delusion), but about shipping it.
I'm sure most Zutara shippers still get a little thrill whenever we rewatch the show and our majestic bounty-hunter June, captain of the Zutara ship, calls Katara Zuko's girlfriend.
But, as I said, this is about Ember Island Players.
It never truly occurred to me before that, in canon, Zutara shipping is just a thing. Like, an actual, accepted aspect of the world.
When Puon-Tim wrote "The Boy in the Iceberg," he just outright included a Zutara subplot. And as annoyingly melodramatic as it was, it was still there. He even went out of his way to discredit the idea of Katara and Aang being together. And, even though the play is Fire Nation propaganda (which has since confused me since the wiki says that Puon-Tim is from the Earth Kingdom; though that feels like a retcon), it doesn't seem to show a Zutara romance in a negative way.
And it could've gone in that direction. As propaganda, it would have been only too easy to portray Katara as an evil seductress who corrupted Prince Zuko and convinced him to betray his country. But it doesn't. The Zutara scene is embarrassingly saccharine and schmaltzy, but it's not shown as being bad - except for the episode trying to frame it that way because it hurts Aang's feelings.
And, because of how popular the play seems to be, we can reasonably assume that there were audience members who left the theater as die-hard Zutara fans. Even if they were cheering for Zuko's death - because, y'know, Fire Nation - there weren't any boos at the Zutara scene. Like, some of those folks who cheered Zuko's death also probably regarded Zutara as a tragic love story. There were probably even a few who quietly whispered to each other that they hoped Prince Zuko would run off with Katara and have a happy ending instead of fighting for the throne and dying, as shown in the play.
And with how the war actually ended, Zutara shipping probably only got more popular as Zuko started reforming stuff and being an actually stable ruler as opposed to his psycho dad and sister.
So, with this in mind, Puon-Tim is the ultimate Zutara shipper. Zutara shipping is canon.
I don't really know what else to say.
Any thoughts?
386 notes · View notes
not-goldy · 7 months ago
Note
Do you think Jikook's bond (whatever it is) is a goldmine to HYBE and they are trying to profit off it?
Thanks for such an intelligent question, having had one such mentally stimulating ask in a while.
Is Hybe overtly exploiting the chemistry that BTS has and that each pair has within the band, absolutely. I mean that bit should be so easy to wrap your head around.
Romance, bromance is one of the top selling genres of all time. The idea of BTS having a super strong fated bond between them is so commercially viable literal movies and songs have been written about them. 7 dates, bullet proof, and their recent Kdrama series etc to be exact.
And ships sell. I've said this since day one. The commercial viability of ships is just an offshoot of the commercial viability of bands as discussed above.
So yes, within that context, Hybe definitely would gravitate towards the two members with the most chemistry, who also happen to be two of the most liked members of the group, two of the most popular members and the most influential members of the group.
You don't go to war with your weakest soldiers.
Jikook is a very strong ship. We all know that.
They've had the most running in the group with some of the ships rising and falling over the years in terms of chemistry and popularity.
There's a lot to do with a pair like that. Reality shows, travel shows, documentaries, memoirs, tell all, cooking shows.
I watch a lot of reality TV and it's not hard to see how Jikook would fit right into that realm.
If BTS was love Island 🏝 Jikook would get their own spinoff after the season ended.
Fans love them, they get the most votes, the camera adores them and producers have so much they wanna do with them.
Am I making sense???
Going off with the Love Island analogy, just because Jikook are fan favorite, and the crew likes to follow them every where with a camera, and they are getting a spin off show of just the two of them don't necessarily mean their bond is fake that they are only existing for fan service or that the company is exploiting them.
There's just so much to do with them. They are fun entertaining adorable and a pleasure to work with.
So to answer your question I'll say yes and no.
Yes, they definitely a Goldmine for hybe in as far as content production goes.
No because they get to kill two birds with one stone. They can make money off of them, but also they create a safe space for Jikook to have that longevity to explore and nurture their relationship. They love being together. They love doing what they do. Hybe simply allows them to live their dreams and relationship much longer.
I've always said, if any queer pair in kpop were real you'd find them in a ship because ships would be their perfect cover for it. And we've seen jikook use this card very often to get out of trouble. Everything they do would be chalked down to fan service no matter how egregious they were. It can be invalidating and frustrating but In a way, it's also safe for them that way.
If I got paid to cozy up to my girlfriend, travel the world with her, eat as much as we can, hike, experience all and any culture- yall could call us anything you want I'm taking that offerđŸ€ŁđŸ€ŁđŸ€ŁđŸ€Ł
But we gotta give credit where credit is due because to me it's Jungkook that lay the foundation for all of this to be possible when he put of his first GCF with Jimin and later Jimin lay on top of him on a couch talking bout how they ought to do it again and how he would even model for him if filming is what he wanted to do.
I think they gave Hybe the idea of what it can do with them.
You can tell these things are things they both naturally want to do and have already done. During Run, they come up with a team name, they work well together, during rehearsals they stay behind and work on their routines tweaking it a bit, they come up with cooking shows to do, stay up all night doing nothing.
They are by themselves very creative and adventurous.
So like I said, I don't think this is hybe mining them but more so amplifying and giving them the production value to do what they already have been doing which they love, fans love and the company loves.
I'm sure if any other pair had this same organic pull towards eachother and wanted to be around eachother all the time too hybe would be just as curious and invested in them but as it turns out there isn't.
We are not stupid, we see them. And we see how some members act like they can't wait to get out of set when others keep it going even after they yell cut.
We see them all.
202 notes · View notes
necrotic-nephilim · 5 months ago
Text
Tumblr media
@sasheneskywalker i love when you enable me to ramble about things because oh my god do i have thoughts.
so recently, i made a post discussing the phenomena of DC x DP and DC x MLB crossovers and why they exist and part of that post was discussing how largely speaking, at least half, if not more of the Batfamily fandom doesn't read the comics. if they interact with canon DC material, it's adaptations that are their own sequestered universes and oftentimes not remotely comic accurate or seeking to be. the most obvious example is the Young Justice cartoon. i'm adding a cut to this post because it just got so long i'm so sorry.
a lot of times, when people are discussing the "why" of this oversaturation of fanon-only fandom, they blame Wayne Family Adventures. and i think, to a point, i agree WFA is responsible for a boom in this fandom. but as someone who's been in the fandom long before we had WFA, to me it's the other way around. WFA was DC's way of meeting the demand for this easy-to-get-into, easy-to-consume content about the Batfamily that predicates itself on the comics just enough to be vaguely the same characters, but has a more sitcom, slice-of-life sort of vibe so DC could profit off of this section of the fanbase that otherwise wasn't consuming its primary material. and well, it's definitely worked. not only that, but i have a weird theory that the decline in the MCU also led to the rise in the Batfamily fandom. when you consider the fan content that made the MCU popular within fandom, it's that 2012 "they all live in Avengers Tower and Thor is eating poptarts and Clint is in the vents and there are movie nights every Friday" sort of vibe. those were the fics that were a hallmark of the fandom. and as the MCU has strayed from well... quality content in general, but specifically well-thought-out crossover content where characters can have their own arcs but also exist in a wider story where they clearly care about each other, that fandom was sort of homeless. so where do you go, if you like a superhero found family where you can have villains for angst but also stick them all in one big family-like home for silly crack and have a plethora of options for gay ships? well. you go to the Batfamily. if you write a crack/fluff Batfamily genfic with silly vibes and low stakes instead of say, a fic about a very specific comic issue even if it's a popular comic, you're *going* to get more traction for the former. because the fanbase largely just isn't reading the comics.
and i feel... complicated about this. because on one hand, Don't Like Don't Read has been a tenet of my fandom experience. i'm very pro-fandom and that includes fandom content i don't like. and to an extent, i do think this sort of should apply to Batfamily fanon. i enjoy having my moments with other comic purists, giggling over exceptionally painful OOC headcanons or even facepalming in pain over some content but it is on me to not interact with that content. you don't make fandom a better place by being hostile to fans who engage with canon in ways you don't approve of. and frankly? we as comic readers are not going to get non-comic fans to read the comics by being asshats to them. no one is going to want to pick up any comic if we get a superiority complex about it. and also, i feel like we're all lying to ourselves a little bit insisting comics are so, so easy to get into. they're not. we can just all agree, they're really not. i've been single-handedly helping my sister get into comics, specifically Wonder Woman and no matter how simple i make it, i watch her get frustrated trying to understand what pre-Crisis and post-Crisis and New-52 and Flashpoint and all these things mean and what a retcon vs a reboot is and what a Crisis Event is and what the hell Diana's current backstory even *is*. sure, you can give someone a beginner list of comics to start with and slowly dip their toes in the water but sooner or later, *something* is going to confuse them. comics as a medium straight up aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. and if someone *just* wants to read silly fluffy fanfiction about the Batfamily, i can't entirely begrudge them for not wanting to take the hours and hours out of their day to understand this medium. it's not an accessible medium to get into. "read this and this, but this run is out of print and this run wasn't collected in trades at all but also make sure you read that event in order and this is a good comic but the backstory in it is retconned and you *have* to read this it's so important but it's also really bad because the author kind of sucks" sounds. ridiculous for someone who like. just wants to read some stuff about Nightwing. sometimes, we all make reading comics sort of sound like a chore, not a hobby.
so my point is, i do extend some grace to Batfamily fanon for existing. i think my biggest gripe is, as i said in my other post, misuse of tags (if you're not creating content about comics, maybe you don't need the comics fandom tag on Ao3, just the all media types umbrella tag) and my far bigger gripe: when panels are taken out of context to support fanon only headcanons. if i could impart *anything* onto the Batfamily fandom as a comic fan it'd be this: if you haven't *read* the comic, don't spread the panel. if you don't even know what comic it's *from*, don't spread the panel. it's fine to use comic panels to discuss your headcanons, but so often i see someone spreading a comic panel from a comic they haven't read, and when asked where it's from, they can't source it. a silly example that comes to mind is a post going around, taking a panel where Dick, in his internal monologue goes "here comes the sun. do do do do." and the post is claiming it's from him getting buried alive. when that panel comes from Nightwing (1996) #140, and he gets buried alive in Nightwing (1996) #127, two completely different moments frankensteined together. if you're going to not read the comics, that's completely fine, but unless you're sure of the source and the context, panels shouldn't be spread around. i'm sick of this specifically happening to Red Robin (2009), with ppl claiming Tim has totally killed people because he blew up some of Ra's' bases, when those panels within context, make it clear he gave everyone time to escape. and in a later arc in that very comic, Tim grapples with the idea of murdering Captain Boomerang, and *specifically chooses not to*, because he doesn't agree with murder, even against the person who has hurt him the most. if you'd like to write fanfiction where Tim is pro-murder and has done some sketch things, i'm totally on board and would probably like to read it. but there's no need to pretend it's canon from a few panels you saw out of context.
beyond that, i think it's not *entirely* correct to say that fanon is harmless. whenever i see very WFA-positive posts, they often default to the argument that WFA is fun and silly, and comic fans are killjoys for not liking it. which. i think is complicated because the issue is, WFA and fanon don't exist in a vacuum. if you like WFA power to you, i don't think it's the worst thing ever, but i do think it's degrading to these characters because honestly? they feel incompetent in the webtoon. it's one thing if WFA was solely a slice-of-life sort of deal, just having silly episodes where Bruce is taking on a PTA mom or they're all fighting for the last cookie. but when WFA attempts to take on more serious plots with these characters, it *fundamentally* falls flat in understanding them. i get it, Bruce comforting Jason having a panic attack because a noise reminded him of the crowbar felt cute in a microcosm, but i'm so serious when i say that storyline destroyed how like. half of this fandom understands Jason Todd's relationship to his trauma. it doesn't understand how he reacts when he's triggered, what coping mechanisms he seeks out, and how he would handle Bruce comforting him. even if i can believe for a brief moment Jason *would* be triggered by something like that, him running and trying to hide and then getting a hug from Bruce to make it okay is just. painful. WFA needs everything to be wrapped up in a nice, neat little bow. so even when it starts to tackle interesting concepts, it makes them fall flat with its need to be soft, low stakes, hurt/comfort. there was a two-parter episode that dealt with the complicated mutual hatred/jealousy between Tim and Damian that *almost* really interested me because for once, it felt like the webtoon wanted to explore canon messy dynamics. but of course, it had to be fixed with one conversation and a hug. you don't mend the *years* of issues these characters have like that. WFA isn't in character because these characters are hyperbole cartoonified versions of themselves to fit within the medium and be a cute happy family.
because that right there, is the crux of it. the Batfamily fanon seeks to simplify the Batfamily and force them into a nuclear family. there are so many fantastic posts on here discussing how the nuclear family-ification of the Batfam is eroding decades worth of complex histories so i won't go too far into that. but what i will say is that there's this need, in the Batfamily fandom, for the Batfamily to exist as a unit. they are a *family*. (honestly i think calling it the Batfamily is a misnomer and has been for years but we're in too deep now.) they exist to each other first, and any teams or friends they have come secondary to this family unit. you can *specifically* see this demonstrated in what headcanons are becoming popular these days. i have an entire lengthy meta in my drafts about how i *loathe* the "the Batfamily meets the Justice League" genre of fanfic because it makes no *sense*. in order to have this genre of fic exist, you must operate under the assumption that no one in the League, or adjacent to the League, knows the Batfamily exists and are thus utterly shocked to discover Batman has kids. and to make *that* work, you have to strip *every single Batfamily member* of such important dynamics and friendships so you can lock them all in Gotham for their whole lives. Dick can't have the Titans, Tim can't have Young Justice, Duke & Cass can't have the Outsiders, Jason can't have the Outlaws, Damian can't have the Supersons, Babs can't have the Birds of Prey, and so on. because if they had these relationships, they would be known to the League. the Batfamily fandom doesn't care about this, it's just "silly fanfiction", it's not trying to be serious. but how can you say you like Dick Grayson as a character if you don't understand the Titans *are* his family? at some points of his life, moreso than the Batfamily even is. it is constantly repeated to us in most comics with Dick how much the Titans mean to him. he *needs* them to be who he is. the same extends to every other Batfamily member, most of which have been full League members at this point. but in fanon, that doesn't matter. the Batfamily are a sequestered unit first, and all of those side relationships are secondary and easy to toss away, if it makes your fanfic work better.
and because they have to be a unit first, you have these forced relationships that dump years of actual canon material for the sake of making them get along. the Batfamily fandom has its favorites and well. it's no secret it's usually the boys. Jason and Tim by *far* stand out as fandom faves so, their dynamic is a heavily explored one. it does matter that in canon they don't tend to get along and especially don't see each other as family. what matters is that you can push dynamics onto them. and so fanon gets all twisted up about which Robin Tim actually idolized as a kid (Dick) and what member of the Batfamily is pro-murder but still an older sibling figure to him and looks out for him (Helena, or if you want the dynamic of once tried to harm Tim but they've reconciled, Jean-Paul) in favor of who's the most popular. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian are always going to be the standouts for popularity, but it's specifically Jason and Tim who are getting fanonized the most. and that's because really, we don't have much canon content of Tim that *isn't* the comics. for Dick you've got Young Justice (tv), for Damian you've got the DCAMU, for Jason you've sort of got the Under The Red Hood movie, but Tim sort of lingers in this limbo. (yes, he's in Young Justce (tv) and Titans (live action) but in neither is he the main character nor given much depth) so, he gets a *lot* projected onto him and has become fanonized. and even with Jason's animated movies, you don't see him interact with Tim, so people build it from the ground up how they want to see it, disregarding of canon comics. i think it's what makes him so popular in the first place- he's malleable into whatever you want or need him to be.
and of course, the fanon ignores other characters in the Batfamily it doesn't know about. i feel like you could create a tier list of Batfamily characters by their popularity, going from the fandom main characters: Tim, Jason, Bruce, Alfred, Dick, Damian. to the underrated: Steph, Duke, Babs, Cass. to the forgotten about unless they're convenient for a story: Kate, the Foxes, Helena Wayne, Carrie, Selina, Harper Row, Maps, Minhkhoa Khan. to the absolutely unknown: Helena Bertinelli, Jean-Paul Valley, Onyx Adams, the Clovers, Julia Pennyworth. it's not lost on me that the ignored characters tend to be women and people of color. which is both a canon and fanon problem, DC will continue adding interesting characters to the Batfamily, play with them for a few years, then drop them to default to the "Batboys" again. and it's a vicious cycle of the fandom only caring about the "Batboys", and thus people entering the fandom via fanon osmosis won't have content about the other characters, therefore, they won't be interested in those characters enough to create it, and it's just this ouroboros consuming itself, no matter how much canon content we have of these other characters. and it's ridiculous just how large the Batfamily is becoming because of this, which is why i'm a pre-Flashpoint fan, because then the Batfamily was contained enough to actually feel like a family with every character having nuances relationships with each other, but i digress because those thoughts could be their own post.
and the thing about fanon is it doesn't exist in a vacuum. DC has started turning the comics to accommodate for what fans are asking for, because fans will beg and beg for content they're not going to consume. Tim Drake: Robin had Tim as a coffee drinker because that's the fanon accepted headcanon. and the resolution of the recent Gotham War arc was for Bruce to buy this new manor for everyone to move in and call him. nevermind that most of these characters have their own homes and have zero reason to be moving in with Bruce. Tim had his marina in Tim Drake: Robin, Dick has Bludhaven, Cass and Steph have their little side of town in Batgirls (2022), and so on. these characters are being forced together as a unit, as one big happy family living together, to appease what non-comic fans want and it's damaging comic relationships. Robin: Knight Terrors saw Jason and Tim team up and working together, which i've seen varying opinions on but i personally despised. their interactions made zero sense for any of their canon history, but it appeases them being this close sibling relationship that fanon acts like they are. also the fears they faced in their respective knight terrors didn't make sense for either character and *only* worked as a moment of bringing them together so they could reassure each other and have this weird dreamscape bonding moment. the canon is bending itself to the will of fanon rather than building on the pre-existing complex relationships. Tim barely even gets along with his most important team in Dark Crisis: Young Justice because it seems the only important relationships the Batfamily can have is with each other. and when we do see them outside of the Batfamily, it only seems to be to relive the glory days like with World's Finest: Teen Titans, instead of developing them as they currently exist. this isn't recent in the comics, it feels like you can trace it back to the New-52, but it does feel a *lot* worse over the recent years. WFA is fine when it exists in its own bubble, but the simple truth is, DC content never exists on its own. the adaptations will reflect back onto the comics. (the damage the Young Justice cartoon has done to some characters should honestly be studied) and so it does frustrate me a bit when fanon-only or adaptation-only fans act like we're being nothing but killjoys for being frustrated with this. since they don't read the comics, they don't see how the comics are suffering as a result of this.
people argue about what's out of character for the comics they don't even read. i'm sorry, but "bad dad Bruce" is consistently canon. that man is just kind of shitty. when you take someone who has the drive he has, who has this need for the Mission first, who needs a teenager in spandex next to him to keep him off the ledge, that guy is sort of going to be a shitty father figure. he just is. not on purpose or with malice, but when you compare him to any other dad in a big DC family, he sure takes the cake. it's why characters like Oliver Queen tend to *really* fucking hate Bruce for how he treats his kids. Bruce loves fiercely, but he doesn't do well with putting that love first. and his love is a controlling one, he is very particular about controlling how others in the Batfamily are "allowed" to operate. it's what drives the wedge between him and Dick, it's why Steph is never a true daughter to him. (besides the reason of her needing to be a love interest to Tim first, anyway-) i've never understood the massive outcry of people reacting to Bruce kinda being shitty in comics they're not reading. there are some moments that get ridiculously OOC with how cartoonishly evil he is (the whole Gotham War arc and that... complicated mess with Jason) but largely if you want sitcom loving nuclear father Bruce, you have to accept that is a fanon thing, not a canon one. the Batfamily being a nuclear family in *general* is fanon. most of the "Batkids" don't actually see Bruce in a particularly fatherly light and begging for moments where he calls them his kids or they call him dad outside of incredibly specific circumstances is just OOC.
it's getting harder and harder to exist peacefully in this fandom it feels like, if you don't comply to the standard fanon has set. i'm happy people are having fun with their blorbos, even if in ways i dislike, but that "harmless fandom fun" does ripple it's way back to canon, eventually. so i end up pretty tangled with my feelings because are fans at fault for DC making these poor decisions? probably not, but it certainly feels like an unfortunate cause-and-effect situation whether at the end of the day, nobody is happy. and of course, i know some fanon-only fans are striving to be more canon accurate and care about canon dynamics more than others, but for them it's always going to be an uphill battle with the above-mentioned out-of-context panels thrown around and ever-pervasive fanon overtaking anything that's truly seeking to be canon compliant. so really, it sometimes feels like we're all losing.
#necrotic festerings#batfamily#batfamily meta#dc comics#fandom meta#fan studies#fanon vs canon#i deleted paragraphs of this to try to make it shorter. it failed btw.#anyway i got into comics when i was like 12 with the dark knight returns#and if i hadn't been into this medium for a decade i don't think i would be able to get into it as an adult so i get it#bc i'm trying to get into marvel comics and fuck ME am i confused as fuck.#do marvel comics have like. an equivalent to crisis events?#is the ultimates like their version of the new-52? i do NOT know#it's so hard and daunting so trust me i get it#if you never wanna pick up a comic god i respect you you're so right this is fucking miserable#i want to live and let live in fandom but *god* i'm struggling here#i used to bend to the will of fanon fun fact#i wrote my share of tim and jason fics playing into fanon tropes. god i hate them *now* but they did fucking numbers.#and i used to care more about getting attention in fandom than being accurate#i've matured now. it's why i write on anonymous so much to remind myself this should be for me.#anyway i could do a character study on every batfam member as fanon vs canon#ESPECIALLY tim and jason. i know so much about them trust me.#jason todd fans annoyed me so much i once sat and read almost every fucking jason comic. i didn't even like him.#but i tell you what i know that man and he will never leave my top five characters on league of comics.#this is so long. is anyone going to read all of this.#if you do you're a fucking trooper i'm saluting you.#this isn't even all of my thoughts i had to condense myself.#bc i also have thoughts about how this means some characters no longer get to exist outside of the batfam#because they only exist as a member of the unit#ergo we have very little current content of helena bertinelli or onyx adams or duke thomas
150 notes · View notes
ritzcuit · 3 months ago
Text
ppl who follow me are tired of me saying this, but if i could address the aa fandom directly... i rly would just ask that people like, stop being mean about dd and soj. like thats all i want.
im not even IN the fandom anymore, so i have no reach. i draw fanart and make my little ship posts but thats all. and thats bc the wider fandom ... is so fucking mean sometimes. omg. like its just not fun!!
but really, specifically, its about the dd and soj thing. the "play ace attorney we have so many games and [MOST OF THEM] are good!" thing. like, its fine if you dont LIKE dd and soj, obviously!! im not saying you HAVE to!
but "i dont like these games" and "these games are objectively bad and no one likes them" are entirely different statements.
plenty of people like dd and soj, even have them as their favorite games. i know this bc my soj fanart gets notes 😭 i have ppl in my tags excited and happy when i draw dhurke and datz. bc we like these characters!! and like to think about them and the story they come from!
...just bc YOU dont like soj, doesnt mean a lot of ppl dont like soj! so i really dont understand the drive to constantly talk down and insult these games?! like ... why be negative. u could be nicer. its possible and easy and then doesnt drive ppl away from the fandom bc their favorite games are being trashtalked all the time.
a lot of ppl find the space family dd interesting! they LIKE the phantom and his concept as a character! they LIKE soj and all of the political settings! it doesnt rly matter that they are, by and large, A Little Flop, bc people still LIKE them and like making content for them and thinking abt them and playing in the space and...!! like. why hate that? why constantly put us down for enjoying smth you didnt?
just dont need to constantly make slights at how "bad" and supposedly unenjoyable dd and soj are. cus not only is it mean, and makes the fandom hostile, but its literally untrue. i dont even consider myself in the fandom anymore bc all the fun is taken out of it when i have to brace myself for shitty comments like this whenever i read a post abt the series!
and i rly wish i could just Not Care what other ppl say. a lot of my friends dont care. but soj is like.....ive spent the past 5 years loving that stupid ass mediocre game. like its deeply important to me. and i just feel like a lot of ppl would have some fun with it if they werent constantly told how bad and skippable it is. im sure dd fans feel the same way.
its very cliquey. its very "the popular opinion is correct and if you dont agree, you dont get to play with us". it just sucksssss
132 notes · View notes
iadore · 1 month ago
Text
Long post. For anyone having Byler doubt right now let me share a few things I know are true and point out what I believe is the logical conclusion. (Some may disagree) Bear with me. It will all add up and hopefully bring some comfort.
Facts:
Before season 4 David Harbour spoiled that Will had feelings for Mike in an interview.
After season 4 vol 1 Byler exploded on social media. The pairing gained a huge following. Byler won ship of the year. Noah despite having less screen time than his cast mates won the people’s choice award for best male actor. People were so desperate to prove byler endgame they paid for fake scripts which led to the ST writers account agreeing to share scenes people wanted to read. The van scene was in highest demand.
Simultaneously, there is a rise in homophobia in the fandom. We all remember getting bible verses in our ask boxes after posting GIFs of Mike’s soupy face when he looks at Will.
The Duffers shifted from saying they were “tuning out the noise” to taking in fan feedback.
David Harbour was told the ending of stranger things.
A year ago (2023) he said people need to accept Mike is in love with eleven. Once again spoiling an important part of the final season. (Personally this was the moment I gave up on Byler happening and my heart broke. I was so sad about what they turned Mike into and that they used Will’s love to fix a hetero relationship. They never explained mike’s sudden cruelty towards Will. I felt it wasn’t bad writing it was just lazy and somehow that was worse. I stepped back from ST and moved on to other more queer friendly stories. It seems silly since this is just a TV show but I think everyone who ships Byler can attest to how invested you can become in these boys and the remarkably selfless love Will gives to Mike.)
They start filming season 5. Throughout the year we get bts pics. I peeked at these and tried not to get my hopes up again. I told myself the fact there were so many byler pics and so few mileven pics didn’t mean anything. Byler is more popular. Sharing pictures of them will get more attention, so I dismissed this as people seeking clout.
The cast says over and over the Duffers can’t please everyone. I figured this was them trying to let the passionate Byler fandom down easy.
Millie hints her ending in the story is not typical.
Then
 the cast reads the final script. They all officially know the ending. Every detail of it.
Noah does his first panel in a long time. In which he says “you could never tell of [mike and Will’s relationship] was something romantic or just a really special friendship.”
Several posts on social media show up as people say they won’t watch the final season because Noah’s words make them think Byler is clearly going to happen.
David Harbour said in a recent interview that the Duffers are in tune with the audience and what they want in terms of pairings. Look above for all of the “subtle” (lol) hints the fans have been giving that Byler should be endgame.
My personal conclusion/opinion/guess:
Mike and Will are going to end up together. It wasn’t the original plan but after seeing the fans point out all of the obvious signs and show their love for the relationship it was the logical choice. Anyone who sees all the “Byler proof” has to admit there are real signs of romance on both sides whether they were intentional or not. Going forward all of the hints we’ve picked up on will have meaning, even if they began as accidents.
David Harbour didn’t know about the byler part of the finale until the final table read. He spoiled things twice before and they didn’t trust him to not do it again. Which was justified because he literally spoiled byler endgame in the last interview I mentioned. Dude can’t keep quiet. I’m sure he has believed he was telling the truth every time.
Most of the cast probably didn’t know until the final table read. If the season is written the way I think will be: we watch Mike over several episodes realize he’s fallen out of love with Eleven and find the courage to admit he loves Will (because man it’s so obvious). The only people who would need to know are Finn, Noah and Millie if Mike and Will don’t officially end up together until the end of the season (doesn’t mean we won’t get a lot of great byler moments in the build up. They seem to be having a lot of one on one time in bts pics.)
Keeping Byler endgame top secret even from the cast makes sense to me because there are people (who I sincerely don’t get why they watch ST) who will refuse to watch the show if the final season is centered on a gay couple. Also, one of the most popular mainstream TV shows on the planet ending this way will be talked about for years and have a huge impact.
Sometimes doing what the fans are begging for isn’t cheap “fan service.” It’s having the common sense and humility listen to thousands of people who love your show and admit Mike’s character was going in the wrong direction.
For fans of Avatar the Last Airbender: creators Brian and Mike originally planned for Toph to be male. Their head writer Aaron Ehasz suggested making her a girl, which they initially resisted. Then they rolled all of the qualities of the tough guy they originally planned into a twelve year old girl. They later had a lot of boys come up to them saying Toph was their favorite character. They said “Sometimes it’s more satisfying to be wrong than to be right.”
Personal take: there’s no reason to be upset at the original plan because they made the right call in the end.
I know it’s important to some people for byler to be the plan all along. And maybe it was, I have no way of knowing. But all I personally need is for them to do right by Will and Mike as characters.
EDIT:
because people were asking here's the link to the recent David Harbour interview: https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/stranger-things-season-5-loose-ends-david-harbour
81 notes · View notes
superbfirnacho · 22 days ago
Text
How would my pirate boys be with a Lover??
✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹
Nightmare
Contrary to popular belief, the Captain of the Black Crescent isn’t a rough or extremely possessive lover. Despite other often assuming otherwise, Nightmare becomes extremely soft to those he loves (which is 0 currently) he still puts up a grumpy front to you, of course, but it’s easy to see through that.
Nightmare loves, loves physical contact from the one he loves, although he’ll never outwardly say it, a hand on his cheek or arms around him from you is almost enough to make him melt.
He loves your gentle touch, and reciprocates them with his own. His favourite thing is running his claws over skin in a caress, it’s a silent but meaningful act.
don’t forget that he is troubled as well. You’re his shoulder to cry on. You’re the only person he really trusts to be vulnerable with. Nightmare hides it well, but he’s extremely insecure about his corrupted appearance.
he’s also there for you. Whether you’re angry, sad, or depressed, he’ll drop what he’s doing to make you feel better.
He’s not possessive, per se, he wants you to be happy, and if you being happy means being social, so be it. It won’t stop the jealousy though.
As far as he’s concerned, if you’re his, he’s yours as well.
Horror
Despite being terrifying, Horror is actually a sweetheart to those he loves.
Horror loves giving you crushing bear hugs, if he could hold you in his arms all day, he would.
He will occasionally wrap his arms around you when you’re doing your daily tasks, not letting go until you insist it, it won’t stop him from pouting though.
Horror loves when you make food for him, especially if it’s his favourite. But he also loves to make you food, it’s a love language of sorts as he’s not the best with words.
Horror struggles with a lot of mental health issue, his memory loss problems, occasional bursts of emotions, and sudden change of mood are common place when with him, and having you there to help him makes things so much better.
Horror is probably the most possessive of the bunch, he wants you and you only, and will get extremely nervous when others touch you, as if he’s afraid you’ll enjoy them more?
it’s best to nip these behaviours at the bud with plenty of reassurance because it’s not healthy for anyone in the situation.
Killer
Killer is the more unhinged of the Group, however, that doesn’t prevent him from falling in love.
Killer has been known to be the playful flirt of the group, he never manages to actually get someone to reciprocate. Until you.
He’s skittish with physical contact, and you understand that. So words of praise and appreciation are how you show your love for each other.
killer loves pet names, and love words like “cute” and “adorable” to describe you.
once he gets comfortable and trusting enough for you two to touch, you quickly discover how absolutely touch starved he is, not letting you leave bed when you wake up because he want to hold you for longer.
Killer tends to be obsessive, he has trouble recognizing the fact you have any flaws, and may come upon a rude awakening once he figures out you do. But the chances are he’ll love you even more for them, because as flawed as you may be,
you will never match how corrupted he’s become.
And he loves that. He loves you. Don’t forget.
Dust
Dust isn’t flirty. Dust doesn’t touch you often. Dust is quiet. But you know he loves you.
Dust had forgotten what it was like to feel wanted, to feel loved. So when he found you, he decided he didn’t want to lose you.
It started when you began to find small gifts around your ship cabin, small flowers, food you like, a particularly colourful shell here and there.
You found out they were from him, and confronted him about it, and your relationship blossomed.
Dust isn’t one to engage in physical touch, it took him a while to get used to you touching him. But he loves your voice.
He could listen to you talk all day, your voice is an escape, a small piece of your mind in which he gets to forget the horrible things he’s done and be there in the moment. With you.
the horrible things he sees when he’s alone, the things he hears in his head are almost completely silent, and when they’re louder, you come and save him.
he feels comfortable enough to break down in your arms, the guilt consumes him, but he feels whole in your arms, with you holding him up.
Dust understands if you want to leave him, but that’s doesn’t mean he won’t try and get you back.
You’re his light.
✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹🌙✹
(Note! Some of these that weren’t mentioned in one but in the other can still apply to them nm and dust share a couple similarities and you’ll see more of that in others)
((sorry for any spelling errors))
40 notes · View notes
fuckyeahmhawkefenris · 7 months ago
Text
It is unbearably quiet on tumblr lately, and what little talking there is, it's all about the next game. Yeah, we're no longer in 2012, I get it.
I'll just keep entertaining myself however I can.
I've always wanted to talk about one fic I secretly refer to as one of the hidden gems in the fenhawke archives. I have never ever seen anyone bring it up, and in all these years I've never dared to recommend it to anyone... Don't think you can even find it so easily? For good reason tbh...
Thing is, it's a fill for da kink community on livejournal. Anyone remember that place? The safe haven where anyone could anonimously submit the kinkiest most shameless things you could think of - offering prompts, filling them... Those were some desperate times when we were painfully low on content, and it was very hard to find something to read. Finding a story with characterization that suited your vision was near impossible!
I myself was desprate enough to brave through countless pages of imageries I could not stomach, skimming through them just to get the general idea until something captured my attention.
So I found this, and honestly, to this day to me it is one of the best examples of... idk, not just good characterization, but the overall feeling of the fenhawke relationship, why I can't let go of them after 12 years? It's all subjective, of course, but no fanfic ever resonated with me as deeply as this. Also back then mage Hawke was not very popular and most stories featured rogues... I used to be very sad and lonely!
Warning: it's extremely triggery. I wouldn't even recommend reading the first part at all, because it's too difficult and painful to get through. Hell, I couldn't read it! I was looking through the text very VERY briefly to get only the most basic and vague understanding of what was happening, and it was still hard! There is a lot of abuse, rape, slavery things...
To get the idea:
The Alone quest did not get resolved as planned. Danarius managed to win that battle, captured Fenris and returned to Tevinter, gravely injuring Hawke in the process (Fenris thought he was killed). To break the remains of his will, Danarius threatens to erase Fenris's memories of Hawke, and he succumbs and stops resisting altogether. I don't want to recall the details, but it was awful. Go straight to part 17 (it's a flashback) to read a very lovely take on fenhawke first night together. It's super sweet and gentle, though painfully sad in context. Still, beautiful. Well, it gets worse before it gets better! Somewhere in part 19 Fenris's friends come for him (they sailed all the way here on Isabela's new ship) and he's rescued. What follows is an exceptionally touching tender reunion with Hawke. Oh, and then, once all is settled comes the second part - All the King's men, which is much less controversial and fairly easy to read. Fenris copes with his experiences, and Hawke is always there for him. There are some truly fantastic moments as they slowly get close to each other again! Isabela is pretty great here, and Anders... sorta made me warm up to his character? And it's all fairly believable and close to how we see them in the game.
I'm saying all this and linking this fic on the off chance that someone with tastes similar to mine ever needs something like it. I know I am grateful it exists, and still hold it very dear to my heart. Definitely never regretted finding it!
90 notes · View notes
door-insurance · 11 days ago
Note
Not to be dramatic or anything, but thank you for your great chasemarsh art and for drawing the girls. Sometimes I genuinely worry that Victoria and Kate would be forgotten by this fandom, when they shouldn't bc they're also very important female characters to the story. people tend to treat Max and Chloe as if they're the only female characters so thank u for doing Kate and Vic justice!
Heya!
Thank you for the kind words, both Kate and Victoria are hella important characters and I'm glad to see them still get love. One of the things that motivated me to start making fanart was seeing how barren the other character tags were compared to Chloe, Max and Rachel
At some point Chasefield was the 2nd most popular ship in the fandom but as time went on I feel like the new batch of fans we're getting didn't really explore the game's world as well as the older generation did or got into the franchise through watching speedruns or even worse, they saw tik tok edits of only the max/chloe scenes and nothing else
It's actually painful lol we used to have ask blogs for characters like Brooke, people would do shitposts and scenarios that involved all the other blackwell kids- now whenever i feature them somewhere id get questions on who's who
I'm hoping that my project at least has that old fandom spirit of appreciating Arcadia Bay and the world building
---
speaking of VortexVN, I'm gonna start doing monthly updates. So far in January I managed to do the following;
-Added in an achievement system
Tumblr media
It's gonna be list/text only, adding in pictures and stuff is just beyond my basic programming knowledge but I will include funny references specific to each route
-created a character sheet for Victoria:
Tumblr media
i actually don't like how her sprites turned out i'm gonna revamp them next week
-Polished the waking up cutscene:
Tumblr media
won't show the whole thing but this is the third frame
also just wanted to say that the demo launch was a success!
Tumblr media
As of January we reached 59 downloads for the PC version and 80 browser plays for the web version, so in total 139 people played the demo... Holy shit amazeballs
Now going into this I knew it will never reach Love is Strange numbers and level of hype cause it's been almost 10 years but oh my god I didn't expect this many people playing lol
It’s kind of a gamble making a fan game featuring a divisive/antagonistic side character
my goal was around 50 downloads and browser plays for the FINAL RELEASE of the game, we hit that shit on day one with the goddamn demo- ya'll are amazing for that
I'm gonna try my best to get this project done as soons as May or June of this year, game deving isn't easy but I will try to update yall on a monthly basis.
Next week's tasks are the new journal entry and revamping Victoria's sprites
43 notes · View notes
ginnsbaker · 2 years ago
Text
In Losing Grip On Sinking Ships (4/?)
Tumblr media
Chapter summary: The night at the club - from your perspective. And we find out whether you came to the opening of Wanda's cafe or not
Chapter word count: 6.3k+
Pairing: Wanda Maximoff x Fem!Reader, Yelena Belova x Fem!Reader (heavy on this chapter)
Tags: fluff if you squint (did I just say fluff?)
AO3 | Masterlist 
Next Chapter: Five
Taglist: @blackluthxr | @esposadejoyhuerta | @secretbackrooms | @justgotlizzied , @casquinhaa | @marvelwomen-simp | @sunsol-22 | @wandanatlov3r | @kyaraderuwez
-
Four
The night at the club - from your perspective
The club Clint chooses for Natasha’s send-off is a drug deal away from being sleazy, despite its popularity. It’s significantly larger too, than the typical nightclubs you’ve been to in the past; there's a mezzanine for VIP members and celebrity guests; three bars are stationed at the corners of the main room, selling beverages based on a price bracket–with the most expensive ones near the steps leading to the VIP area. In here, you find all kinds of party-goers–from preppy high school kids with their daddy’s money and fake IDs to aging business men looking to score a high-end escort or a B-list actress in need of a sponsor for their lavish lifestyle. 
And then there’s you–newly single, unemployed, nearing your 30s and rooming with your best friend. Just with how you’re dressed–a white, velvet sleeveless cowl neck top and skinny jeans–you wonder what other people think of you, what backstory they’ve concocted in their heads. Whatever it is, it couldn’t be worse than your actual reality.
“How did you find this place?” you ask Clint after he returns with shots of tequila to start the night with.
He glances between you and then Natasha, who finishes her shot in a single gulp the second she snatches it from Clint’s fingers.
“Did you not see how big this place is from outside? It’s hard to miss the biggest nightclub in New York, Y/N.” His breath fans over your face, and all it takes is one whiff to know he’s already had some pre-party drinks in his system. 
“I prefer the dive bars we used to frequent.” you say, grimacing as the tequila burns down your throat. It immediately warms the middle of your chest, leaving you thirstier than before.
Clint raises his eyebrows at you incredulously. “We’re not here to talk and catch-up. We’re here to get trashed because our girl right here,” he playfully puts an arm around Natasha so she’s snug against his side. “Is returning to the front lines.”
“Damn right!” Natasha yells, raising her empty shot glass to no one in particular. She’s deadly as she looks for what she’s capable of–which you know very little about–and yet, astoundingly lightweight when it comes to holding her liquor. It wouldn’t take three more rounds to render her thoroughly incapacitated.
Clint looks so smug, and it doesn’t take a second more for you to realize that he gave Natasha a double. You weakly jab his side with your elbow and then proceed to swipe his credit card from his back pocket, making sure he at least pays for everything tonight.
“Come on,” you say, reaching for Natasha’s hand. “We can’t have you drinking on an empty stomach or you won’t last until midnight.”
Natasha shakes her head with a pout. “Gotta last much, much, much later than that.”
“For sure. But first, let’s–”
“Where are you taking my sister?” A voice behind you asks in a demanding but playful manner. You feel it being said right in your ear, causing goosebumps all over the back of your neck.
Whipping your head around, you find Yelena smiling at you as she staggers a step back to avoid you accidentally kissing her cheek in the process.
There’s tension from the last time you saw each other, and it becomes instantly obvious that it hasn’t gone away the moment you take in her plunge cocktail dress and the rose-colored smirk she has on. You don’t really mean to, but it’s easy to make the conclusion that anyone would easily find her the most attractive person in the room. 
“Little sis,” Natasha exclaims in barely contained excitement, hastily enveloping Yelena in a bear hug. “You came!”
“Hey,” you breathe out, failing to stop your gaze from straying below her collarbone and landing on her proud cleavage. 
“Hey, stranger.” she greets you back, and you catch the mischievous smile on her lips despite having half of her face squashed against Natasha’s shoulder. Yup. She’s definitely noticed.
“See you around, kid. I’ll take care of this one.” Clint says, already pulling Natasha away before she can suffocate Yelena further.
Helplessly, you watch Clint and Natasha disappear into the crowd, anxiety crippling your ability to decide what you’re going to do or where you’re going next.
Yelena lightly taps you on the shoulder to get your attention–which, for all intents and purposes–is already hers to begin with. You just don’t want to be too obvious about it.
“My sweater.” she simply says with an unreadable expression when you turn to address her.
“Sorry?”
“You still have it?”
And then it comes back to you. Your ruined shirt, borrowing’s Yelena sweater, Yelena joking about her first sexual experience, that happened to be with you–
You can always blame the tequila for the way your cheeks flush at the memories. 
Biting your lip, you say, “The truth is I forgot to mail it. With everything that’s happened–”
“It’s okay. Nat just recently told me the stuff you went through the past few months,” Yelena cuts in, and the softness in her gaze gives you a sense of calm. “Do you, maybe, want to drink about it? First round’s on me.” she reluctantly offers.
“Nah,” you dismiss her intentions to pay, as you hold up Clint’s Visa. “All our rounds on this.”
Yelena orders a frozen margarita, while you opt for a more basic choice of gin and tonic. You find yourselves sitting closely together, sharing a couch with random strangers in the most relatively secluded part of the club.
“So, what exactly did Natasha tell you?” you ask, letting your index finger dance along the rim of your glass. 
Yelena takes a sip of her drink and considers how she should relay what she knows. 
In the end, she goes for the unfiltered narrative, given that there’s really no way of making it sound less severe than it is. “That your wife cheated on you with her student.” 
You offer her a wan smile and clink your drinks togethers. “Cheers.”
“I’m sorry, Y/N. I can’t imagine what it feels like to be betrayed like that by the person you–I assume–trust the most.” Yelena says after some time. She’s not used to being the one to give consolation, especially with you. Growing up, you were a steady, ever-reliable presence in her life; her place of solitude throughout the pains of her youth. It’s pathetic how she’s wishing she had gone through the same ordeal if it meant she could give you the comfort and understanding you needed. 
“Me too. I don’t even remember how I was able to survive what came right after taking your sister’s call that day. Did Nat mention that I almost killed the kid? He’s only a little younger than you are.” you say.
“Yeah. It’s fucked up. But it doesn't compare to what she did.” Yelena tells you with a pained expression. “You’re okay now, though. Right?”
“I’m,” You search for the right word that perfectly describes your monotonous routine and lack of a meaningful purpose. But you figure that there’s no need for Yelena–or anyone for that matter–to worry about you. Life’s easier to live without the concern of disappointing people who care about you. “I’m better than I was yesterday.”
Yelena nods empathically, and places a hand on your knee. “I’m glad to hear that.”
Your smile is small, but genuine. Clearing your throat, she quickly puts her hand back over her lap. 
“Y/N?” Yelena starts.
“Yes?”
Yelena, for all her boldness and tenacity, has to put down her glass lest it accidentally slips from her shaking hands. 
“There’s something I want to say, and you can’t talk unless I say so. Understood?” she says as calmly as she can manage.
“Am I free to react?” A smile plucks at the corner of your mouth, eyes twinkling with mirth. 
Yelena has grown into a woman so different from when she was just Natasha’s little sister. She carries an air of sophistication, and from what you can tell, sasses her way out of difficult situations and knows what and how to get what she wants. Which is why it’s refreshing to see her display glimpses of the shy girl who spent her summers burning through classic literature in the public library. 
A husky laugh escapes Yelena’s throat. “As long as it’s a good reaction.” she says.
You playfully roll your eyes at her. 
“But seriously, hear me out,” Yelena breathes steadily through her nose. “First of all, I want to apologize about what happened when you were at my apartment.
“I didn’t know why I brought up losing my virginity to you, and it was terribly awkward–for me especially because the look on your face was
” Yelena trails off, pointedly avoiding your curious eyes. “It’s like you were recalling a bad memory–a memory that’s dear to me. And to be honest, it hurt me a bit.”
“Yelena–”
Yelena shushes you with a finger. “Let me finish. I was hurt, but I understood that I crossed a line that day. I was flirting with you the whole time knowing you were married. In a way, I was no better than–well, your ex-wife.”
Yelena pauses to look at you. She can’t read your expression, but at least you haven’t run away yet. Which is more than a good sign for her to continue.
“There’s no excuse for what I did. I could dismiss it as friendly between old friends, but could we even call ourselves that? We were never just friends. We had something that wasn’t official, and then I ran off to the UK before we had a chance to talk about that thing that wasn’t official, and then when I got back, I found out you’re already with someone else.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is
 that was a shitty move on my part and I’m sorry. But I’d be lying if I said I didn't mean to do any of that. ‘Cause I did want to stir the pot just to see if there’s still something there.”
You wait for her to continue, but eventually Yelena vaguely signals that she’d done speaking. 
You cover your mouth with your hand, thumb scratching lightly at your chin as you thoroughly digest her confession.
“Y/N?” Yelena asks when she feels you’re being silent for too long, fear lacing her voice. “Are you mad at me?”
“Of course not,” you quickly reply. “I accept your apology. And I do appreciate your candor–for not skirting around that incident like I probably would’ve, for
well, forever.”
Yelena is overwhelmed with relief.
“You were never great at confrontations.” she muses, and your minds both wander to the letter you wrote for her that she had missed, already having boarded the plane when you decided to drop by and hand-deliver it yourself.
“I’m working on it. I know I can’t keep putting things at the back of my head until I eventually forget them and then it’s too late.”
“Or maybe you just think it’s too late, and you use that as an excuse to not even try.” Yelena counters. It’s a fair point and somehow applicable to your shared history together. 
“You know what? I’m just gonna shoot my shot here while I’m feeling brave,” Yelena says, keeping her eyes trained on her almost empty drink.
“Go to dinner with me next Friday.” 
Before you can stop it, Wanda’s languid face in the mornings registers in your brain fleetingly. And then you blink once and the image of her is gone, replaced by Yelena’s hopeful stare. 
“Dinner, as in
” you try to clarify, just in case you’re misreading it.
“As in I’m asking you out,” Yelena confirms, and proudly smiles at how your ears redden at this point. “Or if you’re not ready, say so. I’m a big girl. I can take it. Then I’ll ask you again in a few months.”
“I-I don’t know. Can I sleep on it?” you say, suddenly embarrassed. 
“Take all the time you need. I just thought you should know that I’m an option.”
Your expression turns grim once you question the fact that someone like Yelena wants you.
She senses your internal conflict and asks, “What’s wrong?” 
“How could you want me? I’m damaged goods. You know that, right?”
“Y/N,” Yelena chides, and she looks positively horrified.  “Don’t you ever think you’re half the person you are just because somebody was stupid enough not to know your worth.”
You shrug your shoulders. There’s no point in arguing. Regardless of what other people think, it’s what you see in the mirror these days.
“Okay.” you mumble in reply and casually chug your drink to the last drop.
Yelena’s not convinced, but recognizes that it’s not the right place nor the right time to show you you’re more than just damaged goods. 
“Okay.” she says, then looks over to where people seem to be under the spell of eternal bliss. 
“Wanna dance with me at least? You know–as friends,” Yelena says, and then a second later adds, “For now.”
You don’t answer and merely allow yourself to be pulled towards writhing bodies moving to the beat of the music, like puppets on strings. 
-
You don’t remember the last time you’ve thoroughly enjoyed dancing with someone.
(That’s a lie though, because you do; if twirling your wife and enthusiastically swaying to her poor singing in the kitchen counts.)
Unbeknownst to you, a pair of green eyes darts to you and your dance partner, before they shut in reprieve.  
-
A surprisingly sober Natasha appears next to you as you’re getting the next round of drinks. You fan yourself uselessly with your hand after breaking out a sweat on the dancefloor. 
“Hey! Where have you been?” you say.
“Bruce was here. But that’s not important.” Natasha says.
“Are you guys–” you begin to ask about it, but Natasha brazenly cuts you off. 
“Don’t even think about it.” she says, her tone unusually stern, and you whip your head so fast in her direction your vision spins a little.  
“Think about what?” you say.
“Flirting with my sister.” 
“I wasn’t,” you say and Natasha lifts an eyebrow. “I swear.”
Natasha surveys you a while longer with an unreadable expression, and just as you start feeling uncomfortable, she backs off with a small nod.
It only bothers you more. “I-Is that something I’m not allowed to do?” you cautiously ask.
Natasha scratches at her nape. “Technically, you’re single now and you can flirt with whoever you want. But maybe not my sister, okay? I don’t want her to get hurt.”
“What are you implying?”
“Look, Y/N, I’m just trying to give you the big sister talk, and I hope you understand why I need to. Especially since Yelena told me not long ago about the R-rated version of your history together.”
Your mouth falls open in shock, already circling around the details of what Yelena might have shared with your best friend. “She what?”
“I wanted to smack you in the face when she told me that you were
” Natasha grimaces, trying not to imagine you in bed with her sister. “... her first.”
“God, Nat. I–” Your tongue feels heavy, and you wish you weren’t half-sober for this. “She–we–”
“Relax, Y/N. It’s not like I found out about it yesterday. I’ve known ever since she came back to New York.”
“I think I’d prefer if you’d still smack me in the face right now. But please consider how tiny I am compared to your usual sparring partners.”
Natasha lets out an airy laugh that gives you a bit of relief. “To be honest, I think I’ve always known that there was something going on between you and her. I was just too stubborn to admit it because I care about you both so much.”
“I care about you too. And Yelena.”
“I believe you,” Natasha says. “But Yelena thinks you hung the moon and stars and all that shit, and you’re–you’re kind of a mess, Y/N. No offense.”
“Do you want me to stay away from her?” you ask. 
“Not really. But as her older sister, I need to remind you to think about it carefully if ever it becomes more than platonic.” she says. “I’m leaving in a few hours, so I need you to promise me not to be reckless. That's all I’m asking.”
Natasha gives and gives and gives, and rarely ever asks for anything. 
And you suppose you owe it to her in some way.
“Promise.”
-
A couple of more shots (and an incident of restraining Natasha from punching the lights out of a guy who randomly grabbed your ass) later, you’re stumbling out of the club, reeking of smoke, sweat and alcohol. 
Your phone dies just before you could confirm a ride, and you blearily stare at it like you’re expecting it to suddenly come alive again by some miracle. Yelena has left earlier, mentioning an early meeting at work, and you can’t find Natasha since Bruce’s surprise appearance. An option is to walk to your apartment, but you can’t seem to move any part of your body with the intense throbbing in your head.
You deliberate your fate for the night, until you feel an odd sensation of being watched. 
Your eyes flit across the street and there she is.
Wanda Maximoff.
-
You get home safely with the help of your ex-wife. Once you reach your room, you don’t bother to brush your teeth or wash your face. You just mechanically strip down to your underwear before diving under the covers.
In your sleep, you dream about Wanda.
Dream Wanda resembles College Wanda, with her dirty blonde hair that falls in waves past her shoulders. She’s cradling your head on her lap, while you look up at her lovingly.
“Wands,” you whisper. “I miss you.”
She scrunches her nose as she smiles down at you. “I’m right here, baby.”
“You’re not.”
“Where did I go then?”
You shake your head and close your eyes. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Look for me, then. I only want to be found by you.”
“I’m not sure I want to.” you confess to Dream Wanda, and her brows stitch together into a frown. Then you feel something wet and cold drip on your cheeks. Your eyes flutter open but instead of seeing Wanda, you see Vision’s face covered in blood. 
Your mouth opens in a silent scream. In reality, you’re alone in Natasha’s apartment, thrashing in your bed and mumbling incoherently. 
The next morning, you don’t recall any of it, but you feel its echoes in your heart anyway.
-
You wake up to a text from Natasha, telling her that she’s already at the airport. The message came in at 1:30AM, and was followed by another text six hours later, saying that she has landed safely and that you won’t be hearing from her again in the next ten days at the minimum. A third message came in a second after that, and it simply read, “Look out for my sister. Don’t forget what you promised.” You text back a short “Take care, Nat.”, before tossing your phone somewhere on your unmade bed. 
Trudging towards the kitchen, you think about Yelena. 
There was a time when the blonde used to occupy your thoughts day and night, notwithstanding the thousands of miles you were apart.
But all that changed the day you met Wanda, and she never crossed your mind again except when she’d come up in conversations, and until that time you accidentally almost ran her over in Soho. 
You languidly stir together the milk and cereal in your bowl. It would be a lie to say that seeing Yelena, especially in that dress, didn’t do things to you that a married woman would normally stamp out before they could spread like wildfire. Except, you’re no longer a married woman. And Yelena let you look as much as you wanted–even encouraged it. 
It’s liberating more than anything, not because you’re free from the confines of marriage, but because you didn’t feel guilty having looked.
Is it time? 
You’ve always thought of Yelena as your ‘right person, wrong time’. 
Is it the right time?
-
The weekend passes in a blur of series marathons and Chinese takeouts. Wanda doesn’t text or call, neither does Yelena. You thought you had sufficient time to reconsider Wanda’s invitation, but Monday eventually comes around, bringing about an unexplainable anxiety you can’t curb and can only attribute to intuition. Even if you don’t tell Wanda the reason you won’t come, binge-watching another show instead of doing something meaningful for someone is at a level of pathetic you’re not willing to stoop towards. 
Besides, you said you’d come. Being steadfast in your word is both your strength and your undoing. And so, your intent to follow through with your promise brings you to a corner gardening store, after scouring the internet for ‘grand opening gift ideas’.
None of them suggested this. Though you knew Wanda enough to know better than those online articles.
“And this pretty thing? What does it stand for?” you ask, pointing at flowers of a variety of colors resembling a pompon.
“That’s a Chrysanthemum–or just ‘mums’. Very easy to keep them alive. In Chinese culture, it represents longevity and good luck. But it also simply symbolizes friendship and happiness.” the store keeper says. 
“Perfect,” you say, focusing on ‘longevity and good luck’. “I’ll get
 Five of those in a pot.”
“What color would you like, dear?”
Without thinking, you pick Wanda’s favorite color. “The red ones. All of them.” 
The store keeper claps her hands together. “Excellent choice. Just give me a second to prepare them for you.”
A pleased smile works its way to your lips. “Thanks a lot.”
Mums in a pot. That's a good gift right? Not too thoughtful nor impersonal. It would look good displayed anywhere in her shop should Wanda decide to keep it there. Or she can place it at her new home near a window, as it probably needs six hours of sunlight a day. 
Perhaps you should also write instructions for Wanda on how to care for these mums. And will she need some fertilizers too? 
You’re busy putting together a mental list when the store keeper comes out with the final product. 
“Here you go,” she says and hands you over Wanda’s gift in a paper bag. “It’s $95.86.”
You pull out a hundred dollar bill from your wallet. “Keep the change.”
She does a little bow of gratitude and says, “Thank you, dear. She’s going to love it.”
“She?” you sputter, bewildered.
“The recipient’s a lady, I assume. Is it not?”
“It
is.” you hesitantly confirm.
“Good luck, ma’m.” she says with innocent cheer, unmindful of your sudden skepticism.
As you leave the shop feeling less sure of your gift choice, your phone’s ringing tone goes off in your pants. With urgency, you take your phone out of your pocket and find an unknown number calling. 
“Hello?”
“Y/N,” A husky voice greets you over the receiver.
“Yelena?”
“Hey. I, uh, got your number from Nat,” she says, hearing her heavy sighs in between sentences. “Is this a bad time?”
“No. Is something wrong?” you ask, swinging the paper bag back and forth as you meander about the busy alley on your way back home.
“I’m in the middle of a news article that’s due for tomorrow, and I heard that your former boss is Scott Lang?”
“You heard right.”
“I need your banking knowledge to go over some facts in my draft,” she says. “And maybe, get a quick interview with Mr. Lang?”
For a while, you don’t know how to answer. You haven’t been in touch with Scott or any of your colleagues since moving back, and it seems kind of rude to call him up out of the blue for a favor.
“Please?” you hear Yelena beg softly. You knew Yelena. Like Natasha, she almost never asks for help, not unless it’s a matter of life, death or career. 
“Okay,” you finally say. “Where should we meet?”
“I’ll meet you at Nat’s in an hour? It’s where you’ve been staying, right?”
You agree on the time and place, and hurry to catch a bus instead of your original plan to walk the thirty minutes back to the apartment.
It oddly feels good to be part of a Monday’s morning rush once again.
-
You end up spending the whole day helping Yelena and trailing after her to visit various places and meet financial executives just to put together a 1,500-word news article on The Wall Street Journal. 
“You saved me today,” Yelena tells you while you escort her to the lobby. “Let me make it up to you on Friday?” 
It’s tempting, especially after discovering that you both make a great team. You actually had fun running errands with her. 
But you promised Natasha.
“I’ll text you.” you answer with a small smile. 
Once Yelena gets inside her ride, it hits you right away where you’re supposed to be. You check your watch and the time displayed sends you in a panic. 
It’s almost ten. Wanda’s cafĂ© is only open until nine. You quickly grab your gift for Wanda and hail a cab for Queens.
Your cab screeches to a halt right in front of Second Chances. You make sure to tip big for forcing your driver to beat the speed limit several times on the way. 
You get off the cab, and take in your first impression of Wanda’s cafĂ©. The facade of the coffee shop is simple: the signage looks obviously hand-drawn, while the black awning underneath it gives it a Parisian vibe; a string of yellow led lights hang above the glass door and the full-length window next to it.
It has Wanda written all over it. And you can’t help the teary smile that creeps its way to your lips. Carrying the potted Chrysanthemum securely under your arm, you walk to the entrance that holds a ‘Sorry, We’re Closed’ sign. The stainless shutter is lowered down just barely, and it’s pitch black inside except for a beam of light coming from the back room.
You raise your fist, about to knock, when suddenly you catch a figure from the corner of your eyes. 
It’s Wanda, and she’s asleep with her arms as her pillow, hunched over the bar table facing the window. Curiously, you move over to stand right across her and push your palm against the translucent barrier. 
She waited for you to show. Your heart betrays you as it thumps wildly in your chest. 
For a moment you just stand there watching. There are still days when you randomly get angry at Wanda all over again. Some days, you bargain and simultaneously undergo depression. And you cycle over these stages in random orders but haven't–not even once–felt like you’re ready to accept all of it. 
Somewhere in the stillness, an ambulance siren could be heard wailing in the distance. Wanda is slow to come to, and even as you realize she’s waking up, you stay frozen in your position.
“Y/N?” you read your name being spoken from her lips. Wanda looks confused in her sleepy state, still deciding if you’re actually there. You beam at her and mouth a ‘hi’ in return. 
Wanda lights up right before your eyes. She hurries to unlock the door to her shop.  
“Sorry I’m late.” you say.
Wanda’s smile only widens, and then she says, “Better late than never.”
You choose to sit at one of the tiny dining tables for two near the open kitchen. There are congratulatory flowers arranged neatly by the counter, making you a bit self-conscious about bringing something similar on a smaller, more insignificant scale.
“How long have you been waiting?” you ask as you survey the interior of the cafe..
“Not long.” Wanda assures you, and then proudly hands you over the menu. Her writing is almost instantly recognizable. 
“Pick anything you want. On the house.” she says, tying back her apron. 
There aren’t many items on the list, but you’re familiar with each of them from Wanda having made them for you over the years. 
“I’ll have a Spanish latte,” you say, eyes still scanning the menu. “Do you have any cookies left?”
“Sorry, they are all sold out.” 
“Wanda, that’s awesome!” You exclaim, placing the menu back on the table.
Wanda endearingly chuckles at your excitement. You’re still a customer, and it’s very unusual for one to cheer when the item they want is unavailable.
“Have you eaten? I can whip something up.” Wanda says, peeking inside the fridge. 
You haven’t eaten since lunch, but you don’t want Wanda to go through the trouble of preparing something off the menu. “It’s fine.” 
“I’m kinda hungry myself,” Wanda chews on her bottom lip. “Does garlic pasta sound good?”
As if on cue, your stomach rumbles and Wanda tries to suppress a smirk.
“Sounds amazing.” you mumble, somewhat flustered by the sound you just made. The thought of a warm pasta for dinner, however, is already making you drool.
Wanda grins, buzzing with childlike enthusiasm. “Coming right up!”
Right before she gets to it, Wanda puts on some music and gives you her phone. “Play anything you want.” she says. A classical piano piece starts playing in the background, and it actually matches the mood and the vibe of the room, so you choose to stay on the current playlist.
Wanda already has some minced garlic and left over pasta from earlier, so it’s just a matter of reheating and then mixing the ingredients. In less than ten minutes, she’s bringing out two plates of Aglio e Olio and your order of a hot Spanish latte.
You haven’t realized how starving you are until the aroma of Wanda’s dish reaches your nose. 
“What’s that?” Wanda points to the paper bag sitting beside you after she settles in her seat across you.
“Oh!” you say. “I almost forgot. This is for you. Happy, uh, grand opening day?”
Wanda takes the bag, unintentionally brushing your fingers in the process. Her skin is warm from cooking and smells like the condiments she used to prepare your food.
You quietly eat your food, unable to keep yourself from moaning out your satisfaction. After months of living on takeouts, it’s a very welcome change.
Wanda, on the other hand, peers inside the paper bag, and her smile grows and grows until it reaches her watery eyes. 
“These are gorgeous, Y/N,” Wanda comments, taking the pot out of its hiding. “I love them. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Wanda stands up and walks towards the window near the entrance, the plant and a glass of water in tow. She places the mums in the corner where it will be least bothered by customers, but should receive the most sunlight at the same time. She then proceeds to water it, careful to cover the whole soil and sprinkle some on its delicate petals. 
A smile graces your lips as you watch her tend to the mums. 
It’s hard not to wonder if maybe this could work. Maybe healing can be possible while being friends.
“How much do I owe you?” you ask, after you finish your food. You subtly eye Wanda’s plate, which she’s barely touched. 
“Like I said, on the house.” she answers. 
You purse your lips in disapproval but don’t insist; the tip jar is right beside the register and you can slip some twenties later when Wanda’s not looking.
“So, any feedback? Is the latte too sweet?” Wanda asks with a devoted curiosity of a businesswoman. “For the pasta I added an extra ounce of minced garlic from the original recipe, but I’m not sure if it made the flavor too strong. And this table–don’t you think it’s too small? Cause they don’t look standard-sized to me, and I keep telling them–”
“Wanda, slow down,” you gently cut in, bringing the coffee mug to your lips for a taste test. It’s sweet but not achingly so. There’s still a hint of bitterness in the aftertaste, and the richness of the condensed milk counters it, resulting in a very comforting pick-me-up.
“It’s good. I’d say, better than the ones I always got when I was still working.”
“You’re not working anymore?”
You bite your lip at that, not really meaning for that information to slip out of you.
“I took a sabbatical,” you explain, refusing to call yourself jobless in front of your ex-wife, who somehow contrived to achieve greater heights following a divorce and a narrowly missed small town sex scandal.
You quickly try to change the subject. “Anyway, don’t worry about the furniture. As long as they’re comfy.”
“Half of your ass is barely hanging onto your seat, you know?” Wanda points out with a giggle. 
There’s no denying the tinge of jealousy you feel over the fact that Wanda seems to have her shit together more than she cares to admit. But that’s overruled by the natural joy of seeing someone you care about (because you do, you really still do) thrive, no matter how much they hurt you in the past. 
“Are you saying my ass is fat?” you ask, pretending to be offended. 
She laughs harder, resulting in tiny hiccups that never fails to trigger you into a fit as well.
“Honestly though, it barely fits mine as well. But that's all I can afford for now.” Wanda says as she keeps twirling the pasta around her fork without any intention of actually eating.
“You shouldn’t play with your food.” you chide, still smiling.
“Do you want some of mine?”
You shake your head no. “Not when you just implied I have a fat ass.”
Wanda snorts, her laughter building up again at your poker face. 
When she recovers this time, you sheepishly smile and take some from her plate and transfer it to yours. 
“I haven’t thanked you for coming.” Wanda mutters in a hoarse voice. You wordlessly fill her empty glass with water.
“To be honest, I wasn’t sure until this morning if I was going to.” you say.
Certain muscles on Wanda’s face visibly tighten at that.
“Why is that?” Wanda whispers, staring at her unwanted food, losing again the appetite she lied about in the first place.
You mull about it for a moment. There’s no point in denying that you feel things for Wanda. Abstract feelings that you can’t name, but feel regardless. And it’s still unclear whether they are beneficial or not to you moving forward. Just that, being in communication with Wanda again puts you at ease; brings back a sense of normalcy that you so crave. It could be because you can’t remember a time she wasn’t a part of your life, can’t remember who you were before her. Going cold-turkey only led to some impulsive decisions (not to mention, a cheap and random sex with a stranger who was spoken for).
“Because I want to do what’s right for me, this time. And I’m not sure if this is.”
“This?”
“Being in each other’s lives.” you coolly state, crossing your arms and leaning back on your chair. 
Wanda blinks a couple of times when wetness gathers around her eyes. You drop your head and sigh. It goes without saying that these meetings with Wanda are always volatile. But constantly crying around someone is obviously not an indication of a healthy bond. 
“I’m afraid you’re the only one who can answer your own question, Y/N.” Wanda swipes at the corner of her eyes. 
You hollowly laugh. “I was kinda expecting you’d convince me that this is a good idea.”
“The fact that I invited you here and never stopped trying to contact you says alot without me having to say it.” Wanda reasons evenly.
“And me doing exactly the opposite, must also say a lot. Is that it?” you retort. 
Wanda squints at your hard tone. “That’s not what I’m saying.” 
“Well, it’s what I’m hearing.” 
An impasse is reached, and Wanda wishes nothing more than to retract her statements and start all over again. 
“Why do I keep fucking this up?” you’re scarcely able to hear Wanda talk, more directly to herself than you.
You release a ragged breath and speak out, “You’re not fucking up anything, Wanda. There’s nothing to fuck up in the first place because we’re not supposed to expect anything from each other anymore, remember?”
Wands nods in understanding. “It just feels like I keep saying the wrong thing.”
You consider her words for a moment. “Maybe it’s because I keep waiting for you to.”
Wanda looks up at you with wide, limpid eyes. “So I am walking on eggshells.” 
“You don’t have to though. You can’t always worry about what will set me off. Let me worry about that.” 
“I’m scared, Y/N,” Wanda whispers. “I’m scared I’ll say one wrong thing and I won’t hear from you again for a long time. I mean, I just
 I just found you. Inadvertently, if I may add.”
“I-I get where you’re coming from, and I don’t blame you for feeling that way,” you say. “But I can’t promise that I won’t disappear when something happens.”
Wanda hums and you lick your lips.
“I have thought about it.” you say, in spite of the delicate timing. 
She looks skeptical. “Thought about
?”
“Us,” you motion between yourself and her. “Being friends.”
“Oh,” Wanda tries not to sound disappointed. The problem is she wants too much too soon. And she needs to work on that or else she ruins her chance with you. “And?”
You’re nothing but truthful when you say, “And I miss the comfort of having you as a friend.” 
“Me too,” Wanda whispers thickly as you both share a meaningful look.
Maybe someday, she can have everything she has lost. 
Just not all at once.
486 notes · View notes
rencatuive · 4 months ago
Note
:0
Can you please yap about Whit.. đŸ„ș
favourite thing: how normal he seems on the surface but take ONE glance beneath the surface and. theres so much going on. my whit speculations tend to get more notes and its easy to see why. its a testament to how well drdtdev does suspense and mystery which is. so important when your fans will have years to sit on the same content. he has a dead mom. he talked to teruko about his mom as if she were alive. he doesnt react to dead bodies- but he does to a locked elevator. and most importantly. nobody talks to him about this!!! we have to connect a lot of shit together by rewatching the series to build onto this side of him that has never actually been touched on by the characters or plot yet! its so cool
least favourite thing: stupid ass puns (/j i dont have anything)
favourite line: "He's my friend! So of course I'll argue for his sake" a white lie which ends up becoming the truth, and forming one of the strongest (friend)ships in this story. very sweet.
brOTP: whitrei and whitruko. whitrei is majorly because of @.shira_ceres' gorgeous art and i think whitruko just have some cute scenes, mainly the laundry room scene (which i feel like is pretty underrated! whit is really sweet actually despite being so suspicious) but also some chapter 2 moments like lunch and the dressing room.
OTP: charwit. yep. groundbreaking. theyre definitely doing so much behind the scenes and i want to know about all of it. they're so. almost healthy but im staring at you whit
NOTP: dont have one.
random headcannon: whit is an avid twitter user.
unpopular opinion: i don't have a real unpopular opinion so ill say that the whit mastermind theory being so popular means that i can't see anyone else as a potential mastermind. but also. whit seems TOO suspicious now like he has so much going on and drdt is good at unexpected killers til the end so i could see it being the same with the mastermind... theorising is so hard
favourite picture:
Tumblr media
MY BOY HAS SO MUCH STYLE one of the most well dressed in the series also. and soso silly.
39 notes · View notes
karlachismylife · 2 months ago
Note
character ask thingy for konig, thank you sm I hope your day is going great! <3
Oooh, König! I'm not talking about him much on here, am I? Might have something to do with the betrayal of my friend whom I dragged into the COD fandom for my Karlach x Soap team or at least Ghoap only to lose her to the Ghost x König gang... (I'm joking, we're still having fun, ship whomever you want). Thanks for asking!! And also thank you, my days are pretty okay lately, hope yours are too <3
If anyone else is interested, I'll be glad to talk about someone else from COD and BG3. The game itself is here if someone wants to reblog!
So, König, the big Austrian that has literally a couple parapgraphs of bio on the wiki but a ton of fans to make up for it, eh?
favorite thing about them
I'll do two, because one is mostly canon based and the other mostly headcanon, but not fully. The canon favourite thing is that he's imperfect at his job. It's not just his size that prevented him from becoming a sniper, it also says he is "unable to stay still". I think it would be easy to make him a total machine and just slap the social anxiety on top as the only "imperfection" he has, especially since he is a minor character in a fucking pew pew ka-boom game. But they literally said he's actually not that good at his job (like, if he's unable to stay still, this won't impact just his sniper abilities, you know?). So that's neat, I love when people are allowed to be not that perfect at their job. And the favourite headcanon thing is that he's a gentle giant, I just love the type. Yeah, he's huge and kills people, but he'll also cradle a little bunny like it's the most precious creature on Earth.
least favorite thing about them
Uhh apart from the fact that people for some reason (ahem, racism) replace Gaz with him instead of just adding him?.. I think he either compensates for his anxiety or just feels much more confident at work and it makes him a little too cocky without needed (for me at least) charisma/unseriousness towards himself. Judging mostly from his body language. I know he has a sense of humour, but yeah... maybe calm down a little big guy.
favorite line
Any of the few lines in German he has. Or the "pick your guts off the floor", lol. I just like German and König is a funny fella, especially when he sounds angy.
brOTP
König x Gaz! There have been a couple arts on the theme and I absolutely adore them. Stop pretending they can't coexist! Also, Kyle would definitely find a way with words to make König feel more at ease off duty or would handle the way König is in the field easily.
OTP
I don't actually have any preferences at all, I like everything I see with him simply because people explore different dynamics and it's the most fun part for me. BUT I'll say like what I saw from Ghoap x König less because everything I saw puts Soap into a position/dynamic I don't really enjoy that much. Doesn't mean there isn't something I'll like a lot tho!
nOTP
As always, nOTPs are not my thing, but toxic stuff upsets me.
random headcanon
Also giving you two: he loves wearing lingerie but is a little bit ashamed of it and definitely hides it and he's generally a sweet tooth, especially for chocolate, so a slice (several) of good Sachertorte will make him really happy.
unpopular opinion
Uhh... he doesn't have a huge dick?.. No one in my universe does cuz I don't see the appeal (we have huge straps in my universe tho. but toys are separate). I don't know what's popular opinion lmao, sorry.
song i associate with them
Oooh, I actually have one this time! It's from my favourite German band Oomph! - "Kleinstadtboy". I like the whole album it's from because they experimented with their sound and quite successfully in my opinon, and this one has both the lyrics (yeah it's about gayyyys but also toxic masculinity in general. fits him well I think) and the according sound. The overblown dry electronics crackling/rasping just suits him, I think. I think he smells of static electricity too.
youtube
favorite picture of them
I don't really have one? But I like him doing different finishers. Looks impressive thanks to his size.
26 notes · View notes
thrilling-oneway · 11 days ago
Text
The whole Rui saying that him and Nene filled a gap for each other that was left by the fact they were both only children situation is funny to me. Because it started ship discourse. But not the annoying kind the "oh my god you people are so stupid" kind.
Listen the average person is gonna be upset annoyed when their ship gets described as having a sibling like relationship (this literally happened to me recently LOL) but clpl has deliberately given you wiggle room with the statement. They know the ship is one of their most popular and they know they would piss off a huge chunk of fans if they did the same thing as they did with Toya and Tsukasa (money is precious to them).
With Toya and Tsukasa, the latter specifically refers to Toya as "youngest sibling" in a very definite way (sometimes adds "like my" but ygm). Here they deliberately have Rui say "when we were kids". Your wiggle room is that he's talking about the past. There's literally no way of getting out of "we played together like siblings" that's very much a thing Rui said so you can either continue to cope and seethe or take what you've been given. Or simply Not Care it's that easy.
The thing is that this dialogue has given validity to the interpretation of Rui and Nene viewing each other like siblings, so obviously people who liked that hc are going to be happy. If they annoy you, block them. If you like ruinene and the sibling truthers comment on whatever you're saying about them, read the previous sentence. Same goes in the other direction, people are still gonna like ruinene because it's literally one of the most popular ships in the game. Tag filters and block buttons are a thing, don't go annoying people who like the ship.
Ultimately clpl has worded the dialogue in such a way that they can play both sides. All of you still win. It's not that deep. Who cares. Do whatever you want clpl literally don't fucking care as long as you still give them money. It's always wxs fans who start drama and it's still wxs fans who pay up the most like. This game lives off your wallets stop fucking fighting all the time.
Is this a pointless post? Yes. Absolutely. This fandom is full of 13 year olds who don't know how to communicate with each other normally and are overly sensitive about which fictional characters kiss. This post is going to achieve nothing I just wanted to complain lmao.
22 notes · View notes
pomelotw · 9 months ago
Text
[Robinhill - Headcanon]
ᕕ(◕ᗜ◕)ᕗ
Personally, I really like the idea of Robin and Boothill being an item, but please, don’t come after me! I know it might not be the most popular ship but it’s cute to my delulu brain at the very least!
I feel like when in an argument—though I can’t see them starting many—just whenever the occasion occurs, Boothill seems like the person to grab his lover from behind and just hug it out or at least commit some act of a physical apology.
Tumblr media
In the case of Robinhill:
Let’s say perhaps Boothill and Sunday got in a conflict and Robin felt somewhat torn and—since she probably wouldn’t have much relationship experience due to being always on stage and marketed towards the media, she wouldn’t know what to do.
So, the young lady, with a straining pout, would shoot reproachful glances at Boothill.
He at first, had no clue what she was doing and upon realizing his lover was upset, would immediately begin trying to make it up to her.
He’d cup her face, asking her what was wrong.
And Robin would tell him, albeit with an adorable little frown he can’t resist. But just as Boothill thought she would let him off easy, her ivory wings he always so loved, would bat his hands away.
She would tell him that he could survive a day without being cuddled and yet

It would take Robin an awful lot of grit to maintain her stern countenance when all she wanted to do is give in and drag the handsome cyborg in a loving, affectionate hug.
Her lips twitch accidentally as Boothill prodded her cheeks, constantly asking for hugs and she would shake her head and seal her blush and smile away with the little bird wings on either side of her head.
He stares at her, imploring her with not just his words but also his adorably desperate gaze.
Finally Robin would give in after a mere five minutes of genuine effort, bursting into giggles as she holds him close and plants soft, adoring kisses all over his cheeks.
They would cuddle for the rest of the day and Boothill would press his body against his, turning up his settings so his metal body could give her warmth.
88 notes · View notes
loving-family-poll · 1 year ago
Text
Ultimate Incest Tournament - Round 2
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Propaganda under the cut:
Hikaru/Kaoru:
notable for actually leaning into the incest thing because twincest was their entire schtick while working at the host club
the twincest ship that defined a generation. taking the bait seems obvious when their performance gimmick for club guests is to fawn over each other and play up the affection tenfold, but it just gets better when you learn that for most of their lives they didnt have other friends and really only had each other until joining becoming members of the host club. so on top of being willing to flirt in public for attention, they're also codependent as hell <333
They're twins. They sleep in the same bed. They pretend to be in forbidden love to bait fujoshis but are maybe also in forbidden love for real. They were in high school before they met a single person who could tell them apart. They were devastating to my middle school psyche
Rick/Morty:
INCEST ICONS!! They've somehow got a MAJORITY of their fans on one of the most popular shows on TV to root for a guy who is CLEARLY sexually abusing his grandson ~subtextually~, but also sometimes ON SCREEN, and it's hilarious and fucked up, and Morty would kill anyone who tried to take his grandpa away <3
they're codependent in so many universes, they've gotta be fucking in a few
They get married!!!!! It's right there!! I wish I had more coherent thoughts about them but just. They. It's awful. It's abusive. It's twisted and cruel. It's a comedy duo. It's the best thing either have going for them. Rick will never fully respect Morty. Morty will never fully respect Rick. I want them to run away together. They're Something
the power dynamic is crazy! Morty's deeply lonely at the start and his grandfather takes advantage of that, rick pulls the kid out of bed, out of school, whenever he wants and gets him to do whatever he wants, covers up their activities, threatens and endangers and inflicts pain upon morty with intent and cruelty. he shapes morty according to his needs, the entire show is about the space adventures of an old man and his 14 year old grandson and you just gotta wonder, isn't it fucked up that this guy's sidekick and best friend and life partner is a kid? and it is!
Since morty is traumatized on the daily rick sometimes takes his memories, he controls what morty can remember (and therefore who he gets to be), the memory gun is just sci-fi gaslighting i say. and there's transdimensional travel and at one point it's revealed that ricks from different dimensions work together to "breed" mortys, ensure they're born (clone a bunch of them too) because a morty by nature is loyal and forgiving and makes the perfect partner that's easy to manipulate, easy to use. i will forever think of the "bred for forgiveness" line as perverted horrifying incest bait<3
Also one time they were hosts for alien parasites and they fell in love and made out and in the Very First episode rick gets morty to stick giant seeds (that rick needs for an experiment or smth) up his ass to smuggle them through security. they had some kind of dragon soul bond orgasm together. my point is it's borderline incestuous abuse and it's crazy that they imply these characters are tied together cosmically.. if they are it's rick holding their red string of fate like a leash
they are together (sometimes romantically/sexually, sometimes not explicitly so) in EVERY universe there is canonically a club on the citadel called The Creepy Morty. Miami Morty has an R tattooed on his asscheek they love each other they hate each other they cant stand being together they cannot be separated Rick loves grooming Morty. like. he has literally pushed Morty into comitting genocides and conditioned him into becoming desensitized to all kinds of sexual and violent things. Rick keeps a memory vial of Morty's entitled "virginity" Rick C137 (the main one in the show) has sacrificed his life to save Morty
113 notes · View notes