#even as i make this rant there are subjects i fear to touch on because i dont want the backlash

[goingmerryfics]

Arguments w/ Shanks, Buggy, & Mihawk

Content: Gender Neutral reader, no NSFW. Maybe some slightly angsty stuff? Not really though.

Shanks

Arguing with him is either exhausting or it’s pointless, there’s never an in-between

Shanks doesn’t really take most arguments seriously because they’re either started by something extremely unimportant or he’s already made his decision and he’s not going to back down on his opinion

Pointless, because he’s not going to change his mind and he’s laughing at you while you’re trying to talk to him

“You’re so cute when you’re angry.”

Yup. Pointless. It’ll just make you more angry and him more entertained

The exhausting arguments are when he’s actually serious- and while he’s not mad at you, he’s mad that you can’t see his reasonings for doing what he’s doing

Especially when it comes to keeping you safe

Shanks won’t back down and it’s impossible to change his mind while he’s this pissed off, so it’s always best to just separate and come back later to talk it out when you’re both calm

While you do what you need to do in order to relax, Shanks festers in his anger and reflects on the things that were said between the two of you. His crewmates try to cheer him up- they offer him booze, they crack jokes, but he’s not in the mood for either and everyone is concerned

Truthfully, he’s worried. While he’s still not willing to change his mind, he doesn’t want to lose the relationship you two have worked so hard to build and maintain

He gets up out of his seat 3 times to pace around, mind racing back and forth on if he should go talk to you, and then convincing himself that it’s best to wait for you to emerge first so he knows you’re ready to talk

But he grows tired of waiting, and does actually end up coming to your shared room to resolve the issue

You’re still steaming just a bit. Your arms are crossed over your chest, and you don’t look up when he enters. You know it’s him, because a few others on his crew have already come to check on you, and you’d asked them politely to leave you be. But you don’t protest when he comes to sit beside you

He doesn’t touch you

It’s painfully silent for a while

Then he finally speaks up and breaks the tension

“I’m sorry. That got a little more heated than I wanted it to.”

You peek up at him just a bit. He notices how red your face is, and a strike of fear shoots through him at the thought of possibly having made you cry and then left you on your own for hours

He stretches out his hand, offering it to you to hold, and you shift in your position to take it

He goes into a rant on how much you mean to him and how he’s only doing what he has to do to keep you and the rest of the crew safe

“Because I love you. You know that, don’t you?”

You do

You also know that no matter how many times you two get upset with each other, you’ll always find your way back into his arms

Buggy

Arguing with him would come often, but the content of the arguments is what matters here

Only for the reason that Buggy is adamant about being correct in every situation, even when he is not and knows it

Everyone knows it’s best to just simply let him believe his delusions and let the natural consequences come through

But this guy seriously has weirdly good luck, and somehow all his delusions seem to come true for him in one way or another

Half of the time it’s just funny watching him be completely wrong about a subject, other times it’s a little infuriating

Arguments don’t last long between the two of you, though

Buggy craves attention, and attention from his favorite person is a must. It’s basically a necessity of life

Food, water, shelter, you. Not in that order, though

He realizes too late through his incessant rambling and gloating that he’s said something that hurt your feelings and immediately starts to backpedal

“Wait, wait, wait! That’s not what I meant! What I meant to say was-”

He’s red in the face, almost so much so as his nose

He hates to admit it, but you look really good glaring down at him like that as he tries to save his own skin

He clams up, sweating. Unsure of himself. Not sure what he was even saying a second ago

As much as you need time alone to chill out, he can’t seem to leave you be. It’s scary for him, seeing your usually smiling face so serious

He takes a seat outside of your room, and then breaks into pieces no, literally while he waits for you to emerge again

It takes you a few hours, but he’s there the whole time. His feet are pacing around, his head is whining, cheek on the floor. His hands are tapping and picking at the dirt in the wood, but every part of him lights up when he sees you again

“Aha! I see you finally caved. Couldn’t stay away from me, could you?”

You pause, and then move to go back inside before he yelps and his hands grab at your ankles. His parts come back together again, using the rest of his body to hold you in place

“Wait! I’m sorry! Please don’t go back!”

He shouts it all in a rush. He’s crying, and there’s snot running down his nose

He looks like a damn mess

It kind of makes you laugh at how desperate he is for you

he pouts up at you and you cave

He basically crawls up your body to hug you. You hug him back, petting his hair and waiting for him to relax, sitting right there in the doorway of your room. People pause as they pass, but a sharp look from you stops them from staying for very long

Mihawk

If Mihawk is actually worked up enough to argue with you, there’s a good reason for it

Usually he makes his point and that’s that. No other words exchanged, nothing more than a slight glance towards you

Mihawk is an introvert, and he gets exhausted from others very easily. He’s not trying to be rude or dismissive towards you when he does this, but that is how it comes off sometimes

He’ll turn his attention back to his book because after he’s said what he wanted to, he figures everything is fine. He understands his logic, why wouldn’t you?

But you, like a lot of people that aren’t Mihawk, are more emotional than he is

Your silence isn’t acceptance, it’s hurt

Only when you get up to leave the room does the thought cross his mind that maybe what he’d said didn’t come off correctly, and you might have just been insulted. But he figures you would come tell him if that were the case, so all is well and he returns to his book

This could go forever, really. Until he notices that you’re giving him the cold shoulder, and then he would stop whatever he was doing- even if he were in another room at the time of realization -and find you to clear things up right away

“Darling, we need to talk right away.”

Straight to the point. He doesn’t really ask you if you want to talk, because he knows if he doesn’t at least make an attempt at this it will haunt him like Perona’s ghosts all night

The thing about Mihawk that not many people know is that he’s got this cool, collected, silent aura about him because he simply does not have the energy to play nice with everyone

So when he’s just arrived home from a Warlord meeting, or somewhere that he was obligated to be present for, all he wants is time to himself to recharge

Having a relationship and balancing this need was something he was still learning

But he loves you so much and the thought of upsetting you over a misunderstanding gnawed at him and gave him massive amounts of anxiety and uncomfortability

He’s not this untouchable guy that everyone thinks he is. You’ve seen this; he laughs and cries like everyone else does

And you understand him. He couldn’t ask for someone better than you are

If you’re willing to, he’ll take your hands and kiss your knuckles.

“I apologize for my behavior. I should have given my words a second thought before I spoke them out loud. What can I do to make this up to you?”

It’s an easy thing to answer- it’s all you wanted since he’d returned, why you kept invading his space before he was ready to emerge and what lead up to the situation in the first place

You tell him you want him. His attention, to be wrapped in his arms. You just want to spend time with him, even if that’s in silence

He can work with that

He presses a kiss to your forehead and makes you promise that you’ll tell him if he ever says or does anything to upset you again. He wants to communicate, not lose out on precious time with you over something small

He goes above and beyond, though. He makes up a very romantic candlelit dinner that night for the both of you to share and even if it’s a very quiet dinner, (minus the music playing softly in the background) it’s perfect

[inuiiwonderland]

I imagined that after MC's breakup with Vil and when they moved on, they wouldn't be as affectionate to their new S/O, not because they don't loved them, but because Vil constantly scolded MC for their affectionate nature, such as trying to kiss him when he and MC has makeup on or trying to hold his hand in public places like a set or just going on a "date". That makes MC fear being affectionate to their new S/O because they don't want to be seen as clingy or ruin S/O's reputation by being too affectionate.

☆☆☆

Short Story

Lilia didn't wonder why MC wasn't as affectionate to Malleus than they were with Vil, but he had to confirm it for himself. MC didn't deserved to be heartbroken, but Malleus didn't deserved to constantly wonder if MC saw him as a good panther or as something to use against Vil. Lilia knew he had to talk to MC about her lack of affection to Malleus since he knew Malleus didn't want to scare them away by confronting them about it, so here he and MC were, sitting together and having snacks and/or tea.

"MC, I want to know something." Lilia said, looking MC's in her eyes and watching her shifted a bit nervously. "Do you love Malleus?"

"Yes, I do, but I can tell that's not what we're here to talk about. It's about my lack of affection, isn't it?" MC commented nervously which Lilia nodded, he knew MC loves Malleus and Malleus loves MC back, but they can't go further if this shred of doubt is between them.

"MC, I know why you're not as affectionate to Malleus, but you have nothing to fear." Lilia reassured the person before him, but MC shook her head at him.

"Yes, I do! As you know I was with Vil when I was most affectionate, but because of him, I'm not as affectionate as before. He constantly scolded me about being too affectionate to him whether it was him putting on makeup or we're at the set for one of his shows or whenever we're on a date or walking through Night Raven, he would always scold me about how we're supposed to keep our relationship private and keep the affectionate touches private." MC ranted to Lilia who hummed in distaste for Vil's negative actions and how they're effecting Malleus and MC's relationship. "I just don't want Malleus to be embarrassed of me like how Vil was. I know he wouldn't be, but my thoughts say otherwise."

He had to sigh at this, of course, Vil would somehow get in the way. "MC, perhaps, you should tell Malleus this as well. I know you're hesitant to do so, but communication is key to a healthy relationship."

"You're right, Lilia. Sorry for ranting about this to you." MC was apologetic, but Lilia shook his head at their apology.

"Now, now, don't apologize for something someone else did to you, so about that new song you're making?" Lilia shifted the subject as the tension in the air finally disappeared to much more mischievous nature.

"I can't tell you!" MC huffed at him playfully while Lilia snickered into his hand. Yes, she would make a fine queen for Malleus, indeed.

Aww☹️

Just MC Not showing any affection towards her s/o breaks me💔

I feel like mc would also try to show her s/o that she loves them in a different way yk?

I feel like mc would definitely show her love for her s/o when they are asleep. She would either kiss them on the forehead, caress their back, or even like tell them she loves them as they sleep.

Like she would only show her love to them when they are sleeping.

So she won’t be seen as clingy or annoying since her s/o is asleep they won’t know how affectionate she is

Sorry for the little rant😭😓

But I love the short story you wrote!

[rukkako]

Dead By Daylight and The Magnus Archives - A match made in the fog? Part 1.

Hi! I'm a huge TMA nerd and a DBD lore enthusiast and I'm here to rant about both of those things! See, I was watching this video ranking all the killers by aesthetics and when the video reached the Blight my brain immediately went "oh my god he is SO The Corruption" and that's when the idea for this post was born! I'm gonna try (emphasis on the trying aspect lol) to assign each DBD Killer up to two Fears from TMA (you know, main fear and "touched by" fear). I'm gonna take into account their lore first and foremost, and any context that can be derived by their teachable perks, abilities, animations or whatever other aspect of their design I can pull from. I'll use the killer images from the DBD wiki and the Fear Tarot Cards made by Grace Holsten, also taken from the wiki. This is part 1 because Tumblr only lets you add 30 images to a post and there are. 36 killers currently. so yeah. Sounds straightforward, right? Well, come with me and you might just find out it's... not as simple as it may look. Starting with...

THE TRAPPER - THE HUNT, THE SLAUGHTER.

Our first subject is the Trapper. Originally I was just gonna adscribe him to the Hunt (because of how he plays, placing bear traps on the floor and waiting for the survivors to step on them) but upon further examination of his backstory I came to the conclusion that he is probably touched by The Slaughter as well. Quoting from his lore entry: "When Archie MacMillan finally snapped, Evan became his enforcer in what would become known as the worst mass murder in modern history. They never proved that Evan lead over a hundred men into those dark tunnels before detonating the explosives and sealing them to their fate." That's The Slaughter. The fear of sudden, unexpected, unmitigated violence. I will say that in this case, these two fears are interchangeable in their importance with regards to The Trapper- you could see him as an agent of The Hunt touched by The Slaughter as much as you could see him as an agent of The Slaughter touched by The Hunt. But I think it's undeniable that he has a connection with both of those entities.

THE WRAITH - THE END.

I think this one is very straightforward. Philip was made an unknowing executioner by his boss. He embodied death without even knowing. He was death when he was crushing people, ignorant to his own actions, and he embodied death when we lost it, purposefully killing his boss in the same crusher he'd been killing people with all that time. As a nice little detail, I consider his power, the ability to "cloak" and become invisible at will a great reflection of The End- because sometimes, death is unpredictable, impossible to see coming, and that, too, contributes to it's fear.

THE HILLBILLY - THE SLAUGHTER, THE HUNT.

Hey! It's Trapper's Fear-bro! I will admit it's kinda frustrating to have to repeat fears but we're gonna have to get used to it, because it's going to happen a lot due to the nature of the game. They are all violent hunters, so... Hunt and Slaughter will come up again. I have to say, I was reeeeeally close to giving him The Flesh due to his deformity, but it's just not that relevant for him- not as much as his murderous and violent tendencies are, at least. If it's any consolation with regards to his similarity to Trapper, the reversed order IS intentional- he is much more The Slaughter than he is The Hunt. There sadly isn't much to Hillbilly, so I don't have much to say- I think this designation is perfect for him.

THE NURSE - THE END, THE SPIRAL.

Whew! I had a lot of trouble classifying our dear nurse. Her lore doesn't really hint at any specific fear! ... That is, until you look a bit deeper. Our dear Sally Smithson here, after being made a widow, ended up working nights at Crotus Prenn Asylum, where she murdered up to 30 patients. Now, that very obviously makes her an agent of The End- but why the Spiral? Well, I didn't remember this at first, but thanks to the wonderful help of my partner I realized a couple of very important facts: The Spiral is not only linked with lies, but also with madness- and more importantly, after The Watcher's Crown, one of the many spiral domains turned out to be, you guessed it: an asylum. I consider this enough evidence to link The Nurse with The End and The Spiral.

THE SHAPE - THE EYE, THE HUNT.

Our first license! yay! Mikey over here- I think the designation is pretty evident. Eye and Hunt combine in this killer to create the very definition of a Stalker: a hunter that observes, learns, gathers information about his prey, and only when it's finally prepared to attack, it does. His perks also draw a strong connection to The Hunt! With "Play with your food" and "Save the best for last" being incredibly hunt-coded. As a fun little fact, I was gonna adscribe him to The Stranger- I believe the lack of knowledge towards his identity and history, his behavior and, above all else, his masked face also mark him as a potential representative of the Stranger- as according to what Gerry Keay said, the stranger is "That kind of creeping sense that something's not right. That guy you saw that might be following you, might mean you harm."- however, after some consideration, I reached the conclusion that not enough aspects of the character represent The Stranger as much as they do The Eye and The Hunt. So, Eye/Hunt he stays. Maybe this will change with other masked killers in the future...?

THE HAG - EMBODIMENT OF THE FLESH.

We come across our first "embodiment" killer- I call them "embodiments" because I consider them the best representation of the fear available in the killer cast of DBD. I believe The Hag deserves the title of Embodiment of The Flesh because of both her looks and her behavior. As described by the Wiki: "Twisted and torn in unspeakable ways, with greyish dead skin stretched out over her emaciated body. Her arm is a horrid overgrown deformity capable of slashing through both flesh and bone alike." The Hag is a deformed cannibal, her body and flesh transformed by what she had to go through. Not only that- The Hag is a cannibal by necessity, eating flesh in order to keep her body together, and I believe all of this ties her strongly to The Flesh.

THE DOCTOR - EMBODIMENT OF THE EYE.

The Doctor, when you strip him down to his basics, is about one thing and one thing only: Information. He was attuned to psychology since childhood, he started working in techniques to extract information from subjects, he worked for the CIA in Lery's doing exactly that, subjecting spies and other people to what he called "interrogation", but most described as "deadly torture". This man is what The Eye looks like at it's worst- it's thirst and hunger for information, with a dark and violent twist. And just because of that he reaches the title of Embodiment of The Eye. Who'd be better for the position than a man willing to go to any lengths just to extract information from subjects...?

THE HUNTRESS - EMBODIMENT OF THE HUNT.

It's all in the name, folks. Tumblr Sexywoman extraordinaire has one objective in her life: to serve the Hunt. She lives to hunt. Extracted from her in-game bio: "Still a child, she knew just enough about life in the frozen forest to survive. She followed her instincts and became one with the wild. She got older and stronger and practised her hunt. As she grew into a dangerous predator, her humanity became a half-remembered dream.

She widened her territory and lived off her hunts. She worked her way up through squirrels, hares, mink and foxes. Eventually she grew tired of them and hunted more dangerous animals like wolves and bears. When unsuspecting travellers came through her woods, she discovered her new favourite prey: humans. Unlucky souls who strayed into her territory were slaughtered like any other animal." Nothing else to add, your honor.

THE CANNIBAL - THE FLESH.

There isn't much to say here, honestly. I think it's pretty clear. Following in The Hag's footsteps, I will say I could adscribe him being touched by The Lonely, but I didn't do it for Billy, who probably deserved it more, so I won't do it for Bubba. Loneliness themes aren't really that present in his narrative.

THE NIGHTMARE - THE DARK, THE HUNT.

Freddy! Feddy. The Nightmare presents a certain variety: of course, he as many others can't escape the Hunt denomination- it was added here with purpose, however, specifically after reading this excerpt from his Bio: "Freddy stalked the boy through the school's halls. He took his time, savouring every moment of the hunt. This was what he enjoyed the most, the smell of their sweat in the air, the ragged gasps of their terrified breath. They were his to toy with.". However, I think his primary fear being The Dark is much more deserved- he is after all the Dream Demon, lurking in the dark corners inside your dreams. I believe no other killer deserves the association with The Dark more than Freddy.

THE PIG - THE HUNT, THE SLAUGHTER.

My dear Piggy, she's one of my favorites in this game, which is why I'm a little disappointed that I have to adscribe her to the Hunt/Slaughter dichotomy yet again- sadly, most of the more traditional slasher killers in DBD will adhere to The Hunt, The Slaughter, and usually both. Originally I was considering placing her with The Web since she orchestrates some of the jigsaw trials, however upon further examination of her lore and actions I cannot take such a path- she was merely an assistant to John Kramer, and while her gameplay COULD point to it, I find that I disagree with the notion. She recieves the classic Hunt/Slaughter classification. This is the end of part 1! Because I'm tired and can't fit any more lol. Will do part 2 soon. I hope you like the analysis so far!!! Anyone is free to add anything they want in the comments, correct me if you think any of these killers belongs to a different entity! Thanks for reading, and see you in the next part. <3

[sorcerous-caress]

hey I’m glad you’re not weirded out or anything by the tickling stuff (I’m the anon by the way) I might write something with my tav after I’m done with the “my tav as a companion” part 2 with the list questions you made after my first one but I don’t how long that’ll take since I kinda feel weird writing about my tav in that way since they are based off myself not that I don’t want to do it I would like to write stuff like that for an OC I’ve never done it before but it kinda feels like I’d be doing something “naughty” which I guess I would be but anyways I’ll write something I’m gonna try and get over the awkward feeling so I can go more in depth with the “my tav as a companion” romance part because I feel like I can touch more on that

(sorry for ranting, longer than I thought it’d be)

I get what you're feeling exactly, and my only advice to that is to embrace it.

All writing in some form or another, is based on yourself. Every character you've written fanfics about, every OC you've made, every small headcanon, all of them are connected to you.

All of them, hold a small part of you in them, a small truth that you might not be unaware of. Writers can only write about their own experiences and emotions, even in fantasy and imaginary scenarios, you have to base it around something you're familiar with to be able to comprehend it.

I'm aromatic yet I write romantic stories, I have never felt romantic love so I base all of my romantic stories on how platonic love felt to me and mix it with what I think romantic love should be like based on what other people said.

I get the feeling of vulnerability when revealing things about an OC that holds a lot of your own cores as a human, that was based on your own image. That's why it's good to remember that everything else was also based on your own image, you just weren't aware of it. You've left a trace of your personality and your fingerprints on every character and subject you've touched.

Honestly, I am not in the best state health wise to answer this, but I didn't want to leave it sitting for long.

There is a fear of being cringe, I genuinely truly get it. I still feel it too a lot of times, fear of being too weird or off putting. It's so easy to tell someone to "just express themselves" until that self expression manifests in a way that doesn't fit the socially acceptable ideas of other people.

Who gives a shit if I don't like tickle stuff? What right do I have to judge you? What right does anyone have to judge you? None of us matters when it comes to your own writing and self expression, only you matter.

Likewise for me, I like cringe worthy stuff too! And I subtily microdose them into my writing because I don't have the courage to come outright and say it. I am afraid. You are braver than me in that aspect and honesty kudos to you for being yourself unapologetically.

I had an old writing blog where I only wrote tame fluffy stuff that everyone wanted, only expressed myself within social acceptable limits, only showed the most clean and sanitized versions of my art.

And you know that phrase about if you don't like what you're writing then other people won't? It's a huge fucking lie. That blog was so much bigger and more popular than this blog in a shorter amount of time.

I had triple the followers I have now, so many nice comments and reblogs, too many requests than I could keep track of. People loved the sanitized version of my writing.

I didn't, I hated it. It was empty and souless and I had to force myself to sit down and write it. Scrub away all traces of my own personality from it and make it the most appealing to the general public.

Words never flowed like they do to me now, I dreaded opening my requests back then, I dreaded checking on my notes.

And so I left it at the height of its popularity, didn't even say a thing just slowly ghosted away.

Don't do what I did, is what I'm saying. You have a lovely OC and if you want to put more of your own self and your own interests in them then so be it. I promise other people won't know and even if they connect the dots, they'd have to be actual weirdos to make judgments on a real human being based on an imaginary doll they move around.

Give Sean the tickle kink if you want that's perfectly okay. Base all of his companion answers around yourself if you want, make him an extension of you. Maybe he will slowly take what you've given him and evolve to his own character, maybe he will always remain a beautiful reflection of you, both of these outcomes are welcomed as long as they make you happy.

I did it with Sol, bpd isn't the best, and making an OC that represents all the worst traits I saw in myself and showing them love and care helpled me unimaginably. And fuck yeah I definitely base their answers around myself, every writer bases their writing around themselves, how else are you supposed to create originality? Your mind is the only completely original source that only YOU have access to!

It's a fucking gold mine, an exclusive library of experiences and moments that no one else but you know about. And you want to ignore it and put 13 layers of irony between you and everything you create? For whAT?

Kids love plushies and get attached to them because the plushies are their own OCs in a way, the dolls represent an extension of their inner psyche. So when kids hug and shower their plushies with love, or even get reinact a dramatic sad story with their dolls, it's them talking to themselves.

Art is communication, whether it be with an audience or with yourself. self-indulgence is the thing that makes art worth making. It's what gives it a soul, it's what sets it apart form AI bullshit.

And some people will see themselves in Sean. Did I tell you that the tickle fic requests I wrote had likes and reblogs from other people? I would've never imagined someone would like it besides the requester yet there were others.

We're all really weird, inside. If you're going to be original and create art that you like then it will be weird and cringy, same goes for me, same goes for everyone.

Embrace it, peel the layers of irony, be yourself unapologetically. You are worth it.

And side note, I really enjoy your requests and reading what you send me about Sean. But my own enjoyment always comes after your own comfort and boundaries. You don't have to answer any questions that make you uncomfortable in the "as a companion part 2" list.

I will always view these answers through Sean and as a reflection of him, never a reflection of the author. That's a right only you have and a line only you can draw.

[jorality]

I finally saw the Barbie movie and while it touched on so many subjects that I'm always down to discuss. I will say that it brought up an opinion of mine that I've never voiced to other people for fear of retaliation. So I'll just pose it as a question to all those who played with Barbie, Bratz or any other fashion dolls.

Did these dolls ever make you feel bad about yourself?

For years I've heard Barbie get blamed for body image issues and forcing a beauty standard on women, and I just don't agree with that sentiment.

I was the ugly fat girl growing up. I'm the prettyish fat woman now, and of course I had body image issues, but you know who made me feel horrible about it most?

Adults, other kids, my parents, musicians, magazines, TV, Dr. Oz probably.

There was a teacher in elementary school who constantly harassed and made fun of me for my weight saying things like "stop running, you'll cause an earthquake" among other actions that I realize now were hella inappropriate but it was all fun and jokes so who cared? It was so normal that I never really brought it up to my parents because this teacher picked on almost everyone. I was just another unwitting victim.

Something I hate to admit is that when boys would make fun of me it really fucking affected me. I still suffer with getting validation on whether or not I'm even attractive after so many years of trying to love myself. I want to get male validation and I fucking HATE it.

Which brings me to the Video Vixens. The hot Black girls with fat asses and little waists that my Black little girl self was told was the preferred version of a woman.

Until recently I never had a song sung about my body type, and the ones that did exist were icky.

Then there's the whole thing where I want to be in the entertainment industry and I CANNOT go on that rant right now, but let me just say, GOD FUCKING DAMMIT I HATE THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY!

And before you ask, I once wanted to be on Broadway, children's programming and voice acting. For medical reasons I have set myself up for voice acting, but back when I was a stage actor??? Ugh!

But I'm spiraling, so let's move on.

What i'm trying to say is that I was never given the impression that I was SUPPOSED to LOOK like Barbie or any other fashion doll. At most I really wanted to dress like them, but back then clothes for fat kids were ugly as fuck! Which again I never really connected back to the dolls.

I'm an only child, dolls were my only friends sometimes, so instead of wondering why I didn't look like Barbie or Sasha I put those beasts in situations!

I get the psychology behind toys and self esteem, I've seen the lectures. I just want to know if I'm an anomaly when it comes to believing a toy truly has so much bearing on self esteem and body image to the point that there have been think pieces published about it.

[mon-art-de-reve]

PEOPLE_Pt.2 ft.IU

(Rant)

Never thought the words that I so desperately wanted to hear,the things that I wished people would understand about me,would come from him, that too in its rawest form. The everyday that is a struggle for me, a struggle against my loneliness, the me that wished someone would see or hear her, was given recognition so simply and beautifully by this man.

I feel so exposed yet seen and heard. He once again proved it that contrary to my beliefs which are laced with the fear of judgement and non-acceptance, all my feelings and emotions are understood and shared by many.

It's an understatement to say how I much I love how he touches upon various subjects,starting from mental health and suicide, which are heavy topics and still considered taboo ,to what it means to be not just a human, but a person; how he so beautifully encompasses and expresses the gentleness yet the heaviness of existing. About how we, as people, destroy the very things we want and build. "Wasn't loved enough as a kid, that's why i'm the cautious type" .

How we pour so much love and care into some thing/one in fear of losing it/them but still cannot prevent it from happening. "What is it about loss that makes us so sad? really, it's the dread that makes us so sad." - we grieve things that has not yet left us.

~"Who said humans are animals of wisdom,To my eyes it's obvious that they are animals of regret"~

About how "selflessness can be selfish too,and it's our greed that ultimately makes us selfish" and how it resonates with RM's "altruism begins from selfishness" and how the very notion that love needs to be selfless and that only selfless love is true love is a very hypocritical thought because love can never be free because it is in our very nature to want to be loved back and even the idea that even in selflessness we derive pleasure from other's happiness is inherently a selfish act. Can one truly be a selfless lover if they seek to derive pleasure from the love they give? This front or mask that we have built ,thinking that if we avoid caring , we will avoid hurting ,is very fragile and can easily break with even the "calmest of waves".

Thus,this belief that if we avoid caring we will avoid hurting results in us not healing. But this whole idea is not negative in any way. We treat others with kindness not only because we derive happiness from doing so but also because we can relate with them and see ourselves in others. This is how we communicate with others and perceive the world around;by relating to to each other. Thus it is good to acknowledge the fact that nothing we, as people ,do is free of personal gain. "Both love and people are selfish".

Telling us there's nothing bad in living ordinarily or to live life with the flow and that even if others say life is a struggle between resistance and submission it actually is a struggle against loneliness; and that if we cannot hold it back it's okay to cry.

" I think human relationships are quite complicated. but what does it matter if things pass us by. and what does it matter if we get hurt. people change, and i have also changed. nothing is forever. what about letting things flow by as passing happenings."

It's okay to let things/people pass by , be hurt by it and cry but also realise that people change just like everything else in life and that even if we are hurt we can still acknowledge that we deserve better.

'You are already more than enough to be loved'.

[mirceakitsune]

My thoughts on the election

Considering this is such an important event and ties to personal things, I wanted to share my thoughts on the election like many others have. This isn't going to be some angry rant like in the past, I'm long over making those, just an analysis and my perspective: I'm hoping people understand this, especially on Furaffinity where anything that touches a worldly subject is a risk for me to post even in good faith, I was nervous about writing this but am partly doing it to give a chance to the idea that there's still some ability to communicate and say what's on our minds. I'm not enjoying the pain many around me are going through, some are people I care for who are in a lot of fear and there's not much I can do. I also need to make it clear that no, I don't like nor support Trump, even if I no longer share the horror everyone else has over him: I'm not even from the US, if I was I'd have never voted for either of those two parties and any candidates they produce, if I did vote I'd be voting libertarian every time even if they're perpetually third place. From the start I decided I wouldn't care about the outcome of this election. Since Trump's win was announced last night, I've been watching almost everyone I know fall in a deep depression… something I did too when he first won in 2016, long before a lot of things changed for me.

What I don't understand is how today in 2024 so much hope was put into this one election, a hope people still had. How many thought that if the right person wins, there was still a positive direction for this world to take. That a fight for all that is good was lost just now because this one man won, a fight that still existed and could be won if only this one dude hadn't made it in office. Many don't seem to realize humanity at its core is broken by design and beyond repair right now; Trump, Kamala… I fail to see how these silly figures make any difference when everyone hates everyone else anyway, any ability to communicate and get along has long vanished, and we can all see the system was doomed to fail very soon and very abruptly. If anything it may affect the speed at which it's all happening ever so slightly.

Let me to ask you something: Is Trump the reason why this year I was left without my only income and job I could have, because I refused to DOX myself to Patreon and have my art associated with my name / photo / address / family by complete strangers? Is Trump the reason why I don't feel like creating art any more because I can't safely post what I enjoy doing on this internet even for free? Is Trump the reason why I'm constantly nervous I may be banned from services I still rely on and at least able to watch what others create, over something I don't imagine would offend and may have even said a decade ago and long forgotten? Is Trump the reason why the Xonotic team with whom I spent 15 years working turned on me out of nowhere while we were in the middle of working on code? Is Trump the reason why an artist I follow had to flee France after being arrested for making drawings deemed immoral by the state? Is Trump the reason why if anyone who isn't a commercial animation studio posts an animation containing anthro or dragon characters in some art styles on Youtube, the video is instantly restricted or deleted with their entire channel? Is Trump the reason why I walk on eggshells around the few people I still interact with, because if I say one thing the wrong way I'll be perceived as some maniac and they turn on me next? Is Trump responsible for the world doing its best to ruin my life or the little I ever had of one?

All those things and more happened even without him. Off the top of my head I can't even think of a conservative or Trump supporter that caused me this grief over the years, though I'm sure many would gladly join in given the chance. It was at the hands of those with whom I once thought I had a common goal, who stabbed me (and themselves) in the back just when I believed that maybe I could have a place in this world to some degree and give humanity a chance, who use words like tolerance and acceptance and inclusion almost religiously yet their polar opposites are all I ever got from them. Why then should I worry about Trump and am expected to see him as the root of all evil?! Sure, I don't expect the situation to improve with him of all people, I don't expect anything to improve again with anyone… but it's beyond me how this made anything worse than it would be regardless.

Like I said I'm not happy with what's happening and won't feed off of anyone's suffering, but I definitely feel I'm right to say one thing: The desperation everyone feels over Trump winning is a thing many caused to others whether they realize it or not. They're experiencing what it's like to have the majority of those around you and a world you believed in slap you in the face, tell you that what you need and feel doesn't matter to them, that you need to suck it up and deal with it because others have "real issues" unlike you, that you come second place to what they decided is important. This lesson is one I do think the world at large needed to face. Which isn't to say it will learn from it, oh I strongly doubt that… but many are at least seeing what it's like to be on the receiving end, and it's definitely not pretty.

[applecherry108]

I wonder if there’s some sort of correlation between like, tumblr’s white supremacist problem and it’s hyper morality problem. By which I mean, apparently, debating is a tactic used by the alt right to skew opinion to their side. Because they don’t care about facts or the truth, so debating them won’t change *their* minds, but it might like, seed enough doubt or curiosity or whatever into someone else’s mind? I’m not exactly sure how it’s supposed to work, but I know I’ve seen posts and analyses detailing this phenomenon.

Anyways, I can’t shake the feeling that this is also the same reason why tumblr’s black and white thinking has only become more stark in recent years. I think of this because I saw something on my dash about user pizza. Yes, pizza. For those too young to remember, she was a mega popular blog back in like, 2012. She also, at some point, had a tag specifically for posts that used the n-word. And she got called out for it. She has made the stupid tag (not as trigger warning, but like, bc she thought it was funny?), long before she got popular. I think she was still pretty young when she did it, like, 13 or something. Anyway, people dug it up and got mad, and she apologized, deleted the stupid posts, and that was that. Because it was a dumb mistake from when she was a kid, and she had grown and learned, end of story. But on the same note, around the same time (2012-ish), there was a popular artist named Zamii. And while I was never particularly fond of zamii’s style, I saw the drama surrounding her. I remember a huge curfuffle about her saying trans women weren’t women, but when I read the post, it was clear that she was just a cis kid who didn’t 100% understand all the terminology. Basically, she had insinuated that female and trans female were two different genders while trying to answer an ask regarding pansexuality (or bi, or something). It was obvious that the negative insinuation was accidental. It was obvious to me, still an adult at the time, that it was an honest mistake and that she was just a little confused about the (then quite new) terminology.

And she was run off the website. She had deleted the post and apologized, she made ANOTHER apology, and she was still sent death threats and I remember seeing whole campaigns about why she’s so awful (all of which I knew to be things she had since corrected in her behavior and, surprise, apologized for). I remember not seeing anything from zamii for months and months, and then I remember going to her page and find a video of this CHILD in tears, calling herself trash, that she knows she’s awful and she sorry and, ??? She made a MISTAKE. She made a mistake, apologized, and learned from it, but the death threats persisted and she made this heart wrenching video from the HOSPITAL bc she had tried to KILL HERSELF.

And I guess the point I’m getting at here is, this was an extreme case in 2012, but now in 2019 this sentiment is so fucking casual?? In 2012 it was hotly debated whether or not people deserve second chances, whether “they didn’t know any better” was a good excuse. Whether “this literal child was raised in a certain environment and don’t realize what these words mean” was of importance. It was DEABTED, and now I don’t even see the debates. I just see people, and especially kids 18 and younger, casually shrugging like, “well it still happened so they’re still shit” regardless of circumstance, of knowledge or understanding. And that’s?? Super fucked up??? It used to be deabted whether or not people could learn from their mistakes, now it’s not even a debate, it’s just accepted that everyis black and white and everyone of every age should always knows the immutable Right from Wrong. And it strikes me that maybe tumblr has fallen into this morality trap in the same way that the alt right has gained power: by debating and debating these things that should be common sense, like that people of any age can make mistakes, or whatever it is that the alt right fuckign disagrees with, that by hearing the extreme opposition given so much publicity, it’s shifted the general understanding of these things farther and farther into the opposition’s favor. The horrid slow slide of “well maybe they have a point about SOME things...”

People can fuck up. It could be an issue of age, or circumstance, or region—but anyone can make a mistake. The important thing is to look at HOW they respond to that mistake being pointed out, and no, they don’t have to be independently cognizant of their mistake in order for it to be forgiven. Pewdiepienisnq great example. If the first time he said something offensive and got called out, and his response was to be “oh shot really? Sorry, I won’t do it again.” And then he DIDNT, that would be forgivable. Even if we had to do a whole rinse and repeat for every terrible slur he used, if every time it went “you said this and it has not been pointed out to you before, but it is offensive (and here’s why)”, and every time he’d apologize and correct his behavior, then that’d be great! That’s society babey! Humans have an ever evolving language and relationship to certain words and none of us can be expect to know everything all the time, so the only important thing is to APOLOGIZE and don’t do it again. This applies to literally anything (except no brainless like....assault. And murder. Those sorta things).

Because here’s the biggest problem: what’s cool, or fashionable, or trendy one day may shift and be horribly offensive the next. Offensive in your face humor used to be funny, especially to the younger crowd, not 10 years ago. Now it’s shifted to being distasteful, and that’s okay. 30 years ago transvestite was an appropriate term to describe a transgendered person, and now it’s an offensive term. Culture and words evolve. Words can have extremely personal meaning. Like how some people are perfectly fine using queer but it deeply offends others. There’s nuance on everything, nothing is black and white, the world is shades of grey and it’s unfair to judge and jury people on such strict terms. As another example, there’s a world of difference between a black person using the n-word and a white person using it, even if they’re both said in anger and meant to cause offensive. Because there’s different circumstances surrounding these two nearly identical instances. So by the same token, it’s cruelly unfair to judge a child making a mistake to say, an adult who’s made a career off the same thing.

And at some point, it’s like tumblr culture just threw circumstance and nuance put the window, and I can’t help but notice the simalities of why that may have happened an how, to other problems current tumblr faces...

[cooltoneturtlesimp]

Heyya, how u doin'? I hope you're doin' good~

I hope you don't mind if I request a headcanon for the 2012 turtles with a rather shy and reserved reader as their love interest (crush)? I'd prefer the reader to be gender neutral if you don't mind^^

I'm back y'all, sorry this took so long! It's been a long few months lmao but I hope that it's worth the wait!

Word Count: 1034

AllTurtles2012 x GN!reader

Leo

Leo’s crush starts with a simple cup of tea that you made for him. And then promptly spilled.

His appreciation is immeasurable, as the leader he doesn’t get much thanks and this small gesture really means a lot to him.

“Don’t worry! You didn’t get burned at all, did you? Let’s get some cool water going just to make sure.”

While he helps you treat the small burn on your arm, both of you silently blush at the physical and occasional eye contact

After that, he always is the first to offer first aid to you. He and Donnie usually work together or take turns with that kind of chore, but Leo always has something else for Don to do if you’re injured so he can be the one to take care of you.

After some time, he makes an attempt to flirt with you. Emphasis on “attempt.”

You being you, you get very panicky as soon as you realize what he’s doing. He immediately gets just as embarrassed as you, and it’s almost as if you’re having a competition to see who’s face can get redder.

Spoiler alert: it’s you. He’s green.

This is the quickest pairing to actually get together, mostly because Raph noticed Leo’s weird behavior around you and approved for once. He sees it coming before Leo’s ready to admit it, and encourages him to make a move.

Together you support each other's “embarrassing” interests and tendencies, and you always take care of each other :)

Raph

I think Raph would find your shyness annoying at first, he’s very into the idea that everyone should be able to fend for themselves.

BUT his crush starts when you trap and move a cockroach from the table after he freaks out about it. Then, you ask him without judgment if he’s alright.

Cue HUGE blush fest. He blushes, you blush, yada yada you get the picture.

That’s when his perspective switches around. Someone who doesn’t judge him for his stupid fear? That’s… exactly what he needs.

It takes him a while to sort out his new feelings, but after a few weeks he offers to help train you, not just in martial arts but also in confidence. He thinks that you are awesome and you deserve to be heard! To burst out of your bubble!

(and it also wouldn’t hurt to spend some extra one-on-one time with you)

((not that he’ll readily admit that motive of course))

Cue a bunch of close touches and small nudges in training that make both of you blush, not that the other notices.

Very much a slow burn, requited love between two idiots but neither of you notice the other’s flustered-ness.

Everyone else in the lair knows LONG before either of you figure it out that the feeling is mutual

Once you do get together, you’re a very no-nonsense couple. You keep PDA to a minimum, but as soon as you’re alone, he’s very affectionate and vulnerable, because he knows you understand.

Donnie

The way to his heart is pretty simple: all you had to do was listen to him talking science. His brothers usually don’t listen with much care for the details, but you asked polite questions

Stutters A LOT when he first starts getting feelings for you, but he manages to find every excuse to hang out with you. It mostly centers around helping with homework, and he loses his mind with every casual glance and accidental touch. It’s obvious to literally everyone, but you’re almost as flustered as him so you don’t even notice.

A few months into his crush, he starts making you gifts. You like animals? He’s made tiny robots of your favorite ones! You’ve shown particular interest in one of his many MANY science rants? Well, today’s your lucky day, he just so happened to have a spare model that displays the subject perfectly! And if you wanna keep it, you can have it! But uh no pressure if you don’t want it, of course, he understands, it’s kind of a weird gift-

You’re both easily flustered, Don’s an over-thinker, and you’re too shy to make a direct first move, so it takes forever for you two to make any progress, but once you do you’ll be the sappiest couple in the sewers :)

Mikey

Openly affectionate from the start. He’s a love at first sight kind of guy!

Flirting, hugs, and any little touch he can get. Finding reasons to fight back to back with you on missions, no shame, this guy!

He pulls you out of your shell a little, but also loves how easy it is to make you blush.

His crush is really solidified when he hears your laugh for the first time. Not the quiet giggle or chuckle he’s used to, but your genuine, unapologetic, snorting, wild “ugly” laugh.

He had never heard a sound more exciting in his life. And he feels starstruck. An audible “wow” escapes him, and you get a tad self conscious.

He immediately shuts that down, saying he thought it was super cute!

After a little bit of back and forth with your embarrassment and his reassuring you that he thinks you’re almost as adorable as ice cream kitty (even though in his mind he thinks you’re actually even cuter, but he won’t say it out loud), there’s a brief moment of eye contact that you both feel lasts forever but also not long enough, you turn away with a quiet “thank you, mikey”

He replays that scene in his head for days, weeks, months, maybe even years. However long it takes for you two to get together (which could be soon, or could be a while. You’re shy and he’s impulsive, hard to predict when he’ll confess!). Sometimes his wild imagination even replaces that last line with an “i love you”

Nothing changes much when you eventually get together, at least from the outside. He’s still just as openly flirty as before, but you feel a special sincerity to his words that you’re not sure was there before. He looks to you after every clever joke he makes in the hopes that he’ll see that sweet smile or maybe hear that adorable laugh again.

[tizzyizzy]

Izzy’s Resignation Rant is Right

I’ve seen some takes about how Izzy’s resignation rant in episode 4 is unfair and inaccurate. That it doesn’t match the reality. That people only take Izzy’s word for it due to a racist bias that favors the views of white men. These takes are wrong.

Let’s take a look at this rant:

“For years I’ve followed your every whim, I have managed your increasingly erratic moods, I’ve massaged this crew when they were worried about your judgement.”

We’ll tackle them one by one.

Followed your every whim

We come to the Izzy and Ed relationship in a moment of crisis, where Ed is weary of the pirate lifestyle and Izzy is more frustrated with Ed. This does culminate in Izzy’s duel and attempted murder of Stede.

However, outside of this major incident, we have more reasons to believe this is true than false. Izzy does the major things Ed asks of him, from allowing Stede and co. to watch their crew raid a ship, to following the Revenge, to attacking the Spanish to defend it. He talks to Stede and issues the invitation even though he doesn’t want to. Ed says “I need you” to get Izzy to stay. Izzy makes tea and fetches Lucius when Ed is an emotional wreck and wants a scribe.” Many of the demands Izzy carries out he isn’t actually happy about, either.

Managed your increasingly erratic moods

In the last episode of season one, Ed goes from crying in a pillow fort, spilling his emotions, to throwing Lucius into the ocean and feeding a man his own toe. Later in the very same episode Izzy calls Ed “erratic”, Ed is told that there is a hole in his plan because he didn’t remember the correct date. 

Confronted with this major setback, what does Blackbeard, brave and charismatic leader of men do?

“We’re goners. Those of you who can swim would be wise to do it now,” he says. Then he goes to drink in the captain’s quarters.

?!?!?!?

I feel like people haven’t given enough weight to this massive failure of leadership. Sure, Ed did figure out a solution to this situation of his own making with Stede’s help. But do you know how lucky he is that he didn’t cause a panic? Blackbeard, the world’s most famous pirate and captain of several men on that boat said, “Guess we’re gonna die” and sulked off. It seems likely, if this had been just Blackbeard’s crew, that actually would have been what happened. 

Not to mention that, as brilliant as that last minute plan was, they wouldn’t have needed it if Ed had bothered to mention his original plan when Izzy directly asked about it, or if Ed hadn’t taken the risky step of bringing his crew to the attention of a Spanish warship.

Is Ed a great pirate? Absu-fucking-lutely. His plan was brilliant, if flawed. He obviously has charisma and the ability to be both affable and intimidating. But it doesn’t matter how skilled you are if you’re heart just isn’t in it. It’s like doing a project for a class the night before. Sure, maybe you’re smart and understand the subject, but you make careless mistakes. You don’t do your best work. Sometimes everything works out fine; other times you make a mistake (like forgetting the due date) that fucks you over completely.

And there’s a reason there’s a widespread agreement in fandom that Ed doesn’t have a firm sense of identity. He can be calm and cool and charming, but if you touch a trigger point he can lash out in anger. He was oddly calm when he ended up in that privateer’s academy, then he wanted to escape to China. Ed was conflicted enough about Stede that he barely interfered when Izzy issued his duel challenge to Stede, to emotionally indecisive to shut it down. A couple days of Calico Jack was all it took for him to decide to leave Stede before Jack revealed his betrayal. This guy is depressed and confused about what he wants and needs.

I’ve massaged this crew when they were worried about your judgement

At first, this seems like the most questionable statement. Izzy can’t captain for shit and nearly gets drowned in a mutiny almost immediately. Fang doesn’t seem to respect/fear him like he does Edward. Ed is generally charming while Izzy is rude and obnoxious.

Consider, though, that just a bit earlier in this conversation, it was Izzy who brought up the death of men under their command in the fight against the Spanish, and Ed who brushed it off.

One might take Ed’s side, and say it’s expected men will die sometimes when they become a pirate.

But what is piracy? Well, it’s generally when you raid ships and steal their shit to make your living. Naturally, this is mostly going to be merchant ships.

You know what isn’t piracy? Rescuing a crew of other pirates to talk to their captain and getting on the wrong side of the Spanish armada. Sure, they do plan on taking the ship, and that’s certainly a profit. But even if this was a profitable venture, it still involved a major risk to the crew. It’s one thing for a pirate to die raiding a merchant ship full of profitable trade goods with minimal defenses. But against the Spanish? For a pirate ship?

But I don’t need to explain why it’s not profitable, because we already know that’s not why they ended up on the Revenge in the first place. Ed wanted to talk to Stede, so his men died to make that happen.

If Ed did this in episode 4, why wouldn’t he have done it in the past?

Not to mention we have seen examples of Izzy “massaging” the crew. While they aren’t technically his crew, Izzy barges in and cuts off Frenchie’s question about whether Ed is going to have them all killed. Izzy protects Ed’s reputation. He lies about Ed’s emotional state in ep10, and threatens to kill Lucius if he reveals it. In ep2, he tells Fang off and pulls his beard for questioning an order from Ed. (Yes, Izzy called Ed insane, but bitching to your two right hand men and letting them actually vocalize questions about the captain’s behavior are different)

This begs the question: is part of the reason Ed still has the crew’s respect because Izzy’s controlling what information they get about their captain? If one of them has a question like Frenchie did, does he cut them off and redirect them? If Ed is sad or angry or obsessed with finger puppets, does he tell the crew that he’s just feeling a little under the weather, but everything’s fine, really?

Ed tells Stede that he’s tired of ships surrendering immediately when they see the flag. He misses the battles. How would his crew, who fight and die in those battles, feel if they heard something like that? Considering his behavior, what reason have we to believe that he has not tried to spice up his pirate life with risks that have gotten his crew killed? How many times has a crew member been told some illogical command from Izzy and had their beard or beard equivalent pulled when they asked “Why?”

I think, given the evidence, Ed has almost certainly benefitted from Izzy shutting down problematic questions from the crew, hiding embarrassing incidents/behavior, and giving bullshit justifications for bizarre commands.

Bonus: Unpleasant

This is an interesting one, because we don’t generally think of a rough, rude pirate like Izzy Hand caring much about how pleasant someone is. Izzy seems to have a rapport and friendship with Ed, however.

Let’s actually look at how Ed treats Izzy throughout ep4.

First, Ed has been avoiding Izzy and his responsibilities as captain, either intentionally or just through negligence. We know this because Izzy has been looking everywhere for Ed before he finds him cloud gazing. Izzy says they need to move quickly before the Spanish realize what happened. Ed keeps trying to change the subject to chill chatter, first about how the Spanish die so dramatically, then about the clouds. Izzy tries to, not rudely, but firmly, bring Ed’s attention back to the looming threat against all of their lives.

Now, it is very likely that Ed came up with this plan about the fog and moon before Izzy shows up, and knows (or thinks he knows, at least) that he has no need to rush. However, Izzy does not. He has every reason to believe they’re in imminent danger of horrible, horrible death. And it turns out they actually are, because Ed had the date wrong.

As a a captain, colleague, and friend, Ed’s logical course of action would be to tell Izzy his plan. Ed would know this would calm Izzy down and let him know everything was under control, and Izzy could get on worrying about other things, or even relaxing a bit without fear. In practice, letting his first mate, who is responsible for carrying out his orders, know the actual plan would help Izzy know about anything that needs to be done prior to executing said plan. Most importantly, by telling Izzy his plan here, the wrong date would have been spotted immediately, and they’d have hours to prepare and plan.

But Ed chooses, here and through the rest of the episode, to not tell Izzy his plan. This may be to mess with Izzy, it may be for a bit of fun or drama. In any case, Izzy has to spend all this time without knowing if there is any plan at all, growing more and more anxious.

Oh, and this is what Ed says when Izzy is understandably worried about dying, and he’s trying to get him to pay attention to the clouds.

“...but if you just put some fucking imagination into it, man.”

Izzy finally acquiesces here, fyi. And when he does.

��Yes, Frankfurters, yes. Exactly. It’s like pulling teeth with you sometimes man.”

Later we have Edward pawing through Stede’s trinkets and fussing over the model ship. Ed is chattering about all the neat stuff while Izzy, who still thinks they’re in a life threatening situation (which they are), in a soft, voice keeps telling Edward they need a plan. Ed  tries to ignore him until he turned around and snaps at him. Goes on a rant, shouting about how boring executing plans is, has a bit of existential crisis. Izzy says they need a plan or they’ll die.

Ed responds by being weird and potentially suicidal by saying he hasn’t tried dying yet, and maybe “we should try that”.

Okay, imagine you’re Izzy at this point. You’re worried that you're all going to be horribly killed by Spanish cannons, but your captain doesn’t seem to care, and won’t give you or the crew any kind of solid plan. Time is running out to act.

Then he he says that maybe “we” should all try dying.

While Ed might be feeling genuinely suicidal, there’s no way his wording and manner were not intentionally calculated to make Izzy even more nervous. Ed “knows” they’re safe. He’s just intentionally planting the idea that he actually wants to get them all killed in Izzy’s mind. Maybe he thinks that they’ll have a laugh over it once the moon shines and the mist rolls in. But like many pranks, this is a mean one. He’s intentionally letting Izzy worry for hours on end that they’re all going to die.

Uh oh, Izzy sees the Spanish through the telescope. Now Izzy is really worried, and because Buttons is the one who spotted the Spanish, there’s a good chance this will spread around and make everyone on the ship really worried. Izzy goes to find Edward, but he’s hiding in the closet with Stede. Izzy is almost certainly freaking out at this point.

And when Ed finally emerges? At the eleventh hour, after hiding from Izzy? He’s swapped clothing with Stede. Izzy drags him away to have it out with him.

“You can be a real bummer sometimes, you know that?”

Of course, Izzy goes on his big rant here (though I want to point out that Ed has insulted Izzy three times in this episode already). We get the impression that this incident on the Revenge is one of many others and Izzy is finally boiling over with rage. He’s rude and frustrated and obviously furious. He has spent hours worrying over whether there’s going to be a plan, if Ed genuinely has gone so far he wants them all to die, being unable to do his job because his literal boss would rather play dress up.

“Sounds stressful, Izzy,” Ed says, mockingly. And then, finally, “That’s Blackbeard,” pointing at Stede.

So Izzy is by no means being polite, but his anger is absolutely understandable. Instead of reassuring, apologizing, explaining, or even disciplining, Ed does not take Izzy seriously. He’s sarcastic, teasing. And this is where the loyal Izzy, first mate for years, resigns.

Ed may have lots of sweet bonding moments with Stede in this episode, but let’s not forget he also was a complete dick to his first mate throughout.

TL;DR

Episode 4 alone is enough to lend credence to all of Izzy’s accusations. While Ed is a great pirate, his disillusionment with the pirate lifestyle and midlife crisis have resulted in him being careless and taking risks that have put the crew in unnecessary danger for his fancies. 

[axewchao]

The Spectacled Spanker, the Laughing Prankster, Your Frustratingly Overpowered Opponent Today, it's Iggy!

Once again we hit Easy Street, as "humanized Iggy in a lab coat" is fairly common, but I decided to abstain from the Mad Scientist theme he's often given. The closest nod to it is his hair, which is almost as unkempt as Wendy's. That's saying a lot since his hair is little more than just a very, very long mohawk. Bet you didn't see the ends of his hair behind his arm, did ya? ;3c

You know the drill by now, it's headcanon time!

Iggy's magic is primarily connected (lol) to electricity. From mild static shocks to jolts strong enough to stop (or start) someone's heart, Iggy's been a walking lighting storm for as long as he can remember. It serves him well, usually when it comes to powering whatever random device he's built in his lab, but also makes for a great background effect during a regularly scheduled Evil Laugh.

In early childhood, this power only seemed to cause problems as he kept accidentally zapping people left and right. Anyone who touched him ran the risk of either a tiny jolt or a skeleton-showing shock. You would think he'd be terrified of this power, but no... He actually found it kinda funny! Everyone would freak out and make wacky poses! Hilarious!! No one else laughed, though...

The only one who could at least tolerate his antics was a red Electro-Koopa, who was attending Woohoo Hooniversity at the time. Unbothered by Iggy's shocks, the two became fast friends as the elder Koopa began to regularly sneak Iggy into the school, kickstarting the latter's love of technology and all things mechanical. At the end of the semester, Iggy followed the Electro-Koopa back to the Koopa Kingdom the moment the offer came up. Iggy had no home to speak of, and this new kingdom was so much cooler than Beanbean! What's that? When his buddy's not at school, he's working at a freakin' CASTLE?? Iggy smells shenanigans~!!

Needless to say, when Bowser realized that all the random power outages in his home were being caused by a green-haired gremlin- I mean child, he would've said that he was surprised... but that would've be a lie. He took Iggy in without much thought as he, Kamek, and Kammy were already trying to reign in other kids' unstable magic, might as well settle this kid down before he actually murders someone, intentionally or otherwise.

As hinted above, Iggy has no prior connections to a family before Bowser. He was an orphan from day one, and doesn't think too much about it. Except on late nights when he's unable to sleep despite being exhausted...

He wears his lab coat constantly, even when he isn't in the middle of any experiments that'd recommend wearing one. It's like picking your favorite hoodie/jacket; the feel of it is juuust right.

Iggy was quick to befriend Lemmy upon the former's arrival, unknowingly setting off alarm bells in Ludwig's head. Fearing that Iggy's magic would hurt his cousin, Ludwig started surveying Iggy under the pretense of "giving the new guy a tour." Iggy saw right through the act (because Kidwig was a shitty actor), but played along regardless. 

Much like the Electro-Koopa did for Iggy, Ludwig soon developed an interest in technology after hearing one too many of Iggy's giddy rants on the subject. By present day, the two Koopalings are Science Buddies with a specialty in constructing airships :3

He loves and adores Chain Chomps with every fiber of his being. All the Chomps in Bowser's Castle were personally trained by him and heed his commands above anyone else's. He's considered starting an obedience school for other Chomp owners in the kingdom as a sort of side job.

Behind his glasses, Iggy is completely blind. He can't see a damn thing unless he zaps someone with his magic, and even then their electrocuted outline only lasts for a few seconds. After Bowser takes him in and he gets access to a lab, Iggy invents special glasses that let him see normally. Aka the ones he's wearing right now.

While he's not particularly insecure about his blindness, he does get understandably upset if his glasses get taken from him, go missing, or fall off.

Nobody in the castle could tell that Iggy was blind until he said so. His "Electrolocation" technique hid it well.

His magic wand was turned into a hair tie for convenience. That being said, he never bothers to retie his hair regularly, so his ponytail (mohawktail? idk) is very loose.

[douxie-casperan]

Rise of the Titans and the assassination Hisirdoux Casperan’s character development

I’ve been ranting so much since Wednesday morning that I finally condensed by thoughts of WHY this one subject keeps setting me off namely the utterly diabolical way they handled Douxie and Archie’s relationship in Rise of the Titans and how it wasn’t just enough to hit him with the nerf bat.

Please note I’m at the point where I literally cannot tell the difference between Aaron headcanons, Teny headcanons and my own they are all mixed together in the blender that does funky things. I also apologise for typo/weird wording it’s half 1 in the morning and I’d rather sleep than edit.

~

If asked to sum up Hisirdoux Casperan there are certainly several things that come to mind:

Sees the value in people as a whole and will find do anything if there is a chance of help someone out

Prefers tactics that disable/banish rather than kill an enemy yet willing and able to pull the trigger if circumstances become forced

While not academically inclined he is very capable of thinking on his feet and outside the box calling back to his time on the streets where a split-second decision making is the difference between being caught and not

Terrible at planning he’ll be in there figuring it out as he goes along which is what makes the previous point so vital to literally how he goes through life

A natural charmer that would let him talk his way out of trouble 9/10 providing a perfect cover for his distrustful nature and reluctance to be touched by random people

Very down to earth, humble and never one to brag unless outright sassing someone

Will bang out some hot tunes at the drop of a hat, his love of music has never wavered once since he caught the bug despite instrument hopping ironically becoming a jack of all trades much like his magic style

The earliest memories he can recall are him as a young boy lost in the woods where he was for an unknown amount of time before his soon to be familiar finds him amongst the roots covered in dirt and drying tears, there is nothing before that. Unbeknownst to him is the colour of his magic matches the blue of a lost mother’s eyes and the song that haunts his nightmares as much as fire could well be hers though there is no way to be sure. From that moment on Archibald, shortened to Archie, would become his entire world and their friendship only becoming closer during the years they prowled Camelot together trying to keep themselves in one piece until the fateful day Douxie tricks the wrong person leading him straight into the path of the famous wizard Merlin Ambrosius.

It's no real secret that Merlin is a very closed off person who keeps his emotions as well guarded as his secrets, prefers the style of negative reinforcement over positive encouragement and is a very strict perfectionist in his. At this point in his life he can be very easily described as a disaster that is genuinely doing his best with every little mistake held of his head and his future self when brought back to that time period is belittled by Lancelot (Errand boy) and Arthur (Boy) too meaning it’s hardly a wonder his confidence was very fragile revelling in the times where he could do things without being told off for it. With Morgana largely ignoring him too (Though personally I like to think as he got older she’d occasionally take an interest until the blistering arguments with their master started to talk over daily life) a certain disguised dragon would have remained a lifeline and give that physical affection he craved much like being told he’d done well never seemed able to earn.

With Killahead he’d lose that home and family he made leaving just the two of them behind struggling to figure out their place in the world that had abandoned them.

There wouldn’t have been the words for it back then but the way he had been treated prior was outright abusive instilling very bad habits into Douxie yet by irony he was always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt and help those in trouble without thinking earning a reputation as the Shepard of Fire. He refused to become like him seeking to be better, perhaps not as a wizard (Even though he was learning new charms and spells along the way) but certainly as a person. Despite everything he suffers through or witnesses in the intervening years, the loss of friends and kindling of far newer ones he never loses his good heart 

That said is it any wonder that after rightfully sassing Merlin for resurfacing, ignoring his existence despite being in the same town and only visiting him to run a finding errand that all the confidence he’d managed to build completely from scratch after Camelot wavered causing him to fall back solely into trying impressing his old Master who was acting like his humble apprentice must have coasted the past few centuries who himself fell back into old habits of belittling? It’s only when Merlin started to truly listen and acknowledge that this was not the same Moppet he once knew after Excalibur was fixed that their relationship finally started to become more like equals. After the defeat of Janus the changeling that broke into the castle he touched Douxie’s shoulder with a genuine smile and for a second he simply didn’t know what to do because the old man never did this before his brain kicked into gear and realised he’d finally earned that one thing he’d been so desperate for his entire life: That in Merlin’s eyes he could be more than a failure who only caused problems for the closest thing to a father figure he’d ever had, never solved them.

A staff will be earned, history would be set back on trap by banishing Morgana tag teaming with Archie because they know one another inside and out, as promised he’d get the kids back to the present but soon after things would go badly wrong. They’d lose Jim and because of his very nature he’d make a gamble to try and get him back because that life is worth trying for just for in a moment of surprising selflessness Merlin would be sacrificed to save him. The only constant in his life apart from Archie would apologise, openly express pride and how the greatest thing he’d ever done was saving this orphan, call him son for the first and final time before turning into ash in his arms. There would be no time to grieve for things will barrel into the crescendo of Douxie sacrificing his own life to buy everyone time to escape because if they did that everything he’d ever done would be worth it with one last whispered goodbye.

(Zoe sees him fall, so does Archie – His heart would break if he was conscious just like theirs does when his body crumples into the ground)

On the very fringes of the Light Realm he is gifted one more conversation with Merlin in a truly heart-breaking sequence (THANKS TENY) where they can just talk without any fear of consequence or politics and just be completely honest. Douxie is allowed to stand equal to Merlin, to have the hug he’d needed since he was a child and be allowed to simply let go of every pretense and cry his heart out because this can never happen again. He’s allowed to say goodbye to both his master and Morgana who had both shaped so very much of his life but like the painting he’d always remained firmly in the long shadows of until that moment.

When Hisirdoux Casperan finally leaves Wizards if we just accidently deliberately put the shawarma back in along with checking in with Zoe before departure, it is with having learned to live during his wandering years but this is the point of true freedom because he can finally escape into his own light with Archie by his side to keep Nari out of the hands of those that would see the world harmed. It won’t be easy but it feels possible somehow even with the knowledge everything is simply running on borrowed time.

Then Rise of the Titans happens.

At first everything is genuinely fine! No more running, they engineer a solution shut the Order’s magic down to make them a lot less dangerous and potentially at least incapacitate them until they can come up with a longer-term solution but all the best laid plans and all that. Douxie’s quick thinking stops the train from crushing any of the people below and it’s a very him style move to switch places with Nari to stall for time because for some reason the plot disabled Claire from portaling her or any of the threatened people/heroes to safety. He openly sasses the Order despite knowing the consequences will be bad for him because once again he’s managed to trick them, buy time that at the other end isn’t even slightly utilised until he’s forced back into his own body in excruciating pain. Archie immediately mobs him with comfort just as he has done every single time the wizard is distressed or collapsed with exhaustion without thinking because that is what their bond is like, incredibly close and far more than the Soul Bond mark that connects them together. They’re very alike in that regard, you have to earn the right to touch while equally knowing exactly what form the other needs the most in that precise moment in a way very few others could.

Bar the moment of figuring out that an illusion is in place to hide where the Order is opening the Genesis Seals and the brief insistence on reconnecting with Nari somehow Douxie manages to forget everything that makes him who he is after this point choosing to stand in the background being very no thoughts head empty or can only use the most basic spells of his youthful days not the seasoned master wizard he should be. Nomura is treated like an innocent slip rather than an outright death he did absolutely nothing to prevent (Not to mention the stupid daytime thing) nor seems to care particularly about afterwards yet with Nari’s he’s allowed to openly grieve in a gorgeously animated visual showing how he’d failed to keep her safe despite everything. He did nothing to help here either mind despite allowing himself to be tortured in the same piece of media to keep her safe, just watched another loss happen right in front of his eyes in his conga long line of them.

Then there’s Archie, oh god then there was Archie.

The dragon who even here he’d been shown to have an incredibly close bond with him decides you know what sod that tell him goodbye I’m going to make a joke about having a kingdom now dad and me are trapped in here forever. Douxie on his part looked sad for all of three seconds saying that he hoped he’s happy like it's a pet that wandered out into the world one day and never came back instead of a lifelong companion that has been there for as long as he can remember. He was now completely alone in the world since Zoe was also written out entirely and because every bit of his background had been forgotten about it somehow meant nothing. This wasn’t “I know you miss him, I know you need to grieve but you are running out of time” moment like things had been with Charlie, this was “cool shapeshifting dragon cat is now stuck in a plot hole that’s a shame” with zero pay off or any of the genuine reaction that should have been there or hell even trying to Ohana him back that very second because it never should have happened in the first place. Then even this wasn’t enough somehow, they managed to de-power Douxie even further into uselessness bar the (Admittedly nifty!) sticky feet stunt, the one who fought Skrael and Bellroc to a stalemate was shunted aside with barely a thought and his head would somehow get even emptier.

The one person who knew the danger of time magic the most stood by and said nothing.

The one person who would suffer the most by a reset because the lynchpin to his issues would be asleep if you got it wrong and should have drilled it into Jim’s head the best time to aim for stood by and said nothing.

The one person who had just suffered the loss of his familiar, best friend and only family along with the almost sister like Nari stood by and said nothing.

Then to add further insult to injury the caption when Douxie and Archie is shown says Some go their entire lives living an existence of quiet desperation because every drop of his character growth, his ability to finally start addressing his trauma instilled back in the 12th century, the staff he longed for was instead openly mocked by going “Aww he got his cat friend back how nice!” Everything he’d rightfully earned and had now would be unable to progress until certain criteria are met because it hinges entirely on the Trollhunter going to Merlin’s tomb and there’s only so much your support network of two (One if she’s written out) can do, the root of the majority of his issues all stem from one man.

And this folks is why I’ve been going on multiple rants about Douxie in particular, everyone was hit with the out of character bat to some degree in this film but when they came for him they didn’t just stop after they took his legs out because they wanted him to suffer from something he’s never had any control over to begin with all over again. Abuse survivors deserve better, these characters deserve better and we as viewers deserve far far better writing than we were forced to endure.

[a-kind-of-merry-war]

Okay, okay. I wrote the thing. Inspired by this post: Jaskier accidentally slaps Geralt while flinging his arms around during an angry rant.

“—the fucking cheek of that prick! I can’t believe he thought he could get away with it!”

Jaskier spun around on his heel, gesticulating with his arms as he spoke, his words quick and furious. Geralt watched the performance with a raised eyebrow, thankful that he’d removed the bard from the tavern and gotten him into their shared room before he could start throwing things.

“Oh, yes, it’s a very wise idea to hurl around such baseless accusations when the subject of your insults is out in the fucking wilderness saving your shitty fucking village! The nerve of these arseholes, Geralt, I swear…”

Jaskier’s voice was growing higher and louder, cracking at the edges. Geralt edged forwards.

“Jaskier,” he said, hands raised as if he was approaching a wild animal, “The man’s an idiot, but—”

Jaskier wasn’t listening, still wildly flailing his arms. “And another fucking thi—”

SMACK. His hand connected with Geralt’s cheek in a world-ending, back-handed slap. The ringing sound of skin on skin would have been impressive, under any other circumstances.

Geralt blinked, dazed. Jaskier’s hands flew to his mouth in horror.

“Oh, Geralt!” He cried, “Oh no, oh no… I’m so sorry!”

The slap hadn’t even hurt. Of course it hadn’t: Geralt was a witcher, for fucks sake. A single accidental slap from the hand of a half-cut bard barely even registered to him.

Jaskier, however, was beside himself. The sudden shock of it had pulled him out of his furious ranting. Geralt had assumed it was the sudden sting of pain that had broken him from his clamouring - Geralt was sturdy: it would have been like slapping a wall. But Geralt knew human emotions, and Jaskier wasn’t vibrating with fear or reeking of pain. If anything, he seemed sad, his eyes suddenly filling with tears as he rushed forwards, cupping Geralt’s face in his hands, tilting Geralt’s head so he could better see the place where he had slapped him.

“Oh,” he said, “Geralt, I’m so sorry. I hit you! All because I was so angry about that stupid man…” He made a sad little noise, his eyebrows twisted upwards.

Geralt knew that there wouldn’t even be a mark where Jaskier had struck him, but Jaskier was looking anyway, cupping his jaw and gently stroking his thumb against the place where his hand had connected with Geralt’s face.

“I hope you can forgive me, Geralt,” Jaskier muttered, eyes sparkling.

Geralt rolled his eyes. “I’m a witcher,” he said, gruffly, “I fight monsters for a living. It was like being swat at by a kitten…”

Jaskier wasn’t listening. “...you must think I’m a beast…”

“...or a particularly fierce moth,” Geralt continued, aware that he was being ignored.

Jaskier continued to paw at him, uncaring for Geralt’s dismissals. His touch was soft and light - gently examining Geralt’s face for a bruise that Geralt knew he would never find. He wanted to push him away, to insist he was being foolish - but he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been touched with such deliberate care. Geralt could feel Jaskier’s heartbeat in his fingertips, vibrating through his jaw, making his skin tingle.

Finally, Jaskier unhanded him with a soft exhale. Geralt immediately missed the touch, his skin feeling oddly cool and empty without Jaskier’s intense attention. Jaskier peered at him, but didn’t step back.

“Did it hurt?” He asked, horribly sincere.

Geralt paused. This sudden closeness - Jaskier’s hands on his face, and the mere inches tingling between them - was somehow more shocking than the slap. And more shocking still was the sudden revelation that he hadn’t wanted it to end.

“Terribly,” he said, finally. “It hurt terribly.”

Jaskier’s eyes widened and he began to chew on his lower lip. His ears were turning red. Geralt took a small step forwards, suddenly unsure: but judging by the hitch in Jaskier’s breath and the stuttering beat of his heart, he hadn’t misjudged the movement. Slowly, he reached out, lightly gripping Jaskier’s arm, just below his elbow. Jaskier leant into the touch, as if by instinct.

“How can I ever make it up to you?” He breathed, copying Geralt’s movement, closing the gap between them until their chests were touching.

“You’ll have to nurse me back to health…” Geralt murmured, letting his hand slowly move up Jaskier’s arm. “Or…”

“Or?”

Geralt tucked a loose strand of hair behind Jaskier’s ear, letting his fingers linger on the side of his face.

“Or you could kiss it better.”

Jaskier’s face flushed suddenly, violently pink, and he froze beneath Geralt’s touch. For a moment, Geralt feared that he’d said the wrong thing, when Jaskier let out a long sigh, leaning towards him.

“Does that mean you can find it in your heart to forgive me?” He said, his lips brushing lightly against Geralt’s cheek, his breath warming Geralt’s skin.

“Hmm,” Geralt responded, tilting his head so Jaskier’s mouth was pressed against his jaw, “I think I can.”

[fluffyk97]

❤️ LavaShipping Headcanons 🖤

None of these are original I'm sure, but I love them a lot and they live in my head.

They are both obviously pinning, but oblivious dumbasses before they start dating and the others had to watch it all, suffering.

Jay did try to be a good wingman for Cole though.

- "I don't know about this Jay..." "Hey who has a Yang and who doesn't?" "Sometimes I question Nya's choice."

Cole goes to Jay & Zane a lot to rant about Kai. Meanwhile Kai goes to Nya & Lloyd to rant about Cole. Pixal ends up being a victim of both separately.

-Cole does go to Nya for advice sometimes though, being Kai's sister.

-Kai sometimes goes to Skylor as well. They ended up being just close friends, so its basically "bestie talk".

-Everyone ended up making a "who will ask who first" kind of bet.

Cole has had a little crush on Kai since they first met. He tried wooing him by saying "He's not afraid of anything" until Zane ruined it by mentioning his old fear of Dragons.

-Kai grew his own crush on Cole overtime.

-When asked about the whole thing about Cole fighting Jay over Nya, Cole says he kinda just acted in Self Defense from Jay snapping at him out of nowhere. He'd rather forget all about it.

Because Cole was afraid of Dragons and Kai was so good in taming his, while Zane & Jay tamed their own, Kai helped Cole tame Rocky before they all went onto the Underworld in the Pilots.

-Kai grabbed Cole's hand and slowly guided his hand to pet Rocky's snout.

-Taming him with Kai is one of the things that helped Cole grow so close to Rocky.

Cole felt the need to ask Ray & Maya if they'd be okay with him dating their son because he's a nerd- I'm kidding, ily Cole.

-In actuality it's because 1. They've been gone through nearly Kai's whole life and he wants to just check if they're okay with the subject. And 2. He's just Respectful and we love him for it.

When they start dating, both of them act like they've always been touch starved and are really clingy with eachother.

-They've always gotta be close and in contact with eachother.

-Always found leaning on eachother, holding hands, or plain cuddling & clinging to the other.

-Kai loves the attention and the feeling of being held, and Cole is a big lover who loves to provide, care, and hold those he loves.

-Lots of kisses.

Kai is a little spoon and Cole is a big spoon.

-Kai will never admit it tho.

-Sometimes Cole will let Kai be the big spoon.

They are Horny on main-

Kai can cook and Cole is a food lover, so Kai loves to take over the kitchen sometimes and make Cole special little meals.

-Kai once asked Zane for the recipe of Cole's favorite cake to surprise him one day.

Cole can't cook, but still puts his powers to good use into making small sculptures for Kai, even finding gems he can make take shapes, and making necklaces for Kai.

-Kai always wears one of the necklaces Cole has made for him. His favorite is a Ruby Dragon Necklace that looks like his old Dragon, Flame.

They often stylize eachothers hair. Kai learning from raising Nya and styling his own, and Cole learning from his mother when he was little

-Kai helped Cole put his hair up into a bun for The Island.

Cole gives Kai private Dance Lessons.

Kai can sing and he loves to sing for Cole. The only person he's ever sung to before being Nya and Lloyd a little.

They rarely fight, but when they do, they can blow up on eachother like a volcano get it? Cause Lava? Haha, I'll shut up-. However, they always end up making up by just sitting with eachother that ends up being cuddle session as they apologize to eachother.

Cole sometimes wakes up, fearing, feeling, like he's still a ghost about to fade away. Getting warm hugs from Kai always helps remind him he's still alive.

Quite a few times after March of the Oni, Kai would sneak into the same bed with Cole after dreaming of Cole falling again.

Often whenever Kai is upset, he ends up just going quiet, and Cole takes that as a que to pick him up, and take him away without a word so they can be alone. Hugging Kai until he calms down enough.

They love calling eachother nicknames from classics like: "Babe, Baby, Honey" to their own from their elements: "Firefly, Firecracker, Hothead. Rocky, Boulder Brain, Mountain Man" I apologize I'm terrible at coming up with nicknames

They Flirt with eachother during training sometimes.

- "I have you pinned, looks like I win this round, fire boy" "Has anyone told you how kissable you look when pinning someone against the wall?" "Wait wha-" *Kai proceeds to give Cole a quick kiss before flipping them around and ends up pinning Cole instead, sword at the neck* "I win babe" "Only because you're a flirty little shit-"

Kai can be insecure sometimes about how he looks and is in general. He's usually hidden it, but since he started dating Cole, he's been really supportive.

-Kai in public: "Haha, I'm Hot Shit" Kai alone: "Maybe I'm not Hot Shit...?" *Insert Cole breaking down the door to hug him*

They are both very protective of eachother. If any of them get hurt, they can and will go apeshit for them.

On their first Day of the Departed together, Kai spent the night with Cole, lighting a lantern for Lilly with him and Lou. He let Cole talk to him all about his mom and the stories she would tell him.

Cole basically has to "fight" everyone over Kai in the Winter because he's a little heater.

- "Can I please have my boyfriend back Lloyd?" "No, fuck off, it's cold." "That's exactly why I want him!" "Wow, I feel so loved right now."

-Usually ends with the others just joining them during their cuddle sessions, making a big pile.

It took forever for them to say their first "I love you" but after they did for the first time, they love to keep saying it.

[swanqueensalad]

TRIGGERWARNING!

Without triggering anyone I wanna ask two things:

1) Was Cora ever physically abbussive towards Regina?

2) I know many ppl's head canon is that Leopold raped Regina again and again as his bride, but is that your headcanon too?

ok again TRIGGER WARNING for abuse & SA (and brief mention of suicide) for anyone reading/scrolling!

i'm going to just explain my personal interpretation of the show and these subjects, bc i find regina so interesting and heartbreaking. and i actually do think part of what makes regina so fascinating as a character is her relationship within the cycle of abuse and how yes, she was incredibly hurt and manipulated all her life, but she eventually managed to break free of it all and work to be better for her own child.

buckle up because i have a lot of feelings and this is probably going to be LONG

so, my thoughts on exactly what happened and why regina is as fucked up as she is:

so yeah, cora was a horrific parent. it's canon that she abused regina both emotionally and physically for practically all her life.

in practically her very first scene, we see cora using magic to hurt her eighteen year old daughter - to violently restrain her/drop her to the ground when she 'misbehaves' which pretty clearly says this is a woman who uses power and fear as a control tactic, and is not afraid of physically hurting regina.

and if this is what she was doing when regina is almost an adult, i think it's safe to assume she's been doing it since she was very young - regina's response 'please don't, i'll be good' is the conditioned response of a much younger child. everything about the way regina was written, her relationship with cora, and the way lana and the directors chose to play it screams abuse victim. she is hypervigilant - she jumps when people come close or make sudden noises. when she's choked with magic she immediately knows not to struggle or fight back. as a young girl, she is terrified of doing things wrong.

(also, when we get the flashback to actual 10 year old regina, cora says she can't help her because 'it needs to be someone who's magic has never hurt her')

while i think most of the time cora relied on magic to physically punish regina - knowing how much regina particularly hated it/was afraid of it - i think she was definitely not above slapping her for more minor infractions

beyond just physical abuse, cora was clearly emotionally distant and got regina to a place of being pretty touch-starved and desperate for affection. (lana and barbara play this so masterfully as well) we see her being constantly, nastily critical of everything her daughter does.

i think it's also implied in the regina rising book that cora was controlling/restrictive of regina's food to ensure she stayed thin/attractive which is just a whole other can of worms

as for leopold. please bear with me while i RANT:

nothing will ever make me more mad than the fact this man was never held accountable in the narrative for his role in regina's story and how absolutely fucking awful he was.

first of all, even before he meets regina, he is dodgy af. he supposedly genuinely loves cora, but throws her out immediately when he discovers her pregnancy without even asking her if it's true/discussing it. also, even in that flashback the man is visibly much older than cora and even more so than eva, who he actually does marry (although i do believe they came to truly love each other). so yeah he has a habit of Not Listening to women and not looking at women his own age

and then we get to regina. the eighteen year old daughter of his ex fiancee (younger even than the unborn child who cora carried when she was engaged to him)

yes i think he raped her. because powerful old men do not marry pretty eighteen year olds for the company. (also, if it was just so snow would have a mother figure, well, she already had her maid joanna. and if snow really wanted regina around that badly, leopold could have just brought her to court as a lady in waiting, a fitting role for a noblewoman, and more appropriate seeing as regina was only about eight years older than snow)

regina is visibly distressed by the proposal. she is panicked. she looks to her father to help. cora accepts the proposal for her. and leopold does not care. i think this tells u all u need to know about his views on consent

(also it all gets ickier when you remember leopold was attracted to cora, and regina is considered to look like cora did when she was younger)

leopold clearly had zero interest in regina as a person. he used her for arm candy for events, to make snow happy, and to keep his bed warm. (later, he invades her privacy so much regina counts on him reading her diary as a thoughtless and integral part of a plan, and locks her up for receiving a present from another man) and yet he is never treated as a villain or ever held accountable (besides regina killing him - good for her - but even then it's framed more as a way to villainise her for tricking sidney) and it makes me FURIOUS

i sometimes see the take that leopold might have stopped raping her towards the latter years of their marriage, but i disagree - i think maybe it did get fewer and farther between, but regina was still his wife who he only saw as serving a few purposes, and the way he is so possessive of her in 1x011 makes no sense otherwise, seeing as he was so uninterested in her in every other way

i do think a lot of regina's rage and vendetta against snow is because of this abuse too.

hear me out: in s1 especially, both snow and regina refer to snow as 'ruining her life'. because regina blamed her for everything that happened to her. not only did snow cause daniel's murder, it was her desire for regina as a mother that prompted leopold to marry her.

and this marriage was hell. and i think people don't realise how long it lasted either - snow went from a child to at least her late teens before regina killed leopold. regina was a traumatised young girl, grieving the love of her life, with no friends, no allies, nobody except the literal dark one who was grooming her for his own gain. (no wonder she clung to the brief sense of freedom and control his lessons offered. no wonder she nearly killed herself.)

and while regina suffered, she was forced to play with snow white every day, who was so spoiled, so loved, so happy, and had no idea of the life she had unwittingly trapped regina in.

so yeah, it's all pretty dark.

and it's for all these reasons i think ouat ended up shying away from many more regina backstory episodes centring on the time she was married/pre-evil queen years, because they were on abc after all, and i don't think they were really equipped to deal with the horrendousness of the story they'd created

but lana most certainly did her work becaue i think all of this nuance does show in her portrayal

and it all just makes regina's ending - the good queen, in her own name, safe and strong and loved, part of a true family, her bond with snow healed - so much more of a relief.

[thehollowwriter]

Floyd x Riddle: Shelter From The Storm

Not a single star was visible tonight. The clouds that covered the night sky were pitch black, blocking out all traces of light. They crashed together, causing loud echoes of thunder to travel in every direction. Lightning streaked across the sky. Bright. Blinding.

Riddle was, despite how late it was, wide awake. He wasn't quite proud of that, however. Usually he had organised sleep schedule. A usefel one he took pride in, for he got the proper sleep that allowed him to tackle the next day fully energised.

But not tonight. Tonight he was lying as still as possible, searching the sky for the next bolt of lighting. When it came, he shut his eyes and clutched fistfuls the sheets.

In truth, Riddle despised storms. He hated the thunder and the wind and the lightning and the rain. They always caught him by surprise and left him on edge. He couldn't say exactly when x or y would happen. He could only wait. They were loud, unruly and unpredictable. Much like the overgrown puppy of an eel sleeping soundly next to him.

Floyd loved storms. He had stated this hours ago as they listened to the weather reports. Their unpredictability and chaos were what made them so amazing, according to him. He loved being kept on his toes.

The light, the sound, the feel of it all, it set off excited tingles all over. After a five minute rant, he got bored of the subject and begged to have a sleepover with his "beloved goldfishie."

He looked so happy at the thought of spending the dark and stormy night together that Riddle just couldn't say no. And now he was lying awake in bed while Floyd caught a few extra Zs next to him like it was the easiest thing in the world.

There was a clap of thunder and Riddle flinched. He wasn't scared of storms. Not at all. It was just... the noise that startled him. Yes. The noise. Besides even if he was, hypothetically, scared of storms, he would not tell Floyd. Because if Floyd found out, in the hypothetical situation, that he was "scared" of storms, he would never let him live it down.

There was a lightning strike and Riddle shut his eyes. He tried to think of something else. School. Homework. Roses. Hedgehogs. But the rain was so loud and and the lightning was so blinding. The wind sounded like the mournful cry of a ghost and it sent chills down his spine.

Riddle felt sweat begin to run down his face. His heart pounded against his ribs and his mouth went dry. He was scared. It was so bright and loud... he didn't like it. 'Make it stop. Make it stop make stop make it stop.' He was pathetic. What would Mama say?

Something touched his arm and Riddle involuntarily screamed. He scrambled back and pressed up flat against the headboard, his breathing ragged and heavy.

Floyd stared at him with wide mismatched eyes. "Goldfishie?" He looked confused and surprisingly worried. "What happened?"

Riddle evened out his breathing and swallowed. He took a moment or two to get his thoughts together before answering. "Nothing, Floyd." He lied. "You just surprised me." It was a good enough excuse. Floyd was scary in his own right.

Floyd's eyes narrowed. "Yer lying."

It was such a blunt statement that Riddle felt a bit surpised. He recovered quickly enough to glare at him. "What makes you think that?"

"I woke up 'cause I could feel yer panic, Goldfishie. You were scared." 'Damn that eel and his hyper senses.' Riddle looked away and Floyd tilted his head. "Are ya scared of thunder storms, Goldfishie?"

Riddle didn't answer. He didn't want to. Not only would he be teased, but he would also be seen as weak. It was inevitable. Who was afraid of the goddamn weather? Not anyone with a shred of dignity, that's for sure.

But even as those negative fearful thoughts flew through his mind, a quiet "Yes..." Left his lips before he could stop it. Immediatley he froze up. This was it. He was done for.

Floyd was silent. Staring at him with olive and gold eyes. Then that lazy smile Riddle knew all too well crossed onto his face. "Aha~ Goldfishie is so cute...." Riddle expected mockery after that. Maybe a cruel laugh. But he was caught off guard when Floyd wrapped his arms around him and pulled him close.

"There's nothin' to be scared of~ It's just a storm~ And you're safe. I'm here to protect you hehee." He nuzzled into Riddle's neck and Riddle's face burned bright red. "What are you doing?"

"Making my goldfishie feel safe~" "What-" Riddle was cut off when Floyd pulled him down to rest on the pillows. He then proceeded to cling into the redhead with no intention of ever letting go. There was another clap of of thunder and Riddle gasped, cowering into the eel's chest.

Floyd just continued to smile. "It's okay, Goldfish." He paused. "Riddle." It felt strange, hearing his own name instead of that nickname coming from him. "I'm here, okay? I won't let anything hurt you."

Riddle never expected to feel comforted by Floyd of all people, but the soothing words were calming him down. Soon he felt himself slowly beginning to nod off.

A lighting bolt brightened the sky, followed by more thunder. He flinched, but this time he didn't react as badly as before. Floyd's smile was softer. More genuine. "See? It's not bad or dangerous." He whispered, stroking the sleeping redhead's hair. He closed his eyes as he sleepily trailed off.

'I love you, and I'll protect you with my life...'

-End

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Author's Note: This is a fluff story I've been wanting to post for a while, but I never had a way to do it. I'm glad I can finally share it with everyone. I hope you all enjoyed!