#even when I explain what I make and show examples they still insists like everyone has this innate agility stored deep in them

[micechicken]

I hate it when people learn that I make art and they immediately think for some ungodly reason that I MUST be a portrait artist that specializes in hyper realistic paintings on canvas.

Like no I'm a character artist

[7ndipity]

Second Glances

Yoongi x Reader

Summary: You and Yoongi have been best friends for years, but after you confess you feelings for him, Yoongi realizes he might have misread his own feelings towards you.

Word Count: 1.9K

Warnings: slight angst, swearing, lil suggestive at the end, partially proofread

A/N: Thanks so much to @whitefoxgirl for this request! Tbh, I'm not entirely happy with this, but I didn’t want to leave you hanging for ages while I nitpicked.🙄 I hope you still like it tho💜

Masterlist

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

It was a strange thing, how you could go on seeing someone the same way for years, and then all of a sudden, something happens and turns you on your head.

When Hobi had first introduced you to his fellow members after you moved to Seoul, you and Yoongi had clicked instantly, much to the surprise of everyone else. No one could quite understand it, but the two you had seemed to fit together naturally like two halves of a whole, the yin to his yang; while he was on the quieter, more introverted side, you were bright and loud, with an infectious enthusiasm. A prime example of that being the way he could hear you and Hobi before you ever entered his studio, laughing loudly as you rushed through the door ahead of his bandmate.

“There’s no way you did that!” You insisted.

“I did, I swear, we even have video of it!” Hobi argued.

“What the fuck are you two yelling about?” Yoongi asked, more amused than annoyed by the sudden noise.

“Did he actually go bungee jumping?” You asked, turning your attention to him.

“Why would I lie about that?!” Hobi exclaimed.

“Oh, that,” Yoongi deliberated for a second before smirking over at Hobi. “No, he didn’t.”

“Why are you lying?!” Hobi yelled, making you both burst into laughter. As much as Hoseok loved you and his hyung becoming friends, you were absolute menaces together, constantly teasing him and the members, as well as each other.

“Screw it, I just wanted to ask if you wanted to come with us to get something to eat?” He asked, exasperatedly.

“Sure.” Yoongi answered, still laughing slightly.

“Cool, I’m gonna go find Jimin, I’ll be right back.” He announced, heading back out the door before either of you could say anything else.

Yoongi turned his attention back to the screen in front of him as you settled on the sofa, Hobi apparently having taken your energy with him as he left, as silence suddenly fell over the room.

Yoongi glanced over at you. “You okay?”

“Hmm?” You looked up in confusion. “Yeah, why?”

“I dunno, you just got kinda quiet.” He shrugged.

You let out a small laugh. “I’m okay, I just know that you don’t like a lot of noise, so I usually try to be a little calmer when it’s just us so I won’t bug you.”

“You don’t bug me.” He said.

“No?” You looked at him doubtfully.

“Well, not a significant amount.” He smirked, making you laugh again. “You wanna see what I’m working on?”

“Really?” Your eyes lit up.

“Sure.” He said, pulling a second chair over close to his so you could both see the screen as he hit play.

Yoongi was normally quite private about his music, at least until it was finished, but he loved getting to show you his new projects, talking animatedly as you listened to part of the song, explaining how he mixed and layered the audio files, or what lines he liked best.

“So is this how you get girls?” You said, unable to resist teasing him just a little bit as he spoke.

“No,” He shot you a sly look. “I just like getting to teach you stuff.”

“Oh really?” You grinned, leaning over the arm of your chair. “You know, I don’t know how to kiss either, care to teach me that?”

Yoongi’s eyes widened, looking over at you in surprise.

“I’m just joking Yoongs!” You laughed, trying to quickly dispel any awkwardness. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“Eh, it’s okay, it boosts my ego.” He replied, grinning at you.

“Really?” You asked.

“Yeah, even if I know you’re just playing around.” He said, shooting you a quick wink, missing the way you looked away, falling silent again for a new reason.

While it was true that part of your flirty remarks were just for the sake of teasing him, enjoying the way you could so easily make him flush red, that wasn’t the case for all of them.

In the past few months, your feelings for Yoongi had shifted from those of purely a friend into something more, a fact that you had been trying to subtly bring to Yoongi’s attention, apparently without success.

You hadn’t wanted to just drop the information on him like a bomb, fully aware that he might not reciprocate, and not wanting to jeopardize your friendship, but clearly your current approach was not going to get you any type of answer.

“What if I wasn’t?” You said suddenly.

“What?” He glanced back at you, confused.

“What if I wasn’t kidding? What if I liked you?” You asked, watching him carefully.

He blinked at you. “I-, did, wait what?!”

“I know it’s probably not the best time, but I don’t know if there’ll ever be a ‘best time’ to say this.” You took a breath. “I like you, as more than a friend, and I understand if you don’t feel the same for me, but I just… I just wanted to say it.” You finished, staring down at your hands, afraid to meet his gaze.

He stared at you in complete shock, his mind scrambling to try and make sense of what you’d just said. How long had you felt this way? What did this mean for your friendship?

The seconds ticked by as the silence in the room grew nearly unbearable.

“Please say something.” You urged.

“Y/n, I-,” Yoongi sat back in his chair. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t see you that way.” He said as gently as possible.

You nodded, letting out a breath you hadn’t realized you’d been holding. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”

“I’m so sorry.” He apologized.

“It’s alright, I knew it was a long shot,” You smiled at him. “At least now I know, and we can go on as normal.”

He blinked. “Really?”

“Yeah.” You chuckled slightly at his bemused expression. “I’m a grown woman, Yoongi, I can handle a little rejection. I knew you might not feel the same, but nothing’s changed, you’re still one of my best friends. I just wanted to tell you.”

“Okay.” He said, visibly relaxing.

“Are we still okay?” You asked.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “Yeah, we’re good.”

“Cool.” You smiled, quickly changing the subject as the others came back in.

To Yoongi’s surprise, you lived up to your word, continuing on with your friendship as if nothing had ever happened, hanging out with him and other members as usual. Even that same day at lunch, no one else would’ve had an inkling of what had transpired between the two of you from the way you acted, sitting together and talking easily, still making your teasing comments here and there.

Everything was exactly the same, except it wasn’t.

It was miniscule at first, but in the weeks that had followed, it was clear that something had changed. Not you exactly, but something in the way Yoongi saw you changed; the way you laughed at something he said, or the way you smiled at him, but suddenly everything about you seemed to draw him in, leaving him questioning his words to you. Did he see you as more than a friend?

Looking back, he couldn’t deny that he’d always thought you were attractive, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was attracted to you. And maybe sometimes his heart rate picked up a little more than usual due to your flirty remarks, but that was just because you caught him off guard. It didn’t mean anything, right? It wasn’t like he caught himself thinking about you constantly or wondering about how your lips would feel against his-

What the fuck?! He shook himself, quickly glancing over at where you were sitting on his sofa, working peacefully on your laptop.

He felt like he was going crazy, like he was gaslighting himself. Was your confession really all it had taken to make him develop feelings for you? Or had they existed the whole time and he was just too blind to notice? Why couldn’t he have had this fucking revelation three weeks ago when you were sat in front of him? But of course you figured it out first, you were always more forward than he was, that was one of the things he loved about you…

Fuck.

The worst part was that you could tell something was off, but he couldn’t very well tell you what. He would look like a complete asshole if he tried to make a move on you after having rejected you, like he was just fucking around with your feelings.

“Yoongs?” Your voice suddenly snapped him back to the present, realizing he’d been staring off into space.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, turning back to his computer.

You sighed, sitting up and moving your things off to the side.

“Are we gonna talk about this?” You asked.

“About what?” He didn’t look up.

“About how weird you’ve been acting lately.” You said.

He didn’t respond, looking down.

“Look, if this is about what I said-”

“It’s not.” He denied quickly.

“Yoongi, you’ve barely even looked at me today.” He turned around, meeting your eyes as you stared at him.

“Please, just talk to me.” You pleaded.

He sighed, dragging a hand down his face. “I’m a fucking idiot.”

You waited. “Because?”

“Because I screwed up,” He said. “You told me how you felt and I said no, but now I can’t stop thinking about it and, fuck, you must hate me, I don’t know what the fuck I’m saying but I-”

His ramble was abruptly cut off by you striding across the room and crashing your lips to his, making his mind go blank. He leaned up into you, hands finding your hips to steady you as you leaned over his chair, your hands tangling in his hair, savoring the taste of your lip balm on his tongue.

Too soon for his liking, you pulled away, breathing heavily as you met his eyes.

“I definitely don’t hate you,” You breathed. “Though I do have some things to say about your communications skills.” You snickered.

“Of course you do.” He scoffed.

“We can talk about that later though.’ You smiled. “Right now, I'd rather us just cover the basics.”

You leaned in again, noting the way his breath hitched slightly.

“Do you want this?” You asked softly.

He stared up at you with dark eyes, his voice coming out as almost a whisper. “I do.”

You kissed him, pressing him back in his chair as you moved to straddle him, earning a soft grunt from him. Yoongi gripped your waist tightly, not entirely used to having someone take the lead like this, but finding himself falling into the role easily, melting against you as you pressed closer, a shiver passing through him as your tongue slipped into his mouth.

“Hey hyung, I was jus- AGH MY EYES!”

You nearly fell backwards off Yoongi’s lap at Jimin’s scream from behind you, Yoongi’s hands catching you as you both whipped around to see the younger member standing in the doorway, staring at both of you in shock.

“Do you ever fucking knock?!” Yoongi snapped.

“I was-, I-.” Not knowing how to respond, Jimin simply backed out of the room, closing the door loudly behind him, leaving you and Yoongi alone again.

“Maybe we should do this somewhere else.” You said, face flushed in embarrassment.

“Why? Now they know not to come in.” Yoongi grinned, trying to tug you closer again, but you put a hand on his chest.

“Yoongi.” You complained.

“Okay, fine” He relented. “I guess I should buy you dinner first, it’s the gentlemanly thing to do.”

“You suck.” You laughed.

“Hey, you’re the one that likes me, it’s not my fault you have shit taste.” He teased, kissing you again lightly.

“Alright then, Mr. Gentleman, buy me dinner.” You grinned against his lips.

“Yes ma’am.”

Taglist: @sopebubbles-replies @btsw1fe @this-must-be-my-tardis @whitefoxgirl @bethanysnow @coffeedepressionsoup @main-bangtansmauyeondan @captainorangegoose @k4ngelz

[stop-talking]

Breakdown of the @joshsbimbo controversy.

@mike-schmidtten already made a detailed list of every reason why people are upset with you, "lamb", but I'm going to quickly go over it all anyways because you obviously didn't get the memo.

Extreme trigger warning for this entire post, I'm going to be talking about rape, SA, assault, violence, abuse, incest, stepcest, pedophilia, substance abuse, and probably a lot more.

First of all, you tagged this fic where Mike literally rapes the reader as "cnc". That is not correct.

I mean, if we look at the definition of CNC, it says "this type of scene does not encourage ACTUAL rape. All proper scenes are done after much negotiation between of-age, consenting adults."

But I don't need to explain that to you, do I? You know what CNC is. You said yourself MONTHS ago that you tagged your fic incorrectly and NEVER went back and fixed it.

Mike's next point was that you make it impossible for people to "steer away" from their triggers when you don't tag your posts properly.

And as an example he used this post of straight up incest porn between Mike and his little sister. All completely out in the open, tagged under "#mike schmidt" and "#mike schmidt x reader" for all to see.

He followed it up this this. A plea for you to, at the bare minimum, tag the major triggers in your posts and hide it under a "read more" section.

Let's take a look at how you responded to that very reasonable request.

Oh. You DM'd him the word poop and blocked him.

Instead of reblogging to respond, you actually deleted your origional post so your followers couldn't see the criticism of you as easily. I wonder why? You made your stance clear, though. "I should have put more warnings on my work, but it doesn't matter anyways because it's all fictional." But then, immediately after, you started relogging an account that makes photoshopped foot fetish content of male celebrities for some reason...?

(I censored the feet myself because its just weird) Oh, and weird AI pictures of him, too.

There were worse ones, but I didn't screenshot everything, and you deleted these posts just a few hours after reblogging.

You followed it all up with this now-deleted post about how you wish you could make your notes private. Again, I wonder why? If it really is OKAY to sexualize incest, rape, and abuse just because it's fictional, why would people be scared to support you? Why is no one willing to publicly like your posts, or speak out in your favor? Even some of your biggest supporters (@leah-hutcherson @teenagedreamsss @cuteskunkz @renaissancebewbies) who continue to like (some) of your posts, still haven't come to your defense. If writing about fictional rape, abuse, and incest really and truly wasn't harmful, why would you need to hide?

Once other people started catching wind of what was going on, you responded in some... interesting ways. Like here, in response to this ask (from a person who is a minor BTW). You switched up your story from "I should have tagged my work better" to "everyone hates me now because I forgot to put warnings on ONE story" (which was just blatantly false, as you had been posting other triggering things at the time with no warnings whatsoever.)

It was absolutely ridiculous of you to claim you put warnings on your work when I could scroll down two posts (back before you deleted this) and see a post about Mike beating his kid.

Like... please show me where exactly the warning is?

Then, when this person, (another MINOR, btw!!) posted after reading Mike's breakdown of your behavior, your responded by DMing them a slur.

I don't even know what to say to that. A minor. A slur.

But as much as you like to INSIST your work isn't for minors, you sure seem to interact with them a lot.

This person who reblogged your masterlist? They're a minor.

^^ You can't say you don't want minors to read your work without actually taking all precautions possible to prevent them from seeing it. (Tagging your content, blocking ageless accounts, NOT REBLOGGING MINORS!!!)

Yes. This person is also a minor. Which makes, what, the 4th minor you've interacted with in the past few days? At least from what I can tell.

They also hate you btw so I don't even know why you reblogged them.

FINALLY, this user commented under one of your posts in an attempt to get you to AT LEAST tag your posts correctly if you're going to write triggering shit. (Which was the same think Mike asked you to do, if you remember, but he got "poop" and reblogs of foot fetish posts as a response.)

But then it looked like you either blocked them or removed their comment, so they tried again.

You ignored this message, then apparently posted this?

So they tried again (being much nicer that I would have)

And you finally responded (and still got blocked anyways because your posts are DISTURBING and GROSS)

I doubted you'd actually fix your page, because again, you ignored the same request when Mike asked, and in the past admitted you tagged your fics wrong but just never bothered to change it.

But surprise surprise, you actually went through with it and added trigger warnings to your content.

Though, I'm still not sure "non-serious" is an appropriate tag for a post where mike beats you to death...??

Look. I appreciate that you're at least TRYING now, but it was a fucking FIGHT to get you to do the bare minimum. What I, and apparently 84% of people actually want you to do is delete your account.

(This is from @mike-schmidtten's breakdown post from a couple days ago)

I know you want to PRETEND that just because something is a work of fiction, it doesn't have negative real-world effects, but that's just not the truth.

A lot of people were hurt when you posted things without trigger warnings.

And even now, as you continue to post fetish content for rape, incest, and abuse, people are still being hurt. MINORS are still being hurt.

Yes, obviously, if you post something on the internet, you can't completely 100% control who sees it. But you don't even seem to TRY.

(Dming minors slurs, letting minors reblog your masterlist, letting ageless accounts interact with you, reblogging minors, answering asks from minors, etc)

People, minors, CHILDREN, are raped and abused by those closest to them every day. It's disgusting and horrifying to think about, but it's the world we live in.

You aren't "helping people cope" by writing these stories. You're normalizing abuse. And allowing the most vulnerable people to read it.

You're taking actual things that have happened to real people, and sexualizing it for others to get off to. It's immoral, disturbing, and disgusting.

To my followers, if any of you support this kind of content, you are NOT welcome on my page. Please unfollow or block me and go seek help.

And to you, lamb, I hope you come to your senses and either delete all of your rape & incest fetish content or delete your account entirely.

At the end of the day, you KNOW you're in the wrong. Or at least some small part of you does, or you wouldn't have been afraid to reblog Mike's post and respond defending yourself directly. And you wouldn't be afraid to reblog mine either, which you undoubtedly will.

I know you used to follow me, so maybe you'll take this all to heart. But probably not.

I won't block you. (for the next few days, at least). I'll be here if you want to try and have a civil discussion. But just know I will NEVER agree with the sexualization & glorification of violence and abuse.

[mxtxfanatic]

Jc stans whining about being bullied out of the fandom when they should have been bullied out of the Wei Wuxian’s wiki:

Or Jiang Cheng’s wiki:

Or the official release of the novel like:

when it said that Jiang Fengmian showed favoritism towards Wei Wuxian over Jiang Cheng in the character descriptions

when it reworked the section where the novel says Jiang Cheng "has no love in him"

when they were omitting lines of text that reflected unfavorably on Jiang Cheng (just one example of this happening in one of the volumes).

Slick diction will get you every time if you don't stop to think about why the writer has chosen a specific word choice. Whoever's been doing the bullying has obviously not been doing a good job. Explanations with evidence under the cut:

Jiang Cheng doesn't "insist" on carrying Wei Wuxian; Wei Wuxian is carried onto him and he carries him out because he thinks Wei Wuxian's reaction to the pain will make him look bad:

After the beating finished, Lan WangJi silently stood up and walked outside after saluting toward the the disciples in the ancestral hall, showing no evidence that he had been injured. Wei WuXian was the exact opposite. After he was carried onto Jiang Cheng’s back, he groaned for the whole way. ... (break where wwx is explaining why he was punished to the others) "...Jiang Cheng, walk slower. You’re almost shaking me off.” Jiang Cheng wanted to not only shake him off, but, even more so, to make a few man-shaped dents on the ground by slamming his head down, “Is simply carrying you not up to your standards?!” Wei WuXian, “I never asked you to carry me, in the beginning.” Jiang Cheng was enraged, “If I don’t carry you, you’d probably stay in their ancestral hall and roll on the ground all day long. I don’t have that thick of a face to lose! Lan WangJi even had fifty more strikes than you, and he even walked by himself. Yet, you have the nerve to pretend that you’re crippled. I don’t want to carry you any more. Get off, now!” Wei WuXian, “No, I’m wounded.”

—Chapt. 18: Refinement, exr

Wei Wuxian doesn't "insist" on being Jiang Cheng's subordinate. He is giving Jiang Cheng a pep talk about how he will never replace him after Madam Yu accuses him of being Jiang Fengmian's bastard child in front of Jiang Cheng:

Jiang Cheng was stuck between his father and his mother. After a moment of hesitation, he moved to his mother’s side. Holding his shoulders, Madam Yu pushed him forward for Jiang FengMian to see, “Sect Leader Jiang, it seems that some things I have to say. Look carefully—this, is your own son, the future head of Lotus Pier. Even if you frown upon him just because I was the one who bore him, his surname is still Jiang! ... I don’t believe for one second that you haven’t heard of how the outside people gossips, that Sect Leader Jiang has still not moved on from a certain Sanren though so many years have passed, regarding the son of his old friend as a son of his own; they’re speculating if Wei Ying is your...” ... [Wei Wuxian] hopped off the fence, “And, who said that being a sect leader means that you have to go along with the style of the sect? There have been so many sect leaders in the YunmengJiang Sect, I don’t believe at all that everyone was the same. Even the GusuLan Sect had an outlier like Lan Yi, but who would deny her position and her abilities? When talking about the famous cultivators of the Lan Sect, who could skip over her? Who could skip over her Chord Assassination technique?” Jiang Cheng was silent, as though he had finally become calmer. Wei WuXian put his hand on his shoulder again, “In the future, you’ll be the sect leader, and I’ll be your subordinate, like your father and my father. So what if the GusuLan Sect has its Two Jades? The Yunmeng Jiang Sect will have its Two Prides! So, shut up. Who said that you don’t deserve to be the sect leader? Nobody can say this, even you can’t either. If you do you’re looking for a beating.”

—Chapt. 56: Poisons, exr

Wei Wuxian doesn't "insist" on giving his golden core to Jiang Cheng. He is coerced into it by the debt invoked by the Jiang leaders before their deaths to protect Jiang Cheng with his life, and at that moment, Jiang Cheng was determined to die if he had to live without a golden core:

Wei WuXian, “Do you really want to die?” Jiang Cheng, “I can’t seek revenge even when I’m alive. Why shouldn’t I die? Maybe I’ll be able to turn into a ferocious ghost.” Wei WuXian, “You’ve been undergoing soul-calming ceremonies ever since you were young. You won’t be able to turn into a ferocious ghost even after you die.” Jiang Cheng, “If I can’t seek revenge no matter if I’m dead or alive, then what’s the difference between the two?” After he said this, he wouldn’t speak again no matter what. Wei WuXian sat by the bed. He looked at him for a while. Slapping his knees, he stood up and began to busy himself. When evening came, he had finally finished making a meal. He placed everything onto the table, “Get up. It’s time for dinner.” Of course, Jiang Cheng ignored him. Wei WuXian sat in front of the table. He picked up his own chopsticks, “If you don’t replenish your strength, how can we go take back your golden core?”

—Chapt. 60: Poisons, exr

Jiang Cheng doesn't return Chenqing "once the truth of his golden core is revealed." He returns it mid-battle because Wei Wuxian's whistling wasn't strong enough to effectively contain Nie Mingjue's corpse. After the battle, he simply doesn't demand it back.

Lan XiChen turned the direction in which his blade pointed, while Wei WuXian and Lan WangJi sped up their melodies as well. But the effects of the whistle had already been overcome. It would be much harder than before for it to take effect again. At this point, somebody on the side suddenly called, “Wei WuXian!” Wei WuXian answered immediately, “What?” Only after he answered did he realize that the one who called him was Jiang Cheng. Wei WuXian felt somewhat surprised. Jiang Cheng didn’t respond directly. Instead, he took something out from his sleeve and tossed. Wei WuXian caught it by instinct and looked, only to find a black, gleaming flute along with a crimson tassel. It was the ghoul flute, Chen Qing! ... Remembering that Jiang Cheng was the one who brought it, he turned over there and commented casually, “Thanks.” He waved Chenqing, “I’ll... be keeping this?” Jiang Cheng glanced at him, “It was yours in the first place.”

—Chapt. 108, exr

Jiang Cheng didn't "feel gratitude" towards the Wen siblings for saving and protecting him. He owed them gratitude due to his life debt and for a debt for aiding him in reclaiming his parents' bodies and home. He repays neither:

Jiang Cheng’s brows were knitted. He rubbed the vein that throbbed at his temple and soundlessly took in a deep breath, “... I apologize to all of the Sect Leaders. Everyone, I’m afraid you don’t know that the Wen cultivator whom Wei WuXian wanted to save was called Wen Ning. We owe him and his sister Wen Qing gratitude for what happened during the Sunshot Campaign.”

...

With Sandu, he pointed at Wen Ning who lay on the ground, “The only way of making up for things is for us to end things before they get the chance to!” Wei WuXian, “End what?” Jiang Cheng, “You burn this corpse right now and return to them all these leftovers of the Wen Sect. That’s the only way to make the subject die!” As he spoke, he raised his sword again, preparing to attack. However, Wei WuXian clenched his wrist, “Are you joking?! If we return Wen Qing and the others to them, they’d meet nothing but a dead end!” Jiang Cheng, “I doubt you’ll even return all of them. Why do you care what kind of end they meet? A dead end it is, then—what does it have to do with you?!”

—Chapt. 73: Recklessness, exr

Jiang Cheng forgives Jin Zixuan because he wants an alliance with the Jin Clan, and his sister's marriage is his bargaining chip.

All the times Jiang Cheng has physically assaulted Jin Ling, along with how the boy views his uncle

[babytarttdoodoo]

Can you write one of Jamie showing up to training sick and the team has to convince him to go home? Then someone takes him home (I want it to be Roy even though Roy probably shouldn't leave training when he's in charge for Roy/Jamie shipping reasons, but all the lads wanting to care of him would also be nice)

Who needs realism when we can have fluff? I went a bit off script but I hope you still enjoy it.

Thank you for the prompt!

(Prompt Fill Masterpost)

—

Isaac was generally the first player to arrive for training at Nelson Road. He tried to set a good example, being captain and all that.

Jamie, despite living closer to the grounds than most, usually strolled in with less than 10 minutes left to get changed and out on the field.

It used to annoy members of the team, Isaac included. These days, he knew that Jamie and Roy had extra early workout sessions together and that Jamie was just genuinely awful at managing his time in the mornings. It was fine - he never held anyone else up.

But it was therefore extremely surprising to find him in the locker room a full hour before training was due to start, dressed to play and slumped halfway into his cubby.

“Alright, bruv?” Isaac gave him a cautious nod and dropped his stuff at his section of the bench. “What are you doing here?”

Jamie was slow to answer, blinking bleary eyes at Isaac and apparently needing a minute to take in the question.

He sniffed. “... training, innit?”

“Yeah…” Isaac affirmed, frowning at his rough voice and general dishevelled state. “Don’t normally see you this early, though.”

Jamie hummed and nodded like that was a fair observation.

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Well, that probably went some way to explaining the state of him. There were dark smudges under Jamie’s eyes and his hair, rather than carefully styled in the swept-back quiff he’d taken to lately, hung limp and unkempt over his forehead.

He looked kind of terrible, actually.

Roy wouldn’t have let him come in if there was anything seriously wrong, though. That much, Isaac was sure of.

He hadn’t been overly surprised when the pair had told the team they were together. There had always been a weird level of intensity between the two and more than one person over the years had quietly speculated that at least some of it was down to sexual tension.

Any worries about how it would affect team dynamics had simmered down quick enough, too. If anything, they both seemed to overcompensate at work to make sure they couldn’t be accused of dropping the ball, so to speak.

But they did obviously spend their mornings together, training or otherwise, even if they arrived on different schedules. And though Roy was still hard on Jamie as a coach, he was also exceedingly protective as a boyfriend.

If something more than a bad night’s sleep were at play, he would have insisted Jamie stayed home.

Still, Isaac kept a careful eye and ear out while he went through his routine of getting ready. It probably wouldn’t be the worst thing for Jamie to fall asleep where he sat and get a quick nap in, but it was best to be ready to catch him if he toppled off the bench in the process.

Dani was the next to arrive, far too perky for the early hour and seemingly not phased by Jamie’s presence. His smile did dim at the lack of response to his bright greeting but Isaac caught his eye and gestured for him to keep it down a bit.

The message was received and passed on through silent glances and elaborate head tilts as more players filtered in, a collective effort to let Jamie close his eyes and snooze overriding the usual rambunctious atmosphere. Isaac was very proud.

Nate was the first of the coaching staff to arrive. He looked confused at the lack of rabble in the room and his gaze followed everyone else’s to see Jamie snoring softly. They all shushed him frantically when he opened his mouth to clearly try and rouse him.

Isaac, Sam and Colin beckoned him over to the other side of the room.

“What’s up with Jamie?” he asked quietly, looking between them.

“Just said he didn’t sleep well.” Isaac shrugged. “He was in before me. Seemed kind of out of it.”

“He doesn’t look alright.” Colin put in, frowning over at their pale and sleeping teammate.

“Have you heard from Roy today?” Sam asked Nate, worry pinching the corners of his eyes. “He must know if something is wrong.”

“I haven’t.” Nate checked his phone but shook his head. “No, nothing. They don’t always come in together, though.”

“But they train in the mornings.” Dani whisper-shouted from his end of the bench, clearly listening in and echoing Isaac’s own thought processes from earlier.

“It could be that Jamie did not sleep because they had a fight…?” Richard ventured reluctantly, holding up his hands in defence when the room hissed at him in disgust. “Just a suggestion!”

“If Jamie were angry or upset, he would be running laps or sulking, not sleeping.” Sam pointed out.

“And they wouldn’t bring that shit into work.” Isaac stated with surety.

Nate looked back at Jamie and checked the time on his watch.

“We’ll need to wake him up soon and make sure he’s okay. He can’t just sleep in here all day.” He peered over into the coaches’ office and looked relieved to see movement. “I think Beard’s arrived - I’ll go see if he’s got any ideas.”

The air of respectful quiet had shifted to uncertain worry as everyone started to question, internally or amongst themselves, exactly why Jamie was so exhausted. He didn’t have the best track record with open communication when something was wrong.

Could there be something up between him and Roy?

As if on cue, their manager stalked into the locker room and was immediately taken aback by the subdued environment. He stopped dead in the doorway and scowled.

“What the fuck’s up with you lot?”

“Roy?” Jamie stirred and opened his eyes to a squint in search of the familiar voice. Roy’s head immediately snapped to the side and took in Jamie’s half-reclined form.

“You look like shit.” Only years of experience let Isaac pick up on the surprise and concern in Roy’s voice. Vague worries about trouble in paradise dissipated immediately.

Jamie - predictably - pouted up at him. “‘S not nice.”

The slurred speech sent Roy’s eyebrows flying up in alarm and his emotions suddenly became a lot more visible to the untrained eye. He quickly pressed the back of his hand against Jamie’s forehead, cursing quietly at whatever he felt there.

“Fucking hell, Jamie. You could have called me.”

“Were you not together?” Sam asked, now also clearly edging back towards distress. Nate and Beard emerged from the office at the new wave of commotion.

Roy shook his head. “No. Phoebe’s been staying at mine while she’s off school with the flu. Told this idiot to go home last night and get some proper sleep.”

He sighed and, despite his harsh words, gently smoothed back Jamie’s hair.

“You’re supposed to tell someone when you catch the plague, you muppet.”

Jamie just whined pitifully and leaned into the contact so hard he almost slumped right off the bench. Half the team jolted in place with aborted attempts to catch him.

Roy was right there, though, and easily tipped him back to a safe sitting position, grip steady.

“Alright, prima donna. Let’s get you home.” He looked over to Nate and Beard. “You two good to get things started? I can be back in an hour or two.”

“Take your time.” Beard gave him a firm nod and Nate mumbled his agreement, brow furrowed at the scene. “We got this.”

Declan swept in to help pack up Jamie’s things as Roy cajoled him to his feet and slid an arm around his waist to keep him upright. He accepted the duffle bag with a grateful grunt and started shuffling his boyfriend towards the exit.

“Let us know if you need anything, yeah?” Isaac demanded when they were finally underway.

Roy looked back over his shoulder and half-smiled at the room of worried eyes staring back at him. “Will do, captain. Keep an eye on the rest of them for me.”

[pookielious]

Everything Richard Cameron did was a grief response to Neil's death and vaild, Neil's death was impacted on everyone especially on charlie and todd BUT it was also impacted cameron to the extent it moved along the storyline

Before I get into why it was vaild we have to look at his relationship with Neil, it's basically established that all of the poets (- todd ofc) has known each for at least a year prior to the events of the movie,charlie is roomed with cameron which he wasn't excited about most likely due to him being a goody too shoes and a avid rule follower, neil himself even says that he's tackles and born with a foot in his mouth so clearly he isn't one of the more favorite friends

However neil can be seen attempting to include cameron is group activities for example they are talking about restarting the dead poet society, and he agrees to join after neil insists on him joining, Neil was basically the only poet to not act annoyed by him for a good chunk of the film unlike charlie who's always ripping on him for one thing or another

As the poet society thrives you can see more and more of cameron being more loose about the rules and alot more scenes were he's clearly happy and getting along with the others alot more

There is some grey area after the play its unknown what he did after since he wasnt with the rest of the group during the deleted meeting with ginny and chris but eventually we get to the day after Neil's death, it's also unclear exactly what he'd been doing that morning but it's safe to assume he wasn't not around when the others went to tell todd, but after we see Todd's reaction it's cut to the assembly with the rest of the school and clearly like all of the poets he's devastated by the news of Neil's death; it's unclear if he'd already known about it similar to the other boys or if he'd learned right before/during the assembly

Oh course like all of the poets at the time he was clearly vulnerable at the time, we aren't sure alot of what happened with cameron most of this time but we do know he did tell nolan just about everything about the club which is the main reason alot of the fandom is mad at him for which is valid BUT we still have to consider he's still a child, going through as much grief as the others AND that he basically lost on of the only people in his friend group that was actually nice to him alot of the him and that actively showed interest in wanting to include him in things,Neil's death makes a rivet in the group and caneron isolated himself, taking comfort in the rules again and the stability that they'd offer in his life that's seems to be falling apart, of course die to his comfort in the rules and the stress it caused he tells nolan everything about the club most likely thinking that that mightve been the only thing he could to to save his friends in the club and himself even though it'd throw Keating under the bust

Personally I don't think it would've been cameron to be the one who blamed Keating it most likely would've been mr perry due to his distain for Keating due to the night before; Mr perry clearly blames Keating for Neil's death and his love for acting shown in the deleted funeral scene they talk in, cameron was most likely convinced into saying it was Keating so somebody besides nolan was to blame, as charlie said that the trustees of the school wouldn'tve let the death slide and the school would've most likely been closed do to some sort of negligents

Cameron who was already stressed about the situation goes to his friends, the people he was trying to save by saying it was Keating, his whole speech about how they shouldn't ruin their lives pretty much explained itself

In conclusion he wasn't manipulative (cough cough villain wiki) or a antagonist he was just a guy going though a thought time like the rest of the group, his response to it was just different; the rest of the poets of vaild for being mad but the fandoms over hatred for him and the villainization wasn't deserved ty for reading🛐🛐

He's so silly

[makingspiritualityreal]

Firstly, I love your posts soo much!!

Maybe it is the effect of pluto and sun transiting the Aquarius!! that I have an idea..just hear me out.

I wish there were some free open astrology forums that helped people by telling them one positive life event that individual can look forward to based on their charts.

In fact, it would be so nice if the predictive astrology could start offering predictions about more positive events to look forward to such that it becomes slightly easy to bear with what's happening at the present.

Just saying...

💛

Are Predictions Important in Astrology?

I appreciate your message, and it is an excellent time to talk about my perspective on the subject.

I am not a fan of predictive Astrology. I say this as a person who completely understands how it is to feel such despair that you feel like you can't go on another second without having the assurance that your life will get better soon. That's also why people turn to more abstract means of divination, such as tarot.

However, these tools should be used to understand the flow of your life and what your current growth path is about. They're not a take out menu that you pick from. Insistence on predictions has caused many astrologers to be treated very instrumentally. Some people think a psychic is someone who's supposed to just deliver the version of the future that the client is going to like to hear. "you will get married in a year and it will be a June wedding" yeah right lol.

I know many good astrologers. I have yet to see even the best ones I know make a single accurate prediction. When events such as death, loss or illnesses in my family were happening, it was always a surprise. We're not supposed to know such things. Fun fact, my psychic abilities were tingling, up to a year ahead even, but I always ignored them in key moments.

I will explain it to you through an example. My mother died prematurely when I was barely out of high school. She was a single mother, and her death put me on the outs with the rest of my family, that showed their true colours in a difficult situation. It was a shock to everyone because she was very physically healthy and fit, and way too young to die and yet it happened.

A year before her death, she left me alone for the summer in the condo where I grew up with her. I was working in my hometown at that time, in between college semesters, and she found an extra paid summer job with some of our family members that live abroad. It was the first time in my life, that I was without her for that long, and to be frank, I loved the independence, like any very young person does when you let them "off the leash". I remember very clearly the day she left. We used to have family pictures taped to a glass door on a living room cabinet. My grandfather was an avid photographer and we always had plenty of photos with him around. One of the pictures was a close up of my eyes. Because the glass cabinet was positioned close to the living room window, the sun was always streaming in on it. That can cause discoloration in printed photos. On that day, the picture of my eyes had the sun leave long marks on it in such a way, that they looked like tears.

I believe this to be the strongest psychic experience I've ever had, even though I still had years of spiritual learning ahead of me at that point. Because upon seeing that picture, I knew my mom was going to die, and that it was going to cause grief in my life, even though it took over a year for that prediction to come true. I never told anyone about it, and never took that feeling seriously.

Why? Because it was so unbelievable. Because logic was against it. Because I had my own personal feelings and egoic consciousness, that had completely different feelings and desires about my life circumstances. And because it wasn't yet the time of my life when I was mature enough to treat my spiritual journey seriously.

And that is how it was meant to be at the time. Looking back on it now, I remember the feeling of prediction more as a moment of awareness. It was like seeing an inevitable chain of events unfold. Something in my consciousness was smart enough to be able to see so far ahead. Spiritually, I believe it was a warning from my spirit guides, and in a way a friendly one. "Get used to being alone and handling life alone for more than one summer vacation because it's soon gonna become your reality". But I couldn't take it seriously, because my mom and I were fighting a lot at that time, so missing her was not what I had in mind at all. I craved independence, and that feeling was my reality, which I took more seriously than some abstract premonition. In a way, knowing didn't really help me at all in the moment.

And that situation shows perfectly what the problem is with predictions. Human beings are limited by their egos and their flaws and their lack of perspective. That makes them reject whatever doesn't currently fit into their narrative. People don't want a real prediction. They want to hear they're going to get the cookie they're craving. Then they want it over and over and over again.

I understand my journey now, so many years after all these events. But it took so much growing up, that no prediction would ever fix.

There is always something to look forward to in life. Don't try to control it, and let it come to you. When the Universe wants to put you through a certain experience, it will, and there is nothing you can do about it.

[aressida]

My entry: "To all families, all I wanted to say here is that, you must truly hate what’s left of your face to challenge me." - Aressida. 20.11.23.

Being restorative from all family alienation and trauma.

Families on both sides continue to cling to us year after year as a means of coercion and automatic redemption cards, but they might be clever if they were valued for who they are without feeling obligated or under pressure.

Hurt must still be recognized, though. When I do this, they know it irritates them.

"I don't like the way you deliver anger!" My mother-in-law got to her feet and gestured at me with a finger. When she did that, I literally barely got three words out. "Sarcastic!" Oh, she have no idea...

Try two decades. 20 long years.

She was the one who insisted on shifting the subject and preventing me from telling my side of the tale.

Please know that since you depend on me to be fair during our initial conversation, I will seize the opportunity to expose you.

For example, the way they consistently undermine authority, lead to conflicts in allegiance, and impede communication within the family. Then, as if it were our responsibility to get better and not theirs, they started sending us encouraging and self-help emails and texts.

All of it stems from an unreasonable dread of the judge, which is absent from "The Family." It's not even real.

I bring this up to ask whether the family has been able to evaluate their previous conduct and pinpoint areas where they may have made changes as a result of this time off.

Where is your introspection? Self-awareness? Examine your behaviors and actions in great detail?

It may be quite annoying when family members refuse to even admit that they are part of the problem. I get physically nauseous thinking about them "wondering why" we no longer talk to them, no matter how many times I tell them why they act like victims and play stupid.

Every time we try to reestablish boundaries and become better, the family talks down to us and challenges our way of thinking. Yes, you still need to show us that you genuinely care about us, even if I know you love us. Give your own approval to the other person instead of seeking YOUR own.

You show disdain towards our feelings. Stop. This is not about you. You always seem to find yourself defending your conduct in every interaction. Either you deliberately try to drive people apart or you make an effort to get along and work together thoroughly.

Because only my fiancé and myself are the only deaf members of the family, we often find out about family plans last, and often we will not even give them an opportunity to talk to us. They arranged us last. They should understand how immature that is as mature individuals.

The boundaries put in place as a result of the family's unwillingness to acknowledge the abuse and neglect that occurred there and the extent to which it harmed everyone's well-being and sense of value.

They are aware of this.

Not only did they give us the silent treatment outright, but a few of them even got other family members to assist in the same behavior. More often than one can count.

Similarly, when they ignored my family letter and pretended nothing had happened, it is also unacceptable. Without realizing that "family politics" was not at stake, they went on to recruit other individuals to join them in their struggle.

Why are they searching for supplies that may be obtained by taking advantage of the weaknesses of their preferred target and the sympathy of others?

That there is an obvious attempt to gain favor by discrediting the victim is intolerable.

No more games.

There should be an end to devaluation games and tactics like projection, belittling, manipulation, guilt, blaming, deflection, and passive-aggressive behavior.

This explains why it is evident that the family was already collapsing.

A narrative, are you game?

Out of jealousy, an older sister likes to tease and harass her little sister in front of everyone of their family and friends. All due to a skewed feeling of one's own significance, excessive arrogance, and a flattery-seeking impulse.

"Why are you letting her ostracize me from the family?" was the question I wanted to put to everyone in the family, especially my mother. However, nobody was eager to pay attention. All of it as a result of micromanaging my small existence, pitchforking, hidden putdowns, stonewalling, gaslighting, emotional neglect, and, most of all, being absent.

Are you aware of what an invisible child is? What does it mean for a child to be invisible?

I was that individual. I was called a scapegoat, alienated person, and problem child because of my deafness, inexperience, and early age.

Let me tell you why.

She would frequently give me negative feedback and pushback, which made me doubt my own worth and competence and made me second-guess my decisions and my judgment, all left me feeling stuck in a negative loop, useless, and without hope.

My family progressively undermined my confidence, leaving me with intense feelings of bewilderment and disorientation.

I personally believed that my sister's previous microaggressions were deliberate because it was subsequently implied that she hated and detested me as a youngest sister.

For what reason would my family not accept that I was traumatized as a child?

If my family acknowledges that I was traumatized as a child, then they must acknowledge that they failed as a family and did not shield me from harm when I was a child.

Because of this deep-seated fear, I also drift apart from other people as I become older. It is tough to stay composed when you are rejected without explanation. As a child, it worried me so much that I could not even begin to grasp why.

Growing up depressed, I mourned mostly by myself, learned to accept who I am, and realized that, under the circumstances, I had done the best I could have. To get my peace of mind back, I had to spend years learning how to put my trauma behind me and work toward recovery and health.

This explains why no one in the family, on either side, wants to own up to their wrongdoing and rudeness. That is on them.

You see why I refuse to let my daughters grow up in this poisonous family environment for this reason. May they find peace.

[newspropaganda]

So let me get this straight. The reason Yoshida get's hated for DOMA was due to the fact it was an anime original arc meant to call out Takahashi's mistakes with Atem around Season zero than Battle City or Duelist Kindgom? That explaine why the fandom can't even think about the fact Yoshida was never apolgies for 5D's post-Dark Signer since he knew that the real people of the show whould aways be honest than dishonest. DOMA was likekly hated due to fanboys gatekeeping the manga and spreading missinformation towards the show and people like that Des Shinta guy actually blamed 4kids since she is american.

How old is this question even? 24 Days?

The reason for that is because Yoshida, despite his flaws, is often targeted by woke feminists who either hate or love him. Even some men dislike him because he was one of the few who exposed the hypocrisy of social justice warriors and gatekeepers, like Duel Monsters fanboys, for their insecurities. One of the key reasons Yoshida isn’t as bad as people make him out to be is that he often uses shock factor to wake up his fans to the harsh realities of life. It’s not his fault that society is bad—society has always been divided and poorly managed by people, not just based on color.

People who blame Yoshida for misogyny, xenophobia, or terrorism haven’t looked deeper. All they do is whine and scream about him because their only goal is to tear him down. Honestly, I have more issues with tokusatsu writers like Naruhisa Arakawa and Shoji Yonemura than I do with Yoshida.

But most of the blame towards Yoshida seems to revolve around his writing and accusations of sexism, which feel like the same copy-and-paste complaints over and over. For example, Dylan from YGO Everything never made a video explaining why Shin Yoshida always relies on shock factor instead of info-dumping all the time. I think the reason Dylan hasn’t made a video on this is because it’s hard for him to think critically—his brain has probably turned to mush after years of promoting nonsense.

What you mentioned about Des Shinta calling out 4Kids is like he's more unhinged on his channel than actually focusing on the topic. Go check his Doma series if it's still there—100% of the time, he's just trash-talking 4Kids in all his videos. It’s like he can't realize that 4Kids had nothing to do with the sub version of Yu-Gi-Oh! Most of his information is fake, too, since he can’t even explain why he brings up broadcasting channels when it's clear that Yu-Gi-Oh! in the West was never popular through reruns. The dude lied about not being able to reply to comments, even though most of them are still there for everyone to see. He claimed he couldn’t respond because of his old computer, but he seems perfectly fine blocking people when they criticize tokusatsu.

My experience with Des Shinta has been toxic. He can’t drop his 4Kids bias long enough to explain things simply and keeps sugarcoating the hate, like he’s being controlled by his government. No wonder America is falling apart—most people aren’t even listening to their own sense of justice. He also keeps insisting that Kamen Rider W is the peak of tokusatsu, but it’s really not it's just a stupid Decetive show about yoai bois vs terrorists.

[an-inspired-eternity]

talk about damon’s autism induced gifted kid syndrome in excruciating detail challenge go

HE’S SO. HE’S SO. HRGH.

damon acts like a pretentious prick, but unlike, say.. togami, (or even wenona, as an example to someone from damon’s home game), there’s hints that there’s more to it than just “being pretentious for the sake of being pretentious”. 

most obviously, damon desperately insists that his talent is important and special. that, plus the way damon talks of most everyone else’s talents, to me, really gives the impression that he grew up being told/thinking that he HAD to contribute to the world/society in order to have a place in it (and given that he also hadn’t heard of any of the other ultimates in his class, it’s possible he was very sheltered, too.)

(and we will come back to damon’s view of his talent and the importance of it.)

damon’s bio mentions also how socially isolated he was, that he’d argue back to anyone who tried to confront him and got used to the idea of being alone- and it shows with how he acts in the prologue. he’s so used to being alone that when he thinks he’s being isolated again he just accepts it. doesn’t fight back or try to do anything about it. 

but there’s still hints that, despite being used to it, he does desire company.

(a one-off line, but the impression it gives is.. a little sad, to say the least. i’ve kinda not made a post about it but this entire introduction with desmond made me desire for the two to be friends, to the point i wrote a fic about it.)

as for damon’s copium.. i think the prologue investigation is the best example, because talking to the other characters before he reaches the closet, he keeps insisting to them that the body’s just “a dummy, you don’t need to be so freaked out by it.”, which given that we’re told it was based on a real murder in-universe, does come off insensitive..

..until we see damon also trying to convince himself of that. even looking back over what the trinket tells them about the murder, he’s uncomfortable about reading what cara went through, and he has to keep himself from being physically ill when investigating the actual dummy. he’s scared. but he hides his discomfort behind a cool attitude.

coming back to damon’s attitude on his talent, the ending of the prologue.. really stuck out to me, for a number of reasons. the main one being.. god i have been in that position, not quite to that degree, but being in an argument and trying to explain my case, only to make it worse for myself? the rsd that comes from that sucks, and especially because for as much as damon made it worse, he was genuinely trying to help and believed he had the right idea. but also..

grace asks damon the big question, what makes him so special? what gives him the right to act the way he does? believing he’s so much more important than everyone else?

and that’s the thing, if damon truly believed without any doubt that his talent and he by extension was so special and important, he wouldn’t have faltered in his answer (even the voiceline for his response is the one where he stammers), he wouldn’t feel those words shaking his very being. 

damon has convinced himself that he’s important, that his talent shines above all the rest, because he’s scared of the alternative. he’s clung to his talent his entire life because it’s all he has. because he’s convinced that without his talent, he’s nothing. just some nobody in the crowd.  he’s dug himself into this hole because he doesn’t know any other alternative.

i really hope chapter 1 lets us see damon be more vulnerable, take away atleast some of that wall he hides behind, most importantly i hope that damon doesn’t actually end up as isolated as he thinks he’s going to be by the end of the prologue. he needs people to support him and show him he doesn’t have to think this way, that he’s worth more than his talent.

[dragonsareourfuture]

Ways the Death Note Cast Show They Trust You

I lost some inspiration towards the middle there, I’m sorry!!

L

- he will always have Watari make extra servings of food just for you. It’s a bit startling at first. So suddenly there’s just food in front of you that you think is for L, but when you push it towards him, he pushes it right back to you.

“You don’t want it?” He’d ask, leaving you confused until you finally put the pieces together.

“Oh, I…I guess I didn’t realize it was for me. My bad.” You begin eating. “Thank you.”

L simply hums and continues with whatever he was just up to.

- You know that thing cats do where they’re sitting perfectly still, eyes closed, guard slightly down, but still not quite asleep? I can picture L doing something like this during any moment of downtime he gets. Just sitting, scrunched up in his chair or wherever he happens to be, eyes closed but the cogs in his brain are still turning. You notice him doing this when it is only you and him in the room, simply thinking it’s because of the moment of rare solitude. Little do you know, it’s because he trusts that you won’t hurt him or let anything bad happen to him.

- L is a person who prefers to be in charge of his own life. He likes knowing what’s going on around him at all times and when things are out of his hands he can’t help but feel uncomfortable. However, with a person he’s developed a close relationship with and knows he can trust with everything he has, L will feel more comfortable leaving decisions up to them. You’ll have to start small though, like being the one to plan a surprise date. He might feel a bit uncomfy at the beginning, shifting around and possibly even insisting he sit so that he can see the exits clearly, but he eases into it eventually. Soon you both find yourselves joking around in the odd way that you do and gorging on cake and ice cream.

Mello

- being vulnerable is something Mello isn’t too keen on. He already feels vulnerable most of the time and would kick himself if he let that show through his actions. If Mello truly trusts you, he will feel as though he can be vulnerable around you without any judgement on your end. Small acts that show vulnerability such as asking you to help him with something he can’t quite handle on his own — even if it’s something as simple as not being able to reach something off a shelf or being unsure about how to fix something. Eventually, he’ll work his way up to the bigger stuff like being physically wounded in front of you or having a mental block.

- Sharing his clothes with you or letting you pick his outfit for him. Now, it sounds like he’s just being a little diva and that’s only partially true. But his clothes are important to him, they’re a factor that sets him aside from his plain-dressing rival and in his eyes they make him more interesting than him, visually at least. He’s happy to dress you up, and it is true that he has to have a close relationship with you to want to do so, but you should be especially proud if he lets you alter his appearance in any way.

- He likes to believe that he’s had his goals set out from the beginning. Surpass Near, become the next L, and go on from there. What he pushes to the back of his brain are the moments he’s been studying and he’s asked himself ‘What if I went down a different path?’. He quickly pushes these thoughts away, but they keep coming back. What would life be like if this wasn’t an option for him? What if he were a writer? What if he lived in the city with people he loves and went to the movies every Friday? Unwillingly, he has a whole list of possibilities. If he truly trusts you, he’ll share every single one with you. Whether it’s dropping hints or confessing them one by one late at night, he can’t help but feel that they’re safe with you.

Misa

- it seems a bit surface level, but it’s true — Misa will talk down on Light in front of you if she trusts you. But it’s not straight away. She had developed a lot of courage to actually break up with him, but that doesn’t mean she doesn’t still doubt her decision to do so. It’s only when she finds out from you how loved ones are supposed to treat each other — with kindness and respect — that she feels her decision to ditch Light was the entirely right one. Slowly, she’ll start to admit to you all the things she hated about Light, starting with some of his mannerisms and building up to something like how he forced her to leave the entertainment business.

- Misa is…dramatic. She likes to go above and beyond for someone she’s infatuated with and make sure they’re the happiest they can be. If she trusts you enough to develop this kind of infatuation and, with some development, less of an obsession and more of a strong, bonding love, you will be doted on to the point where it’s almost ridiculous. You could be at home during one of her work days and you’ll get a delivery of lunch from your favorite takeout place because Misa was ‘thinking of you <3’, as she explains when you text her asking why food randomly showed up at your place. It’s rather sweet.

- Misa’s a pretty talkative person in general, that’s a well known fact. She’ll talk about clothes, a cute birdie she saw on her way home, really anything that comes to mind. But, she’ll do that with about anyone who’ll listen. It’s gradual, so it’s hard to notice, but if Misa grows to trust you she’ll start talking about some of the more serious things that have been on her mind for a while, those things that she thought would scare off anyone she liked because of how personal they are to her. Her family before they died, for example. It’s something that Misa thinks about. So much. But she doesn’t really talk about it. She wants to forget, put the past behind her but because she’s never talked about it with anyone it’s hard to do that. She’ll talk about her family to you, the little things her sister used to do and some things her parents did that she misses.

Matsuda

- Matsuda often begins to idolize those who he thinks are trustworthy and have a good heart. He starts to tell you how much he loves when you do x and that he wishes he could perform as well as you in that area. In a sense, he trusts you with his vulnerability, letting you know that he thinks of himself as less than satisfactory and how he wishes he could do better, only he channels it by pointing out good things about you. If…that makes sense.

- This sounds dire, but he’ll risk his life for the people he completely, without a doubt trusts. He was willing to do so with Chief Yagami, someone he saw as a father figure, and he would certainly be willing to do so with you, someone who he feels he has a deep emotional connection to. Whether you’re in a situation where he would need to or he’s just saying that he would, he means it.

- Matsuda trusts you to not make fun of him when he overshares or talks too much or anything his coworkers brush him off for. He feels that he can talk about things he finds funny and talk about his life without worrying about what you think of him when he does.

Matt

- he would drop everything to help you. Whether that’s dropping his game to help you kill a bug or leaving his duties behind to help you out of a life or death situation. Whichever scenario you happen to find yourself in he’s there no matter what.

- He’ll invite you into his personal life. I know this is kind of a given but Matt had the chance to become the next L. He had the chance to become something “great” and he said “ummm rather not” to it because it wasn’t something he wanted. If he shares this information with you, he trusts you not to leave him for something better when you discover the status he could have had and refused. He trusts you to appreciate him because of him and not the intelligence everyone but him cherishes.

- He leaves you alone around important technology and software he’s hacked. Unfortunately for him, betrayal comes with the business he’s got himself into and, if Matt really trusts you on both a professional and emotional level, he won’t have a problem worrying about whether or not you’ll take advantage of his coffee break to gather information for some other organization or something. He will literally just go “mkay babe I gotta go fuel up on caffeine real quick, you’re good watching the hacked government database right? Cool cya.”

Near

- Near trusts you to take him to public places. Sounds simple, yeah. But Near has never liked crowds, or even just too many strangers in a wide open place. It’s strange to everyone observing how one day he decides he needs a new toy, his old one having broken due to old age, and asks you to take him to the toy store. He’s questioned, people wondering why he wouldn’t rather you just go alone but Near insists. Apparently the toy that broke is special addition and he wants to make sure you get the right one. He stays close to you the whole way, not really saying much, but he’s there and that’s a big step for him.

- He helps you out with puzzles. Basically cheats for you. When he’s eyeing one specific empty slot, coughing lightly to get your attention, just know that he’s not helping you because he thinks you need it. Quite the opposite actually. With anyone else, he believes that they should be able to solve it on their own. He thinks that if they can’t, then that’s their fault. But with you…it’s as if he trusts that you’re intelligent enough without the puzzle being an indicator of that intelligence, so much so that he thinks the puzzle itself is obsolete when it comes to you. He doesn’t need a puzzle to know how smart you are.

- He’ll eat the foods you make him. Near’s picky eater-ness is above that of a child who only eats chicken tenders and pizza. He doesn’t eat that many people’s food because he knows it’s probably not he way he likes it. But with you, he trusts that you respect his eating habits and know him well enough to get it right the first time. Though he does check the food out for a bit, he’ll eat it. Sometimes all of it. Fuckin astonishing to Rester who had attempted many times to heat up microwave dinners for the guy.

[balanceoflightanddark]

Avatar and the Unwillingness to Grow Up

First and foremost, Avatar the Last Airbender is a show that is geared towards children.

Yes, I know that is a staggering reality check amidst all the talk of genocide, warfare, abuse, heavy topics, and whatnot. But it was ultimately written and directed to appeal to kids and teens. It features kid heroes having adventures to stop the bad guy and save the world. That's practically a mark of the genre.

And the term "kids' show" is usually used to deflect criticism because of it and the follow-ups (the comics and Legend of Korra).

Here's the thing though: Avatar the Last Airbender appealed to a larger audience because it was still good despite being meant for children. The characters were well written. The action was well executed. And the plot, despite its shortcomings, was still ahead of their time.

It wasn't that ATLA is a kids' show that is causing problems for the franchise as a whole moving forward.

More it's the fact that the franchise seems unwilling to grow up and mature.

Let me try to explain: ATLA's audience aren't kids anymore. They are adults who grew up, graduated, got jobs, and so on. And they're not gonna be younger any time soon. That doesn't mean they still can't enjoy the original series, but subsequent installments need to reflect this. Otherwise, they're gonna be left in the dust. This is something all children's media faces: either they focus on the target demographic or they branch out and touch more "mature" topics.

Either one is fine, but when a series focuses on pretty heavy topics like Avatar, you do need to step up your game if you want to stay relevant. That's what they attempted to do with the comics and LOK.

They didn't do them well.

This had its roots back in the original series with the demonizing and whitewashing of various characters (like Iroh and Azula for example). Again, this was fine since the main heroes were kids so their view of the world is gonna be immature, and the Fire Nation (despite being humanized) were ultimately the bad guys that needed to be stopped. Even Zuko's ascension to the throne, while it wouldn't automatically solve everything like the narrative insists it would, isn't as bad since they left a lot of wiggle room with how his reign may go. So the effect wasn't as bad.

It's just without a clear bad guy anymore, without some monster that needs to be slain...we start to have problems. Now suddenly the Gaang are thrust into trying to mediate world peace, but they fail to do so. Badly. They view people as being either good or evil, no in-between, even when the situation and circumstance says otherwise. The Fire Nation is good now, everyone who says otherwise is evil. Zuko is in charge, so screw everyone who has a problem with his rule (even though the reign we see is pretty disastrous). For said arbitrators of peace, they don't do a whole lot of compromise and seem to carry on with exactly what they were doing during the War. Even when the situation is delicate and requires a bit more tact without throwing elements at bad guys.

Same thing with Legend of Korra. Despite being about heavy topics on paper with no clear good or bad guys, the narrative always takes one side, demonizes the other, and never goes into detail about how the situation is to be resolved aside from "bad guys defeated". Which, again, is a pretty childish way of looking at the world.

It's this unwillingness to mature, this belief that they still need to adhere to the same tools they used in ATLA is what is causing problems for the franchise as a whole. This is frustrating since they have the characters and themes in place already which could propel the franchise to new heights and sophisticated storytelling. And the characters suffer for it. The unwillingness to change their child-like view of the world despite supposedly knowing better makes it seem like the writers are coddling them and appealing to nostalgia instead of developing them and making them stronger.

And the more stories they tell with this mindset is gonna get worse over time stuff until we get stuff like-

...yeah. I went there. The authors' unwillingness for Peter Parker to change and actually learn about taking responsibility and making hard choices is what led to awful storylines like this.

And I'm afraid that if Bryke wants ATLA to go mainstream, yet still insists on having a childish narrative that is neither appropriate or respectful of the characters they seem intent on coddling, then we're gonna get crap like this if we haven't already.

I'm not against having a good guy vs bad guy narrative. What I am against is stories, themes, and characters getting dumbed down to fit that mold. If characters like Azula keep getting shoved into the role of bad guy even if it's not appropriate, and the heroes continue to insist that everyone who is against them are irredeemably evil, then the series isn't going to change.

And with the audience getting older yet the heroes never growing up, who's gonna bother with the further adventures of the Gaang since they can't relate to them anymore?

[laven-billysgf]

The Frerard theory

⚠️Make sure not to hate in the comments. If you're not interested chill out, go out!

This is a very important era. The fans started to really feel like it was actually happening. The evidences were getting much obvious, pretty soon they would tell us they were dating or something, right?

2007

If I chose to waste the past 10 years of my life to explain something, that would be that confusing year in my chem. There was no single moment these two weren't doing something onstage. Seriously, look at those pictures yourself and tell me if for an anti-homophobia message it wasn't too much:

Much weird, right? I mean. Not disgusting at all lol. But isn't it too much even for making the fans happy, to make homophobes mad, or anything else? There was not only inoffensive kisses, they were not even fast, and sexual things was happening too much. About the kisses, what's more interesting were those passionate ones:

Chronologically 1st one ->

2nd ->

There you could watch them doing it freely. Nothing to hide, nothing to care. Frank was single and so was Gerard. But why? Why when people asked them it turned into nothing? When it comes to the interviews there was only laughing and embarrassment (specially coming from Gerard).. They were playing with us? With each other? Pretty soon you'll see who got more played in this situation.

Interview 1

Interviewer: (...) Wants to know if Gerard sleeps naked

Frank: Yes he does

Gerard: No!

Frank: Well you did when you slept with me

Gerard: a literal nervous laugh.

Interview 2 (About the most famous kiss)

Interviewer: How it was to kiss Frank?

Gerard: oh it was like magic! Fireworks!

Frank on the background: hiding his face

///

Ending of 07's: Suddenly Wife!?

Let's not talk about her in specifical this time, but about what brought her into the fandom. Surprisingly Gerard appeared with a woman, and we heard they got married in December 3rd. But not only us but everyone else including the bandmates didn't know Gerard was even that serious with her since they were dating about three months until that moment, even them being old friends it was still too soon. Fans shocked. Some of happiness, liking her, her band and stuff. Others wanted to know what about Frank. Others just hated her because she was too possessive (still) but as I said this is not the subject.

That was an literal nightmare. Gerard and Frank just fought onstage after that, not sure If Frank tried to kiss or tackle him but Gerard got him rolling to the floor. Everytime I watch this I feel so much pain.

The fight ->

We can guess Frank was the only one who fell for him. Or Gerard wasn't brave enough to show off with him. It's very hard to say but deep inside Gerard can be an insecure guy looking for some rescue, something that wouldn't make him worry and get anxious like a gay relationship for example. Not saying he doesn't love Lindsey, but I can't say he doesn't (didn't) love Frank sometime. Personally i feel like it can't be that he didn't fall for him. Even Frank being the insistent one, You need two individuals to make a kiss, right?

Frank started to show himself in a depressed way. Like one time that he went to the backstage and started crying when Gerard was singing Cancer, like he couldn't stand up even for a inoffensive sad song. And more, There's a rumor that says Ray saw Frank crying in the bathroom (not sure where).

2008

Results: Frank was pissed. Like for real.

We never saw him this pissed before. We knew kiddo Frank. The crazy one, the eternal teen, the bone breaker. Now he was an literal adult.

As we all thought is the obvious, he got back together with Jamia and it didn't take long until he got married too.

With that, what a musician would do about it? Music, of course. First Frank started writing poetry (about Gerard) on his site on myspace called ftwwillz (which one he still used until 2013 or 2014), pretty soon he would use those lyrics to make his new songs. Leathermouth came with the most violently depressing songs, reminds a lot of Black flag, his favorite band.

2009

MCR was inactive. Frank started a new band of electronic-rock called Death spells. Full of those myspace lyrics as much as Leathermouth. I think Frank made this account for some of the fans see and believe what he says. What he feels.

All for today killjoys

[ilalos]

Worth it (Anthony Bridgerton x reader) Part 2/2

Summary: Your arranged marriage to Anthony seems fine, until it doesn’t.

Warnings: marriage, implied sex, angst-ish, fluff, pregnancy, crying, if you notice anything else let me know :)

Word count: 2.5k

The season passed in a blur with countless flowers and conversations that filled you with expectations about your marriage to the Viscount, you truly felt like love was around the corner for both of you and it was a matter of time for that corner to be turned. He was everything you had expected and more, you could tell he was wary about letting you in but didn’t want to push him so you let him open himself to you at his own pace. The had been some stolen looks, kisses on your knuckles that had lasted a little longer than they should and hand a bit lower than what was acceptable when you danced. To say the courting had been successful was the understatement of the season in your opinion, by the time the wedding day came you were counting down the minutes before you finally became Lady (y/n) Bridgeton.

Your wedding ceremony was short and the carriage ride to Anthony’s bachelor townhouse was even shorter. The wedding night had come with a surprisingly low amount of events, your virginity had been taken the sweetest of ways, with many kisses and whispered promises of pleasure that came true. By the end of the day, you were as happy as can be, laying on your husband's chest, feeling his heartbeat slowing down and smelling the sweet vanilla scent of his skin.

When you woke up the next morning the bed was empty and he had already left to work in his study back in the main Bridgerton home. He didn’t return until late in the evening and you were waiting for him so you could have dinner together.

“Thank you for waiting for me,” he said while taking a sip of his wine.

“It’s nothing, I like that we are finally spending some time together”

Anthony just nodded and continued eating in silence.

“How was your day?” You pushed for conversation, you had been alone all day and could really use some conversation with someone different than your maid, who was terrified of speaking freely.

“It was busy” he answered simply “how was your day?” He asked after seeing the face you made at his short answer.

“It was also very busy, I reorganized the books in the library, had the kitchen staff do an inventory on the pantry, and send the maids to the market to get some flowers for the table tops” you narrated proudly, hoping he might appreciate the way you ran the home.

“Good to see you’re settling in, darling” his small praise made you smile a little.

“You don’t mind that I changed some things?” You asked somewhat concerned by his silence.

“It is your home, you’re free to do whatever you please with it,” he said dismissively.

“It’s our home, Anthony, I want to make it perfect for you too”

After dinner, he walked you to the bedroom and after a couple of heated kisses you fell in his arms once again, the pleasure he gave you was addictive. Despite his cold attitude towards you in other aspects of your life, it was in the bedroom where you felt hopeful for a future where you both might learn to truly love each other, and then he would sneak out every morning making you feel like a worthless whore.

And so your days continued like this, every night was filled with passion and every day was lonely. You couldn’t even go to the Bridgerton home, you had been taught that a married lady was not to go out without her husband, so your heart slowly filled with sadness as you spent day after day alone in the townhouse. Anthony was none the wiser because he simply thought you enjoyed being by yourself, so it never occurred to him to invite you to his family’s home or anywhere else.

A month into your marriage you found out you were with child. You were extremely happy and Anthony had shown himself to be happy as well, but then that night he didn’t come home for dinner and didn’t make an appearance in your bedroom. He was more and more distant until four months had passed and he disappeared for two full weeks before you saw him again.

It was on the day of your birthday, and he had only gone to your room because the butler told him you had been very sick that day. When he entered the room he found you seating on the bed hugging your knees close to your chest, your eyes puffy from crying and silent tears still streaming down your face. You weren’t upset he had forgotten your birthday, you had never celebrated it so it didn’t matter he didn’t remember it.

“What happened? Is everything well? Is the baby-“

“Your child is quite well, Lord Bridgerton” you interrupted in the coldest tone he had ever heard from you “to what do I owe this joyous visit?”

“I apologize for my absence, I have been very busy” he answered measly.

“I figured out that much, husband” the word was said with venom.

“Are you upset with me?” He asked offended, you had never treated him so coldly.

“I am upset with myself” you started with a pained chuckle “I don’t need you to try and comfort me because you did nothing wrong, that is the reason for my anger” a small sob escaped your lips “I was taught to be a good wife, that my only job was to give my husband heirs and to keep the house running and I understood that and I didn’t fight it because at least I would have children to fill my life with love and a husband who at the very least would acknowledge me and my efforts”

“I-“

“I don’t want you to feel like you should change or apologize, this is not your fault, I feel miserable because I filled my heart with hopes and dreams of love but that’s just not how life is, at least not mine” you harshly wiped your eyes before finishing “I understand my place now, I’m nothing but a child-bearer for you and that’s fine because you didn’t even pick me in the first place” you got up from bed and opened the door for him “please leave me alone, I will be fine”

“I can’t just leave you here alone, have you even eaten today? In your condition-“

“Your child is perfectly well, my lord” your tone had turned icy once again “please go, I am tired and want to rest”

Unable to do anything else, Anthony left the room and went back to his family’s home. His mother had insisted for him to take you there that night, but seeing your state he didn’t even bother asking if you wanted to go. When he got there he was surprised to see the dining room fully decorated, his whole family dressed in their best clothes, even Daphne and Simon had paid a visit.

“Where is (y/n)?” Asked Violet.

“She’s not feeling very well” answered Anthony looking at the table that was filled with all his wife’s favorite food “What is happening? Why are you all here dressed as if you are attending a ball?”

“Anthony, please for the love of God almighty, tell me you didn’t forget your wife’s birthday!” Violet couldn’t keep his composure, how could Anthony be so clueless.

“I-I’ve been so busy lately supervising the building of the new house, it didn’t even occur to me that it was her birthday” Anthony felt terrible, as he should.

“It’s bad enough she doesn’t like us, son” Violet sighed, seating on the table “And now she thinks we don’t care for her birthday”

“Where did you get that idea, mother?” Daphne couldn’t help but ask “When she writes to us she says wonderful things about our family”

“Then why hasn’t she visited since the wedding?” This time it was Colin asking “Mother sent a tea invitation shortly after they got married and she never showed up, sent a poor letter apologizing but did not explain why she didn’t show”

“I might have an explanation for that” Simon spoke up “My aunt was a terribly strict mother, taught her that a wife was nothing more than a child-bearer and had no liberties like men do, for example: going out unaccompanied”

“Has she been out of the house since you married, brother?” asked Eloise, turning to face Anthony who was still frozen at the doorstep.

“I don’t believe so” he entered the room and sat defeated “I just thought she enjoyed being at home by herself, god!” he rubbed his hands down his face.

“I can’t believe it, the poor thing” lamented Violet.

“She hasn’t left the house in almost half a year” concluded Benedict.

“And here we were, refusing to visit thinking she had rejected mother,” said Colin.

“I would like to clarify, I never agreed with losing contact with her over one missed invitation” added Eloise, gaining the glares of everyone present.

“It matters not what we thought nor does it matter what has happened in the past” began Violet “right now I want you to go pick her up and bring her here, she deserves to be celebrated, especially after everything we put her through,” she told her eldest child, pushing him to stand and go to the door.

Anthony mounted the carriage and urged the coachman to hurry home and as soon as he got there he ran up the stairs to your room and burst through the door, jolting you awake.

“I am so sorry, love,” ha said kneeling on your bedside “I never knew you didn’t leave the house because you thought you couldn’t, you are free to do as you please, darling” he grabbed your hand and kissed your knuckles “I didn’t mean to make you feel trapped in your own home, and I am sorry if you felt like I abandoned you” he caressed your face and wiped some tears that had fallen without your notice.

“You did abandon us,” you said, trying to pull your hand from his grasp with your other hand protecting your belly.

“I was merely supervising the building of our new home, I was hoping I could surprise you before the baby arrived” he explained, now seating by your side “I can’t possibly ask my family to leave their home but I know how much you love that house, and so I chose to build a similar one not too far from here”

“You are building me a house?” You asked incredulously, hardly anything could justify his absence but this was in fact a reasonable explanation.

“Yes, love” he once again caressed your face “A home for our family” at that your eyes filled with tears, this time from happiness.

You sat up and wrapped your arms around his neck, crying with your face buried in his shirt. He wrapped his arms around you, kissing the top of your head and shushing you softly to calm down your cries. You spent a while holding each other until he suddenly broke you two apart, remembering his family that was still waiting for you both to show up.

“My beautiful wife, I must take you out of the comforts of your bed” he began, apologetic “My family is expecting you in their home to celebrate your birthday with a lavish dinner”

“Heavens! You should’ve started with that” you ran to your door and called out for your maid “I don’t think I have a dress for such occasion, non that would fit me now, that’s certain”

You opened your trunk and began taking out your chemise and all other items you had to wear under your dress in such cold weather. You took off your nightgown not caring Anthony was there, he had seen it all before, after you had put on your chemise your maid ran in and help you put on the rest of your garments and helped you squeeze your small baby bump in the dress you had worn for one of the first balls you attended when Anthony was courting you. She put your hair in a quick updo and even managed to coerce Anthony into putting on your stockings and your shoes while she did your hair. With all that rush and hard work, you managed to be ready in under an hour and still made it to the dinner at a reasonable hour (half past 9 is reasonable, right?).

At the Bridgerton home, you were welcomed with warm embraces and merry wishes on your special day. You all sat around the table and ate the feast that had sadly grown cold. Colin didn’t seem to mind as he devoured everything in sight, prompting Violet to chastise him softly. You, however, ate small bites because the pregnancy had caused your stomach to be upset easily and you didn’t wish to offend anyone by running out of the room to empty your stomach. Anthony watched you eat and held your hand atop the table, smiling as he watched you laugh and converse with his family.

“Is the food not good enough?” Asked Violet seeing your plate almost full.

“It is just perfect, my stomach has just been iffy since the start of the pregnancy” you answered smiling apologetically, Anthony choked on his wine because he realized at that very moment that he had forgotten to tell his family about your condition.

“You’re with child? Those are wonderful news!” Exclaimed Violet with a large smile “When did you found out?”

“Four months ago” you turned to glare at Anthony “I assumed your son had told you”

“How could you conceal such joyous information from your mother?” Violet then noticed her eldest daughter had become quiet, as well as her husband “Did you know, Daphne?”

“I was aware of it, yes” Daphne admitted ashamed “I too assumed Anthony had told you”

“You assumed my eldest son had told me about his wife’s pregnancy and I had decided not to mention any of it in our letters?”

“I-I’m, yes?” Benedict and Colin snorted with laughter hearing their sister’s answer.

Violet only shook her head with a small smile, her children were truly a wonder. Anthony was nervous that you’d get mad at him for not telling them, but one look at your laughing face told him he didn’t need to worry.

Later that evening you both laid in bed after yet another passion-filled encounter, your breathing slow and even making Anthony think you were asleep. He was caressing your naked back with feather-like touches, kissing your sweaty forehead every few minutes.

“I love you” you sighed, kissing his chest “You need not feel the same, I just want you to know how I feel”

He took a shaky breath before answering.

“I also am in love with you, darling” he placed a finger under your chin and tilted your head so you’d look at him “sometimes I’m scared of just how much I love you” he kissed you slow and deep, pouring all his love into the action.

The kiss was unlike any other you had shared before, this one was full of promise and hope. It filled you with love and certainty, you were now sure that no matter how difficult the road to Anthony’s heart had been, even if you didn’t want it at first, it had all been worth it.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Hi! Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. If you like it let me know.

Tag list:

@alaizaaa02

@awesomebooklover17

[sketching-shark]

What do you think of the show's portrayal of Wukong and Macaque's relationship now? I know before you've brought up the possibility that Wukong simply doesn't care about Macaque. But now we know that isn't true. Those two were basically living on FFM as one big happy monkey family. And now we know that abandoning Macaque is one Wukong's regrets. Not to mention all that stuff about Wukong promising to live forever on FFM together with Macaque, and Wukong imprisoning his brothers in the memory scroll. With this new context, I wanted to know what your viewpoint is on all this.

Spoilers for Monkie Kid & general kvetching below sdfewaf

I have to be honest anon their relationship as it currently stands is somewhat giving me whiplash on account of the fact that we've got Sun Wukong not caring like at all about Macaque exploding in season 1 (and not seeming to realize that him literally killing his past BFF would have influenced Macaque's hostility in any of their previous encounters) to him betraying the shadow simian apparently being one of the great regrets of his life, but I guess Macaque has with this new context been proven to be a little more consistent in that him being BFFs with the Monkey King before Sun Wukong betrayed him does explain his desire to tell anyone who will listen what a terrible person Sun Wukong is, and I guess it does provide a slight explanation for Macaque going out of his way to repeatedly beat the tar out of Qi Xiaotian for the crime of Associated With Sun Wukong. And this does confirm that the lego show decided that their versions of Sun Wukong and the Six-Eared Macaque would deviate completely from the og classic in favor of the currently popular trope of "wah we were besties but then we weren't because it turns out the 'hero' suuuuuuucks & also the 'villain' ends up warping his/her entire life around hating/getting back at the 'hero' but for some reason this is considered a good foundation for rekindling a relationship." Fully aware I'm an outlier here, but needless to say I'm not a fan aweageraw.

I guess at the end of the day I'm not really liking this change not simply because of my love for the og classic (and the really interesting implications about morality and identity that underlay the True & False Monkey King arc) but because I feel like this turn to a currently popular story type is really limiting these characters' potentials. It's like now their relationship is just another example of how Sun Wukong hurts literally everyone around him, while Macaque is once again confirmed to have basically nothing going for him outside of Sun Wukong's influence.

And yes, OF COURSE any retelling of an old story is going to deviate sometimes significantly from the work it's based on, even if and sometimes especially if it's a sequel, as with Monkie Kid. And when you're working with something like Journey to the West, while I still think some of the best adaptations are those that stick closer to the source material, such changes can be a good thing. I mean, I've joked enough how what with this being a children's show you wouldn't want to stick to a Sun Wukong who smashes people into meat patties! But at this point it almost feels like with fanon & increasingly canon insisting on these two being the Most Important Person to each other & also for Macaque to be the completely wronged party that their conflict just makes for one monkey that has 0 identity outside of the other while the other is little more than a selfish ass. I mean hell, it's even got to the point where the current writer of Monkie Kid felt compelled to go on twitter to drop the big spoiler that Sun Wukong is NOT Qi Xiaotian's bio dad, and while we can speculate why he did this it seems at least part of the reason was because a not insignificant amount of people were saying that on top of all his other screw-ups Sun Wukong is a deadbeat dad. But then again, why wouldn't they? Monkie Kid has been hammering it in time after time again that basically there isn't a single person, least of all the Six-Eared Macaque (the definite show/fandom meow-meow), that Sun Wukong hasn't hurt horribly from being impulsive and thoughtless and selfish, so why would anyone think differently in regard to his relationship to Qi Xiaotian? Add all of that to the uber-violent betrayal of all his brothers that he apparently didn't do anything about even millennia after the fact, and you can see why parts of this fandom have been primed to believe the worst about Sun Wukong. Really does make the popularity of scenarios of him rekindling his apparently deep past relationship with Macaque kind of baffling.

Of course, it does need to be acknowledged that even now we don't have the full story, and that Sun Wukong's failure to defeat the Jade Emperor (despite the Azure Lion K.O.ing him in one hit) was compounded by him being literally tortured into becoming heaven's lapdog and betraying his brothers. And who knows! The Monkey King's eyes glowing gold in all of the past scenes after he gets the headband could be a hint that it wasn't just torture through a massive headache but also some version of mind control, kind of like how his eyes glowed blue when he was being possessed by the Lady Bone Demon. But either way we still have no idea what Sun Wukong's perspective is about any of this. We only know that his brothers saw him surrendering to heaven and AGREEING to serve the Jade Emperor to save his own hide, and that even after the headband was taken off he did nothing to try to save them from the scroll. This isn't the full story, but that's what we have to work with.

ANYWAY, even with this context I still think that the best thing that could happen with lego Sun Wukong & Six-Eared Macaque is for Sun Wukong to find a way to fully embrace the fact that *lego Batman voice* just because you lose people doesn't mean you stop letting them in even though a lot of people won't ever forgive you and that's okay, and for the Six-Eared Macaque to find a way to start carving his own identity outside from being the guy violently obsessed with Sun Wukong.

[depizan]

I've encountered at least three books in the recent(ish) past where the premise was more interesting than the plot. In fact, in two of them, the book got significantly less interesting when the plot showed up. I've been trying to work out exactly what's going on there, because my instinctive explanation doesn't make any goddamn sense.

See, what I want to say is that the reason the books got less interesting when the plot showed up is because it was imposed from the outside. But plots almost always are. Like they say: villains act and heroes react. Which holds true whether we're talking villains and heroes or natural disasters and hapless survivors or antagonists and main characters or whatever else. It's very rare for the main characters to actually instigate the plot.

(In fact, outside of treasure hunting/macguffen plots, I can't think of any examples at all. And it's far from 100% even in those kinds of plots. It's roughly as common for the antagonist/villain to instigate by hunting the doohicky or hiring the protagonists to hunt the doohicky.)

Perhaps it's that the plots are somehow the wrong plot. (Which would actually include the third book, as well.) The plot the book actually has is less interesting than a plot that might have organically grown out of the premise. We could have had something slightly different, but, instead, the author opted for a well trod path. A bland, well trod path.

Hell, in one of the books, the main characters don't even seem interested in the plot. It just keeps poking at them until they're finally forced to interact with it. If the characters in the book aren't interested in the plot, why should the audience be?

(Mind, you could probably write a hilarious small town murder mystery where the only person who cares about the plot is the detective, and everyone else in the village is far more interested in the fete, or Colonel Suchandsuch's roses. But even there, it only works if the detective does care.)

Of course, you can have very entertaining fiction in which the main character(s) are annoyed by the plot. Both The Rockford Files and (original flavor) MacGyver made good use of ye old "god damn it, my idiot friend has dragged me into some kind of ridiculous trouble again" plot. But, again, the characters in question do still care either because they care about their idiot friend or because they're in the soup now, too. Or both.

It's also very hard to successfully not care when the plot kicks down your door and waves weaponry at you. One could argue that large portions of the hard boiled detective genre are entirely made of that. (Which would also explain it's presence on The Rockford Files.)

And that might be the issue with the book where the protagonists didn't care. The plot let them not care right up until near the end, and by that time, I was very much bored with the plot's ineffectual efforts to make them (and/or me) care.

It's not just that, though, since that doesn't apply to the other two books. It's like the plot and the characters have to... I don't know... be right for each other? Or the plot needs to be the most interesting thing you could with these characters in this world? (Or at least not the least interesting thing you could do with these characters in this world.)

When I was trying to be a mystery writer, one of the things that frustrated me was the insistence that the detective have a personal stake in the mystery. But if you have the right character, that's not necessary. Or, rather, they will see to it that they have a personal stake. It's like Doctor Who; the Doctor (especially some regenerations) just can't resist poking about, and he invariably pokes his way right into trouble. Now the plot has a personal stake in him.

Hell, there's an episode of Simon & Simon ('80s private detective show) where they investigate a letter that shows up like 30 years late, addressed to the person who had (what is now) their office then. Some people would toss it in recycling, or send it back to the post office, but they (like the Doctor) just couldn't resist poking about. That's why they're the protagonists of a detective show.

... It is about the plot matching the protagonists. If you give the protagonists a plot that they can't resist, it all feels natural. If you give them a plot that they can/could resist, the hand of the author is impossible to ignore. If there are other plots that feel more right for the characters or setting, the audience will notice, and notice that the one that's happening feels forced.

The plot can come from outside in a Watsonian sense, but it cannot come from outside in a Doyalistic sense. The audience will notice.