#fun fact. this character turns 20 years old this year

[ltleflrt]

Figuring out I'm on the ace spectrum was so difficult because I have always been a horny bitch. I knew what sex was at a fairly young age, because I'd asked my mom and she's one of those good parents who'll answer questions like those, and as I grew older and would ask more complex questions, her answers would evolve along with my curiosity and understanding of the world. And I remember having fantasies as young as 9 or 10 years old, even if they were hella vague and nothing close to what sex actually is lol

So as I became a teenager, and all my friends' focus turned from playing with dolls to flirting with boys, I automatically thought I was attracted to boys. And I paid more attention to Cute Boys than I did to Cute Girls, because girls were just nice to look at while boys were People To Have Crushes On. Because of heteronormativity. Looking back on it now, I know there were girls I liked to stare at just as intently as boys, although less often because I wasn't trying to pay attention. And I certainly didn't fantasize about girls because I started reading romance novels in 5th grade, so I was fantasizing about male romantic partners because that was the fiction I was consuming. I didn't even realize fantasizing about girls was possible until I was 17, and I had a few "am I a lesbian" internal crises for years because of it.

So when I did start having sex, I had A LOT OF IT with SO MANY different guys, and eventually a couple of women once I started accepting that bisexuality was real. But it was never really fulfilling. Not like my fantasies were. Not like my books were. I was slutty because sex was fun, I was horny, there were plenty of options so I kept searching for that satisfaction I was craving.

Getting married was a relief (even though it turns out I'm aro-spec too lol) because I was tired of hunting, and even if sex with my husband was meh, at least I had someone around to scratch that itch if I had it, and he didn't mind if I occasionally took care of things on my own because I'd read an especially hot scene in a romance.

I learned about asexuality in my early 20s, but I brushed it off. Couldn't be me, I'm far too horny for that. But I think that comes from the fact that everything you hear about Aces is attached to sex-repulsion or sex-indifference. I wasn't either of those things. I was horny all the dang time. I was fantasizing about sex all the dang time. I figured actual sex was meh because my imagination was so vivid that real life could never match up. Which could be true to an extent, but I think not as much as popular opinion would have us believe. If fantasy was really that much better for everyone, then I think we'd have less incels and unplanned pregnancies than we do.

In my 30s I finally saw people talking about The Spectrum, and I started examining my past, and I figured out I wasn't really attracted to anyone I had sex with. I do occasionally find someone attractive; there are men and women and enbies who make my skin feel tight and give me a little wave of lightheadedness lol... but it's always always the fantasy that gets me really going. If given the opportunity I wouldn't have sex with any of those people. Thank you, but no thank you, I'd rather just imagine it than physically participate in the act with them.

(Ok I might go down on them, but that's less about wanting sex, and more about being able to add them to my Tally. Hell yeah I want to brag about making *insert hot person* have an orgasm. There's PRIDE in that kind of accomplishment lol)

I have a lot of respect for aces that are not horny. I understand it even if I don't share the sentiment. And I feel like most of them understand me even if they don't share the sentiment. There's a solidarity between us.

Until I go into a fandom tag for a character that the aces have glommed onto because they're canonically ace or headcanoned as ace. Good lord, the non-horny aces can turn into downright vicious bastards if a horny ace sexualizes their blorbo.

This post is for them.

Horny aces exist. Please look up "autochorissexual, lithosexual, and aegosexual."

Refer to those definitions in regards to romantic attraction as well as sexual attraction.

Some aces may not fall into one of those definitions, because asexuality is a spectrum, but they may still be horny.

Horny aces are not disrespecting you by enjoying being horny on main. We promise we'll wash the stickiness off our hands before we hold your hands in queer solidarity.

And most importantly: Your blorbo is fictional and does not need to be defended from icky sexuality. They exist in an infinite multiverse, so your blorbo and my blorbo are not the same, even if they appear to be on the surface.

AND:

This post is also for the people who are confused about themselves because they're horny but don't actually feel attraction. You're not crazy, you're not wishy washy, you're not "waiting for the right person to come along" (unless you are, in which case I hope you find them). You're just a thin strip of color on a massive rainbow that holds more unique shades than anyone can perceive at a glance.

You're valid. You're one of us too.

And don't be mean to the non-horny aces. Tag your smut so they can avoid it. (But actually so I can find it lol)

[necroromantics]

🪓 — Canon Facts About Ticci Toby

all of these are directly stated by kastoway himself in deviantart posts/comments, instagram stories, or tobys canon story

I. Toby has a split eyebrow from the car crash

II. He only attended grade school for a short time when we was 12 before being homeschooled due to bullying

III. Kastoway describes Toby's eye colour as "dark brown/black"

IV. Kastoway created Toby as a fan character when he was 12 just for fun. He never expected him to get the attention that he did

V. Toby was stated to be 19 in 2013, which means Toby was born on April 28th, 1994. Today he'll be turning 30 years old

VI. In Toby's age chart, he is shown to be in a straitjacket at 30 years old, and described to "not have much time left on his plate", "any bit of sanity in him is probably gone", and "lives out the rest of his days in a mental asylum and/or gets put down"

VII. He has little to no memory of his life before becoming a proxy

VIII. When he was a toddler, he'd carry around a cow stuffie and put bandaids all over it

IX. Toby was killed by Clockwork, who was possessed by Zalgo, sometime between ages 19-25 (presumably 20-22). Kastoway had vague plans for Toby to "miraculously survive" and live up until around 30 years old, with no contact to the others

X. Toby chews his hands to the point of eating his own flesh, which is why he wears gloves

XI. He is born and raised in Denver, Colorado, USA. He has German ancestry

XII. His theme song is noted to be "I'm Not Alright" by Shinedown

XIII. His personality is described to be, "volatile, friendly at times, sarcastic at times, natural born trouble-maker, mostly up-beat"

XIV. In an older, outdated reference sheet, his friends are listed as "Jeff The Killer, BEN, BOB, Smile Dog, Slenderman, Splendorman, Mr. Widemouth, Ragface, Eyeless Jack", and his rivals are listed as "The Rake, Masky, Enderman, Zalgo"

XV. His mask is a mouth guard, like the one Hannibal Lecter wears

XVI. He is canonically shipped with Clockwork

XVII. Toby has "big ass eyebrows" (Kastoways words himself)

XVIII. Toby doesn't hate Masky, he just acts like an annoying little brother around him because he's jealous that Slender favours him. He's chill around Hoodie, but they don't talk much

XIX. Kastoway was inspired by Marble Hornets to create Ticci Toby

XX. Toby's tics are described as to "uncontrollably crack his neck, twitch around, bend over backwards"

XXI. In his updated appearance (the sketch made by Kastoway in 2014 with the cheek gash), he's described to be in his early 20s. He also said he was thinking of having the cheek gash be caused by the fire, but said that Toby eating through his own cheek was "a really good idea"

XXII. Toby was originally going to be a cannibal before Kastoway put the idea on the back burner, though he says "he'll eat some of the things he kills kind of like Eyeless Jack"

XXIII. He had CIPA, Tourettes, Schizophrenia and PTSD after the car crash

XXIV. His older sisters name is Lyra, his mothers name is Connie, and his father is canonically unnamed (though he's typically called Frank by the fandom, this is not stated by Kastoway)

XXV. He was originally going to be 5'4....... But ended up being made 5'6 (lucky bastard)

Thats all I can think of right now... Happy Birthday Toby

[inlovewithgreta]

stephanie beatriz or rosa diaz with 20-something year old new coworker? all the other details are up in the air :)

Thank you anon for requesting this! Apologies for the long wait!! It was honestly super fun getting to know a new character, and I thank you for introducing me to her. Of course I instantly fell in love with her in the first episode.. Enjoy!! xoxo

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

The Name Game — Rosa Diaz x Fem!Reader

Summary: Rosa finally reveals why she has treated you the way she has in an intimate moment you never saw coming.

Warnings: praise, very slight degradation (you blink and you'll miss it), jealousy, semi-public sex, cute pet names

Word Count: 2k

Taglist: @shslbunnylover

© Do not copy, repost, or modify any of my works.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

"Who the hell is this?" 

Those were the first words you heard as the Captain introduced you to your new coworkers, who all looked at you with smiling faces. Well, except for the woman who just asked who the hell you were.

"This is Detective Y/n. New member of our team," Your boss stated, looking over at the same dark-haired woman from before who had her arms crossed over her chest. "Y/n here will be taking over the empty desk next to yours, Diaz. Be nice."

"I'm always nice," she commented with a straight face.

The Captain sighed before turning his focus back to you. "Make yourself comfortable. Ask Rosa here if you have any questions." You nodded in response as the older man walked away, leaving you alone with the woman.

"Nice to meet you!" You smiled, with a hand held out for the woman to shake, but to your dismay, she ignored it and went to her desk. You followed behind her, and dropped your purse on your new desk, but as soon as you went to open your mouth again, you were cut off.

"A few ground rules," she said. "No obnoxious noises, no smelly foods—"

"Why would I even—"

"No interrupting me," she continued. "And most importantly, no shaving at your desk."

"Why would I shave—"

"Follow these rules. No if's and's, or but's."

And that's how it was with her. It took you weeks before you decided to ignore her altogether. Her sharp words always cut your heart into a million pieces.

You didn't know why she was that way around you. Sure, she was blunt with everyone else but with you it was different. Almost cruel. 

But since you grew closer to Amy, who gave you the courage to not let Rosa's words get to you, and just do what you do best. Which was your job. You only talked to Rosa if you were paired together, and 'talk' was more of an understatement. Few words were ever spoken, and the ravenette was quick to catch on to how quiet you quickly became around her.

At first, she thought nothing of it, but as time went on and your friendship with Amy blossomed, it was obvious just how outgoing you were with her and the rest of the team compared to Rosa herself.

Of course everyone else noticed the tension between you two, and for detectives, it wasn't that hard for them to figure out why. The way you would dare sneak a glance in Rosa's direction when she wasn't looking, and the way Rosa would do the exact same thing with you, except in her case, her eyes would linger.

It wasn't until the Captain had the two of you stay late one night to fill out an over abundance of paperwork, that the two of you actually spent time together, alone.

"I need your signature to wrap up this burglary file, Diaz." You say as you attempt to hand the woman your file.

"Fine," she responds before snatching the file from your grip.

You let out a small sigh as you wait, not allowing her short response to get to you. Including the fact that she didn't even look at you.

"There. Done." She slid the folder back to you before she leaned back comfortably in her chair.

"What did I ever do to you?" you ask.

That question. The one question that has played over and over again in your head since that first day you walked into the precinct and met Rosa who has not once smiled in your direction or said one nice thing to you.

"What are you talking about?" She asked back, fiddling with a pen on her desk.

"What did I ever do to you for you to hate me so much, Diaz?" you repeat yourself.

The ravenette stayed silent, only keeping her focus on the pen spinning in her hand, in which you decided to take from her and slam on her desk. Her nose flared at your action, emotions that she had been holding inside for so long were now bubbling in her chest when you positioned yourself in front of her.

You had decided to stand between her sitting figure and her desk, not realizing you had trapped yourself all because you wanted to tear her attention away from her desk to answer your question.

Rosa scoffed, before rising from her seat and towering over you. She was close. Unimaginably close. The musky scent of her perfume completely takes over your sense of smell.

"Rosa." She peered down at you.

"What?" Your eyebrows knitted in confusion.

"The name's Rosa, for one. And two..." she let out a heavy sigh. "I don't hate you." 

"Bullshit." 

Your words caught Rosa by surprise. You were usually well-mannered, and the ravenette had not once heard you swear in the time you had been there, causing her to lift a surprised brow.

She liked it. She was seeing a whole new side of you and now, she wanted to see more.

"I admire you." She finally admitted, not only to you, but to herself, before placing both hands on the desk beside you, completely trapping you, and keeping you from fleeing.

"This isn't funny, Diaz..." 

"Do I look like I'm joking?" She tilted her head, her dark eyes looking you up and down with a mysterious gleam.

"I don't know—" You went to look away, but a hand flew to your chin, forcing your gaze to fixate on her, and her only as she towered over you. 

"Well I'm not joking." She said, "I admire you. I've admired you since you cracked your first case here. It was the fastest I think I've ever seen someone finish a case." 

You could swear you saw a smile tug at the corner of her lips, but it was probably just your brain messing with you. Rosa smiling? It was unheard of around you. You had never seen her smile before. Not once. Was she... proud? There was no way.

"It was remarkable. You are remarkable... and I've been jealous. Jealous of how good you are at your job. Jealous of how quickly everyone here fell in love with you." Your lips fell open at her confession. Rosa being jealous? Of you?

Her hand slid from the wood to your hip that was leaning against the desk, to hold you still. She didn't want you fleeing, not before she got to say what she had to say to you.

"How quickly Amy fell in love with you..."

"Amy? What does Amy have to do—"

At the mention of Amy, her hand fell from your chin to your neck, that neck that fit perfectly into her hand as she gave it a gentle squeeze, forcing an audible moan to escape from you.

"She loves you, y/n. Do you love her?" Her eyes flicked from yours, to your parted lips, and back up to your eyes, as if challenging you.

"Don't tell me you're jealous." You toyed, all the pieces finally coming together.

"And if I am?" She asked, sliding her knee confidently between your legs that earned a sharp gasp from you.

"Then I say you have some serious making up to do...Rosa." 

Her name. You had finally said her name, and it fueled her. Her name sounded beautifully coming from you. "Say it again," She licked her bottom lip. 

"And if I don't?" You dared to challenge her back, to which Rosa immediately caught onto, and refused to let you dominate the situation. And she knew the perfect solution.

"Then I'll make you say it."

"How?" Your curiosity got the best of you.

You let out a shaky breath when her knee suddenly pressed against your clothed center that had your hips unintentionally buck from the contact.

"Let me show you," her words were more of an ask than a demand, and with the subtle nod of your head to allow her to keep going, Rosa planned to do exactly what she said she would. 

Show you. Show you how she planned to get you to say her name again.

Rosa's lips hovered over your own, her pupils dilating as the hand around your neck slid down to the collar of your shirt before slowly picking away at the buttons. She skillfully popped each one open, revealing your smooth skin underneath with a lace bra covering your chest.

Your heart-rate wasn't the only thing that picked up. Rosa could feel your breathing grow faster, both from anxiety and excitement as she successfully removed the last button and untucked the blouse from your jeans.

"Hm, it's just too easy. Already this worked up over some light touching?" she smirked, before quickly slipping out of her leather jacket to reveal her toned arms.

"You think I'm easy, Diaz?" you toyed, a bit of confidence suddenly washing over you.

"Just look at you. You're weak. I bet I can have you screaming my name in just two minutes." She chuckled lowly before slipping a hand into the waistband of your jeans and into your underwear to play with your pussy.

"Mm, fuck you—" you failed at hiding the plethora of moans that forced themselves out of you when she circled your clit.

"Oh, princesa... that's what I'm about to do to you."

The lips that hovered over yours got impossibly closer, her hot breath fanned you, and you wanted nothing more than for her to close the thin space. But to your dismay, she only chuckles again, and brings her lips to the bottom of your chin, then your throat, then to the side of your neck where she bit and sucked on the soft spot below your ear.

"I don't like emotions," she admitted after leaving a light mark on your neck. She came face to face with you again, "I don't know how to deal with them so I acted out. Forgive me?" 

You searched her eyes for any kind of untruthfulness, but didn't find any. And when you gave her a small 'yes', butterflies erupted in your stomach when her lips finally met with yours in a needy kiss.

Moans spewed from your lips and into her mouth as her fingers simultaneously put pressure against your clit and rubbed generous circles. Folders fell from her desk and onto the floor as you repositioned your hands on her desk, to keep you from falling over and breaking her computer.

"What's my name?" She whispered against your lips.

"Detective Diaz," you whined when she pinched your bundle of nerves at the wrong name.

It was hard at first not to say her first name, but you couldn't let her win that easily. You couldn't. One thing she was going to learn about you was how bratty and stubborn you were. You would never go down without a fight.

She tutted and bit your lower lip, while also allowing your hand to grip at the collar of her shirt. Your tongues tangled together, and moans grew a pitch higher as you neared your orgasm.

"No- so close! Don't stop!" You whined when her fingers suddenly left your clit. "Why'd you stop?!"

"You haven't said it, princesa. Why would I reward you?" She smirked devilishly.

"Fuck— fuck you..." She went to remove her hand fully at your words but you grabbed her wrist tightly before she could move away. "Wait! Fine. Rosa...please. Please finish what you started and I'll say your name as many times as you want me to. Just please don't stop, Rosa," you begged.

"Good girl," she cooed, and you visibly blushed at the pet name. "Ooh, you like being called that, don't you?" The second she dove back in your panties, a jolt of electricity ran up your spine, as you could feel your orgasm coming back around.

"Yes, I— I love it." You let your head lull back.

"Then be a good girl and come for me. Right here. Right now."

"Rosa..." you mewled, just before words caught in your throat as you came with shaky legs. The ravenette circled your clit skillfully, allowing you to ride your pleasurable high for as long as you could.

"See, that wasn't so hard, now was it, princesa?" she teased as she slowed her ministrations before stopping completely.

"It wasn't, I just wanted to play with you."

"Oh you little—" you cut her off with a heated kiss, finally wrapping your arms around her leather-covered body. You enjoyed the closeness with her, it was the thing you were chasing after since the beginning. 

And you couldn't wait to slowly tear down her emotionally built-up walls to see the vulnerable human being waiting for you beneath the surface.

But first, you had to take Rosa out on a date.

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。.

general masterlist | taglist

[dansformations]

"Man of the future"

Alan was 20 years old gay guy that turned his passion for video games into a career as a streamer. Every night, he sat in front of his computer, illuminated by the lights of his setup, and connected to play with his thousands of followers enchanted by the fact of having a popular gay and handsome streamer. That night, however, something different happened.

While chatting with his audience and viewing the comments in the chat, he noticed a message that stood out among the others.

@ yourbroski: "Try this game, 'Man of the Future'," said a donation message with a link.

@ yourbroski: "Its my game, i create It"

- You Did!? No way - Alan replied

He clicked the link, opening the Game just for being nice, the title didnt sounded like something that the girly Alan would enjoy.

Within seconds after the click, Alan found himself downloading a game he had never heard of. The title, "Man of the Future," glowed on the screen.

The game was a complicated obstacle course and shooter that quickly engrossed Alan into the digital word.

- Hey, this is indeed fun

But the fun ended quickly. When he died in the game for the first time - Which was pretty fast -, a screen appeared with the saying, "C'mon Bro, you can do better" along with an strange music, almost hipnotazing music.

- Whoa, did you guys see that? - Alan said, leaning back in his chair. - This game is savage! 'C'mon Bro, you can do better'? Challenge accepted! - he answered.

However, the second attempt didn’t go any better. When Alan died again, the message changed to, "Don’t be a noob, Bro."

Alan face reddened with frustration. "Okay, Bro," he muttered under his breath.

- No way am I letting this game call me a noob. Let's do this! - He turned to the chat, determination blazing in his eyes. -You guys with me? This game’s going down, Bros!

Took a sip of His... beer? He didnt remenber being drinking beer, he didnt even remenber enjoying beer but he was so centred on beating that game that kinda ignored It.

- OOOOOUUURRRP - he belched - dang, sorry bros - he said a bit ashamed... Just a bit. He was too centred to being ashamed.

Meanwhile the coments were going crazy.

"Whats happening With all those 'Bro'? Thats off character"

"@ yourbroski: Nothing to be ashamed! Better out than inside my Bro!"

"Are we sure this Is Alan? Lol"

He keep playing moving his fingers as fast as he could, he was doing Better and when he almost reached the wining flag - a flag decorated only With White and black lines - he got killed by another player.

- Son of a bitch! - he yelled - that motherfucker killed me at the very last BRARRRRP - belched - moment!

"Dont be a pussy" The screen said this time, as knowing he was whining.

- No way this game just called me a "pussy"! - he said ofended - Im not, and in gonna show them all - he said while opening his legs in the chair in a more relaxed position, tooking a moment to scracht his balls in front everybody before starting the new round.

In that position everybody could apreciate some strong arms and legs that people didnt knew Alan had abd Alan didnt remenber to have worked on.

"Sexy" a guy comented.

He was gay, but for some reason reading that from a guy, maked him feel angry.

- Dont be a weirdo, dude - he said

He was gay, right..?

Then started playing again, not releasing every time his character died, a part of His persona did too.

Yelling, coursing, chugging beer and burping, acting with a cocky attitude more and more, every round, less nice, less gay, less him, until...

- BROS, I-OARRRRRP -He couldnt contain a burp - I DID IT!

His character was holding that black and White flag.

"Now youre a real alpha" the tv screen said With that strange music still.

"Now youre the Man of the future"

And with that, the remains of Alan were erased, he didnt remenber being a girly gay guy anymore, he always had been an alpha, a straight, gassy, jock that loved playing videogames and humillating the noobs and "queerdos" on the games.

Alan started doing a "celebration dance" that basically was doing hip moviments to show his bulge. Like he were fucking someone.

- This Is for you, @broski - Alan put His microphone close to his ass and ripped a big, loud, smelly fart on It - i beated you - he said proud. Between laughs he added - Nah, GG bro, youre talented, definetly gonna share It with the bros.

"Whats happening with Him?!' someone comented

"@ yourbroski: That flag send the fag away"

Alan didnt even read those coments, he was busy trying to fan away the fart with his hands.

That Night the strange transformartion of the gay gamer Alan was trending everywhere, but before His friend Group had read something, they receive link to a Game from Alan.

"Alan: Best game of the month broskis"

The group of friends made up of gay guys and nice straight guys thought Alan's writing was odd, but without knowing the situation they gave more atention to the link, opening it, ready to play a life-changing game, "The man of the future."

(This is just fetish writing)

[goddessofmischief]

Hey, thanks for tagging :) I am 34, so the "old men" are not so old to me and quite frankly, watching Shanks, Buggy and Mihawk in OPLA is feeling like coming home to old friends back from 20 years ago. (I was crushing on Shanks and Buggy so much...😅) So I thought, maybe you could write something where fem!reader already knows them and has a soft spot for each of them, since back when they were flirting and making fun when they were young. Now as adults they meet again and the chemistry is still there.

I remember one of my stories from back then. I was jealous of mermaids, because all the pirates got stupid once they're around, and a drunk Shanks said: "nah, you wouldn't like to be one; You'd be missing slamming doors and Buggy would drown on daily basis just to say hi-." Both Buggy and Reader: "shut up! So not true!". Just like young stupids are... :)

Anyways, thanks for your writing and I can't wait to read more about the "get-shit-done"-squad Mihawk, Shanks and Buggy

     — MERMAIDS (YOUNG SHANKS X READER, YOUNG BUGGY X READER)

A/N: Hope this is alright: since your formal request was so in line with what the theme of the series will be anyway, I used the excerpt of your line as basis for this particular fic. All credit of course goes to you for coming up with the lines and the idea. On a personal note, I just want to say how much I respect that you were an OG fic writer and still have interest in and love for these characters. Welcome home.

...

You would have believed that you had been at sea for years, until Buggy reminded you that it had only been weeks.

Granted, this is how he reminded you:

"It's been wee-eks," Buggy whined, stretching out on his hammock. Shanks was collapsed against the wall, fingers knotted together, eyes not really focused on any particular place.

And you? You were lying on the floor, gazing up at the wooden ceiling, wondering if it would be a good idea to leave the cabin and see the stars.

Being on the ship for weeks was highly irregular for your crew. Great captain he was, Roger knew he could only keep this ragtag group sane if they stepped onto shore and ate an orange every once in awhile. This concern was triply inflated by the fact that he had three young adults onboard who became very antsy if they had to stay in one place for too long. Your patience certainly rivaled Buggy's or even Shanks', but even you had your limit, and you had met it long ago.

The ship would have planned to make port nearly a week before, but the World Government was closer to finding you than ever. It was simply too dangerous.

You soon learned how your friends reacted to a situation such as this. Shanks had retreated mostly into silence, with exception of the odd joke or attempt at conversation, and Buggy had decided he blamed you both somehow for this situation and that any words exchanged with either of you would only be of the complaining nature.

"I know, Bugs," said Shanks, and you were surprised to hear him answer Buggy's complaint. You exchanged glances with him, then turned back to Buggy.

"Let's go outside, yeah?" you suggested. "Do something fun."

"Everyone's outside," Buggy complained. "They've been yelling over something for hours."

"And you didn't think that was important to mention, Bugs?" Shanks asked, irritably. Buggy shrugged.

...

The thing that had sparked such interest in the crew was simply that, as your ship had sailed very far into the deepest waters, much farther than usual, you had sailed into a home of mermaids. Extremely dangerous, and the crew knew it.

It did not negate their interest whatsoever, though.

Pirates get stupid when mermaids are around. It is a core trait of pirates and no less than a sacred tenet of piracy itself. More than a few decent men have been seduced to the sea by the very concept of mermaids, and to that end, the idea of finding one.

Shanks and Buggy were no exception.

You had never really taken the care to notice how they behaved with girls. Their flirting was of no interest to you, and so you didn't bother to surveil it. But it came to your attention now that they had terribly different styles: namely, that Buggy was mostly content to sit and watch from the edge of the deck, and Shanks was more interested in yelling, waving, and nearly falling off the boat.

Granted, by this time, alcohol had become involved, and all bets were off.

Despite all the excitement, the first in weeks, Shanks had begun to notice how quiet you'd become. He approached you, somewhat cautiously, hoping you wouldn't react with a retort or a threat.

"You okay?"

You nodded, staring at the drink you held.

"You sure?"

You shrugged, whispering something under your breath that Shanks struggled to hear.

"What's that?"

You spoke again, slightly more than a whisper, but Shanks heard it all the same.

"...I wish I was a mermaid."

"You wish you were a mermaid?" He repeated loudly, almost outraged. You shushed him, and he just laughed.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, it's just... nah, you wouldn't like to be one. You'd be missing... slamming doors, and Buggy would drown himself on a daily basis just to say hi-"

"Shut up!" you giggled. "So not true!"

"And then, of course, there'd be all the pirates. I wouldn't like sharing you with them."

"I'm a pirate. You're a pirate."

"I'm a different sort of pirate. And you're barely a pirate at all."

You shrank back, inexplicably hurt by Shanks' drunken offhand insult.

"I'm as much of a pirate as you."

"Of course you are. I didn't mean that. Not like that. I mean, you're just... you're very careful, you're much too good for us. You're not messy or mean like the rest of us are."

"What do you think I am, then?"

"A princess," he blurted out, and you tried not to laugh. "I've always thought so."

"Always?"

"Mhm. The whole time."

You studied Shanks' face, seeing him in a new light that you'd never glimpsed anyone in before. Had he always been this cute, or charming, or kind?

Well, it didn't matter if he always had been, because he was now, and before you had given much thought to it at all you were pushing his straw hat back and he was meeting your lips in a kiss, your first, his first.

"You're a terribly nice pirate," you mumbled.

"You're a terribly beautiful princess," he replied.

You both parted awkwardly, staring at each other with confused half-smiles and resigning to focusing your attentions back on the ocean. For now, it was merely a strange evening, a shooting star, but later on, you would remember that night as the precise moment you began to love Red-Haired Shanks.

And Buggy, watching from across the ship, would remember that night as the second time a deep knot of resentment grew in his chest, one that would only become larger with time. The first time had been as a child, when Shanks had done something exceptionally well where Buggy had failed, and Roger placed his famous straw hat onto his head.

The second time was tonight, because of you.

taglist: @sawendel @twinklesnake

[luxaryllis]

Can I request the dorm leaders and Jamil with a little sibling reader who’s like Elementary school young so like a 1st grader? It was their first day of “Big kid school!” (The reader adorably labeled it) and she was so excited to go practically bouncing off the walls and their older sibling was aware it would be their first day but obviously couldn’t be there because they have their own school to be at. Later that day wailing can be heard in the halls and when said students go to check it out they find outside the front of the school gates Crewel holding a sobbing, hysterical child who he’s trying to console who looks all scraped up or covered in dirt hair a mess and they realize it’s the reader and it turns out they ran all the way from their elementary school to NRC to see their big brother instead of going home because it turns out they had a terrible first day of school crying about how some kids were mean and they got pushed around shoved into a dirty puddle stuff like that? Basically made fun of and teased and their reactions to the whole thing? Like who’s drop kicking children? Who’s having the whole school board shut down? Who’s lowkey about to commit murder? Who’s about to burn the building down? and them just coddling the child the rest of the day. This was a long ask but I couldn’t get this out of my mind I’m sorry! Sjfnwnicsnjfkhnsrh I thought it would be precious seeing them soft for a little child sibling😭

First Day Gone Terribly Wrong: Part 1

Note: This was rly cute and gave me a good brainrot, so here you go!

Also, I'm gonna be making the younger sibling gender neutral since you didn't exactly specify what gender you wanted.

Just saying, the younger sibling reader in this is different from the ones on my other younger sibling reader fics. Unless you wanna give those cute and traumatized kids some fluff and comfort, you're free to interpret this sibling as something else entirely or the same.

Characters included: Riddle Rosehearts, Leona Kingscholar, Azul Ashengrotto

To be included (in part 2, possibly a part 3): Kalim Al-Asim, Jamil Viper, Vil Schoenheit, Idia Shroud (ft. Ortho Shroud), Malleus Draconia

Reader/the younger sibling is referred to with they/them and as [Name]. And considering the reader is in first grade, I'm assuming that they're around 5 or 6 years old, but I'll be saying 5 year old since that the age most people start grade one, at least where I'm from/from what I know.

Also, because of the fact that Leona is canonically 20 and Falena has a son (who, upon speculation, is around 5), I'll just make the reader Cheka's sibling (for plot reasons, I'll just say that reader is younger than Cheka by just a year or smthg-). Thus, this makes Leona the uncle of [Name] instead of [Name]'s older brother.

Also, the younger sibling may be described in some parts as having similar features as their respective elder brother/s. Like Idia's younger sibling would have blue fire hair like him, Leona's sibling would be a lion beastman, Malleus's sibling has horns, those stuff.

Oh! And Crewel calls [Name] puppy, pup, and other variations because... it's Crewel. And please ignore the semi-obvious plotholes cuz the characters have already went through their respective overblots by the time this whole thing happens-

I'll start trying to upload more works now too!! There's been so much stuff sitting on my inbox, I'm so sorry for making everyone wait.

Word count (including intro): 2864 words

Warning/s: Bullies, Possible OOC, Dorm Leaders + Jamil being protective of their cute sibling (or in Leona's case, nibling), The child cries a lot (IT'S A CHILD!!!), A couple of my personal headcanons would be thrown in sometimes, Not proofread, I accidentally mix up between 2nd and 3rd person I'm so sorry, Tell me if I missed anything

Full fic under the cut!

Intro:

As [Name] was getting ready for their first day of school, they were practically buzzing with excitement.

They've ranted and rambled about their excitement to their sibling/s, refusing to even stand still (much to the dismay of some) as they were given their bag and snacks.

Eventually, it was time for [Name]'s older brother/s/uncle to leave for Night Raven College. Since the child's school was also on Sage Island, they were entrusted in their older brother/uncle's care to head to the island for school.

On the way there, [Name]'s older brother/s/uncle gaze at the lively 5 year old with a fond smile, watching the child chatter about how excited they were for their first day of "big kid school".

Unbeknownst to them, however, there would be a sinister force awaiting the cute 5-year old. Bullies. The worst kind of bullies that left you running away to your big brother/uncle's school for comfort.

Although, unfortunately for the bullies, [Name] has quite the protective family backing them up.

Riddle Rosehearts:

Riddle's childhood has always been rough and strict, and the same could be said for his younger sibling, [Name]. When his mother had gotten pregnant with you, Riddle was silently and internally fearing for what would become of you. He knew what impact his mother's rules had on a person and he was worried that you learn to be stricter on yourself because of your mother.

Because of that, throughout your childhood, he teaches you to obey your mother, but is a lot softer on you. He wouldn't want you to topple over the sheer amount of pressure he went through. He grew to be protective over you, but he still prioritized his mother's orders over anything else.

After his overblot, however, he tried subtly showing you that it was alright to break some rules if it was harmless. He treated you over at the Clover family bakery to let you have some tarts. And this time, his mother had trusted you in Riddle's care, believing that he wouldn't dare break a rule. Your mother was wrong, but the Rosehearts siblings could care less about it as they were as happy as can be. In the end, both of you weren't caught and you ended up being close friends with Trey and his younger siblings.

When Riddle finally had to see you off at your own school, he was constantly worrying about you. From the moment he dropped you off and you left his sight, terrible situations started sprouting in his head.

He speaks his worries to his trusty vice, Trey, who reassures him that bad things are unlikely to happen. As an attempt to help Riddle, Trey tells him stories about how Trey's own younger siblings had great first days of school. While it did help a lot, he can't help but still be concerned for you in the back of his mind.

However, during lunch break, as the students were eating lunch, crying was suddenly heard nearby. The crying disturbed atleast half the student body, for a variety of reasons, but what bothered Riddle was the fact that he could practically hear you.

At first, he thinks that it's just him being paranoid, but he still decides to check it out. There, he sees Professor Crewel holding his younger sibling, who was crying. His younger sibling, [Name] Rosehearts, was covered in mud and had some traces of the strawberry tart (that Trey made) Riddle had sneaked in the child's lunch on their clothes. Not to mention how messy their hair was and the scratches on their arms and face. The sight made his blood boil.

Who dared to make his sibling cry? How dare they cause tears to fall from their eyes?

Riddle's face turns red, and Cater and Trey (along with any nearby Heartslabyul student) felt as if they were suddenly brought back into Riddle's tyrant phase. The redhead practically stomps over to Crewel and [Name], as his two seniors follow, trying to calm him down.

When Riddle finally reaches his dear sibling, he forces himself to outwardly calm down, and approaches the teacher.

"Professor Crewel, this is my younger sibling. May I know what the situation is?" the dorm leader asks. The dual-haired professor, having seen Rosehearts' little outburst, raised a brow. But the man shrugged off the sight and retold what he knew.

Apparently, Crewel found [Name] running to the school, all dirtied up while crying. The child had been calling out for "Brother Riddle", saying that today was "the worst day ever" through sobs. It was a miracle that Crewel even understood what the little puppy was talking about.

Riddle, who had calmed down a lot better by then, gently took the crying kid in his arms, holding them up. [Name] looks at the new person (who they had just noticed) and their face lights up when they see their elder brother. "Brother Riddle!!", [Name] cries out, wrapping their small arms around Riddle's torso, sobbing even louder.

Riddle immediately comforts his younger sibling, patting them on the back with one hand and quickly moves to go to Heartslabyul to get some privacy. He silently thanks his professor and makes a beeline straight to the Hall of Mirrors, glaring at anyone in his way.

As he finally reaches the comfort of his room, Riddle set you down gently on his bed. By then, both had calmed down, and Riddle kneels on one leg to look at his sibling eye-to-eye. He then asks the child to explain what happened.

When you explained to him what happened with their "bullies", who had made fun of you and pushed you to the ground, along with your strawberry tart after you had refused to share their lunch and dessert with the other kids. This enraged Riddle once more, but he hid it better.

You tried apologizing to Riddle for wasting the food and bothering him, but he only shushed them and gently patted your head, reassuring them that it was okay. Afterwards, he gets them all cleaned up and dressed them in the extra clothes your mother had packed. He then allowed [Name] to take a nap while he goes back to class.

Meanwhile, as the younger Rosehearts slept peacefully, Riddle decided to call up the school that held such disrespectful bullies. When the phone is picked up, he requests to speak to the principal or someone in charge of the first grade students.

When he gets to speak to the person, he starts sharing the same story [Name] told to him and requests that something would be done about the ill-mannered students who acted in pettiness over a child refusing to share their only food to the others. As much as this sounded like a 'karen moment', as the Ramshackle prefect would call it, Riddle spoke with courteousness and acted as if he were in an official debate.

The redhead's confidence and sense of authority, along with the obvious moral side of the topic, won over the other person and the bullies' parents were spoken to, while the bullies were given a severe warning.

Eventually, Riddle requests to his mother and the Headmage that his sibling, [Name] Rosehearts, would be allowed to stay in Night Raven College with Riddle to allow easy transportation between "home" and their school. And also so that Riddle can keep a close eye on his dear sibling, whom he would always protect.

Leona Kingscholar:

If anyone would ask Leona, he'd say that he wouldn't give a single care in the world when it came to his nephew & nibling. But the thing is, that's not exactly true. While he really does wish the children would stop clinging to him and stop causing trouble everywhere, there's still that small piece in Leona that helped raise these cubs.

The king and queen of the Afterglow Savanna were very busy people after all. And Leona would often be dragged into playing cub-sitter while his older brother and sister-in-law would be too busy. He didn't do any work, as he just supervised the hired nannies to make sure nothing bad would happen to the children.

Most of all, he can't help but somewhat see himself in the younger of his niblings, [Name]. While their existence obviously made Leona third in line for the throne (much to his utter dismay), he saw traces of how the servants would treat him in the way the young cub was treated. At first, Leona could care less. It wasn't his business after all. But upon hearing you cry in one of his original hiding spots (that you must have found on your own), his heart squeezed in his chest and he was brought back to his own childhood, when he himself was crying as no one wanted to play with him or even pay the slightest bit of positive attention to him.

This solidified the idea in his head that if this sort of behavior was still found within Falena's reign as king, Falena wasn't a good king nor a good father after all. Because of that, Leona somewhat took it upon himself to teach the young cub what they need to know. He taught them to be tougher, to be stronger, to not let anyone see weakness. He taught you what he had taught himself as a young child.

It was only after his overblot that Leona realized that you didn't need to be strong, you needed someone else to be strong enough to hold them and comfort them. So he started to teach the young cub to express themselves more, because he now knows that bottling it up won't help at all. He starts teaching them and showing them things he wished he could have done when he was their age.

When it was time for [Name]'s first day in first grade, Leona is left thinking why the heck his brother thought it was a good idea to send them off far from their home land? While the Kingscholar royal family had made arrangements that the young cub would stay with Leona in NRC, Leona can't help but think that this was the kingdom's way of saying that he and [Name] weren't welcome there. After all, there are plenty of schools in the Afterglow Savanna as well, which is where Cheka studies.

Regardless, when he drops his nibling off at their school, he watches over them as they are guided over to their class by a teacher nearby. On seeing that you were safely in your room, he turns and leaves to his school, yawning and muttering to himself.

In contrast to Riddle, Leona barely worries at all. After all, the school knows that they are housing someone of high royal status there, so he doesn't see why anyone would want to mess with his nibling.

So imagine his surprise, disappointment, and annoyance when he realizes that there are in fact kids that had the balls to bully the youngest child of the king of the Afterglow Savannah.

Leona finds out when Ruggie wakes him up from his afternoon nap in the Botanical Garden. The hyena was holding the nibling, who was currently eating their favorite food. The lion cub had tear streaks on their face, some tears still falling, but was mostly calm as they nibbled their food.

Leona saw your scraped knees, scratched arms, and bruised (and slightly bleeding) tail and promptly sat up, demanding to know what happened. Ruggie told him that you had ran to the NRC campus after a couple kids made fun of your lion ears and stepped on your tail, pushing you around.

Hearing all of that made him give out a low growl, tempted to just have those brats sent to the kingdom's prison or even punished for hurting his nibling. He calms himself down, though, when he notices your ears fall down in a sad motion and your tail twitching in pain.

He sighs and orders Ruggie to get a first aid kit and treat your wounds as he has you lay down next to him. While Ruggie left to get the first-aid, Leona silently caresses your ears and hurt tail.

"I'll tell Falena about this. Your parents won't be pleased, but I can promise you that we'll do something about those brats that did this to you," Leona mutters to you as he gently hums a tune to get you to sleep.

The next day, the bullies promptly apologize to you and had to clean the windows and tables after school as a punishment. Though if Leona had any say in the punishment, the bullies would be guaranteed to be in much bigger trouble.

Leona also paid closer attention to you, and even decided to teach you chess, saying that if anyone makes you feel bad about yourself, you should challenge them in chess, because Leona knows that you would win every time.

Azul Ashengrotto:

Azul, having been a victim of bullying, himself, Azul wanted nothing but the best for you. This meant that he would always make himself appear as a good role model for you, and that he would always make sure that you would be on top of everything.

All this, so that you wouldn't have to go through the same hurtful words he did. He helped you grow out of your shell so you would become much more confident than he was, and taught you just about everything he knows and wants to pass down onto you.

He taught you important techniques in socializing, studying, singing, and even making good first impressions. He was utterly determined on making sure that you wouldn't end up as the crybaby octopus he used to be. He didn't want you to end up hurt from the brutality of the world around you.

He has no idea what came over his parents when they told him that they wanted you, [Name] Ashengrotto, to start first grade in THE SURFACE!! When his parents suggested this, he argued that it was a terrible transition from merfolk to human, especially since [Name] has no idea how to walk on only two legs.

In the end, Azul hesitantly agrees with his parents and gives you some human form potions beforehand so that you can practice walking as a human. He takes a lot of care in making sure that you can make the perfect first impression in school so that you won't get bullied.

As Azul drops you off at school, he reminds you of what you have to do and tells you to always stay safe. He's quite sentimental in seeing you off and worries incessantly the whole day about you.

While he's actually kind of confident that nothing could possibly happen to you, there's still that nagging feeling in the back of his head that says that his efforts wouldn't be enough and that you'd leave him after possibly getting humiliated because of him. Floyd complains that Azul is starting to act like an octopus mother with how he's been acting.

Azul tries reassuring himself despite his worries, but unfortunately for him, one of his biggest nightmares became true. He found out when a knock came on his office door while the Mostro Lounge was dealing with the after-school rush. Opening the door, he's surprised to see his younger sibling there, with unshed tears in their eyes, messy hair, and a bump on their forehead that was sure to bruise.

Azul quickly lets his younger sibling in, fussing about them as he closes the door behind him. He asks you what had happened, though he somewhat knew what had likely gone on with your day.

Apparently, some of the kids there thought that you were an attention-seeker because you kept participating in class and answering the teachers' questions. So they decided that it'd be a good idea to take one of your hard-cover books and hit it on your forehead multiple times while you were getting ready to be dismissed from class.

They had called you a bunch of mean names like "know-it-all", "attention-seeker", "nerd", telling you to "go back under the water, where you came from" and things like that.

Hearing all that, Azul's head suddenly flashed back to when he was younger, and people had bullied him for what may as well be the opposite reasons. People called him "dumb", "a crybaby", and yet people bullied you just because you were smarter.

The thought made him feel guilty for you and kind of angry at himself for letting this happen to you. He then proceeds to gently wipe your tears, which started to fall while you were telling him what happened, and conjures an ice pack for your forehead.

Azul proceeds to spend the rest of the day practically coddling and doting on you, trying to "make up for his mistake".

He also calls up your school, telling them of what happened and started suggesting ways on how the school should punish the bullies. Regardless of what the school ends up doing with the bullies, Azul and the Tweels still make it their personal mission to make the bullies' lives hell for children (be it by scaring them away, or other things).

END!!!!

[littlemissclandestine]

Why I think Russell Adler is going to make a comeback in COD 2024

WARNING⚠️: Contains spoilers for Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Disclaimer: This is all just speculation on my behalf of course. I've just tried piecing stuff together for fun because Russ is one of my fave BO characters even though he's a bitch but i need more Adler content stat. <33

Let's get into it peeps. HEAR ME OUT.

Buckle up. Gonna be one hell of a ride folks 🤪

We'll start off with some random/background info.

Russ was born on February 12th 1937 so that would make him 53/54 in the Gulf War era. This actually isn't that old because if you think about it, Woods was about to turn 51 in 1981 during the Cold War campaign. What's a few more years?

We last saw Adler in action post-campaign in Warzone 1.0 cinematics but we've been kept in the dark about Adler's whereabouts post-1984 (after being brainwashed and killing Stitch LOL).

This meanie in a beanie wasn't forgotten about, oh no. He appears in the new cinematic intros on startup for both MWII (2022) and MWIII (2023). See below:

He was also featured twice in the 20 year anniversary video for Call of Duty whereas COD Ghosts didn't even get an appearance (ouch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_w5HmxsPI

I personally believe Adler was a great addition to the Black Ops roster and is essentially the new Black Ops 'cover boy' now. Would be such a shame and a missed opportunity not to include a character like him in the upcoming COD. One who is morally grey, does whatever he deems necessary to get the job done - a bit like Cpt. Price in MW. Got the COD fans riled up about him brainwashing and pulling the trigger on Bell too - he's already got the spotlight in both a good and bad way.

Now, let's explore my main reasoning as to why I think Mr Shades 2.0 is most likely coming back in late 2024...

🎖️First up: Gulf War mission list 🔫

Here are some of the campaign missions that will be featured in Black Ops Gulf War. Obviously, this is subject to change, however, going off what we have, look closely...

Credit: @MWIIINTEL on Twitter/X

Safehouse guys...SAFEHOUSE. Takes you right back to Cold War, doesn't it? Ugh the potential.

🕵️ Next up: The campaign for COD 2024 will dive into the CIA's role/the Black Ops timeline 🕘

I took the following snippet from this official article.

From this, we know there will be a huge focus on the CIA and who's a CIA clandestine special officer? Mhm, you guessed it - Russell Adler.

Now, according to the events of BO2, it's evident which characters have the possibility of returning out of our original BO trio - Jason Hudson, Frank Woods and Alex Mason.

💫 Alex is presumed dead after Frank shot him so he's out the picture in '90/91 until 2025 when they canonically meet again.

🪵 Woods would be in his 60s during this time too so I'll let you decide whether that's too old for him to be in GW.

Edit: Woods got SPAS-12'd in the kneecaps on Dec 20th 1989 by Raul Menendez so uh...yeah

🧊 Hudson died on Dec 20th 1989 at the hands of Raul Menendez.

Feel free to check out this website (Call of Duty Wiki) for an outline of the events after CW to remind yourself. Here's a link to the Black Ops timeline from there.

➡️ Gulf War being a direct sequel to Cold War and what that could mean 💉

That brings me onto the rest of the safehouse crew. Since GW is a direct sequel to CW, it would make sense for some characters to carry over if possible:

We, as the player/Bell, get to choose whether Park or Lazar die (or both lovebirds) in 'End of the Line'. It's highly unlikely they'll return unless the devs make one decision canon maybe.

There could be a chance we see Sims again given his bond with Adler (Da Nang etc.), his age (late 40s in GW) and his status (alive).

That leaves the man himself, Russ. Everything from his age to the fact he's CIA and was the deuteragonist in COD 2020's campaign just makes sense for him to have at least a lil cameo or even a larger role, don't you think?

📱Finally: Hints from official posts 🔎

This post from Call of duty's official Instagram account kind of sealed the deal for me.

Oh lookie - they dropped syringe-lover's famous line in a zombies post. Why would COD just drop it so casually like that without a reason and years after CW came out? They could've said absolutely anything else but no, this was purposeful.

And that's all for this episode guys and gals!

Thank you for reading!! 🫂

Do what you will with all this information but I have concluded in my silly little brain that scarface is coming back.

How he's only in one game is beyond me. Won't get a character like him ever again. Seems like a cliché war dude at first glance but dig a little deeper into the details of the CW campaign, peel back the layers and get into his psychology and WOWZERS.

Am I delusional? Most definitely.

But the possibility he might be returning...that little bit of hope is enough for me and i won't shut up about it.

This will age horribly if he isn't in GW. Forgive me for feeding your delusions too in that case. Please?

What are your thoughts? Feel free to share them! 😊

------

EDIT: Y'ALL IT'S HAPPENING 😭😭

[dsmp-lainey]

DSMP AGE HC’s

we as a fandom don’t talk enough about the fact that most dsmp characters don’t have canon set ages and thus we can have fun creating our own dsmp characters age hc’s

i’ll go first with some of mine, y’all can add on yours :D

-c!wilbur is older than often perceived, he’s a demigod after all, he doesn’t age like normal and appears/acts younger than he technically is. he could likely live hundreds of years with his natural life span if he stayed out of danger. but overall he is still very young for demigod life span.

-c!puffy is older than people think, she’s actually in her late 30’s or younger 40’s, basically she’s a milf lol. c!niki is younger (early/mid 20’s) and LOVES this about her.

-c!skeppy and c!bbh are old af lol. c!skeppy is a demigod (similar to c!foolish) and c!bbh is a demon so they have a longer lifespan than humans. they’ve been together decades by the start of the smp. c!sapnap is almost 30 by the start of the smp and they were together a long time before they even had him.

-c!purpled is the youngest character, because of his personality and his non human appearance it makes it harder to tell and many think he’s older, but he’s literally SO young the whole time. no one understands rage quite like a 14 year old who realizes they’re being pushed around and c!purpled proves that.

-c!fundy matures faster because he is half nymph (my hc for what sally actually was) which is a species with a much shorter life span than others. this is because when a full blood nymph reaches their life span they turn into an animal or plant for a bit and then essentially respawn as a baby eventually. unfortunately c!fundy being only half means he doesn’t get that and only gets the shorter life span, luckily his dads dna off sets it a little so he will probably be able to live up to 50 years but he will always age far faster than he friends and family, something that is just another way he feels isolated from all of them.

[bestygogirl]

BEST YGO GIRL: ROUND 4, GROUP C

Match 2

please use this as an opportunity to say why you like a character, not why you don't.

Propaganda under the cut!

Mana

mana is the apprentice to mahad and her ka is dark magician girl. she is the basis for apprentice illusion magician. she is the first one to inherit the millennium ring after mahad, while it allegedly has yami bakura in it. her fate is left up to the viewer. another fun fact is she teases atem like he's her big brother and hides in vases. she makes fun of set's stupid hat and turns it in magical hats. she's a fun loving child who is put in a position where she needs to fight a war. and like. she's my daughter please vote for her.

Isis Ishtar

gorgeous, very caring sister, strong duelist, and the only woman to ever make Seto Kaiba squirm

anyways. not only as mentioned above is she the first woman to make kaiba squirm, but she was by all means going to beat him if not for the millennium rod's millennium interference. yami marik admits that she's a strong duelist with a strategy that's been working for literal years-- and given that she's not like, a professional duelist, thats pretty impressive

she also recently got some really cool meta bumps and let me point out that an "ishizu deck" now includes obelisk the tormentor-- which we knew she had prior to giving it to kaiba, but i think it only solidifies my opinion that she very much could wield an Egyptian God Card, an exclusive little club for top tier duelists

as a character she presents herself with an amazing amount of poise and grace, shes compassionate and kind and stays with mai and serenity even though she only just met them. shes struggling through living the past 5 years of her life drowning in guilt for her family's tragedy just because she wanted to make her little brother happy and shadi is a fucking liar. shes foretold her own death and marches towards it grimly but with so much love in her heart. and even then shes 20 years old and holds an important position in the egyptian government that typically requires a doctorate degree AND has been dealing with mariks off-and-on bullshit entirely by her lonesome. she also likes to flex her fortunetelling a little which is awesome i think she should do that more that scene where she tells the guy exactly how the stele is being transported was so everything

speaking of shes got such an attitude. "is it your destiny to waste my time?" iconic. never seen before will never be seen again. watch the duel between her va and joeys its so fucking funny

shes excult. shes doesnt flinch in the face of god nor death. seto kaiba and yami marik respect her. shes so sad and so sweet and battle city couldnt have happened without her.

also her parallels with kaiba are what motivate kaiba to give yugi the card he needed to beat marik.

kaiba, in duelist kingdom, was ready to jump off a ledge if yugi didnt let him through to face pegasus while trying to save mokuba out of sheer desperation to save his little brother. he KNOWS what that dedication feels like and the iron kind of will you need to have to make that kind of gamble. isis is being so fucking legit with what shes saying and he respects that and her judgement enough to change his mind and not only watch the duel, but give yugi a card that eventually helps him win, even if he has no real confidence in the odds. but theres a CHANCE, which is the same thing he taught her when he beat her in a duel. the layers its her faith that moves him to act. which is so crazy

anyway vote isis shes my best friend forever and a real rep for all the 20 year olds who honest to god did not sign up for this bullshit

[klerothesnowman]

The Reason the Jedi Suck is Because Conflict is More Interesting Than Peace

Okay, here I go defending the Jedi.

I've mentioned it in a previous ramble, but my primary engagement with Star Wars for the past year or so has been a Neverwinter Nights roleplaying server set during Knights of the Old Republic. It is the most niche of niche corners in the overall Star Wars fandom, but it's given me a really great example of why a lot of people have the opinion that the Jedi are massive fuck ups who are responsible for all the problems in the galaxy.

If you somehow don't know, the big twist of KotoR 1 is that the player character is an amnesiac Darth Revan, the previous Dark Lord of the Sith who ruined everything. The Jedi concoct this big plan to mind wipe him, train him as a Jedi again, and then use him to turn the tide of the war. There's a lot of details to this that are up in the air, like if this plan was entirely premediated, or something spur of the moment when an amnesiac Revan exploded into their laps when Malak betrayed him. One of the Jedi Masters who is absolutely not on board with this plan is Master Vrook. Vrook is a real dick, he's crotchety and angry and he shoots down all of your achievements. At one point he flat out says that training you is a mistake because Revan will just come back. Homie does not care about OpSec.

In KotoR 2 one of the more shocking, yet extremely understated, twists is that Jedi Master Atris has fallen to the Dark Side and is partly responsible for the slaughter of the Jedi Order after she gave the location of the Order's meeting place away to the Sith in an attempt to lure them out. Because KotoR 2 was less about big twists and more about an unfolding of events you could see coming a mile away, the fact that Atris is evil isn't surprising, the first time you meet her she flips off the handle about how much she hates you and you watch a recording of her flipping out about how you should be dead later. The reason Atris' fall is shocking isn't because "Oh man, this character who I had a positive outlook on is evil? Say it isn't so" but more because she was all over the marketing for this game, she's on the box art fighting Sith, she's the one who juxtaposes the game's iconic Sith. She, metatexually, represents the light side for Kotor 2. Everyone who played Planescape Torment noticed that her name was an anagram of Trias and sniffed her ass immediately however.

These twists and characters are extremely well known, basically common knowledge to anyone who cares for KotoR. Like, for instance, the kind of reprobates who would roleplay KotoR in a 20 year old D&D RPG.

There was a time on this roleplaying server where, not getting into details, the Jedi players fucked up. The DM team deemed that their behaviour was unjedi, and that they needed to intervene to push them onto the right path. The method of doing so was to have their enclave be audited by Master Atris. When the announcement was given the Jedi characters panicked. Characters who were from Coruscant told horror stories they knew about how mean Atris was, one in particular described her as "The Worst".

There was another time where players ran into Master Vrook. Vrook was a dick, he smacked down any attempt to have fun, he seized on any attempt to criticize characters and completely wrote off particular characters as lost causes, almost gleefully rattling off lists of their failings. Vrook actually was The Worst.

These portrayals of Vrook and Atris were not challenged. Why would they be? They lined up with how players remembered them. Of course Jedi Master Atris is mean and awful, she was mean and awful to the Jedi Exile.

The issue with that should hopefully be extremely obvious. You're not the Jedi Exile.

Atris being an evil hateful shit is a twist, it's a reveal. Immediately after Atris flip out one of her Handmaidens steps up to her and asks "Are you okay? I've never seen you act like that before." The Jedi Exile was her hero, if you plan as a male PC she loved him, he stood as a testament to what the Jedi should be. And then the Exile betrayed the Order and joined Revan in the Mandalorian Wars. The Exile hurt her in a intensely personal way that only the Exile could. Atris acts mean and awful to the Jedi Exile and only the Jedi Exile.

Vrook is angry and dismissive of Revan because you're Revan, he thinks this entire plan is a mistake and that you're just going to fall to the dark side again and then everyone will be right back where they started. And yeah, he's angry, stubborn and dismissive of the Jedi Exile too, but again that's because you're the Jedi Exile, the guy who joined Revan. The guy who, in a very rare out of the way bit of dialogue that often gets missed, used to bully his Padawan.

Every time Vrook and Atris are interacted with is when they're at their worst, we the viewer never get to see them at their best, we just get to have the little not-Yoda's word that Vrook is actually pretty cool. The entire fanbases perception of these characters are tainted by whose perspective they were seeing these characters from, and the moment you are seeing them.

This is something that the Jedi get screwed by in the entire franchise.

Starting from the prequel trilogy, it's pretty oldhat to point out that these movies are about the Jedi Order falling for a trap, after being manipulated for over a decade. It's a story about good people having their flaws and fears preyed upon by an enemy they're unprepared for. The severity of the war, combined with the knowledge that the Sith are behind it somehow, pushes the Jedi to get involved. The Clone Army falling into their lap is too good to be true, but its discovery is intentionally timed with a sudden urgent need for an army. The Jedi are forced to make compromises on their ideals and convictions, and that's what leads to their downfall.

Meanwhile in the Original Trilogy, a similar narrative is playing out. The Jedi are defeated and in hiding, traumatized by life under The Empire. When Luke's friends are in danger Yoda urges caution to continue hiding, saying he's not ready to face Vader and that he's rushing into it. When Luke says that he can't bring himself to kill his father, Obi-wan laments that if he can't do it then the Empire has already won. But the thing is, Obi-wan and Yoda are wrong, their beliefs influenced by their fear. Luke isn't rushing to face Vader, he's trying to save his friends, Obi-wan thinks Vader cannot be redeemed but Luke holds onto that hope to very end. And in that end he's proven right, Luke redeems Vader, and the galaxy is saved. Luke stands true to his ideals and convictions and is rewarded for it.

Both of these narratives require that the Jedi falter, require the Jedi to not meet their own ideals for both tragedy and Luke's eventual victory as one of the greatest Jedi who ever lived.

Furthermore, once Luke can make a new Jedi Order, he makes one that has learned from the mistakes of the previous Order but also, crucially, understands why certain decisions that he wrote off as mistakes were done. There's an entire ass story about Luke coming to the realization that a lot of Star Wars fans have to make, that Attachment and Relationships are not the same thing, and that the Jedi Order were right to bar the Jedi from them.

The thing is about Luke's Order though is that the stories told within it could not be a three part movie series. They're episodic novels and adventures, where the writers have room for the smaller, day to day operations of the Jedi Order. Missions where Jedi swoop in and save the day, and it doesn't need to feed into a narrative that only has one to two hours to wrap shit up. Where they protect people, not lead armies against their enemies. Where they get to be everything they're supposed to be.

These novels are also a lot more niche. It's more of an investment to read a book than it is to watch a movie, meanwhile the movies are one of the most successful blockbuster franchise ever made, everyone watched the movies, no one read the books. So it's the movies that influence people's perception and ideas. And then it's those perceptions and ideas that make people go "It would be interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great." which perpetuates the image of Jedi as fuck ups.

And it IS interesting to explore how the Jedi are actually not that great. You should always be critical of institutions, it's how you keep them honest and watching institutions fail makes for interesting storytelling. The institutions failing is the inciting incident for the movies. But the movies still maintain that the core of the institution was something good.

[gffa]

Did they at least fix what was wrong with Jason? like did Bruce at least fix what he did to Jason? Like im coming to terms with the fact that Jason as a character is now just a prop to serve Bruce whether to make him look good for saving the streetkid from becoming a Evil Criminal, or to give shock value to readers, or to dispense platitudes about the importance of family and how wonderful Bruce.

and that he will never be allowed to be or do anything good unless is in the service of batman in someway, but at least i need to know that Bruce fixed what he did wrong, and that they didnt just forget about that like the other time Bruce was awful to Jason.

I'm not really aware of them even specifically addressing it outside of maybe The Man Who Stopped Laughing, but like. That's kind of the things comics does, all comics I've read will do this at some point or another. They do over the top ridiculous nonsense and those plot threads often get dropped, I don't think we're meant to take them seriously, just like I don't think we're meant to look at Jason and think of him as the guy who shot an 11 year old child straight through the chest and probably right through his spine, and not forgive him for it. Comics are bonkers and I don't think they're meant to be taken with the seriousness we would of these actions in the real world--otherwise, almost ALL of these people have done things that they could never fix, you know? I don't know where your lines in the sand are, I don't know what you're looking to get out of comics, whether you're here for the canon or you're here for the fandom--and none of that is said with any shade, there's a whole wide variety of reasons to be a fan of something. I can't really give advice here because it's something you have to figure out what you want from comics and what you think they're meant to be might be totally different from what I think they're meant to be. And I'm struggling to word all of this, because I can feel how frustrated you are, how I've been there and felt heartsore about the place my faves occupy in canon, like I was and am a Pietro Maximoff fan in the comics, I have intimately known the pain of a character only being an extension of other characters, being written horribly by those who don't care about him, and desperately holding onto that one run where he was written brilliantly even though it was from 20-30 years ago. Versus that that's just the way comics often are, our faves just are not A-list characters, that comics are on a tiered hierarchy and we have to make our peace with that. Not all of the characters we like are the same ones the company likes or the writers like and that sucks. Whether that means walking away from comics (like I did after Marvel threw the X-Men under the bus for the Avengers in AvX, like I've stopped reading Quicksilver comics because my heart couldn't take it anymore) or just reading comics and then turning to fandom to realize the potential that canon never intended, whatever you need to do to make your peace with how comics operate, that's all any of us can do. I don't know if you're just in need of venting or if this is truly a breaking point for you, but it probably is true to some degree that Jason's always going to be written as an extension of Bruce's character, because Bruce Wayne Sells So Many Comics, of course DC is going to make everyone an extension of him, to some degree or another. (Honestly, right now, I think the only Bat escaping that is Dick and even he is still extremely tied to his relationship with Bruce.) Until those characters sell as many comics as Bruce does, I don't see that changing. All we can do is find the moments of something worth having fun with in the meantime, because comics are not a coherent medium, they are messy and tons of stuff is never addressed on-screen because every writer is coming in with their own agenda and it's pure chaos, and in my experience we just have to find joy in the whirlwind of it all.

[dsaf-confessions]

So like after making that I think Steven's tragedy is overlooked confession I realised it isn't just him but also everyone else . Including Jack & Dave the most popular characters in this fandom

So like Dee. She was a child. I think around 6 years old. Idk but Im sure she wasn't even 10. And she also died in her birthday??. So like imagine being so young going to a pizzeria to celebrate your birthday, and then, you get killed by a pink fuck, in a place you thought was supposed to be fun and harmless children entertainment fun. And then said pink fuck, FORCES your soul in an animatronic. So like you spend decades, trying to save other children so they won't end up like you. Jesus, she tried her hardest to save other children, to help give them their happiest day that was taken away from them at such young ages. But it was a cycle of failure. She couldn't save them. She was still, a child, like them. A child that was forced to mature at such young age. Can only do much. It's so fucking tragic. I love her I rlly wanna hug her.

Peter. People seem to say that he abandoned Dee and Jack. But I don't think he did. He just moved on with his wife. That's kinda what married people do. Just because he wasn't there, doesn't mean he outright abandoned them. If he had. I don't think Jack would had run off to his place for help after his and Dee's death. Or that Henry's line about his family dying just to get away from him, and that he meant more as a phone guy than he did to his family when he was alive. Would had affected him, if he actually tried getting away from them. He feels bad for not being there for them. I don't blame him. He was a working man. He probably COULDN'T be there at Dee's party cause of work. Fazbender's is a shit ass place to work at anyway. He still blames himself. For his family falling apart. For leaving. He spent many years slaved at Freddy's while also having flashbacks/memories when he was alive. Sounds awful. His suicidal outburst in the evil route isn't talked about enough. He wanted to die. If it meant he'd see Caroline again. Oof

Even Jack and Dave's tragedies are overlooked.

Dave's backstory is so messed that it actually makes me sick in my stomach. No kidding. (Not saying it's bad or anything) So I'd prefer to not talk too much about it. Hope you understand .But in a nutshell. It's about someone who never had any kind of love growing up desperately trying to get the approval/love of the people he loves. And even considers family. So much that he's willing to take any kind of abuse, fucked up experiments, manipulation and literally killing him. To be with them. Cause he never had any love. He thinks they care for him. And that's enough for him to literally cheat death and posses his own corpse, over, and over, and over again. Just to be with them. That he was willing to murder. For them. Cause they told him he was doing good. Jesus. It's messed up.

Jack's own tragedy, and blackjack's, he lost his parents and was left as an orphan to take care of his sister at an actually young age. I think he was in his 19-20s when that happened. In fact Im sure he wasn't even old enough to drink on the state he lives in. Which I think already explains how messed up his mental health actually was. And then one day he messed up. He left Dee and that led to her death. He tried to find her, to save her. It cost him his own life. He was dead, soulless, people didn't saw him as human. They knew him as the ' scary orange man/guy'. But he made a promise. It's sad, one of the very few times he's actually acknowledged as human. Is the dsaf 3 good ending. Aka where he literally did everything for everyone knowing that in the end he couldn't pass on and get his own happiest day. And blackjack's regret. It was so strong that it gave him the power to go back in time. Just cause his guilt to turn back the clock and save Dee was that strong.

I think people should start seeing dsaf as something more than just "haha funny orange and aubergine guys have sex in Vegas". There are so many other things to it than davesport. For a series that's as much of a shitpost as dsaf. It's actually filled with angst. And so much potential only for the fandom to focus only on one part of it.

Anyway hi.

Can you guys that I like angst by now?

.

[minty-mumbles]

Flared Fins Mer AU Lore Dump

You can find the fic on tumblr and on AO3

Character Breakdowns:

Wind: 8 (Pup) - Tropical Mer

Adult coloring will be Orange with light blue splotches, like a koi fish’s pattern

Fun fact: He and Warriors are, in fact, very distantly related.

Hyrule: 13/14 (Juvenile) - Octopus Mer

Adult coloring: Green with golden freckles all over him

Fun fact: His healing magic is not as strong in this fic, or at least not as developed. Most of his magic

Wild: 15/16 (Juvenile) - Deepsea Mer - Adult coloring: Dark blue with teal lines. The markings on one of his arms are strangely more of a green color, for some reason

Fun facts: His fins are bioluminescent (and his markings as well, when he gets older.) He has giant fins that are good for threat displays but are very delicate. He’s a better fighter then Hyrule, but being in more fights leads to him having a lot of torn fins. Due to being a deepsea Mer, who would naturally have less opportunities to eat, he metabolizes his food well and doesn’t need to feed as often.

Four: 16 (Juvenile)  - Tropical Mer (Based off a beta fish)

Adult coloring: On one side is green fading to red on the fins, the other is blue fading to purple. As a juvenile, he only has the split green and blue

Fun fact: Four absorbed his twin in the egg, which is why his colors are split down the middle. He is the most territorial in the pod. When he and Wild get to know each other, they like to flare their fins at each other to show off and get rid of territorial aggression. Four bites

Legend: 19 (Almost an adult) - Tropical Mer (Based off a Sea bunny, which is a kind of sea slug)

Adult coloring: Light Pink with red markings

Fun facts: He is courting Ravio (A purple sea bunny.) His tail ring functions the same as his pegasus boots, which is why he could catch Hyrule

Sky: 21 (Adult) - Tropical Mer (Based off the flying fish)

Coloring: Red with silver fins and small yellow marks

Fun facts: He is courting Sun. He has a giant pet Grouper called Crimson. (Sky: Crimson is friend, not food!) Crimson is nine feet long and can pull him along faster than most mers can swim. (Groupers really can get that big. They probably aren’t really that fast though.)

Twilight: 23-25 (Adult) - Tropical/Freshwater hybrid

Coloring: Dark green with gray underbelly and thick black marks

Fun fact: His colors are so much duller because of his freshwater ancestry. He can survive in freshwater for a lot longer than others can. Sometimes goes and hunts in nearby rivers. He has an orca tooth necklace that can turn him into an orca. Yes, the Orca is called “Orcie.”

Warriors: 25-27 (Adult) - Tropical Mer

Coloring: Royal blue with orange marks on the ends of his fins. HE has a kind of iridescence to his scales that most Mer consider very pretty

Fun fact: Warriors has a twin, Linkle, who is currently very lost, wandering around in deep sea Mer territory.

Time: Very old (Adult) - Tropical Mer

Coloring: White/silver with thin red and blue line markings

Fun fact: He is mates with Malon, who is a deepsea Mer. Malon prefers to live in the deep, but they visit each other often. Yes, it is weird that a deepsea Mer would take a permanent mate but Malon does what she wants. She thinks it’s very funny that her husband adopted so many kids, and dots on them when she visits.

Worldbuilding:

Very young Mer are called fry. They are a lot more competent than human babies, being able to swim right after hatching, but during the first year of their life, they run mainly on their fish instincts. Fry are not considered super valuable to Mer, because Mer may have up to 20 fry from one clutch of eggs. Very few of survive the fry stage. Often a pod will choose the best looking/biggest fry and focus their energy on them, leaving the others to fend for themselves. (They won’t be chased away or killed, and if one does make it to puphood by themselves, all the better. But smaller pods can’t afford to feed 20 new mouths at once when all of them won’t survive.)

Those that reach a year old are called pups, at which point they shake off the more intense instincts, and become a little more reliant on their guardians. At 12-14 years old, they become juveniles. They have a huge growth spurt, and they turn from their dull pup colors to their main adult colors. Pup colors are usually either neutrals (other than white) or a very desaturated version of their adult colors. They are considered adults at around 20, around which time they gain their makings. They stop aging at around 30 years old, but keep getting bigger.

Tropical Mer stay in their birth pods unless they get a mate and decide to go to their mate’s pod, or decide to try to start their own pods. There are exceptions though, where juveniles/new adults will leave their pod because they don't fit in well.

Mer “Species” are more vague categories. There are tropical, deepsea, fresh water, octopus, etc. Most of them can still interbreed with only a little difficulty, (as long as they can get over their different social practices) so they’re not really distinct species. (Thought sometimes interbreeding can be difficult to achieve, and sometimes those children turn out sterile, like Mules are)

Tropical Mer are territorial, but they do still interact with neighboring Pods and trade at designated market areas. They aren’t isolated. Deepsea Mer are solitary, and Octopus Mer are solitary/only share territory with mates. If you are part of a social species but do not have a pod, you are considered a loner.

For one reason or another, Time ended up taking each of the boys under his fin, so to speak. Four was abandoned by his birth Pod because of his strange colors when he became a juvenile. Twilight went exploring up a river where his Tropical Mer mother could not follow, and couldn’t find her again when he came back. Sky fell asleep as a pup and got left behind when his pod moved on. Due to being twins, Warriors and Linkle were small coming out of the egg, and their pods decided to focus more on their other fry. Warriors never really integrated himself into the pod after that and left early. Things like that.

Mer can’t breathe air. A typical adult Mer can hold their breath comfortably for about 30 minutes though, so they still like to sunbathe on beaches if they can. They have gills on their neck and sides of their chest. Water flows into the neck gills and out the chest gills. The mouth is just for vocalizations and eating. As long as their necks are in the water, they can stick their heads out of the water as long as they want. They have bad eyesight above the waves.

Mer have their own language that needs to be taught to children, but they also have more internal vocalization that does not need to be taught. These vocalizations can get across more specific messages than just emotions, but the meanings aren’t as advanced as language. If you spend a lot of time around a Mer, you will be able to pick up on some of their vocalizations’ more subtle meanings, like discerning “hello” from “good morning/evening/etc.”

Mer are mostly carnivores, and they obviously do not cook their food. They do not scavenge unless they are desperate, preferring to hunt for themselves. Sometimes they eat plants like kelp for variety, but that’s not essential. Mollusk type shellfish (Clams, oysters, ect) are good snacks but aren’t really filling. 

Mer that are social sleep cuddled together and all intertwined, to keep themselves from drifting apart while they're asleep. (Less of a fear when sleeping in a cave, but in the open ocean? Many pods have been permanently split on accident because of currents moving them three miles apart in the night)

Hylians exist in this au and they know that Mer exist, but they don't interact much. There’s a language barrier, and Hylians can’t make the right sounds for Mer language and vice versa. There have been exceptions, where one species’ sign language is taught to a member of the other, but this isn’t common. Hylians are at the same level of development as in the LOZ games. They do not have modern science, etc

[wereoz]

@cnka i wanted to reply to ur question abt my thoughts on the tsn doc on my actual post but the tags were so insanely long i was like. i need to make an actual post

SO IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

first off, wow im just so astounded by the fervent love that went into making tsn. it was a risk and so unlike other projects fincher and anyone else there had done but w/ their commitment to it it turned out SO amazingly. the fact they sat around a table and argued for hours abt how the lines fit and everyone could make their case is just. WOW!!!! they really made sure everyone understood and loved playing their characters.

erica's and christies actresses werent very common appearances like mark but they really went all in too im in AWE!! NOT TO MENTION MARYLINS WOW!! rooney mara really just. god she went so hard into making sure all of ericas kindness and leniency and frustration were so clear, she was so focused in the behind the scenes footage and obviously having so much fun <33 i love that brenda song was able to relate to christie's jealousy and fear eduardo was cheating. the fact all the actors ARE the characters ages and are as chaotic and fierce and dedicated and ambitious makes it soooo<3333 rashida jones describing marilyn as a greek chorus just watching hit SO hard. the second hand experience of this young man going through this epic tale by just hearing it thru testimony is a crazy thing. the act of listening is so simple but becomes so emotional even as everyone wants to keep it professional

on the twins: i find it so wonderful that the actors armie and josh played both twins. it just WORKS bc twins take the 'know u better than u do' that siblings have and take it to absolutely insane levels. the fact these actors have literally got access to both the twins minds takes the performance to a whole new level like those twins know each other inside and out!!!! its a meta thing that goes truly crazy.

you have already seen me say the bts of the erica and mark breakup truly kills me bc. he is being an asshole and not listening and the fact he doesn’t mean to doesn’t change that he is. she has to leave, but it’s so sad that she does bc… fincher calling him 'damaged goods' implies a universe where whatever makes him like this isnt present. where maybe he’s fine. so. GOD :’(( (i think it’s autism + the bad life experiences that come from that & being queer + the bad life experiences that come from that, heightened by the era)

on a more positive note i love that on set picking out the accessories andrew says ‘i’ when hes speaking as eduardo. he’s really dedicated to the role its great. also that he and jesse had conversations in character like these 20 year olds r crazy truly. love them for that !!

during the whole thing, everyone is so suspicious, and condemning to mark: like, noting that he is driven by ego, jesse jokes mark is okay with the cold because he doesn’t feel anything, and also, there’s a part when sorkin, fincher, andrew, and jesse are sitting around and talking about the scene where mark & eduardo argue abt ads. essentially, they make the argument that mark always says ‘i’ when eduardo says ‘we’ because in his mind, eduardo hasn’t contributed much at all. while mark is up coding for hours straight, eduardo is at some phoenix thing so? what gives?

so i was reframing my understanding of mark (which. is very indulgent cus i love him), and trying to get as close to his brain as i could and i was coming up with him generally being pretty… hard on the outside for lack of a better word. he’s not traditionally intimidating (like the script states) but its hard to crack him and you can really see this with jesse’s physicality like he’s so stiff. that’s pretty innocuous but i think this is something he uses to put distance between him and his loved ones- very frustrating. and i think every time i realise how much mark is an asshole i remember so many reasons why they added *trying to be.

when fincher called him damaged goods it’s like. the most in the doc people give him the benefit of the doubt (also sorkin saying he wanted to balance out all of mark’s character). which is pretty good because marks good traits are supposed to be very subtle and hit you when you don’t expect it. that’s very much how i felt when i suddenly remembered ‘sorry. that was mean.’ he truly is just trying to be an asshole. he wants to be nicer than he is but he also wants more power than he does and as someone who felt pretty powerless the rest of his life, that trumps the rest. he really thinks he can have both experiences, power and love, and he just hates that every time he takes a step in one direction it cancels out the other. this actually really fits in well w/ my next point

i also want to say that the fact mark videoing everyone was explained as him wanting to force proof that everything is fine, and they’re happy is making me so :(( MARK!!!! :(( he is so. i mean its two things: its the ‘i won, but did i?’ of it all. mark won the argument but its a hollow victory, being some sillicon valley titan isn’t emotionally fulfilling, it will never be enough. especially not when its costing him a good friend. the way the end is laced throughout the entire movie is so sick to me

re marks bullshit i also love how they mentioned that marks jealousy about the final clubs is more than just wanting to be in eduardo’s position its like - i thought we had some loser solidarity and now its like you’re a whole different person. its less of a horrible feeling when ur at the bottom with someone and mark feels betrayed. ofc mark doesn’t feel safe to express this emotion (bc bullied nerd boy whos probs bi in the 2000s), or doesn’t know that’s what he’s feeling, and decides it’s eduardo’s fault and freezes him out for it.

this is just off the top of my head i certainly have more and will probably talk more abt this lovely doc again :^))

[moongothic]

i would love trans crocodile but im very cynical that oda would write him in a respectful manner. thats not even thinking of how horrible that one portion of the one piece fandom would treat him

Yeah the fandom sucks and I'm going to strangle everyone (including the cishets who claim to be trans allies and then use "Crocomom")

But with Oda it's weird because like. The more I think about it, the more I'm like... 50/50 about Oda being able to actually deliver good, respectful trans masc rep.

Like I've posted about this before but One Piece does have this on-going theme of having characters "stuck in wrong bodies" or "having one's body changed" (sometimes reversably, sometimes irreversably; sometimes against their will, sometimes consentually). Which, in theory, in my mind, does kind of signal that on some level Oda understands the idea of being "the wrong sex" (whether or not that's a good way to explain The Trans Experience™ is a whole different subject but it's an old fashioned explanation that Oda would probably be/is familiar with) But at the same time, while the concept pops up again and again in One Piece, Oda doesn't really dwell too deep into the idea of what that's like. Like, emotionally. How it feels like to like, get turned into a toy or be a child who gets aged 20 years or to get turned into a cyborg or a giant child or have parts of your body permanently turned into animal parts (sometimes with a will of their own) etc

And like. Part of me understands why, Oda does tend to want to focus on writing a story he thinks teenaged boys would be interested in reading, and he has often stated he wants to have fun with his story too (like that's partially why Luffy's a Rubber Man, because Oda thought giving Luffy a ridiculous ability would make him more fun to write and draw long-term, which is valid as hell) This is why for example Oda has avoided doing any romances in OP, and while there are dark themes in the story, often he has done his best to avoid making them too blatant, as some things would be too mature for his youngest readers (like, for example until Kuma's backstory, it was never explicitly stated what would happen to the slave wives of the Tenryuubito, even saying it was "implied" would be pushing how that subject had been treated until now)

So like. Because of that, I understand why Oda hasn't dwelled into The Feelings™ part much/at all despite the "stuck in the wrong body" narrative appearing time and time again

Either Oda thinks it'd be too boring either for himself or his readers, or he hasn't dwelled into it because he doesn't really understand gender dysphoria and can't relate to the experience (despite how often it shows its face in OP). Or it could be both, even

The thing is though, as OP has gone on, while I wouldn't say Oda has "broken his writing rules", Kuma's backstory alone has pushed them to a new limit with the love-that-never-was story and the all-but-explicitly-stated storytelling.

So a part of me wonders, if Crocodile is trans, could Oda actually like... take a slightly deeper look into his feelings and explore his queer experience? ('Cause god knows, if Crocodad Real, then there really would be a literal coming out-story built into his backstory that would be extremely unavoidable, and as I've mentioned before, the fact that we haven't gotten to learn almost anything about his backstory yet is Kinda Fucking Sus)

Also I do want to mention how... like Oda gets a lot of bad rap when it comes to queer rep in One Piece, but the more I think about it, I think it's more an issue with the terminology and how translators have gone about either localizing it, or more often than not, leaving it unlocalized 'Cause like. Yes the "okama" would be horrible trans rep but... really... they're not trans representation. They're representation for draq queens. Piss poor draq rep, but still, they're draq queens. And just like our very real life drag performers; some of them are cishets. Some of them are gender non-conforming gay men. Some of them are nonbinary*. Some of them are trans women. Obviously lumping all of these people into one group is kinda offensive (which is why "okama" is (as far as I understand it) such an unpopular term even amongst queer people in Japan), and the way Oda often chooses to draw these characters looks no different to how gender criticals choose to present trans women in their propaganda.

*Like Bon-chan, who explicitly states they are both male and female. And Iva-chan, who switches between boy-mode and girl-mode from time to time, could arguably be called genderfluid (though any specific terminology is up to debate). Both are nonbinary draq queens.

And yet, despite all that. It can not be understated how if you put aside the nameless background gag-characters, Oda does treat the actual, proper queer characters with respect. Everyone would agree that Bon-chan is an absolute hero, we would all die for them. Iva-chan (and Inazuma too) is explicitly presented in a heroic light, seen as someone who helps people and fights for justice (with the Revs)

And then there's the first binary trans characters we've actually gotten, Okiku and Yamato. And I'm pretty sure we would all agree Okiku is 10/10 perfect trans fem representation (I am not entirely serious, I'm not trans fem so I can't speak for trans women here, it's just that I can't see anything Horrendously Wrong with how Okiku is presented within the story- not actually perfect but all things considdered, damn good). She is stunning, people around her (INCLUDING SANJI!!) don't just view her as a woman but would go out of their way to date her (as in, she is seen as "desirable", and not as some kind of a disgusting freak to avoid), she is heroic and sweet and kind and just. IDK I love her And while I'm sure many trans mascs would agree Yamato may not be how they want to be seen by the world (though having Yamato ID as a man while having the biggest moobs is surely validating for a lot of people, including anybody who might not want or be able to get top surgery and/or HRT), again, he is only presented as heroic within the narrative and respected by the characters around him, Luffy especially, which is by far the most important part; the protagonist going out of his way to be respectful of trans characters does represent the values of the story.

And like.

Think about how Oda has treated Crocodile so far.

Like, although we're all having a bit of a laugh over the whole Cross Guild thing, Oda is still treating him as a cool character whom he presents seriously and treats with respect. Like Oda wants the readers to see Crocodile as at least a little bit cool. So I can't imagine him pulling a full 180 with how Croc would be treated in the story if he was revealed to be trans, especially when the potential foreshadowing for that was laid out in the story years ago already.

All this to say; Oda is not perfect at all, but considdering the things he has gotten right so far, I think there is hope he could pull it off. Because Oda is for Queer Liberation.

Really, my only concerns would be whether or not there's a risk Crocodile could get somehow detrans'd during the story (I'm praying the Haki theory isn't an option, really Doc Q might be the only true risk here), if he's stealth and that got presented as "a wrong thing to do" (which I'd hope not, like our previous queer characters have been okay with being openly queer but that may have been more for the readers than anything else. At least, I hope, god knows if Crocodile is and wants to be stealth trans then that's his right and he shouldn't have to out if he doesn't want to, and yeah, I don't want him to be demonized within the narrative for being stealth (if he's stealth, for all we know he could be out)) and like, most importantly, what'd end up being Crocodile's "motivation" for transitioning in the first place

Like. God. I just. I don't want there to be a twist where Crocodile transitioned because "being a woman was weak" or because he "wanted to be acknowledged by Whitebeard" ('cause WB doesn't take women into his crew) or "the scar in his face made him so ugly he decided he should be a man instead" (seen unironic Redditors suggest that. Almost lost my mind) or something

Like I hope someone's at least tried to explain gender dysphoria to Oda. Like the man does have actual queer friends in real life (some of whom inspired characters in OP), so I'm hoping at least someone's tried to explain the feelings that come with The Trans Experience™ to him so that, if Crocodile's trans, then Oda can actually try to base his reasoning to transition on those feelings instead of any stupid "reasons" that no actual queer person would relate to

But it all just boils down to... Is Oda willing to actually dwell into those feelings and explore them in the story.

It... it really could go either way with Oda

So yeah. Anon, I'm with you, I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was at least A Little Worried. But also... I want to be hopeful. Because I do believe there is reason to be hopeful.

Only time will tell how it'll go

[andorerso]

sissi hello!! in regards to the post about ocs, i would LOVE to hear more about dani and elijah 💜 (partly bc i love both of those names so so much, always have, and that intrigues me instantly).

hope you're having a wonderful day!

rolling up almost two months later like hiiiiii <3 sorry it took me so long to answer ahfgdchg

but first of all, thank you for asking because I love talking about them, second of all, I'm so happy you like the names because I do too 🥰 well obviously, I wouldn't have chosen them otherwise, but I'm very particular about names and they have to feel right, and this was one of those instances when I almost instantly knew their names, like it was just fate. meant to be. and I think they sound nice together!! anyway, I'll stop ranting about names now

so, the story is urban fantasy, and their tropes are slowburn, mutual pining, idiots to lovers, battle couple, codependency, angstttttt, two sides of the same coin, flirty & awkward, snarky & serious, impulsive & rational, short-tempered & calm

Dani (full name Danielle Preston but she hates being called Danielle) is our leading lady, she's in her mid-20s, and she's the flirty, snarky, impulsive, short-tempered side of the two. she's always cracking a joke, which is mostly a self-defense mechanism, and tends to cover up real feelings with humor, sex and booze. I have such a soft spot for characters who'd rather cut open a vein than show weakness or vulnerability in front of someone, but still deeply care about people and are intensely loyal if you earn it, so she's kinda that archetype. she'd literally burn down a whole city for someone she loves but will never actually say the words. also she's bisexual like almost all my MCs

here's kind of how I imagine her (made with this picrew)

and Elijah is the more level-headed, serious, all business no fun counterpart to Dani's generally chaotic behavior. he's a couple hundred years old, and not human, but he looks to be in his early 30s. he's very matter-of-fact, goal-oriented, and pragmatic, but he's also very kind to those who deserve it, and can be surprisingly intense and passionate when he actually lets himself feel it (which is not very often, at least not at first). he has a very strong sense of justice, but he kind of follows his own moral code, so he definitely falls into the morally grey category (Dani kind of does too, but Elijah even more so)

here's a picrew for him too

as for their relationship, it starts as kind of an unwilling partnership and they clash a lot at the beginning because of their different approaches and worldviews, but they eventually form a friendship. Elijah's kind of drawn to her/fascinated by her from the start, because she's so different from him but has a lot of the qualities he admires/wishes he had too. Dani takes a bit longer mostly because she's better at lying to herself lmao. but there's an attraction of sort from the beginning. it's a difficult ride, mostly because they're both stubborn idiots who tend to repress their emotions, just in different ways. she's lost people and is afraid to lose more, and he's just not sure he knows how to allow himself to want things and be a functioning human person, so neither wants a relationship and they're both violently trying to deny any feelings. but the feelings are definitely there. like they're not together but they're deeply devoted but they will never admit it but there's no one else who could possibly compare. those kinda vibes, you know?

some other tidbits/details that I love about them: she loves to antagonize him (mostly in a teasing way) and he's so offended/annoyed at first until he realizes it's her love language. then the annoyance turns into fond exasperation. she's pretty much the only one who can make him genuinely smile and laugh, in fact sometimes he's the only one who actually finds her funny at all lmao (she definitely overdoes it sometimes but he finds it charming). she's a bit of a romantic deep down, and he's very intensely devoted once he commits, so it's the kind of relationship she always secretly wanted but never thought could have. and he's the only person she will tolerate calling her Danielle (it's kind of a turn-on from him).

anyway, I could go on but it's gonna get long very quickly, so this is just the basics. but I love talking about them and I'm always open to more specific questions from anyone <3

also here's a moodboard too because why not