#he doesn’t do anything that doesn’t ultimately interest/benefit himself

[seijorhi]

Hi rhi!!!! To say I love your fic is an understatement. I read it this morning when I woke up and it’s 6pm and I’m still thinking about it. I was just wondering, how did Oikawa start catching feelings for the reader? Was it something that happened on the job, or did he like her even before he was assigned to her? And when he realized he liked her, was it something he fought against or did he accept it really easily? I’m just so curious about his background and how it all started. Sorry for so many questions :D I’ll probably read it again tonight

:))

Let’s just say Oikawa’s interest was already piqued before he took the job.

[shitswiftiessay]

Swifties are PAINFULLY fucking stupid.

I shouldn’t be getting THIS heated over a Disney comparison but the Kristoff slander is absolutely fucking wild. Kristoff (at least in the first movie) is both poor and an introvert. Those are two things that swifties HATE Joe for. He also had to work since he was a child, which is something swifties make fun of Joe for- calling him yogurt boy. And he DEFINITELY would think that award shows are stupid.

Hans is much more like Travis in the fact that he pursued a woman for his own gain. Whereas Kristoff was just trying to live his life and didn’t even WANT to get involved in Anna’s shit, Hans wanted to become king, so he pursued Anna (a naive and desperate young woman- which is what swifties are trying to paint Taylor as) and made himself look like her dream guy- “true love.”

Last summer, Travis publicly and relentlessly pursued Taylor with his story about how he tried to give her a friendship bracelet with his number. And he’s been reaping the benefits of dating Taylor Swift, he’s got new TV gigs, his podcast shot up on the charts, and he might even be getting his own reality show.

He tried to pass himself off as a fan, Even though he’s blatantly obvious that he DOESN’T listen to her music. But his little pretend act of being a fan charmed the shit out of swifties and made them believe he was her Prince Charming. All he has to do is that stupid 🫶 thing and he’s got the swifties swooned, much like Hans had Anna swooned from the minute he met her. But his intentions were completely self-serving.

And another thing I find interesting is the fact that Hans proposed to Anna a few hours after meeting her. IF ANYTHING, that couple is literally a lesson on NOT marrying a guy you just met. And yet, Swifties have been talking about Taylor marrying Travis since that first football game-even BEFORE then.

But Joe, the guy who didn’t want to marry taylor, is just like Hans? The one who was in a long term relationship that ultimately didn’t work out is JUST LIKE HANS??

It beggars belief how swifties could be so stupid, because they either didn’t watch the movie, didn’t fully understand it (because they are less cognitively capable than 5 year olds), or they’re so addicted to painting Joe as this cartoonist Disney villain in their heads that they think it’s perfectly reasonable to compare Joe to a character that was trying to KILL his fiancée and her sister.

I the stupidity of comparing Taylor Swift to Anna- a girl who’s been isolated in a castle for most of her life and has ZERO relationship experience - I think she’s supposed to be like 18 or something? Very young and inexperienced and naive. Taylor was 26 years old when she started dating Joe and she had plenty of relationship experience before then.

Taylor literally wrote MASTERMIND, but swifties still see her as this naive and innocent disney princess who is easily manipulated and taken advantage of by men. So I guess they think it’s a reasonable comparison because they understand disney movies as well as they understand Taylor’s lyrics- which is NOT AT ALL.

[becca-e-barnes]

"You are. Every Inch. The fantasy."

I always thought men like this only exist in fiction but it turns out I was wrong, real men like this exist too and I'm thrilled about it 🙈 This needs a part 2 and I fully intend to give it one!

This belongs to the 'Shit He Said' series, and let me tell you, he's got it backwards.

Pairing: Professor!Bucky x Female Reader

Word Count: 4.3K

Warnings: Age gap (Bucky is in his early 40's, reader is in her 20's), semi-public, professor/student, sex toys, praise kink, degradation, pet names, multiple orgasms, consensual forced orgasms, I talk way too much about trusts and equitable maxims

Summary: Your professor finds a way to distract you during class.

Minors, do not interact.

You’d never been a ‘front row’ kind of gal.  Not that there was anything wrong with sitting in the front row.  Nothing at all.

You tend to prefer the safety of rows four to six and the comfort that comes from knowing that you're close enough to avoid straining your eyes when trying to read the screen but not so close that you're always going to be picked on when no one volunteered an answer.

Rows four to six were a safe zone.  They kept you far enough away from the chatter at the back of the room and close enough to the front that you often found your lecturers would recognise you in the corridor and offer a polite smile.

You’d found your sweet spot and it hadn’t failed you yet.

It didn’t hurt that the lecturer that took your Thursday afternoon classes was incredibly easy to look at.  He was always clean shaven and he had a voice as slow and sweet as warm honey.  In fact, you often wondered why he’d went into teaching in the first place.  With a voice like that, he’d make a killing recording audiobooks.  His hair was dark but scattered with greys and it seemed to have a natural, very loose wave that held its shape nicely.  He’d aged incredibly well, proving that your 40’s have the potential to be exceptionally kind to you, just as his seem to be to him.

He came off calm.  He dripped composure but he had a passion for teaching that he couldn’t have hidden if he tried.  

But perhaps the most attractive aspect of his character was the fact that he pushed you.  He knew you were capable of more.  He coaxed some of the more difficult concepts out with you in class because he knew you were able and willing to develop your own understanding.  He didn’t let you dwell in comfort for too long before asking more of you, expecting you to be more and while it left you a little on edge, it was electrifying, testing the boundaries of your own capability.

He had, in many ways, found a favourite in you.  He found himself invested in your learning, keen to aid your professional development and supplement your understanding.

But tension builds, as tension does.  There’s nothing wrong with letting it, after all.  Playful debate back and forth inside the lecture hall turns into a more sustained conceptual analysis after hours.  Your one-to-one sessions move out of the classroom and into the bar and eventually, to his bed and then his kitchen the following morning while you’re wearing one of his t-shirts and cooking breakfast.

It’s an interesting arrangement, to say the least and you’re acutely aware that no one can know about this, for both your sake and his.  You know exactly the kind of speculation that would float around if people knew.  They’d assume you get some kind of advantage from sleeping with your professor; that you’re only doing it for the grades.  It’s difficult and ultimately pointless to try to nail down which of you are benefitting most from the scenario, nor does it help to think of only one of you as a “beneficiary”.  You’re both benefitting from great sex and there really doesn’t need to be more to it than that.

“Wave of madness.  I got you a present last night.”  His message flashing up on your phone screen has the edges of your lips curling into a little smile.  You’re not used to someone getting you gifts.  It’s not unwelcome by any means, but you absolutely want some more details.

“Oh?  You didn’t need to!”  Your thumbs feel like they’re flying over the keyboard and a slight anxiety settles in your chest while you’re waiting on a response.

“I know I didn’t need to but I wanted to.  I got a matching one for myself.”  That doesn’t really clear anything up.  In fact, it only raises more questions.  You’re reminded for a second of your brother, his girlfriend and their matching crocs.  Somehow you can’t imagine that’s what Bucky has bought for you both. 

“Hang around after class on Thursday.  I just hope the box is discreet when it arrives.”  Your heart thumps just a little harder.  This sounds far too exciting already.  

“So that’s how the requirements of the common intention constructive trust were upheld by the House of Lords when they overruled the Court of Appeal’s decision Stack v Dowden.”  You never thought you could possibly care so much about what happens when an unmarried couple separates and only one of them is a legal owner of their home.

7 pages of notes later, your brain was buzzing pleasantly, watching your Professor pack up his things while explaining the work for your seminar on Monday.  You didn’t pay it much attention; there was very little point given that you had completed the prep work already anyway.

“Actually, Mr Barnes, I wanted to ask you something if you have a moment?”  You quizzed, noticing that his face gave nothing at all away.  He was as stoic as ever.  

You always had a question so no one noticed anything strange about the fact you tended to wait behind after class.  “How would you align the Supreme Court ruling in Jones v Kernott with the House of Lords’ decision in Stack?”  

It wasn’t a difficult question.  The cases were fundamentally very similar so the answer boiled down to a simple comparison of the basics.  You just needed something to ask him while everyone filtered out.

“Interesting question.”  Bucky smiled, looking up from his satchel to see how many people were still left in the hall before you could drop the act.  It isn’t an interesting question; he’s just awfully polite.  “How do you think the two rulings align?”  

“Well, it makes sense that they both hinge on the fact the courts don’t have to impute the parties’ intentions.  The parties’ intentions are clear in the very strict separation of assets and finances so it makes it easier to consider their respective contributions to the home.  No matter what the parties allege, consideration of the fact their contributions to the home were different is a sensible starting point.” 

You’ve answered your own question and he knows you know it.  Ultimately, the rulings, while slightly different, do align.

The coy smirk on his lips makes excitement bloom in your chest once more.

“Good girl.”  He coos, just as the heavy wooden door clicks shut at the very back of the room.  “I’m proud of you.”  Oh, that hits hard.  Your blood thrums through your body and you’re not entirely sure how he always knows exactly what to say.

“Thank you.”  Your voice is a soft squeak and barely any more than that.

He seems pleased by the effect he’s had on you and it doesn’t take him long to cross the space between his desk and the front row of the tiered seats.

He doesn’t waste any time, cupping the back of your neck in one huge hand, pulling you towards him into a searing kiss.  He tastes faintly of the flat white he brought to class this afternoon and his lips are so soft and gentle, despite their urgency.

“I can’t hang around today.  I have the faculty board meeting now and an event this evening.”  He sounds disappointed; you are too but it’s not the end of the world.  You’ll see him next week, if not sooner but you find you build your hopes up all week, almost just living for your Thursday nights with him.

“That’s okay.  Enjoy the board.”  You tease and he can’t help but laugh.  No one has ever enjoyed those meetings in the history of their existence.

“You know where I’d rather be.”  He reminds you, stroking your cheekbone with his thumb, barely able to tear his eyes off your lips.  It’s a soft moment.  Just a slight devolution from the passion a few seconds earlier but there’s no sense letting him go to the faculty board meeting half hard.  Any arousal would be stifled in minutes and that would be a terrible waste.

“There’s always next week!”  You remind him, your voice bright in spite of the disappointment that you won’t get to spend time with him tonight.

“You’re right.  But that reminds me, I got you a little something.  Charge it up.  Play around with it.  But bring it to class next week and come early.”  He steps back to his desk, pulling a little brown cardboard box from his satchel before dropping it into your open bag.

“Whatever you say, Sir.”  You tease, unable to help yourself but you know he needs to go.  At this rate, he’s going to be late.

“You.”  He whispers before pressing his lips to yours.  “Are dangerous.”  His lips are so inviting, it’s hard to stop.  “And you know it.”  

You can’t help but smirk to yourself.  He makes you feel powerful and desired and it’s incredibly attractive.

“You need to go.”  You remind him, capturing his lips just once more.  You’ve hardly even let yourself touch him because you know if you do, you’ll not want to let him leave.

“I do.  I’ll talk to you later.”  He doesn’t give into the temptation of one more kiss and it’s probably for the best.  Instead, he scoops up his satchel, securing it over his shoulder, heading up the stairs with you.  He holds the door for you like always, going your separate ways without a second glance now that you’re back in public.

Oh.  

Oh.

Well.

Thank God the box was discrete.

Inside the brown cardboard, you find a second box that’s ever so slightly smaller.  

The picture on the front tells you everything you need to know before you’ve even read the words “Bluetooth Adjustable Dual Vibrator”.

You’ve seen these before; the range of toys that can be controlled from an app on your phone but you’re rather excited when your head reminds you that it probably won’t be your phone that Bucky has in mind to control the toy.

The box is quickly discarded in favour of putting the toy on the charger while you read through the instruction manual.  You didn’t expect to be so heavy.  It’s not heavy in a bad way though; it feels sturdy.  While adjustable, it holds its shape nicely and for a second, you’re just not entirely sure what shape you’ll need it to be.

Once the charging light goes out, you click the bottom button once, following the instructions to set it up.  You download the app; you connect the toy and you start exploring the features with the toy in your hand.  

You can sync it to music, you can control both vibrating elements separately, you can play with different pulse settings or you can make your own, the app has its own chat function, you can send voice notes or videos and then delete them.  This thing.  Does.  Everything.  But that’s when you notice the option to sync up more than one toy at once so they can be controlled together.  Turning yours up would simultaneously turn the second toy up and you can’t help but feel entirely thrilled at that thought.

The following Thursday can’t come soon enough but the evenings pass a lot quicker when you have a fun new way to keep yourself entertained.

You’ve managed to find the perfect angle, one that lets the toy sit comfortably, pressed to the sweet spot inside you while the other component is pressed to your clit and you’re pleasantly surprised by just how mind-blowing this thing is.

The fact that this is really a dream come true isn’t lost on you while you walk onto campus.  Each year, your professor gets a new class and you’re certain that in the years he’s been teaching, plenty of beautiful young women must’ve wanted him.  You’ve seen for yourself how other girls talk to him, looking up at him through thick lashes, their hands clasped neatly behind their back.  You can’t fault them.  You’re just not sure how he’s never given in before now.

You press the classroom door open, slipping inside and closing it behind you.

“Well?  How is it?”  You hardly have the door closed before you hear Bucky’s voice from the front of the hall, setting up his presentation on the computer, ensuring it’s projected onto the screen.

“How is what?”  You tease, feigning innocence, descending the steps to your usual seat in the fourth row.

“How is the vibrator I bought you?”  He doesn’t waiver in the slightest and even the fact he’s so blunt about it sends a pleasant tingle down your spine.

“I’ll give you a full review once I’ve tried all the settings but I can tell you it’s been perfect so far.”  He looks satisfied with that answer and there’s nothing you want to do more than please him in that moment.

“Did you bring it with you?”  He has a mischievous look in his eyes, watching you pull the little black drawstring bag from your backpack.

“We can set it up when we get back to yours and I’ll show you just how good it is.”  Your suggestion doesn’t seem unreasonable but the corner of his lips tug into the tiniest smirk and for a second you worry you’ve said something stupid.

“Actually, I was thinking we could try it out now.”  He’s studying your face and when he doesn’t notice any evident discomfort, he leads you by the hand down to his desk at the front of the room, encouraging you to hop up onto it and you’re more than happy to.

“We don’t have a whole lot of time.”  His lips are on your neck, kissing gently down the right side while he cups the other side in his hand.  This is dangerous.  It’s so easy to lose track of time like this and taking it slow isn’t a luxury you have in that moment.  His face is so soft, you note he must’ve shaved that morning and you’re infinitely grateful because you hate how stubble makes your skin break out.

“We’ll have more than enough time.”  His warm hand lands on your bare knee, under the skirt of your dress, pressing your legs apart while his mouth continues its sinful trail down your skin.  “Class lasts a couple of hours.  I’d say that’s long enough.”

Fuck.  He’s serious.  

Alarm bells should be ringing in your brain but they’re dampened by the overwhelming feeling of his mouth on your skin and his hand trailing slowly up the inside of your thigh.

“Buck, we can’t.  That’s such a bad idea.”  Is it really?  The words are past your lips because you know that’s the response you’re supposed to give.  You’re not allowed to want this the way you do.

“Is it, sweetheart?  Why?  You don’t think you can keep up while I’m distracting you?  Maybe you aren’t just as bright as I thought.”  It’d be a blow to your ego if you weren’t acutely aware he’s only looking to get a rise from of you.

“No, I wouldn’t want the standard of teaching to slip while you’re distracted.”  You roll your hips forward against his hand between your legs, letting him feel what just a few minutes of him kissing your neck does to you.

“Let me worry about that.  I want you to focus on answering my questions like a good girl.”  He scoops you up with his hands under your ass, carrying you the few short steps back to edge of the desk in front of the fourth row.  He sets you down on the desk, kneeling in front of you while he kisses from your ankle, up your calve to your knee and then over the couple more inches to the hem of your skirt.  

He slips his phone from his pocket, opening the toy app and connecting his phone in just a few seconds before returning his phone to his pocket.

You watch as he turns the toy over in his hands a couple of times.  The vibrant pink certainly draws your attention, not that there’s anywhere else you would rather look anyway.  Not even when he’s slipping your panties down your legs, tucking them into his pocket.

“If you really need me to stop, drop your pen.”  He looks sincere and you appreciate it but you’re almost certain you won’t need a way out.

The tip of his index finger trails gently between your soaked folds and you couldn’t miss the gentle wet sounds if you had tried.  “Are you going to be a slut for me?”  Oh, that’s a sharp turn.  “You do realise I’m going to make you cum in a room full of your classmates.  Not just once.  I want you cumming over and over until you wish you could stop.  And then I’m going to keep going.”  He presses the fingertip to your clit, rubbing slowly up and down, watching your face while you melt into the pleasure.  “You’re just going to be a good girl and take everything I give you.  You know why?”  You shake your head, barely able to look at him.  “Because if you make a sound, everyone in the room will know what a slut you are.”

Your breath catches in your throat, acutely aware that he’s right.  This is the sluttiest thing you’ve ever even thought of doing and for just a second you wonder if this man is ruining you.  He probably is.  You’ll absolutely let him keep doing it though.

He wants to coax you to your first orgasm right there on the desk.  He wants to sink two of those long, beautiful fingers inside you and gently curl them, exactly how he knows you like but there just isn’t enough time.  Later though, if you can handle it.

“You are.”  He whispers, spreading your legs wider, giving himself full access to your sex.  “Every inch.”  He kisses the side of your knee, placing the bulbous head of the toy to your entrance, letting it glide inside you. “The fantasy.”

You gasp at the feeling of the toy, finally sitting comfortably, right where you need it.

He’s got it all wrong and you’re not even sure that he knows it.  So many other girls fawn over this man, whether he realises it or not.  He mustn’t know how desired he is; or how many young women would kill to be in your shoes at this very moment, being nothing short of worshipped by a frustratingly attractive, intelligent older man.

He hums contentedly as he stands up, offering you a gentle kiss before making his way back to the front of the hall to his computer.  The other students should be arriving any second, not that you’ve even really been thinking about that.

You make yourself busy, pulling your notebook out of your bag, along with your little pencil case, lining a couple of pens up on the desk while the rest of the students start to trickle in, taking their usual seats.

Everything is going smoothly, in fact, you almost question whether Bucky has got so wrapped up in his lecture about equitable maxims that he’s forgotten about the toy altogether.

The first half hour passes quickly and while the topic is interesting, it’s hard to relax, knowing that he could disrupt your train of thought at any point.

The arousal he’s built up in you doesn’t subside either.  You’re always reminded that the toy is there, despite how interested you are in his explanation of equitable maxims.

You’re about 35 minutes in before you feel the first hint of a buzz inside you and it’s so surprising, it almost makes you squeak.  You faintly register that it’s only the internal element that he’s brought to life and you’re more than fine with that.

Heat blossoms through your chest and while it feels good, it’s not nearly enough.  You don’t want to need more.  Not when you know you can’t beg him for it so instead, you avoid his gaze, focusing on your notes and not on the man at the front of the room who’s eyes are almost entirely trained on you.

A further half hour passes before you feel any kind of change, just as you were beginning to squirm in your seat.

The clitoral element buzzes to life, quickly followed by the internal element turning up.  Your thighs clench together, pleasure radiating through you and you find yourself grinding against the seat beneath you to press the toy exactly where you need it.  Your hand stalls on the page, your train of thought abandoned because even at only half it’s strength, this toy is incredible.

“So now that we’ve looked at the defining characteristics of equitable maxims, what do you think the problems are?”  Bucky hasn’t looked at you since he turned the toy up and you’re beyond glad.  You know this question is coming to you though.  He’d warned you.

You glance up from your page to find you’re right.  He’s now right looking at you, waiting for an answer and he looks so incredibly smug, it makes you shiver.  He knows you’re getting off on this but so is he.  You’re no better than each other.

“You could argue maxims are outdated.”  You provide the answer but that’s not enough.  The vibration inside you gets just a little stronger and that’s when you see his phone in his hand, his thumb sliding across the screen, controlling the strength of the toy.

“Good.  What else?”  He’s relentless.  Fuck.

The increased sensation leaves your mind blank.  You can’t cum now.  You can’t.  Not with everyone watching.  “Um, they’re too old to be relevant?”  You’ve never sounded so unsure.

“You’ve said that already.”  Shit, you did.  “What’s the biggest potential flaw with that system?”  This is embarrassing now.  You should know this.  You do know this.  The toy inside you, getting incrementally more intense doesn’t help you gain clarity of thought though.

“The…  Discretionary power maxims afford to judges.”  That answer pleased him.

“Very good.”  He nods, slowly making his way to the other side of the classroom, taking the attention off you.  You notice his thumb sliding methodically up and down on his phone screen while he explains that maxims don’t offer the same rigidity as legislation, but you truly can’t find it in yourself to care.  He’s giving your body what it needs and no matter how your head tells you to stop, you can’t hold back no matter how hard you try.

You look down at the desk, trying to keep your hand subtly clasped over your own mouth, muffling any sounds that threaten to escape your lips.  Your body flutters around the toy, pleasure almost making you feel dizzy as you cum while holding your breath. You want to roll your hips. You want to take and take until you don't need more but you know you can't.

Once your high has subsided, you find yourself very quickly given over to overstimulation when the toy doesn’t stop.  There’s no escape from the feeling that’s now becoming almost too intense to bear in the very best way.  

“But on the other hand, how could it be argued that these flaws have been overcome?”  His voice rings through the classroom and you realise that if no one answers, the question is coming to you, as it always does.

Sure enough, after a moment or two of painful silence, your professor has made his way back to your side of the room, stopping in front of you once more, waiting expectantly.

“Case law.”  That’s all you can manage.  You bring yourself to look up, meeting his stare and for the first time since your orgasm and he can see your desperation.  He can almost feel your need, just from the look on your face.  He’s seen you like this before, overwhelmed by the pleasure you’re receiving but not willing to tap out.  You’re enjoying it.  You’re allowed to.  But he’s far from done.

“What about it?”  He almost feels guilty for how much he’s picked on you during this class and he makes a mental note to make it up to you later.

The toy is at full intensity now and you can’t bring yourself to focus.  You can’t think of anything except the gentle buzzing that you’re certain only you can hear, the feeling of the inside of your thighs that are now slick with arousal and the unstoppable, building orgasm that’s about to take hold of you.

“The body of case law now prevents any gaps.  And case law sets binding precedent so modern judges have very little discretion.”  You could’ve developed your thinking but not today.

“100%.  That’s exactly right.”  He looks proud and part of you almost thinks that's what was really enough to tip you over the edge into blinding pleasure once more.

Again, he walks away, over to the other side of the room to draw attention away from you.  Your orgasm makes your thighs shake and if that soft whimper came from you, you’re sure it wasn’t loud enough for anyone else to hear.  It’s electric; the thrill of doing something you know you absolutely shouldn’t and it only makes this even more intense.    You’re almost not sure you’ve ever cum this hard before but this isn’t the time to try to recall past experiences.  Right now, he’s turned the toy down, rushing through the last three powerpoint slides while explaining the work for Monday and you’ve never been more glad to have a class wrap up early.

[l00rem]

Imo, this is the most telling/concerning line of the explorers

As we’ve seen, the environment of Explorers is incredibly toxic. 3/4 of the other admins have each insulted or taken shots at Amethio somehow. And it looks like this is nothing new, it’s horrible how Conia’s reaction to him being in a room alone with them is ‘oh god i hope he’s okay’. Amethio is a minor, he’s in a room full of people who seem to all be much older than him and ,in complete contrast to Liko’s situation, they all belittle him and insult him for every little mistake. It’s really upsetting how the only two people who have any sort of concern for him are his underlings- but Conia and Zir are absolutely powerless to really do anything about this. As much as they care about him, I don’t think Amethio would even be able to allow himself to be proper vulnerable around them. He’s already having to constantly prove himself, so how could he do something as unprofessional as spilling his worries to his underlings? It seems the only one he’s comfortable being open with is Ceruledge, but once again there is very little it can do to help him.

Then there’s Hamber. I’ve seen a few people give him the benefit of the doubt, especially because of episode 34 where it looks like he’s taken a shine to Amethio. But don’t let his fake concern fool you.

All i see here is basic professionalism, like he’s reading what he has to say off a script. He doesn’t actually mean what he’s saying: we’ve seen how high the Explorers expectations are, I mean just look at how much Amethio is overexerting himself in the second op, surprise surprise Hamber is sitting back and merely watching despite his earlier comment of not straining yourself. Not to mention, the moment things start going well for Amethio, Hamber immediately undermines his agency by going with Sango and Onyx to sort things out personally. Like no wonder Amethio seems to be triggered by not being taken seriously when this is how his (employers? guardians? idk) treat him!

He’s also got soooo many red flags! The biggest being when Sango half-heartedly refuses orders, to which he responds:

Literally physically intimidating her! And her reaction raises even more red flags, despite her happy demeanour the way she instantly complies is very telling that this isn’t the first time Hamber’s resorted to such threats… and this is the same environment a 16ish old is being raised in!

Maybe it’s just the amount of pressure he was putting on himself, but look how stressed and low-key terrified Amethio looks when fighting Hamber!!

And even if we want to make the case that maybe Amethio is this special exception for Hamber and that he’s got a soft spot for him… he is ultimately still complicit in grooming Amethio into this shady organisation. Episode 34 even reveals that Hamber was the one who trained Amethio, which also fuels the idea that he might have been some random child they find and realised how easily they could manipulate him into becoming the perfect loyal admin. Well i personally subscribe to the Amethio is an orphan theory rather than Gibeons son, especially considering that comment about Gibeon ‘awakening’, Idk if Gibeon is even properly alive.

Btw if you’re interested in further exploration in what I’ve discussed in this post allow me to shamelessly plug my fic that finished recently. It delves into the shadiness of Explorers and how really fucked up Amethio’s situation is! https://archiveofourown.org/works/52757629

It’s kinda weird how we’ve gone from ‘haha look at team Rocket blast off again aren’t they so wacky?’ to literal child grooming. I’m all for the serious themes tho.

Tldr: Hamber deserves to be pushed down a flight of stairs, Amethio needs so much therapy.

[thefirstlioveyou]

about queerbaiting

this is a byler doubt free post, don’t worry. i’m gonna dove into queerbaiting itself to prove why mike will be confirmed queer.

if byler isn’t canon, the ship as a whole wouldn’t be considered queerbait. however, the fact that mike would be confirmed to just see him as a good friend and is straight is considered queerbait.

byler itself is considered ship teasing due to the fact there’s confirmed feelings on one side already. ship teasing can happen with any type of ship, especially when there is a love triangle involved. ship teasing is done to grab an audience of any kind to watch the show. for example, them liking melvin comments is ship teasing as much as noah’s byler comments are.

because of the fact will byers is confirmed gay and in love with mike, the ship itself could not be qbait… that doesn’t mean the show doesn’t get away with no queerbaiting allegations though - mike wheeler by himself would have been what the queerbait was.

he is so heavily implied to be interested in will, giving will the eyes, how he speaks to him, how he treats him vs his girlfriend, how he cherishes him. outside of byler, he is also implied to not have any attraction to girls. he is the only other boy besides the canon gay boy to show distaste for girls when theyre put in a romantic/sexual light, the comments from his father, the imagery, his s4 bedroom, how he looks at el vs will, intereviews.

all this for him to be confirmed in love with a girl and not into boys in the end and that will’s just a really good friend to him, THAT’S queerbait as well as horrible writing.

however, let’s put ourselves in the shoes of producers and showrunners who do queerbait for a second…

“i want money and publicity. i also notice there’s hardly any queer content out there, i see how desperate the gays are. but.. if i dare even giving them what they want, that can lead to backlash and angry fans who drop the show, causing the viewership to go down, which can lead to the show being cancelled. but at the same time, if i give the gay part of the fanbase what they want that fanbase can grow bigger, which means a growing publicity about my show and ultimately more money for a bigger budget for another installment. but, i also don’t want to lose fans by doing this…. i have an idea! i’ll go 50/50. i’ll hint at a potiential queer characters and by the end of the show, once i got everything i wanted and needed, i’ll tell them they were just good friends or leave it up for interpretation, that way nobody drops the show and the homophobes stay happy. perhaps the gays will be mad, but i doubt they would drop the show. they’re too desperate and will take anything because there’s little to nothing for them anyway. i’m sooo smart, and a pussy!”

(sounds incredibly evil huh? it is.)

now, apply this to stranger things. there is no actual benefit they get from queerbaiting if we’ve already got two confirmed gay characters. they’re already taking the backlash they got from making will gay and from introducing robin in s3, yet… they don’t care. as they should.

think about this… why leave only ONE heavily implied gay character amongst canon ones just to debunk it afterwards to pander to homophobes, when you’ve already pissed them off with said canon gays?? there’s no sense in that. like. at ALL.

noah could’ve just said will’s sexuality was up to interpretation and left it as that. in the end, they had confirmed it later because they wanted to save the audience from spoilers. that’s the same thing happening for mike. him being queer and in love with will is a spoiler and plot twist, they’re not gonna reveal it now, even though it’s blantly obvious.. the same way it was obvious will liked mike.

these big hollywood people queerbait because they BENEFIT from it viewership-wise and ultimately fincially. if stranger things already features canon gay characters with a coming confirmed gay relationship between two girls, they get zero benefit with not falling through and not confirming mike queer, only pure backlash, nothing more or less.

never forget:

they’ve straight baited the audience once no problem, they’ll do it again if they really want to. as they should!

[leonardcohenofficial]

brief thoughts on my answer to @fredbydawn​’s poll asking who do you think mulcahy saw hanging on the cross in 8x22 dreams: i think that all of the other options would make total sense dramaturgically speaking in regard to his personality, but i think that mulcahy saw himself. 

like i said in my tags on the poll, i think that it really matters if you think mulcahy is feeling guilt or fear in that final moment. let’s look at the stage directions from the script first:

i agree that mulcahy initially looks horrified as he looks out at the surgery happening. however, i think the way his expression changes after he realizes what’s happening is key to why i think he saw himself.

mulcahy was meant to be a moral compass on M*A*S*H; fallible and human like the rest of us, but ultimately trying to do good. (this is obviously DEEPLY complicated by the fact that he is a white catholic priest in korea, the sociopolitical implications of which are basically ignored and rarely interrogated by the show.) i think that mulcahy is often shown to be both self-sacrificing and egotistical (“mulcahy’s war” being a good example of this), which would track with the ways we see this dynamic being explored in this episode. the fact that he’s dressed as the pope—echoes of “captains outrageous” when he’s upset about not getting promoted—signifies that now he’s at the highest he can be, the most devout, the best, most faithful, and he still can’t do anything to stop the war and death and destruction. even having died on the cross like christ, which for mulcahy would be the ultimate sacrifice, does nothing. he looks entirely helpless. 

i also think that mulcahy’s helplessness comes from a place of guilt. i think you can read mulcahy’s guilt for participating in war at all as something that contributes to his perspective that he doesn’t actually “do” much in terms of being useful at the 4077th (and, on a macro level, winning and/or ending the war—again, the imperialist nature of the korean war is less emphasized in later seasons but this could have been a strong episode to push that perspective more). this also could tie into why he would want to make that big a sacrifice, to try and actually “do” something good for the benefit of others. and even after he sees himself literally do what christ did, the war machine keeps right on rolling. that’s pretty hard to grapple with 

i think that if this episode had had longer implications for the characters (across more than one episode) it would have been interesting to see mulcahy have a real crisis of faith. i think seeing him grapple with the meaning of what he’s devoted his life to and whether or not it does anything or is worth it would have been fantastic character development for him, regardless of whether or not he retains his specific beliefs. 

anyways. that’s why i think he saw himself. he witnessed himself make the ultimate sacrifice and it did nothing.

[coolingrosa]

Can you elaborate on your interpretation of canon ink being a level 2 of support?/genq

Level 2 support usually requires more supervision and assistance with tasks. It doesn’t mean everyone on the level 2 support spectrum would be requiring support all the time, but rather may need it for different situations or at least need to live with another to keep them stable. While they can still live their life on their own, they may struggle with immense social cues, repetitive tasks, and diving too deep into their special interests rather than focusing on the life around them.

I see canon Ink on this side of the spectrum bc I believe his job is his special interest. And due to the fact that a lot of people don’t tend to get along with him in his canon, and he puts his special interest above the friends he DOES have. it definitely gives me the vibes that he’s on level two support. Of course, he is an adult, so he’s still capable of caring for himself and basically to teach him to do so. However, with his family interactions, it’s very clear he never DID get that support. He has a hard time keeping his job to himself and tend to info dump at random about different aus. He’s also easily swayed WITH his special interest. Underverse definitely isn’t canon, but I do know Jakei spoke with the Undertale creators to make sure some actions were correct, and Comyet has said most of Underverse Ink is accurate. Him being manipulated by XGaster using his special interest, something he relies his whole existence on and is incomplete without, is also good evidence. Hell, in the truce prologue we see that Ink isn’t dying. Nobody is creating any more, of course, but he’s alive and he’s still able to have his vials.

But because nobody is making anything new, he feels incomplete and freaks out and makes decisions and choices he normally would never.

Ink definitely needs emotional support and regulation as he’s capable of having breakdowns that are also linked to his trauma that will cause him to shut down. But he will also have meltdowns if too many AUS get destroyed under his watch and will either throw up (which is funny to some but to me has always SCREAMED horrible anxiety disorder) or will hyperfixate on fixing it or freak out. Having to deal with these emotions on his own, never being taught that him never being able to sit still when freaked out is him craving stimming to regulate, never having anyone to lean on to help him deal with it, and also making reckless decisions he’s ultimately regrets later out of panic are all reasons he needs support.

And support does not always mean medical help. The Star Sanses living with him and making sure he eats and keeps a routine and stays on track is support. Him having Dream and Swap to help him during his meltdowns or to join him when he leaves the house to get stuff done is support. Him having them around so he doesn’t do anything reckless or make bad choices is support. I don’t think Ink would benefit from medical attention as not all people do. Sometimes they just need people in their life to understand them and help them through the struggles of life so they can have that to fall back on if coping on their own comes up short.

But bc he NEEDS this support to truly thrive, and without them, will likely fall to pieces and never eat, make bad choices, have multiple meltdowns on his own, and also not be able to stick to a solid routine is why I think he’s support two. He does need somebody keeping an eye on him and helping. Letting him do his own thing, of course, since he is an adult, but also there just in case and in the background while he does his life.

[chainofclovers]

Ted Lasso 3x8 Thoughts

I’ve written all of these after seeing the episode only one time but I think this one might benefit from a rewatch more than anything else. Even if, unfortunately, this was absolutely my least favorite episode of this stupid wonderful show. (Or was it? What will a rewatch reveal to me?)

I have tried very hard not to have a lot of fun-time-ruining expectations about this Media Experience that has bewitched me since January fucking 2021. But I’ll admit that I had some serious expectations about the writing of this episode. Keeley Hazell and Dylan Marron! I was so excited to see what the ultimate Keeley Jones expert, the Keeley inspiration, the namesake herself, would have to say about this character. And actually, I thought Juno Temple got some really incredible material to work with, and I think she acted the living fuck out of this episode. I came away with a deeper understanding of Keeley’s character. A sense of who she is when she wakes up in bed next to someone who delights her. A sense of how it feels when someone she loves deeply disappoints and hurts her, and how it feels when someone she could have loved chooses a status over a human, and how it feels when someone she used to love holds himself accountable to her. 

There was so much about this episode that felt incredibly natural: 

everything about Juno’s performance 

the ways Jack is charming and tantalizing and expansive and the ways she’s small and cowardly and disappointing were perfect…wlw rep doesn’t happen in a vacuum of purity, this is wlw rep but this is also billionaire asshole rep this is venture capitalism rep this is richer-than-Rebecca-Welton rep this is manipulator rep

the perfect moment when Jade tells Nate to celebrate his victories after a lifetime of hearing his father shame him for taking pride in his successes

the anti-chemistry chemistry of Ted and Michelle and their long history

absolutely everything about Rebecca as lifeline and sense-talker for Ted (and soulmate…I’m so tired, but it just remains true that they’re fucking soulmates, and I hope they find out and I’m still pretty sure they will)

Beard in an apron making pancakes for his boys

Rebecca holding Keeley and telling her a possibly slightly exaggerated story about her introduction to masturbation to cheer up her beloved bestie

the utter pain of Roy being once again a very good person who has fucked up badly in a parking lot (this time with consequences)

Ted’s sweet little voices as he reads to Henry (and the WTF moment he has about himself after Henry has fallen asleep)

Last night my wife and I went out for a beer and broke down a bunch of these moments and how good they actually were, and how strange it was to have, honestly, a wealth of beautifully written and acted moments in an episode that really didn’t work for us. Because those highs made the lows seem so much lower. 

The locker room scene…I’ve watched anti-harassment and standards-of-business videos for my corporate job that are better than whatever that was. I understand what they were trying to do. And I understand that this is a story that has so much real-life crossover and is so incredibly important to get right and was probably so complicated and often painful to write that I feel very empathetic about the ways that all that pressure might have conspired to make this episode worse instead of better. I have no interest in judging those conditions, nor do I think it’s some big hilarious gotcha that this writer (well, writers) wrote about this topic. But I do have to judge the final product, which reads like a group of people taking turns saying things like “This is a bad thing in our society” and “Is it so bad?” and “Yes, fellow man, it really is that bad” and “But wait, why should I have any responsibility for this bad thing in our society?” and “Well, here is why you actually do have some responsibility for this bad thing in our society.” 

Even the Keeley-Rebecca scene wavers in and out, whereas normally a scene with those two is rock solid. They spend a lot of time explaining the societal conditions to each other instead of relying on the shorthand that two best friends would use to communicate. I mean, thank God Rebecca was totally with Keeley on this one—if she hadn’t been, that would’ve warranted something on the spectrum of lecture—but because she was, their exchange of lines about sexualization just had me feeling like I am watching a TV show about a very special issue, I am watching a TV show about a very special issue. 

Just as I’m not looking to Jack Danvers to convince a homophobe why bi people are cool (she could be the coolest most respectful gal in the world and she’s not gonna convince a bigot that queer people actually are great!), I desperately wish they’d taken a less heavy hand with this stuff. Keeley’s pain—her vehement lack of embarrassment, her disappointment—says it all. 

And I am so sorry to say that I feel like Brendan Hunt, who always, always knows when to dial it down and when to dial it up, when to bury and when to emote, dialed it way too far up when talking to Henry while Ted’s on the phone with Rebecca. I am a huge defender of how this show uses musical scenes; bring on the cheese, bring on the champagne bottle microphones, bring on the sing-alongs and heightened emotions and funeral rick rolls. Every other time a character has sung on this show, it’s been natural in the awkwardness and the slightly-outsized emotions and the inherent goofiness of it all. This time, they just could not create the right emotional conditions to earn this moment. I’m not going to give a detailed critique of a child's performance on a public website, but unfortunately I think this is a moment when the writers actually underwrote what Henry needed to say, because I’m mystified as to how he’s actually feeling and doing. Understanding those things is essential to understanding where this story is going, so I’m really upset that a huge chunk of information is missing now.

And that leads me to the incredibly unsettling ending. I had to be talked down off a ledge. I’m now pretty sure the ambiguities of how Ted and Michelle are around each other are about recognizing the ways they used to work, their common reference points, their knowledge of each other, while simultaneously experiencing yet another goodbye, yet another turning point in this (realistic, tbh) endless cycle of navigating the split. But I’m really struggling to understand Ted’s headspace in the final couple minutes of the show, whereas usually I feel like I’m practically living inside his brain as I watch. 

I’ve loved s3 so far. I always knew it would be as distinct a thing of its own just as much as s1 and s2 were distinct from each other. As much as I’d be enjoying a return to the specific magic of s1, it would be impossible and wrong and even irresponsible of them to try to recreate it, and I think it would fall flat, and so I’m glad I knew that would never be my experience with this season of TV. And yet it’s a little unnerving, even as this person who’s tried to keep my high expectations open-ended, to feel so bummed about 3x8. The conversation over that beer about all the really good stuff did make me feel better, because it reminded me that the really badly done parts of this episode were less about story than about the circumstances of the storytelling. To me, those circumstances make the clunkers more forgivable instead of less. But it was still disappointing.

Probably every Ted Lasso fan feels this way on some level, but I am having such a singular experience. I am a fifteen-year-old girl again, holed up in my room because “no one understands………why I feel the way I feel about Ted Lasso.” The membrane between my takes and my empathetic yet judgmental reactions to other people’s takes is permeable and problematic. It’s shameful, but I want everyone to love it because I love it and I want everyone to calm down because I’m calm and I want everyone to be at the edge of their seat and not at all calm because I’m at the edge of my seat and not at all calm and I want everyone to love Ted/Rebecca even if they never kiss because I love Ted/Rebecca (even if they never kiss) and I want everyone to have hated this episode because I hated it and I want everyone to give it time and space to breathe because I’m trying to do that and I want everyone to wait and see what fucking happens because I’ve got some kind of freak patience when it comes to this fucking experience. I want to be my best self and I am not my best self. I’m insane about this show, and I’m not working on the issue. Eek. 

[luciaiscool7]

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. - Superhero Roundtable

How do structural mythology, cultural studies, and cultural history reflect the series’ world and world-building around superheroes? 

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K centers on the titular character, Saiki K, a highschool student with Superman-esque levels of psychic power. He has trademark pink hair and must wear green glasses and antennae in order to limit his powers. Saiki, as one of the only actual psychic characters in the anime, actually doesn’t want to solve problems, or help anyone with his powers, and most of the show he uses his powers to minimize attention and keep to himself. His only really widespread use of power was changing everyone in the world’s hair color to also be colorful so that he doesn’t stand out as much. In direct opposition to Saiki’s nonexistent need for attention and immense psychic power, his classmate Kaidou, has no power whatever but claims to be The Jet-Black Wings, the only person standing against The Dark Reunion, an evil organization running the world behind the scenes. This is played for satire as Kaidou loudly brags about being the Jet-Black Wings and blames every mishap on the Dark Reunion, wears red bandages on his arms to “control his power,” and a dramatic action song “Judgement Knights of Thunder” plays everytime he does anything. 

Saiki K is a comedy anime satirizing the idea of a “superhero” through Saiki K, who kind of sucks and doesn’t care that much about other people, but even in using his powers selfishly, ultimately helps the people around him. This show challenges the idea that superheroes would necessarily swing to complete good or complete evil, and makes fun of those ideas in the example of satirizing binary thinking through Kaidou’s fake enemy, The Dark Reunion. Although the show begins with Saiki K doing everything he can to avoid attention and making friends, he warms up to his classmates over the show and uses his powers for their benefit, even as he convinces himself he’s just trying to help himself. 

The origination of manga in Japan was influenced by the globalization of American comics, including superhero comics, brought during WWII. Interestingly, as members of the Axis Powers, Japan and Japanese characters were featured in American superhero comics as enemies to the nation, often depicted as racist stereotypes for wartime propaganda. On an international scale, superheroes are associated with the US, as a national export and national representation of American might and power. This can be seen in superhero anime like My Hero Academia, where All Might represents the All-American superhero figure. Shows like Saiki K and Mob Psycho 100 have superhero-like characters and themes but distance themselves from calling them that, positioning themselves as psychics rather than superheroes.

In what ways are the superheroes and their abilities informed by their racial, gender, sexual, and cultural identities? 

Saiki K definitely participates in the de-racialization of characters as Will Bridges spoke to in “The Past Tense and the Future Perfect,” which we read for Cowboy Bebop. All of the characters are assumed to be Japanese, and are very homogeneous in appearance, save Nendo, whose butt-chin and weird mohawk are played for laughs. In many ways, Saiki represents the ultimate hegemonic male character who is conventionally attractive, cishet, middle class, and extremely able bodied. The only way that Saiki represents “other” could be through his lack of romantic or sexual interest in the show, much to the chagrin of Kokomi, the self proclaimed queen of the school, who appears with a halo of light around her at all times and has caused multiple stampedes of men chasing after her. The character Kaidou, who isn’t very popular with his classmates (somewhat because he always talks about the Dark Reunion), could be acting out social rejection through his fixation on being a superhero fighting evil, above the social dynamics of highschool.

In what ways do costumes and concealing identities further separate the superheroes from normal society? How necessary is it for the superheroes to hide their true identities to successfully achieve their goals? 

For Saiki, hiding his identity is his goal. To this end, he has changed everyone’s hair in the entire world to be colorful so that he doesn’t stand out. When the school has a sports test in gym class, Saiki has to tone down his supernatural speed and strength to blend in, including teleporting a ball back when he throws it so far that it can’t be seen, and squeezing a grip strength monitor so hard that that needle goes all the way around and it looks like he has an average score. For many superheroes, putting on a costume/disguise is necessary to carry out their goals, but for Saiki, his physical appearance is connected to his supernatural abilities, and the antennae and glasses he wears serve not to express his powers or his superhero role, but rather to minimize and control them.

How do the economic, political, and social events that occurred during the series’ creation and broadcast cultivate and inform the superheroes’ decisions and actions? 

The Disastrous Life of Saiki K first appeared as one-shot manga chapters published from 2012-2011, then serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2012-2018. The anime based off of this manga was aired from 2016-2018. I think Saiki K intentionally builds off of the context of preexisting superhero media to satirize it, questioning the characterization of other characters with superpowers as good and selfless or evil and self-serving- Saiki is literally just some guy and he doesn’t feel any pressure to use his powers for anyone. The anime creates a depoliticized superhero- he isn’t connected to any hero organizations or governments, he doesn’t have any enemies. He is so depoliticized and inactive as a superhero figure that his morals swing all the way around into questionable because he is so powerful, and could solve so many problems, but only changed everyone’s hair.

How do the superheroes question themselves, each other, and their obligations and duties to the people around them? 

Saiki K as a show challenges the superhero trope of questioning their purpose, sense of self and obligation to others by making Saiki antisocial and feel pretty neutrally about everyone besides himself. He always ends up helping the people around him, even when he doesn’t mean to, often doing so because it’s the easiest way to avoid being exposed, or not taking action will negatively impact him in some way. In one episode, he watches a magician on TV being locked in a box, and when it seems like he won’t be able to escape in time, Saiki teleports onto the set to save him. He does this in order to save the magician from a deadly incident which could potentially delay the rest of the tv channel, including Saiki’s favorite mystery show that after the magic show. He does help people, but his obligation is (allegedly) to himself first.

@theuncannyprofessoro

[dustedmagazine]

James Kaplan — 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool (Penguin Press)

There are two or three jazz albums almost everyone seems to have: Dave Brubeck’s Time Out, John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme, and Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue. The first two records were well received on release, but not so much Davis’s. It wasn’t only a departure from the kind of music he played at the time, but seemed out of step with what everyone else was doing, too. And yet it’s taken on a life of its own, becoming if not the most talked about jazz record ever, then certainly the best-selling.

Enter James Kaplan, a biographer best known for his two-volume book on Frank Sinatra. In 3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool he turns his focus onto Kind of Blue and the confluence of three jazz icons: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans. However 3 Shades of Blue doesn’t live up to its potential and ultimately feels like an unnecessary retread of familiar material.

Kaplan opens the book in the 1980s, with Miles Davis playing auditoriums and ordering Wynton Marsalis off his stage. Kaplan himself enters, a young journalist for Vanity Fair, who lands an interview with the trumpeter, and two hit it off. From there he goes back in time to Davis’s early years and then mixes in Coltrane and Evans — but it’s Miles who is the book’s center. This has its benefits and drawbacks: he’s a more compelling figure than Evans and he lived longer than the book’s other two principals. But he’s also the most written about, too, and Kaplan has a hard time bringing anything new to light. So instead we get the familiar stories about him gigging with Charlie Parker, getting in trouble with the law and spending the late 1970s getting high in his brownstone. Same with Coltrane’s obsessive practicing and dental woes, and Evans’s heroin addiction.

Possibly the only new information comes from Kaplan’s suppositions about his subject’s inner feelings. For example, Kaplan suggests that Davis was sexually interested in Evans: “his all-American good looks and professional intensity were attractive to women — and to Miles Davis.” Why? Because Davis once put his arms around Evans while he played piano, a move Davis also pulled on Red Garland. Kaplan doesn’t think Davis felt similarly with Garland.

Indeed, 3 Shades is sloppy. It could useanother once-over by an attentive editor. Kaplan occasionally derails his narrative with odd asides about Frank Sinatra or by repeating points he made earlier in the book. At one point he goes off on a tangent about a 1980s photo of Davis in a section set some 30 years previous. Elsewhere he’s careless about sourcing quotes: on one page he quotes pianist Jon Batiste on Evans’s use of touch, then inserts a lengthy block quote about Evans’s playing. But the second quote isn’t Batiste. It’s from a biography of Evans by Peter Pettinger, a fact readers would only notice if they search Kaplan’s endnotes.

In some ways, 3 Shades feels like a rush job but one without a specific anniversary in mind. In others, it feels overlong and rambling: one doesn’t need a garish description of Davis in the late 1970s in a book nominally about a record from 1959. In others it feels more like him remembering his encounters with Davis, both on record and in person, than a proper biography of any of these three musicians.

But it’s not so much that the book doesn’t know what it wants to be, it’s that it doesn’t need to be here at all. People new to Davis, Coltrane or Evans will find a lot of information here, but those who already know them won’t find anything not already in other biographies by Ben Ratliff, Pettinger or Quincy Troupe. And newcomers will find those a more linear, less convoluted read to boot.

Roz Milner

[movedtodykedvonte]

Spamton and Violence

Something that I keep seeing pop up around the secret bosses is the dialogue you get for how you defeat them and the implications of it. It’s explained best here in this post (link) for the most part.

It mainly focuses on Jevil, but I (of course) wanna talk about Spamton. That post briefly mentions that the most beneficial way to deal with Spamton isn’t with violence, which I think is very interesting. When you initially encounter Spamton, the only way to actually progress with his storyline is without using violence and striking a deal with him. If you do use violence he laments that if you had shown these aggressive signs sooner he would’ve made a different offer with you (snowgrave/weird route) before you are bared from interacting with again in the normal route. This is very interesting to me because despite Spamton being an intense and aggressive person currently, it shows he isn’t necessarily or instinctually violent. 

Spamton of course wants to get revenge but what is best for the characters is not always what they need. In snowgrave, violence ultimately benefits no one despite it being the only way to progress in the route. You traumatize Kris and their friends, very likely kill one of them, genocide the entirety of cyber city and Spamton still doesn’t win in the end. It is the most miserable end of Chapter 2 for everyone. Yes, the route shows just how bad Spamton can get but it also shows how bad you can get and how weird everything is. Hence it also being known as the weird route, the route that is odd or not the normal. Just as we can’t assume we as the soul are usually this cruel, Spamton is not usually this drawn to violence. Manipulation and con artistry? Yeah? But no outright mass murder. That’s weird.

However, in the normal/pacifist for the best ending for Spamton it is wise to spare him. Using no violence other than the act that you requires you to attack his strings. Fighting Spamton in his neo fight is notoriously harder and takes longer than sparing. However when you spare him he becomes grateful, thankful even, following your lead in being merciful/kind and wanting to turn over a new leaf, wanting to actually better himself along with live for the better of others too. Of course, it is most likely said in a moment of mania and questionable sincerity, but it’s undeniably a happier and less foreboding/bitter sentiment in the violence route when he promises to go neo. This all to be noted that Spamton does better and progresses in a more satisfying way when you don’t use violence and get him to engage in violence the least.

As a character, Spamton is geared toward a lack of violence and force and trying to let things filter out in a more natural way. Violence is a way to force fate or break the norm in the UTR universe and thematically fit a character like Jevil, who actively tries to avoid the conventional and be weird. However, for a character like Spamton, who tries to adhere to some preconceived convention in his mind, it goes horribly wrong trying to force anything, including violence. The dealmakers are depicted as the better options compared to the puppet scarf as well, the scarf described as an object that is geared towards fighting/no healing (which most avoid), while the dealmaker boosts almost everything else DEF, MAG and even benefit your party moneywise. 

To me, Spamton goes with what he considers the winning strategy, which is ultimately decided by you.

[sepublic]

            Another old drawing from 2015, because again I’m just lazy now, but also… While the style is a bit different than how I normally do it nowadays, I think both this drawing and the photo I took of it aged fairly well? I mean, if I accepted a photo of Barracudox’s smaller form, I can do this!

         Midas the Golden Man is the ring leader of a group of Escapees, easily the biggest one out there, rivaled only by Azayle’s. His story starts in the distant past, as an alchemist and philosopher working on many things, but especially the Philosopher’s Stone. While many appreciated the economic benefits of creating gold, Midas (though he wasn’t known as such then) was more interested in the existential journey it’d take to get there, and hoped to learn good things along the way.

         He collaborated with many sources in his travels, deeming his home city too isolated to be sufficient. Midas studied the solar maps of dragons, bartered with various witches, and even briefly collaborated with one named Draik… Through the use of magic and various other ingredients, Midas managed to create a Philosopher’s Stone… Sort of.

         Many philosophers idealized the element as the ultimate ideological achievement, but Midas’ was just a literal stone that turned things to gold and not much else. He felt he didn’t learn much if anything, at least no real wisdom, just technical knowledge. Sure, Midas incorporated it into his body, being given a gold touch that he eventually applied to himself, turning his entire body into solid gold!

         But it wasn’t enough. And since many alchemists discussed the idea of different kinds of Philosopher’s Stones, different takes on how the magnum opus took form, Midas resolved to simply figure a better one out. Or even, that the Philosopher’s Stone he made was not the end point to his troubles, but rather the starting point to finally solving them!

         I should mention at this point that Midas was fairly amoral, and believed in the greater good of philosophy over all else. He’d have been good material for the Phantom Alliance, but perhaps luckily, he was never recruited into that organization, whose recruiters ultimately weren’t omnipotent. While he had an eternal lifespan now (gold doesn’t exactly age), one of the other prizes promised by the Philosopher’s Stone, Midas decided some things were better done sooner than later.

         Before he could embark however, Midas needed to apply some quality-of-life accommodations to himself. Being made of solid gold, he was incredibly heavy, and the massive talons certainly didn’t help; So he had magical glyphs carved into his body to lessen its weight. If needed, Midas could turn off these enchantments at any time, allowing him to weaponize the impact that came with this sudden heft. Brings new meaning to ‘putting on weight’…

         Likewise, Midas tested the limits of his abilities, discovering he could generate gold directly from his body, and not just turn pre-existing solid objects into gold. This meant growing and even launching golden spikes or weapons out of his body to protect himself (and hurt others), and even a thin layer of regular gold around his fingers.

         Only Midas’ hands were enchanted with his gold touch, so if he applied this mundane layer around them, it could act as a safe covering to interact with the world around him. Being able to generate gold from his body also meant repairing it as well; Midas had regenerative abilities, and he could use the gold touch of his hands to repair and fill in damage faster than usual.

         Similar to the classic myth he saw appropriate to rename himself after, Midas’ gold touch could be undone by water, but only when applied to the living, particularly those with souls, such as animals and people. Midas theorized the energy of the soul itself, a seemingly intangible thing, had something to do with this; So long as a soul was inside of the gold, its power could be used to undo the transmutation by restoring an original state of the body it was bound to.

         Of course, Midas could just as easily distort and destroy the golden statues his victims became; Changing their shape too much could ‘upset’ the soul and cause it to leave, killing the person in question. At which point, their golden corpse would remain gold forever, with water unable to reverse the transmutation, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.

         Fittingly, as someone turned into gold who still had a soul himself… Midas was also vulnerable to water. But instead of curing him, it’d just melt and kill the Golden Man, so he tended to avoid it. Still, his aforementioned method of covering himself in a layer of inert gold proved helpful, as only gold inhabited by a soul reverted. Thus, Midas could generate a thin layer from his body, and catch people who’d expect him to melt off-guard, or hide his weakness’ application to himself.

         Unsurprisingly, Midas could only turn solid objects into gold. Liquids and gases didn’t work, and to clarify, only water itself would undo Midas’ power and himself. Other liquids, even if they include water, are often not enough… Though if the ratio of water is high enough, it could work! It’s… magic. Don’t ask.

         The liquids in people’s bodies could also turn to gold, and Midas theorized that this was because the power of the soul inadvertently acted as a medium to spread his gold touch to mass that was otherwise unable to be transmuted. Weird, given the soul countered his power, but maybe not? Perhaps its connection to water as a means to undo the gold touch had something to do with being able to spread that gold touch to other liquids…?

         Once Midas had discovered the limits of his new body, only then could he go on a quest with admittedly vague parameters; To study the world around him, by basically observing and participating in as many different events as possible, particularly those of great social upheaval. With his ability to create gold, Midas had no shortage of funding he could provide himself (though he was wary of inflation), in addition to the threat of force, and went about bankrolling various causes, or masterminding them.

         Midas decided that if you needed to make an omelette, you had to break a few eggs. That meant setting up what was basically glorified, twisted social experiments on a large level, in the hopes of extrapolating something from it. Midas saw a lot of bad, but he did see a lot of good, and came to some conclusions that in hindsight, seemed fairly obvious, but there’s a first time for everything I guess. On the side, he searched libraries for scholarly texts because no need to let those go to waste!

         Of course, all of this trouble-causing just to see what would happen, was akin to throwing stuff at a wall to see what’d stick. Only Midas was basically lobbing a spear at innocent people. He eventually caught the attention of a pair of wandering siblings, who conflicted with Midas multiple times over his amoral actions. Yeah, it’s nice that your orchestration of a major disaster proved to you that fundamentally, people are good and DO want to help one another in moments of crisis. But you still caused a lot of deaths and surely you understand that destruction and chaos are more detrimental than good, right?

         Understandably, some people found Midas obnoxious. Especially his tendency to form a golden human skull in his hands and then wax poetic on a monologue about the nature of people or the world or something like that. It was a common criticism that Midas preferred to gather knowledge without actually applying it, just learn and hoard and write down from time to time but never teach. Midas took this into account, not that he had the chance to really change his behavior because he was eventually captured and imprisoned in the Tower of Tears.

         Freezing Midas in magical cryogenic stasis was definitely tricky, due to his aforementioned vulnerability to water. Luckily, the Tears figured it out; They knew Midas would HAVE to create a coating of inert gold around himself to survive, so he did just that as the Tears swirled around the Golden Man and froze, trapping and casting him into a deep sleep plagued with nightmares. When he finally did awake, Midas would ruminate on them for years later…

         And he only ruminated because he was freed; The Tower of Tears was destroyed and Midas escaped into the night. He eventually regrouped with a good portion of his fellow Escapees, and sat down to trade stories, listening deeply all night long while also doling out his own tale. When it was done, Midas and his fellow Escapees were faced with a dilemma: What now? Revenge seemed an obvious choice, but what about after that?

         Midas came up with some ideas, and he recognized those siblings, still alive and with descendants, were a threat… Perhaps the greatest threat to all of the Escapees, or he just wanted an excuse to enact vengeance. Either way, these and his other plans were what Midas proposed, and the Escapees around him agreed. From there, they settled down into an underground base, and recruited a few more members. Midas became the de facto leader with his lieutenant Lynkos the Living Diamond, and helped to organize the group’s missions.

         It’d be easy to view his fellow Escapees as an opportunity for another social experiment of his, and maybe that’s what this really is, in the end; Just another experiment, under false pretenses, like he’s done with so many others. But whether or not that’s the case, Midas does have to admit that he’s come to value his fellow Escapees… Well, most of them. He’s a bit suspicious of Tamericus, but otherwise the two have some fun conversations about alchemy and philosophy, and their own ideas and history with the concept of the Philosopher’s Stone.

         Midas is beginning to think it’s more an idea, while Tamericus insists it’s a physical thing that needs to be created, or recreated. And while Midas’ version was a decent start, it’s not the peak of what alchemists could achieve, and to be fair? Midas also agrees, having considered his attempt is more a means than the actual end. Though by Tamericus’ definition, it’s also deficient, and… Okay, Midas also agrees, he literally can’t swim! He might’ve lessened his weight and can apply a layer of inert gold, but! He’ll still sink like a rock! Some physical perfection THAT is! That is one more way in which water vexes the Golden Man.

         That’s Midas! He’s an old, classic fave of mine. As someone who’s had to take an actual philosophy class since then, having to write Midas’ weird monologues and vague parameters is definitely the hardest part for me, and at times I do consider rewriting certain aspects of his motives and methods, if only to have more of an internal logic you could grasp. And also because the monologuing could easily come off as pretentious, but then to be fair, I guess it wouldn’t be out of the question to characterize Midas as such for them.

         This didn’t really come through in the backstory, but Midas is kind of a HUGE troll. He’s got a lot of sarcasm and dry wit. There’s a playfulness to him, kind of a smug, menacing jokester, and I’m pretty sure this and the monologues are partly because Midas likes to hear his own voice. And, it IS a nice voice; Philosophies aside, Midas has basically the same personality as Hades from Kid Icarus Uprising (who is also his voice claim) with a bit of Beast Wars Megatron sprinkled in, though he’s more chill about being foiled. Like sure he CAN be irritated, but a lot of the time Midas is just enjoying himself and his own commentary.

        As I said, he’s kind of just here to learn. He ain’t power-hungry, just morbidly curious (emphasis on morbidly), and while Midas does want to initiate a lot, he’s mostly in it for the ride, so he often takes it in stride, excuse the rhyme. Midas appreciates a good banter and can have a classy air to him (being made of gold either helps, and/or makes you gaudy)… But again, he’s still super obnoxious, and the monologues really don’t help (maybe Midas is just infodumping). Definitely funny to be an outside observer, but fairly infuriating if you have to actually deal with Midas yourself and be on the receiving end of his jabs. At this point, maybe this dude was a court jester in his past life, though with a lot less overt jokes and more emphasis on sarcastic commentary.

[its-whitetomorrow]

Pokemon “Journeys” in a nutshell:

What’s apparently awesome:

- not just one region but many!

- old characters can return, even some of the old plot threads can be referenced!

- special events with return of non-Satoshi related characters and mons

- Team Rocket got Team Rocket mons, it’s cool and something new!

- Team Rocket got a cool secret lair, cool!

- Team Rocket is well-balanced and their episodes can be all sorts of fun, cool, funny and villainous

- Despite the gacha machine, James gets a Pokemon of his own, so both Jessie with Wobbuffet and James with Morpeko can use a Pokemon without depending on the machine

- the new pokegirl is more unique this time around, I’m interested to see more of her, maybe more stuff about her life in school and whatnot

- caching so many Pokemon by Goh is a bit on the noose but it does introduce more firepower to choose from, can be useful!

- it doesn’t feel obligated to follow the game stuff but can do its own thing

- Sakaki/Giovanni, Team Rocket boss, got a very cool intro with a brand new music theme which is literally called “Sakaki” - surely it means excitement, great things await us!

- There is no big plot or threat for our heroes to overcome. No villains. Nothing. From bigger things there was only Eternatus, at least that was pretty cool and seemed like they gave justice to this alien menace! They were not afraid to go all out and treat this Pokemon as a villain! Bravo!

- Satoshi got a great arc as a mature, more experienced trainer, though he can still act like himself not a forced paragon of heroism, at last!

What actually happened:

- most resolves around Kanto and when it’s another region you hardly even notice because they refuse to feature some of the known, famous landmarks or key characters such as different regional Professors

- old characters return for longer periods only when it benefits Satoshi’s arc and have little-to-no substance beyond it, literally everything else and every opportunity is shied away from to the point where it looks almost ridiculous where it concerns characters such as TRio, for example, who’s been there every step of the way with Satoshi but are utterly excluded from any such “call back” moments

- they can bring back Mewtwo or Team Galactic from Sinnoh anime (wtf!!!) but it hardly matters, it’s just a one time thing, completely out of a blue, with zero substance and explanation behind it, not a nicely done arc and plot

- Team Rocket got Rocket mons from the boss, but these are never used for any official business, TRio is just fooling around in their “standard” roles - but it gets worse, the series introduces a contrived, brainless plot twist with Matori who considers them “problems” but how come they got equipment from the boss then? Wut? Make up your mind!

- Team Rocket’s cool secret base isn’t used for anything substantial and cool, just a few moments on sofas and with food, so it’s even worse treatment than their Alola base! 

- Team Rocket’s characterization and balance may be OK, but they’re still such an afterthought in terms of plots and their role, so rather than actually use them for something bigger... the show usually shies away from any and all such possibilities, ultimately replacing them with “alternate versions” in literal black uniforms like in BW, and acting like Journey TRio can’t even recognize their recent past selves because they’re morons and wouldn’t recognize their own reflections in a mirror or something

- James and Jessie don’t use their own Pokemon which they both posses, it’s only the machine all the time, and Morpeko’s existence is utterly pointless to begin with!

- the new pokegirl quickly turns into a vessel for old stuff such as Poke contest call backs, feats with pokemon in circuses and most of all - yet another Eevee pandering. You won’t learn anything more about her as a character outside of her Eevee, you won’t learn more about her school life, what her dreams are or what’s her past relationship with Goh, overall you won’t be seeing much of her....

- Goh has so many Pokemon alright, even has a legendary... but there is no need to use them against a crisis or a bad guy, well nothing nothing nothing happens they’re just there, he got them, he has the pokedex numbers, the end

- anime doesn’t really follow the game stuff... only when it decides to do that at random, just for the sake of it, introducing SW/SH characters in ways that don’t really contribute anything to the series at large and don’t offer a sense of plot nor progression, merely a shallow sense of obligation. But generally, yeah, it doesn’t feel like it needs to focus on the games, it can do its own thing... except “its own thing” is just episodic content, no storyline other than battles, and overall nothing happens. NO VILLAINS here

- Sakaki, Team Rocket boss, doesn’t appear in this series AT ALL. Which makes it far worse than Hoenn or Sinnoh, where he got to make some cameos at least. But you know what that means? Because they had a track made that’s literally called Sakaki? The composer’s hard work was literally wasted and disrespected! They have music made that they refuse to use, IMAGINE THAT

- I said Eternatus was given justice? Scratch that, they brought it back just so they can explain (in a few seconds!) that people and Eternatus need to learn to coexist and that Eternatus can be supposedly “tamed” and “understood” it’s just anger issues nothing nefarious, no alien doomsdays forms and scenarios! Releasing it is a good idea! (but really just a shallow justification for the incoming loss so Dande can use it at the fight and defeat Satoshi, probably)

- Satoshi got a great arc as a mature, more experienced trainer, though he can still act like himself not a forced paragon of heroism, at last! Yeah, that’s the only one they got right here and the only part that made me engaged, and that’s despite me being a huge TR fan and usually not giving a damn about Satoshi! But watch and see it all burn anyway the moment he loses a tournament and is forced into that silly school premise and treasure hunting from new games (probably)

Honestly, I never expected Journeys to turn into such an anomaly... where everything sounds great but apparently nothing happens, both at the same time!!!

[variousqueerthings]

@le-red-queen think you really hit the nail on the head (almost wrote nailed the head uh...) when you asked what silver’s motivations are

because going by “waves hands around” everything, terry silver’s motivations are... john kreese 

in tkk3 of course, putting aside everything to give kreese what he wants, and then possibly getting sidetracked a liiiittle too much with his new fun toy, but essentially doing it all so that john kreese can get his revenge and feel like a man again -- the fact that kreese never said anything about making cobra kai massive doesn’t matter, terry knows what he really wants 

but it’s also what cobra kai said -- terry retreated because john left him, and he retreated so far he became That Person We See Opening S4 before he gets back into karate (not just a phase....)

he comes back because john asks him to, he changes because john demands it of him, he wants what john wants, except he can make it even better than john could possibly imagine!

terry silver is a giver to those he loves (which is john kreese), and he’s a predator towards those he doesn’t (toying with daniel, luring johnny in to beat him up), but ultimately his version of love is to give what he thinks kreese wants, whether or not kreese asks for it -- beating up johnny to show kreese that he’ll do anything for him, putting kreese in jail so he can’t ruin “their” plans with his weakness (and can’t run away from him again), destroying larusso so that they have no competitors, making cobra kai bigger and bigger and bigger (ignoring that kreese was never actually interested in that, because why wouldn’t he want more)

and of course there’s the betrayal of it all. he would do everything and anything for john, but he’s also testing him the whole time -- will john accept his love? and now he knows that he’s second-best to some dumb blond kid who never even sacrificed like he did? and on top of that kreese puts him down, essentially orders him to minimize himself as if he knows better (when terry now knows that those orders come from john’s weakness)... well that just won’t do

so what are silver’s motivations in s5? where did this idea of “legacy” come from, it never existed as a motivation before. kreese was silver’s motivation, whether it was to prove his love to him, give him everything, hurt for him, try to forget him with every fibre of his being, coming back for him, putting him somewhere where he can’t derail what terry needs to do for him, essentially promising to kill his adopted heir to rid him of weakness, and of course... cobra kai

cobra kai was never terry silver’s interest. everything he has become has been because of john kreese. he never wanted to teach students or continue a tradition. he just wanted john to stay with him (and want him for everything and give him everything)

so the only way I can understand his s5 arc is from that perspective as well -- WITH the added benefit of playing with an old favourite toy of his (daniel)

the “legacy” arc on the surface (and no doubt, the intended surface) makes no flipping sense. when did he ever care about legacy before? what legacy are we talking here? what does it do for his character, rather than propping up other character arcs (that also don’t make sense -- johnny) around the idea of “everyone must want a kid, otherwise they’re broken and twisted people who feel bitter about their lack of offspring”?

what does make sense is once and for all proving that he was right and kreese was wrong. all these years offering him more and more and kreese fighting back against it -- well look at him now, he did it. he made cobra kai bigger, just like he promised, he got rid of johnny lawrence, just like he promised, he destroyed daniel, just like he promised -- now, finally, nothing stands in the way of john kreese loving him

[ruinaimagines]

can i get some romantic argalia hcs? this dude is so Mental Illness i love him (also your stuff is super good u r doing so much for this community)

little bit wacky, a teensy bit wonky, maybe even a little whimsical. I hope you enjoy these hcs!

Romantic Argalia Headcanons:

Oh boy, this sure is a ride. Now assuming from the fact that you’re in a relationship with him to begin with, you know exactly what you are getting yourself into. Argalia is very unpredictable in certain ways, which makes his actions a never ending source of surprise.

Half of the time you don’t even know what he’s up to. Like you’ll just be home eating something, and he’ll walk in through the door with a giant weapon you know he’ll never use but he somehow has obtained through questionable means??

You’ll ask him how his day went and he’ll say it went well, and how earlier he saved a cult leader from assassination. When did he even have the time to do that??? He’s honestly all over the place, but it makes for a lot of interesting stories for him to tell.

If you can keep up and are interested in doing so, he would love to take you along on his adventures. He has extreme confidence in his own ability, as well as his capability to defend you if you need it. There’s no situation he won’t drag you in, unless he’s genuinely concerned about the stakes.

I don’t think he’s very good at sitting still. Patience is a skill you will have to learn as a fixer, but even then he’s always fidgeting in some form of way. Whether it's shifting on his feet, pacing, messing around with his hands, or bouncing a leg up and down when sitting. It feels weird to not have some form of movement.

He has a pretty pompous attitude, that comes as no surprise, but he’s not dumb. As charismatic as he is, smooth words can only get you so far in the city, and you have to know where some limits you have are. He’s intelligent just as a color fixer is expected to be, if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have the name of the blue reverberation.

While a lot of the things he does seem sporadic, they’re often planned out. While there are moments where he will just get bored and do something for the sake of doing it, he seeks to spur chain reactions that will ultimately end up benefiting him.

I mean look at all the people he managed to force into the library through faulty agreements and coercion. He understands what he’s doing, and there’s a reason he’s as dangerous as he is.

Don’t worry about his smooth words being used against you though. You can tell he’s truly devoted, because he clings to your side constantly. He’s very vocal about his affections, even if it’s just to get a reaction out of you.

I think that after the loss of his sister, the threat of losing you would definitely lead to some sort of overprotectiveness? It’s sort of difficult to explain, because it’s not what you’d traditionally interpret overprotectiveness as. If he’s around and is certain of your whereabouts, he has no issue leaving you out of sight and it’s not like there’s this constant force looming over you. However, if you don’t respond to a message, or are a bit late to something it can send him into a bit of a panic.

He gets jealous very easily. He’s certainly not insecure in himself, but he dislikes the idea that you’re spending more time with someone that he considers potential ‘competition’. It doesn’t matter who, and as much as you reassure you love him this is probably going to be something quite prevalent.

It’s not like he refuses to let you have friends though. It’s just that if it’s a stranger getting a little too cozy with you for his own comfort you might step in and loudly display that you’re with him. Even if he doesn’t say anything, the way that he walks up to you, puts an arm around you, and makes intense eye contact with the person is enough of a warning.

He also has a bit of an issue with accepting the possibility of you being blamed for something. You’ve seen how obsessive he can be with Angelica, and it’s the same with you where it’s almost as though you can do no wrong. Even if you actively admit that it’s your fault, he might have a bit of difficulty with accepting it.

But if you’re someone who’s insecure he’s an actual delight to have around. He’s constantly talking about why he loves you, and complimenting you on every little thing. He’ll pick up on specific things that you may be more sensitive about, and he’ll make sure you know he loves you any way that you are, and it’s nothing to worry about.

Will come up to you and randomly embrace you. He’s in general a very physically affectionate guy, so you can expect for him to be someone who enjoys cuddling and in general being close. Overall he’ll try to at least be in contact with you at all times.

I feel like he would be a PDA person because he has no shame for his adoration of you. That, and he also thinks very highly of you, and it’s his way of telling the world ‘look at me and how lucky I got’. He likes the idea of making other people possibly envious.

Hopefully you’re not too shy of a person, or you can handle it at least. He’s rather extroverted, and will love introducing you to people he knows. Chances are that anyone working with him already knows who you are before you even met them.

His idea of dates vary, and they’re fun if you’re someone who likes risk. While he does like pampering you with fancy dinner dates, he also likes the idea and adrenaline that comes with being in a potentially dangerous situation. You might both be out in the backstreets between the time where it’s the most deadly, all to watch from the roofs above and see what goes on at night.

This idea that you can’t reach out for help, and practically anything is legal offers quite a rush. It’s also interesting to see what goes on besides the activity of the sweepers, and see who is confident enough to roam at such a time. It may be cruel entertainment, but it still is entertainment.

Argalia will actually buy you anything you want. He’s a color fixer, so money isn’t even a concern for him, and if he happens to see you stare or bring up something for a moment he will mark it down in his memory. Later on, you might be surprised to find it as a gift.

Speaking of gift giving, if you make him anything or get him anything, he will cherish it forever. Is it something physical like a piece of jewelry? He will wear it everywhere, just as he does with the object on his ear.

Now we all know he’s not the most moral person, which means you might have to be his sense of reason. That is if you want to be, if you’re feeling like throwing everything to the wind then that’s another story. Point is, he’ll listen to you and perhaps consider more humane ways if it makes you happy.

He can’t stand the silence, and I believe that when all is quiet it both irritates and slightly causes a panic in him. It’s the reason his earpiece makes noise, after all. However if he loses it for some reason, the best thing you can do to comfort him is just hold a conversation.

He loves the sound of your voice, it’s actually something that can soothe him and put him to sleep given the right circumstances. He may ask you for a favor if things seem to be a bit too quiet, and just ask you to read something to him.

It’s one of the most calm states you’ll see him in. There is no sly smile he has on his face, nor sudden gestures or movements he makes, but instead just a really tired expression as he dozes off to bed.

Just saying that this man will cling onto you for dear life while you two sleep. He will not let go, so once you’ve settled down in the same bed you must be committed to staying there.

Also his hair is really long and fluffy and gets all over the place. Good news is that if it's really cold you’re going to be okay because not only is he warm, but his hair could probably substitute as a winter coat.

[iamnmbr3]

Loki gets accused of being selfish but actually he is other-oriented to a fault. He is desperate for outside approval and validation.

As far as I can remember, we don’t see him do anything unambiguously and purely selfish even once in the entire series.

In Thor 2011 he tries to delay the coronation for the good of Asgard to stop a warmonger taking the throne (Thor’s same motivation in Ragnarok btw - tho a milder version since he doesn’t intend to kill Thor or stop his condition permanently). He doesn’t want the throne for himself, and indeed his plan is so complicated largely because he is unwilling to kill or harm Thor or permanently remove him from the line of succession. (And of course his plan backfires with disastrous results for him). And then after he learns the truth of his heritage he has a suicidal breakdown and is just desperate to regain some scrap of Odin’s approval since his whole identity and life have been shown to be a lie and Odin has told him the purpose he took him for has been obviated.

His invasion of NYC to get the Tesseract is carried out on Thanos’s orders after Loki has been brainwashed and tortured so he’s clearly not benefitting there. 

In Dark World he fights (and ultimately sacrifices himself) to save the world, avenge his mother, and protect Thor and Jane. And he does the same again in Ragnarok, and very nearly dies while saving Asgard by raising Surtur. 

And of course in Infinity War he gives his life in Thor’s place. 

Even the play he has commissioned in Ragnarok serves the concrete purpose of undoing centuries of Odin’s lies and deprogramming Asgard’s violently xenophobic attitudes towards the Jotnar, so it can’t be counted as a purely indolent and self serving pursuit. 

I suppose defeating and replacing Odin might be the closest thing. But he is driven to that by the fact that Odin would have imprisoned (or quite possibly killed) him otherwise. And indeed he might have also retaliated against Thor. Plus he has nowhere else to go because Thanos is hunting him. Still, it is a more self interested moment than anything else we see. Loki finally stands up to his tormentor - the man who used him and lied to him, the man who imprisoned him right after he’d escaped Thanos’s torture, and who would have killed him outright if he had the chance - and takes something for himself while still showing far more mercy than he himself was ever given.