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chainofclovers · 2 years ago

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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.

#ted lasso #ted lasso meta #meta by me #ted lasso s3 spoilers #ted lasso 3x8 #hot dork club #ted x rebecca #nate x jade #keeley x jack

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luciaiscool7 · 11 months ago

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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.

youtube

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

#oxyspeculativetv #Youtube

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dustedmagazine · 5 months ago

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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

#james kaplan #3 shades of blue #miles davis #john coltrane #bill evans #penguin press #roz milner #bookreview #dusted magazine #jazz

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movedtodykedvonte · 2 years ago

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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.

#spamton #spamton g spamton #spamton g addison #undertale #deltarune #utdr #deltarune analysis #deltarune headcanon #i dunno #im thinking of him #ill prob update the fic tomorro #im really trying #the cold is finally dying down #so fic time #i wanna write more of the addisons and addispam #mmmm #audi banner pop surv #night night

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sepublic · 2 years ago

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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.

#oc #ocs #my ocs #Midas the Golden Man #my art #drawing #sketch #the escapees #GEverse

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ironunderstands · 6 months ago

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I finally got to looking at your post yay me! Anyways I really do like it, I don’t think we view Ratio the same; I actually think he has an inferiority complex, although I am not at all experienced in psychology I’m just going off of vibes tm and that I don’t think he views himself as superior to other people at all, he’s just frustrated that they haven’t come to the realizations he has yet and that in doing so it hurts them deeply. Like when you yell at characters in horror movies for making horrible decisions, it might look like you viewing yourself as superior/smarter for them (for some people it certainly is) but in reality it’s just the stress of watching someone walk into obvious death trap and not being able to do anything about it. Yelling at the screen because Oh My God Do Not Go There You Fucking Idiot You Will Die not because you view them as lesser than yourself.

I would also disagree on him respecting the Genius Society members, I know you most likely meant it in a “1.6 didn’t happen just because Ratio wanted to spite them” way, but I wouldn’t go to say Ratio respects them, at least not fully. He offers basic dignity, as he would anyone, and isn’t dumb or spiteful enough to downplay their achievements. But respect them as people? Ratio points out how despite Hertas intelligence her inventions + discoveries don’t seem to be useful for anyone, he likens Screwllum to a monarch, points out how Ruan Mei’s ambition could be a problem, I don’t even think has has a voice line on Stephen.

Ultimately, Ratio doesn’t respect the genius society members because they don’t use knowledge correctly, at least according to his own definition of it. He thinks knowledges value is as a tool to help people, something which he cares passionately about (the proverbial losing of the IDGAF war), and something which is the reason why he doesn’t respect them. The genius society members, including Screwllum, are all selfish, using their knowledge to benefit themselves all while the ignorant masses could use their assistance, and that’s why Ratio doesn’t respect them (that’s also why I hate RatioMei as a ship, it completely ignores this aspect of his character).

Honeslty besides that I really do agree with your interpretation of him, although there are more things I don’t 100% align with that’s mostly just up to personal preference/interpretation.

What makes Ratio really interesting is that he wants one thing but in order to achieve it he must behave in a way opposite to how you think he would. A character who’s core motivation is helping people putting on a metaphorical and literal cold, detached max because he believes that’s the best way for them to learn, for them to grow and ultimately help themselves. If that approach proves unhelpful he will reveal his true colors, but because Ratio believes so much in everyone, he’s entirely unwilling to let that happen, as people only truly learn and grow when left on their own, something Ratio says himself on the Space Station. Lump that in with the worst case of gifted kid syndrome ever, emotional constipation so bad he practically lives on the toilet, the alienation of being a celebrity, and probably autism, you get a character doomed to never truly get what he wants. As what Ratio wants requires sacrificing who he is as a person, and who Ratio is as a person is why he will never get what he wants.

I love this man, and thank you for feeding the ratio community, also good luck on your csm au, I don’t know anything about it but it seems fun

DR RATIO ANALYSIS

SPOILERS FOR 2.1 CONTENT!

Now, you might be saying - "Aurae, Oh No! and Are You Satisfied? are much too basic songs to analyze Dr. Ratio to! Just because he's a scholar doesn't mean that he has academic trauma!" WRONG! Before we start, I have been researching psychology for approximately six years and I plan to go into it professionally. HOWEVER, that said, I am NOT a professional (YET. One day I will be. Yay for Aurae!) so understand that everything I come to conclusions about has been analyzed with some personal judgement, personal interpretations, and this is just what I have concluded with the info that I have deconstructed from his brain. If you disagree, that's fine!

I will be pulling from my own experiences with being a "golden" and "gifted" child, as well as the experiences I've had speaking to other people who were those. I will also be pulling from my experiences of researching and seeing how people with superiority complexes work, as well as diving into how those work (from what I've seen, as well as how they conceal a lack of self-esteem).

OKAY, NOW THAT THAT LONG AHH DISCLAIMER IS OVER, ALLOW ME TO WORK MY PSYCH ENJOYER MAGIC! Let's deconstruct Dr. Ratio like a lego toy.

Let's start off with how Dr. Ratio presents himself. When you first meet him, he seems like a haughty, arrogant asshole. He likes to PRESENT himself as a stoic, superior scholar who is purely in it to win it, and I got total "*stares down at your tiny body and laughs at how you lack knowledge*" vibes at the very start, due to how he goes around calling people idiots all the time. However, he DOES lose the idgaf war, and we can very quickly see that he does care for other people, even if in his own, strange way. Dr Ratio presentation: An asshole. The reality?

His entire character is based around the idea of helping the masses. He wishes to spread knowledge through the cosmos and give people who didn't have access to it, access. He's a harsh teacher, and calling people 'idiots' is NOT the way to motivate them, but he's doing his best™.

Actually, no, I'm going to go full psych into this. Okay, so here starts the Dr. Ratio and my FATHER COMPARISONS. My father is a professor and he is often called a harsh grader by his students. However, I've spoken to him multiple times because I was curious - why is he so harsh and diligent with his grading system? The answer is - he wants them to actually learn. When he's grading, he gives them harsh marks because he wants them to know exactly where they messed up, and he's always willing to stay after hours to help students understand where they can't. My father also is an enjoyer of knowledge, and for as long as I've remembered, he has prioritized teaching me how to think critically. He wants me to be able to think for myself - and I think that's what Dr. Ratio wants, too. He wants for his students to be able to fully comprehend and absorb the information that he teaches, and although his methods are harsh, he genuinely wants to help. My father's like this too - he hates students that waste his time or aren't here because their hearts are in it. Dr. Ratio hates people who aren't taking their education seriously because knowledge is important. Knowledge is a tool, and to disregard it completely is lowkey kind of insulting - especially when there are people who weren't privileged enough to actually get it, so this isn't something that you should take for granted. Dr. Ratio despises people who take knowledge for granted.

Also, I disagree with the claims that say that Dr. Ratio hates the genius society. He shows open respect for them in his voice lines. Just check them if you need proof. Also, I'll delve into the idea of Aeons and recognition later.

Now that we’ve established that Dr. Ratio kins my dad, let’s let's tackle the 'stoic' allegations. He is LOSING the idgaf war. Like, really badly. He has a temper of a thousand suns and snaps at people frequently, despite his 'impassive' face, his tone holds a LOT of emotion. He seems to feel very deeply and has a shit ton of empathy for others - why else would he be dedicating his entire career to helping others? Of course, he doesn't express this in 'typical' ways of being openly kind - but it doesn't mean that he doesn't care for other people. In fact, he seems to be pretty good at putting himself in the shoes of others and understanding them - expressed in the 2.1 quest where he tells Aventurine to tell him if he can't hold on any longer. Also, he loses the IDGAF war because he is actively trying to help people who want to learn and trying to spread logic and knowledge across the cosmos to those who didn't have it before. Would a man who didn't GAF do that? No!

Now that we've covered his view on knowledge and the way that he presents himself, let's turn to the way that he SEES himself. Now, this is where we get into the nitty gritty of gifted child trauma & academic trauma as well as crippling expectations. It's literally explicitly said in his character stories that he sees himself as mediocre, and it's canon that he doesn't have a good view of himself. His self-esteem is down in the fucking trenches along with my sanity as I write this analysis. The reality is - being called a genius your whole life doesn't really make you feel better about yourself. I'd know. I was. In fact, it makes you feel fucking worse when you can't live up to an expectation. We all fail in life. It's part of being human. But when you're held to such high standards - idolized for your knowledge and the way that you're 'gifted' - the crash comes really fucking hard. Failure is inevitable, and when people who are held on that pedestal experience it, they take it really bad.

The reality is that nobody - not even geniuses - are perfect, but you grow up believing that you are. Then, when you fail for the first time, it all comes tumbling down. The first time I came home with a bad grade was one of the most humiliating moments of my life. I hadn't studied because I was arrogant and I thought that I was smart enough to pass without putting any extra effort into it - because I was a 'gifted' child, right? I should've been able to do it without studying like the other kids. And that's the thing with gifted children – you grow reliant on that title. You cling onto it for dear life for motivation, as well as self-perception. Little by little, the person you are falls apart as you slave away to the perception other people have of you. I think basically every gifted child that I've ever spoken to is a victim of this – and of course, you can heal from this mindset - but it's a hard one to shake.

Ratio's way of presenting himself as being a 'genius' and 'arrogant' also seems to contradict the way that he calls himself 'mundane' at the same time. However, these are two mindsets that can coexist. One part of you believes that you are a genius and that you are perfect, while the other part is crumbling and calling yourself good-for-nothing every time you make a mistake. It's a tiring cycle to live in. This usually leads to people shutting themselves out and closing themselves off after living like that, pushing back your own feelings in favour of being the perfect child. However, we don't know the exact details of Dr. Ratio's childhood, but we can infer that he was held to a pedestal, and this is a very harmful mindset for a child to have.

His superiority complex comes both from how other people view him, but it's a way to cope with his crippling lack of self-esteem. I'm sorry my guy. Also helping others probably helps him feel like he's worth something and makes him feel better because he bases his entire worth off of what he can do and how he can help others. However, this is just my personal interpretation backed by what I have already deconstructed.

In general, this is an easy way to crush self-esteem. You spend your whole life working to meet the image of what other people think you are. In fact, another reason why Dr. Ratio might be so harsh is because that’s the kind of attitude he holds towards himself when conducting research – he’s as hard on himself as he is to others. You end up hating the idea of failure, instead of seeing it as it should be - a way to improve and grow. Actually, I think this could be a reason that he went out of his way to break that illusion of 'worshipping geniuses' in the Space Station. Maybe some sort of childhood connection? Personal connection? In his endeavour to spread more knowledge and make people think for themselves and not blindly follow geniuses, to wake them up and let them think for themselves - maybe, somewhere, in there, he's helping that little child that was almost dehumanized for his intelligence. TLDR: Conflicting mindsets due to trauma, brain vs heart almost - his knowledge that he is a genius vs the crippling lack of his self worth.

Now that we've established Dr. Ratio's self worth, let's take a look at the impact Aeons had on him. Nous, the Aeon of Knowledge itself. I think in a world where the Gods are real, tangible beings that you can reach out and talk to - it makes sense that someone with high ambition and someone who's been called a genius his whole life would seek the confirmation of Nous. When you're a man of knowledge, and you've spent your whole life working with it, being praised for it – it feels natural to look for a god to look down upon you and bless you, right? The Genius Society – it should house him, because he is a genius as well, right? Imagine this – you have been called a genius your whole life, held to that kind of pedestal for so long, and now you wait for the recognition of the Gods. Because if you truly are a genius – then surely, a higher being will recognize your intelligence, right?

The invitation never comes.

And then, comes the doubt.

What if I'm really not a genius? What if everything I've worked for is a lie? Aeons are beings that are 'absolute'. If the god of Knowledge won't accept you or even cast a glance upon you, does that mean that everything was wrong. Gods see more than humans, after all. Gods know more than humans - and that spiral... I think you can see if. (If you don't let me know. I will ramble about how a failure like that can make you spiral down into a worse mindset).

However, the reason why Ratio was never invited to the Genius Society is simple. It’s because he LOSES THE IDGAF WAR. Now, if we look at all the people we know who are in the Genius Society - we find one thing in common. They’re in it to win it for themselves. They don’t help others using the knowledge that they’ve gotten - they use it to pursue shit for themselves. The people of the Genius Society are inherently self-serving. They WIN the idgaf war. Ratio LOSES. Do we see now?

Ratio’s empathy is the reason why he wasn’t let in. He is too human. Nous is a computer. Herta is detached from people. Ruan Mei is literally looking at life as test subjects. Screwllum is a robot.

OUR DOCTOR MAN LOST THE IDGAF WAR, BECAUSE HE IS HUMAN AND FEELS FOR OTHERS!!!

Also, it’s a plausible theory that Nous’s definition of ‘genius’ is different from the human definition of ‘genius’ – it’s a computer, after all. Who knows what’s going on in that code head of its.

However, we still love you Ratio. Never stop losing the IDGAF war.

TLDR: Nous is a computer. It is also in it to win it. It is also self serving. It gazes upon the hoes who are here to win it for themselves. Ratio is busy serving the masses and cooking knowledge in his frying pan. To it, there is no logical reason to be doing this. Therefore, no reason to invite this guy to the Genius Society.

Ratio’s gifted child trauma says otherwise. He wants in. Why wouldn’t he? He’s been working his whole life as a genius.

Nous is like… nah bro, you care too much. Ratio is like, ‘what the fuck?’ And then the AEON OF KNOWLEDGE GOES FOR THE MILK.

Okay, now, quick shoutout to Ratio wanting to help others. He is just like me fr. SO BASICALLY, RECAP OF EVERYTHING I JUST SAID:

Ratio LOSES the idgaf war because he cares about other people. Spent his whole life as the golden egg, and then turns to the gods for recognition because of the inherent trauma of being a child genius. He goes, "hey bro, can you confirm that I am in fact a genius?" and Nous goes, "no, you are too busy cheffing for the masses." Ratio goes, "what the fuck?" and then we collectively realize his attitude comes from blocking off his feelings (while failing miserably), being salty about not being recognized, being put on a pedestal for his whole life, and his crippling depression *cough* lack of self worth *cough*.

Oh, and the "I will never be enough" thought train probably hits him every single day. He is not enough to be recognized by a God. Gods are superior to humans. Maybe nothing has worth after all. Hey, that's Nihility! Hi IX, let's hear what you have to say.

*muffled ix noises*

I see, I see.

The consensus is: HE'S TRAUMATIZED BY EXPECTATIONS! HE WILL PROBABLY SUFFER FROM BURNT OUT GIFTED CHILD IF HE HAS NOT ALREADY!

Okay, now, before I delve into song lyrics (and I KNOW this has been long, just bear with me) I want to talk a little bit (read: a lot) about his relationship with Aventurine. We all know that he cares about Aventurine in his own way. But I want to pull in another idea that I didn’t cover before:

Ratio’s fucking emotional constipation.

Basically, the reason why he has trouble connecting with others is because he was most likely alienated by others as a symptom of being called a genius and being put on a pedestal. This makes him seem unapproachable to his peers, most likely, and therefore, as a result, doesn’t know how to properly connect with others. This just makes his way of presenting affection and care to others even more challenging – because he just doesn’t know how to do it in a healthy and clear way. Academic trauma causing emotional problems, because he’s probably a little bit out of touch with his own. Processing? No! Research. Also, this is very important for understanding Ratio’s character in my opinion, because he’s just a little guy who doesn’t know how to articulate. Maybe he’s got a touch of the ‘tism. Tism mutuals, do we agree or disagree?

However, in comes Aventurine. Love Aventurine, but they are both emotionally constipated. Aventurine displays his affection in ways that Ratio probably only catches after re-analyzing their time together about five times. He’s also a very closed off individual – but Ratio knows this. A cute thing is that Ratio is patient where he needs to be, even if he’s generally a pretty hot-headed guy, and I’m like… bro… that letter… “I wish you the best of luck”... I will wait for you…. GAY ASS MAN…

Sorry the Aventio demons took over. Anyway, what I’m trying to say here is that they both have nonverbal communication with one another that they clearly decipher and Ratio obviously cares for him (he came back and almost jeopardized the plan just for the sake of his ‘coworker’... okay gayboy…) and they just have such a neat little dynamic… Aventurine lets Dr. Ratio do his thing… understands his emotional alienation to a degree…. they’re so neat….

Okay, Aventurine segment over. NOW, FINALLY, WE CAN GET TO THE SONG LYRICS!!! YAY!!!! We all cheered!!!

We are going to be here for two more amber eras, because I realized I actually want to analyze every single lyric from both of these songs. Brace yourself for like, 2k more words. Help.

I think it’s only proper that we start off with ‘Oh No!’ the song that has haunted me since my childhood.

“Don’t do love, don’t do friends

I’m only after success

Don’t need a relationship

I’ll never soften my grip”

Remember when I mentioned that alienation was a big part of Ratio lore? Yeah, that manifests itself in this. When you spend your entire life chasing after knowledge and being held to that standard of untouchable genius, it makes sense that you couldn’t connect with others and that you turn your gaze only to success. Therefore, relationships that are interpersonal lose meaning for a bit – you’re just looking for answers and ways to help them, not connect with them. Also, this is what he wants to do – so he’s never going to pass down an opportunity to better himself or to help someone else.

“Don’t want cash, don’t want card

Want it fast, want it hard

Don’t need money, don’t need fame

I just want to make a change

I just wanna change, I just wanna change”

This is directly alluding to his reasonings for distributing knowledge across the cosmos. Was he based on this song? Maybe he was. He’s not looking for money or fame, his ultimate goal is actually pretty selfless – to bring knowledge and give people the tools they need to think for themselves. He just wants to make a change – he just wants people to be able to have access to knowledge and help cure ‘stupidity’. He wants to do it as quickly as possible, always reaching for lofty goals that might seem impossible, but he will make them possible.

“I know exactly what I want and who I want to be

I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine

I’m now becoming my own self-fulfilled prophecy

Oh! Oh no! Oh no! Oh no, oh!”

Ratio knows his goal. He knows what he’s working towards. I do believe that he understands why he is the way that he is – he has a degree in Psychology, after all. He knows how he’s been hurt but at the same time, the trauma brain probably doesn’t want to recognize it and he hasn’t stepped into healing yet. He knows what he went through impacted him, but he’s too busy helping others to help himself. He’s becoming what he wants to be, and yet he’s not, all at the same time – which causes the idea of “oh no!” as a kind of cry for help, almost. He’s too proud to ask for it himself, of course, so he’ll fall alone until someone manages to catch him and give him the strength to continue holding on. Aventurine is that.

“One track mind, one track heart

If I fail, I’ll fall apart

Maybe it is all a test

‘Cause I feel like I’m the worst

So I always act like I’m the best”

Now, these are the exact lyrics that made me associate this song with Ratio in the first place. He’s got a singular goal that he will do nothing to stop at getting, that he goes so far to get to. However, as I mentioned earlier, failure is not an option for those who were deemed gifted or genius. You are perfect, so therefore you must live up to everyone’s every expectation and surpass them, too, in order to keep your perception of yourself intact. Ratio does not hold himself in high regard, but acts arrogant in order to hold himself together and not fall to the self-deprecating thoughts, even if they fall through the cracks. It gets tiring to hold yourself together like that for a long time, you know?

“I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly

I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna die

I’m gonna live, I’m gonna fly

I’m gonna fail, I’m gonna die”

Remember how I was talking about contradictory mindsets and how they can coexist. This is them. The feeling of crippling self-hatred and lack of self esteem versus the idea that you can do it, you can make a difference – you were born a genius, this is what you’re going to do. This is the knowledge that you are a genius vs the lack of self-esteem that Ratio has. “Mediocre” vs “genius” mindset, eh?

All the other lyrics in this song are repetitions of what I’ve analyzed before, so let’s move onto “Are you Satisfied?”

To be honest, there are only a few lines in this song that allow me to connect it to Ratio, so therefore, I will only be analyzing them. However, if you think that other lyrics can connect to him, I’d be interested in knowing how.

“What you’re gonna be

It’s not my problem if you don’t see what I see

And I do not give a damn if you don’t believe

My problem, it’s my problem that I never am happy

It’s my problem, it’s my problem on how fast I will succeed”

Pretending to not care about how the world sees you is so fucking real. Sometimes, you really don’t give a shit, and sometimes it’s all you can think about. Ratio… doesn’t seem like he’s the happiest person. He works himself hard and he’s always chasing after a goal that must be exhausting. He’s always doing his best, and I think even with his empathy, it’s easy to start not giving a shit after trying for so long and so hard. Accepting help is one of the hardest things that anybody can do, especially with how much pride he has. His personal problems are his personal problems and he can deal with them on his own.

“High achiever, don’t you see?

Baby, nothing comes for free

They say I’m a control freak

Driven by a greed to succeed

Nobody can stop me”

Nothing comes for free. A lot of the things Ratio has achieved is due to his own intelligence, yes, but also because of a shit ton of hard work. His goal is literally to cure the universe of ‘stupidity’ – and that’s a pretty large fucking goal. He is a high achiever who likes to know the details of every situation when he can in order to try and make things better, and he is driven by a greed to succeed. Why wouldn’t he be? Success is important, and success means helping more people. He isn’t going to allow himself to be stopped by anybody – not even anybody from the Genius society.

Okay, and we have finally reached the end of my analysis! This caps at around 4k words, so if you stuck around for this long, thank you so much. I would love to hear any of your comments, and I hope you laughed a little bit. Thank you again! This means so much to me that you read. <3

#dr ratio #veritas ratio #Hsr #honkai star rail #Im just gonna copy paste the last sentence #As what Ratio wants requires sacrificing who he is as a person #and who Ratio is as a person is why he will never get what he wants.#Accidentally summarizing the core of ratios character because of this post #oops

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becca-e-barnes · 2 years ago

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"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.

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.

#bucky barnes smut #Bucky Barnes x reader #professor!bucky #Bucky Barnes x reader smut #bucky barnes #bucky #marvel smut #marvel fanfic #marvel imagines #marvel fic #marvel x reader #bucky x reader #bucky imagine #bucky smut #bucky fic #james buchanan barnes #bucky x female reader #bucky x y/n #bucky x you #Bucky Barnes x you #bucky barnes fanfiction #bucky barnes series #bucky barnes x female reader #I recognise that trusts are incredibly boring and not hot in the slightest #but equity & trusts was my favourite area of law so when I get a chance to talk about it I'm going to take it #the section on the CICT was essentially a summary of chapter 3 of my dissertation #big love to my dissertation supervisor #could I also encourage you to get ready for my transition from a 'champagne problems' girly to a 'midnight rain' girly #that album is INCREDIBLE #I thought about ‘dress’ while I was writing this though if anyone’s interested

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variousqueerthings · 2 years ago

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@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

#terry silver #john kreese #cobra husbands #cobra kai #ck #cobra kai spoilers #cks5 #cobra kai s5 #cobra kai meta #ck meta

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ruinaimagines · 3 years ago

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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.

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