#his character is boiled down to him being by himself and feeling conflicted over just his past actions

[infinitelystrangemachinex]

Veilguard vaguing:

It's not automatically a good thing, actually, that the game de-emphasizes or even outright removes racism against elves, and bigotry against other groups, from the story

[snoppy]

leo valdez post link pls 🙏

oh no babe i meant post as in after tlh.... 😭

[c0ffeejelly1]

When you call them a pet name for the first time

Multiple characters headcannon

Authors note: this was very rushed and not proofread sorry.

Warnings: none. Just the use of ‘baby’..scary.

You were currently on the hunt for your missing phone you dropped somewhere around the house.

Searching every nook and cranny you could feel your boyfriend's gaze on you as he silently watched you now looking underneath the couch pillows.

“Hey, have you seen my phone? I think I left it here somewhere..” He gives you a confused look

“Really? I swear I saw it on the kitchen counter like 5 minutes ago.”

“You did?” You perk up slightly before rushing over to the countertop to see it lying there.

“Yep! I found it! Thank you so much, baby.”

You shoot a grin at him before going through your unread messages.

The type to blush instantly and start malfunctioning

“..huh?”

Were his ears deceiving him or did he just hear what he thought he heard, fall from your lips…

Did you just call him baby?

His minds not playing tricks right? I mean it couldn’t be..

he’s sure- no he KNOWS you said it, because who else other than you would refer to him by that name? Hell, in that way.

It would explain why as soon as you started approaching him, the growing blush he already had on his face intensified even further while he struggled to gather his thoughts.

Wow.

You had really just called him baby.

“You good?” Your voice snaps him out of his internal conflict as a small squeal catches in his throat.

“What?..o-oh!” He scratches the back of his head nervously his eyes looking everywhere but at you.

“Y-yeah! Good, I am! Very I- uh..good.” You give him a weird look, a little confused with his wording before slowly nodding your head, “Um..sure, if you say so, babe..”

boyfriend.exe has shut down.

Woman, are you trying to kill this man? He’s practically a boiling kettle with the amount of heat running through his face and now you're coming in already with pet name number 2?? Slow your roll girl he’s not going anywhere!

He looked like a gaping fish the way he struggled for words to say back to you. He didn’t even need to reply because what you said to him was more of a statement than a question, but yet he still tried. And failed miserably.

“B-baby! Yes! I say so. I- heh..say so..”

…he’s embarrassing himself, isn’t he? Damn it to being head over heels for you.

He kinda avoided you the whole day after that because anytime he caught a glimpse of you he was reminded of 1. The pet name, and 2. How pathetic he looked in front of you when you said it. It was enough to make him start blushing once again.

You best just not talk to him though, because either way, in the end, he’ll find himself clingy onto you like a koala whining about how he hasn’t ‘felt your touch all day’.

As if that wasn’t his fault.

Cuddle this man, please. He’s a real softie at heart.

Characters: SERIZAWA, KAIDOU, armin, NISHINOYA, Hinata, bokuto, KAGEYAMA, Yuji, LEVIATHAN , izuku. (Anyone you like)

The type to smirk to themselves and tease you about it

He couldn’t help the small smug smile forming on his lips.

The way it would curl up into that arrogant grin as if it was almost pleasurable hearing you call him that, if you had seen it in action, it probably would’ve been enough to make you scoff and roll your eyes in annoyance.

He turned to face you once more, dropping his own phone down on the couch before placing his chin onto his palm, the flat part of the cushion holding his arm up, and with a slight cocky chuckle he breathed out,

“Oh? So is that what I am to you, hm?”

You regret calling him that.

You regret it so bad, because now he won’t shut up about it.

“I’m your baby, huh? Why wasn’t I made aware of this until 30 minutes ago?”

You look up from your phone a blank expression on your face. He’s right. It had been 30 minutes- so why was he still going on about it??

“Just watch your damn TV.”

“Have I told you how beautiful you look today?”

.

.

.

“Come on baby..Y’know, you don’t have to be all moody. You’re the one who started it, not me.” You could feel the heavy smirk he still had on his face as your back faced towards him.

You were ignoring him and paying more attention to the dishes you had in the sink because it was the only thing that could distract you from ripping his hair out.

It had been more than 5 hours from when you found your phone, and he was still going on about the whole ‘baby’ situation with his nonstop teasing.

It was always a ‘baby this’ or ‘baby that’- he just wouldn’t let it go!

“So baby, what’s on the menu for me, huh? Is it a homemade Italian cuisine? Oh! Or maybe some Chinese..but then what if you’re being the amazing girlfriend you are and making my fav-”

“My fist.”

“Wha-“

Let’s just say you took care of your little incident that night. I mean..at least he’s not hungry anymore.

Characters: REIGEN, DIMPLE, aomine, kagami, KISE, TENGEN, TORITSUKA, jean, ukai, kuroo, OIKAWA, tendou, atsumu, GOJO, toji, bakugo, satan, diavolo, SOLOMON, denki. (Anyone you like)

The type to go along with it but once he’s alone he’s kicking his feet in the air

“You're welcome, babe.” He knows damn well he is not keeping his cool.

To you, sure, it may have looked like his normal stoic self, but trust me it’s a whole party inside of him.

His palms are sweating.

His heart is pounding.

His mind is racing.

Everything about him is un-orderly

Yet he’s put up a strong front that not even you can tell he’s giggling like a teenage girl inside

It wasn’t until you had left for work that he finally let loose.

He was stuffing his hands in his face trying to hide his heavy blush away from..nobody.

He’s the only one in the house, why was he acting so giddy?

He shook his head left and right like an anime girl, trying to snap out of his state before resting his head on the back of the couch looking up only to see a pair of eyes staring right back at him.

“Well you seem happy, you wanna tell me what’s going on?”

Can he die now?

Why oh why were you back already?

He couldn’t have been gushing over you for 6 whole hours..right? No.. he’s not that much of a simp..is he?

He quickly sits up straight, adjusting himself before letting out a small unfazed cough.

“Y/N. Back so soon..”

“Just wanted to pick up my lunch..forgot it on the way out.” You’re not stupid. You just saw this man scatterbrained like 5 seconds ago, and he’s not fooling you this time around; he’s not gonna avoid the question, so you ask him again.

“Did something good happen while I was gone?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about you tweaking out on the cou-“

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“But I just saw yo-“

“No you didn’t.”

“I-“

“No.”

Don’t bring up the conversation again or else he’s going to deny everything and its existence.

Characters: Akashi, MIDORIMA, giyuu, AREN, Tsukishima, NANAMI, megumi, MAMMON, IIDA, choso (Anyone you like)

The type to pretend they didn’t hear you just so you can repeat it again

“Hm? What d’you say?” He heard you loud and clear. Just look at his face; he’s barely keeping his smile under wraps.

You could see it the moment you glanced up from your phone. That little rascal was trying to play innocent! You weren’t gonna fall for it though.

You knew how to play this game too.

“Oh, I just said thank you..”

“Mm..you sure? cause I feel like you said something a bit longer.” What’s with the blank face...

What’s he trying to achieve here..he’s just making it more obvious that he CLEARLY heard what you said. Why was he trying to beat around the bush?

You raise an eyebrow at him before crossing your arms over your chest.

“Yeah, I-... I just said thank you. What are you trying to say?”

“Nothing, nothing.. just sounded like it was a three-word phrase, not two."

His persistent hints about the comment you made just minutes earlier were becoming harder to ignore. Taking a deep breath, you prepared to speak.

“..you mean me saying, baby?”

“Ohhh, so is that what you said? I knew my mind wasn’t playing tricks on me.”

Y’know, he could’ve at least TRIED to seem oblivious but now he just looks like he’s teasing you.

“Yeah…” you replied slowly, turning your attention back to your phone

“..I feel like you should repeat it again cause I didn’t really get to hear you before.”

Blud is NOT nonchalant.

Characters: Murasakibara, Rengoku, EREN, Reiner, IWAIZUMI, akaashi, Ushijima, SUNA, Osamu, geto, LUCIFER, Barbatos. (Anyone you like)

[dark-konohagakure2]

Hi 💞 I love your content. Can I get Shisui using his Kotoamatsukami on his younger sister to brainwash her into loving him and him alone + non-con's her, please?

tw: incest, sibling incest, noncon, blowjobs, brainwashing, Kotoamatsukami, praise, infantilization, love bombing

All characters depicted are 18+

Shisui's little sister is the most precious person in the entire world to him, their parents aren't in the picture so he practically had to raise her on his own from a young age, which has made him very overprotective of her. But she's growing up too fast right before his very eyes, and Shisui does not like that one bit.

While she is an adult, she's still Shisui's baby sister, his precious little girl, and the mere thought of her talking to other men and possibly being harmed or taken advantage of by them is enough to make the Uchiha's blood boil, so after much careful consideration, he decides that he needs to take some preventative measures.

Kotoamatsukami is an ocular jutsu that can only be used once a decade, so Shisui has to be very careful how he uses it, and he can't think of a better use of it than protecting the most precious person in his entire world. He feels somewhat conflicted at first, but his love for his sister wins out over any reservations he might have had.

It's almost laughably easy, he just needs to look her in the eye for a second, and all of a sudden she's all over him, clinging to him and bawling her eyes out, babbling on about how she never wants him to leave her and how she loves Nii Nii more than anything. Shisui will feign surprise and immediately comfort her, his pants growing unbearably tight as he does so.

"Woah there..! Baby, it's okay... Your big bro loves you more than anything else in the world... if you really want that, then you don't ever have to leave my side ever again..."

Shisui can't remember the last time he's been this happy, he missed her calling him Nii Nii and being his little girl so much, and it's been so long since he last got to hold her in his arms. But Shisui is only a man, and he can't control his darker urges for very long, but luckily for him his precious little angel doesn't mind helping her big brother out.

He'll feel a twinge of guilt for taking advantage of her altered state of mind, but any guilt he might be feeling is instantly replaced with pure bliss as he feels her lips clumsily wrap around his cock. Shisui often fisted his cock late at night to thoughts of his sister pleasuring him with her mouth, and now that it's finally happening he's in complete ecstasy.

Shisui isn't rough with her at all, no he'd never do anything to hurt his beloved sister, in fact he'll be incredibly gentle considering that he's technically forcing her, stroking her hair gently and consoling her if she's choking and gagging on his cock too much, and he's more than sure to let her know what a good job she's doing and how good she's making him feel.

He'll end up reaching his peak rather quickly, he can't help it when his most deviant and depraved fantasies are finally coming true, and with the most dear person to him too. Shisui will cum directly down her throat, filling her tummy with his cum while he tells her how incredibly happy she has just made him.

"F-Fuck..! G-Good girl, baby, good girl... You did such a good job, Nii Nii loves you so so much, honey..."

In the end Shisui is incredibly glad that he decided to use his Kotoamatsukami on her, he knows it's a terrible thing to do to his own sister, but she's blissfully unaware and just happy to be with her brother all the time, and he gets to have his baby sister all to himself, so in the end he sees it as a win win.

[sepublic]

Another thing I’ve noticed about Wittebane fans is that they would really rather speculate on an unseen dynamic and how codependent it was, or on Belos having religious trauma or being a socially awkward child (despite this conflicting with him being a confident, silver-tongued politician) over like. Discussing Belos’ character as he actually is onscreen.

And onscreen Belos is about Christian colonialism, he IS the religious trauma. He’s the white saviorism, the racism, the genocide, the arrogant delusions of Puritans. These are actually onscreen, and darker and deeper than like, the Wittebanes being Cain and Abel or Saturn devouring his son because what are you actually discussing here that’s topical?

But fans don’t want to talk about that, they don’t want to talk about what makes Belos his own character and what makes his writing work. They want to make Belos and Caleb into a racist, less interesting version of the Nocedas, Clawthorne sisters, Collector, etc. And when Belos doesn’t measure up to these standards because he’s a square peg being put through a round hole, fans get angry at the writers. It’s alienating to those who want to discuss Belos, the actual Belos.

And I think it boils down to fans being discomforted by topics such as colonialism and genocide, and facing just how intertwined Belos is with depicting it on a large and personal scale; He isn’t even a metaphor at this rate, but a literal example of a Christian white man from a 1600s American colony. These subjects are not something fans can romanticize, so they focus on the dynamic with his brother, on being codependent or tortured or suffering from religious trauma, etc.

It’s very faux-deep, it’s pretentious in a Dark Academia way, Cannibalism as a metaphor for love. It reminds me of fans who claim to love Dark Fics and can handle dark topics, but then implode when you ask them to discuss critical race theory. They think they’re being subversive and even punk but it’s just white guys in the end. It thinks itself deeper just for being ‘darker’ but it’s not even that dark compared to other things, it’s just edgy. King and Steve’s conversation as a stand-in for Dana’s ruminations on God are genuinely deeper than every Cain-Abel Wittebane fic.

There’s a Vtuber who just did an Owl House marathon and while she didn’t pick up on a lot, the discussion on Belos by fans who are explaining it to her is so refreshing, because there’s no mention of Caleb! There’s no mention of Belos being repressed or feeling abandoned. It’s all about how he actually is onscreen and is presented and what he does onscreen. It’s about the delusions and evil of those who practice Puritan ideology. And the actions that have far more impact than killing his brother.

And it makes me think, this is another reason why we don’t see Caleb; Because the writers knew fans would use him as a distraction from the actual things they’re discussing and satirizing through Belos. They would use him as a distraction from the true motives, the banality of evil, as Belos does; And Belos himself doesn’t even do it that much, he’s upfront about how he thinks witches are inherently evil and need to be killed in the name of God so even he is avoiding factoring Caleb into the discussion! Alas, the writers underestimate just how far fandom will go when they get even a scent of a possible white guy.

Can we talk about the Wittebanes as they actually are instead of retreading other characters’ old ground? The tragedy of the Wittebanes isn’t about some lonely orphan just wanting to be accepted by his community, being unable to handle the thought of his brother leaving, and not knowing any better because that’s just how things were back then; It’s about seeing your kid brother embrace the alt-right pipeline because white supremacy makes him feel special, and no matter how many years you spend trying to change his mind, he eventually, finally turns on you too.

[coffeegnomee]

It fascinates me that in this entire conflict with Flame we have this battle between c and cc mindsets and motivations that are so interconnected that the story only exists through the blend of both. 

MAPICC: “I don't care bro. He can't just get away with anything he wants to because he’s Flamefrags. I actually don't care” 

It is so cool how it’s BOTH:

“the villain of the server can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s the villain” 

AND 

“Flamefrags the person can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s Flame” 

One is a fully justifiable, and even honorable, story motive: to stop the evil rampage of the evil villain, 

the other is a respect and learning moment for a real person to learn that you have to work with others and not steamroll because you think you have the right to whatever your idea is. 

It is so fully both of that at the same time. 

Flame does it too, he met the story as a story; he said specifically to Zam in DM’s that he’s leaning into a character with blowing up spawn. 

But then when it comes down to it, it’s his video and he just wants to make it, and he's willing to hold the whole server hostage to do so.

He takes both to be true, though he disagrees that the second reason is any justification to oppose him, which is the whole point to what Mapicc is doing. Mapicc is trying to teach him that his actions have consequences and you have to embrace them WHILE doing your video, not separate your video from your actions.  

And that, on a greater level, lifesteal is never about just you, it’s about who you team with and about the server as a whole. Every interaction matters. 

And Mapicc fully embraces that actions have consequences and that he’s going to get shit for blowing things up because now people can say of him, “Mapicc can’t just get away with anything he wants because he’s Mapicc”. He thinks he's in the right, and flame deserved it, but as they walk around the destroyed castle he reflects saying, “yea and then when I cancel the duel I’m the dickhead. Well I mean, no what I did-” and doesn't finish the thought. But he gets it.

And THAT’S what makes lifesteal so interesting.

It’s not just an unscripted story, it’s other people continuing their lore during your lore, because of your lore, which messes everything up and doesn't lead to perfect stories being told. 

It’s a never-ending, ever-building conglomeration of difficult stories, real stories, actual shit going down, and pushing thorough it anyway. In a word: Resiliency. 

---

And then suddenly it’s not EITHER of those two above options, resiliency is necessary as the dual conflict of above boils over into a story about self worth and communication. Not about a video, not about a villain arc, the barriers of character break down, the story of the server which was once wrapped up in the easy rebuttal “It’s minecraft not real life” starts to crumble and suddenly it feels all too much like a real life problem stuck within the veneer of a character, forced to play out because it is in the context of a game, unable to be resolved until the person himself battles against his inner self.

And our villain is stuck under the thumb of someone else, despondent, weary, and just wanting to give up. Anything to end this endless agony that boiled from one mistake, one weak moment in listening to the devil on his shoulder, and has now brought real sorrow and massive stress. 

He talks of Wemmbu having leverage against him, a mysterious hold that keeps Flame from having any leverage in return. What looked like one type of character has boiled into something far more 3dimensional. 

And suddenly I’m getting flashbacks to the greatest story lifesteal has ever told. 

---

FLAME: “How can I control another man’s decision that like, he just logs on and starts blowing stuff up. Bro. what can I do” 

ZAM: “well, [laughs] telling him that’s he’s griefing your video! Tell him that he’s griefing your video! It’s so obvious!”

FLAME:” he wont give a fuck!” 

ZAM: “HOW? He obviously cares. He obviously cares” 

FLAME: “he does not give a fuck bro” 

ZAM: “You can just talk to your teammates, did you know you can just communicate with them? That is something that you can do that we cannot.”

[…] FLAME: “its not that easy” 

ZAM: “but it should be. It should be, Flame” 

------

ZAM: “they’ve been going against your motives this entire time? How is that not betraying? How is that any different?” 

FLAME: “bro they have leverage bro” 

[…] ZAM: “flame the way you’ve described this is that you’re being betrayed constantly by your teammates, your teammates are constantly going against you, always. And now you’re like scared of them as well, […] The way I see it is you’re having a communication problem, I don't know” 

FLAME: “I can’t do anything with somebody else’s problems” 

ZAM: “but it’s not someone else’s problem. It’s your problem […] you teammates are being terrible to you, your teammates are mistreating you” 

----

FLAME: “where the hell am I going? There’s nobody left that’s gonna want me on their team. And that's my fault” 

ZAM: “that’s not necessarily true. You just have to look […] you don't have to betray them, you could just leave the team on good terms”  

FLAME: “that doesn’t exist” 

ZAM: “[conceding] fair”

---

FLAME: “okay tell me what- in this scenario, put yourself in my shoes.” 

oh he’s BEEN there. He has been there. Don’t worry Flame. 

Standing up to your purple teammate is never easy. Especially when you’re so attached to the third teammate in the group. Hopefully Zam and Pangi can give helpful enough advice, but then again did Planet and Bacon and Branzy’s advice give the best conclusion to that relationship? Was communication possible or was the only possible response upholding a boundary and leaving to show how serious he takes it? Putting his foot down and standing up for himself? Is it possible to do that without breaking apart the team while still being serious about what is going on? 

And then there’s Mane saying “flame said that?” “Dumbass flame :sob:” “we already said we’d stop after he asked LMFAO” 

Where this will lend up, I don’t know. But this is the most interesting lore lifesteal has had in such a long time. I’m getting so many flashbacks to how it felt to watch s4 and I couldn’t be happier. 

[linkspooky]

What’s your thoughts on teen titans 2005 blackfire?

This is actually a complicated question to answer because I do love the Blackfire we get from the Teen Titans cartoon, but it isn't really my favorite adaptation of her character. Part of the problem is she's only in two episodes. If Starfire got her own season then Blackfire would probably have to be fleshed out more just by necessity.

I guess my main issue boils down to the difference between personality and character depth. Which is something I just made up on the spot but, a character can have a lot of personality but not be a particularly deep character and vise versa. More under the cut.

Cartoon Blackfire is so overflowing with personality that she's an incredibly memorable character despite only appearing in two episodes. The cartoon adaptation does a good job in general of streamlining the more complicated comic book versions into easily recognizable personalities that fit into the animated adaptation, where you still get the gist of the original.

Robin is trying too hard to be Batman, reflective of early Teen Titans Dick Grayson's habit of overworking himself and his insecurity as leader. Starfire's personality focuses on her fish out of water aspects which was a big conflict for her originally. Cyborg's portrayal leans into the disability representation aspect of his narrative and how like an ablest society has taught him to hate himself or think of himself as less than human for his cybernetic prosthetics.

The show communicates these deep ideas in more simplified personalities compared to the comic book counterparts (they have to it's a 20 minute cartoon versus a new teen titans run with over a hundred issues).

Then we get to Blackfire who also has a strong personality that immediately communicates a lot about her character. Number one she is the archetypal big sister who makes her little sister feel inferior about everything, it's like being in middle school when your sister is a high scholer. From Starfire's perspective Blackfire has always been cooler, stronger, more adult. That's something the audience can understand pretty easily because they most likely have big sisters too who seem cool and untouchable.

On top of that though as the episode progresses we learn that Blackfire isn't just making Starfire jealous on accident. Like it could have been an accident sometimes you hang out with a new group of friends and immediately grab the attention away but it's just a misunderstanding you're just trying to integrate yourself into the group and newer people tend to attract more attention. Borrowing your sisters clothes, hanging out with their friends and taking attention away, those could all just be a normal sibling conflict.

Then you find out that Blackfire's doing this on purpose, she's just trying to edge out Starfire and steal her place with her friends. It's not just because she wants to hide out from under the law and stick Starfire with the blame to get the police off her tail, no this is something she constantly does in every interaction with Starfire. She's always insisting that she's the better sister. She's reinforcing this sibling rivalry and always trying to come out on top.

Blackfire constantly antagonizes Starfire and turns everything into a competition, whereas Starfire doesn't see things that way she just sees them as sister. There are times where Blackfire is mentioned offhand and Starfire tells stories of her growing up like (Oh, my sister went through puberty and she turned purple for three days). So the rivalry thing is also pretty clearly one-sided on Blackfire's side. Even Blackfire's attempt to conquer tamaran and marry Starfire off to some ugly alien, it's a pretty clear attempt to just hurl egg in her sister's face.

Blackfire personality-wise also has that bad girl thing going to her. She's the quintessential mean girl to Starfire's naive nice girl. Her introduction episode where she immediately takes away the attention of all of Star's friends by coming off as a cooler version of Starfire, and the night club scene where she's wearing Starfire's clothes, and dancing also calls to mind Faith, Hope and Trick, the BTVS episode where Faith the other slayer is introduced to serve as the main character Buffy's darker foil. The "Bad Slayer" to Buffy's "Good Slayer."

This is what Blackfire is set up to be, she's not only a rival / antagonistic sibling she's supposed to be the "bad sister" to Starfire's "good sister". It's a pretty shallow role but Blackfire has so much personality that she plays it really well.

The show itself doesn't really dig any deeper than the sibling rivalry and the good sister / bad sister aspect, though. Which isn't true for the comics. Which is why I consider cartoon Blackfire a good adaptation of her PERSONALITY, but one lacking in character depth.

What makes comics Blackfire such a fascinating character to me is that she and Starfire are a pretty nuanced breakdown of the golden child / scapegoat dynamic. It's something a lot of adaptations miss out on. Even the debatably canonical Teen Titans GO! spinoff Comic of the show that ran at the same time the show was running kind of misses out on this element in their origins.

"Starfire was more liked because she was kinder and prettier..." this oversimplification that their parents did love all their children equally, Blackfire was just a bad seed / bad child who was unpleasant and hateful from the start. THe archetypal jealous older sister / cain to Starfire's Abel.

That's not how it is in the comics! Blackfire is disabled in the comics, and because of that Starfire's parents heavily favor their abled child. Blackfire's narrative is a disability narrative, she's unable to fly in her world so her parents strip her of her rightful inheritance and treat her far worse than her abled children, for no other reason than she can't fly.

I'm going to borrow heavily from another post about a character with a similiar disability narrative, where they are actively abused by their ableist parent: Toya Todoroki from My Hero Academia.

Touya, as a kid, is undergoing this painful disability, and rather than acknowledge his hand in that - because Endeavor brought him into this world for selfish reasons, without thought or care to the possibility of the Incompatible Outcome - Endeavor just turns him away and refuses to see his pain. He doesn't try to accommodate or mitigate or treat the disability, just pushes the disabled child aside and minimizes how severe the disability is. [...] Endeavor then keeps attempting to have "non disabled" children to "make up for" the disabled one. [...] Touya, however, in all of his grief and his anger, can only see that once again, he is not seen, his suffering didn't matter to his father. His disability is made to be his fault and his failure, which Endeavor, despite having a shrine to him, has cleanly wiped his hands of it. This new child is not disabled; this child is perfect. This is similar to how disabled older siblings may initially fail to emotionally connect to their abled baby siblings, and fail to see the way their parents may hurt or otherwise not nurture them; resentment at what is, real or perceived, better treatment and more displays of love, care, attention, etc builds inside.

Blackfire is born with a disability, and rather than try to accomodate for her, her parents just turn away from her refuse to see her pain and then push her aside for their "non-disabled" children. Starfire is not disabled, Starfire is perfect, and Blackfire knows that their parents treat the two of them differently.

Which is why in her pain and desperation for her parent's attention Blackfire has never truly connected or noticed Starfire, because she's incapable of seeing Starfire as anything other than the "abled" sibling in the household and the "favorite." Which isn't Blackfire or Starfire's fault, it's a conflict that's forced upon them by their parents. If Blackfire's parents had just treated her like a normal child instead of scapegoating her for her disability, Blackfire would have no reason to compete with Starfire.

However, there's an added element to this which makes the Blackfire and Starfire dynamic so good, is that Starfire does not understand that she's the golden child. She thinks their parents are perfectly normal, loving parents, and that Blackfire is the problem. Starfire refuses to ever see that Blackfire was abused and from the start believes that Blackfire just came out of the womb petty and jealous.

To be fair Blackfire does commit sibling abuse when she's younger, and even eventually ends up selling out their entire planet, and her sister to her the enemy. If Starfire resents Blackfire for her actions she's justified, but Starfire reduces Blackfire in her mind to a mustache twirling villain.

It's like if Starfire saw a pair of parents abusing their child in a wheelchair, screaming at him for not being able to walk, Idk, pushing him down the stairs she'd get angry and think they're horrible parents, but she can't see that the behavior is bad in her own parents.

Once again Starfire is a victim of Blackfire's lashing out, but at the same time imagine it from Blackfire's perspective. Imagine knowing that your parents are abusing you, and having no one to confide in because even if you told your sister how you'd felt she'd take her parents side and say "it's your fault, why don't you just try behaving better?"

In the comics themselves Blackfire's intense rivalry with Starfire is really her attempt to "earn" back the love of her parents by making up for the disability she was born with.

It's also sort of ironic - many disabled children (physical, intellectual, mental etc) often continue pushing themselves to achieve their parents dreams- whether it's sports, academics, work, etc - as a way to garner attention or praise or love or "make up" for being a burden/disabled until they collapse in some way - mental health crisis, irreversible body damage, etc.

Blackfire becomes violent, obsessed with strength, because her parents have taught her that there is something wrong with her that she needs up to make up for her inherent weakness by being strong. Blackfire is who she is in reaction to an inherently Ableist society that demonizes her for her disability, and parents who punish her and a sister who (cluelessly) joins in on that.

It's a good golden child and scapegoat dynamic because as awful as Blackfire is as an adult, she didn't have to become that way. She was pointlessly scapegoated as a child, pushed, pushed, and pushed because apparently it was just too hard for her parents to love a disabled child. It's also probably one that a lot of readers don't understand because it's a little hard to swallow the idea that some parents will just treat children as subhuman for having some disability, but then be perfectly capable of loving their abled children.

What makes it such a great one though is that it eventually breaks free from assigning Starfire the hero role, and Blackfire the villain role. One thing I hate about most "Good sibling vs Bad sibling" conflicts is that they'll make the bad sibling the one who got abused. Like, wow the abused sibling that didn't get any outside help is angry and violent... no duh.

As the comic goes on they break out of their roles because Blackfire becomes a much deeper character than she initially was. She's no longer just a power hungry dictator trying to grab a throne that wasn't hers out of jealousy, she eventually wins the throne of Tamaran because she is a better ruler than either Starfire or either of her parents. We learn that the reason she's so motivated isn't because she came out of the womb a little hater, but a genuine patriot.

She's violent and ruthless not because she has to be, but because she genuinely believes it is the only way to accomplish her goals of a better Tamaran. It is really the extreme end of what her parents did to her as children. Blackfire became violent, volatile, and determined because she wanted to earn back the love from her parents. Blackfire decides she has to be strong, cold and a killer because she has to work hard to earn the love of her planet.

Her backstory all ties into these goals, and through that we can see why Blackfire treats Starfire that way. It's not just that Blackfire is jealous of Starfire, but also that Blackfire represses her need for love. Her parents never loved her, so why would Starfire? She spent her entire childhood trying to earn that love and never got it, so she tried to deny that she ever wanted love in the first place.

Blackfire is actively killing off the part of her that desires love from people, that wants a family, because she believes it will make her lose sight of her goals. If that means she ends up turning against her family and fighting Starfire, well, oh well then she never had a family in the first place.

However, she's never completely able to get rid of her desire for familial love which is why she has this weird obsession with Starfire in the first place. Starfire's basically the only one who tried to love Blackfire and have a connection with her, even if Blackfire didn't reciprocate. Which is why Blackfire is simultaneously always trying to put Starfire down, but at the same time she can't let go of Starfire either. I think Blackfire desires that relationship with her sister too, but one it's hard not to be jealous when you see your more abled sibling receiving the love and care you want, and number two Starfire has consistently all their lives sided with Blackfire's abusers over her.

Which is why instead of the sibling relationship they both want, which is to just be normal sisters and equals they're constantly forced to fight against each other. Neither of them actually wants this, it's their parents, it's outside circumstances, and it's their own inability to overcome their emotional flaws that makes them constantly fight. Which is just sad because Starfire has no connection with her younger brother, and her parents are just as ready to sell her out as they were Blackfire so the only person in her biological family who loves her is Blackfire... albeit in a twisted way.

They both miss out on the chance to have a close connection with a person who they grew up with, and will understand a lot of their lives especially because Blackfire and Starfire are actually pretty similiar (the same person in two different fonts) because neither of them can get over this conflict.

It's tragic. They miss out on the chance for a loving sibling relationship that they both want because they can't overcome the cycle of abuse that started with their parents.

Anyway, if you want a show that dissects the golden child and scapegoat dynamic between the two of them better you can watch Season 3 of the HBOMAX TItans Adaptation. Their Starfire and Blackfire are fantastic and the season actually shows the two of them reconciling.

[queer-reader-07]

ok time for me to be an aziraphale apologist / stan on main. because i am tired of how much shit he is getting.

1) i hate hate HATE the amount of people who keep insinuating that crowley is *more* in love with aziraphale than aziraphale is with crowley. did we watch the same show and read the same book??

did you not see aziraphale’s longing gazes that started *checks notes* literally before time? did you note watch as he got himself into precarious situations just so that he could be rescued by crowley and subsequently be asked out on a lunch date? did you not see aziraphale take any and every opportunity to simply touch crowley’s body? to just feel a little more closeness? he literally gave crowley holy water. if that isn’t love i don’t know what is.

yes, crowley shows his love for aziraphale very differently. for crowley it’s acts of service and that loving snark. but that doesn’t mean aziraphale doesn’t love crowley. they both love each other so so deeply and equally. they just love differently.

2) aziraphale is not a bad person for choosing to go to heaven.

i have talked about this in a few contexts before (eg how it makes sense from a religious trauma standpoint) but today i’m talking about it generally.

aziraphale did not choose heaven over crowley. he chose saving the world in the now, so crowley can be safe in the future. so that he and crowley might still have an earth to have a future on.

aziraphale still has faith that heaven can change for the better, and if it can be him doing the change why wouldn’t he want to take the opportunity? i don’t think you have to like his decision, but so many people are screaming “aziraphale bad!!!” and i just don’t get it.

the decision makes sense. it is so completely in character.

look. i understand being distraught or upset about the ending of season 2. i won’t pretend that i was happy about the ending. but i think a lot of people have forgotten how stories are structured. season 2 is the second act in a three act story. the final fifteen are the standard conflict that basically every three act story has.

but it was really shocking to see how many people went from loving aziraphale to just crapping on him because he made an in-character- understandable-in-the-context-of-his-past decision.

idk i just don’t think it makes sense or is fair to boil his decision down to “it’s out of character” or “he doesn’t love crowley as much” (don’t even get me STARTED on coffee theory) just because you didn’t agree with it.

aziraphale has flaws, but so does crowley. that’s what makes them such good and compelling characters. they aren’t black and white, bad and good. that’s the whole point of their characters and dynamic, they exist in the gray space.

[ilikesaladforks]

Hypothetically speaking, how do u think Grusha would react and respond if Rika told him she’s pregnant.

i wanted to answer this earlier but then i thought too hard about it and now i gotta answer this in multiple parts oh no

if they wanted kids all along, i think grusha would be overjoyed. he thinks he misheard, or his ears are playing tricks on him because he was hoping for so long and then rika looks at his dumbfounded expression and laughs and repeats herself (or shows him the positive result) and he's frozen and barely able to contain himself (somehow) and he maybe he'll go 'you're pregnant' and she repeats after him 'i'm pregnant' and he's hugging her as tight as he can while being gentle with her and then he realises he's not sure how all the prepwork for baby goes and then he eventually devolves into panic mixed with excitement over what he has to do for her and baby

if they didn't plan for kids, i think they'd both be a bit more apprehensive.

we know so little about both of these characters thanks to how pokemon is structured but we know a little bit at the very least. rika is observant and both she and grusha care for the safety of others (at least i feel these traits are relevant on my first think)

if grusha is okay with kids himself but rika isn't, i think he'd let rika make the decision she's comfortable with and wouldn't want her to feel pressured to make a decision that she doesn't sit well with just because of his feelings. ultimately, she bears the greater burden between the two of them and his feelings don't outweigh hers. he would most probably be unfamiliar with the result of either decision, so he would read up and learn more to find out of the risks of of keeping/letting go (and when the decision should be made to reduce the risks). rika most probably would sense that he'd love to fo be a father, and would have doubts about not going through with the pregnancy but he reminds her that they are in this together and not to hold herself back for his sake. i think being aware of her internal conflict would make him more careful about bringing up baby or child related topics around rika. maybe he would consult other mothers he know (grandma ryme. kofu seems like a grandpa? anyone he knew who could give advice in the situation so that they could move forward with minimal regrets)

if grusha isn't planning for kids in the long term but rika would love them, i think he would be apprehensive (still) but willing to listen to rika's wishes, and pretty much agree to raise baby together. he's asking around for advice on what he should do, what he can do and stuff like that, looking back on his childhood on the times he wished his father had been there more, a whole lot of things. he would want to be mentally prepared because raising a kid is obviously not easy, much less for 2 adults working full time at a pretty crazy workplace. i think it should go without saying that in a situation like this letting a kid know that they were unplanned (or worse, unwanted) is like 100% bad for everyone involved so i don't think grusha would be so emotionally insensitive as to touch on this lol. it takes time for grusha to warm up to stepping up to become a father, but he will put in the work for rika who is also putting the work on her end to provide the best life for their baby

if i had to boil it down to the feelings upon hearing about it (this got so long i'm so sorry) then i feel that either way grusha would be surprised before his thoughts catch up to the news and he reacts with subsequent excitement if he was hoping for a child with rika or concern/doubt

[mjolnirswriststrap]

Hey, dear! Could I get an extreme fluffy kinda steamy/suggestive Daemon x wife poc fem reader. In which they take a shower together, just all the intimacy of a couple after a long day of royal chores, just the two of them talking, teasing each other and enjoying the feeling of the hot, fragrant water and enjoying each other's presence. Entitled to words of affection, caresses, kisses, reader washing his hair, the two of them soaping each other, hugs and whatever else you want, please? (Sorry for my English)

❄️ DAY THREE OF COUNTDOWN ‘TILL CHRISTMAS ☃️

A/N: You’re English is perfect! Don’t apologize for that! I loved this request, just not having to have some over arching storyline was way less stressful and made this so easy to write. Simple fluff is very much appreciated. I hope I did it justice❤️ Taking Requests - link to the characters I write for. Masterlist

Word count: 902

Summary: The request perfectly sums it up lol

You stir in your sleep, feeling someone standing over you. Your eyes open when you feel your husband pick you up, one arm behind your shoulders and the other under your knees. “I’m so tired, what are you doing.” You pout. You throw your head back and close your eyes, not having the energy to argue with him.

“I know you had a long day, this will make sleeping feel even better.” He sets you down on a satin stool, removing the ties from your nightgown, letting it fall off of your shoulders. “Stand up, my sweet girl.” He says. When he calls you that, he knows he has you hooked.

You stand and let the dress hit the ground. Daemon takes your hand and leads you to the golden basin in the corner. You hadn’t noticed before, but it was surrounded by candlelight. Purple flower petals floated on the surface of the water. You don’t know how long you were asleep, but he did all of this so quickly. When you dip your foot in, it’s boiling hot, exactly how you like it. After fully submerging yourself you get hints of rose and lavender oil in the water.

You lean your head back and close your eyes, reveling in the warmth. When your peace is disturbed by your husband lowering himself opposite of you. “I thought this was my bath.” You say, selfishly wanting it all to yourself.

Daemon smirks at you, knowing you’d much rather prefer him to be in here with you. “You’re not the only one who had a long day.” He reaches over, grabbing a glass vile of sunflower seed oil, marked with the large yellow flower. He shakes a few drops onto his hand before reaching for your left leg. He evenly distributed the oil, and then massages it into your skin.

He does it so meticulously, paying extra attention to your knees and feet. He knew how important your bathing was to you. From the very beginning of your courtship he would wait around for hours while you readied yourself for a walk through the garden.

Your dark skin contrasted his, not only by color but softness. He knew how important it was to you to take care of your skin, and he appreciated the time you took on yourself everyday. “What happened with you and the king today? Any progress?” You say, loving the attention he was giving to your sore calves.

He shakes his head, switching to your other leg. “He won’t accept that a war is coming. He’s too old, and sick to care. That’s my fear.”. You suck on your teeth, your know Viserys, he would see the the truth soon enough.

“I promise you he is very aware that’s having a son shortly after naming his daughter heir, is bound to cause conflict. But you must trust your brother, I couldn’t imagine being king, what kind of stress that would cause.” You say, playing devils advocate for the king.

Daemon drops your leg into the water without warning. “Well why didn’t you marry him? Instead of letting a little girl take your place.” He was serious, he never mentioned your past, the reason you met each other in the first place.

You realize you may have overstepped in defending his brother. “Because, he’s not you.” You stand on your knees and waddle over to him. Placing your hands on his face, “I know you don’t want any casualties to happen, especially because it’s your own blood on the line. But you can’t let it weigh so heavily on your heart, some things are out of your hands, accept that honey.” You say, looking into his sad eyes.

He looks up at you and smiles, “You have a way with words, don’t you.” He says, not being able to focus on his brother, with you standing wet in front of him. You skin glows and glistens against the candles. He rakes his hands down your curves. “And you’re the most beautiful woman I’ve every seen.” He leans forward placing a kiss to your navel.

Your hands find their way to his long hair. “Lean back.” You know he needs this bath more than you do. You reach over for the small pitcher, holding it underwater to fill it up. “Close.” You say. Daemon closes his eyes and feels you slowly pour the warm water on the top of his head. You reach for a bar of lye, sudsing up your hands.

Daemon hums as you run you fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp along the way. You rinse and repeat, not questioning the blood staining the tips of his white hair. It was more than likely his own anyways. You cleaned up too many self inflicted bloody noses to know.

When you finish you move back in the water, finding your side of the tub again. “How did I get so lucky?” He says, pushing his wet hair behind his ears. “Well it wasn’t anything you did.” You say, not being able to contain your teasing laughter. “It was just you, you were it for me, the moment I saw you.”. Daemon lovingly looks across to you. He finishes your sentence. “, and I knew I had to have you.”.

You splash him with the water, blushing. “Seriously?” You say, knowing you reiterating what you said to him often before.

[aro-laurance-zvahl]

I know nobody asked but fuck it I slept and shit and am still thinking about it so like. Here’s why I hate Garroth’s betrayal arc, and what I would do instead!

Mind control is STUPID

I know some of what I’m gonna say is gonna be able to be countered with the whole implied mind control stuff. And yeah sure if he’s being mind controlled anything can happen! But also? Mind control is a stupid plot device. If the only way you think you can get a character to do the thing you want them to do, is to inflict them to mind control/corruption for multiple days or even weeks, then maybe it’s time to reconsider the plot point.

(This post is long so I’m putting a keep reading)

It’s out of character

It just makes no sense for Garroth to betray not just Aphmau, but Phoenix Drop as a whole. It’s established very early on, and is pounded in after this betrayal, that one of his most core traits is loyalty. It’s his fatal flaw! It prevents him from really trying to kill Zenix back when he attacked Phoenix Drop.

But then he sees Aphmau kissing Laurance and that Laurance broke their bro code...and oh man....he’s just gonna betray his home for fucking O’KHASIS cause of that. Screw loyalty I guess!

It’s start of the end

By this I mean it’s the start of some characters being boiled down to their attraction to Aphmau.

Suddenly Garroth’s fatal flaw isn’t loyalty, it’s Aphmau. He’ll betray the home he stood by even when shit went down the drain and their lord was dead and roads were falling apart, cause his crush likes someone else. He’ll help O’Khasis and the brother who has murdered entire villages cause of that. Cause that’s all that fuels good ol’ Garroth, his massive crush on Aphmau! Not a sense of justice or guilt from his past or anything of that nature. Just Aphmau.

Had very little lasting impact

And I know that sounds weird cause like yeah it did it changed the course of the whole story but like. It did a few things, but none of them have to do with the act of betrayal. Basically if Zane and Lillian did it all on their own and then Garroth stayed because that is in character at least, the few things that had a lasting impact would still happen

The 15 year time skip

Garroth is not in the overworld

Making the Divine Warriors important to their goals

Giving Aphmau Irene powers

Killing off Aaron

And that is about it. Dynamics with Garroth didn’t change, no one seemed to see him differently, he wasn’t even the focus when he finally got saved which leads me to my next point!

Him getting saved wasn’t about him!

Garroth got saved, he’s finally home, you the viewer who has been watching this shit unfold live are so excited and can’t wait to see the reactions- but wait.

Sure, Garroth is finally safe. Sure, he’s finally home. But...but Aaron is dead. Aphmau notices Aaron is dead, and that is what this arc is about. Not Garroth coming to grips with the world he reenters, finally seeing how unkind fifteen years have been because of his actions. Not about friends finally seeing him afger fifteen years, not about the friends he saved who know he also betrayed them having a swirl of conflicted but overall relieved emotions. No, it’s not about any of that. What it is about is Aaron’s death and Aphmau’s grief of it.

It was Aaron that sacrificed himself to do it

Aaron didn’t know Garroth. I don’t think the two ever actually talked, and sure it’s clear Aaron didn’t do it for Garroth. He did it to kill Zane and also. For Aphmau. (Remember that point about some characters getting boiled down to their attraction to her and that taking over character motivations? I think that applies here.)

Its just such a missed opportunity honestly. If someone dies to save him, Garroth should feel some personal grief! The person should have personal attachments to Garroth! Make it Laurance! Make it Dante! Make it Vylad! Make it fucking Azura! Not someone who Garroth will go “Oh. Who is that again?”

What I would do

My personal favorite way to change this arc while keeping those first four major impacts, is for it to be Aphmau’a icarus moment. It goes a bit like this

Garroth has just been approached by Zane and Lillian, he is sat in his room and filled with some sort of panic. They have some sort of plan, a plan he knows will not lead to good things for Phoenix Drop or Aphmau. The kiss he saw is barley on his mind because this takes priority. He has to tell Aphmau, as soon as possible but he knows now is not safe. He knows they must be stalking outside, keeping an eye out to make sure he doesn’t warn anyone.

That’s when he sees it, a deep purple enchanted amulet secured to a similarly enchanted golden cord. He doesn’t hesitate in grabbing it, whispering a plea in hopes Aphmau still has hers. And she does. He’s able to tell her all about how Zane is here and scheming something and how he’s trying to use him to get it but that means they can stop him before anything has the chance to start, plan an ambush or something of the like.

Except Aphmau sees opportunity. She sees a way into Zane’s plans, into his resources, it’s a perfect opportunity. Not only to stop his plans, but to learn what they are. Maybe even use them for good! Garroth just has to go along with it.

Of course he’s hesitant, the last thing he ever wants to put Phoenix Drop in danger, but he trusts Aphmau and sees her point. He agrees, even if every bone in his body is telling him it’s too dangerous and not worth it.

This continues on. Garroth feeds her the little information he gets, and she tells him to keep playing it up even as he voices his concerns more and more. She’s confident it will work out, that they’re so close to being one step ahead of Zane. But Garroth can see things are only getting more risky, but he places his instincts to the side.

And it keeps spiraling. It reaches the point where Garroth needs the artifact Laurance is protecting, and that is where Garroth tries to draw the line but it’s too late. The only way they’re getting Zane into another vulnerable position is with that amulet in Garroth’s hand, and there’s no time. No time to fill Laurance in, no time for Aphmau to tell him to pass it off to Garroth, and they both know that. Aphmau’s orders him to keep going, to do what he needs to get that amulet and that Laurance will understand later, and despite the pit in his stomach he doesn’t defy the order. He knocks out his best friend.

And as Garroth thinks that must be rock bottom for this whole messy scheme, it only gets worse. He is stuck following Zane’s orders, attacking his friends, until Aphmau says enough is enough. Except he realizes as he is sworn into the Jury of Nine, filled with power that makes him sick, that she’s not going to. She will not relieve him of this messed up situation until she gets the information she wants that he knows Zane won’t give until he’s already done it. And so, he finally defies.

Of course, it’s too late. It’s a blur of confusion, there’s a portal, they’re in some towering marble cathedral, and only as Irene’s relic enters her, as Zane grows into a monsterous rage fueled magical form, does Aphmau realize she took this too far.

Laurance and Garroth are struggling to hold off Zane, there’s a crack that at least signals Katelyn has dealt with Lillian, and then a portal opens. For a brief second, everything is gonna be ok! A familiar voice with an unfamiliar look is urging them to hurry, abs thwy will.

The issue is, Zane tries to as well. That’s when Garroth taps into the magic he hates, because he sees Aphmau trying to return to the fight and he cannot let that happen. He doesn’t care if it’s her fault because it’s his too, he should’ve put his foot down long before it got so far and by Irene he will not fail to keep her safe because of it. He tells Laurance to get her out, and there is a moment where Aphmau thinks Laurance won’t listen and leave him here to die because that is what doing this will do, but he does. He forces Aphmau through the portal with him, and then it closes.

There are a few quiet seconds, where they catch their breath and do headcounts, but no matter how many times they do it they are one short. And Laurance, confused and hurt but above that he is angry, he looks to Aphmau and in a unsteady voice bubbling with emotion, he asks “What was that?!”

And all she can say is “It wasn’t supposed to go that far.”

And now Aphmau’s determination to bring Garroth home isn’t only fueled by the fact it’s Garroth, but now by guilt. Guilt about how she pushed and pushed and pushed against his warnings, which previously had worked out in her favor before. It’s what got her to be a lord! But this time, this time it didn’t and the price was steeper than she could’ve ever imagined.

Of course my changes don’t stop there, because I also believe it should be Laurance who sacrifices himself to save Garroth, but expanding into that is moreso about my distaste for Aaron and less about the betrayal arc so I’ll save it for another day

How it pertains to the betrayal arc is giving Garroth grief and guilt, having him feel the weight of the sacrifice as much as Aphmau and doubt he was even worth it. Also since I believe Garroth loses his sword in the Irene Dimension abs I think Laurance still has his (and if he doesn’t he will in this AU), imagine Garroth using Laurance’s sword.

It also expands on Laurance’s motivations, about how the last thing he wants is to fall to his shadow knight side and as we see in season two, he gets dangerously close. Him making the choice is him deciding to die a hero instead of living long enough to become a villain, or more specifically someone who would hurt Aphmau or someone she might have to kill.

And I think that’s everything! I hope anyone reading this enjoyed!

[iinryer]

Since your Lone Star answers were so great and IF you feel like it….what would you want to see for the original recipe characters?

OH BOY my initial reaction was that i might have less to say about 911 prime bc they actually get real character arcs (🙃)… but that was not the case lol

eddie is also easy i want him to have his arc about being a deeply closeted man figuring it out. comphet to having some more problems and issues to gay realization. eddie and marjan are holding hands in my minds eye. you were written gay you just don’t know it yet

hen i want to have more captain’s seat turmoil! i liked what they set up in 702 but it was resolved so quickly we didn’t really get a chance to explore it. maybe bobby is a little hurt after the cruise so we get a bit more captain hen? it’s an interesting dynamic for her, she wears it well but clearly doesn’t feel Completely at ease with it (“don’t call me cap”) so I’d love to see some breathing room around it to let it play out

ravi i swear to god if they don’t give me a ravi begins im going to do something drastic

chim I’d love to see have some conflict on the job! not with the crew but with a call or something. we see him having relationship insecurities etc bc of calls he goes on, but i feel like we haven’t seen him challenged by an emergency During that emergency in a while… idk what that means specifically but he’s an EXTREMELY competent paramedic and firefighter, i want to see what it would take to make him waver! also more girldad chim :)

karen. more of her. more karen always and forever. I don’t even care in what capacity i just want to see her on my tv

maddie I want to see get to be silly!! i want to see all of that joy and happiness she EARNED by clawing her way through her own mind, and the rest of her life. I’d love to see her get to tell off her parents (a la “love me anyway”), I’d really like to see them unforgiven. i want her and Eddie to hang out also

buck breakdown era WHEN! i know the end of last season got a little ??? which i expect is because they didn’t know if they were getting picked back up again and wanted it to feel like A Conclusion just in case, but i want buck to have a full breakdown. death and spare parts and donor not dad and in case of emergency break glass guardian. i want him to finally lose it for real. he had his shut down era now i want him to boil over :) also more uncle buck and uncle albert!!

athena i want you to have to question your morals and beliefs and I want you to get to be less of a cop gjfhdhf her begins episode makes me so mad I think she should get another one where her oaths are confronted and she gets to let herself choose humanity over law

bobby… oh boy what could we wish for. i think I want them to bring back around the blood thing, where he got a reason to keep living (and maybe parallel it with buck or smth? give him a place to land?). even if it’s not a whole storyline i want to hear where he’s at about that now!! it’s been a long time since we’ve seen him like that, i want to see him revisit what that means after everything he’s built for himself here. I would also love to see buck and bobby acknowledge the father/son dynamic to each other! buck’s said it to TK and bobby said it to may and they’ve mentioned it in a dismissive way during a half reprimand but i want them to acknowledge it for real <3 maybe get a bobby defending buck and/or maddie to the buckley parents

misc: i STILL DESPERATELY want an all-kids episode where may has everyone’s kids at her apartment while the parents are at some kind of first responders and their spouses event and they have to scooby doo a mystery by themselves, please for the love of god i need them to talk about the will again before i explode, i want eddie and karen to hang out and be best friends, more josh and maddie, hen and buck should get drunk again, i would actually also love to see more of lucy!

[housesitting & snowed in send enrichment to my enclosure]

[obm-avenquire]

extra luke thoughts i couldnt be bothered to edit

my tone in more edited writing often ends up sounding a bit. melodramatic and over-think-y, but i dont really perceive luke as a sad character! he's someone incredibly resolute, and even if his surface level opinions seem harsh, they're brittle and easy to break through. i think luke worries too much about being fragile, when that fragility can just as easy become /flexibility/. i believe this flexibility built on his foundation of genuinely strong morals will make him - already makes him - incredibly strong as a person. 

i do think there's some inevitable heartbreak that will happen - luke idolises too much for that to not be the case - but i don't think there is much that is unsurvivable for him. part of why i'm so irritated by a lot of the excessive infantalisation and chihuahua jokes about him is that like...he is the character who has received the most development in obey me. like he has changed a LOT throughout the story, and while i won't spoil anything there is a clear arc, and even WITHOUT that luke is already incredibly up there so far as strength in character (as a person, not as a literal character). the jokes just feel...so misplaced, i guess? like he's not some over eager annoying brat that wants everyone out of the way so he can take over, he's genuinely eager to learn, and his hostility to demons is completely understandable and the reasons he has for fearing them (being evil) is literally something a lot of the demon cast take pride in for a good chunk of the plot. 

admittedly i think a lot of my frustration also comes from chihuahuas being notoriously mistreated and boiled down to accessories (hence why theyre often aggressive and yappy. theyre small, their needs arent being met and they cant defend themselves any other way) because i sure do lack the parental/older sibling urges needed to feel like...protective or genuinely attached to luke in any sorta way. he's like bottom 3 on my list of charas to care about and thats not out of dislike, just out of apathy. but i also cant stand for slander and hypothetical injustice (/lh) so im gonna complain!!!

ANYWAYS if nothing else i think. lukes belief is important. like he really trusts that people like micheal and simeon are good, and will be good and keep that strength. by that same virtue he can have a similar confidence in himself, not arrogance, mind, just. yeah. hes good. he knows that!! he needs to learn to be better since the racism isnt ideal but yknow-

speaking of learning hes REAL determined like!! hes genuinely happy to keep working and trying. he doesnt want to be coddled because he genuinely wants to know and be better.  like. he DOES think like a child. he wants to grow up so fast, but he has so much time, so much more than most, but if he has all the time in the world then why not NOW? (course, waiting is easy for patience, simeon, someone who hasnt let time move for himself in centuries)

i think theres a sorta. inevitable conflict with simeon and luke coming whether solmare mentions it or not but like. dynamic wise. because simeon refuses to see change in others unless they dont let it be ignored, he needs everyone to be within his perception of them and the role hes assigned them in his mind. but luke is someone who WILL change, and is changing, and simeon can only infantalise him for so long before it genuinely becomes a problem, especially when it’s balanced/offset by the way that him and luke very much begin playing the roles of a struggling parent and over eager child. while luke is strong, and good, and genuinely skilled, he also needs time to be none of those things. everyone does, but it’s especially important for child development, even if said child is over a thousand years old. 

its something that id argue does give us way more insight to the celestial realm than a lot of other vague exposition we’ve gotten. while luke is considered especially talented, there never seems to be any indication that he is odd for an angel, adult or child. that combined with how vacant the celestial realm feels, how emotionally detached it is, gives some interesting extra details to the basis of the celestial realm not being holy and happy in the way it’s implied/perceived to be. which isnt a new revelation by any stretch, but...context, yknow? extra supporting evidence. idk! these are my rambles that i am putting out many of which are years old and some that i thought about literally yesterday!!!

[super-paper]

Any thoughts on the leaks from the new chapter??

I really enjoyed the dialogue between izuku and tomura this chapter, especially that unhinged look on izukus face as he says he'll rip the damn rug/cover with his own hands if he has too. And that last panel between izuku and toshi, the "you can be a hero!" scene but now saying he needs to let go of ofa...wow, cinema.

Overall i liked it, but I feel a bit aprehensive about certain things, especially after seeing opinions on twt. I knew izuku would most likely give up ofa at the end of the series, so im sad about it (dont get me wrong, izuku giving up ofa of all things so he can save tomura is beautiful,,,,, but im just a big fan of izuku with ofa and everything that it means 😭 i want him to keep his haunted quirk and ofamily). But then on twt everyone was so hyped up and talking about izuku getting New Order.. which left me confused not gonna lie, bc other than Star pointing at something, I didn't get any idea of Izuku getting her quirk. But again, my reading analysis could be in the mud lol. Some say Aura Might is gonna give up his place for Star in ofa, or afo is joining the fight with his trump card, others say the quirk will spread to class 1A, so when izuku opens the vault door, the vestiges of 1A will help him. I have no idea, anything is possible i suppose. As for izuku, while I think at some point he will give up ofa, I think he might hesitate at first (??) Like toshinori, he connects his worth to having a quirk, so emotionally speaking it won't be easy for him in my opinion. But let's see!

I'm gonna be a bit mean for a second and say that "Izuku getting New Order" and "Class 1A shares OFA (Monoma Neito found dead in Miami)" are by far my least favorite fandom theories lmfao.

Anyway, you're definitely right on the money about this also being a battle Re: Izuku's own self perception and who he is without OFA. Izuku and Tomura's biggest hang ups boil down to how they both perceive themselves and how that perception was essentially forced onto both of them by other people until they both internalized it as "fundamentally true" (Izuku believing that he's worthless/useless, Tomura believing that he's evil and that he's having a ~peachy-keen~ time rn). Chapter 412/413 have set the stage for this conflict to finally come to the forefront, so I'm excited to see where things go.

As for Star, people who believe her quirk is "the will of heroism that's gonna get passed on to Izuku" are missing the point of her character, I feel. Star's quirk was cool, but it was also another shining example of a quirk "not being what makes someone an actual hero"-- Star used her quirk to do some pretty fucked up things during her fight with TomurAFO, and ultimately, the moments where she chose NOT to use her quirk and chose NOT to prioritize "the greater good" over everything else are actually her defining heroic moments:

(^ the implication of this scene being that her vestige stopped short of obliterating AFO because she found Tenko hidden inside him)

Izuku has already inherited "the will of heroism" as Star defines it. The will of heroism is more or less "noticing that someone needs help and choosing to act on it." There is beauty in simplicity and trying to work "Izuku obtaining new order" into the mix takes the focus away from that, I feel. Star notices Tenko needs help, and instead of using the last embers of her existence to extinguish AFO, she instead uses those embers to reach out to Toshi and point out where Tenko has hidden himself. Toshi alerts Kudou, who then decides to place his faith in Izuku's ability to save Tomura's heart, and so on and so forth.

(A certain someone else also inherited that will, but he's just being a massive fucking tsundere about it. Can't wait for someone to finally call his ass out when the inevitable mind-meld happens.) (/hj)

Anyway, I feel u regarding the OFA vestiges-- but at the same time, I think it's good that they're finally being allowed some autonomy in how they choose to go out considering how they lived/died in the first place. I still maintain that we're gonna end up whittling OFA down to Yoichi, Toshi, and Nana bc they're the three most deeply connected to Tomura (in addition to having the most unresolved feelings and lingering regrets centered around Tomura/AFO). I also think it's pretty neat how "One for All" is now coming apart at the seams because they're starting to work together for "the one" rather than the "all," if you catch my drift ;)

[deathsbestgirl]

Mulder can and has been an asshole to Scully (and to other people), he can also be nice, compassionate, empathetic, etc..people contain multitudes and so do well-written characters. Should his asshole-ish moments define him? No but that doesn't mean they don't exist

lolllll just found this again and i'm gonna answer it now.

people really over play what an "asshole" he is. the shit i see sometimes is ridiculous. i don't think he's an asshole just because he doesn't get everything perfectly right all the time?? no one talks like this about scully, and if they did, the entire fandom would be up in arms.

to me, yes there's nuance. mulder (and scully) are many, many things. to me they are perfect because they are "flawed." they are so human and it's beautiful.

i'm not here to call my favorite characters assholes. i'm not here to talk about these human things as flaws, to the point these small things are unforgivable. to me, that lacks empathy. it's like writing them off. to me, it's reductive. you're allowed to view it differently, but this is what i think & feel. i said to my friends the other day: i am so uninterested as framing all of these *human* things as flaws, these things they do that served them at some point, or are just a core part of them. not everything is a flaw just because it doesn't "work" all the time.

mulder isn't an asshole because he made a few mistakes, because he's sometimes blinded by his passion, or because he doesn't perfectly consider every other person on the planet. his compassion & empathy for others surpasses all of that, to me. he is constantly putting scully and anyone above himself, above the truth. because what matters to him is people, humanity. love, believing in innate goodness inside of every person.

i struggle a lot to put this into words, that's just the tip of the iceberg and the best i have for the moment. what i'm interested in is what it says about their characters, why they say/do the things they do, to look at how they deal with these situations, what it means for their relationship. i've not written thousands and thousands of words on mulder & scully & the x files for it to boil down to "mulder is an asshole."

because the thing is, this is just how being human works. this is how life & experience & trauma affect us. there's no empathy for victims. there's no room for their experiences. acting like mulder is so horrible to scully is insane to me, because that is not what we're shown. they so rarely hold anything against each other because they understand who the other is at their core. they respect what the other has been through, and how it affects them — even when it conflicts with their feelings, reactions, desires, hopes etc etc. like i was saying yesterday, it only matters in the way that they are patient & kind with each other — and when they're not successful, they still stay and they wait it out until they figure it out & do better.

i literally don't even interact with these things here or on twitter, for a reason — so there's no reason to bring it to my inbox just because i got annoyed one day. you can talk to the people who are saying it, who you agree with.

often i like different perspectives, i value them. but this is not one of those cases. a rarity for me.

[willel]

I feel like the series centered Joyce's character around Hopper way too much in these last two seasons, and I've seen other fans also complaining about it. And honestly, I have to say that I tend to agree. Hopper's got himself a whole Russia prison arc, and while Joyce helped him, she was mostly just there to help Hopper's arc take place. I just feel like her character (and Winona's acting) is being wasted. And it honestly is a shame because Winona/Joyce is truly the reason why the serie got so popular in the first place, in S1-S2 her character focus was really great and I wish they did not change it in favor of Hopper's storyline.

It's a complicated problem. I don't think Hopper himself is the problem. Like, we did need a little more substance to him, especially after the mess of season 3. Yes, I'm someone who disliked the season 3 plot with him, it felt like a huge waste of time. (the entirety of season 3 did)

I think the bigger issue is while Joyce and Hopper's time was quite balanced in season 1 and 2, season 3 just completely tipped the scales in Hopper's direction. We started getting less and less of what Joyce was thinking and doing outside of Hopper's shenanigans.

But Joyce is not the only character who suffers from this. Jonathan arguably had it even worse. As each season progressed, more and more of his character was glazed over in favor of Nancy. This is not a knock against Nancy obviously, but you can see how the writers just... can't balance these relationships for some reason.

I'd argue Will also suffers from this. The boy has a lot going on but for two seasons now, it's being boiled down to his conflict with Mike. It's a great way to show how isolated and distant he's become but at the same time, he's got SO much more going on why does it always boil down to their romantic interests?

Mike has this two fold. I've written posts about it before but I have no idea what the hell the writers are doing with his character. I've read a few analysis on what the Duffers are doing with his writing, but it always boils down to, "This is because of El. This is because of Will." I just don't get it.

I know they aren't perfect, but I honestly feel like so far, Lucas and Max has made it out the most unscathed from the writers subpar balancing of character dynamics. They both have their own bad shit going on that culminated into something epic and beautiful. Arguably Lucas still gets a little lost in Max's story line, but I mean... I get WHY. Lucas wasn't about to be mangled beyond recognition with his soul sucked out so I get it.

All that said, I have .01% confidence the writers will fix this for season 5. It could happen. But I'm not getting my hopes up. This issue in the writing runs very deep and affects multiple characters and dynamics. I've been craving Byers platonic content for years, whether it's Joyce focused, Jonathan focused, Will focused, or El focused and my hopes have been dashed time and time again.

I got crumbs in season 4 and that's all I've had to tide me over for a long time. I'm just... so ready for everyone to look at the Byers and be like "Oh shit you guys are f*cked up huh? Lemmie help you." and give them some much needed attention.

I also understand I am completely and utterly biased so nothing I've said is an objective fact. I mean, other than how lopsided the writing has been, that is pretty objective.