#i can 100% get how they both got to the destruction of their relationship but the stuff with the press is kind of cruel to me. unchill.

[moonshynecybin]

In the beef between Valentino and Marc I can't take a position. This will be a little long but allow me to articulate my thoughts.

I understand where both of them were coming from and both points of view. Why?

I think that to better understand Vale it is important to keep some factors in mind: 2015 was the first year after the disastrous two years at Ducati where he had a chance to compete for the world championship, in 2011 one of his closest friends - not exactly known for being the most cautious driver on the track - died, and finally he was getting old. It's also important to keep some things in mind about Marc: he saw his idol complimenting him since before he took part in MotoGP, he was very young and super thirsty for victory. That said, things started to go downhill at Assen in 2015, Rossi made a Rossi old style overtake and Marc got a taste of it which must have been a bit bitter, so bitter that he called himself “the moral winner of the race", for Valentino, however, that moment was a factor that certainly gave him extra determination, that made him remember who he was before slowly losing himself. Jorge Lorenzo also said it in one of his interviews: “The last straw was in Assen, when they touched each other on the chicane. They were blaming each other" explained Lorenzo, according to him and also according to Valentino that was the moment in which Marc decided to make Rossi lose the world championship. Then when they raced in Australia and Rossi found himself just 11 points behind Lorenzo, he was convinced that Marc had favored Lorenzo at Philip Island, saying that every time he passed Marc then Marc overtook him but only to slow down and give the possibility of letting Jorge pass and putting distance between the two. The fact that Marquez didn't really enjoy Assen was certainly a theory that went in Vale’s favor. In a tense situation like that you tend to overanalyze everything and therefore I understand how easy it was to find malice in Marc's gestures. At that point for Vale it was as if he was fighting for the world championship against two people instead of one, which explains what happened in Sepang which was the culmination of something that had started well before. Marc was in Valentino's way the whole time and so I'm sure Rossi kicked him (even if he says he didn’t) having lost his patience. Imagine driving to try to win your tenth title against your teammate who is faster than you and having a this new talent standing in your way out of annoyance. Vale at this point wasn't racing to be competitive, he was racing to win THE title and instead suffered a defeat both on a sporting and personal level.

At the same time we must also try to understand Marc's point of view: I'm pretty sure that before Sepang Marquez didn't actually intend to sabotage Lorenzo, he certainly didn't like what had happened in Argentina and Assen. Up until that point Valentino hadn't really had the chance to fight him to his full potential, so seeing how Vale was beating him and acting lowkey cocky about it afterwards must not have been very pleasant for Marc. Sepang was the moment in which he decided to repay with the same coin, I don't think that during the race in Sepang Marc was specifically trying to sabotage Valentino, I think it was more of an almost involuntary reaction due to the precedents, but after Sepang without a doubt anyone else would have preferred to see anyone win the world championship other than Valentino. So for Valentino what Marc did was just a child's whim and for Marquez what Rossi did was the reaction of an insecure adult man. I have no difficulty understanding Marc's resentment, if you can call it that, towards Vale, especially knowing how competitive Marc is, but at the same time I also understand how all of Marquez's actions were easily misunderstood by Valentino, especially given the situation in where he was.

for sure man!! 90% of what i do on this blog is try and get at the root of where they’re both coming from during 2015 and this is a lot of it and very well articulated!! and you don’t have to like. pick a side and have a hard line stance here it’s sports who gaf… i just love marc he’s my baby girl…

however. i WILL say. the past where i start slipping into beating vale with hammers territory is the press conference before the race and then the public backlash afterwards. marc was an adult for sure, but it’s GLARINGLY obvious to me that vale had a LOT more control in this situation in terms of the media, and he leveraged that against marc deliberately in ways that kinda sucked! marc got his house broken into! marc got death threats! marc thought, okay maybe he’s not my friend anymore but he’s still my hero, and then vale BLINDSIDED him publicly :( i know vale was going through it and thought marc was sabotaging him but. marc still rates those few weeks as some of the worst of his life. especially considering how young he was at the time. so i still love vale but i’m hashtag team marc here… like he collected his bikes!!! while they were racing!!!! he loved him. and vale REALLY hurt him.

[sweetbunpura]

Dangit. All the Returned!Yuu posts have given me an angst/fluff idea. Yuu is Leona’s baby sibling and was the only one he felt close to. Yuu wanted Leona above everyone else as a baby and for little Leona, that was enough. Leona was there when whatever creature/event took Yuu, it’s how he got his scar. It’s the thing that fully broke the prince.

When Yuu arrives during the sorting ceremony Leona smells them and some hope pulls at his heartstrings. But Yuu doesn’t have any of their original beastman traits, so Leona talks himself out of it. Slowly Yuu gains magic and starts acting more like other beastmen (stronger senses, little more predatory, lil growls). But nothing solid until Leona’s overblot. They get to see Leona’s past like in the game, but now with memories of Leona taking care of baby Yuu. Yuu recognizes a baby blanket/necklace/charm Leona had gifted them and calls it out. Before Leona can react they return to the real world. Now Yuu has ears and a tail. Leona wakes up and just stares in disbelief, wondering if it’s real.

They bond and grow closer so fast. Leona finally has his person back, and Yuu feels like they are finally whole but feel like it’s their fault Leona was so hurt. Leona wants to go back home even less (wants to hog Yuu all to himself) before Cheka appears. Yuu could help Leona communicate his ideas more to Falena and get him to show off more. Yuu 100% does not like the bird man and jabs back every time he puts Leona down. Cheka grows quickly on Yuu, but they also feel jealous of the cub cause it’s obvious Leona loves him (Yuu fighting with feeling replaced and not being able to have a childhood with their family). Yuu also has a close relationship with Ruggie and learns about the slums and other parts/people of the Sunset Savanna. Yuu may or may not get Leona to help more with the slums (also helping keep Falena from stopping them) and Leona gains the people’s favor and becomes the first prince of the lesser people.

Uh! I could just go on! Feels like it could have so much potential.

Leona with that hopeful flare in his chest, but not a scent of a lion on Yuu anywhere. Anytime he tries to smell Yuu for anything, the scent just smells burnt. He gets angry, angrier than he normally gets, and tries to ignore the idea that Yuu could be his lost baby sibling. His first glimpse that it might actually be Yuu is when he attacks Yuu and Grim in the garden after stepping on his tail, Yuu blocks it out of pure instinct.

Leona sees Yuu's pupils turn into slits before they round out and return to normal. He leaves immediately afterwards, too hurt by what just happened. After Leona's overblot, he wakes up to a lot of chatter, there's something heavy on his chest and he looks down. Yuu's looking at him with their ears flatten and tears in their eyes. They saw all of what happened and They're so sorry for what he went through after Yuu went missing.

His ndugu is finally back and Leona breaks down and holds onto Yuu. Finally, his will to live has returned to him. Yuu and Leona try to get them transferred to Savanaclaw, with some bribery. Leona's telling Yuu about everything they missed and everything that's happening.

Under Leona's help, Yuu managed to unlock their Unique Magic: Lion's Fury. While Leona's turns things into sand, Yuu's causes a fiery blaze.

Leona: Yours is just like mine. Guess we both just cause destruction-

Yuu: Not exactly. Mine can burn stuff, yeah, but it also allows for new growth.

Leona: Which mine doesn-

Yuu: What if someplace gets invaded by an invasive plant? Your sand could kill that plant in no time at all, saving vegetation and the likes.

Leona: ...I'll be honest, I never thought of that before.

Yuu being Leona's baby sibling is adorable, but not look at all the books past this moment. Leona would be pissed at Azul and would easily agree to Yuu's plan without having to force his hand. Scarabia's chapter would cause Leona to be called and get involved in it. Ignihyde now has Yuu going for both Grim AND Leona.

[neohoestechnology]

I absolutely love your moodboards and headcanons! Could you do one for Draco? 🥰🫶🏻

Thank you so much!!💗💗

I'm SO sorry it took so long (mainly because I saw the request yesterday 🫠 my university is KILLING me sorry😭). This is LONG so bare with me + my English is rusty af so I apologize for any grammar mistake

☆ Draco Malfoy Headcanons & Moodboard ☆

Okay, so, a quick disclaimer here before we get started -----> now, I really believe that Draco is one the most tricky character to "get right" (speaking of his behavior and thoughts), so I just wanted to say that this is my personal interpretation and could be 100% different from yours so please be kind🥹

Oh boy, it took A LOT for you two to finally get together; a lot of time, a lot of effort, a lot of sacrifice and arguments between both of you and your friends. Just a lot.

I think we can all agree that our beloved boy couldn't care less about girls before during his first years at Hogwarts. Some things changed as time passed by, a lot, actually. He changed in the first place, becoming old enough to finally understand his family affairs and secrets. He HAD to change. He wanted to gain strength to be able to carry this new burden on his shoulders and to show his worth, but it all developed into a self-destruction, never-ending cycle that made him feel left out and alone. You, on the other hand, always seemed to have all figured out, and always looked so calm and caring. Truth is that you also felt like you were missing something, like you didn't really fit in for some reason.

It's not really clear how or why you two got together, but somehow, it happened.

Your caring nature always irritated him. How naive, he thought, but that time you found him crying on the bathroom floor, all alone and desperate, he thanked God that you came.

From this episode, bit by bit, your relationship started to form.

You two are VERY good at keeping it private, very discreet.

At the end of the day, you just have one another to stay with, and you are more than okay with that. People started to get suspicious, though; your friends started to notice your frequent excuses and distance, wondering WHAT ON EARTH they did to make you feel this way. Little did they know about your secret midnight meetings with a boy whose reputation speaks for himself.

Even though you two never show up together as a couple, you actually never feel lonely during the day. It's all about those secretly exchanged gazes, the typical side eye thing from across the room when someone is talking bs, him softly brushing his hand against yours when you are leaving a class and no one can see.

BUT, when you two are ACTUALLY ALONE... Soft touches, hushed words and pleading eyes.

You like to share silence together, there's nothing left to share after your first bathroom rendezvous.

I feel like he smells like wood, like deep forest or something like that, but his smell is kinda comforting (my scent-describing skills are nonexistent sorry😭)

I mean, you can feel his presence even without seeing him.

He has this thing about his eyes, like the way he looks at you. Everyone who played close attention to his gaze could tell it was love and admiration.

LOVES when you run your hands through his hair (sometimes you could swear to hear him purring).

Likes to make flowers appear between the pages of your potion book while taking classes, only to give you a subtle smile and turn his head to read his instructions immediately after.

Your first time together was during the Christmas break, when there were just the two of you in the entire Slytherin dorm. It was the first time he said "I love you" (it's fucking cheesy but I love it eheh). Everything was so slow and sensual. Lips, hands and kisses everywhere. Slow thrusts with your hands intertwined and his head buried in your neck.

His hands are always so cold that he has to keep them in your sleeves (he loves it though)

Likes watching you sleep (not in a creepy way don't worry lol). He'd brush your hair out of your face and caress your face softly.

Would fidget a lot while talking to you, mostly to distract himself from the fact that he gets weak in the knees every time he looks in your eyes, even after all this time. He'd 100% play with your hands or hair just because.

You'd literally yank his hand from his mouth every time he bit his nails or picked at his skin.

He's the type of person who would do hot things without even realizing. He would undo a few buttons of your shirt just to button them up right away just because he thought they looked weirdly asymmetrical, causing you to blush and stutter. And this mf would just tell you to go on and finish what you were saying (okay, maybe he does this on purpose).

You know that the way he behaves around others is just a facade. He is so broken and hopeless that he HAS to act that way around them, but when he's with you, his safe place, he feels so grateful that he gets to get loose from his worries and reveal the real person he is that it scares him how attracted he is to you, how primal his need for you is.

When your friends found out that you were dating Mr Bully Malfoy, they just couldn't wrap their heads around the reason that spurred you to do so. Let's just say that you are not friends anymore. You tried to explain yourself countless times, but they didn't seem to understand nor were willing to do so, and you thought you were better off without them anyway.

He got the same treatment from his friends ngl. It was better this way, honestly. In the end, you just needed one another to feel complete and fulfilled.

He thought about running away with you almost once a day during his 6th year. He knew what, better say who, was coming. He was sure that the death eaters wouldn't spare anyone, maybe himself included. When he first told you, he was sure you would laugh it off and call him paranoid, but instead, you listened to him carefully and decided to plan your escape with him without even flinching.

It was a gloomy night in the middle of the winter. Rushed footsteps were echoing in a corridor, then in the hall, down the stairs. Restless eyes were wandering around the path, occasionally looking back to check no one was tagging after them. A subtle creaking of a rusty gate opening was heard, and then nothing else.

OKAY SO I got WAY MORE carried away than I should and I know this is longer and more serious and dark than what I usually do but I tried my best. Actually, I'm not 100% satisfied with how it turned out and maybe the person who asked it expected something different and more light-hearted, and I apologize for it. Again, writing this character is difficult af.

I do not possess any of these photos, all credits go to the owners.

Love you, B. 🌱🤍

[allastoredeer]

My favorite appleradio dynamic is prejudiced Lucifer x sassy bitch Alastor.

In Dad Beat Dad, Alastor may have started the passive aggressive jabs, but Lucifer escalated to death threats (Alastor's head on a plate) with shocking ease.

Like: "Okay, Luci. You're at a 10 and I need you at a 2." Man literally needed less than half a reason to start that Loony Tunes bout.

I like to imagine it's a side effect of his need to control everything. Like he was fighting both sides of the argument rapid fire in his head and was then meeting the escalation of an imaginary Alastor.

Sort of like how he answered for/with Charlie when she thanked him mid-song for offering his help free of charge.

It's the type of overreaction that someone that aggravates others for fun would love! Enter Alastor, Certified Public Troll with only a passing acquaintance with self-preservation.

New Mission: How far can I go before this could be considered self-destructive tendencies?

Alastor unintentionally disproving Lucifer's "All sinners are the same" philosophy by just being the worst... and then Lucifer has to face the horrifying realization that he likes the bastard. XD

Lucifer: All sinners are bad.

Alastor: *being the absolute worst person Lucifer's ever met*

Lucifer: You know what, maybe other Sinners aren't that bad actually

But yes, prejudiced!Lucifer x sassybitch!Alastor is my bread and butter. It's so good. They clash so much and that's what makes it fun.

And literally, Alastor may have been passive aggressive first, but the way Lucifer ramped it up was impressive. I made a post before going over the scene when they officially met, and, like, Alastor's comments overall? Not very antagonist. Or, the words at least. Passive aggressive, sure, but the most outright antagonistisitc he got was when he called Lucifer short.

Whereas it was immediate dislike on Lucifer's side.

All Alastor said was (both in response to Lucifer's reaction to his bar and the very first time they spoke to each other): Just some of the renovations we had done. Adds a bit of color! Don't you think?

And THIS was Lucifer's face ⬇️

"And you are?"

Like, Alastor didn't even sound that passive aggressive. The most I could give him was the smirky little face he gave Lucifer

(god, why is Alastor so pretty right here though??? maybe that's why Lucifer was so mad. Boi turn down those bedroom eyes, Luci can't think. That was Alastor's first plan. He was going to seduce the king of Hell, but then Lucifer insulted his bar, and he decided they were throwing hands instead).

I'm of the opinion that Lucifer was antagonist towards Alastor first and Alastor was just matching his energy (albeit very readily LMAO his eye was twitching the moment Lucifer walked through the door).

Also, yes, thank you for bringing up Lucifer answering for Charlie, cuz I think that's something a lot of people overlook.

Well, maybe he didn't answer for her exactly. I imagine it's just what he wanted her to say, but still, look at Charlie's face ⬇️

She doesn't look very comfortable.

In fact, she looked awkward, annoyed, frustrated, and uncomfortable throughout most of her interactions with Lucifer in this episode.

(there's a lot more but tumblr has a picture limit)

Wheras, this is what she was like with Alastor:

like

DAMN

Okay Luci, I see why your insecurities were firing on all cylinders.

We all know that Alastor wasn't genuine about being a father figure to her, but there has to be something to his and Charlie's relationship if she's looking at him like this. Especially in front of Lucifer.

I'm getting off topic though, I could do a WHOLE other post on my thoughts about Charlie's relationship with Lucifer VS Charlie's relationship with Alastor, and why it is the way that it is.

Anyway, yes, I agree with you. Lucifer 100% escalated the fight between him and Alastor. He went from zero to sixty with no hesitation, and he wasn't even AWARE of Alastor and Charlie's relationship yet. Essentially, the way I see it, he was acting that way toward Alastor for the sole reason that he's a Sinner which is the definition of prejudice.

And I want to clarify to anyone reading this, this isn't me hating on Lucifer. I love Lucifer. I love his character and his flaws and his insecurities. I love the way it all affects how he interacts with other characters, both negatively and positively. This is what makes him so interesting to me.

He holds so much capacity for love while also being so heavily flawed and it is 😙👌 delicious.

[jakowskis]

have i talked about my headcanon that jack and owen hooked up a few times pre-s1. i think it makes a lot of sense considering they're both characters who default to the intimacy of sex as a coping mechanism. owen would've been hurting and seeking comfort after katie and jack likes to feel like he's helping people. i don't think it's a reach to say that at some point early on owen might've been trying to drink himself to death, jack showed up to take him home, and owen impulsively (and angrily) tried to kiss him, like that could 100% be canon to me. and they very possibly could've slept together, too, depending on how you think jack would handle that situation. i always felt there was a palpable sexual tension between them in the early eps of s1, and you can read that as torchwood's token flirtatiousness and the way every single combination of characters has a 'will they wont they' going on, but considering they're the two most likely to actually act on attraction, maybe they already had smth by the time we first meet them. and idc how this fandom views them, to me they're absolutely mutually physically attracted to each other. like, come on. it's torchwood.

more than anything though i think it'd explain owen's weird preoccupation with ianto + his relationship with jack, and the way he's, of all things, competitive with him in particular - in a way he's not with gwen, who also gets a lot of jack's attention. if jack and owen hooked up once or twice but it was very casual / probably even kind of combative, but then jack chose to have a romantic relationship with ianto, i could very easily imagine some part of owen, regardless of whether or not he actually wants jack in any capacity, feeling like "why would he want him over me? what the hell's the teaboy got that i don't??" we already know owen feels... insufficient, as far as his importance in jack's life (i think 'i found my doctor.' 'did he fix you?' says sooo much), i think he badly craves being important within torchwood, obviously, but just as equally, being important and useful to jack - and considering how sex kind of influences everything with owen, i could just very easily see that manifesting in a brief no-strings situation. again, very early on; jack acting on attraction to his angry new employee (his substitute doctor,) who's so very desperate to be saved and given new purpose by him (and isn't that good for jack's ego, too), who hates him and wants desperately to please him in equal measure, and owen acting on a desire to please his new boss, to try to ensure this job's a sure thing even though he's been acting out and not showing up at times, and what a fine way to self-destruct, to self-punish, too, sleeping with the man he blames for his fiancee's death and who's surely gonna lead him to his death.

i just. hrgh. i love how much fucked up shit you can do with jack/owen, like there's so many dark miserable things to play with there. i love it

[wlwanakin]

I gotta get ur pov on Anakin and Padme after the war(no empire situation) Some ppl seem to think they wouldn’t work out, like divorce, but I don’t agree with that bc Padme didn’t even want to leave him at Mustafar and the only thing that kept her from him was dying and there’s no way Anakin hasnt given her his whole heart to never take back. I think a lot of ppls reasoning is based on wondering how Anakin would handle his mental state(these ppl then ignore Padmes traumas) and how much self sabotage he might do, with a smattering of them never truly getting to be a couple since it had to be so secretive. And then I’ve seen ppl say he wouldn’t be a good dad bc he’s too possessive to a degree of destruction. I dont know tho bc what we got to see was Anakin at his worst and having a mental breakdown. I think abt how he was as a child with his mother and I wonder if he had room to breath and didnt have to lie anymore if he would reconnect to the best of Shmi and what she taught him. Not being groomed by a sith lord anymore would also be a pretty big game changer

this is one of my favorite things to think about!! i don’t think there’s any universe where they aren’t together til the end honestly, though they’ll totally inevitably run into problems because they’d previously spent their marriage not really able to find out how they work as a normal couple. there’s no getting around the fact that they’re both traumatized people who don’t have any experience that lends itself to a non-hierarchical romantic relationship like theirs, especially not under non-strenuous circumstances. but them being able to give each other that escape is what drew them to each other to begin with so it’s a learning curve they’re on together.

anakin specifically is never gonna be 100% mentally healthy because he has led the kind of life that fucks one up forever but plenty of people who are similarly mentally ill are still able to successfully have relationships and be decent/good partners. and the thing about anakin is that he had an unfathomably awful childhood but then when he escaped his old circumstances he never actually stopped being traumatized, but even while getting pretty regularly re-traumatized he was a pretty good husband for the better part of three years. so i don’t see why that would change drastically in a world where that’s not happening and he’s not getting pushed to a breaking point all day every day. he’s constantly stuck in a context that’s enabling pretty much all his worst traits and stunting any healing he could do because you can’t really process childhood trauma while going through even more trauma on the daily that you’re also not processing, so if you took him out of that context he’d pretty automatically be in a better place by nature of no longer having an occupation that traumatizes him faster than he can think about it and requires him to do lots of violence. even if hypothetically he had a full-blown breakdown and self-sabotaged to hell and back in a post-war au, if you remove The War and palpatine from the picture that sabotage is probably going to look a lot less like murdering a bunch of babies and a lot more like regular instability and padmé has proven herself to be so forgiving and understanding of anakin’s issues that she can and will forgive baby murder so long as the motive is sympathetic so why wouldn’t she be understanding about non-mass murder forms of acting out.

i actually think their biggest problem would be that they have pretty polar-opposite relationships with systemic power and hierarchy. they both understand dehumanization and having immense age-inappropriate responsibilities placed upon them, but anakin has spent his entire life in positions of subservience whilst padmé has spent most of hers in positions of power (rather complicated ones where she’s often reduced to a pawn but still). and they’d absolutely clash on those grounds, because they’re stuck in this place of almost understanding each other but not quite and that’s frustrating, and also because they probably have habits related to this that set each other off (i can totally see anakin short-circuiting at padmé slipping into her more authoritative political persona by accident during an argument or something or that turning into an explosive fight). and this is just the kind of thing that would slip out more and more the more time they spend together, but it’s also not relationship-ending.

in general they’d also struggle with working through things because they are both quite stubborn and their previous circumstances forced them into a position of not really being able to linger on any issues or clashes because their time together was so limited and precious, but they love each other so deeply and also just like each other and for two people who want each other in their lives as much as those two do that’s absolutely something they’d learn. it’s really just leaving the honeymoon phase except the honeymoon phase was…war. i really think that especially in a situation where anakin left the order and padmé stepped down as senator they’d have a lot of space to work through it and it’d be more of a matter of learning to be people together after a lifetime of being denied normalcy.

(the question of what kind of parent anakin would be is a more complicated one imo but i do tend to lean towards “decent” because as much as he’s possessive and destructive his ability to be a loving husband and his relative success at training ahsoka tells me he wouldn’t be violently nuclearly bad. you can’t really use darth vader as a basis because his brain looks like swiss cheese at that point and you can’t really call being on the opposite side of a war as your adult son “parenting” even if attempts at creating a familial bond were made. but that’s a whole other convo.)

[ilynpilled]

i think an interesting factor that is not acknowledged by fandom is what exactly is indicated in the text that cersei and jaime’s plan was and how old they were when they came up with it. this doesnt confirm that they intend to continue a sexual affair during a royal marriage, only to not be separated/be near eachother always. though i understand that cersei convinces jaime also through a passionate sexual act (not confirmed what degree) and the high had effect on jaime’s decision making, and they have experimented with sexual acts of some sort already as children, and there is no doubt in my mind that they have a skewed understanding of how they love each other like “our love is natural law”, but there are a lot of other things we know: everybody in the equation assumes there will be a royal marriage hence cersei would remain in KL and they would be “near each other always”, and an affair would be treason punishable by death. they do know it will not be the same as it was before because cersei will get married, even if jaime doesn’t. cersei was already infatuated with rhaegar, and says she expected and wanted to be his queen, wife, and the mother of his children. this is much later and a lot of other things happen, but the last time we know the twins have sex (confirmed penetrative sex. cersei says “i fucked jaime” verbatim) is right before the wedding with robert, and after the married couple emerge from the sept, jaime is obviously distraught. why? wasn’t this the plan all along? ofc there is jealousy, but i argue that because they know this marks the end of the relationship. jaime is already at a point where he is pretty disillusioned with every other major value in his life: honor, glory, knighthood, and heroism. and he gave up everything else he had, a lot of free will/lands/titles etc, to be close to cersei, so all that remains to him is love (which is arguably the most important thing to him), which we know he also considers a vow, though more abstract and personal. cersei experiences disillusionment during the bedding when robert calls her lyanna. it is a similar epiphany to the crowd cheering for jaime after he is raised to the kg at harrenhal, him being content enough despite other aspects of this plan falling apart (he joined because of cersei, but “honor and glory played their part” & “that boy wanted to be ser arthur dayne.” aspirations for knighthood and heroism are clearly there) until actually finding out that aerys chose him as a pawn against tywin and not as a knight, his position is without much meaning, and he wants “to rip off his white cloak” but knows he can’t because, not only was he already selected, he had sworn the oaths now too. and of course, cersei’s experience also gets much worse from this point on, just like how jaime’s got worse as a kg, and how his understanding of so many things he idealized was torn apart, and he is confronted with how these things work and contradict in reality. but what i really want to highlight is that when they are at greenstone, about a year into the marriage, robert starts cheating on her with a female cousin:

cersei sends jaime to confirm her suspicions, and he returns with the question of “do you want him dead for it?” both of them are mad at robert for dishonoring her and breaking his marital vows, why would they be if they are already cheating too? i get that these are the lannister twins, but then cersei says “no. i want him horned.” horned means cucked, and the indication here is that robert had not been horned yet at this point. this is where the affair seems to start, there is no evidence for the contrary afaik. it is also obviously 100% penetrative sex, hence cersei can believe it is when joffrey was conceived. and it happened primarily in retaliation against robert. destructive codependent incest spawning as a result of complex family dynamics and parental neglect aside, at every turn it is highlighted that this affair is also a product of a lot of systemic issues and the twins’ disillusionment, but focusing more on cersei and her being stuck in an abusive and unwanted marriage: the husband is free to cheat on her with no risk or consequences, unlike her, and does so. the bitterness from this influences her to retaliate with an affair of her own. not to mention she is fighting back against her rapist the only way she can, and refuses to bear his children, which is again, the limited form of retaliation she has. she could accept jaime’s proposal to kill robert for her, but this could lead to jaime’s death (she outright says this in agot when she says that jaime would have killed robert even if it cost him his own life if he saw the bruises + the same proposal down the line could also threaten her life and the life of her children if this murder is investigated. + i do think part of her just wants revenge. she wants to retaliate in this way where she has the power). i just dont think people simplifying this situation and implying that “the twins intended and would 100% have ‘fucked up their own lives’ and ‘threatened the realm’ with an affair during a royal marriage no matter what.” stands. idk, maybe it is just my preference, but to me it makes sense that even with tywin’s rearing they couldve grown out of this dysfunctional relationship as they got older and gained maturity, but instead everything gets worse and pushes them into embracing the illusion of eachother more than ever.

[ourbeloved1011]

Yibo is a straight man who has publicly stated countless times he’s a straight man, and he has denied cp countless times since 2019. So he’d never address a gay rumor lol. Not only would that be shameful but it would bring unnecessary and unwanted attention to him especially in a largely homophobic country like China and it’s government. As for xiao zhan he will continue leeching on Yibo because while the former’s career has stalled since 2020, Yibo continues to go higher and higher and make a name for himself in every industry that interests him (film, dance, racing, fashion, skateboarding, motorcycle, etc.). Maybe you dirty turtles will finally wake up when one of them gets married? Although it’s well known that xiao zhan is currently dating his jingjing manager. <3

I see what you're trying to do here, solo fan 🏍️Thanks for dropping by ☺️

I bet you know everything about xiao zhan, I guess? 🤔 Do you know him personally? Otherwise, you won't be spreading hate against him confidently here.

I don't have issue with solo fan. Solo fan have all my respect as long as you don't incite & encourage hatred in society.

Xz leeches on wyb? You got it wrong. They are mutually leeching on each other 🤣

No offense but your fav doesn't even know you exist. Why bother to be useless keyboard warrior? I hope you will be sued for your hateful comments one day 🫶🏻

"Yibo has publicly stated countless time he's a straight man" - he did mention this before. However, no one in their right mind will come out publicly & announce "well, actually- not really."

He's a public figure. I'll use back your word -especially in a largely homophobic country like China. Why need to self-destruct?

Personally, let me repeat this again, in my personal opinion, wyb doesn't like guy in general but xz is an exception.

I don't know if yibo is a straight guy or was a straight guy & I can neither confirm nor deny anything. Only yibo knows the truth behind his words.

Yibo: hey, I'm a straight man too.

Also yibo: 🤝🏻🫰🏻☺️😘😛😉👀 at xz. Shamelessly say I love you.

Yibo's double standard can be seen clearly when it comes to xz. What an extreme way to tease a friend. I see.

If you can't watch xz, it's ok. Just focus on yibo. Especially his eyes cos eyes never lie.

As for xz- he can date whoever he wants to. I don't own him. I don't have any right to decide on it.

Once again, I will never know for sure if yizhan is a real thing. I'm not their parent or family or close friend. There's no way- me, as a mere fan knows 100% what is real and what is not.

Some 🐢 say they will be seen together in public in 2026. To be honest, I don't even trust that 2026 prediction 😂

For me, let's say they aren't together now, at least, at some point, they did have a crush on each other esp yibo. He's wearing his heart on his sleeve 😂

Their happiness is everything. Whether they end up together or with someone else. It's their life.

That's how I see it and it's plenty enough for me. However, I've made a choice to believe that both of them are doing fine & their relationship is still going strong until today.

On what basis?

Actually, they don't have to prove to the world if they are in relationship. Somehow, they kindly leave some hidden traces to decipher from time to time. It's still ongoing.

Call it what you want. Throwing 🍬 or fanservice or leeching onto one another 🤷🏻‍♀️

Thought solo fans dont trust 🍬 ? Then please don't make fuss out of them. Let us, the dirty 🐢 enjoy & make a fool of ourselves.

Again, either one of them gets married to someone else or marry each other or never marry at all. It doesn't have anything to do with you. Your approval or your words mean nothing.

Don't act like you are the mighty one. Acting like you are on the 'right side'.

So please. Don't say to others to wake up.

You. Please. Wake up first.

We are just an unknown fan.

[meracyn]

Could we please get general relationship headcanons for Cana, Lisanna, and Lucy? Thank you!

relationship hc’s with lisanna, cana & lucy !

my bad for posting this late i wrote half of it last night and got busy today so i just finished it rn lmao + yakult is so yummy giys u should try it trust but the bottles r small asf :((

lisanna strauss !

she’s probs the clingy type though

ok this one was a bit hard since.. i never really paid attention to lisanna lmao

ill do my best to make it at least barely lisanna-like 💀

very protective (it runs in the family 100%)

despite not being on the same level as mira for example, lisanna will always do her best to make sure you are safe

pretty playful, might result in her shifting into her take-over forms to show you how many she can change into

training together constantly, lisanna strives to become stronger, having you training with her boosts her confidence and motivation to be as powerful as her siblings

is aware she doesn’t have the higher potential as them but still tries to be optimistic and not let that insecurity get to her

can be reckless at times/impulsive, basically thinks with her feelings and not brain; but yk if someone she cares about is in danger, which includes you

petting any animals you both see together during your missions

owning one too most definitely, if you don’t mind it

asks mirajane for relationship advice constantly, since mira and elfman approved of you two dating, lisanna doesn’t want to disappoint them and be as much of a good girlfriend she can be

always nice to you, never wants to hurt your feelings

whenever you need help, lisanna will try her best to help you out and think of a solution

really sweet gf

cana alberona !

as soon as everyone gets the news that cana has a partner they’re all most likely relieved

you automatically have the duty of handling cana whenever she gets drunk

cana is wandering off drunk in town?

“y/n cana’s drunk go get her”

cana is stirring up fights with other drunkards at the guild?

“y/n calm your girlfriend down”

cana passed out?

“y/n, cana—”

“i knOW DAMMIT”

you love cana of course but sometimes it does become too much 😭

if you drink along with her it just causes more trouble in the guild

cana would probably be fighting some random and you’d be cheering her on while being drunk too

if you don’t, cana’s influence might cause you to do so, unless you’re really firm in not drinking, it’d be a good thing since the guild wouldn’t need to worry about more chaos and destruction of objects lmao

reckless, drunk gf + levelheaded, sober s/o = good balance, everyone is happy

reckless, drunk gf + drunk as well s/o = bringers of chaos, everyones backs are breaking due to the pain

you both might have flirting competitions, whoever makes the other blush first wins

she probably wins though lmao

lucy heartfilia !

most of the time when you both want to spend time together, it ends up being interrupted by natsu and happy wanting to join in (or abruptly going along without asking lmao)

throws his arms over you both’s shoulders and asks “what are we doing today?” oblivious to the fact you and lucy were going to go out to have dinner

dw he gets scolded or even smacked and he backs off

whenever lucy gets new clothes or a cute accessory she bought, she always asks for your opinion

yk the whole twirling while asking “how do i look?” to you

will love it if you buy her dresses, skincare products, etc.

lets you read her writing drafts and appreciates it when you give her advice on any sort of improvement or anything– when levy is busy, lucy asks if you could proofread too

hmm perhaps matching bracelets ?? lucy would be so happy if you offer to match or already bought a set and tell her about it

going on walks, missions together, to a cafe or library, restaurants and parties too

lucy is just outgoing and the thought of spending more time with her partner makes it more enjoyable

that’s why she puts in extra effort in looking better for you

very happy gf moment if you compliment her on how beautiful she looks or the clothes she has on looks good on her

maybe cooking together if there’s nothing to do, doing the chores around your shared apartment together too

lucy probably buys you perfume and stuff she thinks you’d like, or books if you love them

gets her relationship tips from novels she’s read lmao as she gets too embarrassed in asking any of her friends + knows she will get teased endlessly about it

they’re all happy for her though, good for you

[meta-squash]

I have a hypothetical/thought experiment about Torchwood potential episode reordering. I think it would have made so much more sense and been so interesting to place Fragments in between Meat and Adam.

Meat is a fairly innocuous monster-of-the-week episode with no throughline consequences/story arc for the most part. Except at the end of the episode Rhys is allowed to leave Torchwood, memories intact. This serves to establish a "new" precedent for Torchwood and emphasizes Gwen's sort of special treatment.

Now, we place Fragments next.

The intro/outro conflict would have to change of course (the building exploding/John Hart's message), because that has to come at the end of the series. So maybe instead the team (minus Gwen) get trapped in some other way. Maybe something like the Isolus in the DW episode Fear Her, something causes them all to "disappear" and get stuck somewhere. Or maybe there's some alien item/creature that traps them half inside walls and furniture, as if they phased through a wall and got stuck. You know, something that traps all the characters in one place so that the important plots playing out are their backstories, which we watch as each person gets free (like in the actual episode).

Maybe whatever traps them either sends them into the Void or into something void adjacent/void contaminated. They don't know this when they get free, and they destroy whatever it was that causes them to get trapped, or deactivate it and take it back to the hub.

Gwen does not arrive at the end of the episode like in the original. Instead, the new version of Fragments takes place a long enough time after Meat that Rhys is healed, which means she's on vacation with him in Paris (which is what seems to be implied in Adam). This allows the memory-based alien from the void the time to infiltrate the team, so that when Gwen returns from vacation the next day, the episode plays out the same.

The rest of the series also plays out the same, either replacing Adrift with something that reintroduces John Hart and ups the ante some other way, or having a little scene at the very end of Adrift maybe of Jack watching Gwen take down all her missing posters, and then he gets a threatening message from Hart. Or the reintroduction of Hart just gets shifted into the start of Exit Wounds.

But now that Fragments has come first, the rest of the series playing out the way it does normally allows for a whole lot of interesting character development.

In Adam, we get to see the drastic difference between everyone's backstories and who they became as we know them, and whatever Adam has done to manipulate them. It also means that we can see, for example, the difference between terrified and uncertain pre-Torchwood Tosh and the Tosh we know, and this confident fake-Tosh. We can see the difference between Owen before Katie's death, and Owen the loveable shithead, and this fake-Owen who's so awkward and nervous and sad in a completely different way. (And, as Tosh and Owen's personalities are essentially flipped in this ep, we have a better perspective on both.) We get to see the start of Jack and Ianto's relationship, how it's literally built on lies and manipulation from the start, and therefore how compelling it is that Jack is 100% certain that Ianto has been manipulated by some creature.

Seeing Owen's backstory makes his 3-episode death/resurrection arc more compelling, because we can see how much Katie's death broke him, we understand his self-destructive tendencies and their source better (especially with the little addition of his childhood lore at the end of Adam), and we can see why both death and undeath are upsetting for him. We get to see his interactions with Martha as two people who respect each other but also the way in which his flirting is less serious and more almost territorial. Then we'd also get to see his reaction to Maggie, whose tragedy is so similar to his, meaning that his support and encouragement toward her is really for both of them. In the original script for ADITD, when Owen is cleaning out his flat he also throws away photos; one photo could have been of him and Katie. It makes it more compelling: suddenly the audience (and Owen) has a moment of realizing that there's no afterlife and he'll never see her again.

Again in Something Borrowed everyone's backstories just make their actions in the episode a bit more compelling. Owen going to a wedding while dead means the audience keeps in mind that he was going to marry Katie but she died, and even if he could now he'd be dead, which emphasizes both the uniqueness of Gwen's wedding and the threat of it too (this could all be destroyed etc etc). Toshiko's loneliness is emphasized more, and again the audience is reminded that Tosh hasn't seen her mother in 4 years at least. And yet again, like Owen, we're reminded of Ianto's relationship with Lisa, but also his relationship with Jack.

From Out Of The Rain and Adrift don't have many moments that would be too affected by knowing everyone's backstories, except that I think seeing the effort Ianto went through to get into Torchwood to help Lisa makes the effort he goes through to save everyone and the way losing so many souls affects him seem to be a sort of linear line, in that From Out Of The Rain is an episode that mostly focuses on Ianto's feelings and vague backstory re: the Electro. Adrift happens, which everyone else is barely in, but we now understand the cruelty of past Torchwood and perhaps can be a little more sympathetic to Jack about it. Which makes it maybe a little bit clearer why Ianto did what he did pointing Gwen to Flat Holm.

We get from Adrift to Exit Wounds through whatever way (replacing Adrift, just a little scene at the end of Adrift, idk) and then Exit Wounds occurs the way Exit Wounds plays out in the actual series.

This arrangement just allows a lot more interesting character development and way more play (either for the actual writers or just viewer brains) with character motivations. Watching for the first time, I'd have felt Owen and Maggie's conversation was a lot more compelling if I already knew Owen's backstory. I'd have found Tosh's new confidence in Adam simultaneously unnerving and uplifting if I'd just seen her shaking and traumatized in Fragments. Jack's behavior throughout a lot of the series (both his ruthlessness and his mercy) would make more sense seeing the things he'd gone through in all his years at Torchwood, and the way in which he became leader. It also puts emphasis on how Jack never wanted to be a the leader of Torchwood, and despite his knowledge he's kind of bumbling and thrashing his way through it, which then explains his treatment of Owen in ADITD, or his decisions re: Flat Holm in Adrift.

So that's my theory on a hypothetical rearranging of episodes. Of course, at this point it doesn't matter at all because we've all watched the series a million times so we're aware of the backstories no matter what. But I just think it would have been more compelling storytelling for first-time viewing.

[evelhak]

Hey! So we talked about Kuroko and Haizaki, and now I’m curious in your vision of other Kuroko interactions.

Not shipwise, since I know you only do kagakuro, but in terms of dynamics, what are your fav characters to write Kuroko with?

Lets say, top 3 GoM and top 3 non-Gom?

Oh my friend how you're letting me go nuts again.

May I suggest you get a cup of your favourite drink and maybe some snacks?

Also how do you expect me to choose...? Hmm okay, to make things slightly easier for myself I'll exclude Kagami of course since I've been talking about them a lot already and I also believe I've talked about Momoi at length at least twice in relation to Kuroko so I'll define GOM in the strictest sense for this, but I also won't count either of them as non-GOM haha. I hope that makes sense.

Okay, not surprisingly, I'm going to start with Aomine. I love writing him with Kuroko particularly because when he's at his worst they are absolute poison to each other and they don't really even know it for lot of the time or at least understand why, and that makes for peak relationships drama. (It's complex and I love it.) They have a particular way of feeding each other's weaknesses. When Aomine is stressed out, average Kuroko's communication style and philosophy actually makes him worse in the long run. Also Aomine at his worst makes Kuroko worse. This is because Kuroko's weaknesses at his most stressed resemble some of average Aomine's weaknesses (anxious, lonely and pessimistic) while average Kuroko's optimism and understanding actually give Aomine more room to spiral down because what he's subconsciously looking for is pushback and someone he can trust to practically force him to get it together and average Kuroko is always going to be too accepting for that. However. Here's the cool part. Aomine at his best has some of the strengths of average Kuroko (loyal, secure, taking care of others) which is why when he's getting better he's drawn to Kuroko's typical idealism and particularly when Kuroko is getting worse, Aomine actually steps up, and can empathise with Kuroko at his weakest because while it's a rock bottom for Kuroko it's all actually pretty mundane to Aomine and he can stay quite level-headed about it. Meanwhile Kuroko at his best can direct the same qualities productively as Aomine at his worst does destructively (confidence, independence, stubbornness), and that's why at his best Kuroko appears like he has got the answers Aomine has been looking for after all, because Aomine is actually looking for trust but he needs hard proof for it unlike Kuroko who at his average is just able to trust that things will turn out alright for no particular reason. This is in a nutshell why I love writing the larger scale of their dynamic. It just makes for such interesting plot twists.

Also it's so God damn funny sometimes. Like, I was writing a scene where Kuroko is pretty significantly sick and Aomine is pretty significantly enlightened and although it was a rather serious scene in my story, I just happened to come across a song from some musical that illustrates the inherent comedy of their practically reversed dynamic a 100%.

For contrast here's bit from Kuroko's POV when he had to take care of drunk Aomine:

I just find them hilarious to write and they bring me so much joy.

Then, I suppose the next one will have to be Kise. I just love how they poke at each other's insecurities and how incompatible their communication styles are. You're probably seeing a theme here? I just love it when characters' personalities collide in a way that causes a lot of friction and ultimately provides opportunities for growth, so long as both are eventually willing to go out of their comfort zone. Of course it's only so satisfying because there's so much they can help each other learn, which is true here as well. Kise and Kuroko can both be particularly annoying to each other, because Kise has this habit of putting the burden of interpretation of how serious he is on the other person and that really doesn't work with Kuroko so he's often particularly dismissive of Kise. And while Kise seems like he's bothered by it I think he actually finds it reassuring because it means that with Kuroko he can be as goofy, flirty, needy and attention-seeking as he pleases with zero consequences because Kuroko just deflects it. Obviously Kise actually doesn't want the kind of attention from his friends that he gets from elsewhere, so at his core he doesn't actually feel rejected by Kuroko, he feels quite secure. Meanwhile, I think Kuroko secretly likes the attention he's getting from Kise, because everyone needs some attention. Kise is getting too much so he finds Kuroko relaxing and Kuroko is getting too little so he finds Kise refreshing. And annoying. Because Kuroko actually craves direct and genuine interaction the most, and that's why Kise's way of avoiding it can get really tiresome for him, meanwhile Kise becomes instantly self-conscious and evasive when Kuroko attempts to get some unambiguously genuine expression of feelings out of him (unless they're on the basketball court of course where it's suddenly okay to let things go to your feels). So, as I want to develop their communication I end up writing stuff where Kuroko is quite fed up with their shallow interactions and attempts to get more under Kise's skin, which of course is way too much emotional work for Kise. But it slowly gets better, of course.

A lot of their interactions for me are also based on how Kuroko needs more of Kise's easy breezy "do things for the heck of it and don't think about the deeper meaning" attitude while Kise obviously needs the exact opposite and Kuroko is a great person to make him think about what things he's just doing because it's easy and provides instant gratification, and which things he would actually find meaningful in the long run. Kise has opportunities to make Kuroko less serious and Kuroko has opportunities to make Kise more so. I think Kuroko very much dislikes any shallow or vain feelings that he has and rejects them, but Kise can help him be more comfortable with that part of humanity, while Kise is scared of his deeper feelings, and Kuroko can help him with that instead. So both can find that the feelings they dislike in themselves or make them anxious still have their place and it's better to get acquainted with them.

It takes quite some time for them to get to a point they can understand this because it's obviously not fun trying to consciously work on your insecurities, but when they get there it's really satisfying.

Now I kind of feel like showing this development. So, here are three scene's from Kuroko's POV. Although two of them are with Kagami, but they are talking about Kise.

First one is a conversation on the phone.

About ten chapters later with Kise:

And then about 20 chapters later:

I just wanted to show you because writing this kind of development makes me so excited. (The sport they're talking about is quidditch/quadball.)

The third place is a really tough one because I enjoy writing Kuroko's interactions with every GOM and I think the reason I'm going to have to pick Midorima is actually not because I inherently prefer him, it's because his interactions with Kuroko naturally happen more because he lives closer than Akashi and Murasakibara. But this is how it is because the more I write interactions with characters the more I begin to like them. Kuroko and Midorima are a blast because of their completely opposing conceptualisations of the world. The funny thing is that they might not actually be as opposing as they seem, it's just that they are looking at the same thing from different angles and describing it in language that leads them to believe they disagree more than they do. Yes they also have completely different strategies to getting where they want but maybe it's not as stark as they sometimes seem to believe. This is where the most friction in their relationship comes from and I have done my absolute best to be fair about it, because I am so much more likely to see things in Kuroko's way and I despise horoscopes. So I think another reason I like to write these two so much is that it challenges my objectivity in a particular way.

Anyway, basically Midorima describes fate as something that is above humans while Kuroko basically says you can make your own fate, if you really simplify it.

But. I have these song lyrics in my mind...

"You can plan a pretty picnic, you can pick the perfect time, but you can't expect the weather to be fine".

That thought is still true for both of them. They would both agree to that from their different perspectives. So their views are not actually complete opposites. Just their reactions and how they deal with it, are.

As funny as it sounds, Midorima is actually uncomfortable with the 'supernatural' or abstract unseen realm of things, and that's why he's looking at sources outside of himself to control his thoughts about that which is uncertain. Meanwhile Kuroko can just casually be like "hey what if a meteorite hit the bench" and "cool let's go look for ghosts I've never actually seen one" because he doesn't fear the uncertainty. He is the uncertainty. For Midorima that is his pressure point. Kuroko gets strength from the thought that anything can happen because he feels familiar with and in control of the uncertain, so he believes he can work it to his advantage. For Midorima the idea that anything can happen is daunting because it feels like it pulls the rug from under him and his hard work. He just genuinely doesn't understand that realm of things, much like Kuroko just genuinely doesn't understand cold hard facts and numbers. And that's why they have trouble understanding each other, because they are always approaching things so differently even when they desire the same conclusion.

Anyway. I wanted to do something with Midorima that I felt canon didn't really do. I wanted his way of thinking to get Kuroko off guard and even question his view of reality a little. I wanted Midorima to be able to foresee something about Kuroko because of his strange relationship with fate and I wanted Kuroko to dismiss it because he thinks his way of thinking is above Midorima's. And ultimately Kuroko would be wrong. I thought this would bring more depth to their relationship.

I'm going to show you one key scene in that plot to illustrate some of the tensions in their interactions. This is Kuroko's POV and they are at Suutoku's cultural festival where Midorima is doing fortune-telling from tea leafs.

Alright, that's it for the GOM. I wonder if there's a limit with post length...

Then the others.

Well, there's Ogiwara. And he was not so discussed in depth in canon that I have definitely developed some of his personality on my own. He was obviously contrasted with Kagami and Aomine a lot and explicitly said to have some similarities but the way I see him, he is also similar to Momoi and Kiyoshi in a particular and pretty defining aspect, and that is that he can control the emotional atmosphere of the room. So, while Aomine and Kagami have a lot of physical presence, Ogiwara and these other two characters have a lot of social presence. But the way I see it Ogiwara is also the least manipulative of these examples, pretty chill in the way that he has less of an objective, like it's rarer for him to try to manipulate things to a particular end although he generally could if he wanted to. And I think that's because he mostly just wants everyone to be happy and to have a good time, which aligns well with Kuroko's instincts, so it's no wonder if their friendship was a pretty uncomplicated one before shit hit the fan.

There's actually very little conflict between them in canon that has anything to do with them as individuals. However that's also what makes the relationship kind of stagnant and less interesting because when there's no outside force, then there's nothing about them as people that makes them push each other enough to create the level of conflict and opportunity for growth as there is with some other characters. In some ways that's refreshing, but only as a breath of fresh air. Basically in a story it just makes for nice filler. There isn't enough meat to write for an extended period of time.

That's why, if I wanted to keep Ogiwara in the story in any meaningful way, I had to make something up, and I do enjoy what I came up with. A lot. One key aspect is miscommunication that is due to the fact that although Ogiwara is socially very smooth he doesn't quite understand that Kuroko is actually significantly less so, probably because Kuroko still has emotional intelligence and the ability to match a more a dominant personality (I mean this in a broad sense, not like dominating or something) in a way that makes interaction feel smooth, because the other person is the leading force whether they mean to be or not because Kuroko can pretty much just make it so. (Like in Kagami's case it's more like Kuroko is redirecting a lot of Kagami's emotions so he's not actually dominating it's more like he's Kuroko's 'material' unlike Ogiwara who actually means to lead the interaction.) So, Ogiwara has a habit of implying things, hinting at things, speaking with gestures and believing that Kuroko understands what he's saying, but actually the implications go completely over Kuroko's head. For example, their whole promise: Kuroko didn't understand that more than anything, for Ogiwara it was about staying in touch. Of course facing each other in a game was important and exciting in and of itself, but Kuroko took that way more literally than Ogiwara meant it, and became so single-minded about this one thing he thought his friend wanted from him, that he actually kind of forgot about talking, which led Ogiwara to misinterpreted it as Kuroko not missing their everyday interaction as much as he does. Because Ogiwara thought the implication of their promise was totally clear, while to Kuroko it wasn't. It takes kind of a lot to start seeing why things that are totally clear to one aren't so for another, so they repeat this miscommunication several times and it stretches out into the future so much that it turns out Kuroko's view of their childhood is in some significant ways different from Ogiwara's view of the same events.

Writing more of them together I also found that Ogiwara sees Kuroko in a quite different way from most people and can sometimes say stuff that other people probably wouldn't say:

I'm not saying he's right or wrong, and out of context it may seem like he's undermining the fact that Kuroko didn't have much options, but it's more complicated than that, just too much to explain here. I just put this here because it's interesting contrast to write someone with a little bit different perspective to some things, because his key points with Kuroko have been so different from that of the other characters in the canon timeline which Ogiwara was mostly absent for.

A character whose interactions with Kuroko I actually write way less than I would like is Furihata. Because they have similar temperaments in ways pretty much no other characters do, and I feel they would make the kind of friends who are perfect for peer support and venting to, if either of them could just be a little more proactive about it, but that's the difficulty with a similar temperament, isn't it? It's not just my fault, it's not just that the story is already so bloated from these other relationships, it's that both of them are also going to respect each other's space too much and are generally the type to just sort of let things in relationships develop in their own time. Obviously they both have a lot of drive to make things happen when they need to, but when they don't need to, they are both the type to be more likely to just sit back and watch things develop. So circumstances would need to force them closer to get closer. So far such circumstances happen here and there but not that much. Most often it's Furihata needing emotional support and Kuroko being there, because he has already gone through the same thing. This happens several times in my writing. It takes a while for things to turn the other way around because Furihata is more likely to seek comfort from someone, and Kuroko is more reserved in that way, but once Furihata grows aware of their similarities and differences he also makes more effort to make sure Kuroko knows he can be relied upon too, which fits quite well with Furihata's growth into a captain which is part of my headcanon too.

This is probably his sharpest moment so far, after Seirin's darkest moment in my story. (Kagami's POV)

Then there's Yagi who practically counts as an OC because I've invented like 90% of his personality but I love him so I'm going to talk about him. Yagi is sort of like if Aomine and Furihata fused in some ways. His insecurities come from lack of experience and skills but he reacts to them in a similar way as Aomine to his overwhelming skills, feeling like he's alone and no one can possibly help him. He's more even-tempered and timid, but his negativity comes through in a passive-agressive way and he basically needs someone to kick his butt at all times and he punishes people emotionally if they don't. You can imagine this creates some very intense conflict with Kuroko whose gentle approach to helping Yagi integrate into the team just... doesn't work AT ALL because he's an even harder person for Kuroko to be tough on than Aomine. Kuroko can kick butt when it's Kagami or another openly aggressive person as long as they are not being vulnerable. But Yagi is like... Nope. Nothing is getting through because he wants someone to boss him around but you're supposed to figure that out on your own and Kuroko wants someone who will tell him what they need from him. Match made in heaven right. Well, still it's not hopeless once Kuroko does figure out which string to pull (with the help of Aomine haha). But yeah, it's a minefield. (Not to mention Yagi also starts out as homophobic.) But they do develop when Kuroko realises that he needs something new to help him stay out of sight and Yagi is exactly that because he's radiating negative, passive energy as much as Kagami is radiating positive, active energy so when Kuroko uses both of them he has a double cover as the neutral point between these two energies. But what makes this difficult for Kuroko to figure out is that while Kuroko is technically using Kagami to hide himself he's not using Kagami in a sense that he would need to control him. Kagami is doing what Kagami wants, and Kuroko is using that which Kagami would be doing anyway. But Yagi isn't going to do anything unless someone makes him. It is when Kuroko realizes that Yagi is actually begging to be used, that the game changes. Despite of appearing otherwise Yagi has basically zero ego. He just wants to be useful but he wants other people to tell him how. (Akashi should have used someone like Yagi not Mayu lol.) This was difficult for Kuroko to get, because despite of being as team-oriented as he is, being a shadow was still always a sacrifice for him. Had he been able to he would have wanted to be more "normal". And he still does have enough ego to want to create something for himself and be in control even if it's in a less traditional more subtle way, and he mistakenly believed Yagi would want the same. But Yagi doesn't have that kind of desire. Kuroko is willing to sacrifice himself. Yagi enjoys it. Yagi is a "soldier". Well, in this case, Kuroko is the trickster and Yagi is the rabbit= the star of the magic show who isn't actually doing anything but who things are being done to.

Or...? (Kuroko's POV)

I just love to play with metaphors.

I don't have the best action writing skills to get the most exciting games out of this idea (and a lot of it is probably so out there that it wouldn't even work) but I am actually very proud of how it plays in the interpersonal and metaphorical realm of the story.

Okay. That's it for now. Looks like I didn't run out of space. I hope I managed to keep you interested.

[forthesanityofstorytellers]

just finished my Tumblr homework (reading through your pinned post and OC intros now that I've followed you) so it's COMPLIMENT TIME

I deeply appreciate your commitment to linguistic worldbuilding. The aliens have alien words and concepts, and they get translated poorly sometimes good for drama good for realism good for character dynamics

"You can kill him all you want" is such a banger concept. I truly appreciate that kind of resilience as a powerset, the ability to treat something that would stop most other people as either a mild inconvenience or better something you lean into for mind games points. Few things are better than leaning into the knife at your throat just to see the one holding it flinch away.

If I am correct in assuming that Kashi is the protagonist of The Hunter, the contrast between the two presentations (plot and character) is deeply compelling. The relationship between an alien and the planet upon which they are. There is no loyalty innate in it, so why would I feel betrayed to hear that she would "carve a path" through our planet when she owes us no more than a wanderer owes the desert, and yet. I read so much pain in those bare snippets and I want to see it tended. (Good job getting this much strong reaction with fewer than 100 words)

While I've got you with the nice words, I also have some curious words, about Kashi and Jules. You say in his intro that Rod has very few friends, but what about them? Inter-world transit does not seem conducive to strong relationships, so how have they fared on that front, and does that change over the course of their stories?

AHHHHHHHHHHH

Forgive the time between getting this and answering it, I just spent the last few days just:

OKAY, first to your curious words:

They're...Okay. SO. Jules is sort of a frenemy of his. They're not necessarily friendly with each other, but they're not excessively antagonistic. They're more...indifferent to each other unless one of them needs something that the other can provide. They both know that a knock-down, drag-out fight would be less than ideal, use up a lot of energy and power for both, and ultimately would get practically nothing done except being exhausted (mostly Jules, although the mental toll of getting that many of his clones busted would make him want to throw up, probably). So they have more of a...working relationship more than a friendship. They keep this status quo throughout their relative stories, and once she achieves her goal of getting home, she basically cuts all communication and he won't hear from her again unless he hunts her down. Even then, since she's home and no longer needs his help for anything she may just kill him to get him out of her face.

For Kashi, however, they have an interesting friendship. Neither of them would call it that tho, lol. Rod was basically the one that took care of her directly after her pack was murdered and kept her alive until she could claw her way out of the shock (and several other states of mind) that followed. After that, Kashi got her chance to help him through an equally traumatizing experience of his own, and she returned the favor by not letting him get killed or go too far during his period of manic dissociative destruction. So, these two are basically besties that refused to be separated and will go to the depths of hell for the other, but he will also relentlessly nag her because he thinks it's funny and likewise she'll kill him just for being annoying (knowing that he'll come back, of course). And really, nothing is going to change that. They're both content to stay on earth for one reason or another, and I'm sure that if one of them did actually take off to another world, they'd somehow convince the other one to come with.

ALSO

THANK YOU for the nice words!!!! I've got a history of being indecisive about the linguistic part of my worldbuilding, so tysm for that being at the top of the list, lol!! I really really enjoy constructing the languages but extra external validation is always nice 😂 And Rod definitely treats it as an inconvenience - it still hurts him, but since it's not permanent he'll usually let someone think they've killed him and then bounce back into the picture later to delight in their shock. And yes, Kashi is the MC of The Hunter, and again tysm for your nice words there. The Hunter has been one of those I really want to work on more but as soon as I start The Gremlins creep in and tell me no one actually would want to read it (despite the fact that I've gotten a number of people that's given me positive feedback on Kashi and a few that have already said they like the concept 😅)

TYSM for reading and taking time to send in all the words!!!

[crazypenguintacofan]

Okay after sitting a bit with my feelings and rewatching the whole thing, I'm 100% certain that killing Izzy was the correct narrative choice.

1— This season solves all of Izzy's main character conflicts and satisfyingly closes his arc. Easily resisting Ricky's "seduction attemp" (appealing to Izzy's ego and desire for praise and power) and remaining loyal to the crew (which s1 Izzy would've had a lot of trouble with), plus his apology to Ed and fully letting go of Blackbeard, were the perfect culmination for his story thus far. And, crucially, Izzy's character conflicts needed to be solved so his relationship with Ed could be solved, because it's the only way Ed could've ended the season leaving piracy, which I'm guessing was a major plot point the writers always had in their 3-arc plan.

With that in mind, to keep him in the story, you'd have 2 choices:

a) Build up a new conflict for Izzy, which would take a lot of screen time that we do not have bc next season is the last and we don't even know how many episodes Max is gonna order (and the resolution to Ed and Stede's story has to be the priority).

b) Just keep him around doing things in the background like other minor characters, just a pleasant background presence with no real function. Which honestly? Would've been a disservice to both character and actor. I think having Izzy go out with a blaze of glory of sorts both honors the character and gives Con O'Neill the chance to show off his skill, and that was the right call from the Doylist perspective.

2— I didn't like what I perceived as Ed being passive in the final "break up" with Izzy, I read it as only Izzy making the choice of letting go, but that's not really what happens. Ed could've chosen to go full Blackbeard again and go get revenge, and in that way keep sacrificing his true self for Izzy's sake. But he actively chooses to build his happiness with Stede instead <3

3— As many people have pointed out, both Izzy's death (as THE representative of traditional piracy) and the destruction of Republic of Pirates symbolize the end of piracy as we know it at the hands Prince Ricky. It's a massive change in the status quo of that universe and it sets potentially very interesting scenarios for season 3.

4— Izzy's death contextualizes and makes more meaningful both Ed's choice to remain in land and the crew's choice to remain pirates.

On perspective, someone important had to die in the final episode. The whole of s2 has been about showing the harsher realities of piracy, which haunted the narrative in s1 but were never explicitly visible (you could consider the Kraken scenes in s1 ep 10 a sneak peek). Piracy becoming more realistic and less fairytale-like (not hyper realistic either, this still a surreal comedy in which people turn into seagulls) could be linked to Stede and Ed getting a more realistic perspective of romantic relationships, as well. Crucially, what was missing from this exploration of piracy was a meaningful death. We've been told often that risk of death is a big part of that world, but we've never really *seen* it in a meaningful way (RIP Ivan who died offscreen). A big death was needed to contextualize the decisions that all the characters make at the end of the season and that set the stage for season 3. And again, if you're gonna kill someone, it's better if it is a character that has finished his arc and has no loose ends, and that's Izzy.

This death is a tangible reminder of the cost of living as a pirate. A sudden end can happen to anyone at any time (and Izzy got inmensely lucky that he didn't die in the battlefield and kept breathing for long enough to say goodbye). With full understanding of the costs, Ed decides to leave piracy as he always wanted, but the crew decides to recommit to it.

The crew's choice to remain pirates despite the cost it's even more significant if it turns out they're the only crew that managed to scape the destruction of Republic of Pirates. They are among the last pirates in the Caribbean (I really hope that Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Hellkat Maggie are still alive and kicking somewhere, though). And now "the new Revenge" has the opportunity and the responsibility of rebuilding piracy in a fresh and better way, inbued of all the ways Stede's captaincy has made all of them kinder.

So yeah. Izzy's death ties everything narratively and thematically in a neat little ribbon. So I'm still gonna miss the little rabid rat, but I'm at peace with it, I'm zen, I'm like a fisherman contemplating the universe in a fish scale.

(I'd still like it if they brought Izzy back as some kind of pirate revenant. I don't know how the fuck that would make sense at a thematic level, but I do love stories about the undead)

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

Good news, everyone! Excellent news. It turns out Ed Night is good at stand-up comedy. I have been waiting several years now to find this out, suspected but with no way to confirm it. But now I can finally say, I have found a way to artistically justify my decision to watch Roast Battle. Wouldn't have heard of Ed Night otherwise as he's not been on anything else I've seen, and therefore I wouldn't have have seen a very good stand-up show last night. Success! It was all worth it!

Anyway, yesterday was probably my most perfectly planned day if this festival. Look at this:

What a solid few hours. Kept exiting the venues and then going right back in, didn't have to travel anywhere, and four really really strong shows in a row. Eleanor Morton's took a little while to get going and at first I was a bit disappointed in it, but it really built up from a routine about seeing the Edinburgh Fringe as an Edinburgh native, then just kept going, second half better than the first and I loved it by the end.

The other 3 were pretty well perfect, all 3 of them. I'm so glad I saw Sarah Keyworth, after almost skipping them because I saw it filmed for Access Festival. Firstly, it was more than good enough to be worth seeing in person even though I'd heard the material before, same as Nish Kumar and Tom Ballard. Secondly, it's been 8 months and a major Australian championship win since I saw the show, obviously the material has developed. It was so, so much fun to actually see.

As was Laura Davis, they're another one who's so compelling it's just worth getting into the room to experience it up close. This started strong but was another one that really built and by the end was... look, I try to be very sparing with a word like "Kitsonian" and not just compare anything good to him, but that was all I could think of with the way they got complex and poetic in throwing everything in the show back at us at the end. Reminded me of the ending of Impotent Fury of the Privileged pr Something Other Than Everything, in the best way (not in a "Laura was being unoriginal" way, Kitson doesn't talk nearly this much about dead birds so safe to say they carved their own territory). And Tom Ballard was also doing stuff I'd heard before but it sure was worth being in the room for that. Being in the room made me both enjoy it even more, and better understand why a different person might dislike it so strongly. A divisively shouty presence.

I even managed to briefly speak to Tom Ballard after the show, if nothing else just to prove to myself that I could, after the disaster of last week. And it went okay! I wasn't smooth by any means, stuttered at the ground about how I loved his show in Montreal last year and thought this one was even better and big fan of his older specials too and all his stuff, and I absolutely could not look at him while I spoke, but I think I managed to make the words I was saying understood. Managed to sound like a very nervous person who likes him, rather than whatever I sounded like when I met Kitson last week, which was nothing, because I could not remember any words. So I'm glad I managed that improvement. He was very nice, asked me my name, said he appreciated it, a sort of amusing contrast to the on-stage shoutiness.

Then I ran off to the Assembly Rooms to see Josie Long's husband (if the genders were reversed it would be problematic to define her by her relationship to him but I'm pretty sure it's fine this way around, also I'm not 100% sure they're actually married) meticulously document the destruction of arts funding and the NHS across 14 years of Tory rule, via the medium of a musical performed in what appeared to be a circus tent. That's what we some to the Fringe for, isn't it? That is exactly what I wanted out of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. It was a lot of fun.

Then back to the Monkey Barrel to see Ed Night, a guy I'd been Googling ever since I saw him on Roast Battle in 2021, convinced that I like this guy and I just need him to release something so I can see to prove it. I've said several times on this blog that I'm supporting his career like it's a sports team, wanting him to get big just so I can see his stuff from Canada. He didn't so I had to go to him, and finally, decision to watch an awful thing like Roast Battle has been justified! I found Ed Night out of it! Seriously I thought he was fantastic, dark and sharp and packed with jokes that you could miss if you didn't pay attention because they fit so clearly into the narrative. And it helped that it was my sort of thing in terms of subject matter, he covered OCD and queer identity and some political stuff and the frustrating mental health system, talked shit about content creator algorithms. At one point he got a Pokemon reference into what I think was a suicide joke - how perfectly tailored to my comedy taste is that? He also picked some more specific targets, like (spoiler alert, I guess, spoiler alert for everything on my blog all the time) going after Tom Binns for a while, earning every bit of that edgy material (edgy, to be clear, just because it's an intense topic to bring up - he didn't try edgily defending him or anything) by being very funny about it.

He hung out somewhere in the general vicinity (not nearly as far, but the vicinity is still impressive) of Dan Rath levels of presenting himself as a fucked up low status character (though it didn't seem like a that much of a character). I remember seeing someone compare his stuff to Frankie Boyle once, which I think is apt, though more personal than I've heard Frankie Boyle get, and obviously not as developed in the craft, but it was that level of dark. I also think Chortle robbed him, with only 3.5 stars, given some of the stuff that's got 4. I'm just relieved that he was good. I got so invested in the idea of him being good, based on so little. Picked one non-famous comedian, several years ago, to decide I bet that guy is good, based on about 8 minutes of the TV show Roast Battle. And it was by no means a guarantee that I'd like him. I feel like this blog must make it seem as though I like pretty much all comedy because I mainly write about stuff I like. When in fact I hear or see plenty of comedy that I dislike, I just try not to be a dick about it online too often. So I'm glad this wasn't like that, because I really hate being wrong.

Then I ran off to the other side of the castle for the first time, to see Natalie Palamides at the Traverse Theatre. This was one I booked because it seemed important to take the opportunity to see in person while I can. I've seen her previous shows - Laid and Nate - on video, and I liked them, could see they were very good, but I also knew I was missing parts of it, because it doesn't translate fully to film, and I just don't have the theatre kid background to appreciate that level of clowning. Also the puppet in Dave freaked me out. I don't like puppets. Also, you know, nudity. Sex scenes (only with puppets). Artistic violence. It left me feeling weird and uncomfortable and wanting to curl up into a ball, in a sort of good but probably overall more bad way. But that left me feeling like I should try harder to develop the ability to appreciate this sort of thing. And I think it's the sort of thing that really needs to be experienced live.

So I went to see Weer live, and I had a great time. It was so much fun, probably helped that the subject matter was lighter, at least at first. More nudity (spoiler alert, I guess, for all of this, in the unlikely event that anyone planning to see Natalie Palamides is reading this) but I was prepared this time! Managed to not turn into quite such a prudish teacher from a movie, at the sight of a body displayed in the name of art. I mean it was still weird, but not quite such a shock as I'd seen it before. The violence was a bit more difficult, but it very quickly got too absurd to be scary. And the puppet stuff was mercifully extremely short.

Otherwise, I thought it was incredibly impressive. I don't have the theatre knowledge to really understand how impressive it was, but I can still recognize something really cool and incredibly complicated done very well. It was fun, it made me laugh, I could not believe the number of (literal and figurative) layers that went into it. It was very, very cool to see, definitely worth taking the chance to go in person.

So that was my day yesterday. Woke up early this morning and thought I'd go through the day. About to go back to town for my last day of shows. Which is fine, I'm not feeling any predictable rising anxiety that the only thing I've been looking forward to for a year is almost over. It's okay, I'll have another little bit in London after this and that's nice as meeting my London friend in person has been one of the best parts of this, sorry that's a weird thing to say given that he reads this. But it's hardly the most overly personal thing I've ever communicated via a Tumblr post because I don't know how to actually talk to people. Except Tom Ballard, I did a great job of talking to him.

And aside from talking to Tom Ballard, yesterday was a slower day for comedian spotting, which was probably for the best (talking to Tom wasn't so much comedian "spotting", as comedian "awkwardly waiting around until everyone else had left after his show"). Jordan Brookes was in the audience at Sarah Keyworth's show. And here's a left-field one - Dominic Maxwell, the dick from The Times who once called Andy Zaltzman "[John Oliver's] left-behind sidekick", was in Natalie Palamides' show making notes for a review. Which I only know because she called attention to that when giving him an audience participation part, she turned it into something quite funny.

Okay, now I'm going into town for the last day. I've saved some of the established Fringe veterans for last - Seymour Mace, Mark Watson, David O'Doherty. Mat Ewins, another one where I thought it important to take the chance to see in oerson since he doesn't translate to recordings well. I didn't divide it up this way intentionally, but the identity-based demographic diversity of my Fringe schedule looks a lot better if you leave out the last day.

[zahri-melitor]

Casspoll!

Okay I really had to think about this one and I quickly dipped into the runs I have not touched yet rather than just using their reputations:

Kelley Puckett – It’s Puckett. He created Cass. Some of her very best stories happened here – the first two Shiva fights, delivering a man’s final wishes, Nobody Dies Tonight, Thicker than Water. The absolute heart that Cass cannot allow people to be killed hits hard here. She’s still learning about what a society is.

Dylan Horrocks takes Cass and her growth and lets her mess up and brings Bruce and Barbara more into conflict over what Cass needs, but also allows Cass to be in conflict with them over what she wants. It has the Ivy twofer “The City is a Garden/The City is a Jungle” which I think is Horrocks’ best plot. It has Tough Love, where Bruce and Cass have their conversation over what the Bat means to Cass. It has Cooking the Books, where we see the abrasive side of Barbara’s personality come out and hurt her relationship with Cass. It has Cass taking her first steps into relationships, with her attraction to Tai’Darshan and Kon. It’s a messier, more complicated time.

Andersen Gabrynch has the best conversation of Fresh Blood with Tim over their life goals and their reflections on War Games. He has Destruction’s Daughter/Blood Matters and everything that comes with the culmination of that storyline. He gives Cass her first taste of civilian life. Gabrynch is the ‘how far will Cass go’ writer.

Adam Beechen: you’re all mean! Oh Beechen. He screwed up first time around, no question, but I continue to maintain he did useful things with Cass in Batgirl 2008. He brought in the chance to parallel Slade and Rose’s relationship with David and Cass’. He worked hard to find fixes for the mistakes he made. And if Fresh Blood set up the situation where we saw Tim and Cass become closer and start establishing a sibling-like relationship, then Beechen solidified it to the point that it was expected from that point onwards.

Joe Kelly: oh, Justice League Elite. You are certainly a story. I think the most important thing Kelly actually did in JLE was when Cass stabbed Kendra. It broke her. There is some beautiful writing in JLE surrounding Cass basically sobbing to Bruce over this incident, and Bruce promising her that she doesn’t have to stay undercover, he’ll pull her out, her happiness is more important to him than this mission, and Cass refusing to be extracted. And Ollie remaining there the whole time to keep an eye on Cass on Bruce’s behalf. It’s such a good paternal moment on both Bruce and Ollie’s parts, and they so very rarely get them in concert. It’s also a moment of growth in Cass that is rarely referenced, because as I must repeat, it happens in JUSTICE LEAGUE ELITE.

Bryan Hill: I have heard good things! And immediately on picking it up and going through the first three issues I saw the exact thing I’d enjoyed and wanted more of from Dixon’s 2008 BatO run – Tatsu working with and mentoring Cass – which is a solid recommendation in itself. Will 100% be coming back to this when I get up to this era in my reading.

Becky Cloonan and Michael Conrad: I dipped into #1 and #14. It suffers from the modern era problem of light and bright fluffy content without a solid base behind it. Also the fact that the writers didn’t initially realise that two of the characters they were assigned were ADULTS and were writing them that immaturely is certainly not reassuring. Um. I also know I’m not fully across modern era Cass yet, but #14 seems to miss something that’s basic to my understanding of Cass – talking can be hard but READING is harder. Cass not talking but having reading comprehension showing up constantly? It feels off. (Also I’m fascinated in how an issue like Batgirls #1 manages to be that off while still managing the Cass shower robe scene, which to my eye echoes and references the BatO 2008 Cass shower scene. Suspect they just got lucky and I’m reading too much in)

Mariko Tamaki: okay I have not yet read Shadows of the Bat: The Tower, but I have read Sounds, so I’m basing on that. Tamaki really seems to get Cass, her hand with the character work in Sounds hit some very fundamental parts of Cass’ character and struggles, and I really enjoyed it.

Overlooked: ALYSSA WONG. Wong’s work with Cass in Spirit World not only has been busy recanonising a bunch of things from Batgirl 2000, but is touching on some central aspects of Cass’s view of killing and death in beautiful resonance of things originally established by Puckett. Also it’s given Cass some narrative space back on her own, and while I think Cass’s relationship with Steph is important, I also think she’s more functional and useful to DC writers when she’s not assumed to be part of an automatic pair.

Plus a plug for Scott Snyder for Gates of Gotham and giving us proper insight into the Reborn era Cass relationships with her brothers.

[ghost-proofbaby]

I'm gonna cheat because I don't listen to TS but you know how much I love our pair from Maroon. can you tell us which of her newest songs you most associate with them right now. any tidbits you feel like sharing

^ it's me pleading for special treatment because I love you

abi babe i will always give you infinite special treatment always. however i apologize for how long this is because, uh, this is the couple who i specifically think dominates my brain while listening to TTPD.

i've already covered "I Can Do It With a Broken Heart", so that one 100%.

besides that, though...

Down Bad. the entire premise of the song being compared to being abducted by aliens and when you're returned to earth being like "actually i liked it better up there take me back" as a metaphor for love feels very much like when you had a good relationship, something you expected to last forever, and it just gets taken from you. however, to spice things up - i think it works better applied to how eddie feels. the whole 'fuck it if i can't have him' is exactly how he feels as he's completely destroying himself in the aftermath. and just for fun, so you don't necessarily have to listen to the songs if you don't feel like it my love, i'm adding the specific lines from each song that i feel apply the most.

"how dare you think it's romantic, to leave me safe and stranded? 'cause fuck it, i was in love. so fuck you, if i can't have us."

^ it applies to both reader/sugar and eddie. first half feels very her, because he left her behind to not risk exposing her to a life that had begun to decay him. but second half feels very him cause... fuck it, ya know?

So Long, London. this one is about just being sad and mad about the end of a relationship, and that's where both eddie and sugar still are mentally. to build something so sacred up only to watch it be burned down by the other person. sugar is far angrier than eddie, though, since she's not really taken the time to work through how she feels with the end of it all.

"i didn't opt in to be your odd man out. i founded the club she's heard great things about. i left all i knew, you left me at the house by the heath. i stopped cpr - after all, it's no use."

also.... honorable mentions to the entire goddamn bridge, but specifically "you swore that you loved me, but where were the clues?" and "i'm just mad as hell 'cause i loved this place for so long"

I Can Fix Him (No Really I Can). it's a bit of a spoiler, and a bit of a reach, but i think it's a good perspective from the others looking in. the media, but also specifically corroded coffin. this really only applies to post break-up them story-wise, too. he's wrecked himself, destroyed all that he was, and sugar is the only one seeming capable of bringing him back to what he once was.

"i can fix him - no, really, i can. and only i can."

loml. i guess what i'm saying is basically every single song where taylor got very vulnerable and terribly sad about the end of an important/long relationship. this one speaks for itself quite a bit because of the theme of the guy saying "you're the love of my life" repeatedly, only to leave. which is exactly what eddie did, in the grand scheme of things. and taking it a step further? the small implications of a breakup and attempt at rekindling? yeah, yeah that's them alright, your honor.

"who's gonna stop us from waltzing back into rekindled flames, if we know the steps anyway?"

^ literally what they are doing as we speak ^

The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived. this one i would mostly apply to all of sugar/reader's anger pre-reunion. that anger of a man who simply ghosts you. she didn't let herself feel the 'breakup' much, but she did go through some of the stages of grief - and she got stuck at anger.

"you kicked out stage lights, but you're still performing. and in plain sight, you hid. but you are what you did."

^ all his self-destruction when she sees it at surface level :) just seeing him as doing nothing more than throwing a tantrum :)

this is getting a bit out of hand now, but when it comes to the double album bit, there's even more. i don't want to bore you to death so i'm just going to list those songs but. yeah. this album felt very maroon coded to me. the losing and the anger and the sadness and the clinging to what once was. should've expected it, in all fairness.

from THE ANTHOLOGY, i'd say that 'the black dog', 'chloe or sam or sophia or marcus', 'how did it end?', 'i look in people's windows', 'the prophecy', 'peter', and 'the manuscript' are the ones that fit best for maroon. some are a stretch, some it's solely based off of one line that i couldn't get over, and some i just simply think it's the vibes. a true matter of the illness that is "they're my blurbos so i'll apply whatever song i want to them".

i'm sure we'll see a few of these as chapter titles going forward, including the anthology ones, so that'll probably be when i dig in a little deeper about specific lyrics. or when i post ominous music posts.

anyways if you made it to the end (especially you abi) i love you so fucking much and thank you for enjoying my absolutely insane ted talk i just basically did on how TTPD is very very sugar x eddie coded <3