#i do think the fact that the fandom is pretty young plays a role

[notmoreflippingelves]

EoA for ask meme

otp: *coughs* Elena/Esteban. sorry not sorry.Look if they didn't want me to be unhinged about them, they shouldn't have spent an entire season soulmate-coding them and then capping it off with a BATB homage.

favourite canon pairing: ymmv on how canon it is, but considering it was pretty strongly teased in the series finale, Julio/Doña Paloma. I do find Carla/Mateo pretty cute as well.

worst pairing ever: I wouldn't say any of the pairings for the show are bad. It's just a lot of them don't particularly interest me. I could say Elena/Mateo, because personally I find it overrrated and I'm already gonna talk about it later. But I am going to go with Esteban/Doña Paloma.

I did actually kind of ship it the first time I watched the show...right up until the episode where their AU selves got married. And even though the whole point of "to Queen or Not to Queen" is that everything is absurd and everyone is wildly out-of-character (especially the two of them), they just seemed so miserable together and I couldn't unsee it. I also find it kind of annoying that Paloma is treated as sort of the default "acceptable" Esteban shipping option for people who don't want to pair him with OCs. And just...it's fine and I understand why many people would feel uncomfortable shipping him with certain characters (even if I don't)...but like...Victor is also right there. And honestly, I'm able to get a lot of the same vibes that I initially liked about esteoma out of estevictor, esteban/naomi, gaberico, and Julio/ Paloma---plus just I find those dynamics are more interesting in general.

guilty pleasure pairing: It used to be estebalena, but now, I have much less shame over it. It helps that I really only see it happening in S3 or later and that I hc that Elena would be the much more dominant/instigating partner in the relationship. I mean I guess Shuriki/Esteban is the obvious answer. But it is worth noting that I don't like it when it's genuine/mutual/romantic. I only like esteriki in the noncon/dubcon "Shuriki abusing her power" sense. So my guilty pleasure ship is less Shuriki/Esteban and more "Esteban/severe Shuriki-related trauma that leads to extreme woobification." I want him sad and pretty and haunted by the Dark Times™ so that he can have allll the angst, whump and hurt/comfort.

a pairing you want to see more: Literally every ship that isn't just some permutation of the Four Amigos. There are so many great characters in this ship that can be paired in so many interesting ways, but they rarely get acknowledged. I think I am particularly baffled by the lack of m/m in this fandom, since it's like the complete opposite of every other fandom ever. There's a bit of Mateo/Gabe, but honestly, it's positively dwarfed by other pairings for the amigos. (Also I don't care about Mateo, lol). There's also a criminally small bit of Gabe/Rico, but there could be so much more.

But honestly, the ship that I am genuinely baffled isn't more popular and really really want to see more of is Victor/Esteban. Like it just seems like a no-brainer to me. It has so many tropes that people normally go feral over. Childhood friends to lovers? Enemies to Lovers? Foe yay? Mutual redemption arcs? There isn't even an age difference and Victor's marriage is all-but-over. So, what is stopping people? I've seen at most a handful of ambiguously romantic ship art and not a single fic. Where is it? Where is the estevictor? Give me the estevictor!

that pairing everyone likes but you’re like “lol no” : Elena/Mateo. I mean I get why it's so popular given the popularity and attractiveness of both characters. But personally, I just don't find them interesting. I feel they both have better chemistry and interesting potential with other characters than they do with each other. And its popularity within the fandom certainly doesn't help, as my little contrarian hipster brain turns its nose up about 90% of fandom juggernaut pairings. Plus, I just don't care enough about Mateo to care about a ship with him. He's casually cute with Carla and I can see him with Gabe as well. But otherwise, nope. Don't like him enough to care who he's shipped with.

favorite non-romantic pair: There are a bunch of dynamics that I do ship sometimes (or more than sometimes) but I also love platonically. (Esteban & Elena, Elena & Naomi, Esteban & Naomi, Naomi & Gabe, Elena & Gabe, Elena & Valentina, Elena & Marisa, Chloe & Maliga, Cacahuate & Bobo, various permutations of "Team Isa"). But in terms of pairings that I only view platonically, either Victor & Carla or Isabel & Elena.

[nthspecialll]

The fandom glorifies Arthur Morgan

Now I am not talking about about low honor, I play high honor and got it as the top at the end of every damn playthrough but my Arthur, as it is the cannon Arthur, is not a good guy. I am not going to talk about all of the murder, robbing and stuff he does, because we are majorly aware of it, I am talking his sexism, casual ignorance and disrespecfulness.

I quite often see people say that Arthur Morgan is a woman lover, and he definitely is, he is better than a lot of men from that time (which isn't hard), but he would not hold up in modern times, because he is not from modern times.

Generally speaking, Arthur Morgan is a man who believes in gender roles, he believes in the idea of "a man being a man" and "a woman being a woman." He has opinions about what a woman should do and what a man should do.

I think the biggest hint at this is his relationship with Sadie, because while he accepts her running with the boys he doesn't seem entirely happy about it. "You got a pair of pants and all of a sudden you think you're Landon Ricketts?" "You want to ruuuunnnn with the men?" and also "can Ms Grimshaw spare you?" when the girls asks if they can come to Valentine with him.

Talking of that quest, when he runs off to get Jimmy Brooks he puts Uncle, a lazy old bastard, in charge of getting the girls home even though they are more than capable of doing it themselves as they are healthy young women who knows how to handle horses.

In several antagonize lines against women performers (which are just as cannon as his greet lines) he shouts things like "That isn't very ladylike!" or "Go back to the kitchen" and "go make someone supper."

People keep saying Arthur would "treat them right" and he would, to an extent, he would care for you, he would be nice to you, but he would force those gender roles. He does have a belief women are somehow "softer" and that he as a person with a provider gene should do more of the harsh work.

So now we covered that, lets talk about the racism, or as I probably should rather call it, ignorance, because it is very commonly know Arthur does not judge by the color of skin.

The first one is that Arthur uses the whites-only saloon in Rhodes. Tilly mentions it to Arthur that they don't allow people of color into it, and yet he still supports it, it isn't a big thing but it is something of notice.

Secondly, when he talks to Eagle Flies where he "sets him in his place" Arthur, honey, you are so wrong here. Eagle Flies is being chased by the government for the mere fact that he exists with a different culture, you are being chased because you murdered so many folks, you can run across the sea and live a good life, they are fucked regardless.

When we first arrive in Lemoyne, Lenny and Arthur talks about the Lemoyne Raiders about racism and Arthur says "These boys got a manner about them but I haven't particularly noticed," Arthur of course you wouldn't, you are a tall, muscular, white man with sun kissed hair and blue eyes, you are the poster boy for eugenics.

Lastly, which will also bring me to the third point, the casual disrespect:

Arthur causally calling Javier a slur on the boat for no reason, did you really need that one-liner so badly? That goes for a lot of times in the game such as: "are you secretly normal" "what a lunatic" "we should find a better story for that scar" "But you continue to irritate me, I will kill you and make my appologies to the lady" "stick around and you might die for her as well" "oh I didn't know I was talking to a lady." All those were a slight bit disrespectful, enough to be able to annoy the majority of us if he said it to us, and they were also unnecessary.

He is also canonically chronically late, most notably we can hear Sean saying "that man will be late to his own funeral," and when you go around antagonizing characters in camp they are not surprised at all, rather they go "back at it again huh?"

All of this is just to sum up, Arthur is a pretty bad man (also counting in all the illegal stuff) and we tend to glorify him and forget some of these things, partly is also because Rockstar are amazing at hiding them, at making them seem natural, and they are because this is a historically accurate game! It is set in 1899 and this is a man from 1899 he is going to be casually sexist and disrespectful, and again, considering that he is from 1899 he is a decent guy because the majority of folk would be like Micah, not Arthur.

I definitely love Arthur, and I love Arthur exactly because the point of his character is him not being a saint but a human. His redemption is choosing to do good where he can, but even so, this is a man in 1899 and he is going to have a 1899 mindset. If you want to play a game that is set in the past but don't have that type of accuracy it is not Red Dead you want to play.

Also here is an Arthur pic as a thank you for reading all of that. I love him.

[bonefall]

This is a genuine question! Would Moonpaw in your world be Intersex? And how would the clans view it? I worry due to how in canon, the clans can seem...sexist towards female cats, and I don’t know how they'd react to a intersex cat.

BB!Moonpaw is going to be intersex yes

It's actually seen as very special! Clan culture's concept of gender is Trinary. There are THREE genders, and none of them match completely to the US/UK's concept of gender roles.

1. "Woman"/Molly/Yaow.

Given to AFAB cats by default. This gender is expected to have an active, argumentative role in the Clan. They are socialized to have a domineering and active role in their personal relationships, while also doing the emotional and physical labor of taking care of their camp and kits.

The "Bailey" to a tomcat's "Motte." They are supposed to be the secondary, smarter, more deadly line of defense against threats.

2. "Man"/Tom/Ssuf.

Given to AMAB cats by default. This gender is expected to be passive but protective, giving ground to a molly or a gib who "understands the nuances of camp better." They're socialized to spend more time out of the camp and do more hunting and patrolling than their counterparts.

The gender is named for the sound of spraying, as marking territory is what Ssuf cats are most associated with.

In these genders, being trans is more normalized than not living according to the roles. They have a different idea of being queer compared to us!

"Third Gender"/Gib/Meewa.

This doesn't translate into English very well. We would call it nonbinary by our standards, but this is a full gender role to Clan cats.

Gibs can be assigned at birth when they display sacred signs, such as closely resembling a dead nyams, having extra claws, being perfectly identical twins, or having intersex traits. It is a role associated with wisdom, conflict resolution, and long-term planning.

They are often socialized to be more intuitive and spiritual, but from a young age they might get given more responsibility than they're ready for. Especially if they're silver or gray, a color associated with wisdom.

I usually keep using the pronouns from canon because of 1. Simplicity since the whole fandom is used to them, 2. The fact that Clanmew doesn't use gendered pronouns anyway, and 3. It helps keep my xey/xem drops more special. But a LOT of cats are actually meewa in-universe.

Gray Wing the Wise

Yellowfang

Deadfoot

Ashfoot

Whitestorm

Spottedleaf

Blackstar

Waspwhisker/star

Duckfur

Kestrelflight

Cinderheart

Poppyfrost

Jayfeather

Dovewing

Shadowsight

There are also cats who have transitioned away from being Meewa. This is how both Hazeltail and Mousewhisker, identical twins, are transfem and transmasc respectively. I am planning for Frostpaw to ALSO transition out of the meewa gender, she will be transfem.

So Moonpaw, with xeir half-moon face, intersex traits, and connection to the moonpool? That is a DEAD RINGER for a meewa-gendered gib. The only thing she's missing is any amount of gray. I am going to use She/Xey for her going foward.

(I can see her receiving something silvery as a gift someday. Probably from one of her parents-- I'm currently leaning towards FlipBay or ShellFern PRETTY hard, and Flipclaw or Fernstripe would do something like that I think.)

(Fern would be more of a trader though I think. I feel like she's not very dexterous, but WICKED smart. Flip is discovering a talent for toymaking.)

This is actually a part of BB's Clan Culture reworks I play a lot more loosely than other bits, but it's still a lot of fun!

[ongicloud]

I wanted to go on a bit of a ramble about Misa so like

I've been seeing this sentiment recently about people expressing frustration over people ignoring Misa's wrongdoings and painting her as an innocent angel who never did any wrong. And you are all correct to point out the fact that yes, she very much DID do things wrong. The sentiment that she is pure and innocent is very much factually incorrect. She DID stalk Light and coerce her into dating him. She killed people. I just wanted to throw in my two cents on her real quick.

BUT I also want to point out that I kind of see people's love for her as almost a rebellion against the early days of the fandom. As a shonen series, a lot of the content and discussions around it were being had by anime dudebros. To add on, we KNOW how bad Ohba is about writing women. How many sexist undertones there are in all of his work. He himself has admitted with no shame that he cannot write women. (Which as a professional author should make you feel shame tbh but I digress)

When I was first getting into the fandom, Misa was pretty widely disliked as a character. The people that did like her were very much sexualizing her. The sentiment was that she was a dumb blonde bimbo unworthy amongst the genius of Light and L. There was SO much bashing of her. That came from fans that weren't the typical dudebro as well. This was peak shaming girly "shallow" girls era. The not like other girls era. I think this definitely played a role in at least some fans, now that the fandom is more chill, latching onto her as she was definitely treated pretty badly and people wanted to avenge her. Or people wised up more and thought more critically about her as a character. I think over time, that protectiveness over her, along with the somewhat humorous nature of it, morphed into the "uwu she did nothing wrong" narrative.

Additionally, I kinda have some thoughts on her as a character. I am not excusing her bad actions, maybe moreso rambling about my understanding of them.

She witnessed her family being murdered. This is stated to have happened a year before the series starts, so she was like? 16? 17? Understandably a very traumatic experience. She had to see the killer being allowed to walk free, her word, her testimony, not mattering. The man who took everything from her was allowed to walk with no repercussion while she had to live with that trauma. When Kira (aka Light) killed that man, avenged her family, it is understandable that she would form this odd parasocial relationship with him. She was mentally unstable enough to start with, griefstruck and seeing Kira as the one who helped her gain some faith in the world again.

To add onto that, she was also stalked by an obsessed fan, who after being rejected, was going to kill her. She was only saved by the sacrifice of Gelus, thus gaining the death note herself.

I see her as not an innocent angel who did nothing wrong, but as a deeply damaged young woman who had no agency in the world before this. Being hurt by multiple men, living in Japanese society which we know isn't very supportive of women in general. She finally gained some power, a way to protect herself in this world. And she saw the person, who helped her at her darkest, unbeknownst to himself, as her saviour.

Yes, she was absolutely not in the right for starting to kill people, yes she was absolutely wrong for stalking Light and forcing him to date her. I just wanted to ramble about her a little bit and give my silly little thoughts on her. I love her as a character, I can see WHY she is why she is. And it is absolutely okay to dislike her for those things! It is absolutely okay to criticize her actions because they are not okay. And yes I also believe her character missed a lot of the depth some of the other characters had simply because she was written by a misogynistic author. When I say she deserves better, I mean that she deserved MUCH better writing. But also Light is NOT innocent in their relationship either. I hope we can all still agree on that.

[mamawasatesttube]

Hello, I'm pretty new to the Superboy fandom. Can I ask you this question:

This part on his Wikipedia page caught my attention.

Do you know the instances (issues, panels, lines, etc) where Kon-el expresses that he doesn't want to be considered Superman's sidekick or similar sentiments?

I would really like to understand more about his feelings regarding his role in relation to Superman and his feelings toward the big man himself.

Thank you, and I apologize if any part of my ask sounds rude to you.

hoookay this is probably gonna be a bit of a doozy but i'll try and keep it concise!!!

first of all, rec-wise, you're probably gonna wanna read the entirety of "reign of the supermen" and "the return of superman". which is a lot, i know, but there's so much going on there that it's honestly hard for me to pick and choose any single issue out of it that would make sense as a standalone.

so at first, before clark himself comes back on the scene, we get things like the classic "don't ever call me 'superboy!'" panel as well as things like this:

where it's clear that kon sees himself as superman, the "real" superman. he does also acknowledge that he's young and he needs to learn to be and do better, as when john henry irons tells him he needs to accept responsibility for his showboating causing frank the helicopter pilot's death, so it's not like he's a full-on arrogant jackass about being the best already, but at this point "superman" is his entire identity. he's not shy about the fact that he's a clone, either; he tells lois, and later, everyone in metropolis via tv, that he is a kryptonian clone and obviously not the og superman himself, but he's still insistent that he is superman.

a fun side note here: this is actually before the retcon that kon was a human with a metagene, so he is actually a full clone of superman!

in fact that's part of why lois knows something is up with cyborg superman in the wake of the destruction of coast city. it's not entirely relevant to the question of their relationship except that it IS my favorite interpretation and also i think it adds a particular flavor to kon's relationship to superman as the gold standard he was made to achieve, the model he was made to emulate.

"Superman... the first Superman... didn't let Doomsday trash his town... and I won't let these creeps rip it down!"

superman is his role model in every way. he respects him a lot even in death and wants to be as much like him as he can. at this point kon's definitely a hotheaded and easily-distracted kid, but he's also all of three weeks old, so...

"Ripping free of this trap would be child's play for Superman... but I'm his clone, aren't I?"

so we can see from early on kon definitely ties his sense of self and his sense of self-worth to "how am i measuring up to superman?" that's a recurring theme we'll see with him over and over.

by the end of the fight with hank henshaw, kon has fully accepted that superman's back and is The OG:

"Check that, Blondie. I'm not Superman. That guy's Superman! The one and only!"

after this we get the "actually a human clone with a ttk metagene" retcon and kon's departure for hawaii:

he leaves for two primary reasons: a) to make a name for himself because he wants to be worthy of the superboy/superman mantle and the s-shield, and b) because editorial wanted superboy to be its own separate title. he thinks the world of superman and wants to make him proud, essentially, while also maintaining his independence.

(clark is also around and interacting him during that retcon arc but i'm a little tired and don't wanna go hunt down any more panels right now, so ... that's for another day.)

and then of course there's superboy (1994) #59, where kon actually gets the name kon-el, something incredibly meaningful to both him and clark:

in summary: kon really, really looks up to clark. he wants to be worthy of his trust and often berates himself when he feels like he's not being enough like superman. his strong drive for independence is part of that: he wants to be totally independent and capable on his own, just like superman.

[nightwingsfleas]

So this is what I have so far on the Dean Winchester character analysis it's a bit all over because I wrote it while on the bud home but I'm writing it in a notebook of mine in a more clear and organized way then gonna re type it once I get it done

Also if you guys don't mind pls add your own character analysis of your own or just things you've noticed during the series because I really don't wanna mischaracterize him and accidentally make him into a complete different person especially since Dean's whole character is literally so important to me

Also I don't want anyone to think I'm gonna excuse the bad things Dean has done to Sam, Cas, and also Jack. I wanna include the fact that he isn't that great of a person and i still wanna hold him accountable for all the bad things he has done throughout the series

How Dean Winchester is. Given the parental role and also the more “women” or ‘feminin’ role in the series and also by the fandom.

Firstly we will talk about the fact that from a very young age (four years old) when his mother died in the fire he was the one to grab Sam from his crib and ran out of the house while his father stayed back. We see this in the very first episode and was also mentioned in one of the later seasons, growing up he was given the parental role because John (the father) was to busy with ‘grieving” his dead wife to the point that he threw himself and his family into the hunter life leave Dean and Sam to grow up on the road with no real home, they stayed in dirty old motels and barely had money to live off of, you can see this by the fact that they never had Christmas and I know that’s not a very ‘big deal’ BUT the fact that Dean had to sneak off and steal from a random home to give Sam some type of Christmas and also the fact that Dean was arrested for stealing some peanut butter bread and then was sent to Sunny’s home or wayward boys. There was also hints that Dean barley ever got to eat and often have his food to Sam so he wouldn’t go hungry at night, I don’t know if it was ever actually mentioned but it was hinted in episodes where Dean would have flashbacks or it was hinted, you can also notice this with how Dean eats his food, it’s more animalistic and rushed while Sam eats more calmer and also less, that is because Sam never had to really worry because Dean always fed him but Dean never knew when his next meal was so I believe it is a trauma response. Another trauma response is also is his savior complex, in the show we often see Dean more concern for Sam then himself and and could also be a readily for his own self destructive tendencies but we’ll talk about that later- since Dean has taken care of Sam his whole life Dean took on the parental role naturally and also started to relaty on Sam to be there constantly because Sam is his only constant figure in his life much how Dean is Sam’s only constant figure as well. Why is Sam and Dean each others only constant figure even tho they both have John tho? Well that is because John wasn’t the parental figure they needed. They only could rely on each other and no one else, sure they had Bobby but they don’t show him much in their flashback so I don’t know how much of a role he had in their childhood because he only really shows up more in their adult life, I do belive Bobby was there in their childhood because we see Bobby and Dean playing catch in season 7 when Bobby dies but that’s pretty much the only scene we get with Bobby and younger Dean every other scene is when Dean is a adult, so that makes me belive even more that Sam was deans only constant and the same with Dean for Sam. Now, about the savior complex, there are multiple examples of Dean wanting to risk his life for same and wanting to ‘save’ Sam for example

•Dean welling his soul in season 1 to same Sam

• Dean wanting to save Sam from ruby and his demon blood addiction

•Dean wanting to say yes to Michel

•Dean trying to get rid of the mark of Cain

•Giving himself up to Amra

•Even giving his own childhood up for Sam

Etc (look up more of deans self scarification)

We also see Deans self destructive tendencies by the fact he pushes people away, him being a alcoholic, him hiding his own traumas and emotions resulting him to have break downs or out bursts of rage because that was what he grew up on. He never learned how to let his anger out in normal healthy ways I believe that was because of John and how he was raised because we constantly see John being abusive and taking his anger out of Dean.

Again this is super all over the place but that’s because it’s still the rough draft I’m planing on rewriting all of this to make more sense and also I still wanna add more things to this as will because There’s so much more I wanna talk about but just can’t put it in words exactly

[angelflms]

talked about it on insta and ima do it here because i know xolo fans are so excited about this recent insider that just dropped but i have been a part of the mcu fandom for way too long and i know how things go:

TAKE THE NOVA NEWS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT.

here's some facts about this whole thing that contradicts this announcement (not saying the casting is wrong or that it's impossible but it's very unlikely):

- xolo is under a current DCU contract with warner. marvel doesn't fuck with actors who are working with the competition (his voice acting work for moon girl and devil dinosaur doesn't count as it wasn't for the MCU and he did it before being cast as jaime)

- xolo is heavily rumored and hinted at to be playing ace for once piece on netflix

- the insider said filming starts in feb 2025

- kevin feige, the marvel studios president JUST announced that the nova project is gonna be in three to four years time

- so timing doesn't make sense

now there's some elements to this that can be true. glenn close and john c reliy's characters ARE probably gonna be in the project considering their connection to the cosmic world of the MCU (and close literally playing nova prime) BUT that's the only thing from the insider i personally believe.

xolo can still possibly be cast in the show. that can still be a thing. he could be sam alexander but again i highly doubt it. he could make an appearance as a live action, aged-up version of his character in moon girl and devil dinosaur as his character could fit into the world of nova pretty well (idk enough about his character to know if he's a character created just for that show or if he's in the comics), being that he is a kree alien.

now i have been wrong before about many announcements. and there can be a lot of ways we can find out if things are true but rn, i'd say that these rumors are just that: rumors. now they may not be outta nowhere. BUT the filming date is definitely wrong imo. casting could be true but i again don't think xolo can be in the mcu, one piece, AND the dcu all at once, especially if they need his characters to come in at whatever time they need him for. that would be way too straining for one actor, let alone one so young. i don't wanna crush anyone's spirit but that's a lot when you think of it.

now there have been castings of my favs that i thought were very unlikely just because i thought the universe would be too kind but did work out. big example being hailee steinfeld as kate bishop and joe locke as "teen" (billy allegedly) rn. and at the time of their castings, hailee already did spider-verse and joe filmed heartstopper so an actor being in the MCU and a netflix project isn't too far fetched.

but dc, marvel, and netflix while playing prominent roles that are gonna make many appearances that we have no confirmation about is wild. bc if so, that means he would be in multiple seasons of one piece, allegedly the teen titans movie, the blue beetle animated series, the nova show, any possible future guardians/cosmic/kree-related project, and that avengers two parter project, not to include lending his voice to the smurfs movie that he was announced in as well. all within a span of a couple of years. and let's not forget the crazy routines marvel has you do like idk.

xolo as sam isn't crazy. and i wanna see him in the show. but it just seems highly unlikely. but i'll wait until feige or deadline confirms it (or any of my trusted mcu insider accounts i follow since none of them have posted about it)

if he does pull all of that off though... i'm MARRYING the bitch.

[utilitycaster]

Is it just me or are some of the more intense Imaudna folk…kind of mirroring Imogen’s over-defensiveness of Liliana? Or at least uncritically accepting Imogen’s assessment of her, without acknowledging her “bias”? (as we are now apparently calling the characters’ family - so K-pop of us)

I’m not saying she’s a terrible mother - she’s literary moving heaven and earth for Imogen [and herself] - but she’s helping bring about what could be an apocalyptic event, on the off-chance that it could relieve them of their powers.

And I get why people wanna ignore that in favor of Imogen reuniting with her Mom and building a relationship with her. But it’s frustrating when you remember that some of the people her Mom has fucked over include Kiki and the Ashari (not just Orym) and that she’s working with a guy that allowed Trent’s abuse of Caleb, who Beau has spent years working to take down, and we still don’t know what’s happened to those two.

Again - shades of gray, and we all love villains and complicated, messy women. But it’s quite the slice of cognitive dissonance to see fandom *really* pile on Fearne’s parents for abandoning her (especially when it was only six years as far as they knew), but even after she’s party to nearly murdering Kiki, we shouldn’t be assuming the worst of Liliana?

(Just read this back and…I don’t think some these Imaudna fans are actually Marisha fans)

I don't think it's mirroring Imogen, per se. Or rather, I think this is all part of the larger trend I've touched upon for some time: there are a segment of shippers with absolutely no empathy for or generosity towards anything that interferes with the ship. Ideally, they'd like to also support Imogen and Laudna as individuals; but even then the ship comes before the characters. As you said, they're not really Marisha - or Laudna - or for that matter Imogen or Laura fans. They're fans of them playing characters who are in a relationship together.

When Imogen was upset with Laudna for breaking the gnarlrock, there was a pretty prevalent attitude of "but it wasn't LAUDNA's fault, so why is Imogen upset, that's unfair" even though the rock is still broken and it happened when it was in Laudna's possession and, frankly, had Imogen not given the rock to Laudna, she'd still have it. In retrospect this has gotten even more wild, because since then, they've leaned very far into the negative effects Imogen experiences as a result of her powers as an argument as to why she's allowed to do whatever she wants, but at the time if you pointed out Imogen found relief from the rock and is justified in having an emotional response, you were met with screams of HOW DARE YOU BE MEAN TO LAUDNA. This hypocrisy is of course tied into the lack of empathy, because said lack of empathy rests on granting infinite grace to those who support or even merely recognize the ship, no matter their other actions (eg: Otohan), and dismissing the feelings of anyone else.

When Laudna died, it was a pretty common attitude among Imogen and Laudna shippers (I would say Laudna fans, but quite honestly almost every post grieving her was just as much about the ship as the character) that Orym would have been happy to have remained dead because he was a widower. This is a horrifying mentality to have - people's partners do die young, and most people choose to continue living - and was also notably untrue based on Liam's statements both in and out of game. You'll notice that "Orym doesn't want to die and felt like this was a massive failure" on 4SD never took off, but "Orym can't be objective" on 4SD has been blown to ludicrous proportions that show a stunning lack of understanding of like...basic human emotions and their role in decision-making. Because there's no consistency except The Ship.

When the party went to Whitestone, and Percy was in fact played as someone with very complicated and layered feelings about death and dying, and who was not going to change his developed principles for a stranger, he was lambasted. The fact that Delilah Briarwood is just as responsible for his trauma - repeatedly so, she was the architect of both his family's murder and the reason why Vecna achieved godhood, she's literally why his brother-in-law is dead, the Briarwoods have been responsible for two of Vex's deaths - was completely ignored. The fact that Vex and Pike were not spiting him in the end, but rather developed a mutually acceptable plan that permitted Laudna's resurrection with a contingency plan to kill her if Delilah returned led to some pretty harsh criticism of them as well.

FCG was pretty popular among the shippers for quite some time because he wanted everyone to get along and wanted Imogen and Laudna to make up after the gnarlrock fight (note: this is also true of Ashton and Orym, both of whom as discussed have since fallen from grace because they continued to exist as characters with their own thoughts and motivation) and had a lot in common with Imogen. However, a series of things occurred that led to their fall from grace among the shippers. The first was that FCG's coin is why Orym was resurrected instead of Laudna. The second is that Shared Dream was not, in fact, intended only to let Laudna go into Imogen's dreams, but rather allowed anyone in the party to go. The third is that FCG started to find a purpose beyond "help others no matter what," particularly after realizing they had a soul and were in fact a person, and specifically began exploring religion. Religion is unpopular with Imodna shippers particularly after 3x49 and Imogen's consideration of the Vanguard, but there's also definitely a mix of obvious ex-fundamentalists who never unpacked their feelings and instead just want all their fiction to validate their new beliefs. The fourth is that FCG/FRIDA "stole" the first canon relationship spot (which also confirmed that FCG was, in fact, shippable rather than some kind of robot eunuch with nothing better to do than push Imogen and Laudna together). And so you get some really fucked statements. Like, when I say I've seen "I hope someone makes that robot eat their stupid coin" that's not exaggeration; it's pretty much verbatim. That's not a post that a person who makes any attempt to understand experiences other than their own can make in earnest, but it does make sense from the perspective of someone who has decided Imogen and Laudna's relationship is the heart of the show and is angered that five other main PCs exist and have their own interests.

Ashton occupies a truly fascinating space, in that they're oddly popular, in part because their scenes with Laudna are genuinely unmissably fantastic scenes for Laudna. It's one of the only places where Laudna takes off the mask (though she's started to with Orym too). He also overlaps with a lot of what makes Imogen popular, except it's canon where Imogen's is subtext, or it's obviously more severe (Imogen's mom left? Ashton's an orphan. Imogen's had a few headaches? Ashton has chronic pain). So they hated when he pointed out he'd been abandoned by his friends in a way Laudna hadn't (also because Ashton and Laudna's conversation in 3x49 was just far more honest than Imogen and Laudna's, and because Laudna sought them out), but they like him when he's supportive of Laudna. They're constantly on the thinnest of ice because of this and because they're a genuinely compelling character, but because of that, might get in the way of what said shippers want, namely, a hundred episodes of Imogen and Laudna sipping tea at Zhudanna's and having a lovely time.

Following Imogen considering joining the Vanguard, Orym fell out of vogue despite his previous interactions with Imogen, because he very justifiably pointed out, as I've said, that the Ruby Vanguard killed his husband and his father-in-law (whom he saw as a father figure himself), and used a toxin that ensured they couldn't be brought back. I've talked about this a ton and so I'm not going to rehash every aspect, but the fact remains that while I like Imogen's choice to do this - conflict is fun! It makes sense for her character! - it's an incredibly insensitive thing to say. (It blows Ashton's statement about loneliness out of the water, for sure; incidentally, Ashton pointing out the more general hey girl they murder everyone who disagrees did NOT sit well with the hey let's harass everyone who disagrees crowd.) And when you mix it in with the god stuff discussed regarding FCG, Orym has become the periannath non grata of choice to the point of a similar response to the gnarlrock fight - if you sympathize with him, they see it as an attack not just on Imogen but on Laudna, for...not talking about Laudna as well. This has only gotten worse with Orym firmly committing to destroying the Vanguard, to the point that there are, generously speaking, misunderstandings or misrememberings of the text, and less generously speaking, outright lies. A notable one is that Laudna begins to tap into Delilah before Orym nods (Marisha's mention of the purplish hue is at 2:52:02 in episode 3x63; Orym's nod is at 3:01:42, a solid 9+ minutes later); he supports her decision, but he is not responsible for it.

Then there's the guests. Deanna was obviously made to ask Imogen about Laudna. She's here to ask them if they're married. She's here to encourage Imogen to follow her heart. She's definitely not here to have her own active and interesting love life and personal feelings about the gods (that conflict with Imogen's) and history and perspective. Oh she's...she's calling out Imogen's nonstop use of psychic powers? She's having a three-way with Chetney and Fearne? FRIDA is hooking up with FCG and admitted their anger about the gods was mostly due to projecting their personal anger about feeling powerless and having been awoken without their consent? Uhhhhhh Deni$e was obviously made to to ask Laudna about Imogen. She's definitely not here to be a connection to Dariax and have her own active and interesting love life and personal feelings about the gods. Wait, no, maybe Bor'Dor will ask about it? Uhhhhhh *flips coin but not in an FCG way* Laudna will *rolls dice* mentor Prism and this will...make this ship happen? Oh, won't these people with their own distinct personalities and motivations who keep having conversations with Orym and Ashton and each other stop doing that and just presume that a specific one of the four other people in Bells Hells they've never met and probably don't remember the names of is married to Laudna? Won't someone stop playing their character as a fully fleshed out person whose life is entirely unaffected by Laudna and Imogen's respective love lives? Oh and then Bor'Dor did ask about the relationship, and it was because it was a weakness and he was trying to infiltrate.

Quite literally? It goes as far as the gods! Why didn't they save Laudna? To which I'd say sure, let's explore what happens if they did! Let's follow this thread! Do they just save Laudna and maybe her family and no one else? Why Laudna? Does she get saved at the expense of some other dark-haired girl in Whitestone? Or perhaps they save everyone. Perhaps the De Rolos remain in power, and Campaign 1 doesn't fucking happen I guess, and Laudna grows up, and she lives out the rest of her life in Whitestone, and she's a woman in her 50s now - maybe even married, perhaps with children - and has never been to Marquet and wouldn't know or care about some random 20-something with purple hair. Like, what are you driving at here? Maybe the gods let Laudna die because that was the only way to bring her to Imogen. Ever think of that? (alternately: how do you know they didn't? What if Laudna's undead state has to do with Vecna? You didn't specify if it was the Primes or the Betrayers, or how she gets saved; she's still living after a hanging, which some might consider a miraculous gift. What if it was the Dawnfather acting through the Sun Tree? Can you describe what you want the gods to have done and where that puts us in 843 PD or do you just say shit hoping no one will ever poke at it?) When do the gods intervene? Do they make sure nothing bad ever happens to anyone? Are mortals just dolls the gods move around with no free will?

So anyway. I don't think these feelings about Liliana are based on mirroring Imogen's thought process. I do not think there is a level of consideration that Imogen and Laudna have motivations (motivations mean they can be something other than perfect flawless victims who found each other). It is simply "Imogen wants this, Laudna will validate anything she does, and so it's correct." The party line for anything else "fuck your trauma, fuck your dead family and dead loves, fuck your own hopes and dreams and goals: you exist only to fawn over two random-ass women. It doesn't matter if they are strangers to you. It doesn't matter if you've only met one of them. It doesn't matter how they act towards you. It doesn't matter if you're one of them, if you step out of line. This is your sole purpose, and if you fail, you're not a person to me." There's absolutely no thought put into the implications of anything they say beyond "it supports the ship, or, if not, it perpetuates the blameless, perfect and thus boring frozen state of the characters."

[veliseraptor]

Remembering my first introduction to Xue Yang and thinking about how methodical he seemed to me vs fanon version that is basically evil Wei Wuxian on speed.

No really you're so right he's normally calm and methodical. Just sometimes the universe tells him he fucked up and he's like "would you say that if I did this? *makes an utterly insane choice*"

ohhh this is something I have Thoughts on for sure. don't get me wrong! I think xue yang does have manic periods and will get into a mode where he's not sleeping for three days because he has a project to work on and sleep is boring, a-yao, leave me alone. but I think the degree to which xue yang is - prior to xiao xingchen's death - actually as unhinged as he's sometimes painted is...it's not pretending but it is playing up an aspect of his personality to make people uncomfortable or nervous or scared, both because it's how he makes damn sure he's not going to be forgotten or ignored (have talked about that elsewhere) and because it's what people expect from him, so why not.

(it also means people underestimate him and while I think xue yang has a kind of complicated relationship with that it is useful sometimes.)

I do think a solid 30% of xue yang's behavior is looking at what people expect from him, going "oh you are like a little baby. watch this" and doing worse. i.e. if people are going to assume he's basically a wild animal then he's going to be the meanest wild animal they've ever seen. I think the fact that he settles relatively easily into playing a role where that's very much not the case, where nobody is looking at him like that (or at least nobody who is in a position to look down on him, qingqing is too short), is somewhat indicative.

he has more control over himself and his behavior than most people realize; I think the perception (both in universe and in fandom) is that he's sort of a creature of id, driven purely by impulse and almost instinctual reaction, and I don't think that's actually accurate to what we see of him most of the time. he's certainly very clever, and good enough at what he does to attract the attention of powerful people. jin guangshan finds him valuable enough to alienate and anger another sect leader about it. give Xue Yang a puzzle and if he's interested he'll sit down and pick at it until he figures it out, unless it's too easy, then it's just boring.

it's also notable to me that when xue yang is angry at someone, he doesn't actually act immediately. he's very willing to wait and plan to figure out how to really twist the knife in someone. the choice to go after song lan's temple, and song lan himself, rather than directly targeting xiao xingchen, might be a practical one, but it's also a very deliberate and targeted attack that's aimed right at xiao xingchen's stated purpose: "you say you're here to protect people? look, you can't even protect your friend and his temple, and now they've suffered because of you." that's not, like, an immediate and explosive reaction, it's a very purposeful act that has thought and planning behind it.

now, does xue yang make impulsive snap decisions, frequently involving violence? sure. but the most notable of those is, I would argue, at the two absolute nadir moments of xue yang's life. the first one being when xiao xingchen finds out who he is and vehemently rejects him - xue yang's reaction there feels like much more of an instinctive lashing out, and it's happening because for the first time in his life since he was very young, someone who actually has the ability to hurt his feelings has hurt his feelings and it feels real bad! doesn't like that! so he reacts to make it stop, and then keeps going and pushing until xiao xingchen breaks, and then after that it's pretty clear to me that he sort of shocks back to reality and spends the next eight years going "no, wait, I take it back." or, well, trying.

and then also when he dies. when wei wuxian goads him about what he did to chang ping and the implications thereof regarding xue yang's own feelings of (unnacknowledged, unrecognized) guilt, xue yang absolutely loses it, gets reckless and careless and ultimately it's that, with a-qing's help, which gets him killed.

oh, wait, one other place I think xue yang loses control of himself and acts without really thinking it through, and that's killing a-qing. I have less textual evidence for this (though I don't think it's completely absent), but it's definitely my headcanon.

outside of those moments, though - aka the ones that get really bad - I don't think xue yang is as off the chain as he sort of...gives off the air of being. I don't know that I'd call him calm, but I would say that he has the ability, most of the time, to exercise at least a modicum of self control.

at least, before xiao xingchen's death. frankly, after that I think he does very much lose his mind a little, but, you know. I think that's understandable, under the circumstances.

[cadaverousconsumer]

helloooo here are my beta kid headcanons! @icarusshomestuckfan do u remember that one convoersation we had about how i had no headcanons? well i do now!!!!

also im only doing the beta kids rn cause i dont wanna spoil anything for @giggleshitter0

ok chat starting with my main dude

Dave Strider hc!! dave is definitely, at the start at least, very thin but relatively lanky bc of general malnourishment from bro. however i like 2 think that he would become healthier throughout the comic and eventually become a healthy weight for his height. dave i think, if he went 2 school i think people would like him and think he was cool and wanna hang out buttt i think that he wowuld only have a couple good friends like the other beta kids buttt like his irl friends. i think dave definetly learned many domestic chores at a very young age. however i think bro would care about how dave looks, like his style and whatnot, but it would be strictly mandated by bro, with lil room for dave to express himself differently from bro. i think that dave is biracial bc i think roxy is black n dirk is pale asf in a white way.

kk now for our unoffical main character the nicest sigmaest guy john!

John Egbert hc: just clariying i think june egbert iis totally cool and probably canon buttt i personally never rly thought about it b4 getting into the fandom so i have no headcanons for her so here r my headcanons for john. john definitely is on the chubbier smaller side imo. his dad does bake a lot! i think john had a pretty good upbringing and was pretty happy with his bad movies and prank obssession. at school he probably had a couple nerdy friends and tehy were all very close! i dont think he would play dnd buttt if he did i bet thats where he would meet his friends, stranger things style. john is a classic nerd and people like him bc hes so nice and very considerate. john likes basketball n has fun playing it but isnt very good. i think john is half brazilian bc i think jake is brazilian but alpha kids are for another day haha. john has definetly broken his glasses a few times tripping over things. i think hes a bit clumbsy lol.

now onto our goth queennnn rose

Rose Lalonde hc: rose definitely had a rough childhood 2 but i think her mom took more care of her then bro did even if it was only 2 play the role of motherhood for her passive aggressive tendencies. she definitely stopped doing anything (other than vacuuming lol) once rose was old enough to do it herself. i think roses hair is bleached and straightened to oblivion and when she gets older shes defintely gonna wish she hadnt done it so much when she was younger. i think at school many people would have wanted to be her friend but she prefered more solitude, for wizard fanfics and eldritch god study. i think rose is shorter and curvier, (i def like the idea of her being shorter than kan) and a bit darker than dave. she started her intensive makeup routine in the hopes of attracting her mothers attention negatively, but with no luck. however she kept up with it because she found she liked the repetitivness of putting it on each morning, as well as the fact that it fit her overall aesthetic.

now for everyones fav doggie girl, jade!

Jade Harley hc: i love jade i think she is sooo cute. jade had an interesting childhood, being raised by a god level dog. i dont think it was necessarily bad just... very different from the other kids. i imagine she was left unattended a lot, but bec would always be aware of when to teleport in 2 save her. her hair is very long and has never really been cut officially due 2 living in the woods. jade is completely homeschooled and has nevre left the island. i think jade is rather petite and pretty thin overall... i imagine dogs probably arent the best at nutrition for humans haha. even tho jade doesnt know any kids her age in person i think she probably had many online friends and spent a lot of time online, playing games, watching videos, and just messing around. i think she learned bass from a youtube video. jade is also half brazilian cause jake

well those r my shitty headcanons

[coraniaid]

🔥 for an unpopular Buffy opinion please!

Okay, I actually posted about this a couple of days ago when I was feeling particularly irritable, but I still really cannot get behind the popular fandom idea that Giles is somehow the Scooby Gang’s collective parent.  It is just not based on anything in the show. Or, rather, to the extent that it is based on the show it conflates things that are true about Buffy with things that are true about Buffy’s friends more generally.  It feels incredibly reductive to assume you can flatten any positive relationship between adults and teenagers – in a high school, no less! – to “he’s their Dad!”.  More importantly than that, it is boring.

Is Giles on some metaphorical level Buffy’s father?  Sure.  This is pretty much textual (especially between seasons 3 and 5, when the show really starts to play up how terrible Hank Summers is).  “You have a father’s love for the child” and so on and so forth.

And yes, Season 4 somewhat retcons Xander into wishing that this was the sort of relationship he had with Giles too, although I really don’t think that’s something present in the earlier seasons.  (It's not something I’ve noticed at all in my current rewatch, for example.)  But if this is something Xander wants, it’s very much one-sided and has far more to do with Xander’s poor relationship with his own awful and abusive parents than it does with Sunnydale’s resident ex-librarian.  Giles himself quite obviously doesn’t think of Xander as any sort of son.  He honestly doesn’t even seem to like him much.

But the others?  There’s just nothing there.  Yes, most of the Scoobies either have explicitly absent or neglectful parents or (like Oz) their parents are just weirdly not present or ever mentioned, but that doesn’t mean that we’re supposed to assume Giles fills a parent-shaped hole in their lives.  Anya certainly doesn’t treat Giles like a parent, and why should she when she’s lived almost a thousand years longer than he has?  Cordelia doesn’t seem to have any problem with her real father (at least until the tax fraud catches up with him).  Tara obviously has very real problems with her biological family, but I don’t think there’s ever any suggestion she sees Giles as a replacement for her father (or that she would want one?).

And while Willow’s relationship with her own parents is not always super-consistent (because, again, this is not the focus of the show) she doesn’t seem to ever have any particular problem with her father specifically. It’s her mother she sometimes seems to wish made more of an effort to understand her.  (Is Ira Rosenberg even mentioned in the show after Season 2?)  Moreover, Willow explicitly had a crush on Giles in high school (as evidenced by: (1) the photo of Giles in her locker in I Robot, You Jane; (2) the way she pointedly doesn’t raise her hand along with Buffy and Xander to signal their disgust when Faith calls Giles “young and cute” in Faith, Hope & Trick; (3) the fact that in Where The Wild Things Are she outright says she used to have a crush on him).  Giles is not Willow’s father.

Furthermore, to the extent that Giles is Buffy’s father he is -- despite his genuine affection for her -- canonically not very good at it!  “Better than Hank” is a pretty low bar, and he doesn’t even consistently manage that. There’s Season 6, of course, and Helpless before that, but even ignoring those episodes Giles is often dismissive of Buffy’s interests and instincts and seems to think he’s entitled to a pretty significant say in her day to day life and to a significant amount of her free time.  Beyond that, their relationship cannot help but be understood in the context that Giles’s role in life – the thing he has been trained for since he was a child himself – is literally to prepare Buffy to go and fight monsters alone in the dark and die young because of it. If that’s a parental relationship, it’s not exactly an enviable or healthy one.  

As I said in my previous answer about Cordelia, I like Giles.  He is sympathetic and funny and at times even compelling. I think his relationship with Buffy is an important part of the show.  But I just find the constant urge to flatten him into a Good Dad to be incredibly hard to relate to.  He is much more interesting than that. 

[allegra-writes]

"Various Storms and Saints" Part II

Armand x Daniel Molloy

NSFW

Warnings: Role play, power play, sex toys, consensual dub/non-con. Look, Armand is one kinky bastard.

Dedicated to @faerywhimsy because when one of the greatest writers of the fandom tells you they would like to read more of a certain story, you sit your ass down until midnight and GET IT DONE.

MY MASTERLIST

Daniel Molloy was too old for this shit. A short few decades ago, when he had been an intrepid reporter with too much courage and too little sense, he had never thought twice about grabbing a hammer and helping the Mauerspechte to tear down the wall, standing in front of the tanks in Iraq or sleeping inside the ruins of a dilapidated building while the bombs fell from the sky in Sarajevo. Hell, only twenty years before he had used his own body to shield a woman and her child from an angry mob in Gujarat, and it had been one of the best decisions he had ever made in his life. But now, with the big seventies biting his heels and a terminal disease prognosis, he was forced to admit maybe, just maybe, his Indiana Jones days were over. He was pretty sure he had dislocated his shoulder slamming it against the -not particularly sturdy- door, and he could feel his foot throbbing from where he had kicked the lock down. At least he had succeeded in that, even if the only reason were his trusty old Docs he had owned since the eighties and refused to throw away. He tried not to think about how pathetic it was the fact that those boots were his longest-standing relationship. 

“Doctor Du Lac? Doctor Du Lac, stay with me!” Lightly slapping the cheeks of the young man lying on the grey couch, Daniel tried to keep him awake until the paramedics arrived. He had no idea what he had been given or how much of it, had no idea if he was about to overdose or if the loss of consciousness was the intended effect of whatever it was on his system. By the way the man’s wrists were tied together and his state of undress, he could infer it was, but there was no way to be sure. All he was sure of was Dr. Louis De Pointe Du Lac had gone, was still going, through something traumatic, and it was both a mercy and a cruel trick from fate that he had programmed their date for that exact day and time, that Daniel had for once arrived somewhere a little early, just in time to stop the attack from becoming something even worse, but too late to stop it from happening altogether. 

“Mo- Molloy?” 

That was good, recognition was good. It meant his brain was working, somewhat. 

“What happened here? Do you remember anything?”

A mumble was all the reply Du Lac was capable of. Daniel had to lean until his face was mere inches away from his to be able to make out the words.

“L’estat…” Du Lac was repeating, like a litany, “l’estat, l’estat…”

Daniel cursed internally,

“I’m sorry, I can’t- I don’t speak French” He was fluid in Spanish and Italian, could manage Gujarati, Bosnian, Serbian, and even knew a few words in Ukrainian and Arabic, but French had always eluded him. Now, someone needed his help, was trying desperately to tell him something and Daniel didn’t have a clue what it might be. Taking out his phone, he quickly opened the app and recorded Du Lac’s slurred words. Maybe he would be able to figure them out later. “I’m sorry, son” 

Daniel apologized again, but Du Lac didn’t seem to resent him, on the contrary, he was holding onto Daniel’s hand with as much strength as he could, his face filling with panic when the older man went to move away to let the paramedics in, only settling down once Daniel was in his line of vision again. 

“Mister Molloy? I’m Tammy, you called 911, didn’t you?” An alarmingly young officer approached him as two METs loaded Du Lac onto a gurney. 

“Yeah, I did” Daniel replied, feeling suddenly very tired. The adrenaline kick was finally fading.

“I have to ask, did you move him? Touched anything? Did you put him on the couch?”

Daniel shook his head,

“No, that’s where he was when I managed to break in, I took the throw blanket from the back of the couch to cover him, but other than that I didn’t touch anything, didn’t want to contaminate the crime scene”

The officer smiled approvingly, Daniel tried very hard not to feel condescended. 

“Thank you, that will be very useful if the victim decides to report”

“Wait, if he decides to report?” 

The officer seemed unphased,

“Well, the department might investigate anyway or transfer the case to our SVU if we find there is enough evidence to suspect a crime, but that will have to wait until we can talk to Mister De Pointe Du Lac”

“Enough evidence to suspect a crime? Exactly what do you think this is, some BDSM shit? some role-playing gone wrong?” Daniel could almost feel his blood pressure rising,  “I heard the struggle, I had to break the god damned door! The guy was naked and tied up with zip ties for fucks sake!” he had been a queer man in the seventies, he knew what kink looked like, and this wasn’t it.

“Believe me, sir, I know how frustrating it can be, but it’s the procedure and there is nothing I can do to change it,” Her face softened, her tone turning concerned. Daniel didn’t know which one he despised more. “Now, you need to calm down. Are you feeling alright? Would you like me to tell one of the paramedics to check you out?”

Daniel shook his head again, biting his tongue so as not to bark at her that he was old, not decrepit. Fucking useless cops.

“Is there anyone you want me to call, maybe a family member? To come pick you up?”

With narrowed eyes, Daniel informed the officer that he was perfectly capable of making his own way home, thank you very much. As it was, if anybody back home found out what he had been up to, he would have enough hell to pay without an alarming call from the police. 

Luckily for him, when Daniel arrived, he found the apartment empty, all the lights out, and a dirty coffee cup still on the counter, letting him know no one had been home since morning. Thank god for the small mercies, Daniel thought as he settled in his office, hoping to grade some papers for his university job, the one that actually paid the bills. Well, his bills anyway. However, he didn’t manage to read more than a handful of essays before the bell interrupted him.

“Aayat is that you? You lost your keys again-" Daniel stopped short in the middle of his sentence as he opened his front door, uncomprehending. 

There, standing in the middle of the hallway, looking at him with huge Bambi eyes, was not his daughter as he had expected, but him. 

Dressed casually in dark jeans, a vintage Loyola University sweatshirt, and black sneakers with red soles that betrayed their price tag, stood Armand Ahmedov, looking for all the world like the ordinary, everyday TA Daniel knew he wasn't. 

There was nothing ordinary about that boy, not his lustrous black curls, nor his perfect golden brown skin, and definitely not his Caravaggio angel face. Armand was too pretty and too brilliant to be anything but trouble. 

“Good evening, Professor Molloy” He greeted, overly formal, making Daniel frown.

“Armand, I’m not in the mood for-”

“Please, professor” The boy insisted, undeterred by Daniel’s sour face, “This will only take a minute”

Somehow, Daniel doubted that. He let him in anyway. 

It was a somewhat awkward walk through the apartment and back into his office, though Daniel had no reason to be nervous. At least not yet. Decorum mandated that he sat at his desk, so he did exactly that. But Armand came to a stop before it, eyes still fixed on Daniel. Sighing, the old men motioned at the chair in front of him, then and only then Armand took his seat.

“So, mister Ahmedov, I assume this isn’t a social visit…”

Armand had the decency to look embarrassed,

“It isn’t, and I apologize, both for the late hour and for inconveniencing you in your home.” Yeah, right, Daniel thought. Yet he couldn’t deny that watching the normally stoic young man, proud to the point of arrogance, fidget anxiously with the sleeves of his too-big sweatshirt was kind of endearing. 

“As I’m sure you noticed, I haven't turned in the last homework you assigned us yet…”

“No extensions” Daniel shot back automatically, “That’s the rule. A deadline is a deadline”

Armand blushed. He honest to god blushed.

“A- actually, between my other assignments and my job at the paper, I don’t think I’ll be able to do it at all”

Daniel scoffed,

“So what are you doing here? Do you expect me to just give you the credits for free?”

Armand gulped, lowering his eyes, suddenly unable to meet Daniel’s.

“Not… not for free, professor” He stammered, “I… I could make it up to you”

“I… what?”

The young brunet took a deep breath, seemingly gathering his courage before raising from his chair and rounding the desk. Instinctively, Daniel turned his chair toward him.

“I can make it up for you, professor” Armand repeated more firmly, letting his fingertips caress the dark mahogany of the desk. Daniel couldn’t help but zero on the movement. “Anything you want me to, I’ll do it”

“Armand…”

“I’ve noticed the way you look at me, professor” Armand interrupted his attempt at protesting, “The way your eyes linger on me, the way they trace my movements in the classroom. I like it. I like your attention on me”

Now that Daniel did not doubt. If it was something Armand seemed to thrive on, was attention. 

But Daniel wasn’t that kind of man. He had never fantasized about sleeping with a student, in fact, he felt a deep disdain for those in the faculty who did get involved with a student. Even when all parts involved were adults, he could never get over the ick factor of it all.

“Listen, Armand-” He tried again, but the boy stepped forwards, boldly taking hold of Daniel’s knees and separating them to make room as he fell to his knees, and the little voice of conscience in Daniel’s head fell silent.

“I can make it good for you, professor” Armand’s voice coaxed, softly making its way to Daniel’s ears, muffled by his own blood racing inside his veins, not exactly in the direction of his head, “Let me make it good for you…”

Daniel shouldn’t. He knew he shouldn’t. It was wrong and it was twisted, it was the lowest, the most despicable way of taking advantage of someone. 

And he wanted it. 

Looking down at the big doe eyes of the boy kneeling between his legs, Daniel realized he wanted it. 

"Please, Professor Molloy" Armand pleaded, perfect little mouth puckered into a pout. The little shit, "I want you to do it. I want you to use me"

There was a beat, then two, as Daniel tried to get hold of the meager strands of his feeble self-control. And then he lounged.

Bending almost in half, Daniel crashed his mouth against Armand’s hot and moist one, plunging his tongue into it at once in a hungry, messy kiss. Armand offered no resistance, letting the older man ravage his mouth to his heart's content, only breaking the kiss when the need for oxygen forced him to. Emboldened by Daniel’s response, Armand went for the button of his slacks, but Daniel got hold of his wrists, stopping him.

“Professor, what’s wrong?” 

Fuck, he sounded so young, so vulnerable. It made Daniel want to wreck him. 

“You thought it would be so easy, didn’t you? That you’d walk into my house, begging all pretty, then suck my cock and I would give you an A, just like that?”

Armand frowned in confusion,

“I- I thought…”

“Get up” 

“But-”

“Now!” Daniel commanded with as much authority as he could muster with a raging hard-on tenting his pants. The young TA scrambled to obey. Daniel noticed with satisfaction that he was sporting a bulge in his pants of his own. 

“On the desk” He leaned back, making room for Armand to sit in front of him, “Legs open”

Daniel would be lying if he said it didn’t send a little thrill through him, to see the beautiful boy do as he was told, even going as far as placing his palms flat on the desk at either side of him, submissively, waiting to see what Daniel would do next. 

He decided that what he wanted to do next was indulge. 

“Take your sweatshirt off” Before the words were done leaving Daniel’s mouth, the boy’s maroon sweater and t-shirt were on the floor. Apparently, Armand was a very good boy. Who would have thought?

Of course, that was Daniel’s last coherent thought for a couple of minutes, the amount of bronze skin exposed enough to cause eighty-six billion neurons to go out of commission.

“Fuck, you truly are pretty”

Armand’s whole demeanor changed, softening somehow. Relaxing. And Daniel was rewarded with a deep, tender kiss. A sensuous affair of tongues sliding against each other, neither dominating nor dominated, kissing for the sake of kissing, for the sake of sucking the boy’s plush lower lip into his mouth and feeling his silky soft curls between his fingers, of coaxing those delicious sighs and little whines out of his throat. It whetted Daniel's appetite till he was ready to devour. 

With an oh-so-gentle shove to Armand’s shoulder, Daniel laid him back on his cluttered desk like a feast, knocking over pens and papers and even his goddamned laptop. Nothing mattered to him more than the boy with the sun-kissed skin currently under him, moaning sweetly as Daniel bit bruises down his neck. It was a herculean effort to part from Armand long enough to tear those criminally tight jeans from his body, getting briefly tangled in his red soles before brute strength alone forced them to hit the floor with a thud, one after the other. The kid had committed to the role, Daniel had to give him that: The lack of underwear was somewhat expected, but to see him like that, to see Armand’s skin smooth, clean shaved everywhere, well… there was something so lewd, something so dirty about it, whatever was left of Daniel’s feeble self-control snapped. He gave Armand no warning, no chance of bracing himself before taking his entire length into his mouth, swallowing him whole, relishing in the wordless scream he let out.

Armand’s cock was long, all of him was, and so thick that, even if he relaxed his throat and breathed through his nose, Daniel had no chance of getting any air into his lungs unless he retreated a little. Armand didn’t seem to mind though, clutching at the edges of the desk so hard his knuckles were white, looking at Daniel through big, wet dark eyes.

“Pro- professor…” 

Daniel smoothed a soothing, possessive touch down the boy’s sides, his ribs, his bony hipbones, before pinning them down to the wood, and starting to bob his head up and down, letting the mushroom head of Armand’s dick hit the back of his throat, swallowing around it on every other stroke. Those were efficient movements, designed to get the boy off as quickly and hard as possible. Professional movements perfected in dirty bathroom bars and dark alleyways during the seventies; Armand, experienced, proud, and worldly as he was, didn’t stand a chance. It took no time at all for his eyes to shut and hips to spasm, trying in vain to buck blindly into the mouth that never faltered, never went faster, but simply knew exactly just how to extract the pleasure out of him in the most economical way. The boy came with a shout, nearly causing Daniel to choke, little strings of milk white dripping down Armand’s cock even as Daniel chased them with his tongue. No one could say Daniel Molloy didn’t clean up his messes.

Once he was done, he didn’t waste any time in niceties, flipping up the dazed young man and manhandling him until he was bent over the desk, his chest against the cool wood and ass up in the air. Armand was much too tall for his feet to dangle over the floor, but he was too surprised and disoriented to find purchase on it anyway. It wasn’t until Daniel took his wrists and secured them to the small of his back with one of his pale, wrinkled hands that the boy started to struggle. Daniel released him, jumping back as if he had been electrocuted.

“Babe? Shit, are you ok?” When Armand didn’t reply at once, Daniel stepped around, ignoring his ancient, stiff knees as he lowered himself directly into Armand’s line of view. 

To his surprise, his lover’s face, far from distressed, was smiling pleasantly, almost peacefully. However, it wasn’t entirely reassuring, Daniel himself was well acquainted with that hazy limbo, where the body felt floaty and the world blurry, and nothing that happened to him felt a hundred percent real. He knew how important it was the other person was completely conscientious not to cross any limit or betray your trust, even unintentionally, in such a vulnerable state.

“Babe, come back to me,” He demanded, snapping his fingers in Armand’s face, “tell me your color. I need you to tell me what is your color…”

That seemed to do the trick, his boy’s eyes slowly focusing on him, 

“Green, Daniel. My color is green” He replied in an almost bored, mildly annoyed tone. Yup, his Armand was back alright, “consensual non-consent is something we agreed upon before, remember? My color is still very green”

“Right. Sorry, just checking”

Armand rose to his elbows.

“I appreciate your attentiveness,” he reassured his husband, “now shut up, and fuck me”

“Aye, aye, boss” 

Just like that, Daniel slid back into character. Flattening his palm between Armand’s shoulders, he shoved him onto the desk again, letting his hand trail down all the way to his ass, where he grabbed handfuls of both cheeks on each of his hands, parting them to get a look at Armand’s tight little hole. 

And he was pretty sure he almost had a heart attack. 

There, resting between Armand's muscular buttocks, designed to be completely unnoticed under the clothes, rested an elongated stripe of silver metal, with a clear shiny stone right where Armand’s entrance would be. If Daniel had to take a guess, he'd bet the stone was real. Leave it to Armand to come to him wearing a diamond-encrusted buttplug. 

“Jesus fucking Christ” Daniel muttered, feeling light-headed, to horny too even stand straight, “You’re going to be the death of me”

“Don’t say that, beloved” Armand protested, breaking character, “I would never do anything to hurt you”

“Hmmm… is that so?” Hooking his pointer and middle fingers on the little handle of Armand’s toy, Daniel pretended to consider his words, “And what would you do for me? What would you do for your dear professor?”

A long, pitiful sob left Armand’s lips as Daniel started to slide the toy in and out, slowly, fucking him with it. But he arched like a cat, offering his hole up, encouraging the professor to keep going. 

“Anything” He finally moaned, “anything”

“Will you let me fuck this pretty little ass raw?”

Armand seemed to hesitate before replying, a little shakily,

“Yes, Professor Molloy”

“Very well then” Daniel played with the plug just a few more seconds before taking it all the way off and tossing it away somewhere into the shadows of the office. Then, he made a show of taking off his belt and unzipping his pants as unhurried and loudly as possible, savoring the anticipation, the growing tension in the boy's locked muscles. 

"Lube?"

"Jeans' pocket"

Daniel slicked himself up and then squirted a generous amount of the viscous liquid straight onto Armand’s crack, watching the boy flinch a little at the coolness of it. Holding onto the boy’s hipbone, he lined his cock with his fluttering hole and pushed inside.

It was tight. Real fucking tight. Deliberately so, Daniel was sure of it. Armand was very well acquainted with his exact girth, there was no way he had chosen the wrong-sized plug by accident. Taking a steading breath, gritting his teeth, he undulated his hip, burying himself just a little deeper, but Armand’s body jerked forwards, instinctively scrambling away from the burning of the intrusion.

“Oh, no you won’t” Daniel breathed out, draping himself over the younger man’s back, letting the weight of his body trap Armand against the smooth, cold wood of the desk, “Isn’t this what you wanted, baby? You did this on purpose. You want it to hurt, you want to feel my big fat prick tear you apart…” The sweet, chaste kiss he planted on Armand’s shoulder somehow felt more perverse than anything they had been doing, “Don’t worry, baby. Daddy knows just how to give it to you”

Holding onto the boy’s shoulder for leverage, Daniel pushed in again, slow but inescapable, reclaiming the meager inches Armand had managed to gain back, muffling the boy’s cries with his lube-wet hand. Giving himself completely over to his dirty old man character, Daniel soothed mockingly into Armand’s ear,

"Relax, baby. It'll get better the more I fuck you"

He continued the corkscrew movements of his hips, even as Armand trashed beneath him, trying in vain to find the edge of the desk with his hands, wether to hold onto for leverage to dislodge Daniel off his back or simply to ground himself, Daniel didn’t know nor took the chance to find out. Soon as he was finally flush to the boy’s perky little ass, he withdrew, only to slam back in. There was nothing Armand could really do to fight him anyway, pinned as he was between his lover and the expensive mahogany he was staining with his sweat and his spit, falling from his parted lips as he was speared over and over by Daniel’s cock.

"Fuck… feels so good… could fuck this tight little ass for hours…" He was laying it in in earnest now, rocking the boy back and forth with the violence of his thrusts, knocking whatever stationery was left on his workspace over. Armand’s sobs had changed their pitch, his lover no longer able to hide the pleasure he was feeling at Daniel’s assault. 

"Yes, just like that, scream my name… you sound as pretty as any whore…" 

The moan that escaped Armand’s mouth at the name-calling was obscene. Daniel loved it.

"You like that, don't you?.. You like being my little whore, want daddy to use you till you're sore…" He reached under Armand then, hand wrapping around his still semi-soft cock, making him jump. Daniel chuckled darkly, "To sensitive, baby? Is it too much?" 

Armand buckled his hips but there was no escape for him, if he moved forward he jerked himself on Daniel’s hand, if he moved back, he only impaled himself further on his cock. Daniel never relented, never slowed his rhythm even as the boy started to shake, but he did offered a way out,

"You know what to say if you want it to stop…" He panted against Armand’s curls, "just say the word and it's over… What is-fuck… What is your color?"

"Green!" Armand yelled, grinding back to meet Daniel thrust for thrust, "greengreengreen… so green! Harder… Master, fuck me harder, please!" 

Daniel cursed. Armand had never used that word before. It was obvious something had unlocked inside his husband, he was quivering and mewling under him, hand searching back for something. Daniel grabbed it, interlocking their fingers as he started milking Armand’s cock, fucking him as hard and fast as he was able to. Armand went limp under him, melting into the desk, moaning with abandon, clenching around Daniel’s cock in time with the movements of his hand on his own dick. 

"You want it harder baby?.. " Daniel was barely coherent himself, too caught up in the feeling of Armand’s velvety heat around every inch of his cock, the perfect friction sending shock after shock of white hot pleasure through his old, frayed nerves. It was pure animal instinct, the way he shoved one of Armand’s knees up on the desk, changing the angle so he could shove himself deeper, tearing a new wave of cries out of his boy. His hand went still, simply cupping Armand’s dick, protecting it from getting smashed against the wood, but it didn’t matter, the back and forth movement of his thrusts providing enough stimulation as the bulbous head of his cock hit Armand’s prostate over and over again. 

"That's it… come for me… come with me taking you like this… Fuck, Armand!.. So perfect, taking my cock so deep… Wanna fill you up… wanna come so deep I'll be spilling out of you for days…" 

The dirty talk seemed to finally drive Armand over the edge, his muscles locking up, whole body tensing up, squeezing Daniel’s cock so tight it physically hurt. It was too much for the old man, who couldn't help but burst at the pressure, coming so hard, his vision went black for a few seconds. He collapsed on his lover’s back, gasping for air as Armand seemed to do the same. 

"That was…"

"Yeah"

"I'm…" Daniel trailed off, making Armand chuckle. The older man closed his eyes, thinking he could die happy like that, with Armand’s laugh vibrating through his chest. 

"I know, beloved. I know."

On shaking arms, Daniel lifted himself away from his husband’s body, but didn't make it very far, collapsing on the chair closest to him. Armand let out a little displeased noise at the loss of his lover’s warmth and weight. He rose immediately, on what Daniel was proud to notice, also very unsteady legs, just so he could go climb on his lap. 

Daniel’s arms wrapped around him instantly, a reflex at that point, nothing felt as natural to him as having Armand in his arms anymore. 

Burying his nose on the dark curls, he inquired,

"Are you ok, babe?"

The brunet on his lap laughed softly. 

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that? Need I remind you that this was my idea?"

"And how long exactly did you have this idea?" Daniel hummed thoughtfully, "Is this what you thought about in class? Me railing you on that desk?"

"In front of the entire class," Armand confirmed, unashamed, "but you didn't even look at me twice"

"That's bullshit and you know it," Daniel protested. Armand had made sure he noticed him, antagonizing him at every turn, challenging his every teaching, "But you're right, I would never had allow myself to think about one of my students like that" 

Even after Armand stopped being one of his students, Daniel didn’t dare to think of him like that, to even dream he could have this with him. He had been attracted, of course, he had eyes and Armand was fucking gorgeous. But even after an entire summer of coffee sharing and debating about everything from the possibility of life after death to war, from the physiology of morality, to alien life and the fucking Fibonacci sequence, it had taken Armand crowding him against a wall in a deserted museum after hours, blindsiding him with a kiss that stole all of his breath away, for him to understand that the beautiful young man was trying to date him. 

Of course, Daniel had been completely his after that. 

"You made me wait so long, my beloved…" Armand complained, whiny and sulky. Daniel didn’t even try to resist the impulse to bite that pout off his lips.

"Hmmm but I made it worth your while after that, didn’t I?" He countered after they broke apart, nuzzling at the bronze skin of his husband’s neck. Armand retaliated by trading his long fingers through Daniel’s soft silver curls, nails scratching pleasantly at the sensitive skin of his scalp.

"That you did, lover mine. That you did…" After a couple of minutes went by without Daniel replying, he looked down. "Daniel, are you falling asleep?" 

"No, of course not" The older man lied, opening his eyes for good measure. Armand did not buy it.

"You know, we have a perfectly good bed, one with a bespoke mattress that won't leave your back feeling sore in the morning…" 

"Don't wanna move just yet" Daniel half explained, half decided, tightening his grip around Armand to stop him from moving either, "comfy now"

His husband sighed in fond exasperation, 

"Fine. But only five more minutes."

"Aye, aye, boss" 

The last thing Daniel saw before closing his eyes, was Armand’s besotted smile. yb

[haleingstorm]

20 questions for 20 writers

Thanks @hedgehodgy I've never been tagged in a ask game before

How many works do you have on ao3 5!

2. What's your total ao3 word count?

75,882

3. What fandoms do you write for?

That's hard! I have a lot of ideas and half written stuff for a bunch of fandoms but the ones I have posted are Naruto, Percy Jackson, and Marvel.

4.What are your top 5 fics by Kudos?

What We Lost in the Fire (Naruto) .

Safety's an Illusion(Fates all Chance) (PJO)

Forgive me Father for I have Sinned(PJO/Naruto)

Walk in the Shadows of Men who Sold Their Lives to a Dream(PJO/Naruto)

Be not Afraid, Brave the Storm(PJO/Naruto)

5. Do you respond to comments?

Absolutely! It's by far my favorite part about posting. I'm always eager to reply to all the comments even the small ones. Which I think stems from the fact that as a young newbie to fanfics I would always get so excited when an author replied to me. It's also fun!

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh that's hard, a lot of my work is still being posted so I can't answer that without spoilers :).

7.What's the fic you wrote with the happiest endings?

Forgive me Father for I have Sinned probably. It ends super sweet with Poseidon and Percy finally having a conversation and hugs all around! (Of course he's going to get kidnapped soon after by Hera but that's besides the point)

8. Do you get hate on fics?

Not really. Most of my fics are pretty new which might play a role. I have gotten a couple 'so and so would never say that' kind of thing but not to the point where I've felt offended!

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Nah, though I've played around with a couple of ideas I find stories with strong platonic connections much more fun to write than ones with romantic ones.

10. Do write crossovers?

Absolutely! crossovers are my bread and butter especially in situations which pull attention towards some of the darker parts that get glossed over in canon because it's the norm(child solider trope I adore you). I absolutely adore reincarnation as well, one of these days I'll get around to writing my MHA x Naruto crossover that lives in my head rent free.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

No.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope

13 Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, I've just recently gotten into writing fics instead of just day dreaming about them..

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

I don't really have them, again platonic connections are much more interesting to me. I do like a good Tobirama x Madara though.

15. What's a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

What we lost in the fire. It's a time travel Naruto fic and I love the premise so much. The characters are wonderful but I have not done nearly enough outlining and I'm sure I'l write myself into a corner sooner rather than later.

16. What are your writing strengths?

Oh that's hard I actually have no idea. People have commented on my fics that they like how I write the different characters to be very different/have their own personalities and flaws. So maybe that?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

descriptions probably, I'm really bad at describing stuff. And maybe planning I often jump into a project before I have a good idea where it's going to end and trap myself in a corner.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I'd rather not, I just don't know many languages and I'm so afraid of accidentally mixing it up. Besides all the bad stereotypes of bilingual characters and no personal experience makes me shy away from writing one.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

Naruto! The fic in mention will never see the light of day but it will always hold a place in my heart(as horrible and badly written as it was)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Safety's an Illusion(Fate's all Chance) hands down. I love that monster. I wrote the first draft for it in a month. As of right now the second draft is looking to be double the length. It's also the first fic I've been able to confidently have an update schedule for and be confident I'm going to finish it. It is so much fun to write!

Tagging: @fairyspheres (If you're interested!)

This was so much fun! Thanks again @hedgehodgy!

[bluedalahorse]

I'm curious about your take on Vincent from Young Royals

Okay! I didn’t think I had thoughts but then I did.

First impression: “Hmm, that kid’s haircut looks like he’d be in an early 00s boy band. But specifically a C-tier boy band. He’d be the guy who shares a first name with one of the much more popular members and therefore always gets referred to as Firstname Lastname to distinguish himself from the more popular one.” That thought, but in fewer words.

Impression now: Vincent does a lot of work as a foil to other characters and I appreciate the way he creates contrast. He’s horrible and gross in a teenage boy way, but there’s almost a familiarity in his particular brand of grossness. Like you have August being unpleasant and complicated and that can be a lot to take in emotionally, so sometimes it’s a relief when the scene cuts over to Vincent being unpleasant in a far less complicated way. Now that I’ve said that Lisa’s going to probably hit me over the head with surprise Vincent character development in season 3. I AM TEMPTING FATE I KNOW.

Favorite moment: I don’t know if this is a specific moment so much as me building on the point I said above, but I find it humorous how Vincent takes his season 2 leadership roles way too seriously. Like calm down, Vincent. (He reminds me a bit of this kid Jeff who used to bully me in gym classes, who used to get mad at me for not being athletic enough and messing up whatever game we were playing. Somehow we were always on the same team. I think one day I just yelled at him “I’m better at math than you, Jeff! PE isn’t everything!” before throwing a wiffle ball at him half-heartedly and walking away.)

Idea for a story: I would like to see someone do a series of vignettes (like a five things style, maybe?) starting in Vincent, August, and Nils’s first year when they’re all sharing a triple room together and think they’re all gonna be best friends who rule the school one day. And then over the course of all the vignettes they realize that due to the emotional repression that’s been socialized into them as upper class men, they’ve never had a real conversation and they don’t really know one another at all. I feel like that’s the kind of depressing gender-influenced character study I’d find pretty interesting.

Unpopular opinion: Are there popular opinions about Vincent I could disagree with? I realize this is a gap in my fandom knowledge.

Favorite relationship: I admit I find it kind of amusing that Vincent just straight up hates Walter for no reason.

Favorite headcanon: Okay this is my one singular softer Vincent headcanon, inspired by the fact that my friend @whambamglambam once asked “why does Vincent have a necklace that looks like a kindergartener made it?” So my thought was, Vincent was initially the youngest of three siblings, enough that he was probably an accident, and his two older siblings are already out of university and such when Vincent started Hillerska. But then Vincent’s parents got divorced and his dad married a much younger woman (like a stereotypical rich guy on his second marriage situation, it was a whole awkward family drama) and now Vincent has a stepsister who’s four or five and she made him the necklace. Vincent is capable of being a jerk to pretty much anyone and everyone except his small adorable stepsister and basically he would fucking murder someone to protect her. I just thought you all should know that.

Anyway, followers. PLEASE SEND ME MORE CHARACTERS TO DISCUSS I WOULD LIKE TO CHAT WITH YOU MORE ABOUT FICTIONAL PEOPLE. Thank youuuu.

[house-of-lovin]

To my dear house-of-lovin:

I have a series of questions about Legally Binding bear with me, this is all merely speculation and possibly too much all at once so I apologize in advance.

Cherry-pick from this ask if you have to!ᵕ̈

How young was R when she’d been forced to start acting and singing?

I read somewhere on your page that you answered early teens! And you referenced Zendaya so I’m assuming she got her big break at possibly 14 and before that moderately small acting gigs?

R definitely seems to have a passion for music but how often does she get to produce?

She also seems like the type to make music more for herself than to share with the public given her history, I think not only something she really enjoys but uses as an outlet to cope with things.

Can you give us a few songs as reference to what music R’s produced?

I’m interested in listening to them from R’s POV! Personally, I thought of Never Felt So Alone by Labrinyth. I have no fucking clue at all what song R’s creating right now and I’m assuming since it’s for Coachella it has to be upbeat but might I suggest thinking about Good News by Mac Miller. Pfft or even The Spins by Mac Miller, fun, cocky and memorable like R.

Is there someone else in particular besides her family that made her start to think of everything she does in public from a ‘business standpoint’?

What character in the MCU does R play?

For me the first character that came to mind is possibly someone from the Spider-Verse! I mean why not bend some truths and pretend there’s one Spider-Verse comic that fits R’s description? I think it would align with the fact that R’s been an actor since her teen years and by now if a few movies have been released; her Spider-Verse character has got to be aligned with her age!

Hmm so I’ve read through someone else’s asks and you mentioned not having enough time to look up tv shows and movies aligning with R’s age. I was thinking for some of them, why not just have R’s character in said projects be someone that doesn’t necessarily exist in the current adaptation but is popular anyways?

For other fandoms you say? Is what you wrote still lurking on those platforms I’m curious! Your daydreaming keeps us supporters taken care of.

What kinda music do you play/listen to? I listen to just about everything under the sun except Heavy Metal, too much shouting and I’m already losing my hearing as is lmao.

(I love to trespass abandoned building/areas, for the first date just run when I do and we’ll be good but that’s at night, can and do you like swimming? If you say yes then during the day we’re exploring open waters/pretty nature on a jet ski (safe waters dw)

Am I possibly also picking the first activity to be be held? Ahem HEARSAY you can’t prove that)

Cordially,

Specter

I think yes early teens like 13 or 14 possibly. I think somewhere in my head Justin Bieber was lowkey a reference for R's character.

R gets her big break as a teen and does roles for smaller movies that gain her critical acclaim until major studios recognize her. (Sorry to Hailee but maybe Edge of Seventeen as one of those movies LOL) Before def small roles. (Idk what good movies have a 13 or 14 year old soooo)

I don't have a list of songs for R but with all the asks its def building. I'd love to hear what you guys think? But like I answered before, I see slow & modern R&B. Like SZA (cussing songs LOL), Frank Ocean, Omar Apollo, Yebba. BUT OMG I LOVE MAC.

I feel like with R's family background & starting so young it made her grow up faster than most. So I think over the years, she's just built a wall around herself around people in the industry giving her that 'business standpoint' mentality. I mean come on, there's no way she's had a whole career w/out getting burned by someone. It happens more often than ppl think.

I think her MCU role is def a spider-verse role too! Maybe there's a version of her a Spider-Gwen in the MCU movies LOL IDK.

There's a fic or two on AO3 for a totally unrelated fandom but its a couple years old so idk its kinda cringe LOL. (I also have a Kate Bishop unfinished series that I've just never posted LOL)

I play the guitar so I listen to a whole variety of genres! I like/am open to most music except heavy metal too lol. But I love R&B, Soul, Jazz, Rap. I like older music too so I listen to a lot of 50s, 60s and 70s. EVERYTHING. I WANT TO LISTEN TO EVERY SONG EVER MADE LOL. (but same my hearing is shit lol)

I CAN swin (somewhat) I just can't tread water (ik ik disgraceful) but jet ski you say👀

(I'm indecisive af so I need ppl to plan things for me LOL)

ENJOYED ANSWERING THIS <3

[marshmallowprotection]

hello!! I saw requests are open & got inspired by one of the last asks you answered, so RFA with an MC that has a kid when they get lured to the apartment. let's say the kid's about 3-4

-embroidery anon (don't know if you remember me or not. it has been a While. I fell out of the fandom for a bit, but I'm happy to be back & see that you're still here <3)

Yoosung won't know what to do with himself. He, himself, is hardly an adult compared to the rest of the RFA. He definitely doesn't want people to see him as a child because he is finally coming into his own as an adult, but he still has a long way to go no matter how much he tries to grow up! But, the same could be said for everybody, because we're always changing and growing even as we get older. You will get wiser with time but there is always plenty more to learn.

But, in the context of this situation, it would be a lot on his shoulders the second he realized he had feelings for you. There's going to be a point of contingency in his head all about what it means to be mature and what it means to be immature. You're definitely ahead of him in terms of maturity and there's no doubt about that in his mind.

You have a kid and you're doing your best to take care of that kid. It makes him feel like any of the problems he complains about are silly in comparison since you have so much more to deal with than he does.

It wouldn't change the fact that he cares about you and wants to do everything he can to make sure that you and your kid are taken care of. It doesn't take much for him to start putting in the work he knows he needs to put in. After working out his grief and all the feelings that came with it, he would put a lot of time and focus into trying to be the best man he can be for you.

It's not that he thinks he needs to be some sort of Macho Man that takes care of you so that you never have to work again, it's more so that he wants to be reliable enough that you can turn to him in a partnership the way you're supposed to. You mean the world to him, and so does your kid.

Speaking of your kid, he finds it easy to talk to them! They take to Yoosung like lightning! Yoosung is still young in the sense of "Oh! I get what you like! My friends have siblings around that age! I know these things and I can adapt faster than older adults might! I get it!"

But, be warned, Yoosung is young, and stepping into the role of a step-parent is no joke. It's not that he's not prepared, it's more so that he just doesn't have the situational experience to get on top of this situation and know what's coming next. There are a lot of heavy talks you would need to have with him but it's doable and feasible with a lot of proper care.

Jaehee is... complicated. It's not that she doesn't like children or anything, it's more that she's been babysitting a cat for so long that it's hard for her to imagine doing any child-rearing. Imagine you've spent months of your life trying to make sure that a cat doesn't do a triple flip off of the ceiling fan and now imagine having a child in front of you that could do worse than that in a dangerous situation.

Not only is that terrifying, but it's also a lot to deal with when you're not used to being around kids all the time. She hasn't been around anybody that young since she was in school so her know-how and knowledge of being around kids is pretty slim to none.

It's not that she couldn't adapt easily with the right amount of focus, it's just that some people take to this more naturally than others and it would be difficult for her to jump into that role smoothly.

She is a planner and a doer. She can make sure that everything runs smoothly without a shadow of a doubt every step of the way. It would be easier for her to step into the role than most of the other characters if we're being honest.

It is a hard responsibility to take on but I feel like with the way the romance plays out in her route over time, it would be only natural for her to settle into a relationship with you in the coming months and build a healthy dynamic with your child before everything changes. 

You don't wind up with her romantically at first, because it is something that will take time for the two of you to ease into, and that adds an extra element that would allow you to get closer to her and for your child to get closer to her in a way that would be better suited to everyone’s emotional growth and comfort. By the time you've already settled into your cafe, your child takes to Jaehee like bread and butter. She might be stern and straightforward, but that doesn’t mean she will miss a chance to slide the kid a snack while they do homework. 

Zen is complicated.

Well, not in the way you think. It's not that the conversation of you having a child would make things complicated for him. It's more so the fact that he's well aware that a relationship with you will not only put you at risk, but it could put your child at risk as well.

Being in the limelight isn't always a healthy environment for anybody, much less a child. He would take to the two of you almost right away because if there's one thing he's been missing, it's a happy family. I have no doubt that being a father figure in somebody's life would be the easiest role for him to step into. 

His main concern is everybody's safety. He knows that he can do everything in his power to protect you and your child, but there are things that he can’t account for. He doesn't care what people think about his reputation or what it means for somebody to look at him and say that he chose the wrong romantic partner. It doesn't matter what everybody else thinks.

The only thing that matters is that he loves you and people better get used to that or they better not call themselves his fan.

He spent most of his adolescence on the street, so there isn't anything that surprises him about the rest of the world. He doesn't judge other people for their circumstances or what they've gone through just as much as he expects people to treat him the same. He would know right away that he cares about you from the beginning and nothing would be able to change his mind.

Although he comes with the tumultuous baggage of having a dream of stardom, it's not entirely the worst option to fall in love with him. Your kid is always going to be spoiled by him. Please, stop him before he gets into a pissing contest with Jumin over which is better, your kid or Elizabeth.

Jumin is a mixed bag. He is the safest option you can pick in terms of protection. Not only would you never need to be afraid of anything ever again, but you would also have the added benefit of knowing that he is the kind of man that would never let anybody fall into disrepair. Once you've come into his life and he knows that he can trust you, he's never going to cut you down. He is very rational and reasonable at the end of the day when he is in his best headspace.

The only downside is when he is fearful and paranoid. But in this situation, I feel as though he will have to confront himself and his feelings much faster than he would because there is a child involved in the situation.

Yes, his paranoia would extend in a way that would be hard to explain knowing that you and your child could be at risk if he so much as lets you leave that penthouse. But, his emotional state will be in such a place where he will have to confront his demons otherwise—

He’ll see his wild eyes in the mirror and your child, and stop. The presence of a child not only forces him to think twice about his actions and the way that he feels, but it also forces him to think about his own childhood. It was suppressed. It was suffocating. He can say up and down all day that he is too privileged to have experienced any trauma, but that is not the case.

The way that he acts out of fear to protect his loved ones would have to be confronted right away when he sees how your child would dare to talk back to him if they caught him making you frown. He would think back to his childhood when he spent all that time trying to help his best friend realize that his family situation could be different if he said something. Well, Jumin, it’s time for self-reflection. This is where he gets that. He'll make mistakes, but he'll own up to them and he'll apologize.

That's what would make him a better father than his own. Your child will never want for anything thanks to him. Besides, he'll get a hardy chuckle out of the fact that he’s marrying you and adopting your child when his father realizes that Jumin did what he was told but affirms, “You never specified the order, father. I have a spouse and a child now, just as you wanted.”

Saeyoung is hard for me and my answer took the longest because I just can't see this working.

I've tried to wrap my head around it multiple times just to figure out if there would even be a way for him to grow feelings in this situation. I just can't do it because he's not the kind of person that would be happy about somebody walking into this apartment the way that you do, and bringing an innocent child into the fray.

It seems almost reckless and stupid to not only put yourself in that situation but to put a child in that situation In Harm's Way. 

I would like to imagine that maybe there would be a scenario where this could play out happily for someone who is in this circumstance, but I just can't see it happening so it's hard to write anything. Not only would it be complicated when the situation starts to become more dangerous than most of the other routes, but he also wouldn’t want you to come with him to Mint Eye or on the run.

He’d tell you to stay with Jumin Han. He wouldn't let you bring your child and he wouldn't let you risk your life knowing that there's a child that needs their parent. His parental issues aside, he would never be the person to put a child in danger if he had any control over the situation. He would look at your kid and see his little brother.

A helpless little kid who needs to stay the hell away from him so they don't get hurt. I'm not saying it's impossible for him to fall in love with somebody who is a parent, but I am saying it's never going to play out the way that it does in his route which is why my answer here is so... not fun.