#i don't think i necessarily shipped those two characters but i do have so many ships where im like.

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

It just bugs me when the fandom treats Tails as a baby who has sonic as his daddy. Tails may be younger than sonic, but that doesn't make him a helpless diaper baby that needs sonic to wipe his ass. Tails was living on his own even before he met sonic..he has multiple workshops and creates glorious inventions and kicks badniks ass.

So sick of the infantilization of Tails.

I don't have much to say other than

100%

I'm not really broken up about people making fanon aus or whatever. But the amount of times there's like a new Tailstube or whatever and someone goes "OMG see! This is the proof that Tails is a 5 year old baby boy that Sonic is actively teaching to read and is practically parenting! All sega needs to do now is make him stay home and go to school and act more like Sonic's kid brother!!🥰" while Sonic and Tails are chilling in one of Tails multiple homes that Tails owns and allows Sonic to crash at

Or the amount of animations/comics that give him Cream's speech patterns, make him naive af and oblivious to "adult" things like *checks notes*...kissing(?), a gremlin baby child who can't stand losing games to Sonic, actively say "it's basically canon that Sonic actually owns Tails' shit", claim (incorrectly) that classic Tails was an infant child that Sonic picked up and started raising, etc, meanwhile everyone glazes up op talking about how so super canon that is and how that stuff basically canonically happened...

It's just kind of staggering. To me it could not be more clear of a case of people needing their fanon to be "basically canon" so they can feel like they're justified for liking it and so they can justify alienating people who don't share the same headcanons as their illusionary majority

[milfbrainrot]

i think that lesbian webseries i watched when i was like 15 about a lesbian who had a very drunken one night stand with some frat boy himbo and accidentally got pregnant from it became too much of a blueprint for how i play with fictional character dolls

[maladaptivewriting]

since the tiktok ban, i've been seeing a lot of stuff where people blame americans for jegulus and i can't stop thinking about it. i don't know why people feel this way, but i am prepared to make an argument. so please allow me to make my case.

[also this is completely based on generalizations. i know americans that hate jegulus and love jily, and i know british people who hate jily and love jegulus]

so i've never been a jily girl. even years before i found jegulus, i never cared about that ship. i straight up didn't even know that people wrote fics about them specifically. (i actually still don't know if people do write fics about only them because i would never seek out something like that).

originally, i'd thought it was just because i only cared about the golden trio characters and occasionally sirius and remus, but the more i got into the marauders era, the more i realized that james and lily together were the standouts, i just really didn't care for them.

it got to the point where i only read fics that referenced jily if they were extremely background to the story (which they almost always were bc there is just not that much to say about them) or preferably if both of them were already dead and it was just remus, sirius, and harry who remained.

shortly after i really started getting into the fandom and writing for jegulus, i spoke to someone who hated jegulus and loved jily, and i told them that i'd always felt like james and lily were on the road to divorce before they died. this person was SCANDALIZED. they could not understand why'd said that.

now granted, this person was in their early twenties and in my experience, if you haven't lived long enough to see a lot of your friends go through divorces, then the idea that james and lily might divorce may seem crazy.

however, and this is where the american thing really comes in, i realized after this conversation why i felt that there was no way that james and lily were going to make it and that was specifically because of growing up a conservative christian bible belt ass place.

do you know how many couples i knew in high school who started dating their senior year even though they seemingly had nothing in common, had sex one time and didn't use protection because sex education is extremely limited down there, got pregnant, and had to have shotgun wedding?

so. fucking. many.

do you know how many of them are still married?

only one.

so when i see jily, two characters who have nothing in common beyond being gryffindors, get together, have a kid, and get married (not necessarily in that order) all within like two years, i know that the odds are not in their favor. those two aren't staying together. don't play with me.

now i don't know how people feel about young marriages in other parts of the world, especially in the uk, but i've spoken to a lot of americans, especially ones from the south, and so many of them have had the exact same experiences with their peers. i just can't help but wonder if that lends itself to less people being interested in jily.

i have other arguments to this, like that jily is not as entertaining as almost every other ship that james or lily could be involved in and americans being partial to entertainment above all else, or the american (and christian) obsession with the concept of redemption and self sacrifice making regulus a more compelling character than one that lived and died good (lily and james), but this was the one i wanted to focus on today.

[dangermousie]

The Glory (2025) - final verdict

For those who don't want to read the whole thing, short version: has its issues but overall would recommend.

Now, you may go "but Mousie, you ranted so much recently, really? What changed?" Two things - (1) I adjusted genre expectations and (2) after the nadir of eps 20-25, I found 26-end quite solid and much more to my liking (they moved on from random side characters and back to core relationships; it also helped enormously that FL again started caring for someone(s) who are alive - concubine, stepkid, husband etc.) The drama never returned to true obsession levels of first half for me but it finished well.

Anyway, moving on...

Visually, this drama remained GORGEOUS throughout. I can forgive a lot to a drama this beautifully shot; the look is even more impressive when you know it didn't have a large budget.

The acting was also solid - Chen Duling slowly but steadily went from "oh her ugh" to "oh her yay" for me with every drama and this is no exception. I don't think I'd want to be friends with Hanyan and I don't necessarily like her as a person, but she was wonderfully acted (in addition to being solidly written about which more below.) It was very much her show and the rest, ML included, were basically supporting characters and she carried it off.

The plot was...not great. This writer wanted to get from point A to point B without caring much about the route (Royal Consort's basically offscreen-plotted downfall that took five minutes total is a particular lowlight but the dad's apparently incredible powers - how is he not the prime minister with those skills - were also not great.) But not every drama can be Joy of Life or The Advisors Alliance and compared to something like e.g., Si Jin or Brocade other recent grrlpower dramas, the plot of this one was quite good.

The villain was a weakness because it's boring to have a true sociopath with no complexity or weakness or anything. I suspect the writer just saw him as a stand-in for the patriarchy all these women needed to defeat (the heavy-handed message of this drama was very) but still - a little complexity would help. I do think the men overall were an afterthought in this - the women were all well thought through and whether you liked them or not, logical results of their relationships and circumstances, the men (even the ML) not so much. They were all the equivalent of busty girls in a shounen anime. I do think this is a failure of writing - you can have one-gender focused stories that still make the other appear real people (Joy of Life female characters and Legend of Zhen Huan male characters all feel like real people) but it's honestly not a cardinal sin here since the focus WERE the women and they were written well so I didn't feel the lack most of the time (if only supportings are written meh, it's forgivable.) But the female characters were all intriguing and the story took many of them places I did not expect (the concubine and her daughter? OMG about both of them.)

I ended up buying the ship because they do fit together (and would one really inflict either of these violent schemers on a "normal" person?) but if you want a romance-centric drama, this is obviously not for you. Interestingly, while I ended up liking them and shipping them, I was not rabid the way I thought I'd be and the lack of focus is not really the reason - I was RABID about Kill My Sins protags as a couple and they never even said I Love You let alone kiss or anything. But that's probably because in addition to just preferring LSS x Shawn as actors (they are both huge faves of mine), that drama was a true dual protagonist story - they both were mains in their own lives and narratives which occasionally intersected and were allowed great and equal complexity and life outside the narrative which made me more invested. FYX was hot and psycho and angsty which I love in a fictional man, but he never felt truly fleshed out outside the narrative and interactions/meaning to Hanyan.

I loved loved loved how uncompromisingly bleak this world was and how the characters all stepped in the muck and stayed there (for once, people with trauma did not miraculously come across as saintly and chirpy) and how there were second chances for characters who'd normally not get them (the concubine and her daughter) and how both FL and ML (and concubine etc) did things that I morally disapproved of or that (more shockingly) censors should disapprove of yet it made sense in character and, totally unexpectedly, they were not punished with death by the narrative because people are complex and outcomes are complex and and and.

I also loved that Fu Yunxi was married before and banged his first wife and seems to have liked her. Thank you!!!! (Seeing some peeps on mdl/twitter trying to bend themselves into pretzels to preserve a period adult man's virginity for FL was...well.) I loved that he was a random war orphan, no secret noble identity. I loved that lesbian pirate got to live and hopefully will come back to FL someday. I loved that the happiness at the end was "for now" but sufficient.

Anyway, this is going on and on and on so I am gonna stop on saying I adored that this was a dark story that has been so sadly absent from recent sunshine cdramas and that it had real danger and stakes. It became a surprise hit and I really do think it shows there is hunger for these types of stories; hopefully producers will take note. And I love that the protags were allowed to do all that and yet get a happy ending. That is so so so rare and so so so appreciated.

[thechy-fychannel]

hi i am a chase adorer and as such would like to know your opinions on that weird little himbo

it is my belief that chase has/had a rather strong crush on house, probably influenced to a large degree by his severe case of the daddy issues (fawning subtype, in contrast to house's fighting subtype). i think that combining this with his lack of self-esteem (see: voluntarily working for house for ~7 years) would make him INCREDIBLY vulnerable to house asking him for sexual favors. like even if it was a joke i think chase would just kinda go for it and probably freak out house a little, but i digress. do you see my vision?

anyway my point is i am a chase lover and chouse shipper, do you have thoughts on my blorbo or my ship?

hi anon i'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get around to answering this!! honestly it took me a WHILE to put my thoughts together about chase bc I have a lot of em!!

first of all, chase is SUCH a weird little himbo, he's incredibly complicated and accomplished and tbh I feel like the show never took him seriously enough until the very end when they were setting him up to take over for house. there's something about that catholic guilt and the constant need to be the specialist boy in the whole world while NEVER succeeding at being treated like the specialist boy in the world that's just lick your fingers delicious when you break his character down. he's filled with so much need and desire and is any of it ever fulfilled? No. As are many such cases.

anon, I see your vision SO MUCH and it's exactly how I feel about them too. while I don't necessarily ship chouse in a positive sense, I also dig the very unhealthy dynamic they would have as this gross unbalanced hookup situationship where chase is like "🥺 he wouldn't keep propositioning me if he didn't actually like me, even if he won't admit it 🥺" and house is like "damn, he looks pretty on his knees, maybe i should follow him into the bathroom" alfjalfklakfld.

I was just rewatching clips from when chase's dad visits and house genuinely feels so bad for chase bc he sees the amount of hurt his dad caused him and he definitely sees a lot of himself and his own daddy issues there. (bonus points for house calling him "robert" in this soft way that I rly love) I could definitely see this being the catalyst for something happening between them, chase is sad and broody with those sad watery eyes and house has a real moment of vulnerability with him, says something nice to him and then tries to cover it up by saying something inappropriate. As a joke. Obviously. but chase takes it literally and makes a pass at him that house initially rejects, but then chase gets even more sad and embarrassed and house actually feels bad for the guy— that poor pathetic blond puppy with wet eyes and a pretty mouth... and he rolls his eyes and tells himself he "lets it happen" while being a very active participant in whatever comes next.

the first time could be written off just as two repressed men taking comfort in each other in a moment of father-induced vulnerability... but the rest of the times are definitely an unfortunate combination of chase's lack of self esteem and house's selfish, manipulative nature. chase is just so much prettier (and cheaper) than the male hookers available in the tri-state area and he's just as easy. chase isn't stupid by any means, he knows what house is looking for when his eyes drag up and down his figure and make some comment about his pretty lips or girlish waist or "chase in his little short shorts." but poor chase is just so eager, so hopeful, so romantic. he could easily convince himself that they have something deep and meaningful when it's really just bj's in the sleep lab or the very occasional late night booty call.

and house can be so gross about it too, especially when he learns that he can be gross and it doesn't deter chase— actively holding his job over him in such a teasing and casual way that chase convinces himself there's no way he'd ever get rid of me, look at the way he throws the threat around if I stopped giving him what he wants, it's all just a joke to him. And then house fires him :) and oh boy would chase have a meltdown and reevaluate his entire life bc what do you mean he's not house's special boy? he was supposed to be his special boy. but he isn't, and he never will be bc he's doomed to be daddy's little disappointment forever, just like house :)

[ennn]

Agatha and Rio as star-crossed lovers: Why a happy ending for them is unlikely (for now) but it'll be okay (probably?)

Look, I’m obsessed with these two—both their complex characters, their crazy unique dynamic—it’s a ship I actually can’t play favourites with!

BUT I also fully expect these two will fight it out in the finale and they aren’t headed for a happy ending, at least not a happy ending where they walk off happily into the sunset together at the end of this series and we shippers should maybe try to not freak out about it.

Let’s look at what the show is—in my opinion—telling us about these two. Under the cut for spoilers and my heap of meta thoughts–

Agatha’s arc is about her finding her coven, her community

I’ve written a bit more about the show’s and our protagonist's arc here: Basically underneath all that lust for power, Agatha’s deepest desire is to find a coven, a family of witches she can share her trials and blessings with. Agatha loves powerful witchcraft and she wants someone to share it with.

And she did find Rio. These two incredibly lonely women found each other, fell in love, and probably murdered their way through so many people together.

But then Agatha had a child and realised she could be a little bit less selfish for another human being. And then Rio took him away and they separated but i think they ultimately never dealt with what I think is at the heart of their rift now, of Agatha still having that bit of humanity and vulnerability for human connection in her.

Now of course at this point I don’t know what Rio’s deal is exactly. Is she human? Was she human? What happened in her past? What we do know is that Rio has a certain detachment from people, and that she enjoys watching Agatha kill witches.

Right now Agatha's getting a taste of what having a coven can be like. Something she's not had in centuries. Them working together, making magic together. That moment during the campfire where she realised they were laughing with her. The shared experience of riding those broomsticks.

Yes, covens—like any kind of family or community—can be good or bad. They can lift you up or tear you down. Agatha's first coven and mother failed her, we'll see how this one fares (especially after what we saw in episode 5). Will they be enough to bring out more of Agatha's humanity?

The thing is, Agatha is going on a bit of a character development journey and Rio—whose her world hasn't been rocked the same way Agatha's has—isn't.

Now I don't expect Agatha to turn over a new leaf by the end of the series but I expect her to be in a somewhat different place from where she started, and Rio I expect will not be in that same place. At least not by this series' end.

There is a certain tension at the end of episode 4 after Rio brings up the topic of "the boy". And again when Rio watches Agatha leave the cabin in episode 5. I think Rio is recognising that this isn't the Agatha she knew and first fell in love with many years ago, and she's not happy about it.

Agatha's moving in a direction Rio might not be able to follow, and I expect that's where we'll get our conflict down the road.

In a world without logistical limits, it's not impossible for these two to be together given enough time and character development (and hey that's what fic is for) but with 4 episodes remaining I expect we'll at best get more of a bittersweet resolution for them, after both of them finally let loose the anger they have at each other.

A closing of a chapter, I suppose, but not necessarily The End.

Agatha and Rio love each other, but they also bring out the worst in each other

It’s clear that these two have loved and do still have love for each other. That they found a special connection with each other that has maybe even saved one or the both of them before.

But they can also be standing in each other's way.

I'm reminded of these lines from Killing Eve:

I think my monster encourages your monster, right? I think I wanted it too.

Look, Agatha can't have a community if she keeps killing members of that community in the pursuit of power. Yes, with Rio around, it's terribly romantic: the two of them against the world. But what if Agatha actually wants to be a part of that world, even a little?

And as for Rio, now this is just my theory but it's possible Rio is perhaps too focused on the darker aspects of her role, of her power.

As The Green Witch, isn’t she meant to be more than Death?

I've been marvelling at all the details in Rio's nature-themed warrior witch outfit. It's beautiful, a celebration of life. She clearly has a strong connection with plants; there's a cute spider on her jacket; she's shown some ability to heal. Even her Death outfit has vines and roots forming her chest piece — what happened with Rio to make her hone in on spreading violence and death?

It just feels like there's a story there, to have her be The Green Witch as opposed to a more traditional or mainstream manifestation of a Death entity.

It's clear that these two came together and did monstrous things. There's usually reasons for that. Human or not, I suspect Rio has her own pain, one that's warping the balance of nature. Maybe they both need to heal in their own way, apart from each other.

This relationship is important to the show

Whatever happens, it's clear that this relationship is key to Agatha's story and the show. Their relationship, with its soft moments and sharp edges, filled much of the first episode on purpose and I expect it to play a major part in the finale as well – an appropriate bookend – including the fight between them.

You could even say that it's actually a good thing that these two are getting the focus at the show's start and end. It's always been Agatha and Rio: understanding each other, at each other's throats, pushing each other, tearing at each other, wanting but not meeting each other.

The thing about this being a "small stakes" show is that the cause of the fight happening between them can be very personal. A lovers' quarrel. Rio may simply want to kill Agatha for something she did, or in rage or fear of losing her.

On that note though, these two have such a long and complicated – and as Hahn once put it "toxic maybe but loving" – relationship that one big violent messy fight in itself doesn't worry me. I mean, we've all seen episode one.

Maybe sometimes you have to bleed to let the poison out.

This is still a love story.

[thekirammanjinx]

I think there are some people that are overly self righteous when it comes to Arcane in particular, it’s like they have missed the entire point of the show. It’s tiring and disappointing. And it’s so much worse when a sapphic couple is involved.

Like when it comes to CaitVi, people are so critical and striving for an impossible “perfection”. I always see antis being like “well Cait is a cop! I can never support it”, “the jail scene was so icky”, “Cait should have apologized this way.” We give so many passes to heterosexual couples and m/m ships than f/f ships. People really need to pay attention to the context of the show , especially when it comes to subtle details in animation. Also like you said, relationships can be messy and unhealthy at times but that doesn’t define it for the long term. They made that clear about Caitlyn and Vi tbh.

Sorry for the long one but I’m just tired of the constant negativity

Truly people are so self righteous and pretentious. Like no you're not morally better than anyone because you don't like the fictional "cop ship"(as if a million of these dont exist for m/f). People truly did miss the point of the narrative and Cait's role in being an enforcer. A character can be a cop without the show being copaganda.(this got long thank you for the ask)

But if these people lack so much cognitive thinking that every show that involves a cop is copaganda then maybe there is no hope. Truly missing the entire narrative. A story is being told, how about stop thinking you're better than people because you think you're above it all and start actually viewing the media in front of you??

The standards that people put on f/f relationships gets so exhausting. Just because the show didn't unravel in the way they would want in some fanfiction then they deem it bad or unsatisfactory. Or suddenly the character is ooc. Actually I don't think alot of these people know the characters. They've just created a version of these characters in their own head.

Fandom has gotten into the habit of labeling everything "toxic". Like no it's not toxic. They handled real emotions poorly. They made bad decisions in the face of battling said emotions. No Cait/Vi isn't toxic or abusive. People who say they are an example of domestic violence... please for the love look up and learn what domestic violence is.

A moment of physical assault does not necessarily equate to abusive. The two can be mutually exclusive. Please read the narrative in front of you.

I don't know what moral grand standing people think they're achieving but I promise the only thing they'll be achieving is continuing to reduce the f/f representation we get on screen. Why do m/f relationships get to be bumpy and have their ups and downs but f/f have to check off every perfectionist and purist box.

Let f/f be complex. Let f/f relationships that exist in complex universes be complex. Let there be moments that they regret because they lashed out because of their emotions. Let female characters be well rounded.

Speaking of details of animation. This show is so richly crafted, there's so much put into the facial expressions and posture and everything. This is visual media people. Please learn to take in the full picture this is not an audio book or podcast. Watch with your eyes please.

Speaking of giving m/f a pass, i love timebomb but nobody says they're toxic or talks about how jinx was terrible to ekko and the firelights. They got one au episode and suddenly forget all that happened before then? Nobody is begging for an apology there. Nobody is talking about how jinx could've killed them both on the bridge. Or how they had little interaction outside of those scenes if any.

Caitvi is deemed rushed or unsatisfying but they had to pull in an au episode/timeline for ekko to reach out to jinx. People say Vi only arc is in Caitlyn(guess we forgot about vander and jinx--again over simplifying a character story just because it's not what they wanted to see), but what was ekko arc at the end?

I'd be fine if people were giving the same energy across the board but no. Once again we are here watching people tear down a f/f ship.

"We deserve better" bitch China won't even let the girls talk to each other on screen and rest their head on each other's shoulders. Get a grip.

[acourtofthought]

Ok this is probably completely controversial or shallow of me, but if the next acotar book does end up being Azriel’s (Gwynriel) I will probably not read it till SJM finally writes and releases Eluciens book.

Like I know it sounds just awful to say but Azriel is not my acotar character. He is not even in my top 5. And Gwyn as much as I love her. She is not someone I want to read about just yet.

So I would buy the book but probably just shelve it till the Elucien book is confirmed or released and then do a 2 book binge.

I just can’t read Azriel’s book without resentment or with unbiased feelings about his storyline trumping Lucien and Elain’s.

The only way I would be interested in the content of the Azriel book is if Lucien and Elain are heavily involved or get good character development for their upcoming book. But if not. If Elain is still eating away in Night Court Gardens and Lucien is still over seeing spring court and being undervalued by Rhys and his IC, then I will just skip it till the Elucien book is released.

I just can’t take much more lackluster content for Lucien and Elain.

And I am not saying I am not a Gwynriel fan. I support that ship and I fight for it and make posts in favor of it happening. Like I don’t want to hate Gwynriels book or Azriel’s book, and I would resent it and would hate read it and would then end up hating and mocking it. I just can’t emotionally or mentally read a book about them first, before my favored ship.

I only continued reading acotar for Lucien. I am not a Feyre or Rhys fan. So when SJM wrote Elain as his mate and that Helion is his father I stayed invested for those storylines and for these characters to one day get their time in the sun.

I don't think you should ever feel guilty for choosing not to read a book that you're not invested in at the moment. There are many authors who write multiple standalone books (containing an overarching plot) within a series and some pick and choose which of those books they're interested in reading rather than reading every single one. The authors often do a good job of filling in any relevant gaps from one book to the next for anyone who may not have read the book that came before.

And I completely get what you're saying. I'm not really interested in their story right now because I don't feel like I've been on much of a journey with them to be interested in their story. And yes, I realize that is the point of a standalone, to get invested within that one book but because this all started as a trilogy and because the trilogy set up Elucien long before Az / Gwyn, I've been waiting on resolution to their arcs. I struggle with the not knowing of it all and because we've not known how Elain will deal with her bond ever since book 2, because Lucien's heritage was the first one introduced out of unknown lineages, because their mystery powers were the first to be introduced but not yet explored, that has been my primary focus. Az and Gwyn's story is less "need to know" for me because right now, they don't necessarily have a "need to know" story specifically written into the text? They aren't confirmed mates, she hasn't shown true romantic interest in Az just yet and he hasn't shown true romantic interest in her. They aren't set up to butt heads the way Nessian was, they aren't ignoring one another because of tension they're feeling because of their bond the way Elain does with Lucien. They're just easily within the others orbit with no drama currently laid out for their pairing. If they get together in the next book it would feel like, "ok, good for them" but in my opinion it would not feel like a long fought battle to a HEA for them together? Definitely not the way we saw with Nesta and Cassian whose hate to love romantic arc together spanned over nearly two years on the timeline and definitely not the way we've seen Elain and Lucien's "mating bond snapping instantly while she was engaged to another guy so she fought against the bond while he's only ever put her happiness first and given her space" arc span over two years. My man has been quietly suffering for YEARS with this unfulfilled bond, that was the story long before we learned Az felt jealous he didn't get a bond like his brothers and it doesn't make sense for an author to continually introduce new plots to solve without having first resolved the ones introduced from way back when.

And I agree. Watching Az get his HEA before Lucien would feel like a scenario with two co-workers. Where one threw tantrums and acted foolish repeatedly, who verbalized threats against the other co-worker yet he got a promotion before the other co-worker who has never done anything but keep his head down, work hard, and show respect to everyone in the office. People can have their favorites of course, but I think it's hard to deny that out of these two guys, Lucien is the one who is behaving properly while Az is acting like a spoiled child. As a Lucien girl first and foremost, of course I'm going to feel a little salty if Az gets his HEA before Lucien when Lucien has waited for Elain for YEARS and Az has been jumping between women like a ping-pong ball in the last year alone. As an Elain girl first and foremost I'm not going to love seeing Az get his HEA after he repeatedly put Elain down in SF / HOFAS and while she still doesn't have a proper support system.

Az at least has friends who believe him as capable, who respect him and who turn to him for help. He has a true home in the NC and an important job.

Elain does not have people who believe in her and she was forced into living in the NC because she had nowhere else to go. She's also always picked last when it comes to doing anything to help out the IC. Lucien is without a true home, he's been a drifter since ACOWAR and for everything he is constantly doing for the NC / Spring / the Human Lands, the IC still treats him with a bit of disrespect at times, Tamlin still treats him with disrespect.

So like you said, I think I'd struggle to go into an Az book without some sort of resentment just because he has been acting like a bit of an asshole towards Lucien and I'd rather not see Elain and Lucien's characters suffer for yet another book. I also don't think there's been any real tension set up for Gwynriel's arc that has made me invested in their story at this point whereas Elain and Lucien's tension is bursting at the seams for resolution.

[agentrouka-blog]

What made you first interested in Jonsa? I really want to love Jonsa. Which may sound strange. But hear me out. I’ve read all the metas and from a metatextual level I really agree with and believe in Jonsa. But I have trouble actually enjoying it and I think maybe it’s because so much content seems to focus on Jon pining over Sansa. I’d much prefer to see things from Sansa’s perspective where she sees the hero in him and sees that maybe all the songs aren’t lies after all as opposed to him “winning her over.” I feel I have been inundated my whole life with stories of outcast men pining over beautiful women they see as out of their league and “winning them over” and I honestly find the trope tiring because it’s so male perspective focused and doesn’t give Sansa the agency of choosing her lover, instead, making her something to be won or earned. If you have any suggestions for Jonsa content that focuses heavily on Sansa’s point of view, on her falling for Jon first (or at least falling for each other at the same time without realizing it) I’d love to hear them! And I’d love to hear what makes Jonsa appeal to you on a personal non-meta level!

Hi there!

I too draw a difference between Jonsa as a theory and shipping it for entertainment.

I've drifted quite a bit away from what you describe as "content", which is fanworks, art and fanfiction. My tastes are very narrow and that puts me outside the target audience for a lot of what is being shared by creators. Plus, I get a great deal more personal enjoyment out of just interpreting the canon text. I enjoy what the couple represents in the narrative more than I necessarily enjoy immersing myself in different non-canonical variants.

And there's a lot of variants. You have two similar but also very different canon-sources (books and tv show) and within those two sources very different takes on the couple. For as many "Jon pines for higborn Sansa" approaches you get an equal amount of "Sansa jealously pines for her brother's oblivious best friend" modern au's. What we enjoy in recreational reading is extremely personal and subjective.

That said, for fear of disappointing you, I don't particular enjoy the "Sansa falls first" scenarios because what I like about the couple especially is the idea of Sansa finally being appreciated for who she is. Canon offers us plenty of examples of Sansa extending affection and crushes on other characters. They are never truly reciprocated, and they join in on a theme of Sansa going unappreciated for her qualities by the world around her. She is disregarded, mocked, criticized, belittled, humiliated. So much so that a large part of the fandom considers this to be justified and educational for her. She has given up on being loved for herself, but she will not sacrifice her values as a consequence. So someone falling in love with her is to me a very compelling and cathartic validation of Sansa as a person. Of course, this only works if the person falling for Sansa is actually attractive to her and embodies the things we know she has been looking for all this time. But specifically the idea that Sansa falls first fails my personal taste because it contains a sense of lacking reciprocation that we've already seen multiple times in her story. She's been not-loved-in-return a lot already.

I do enjoy the concept of Jon being loved by Sansa, too, because it validated aspects of him he usually keeps close to his chest. Things that touch on his specific mixed sense of identity as a nobly-raised bastard. He has soft sensibilities, a romantic disposition, pedestrian dreams of family and home, and highly idealistic and emotional ideals surrounding leadership that center on duty and honor. But he is generally not appreciated for those specific things. He is appreciated for his brains and his abilities, his bravery, his pragmatism, his loyalty to his friends and duties - but not for the boy who wants to be Lord of Winterfell with a lady wife and babies, who wants to be a hero from the songs, Florian the Fool, Ryam Redwyne. It's a lovely and very specific recognition of a very private part of Jon, to be loved for his secret soft self.

But it's not my primary focus because unlike Sansa, Jon still receives a lot of validation and love in the source material. It's just not the specific kind he wants. So that makes it comparatively less compelling to me.

That doesn't mean that Sansa primarily falling in love with Jon isn't an equally valid thing to enjoy! It's just that I can't make you any good recommendations on this subject specifically because it's not my specific favorite flavor of jonsa.

I wish you good luck though!

[redux-iterum]

With your track record with your ‘favourite chapters’, I am deeply afraid of what trauma is going to occur in chapter 45. Also, here’s that opportunity to rant about the Erins’ crippling allergy to characterisation that you asked for!

Chapter 45's a great time. I promise. For me.

Now! Characters and the Erins.

So the characters in Warriors are extremely inconsistent. I think we can all agree on that. Firestar, for example, goes from murder-happy to altruistic and loving to completely apathetic, sometimes in the span of one book. He's constantly said to be a paragon of goodness and a soft-hearted nice guy, but if you actually read the damn story, you can see he flipflops around as the plot progresses. There's a lot of characters being said to be one thing while they behave entirely differently in the story itself.

The main thing that I believe when it comes to canon is that almost none of the cats having a consistent, present personality is more-or-less on purpose, or at least extremely convenient for the Erins. They focus on the plot first and foremost and shove characters into the slots that need to be filled so that the plot they have in mind can progress or be halted whenever it's most useful for them. Would Leopardstar be stupid enough to let Tigerclaw walk all over her in the first arc? No, but we needed the Clans to be split in two for the future battle at the end of the books. Is ThunderClan truly that eager to listen to a clearly battered, befuddled and bizarre-acting Bramblestar, especially when he starts kicking cats out of the Clan? Not logically in any respect, but how else are we going to facilitate drama and get multiple cats out there to help bolster the numbers of the secret rebellion? So on and so forth.

Is planning a plot first a bad thing? Not necessarily. Anyone with enough skill can create a plot and then create characters to service that plot and its themes.

But the complete lack of personality about 95% of the cast displays is much more harmful to this series than a bad plot (of which there are many). The entire premise is about a community of cats and their interpersonal drama. You can't do that well if your readers can't tell you what kind of personality Snaptooth has, or how Mousefur and Runningwind interact with each other. I've talked before about how even families don't feel like families, to the point of not grieving when their child dies at some times (never forget that Yellowfang's own mother is one of the first to demand her be cast out as if she could believe her own daughter would murder her siblings - likely because the writers forgot they were even related). The most we get for personal relationships is romantic subplots, and because there's no character between the partners, there's no chemistry, and therefore romances are more annoying than interesting. Not having real characters is poisonous to the story.

If I were to alter one thing - a singular aspect - in the books, it would be to give characters actual traits, and have them act consistently with those traits. I genuinely believe that if everyone had a personality they stuck with, we could have much more interesting drama, plots that are much easier to come up with and navigate through the different Clans and their members, and an overall higher-quality series with a fandom that could actually ship characters instead of slapping two designs together and pretending they had any chemistry or even interacted in canon.

As it is, though, I can't even say we're stuck with a bland flavor of cats. We have no flavor at all. No sprinkles, no vanilla, not even really any flour to begin with. We have nothing to work with. And it annoys me greatly.

[callizinc]

YES.

i don't really mind shipping since it's been a fundamental part of fandom culture since 4ever, but I AGREE WITH YOU. ena is so non-romantic as a franchise that it's very difficult for any ship to have substance, but ahdhejf

a part of me dies when i see the nuances of canon disregarded for the sake of validating a ship. or for the sake of anything, actually. why are we ignoring canon, i ask, a tear sliding down my face.

why is ena a mother? why is ena a species?

seeing dbbq's release bring about a wave of new fans made me so hopeful for more people appreciating this incredible world and its characters, and then just. i see almost the entire fanbase throw away canon. the amount of "it's not that deep"s i've seen is enough to induce a psychotic episode in me

because IT IS deep. art will be intentional forever and always, and it kills meeeee to see people treating this masterpiece like it's a sequence of random events

Anon I am unsure how much i'll have to say on this particular war you've suffered because like i said I've tried really hard to ignore basically every fandom place that isn't my echo chamber #myechochamber Because of this exact reason. Because it's so fucking scary out there. Ojh that is so fucking scary + This post by my mutual eshi Shoutout literally never stops being true

But like. Yeah. 😭 Yeah. I just........ Well what is there to say. .....Yeah. AND THE THING IS. THE THING IS. I may be an annoying contrarian hater. but the truth is This exact thing has happened with everything that's ever existed, and it will continue to happen until the end of time. And well that's just the way it goes.

But tell me why I and i know many others waited 4 years for an extremely artistically talented game rich with beautiful artistry and interesting themes and meanings and just a wealth of amazingly cool things, Only for the majority of fans to either one: ignore it and throw their hands up and say "Lol it's all just random incomprehensibility for fun!!" or Two: to talk about FUCKING ANYTHING OTHER THAN WHAT ACTUALLY???? EVER?????? HAPPENED???????????????????? 😭😭😭😭😭

Sorry [My glowing red demon eye overtakes me]There are so many nice and whimsical people and mutuals on this blog. Y'all didn't see that. ignore that. But anon a part of me also dies every time i see that . All of those things. Can anyone fucking hear me. Please help me. 😭 I did not wait for 4 years for this to be the popular fandom landscape. (it's ok though....If i waited 4 years then By god i can wait out the storm. We can do this together anon)

Also:

Literally. literally. Literally Say That Shit . Like obviously i don't think the large majority of people who parrot that theory/interpretation are doing it with ANY sort of bad intention, I think they're. Either trying to make a genuine interpretation, or just completely making shit up. and playing toys 😭 EITHER WAY GENUINELY NO BAD INTENTIONS ANYWHERE HERE. I just still think it also Is so sucks and is bad And i hate motherhood headcanons YAYYYY

I also got crucified on twitter once like 2 years for saying I thought a popular fandom theory that awas around my old fandom was misogynistic, so. Maybe i'm wrong truly. It's all ok though. Who remembers my [EXTREMELY LOUD TRAIN SUDDENLY PASSES BY] era. Anyway

I will say some of that theory i've also seen isn't necessarily saying she "birthed the humanboard" but rather the usage of the term "birth" is supposed to be analogous and/or reminiscent of like. A past. ......miscarriage. or sometjing. Sorry i'm realizing how insane I sound as i say this but in my defense That's because this take is also so sucks. If you want the only good ena mother theory ever been made Stream this post by my mutual cube-cumb3r REAL!

Also say that shit, Because assuming children and the typical child adult growth cycle even exists in the ena world , If ena was put in the care of any child she'd get thrown out in 5 minutes for trying to sell pyramid schemes to their parent, yelling swears at the kid for no reason, Or both. #AbortThatThang

[atopvisenyashill]

is this too many? oh well… B L P Q R Z

B: A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind.

Probably Rhaenicent? I was initially so annoyed by the lazy change to both their ages that I was very hostile to this relationship, and I still don't really care for the show version of it but a few of my mutuals either ship it or are into a book version of it and I've more or less come around on it.

L: Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for?

idk if i have a favorite person necessarily so i guess it would depend on who is offering but - the entire "theon goes wtih brienne and sansa to the wall, things get weirdly tense and romantic really fast between the whole group" au idea. more and more i've been thinking that it's likely actually that theon is involved in the king in the north/stark in winterfell stuff throughout twow, and i'd love someone to explore the dynamic going on between theon-sansa-jon-brienne but in like, a gayer way than george is likely to explore it lmao. preferably without the sansa bolton stuff.

P: Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

Okay so hear me out we put the asoiaf characters into the big brother house. No crazy twists or anything, just a bb10 esque game with a 7 person jury...

Q: A ship you’ve abandoned and why.

Probably SanSan. I still like it conceptually but I don't like the idea of it happening romantically in canon, and I have found myself disconnecting from the fans because the way that i see it is incredibly different from the way others see it. ~The point~ for me is that Sandor walks away from Sansa and does not burden her with a similar trauma he himself experienced around her age and I think if they were to meet again and get into a relationship, it completely sours that dynamic into one of repeating cycles, and that's fine but it's not what this ship is about for me. However, when you look at the way people ship it, it's very much in the vein of some other ships I don't like or don't interact with for similar reasons (a la Drogo/Dany, Aegony, Daemyra) where the reality of Sandor having sex with a fourteen year old Sansa is completely ignored in favor of a fandom-characterized dynamic that is much less complex and much less dark than their canon relationship and like, no thanks lmao.

R: A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships.

I'm really into the idea of Daenaera Velaryon and Jaehaera Targaryen being lovers, but everyone seems to only ship them with men because they’re boring.

Z: What's a ship that you want to ship publicly, but everyone on tumblr hates it so you keep your mouth shut about it?

hmmmmmmmmmmm idk that there's one i don't talk about on here because everyone hates it, i think there's a healthy subfandom for most ships. i mean, i don't talk a lot about jonsa on my main because i know some of my irl friends would be a lil judgey (we did a "problematic ships" bingo and i included a few incestuous asoiaf ones and my two besties were like "oh yours are so much worse than mine" alsjskf), and i do not talk about visnyra and aligon at all on bluesky/twitter because i know those prudes would throw a hissy fit over it lmao. Maybe Jon/Ygritte? I think that one’s really fallen out of favor over the years because people are obsessed with shipping “healthy” ships and canon only ships. There’s a lot of like, whore-madonna stuff going on with Ygritte and Sansa/Dany that I find incredibly off putting in fandom when people discuss Ygritte - if they discuss her at all, which they don’t beyond really surface level “she’s the devil” and “well actually jon is the sexual abuser here when you think about it” nonsense. Also probably Saerhaerys lol but I think that's just me being a little shy about Public Dead Doving, especially when you factor in how young Saera i when Jaehaerys likely started to ramp up his sexual abuse of her.

[ladyluscinia]

Draft clearing. I think I had more of a point on the topic of Jenkins and genre I wanted to make when I gathered these, but I'm not feeling it anymore. However, I need spread awareness of his absolutely baffling ideas about pirate media and how he sounds half-convinced it must be a formulaic action/adventure. I only picked up on this by reading way too many interviews back to back so I'm not surprised I've never seen anyone else mention it, but like. It's wild. And he's SO additionally weird about how showrunning a piece of media about pirates relates to whatever concept he has of pirate media in his head.

Here's the link to my interview compilation if you want to check my sources on these.

Jenkins Quotes on "Pirate Genre"

"I think actual pirate stuff is fine, but it's not necessarily my cup of tea. And I think Taika [Waititi] felt similarly.

[...]

Showrunner Jenkins sees Our Flag Means Death as having "joy. A lot of joy. I like Stede because Stede is, to me, the outsider artist of pirates. And I think in designing the show, I was conscious [of the fact that it's] a hard genre to do anything to. It's a very stubborn genre because it's been done so well and so often. So I kind of tried to look at, like New York, like Alphabet City in the '80s via a pirate genre via Mad Max and try to throw all these different things at it. So I think you'll get a different feel than you'd get on a normal pirate thing. I think we achieved that with our amazing crew." - (Gizmodo, 2/22/22)

"I guess I really… I get kind of bored. How much pirate can you do? They're going to rob stuff. They're going to steal ships. There's only so many pirate stories you can do." - (Collider, 3/24/22)

Despite creating a pirate show, he himself says he's not a huge fan of pirate movies. - (EW.com, 12/13/22)

"I don't want to see a bunch of pirate things that I've seen in other things, I'll just go watch another thing if I want to see that. That's not really my thing. I like the genre, but it's a very hard genre to budge. I want to see relationships in a pirate world." - (TV Guide, 10/5/23)

"The pirate genre is fun, but I wasn't dying to make a pirate show. Taika wasn't dying to make a pirate show. But the thing that was interesting to me was that Stede finds love, and he finds it with Blackbeard." - (Variety, 10/13/23)

"I think there is something in the show about how piracy is a brutal way of life. It's essentially Mad Max, this world. There's no law, there's just strong and weak." - (Polygon, 10/21/23)

"And it’s also a pirate show, so he’s got to die." - (Vanity Fair, 10/26/23)

"Another thing I love is what I call shaggy stories, stories about people navigating each other. When you plug them into different genres, you get this great engine that comes with it. I'm not particularly dying to write a pirate thing, but I want to write a bunch of characters trying to navigate each other in a pirate thing." - (Vulture, 10/28/23)

"But I'm like you. I'm not a big pirate person. In general, it's a big creaky genre that's hard to budge, but I think the show benefits from we can pull pirate stuff out when we need it. Ultimately, yeah, I want to see these different relationships and perspectives on different relationships. Then it's fun to plug it into an overwrought genre.

[...]

Pirates of the Caribbean, those movies are great. That's not necessarily what I hunger to see, but in that genre, it's great. You're not going to beat that, especially on something that's lower budget. We've seen a lot of this stuff, so it's fun to take it then and don't do any of that stuff." - (Metro Weekly, 11/1/23)

"I think it's more interesting to me that I've never seen a love story like this in this genre, and you dream for that. Really, pirates, what can you do that's different with pirates?

[...]

To me, to tell the story about these two men in this very hetero action genre, falling for each other..." - (Metro Weekly, 11/1/23)

---

...This is the same guy who just ended a season on the British Navy blowing up Nassau for symbolism reasons that I'm pretty sure have nothing to do with the love story. 🤨

[chronurgy]

20 writer questions

tagged by: @lamortwrites (thank you!)

Tagging: @andrigyn, @defira85, and anyone else who's interested! I'm a little behind the curve so I don't want to tag a bunch of people who've probably already done this, but please consider yourself tagged if you're interested

How many works do you have on ao3?

Nineteen!

What’s your total ao3 word count?

65,507

What are your top five fics by kudos?

1. Möbius Strips and Other Such Eternities (T, 8k, Ketheric writes letters to Isobel after her resurrection) 2. Departure from the Vulgar Crowd (M, 5k, dark urge/gortash, first meeting) 3. They Who Seek to Deceive (M, 10k, dark urge/gortash, post-coronation reunion) 4. Would You Give the Devil This Dance? (Would You be a Part of His Plans?) (T, 8k, dark urge/gortash, Wyll goes to a party and tries to square a circle) 5. The Bloody Spectacle of It (T, 3k, dark urge/gortash, a bhaalist observes his god and master)

What fandoms do you write for?

Bg3 is the only fandom I've put anything up on ao3 for so far, but I've also got a critical role campaign 2 wip and some rogue trader wips that I'm working on!

Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I do! Eventually (oops). I always try to respond because comments mean so much to me and I want the person who left the comment to know how much I appreciate it! I'm just, uh, bad at knowing how to do that so it sometimes takes me awhile

What's the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Oh hmm, that's hard to say! A few of my fics end on darker or less happy notes, but those tend to lean closer toward horror than angst, if that makes sense. I think I'd have to say either Would You Give the Devil This Dance? (Would You be a Part of His Plans?) for just how hard Wyll is working to make things seem okay when they clearly aren't or Not Glory but Power for how the near triumphant ending for young Enver is curdled with our knowledge of where this will lead him.

What's the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Also a somewhat difficult question! Probably They Who Seek to Deceive, in the sense that the main two characters certainly seem very happy about how things have turned out!

Do you get hate on fics?

Happily, no.

Do you write smut?

I would say that I haven't yet, but on the other hand my spouse says that I absolutely do. When I pointed out that there isn't any sex in any of my fics, they just said "you know that's worse, right?" So I guess it all depends on what you consider smut lol.

Do you write crossovers?

I haven't yet, but I might give it a try someday

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I know of! I think my stuff is too niche to be worth stealing for clout, honestly

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope, no way is anything I write on that level of popularity!

Have you ever cowritten a fic before?

I have not! I have no idea how that would even work with my slow and chaotic writing process

What's your all time favorite ship?

Really, really good question. Hard to say. I think dark urge/gortash has to be up there. Shadowgast, obviously. Probably Merlin/Arthur from the TV show too (yes I have bad taste).

What's the wip you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

I have the start of a very long Gale pov fic that's meant to cover all of acts 1 and 2, plus a tiny bit of act 3. It was going to focus on Gale and Vesper's developing relationship, on Gale slowly putting the bhaalspawn-shaped pieces together, and on moral flexibility and the relationship between wizards and power. So an exceptionally long fic already, made longer by the long-winded chatteriness of Gale's pov reinforcing my own worst tendencies, lol. It's one of those things I doubt I'll ever finish just for the sheer length of it, especially given that I'm not the fastest writer and I keep putting it aside for other projects. Maybe someday!

What are your writing strengths?

I'm a pretty decent worldbuilder I think, though that doesn't necessarily get a lot of airtime in fic. I'm solid with character voice and internal monologue as well.

What are you writing weaknesses?

I get lost in the sauce really easily and end up writing more than is really necessary or helpful to tell the story I'm trying to tell. I'm tend towards overexplaning things and not trusting people to pick up in what I'm trying to say (I'm working on it!)

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic?

If it's done to serve a purpose in the story, why not? Especially when you're pulling from a source material that does a lot of it to begin with.

First fandom you wrote for?

Almost certainly warrior cats

Favorite fic you've ever written?

It's tough and a very close competition, but in the end I think I have to go with They Who Seek to Deceive. The sheer amount of planning and double meaning I put into everything the characters say and don't say is what makes it for me, I think.

[dashing-disaster]

"Buck doesn't like basketball but basketball got him Tommy so it's actually a sweet gift" might be the most self centered arrogant take I've ever had to read - and in that, it makes perfect sense that that's the kind of logic Tommy, who constantly condescends and patronizes Buck, would use.

I see how the line can be interpreted that way if one doesn't like the ship, yeah. But it's not how I meant it and I think that comes across well enough in the rest of the post so I'm not too concerned about this.

Now, I wouldn't necessarily call Tommy condescending or patronising as that implies some degree of willfulness and his behaviour towards Buck up to the moment of breaking up is never deliberately unkind.

Quite the opposite, Tommy shows up for Buck, even if he has to go out of his way to do so, he compliments him, he takes care of him when he's hurt and he listens to him. Does he perhaps not always get it and is fondly exasperated? Absolutely. Just like Eddie, as we saw in the Halloween episode. Those two were on the same page about the curse there, but they still indulged Buck because they both love him.

Honestly, after 6 months the occasional eye-roll or 'sure honey' at your partner is a given because that person might be an idiot but they're your idiot.

That's not to say that Tommy isn't still a deeply flawed individual and that is unfortunately reflected in the way he handles conflict. There are two things specifically that form a pattern: Tommy assumes to know what other people (Buck) feel or think or how they will react in a situation and he runs from his problems. Both of those things are a defense mechanism and something people learn to do as a result of trauma.

Now, is it a healthy defense mechanism? Hell no! It's one that I'd advise anyone who detects these patterns in themselves to unpack with a therapist or, if that's not possible, at least be aware of the issues and try to find coping strategies to prevent self-sabotage.

Also let's be real, if it comes to unhealthy coping mechanisms he's found his people at the 118. Everyone at that station has had a go at those at some point I think. And thank God for that otherwise this show would be dreadfully boring.

And that's also where I would have loved to see more of this relationship. I'd have loved for Buck, who still has so little self-worth that he simply accepts it whenever someone leaves him, to fight for this relationship because they're both worth it. And at the same time with Tommy, who apparently would rather blow up a good thing without cause or reason just so he can be the one to control it, I would have loved for him to take that leap of faith and trust Buck.

It could have been a beautiful story about growth. I actually think it still can be, if the TV Gods are willing.

So, long story short, is Tommy arrogant, condescending, and patronising towards Buck? No. But he's not perfect either. He's a three-dimensional character with past trauma, fears, flaws, and many layers that we unfortunately only scratched the surface of.

And it's okay if you see things differently. It's okay if you don't like Tommy and your opinions and feelings about him are perfectly valid, just as mine.

Anyway, thank you for your message, anon, I hope you have a good day.

[tiredassmage]

Does your OC have a type? Have they ever been surprised by their feelings for someone who doesn't fit this?

For any one who speaks up!

[ A Short Ask List About Love ]

Ohhh, I absolutely have to use this one to drag Tyr a little /affectionate.

Because I don't think Tyr would say he has a type - physically, at least. And I, for the longest time, also wouldn't have accused him of such things, but there is definitely a kind of hilarious wrench in that idea that one of my friends pointed out once in our blorbo shipping enterprise /lh, and frankly if I don't give Tyr shit for at least quarterly, like... c'mon. The guy's really good at a lot of things. I gotta take the silly passes that I can on the guy to keep him humble, lmao.

Because if I put Shara Jenn, Alucren Ellery, Jonas Balkar, and say... at least two of my friend's (@shadowsofdread) blorbos on a line, namely Hyroh and Taizi... And I mean. coughs. Cecil. Sorry, Taizi.

Ya might notice that this is a crowd with dark hair. /lh. And also that Tyr has apparently inherited my weakness for beautiful eye colors. Oops.

And, y'know, I can't give the guy too much shit for it. Because he's certainly got taste. 😔 And if I stretch the definition from that crowd mostly being black hair, arguably a lot of the people I'd consider on this man's partner list fall under 'darker' hair colors more broadly.

And there is also arguably that time he flirted with Leo in a cantina once, even if it was just to convince the guy to go home and sleep off being clearly intoxicated so someone didn't steal his rent's worth of credits more than to actually do anything with the guy. Chivalry isn't entirely dead etc etc.

But really I think it's just kind of a hilarious accident. Specifically still a hilarious one, for sure. Tyr's not really a guy to be looking for something based on physical attraction alone - because his heart's got a habit of just kind of leaking out of him even when he's not actively consciously choosing to lead with it. I mean, I could also tease him that he's got a weak spot for anyone that's also in the intelligence business or kind of an adjacent role. No matter how bad for his own interest it could possibly be, Tyr kinda can't help but stick his nose in that one with the kind of curiosity to test how alike or different in views they might be - because he can't live with just standing by and not offering a hand to help someone that might just need a reminder they're not alone in these systems that don't quite have places for people in... his kind of work.

So, generally, I... don't think he's surprised necessarily by the kind of people he ends up feeling... drawn to. I mean, to an extent he is, and he isn't. Hyroh's a Jedi, which is perhaps the galaxy's idea of an unlikely pair when you look at the two of them, and Taizi's a Sith - and arguably a quite prominent one, at least for a time, and Tyr's had a lifetime of mistrusting the bastards (generalized), so... in those ways? It's just been... unlikely.

But if there's any surprise, it's short-lived, replaced quickly by curiosity. Few and far between, generally, are the people that pause long enough to ask him who are you? to mean something more than... Cipher Nine. And Nine's a convenient answer for most of his life - one he goes back to and keeps pieces of even to this day, even with many of the people he's close to, because Nine's familiar. Nine has his uses still, even to Tyr.

He's lucky enough that largely, he seems to have been a pretty sound judge of character thus far on who to let get close and stay in his life. There's an AU or two here or there that we don't heavily work with where sometimes Tyr gets his hesitance to be involved with someone like a Sith Lord proven right, and Tyr will choose leaving rather than entirely breaking himself and his ideals just to stay with someone who can't respect when he sets boundaries at those ideals. And that's just a tiny bit of a shame, because I don't often otherwise really articulate that Tyr is someone that will leave, even though he's loyal enough that he's shattered bone and hollowed out his marrow to protect others. He's got a lot of heart, and he's willing to put a lot into someone when they give him a safe place to slough off some of his burdens for a while, but... he's still someone who can't tolerate if that's at the cost of others - if that has collateral damage. If the grip becomes hurtful instead of protective.

Tyr's someone who... everyone he's ever respected or loved..? They've hurt him, somehow. Some of them in ways that a lot of people might consider unforgivable, that Tyr stuck through anyway. That didn't make Tyr change his opinion of them, really. So, it's... that alone doesn't make anything particularly special. But there's still a line of intent there. Usually, people who cross it meaningfully, with the intent to leave scars... They don't last very long, or at least Tyr doesn't stick around to see it.