#i have a feeling my predictions are wrong

[nachrosas]

A LITTLE BIT OF JEALOUSY, PLEASE | s.reid x reader

summary: in which you're jealous of the new agent. pairing: spencer reid x reader content warnings: none, just pure fluff word count: 776 a/n: i promised to myself that yesterday was the last fic of 2024, but i kinda lied? this can be viewed as the reader version of “a cup of jealousy, please” (but you also can see then separately)! hope you guys like it and feedback is always appreciated! also, my inbox is always open to chat (i love to talk and meet new people)! till the next one!

The BAU's famous meeting room was illuminated by the yellowish light of the fluorescent lamps, and the round table was littered with papers and folders. You and Spencer were poring over the evidence from the latest case the team was working on, analyzing every detail with his characteristic attention. He moved quickly, adjusting his glasses and pointing at the scattered documents, while his words formed a continuous stream of logical reasoning.

"So, if we consider the pattern of the attacks, the modus operandi of the criminal begins to distort... we need to start looking for people with a certain knowledge of psychology, or someone capable of manipulating minds." said Spencer, his voice soft and focused.

You were totally focused, analyzing the data with him. But something in your mind told you that something was wrong. A murmur from somewhere behind Spencer caught his attention, confirming his suspicions. The sound came from one of the corners of the room, where the team's new agent was trying to talk to him, her words sounding louder than usual as if she was trying her best to capture his attention.

"Do you really think that criminals think like that?" she moved a little closer, making an almost casual gesture towards his face, as if she were fixing his hair. "You have such a fascinating way of looking at things. It must be amazing to have a brain like yours."

Spencer, totally oblivious to the change, and possible intentions, in the tone of the conversation, shook his head in understanding. "Well, I have an IQ of… 187. But I like to study patterns and behavior. I believe that every human being is predictable, on some level."

The agent smiled, leaning forward slightly, her eyes shining with an expression you could recognize from miles away: interest. Something more. Her eyes narrowed involuntarily, and an uneasy feeling began to form in the back of her mind - and her heart.

You looked back at the papers, trying to concentrate, but the sound of the conversation continued to flow in the background. The agent didn't seem to want to stop. "You're really modest, Spencer. You don't know how… attractive you are when you talk about your work."

You knew that jealousy was a strange feeling, of course you had felt it a few times before, but now, when she mentioned it, it was completely clear. You were dying of jealousy at the interaction between the new girl and Spencer. Your stomach churned. Spencer seemed so innocent, so absorbed in their conversation, that he didn't even notice her intentions. And that made him even more vulnerable. But who wouldn't? The way she smiled at him, the way she touched him lightly as she gestured. You had to hold on with all your might not to get up from your chair and rip her hand off his arm — Hotch would certainly be grateful if you didn't do that, after all, aggression between agents wouldn't look good on his report card.

You bit your lip, mentally deciding that you had put up with enough of this nonsense — in your own opinion. You raised your head, your voice coming out stronger than you expected.

"Spencer." you interrupted the agent's conversation with a firmness that surprised everyone in the room, even you. "I think we've found new evidence about the connection between the victims. Come and see it here."

He quickly turned to you, his expression of concentration giving way to a gentle, soft smile. "Oh yes! I'm sorry, I'll help you." And, as if nothing had happened, he walked away from the agent, who stood there awkwardly, watching the two of you work together and who was quickly forgotten by Spencer. Giving up, she quickly left the room, stamping her feet at not having gotten what she wanted.

"That's new, huh?" Spencer commented, as he approached, noticing your change in behavior. You didn't want to look at him, but you couldn't help it.

"Oh, it's no big deal. I just didn't like the way she was throwing herself at you. I thought she had something better to do with her life."

Spencer let out a low laugh, understanding but keeping his tone playful. "You know, I didn't really realize what was going on. I'm not very good with… social cues."

"I know," you replied, your lips curving into a slightly annoyed but also relieved smile. "Fortunately, you have someone to take care of it."

Spencer laughed again, more softly, and the two returned to their task. And you mentally prayed that a moment like that wouldn't happen again, otherwise it wouldn't just be words flying at the new girl.

[dansevilpianotea]

my 2025 dnp predictions:

phil gets a tattoo! and its small but it makes him feel a lot more confident. dan is ravenous about it.

they go to japan again but this time just by themselves and during autumn :)

the word 'boyfriend' gets mentioned semi-ironically. some phannies still think they can be platonic boyfriends and that we shouldn't label their relationship.

instead of halloween baking they do halloween cooking, because what is scarier than them baking? that's right, them cooking. (i rlly hope we get a cooking video, even outside of halloween because OH BOY i crave the chaos)

long suspicious summer break and afterwards they keep joking that they got married but actually just took a spontaneous 1 month long break because the gaming channel and ap got hit by multiple strikes and demonetizations due to inappropriate language.

underwear sharing phonspiracies rise again because dan can be seen wearing green boxer briefs in a video. dan denies this by calling us all colourblind. phannies call him a liar. later we find out they were not actually phil's but one of those boxers with weed design that they sell in amsterdam (where dan bought them)

dan and phil craft returns, but this time the ritual goes wrong and they transform into all the crafts they have created over the years. it ends with an apology video featuring a ukulele

extremely sappy post-tour instagram post that features a romantic pose. we all lose our minds.

THEY GET A CAR and they announce this in a mario kart video. we think this means that they will also get a dog soon.

phil does a video talking about the books he read recently. he mentions dan's opinions about them as well because as we know (don't ask me from where) dan likes to read at least some of phil's books

[tododeku-or-bust]

do you know anything about melanin genetics?

I’m making a Greek mythology family tree and based on descriptions, some of the children of Kronos and Rhea have dark skin and some have light skin. so if I for this tree rationalized this by making Gaia Black and Ouranus have albinism, giving their children a dominant gene for dark skin and a recessive gene for light skin, then Kronos and Rhea having children

What skin tone would their children have? Is this how white people exist to begin with? Bc I know it’s a mutation but is it through albinism?

(I'm only answering this here bc I'm into this topic, but from now on direct these questions to the @creatingblackcharacters blog or I will not answer 😊)

This also makes me feel weird 😅 like yes, I have a genetics background and could offer resources but... we're not puppies. There's no need to get uber specific with our skin tone outcomes to the point of genetics. These are the original Gods, so they can look however they want.

Ouranos wouldn't have to have albinism to be light skinned Black, and albinism from one parent alone doesn't guarantee that your children will be light-skinned either. You have to have the genes AND they express (or don't, in this case, for melanin creation) for it to happen. My partner's Mom and Grandma have vitiligo, and he doesn't. There's no guarantee. So all those kids would just be dark skinned like Gaia!

Genetics are also not as cleanly predictable as that. Skin color is not just determined by one singular gene in the Punnett Square. My mom is the most light skinned of all her siblings and literally no one in her recent memory on either side was that light (and yes, her daddy was Black too... dark skinned, even) It just happened by chance and by combination of every expressive gene that played a part in the creation of her. Both sides had somebody light SOMEWHERE.

So if you really just want like a... Melting pot of brown shades, just make him light skinned. It'll work. We'll see it. I do sincerely hope this isn't your reason to have mixed kids with white features though. There's nothing wrong with unambiguously Black children with darker shades. Let those children be proud of their Blackness (except Zeus. Fuck Zeus.)

As for why white people exist, I don't feel like getting into that lmao. But essentially yeah, mutations that created those features happened to work well in the environments that they were in, and so they managed to procreate and survive and mutate on and on.

[aishangotome]

Azel Radwan: Chapter 8

Chapter 7

Thank you @shatcey for providing the video for this chapter!

♡———♡

If I return to the castle, days of excessive hospitality and aphrodisiacs await me.

I'd rather escape to the absolute safe zone in Tanzanite.

The only thing required in the "recruitment test" I took with a feeling of desperation was––

*earlier*

Azel: What can you do for me?

I put my hand on my chest and think about the God's question.

(To persuade Prince Azel, who doesn't want people living in the temple, I have no choice but to sell him on "what only I can do")

(Speaking of typical things...)

Emma: As you know, I can cook.

Emma: In addition to three meals a day, I'll add a special dessert to each meal!

Azel: Okay, you're hired –– no, wait.

Azel: You can cook even if you don't live here, right? That alone isn't a deciding factor.

(...So close)

Emma: Then, how about being able to use me as much as you like, whenever you like?

Azel: There are people other than you who I can use. Rejected.

Emma: Well then, how about the fact that I can work on book-related tasks?

Emma: The Living God is quite the book lover, since he is connected to the owner, right?

Emma: I'm also a bookstore clerk... no, I'm a merchant now. I will meet the Living God's expectations with my specialized knowledge of books.

Azel: That's fine. Akatsuki is enough for me.

(This is quite difficult)

I close my mouth and think about what else there is.

Azel: Then, please tell me in the next 5 seconds. My time is precious.

Emma: 5 seconds!?

Azel: 5, 4, 3––

(There must be something else. The wisdom I gained when I was Belle, the techniques the owner taught me...)

(No, that's wrong. Even if I show them to him, it's meaningless if it doesn't align with Prince Azel's wishes.)

(But I only know that Prince Azel is a God who is greedy for money and eats delicious food.)

(In other words––I'm stuck)

Azel: 2, 1––See, nothing comes to mind, right? You don't know anything about me.

Azel: You have no idea what my troubles are and what skills you should sell to persuade me.

Emma: What you want me to know is...

Azel: It'll cost you.

Emma: ...

Azel: Thank you for your purchase.

Emma: I haven't said anything yet!?

Azel: So you don't need the information?

Emma: ...I want it.

(Beggars can't be choosers)

As I hang my head, Prince Azel turns his back on me with a smug look.

Azel: This way.

-

Emma: Why are we outside...?

Azel: We are going to have a visitor.

There was no sign of anyone around, only swirling dust.

Emma: Do you have an appointment?

Azel: No, but have you forgotten who I am?

(...A divinator with 100% accuracy)

(Don't tell me, you can even grasp the arrival of visitors?)

Azel: I want you to receive this visitor.

Azel: If you can send them away without any trouble––no, if you can entertain them, you'll pass the test.

Azel: Prepare yourself.

Prince Azel gazed towards the other side of the dust clouds, then turned on his heel.

Emma: Aren't you going to greet them with me?

Azel: I'm just going to get some tools.

(Tools...?)

Before I could stop him, he disappeared at a brisk pace.

(I don't really understand, but since it's a chance that was given to me, I don't want to waste it.)

Soon after, just as the God predicted, a human figure appeared in the dust clouds.

I noticed something strange about the shadow that swayed unsteadily to the right and left.

(Something's wrong.)

As I ran towards them, stepping on the remains of the crumbling ruins, another scent reached my nose, mixed with the desert's characteristic hot air.

(This...this is...)

The scent, which I remembered from when I was Belle, turned my premonition into certainty.

Emma: Are you alright!?

As soon as I rushed over, the person collapsed towards the dry earth.

I instinctively supported them and laid them down on the ground.

(A terrible injury...)

Blood dripping from their arm was soaking into their clothes, dyeing them crimson.

The wound was too deep to have been caused by a fall; my heart pounded with the thought that they might have been slashed by something.

(Judging from their attire, they seem to be a diviner, like the ones often seen in the city.)

*flashback*

Emma: That's a terrible injury. Was it a fight?

Basil: Perhaps the diviner made a mistake in their divine message.

Basil: Lately, many diviners seem to be missing their divine messages...

Basil: Sometimes customers who are angry about the blasphemy against the Gods lash out like that.

*another flashback*

Head Priest: Recently, many false diviners have appeared in the city, and people are worried.

Head Priest: The fact that the Living God favors women could be a ray of hope to dispel the anxieties of the desert.

*back to present time*

(...No, I should stop making assumptions based on uncertain information.)

(The bleeding hasn't stopped... First, I need to stop the bleeding quickly.)

I untied the cloth from one of my accessories and tightly bound the man's arm.

Emma: Does...does it hurt...?

(...)

When I peered at his face to check on him, his eyes were terrifyingly vacant.

There was no light, only a darkness like gazing into the abyss, sending chills down my spine.

Wounded Diviner: ...Have the...Gods....abandoned us...?

(Is he...saying something?)

Wounded Diviner: ...The...day of reckoning...is...near...

(...)

Azel: Here you go.

Emma: Wah...!

Suddenly, a toolbox fully equipped with medical supplies and water was placed beside me.

When I turned around, Prince Azel, bathed in backlight, was looking down at the wounded diviner with cold eyes.

(His vacant eyes are scary, but so are these cold eyes...)

Our eyes met, and the God smiled.

As if to say that his cruel expression was all a deception.

Emma: ...Thank you. I'll borrow these.

(I have a lot of questions, but I need to focus on the task at hand.)

I cleaned the dirty wound with water, applied medicine, and wrapped it with a bandage for protection.

During that time, Prince Azel simply watched the treatment without doing anything.

Azel: You're quite skilled.

Emma: When I was Belle, I was taught how to perform first aid.

Emma: Rhodolite is a country of knights—I sometimes had the opportunity to observe dangerous official duties.

Azel: That must have been quite a hardship.

Emma: Of course it was hard, but I gained more than I suffered.

Emma: If it weren't for my efforts back then, the helpless me wouldn't be here.

Emma: Even now, being ordered around by the Living God, this experience may be useful somewhere someday.

Azel: ...Could you please stop with those clear eyes? I feel like I'm being crushed.

(...There, that should do it.)

Perhaps due to blood loss, the male diviner had lost consciousness at some point.

Emma: I've managed to provide first aid, but what should we do now?

Azel: Of course, we'll leave him with a doctor.

Azel: Kamal, take him to Sinan.

(..........!)

Kamal, who appeared out of nowhere like an illusion, effortlessly lifted the man.

I was speechless at her strength, unbecoming of a woman.

(...Not only is she beautiful, but she's also strong...)

When our eyes met, Kamal winked and left.

Despite her strength, she hadn't lost her feminine grace.

I couldn't help but feel admiration and let out a sigh of wonder.

Azel: ...You shouldn't be impressed by her. You'll regret it someday.

Emma: Why is that?

Azel: If you haven't noticed, then it's fine. It's a trivial matter.

Azel: More importantly, thank you for your hospitality. I have to say, your work exceeded my expectations.

Although his words were complimentary, what slipped from Prince Azel's lips was a click of his tongue.

On top of that, he was looking away, as if he didn't want to meet my eyes.

Emma: ...Did I just hear something?

Azel: It's your imagination. It's gratifying to have someone who can calmly deal with such guests. They're valuable.

Azel: The temple is the residence of the Gods, so unless something extraordinary happens, we don't receive visitors.

Azel: But recently, they've been increasing. Those troublesome—no, those pitiful visitors.

Emma: —...False diviners.

At my dropped murmur, I felt the nature of Prince Azel's smile change.

From one full of compassion to a cruel, mocking one.

(My guess was right.)

Azel: I suppose they're desperate.

Emma: ...Before he lost consciousness, the man said...

Emma: "Have the gods abandoned us?"

Emma: "The day of reckoning is near..."

(Diviners are spokespeople for the Gods...so I can kind of understand what he meant by "abandoned.")

(But I don't understand what he meant by "the day of reckoning.")

Azel: I wonder what he intends to do if he knows.

Emma: ...Does the recent failure of divinations have anything to do with the Living God?

Azel: Of course it does.

Azel: Maybe it's because I've grown tired of people?

(...Really?)

Still not looking at me, Prince Azel was about to briskly return to the temple, holding the toolbox. I started running to catch up with his fast pace.

Azel: The people of this country decide all their actions through divination.

Azel: The voice of the Gods is a definite future, something unquestionable.

Azel: Therefore, those who "falsely" speak for the Gods are condemned without exception.

Azel: They are not judged legally, but "taught a lesson" physically, like that.

Azel: Don't you think it's ridiculous? Speaking for the Gods or whatever, when "I haven't said anything"...

Emma: ............

Azel: Someone said that humans are thinking reeds.

Azel: But those who have given up thinking for themselves are just reeds.

Azel: This country, where the grass and trees have withered, is certainly a fitting place for them.

(...That's why Prince Azel has grown tired of them.)

(It's all like a fairy tale... no, like a myth.)

But in reality, divine messages are failing, and false diviners are being persecuted.

Azel: You, a daughter of a foreign land, do not become stained by this country.

Azel: Don't be swayed by the words of others; think for yourself and decide your own actions.

Azel: This country can very easily capture and corrupt people with illusions.

Emma: ...I'll keep that in mind.

(I wonder what kind of expression Prince Azel has on his face right now.)

(Is he angry, sad, or disgusted...?)

Curious, I desperately tried to keep up with him and look up at his face.

I was so surprised by the glimpse of his expression that I finally saw, I couldn't help but widen my eyes.

Emma: ...Living God?

(...Why didn't I notice?)

It was usual for Prince Azel to have a deep furrow between his brows, but his profile, illuminated by the crimson sunset, was unusually pale.

Emma: Are you alright?

Azel: I won't ask what you saw, but it's your imagination.

Emma: But...

Azel: You're persistent.

Emma: Of course I am!

I ran with all my might to overtake him, spreading my arms in front of Prince Azel to block his way.

Emma: You look like you're about to collapse!

(It's clear when I see him from the front.)

(...His complexion, his lips, everything is pale.)

Azel: ...There's no need to make such a tearful face.

Emma: I'm not about to cry, I'm worried.

Azel: It's unnecessary, not worth a penny.

Emma: What's the cause?

(There must be a reason why someone who was perfectly fine just a moment ago suddenly feels ill.)

Prince Azel tried to push me aside lightly, as if I was bothering him, and his fingers trembled as they were about to touch my shoulder.

(........?)

I looked at my shoulder, and there was a dark red stain on my clothes that hadn't been there before.

(From when I supported the diviner...)

Azel: ...If I had to say, it might be because I'm hungry.

Prince Azel went into the temple as if running away from me.

(I see, could it be—)

-

I quickly changed into my harem attire in the kitchen and headed towards Prince Azel, who was leaning against the huge window in the entrance, sitting with one knee raised.

The sunset had been swallowed by the night, and a crescent moon was beginning to rise in the sky.

Emma: I've brought you some sliced apples.

Azel: ......

Even though he must have heard me, his tightly closed eyes didn't open. Even when I sat next to him and offered the bowl of apples, he just turned his face away.

Emma: You said you were hungry earlier...

Azel: I'm not in the mood right now.

Growl... A stomach's cry came from somewhere. Even though there was no one here but me and Prince Azel, the God stubbornly refused to acknowledge it.

(...Ah)

Prince Azel's tightly clenched hands were trembling slightly. Even now, though it was hard to see in the darkness, his complexion wasn't good.

Emma: ...Then, if I may be so bold...

Knowing the reason why he wouldn't take it, I stabbed a piece of apple with the fork myself. When I brought the apple to his mouth, those mystical eyes finally met mine.

Azel: ...What?

Emma: In the world, this is called "aah."

Emma: When someone offers you food like this, you open your mouth.

Azel: ............

With an obvious frown, Prince Azel bit into the apple. I almost let out a strange sound, surprised that he actually ate it from my hand.

(...He has an unexpectedly obedient side.)

Azel: Are you satisfied now?

Emma: No, not yet.

When I offered him another piece of apple on the fork, Prince Azel continued to eat in a resigned manner.

Azel: ...You've noticed, haven't you?

Emma: But your face says "don't pry."

Azel: If you know that, can you please leave me alone?

Emma: You didn't want me to know so much, yet you gave me this opportunity?

Azel: ...........

(Prince Azel knew that the "injured visitor would come.")

(And yet... he didn't run away in front of me.)

I think he must have intended to take care of the diviner himself if I couldn't. I felt a shred of conscience in the fact that he didn't chase me away or leave it all to me.

Emma: Thank you. As long as I'm here, I promise I won't let you see any blood.

Prince Azel remained silent with a stern expression. Seeing as he didn't deny or confirm it, my guess seemed to be correct.

(He really can't stand blood.)

(...But this reaction, it's not just that he dislikes it. His body seems to be afraid of something.)

(He's pretending to be fine, but what in the world happened to make him hate blood so much?)

Azel: Haa... Are you serious? Are you seriously planning to live here?

Emma: ...If you hate it that much—

Azel: Don't back down now. My sacrifice will be for nothing.

Azel: ...If you're useless, I'll kick you out immediately. Got it?

The words, groaned out, were surely another side of Prince Azel that I didn't know yet.

Emma: Yes! I look forward to working with you—

Emma: ...Achoo!

Azel: ............

Emma: It's not that! It's not like I'm going to catch a cold on the first day and cause you trouble...!

Emma: It's just that the desert nights are cold, so I thought this outfit wasn't really suitable...

Azel: ………… Haaa...

With another exasperated sigh, Prince Azel grabbed my arm—

And the next thing I knew, I was enveloped in the God's warmth.

Emma: Eh...

(...Ehhh!? )

.

.

.

Chapter 9

If you’d like to support my translations, feel free to buy me a coffee here! :)

[sufferu]

Found your blog, and must say this: I love it! I adore your ideas and aus so, so much. They scratch the itch I have wanted scratched for a while in the re:zero fandom. I wanted some good, delicious Subaru angst and you have delivered the perfect meal :)

If it is possible, may I ask what exactly has pulled Anastasia towards being so protective of Subaru in both No Refunds and Dogshow? Is it mostly because she has concluded Subaru is mentally disabled? Or has the thought that Emilia has failed in every way as a liege to Subaru helping drive her to want to course correct? It seems to have struck a particular chord with her, and it’s one of my favorite elements of these aus. (And if I can be so bold, but if she shares her theories with others, do others believe she may be on the right track?)

Either way, I love your aus and hope you have a grand day!

Thank you! I’m glad you’re enjoying it!

The main reason Anastasia is so protective of Subaru is actually pretty simple: her perception of Emilia’s “failure” as a liege lord personally offended her. Anastasia is the kind of character who takes concepts like status and personal responsibility VERY seriously, when it comes to both other people and her own self. Whether Emilia really chose it or not, she IS currently a prospective heir to the kingdom, and as such she has certain responsibilities to those she wishes to rule over, especially when it comes to the people who have already sworn to follow her, and ESPECIALLY when said followers are so few that you could count them on one hand, and also they all live in the same house as her. Anastasia sees this as Emilia both having very important and very easy to fulfill responsibilities that she just watched her completely fall on her ass in front of, and she got OFFENDED by it.

It does not help that Subaru has, honest to god, been trying his best. He’s not the BEST worker, and he’s got a lot of problems, but by god did Emilia stumble upon someone who would be willing to follow her to the ends of the Earth like a dog, and she’s SQUANDERING it. Anastasia is probably looking at all of the things Subaru is doing wrong that first day and thinking of all the ways she could train him out of all of those bad habits before they become a real problem, because it probably wouldn’t even be that hard. He’s so easy to read and predict that it’s almost painful, but that means that developing a strategy to actually address it would probably not be hard at all, especially since Subaru WANTS to please Emilia. From Anastasia’s perspective, it was a combination of Emilia’s failure to train him and failure to prevent him from getting traumatized by HER OWN STAFF that led to a completely avoidable incident at the Royal Selection that her own knight had to step in and save him from, and then Emilia responded by punishing Subaru for doing exactly as he had unknowingly been trained. And no, it does not help that Subaru does genuinely come across to her as someone who probably has a mental disability preventing him from understanding when he’s in a dangerous situation in the first place, OR that Subaru is the kind of naive, kind-hearted idiot who would be ridiculously easy to take advantage of and therefore could really benefit from someone actually looking out for him (which Anastasia firmly believes really should be Emilia’s job).

A lot of characters have opinions about Emilia’s role in this whole situation, but Anastasia is the only one who goes THIS FAR with it. She’s also the only one who thinks the Royal Selection Incident was almost entirely Emilia’s fault, because most of the other characters still do see it as ultimately Subaru’s fault, even if saying that makes them feel uncomfortable because clearly this situation was waaaay more complicated than it initially came off, and so it might have been slightly unreasonable to expect someone like This to react in any other way to that situation. I wanted to have a character reacting to this whole Return By Death situation from the lens of the hierarchical social norms in which Re:Zero takes place, and as someone who is very high status, taking her role VERY seriously, and has a history of impressing the importance of hard work and responsibility onto other characters, Anastasia kind of took up that lens perfectly.

[doriansquest]

dragon prince season 7 refuses to be good and I'm so disappointed

i've been putting off finishing the season since it came out and i watched the first three episodes and absolutely hated it, but i finally decided to pull off the bandaid and wow was it so much more worse than i expected. like, i didn't really expect it to be good or anything, since everything has just been going downhill since season 4, but at the very least expected a proper conclusion, but nope, they couldn't even end the show in the finale.

this show just refuses to take the least logical path to the conclusion all the fucking time. like did there need to be so much subversion? follow through on your obvious foreshadowing. let callum be possessed by aaravos after he uses dark magic. that was set up all the way back in season 4. is he good? is he any different than as viren and claudia now, if he's willing to do the wrong thing for the greater good ("however dangerous, however vile")? hell, force rayla to reckon with that difficult choice. put her in the same situation she was in the pilot; is she willing to kill for the greater good, especially now when the stakes are so much higher and the victim is the love of her life?

let claudia kill terry and/or soren. that was bound to happen, she's far past the point of redemption now, she revived aaravos. stop tiptoeing around it. ("i'm still nice! i'm still me" what the fuck, no you're not. you made that decision ages ago, hell when you chose viren over soren all the way back in season 3). arguably, terry, as much as i love him, should have died all the way back in season 5, when viren was revived. it would have cemented claudia's conversion completed to aaravos if there was absolutely no one who loved her around anymore.

and for god's sake, don't try to make your main villain with absolutely no redeeming qualities sympathetic. don't give him a fucking daughter. not every villain is made to be redeemable, they can be just be evil! that's what i loved about aaravos. viren was morally grey from the start, but aaravos was always the dark voice whispering in his ear. he was conniving, manipulative, a force of pure evil! there was absolutely no reason to reduce him to this stupid thing that's so easy to defeat. why was it the dragons that killed him? why not the protagonists of the series instead of some side characters who haven't been in the story for multiple seasons?

like, there is no reason to constantly be adding new plot points? you can take a predictable solution. hell, it should be done in a final season. a story can still be interesting even if it's not the most twisty turvy thing in the world. it would have been so satisfying if the finale went exactly as expected: callum uses dark magic, gets possessed by aaravos and has to fight him out of his head while the other characters have to decide whether to hurt callum or risk aaravos escaping or whatever. we did not need the unicorns, nor the new archdragons, nor the fucking godforsaken sun elf plotline that never connected back to the main plot (and absolutely wasted amaya as a character). and we did not need evyrkind, nor bird harrow who never bothered to contact his sons, nor the seven fucking years. it was so easy to make a satisfying conclusion. why the fuck did the writers decide to take this route?

i don't know, i feel like i've put so much of my investment into this show for the past six years and somehow they manage to fumble it over and over again since season 4, and i keep telling myself that it's going to improve, that they're setting up something good, and they just don't, over and over for seasons. if you somehow enjoyed this season, please explain to me why. i want something good out of the time i spent.

[whathorselegs]

Writing Year In Review 2024

Doing the Tinyzai year in review also got me curious about my Fanfic statistics, so I thought I'd share my 3 most popular fics of 2024!

.・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・゜✭・.・✫・゜・。..・。.・

In Over His Head Hits: 1471 Kudos: 127 Comment Threads: 21 Word Count: 14,250 Summary:

Dazai and Chuuya are assigned to work a mission together, however, things go sideways when the boys start bickering before they've even been briefed. Things escalate and Chuuya is injured, resulting them being taken off their original mission. And Mori assigning Dazai the new mission of looking after Chuuya.

When The World Tears Me In Two, Who Can I Turn To But You Hits: 1463 Kudos: 200 Comment Threads: 12 Word Count: 9,798 Summary:

A two part fic of Dazai and Chuuya having really bad days and comforting each other through it. They do not follow on from each other but are separate scenarios. Please read the author's notes for content warnings. Part 1 - After a bad mission and an exhaustive week, Chuuya is at his physical and emotional limits. His body is ready to shut down by the time he gets home and all he wants to do is curl up and sulk in the fog of exhaustion. Little does his know, a certain ex-partner of his has invited himself over with plans of his own. Part 2 - Dazai is on the wrong side of multiple nights of drinking. His mind's spiraling and he's out of money and alcohol to keep his emotions suppressed. His stewing in his misery is cut short when his partner breaks into his home and plans on whisking him away, whether he likes it or not.

Kuma, His Human and the Other One Hits: 1285 Kudos: 242 Comment Threads: 20 Word Count: 2,866 Summary:

I am a dog. A Japanese Terrier to be precise and as of two weeks ago I have begun my new life living with a human, Chuuya. Luckily for me, my human was easy to train. Then the other one showed up. Or A short one shot told from the perspective of Kuma, Chuuya's newly adopted dog as he adjusts to his new life with his new owner... And the guy who keeps showing up at Chuuya's apartment, called Dazai.

I'm really happy with these three being the most popular as I love these fics a lot and I feel they are three pretty different genres of my writing.

My personal favourite I wrote this year is:

Aftermath Hits: 597 Kudos: 69 Comment Threads: 9 Word Count: 5,593 Summary:

Stranded in a quiet, forgotten corner of the European countryside, Chuuya is standing guard in a hallway. He could never have predicted this is how Meursault would have played out, or it's consequences. His partner is once again injured, severely, and it's his fault this time. He can't run from that fact, nor can he run from the figure wearing his partner's face that seems intent on driving him completely mad. (Or Chuuya hasn't slept and is having trauma induced hallucinations post-Meursault)

I got to stretch my horror writing muscles with this one attempted something different, so it has a special place in my heart.

I look forward to writing many more fics in the next year and thank you all for your support <3

(Also, I encourage any writers who see this to also do it, celebrate your works and achievements, I dare you. Consider this an open tag. Tag me if you do so I can also celebrate you writing)

[bigalockwood]

Okay fun idea to predict the surprise songs: put Taylor’s entire catalog on shuffle and then put in the tags which two songs come up first that are neither part of her usual setlist nor been played before on b-stage for the eras tour! Whoever gets it right gets to brag!

[buddiebitch]

WHY are BT shippers so vehemently against actually analyzing the symbolism and choices made for this show?

i mean i saw multiple people saying we were overthinking the vertigo poster. they were saying that it was weird to assume that Buck would fill the pining best friend role that Midge did in the original movie??? (haven’t seen the movie, i just read a few synopses)

i’m sorry, so you agree that he put Ryan Guzman in the main character and Devin Kelley as the love interest because they’ll fill those roles in the storyline, but we’re overthinking when we point out what role he put Oliver Stark in?

or when i bring up the possible symbolism of Tommy always calling him Evan, the only response i get from BT stans is “well he would tell him if he didn’t like it” or “i think it’s because he was introduced that way and that’s why” or even “i think he probably likes that Tommy calls him Evan” (all real responses i saw) and it’s like, yeah that’s cool, those are great headcanons for you, but that actually isn’t what i was talking about. nothing wrong with having a headcanon, but it doesn’t explain anything about the show or answer any of my questions.

i mean in s4 he corrected his PARENTS and told them his name was Buck, and in s6 it was used to emphasize the strangeness of his coma dream, how everyone was calling him Evan, the whole show him being called Evan has almost always been used to emphasize that someone doesn’t know him very well, how are y’all convinced that it’ll mean something different this time? i get that some people think it’s supposed to be growth, that he’s cool with being called his first name, but if that’s the goal it definitely isn’t reading that way to me.

like i wish i could see things through the same lens as these people so it could make sense to me, i just don’t get how you can willfully ignore SO many hints just so you can ship what you want.

no hate to the ship or the shippers obviously, i’m just baffled by the lengths they’ll go to in order to convince themselves that plot device man is endgame for Buck.

[jackwhiteprophetic]

What if S8 opens with Fire Marshall Bobby, and everyone keeps being like "pleassse don't sue us this time" and teasing Buck about it

[thebluemallet]

Just a thought, but...

what if we got a trailer for season 3 on April 8th?

You know...Penelope's canonical birthday?

Bridgerton's pattern for season 1 and 2 has been trailer releases roughly 6 and 2 weeks before the premiere date, but I could see them breaking this pattern and releasing the trailer on April 8th--5 weeks before the premiere date.

[a-lonely-dunedain]

I've always speculated that Tadan actually really likes carrot cake but he just tells you he doesn't care for it so that you would have extra.

Maybe he noticed how unwell the PC seems (giving no thought to himself, in an arguably worse state, of course), and wanted to help in some small way. Maybe he noticed the pc hasn't been eating much as Mordrombor's influence is making them unwell. Maybe Tadan himself has lost his apatite but won't say as much because he doesn't want to worry you, so he simply gives you his food and plays it off like he's just picky

am I reading too far into this? yes. does it still seem totally in-line for a Ranger to act like this? also yes. and I love reading into Rangers too much, it makes me sad <3

[brick-van-dyke]

If there's one thing I've respectively noticed from Zionists and defenders of Israeli war crimes, it's that every source, argument and potential avenue to explore each explanation is riddled with cherry picking, moving the goalposts and mental gymnastics to explain why their conclusions, which typically are barely even related to the sources they use, somehow overshadow literal reality and what we see with our own eyes.

While scrolling, one example I came across was the repetitive misrepresentation of BLM, antifa and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr, as well as statistics, scholarly journal articles and government website information. These are all good sources, yet every single time they're mangled completely until the only possible "interpretation" of any of them is "well Israel is right to defend itself after shorting rockets beforehand because the retaliation was brutal and all Arabs are bad by default therefore". As if any of these sources are even about individual exceptions of Israel versus hatred towards Arabs.

I think what I find most absurd, as someone in the middle of their own studies, is how every bit of critical thinking and logic goes out the window as they do every single thing possible to do what professors worldwide say NOT to do when evaluating sources. It's like watching a race to see who can tangle and misconstrue scientific information to fit their world view the fastest. Then said people say "um actually I studied at university before so it's actually not wrong that I'm doing this exact this everyone is warned not to do because I have a permit". Ignorance I can forgive, but willful and arrogant manipulation? That's another thing entirely.

[stardustdiiving]

How evil is arlecchino and what is she cooking

As of 4.2, I’m really curious what they’re planning with Arlecchino as a character, especially as a villain/antagonist/morally dubious character, and how far/which direction they may go with that

Intuitively my impression is we’ll see her do something way more “villainous” than she presents herself as being for majority of Fontaine’s AQ in front of us right—(which isn’t a surprise given that, you know, Arlecchino nor the House of Hearth have never been presented as 110% ethical LOL) but I find myself not being in complete agreement with most analysis or speculation threads I see about Arlecchino’s morality and the like, level of sinister people seem to ascribe to her.

Idk how to put it, especially in regards to her children I do agree they are not a wholesome found family, that Arlecchino is not above pulling strings or using them for her own ulterior motives, but I kind of hesitate on the idea she only cares about the Hearth children as a means to the end/things she can control and there’s nothing else going on with her characterization wise there. I’m not saying that impression seems remotely unreasonable or unfounded, but just that it feels there’s something intentionally missing in how we are supposed to conceptualize her as a person

My main reasoning for this hunch is the fact they have not elaborated on Arlecchino and the previous Knave—who Arlecchino is stated to have taken over the position from by force. The extra tidbits I think about are that 1) Arlecchino was previously an orphan in the Hearth 2) the previous Knave is described as way, way crueler to the children of than Heart than Arlecchino was from when she took control of the House

Often, people’s major indicators that the House of the Hearth is kind of super fucked up are the NPCs we meet in world quests who are part of it and clearly suffering. But one thing I haven’t ever seen people mention w this that i think is a very interesting detail is, in The Very Special Fortune Slip Inazuma worldquest, where we stop this House of Hearth guy (Efim Snezhevich) from manufacturing tension between Watasumi/the Shogunate to restart the war with his other Hearth subordinates, at the end of the quest we get this dialogue that reveals he had been acting under the previous Knave’s directives:

It’s also mentioned he’s employing this plan in an attempt to “rebuild the prestige of the Knave” following Signora’s death, iirc? Now, see, the dialogue itself says that this is “assuming our captive is telling the truth” so who knows what’s really going on, but I find this a really odd/interesting thing to highlight. I’m a bit fuzzy on other world quests with Hearth members, and am not saying none of them were acting and subsequently being treated poorly by our Arlecchino, but like, this gives me a lot of questions especially when paired with implications this previous Knave seemed to be way worse

Like, what drove Arlecchino to take over? How unexpected and controversial was this within the House? Assuming the above information is all true it definitely says something this guy went rogue and acted on what the previous Knave would want and didn’t think our Arlecchino would greenlight it, which does feel consistent with the previous Knave being described as basically worse & crueler than our Arlecchino. It also makes me question how much house of hearth things we’ve seen outside the main story are the work of our Arlecchino or if there’s a bigger divide of loyalty. Heck, I could be wrong but it doesn’t even seem like we know if the previous Knave is dead or not

This isn’t me saying Arlecchino couldn’t possibly be treating hearth children worse than she wants us to know, especially ones who aren’t her “favorites” the way the fontaine trio seem to be, but I really don’t feel sure about making a solid conclusion of her exact level of malice the way ppl r generally understanding it rn when it feels there’s going to be more about her. Just the idea of she, as a Hearth child, clashed with the previous leader who was known for being cruel, overtook their position and took on less harsh methods of leading that made at least some members with more power/possible closer proximity to the previous Knave go rogue and try to commit atrocities in the previous Knave’s name…I feel this leaves a lot of room to suggest there’s more going on with how Arlecchino is as a person

I don’t mind if she’s just very evil and deceptive bc if she totally had me fall for thinking she was less evil than she actually was that’s fun tbh. But I feel people suggest that’s all her character could be with no degree of like, “sympatheticness” or deep grey morality and that if her character did go there it would be automatically poor writing and genshin walking back on making a truly evil woman when IDK. I feel you can claim at this point they have left it open ended and it’s never been completely confirmed she’s pure evil. Also sometimes I just get a hunch and feel cautiously confident in Genshin executing certain characters well. Not all characters, just certain ones. Especially given Fontaine’s character writing being very good and a character like Lyney feeling very solid to me when any development with Arlecchino would likely involve him and his siblings as well, I honestly feel open to the idea of Arlecchino being satisfyingly written to be both villainous/morally dubious but “sympathetic/likable as a person” in ways outside of just her ruthlessness if that makes sense

If I’m wrong/they drop the ball with it more than I anticipate I’ll eat my hat but I am pretty excited about her character and which way they decide to go with it. I will say the only potential impression I have of where they’ll go with her has been wondering if it will go in a “cycles of abuse” direction—I’d be surprised if they ever elaborated on Arlecchino’s character especially in how she feels about things and her also growing up as an exploited child of the hearth wasn’t relevant

[peterth3parker]

all i know is that if steve dies and they spin it through a bullshit stancy lens, i will go rabid

[fideidefenswhore]

the downfall and execution of a tudor queen (2023) / the boleyns: a scandalous family (2021) / the king's pearl: henry viii and his daughter mary (2017), melita thomas / anne boleyn (tv miniseries 2021) / the mirror and the light (2024) / elizabeth (1998)