#i just don't think she's morally grey enough lol

[wherenymphsroam]

don’t say it’s unholy, if I let you come hold me (pt 1)

⟡ -- leon finds you drowning your grief in the back of a bar just outside of town. but don't worry, he won't blow your cover.

w/c: 2.1k

warnings: themes of coping with grief and depression, implied underage drinking and unhealthy coping mechanisms, vendetta leon, leon is just a wee bit morally grey here just due to the point in his life this is staged during, no sex but explicit language, leon is readers dad's coworker/friend, angst - eventual sex

a/n: okay, I've been sitting on this baby for a hot minute just because of how self indulgent it is iaqhdsiuwsjih. I wanted to make this longer before I released it, but I think I'm going to just continue this in parts (and even then, don't hold me to that lol judgwiuhd !!). again, please heed warnings, and if you are uncomfortable with any themes presented, please just don't read!

playlist: unholy (hey violet), disconnect (she wants revenge), discipline (nine inch nails), paralyzer (finger eleven)

You shouldn’t be here.

By all legal and ethical means, morality aside, you should be at the library, studying for a final you know damn well you won’t be passing. Or better yet, at home. Maybe poured over a mug of tea, that blend your mom has made you since you were a kid. Some shitty romcom playing in the background, ignored as you doze off surrounded by papers, scattered around the dining table like any other honorable, dutiful college student. Not some… dingy, shithole bar outside the parameters of your hometown.

(One you know your dad doesn’t frequent with colleagues. One you know is just outside the radius of people that would see you here, know you enough to know you shouldn’t be here.)

Maybe you would be back home right now, studying until you felt like your brain was going to melt out of your ears, if not for what happened. The “would’ve” “could’ve” and “should’ve”s are stacked high in your brain, like a mountain of now unattainable possibilities laid bare, slain by the events of recent nights. Something so chilling, so bone shattering and brain dissolving you just can’t manage to wrap your head around it. 

‘Shock’, right? 

That was the operative term for the numbness that has recently buzzed dully in your limbs, the heaviness of your own weight whenever you roll out of bed every day. The term itself is thrown around so flippantly, so easily outside the walls of a hospital, a clinic. General medical common knowledge be damned, everyone knows what shock is.

'Shock' is being betrayed by your child who marries someone of the same gender, rendering you and your paper thin beliefs meaningless. Generations passed down worth of indoctrination gone moot by one, unholy union. It’s coming home and finding your husband in bed with another woman, that blonde bitch at his front desk. The one he told you not to worry about? Yeah, that one. 

It’s the unspeakable, the unimaginable striking. It’s blinding, horrid in how it leaves you.. Empty. You’re compelled to apologize for its effects on your nervous system.

Sorry guys, I promise I’m sad. I know I don’t look it, I’m taking it out on all this- shit lying around. I’ve been meaning to throw this out for ages you know. Guess I finally have a reason now, huh? No, I don’t know how much sleep I’ve gotten the past week, it’s probably fine. I’m fine, don’t worry about me. That’ll make me feel worse. Now, if you would, let me go finish my manic episode in peace, will you-?

Could you blame this too as to why you finally dug out that fake ID your friends coerced you into agreeing to?

This wasn’t like you, not one bit. I mean, really, sitting in the back of some gnarly bar, surrounded with the sorts of people Daddy always warned you about? The sorts of people that only came out after dark, that hung around till dawn when they would then go back to dwell in whatever crevice of the city they called home until dusk? Maybe this was moms genes catching up with you – the predisposed ones you always knew would come to bite you in the ass. Maybe you should go check your eyes, don’t people's pupils dilate when they’re manic? “Crazy eyes'' those people on Tiktok would call them, right? 

“Unwidin’, huh?”

His voice calls through the air between you like he might’ve well been standing yards away. It takes you a moment longer than maybe appropriate to track his distance, his place at your side at the bartop. Glancing over, you first get a look at his hand, gesturing to the drink in front of you, the cigarette dangling between your fingers. The one that was currently beginning to slip in your weakened grip, speaking of. 

They’re long, nimble. Broad hands, worn at the tips, smooth along the meat of his palms. Even under the hazy atmosphere surrounding you, you can make out the glint of the watch up his sleeve – probably expensive, if the quality of the leather of his jacket sleeve has anything to say about it. Look at you. Even buzzed like this, you were spotting the finer details. A daddy’s girl with daddy’s tolerance.

Despite yourself, you nod numbly, head heavy on the bracket of your neck. A sign directly arguing with the idea of your tolerance – or rather, lack thereof – but it can't be as noticeable as your brain is attempting to trick you into believing, right?

Leon settles into the stool next to you, and you don’t so much as cast him a proper glance. Maybe that’s why he finds himself sitting down. You looked out of place, like a damn kicked puppy with your head drowning in a few shots worth in the back of this bar. It was a wonder no one else had approached you up till this point, especially given the time of night. It was hard not to feel like your guardian angel. 

“We both know this ain’t the healthiest way to do it.” He says as he flags the bartender down.

Touche, mystery man. 

Well, alright. Technically you knew the guy. You vaguely recognized him as one of Dad’s colleagues through the haze of your buzz. It was too sweet to interrupt, you find yourself completely unfazed in the face of the inevitable consequences that would come from your fathers colleague finding you here.

If anything, you couldn’t complain.

His voice was nice. Beyond “nice” actually. If you were any more wasted, you’d take him for a certain type of actor. More specifically, the ones you listen to late at night. The ones that speak to you behind pseudonyms and expensive microphones, nestled into crevices of the internet any mentally stable person wouldn’t dream of wandering into.  

You know better than to entertain that thought for more than a few seconds, even despite the dregs of nicotine floating through your blood coaxing you towards such a mental image. 

Finally, you brave a glance over your shoulder at him. He’s pretty. Real pretty. How are you only just noticing how sharp his eyes are? They look darker under this bar's lighting, that typically professional, almost playful glint in his gaze nowhere to be found. It had been a few years since you’d last seen him… maybe it was age finally starting to jade him.

Not that you knew the specifics. He was easily older than you by a decade and some change. And clearly all too happy to bypass all niceties in this situation. Damn. Did you look that bad? He was pretty enough to be an angel, but that didn’t mean he had to act like one. Maybe he felt bad for you. Maybe he had a better head sitting on his shoulders than a better half of the people in here. 

A huff of soft breath leaves through your nose, tendrils of smoke swirling out of your system with the action. Shaking your head, you dip it, taking another long drag from your quickly burning cigarette, an excuse to try and string together some sort of response that won’t make an ass out of you. Or actually, anything that didn’t scream “you’re hot and I don’t know how to conduct myself around good natured, attractive men” would do just fine. Those damn eyes of his… it was a mistake, letting your gazes lock. His eyes alone were enough to make your stomach flip. 

“Well,” you mutter, not daring to look back at him. “This is better than my plan b for the night.” 

You don’t so much as flinch when the bartender comes over, taking an order he murmurs in a tone you want spoken against the shell of your ear from behind. Your periphery catches the actions of the bartender pouring his order into a short glass, bronze in color.

Whiskey. Of course.

Reaching for the middle of the table, you stub your cigarette in a conveniently placed ashtray. Sure, you were a little fucked up in a way you’ve never been before tonight, but you had manners. 

Meanwhile, Leon is doing what he does best. Observing. He tries his best not to make it obvious how he watches your hand wobbles when you lift it. He watched the subtle change in your expression when he called to you, how your head bobbed when he sat down. Anyone else would be paying attention to how quickly you recoiled with the action, as if self conscious of your dragged reaction time. However, he had spotted the tension in your slouched shoulders. A reaction rooted in self preservation, a fear of judgment. It was enough to tell him just how many shots you probably had in your system. 

He was no stranger to girls like you, ‘situations’ such as the one he was currently sitting next to.

It was a familiar, cliche dance – the unspoken, drowning struggles of a near stranger on display, insecurities risen to the surface like hemorrhaged blood under thinned skin. It was written all over you. You were scrappy, worn paper, and he was the storm settling overhead. Baring your weariness and struggle and strife to his blind eye, painting you transparent. He could see right through you. You were running from something. Likely attempting to drown, bury it somewhere deep if not for just a night or so. 

“‘Plan B’?” he questions, tone calm, even almost lighthearted. It betrays his sharp gaze, perceptive and on guard as ever. As if he were approaching an injured doe in the wild. Not that he’s done much hunting lately. He’s found that meat off the streets bleeds more freely than the skin of doe’s and rabbits does in present times. 

A wry smile tugs at your lips, almost as if you figured he’d press the topic. It was already too much to ask that he didn’t mention your connection to his coworker, how Leon knew you were definitely not supposed to be somewhere like this, and he had managed to uphold that silent prayer.

Maybe your otherwise handicapped condition was blurring whatever lines that stood between you right now, the lines that constructed what he should be doing, finding you here without a legitimate ID.  He should be outing you to the bartender, dragging you out of this place by the scruff of your neck with your dad dialed into his phone.

He shouldn’t be… entertaining you, right? Could you go so far as to call his complacent presence.. Encouragement?

Taking a seat beside you, joining you in your mission to drown your ache, your pain. Keeping you calm under his gaze, as if a sedative rolled off him in gentle waves. His throat bobs around his sip of whiskey, and you can’t help how your gaze lingers on the action. 

“Plan B consisted of finding someone to fuck me into next week,” you mutter dryly, as if the admission of your half hearted ‘plans’ for tonight left a sour taste in even your mouth. It wasn’t who you were. This wasn’t what you did. For fucks sake, you weren’t even supposed to have gotten this far, knee deep in an actively self destructive decision. But life sure did have one hell of a way of knocking you one hundred eighty degrees in the other direction, didn’t it?

No. That’s an excuse. A shitty one, at that. It's an excuse you've heard your dad mutter under his breath when he slouches into the couch with a beer in hand.

This is a poor choice, and you knew this was a poor choice. And yet, that didn’t stop you from walking your happy ass into this bar, nose up and full of talked up confidence you poured into yourself in the parking lot. No amount of tugging and pulling and pleading your guilty conscience did on your brain would stop you, not this time. You knew that getting into an Uber to haul you outside the lines of town would seal your fate to the whims of this bar. How classy. 

If Leon was a worse man, he’d take your words at face value. (Or maybe he’s just damned with all that thorough training he’s been rung through. It’s practically impossible not to read people nowadays. Even alcohol has ceased to debilitate him of this begrudgingly equipped set of skills that was all but pummeled into him.) 

His gaze wavers. Flickers, almost with a wash of amusement for a moment. You were trying oh so hard, taking that clipped, short tone with him, all but puffing your chest with this aura of  mental toughness you likely wanted to think you had. It was cute, really. But oh, the lacing of desperation in your tone... The sweet vulnerability in your breath… every hairline fracture your already cracking front is bleeding. 

He doesn’t have to be a bloodhound to want to dig for more. He just can’t help himself. 

thank you for reading! I have emergency commissions open, so if you enjoyed this piece, please consider taking a look at my menu or rb’ing :^)

[lavender-phoenix-flames]

I think it is quite funny jc stans and their relentless tries in making jiang cheng good and likeable or going extreme lengths to prove "look wwx is bad too so it's all equal haha"

At the end of the day the text disproves everything they made up, they can blissfully accept and argue their deluded fanon to be true but it never will be. And I sleep well at night knowing that mxtx made him a loser miserable asshole and I had enough reading comprehension to know that.

Also I know jc stans seethe at the fact wwx is the ideal protagonist that he is cuz when you compare jc to wwx you truly see how big of loser jc is, how much lacking he is in comparison. Wwx is so abundant in positive traits, he is literally so good at everything except cooking and then there's jc who barely has any good traits. Their tries to paint wwx as morally grey make them look like absolute idiots cuz the narrative and the author disproves the claim. "Oh but I don't agree with the author" well your approval doesn't matter cuz in mdzs universe wwx's actions are justified and jc's aren't, also most of jc's actions are presented in a negative light anyways.

They try and make him less of a loser making stuff up like "best jiujiu" "best sect leader" "oh look jc knew/predicted everything abt wwx" "wwx is reckless and impulsive and jc is so level headed" and none of these mentioned claims are true and even when author says he is despised by women cuz of his rancid personality they are like "no she is joking ofc ofc" or "he is actually aroace" and don't even let me get started on how they want to pair him up with lan xichen or nie huaisang when in text neither of them cares about him and the fact jc himself is a homophobe and they do it just cuz they want him to not die alone pfft.

Jc stans so delusional, I bet mxtx finds them so funny, I mean how can someone be so bad at reading lol

[forwards-beckon-rebound]

batfam as hamilton (yes the musical) characters

bruce as aaron burr and jason as alexander hamilton

look me in the eye and tell me that hamilton and burr's dynamic is not basically bruce and jason

like jason is this poor kid who's ambitious and has a lot of things he wants to change about the world

for both selfish and selfless reasons but we see him go from the hero to a more morally grey character throughout the musical

he's constantly critiquing burr for not doing enough and just going with the status quo

literally bruce not willing to kill any of his villains and jason being like the joker has killed so many people because of it

like is this part of the song not just basically that one scene in under the red hood

also burr is sort of a mentor figure to hamilton until they realize they don't agree on their principles

dick as hercules mulligan

ngl i don't really have an explanation for this one except i think he would like milfs and i trust him with espionage the most out of the robins

and yknow the whole playboy thing but also when he gets down to business he gets it done

damian as marquis de lafayette

badass, gets shit done, friends with hamilton (i want to hc that jason andd damian did hang out in the league of assassins even though that's not really true because i think they both need more positive sibling relationships and also i love how similar the characters are)

also lafayette comes with financial backing for the war and damian's loaded

joker as king george iii

weirdly obsessive

i mean he’s the antagonist i feel like that’s obvious

but like how king george is barelyyyy a villain in hamilton and most certainly does not crack the top 5 list of most interesting characters, joker is also honestly overhyped and overrepresented in batman adaptations

also i want to see jonathan groff play the joker if they ever do a batman musical, sue me

barbara as eliza schuyler/george washington

BUT ONLY ELIZA AND I DO MEAN ONLY BECAUSE OF THAT ONE VOICE NOTE IN ARKHAM KNIGHT (i don't ship them guys i promise)

“come home jason, we can fix this” and we know how that went

but honestly, i see her as the voice of reason

she kinda knows everything, gives them guidance yknow

like george washington kind of doesn’t get himself too involved in the political drama, he usually just gives advice or tells hamilton to do stuff lol

soooo basically oracle?

also i like washington and i like babs it's as simple as that

[dramasauce]

Cdramas I watched in 2024 List

(dramas with gifs are excellent/great and actually worth watching in my opinion. The others are not, watch at your own risk)

My Boss (2024)-There were a couple of turns in this drama that I wasn't crazy about. But they were cute when they were cute. The cases made no sense.

Fake It Till You Make It-realistic romance. Almost to the point where he's kind of unlikeable. But it's kind of hot too.

My Piggy Boss-cute mini. Loved it.

Have a Crush on You-another mini. fun

Secretary Bai Wants To Resign Everyday-a mini. He's so hot.

Admist a Snowstorm of Love-he had serial killer eyes. That's how much he loved her. FROM FIRST SIGHT. If you want a mature romance where Leo was all over her every CHANCE he got. Here's the show. Boring ass billards aside. The skinship was top tier.

My Special Girl-forgettable tbh but not bad.

Just Spoil You-mini kinda fun.

Golden House Hidden Love-that ending pmo. He's so fine though.

Love Me Love My Voice-high production quality. Cringey like love020 but easier to sit through. Better acting too.

Story of Kunning Palace-couldn't stand this female lead. She sucked. And I don't know what she saw in SML. She was stuck on him forever. When the ML was right there morally grey and HOT.

Love is Sweet-rewatch

Only 4 Love-she was big LIAR towards the end for no reason. And they gave Dylan no reason to be liked.

The Substitute Princess's Love-eh

The Legend of Shen Li-Made me cry in the first 6 episodes. He became a little annoying once they weren't on earth. But happy ending and still pretty good.

Born To Run-TEARJERKER but beautiful story. The mom on the right deserved a worse fate.

Blossoms in Adversity-Mature FL and flawed but strong quiet ML. Really strong storyline and comfortable romance.

I May Love You-he didn't like that girl. And when he did I didn't care. Love Miles though usually.

Falling Into You-although they ignore a GLARING mental illness moment. The skinship was PEAK. The romance was good when it happened and they remained strong. Anyu looks super young here but she doesn't look as old as people make it seem. I loved them both.

Men in Love-so bad I didn't finish. Most wishy washy FL ever. She really pmo bad.

Moon Love-mixed feelings. Because low budget but sweet and sad at the same time.

Meet Yourself-long winded and boring in a comfortable way. But that's the kind of dramas she does. Very slow slice of life. Sweet. Worth it.

Wonderland of Love-Mr. And Mrs Smith levels of insane chemistry but he loved her way more than she loved him and it was obvious to the point where it made it not fun. She was kind of self centered, he came second and usually third.

You are My Secret-I didn't like the way she took things that happened at work out on him.

The Unexpected Marriage-cute enough

Love Scenery-cute time passer.

Are You the One-chemistry was so good. I know people hate the lying aspect but I'm sorry it makes sense. These two deserved. One of the best of the year. Need them in another drama together.

Melody of Golden Age-I enjoyed this. Really made Ding appeal to me on another level. I think the ending was stumble-y but I enjoyed for the most part.

Fateful Love-it was okay for the first like 30 and then... eh not bad.

19th Floor-one of the top of the year. It's this year's Reset. It did get a little shakey towards the end but that because it had so many episodes. Still great.

Love Like the Galaxy-I DID NOT like this and Idk how anyone else did. But it has plenty of fans, it wont miss me. She "settled" for him and he loved her to the point of insanity. Idk what he saw, she kind of sucked. He had to watch her love someone else for waaay too long.

Forever and Ever- I didn't watch the prequel show because I didn't want to put myself through the sadness. This could be considered boring but it was a comfortable boring. I enjoyed it. She LAID THIS BOY DOWN EVERY CHANCE SHE GOT. lol

As Beautiful You-It was okay. The business parts are so long and boring. Xu Kai was so fine.

Miss J-Fun, quirky, and charming.

In Blossom-I enjoyed it. Idk why people complain about Fl's acting. It was fine.

A Journey to Love-sigh I gave in and watched it because of the chemistry that oozed off the gifsets and I wasn't disappointed. These two need another show together that ends HAPPY.

All in all a good year for my drama consumption. Let's see what next year brings!

[snowswan-royalehigh]

Sexism in Remarried Empress

I think it goes without saying, Remarried Empress differently has sexism in it. I'd say it's almost hypocritical.

Starting off with Rashta. When I see slanders, It's mainly about her. The literal slave who couldn't refuse being 'the other woman' even if she tried.

However, I do not see enough people shitting on the male characters.

Anyways, fuck Kaufman, Heinrey, Alan, and Ergi.

'You're against the male lead??' Yeah. Lol. I'd talk about Sovieshit in this post but I have an incredible amount of anger towards him that deserves it's own post.

Kaufman's role is just the rejected male lead. He's more or a less a small plot device. I can forgive him a little for punching Sovieshit, but seriously, by giving Heinrey a love potion, without Heinrey's knowledge is uh.... well it's something. Especially how he made Heinrey vulnerable to Krista.

Heinrey is genuinely so flat. Honestly, his fake personality feels a lot like Rashta. I'm getting rather tired of poorly executed personality switch. It always did feel Heinrey was hiding something, but I feel as though he comes off as cartoony, with how he's basically a tripped up plot device.

Alan is a real piece of work, he's a 'good father' and all, but people ignore he was Rashta's abuser, or at the bare minimum allowed her abuse. He got her pregnant and let her see that corpse thinking it was hers. Also I don't think that Rashta could've consented (She was literally his slave) so it's got underlying undertones of SA.

Kosair isn't an antagonist either, but honestly, he's also an issue. I understand he was trying to help Navier, but trying to make Rashta miscarry? That was just wrong. And he also brought up Rashta's slave certificate.

Ergi literally ruined Rashta. Forcing her into tight spaces, exploiting her trust and encouraging her awful behavior and being a seed of paranoia. He uses her all the time, even giving out her information to her father (Who originally sold her into slavery. I want him dead.)

THE VILLAINESSES?

Krista, and Rashta. An abused slave, and a woman who basically went through the same thing Navier did, but I could even say it's worse. Marrying your crush's brother, who then promptly dies, and leaving you to basically fight for your throne. It's a little weird she liked Heinrey, whether that be genuine feelings, or just her coveting the throne.

But something I'd like to note is guess which morally dubious characters die. Rashta and Krista. Both of the antagonizing women who didn't really do anything. It just feels wrong that the only female antagonists are killed. None of the male antagonists/morally grey characters (who most definitely have done worse) It just feels overall sexist both women are able to get killed, but none of the men have to really suffer. It gives me the feeling of Navier vs entire female population.

[ahamkara-apologist]

All right gonna be going ham on this one for the character asks:

4, 14, 16 for Eramis

21, 22, 23 for Taniks

9 and 26 for Misraaks

MEGA ASK GAME SO I CAN PROCRASTINATE ON WRITING MY FIC YIPPEE!!

Eramis:

4. If you could put this character in any other media, be it a book, a movie, anything, what would you put them in?

-Oh gosh, this one's difficult. I think, if I could choose, my first thought would probably be a book, because it allows for a lot more explainations and insights into her actions than what's apparent in game; just look at how stellar her lorebooks are for explaining her POV and her actions, and how many people in the fandom/playing the game still have zero idea what she's about because of it. For a second, though, a longform tv series would be stellar, because I'm fucking obsessed with all her little mannerisms and speaking inflections and a longform tv show would also allow for the nuances of her character to shine through in a way that isn't so easily ignored. But, since she's a morally grey lesbian, I feel like she'd be shit on and ignored anyways, because there's no winning with fandom

(I AM thinking about potentially making a lore video explaining Eramis's motives pre-Revenant, but given my lack of a professional microphone, editing skills, and time, that...may be a problem. But I want to do a lorevid explaining her character one day bc damnit she's D2's most nuanced and interesting antagonist apart from Savathun and I want to explore that)

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

-I know jack shit about fashion but she's a leather jacket motorcyclist 100%. Just look at her and try to tell me otherwise. You can't. Maybe she's got a side thing of spikes and collars and whatnot but she blends fashion and utility extremely well in her canon getup, so I can't imagine it would be much different otherwise

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

-I don't really think I have a least favorite ship, tbh- there's just not enough shipping for her to begin with. Maybe her x male characters* or her x anyone romantically after losing Athrys? But that's less of a dislike thing and more that with my hcs for her (+ her being canonically only attracted to women) and the fact that I just can't see her with anyone after losing Athrys. Too much trauma, depression, and rage for any relationships to bloom, her heart is salted soil, it just doesn't work

*I know I've said that I like the thought of her and Taniks as fuckbuddies before, but this is explicitly from the perspective of my indulgence hc that Taniks is closeted genderqueer (he/she), and that Eramis sought him out for sex explicitly because she wasn't attracted to her, so she wouldn't get flashbacks to Athrys mid-fuck. I would not call this any form of shipping as much as it is me being aro and trans and craving nonromantic sexual intimacy in fandom bc I'm frustrated about how difficult it is to get irl

Misraaks

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

-Jaxx ur trying to get me to talk more about the eggfic aren't you. Anyways my fav thing to write is Putting Him In Situations (of any kind!), while my least favorite thing to write is his dialogue. I keep forgetting that Misraaks has an Eliksni-accented way of wording things compared to, say, Eramis or Eido, and that trips me up when writing him- which is ironic, bc the way he speaks in canon is how I like to write a lot of my own prose, lol

WAIT THIS WAS FOR TANIKS MY BAD. Misraaks I'll get back to you in a bit bud

Taniks

21. If you're a fic writer and have written for this character, what's your favorite thing to do when you're writing for this character? What's something you don't like?

-HIS MANNERISMS!! I love how ruthlessly fucking wild and feral he is in canon, enough that you'd think he's just off the shits insane, and yet the one (1) lore entry we get from his perspective indicates that he's actually a deeply cunning, intelligent, and proud Eliksni with a very strong (if twisted) sense of right and wrong and a deep disgust for the power structures that have brought his people to such lows. The face of Taniks that we see as the Young Wolf is that of a mindless, sadistic monster, but the one that we see when he's speaking to other Eliksni is a guy that I'd happily call comrade, would he not beat the everloving shit out of me for it. I love everything about the scraps we get of him in canon and I enjoy trying to fit those two sides of him together to get a nuanced individual who's still a guy that's basically an abused ex-circus chimp on ketamine while also giving little hints as to why he's Like That. Monsters are made, not born, and Taniks is not as much of a monster as we think he is.

What I don't like, like Misraaks, is writing his dialogue- albeit for different reasons. With Misraaks, what I worry about is getting his dialogue right, while for Taniks, it's getting the length of it correct. Like I said before, we only get one lore entry where we actually know what he's saying, so I don't actually know how talkative he is. So far, what I've been doing is having him monologue a lot when he's hyped up on something and near-silent when not, but I'm not quite sure if that's right. He spends way too long roaring unintelligibly at us in canon for me to know if he's actually chatty or just unimaginably furious at our existence

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

-Buddy I don't think there's enough fics out there for me to have gathered anything I might dislike from them. I'm just happy to find one where he's in it, and actually plays a real role in things. I guess the closest that I can say is that I dislike how much of a niche character he is, because he's genuinely so fucking interesting, but he tends to get relegated to just a meme character and nothing more

23. Favorite picture of this character?

-This one. I love how he looks like a lazereyes reaction image sjkhfdgbksjdhfg. He's so fucking done with our shit

okay, now time for Misraaks

9. Could you be roommates with this character?

-Honestly yeah, I probably could. Misraaks just seems like a really chill guy to live with though, and Eido is an absolute cutie who's just like me in that she's ravenously curious about everything. I do think we'd butt heads a bit about letting her participate in potentially-dangerous scenarios (mostly bc I grew up with an overprotective, paranoid father so I feel Eido so hard), but he's a respectful guy and I think he'd understand that I need a lot of alone time to not go insane. The culture sharing would be a blast and I think that he's like me in that he hates drama, so apart from debates over Eido and him being all ashamed of his sordid past (which I don't give a shit about), we'd be cool

The hardest part would be not jumping his bones. I don't know if I could be normal about that. As I said before, I'm an aro trans man who craves a form of contact that isn't socially acceptable or easy to find among humans, and Misraaks is a big sweet calm nonjudgemental alien dilf who probably thinks all humans look weird, trans or not. The temptation is obvious here

26. What's something the character has done you can't get over? Be it something funny, bad, good, serious, whatever?

-HIS OBSESSION WITH ASHER MIR. IT WAS SO FUCKING FUNNY DJHBDGH. That and his friendship with Saint and Osiris (old man gang go!) and his hatred for Eramis are all things that I absolutely love about him. He's just a big reverent nerd of a man who doesn't want to talk about his college age years and I love that about him so so much

Character ask game here

[wannaeatramyeon]

i just saw that you are biased towards vasco tabasco as well 👀👀👀👀 i beg for anything, i have read all the fics on this app twice and im getting withdrawals from my bit tit himbo 😭

Tell me who isn't biased towards our baby Tabasco and I'll fight them!!

Ty for the ask! I just love Vasco so much. He's THE ride or die and has always treated little Daniel so kindly from the start.

He doesn't always get it right but he tries and he learns and his heart is in the right place 😭😭

I feel like there's just SO much I want to read and know about Vasco. HC, x reader, drabbles, novels. But here you go anon, take some wordvom instead

Vasco Headcannons

The Burn Knuckles said they started the gang just cos they like him. Vasco was probably just shouting about protecting people and being all pure then attracting all these macho dudes that were going down the wrong path. He has a sense of justice that is just... Irrefutable. The kind that kids have before they grow up and get cynical and corrupted and he reminds them of a simpler time.

Also he's strong af so if you don't want to die, you come around to his view pretty quickly.

Damon Goh the rubber ducky guy hid away his ducks until Vasco saw them one day and was like 'omg!! These are so cute!!' with his typical heart eyes and asked for one. Since then, Damon just unapologetically carries them around.

No idea Leonn Lee is a girl. Doesnt care if she is, Burn Knuckles membership is open to all.

Doesn't know there's a tool council, thought it was something for architect class. Never made the connection with the Tool nicknames either.

Unapologetic crier. You've seen his tears. Encourages Burn Knuckles to show their emotions. They hold therapy sessions like a confessional but apart from Jace - Vasco and the rest of the gang share 1 braincell so no good can come from this.

Makes friends everywhere he goes. We've seen Vasco make his own crew out of the Homeless, and that's just how he is. He's made friends with BEARS like cmon.

Not that great with names or faces though, and he's just a general clown so he doesn't actually remember a lot of people.

Has a rather childlike and innocent view of the world with justice and lookism. It used to be pretty black and white but he learns and is understanding of the shades of grey pretty quickly. Let's be real, if Vasco was leader of the world - we would all be a lot better off.

Toxic masculinity who? Gender roles what? Zero interest in subscribing to men can't do this or women shouldn't do that. Will be the best provider or househusband ever, whatever makes his partner happy!

Daniel or Jay busy or out of town? If Vasco is available, he will be looking after Enu or Jays puppies. This is absolutely non negotiable. He always gets first dibs.

Seen and heard enough about Vin Jin to think there's no redeeming features with this guy. Although Vasco might be the only person that thinks his rap is pretty good lol

Very little sense of self awareness and decorum around girls. Not really sure where he's going wrong until Jay spruced him up and his post-date download with Jace.

Says he's married to the Burn Knuckles and he's talked less about finding a partner since then. In all honesty he finds the dressing up and the flowery words exhausting. He just wants to find someone that loves him for him, BNC uniform and all :(

And this is the perfect segue into...

Vasco x Reader headcannons

Vasco is the ultimate friends to lover trope. He needs to get to know you first and your personality before he can begin to develops feelings for you. Your morals aligning with his is a must.

Doesn't think too hard on confessing if he likes you. He's a straight forward guy. Main obstacle is Jace giving him terrible advice based on trashy romcoms.

Only Jace (occasionally) or family call him Euntae. Will be so flustered if you do.

He is 100% innocent your honour!!! You likely need to take the initiative in the relationship. He's a romantic at heart but doesn't know how to express himself and is worried about being too foward. First hand hold? First embrace? First kiss? Gonna be all you.

Gets more relaxed the longer you date. Once he's more confident of your comfort levels and knowing that he can be himself around you, will initiate a lot more.

Not a huge fan of PDA but loves holding hands and holding you. It just feels right with you in his arms.

Vasco would naturally be the big spoon, but omg if you were the big spoon? He has never felt so protected and loved and will absolutely melt.

Huge fan of couples outfits. Not the cool ones, the cheesier the better. "If found return to Y/N" "I'm Y/N". And tbh Zack is sick with jealousy that him and Mira don't do that.

Still has an old fashioned sense of chivalry where he wouldn't want you to fight even if you could. After seeing you fight a few times though, he reluctantly let's you get on with things. Will try to step in where possible, but more that he doesn't want to see you get hurt.

Loves the novelty of classic dates at first, especially after seeing and reading about it all so much. Fancy 3 course meals, grabbing a coffee together.

After a while though, would prefer to just have more meaningful dates and take you to his favourite places. Even if it's that Fish Soup place lol, but you don't mind cos you can see how happy he is and being with Vasco is enough.

Expect good morning texts, good night video calls and everything in between! This man isn't afraid of the double or triple text. There's a lot of "I can't wait to see you!" and "I miss you!!" and just random ones like "I tried to buy milk but forgot my wallet lol"

As long as it's not against his morals, he will do A N Y T H I N G for you. Tired? Foot massage. Craving at 3am? Let me run right out. Prefer him clean shaven? Hold on I'll get the razor. He loves you so so much and it shows!

[pigeonstab]

Do you have a favorite au sans? or like a top 5?

Honestly I couldn't choose just one.

I think like, Fell, Horror, Error, Killer and Cross. Are my top five

If I had to pick only one though? Maybe I'd have to go with Error honestly. I just like him a lot

More detailed ramble (that you can skip over) vvv

I don't like Cross as much as I think people might believe? I think maybe it's cause my Cross drawings always seem to be the ones getting the best attention lol. He's cool don't get me wrong but he's bottom of my top five

Horror I think I like mostly because of Horrortale as a whole. The Premise feels very close to 'what might happen' and the comic actually made me feel a bit sick to my stomach at times, I'm a sucker for any media that can pull intense feelings from me like that, even if the feeling is deep discomfort.

Fell, well I would like to give a reasonable answer like for Horror but I justtttt... I just like him. Lol. I have a lot of affection for his character, he's gruff and kind of a tsundere, he's also kinda anxious sometimes which I can relate to, he's got that 'I avoid telling anyone what's going on in my mind' swag. (That Cross also has but different) And I think he's just very cool. I think he uses violence/agression as a defense and I like that kind of character. I like the misunderstandings it can bring, how he pushes people away, I'm sucker for characters who suffer in silence lol.

Maybe Fell's my favorite actually....

For Error it's... Well a lot of it is his design and gimmicks, the string is super cool, I love how he looks, but I rlly do like him as a character too, I like that he's obviously insane and not really morally grey... Cause his morals are just all over the place, I like how he acts with Blue and his backstory with Toriel, how hurt he is. He's a hurt character. He's just... Not alright at all. I think he's in so much turmoil that it's... Impossible for him to deal with. He's hurting so bad. Blue sees this. And tries to help him. But Error is still a danger. He doesn't want to see these AU characters as people. I'm not very good at characterisation and Error especially is a challenge for me to... Write and draw interactions for. Since he's so contradictory and enigmatic. But... I like seeing him in the hands of CrayonQueen lol. She handles his character well (she created him but you get what I mean)

Killer I'm not gonna lie I like mostly for his design. I think it's edgy and just enough. It's a very nice design. I like his wry smile and his attitude. I could go on about his behavior but I think what draws me to the character is actually maybe just drawing his expressions? It's funny cause that's not what I draw at all. Which... Well now I'm sad. I need to draw Killer looking bat shit crazy more. I mostly just pair him with Cross but I think I get more enjoyment with the Character alone. I might have to rethink my dynamics lol

[sophiesbookishthings]

August Reads

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

This book reminded me a lot of Ella Enchanted for some reason. It had a very similar vibe with the love story and the adventure. Wit/Hoid was the narrator which was delightful. I always love a good immortal silly guy who's actually wise and powerful that shows up all the time. Also this book has pirates, so big selling point for me. And I thought the whole spore thing going on with Tress's planet was really cool. 12 moons is a bit excessive though lol. I really liked this book a lot, it was fun. Definitely a book I'll be rereading at some point I think.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The Book of Bill by Bill Cipher Alex Hirsch

Oh Gravity Falls my beloved. This show is still like top 10 for me tbh. It just fits my brand of weird so well. And idk if I was always like this or if I'm like this because of Gravity Falls lol. I can't believe we got new content in 2024. Also, Ford and Bill are totally exes. Mabel's right.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Circe by Madeline Miller

I will always love a good greek mythology retelling. I was (and will always be) a Percy Jackson kid at heart. I will admit, though, I didn't know a ton about Circe going into this, as I often confused her and Calypso. But as per any mythology based book I read, there were a lot of ventures to wikipedia to learn a bit more about who's who and what else they were involved in. Oddly enough, though, I hated The Odyssey when i had to read it in high school. If there's 1000 Odysseus haters, I'm one of them, etc., etc. or whatever. But Penelope (my beloved) was done right in this book. I also liked that Circe is a morally grey protagonist in the story. She does a lot of stuff that is not really very good, but I support women's wrongs so I thought she was super interesting. And altogether i just really liked this book. There's something about the way Madeline Miller writes that hits just right for me.

4.5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

In an Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire

I love the Wayward Children series so much. I was a lot like Lundy as a kid. Very about rules and books and pretty alone. I really found the goblin market super intriguing and I think it's one of the worlds from the series I would do best in. It's all about fair deals so it can be harsh at times but it was always fair. I knew the end of the book was coming since Lundy was a character in previous books but it did still hit hard.

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Across the Green Grass Fields by Seanan McGuire

More Wayward Children! The main character of this book was intersex, which I didn't actually know going into it, but it was neat cause I don't think I've ever read a book with an intersex character before. I really liked the setting of this book. The Hooflands seem to be one of the least harrowing worlds in the series. I loved the centaurs that took care of Regan. They were fun.

Belladonna by Adalyn Grace

4/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Elantris by Brandon Sanderson

This one was really good. I've had this book for a while now and I just haven't got around to reading it until now and I'm so glad I finally picked it up. I really liked both the main character and the love interest, which is kinda rare for me. The whole concept of a girl that's quite literally followed by death was really cool and very well done. I'm excited to read the rest of the series, which I believe is recently completed.

5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm trying so hard not to finish all the Sanderson books (but mostly the stormlight archive) before Wind and Truth comes out in December. So I'm reading standalones and definitely not Rythm of War. Tell me why this book took me so long to finish though. I've read stormlight archive books in less time than this took me. It wasn't even that I disliked this book in any way I just don't think it grabbed me as much and I struggled to make myself sit down and read it. This book was super heavy on the politics and religious aspects of the plot and I think that may have been what caused it to drag for me since I tend to be a bit more interested in the magic aspect of fantasy books. But luckily that did pick up a bit more toward the end. But anyway! I loved Sarene in particular. I thought she was so cool. She was manipulating the hell out of people the whole book and I loved it. The end did make me interested see what Sanderson will do in the sequel.

3.75/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

[katyspersonal]

What are your opinions on our Lord and Savior Gywn?

He didn't save SHIT!! He took the perfectly (?) functioning humanity and ruined it! Look at it, it got Hollowing!!

Okay, I am making the 'Marika is a MILF Gwyn' jokes here and there, but 1) Marika is a bit more of a straight up cold and mean person, all things considered 2) Yet she still has enough nuance, and a lot of her actions might be written on reasonable fears and 3) Gwyn is even MORE nuanced than Marika, from what I have concluded so far! Laurence is a similar kind of sinner too. Comparison of the characters that share a trope is helpful for my thought process, so bear with me a little! With Marika I see a more direct disdain and fear before the very nature of life, cyclic and treacherous, uncontrollable, being meant to perish one day but with new life sprouting from it, and thus doing lovely things like shunning Crucible-related lifeforms. With Laurence, we have enough evidence so far that beasthood was not created by Healing Church but something already lingering in the human code after Pthumerians and Loran, so ambition to seize and control it it was risky but understandable!

But with Gwyn, we are confirmed that human nature itself is dark, undesirable an terrifying, as well as how he sorta had the chance to see it 'in action' during uniting with humans to take war on dragons. And also in Dark Souls the cyclic nature of Ages is just a fact, and it would make sense that should Age of Dark come, he and his family would be the first to go as beings of Light. It is a combination of things: his kind being in true danger and not just "risking to lose power", the treacherourness of how political allyship simply works (your today's ally country against the common enemy could tomorrow ally with someone else to start the war on YOU) and simply the not-so-metaphorical horrors of the Dark itself! is not a speculation, the dangers are RIGHT here!

Gwyn messed the natural order of humanity in a way that I personally dislike and express it on multiple occasions: trying to get rid of what's barbaric and dangerous yet natural and not accepting that there is no light without shadow, or life without death. But I also feel sympathetic because he had a legit reason to fear the darkness within men. In is not as much philosophical but a literal concept in Dark Souls lore. He acted out of fear, backed up with a precedent, and it brought the ruin to himself and everyone else. Writing this I'd say he sorta falls for the type of a person I can only like in fiction but resent in reality. I guess I don't need to explain what kind of people this is, paranoid "but for a valid reason", being "preventive" with their drastic measures.. Good intentions path to hell self-fulfilling prophesy blablabla. His specieism doesn't help his case in the slighest. Ironically, all extremely human behavior of him!

(LOL thank you based Goldmask as usual xddd) At the same time, he is not entirely corrupt with the power he seized and used to strip humanity of what was natural for them; he, in the end, committed to what he believed was better for everyone and sacrificed HIMSELF too. I can respect the cunning and machiavellian person who, in the end, is above the vanity of a 'savior' and can give themselves too, not only others. He also did share his power with some humans, showing that he can take kinda benevolent choices even with those he fears. Yeah, part of calculated risk could be there; dude gave the city and his daughter to the Pygmy to, again, preemptively avoid some animosity. But in the case with the four kings, did he HAVE to? Or Seath for that matter, who is a dragon, another species he doesn't like?

I find it hard to detect 'truly' corrupt people in Soulsborne setting in general, and yeah we can fiddle with 'nuanced character' and 'everyone is morally grey' forever and never discover THE big bad we'd love to hate. But, out of those big bads, I think he deserves the benefit of being seen as a way more nuanced character than the corrupt leader the most! It is the case where he should not have done anything, but also should not have NOT done anything.. Soulsborne is eager with placing characters in a position and knowledge where every choice is wrong and they just pick a poison for themselves (and everyone else xd). Jokes about "haha people in power moment" are still mostly jokes for me. He is sympathetic in a way not like I think I'd have done the same (let's be real, I revel in darkness gfjjghk) but in a way where I understand too much to feel negative 🤔

[thescullyphile]

not the original tgw anon but would love to read your whole spiel on the kalicia dynamic

TWO of you? oh this just makes my day. now that I have an excuse, I will /definitely/ spiel.

I think an understanding of Alicia and Kalinda separately is the best place to start when thinking about their dynamic, whether you read it as friendship or otherwise. (Personally, I think it's pretty much canon that Kalinda at least was like, horrendously in love in a way she didn't expect.) Putting the rest under the cut because I don't want to overwhelm anyone hahaha.

Let's start with Alicia, because it's so easy to. She's the Good Wife™. In the show we get to see her break that mold, express herself and her opinions and develop her mind as she pursues a legal career with great success. All of this positive evolution has to come from somewhere though, the change has to result from an unchanged state. The Alicia Florrick at L/G is not the same person as the mom at Highland Park talking about pilates. The show answers the question of how she grows from there, but it never talks about how she gets there. Saint Alicia, good at school. Incredibly bright, driven, and still sweet. She graduates with honors, top of her class at one of the best law schools in the nation, followed by a year of smashing success right out of the gate. And then...she throws it all away. Because for all of her drive, and intelligence, she's not quite firm. She gets pregnant and Peter wants her to stay home, and so she compromises. The next 13 years are a series of compromises that take her further and further away from the person that she was. Like I've already said, Alicia is a listener. And the idea of such an incredibly bright, responsive mind essentially wasting away in her attempts to fit in to the catty and social extension of suburbia is just galling. The fact that none of her friends stick around, not one, is evidence enough to me that she was completely bereft of true connection. The fact that this was Peter's preference for her...well, it says a lot to me.

Essentially, she has been hiding herself for years, perhaps without consciously thinking about it. She's pressed further and further into this model what other people think is perfection. She doesn't get to explore herself, and she puts this moral attribution on things that truly are neutral characteristics. Alicia is not just a flower waiting to bloom, she is someone who represses the richness and intelligence and complexity of herself, usually unconsciously, in her attempts to strive for other people's ideals.

MEET: Kalinda Sharma.

You want to know the only person on the show MORE repressed and emotionally reluctant than Alicia? It's Kalinda. We never see what she was like as Leela, but as Kalinda, she is a force to be reckoned with. I know a lot of people put stock into the idea that Kalinda is all morally grey and shady or whatever but if you look at the series that is not at all the case. She is fiercely, breathtakingly loyal to Will and Diane, and somehow, inexplicably, she extends this to Alicia as well. The woman that holds everyone at arms length and denies all connection except where she professionally expresses herself (but come on, she would die for Diane or Will without a second thought and that extends way beyond professionalism) meets Alicia Florrick and cannot help but be drawn by her into the most meaningful friendship and connection to someone else that she's ever experienced. And this is CANONICAL.

Because for all of their individual difficulties in you know, those things like expressing their emotions and being genuinely themselves and whatnot, Alicia and Kalinda understand one another and are really drawn to one another intuitively. Insert three paragraph long digression on their first drinking scene together that I can provide if asked lol.

What do they get out of their friendship with each other? Like I said, they're both listeners, but Alicia is at this pivotal point where she is becoming something new and she is so alone and it is so difficult but she's being brave and doing hard things. There is NO ONE that she can talk to. And Kalinda just...listens. And there's something about Kalinda that draws Alicia to honesty, and there is a relief in feeling like she doesn't have to be anything in particular because, as I said, there's this image of Kalinda not being someone that you have to be morally responsible to. Alicia doesn't have to care about impressing her. And so she talks. And unbelievably, she finds herself connecting to someone who is so different from her and it is genuine and it is real and it is everything that she didn't have in her old life. It is without expectations of a 'certain her.' And it's just what she needed.

(They're so different but they're so the same. Alicia may have remade herself for others, but Kalinda remade herself for herself. Really they're two sides of the same coin with desperation leading to invention as Alicia starts on the same path at the beginning of the series that led Kalinda from Leela to Kalinda but I can talk abt that another time).

As for Kalinda, she gets someone who is struggling to find the difference between nice and kind and how to navigate a world that has become unfamiliar. Someone who is earnest and (mostly) honest (because for all of her obfuscations, she never really lies to Kalinda. She's always honest with Kalinda). All of Kalinda's connections are premeditated, balanced by the transaction of what each party can do for one another. And Alicia...doesn't want anything. She doesn't want to know about Kalinda because she's looking for leverage to manipulate her or for more information about xyz job-related-things. She's just curious. She wants to know about Kalinda for the sake of being interested in her as a person, no ulterior motive. Granted, Kalinda doesn't often indulge even Alicia's curiosity, but she gets much closer than she does with anyone else.

At the end of the day, two people who are unlikely friends find not just what they were looking for, but what they needed, in one another. And sure, it gets endlessly more complicated and I could talk about that too, but at the start, it is just two women who are more or less adrift. And by chance they work together and defy expectations of everyone by their unlikely pairing. And their friendship blossoms with humor and honesty and this unrecognized 'this is important to me' aspect that makes every scene with them so unique and captivating to watch.

Honestly that's not even my whole spiel but this is getting pretty long so sorry about that. But if you want more, you know where to find me! I'm just getting started! (and if you've read this far you should check out ao3 for fic because there are some great ones out there. I'm riling up TGW engagement whereever I can hahaha).

I'll be here if anyone would like more questions or commentary or meta or whatever you would call this! But I am truly so delighted to talk about this show (and especially alicia and kalinda)

[ouatsnark]

Hi. This isn’t an ask or anything, just me ranting since this is the only place for it tbh. I literally can’t find any OUAT blogs that have similar opinions 😢

Anyway on to the rant

I absolutely HATE that they didn’t do more with Henry’s character! Henry is my favourite character in the show for many reasons, the main one being that he is the backbone of the entire show in my eyes. Without him, Emma never would’ve gone to Storybrooke, and there wouldn’t even be a show at that point.

Henry was a child at the beginning of the series (10 or 11, I don’t remember) so it gave them a lot of room to basically do whatever they wanted with him. I personally would’ve loved to see him go dark, but maybe that’s just me. It would’ve been cool to mix it up seeing as many of the villains in OUAT had a redemption arc of some sort, so seeing someone go from good to bad, instead of good to bad to good again, would’ve been interesting. Again, maybe that’s just me lol.

My point is, Henry being so young at the beginning they basically had a blank canvas and could’ve painted anything on it. Instead he turned out to be a lot like David (one of my least favourites in the show) which kind of pissed me off ngl.

And in my opinion, it would’ve made a lot of sense for Henry to turn bad. Let’s face it, he was never exactly treated fairly to say the least, especially as a child. I know a lot of people like to try and sugarcoat this or just plain act like it didn’t happen, but Regina was awful to him. And so was Emma. I want to sit here and list out all the shit they did to him, but that would be way too long and would take forever, so go back and watch the show if you don’t remember. Let’s just say it includes years of gaslighting, manipulation, and being so ignorant to the point where he had to poison himself because no one would listen to him, and that’s not even the half of it.

Henry always came across as someone who would be pretty morally grey to me, even if he was technically on the good side. Remember his little run-in with Cruella in the Underworld? I haven’t watched the show in a while so correct me if anything is incorrect, but didn’t he literally agree to work with her for something? (I can’t remember what LMAO) Even though she’s a villain. Regardless of the reason for working with her, I doubt you’d see Snow/Mary Margaret or David/Charming working with her, or even Regina at that stage in the series.

Even if they didn’t make him evil, they could’ve done literally anything with his character besides making him a near copy of Charming. They could’ve at least given him his own storyline (I know he technically had his own in S7, but I don’t count that because it was shit lmao, it wasn’t even the same actor 😭). Those two episodes where Henry had to go into the Heroes and Villains book to save his family were the best episodes in the series for me and it would’ve been amazing to see more of it.

Anyway so sorry for the long ass rant 😭😭 Really hope you can post this to see other people’s thoughts, but no pressure since I know you’re not as insane about Henry’s character as I am lmao 💀

So what do you guys think? Leave your thoughts in the comments (or reblogs)!

I lost all interest in Henry once they retconned him and ignored Regina's abuse just so they could have her join team hero.

Personally, I have never had a need to see heroes go dark. There seems to be this huge obsession with that as of late and I honestly don't get it. Like people wanted to see Dark Swan go all the way and I am like "no, no it makes her special that she was able to resist. So no." But alas that is my opinion on that. We had enough villains. I didn't need to see Emma's son become one.

[kitramune]

I'm not calling anyone out in particular because I've seen this a LOT by now, but what is this wave of fandom where we can't criticize Kikyou as a character or anything she does just because she's sympathetic in some aspects? Homegirl spends half the series as a villain and the other half as morally grey, but we can't dislike her or we're mean? She's 18, went after a 15yo "romantically" (though RT debunked this in the Profiles book), and constantly uses the power dynamic (her being more emotionally mature than him) to manipulate and abuse him emotionally, verbally, and physically. Like let's call a spade a spade, here. It'd be enough to dislike someone for abusing the very traumatized teen outcast trying to move on and be a good person, but she has murdered or tried to murder MULTIPLE people and never apologizes or gets held accountable. (Including Inuyasha, Kagome, and Kohaku, but not limited to.) One of which simply for associating with Inuyasha as someone important to him. (Again let's call the abusive spade a spade.) I've also talked about this before as something I see a lot from her fans, but since I'm venting I may as well put it here too... but spreading Naraku's narrative as truth proves you didn't even get her story or character. Saying Kikyou died for a MAN and not her SWORN LIFELONG DUTY is the biggest disservice to her. She herself literally NEVER says this, and in fact her 2nd death is also for duty to the Jewel when she had every opportunity to make it about Inuyasha like Naraku claimed. I'm sure I could go on and on but I think I've already made my point and pissed off multiple people. The point being: this is a safe space for Kikyou dislike or even hate, LOL. It makes total sense to dislike her or at least question all the dumb plans she makes that never work out and usually blow up in the main cast's faces. You don't have to talk about Kikyou to be here (in fact I'd probably prefer we don't, though it is fine if you want to point something out or anything) but just know you're among friends. XD

[oddlyhale]

So, the books themselves don't really harp that much on Ironwood himself. They take jabs at the Atlas military and the Atlesian citizens, but the times they bring up James, it feels like they brush him off afterward. I think the author had a hard time making Ironwood and Atlas the same thing, which is good for me because at least this book seems to recognize that he's more than just his military and city.

James was able to supply Velvet with hard-light dust for a long time before the embargo. Even with the embargo active, Velvet appears to save a shitton of hard-light dust, since she's able to summon her teammates' weapons throughout the book. She mentions that she's "low" on hard-light dust, but that wasn't proven true after.

Velvet points out that the Atlesians would be too racist to erect a statue of Pumpkin Pete (the cereal bunny mascot), but then Velvet's dad jokes that he would commission James to make a statue of Velvet for being super-duper smart.

A bit later:

This makes me wonder if James was the one that had the Pyrrha statue made in her honor, out of his own kindness since he was also kind enough to send Yang a new prosthetic arm for free.

Velvet's parents are in a rough spot in their marriage, so Will (Velvet's dad) keeps extending his enlistment in Atlas to keep his distance from his ex-wife. It makes me wonder if James was aware of this since he and Will were on first-name bases.

Theodore doesn't like James for vaguery reasons that never get thoroughly explained.

The second book helps us remember that James made it clear that there was no shame in leaving back in V3.

(Ironwood isn't brought up a lot in the second book.)

So, to me after reading the books as much as I could, I don't think the communication of "Ironwood must be a bad guy" was barely exchanged by anybody on the team whenever including James.

I don't think there was always a concise plan for James - they want him to be morally grey, but then make him a pretty good guy, but then oh no he's super evil. I feel that the writing team only put their heads together was when they needed to make Ironwood evil, and even then, what they finally got still came off as horrid.

Also, how would that make any sense to not make a statue of Pumpkin Pete in the center of Atlas? Does this mean Atlas refuses to distribute the cereal in their own city, too? How does that work? Do they also refuse to distribute anything that has anything to do with cartoon animals, too?

I highly doubt old man James would miss out on Pumpkin Pete cereal, okay? Lol.

Person: "What do we want?" CRWBY: "Evil Ironwood!" Person: "Are we sure?!" CRWBY: "Nope!"

[phdmama]

Do you have any advice about discussing kink shaming with people? My younger sister (she's 18, I'm f, 23) keeps bringing up how weird she thinks it is that people have like CNC or bdsm kinks. And even the old, 'some people use kink to work through trauma' doesn't work, so me trying to explain that people just like what they like, no need for justification gets nowhere.

She's gay, I'm bi so maybe she just doesn't get why people would find men, especially when acting like that, attractive? Idk it's so hard, because I'm into BDSM and ik she doesn't mean it but it's like a slap in the face every time and I have to work through the shame over again.

(idk I feel like I've taken the mama part of your bio too seriously lol, so if you don't wanna answer I completely understand)

Hey pal! I don't know if I've got anything helpful to say, but I'll give it a try!

I guess a question I have is... why does she care so much?

I'm with you, in that I think people just dig what they dig, and maybe for some folks it's about working through trauma? But also I'm guessing for lots of folks, it's not that at all! And honestly, if it's not pertaining to my own personal sex life, what people choose to do and how they choose to do it is literally none of my business.

I do remember having that process when I was young - coming to understand that just because I personally don't like something 1) doesn't have bearing on whether other people do like it, and 2) doesn't mean it's wrong or bad.

This is where squick is such a good word, you know? Because (to me anyway) squick is about - I am really uncomfortable with this thing, but I get that this is about ME, and it's emphatically not a judgement on what other people like.

People like all sorts of stuff I don't like. Olives. Pecan Pie. The world is full of beautiful diversity (especially with regards to getting off!!) and as long as folks are safe, sane and consensual, beyond that, it's literally not her business.

So, I hope you can hear me that at least from where I'm sitting, there's literally nothing to be ashamed about for liking what you like, whether it's olives or BDSM. None of these are *moral* choices, you know?

I know also, that people have all sorts of opinions about things that have literally nothing to do with them, and they're allowed to have them (as I like to think in the privacy of my head, people are entitled to their TERRIBLE WRONG OPINIONS).

So, it seems to me there are a couple of ways you might go forward, depending on what you're comfortable sharing and what your relationship with your sister is like.

You could ask her - "it seems like this is something you really care a lot about - what's that about?" [I have enough psychodynamic training to wonder if she's actually really interested it and struggling to work that out against our cultural training about this stuff.] "You seem really invested in other people's sex lives - are you okay? What's going on?"

You could just sort of tune her out and be the indifferent voice of reason. "Huh, that's an opinion, I guess." Grey rock her a bit, if that makes sense. Refuse to engage. "Other people's sex lives just aren't that interesting to me." (Not to shame her, but just to make it clear, this isn't a topic you're interested in talking to her about.)

Maybe she's picking up on the fact that it's getting to you, and maybe that's the game? To get you riled up (even if she's not intentionally trying to hurt you)? Who knows!

Anyway - I don't know if this was at all useful - I'm happy to talk more if it would be helpful!

[ofbreathandflame-archive]

@ 💥 anon: you're the sweetest! thank you so much for your kind response! for context: essentially anon was asking abt the last nesta post i just made, not to give too much away lol but in short: they are vaguely anti nesta and would just like my opinion and they were literally the kindes and i appreciate that!

i definitely can understand where your frustrations lie, and I've always said that if a character reminds u of something unsavory, that is enough to want to do away with the character. its not anyone's place to argue someone's experience and how it informs their reading into a character. so i read that, and i respect your opinion in regard to that.

and my argument - as you can see through my page or if u followed me on m last blog - has always been the problem with abuse. i don't really believe the story commits to what it wants abt nesta: does it thinks she's abusive? broken? how does the book want to contextualize her behaviors? it just doesn't know what it wants. i have several theories for this: (1) tamlin/rhys as an abusive allegory fails. the story shoots itself in the foot with how it wants to root out, punish or categorize abuse. how much does intention and trauma factor into how we respond to abuse? what is the function of trauma in relation to abuse. like for rhys - the story could have easily positioned him as someone who has to learn rather than someone who is already knowledgeable of 'human' ideals of power and control. it also doesn't know how to inform rhysand's actions without justifying them. we know why rhys does things, but that doesn't mean that (1) it's a good enough excuse for characters in world and (2) that it doesn't still say something abt him. (3) that readers will come away with opinions that match what they're told. hence the idea of a grey character. their actions are debatable.

and this just bleeds into all other characters, especially characters positioned as more 'grey'.

in my opinion, the story would have worked better if it honestly and consistently stuck with nesta as a abusive person. the story has nesta go on these 'redemptive' journies and it doesn't even want to commit to a reason as to what she needs to redeem herself for. the story is too moral for its own good. and i think characters like rhys, nesta, and feyre suffer for it. like SF spends so much time running in circles trying to avoid why it even exists. it won't let feyre be part of the process, it won't let the sisters have a conversation, it won't root out the issue at hand, so it gives these placeholders such as the valkyries and the training to avoid having to address the mess of character dynamics.

like intention and goodwill don't negate abuse. objectively these actions are just abusive all the way around, but then the story doesn't commit to a framework so we get these placeholder arguments like : "rhys abused feyre for her personal gain, and tamlin and nesta abused her for their own selfish reasons." that is an arbitrary framework to measure abuse - its subjective. and its easily manipulated in arguments.

and if a character like feyre wants revenge - the story should just have her do that and let the reader come away with what they think that means for her character. objectively - it would be abusive, but if the story isn't operating in a moral sandwich and allows characters to make decisions based on their own personal goals, then it wouldn't really be a problem.

but the story doesn't do that and so it keeps replicating the same environments of abuse, and it doesn't see a problem bc it has established nesta as bad. and bad means she can't be a victim in any capacity,

and then we get arguments like the one i was addressing in my initial post that almost can't acknowledge that cassian is abusive to nesta bc it wants to believe that nesta's power in one dynamic equals to power in another. or -- we've created this conundrum of arguments that can't truly be addressed bc the underlying problem will be much more apparent. if cassian is abusive, then rhys is, and so on.

i think you'll find that we agree on much more than u think anon, i just think people have isolated themselves into corners of the fandom and have created these ideas that acknowledgement of one thing negates another. we can argue that nesta abused feyre, but we can also argue that nesta was a victim of cassian and of rhys.

like cassian's actions towards nesta are just abusive. and the story just passively allows it to happen bc it (1) believes violence and sa are conduits of redemption (e.g. rhys, lucien) and (2) it doesn't know what issues to address so it just has cassian 'punish nesta' without acknowledging why or the sheer disadvantage: nesta has no money, no friends, not home, no close family, no one but him. nothing but the close he has her wear, the food her has her eat. nesta has to make her own friend before she can even begin to heal. there is no power for her there, and there is no such thing as 'mutual abuse' cassian is just often angry at nesta bc the story thinks he should be angry. and it makes his abuse all the more scary. we get these arguments that are like 'cass would never' and then we get the hike scene and i think 'wouldn't he?" he can fly out of there, he can brave the steps, he has a job that pays him more than he will ever need, he can fuck and drink his depression away, he can walk away. nesta cannot. and that's abuse.

to conclude, this doesn't have to be a moral argument, but it so often becomes one bc the story only solves one abusive situation by altering the framework of abuse as it sees fit. i respect your opinion and i really appreciate your message it was genuinely nice and open and i wish there were other people like u who can hate a character but sustain the integrity of your argument. and i am happy u saw that cass was abusive even when u hate nesta. that's really the important part! thank you for your vulnerability❤️