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golden-rolling-hills · 4 months ago

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When Darry realized...

I wrote this yesterday and I figured I'd post it on here before I went and turned it into a full fic. If I do, it will mostly be a darbit fic and this would just be the intro. Please tell me what y'all think so I know if anyone is interested in reading more :)

Darry first realized he was different at 15 years old. He never participated in the lewd lock room talk the rest of the football team bonded over. he always made sure to keep his eyes down and not let his gaze linger too long on any of his sweaty or freshly showered teammates who milled about the locker room and various stages of undress. he never got distracted during games, ogling at the cheerleaders on the sidelines the way that most of his teammates did. His father always told him that once he got a little older, he’d develop an interest in girls and he’d become a lady’s man, just like his dad used to be. A chip off the old block.

Darry was 15 when he realized the way he thought about the boys in the locker room was the same way his father always told him he’d think about girls. A sick feeling rushed from his head to his stomach at the realization that he’d never be normal. He vowed then and there to keep this secret tucked so far inside of him that maybe it would go away.

He threw himself into football and studying. He smiled and shook hands and played nice with his classmates to make sure that they all liked him. He got straight A’s and made football captain and was voted boy of the year. Everyone just assumed that he didn’t have time for girls. He accepted an invite to the Sadie Hawkins dance from a nice girl named Susan from his math class. He picked her up at 6, kissed her on the cheek, and told her she looked pretty. His father had never been more proud.

Paul Holden was the only other sophomore on the football team. He was all golden hair and twinkling eyes and a mischievous smile that made Darry’s stomach do backflips.

After each practice, Paul would pat Darry on the back and tell him he did a good job. His hand would always linger and he’d smile as soon as he met Darry’s eyes.

They started hanging out after practice. “we’re just buddying around,” Darry would tell himself. No matter how much he told himself that Paul was just his best friend

and he didn’t think of him as anything more, that didn’t stop the pang he’d feel in his heart when Paul remembered his milkshake order at the dingo or the butterflies he got when Paul would let his hand linger on Darry’s shoulder a little too long, squeezing and rubbing out the tension in his body.there was absolutely nothing going on between him and Paul when they would wake up in Paul’s bed together after a sleepover, facing away from each other, trying so hard not to accidentally touch. Not even when Paul gifted Darry that purple and gold madras shirt for his 16th birthday.

He stopped being able to ignore it when he woke up naked and sore in the back of Paul’s car with Paul cuddled up and cramped behind him.

He knew he couldn’t hide from himself anymore when Paul pushed him against the wall and kissed him so hard he forgot that he wasn’t supposed to be doing this.

When Paul reached for the button on his pants and pushed Darry back onto his bed, he briefly let all his thoughts slip away. For just a minute, he could forget all about football and grades and taking Susan Thompson to the Sadie Hawkins dance. He could forget all about making his father proud and being a role model for his younger brothers. The only thing that mattered was Paul. Paul touching him and Paul kissing him and running his fingers through his hair. The soft words of encouragement that Paul would whisper in his ear when they were alone and were sure that no one could hear what they were doing.

Darry couldn’t quite figure out when it all fell apart. It could have been the night that his parents sat him down to tell him that college just wasn’t in the picture, even with his scholarship money. He sobbed in his mother’s arms that night. She held him close and stroked his hair, making him feel like a little kid again.

It might have been the day that Paul left for school. He stopped by Darry’s house to say goodbye, his car packed up. the back seat where he and Darry first woke up together covered in boxes.

It could have happened slowly, when daily phone calls turned to weekly and then slowly stopped all together. Darry waited by the phone for hours each night waiting for calls that never came.

It was definitely over by the time summer rolled around and Paul wouldn’t even look in Darry’s direction when they ran into each other at the drive in.

But if you ask Darry, he’ll say that something in him was still hanging on until the day his parents died. Grief stricken and confused, he called Paul. The second he heard his voice on the other end of the line he burst into tears. Paul told him that he was sorry for his loss and to never call his number again. That’s when Darry knew it was over.

#nobody asked for this #but you're getting it anyways #the outsiders #the outsiders fanfiction #darry curtis #darry curtis headcanons #the outsiders headcanons #the outsiders musical #the outsiders broadway #gay Darry Curtis #Jackie writes

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nights-at-crystarium · 4 months ago

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Fragments - episodes 41-46 author notes

You can find similar breakdown posts on older episodes in my pinned!

Get comfy and reread with me the finale of the Il Mheg arc and the intro of a certain loser.

First off, I wanna emphasize how important this arc’s for Vivi. Had he not liked Il Mheg in general and Feo Ul in particular, the rest of the story would play out very differently, and not in favor of the sundered. His initial positive impression of the First is pretty much the only thing that saves it.

We've reached a high, physically and emotionally. You know what that means, as per the shb rollercoaster rule :>

Pan pride pixie blesses Thancred, ca. 2024, colorized. I accidentally gave them the pan colors but hey it works. ALSO! Stars in his eyes.

Re: distant nightmare, I’ll let you in on a secret, or a third party perspective if you will. Vivi's full of shit, he's too focused on the big picture. He’s narrating this whole story, but his perspective is, well, just that.

Initially this was Vivi's inner monologue, then I thought that I should just let them talk, and it wrote itself.

More under the cut~

Drawing a buncha vivi-lookalikes that act soooooorta but not really like him, just slightly off, was a surprisingly fun exercise.

Luckily for Thancred, though, he sniffs out the pixie magic, and knows better than indulging them.

...Still, what a shitty fucked up day. Sorry, Thancred :’>

This here’s an example of a moment where I’m uncertain if I’m being too subtle and if this flies over some readers’ heads. He refers to Alisaie’s “job” of dragging Vivi back to msq, which she recently started lowkey dreading (episodes 32-33)

...Though she goes back to her “duty” in episode 43.

She's pointedly SILENT throughout the episode, doing her best to hold back.

Thancred's a man who can say no to begging dogs.

Gridania mention! Vivi’s gridanian! He never speaks ill of the elementals, he's wary of them even a world apart.

This pixie's life is something Feo Ul's willing to sacrifice. Episodes 42-43 tell this story in reverse order, yes this’s the pixie that was supposed to agree with Thancred and go with the Scions to the Crystarium.

As to why there’s a dozen of vivis popping up as a backup: they needed just one fake Vivi to go with the Scions, but try organizing the pixies. Their plan’s already failed when this first pixie-Vivi refused to play their part.

“Yeah no, our guy’s special, but not as special as to explode in confetti”

I love his first ingame appearance in that Varis cutscene, this moment has similar energy: barely enters the stage, instantly gets impaled on a long object. This’s not foreshadowing, no, why would you think that-

The “camera” is perfectly still, there’s even some symmetry, demonstrating how calm and prepared Emet is. He didn’t expect much and he’s still disappointed.

This’s a super old comic. I spent the first half of 2022 testing and trying to find a style for Fragments, back then I had no plans, none, zero, absolutely no interest to give Emet a role bigger than a mention. The earliest version of the script had very few Emet scenes, which, looking back on it, was gonna be a disservice to his character. Well, that changed rapidly in late 2023 when I fell for him so hard that I broke my neck, and now I look back on a lot of what I did with Vivi with new eyes. THE EYEROLL. After spending two years developing a guy for a fun wolgraha chemistry (at the same time I was perfectly aware that Exarch and Emet are foils. I made a foil for Exarch, what on earth did I expect-), I’m going through a mindblow after mindblow as I realize HOW GOOD VIVI IS FOR EMET (and vice versa ofc) and how many things they have in common. This wasn’t always the case, Vivi just gradually got more cynical, tired, ✨grey✨ and everything else that makes a guy consider hitting it with The Other Old Man.

They’re off to a great start.

From Emet’s pov, this must really hurt, as in how many other shards of Azem might’ve snarled at him like this. Even though he must be numb to it by now, who says that there isn’t the tiniest flicker of hope when he approaches yet another not-Azem. He may deny and hate and try to snuff out that spark, but the fatal Soulmate Magnet keeps doing its thing.

Parallels to episode 2.

Apparently, Vivi’s first reaction to encountering his to-be-most-prominent boyfriends is to attack them somehow.

This’s really, REALLY dumb of him, and he even comments on it shortly after. But yes, his isekai tale in the First was rather pleasant just until now, and it lulled him into the false sense of security. OF COURSE there are ascians everywhere, not just on the Source. Vivi just forgor.

Emet tests Vivi's reactions to insults/being treated as a lesser, silliness, flirt.

I regret to inform you that both Vivi and Alisaie have been disarmed so easily. The tone quickly shifts, the weapon’s lowered.

Alisaie makes bad puns/jokes in canon, I thought it'd fit if she laughed at that kinda jokes too, and in the least fitting situations, to top it off. Alphinaud’s disappointed, even if he can hardly be called an expert in humor.

“It’s up to you”. Emet stops fooling around, assuming a more serious tone. He may not respect Vivi or his agency here, but he provides him with a choice that's guaranteed to give him some trust points, and uses "we" for an illusion of unity/equality, a not really subtle nudge towards cooperation, it's not me vs you anymore, it's "us".

Whether Vivi picks up on the manipulation or not remains to be seen, but Emet gets his way here.

Forgive me this lil tangent, but I’m so giddy and excited to write Emet. If Exarch’s decently emotionally intelligent but still obtuse at times, Vivi’s a tier or two above him, he’s not a stranger to manipulation, he registers it being used on him, and doesn’t hesitate to use it too when it suits his fancy. He's quite good at people-ing. Emet, though, Emet’s THE emotional intelligence personified. He’s had literal thousands of years to practice, he leaves everyone else in the dust in this regard. It’s daunting but so exciting to write him, I hope to do him justice.

Let’s just talk.

𝓛𝓮𝓽’𝓼 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓴.

Mark this moment, remember this line for meme value. If these last words aren't famous yet, they WILL become that when we see what they talk their way into <w<

Yes I'm going all in on tragic irony of Emet's situation.

Accidental Emet rp, with the hunching over and all. Or maybe Vivi already unwittingly mirrors him. Or maybe he always did- *kicked and dumped in the trash bin*

Man. I'm guilty of enjoying drawing Vivi in genuine distress. He’s so fun when he’s agitated.

Hidden Angst Time! It's all hehe haha until you realize that this might be a product of the hectic wol lifestyle forcing him to speedrun his emotions like this. Either speedrun, or be left with no opportunity to process them at all.

Also, the sandwiches! The framing’s deliberate, they’re on the foreground all the time, and Vivi only notices them in the very last panel.

I! Love! This! Face!!!!!! A rare neutral, relaxed, thoughtful face, he isn't performing for anyone here.

Nevermind Ardbert getting brutally ignored here x’D

The fact that a guy that Vivi had briefly considered as partner material shut himself away in the Crystal Tower for what could be the rest of his life has stuck with Vivi for good. Or should I say for bad. He might not necessarily care about ARRRaha, still it upsets him that he kissed someone who practically killed himself some days later.

I recently talked a lil more about the Bitchless Liar. This’s how Vivi remembers him forever, take it or leave it. But hey, this cool Exarch guy has big balls probably <- in-universe hc \o/

This episode taught me to draw BREAD.

Even though Exarch’s been nothing but sweet so far, one thing’s to acknowledge a fact with your brain, another thing’s to wrestle with your trauma and paranoia that have all rights to exist and fester. Ever since HW Vivi doesn’t accept food and drinks from anyone except the few trusted sources. This isn’t really covered in this episode, but hopefully hinted at just enough.

He takes a leap of faith. Or maybe he’s simply sick and tired of living Like This. Maybe sandwiches kill him, and he doesn’t really mind. And, when they don’t, he goes through a visible shift in attitude towards Exarch, as we’re able to see in the following episodes.

This’s all I’ve got for now, thanks for reading till the end~

#ffxiv #aaaaaa too many characters to tag #i'll just tag the two that matter #vivien rell #emet-selch #emet selch #ffxiv: fragments #fragment ii: new world old friend #fragments talk

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faraway-archive · 10 months ago

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I Finally Saw You Again

Yan!Childhood friend x GN reader

Tw: typical yandere stuff, possession (kinda hinted at)

AN; I should really post their intro post before writing their ficts n' stuff & this has a lot of fluff and not really a lot of yandere-ish. Oopsie. Also put your age on your blog or I will block you <3

˚₊‧꒰ა❤︎໒꒱ ‧₊

It's been a long time since you've last seen your best friend. He has been with you through thick and thin but suddenly had to move away to his parents to find a better job. You hope he's been doing well and that one day you will find him again. You cherish the fond memories as a kid up till high school were his parents decided to go somewhere else. You always wish he had written back since you've seen so many letters but none ever got returned.

And here you are entering college with no traces of him anywhere on social media. You hope nothing has happened to him or his family since they also have gone radio silent on your parents as well. But at least the show must go on and you continue your academic studies.

While you were entering one of your classes, you didn't notice that your childhood best friend was also in your class. You were so absorbed in trying to find the best spot to sit you didn't see his way in the back of the class. Staring at you and fidgeting with his pencil wondering if he should go and talk to you. Biting his lip he decided not to talk to you. Yet. He just watches you from afar. And thus, class started and ended in a blur. He watches you scramble to get to your next class as he casually walks out.

You were here and he couldn't believe it. All this time you've stayed in your home town while he has been away.

After your last class ends, you quickly rush to the dining hall. Dreading the long wait line as everyone else seemed also ended class as well. While waiting you felt a tap on your shoulder and turned around. It was your childhood best friend, Wren. Jumping with joy you hug him and he wraps his arms around you. Once you both let go of your hugs, you realize it is time to enter the dining hall so you quickly grab a seat and wait for Wren to enter in. Soon after you had a lot of time catching up.

"So how have you been Wren? How's your siblings?"

"Things have been well, it was hard adjusting to a new school but I managed. Dove and Robin have been doing well. How have you been doing? Hope you've been doing well. It's nice to see you again," He gives a wink after that last remark.

Blushing from the sudden gesture you replied, "Well I've been doing good as well. I have to ask though, why didn't you respond to my letters?"

Wren taking a bite of his food, "Well, I thought they were being sent to you since I gave them to my parents. But I guess they didn't send it or something came up and it never got to you. Which sucks I will say. Since I thought they were being sent and you just never replied to me. Thought you were ignoring my letters." He softly chuckles at that idea. Either way, he thought, you were going to be his no matter what because he would find you. He would have traveled all over the world to find you because you were the only one who made his heart flutter. You are the reason that he gets out of bed every day because he knows that you are alive.

Taking a sip of your drink you replied, "Well that's strange, I wonder why your parents did that because I was for sure expecting you to ignore me and forget me since, you know, I didn't get any letters back no matter how hard I got them mailed to you. I thought I was going insane."

He hums in response as he continues to eat his food, you on the other hand kept looking at him. You never notice how cute he was or how muscular he has gotten. It's driving you insane with how much he has changed over the years. While staring he can't help but smirk at you looking at him.

"You like what you see darling?"

Taken aback by his words you covered your mouth and quickly stuttered out, "No, I was just admiring the painting behind you. Yeah!"

Softly chuckling at your attempt to hide your reaction, "Ah I see. If you say so."

Quickly finishing your meal you thank him for meeting up with him and rush to go back into your dorm. Embarrassed that he caught you in the act of looking at him. And while doing so he can't help but fall in love again. Smiling at the fact that you are now in his reach. Now that he can truly keep you with him forever he will never let you escape once again.

Ever since Wren saw you in his class, he couldn't stop thinking about you and wanting you. He stalks and follows your every movement. His love for you has re-sparked (not that it was gone in the first place) and he is determined to make sure you are his partner forever.

He couldn't help but stare at you, how beautiful and amazing you looked to him as a kid. You treated him so kindly as if he was a normal person. You were everything to him. He wants you oh so badly you have no idea how much he is wrapped around your pretty finger. Now that he doesn't have his parents on his ass controlling him, he can finally do whatever he wants. What a shame that his parents never gave him your letters but no matter, as long as you were within his sight he could never lose you.

#✒ Fx's writing #my ocs #gn reader #yandere oc #male yandere #yandere imagines #yandere scenarios #yandere x you #yandere x reader #yandere boy #yandere best friend #yandere childhood friend #yandere fluff #yandere

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espace--positif · 13 days ago

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I've been replaying Dark Souls 3 recently, and I realized that there are a lot of parallels between Miquella and Lothric. So naturally, I wrote a way-too-long post exploring these parallels.

The notion of a Lord of Cinder and an Empyrean are already similar enough - both are chosen to ascend to a great purpose that is determined for them. Lords of Cinder have to rekindle the First Flame, and Empyreans must become the vessel of the Elden Ring. In this, both Miquella the Empyrean and Lothric the Lord of Cinder are chosen by a higher power to continue some form of cycle (maintaining the First Flame / maintaining Order).

Miquella and Lothric are interestingly both cursed with similar afflictions, and they share these afflictions with a loyal, ever-devoted twin. Miquella and his twin Malenia hold somewhat opposing curses - everlasting youth and stagnation - and both were sickly in their youth.

Lothric's curse is more complex, as it isn't an inherently shared curse. Lothric is born sick, frail, and weak, never growing (like Miquella), and Lorian decides to shoulder part of Lothric's curse later in life, even at the cost of his own body's condition.

Lorian, raised as a knight, is said to have been left mute and crippled by his younger brother's curse. It is also said that Lorian, in fact, wished it so. (Lorian's Set, Item Description)

Malenia and Lorian, twin counterparts to their godly siblings, have an undying allegiance to Miquella and Lothric. Lorian essentially sacrifices himself for Lothric, and is even referred to as the "unyielding sword of Lothric's prince" by Lothric during the boss battle. Malenia, Blade of Miquella, adopts this moniker herself, but is also referred to by Miquella as "my loyal blade" in the intro cutscene to the PCR fight. Miquella and Lothric both inspire undying and unconditional devotion and loyalty in their respective twins (and even their followings) - Malenia and Lorian's sacrifices are not borne out of an ask nor a debt, but instead seem inexorable and weaved into their very existences.

Miquella and Lothric's stories should arguably converge as they're forced to confront similar circumstances - the unfairness of the world, the neverending cycle, the burden placed upon them by higher powers. But the decisions they made and the way their stories end couldn't be more different.

We find Lothric and Lorian, now united in soul, in the depths of the castle, having given up on changing the ways of the world, having refused to link the First Flame, simply waiting to watch the world end.

The two princes rejected their duty to become Lords of Cinder, and settled down far, far away to watch the fire fade from a distance. A curse makes their souls nearly inseparable. (Soul of the Twin Princes, Item Description)

Now, the "End of Fire" and "Usurpation of Fire" endings teach us that there are some potential ways to end the Age of Fire and fix the world. I say potential because, in true Fromsoft fashion, we can't know that this definitively fixes the world. In "End of Fire", there are tiny flames dancing on the horizon, implying that another Age of Fire will inevitably come back. And I can't say with certainty that the Age of Man in "Usurpation of Fire" would be free of stagnancy and decay, which plague the Age of Fire. Just as there is no definitive good ending in Elden Ring (yes, not even Perfect Order, but that's a story for another time), there is no definitive good ending in DS3.

Now, does this mean that trying to fix the world is a futile endeavour?

Lothric believes so. Miquella does not. And honestly, who's to say which one of them is right?

This is where their stories diverge. Lothric learns more about the nature of the world, of flame, and of the abyss from his mentor (widely accepted to be Aldia, who would have uncovered and studied Gwyn's sin and how it doomed humanity).

The first of the Scholars doubted the linking of the fire, and was alleged to be a private mentor to the Royal Prince. (Soul Stream, Item Description)

The way I see it, a combination of Lothric's insight on the true nature of the First Flame, and the ways he personally saw how cruel the world and its people were, particularly how the Royal Family treats him and Lorian as tools (a means to the linking of the flame) convinces Lothric that the world isn't worth saving. He becomes jaded, removes himself from the equation, and is the reason the events of DS3 take place in the first place - we literally have to drag him and the other Lords to sit on the thrones as smouldering remains (I still maintain that we are the bad guy for doing this). Knowing what he knows thanks to Aldia, which I presume includes the possibility of "End of Fire" and "Usurpation of Fire", Lothric still does not seek out a solution - and we know he would be more than capable with Lorian's help, as evidenced by their immense prowess in combat against a pretty beefed up Ashen One.

In constrast, Miquella also witnesses the cruelty of the world, but he isn't exactly privy to all its details, nor the fallacies in the notion of elevating a single being to godhood and letting them forge the shape of Order. Hell, we only really find out at the very end of Elden Ring, if we follow Goldmask's questline, that the world will continue to be messed up as long as the fickleness of gods persists. And that's not even the end of it; we're still not sure that the Greater Will is an impartial and dispassionate entity (I don't think that it is, seeing as it's one half of the One Great, its counterpart being the Frenzied Flame aka Chaos, which is definitely not dispassionate). The Greater Will craves order by any means necessary, and this thrusts the unjust burden of existence as an Empyrean onto willing and unwilling participants.

All this to say, the nature of Elden Ring's world is more complex than we understand, and more complex than Miquella understands. This gap in knowledge might be why he persists in his naive beliefs that he will be the one to fix the world, that he will usher in an age of compassion, where the cruelties which forged him are banished, and where all the suffering he has witnessed (and tried to mitigate with the Haligtree) will cease to exist. Miquella, like the Greater Will, tramples over the notion of free will in the name of a greater cause when he finally ascends to godhood in SOTE.

So Lothric exercises his free will in letting the world end, while Miquella attempts to excise free will from the world in order to fix it. Both end up slain by a "chosen one" who, arguably, doesn't really fix the world either, because there isn't really a definitive way to do so. There isn't really a clean, bow-on-top conclusion to this analysis, as I just thought that both these characters are really interesting parallels to each other.

Both Miquella and Lothric are characters who are dealt some awful cards since birth and are sprung into roles that they didn't get to choose. Miquella's ending is especially tragic, because he ends up abandoning the very fabric of who he is physically and spiritually, leading him to commit horrendous acts, to abandon his twin, and to lose himself even further despite ascending to godhood. Lothric, in choosing his death and rejecting the mantle of Lord of Cinder, can remain himself, small, frail, and cursed, yet whole alongside Lorian until the end.

---

Whew, that was a lot. If you made it this far, thank you for reading! DS3's lore has got me in a chokehold right now, so I just had to get some of these thoughts out. I love talking about this stuff, so please feel free to interact if you have anything to add, anything you see differently, etc. :)

#dark souls 3 #elden ring #lothric #prince lothric #miquella #elden ring miquella #elden ring sote #shadow of the erdtree #ds3 #elden ring lore #dark souls 3 lore #espace--positif yaps

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reviewsdefinitionofsatisfaction · 7 months ago

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Taylor has been lying on Joe since You’re Losing Me (Important Thread)

I’ve been confident in this theory since Midnights, but didn’t know how to spread it. Taylor is now blatantly lying about Joe and rewriting history. SHE was the one who didn’t want to get married, and Joe broke up with her over it. She chose fame over marriage, and the evidence is all over her music.

Ever since I heard “Mine” I instinctively knew Taylor was afraid of marriage. It’s the classic child-of-divorce case. “You say we’ll never make my parents’ mistakes.” / “Brace myself for the goodbye ‘cause it’s all I’ve ever known.”

Her fear of marriage continues throughout her discography. Don’t let “Lover” and “Paper Rings” fool you—those were false promises to Joe at the start of their relationship. Listen to “champagne problems,” a song she and Joe co-wrote. What couple writes a song about breaking up because the girl is terrified of marriage 4 years into their relationship? Why, one where that’s happening, of course. “Your Midas touch on the Chevy door,” aka how she always references Joe turning things to gold. And don’t forget “Renegade,” a song where in the music video SHE is the one anxiously staring out the window being told to “open the blinds.” (“Is it really your anxiety that stops you from giving me everything or do you just not want to?”, the lyric referring to Joe asking for marriage) This was a song written by Taylor from Joe’s perspective at the time. “I tapped on your window on your darkest night” (referring to Rep era) / “Starry eyes sparking up my darkest night.” … “And then you squeeze my hand as I’m about to leave.” (Joe’s POV) / “It’s on your face, don’t walk away, I need to say…” Taylor was the one always blowing up on him and then apologizing, as illustrated in Afterglow, The Great War, and most obviously her post-breakup behavior. Joe was NOT the volatile one of the two (also supported by articles released by her team, stating Joe’s personality was “great for Taylor” because “he is very calm”).

Then, just look at Midnights. The Bejeweled music video (which Taylor wrote and directed) is the clearest thing. A video all about choosing pop-stardom over a ring from a prince? While she and her boyfriend are having marriage disagreements? Hmmm. Interesting. Seriously, just go watch the intro to that video and tell me Taylor was the one fighting to get married behind the scenes.

Midnights lyrics: “He wanted a bride, I was making my own name. Chasing that fame.” (a person who WANTS to get married would NOT be writing this song!!!) “All they keep asking me is if I’m gonna be your bride. The only kind of girl they see is a one night or a wife.” “No deal the 1950s shit they want from me. I just wanna stay in that lavender haze” “I have this thing where I get older but just never wiser.” “I have this dream my daughter-in-law kills me for the money. She thinks I left them in the will.” (accompanied by elaborate scene displaying family-related anxieties in music video)

This is someone who is terrified of marriage and being an adult. I believe she launched herself into a fame-hug to avoid confronting her issues with Joe at this late stage in their relationship. After he broke up with her, she realized how deep of a mistake she made during the Eras Tour. Hence, the big lie in “You’re Losing Me” (which was written THEN, in 2023, conveniently dropped during the Matty Healy controversy) and her daring him to “say something” about the lie. (False God lyric: “I can’t talk to you when you’re like this, staring out the window like I’m not your favorite town.” When they fight, he was always the one ignoring her craziness.) And soon after, her peculiar surprise song choices on June 23: “Paper Rings” (“I’d marry you with paper rings”) and “If This Was A Movie” (“If this was a movie, you’d be here by now”).

The initial breakup article by People (Tree Paine’s mouthpiece) even outlines this story. “According to multiple sources, Swift and Alwyn had been ‘talking about marriage as recently as a few months ago.’ But at the end of the day, the couple wasn’t ready for a future together. ‘Taylor didn’t see them working out in the long run,’ says the insider.” This was before she wrote YLM, trying to provoke him, and now she will be driving it further with this new album I’m certain she wrote during 2023, NOT 2 years ago like she and Jack are trying to push. Her having Jack drop YLM’s “2021 date,” and then liking that tweet implying Sweet Nothing was not about Joe (when it was clearly about Joe)… she’s rewriting the narrative. You can’t trust a word she says.

#you are losing me #taylor swift #anti taylor swift #anti matty healy #joe alwyn #matty healy #the tortured poets department #midnight album #reddit #midnights

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fulltacs · 5 months ago

Note

may I respectfully ask what is happening in this myka discourse? I’ve gotten the gist of it and I’ve seen a lot of other creators give their side and I know soapskneebrace is the victim, but could I get like a timeline rq? I’m so confused and I’ve tried piecing things together but my rat brain cannot do this 😭

the 29th of May the first post on the blog codslut appears (yes, it’s only been that long)

June 1st- intro post and "ask me questions about the USMC"

June 2nd- they make this post

things heat up on June 8th

June 9th June 10th

June 11th- a wild @sheheal appears! /sheheal jumps into everyone's mentions screaming "I'M WORRIED ABOUT MYKA SHE MIGHT'VE KILLED HERSELF"

June 13th- omg :( guyz :(

surely people aren't foolish enough to fall for this?

...oh.

June 14th- finally some common sense

things are gonna calm down now, right?

...goddammit.

not-so-vagueposts from beloved authors pour in that they're exhausted and ready to jump ship. Madi, who has never done anything wrong in their life btw, makes a farewell post on the night of the 17th.

atp i have already made the monumentally stupid decision to fuck around and find out because i'm annoyed and had noticed some activity but hadn't thought to screenshot it

oh i guess it wasn't that stupid

NOW we have radio silence from /sheheal

the morning of the 18th Early summarizes things pretty well

fin.

just kidding people were still being assholes but that's only semi-related to Myka/Hannah

bloopers:

WOW putting dates on this made me realize how goofy this whole debacle was.

now I'm wondering when did the post mentioning the "grange hall" disappear? [ETA: NEVERMIND THAT WAS A MIX-UP LMAO]

the tags on this lol. r/iamverybadass

referring to herself as a "civvie" here (would a Marine who served for 7 years ever refer to themselves as a civvie? idk maybe. but as my roommate who actually served in the USMC said: sus)

#sheheal #codslut #cod discourse #fandom meta

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whiteheartlight · 5 months ago

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(An intro scene for a story I've written bits and pieces of, but might not ever post in full. About Jaller and his guilt, mostly.)

It was the burst of color, Jaller realizes later, that woke Kongu up entirely.

The appearance of the Toa Hagah inside the Skakdi fortress didn't register with any of them as anything other than a nuisance, as far as he knows. Hahli took Norik to the ground like she had never had any other goal in life, and the rest of them rushed hotly into battle after her. He remembers Hewkii whooping, glad to have a break in the monotony, glad to have an enemy to throw against the wall, but then Kongu put that ax into Kualus's shoulder, and wow, fireworks. Kualus was silver and pure bright white one moment, and then the next – an explosion of purple ichor splattered across himself and Kongu both, and Iruini yelled so loudly it echoed in Jaller's audio receptors for long minutes after.

“Mata Nui,” said Kongu, as Kualus crashed to the ground with a choke. “Kualus, I – I – Mata Nui. What... are we doing?”

“Kualus!” Iruini darted between the battle to get to his brother, even as Gaaki knocked Nuparu solidly out on the other side of the room. Jaller's mask warned him of the loud sounds of oncoming Skakdi, but he couldn't think to say anything about it. Two minutes ago everything in the world made sense. Now something's wrong.

“Bomonga?” Hewkii asked in bewilderment, his spear slipping out of his hand. “Why are we fighting?”

“Easy, all of you, take it easy,” Pouks shouted over everyone. “Okay, stop, you're okay. Something got in your heads. Kopaka sent us to help. We're going to get you out of this, just try to think clearly.”

Hahli shook her head hard and regained herself – she's always so sturdy like that, always so determined to bounce right back. She hurried to help Iruini with Kualus, falling to her knees beside them and trying to tend the injury. Jaller remembers pushing back from Pouks to get a better look, morbidly enthralled. Kualus was struggling to breathe. Kongu pierced him deeply, from his shoulder towards his throat.

“Jaller,” said Norik, approaching and grabbing him harshly, clasping his shoulders tight. “Jaller, look at me. We need to know who got in your heads like this. We will figure everything out, but we have to handle whoever is controlling you to get you all free.”

“Will he die?” Jaller asked instead of replying. “I've never seen Matoro bleed like that.”

Something flashed over Norik's face. “Brother, it's Kualus.”

“I tried to stop him from leaving,” Jaller tried again, sensing that they weren't understanding each other. “I would have died instead of him. Don't you believe me?”'

“Jaller – ”

“It's the – the big mutated thing with the gold skin,” Hewkii rasped, interrupting them. “Norik, there was some kind of prophecy. They combined a group of beings in energized protodermis. I don't know where the psionic powers came from, but the moment it was created, it was in our heads. We didn't even have a chance to fight it off. It will do the same to you – we should run!”

“The lot of us have plenty of experience fighting off psionic influence,” Gaaki said. “Roodaka couldn't turn us into Rahi, and this being won't turn us into servants.”

“Pouks,” Norik said. “Your mask – you'll match its powers, if only for a few minutes, and then you can make sure everyone's mind is clear. Bomonga, grow, intimidate it. Iruini, find it.”

“I need to stay with Kualus and keep him breathing,” Iruini protested.

“I'll do it, I'll do it,” Kongu said, voice increasingly thin. “I – I'm so sorry, I never meant – I'll help, I swear, please – ”

“We all would have saved him if we could,” Jaller insisted, grabbing Norik's arm. “It's my fault, not theirs.”

“Jaller, listen, you have to keep it together for your team. We're going to get you back to safety, little brother, I swear.”

Yes, Kongu came back to himself in that flash of ichor, and so did the others, he thinks, but Jaller felt so hazy, so lost, alone in that moment. Wasn't the Gold-Skinned Being in charge? Aren't things better that way? What has his leadership ever led to but Ice Toa dying at his feet? He blinked and saw purple ichor, golden fire. His brother eaten alive by the destiny he led him to.

Norik turned away from him, readying his siblings for another battle while the others tried to orient themselves or help Kualus, whose ichor was pooling on the stone floor, approaching Jaller's feet. The door on the other side of the room slammed as a pair of Skakdi came up the stairs to interrupt their reunion, and Hewkii and Pouks both charged at them together. Jaller turned away and left through the other door. He needed to get back to the Gold-Skin. That was where he belonged.

“Jaller!” someone called after him, but he didn't know whose voice it was. He still doesn't. In his memory, the next few minutes seem to pulse like a heartlight, throbbing through his head, so clear and so warped at the same time.

“Fire Toa,” said the Gold-Skin, who was coming down from its tower already. It grabbed Jaller by the arm, yanking him towards it. The second it touched him, he heard himself gasp, and he was glad he came back to it. Of course he belonged to this being. He didn't know his own name. He was just the Fire Toa who served it. Its grip on his arm was painfully tight. “Why are your siblings free?”

“There are invaders,” he managed. “They'll come to fight you too. Experienced Toa with masks to rival your powers – you should run.”

“Run? I can handle another five Toa.”

“Six,” Jaller corrected.

“Oh, yes, I forgot you're missing a piece of your set.” It pulled at Jaller again, and he resisted the urge to scream: it was gripping his arm so tightly he thought the metal might be bending. “Well, they'll destroy the fortress, I suppose, there's no getting past that. Trouble of dealing with Toa: there are always more of them. But I so love to have the elements tamed under my hand.”

“I can be useful,” Jaller said, trying to breathe through the pain.

“Yes, maybe you can. You know what a Nova blast is, don't you, Toa of Fire?”

“Yes,” he said. He's so grateful it always knows the right next step. “Yes, that would work. The others could try to stop me, but that would give you time to prepare for them.”

“Very well, then, but no room for error.” It touched his mask and he choked on a wave of power, nearly crumpling, and it let him fall to his knees. When his eyes flashed open, there was nothing left in his head but its command.

“You don't need to survive it,” it added, turning away from it. “In fact, maybe you shouldn't.”

“Yes,” he remembers saying. “I understand.”

And he did understand, very clearly. It was all he understood. The need to destroy himself.

Gold light eating him alive. Destiny is always sacrificial. He heard himself laughing. He understood completely.

He thinks Norik held him to his chest and screamed. He thinks their armor grew soft against their bodies. But it's hard to remember beyond what he's been told. Really, in his memory, there is nothing else there but the heat.

#jaller #white light writes #bionicle

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simplyholl · 1 year ago

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Out of My System Pt 6

Summary: Loki doesn't understand Thor's attraction to Midgardians. Until he meets you.

Pairing: Avenger Loki x F. Reader

Warnings: Smut. 18+ ONLY. Minors DNI.

W/C: 915

Out of My System Masterlist

The hot days of summer turned into the cool nights of autumn. Your hookup with Loki was on constant replay in your mind. Even though months had passed, you would never get over it. You’ll never forget how it felt to be tangled in the sheets with him. Bodies entwined like an intricate puzzle. How his fingers grasped you like he never wanted to let you go. How he called your name in those moments of ecstasy.

It was silly, but you felt special because you were the first and only Midgardian he slept with. He was actually brilliant to not sleep around. Loki slung dick like it was his job, and rent was due. You had no doubt that the people of Earth would lose their minds trying to bed him, if they ever learned of his talents. His fans were wild without that knowledge. You had seen the comments on his posts.

Things weren’t awkward between you, and for that you were thankful. It was almost like it never happened. If you hadn’t memorized every mark he left on your body, you would think it was all an erotic dream your horny mind conjured.

Tonight is Tony and Pepper’s wedding. You, Wanda, and Natasha are bridesmaids. You shimmy into the dress, beyond grateful that Pepper chose an elegant, sleek style over the one her mother favored. You were looking forward to the reception. It was going to be the party of the year. You text Rhodey to remind him he needed to make sure Tony didn’t bring an Iron Man suit with him.

The reception started off with a bang, literally. Fireworks lit up the night sky, loud music boomed through the speakers. Ben asked you to dance when the next slow song came on. You let him lead you to the dance floor. You had been seeing him casually, and he was more than happy to be your booty call.

He was a great guy, you just wished you liked him more. You often wondered if something was wrong with you because you didn’t. You couldn’t help that the only man you would ever have feelings for, would never return them. You didn’t mean to, but you found yourself comparing Ben to Loki.

How he spoke, the way he dressed, how it felt when he kissed you. The worst was while you were hooking up. Your mind always went to how it felt when you were with Loki. It was like you were made to fit together. It didn’t feel like that with Ben.

He holds you closer as the song’s chorus echoes over the crowd. You’re startled when you hear Loki’s voice. “May I cut in?” He asks Ben. His large hand rests on Ben’s shoulder. He looks up at the god who hovers over him. He immediately releases you, letting Loki take his place.

Loki tugs you toward him. “You look beautiful tonight.” he tells you, guiding you through the dance. You glide around the dance floor enjoying being this close to him again. You look at his mouth, thinking of how his lips were now intimately familiar with your body.

You lift your eyes, noticing that he’s doing the same. “I shouldn’t be thinking of you as often as I do.” he confesses. You sigh, “Loki, you can’t say that to me. It was a one time thing, remember?” Loki curses himself for not giving into you sooner.

He doesn’t believe in love. But he’s terrified of falling for you. His heart almost stops beating at the realization that he already had. You consumed his every thought. It was more than just desire. He craved your company. He needed to be around you.

“I shouldn’t have said that. I should have known it would be more with you.” You listen intently, letting his confession sink in. “I’m in love with you. I think I always have been.” You press your lips to his excitedly. “I’m so in love with you Loki.” You tell him in between kisses. You hear a throat clear, realizing the music had faded out, and the intro to the next song was really quiet.

You glance around, and all eyes are on you. “Let’s go!” You take his hand, leading him to the bathroom. You can’t keep your hands off each other. He pins you to the wall with his body. “Do you know how out of control you make me feel?” he pants in your ear.

You throw your arms around his neck, holding on as his fingers dip into your panties. He runs his finger through your folds, feeling how turned on you are already. “All this for me?” He smirks, lifting his finger to his lips. “Only for you.” You confirm.

He unbuttons his pants, hard cock jutting out. You help him by lifting your dress up your thighs. He slides your panties to the side. You gasp when he enters you, stretching you deliciously. His tongue starts at your collarbone, licking a trail to your jaw. “I’ve missed being inside of you.”

~The next week~

Loki and Thor were being sent away on a mission. They would be gone for a few weeks. Your heart ached. You just got him, and now he would be off fighting without you. You’re sitting on Loki’s kitchen counter with him standing between your legs. You pull him to you, placing kisses all over his face.

Thor barges in, telling Loki it’s time to go. You wish you had five more minutes with your new boyfriend. Loki kisses you goodbye, rubbing his nose against yours. “I don’t want to leave you.” he whispers. You know Thor heard him when he smiles knowingly, looking between the two of you.

Part Seven

Tags (cont. in comments)

@fictive-sl0th @lokisgoodgirl @lokidbadguy @ozymdias @cindylynn @potter-puff007 @cakesandtom @eleniblue @muddyorbsblr @marygoddessofmischief @coldnique @mochie85 @goblingirlsarah @lokisninerealms @wheredafandomat @peaches1958 @freegardenbanananeck @chantsdemarins @lokidokieokie @anukulee @sheris532 @lokixryss @multifandom-worlds @javagirl328 @assemblingavenger @lilibet261 @lemonadygirl @joyofbebbanburg @bellajg21 @ladymischief11 @kats72 @evelyn-rathmore @innebulae @alexakeyloveloki @princess-ofthe-pages @xorpsbane @itssomeonereading @mrs-bucky-barnes-73 @navs-bhat @fire-in-her-veinz @crimson25 @darkserenity24 @mischief2sarawr @nikkig496-blog @buttercupcookies-blog

#loki x reader #loki laufeyson #loki smut #loki #loki x yn #loki x reader smut #loki x yn smut #loki fanfic #loki x y/n #loki x you #loki marvel #loki tom hiddleston #out of my system

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papayatori · 9 months ago

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Don’t blink! (P1)

LN4 x fém!reader

Warnings: none 🤭

Intro: Y/n, an amateur photographer who was simply skimming through emails, hoping to find some sort of work, accidentally stumbled upon a job offer from the McLaren F1 team. After working closely with the two drivers she had grown up watching and hearing about her entire life,(and almost throwing up on the floor a couple of times), y/n has slowly started to realize that her love for McLaren, and possibly her love for photography, had slowly started to morph into love for a certain driver.

Let’s get to it, shall we?

Four years have gone by rather quickly since I moved out of my parent’s house on the countryside. I’ve moved onto London to be a part of their photography schools. I’ve been posting my photos since I was able to get a hold of a camera, praying that I might be accepted into one of their schools once I graduated, and I suppose it all paid off.

Funny how life works, huh?

I opened my laptop, hoping to sort through some of these unopened spam emails, possibly even find some sort of job offer somewhere. I took a sip of my coffee and began reading through the unopened heaps of trash.

I skimmed through, barely giving them a second thought before hitting the ‘delete’ button in the side.

“YouTube, Tumblr, McLaren-“

I nearly spat out my coffee. I swallowed deeply, coughing a little on the inhale.

“Sorry, what?” I asked no one in particular.

At first I thought it was an ad of some sort, as I was known for buying McLaren merchandise whenever I had the extra funds. Genuinely, I thought I read the email wrong.

“A job offer..?” A smile made its way to my face, one that held all of my nerves on full display.

Why the hell was McLaren asking me to do a photoshoot of their team?

…

Here I was, standing in the offices of the McLaren F1 team, waiting for someone to tell me where I needed to go. I took in the shiny white floors, the huge windows overlooking the scenery outside, the McLaren’s in display in the lobby for all to see their beauty.

I was about to throw up all over these pristine, white floors.

Before I spilled my breakfast all over the floor, I was ushered into a room near the middle of the building, one that was large and full of lights and professional equipment that once again made me question the need for an amateur photographer like myself. I looked around the room with my jaw to the floor, seeing stars over just how much fun someone could have with all of these cameras.

I really don’t have much of a life, do I?

“You know, I don’t know how to use any of this stuff, and I’m sure it wouldn’t be hard to figure out, but I figured you’d probably be able to work it better than I could.” I turned to the sound of a somewhat familiar Zak Brown.

My dad, before he retired, worked alongside Zak closely at McLaren Automotive. Ironically enough, I’d never really met the man who ran my favorite F1 team until this very moment. I had heard stories of all sorts of great things happening behind closed doors, got all of the latest McLaren news from my dad, and had never even set foot inside this building before today.

“I think i know just about as much as you do when it comes to all of the fancy equipment.” I said, gesturing to my small camera bag on my hip. “This is about as far as my knowledge goes when it comes to these sorts of things.” Zak smiled.

“Feel free to use it. Your dad used to tell me stories about your ‘photo shoots’ with the family, ‘heard those could get a little crazy.”

I laughed at that, remembering the silly holiday get togethers me, mum, and dad used to have. I remembered the time when I had them both on the porch swing for a photo, and right as I went to take the photo, my dad would blink every time. He had done this so often that I had started to wonder if he was doing it on purpose.

A loud laugh ripped me out of my memories. I realigned my gaze with the two young men that had just entered the room, the first one tripping over the second one’s leg. He locked eyes with me as he fell to the floor, grin fading only slightly as he did so. We stayed locked for a moment that felt like years, just staring into the each other. That’s when I recognized him to be the only person I was nervous about meeting.

I nearly threw up again.

“Nice of you to finally show up.” Zak joked with the two.

Lando looked up in surprise, as if not quite realizing Zak was standing on the other side of the room. Oscar just continued laughing at Lando’s shocked state on the floor. Lando stood up with a sheepish grin that they both sent my way. They acted as if they weren’t famous racing drivers who could have anyone they wanted.

As if they were the nervous ones.

“Hello.” I sent a small wave in their direction, praying Zak would step in and save me.

“Lando, Oscar, this is y/n. She’s going to be doing the shoot today.”

Lando stood up finally, proud and tall, eyeing me like he had to prove himself to me. He sent me a grin, one that would tear my heart to pieces if I saw it too often, and then walked towards me. Oscar seemingly got the memo and followed him along after a short pause to assess the situation. I smiled at Lando as he extended his hand out for me to shake.

“Nice to meet you, darling. I can’t wait to start.” His grin never left his expression as I took his hand.

Had Lando Norris just called me darling?

He squeezed harder than I thought he would, leaving a burn behind where his hand had previously been. The expression on my face must have given me away, the heat rising in my traitorous cheeks would never let me get away with the butterflies from his touch. Not to mention, this bastard knew what he was doing.

Though, I didn’t exactly mind.

I suppose my face had started to turn a darker shade of crimson than I had thought , because Zak sent him a look that I could only recognize as the ‘protective father’ look.

Lando’s only response was a challenging grin.

“Shall we get started, boys?” I asked, hoping to draw attention away from me.

“Where do you want us?” Oscar spoke, giving his hand for me to shake as well. I smiled, thankful things were working in my favor for the moment.

“Follow me.”

…

For the next three hours, Lando, Oscar, and myself we’re running around the studio and attempting to find some sort of style that worked for the boys. I had gone through the rack of clothing multiple times and had only gotten a few decent pictures of the two in the process. I had started to wonder if we’d ever get any actual progress on the task at hand.

It is exceedingly difficult to focus on the task at hand when you keep making eye contact with Lando Norris.

Lando and Oscar had insisted that we all take a break for a while, which I had spent mostly rummaging through the clothes provided. Lando was lying on the ground in front of the backdrop. I couldn’t help but take a glance every now and then, watching the way his chest moved as he breathed, minding the perfectly placed curl on his forehead. He looked too incredibly peaceful for me to be rummaging around over here instead of taking the given opportunity. I stood up, grabbing my camera and walking slightly over to the side. If Lando was finally at peace, I should be taking advantage of this. I took a few snaps from the side, wandering from different angles and catching him in his state of beautiful tranquility.

The LN4 girlies were absolutely going to love these.

At about the same time I had finished with Lando, Oscar stood up to unzip his leather jacket, saying something to Lando in the process. I smiled.

“Don’t blink.” I mumbled to myself.

I had not only, single handedly taken the perfect photos for McLarens Instagram, but also taken the perfect photos for the fan girls on twitter.

I saw this as a win in my part.

“Alright boys, I think I’ve got what I need.” I triumphantly raised my camera in the air, receiving two incredibly confused looks from the boys.

“I thought we weren’t finished?” Lando looked up at me with an almost saddened expression, standing to come see what I had gathered. I showed them both the photos, casually skipping over the ones of Lando that I had taken last minute. He didn’t need to see those.

“Holy shit, you’re better at this than Zak described.” Lando gave me a goofy grin that made me blush.

“I can’t take all the credit. You both helped me out in the end, I thought I was finished!” We all laughed a bit, feeling the tension ease as we came to a close.

“Well, if we’re done here, I’ve got a date tonight with my girlfriend, I’ll see you all later?” Oscar said, pulling his jacket back over his shoulders. I smiled.

“It was nice meeting you! Have fun.” He smiled back, sending a wave to the both of us. As he walked out of the room, Lando’s attention was redirected back at my camera. He plucked it out of my hands, skimming through the photos on his own.

“You know, for someone who knows so much about us, I don’t even know your name.” He gave me a sideways glance, insisting I speak.

“My name is y/n.” I said with a smirk. “And I don’t know all that much about either of you, I’m only here for the job” I heard him chuckle from beside me.

“Even so, you know a lot about how to take pictures of someone without them realizing it” he smirked, shoving the camera back in my direction, revealing the breathtaking photos I took of him on the floor earlier.

I really didn’t think this part through.

“I mean, I had to use an opportunity when it came to me. Twitter is going to love those.” I tried to play it off as if I had taken these with the intention of work rather than just attempting to capture his beauty.

“I’m sure you know loads about that.” He winked at me.

With a groan, I attempted to snatch the camera back, though his hold held firm. I gave him an annoyed look, even though I was slightly amused.

“You’re only proving my point further, darling.” I tried pulling the camera again, hoping to have better luck this time. I mentally cursed his stupidly attractive hands.

Accepting defeat, I let out a sigh.

“What do I have to do to get that camera back from you, Lando.” I rolled my eyes, crossing my arms slightly. He tilted his head as if to show he was thinking. His lashes fluttered as he blinked, revealing his beautiful green eyes, the ones any girl could find themselves lost in in a matter of moments. I felt the butterflies settling in my stomach as he finally replied, pulling me from my daydreaming.

“I think it’s a little unfair that Oscar is going on a date tonight and I’m not. So, let me take you to dinner. Then you can have your camera back.”

I blinked a few times, clearly confused.

“Im sorry, tonight?” I asked, starstruck.

“Well, I was thinking so, yeah. Unless you don’t really want your camera back.” Lando smirked a little in my direction.

My mind was racing, why was he asking me to dinner? All he had to do was hand me the camera back. Everything would have been settled then, and I wouldn’t have to see that breathtaking smile in person ever again. I wouldn’t have to look into his eyes or feel the butterflies that he somehow caused me to have. Hell, I’d just met the guy.

Oddly enough, I was about to go on a date with him.

“Alright, but I want my camera back.” I went to pull it from his grasp one more time, expecting to have it back in the safety of my pack.

“After the date.”

My jaw dropped to the floor. Was I hearing him right?

“Okay, after the date.” I agreed, only to see him take the bag from my side, place the camera in it, and place the bag on his shoulder. I rolled my eyes, opening my mouth again. “I have my own terms, however.”

He gave me a playful glare. “I didn’t agree to that, ma’am.” I chuckled, my hands finding my hips.

“It wasn’t a suggestion sir.” I mocked him with a playful grin. “You buy, I’m still in school. I think it’s a fair offer.” Shaking his head and trying to conceal his grin, he extended his hand.

“Deal.”

#don’t blink #f1 x reader #mclaren #lando norris #landoscar #lando x reader #lando x you #mclaren f1 #mclaren formula 1 #f1 x y/n #formula 1 #oscar piastri #zak brown #f1 x female reader #f1 imagine #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #f1 x you #f1

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johnslittlespoon · 6 months ago

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curtbuckbucky nightclub au .* :☆ﾟ. ☽

open for drabble/more pics! <3

alright, i've never done a proper 'intro' post for a fic/au i have in mind, but this one has been rotting in my brain for ages and i know there's no way i'm not gonna write something for it eventually so here goes, bear with me <3 made a lil edit (took me fucking hours to collect enough stock footage lmfao) to go along with it too >:)

a modern au where college student curt is a regular at a new–ish queer nightclub, showing up every friday night without fail to dance his heart out, his way of de–stressing at the end of every week and getting his pent up energy out. he's the prettiest little thing, dresses up so fun– some nights he throws on dresses or crop tops with skirts or short shorts when he's feeling it, other nights he goes for more of a relaxed baggy pants and flowy linen button up type of vibe– always with the same pair of scuffed up sneakers on for ease of dancing.

the bartenders and other regulars adore their bubbly little club bunny, always looking out for him, doting on him with free drinks and food. and even if some of them eye curt like he's dinner when he's out on the floor swaying his hips, eyes closed to fully lose himself in the music, the glitter on his eyelids and cheekbones catching the lights just right, curt's not there for any of that. he dances with people occasionally, he's confident and carefree and likes the attention and it makes him giggle when he catches newcomers staring, doesn't mind a wandering hand here and there, but he never goes home with anyone. the same routine, every friday, dancing until his dark waves are curling damp with sweat against his temples and his black eyeshadow is smudged and he leaves to make the walk back to the flat he shares with a few roomies.

enter john and gale, longterm boyfriends who sometimes like to go out clubbing and find someone pretty to bring home for a fun time, only an open relationship in that sense– they have no interest in actually dating other people, both adamant that it's no strings attached, too head over heels for each other to have eyes for anyone else anyway.

they decide to check out a club they haven't been to yet, usually sticking to the tried and true ones, but a couple of their friends recommend it, so they give it a go one friday night. they've barely sat down at the bar with their drinks when they see a boy who, john comments to gale, looks like the 'energizer bunny' (gets a snort out of curt when he tells him so in the future.) even once they're buzzed enough to head out onto the dance floor together, neither of them can take their eyes off of the bundle of energy, mesmerized.

they both know the other is equally enamoured with the boy, drinking up all the glitter and bouncy curls and blissed out smiles, already knowing they just have to have him– the prettiest thing they've ever seen. curt's confused when they approach him, because he's noticed them too, has been admiring from afar, but he's also noticed their hands and lips all over each other, dancing much too close and comfortably to not be a couple. but john purrs out "we just like to have a little fun every now and then sweetheart, don't you?"

and no, not really, he doesn't. usually a night of exhausting himself dancing is his idea of fun, not ever looking for anything else, not finding most guys worth his time. but john and gale sweet talk him just right, spend time actually getting to know him when he agrees to let them buy him a drink at the bar, and fuck, they're both the hottest things he's seen walk into the club in a long time, and they're giving him all their attention? he decides that maybe he'll be brave and flirt back. despite his confidence and lack of caring what other people think about him, he's so shy and easily flustered when someone he's actually into makes the moves on him, doesn't even know what to do with himself when he realizes he's blushing at their compliments and the combination of their heavy gazes on him.

obviously they all get each other worked up as the night goes on, and curt goes home with them and gets his world rocked, spoiled and pillow princess–ed and showered in praise, not at all what he expects hook–ups to be like after having only been with people he's been dating. he expects to walk back home after since they all live in the same vicinity of downtown, tries to ignore his wobbly legs when he finally crawls out of bed, gets dragged back down by gale for one last messy breathless makeout while john gets him an uber before curt can protest or offer to pay.

normally john and gale don't get the numbers of their one night stands, but they want to make sure he gets home safe, and they can both gauge how the other is feeling and they know they'll want to see him again if they're lucky enough for curt to say yes, so john puts his number into curt's phone and tells him "text when you're home safe, yeah? or, y'know, text whenever you want." and curt isn't sure if this is john saying they both want to see him again, because he's dense and shy and they made it clear beforehand that they're in a closed relationship, but next friday he texts to let them know he'll be at the club again, and john and gale tell him they'll be there, the three of them going home together for a second time that night, and they fall into a routine from then on.

curt gets giddy every friday, dolling himself up extra pretty for the two men, flushed at their attention every time and so thrilled to dress up for someone other than himself for once. he can already feel himself going all heart–eyes for them after the second or third time they hook up, but he knows where he stands, and he's having fun experimenting for the first time and having two experienced, sweet guys show him a good time every week, so he doesn't want to jeopardize that by getting his feelings involved.

little does he know that john and gale are falling head over heels too for this sweet energetic boy, loving how much he spices up their lives, both in the bedroom and out, realizing their flat feels so quiet now on the nights where they don't take curt home with them. so that leads to some serious conversations to see if they're on the same page about getting to know curt better, both of them learning how to navigate this new territory because neither of them expected to want to bring someone else into their world like this. they agree they'd like to take curt out on a cute date, during the daytime for once, to properly test the waters and see how curt feels– of course he slots into their lives perfectly, as if he's been there all along. <3

but along the way: lots of slow burn, miscommunication, endless filthy smut, curt trying to balance college and work and friends with his newfound feelings for john and gale, john and gale getting dragged to raves and festivals by their always adventurous bf, city night–life juxtaposed by early morning domesticity, etc etc.

this has been floating around in my head for a couple weeks since i got this vision of 2012–stalker–era barry with eyeshadow and glitter stuck in my brain and thus a whole universe/plot spawned from it. honestly would mostly be pwp, but would love to write a proper fic for it anyway eventually, each chapter littered with filth, obviously LOL. i have so many thoughts and so many little scenarios planned out in my head already... these three have me in a chokehold.

i need to make proper intro/drabble posts like these for my other aus too aghhh it just takes so longggg because i get carried away with the drabble and then i have to find the perfect clips for edits and the perfect pics to tie it all together and suddenly i've spent half a day on one post but. someday <3 leaving!bikeriders au next surely! thx for reading hope u enjoy this version of the boys and hopefully i'll have time to write it soon!

all posts about this au will be under #curtbuckbucky nightclub au :-)

#curtbuckbucky nightclub au #johnslittlespoon aus #curtbuckbucky #curtgalejohn #johnslittlespoon brainrot #i'm going fr insane over this actually tweaking #i hope my vision is seen. will happily elaborate (too much)#is this essentially femboy!curt? perhaps. can you blame me tho have u seen 2012 barry how can we *not* want him in pretty skirts and makeup #not my strongest drabble ik but it's more of an au info dump :)#where my girlboy!barry enjoyers at bc this ones for us fr #the edit song is an unreleased one by artemas btw </3 #and i lit rally could not find any good club–esque clips from any callum movies to use so just pretend he's not in his pilot uniform LOL #johnslittlespoon edits

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raxistaicho · 10 days ago

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In which we discuss Edelgard's flaws (she has none)

Hey folks! Been a while since I did a longpost. There just hasn't been anything to stir my interest.

But fortunately I found something, so I suppose it's a good time to get away from Resident Evil 4 Remake S+ prep runs, cooking dinner, going to the gym, and writing my fanfic to indulge in my hobby of being terminally online.

So recently butwhatifidothis, who I will henceforth call Strikes, made a post in which she allegedly discussed how we Edelgard fans view Edelgard's flaws that she doesn't have any of but mostly just sounded off about how Edelgard was presented in a fanfic that consumes an inordinate amount of her mental focus. Let's see what she has to say!

I think the main thing that makes Edelstans' version of Edelgard so annoying is that she ultimately has every ounce of agency stripped out of her,

Don't get confused by her bringing up agency when I was talking about flaws so far, this is the typical Edelcrit strategy of saying that if we deny Edelgard did certain bad things then we're denying she did all the things.

by people who insist that they're "making her grow" into a character they already made her out to be from the start.

Well in a manner of speaking depending on how you handle her character arc it is possible to portray her properly growing into the role of a more focused revolutionary that we all view her as, so I suppose that's not too far off.

We get told that Edelgard has this amazing character arc,

She does.

and then are presented with a Mary Sue with no discernable flaws and/or who makes no substantial mistakes.

Strikes is confusing us denying that Edelgard's an awful racist imperialist with us saying she never did anything wrong. Shitposting in the title (and in the intro) aside, Edelgard obviously did some wrong things in the name of pragmatism. It's rather notable that she's often having to rapidly play catch-up helping to put out the fires Solon starts throughout White Clouds (chapters 6, 8, and 10 being the most notable examples), so she is a little more reactive rather than proactive in stopping some of their activities before they could begin.

Part of the issue is we're just never given an absolutely clear view of just how much Edelgard knew about what the Agarthans were up to and when she knew. One thing we do know is that she doesn't operate the way they do, her attacks are always targeted and have a specific purpose, she doesn't spread chaos like they do, so it's very unlikely she'd approve of most anything they do, especially considering how she often takes measures to fight back against them.

This Edelgard is perfect out the box, no discolorations or tears to be seen.

So Edelgard's biggest flaw early on is her trust issues. Because she struggles to trust she tries to go it alone, resulting in her taking more extreme measures than truly necessary. Of course this isn't entirely without reason, seeing as how on three out of four routes Byleth ultimately rejects her and plays a key role in halting her revolution, but it's only when she puts her trust in Byleth and appears before them without the mask of the Flame Emperor that Byleth has a chance to take her hand.

She even seems to realize she'll one day have to do this:

She just has a bit of dust, but the doll itself is flawless.

Don't like the idea of calling her a doll...

And that is, in the end, what ruins her. She’s not prideful and arrogant,

Oh no, she is 100% those things, roflmao. Sothis even calls her out on it:

Hell, Edelgard herself admits she can seem arrogant, so she's not wholly unaware of that flaw.

she’s not stubborn and narrow-minded,

Stubborn, yeah.

Narrow-minded? Multiple of her supports are about her coming around to the viewpoints of her interlocutors, most especially Manuela, Ferdinand, and Linhardt, so nice try.

she’s not manipulative and deceitful,

Now we're getting into scwary words!

Can't fight against the framework of the continent if you don't hold your cards close to your chest, Strikes.

she’s not violent and abrasive,

No, no, if you want violent you want Rhea or Dimitri.

Abrasive, yeah, that's another thing she grows out of. She's rather impatient with some of her goofier friends in the early supports, and grows to be much more patient and compassionate by the timeskip.

she’s not nationalistic and imperialistic,

She's neither of those things.

but nor is she fearless and confident,

...Where did Strikes see Edelgard fans calling her an uncertain little coward?

I mean I know where she thinks she saw that, but we'll get into that later.

she’s not ambitious and resolute

Ditto. Please show me these Edelgard fans who say she isn't ambitious, I'm dying to see the idiots masquerading as her fans.

- she has none of her character flaws or boons, because they make her too full of agency. They drive her to choose to do anything; they're not forces outside of her control that make her do things that she would just never, ever do were the WORLD not so broken and flawed.

Here we go, so Strikes has twisted the acknowledgement that some things were out of Edelgard's control (because they were) to some kind of admission that everything is out of her control.

There's a certain interesting meta analysis to be looked into on the subject of whether a revolutionary truly has a say in the matter when it comes to rebelling against a world that's gone so firmly wrong, as Fodlan had, but with Edelgard in particular I think the thing most of us love about her is that she's the only one willing to make the difficult choice of ripping the bandaid off. I'd certainly like her less if she just kinda bumbled her way into fixing the system the way Naruto does.

The few "flaws" Edelstans begrudgingly allow her are only meant to further endear her to the player. She’s childish, but only because she’s oh so traumatized and that should be accepted as who she is and not something to grow out of (nor something that is truly wrong of her to be even in her 20's).

Sadly I have no idea what Strikes means by Edelgard being childish. I guess her liking of cute things and sweets? Or maybe her abrassiveness that Strikes claims we think she isn't?

She’s self-unaware, but only because the world made her unsure of who she really is, which is a perfect little angel.

Yeah now we're just getting into Strikes blatantly sounding off about that whole fanfic thing I mentioned earlier. Most of her complaints are about a very specific incarnation of Edelgard, because Strikes and others like will her will never stop trying to pillory somebody for the crime of...

Hang on a sec.

(Flips through notes)

Ah. The crime of writing a fanfic.

The only "mistakes" she makes are because others failed her; Byleth and the Black Eagles fail Edelgard in the Holy Tomb, that wasn't her fault, they didn't ensure her that they could be trusted, for example.

At this point is there any reason in replying concretely to anything Strikes says? Not every Edelgard fan in the world interprets her the way The Emperor and the Goddess does, Strikes, and the point Captain Flash was trying to reach wasn't that the others were wrong, but rather that Edelgard's lack of trust was lamentable but a very really thing founded in the nature of the world she lived in.

Claude and Rhea have flaws - real flaws, that aren't "they just don't wove themselves enuff."

Yeah, Rhea's flaw is "she was a genocide victim, you have to be nice to her :(" according to these people.

Dimitri makes mistakes - real mistakes, that aren't "he twusted the wrong people and got hurt fwom them."

Actually he kinda did trust the wrong people and got hurt by them, roflmao. Thales is... about the worst person ever to trust.

She’s just a little flower

You know, that thing Byleth calls Edelgard in The Emperor and the Goddess!

Man, Strikes's so buttmad at that fic for the crime of existing and being popular.

plucked of all her thorns, safe and easy to pick up and admire, weak, meek and too innocent and pure for this dirty dirty world, coveted by all for her perfection and beauty. Which is just so... boring? And annoying?

Yeah, that would be pretty boring if Edelgard fans viewed her that way...

It's so clear that this Edelgard is one that is sanitized of any pesky little flaw that could make people dislike her or like her in the "wrong" way (because liking villains for being villains Is Wrong), and that is ironically the exact reason why she's so insufferable.

Frankly I'll never understand this flailing claim Edelcrits like to make, insisting we try to deny Edelgard is a villain because "liking villains for being villains is wrong."

I'm sorry, but what? People don't like villains, you say? People love villains! This, probably more than anything else they say, is sheer desperate idiocy.

Cornelia's one of my favorite characters in Three Houses purely because she's just an unrepentant vicious bitch to everyone, including Thales. She became an ascended extra in my fanfic because of it.

Like, it's almost kinda hard to explain why having a character choose to be an asshole is so much more engaging to watch than having a character be entirely reactive UNTIL they can get Good Noodle Stars because.... yeah? Of course? Because there's more meat to bite into whenever a character makes a choice - whether kind or spiteful, whether good or bad - over someone else forcing a character to do something.

Alarak my beloved <3

youtube

"Edelgard believes in imperialism because she has been raised in and agrees with a culture that believes itself to be the rightful 'owner' of the continent due to it being the progenitor country, and she genuinely believes Fodlan would be better if back under this 'glorious' reign of Adrestia, even despite her being around those outside of Adrestia for almost a year" says so much about her AND Adrestia.

...It would if she did? Except she doesn't? Says a lot about the nobles who do think that way.

Like the implied Duke Aegir, who Edelcrits try to mildly whitewash of his crimes, coincidentally enough.

"Edelgard DOESN'T believe in imperialism, it's just that everyone else is doing so badly that they FORCE her to kill them or otherwise get rid of them" says things about the ones DOING things badly, MAYBE, but all it says about Edelgard is that she Doesn't Like Bad Things.

That kind of is a way to describe her movement, though naturally Strikes phrased it in a way that strips her of agency because that's convenient for her argument.

I'd phrase it more as "Edelgard chooses war with the rest of Fodlan as a last resort, hating it but accepting the necessity as a means to bring about real and lasting change".

Or, oh so much deeper, it says she likes *gasp* Good Things! How brave, how stunning!

Someone's getting hangry.

Yeah, I have no actual argument for this, Strikes is just mad and saying things.

And before you can try to say "Well maybe Edelgard went to violence so quickly because she views fear and control to be the best way to force a society into being 'good' over trying to convince people peacefully,"

...No. When does Edelgard resort to the Tarkin Doctrine? Ever?

the Edelstan Edelgard is already packaged with "Edelgard went to war first because literally everyone MADE her go to war because THEY wouldn't let anything else work."

That's a rather obtuse way to say diplomacy wouldn't have worked.

"Edelgard tried to assassinate Dimitri and Claude at the very beginning of the game because she wanted to make her eventual war go way easier"

Heheheheheheh, you know where this is going.

turns into the infamous "Edelgard was just trying to scare THE TEACHER away to get JERITZA installed in their place, and CLAUDE ruined it by running away; she wasn't ACTUALLY trying to hurt anyone."

Infamous, and proven true. Edelcrits are still furious about that over two years later. Hopes was a bad time for them, I get it.

And also, if she was trying to kill Dimitri and Claude? So what? If killing them would have made the future war easier, I could understand why she'd make that choice. Their two lives don't weigh heavier on the scales than that of all Fodlan's people.

"Edelgard let Remire be massacred because - like she literally said she would - she was willing to sacrifice her people's lives in service of her higher cause" turns into one of "TWS forced her to be compliant" or "Edelgard definitely didn't know anything because she would have stopped it had she known."

So while it is implied Edelgard had some inkling of what happened,

But she clearly didn't expect Remire to be so terrible,

An interesting thing to note is that the cutscene where Seteth and Rhea talk about the situation in Remire happens on the 1st of the month, Byleth passes out on the 2nd after speaking with Manuela, and we get the scene with Hubert and Edelgard on the 4th. That's the earliest we know that she has some idea what's happening in Remire, and given how in the same scene Hubert openly asks Byleth how the investigation is going, it's likely Byleth had already told the class about the mission by then.

The Agarthans don't respect Edelgard, they don't need to ask her for permission for anything, and they don't need her help with anything. Solon has already vanished from the monastery to finish up the experiments, so by the time Edelgard even knows what's happening in Remire, it's already too late to do anything about it.

"Edelgard directly assisted in Flayn's kidnapping because TWS having more tools to work with means she gets more weapons to fight with" turns into "She was forced to do that."

I think she means, "Edelgard was forced to give up the Death Knight to Thales," when she says "she was forced to do that", because that's the closest I've ever seen it argued. Usually the take I've seen is that Edelgard didn't know Flayn would be kidnapped until she was, because, again, why would Solon bother to tell her about it? He's already had the Death Knight for over a month by then and he doesn't need any further help from Edelgard. If Edelgard wanted Flayn captive, why would she help in the search, why would she let Flayn go, and why wouldn't she take Flayn captive at the Holy Tomb?

"Edelgard helped hide Kronya among the student populace even as she kidnapped students and mutated them into Demonic Beasts because it will help in giving her Demonic Beasts to work with in the war" turns into, you guessed it, "Edelgard was forced to do that."

This time I have no idea what Edelgard was supposedly "forced" to do in the context of Edelgard fan apologia. Edelgard "hid" Kronya by not outing her.

And yeah, it ain't great that Edelgard didn't do that, but there's a lot of reasons she couldn't. By the time Solon reveals himself Kronya's already about to disappear from the monastery, revealing her would be too blatant a backstab against Thales, it wouldn't also reveal Edelgard herself, and there's no guarantee the church would do anything judging from how Rhea reacts to Edelgard outing Thales in Three Hopes.

"Edelgard sent her army and Demonic Beasts onto either her direct Black Eagle classmates or otherwise innocent students to stop them from stopping her from getting Crest Stones to use in her upcoming war"? Oh, a surprise! "She HAD to do that, because OTHER PEOPLE were going to take the Crest Stones if she didn't!"

The students can't be innocent if they're fighting for the church. You don't get to have it both ways: if they're innocent non-combatants then Rhea has no business recruiting them to fight on behalf of the Church of Seiros.

And yes, she endangers her classmates. Again that ain't great, but the future of Fodlan is more important than the lives of a few of her close friends.

She was forced to, she wasn't hurting/trying to hurt anyone, she didn't do anything wrong - if her actions lead to people getting hurt and/or killed, those are the exclusive reasons allowed as to why she did it.

No, they weren't exclusive, I threw several more. The issue here is Strikes wants to either make it:

A) Edelgard is an evil vicious imperialist racist.

B) Edelgard has no control over anything.

With zero nuance because that furthers her point. Edelgard's either EVIL or has no agency, with zero in-between.

These reasons being excuses to alleviate her of any accountability, not genuine explanations that still demand her to take accountability.

Who's she to take accountability to? Most of the people she fails are dead, is she supposed to apologize for starting a revolution to better Fodlan?

That's the difference between Rhea and Dimitri, who Strikes will mention onward: their mistakes they take accountability for are inherently selfish ones. If Edelgard was selfish she'd just hide in her room all day munching on sweets.

Meanwhile, Rhea distorted history to keep her and her family safe - which in verse is said to be something she was still wrong to do, and which in verse she ADMITS was wrong of her to do.

And her fans try to minimize what she did. "Rhea only briefly held back certain inventions, and only so that humanity wouldn't progress 'too fast'." "Rhea had no control over the Crest system, that was humans being bad!" "Rhea was just the midwife, she didn't do anything suspicious to Sitri and Byleth!" "Rhea thought Byleth was an amnesiac Sothis!"

Dimitri was absolutely willing to torture Randolph because he viewed the guy as less than human and felt him getting such inhumane treatment was justice

And his fans try to argue either that Randolph deserved it or because Byleth stopped him it wasn't all that bad.

Hell, Strikes herself is minimizing what Dimitri did here! He didn't just attempt to torture Randolph, he did torture Randolph. Even if you don't know that describing torture you're about to inflict upon a person is legally classified as torture in and of itself, just look at how Randolph is reacting to Dimitri's dressing-down: the dude is having a complete breakdown and Dimitri hasn't even laid a finger on him yet!

- which he directly takes accountability for to Randolph's remaining family.

Uhh what? Did I miss the alt scene where Dimitri stops Byleth from gutting Fleche, admits what he did to her brother, and kneels to her in penitence?

Claude weaseled up to Byleth because he felt he could use them for his own ambitions - which he owns up to and grows out of doing.

Yeah, this is the only thing I generally don't see people trying to minimize, probably because it's the least-obvious offense and doesn't really hurt anyone. Claude comes out of Three Houses with squeaky-clean hands, and I respect Three Hopes for dirtying them a bit.

And yeah, that's about it. As I explained in the opening, Strikes is mostly just mad that we Edelgard fans don't view her as an awful person the way Strikes herself does. She's upset we can actually explain her actions, so she's venting that we're stripping Edelgard of all agency, with a side helping of shitting on Emperor and the Goddess again because that's her life, I guess.

#fire emblem three houses #edelgard discourse #edelgard positive #edelgard von hresvelg

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fabuloustrash05 · 1 year ago

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A Character First, A Love Interest Second: RaMona Did It Right!

((A TMNT 2012 RaMona Analysis))

Something I feel we as a fandom don’t give Raph enough credit for is how he’s the only brother to NOT have a “love at first sight” trope with his love interest Mona Lisa, and I feel that says a lot about his character and relationship with her, not only that, but it saves Mona’s character.

How you may ask? A lot of people don’t seem to realize this, but I love how when Mona Lisa is first introduced she’s not immediately established to be a love interest unlike the other girls. Mona is given some time to be her own character and show off a bit of her personality. For the other girls, there introduction is through the Turtles POV, established as a love interest FIRST then her own character/personality is shown later. This is made clear just from each Turtles reaction when first meeting their love interest. We are introduced to the female character through the “love at first sight” moment!

Donnie

Leo (I hate that I’m using this as an example this but this help prove my point)

Mikey

Edit: I timed it to see how long the girls intros were before they were established as a love interest. Here’s the LINK

I wanna clarify before people start assuming, no, I’m NOT saying that the other 2012 girls have no personality. They do, it just bothers me how they were introduced. Them being the love interest seemed more important to establish to the writers then her own character first.

Meanwhile for Mona Lisa; she’s introduced to the audience NOT the Turtles. This gives her a chance to establish her character/personality first then show her as a love interest later!

We learn just from her introduction scene and even her moment when confronting the Turtles that she is: strong willed, prideful (she’s proud of being the warrior she is and takes her battle’s seriously), stubborn (fight first, ask questions NEVER, like Raph), honorable, loyal (we learn she’s a lieutenant and respects and highly looks to her Commander), and even a bit short tempered (again, like Raph).

Her and Raph even get to speak to each other and have a little banter of threats before romance between them starts to blossom. There is no love at first sight. Unlike the other Turtles who immediately fall in love with the girl just from looking at her and thinking she’s pretty. Their feelings for each other took more time.

Raph did not fall for her looks like his brothers, he fell in love with the person Mona is. Physical attraction (I believe) is very important in a relationship and Raph does show and admits he does in fact find Mona attractive (Ex: calling her a beautiful work of art) but her looks is not what caught his attention. It was her personality, her spirit and capabilities as a warrior! I saw someone mentions this in another post once, but on rare occasions do we get to hear the other Turtles explain exactly WHY they like their love interests other then that they found the girl pretty (Yes, Donnie admits he thinks April is “cool” and Leo says Karai’s “fun” but that’s not enough!), meanwhile for Raph from the very beginning he has his list of reasons ready as to WHY he likes Mona! And he has no shame to admit it proudly!

And throughout the rest of their relationship, we see more of those reasons unfold. We see Raph and even Mona show more reasons as to why they love each other so much. And unlike the others ships, we actually get to see them act and be a couple! They flirt with each other, embrace and hold hands, make out, write love letters to each other, etc. The reason they worked so well is because as I said we get to see them be a couple, but also because Mona got to established herself as a character first before being Raph’s girlfriend.

Many of us can agree that TMNT 2012 failed greatly in the romance department, but they at least did one couple right with the relationship of Raphael and Mona Lisa. So I thank them for that <3

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