#i mean the ending is better than the COE one

[monzabee]

what you do to me – lh44 (+18)

masterlist

Summary: The one where Lewis returns home to you – the one thing he desperately wants, but won't let himself have completely.

Pairing: lewis hamilton x fwb!reader

Word Count: 3.4k

Warnings: angst, feelings, friends with benefits relationship, smut!, slight choking, unprotected sex (wrap your willy, don’t be silly!), slight manhandling?, pwp, minors dni!!

Author’s Note: hi, hey, hello!! my boyfriend forced me to watch hellraiser the other day, and there was this one scene that i could just not thinking about so i wanted to write something inspired by it, and who better to write it about than sir lewis hamilton?? also, i reaaaallly wanted to write a friends with benefits thing and it was so much fun, i honestly wasn’t expecting. the title of this fic is actually a john legend song that i love and i think it fits the vibes for this fic, so please feel free to give it a listen if you're interested! i hope you guys enjoy! good morning, noon or night wherever you are, xoxobee

Please also note that all of my works are protected under copyright, and not available for reposting on other platforms.

It’s a shame Lewis doesn’t spend more time in his Monte Carlo penthouse during the season because it’s a space he enjoys spending time in so much. He doesn’t mind being alone in his home – if anything, it’s refreshing after spending so much time being the focal point of so many cameras during the season. Also, technically, he is not alone he supposes; he has Roscoe to keep him company when he’s home, after all.

Coming home from a successful season is rewarding, he feels as if he’s deserved the rest he looks forward to. On the other hand, coming home from a not-so-successful season? Well he feels like shit – both mentally and physically. That is not to say that he doesn’t appreciate the time off, though, he is more than happy to not drive for weeks and just enjoy the winter break. Coming home is also always kind of bittersweet. He catches up with some of his friends he didn’t have time for during the season, his family who always support him through thick and thin, but most importantly he tries to make time for you and your… well, arrangement.

He knows something is wrong the minute you reply to his text about him being home. A simple okay is not a response he is used to getting from you. Alas, he shakes off the unease and chalks it up to a hectic day on your end. The pitter patter of Roscoe’s paws on the hardwood floors is enough to distract him from the situation, given the fact that the puppy is impatient for his dinner and is looking at the driver with pleading eyes.

“Okay ‘Coe,” he mumbles as he motions the kitchen with his head, “let’s go.”

The way Roscoe wobbles towards the kitchen brings a small smile to Lewis’ face even though he is still hung up on your answer. After he’s done feeding the puppy, he decides to grab a quick shower to ease the tiredness that comes from a long travel day. The hot water cascading down from the rainfall shower does a good job of taking care of his sore muscles, and he is more than happy to stay under the warm water if it means the soreness will go away. That is until he hears banging coming from his front door. He has every intention of just ignoring the person on the other side of the door; however, as the knocks get more and more persistent, he gets out of the shower with a groan. Wrapping a towel around his hips, he marches towards the front door, and looks through the peephole only to end up opening the door quicker than he would’ve liked.

His voice is confused as he mumbles out, “Lovey?” But you just straighten up from your position of leaning against the wall and throw your bag on the floor as you push your way through his apartment and wrapping your arms around his neck to pull him into a hug. He doesn’t miss the way your breath hitches as you attempt to hide yourself in the crook of his neck, and he is not sure what he’s supposed to do with his hands for a moment. “Hey,” he calls out softly, “what’s wrong?”

You pull back slightly to look into his worried eyes, “Just kiss me.” Your voice comes out somewhere between a whisper and a sob, and you can see the hesitation in Lewis’ eyes, but you just pull him towards you as you press a soft kiss on his lips, “Please.”

“What happened?” He tries once again to get an answer from you, but you shut down his attempt as you press your lips against his once more, more assertive this time. And who is he to deny you your wishes? So, like the perfect gentleman he is, he reciprocates your kiss with a one of his own as he wraps his arms around you to signal you to jump. Thankfully, you are so tuned with each other that you end up jumping up anyway, and he picks you up as you wrap your legs around his hips. Closing the door, he starts walking back towards his bedroom as your lips start moving more frantically against his own. “Slow down,” he warns, pulling back to give both of you a chance to breathe, “we have all night.”

Whining at the loss of contact from his lips, and you let your dissatisfaction known by attempting to roll your hips against his bare stomach, “Don’t wanna.” There’s still a lingering sob in your voice, but it is more reflective of the neediness you feel now that you have him between your arms – and legs. Lewis lets his hands roam down towards your ass to give you a warning squeeze – a one, maybe you would’ve been threatened by it if you weren’t so lost in him at the moment. You try your best to ignore the look he gives you, one filled with sternness; so instead, you move your lips downwards towards Lewis’ neck with another roll of your hips. “I missed you.”

He stills the movement of your hips as he simultaneously releases an appreciative groan at the way your lips feel on his skin. “I missed you too, lovey.” He is careful as he approaches his bed and sits down on the plush mattress with you still in his arms. Wrapping a hand around your hair to tilt your head back so he can look into your eyes again, he attempts to keep himself from becoming hard from the mere prospect of you wrapping your body around his. His eyes search yours for answers as to your sour mood, “Tell me what’s wrong, bad day?”

“Try bad month,” you scoff, letting your hands slide over his, somehow, still damp torso. “You weren’t here,” you explain as you free yourself from his hold on your hair and take off your sweatshirt, “don’t wan’ to talk about it.”

“Well, I’m here now.” A sudden realisation that you are not wearing anything under your top comes to Lewis, and he has to mentally restrain himself from doing something rash. “Not wearing a bra?” He asks, one of his eyebrows raised.

You let out a confirming hum, “Not wearing any underwear either.” Giving him an innocent smile at the groan he gets out, you shrug your shoulders nonchalantly, “Thought they’d get in the way.” His hands feel warm on your bare skin as he drags them up on your body to gently cup your exposed breasts, causing you to brace yourself by hanging onto his shoulder for support. Whining as you feel his thumb make contact with your sensitive nipple, you decide to pull him in for another kiss, mumbling a breathy, “Kiss me,” against his lips. 

He obliges your request, of course, but he doesn’t let you control the kiss like you would’ve liked to. Instead, he stops the kiss by gently biting down on your lip before you can deepen it. With a small pat to your hip, he mumbles, “Get up, let me see you.” The look he gives you is just so full of adoration that you have no other choice to get up from his lap with the slowest moves you can muster. His eyes never leave you when you take a step back so that he can see you, all of you, and with the small nod he gives you, you begin taking off your leggings and shoes. That’s the thing about Lewis – for someone who is in the spotlight most of their time, he loves watching. And it is not only limited to the bedroom, you realise, he watches you even when you are doing mundane things together, like grocery shopping or walking Roscoe, domestic things that couples do together. But you can’t think about that, no, because both of you agreed that this was only physical and nothing more. Shaking the thoughts away, you straighten up from your bent position only to find Lewis looking you with a much darker look in his eyes. He’s dangerous, when he looks like that, you realise, he could break you into pieces with just his words, and the worst part is that you’d absolutely let him. “Pretty girl,” he whispers into the distance between you, and you take the hand he extends towards you for him to pull you against himself. The feeling of his lips on your skin almost feel feverish, and you find yourself releasing a gasp. “You’re the prettiest girl ever, lovey.”

“Lewis,” you brokenly whisper, your voice would be bordering on whiny with all the neediness that comes with it, “please, I need you.” The pleading look you give him is vulnerable, if not desperate.

“I’ve got you,” he murmurs against your skin, his lips leaving another open-mouthed kiss, this time closer to your lower belly. His voice does a good job of soothing your erratic mind, his arms envelope you as he promises, “Whatever it is I’m here now, tell me what you want.”

He does a good job of putting you on the spot, you think, but unlike your usual self, you don’t have the patience for teasing tonight. “I want you to fuck me,” your voice comes off stronger than before, but it wavers as you also add, “please.” The last word brings a small smirk to Lewis’ face, and you let out a shriek as he quickly throws you onto the bed. “You almost scared me to death,” you complain, pushing out your lower lip in a pout.

“You’ll be fine,” he lets out a breathy laugh while quickly getting rid of the towel still, miraculously, hanging on his hips. The smirk on his face grows as he watches you shamelessly checking him out, but he never breaks his gaze from yours when your eyes meet as he wraps a hand around his cock to jerk himself for a few times. You spread your legs to accommodate his body as he leans over your lying figure by using his free arm as support. Rubbing the tip of his cock through your slick slit a few times, you can feel his breathy chuckle hit your skin while his lips run over your jaw to leave small kisses. “You’re so wet for me,” he mumbles, and the whimper that leaves your lips when he makes a point to rub his tip over your clit wins another chuckle, “you’re gonna be good for me?”

“Uh-huh,” you mumble as you nod frantically, “yes Lu, I’m gonna be good, I promise. Please, just fuck me.” You try to tempt him by wrapping your legs around his hips and pulling him closer – either you are successful and he gives in, or he is just as desperate to get inside you as you are desperate to feeling him because he complies with your movements as he nudges the tip of his cock into you in a slow push forward. The stretch is burning every single time, and usually he gives you enough time to accommodate his size before proceeding to fuck your brains out. But this time, he doesn’t waste any time as he pushes himself fully into you until he’s buried inside you to the hilt. The gasp you begin to let out turns into a silent scream as the feeling of being full consumes you, “Fuck, Lewis–”

“Shh, it’s okay,” he soothes you through the initial pain, “you’re alright, just breathe th for a bit.” And you do what he tells you to because… well, you know he won’t do anything to hurt you. He brings his free hand towards your face to cup your cheek, which you respond by turning your head towards the warmness. “Tell me when the pain goes away,” he whispers against your skin – he finds he absolutely loves the way your skin flushes every single time he fucks you, and the thought makes him freeze for a second. Love? That is not something he should be thinking about, not especially when he’s buried inside you, because you both agreed–

Deciding to respond wordlessly, you press a soft kiss in the middle of Lewis’ palm, whilst also attempting to roll your hips, but then whining because of the additional pressure, “Please, Lewis, please move.”

That must’ve done the job of breaking Lewis out of whatever trance he was in, because once he hears your whiny voice pleading him to move, he starts thrusting his hip in and out of you in a rhythm that simply leaves you breathless in mere seconds. It’s the stress of the season, you think to yourself, but Lewis’ movements just get faster and deeper until he hits that one spot inside you that makes your whines turn into a scream and has you arching into him. You can’t see his reaction with your eyes fluttered close, but he stills his movements for a few moments as he looks at you as if you’re the most precious thing in his life. He waits until your erratic breathing to get back to normal before he starts rolling his hips against yours again, but this time the tempo he adopts is much slower, sensual, and almost… too intimate for it to only be considered physical between the two of you.

Your eyes flutter open as you look at him with confusion, “Wha– What are you–?” But he only cuts you off by pressing his lips against you to swallow your question in a kiss. The slower tempo is surprisingly more pleasurable then his usual style that you’ve dubbed fast and furious, and every time his hips roll at a certain angle, he brushes your clit in a way that makes your feet curl in pleasure.

He is breathless when he pulls away from the kiss and rests his forehead against yours, but then again, so are you. The way he seems to gaze into your eyes make your breath hitch, and if you thought that was Lewis showing his emotions, he decides to put them into words. “So good for me, lovey,” he moans, yes moans because one thing you’ve learned from the start is that real men moan, “you were made for me, weren’t you?” His accent gets thicker, which is a tell that he’s getting there, but he won’t let himself come before he makes sure you’re taken care of. “Look at how you’re taking me, reckon I can feel myself if I place my hand on your belly?” It makes him laugh when you whine as you attempt to slither your hand towards your stomach to test his theory, but one deep stroke of his hips and your arms envelope them around his shoulders to use him as a support. “Perfect, you’re just perfect for me, hm? My perfect, pretty, little girl.”

“Please,” you whimper out, the tears that form in the corner of your eyes threatening to fall, “I’m so close.” It’s been such an emotional day, and a shitty month that all you wanted was to be consumed by him –  and now that you have him in your arms, acting like you are more than just two friends who use each other for something so trivial and human as urges, you don’t want to let him go. Especially not when he makes you feel like you could love him for the rest of your life. Even if just the thought of it is enough to make your heart race. Needless to say, the sob you let out is unexpected on both of your ends, and you know he’s about to stop when he slows down even more, but you give him a stern look through your tears, “Don’t you dare stop.” You moan, loud enough for his neighbours downstairs to hear, once he picks up the pace again, but it’s still slow enough for it to be considered love making and not fucking by both of your standards.

He knows you’re close when your walls start clenching around him, which makes it much harder for him to compose himself. So, being the perfect gentleman he is, he starts rubbing your clit with one of his hands, his fingers work hard to bring you even more pleasure. He watches in amazement as you trash around under his body and as your whimpers and moans get louder gradually – until you are coming undone around him, starting to sob because of the pressure gets released in your tummy, that is. His hips still continue their languid movements, just like the faster movement of his fingers, as he fucks you through your release, mumbling sweet nothings and encouragements into your ear. Lewis does his best to kiss the tears that escape from your eyes, his breath fanning over your feverish skin.

“So good,” your moans get softer as you get calmer after a while, though your voice is still scratchy, “wanna feel you more, Lu.” Sliding your hand between your bodies to take his hand away from your clit, the loss of his touch makes you whine softly and he watches you in confusion while still continuing his movements slowly, but you see the way his eyes light up with a dark look when you wrap his fingers around your throat, and thankfully he understands the message as he tightens his hold just the way you like it. “Yeah, just like that,” you moan, encouraging him to pick up the pace. This time, it’s your turn to whisper praises riddled with encouragement, and you know it gets to him, because every single stroke his hips deliver end up making him fill you more and more, as if that was possible. The sobs coming from your lips transform into ones of pleasure, bringing Lewis closer and closer to his release.

“Look at me,” his voice is sharp, and it makes you immediately fix your eyes on his. There is an immense sense of wanting to please him, or rather make him proud within you, and he rewards you with a burning kiss that leaves you panting and wanting more as he spills himself into you. As he pulls away to moan out your name, his thumb dragging down your bottom lip. You gently bite down on his thumb while you manage to get out a satisfied moan, eyes closing ever so slightly as you feel him spill into you, and he keeps pulling you even closer to himself when he lets his body fall next to yours.

You have no idea how he manages to still stay inside you, but you can feel his lips pressing gentle kisses across your hairline, and brushing away the sweaty strands. “You feel better now, lovey?” Smiling at the tiredness dripping from his voice, you hum airily, a satisfied smile on your face while you move your neck to look at him.  “Good,” his whisper brushes your lips as he nudges the tip of your nose with his, earning a giggle from you while he wipes away the dry tears on your cheeks.

“Do you have to leave?” There is a whiny undertone to your question, and it makes him give you a gentle smile.

“Not for a while,” he assures you, then he presses his lips softly on yours in a small kiss, “I promise.”

He grabs your hand to weave his fingers through yours, pressing gentle kisses to your knuckles as he keeps silent for a moment – because he knows at that moment, just because you asked, he’ll cancel every single plan he’s made, just to spend more time with you so that he can make you smile like that. “Until you get sick of me, that is.” Your tired laughter fills his ears until it is interrupted by a yawn. He carefully moves you so that he gently takes himself out of you, and rolls you sideways so he can wrap his arms around as he pulls you close to cuddle. “Go to sleep, lovey, we’ll talk in the morning,” he mumbles as he presses soft kisses to your bare shoulder. You close your eyes with a smile on your face, burying yourself into his chest as much as you can, and hear him mumble, “My lovey,” before promptly falling asleep.

You pretend you didn’t hear him in the morning because the arrangement the two of you made was about keeping things causal.

But you respond by squeezing his hand three times in return anyway.

And he responds.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Do you have any advice for talking to people who aren't well-informed about what is going on in Gaza? One of my really close friends for over 10 years now has really conservative parents and she just :// she just kind of believes a lot of the conservative stuff they say and she hears others around her say. After the attacks of Oct. 7th, I think I remember her saying that the Bible says we should always stand with Israel which is just so :((

I want to inform her but I'm unsure of how to, and if it would even work. I'm scared of her response because I really love her and we've been so close for so long but I don't feel comfortable with her being so uninformed and I'm scared of her response. Do you have any advice and even pray for me to be given wisdom on how to handle this with care and love? Thank you ^^

Hey there! Thank you for your courage in even wanting to start a hard conversation with a friend about this vital topic. I'm going to offer some ideas, but ultimately you know this friend better than I could, so if something I say doesn't seem like it'll work with your situation, adapt or discard it.

I also invite others to add on ideas or encouragement. If you know of resources that are helpful for talking about Palestine with folks who are steeped in pro-Israel propaganda, please share!

___

Before delving into this topic with her, start by asking yourself what you're hoping she'll unlearn and relearn. What's a reasonable goal to move her towards?

Chances are, she's not going to move from unquestioning support of Israel to "Decolonize Palestine" in a day!

Moving her towards a simple agreement that at least some of the things Israel does cannot be supported is a good first step, and even that may take time and patience.

Prepare yourself to be happy about even the smallest baby steps in opening her perspective. "Ceasefire now!" may be the bare minimum in what is ultimately needed for true justice for Palestine, but it is an important step. If you can make progress towards her agreeing with a simple ceasefire, that's worth celebrating.

You'll also want to think in advance about where you're hoping her changed perspective will take her. Do you see her on the front lines of protests and marches? Or will you be satisfied if she makes some changes in where she spends her money (boycotting Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.), doesn't shut down pro-Palestine comments, etc.?

Again, being realistic and celebrating even small changes is helpful to keep from frustrating yourself or her!

So...how do you start a conversation that leads to that?

Wait for a time when you both are fairly relaxed, and have enough time that conversation won't be rushed.

Prepare yourself to hear some resistance and possibly even some really crappy things regurgitated when you first broach the subject. Do your best to remain calm, and not to jump straight into correcting every little thing she says — I know how hard that can be, but if you have hope that she'll be open to changing perspective, you want to establish yourself as a space where she feels safe enough to unpack the bullshit without being shut down at every turn.

For instance, in the scenario where she said "the Bible says we should always stand with Israel," responding immediately with "no it doesn't!!" would shut down conversation.

Instead, you might start with open-ended questions the two of you can explore together: "I wonder what the Bible means when it talks about Israel. Would the biblical authors recognize today's Israel as being the Israel they were talking about? / Is the Israel of today the same as the Israel of the Bible?" "What does it mean to you to 'stand with Israel'?" "Does that have to require sending them extreme military weapons?"

As you ask questions together, focus on finding common ground with her:

Does your friend agree that innocent people should be kept as safe as possible in military conflicts?

Does she agree that people of different faiths and cultures should be able to coexist?

I appreciate this post's advice on utilizing instead of challenging someone's deeply held values to guide them out from their rightwing radicalized views.

If your friend seems unwilling to talk about this...

It's okay to table the conversation if things start to get heated or she's shutting down. Let he know this topic is deeply meaningful to you and that's why you want to talk about it with her, as a friend who means a lot to you as well.

If there have been times in the past where she's realized what her family says about a topic has been anywhere from somewhat misinformed to utter bullshit, you might be able to remind her of that past time.

Do your best to make it clear that you are not judging her for what she currently believes — we can't help what we're raised in! You're just hopeful that, like in those past situations with other topics, the two of you can talk things out.

Did realizing that she didn't have all the information on a topic help in the past? Maybe remind her of that too, and invite her to team up together in finding the missing information on this topic as well — which leads me to...

Come with resources.

For exploring those open-ending questions I brought up before, it'll help for you to be pretty well informed in advance both about current events and recent history, and about how Christian theology's been used to advance Israel's agenda.

...Or, if you think your friend would prefer to learn along the way with you, it'll be good for you to at least know of resources the two of you can look at together!

You don't have to have all the answers; you can tell her, "I don't know enough either yet. I'd love to learn together with you." Framing it as something mutual, rather than you lecturing her or assigning her homework or judging her current ignorance, might cultivate that space for mutual growth that will benefit you both!

So here are some resources I recommend:

For questions about theology, including disconnecting biblical Israel from modern Israel, I highly recommend Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible (2023) by Christian Palestinian theologian Mitri Raheb. If you don't have time for a whole book, I summarized the thing in an article that takes about 30 minutes to read. .

Another, less academic / more storytelling-formatted book that pulls in perspectives from Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and non-Palestinians, queer folk and more, that I find super valuable in summing up a lot of the fraught history and unpacking propaganda around Israel that so many of us have been taught to take as given, is A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism. .

Then there's keeping up with news using media outlets that don't sugarcoat Israel's violence. My personal favorite to listen to daily is Democracy Now!, which you can read/watch online or listen to as a podcast. A whole hour of news every day may be more than your friend can keep up with, however, so... .

...a briefer news option is @ So.informed on Instagram. Their posts sum up the big sweeping picture of what's going on, and help put it in context with accessible language. If your friend has Instagram, this could be a great source for her to start getting another perspective on what's going on. .

Similarly, @ letstalkpalestine is another Instagram account that explores history and current events in a succinct, accessible way.

One last thought: be ready to offer comfort.

It's hard to realize you've been misinformed about something important — especially when it's people close to you who've taught you what you thought was right. It takes a ton of courage and humility to realize where you need to change.

Your friend might become emotional about all this; that might look like grief, or rage, or even dissociating, feeling numb. Be ready to offer comfort, to remind her that what she thought was not her fault — that we're all steeped in things we have to work to unlearn, and you're proud of her for being open to learning.

And again I'll mention that if things start getting intense, it's okay to take a break! You don't want either of you burning out halfway through. You can take this process one small step per day, or even per week.

This struggle for liberation and justice is a long one — it's been decades unfolding, and it'll take a long while more. It's urgent, yes, but at the same time, rushing your friend won't aid the effort. Patience is much more likely to bear fruit that lasts.

___

I hope this helps somewhat! I'll be holding you and your friend in my prayers.

May the Spirit of Justice guide your words and actions; may She guard you from frustration; may she open your friend to hearing you out and entering into conversation with you. <3

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #11 – The Maya (10th Edition) by Michael D. Coe and Stephen Houston

My second proper history book of the year, and significantly better than the first! This existed on the happy intersection of ‘the r/AskHistorian’s big list of recommenced works on Goodreads’ and ‘stuff my public library inexplicably has a copy of’. It’s dense and more than a bit dry reading, enough that I read it over the course of a week as a side-dish to more digestible fiction. Still, fascinating read, and a book that left more far better informed about the subject than when I started it.

The book is more or less what it says on the tin – a survey of the history of the Maya (or at least the current state of what’s known about it). The book opens with an explanation of the Maya language family, the relevant geography, the characteristics of the high- and lowlands, and the division into northern, central and southern area the field seems to use generally. The better part of it is then arranged chronologically, beginning with the Archaic Period, through the Pre-Classic and Classic, then then Collapse and the Post-Classic. The Spanish Conquest and history since gets a very abbreviated epilogue, ending with a few micro-anthropologies of different contemporary villages and then a five-page travellers’ guide to the most important sites and how to access them.

It’s all, as I said, quite dense – the sort of book where every paragraph adds at least one new important fact and very little time is spent on repetition or review. Combined with the usually very dry, expository tone, it feels much more like a textbook to be read with a lecturer or group to break down and dig into each section than something that was really written to be read alone and for pleasure. Which you know, makes sense, given that this is the tenth edition of a book originally written several decades before I was born.

Now, I say this is a history book, but that’s honestly a bit of a kludge – better to say it’s an archaeology book or, failing that, about anthropology and historiography. There is very little narativizing, and it is very much told from the point of view of the present. That is, the sections are organized chronologically, but within them the unit of analysis is the archaeological site, with every supposition explained as emerging from the analysis of some ruin or artifact or fragment of text. Far more time is spent on the architecture and layout of Mayan cities than the people who actually lived within them, simply because the author’s have so much more to say about them.

It’s only really in the chapters on the Classic (and, to a much lesser extent, post-classic) periods that the book goes from theorizing about building and pottery styles to speaking more confidently about royal courts and high politics and dynastic grandeur, and above all the attempts to give specific particular people a sense of personality and personal biographies that you generally expect out of a pop history book. Which does make sense, given that those are the only periods where we really have enough textual evidence to confidently name and ascribe significance to any particular people – overwhelmingly dynasts and war-leaders, because of course those are the (almost invariably) men who constructed stelae and covered the walls of temples with testaments of their own greatness.

This means that you do get more of a look into nuts and bolts of knowledge production that you do in most histories – a passage about the development of chocolate drinks as elite consumption is framed with the discovery of cocoa residue on preclassic ceramic vessels, one about human sacrifice by the discovery of skeletal remains in cenotes near major architectural sites, that sort of thing. Similarly, just about every single discovery or theory is credited to one or a few specific academics who initially made it. Which will be either incredibly interesting or the dullest thing in the world, depending on one’s tastes.

The text is mostly incredibly dry and expository in tone, which makes the points where a real sense of personality and subjective opinion leaks through interesting. And endearing, at least to me, but I just find there to be something instantly likeable about the sort of academic myopia which considers human sacrifice and mass famine from the point of view of the universe but is roused to passionate rage by suburban sprawl building over unexamined archaeological sites.

I knew little enough about the specifics of Maya civilization going into this that just relaying everything that struck me reading this would turn this review into a novella. But the way that lowland urbanization and agriculture were based around, not rivers like just about every other culture I’ve read on, but cenotes (and artificially constructed simulacra thereof) in the limestone to capture enough rainwater to last through the dry season was just fascinating. The fact that, the region’s reputation for inexhaustible lushness notwithstanding, the soil the Maya relied upon was very thin and in most cases totally degraded after just a few years of agriculture as well. (Speaking of, the theorizing about how diet changed over the ages and how this related to population movements and density was just fascinating).

The book really wasn’t that interested in the specifics of mythology or divine pantheons beyond how they showed up on engravings and ornamentation – there’s no bestiary of gods or anything – but there’s enough of that ornamentation for it to be a recurring topic anyway. I admit I still find the fact that there’s this great primordial pre-classic god-monster which in the modern era is just called ‘Principle Bird Deity’ deeply amusing.

The book is deeply interested in the Maya calendar and time-keeping. Along with the monumental architecture it’s pretty clearly the thing that the authors find most impressive and awe-inspiring about Classical Mayan culture. There’s enough time dedicated to explaining it that I even pretty much understood how the different counts and levels of timekeeping interacted by the end of the book.

One beat the book kept coming back to (which I admit suits my biases quite well) is that there’s just no sense in the Maya were ever isolated or pristine. Cultural influence coming down from the Valley of Mexico waxed and waned, but on some level it was constant – Mesoamerica was a coherent cultural unit, and the similarities in philosophy and culture (not to mention material goods) between cultures within it are too blatant to ignore. The book theorizes that the population levels reached in the Yucatan before the Spanish Conquest really couldn’t have been supported by local maize agriculture, and instead cities were probably sustained by harvesting and exporting from the salt flats (among the best in the Americas) they controlled access to.

Even beyond trade, there’s several points where ruling dynasties were toppled or installed by armies ranging down from Mexico. The Olmecs and Toltecs make repeated appearances. Even the conquistadors conquest of the Highlands was really only possible because the few hundred Spaniards who got all the credit were marching alongside several thousand indigenous allies.

Speaking of – it’s really only an aside to an epilogue, but given I mostly know the Anglo-American history here, it did kind of strike me how...traditionally imperialist the Spanish were, compared to the more-or-less explicitly genocidal rhetoric I’m used to. If you were an indigenous potentate or ruler enthusiastically selling out to the Spanish Crown was significantly more likely to actually work out for you than trusting a treaty with the US of A, anyway (well, for a while. Smallpox comes for everyone),

Then again, the book does mention that the newly independent Mexican and Central American states in the 19th century were actually significantly worse for the Maya than the Bourbons had been (with things reaching their nadir with the genocidal violence of the 1980s in Guatemala), so maybe that’s it.

Anyway, the book is illustrated, and absolutely chock full of truly beautiful photography and prints on just about every other page. Even if you never actually read it, it would be a great coffee table book.

[the-torchwood-archive]

I'm separating this out from the poll because honestly the results are neither here nor there and I want this to be its own post. It's going to be an odd one, so bare with me.

Can I take this opportunity to talk about the actual reason I think that Gwen gets a lot of hate? Coming from someone who spent a good maybe ten years somewhat in the Gwen bash camp and in the past handful of years has had some clarity over it.

The reason people don't like Gwen is that she is narratively immune from consequence. All of the Torchwood team are morally compromised and make bad choices and are made to suffer for it. Gwen, for the most part, is not. This is not a problem with the character Gwen Cooper. This is a problem with her writing. That's where the problem lies. I actually love Gwen. I hate her writing.

Looking at things like her cheating on Rhys. Firstly with James and secondly with Owen. She gets what she needs emotionally, things end, and she stays with Rhys. There are no consequences. Owen sleeps with her and then falls in love with Diane and is framed as the villain.

Torchwood becomes a priority in her life and yet she is still able to maintain enough of a social life to have close friends in her wedding party. There are no consequences. Tosh has Torchwood as her priority and finds it impossible to have a social life.

She thinks with her heart and gets people hurt. She smuggles Suzie out, she gets Rhys shot, she traumatizes Nikki. People get hurt, but it's framed as okay because she means well. There are no consequences.

She pushes against Jack and gets away with it, when Owen gets fired. She brings a third party into the Hub to keep them safe and while he gets killed, it's undone by the end of the episode, while Tosh and Ianto have their loved one die permanently. Torchwood operatives can't have spouses brought into the fold and will be stood down if pregnant, yet she brings Rhys into the fold with no consequences and her pregnancy at the beginning of COE is framed as not being a deal breaker.

I love this messy bitch. They're all messy bitches and if you have one that you single out as being worse than the others, then it's worth taking a look at that. I think that when it comes down to it, it isn't actually the character Gwen Cooper that people find problem with, but the lack of consequences that she faces.

We're a lot better as a fandom these days. The anti-Gwen sentiments have really cooled off. I also think that a lot of that cooling off has come from the newer fans having a wider view of the her character, which stemmed from the handing over of writing duties from the TV crew to the EU crew. The rose coloured glasses of the TV crew have come off and the current writers have gone "okay, her life has been ruined. Let's actually show that fall out. Let's give some consequence". And I think that did wonders for the character.

It's nearly impossible to separate an issue with narrative from an issue with character. The two things are so entwined that you almost can't extract them and that's a shame. Because the character is brilliant and was mishandled by writers who had a boner that lasted for much longer than recommended.

[eridanidreams]

for the ao3 wrapped:

17 and 29 please and thank you :)

17: Your favorite character to write this year?

I think it'll be to absolutely no-one's surprise that my favorite character to write this year is a tie between Sam Coe and Caitlyn Lynch, my Starfield OC. It's light-hearted in a way that is really resonating with me right now, and I hadn't realized how badly I was jonesing for another good space-opera setting until I got into it. Nor was I expecting Sam to grab me by the feels, but here we are.

29: Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

From a future chapter of stars:

Sam leaned against the wall, feeling his lips stretch in a slow smile. “Well, now, darlin’,” he drawled. “What have you been up to?” The lights were dimmed to almost nothing. Instead, candles burned on almost every flat surface—the bar, the end tables, the dresser—filling the room with a soft radiance that limned everything—Cait included—in a warm glow. Candlelight suited her. Made her hair shine like it was spun from pure flame and her eyes shimmer like pearls.

“Dinner got pre-empted,” she said softly, “and I’m not in the mood to argue possession of the beach with the crocodaunts, but I thought a candlelight dessert might be a down payment on that package?” A bottle of Velocity (luminescent in the near-dark), two glasses, and a covered plate had been neatly set out, and she lit the last taper as she spoke.

God, he loved her, loved her so hard his heart was fit to burst. He didn’t bother trying to hide it—hell, he wanted her to feel it. “All this for me? You don’t waste any time, do you?”

Cait flushed and ducked her head a little, and he knew she’d gotten his silent message. “Not anymore,” she said, a little cryptically. “Not if I can help it.” She glanced back up at him and tilted his head toward the couch. “Pour you a drink?”

“Don’t need one,” he said easily, flinging himself down on the couch and stretching out his legs comfortably. He let his eyes linger on her, drinking the sight of her in. “You’re better than any drink known to man.”

Her breath caught in her throat. “There you go again,” she murmured, “saying things like that to me. Meaning them.” Her eyes shone with more than the candlelight; impatiently, she dashed the tears away with the back of her hand. “I can’t shake the feeling that when I wake up tomorrow, this will all have been just… a dream. A glorious, terrible dream. And—” she gestured around the room. “I wanted to keep the magic alive. For a little while longer.”

“If you’re dreaming, I’m dreaming too,” Sam said. “And I ain’t minded to wake up from it any time… ever.” He patted the couch next to him. “Cat…” for the first time, he used the name he’d given her in the privacy of his thoughts, “come sit. If you’re okay with that…” At her look of confusion, he elaborated. “I didn't know before, how physical contact makes your empathy stronger. I do now.” He breathed out a shaky little laugh. “And I’ve got a whole mess of feelings going on right now, darlin’—wouldn’t be right to drop ‘em all on you. But you surely do look like you could make some inroads on those cuddles we promised each other.”

[ariapmdeol]

FUCK IT. analyzing the COE cast's favorite flowers

QNA translation is here! specifically in part 3. I tried to look into both victorian flower language and Hanakotoba! I'll put sources at the end. spoilers for the entire game!

Atou: White clover. White clovers represent 'I promise' in english, and 'think of me, promise' in hanakotoba. I think this is fitting: atou is very much dedicated to keeping his word as much as he can; from his promise to 'look after shinano' to his promise to Kanou in the Kanou flag stuff, it HITS. ESPECIALLY if we contrast the A/S routes with B/C/D/E. A HUGE theme in COE is about confronting the truth and not looking or shying away from understanding yourself and others. In the worse routes, Atou looks away and denies the truth. In the better ones, he faces and accepts it. BY ABANDONING SHINANO, HE ABANDONED HIS PROMISE TO LOOK AFTER HIM. he started that oh so slippery slope of denial and fear that leads aaaaall the way to ending E ^_^ It also matches well with Alpha and the question of 'what is your will?' What do you want to do with your life? What is your will but a promise to yourself?

Shinano: Wolf's Bane OK THIS ONE IS ENTIRELY FOR THE BIT but it's cute <3 Origin Beta, my silly little dogboy, has a favorite flower called WOLF'S BANE. No meaning in the Hanakotoba sources I've been looking at, but in Victorian Flower Language it means 'misanthropy', which is a hatred of humanity! Wolf's bane is poisonous; I would connect this to the concept of 'infection' as a whole, and Shinano's struggles with the cells and reaching an equilibrium. It seems to be a trend that the characters who struggle with cell corrosion the most have poisonous flowers.

Otowa: Rodger's bronze leaf this is a VERY VERY jagged plant-- the little white flowers it blooms reminds me of Haruki's clovers. The sharp edges parallel Rui's more blunt demeanor too. Not too much to say here beyond the fact that I like that his and Atou's look similar to each other I could not find any symbolism...

Yanagi: Dahlias / any large flowers ok it is SO fucking cute that she likes large flowers and Jabuchi likes small ones,,, younina real,, the blooms are big and colorful Dahlias are associated with Elegance and dignity in both. In Hanakotoba, they're associated with Good Taste!

Kurachi: Wisterias Wisterias are associated with Welcoming and steadfastness, which fits well with Kurachi! He's determined and does his best to look out for and protect everyone. This one i had to do extra googling for, and it seems that it also represents love and longevity. Fitting for Kurachi as the oldest of our central group! As a tree, it's more sturdy and long lived than flowers are.

Karen: Sweet Pea Sweet Peas represent Gratitude, tenderness, farewell! This flower is bright and colorful, like Karen herself :] The blossoms are delicate too, which parallels Karen being a child as well!

Riku: Violets So, the obvious reason for this one is his dead wife's name is Sumire, which means violets! in Hanakotoba, this flower means Honesty. Riku is consistently honest with us, and tells us things about Isoi that he knew Isoi wouldn't necessarily want us knowing. Violets mean a lot of things depending on their color in Victorian flower symbolism. The Blue color means Faithfulness, which could represent his devotion to his family!

Aiba: Sunflowers in Hanakotoba, these flowers represent Respect, passionate love, and radiance! In Western flower language, sunflowers mean Pure and lofty thoughts, adoration, longevity, and loyalty. I think both of these sets are fitting for Aiba? He's respectful in how he talks to everyone, and longevity is fitting considering he and Rui are the only two who survive in uh. all the endings...

Kanou: Datura (DEVIL'S TRUMPET) IT CANNOT BE A FUCKING COINCIDENCE THAT THIS FLOWER IS NAMED THAT. Seodore is associated with Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) SO THERE HAS TO BE A FUCKIGN CONNECTION HERE. WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU WORKING ON KANOU... I couldn't find any DIRECT symbolism but Datura is referred to as one of the 'witch's weeds', and ALL PARTS of the plant are toxic. It's known for causing delirium and death. This whole thing kinda parallels the Bad End "Told you so", where Kanou morbs and kills Atou ^_^. I think this has to do with what he was working on-- we know Kanou is dangerous (and consistently so), and despite the two of them working together, they both know the other is lying,., The Kanou flag events remind me of this as well.

Jabuchi: the Small white flowers on trees like quince and lemon AND IF I SAY THESE FLOWERS ARE MEANT TO REPRESENT NINA?? MAYBE?? they are small and delicate and charming and I think they remind Jabuchi of Nina <3 their favorite flowers are opposites and it's so cute,, Lemon blossoms represent Discretion!

Enomoto and Utsugi: White Roses DO I EVEN NEED TO ELABORATE ON THIS ONE WHEN IT'S REFERENCED IN GAME,, White roses are referenced in the divine comedy, as the flower that blooms in Empyrean Heaven. They represent Innocence, silence, and devotion in Hanakotoba, and innocence, wistfulness, virtue, purity, secrecy, reverence and humility. WHAT MORE CAN I SAY. Hatsutori assigned this flower to Utsugi, and it fits him SO well. Enomoto wants that same connection to Hatsutori, and picks White Rose as her favorite to take it from Utsugi.

Harada: Asters FLOWER POT TRIO SWEEP. Asters represent Remembrance in Hanakotoba, and represent love, wisdom, and faith. OUUUUGHGHG the parallels between Sanemitsu remembering and wishing he could fix things, and struggling oh so much to move forward,,, Wisdom and faith to represent his growth as a person and parent,,, Asters are so incredibly fitting for him.

Isoi: Geraniums they represent determination and true friendship! The different colors have different meanings as well, but even just these two are SO very true for Isoi,,, He's stubborn and determined and a self sacrificing little SHIT, and at the end of the day he found it,, the family,,, <3 <3 <3

sources:

[vaulthuntersmybeloved]

Away With Us He’s Going

(Kinda a COE fix it fic/poem based on The Stolen Child poem by W.B.Yeats.)

https://archiveofourown.org/works/21673777

Or read below ⬇️

The asked him first to come away on a cold Sunday afternoon,

The rain was pouring and his parents were snoring as he stared up at the mood,

They saw a life of suffering they saw a life of pain,

They never mentioned him with a lover camping in the rain.

They asked him second to come back home as he stared up at the sky,

The same stars twinkled in his eyes as he tried hard not to cry,

They saw a life of hardship they saw a life of grief,

They never mentioned him on a date smiling in disbelief.

They asked him third to come to the wild as he cried over cold metal,

The shaking through his body he was finding hard to settle,

“Now,” they said, “do you see?”

“This life is not for you or me!”

They asked again after the battle had faded,

His fragile world view now dashed and jaded,

They saw him so broken and bruised,

But he turned to them and still he refused.

They asked him fourth to come slip into their care,

The horror of the countryside left him painfully aware,

He knew they saw his conflict and he knew they saw his trials,

What they never told him was that they could clearly see his smiles.

They asked him fifth to come to safety as he held a coat and cried,

The loneliness inside him was like his almost lover had died,

They saw his abandonment they saw his longing,

They never mentioned the so soon future with him finally belonging.

The last time they came to him he was choking on the air,

The painful heartbreak inside him was almost too much to bare,

“We can save him, hurry, hurry, if he just says yes.”

The man’s last thought was ‘I will come back for you, Captain Jack Harkness.’

[endofthelinegang]

𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐡

𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ tom!peter parker x fem!witch! reader

𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐲ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ just when the two of you thought magic had done one good thing it threw something else at you.. (1.4k words)

𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ spoilers for wandavision and nwh

𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐞ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ i am just posting drafts rn because i have no requests that aren't drafted and my drafts look boring.

“Fuck shit fuck.” You ran out of your room, all of the ancient objects that had been floating around the room were now down on the floor. The tiled bathroom floor was now branded with different markings surrounded by one massive circle. There was no way you could possibly explain any of those things to your parents. Picking your phone off the floor you clicked through contacts of yours climbing up to sit on the sink.

“Hey, I’ve got kind’ve a problem, I really just fucked something up, I’m not sure what but it cannot be good.” The moment the ringing had stopped and noise had coe through the phone you started to talk jumping down off the sink you accidentally slammed and then locked the door.

“Uh- do I know you?” The voice on the other end was familiar and exactly who you’d meant to call but yet he sounded much more unsure.

“Peter, what are you talking about? Did you get a new phone or something?” You stood with your hand on the doorknob concerned with his reaction.

“Y/n?! Wait, you remember me?” A crash came from the other side of the line as he spoke and you just shook your head.

“Yes, did you get kicked in the head again? I told you one more concussion and you were gonna have severe brain damage.” Sighing you waited for him to catch up with the conversation rather than continue to ask arbitrary questions, I mean at least they were to you.

“No! How do you remember me?” He was basically screaming into the other side of the phone, you could almost hear his socks rubbing against the carpet as he paced around incredibly fast.

“We have been friends since the Avengers, what do you mean? Peter what the hell happened?” You tapped your index finger on the door in front of you rolling your eyes.

“Can we meet somewhere and talk about this?” You looked down at the mess on the floor and then thought about how much better it would be to not be home when they found the massive markings in the ground.

“Yeah sure, text me where and I should be there shortly.” You unlocked the door and gently closed it behind yourself hanging up the phone. Moving your desk chair against the door you haphazardly threw clothes all over it trying to make it blend in with the mess before leaving the house as quietly as you could manage.

On your way there you noticed the Statue of Liberty looking like shit and the fact that the Daily Bugle was being blasted on every moving billboard physically possible, and that it was all about Spiderman.

What have you done now Parker? You thought to yourself as you entered a nasty building that looked like it was one strong gust of wind away from completely falling down. Looking down at your phone you made sure you were in the right place. As you walked up the stairs, not trusting the elevator that looked older than Steve Rogers after he traveled back in time, you noticed all sorts of safety hazards. Folding your sleeve over your fist you knocked on the door not wanting to touch it with your bare hand.

Instead of words being spoken you felt arms wrap around you pulling you tight into the chest of his body. Not wanting to question this odd behavior you just accepted the feeling and did the same back to him. Rubbing your hand up and down his back you let your hand out of the long sleeve.

“What’s going on Peter?” You whispered, turning your head to the side placing your ear up against his heartbeat that was going way too fast for any metahuman or human alike.

“Well, I messed with Dr. Strange's spell opened the multiverse and in order to close it I had to have him cast a spell that would make everyone forget me.”

“What?” You grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back assuming he was joking or just over exaggerating.But the look in his eyes said otherwise, this was not another anecdote. He was being dead fucking serious.

“Why do you remember me?” Peter wasn’t sure how to answer your question, what happened was much worse than what he had made it sound like so this was much easier.

“Remember earlier when I said that I really fucked up or at least I thought I did?” Peter nodded and didn’t move from the position the two of you were in. “Okay well I have been messing around with magic, like a lot, I was really bored. Anyway I casted a spell, definitely the wrong one. But I was sure to protect myself before then so maybe that’s why I wasn’t affected by the Witch Doctor's time sorcery.” You weren’t sure what answer to give him, you knew it couldn’t have been your spell because it wasn’t a time spell.

“I’m just- I can’t believe you remember me. I went and saw MJ and Ned and they had no idea who I was. I even went to the graveyard and Happy didn’t even recognize me.” Peter pulled you back into the embrace.

“Why did you make him do that?” You laid your head on his shoulder trying to be as comforting as you could be.

Before Peter could answer a blue circle formed in the corner of his room the two of you pulled back and looked at each other and did not move a muscle. Rather, you just looked to the side as the blue circle separated into two figures.

“Is it just me or are there two magical mens bathroom signs standing right there?” You whispered looking at the shapes that were just standing completely still.

Keeping your eyes glued there both of them crashed to the ground and as they did two boys who looked about the same age if not a little younger than you and Peter caught themselves on the ground.

“Where are we?” One of them popped up from the ground quicker than the other as the other one rolled around on the ground groaning.

“Are you done messing with teleportation?” The other picked himself up off the ground and shook himself off quickly.

“You look so much older. What happened?” He looked down at his hands and then up at the person he had brought with him.

“You do too bro! Instead of showing concern like the other boy this one stretched his hand out giving him a small shove laughing about the incident

“Hi, sorry to interject because this conversation seems really intriguing but who are you?” You let go of Peter and stood in front of him looking between the two boys.

“Uhm hey I’m-” Before he could speak the other one quite literally sped in front of him grabbing your hand and shaking it, “Tommy, and that is my brother Billy.” He winked as his brother sighed and shook his head.

“I’m Y/n, Y/n L/n.” You pulled your hand back and backed farther into Peter as he stood there more confused than he had been when you called him.

“Billy Maximoff.” The other one had finally spoken nodding at you with a formal introduction, though he did not get the reaction he expected as you spun around and looked at Peter.

“Did he just say Maximoff? Like Wanda?” You whispered leaning into Peter's shoulder becoming increasingly more worried.

“I think so, yeah.” Peter sounded oddly sure of himself, but honestly this was one of the least weird things he had seen in the past few days.

“Hi, this is Peter and we’re gonna talk for a second.” You grabbed his hand and pulled him into the nearest closet shutting the door behind you.

“This is what happens when we split up? They go off and have magic babies that cannot be properly aged. I mean they shouldn’t be that old.” You tried to straighten out your thoughts and whisper trying to stay close to Peter and move his clothes out of the way.

“I’m not magic and honestly magic has not been in my favor recently. But no they shouldn’t be that old.” He whispered back to you moving you to be up against the door so that neither of you had to fight with the clothes.

“Okay I’m gonna be completely honest, the spell I casted was uh not a part of my book. It was a page ripped out of another book.” You flinched away from Peter expecting the worst but instead he just blinked really hard and stared at you.

Before either of you could say anything else the door swung open leaving you on the floor with Peter tumbling on top of you.

“Is this Westview?”

[mugi-chan]

❞400 follower Special~!❝

ლ  Tea Order: All the boys: You accidentally walk in 

ლ  Warnings: None!

ლ Shop owner notes: Thank you so much for 400 followers! I can’t believe we already reached 400 followers (Ō̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ ԑ Ō̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ ૢ)

This scenario where you walk in on them doing something, it goes from sleeping, enjoying their hobby and or changing but honestly I don’t know if I wrote this right or good. 

Ace:

You wanted to show Ace a new card game you found

When got his room you knocked really fast 

You didn’t hear Ace to tell you to wait and you opened the door 

There you saw Ace shirtless going to put on his Jersey 

“Ohmygoodnessimsosorrybye!” 

You quickly slam the door and turned away 

Your face was so red you could feel your ear burn up 

Ace didn’t know what just happened but shrugged

He put on his jersey and open the door seeing you on the floor mumbling while hiding your face

“Oi are you just going to lay on the floor or what?” 

He gave you nudge with his feet as you just groaned on the floor 

Aight so this is how we gonna be 

“Did you at least like what you saw?” 

You swung your arms around trying to punch Ace 

Ace laughed and helped you up 

“Come on i’m going to be late for practice” 

Deuce:

Ah Star sending even has ended 

Deuce was changing back into his regular clothes 

You brought him some snacks for a job well done! 

You were two excited and forgot to knock

When you barged in while Deuce removed his jacket 

His back was faced towards you so his back was completely expose 

A small blush was formed you want to give him privacy but 

His back and shoulders were so expose 

You want to poke his back 

So what did you do?

You snuck up to him and poked his back

“Hey deuce” 

He literally whipped around and grabbed your  hand 

His grip was deathly

Once he noticed it was you he quickly let go and spewed out 1000 apologies 

He gently rubbed your wrist to see if it hurts 

“What were you thinking (y/n)? I could’ve hurt you!” 

“I’m sorry but I brought snacks” 

There it is Deuces goofy smile 

After Deuce kissed the injury you two enjoyed the snacks you brought 

Deuce asked Trey to brought some ice for your wrist just in case there might be a bruise forming

Riddle:

“Oh I think Riddle is a little busy right now, but I think he would be okay if you vist him” 

That’s what Trey said, but he wasn’t being specific as he was busy himself

Hmmm okay little weird but okay, You walked to Riddle’s room

You heard little coes and aws from Riddle’s room 

A soft knock and you opened the door 

Revealing Riddle holding three hedgehogs in his hands 

“Riddle?” 

His face looked like a deer in the headlights 

He quickly put down the hedgehogs and shoo them to their cage

“Aghm, yes (y/n)?” You could see his face was turning red

“What were you doing?” 

“Nothing”

MHmmm sure, you walked towards him and he quickly move to hide the hedgehog cage

“Riddle, are you hiding something?” 

A quick no and he turned away from you 

You saw the hedgehog cage and huge smile formed on his face

“You got some cute hedgehogs” 

Oh there goes Riddle, red in the face and was stumbling over his own words 

Trey:

You came to the heartslabyul dorm late at night 

The last you heard of Trey he was saying he was busy helping the second years 

When you walked in you saw Trey fast asleep in the lounge 

I guess he was too tired to even make the trip back to his room 

A small smile was on your face as you walked close to Trey 

His face looked so peaceful when he’s sleeping 

You gently took his glasses off his face and set it down next to him 

Looking around you saw a blanket neatly folded close by 

You grabbed that draped it over his shoulder 

You sat right next to him copying the sleeping position Trey was sleeping in 

Kind of creepy but you just watched him sleep for a while 

You placed his glasses on top of your head just to be safe 

Sleeping taking over you fell asleep right next to Trey

Trey woke up after a couple minutes you falling a sleep 

Rubbing his eyes and immediately noticing his glasses weren’t on 

He looked around for his glasses and saw you sleeping so peacefully next to him 

‘I guess (y/n) did all of this’ 

He removed the blanket that was on him and place it over you 

Gently and quietly he picked you up and brought you back to his room 

Snuggling up with you he drifted back to sleep knowing your comfortable and with him

Cater:

Cater was playing on his guitar 

A nice sweet tune 

He had his headphones in listening to the music sheet so he knows what it sounds like

He didn’t hear you walk into his room

When you did you called out his name but you can hear the music he is play 

You didn’t want to disturb him so you just sat there and listen to him playing his tunes 

It was really nice hearing him relax 

As soon as he finished playing he saw movement next to him 

Turning around he saw you which scared the living soul out of him

“OMG (Y/N)?!” 

He almost dropped his guitar luckily he had the straps are attached 

“Sorry sorry! I didn’t want to disturb you playing your guitar!” 

You gave him a quick kiss on his diamond face mark

“That was a really nice song! What’s the name of it?” 

Cater told you the name of the song and continue to play it for you 

Walking in on him playing the guitar is probably the best thing you ever done

Leona:

You were use to walking in Leona taking a nap 

But this time it was different 

Cheka was visiting Leona and they decided to take a nap

Cheka was sleeping right on top of Leona

Ohmygoodnessthatissocute

You walked in seeing them sleeping together

You tried to grab your phone so quickly that you accidentally dropped it on the floor

You cursed under your breath as you grabbed it off the phone 

When you got up Leona had one of his eyes opened looking at you getting up

“Oh hey leona” 

“What are you doing?” 

“Nothing”

You two were whispering so to not to wake up Cheka 

He went back to his nap 

Perfect, time to take a picture of him and Cehka

When you do take a picture you stared at the picture for a really long time 

You cuddle up to Leona since you were also pretty tired

Ruggie:

Ruggie didn’t expect to fall asleep in the library 

It just sleep just came to him 

You were looking all around for him

Leona was no help since he was asleep when Ruggie left 

Jack was some sort of help as he knew that Ruggie was back at school 

You couldn’t find him anywhere at school so the only place he could be is at the library!

After walking for what felt like ages you made it to the library 

When you walked in you immediately saw Ruggie sleeping peacefully

Aww how cute! Ruggie has been working really hard recently, sometimes he just needs a break! 

You walked over to see his peaceful face

You tried to pull out your phone but Ruggie was already laughing 

“Shishishi what do you think your doing (y/n)” 

His mischievous smile was plastered all over his face as he had a long stretch 

“Aw come on your face was peaceful I wanted to take a pic of it!” 

You pouted as he ruffled your hair a bit 

“You going to have try better than that, the rats are better at sneaking than you” 

Ruggie gather his stuff and you and him left the library

Jack:

“Aww your so cute” 

That wasn’t aimed towards you 

If it wasn't for you then who? 

Panic that Jack is doing something irrational you entered the room 

A big sigh relief washed over you as it was just Jack cooing at his window

Why is he cooing the window? 

Trying to sneak up on Jack is impossible 

He quickly whipped around angry but softened when seeing you

A few seconds later he was embarrassed and was trying to hide something

“Jack, what were you cooing at?” 

“N-Nothing, it was nothing okay!” Jack pushed the thing further away

You caught a quick glimpse at the thing and it was a cute tiny cactus 

“Were you cooing at your cactus?” 

Now his face is even more flush 

He tried to deny it  but his tail was telling a different story 

His tail was waving like crazy he tried to stop it

but it was to late you saw it and now you were making fun of him 

After all the teasing Jack introduce you to all his little cactus albeit with a small blush on his face

Azul:

Crap Azul forgot to take his potion 

Jade and Floyd helped Azul to his Octopus pot 

But they completely forgot to tell you that Azul is having issues 

So when you walked to Azul’s room you were practically shocked at how disarray his room was

Azul was trying to brew a potion as fast as he can but hearing the door open made him spill almost everything 

Turning around he was horrified on who he saw  

He wasn't ready to show you his octa form and you know that

As soon as you confirm it was Azul you quickly turned around close your eyes and left the room 

Azul wanted to die right then and there

He hoped you didn’t see anything 

You saw some parts of Azul but not his full form 

You just sat outside his door sitting there not knowing what to do next 

Jade and Floyd came to check up on Azul and saw you sitting on the door 

Crap Azul is going to kill them for forgetting to tell you about Azul’s situation

“Azul are you okay?”

He didn’t answer any questions just quickly make his potion 

After a few minutes of no answer Azul opened the door back to his human form

His eyes softened seeing you on the floor waiting for him but glared at Jade and Floyd for their careless mistake

Well he doesn’t think it was an accident that the leech twins didn’t tell you 

They most likely wanted to see what would happen

Jade:

Jade was just finishing a shift in the mostro lounge 

And I guess you were too excited to spend time with Jade that you forgot to knock 

Jade just started to unbutton his shirt when you burst open the door 

He was use to Floyd barging into his room 

But you on the other hand was red in the face 

You tried to leave the room but in your panic you closed the door 

Making Jade turn to see who it is 

Seeing you all red and flustered something kind of snapped in him 

He loomed over you placing his hand underneath his chin

“Oya oya, it seems like a little prey has wander into a predator’s den” 

You kept trying to open the door but it seems like it was pull not a push 

“I’m sorry, i’m sorry I didn’t mean to barge in uhhh” 

You turned around trying to open the door 

BAM

Jade had kabedon you between him and the door 

“I really didn’t mean too” 

Jade’s lips ghosted over your ear 

“Are you sure?” 

Now your not sure

One arm next to your head and another arm wrapped around your waist 

His feral side was seeping out 

There was no way you were going to get out of this 

That was until Floyd knocked on the door 

“Heyyy Jade why is the door lock~?” 

Another time Jade another time

Floyd:

The music was so loud the whole dorm can hear it 

Floyd was dancing around the mostro lounge not caring what the world thought 

You walked into the mostro lounge seeing Floyd dancing around 

You smiled as you slide into one of the bar stools

Floyd just kept on dancing

When the music stopped Floyd just laughed to himself as he went over to pick a new song 

He noticed you sitting at the bar stool staring at him 

“Ahhh~! (y/n)-chan you saw me dance?” 

You just gave a sweet nod as you got off the bar stool to greet him

He pulled your face for a kiss

It was rough but it was sweet 

After breaking the kiss Floyd push play on the music and pulled to the mostro lounge

He laughed as he twirled you around 

You were getting dizzy and low key regretting walking in floyd dancing 

Floyd’s dancing is very sporadic and wild 

you don’t know what he’s going to do next as the music keeps picking up 

Jade and Azul were watching in sympathy as you were being tossed around like a ragdoll  

Floyd though was having the time of his life

It was just you, him, and music blasting in the back

RIP you and your stomach

Kalim:

Kalim was really focus on making this song 

He wanted it to be special! 

What kind of song was he trying to produce? 

A song for you of course! 

Jamil helped him by keeping him from telling you about it 

As Kalim is really bad at keeping secrets 

They had a plan in place, if Jamil, Cater, or Lilia sees you trying to find Kalim they would point you in the wrong direction 

Sadly, Jamil was busy getting ready for a basketball game, Lilia had to find Malleus as he has disappeared again, and Cater had to get ready for the unbirthday his dorm was hosting

So no know was going to stop from walking in on Kalim singing the song 

You were going to ask Kalim something but stopped when you heard him singing

As soon as you heard his voice you hid behind a pillar and listen to him 

Not wanting to disturb him and his concentration 

Your eyes widened when you heard him started to sing your name 

Was this Kalim and Jamil trying to hide from you? 

You sat there listening to it trying to process all of this in 

The door suddenly slammed open revealing Jamil who was sweaty from his practice

When he spotted you sitting behind the pillar he knew it was over 

You already knew about the secret 

Jamil just put his finger your mouth signalgly you to be quiet 

You nodded as Kalim was asking Jamil what's wrong 

Jamil lied to him saying nothing was wrong 

This was a little secret you will have to keep until Kalim finished his song

Jamil:

Finally his basketball game has ended 

He was sweaty, tired, and just wants to go back to the dorm 

Not even bothering to change out of his jersey he just dragged his feet back to the dorm

You and Kalim were so happy for Jamil and you two were talking about how Jamil did really good! 

Kalim said his good nights and went to bed 

Jamil didn’t even notice that he was holding your hand and dragging you to his room 

You tried to tell him that he was holding your hand but he kept dragging you

He only let go of your hand once he was in his room 

When he did let go of your hand you went off to go grab a cold towel for him

Jamil just flopped onto his bed and started to remove his jewelry 

Once he did he started to take off his jersey and threw it into his laundry basket 

When you got the cold towel for him you politely knocked at the door 

Jamil who was still out of the state he just said “come in” while he was changing 

When you walked in your face was so flushed you were trying to be coherent but sadly all came out was bunch incoherent words 

When Jamil finally turned around his face was flushed as well 

That definitely woke him up 

You two were trying to say apologies but in the span of three seconds no coherent word came out of anyone's mouth

You quickly just threw the cold tower to him and slammed the door behind you 

Jamil just took the towel 

grateful that you brought him a nice cold towel 

When he finally got change a small blush was still on his face

 and opening the door he saw you trying to calm down red beat face 

“Ah (y/n) I’m sorry that you saw that” 

“No it’s fine Jamil, I mean it’s not like I didn’t like it, I MEAN i mean…” You didn’t know what to say without making it weird 

Jamil just gave out his soothing laugh and wrapped his arm around your waist 

“I mean if you liked it you liked it” 

Oh my there goes your face, it was so red you couldn’t even speak

Vil:

Vil strictly tells you not to come to his room without permission 

It was mainly because he doesn’t want you to burst in when he was doing his makeup and messing him up

He was doing his skincare though so it should be fine 

Vil had his headphones plugged in listening to music while laying down on his bed

You softly knocked on the door waiting for an answer 

When you got no response you open the door 

You peaked inside you were scared out of your mind

It looked like there was a monster laying on Vil’s bed 

“Vil is that you?” 

Vil peaked open his eyes seeing your horrified face

“What do you want my Potato? 

You hopped onto Vil’s big comfy bed 

“I wanted to show you something” 

Vil raised an eyebrow as you excitedly showed him the thing you wanted to show him 

He was still wearing his face mask 

Although it made Vil look scary it didn’t deter you 

Once you finished showing him what you wanted to show he got off and whipped off the face mask

“Does it hurt when you remove it?” 

“Oh sweet potato, I would never buy peel off mask unless totally necessary” 

“Ohh okay that makes sense I guess”

Rook:

Rook always tells you not to come see him without permission as he there “something” he doesn’t want you to see 

You wanted to know what he was doing 

But you did respect his privacy so you didn’t push him to tell you

You wanted to surprise Rook with a present

When you didn’t hear any noise from Rook’s room so you thought he wasn’t in his room 

You cracked the door open peeking inside

Rook was sitting at his desk with his window open

What is rook doing and why is he staring out the window?

In close inspection you saw that he had a camera in his hand and was taking pictures

Looking out the window you couldn’t see what Rook was looking at but you can clearly tell it was something interesting 

You didn’t want to disturb rook and tried to quietly leave the room 

“I see you didn’t listen to my words mon amour” 

You froze in your tracks worried that Rook was mad at you 

He didn’t even look at you he was still staring at his camera

“I didn’t know you were in the room! I wanted to leave a present for you but..”

“But I was in here” 

“Yeah…” 

Rook put down and the camera and turned to face you 

He walked up to you and gently cupped your cheek 

“You should at least knock next time” 

“Okay…”

“Also don’t tell anyone what I was doing, promise?” 

“Promise”

Epel:

“Come on, come on” 

You were outside of Epels room listening through his door 

What was he doing? 

You peeked inside the room seeing epel doing push ups 

Epel always wanted to get stronger and lose his femininity appearance

Sadly Vil and Pomefiore wants him to keep his femininity and forbid him doing any work out inside the Pomefiore grounds 

Seeing Epel trying to do a push up and get strong made you feel sad

You want your boyfriend to be happy and seeing him being forbidden from achieving his dreams breaks your heart

Not wanting to disturb him you just watched him through the door and every time you saw someone from Pomefiore come by you would just quietly close the door and pretend you just left the room 

No one would question it but it may look odd 

But this one time when someone was walking by you closed the door hard causing Epel to hear the click 

Epel froze thinking someone from Pomefiore spotted him 

Quietly he opened the door peeking out he saw you chatting up Rook who was going to check up on Epel 

“Oh don’t worry he’s fine!” 

Rook just gave a short nod and left 

Epel quickly pulled you into his room 

“Did- Did you see what I was doing?”

You shyly nodded, you know Epel isn’t mad at you but more worried 

“Please don’t-”

“I won’t tell Vil or Rook promise”

Idia: 

Idia really regrets playing video games all night 

He felt really good during his first class then completely regrets it around lunch

When lunch finally came around he asked Ortho to bring his tablet around pretending he’s on

He dragged his feet back to his dorm without getting notice

Thank goodness no one would pay attention to a weird introvert like him

Or maybe they do because you were looking for him 

You could definitely tell that his tablet wasn’t on so this confused you

Well where could your introverted gamer boyfriend be? 

You looked everywhere in Ignihyde 

He wasn’t even in his own room! So where could he be?

Eventually you found him, you opened the lounge door to see Idia passed out on the couch 

This man really just fell asleep on the couch like it’s nothing 

You took off your school jacket and placed over Idia 

Normally placing something on Idia would make he wake up almost immediately 

But I guess this man played wayy to many games to even wake up 

Taking this as an opportunity you text Ortho where Idia is and sat down next to Idia and decided to take nap as well 

Ortho woke up Idia from his slumber telling him that he should do at least the right thing and bring you to his room to sleep comfortably! 

Idia was so confused until he looked over and saw your sleeping figure

He started to Panic as you looked so cute when you are sleeping and you were leaning on him 

Ortho helped him get you off of him without waking you up 

Omg (y/n) looks so cute pogU 

Sebek:

Sebek just finished from horseback riding club 

He just wanted to change out as quickly as he can 

Why? Well he’s in charge of watching Malleus-sama but Lilia just reported that he has went missing 

You were going to help Sebek look for him but since he was yelling at Silver about how could Lilia-sama lose Malleus-sama he didn’t hear you knock 

Silver was already changed out but Sebek took a little longer 

So you opened the door expecting Sebek to finish changing 

Instead you were met with Sebeks pale back 

Silver just looked at you and greeted you 

“Oh hello (y/n)”

Sebek turned around meeting your confused face

“HUMAN WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?!” 

Both you and silver covered your ears over how loud Sebek is 

He turned to face you still shirtless 

Your face just went beet read and quickly muttered out apologies as you left the room

Sebek face was beet red when the door closed Silver was drigint to sleep and you were trying to contain your beet red face

When Sebek finished changing he came out to check on you 

Once he confirmed you were okay you, Sebek, and Silver went off to meet up with Lilia

Sebek’s face still had a small blush on his face while your face was still beet red. 

Silver:

Finding Silver is kind of hard 

Every Diasomnia member has told you a different place where silver may be at 

The only person who got somewhat close was Malleus 

He mention he saw Silver walk into the woods 

And he was right-ish 

Wandering around the woods you could not find Silver at all until you came across a clearing 

There you saw a masked figure with what looks like a sword doing very intricate movements 

You where behind a tree watching from afar 

Who is the strange masked figure?

When they stopped to take a break the masked figure took off their mask

Revealing their silver hair 

It was Silver, he was the masked figure

You sat there in awe as Silver greeted the small birds that flew to greet him 

A yawn escaped his lips as his sleepiness was starting to take over him 

He stepped forward almost tripping over himself 

“Ah watch out!” 

You revealed yourself from behind the tree trying to stop him from tripping

He didn’t trip but you revealed that you were watching him

“Hm (y/n)? What are you doing here?”

You realize what you just did and quickly try to explain what you were doing here

Before you could explain yourself more Silver laid down and fell asleep 

Oh no his sleepiness came back to him and now he’s asleep in the clearing 

That’s fine though you just met him on the floor and fell asleep next to him 

Lilia was watching from the distance in aw on how cute his son and his s/o was being

Lilia:

Diasomnia dorm is normally very quiet 

But when the Vice dorm head comes back from light music club it’s very loud 

Honestly the instrument he plays depends on his mood 

This time it was an electric guitar 

He was jamming out, blasting out songs he produce himself 

You didn’t even have to walk into diasomnia to hear Lilia jamming out

Walking closer to Lilia’s room the music got louder and louder to the point where you had to cover your ears 

You don’t even have to knock on his door as you know he’ll for sure not hear it

So walking in lilia just jumping around his room was adorable to see 

You just closed the door behind you and walked over to his desk

Quietly sitting down you just enjoyed the tiny concert you were presented with 

Once lilia got tired did you finally notice you 

my did that scare him a bit 

“My my (y/n) when did you get here?” 

“Oh for quite a while,  I think your music was a bit too loud to hear me come in”

“Ah I see, did you at least enjoy it?” 

You just smiled and nodded 

Lilia turned down the volume and sat infront of you, asking if you had any request for a specific song 

When you did he would see if he knew the specific song, and if he did he would play it on his electric guitar 

Finally some peace and quiet fall over the diasomnia dorm

Malleus:

Looking for Malleus can sometimes be tricky

He may be near Ramshackle dorm or in the forest or anywhere on campus! 

But luckily he was still in Diasomnia 

You wanted to spend time with Malleus since Sebek is sometimes a pain in the butt to deal with 

So when you heard that Malleus bodyguard was Silver you knew this was the perfect time to spend time with him!

No sebek getting in your way, Silver was most likely going to fall asleep, Lilia is doing who knows what

A little too excited you forgot to knock and barged into the door 

Luckily Malleus was just plucking at his violin in his pajamas

“Oh hello (y/n) how are you?” 

“I’m so sorry I totally forgot to knock!” 

“Ah don’t worry about it” 

He picked up his bow and did a small warm up before flipping through some music sheet 

“Do you want to sit and listen?” 

You just nod as you sat right next to him 

Listening to the little folk song that his people would play 

The nice little tune he played would feel like he was putting you under a spell 

Your eyes were starting to feel heavy 

Soon your body just slumped into Malleus shoulder

A small chuckle escaped Malleus lips as gently used magic to lift you to his bed 

Tucking you in and planting a small kiss on the lips 

Malleus continue to play the song till you fully fell asleep

Thank you so much for 400+ followers I can’t believe we got here so fast! 

I hope you guys enjoyed this, I felt like i could’ve done better but I didn’t want to make this just you walking on them changing ya know? I wanted some verity in there, but idk if I did well on it. 

Welp anyways thank you so much for 400+ followers! I hope I can keep on making wonderful headcannons, scenarios, and oneshots for you all! 

Would you like to order something? Look at our Tea shop rules first!

[justgottafinishthischapter]

Writing Romance: Opposites Attract

One of the most widespread among romantic tropes is opposites attract, and with good reason. When a couple are opposites, they’re meant to be one of a few things to each other: 1. An inverse reflection of each other. 2. Compliment each other 3. Cover each other’s shortcomings

In a sense, a good Opposites Attract serves to turn two incomplete people into one solid force. If they’re a battle couple, they’ll tend to fight very well together, often balancing force and finesse, melee and ranged, or physical and magical abilities. If the show or book has a lot of time dedicated to foils and character moments, they are more likely to be the ones that each other lean on, since their opposing characters makes them interesting to react off one another. Their roles, story arcs, and backstories tend to run opposite or parallel to one another depending on the series. If one character’s arc is to mature and become more responsible, likely their partner’s arc might be to learn to loosen up and have fun, learn to trust people, or to face a trauma in their past that made them so mature at a young age.

In terms of design, opposites attract partners tend to be inverse in color schemes. Light and dark hair or eyes, warm and cool color schemes, clashing or complimentary fashion styles, etc. The degree in opposition also varies. Some opposites attract look very similar with only a slight difference, indicating that something small is what set them on different paths in life but are otherwise very similar, almost as two sides of the same coin. Other couples are stark contrasts with virtually nothing in common to really emphasize their differences so that they can better make each other whole, as shown very literally through the character of Garnet in Steven Universe. 

Femme and Butch

While typically, you’re mostly going to see this in femmeslash/yuri pairings, this dynamic is actually fairly universal. This divide focuses on a pairing where each couple reflects the values of masculinity and femininity. Although mostly used as lesbian terms, a femme and butch pairing can also be gay or heterosexual. A fashion-loving twink who cries during romantic movies dating a jock who likes sports and drinks beer is still an example of Femme and Butch. Heterosexual is rather obvious, but can also be inversed, with a tough, assertive woman partnered with a sweet, sensitive man, such as Calhoun and Felix in Wreck-It Ralph. A Femme and Butch pairing doesn’t need to check off every box on this list of traits, but these traits tend to be common in these types of relationships.

Brains and Brawn

Also known as Jock and Nerd, this romantic dynamic prioritizes the usefulness of both intelligence and brute strength. Another variation is Book Smarts vs Street Smarts. The Brains will be good at doing research, organizing, and will tend to fight more strategically while the Brawn is primarily going to be good at fighting and likely protecting the Brains from serious harm. Princess and Bodyguard is another possible example of this dynamic, albeit a little less directly.

Hot and Cold

Hot or Warm characters tend to be friendly, outgoing, upbeat, loudmouthed, temperamental, boisterous, and battle-ready. Cold or Cool personalities tend to be shy, calm, quiet, logical, reserved, serious, and emotionally withdrawn. However, while these extreme opposites of hot-head and cold-shoulder balance each other out, it’s worth discussing same heat relationships. Kiribaku is an example of a Hot/Warm relationship, as Bakugou Katsuki is an angry little spitfire with an aggressive streak, while Kirishima Eijirou is a happy-go-lucky sweetheart with a good attitude. This is sort of the same concept, just that both boys are on the warm side of the spectrum, with Kirishima being the cooler counter to Bakugou’s temperamental hot-head. This also works inversely, as the ship Tododeku is a Cold/Cool relationship. Midoriya is a shy, but upbeat young man who tends not to draw too much attention to himself, while Todoroki is stoic, logical, and a bit dense socially. In this case, Midoriya is Cool while Todoriki is Cold, with Midoriya serving as the “Hot” aspect of their relationship as the more friendly and outgoing of the two.  

Light and Shadow

This archetype is often used as a “opposite sides of the same coin” format, where the characters serve as foils to one another. In Teen Titans, Raven’s powers are dark and demonic, while Starfire’s are bright and extraterrestrial. Both girls get their powers from their emotions, but where Starfire revels in her emotions to make her powerful, Raven must suppress her emotions to retain control of her powers. As the only two girls, they stick out as the obvious foils of the group. Many times, when this trope appears, it’s in the form of Classic Paragon Hero vs Cynical Anti-Hero. Superman and Batman are a great example. Superman is a boyscout token good guy, while Batman is a brooding loner. One is the hope for justice and goodness to always triumph while the other acknowledges that people are flawed, and maybe not everyone deserves to be saved. Naruto is interesting because he has two dark reflections. The first is Sasuke. While Naruto is the golden-haired idealist who befriends villains almost as often as Steven Universe, Sasuke is a dark counter consumed by a thirst for vengeance and the power to exact it. Naruto’s other dark counter however is Gaara. Both are Jinchuriki, but whereas Naruto eventually found friends and love in his fellow genin, Gaara was very much still alone when he met Naruto, reflecting what Naruto could have become without that love and support in this life.

Protagonist and Rival

Another case of “two sides of the same coin”, most anime protagonists and their rival tend to either have very similar backstories, very similar motivations, or very similar personalities, if not some combination of the three. Both Naruto and Sasuke were abandoned in the world at a young age with the Hokage looking out for them from afar. Naruto started off having nobody, and was always reaching out hoping to connect with anyone. Meanwhile, Sasuke started with a family and lost it, and decided to keep everyone at arm’s length and isolate himself further. Rin Okumura and Ryuji Suguro are practically the same person. Both lost their families and homes due to Satan, both are strong-willed loudmouthed tough guys with a knack for leadership, and both share the goal of killing Satan. Natsu Dragneel is immature and battle-ready, but while Grey Fullbuster at least pretends to be above it, he’ll jump into a fight with Natsu practically unprompted. The main appeal of the anime protagonist and his rival is that they push each other to succeed, often coming from very similar roots, but where they end up is entirely up to the effort they put in and the path they choose to take. They both refuse to lose to each other, and that propells them to constantly want to out-do each other.

Sweet and Sour

My best friend and I are polar opposites in this sense. When we met, she was far too trusting, submissive, and far too forgiving. Meanwhile, I was a lot more cynical, mean-spirited, and unfortunately, a little more closed-minded than I’d like to admit. After five years of friendship, my friend is far more assertive, has a lot more confidence in herself, is a lot better at handling criticism, and rather than just submitting in an argument, she now has the nerve to get in someone’s face and make her point heard. Because of her, I’ve become less stand-offish, more patient and polite, less of a control freak, more aware of valuing other people’s emotions, and more tolerant of a group I hadn’t realized I’d been intolerant toward. We saw the world in such distinctly different ways that we have managed to rub off on each other, and now we’re both such stronger and more complete people for having known each other.

Serious and Goofball

A classic comedy duo, the comedian and the straight man. The Goofball character tends to be immature, a knucklehead, a jokester, and comes off as a bit inexperienced. Meanwhile, the Serious character tends to be mature, responsible, disciplined, but comes off as a bit aloof. The Goofball reminds the Serious character to have a little fun every once in a while, while the Serious character reins in the Goofball before they hurt themselves or somebody else.

Hero and Sidekick

The hero has their act together and the sidekick is just doing their best. This happens a lot in Action movies where the handsome tough guy and the hapless damsel (who he kidnaps a little too often for my liking) is just kind of along for the ride. The two live in entirely different worlds. Sometimes this comes in the variant of Starlet and Manager where one in the relationship takes center stage while the other is content to help them run their life, promote their career, and help them. Another variation is Superstar and Random Extra, wherein one person leads a very visible life in the public eye being adored by millions of fans while their partner works 9-5 in an office dealing with insurance claims. Although they coe from very different worlds and lead very different lives, that doesn’t mean they still haven’t found love in an unlikely place. Often, the reason the hero or big shot loves this random nobody is because they fell in love with them before they ever became famous, or they didn’t know/care who the celebrity was and just liked them as a person without interest in using their celebrity to climb the social ladder.

Loud and Quiet

She’s quirky, outgoing, bubbly, energetic, and talkative. Too talkative. She never shuts up. He’s quiet, simple, down-to-earth, and calm. Too Calm. He never gets excited. This pairing works to push and pull each other until they’ve harmonized. The Quiet one will be pulled out of their shell and learn to be more open and talkative, while the Loud one will learn to think before they act. This couple is divided along lines of Introversion and Extroversion, and together can navigate the anxiety-triggering unease of a social gathering, and finding joy and pleasure in just enjoying each other’s company without needing to fill the silence with pointless chatter.

To be fair, many Opposites Attract couples will fit into more than one of these archetypes, and there’s probably more I didn’t list. But if you’re wanting to create a couple that balances each other out, I hope you find this helpful to you in your writing.

[evening-starlight]

Daddy’s Best Friend

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23

Word Count: 1331

    The people buzzing around Amaris are nothing more than annoying flies as she ventures through the venue, setting up the finishing touches for her big day. Casey, the planner, rushes over to Amaris, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Amaris, baby, you don't need to do anything," She says. Amaris sighs and nods.

    "I know. I just need to busy myself." Casey nods and slowly leads Amaris back to her dressing room.

    "Every bride feels that on her wedding day. My team and I have set up a lovely room for you and your friends. We have champagne, snacks, and the most comfortable robes you will ever wear. Which you get to take home after the ceremony," Casey wiggles her arm against Amaris's, earning a forced giggle from the bride. "Your sisters are already inside. Cleo should arrive in a few minutes, according to your groom."

     Amaris gives a small thank you as they reach the door. "Your hairstylist and makeup artist should be in just after your friends to get everyone ready," Casey informs. "I will handle absolutely everything else. If you need anything, even a baby blue chair from Switzerland, someone from my team will go get it for you, okay?" She jokes as she opens the door for Amaris.

    "Thank you for everything, Casey. I really appreciate your help." Casey waves her off and leaves her to be with her younger sisters. Juno is the first to get up and hug her.

    "I'm so excited for you. This is a huge day," She squeals. Amaris nods with a heavy sigh. "Hey, what's wrong?" Juno asks, holding onto her older sister's shoulders.

    "Just feeling off, I guess," Amaris shrugs. Of course, she felt off. She let Tom slip right through her fingers and even pushed him through the cracks to rid herself of him. This toxic feeling in her stomach wasn't usual bridal nerves. It was this never-ending notion that this was the wrong decision. Amaris was gutted to the core. She had nothing else to give besides forcing each breath and every step towards her execution. The killing of who she used to be in favor of her family's legacy.

    Cleo bursts in, shades still on and bright red lipstick stains on her teeth. "Look who's getting married," She squeals, pulling Amaris into a bone-crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you girlie, I never thought you'd get married, let alone be the first one of us." The compliment is underhanded and makes Amaris roll her eyes, pushing Cleo off of her.

    "Thanks for that, Cleo. Real help on a big day," Danica mutters, pouring a glass of champagne for everyone.

    "Oh, don't be such a party pooper, Danny Wanny," Cleo coes, pinching Danica's cheek. She swats it off, bearing her teeth at the personal space invader. "It is your sister's wedding day, after all. This is about her, of course." Amaris shares a look with Danny, unamused and already on their last nerve. The only reason Cleo was part of Amaris's wedding party was that she's like a leech and never lets go. "Um, can I speak with you in private, Mrs. Bonnet?" Cleo asks, eyeing Juno up and down. The last name makes Amaris feel sick all over again. It was Armel's surname, and she didn't deserve the title.

    Amaris follows Cleo to the other side of the room, rolling her eyes again in unison with Danica. "I thought it was just us girlies today," Amaris follows Cleo's gaze towards Juno. "I mean no offense to them and all, but let's be honest, she's not really a she," Cleo continues. Amaris's blood runs cold, and her fists clench tightly at her sides. Her shoulders stiffen, and her ears start to rush with blood.

    "Excuse me?" Amaris asks, voice laced with venom and low, not to offend Juno. "What did you just say about my damn sister?" Cleo tilts her head to the side and gives Amaris a pitiful look like she was delusional.  

    "I said no offense," She defends.

    "Get out," Amaris snarls, backing away from Cleo to give her room to leave. Cleo looks back at her with a confused expression.

    "What do you mean by that?" Cleo asks as if it wasn't blatantly obvious why she was being kicked out of the wedding ceremony.

    "I mean, you're being a disrespectful bitch towards my wonderful sister. Who's ten times more ladylike than you ever could be. I don't want you in my ceremony, I don't want you in the damn audience, and I better not see you at my reception, or you're going to have hell to pay. Do you understand?"

    "We have a bridezilla over here," Cleo laughs, holding her hands up and looking for backup from the other two Clarke sisters. "I'll let you calm down for a little bit, and I'll be back." She leaves the room, and Amaris quickly follows, finding a member of her planning staff. They're informed about everything going on and told to keep Cleo away from the ceremony at any cost.

    Juno tackles Amaris in a hug the minute the door closes behind her as she reenters the dressing room. Amaris is nearly knocked on her feet by the force her sister comes at her with. The continuous thanks coming from Juno calm Amaris down slightly. She would do anything for her sister's, and it was just a kicker that it was the woman Amaris couldn't stand.

    The beauty squad arrives while the sisters make a toast, hyping the two younger ones up easily. Amaris couldn't quite get as excited, a weighted ball on her chest preventing her from feeling anything but dread.

    As she sits in the chair, Amaris stares at herself in the mirror while a red-haired girl starts styling her hair. Her skin is dull and lifeless. Her eyes are dark and sunken in like she hasn't slept a day in her life. The questions the stylist asks fall over deaf ears as Amaris goes through all possible scenarios that could happen as she walks down the aisle.

    The dress could rip, and she could fall. Tom could come running in, stop the wedding, and declare his love for her in the middle of the aisle. But he wouldn't. Amaris could dream all she wanted, but Tom was on his way to Spain right now, and she was about to walk to the aisle to someone she didn't care for.

    Amaris loved Tom. More than life itself. She could remember Tom's favorite tea and the way he hums right before he's about to fall asleep. Amaris can feel his arms wrapping around her while she makes breakfast and his weight on her chest when she's lying on the couch reading, and he demands her attention.

    She's shoved back into reality when Danica smacks Amaris's thigh harshly, causing a red raised pattern in the shape of her hand. Her face is done, and her hair is pulled back in some curlers. "Earth to Mari," She chuckles. "How are we feeling? Need more champagne?" Amaris shakes her head slightly.

    "No, I'll be okay. I was just lost in the anxiety of all this," Amaris shrugs. Danny gives her a small smile and rubs her knee reassuringly.

    "I'm sure everything will be fine. If anything embarrassing happens, I'll do something twice as embarrassing to make up for it, alright? I'll even make Juno join."

    "I'll out embarrass both of you," Juno calls before sipping on her champagne with a smug smile while she sits in her own makeup chair. Danica stares her down, rolling her eyes.

    "Does everything have to be a competition with you, Juno?"

    "Yes," Juno nods firmly. The sisters all laugh together, a tiny bit of happiness on a bleak day. They continue to chat, distracting Amaris from her thoughts as the glam squad finishes off everyone's hair and makeup. Amaris nearly forgets the next item on the list is putting on her mother's dress.

Taglist: @queenofallhobos @kingtwhiddleston @cynic-spirit @end-up-well @xoxabs88xox @k-reads7 @1marvelnerd3000​ @jhawk608​

[this-is-quite-homoerotic]

Queer representation in Torchwood: the shift from the escapist/utopian paradigm to a more realistic approach and why I didn’t like it

You may have seen my original post about the tonal shift that happens between season 2 of Torchwood and CoE (here), where I first put my thoughts down on this matter, but @ultraviolet-eucatastrophe recently got an anon ask about that post that made me think about it again, and I’d like to share some further thoughts on the subject, so here is that essay I said I might write.

First of all, my thesis on that post was that there was a shift in tone between how queerness was portrayed in seasons 1 and 2 (where, much like in NuWho, it is presented as an unremarkable thing that needs no justification, i.e. following an escapist/utopian paradigm where real-life queerphobia doesn’t come up for the characters) and seasons 3 and 4 (where a more true-to-life approach is taken and the fact that queerphobia exists is brought up and included into the narrative in a way it wasn’t before).

In the post, I wrote:

CoE introduces the outside world’s view of queerness as well, with Rhiannon putting Ianto on the spot about it and then her husband walking in and making a tasteless joke about it. Then they have Clem, an otherwise likeable character who is portrayed as a victim, call Ianto “the queer” (...) Then [in Miracle Day] they decided to have Rex be the main new character, [he is] borderline if not explicitly homophobic. Suddenly Jack’s sexuality is forced into these narrow boxes it absolutely does not fit and subject to snide comments and questions that feel clunky and gauche in a universe and a series that have for years been making a point of not doing that.

I’ll also mention the whole flight-attendant scene where they keep rudely calling him gay (while he’s at work, doing his job 🙃) and the joke is that he then says “it was one time!”, implying that 1) it’s funny to loudly speculate about people’s sexuality and to call them gay while they’re at work providing a service for you if you perceive them to be queer, 2) Rex (a straight male character) can totally tell when people are queer and not only that but he can tell even when the person themself is in denial about it - a straight man knows a queer stranger’s sexuality better than themself, and/or 3) it’s funny that the guy is in denial about it when it’s “so obvious” that he’s queer to the other characters.

Now, the anon I mentioned characterises my thesis in that post to be that “throughout CoE and Miracle Day, Torchwood became more homophobic towards their characters”, which is a fair and good-faith interpretation of the point I was making, but which I don’t… actually say or agree with. (But I see how someone might think that, hence the good-faith comment. Also, can I just say, I am very grateful to anon for making me think about this more to the point where I ended up writing this essay to go over the whole thing! Thank you, anon ❤)

As I tried to pin down why that description felt wrong to me, I realised that I may not have properly explained that while I do state very clearly that I have a preference (I much preferred the approach of seasons 1-2), I did not clarify that my critique was just that, a matter of preference. I also didn’t get into why I preferred that approach to the one from the later seasons.

I did not mean to imply that the depiction of queerness in seasons 3 and 4 was homophobic. Moreover, I do not believe it to be. I think what was so rattling about it to me personally was that it was a departure from the tone set both in the bigger NuWho universe and in the first two seasons of Torchwood, and because there had been a consistency to how queerness had been portrayed so far in that universe, that created in me an expectation that the portrayal would remain consistent. The shift felt jarring to me, and it did not help that I personally really like the sci-fi/fantasy approach of doing away with queerphobia as a plot point that queer characters have to deal with, because I am a tired queer who wishes she could also do away with queerphobia and not have to deal with it.

That said, there is nothing (inherently) queerphobic or homophobic about having a queer character have to face queerphobia in a story, especially when you write queer characters who are the protagonists and the heroes of the story, and the queerphobia they face is not supported by the narrative, which I think is generally the case with Torchwood. [Sidenote: This changes slightly in Miracle Day where queerness becomes the butt of a few jokes, but even then I’d argue it wasn’t so much outright queerphobia as it was bad taste and a questionable sense of humour. I also still don’t understand what the writers were trying to do with Rex? He was meant to be the new main character, and I think they meant for him to be a sympathetic character, and then they… made him be uncomfortable with Jack’s queerness and… wrote him vaguely queerphobic lines? What? And I know that he’s a lot more accepting of his lesbian(?) coworker, but a straight man being okay/comfortable with wlw but not with mlm is… not exactly uncommon? It doesn’t actually erase the queerphobia.]

Back to my point, I don’t interpret the shift to be queerphobic so much as I argue that it was a shift and that it subverted the expectations that were created in a way I did not like. 

The thing about having a sci-fi/fantasy setting is that you can ignore certain real-life prejudices and oppression systems, and I like that, a lot. Oftentimes, oppression will still be a theme, but it will be approached through fictional analogies (like aliens symbolising immigrants, or alien civilisations that have different ‘classes’ discriminating against some of them as a thinly veiled reference to real life oppression such as misogyny, racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, etc.).

I personally love this type of narrative because it allows me to approach something that I’m very interested in (oppression systems, prejudice, genocide, hatred and fear of the Other, violence against minorities, and the fight against all of these, as well as the potential to be better and do better) in a way that is not as emotionally exhausting as it can be when the fictionalised violence and hatred is directed towards real-life minorities. It is a sort of projection which allows me to enjoy the exploration of these topics by creating a little bit of distance from their real life equivalents. This doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy a more literal depiction of these, whether I do or not is very much a combination of several things: from the tone, to how explicit or violent it gets, to whether I consider it to be a tasteful/respectful depiction (which is partly a matter of opinion and might hinge on cultural sensitivities), to the genre, etc.

Genre and medium are both very important because they create expectations. If you get a fantasy novel where the main conflict is the discrimination of a whole subclass of people, you know not to expect from it the same things as you would from a philosophy treatise on discrimination and the human condition, or from a historical analysis of the discrimination of a specific minority in a given time and place, or from a youtube video of a queer activist that talks about their experience with discrimination, even if all of those might cover the same topic. Now, our previous experience with different forms of media, genres, disciplines, and so on, allows us to come into each of these with some knowledge of what we’re getting into. We might enjoy having those expectations subverted depending on whether it’s done well and on our own preferences, but those expectations exist.

My expectations regarding both queer representation in Torchwood (and the wider Whoniverse) and also regarding what Torchwood was, at its core, about (found family going on wacky alien-related adventures and protecting their city) were subverted in CoE and Miracle Day in ways I did not enjoy. This is what my first post was about. There was a narrative to seasons 1 and 2, a tone, and those were scrapped and exchanged for different ones that I didn’t like as much in seasons 3 and 4. 

So what that post brought up is both a statement of fact (there was a tonal shift) and my own subjective feelings about that (I did not like it).

I think the reason why I was so unhappy with it is mainly because of the expectations I formed in the first two seasons. My expectations were very specific, they were not born of something vague like a general genre, but rather from the established tone of a specific fictional universe and even a specific show. While I do have a preference for escapist fiction where queerphobia isn’t an issue (or where it’s wrapped up in the comfortable coat of Metaphor so the sting isn’t as sharp), this show and the fictional universe it is a part of created the expectation in me that queerness wasn’t a point of contention here (or something to make cheap jokes about, looking at you Miracle Day). It wasn’t a matter that warranted an explanation; in this universe, people like us could just be, and love, and have stories that didn’t revolve around our queerness, stories that didn’t hide or erase it but which took it as one more part of us and went on to delve into adventure, because, again, queerness didn’t define us. They created these expectations, and then they failed to deliver. 

Now, as I said, I’m sure a lot of people liked the shift, might even consider it better representation or might just like it better, which is completely fair and I respect it. I personally don’t think either type of representation is better than the other, they fill different niches, or fulfill different needs for us, and both can be good or bad.

Which brings me to my next point: I’d like to share an example of a realistic portrayal of queerphobia that I think was done so well and which I loved (spoilers for Sense8 under the cut). But before that:

tl;dr: There was a shift in how queerness was portrayed and I didn’t like it, in big part because my expectations were that the show would remain consistent in this matter: they created an expectation that queerness was not a point of contention in their narrative and then they failed to meet that expectation. However, ‘there was a shift’ + ‘I didn’t like it’ doesn’t equal ‘it was bad representation’ or ‘it was a homophobic portrayal’ and I actually think it was neither bad representation nor queerphobic.

Spoilers for Sense8 under here!

Okay, so I have already said that I prefer the escapist/utopic paradigm of queer narratives to a realistic one that forces the queer characters to deal with queerphobia. That said, I can enjoy both! And one fantastic example of the latter is Nomi’s story in Sense8. (Lito’s story was also great but I’ll use Nomi as an example here because I think it illustrates the point better.)

Nomi is a wlw trans woman who has to deal with repeated transphobia from her parents (especially her mother who consistently misgenders and deadnames her and even gets behind an attempt to lobotomise her in the hopes that it will “fix” her).

There were many moments when I got painfully uncomfortable during Nomi’s interactions with her mother (to the point that I had to pause it at several points because I couldn’t deal with how horrible it got). Despite this, I thought it was handled brilliantly. You know why? The transphobia she had to suffer at the hands of her parents is one small part of her character arc, which also includes:

in the background, we get to see Nomi’s found family who are loving and supportive, and her wonderful girlfriend who loves her and stands up for her when some TERFs try to put her down (which I thought was such a relevant and significant issue to portray because shitty transphobic rhetoric is gaining ground and so many people are forced to deal with this kind of thing!);

and in the forefront, the main plot is that Nomi is one of a set of eight protagonists who are being hunted down by a shady organisation because of the special connection they share. The only reason her mother is in the position to try to force her into a lobotomy is because this shady organisation was already trying to do that to her (and the fact that her doctor who is knowingly attempting to do this calls her by the right name and pronouns while her own mother won’t was an interesting detail to throw in there, for sure). Nomi’s story isn’t about her being trans, it’s about her escaping persecution for being part of a different, fictional minority (while also being trans), it’s about her having adventures with her girlfriend and friends all while trying to bring down a corrupt organisation and ensuring a better future not just for herself but for everyone by doing so. 

(It’s not surprising that her story was so good and handled so well when you know that the Wachowski sisters created, wrote and directed the show. Two trans women wrote this and had vetoing power over any decisions made about it.)

Now, as I’m writing this, I realise the argument could be made that, well, Ianto having that conversation with Rhiannon in CoE or the tasteless joke by Johnny afterwards, or Jack having to hear snide comments about being “gay” in Miracle Day were also just small parts of their story. The jokes about the air flight-attendant were just minor jokes about an even more minor character. They were little details thrown in and the main plot was about saving millions of children from aliens/discovering what was behind the Miracle and fixing it. And that’s a fair point.

The difference lies in the expectations surrounding each story. I didn’t go into Sense8 with the expectation that queerphobia wouldn’t be depicted or addressed in the story. I did go into CoE expecting that it would continue to adhere to the escapist/utopian paradigm where queer characters can just be, their queerness isn’t a point of contention, and they aren’t forced to deal with real-life levels of queerphobia... only to be disappointed. This was not helped by them doubling down in Miracle Day by making it not just a point of contention but also the butt of several jokes. 

I feel I’m just repeating myself at this point, so I’ll stop here, but I would love to hear any opinions on this, whether you agree with me or not! 

[thetorchwoodarchive]

Gwen Focused Stories as Submitted by the Mods and Users of the Torchwood Archive

Everyone! Thank you so much for your submissions! Recs are under the cut!

As always, please mind the warnings and ratings listed on each individual story. 

Feel free to reblog with additions!

Something Beautiful by Cyus (Gen | complete | 4,500 | PG)

After Torchwood, after Jack, Gwen lives her life, even as Jack comes back.

Domestic Disharmony by thirteeninafez (JackIanto, GwenRhys, Gwen&Ianto, Gwen&Jack | complete | 3163 | G)

In which Jack and Gwen get stuck in the Archives and discuss green milk, thermostats and Ianto Jones.

Side Note by Aliciajazmin (Gwen&Ianto | complete | 1027 | T)

A few months after her best friend's funeral, Gwen runs into Rhiannon while grocery shopping. Ianto's sister has some questions and Gwen has some things she needs to say to her.

Inevitability (and other hard truths) by violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto | complete | 1236 | T)

There's a clock ticking down at Torchwood, and Gwen realizes she's the only one who hears it.

All Around Me are Familiar Faces by gwendolyncooper (Gwen&Ianto, JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 2602 | G)

Gwen Cooper wakes up in Jack Harkness' bed. Ianto Jones wakes up in Rhys Williams'. And they find themselves in each other's bodies. As close as they are, this might be a level too deep in their friendship.

Blueberry Knees by Violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto, JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 3878 | T)

If Ianto thought about it, the way Gwen’s illness progressed was rather like falling asleep. Slowly and surely, but then all at once.

He hadn’t noticed it at first - he still loathed himself for not recognizing that something might be wrong. But he hadn’t, no one had, so it slipped through, like little crumbs falling between the crack of their ancient sofa.

And there was nothing to be done about it.

Power Struggle by Prochytes (GwenTosh, Gen | complete | 1416 | T)

How Gwen ended up in charge by the start of Season Two, based on the premise that one should never assume Jack Harkness is joking.

Bad at Communication by engagemythrusters (JackIanto | complete | 1740 | G)

In which Gwen visits a hospital, where Jack and Ianto, respectively tired and high, are complete idiots.

The Hands on the Clock Keep on Ticking by Violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto | complete | 10235 | M)

They all knew it could happen to anyone. They’d all seen the proof. Even if it happened to a miniscule amount of the population, it was still a possibility.

But they had grown complacent. They had forgotten that they too were also at the mercy of the Rift, that the Rift did not make an exception for those who knew its existence.

They had forgotten until they were faced with it themselves.

In which Gwen and Ianto get sent back to 1969 by the Rift.

Pastries, Avoidance Tactics, and a Bottle of Scotch by pocky_slash (Gwen&Ianto, GwenRhys, JackIanto | 6220 | G)

In which Gwen said something she regrets, Ianto makes a poor dinner choice, Rhys offers sound advice, and Jack has a key. A different sort of "Meat" post-ep.

Children, Daleks and Mopeds: How Gwen Cooper Got Her Groove Back by paycheckgurl (Gwen&Jack, GwenRhys | complete |  9603 | T)

Following a disastrous shopping trip that put her at the center of an explosion, Gwen finds a little alien boy.

Or: The series of events in which Gwen acquired another child, had a much needed conversation with Jack, bought a moped, defeated a Dalek with a boxing glove, and learned that loving yourself and saving the world don’t need to be mutually exclusive.

A coda to Revolution of the Daleks where I explain why Gwen has a son all of a sudden.

I Don’t Know What to Think by  aliciajazmin (GwenTosh | complete | 2637 | T)

Gwen and Tosh travel with the Doctor through time and space, taking a break from Torchwood. Gwen decides to bring along her pet rat Owen (not to be confused with Human Owen). Also, Gwen and Tosh are desperately in love with each other.

Lost Inside by Xennon (Gen | complete |  36,642 | T)

The team go in search of some smugglers.

A Vision Too Removed to Mention by Pocky_Slash (Gwen&Ianto | complete |  13920 | T)

In which Ianto is stuck in a time loop that feels more like hell.

Club Wales by Pocky_Slash (Gwen&Ianto | Series |  69,530 | G-T)

 In the wake of Jack's disappearance, Gwen finds comfort in a new friendship with Ianto. Gossip, bonding, and other hijinks of understanding ensue.

To the Waters and the Wilds by Violetmessages (GwenTosh, JackIanto | complete | 13190 | T)

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

Tosh whirled around. She’d thought she was alone, she’d expected it.

Then she locked eyes with the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen, a woman who seemed to radiate an ethereal glow, a woman that emanated an otherworldly light.

Cold Pizza by  Eberesche (GwenRhys, Gwen&Ianto | complete | 4767 | T)

With Jack missing and the Rift running the team ragged, Gwen's plans for a single night in are foiled.

Safe by DinoDina (GwenToshRhys, GwenRhys | complete |  1191 | G)

After the cannibals, Gwen doesn't go home with Owen. She rides back to Cardiff — back to Rhys — in an ambulance with Tosh.

Dead on Arrival by violetmessages (JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 13582 | M)

Ianto Jones wakes up. The only problem is, he's certain he was dead.

You Won’t Be Seeing Us Today (You Won’t Be Seeing Us in Hell) by Beleriandings (GwenRhys, JackIanto, Gwen&Ianto | complete | 11141 | T)

One day, Syriath took Gwen's voice. She should have realised Gwen wouldn't stand for that.

Girly Night In by Mathemagician (GwenTosh | complete | 1088 | T)

The girls and Ianto have a night in. Gwen figures something out about herself.

For the Torchwood Femslash Fest prompt "Sexual Identity"

This Earth is Empty Without You (But the Grave is Not) by violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto, GwenRhys, JackIanto | complete | 1036 | G)

Ianto Jones' funeral happens on a perfectly sunny day. Gwen hates every minute of it.

In a Polaroid Picture by innocent_until_proven_geeky (GwenTosh, GwenRhys, Gwen&Jack | complete | 2176 | G)

Gwen finds a photo of her and Tosh, and remembers.

Exit Protocol by Beleriandings (GwenTosh | complete | 6139 | G)

Not long after the deaths of Tosh and Owen, Gwen gets a message from an unnamed user on the Hub system. That really shouldn't happen. And yet, there it is.

To the Sticking Place by zephyras (JackIanto, GwenRhys, OwenTosh, MarthaMickey | complete |  96433 | M)

The end justifies the means. Failure is not an option. There is always a choice, except when there isn't. These are the phrases Ianto Jones lives by and he refuses to allow anyone, even Captain Jack Harkness, to change that. Jack/Ianto, AU, Torchwood One Agent!Ianto.

These Happy Days by Violetmessages (GwenRhys, JackIanto, Gwen&Ianto, GwenJackIantoRhys | series |  16,777 | G-T)

A series of non-chronological stories in which Ianto miraculously survives CoE in some fashion and Torchwood Three (plus Rhys and Anwen) settle down near the seaside.

Piece it Together by Beleriandings (JackIato, Gwen&Ianto | complete |  3442 | T)

Gwen realises that for all they talk, she's never asked Ianto about how he and Jack got together before. The answer is a lot more complicated than she was expecting.

Respite by Beleriandings (Gwen&Ianto, JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete |  2590 | G)

Even by their usual standards, Gwen thought it was absolutely fair to say it had been a rough week.

Dancing in the Midnight Garden by Fionn_sgeul (Gen | complete |  17660 | G)

In which Gwyneth the Maid and Gwen Cooper are the same person, Jack meets someone else whose life was completely turned around by the Doctor, and Torchwood is invaded by garden gnomes

Don’t You Know For Years You’ve Haunted Me by Virtualsilver (GwenRhys, JackIanto | complete | 12083 | T)

Gwen has inherited a recessive trait that has lurked in her ancestors' blood for generations: she is prescient. She can see flashes of where the timeline is heading and can feel when something - or someone - changes it.

She tries to use her foreknowledge to change events for the better, but securing the outcome of her interventions proves to be a challenge.

He Really Loves That Coat by DracoPendragon (JackIanto | complete | 585 | G)

It was quiet when Gwen entered the Hub that Monday morning. And the sight that greeted her was not one she’d expected, but wasn't one she minded seeing.

Sink Your Feet into the Mud (and I’ll Return) by violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto, GwenRhys, JackIanto | complete | 3404 | G)

What if she could bring Ianto back?

It’s a dangerous idea. It’s got the potential to be catastrophic. But Gwen is all out of options. She’s surrounded by the graves of the people she loves, abandoned, save for her husband, and she refuses to let her best friend go without a fight.

Painted in the Sand (To be Washed Away) by moonlightrhosyn (Gwen&Ianto, GwenRhys | complete | 1992 | T)

Gwen could still see their bodies every time she closed her eyes.

This is Me Trying by gwendolyncooper (GwenRhys, Gwen&Tosh, GwenOwen | WIP | 2524 | T)

“Sometimes you do stupid things to try and cope, to get a sense of normalcy, to make all this chaos and the Rift and space and aliens and the things we see make sense. Stupid, horrible things that should never have happened, and they come back ‘round to bite you again, and--” “What happened, Gwen?” Tosh’s prodding is soft and careful, but it speaks the glaring truth they both know - Gwen is stalling, talking around the issue at hand. Verdant eyes flash upwards with a startling intensity now, wide and filling with unshed tears again, the special agent’s plush lips pressed into a trembling line as she attempts to retain a semblance of control over her emotions. “I told Rhys about Owen.”

Fourty-Eight Hour Stand-Down by pocky_slash (JackIanto, GwenRhys | complete | 2740 | G)

"You and Ianto had a domestic," Gwen guesses. Jack scowls at her. In which Jack is kicked out, Gwen just wants a night off, Rhys buys milk, and Ianto clears table space.

Ret-comp (Retroactive Compensation) by reiley (LisaIanto | complete | 499 | T)

The phone. The one that could call any place or any time in the whole universe. The one Jack had locked away and warned them all that it was never to be used.

Any Other Day by Amand_R (JackIanto, JackGwen, GwenRhys | complete | 84055 | complete| NR) 

Hey, this one time? At Torchwood? Gwen and Jack switched bodies and everything went pear-shaped.

Space Tripping (in spaaaaace!) by Princessoftheworlds (JackIanto, IantoOther, GwenRhys, Gwen&Ianto | complete |  5115 |T)

Gwen and Ianto road trip across space - space trip, get high, shop, have a light existential crisis, face grief, and get massages - not all necessarily in that order.

Empty Chairs by princessoftheworlds (Gwen&Ianto | complete | 412 | G)

Gwen tends to Ianto's wound.

Forever, And What Comes After by Violetmessages (JackIanto, GwenRhys | Complete | 10028 | T)

“Hm, imagine if they did,” Ianto said. “Torchwood would have to come out of retirement.”

In which Gwen and Ianto relax at a spa, Jack and Rhys attempt bad science, and Anwen is just along for the ride.

One In The Same by Violetmessages (Gwen&Ianto, GwenRhys | Complete | 1638 | T)

Ianto, Gwen thinks. Her best friend would never turn her away, and maybe she can sleep on his couch for the night. Perhaps by the morning she’ll be okay again.

Wastin’ Away In Margaritaville by Paycheckgurl (Gwen&Ianto, JackIanto, GwenRhys, Gwen&Jack | Complete | 1419 | T)

Jack’s bad coping mechanism is agreeing to be a surrogate for an alien spawn baby. Gwen’s is at the bottom of a bottle.

Big Finish: Expectant from Gwen’s POV

[beeblackburn]

The Dagger and the Coin for the blorbo meme?

blorbo (favorite character, character I think about the most): Geder Palliako. How did we get the Best Fantasy Villain from not Hobb or Abercrombie or GRRM? Up there with, if not outright better than, Cersei Lannister (who lacks more redeeming aspects, if still has a vivid tapestry of human experience) and Captain Kennit (whose post-ending development is a bit boofed). A relatable victim of bullying, a product of the banality of evil, a vengeful shit, a man devoted to those he loves, a delusional fool starved for love, an educated man brimming with curiosity, Geder's as multi-faceted as human terrors get, as human as he is terrible, and his ending remains perfect. He makes me wince in sympathy almost as much as I gag at every mistake and action he makes down the road.

scrunkly (my “baby”, character that gives me cuteness aggression, character that is So Shaped): Vincen Coe. He's such a MILF simp, so utterly devoted to Clara and supportive of her, right down to assisting in treason and tearing down the evils of a current regime as a partner does, way to the point of nearly dying right before her on more than one instance. Their romance is cute! And hilarious, god, Vincen, when will you stop nearly dying before her eyes, I swear. And sad, especially once Vincen gets notably angry at The Tyrant's Law and you really do get a sense of how much he loves her, but their difference in status is such that he's always aware of it and my heart. Aster works too, but he's canonically Geder's scrunkly and I worry what he'd do to me if he thought I was monopolizing Aster.

scrimblo bimblo (underrated/underappreciated fave): It's a threesome between Pyk Usterhall, Abatha Coe, and Dar Cinlama. Pyk Usterhall because she's just there trying to be a low-risk sensible banker and here's Cithrin trying to take high-risk, high-reward gambles like a fantasy protagonist are wont to do, and then shutting Cithrin down when she whines about her not liking her, despite Pyk having absol-fucking-lutely no reason to like her and plenty to resent her. I sure didn't like her my first read, sharing Cithrin and Marcus' thoughts on her, but in my older age? Nah, I totally get Pyk now. Abatha Coe for rightfully pointing out that Clara's not considered the socioeconomic/human costs of using Vincen's resources and staying solely because of family, and telling Clara she's getting out of "this shithole of a city" if Vincen dies. Dar Cinlama for indulging his curiosities and exploring it all out there, just wanting to travel about, talk stories with others by a campfire, and seek all the secrets of the world. No wonder Geder got jealous of him for a hot second.

glup shitto (obscure fave, character that can appear in the background for 0.2 seconds and I won’t shut up about it for a week): Enen. Let's see, pelted female beast-warrior with braids in her hair who's no-nonsense and respectful? Why didn't we get more of her. Honestly, I wish we got more of the non-Yardem portions of Marcus' fellow mercenary bunch, but I would especially have like to have gotten more of Enen and I like the notion that she'll become Cithrin's Yardem eventually.

poor little meow meow (“problematic”/unpopular/controversial/otherwise pathetic fave): Fallon Broot? Honestly, every non-Basrahip character on Geder's council could be considered. I mean, Broot is an obedient and utterly willing tool of an imperialistic empire with no imagination and that was before Geder. But he's pleasant enough to Geder, his ridiculous mustache is funny, and how Geder reacted to him at the end of The Tyrant's Law when he reported to him actually gave me a shot of sympathy for his position. He's like The Dagger and the Coin's Brint! Nothing goes well for him and life takes a steaming dump on him.

horse plinko (character I would torment for fun, for whatever reason): Alan Klin, and this is a series with Dawson Kalliam, Feldin Maas, and Basrahip. Look, Geder making Alan Klin go to the military vanguard in the hopes of him dying over a book is definitely a little fucked, as Klin points out, but at the same time, fuck this guy? It's not even that he burned the book, though everyone knows that's the clear-cut signal for a total asshole. It's that he refuses to see it as a microcosm for the vicious bullying he put Geder through. It wasn't just the book that was burnt, Klin was gas-lighting the shit out of him afterwards and he still sees it as him being ruined over a book, rather than the consistent bullying pattern and only feeling bad about it because Geder became top dog and turnabout's fair play. Yeah, I would totally torment this guy!

eeby deeby (character I would send to superhell): Cep Bailan. In a series full of petty embezzlers, self-delusional fascists, banal war criminals, bigoted reactionaries, and genocidal zealots, this guy's such a fucking prick. I hate him and his face-garbage. I would gladly throw this shithead into superhell above the rest.

[hollyhomburg]

You make me Happy

(Hybrid! Jungkook x Reader)(Drabble) 

Summary: When Puppy Jungkook finds out you’re depressed, he makes it his mission to make you happy! ...with a little help from the others.  Tags: Depression, references to not eating due to depression, night terrors, allusions to polyamory- specifically Hoseok x Reader x Puppy! Jungkook x Cat! Jimin x Cat! Yoongi W/c: 1.9k A/n: well- I sent this over text to @peeachypop last night at like midnight and then woke up and made it a full little Au! hope you guys enjoy it! happy birthday, Jungkook!

Like okay, imagine puppy! hybrid jungkook who is a little nieve, and Doesn’t exactly understand how the world works cuz he grew up on a farm and never lived in a city until he was adopted by the reader. 

The city is so nice!!! With so many interesting smells and foods that make his mouth water and things that he hasn’t experienced like VR clubs and coffee shops and bars- not that he really ever gets the chance too because his new owner is a little bit of a recluse.

And you don’t really keep a lot of yummy things in their fridge but you let him order anything he wants! “Oh my god, this is the best you mean I can call talk to someone on the phone and then food shows up! That’s magic!” And maybe you don’t really eat a lot of it but like! Jungkooks never spent a lot of time around humans so he doesn’t immediately register it as an issue. 

And on the days that Jungkook manages to convince you to go out of your apartment it never lasts for long because the sick sticky smell of anxiety clings to you, and Jungkook can only tolerate so much distress from his owner before his protective instincts kick in and he takes you home. 

There are other things too, nights when you hold your head in your hands or he hears you crying in your bedroom. or how listless and sad you seem, how you seem to pull away some days and go silent or answer Jungkook’s many questions with one-word answers. 

there are better days too- when you take Jungkook to the hybrid park and seem genuinely okay for a little before you get bad again

he finds a few old photographs pushed in the back of a drawer- you smiling with a man who seems a little reserved. and when he asks you you snatch the photo from him and push it back away where you don’t have to think about him. “my ex” 

Jungkook is confused, “you mean your mate?” Jungkook doesn’t understand because aren’t mates supposed to be forever? he relays as much and you shake your head a small smile playing on your lips. “not usually, though if you’re lucky they are,”  

“Why did he leave? did he-” Jungkook tucks his chin in, suddenly embarrassed because you don’t talk about this- about why you don’t get out of bed some days and why you always look exhausted and worn out and shakey. “Did he leave because you’re sick?” 

and maybe it would have offended you before, but Jungkook is looking up at you with such worried eyes, so Ernest and careful. You hesitantly reach a hand up and rub over his ears scratching around the base of him, and his tail starts wagging up a rhythm against your couch. 

“I’m not sick Kookie I just have depression” and he tilts his head to one side because he Doesn’t know what depression is and you explain it like “it’s just when someone gets really sad sometimes or all the times okay?” he nods quick, because that he can work with, that he understands. 

Jungkook makes it his mission to make you happy. He’s just trying to be a good hybrid and he loves you so much, you deserve to be happy!

So he does everything to try to keep you smiling, doing more house chores and making up elaborate games to play with you. The day he takes a bath and starts blowing bubbles in the water (i mean have you seen those videos of german shepherds blowing bubbles and getting so happy and like yipping at it? that’s Jungkook) and you giggle so loudly that now every time you give him a bath he does it. 

he even starts to sleep in your bedroom too! because one night he hears you crying and can’t leave you alone. He whines and nuzzles into your cheeks, licking away your tears a little and running a hand through your hair, because humans need pets too, and you actually let him comfort you, bury your head in his chest and sob. 

He knows enough that sometimes you just wake up in the middle of the night sometimes, has woken up to the sound of you crying and come to scratch at your door before you started to let him in. 

He starts sleeping in your bed and sometimes you grumble a little and hover, a few inches away not sure if he wants to cuddle, and he always snuggles up to you and grins, kissing your cheek and making you blush and smile shyly before you shut off the light. And on those nights when he can hold you close- safe from sadness in his arms- he feels accomplished, feels like he’s making you better. 

Sometimes he knows he fails. sometimes you wake with shadowed eyes and immediately go back to sleep no matter how Jungkook tries to pull you out of bed. on those days he feels powerless and like he’s not making a difference at all. 

One day you take an afternoon nap because for some reason you’re just too tired today, and Jungkook decides that oh! He can go get you some snacks at the conscience store across the street! He’ll be back before you wake up and then you can wake up to something sweet. And maybe you’ll give him one of those small sleepy smiles and you’ll eat it in his lap while he plays video games in your living room. 

And he doesn’t really understand that hybrids aren’t supposed to be let outside in their own. It’s not exactly against the rules but like, if he was causing trouble he knows that he would be picked up by hybrid control. And though the shop keeper gives him a weird look, he lets Jungkook peruse the small isles of snacks for a few minutes before he comes over- it’s pretty quiet after all. 

Eventually, he asks him if he needs help and Jungkook is like all pouty because as much as he’s wracking his brain there are just so many choices and Jungkook doesn’t want to choose wrong. Jungkook explains to the shopkeeper, he looks like he would know. he’s got a kind smile and auburn hair that curls against his temples and a little enamel pin of snoopy and a little purple horse pinned to his work shirt.

“I don’t really know what my owner likes and I’m just trying to make her happy” and the attendant nods along like it’s the most pressing issue of the day, “I see, well you could always go for something sweet?” he smiles, and it’s so charming, so bright too, it makes Jungkook blush, and suddenly a lightbulb goes off in Jungkooks head. 

“I know what would make her happier!!! You definitely would!!!” Queue Jungkook dragging a confused Hoseok over to your apartment and you being shocked and concerned when you open the door (Jungkook forgot the code again) because you never thought Jungkook would like- bring in an actual stranger to your apartment to make you happy.

But Hoseok is so chill about it and just laughs it off “it’s okay really! I was gonna take my break anyway- and he seemed like really concerned about you too. And I have a hybrid of my own so I know how protective they can be/”

And he lingers in the doorway, before you offer him a cup of coffee- better than the stuff they make in the convenience store, and he accepts (luckily you favor the to-go cups when you have to go to work) and you sit and talk about his hybrid for a moment (a cute kitten hybrid named jimin who according to Hoseok used to pout for hours whenever Hoseok had to leave for work.) before he has to get back to work. 

 but before he leaves he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cookie package or something and he’s like, “oh yeah he said you like things that were sweet and I don’t have time to eat anyway! by the way, if you ever want to stop by and talk about hybrids my schedule is-” And maybe Jungkook sees the way you smile at Hobi and thinks “mission accomplished!” 

And takes you by the store whenever Hoseok works sometimes for ramen 4 times in the same shift. And of course, you meet his hybrid who ends up becoming Jungkook’s best friend! even though you remind him that like- best friends don’t help each other through heats and ruts, or kiss on the couch, to which Jungkook replies, “Then why did you and hobi sleep together after you went out drinking to celebrate his new job? and you help me with my ruts all the time and how are we not friends?” which makes you change the subject verry verry abruptly 

And then a few months into your sort of friendship Hoseok finds injured hybrid Yoongi in the alleyway behind the store and brings him to your place because its closest.

and then maybe months later when Yoongi has moved into your apartment and Hoseok has gotten a better job and actually moved into the apartment across the hall from yours (all so he can coe-own hybrid Yoongi with you- and not because like- he wants to be closer to his friend who he like might have a crush on). 

Maybe you’re just washing dishes or something with Jungkook drying them and putting them away, and both kind of lamenting because its almost been a year since you adopted Jungkook. 

And Jungkook says something about the time you used to be sad because like- thankfully you’ve gotten a lot better, and he’s a little wistful and a little insecure because he feels like it was all of them who made you happy and not Jungkook. 

And he says something like “well the others are what makes you happy so I don’t know why you’d want to go on a date just us too on the night that Yoongi and jimin are going out to a movie with hobi,” 

and you’re like stunned, because you thought Jungkook knew how much he meant, you’re instantaneously like “Jungkook, you make me happy all the time, without even meaning too, everything you do makes me happy, even when you just like, sit next to me on the couch or hold my hand I’m happy” 

and Jungkook just legit bursts into tears and pulls you close, because really- he had absolutely no idea that he did and it makes him so over the moon. And he just like, happy cries into her shoulder and they sit for a while and end up going and getting chicken by the river or something for their date and to celebrate and Jungkook’s a little sniffly all night and holds you close because like yeah- you make him super happy too. 

and you know, no matter what happens with the others, as long as you have Jungkook you’ll be happy too. 

[mintypineapple]

dw ask game 1-36 and 38-100 DON'T ANSWER NUMBER 37 I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT CRYING

DaThanks, anon who is probably @truestoriesaboutme!

CHILDHOOD

1. Did you like DW as a child?

Depends. What do you consider a child? I saw Doctor Who for the first time when I was 16 or 17. Does that count? Let’s say that it does. I did enjoy it.

2. Your age at the time of the revival?

16.

3. First DW episode you ever saw?

An Unearthly Child. I wanted to watch it all in order! Still do! My first New Who episode was “Blink,” as forced upon me by @raisegrate. I did enjoy it.

4. Did you have any of the toys?

I didn’t at the time, but I do now. I have a couple of screwdrivers, a Fourth Doctor, an Ice Warrior, and not-quite-Legos of Doctors 1-11. (-WD)

5. Which DW character did you play on the playground?

N/A.

6. Monster(s) that scared you most as a child?

N/A. Nothing scares me.

7. Joke/story you didn’t get as a kid?

N/A. I get all jokes/stories.

8. DW opinion that has changed since you were a kid?

That the only way to watch it was from the very beginning. I eventually gave in and watched New Who before finishing Classic Who.

9. Who introduced you to DW?

Pretty sure I heard about it initially on a forum I went to called The Douglas Adams Continuum. That’s when I started watching the First Doctor. Again, @raisegrate showed me my first New Who. Eventually, I started watching New Who in its entirety with @catastrofries and they started watching Classic Who with me for @rassilonwatchathon.

10. Did you like Sarah Jane Adventures as a child?

Didn’t even know it existed as a child. But I liked it as an adult.

Read more under the cut. There’s a lot!

DOCTOR

11. Who is your Doctor?

One. He’s the first I saw and I’ve went through some of his more than once, due to the podcast, so he has a special place in my heart.

12. Your favourite Doctor?

It varies depending on the day. I quite like Two, Eleven, and Twelve, though.

13. Least favourite Doctor?

Possibly 5 or 13? More because they don’t get a whole lot to do, than them being bad.

14. Best regeneration?

Technically speaking, there’s something about that first one that is still so good. Emotionally speaking, Two’s regeneration is terrifying and I quite like Twelve’s speech before regenerating.

15. Do you like “Doctor-Lite” episodes?

Yeah! They’re all pretty good! Even “Love and Monsters!” Yeah, I said it! (The end is bad, but the rest is good.)

16. Who is the most human Doctor?

One calls himself human a handful of times. Does that count? If not, definitely Five. He seems the most like a regular guy in a weird situation out of all of them.

17. Best multi-Doctor story?

The Day of the Doctor, for sure.

18. Best Doctor monologue?

Eleven’s speech to young Amy in “The Big Bang.” That episode is just solid all around.

19. What do you think TenToo/MetaCrisis Doctor is doing now?

He’s definitely fucked off somewhere and abandoned Rose. He runs a cat cafe that is definitely a front for something, but no one can quite figure out what.

20. Best Doctor/companion pairing?

One/Barbara, Two/Jamie, Three/Jo, Four/Leela, Five/Tegan, (haven’t seen enough of Six, any of Seven, and I honestly don’t remember the companion for Eight), Nine/Rose (that’s the only option!), Ten/Donna, Eleven/Amy-Rory, Twelve/Clara, Ruth/Thirteen.

COMPANIONS

21. Favourite companion?

Classic Who: This is hard. Jamie? Sarah Jane? Leela? New Who: Donna Noble.

22. Favourite secondary companion?

Not sure what this means exactly... My second favorite? If so, I gave three for favorite Classic Who, so one of them. New Who: Rory.

23. Least favourite companion?

Classic: Ben Jackson or Peri. New: Ryan.

24. Best TARDIS Team?

Classic: Two, Jamie, and Zoe. New: Eleven, Amy, and Rory.

25. Most underrated companion?

I love Steven Taylor. I feel like he doesn’t get mentioned enough.

26. Most overrated companion?

Probably gonna get some hate for this, but Romana II. She’s good and I like her, but I was expecting a lot more. I honestly prefer Romana I.

27. Favourite companion’s family?

I love Rory’s dad.

28. Who should have been a companion but wasn’t?

Kamelion. AM I RIGHT? But seriously, Amelia Rumford from “The Stones of Blood.”

29. Favourite (canon or non-canon) DW universe relationship?

Amy/Rory.

30. Who did you not used to like, but really like now?

I hated Tegan when she first came on, but now I love her.

EPISODES

31. Favourite episode ever?

“Heaven Sent.”

32. Least favourite episode?

“Time-Flight” gave me a literal headache.

33. Which episodes do you skip?

NONE. Of course, I’ve not done any rewatches. YET.

34. Best two-parter?

“The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances” are the first New Who episodes that fully sold me on the show.

35. Historical, present day or futuristic episodes?

Give me the future and make it weird!

36. Episode that will always make you smile?

“The Myth Makers.”

37 HAS BEEN REDACTED.

38. Best run of episodes?

“Vincent and the Doctor” through “Day of the Moon” is pretty solid.

39. Best cliffhanger?

“Vengeance on Varos.” Hands fucking down.

40. Favourite Christmas special?

The answer to question 37. “A Christmas Carol.”

SERIES

41. Classic Who or New Who?

Yes please! (Though New Who will take this a little just because the pace is generally a lot better.)

42. Favourite series?

I’m not sure about Classic (I have a harder time thinking of them as different series), but New is definitely 5.

43. Least favourite series?

11.

44. Which series do you skip?

See 33.

45. Favourite series opening?

“The Eleventh Hour.” It’s just a lot of fun.

46. Favourite series finale?

“The Big Bang.” IT’S A GOOD SERIES.

47. Best series arc?

So I don’t sound repetitive and say Series 5 again, Clara’s arc in her last season is great.

48. Thoughts on series 11/12?

I find it largely boring and not well-written. Though there are some things I like! I love Ruth a bunch.

49. How much of Classic Who have you seen?

I’ve seen from “An Unearthly Child” to “The Two Doctors.” And the movie.

50. Who should have had another series?

Doctor: Nine. Or Eight. Or Ruth. Companion: Kamelion, but done better.

MONSTERS

51. Favourite monster/villain?

I love them Fuzzy Chicken Nuggets. (The Yeti.)

52. Most creative monster?

The Silence are an interesting concept.

53. Monster(s) that scares you most?

OAK AND QUILL from “Fury From the Deep.” Fuck those guys.

54. Monster you think is too easy to defeat?

I hate power level questions. Next.

55. Least favourite monster/villain?

I get really tired of the Daleks sometimes, y’all.

56. Monster you want to return?

Chumblies or quarks.

57. In your opinion, what makes a monster good?

The writing. You can do great things with most of them. Even the ones you dislike. Like, I hate the farting aliens, but they are occasionally used well.

58. Daleks, Cybermen or Weeping Angels?

If I had to pick, I’d say... Cybermen. Daleks are very samey and loud. Weeping Angels get less interesting every time they are used. But there’s a human element to the Cybermen that, when utilized, can be very effective and unsettling.

59. Best Dalek story?

The one where Two rides around on ones he made nice.

60. Best one time villain/monster?

I don’t know what it is, but whatever it is in “Midnight.”

ADDITIONAL MATERIAL

61. Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures?

SJA is more consistent, but the highs of Torchwood are higher.

62. Favourite Torchwood Team member?

Owen. But like... not season one Owen.

63. Which Torchwood death made you saddest?

See 62.

64. Do you rewatch COE or MD?

I haven’t rewatched anything yet. But I would rewatch COE before MD.

65. Favourite SJA Team member?

Clyde.

66. Mr Smith or K-9?

Mr. Smith is way more interesting. He had a villain arc!

67. Maria or Rani?

Rani.

68. Do you read the comics/novels or listen to Big Finish?

Some. I’m doing them as Patreon bonus episodes for @rassilonwatchathon​. I haven’t done much though.

69. If you do, your favourite additional stories?

“The Chimes of Midnight.” I’ve listened to it twice.

70. Do you like DW analysis (video essays, fan theories, etc)?

I do DW analysis for @rassilonwatchathon AND The Dipp. So yes. My fave is TARDIS Eruditorum, though.

I’LL ANSWER THE REST AT A LATER TIME. I MUST BE WITH MY PEOPLE NOW.