#i think in some circumstances she could be labeled that but in the ones where she originally appears she really doesn't

[irkendogma]

can i be so honest. i understand and i embrace the idea that within irken society the "defective" label is less an actual concrete descriptor based on any well-defined qualifications than a convenient excuse to separate and punish problem individuals from the general populace, but i just can't get behind the "because [character] acted out against what was strictly, to-the-letter expected of them, it means they're secretly defective and a tragic victim of the cruel society around them" tendency of the IZ fandom

i've seen this applied to tak, skoodge, tenn, both red and purple (usually at the same time), and probably more that i'm not remembering, and while i think there's something to be said for the principle that technically all irkens have potential to be classed as defective in the event their inherent traits manifest serving against rather than for the empire, i feel like the idea that this strictly outcasts and exonerates them from the environment in which they've spent their whole life is just kind of cheap on a writing level. mismatched traits or not, all of these characters act in service of the empire, often enthusiastically, and i truly don't think they consider themselves separate from it - hell, actual defective zim refuses any degree of separation at all, which i would be willing to consider as a coping mechanism if it weren't for the fact he brandishes that coping mechanism and goes in swinging on the empire's usual victims just the same as any non-defective would

like, i feel like people focus too hard on specific characters they like as "exceptions" to the irken empire rather than acknowledging the empire as a whole is a rotten concept mantled by everyone who contributes to it no matter how sympathetic - nearly every irken shown exhibits behavior i've seen used as some evidence for defectiveness or another. larb cries openly, skoodge is unnecessarily pleasant to others, tak places herself above the empire's rulings, tenn loses track of her mission and freaks out on camera, red and purple are openly casually affectionate to each other, sizz-lorr apologizes to a class of human children for interrupting them, bob outright snaps at the tallest repeatedly and ultimately talks back to them so loudly it's more like yelling back, and even background characters like the unseen irken purple commands to be thrown out of an airlock pipe up against authority when they're really not supposed to

any irken could potentially be defective and the reason i don't label them as such is for the same principle i mentioned initially on why the empire hasn't officially given them that label itself: it's used for individuals who cause problems for the empire, and as it is, sympathetic traits or not, these guys aren't doing that

[poisonlove]

Absolutely ignore/get rid of this is you don't wanna do it buttt

Can I request a Wednesday x Fem!reader where Wednesday has a general disregard for everyone and their feelings EXCEPT for her little situationship (reader) and it's just little instances where she's softer with her?

YOU | w.a

pairing: Wednesday Addams x reader

A/N : I tried to satisfy your request as much as possible but Wednesday and reader don't have a situationship, they will develop... something ;)

"The most precious things in life are usually the most helpless." Penn Badgley

Wednesday Addams walked along the corridors of Nevermore Academy with a brisk yet graceful step, the sound of her shoes against the cold marble determining her hurry to get to the library. The other students stepped aside as she passed, probably intimidated by her dark and menacing gaze that seemed carved into her features.

"Addams, one word"

Wednesday reluctantly stops, turning slightly and raising an eyebrow. Yoko Tanaka strides toward her, sunglasses perched on her head revealing a pleading look. Wednesday had no intention of wasting her time with her roommate’s best friend, but seeing the vampire in such a state of despair piqued her curiosity.

"What do you want Yoko?" Wednesday asked, her tone of voice deliberately rude. But the brunette didn't care at all.

"I need your help," Yoko began, trying to keep calm, but her voice betrayed a certain frustration. "Could you help me with Thornill's homework? I can't find the damn Moon Flower anywhere."

Wednesday could hardly believe her ears: how dare she interrupt her plans for something so stupid? With her classic impassive gaze, the brunette stared at Yoko in a prolonged silence that made her feel more and more uncomfortable.

"I don't care," Wednesday finally replied with venom and disinterest, surprising the vampire. "If you can't do such a stupid task, maybe you deserve to fail," the brunette added in a cutting tone.

"but it doesn't cost you anything!" Yoko exclaimed in despair.

Wednesday's behavior annoyed her deeply, but Yoko had hoped that following Enid's advice to be kind and tolerant would at least provide some relief. Apparently she was wrong.

"I said no, Yoko," Wednesday replied, her tone even more icy. Her gaze was steady and impenetrable, and her patience, already thin, was completely exhausted.

Yoko sighed deeply, realizing that pushing further would get her nowhere. She put her sunglasses back on in a quick, controlled motion, hiding her annoyance behind a forced smile. Her grin revealed her pointed canines, a gesture that might have seemed threatening in other circumstances, but here it only served to hide her irritation.

"ok, Addams"

with one last look, Yoko walked away, keeping that forced smile until she turned the corner. Wednesday didn't follow her with her gaze, already tired of that brief and, in her eyes, pointless interaction.

As she set off again, determined to finally reach the library, she was interrupted again. This time it was her two friends Ajax and Xavier who stopped her. The two approached quickly with an air of urgency that seemed to want to drag her into some other stupid discussion.

"Wednesday, can we talk to you for a moment?" Xavier asked hesitantly.

the brunette stopped again, clearly irritated now. her gaze narrowed to a slit of annoyance as she waited for them to speak.

"I have a problem with my new work... and I think you can help me," Xavier said, trying to be persuasive.

Wednesday looked at both of them coldly, her patience crumbling with every passing second. All of Nevermore ignored her and labeled her as the school freak, psychopathic and creepy... and now, by some strange twist of fate, everyone needed her today? She simply wanted to go to the library to further her research on poisons and their uses , see you , continue writing her story, or go to the cemetery later.

“I don't care,” she replied coldly, hoping Xavier would understand that she felt some urgency in leaving.

"Addams," Ajax intervenes, "I wanted to ask you for advice... you know that I'm interested in Enid and since you're her roommate..." the gorgon continues, purposely leaving the sentence hanging.

Wednesday stared at them in silence for a few moments, her impassive gaze betraying her impatience. "I don't care in the slightest about your problems and if you don't get out of my way immediately, I won't hesitate to make you regret this conversation" the brunette threatens in a low and cold tone.

Ajax and Xavier look at each other in confusion and fear, pondering Addams's words. They both knew Wedsnesday's reputation and the very real danger of being killed by the shorter girl terrified them.

they decided to step aside.

Wednesday continued on her way, completely ignoring them, while the two boys exchanged glances of resignation. The massive wooden doors finally loomed in the distance and the swarm of students' voices faded as she entered the less frequented part of Nevermore.

"WED!" an all-too-familiar voice shouts enthusiastically.

For the third time that day, Wednesday had to stop. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to suppress the killer instinct that threatened to surface and put an end to her blonde roommate's irritating exuberance. She was seriously starting to believe that it was a curse cast by her mother, some sort of psychological torture designed to test her patience. Unfortunately, it was far from her favorite torture, and she focused on something she knew would calm her down: you.

"Wednesday," Enid exclaimed, catching up with her with a beaming smile, "I was just looking for you... The Poe Cup is coming up again and we have to defend the title! You'll be there, right? We can't do it without you!"

Wednesday stared at the blonde, impassive. Entering the Poe Cup again was the last thing she wanted to do, but she knew Enid wouldn't give up so easily.

"I'll think about it," she replied, keeping her tone detached. She didn't want to seem too involved, but she didn't want to completely dampen Enid's enthusiasm either.

"Awesome!" Enid clapped her hands, thrilled by the response. Then she walked away, skipping happily down the hallway.

Wednesday watched her go, mentally wondering how Enid managed to maintain all that vitality. With a barely audible sigh, she finally resumed her walk towards the library. The brunette lifts the corners of her lips as she enters her haven of peace, looking at the shelves covered in books and dust.

the sound of footsteps echoes throughout the library, her figure getting lost among the endless avenues of shelves and books of Nevermore. Her diligently runs her fingers through the tomes, grazing their rough and fragile covers, the wisdom that hides within them. The few students who were there were busy reading or studying among the various desks scattered around that place, the silence broken only by the sound of the pages being turned.

but it is among those shelves that she finally sees: you

she knew basically the essential things about you: your name is Y/N; you are a year older than her, you are Italian, you love blue and your power is to control fire. You were very good friends with Yoko, for some strange reason, and you were a person who despite the aura of mystery and darkness that surrounded you, smiled and was kind to everyone.

she noticed you a few days ago and still hasn't figured out who you are. Were you really that nice? what's really bothering you Y/N?

Wednesday watched you intently, savoring your every move. She noticed the way you brushed your hair back from your face, the smile that lit up your face when you read something that excited you, and even the grimaces you made in response to bizarre or banal passages you encountered.

Some might call it stalking, but she's really just trying to understand you better.

her black eyes never left your figure: you were tall, you had a sharp jaw that accentuated your strong face and you had full lips that were somehow always ready to whisper something provocative or sarcastic. at that moment you had chosen to gather your hair in a messy bun, a practical choice but one that added a touch of carefree elegance to your appearance.

you were struggling with a pile of books that seemed to have a life of its own. Some had already fallen, scattering across the floor. You quickly bent down to pick them up, but each attempt only seemed to make things worse.

Were you disorganized or did your hunger for books make you so careless?

Wednesday realized it was the perfect time to come out of hiding. She approached you cautiously, then crouched down and picked up a couple of books. Her cold fingers landed on Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities by Amy Stewart, and a thin smile threatened to appear on her lips. She was almost certain that she was the only one, aside from maybe Thornill, who had read that book in the entire school. Finding out that you shared the same literary tastes hit her in a surprisingly pleasant way.

“Here.” Wednesday’s voice was almost a whisper, as if she were intimidated by the idea of an interaction.

your eyes lift from the floor to meet hers.

Wednesday held her breath. They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. You looked at her with curiosity, maybe surprise, but there was something in your eyes that made her feel strangely vulnerable.

“Thank you,” you croak embarrassedly, your cheeks pink knowing someone had witnessed your disaster.

“Maybe you should stop devouring more books than you can handle,” Wednesday said venomously. Her words were a wall behind which she hid the slight agitation she was trying to ignore.

you smile. Shouldn't you be annoyed by my answer?

"What's your name?" she asks curiously

Wednesday stared at you for a moment, cold as ever. “Wednesday,” she replied dryly, not giving anything away. But when you smiled again, the brunette felt a shiver run through her mind, one she tried desperately to ignore.

“Happy reading,” Wednesday adds quickly, turning around as she notices the slight look of confusion crossing your face. It was clear that you wanted to continue the conversation, maybe tell her your name, but Wednesday couldn’t stand there beside you without feeling her body boil.

she needed to leave the library and distract her mind

would have continued after the search, with the necessary calm

but there was an unexpected relief in knowing that she now knew her name

just like she knew yours.

A/N: yes I know, very inspired by the YOU series

[zarekthelordofthefries]

BG3 Companion Sexuality Headcanons

Astarion: Pansexual. Has a slight preference for men. Has a complicated relationship with feelings of attraction and connection, so doesn't usually like thinking about his own sexual identity. Thinks Wyll is the hottest other party member.

Lae'zel: Pansexual, kind of. Doesn't really relate to sex and gender in the same way as the Faerunian companions. Githyanki socially de-emphasize romance, and all sex is generally for pleasure since Vlaakith decides who bears eggs. Lae'zel is alloromantic, but romance isn't generally at the front of her mind in a relationship. Neither is gender; ultimately Lae'zel is attracted to conviction and fighting prowess, moreso even than anything physical.

Shadowheart: Bisexual. Very slight preference for men. (EDIT: I've rotated this in my mind after people pointed it out and I think actually Shadowheart has a slight preference for women.) Remained closeted into adulthood, not because the other Sharrans would discriminate against her (they generally don't care about sexuality) but because she wanted to impress everyone with how well she could keep the secret. Also, excessively kinky.

Gale: Bisexual. Has more experience with women than with men, but that has more to do with circumstances than preference. Though physical appearance isn't not a factor, he would probably describe himself as a sapiosexual; he's attracted to knowledge, intellectual curiosity, and strong opinions. Had crushes on several teachers in wizard school.

Wyll: Bisexual. Realized he wasn't just attracted to women at a young age, and his father was very supportive. No preference between genders, but one of his favorite things to do is court gentlemen exactly the same way he courts ladies; he likes being the devoted chivalric prince to men since he knows it's less common for them to be flattered and told they're beautiful.

Karlach: Pansexual. Years of being unable to make genuine connections with anyone have made her horny for affection, kindness, and commitment. Maybe had some gender preference before going to Hell, but her time there has given her lots of time to consider basically any options. Has at least a slight crush on basically every other party member.

Halsin: Pansexual. No gender preference. Halsin has had centuries to explore his sexuality, and his robust understanding of nature gives him a non-binary perspective on gender and sex. Nothing is a casual fling for this dude, though -- if you show the slightest bit of interest in him he will dedicate his whole heart to you. And also anyone else who shows interest in him at the same time.

Minthara: I didn't actually have Minthara in my party, but from what I've seen she seems like a pretty traditional drow, and when I think of drow and sexuality I sort of imagine a reverse of ancient Greek customs; bisexuality is the norm, men are prized for their beauty and for marriagibility, but it's expected that women will also have flings with other women, and those relationships are often considered more meaningful. I imagine Minthara follows those lines, being bisexual and assuming she may one day marry a beautiful man but being more inclined to meaningful, affectionate relationships with women, due to her own prejudices moreso than preference between genders.

Jaheira: Thought she was straight for the first century of her life, but has more recently opened up to other possibilities. Isn't particularly interested in marriage or a deep interpersonal romance at this point in her life, but she has entered a state of questioning her sexuality -- she's just not super interested in experimenting with actual relationships. She's got more important stuff to do. Did have a fling with Ninefingers that neither of them tell anyone about.

Minsc: Doesn't like labels. Minsc isn't interested in finding a partner, doesn't really care about sex, and is enthusiastic about romance mainly when other people do it. He hasn't given a lot of thought to where he might fall on any sexual/romantic spectrum, but he definitely sees beauty in all of his friends. He will give you the most heartfelt and often embarassing compliments on your personality, style, and appearance. Does that mean he's attracted to you? Maybe, maybe not, but there's definitely something queerplatonic going on.

[elliespuns]

There's a constant battle between the "Joel Miller apologists" and "Joel Miller critics" about whether he is or is not a bad person.

I think everything is not only black or white. I think Joel Miller is the exact illustration of being a unique mix of black and white, creating a fine shade of gray. 

As a Joel Miller apologist myself, I don't think saving Ellie was a bad thing. Do I think it was selfish? Yes. It doesn't mean it's bad, though. Sure, Ellie hated it, but she also made sure he learned his lesson when she let him taste just how unsatisfied she was with his decision. He literally paid for what he did with the most precious thing he had—he lost so much time with someone he loved more than his own life. It slipped between his fingers because he was being selfish, not bad.

That being said, Joel's decision back in the hospital was understandable, and even though it was controversial, he wasn't a bad person for choosing this way. He put the life of a person he loved too much above anyone else's, exactly as every parent would have. I'd be seriously questioning the goodness of his heart if he hadn't.

But the real question the parties involved like to fight about is whether Joel is a bad person or not in general.

I don't think Joel is an individual who can even be labeled good or bad. I stick with what I said—a perfect mix of black and white. There were times when nobody would consider Joel a good man, let alone himself. He did some things. Things we never got to know about but can only imagine how awful they had to be. He hurt, tortured, and killed people. No matter what reason he had to become the person he was after he lost his daughter, he certainly wasn't a good person at this part of his life. 

Although I also believe that if someone is a bad person by nature, they'd never admit it to themselves. Joel did. He acknowledged the fact that he did some pretty fucked-up shit.

I think that if Joel was a bad man, he'd never turn his life around to become the man he was always thriving to be. I don't think being bad was doing him any good. Yes, maybe it relieved some of the unimaginable and unbearable pain he felt after losing his child, but he hated himself in the process, so maybe, maybe being bad was hurting him more than those who watched him do it (Tommy).

Overall, I think Joel was a good person who never knew what being bad was like until his kid died in his arms. It changed the root of him. The circumstances of harsh reality changed his perception of life he was left to endure without the one thing he loved the most. Not being able to either live or kill himself, he started hurting (killing) others instead. He didn't care. He lost the ability to feel. He had nothing to lose, and with Tommy constantly being an obstacle in taking his own life (as I can imagine his brother would never leave his side back then to keep an eye on him), Joel became the exact opposite of what he could never be before the tragedy.

Then Ellie came into his life. Joel was trapped in a dark corner of his mind, and then the light appeared in the form of a girl who showed him the right way again. The goofy firecracker was a beam of light amid the darkness that kept surrounding him, and that was when Joel woke up from the dead and started to feel and observe again. Ellie was the reason why he slowly started becoming the man he was before Sarah. 

He had a past where he wasn't a good person; that's beyond dispute. But he surely did more good in his life than bad, and I think this speaks a lot about a person who became a complete mush of an individual at the end.

[genericpuff]

The Extended Mishandling of LO's S3 Midseason Finale Premiere

Alright, so I had mentioned leading up to the release of the newest LO episode that my feelings regarding LO returning were pretty "meh". Not hyped, but not completely back of mind either. Just sort of a weird calm before the storm type feeling that could go either way.

I'm glad I got to have that moment of calmness because good god, this episode was an absolute shitshow. And honestly, I'm not surprised, for several reasons:

Rachel has never been good at maintaining a buffer, even back at the start of the series she only ever had 2-3 episodes ready ahead of her schedule which is NOT an ideal buffer for an originals series.

Rachel has never been good at writing, she's very "draw first write later" and has stated as such in interviews that when she gets 'stuck' on what she's writing, she'll just start drawing and fit the pieces in later.

Four months is NOT enough time to both rest, attend massive conventions, and work on improving a project while also getting buffer episodes ready.

Because of the FP episodes remaining locked over the hiatus, technically Rachel only needed to have ONE episode ready upon return for the newest FP release, not multiple like she'd usually need like in the past during the S2 midseason hiatus or the season finale episodes which would unlock those FP releases like normal - so for all we know, she could have drawn this episode literally last week, especially when the promo material was so last minute. Frankly I think it was REALLY stupid for whoever it was who decided to keep these FP episodes locked (whether it was her or WT, it was more likely WT) but you can read all I have to say about that in my review of the midseason finale episodes.

All that's to say, no, there was never any guarantee Rachel was going to somehow "turn around" the ride we're currently on. I know that many of the critics were hoping for that to happen, but with the circumstances of the hiatus mixed with Rachel's bad habits of putting her best efforts into the procrastination projects that aren't her actual comic (ex. the few original pieces and LO sketches she put out during the hiatus) it just wasn't in the cards. This is where the comic is at and this is where it will remain until it's over.

I want to also point something out about this episode that was... really glaring to me.

As with all of these hiatus returns, LO got priority advertising in the first two banner slots and push notifications AND a popup ad within the app. This is unsurprising, Webtoons is still trying to milk this thing for what it's worth.

I know a lot of people are gonna focus on the art, or the fact that WT is continuing to shill LO, but I wanna point out the part that WT implemented specifically - "NEW SEASON".

This is literally just false. At best I'd like to think some intern just messed up and thought this was a new season, but it's literally not, the episode designation still says "S3". Note that the creators only design the banner art, the actual labels on top are put there by Webtoons.

But at worst, this feels like blatant lying to continue to hide the fact that LO is ending. Mind you, Rachel and Webtoons have still not put out official posts stating that this is the final arc. There is NOTHING from either of them to communicate to the audience that the comic is ending next year. It feels like they're trying to avoid the topic altogether out of fear of losing the fanbase they still have, rather than hyping up the comic's end for those who have stuck around to see how it all wraps up. And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case, considering they're now trying to funnel the fanbase into Penguin/Inklore with new marketing deals and the whole Rachel Smythe Presents thing. They're trying to make this seem like the beginning of something "new" when it's really just a quiet shifting of management (Penguin House).

But all that aside, let's actually get into the episode. It's one episode after 4 months, which is not standard for LO's hiatuses, typically FP episodes release on schedule (meaning free readers start hiatuses 3 weeks after FP readers do), the only time this has been an exception has been with the 2 week breaks because the whole point of those was to build a buffer (which you can't do if you're going ahead and releasing the FP episodes anyways). For extended hiatuses like these, usually free readers still get their FP episodes, but that wasn't the case here. That means Rachel technically only needed one episode ready for the comic's return, and it shows. It really fucking shows.

FROM HERE ON OUT THERE WILL BE FASTPASS SPOILERS REGARDING EPISODE 254. DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED !!!

As per tradition, we get a title that means nothing at all. It just says what we already know.

Our collective husband Zeus is dying, no thanks to the poison cupcake fed to him by Apollo. For those who don't remember, Apollo had tricked Zeus into eating the cupcake by making him believe it was from Hebe. We are fully aware that it was Apollo who poisoned him. Remember that for later in this review.

Right off the bat we're off to a hilarious start, both with a cryptid appearance from Apollo in the background (lmao) who is, for some reason, ALREADY returning to the scene of the crime he just committed because... who knows at this point. Apollo and Psyche know it was Apollo at this point, I might add, but I have no clue why Apollo is actually returning to the scene of the crime when he has no idea Eros and Psyche know.

Moving on from that, can we talk about this hilarious dialogue?

"We have to call a doctor! Let's call Asclepius!"

"No, we can't trust him! Gosh darn it, why are we only bothering to think of ONE doctor in this universe where we've seen more than one doctor?? Guess Zeus is just gonna die! What a horribly contrived situation this is!"

And that's literally how I can best describe most of this episode. Contrived. There is a LOT of manufactured drama in this that makes ZERO sense even on a surface level.

And what do you mean exactly, Eros? "What a terrible system!" Is this supposed to be a joke? Lampshading? We've seen Persephone go to the gynecologist. There are non-god doctors who tend to gods all the time here.

Eros just doesn't seem to be that pressed over this, he sounds like Ned Flanders and that's NOT a good way to open up a scene like this... let alone an episode people have been waiting four months for.

Anyways, after a few pointless reaction panels (again remember I have to cut a lot of what I show here for Tumblr image limitations but I promise you, I'm keeping as much important stuff as I can in this, there's just THAT MUCH filler at this point), Eros and Psyche confront Apollo and he is... good god.

There is... so much to unpack here.

First of all, remember those theories about how Rachel was clearly trying to write Apollo as this "secret twist villain" the whole time but it doesn't work because Apollo is simultaneously written as both a 'conniving villain' and a massive dumbass at the same time?

Well, I finally have a more appropriate term for him. He's your average red pill redditor - someone who thinks he's smarter than everyone else when really all he does is sit on reddit all day using big words incorrectly in arguments he gets himself into with a bunch of equally-air-headed dumbasses.

"You can't possibly understand the nuances of the Olympian political system," Apollo said proudly, a man who had, ironically and obliviously, run for president in a monarchy. The union of kettle and pot is eternal.

He's the Slappable Jerk but instead of it being a painfully hilarious impression, it's just painful and hilarious for all the wrong reasons.

this is so stupid because it's 1.) Eros pointing out how obvious Apollo's plan was, despite Apollo acting smart two seconds ago with a goddess who, mind you, has been a goddess for ten years, and 2.) patricide isn't even intrinsically linked to politics, there's nothing 'political' about a guy trying to kill his dad except in, idk, a monarchy, which again, Apollo has spent ten years trying to rise to power in as a president which is a completely different form of government.

If I wanted to be really granular with this, I'd like to think Apollo is making some kind of point about the critics who call out LO's whack as fuck political system (especially in the trial arc) - as if he's saying "well you're just a stupid reader and this is fantasy where you don't understand exactly what political system we're using, so shut the fuck up you stupid twig" - but I don't think it's meant to be that deep. I think it's just Rachel trying to write a smart character and then failing at it because she, herself, is not a smart writer. And I'm really inclined to believe that more than the theory about this being some kind of meta-narrative about the critics because this entire plotline is contrived and stupid down to its core.

I did not cut anything out here, that's the pacing. Leto literally just appears out of nowhere and uh oh spaghettio's, she has Kassandra! Remember Leto? The character we were led to believe was truly "pulling the strings" until she disappeared from the story completely after she realized that Apollo and Persephone weren't a thing, even going so far as to call out her own son for being a fucking dumbass? Well, she's back and once again she's being involved as some kind of "double agent" in this whole thing, even though we literally haven't seen her since halfway through S2.

"Mm yes, you're so stupid, falling into my trap! Even though you had no reason to remember Kassandra anyways because she's literally a mortal woman you just met and you yourself have committed acts of violence against mortals without a shred of care! I'm so smart! My plan is all coming together!"

We've never seen Apollo do anything except cry and poop his pants, the closest he got to being "powerful" was his attempts to murder Daphne (who he seems to have forgotten about in this "master plan" of his) but ultimately he's literally just a piss ant baby and there's no reason to believe that he could somehow outmatch the God of Love who can literally manipulate people's emotions and states of mind with his arrows. But yeah sure go off, you're so powerful and smart.

The worst part is, I can't even buy this as the narrative trying to be like "see how manipulative and conniving he is?" because it's just silly. We've SEEN this man cry with his victim complex, we've seen him say and do the DUMBEST things that don't lend to any amount of "intelligence" he may have, it comes across less as him being "smart the whole time" and more as him trying to sound smart but ultimately sounding incredibly stupid. And I can't even immerse myself into it and buy that maybe that's the point, because it doesn't feel like the point, it just feels like inconsistent writing, he doesn't feel like a 'threat', he's just monologuing.

Bad art and Apollo literally just repeating what Leto already implied so this is a waste of the audience's time.

This is the funniest panel in the whole episode because I can't tell if Apollo is supposed to be in the background (for some reason, despite him literally being in front of Eros and Psyche two seconds ago) or if he's in the foreground and just REALLY small for some reason. This is so off-putting. And of course, it's just Apollo explaining what we're ALREADY SEEING ONSCREEN.

You see, in addition to this episode being contrived, it also talks down to its audience a LOT by explaining exactly what we're seeing onscreen. It's like Rachel saw the criticisms about her not including enough to depict what's actually going on in her head and so she thought the solution was to spoon feed information over pictures that are already doing the job of explaining what's going on. Rachel really doesn't know how to write and even when she tries to implement changes that reflect criticisms that have been made of her writing, she somehow makes things worse because she completely misses the point of what those criticisms are trying to get across.

Anyways, without even trying to resist (for some reason) Eros and Psyche get sentenced to horny jail.

They're now trapped in a basement that Leto somehow has in her home. How do we know that?

HAHAHA FUNNY LAMPSHADING SO FUNNNYYYYYYY

Leto claims that they shouldn't try to escape because the dungeon is "enchanted", but she doesn't even bother to explain what that means. So they literally don't bother trying. They don't try to call her bluff, they don't try to teleport out of there, they literally just go "well shoot", shrug their shoulders, and accept their fate. Just like with the whole "we can't trust the only doctor we bothered to think of" situation, Eros and Psyche are turning out to be some of the stupidest, lowest-effort characters in this comic who literally can't be bothered to try because that would require too much brain power.

Notice how much time we've spent on this and we haven't gotten back to where the cliffhanger of the last episode left off? Well buckle up because there's still more to cover.

So it turns out Hebe was still inside with her dad, in FULL VIEW of what was going on through glass which is somehow COMPLETELY soundproof, and when Apollo steps inside, she just has no idea what happened. She never bothered to even look outside to see what was going on with Eros and Psyche, she's just been sitting on the floor staring at Zeus' dead face for what was likely several minutes, unless Rachel is seriously trying to convince us that conversation and hostage negotiation from earlier only took 2 seconds. The timeline is such a mess at this point that characters basically freeze in place as soon as they're not the focus of the scene.

Apollo rushes inside, acting shocked over the situation, and when Hebe asks where Eros and Psyche are (again, she could have just looked out the window at any time), he's just like "dur idk they just left lol" which Hebe just... buys, I guess.

That's just Persephone but yellow. She's even missing her beauty mark.

See how Apollo put his hand on Zeus' chest/shoulder by the way?

Apparently, despite Mr. Smarter Than Everyone Else trying to pretend it wasn't him, he's able to discern that Zeus is dying from a toxic and rare poison just from touching him. He doesn't even really seem to use his powers, he just touches him and goes "welp he's dead i guess lol don't bother asking me how I know that".

But oh nooo remember that note from before? Well gasp Apollo's gonna use it to frame Hebe! In front of no one else at all!

Hebe of course says she didn't write it, but Apollo continues to try and frame her anyways, even though, again, there's no one else present here, and so it effectively just becomes the most absurd form of gaslighting I've ever seen.

Again, THERE IS NO ONE ELSE HERE IN THE SCENE. He's just trying to claim she did it to absolutely no one at all, in the hopes of... what exactly? That she'll just take the fall for something she knows she didn't do? That she'll somehow be convinced? It's not like Hebe has the same thing going on as Persephone where she has a 'wrathful dark side' he could pin it on, this is just a criminal who just robbed a building pointing at the first person they see and yelling "YOU DID IT!"

All I'm saying is that Apollo would be really bad at Among Us. He'd be the type of player to kill someone, hit the report button, then claim yellow did it which, even if he DID convince the rest of the team, would still get kicked anyways as soon as yellow was proven through the eject to not be the imp and everyone would go "okay cool so yellow wasn't the imp, that means obviously it's purple self-reporting." It's a trick that doesn't even work anymore because of how old it is. Hebe isn't a child here, she's an 18 year old woman who should be fully capable of raising an eyebrow and wondering why Apollo is this quick to accuse her - almost like he's trying to hide the fact that he did it.

But Hebe can't catch onto this, just like Eros and Psyche, she has to act stupid for the sake of the plot.

At first I thought maybe Rachel was trying to do some "whodunit" scenario, but that doesn't work here because we already know who did it. And while there are stories that exist like that that pull it off (ex. Knives Out) the problem with trying to do this the way Rachel did is that the person being framed has to have this thing called motive. The reason why Knives Out and Glass Onion work so well is because the person who was murdered (or conspired against) is someone who is being targeted by multiple people who could all be the murderer. It's quite literally called out in Glass Onion as a form of smart lampshading. "It's like putting a loaded gun on the table, and turning off the lights."

But it doesn't work here because Hebe does not have motive. If you're going to attempt to frame a murder on someone, it has to be someone who would have reasonable motive to commit that murder, even if they didn't actually commit it.

And who among Zeus' children has motive?

What about the war-mongering bloodthirsty god of war who has been regularly sentenced to time in the Mortal Realm to fight in wars in which he's been regularly injured?

What about the chaos-seeking wrathful goddess who would do it to get revenge on the parental figure who cast her aside, or even just for the fun of saying she did it?

Why try and pin it on Hebe, the doting daughter of Zeus who's only had a collective of maybe 20 panels in the entire comic?

But then I realized... it's not Knives Out, it's the fucking Lion King.

Which is just as contrived - if not more - than the assumption this was gonna be some attempt to frame Hebe. It's not. He's literally just trying to keep her from assuming it was him. He could have just as easily played dumb without calling attention to the note but he intentionally went out of his way to try and be Scar from The Lion King , while completely missing the point of why that scene worked in the original movie.

Scar wasn't trying to 'frame' Simba for Mufasa's murder. He was trying to hide the murder, while also attempting to get the only heir to the throne out of the picture, so he passed the guilt of the death onto Simba - a child who, unlike Hebe, wouldn't have the ability to rationalize or realize his uncle his a scumbag - who then ran away from home because he was too terrified to face his family for what happened, assuming that it was all his fault when it wasn't.

That's not how this is panning out here. Hebe is the now 18 year old daughter of Zeus, and not one of his only children. She doesn't even fit into the whole "sons overthrowing their fathers" prophecy like Aries would. Apollo is literally just being a big idiot here by saying "well I'm gonna give you a headstart to run away, because if you stay, I might hurt you" (which btw, should be MORE of a smoking gun that Apollo did it??)

And again, it's all so contrived so that the plot can move forward. "Well I'm going to frame you for this murder, but y'know, you should just leave, I'm not gonna try and press it further lmao"

Again, Apollo is a fucking idiot here, because he just attempted to frame someone who has NO MOTIVE to harm Zeus, to absolutely NO ONE at all who would side with him, only to let her go which would leave her to question why Apollo would try to accuse and harm her in the first place before considering other options. And through ALL this he claims he's the smart one, which I can't even be bothered to "love to hate" because it's written so poorly.

And really it all comes down to how everyone else behaves in relation to Apollo that makes it so stupid and unbelievable. Apollo, you're not smart just because all the characters around you are intentionally being written to be as stupid and non-confrontation as possible. If you can only write a smart villain by making everyone else stupid, you haven't written a smart villain, you've written a dumbass whose victory only happens due to contrived plot convenience. It's not even done well like in Glass Onion, it's just bad writing, full stop.

And who does he call to report this emergency? The satyr police? His son the doctor?

No.

The media. Literally just "hello, the media?? I need your best journalist here stat!"

I need you to understand, even if he were calling a tabloid magazine like The Weekly Nark, you don't just... call a journalist to report a murder. These are not the actions of someone who's trying to absolve himself of guilt, these are the actions of a complete dumbass trying to get news coverage of his trophy kill who would be better off just playing dumb instead of trying to play smart. Even Walter White wasn't this fucking stupid despite all the times he fell on his own sword, Apollo is literally just instigating suspicion towards himself for no reason at all. He's self-reporting so hard and worst of all, you can't even take any of this seriously because of how corny it is. There's no dramatic tension, no stakes, it's just a bunch of characters performing in a really bad stage play and reducing every conflict to "well I guess Zeus is just dead now because no one's bothering to make an effort to stop Apollo or ask questions lmao"

It's truly the epitome of "this plot wouldn't exist if characters would just talk to each other."

But finally, FINALLY we mention the thing this episode is named after, the transition point to Persephone.

Just like with the midseason finale episode, there's a lot to cover here, so I'm gonna get more into it in a part two post.

That said, you can see already this is the messiest, most contrived bullshit to ever wind up in LO. It's trying so hard to be smart and it just comes across as a bunch of toddlers in the world's worst stage play rendition of Clue. None of what was done here was in any way dramatic or tense, it's just a bunch of characters infodumping shit we already know, trying to set up new plot threads that don't make any sense, and allowing one another to get away with what they're doing because they don't bother to even try.

It's completely manufactured, contrived nonsense. It's not "smart", it's not "so dumb it's brilliant", it's just dumb.

[isawken]

disco elysium and transmasculinity:

i don't want to be this kind of animal anymore

there is no such thing as an inherently masculine trait, only those which we have culturally prescribed to be masculine. muscular, tall, strong, stoic. self-destructive. repressive. angry. unhinged. violent. addictive.

Disco Elysium markets itself with the tagline “what kind of cop are you?”. to put it bluntly: you get to choose what man you want to be. the actual gameplay mechanic is the game keeps track of your dialogue choices and, among other RPG things, neatly divvies them up into 4 main Cop Categories: Sorry Cop, Apocalypse Cop, Superstar Cop, Boring Cop. after some time establishing your identity you can branch off into 3 other copotypes: honor cop, art cop, and hobocop. These are all exactly what you think they would be.

a supremacist stands tall, immovable, shirtless, tattooed, in the way of one of your objectives, and if you let him he will tell you all the ways your body betrays your degeneracy. all the indulgences you make, with drugs and alcohol and sex, are allegedly clear as day written across your reddened swollen face. you are not a man. you are pathetic. a pair of women reassure his divine masculinity even when he admits his impotence. there’s no denying it: that’s one man of a man right there.

your former detective partner is an eternally scowling pockmark faced asshole. he approaches every interaction with you with a nice solid baseline of aggression. if you choose to put your points into something called “espirit de corps”, you get small vignettes of his previous actions. in one of them, it’s joked that you two are near-marital in your relationship. in some of them, he worries about you. muttering under his breath, mostly to himself, not unkindly. but he certainly never shows that to you face to face. 

two old men play pétanque outside every day by the sea. they have done this for years. they have known each other since they were kids. one is a fascist, the other a democratic socialst. if you’re nosy, you can go to the watchman’s post and find a picture of him, his socialist buddy, and a young woman whose attentions they supposedly both vied for. if you decide to become a fascist, the game gives you something more. your abilities Pain Threshold, Composure, Endurance, Volition, Conceptualization, and Inland Empire take turns showing you tiny slices of a truth viciously stamped beneath the heel of his brilliant boot. a love for his dear hated socialist. and when he dies, that socialist tells you the same. but they never told each other. never even came close. because how could you?

harry dubois wakes up face down ass up covered in piss and vomit and full of foggy confusion after drinking himself into amnesia. he's tall, he's got giant arms, a proud beer gut, and he's self-destructed himself into literal oblivion. this pitiful bastard doesn't even remember his own name. the first person he encounters outside of the hotel room in which he fucked himself up beyond his limbic system’s reach tells him at some point during his bingeful weekend she heard him scream, "i dont want to be this kind of animal anymore". you don’t know why you said this. but after a while you have some pretty good guesses.

i could talk forever about the unique circumstances of growing up as a girl in modern western society. but i have nothing interesting to say that hasn't already been said much more eloquently. learning to hate my body, learning to be afraid, learning that you need to want to be consumed. the eternal unpacking of all the issues a patriarchal society burdens you with. it never ends. but i've at least reached a point where i've done my base legwork. i know the oppression i've fought. it is nameable. i have labeled each and every patriarchal burden like a so many papers in a filing cabinet. few are going in the shredder, but at least they're known. next to that filing cabinet, i have a big pile of loose papers slowly sliding off a desk with the word "masculinity" in neon lights flickering above them. i want to dive into those papers. but the thought of it fills me with such apprehension. i've always wanted masculinity. i've purposefully adopted affectations to make myself more stereotypically masculine. most are hilariously shallow, and not exactly innovative. i smoked camels for 8 years. i drink my coffee black. i picked up a nice little alcohol habit. i've shoved down more feelings than i would ever willingly admit in the hopes to appear unbothered. I’ve told myself to “man the fuck up” my fair share of times. none of it got rid of my hips or my tits or my anxiety or my painfully high pitched voice. i’ve quit smoking. i sometimes think i should start again for many reasons, but one is in the hope that my voice will drop. just one octave. at least. it’s silly, i know. believe me. i know.

when harry drags his sorry ass out of that hotel room, he isn't free of his past. he has shadows in his mind reminding him of the things he's forgotten. shadows that still influence his views of masculinity. there is no way to truly escape the bitter leaden paint stuck to the inside of your mind so violently applied by our beloved patriarchal society. there is a hilarious dialogue option where, if you so choose, you can proclaim that you would never let anyone androgynous touch your hair. because the “others” (unnamed) would laugh at you. here we have a man who cant remember his own name, but he is certain that he absolutely cannot under any circumstances have a non-manly haircut for fear of mockery and rejection by his peers. how many coats of that leadened paint must have adhered to his poor, poor limbic system that even when he’s forgotten the concept of money, he still knows about the boundaries of masculinity.

 as harry tries to be a good person (or a fascist or a doom prophet or a disco superstar) he cannot really shake the pieces of himself that make him him. and he meets another bastion of masculinity, kim kitsuragi immeasurably measured, willful, and kind (for a cop), he helps you rediscover the world around you as you try to rewrite your tabula rasa'd self. he is firm, but nice. he lets you make your choices and mistakes. and he only stops supporting you when you start fucking up like, literally everything, and indulging in racism. naturally, there is a lot of fanart of them kissing, and yearning. both are beacons of masculinity, different sides of the same coin. where harry is physically imposing, kim is slight. where kim is calm cool and collected, harry will break down crying after a brief conversation with his necktie. but both are undeniably masculine. i mean, they’re cops after all. what more masculine profession is there?

as kind as kim is to you in your lowest possible state, it can be easy to overlook the ways in which he is not kind. when you tell him you think you really, seriously, need to go to the hospital, seriously kim i can't even remember my name i think i could have brain damage, kim responds with the equivalent of "walk it off" by encouraging you to start working on the case and see if that makes you feel better instead. it is in this light that you recognize which affectations of his are conscious posturing. his fitted jacket and trousers, matching the uniforms worn by air brigades in a past war. his careful collection of tools he keeps in his beloved kineema. his vast knowledge and care for the car itself. looked at in a certain different light- you know the one- you could see these traits being the result of a very careful construction. he found pieces of overt masculinity and decided to subsume them as a defense. a bolstering, a reinforcement of chosen masculinity.

there are so many different flavors of masculinity that the game offers you to experience and explore yourself. you decide whether to value them. you can follow in mister phenology’s footsteps and try to build yourself into a supremacist ideal. maybe that will make you happy. you can also chase after a barely-coded homosexual man, who makes you stutter in most available dialogue options. even if that may make you happy, you don’t get to pursue it. you can think for 20 hours about the "homosexual underground", but you can't join it yourself. you can however join fascism. interesting how harry is more susceptible to fascism than homosexuality. interesting to prod and poke at his masculine limits.

“what kind of cop are you” is a loaded question. harry is rebuilding himself from the ground up as a man. and how funny is it to learn that is inextricable from his profession.

what do you find inextricable from your gender? what of those traits make you happy? what of those traits make you want to throw your fucking shoe through a god damn window and punch the bathroom mirror and scream and scream and scream and scream?

i want to emerge from a hotel room, at my lowest point, and have the power to rebuild myself from scratch. i want a cool man who i maybe want to kiss guide me with a gentle yet firm hand. i want to have large arms, and a proud beer gut, and a stupid beard, and i want to destroy a hotel room and drink myself into a beautifully tragic state. i want to have non-political body hair. i want to get stared at for my gaudy tie and green snakeskin shoes instead of my tits. i want become a different kind of animal.

[nobodysdaydreams]

In Honor of All Saints Day, Here's Some Random Assumptions About My Followers Based on Their Favorite Saints 😇

Please note this is a merely for fun and not meant to offend anyone, please be kind, thank you. Also, I obviously can't possibly include every saint here, so I'm just gonna stick to some of the ones I think are most likely to be favorites of my followers.

Saint Joan of Arc- I'll start with arguably the most popular one, or at least the one I see posted or discussed online the most. If your favorite saint is St. Joan of Arc, there's a good chance you're an atheist who doesn't vibe with saints in general, but likes her because she's a girl with a sword and that's objectively awesome. You're correct for that, and welcome to the post. Another option is that you're a girl who was labeled a "tomboy" growing up.

Saint Paul- if your favorite saint is St. Paul, you have a blog or a significant portion of your blog dedicated to one ex-villain character whose redemption arc you could rewatch on loop for hours. You also might be Protestant, and yes, this particular St. Paul is the same Paul from the Bible. Welcome to the post. ✝️

Saint Olga- if your favorite saint is St. Olga, you support women's rights, but more importantly, you forgive women's wrongs. There have been several times when you've gotten upset about people questioning the validity of a female character's redemption considering her past when they overlook and forgive way worse done by male characters. There's also a chance you might be Orthodox. Welcome to the post. ☦️

Saint Nicholas- if your favorite saint is St. Nicholas, there is a chance you followed me for TMBS content. Your favorite holiday is Christmas, and you're still hyperfixated on the same book series or television show from your childhood. You're also extremely passionate about your fandoms and can't stand it when people grossly misinterpret characters or things in canon.

Saint Benedict- if your favorite saint is St. Benedict, you also probably followed me for TMBS content. You're also a very humble and unproblematic person but the haters are bitter and always trying to bring you down (via their jealousy and also poison, but you can't be stopped).

Saint Scholastica- if your favorite saint is St. Scholastica, you also might have followed me for TMBS content because you know that she's Benedict's twin sister. You also wish that God would summon storms for you whenever you find your brother annoying.

The Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus- if you picked the Virgin Mary, you're neurodivergent, specifically the type of neurodivergent who loved those card games where characters had different levels of power. You take a similar approach to picking your favorite saint, so why wouldn't you go straight for the one that is objectively the most powerful and the best one? It just makes to most sense to you, and the thing is, you're right. You're 100% right. Congrats!

Saint Cecilia- if your favorite saint is St. Cecilia, you're a musician and were in choir either at school or church. You also probably are/were a theater kid.

Saint Lawrence- if your favorite saint is St. Lawrence, you were definitely a theater kid and tried stand up comedy at least once. You also use jokes and humor to cope with stressful situations.

Saint Josephine Bakhita- if your favorite saint is St. Josephine, you are one of those people who somehow remains positive and sees the sliver lining in literally any circumstance. Don't get me wrong, I love that for you, but please take care of yourself. 🫂❤️‍🩹

Saint Dymphna- if your favorite saint is St. Dymphna, you are neurodivergent, have struggled with mental illness, work in psychiatric or medical care, or you’ve dealt with a lot in your life, and I hope you heal. 🫂❤️‍🩹

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha- if your favorite saint is Saint Kateri, you're sick of your relatives pressuring you to date someone, and you're extremely worried about climate change (girl, me too).

Saint Anthony- if your favorite saint is St. Anthony, you have ADHD and lose things multiple times a week. On the off chance you followed me for Wolf359 content, you identified way too strongly with Doug Eiffel.

Saint Peter- if your favorite saint is saint Peter, you either watch "The Chosen" or you have ADHD and felt seen when you read about him in the Bible. That man boldly declared he would never deny Jesus and when told he would do it before a rooster crowed three times, to which he confidently replied "nah" and then immediately got distracted and preoccupied with cutting some guy's ear off and forgot all about the oddly specific terrible thing he was prophesied to do just a few hours earlier by a man he believed to be God incarnate. As someone who also breaks down in tears when I suddenly remember the important things I forget to keep track of, I sympathize with his story. Saint Dymphna is patroness of most mental illness and ADHD is technically covered by her, but if we ever get an ADHD specific saint, I know it has to be either be Peter or Anthony, and if it were entirely up to me, I'd give it to Peter. Don't get me wrong, Saint Anthony is there for us, but Saint Peter is one of us, you know what I mean? Though I feel like due to the problematic nature of diagnosing the deceased (no matter how evident symptoms might be) it would end up going to Anthony, since we do call on him often, and I think Peter would be fine with that.

Saint Mark Ji Tianxiang- if your favorite saint is St. Mark Ji Tianxiang, you or someone you know is probably in recovery from addiction, and I wish you well on your journey. You also empathize way too much with any character who suffers from addiction and if you followed me for Wolf359, that was the aspect of Doug Eiffel's character that stood out to you the most. 🫂❤️‍🩹

Saint Catherine of Siena- if your favorite saint is Saint Catherine of Siena, you've probably written a book or fanfic well over 100k words. (Yes, I know, you don't have to say it).

Saint Francis of Assisi- if your favorite saint is Saint Francis of Assisi, you either have pets or want them, and if you do have them, you've taken them or begged your parents to let you take them to a St. Francis feast day pet blessing. If you followed me for TMBS, SQ is probably your favorite character, and if you followed me for Wolf359 content, you were inconsolable when Blessie died. You're also probably the kind of neurodivergent who takes things like "if you want to follow God, sell all you have and give it to the poor" literally and as a result, this has caused conflict with your family (specifically on account of you giving all the money made from your family business to the poor).

Saint Joseph- I doubt I have a lot of followers who are parents because of how tumblr demographics skew, but if your favorite saint is Saint Joseph, you just became a dad or really want to become one someday.

Saint Monica- again, I doubt this is the case because of the age of tumblr demographics, but if your favorite saint is Saint Monica, you're a mom who really needs a break, and I hope your husband and sons get it together soon. 🫂❤️‍🩹

Saint Augustine- if your favorite saint is St. Augustine, you also like redemption arcs and likely went through a "party phase" at some point in your life that you regret and identify a bit too strongly with the younger brother in the prodigal son parable. However, in this case, you likely also love St. Monica and if you followed me for Star Wars content, you are particularly upset that we didn't get to see more interactions between Leia Organa and her son Benny Solo especially considering they led a whole war against each other the year between TLJ and TROS (dead horse, I know).

Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin- if your favorite saint is St. Juan Diego, you have or grew up with a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe somewhere in your house. You've also been in the incredibly specific situation of seeing or doing something super cool, but not having anyone believe you (but the satisfying payoff when they find out you were right).

Saint Mary Magdalene- if your favorite saint is St. Mary Magdalene, you either watch "The Chosen" or you're a woman who's faith pulled her out of a very difficult time in her life, and like St. Juan Diego, you also know what it's like to be proven right after a group of men call you a liar.

Saints Louis Martin and Marie-Azélie Guérin (Zélie)- if these are your favorite saints, you understand why you can't just pick one. This power couple comes in a set. If you picked these two, you heard about them because your favorite saint might actually be or have been their very famous daughter St. Thérèse of Lisieux. And if you're a guy and you picked these two, you're also a proud girl dad and can't stop bragging to everyone you meet about how successful your wife's business is (especially because she's so humble about it). Green flags all around.

Saint Maximilian Kolbe- if St. Maximilian is your favorite saint, you're a history guy or gal who is obsessed with world war two, but in a good way. In the "this was very not cool. Let's never forget so we never do this again" way. You also love stories of heroic sacrifice and aspire to always do the right thing even when it’s not socially popular or doesn’t benefit you.

(Soon to be canonized) Saint Carlo Acutis- You're a millennial or gen z who loves researching and talking about modern saints. You aspire to be like them and have a list of ones you want canonized (mine are Servant of God Dorothy Day and Archbishop Joseph Francis Rummel. They lived in the 20th Century and when you're dealing with 2,000 years of history, that's pretty modern).

I'm sure I'll think of more to add after I post this, but I'll leave it here for now. I hope y'all enjoy this!

[hysteriamodes]

i keep looking at this and--

Me when I read this:

You know, for someone who calls them a fan, you sure do like disparaging Alice as a character.

"My family died of mysterious circumstances and the conclusion doesn't make any sense." Doesn't constitute as a character as "whining".

Her experiences are her past, Her past is an experience. The second game is about accepting memories, no matter how bad they are, are a part of herself. That's actually something you learn in trauma therapy.

Again, someone didn't pay attention to canon. We already know that some elements of the first game have been retconned and it's not a perfect story, but I think it's genuinely shitty to label a character as "whiny" when they're probing more to understand more about their past. If this person just thinks that one trip down to Wonderland is going to fix all of Alice's issues with major trauma and psychosis, they're wrong. Especially the latter if she suffers from psychosis.

Like, let's be realistic, here. If you're locked up in a place for ten years, especially during the most critical times of your emotional and physical development, it's going to mess you up. Alice was struggling when she left and several people exploited that. The way I see it, the first game was about accepting her family had died and she was growing up. The second was accepting she couldn't have changed what had happened and gotten over survivor's guilt as well as memories being a core part of her. As flawed as this game is and McGee has issues not retconning some of his work, it works because that's how trauma is. You will have ups and downs in the course of learning to accept what happened to it.

So calling Alice "whiny" or "selfish" is just so wrong, not only from a narrative perspective but also from her character. When she confronts Bumby at Moorgate Station, it's not about her, it is about the children who were being affected and passed out along Whitechapel, London. And if you're not familiar with the history of that area, it was known for trafficking, poverty, and prostitution, that's where Jack the Ripper was. Because Bumby was sadly right: nobody would believe Alice because of her history and when he tells her to leave, she has a change of heart, because she dares to stand up for not only herself and those kids.

Killing him wasn't an act of selfishness, it was the opposite. She could have given up and languished and become nothing, but she didn't. She almost did but Alice was too stubborn. And if this person paid attention to the dialogue enough, they would have seen Alice and Nanny being so critical of what's been happening in Whitechapel.

And... again, she has psychosis?! She was struggling to keep herself grounded and needed the help. She wasn't aware of what was going on sometimes because she struggled with her psychosis and that's a very real issue for some people with C-PTSD. It's done beautifully in "Hellblade". It's not perfect in these games, but it doesn't weaken her as a character, it makes her stronger. I didn't think that Alice seeking help for her psychosis was seen as "whiny". Like, come on, dude.

Did we even play the same games lmao.

[animegoddess15]

Icebound love

It was 9 pm and Y/N was in her room sleeping. She was very tired from all the train she had done that day. She had learned various types of martial arts and mastered them in one day, learned how to make and create poisons, and learned types of magic such as floral, fire, water, Ice, and anything you can think of. She had some friends(You get to pick your friend's descriptions), whose names were Mei Lin, Pei Lin, Noah, and Liam. Who asked you if they could come over to your house to hang out. Of course, you said yeah, just as long as they did not disturb their sleep.

Y/N's friends were hanging out, having fun, and minding their own business, but most of all since they are your friends they are very protective of you, the main reason why they are at your house making sure you’re ok. 

But anyway, they hear a knock.

*Knock, Knock, Knock* 

Your friends hear a knock at your door,” I wonder who that is”, Liam said.

Without being said, all Liam could do was open the front door, coming face to face with Bi Han, Kuai Liang, and the Fire God Liu Kang. Liam looked dumbfounded, trying to make sense of the two ninjas and the man with glowing eyes.

"Uhh, is this some type of joke, did Oliver put you up to this”? (Oliver is another friend of yours who likes to pull pranks) Liam asked trying not to laugh as he was on the verge of bursting out laughing, thinking the people at the door were playing a joke on them. Before Liam could close the door on them, Bi-Han stuck his foot in it, stopping it so it wouldn’t close. Liu Kang, the main voice of reason and the leader of the circumstances, asks to enter and speak with Y/N. Liam replied “Um, Y/N is sleeping but I can try to wake her up, can’t promise you she won’t come down to talk though. But please come in”, Liam said as the three strangers entered.

Liam tells everyone that Y/N has company. “ Liam, Y/N said not to let any stranger in, what's up with you doing that every time she lets us come over to her house”, said Mei Lin. “ Sorry, He said it was urgent”, Liam said as everyone looked at the three strangers in Y/N's house with them.

“Who are they anyways,” asked Pei Lin. “Yeah who are they, are you sure this isn’t a joke that Oliver set up for Y/N”, added Noah.

Liu Kang assures them this is no joke and then introduces himself Bi Han, and Kauai Liang to the rest of Y/N's friends and tells them he has to talk to her.

Y/N woke up from her slumber and slowly sat up from her bed. She heard Liam talking to someone but didn’t know who. She got up and went downstairs.

The picture above is your pajamas

(sorry not sorry I love Asian dramas)

As Y/N got downstairs she saw three strangers in her home. “Who are they”, you questioned Liam as you wiped the sleep out of your eyes and sat on the couch. “They are people who want to talk to you Y/N”. 

This picture is your tired expression

Liu Kang then introduces himself, Bi Han, and Kauai Liang. He is standing in front of you and your friends, giving you a speech about Earthrealm, champions, and gods (Hopefully, we should all know the speech, if you don’t play or watch the MK 1 gameplay). As Y/N was paying attention to Liu Kang's speech, you did not notice Bi-Han standing like a sculpture behind the couch where you were sitting on with your friends, his frosted staring impaling through your skull. 

After Liu Kang was done with his speech, you agreed to help.

Soon enough, Y/N is training alongside Johnny Cage, Kenshi, Raiden, and Kung Lao. You made friends out of them as soon as they saw your skills. Right now Y/N just finished making a new poison, called Chi-Bane(sorry not that good, want to give the poison a name), which allows you to take away people's martial arts skills just from one sip of it. 

As you look up from labeling your now-created poison, you see a familiar trio wearing Blue, Gray, and yellow, stroll across the training grounds. The three ninjas were now watching the others train, Bi-Han literally could not tear his eyes away from you as you started to stretch. That's until Kuai Liang gives him a playful jab to his side and gives the idea to see what you are doing. The three ninjas walk up to you, Kuai Liang is the one to speak first.

“Greetings Y/N, my and I brothers were wondering what you were doing”, Kauai Liang asked. “Nothing much, just got done creating a new poison, It's called Chi--Bane,” Y/N replied. “What does it do”, asked Tomas looking curiously at the bottle you have in your hand. “When someone takes a sip of this it takes away their martial arts skills, permanently”, Y/N replied.

Y/N thought she was losing her mind, Y/N thought she saw Bi han staring her down, but she wasn’t sure. When she tried to see if he was staring at her, he was looking back at the others' training. And even if he was staring her down, why?  Why was Bi Han, grandmaster of the lin kuei staring at her? 

Y/N tried to ask the others to see if someone looking at her, but Raiden shrugged, Kenshi was at a loss for words, and Kung Lao and Johnny just looked at each other with playful grins on their face and said yeah, the grandmaster was staring at you and started laughing.

At last a mission, Y/N is tagging along with Bi Han, Kuai Liang, and Tomas as they wait for orders from Liu Kang concerning the soul-stealing beacons. Tomas and Kuai Liang are sitting on the bench, while Bi Han is pacing around the room. “How long are we expecting to linger”, Bi Han demanded in an angry voice. “Patients Bi Han, there are many demands of Liu Kang”, Kauai Liang said to Bi Han calmly. 

Y/N then entered the room allowing them to enter the meeting room. Bi Han was now calm for two reasons, they could finally enter, and second, the main reason was because you were there. Bi Han could not stop staring or thinking about you. And of course, you notice his staring.

Bi-Han immediately stalked off with a blush on his face. As Kaui Liang and Tomas follow, Y/N stops and grabs Kuai Liang's shoulder gently, making him face you with shocked eyes. "Pardon me, Kauai Liang," you said with a quick bow. "But your Grandmaster has been staring me down for as long as I've known him. Did… Did I do something wrong or anger him in any way? It is quite Frightening."

Kauai Liang's cocky grin expression

Kuai Liang's face froze and then went to a cocky grin. It was not normal for him to be amused like he is now, but how could he resist when he could practically see what was going on with Bi Han? He chuckles for a moment.

"Bi-Han likes you very much Y/N" Kuai Liang replies, a smile pulled at his lips. "Please forgive Bi Han’s cruel appearance. He met nothing from it."

With that, Kuail Liang turns on his heel and enters the meeting room, leaving you confused, but then you quickly recover and enter after Kuai Liang into the meeting room.

When you and the Lin Kuei trio returned from the mission, Bi Han then came up to you inviting you to come to come visit the Lin Kuei. Of course, you agreed. Now you with Bi Han, Kauai Liang, and Tomas were on your way to the Lin Kuei.

[grantmentis]

IMO my pwhl free agent ranking of who’s still available

Please note I’m only doing players who were under contact last year and not undrafted free agents

Tier One: their phone should be buzzing

Daryl watts, Michela Cava, Hannah Miller, Kateřina Mrázová,

All these players were highly productive on their teams last season and are immediate impact players

Tier two: maybe not the first call, but should be highly sought after

Kaleigh Fratkin, Rebecca Leslie, Lauriane Rougeau, Gabrielle David, Claire Dalton, Abbey Levy, Sandra Abstreiter

These are proven players who had decent years, but may be called after tier one players and some draft picks get settled in to see where they fit in the roster .

Tier 3: building out your roster

Emma woods, Emma Greco, Lexie Adzija, Gigi Marvin, Amanda Pelkey, Sarah Bujold, Liz Schepers, Melissa Channell, Paetyn Levis, Kayla Vespa,

Fits into two groups; those who are Swiss army type middle six / pairing players who can play up and down the lineup. players who will still be third/fourth liners of depth defenders but were extremely effective in that spot, bumping them up a tier.

Tier Four: quality depth players

Madison Packer, Alexandra Labelle, Olivia Knowles, Carly Jackson, Sarah Lefort, Leah Lum, Jillian Dempsey, Madison Bizal, Catherine Dubois, Taylor Wenczkowski, Kelly babstock, Cami Kronish, Claire Butorac, Amanda Leveille, Lauren Bench, Shiann Darkangelo, Rachel McQuigge, Johanna Fällman, Lindsey post

Third/ fourth liners and third pair defender and goalies. Some of these players have a specific niche they fill, a lot are veterans, thus making me think they’ll get some early training camp invites. Unfortunately with a tight cap and limited spaces, it’s possible not all will be signed, but all will be considered

Tier four: reserves

Sam Cogan, Jess jones, Maude Poulin-Labelle, Jessica Kondas, Emma Keenan, Alexa Vasko, Kaitlin Willoughby, Liliane Perreault, Alexandra Poznikoff, Catherine Daoust, Madison Bizal, Brigitte Laganière, Nicole Kosta, Abby Cook, Brooke Bryant, Clair DeGeorge, Dominique Kremer, Nikki Nightengale, Akane Shiga, Rosalie Demers, Sammy Davis, Sam Isbell, Malia Schneider, Emma Buckles, Lauren MacInnis, Carley Olivier, Olivia Zafuto, Alexa Gruschow, Taylor Baker,

A lot of these players here either played little last year or were already reserves, or are playing a position/niche that is overcrowded. Many of these players are talented and could def earn a spot for a team that they gel right with, but likely wouldn’t be until after training camp. This tier is pretty close to tier three and probs a lot of overlap depending on a coaches evaluation of how players fit in their system

Tier ?: the unknown

Sydney Brodt, Mikyla Grant Mentis, Audrey-Anne Veillette, Ann-Sophie Bettez, Caitrin Lonergan, Fanni Garát-Gasparics, Kristin Della Rovere

These players did not play a lot last year due to various circumstances but were pretty impactful / took on high end roles when they did. Because of that, they separate themselves from other players who saw limited minutes and may be ore sought after. The exception is Veillette, who straight up DNP due to injury, but was thought pretty highly of when drafted. Bettez is also a weird one here because though she missed a lot this year, everyone knows what she’s capable of, but I don’t think she’d be willing to leave Montreal

[swallowerofdharma]

What happens to your assessment of the story told in Saezuru once you acknowledge that Doumeki forced himself on Yashiro? That Yoneda broke one of the “standard” rules of romance? There is a place between taking in a scene in a fictional story and making a moral judgment (or looking for someone to make a moral judgment for us to agree with). The place where you don’t have to judge and reach a conclusion immediately or make any call on the meaning of what is happening in a fictional story, but you have to first try to understand cause and effect, internal coherence and characters’ motivations from an external point of view that doesn’t coincide with your own. Some of the best stories you’ll come across will require some work on your part: for stories to be listened to and taken in, for stories to operate on you, the reader, instead of you trying to mold them into what you wanted them to be, bringing your pre-formed expectations in too heavily.

I believe that, generally speaking, many readers may have low expectations for comic books, manga and BL especially. I write this and I already feel a bit guilty because there are so many who have such genuine and emotional interest in Saezuru and that take the time to write and read so many extra analyses including reading the ones in this blog. But I have questions when I come across comments or analyses that indicate such radically different levels of interaction with the story, with expectations that it won’t present any real issues apart from 1) those who can be treated as (psychological = pathological) deficiencies originating from “trauma” (actual magic word now that let us magnanimously forgive characters who are “different”) and that must be “healed” (aka corrected: now now child, start behaving normally); 2) those that can be fixed by a punitive action and our expected contempt (bad guys only). Aren’t we maybe underplaying or trying to keep control over what we are reading? Maybe, also, people who approach these kind of stories for pure entertainment and escapism, or because they’re curious about what is popular in a particular circle and want to participate in fandom for the social aspect of it, are relaying on established tropes or fandom staples. All extra context is lost, layers of sociocultural norms or the story’s themes, broader lore or mythology are left behind, because what matters is molding the characters so that they can serve a purpose: in many cases a romantic trope that is often a repetition, an insistence on ideas already used. I imagine that writers that want to tell original stories don’t want the same thing and are actually trying to avoid it when they are writing or drawing characters with depth and coherence and stories that have a scope and feel grounded in a particular world or setting. Even writers who can only publish their work under appealing marketing labels like BL is now. But it would benefit us readers in general to approach this particular story with less preconceptions, less like mass-product-for-pleasing-people and more like a creative endeavor that want to be explored and to create conversations.

Unfortunately - let’s be real and blunt - in some cases prejudice can also lead few people to think that a Japanese mangaka and especially a Japanese woman won’t have the “right skills” to deal with complex subjects with enough “clarity”, or “awareness”: these aspects being sexuality, gender identity or the aftermath of sexual assault, or the sociological aspects of sexual violence in specific circumstances and environments. We have been lead to believe that these “problematic” themes were just so common for yaoi, no further analysis needed, only tropes and kinks, only labels, no nuances, no self awareness. Yoneda might just have chosen the most common type of conflict she could think of without going through too much trouble. And the yakuza just provided the right aesthetic! Okay, I am purposely deeply generalizing here for the sake of the argument, but it happened enough times in other animanga communities that when readers aren’t offered the simple or standard solutions they expected, they denounced “poor writing choices” instead of reassessing their own expectations of what they were reading: endings being the greatest tool for recontestualizing and reassessing the story as a whole. When readers just refuse to engage with entire aspects or pages in a story because they don’t serve their imagination, then they must know that they might be missing something and should refrain from making loud self-centered complaints. As for Saezuru, it’s not that I don’t expect a satisfactory and “happy” ending to the story or I am worried that readers will be disappointed. The ending in tragedy Romeo-and-Juliet style was teased already at the end of chapter 34 almost to get it out of the way and offer a continuation towards something else. So I genuinely don’t expect a repetition of that. But the ending might not be this conventional “issues resolution” or whatever people think that “healing” means. But I do expect that the various plot points and thematic elements will be tied together in the end, because Yoneda has been showing us consistently good writing.

I had a big part of this post in my drafts before recent conversations, so this was genuinely a generic comment on the growing differences within the fandom. I also hope it didn’t come across as harsh or anything more than a personal preoccupation of mine with how we collectively read stories and how we want to maintain the control over potential subversions of the “rules” when maybe not everyone had agreed to those rules and standards.

[toyybox]

Spiderwebs #43: Distance

Masterlist

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Jackie crossed his arms and sunk deeper into the car seat. “Your shrink creeps me out.”

 “You’ll get used to it.” Beside him, Heather shifted her grip on the steering wheel. “Tell me everything.”

“He asked me questions. About me. About you. About my circumstances.” He turned towards her. “I tried to make you look good, you know.”

“And… what did you tell him?”

“I told him exactly what I always tell you. I tamed it down a little, I guess.”

The studded lights of the road glittered in her pupils’ reflections. The night cast her face into a murky navy. “How bad, exactly, is your situation? Whatever’s happening with you. I have a right to know. As your—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re my…” What was she? What were they, to each other? No labels could contain it. “But the situation is fine. I’m fine. I’m doing okay. I’m okay. He just doesn’t get it.”

That didn’t convince her. Her gaze flicked to him for a moment, before returning to the road. Still, she didn’t say anything, to her credit.

He took a deep breath. He let it out. One, two, three. Three, two, one. He was just peachy. There was no need to be tense. “What did he tell you?”

“He told me…” She hesitated, here, swallowed her words. “Callaghan’s a nice man, but…” She paused again. “Well, he told me to give you medication.”

“What sort?”

“Alprazolam and Eszopiclone.”

“Mm. My favorite.”

“Anxiety and insomnia,” she clarified. “He also gave me this card.”

From her pocket, she slipped out some kind of business card between two fingers, then gave it to him. It was too elaborate to look professional—the card was covered in white and gold and flowery embellishments, neat and thin text.

“Mary Callaghan.” He handed the card back; she took it. “His daughter?”

“No, his sister. Don’t know if he has a daughter. He is married.”

“That must have really disappointed you, huh?”

She smacked him on the nose with the card. 

“Okay, okay, sorry.” He grinned instead, pushed the card away until she withdrew her hand. “I'm just saying, I wouldn't mind marrying into money.”

“He’s my professor. He used to be, at least. That would be highly—”

“Unprofessional, yeah, yeah. Whatever.” But the two were close in a platonic sense, clearly, a bond tempered by time and trust and probably a few graves dug. Heather did mention that Callaghan kept on the sour side of the law. Which explained why he took the news of Jackie’s kidnapping without so much as a raised eyebrow. 

He was just like Heather, too. Everything from the note-taking and faux-professionalism. They even spoke like each other. Explained where she got it from, then. Everything that irritated him, he saw mirrored. A double image. Curse all doctors, of all types and kinds, who played with the human psyche and self and soul like it was a goddamn game. He did not appreciate being poked and prodded like a particularly interesting specimen of insect. Heather was, at the very least, around Jackie’s age—he didn’t feel entirely comfortable talking back to a stately old man.

“So,” Jackie began. “Oxford, right?”

“Yes. In England. I lived there for a few years.”

“Wow, England. Did you have fun?”

“Not really. Too much rain.”

He could understand that. And Heather seemed to be tired. So he settled down a bit, and tried to ignore the feeling welling up inside him. As bright and pure as sunshine itself, splitting this bleak night. Someone to listen, to talk to. His worries seemed to be so far away.

“By the way, did he tell you why they’re happening?” he asked.

“The hallucinations.” Heather nodded. “He said it was stress. Whatever that means.”

“Stress.” He stared at the road. Chipping white lines over black, on and on and so on. “I didn’t like how he talked to me. Like… like I’m…”

“Like you’re…” She faltered, briefly. “Less than a person?”

“Exactly! Like I’m your… I don’t know. But I’m a person. I’m… a person.” If he said the words enough, maybe he’d believe them. “You think I’m a person, don’t you?”

There was a long silence. The car’s engine buzzed all around them.

“Yes, Jackie,” she answered at last. “You’re definitely a person. And you’re just as important as anyone else.”

He almost told her to say it again. If she kept repeating it, maybe he’d believe her. “Yeah, I’m not going to let some asshole with a skeleton in his soundproof room get to me. Did you know he apparently just keeps human skeletons around his house? He’s a psychiatrist. Why does he even need skeletons?”

“Well, he is a scientist as well. A scientist of sorts. Kind of. It’s probably… for his research?” 

“Because a corpse tells you so much about the human psyche.”

“Fair point. That doesn’t make a lot of sense. That… is strange, actually.” She paused. “Huh.”

Regardless, that was all behind him. Miles and miles back. Callaghan was just another distant memory, and Jackie was just happy to be going home.

· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·

Taglist:

@theelvishcowgirl @lthrboy @whumpy-wyrms

@yassifiedinformation @creppersfunpalooza

@vidawhump @dont-look-me-in-the-eye

[mdhwrites]

Do you think, in fiction, characters can cross a line where it's stupid or wrong for their friend to forgive them, no matter how sincerely remorseful they are?

Yes... But it's complicated.

I know, shocking answer from me of all people. /s

Anyone who wants to say "If you do X, your character is irredeemable" is lying to you. There is no steadfast line because the circumstances for every story and every character is going to be different. If you show yourself to be a ruthless murderer to Batman, he'll disavow you forever, at least in theory. Do it with the Punisher? So long as you kill the right people, you're a brother in arms. Destroy an entire star system? Well what were the circumstances, such as potentially research being warped, ends justify the means, etc. like that.

To list specific acts is to pigeon hole stories in a way that isn't fun, useful or even all that interesting because you're trying to apply our real world to a fictional world without any consideration for its rules and logic which is just, bluntly, boring. So that begs the question: Do I have advice on this matter? Well, I do actually and it comes back to the example I gave earlier.

When you take a life, you risk creating another Batman. That is why Batman doesn't kill because his goal is to make sure no young boy suddenly loses his parents ever again. You have gone against everything he stands for... And so that's it. You can be on the same side as Batman but you cannot be Batman's friend while being a killer. I know you can bring up a lot of stuff in the comics but this is true 90% of the time and I think we can all agree with that. There is almost no amount of sorrow, or saying it was 'what had to be done' that can get around the fact that you have fundamentally offended him as a person and warped how he will ever be able to perceive you...

...Which is actually how lost friendships work in the real world. You can be friends with a criminal. You can know someone does awful things. If you still see them as your bro though, it's going to be hard for you to want to let go of someone you're already close to. We like the bonds we are familiar with and grow attached to. As such, to lose a friend, you have to fundamentally see them differently. To believe there is no reason to keep them around. Otherwise, that attachment may linger, much like how hard it can be to entirely quit an ex because you yearn for the good times, despite the bad times, because you brought them in so close as to have a label that meant so much to you at some point.

I cite Luz from The Owl House abandoning her friends to death a lot because of this element. Luz is seen as the one they can rely on, as the one they can trust, as the one who will be there for them to the very end. That even if she wrongs her friends, she would do her best to make up for it like she always has. Then she decides to not just leave them to die while keeping her safe. Not just dooms an entire world. She does so while claiming it's because she just feels so guilty about a mistake she made that she refuses to even try and fix it.

If she had ever told her friends... How do you handle that? How do you handle your friend telling you that everything you thought they were was a lie? How do you look at them the same way ever again, let alone her girlfriend amongst that group who has to deal with the fact that Luz didn't even consult with her about this matter. Just one day Luz was gonna go bye as an entire universe separated them and she would be left abandoned, alone and betrayed, everything Luz symbolized no longer being what her life had to be. How do you ever recover that relationship? How do you ever allow that sort of trust again?

This is why in media when characters have big fallouts, you'll often hear, "Oh come on, I do this all the time!" rebuttled with, "No! This is different! Look at what you did? How could you have done this? Sure, you're an asshole but I always thought you cared at least a little! I guess I was wrong." Because in that moment, the character cannot see their friend the same way. Something has fundamentally changed about their relationship and so even if they make up, their relationship is going to have to be different from what it was before. Otherwise, all you're doing is reminding the person of all the scars you've left on them.

Because the only fix to change is change, but sometimes there's no way to prove you won't become the person who hurt them in the first place. Sometimes that trust can never be recovered. But how that works will be specific to each character in a narrative because each of them should have a different view on the matter. Otherwise they're one homogeneous blob and just like how that's uncomplicated, it's also pretty boring and that's always the worst sin you can commit with a story. See you next tale.

======+++++======

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[kingofpopmj]

Conscious Decision

Part 4

July 16th, 1988

*Michael’s POV*

“I think my mom is upset I stole you from her.” I said playfully. She shook her head laughing.

“Well, I am her favorite.” She teased. We were getting ready for the day. Together. For a moment, I imagined we were a normal couple getting ready for work. She was heading off to the hospital while I was off to the office. We lived in a beautiful house in a nice neighborhood. We lived nearby the school, so our kids could ride their bikes. Our kids were kids. We were happy. “She’s not mad. She loves us together.” Y/N added kissing my shoulder.

Thankfully, it took very little convincing to get Y/N to move into my suite. It’s a bit more spacious and more importantly there are two beds. We’ve shared a bed before, but given recent events in our relationship sharing a bed came with added pressure. I don’t want to rush anything and ruin this. This was a lifetime in the making.

As much as I want to completely immerse myself in Y/N, in our relationship, I have to be smart about it. I have to be careful. I’d never forgive myself if I put her in danger. I don’t want to be this paranoid, but so much has changed over the past few years. This life isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. I do my best to adapt to the circumstances without compromising who I am. I’m human. I’m not that different. I’m not weird even though people try mercilessly to label me as such.

I sit on the bed watching her style her hair and I could feel my heart rate increase. I remember doing this exact same thing throughout our relationship. When we were kids I nagged her, sometimes threw a pillow or two to get her to hurry. Then, as teenagers I had to fight the urge to stare- to admire her the entire time. It was some of the best and worst times of my life. We were so close. She was so close yet so far. And now, we’re here, where we belong.

Y/N is my safe haven. She always has been. She’s always the one I run to. When my dad lost his temper. When my brothers teased me. When I felt unworthy. When I felt I couldn’t handle the world watching me constantly. When I let the awful words of the press affect me. As long as I protect her she’ll always be there. She won’t have to struggle to adapt if I just keep her safe.

She’s everything. She’s my everything.

She was the first person I confided in when I noticed discoloration on my chest and legs. She didn’t wince at the sight, she didn’t call me names and above everything she didn’t treat me different. She helped me find the best dermatologist and she was with me every step of the way. I guess that’s one of the advantages of your best friend being a doctor. Y/N made sure I got the best care. She explained everything to me in a way I could understand. She protected me from being poked and prodded at. She refused to let anyone treat me like a walking circus act, which unfortunately has become my new normal.

“I’m ready.” I heard her sweet voice and immediately she had my undivided attention.

“After you my lady.” I smiled holding my arm out for her to take.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to tag along?”

“You’re only here a few more days. I want as much Y/N time as I can get.” I giggled as we piled into the elevator. I’m accompanied by guards everywhere I go, but lately it’s dawned on me just how abnormal it is. My life has changed so much and being with Y/N I can’t help but notice it all. She reminds me of everything I love. Everything I’ve been missing out on. Everything I never want to be without.

“I’m not ready to leave you.” She said softly wrapping her arms around my waist. She subtly surveyed the small space filled with giant men before pulling away from me.

“Don’t.” I whispered pulling her back into me. Usually, I avoid physical touch, public displays of affection, but that doesn’t apply to Y/N. She has her own set of rules. That means she could do absolutely anything she wants to me, for me, around me and I’m all for it. She makes me feel everything. She makes me feel. No matter what’s going on around us I can be myself with her. Our own little world; my escape. It’s a feeling I thought I’d lost forever, but I was wrong.

“Wait!” I turned to Y/N as the elevator came to a stop. The noise from outside becoming overwhelming as the doors opened. I stood for a moment trying to think. “Here.” I took my jacket off before throwing it over her head.

“Michael, what’s going on?” Her voice was muffled and slightly annoyed.

“Just trust me.” I secured my face mask before stepping out of the elevator guiding Y/N beside me.

“I can’t see.” She complained. “Is this really necessary?”

“I got you.” The screams intensified as we neared the exit. “We’re almost there.” I held onto her as the crowd enclosed around us. There was very little I could do while the guards formed a path to the car. Once the door was opened I helped Y/N inside and climbed in behind her. She ripped the jacket off her head revealing her messy hair.

“Do I have to do that all the time?” She huffed trying to fix her hair.

“Maybe.” I smiled nervously.

“Why?”

“Look, I’m going to shout from the rooftops I have a girl. The best girl. I’m taken as far as they’ll know, but I want to— I need to protect you from the craziness.”

“I see. I guess I understand that.”

“They’ll find out everything about you overnight. It’ll be front page news in the morning. True or not. Unfortunately, fabricated stories sell better, so that’s usually what they strive for.”

“Thank you for protecting me.” She adjusted laying her head in my lap looking up at me. “Just like when we were kids. You used to throw dirt at those kids to get them to leave us alone.”

“I may have to bring that move back.” I smiled at the memory. “And it serves them right, especially, that Antonio.”

“Here we go.”

“He had a crush on you and he would bug me endlessly because you were always with me. Then, he had the nerve to ask you to prom in high school. That- that fathead.”

“Fathead?” She laughed uncontrollably. It was music to my ears. “I said no! I went to prom with you.”

“I remember.”

“I like you better without this.” She sat up untying my face mask. “There he is.”

“You’re making me blush.”

“Good.”

“Dance with me.” I pulled Y/N on stage with me as the band practiced.

“This is very discreet.” She playfully rolled her eyes.

“I trust everyone here. Plus, they really like you. They like us.” I booped her nose making her smile.

“I was thinking about our date tonight. What if we move it to tomorrow afternoon? I mean you’re going to be exhausted after the show. I don’t want to keep you from getting rest.”

“No! No. I already have everything planned. It’s happening. Prepare to be swept off your feet.”

“Oh, Mr. Jackson is that smugness I hear?”

“Nope. It’s not smugness, it’s confidence!”

“Confidence. Is that so?”

“Yes, because I finally got the girl.”

The curtain closed behind me and I shrugged off my letterman jacket. As Karen touched up my makeup I looked over to find Y/N sitting off to the side. She was in deep conversation with my mother about god knows what. My mom smirked at me before making my stare known. Y/N winked blowing a few kisses my way. I instantly felt giddy. My face felt hot and I hoped no one else would notice.

“She’s a good one.” Karen whispered to me.

“She’s the one.” It slipped out and even though I meant it. It was a different feeling to say it out loud.

“I think so too.” She grinned clapping her hands. “Your mom and I kept wondering how long it was going to take you two. We almost put a bet together with Greg and the guys. I think it’s great. You deserve someone who makes you genuinely happy. Above all, she loved you before all this, she loves you in-spite of all this.”

“She did. She does.”

The drive back to the hotel was about an hour. I couldn’t stop fidgeting. Our first date was minutes away and I needed everything to be perfect.

“Katherine wants to have breakfast together.” Y/N spoke from beside me.

“I think I have some press stuff early, but after works. It’ll have to be a brunch.”

“I’ll let her know. She really wants to see us. She has many questions, but I thought it’d be more fun to leave you to answer them.”

“Yeah, she’s been planning our wedding since we were twelve.”

“You’re lying!”

“I’m not. One day, Jermaine was teasing me because I was too chicken to admit I liked you. He threatened to put the moves on you since I was too scared to do it. My mom lit him up. She threw a biscuit at his head.” I let out a deep belly laugh as I recalled that explosive family dinner. “She told him- well everyone that you were going to be her daughter-in-law one day, but he would not be your groom.”

“Wow.”

“It was the best day. I’ve never seen anyone put Jermaine in his place like that.”

“She’s the best.”

“She really is.”

We sat in the car looking out of the tinted windows. The crowds outside our hotel had multiplied, but were slightly more controlled since barricades were put up.

“Michael, there are so many people.” Y/N said in awe. “You should stay out for a bit. Aw, look!” There was a little girl holding up a sparkly pink poster that read ‘It’s my birthday! My only wish is a hug from Michael!’

“Alright, I’m going to have Bill escort you inside.” I leaned in kissing her. I could feel her lips curve up into a smile. Oh, her lips taste like candy. The kiss intensified as our hands began to roam each other’s bodies. Goodness, she’s so addicting. It ended as quickly as it began when a loud knock on the window startled us. I gave her one last look before stepping out of the car closing the door behind me. “Please get her inside safely. I won’t be long wait in the lobby.” I told Bill receiving a nod in return. “Thank you.”

“Hey there rockstar!” Y/N laughed as I entered the lobby. “Can I have an autograph too?” She pouted.

“You can have more than an autograph.” I teased as my arm found its place around her waist.

“You’re bad.” She closed her eyes as a blush painted over her face.

“You haven’t even seen the half of it.” We laughed loudly as other guests looked at us in confusion. “Let’s go before we get kicked out.”

“Michael, oh my goodness.”

“I went down to the shop, but I couldn’t decide they were all so beautiful.” I watched as she took small steps into our hotel room stopping to admire each flower arrangement. “I kind of just got all of them. They all have different meanings and each one reminded me of you.” She bent down touching the pedals of a white rose.

“Those mean eternal loyalty, love and new beginnings.”

“That’s fitting.” She smiled sniffing a light pink peony.

“Those mean love, honor and happiness.” Each step she took I was right behind her. The flowers lined the walls on both sides of us making the walkway very narrow, nonetheless, it was a stunning sight.

“Sunflowers mean positivity, strength and strong bonds. Red roses mean romance and passion. The white peony means-“ she twirled around cutting me off with a kiss.

“I can’t believe you did all of this.” She leaned into me. “It’s like my own private botanical garden.” She giggled hugging me tighter.

“The surprises have just begun my love.” I quickly lifted her off the ground throwing her over my shoulder and ran down the rest of the path.

“Don’t you dare drop me!”

“Let’s eat.” I placed her down and led her out onto the balcony. A candle lit dinner awaited us. I walked over to her chair pulling it out for her.

“How did you do all this?”

“I have my ways.”

“I can’t believe you did all of this for me. It’s beautiful.”

“I’d do anything for you.”

After we finished dinner we decided to relax outside and do some stargazing. There was the distant sound of the city, but it was peaceful.

“Y/N, I really wish you wouldn’t leave.”

“I can visit again in a few months.”

“Months?” I loudly blurted which startled her. “Sorry.” I avoided her eyes as I stood up walking inside. I didn’t realize how fast I was walking until I heard her voice from behind me.

“You can visit me too.”

“I’m busy. My calendar is booked months in advance. I barely have anytime for myself.”

“Okay.. so what do you have in mind?”

“Stay. Travel with me.”

“Michael, that sounds incredible it really does, but I have a job I can’t just disappear.”

“Quit.”

“I love my job.”

“Don’t you love me?”

“I do love you.”

“Then I don’t understand the issue.” I shook my head falling back onto the mattress. I wasn’t necessarily proud of what was coming out of my mouth, but it was too late to back down now. “Anything you want or need I can take care of. I’ll do everything, anything for you.”

“Michael.”

“Y/N.” I retorted a bit more childishly than I intended.

“I love you. I want to be with you, but I can’t agree to that. I just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“You deserve to have people in your life that are there for you and only you. People that want to be in your life to add to it not take. You have so much to offer from here.” She said placing her hand over my heart. “And here.” She ran her hand along the sides of my head, tucking some hair behind my ear and kissing me sweetly. “I’m yours and I’m in love with you beyond words. I’d do anything for you, absolutely anything, but I draw the line at living off of you. I will not exploit your kindness, generosity, talent or privacy. I will never use you for my own personal gain. I will not take advantage of you. I will never betray you. I will never hurt you.”

I stood still for a moment deep in thought. I wanted to object. I wanted to fight for her to stay, but after that speech how could I?

“I understand.” I sat up looking at the wall.

“You’re upset. Please don’t be upset.”

“I like when you’re here.” I said hastily surprising even myself. “I don’t like being alone.”

“You’re not alone. I’m here.” She attempted to cuddle with me, but I moved away.

“You’re leaving in like two days.” I said, knowingly exaggerating her stay. She’ll be here with me for another few weeks, but it wasn’t enough.

“Michael, it feels like you want to fight with me.” She said sadly. “This transition from friendship to relationship is difficult enough as is. If you don’t communicate with me and tell me what you’re feeling then this is going to be… it’s not going to be good. Please don’t shut me out. I’ve waited for you my whole life.”

“I don’t want to do long distance.” I made it to my feet searching for what to say next. “I don’t want to go months without seeing each other. We’ve done it before, but that was different. We weren’t dating. I had no right complaining about how much I missed you then. I know you’ve worked hard to get where you are now. I’m so proud of you. I just- I want to know what’s going to happen in the future- our future- because I want that- a future with you- what happens when we get married or have kids? Or have kids then get married I mean either order is fine with me as long as I’m with you. It’s really up to you I mean especially the kids part-it’s your body. And then how many kids? I love kids- oh I’d love to have a big family but if we want a big family we should probably start sooner rather than later. I think we’d have beautiful babies, especially if they take after their mother. I mean I don’t know do we want them back to back? I don’t mind either way. And then what kind of house do you want? Where do you want to live? Would you continue to work? Would you quit? What would we name them? I like Prince for a boy- you know like my grandfather. Unless you hate that. Would you be a stay at home mother? Do you have baby names in mind? Would you like Neverland as our home or should I start looking for a new place? I love Neverland, but we could just have it as a vacation home I guess. Can we have a trampoline at the new place? Wait! Do you want to take my last name? I’d love that! Mr. and Mrs. Jackson- so grown up of us- Would you want me to quit what I do? I mean I could be a stay at home dad. Or would you and the kids travel with me? I mean I’m not opposed to—”

“Michael. Honey breathe.” I felt her soft hands on my cheeks and the room stopped spinning instantly. “We can discuss all this if you’d like, but let’s breathe and slow down first.”

I pulled her into me and inhaled the lovely scent of her shampoo. I held onto her like my life depended on keeping her close. I feel myself relax as she ran her delicate fingers through my hair.

“I’m sorry.” I lowly spoke.

“Michael.” Her touch sent jolts throughout my body as she undid the buttons of my top. She looked into my eyes with an expression I’ve never seen before. Oh, I hope this isn’t the last time I see that expression. I could feel what was about to happen. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

“You’re beautiful.” I said into the kiss. My blue button down shirt fell to the ground as I felt her fingers fumbling with my belt. I gently held her hands in mine in attempt to slow things down.

“You’re perfect.” Y/N said as she left tender kisses down my neck. She knew exactly what I was thinking. I was afraid for her to see me- all of me- for the first time- our first time. Her hands slid down my chest to the hem of my white v-neck. I felt myself take in a sharp breath as she pulled it over my head leaving me bare. The pads of her fingers traced the uneven marks on my chest- beauty sprinkles as Y/N calls them- and once again I felt her lips against my skin. “You’re beautiful Michael.”

“Y/N?”

“Yes Michael?”

“Marry me.”

Hunnies!!

Part 4! 🙈

Oh my! This was a challenge. Hopefully I did Michael justice in this chapter. It was fun writing from his perspective.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!

[boundless11]

Should Tory’s Arc Have Ended in Season 5? Thoughts on Repetition, Growth, and Making Room for Sam in the Sekai Taikai.

So, I’ve been thinking a lot about Cobra Kai and the direction the writers are taking with Tory’s character. Don’t get me wrong, Tory is one of the most complex and interesting characters in the show, but I can’t help but feel that her arc is starting to get… repetitive?

By the end of Season 5, Tory exposed the corruption in Cobra Kai, broke away from Silver’s manipulation and seemed to be on the path to redemption. This was a huge moment for her! But instead of wrapping up her story there, the show risks dragging her arc out by having her make the same mistakes—going back to Cobra Kai or falling into old patterns—whenever life gets tough.

Yes, it makes sense given her circumstances (she’s had a rough life), but how many times can she go back to the same toxic environment before it feels like she’s stuck in a loop? If her story had concluded in Season 5, it would’ve been a perfect ending for her: a triumphant moment of growth and freedom from her struggles.

What About Sam?

Here’s where it gets even more frustrating. I’ve heard some leaks from Cobra Kai Season 6 (Part 3) that Sam doesn’t even fight Tory in the Sekai Taikai—or worse, that she stops karate altogether. This allows Tory to face Zara instead. If that’s true, it completely sidelines Sam, a character who has been the face of Miyagi-Do and should be stepping into the spotlight for such an important tournament.

Sam deserves her moment. She’s been through so much emotionally, but it feels like the writers are constantly pushing her aside to make way for Tory. The Sekai Taikai could have been Sam’s opportunity to face a new rival like Zara and grow as a fighter and character, but instead, the focus shifts back to Tory—again.

Tory, to me, comes across as a pretty narcissistic character. She constantly blames others for her mistakes and situations, rather than taking responsibility for her choices. While her struggles are valid, she often refuses to see how her actions contribute to the cycle of conflict she’s stuck in. Yet most fans seem to gloss over this and label her the “hot” girl, which definitely plays into why she gets so much attention from the fandom and even the writers. Meanwhile, Sam—who, let’s be honest, has a lot more depth in terms of legacy and character—gets vilified by fans to the point where Mary Mouser herself faces harassment. And the writers? Silence. It’s selfish if they’re holding back on addressing this just to avoid alienating fans while the show is still airing.

Letting Tory’s arc end in Season 5 wouldn’t just give her a satisfying conclusion; it would also create space for Sam to grow and take on new challenges, like Zara in the Sekai Taikai. This could finally break the repetitive cycles in the storytelling and give both characters the justice they deserve.

[theshadowsingersraven]

Analyzing Blodeuwedd and What it May Mean for Elain's Character Arc/Romantic Journey (mainly Elucien)

Many people have attributed Blodeuwedd to Elain’s arc, as SJM had supposedly pinned it to her Pinterest before it was taken down and labeled it "Elain." And, generally speaking, it does seem to fit her.

Flower face? Elain is known to be beautiful and associated with flowers. Additionally, she's tied to a man by forces of magic beyond her control and is shown to want a man different than the one the magic forces designated for her. Lleu also means "light," similar to how Lucien means light. I've also seen people cite that the name Lleu itself translates to Lucien.

Now, here's what it gets interesting and parallels to Elain-Lucien-Azriel really come into play.

So, many people assume that Gronw Pebr is Azriel in this situation. Especially because of the whole Blood Duel debacle being a possible outcome. But I want to pose something different. Because here's what's said about Gronw on his own page.

An antagonist.

Now, to be clear, this isn't really a grand love story between Blodeuwedd and Gronw. It's almost comparable to Romeo and Juliet, but the main difference is that the antagonists in Romeo and Juliet are the families. The families are the ones who the narrative blames for them taking their lives. But thar doesn't appear to be the case with Blodeuwedd. Because here's what happens next:

Blodeuwedd and Gronw are blamed by the narrative. Gwydion (notice something familiar about that name? The ancient sword of Fionn? The Starsword?) punishes Blodeuwedd and turns her into an owl. (I don't anticipate this to be literal in the retelling.)

And then the last of the tale is below:

So, what does this all mean?

Incorporating SJM's hint that the next book will feature a betrayal, I think it's very possible that the traitor is Elain, but under specific circumstances. Again, assuming that SJM does maintain her statement about there being a betrayal. Especially because I personally don't see SJM killing off Azriel for trying to kill Lucien. As much as I want Az to get his desperately needed reality check, I definitely don't want him to die.

Hear me out:

What if "Gronw" is an emissary/ally of Koschei instead of Azriel?

Thinking of it this way, it's possible that SJM's adaptation would also tie in Swan Lake and the Death of Koschei the Deathless all in one.

In ACOSF, Cassian notes that no one really knows where Elain goes and that he believes her to be lying at one point when she says she's going to help an elderly faerie with her garden.

Given that the Suriel was aware of Elain scrying for him in WAR, I wonder if something similar could occur with her seeing Koschei? Or perhaps she scries in either the early part of her book or the novella should SJM decide to put a break between SF and the next novel, and that might be how we can get a more direct tie between them.

Either way, I don't think it's a coincidence that Gwydion from this tale is also the same origin name of the Starsword. Perhaps if Elain is magically manipulated in some way, Gwydion could be wielded to destroy that manipulation. Or Gwydion might be used to reveal "Gronw" as an owl/emissary of Koschei instead of "Blodeuwedd"/Elain being turned into an owl. Perhaps this "owl" could also be a reference to Maeve?

Maybe Lucien and Nesta work together to free Elain from this manipulation, thus how Gwydion as a sword could come into play. I also wouldn't be surprised that if this is the direction SJM takes, it could result in Elain being "punished"/monitored to ensure that there's no further manipulations still affecting her.

And since Madja even says that a mate will know what's wrong, maybe Lucien is included in that monitoring (especially if there was an attempt on his life)? Maybe she's put with him in a forced proximity way, like at the Band of Exiles' manor, and she spends time around humans and starts to heal the part of her that grieves her humanity. Maybe her "monitoring" is also focused on healing, and since Elain would have access to the world around her, unlike in the House of Wind, she might make her way to Spring as many have expected her to end up.

And maybe this might be where Vassa is called back to Koschei’s lake, though maybe not necessarily resolved fully in this book? Or maybe it could be, who knows!

I know very well that SJM doesn't do entirely faithful/one-to-one retellings, so who knows how it'll play out. However, I do find it interesting that this isn't the love story a lot of people seemed to expect for E/riel both on here and on Reddit. I don't see her turning Elain and/or Azriel into truly malicious antagonists. But that's also just me!

Let me know your thoughts. I'm also heavily biased towards Elucien, so def keep that in mind!