#i will NOT claim he doesn't have bad moments. bcs he does

[love-byers]

i’m having byler doubt rn and i can’t stop thinking about mike already knowing that will’s gay and he might’ve realized that over the few months of will being away in between s3-s4

what if the “it’s not my fault you don’t like girls” scene isn’t mike projecting but him sort of having a feeling that will likes him romantically. or mike hearing from el that will is painting for a girl he likes, and then he sees will holding a painting in the airport and realizes, that’s why he was being so awkward. and before someone says “mike saw the painting after the awkward hug with will”, what if he actually saw it the moment he walked closer to them and that’s why he pointed it out right away?

and the whole “that’s because she’s my girlfriend, will” “we’re friends. we’re friends” scene. what if he was trying to reject will without being obvious about it. i know he’s like canonically oblivious but what if he’s not?

this is me asking for reassurance/proofs that counters this because it’s bothering me sm 😭 i have some claims in my head that oppose to these but i guess it’s better to hear it from others

1. if mike was suspecting will was gay in the rain fight then he's being homophobic lmao

same dude that tried to fight a homophobe for talking bad about will takes a jab at will for being gay? what changed? why did mike become mildly homophobic between s1 and s3? bc he got a girlfriend? that's not a great message to send...

and like...come on. look at his face. he's heartbroken because will just said he used to want to spend the rest of his life with mike, but not anymore, because mike has made that out to sound outlandish and clearly doesn't want that. that should be further confirming to mike that will does have feelings for him, and he reacts like this?

and if he does suspect will has feeling for him, wtf is this?? 😭 why is he so giddy about will reaffirming what once made mike think will likes him??

2.

it seems like mike had pre planned how he was going to greet will, which was with a shoulder pat. "i can't hug him, that's weird, isn't it??" which would imply that mike thinks hugging will would be romantic....why? he hugs all his other friends normally with no hesitation. and how could he have figured out will liked him between s3 and s4 if he and will barely spoke? and if that's how he treats will when he thinks will might like him, then he's an asshole! 😭😭

and if mike suspected the painting was for him, he was noticeably upset after will said it wasn't for him

he doesn't seem very happy to have confirmation will doesn't have feelings for him 😭 and he went on to be pissy the whole day because will wasn't talking to him. why is he more worried about his platonic bro than his girlfriend?

like i just said, will not giving him the painting should ease all his worries that will has feelings for him. they're just friends. and then will goes on to ignore him all day. why would he still be in the mindset that will likes him during the rink o mania fight?

and we don't have to theorize what was going on with mike between s3 and s4 and at rink o mania. he tells us

"thanks by the way."

"for what?"

"for knocking some sense into me, i mean was being a total self pitying idiot."

during the rink o mania fight, will is knocking some sense into mike. he's saying will was right about everything.

"hey also, about the last few days--"

"you don't have to say anything. i was being a total jerk to el, i deserved it."

"no. no you didn't deserve anything. listen, the last year has been weird, you know?"

mike goes straight from his behavior towards will to how he felt during their time apart. so the two are connected, clearly, since mike is telling us

"i mean max and lucas and dustin, they're great, they're great, it's just...it's hawkins it's not the same without you. and i feel like maybe i was worrying too much about el...i don't know, maybe i feel like i lost you or something."

mike was acting that way because he desperately missed will and felt like will had left a hole in his life. home didn't feel like home anymore. he was torn up inside over it. and he worried that will wasn't reaching out because of how he'd treated will over the summer (ditching him to hang out with el), and that he'd lost will because of that. he's kicking himself, hating himself because he screwed it all up. and he thinks that at the same time he is torn up missing will, feeling all these big feelings about him, will is unbothered, off making new friends. not only does this make him feel like he's feeling too much for will, but he shifts the blame onto will (because he's a self pitying idiot). he feels like it's his own fault, so he projects onto will and makes it wills fault. he doesn't reach out because he thinks will has grown up and moved on like mike had been encouraging him to do all summer, and he doesn't want will to know about all these deep feelings he's having, like will has left a hole in his life, so he doesn't reach out either. he doesn't want to come off desperate. he begins questioning the nature of his feelings towards will, worrying that it's something more than just friendship. if will doesn't care, why does he? why does he care so much?? what's wrong with him??

so he goes on defense. he is not going to let will know how he's been feeling, he's going act aloof. he's going to act like he doesn't care. we are just friends. i don't feel anything more for you, will. see? i don't even want to hug you, i am very clearly your platonic bro. see, everyone? see, el? see, jonathan? i'm straight and he's my platonic bro friend. he's making a spectacle out of it, because grappling with internalized homophobia. he feels like he needs to prove that he's straight.

however mike is a dumbass and instead of realizing that he was way too in his own head. and considering that treating will that way might hurt his feelings, he just gets angry that will isn't treating him the same. will isn't talking to him. will is acting glum. why?? how does he have the audacity to act sad?? this is all his fault in the first place!! if he hadn't gone off and forgotten about me and made me feel this way then none of this would've happened!! he's got to be doing this on purpose!!

and then in the rink o mania fight, it ticks mike off even more because now will is acting like he did nothing wrong. and then:

"well what about us?"

"what?"

uh oh. this is what mike feared. us?? what about us?? there is no us, that's a romantic thing, and we're friends, totally just friends.

"you called maybe a couple of times. it's been a year, mike. meanwhile el has like a book of letters from you."

"that's because she's my girlfriend, will!"

if mike had sent will letters, it would've been gay...? why? actual straight guys don't have to go out of their way to not be gay💀💀

"and us?"

"we're friends! we're friends!"

mike takes this as will asking what the nature of their relationship is, because that's what mike had been doing the whole time they were apart. it was already fresh in his mind. he was being hypervigilant. but that backfires, because will wasn't questioning that. he merely misses their friendship, because will thinks that's all they'll ever be. if he can never have mike romantically, he at least wants to preserve their friendship.

will never questions the nature of their relationship. he thinks he's got it all figured out. he likes mike, but mike is straight, and that's how it'll always be. they will always be just friends. meanwhile mike is still being a disaster with internalized homophobia, questioning his own feelings and projecting it onto will. he's confused and scared and messy as fuck.

but will knocked some sense into him. will made him realize that all this defensiveness and projection was hurting them. will isn't playing with him, will isn't out to get him, will hasn't moved on from him. will still cares, and mike can just be honest with him. so he is, and that's how we get the talk in wills room. mike is honest and vulnerable and puts it out there that he just misses will and wants to be best friends and stick together. and at the end of the day that's all will wants too.

and also, about mike trying to reject will by saying we're friends, again that's a pretty aggressive and homophobic-ish way to do that don't you think? if mike has will all figured out why is he being an asshole?? most people who suspect a friend has feelings for them do not go on attack mode and shoot down every advance the friend makes, even if they're just platonic. that's the behavior of someone who is projecting

here are some other posts i've made about this topic:

here

here

here

here

here

stay strong my fellow byler warrior, this battle will be over soon

[paarthursass]

I'm sorry I'm sorry I keep seeing that post that goes "Xander spent years complaining about being powerless and then never took a self defense class" and it pisses me off. Soooo much. Bcs it is such a bad faith reading of Xander as a character and also a gross oversimplification that also misses the entire point of his character.

The brunt of Xander's "complaining" about being powerless happens in the first 3 seasons, and is highlighted particularly in the Zeppo which is about Xander coming to terms with being "the normal one" of the group. He accepts that his role will never be the one in the spotlight, he is the side character to people like Buffy and Willow and he accepts this. While he might make occasional jabs and jokes about being powerless throughout the rest of the show (season 4 in particular we see him floundering with his role, but in season 4 all of the Scoobies are adrift with where they belong, so this is not a Xander-exclusive issue here, that's the point of the season) he seems to settle fairly comfortably into his role. He gets a normal job. He becomes the guy who cleans up Buffy's house when she breaks things fighting demons. We see him further reaffirm his acceptance of this in Potential, when he comforts Dawn (after realizing she isn't a Potential Slayer like she thought, and therefor not "special") by confiding in her his own insecurities with being "the normal one" and then reassuring her that she doesn't need powers to be special. Xander doesn't need powers to be special. He knows his place in the group (affirmed in season 4, where he takes on the role of "the Heart" in the spell to defeat Adam).

And, dare I say it, him learning self defense to the point of being a fighter on par with someone like Riley would completely miss the point of his character. Buffy as a show loves to flip gender roles, and Xander is no exception to this. Xander takes on the stereotypical feminine role in the group dynamic: as stated before, he's "the Heart." He provides emotional support to Willow and Buffy. He's often the one staying home to watch over Dawn, he's the one who cleans up and repairs Buffy's house when it gets wrecked. As the show progresses he increasingly takes on the role of the caretaker and the homemaker. He's also often the damsel, requiring saving by Buffy. He saves Willow with the power of love. Xander "taking a self defense class" - or rather, becoming a 'fighter' like the post implies he should have done, would have run completely counteractive to the point (and subversion) of his character.

Yes, I understand why people have knee-jerk negative reactions to Xander. A lot of his comments haven't aged well, and particularly in the early seasons his treatment of Buffy and Willow isn't great. But he learns. He grows. He does, at some point, stop being an emotionally stunted 17 year old and grows up. I won't act like his character progression is perfect, and there are definitely plenty of Xander moments where I'm incapable of rooting for him, but to claim he "spent 7 years complaining about being powerless and never took a self defense class" is such a bad faith misrepresentation of who he is as a character, and where he stands in the story.

[lordsukunas]

best! friend sukuna headcanons

yall, ngl, he's just a red flag. he has his 'nice' moments but he's still an asshole! uh this is bound to be at least a little ooc bc lets bffr being his bff is unrealistic. anyway, pls enjoy! :3

best friend! sukuna who kicks the backs of your legs when you're standing, and then snicker when you crumple to the ground.

best friend! sukuna who skips the line and drags you along with him. he ignores the pathetic bitching and whining from the people who were in front of him. if they wanted their spot so bad, they should've got back in front of him.

best friend! sukuna who takes your phone off of the charger to charge his. and once his is on a hundred, he won't put yours back. you don't need your phone when you're with him anyway.

best friend! sukuna who insists on walking with you to the convenience store. it could be late at night or he could be in the middle of ripping someone's throat out for not giving him his damn money, and he'll still go.

best friend! sukuna who always makes sure you eat. post-sleepover and you're hungry? he's up, getting you something luxurious to eat at ten in the morning, and back at his apartment in a flash. he may have violated several traffic laws to do it, but at least you aren't starving.

best friend! sukuna who, ironically, cannot cook for shit. he always uses too much seasoning or disregards the given temperature from the recipe or doesn't bother with a crucial ingredient because he finds it nasty.

best friend! sukuna who enjoys poetry. it's something calming, peaceful, a stark contrast to all the blood he sheds daily. if you ask him for recommendations, he'll have an entire list engraved in his mind, tailored just to suit your tastes.

best friend! sukuna who eats up all of your snacks. oh, you have a bag of hot chips? he's eating them. the second he hears the rustling of a wrapper from your direction, he's holding his hand out. he knows you'll share. you always do.

best friend! sukuna who claims he only went to college because he was bored. while that does have some truth to it, isn't it convenient he's attending the same college as you? especially when he's never mentioned going or even caring about it, and the waitlist was so long.

best friend! sukuna who only cares for the things that directly interest and benefit him. he lives for him and him alone. you're lucky you've entertained for him as long as you have with that pretty smile, that annoyingly joyous, pure laugh and those endless rambles about the shows you've rewatched more times than he can count on one hand.

best friend! sukuna who hates how his breath catches when you show off a new outfit, how heat creeps up the back of his neck and warms his cheeks when you genuinely thank him, how he wants to cup your face in his massive, rough hands and press a kiss to your forehead.

best friend! sukuna who has never cared to love or be loved, not until he met you.

note: at some point i'll quit changing the way i format these posts... maybe idk. ALSOO i wanna write sumn abt yuuta to combat this post bc hes just a corny romantic n i love him ><

if u saw this w/o the cut... no u didn't.

[daenysx]

hi! could you write something for dad!aemond where alyssa watches a horror film for the first time and wakes him up in the middle of the night bc of a nightmare? thank u already, i love your writing and your modern!aemond stuff so much <3

thank you, angel ♡ i hope you enjoy

modern!aemond targaryen x fem!reader

"wake up." someone whispers to aemond's ear. it's definitely not you, it takes him a few seconds to process a sound coming from his blindside.

"dad, wake up."

oh, there she is. aemond blinks his eye open and the sight of his daughter's silver hair in two frizzy braids welcomes him. she doesn't do that usually, coming into her parents' room in the middle of the night. she's almost 7, claims she's a big girl to get through the nights herself.

"what's wrong?" aemond asks, sleep dripping from his voice. he holds your hand as you reach for him in your rest. "what happened?"

"i can't sleep." alyssa says, softly. her eyes look huge under the moonlight.

aemond sits on bed carefully to not wake you up. he reaches for his girl. "do you want some milk, baby?"

"please." alyssa leans against his legs. "chocolate milk."

"we have to be silent, okay? mommy and aelyx are still sleeping."

alyssa holds her dad's hand as they walk to the kitchen in the darkness. the kitchen lights bother aemond's eye for a brief moment and then he gets to take in the sight of his daughter as she clings onto him.

"up you go." aemond lifts her so that she can sit on the counter. it's her favorite thing to do in the kitchen, sitting there as she watches her parents cook. he heats up a glass of milk quickly, stirring the chocolate mix alyssa likes into it. she doesn't say anything, which is a bit unusual. she'd definitely ask for more chocolate normally. aemond tries to keep his face cool.

he gives her the chocolate milk in her favorite glass, the one with winnie the pooh picture on it. she accepts it with a small thank you, drinking it in silence as aemond cleans up the little mess he made.

he catches alyssa's gaze on him as if she wants to say something. he waits for her, doesn't try to get the words out of her mouth. she takes her time, though, her sips get lingered as much as they can.

at the end, she has no choice but finishing the milk. she gives her glass to aemond, her pretty eyes watching the floor. aemond stands in front of her, holding her small hand and rubbing his thumb on the back of it.

"i had a nightmare." she starts saying. aemond nods first. "do you wanna tell me about it?" he asks.

"it was- about this movie i saw with gracie today." alyssa explains but she still seems hesitant. "her brother told her the name of the movie and she showed me some of it."

"okay." aemond whispers, his hand still holding hers. "what was it about?"

"um- it was a horror movie, dad." she finally says. "i didn't like it, i couldn't understand what was it about, really, but i'm- i saw the scenes of it in my nightmare."

her eyes fill with slow tears and aemond loses his mind just a bit right there. it always happens when she tears up. he quickly hugs her, her arms wrapping around his waist as much as she can.

"it's okay." he says, his thumb drying up the tears. "don't cry, baby, it's okay."

"i don't want to be a coward."

"you're not a coward just because you didn't like a horror movie." he says, softly. she's too much like his young self. "you don't have to enjoy everything you see."

"but gracie's brother was saying his friend is a coward because he got scared."

"i think gracie's brother is wrong." he does a good job being cool with a kid's ideas that clearly upset his girl, right? "many people don't like horror movies, that doesn't make them cowards, right?"

"really?"

"you know," he smiles. "i remember the first time uncle daeron saw a horror movie with us. it wasn't all that bad but he got so scared at night, he insisted to sleep in uncle aegon's bed."

"did he accept it?" alyssa asks, interested in the story.

"yes, actually. they slept in his room that night and after that everything was okay. no one made fun of daeron. well, except aegon of course, but that doesn't count."

finally she stops pouting and puts on a gorgeous, sleepy smile for her father. he takes her in his arms, carrying her to his room. "why don't you sleep in our bed tonight? i'm sure mommy will be happy about it."

alyssa nods, burying her head to aemond's shoulder. he puts her in the middle of the warm bed carefully. you blink your eyes open, trying to understand what's happening. "aemond?"

"we have a guest, sweetheart." aemond fixes the covers for the three of you. you give your girl a sleepy kiss on her cheek. "everything okay?" you ask.

"yes." he answers. "go back to sleep."

alyssa's hand stays still in her daddy's palm. if the monsters in the movie come looking for her, he will fight them off.

[ruegarding]

for context, @rosabell14 is referring to tags on this post.

ok we're going off-road w this one

generally speaking, i like the concept of "some things aren't meant to be controlled," which annabeth says to percy after he controls the poison. this is said and then immediately forgotten abt, however, this could be another angle of change, a reoccurring theme in hoo, as well as a continued theme from pjo.

obviously, from pjo, the change is addressed w the myths, the theme of yielding, and w the conclusion of the story:

hoo continues this concept of change w the percy-jason switch, the greek-roman conflict, the idea of what an identity is and how to change it, etc. there's a lot of individual character work w this idea, but there's less of a mythological concept attached to it. gaea is a static and flatly written antagonist, octavian becomes incredibly flat as a character and his development into this sort of fanatical antagonist that is never explored, there's a lot of teeth-gritting abt how the gods are gods and they never change and everyone just has to accept it, the myths aren't challenged in the same way they were in pjo, etc. there's a few major exceptions, i'll get to that.

this is a glaring issue i have w hoo. it wouldn't be as bad as a standalone, but hoo makes the entirety of the previous series meaningless. in tlo, percy asks for kids to get claimed and be trained so when (or if) they have to go on dangerous quests/fight monsters/etc they're both older and more experienced. this is the conclusion to the war and how the status quo is changed (disability accommodations expanded to reach more ppl and work more effectively).

hoo, however, does not do this. camp jupiter infamously has a child army while the adults are retired, all of the new characters are younger than percy (who is still 16), and only two of them have spent a long period of time training, although hazel's isn't formal/in a camp (and piper doesn't even learn how to fight until book four ffs). this sort of immediately bastardizes pjo in a way that is never acknowledge by the series and makes it, and anything after it, a failure as a continuation of pjo.

and that's where this theme could've come in. when bob is remembering who he is, him and percy have this back-and-forth abt identity. percy relates to bob bc he, too, just had his memory erased and that vulnerability exploited (annabeth's perspective in this conversation is very different bc she doesn't have this same experience nor does she understand percy's feelings abt it. a good way to build tension using different povs, but, once again, doesn't get fully utilized). in the conclusion that conversation, there's an interesting moment:

this is that idea again, "some things aren't meant to be controlled," like fate, like identity. titans are meant to "be the same...forever." and here percy is, not only as the catalyst for change by throwing bob into the river lethe, but also by encouraging him to commit to this change once bob should know better. this was percy's role in the previous series, as well, where he constantly challenges the perspective of other characters to be more quote human unquote.

afterwards, annabeth has a similar moment w damasen:

i also think these are very funny to have side-by-side, just as character analysis, bc percy is very much both insecure and empathetic like u can choose ur future, it's up to u, etc, whereas annabeth is like i am right, listen to me.

anyway, both of these moments repeat the idea from pjo/tlo: immortals can't change. but they are changing. and they will change. the rules of the world are malleable (i also think hazel's monologue abt seeing the minotaur as a victim would be another aspect of this to explore). what abt traditions? what abt camp jupiter's child army? how should these change? going back to the og thought, tho, what shouldn't change? what are the "some things" that aren't meant to be controlled? how do you balance traditions and reform (great opportunity to use octavian btw!)? why can't a god be human, act human? why are the ancient rules important? that's an important discussion to have if we're growing this universe.

i don't particularly like that hoo immediately reverts back w the premise of the story, like i was talking abt earlier, nor do i think these characters were introduced or used well in canon, but using these characters, these moments, these conversations, rick could've salvaged this mess by embracing change isn't a static thing. he doesn't, tho, so it's all lost potential.

separately, something i've always liked abt the akhlys fight is that percy wins the literal, physical fight against her, but loses the metaphorical fight. he gets to walk away, but he walks away miserable. and this is bc the gods aren't ppl, they're physical representations of concepts. and percy has this thought abt tartarus and gaea while in tartarus, and i believe it's brought up in boo, but it's barely relevant. it's something i wish was explored more.

now onto specific characters. i talk abt my general idea here, ie this moment in tartarus is forcing percy and annabeth to confront their worst-case scenarios.

for annabeth, i've repeatedly gone on record to say i hate the way annabeth is written in hoo, here is an example, ie her fatal flaw does not come thru in her character (i also think she and percy switched characterizations from pjo to hoo, but...). separate issue is that annabeth's character revolves around percy a lot. so there are two issues i would focus on, largely bc she's not written well and doesn't have established unique conflicts. like,

this is a big revelation at the end of hoh, that she has to "step back" and she can't "protect everyone she love[s]." except it doesn't make any sense. tlo ended w annabeth telling percy to give luke her knife which luke uses to kill himself. not to mention, thalia's sacrifice on hbh. ALSO. percy accepting the prophecy and "taking the brunt of the danger"! and finally. annabeth has been at camp for 7-8 years. 1) she should have relationships w these ppl and 2) she should care that some of the ogs died in the previous war (which would also require rick to figure out who died lol). but the point is, this isn't a new conflict for annabeth!

the thought she had in moa abt having to accept she's not always the best person for the job:

this is not built up nor is it delivered on, but would be interesting, given that she demanded to be on the quest and if there was an actual power struggle instead of writing her as the de facto leader. this would be a better conflict than accepting that "she couldn't protect everyone she loved" when she has historically not been able to protect everyone she loved.

anyway, back on topic.

first, this moment exists to challenge her perception of percy, which is important to challenge bc she quite frankly has an unhealthy attachment to him. other ppl have said this better than i, so here's a post abt codependency and p*rcabeth and here's another one i rbed a while ago.

tldr; rick treats annabeth's abandonment issues/possessiveness/codependency as like. cute, peak romance. and he's been doing this since pjo, right, like annabeth's abandonment issues and possessiveness didn't matter when it was thalia joining the hunters,—bc there's no romance trope here w thalia—but gods forbid percy speak to rachel.

and this doesn't change in hoo. in fact, it's worse. like,

i'm going to [statement redacted] rick for this. what part of this is cute??? i'm killing it with fire.

so anyway, i want to treat annabeth's possessiveness/etc as an actual, consistent, character flaw, that she can grow out of, even. maybe even connect it to her hubris or her rsd. explore her feelings abt luke now that we have her pov to do it in. the fallout from this moment w akhlys is a great way to begin delving into that bc it's a shocking moment for her.

second, and going back to the theme of change, annabeth is different from percy in the sense that she has a different relationship to the gods than him (which i'm comparing bc i think rick (and fandom) has a hard time giving these two consistent and separate personalities/beliefs post pjo). the two times she has rebelled against the gods directly were bc of percy's influence (again, this is percy's role in pjo), 1) in the zoo truck, a scene that only takes place bc percy challenged her view of the poseidon-athena rivalry and their place in it, and 2) w hera where the first words out of annabeth's mouth are literally "percy is right."

i find this interesting especially bc her fatal flaw is hubris, which is common in mythology and frequently ends up fatal bc ppl challenge the gods. so, annabeth using the gods and these stories to keep her hubris in check makes complete sense.

and it seems like this is the same approach she's using w percy:

percy is directly challenging a god for power, and more than that, he's challenging a domain he's not supposed to have control of at all.

very interesting! does not get explored. such is common for hoo.

for percy, this scene is part of a long-running conversation of his powers (which is a huge part of his disability coding!!!!!). and it doesn't go anywhere.

percy has established anger issues and implied emotional dysregulation. this has been a thing since the beginning, literally chapter one of tlt! punishing percy for this when he's clearly not getting the support he needs is. a choice. also there's the issue that hoo kinda. erases this aspect of percy's character until the confrontation w akhlys, which is a separate but related issue.

there really should've been more buildup to this outburst (eg: in son percy punches a shelf in the library and immediately feels guilty bc he scares frank and hazel. percy is in an incredibly stressful situation; this should've happened more), but that would mean rick would treat it and the disability conversation seriously (which falls flat after son) and do less teeth-gritting abt the whole gods thing.

so, to go back on my "using the different povs to build tension was wildly underutilized" train, a featured part of almost everyone's pov is that percy is very kind, and gentle, and forgiving. i discuss a moment w frank being impressed w percy's selflessness here and he also says that he would follow percy anywhere, jason says percy is "a nice guy" after like 2 days, nico has his whole thing, hazel says "percy was a child of poseidon’s better nature," going on to describe him as gentle, etc.

and all of this praise goes nowhere and kinda just becomes percy is so awesome...and then turns into everything is percy's fault in boo...it's bad writing.

but it's an interesting opportunity to play w perspective. percy in pjo is dehumanized in that he is both villainized and idolized, and obviously hoo is continuing the trend w idolization. rick sets up a great plotline w this in moa:

and this doesn't go anywhere bc apparently percy's problem is that he needs to learn to step back. which. part of this is bc rick recycled plotlines from percy and gave them to other characters, which means that percy cannot be in character anymore without making themlook bad (the recycled plotlines i'm talking abt are the idolization, imposter syndrome, wanting to step back but constantly pushed into the spotlight, being seen as different/elevated status bc of ur parentage, struggling to connect to who your parent is, even the dehumanization as a weapon is straight out of percy's writing in pjo). this is a big problem w hoo in general ie characters becoming ooc by necessity (see: bad writing). the other part to blame is that rick is literally trying to redo tlo what w the whole "you are not the hero." it's all the same from pjo except written worse. it's a running theme of hoo (and a bonus). bad writing all the way down!

ANYWAY. so pjo ends w percy at an elevated status bc he 1) survived an unsurvivable prophecy, 2) was offered godhood, and 3) turned down godhood to improve the lives of the demigods while all the demigods watched. and he has the curse of achilles but. we all know how that went. the point is, all of this puts percy on a pedestal. i like to think it's the biggest reason hera kidnapped percy: if he said no, if he refused, she would've lost the support of almost all the demigods at chb (also the metaphor for the audience lol). i think making percy go on the quest, or at least to new rome, is the only good bit of world building rick did between books.

the problem is, rick is kinda all over the place w how percy is perceived and misses both the point of percy's character (callback to what i said abt his disability) and the world building of the previous series (what happened to power-scaling, narrative consequence, etc fr). that's what creates the flip-flopping "percy is perfect" and "everything is percy's fault," and neither are particularly good reads.

going back to annabeth, i don't think she's an exception in idolizing percy. she has no reason to see percy's vindictive side bc he works hard to hide it. even w crusty, annabeth is preoccupied. annabeth is smart, she's not omniscient. instead, there's the famous "percy is too nice" from som. i also like to think this is why she keeps trying to talk to percy abt luke as if luke is a good person who didn't try to kill percy. she doesn't understand that percy would hate luke for betraying him bc why would he? percy is a good person.

(for the record, i think the exceptions are: 1) grover, who chooses not to bring it up w the exception of his nemesis comment in tlt, 2) rachel, who made a painting where percy's "expression in the picture was fierce—disturbing, even—so it was hard to tell if I was the good guy or the bad guy" and simply said that's how he looked, and 3) arguably nico—considering percy has attacked him before—but i do think "very [dangerous]. to his enemies." does a good job of capturing that, it just doesn't go anywhere).

so, to condense all of this, ppl are idolizing percy in terms of both strength and morals and percy feels stifled by this knowing that he is not as strong or good as ppl think (and also by the fault that he was demonized prior and has corresponding low self-esteem bc of that lol). keep this in mind, i'm changing the topic.

in botl, percy's torture scene is used primarily to set up how powerful he is. he can cause an eruption that necessitates the evacuation of thousands of ppl and wake the biggest threat in greek mythos, but he would never know that if he wasn't back into a corner. bc that's not who he is. he shies away from power and titles. he wins his fights w strategy and very rarely relies on his powers to overpower his opponents.

just to clarify, i categorize percy's powers in two sorts of ways: involuntary and voluntary. involuntary is like speaking to sea creatures, healing in water, things that don't require a lot of energy/effort/focus. he's not scared of this. he's wary of the voluntary, powerful explosions, the things that set him apart from his peers. that's what i'm referring to in this section.

so, percy has to come to terms w the fact that he 1) blew up a mountain, 2) survived blowing up a mountain, and 3) woke typhon. and what does he say immediately after that?

he immediately deflects! he wasn't in control, it wasn't him that's powerful, it was an accident, and besides, he can't do it again bc he almost died. and what's even more interesting is the only time he uses his powers after this (in botl) is when grover asks him to stop the fire in the woods.

so, what lesson did percy actually take from mt saint helens? that he's dangerous. very interesting to use this teaching moment and have the protagonist come to the quote wrong unquote conclusion.

in hoh, we don't have a purpose for the torture scene. there's no significance to confronting how powerful percy is. percy is not addressing his self-sacrificing tendencies nor his propensity for bottling his emotions up. there's no questioning of p*rcabeth's relationship. there's no questioning of the gods. it's a cool scene w no narrative purpose.

so, take two. what is percy supposed to be learning from akhlys? how do we relate this to percy taking the wrong lesson from mt st helens?

at the end of botl, nico comes up w the river styx plan and percy takes almost a full year to agree to it. how much further ahead in the war would they have been if percy had accepted the curse sooner? how many fights could percy have won faster if he used his powers? if he trained his powers? if he trusted his powers?

there's a really interesting comparison w phorcys and akhyls where percy doesn't attempt to fight phorcys bc he assumes he won't be able to overpower him,

but w akhyls he tries anyway,

bc he's backed against a corner. and he succeeds.

percy is a character who very much embodies duality. i've talked abt this before wrt his loyalty being both his greatest strength and greatest weakness and how it clashes w his desire for freedom, but it's true for almost every trait. he's honest and manipulative. he's ruthless and merciful. he's kind and violent. he's looked up to and looked down upon. he's the saint and the scapegoat. etc etc. and percy responds to this by frequently trying to deny his quote worse unquote traits until they eventually bubble up and explode out of him. this is part of why juno calls him a loose-canon (which btw, i love. everyone has been treating him as a loose canon and no one on this side has the balls to say it until then, seven books in).

all this to say, *ethan voice* it's abt balance! this moment should've been abt percy confronting his unfair treatment! the idolization from his peers! the demonization of his flaws/disability!

thanks for coming to my tedtalk.

[six-improbable-things]

Soooo.... we ended up not actually testing ship combat... We spent 2 hours talking about the rules and making sure we were both solid on them and on the same page, and then the DM asked me a very unrelated question and we talked for almost 4 more hours and never tested ship combat. [*sigh*] Nah, I'm not mad I genuinely had a ton of fun talking to him. (We're very similar in some ways and complete opposites in others. It makes for interesting conversations.) Plus it gives me time to actually make the Tide Breaker's map... Since I didn't have that done for this week.

The dnd ship combat doc I made for my DM is 2.5 pages long now... (but that might be in part because I do not know how to be concise.) I know dnd is not the system for sea combat or extensive sailing. But it's happening anyways (blame me, ofc), so I'm going to make it work. Me and the DM are doing a trial run of ship combat tonight, and since I wrote the rules and also will be playing the captains of the ships we'll be on, I'm basically becoming co-DM for these fights, which is gonna be great.

[beneathsilverstars]

been doing research on writing plural systems for sif+loop in mundane modern aus, and i think i've got a solid idea of what i want to do! specifics may vary by au but i wanted a base set of headcanons to vary from, so sif+loop being a system can be a background fact of my au musings instead of something i have to reinvent every time.

(i'm a singlet so if any systems have concrit or thoughts they want to share i'd be happy to hear it! i'm not like planning a fic or anything currently, but it's still nice to not be working off of misconceptions for my silly little posts.)

siffrin took over as the main host in their late teens and doesn't remember anything from before that. in their early-mid 20s their work/housing situation was horrible and when they couldn't take another day like that, siffrin split into loop (who kept the mid 20s memories, with a new personality) and siffrin take two (who remembers the 17-20 era a bit better, but then there's a big gap). between the two of them they were able to cope better and hold a not-as-awful job and get a shitty apartment all to themselves!

siffrin fronts more often on average, because they're better at quietly accomplishing day-to-day tasks. but if he gets too overwhelmed or anxious (think their mini loop-backs in canon) then loop takes over, bc loop dgaf about some of the things siffrin worries about, and doesn't shut down as easily. but since they don't bottle up their feelings as severely, they're more likely to react outwardly and make rash choices like quitting their job, being rude, splurging on little treats, etc. so that's why siffrin is the default fronter for things like work and chores, when he's feeling up to it.

loop is fairly aware of what's going on while siffrin is fronting - sometimes they choose to tune more of it out, but they can catch most of it if they want to, and sometimes siffrin will talk to them or nudge them to pay attention. since they know at least the basics of what siffrin was up to, they can usually step in pretty smoothly when they need to take over! and it's very easy for them to take over, with or without siffrin's say-so, though they try to ask if it's not an emergency (and if it is an emergency, siffrin is likely trying to back away from the front anyway).

when loop is fronting, though, siffrin is entirely away, dreaming in the void. loop can nudge them for a vague opinion or relevant memory, but they can't hold a full conversation and they're not aware of what loop's doing. when loop puts them in the front again they're usually disoriented and need a moment for loop to tell them what's been happening. and again, loop is the one deciding to switch; sometimes siffrin might resist getting pulled back if they're still feeling bad, or get antsy and start reaching out if they've been asleep a while or are having bad dreams, but they're not gonna react to environmental situations since they're not aware of them.

mal is in there too but doesn't front. its role is to be socially hyper-vigilant, pointing out when other people might be upset at them so the alter who's fronting knows to fix it or avoid the person. it's been around longer than siffrin, and was helpful way back then, but now that siffrin and loop have worked out an effective balance and are fairly safe, mal's behavior is somewhat maladaptive (ha!). it's not super directly aware of the outside world like loop is, not anymore at least, but it does get secondhand memories from both siffrin and loop. it actually sometimes remembers facts and details that sif and loop both quickly forgot, because maybe those details will end up relevant to spotting and avoiding future problems - but since it got the memories secondhand and filtered them through a particularly paranoid worldview, it's likely to misremember subjective interpretations as literal truth, so you gotta take its claims with a grain of salt.

it mostly hangs out in the void imagining fractals and whatnot these days, keeping an eye on siffrin while they sleep. it occasionally perks up and chimes in with its pessimistic point of view when siffrin is really upset - it can communicate better with sleeping siffrin than loop can. loop is not on speaking terms with it because they're mad that it goes behind loop's back and makes siffrin more upset right when loop is trying to shield him from the upsetting situation. but siffrin doesn't mind it bc it's just trying to help in its own way, and sometimes it is helpful to face their fears in plain words instead of avoiding them. and siffrin will sometimes ask it for help with like, puzzles, because it's good at pattern recognition.

there's also a no-longer-quite-dormant alter that presumably fronted for much of the body's childhood. they don't hang out in siffrin and mal's void, and they don't talk to anyone else within the system. but now that the system is more safe and stable, every once in a while something will catch their attention and they'll gently push to the front and start talking. as soon as their train of thought is interrupted they're gone again, and the other alters don't even remember that they got usurped for a moment, a la siffrin's bits of telling childhood anecdotes in canon. loop and siffrin have surmised that they exist, and call them the lost one.

mal has also implied that there's at least one more dormant alter, but it's from before siffrin-and-loop's time and possibly mal's as well.

if something happens that's so distressing that siffrin retreats into headspace and loop won't take over either, the body goes into dissociated autopilot. it will follow basic one-step instructions (such as "follow me" or "eat this"), speak in a couple simple scripts (such as answering "how are you" with "i'm fine"), and complete rote tasks such as taking a familiar route home from work or going to bed. loop doesn't pay much attention because that would defeat the point / put them back in front, so they usually have very little if any idea of what happened in this state, but it is possible for outside events to catch their attention enough for them to try fronting again. otherwise they'll be back next time the body wakes up. siffrin, on the other hand, usually won't front for at least a day or two after this happens, and will likely have forgotten the events leading up to it as well.

it doesn't happen very often since it's the very last resort, after siffrin dissociating, loop taking over, and loop dissociating. loop and siffrin don't consider the autopilot an alter because it doesn't form memories, have emotions or opinions, or interact in the headspace; it just follows where it's led, by habit or outside influence. loop has argued in favor of trying to imbue it with more personhood so it's less uncanny for other people to interact with and can get loop's attention when the distressing thing is over, but siffrin argues that if it can think that defeats the point, and they'd just end up with this new alter and a new autopilot.

past all that, the specifics will depend on the exact au; particularly the ratio of loop time to siffrin time will depend on how much siffrin works and how awful their job is, whether siffrin and/or loop have friends yet, etc. but i think when they're doing pretty well they'd be happy with siffrin doing work/chores and most of the activities that they both enjoy (since then they'll both remember it), and loop fronting for maybe a third of their free time to do their own thing, and maybe here and there if something goes wrong at work. and then if siffrin starts feeling burnt out, they swap for a couple days of loop doing most things and siffrin just coming out for an hour or two. siffrin and mal probably talk maybe a couple times a month, unless siffrin is really going through it, in which case they might talk a lot for a couple days. it also might be possible for mal to eventually adapt a little more to being safe, and start providing a wider range of possible interpretations instead of just the worst case scenario.

ok that's all! and as i said, i'm totally open to feedback. :3

[benevadeca]

A common fanfic trope I've seen to meow meow SJ is to make him neglectful to LBH instead of actively malicious. And I get the main rationales for it being A. The child abuse is the one hard action to justify B. If basically all the other shit he did was misunderstandings he failed to clarify it's a reasonable leap to make C. Bro ultimate hater moment how did he even have the energy to specifically target a 12 yo to the pt of working to make a fake cultivation manual that could kill him. This man is fr running on 4 hrs of sleep a week how does he have the energy. Like his favoritism is a fr trait so ofc his singled out i need to throw hands w that 12 yo would be fr but I get why sometimes people consider the degree of it to be cartoonish.

However I think that woobification could be good if it ever actually acknowledge A. Neglect is a form of abuse in fact and B. Ming fan being the scapegoat in those fics like damn maybe emotionally neglecting the teenagers under yr purview leads to issues like 'feeling the need to actively harm the competition'. Which is a fun and interesting kind of way for MF to suffer. MF being a bully bc he has learnt it is free of repercussion and actively encouraged by the figure of power he admires and who has authority over him VS MF being a bully as a form of acting out bc the only present adult figure in his life is emotionally checked out at best and actively neglectful at worst.

Idk just SJ's abuse intentionally targeted at one guy VS unintentionally causing his teenagers to feel the need to go lord of the flies for acknowledgement. Is funny. And I haven't rly seen one that goes the SJ didn't do as much abuse as claimed route that doesn't just go full tilt into oh and MF was the REAL bad guy like bro he's like 13.

[endlessburningdarkness]

the most sympathy shen yuan had for abused slave child shen jiu was "speechless" lmao he literally never thinks about him again. doesn't spare a second to consider how he's using a former slave's body without his permission. this is the guy who canonically feels guilty for all sorts of things he can't control, like lbh having to go into the abyss.

so why does he feel guilty for one thing he can't control and not about another? bc he doesn't care about shen jiu or have sympathy for him.

the one thing he never angsts about is the goddamn slave who's life, name, and identity he inadvertently stole. shen yuan angsts about lbh falling into the abyss not because he has sympathy for everyone, but specifically bc he likes and cares about lbh. he is biased towards lbh. he doesn't consider how shen jiu, again a former slave, would feel about having his body be used against his will by shen yuan, bc he doesn't give a goddamn fuck about shen jiu. no, he's not compartmentalizing, bc we would see him try to keep those thoughts away, he just doesn't have them.

shen yuan had sympathy in your head, not in the text.

you have sympathy for shen jiu, but projecting it onto shen yuan doesn't mean shen yuan magically has it. he canonically does not demonstrates sympathy, he demonstrates surprise, shock, and on single moment of "huh, i guess he had a bad childhood," and then he moves the fuck on bc he couldn't care less.

if he cared even the tiniest amount, he would be a lot more goddamn careful with the body he's inadvertently occupying. not blow it up or let it be ripped open by demon cock over and over. shen jiu doesn't consent to any of that either btw, and that is still his body. not shen yuan's. just bc shen yuan is in it doesn't mean he has the right to do whatever he wants.

this such basic body autonomy that i can't believe it needs to be fucking said. no one has a right to another person's body, not even if they got in there by accident. goddamn pro life type argument to say shen yuan should do whatever he likes with a body that is not his own and will never be his own just bc he got trapped in there.

i get you want shen yuan to be this super duper nice perfect mary sue self-insert you can project onto but he just isn't that. his primary motivation is to save himself for fucks sake. he is selfish. his favourite character lbh is canonically a rapist. a fact he has no issue with even when it's said to his face. he's a flawed character. let him be fucking flawed! it's fine for him to enjoy life in the body of someone who did not consent and fine for him not to think twice about it.

let him be flawed.

and it's always this flaw of his, this lack of sympathy for the villain that people get hung up over. all his other flaws are fucking hilarious. but this one has people crying tears of blood. it makes perfect sense for shen yuan not to have sympathy. it makes sense for him to believe all the wrong rumours about shen jiu. bc shen jiu was the villain, and shen yuan wants to believe he was just pure evil, and lbh was pure good. there's certainly a stunning irony in the fact that you display he same failure of reading comprehension for shen yuan is the very one he displays himself lol. shen yuan was wrong about the villain, and thats fine for his character.

when shen yuan has sympathy for someone, he treats them like lbh. lbh crippled countless cultivators, he still nearly fucked over the whole world, he turned the OPM into a stick. shen yuan has no issue with lbhs darkness and violence, but his stans sure seem to shy away from it, and from shen yuan's glaring lack of interest in behaving in a moral manner. neither shen yuan or lbh are good people, and thats fine. that's what makes them interesting in fact, and yet they get sanded down into basic ass stereotypical "good guys who can do no wrong" by people who claim to love them.

[onmyo-jin]

38 they're running out of time

ZYC/ZYZ/WX

I want more about their on point gay throuple dynamic. I was tempted by 7 to shut them up bc ZYZ's mouth gets him in trouble but ultimately I'm an angst person 😅 who's kissing who everyone kissing everyone whatever works i just like their dynamic 😩

No big deal tho if the throuple dynamic isn't smth that inspires you!!

OKAY SO I wasn't going to because I couldn't handle writing more pain along the lines of what the show gave us... except. Except I thought: what if I took the prompt literally, and made a modern AU? and then this happened

Zhou Yichen is usually the first to wake up, without even needing to set an alarm (or twenty) on his phone. Wen Xiao and Zhao Yuanzhou have something of a competition going to see who can sleep in the longest without being late for work. They seem to have a similarly foolish competition going to see who can stay up the latest. Neither of them seems to be winning, although both of them would surely object if Zhuo Yichen said that out loud.

Yichen isn't sure which of these 'competitions' is worse, but as long as they let him get his required eight hours of what zhao Yuanzhou calls 'his beauty sleep' he will leave them to their madness. Zhao Yuanzhou would also say the beauty sleep is working, and that his Zhuo-daren is looking particularly beautiful this day. Then he'd pout and tilt his head towards Zhuo Yichen until he condescends to kiss the idiot. Really, who calls people 'daren' in this day and age? You can tell studying history does weird things to people just from that.

Today starts just horribly, despite Zhuo Yichen's eight hours of sleep. It is pleasantly light outside when Zhuo Yichen wakes. The sun is shining down brightly, valiantly trying to warm the fresh snow in a way that spells 'icy' rather than 'melting'. Their giant bed (Zhao Yuanzhou insists on calling it a nest) is empty, for once leaving Yichen enough space to stretch. Usually when Zhuo Yichen wakes he has to carefully untangle himself from two sets of limbs. The only reason he manages that is because they usually attach themselves onto each other, allowing him to escape to freedom. Usually when Zhuo Yichen wakes, it is still dark outside.

For a moment he closes his eyes, hoping in vain that this is just a bad dream. When he opens his eyes again the sun is still brightly announcing his tardiness to the world, and neither of his spouses has appeared beside him. Zhuo Yichen grabs his phone from the headboard and sees the worst: he is, in fact, running late.

Well. Late by his own standards. By Zhao Yuanzhou's standards he'd be perfectly on time, because university professors get to make their own rules, or something. By Wen Xiao's standards this might still count as late, if only for the time wasted while not researching her latest creature obsessions. Zhuo Yichen forgets what the tardigrade of the day was called that she is studying just now.

Unfortunately large security companies do not run themselves, and being the CEO does not absolve him from normal business hours regardless of what certain university types may claim.

Zhuo Yichen forces himself to stop staring at the inevitability that is the hour and forces himself to move. The room is still night-cold and he breaks out in goosebumps before he can take two steps from the lovely warm bed. He longs for his usual shower, but considering the time it will have to wait until the evening. Zhuo Yichen quickly grabs some clothes– the advantage of wearing 'boring' colours (source: Zhao Y., Wen X., et al.) is he doesn't have to think about what to wear.

He is still combing his hair into some semblance of order when he steps into the living room, and freezes. Wen Xiao has fallen asleep at the dining table, half a library of books surrounding her and her now-dead laptop. There is a blanket draped over her shoulders, and a certain fiend snoring in the one chair that affords a good view of the dining table (and Wen Xiao). Judging by the blanket it would seem that Zhao Yuanzhou won their latest round of 'who can stay up the latest'. 

On his way past he makes sure to kick Zhao Yuanzhou's chair. The man jolts awake annoyingly gracefully, and blinks owlishly at the room for several seconds while Yichen stalks on into the kitchen to get his coffee. He doesn't like skipping breakfast, but if he also skips coffee he may murder someone in traffic before he ever gets to the office. He sets the coffee machine for a triple espresso and decides to raid the fridge for something quick and portable while it works its magic. He turns around, and runs bodily into Zhao Yuanzhou, who has materialized behind him. The great demon wraps his arms around Zhuo Yichen, presses a noisy kiss to his cheek and then searches Zhuo Yichen's face: "What was that for, hm? What have I done wrong now?"

Zhuo Yichen pouts, and looks away from those omniscient eyes to hide his embarrassment. He had no reason to wake Da Yao, not really. It's just… "I don't like waking up alone. The bed is too big." It sounds petulant. It is petulant. It's also more honest than he wanted to be, but that's what people get for asking questions before he's had his coffee.

"Ah, Xiao Zhuo, I'm sorry! I didn't want to wake Wen Xiao, and then I didn't want to wake you, and it was so late and the chair was so comfortable…" Zhao Yuanzhou's wide eyes and convincingly innocent face no longer fool Zhuo Yichen. "Will you forgive this one?" Or at least: they no longer fool him most of the time. This time he will blame the coffee.

He wraps an arm around Zhao Yuanzhou, and presses a kiss to his jaw. "Fine. This once, you are forgiven. Now let me get some breakfast before I have to run, please?"

"Run? Is today a gym day? Please tell me I'm not missing a gym day??" Zhao Yuanzhou is not a sports type. He is the effortlessly skinny but eats for three type. He only cares about gym days because he enjoys seeing Zhuo Yichen sweaty and tired– and enjoys giving him massages (and more) after he returns from the gym pleased and exhausted.

"Today is an I'm running late day," Yichen pulls a grimace. He manages to unstick Yuanzhou far enough that he can reach the fridge, and looks at the appallingly empty state of it. That's what happens when one of your best friends is a professional chef who enjoys feeding his friends. There are more drinks and sauces than edible things in the fridge. Accepting a bad morning and an early lunch, Zhuo Yichen gives up on the fridge and returns to his coffee– only to have a banana waved in his face.

Wen Xiao is still sporting her blanket, her hair in a messy bun and her blouse irrevocably wrinkled from sleep. She also looks very smug. "Take this for breakfast, you terrible early riser."

No banana has ever looked better, so Zhuo Yichen has to kiss her about it. Their lips meet first with enthusiasm, then with lack-of-sleep languor, until she presses the banana against his chest. "Don't make me want to keep you in bed Xiao Zhuo."

"Thanks, Wen-jie," he says to the one who saved his morning.

Zhao Yuanzhou has decided to be helpful (a suspicious occurrence), and hands him his mug of espresso. "What if we did keep him here today," he leers. He does not act on this threat (promise?) but for old times' sake Zhuo Yichen will act offended. It does sound rather tempting, but even a lack of coffee cannot make him that honest. Just in case, he downs his coffee first.

"You will not, you demon," he scoffs. It is a nickname more than an insult by now, in in-joke from back when Zhuo Yichen was convinced he was somehow cursed or haunted or both by Zhao Yuanzhou. The man seemed to be able to follow him anywhere, appearing at the most inconvenient times. The truth, he has since learned, is that his own schedule is perhaps a little bit predictable.

"Very well," his demon heaves a very put-upon sigh, and wraps an arm around Wen Xiao instead. "We shall release you for today." Wen Xiao is nodding along, and suddenly they're all laughing. It takes several minutes for the laughter to fade and for Zhuo Yichen to catch his breath.

"Go on then, off with you," Wen Xiao chides gently, her eyes sparkling up at him. "We'll join you in bed tonight–" "–If not necessarily for sleeping," Zhao Yuanzhou adds cheerfully, earning an elbow in his ribs from Wen Xiao. She reaches out for Yichen, and he lets his hand be captured. She pulls him into another kiss, this one less languid and filled with much more promises. When she breaks the kiss he does not get to catch his breath: Zhao Yuanzhou is there immediately to steal the rest of his oxygen, his kiss fiery and his teeth nipping at Zhuo Yichen's lips, begging, demanding entry. Yichen does not see what happens, but he suspects another elbow has met Zhao Yuanzhou's ribs when he abruptly breaks the kiss.

"See you tonight, Xiao Zhuo," they promise, and Zhuo Yichen knows today will pass entirely too slowly until he makes it back home.

[bbyquokka]

6:55 pm (bc)

genre: timestamp, smut — MDNI!

warnings: fem reader, unestablished relationship, virgin reader, fuckboy chan, best friend chan, oral (f rec), vaginal fingering, pet names.

words: 1.4k ~ (1470)

a/n: this + the teaser pics = this mess. this sucks but i havent wrote smut since the changbin fic

☆ m.list — ☆ you can also read it on my ao3

dont repost. dont translate. minors, ageless & default blogs; dni! feedback and reblogs are highly advised and appreciated!

“c-chan. wait–” you breathily whimper, fingers wrapped around the man's black locks. his fingertips dig into the skin of your thighs, teeth scraping the insides before gently nipping at the skin.

he looks at you through his lashes, a cocky and mischievous smirk resting on his lips. his tongue slowly darts out to moisten the skin leaving them to glisten in the faint light from the residue of his saliva.

you swallow thickly, your heart beating against your chest at an erratic pace. your body temperature has risen to max. it's a habit of yours to speak and not know when to shut up, especially in embarrassing situations–like five minutes ago to be exact.

you casually stated to your best friend (and fuckboy for that matter) that you've never been eaten out before. chan is your best male friend, a person you feel safe with so you have no problem over sharing, however, once you realised what you had said due to the fact that chan had a shit eating grin, did you curse yourself of your bad habit.

chan is the type of person to only do one night stands. he claims that relationships require time and effort–which he doesn't have right now. one night stands are easy for him. it's a quick fuck and you're done.

you don't care. chan is a grown man, he can do whatever he likes. however, you've heard the rumours floating around about how good chan is at eating pussy so naturally, it piqued your curiosity.

you just didn't expect that same man to be between your legs at this current moment in time.

“you want me to wait?” he cocks his eyebrow. the silver from his brow piercing faintly catching the light. “even after i've got you this worked up?”

you swallow as he hums. his fingertips delicately rubbing your aching cunt through the material of your soaked panties. he presses the pad of his finger against your clit, applying enough pressure to send tingles of pleasure up your spine. you gently tug on his hair causing chan to laugh 

“you and me both know that you don't want me to stop, doll.” he purrs before suckling on the skin of your inner thigh. he leaves purple bruises and teeth marks, your body reacting to the foreign yet pleasurable feeling.

he leaves feather-like kisses on the skin, inching closer and closer to your cunt. he looks up at you for any signs of him to stop, but when he is met with nothing but rosy cheeks and doe eyes, he continues. 

using his middle and index finger, he slowly rubs between your folds through your panties. you let out shaky breathes, chan humming softly as he feels how wet your panties are.

“fuck.. your panties have soaked up your juices nicely.”

“do you have to comment on it?” you mumble, feeling a wave of shyness wash over you.

“what can i say? i like to be vocal.” he says with a smirk before hooking his fingers under the waistband. “can i?”

you nod slowly, swallowing your accumulated saliva. you lift your hips up as chan pulls your panties down your legs and onto the floor. you're met with the cold air of the room hitting your soaked pussy as chan stares at it with hungry eyes.

“shit.. it's so pretty. you're so pretty yn.”

“stoppp.” you whine, legs aromatically closing as an attempt to make chan not stare anymore.

“no.” he whispers, gently prying your legs open again “let me see.” 

you whimper. cheeks flushing pink as you watch chan. his hungry eyes flicker as they take in every detail of your lower half. the way your slick coats your folds and shimmers in the light. how puffy and swollen your clit is. how your entrance pulsates as it waits to be filled with something.

“gosh you're so pretty!” he growls before diving head first between your legs. you shriek as a sudden explosion of pleasure shoots up your spine due to chan's wet tongue gliding over your puffy clit.

“f-fuckk!!” you groan out. he hums as he uses the tip of his tongue to swirl around the bud before licking long strips. he then starts to suck and gently nibble on the bud before slowly licking down to your entrance. 

you moan his name softly, his tongue lapping up your slick. he moans against your cunt from the way you taste, a switch inside him suddenly flipping making him want more of you. the way you sound, the way you taste makes him want so much more of you.

you tug at his hair as his tongue dives in and out of your entrance. breathy moans and shaky whimpers escape from your throat as your body and mind becomes consumed with the foreign feeling of pleasure. you free one hand from his hair to glide under your t-shirt.

you cup your own breast, squeezing and massaging the flesh as you unknowingly buck your hips against chan's face. the tip of his nose bumps against your clit which adds to the overwhelming feeling of pleasure.

chan smirks, letting you do as you please. he lets you buck and ride his face, his tongue alternating from entrance to clit. your fingers pinch and tug at your nipples, head flopping to the side as your lips part.

with shaky thighs, you desperately try to close your legs around his head but chan is strong. with the grip he currently has, it's a useless fight; a fight you should just give up on.

slick and saliva coats chan's face. your moans and the way your body moves sending tingles of pleasure down chan's spine and straight to his aching balls. his cock straining against his jeans. every now and then, he roughly squeezes and palms himself to relieve him of the ache.

you look down as chan pulls away slightly, your brows furrowing together as a way of asking: “everything ok?” chan simply smirks before gathering up some spit and spitting on your cunt.

your eyes widen a little at the dirty, yet attractive, action. all thoughts are quick to leave your mind once you feel chan rub and smear the saliva on your clit and folds. using two fingers, he rubs between your folds getting the skin coated in your slick. 

he teasingly dips the tips of his fingers inside your entrance to be greeted by sudden warmth and the feeling of you clenching around him. he laughs softly as he looks at you, your pink cheeks and doe eyes staring down at him as you chew your lip.

“is this o–”

“yes!” you hastily interrupt “yes! just fuck me chan. please.. i'm aching to feel something.” you curse your virgin self for sounding so desperate, but you couldn't help it. the pleasure you're feeling is so new and scary. you'd be lying to yourself if you said you wasn't scared of what's next but you know you're safe with chan and with each moan you make, the more you love it.

chan swallows thickly as he clenches his jaw. he makes a mental note of how adorable and submissive you look right now, forever burning the image into his brain. 

he'll use that to jerk off later.

he slowly pushes his fingers inside, stopping at the first knuckle. you groan at the feeling of fullness alongside with how thick his fingers feel. he curls his fingers against your walls, slowly pumping them.

your walls contract around him, holding onto his fingers tightly as if you're scared he will escape. he slowly picks up the pace, your eyes fluttering shut. he dares to push his fingers deeper inside, finger curling and caressing your walls.

he angles each thrust in an attempt to hit that spot he knows so well–and when he does, his ears and eyes are blessed with the sight and sound of you. 

you let out a long and desperate moan, back arching as his fingertips abuse your g-spot. you shakily reach down, holding onto his wrist as you dig your nails into the skin. chan smirks before sucking on your clit again.

“fuck fuck fuck. chan, so good. fuck!” you moan, your throat becoming dry from all the panting you've been doing.

“good girl.” chan mumbles “you're doing so well for me.”

your core clenches, stomach dipping and body sweating. you can't say or do anything because you're so consumed with pleasure. you're hazy and all you can think about is having chan's cock deep inside you, ruining your insides.

chan loves the way you sound, taste, smell and feel. his animalistic side getting the better of him as his fingers drive in and out and tongue swirling around your puffy clit.

he wants more; so much more.

tags (open): @sstarryoong ; @oshimee ; @fairylouist ; @septicrebel ; @bbujiikseu ; @cixrosie ; @alyszaen ; @writerracha ; @hyunluvxo ; @aestheticsluut ; @xcookiemonsteer

[pipperoo]

the line grace says in the police station “it was god’s plan!” was most likely meant to be like a joke line, but from grace’s perspective, it really is god’s plan that put her in that spot

this post got long, so check it out under the cut if you want :)

she calls max falling and dying “an act of god” which makes sense in regards to her logic. her plan to stop max from holding power over her so her sexual feelings would go away didn’t work. max turning a new leaf would have helped the school, but it would not have fixed grace’s problem. so, right when grace fails, that’s the moment max plummets to his death. she didn't even have to push him, the floorboards gave way on their own.

from her perspective, it seems like god intervened to help grace and set her on the right path. it proves that max was something to be dealt with and that grace's battle with temptation didn't cast her out of his favor. everything that grace does after max falls is done so to remain on this path god has set for her. if god deemed max’s demise just, then why should they rot in jail for it? so she holds onto her faith and doubles down to bury him under the floorboards because she believes it is the right thing to do

(not exactly relevant to the point, but the next two weeks, it’s implied that grace doesn’t immediately reap the benefits from staying faithful. she is absent from “go go nighthawks” for no obvious reason and only reports to finding max unsexy after she gets the dream of ghost!max. so who knows what she was struggling with or what her headspace looked like during that gap. maybe she saw it as a test to prove herself after letting those impure thoughts briefly win. it's a test that she overcomes at the beginning of act 2 bc she is very chipper before her dad gets the call about waylon hall.)

when the police enter the mix after richie dies and are able to locate max’s body, they are all, once again, at risk, leading grace to double down again. she goes to the police station with the clivesdale theory to get them off her scent, continuing to do what she believes is right.

unfortunately, shapiro doesn't fall for her lies, which leads us to the line. the only reason grace is in the police station is to alleviate them of blame for an act god did himself. but in this moment, when grace needs it, god doesn’t intervene like he did before, god leaves grace out to dry which prompts her calling him a son of a bitch. in grace's eyes, if he never made the floorboards give way and set this in motion, grace wouldn't be in active danger of getting arrested.

she’s been following this path faithfully for these two weeks and now scattered and panicking, she continues to, out of a lack of a better path to follow. she doubles down by stealing bailey’s gun and booking it out of there. even with the believed betrayal, grace still follows along.

to push this further, it’s easy to claim that grace’s headspace is completely screwed up. we see this with her breakdown in the alley (where she notably doesn’t say that dismembering a body is something terrible that she did, which is pointed out, but it makes sense bc she only did that to follow god's plan, so how could it be bad? but touching herself and lying to the police are choices she made) and with the introduction of the libs and ghost!max, grace has to grapple with mind bending things.

i feel like she would hold some doubt that she is doing something right due to the lack of intervention before and due to the tangibility of the libs and how they have an actual avenue to get rid of max, which god doesn’t have. but i believe grace continues in following along with god’s plan, holding faith until she has to save the day.

another gap i’m fascinated with is what grace was doing during cool (reprise) before she stepped in. we know she didn’t deal with max at all, so i like to think she prayed. her last plea for intervention or guidance or something, but nothing answers. despite her faith, nothing helps her. and that’s when she realizes what she cherishes most.

so, with her friends and the world on the line, grace abandons the path in order to fix what she believes god started. and to fix it, she has to give up her chastity. the thing she cherishes above all else purely because of her faith. only because it’s something god had taught her to cherish. grace has to leave it all behind to save everyone.

after sending max to the black, grace has left the perfect vacuum for the lords to fill. she still has a strong moral code, just not a god to put her faith behind. so once the lords show the power and strength they can offer, how is grace in this state ever going to refuse? she lost a massive part of her identity even after believing and doing everything right. she picks up the black book to ensure nothing that happened to her will happen to anyone else. and through that, maybe she can atone enough to forgive herself

does this make sense or is this accurate? who knows, i don’t know what i’m talking about half the time, but it was fun to think through her logic a bit more. i don’t know

[ghostytoad]

Omg I loved the raph req you just did!! Could I req basically the same thing but with a reader that’s similar to Leo instead? Thanks a ton<3

jfksdjhgklsh i've had to break this into multiple parts bc they turned out a little long, but hopefully they're just as good TwT

* Fun n' Games *

ROTTMNT Boys x GN! Leo-esque reader who enjoys drama, making jokes, and being overall awesome

Summary: The Hamato brothers unexpectedly fall for the smug, but genuine, fun-loving reader despite their egocentric habits

Headcanons for: Raphael

GN! Reader; Romantic; Fluff || Words: 1.3k

Donnie | Leo | Mikey | Bonus!!

Raph:

oh god, he's gotten his fill of worry-fueled headaches dealing with his little brother's shenanigans; why, WHY great pizza supreme in the sky did there have to be another one??

y/n's reckless antics has him worrying himself into an early grave, especially when they're so keen on proving themselves to everyone with dangerous stunts and high-action battles

it's not that he doesn't enjoy the odd adventure or two with them, but y/n's a HUMAN and he's a WAR MACHINE. he has to be extra cautious around them!

he's taken it upon himself to keep an eye on y/n at (almost) all times bc of their more impulsive actions; he is the oldest and biggest hamato after all, so who better to protect y/n?

if they're out and about with leo or mikey, he will DEFINITELY be there to intervene bc he knows those two are just askin' for trouble; he's their only braincell and they're NOT leaving him behind

it's through his constant surveillance (with some help from donnie), that he slowly starts to realize his feelings for them runs deeper than just wanting to keep them safe

god forbid y/n tries to hide their latest blunder or misadventure, raph will have an absolute FIT (nothing physical obviously, he'll probably get all pouty and insecure)

"look, i know i might not look it but inside, raph is just as scared as anyone else that the people i love could get hurt. i'm not mad, i'm just… tryna look out for you, y'know?"

mikey likes to tease raph for "babying y/n", which says a lot when it comes from the literal baby of the family; kinda forces raph to rethink his overbearing behavior

once he realizes just how overbearing and borderline scary he's being, he will do his best to back off and cut back on all the 'stalking' and 'babying'

will genuinely laugh at y/n's jokes, no matter how bad they are; even if leo literally made the same exact joke 10 minutes ago, raph can't help but double over wheezing with laughter when they say it

he finds y/n's delivery a lot better than leo's; genuinely thinks they are the funniest person alive

he will sometimes join in on y/n's teasing whenever it's directed at his brothers or at an enemy while they're fighting; if he manages to make y/n laugh at one of his jokes, he'll be over the moon with joy

has the habit of accidentally referring to y/n as 'leo' when he's scolding them or going into a long rant about staying safe or something; it's not that he sees y/n as a "human leo", he's just used to getting onto the red slider turtle for the same exact shenanigans so it's like an auto-response

immediately catches himself the moment he does misname them and profusely apologizes through his flustering tears; forgets what he was even mad about every time it happens

for a while, raph considered getting y/n a guard dog or something to watch over them but would they even want a dog? what if they're allergic or they have a terrible fear of dogs or something!

on top of that, despite claiming to be "good with animals", he basically scares off any small animal that comes within 10 ft of his towering stature

but aha, an idea! what if instead of a pet, he gave y/n something special of his? something he can trust to take care of them

as long as y/n PROMISES to keep it safe and clean, raph will gift them one of his special teddy bears to watch over them when he's not around

won't admit it, but he finds y/n's big ego and constant bragging to be incredibly endearing and will add to it whenever he can

like yeah, what isn't to like? they're cool, funny, they know where all the action's at, they have the prettiest eyes; it's no wonder y/n is as confident as they are - to be honest, raph's not sure why EVERYONE doesn't feel the same way about y/n

likes to use his special raph-exclusive catchphrase 'like a boss' to describe everything y/n does (a high honor in his culture)

"did you guys catch how y/n totally shut those clowns down like a boss?? i betcha they could take you three down no sweat!"

gaming buddies!! it's one of his favorite pasttimes and what better way to channel y/n's competitive energy than with some good ol' beat 'em ups

1v1 video game marathons are GUARANTEED to last days for the two of them; they've both managed to lose major sleep bc of how invested they get into the competition

but sleep deprivation has a habit of making fools of us all, even headstrong turtle mutants. and y/n just happens to be the subject of raph's sleepy rambles

"I swear, I can't feel my eyes…" Y/N's croaky, tired voice muttered as they fought sleep against the now-deflated beanbag, the dim glow of the television screen highlighting the dark circles of exhaustion, "How long have we been playing?"

Slumped over next to Y/N was the large turtle, struggling to muster a coherent sentence as total nonsense tumbled from his lips. As he lay facedown across his own plush beanbag, controller lazily dangling from his large hand, he continued to mutter unintelligably.

"Alright, big guy, let's get you to bed." Y/N groaned as they sat up to stretch. They couldn't help but smile as they watched Raph's sleepy form slump further forward in protest, his knuckles brushing against the floor from how far he'd shifted. He was stubborn to be sure, and all of this just to win a single round. It's not like Y/N didn't warn him ahead of time just how epic their combat gaming skills were! He really should've heeded their warning, it would've saved him hours of humiliating losses and subsequent insomnia.

"L'go one more roun'…" Raph finally managed to grumble, his voice tapering off as the drowsiness overcame him once again. He refused to let the night end until he'd bested his opponent at least once.

"Nuh uh, we're getting you to bed and that's final." the amusement in Y/N's tone stirred the mutant back awake.

"Fine, but I'll getcha next time." Raph finally relented with a sluggish grin and heavy-lidded eyes. With a grunt, he pushed himself up off the sack and was sent stumbling into Y/N's awaiting arms. They struggled to keep a grip on his large form, nearly losing their balance once his full weight shifted onto them. In an impressive show of determination, Y/N had managed to carry Raph into his room, opting to (not so gracefully) toss the massive turtle back onto his bed. Raphael didn't anticipate such a toss and with a hand still tightly gripped onto Y/N's waist, he managed to yank the human down with a light thud against his chest. If it had been anyone else, Raph would've been embarrassed enough, but this particular situation was one he'd keep himself awake at night thinking about. And yet here Y/N was, eyes wide with surprise and body held snug against his, completely unaware of Raph's affection for them. Would they leave? Would they scold him for being too clumsy? Did they think he was a creep?

"Uh… s-sorry. Did I hurt ya?" he managed to stutter, his expression flustered and suddenly alert. Despite the internal conflict, his hand held firm on their waist as if it was urging them to stay.

"No, no, I'm fine. We can chalk this up to you being a sore loser though~" Y/N teased with a light smirk, the dark blush that dusted across their face very evident, only rivaled by the even darker shade that burned at Raph's.

A soft silence fell over the both of them as they timidly avoided each other's gazes, neither willing to yield.

"Um… Good night, Raph-a-doodle. Love ya…" Y/N hummed, nuzzling deeper into his chest while they tried to settle into their new sleeping position. Raph couldn't stop the sigh of relief that escaped him, but the way Y/N looked so peaceful and snug on top of him brought him back into the quiet lull of slumber. They were actually going to stay. Did that mean that they…?

He'd leave that question for another night.

[sunrayram]

You mentioned Angel Dust becoming friends (?) with Alastor in your AU, so what is their relationship like? Did being humbled by Husk soften Alastor's rough edges?

So Angel Dust and Alastor have a very ... interesting relationship. In the beginning, Alastor cannot stand Angel Dust. The flirting gets on his nerves, and he's already on a short fuse. In turn, Angel just thinks Alastor is an angry asshole, always two seconds away from snapping. He reminds Angel a lot of the guys he'd met in the mafia, honestly. So yeah, they really don't get along, until episode 4.

Husk doesn't call out Angel for being fake this time, because Angel just isn't his focus at this point. Instead, this episode opens with Alastor finally really snapping at Angel, genuinely scaring the other man after a sex joke goes to far. Shaken up, Angel gets called in by Valentino. The incident with Charlie and Val in the studio happens as it does in canon, and Angel returns to the hotel bruised and battered. Angel's looking for a sharp edge to self-destruct against, so when he runs into Alastor that night, he pushes against his boundaries again. Alastor flies off the handle. He threatens to kill Angel, to make it hurt, but Angel's so upset that he doesn't take any of Alastor's threats seriously. Or, well, he's taking them seriously, he just doesn't care.

But Alastor's biggest trigger right now is not being heard/people steamrolling over his wants, so Angel is fucking with him like nobody's business. The fight ramps up higher and higher until Husk comes down and pulls them apart. Husk tears into Alastor, and it makes him so upset that he almost destroys the parlor and rushes away to his room. Husk, having only seen Alastor looming over Angel and genuinely thinking that Alastor was going to maim him, tries to apologize to Angel for Alastor's behavior. But in that moment, having watched Husk pull Alastor back by the throat mere minutes before, Angel can't really respond.

Exhausted by this whole awful day, Angel goes to his room to pass out. He wakes up in the middle of the night (I hc Angel Dust has trauma-induced insomnia and it is a bitch) and goes to get a drink. There, he finds Alastor again. He's locked himself up in the kitchen (an area Alastor had firmly claimed as his own as soon as he came to the hotel) Angel sits against the locked door in silence for awhile, and then, hesitantly, he apologizes. He says that he didn't want to be the kind of person that pushed someone that far. He says that in the moment, he was just looking for a way to take control of the pain he was feeling. He felt like if he was the one causing the pain to himself, it wasn't that bad.

There's a moment of silence, and then the radio on the lounge table crackles to life. Alastor quietly says that he doesn't want to open the door. Angel gets up to leave, but Alastor clarifies that he didn't mean Angel should go. Alastor says that he knows what it feels like to have no control. He confesses that he can't remember the last time he had control over anything. Angel tells Alastor that he has control here. Unlike earlier, Angel was listening, and he wasn't going to open the door. The two of them spend the rest of the night there. Not really talking, not really performing, just ... existing. Angel eventually falls asleep, and Alastor leaves the meal he made laid out for Angel when he wakes up.

There's a companionship, after this. Both of them can be too much for the other sometimes, but they know when to stop now. If there was a phrase I'd use to describe their relationship after this point, well, the first one would be trauma-bond, but the second would be casual ride-or-die. Like, "This guys pretty cool, I guess you could call us acquaintances, I can tolerate him I suppose - touch him and I'll tear you apart limb from limb :)"

Also, just to clarify, neither of them are "better" bc of this. Angel still put on his heavy front, and Alastor still spends most days feeling like a ticking time bomb. But it's a first step that will lead to better things eventually. Hopefully.

[velvetvexations]

If the parallels to ace discourse weren't enough already, now I once again have to deal with people i thought were chill and reasonable suddenly dropping their takes on how they think asexua- sorry, I mean trans men, are not really oppressed and actually have privilege over everyone else and are basically not queer at all Time is a circle and i want out out oUT OUT OUT

Thankfully you never have to worry about me having a bad take because everything I say is written in advance by the Transmasc Council's Chief of Enacting Transmisogyny.

I don’t know if this is transmisogynistic or not but I’m just so tired of the claim that “the moment a trans man transitions and is seen as a man, he gets all the privilege” Okay TRFs, what about YOUR privilege before YOUR transition? When people perceived you as a man, did you not have privilege?

The logic would go that transmascs get it because they want to be seen as men but for trans women it's an unwanted state and also people can sense that they're women telepathically and treat them accordingly anyway.

Hey wanna hear something fun. Out of the 77 or so people elected to public office in the united states, 6 or so were trans men. With the majority being trans women. It's so fun hearing about how structurally privileged trans men are compared to trans women when there's only been 6. Fucking SIX. of us elected to public office. with at LEAST 50 trans women elected. In the united states. I'm so fucking tired. I mightve miscounted, there mightve been one or two that I missed, but honestly that does not bring me much comfort!

Fascinating.

sharing this here bc i like how accepting velvet nation is of gender journeys: i am a trans man but i feel like i very much was and will continue to be my father’s daughter? not in the sense that he doesn’t respect who i am but in the sense that that is the framework of how we understand each other. my gender is 100% man and daughter is simply the word i use to define our relationship :)

That's really cool! Glad you have that with him.

Got my first profile-screenshot-share (afaik) because someone was pissed at a comment I made! I’ve hit the big leagues! Now im just waiting for my first drowning :P - @genderglass (is a sideblog, so I can’t send asks from it :/)

Congratulations!

hiya velvet! ok 2 things: 1 i am happy to know there is another trans person who is tall and 300lbs+. i am only 5'9 but it made me happy to know this is a thing we share. i can feel v alone as a bigger trans person a lot, so i am grateful. 2 ok so i havent seen unsleeping city yet but i just watched the new time quangle and my god murph grew cody walsh in a lab for me. hes literally me at 12. jersey native with an "emo haunting anime cons in 2004" look and personality? that was literally, genuinely me. gotta watch that season ASAP!

I should warn you Cody gets dunked on pretty hard. It doesn't feel to me like Murph likes him very much lol but I haven't watched the Quangles because I'm a lot less interested in live stuff on average aside from Jake and Amir's live IIWY episodes which are always real funny.

In the defense of the person saying the t4t sex jokes are sexual harassment. I HAVE seen people responding to transfems posts on here talking about (supposed) intercommunity problems with jokes about how actually transfems and transmascs are having sex or whatever, which I think is kinda gross and inappropriate. However, most of the examples I can think of were transfems doing it, so.... take that as you will

TRFs complaining about "trans women and trans men are fucking" being sexual harassment and then justifying throwing their forcefem fetish at random men is funny, in a cosmic sort of way.

i just saw -*- say that trans men face no oppression unique from trans women (wrt reproductive rights) bc trans women lack access to reproductive banking. Buddy. Reproductive banking is incredibly expensive and very rarely covered by insurance. Everyone except wealthy ppl lack access to reproductive banking. And I'm sorry if this is rude to say but lack of access to the opportunity to become a parent (which is sad! and wrong! and at different levels applicable to every queer person in the world!) is simply not equivalent to forced pregnancy, which is a violence and a trauma forced onto someone and not a *lack* of opportunity. I don't even disagree necessarily that trans women are more vulnerable than trans men and do believe I have privilege over trans women as a trans masc but hoooooly shit. That's an insidious fucking false equivalence and I still don't get *why* trans mascs can't just have space to talk about the problems unique to us.

The Transfem Council will happily let you talk about your issues as long as you submit your statement in triplicate to their editorial department 15 days in advance.

Everyone posting about how I have to prove myself and earn their trust is just proving themselves to be someone not worth talking to. I don’t think people should have to bend over backwards or do something to prove that they won’t be terrible to you, actually. Thats fear and trauma speaking, not social courtesy. It’s not normal and should not be normal to automatically distrust everyone to a point of prematurely ostracizing them. And if anyone wants to argue a large enough proportion of the trans community in ANY demographic acts poorly enough to warrant that sort of suspicion they don’t have a leg to stand on.

It's not even fear and trauma. Most of them are just using Literal Fear of Man as an excuse to do this shit, although if they want to argue no, they really are all just shaking with abject horror whenever a man draws near, I guess they must believe in Andro Phobia, right?

[horizon-verizon]

It’s hilarious to me that Aemond kicked Alicent out of the council and literally told her to go back to the kitchen right after that tiktok went viral that called Aemond of all people a feminist.

Compare with Jace saying in the same episode, “my ruler is my mother, and I do not wish it otherwise”.

Jace is EVERYTHING Alicent wished Aegon and Aemond was. A better son, a better politician, would’ve been a better husband to Helaena, a young man who has no problem leading the war council with his wife-to-be and defending her against Ser Alfred. I love that HOTD is completely destroying the whole “momma’s boy/mommy’s favorite war criminal” delusion that Aemond’s stans created.

“Aemond’s the most interesting one on this show” and he’s just every reactionary mass shooter using “bullying” in high school as an excuse for their atrocities (when, in reality, they were just nihilistic psychopaths). Nothing about Aemond is unique or disruptive. Misogyny is painfully boring actually, it’s been around for centuries. People just can’t accept interesting morally sound characters when they see one.

I wonder how that person who made that Jace would not be a feminist (as if any of the green boys in the show would?!) is feeling right about now? They'd probably say that Aemond kicking Alicent out is not sexist but he was just mad at her. Sure Fabian 2.0 🙄.

Now, Aemond does provide some funny moments here and there since "he undermined" Aegon with high Valyrian, but for me the stand out is more Aegon on the green side. I did like Aemond asserting against Jason Lannister's demands, that is very book!Aemond. It's like these two green boys are taking turns being their book selves, which is ironic bc people will claim that they are more interesting that their bk counterparts...baby, that's bc they are finally realized as what their bk counterparts would do!

Also, the greens have such stark and seemingly unique characters because the writes simply didn't develop the blacks very well for balance. They are all more or less pretty static, their motivations regressed or having stayed the same since S1.

So we perhaps need to separate "interesting"/"unique" and "solid characterization" from "morally bankrupt". Both tb and tg. TG tends to either explain how the greens are actually morally neutral or good or justified in some actions AND tries to make as if being "good" automatically boring, but TB seems to sometimes forget that we don't need characters to be morally neutral/ambiguous or good for them to be "interesting"--ironic bc Daemon is morally ambiguous leaning bad but is very interesting to many in TB and to locals...pre-Harrenhal arc. People can say Aemond & Aegon are interesting in the show, bc they do present more to think over...while Rhaenyra's writing is repetitive and verging on pathetic and nonsensical, esp when she slaps the Celtigar instead of Alfred Broome and keeps talking about how helpless she feels even after that. Jace, despite his deeds at the Frey's and the Wall, was also stripped of his Manderly and Jeyne Arryn stories. even with Cregan, they aren't friends and there is no Pact of Ice and Fire. We didn't even get Cregan's backstory in appropriate flashbacks that would have lended Rhaenyra/Jace's support base with a certain confidence in devotion and character! Baela somehow doesn't burn the greens she comes into close contact with...It's all just too underwhelming for the sake of "neutraility". And I don't have to say anything for Daemon, that I already talked about.

Example of "good & interesting": Dany is unequivocally a good person & a good ethical actor with good ethical motivations, but she's anything but boring.

@all-about-the-tea-parties brings up other nonvillains with nuanced and "fascinating" arcs down in the comments below!