#idk I have a lot of empathy for him. a lot more than I did when I was 15 that’s for sure.

[subjecta5newtella]

I’m not in a true tmr mental state so I’ll probably do a lot of linking back to posts I made when I was, but Somebody’s gotta make a minho post and as a certified minho analyst I’ll go ahead and do it. movie minho….I love him and he’s a beautiful man but I don’t feel like he has a ton going on. he’s the hot girl he’s the action hero he’s the end goal for tdc but he’s largely sidelined so I don’t feel like he gets to have a tonnnn of interiority. (see the white boy summer rant here if you care about book vs movie minho lmao). book minho fascinates me though because I think he grows tremendously as a character and I think he has a lot of complexity to him.

book minho still has that degree of cool badass action hero to him, and I think he’s brave in some situations (you do have to be brave to be a runner obviously) but I also think he’s a character who deals with a lot of fear in interesting ways. I think he sublimates a lot of that into humor—“if I don’t see you on the other side, remember that I love you” and “I bet you cried every night missing me” come to mind as manifestations of his very real fear of losing thomas (as well as being spectacular thominho moments). I also think his anger comes from the fear of things he can’t control. I’ve already said this better here and in the fic linked in the post so I won’t try to restate it worse, but it fascinates me.

in terms of arc I think his journey towards being an incredibly loyal character is a really good one. he goes from running away when other people are in danger (the night in the maze) to being completely unwilling to abandon his friends even when it puts him in danger himself (the scene with newt at the crank palace).

also I really wish this had been fleshed out more after the first book but I like his capability to be manipulative. aim high hit low scene my beloved. like yeah it’s fun when he beats the shit out of people but I think there’s a lot to be said for the kind of cleverness that enables him to get what he wants in that scene.

I also just really enjoy his dynamics with other characters, specifically thomas and newt. the newt and minho bickering in tst means so much to me both because it’s entertaining and because it reveals a lot about their leadership styles and what the group needs from a leader in different situations (more on that here). he can be a challenging character to learn to write on more than a surface level because he does have the aforementioned complexities, but once you get the hang of him, it’s really fun to set him loose on those dynamics.

anyway. tldr. this post

so, we've know one another for some time now, tmr geeks. tell me, who is your favourite character and why? i need to know and understand it so bad it hurts— and be as LENGTHY as you want, confess your secrets, i love it.

[megwritesriddles]

In the Middle of the Night (In My Dreams!) ༊*·˚

18+ MDNI !!!

Pairing: Tom Riddle x Fem! Reader / You

Summary: Kinktober 2024 Day 21 - Somnophilia. Riddle has to figure out a way to keep Reader happy and covering for his ever increasing duties outside of the castle. What initially starts as a transaction escalates when they're both more willing than he expected, leading them to explore the slightly more forbidden together.

Tags: Somnophilia (consensual), Mildly dubious consent, Fingering, Hand jobs, Oral sex (f and m receiving), Friends with benefits, Denial of feelings, SoftDom!Riddle, HeadGirl!Reader, Manipulation, Faking an illness (chronic fatigue is very real, he's just a lying POS, only briefly mentioned).

READER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!!!!

Word count: 5.1k

Read it on ao3! | Masterlist

Authors note: Okay so despite this poll (sorry), I edited this into a less dark kinktober fic and will then release a much darker (non-con elements) part two after I finally finish kinktober!! This works as a stand alone if you're not into reading that kinda stuff (which I totally understand, ily dw)!! It just felt too dark for kinktober... even tho I literally have non-con as the prompt for day 25.... idk okay!! Hope you like it anyway mwah ( ◕◡◕)っ ♡

PART 2 COMING SOON !! (but works as stand alone)

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The moment the two of you had been announced as Head Boy and Girl at the start of the year, Riddle knew he had to get on your good side. Not only for the purposes of professional engagements and living in the same quarters but also because there would be a lot he’d need from you. Last year, he had found a flaw in the enchantments around the castle, discovering that apparition in and out of the castle was in fact possible, so long as you did so from the room of requirements. He has started attending to business outside of the castle regularly, rallying supporters in closed-off magical communities, among trolls and elves. He also searches for artefacts and researches dark magic when he finds the time, visiting isolated collections owned by old eccentrics who he is able to charm easily. He’s made himself a busy life outside of Hogwarts which he’s determined to keep up in order for his plans post-graduation to go as smoothly as possible. Which is where you come in. 

He leaves for these expeditions every weekend, but obviously, he’s not actually allowed to leave the castle. He has to ask you to cover for him if anyone asks where he’s gone. He concocts a rubbish story about having chronic fatigue and having to rest all the time he can, and that he can’t possibly be disturbed while he’s resting as he’s taking special potions for sleep. It’s all a lie, playing on your empathy, which he knows you have droves of, something you are widely admired for. He tells you that he’s horribly embarrassed about it and doesn’t want anyone to think he’s incapable of being Head Boy because of it, so asks you to cover for him if anyone asks about him. You give him those big sympathetic eyes and agree, workshopping a litany of excuses with him. He almost feels bad with how seriously you’re taking this, how much you want him to feel okay, even though you’ve never liked him much before. Almost. It won’t happen a lot either way, he’s told his ‘friends’ that he will be out of reach and very sternly told them not to question, so they won’t poke around, and anyone else who needs him won’t need him often. He makes a show of being very tired in the evenings in the common room the first few weeks you live together. Soon after, he drops the charade and you don’t seem to notice the falsification happening right in front of you, continuing to cover for him every now and then when it comes up. You even comment optimistically that he seems more energetic lately, to which he smiles.

“I suppose so, yes, it must be that I can finally get the rest I need, thanks to you,” he says smoothly, proud of himself for taking this as another opportunity to keep you pliable. You seem overjoyed to be helping.

In return, he keeps you sweet. At first, he merely observes you to get an idea of what might keep him on your good side. Then, he starts showing up for you. He brings your favourite pastries from breakfast (you have a bad habit of sleeping in, which sometimes makes him wonder how you got this job, but alas), accompanied by a coffee just how you like it. Complimenting you whenever you try a new hairstyle or dress up nicely on weekends. The first time he’d done it, he’d commented on a trim you’d gotten to your hair over the weekend in Hogsmeade. You were baffled, saying no one had noticed a thing all day. He sensed that you found the fact that he was the only one to notice odd, but he couldn’t help being observant. He told you as much, and you just smiled. He makes sure to do any favours you ask of him, so you can’t throw his refusal back in his face in case you want to stop helping him, he needs something to hold over your head. It’s never much, perhaps helping you with a bit of schoolwork, listening to a speech you’ve prepared for Head duties or just jostling the logs in the fireplace of the common room when the flames die down. He’s surprised you don’t ask for more, considering that he starts asking for a lot from you. 

His schedule outside of Hogwarts gets complicated, requiring him to head out occasionally in the middle of the week. You always cover for him, insisting to professors that he’s ill in bed, even though it’s clear by now that you’ve realised he’s actually missing during these periods. Your enthusiasm over helping him out has dwindled as you get the sense you’re being played, but he treats you well enough that you seem to assume the best intentions. How naive. Having someone so respected by the professors, the head girl herself, lying for him, he knows, is the only reason he’s been getting away with it for this long. He’s ‘sick’ far too often and never seen at the hospital wing, never requesting any medicine or showing any symptoms. He wonders what you think he’s doing when he’s away, doubting you could guess the truth, but you never ask despite your increasingly suspicious looks, which he appreciates. He likes you, you’re discreet, a surprising trait for such a goody-two-shoes as you are. He spends more and more time with you in the common room in his free time, charming you and winning you over, making sure he’s there if you need a favour or a ‘friend’ to talk to. He finds you to be intelligent and likeable, you’re funny, even if he prefers a bit of a darker humour than you have. There are silences as you sit together where you stare at him while he works on whatever schoolwork he deems most important that day, he knows you’re formulating all sorts of theories, your brain turning as you try to make a guess.

“I appreciate you being discreet,” he says simply one night as you sit together, working separately on assignments. The statement is followed by a silence in which he is tempted to look over at you to see your reaction but resists the urge.

“I don’t suppose you’ll ever tell me what you’re up to?” It’s meant to be a question, but it comes out as a statement. You already know he won’t, and he knows it too. No matter how good you’ve proved to be about covering for him, if you knew the true nature of what he was up to, you’d run. Tattle before even letting him explain, which really wouldn’t help either way. He turns to you, extending an arm. 

“Come here,” he nods his head in his direction. You look confused, and he doesn’t blame you for feeling that way, he isn’t affectionate with anyone. He makes a point of never being seen as being soft, which is easy given he isn’t soft for anyone. But he knows the type you are, so sweet and kind, the type that you can be won over with a little affection. There’s no one here to see either of you anyway, he can risk it this once. You slowly scoot into his side and he wraps an arm around your shoulders. He brushes an errant strand of hair from your face and holds you to his side. “I really do appreciate it, I’m always here if you need anything from me,” he whispers. You look up at him and nod. “Good,” he hums. You spend the rest of the night pressed into his side as you do your homework, it’s odd, but he’s warm and solid, and most girls at Hogwarts would kill to be in your position, so you let it be. It becomes a fairly frequent scene, the two of you snuggled up by the fire, especially as the days grow colder and colder. His hands like to wander, brushing places they probably shouldn’t, but you never stop him or say a word, letting your own hands wander a little too. You don’t talk about it, not with him or with anyone else. You know without words that he doesn’t want it to leave the room. It’s just another secret you have to keep for him. 

He starts having the need for more frequent meetings with his little group of in-school followers, the Knights of Walpurgis, as his plans get closer and closer to their time of fruition. The Head Common Room is the perfect place to host, spacious and completely secret, except for from you. He knows he has to sweeten the deal once more to have you leave the common room for long periods in the evening. So one night, while the two of you study together snuggled up, he kisses you. You’re alarmed but immediately kiss back. He knew you would, every girl in the damn school would, but it still feels like an unexpectedly simple triumph. His hand grips your jaw, not allowing you to move away, not that you’re trying to. Your hand gently cups the side of his neck, keeping him close as his tongue carefully breaches your lips, slightly surprised by how willing you are for him. He has a multitude of things he’s considered doing to you, but for tonight, he has to stick with something focused on your pleasure. He doesn’t mind, pleasuring you is an act of domination in its own right. By the end of the night, he has you sat between his legs, your back to his chest as his fingers thrust in and out of you. You squirm and mewl in his ear, your head thrown back on his shoulder, as he holds you securely with an arm around your middle, fucking you on his fingers. He’s high off of the fact he has you completely nude apart from your socks before him, while he’s still fully dressed.

“There we go, darling,” he purrs in your ear, gently pressing his lips to your jaw. “I bet you’ve wanted this for quite a while, haven’t you?” he teases, grinding the heel of his palm against you as his fingers press in and out. You must have, given how quickly you’d let him strip you down, manoeuvre you into the position he wanted, just how soaking wet you’d been from a couple of strategic words of praise. He’d wrongly assumed you’d be a little more prudish, but he was pleasantly surprised otherwise. “I want you to do something for me,” he whispers, slowing his movements a little so you can focus on his words. You whine softly in protest and he smirks. “Tomorrow evening, could you make yourself scarce for… let’s say three hours? Starting from… six thirty?” his fingers caress your inner walls torturously lightly, almost tickling, making you squirm unhappily.

“Where would I go?” you exhale.

“Library? Walk the grounds? Astronomy tower? I don’t mind, darling, as long as you’re not here,” he kisses behind your ear softly. He expects some questions or protests, but none come, only a simple nod. He’s a little surprised how easy things are with you, although it may have a lot to do with how his fingers are currently buried deep in your cunt at present, he concedes to himself. But you’re always easy, always helpful, so willing to give him the benefit of the doubt even though you were more than smart enough to know better. “That’s a lovely girl,” he smiles against your skin. He hesitates, unsure whether to reveal the transactional nature of his kindness toward you, but he feels he must assure you somehow that it will be worthwhile. “I’ll reward you accordingly, I promise. You’ll hurry back to me at nine-thirty, won’t you? I’ll be missing you by then,” he purrs, trying to further pull the wool over your eyes with some flattery. He straightens up to look down at you, your head still resting back on his shoulder. “Won’t you?” he prompts again, kissing your forehead. You nod, giving him a pleading look and bucking your hips helplessly. You want him to keep going, feeling half-insane from his unmoving fingers filling you up.

And that he does, finger-fucking you through two mind-blowing orgasms that night, showering you with ever more ridiculous praises as the night goes on. It’s unclear whether you’re losing your mind to the pleasure and not understanding him, or if he’s just spewing every compliment he can possibly think of. Once you’re thoroughly debauched, he helps you into your bed as your legs are too shaky on their own, laying you down and kissing you goodnight with a slightly stilted tenderness. You watch him in quiet confusion as he retreats from your room, feeling satisfied and yet completely confused. 

It becomes a bit of a routine, whenever he needs you to stay away from the common room, or otherwise go out of your way for him, he pulls you into his lap in the evening and tugs down your underwear, pleasuring you expertly. Soon, it becomes harder to tell, as he begins to get you off every night, whether he’s after something or not. You don’t know if it’s just his efforts to make sure you don’t forget to think of him positively, you’re far from oblivious to the fact you’re being bribed, or if he’s just enjoying it at this point. He stretches out your encounters more and more, especially when you start returning the favour, using your hand on him while he does the same to you. You’re pleasantly surprised how aroused he gets just from fucking you on his fingers, always at least half-hard by the time you can get your hands on him. When he introduces his mouth into the equation, you’re sure he’ll be asking something big of you soon. But he doesn’t, nothing new comes up, other than you also beginning to use your mouth on him. He seems to love it, so you suppose it must have been motivation enough. He likes to take his time, to make you feel helpless and desperate, not seeming to care if it leads him to spend long periods of time kneeling before you, which was something you were certain he would have never been caught doing for anyone.

It’s a nice relationship in Riddle's opinion, he gets off and he gets what he wants from you. You make yourself scarce and Riddle is able to conduct his meetings in peace in a perfect setting. Whether you’re using mouths or hands, it’s always intensely pleasurable. He grows attached to the sight of you on your knees before him, his cock deep in your mouth as you look up at him with those wide innocent eyes. You’re amazing with your mouth, and usually willing to get on your knees whenever he’d like you to. It’s a perfect arrangement in this way. He loves to hold you down and make you scream using nothing but his tongue. Some of his friends say that eating out a woman is demeaning, but he never feels more powerful than when he has you crying and begging. He loves to make you beg, long-forgotten is the fact he’s meant to be doing this just to keep you sweet, just to manipulate you into helping him. He’s lost in it now, and no matter how selfish he gets in bed, you keep covering for him, seeming to misinterpret him as generous rather than intensely power-hungry. It works well for his purposes, so he lets you think of him as a giving lover.

He’s a little surprised that you haven’t asked for any exclusivity or any indication of whether he’s bringing in other girls at the times he asks you to keep away. He’s not, of course, but he doesn’t understand why you don’t care to ask. He tells himself that it doesn’t matter, but deep down it does bother him, every other girl he’d ever been involved with, even briefly, had asked to be his one and only. You’re a sweet girl, the type he assumed would fall in love with him the moment he first got his hands on (and in) you, but you haven’t indicated this in any way. He knows you’re not seeing any other men because he keeps an eye on you whenever he can. Even having gone so far as to cancel a meeting with a tradesman in Diagon Alley to stay back and watch you while you think he’s away. Nothing. You go about your day as normal, come back to the common room and curl up to read your book. Just before bed, you attempt to get yourself off and fail, pouting through your night routine. You can’t do it without him, he notes smugly. He wishes he could come help, but he can’t without revealing his spying. By the time he gets back legitimately, you’re fast asleep. Given all of this, he still doesn’t understand why you’re not asking him for a commitment. It’s not that he wants to commit to you, he doesn’t like the idea of being tied down, even if he currently has no interest or energy to pursue anyone but you, but the fact you haven’t asked drives him nuts. You seem happy to get off with him and go to sleep without asking a single question. He lingers in your doorway, watching your frame rise and fall under your blanket with slow breaths, wondering about you.

He’s surprised when you bring it up. How you’d felt his presence in your doorway while you’d been asleep, despite not being fully awake. He explained that he’d been wanting to help you out (his own evasive phrasing) but that you’d been visibly asleep so he’d left instead. At your expression, he asks you teasingly if you’d have liked him to do it anyway, his teasing smirk only growing when you blush and nod. And so a system was set, he tells you to sleep on the sofa in the common room if you’d like his attention during the night, as he has a habit of waking up in the middle of the night to fetch water. You agree and you proceed together like normal for the next few days, pleasuring each other in the evenings when he isn’t busy. Every night, even on nights he wasn’t actually waking up naturally, he would come into the common room to check for you. For a long time, you’re not there, and he’s a little frustrated with you. Why dangle such a tantalising idea in front of him if you never meant to go through with it? He’d been a perfect gentleman, telling you that you could say no if the idea made you uncomfortable, but at the time, you’d seemed apprehensively excited about it, yet now, nothing. His eyes stay glued on your door as he goes about getting his water each night, wishing he could go in there. He tries his best not to show his disappointment when he spends time with you in the daytime, not wanting to come off as pushy and drive you away. He needed you to like him, staying on your good side was non-negotiable and pushing you on a matter like this was generally frowned upon. About a week and a half later, he trudges from his room to top up his glass and sees a lump under a blanket on the sofa. It’s you.

He immediately slows and lightens his footsteps, not wanting to wake you as it would ruin the fun. He hadn’t had time for you the last four days, between increasing stakes when it came to schoolwork and closing in on a magical artefact outside of it, he’d been gone for everything but class and sleep. He creeps over to you, seeing your peaceful face squished against the velvet throw pillow. You must have missed him, he thinks, since you started your little mutual arrangement you’ve never gone more than two days without each other before, mostly because Riddle found himself quite insatiable. He’d always told himself he was uninterested in matters of the flesh, that he enjoyed indulging but could easily control himself, and that he was only doing what he was with you to manufacture a sense of closeness and keep you in the palm of his hand. Yet, he had to admit that he doesn’t usually go so far for the purposes of manipulation and that he never would have done this in the first place if he hadn’t found you attractive. He was unwilling to sacrifice his own happiness for his manipulation, beyond a bit of necessary flattering drivel. So when he’d allowed himself into this arrangement, even simply under a pretence, he had quickly lost control of it and become ravenous for the sensations you could offer. He watches your parted lips as you breathe softly. Gently, he rolls you onto your back, waiting to see if you wake. You don’t. He slips the plush blanket down your body and exposes you to his eyes. You’re dressed in a sweet feminine nightgown and he finds the look to be sweet on you, fitting. You were a perfect thing to corrupt. Yet, he smirks to himself, you had agreed to this, you were already corrupted, so desperate for him that you wanted him even in your sleep. Surely you did want exclusivity from him, you were just trying to appear laid back to not scare him off. You could be endearingly shy like that at times. Yes, you agreeing to this was surely evidence that you wanted more from him than you had. That you needed him.

He slowly and cautiously shifts you around until he can settle comfortably between your legs. His hands run up and down the soft skin of your thighs, keeping a close eye to see if you stir. He wonders if you’re really such a heavy sleeper, or if you’re merely pretending not to have woken for his benefit. At the moment it doesn’t matter to him, you seem asleep enough, and if you are conscious, you’re hardly objecting. He pushes up the hem of your nightdress and grins at the sight of you already bare for him, with no underwear in sight. Naughty girl, he thinks to himself as his hands skim up and down your inner thighs, leaning forward to press a soft kiss just above the little patch of hair shielding the part of you he wants most. He would love to tease you and draw it out more, but he doesn’t want you to wake before he can explore the more intimate aspects. He carefully lies down, guiding one of your supple thighs over his shoulder, spreading you open for his eager eyes. You’re already a little wet, he wonders if it’s from his teasing now, or perhaps your dreamy anticipation. He knows he can get you wetter easily. He uses two fingers to gently spread you open even more, revealing the sensitive pearl nestled within your folds. He blows lightly on it, making you twitch a little. He grins.

Still trying to let you stay asleep for now, he leans in and very gently touches his tongue to your bundle of nerves. You sigh softly in your sleep but don’t seem to wake. Your dreams are turning sticky-sweet, you begin to feel warm and floaty, but you’re not conscious enough to register this change properly. You squirm slightly and moan as his tongue gently swirls around your clit, not touching to keep you just bubbling below waking. Your breath is hitching softly, and little noises are leaving your throat. He can tell you’ll wake soon unless he stops, but he figures he doesn’t mind. He wants to see your face when you wake up to his head between your legs. Will you be shocked to start with? Or immediately eager and accepting? He was oddly thrilled to discover this. Your hands slide away from where they rested on your stomach, trying to grab something as he starts to lap at you just a little faster, your breath hitching a little more, exhaling shakily. He’s surprised you’re still asleep, he’s tempted to use legilimency on you to discover what you’re dreaming of. Your face is flushed and your lips parted blissfully, so he figures it’s something nice. His tongue slides up and down between your slick folds, the familiar taste of you spreading across his tongue as you become more and more aroused. He gently kneads the skin of your hip, pulling you a little closer to his mouth, trying to coax you awake without startling you too much. Your eyelids flutter, but you remain asleep, whimpering quietly. He focuses the tip of his tongue on your clit, making the stimulation just a little more intense, watching for your reaction intently. Your fingers tangle into the crumpled blanket by your side, curling into the plush material, and he knows you're on the very verge of wakefulness. He smirks, gently suckling your clit into his mouth. 

This rips a loud moan from your chest, which in turn makes your eyes snap open. You try to sit up, blinking blearily, looking a little bewildered, trying to make out shapes in the dim moonlight, to understand why you feel lost in a haze of pleasure. Riddle's hand moves, splaying out on your stomach, pushing you back down and holding you there. Your eyes snap to him, he grins up at you from between your legs, looking unbelievably smug, his eyes glinting in the light of the moon. The sight of him between your legs, the knowledge of what he’d been doing while you’d been sleeping, coaxes another moan from your lips. He eases up a little now you’re awake, going back to gentle teasing licks against your bundle of nerves. Your heart pounds and you breathe rapidly, partially reeling from the sudden awakening, but mostly just feeling amazing. You lie back against the sofa, trying your best to get your bearings while he continues smothering you with unrelenting bliss. He pulls back for a moment, though he instantly replaces his mouth with his fingers, not giving you a moment to think. 

“Naughty girl, sleeping without underwear to give me access,” he purrs, his voice rumbling in a self-satisfied manner. You giggle sleepily. You had done that, hadn’t you? He smiles up at you. “Was it a nice awakening, my darling?” he murmurs smoothly, leaning back in to continue his dedicated licks. You whimper softly, your hips twitching before he holds you solidly in place, tutting against your sensitive skin.

“The best awakening, so unbelievably arousing,” you whisper, your voice hoarse, watching him work his magic between your legs. He hums against you. He knows this of course, this was quite possibly the wettest he’d ever had you, only increasing since you’d woken up and become conscious of what he was doing. Your hands slide into his short curls as he works, usually, he might complain about this, but you’re still a little sleepy, and he decides to let it go. You sigh pleasurably, your hooded eyes locked on him. His eyes look up to meet yours as he begins to suckle on your clit once more. Intense pleasure floods over you, your head lolling back, your hands tightening slightly in his hair. You let out a string of desperate moans, moans he’s become intimately familiar with over the past few weeks. You’re close and he intends to get you there, to show you how much you need him, to remind you that you can no longer achieve this alone, if you ever could. He doubles down on his actions, gripping your hip a little tighter to keep you firmly in place. “Oh… Tom!” you plead, trying to grind your centre up into his face. You could get so desperate sometimes, Riddle tuts to himself. “Please,” you beg, anticipating his desire to tease you and hoping to get ahead of it. You need this, badly, he hasn’t been around to help you for days, and the scenario was driving you mad with lust. He’s uncharacteristically gracious, not relenting, continuing to lavish you with exquisite sensation, building you up and up. You look down again, and as his eyes meet yours, the coil in your belly snaps. Your whole body tenses, your back arching off of the sofa, a guttural cry escaping you. He holds your hips in place, continuing his assault as you ride out the climax. Tears gather in your eyes and you feel a little humiliated by how intensely this is affecting you. 

After several desperate sobs, you finally collapse back, your hands slipping from his hair. You take several deep breaths as he withdraws from between your legs, sitting up to look down at you. He grabs a tissue from the coffee table, wiping his mouth and discarding it haphazardly. You smile tiredly, and you feel exhausted by your sudden wake-up, but completely heavenly at the same time. You stare at each other for a moment. It’s an oddly domestic moment. You’ve never seen him in his pyjamas before, a matching shirt and trousers, made of silk or some other such soft material, the type that’s popular with the rich Slytherin boys. His hair is a little curly naturally, this you did know from him getting back to the common room on rainy days, but is now slightly messed up from your hands in it. You cover yourself back up, tugging the hem of your nightdress back down as he watches. He looks almost sweet, he has been sweet to you, in his own way. He reaches over and touches your flushed cheek, rubbing it softly with his thumb, unsure whether he’s trying to prove his effect on you, or just wishing to touch you. 

“I’ll have to think of something to ask of you in exchange for doing that,” he jokes a little unnaturally. You laugh honestly. 

“You didn’t already have something?” you tease, moving to sit up. He smiles, enjoying the way you see through him, just enough to prove you’re not stupid, but not enough to compromise any plans. Perhaps that’s why you haven’t asked for exclusivity with him, you’re not stupid like the others, whether you want it or not being irrelevant to the facts. The facts that were feeling more like theories lately.

“No, believe it or not,” he chuckles, pushing your hair behind your shoulder. “But it’ll be easy enough to think of something,” he pulls you onto his lap and kisses you goodnight. “You always find a way of being useful,”

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xoxoxo

[loganwritesprobably]

Season one rewrite but Derek is like 20, and played as someone who is physically 20 but mentally younger because he was taken advantage of by a trusted adult, who murdered his entire family (almost) and he has decided this is his fault, and then went into hiding for six years with only his older sister to guide him, who wasn't even that much older than him so wasn't exactly Adulting in the adult-y way his mum did and so obviously he would be very stunted

Season one rewrite but Stiles and Scott have a lot more empathy for Derek because even if he IS the Alpha.. idk the kid is deeply traumatised and "Scottie if someone killed you, your mom and my dad I'd go crazy too" "Yeah.. me too I think - maybe not this bad but.."

Anyway

[rainbow-sunshine-unicorn]

"While what Violet said was through a haze of grief and trauma, what Anthony heard, at a very vulnerable moment, was that his mother would rather die for her husband than live for her children. And it’s very hard to not take that sort of thing personally."

YES YES EXACTLY like I have all the empathy in the world for Violet as a mom with postpartum depression and just a depressed person in general when Edmund died but at the same time you just told your oldest flat out you have no reason to live for WHEN YOU HAVE EIGHT FUCKING KIDS AND ONE RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. She just told her son they aren't her air and there is NOTHING left for her in this realm like... that SCARS A PERSON.

dont get me wrong I still enjoy Violet as a character no one is all good all bad but... I would assume that even if Anthony and Violet's relationship becomes less fraught Idk if he would ever get over that no matter how fulfilling his life is now

I think it’s super interesting how Violet is a very loving mother who obviously wants the world for her children yet is a flawed parent in many ways. It shows you that flawed mothers are not necessarily just those who are like Portia but also those like Violet, who are “good” people.

Not that I think Portia and Violet are the exact same, but it’s an interesting juxtaposition, because you may think that both of them are on opposite ends of the parenting spectrum but the closer you look, the more you see, that both of their actions are motivated by wanting to do what’s best for their children and that it is this that lies at the core of a lot of their bigger mistakes as mothers.

Also, I think that her relationship with Anthony was fundamentally changed by him witnessing her raw grief. Though I think the other children, besides Gregory, Hyacinth and perhaps Francesca, were aware of her grief and absence from their lives, and it impacted them in different ways, for example, Daphne singing to Eloise over Violet’s cries, none of them truly felt the weight of it like Anthony. And I think this altered the relationship not only from Anthony’s perspective but from Violet’s perspective.

This character study perfectly articulates exactly what I mean. It summarises Anthony’s character and motivations in such a succinct way, I believe everyone should watch it!!

But throughout season 1, we see her treat him as though he’s Edmund’s replacement falling short rather than her son while simultaneously wanting him to treat her like an authority figure. She demands he arrange something for Daphne with a friend like his father would have, then later, berates him to renege when she considers Simon a better match. Yes Anthony does many things wrong, but he is navigating it from a very lonely place of extreme pressure and absolutely no one to turn to for guidance.

She waffles like this throughout season 2 as well, like insisting that she knows what he wants deep down while also accusing him of thrusting his responsibility upon his siblings, which is simply not true, considering Colin doesn’t even seem to understand the importance of balancing accounts. It’s only in the very last episode of season 2 that she seems to realise how much she has hurt Anthony but even then she apologises for the hurting him while she was grieving and not the way she has treated him subsequently.

I’m going to be honest, I don’t think Anthony will ever go back to being Violet’s oldest child rather than the half limbo state that they are in where he’s the head of the household and she’s his mother but also part of his household. And this is not because of a lack of love on either of their parts or because they are too different. Which is the tragedy of their relationship.

Anyways this is already too long, but Anthony’s last experience of unconditional parental love was when his father died, because the moment he did, in certain ways, he lost that from his mother.

I truly believe that the next time he experiences such unconditional love and affection is from Kate, who sees him at his worst, witnesses him make every mistake and still equally matches his feelings, his love and devotion and desire.

[helloholakonnichiwa]

jesus 😭

bear with me this is likely just word vomit it’s like midnight and i’m running on hot chocolate and a tadc high

I LOVED Zooble in this episode! I’d never given them much thought before, but this is definitely making me reconsider.

I love Caine, he’s my favourite character, but I definitely can’t blame Zooble and the rest of the cast for being so frustrated with him. I mean, he is a self-proclaimed ‘war-criminal.’ However, Zooble is definitely the one most open about their dislike towards Caine. We never got much of an explanation beforehand, besides them being rather blunt and edgy, but Ep3 shows us how they told Caine about their worries before - multiple times in fact - but he had always forgotten them. We don’t know if he forced them to as he did in this ep, but either way it must be frustrating for someone to put so much effort into trying to understand you, before immediately forgetting (and drawing bees while you talk).

I also love how the show shows (hah) the impact of the whole body change thing. I mean, imagine not only being transported to a whole different plane of existence and losing all memories of your life and identity, but also being forced into a body that you know isn’t yours, but don’t quite know what would make it right. It’s even worse for Zooble, who technically doesn’t even have a fixed body in TADC since their body parts can be changed. There’s a chance that the characters’ new bodies could relate to their real life identities, but to Zooble it must feel like they’ve lost out on that.

Although I didn’t relate 100%, as a trans guy I did find myself understanding a lot of what Zooble said about bodies as well. ‘I just want to find something that feels… good.’ God, wow, going right for my heart there.

And then how the therapy session switches to Zooble being Caine’s therapist. This is either because Caine forced them, they realised that Caine’s mental instability and insecurities would damage the circus (what’s up with that btw?? feel like that’ll definitely come up more in the future) or they genuinely feel sorry for him. Assuming it’s one of the latter two options, it really shows that Zooble holds a lot more empathy than they would perhaps like to put on show (I mean option 2 also has a self-saving aspect, but yk).

Also also I love how their reaction to the adventures and generally being in the circus differs from the others. Pomni has constant freak outs but still lets herself be forced into doing everything; Jax acts all tough and sarcastic; Kinger literally went crazy; Ragatha pretends that she’s ok and focuses on supporting the others, but it’s evident that she is really, really struggling; and Gangle also tries to act happily, but her happiness is literally stolen from her not after long so she remains permanently weepy. Yet, they all go through these things during the adventures as well. Zooble simply avoids it all and shuts off.

So uhh conclusions?? Idk man I’m sleep deprived

[fromtheheavens]

IS THAT SOLOMON!?!? (REDESIGN)!!

SO! This redesign actually took me less than 15 hours! ლ(⌒▽⌒ლ) (Could that purely be because I design him so simply? Probably…)

BUT BESIDES THAT

If you couldn’t tell from my use of emoticons- It’s Panda again!!!! (cause it’s a joint account obvi~~) And I literally think that this redesign turned out pretty good. However the hair was pretty tricky (T-T*) (And I don’t even know if Solomon simps are down with long hair Solomon like I AM DOWN with long hair Solomon, but anyway…) Solomon is our most head-cannoned character (Believe it or not..) so be prepared for that yap. Yeah and I don’t know what else to say… so, ONTO THE GOODS!!!!! ヾ(^ ^ゞ

ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª ENJOY‼︎

·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ·͙*̩̩͙✧˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙- REDESIGN EXPLANATION -*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙☆ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙ ✧‧͙ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

SO- Hello! with this design came a few changes that I’ll explain now! YES YES, anyhow the first change that I made was Solomon’s beautiful long majestic locks (>▽<)!! The reason he has long hair? Cause why not- but also because it makes him look more sly in my opinion! Moving to the outfit, since it seems he keeps it simple I just gave him wide arm sleeves with like constellations and stars on it like how it is on his jacket

So now basically bro just put his jacket on…..welp- NOW ONTO THE HEADCANONS

·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ·͙*̩̩͙✧˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙- HEADCANONS -*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙☆ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙ ✧‧͙ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

So the headcanon section will be in a different format since it’s borderlining an au… (oops! σ(*´∀｀*)). And there’s a lot! So let us know if you want to hear some of our head canons ✨in-depth✨~ and more of them.

GIANT FYI OUR SOLOMON IS DEFO INSPIRED BY THE BIBLE SOLOMON SO BEAR THAT IN MIND!!!!!(Because I’m putting my catholic knowledge to use ✧ദ്ദി( ˶^ᗜ^˶ ))

-Solomon is pasty because of how long he’s lived so his body has stop producing melanin(Is that how it works? Idk but no way bro can be from Jerusalem and that pale so…¯\(ツ)/¯)

-Tattoos| bro is Tatted up from the neck down just absolutely covered. Why? Because he has something something pacts and is a wh*re for a new tool to use.

- Bro is messed up in the head | okay bro has lived wayyyyy to old to not be a little ill. I think to a certain extent bro lacks compassion and empathy and things, and doesn’t really realize fully how much of his humanity he lost…….(Me personally I wouldn’t take that L but y’know) Also just because he doesn’t age doesn’t mean his brain is doing good and I’m sure bro doesn’t remember plenty of things.

-Bro doesn’t know what to do with himself | I think bro has a really big brain cage but sometimes it’s just the DVD symbol bouncing around. Like bro will try to rizz Mc with the weirdest pickup line known to man then be confused when he gets a side-eye. There is no way bro doesn’t act like an npc sometimes. Like there’s so many things he can’t really experience anymore because of his immortality, which makes him scary .. ( ⚆ _ ⚆ )

-Bro is shady… | Idk don’t know bout ya’ll but I did not trust this man the first time he pulled up in the game. Like “Yeah I just transported to hell and now I’m surrounded by demons, but my real fear is the other “human” student here”. Like bro just gives off mass-manipulatior vibes. Like Hannibal making Mason eat his own nose type manipulation( If you get that reference I’ll kiss you （￣ε￣ʃƪ）) Like if I’m being honest I don’t trust bro as far as I can throw him. (No shade to my bro ski though😫✌️)

Okayyyy! that’s all I have to say for you today pookies~ Thank you for reading!!!!!

·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙ ·͙*̩̩͙✧˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙- OTHER REDESIGNS -*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙☆ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩̥͙·̩̩̥͙*̩̩̥͙ ✧‧͙ ˚̩̥̩̥*̩̩͙‧͙ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁ . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖ . ݁

Lucifer

Diavolo

Satan

[dragoncookies]

The Unlocked Healing Center Scene

There are many, MANY scenes in which you could pick apart the ever-loving shit out of Fitz's dialogue and his actions, or just look at how his character is treated from the POV the scene is being told from and compare that to what objectively might be happening.

But one of my favorite's has got to be the Unlocked healing center scene from Keefe's POV, because GOLLY was Fitz just bagged on in that scene, in an almost undetectable way.

(This also isn't meant to be hate on Keefe btw. He's a fine character, not my absolute favorite, but there's no reason to hate on him. It just so happens that Keefe's POV of Fitz is especially patronizing in this scene).

First of all, Shannon starts the scene with presenting us with how lonely and sad he was, just straight up:

”sadness

Nervousness

Regret

Loneliness

Plus a hefty dash of anger.

Coming straight from Fitz” (-Unlocked, idk what page lmao).

I mean, the man was grieving. He just broke up with his maybe girlfriend AND lost the only chance he had to finding his terrorist older brother (who might or might not want to end him and who has caused him and his family immense stress/trauma for the past 4 books if not their entire lives to a degree) in one fell swoop (because of the maybe girlfriend he trusted a lot, not to mention Fitz values trust almost more than he does love so you could basically say the girl he loved).

Me personally? I would just cease to exist after that, but here we have sad, nervous, regretful, lonely and angry Fitz in the healing center waiting for his maybe-bro to wake up. 

Once Keefe DID wake up, Fitz was nothing if not worried for Keefe and trying to comfort Keefe. Fitz was obviously GENUINELY worried for Keefe. Look at this:

”Fitz tore a hand through his boringly perfect hair. ‘I get why your mad. But I’m only trying to help. I know what you’re going through-‘

’Right-you totally know what it’s like to have you mom do deadly experiments on you,’ Keefe muttered. ‘I must’ve forgotten that part of the Vacker history.��

’Maybe not,’ Fitz conceded, ‘but I know what it’s like to have a traitor in the family. And I also remember how scary it is to wake up in one of these cots after being brutally attacked-just like I know how hard it is to talk about what’s wrong, because it feels like you’re admitting the Neverseen beat you. But they only win if you keep pretending everything’s normal, because you end up making the damage permanent.’

’I’m not damaged-‘

‘You’re right. That’s the wrong word.’ Fitz blew out a breath. ‘Look, all I’m trying to say is that I wouldn’t be walking right now if I hadn’t let Elwin help me. I probably wouldn’t even be alive. So I want to make sure you get the help you need-and you do need it, Keefe. No matter what you believe. But accepting help doesn’t make you weak. It just means you’re taking care of yourself.’”

Such an underrated Fitz moment, imo.

First and foremost, lets just take a second to point out the "boringly perfect" hair comment. I don't know why this stuck out to me, but it shows how differently these two characters think. While Fitz has his hair styled "perfectly" because its been his lifestyle to maintain a perfect façade, here we can see that Keefe STILL doesn't understand just what goes beyond this perfect façade of Fitz's. Keefe values freedom, loves rebellion, and his hairstyle reflects that. Keefe makes it messy, but a masterpiece. To Keefe, Fitz's hair is just generic and standard. Perfect, well presenting, but it follows the standard of whatever is considered "perfect" to elves, so we can see that it is repulsive to Keefe's nature.

This is much the same as how much Keefe sees the scale of what Alvar's disappearance has done to the Vacker Family. Keefe continues to reject the idea that the Vackers aren't as perfect as he once believed. As soon as Fitz even mentioned the idea of empathy for Keefe, the idea of relating to him, Keefe immediately rejects it, and rejects the idea that Fitz could have gone through any mental/emotional turbulence as a result of the horrendous situations Alvar has put him and his family through. I mean, for crying out loud, Fitz had literally tried to kill his brother in an emotional mess of conflicting feelings and guilt just two books ago, and unheard of crime for the elves. Fitz had to spend weeks and WEEKS in the healing center. Keefe was there when Alvar, on his deathbed, described how the "Vacker Legacy" was what drove him to a life of crime.

Yes, Keefe was having a rough time to put it lightly, but taking it out on others isn't justified (if you want to be mad at Fitz for taking his anger out on others, now you have to be mad at Keefe for taking his emotional distress out on his friend). We can certainly understand it, but we can't justify it, and because the POV is from a likable character, we're more willing to trust what the character says. Since Keefe presents Fitz's actions in a way that makes them seem appalling and jerk-y, and if Keefe presents this idea in his POV that Fitz is always Mr. Perfect and never has trouble in his family, then the readers are more likely to believe that. Objectively, based on what Fitz is saying and doing, we can see he's struggled and is struggling a lot. Fitz had to have worked on learning to receive help himself (asking for help is a SKILL, believe it or not) in order to truly explain how important it is to Keefe in the way he did.

Who just says "Accepting help doesn't make you weak, it just means you're taking care of yourself" and doesn't mean it in the kindest, most sincerest way ever?

Not just Keefe can take this advice, anyone should.

Side note: I also feel like he gave himself bad flashbacks to when he called Sophie damaged in book two when he accidentally used the word here. Ouch.

At another point in this scene, Keefe also shows how irrational he can be, as Fitz is simply trying to do the right thing and get Keefe the help he needs, and Keefe is ABSOLUTELY DEMONIZING Fitz for it. Keefe's health was Fitz's priority, and Fitz didn't necessarily care if he stepped on Keefe's toes to get him the help that he couldn't see he needed (Sophie was in the room as this point):

Unlocked page 561:

“‘Uh, you should probably step back, Sophie,’ Fitz warned. ‘I think your emotions are too strong for him.’

’No, they’re not!’ Keefe argued-and wow,did his voice sound strained. He cleared his throat and tried again. ‘Nothings wrong. I swear, I’m fine.’

’He keeps saying that,’ Fitz told her-because he was begging for a face-punch. And if the world hadn’t gotten so spinny, Keefe might’ve given it to him when Fitz added, ‘But Keefe’s been picking up all our emotions without even trying. And he’s always been able to do that with you, so I think you’re overwhelming him right now.’

’Okay, I’m done liking Captain Perfectpants,’ Ro announced.

‘Keefe was right there with her-which was probably why he blurted out, ‘Uh, for the record, most of the emotions are coming from you, Fitzy. You wouldn’t happen to have some unresolved feelings for anyone in this room, would you?’”

I'm not gonna lie, if somebody read my emotions and called me out on something that I was VERY touchy about, and was a relatively new blow, I would just leave the room. That was an A class jerk move right there.

Not saying Keefe IS a jerk, because all the characters have acted jerk-y in the series and everyone has their moments, but it was still pretty rude of Keefe to make that comment. What’s annoying is that nobody in the books seemed to react as though it is rude when Keefe makes these kinds of comments. If it was anybody else who had said that, there would be an apology required in order for that character to be redeemed. 

Keefe also literally wanted to PUNCH Fitz, because Fitz was...making sure Keefe stayed alive? Because Fitz cared enough about Keefe's health to make sure the details were pressed out and make sure the facts of the situation were clear? So Elwin could actually do his job??

Keefe hated Fitz in this moment because Fitz was being a practical, helpful guy, but from Keefe's perspective it just makes Fitz look like an asshole.

Ro’s unsolicited opinions are also very unhelpful, since Ro is written to be in support of what Keefe wants (or just in support of whatever will make Sokeefe happen…she’s kind of creepy about her Sokeefe obsession ngl), it makes her more likable and therefore the readers are more likely to trust what she says or take her opinion as their own. 

But Ro saying things like “I’m done liking Captain Perfect Pants” is rude, because it 1), insinuates she will only like someone based on how much they please her, and 2) denotes him to his perfect facade, which undermines his brilliant and complex character. 

Eventually, Keefe tried to apologize to Sophie in a telepathic conversation. He didn’t remotely consider apologizing to Fitz. 

I mean, Keefe was crazy terrified and hurting but...I don’t get how when Fitz was hurt and acted out he was suddenly “toxic and trash”, but when Keefe did the exact same thing nobody said anything.

And nobody even knows Fitz is hurt because nobody asks him. Nobody talks to him about how hard the Alvar situation is for him because they’re scared he’ll just get mad and yell at them, or they just assume he’s just mad about it and wanted to kill Alvar. 

Is nobody going to see that there’s some deep emotional/mental trauma to unpack here? Is he always just going to have to help himself all the time?

At least Keefe has people who understand him, who are willing to talk to him about what’s wrong and help him through it. He had a seriously traumatic childhood, and I’m not comparing their trauma or anything, that’s not what I’m trying to do. What I am trying to say is, Keefe’s got a whole crew of people helping him, people who want to make sure he’s okay, people who care for him, and he rejects it, deems them annoying in Fitz’s case, and just discounts the effort and energy they spend on him.

There is a lot more to unpack from this scene, but it’s mostly all along a similar vein of what I talked about here (this is long enough haha). There are also tons of little details about the Vackers in Unlocked that just emphasize how pressured Fitz is into the Vacker mold, and how the Alvar drama just makes it worse. 

For example: reading Fitz’s registry file, it says that it is “highly suggested that he choose someone on his match list” because of how dragged the Vacker name already is. So when people want to get upset with him for choosing "his reputation over Sophie", we have text evidence that its more complicated than that. Fitz isn't just choosing between being liked by the world and the person he likes, he's choosing whether or not to maintain a level of peace within his family at his own sacrifice. SPOILERS! (if you haven't read stellarlune don't read the rest of this paragraph). Eventually it was his sacrifice, because as of stellar lune, Sokeefe is official. Fitz couldn't repair things with Sophie quick enough, so she moved on.

It also mentions in Keefe’s detention slip write ups about how people actually hassle Biana and Fitz at Foxfire for Alvar being apart of the Neverseen. Because of their family, because of the Alvar drama, Fitz and Biana can't go to school without people bullying them.

Theres also this sad note in Fitz’s Base Quest instructions where Fitz writes about how you can use you special abilities while playing base quest, but included a little side note that said “but it's no fun when you turn invisible the whole time and hide Alvar!” Which just insinuates that Alvar would turn invisible and leave to go do whatever else he wanted while Fitz still thought they were playing. :( 

Depressing. 

[aurae-rori]

Not a question and idk if your asks are open are not so I'm sorry if I'm not doing this right I don't interact much on Tumblr 😭

But finding your blog has been an absolute blessing cause Ratio always frustrated me as a character cause I couldn't sort out thoughts about him or entirely figure him about but reading your posts about him is scratching the itch on my brain that's been there for a while now and I absolutely adore it. He's such a well written character and reading what you have to say about him constantly is so much fun and let's me gobble up the information in a way my brain can process it.

Your blog is so much fun and I love reading your stuff!!

Also, what are your thoughts on the comparison between Ratio + Aventurine and Alhaitham + Kaveh? (Not sure if you've been asked that before so I apologize if you have!)

No worries, you did it perfectly fine!

Aww, dude, I'm so glad that my blog has brought you some joy. I'm happy to help deconstruct characters so that their inherent workings, motives, desires, and philosophies are seen. I try to keep my stuff easily edible(tm) so I'm so glad that it's working!! Thanks for the support, I saw you in my notifs a lot and it means the world.

And no worries, I actually haven't gotten this question yet.

There's a whole youtube vide on why Alhaitham & Ratio are not similar, and I wouldn't say that Kaveh & Aventurine are similar either. Alhaitham is generally a self-focused guy who doesn't want excitement and literally wants a normal life, while Dr. Ratio is reaching for the stars and wants to better the lives of literally everyone in the universe. Also, Kaveh and Aventurine share traits of being overworking (and they have dead desert dads), but I would consider Aventurine far more reserved than Kaveh is. They deal with business differently - Aventurine drives a hard bargain and takes deals that benefit him, while Kaveh's goodwill usually wins out on him and he gives into his empathy far more often. Honestly? The theories about Ratio being Kavehtham's love child is so fucking real, because he has the Autism from Alhaitham and his love for maths and his inner kindness from Kaveh.

Thanks for dropping by! <3

[bobbydagen24]

come to think of it how do you think Branch learnt everything he knows?

in TBT he says in the argument scene that after Grandma died there was no one left to take care of him confirming that he literally had no one after her death.

implying with everything else we know about his backstory that he Raised himself from a very young age likely 5 6 or 7 I'd assume based purely on his looks alone.

but thinking about it how could he have learnt how to do everything that he knows as an adult?

I mean I know some of it can simply be self taught but do you really think a little kid that age would be able to self learn everything that Branch knows as an adult?

like how to build an underground Bunker without it collapsing in on itself? and how to build a working lift in the Bunker?

and just basic stuff like cooking and maintaining a House by himself ( Hell I'm in my early 20s and I still struggle with a lot of that crap 😂😂😂😂 )

I mean do you think he literally is meant to have just been alone? or do you think its more a case where he didn't have a specific guardian per say.

but maybe he was still technically looked after by the village to an extent like he had people to teach him certain things and or bring him food and stuff that he needed to make sure he was still healthy.

but he still sorta just lived on his own and didn't interact with other people unless he absolutely had to due to how closed off he was.

some people like to HC Kismet as having visited him during all those years to check up on him occasionally and bring him stuff and make sure he was properly taking care of himself.

so maybe we could find out something like that was the case in a future film tho maybe not necessarily with Kismet as cute as that would be.

like maybe he did have certain people looking out for him over the years when he was a kid despite him closing himself off from everyone.

IDK it'd just be sorta cute I think he still has large gaps in his Backstory that DreamWorks could potentially work with in the future.

like maybe a future film does actually introduce a new character from his past during that period in his life who tried to look out for him or at least check up on him every now and then to make sure he wasn't literally dead.

as I like the idea of him maybe having a kinda surrogate parent figure in a future film who he didn't even really think of in that way.

but later on its pointed out to him just how much they tried to do for him as he was growing up even tho they had to somewhat do it from a distance given Branch's wishes of wanting to be alone.

like maybe they were someone who also lost loved ones to the Bergens and they were more understanding of Branch's grief and him not being able to move on like the rest of the village did.

plus they just had a basic human amount of empathy and could see it probably wasn't Right to leave a grieving traumatised little kid with nothing to take care of himself with.

and maybe over the course of the film he kinda slowly realises even during all those years he spent alone someone did actually care and at least tried to look out for him.

and Branch comes to appreciate them like family plus Bro zone would instantly like them given how they looked out for him when they weren't there.

so they don't judge the relationship at all and are just kinda happy for Branch. ( I mean they can't claim he's betraying their parents memory or anything he didn't even know them as far as we know )

but now I'm getting more into fanfic ideas territory than cannon based speculation territory lol.

I just want the next film to give my boy some Happiness and a cute little semi surrogate parent plot has been spinning around in my head for the past week now.

I just kinda love the idea even if it would sorta be a retcon to his backstory and more new characters for the future films to have to introduce and develop even tho the cast is already super full.

but like I said I just find the idea kinda sweet plus screw Brozone lol I'd love for my boy Branch to find a found family member in the future.

who actually did try and be there for him throughout the worst periods of his life even when the rest of the village may have saw him as a lost cause.

but like I said that's more fanfic idea territory anyway what do you think in regards to the main question of the post? 😂😂😂😂

[theamazingdigitalraceway]

Hellooo! A while back, I made an ask thanking you for changing my opinion on showtime! At the time, I almost didn't send it cause I was being paranoid.

But now thanks to caffeine, I feel no fear!

So tell me, what made you prefer showtime as your otp other than.. Idk, buttonblossom or.. Jax x Ragatha (don't remember the ship name. Bunnydoll?)

Well, it all comes down to Caine himself. He's my favorite character in the show. It all started when I was just looking for Caine art back when I first entered the fandom, I couldn't get enough of him.

At the time, the only Caine ship that really stuck out to me was Showtime, so I latched onto it in a pseudo-self-insert kind of way, but by the time I started writing fanfiction, I had familiarized myself with Pomni as a character and I thought.....this could work.

I'm a sucker for AI-falls-in-love or becomes more human because of someone who cares enough. Think Detroit Become Human. (Loved that game) After episode 2, when Pomni shows her full capacity for empathy to an AI such as Gummigoo, that really sent my synapses firing about "What if she did that with Caine?"

So I wrote my first Showtime oneshot, "Creative Liberty" and haven't looked back. Technically I wrote the first few chapters of Raceway first, but that was when I was still familiarizing myself with the characters. I consider Creative Liberty my first real showtime fic.

While Showtime is most certainly my favorite, it's not my only ship. I'm a "multi-shipper" So my brain can easily move around the characters and pair them up in a lot of different ways that I still enjoy. That's why on my main blog I tell people "all ships are welcome." Even the crack ones lol.

Because like Goosworx herself said, "Ship whoever you want, just stop attacking each other!" We're here to have fun! Thank you for your question. This might have been a bit more in depth than you were expecting, but I wanted to answer honestly.

PS- Jax x Ragatha is Bunnydoll and is my second favorite overall ship :3

PSS- The only ship that I'm like eeh on is RoyalCourt (PomnixKinger) especially after episode 3. I ship them in a father-daughter way, It's hard for me to picture them in a romantic sense.

[rei-ismyname]

UNCANNY X-MEN #5 From The Ashes

First of all, I should acknowledge that something I've been calling a missed opportunity has received an attempt on page - the X-Men killing in FotHox, specifically Kurt. It's a single line and doesn't make a lot of sense, trying to have cake and eat it too by nodding to it in issue 5 but not meaningfully engaging with the recent past. Kurt did NOT think he was a killer, ever. That's just a bad faith reading of the text. He was in a war against genocidal fascists, come on.

Cool new form for Calico, though.

Kurt putting his sword/s away doesn't quite cut it. Errol Flynn swashbuckling has been an influence on him since he was a child and he's been big on sword usage almost since the beginning of his publication history. It's his thing, and he badly needs personality in FTA. Also, he didn't kill anyone with a sword in Fall, he teleported them into space. Swords parry and block, they disarm and intimidate. They have use outside of combat. They look cool, and it's something Kurt is very good at. So yeah, the barest attempt was made, but it didn't land for me. There could have been space to set it up and sell it too, perhaps by toning down the Charles Xavier/Sarah flashbacks that were ultimately just a fakeout.

Speaking of things that were given lip service in issue 5 and could have benefited from more attention, Jubilee told us who she is - kinda. A panel or two of origin story that was established in the 90s, but nothing about why she's here or what she wants out of life. How she feels about the loss of Krakoa, where the hell her baby, Shogo, is. It fits in with Uncanny's overarching sense of unfocusedness and her role could have been performed by anyone - not a good look for the end of the flagship book's first arc.

We get the resolution to and defeat of Sarah Gaunt. 'She's crazy, always has been' is so unsatisfying. I can't think of any other description. It's nice that we don't have another sin to lay at Xavier's door, but attempted baby trap is not a frequently used trope for a reason. She acknowledges she was lying, but then blames him for the loss of her son years later in a different country - then transfers that hatred to all mutants? Comicsxf have criticised her characterisation as 'Monstrous Mother' and I agree. What was the point of giving it so much space, to the extent that we spent more time in the past than with most of our putative main characters? She beat the shit out of Logan and Rogue the last two issues, nearly killing them - only for Rogue to draw strength from deus ex dead kid and completely wipe her out. It's lovely that Rogue is able to summon empathy for her, it shows us why she's a hero, but taken as an arc she's rewarded with victory despite making bad decisions. Long time readers know Rogue can lead, but I think Gail Simone is going to have to do the work to convince new readers that she's right for this. It's well and good to have moral authority but leading your team to death isn't.

Harvey X was unexpected but felt unearned. Surprise is fun but internal and narrative consistency is better. I thought it was Charles moving people around, because it was signposted. Harvey X being the puppet master felt almost silly as he revealed previously unseen very powerful abilities. Why would he wait for Rogue and Logan to be nearly dead to act? Maybe that's the only time he can act, because he's dead? Idk, at least he didn't scream how hot Rogue is again. He speaks about a sacrifice he's making but what sacrifice is that? Is his power finite and burns him out, Proteus-style? It's not quite clear, and I guess we'll never see him again.

Precognition. Healing. Telepathy.

Gambit and the Eye of Agamotto was a Chekhov's Gun that mostly worked (and made me feel sah smart for calling it.) Remy prays (?) to it and then blows the possessed cultists away. I'm pretty sure Jubilee could make a bigger boom than that (I know she can) but rule of cool wins the day.

These are/were captured and possessed mutants. I hope we see them again, especially after Fawn's introduction in #1. They're not doing this willingly.

Rogue flies to meet Warden Ellis to give her Sarah back, further muddling Ellis' characterisation. I have no idea what she's about now. Nuance is good in antagonists, but for someone who wants to crush mutants with her government mandate she's awfully cooperative with them. No threats, no riddles, no ultimatum, just meekly accepting two threats? I want to give a fuck about the closest thing we have to an antagonist (for a crossover event right around the corner) but there's nothing there! This was an opportunity for something, anything. Gah! I don't understand this writing.

Rogue's threat is interesting, though I have to wonder what she and Scott are going to disagree about. It's implied Jubilee will get captured, and we know Beast already has been. 2/3 X-Men teams have their motivation to wreck Graymalkin I just struggle to see them coming to blows over it.

Rogue and her elocution lessons feel very out of character and came out of nowhere. If it was setup earlier and tied to insecurity or identity that would work, but being introduced and haphazardly paid off in issue 5 baffles me, frankly. Rogue's southern upbringing is never something she's been ashamed of, her angst has almost always been related to her powers. She's a confident woman. A story where she struggles with that could have legs, but that's not the story that's been told. She certainly doesn't need Gambit or Logan to tell her - I'd expect it to be the other way around.

I'm not sure what to make of the images we get from Harvey X's visions of the future. I'll write about them separately if I find an interesting hook.

So ends the first arc of Uncanny X-Men volume whatever. My main issue is that it doesn't meaningfully engage with what came before it, and it doesn't quite manage to establish its own identity either. What is its mission statement and what kind of book can we expect? I don't know, and I hope Gail Simone does. It's not the end of the world, mind you. Following Krakoa was always going to be tough, and the world was going to feel smaller, less connected. I can't help but wonder what it might have felt like without a lot of Charles Xavier flashbacks amounting to nothing. Maybe we'd know more about Kurt or Jubilee, even the Outliers. Ideally that'll be corrected. I don't do number ratings so I'll just say it was okay, higher if you are a Rogue stan.

[flowersintheimpala69]

I’m gonna state an opinion and I beg you all not to call me stupid because I know this is probably a brain dead take cuz I’m brain dead BUT

in “dark side of the moon” s5ep16 I understand why Dean was upset with Sam. Dean’s fondest memories revolve around family and Sam and Sam’s fondest memories revolved around “leaving” his family behind (from dean’s perspective at least). So I get why Dean was hurt and a lot of stuff was going on and he must have been stressed and Sam and his relationship was already pretty strained that season so I get it.

BUT

I also think he was too dramatic about it and should have tried to understand Sam a bit more. Cuz obviously sam loves dean, and his memories were more about the times he got to be “normal” and free from his usual life than about a resentment towards family or dean.

And I wish dean tried to understand that!! Cuz It feels like Sam is always extending sympathy and empathy to dean, and trying to understand him even when he dosent agree with him

Random example of this is in s7 when dean killed Amy (someone Sam considered a friend) and lied to Sam about it, and (after being criticized harshly for being upset about it) sam forgives dean and even tells him he understands why Dean killed her.

And idk?? I feel like dean never extends that kind of empathy to Sam and I feel that’s rlly unfair and just pissed me off especially in “dark side of the moon”

Cuz YES Dean did have somewhat a right to be upset, but if he used just a smidge of emotional intelligence he’d be able to realize Sam 1) can’t control what memories are brought up 2) his memories were about freedom (something Sam’s never really had) and weren’t evidence of ill-feeling towards dean

Idk smth about the scene where Sam sees bones and gets all excited and pets him and then is immediately criticized by dean for not caring enough just upsets me

sam just wanted to be normal!! He wanted a dog!!

And then Sam is beaten down by the narrative and sorta framed to be selfish/uncaring and then the amulet (a symbol of deans love for Sam) is thrown away by dean RIGHT IN FRONT OF SAM like sam did not deserve that!!

Idk am I making sense or do I just sound stupid (this isn’t anti-dean btw I love dean just,, yk)

[orgyofthedamned]

I saw your post from January where you mentioned Cushing being a suspected queer person in the tags, I’m very intrigued to know why that is. Is it that he might have been asexual? Otherwise the only thing that comes to mind is when he mentions in his first memoir that he was in love with Peter Pan as a young boy, and although Pan was always played by a girl on stage where he saw it, he did not know the difference between the majority of men and women until his brother taught him some time later.

oh, yeah!! granted im not as huge a cush expert as my wife and muts so i want to enlist the cush squad for further evidence @hereissomething @renmorris @redwoodrroad @thatdoodlebug @papsiguess

i realize a lot of it is probably wish fulfillment- but from the outside looking in, it just seems like a lot of little things that add up- being raised as a girl. the apparent (disinterest?) in sexuality. his hyper-empathy. his lack of machismo, his comfort in proximity of women, his extremely close friendships with men. idk just stuff like that.

i know those arent indicators of anything and i know theres more and better examples but i cant remember em right now. 😭

anyway, i was just kinda grousing that day about the idea of not being able to know these tidbits of peoples' lives. granted i know its none of my business but if he were, then that kind of revisionist history sucks, you know? 

i'm not a very big fan of his late in life caretakers the broughtons, so in my biased mind i find it plausible that any memorabilia hinting to cush being anything other than straight might have been buried.

i guess the most agonizing thing is that we cant (or will never) have the luxury of knowing, so all we have is wishful thinking. 🤷‍♂️ idk

[ashyjingles]

What's your favorite trope in thiam fics? (Or in general?)

this ended up being something a lot longer than i meant to be and is less of a fav trope and more of an analysis of how i view them or whatever but like. here have it

theo learning how to cope with life outside of the dread doctors and being viewed as a monster for his actions (which,,, sorry theo ily and i will forever be a theo defender,,, but never an apologist bc wtf bro) and liam understanding him because of what he's done during his ied episodes and the repercussions

liam's reluctant to admit he feels that empathy for him at first because hey!! this guy kind of not only evil but also batshit fucking bonkers!! but he kinda realizes without empathy he loses an aspect of his humanity and when he accepts it he realizes theo was quite honestly just in an incredibly abusive situation and was just trying to survive and became a product of his enviornment (and considering one of the causes of ied is environmental factors i feel like it wouldn't be too far fetched to say liam understands that personally too)

and theos reluctant to admit that he. feels guilty for anything he did. because that means admitting that he did bad things. which when he tries to rationalize makes no sense because he has done bad things and has even enjoyed doing it because his brains a little fucked and he knows that because he's a monster. but being guilty means he's a failure to the dread doctors. and he's already rotten at the edges and the edges are starting to peel away to show a rotten core and that means he's a failure to the mccall pack because they're a bunch of saints (compared to him at least. and if not, well they're on a saints leash) and he's spent so long being anything but a failure because being a failure means being dead and he cannot shake that no matter how hard he tries until he realizes liam sometimes fails at keeping his anger in check but that doesn't make him a failure. and then without even realizing liam starts teaching theo that it's okay to slip up a few times because that's what makes people human and maybe theo doesn't have to be a monster

but when they both accept themselves and the other it leads to a relationship that no one else quite gets (sure, mason has been there for liam his entire life and i cannot stress how much i adore their friendship but sometimes understanding something because you've watched it happen is worlds away from actually experiencing it) at first but it's the sort of thing that just. fits. because they can both push each other to their limits without actually going over (eventually) but also pull each other back when they need a reminder of who they are (people. not monsters.)

tbh i love them cause there's so many different dynamics and tropes that can apply to them but this one,,,,,,,, this one is the one that well and truly wrecks me most of the time. and i don't even think this counts as a trope.

if i had to choose like a trope trope then. idiots to lovers? basic. enemies to lovers? too obvious. idk any tropes now that i think about it,, fuck. sunshine x grumpy?? but also i think i like grumpy liam more than sunshine liam because that boy has an ied and a shitload of trauma he's not gonna be a ray of happiness all the time and like hell will theo be a sunshine character. OHHHH YOU KNOW WHAT?? FAKE DATING!! or the and they were roommates thing. idk tbh dude. hanahaki if u wanna take a peek at my 4 hanahaki drafts for them lmfao

in general tho? combination of idiots to lovers but also fake dating but also grumpy x grumpy that sometimes leans toward grumpy x sunshine I GUESS. since you're MAKING me CHOOSE.

[vigilskeep]

Ha I also started going through your Keir tag after the ask about Cole (not implying the other asker today was necessarily prompted by the same thing, it was just funny right now to see the ask from someone else saying they'd been going through his tag). To continue the asks, do you have any headcanons for Keir and Fenris beyond them getting along? They strike me as similar in their sense of self-determination, which sounds weird because of Keir's whole thing but like, where his self happens to include the people close to him. idk vibes

yes they are both like that, exactly!! both very fixated on survival at all costs and maintaining wary distance from external threats or indeed anything they cannot trust. people who have learned to fiercely protect what’s theirs and extend little empathy or faith to anything outside

you can argue it’s a difference that keir includes those close to him in what he has to keep safe, but fenris also does that as soon as he has anyone to keep (see: romanced hawke). the parallels between keir and, say, young fenris giving up everything to fight for his mother and sister’s freedom always make me sick. fenris just happens to not have anyone when we first meet him :(

them being so alike is why i can never even imagine keir/fenris though 😭 for one thing neither of them would ever say anythinggg. they both require a talker imo. and someone less... straightforward and efficient. even as friends they just sit in companionable silence unless isabela is around (which she is more often than not, considering she’s keir’s best friend and fenbela have their thing going. when i’m playing as keir i’m often in what i affectionately call the double date party)

they’re good friends though. a lot of mutual respect, a lot of trust. not necessarily particularly vulnerable with each other except when the moment forces it, but not for lack of comfort with each other, just because they’re both bad at that. keir likes fighting alongside with fenris, likes a fellow warrior’s discipline and being able to rely on him to fill a role that carver once did. and fenris likes having a watchful shield, not always having to watch his own back. i rlly like fen having someone you can count on as completely as you can with keir

keir at least initially respectfully curbs his usual tactile affection w fenris bc fen likes his personal space but i think later on he might cautiously allow a little of it idk... almost out of curiosity when he sees keir do it so much with the others. cat slowly warming up to you type behaviour. tilts his head a certain way to permit cheek kiss without having to say anything abt it

keir does teach him to read! gets orana in on it too, why not, two birds with one stone. in the bad later years in kirkwall it’s a respite to sit down and focus on smth like that. reminds keir of good childhood days. everyone’s always surprised keir likes books and has good penmanship as if he isn’t the son of a circle mage and a noblewoman

[yandere-kokeshi]

Pavitr with a reader (m or gn) whose a thief- but for “good” reason. He struggles to take care of himself and needs the money :(

Pav feels bad for him, but at he same time needs to be spiderman- so he tends to mostly let him go? and eventually they build some sort of silent “frenemie” relationship:)

thank you!

Warnings: yandere behavior and stalking

A/N: idk if this is okay, I hurried this; I did male reader. Hope you enjoy :]

He feels awful whenever he sees you steal money or food; possibly other necessary items that are way too expensive than they should be.

Of course, he’s Spiderman. He’s supposed to take care of the city and knock down all evil - but, you were pulling his heart string, quite hard. He wants to help you, his spider senses going crazy to urgently fix the problem but he’s unsure how to.

Sure, the two of you had a lot of run-ins and he would always let you go. But, he never really realized why he did so. At first, he thought his senses were broken - something turned them off and yanked them like strings.

But the more he watched you from rooftops, looking at items that were necessary before grabbing them off the shelves, the yelling ensued as you pushed and shoved anyone - running off the unknown of crowded streets before taking a sharp turn into an alleyway; which is where he’d normally meet you. Pavitr realized that his empathy was stepping in. He felt bad for stealing necessary items, which is how he decided to approach you one day.

Pavitr followed you near an alleyway after an incident, seeing how you held the food close to your chest as if you were to let go, it’d disappear. He felt awful, a frown puzzled on his face as he watched you lean against the wall, opening the bag to see what you stole. By his twitching needs to approach you, he swung behind you.

Automatically, your brain warned you of a new presence - and when you turned around, Pavitr stood there with a bag of goodies and waved awkwardly, a small but meaningful: ‘Hi…!’

But, reacting like anyone, you threw a bunch of stuff at him, seriously cursing him out as he dodged most objects, and before he knows it, you were gone without the food you had stolen; of course, being the ‘hero’, he returned it but made sure to find you again, keeping note of your scared and uneasy reactions.

Then, that’s where his play of ‘anonymously’ leaves gifts comes in. Within a day or two, he’s found your home - making sure to take brain notes of the times you leave and come back. By the time you come back from a small errand, a few gifts of things were on your bed, a bunch of sticky notes with smiles or words of encouragement; a small sketch of a similar Spiderman that you saw a few days ago.

Within those gifts, Pavitr often gives you money, food, and hygienic items. Seeing your reaction was pretty precious to him.

From then on, he understood that’s what he was going to do from now on, until he can get you comfortable enough to approach you in person.

Every day, the gifts came. Sometimes they’d have new items, different types of food that you wouldn’t buy due to the expense. But, they usually kept the same. It made Pavitr happy that you got excited when you saw them, eagerly opening up the bags like a kid on Christmas morning.

Until he made a small mistake. That early in the morning, he swung in the cities, stopping at your window before opening it up, crawling in as he did for the past few weeks. He left the bags on your bed, making sure everything was perfect to his eye level.

However, Pavitr heard the front door open and close. Your familiar footsteps coming into the bedroom. His heart started racing. His body wouldn’t move. His spidery senses wouldn’t stop buzzing and telling him to move! - he only reacted at the worst time.

By the time you opened the bedroom door, coming in to see Pavitr’s body halfway out and in through the window, the two of you stared at each other for a few seconds before you spoke up, “Who— what the hell are you doing?” Ultimately, he laughed. A small one and an uncomfortable one. “I’m… uh. Leaving a gift for someone. Yeah, you. Not from me though.”

With a look of scaredness and awkwardness, Pavitr looked at you before speaking up, “You enjoy! This… is a gift from me. Have fun!” Before he could zoom off into the cities, you yelled at him - to which, he turned around and gave you his full attention.

You thanked him out of consideration and niceness, a smile forming on your face.

Pavitr was… surprised.

He wasn’t expecting it. But he’s taking it into thought. All he did was nod, a laugh coming from him before swinging off to fight crime - your face becoming a fond memory. Every day, he now swings by to talk to you, which envelopes your relationship - a new start of something new.

—

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