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ddarker-dreams · 4 years ago

Text

Lunch Discussions. Team Bucciarati x F Reader🎀

[Scarlet Ribbons description]

Word count: 1.3k, somehow ?? Notes: this is probably the most lighthearted thing i’ve ever created. idk what’s happening here. it started as a silly idea in my head but I Could Not Stop. so here it is

“If you were stranded on a deserted island, who from this table would you want to be stuck with?”

Mista’s question goes largely unnoticed. Fugo and Narancia are in a heated discussion on if classical or hip hop is better, Bucciarati and Giorno are speaking about business, and Abbacchio is trying to zone the chatter out. That leaves you to save Mista from the throes of embarrassment. Truth be told, this innocent question is an improvement from Mista’s usual discourse.

The gunslinger’s face lights up when you hum, considering the question.

“So it’d just be the two of us? I can’t say I’d bring a radio or something?” You ask to clarify further.

Mista shakes his head. “Nope, no bringing anything.”

That means practicality is most vital here. You mull over what each of your teammates (and bosses), could bring to the table. It didn’t take too long to reach a definitive answer.

“For survival’s sake, I’d pick Giorno,” you decide, the aforementioned man’s attention going to you upon hearing his name. “Well, I guess it depends on whether or not the food Gold Experience makes is edible. If it is, we’d be able to survive a long time off of it. Say, Giorno, can you eat the stuff you make?”

“I’ve… never tried, so I’m not sure. In theory, any life created by Gold Experience is the same down to the genetics of what it’s based on.”

Narancia snorts and takes a bite of his salad. “It’s all fun and games until a coconut falls on Giorno’s head and he’s knocked out cold. Then all the sticks and sand he used to make the food would turn back in your stomach.”

Huh. That makes for a grotesque mental image.

Giorno tries to defend himself but Narancia is too busy readying his argument. “A coconut…?”

“Clearly, I’m the best choice here,” Narancia decides, pointing his fork at you. Should that be considered a threat? “Aerosmith could get the attention of a nearby plane.”

“Non-Stand users wouldn’t be able to see it, you dumbass. What are you going to do? Wait for a Stand user pilot to roll on by?” Fugo asks with a sigh, Narancia shooting him a nasty look.

“You never know! I’m sure there’s one or two. Besides, why would anyone want to bring you along? Your Stand couldn’t even hunt for food, it’d turn everything into a big ol’ pile of mush.”

Fugo clicks his tongue. “There’s more to survival than that. Food is a valuable resource, yes, but do you know how to purify water?”

Narancia furrows his eyebrows together, considering the proposition. “You have to… purify water?”

Now it’s Fugo’s turn to look at you.

“This idiot would give you dysentery on day one,” he states dryly. You hold back a laugh at the indignation on Narancia’s face. “I think my chances would be pretty good. At least I know what poisonous plants look like.”

Mista’s simple question is turning into a complex cobweb of possibilities. He can’t help but notice the others seemed more willing to chime in the moment you entered the conversation. Silently, he tells himself not to take it personally.

“Well, whatever. I’d pick [First]. She could make us a shelter and bridges to different areas. The rest of you guys can be boring and pick Giorno.” Narancia decides. You can’t help but feel a little honored that he’d pick you, a content smile on your face. His last comment makes you wonder if picking Giorno is the easy answer, due to the nature of his Stand’s abilities. Abbacchio, who none of you thought was paying attention, speaks up.

“I wouldn’t pick Giorno,” Abbacchio places his headphones around his neck. “I wouldn’t pick any of you guys, actually. Aside from Bucciarati, you’d all be dead in a week, easily.”

Bucciarati clears his throat, realizing he’s now been roped into the conversation. “I’m glad you guys are having fun, but--”

Mista is quick to rebuke Abbacchio’s claims. “I would not die in a week! I’d at the very least make it to two weeks.”

“Like hell you would. Pistols would destroy your food supply on the first day.” Abbacchio counters. Hm, he’s got a point, you think. Pistols do have a notoriously ravenous appetite. Note to self, do not get stuck on an island with Mista.

Mista puts a hand to his chin, contemplating. “Hm… actually, yeah, you’re right. Nevermind.”

You blink, incredulous at Mista’s agreeable response. He gave up that fast?!

“What if we kept it out of Pistol’s reach?” You tentatively speak up, trying to save Mista’s honor once more. He shudders at the thought.

“There is no such thing as food out of Pistols reach,” Mista sighs, to which his Stand cheers. “They will always find it.”

An idea comes to mind. Clasping your hands together, you look at Narancia with a smile, who immediately returns it in full. “Oh, I know! What if we got on Aerosmith, and it flew us to safety?”

Narancia likes the idea and nods his head vigorously. “That’s genius!”

Fugo snorts, preparing a rebuttal in record time. “Yeah, it’d be genius until you both drop into the ocean.”

“[First], did you forget what happened the last time you were on a plane with Narancia?” Abbacchio raises an eyebrow. Your blood runs cold as memories of Notorious B.I.G come flooding back. Actually, being on any form of transportation with these people seems to end poorly. Cars, boats, airplanes…

“Come to think of it, you’re right about that,” you agree with a shiver. “Being stuck with Abbacchio might be interesting. Moody Blues could replay scenes from a movie to pass the time.”

“It’d be a one-man show, but I guess it’s not impossible,” Abbacchio replies. Giorno, who had been silently watching the banter, decides to speak his piece.

“I agree with Narancia,” Giorno nods at you. “[First] would be able to treat my wounds, and I hers. We’d survive the longest.”

“Oh, please. You guys just want to be stuck on an island with [First] because she’s c-”

Abbacchio kicks Mista under the table, effectively silencing him. Beats getting stabbed with a fork, you muse. Bucciarati, who is doing his best to moderate the discussion, has remained noticeably absent. Not wanting to miss out on his input, you direct the question to him.

“What about you, Bucciarati? Who would you pick?”

Your Capo thinks about it longer than the others. “Fugo’s plentiful knowledge of biodiversity would be useful. Though, if we’re taking Stands into account, [First]’s Scarlet Ribbons could make a net for fishing.”

“Finally, a sensible answer.” Fugo sighs.

“The real question is,” Mista takes a deep breath, placing his hands on the table. “Why is no one picking me?

“I thought we already went over that,” Narancia replies.

“Aside from the little caveat Pistols presents, I’d still be a valuable asset. Did you guys forget that I survived prison?”

“Two weeks of prison, might I add,” Fugo corrects, to Mista’s dismay. “By that logic, Narancia would be the best choice.”

“Which I am--”

“You don’t even know how to make a fire, much less survive in the wild.”

“If I shoot something long enough it’ll catch on fire.” Narancia shrugs. Fugo rubs his temple, fending off a headache that looms on the horizon. It looks like none of you are going to be reaching a conclusion anytime soon, talking circles around one another. Still, you feel as if this is the appeal of talking to them. You can expect it to be a thrilling adventure from start to finish.

Everyone had been too drawn into the conversation to realize the waiter, who finally works up the courage to clear his throat, catching your attention.

“The bill for today,” is all he has the courage to say.

Mista, Narancia, and Abbacchio both motion to Giorno at the same time, who sighs and reaches for his wallet.

#no thots head empty #giorno #giorno x reader #bruno x reader #abbacchio x reader #mista x reader #fugo x reader #narancia x reader #JoJo's Bizzare Adventure #vento aureo x reader #Vento Aureo #golden wind x reader #scarlet ribbons #jjba x reader #jjba #my stuff

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wispforever · 3 years ago

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if youre still doing the character thing, how about spirit or marie?

I sure am. How about Spirit And Marie? Both wonderful characters. I’ll do Marie first, then Spirit. Thanks for the excuse to infodump, really. You people are too kind.

Marie Mjolnir

My first impression of Marie was the same impression I get of most female characters in anime. It’s either “why do their clothes have to look like that” or “oh god here comes the obligatory sexist heteronormative romance”. For Marie, it was more of the second. They mention in the same episode she’s introduced that Stein is her “first love”, which told me that if she had a large place in the plot, her assigned male counterpart around which to orbit would be him. Though I’ve never read the Soul Eater manga, I believe they do end up getting together there (I could be wrong). Whatever the case, I was relieved that Marie’s and Stein’s relationship (though heavily implied to be romantic, at least on Marie’s side) was left open to interpretation in the anime. I’m just very sick of cool badass female characters like Marie being reduced to the man they pine after. So, I guess my first impression of Marie and my impression of her now are largely the same. While I appreciate the moments we get to see her strengths and ability to operate on her own, I do think that her character really suffers because of the whole sexist “oh gosh all I want is to find a husband and retire” “oh my I have to take care of Stein” like okay, I had enough at the cat girl smothering Soul with her humungo-tits. I had enough at sexualizing underage girls and women in general. I had enough at making sexual harassment a punchline. That being said, when we push all of the shitty writing to the side, I admire Marie for her strength and how she interacts with the children, Crona in particular. Which leads me to my favorite moment(s).

The relationship Crona and Marie have interests me the most, since I’m really drawn to the parallels between Marie and Medusa. As parental figures (and as characters), they’re about as different as you can get. As Crona’s mother, Medusa is obviously abusive. Along with being negligent, she abuses Crona mentally, emotionally, and physically. In general, Medusa is a person who doesn’t appear to value interpersonal relationships, putting it nicely. She instead is more focused on her own interests, often to the detriment of those around her. Crona is Medusa’s only immediate family (besides Arachne who she is estranged from), and so they suffer the most from her refusal to show even a shred of human decency or warmth. They suffer especially because they are her child, meaning they’re stuck with her essentially, and repetivie abuse between family members like a mother and child often becomes complex because of the necessity of having a parental figure in your life to support you as you grow up. Medusa teaches Crona that their boundaries don’t matter and that they are only good as long as they are useful and do as they’re told. This is what makes Marie’s influence on Crona so cool to watch. Marie is caring by nature, loving and nurturing by nature. Her very wavelegnth is healing. She is kind and does what’s right reflexively. Marie is the exact embodiment of what Crona always needed but what, even upon being rescued by the academy, still felt so foreign to them: unconditional love. Crona struggles to understand why the other kids helped them, why Maka felt the inclination to stop their battle and save Crona instead by trying to understand them, why the kids are still so kind to them even after everything. They do not understand that love is not a bargaining chip. It isn’t leverage in an argument. It’s not a tool for emotional manipulation. Love is caring for the people close to you, just because. Love for the sake of love. The other kids and teachers at the academy are the ones who are able to pull Crona out of all Medusa’s lies, and Marie is a Huge part of that. Even though I have greivances with this being the largest part of her character and what that implies for female characters in general, it doesn’t stop being so beautiful to me that she could help Crona heal in this way. Marie = best mom for the win

Most of the story ideas I have for Marie involve her relationship with Crona or Stein. Say, this covers my unpopular opinion too. I don’t like Stein and Marie as a couple, but I really enjoy writing them as friends, because even though I don’t really jive with them being together romantically, I think their dynamic is an interesting one to explore because they Are so different.

Getting into that a little bit more, I’d like to start by saying I don’t care if other people like Stein and Marie being a couple. That’s great doods, keep doing you. The fanart’s adorable, the meta’s fantastic. Whoever you are, SteinMarie shippers, ffs keep kicking ASS. This is just my preference and opinion. Zero shade in this house. That said, because of my frustrations about Marie’s character I discussed in the first paragraph, I don’t like the idea of her and Stein being together romantically. It’s really a classic sexist trope: the troubled man and his sweet nurse. I’m also just fed up in general with the hetero-nonsense, so there. However, they are both wonderful characters that I enjoy very much seperately. Also, I think it’s worth mentioning that I’ve only seen the anime, so I can’t speak for the manga as far as their relationship or Marie’s character in general.

Oh shit I accidentally already talked about this one lmao [see the second paragraph]

One headcanon I like to think about when I’m writing Marie is that she likes women (in addition to men or not) and she struggles with comphet. Just something interesting I like to think about. It’s really fun for me to take characters who have been written as pining or had 10 million failed relationships and be like “say what if they can’t find a husband cuz really what they really need is a wife”. I’ll talk about that more with Spirit inevitably.

Spirit Albarn

My first impression of Spirit, obviously him being a cheater, really came with a lot of distaste. I come from a family that was torn apart by infidelity, among other things, so it really rubs me the wrong way. However, his saving grace for me was that he genuinely loves his daughter. It appears that, whether it’s played for laughs or not, he just can’t find fulfillment in his romantic relationships. The reason is left up to the veiwers. Spirit, ultimately, is not just a shitty person, which is how most cheaters are protrayed in media. “Well, they cheated because they don’t care if they hurt people”, “they cheated because they are shit and that’s it”. That’s a fine explanation if you plan to do nothing with whatever character you’re describing, but Spirit is relatively recurring and is shown to be neither mean-spirited or emotionally unintelligent. It bothers me that his cheating and routine sexist behaviour isn’t taken seriously enough to be a subject that Soul Eater tackles and deals with. But that’s fine. I’ll just do it myself. At any rate, I still feel that same way about Spirit’s character, but I find it intriguing that he seems to genuinely want to become a better father and is actually a pretty good dad when it comes to his interactions with Maka. If Soul Eater had been brave enough to develop him more, maybe delve into the reasoning behind his impulsive romantic affairs, I think Spirit as a character could have been done more justice. It seems to me that he could be suffering from some of that wonderful compulsory heterosexuality that I mentioned before, then becoming confused when the woman he claims to love leaves him feeling empty. Rattling my gay little cage

When I think of my favorite moments with Spirit, I think of his moments with Maka, but I’m gonna hold off on that until I get to favorite relationship(s). In reference to what I talked about in the first paragraph, one moment I find really interesting when I’m thinking about my interpretation of Spirit’s character is the scene where he and Maka are on the roof talking. Maka asks Spirit why he cheated on her mother if he did, in fact, love her. He doesn’t appear to know the answer, and he doesn’t really understand how to effectively communicate that, though he was shitty husband, what he really wants now is to try and be a better dad. We hear his inner monologue, and he says something like “I love you [Maka] and your mama. That’s the truth. That’s the truth. That’s the truth.” Every time he says “its the truth” it sounds more like he’s forcing it. This is actually something that is SO strange to me. Even if I didn’t project a queer narrative on to the characters I love, I would look at this and be like “huh that is a Weird thing to say in that specific way”. Why does he say it like that? Why does he have to say it more than once? He’s only talking to HIMSELF. It isn’t like he’s trying to convince Maka. Why does he have to convince himself?? Could it possibly be because he’s reached a conclusion about his romantic/sexual orientation that he’s been trying to swallow his Entire Life??? makes ya wonder, doesn’t it, queers?

Just like I said when I talked about Stein, most of the stories I have in mind with Spirit center around that sweet gayness. But also, I like to think of ways Spirit could come to terms with his sexuality, how it might have affected him when he was young, his relationship with all these women, with his wife. I love to think about him being a dad at 18 and trying his best, but how much responsibility that must have been. Lots of great ideas when it comes to Spirit.

Um? unpopular opinion would be all the standard like I said with Stein lmao. “Oh no!” scream the heteros, “that they/them on tumblr is making Soul Eater queer we canst not allow that in our church!!!111!” But besides that, maybe even the fact that I think he’s redeemable?? Idk most everyone I’ve met thinks Spirit is funny at least and just calls him a dumbass and a slut (affectionate). Doesn’t mean anybody thinks cheating on your wife 56 times is okay so. I like this fandom, it’s chill here. My favorite is when I see my art tagged like “aw the stupid man and his crazy bf” like YOU ARE RIGHT

My favorite relationship when it comes to Spirit (besides Stein cuz if I start talking about them again I’ll never finish this ask) is the one he has with Maka. If you can call it a relationship lol. I guess I just find Spirit’s approach to Maka as a parent really refreshing. Not that the parents in other shows don’t love their kids or whatever, it’s just that the loving parent always seems to be paired with some other trope that makes their character hard to approach. especially in anime. Like the perfect mother who dies in the first episode, and we spend the rest of the show mourning her. Or the father whose love is somehow everlasting even though he’s never home. It’s really the fact that Spirit is even THERE that I love. He knows what Maka is up to. He talks about her. He’s invested in her life, and he loves her. All he wants is to spend time with her, and though he’s sad when she turns him down, he doesn’t push her. god dammit I just like a dad who actually loves his kids without all the usual strings attached like. oh my kids are a huge pain in my ass, but I love them in spite of it. oh i’m a man so can’t relate to my children in a meaningful way but i try. Get the fuck outta here with that shit. I want all the dads to get so happy when their daughters wanna hang with them that they throw up like Spirit. Give me the guy who loves his daughter so naturally, whose daughter is such a huge part of his life, that it doesn’t even occur to him stop trying even if she literally wants to murder him. That’s Spirit. jfc

To end with a cute little headcanon, I really love to think that when Spirit gets older and starts losing the color in his hair, instead of getting white or grey, his hair turns a pale pink color cuz he’s such an aggressive redhead. Wouldn’t that just be adorable? late 30′s, early 40′s, Spirit starts getting little pink streaks in his hair and then bam. Little pink old man Spirit XD

There ya have it. Thanks for the ask, and feel free to send more.

#Soul Eater #Ask #Ask game #anon #Marie Mjolnir #Spirit Albarn #this is wisp

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gallavictorious · 3 years ago

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bottom!mickey nonnie here, i had some more thoughts in response to your reply, if you don't mind? :) i can see where the trust aspect might come into play for mickey re: bottoming and i understand your thought process. the only thing that makes me doubt that is how quickly that trust must have been established between him and ian if that is the case. they haven't been fucking for that long when kash walks in on them (which is the first instance we actually know mickey bottoms). i suppose that there could have been a lot of off-screen developments and interactions, but it's too quick imo. their relationship in season one seems more puppy-love to me rather than a deep bond (which i see as starting to form in season two). the way i see it, the only level of trust that needs to be established is "i know you won't tell anyone because you're also closeted and you won't treat me like a bitch because if you do, i'll beat you tf up and just never fuck you again" which is pretty shallow and something mickey could probably have reached with other guys, too. idk, i just don't see their relationship in season one as deep enough for mickey to start trusting ian with things he's worried or insecure about. it makes more sense to me that he lets ian fuck him because it's not that big a deal, rather than because he's already let ian past his walls. we know that ian is all in by that point, but i just don't think mickey is. he likes ian, is drawn to him (probably against his better judgement), but that's as far as it goes, as i see him. since there are such few scenes between them in season one we have no choice but to make our own interpretations, and those are bound to differ. i've just never seen mickey indicate that he thinks bottoming = being a bitch, or even that it's something he worries about. the only thing to support that would be his attitude to prison, but like i said before, i don't think mickey views sex in prison the same as he views sex on the outside. he probably views everything in prison differently. on the outside, with guys who share his secret? i don't think it's too much of a stretch that he would just do what he wants. the danger is the same either way. just my interpretation of him, of course :)

Hiya, Bottom!Mickey Nonnie No. 1!

I don't mind one little bit; in fact, I'm delighted! Apart from enjoying the fun discussion, it's always gratifying to hear back from anons: you usually never actually know if your answer has reached them.

First off, you're damned right it's quick! I personally don't subscribe to the idea that Mickey knew that Ian was gay or had a crush on him preceding their 1x07 tryst (nothing wrong with that notion, btw, it just doesn't appeal to me), so when they suddenly start tearing off each other's clothes that's very sudden. I tend to assume there might have a tiny bit of vague interest prior to this, the proximity and tussling triggers mutual attraction, they both spring boners, and yeah, off they go? You're also quite right in (implicitly) pointing out that we don't know that they had penetrative sex at that time – maybe they moved up from mutual handjobs or just plain grinding to something more a few trysts later. Either way, you make a good point about the danger of sex outside of lock-up would be the same regardless of whether Mickey bottoms or not. I'd never really thought about that before, so thank you for pointing that out!

However, it's probable that the reason I haven't thought very much about it is because when I speak of Mickey's easy trust for Ian I don't primarily mean him trusting Ian not to reveal his secrets to anyone else, but trust him to know Mickey in a way others are not allowed – and here we disagree and that is fine. :) If you see Mickey as unbothered by being into bottoming, you can certainly find support for that in the narrative. We do have the famous ”liking what I like”-line, which absolutely can be taken at face value! The fact that I tend to interpret it as (partly) Mickey being deliberately unapologetic because he feels a bit uneasy about his preferences and is somewhat defensive about Ian's brief allusions to common prejudices around bottoming, has more to do with my assumption that – given Mickey's circumstances – this is something that Mickey's likely to feel insecure about. He's internalized his father's homophobia to some degree; it just seems reasonable to me that he'd have internalized Terry's strong conviction that Milkoviches don't bottom too. (He certainly seems ready to embody that when he attacks Ian's army fuck buddy in season 3, citing the need to kick him straight because he's the one taking it up the ass. However, that could also totally performative or seen as him making a twisted kind of in-joke, so it's hardly conclusive.) Furthermore, I feel that it's not unreasonable to question Mickey's sincerity in regards to the line mentioned above, since we do have instances of him acting seemingly geuninely dismissive even when we know he probably cares quite a bit. I'm thinking primarily about his reaction to Ian's sex strike in season 11; I just don't buy he was unbothered by that, but there's nothing in the way he expresses his lack of concern that suggests it's insincere. This doesn't mean that I think my reading of the line is the correct one, though, just that it's a possible reading given what else we know of Mickey.

But of course, this really is just my assumptions and interpretations. It's very possible to infer from his actions onscreen that Mickey is totally unconcerned about bottoming, and always has been. After all, Mickey is in many ways a genuinely confident person, and I think this extends to his sex life. (I just think there's insecurity and concern, too... Basically, I think Mickey's relationship with his own sexuality and preferences is complicated, a paradoxical tangle of confidence and shame. I find this complexity is fascinating, and if we're being honest that's probably one of the reasons why I'm not so eager to let go of the notion of it.)

That said, though, and regardless of whether or not bottomingrequires any particular trust on Mickey's part, I think we dohave some concrete evidence of Mickey letting Ian past his walls already in 1x07. Not the sex – because we don't know anything about that – but the return of the gun after. That look on Mickey's face just then? That's vulnerability. He knows that by giving the weapon back when he doesn't have to, he shows hint of a softness he can ill afford people to know he possesses at this point. It's walls dropped, if only for a moment, and I just don't see him allowing that with many – if any – other people. While it isvery quick and while there's no telling whyor how, I firmly believe that there is an immediate trust between them that goes beyond just sex. It might not be logical, but I think it's there, and that this easy, natural understanding is a huge part of what has them coming back to each other again and again in spite of the odds being stacked overwhelmingly against them. Like you, though, I don't see this as a deep bond or anything, not this early. Ian falls in love quickly and easily; for Mickey is a much slower process, because he fights even the possibility of it tooth and claw.

And ah, I'm aware that in my first response to you I promised to elaborate on my thoughts on Mickey's stint in Mexico in my reply to Bottom!Mickey Nonnie No. 2, but I ended up cutting that because it got absurdly long in comparision to my notes on what they were actuallyasking about, and that didn't seem fair or relevant to them. However, I now have a third (and a fourth... apparently this is a subject dear to your hearts, sweet followers) Bottom!Mickey Nonnie in my inbox, so if this is something you're interested in, despair not! We'll get there!

Thank you so much for getting in touch, both with your first ask and with this follow-up. I've enjoyed reading your thoughts, and developing my own in response to them, immensely! I highly value being able to civilly disagree and argue viewpoints without either side feeling the need to convince the other, so this has been a real treat. <3

#for a person who isn't very interested in smut at all #i sure have a lot of thoughts on this #mickey milkovich #gallavich #meta #asks #my stuff

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chemicalpink · 3 years ago

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Hey, I hope you are doing good this was a thing that was wondering me so there are lot of bts future spouse /soulmate/twinflame videos being made on youtube and honestly everyone is being psychic like it has become a shitshow and what was previously just for curiosity fun and entertainment are becoming extremely emotionally invested in the topic especially for maknae line soulmate it would be interesting if the can do a tarot reading or your spiritual experience why is the future spouse saga turning ugly and does universe what us to know something through it !? Because it's becoming pretty crazy right now

Okay so I believe that yes, the spiritual part has a lot to do behind this occurrence, but I also think its roots lay on psicosocial matters and honestly I could go on for days about this but I’ll try to restrict it to a few points that you’ve mentioned

Why all of a sudden everyone seems to be tarot readers/astrologers/psychic?

The capitalism behind celebrities and how does that play a part in what is going on?

Are these people accurate at all?

How does energy shifting play a part in this?

Is the soulmate journey even something a third person would be able to note?

But first a Disclaimer: this opinion/rant is based on my experience with spirituality, I am obviously a mere mortal, so I do not hold the absolute truth. Spirituality is a constant learning process and it is open to discussion and interpretation of each person. I am also now a proud sociologist graduate that specialises in a lot of the stuff that has to do with what anon is asking, I’m a social behaviouralist applied to the entertainment industry as well but I’ll also provide my resources in the end.

A/N: Some of you might not yet be ready to read all of this, if I see ANY of you trying to start beef with me, even after the disclaimer, I'm gonna block you. If you want to talk more about it or want to discuss it further, DO SO OFF ANON. ISTG you’ve been warned, I’ve been working on this for the longest time, it even has resources to back all of it up! I’m so glad anon asked, I’m done being diplomatic on this topic (I know people that usually ask stuff are so respectful and i love you guys for it, this note is for those people that regularly jump on my asks to stir things up)

You guys are in for a whole academic article if you decide to read this

SO FUN AND EXCITINGGGG Let us start with behavioural economics as our base to understand the whole phenomenon, it's such a broad and kinda complex concept (especially since I’m trying to extrapolate it to this particular scenario) so let me do my best. It has a lot to do with trend following, although at least to me, it's unclear how exactly this content came to be (soulmate readings, channeling messages, etc) I am guessing it had something to do with an intersectionality between the general spirituality boom that we’ve met with during the pandemic and some person that just as any other marketable opportunity, saw a bridge between fandom life and this spiritual life (both prominent trends in the last two years or so) and honestly, it worked perfectly, whatever their initial intentions were, they threw out a new “product” and it kind of sold itself, two different trends coming together… turned into a behavioural game theory where if you played the part that allows your content to be consumed, you’ll get rewarded for it. In more simple words, tarot meets fandoms (alternatively, tarot meets BTS) is great as it is! but the fan behaviour (which we’ll talk about in a bit) positions the most private parts of the celebrities’ lives to be much more interesting than things that we are already able to see (personal experience, love readings do so much better than idk career readings and it all comes down to behavioural trends of perceiving ‘love’ as something very intimate)

Now, this is where we’ll begin to talk about capitalism as a whole, even in non-monetary systems like social media, where it takes more of a rewarding system via likes, views, reblogs, etc. The whole principle of us living in such a system is being aspirational, we see others profiting off of something, we might want to reach out and do the same so we can profit ourselves, which honestly, I think is what happened with the whole BTS soulmate readings boom, they get a lot of attention, and as a basic market law, as demand goes up and a few people that initially did these readings are no longer capable to satisfy the need of the people wanting to know all the tea, there are market opportunities for other people to do the same thing and increase the offer, although since this whole theory is behavioural, it is very context-dependant, which ends up not following the principle of the consumers being rational about how much and what content they consume, they just sort of consume all of it, regardless of whether the content creator is qualified to offer such content or not, which ultimately only adds onto a never ending cycle of more people claiming they are tarot readers/astrologers/psychics and fear nothing because this is the internet, you don't really have to enter any qualifications to be able to create content, whether someone is reliable in internet terms is basically all about how many likes they’ve got (which is why I always tell you guys to please consume content responsible).

When it comes to accuracy- I guess that’s the hardest part of all, we can’t just have pointers that would automatically tells us if someone’s craft is valid or not, since everyone’s craft is different all craft is valid to a certain extent (you can easily find scammers of course but that’s another story) what we can have are personal standards and deciding what content to consume or whose content to consume, but that’s entirely a personal decision and since so many people are invested in it- it seems really hard that these “market tendencies” might change any time soon. On that same note of accuracy, I really feel the need to talk about a major occurrence I’ve come across in this whole soulmate scene, minors. Now, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a minor and approaching spirituality (I was very much a minor when I started) but there’s a huge difference between just playing around and deciding to create content for the whole world to have access to. Of course I’m aware not all tarot readers in the BTS fandom are minors, and ARMY is very diverse and even if they were only minors it would be wrong to invalidate them, but we can’t ignore the statistics of it when touching this particular topic, according to 2020 data, 50,31% of ARMY are below 18 years old, and 42,59% are between 18-29 but why is this important? because the exact historical and economic moment we are living in mainly impacts these two age groups, thus making all 92,90% of ARMY a potential target to consuming or falling in a behavioural game theory of creating this content without them necessarily being qualified for it. But hey, why do you keep talking about the importance of being qualified? Glad you asked, creating spiritual content all comes down to one amazing term: accountability.

And this will explore two main phases of it, one applicable for that 50,31% that could potentially be drawn to create spiritual content and other for the 42,59% that could potentially be dragged to creating that content without much spiritual knowledge. For the first one, it has a lot to do with cognitive aspects, young people tend to do stuff without much further thought about how their actions impact other people, which, as they should, they are kids, they shouldn’t have to worry too much about emotional responsibility as us adults do, furthermore, they are in life stages where they can’t really comprehend many abstract concepts that we later learn in life, and spirituality is one of those concepts, so they tend to just have fun with it with no regards on how their content might impact other minors (this is where the whole feeding a false scenario that is potentially delusional in exchange of more views, likes comes into play) on a more spiritual level, they also aren’t able to comprehend the boundaries of the celebrities they’re reading for, us readers have to always be careful about the information we give out since it is not ours to give. As for the second group, some of this is still applicable since theorists consider a full cognitive maturity until 23 years of age, but since it is very intersectional itself, i would found it more to a spiritual responsibility, since they are young adults, and if they haven’t been spiritually guided as kids, they’re most probably eager to learn and just awakening yet to some of them the drive to this spirituality is content creation instead of inner work, so they get their hands on a tarot deck, might kind of read a few things, call it a day and start reading for BTS (note: not all of them, I’m aware)

As for the maknae line being the most sought out people with this content, I guess it kinda makes sense now that I’ve said all of the information above, maknae line is closest to the age group of 92,90% of ARMY, so they instantly become more marketable to this content creation and the whole Game Theory that we are seeing. With all that being said, and just adding a note coming from my own spiritual experience, soulmates in any form are a difficult topic for a third person to prode, which is why I, personally, tend to not touch that topic, love is one hell of a concept, especially since we all have different conceptions of love and interpersonal relationships. I do know for a fact that there’s only so far we can go in terms of fated connections, like with astrology, but even then, we would have to know their birth times exactly (so we can check for any indicator or a soulmate connection), and/or compare BTS with the rest of the world’s population in order to accurately tell if someone has a soulmate synastry/overlay/composite with them. Also, soulmate journeys are intimate and we are all just fans, what right do we even have to look for things that do not and will never belong to us?

This is why I’m always telling you guys to PLEASE consume content responsibly! Really! Us content consumers also have our part to play that can help us get more accurate, more drama-free content

REFERENCES (what? you thought I was joking? they’re in alphabetical order)

ARMYCENSUS 2020

Loewenstein, G., O’Donoghue, T., & Rabin, M. (2003). Projection bias in predicting future utility. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1209-1248.

March, J. G. (1978). Bounded rationality, ambiguity, and the engineering of choice. The Bell Journal of Economics, 9(2), 587-608.

Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion and motivation Psychological Review, 98, 224-253.

Mazar, N., Amir, O., & Ariely, D. (2008). The dishonesty of honest people: A theory of self-concept maintenance. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 633-644.

Murphy, S. T., & Zajonc, R. B. (1993). Affect, cognition, and awareness: Affective priming with optimal and suboptimal stimulus exposures. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 723-729.

Samson, A., & Voyer, B. (2014). Emergency purchasing situations: Implications for consumer decision-making. Journal of Economic Psychology, 44, 21-33.

Schwartz, B. (2004). The paradox of choice: Why more is less. New York: Ecco.

Shah, A. K., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2008). Heuristics made easy: an effort-reduction framework. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 207-222.

Thaler, R. H. (2015). Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. Allen Lane.

Thaler, R. H. (2008). Mental accounting and consumer choice. Marketing Science, 27, 15-25.

Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2009). The habitual consumer. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 19, 579-592.

#i really said: thesis? wHERE #im sorry i jump at any given opportunity to rant #especially if it gives me an opportunity to share knowledge with you guys

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writing-in-april · 4 years ago

Text

A Tale of Two Poe’s

Poe Dameron x Gender Neutral Reader

Summary: AU where Poe Dameron and Edgar Allan Poe both exist in the Star Wars universe. Reader finds a book containing the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and just can’t wait to show her Poe.

A/N: This is a purely self indulgent fic lmao 😂 this AU idea where Poe Dameron and Edgar Allan Poe exist in the same universe came into my head a while back and I just had to write it. Idk if it’s weird or not but I enjoyed writing it lmao- also obviously credit goes to Edgar Allan Poe for all his stories and poem excerpts I use. @writefightandflightclub and @sergeantkane are definitely my go to for Poe fics if you’re curious and they always inspire me to write more for Poe but- there are so many other amazing writers for Poe too. I’ll have to make a fic rec list for him soon. This also is my second fic for my 1000 follower celebration!!! I want to thank you all so much again, this is so surreal!! Thanks for reading and requests are open!!

Warnings: Uhh- a sexual innuendo & talk of death in the war I think that’s it...

Main Masterlist Word count: 2.2k

The amount of bookstores that were left in the galaxy was such a small and minuscule number, most people just used their data pads to read, that is if they read anything at all. It was such a shame, in your opinion. No data pad could truly recreate the magic of a physical book.There was nothing better than opening a book, new or old, the parchment smell wafting around under your nose as you fully enveloped yourself in the words on the page.

You had stopped in at the old library after you had completed a routine information pick up for the resistance. The planet you were on was the beautiful Naboo and you had a couple hours to kill before your partner, Poe came with his x-wing to pick you up. The little vintage book store stood out in the ethereal metropolis of the big city, and you were instantly drawn to it.

When you entered the little shop it was filled wall to wall with books, you had never seen so many books in your life before. Personally, you only had three that you kept on top of your small dresser that you put the small amount of clothes in. They weren’t interesting books to say the least, mostly consisting of military procedurals from your early days in the academy, besides one novel written on a planet far away called Earth named “A tale of two cities”. The book shop made you want to take all of them back to base and read every leisure novel you could ever want to read. However, there was no real time and you didn’t have the money to take all the books home with you, so you settled on picking one that really grabbed your attention.

The book that caught your eye was a black hard cover, so thick because of how many pages it held that you could barely hold it in one hand. The spine said “The complete collection of stories and poems by Edgar Allan Poe” and just by flipping through it a little you gathered that it must have also been written on the planet Earth, just like your one other novel. You loved the other novel and you knew that you were definitely going to bring this book home, even if you didn’t enjoy it at least you could tease Poe about the shared name. But, you had a feeling you were going to enjoy it.

You opened the book to another random page written by the person who held a similar name to your man and landed on a page that had a poem by the name of Annabel Lee. Poems were not something that were often seen in the galaxy anymore, even on the data pads that everyone used. They had fallen into obscurity as a form of literature that was obsolete and pointless.

The poem instantly had you hooked just in the first few lines, it was definitely a sad poem, as you suspected the rest were as well. But, the beautiful well written rhymes seduced you like the sirens you had heard about from Ahch-To. Though, Rey had told you the Thala-sirens were not nearly as beautiful as the myths would have you believe. Realizing that you were getting tight on time you rushed to check out the book, you didn’t want to worry Poe. Once you had paid the kind older lady who ran the shop you ran quickly out to your rendezvous point where Poe was already anxiously waiting.

“Kriff- there you are, I was worried something had happened to you.” His eyes were a bit frantic looking and hair disheveled. he had undoubtedly been looking around for you in worry while running his hands through his hair and had been pacing. Poe needed to learn to relax every once and awhile, he was often an overworrier and was often overworked.

“I’m only a few minutes late, relax. I just had to pick up a little surprise for you.”

“A surprise? What is it?” He reached to grab the parcel that the book had been wrapped in by the owner of the shop. You swiftly pulled the package away from him, you wanted it to be a surprise for later, when you both could relax.

“Hands off- I’ll show you later, be patient.” His indignant sigh only caused you to roll your eyes while you both climbed into the x-wing, with you sitting on Poe’s lap. He was so dramatic sometimes. Maybe, someday you’d get to come back to the bookshop on Naboo to get some more books, with hopefully Poe in tow next time.

—-

When we got back to base you were vibrating with excitement in anticipation of showing Poe the book that had an author with the same name as him. Throughout the entire briefing with Leia she could probably tell that my mind was in a far off place, almost like you still had my head stuck in the book. When she’d finally dismissed you after you had gone through the mission debriefing I bolted to our shared quarters. Once you had gone in the fresher for a quick wash and got dressed for the night you hopped in your small bed that you shared with Poe, but not before grabbing the new book you had added to your collection.

“Come to bed, I’ve got something for you.” You said as soon as Poe got through the door. He always had to check in with the main mechanic that worked on his x-wing right after he came home on a mission, it was the only way he would ever let anyone touch black one.

“Oh? Is it that surprise you were talking about earlier?” His signature cheeky smile that he flashed you while he stripped off his flight suit let you know immediately what he assumed the surprise was.

You threw his pillow he used at him, then accosted him playfully,“It’s not what you think it is you horndog, I’ve got a book for you.”

“A book? You know I don't know how to read.” You wished that you had a third pillow to throw at him in that moment, but you didn’t want to lose your own pillow. There had been many times in your relationship where Poe had stolen your pillow to mess with you and you weren’t about to give him the upper hand.

“Shut it, I’ll read it to you, you big baby.” He was now dressed in your favorite ensemble besides his flight suit, a white tank top, boxers, and nothing else.Patting the bed right next to you, you finally got him to come over to you. He sank down next to you on the bed, making sure to immediately cuddle up into you, you then spoke again,“But, before I do I want you to see what the Author’s name was.”

Handing him over the hardcover he looked at the name on the spine with furrowed brows, then letting out a breath of laughter once he read the Author’s last name. He didn’t read often like he had joked earlier, but he definitely could read the big gold leaf cursive letters that said, Edgar Allan Poe. “Woah, that’s cool. He would’ve been cooler if he had Poe for his first name though.” In response to another cheeky comment from him I bonked him on the head with the book before I started to read, “It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea, But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee— With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsmen came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea.” As you lilted your voice through the poem you could feel Poe sinking down further into relaxation, which was good since he hardly ever relaxed. He was always on the move all the time because of his vast responsibilities as a commander in the resistance. To be honest, you could do with some more relaxation like this in your life, just you, Poe, and a charging BB-8. You must have paused for a second with your reading because Poe looked up at your with his deep caf colored eyes in question, prompting you to continue, “The angels, not half so happy in Heaven, Went envying her and me— Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we— Of many far wiser than we— And neither the angels in Heaven above Nor the demons down under the sea Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea— In her tomb by the sounding sea. — why are you crying?”

A few small tears had welled up in the corners of Poe’s eyes with one spilling over to run down his scruff covered cheeks. He sniffled a bit, wiping away the tears before speaking, “Just reminded me of you and how much I love you. I don’t like thinking about you dying, I don’t think I could survive.”

Your heart broke a little, but also felt filled with the feeling of love. You knew there were even more dark times ahead in the war, you had both even had a conversation of what would happen if one of you passed. You even had letters that were to be read by the other if something were to happen. Even though you had discussed this before, you agreed with Poe, you never wanted to think about what the galaxy would be like without him.

“I’m not going anywhere.” You ran your fingers through his hair in an attempt to smooth him a bit. You felt a little bad that you had not realized how much it might affect Poe, so you decided to shift the subject to something that hit less close to home, “I’ll read something a bit different. They’re all dark, but I’ll pick one that you’ll enjoy more.”

You then began to read the Cask of Amontillado, which was a story that you both could relate to personally less which meant you could both fully enjoy the story.

“You were right, I liked that one.” He took the book from your hands to inspect the black book further, “How old is this book?”

“I don’t know, probably pretty old. I’ll have to take extra good care of it.”

“Yeah, just as long as that doesn’t become your favorite Poe in your life.” Poe’s signature cheeky grin was back on his face, then tilting his head up to nuzzle his nose with yours.

“Ok, Edgar.” A wide cheeky smile was now on your face, proud of your ‘clever’ new nickname for Poe.

“No no no that nickname better not stick.”

“But- your hair looks so similar to his! Look at all those dark messy curls! I’m keeping the nickname.” You flipped to one of the earlier pages of the book that had a short biography at the front about the author with a print of a portrait of the author. His expression soured once he looked at the portrait, realizing that his curls did in fact, look like the Author’s. He let out a fake disgruntled sigh that did a horrible job of hiding his underlying happiness and flopped down back on the bed to cuddle up with you for the night.

The entire resistance was confused why you had started calling Poe, Edgar whenever you wanted to tease him. But, you guys kept the secret of the tale of two Poe’s, the only people who knew the origins of the nickname were you and your Poe. The nickname definitely wasn’t going anywhere.

—-

Tag list (message me if you want to be added)

All works: @shotarosleftpinky @oreogutz

Poe Dameron/SW:

#poe dameron x reader #poe dameron #star wars #oscar isaac #poe dameron imagine #star wars imagine #oscar isaac x reader #1000 followers #1000 follower celebration

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purplesurveys · 3 years ago

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1275

When you were younger, did your mother or father ever let you open a few presents before Christmas or your birthday even arrived? We open all our presents the night of Christmas Eve to begin with; but no, they don’t tease by letting us open a few of them before our usual schedule.

If you could receive a 100 dollar gift card for either blouses, pants, dresses, shoes or purses, which would you chose? If I could change blouses to shirts, then I would go with that because I’ve recently gotten into t-shirts and sweatshirts and no longer the trendy and preppy tops I used to like haha. But if not, I would go for shoes.

What is your favorite thing to do after crying? Ex: Sleep, listen to music, have some alone time, talk to someone, etc? It varies as it depends on how much I cried. The harder I cried the more I’d want to sleep it off, because it can actually get pretty exhausting. Sometimes I’ll reach out, sometimes I write. It’s really different every time, but at the end I’m just glad I can no longer even remember the last time I cried out of sadness.

Do you think Trump will be assassinated, or will he survive his term? Well we know the answer to this. It’s satisfying to notice him disappear off the face of the Earth immediately after his term, though. I don’t have a clue what he’s up to now.

Last time you felt suicidal? For some reason I felt down last Thursday and I felt the slightest, slightest tinge of suicidal thoughts. No idea where it came from.

Last time you had butterflies? Ugh idk but it was probably BTS-related hahahahahahah

Biggest asshole you know? Certain politicians.

Did you ever leave someone because you know you’d hurt them? No, I was on the opposite side of the coin for this one. I was broken up with because they believed they would hurt me, if not already doing so.

What song did you last listen to? Hip Hop Phile by BTS.

Ever ridden in a police car? Nopes.

Ever witnessed a murder? Hmm, not that I can recall. I do remember having to monitor crime stories for one of my very first journalism assignments and the one time I didn’t tag along to the fieldwork with my classmates, they got to witness a stabbing incident :/ By itself of course it always sucks to have violent situations like those, but as a reporter it would’ve been interesting to see the scene and its aftermath.

Have you ever lied under oath? I don’t think so, no. I can’t even remember the last time I was put under oath.

Have you ever failed a subject before? I’ve failed exams but never an entire class.

Have you ever had a deadly animal as a pet? No.

Have you ever kissed someone of the same gender? Well yeah, I dated one.

Have you ever been in a hot tub before? Sure.

Have you ever been to a movie that sold out? I’ve never experienced trying to buy tickets only to find out they’re all sold out, but that’s also probably because we have hundreds of malls in Manila alone and you can always find a theatre that are still offering tickets.

What movie last made you too scared to go to sleep? I’m not usually that way with horror movies, but I do remember running into a jumpscare on TikTok while I was scrolling at 3 AM. Not fun.

When you’re on a laptop, do you hook up a mouse or use the touchpad? Touchpad. I never use a mouse.

What’s your mom’s mom’s name? Agnes.

Would it be hard seeing someone else kiss the person you like? I’m not interested in anyone so this shouldn’t be a problem.

Have you ever been tempted to steal? Sure, but the urge is never so strong.

What is the main character’s name in the book you’re reading? I’m not reading anything.

Do you have a favorite local band? Who are they? Nah. I did have a Ben&Ben phase, though I haven’t revisited their music in a long time.

Who’s the last person you saw naked, aside from yourself? I’m not sure about completely naked, probably still my ex. As for partially naked, my dad sometimes goes shirtless at home as most Filipino dads do lol.

Who’s your favorite horror monster/killer? The most iconic for me would be that porcupine looking ass from Resident Evil 4, I believe it was meant to be for one of the boss stages or something. Anyway, it’s memorable for me just because that fucker had been impossible to defeat and I loved watching my older cousin do attempt after attempt. I don’t think he ever got to beat him and by the time he did us cousins were already adults, lol.

On a side note, we called him ‘Porcupine’ as kids since a shitload of spikes would stick out of him unpredictably during the boss stage, and I thought that nickname had been just our thing; but I’m actually surprised that that villain actually comes up when you do a simple ‘Resident Evil 4 porcupine’ search haha. I guess other people called him the same thing too.

What kind of music do you prefer to listen to when driving? I usually put on a playlist of BTS’ rapline; I tend to enjoy high-energy songs while driving.

Would you ever own a hairless rat, cat or dog? I don’t see why I wouldn’t when it comes to the dog. I don’t want a cat or rat.

All the people you’ve kissed, what did their names start with? G.

What did you and your ex fight about most? It was about the deeper, more profound stuff. We never saw eye to eye about the future, if we were helping the other grow, etc. Someone was always scared or insecure about something that the other could never help with fixing.

Don’t you love long hugs? Sure, I love getting hugs as long as I’m comfy around the one giving it.

And long kisses? Mhm, they’re nice.

Have you ever purchased condoms? Only for Angela when she had still been too shy to ask for it herself.

Have you ever gone on vacation with your boyfriend/girlfriend? No. We had gone out of town for daytrips, but never for a fully-decked out vacation.

Have you ever trashed your ex’s car after an argument? I wouldn’t do anything that loud. My resentment’s a lot more reserved and subtle, definitely on the passive-aggressive side.

Would you leave a note on a car claiming responsibility if you damaged it? If I left like a paint scratch, no. If I was somehow stupid enough to manage wrecking the car then yes.

Have you ever used someone's handicapped parking pass to get a parking spot? Oh that’s just gross. No. I do remember unknowingly parking over a spot meant for the handicapped once just because the paint was so fucking faded. It was genuinely so hard to tell but in the end I ended up just getting out of the spot and looked for another just to be on the safe, unassholey side.

Are you embarrassed to tell people your job? Not at all! I love telling people I work in PR and sharing the brands I work with...it’s just a bitch trying to explain what exactly it is I do on a normal day. I’m still blanking out on it now that I’m thinking about it, haha. PR’s a challenge to summarize in one or two sentences.

If you ran over an animal would you keep driving? I honestly have no clue how I’d deal with it. Ideally I would pull over and help bring it to the side of the road, and try to ask for help from passersby as well. I’m still not sure what I should/would do next.

Where’s the best place to eat a romantic dinner? French, Spanish, and Italian restaurants always seem to carry a pleasant, date-y atmosphere to them, so any of those cuisines should be ok. I also like quieter restaurants with warm yellow lighting, since that makes me feel at home the most. The place definitely doesn't have to be super popular; I would just want for it to serve good food.

What hobby would you get into if time and money weren’t an issue? Flying planes.

What would be the most amazing adventure to go on? Probably something that’s booked with thrill-seeking adventures? Like a day of wakeboarding, paragliding, skydiving, riding an ATV...I would be exhausted as fuck and sleep for the next three days, but I can’t even begin to imagine how fun it would be.

When people come to you for help, what do they usually want help with? Writing stuff. < Yeah, essentially. My friends ask me for general life advice too.

Has anybody criticized the way your significant other looked like? Yeah. But I always defended her.

Have you written or drawn anything for somebody else? I mean I’ve written long letters, but I haven’t made a poem or song for anyone.

Who has impressed you most with what they’ve accomplished? These days it would probably be Arlan. He just finished his Masters in Journalism at Columbia and I couldn’t be more proud. I remember wanting to attend Columbia too, but seeing how my love of journalism turned out...I’ve long accepted the fact that that route was not meant for me, hahaha.

What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives? Finish a painting, which can also serve as a callout to me lol.

What would you rate 10/10? Seafood.

What do you hope never changes? My relationships with my best friends.

Would you ever have sex with the last person you texted? No, I barely have a clue who she is and she seemed decades older when she called me up this morning.

Is there anyone that you’d love to just spill your guts to? I’m good.

Where is the person you have feelings at right now?

Are you happy with your relationship status? Yessssssss. I love not having to worry about another person to spend on LOL

When did you last cry? What for? Two Saturdays ago. The one-year mark of my breakup had been coming up and an overwhelming wave of emotions just flooded me all of a sudden, I guess. There was happiness and relief from not being stuck in it anymore; feeling sorry for myself as I remembered the turmoil and deterioration I went through in the latter part the year; anger for the shit she pulled; and there was also just the general feeling of being grateful that I’m still here after everything.

Do you think you’re wasting your time on the person you love?

When’s the next time you’ll kiss someone? No clue. I’m not holding my breath for it and that’s okay.

Were you ever scared to death of anyone you knew? Or are you currently? Yeah, unfortunately I’ve always been surrounded by at least one person who terrifies me.

What’s the longest you’ve been away from home by yourself? Nothing more than a day. That’s something I have yet to try out.

Have you ever been made fun of, because of what you look like? Athenna was relentless in her insults. I dunno why I was friends her for as long as I was.

Have you ever made fun of others, because of what they look like? If they’re some random person on the internet with disgusting political views, then yeah; but it’s just thoughts I keep in my head and I never verbalized the bullying. But not anyone in real life. Do you think it’s cute when you’re leaving a place, and a guy says “no hug?” If I’m friends with the person I’ll banter with them for a bit until I give in for a hug. If it was any other guy I barely know...I would be disgusted and throw them the dirtiest glare.

Do you wear short shorts (if you’re a girl)? I didn't know short shorts were specific to females. < LOL same. Anyway no, not these days. I used to but they’re not really a part of my personal style anymore.

Who are you the most uncomfortable around? Relatives with the wrong political views.

Who has your heart? Nobody.

Should cloning ever be allowed to happen? I don’t see the point. No.

Are you impatient with really shy people? If it gets to the point that they seem aloof and radiate very I-could-not-care-less-about-getting-along-with-any-of-you vibes, then yeah I feel like I would get irritated pretty fast. But I was an extremely shy person once too, so I’m typically friendly with them and I would usually be That person who constantly stays next to them so they feel like they belong.

Does your house have air conditioning throughout, or do you have one that sits in your window? It sits in the window, as with most households here.

What is the most ridiculous band name you’ve heard recently? I haven’t encountered anything wacky recently.

Would you ever get a fashion mullet? No.

Do you believe that Jesus lived and is returning? No.

Do you believe in spiritual gifts? No.

Do you believe in callings? Not really, no.

If you were rich, would you get a professional photoshoot done? Hell no. I get extremely sheepish in front of a camera and a thousand times worse at posing.

#survey #surveys

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abysslarchiving · 4 years ago

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i’m primarily somewhere else today, but i saw the ship thing and wanted to give it a go ! even though there are some ships i’m partial to, it still pales to the dynamics built through ooc communication, mun interaction, and build up. that being said, i will ship things with no canon basis because i’m unhinged. these are dynamics on my wish list.

mondstadt:

jean ( bffs / childhood best friends / wingman / wingwoman / wlw + mlm solidarity / i’m too cool for romance novels but at the same time can you believe that arturia chose the duke instead of the handsome bard instead, it’s the lack of taste for me — ) lisa ( bffs / childhood best friends / wingman + wingwoman / fwb / romantic / they have tea / gossip sessions every thursday afternoon and trade recommendations about the restricted section of the library ) klee / amber / razor / bennet / fischl / sucrose / noelle ( older brother kaeya dynamic pls, pls, pls ) + barbara ( bffs with kaeya primarily because they both scheme on how to get jean a significant other, otherwise kaeya rarely goes to the cathedral ) diluc ( i want them to be brothers again so badly, pls, just a smidge of reconciliation ) literally anyone at the dawn winery ( familial relations :gun: hand them over ) venti ( kaeya wanted to learn his secrets but ended up becoming drinking buddies instead / knows something is up with this chaotic gremlin but will keep his mouth shut because he appreciates the friendship ) albedo ( otp / frienemies / enemies / platonic / fwb / romantic / you use the alchemy art that killed my nation pls respond ) mona ( frienemies / you cannot be lied to and i keep lying do you wanna make out / but otherwise / possibly romantic ? / platonic / pls kaeya comes from khaenri’ah he is also an astrology bitch, i want them to be friends / but only if you can be friends with a sagittarius sun - gemini moon - scorpio rising ) rosaria ( frienemies / enemies / fwb ? exes ? / idk man something happened between those two and i wanna know, i wanna know so bad ) varka ( kaeya had a crush on him when he was still a squire which he eventually grew out of but jeans, dilucs, and other knights are free to tease him about it / want that mentor relationship though / want that someone who saw things in kaeya and believed he was destined for greatness ) other knights ( friendship ??? camaraderie ??? please ??? ) huffman ( the running joke on this blog has always been that they’re frienemies ) wagner ( had a one night stand once, kaeya still flirts occasionally, no you will not change my mind ) pallad ( dfghjk i’m joking, stay away pls and thanks ) dvalin ( dvalin if you read this i’m free on thursday night and would like to hang out / please respond to this and then hang out with me on thursday night when i am free )

liyue:

zhongli ( i saw cute art once and went owo / platonic / fwb / romantic / you have secrets and a billion stories to tell while i love secrets and love listening to people’s stories / coincidence ? i think not ) beidou ( drinking buddies / both of you require so many of my treasure hoarder coins so you might as well become friends when hunting for them / wingman + wingwoman / my grandfather was a pirate i swear i know how to sail properly — ) ningguang ( fwb / one night stand / they still flirt occasionally but lbr they’re both too narcissistic to be more than friends / wingman + wingwoman / can we talk ? one ten to another ? i’m an eleven but continue ) keqing ( frienemies ? reluctant allies ? idk i just feel like she wouldn’t like him / yes i do sort of ship them romantically but i cannot even begin to start telling you why ) xiangling ( older brother dynamic but also / what do you mean this is spicy ? the hottest thing on the menu ? are you sure ? / kaeya’s love of spicy food + cryo vision + no preservation instinct = interesting customer ) chongyun ( i saw cute art and now want an older brother dynamic / cryo buddies ) actually that includes xingqiu / xingyan ( older brother dynamic pls ) this includes xiao ( treats similarly like a siblings or annoying friend / no it doesn’t matter if you’re older than me by a few millenia / i have a feeling xiao would hate kaeya instinctively because of attitude ) master zhang ( kaeya flirts with him when he’s in liyue but hasn’t gotten a response yet ) baizhu ( oh doctor, please ~ i’m in need of your healing / okay, then i perscribe bedrest and three doses of [ redacted ] a day / wait, no, this isn’t what i wanted — )

snezhnaya:

childe ( otp / i trip and all the chaeya doodles i’ve drawn fall out of my pockets / possible childhood friends ? “met in the abyss” friends ? incredibly chaotic shifty friends ? / frienemies / fwb / enemies with benefits / enemies / enemies to lovers / i really am so weak for this ship and interactions / ooo even wingmen dynamic / i just want them to interact ) foul legacy ( winks ) signora ( cryo friends pls interact / general alignment does not matter )

inazuma:

ayaka ( as stated above cryo friends pls interact )

khaenriah:

dainsleif ( otp / incredibly wary acquaintances ? family friends ? family acquaintances / kaeya learned about the bough bearer in khaenri’ahn mythology class ? frienemies ? enemeies ? enemies to lovers / there are so many question marks because i have no idea how they’d interact but i want all of it / dainsleif roleplayers pls talk to me pspspsps )

other:

fatui skirmishers / cicins / agents ( twirls hair around finger / hi ) abyss heralds ( :flushed: / :hot face: / :sweating: ) cryo abyss mages ( hey, you’re actually where i learned like eighty percent of my technique and aesthetic so, you’re cool, and i might not even try to kill you out in the field as long as you don’t hurt my party, okay ? ) oc’s ( :gun: hand them over )

#ninesense /#this was meant to be serious and then i went off the rails again #feel free to dm me if you're interested in dynamics !!

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nuoc7mia · 3 years ago

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hi so I actually made this post months ago when I was fist reading Tokyo revengers (thank you Mandy), but I just finished this post today :3 most of this post isn’t rlly insightful--I'm either just screaming or rehashing takes that most people here have already made

warnings ofc for major manga spoilers although I also haven’t caught up on the last five-ten chapters:

look ik current!mikey could easily kill me, but he’s so cute:

rlly makes you wonder what happened when you look back after reading more recent chapters ahaha :’D but anyways, give him his flag!!!

(again I wrote this in June--I contradict myself later in this word dump LOL)

this moment was just so funny to me I'm sorry LMAO (’love & peace’)

hngjksnfgs I love this panel so much :((( sometimes with all of the action going on and how they act or are drawn, I forget that they’re just middle schoolers trying to navigate through life. and here’s mikey who has the weight of the entire gang--literal lives--on his shoulders, and is constantly depended on by the members as this ray of shining light. people literally are filled with relief when they see him during fights bc THE mikey is here to take over and he HAS to win the match, right? which is kind of interesting now that I think about it, because there’s also takemichi, who’s mentally 27 and still struggling to carry the weight of his loved ones’ lives on his shoulders. if a 27-year-old can’t be responsible for the lives of others--if I, a 19-year-old, can’t cope with the weight of my own--then how could we expect mikey to be strong with everything that happened around him added onto the weight of the gang? looking back now, I think what happened to mikey in the future makes sense, as odd/cheesy/out-of-the-blue as it originally seemed in my head.

nothing new but I fucking hate kisaki overall and I'm so glad he never got a redemption arc because there was nothing about him that could be saved

(this was an extremely harsh take but again I'm never forgetting what he did to everyone just bc he was pining over a girl from elementary school)

this panel ALSO messed me up, esp after reading some more recent chapters :( I think takemichi said once that he liked talking to mikey the most because he always feels at peace with him and described his eyes to be this calm sea (which almost reminds me of giyuu and his 11th form: dead calm) (I also might be remembering wrong bc I can’t find the chapter I saw it on). but it feels so double-sided if that makes sense? like with that peace comes a never-ending emptiness because he’s constantly consumed by whatever darkness he has in him (sorry for another kny comparison but it feels similar to muichirou before his whole arc), and so he looks so detached and empty. it’s actually kind of jarring at times when the panel zooms into his eyes because you really feel like you’re going to drown in them, but the way it’s cross-hatched is unsettling--like it’s more chaotic and fuzzy inside his mind. + if you compare the dullness in his eyes with the clarity of the other characters, especially takemichi, it’s as if he knows that there’s no future for him, or at least no future with the others. I ended up crying when he was grabbing onto takemichi and asking to be saved, because that’s the first time that we see any sort of light/reflection in his eyes (of hope, honestly), as well as the first time that he reaches out to have someone shoulder his own burdens + truly be vulnerable + depend on someone else rather than letting others depend on him.

(this rant is the result of me hate-reading the comments after every chapter on *******):

sometimes idk what some ppl want from takemichi LOL. actually, no, I do know exactly what they want: a strong mc who they can experience the story through and who solves the problem with the physical manifestation of their strength (the typical shounen protag). but that’s not the point of tokyo revengers imo, and if you’re expecting that, I think you’re missing the whole story ????? like the power comes from the fact that he’s an average person who continues to fight despite the knowledge that he has, the weaknesses that he’s constantly forced to reckon with, and the general helplessness + hopelessness that he feels. he just wants to protect the ppl who he cares for, and that desire trumps physical power or charisma. THAT’S what makes him strong and that’s ultimately what changes the course of things in the story (because we already have powers like mikey who still fall into darkness despite his physical strength). obviously it wouldn’t hurt to make takemichi more assertive in different ways and not see him get absolutely pummeled LOL, but that’s also how wakui chose to enforce his themes

also I'd like to make some more literal points:

1. the manga itself is really long, but when you think about the time frame, there’s not actually much time for takemichi to achieve everything he wants and grow stronger, esp with all of the plot twists that are thrown at him.

2. his main goal was never to physically grow stronger, but just to prevent hina’s death (and later Mikey’s). it was always to talk someone out of doing something or preventing a major event from occurring, which doesn’t ACTUALLY need power to be achieved

(ofc he rarely, if ever, achieves to make it happen, but the effort counts n is there)

3. the dude is constantly carrying the weight of his friends’ deaths on his shoulders SDHFSLD LEAVE HIM ALONE ;; i’d just shut down if I were in his shoes and try to forget that toman was ever a thing

4. mentally speaking, the guy’s 27 LMAO the last time he really fought was back in middle school, which means he has absolutely little to none of those skills left

once again, I have nothing insightful to offer; I simply like the way this panel was drawn

spouting nonsense out of my butt with this one: ngl it took me a while to get used to this art style? like I thought it was UGLY LMAOOO. but when I did, I really came to appreciate how the mangaka colors things in and uses lines to create movement on each page. for instance, here, you can FEEL the energy of toman not just from the speech and the action, but with the lines that wakui chooses to leave uncolored on the members’ uniforms and hair + how the trees are shaded (which is vertical and for me personally it adds a lot more pressure/force, like they’re bursting with energy). everyone and everything feels so alive !!! but at the same time, their art is so clean... SO FREAKING CLEAN. I just love it o<--<

stop it....... STOP IT......... if I don’t get my 100% happy ending I will bawl. (yes I'm aware that this will probably/definitely not happy and yes I have tissues ready for the final arc)

also timeskip!kazutora, inupi, and chifuyu all in one place........ goodbye!

on a side note: I think I'm just gonna be a manga only at this rate bc I tried watching the first episode and got impatient waiting for all of the big action skjdfskjdh but maybe it was bc I wasn’t in the best mood / head-space at the time LOL

(I've let this sit in my head a bit longer and yeah, manga only <3)

I needed to end this photo dump with this exact panel because I had to put my phone down and mentally take a walk after seeing inupi in heels.

honorable mention goes to ponytail!baji and toman founder!baji bc they’re both engrained in my mind forever. likewise with high school!chifuyu ;; he looks like he jumped out of a shoujo manga or some kind of slice-of-life

#moon babbles #moon reads tokyo revengers #tokyo revengers spoilers #if you actually managed to read that all then I'll love you till the end of time (to kingdom come as red velvet beautifully sings)#I swear I'll catch up soon ;; I'm just burnt out after cramming ti all in and distracted with the other series that I wanna start/catch up o #rlly freaking pysched tho esp after seeing the reactions in the Tokyo rev discord LOL #I probably should let this sit for a bit longer before posting #but I don't want this sitting in my drafts for any longer and my head is swimming from this messy format

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illusionsofcontrol · 4 years ago

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are there any tropes you wanted to stay away from with each character or the setting of danganronpa? its a pertty formulaic thing but you made it probably 10x more interesting than the usual game. maybe its because of the depth in charcters or the stakes but wh just seems more engaing than most real dr games! i love your works btw!

I'm really honored that you feel that way about my story! Thank you!

I should warn that my response is going to be somewhat critical of Danganronpa. I want to clarify that I still enjoy the games and it's perfectly fine if anyone disagrees, but these are my opinions and I feel they are important to my response.

First off, I guess I'm not sure if there's any setting tropes I mind in DR. The settings are actually pretty unique to each game and tie into the murders decently. WH obviously has a different setting, but that's more to fit the story rather than avoiding DR tropes.

There are, however, a lot of character tropes I intentionally avoided in WH:R.

Singular Buff Character Who Dies in Chapter 4

WH:R has two buff characters (formerly named Jerome and Ryan) and without going into spoilers, they may or may not have anything to do with Part 04. I don't know, this trope is just so overdone that I saw Gonta's design and instantly predicted that he'd die in Chapter 4. I thought it had to be a red herring, but no. That indeed happened just as expected. I don't want people to be able to predict deaths just by looking at a character design.

Girls Must Wear Skirts

Fun fact, there are only three female Danganronpa characters who don't wear skirts. They would be Aoi Asahina (wears shorts, much like an athletic swimmer would outside of the pool), Hiroko Hagakure (Yasuhiro's mom, wears jeans), and Ruruka Ando (Confectionary girl from DR3, wears very, very short shorts-). Unless there's someone I'm forgetting, every other DR girl wears skirts. Now, I'm aware that this is because most Japanese school uniforms require girls to wear skirts. But given how... bizarre everyone's outfits already are, do all the girls HAVE to wear skirts??? Given the weird fanservice of the games, I feel like it's more to make the girls reveal more skin/slim figure idk :/

I'm getting carried away here. Anyway, WH:R doesn't take place in a Japanese school so I made sure that the women aren't all wearing skirts. And while we're on the subject...

Sexual Fanservice

I'm not against it, but I personally feel like sexual fanservice in a Murder Mystery game (especially involving teenagers) is really uncomfortable. Every game has certain female characters designated to making fanservice moments (DR1: Aoi, DR2: Akane, Mikan, v3: Miu) (Junko for all three I guess-) (Also yes I'm aware that Mikan's fanservice is part of her character/backstory but it doesn't change the fact that the CGs are there for shameless fanservice. They could've drawn the scenes where her back was to the screen or something and conveyed the same message but they made sure to show Everything.)

There's also plenty of designs that are overly revealing; obviously anyone can wear what they want and a large chest is not inherently sexual but it's pretty clear to me that a lot of the revealing designs are for fanservice. Once again, these are mainly teenagers, and the older I get the more it unsettles me.

Anyway, I really wanted to avoid doing sexual fanservice for WH:R. Even though all characters but one are adults, it's just not something I want to write in a story like this. It's not my style.

The Rat

I mentioned this in a previous post, but I ended up avoiding the Rat Character trope. It's not that I dislike it, but I quite enjoyed having the characters all mean well (except for the Puppetmaster, of course.)

(But if I were to have a rat character in WH:R, they'd be the Super Diamond Level Griefer haha)

Resident Dumbass

Yasuhiro, Kazuichi, Kaito, and Akane come to mind (yeah the middle two aren't actually dumb but they tend to fall into this trope regardless). Having to do an entire minigame just to convince Yasuhiro that Kyoko wasn't a literal ghost comes to mind... Idk, I guess I just feel like characters like Kazuichi and Kaito are actually smarter than that but because it's "funny" they have to say illogical stuff throughout the games? Perhaps in a game with voice acting it can be a funny aside, but in a novel that kind of stuff would just slow everything down.

I don't know, it's not like everyone in WH:R is super smart, but that's a trope I tried to avoid.

Rude Characters (?)

Okay this isn't really a trope but Danganronpa tends to always have abrasive characters, but given that WH:R has a main cast of friends, it wouldn't make much sense for there to be much rudeness. I guess Ryan would be the closest to that but he still genuinely cares about the group.

This isn't a bad trope, it's just more natural to exist in Danganronpa because the characters there start off as strangers.

Conclusion

I can't really think of other tropes at the moment. Maybe if I think of more I'll reblog this. But I want to clarify that most of these "tropes" are avoided because of personal preference and differences in media, not necessarily because they're inherently bad.

This next part isn't exactly answering the ask, but I'm assuming that I get these asks from people who are interested in making their own fangans. So here are my two cents.

I've seen fangans that are made out of love for DR and I've seen fangans made out of spite and dislike for some aspects. Both reasons are valid (mine is mostly the former with a slight hint of the latter that's grown over the years). Kodaka's writing is definitely flawed; however, making fangans purely out of spite is dangerous. I don't want to name names, but there is one fangan in particular where the writer admitted to hating Danganronpa and only focused on adding what they wanted. But they neglected the most important part: having a solid story and cast.

Whether or not you love or hate Danganronpa, if you're writing a fangan, it is important to consider the many subjective reasons people are drawn to/away the series. I'm a firm believer that every story has something to teach a writer; even if the lesson is simply "I really don't like these tropes", considering why is insightful.

It mostly boils down to style, in my opinion. Danganronpa has a much different tone with its wacky characters and dialogue and scenarios, but that's Kodaka's style. My style is more grounded in reality, with each character having their own depth that comes up in the main plot and not just in Free Time Events. This is because my stories are more character-driven, and I personally dislike important character information that is sidelined to bonus content. I'm the kind of writer that never makes an OC that's not part of a story, cuz my style has every character play an important role.

(However, one can argue that in a visual novel, having more character depth in Free Time Events adds greater meaning because the player gets a special insight from choosing to interact with certain characters. In a regular novel, there isn't really that kind of interaction. Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the media you're working with is also important.)

I think one of the biggest lessons I learned while writing WH is that forcing yourself to imitate any writer's style when trying to take inspiration is going to fall flat. It's kind of apparent in the beginning of WH, but I used to be feel like I had to follow the Danganronpa style even when I had my own desires for the story.

In reality, every writer is different and has their own quirks that they enjoy but other writers might not. There are many things I dislike about Kodaka's writing, but I know those things are definitely appealing to other people. Likewise, I know my style is not for everyone. It's fine to try and branch out if you want, but one has to recognize what one is comfortable with.

This lesson is still hard for me to absorb sometimes because I don't have much confidence in my storytelling abilities, but I'm gradually accepting that this fangan is my own. I am doing my own spin on the Danganronpa story and that's okay.

And honestly, that's what every fangan should be; a writer's own spin on the Danganronpa plot concept. So while here are the tropes I made sure to avoid, that doesn't mean other writers need to do the same. Figure out what works best for you and what YOU want to see in a Danganronpa story.

(Holy crap this was so long I'm so sorry-)

#ask

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 5 years ago

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Can someone tell me why people love these characters, draco, ben solo, lotor, kuvira and catra, but they hate azula, saying that she does not deserve a redemption but that the others do (they already have it). she is a girl ( 14 years) compared to others. I like most of those mentioned, including Azula. but I don't understand why there is so much hatred towards her. I do not justify the bad thing that Azula did but she deserves better.

Tbh I don’t think that I can really answer this because I don’t share that opinion at all. But it’s something that has kind of always bothered me. Though generally the people who hate Azula tend to hate Kuvira too (at least from what I’ve seen anyhow). What bothers me is, as you mentioned, she’s really young compared to Ben, Lotor, and Kuvira.

My guess is that they just don’t like her personality type. Like idk she’s more cold compared to the others. She’s got that no bullshit, straight to the point hbic energy and I think that maybe some people don’t like that?

I think another big factor is that she wasn’t portrayed as a sympathetic character until the very end (but then again, neither was Draco). I feel like people are more inclined to love an antagonist who has sprinkles of pitiful aspects right from the start. With Azula everything seems fine for her until you realize that it really isn’t.

Idk, she just gets so much hate lately and it’s annoying as hell. I will say it to the end of time, tag etiquette people! I don’t care if you don’t like Azula. I don’t care if you hate her. But keep that shit out of the fan tags and in the anti-tags. It’s rude as hell to post hate in fan tags, end of story. At that point you’re just instigating.

But I digress; it kind of bothers me how little sympathy Azula gets. Especially considering that she’s just a kid. Like she would only be a little freshman, if she were a real person. She’s an abuse victim. Like you said, that’s no excuse for taking up abusive tendencies. But also I don’t get this mentality that she’s already too far gone.

As for the people who don’t think that she should be redeemed; the one reason that really stood out to is character interpretation. I came across and chatted with a person who likes Azula. But they like her as an antagonist. And they just enjoy evil characters being evil.

This person also mentioned that they didn’t see her as having redeeming qualities (or something to that effect) and that, that was exactly why they liked her. Obviously I disagree with this but I thought that it was interesting because not everyone who doesn’t want her to be redeemed hates her.

Which brings me to my next possible reason; I’ve also seen fans say that they didn’t want her redeemed because they were afraid she would be out of character or that in the process she would lose a trait or a few traits that had drawn said fans to her in the first place. Basically they’re afraid that the redemption would be poorly done and not suit her. Which is very fair.

As for the people who don’t like her. I think that it’s that simple. They don’t want her redeemed because they don’t like her. They’re biased and they can’t see any good in her at all and therefore they can’t see redemption as a possibility. To be honest I feel like even if she got redeemed they’d still hate on her because she has ‘an unforgivable past’. That’s what happened with Regina Mills. But in this fandom that would drive me apeshit because odds are, these same people are the ones that jump trough hoops to excuse and/or ignore every bad thing Zuko has done. I'm not saying that this applies to all Zuko fans of course, just a handful. I’m also not saying that everyone who hates Azula is a Zuko fan; I know so many people who are fans of both (and bless all of your souls for that). Bottom line is that I think that there’s a huge bias and (a kind of hypocritical) double standard when it comes to Azula both from fans and characters in the show. More specifically when it comes to Azula compared to Zuko.

What really gets to me though is the sheer hostility that Azula fans tend to get when saying that they’d like her to be redeemed. Like so many times I feel like they are getting brushed off and aren’t being taken seriously. I feel like they are met with a lot of mockery and teasing too. There have been accusations that they don’t understand her character and/or don’t like her for what she is. People just seem to act so condescending. Granted I’ve also seen people get swarmed for saying that she doesn’t deserve a redemption. But as of late I have trouble sympathizing with them because, again, they’re in the fan tags. If you post hate in fan tags, displeased responses are fair game. I won’t join the chat mob, but I’m not gonna feel bad for the instigator either.

I try to give people the benefit of the doubt and I try to engage in conversation just to see different sides and perspectives on things. But lately I haven’t been able to do that because discourse has been so hostile. So I’m pretty much running on assumptions.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #Azula #Discourse #Fandom Discourse

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lonelyandlovelorn · 5 years ago

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Idiots

A/N: I’m kind of putting my feelers out to see if anyone wants any Pietro Maximoff content, because I love and miss him and I just think sibling dynamics are always fun additions in these stories.

Genre: straight fluff, my friends

Warning: Did I swear in this? Idk, here just in case

Word count: 2000

Pairing: Pietro Maximoff x fem reader

Summary: Wanda is so tired of watching her brother and her teammate pine after each other.

Masterlist

Wanda made a point not to actively pick through her teammate’s heads. Whatever she found out passively from knowing what people felt or perhaps projected too much was not her fault and she could not be held responsible. That being said, Wanda had found out something very interesting. It wasn’t so much new information as a realization based on compiled data. She had noticed that her brother and Y/N had grown close to each other very quickly. However, what she had slowly observed over time was a spike in positive emotions from Y/N each time Pietro entered the room, or sometimes even at the mention of his name. While it could have just been happiness at seeing a close friend, there was always an undercurrent of something else. It wasn’t something she would have labeled as lust, it was much softer and shyer than that, but it was a certain sort of attraction. After realizing that this was happening and what it meant, Wanda began to watch Y/N, hoping to witness this reaction and see what she gave away on her face. Since she hadn’t been a spy or secret agent before joining the team, she wasn’t assumed to be a good actress by default. With low expectations, Wanda was impressed to see that there was nothing to outwardly give her away. She had the same expression on her face to greet him as all of her other teammates.

As his sister, Wanda had been aware of how Pietro felt towards Y/N since they met her. He had immediately been attracted to her, and had been in no way subtle in hiding it. Wanda was aware though, how oblivious people could be when in regards to their love lives. Pietro flirted with Y/N, which she took as a joke, and Wanda had always assumed that she hadn’t returned his feelings before noticing this reaction from her. For her brother’s sake, she was grateful it was mutual; for her own sake, she knew she was in for a world of frustration. Pietro was a flirty guy, but when he truly liked a girl, he was bashful and stupid around her. In short, her brother was an idiot most of the time, but he was even more of an idiot when feelings were involved.

Having only known Y/N for about two months, Wanda wasn’t certain what to make of her yet. The two didn’t hang out together on their own, just with the team. From the way she treated her teammates and her brother, Wanda was inclined to like her, but she didn’t want to make up her mind just yet. She decided to get to know her before trying to play cupid. She also hoped she could get her to admit her feelings with little-to-no difficulty. Wishful thinking, of course.

Wanda invited her to have a girls night with Nat. She considered letting the spy in on the information she had, but she figured she probably already knew. Natasha and Y/N showed up at her door in pajamas, bringing a bowl of popcorn and a bottle of wine. That was good, maybe the alcohol would loosen her up a little bit. She welcomed them both into her room and couldn’t help but notice that Y/N looked nervous. She smiled gently at her in hopes of calming her down, and it seemed to work, at least a little. She still had an air of nervousness around her, but she explained that it was mostly because she didn't want to intrude on their normal bonding time. Nat and Wanda quickly put that out of her head by reassuring her that they wanted her there. After they had spent about half an hour together, painting their nails and sipping on wine, she seemed to loosen up fully.

Wanda made sure to inconspicuously keep her glass topped off. The more alcohol she had in her, the more likely she was to be honest.

As can only be expected at something called girls night, conversation turned to gossip and relationship. Natasha was pretty tight-lipped about how her and Bruce were doing, but Wanda wasn't afraid to gush about Vision a little. After a moment, their eyes both turned to Y/N who had obviously been hoping they wouldn't ask her about her love life. A coy smile painted Wanda's face as she spoke.

“So, Y/N, do you have your eye on anyone?” It was interesting for Wanda to watch her reactions, because even though she could feel the wave of embarrassment and fondness wash over her, her face betrayed almost none of it, save for a little warmth high in her cheeks. If it wasn't so frustrating, Wanda would have been impressed.

“I guess I do.” Wanda and Natasha waited for more, but quickly realized that was all she intended to say on the matter. Wanda was impatient and already too frustrated from watching the two of you everyday to dance around the subject.

“You mean my brother.” She didn’t state it as a question, there was no room for denial. For a moment, she felt guilt at the way anxiety spiked through the girl across from her, but she spoke before Wanda could say anything.

“I don’t see why it matters,” she said, almost sounding defeated. Natasha and Wanda exchanged a look.

“It matters because you guys are practically in love and you’re not dating.” Completely unconvinced, Y/N quirked a brow at her in disbelief. “I didn’t realize before that you were completely obtuse,” Wanda said, exasperated.

“Pietro isn’t in love with me.”

This time, Natasha spoke up. “Oh come on, Y/N. You might have been able to hide how you feel, but Pietro didn’t. I thought for a long time you weren’t interested, but now I see you’re just an idiot.” Y/N almost looked hurt at being called an idiot, but quickly squared her shoulders

“I’m sorry that you guys think I’m an idiot, but there’s nothing there. He’s always been that way, flirty and a little dumb. It’s been like this since the day I met him.” She sounded like she was arguing, but Wanda could feel how defeated she was inside. Thankfully, she had a counterargument.

“Have you ever considered that he’s been interested since he met you?” It was obvious she hadn’t by the way her eyes widened. It would have been funny if Wanda wasn’t so tired of witnessing this mess.

“What are you expecting me to do about it?” Y/N was out of arguments but definitely still wasn’t convinced.

“Stop the pining and put me out of my misery.” At the confused look she received, Wanda continued, “I’ve been able to feel your guys’ feelings since forever and I’ve just had to watch absolutely nothing happen for way too long.”

For the first time in front of her teammates, warmth spread up Y/N’s cheeks and her expression was clear as day. She looked to Natasha, who only nodded at her in agreement with Wanda. “Well, I’m not going to do anything right now.”

“That’s fine, but soon,” Wanda urged.

Nothing happened.

It had been two weeks and nothing at all had happened. The only change was that now the rest of the team knew about the ridiculous romance. They made a point of making vague joking remarks at both of the idiots in question. Still, even though at this point it was completely obvious, nothing changed.

Pietro had a habit of zooming around the tower. He dashed through the halls in a blur of silver, endlessly annoying certain members of the team. Sometimes he did it simply for the opportunity to look around and see what was happening in the building. That was the cause of his trouble today.

He was running through the halls, looking for the most interesting group of people to spend time with. He came across the common area, where most of the team was gathered. It seemed like people were gathered to watch a movie, as Sam, Bucky, Steve, Wanda, and Nat were all sitting on the couch chatting as Y/N bent over to look for a movie in the media case under the TV. No one was even aware that Pietro had entered the room until a loud thunk was heard. Six sets of eyes swung to see in sitting on the floor next to a wall, rubbing his forehead.

Sam and Bucky guffawed at the dazed look on Pietro’s face, but Y/N rushed to him in concern. Wanda sent Pietro a look of disgust while also laughing at him quietly. She knew immediately what had happened.

Poor, innocent Y/N had no idea that her team had quickly gathered from how she had been standing, and where his eyes had been drawn, what had happened. “Are you okay? What happened?” The question seemed to draw out more laughs from Sam and Bucky, even pulling a chuckle from the good Captain himself. Y/N looked around at her teammates in confusion as they watched embarrassment take over the speedster’s cheeks.

Sam called out to Pietro after his laughter died down a little, “Yeah, speedy, why don’t you tell her what had you so distracted you ran into a wall.”

Pietro could only bring himself to answer, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

This time, Nat piped in, “Guys, be quiet, his fall had absolutely nothing to do with how she was standing.” A barely-there smirk on her face showed that she was having her share of the teasing.

Y/N whipped her head back to look at him, only to see him looking down in embarrassment. In that moment, Wanda could feel the way her heart warmed along with the surge of confidence that went through the woman as she looked over the man she loved. A grin overtook her expression as she looked him over once more. “Is that so? You should at least have the decency to ask me out before staring at my ass.”

Pietro nearly gave himself whiplash with how quickly he met her teasing eyes. Realizing she had just flirted with him, he quickly asked, “Would you like to go out with me?” Even though she had suggested it, everyone in the room could see that those words had stunned her. After a moment of staring at the man blank-faced, as his confidence visibly waned, a delicate and shy smile calmed him in the way only she could.

“I would love to. Just don’t run into any more walls.” They had obviously forgotten they were being watched, as Pietro surged forward to press his lips against hers in his excitment, moving so fast that she didn’t know what was happening at first. They broke apart as they finally heard the whoops and cheers coming from the people on the couch. They both looked over at them, broad smiles on their faces. After watching the other Avengers laugh and cheer for their happy moment for a few seconds, Pietro stood up, pulling Y/N with her. In the blink of an eye, he had scooped her up and sped out of the room with his girl in his arms.

None of the team was quite sure how to react until they heard a loud groan and a sigh from Wanda as she leaned her head against the back of the couch. Her muttered and exhausted, “Idiots,” sent them all into laughter once more.

#Pietro Maximoff x reader #quicksilver x reader #Pietro x reader #pietro maximov #lonelyandlovelorn #avengers #imagine #reader insert #x you #x y/n #quicksilver #marvel #fanfic #fanfiction #idiots #age of ultron #aou #x reader #fem reader

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johns-prince · 5 years ago

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Idk one thing that makes me think that John was bi and definitely more attracted to males is this: Yoko said that John was into beauty and although she's full of shit and awful I believe her on this one. Before you rip me apart I really love Cyn and May, but if you really look at the women and the men in his life it's clear that John had a thing for boys. The guys he was the closest to were absolutely gorgeous ( Stu was stunning, Brian was handsome as fuck and Paul was beyond gorgeous ) /

Like I said I really love them so please don't take it bad but when you look at his women you can't really Say the same thing about them: Cyn and May were really average and Yoko well... Yoko definitely looked like a bloke, I agree with John. Now, if John was really into beauty, he would have find gorgeous women, but nope! Idk if you see what I'm talking about, but to me it's clear that he was into males' beauty, much more than women

Hi, I’ve decided to give a go at this lol I don’t think my response makes any bloody sense but I tried, apologies in advance anyhow.

While Yoko is extremely wishy-washy, fickle with shit she’s decided to say and share in interviews and such, there are certain things she’s said that hold some kernel of truth or we should at least take note of. It’s rather easy to know when she’s spewing literal horseshit from her mouth, while other times, she might be giving us some important insight, though those little tidbits of what we could consider relevant she always tried retracting [often because it doesn’t help her or their image much]

Though I wouldn’t say I needed Yoko claiming both her and John were into beauty [I mean, we all kind of are, but I digress, I understand] to believe it, because, and let me be weird for like a second, John’s a Libra. They covet beautiful things. Beauty is just, part of their inherent likes, to admire beauty.

That and, being an artist, I’m sure he did have a thing for “beauty.” too.

Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder, subjective, all that philosophical jazz, but I understand what you mean.

I’m not going to rip you apart, because I hold a rather “controversial” opinion in regards to Paul’s wife Linda-- that is, we’re allowed to see these people contrary to what we assume the ‘bandom’ might push as the ‘’right/acceptable’’ and expected opinions.

We’re individuals, I don’t expect you to hold the same opinions, and I do enjoy hearing what people have to say as long as they’re clearly open, civil, friendly-like is always nice too. So, no, I shan’t rip into you lol

I see where you’re coming from.

For me, I find May very pretty, and I think Cynthia was pretty [cor that doesn’t really attest to if they were average pretty or not, I don’t know, but I can see why you see that, I do. I personally find Cynthia incredibly average looking, dare I say plain, when she was much younger, before doing her hair blonde and all that] But then again, compared to Yoko... well.

What Ronnie Hawkins said at the end of this interview, is the nicest way to put how I feel about Yoko in terms of her appearance;

“...what I couldn’t understand that he didn’t have about four or five of the most beautiful women in the world with him, because he could have.”

I know it might come off as insulting but it’s not like we were the one’s to say it first-- John was the one to say Yoko reminded him of a bloke in drag, so.

I can’t say I’ve ever thought of it this way though, or took noticed like you did.

I think it depends.

Dude clearly had a thing for drag queens and transvestites, even at an early age.

I agree, many, most of John’s relatively close male friends were very attractive, very pretty, handsome; though there’s no 100% solid evidence that John felt any strong particular way towards Stu and Brian like he did towards Paul [that is, obviously something sexual happened between John and Brian, but I think that was mainly John experimenting and having the right sort of individual he could do so with, safely, and he might have pitied Brian in a way but, I don’t think he’d meant to hurt Brian or anything. I personally don’t agree it was a powerplay either] John indeed appeared attracted to, or at least drawn to, effeminate, feminine boys.

Not saying all his close male friends were effeminate, femboys [Pete Shotton, Mal Evans...] but I suppose we’re mainly talking about the individuals that, besides being “close”[I also think we could have a discussion of what it meant to be a close friend of John’s, because even if someone might’ve thought themselves close friends with John, they actually weren’t-- not many were; Paul was possibly the closest to close a male friend/relationship John could’ve had, besides Pete] have been rumored he’d had some sort of infatuation or tryst with, like Stu and Brian; Mick Jagger was a very pretty boy, those full lips and relatively soft features accentuated by the longer hairstyles of the 60s and 70s [whether you believe something happened between Mick and John is really up to you, I’m relatively neutral on it I don’t know, but there certainly was a lot going on during this [x] [x] [x] get together between them] and David Bowie is 100% an effeminate boy, and there had been this story, whether it’s true or not I don’t know so take it with absolutely a grain of salt, where a server or whoever caught note of a familiar pair of boots in a stall that belonged to John, David, but another pair of feet which could’ve been anyone, when at a party he’d attended with Yoko. Wish I could find the damn source for it [just another thing I wish I had cataloged better, damn me]

Side note, I honestly believe John would’ve been rather interested in Tara Browne had it not been for the fact Tara was Paul’s friend, a friend who was very attractive, and artsy and bisexual, and Paul really seemed to dig him [though I do not believe Paul held any deeper feelings for Tara, as much as Tara might’ve had a crush on Paul]-- which had John feeling threatened and his jealousy/possessiveness shot through the bloody rooftops, as we know. Tara was to John as Stu was to Paul.

I don’t know, you may be right.

I personally believe John leaned more towards men specifically because he just seemed to enjoy, was happier, and was much more comfortable their company, friendship, the bond, more than women, but despite being gay or in a same-sex relationship wasn’t illegal in the UK anymore in 1967 [oh what a year] it was still easier to be with women than men, openly anyway.

Just because something becomes legal doesn’t mean culture and society are really on track with it, if you get what I mean.

But anyway, yeah, I could see it, him being more attracted to “male beauty,” more than “female beauty,” if he were to lean more towards men in his bisexuality. I don’t know.

Anyway there’s my answer, it’s non-coherent, I’m sorry lol

Clearly John couldn’t officially be with the person he wanted to be with though, who was a man, because of issues and reasons we can only begin to assume and possibly pinpoint. Nobody can hold a candle to Paul, he is a bloody Adonis, and I’m sure John would’ve agreed, begrudgingly or partly jokingly. That and John’s soulmate.

I’m 100% they fooled about, and like 85%-90% positive they fucked.

#questionsquestionsquestions

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angel-deux-writes · 5 years ago

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Now that Honor Compels Me is finally done, I wanted to do a round-up of all the things I remember that made me say “I feel like I need to tell someone what almost happened here” or “I should probably explain this later lol”, along with my reasons for cutting the last few chapters/what would have happened in them. It’s prob going to be very long, which I apologize for, but I’ll bold the headings so that you can skip to the parts you’re interested in!

I’ll reblog it and add more as I think of them, but for now:

Dark Dany: VERY originally, like way back in the OG plotline from 2017, Dany was an antagonist, and Margaery Tyrell was Robb’s queen. Dany would have died fighting Cersei in Kings Landing, with the same result (Cersei was ALWAYS going to go out by wildfire lmao). I changed it both because a) it seemed like too many Conveniently Alive people for one story and b) after the shitty ending Dany got, I decided I would try my hand at writing a Dany I could actually root for! For years I’ve been a big proponent/fan of the idea that Dany is eventually going to be an antagonist in the books, but the way it was handled in the show was so irredeemably stupid (gassing her up and gaslighting/scolding her fans later who didn’t see it coming, making her switch at the drop of a hat for the majority of the general audience just for the sake of a twist, etc). I ended up really loving the version of Dany I created. I tried not to soften her TOO much, which is why I had her wrestle with herself even up to the very end (like thinking “I won” after the explosion in Kings Landing and hating herself for it). I didn’t want all the flaws that make me not support canon Dany to disappear just because I started to like her! I do think that writing this story made me like Dany more overall. I still don’t support her canon actions, and I also probably won’t in the books, but I came to find her more compelling as I wrote her. I’m a lot less afraid to write her now than I have been in the past, though I’ll continue to add warnings to all my stories that feature Dark Dany, bc yall Dany stans have been through enough.

More Death: At various points Dany, Theon, Bran, and Arya were going to die.

Dany was already pointed out.

I had Theon die in the Long Night in the plot outline just out of laziness/in keeping with canon, until I remembered that Redemption = Death is stupid and I wasn’t gonna do it.

Bran was going to die after warging into Drogon and being caught in the explosion of the Red Keep. That actually stayed in until a few weeks ago! I told a bunch of people that Bran was going to die! It was the plan all along! And then I realized that “somebody has to die” was a shitty way of looking at it, and I changed it. I think a lot of this process of changing things was me trying to write what I thought people wanted vs what story I actually wanted to tell. Sure it’s a little fairy tale ending this way, but it’s my story, and who cares? Happy endings are nice. Fuck off.

Arya...I probably wouldn’t have ever actually gone through with it, because I am a coward, but there was an idea of a VERY heavy-handed “revenge is bad” message with Arya where Arya was much more savage and instead of turning back into Arya, she was turning farther and farther away from her. She couldn’t reconcile with the Lannisters, she rejected her bonds with her family. In the end she would be unable to let go of her list, would refuse to grow and change and realize that she had other things to live for, and she would have set off one of Qyburn’s traps in the Red Keep, igniting the whole thing, killing Drogon and Rhaegal (and Bran) and leading to the deaths of thousands. AGAIN I was like “that’s too dark” and scrapped the idea, but it was definitely toyed with. I love Arya as a character, so this plotline for her would have definitely been more a reaction to fans of her who seem to want her to hold on to that vengeful seed inside of her.

Prophecies: Listen, I do not give a fuck about any prophecies. I really don’t. Every fantasy universe has some kind of involved backstory that some fans love to get mired in, but I am not one of those fans. Still, I tried to deliver on two of them lmao.

Azor Ahai ended up being Jaime, with Ice/Oathkeeper and Maiden’s Heart being Lightbringer. Originally, I had Brienne killing the Night King, without any thought to the prophecy at all, but that was another case of “people will like it if Brienne kills the Night King” and I realized that I would like it better if it was Jaime. I’m not sure how it checks out literally, but I figured it worked with a) tempering in water = splitting Ice. b) heart of a lion = Jaime’s change of heart after the Highgarden Battle. c) Nissa Nissa = Brienne’s “maiden’s heart” breaking during the Highgarden Battle. It was Brienne who did the stabbing, but it was Jaime who made it happen, so I figured that made sense. I made sure to mention Brienne’s tears and all the smoke when Jaime was wounded, so he could be “reborn amidst salt and smoke” or whatever, and I had Bran mention a rebirth for him in the next chapter. Which was maybe a little on the nose, but IDK GUYS I FEEL LIKE IT CHECKS OUT!

I know the show never dove into the Valonqar prophecy at all, and I think we all know that I absolutely HATE the idea of Jaime being the Valonqar, so I would rather not think about it AT ALL. But Bran AND Rhaegal were both kind of responsible for Cersei’s death in the end, so take your pick of which Little Brother actually did the deed!

Deleted Chapters: I promise you, you are not missing anything with these deleted chapters. They were always messy, and no matter how many times I edited them, they felt too forced and “now let me explain the ending”.

Sansa: Sansa’s chapter followed Jaime’s and was primarily about her going to Robb and Dany and the three of them talking about the future of Westeros. The Dany/Robb conversation about it was originally absent--the last Robb chapter was added to fill in the gaps when I deleted this and the other chapters--so this would have been the first time it was discussed. It then would have had a time jump and a wedding scene, which I could never make work! It was such a jarring time jump in the middle of a chapter, and I didn’t think the wedding was particularly exciting to write about lmao.

Tyrion: Tyrion’s chapter would have been Dany being crowned and announcing to everyone that she and her people are going to be dismantling the monarchy and setting up a new government. I think I had her give a period of a few years in which she and Robb would rule, but they were going to be transitioning governments in that time. Kind of the same idea as in What a King Should Look Like. Bronn also showed up, DID in fact get a minor holdfast, and was mocked by both Lannisters for bowing out before he could have earned himself a better one. Olenna found some bastard daughter to legitimize and continue her house.

Brienne: Brienne’s arc was a lot more drawn out in the original draft, and I ended up editing it a few times and making it shorter. VERY originally, this chapter would have been her wedding with Jaime, at which she has the “wow he actually loves me, huh?” realization. Which I thought was funny as I plotted it out, but in execution it wasn’t as good as I wanted it to be, so I moved the realization to an earlier chapter. The original was also going to be Jaime giving up his name entirely, and Brienne cloaking him, but as we have discussed before, I am in fact a coward, so I just deleted the whole chapter lmao. In all seriousness, at this point the endings just felt like Return of the King, and Into the West was actually the chosen song for this chapter, because I knew even as I was writing it that I was doing Too Much lmao.

Robb: Robb’s last chapter was essentially just a total wrap up chapter. Just Robb and Dany being sappy, Robb being happy he was still alive, and the two of them planning the future. They were at Riverrun for this part, i’m pretty sure, or it might have been Dragonstone? I had trouble even filling this chapter with enough words for it to be a full chapter, because it was basically just an epilogue. As the story progressed, this chapter felt more and more like I was just performing to the “Robb’s Alive” crowd, which I didn’t particularly want to do, because Robb being alive was always a feature, not the focus, of this story.

That’s all the stuff I can think of for now! If anyone has any particular questions you can message me or inbox me about them and I’d be happy to talk about it!

#angel does nanowrimo #honor compels me #this is maybe Too Much but idk here you go in case anyone wants it!!

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shnuggletea · 4 years ago

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Yo, what up? Sorry, I've been MIA, had a LOT going on. Three/four weeks of moving and then Eid with a week-long stay with friends/family. Then I had to get my kid registered for school which was more stressful and ridiculous than the last month combined. Why I had to do a physical for my kid to do virtual school, I'll never know. PS, it's kindergarten so what the hell does she need the physical for? (Gave them shot records too so IDK anymore). Just now getting back into the swing of things. Thank you all for being patient. Here is a nice long chapter for you this evening. I hope you are all doing well and surviving/thriving.

Fanfiction HERE!

AO3 HERE!

Chapter 18

She wasn't surprised in the least to find him on the couch when she left her room at 4 am. Their connection flowed with ease once again.

His eyes were closed and his breathing was heavy but his mind was racing even in his sleep. Stopping for a second, she watched him for a moment, her heart swelling at the sight of him slightly peaceful. But then the memories of the night before cracked it all over again.

Her braid swung heavily on her head as she turned quickly towards the door. "Where do you think you are going."

His voice caused her heart to jump into her throat, making it sore. "Out."

"Usagi…"

"Don't."

"At least let me go with you."

He was right behind her and she swiveled around to block him with her hand. "No!"

Backing off, he sat on the arm of the couch, his arms crossing over his chest. "Did you sleep?"

She balked at him, "Did you?"

His silence was his answer, feeling his exhaustion in him as well. "You should rest. Not run off in the middle of the night."

"It is not the middle of the night, it's morning. And I am heading off to train."

"I thought we talked about this…"

"No, you talked and I listened, so now it is my turn. If you think you can just walk in here and have me bow at your feet, you've got another thing coming."

She held out a finger to point at him, not realizing it had also drawn her into him until he wrapped an arm around her. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"I have been doing JUST FINE without you."

"Usagi, I care about you, that's all."

The knife that he planted in her last night twisted at his words. "You care, huh?"

He was confused, not sure why his words gained that reaction. "Of course, I do, I love you."

She shoved away from him, backing away to the door again. "You should really make sure to finish your sentences, Chiba. You might give someone the wrong impression."

"What are you talking about?" He stood, following after her.

"You mean, 'I love you, Serenity'. See, if you finish it, it has a whole new meaning."

Her back found the door and he caged her in. "You're putting words into my mouth. I mean you. I love you, Usako."

Sticking her arm out, she pushed him away as far as she could. "Stop saying things you don't even understand. You will never know and neither will I; if you love me or Serenity. Endymion has been overruling your feelings from the start."

"I do know and I love you both! The only difference between Mamoru and Endymion is that Mamoru was an idiot! He didn't know love even when it bit him on the ass. Endymion did!"

She looked down at the ground, unable to stand his dark blue eyes on hers anymore, probing her feelings. The lack of sleep was making her weak and her thoughts were a blur.

Her hand dropped, no longer holding him back and he pulled her up from the door and into his arms. He kept his mouth at her ear, talking into the shell of it. "I'm sorry, Usako...I'm so sorry, I should have told you before. Before all of this. From the moment I first saw you, the time you hit me with that awful test score and when you poured your milkshake on me, I have been in love with you. But I didn't because I was a fool and a coward. Now I have to pay for it." His head dropped to her shoulder and she could feel him start to shake with her. "I love you, Usako, more than anything. And so, I will give you the space you want. I will give you as much as I can."

He stepped away, right after planting a kiss to her neck, and released her without another word. He was retreating back to the living room, his back to her, and she watched as it rippled with tension. "There is something I don't understand. How did you awaken? I never wanted you to. I thought I had to want it for it to happen?"

He stopped but didn't turn around. "You didn't, you wanted Endymion to awaken. So I did."

A sad laugh escaped her. "Yeah, I wanted you to wake so I could tell you off!"

He chuckled as well, flopping down to the couch and facing her. "Are you going to go out alone?"

"No… of course not."

On cue, two doors opened, Minako walked out of one and Makoto out of the other. "Oh great, someone else living here?"

"Relax, Makoto. I'm not moving in."

He rose, walking towards her again, but then she realized he was heading for the door. "I'll see you in an hour."

"What happened to giving me space?"

He smirked, standing not very far from her at all. "I said I would give you as much as I could. One hour is all I can give you for now." He leaned in even closer, his face inches from hers. "Besides, if I'm not there, who would you spar with?" Her mind started to wander to some of her previous spars, ones with the boys, and he grabbed her arm at her elbow. "Don't even think about it."

His teeth gritted, he hissed the last bit out to her and she couldn't contain her own smirk in response.

Turning towards the door, he pushed it open, but then stopped and faced her again. "Oh and be careful, dancing like that again. Cause if I catch you, I can't be held responsible for what I do to you."

The memory flashed through her, but this time, from his perspective. Including his… feelings while watching her. She wasn't sure how she felt about his little threat but color rose to her cheeks just the same. He shot her a smirk as he shut the door behind him.

The girls and Usagi waited for a beat before taking off behind him. She didn't want to run into him on their way out. Usagi knew it wouldn't be long until the girls started layering her with questions. But they at least waited till they were halfway to the warehouse.

"So….Mamoru is Endymion huh? That explains a lot."

She glanced over at Makoto, the brunette smirking and wagging her eyebrows at Usagi. Her eyes rolled, "Yeah, it explains why Mamoru ever showed me any interest in the first place."

"What do you mean?"

"Usagi thinks Mamoru is only interested in her because she was Serenity."

Makoto looked past her to Minako, the two of them having the conversation without her. "So?"

"So, she thinks he isn't in love with Usagi, she thinks he is in love with Serenity."

Makoto scrunched up her nose in confusion. "I don't understand. She is Serenity."

Minako just shrugged, "I don't get it either. I mean, I know Kun loves me because he loved Aphrodite. We are the same person."

"But Serenity and I are not the same person!"

They had just made it to the warehouse when it hit, the tightening in her stomach and their communicators going off. They stepped inside just to transform and head off to danger.

The creature didn't seem too bad, it even looked almost human by comparison. Save for the green skin and tiny horns on its head. Its long blue hair flowed down its back and it was yet again in a tight little leotard, leaving very little to the imagination. But it hardly seemed like all seven of them were needed. Eight, if you counted Mamoru who was sure to show up any second now.

The boys stayed back, watching as the three of them took it on. Looked like they agreed with her, they were not all needed for this one.

There were several bodies on the ground around it, the creature already had time to drain people. It was a lot. A lot more than usual. How did it take so long for them to notice? No way it did all of this so quickly, they all got there within seconds of the call.

The only thing she could think of was the creature must have some way of taking multiple energies at once. The fact that it attacked the Juban business district so early in the day was no coincidence either, the place would be full of victims. If it had waited an hour more to attack, it would have close to a hundred victims. As of now, she counted close to 40 and she wasn't sure she could revive all of them.

"Guys, we have to hurry and get those people their energy back!"

Venus and Jupiter gave her a silent nod, fanning out to circle the creature. Even with the other two moving around it, it kept its eyes on her, a sneer forming on its lips.

"Hello, little Moon girl."

It gave her a curious look as if it had been waiting for her. Then it threw its hands up, a silvery net forming out of thin air. It blanketed the air above her, shimmering in the street lamps. At least that explained how it drained so many people so quickly.

It fell over her, the weight of it a bit unexpected, and she could feel it trying to pull on her energy as soon as the netting touched her skin.

Pulling out her moon wand, she set it on the ground before her and extended it. The net was pushed upwards and off her skin, the staff pulling it tight across the sharp crescent on her wand and cutting it. The frayed ends fluttered around her, a small hole around her the reward.

The creature sneered and then out a visceral yell, pulling the net back to it hard. The remaining net swept around her, knocking her feet out from under her. "Watch your feet goddamnit!"

Her head hit the pavement, causing it to spin for a second, Kun's voice coming out a bit warbled. He was right though, that had been a stupid mistake. She could hear the calls of the girls' attacks and the popping and sizzling in the air. Looking back up, she saw the creature dodging and blocking each beam of energy, while its net began to glow a little with each hit. They were just feeding it.

"Venus, Jupiter, wait!"

They froze and the beast turned back to her, sending the same attacks her friends had just shot at it hurtling back at her. She hadn't even made it back to her feet yet, hitting her head harder than she realized. Putting up her arms so they covered her face and squeezed her eyes shut, she hoped her friends' attacks didn't hurt as much as they looked.

Her gravity shifted, the sound of the attacks hitting the pavement instead of her prone body ringing out, and she opened her eyes to black. A flash of red and she looked up, finding a masked Mamoru holding her up and taking her to safety.

"Sorry, I'm late. Had to dig this thing out and dust it off."

She looked him over, the tux he always used to wear now on him again. "You are still wearing that thing?"

He chuckled, "I remember very distinctly, the old Sailor Moon loving this get up."

"Pretty sure she was just in love with the idea of a mystery man swooping in to save her ass."

"And now? That she knows the man behind the mask?"

He set her back on her feet out of harm's way as usual and she shrugged. "Clearly some people love a fantasy."

He raised an eyebrow, telling her he followed her meaning even without reading her mind. "Not me, I love the reality."

Bending down, he gave her a quick peck on the lips before bounding off straight for the creature while she stood, spellbound after him.

She watched as he knelt to the ground, not too far from the creature, and pounded his fist into the ground. It shook and cracked, the girls jumping up and out of the way as the shock wave barreled towards the monster, knocking it back. It rose from the ground, smirking even with the blood on its lips.

"Good, you are here too. My Masters will be pleased!"

"And just who are they? A bunch of cowards who have yet to show themselves!"

It didn't even bother addressing Makoto and her words. It just continued to stare down Mamoru, only breaking to glance back at her from time to time.

In a flash, it threw its net out again, the silvery bands stretching out over Mamoru's head. Regaining herself from her stupor, she raced to his side, not being nearly fast enough. But Mamoru pulled out his cane and swiped the net away, causing it to fall harmlessly next to him. Just as she was about to reach him, he sped away, running right up to the monster and punching it square in the jaw. This time, she knew, the sickening pop was not Mamoru's fist.

A hand to its face, holding onto the afflicted bones, it glared back at Mamoru. But then grinned.

Shimmering, it disappeared. Everyone going wild, turning, and searching. Then the little hairs on her body stood up on end, the creature's breath hitting the back of her neck. Turning, she raised an elbow at the same time, but the creature stopped it, grabbing and holding her arm still. Its claws dipped into her skin, a scream coming from her while the beast laughed. Her brain reeling from the pain, it managed to slip some of her energy from her, her guard down. But soon, she was ripped away from its grasp, Jupiter grabbing her hard and pulling her out. Sending a kick to the monster's chest to push it back even further.

That's when she saw it, the funnel that was dropping down on it at a rapid pace now that she was no longer in the way. It sucked up the creature and she watched as it tumbled and swirled high up in the air. After a few moments, the funnel disappeared just as quickly as it appeared. The creature fell to the ground hard, its body limp.

"Now Sailor Moon!"

She adjusted her wand in her hand, pointing it at the limp body of the beast and charging up. But as soon as her energy began to pool, the creature's head yanked up from the ground, sneering, before shimmering away to nothing.

"Where the hell did it go this time?" Jupiter stood near to her, just behind her ready to jump in if it grabbed her again.

"It's gone."

The boys had moved closer as well but she wasn't sure when they had joined the battle. Venus was eyeing Mamoru carefully. "Are you sure?"

Mamoru nodded and a new voice joined the conversation. "He is right you know!"

Everyone turned, futilely looking for the source. Something told her they would not find it, only knowing it was a man that spoke to them now.

"My Cardigan has successfully returned with all that energy and we are now feasting like kings. Thank you, Sailor Moon, for your contribution!" Mamoru growled but the voice continued, speaking to her specifically. "Good luck, reviving all those people. Sorry to say, those you do not, will surely die."

He cackled and then faded away. But her mind was already on the 40 some odd bodies that laid just across from her now. Men and women, all innocent and just trying to make an honest living. Their suits dirtied and crumpled as they laid on the ground unmoving. Even with the helplessness she felt, knowing she could not save them all, she had to try.

"Sailor Moon, don't."

But she tuned Venus's voice out and Mamoru's as it screamed in her brain. She quickly extended her wand into a staff, the silver crystal materializing within it, and connected to the people on the ground, feeling her silvery energy race across the cold ground and find each and every single one of them. The most people she had healed or restored at once was 20, and it nearly killed her. This was far and away more than her body could handle. But these people didn't deserve this, to die in the cold dark all alone. If they had been faster, gotten here sooner, these people would be fine, it was her fault.

Already, her lungs and heart started to burn, the extent of her energy's depletion painful. It was her body dying. Closing her eyes, she focused, pushing out more energy into the fallen. They each needed more to survive, each one was almost completely empty. She could feel each of their hearts, struggling to beat.

Hands grabbed her, trying to pull her off or away, but she was tethered. Then they stopped, giving up she figured. Then arms wrapped around her, warmth flooding her. She had managed to block him out, to keep his angry words from reaching her so she could focus. But now that he touched her, there was nothing to keep him at bay. But instead of anger, she just felt warm.

His hands grabbed her wrists and she thought for sure he was going to rip them away from her staff. She wasn't sure he could, but if anyone was able to do it, she knew it would be him. Instead, he pulled himself in tight to her, his body wrapping around hers. His chest on her back and his arms laying on top of hers, she felt cocooned in him. Then she felt it. His golden energy leeching into her. It pulsed, heating her from head to toe and mingled with hers. The two danced together, a beautiful and playful waltz. Then it took turns, gold filling some of the victims in the place of her silver.

With his cheek against hers, she finally opened her eyes, glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. His focus was straight ahead, watching and assessing those on the ground. Each one's heart started to beat more steadily and together they eased back, pulling the threads of their energy back.

The others raced over to a few of the victims, checking vitals.

"Oh thank God!" Jad stood, satisfied with the person he checked.

"Someone should still call an ambulance." Venus was pulling out her cell from her subspace as she spoke, already dialing the number.

Her staff shrunk and shimmered away, the crystal returning to its place on her chest, in front of her heart. She lowered her arms and Mamoru did the same, but instead of removing himself from her, he wrapped his arms around her. One around her ribs while the other went around her waist, his hand sitting on her hip. And his energy still mixed inside her, his connection to her especially strong.

He rested his head on her shoulder while she stood in his arms, waiting for him to let go. "What happened to giving me space?"

His chuckle shook through her, his head lifting to put his mouth just below her ear. "This is as much space as I can give you. Especially if you are going to try and kill yourself."

Her eyes lowered guiltily to the ground. "I couldn't just let them die. I wasn't trying to kill myself."

He gave her a squeeze. "I know that, and so does the enemy, somehow. They set you up, wanting you to use up all your energy and end your life on your own."

She shook her head at the thought, being used so easily. "Well, they failed. They can't know me that well."

His energy twisted inside her, reminding her it was still there as if she could forget. "That's because they don't know me, or us."

Letting her head drop back to his shoulder, she said one of the hardest things she ever had to. Next to telling her parents goodbye. "You can stop now. The people are saved."

"No...you are not ready yet."

She felt her skin pull on her arm and lifted it to see the holes on her arm close up like magic. Because it was magic, his gentleness making the claw marks a faded memory.

Bringing her arm back down, she rested it on one of his. The material of his Tux was scratchy, compared to his skin, and his gloves contained some of the heat his hands usually put through her.

He chuckled again, bouncing her slightly. With a slight shimmer, he was back in his plain clothes. "Is that better? I never realized how much you hated that tux until now!"

Her hand still rested on the thick coarse material of his coat, but his hands were bare. The heat from them found their way through the material of her fuku without a problem. She was sure that, once he let go, she would freeze to death.

His mouth was at the shell of her ear, whispering even though he didn't need to speak at all for her to hear him. "Maybe you should change back too."

She glanced over at the sound of sirens in the distance, the girls and the boys back in their plain clothes already. If they had looked at the two of them before, they didn't see anything worth concern. Or maybe the boys talked the girls out of interrupting because now they were making their leave before the authorities arrived.

Releasing her transformation, she felt no change in her temperature as her sweats for training and heavy pea coat replaced her tiny fuku. Mamoru's energy still furrowed inside her, the realization of the intimacy they were sharing at this moment hitting her harshly, a blush finding its way to her face.

"Oh now Usako, if you keep having thoughts like that, I'm not going to be able to give you any amount of space."

He slowly began to pull out of her, his energy fighting him a bit, but slinking its way out of her once again. "Mamo.."

Her voice caught in her throat, wanting more than anything to tell him to stop and to stay. "Mamo huh? I like that." She pulled her head off his shoulder, the last of his golden threads leaving her while his arms remained around her. "Now imagine if both of our energies mingled like this. Actually, get your memories back and you won't have to."

She looked down at her hands that rested on his arms. "We did that? Both of us?" He nodded and even though she couldn't see it, she knew it. His grip loosened and she began to pull away from him. "You must miss that, miss her very much."

Her back hit his chest hard as he pulled her back swiftly. "I didn't have it with Serenity, I had it with you!" His frustration was clear in his voice and through their link.

"What?"

"Endymion and Serenity spent their time split between Earth and the Moon. When she was on Earth, her power was dampened significantly. And Endymion was completely powerless on the Moon. No Usagi, this is something only you and I share. And even if it was for a short time, you are right, I do miss it, I miss you!"

Her heart was erratic, pounding all over the place. She wasn't completely sure it was even in her chest at the moment. She struggled to understand, to rationalize his words.

With a heavy sigh, he released her and every fiber of her being mourned the loss. "I guess I need to work on getting you your memories back. Either that or prove to you that we are the same, that you are the same as Serenity."

He stood a short distance from her, watching her shiver as she stared back at him in return. A frown on his face, he turned just as Makoto and Minako slowly made their way over to her.

"I'll see you after school, Usako."

Poor Mamo is working hard! I hope you all enjoyed the update!

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