#if you don't get to see your fave because of the strike remember IT'S BECAUSE OF THE EXECS WHO HAVE ALL THE MONEY AND ARE HOARDING IT

[montanabohemian]

yeah my post was definitely about already seeing people whining about the plane tickets and con tickets they bought and bitching to SAG about it instead of where it belongs.

direct that fury at AMPTP. direct it at the executives.

in the meantime, support the WGA and SAG strike, don't cross a god damned picket line and if you can, help out financially (Entertainment Community Fund).

both the WGA and SAG have detailed information on their websites and official social media about what is and isn't allowed.

if i see a single one of you pissed that your faves canceled an event or a con appearance because they're striking for fair wages then imma come for you in your sleep 🔪🔪🔪

[duchessonfire]

Savior Carl!AU re-read Part 1 Chapter 3

Follow-up of my re-read of Part 1 Chapter 2. If you're not interested and don't want to have your dashboard spammed, you can block the tags Duchess reads and Savior Carl AU reread.

Commentary for Part 1, Ch 3 below the cut (spoilers for part 1 ahead):

Fun fact: I used to hate the title of this chapter ("Wives and candy"). When I was writing part 1 in 2021, I wrote this title as a placeholder on my word document because I figured I'd think of something better down the line. Then, when I finished the chapter and was ready to post, I had not, in fact, thought of something better. So I just added it as the title chapter but I hated it. All the other chapter titles came to me very easily and were super evocative: "I'm Negan", "The hard way is the only way", "Don't stop until you see blood". All of them were direct quotes from either Carl or Shane so they felt very poetic to me. And then... there was "Wives and candy". Definitely the odd duck of the bunch. In fact, I remember changing it to something else soon after posting (it was 4 years ago so I don't remember what it was) and then still being dissatisfied so I just changed it back to "Wives and candy".

The thing is, this chapter really is about wives and candy. For all that I dislike the title, it works because its simplicity encapsulates what this chapter is about: rewards.

Negan sees the wives as rewards. It might sound obvious but it's something that always strikes me when I rewatch "The Cell" episode (7x03) where Negan tells Dwight he's been doing a good job with Daryl so he tells him to pick any wife he wants to spend the night with as long as she consents to it. This scene is always mindboggling to me because Negan is so deeply possessive and territorial that it feels almost OOC. He gets so angry when he and Amber talk about her cheating in the "Sing Me a Song episode" (7x07, aka my fave episode ever, aka the single greatest thing to have ever happened on tv). He talks sweetly to Amber, up until that moment when he reminds her the wives aren't allowed to cheat on him, and you can see his barely restrained rage. For a while, I had a hard time reconciling those two aspects of him, that someone so possessive could so casually offer his wives to a soldier as reward. Until I realize that Negan doesn't really see the wives as people, but as objects that are his to share as he wishes. What bothered him about Amber cheating on him wasn't that she slept with another man, but that she did so without Negan's permission. Negan doesn't really have any feelings for the wives. He can be tender with Amber, and there's definitely chemistry and maybe even understanding with Sherry, but it's all extremely shallow and superficial. He doesn't love them, doesn't care for them, doesn't do much other than provide them with luxuries. At the end of the day, the wives serve a purpose: to be warm and nice bodies for men to escape reality in. It's what Negan himself does (he tells Eugene in 7x11 Hostiles and Calamities that there's nothing better than conversation with a nice-smelling woman to make him feel like a man again) and it's what he offers Dwight. And in chapter 3, it's what he offers Carl, first by sending the wives to keep him company, and then by literally offering Carl to have sex with one of his wives as reward for saving his life.

Chapter 3 is Carl's first introduction to Negan's harem. He knew of the wives before, but he had no interest in them (he doesn't even recognize that Tanya is a wife at first, because the wives stay in their apartments and rarely mingle with the other people of the factory).

even before getting shot he never paid too much attention to the wives. He’d learned what he could about them, just as he had with everyone else in the Sanctuary, but he’d never pushed it past names and previous occupations. The role they play for Negan makes him uncomfortable, like something deeply private that should be kept secret instead of being paraded around for everyone to see. Carl isn’t stupid, and he isn’t ignorant. He knows what sex and love are. He’s seen it with his mom and Shane in the beginning, and he’s spent half of his adolescent life with Glenn and Maggie, and not so long ago, he saw Shane trying to put on his best face for Jessie, back in Alexandria. But Negan doesn’t act with his wives the way Glenn or Shane looked at women like his mom, or Maggie or Jessie. It isn’t love, it’s possessiveness, and probably something more physical that Carl just avoids thinking about.

This whole chapter is about Carl's relationship to women and to heterosexual relations, the weight that they carry and how they affect the people around him. It's why this part of the chapter is so focused on female characters and, more specifically, their influence on the male characters. The flashbacks are about Jessie and Shane. Carl dreams of Beth. He interacts for the first time with Sherry, Tanya, Frankie and Beth. Sherry, especially, makes an impression on Carl.

Carl at this point of the story is so sexually repressed he's bordering on asexual. It's something that I explore more in part 2, but having to grow up in the apocalypse, being isolated from anyone his age, and being constantly focused on survival has emotionally and sexually stunted Carl. He's 18 but has never had more than puppy love for Beth (and it's no coincidence that this happened when his mom was still alive and he still felt reasonably safe to act like a kid). And yet, in spite of this, Carl notices how sexual feelings affect Shane when he meets Jessie. He sees it again in the infirmary, when literally every man around him is sexually attracted to Sherry (Negan, Shane, Carson and Joey the Savior). He's both highly aware of people's sexual desires and completely unaware of his own.

Which leads to one my favorite things about this chapter, and something that still haunts Carl even though he never allows himself to think about it: how Negan views women.

One night, after spending the whole day with nothing to do but watch Amber cover every single one of her finger and toe with nail polish, Carl dreams of Beth, Jessie, Enid, Rosita, Sasha and Maggie, all watching over him in black dresses and heels.

This one short passage encapsulates so much about Carl's feelings in this chapter. It shows how aware Carl is of Negan's predatory instincts toward women (but also toward everything and everyone else) as well as his (very founded and justified) fear that Negan's hunger for power and conquest is endless, that he will marry every single woman Carl has ever met, dead or alive, that they will all join his harem and don the wife uniform. It's a scary vision and it's one that becomes likely the more he knows about Negan's far-reaching empire.

During the whole chapter, Carl is haunted by the wives' smell and their flowery perfume. So far, Carl has mainly been in contact with Saviors and workers, but his convalescence is his first time being in contact with the wives' lifestyle: how clean they are, how impractical their clothes are for the apocalypse, how their days are spent in leisure doing nothing but read and paint their nails. It shocks him, and while Negan sees the wives as a distraction for Carl in the infirmary, something to make his stay there more pleasant, like the soda cans and candy bars he sends to Carl's bedside, to Carl they are a burden and an uncomfortable reminder of his own disabled state. In fact, getting away from them as quickly as possible is a big incentive to him speeding up his recovery. None of the women Carl has been around before were like the wives. Maggie, Sasha and Rosita are all fighters, trained for survival like him. In a way, they are similar to female Saviors like Arat or Laura. But the wives are presenting Carl with another path to survival that he never considered, one where their skills are applied in the bedroom rather than in the wild. This harsh reminder of the sexual world of Sanctuary - Negan's sexual world especially - is not a pleasant one for someone as sexually repressed as Carl. And yet, it's a world that will change him irremediably.

I was so excited to write about Carl and Sherry's first meeting. While Carl has never thought about Sherry other than in passing when he heard about her escape with Dwight, Sherry has obviously been thinking about him:

“He likes you,” she says as she reshuffles the card.  “Carson?” The corner of her mouth lifts up, like they just shared a secret joke. “Negan,” she corrects. Carl frowns at her, and she elaborates: “I heard what happened before you got shot, at the market and then in the Saviors’ mess hall. He likes you.” Carl snorts. “He keeps threatening to kill me whenever I piss him off.” “And yet, he hasn’t.” “Not so far.” Sherry places her cards in neat row on the covers. “He’ll hurt you, you know?” Her voice doesn’t waver, still perfectly even, like they’re just talking about the weather. “That’s what he does to the people he likes. He hurts us to see how much we can take. It’s his idea of fun.” She’s right, he knows that. He has seen it first-hand, the way Negan keeps taunting him, humiliating him, pressing Lucille on top of his shoulder, knowing exactly that every time he does, Carl keeps seeing Glenn and Abraham’s bloody faces. And yet, it irks him to have Sherry say it out loud, as if someone else acknowledging it makes it worse. “He hasn’t done anything to me,” he points out, because it’s technically true. “Not so far,” she replies, her eyes never leaving the cards, a dam of paper delicately erected between them.

Sorry for quoting this entire dialogue, but it means so much to me. Sherry is the first person in Sanctuary to see Negan's interest in Carl for what it is: dangerous. Sherry knows Negan more intimately than most, is probably closer to him than anyone else, as was made abudantly clear in 7x07, and she knows better than anyone that Negan's interest in Carl can lead only to disaster (while people like Carson see it as an honor). It's the first time anyone has talked to Carl about something that he has noticed himself - how interested Negan is in him, how the close interactions between them deviate from the norm - but that he never wanted to dwell on. She recognizes the cat and mouse game that Negan is playing with Carl and tries to warn Carl, but at this point in the story, Carl is not ready to hear it. If anything, he's upset that Sherry would remark on it, which is something that reflects the downward slide that Carl is on. He knows that Negan is "bullying" him (that's how Carl views Negan's interest in him) but he feels protective and possessive of that bullying. This Carl is starved for attention, the attention that Shane gave him unconditionally when he was a child, the attention that changed and became abusive when Shane was training him after his mother's death, the attention that started to shift away from him when they got to Alexandria, only to be given sparingly when Jessie wasn't around, and that finally vanished completely once they joined Sanctuary. Shane has done nothing but isolate Carl from the people around him, making Carl dependent on him for any kind of attention. Unbeknownst to Shane, however, Negan has been watering Carl's withered garden (little Queen Charlotte reference for any Bridgerton fan).

I could go on and on about this chapter and all it means to me despite the really bad title, but this post is far too long already so I'll wrap it up with this:

“I’m sorry, does this look like a fucking resort to you? Do you see me sipping Mai Tais on the beach? Yes, work. I’ve invested a whole lotta time and resources in you, kid. I expect it to pay off. So from now on, every day from noon to sundown, you’re gonna be my assistant. You’re gonna follow me around, watch, listen, learn, and generally do whatever the fuck I need you to do. And don’t expect to sleep in in the mornings. I want you working on your aim every second you’re not with me. First with those darts I generously provided for you, then with a gun aimed at dead ones in the courtyard, until I feel confident that you can leave the Sanctuary without shooting someone in the ass. Anything you wanna add to that?” Negan’s tone doesn’t suffer any objection and to hear him have so much faith in Carl’s ability to get his aim back is entirely unexpected. “I… No, I – it’s just I thought you were gonna send me away.” “Send you away? Kid, I don’t know what kind of crack-head-level, bullshit-inducing drugs Carson’s been feeding you, but you ain’t going anywhere. What makes you think otherwise?” Carl looks away, suddenly self-conscious. “It’s – I mean… I just thought – with the eye, you know.” Negan’s surveys him with his piercing gaze for a moment, before his expression turns softer. His tone when he speaks is understanding: “Carl, I’m not sending you away. Like I said, I’ve invested in you and I plan on having you around here for a long time. So you’re stuck with me, kid.”

On top of having one of the greatest lines Savior!AU Negan has ever said (I've never had a Mai Tai, but boy do I want one now), this scene lays the groundwork for everything that will happen after. The eye changed everything for Carl. It made Shane abandon him but it made Negan more interested in him than ever and, in turn, it made Carl's allegiance shift from Shane to Negan.

Conclusion; tldr: Chapter 3 is Carl's introduction to the world of the harem. He's sexually repressed so he doesn't realize that his discomfort of the wives is already rooted in jealousy. The wives, and especially Sherry, represent a world that seems wondrous to Carl: one filled with leisure and luxury and comfort and, most importantly, Negan's attention. By taking a bullet for him, Carl bought himself Negan's gratitute, a very rare thing that Negan tries - and fails - to reward with material objects (candy, sodas, sex with the wives, comic books). Negan is desperate to repay Carl for what he did, not knowing that the one thing Carl needs most of all is what Negan is already giving: his attention.

[emilykaldwen]

People are allowed to be upset and disappointed about the finale (and the season in general). We're all on our own blogs, we get to do that. Make sure you tag things appropriately (the a*nti H*otd tag is a handy one). But also make sure you step back and take a breather. This show should not be throwing you into a conniption fit.

For me? My final thoughts:

I'm more than happy for my feelings on this season to change over the hiatus. I know I'll re-watch the episodes in a few months and I'm able to sit and really go with the story and not react for the first time. I can just look at the season as a whole and see where it goes.

In a perfect world, they wouldn't have filmed during the writer's strike. In a perfect world, HBO wouldn't have cut their two episodes at the 11th hour. They wouldn't have had to throw out the fucky Sopochnik treatments when he stormed out, and when Matt/Emma/Olivia threatened to walk. The lead up to the production of this past season was a messy one, and I think it shows.

This season had good bones. When it hit? It absolutely hit. Episode 2 continues to be one of my faves. 2x06 was also fantastic. I genuinely was delighted and enjoyed the Riverlands arc. I loved Aegon's storyline and everything brought to it. I loved Jace getting fleshed out.

I absolutely was frothing at the mouth for the noting of how shitty the nobility is to the peasantry. Even if it was uneven and awkward, I'm glad that's getting brought up and brought in. God, Rhaenyra Cult Leader drinking the Targ Supremacy kool-aid? Loved that choice. Jace realizing his mother doesn't care for him/Rhaenyra making the same parenting mistakes that Viserys did? Loved it! And there are a lot of other things about this season I did love.

The acting was fantastic across the board, I felt so vindicated in some of these choices. I know a lot of us did.

But where the show disappointed me, it disappointed me hard. And the thing is, you can see where the writers are going with it, nothing is out of left field, it's all there... but I look at it as the same way you see someone taking the wrong route in the forest that will still get to a destination, but it's not the... don't go that way it's not a trail?

I think a lot of the frustrations with this season are absolutely because of the s1 missteps, namely that I think as a fandom everyone collectively agrees season one should have been two seasons. Season one should have ended with Driftmark. We should have had more time with the kids growing up, we could lay the groundwork.

We know that there was a lot happening outside of Condal's control with the issues and changes happening with HBO. It's unfortunate. And I think that exacerbated the issues in the writers room that were already there.

Fire and Blood is not a perfect book. It's a mock-u-history book that is very fun, with templates of who these characters were. They are not fleshed out characters, so the writers had a sandbox to play with. But we do know the basic foundations of who they are, and I think a lot of that got lost in the 'I know better' mentality that I really feel in Condal's interviews. There's expanding on ideas and then there's... 'I can do better/improve on this' when it doesn't have to be that deep.

Anyway, I'm still here, I'm still writing, I'm wholly amused that some of the convos and plot points are similar to what I've written and planned, because we are all playing in the sandbox.

Just remember everyone: This is the dragon incest fantasy show. It does not define you, it's not the end all be all. Don't harsh on anyone's joy, don't go off the rails with your anger and frustration. Curate your spaces, give people space, and always try to find the joy in things.

[gwenllian-in-the-abbey]

As a teacher, what has been your fave shakespere play to teach your students? What interesting themes do the kids these days pick up on or connect with? Has there been any interesting insights your students have brought that have surprised you?

Thanks for the question! So I haven't taught English since before the pandemic, because I finally found a school that doesn't reserve the history classes for the coaches (this kept happening to me when I moved back to the States, I'm dual certified, so I'd get hired for history and they'd move me to English when they hired a coach. This happened like 3 times), which is great for me, I vastly prefer teaching history. But did teach a lot of English previously and I'd say the answer really depends on the group of kids, their reading level, how much they'd been exposed to previously.

There's a reason high schools usually start off with Romeo and Juliet in the 9th grade. The story is not difficult to follow, most teenagers are familiar with the concept of forbidden romance, and the themes are age appropriate. I've taught King Lear, which is one of my personal favorites, to a group of very advanced and very keen 12th graders (so 17-18 years old), and I think even they were too young and lacking the life experience to really get it (it's kind of unfortunate that by the time King Lear hits hardest, which imo is once your own parents start aging, most of us are not reading Shakespeare anymore. Very few people read it outside of a school setting, nerds on tumblr notwithstanding). So it can be objectively more rewarding to teach a relatively basic play like Romeo and Juliet, than to teach a more advanced play like King Lear, even though I like King Lear better, simply because it's more suited to the age group.

But probably my favorite play to teach is Hamlet, which I've taught in both 11th and 12th grade. Hamlet is a broody young man, he's home from university and his life sucks, his asshole uncle has married his mom, he's pretty sure his dad was murdered, his girlfriend literally kills herself, there's a ghost, and no one is listening to him. It strikes a good balance in that it has some great soliloquys, including the famous "to be or not to be," that you can really dig into, but which don't get too far into the weeds and don't require a whole history lesson to understand. There are allusions, but they're mostly mythology based (like Niobe, all tears, Hyperion to a satyr) which makes them easy for the kids to look up. Importantly, it asks age appropriate existential questions about life and death (what's the point in living when you're miserable, is suffering noble, what if death is not better), stuff that teenagers grapple with. Macbeth is also good to teach because it's quite exciting with all of the murder, betrayal, and of course the witches.

It's been four years since I last taught English so it's hard for me to remember any specific insights from the kids at the moment but I will say that in general, one of my favorite lessons to teach each year in the Shakespeare unit was on the use of language. The kids fucking loved learning iambic pentameter. One of my favorite things to do was write a couple of lines on the board (I usually used two lines from Julius Caesar which were the same lines my own English teacher used to teach us when I was in school Poor man! I know he would not be a wolf/But that he sees the Romans are but sheep) and get them to beat out the meter on their desks. They thought it was so cool that iambic meter has the same rhythm as the human heart, and that it is more or less the natural rhythm of our speech. When we'd read the plays, I'd catch them tapping out the meter to themselves to test it out.

In general, I enjoyed teaching Shakespeare, but it was also a struggle. It's very hard to get kids who, for the most part, do not read for pleasure to read a whole play in early modern English. Mostly their reading consists of short passages as part of standardized testing, and they're very resistant to the very idea of Shakespeare, which they write off as old and boring. As a teacher I had to work very hard to make the text engaging enough to push past that wall and while there are always kids who are just not going to get there, every year I taught Shakespeare I was always pleasantly surprised by how many kids would get fully invested. I guess it's just fun when the kids are actually into the story. The themes are great and all, but Shakespeare wrote these plays to be entertaining and it makes me really happy when the kids are entertained by them.

[destinyc1020]

https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/glen-powell-doesnt-think-hed-appreciate-his-breakthrough-year-if-it-had-happened-in-his-20s-good-things-come-to-those-who-wait-193258591.html?guccounter=1

I'm sorry if this seems like a dead horse comment rn to make, but the decent to.last question and answer is what some fans of Tom need to hear, lol. "Good things come to those who wait." Both fans of TZ need to listen to this cause this worrying is so low iq. But rn we're focusing on Tom's fans cause those guys are doing too much.

They won't because they're not really fans but because they have blogs and make snide comments of other blogs/fans for not being as "passionate" of a fan because most ppl are not angry where his career is lol and are not black and white thinkers. They get mad when ppl use him being wealthy as success but desperately need him to do indie movies to get awards cause, according to them, those are the ones that pay bills? We might celebrate his wealth, but you guys are never going to get his awards, so I guess we both ain't shit. Sorry if I'm a toxic fan who wants their faves to be financially good as well as awarded cause being awarded when you're broke is most of hollywood post strike rn. Luca Guadagnino is in talks to do a DC movie despite doing Challengers and now Queer this yr. Is he washed?

Some blogs justifying their hate as opinins due to "pmsing" is crazy cause you all sound insane lol😭😭😭

I'm sorry Anon, I haven't had a chance to read this article yet because I'm at work rn. But thank you for bringing this article about Glen out. 🙏🏾

I DO agree with him that good things DO come to those who wait!! 😊 I also feel too that a lot of actors who get fame later on in like probably do tend to appreciate it more and have a totally different perspective on it because they've had to struggle and struggle for years. So their view (and their fans views) on fame, money, projects, etc might differ from those who got super famous at a young age.

Their fans also might feel a little differently and may not be so hard on their faves with regards to what films they should be doing, because they remember when their fave was just doing bit parts on TV shows and films, so maybe their expectations for their faves aren't so high and they may not get as angry by what their fave is doing, or NOT doing. 😅

Look, when you've been a fan of various actors over the years who are in a wide range of different places in their career like I have, you learn not to get upset or take things like an actor's "career" too seriously. You learn to chill. 😎 You're just happy to see your fave in smthg new, and you don't have all of these unrealistic or demanding expectations on them and their career.

You support them just because it's THEM, not because of what movie role they have lined up next.

Imo, more of Tom's fans need to be like THAT. But at the same time, I'm not going to invalidate anyone's feelings or judge what they choose to post on THEIR own blog. 😅🤷🏾‍♀️

[mengyao]

4 for strike dear mistress, 12, 17, 22 for fowd, and 46!

4. What detail in strike, dear mistress are you really proud of?

oh jeez. there are a fair amount in there tbh, since it was me trying to cram all of my headcanons about JC pertinent to foowd that couldn't come across naturally via NHS POV into one piece of PWP, but i liked getting to dwell a bit on JC's whole concept of marriage and how miserable he imagines it must be if it's not with someone he's already actively in love with… If he did put effort into looking for candidates, he can’t imagine anyone angling their daughters at him for any reason besides his name and position. Not with his reputation. He’s not compelled by the prospect of being politely—or impolitely—tolerated under his own fucking roof. He remembers his parents. How difficult it is to share a life. he's not even really wrong because i can't imagine that marrying some random 20 year old at this point in time would be emotionally fulfilling for him lol. he's framing it in this scene as being about his Perverse Sexual Desires but that's not really the issue… tfw you got promoted to authority figure as a teen but you're a baby brother to the core :( and you just want someone to genuinely like you for you, not just respect and defer to you out of social obligation :(

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

i think the opposite experience is more common for me lmao but i'm sure this has happened before. let me think. hnmmmmm i'm still very picky about amnesia fics but kitsch's bingqiu amnesia fic you are who you love outsold!

17. What highly specific AU do you want to read or write even though you might be the only person to appreciate it?

[shaky deep breath] Beefleaf. Madoka Magica. Fusion,

i litchjerally don't have more details about this concept than a very vague moodboard about um. girls who become witches (who pretend they're girls). cosmic entropy. does this make shi wudu kyubey or is kyubey jun wu? who can say. this is all part of my compulsion to assign all of my faves with "homura akemi vibes" regardless of if this is a real thing that they have

22. Who is your favorite character in flight of a one-winged dove and why?

[rihanna mario tweet voice] nie huaisang baby! nie fucking huaisang!!!!!

the reasons i love nhs (and foowd nhs specifically) are manifold so i shant elaborate on them here besides to say that for me personally, the characters i feel the most affection for are the ones who have a lot of problems that they didn't create but then who go on to create a bunch more problems for themselves and others, and you understand why they did so and they probably think they had no choice but it's like hmmmmmmmmm girl but did you really. did you really,

i like to pity my favs. just a bit. but also i want them to be happy whether or not they deserve it. you know how it is

46. Do you prefer writing on your phone or on a computer (or something else)? Do you think where you write affects the way you write?

i hate writing on my phone because it's so un-ergonomic and i have an on-and-off repetitive stress injury so i try to minimize the amount of typing i do on there BUT i do find that i often make different connections or get different ideas about how to write things when i'm on a phone, just because you're physically looking at the words in a different way, they end up arranged on the screen differently, etc… the "shape" changes… you can see much less words at a time vs. opening up a page on a computer screen… so i often do nitpicky little line edits on my phone, especially if i'm just reading a draft/wip file over idly on the train or before falling asleep etc (both of which i do a lot.)

my desktop computer in my room is where i do either my best or my worst writing, because i either get super in the zone or i'm sitting there totally distracted by everything else i can do on my computer/in my bedroom and have no sense of the external accountability that i'd have in a public place, or even out at the desk in the living room where my roommates can pass back and forth (i'm pretty good at writing deranged stuff in a small font stonefacedly which is the only way this is able to work)

[murder-and-mayhem]

ok I just remembered I liked that emoji ask post you reblogged yesterday to come back and send you an ask lmao SO, for any oc(s!!!!!) you want: 👁️, 💥, 🌙, 🙈, 🌌, ✏️ , 💘 (and if that’s too many just pick your faves of course!!)

OMG YAY!!! I'm so sorry it took me so long to post these. Work has been BRUTAL lately and it took me a minute to get my thoughts organized on these, but thank you so much for the asks! I'm gonna post them below the cut so people don't have to scroll through my wall of text because....well, you know me.

👁️ - What color are their eyes? Do people notice their eyes? Is there anything special about them (shows emotion easily, literally magical...)?

Jaidys/Torvahl - Both mother and son have very striking silver-blue eyes—nearly white they're so pale.

While Jaidys' eyes are one of her more prominent features, they often aren't the first thing people notice about her. Her appearance is a little eccentric for a Sith considering she favors all-white clothing and blatantly displays her slave brands. However, when people do look into her eyes it is a deeply unsettling experience. Her gaze is cruel, cold, and unyielding, leaving you with the sickening feeling that you are being stalked by a predator.

Torvahl inherited Jaidys' strange eye color, however where his mother's eyes hold malice, Torvahl's are distinctly kind. When he was younger he absolutely hated his eyes. Anything that reminded him of Jaidys filled him with absolute dread, and he assumed that others would only ever see a Sith when they looked at him. This was especially true when he first arrived on Tython. Imagine his shock when he arrived at the temple only to find out that he was actually rather...boring. Basically just another run-of-the mill human, and he was thrilled. He does get a lot of compliments on his eyes since they're his most noticeable feature. It always makes him happy to know that people find them warm and comforting instead of instilling the fear that Jaidys' gaze always inflicted.

💥 - What emotions do they have trouble dealing with?

Lizseth - Lizseth does not handle guilt well. At all. When she finds out the galaxy has gone to hell after her five year stint in carbonite, she is convinced that it's entirety her fault and the thought makes her physically ill. She feels like she abandoned her companions, her friends, her husband...everyone. Even though she knows that her imprisonment was beyond her control, it doesn't stop her from hating herself for not fighting harder.

In order to function, she essentially has to shut down all emotion, but she isn't as good at it as she thinks she is. As Alliance Commander, she takes every loss personally, and Lana and Theron worry about her constantly. When she slowly begins to reunite with her companions, her heart bleeds for the suffering they went through.

This is especially true for Torian.

When they finally have a moment alone on Darvannis, it takes him clutching her face in his hands and practically shaking her before he gets her calm down long enough to listen to him.

It wasn't her fault. It never was.

🌙 - What is your OC's greatest wish? How far are they willing to go for it?

Torvahl - Torvahl's greatest wish is to be reunited with his sister, despite knowing that there's a high chance she isn't the person that he remembers. He vehemently believes that at the very least he owes her an explanation for leaving her all those years ago, even if she refuses to forgive him—or worse, tries to kill him. It's a wish that he harbors in secret. The Jedi Council would hardly approve of him hunting down a Sith during his scarce moments of downtime, and more importantly wanting to reconnect with her goes against the Jedi Code. So, how far is he willing to go? His sister is important enough for him to break the very Code he's sworn to and risk his place among the Jedi, however he wouldn't put the lives of others at risk to make it happen. If anyone has to face the threat of death or exile it will be him and him alone.

🙈 - What's a side of your OC that they don't want to show other people?

Sehlaan - It may be cliché, but she struggles with showing vulnerability in any capacity, including her love life. She was raised to believe that any show of weakness was a death sentence—a belief that was often proven true, especially during her time at the Academy and during her apprenticeship. When she's on the battlefield, her stoicism is a virtue. She knows from experience that leading armies demands that she be a pillar of strength and resolve. Any crack in her façade could tank morale as well as put her ability to lead into question. This was especially true during the operation on Yavin-4 and during her leadership of the Alliance. One false move while commanding an army composed of two warring factions would have killed both endeavors in their infancy.

It's a different story when it comes to her relationships—both platonic and romantic. Her stubborn refusal to relinquish control and just allow herself to be a human being often did more harm than good. After being burned during her relationship with Malavai Quinn, she was determined to never let anyone worm their way under her skin again. Then she met Arcann, and she slowly began to open up in order to help him heal. She found it was easier to be herself around him, which in turn allowed her to open up in her friendships with Lana, Jaesa, and Theron. Sehlaan still has days where she struggles, but it's easier to remind herself that she doesn't have to be perfect all of the time—that she is allowed to have moments of doubt and to feel insecure.

🌌 - What was the inspiration behind your OC? What was the first thing you decided about them?

Sehlaan - I don't know if I had any particular inspiration for Sehlaan. She just kind of came to life in the character creator, and the more I fleshed her out in-game the more I loved her. The first things I decided about her? I knew that she would 100% be played neutral and eventually lean towards more light-side choices in a nice redemption arc. I also had her family tree sorted pretty much immediately. I knew she was going to be the daughter of my SI, and that she would have a Jedi brother.

✏️ - Is there a particular quote/lyric that you associate with them?

Jaidys - "A smiling face draped over stone cold eyes / reflecting a fire, fueled with lies" — "Vaudeville" by Priest

Lizseth - "She's a Killer Queen/ Gunpowder, Gelatine/ Dynamite with a laser beam/ Guaranteed to blow your mind" — Killer Queen by Queen (of course)

Sehlaan - "The darkness was a cocoon / Just like the moth, I escape the gloom / A sparkle deep within / Let out the flame that begot me to win" — "The Pit" by Priest

Edge lord lyrics probably but ✨oh well ✨

💘 - What traits do they look for in a relationship? Do they believe in love at first sight?

Sehlaan - Sehlaan does not believe in love at first sight. At all. She believes that you need to truly know the good and the bad that comes with a person—all of their quirks and annoying habits, the things that keep them up at night and the traumas that come into the relationship with them—otherwise you are simply in love with a façade. It's one of the reasons she and Arcann work so well together. She knows him inside and out, and every day she chooses to love the good and the bad that comes with him just as he does with her.

When it comes to relationships, she looks for comfort and solace. To her, being with your partner should feel like home no matter where you are in the galaxy. She also looks for a solid friendship in her partner. If she can't find common ground with a person and enjoy their company platonically, throwing romance/sex into the mix would only be a recipe for disaster.

Lizseth - Lizseth doesn't believe in love at first sight either. In her eyes, love at first sight is a prettier way to justify pure animal attraction. There's nothing wrong with lust. She just believes that there's a lot more work required than simply looking at someone and deciding you love them.

When it comes to partners, Lizseth wants someone who can make her laugh. If the person she's interested in has no sense of humor, she doesn't even waste her time. She also craves intimacy in all of its forms, despite being a bit of a hard ass in most other aspects of her life. She wants to be wooed by her partner—though not necessarily in the traditional sense of the word. She enjoys a good game of cat and mouse in her relationships. This means flirting, teasing, lingering touches, and heated glances—the thrill of the chase even if she's already in a committed relationship with that person. It all boils down to the fact that Lizseth needs to feel wanted. The moment she feels like she's a burden to someone, the relationship crashes and burns.

[platinum-iridium]

My first watch, Serena was one of my faves because someone (who I now suspect is an enemy…) told me something really gay was instore so I assumed there were hidden layers lmao. Plus I think I was also just so over Abbie I was relieved by the time she came around but watching now the lack of consistency is super irritating. The other second chairs definitely get a lot more. But I wouldn’t mind her coming back and working with Nolan though I guess she’d be above him now? Idk how lawyers work but seeing her be firm in whatever her beliefs are would be cool. Maybe they can give her a wife. Think I stopped around her lesbian reveal because it was so worthless lmao. I remember some DA(?) being found in a trunk? By then the show was background noise while I did homework so idek what the plot was. Don’t think it’s the Connie era but it could be. I don’t really wanna rewatch after s12 but are there any stand out Connie eps in your opinion ? I’m curious now since you like her so much lol

serena is more fun to watch if you look for hidden messages but deadass there's one episode you could choose to believe is foreshadowing and that's about it. that and the fact that there's absolutely not a hint of flirting with jack. i don't really like serena but a lot of that is because the writers just dgaf about really making her a good character. i will say, once they sort of settle in with the conservative DA, i think her character gets better because they have a built in ideological enemy and she doesn't have to fill that role anymore.

i don't know if i posted much about it but i really liked claire and jamie the second time around. i don't think either of them made a big impact on me the first time because i didn't find them relatable yet, but now as a career woman it's different. that's the case with van buren too now that i'm a manager of white men @ work. certain shit just hits different with more life experience. like claire's whole thing for older men was viscerally offputting to me when i first watched and the thing with jamie's ex husband was utterly unrelatable but their character arcs have grown on me with age. lowkey i need a whole post about that because claire was damn near a baby and they need to send jack to the hague. she was grown but jack really should have kept his hands to himself. he's the epitome of the "feminist" man. like just watching her slowly open her eyes to who he really was and slowly develop the ick was honestly great. wish we got resolution on that. serena as a defense attorney or a project innocence type would make a lot of sense. i have mixed feelings about how they brought jamie back. i was glad to see her but if they weren't going to do her justice they could have left it on the playground tbh. she always struggled with real person ethics vs lawyer ethics and i guess i'm glad they were consistent about that but it just didn't hit to me. it doesn't make sense to me that she would still be in the DAs office tbh just given her character arc.

also the DA that died (borgia) was a waste of a plot point. i really like connie but without actually watching it again idk why. somehow i found her kind of relatable but idk if she's particularly well written because i do remember them treating her like a very pretty lamp a lot of the time. honestly i went back and watched an episode i enjoyed with mike and connie (the one where you find out mike never got his bachelor's) and i can't in good conscience recommend that episode bc it's not that great. the twist was good but the writing was just trash. chile i had to go back to make sure i had at least one good episode to show. season 18 episode 16 "strike" is an excellent episode that features her prominently. also after rewatching it i like her because i relate to her a lot. i wish the writers let her come out of mike's shadow more but when she did, just damn.

[xazz]

(moth wing anon) oh I see!!! I will have to reread it and wait patiently then!

Oooo I remember a writing blog you had that I swear was beige or green in colour rather than purple haha xD but my memory is shoddy so my mistake!

I linger for the scraps of AC haha, not a Destiny fan :( (not my sorta game) but you got me started which I'm forever thankful for :)

Writing is hard so sometimes I come back to reread your fics of mine that are favs! (I also fully understand the writing for a new interest hehe I also do that! Currently I flit between 3 (semi)original work's of mine since I stopped writing for Fandom mostly since my late teen years (I return for a one shot every so often if inspiration strikes haha)

I also tend to send asks very rarely so I've been around a while so I'll live on my scraps and rereads happily... trying to remember the first fic of yours I ever read and it's hard it's been so long! I don't want to tab out of the ask and risk losing it but the one series I can remember reading earliest is probably Seal Beach when it was posted originally on FF.net and.... idk the name of it but the fanfic with immortal Altair/Ezio/Hawk (cos I think you wrote it before AC3 was released? Idr lol)

But yeah a long time shy fan, sorry for getting chatty here! I dooont tend to comment too much cos I'm shy even with the anon comment function on AO3 but I tend to go "Aaaaah!!!" And sign off as simply "D"! Anyway. I'm horrendously shy and probably said too much but apparently I felt like being a chatty one sided anon today,,, sorry about that

You may be thinking of my VERY old writing blog but I haven't used that in years and there's no Moth Wings on it *thinky face*

Seal Beach was a favorite of fans but I did take it down. I don't plan on rereleasing it anywhere but my patreon but it can be read there for $1 still as an archive.

And the immortal Altair/Ezio/Hawk is Flocking Movement and one of my personal faves even tho as far as fics go it isn't as popular. I have no idea why. Probably because the start is SO slow as I was figuring out what I wanted to do with it and there's some weird shit in 17th where I lose the thread a little. But I was like... 23? when I wrote it? If that lol.

Don't feel sorry. You didn't do anything to apologize for. I like talking to people who read my stuff! Especially my old AC stuff. People not talking to me about it is why I stopped writing it as much. Low engagement makes it feel unworthwhile to write and post. And for what it's worth I think you were very brave sending me some messages and you're welcome to do so whenever you want.

[esther-dot]

targ stans are a bizarre breed of fans. like i get having problematic faves. majority of us have them.

one would argue loki that tumblr once obsessed over is a problematic fave but targ stans mostly see no wrong in their favorites. from not seeing the characters for what they are (i would enumerate but it's a long list) to just cyber bully real life people who don't like targs in general. it feels cultish.

I’m not involved in the Marvel fandom, so I don’t know how they treat Loki, but when I saw fans saying, not just after GoT 8x05, not just after the finale, but even now, “Dany did nothing wrong” and “I stand with Dany” or in other words, “let the children burn” --it does strike me as, uh, worrisome? And then for those same people to harass, threaten, hack, dox etc other fans...well, yes, it does make them seem extreme!

My impression of the Marvel movies was that they weren’t particularly consistent with their framing of things. Civilians were only dying when buildings collapsed when the writers decided they did, before that, it was largely a consequence-free story for the heroes. That’s something other comic book stories picked up on and ran with, and Marvel started writing differently at some point. GoT, even as it veered away from ASOIAF, still had some morals it loosely operated with, the discussion of civilian casualties and injustice was not simply presented somewhere in the story, but specifically presented as a criticism of Dany by other characters from s1 on which meant we had some in-world red flags and guidelines that the fandom chose to dismiss. And even in the gear up to the finale, we had even more thrown on the table, but they fandom still insisted on ignoring her threats about leveling a city, burning POWs alive, destroying the food that would see people through the winter...So many things in the story that indicated Dany was on the “bad guy” (not charming rogue) end of the spectrum. While fans used every misstep of certain characters to condemn them, they refused to apply the show’s own rules/standards to her.

So, it isn’t that they love Dany while knowing what she was/what she was doing (which was how people I know talked about Loki), but that they, like a cult of personality, changed the rules to be as she dictated, rather than holding her to any standard. It was particularly gruesome because they wanted other characters killed for “justice” (anyone they believed wronged Dany) and truly don’t seem to think any of the civilians in KL deserved the same. It’s a shame that ASOIAF was adapted into a story that brainwashed people into thinking that murdering anyone who didn’t welcome their conqueror was reasonable.🤦🏻‍♀️

The ASOIAF / GoT fandom seem pretty inclined to create and revere BNFs, I’m guessing because of the absence of new canon content? They’re ravenous for new ideas? Which allowed this problem of a thought leader + lemmings, so then you not only have the love for the character, but the development of a “doctrine” and how you are (or are not) permitted to interpret things? I think that feeds into the Dany fandom extremism. When you lose the ability to question your opinion, to change your mind, that’s where the problem is born.

To prevent that kind of weirdness, it’s good to remember that Martin hasn’t written what happens next yet. We know King Bran and R+L=J, we know about Shireen and Hodor’s deaths (kinda), the fandom overall accepts Dany burning KL, but we know precious little else. Much of what we argue over is locked away in Martin’s mind and he has mentioned that what he intended to do is evolving as he writes. Good! That means the characters and story are still alive for him, speaking to him, wonderful! But it means for us as a fandom, we must remain open-minded. Reject the notions that go against everything the man has written (mass murder is ok when Dany does it etc), but stay alive, allow your thoughts to evolve along with the growth of the characters and their story. Consider new ways of interpreting things. I’ve said in the past that the best part of the Jonsa fandom was that as long as there was a general agreement about certain themes and characters, there was a lot of space created for good faith disagreements about interpretations of certain passages / foreshadowing / spec. It makes the fandom fun, it allows new insights, it prevents the weird cult stuff.

All that being said, I have seen clips of Aemond from HOTD, so I understand the appeal of problematic favs. That kid wears evil well. 😂

[noco7]

Favorite TD moments?

Thank you for the question. TBH the moments I remember most tend to be the funny ones BUT I will try to list out one fave character/plot moment from each season. RR: I think I talk about Emma's ending with Kitty before, and I've talked about the air guitar episode. So I won't talk about those. Instead I'll talk about the time MacArthur saved Josee's life by sharing her oxygen thingy majig. I love moments when enemies put aside their grievances in face of a bigger danger. Likewise, I like the scene where Tom&Jen finally get over their lil hissy fit and become friends again. They're not enemies, just besties going through a minor tiff, but still. I love a good reconciliation. Pakhitew: When Shawn saved Jasmine by facing his zombie fear. This whole season he's been battling his zombie-phobia, to the point of hurting Jasmine, and saying it's better to not get attached becaus then you'll prioritize your girl over your own safety.... but then he does it!! And becomes a better person! I rlly like Shawn lol. All Stars: Uhhhh. We'll come back to this one. ROTI: The time where Cameron got Jo eliminated. Jo had been using the guy as an underling, but finally he strikes back and it's great. She finally recognizes him as a real threat, he tells him "i learned it from you," and for at once Jo is at peace. It's a great transition moment too, because he's finally surpassing her. World Tour: It's my favorite season so I should have a bunch of moments to pick from but uhh. I think I like this season more for the dialogue than anything else. Uhh. I like the moment where Lindsay says she'd never laugh at her boyfriend, because Tyler had been the laughingstock of the season, yet she truly does care for him. It's so sweet. They're supposed to be the dumb-dumb couple, and they are, but they defend each other and help each other, and stay with each other, when other people would have given up. It's like allyship within a community. I love them. Action: This is small, but Justin's crush on Courtney is such a good character moment imo. It feels out of nowhere, but the guy has been struggling with the beauty vs brains debate this whole season, "Math is for ugly people," and he feels like it has to be one or the other. But then he sees Courtney and he's like wow she has the best of both worlds. And it's an epiphany. That you CAN do that. Yeah it's kinda silly that anyone would think otherwise, but it's a realization that would have a big impact. I HC that this is why he joined the Total Drama Brothers. Because he wanted to try something new that wasn't just beauty. And he chose music. Sure he's not good at music, but it's still new. Being a celebrity singer is a meld between being pretty and being good at music, so it's a good first step. Island: Uhh, gonna go back to All Stars now. All Stars: I think that the finale having a huge castle is cool. Island: Total Dramarama: Noah catching the ball. He may have objected to working out, and he may have made his teacher’s life hell, but when he caught the ball and realized he Could be Good at Sports, he was very happy. And it was rlly cute. Island: It's not that there's no good moments in Island but there's not a lot that resonated with me? I know Lindsay had a cool moment, that Harold saved his team again and again, that Courtney did something nice because of Duncan, that Courtney did something mean because of Duncan. I just don't care about Island that much lmaoo. Uhh. As a noco shipper I liked it when - *gets shot*.

[la-tramontana]

I agree, this is the correct interpretation of the situation. Go buy tickets, stream, etc. everything that you're interested in and would normally consume, but when we see the big quality drop in a couple of months, change your consumption according to how you really feel.

More than that: does anyone remember the general mills strike a few years ago? People vocally complained in public on Twitter about the drop in quality of e.g. cornflakes, with supporting photographs, and said that they would not buy the product due to it not being worthwhile anymore. That was extremely effective. It wasn't a boycott, it was a clarification to the company that their strikebreaking tactics were not going unnoticed on the consumer end.

Doing some productive complaining when we feel like it could be helpful.

"Man, those Barbie interviews were so fun, I really wish the studios would come to terms so we could be entertained like that again. The actors are really talented and should be compensated fairly."

"Man, it's too bad that Hollywood is pushing such bad and unreasonable AI policies, it's their fault we're missing Sandman. I'd really love to see that; I'm not so interested in this reality TV stuff."

"Man, I sure love Star Trek and I only got a Paramount+ subscription in order to watch it. I hope they settle with the striking workers' demands soon or I'm gonna have to cancel because there won't be anything to watch."

Make whatever your decisions are here very public. Boost strike content and Tiktoks from your favorite actors whenever you see it. It's less about their bottom line and more publicly showing your allegiance.

Put the responsibility for the strike on the shoulders of the execs and clarify to them that while you want to consume their product--and therefore they should care about your opinion--but that you are invested in a certain level of quality for that product, and want a good contract so that the shit they put out is worth your dollar.

Be aware that it is likely the companies will pay strikebreakers to say the absolute worst shit about the strike and the strikers in order to break morale and make it sound like it's coming from People Like You, their fans. It's very, very, very important to help the union maintain solidarity because holding onto morale is going to become extremely tough at a certain point. That's the point where your vocal enthusiasm for the strike, and potentially some $$$, is going to be critical.

Keep your powder dry. We aren't there yet.

But when that time comes, this isn't just about your faves or an abstract progressive cause. Back the labor movement and down the line it will help you put a dollar in your pocket, even if you have a non-union workplace. Tired of price gouging? Ridiculous scheduling? Low wages?

If we get a strong Teamsters or even railroad strike, stuff is gonna change in this country. But we need to show folks that it's possible and that we're willing to invest in labor. Successful strikes inspire more strikes. Support the long strike, show 'em how it's done, show all the other unions that they can count on the community.

(also, if you're bored, unionize your workplace. It feels like you're the star of a spy movie or a member of the Resistance and is one of the most badass things you could possibly do)

(also also, if that's a bad idea right now... don't you think it's time to make the union organizer AU as mainstream as the coffee shop AU, regency AU, and the high school AU? If you're missing your show and want to support the strike, why not do some detailed research and stretch a little? I promise it's one of the most psychologically interesting and stressful and funny situations you could possibly put your faves in, PLUS you're doing an educational service to the community. Why not??)

I’m curious as to where you all stand

Reblog for demographics!

[twistedmusings]

Reading Between The Lines

A/N: I feel bad whenever I say 'hey here is what I am working on' and then my muses tell me 'no...this is what you are working on'. It's like my brain can't concentrate on one thing entirely q wq. In my defense though, I'm exploring my twst faves...and Cater may be a runner up to Vil...

Warnings: Dry humping, dirty talking and a quick handjob just as unsatisfying and ungratifying as Cater feeling like maybe he shouldn't have let you go just yet.

“Whoops.”

Cater’s phone case cracked as it hit the floor, eyes locking with yours as you pull away from the Heartslabyul second year. Why had he even dropped his phone in the first place? The case had cost a lot and he had queued up for hours to get it, there should have been no reason for him to drop it.

Maybe the shock from seeing you in Heartslabyul?

No, that was normal. You were friends with Ace and Deuce after all so your presence in Heartslabyul was normal.

Maybe from seeing you in a bedroom that wasn’t a first year room?

He was coming to check up on a second year who had mentioned something about needing help in Astrology so Riddle had instructed Cater to help the guy out. The ‘strict Queen’ was aiming for the highest grade among the dorms, after all. So he was just carrying out his duty as an upperclassman!

So seeing you here, in this second year’s room, shirt around your elbows as a pair of hands--

that weren’t his--gently wrapped themselves around your waist was probably what made him drop his case.

Good to know, if he had come to that conclusion at any other time that you weren’t here, he might have said something mean to his lower-class men.

You move to fix your shirt as the second year rushes to apologize, walking up to him and spouting words Cater wouldn’t bother to hear. His eyes kept staring as you fixed yourself up to look a tad more proper than how he had found you.

It wasn’t like the sight of you in that state was unfamiliar to him, he just hadn’t seen it in a long time.

“Please just keep it between us, Cater-san! I don’t know what I’d do if the dorm head found out about this.”

He snaps out of his trance, looking down at the second year before grinning as he let out a slow hum, pretending to mull the request over in his head.

“Should I? If I remember correctly...Rule 345--Only when the sky turns red as it is dawning can a romantic partner be brought--”

“I--I’ll tell the dorm leader that you helped me with class!”

Cater grins, “That’s one way to make it up to me~ I guess for now I should leave you with a warning, right?” he tilts his head to call out to you, “The same goes for you [Y/N]-san! I can’t have you getting someone other than Ace and Deuce in trouble!”

He can't help but feel a sense of pride when you chuckle at what he had said, turning around to give him a peace sign as you walk by the second year.

“I’ll try to do an effort to hide in the closet next time.”

The second year takes your hand and kisses it, apologizing for the trouble and closing his eyes when your hands cup his cheek and pull him in for a kiss, the action making Cater look down at his phone and open whatever app he saw first.

You wave goodbye as Cater closes the door quickly, not giving you a chance to look at your second year lover fully as the both of you walk down the corridors of Heartslabyul in silence.

“So.”

“Hm?”

Green eyes keep looking at his phone, scrolling through Magicam absentmindedly but sparring you one look as he sees you scratching at a hickey--he would have left a bigger one-- the second year had left behind.

“Was he any good?”

In his defense, what had started between you two was clearly labeled as a ‘no feelings allowed, we are just here to have fun’ relationship. You seemed to understand his nature better than most and were down for something that wasn’t super serious and borderline erotic in a sense.

Cater was sure that you two had done it in at least one surface in every common room in Heartslabyul. The thought kept him awake at night, actually.

“Was he any good…” you repeat the question, “As good as I’m going to get from a second year.”

“Oh the poor guy.” Cater can’t help the snort that escapes him as you two walk down a set of stairs leading to the dorm’s entrance, “It is surprising you went for him, didn’t you mention that you liked the older type?”

“Well after a certain ‘older type’ decided to end things, I thought I should try my hand at something different. Change my ways, you know?”

He didn’t know. Cater had no idea what you were talking about, in fact. Why would you have to change your ways for anyone? You were amazing, interesting, entertaining and attention-grabbing all wrapped up in an older sibling type package that he had admitted to being attracted to when he had brought up the ‘friends with benefits’ proposition. If you changed in anyway he would be disappointed--

Dammit he was doing it again.

“If you want to start a relationship with someone in Heartslabyul, I would recommend Trey. He’s handsome, hardworking and you wouldn’t go hungry. Perfect man material right there.”

Cater knew that the small jab was directed at him so he decided to switch subjects, preferring not to linger in the awkward feeling that came with the consequences of his actions.

He ended things because he had broken the rules you both had set in place. Feelings weren't allowed and yet he had let them burrow deep inside his heart and fester like some sort of unknown virus. Cater didn't care for them so he nipped the problem in the bud, broke things off in an amicable manner and moved on.

But, like with everything in his life, it had all been an act.

If it had been just the sex keeping him awake, he would have understood. He's a healthy young man and some of the activities you two engaged in would make any first year jealous. And for a while the memories of you warming his bed generally did start to make him yearn for your warmth.

It was the possibilities of what you could have had that were driving him insane.

Would you have said no to a date? The only thing you two did when you were alone were have sex, make fun of Magicam models, sleep and then have sex some more so surely you would have liked a change of scenery as well.

But he didn't know you as much as he wished he did. Nights in his bed had been spent tossing and turning as to what your answer would have been. Why did he even care? You both still hung out, you still had his number, it wasn't like either of you were dead to each other!

Cater just didn't know how to react to you seeing someone else, if that is what you were even doing in the first place.

"Trey-senpai? I guess...he is rather sweet, isn't he?"

"In more ways than one."

"...but I will have to pass." you rub the back of your neck, "You know I don't like sweets."

The clock strikes ten as Cater's eyes take all of you in, his mind blanking out for a response before he clicks his tongue and points behind him.

"Say, Prefect, I think you may have left something in my room. Mind if I give it to you now?"

-----

"Oh. Your case cracked."

"Yeah. Dropped my phone. Bummer, huh?"

"Here I thought you held onto that thing for dear life, can I see it?"

Cater laughs as he takes his phone out of his back pocket and hands it to you, turning back to dig in his drawer for the sole sock that you had left about a month ago.

Who was he bullshitting? He was panicking, plain and simple. Here he was, rummaging through his drawer like an idiot as he pretended to have a sock that he knew he didn't have all to keep you with him for a couple more minutes.

Stars, who was he? He didn't know himself anymore.

“And...dammit.” he laughs as he closes the bottom drawer of his heart closet, “Couldn’t find it. I’m sorry [Y/N]-chan, I shouldn’t have taken your time like that. Do you want me to walk you back to the dorm...or maybe you wanna talk on the phone while you walk there?”

He goes to grab his phone but stops as he turns to look at you, your fingers tracing the giant crack on the case before tapping it twice in quick succession.

“[Y/N]--”

“We both really messed up, huh?”

Cater blinks as your eyes stare at him as if, for a brief moment, you could look through him. Through the act, the apathy, the very thing that was keeping him at the seams but also making him feel like he would burst from the inside out.

“...what do you mean?”

You keep gazing at him for a couple of seconds before smiling as you hold up the phone.

“I shouldn’t have snuck into Heartslabyul to just get a need met...and you shouldn’t have walked into that poor student’s room without knocking.” you wave the phone around, “Now your precious item is broken.”

The conversation didn’t feel right. It felt as if you were saying something else and all Cater needed to do was read in between the lines.

But he refused to, he didn’t want to go below surface level. Everything would get so much more complicated if you both took that plunge.

Yet he was feeling daring, the smile on your face a clear challenge as he walked over to you and grabbed the edge of his phone.

“Maybe I wanted to break it.”

Silence reigns in the room as you two stare at each other, both of your hands holding onto the edge of his phone and daring the other to let go. He smiles and tugs on his edge, the movement effortlessly pulling you towards him as you snicker when the edge of your foot touches his.

“Cater.” you whisper as your hands slowly let go of the phone.

“Yes?” he whispers back, purposefully leaning over you as he places the phone on his desk.

“Nothing. I just like saying your name.”

Whether he started it or you started it honestly didn’t matter to him, the only thing Cater cared about was pulling you close and pressing his lips against yours so he could stop listening to all of your complicated sentences.

He didn’t understand them, he didn’t understand you.

And yet you seemed to understand him probably better than he understood himself.

Arms are around his neck as you pull him close, Cater slowly walking you back to his bed as the back of your knees hit the comforter which causes both of you to fall down. You pull away to snicker at the action but are brought right back into the kiss by needy lips, Cater whispering your name as he pushed you upwards so that you would be pressed right against the wall--

He groans when you pull away and is surprised to be kissing a pair of fingers instead of your lips, your smile still as elusive as ever as you slowly push his face away.

“I have a lover, senpai.”

Cater rolls his eyes, “I don’t like those kinds of jokes.”

“I’m not joking. It’s late so I’m just going to go over to his room and tell him that you’ll cover for us, okay? Okay. ”

You pinch his nose as you try to push him away but find your wrists grabbed and locked in place, Cater giving you a hard glare as he presses his forehead against yours.

“I said I don’t like those kinds of jokes.” he leans in and gives you another kiss, “You’re not his lover.”

“Who says that?”

“[Y/N]-chan did.” Cater’s lips press against yours again as he makes his way down to the offending hickey the second year had left on you, “The way you talk about him, the way you weren’t even embarrassed at getting caught. You are toying with the heart of one of my second years and I don’t think I can forgive you for that.”

He nips at the bruise before placing his lips on it, teeth gently opening up more blood vessels to form a much darker shade on your skin than what was left there before.

“Is that all you can’t forgive me for?”

Cater smiles against your skin as he takes your wrists and leads your arms to wrap around his neck, pulling you into his lap as he answers your question with a kiss.

His tongue meets yours this time around, both of you giggling at the familiar taste. When was the last time you two had kissed like this? Nevermind that, the question was already too annoying to think about. Instead, Cater moves his hips upwards as he groans into your lips at the wanted friction.

He takes a hold of your hips as he pushes you down to meet him mid-movement, his hips rolling up as yours are pushed down. The movement is sloppy and the action itself feels so unsatisfying but Cater almost feels as if this is the only thing he deserves from you. If either of you enjoyed this it would mean you two went too far--

“Haha...look at your face.”

Green eyes look at you as you cup the man’s face, pressing a gentle kiss on his nose as you start to roll your hips on his, meeting him halfway.

“You probably want to cum inside, right Cater-senpai?”

His hips jump at the mere thought, the idea of you laying on your side as his cum drips down from your sex all the way down your thighs.

“We did it with protection a lot ~We always followed the rules of our agreement…”

Hands dive between you two, Cater’s eyes never leaving yours as he works to get his pants off while his hands try to unbutton yours as well. You smile and meet him halfway again, taking your own bottoms off and tossing them carelessly to the side as you both are left in nothing but your underwear.

“Every time we did it--you always looked like you wanted to do something else--”

Cater takes the chance of you biting your lower lip to go a bit faster, the tip of his cock rubbing against you at a faster speed as he changed position quickly and hooked your knees over his elbows.

“And at first---at first I thought it was just you getting bored…”

He gasps when two of your fingers press right at the tip of his cock, the way he was moving his hips allowing it to rub comfortably against the padding of your fingers as you gently cooed at the precum gathering there.

“But one time I was able to see it. See what you really wanted--!”

His own hand makes his way in between the mess of hips and stuttered movements, his fingers tracing a familiar pattern up and down your sex as he feels you pull him out of his boxers and start to pump in rhythm.

“If...If you cum after me...I’ll let you cum inside...”

It’s starting to get hotter, Cater feels like he can see his own breath fogging up his vision.

“Count it as reward…”

The coil in his stomach is tightening, your hands moving faster as his stutters with the rhythm you were setting.

“For being honest with me at least one time.”

It’s a sticky mess, the white stuff sticking to your belly and his as he rides out his orgasm against your hand and stopping altogether when the feeling gets too much. His fingers work overtime before your back arches and you give into yours as well, your toes curling for a moment before your feet hit the mattress unceremoniously.

He didn’t know where in the world that had come from or what possessed you to talk like that...but that was probably the hardest he had released in the month you two stopped interacting with one another.

Cater looks at the mess once again before moving to clean it up, stopping only when he feels a hand tug at the front of his shirt and a pair of lips meeting his all over again.

“Offer is still on the table, senpai.”

You unbutton the first few buttons of your shirt, smiling as larger hands batted yours away to continue the job.

“Please do your best to hold out longer.”

[breathinginthissilence]

Hello, because kudos or hits count in large fandoms is not always a reliable metric, what are your favourite Thorki fics that you'd recommend? (Because I remember your writing from Bedge and Jon/Stephen fandoms ;), so I know that you'd like the type of things I'd like). Sorry if this is out of line and thank you regardless

Oh boy here we go, lemme just scour my bookmarks though I bet I miss an important one BUT I WILL TRY AND THIS MIGHT GET LONG BECAUSE SO MUCH GOOD OKAY...in no particular order:

Stormbreaker by ladylapislazuli (a WIP but it was updated last month after 2 years so there is hope!): during IW, Thor travels back in time to when he and Loki were late teens, no one recognizes him, and Loki develops a big old crush that makes Thor go oh shit how do I deal with this and let him down without revealing I'm his bro, bro?

just in it for the game by grim_lupine: Post-Ragnarok, onboard the Statesman, people think Thor and Loki are fucking and Loki is like this is hilarious and also makes me look great...hijinks ensue.

Along a Desert Highway by triedunture: Loki gets cast out along with Thor during the events of the first movie. Just a sweet fic that warms my heart.

Eight Months of a Century by stereobone: Loki and Thor shack up with the Avengers to keep Loki safe because Thor totally knocked him up and Odin, they imagine, won't react well. Mpreg, I suppose, except kinda not since we're dealing with a being who is a shapeshifter and also magic, so

Soft Shocks by stereobone: Loki and Thor pretend to be married for typical 'Loki told the Jotuns this was the case' reasons. Features one of my favourite oh-so-convincing lines from Thor, when he says 'That's me, I am a husband' to convince a dude he's married to his bro...it's a whole deal.

Safe Passage Through the Anus by Anonymous: Grandmaster makes Thor and Loki star in porn, Thor and Loki try and pretend as though this is, like, totally the first time they've done each other. I died reading this

The Price by Ark: Thor brings Loki back after Infinity War, but there's a price. Bring tissues, but read this one 100%

Reveille by Ark: Thor wants to see Loki again. Bring tissues for this one too. All of Ark's stuff is amazing, but these two are my fave.

Faceless by thefirstwhokneels: Also a sequel that you should read. Thor and Loki keep visiting a tavern where you can sleep with anonymous people who have their faces well-concealed. They each get really attached to this one person: naturally, each other.

How soft your fields so green by ravenbringslight: Aliens make them do it. Loki is put out because the sex is...fine. He thinks he deserves better.

No Common Thing by ravenbringslight: Loki follows Thor to a brothel. It gets complicated fast.

Face hell and walk backwards into the light by ravenbringslight: Post-IW, Loki is dead but did a really bad job of crossing over. Thor is the only one who can see him.

Hug Therapy by astolat: Thor is trying to save Loki through hugs and other means. His therapist probably needs therapy herself after this.

Take the Long Way Home by cavaleira: Thor and Loki strike a deal.

Inside Out series by hjbender: Loki and Thor get together on the Statesman, it ends in Loki pregnant accidentally, there's a great 'poor Bruce' moment in this one as he deals with their bullshit

The Hope Only of Empty Men by Clarice Chiara Sorcha (claricechiarasorcha): SHIELD/Avengers do some dark medical shit to convince Loki he's pregnant as it calms him down. This one is a bit cracky and dark, don't expect a happy ending

Also Built On Ruins by coyotesuspect: post-Ragnarok, the council decides the solution to the Loki Problem is Thor marrying him. I adore this fic

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Ask on Army-Multi Behaviours and K-pop Fan Archetypes Related to ARMYs and BTS (Repost)

Anonymous: Bpp, I don't understand people who call themselves fans but instinctively reach for the least charitable interpretation when something comes up about their supposed faves. They remind me of one American friend who thinks it's a personality trait to complain all the time. Even about the most harmless things. And my Republican step-grandma who only comments on anything to criticize it. I wonder what their state of mind is like on a normal day, because their first reaction every single time is negative. And it's not just 'unpopular opinions' but just weirdly glossing over easy, accessible, and plausible realities that would explain something before coming here to complain, again. Does it strike you as weird when you see things like this?

It's weird to choose to remain in a space you cannot stop criticizing, a space you refuse to see anything good about, and a space you make no effort to partake in positively. It's not even critical inquiry because half their takes are uninformed. Their 'hot takes' are entertaining to read but at the same time they seem so sad. I mean who does that? The person I saw doing that this afternoon stans another kpop group and doesn't put nearly the same scrutiny as she puts on BTS and armys on her real favorite group that she comments on only to talk about shipping and it's like, don't they see it's obvious what they are?

**

Hi Anon,

You’re going to have to give me more to work with because I don’t traffic in indirects. But in any case, I guess welcome to the world and seeing how some people do things. As I’ve said in another post, if you’re a critical person, k-pop is the perfect genre for you cause you’ll never run out of things to be critical about, and you’ll always have a willing audience to affirm your gripes. No other genre elevates the opinions of random fans like k-pop lmao. I’m not American but even where I live I know people who like being contrarian. I don’t mind it because multiple perspectives are usually a good thing, so long as everyone gets their say and all aspects are considered fairly. This doesn’t happen often on the internet because nobody changes their minds here, but it’s typically a good sign to see people civilly conveying they think.

For example, I like that people are able to point out they find it excessive when fans freak out about COVID announcements because it’s true some behaviors border on irrational (even if you’re upset about it what good does crying all day do?), and I like it when other people can explain why they’re legitimately as worried as they feel. It’s called conversation. Or as close as one can get to that on Tumblr.

The rest of what you described just sounds like a regular k-poppie or multi as relates to BTS. It’s not about whether they listen to more than one artist. In fact, usually these sorts of people don’t really listen to music that much at all. It’s that they have a group they actually stan that’s not BTS, and usually use BTS and/or ARMYs as the crutch to comment on all they find wrong with k-pop, of which the group they actually stan of course has it’s own examples of. In my experience, those other groups/fandoms even have it worse than BTS or ARMYs, but again, in k-pop, nobody is actually concerned about the underlying issues. It’s about the subject. Normally I’d say BTS is the most prominent social phenomenon right now so of course everyone and their momma will be talking about them in every context, but this is a pattern I’ve observed with k-pop stans even before BTS became really famous. Like being hypercritical of BTS / ARMYs is the most consistent feature of a k-pop stan and it’s been like this for as long as I can remember loool.

It’s just what it is and I’m so used to it I hardly even notice it these days. I suggest you get used to it too because this is one thing that will definitely not change.

Originally posted: March 29th, 2022 9:32am

[morrisseyhaterr]

thank you sm for this long answer! get ready for some rambling from me too :)

i've talked about it on this blog before, but my favourite smiths song is definitely nowhere fast. it's such a typical "smiths-like" song, sounding really upbeat and happy, yet when you listen to the lyrics a whole different picture presents itself. honestly, i can't even sit still when that song comes on, because it physically gives me energy. i feel like i'm walking/dancing through manchester while pondering life with this song. the criticism of the British monarchy, the questioning of life's meaning and life in general, the anger, the sadness, but also the underlying hope for a better future - all this would feel forced in a different context, yet here, it all comes so naturally. i can't even explain why this song means so much to me, but it just does. the rest of the songs aren't in any particular order, i'm just listing off some songs that i love, have some memories attached too, or wish people would pay more attention to:

last night i dreamt that somebody loved me - there's a reason why this song is among both marr's and morrissey's fave smiths songs. the actual song feels like just haven awoken from a dream that was too beautiful, trying to get back to it, while wishing your real life was different - it REALLY achieved its goal for me - while the sounds from the miner's strike in the beginning not only make a statement against thatcher and neoliberalism, but also contrast the dream-like sound with real-life problems. can't say i never shed a tear to this song.

two songs i think are terribly, TERRIBLY underrated, are wonderful woman and london. you rarely see anyone mentioning these, but i think they definitely deserve more praise. (if you're interested in songs that don't follow typical song structures, i wonder how you feel about london?)

i definitely understand your praise for the song i know it's over. it's honestly up there with last night i dreamt for me, incredibly somber and the metaphors used just fit with the sound so perfectly.

finally, i know it's basic, but i just have to put how soon is now on my list. DEFINITELY a guitar masterpiece - it was johnny's goal tomake this song instantly recognisable, and he 100% succeeded - but what really maked me attached to this song is the time i first discovered it. at the end of last year, i was just starting to get into the smiths, and my grandma was in quite a bad condition (she is much better now, don't worry). i distinctly remember being on the train to visit her, and this song coming on. its sound perfectly complimented my emotions, despite the lyrics having absolutely nothing to do with my situation when looked at objectively. it made me sad, but also gave me strength.

i definitely understand not being able to pick a top 3, honestly, my answer to your question was all over the place haha - i could keep going on and on about songs i adore, but those were the first to pop into my mind. and definitely don't apologise, i'm happy to see someone as passionate about the subject as i am!

do you have a top 5/top 3/just a top 1 smiths song? if yes, which one and why? :)

See this is actually hard bc my list of smiths songs that I adore is longer than the list of ones I don't. I'd say in terms of favourites, I have a few that will probably always be up there, and some that i decide to rotate being obsessed with. but top 3 in no particular order are:

I Know It's Over - I tend to be a person who will obsessively listen to tracks, but not for long, because I get tired of songs very quickly. for some reason, IKIO is the exception to that rule - each time I listen to it it feels like I'm hearing it for the first time again, and I think it's because of the absolute complexity and depth of emotion - it's not so much of a song as it is a musical journey, a raw expression of pure emotional anguish. it's also a remarkably hard song to sing/imitate, at least initially, because it really doesn't have that typical verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus structure, and Morrissey's vocal delivery is incredibly free-flowing, rubato and expressive - it feels like the kind of delivery you'd get from a live performance, as though we're directly getting the emotions he's feeling at that moment, instead of something carefully constructed, which we know it is. also just the visual imagery of the lyrics - the soil, the sea that takes, the knife that slits, the sad veiled bride - it's all so evocative!!

also i am physically incapable of hearing the lines "it's so easy to laugh it's so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind" and not fall in love at least a little bit.

I Won't Share You - for IKIO I talked a lot about the lyrics and Morrissey's vocal performance, and whilst that's also part of why I love I Won't Share You, this one's honestly more to do with the music - the vocal line is gorgeous but I don't think Morrissey could have written it if he wasn't being pulled in that direction by Johnny's music. idk, it's the chords or something I think??? Anyway this is one of the most beautiful pieces of music I know, I did cry the first time I heard it, and I still do sometimes when it randomly decides to hit extra hard. Can you blame me??? I'm listening to the last song of the last smiths studio album and it ends with the lovely, gentle lament of "I'll see you somewhere, I'll see you sometime, darling..." It's a shame that Morrissey never does the last verse when he sings this song live, but I get it, it hurts too much. like same moz, it hurts for us too. and yeah, goes without saying but this is obviously a marrissey classic

Reel Around the Fountain - so this is the inverse, first track of first studio album lol. I first heard this track on an early autumn morning when the sun hadn't risen yet, and I put the smiths self titled cd into my car (it was one of the first cds I ever bought for myself). and I cannot. describe what a surreal feeling it is to hear those opening guitar chords hit after that drum beat as you're driving out in the complete darkness. (also!! those piano chords at the 4 min mark!!!!) it's an INCREDIBLE opener and such a beautiful representation of the smiths' music in general. It's also another one that tugs at my heartstrings - it's a pretty tune but there's also such a resigned feeling to the whole track. It's also the song that has the best demonstration of an aspect I like a lot in smiths songs, and that's the fact that a lot of the time it really feels like these songs have their own stories and characters? (even tho they’re not specifically narrative songs if you get me) the "you" in smiths songs is often not a generalised you (but rather a specific character that lives within the song), nor is the "i" always morrissey. I just always find myself wandering about the "you" and "i" of Reel Around the Fountain - i feel a great need to know them, which is silly

ok that was wayyyyy too much, sorry for the rambling lol. @morrisseyhaterr what are your own favourites?