#instead of provide or show the love they have for him in a meaningful way

[snap-crackers]

Some assorted Quirrells

[anantaru]

— his love language

including. diluc, wriothesley, kazuha, neuvillette, ayato, scaramouche, kaeya, childe

genre. fluff & crack, gn! reader

at a regular pace, diluc opens up to you and with such, he reveals that to him actions spoke louder than words, mainly when it came to your loving relationship. the master of the dawn winery wasn't one of sensual speech, in fact, sometimes he was simply at loss of words— hence why showing you instead was all the more easy. it begins in his eyes, how they're always focused on your frame and immediately pick up on when you feel fatigued, the weary expression on your face worrying him the moment you step inside. voicelessly, diluc guides you to your shared bedroom before telling you to relax— afterwards he'll pamper you, boundlessly, do whatever you need him to do even if it consisted of multiple tasks. easy to say, he will still check up on you, be there for you and most importantly, always anticipate your needs, never failing to provide support without hesitation.

everyone knows that words hold the power to uplift and reassure people and their souls, in addition to building bridges between two individuals and so did wriothesley find this to be the most wonderful gift on this planet. he speaks through heartfelt compliments he'd never let you pass on, encouraging affirmations whenever you had a bad day or an artful expression of his emotions through his phrases. within the lively city of fontaine, the man will watch you with earnest eyes and swollen cheeks, "you're so pretty, so beautiful," he was silly, right? making you flustered in front of everyone, yet his words flow like poetry, forcing you to melt as he expressed admiration for your person— a verbal drapery woven with sincerity and love.

since you have been in a relationship for quite a long time, you were aware of kazuha and himself being an adventurer at heart, never failing to perceive solace and joy in the quiet moments shared with you. it doesn't matter where you are, but when he invites you on a journey, you know it's going to end up becoming one of your most dearest memories. in the quietness of the night, kazuha's presence was a calming force and to him, love was found in the gift of uninterrupted time spent together, immersed in meaningful conversations and shared experiences, tender kisses and subtle touches. the connection you had was strong— everlasting, the presence and the beauty within embracing each passing moment.

neuvillette held a lot of personal knowledge which he accumulated throughout the trajectory of his life, although when it came to the relationship aspect of things, he was rather inexperienced. when you two started dating he picked up the habit of expressing himself through physical touch— not necessarily in a sexual way, but in the reassuring kind which brought forth tenderness and closeness, whether it was a hand on your shoulder or a comforting embrace after a long day. the iudex was fluent in intimacy, connection, and the sacred power of making you feel loved in the simplicity of his touch. without wasting time, he always has one arm around you or loved holding your hand as you settle down on his lap, perhaps even offering to massage your shoulders with his soothing touch.

granted, from an outside perspective seeing ayato spoil you with artificial goods might come across as insincere, yet people do not realize that every single gift had a special meaning attached to it. the yashiro commissioner always took it serious, going through the carefully selected goods as he prepared a custom order, securing the gift with a personal meaning and significance. expressing his love for you through gifts and handmade material shone of thoughtfulness and well, there was one necklace that might be your all time favorite. it was when he surprised you with it on your anniversary— and as you inspected it much closer, you admired the complexly designed metal with symbols of his love and the harmony in your relationship— it's utterly beautiful, you tell him as he helped you put the necklace on, the little diamonds attached to it reflecting a deep appreciation and desire to convey his feelings to you.

opening up was hard for scaramouche, yet he realized that if he wanted this relationship with you to be harmonic, he needed to learn and work on it. the moment you feel him open up to you, you couldn't be happier, truly— not only was it a clear sign of effort on his part, but also the willingness to share a hidden piece of himself. despite his rather aloof demeanor, he possessed a subtle way of showing you his trust, in fact, he always needs you to show him that you accept his past no matter what. was it tiresome? not at all, despite some people believing that a relationship like that could become troubling in the future. yet they cannot fathom the deep link you both have and how it came to be. ah well, how beautiful when he holds you in his arms and kisses your forehead before starting to open up, your expression softening momentarily at the calm look in his eyes. it's right there, look close now, when you catch a rare glimpse of appreciation and a hint of vulnerability beneath his composed facade. he's in love, truly, and so are you.

a world without laughter, sounds scary, correct? kaeya believes that everything works more efficiently if you add a little comedy on the side. in your relationship, there was nothing he adored more that laughing together— because in a way, it felt like it strengthened your bond and eased the burdens in your life. spontaneity was another important aspect, you'll never know what the charismatic cavalry captain has in store for you next and you couldn't help but love that about him. really, he had a magical power for defusing tension with a well-timed joke or cheeky banter, finishing it off with messy kisses all over your face and demanding for you to give him a kiss back, in fact, as one might already guess, a world without laughter and without kisses might be straight hell in all of teyvat.

the eleventh harbinger's heart burnt for two different things— first of all it being you, his loved one which he would quite literally do anything for you to be happy, while the second being the thrill of adventure and the willingness to embrace spontaneity, face challenges head-on and earn boastful scars all over his body as a form of trophy. childe's enthusiasm was contagious to the point where the both of you would go on adventures together, or simply try out new things in order to feel a shared sense of adrenaline. freedom was everything in his life, but what mattered the most is for you to be safe— hence why he would never put you in any danger, instead he'd rather get in trouble himself so you could patch him up afterwards. childe knows it's not healthy to get himself hurt on purpose, but feeling you take care of him with your soft hands tracing all over his chest was making it worth it in his eyes.

©2024 anantaru do not repost, copy, translate, modify

[paper-mario-wiki]

Shangri-La Frontier mid-season review

This is by far the best fake video game I've ever seen written in fiction.

Most MMO-centric isekai stories have trouble with providing accurate and realistic depictions of the complexities and minutia that give MMOs the allure they have. I've seen so much handwavey bullshit tacked onto fake-games that introduce unrealistically overlooked mechanics for reasons like giving the protag immense power just because they're the protag and the story is about them. A good example of this is another MMO Isekai airing this season, "A Playthrough of a Certain Dude's VRMMO Life", wherein the main character becomes extremely rich, powerful, and famous by episode 2 because he stumbled into a stealth archer playstyle, a build which apparently no human in that universe had ever conceived of before, and then making a fortune by selling basic potions to everyone after NPCs stopped selling them (another thing he was uniquely able to do because not a single other player had the forethought to spec into alchemy). These lesser, dime-a-dozen isekai add up to be boring fantasy strories with gaming elements clumsily put in so that the author can demonstrate how powerful the world's inhabitants are by showing their stat allocation screen instead of, say, explaining anything about what they do that's so uniquely powerful and how they figured it out. Ya know, stuff you'd hope to hear about from any competent story.

Shangri-La Frontier is a breath of fresh air for anyone who, like me, is sick of authors ignoring the things that actually make video games compelling in service of creating a stock-standard narratives in fantasy worlds because it allows them to get away with bullshit. I've always found it very convenient that many isekai narratives indulge in things like chattel slavery, because it's societally normal enough for the protag to purchase a beautiful, vulnerable girl to add to his harem (dont worry, she is always inexplicably in love with him no matter what because he's SUCH a kind master). And it never really seems to go anywhere. Because the Video Game Isekai, while an interesting premise in theory, is more often than not used exclusively as a means to simplify the structure of a world's power scaling to abide by an arbitrary set of omnipresent universal rules (e.g. what people who have never cared to look into game development think of video games). This anime, by comparison, is VERY clearly authored by someone who plays a LOT of games.

Every piece of logic used to drive the plot forward, so far, is congruent to a real-world example of video game conventions, and I'm not just talking about levelling up and selling monster parts. Story elements that I've rarely (if ever) seen explored in other isekai are ever-present and genuinely clever and amusingly introduced. My favorite example of this so far has been the way the protagonist has been able to go head to head with so many overlevelled foes in the first 9 episodes. The story of course makes note of how good of a gamer Sanraku (our hero) is, but much like in real life games, being super duper good at dodging attacks doesn't really make up for a 70 level gap in items and learned skills. For that reason, he gets his ass whooped more often than he actually outsmarts others (so far he hasn't beaten a single player in pvp). So how is he getting out of these situations without dying so frequently? Simple: he got access to a later area too early relative to his level (sequence break) and got access to a high level follower NPC that's been carrying him. This is something he acknowledges directly several times, specifically using words like "Emul has been hard-carrying me for a while." This, to me, is extraordinarily meaningful. That's something you can exploit in Skyrim, man. That's REALISTIC CHEESE STRATS. The excitement and wonder I find in this show doesn't come from watching the protag do something unexpected, but by watching him do something that I would think to do.

This knowledge the author has demonstrated regarding modern gaming culture extends further into the actual realistic nature of game design and community. The story exists in a reality where full-dive VRMMOs are the be-all-end-all of gaming, and given the prohibitively expensive nature of developing and designing expansive, immersive worlds, most games are pretty shit. It's been hinted at so far that this is due to a monopolistic megacorp which is one of the only entities rich and powerful enough to make a good game (the game in question being the one that shares the title of the anime), but so far the strife of the characters have been pretty centralized to the happenings of the game world and its politics. By the way, lets talk about the game world's player base politics, which I'm also quite pleased with. It exists in the form of guilds and clans who struggle for power not by participating in seemingly random pvp with other powerful players to see who is the most epic and badass warrior (again, like many contemporary isekai typically opt for), but by gaining actual realistic support from a fictional playerbase with realistic desires and playstyles. Some guilds are interested in lore, some gather for alliance and boss raids, some for things like animal husbandry, and (naturally) at least one is dedicated to trolling and PKing. Each of these factions, through the very little that we've seen of them so far, communicate on forums and only know as much as is reasonable for them to know. The only reason they give a shit about the protagonist at all is because he gained access to a high-level unique scenario quest that they want information on how to access, and the only reason word of that got out in the first place was because someone posted a screenshot of him with a unique NPC onto a forum, asking about it as "where can i find this pet summon, its super cute!" That's real. That's video games, baby.

I like this show a lot so far. I like that it cares about video games, but I also like its writing. I like the main character and how hes less of an ultra badass super cool guy, and more of an earnest challenge-run lets player. Like, a lot of his dialogue straight up sounds strikingly similar to Japanese youtubers. And he's naturally always quick to point out inconsistencies in the game world's logic. I ALSO really like his community of pals from a janky old fighting game, and I ADORE the girl from his school who has a crush on him and also just so happens to be an exceptionally high level player from a top clan, and how she had to spend 9 episodes working up the courage to send him a friend request. I love that so, so much, dude.

I highly recommend this show if you're into a single thing I've mentioned. The animation is great. The world is beautiful. The character design is immaculate. And I'm looking forward to watching it continue.

[sankta-wraith]

One thing I think is really important when it comes to understanding Daemon and Rhaenyra's relashionship is the fact that Daemon doesn't show his love through words, he does it through actions. Quite frankly I'm not sure he knows how to verbally express love. He can't support her emotionally, but he can still do other things for her.I think this is shown really well in season 1 episode 10 and season 2 episode 1.

When Rhaenyra learns of her father's death and the Green's usurpation of her throne, she goes into premature labor almost imediatly, so there is no time for her to start planning her bid for the Iron Throne. Daemon takes the liberty of starting to plan the beginings of the war, and in doing so leaves Rhaenyra to endure childbirth alone. There is a very memorable scene in which Daemon schemes with Rhaenyra's small council at the Painted Table, whilst Rhaenyra screams in the background, even calling out for him at one point. Daemon makes no move to go to her and simply continues to plan a war, at least until Jace informs him that Rhaenyra doesn't want anything done until she is able to join them. Even then he does not join her. He goes to threaten two members of the Kingsguard with Caraxes, so as to ascertain that they will remain loyal to Rhaenyra. Now, when I first watched this scene, I, and probably everyone else, assumed that Daemon was taking the opportunity provided by Rhaenyra's premature labor to seize control and have the war start on his terms. Rhaenyra also seems to believe this, as when Jace inquires about Daemon's wherabouts she says "Off planning his war." However, upon rewatching that episode, I think that think that Daemon refusing to attend Rhaenyra in her labors and instead planning a war for her, is actually his way of trying to help her. Daemon is thinking that, while he does not know how to comfort her, and hold her hand, and help her through childbirth, he does know a thing or two about war. In his mind, he's essentially saying something along the lines of "I cannot help you there, so let me remain here where I am of use to you," because, as I said above, Daemon expresses love through his actions, not his words. I think at least part of him wants to be there for Rhaenyra, but he just doesn't know what he can say or do that would help her, so he focuses on what he can do: getting the council together and starting to plan, so that when Rhaenyra comes back he can show her that he's done something of use.

Then, when the child is stillborn, Rhaenyra once again needs comfort and reassurance that Daemon just does not know how to give. There is a scene of them, standing in front of their daughter’s funeral pyre, and you can see him give her this very concerned look, and kind of glance over like he wants to say something, but he doesn't, because he just does not know what he's supposed to say. Then Ser Erryk (or maybe Arryk, I can never remember,) arrives with the crown, and Daemon is relieved because he might not be able to offer her kind words, but he can be the one to put that crown on her head. A gesture that is even more meaningful if you consider how much he wants that crown. By being the one to physically place the crown on her head, he is telling her "I'm sorry that I can't be there for you, but I love you and I will support you." Then they go back to the war council, and Rhaenyra is asking about their numbers, and Daemon is the first one to speak. He starts talking almost before Rhaenyra finishes asking, he seems almost eager (even though their numbers are nothing to be eager about,) because she's finally asking him for something he can give. This is his chance to show her that, even if he cannot be there for her emotionally, he can still do this. He can organize this war and help her win, and do damn good job of it. This is really how Daemon says "I love you."

Then fast forward to 2x01, and Luke is dead, and Rhaenyra once again needs a level of emotional support he's simply not equipped to give, only this time, there is nothing else he can do to help her. He tries to convince Rhaenys to fly to Kings Landing, but she refuses, so he can do nothing except sit around, helplessly, while Rhaenyra mourns. Then she comes back, and he tries to be supportive, by asking if she "found what she needed," but she doesn't answer him. Instead, she declares that she "wants Aemond Targaryen." In Daemon's mind, she has essentially told him that to comfort her, he must have Aemond killed. So he uses his contacts in the City Watch to arrange it. I think one of the reasons he gave Blood and Cheese such vague instructions as to what to do if they can't find Aemond, is because he needs something for Rhaenyra. He can't be helpless any more. (Note: I am in no way condoning Blood and Cheese, or saying that Daemon did the right thing. I am simply trying to understand him and his choices better. Please dont come after me.) But then it fails. Catastrophically. And not only has Daemon failed to help Rhaenyra, he has made things much worse.

So he goes to Harrenhal to get the support of the river lords. But, so far, he has achieved next to nothing. (Obviously he's been busy with the hauntings and home renovations.) But he will not admit to Rhaenyra that he's failing miserably, so he ignores her ravens and sends none of his own. (I don't believe any of the bullshit Ryan Condal is trying to spin about him betraying her.) Because he will not go back to Dragonstone empty handed. Because to Daemon, that would be like telling Rhaenyra he doesn't love her anymore.

[mercillery]

ANDREW KREISS RELATIONSHIP OVERVIEW

WARNINGS: GENDER NOT SPECIFIED + MENTION OF ABLEISM + OOC? + NOT PROOFREAD

NOTES: Andrew mains let me put you in my pocket and take care of you. And quit your jobs too, I will provide for you all.

Being in a relationship with Andrew is an adventure in patience, understanding, and love. Sure, love is a given in any relationship, but with Andrew, it's essential to navigate his unique quirks and preferences with a touch of extra care.

For instance, Andrew dislikes sunlight, so when it comes to planning dates, be prepared for moonlit strolls and stargazing rather than sunny picnics and beach outings. If you’re a sun worshipper, it’s time to stock up on moonblock instead.

Crowds? Forget about it. Andrew thrives in the quiet corners of the world, where the population density is low and the ambiance is serene. He’s the quintessential introvert, the kind who’d rather have a cozy evening at home than a bustling night out. If you’re the life-of-the-party type, this might require some adjustment.

When you first start dating, don't be surprised if he stumbles over his words or gets flustered over the simplest things. A casual brush of your hand against his might send him into a blushing frenzy. He might awkwardly laugh at things that aren’t jokes or offer you a flower he picked up without realizing it's a bit wilted. It's all part of his charm, though.

Andrew’s awkwardness comes from a place of inexperience rather than indifference. He genuinely wants to give you all his love and affection, but he’s not quite sure how to go about it. He’s learning, slowly but surely, how to open up and let someone into his world. Please be patient with him.

The early days of your relationship might be filled with small, tentative steps. Once he’s actually comfortable around you enough, maybe he’ll invite you to the cemetery, showing you his world in a way that’s meaningful to him. Don’t be surprised if he seems more at ease there, where he’s surrounded by the familiar. It might seem unconventional, but for Andrew, it's a big step toward letting you into his life.

His awkwardness is part of what makes him so endearing. Every hesitant smile and gesture is a sign of his growing affection for you. He's new to all of this, and it feels weird to him, but in the best way possible. As he becomes more comfortable, you'll see glimpses of his true self—a kind, thoughtful person who’s just been waiting for someone to understand him.

I think it should be flat-out obvious that Andrew is not one for grand displays of affection. Don't expect sweeping romantic gestures or elaborate declarations of love. He shows his feelings through small, meaningful actions that speak volumes about his deep affection for you. You might find a single flower left on your pillow, a delicate token of his feelings. Or, during difficult moments, he'll be there, quietly holding your hand, offering comfort and support without saying much.

Andrew has a way with words, but he prefers to write them down rather than speak them. You might receive handwritten notes from him, filled with poetic descriptions of his emotions and how much you mean to him. These notes are treasures, capturing his heartfelt sentiments in a way spoken words often can't.

His love language is all about acts of service and giving thoughtful gifts. He'll go out of his way to do little things that make your life easier, whether it's fixing something around the house, cooking a meal, or simply being there when you need him. These acts, though seemingly simple, are his way of showing how much he cares.

As for gift giving, receiving gifts from Andrew is always special because they're never random. Each gift is chosen with care and has a personal significance. It could be a book he knows you'll love or something that reminds him of a special moment you shared.

Having been the victim of ableism and cruelly labeled the “white-haired monster” because of his albinism, Andrew struggles with the painful memories of his past. These experiences have left deep scars, making it difficult for him to trust and open up to others. However, he trusts you and is comfortable enough to lean on you for emotional support, finding solace in your presence.

Andrew’s past is a heavy burden he carries, and it’s not easy for him to talk about it. The wounds from being ostracized and misunderstood run deep, really deep. That being said, he’ll seem distant or reluctant to share his feelings. But with your gentle encouragement and unwavering support, he slowly begins to open up. It’s a gradual process, marked by small breakthroughs and quiet conversations where he reveals his inner turmoil. Your compassion acts as a balm for his wounded soul, helping him to heal bit by bit.

And if you reveal your own issues to him, Andrew gives you his full attention. He wants to be there for you just as you have been there for him. He may not always have the right words to say, but his presence and understanding are more than enough.

He might not be an expert in comforting others, but he genuinely tries his absolute best to make you feel better. His attempts might be awkward or clumsy, but they are always heartfelt. Whether it's sitting quietly by your side, offering a reassuring touch, or simply listening without interrupting, Andrew’s efforts show how much he cares.

He understands how much it means to have someone there during difficult times because he's been on the receiving end of your support. He wants to reciprocate that same level of care and understanding. His empathy runs deep, and even if he struggles to find the right words, his actions speak volumes. He might bring you a small token of comfort, like a warm cup of tea or a favorite book, as a way to show he's thinking of you.

In those moments when you need a shoulder to lean on, Andrew's there, providing a quiet, steady presence that offers a sense of calm and security. He knows the value of having someone who listens and understands, and he strives to be that person for you. His dedication to your well-being is evident in the way he prioritizes your needs and makes an effort to be there for you, just as you have been there for him. He wants to make you feel the same way you make him feel when he opens up about his own issues: understood, valued, and better.

If you ever want to surprise Andrew and watch him melt, gift him iris flowers. He has a special fondness for irises because someone once told him that iris will turn into a rainbow and carry kind souls to heaven.

So when you give him iris flowers, it’s not just a gift; it’s a gesture that genuinely touches his heart. The fact that these flowers come from you, the person he loves, makes the gesture even more meaningful. You’ll see his eyes light up and a smile spread across his face as he gently takes the flowers.

Andrew might hold the irises with a reverence that speaks volumes about how much this gesture means to him. He might even get a bit emotional from the simple yet profound act of receiving these flowers from you, evoking a deep sense of love and gratitude. In his quiet, heartfelt way, he’ll thank you, stumbling over his words as he tries to express just how much this means to him.

Your relationship is built on these little moments, these quiet acts of love that speak louder than any grand proclamation. It’s a partnership where both of you bring out the best in each other, healing wounds and creating a bond that’s deeply personal and profoundly touching. And if anyone asks, you can always joke that your love story started in a cemetery with a guy who’s more comfortable with the dead than the living—but who learned to cherish the living soul who loves him.

[the-fo0l]

Micheal Scofield dating hcs

notes: it's criminal crazy kooky insane how little content there is for this show

warnings: gn reader, s1 lore, super soft fluff!!!! also idc if u think its out of charater let me be delulu

he's so babygirl

a very devoted boyfriend (im pretty sure i say that in all my hcs but its true!!)

just so soft and polite and gentle with you aaaaa

doesn't notice just how hard he's fallen for you until he has to be apart from you a long while

such a gentleman, his intentions towards you are always respectful

before you we're offical he had quite the crush on you

sometimes you could notice that cool, calm, witty demeanor of his becoming more bashful and jittery around you

daydreamed a lot about you and your potential future together. what it'd be like to live with you, to start the day by your side, how you'd show affection, how you'd express diffrent emotions, what you'd talk about, your niche interests and quirks— etc

slightly creepy but he did do a bit of research on you to make sure he hit it off with you as best as he could

always says good night and good morning, over text if not in person

just imagine waking up, still cuddling, but with a little distance so he can properly take in your sleepy morning face

him just gazing at you so lovingly, his gentle smile growing a little bigger seeing you open your eyes, then moving one hand from your waist to caress your cheek and murmur "good morning" with his sultry morning voice

GOOD LORDDD

he developed a new-found love for his job when you two started dating cause thanks to it he can properly provide for you

and provide he does

doesn't think you should have to work a day in your life (unless you wanted to)

he'd hate for you to stay at a job you're miserable at

super proud of you for all your accomplishments

when you have to seperate while walking to avoid something in the street, be immediately reaches back to interwine your fingers again

expresses all love languages in some way but 'acts of service' is his main one

amazing at gift giving and romantic gestures

just when you think he can't possibly out-do last year's anniversary/birthday gift he suprises you with something super elaborate and meaningful

absent-mindedly makes origami flowers for you at work. you'll also find them all over your apartment, some hidden, some in plain sight

at some point he started writing messages on them. some with the most loving praise you've ever heard and some w cheesy pickup lines

p.s. he grins ear to ear when he finds out you've got a special box for them all instead of throwing them away

when you're both still a little tired in the morning, or when either of you comes home after a long day, he peppers delicate kisses all over your face, ending with a deeper kiss to your lips

your touch just makes all the headaches of his day-to-day melt away

also takes both your hands and kisses your knuckles while looking at you with all the love and admiration in the world god lord

okay enough with the kissing!

always opens doors for you

compliments you often, and always uses words like stunning or beautiful instead of "hot

loves making you flustered with praise

he's an amazing listener, and he looooves listening to you talk

also, he's quite intense with the eye-contact

he thinks you're the most gorgeos person in the world what can i say

it might seem like he's not paying attention sometimes cause of how lost-in-your-eyes he seems but i assure you he remembers every little thing you say

nods along and hums a little to let you know he's listening

"i remember you said you liked this, so i got it for you" typa guy

you're happy = he's happy

will often sometimes call you to talk about nothing really important, more just for the sake of hearing your voice

and if you're not much of a talker that's fine too, the silent moments you share are never awkward

he's canonically super observant, so if you changed anything about your apperance or if you were in a bad mood he'd notice right away, even if you tried to hide it

great at comfort too, that silky-smooth voice of his knows exactly what to say

he's a very handsome guy (i mean cmon just look at him) so he tends to get hit-on quite a bit

he'd always brushed it off before but ever since he set his sights on you he's been very adamant on very clearly and quickly rejecting others' attempts

when he was making plans to break linc out of prison, a huge amount of his focus went to making sure you were kept safe during the whole process

having you be there from him after news broke and after linc got the death sentence already meant so much to him

so when he trusted you the broad strokes of his plan, and you supported him??? ohmygod this man fell in love with you all over again

yes, he was worried, but he had to tell you, spending days obsessing over prison schematics and getting full body tattoos is rather hard to hide from the love of your life after all

granted, he could have broken up with you and tried to rekindle after he'd escaped, but be fr he could never bring himself to dump you

you never know what may go wrong, and his love for you wasn't exactly a secret, so he took every precaution he could (as in like if someone wanted to harm you cause of your association with him)

he was still super anxious to let go of you

gave you the most passionate and desperate kiss before he went to prison

gets really really homesick for you

calls you whenever he can

would sometimes get teary-eyed from how hard he misses you before falling asleep in his bunk

would lose his mind if something didn't go according to his carefully constructed plan and put you at risk, cause there's not much he can do to control what happens outside foxriver. if t-bag ever found out about you he'd. freak. out.

he's willing to go to great lengths for the people he cares about (it's like the whole plot of the show), so you'd better not play w his beloved

on the rare occasions he has down-time in prison his thoughts always go to you and what you might be up to

he's surrounded by murderers daily and has the gall to be worried about you

sucre would pester him about his love-life a lot. insisting that he recognized yearning in michael's distant expression and saying that no single man could've helped him woo maricruz with that letter (michael writes love letters for you too)

sucre does eventually pull it out of michael and becomes just the biggest supporter of your relationship

this was kinda messy huh

[gumbaigumbai]

Grievances regarding the VIZ 310 translation

Obviously 310 spoilers ahead This is the VIZ translation from the physical copy of Volume 31

For comparison, here is the fan translation (by EverydayHeroes) that I read my first time around

To preface this, I have absolutely zero knowledge when it comes to reading Japanese, so I have no idea which translation would be "more correct," but this is a rant on my own opinion over why I think the EHscans translation is better suited for this scene.

One of the glaring differences is the exact word Ogata uses to describe himself with; a "fuckup" vs someone "defective." I believe depending on which is used, a vastly different meaning could be perceived for this moment. A fuckup implies someone who has made a mistake, and it provides a sense of depreciation. When Ogata uses it here, it means that he took the actions he believed were that of a failure. That he unconsciously thought, "this is how someone incompetent would act," and tried to imitate it. The issue with this is that, as we know, Ogata is not incompetent, and he is not a failure. Throughout the manga he consistently shows off his adequacy, and his issues never, not even once, stem from a lack of skill. His entire downfall is purely based on his mental and emotional struggle. This is why using the word "fuckup" seems inappropriate by definition. It also adds a passage of time to its meaning, a "fuckup" is someone who might have been born as a completely competent person, but has along the way made a mistake which labeled them as such. Again, this doesn't make sense when inserted into Ogata's beliefs, whose primary goal was to show how the environment and circumstances by which he was born held no effect to his psyche. Lastly, a minor issue I have is the tone; this is an extremely vital part of Ogata's arc, it's his finale, and he's going through this intense introspection, yet despite all that when choosing to describe himself he picks this lackadaisical word "fuckup," and not something more meaningful. It feels like the translators relied more on the expressive quality of an expletive than the definition itself. Now, looking at the fan translation, defective sets a much different tone, along with the wordage used around it. It implies something is flawed, or not working correctly. Similarly to "fuckup," it describes imperfection, but here it can be seen as inherent. Here, Ogata talks about how he chose to act like someone who was born lacking, how he believed he was missing something since birth (love), and therefore made decisions he thought reflected this implied lack of love. It perfectly ties into his inability to see that Yuusaku genuinely loved him, and sets the focus on what the issue is, which is his mentality. I can't stress enough how this would be impossible to derive from a word such as "fuckup," and how important that distinction is. Another issue is that "fuckup," as I've mentioned, reads as someone who has made a mistake, whereas a "defective" individual is not at fault for their impairment. When placed into the context of the story, why would Ogata consciously choose to act as someone who "fucked up", instead of someone who just wasn't born correctly. Sorry if this rant is a bit jumbled, I just needed to express my thoughts on the matter since I seriously do not like how VIZ executed this scene. Hope you enjoyed the read though, if you made it to the end! ^_^

[immaturityofthomasastruc]

#23: “The Miraculous Ladybug Movie May Give You What You Want, but My Show Gives You What You Actually Need! You Don’t Work in Television, so You Wouldn’t Understand.”

I've been running this blog for almost three years at this point, and I've seen Astruc talk trash about various things while claiming his show is better, like Winx Club, Paw Patrol, Pokemon, and Pixar as a whole. I never thought I'd see Astruc act like his show was better than a movie based on his show though.

For those who don't know (and you'd be forgiven, seeing how Astruc has barely talked about it on his Twitter), there was recently a movie that hit theaters based on Miraculous Ladybug called Ladybug & Cat Noir: The Movie. Supposedly, it's meant to be a retelling of how Marinette and Adrien met as civilians and as heroes. While I haven't seen it, it seems to be getting good reception, with some saying it's better than the show it's based on.

Of course, Astruc had something to say about this.

Okay, I sort of get what he's trying to say here. It's hard to compare the experience of watching an hour and a half long movie and a TV show with five seasons under its belt, but at the same time, the way Astruc phrased it still made it seem like he was trying to say the show was the better option because it “gives you what you need”. Nobody was expecting the Love Square to be resolved in a few episodes. Most people at least wanted more stories about the two to be told that don't involve constant padding. Astruc also acts like the Love Square is the only draw for the series instead of, oh, I don't know, the superhero action? You're really telling me they couldn't have tried focusing more on that after resolving the Love Square? I'm just saying, if The Office can continue after Jim and Pam got together, you can at least try to actually write other stories after the Love Square becomes canon.

One user in particular had some things to say in response to Astruc's claims, and you can guess how well Astruc took that.

Again, nobody is saying that working in television is all sunshine and rainbows, Astruc, but just because someone isn't familiar with dealing with network constraints and test audiences, it doesn't mean that they're unable to provide any meaningful criticism.

Also, Astruc is once again using a psychology term, in this case, the Dunning-Kruger Effect, to act like he's smarter than the critics. This man took psychology as an elective in college, didn't he?

But then again, this is coming from someone who doesn't think constructive criticism is a real thing.

Funny how he once again acts like anything that isn't positive feedback of his show is delusional, isn't it?

Eventually, this devolved into Astruc posting a little tangent about how fandoms have only gotten more toxic, which would have been a decent point... it if didn't come after all the things he said about fans not being able to criticize his show.

Again, there's nothing wrong with what he's trying to say here, but it feels less like a critique of how fans have become more toxic with the advent of the internet, and more like he's complaining about how mean people have been to him lately.

And, of course, this led to the usual fare of people calling out Astruc for his close mindedness, and Astruc once again saying how people aren't allowed to criticize his show in any way that isn't blind praise.

And here's the thing. We're still not done yet. This little tangent only warranted more comments about how Astruc handles criticism, only this time, it's also about calling out the people who think they can do a better job handling the show.

First, do you mind giving us an example of what kind of constraints you have to deal with, Astruc? We all know that TV executives suck, but I think we'd have more of a reason to understand your struggles if you actually explained some things that needed to be changed because of executive meddling.

Second, nobody wants a beach episode, Astruc, especially after that one issue of the comic you're choosing to ignore. We just want a more consistent story that doesn't rely on endlessly padding out the Love Square.

And finally, did you just say you have to be French if you want to rewrite Miraculous Ladybug? What does being French have to do with any of this? I remember seeing a little tweet a few years ago suggesting you would be a good choice to write a Superman story, but last time I checked, you aren't American.

Let's review in case you got lost. Someone tweeted that they thought the Miraculous Ladybug movie did a better job at the story it set out to tell than the Miraculous Ladybug TV show, Astruc tried to explain how his show is still good in its own way while justifying how long it's been going on for, he ranted and raved at fans for daring to criticize his team's writing before going on a tangent about how the internet has made people more hostile over the years, and when people still weren't happy with him, he claimed that you could only criticize or rewrite the show if you're an experienced French TV writer like him.

So just keep that in mind, fanfic writers. Unless you're French and have experience writing for television, you don't have a chance in hell to successfully write your own version of Miraculous Ladybug.

[maxwell-grant]

You’ll prob wait to answer this after Caped Crusader drops, but: Does making Penguin NOT a white guy drastically change the character? And if so, is that a good thing?

Anonymous asked: So... Thoughts on Oswalda from Batman: The Caped Crusader?

@jcogginsa asked: New Batman show is out, and with it is a new Penguin. Have any thoughts on Minnie Driver's take on the Penguin?

Regarding the first ask, I mean, it really ought to, right? That seems to be part of the point of doing this kind of thing, to change or recontextualize something big and important about a character in a new light. If it wasn't supposed to be some kind of big change, if it wasn't meant to at least be something new or say something slightly different, I'd ask what would be the point of doing it. Don't get me wrong, it's absolutely a thing to do just for fun / variety's sake, but it's not a choice that can just exist in a vacuum, it does matter how and why exactly you're doing it.

There's a couple of things that I'd say make or break this kind of stuff for me, besides like, you know, not removing existing meaningful elements of characters identities, like making Jewish or Romani characters generic caucasian Americans, real basic decency stuff y'know, not a lot to ask here. I think a change like this should at least bring questions to strengthen it, like: If this character is defined by certain traits or saying certain things, how is this interacting with those? Is this strengthening those existing traits and statements, is it providing new ones, or is it weakening them without offering much in return? Questions about how much can you redefine a character and still have that character be recognizable and all that, and of course the actual important questions of, Who is this for? What is being said here? Why was this decision made? And so on.

The example that comes to mind regarding that specificity, and how that can work wonders to breathe new life onto a character, is the MCU take on Namor, as Ritesh Babu elaborated on in a Patreon article

The reason I say I never truly cared for Namor is that while I thought him a great, compelling character in plenty of works I loved, I always felt a lack of emotional connection. He was enjoyable, but I didn't care about him, y'know? There was a connect. Watching Ryan Coogler's Wakanda Forever helped me bridge that disconnect. I finally realized what had been missing for me. It was Emotional Context.

Namor is historically an abrasive character. He's an angry character. He's got fury and rage, and he doesn't suffer fools. He's headstrong and unrelenting. He's an unyielding force. And he's great and fun that way, historically handled by mostly White writers (with rare exceptions, such as Greg Pak). But it was also, for me, an anger and rage and fury framed and constructed in such a way that it could be broad-strokes. It could be anything and everything from the pollution and climate ruination to perhaps some other tragic thing involving someone he cared about.

Ryan Coogler and Tenoch Huerta to me granted the character an emotional context here that clarifies everything he is, and all that shapes his thought. He's not angry at the surface world and its clownshit in abstract. It's not just the anger of a distant warrior-king of the oceans. It's the anger of the colonized, of the Othered.

What Ryan Coogler and Tenoch Huerta did is give him specificity. He's not just a broad-strokes figure in White hands, for White writers to write as an archetypal broad-strokes morally murky angry bastard guy. No, there's a specific history to this guy, there's a cultural specificity and context to his very existence.

And so Namor isn't some weird racially ambiguous/sorta white figure in largely White hands, but is instead an Indigenous Mexican hero and legend. He's a Mesoamerican figure and he's Mayan.

Coogler dispenses with the vagueries and broad-strokes thinking of the comics, and like any interesting creator should, asks good, rational questions. And that specificity, that's really what makes it for me. That's what I was missing. This is an attempt at using genre to speak to truth, to realities and real experiences, which are important to Black and Brown people. It's a far cry from some abstracted away thing to serve a primary White audience and its sensibilities or interests. - Ryan Coogler's Namor and Specificity

An example I'll give, as far as one reinvention that can make sense but I didn't find so interesting: The conception of Deadshot I like, from Suicide Squad (1987) and bits of Secret Six, is heavily informed by him being a privileged rich white man, a morally catatonic and emotionally rotten self-serving piece of shit in large part because of his privileged background and experiences, as well as a guy who's purposefully evoking the image of white western cowboys and providing commentary on their archetype. Deadshot, to me, is heavily informed by his whiteness, by his American elite background, and by his toxic masculinity, and thus the cocktail of what Deadshot is, comments on and speaks to comprises specific things that I think you'd have to approach very very differently if Floyd Lawton is a black man. I think the specificity of what that character is saying or tends to stand for is lost in adaptations that fudge those elements to make him more like the Will Smith version - you can definitely have another kind of meaningful and cool take on Deadshot, but it's a Deadshot who's gonna have to be saying different things, if he is to be saying anything at all - and most of the time, he isn't, and so to me, that context behind Deadshot is lost with not a lot gained in return. Under no circumstances does this mean you shouldn't be allowed to do it, but I feel like if you're dedicated to doing this to an existing character, there should be at least some commitment to what they are and do.

Getting back to that first question, it also really depends on what exactly are you changing. Like regarding the Penguin specifically, is it his race? His gender? His nationality? It's a very broad question to apply a single Yes or No to so I'm gonna say it's kind of both. On one hand, obviously some major aspects of his presentation and origin and defining traits would have to be altered to better correspond to that defining change. On the other hand, he is already extensively defined around his issues with his self-image and his surroundings and how people treat him, a person who is ostracized and Othered because of his looks or his background and where he stands in the city he grows up in. One of the consistent cornerstones of Oswald as a character is that he's trying extremely hard to overcompensate in wealth and class and power partially to override the ability of others to marginalize him over his weight or stature or poverty or disability and so on, in no small part that's what allowed him to take on protagonist status in recent years. If he was just a regular white guy, he'd be Rupert Thorne. Although, on the other other hand, I must stress here that treating marginalized traits as if they are equally interchangeable is how you get the X-Men school of representation, and we simply have do better than that.

I was very intrigued by the idea of turning Oswald into a woman. Fat men are very often shamed and ridiculed due to traits they are perceived to have in common with women, to be a fat man is to be dehumanized and stripped of masculinity and thus stripped of your worth of as man. To be accepted, fat men are forced to overperform masculinity just as fat women are forced to overperform femininity, and that element of overperformance is never not present in Oswald Cobblepot, who essentially lives in drag 24/7. A genderbend take on Oswald could certainly add a whole different meaning to his typical overreaction to jokes about his weight or looks, things that are commonly played as a joke. Fat women get consistently treated like absolute garbage by most people in ways that are different, more pervasive and frankly nastier than the ways fat men are also treated like garbage, and if people didn't treat him like garbage, The Penguin wouldn't be the person they are.

Penguin as a woman is a concept that could force a lot of his traits to demand renewed consideration, and in some ways you could argue he kinda already is feminized. He certainly doesn't get treated as a man the way Batman and the Joker and Bane and Gordon are. He overcompensates extremely hard in that regard, and it doesn't stick, he can act as tough and grizzled as he wants and he will never not be "the fat one", will never not get pushed around by the real man in Gotham, will never not be the unfit and bloated and squishy lesser-man hiding behind the umbrella because, why, he's not man enough to grit his teeth and hash it out with his fists. If we go back to Count Fosco from The Woman in White, we'll find this is something else they share in common:

"Fat as he is, and old as he is, his movements are astonishingly light and easy. He is as noiseless in a room as any of us women. With all his look of unmistakable mental firmness and power, he is as nervously sensitive as the weakest of us. He starts at chance noises as inveterately as Laura herself."

This passage holds the key to Marian’s complex attitude toward the Count; she is at once fascinated and threatened by him. As Marian’s description reveals, he is both alluring and dangerous, not merely because of his increasingly suspicious behavior throughout the narrative, but because he unnaturally exhibits the qualities of both sexes.

Even though Marian does not explicitly identify the Count’s androgyny as the reason for her discomfort with him, the novel’s keen preoccupation with identifying unknown figures by their sex illuminates the anxiety underlying Marian’s description of the Count. The Count complicates those binary categories, and, in true Victorian fashion, his deviance attracts simultaneous fascination and repulsion - Count Fosco and the Androgynous Mystique

He is Oswald Cobblepot, the pathetic little momma's boy, because even his personal tragedies are depicted as lesser, insignificant, not the right kind of cool cinematic masculine tragedy, and he is The Penguin, the eccentric oddly enthusiastic about worthless little things like his favorite animals and trinkets - things that the narrative deems worthless because Oswald is worthless in the literal term: he is worth less than Bruce Wayne, less than Batman, and we watch him as he fights tooth and nail to deny this, whether it's by beating Batman his own way or seeking power to avert his lot in life and stand above all the men that have put him down, or even just seeking villainy as a form of self-actualization, through that perseverance and ability to outmaneuver men so much bigger and scarier, who think they can nail the Penguin while their world is swiped from under them.

It's not for nothing that, in terms of where they stand in Batman's world nowadays, Penguin is practically sharing an apartment with Catwoman and the Riddler, the other 60s camp queens who won't leave banding together even when they can't stand each other. So, yeah, I was extremely curious as to what direction Caped Crusader was gonna lean into with the idea. Could it go wrong and be offensive garbage? Obviously, but I also thought it promised an intriguing new direction, of context that could add or rework so much about his existing traits. I didn't like the name Oswalda, no, but even besides all that I mentioned above, with The Penguin show coming out with it's new take on the character that's all about modernizing and grounding and twisting him around, I thought going big on Classic Penguin, with the top hat and monocle and sword-umbrella and existing in a Golden Age Gotham, and doing a genderflip, was a very solid idea to place opposite of it. So how did I feel about Oswalda Cobblepot?

...It sucked, guys, I'm sorry, I'm really not happy to say it. Caped Crusader's first episode was ASS, and 6 episodes in, while the rest of it has been better (not great, but tolerable, occasionally good even), that pilot was the most stone-faced I've ever been sitting through a Batman thing and frankly I don't even have anything to say about regarding Oswalda. There were tentative beginnings of a take but not actually anything that rounds out into one (and frankly I'd say this Harley Quinn also has that problem to a lesser degree, this show so far has been just really barebones across the board), and frankly I'm not asking for much, I've lived off breadcrumbs before when it comes to Penguin, I'd be good with something if there was something. She isn't remotely a threat to Batman and seems pretty damn dumb, and she gets dealt with on the pilot to make way for Rupert Thorne in a way that kinda really betrays the escalation theme they're shooting for here and it's, guys what else am I supposed to talk about here, seriously?

I don't even like the design that much, it feels like they started from Penguin's head and shoulders and then tried as hard as possible to cinch her waist and slim her down leaving a weird disproportion between her upper body and legs, it looks weird in some shots but I guess you could say that's just the animation being, uh, sub-par to be polite. I guess I like her ruthlessness and that scene where she murders one of her sons, even though that's her being really stupid not noticing the obvious snitch in the room, and it's more so because that was the only moment in the episode where something almost cool happened. I do like her being a cabaret singer, but, man she sounds way too boring for a character with such a distinct way of speaking, if she didn't look like the Penguin from the shoulders up you would never tell that's who this was supposed to be.

I'm sorry that she continues Penguin's bad streak from BTAS, man what a bummer. Still, I have been really enjoying The Batman Audio Adventures lately, it's not like I'm starved for a more classically flavored take on Penguin, so it's only a bummer. I'm open to the idea that she can come back in a later season for a better showing, and she was far from the worst thing about the episode, in fact by process of elimination she was overall the best, but she was the one part I had the most slight hopes for. Oh well.

[theninthdoor]

If you can, please do txt love languages. Anyways, i admire your hard work and please take care of yourself 💕

Yeonjun || eight of pentacles: Yeonjun uses acts/gestures as a way of showing his love and appreciation for people, instead of just relying on words. He likes being helpful, picking meaningful gifts for them and doing them little favours, for example. Also, consistency! When he cares about someone he's 100% reliable, trusty and diligent; will never break his promises or leave them hanging. (Acts of Service + Gift Giving)

Soobin || five of wands: Even though this is a Wands/Fire card, I get very Virgo-like energy from Soobin and his love language. He picks on the people he loves, but it's all just so they can better themselves and stay motivated, confident and strong, really. He's also the type to defend them with all of his might in case someone else is trying to bring them down. It is still a very fiery energy anyway, if we're honest. (Words of Affirmation + Acts of Service)

Beomgyu || seven of wands: Beomgyu's pretty similar to Soobin, except he is more likely to be a Quality Time type of person, instead of relying so much on words. When he loves someone, he makes time for them, puts them at the top of his list of priorities and asks just for as much attention as he gives them. He's also a big defender and motivator, too. (Quality Time + Words of Affirmation)

Taehyun || temperance: Taehyun is a problem solver; always there to provide a shoulder for them to cry on or the right word of support and/or reassurance that they are needing. He's patient, loyal and warm; never fails his loved ones and will always try his best to be helpful to them. To be honest, I see him having some difficult expressing his love and affection towards people, so these little acts mean immensely, way beyond the obvious. (Acts of Service)

Hueningkai || the empress: He's all about physical affection + vocalizing his loving thoughts and feelings. The Empress is a Venus card, but this energy is very Watery - super Cancerian, very much tapping into that motherly, caring aspect of it. (Physical Touch + Words of Affirmation)

(Disclaimer: All is alleged and for entertainment purposes only. Based on current energies.)

[creedslove]

🌹Anon here! No headcannon just a thought I wanted to share. Imagine if Carol admitted to her cheating on Dave, and that their daughters aren't actually Daves. He knew about the cheating but not the daughters not being his part. He was already planning on leaving her for Reader but this just finalises it and so he decides that night to have a baby, a baby that is actually his, with the woman he actually loves. Also wouldn't Teressa and Carol make a lovely couple?

Dave York x f!reader

A/N: bestie I know this ain't a headcanon request but like, how can I not write a headcanon out of this wonderful idea? I love you and your idea and you are right, Carol and Teresa make a lovely couple to rot in hell 😭

• Dave had never been a cheating husband, even if his marriage with Carol wasn't something that made his heart race and his hands sweat, butterflies in his stomach in a big anticipation to see his spouse, he just settled, mostly for the kids after she showed up pregnant and it had become a comfortable arrangement for everyone

• so he was just glad in working and providing for his family, in exchange she took care of the house and the girls and Dave had the normal unsuspicious family which came in handy to hide the kind of job he had

• sex with Carol was alright, surely there was something better out there, but he had had worse, so he settled for that too

• when he met you, however, he felt like a stupid teenager, as all those dumb signs of being in love were there: he felt slightly nervous around you, he felt butterflies in his stomach (!) he spent his day thinking of and yearning to see you; you were the last thing on his mind when he fell asleep and the first one when he woke up

• so when you both started dating, he felt guilty, not because of Carol, though, he knew she had slept with men here and there, and each time she went for "girls night out" with her friends and came back home smelling like booze and men, he just felt more indifferent, being sure he didn't love her and perhaps he never did in the first place, he just didn't have a meaningful feeling to compare with, but now he had it with you

• but he did feel bad for you, because you were a beautiful, decent woman and you didn't deserve the mistress status, instead, he wanted to come clean and be with you without having to hide

• so the divorce was already in his mind, he just needed to have a couple of meetings with his attorney and get the paperwork done

• when Carol found out about it and made a huge, terrible scene, Dave and her engaged into a real bad fight, he had to hold himself back not to get physical with all the provocation and horrible things she said

• but the moment she said the girls weren't really his daughters, Dave thought he was going to lose it

• at first he held some hope she was just bluffing in the most cruel way possible, but then, all the information she offered made a lot of sense and he realized she was telling him the bitter truth: he wasn't really the father of his daughters

• it broke Dave, he loved them so much, more than anything in the world, he took care of them since they were tiny little helpless babies, he couldn't believe they weren't his

• Dave's eyes were full of tears, he was brokenhearted as his girls had been the best part of his life, luckily to them, they were having a sleepover at their grandparents' so they didn't have to witness the grotesque scene their mom caused

• when Dave got to your home, he was devastated, he'd been crying and drinking and he gripped your body not wanting to let go, telling everything that happened once he stepped inside

"please, let's have a baby, I wanna start a family with you, you'll be my wife, you're the only one who's worth being Mrs.York, I need to put a baby in you, you will never gonna lie to me, it will be our baby, I need to know I'm the one responsible for something good in this world"

• he begged you

• and Dave York wasn't the kind of man to beg someone anything at all

• so you couldn't say no to him, taking that powerful and strong man who was so broken and small at that moment to bed and made love to him, a couple of times, always making sure he was inside of you and you were both doing the possible to get your baby to grow in your womb

• the next morning, Dave was a little ashamed of his behavior, but at the same time he was excited that maybe he'd got you pregnant

• you both had a heartfelt conversation and you reminded him that no matter what Carol had done, he would always be the girls' dad and they'd always love him as such

• and he was sure he'd made the right choice to have you by his side, even if being lied to was terrible, he was convinced he was going to have his happy ending with a woman he truly loved

____

[paintedscales]

012.1 The Rice Farmer

A children's tale from the lands of Thavnair about a humble rice farmer, well-loved due to his compassionate ways. When a particularly harsh summer arrives, this rice farmer attempts to find something else to do in order to provide for his budding family and village if his paddies could no longer be sustained.

Word count: 1,409

Steppe by Steppe Chapter List

Misc notes: The tale is intentionally written the way it is as something that is passed from one storyteller to another. This was part of the previous chapter of Steppe by Steppe of Haragin, but I decided to cut it and make it its own story separate from the primary one as it felt far too distracting. Instead of simply scrapping it because of that fact, I'm deciding to share it.

Tucked away within the jungles of the northern parts of Thavnair, there was a village on the edge of a great lake. The farmers of this village drew water from the lake to tend their fields, believing it had special properties that made their crops grow better than those of other villages nearby -- bigger, more bountiful, and much tastier.

In this village there was a farmer named Duru who lived with his wife and grew rice in paddies filled with water drawn from the lake. He took only what he needed, ensuring he could grow rice not just for himself, but for the entire village. Duru was dedicated to helping his people, ensuring they had food for the season from not just his bounty, but  from the other farmers' crops as well. Due to his giving and helpful nature, he was beloved by all in the village.

It came as no surprise that when Duru and his wife announced they were expecting a child, the village showed their immense happiness and joy for them. The more joy that Duru was shown from his fellow neighbors, the more he started to feel a sense of unease and confusion. Frustration was even one such emotion that welled within him. Part of him thought he should be happy like everyone else.

All the emotions he felt stemmed from the absence of a name for their child. None of the names they considered or thought about felt meaningful or special enough for what they believed would be the most precious addition to their lives. It was a rather troubling conundrum that left a heavy weight upon both of them.

Summer soon arrived, and with it, an unbearable heat. Duru diligently tended to his paddies while caring for his wife and unborn child. Despite their efforts, they still had no name for their baby. They pressed on despite this; they had to. They endured the sweltering heat day by day until Duru noticed something alarming: the lake could no longer be used to keep his paddies filled with the necessary water.

With no rain, the waters in Duru's paddies were drying up. The lake's water was slowly vanishing, and what once nourished his fields was disappearing. To Duru, it felt like the land itself was punishing him for not sharing in the happiness others had for him.

Seeking to make things right, Duru set aside all the water he had left and buried his paddies, abandoning his life as a rice farmer then and there. He distributed the remaining water to his neighbors, urging them to use it for their crops or to drink as needed. He hoped this selfless act might appease the Gods and end his perceived punishment.

With his paddies buried, Duru's reliable source of food was now gone. He resolved to save all the rice he could, keeping some water for himself to care for his pregnant wife. By spacing out his trades and ensuring he had what his wife needed, Duru earned her appreciation and praise for his selfless deeds. She was always a patient and wise woman, and Duru counted himself lucky to have such a wife who, even when heavy with child, helped to uplift him when things were looking bleak.

Thanks to his wife's comforting words, Duru reflected on how the drought affected more than just himself. He realized just how shortsighted he had been in thinking only he was being punished. Why, many in his village were equally affected!

Determined, Duru awoke early the next day. As a farmer of routine, he instinctively prepared to tend his paddies. Stepping outside and seeing the buried paddies, a wave of grief washed over him. The routine of tending his rice paddies had been so ingrained. He sat at the edge of where his paddies used to be, silently mourning the loss now that it had truly sunk in.

As he sat in silent grief, Duru looked up at the clear skies above. Nary a cloud was in sight.

He sighed, feeling defeated. Realizing his grief was becoming overwhelming, Duru reminded himself that his wife and unborn child were relying on him. Getting back on his feet, he decided he could set traps or even learn to hunt to provide food for his budding family. Perhaps he could even see if the jungle's bounty would be enough.

Equipping himself with materials to trap prey, a dagger for defense, and some food and a skin of water, Duru set out into the surrounding jungle. He hoped to bring something -- anything -- back. He thought to himself that if he failed, he shouldn’t worry. He believed he had enough reserves at home for at least a fortnight. That sounded like it would be enough to catch or be able to forage for something.

As Duru ventured, he came across what appeared to be a white elephant.

'What luck,' Duru thought. Before him was a meal he could bring home with little effort. However, as he drew closer, he realized this was no ordinary elephant, for it simply had the head of an elephant, and the body of a man. Duru had stumbled across a great manusya.

Quickly feeling regret for his previous thoughts, Duru apologized to the great manusya who laid on the jungle floor. He approached cautiously, fearing the manusya had sensed his desire to eat its flesh. Instead, he found the manusya injured, its breath ragged and strained.

Fortunately, Duru had also packed bandages and salves in case he got injured. Praying for forgiveness if he was overstepping, he tended to the manusya's wounds. The manusya remained silent, and Duru stayed by the manusya’s side throughout the night, ensuring no harm came to them in their vulnerable state.

When dawn broke, Duru awoke to find the manusya gone. In their place were three fruits, a brilliant golden yellow in color. Though the manusya had vanished without a trace, a voice rang out in Duru's head as he approached the fruit: ‘With these fruits called amra, nourish you and yours. Use their seeds to grow more. For the kindness shown to I, Indra, rain shall grace your land once more.’

Duru, with the fruit in hand, looked up at the skies in shock. He had no reason to doubt the voice's words -- there was zero doubt within him that they really were that of the divine manusya’s. After all, many in his village revered Indra, the bringer of rains.

Taking the fruits back home, Duru calmed his worried wife by explaining what had happened. His words and experience did much to quell her, and she told him that she was simply glad to have her husband back.

That night, as Duru cut the fruit for his wife, the soft patter of rain began to fall. The sound grew louder until a nourishing storm drenched their land.

As the rain fell, its sound a comforting chorus, Duru looked at his wife with a realization. This realization filled him with excitement, for he had a name for his child. When his beautiful daughter was born, he looked upon her and said, “Your name is Suyun, and you are named for the water that gives us life. It is my hope that you grow up with the desire to love and nurture as we will show to you.”

During their time as new parents, Duru also did as Indra asked and planted the seeds of the amra, caring for his family all the while. What was once a paddyfield was now turned into a small grove of the precious amra that Indra gifted Duru. The trees grew quickly -- perhaps another gift that Indra bestowed upon Duru and his family.

As Suyun grew up, she watched her father cultivate amra, the ripe fruit a brilliant yellow like the shining sun. When Duru became too old to tend to the humble grove properly, Suyun quickly took over. If she was ‘of the water,’ as her father named her, then she would nourish and care for the amra that had sustained her family and the village. Like the waters she knew, she sought to provide; and like her father before her, Suyun became beloved by the village as she extended her hand in kindness and sought to look after everyone.

Often, when the rains graced their lands, Suyun could be found playing and dancing out in the rain, as if saying hello to an old friend.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Brat Taming: Part 11

Hues of red and orange, soft pinks had been drawn across the sky almost as if one of the great artists had taken a brush and cleared it against the sky. There was such warmth in the skyline, the iridescent colours that drew the day to a close and welcomed the night were breathtaking.

It was gorgeous, the sunset that had been cast upon the city, although the moment was made more perfect by the company you kept.

Steve hadn’t let you go since you’d taken his mark, his hands and his body had been upon you as if you truly had been made one unit. There was never a moment where you didn’t feel the heat of his body, the great depths of his affection and his instincts to protect, provide and love. It was borderline intense, in the most toe-curling way, to feel him and have him.

The sunset had ushered it in, the last night you were going to be in the city with Steve before you had to leave tomorrow. Steve was coming back with you for a few days, a temporary stay in Boston before he would head back to NYC and then beyond for the missions set out for him.

“Do you wish we could’ve done more?” Your eyes fluttered closed as he spoke, the rumble of his chest against your back was verbally pleasing to your ears almost like his voice was laced with honey.

A purr had slipped from your lips in place of a verbal answer, the sound in tune with the soft caress of Steve trailing his fingers up and your body, in no particular pattern, while you lay against him on the bed. The two of you had closed the final night out in his apartment with dinner, a classic movie he loved from the ‘40s before you had finally gone to bed.

Instead of sleeping, you found yourself launched headfirst into long conversations. Some had been deep and meaningful about your past and what had helped shape the people you had become, while others were far less deep and intimate. There was never a true lull, never a moment where it had been clear that there was nothing left to say, or any residual awkwardness.

If you were silent, you were enjoying the feeling of each other.

“No,” you finally and verbally gave him a response, only after you had dug deeper under the blankets in the nest, “I liked this. It felt…good.”

Your heat had spanned almost all the time you had in NYC, and the two of you were confined to Steve’s place more often than not. The few times you had gone out when your heat had dwindled enough to leave, or even when it was over and you were marked by Steve, you had stayed close.

You didn’t wander far, at most taking a walk around the block just to get some fresh air and take a break from the building. Your plans to meet the team, or at least a few, would have to wait for you although you had brought up the idea of bringing Jake here and showing him Stark Tower.

“He would love it, honestly he would have so much fun.” You had let it slip that it would be a good date idea after Steve had relayed his hesitation toward his courting dates with Jake.

Steve was a dom, through and through he was a dom, but this was still relatively new to him. Steve being able to be with Jake out in public on a date, without fear of backlash or verbal assault was new. He was comfortable with who he was, he was reassured that he wanted both you and Jake wholeheartedly.

However, Steve was born and raised in a time where being an alpha with two omegas, let alone a male and female, was a scandal. Not to mention what would have happened to Steve if the government or army, back then, had found out that he wasn’t as straight as they would have liked him to be.

Back in the 1940s’, anyone who was found to live an ‘alternative lifestyle, would’ve been heavily punished or jailed, and the consequences were even worse in other countries.

Even if Steve had wanted to be open about his bisexuality, they would have silenced him. They would not have allowed that part of him to be out in the open.

Now, when the world was so much more accepting and agreeable, Steve had been proud and open about his feelings.

Even if he was still a little hesitant, he was proud.

“We go home tomorrow.” You muttered, watching the colours of the sunset against the New York City skyline pressed tightly against his body. “It feels good to have a mark.”

“You and Jake bet which of you can have all three first,” Steve’s soft lips trailed along your neck, his teeth lightly nipping your skin, a growl building in his chest when you shuddered and airily whimpered his name, “my money is on you, doll.”

“Me too,” your voice was growing with exhaustion, your eyes fluttering when the heaviness of sleep started to draw you in, your body craving rest.

Steve had drawn the blanket further up the bed, tucking you both in. He had rested his hand against your stomach, fingers curling against Jake’s shirt that you packed with you. You felt the warm caress of his breath against the back of your neck as he sighed softly, mumbling his next greatest wish against your flesh.

He had stumbled forward, his feet caught in the legs of his jeans, barely catching himself from the fall with his free hand. A sense of panic had surged within his veins when he woke up and found the time on the clock mocking him, egregiously reminding him that he could have slept through your arrival home if you managed to catch an earlier flight.

It was a necessity for him to greet you when you got home, he had to be the first one to watch you walk through the door and he had almost missed it.

“Fuck!” Jake’s loud curse had been heard through the closed door, and a chuckle from the other side made him pause.

He hadn’t managed to push himself off the floor before the door had been cracked open and then his eyes were directed to the alpha who had heard the events. Jake felt his mouth going dry, his chest heaving with heavy breaths as he sucked in Ari’s scent as drew himself closer.

Jake wasn’t able to look away, he couldn’t have possibly drawn his attention off of Ari’s bare chest and the ridges of his muscles that were draped and framed by a crisp white dress shirt.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.” Ari helped lift Jake from the floor, setting him back on his feet. “Let me help you.”

Jake felt heat blistering his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, the touch of pink afflicting him was endearing to the alpha before him. And when Jake had cleared his throat, glancing away from the intense look in Ari’s eyes, he was greeted with another pulsing surge of his alphas scent.

“Steve said they’ll be here soon.” Ari hadn’t faltered from his task of yanking Jake’s jeans over his ass, his fingers nimbly pushing the button through the hole and then dealing with the zipper all while Jake had been squeaking and purring continuously. “Are you recovered enough?”

Jake had been made to look at Ari when the latter had cupped Jake’s chin. Ari drew Jake into a kiss, lips meeting lips and a soft whimper dying on Ari’s lips. Jake’s hands rest against his shoulders, his fingers clenching against the shirt that remained open.

There hadn’t been any kind of urgency in the kiss, in the exchange of affectionate passion until Jake heard the faint sound of a car door closing from the cracked window, the sound immediately drawing him away from Ari.

“Bear!” Jake yelled his excitement and darted around Ari, tearing himself out of the door and down the stairs until he was just over halfway down and was able to push himself over the railing.

Jake landed on the floor, almost misstepping but caught himself at the last moment. He had pushed past Ransom on the way to the front door, his excitement unfounded as he ripped open the door and screeched your name at the top of his lungs like it was a battle cry.

You had reacted with as much excitement, dropping your bag in the middle of the driveway, and bounding toward Jake. He met you in the entranceway and immediately set to wrap his arms around your waist, lifting you from the floor to spin you twice before he set you back down.

You threw your arms around his neck and stood on your tippy toes, slating your lips against his. Jake rested his hands against the curve of your ass, grabbing handfuls of you as you boldly and unapologetically greet each other with increasing and intense passion.

You had only pulled away when you both needed to catch a breath and when you had, Jake leaned forward and rest his forehead against yours. You both closed your eyes and breathed in each other’s scents, taking your fill of each other as you’d been apart for a week.

“I missed you,” he whispered to you, softly and tenderly, “I missed you so damn much, baby bear.”

“I missed you too.” The world, at least temporarily, was confined to you and Jake.

It was you and him, reuniting even if you hadn’t been separated long. It was Jake’s hands on your body, his chest pressed against yours as you breathed each other in. Your hands pressed against his chest, your fingers curling against him while your head was tipped back and your eyes were locked on each other.

The corner of Jake’s lips twitched a different kind of smile slowly building on his face. He raised a hand from the curve of your ass to the side of your neck where Steve’s mark was, his thumb rushing the healing mark tenderly. A shiver rippled down your spine from the gentle friction created by the pad of his thumb, the raised mark soon to heal, was a claim and a promise of the future.

“I’m so proud of you,” Jake praised you with every intention of making you melt against him, “look at how far we’ve come.”

“Proud of me? I’m proud of you.” Standing on your tippy toes, you pressed your lips to his again in quickened haste. “I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

You finally pulled away from Jake, patting his chest twice before you stepped around him and looked toward Ari and Ransom.

While Ari appeared to be readying himself for work, Ransom was standing nearby with a cup of tea in one hand and his phone in the other.

Ari had been the first you studied, the dress shirt he chose for the day had been left open to draw attention to his wide, broad and toned chest. His long legs are accentuated by the fitted black pants, the image of two creating this alluring and seductive image of your alpha.

“I missed you,” you drew yourself toward him, greeting him with as searing of a kiss as you had given Jake, pressing yourself against his warmth.

You spoke honestly, affectionately and endearingly drawn to the big, thick and strong alpha. You had hugged him, sighing in contentment when he had hugged you in return.

“You look good with that mark on your neck. Gonna let Levinson mark you next?” Ransom’s voice drew you from Ari, and you stepped toward the rich playboy.

Ransom wore the same light blue sweater, with tattered sleeves and a rip on the front, as he had when he dropped you off at the airport. His hair was falling slightly into his eyes, the soft dark strands stirring your attention and as pushed them out of his face, Ransom reached for you.

One had rested on the small of your back, thumb moving languidly in small motions that drew an elicit whisper. You had chirped softly while caught in his gaze, his hands on your body providing a level of security you hadn’t felt yet with him.

“No,” you drew yourself closer to him, the tip of your nose brushing against his, your lips parting with a soft murmur, “I want yours next.”

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[eldhuug]

omg rdr2 post on my dashboard yay 👀👀👀 *starts kicking legs off the edge of my seat* PLEASE tell me more on how u thought arthur morgans character couldve been done more justice by the singleplayer video game medium, i am genuinely super interested

Alright Anon U ASKED, I have a lot of thoughts about how the medium of videogames can be used to make the story reactive as well as interactive when we're given a guy who's supposed to be a fully formed guy we ratatouille

Now I want to lead into this by saying, these are just my opinions. rdr2 is enjoyed by people with a lot better taste than I, and who wholy enjoyed the experience provided. Some of my favorite artists and dear friends disagree with me, and I love them all dearly for it. I attempt to be concise with my issues, specifically the fact that for a game that is so thematically strong and eager to tell its story, it tends to forget that it is a video game. Now, a story in a video game is differently experienced, and has to be differently told. The cutscenes are also a hard cut between player control and the unfolding story. You, the player, passively watch the enacting dialogue. To me, there isn't any problem regarding the fact that you can't pick speech options to affect how the dialogue goes. We're not supposed to be able to do that, Arthur says the things he says, and while we can affect his actions we do not affect his thoughts. This is interesting, and does make us Arthurs allies in his adventures rather than getting the feeling of having an avatar for ourselves. However, we run into two problems. 1, that dialogue in the game doesn't reflect arthur's actions and causing a disconnect between what we're being told and what we, the player, experience arthur doing. 2. We DO get to pick how arthur acts, and it allows us to pick between good guy nice dialogue, or being a complete raging asshole that mocks and belittles the people around him. You can't create a scenario where the actions the player makes in Arthur's story are supposed to matter, and not have the people around him notice how he changes. Instead of having a sliding morality scale, keeping a tally on what actions were done and in what way, who sees Arthur doing what and remembering how he acted before, commenting on his changing nature for the better or for the worse would have been a MUCH more engaging way to keep track on your characters progression, not to mention it would open for more meaningful camp conversations and build meaningful relationships. This however, does NOT align with the story rockstar are telling, they have a story to tell that isn't open for that level of flexibility, because they have a tale to tell that needs to go down brick by careful brick, in a domino stacked before we were allowed to join in the play, and now we simply have to watch the emerging pattern. I'm not claiming there aren't parts of rdr2 that aren't moving, or heartbreaking and wonderfully performed and paced, but to me, that complete lack of being even a LITTLE engaged in the unfolding events makes it pointless to experience through the videogame format, which is uniquely situated to react to player choices.You do not need to change arthur morgan, but you need to let the actions taken by a player show in a way that is more refined than in the ending scene, or by an openly accessible slider of good boy bad boy when the entire point of this ragtag outlaw band is their tightrope walk of morality, that gets completely undermined by its own karmic system.

Summarizing, I'd remove the pop up of good/bad, let the dialogue of the camp encounters indicate what direction arthur was leaning, as well as letting antagonization be an option arthur could do in scenarios where scaring someone might be a good option to beating them the hell up. allow him to exist within the gray specter in a way that didn't make the player feel directly bad for their actions, and allowing arthur his shades of gray.

[confusedspaceotter]

Daily avatrice analysis (day 3)

day1 day2 day3 day4 day5 day6 day7 day8 day9

Seriously didn’t think i’ll have to split season 1 ep3 into 2 parts lol

anyway i’ll try to keep it brief today since the hug™ and the hallway scenes are huge milestones of their relationship thus is been talked a lot

So

Ep 3 part 2,

First, I would like to thank father Vincent for being an ally to the avatrice ship we didn’t know we had 

homeboy sees avatrice interact for once in the canteen then decided to bring Beatrice to comfort Ava lol

Now you could argue and say that father Vincent asked Bea to befriend Ava but I think I would rather believe that Bea did this on her own because of her boarding school times(if you don’t know what I’m talking about check the day 2 post)

as much as I hate this man for lying to Ava I had to give this to him

he saw the vision when no one had 

(Sorry Camila baby but you are still the captain of the avatrice ship tho

Now back to the scene itself

Avatrice really is endgame from the start huh

Just look at her 

the moment she set foot in the room, her attention was dragged away by Ava

All hail protective Beatrice 

You can tell she wanted to comfort Ava so much yet she doesn’t really know what to do

People might think that Bea is not good at dealing with feelings and that’s why she hide it 

I propose that she is in fact too good at emotions 

well more about the dark, bad side of having it ,and more importantly how to hide it

Given her past experiences I think is safe to assume she knows too well about the consequences of having feelings and I quote: 

“When what you love, what should make you happy, only brings you pain.” -Beatrice(S1 Ep 8)

Yeah she knows what pain is

And yet 

She can’t help but look at Ava, trying to find a way to provide comfort to her

Girl was whipped from the beginning man they were just meant to be 

Now onto the hug it self

Sikeee there's something else here I wanna talk about

The moment mother superion left 

She went straight to Ava

Girl couldn’t bother to wait for mother superion to left the room really shows how much she cared about Ava even tho she might not know her well

Now you can see the obvious hesitation she had

I’m assuming that reaction is combination of repressing your emotions for a long time and the result of keeping people out due to self-loathing

which makes this scene a thousand times more meaningful

Bea, the one who actively reject/avoid physical contact Initiate physical contact Im unwell

The fact that Ava is important enough to Bea that she threw her internal cage out of the window 

I feel like in her brain is probably like:

brain sees pretty girl upset must comfort

And you know what the best thing is?

the fact that physical touch is both of their love language 

as we can see in S2

They literally can’t keep their hands off each other 

Now, many people have talked about how Bea feel or might be thinking during the hug

So I will talk about Ava instead

She is seeking comfort in the one person who is nice to her since she got here (minus Vincent he got ulterior motive

Ava your Kid is showing 

I think we can see just how innocent and precious Ava is

reminds me of a meme I saw:

as a person who also had a childlike personality i would too dive head first to the one who is nice to me (especially when they are pretty girls like beatrice 

Now onto the hallway scene

two things i wanted to point out 

one, Bea using humor to try to comfort ava:

babygirl is learning how to comfort Ava we love to see it 

and two

how observant ava is 

“there's more to it then you are telling”

Ava took one look at Beatrice and said I know what you are lmao

“there is always more”

foreshadowing to ep 8 and could possibly be about Bea’s feelings towards Ava

i swear i didn't expect to write this many words 

please lemme know if is too long i’ll try to keep it brief by not analyzing too deep with the more popular scenes(e.g. the kiss in s2 and so on)

Here’s a gif of Avatrice for making it this far <3

stay tuned :)

day4

[monstrous-femme]

Have you ever felt embarrassed posting fic?? I have so many ideas and I really enjoyed doing stuff for fsw but I cringe at the thought of writing anything else?? Or at creating anything generally? I don't know why and I really want to get over it n u seem insightful about this stuff.

(feel free to answer public or priv I don't mind, also feel free to ignore me entirely x)

I love this question bc I think it's about art and vulnerability and imperfection and those are things I think about a lot! (Alternatively, I may be viewing this question through the lenses of art and vulnerability and imperfection BECAUSE I think about those things a lot.)

If I tried to make this all connect it'd be a 1500+ word essay, so instead I'm going to provide some random thoughts and you can connect them however works for you:

1. No fic I write is ever going to get the number of kudos of a very mid Drarry fic I wrote when I was 18. It plagues me that this is my most-read story. I also refuse to take it down. It might still be meaningful to someone, even if it's not too me, and it did mean something to 18 year old me and I want to respect that. But the real reason I keep it up is because I don't want people to think my new, better work appeared from nowhere. I write so well now in part because I wrote a random 50k Drarry fic in high school. Writing it helped me become the writer I became.

2. I think a lot about the cartoon of a dog(?) playing piano with the caption "He plays very poorly, but it keeps him from destroying things."

3. I make paintings and don't post them because they aren't beautiful but I am still glad I paint, and when I first started making earrings I didn't understand how to use little beads to hold big beads in place so things often fell apart.

4. Someone who I met while writing fanfiction and meta for a tiny webseries fandom became such a dear friend that she flew across the country for my wedding party.

5. Many of the best scenes from In Her Hips are ones that scared or embarrassed me to write.

6. While we're on the subject of embarrassment, those smut scenes/fics I wrote that y'all like so much? Literally almost couldn't handle posting them but I bet you're glad I did 😉.

7. When my poetry collection came out and we did a reading and discussion, one of the members of my poetry cohort talked about the paradox of vulnerability, how we think that people will only connect with us if we write broadly but it is actually only in the personal details that we manage to connect. I really, really want to connect with other people. It feels like the most important thing I can do.

8. If you write your stories and never show them to anyone else, I promise they still matter.

9. If you write stories and choose to share them, I promise they will not matter less with someone else's gaze on them.

10. It's terrifying to be perceived because we can't control what other people see when they look at us. When I let myself be perceived, it's like admitting that I want to be loved, and the terrifying thing about admitting that I want something is that I may not get it. I may lose in public. I may be seen as small and human and wanting. There is no way around this.

I hope this somehow answers your question.