#it still astounds me that they dumped all that on one character

[grahoriasfancave]

Thinking about how in a single gameplay Jason (who already has blood on his hands and conscience from an incorrect call) can be faced with the decision to:

let Merwin face the vampires alone

stab Joey

shoot or abandon Clarice

shoot Rachel

lie to Nick about his chance of survival

leave Salim to die

And then thinking about how they find Balathu or Kurum half preserved and suffering and Salim decides they must put him out of his misery. And how when Jason automatically moves to follow through, Salim puts a hand on his gun and says “I’ll do it.”

It’s a choice born of practicality, not kindness. But to Jason, who’s made the call so many times he’s gone numb, it must also be a lifeline.

[thefreelanceangel]

Which of your characters would you say has changed the most over the time that you have played them? Why did these changes come about and are you, as the player, broadly happy with them?

C'allie... definitely evolved over time.

From the first initial experiment into FFXIV--including my absolute lack of lore knowledge and discovering that I really really hate playing BRD--to a wildly busy character, she's come a shockingly long way.

C'allie started off as my "I know like one person in this entire game (ilu @mirugaidoesthings) and I'll have to get RP somehow so better make one of Those Characters" foray. To get RP, a character has to be proactive, so I made a busybody bard who wanted to be ALL up in everyone's business.

And then I got my husband to play FFXIV, which let C'allie and Seifer meet, become lovers and, more importantly, best friends. We leveled together and lo and behold, I unlocked rogue.

Combined with C'allie's easy-going, happy-go-lucky nature and how everyone perceived her as a Bimbo Party Girl, it just made perfect sense to me that she'd be a cold-blooded and exceptionally good professional assassin.

And she just kept developing, even developing something approaching sympathy, much to my surprise. C'allie fell in love with L'upus Lynx, proposed marriage, and with that one step into "stable maturity," she began settling into who she really was at an astounding rate.

C'allie is still 100% Certified Trauma-Free™ with a loving family, a happy childhood, a healthy relationship with her parents and siblings. And her being that kind of stable character really opens up a lot of room for development in relationships with others. C'allie's a safe place for her spouses, lovers, and friends to lean.

...she's also largely amoral and sees nothing wrong with killing someone to get them out of the way.

While she doesn't fuck her way across Eorzea and back any more, she does keep in contact with almost all of her previous fuck buddies and isn't adverse to finding someone to come play with her and one (or more) of her spouses.

And as for being a mother? She's... surprisingly good at it. C'allie grew up in a large, extended family that'd developed healthy support systems, conflict resolution, and child care management. She learned by example, by participating in the Kyho tribe's culture, and is passing that on pretty well to her spouses.

Plus if they ever need a break, they can just dump the kids off at her father's camp and no one will bat an eyelash.

I'd say C'allie's done pretty well to come as far as she has and I'm quite pleased with her.

[silentsockfeet]

tlou hbo s1 ep1 thoughts (spoilers obviously)

really love that we spend half the ep following sarah through her day in the life, it’s the film equivalent of her being the first playable character in the game. we as the audience spend so much time with her and if you’re not familiar with the story i imagine you’d assume the rest of the show is meant to be around her, only for that to crumble later

the curtis and viper dvd 😭😭

i like how much they show off tommy and joel’s dynamic, specifically in the car scene. tommy mostly acts with emotion and impulse and relies a lot on joel to make the decisions, while joel is the one thinking rationally even when stakes are high: planning them a route to the highway, trying to guide them through the crowds, etc.

an obvious thing to point out but the accuracy of the sets is astounding!! sarah’s room, the austin roadsign (this one specifically broke my brain), the boston QZ, it’s all so goddamn good

LOVE the change to having joel gathering supplies to go and find tommy, it says so much about his character but also their relationship. joel at his core is still a deeply loving and protective person even after twenty years in an apocalypse has forced him to build a harder exterior. but he’s also still stuck in the past, still seeing tommy as the sort of immature younger brother he has to keep watch over

gaslight gatekeep girlboss tess everyone say thanks anna torv

i LOVE that they gave us a glimpse into how the fireflies dealt with ellie before confirming she was immune, i always wondered how the fireflies would’ve reacted to her showing up claiming immunity. the level of paranoia from the fireflies and the responding sass from ellie was exactly how i’d imagined it to go haha

also just really like the world building of how a military-occupied QZ works, with the job system and the radio post with people lining up to send messages to loved ones

obviously happy that gustavo is working on the show but there were so many times a score from the game would play in the show and there’d be this weird disconnect in my brain where i’m like ‘wait that’s not where the music is supposed to play’ LOL

joel little spoon confirmed

so so obsessed with the expansion of tess and joel’s relationship, the way tess is able to calm joel down and get him to think clearly, the way she is clearly so supportive of him going to find tommy. they were able to say so much with so little about who she is as a person and to joel

in game ellie had already met marlene once before she was infected so it made sense that she would go to her for help after, but in the show she’d never met marlene before, makes me wonder why ellie went to her/the fireflies or if that had even been what elllie had intended. maybe she just got tangled up with them and had to make do? or it could be possible that [redacted] survived long enough to escort her to an outpost and explain the situation

joel info dumping about construction in the middle of a manhunt i love this man

“kim you don’t have a fuckin ear on your fuckin head” PLEASE that line was so funny. absolutely uncalled for

bella is so goddamn good as ellie. the mannerisms the sass everything is just so spot on. there were moments when she even sounded just like game ellie it was astounding

ellie’s interest with joel’s violence is so intriguing, i feel like that’s actually a fairly sizable difference from the game. in the equivalent game scene ellie was kinda shocked that tess and joel killed the soldiers, whereas in the show she was fascinated by it.

and also depressing lol, it’s something that she’s surrounded by but has never really had to do before so i think she views violence in an aggrandizing way, kind of like the heroes in her comics. it’s really depressing to know that one day she’s going to get to the point where she realizes just how taxing violence truly is

in hindsight i should’ve known they were gonna end this ep on the reveal of ellie’s immunity, it’s such a genius cliffhanger for people new to the story

[changelingsandothernonsense]

Choose Violence asks! Pick the most inflammatory ones you can find on the list and answer them. If Danger!Josh has an unpopular opinion on specific things mentioned therein, he can share them too.

Oh yes! Let's get riekling over here! This includes ART! Under the cut for length. I'm mostly just gushing about a Danger!Josh HC that I have. :3 You know the one ;)

7. What character did you begin to hate not because of canon but because how how the fandom acts about them?

So I have two of these, the first one being Cicero and the second being Miraak. Prior to seeing any discourse I either gave zero shits or just didn't care for them (based off of Cicero, I can't handle his voice, it's so grating and hurts my ears.) But I didn't think that much about either of them until I started actually participating in the fandom (in my own way, I don't really contribute outside of personal conversations and any of the art I produce...which has nothing to do with either of those characters...except my one joke about Miraak as a Shoggoth being sexy).

I had no idea that it was immoral or moral to dislike either character and I'm sorry but Cicero makes me think of smelly ham water (as someone who is very mentally ill from trauma I also find him a bit insulting.) and Miraak is a missed opportunity that has been pulled in so many directions that I just can't. I won't.

18. It's absolutely criminal that the fandom has been sleeping on...

Teldryn Sero! Blade for hire, best swordsman in all Morrowind and absolute goddamn Dwemer-loving dorkface! Yes, you heard me! That guy is astounded by those ruins! I present to you his vanilla dialogue when you encounter a Dwemer ruin: "The dwarves were a clever race. I wonder what happened to them?"

And his Markarth line:

"Can you imagine what Markarth must have looked like when the dwarves were living here? I can't even begin to imagine." It's there hidden amongst all that dramatic cynicism, sarcastic bravado and slight "Dunmer are better than you" attitude. This guy is a nerd for anything Dwemer! I never see anyone point this out though. I think it's a missed opportunity for character-building. His tone, still sarcastic as ever (because he is dripping in it) does change to one of awe. The only other thing he gets this way about are the Telvanni mushroom Tels. So he seems to appreciate grand architecture (though not Nordic or Imperial styles interestingly enough), it would explain why every town you walk into in Skyrim elicits a bitch-a-thon from him. He hates everything because it looks unimpressive to him. Blacklight must be as grand as Markarth is intended to be in the lore. Since he compares that city to everything. I have my own thoughts on what it looks like too ;) Guess who else is a dork for ancient shit? Me! So naturally I grabbed onto these lines and ran with them. I HC his interest in Dwemer is a full-on obsession. He wants to go to that museum, he wants to go dungeon diving with you and he insists on dumping as many dwemer nick-nacks into his pack as he can. He also does this with knives lol.

I also HC him as the Nerevarine, so on top of that I have him swiping that Dwemer Coherer back from Divayth Fyr as payback for not actually curing his corprus. Now what on earth is a coherer? An electrical component formerly used to detect radio waves. It consists of a tube containing loosely packed metal particles. They were used to pick up and measure radiowaves. And so Dwifi was born! Danger!Josh wants to reverse-engineer that shit! And I ran with that and created this <3

My baby bird fiddling with that damn machine part!

[weepingpussywillowtree]

I know it's bad etiquette to complain about ao3 comments, but part of the reason I haven't touched my multi chapter wip since early this year is that I received comments that weren't negative persay, but we're extremely mad/emphatic about a situation/character interaction. Like, nobody left comments saying it was a bad interaction, people just kind of vomited their feelings into my comments and then I randomly received them in my email inbox.

It's what got me to turn off both ao3 inbox notifications and email notifications on all my fics. That level of emotion just getting randomly dumped on me was too much, and I stepped back for my mental health.

I am honestly grateful for every comment I receive. I'm grateful that people comment at all, and I'm continually astounded that my fics make people feel such strong emotions. I do go back and read them at set intervals when I know I can emotionally handle any responses I receive. But, this interaction is what made me realize I could never be cut out for anything that involved the public eye at all, because even my 100 odd kudo, 30 subscriber fic sent me completely spiraling from a couple of readers leaving worked up comments.

Now, that fic feels emotionally tainted. I really want to finish it, but opening the doc brings up all these bad feelings about the way an ending could be received. I've actually started a new multi chapter fic for that same ship and fandom and that feels so much more fun. Right now, I'm thinking I may not even post that one until it's finished, which could be a year from now. I may permanently abandon that other fic, even though I still periodically get comments from people telling me how much it means to them. I don't want to be writing for other people. I want to be writing for myself.

Also, I am glad that I was able to be taught this lesson about myself on such a small scale :)

[thestobingirlie]

honestly you are my favorite place to complain about r/nance.

Theres this steddie fic ive been reading for a while, and it was never tagged r/nance at the start, it's just been introduced later in. and I can deal with minor r/nance as long as it doesn't play much into the story. but the way its been dealt with in this fic.

in this fic robin avoids spending time with steve for weeks, I'm pretty sure its well over a month, when she starts dating nancy. like she'll only spend time with steve at work or if its in a group, and even at work she wont talk to him much. steve obviously feels hurt and has the whole self esteem issues of what if I'm a burden/ she doesn't want me any more.

Then she only spends time with steve again because eddie told her that steve seemed lonely without her. she uses the excuse of not telling him about her and nance because they didn't want to "hurt him", and gives a half assed apology. Then Steve ends up being the one to comfort robin because she keeps calling herself a bad friend and a horrible person without even looking at why steve was hurt, and he just forgives her.

And it just bugs me because it feels like these authors don't understand a thing about steve or robin. robin wouldn't spend so long choosing nance over steve and give the poorest of apologies, and steve wouldn't accept an apology like that, or at least wouldn't let it go back to 100% ok, because he would feel too hurt to go back to their normal friendship.

thank you <3 i will always be a safe place to complain about random shit. i love complaining.

i hate when fics have untagged ships. like i get it if it’s not important enough to actually tag the relationship, but at least tag background r//nance.

god, that enrages me and i’m not even reading it lol. i hate when the wronged party ends up having to comfort the person that treated them like shit. i like the characters to grovel.

yeah, the idea that robin could go more then two days without chit-chatting to steve is insane. they would literally start going through withdrawal.

i’ve made a huge post about this before, but it always astounds me when people have characters treat steve like shit and he’s just fine with it. like, yeah, he doesn’t have much self-worth, and so on and so forth. but he literally dumped his best friends for being cunts. he isn’t gonna allow everyone around him to treat him like utter shit. steve’s still a bitchy mean girl at heart, and if people are being pricks, he’ll lash out. we’ve all seen it.

and that’s not even getting into the r//nance of it all. robin treats him like shit, and is dating his ex??? steve would fake his death and leave town or some shit so everyone feels bad for mistreating him lmao.

no but seriously. stop treating steve like shit 2023

also!!! the fact that eddie had to be the one to tell robin to start spending time with steve again? ugh.

[mediocre-eternity]

Hello. Today is 30 December 2022

I didn’t realize my holiday preoccupations and rebuilding of our Island would take me so far away from writing but I do appreciate the interest in my life and my various wisdoms.

To hold such adoring fans over, I figure I’d fill you in on some conversations I’ve had as of late.

Daniel and I hadn’t realized the “Devil’s Minion” chapter of Queen of the Damned was as popular with fringe audiences as we expected. Daniel, in fact, had no plans on becoming as much of a character as Lestat and in fact, uses pseudonyms for most of his literature. We had a good time looking through your various posts and speculations about us. Honestly, we aren’t as much of a whirlwind of succulent romantic horror as Lestat and Louis. We’re more like two rats kissing in front of an inferno at the dump. Regardless, we thought it would hilarious to fill you in with tidbits about us two.

Although we can see the appeal of assigning “The Only Time” by Nine Inch Nails as “our” song, “We’re In This Together” is much more accurate to how we operate. We’re shocked and delighted, however, that a lot of readers could pick up on our 20th century musical fixations. And seeing Trent Reznor aged about thirty years since we discovered him sort of…propelled Daniel into the present time period. Well, thank you Mister Trent Reznor for in part helping a small immortal’s fledgeling regain some of his mental acuities. At least you haven’t died yet.

We are also absolutely astounded that readers picked up on what the final “nail in the coffin” (as he likes to say) was for Daniel’s poor mortal body. But that’s all he’ll let me get into.

Daniel started calling me “boss” as a joke about four years after we met. Since then, the nickname has spilled over into our larger coven. Benji uses “boss” for me as well and Jesse, occasionally. Lestat keeps me in his phone as “chef” after laughing so hard at the explanation for it I thought he’d started seizing. Still, my pet name remains one of my favorite things in the world.

Daniel did, in fact, call me an “immortal idiot” for asking him to show me how to use the phone. Speaking of, Daniel’s portion of Queen of the Damned was entirely volunteered by Daniel to Lestat; no psychic tricks necessary. Because of this, we all ended up with a much more comical rendition of our relationship. I believe if Lestat had stolen from my mind (or just asked me) readers would have understood a much different perspective. But in this reality, I’m famed for blenders. Merci, mon amie.

Daniel wants everyone to know that he hasn’t stopped smoking. It’s part of his “vampire aesthetic,” as he likes to call it.

Daniel is not monolingual. He picked up some Italian in our time together while he was still mortal and perfected the language further from his decade with my maker. Teaching him French is another task as me and Lestat speak two different dialects of French and Daniel has trouble floating between the two. It’s hilarious how Daniel has become somewhat of a case study for American lacking in linguistics.

We love looking at fan art of us two, especially one’s highlighting my eccentricities. I believe more people need to understand how self aware I am of how I speak and move my body, and what I ultimately decide to do. So it’s extra silly when fans try to guess how I might present myself. I did see a small comic strip of my desires to be ultra-close to Daniel. I’ll admit that I have sat on his lap when other seats were perfectly available.

That’s all I can think up for now, plus I shouldn’t divulge too much all at once. If I were to, perhaps you’d be more keen on picking myself and Daniel out from the Times Square crowd tomorrow night. In case you felt bored, anyway.

[beth-march]

Hi! this is out of my comfort zone really by doing this, but I needed to say something and you're the first account i thought couple help! but i've been a confident mileven shipper for years now. i've been able to handle backlash through reason, i've never worried about b*lers, let alone paid them much attention. but after volume two, everything shifted. between the hate mike got at the start for merely voicing the love he's had for the girl he's always loved, to the 180 of people strongly believing he's gay for Will again, it's just incredible. it's inescapable. im mostly observing twitter, which i'd say was a reasonably good place for milevens. it's now turned into a whole other world. infiltrated by kids who claim to want rep, which i fully support as a queer person myself, but who do it in exchange for misogyny and ableism. people who claim to love el yet want her heartbroken. and while this post is a rant, it's also one of concern, and id love to hear from someone as reasonable as you. im firm in my beliefs and my love for mileven, but the duffers have always loved their fan service, and this is unlike anything i've seen since fandoms like Sherlock or Supernatural. Essentially, my question is, do you think the duffers will give into this fan service? clearly the reasonable answer would be no, you don't ruin a 4 season build up like mileven for the sake of fan service. But id be lying if I said the sudden influx of B*ler shippers and the likes they've been getting isn't shocking. So what I'm trying to say is, as Mileven shippers, do you think we need to be worried for season 5? I can't believe im evensaying this; i wouldn't have thought it feasible even a year ago, but the public response is almost intimidating. All the best, and sorry for this dump!

Hey! I’m so happy that you decided to reach out despite it being outside your comfort zone, and I’m touched that you decided to ask me. No need to apologise whatsoever <3

Twitter is fun in that there are some really adamant Mileven defenders on there, but it’s also a deranged swirling cesspit of truly startling volatility, so yes, I understand why you’d be intimidated seeing what goes on over there. Especially given the absolute confidence that hardcore B*lers apparently have in an eventual endgame! It’s astounding to me, how much faith they have. I understand why this vehemence from so many people - making tweets that garner tens of thousands of likes - could make anyone’s faith waver, especially given the Duffers’ history of fan service.

But, I’m still not worried. I’ve never been worried. I know that you’re not really worried yourself, but I understand needing a second person to say that they’re not worried, either. And I’m not! It doesn’t matter how popular that ship becomes, the Duffers are going to stick to their guns when it comes to Mileven. They wrote Mike's monologue themselves. They said in a recent interview that they already know how the show ends and they aren’t going to be influenced by other opinions - they also said “we can’t please everyone”. So that’s a precisely comforting quote for your worries, whether or not it directly applies to By*ler shippers (I wouldn’t be surprised if it did).

If you need some more assurance, just consider where Season 4 left off, and the fact that Season 5 is the last season. In these final eight or nine episodes, the characters are going to be very busy trying to save the world. There isn’t going to be time across those episodes to not only break Mileven up, but also to suddenly have Mike go through a complete and utter change of character, come out as queer, and confess out of nowhere to wanting to be with Will.

It would be very bad story telling, and the Duffers are literally better than that. Their canon romantic relationships are all excellently written - Mileven, Lumax, Jopper and Jancy are all so, so good. So carefully developed, with such good payoffs. If B*ler was going to happen, we would know about it by now. It would not be hidden in subtext - see Vickie and Robin, and Will’s sexuality, which have all been explicitly addressed.

When it comes to our Season 5 endgame, Mileven shippers have one enemy and it’s the possibility of the death trope.

[obeiii-mee]

Hello! Can I request an hc about a shady MC who's not phase by anything in Devildom with the brothers (and Diavolo?? he deserves love!!!)? Like, when Luci's like "i CaN KiLL yOu hUmAN", MC's reaction was like "Oh... congratulations then." i need more shady mc who may or may not be planning to ruin your life😂😂 Thanks and take care!!❤❤

The Brothers + Diavolo with an MC that is not phased by DevilDom

__________________________________

Pls I need more shady MC, they would not take any shit from the brothers. Put any Gen Z-er with these guys and you’ve got yourself a suicidal and reckless human exchange student.

They wouldn’t know what to do with one of those ahaksbakanhaka you’re right, Diavolo deserves all the love >:(((((((

You better take care too >:( thanks for sending me this big brain request. I’ve been preoccupied with other projects so I took a while to get to this ask. Hope you’re doing OK💙

____________________________________

Lucifer:

-He thought having a human exchange student was going to be bad enough as it is but this…..this was so much worse than he could have ever imagined

-The moment you arrived, he already knew you were going to be a problem child and a persistent one at that

-Literally the first thing you asked him was : “Why do you look like an off-brand Levi Ackerman?”

-And he was left there, astounded, confused and offended because he had no idea who you were talking about (cuz at that point you hadn’t met the third eldest) and the tone you had was, frankly, pissing him off

-You kept wondering off on your own????? Without looking like you gave a shit even though you almost walked into a butcher’s shop that specialises in human meat???? Tf MC?

-Also really irritated that you couldn’t be intimidated and that DevilDom was like a playground to you, for some reason? Like, MC get out of the fiery pits of eternally tormented souls- this is Hell, not the McDonald’s ball pit ffs

-Things did not improve for him lmao, by the end of the first week he had already ripped out a good chunk of his hair because of you

-“MC, you should know by now provoking demons like this for no good reason is only going to make life harder for you. Keep this up and you’ll get killed in no time because of your behaviour.”

-“Great, can we have a hip-hip and a hurray?”

-In the span of one day, he’s had to come to your rescue six times (approximately) because you’re too nonchalant about your surroundings around literal creatures of hell

-He doesn’t have enough coffee or will to live for this bs

-“Lucifer, I found this dead plant and brought it here because it reminded me of you.”

-“…..sigh. Why? Why does it remind you of me?”

-“Because it’s cold and unresponsive.”

-He made the consecutive decision to ignore you

-(low-key kept the plant tho)

-Honestly, you get on his nerves a lot and he has definitely contemplated killing you in the past but at the end of the day he really can’t bring himself to do it

-We both know he tried a few times lmfao

-“I will tear you limb from limb, human-“

-“Can I finish my tea first.”

-“You…wait, what?”

-“You’re crazy if you think I’m letting this tea get cold. Try to kill time before I’m done and I’ll smash this cup against your head.”

-If you try hard enough, you might even elicit a laugh out of him, especially if your shadiness is directed at any of his brother which results in him patting your head affectionately

-Nowadays he’s just concerned because you seemed to have made an alliance of sorts with Belphagour and Satan and that’s not a good sign

-For his sake, if not yours, at least try to survive the year without getting chomped on by a random demon please

-He’s too stubborn to let you die just because you’re unbothered by everything so cut him some slack and help out damn it

Mammon:

-“Oi Lucifer, how come I’m stuck babysittin’ this stupid human?”

-“And how come I’m stuck with this asshole for a tour guide, with his fake ass designer shoes and no brand sunglasses. That’s a lot of smack talk from someone with crow shit stains covering the back of his jacket. Also, did you stick your hair in a bucket of mayonnaise?”

-……..

-He was so offended lol

-Normally, humans like you cower in fear whenever demons are as much as mentioned because of the whole “I can eat you whole” thing

-And here you are; insulting the Avatar of Greed and one of the princes of Hell himself just because you didn’t like his attitude

-Don’t worry tho, he warms up to you in less than a fucking month simply because you still come to his rescue whenever his brothers start insulting him and wow, look at that, his heart is now combusting on the floor

-“Y’all have no right to criticise Mammon when he has the most self control out of all of you.”

-“Since when does Mammon have any self control? He can’t keep himself from nicking anything that looks shiny.”

-“Motherfucker, I don’t see him trying to choke me to death, respectfully pls shut the fuck up. I don’t want to say I have favourites but if I do, it’s definitely him.”

-While Mammon’s in the background, with hearts instead of pupils in his eyes like ❤️👄❤️

-He doesn’t even mind running around after you anymore (will still complain about it though because your ass is in constant danger and he’s had enough)

-Honestly, you keep starting shit with random demons, some of which are quite powerful mind you, and you don’t back down even when he’s there to step in

-Would low key love to watch you fight one of your classmates at RAD and organise a ticket selling booth for the event but Lucifer will hang him a new one if he does

-So for now, he sticks to baring his teeth at the aggravator in question and you’re there, giving the same demon the middle finger

-The way you sometimes match his energy gets him so hyped up lmao

-“Mammon, did you steal Levi’s money again?”

-“T’s none of her business human. Now go away, shoo!”

-“Bitch, don’t ‘shoo’ me, I ain’t a bird. Now tell me, did you?”

-“…..Why do you ask?”

-“Because a new flavour of instant noodles just got announced, called ‘Super Hell-Sauce Flavour’ and I thought you might be more interested in that than wasting the money on gambling.”

-“….ok but only if you come with me to buy some.”

-This…this is true love right here

Levi:

-Oh no, now there’s two of you

-Why do I feel like his energy would match MC’s almost immediately? Maybe it’s because he spends too much time in his room on the internet like the rest of us do

-“What do you want, you stupid normie?”

-“300…..”

-“….300 what?”

-“300 mangas collected, thousands of episodes of anime watched, over 60 character figurines, plushies, body pillows, merchandise and several posters only to be called a fucking normie by a demon weeb that’s only known me for 10 minutes.”

-Boom, instant friendship

-He becomes attached to you almost immediately and now that he knows how unphased you are by DevilDom, he is seriously worried

-Hell, you’re making him consider going outside his room just to make sure you’re alive and not dead in a ditch somewhere because you decided to get on someone’s nerves that particular day

-Even during the quiz thing, when he almost kills you, you’re just sitting on the floor and awkwardly watching him as he throws a sissy fit

-Levi feels sort of conflicted with you because one one hand you’re good company and he loves having you around, you’re his Henry after all

-But on the other hand, you put yourself in so much danger it makes him paranoid so often to the point where he wants to keep you locked in his room and wrapped in bubble wrap

-Nearly had a heart attack when you almost walked right into a pit of lava like MC???? This isn’t one of his video games???? You’re not gonna respawn if you die????

-Besides all that, he gets a bit jealous of you confidence and your ability to just do whatever without fearing death or consequence

-“MC, how do you do it?”

-“Do what?”

-“How do you go about your life without a care in the world?”

-“I guess I’ll tell you my secret Levi. I’m not like other humans that’s why, I’m just so unique I do things differently.”

-“You sound like a pick me-“

-As long as you’re OK and not injured because of your carelessness, he’s indifferent about your behaviour and will even applaud you for your bravery when it comes to this sort of thing

-“lmao the human exchange student just dumped Solomon’s cooking in the trash while looking him dead in the eye 💀💀💀”

Satan:

-Your attitude towards DevilDom and demons in general kept him entertained, if nothing else

-You rarely seemed to consider how much of a threat that place really is and usually you were just running around, completely ignoring Lucifer’s rules and doing your own thing

-Which, you know, he’s all about

-I can’t say there were no incidents between the two of you

-With his short temper and your tendency to say things without caring about the consequences, there were definitely moments when he might’ve snapped on you

-“MC for goodness sake, what happened to my room?”

-“What do you mean?”

-“It’s an absolute mess! I just told you to bring me my spells and curses book, not mow through everything!”

-“It’s not my fault this place is built like a fucking labyrinth. You should be grateful I went to get it for you at all, I almost tripped and died several times on my way back. Also, you should get a new ladder for your shelves. It did the broken.”

-“MC….”

-“Yes?”

-“You are so lucky I love you.”

-Other than the fact his anger takes over him when things like these happen, he not so subtly encourages you to keep going because seeing Lucifer scowl at your antics gets him wheezing his lungs out

-I like to think Satan would be very impressed, even in the beginning, at the amount of nonchalance you can radiate at times

-I mean, you sure as hell don’t see it often and he loves how unpredictable you are more often than not

-If anything, he should probably thank you-idk how, but his patience has increased significantly every since you got here and he appreciates having some more control of his emotions

-“I’m gonna go put oil in Lucifer’s shoes.”

-“Do you have a death wish?”

-“Satan, I am old enough to make my own decisions and I concluded that this action is necessary.”

-“Necessary for what?”

-“Raising everyone’s morale! All of you seemed to feel down lately so I thought this would be fun for everybody!”

-“Except Lucifer, right?”

-“Except Lucifer. He grounded me from my D.D.D like I’m a fucking teenager who needs to be supervised-pssshht, I’m the most responsible one here.”

-“Yes clearly.”

-“Goodbye dear Satan, I may die today. But it’s for the greater good! (Dramatic exit with sound effects)”

-“WAIT MC!”

-“(pops head back in) yes?”

-“May I offer you my assistance?”

-You’re basically taking turns pranking his brothers and it’s hilarious

-Satan is not too worried about your well being simply because he knows his siblings and him are always going to be nearby to save you if you pull something stupid again

-Even so, he checks up on you throughout the day; just to make sure

-“Where were you?”

-“Running from a bunch of demons. Who wanted to go munchy crunchy on me, I assume.”

-“……”

-“Either that or people here are a lot friendlier than originally expected.”

-You can be such a handful and it really tests him, especially when he’s angry enough to begin with

-But despite your amazing talent at either getting completely lost around Hell, purposely walking into a prohibited place just because you felt like it or riling up others with how blunt you are, he still cares about you deeply

-You may be a pain the ass, but you’re his pain in the ass <3

Asmo:

-He should’ve known something was up with this particular human when you stood there, completely calm and collected, while Beel salivated at the thought of eating you on your first day

-Asmo just brushed it off for a while but it kept happening???

-The first time Lucifer ever told you off, you really went and said “Or what? Are you going to eat me? If so, you can go ahead and start with-“

-He came to your rescue and covered your mouth before you got to finish and before Lucifer unleashed his wrath on to everyone in that house

-“OOPSIE! I think MC has been spending too much time with me. Sorry Lucifer, we gotta run now! We have a party to attend, don’t we MC darling?”

-“You mean the one hosted by the guy that tried to kill me because I shoved into him on the hallway at school and then proceeded to tell him to go fuck himself right back into whatever hell hole he was born in before you came and charmed our way out of it?”

-“Yes.”

-“Ah OK. “

-You’re tiring for sure but you’re not exactly unlikeable

-You have a certain charm hanging about you that Asmo loves

-“I almost died like…30 minutes ago.”

-“WAIT WHAT?? WHY?? WHAT HAPPENED-MC ARE YOU OK???”

-“Yeah, I almost drank some poison today because someone told me it was water. It smelt off though so I didn’t.”

-“….”

-“Anyway, I got you this bracelet on my way home.”

-He really does wish you would take things a bit more seriously

-This is your life on the line, you know? What would he do if you died?

-“MC, you’re not immortal, you can die so much more easily than I can, you know that right???”

-“I don’t care.”

-“Well I do! And you should too….”

-A lot of people don’t see past his vanity tbh, because he can be such a caring person towards the people he loves

-The amount of videos he has of you appearing to be completely calm while pure chaos is descending in the background is pretty impressive

-Every time he uses his charm on you to try and get you to commit his sin, it just doesn’t work???? For some reason???? And even if it’s just with simple, innocent affection for now, he is determined to tempt you into it

-“MC~gimme a hug!”

-“But that’s social interaction and I don’t support it- do you have a charger for my D.D.D by any chance?

-Or at least die trying to ig

-Asmo loves having you around but you’re giving him wrinkles and that’s not okay >:(

Beel:

-The moment he realised how carefree you actually were, he sort of started checking up with you quite frequently throughout the day

-It’s his way of protecting you but if he could, he would follow you around all the time

-Becomes your body guard because you may not care enough about your safety but he certainly does so get ready to be carried everywhere

-You will not get hurt nor will anyone mess with you if he has a say in it and let me tell you, he does

-Thing is, his brothers mostly know him for being slightly dense in some aspects of day to day life

-He’s not perceptive of things that don’t involve food or his loved ones

-And because you most definitely are a loved one of his, he does notice how careless you are really often

-And it scares, rather worries, him because DevilDom is an incredibly dangerous place-even with all the precautions they had taken when you came

-“MC get down, you could fall.”

-“But Beel, look-I’m finally taller than everyone else! Taller than you even! Hey, should I do a backflip?”

-He has no idea why you thought jumping from 60 meter high cliff into a small river of squashed demon blood was a good idea but he wasn’t going to risk anything just because you felt like showing off your diving skills

-Proceeds to carry you away, completely unfazed

-In this case, I feel like Beel is not someone who gets bothered by the horrible things happening around there either

-As long as he has food and his family is safe and happy then he’s also happy, as mentioned above

-But he knows he’s alright with DevilDom because he’s been living here for centuries now

-A bit curious as to why you’re so unbothered

-And even more curious as to why you weren’t terrified of him transforming in his demon form after he lost control when he found out you ate his pudding

-Or more like Mammon did and pushed the blame on you

-“YOU. ATE. MY. PUDDING!”

-“Beel I love you but if you did not just see Mammon shoving the damn container in my mouth two seconds prior to this, then you might need glasses.”

-He apologised to you later for it but even so, you didn’t seem to mind like at all and he didn’t really understand why

-Unless you end up explaining why exactly you feel so indifferent about your life being in potential danger, he won’t really pry

-But now he has even more reason to follow you around like a lost puppy

-Since it’s clear you don’t really care about protecting yourself

-So now it’s his job to do it

-MC protection squad? Mostly Beel and Mammon

-ahhh he cute

Belphie:

-Oh

-You piss him off so much

-He’s trying to have his moment, you know?

-Finally getting that glimmer of satisfaction after killing a human as a way to avenge his sister’s death

-Trying his hardest to make it as miserable as possible because he has so much rage in him, he needs you to suffer

-“Harder Daddy-“

-“Oh fuck off.”

-Nah but for real, what the fuck MC

-Why does he even bother, he feels like he should be sleeping instead of dealing with your bullshit

-Even afterwards, when your future self shows up and he tries to kill you again, you look more thoughtful than irritated???

-Lucifer and Beel are literally holding him back from doing another Chocky on you and you’re standing there, looking at him with your eyebrows raised

-“Hey Belphie, I have a quick question. I know you’re trying to kill me and everything but do you like the colour blue?”

-“HUH??!?!”

-“It’s a simple yes or no question Belphie. Do. You. Like. Blue?”

-“WHAT DOES IT MATTER???!!!”

-“BELPHAGOUR, AVATAR OF SLOTH-YES OR NO, JUST FUCKING ANSWER!”

-“YES! FUCK YOU!”

-“Ah ok thanks. I like blue too :)”

-????????????

-Pls he felt like sticking his foot down your throat

-As of late, he’s kind of glad he didn’t manage to scare you away that day and that he didn’t traumatise you or something

-At the time, he was mad because he didn’t understand why you weren’t scared but now he just wants to make it up to you

-“You didn’t deserve any of that. I’m sorry MC, I won’t blame you if you decide to stay away from me now.”

-“Stfu dipshit, what’s gotten you so depressed? Did you have another fight with Beel? I told you not to eat the last slice of cake.”

-“Rude ass, I was trying to apologise for my past mistakes-let me repent will you?”

-“Said no demon ever. Now let’s go hang out you emo bitch.”

-Y’all vibe together on a spiritual level once that shit gets sorted out

-But he’s kinda scared you might pull out a knife on him ngl

-Obviously, you’re still annoying as fuck with that indifferent attitude of yours but he can live with it

-He appreciates the fact that you’re not scared of him, even after what he’s done

Diavolo:

-Ah yes, the future King of DevilDom himself

-He’s very enthusiastic about the idea of you having fun this year…..and to keep you alive….

-He, of course, expected a range of reactions from you when he first summoned you here

-None of which were “Ok but could you not have given me a heads up? Before the whole teleportation thing? I face-planted your onto marvellously polished the floor and now I think I lost even more brain cells than before.”

-He felt so bad gagajajahahwgehhsb

-He apologised for bringing you out here without any warning like that and then proceeded to introduce you to everyone

-Diavolo is actually kind of relieved to see you’re handling everything pretty well

-He thought that maybe DevilDom was too much for a human to deal with

-Meeting Barbatos also went incredibly smooth

-“Barbatos? The one that cleans the floors right? Big fan of your work, I could eat off the floor of the main hall.”

-He’s so glad to see you getting along with everyone and not getting intimidated by the brothers

-It gets him excited thinking about how the exchange program is gonna work and all three realms will be united

-But he’s not stupid so don’t think he’ll allow you to stumble around, getting up to all sorts of mischief

-He always has someone watching you because he would hate to see you die, despite being pretty fond of your carefree attitude

-“MC, please be careful. Most demons here aren’t all that nice.”

-“Aye aye Captain.”

-He fears that many demons would take your indifference as a challenge and try to assert dominance or something by kidnapping you

-As far as creatures of hell go, they love installing fear in people

-So he always keeps an extra eye open for you

-And he’ll be there to help you if something goes wrong

-But other than that, he’s pretty chill as well and he finds you so hilarious, it’s been a while since he’s seen someone as eccentric and dramatic as Mammon and Asmo

-Idk what else to add here, Diavolo is very accepting and as long as you don’t get hurt, he’s glad you can get used to your new surroundings so easily

———————————-

Al~

[matan4il]

I have always been a reluctant Buddie shipper because they are canon straight and the universe hates me lol. So it was frustrating that Ryan and Oliver had all that chemistry, and the show baited in an extreme manner to think seriously this isnt happening? But this season changed when they had Eddie dump Anna, in the most awkward way ever lol. But I keep thinking like it has to happen in 5B because why change their dynamics you know.

Buck and Eddie work has like Iron Man and Captain America vibes. You could technically give them girls on the side we rarely see and still let them be the dynamic duo you know with the money action shots everyone loves. Instead they give them angst and have Eddie leaving.

And TBH I dont think Ryan will be thrilled to not to not do the action stuff. He as an actor I dont think wants to be sidelined to the 911 call room. Of course I have been seriously underwhelmed by the first half of the season. I guess I'm screaming into the void because I'm praying 5B actually is meaty and addresses issues and their relationship. And just once have Eddie frantic over Buck. Just once writers!!! I will send you cookies!!

Hi Nonnie! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!

Oh, I feel you, it's always 'risky' to like a non-canon same-sex ship where at least one of the characters isn't canonically queer. That said, don't forget neither guy has been explicitly confirmed as straight, they've only been confirmed as having been meaningfully involved with women. It's true that our collective (as a society) default is to take that as straight, but I feel like without an explicit definition, that leaves the show more room to uncover a different sexual identity than expected, such as bisexual. I've seen it before, it can happen again. ;) It's rare, true, but it does happen!

And I agree so much. With all that build up towards Eddie dating Ana, and then doing nothing with it other than have him break up with her... it's gotta be a part of some bigger arc for Eddie. That decision to leave def fits in, and what ever comes out of it, it's bound to unravel, at least in part, in 5b!

YES! It's not just that they're fighting fires together while having random female LIs, it's also that Buddie have every meaningful emotional thing that happens to either one, be shared between the two of them rather than with their supposed romantic partners.

And God yes, I think we all need Eddie to be frantic over Buck, as I mentioned here. And for them to help each other heal. I just... I'm also astounded by the fact that 911 has built an arc where only Eddie and Buck truly get what the other one is going through and can truly give him what he needs.

Thank you so much again and I hope you're having a great day! xoxox

To anyone else who sent me an ask, I am going through all of them, thank you so much for your patience! If you wanna check whether I've replied to yours yet, you can have a look at my ask tag. xoxox

[mcmusing]

A continuation based off of my earlier post from two days or so. This was just supposed to be suggestions with scene alterations but my special self just had to turn it into a three-day production.

With a few tweaks, X-Men First Class could have been a better, more thought-provoking, honestly objective film.

I've already addressed the facts that the film favors Erik's cynicism too much. I also don't like the insulting implications that all of the women and non-white mutants going with him was some type of empowering moment. No- just no. However, with some modifications, let's try for a balanced story. Starting post-recruitment.

First off, don't kill Darwin. To this day, people are pissed that such a likeable character with ADAPTATION powers was callously thrown away like that. No, his powers won't break the plot. Just because he can change form to survive doesn't mean he can single-handedly defeat Shaw's forces. And here's a crazy idea, don't have Angel follow those fools, either. Maybe she's scared and unsure of who to trust, but when she sees how Darwin doesn't fall for that lame 'slave' remark, she's not sold on that 'queen' bait, either.

Maybe have Alex go with Shaw instead.  He's hesitant and unable to face the disappointment in Darwin's eyes- they had started to connect- but he thinks Shaw's team will win the day. At least if mutants take over, he won't have to lock himself in a cage anymore. Besides, the CIA would likely dump him back in prison after the massacre. I also don't buy a young girl screaming and crying as she sees people murdered being so easily seduced into joining the killers.

When Charles and Erik return, Charles hugs Raven then goes over to offer Angel one as well. She's taken aback at first.then eases into it. Cue a hint of jealousy from Raven. Sean is still adamant about staying. Darwin agrees, bringing up how they killed the Oliver Platt agent, who advocated for them, so gruesomely. And everyone is genuinely upset about that instead of glossing it over simply because the agent was an expendable non-mutant. This whole film series infuriates me with how it has no respect for life.

Erik says, "Then, let's finish this mission. For him." He actually means 'for me' but it produces the desired effect.

Everyone agrees to stay, but Angel is apprehensive. With Alex on the other side, Shaw's team is packing all the fire power. Charles emphasizes that they absolutely must train. Also, training lasts four weeks instead if one because come on. One daggon week is not enough time to get everybody into shape, for Hank to complete the cure, and for bonds to forge. Stop moving at the speed of Disney romance, Matthew Vaughn.

They're all astounded upon seeing the mansion for the first time. At Charles proclaiming, "It's ours," and Erik snarking about 'hardship' Darwin is immediately perturbed and says pointedly, "You're really going out of your way for us, Professor. Thank you." The bashful Professor replies, "Just Charles, please." "And by the way," Raven slinks over, 'accidentally' nudging Angel out of the way, "that hardship was softened by me." An appreciative Charles hugs her and kisses her head. Raven takes them on the tour.

Over in hellfire land, Alex gives Shaw demonstrations of his plasma beams. The older man is instantly impressed. Alex brings up, "I heard Erik and the Professor talking once. I know what you did to Erik. How you made him stronger." An apathetic Shaw responds, "Your point?" Alex states, "I want you to do the same for me." Intrigued, creepy grin from Shaw.

Okay, x-training.

When Charles doesn't want to shoot Erik for deflection practice, a passing Darwin offers to instead. He explains, "Drive a cash-only cab on the east coast- better know your way around a piece."

Erik remarks, "You are aware you're gifted with divine sentient armor, yes?"

Darwin replies, "That's on a need to know basis. And New Year's Eve whinos don't need to know. Haven't had to pull the trigger yet."

Charles looks on pleased that Darwin hasn't had to harm anyone. While Erik deflects every shot, the telepath becomes uncomfortable at the masochistic vibes he's giving off. That's when Charles suggests a more interesting challenge, which leads to that satellite dish/Hanukkah scene all the slash fans melt over but that I've grown cold towards because Singer and Kinberg ruined Erik, wasted Michael Fassbender's time, and my emotional state as an FC fanatic. So help me, I hope they both burn i- moving on.

The x-training scenes are interspersed with scenes of various experiments being performed on Alex.

Angel and Sean become flight buddies with many a quip about the redhead being the Peter Pan to the the petite butterfly's Tinkerbell. In addition to pushing Sean off the satellite, Erik hurls random jagged discs at Angel. One of her wings is injured before she can center herself and Sean has to catch and glide her to the ground. Charles is incredulous, a bit of Hank's inner beast rears its head as he checks Angel over and snaps at Erik for almost getting her killed.

Unsurprisingly, the metal wielder is unapologetic. "This isn't recess, children. Maybe if you hadn't been so preoccupied with fun & games, you could've done more than cower while dozens of men were slaughtered."

Sean is crushed and Angel has to look away to hide the gloss in her eyes.

Hank retorts, "Maybe that wouldn't have happened if you had what it takes to stop Shaw a long time ago. You recruited us, Erik. Not the other way around."

Charles lightly chides, "Hank," but Erik merely says, "Knew there was a mutant in you. Nice to know there's a man in there as well."

Hank doesn't reply as he and Sean take Angel inside to the infirmary.

Once the younger mutants are out of earshot, Charles barely hides his anger as he seethes, "I'd ask if you've lost your mind but that's a foregone conclusion."

"She's fine," Erik dismisses.

"Being a firm taskmaster is one thing but you are crossing one too many lines. Sean was enough but Angel wasn't wearing a scrap of metal for you to snag. Erik, you could have killed that girl."

Erik comes back with, "Sean ensured that didn't happen. A few flesh wounds will feel euphoric compared to what Shaw will do to them. Either they can rely on each other on the field or they can't. It's better we unload the dead weight now."

"Dead weight," Charles echoes in disbelief.

At the younger man's unreadable expression, Erik gives him a prompting look. "Don't bite your tongue now, lab rat."

"I told you I felt- and still feel- every shred of agony he subjected you to. Erik," Charles spoke with a mix of sadness and gentle disapproval, "Sebastian Shaw is in your head far deeper than I can penetrate."

As Charles goes inside, Erik is left legitimately wordless.

Later in the mansion gym, Darwin is spotting between an agitated Hank and a tired but persevering Sean. Raven is using dumbbells nearby.

When Hank lasts longer, Darwin takes the barbell from him. "And the beast is boss."

Sitting up, Hanks asks, "You alright?"

A winded Sean replies, "No," and towels off. "Want to go at the bag a while? Pretend it's the Magnet-toe?"

Hank smiles, "Don't tempt me with such imagery right now."

Raven pipes up, "He's really intense, but... I dunno. He's seriously dedicated."

Sean says, "You can admire him. He's not a big enough head case to mess with the Professor's sister."

"Hey, I don't get any special treatment around here," Raven insists. "Remember how that impromptu dance party was all my fault somehow?"

Guilt flashes over Darwin's face at that.

As the younger men leave, Hank and Raven exchange sweet smiles. Erik is entering and they briefly exchange icy blue eyes.

Noticing the shape-shifter, Erik mentions, "It would seem I'm in disgrace with your brother."

"Preaching to the choir," Raven says lightheartedly. She puts the dumbbell down to rub her arms. "Do I have a brother? He's been so jazzed about training the rest of you."

"Well, you ladies are delicate blossoms in his eyes, aren't you?" Erik reaches out to stroke her shoulder and Raven flinches. Erik calmly explains, "You have a cramp forming that will leave that shoulder aching all night." At ease, Raven lets him massage it. "The dream boat's left the harbor you know."

Raven eyes him in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Hank," Erik clarifies. "I'd say its safe to remove your makeup."

Raven ignores him and goes to bench press. Erik snatches the bar out of her grasp. Insert the 'save energy, be blue, I'm only paying you any mind because you're freaky looking, adolescent girls are ruled by their emotions, those black kids are harshin' my oppression street cred, and your brother's recently had the nerve to mildly contradict me and I need to keep at least one Xavier in my back pocket' speech here.

At night, Angel suffers a violent nightmare. Hank, Raven, and Sean are in the hall with Darwin heading for her door. The Professor appears and calmly indicates for no one to come any closer.

Standing outside the door, Charles calls, "Angel? Angel, are you alright?"

Awake, she gives off a strained, "Yeah."

''May I come in, please?"

Once she grants him entry, Charles pulls a chair over to speak to the sweat coated girl at her bedside. "The massacre?" At her accusatory look, he explains, "Your every terror projected into my mind as if I lived them myself."

Angel tries to deflect. "It's not- it's nothing. Something must've messed me up at dinner. All this gourmet food is a shock to my system."

Charles eyes her kindly but knowingly. "Angel, you have no reason to be ashamed. What you witnessed was as sickening as it was senseless. There is no weakness in recognizing brutality for what it is."

Angel stays quiet a moment. "You and Erik already found me collecting tips for tricks. I know your neighbors must assume I'm the hired help. I don't want you to think that I'm too pitiful to amount to anything more than a 50-cent gutter reject."

Charles rushes to nip that in the bud promptly. "You, young lady, weren't rejected by any rubbish heap. You never belonged there in the first place. You knew pain long before any of this unfolded. I only wish I could've found you- all of you- sooner."

Angel manages a small smile of reverence. "Where did you even come from?"

"Want me to dig out my thesis?" Charles jokes. "I'm told it's a foolproof sleep aide."

Angel laughs softly then appears thoughtful. "Your powers don't just see memories, right? You can, um, push them back?"

Charles nods. "May I?"

She nods back and lays down again.

The telepath drapes a hand over her forehead, gently decluttering her mind until she's able to drift away.

Much later that night, an absently channel surfing Darwin is alerted when the TV remote is suddenly levitated out of his hand. He glances back at the wizard of metal entering the sitting room.

Erik sits on the arm of the sofa. "Your adaptability makes a full night's rest obsolete?"

"Don't I wish?" Darwin then asks, "Does yours?"

With a furtive smirk, Erik brings up, "Demons haunting a certain Angel?"

"You'll have to ask her about that."

"I'm asking you."

"Which you wouldn't need to do if you'd been concerned enough to drag yourself out of bed like the rest of us," Darwin says matter-of-factly.

"I did. Roughly an hour before she woke up the rest of you. I was finishing up a round of calisthenics when I saw Charles keeping tabs on her." Noticing him in short-sleeve workout apparel, Darwin averts his eyes when they land on the numbered tattoo. Erik doesn't miss it, though. "Something on your mind?"

Darwin faces the TV. "We shouldn't have to fight him."

"Shaw?" Erik scoffs. "His converting a government facility into a human slaughterhouse seemed like a desperate cry for help to you?"

"I mean Alex." The younger man then reasons, "It's not hard to see through that thick shell he puts up. He went from isolation in a hole to witnessing mass murder. He's confused, probably afraid of going straight back to lockup, maybe even-"

"He chose a side," Erik cut in sharply. "The wrong one. With his time spent under Shaw's wing, you cannot afford to pull punches on your lost playmate."

"Playmate," Darwin echoes dryly, looking at him. "We're the same bunch of B-list flunkies you wrote off before Russia, aren't we? But now that the stakes are higher than ever, you're stuck with us."

Erik apathetically responds, "D-list is pushing it."

"You were right." At grabbing the older male's attention, Darwin continues, "We were nowhere near ready for this two weeks ago. Everybody was having a great time, most of us feeling free for the first time ever. But I never should have let it escalate that far. I don't know how I...." Darwin appears reflective. "Every time we went into a department store- any time we set so much as one foot outside our neighborhood' my folks had it grilled into me: Head up and mouth shut."

Erik's eyes reveal a flicker of empathy. "I didn't mean I wanted you to file straight to the back of the bus. I refuse that- for any of us. We're paving the way for a whole new species, Darwin. Void of the current one's inane hangups on aesthetics and station."

Darwin questions, "Voided through progress or duress?"

Erik releases a faint wry chuckle. "A man after the Professor's own heart."

"And God help him," Darwin flicks him the remote on his way out, "Alex is after yours."

At daybreak, Angel makes her way down to the Xavier kitchen. Both gasp as a blue Raven morphs into blonde.

"I thought you were...."

"Your nerdy prime rib," Angel fills in knowingly. "Girl, please," she sits at the island, "don't be putting on airs. It's Mutant Manor around here."

Raven remains disguised and wears a taut smile. "Unfortunately, we weren't all blessed with pretty mutations."

Angel raises her head. "And some of us weren't blessed with pretty British brothers or a Barbie on/off switch." She gets an apple out of the bowl and takes her leave of the mute Xavier girl.

The only one around currently, Angel finishes the apple while roaming the magnificent mansion. She happens upon the lower area Raven specifically avoided during their tour.

"Searching for Frankenstein's Monster or Eve's Eden?"

Angel turns at Charles' voice. "This whole place is that second thing and your special sadist friend is the first one."

"Quite," Charles smiles then grows slightly somber. "That was my stepfather's laboratory. We had it sealed off after he died."

Angel points out the space. "Did he....?'

"There was an accident," Charles confirms cryptically. "Please, this is the one area of which I want you all to steer clear."

Angel develops instant nerves. "I- I'm sorry."

"It's fine, really," Charles reassures.

Inching closer to him, Angel peered up coyly. "When this is all over, if you keep me on until I can get some money together.... I can make you happy, Charles. If you want."

Charles catches her wrist when she goes to touch his face. "Angel, no. No, no, you don't have to do that. And I'm certainly not 'keeping you on'. This is your home for as long as you want it to be."

Angel appears so taken aback that her features soften and a childlike air surround her. "You.... You don't want anything from me? At all?"

"You've already made me happy, dear girl," Charles asserts warmly. "Even with all that we're preparing to face, having all of you here has filled this old empty place with more happiness than its known in far too long."

Angel regards him compassionately. "Bad things were done to you here, weren't they?"

Charles attempts levity. "Don't tell me you've developed a mental mutation."

She simply responds, "I had a stepfather, too."

Charles clasps her chin gently. "Have you eaten this morning?" At her showing him the remains of the apple, he brings an arm around her and begins guiding the way upstairs. "Come on. Let's get some actual breakfast in you. If you shrink anymore, we'll never get your feet back on the ground."

Angel giggles softly. "It's all good. I'm diggin' it on Cloud 9."

From a distance, an observing Raven slinks away before Charles can sense her presence.

After receiving no more than two hours of sleep, a startled Darwin is given a wake-up call in the form of a bucket of cold water.

From the doorway, a dispassionate Erik instructs, "The rear gardens. Five minutes." He leaves with that.

With many uncharacteristic swear word under his breath, Darwin rushes to dress in workout clothes. In the empty backyard, he calls for Erik. The only response he receives is a flying dagger to his shoulder that catches him completely off-guard. He is yanked from his dazed state as dozens of metal implements target him like heat-seeking missiles. He does his best to dodge them but he receives several knicks as he tries to flee into the woods. His powers only heal small scratches and even that's at a much shorter rate than he's used to.

Their minds linked via Charles, the telepath, Erik, Raven, Hank, Sean, and Angel are able to watch Darwin's performance on the satellite dish. Angel and Sean wince in empathy, Hank gives Erik period fury eyes but can't help his fascination with Darwin's abilities, and Raven is mostly smiling, focusing on the ones Darwin evades more than the ones that strike him.

When Darwin makes it into the woods, Erik mentally addresses him.

Erik: Catch your breath or keep your life. Your choice.

Darwin then has to drop to the ground facedown to avoid being beheaded by an antique sword.

Erik: You can graze later.

Aware that Charles must have consented to this, Darwin rises. "What's your game, Erik?"

Erik: As I keep reminding you wonderfully made but stupidity prone whelps, this isn't a game. If it were,  riding the bench would be more dignified than you deserve.

Charles doesn't contradict him in front of the students, but casts an expression of unmistakable reprimand on him.

Nostrils flaring and fury ready to burst, Darwin remains in place as the next assault metal targets him. Instead of evading it, he seizes the sword by its handle. He then proceeds to ferociously swipe at every incoming object in-between dashing out of the way of the ones that attempts to sneak up on him.

Erik quietly develops the same expression of awed satisfaction when he first saw Sean take flight.

Raven teases: Look at Erik glowing.

Unaware that their link allowed the youngsters to see his face, Erik gave an impish Charles a scathing look.

Erik: Yes, glowing in amusement over such amateur swordplay.

Sean recognizes the Irish weapon: Is that a claideb?

Erik: According to the blacksmith.

Angel: Geez, Erik, we know you're ancient but you didn't have to bring all your medieval knicknacks from the old country."

Erik: Trot the globe as much as I have and you collect a few noteworthy trinkets here and there.

Out of breath, dirty, and worn, Darwin casts down the sword and tries to climb up to the satellite dish. Hank and Sean help him partway up. Hank immediately retrieves the first-aid kit to treat the residual wounds.

When the girls come over to shower Darwin with kudos, Sean jokes, "Would it kill you to leave just a fragment of cool for the rest of us?"

Darwin responds, "No but life with this metal menace will. Charles, please tell me there's a legit reason you're indulging this side show."

Charles explains, "Would a genuine concern suffice?"

(What do you mean there's a word limit?? Part 2 to come)

[itsclydebitches]

I adore talking about this with you, it's so cool to be able to agree, everything I've read is just excusing yen lmao.

And with "geralt would rather do and say things Yen wants to avoid pissing her off" LIKE YEAHH I guess I annoyed yen with my answers and she teleported Geralt out of the tower thing, and then threatened to do it again like??? Like he pissed her off so she has fuck all care about him, was over water thank god but like girl??? omg and her refusing to tell the wticher bros what she was planning on doing to Uma, like I get that they would be hesistent but I mean it's cause it's cruel and painful and they have that trauma around that. She just expects everyone to do what she asks when she asks no questions. (Lambert's "I'm not geralt" when he and Yen are kinda arguring, bb red flags)

I just assumed she didn't believe him cause if she did whats her excuse for behaving how she is lmao??? Like you believe he has amnesia and you still blame HIM over the person who maniplated him KAY.

And goodddd that fucking scene when Triss and Yen see Ciri in Kaer Morhen is genuinely the worst, Triss and Yen see their sis/daughter (not gonna get into how weird I find it that Triss considers Ciri her sister and Geralt is Ciris father and she still wants to fuck him, uncomfy) for the first time in forever, she's alive and well and while Triss is hugging Ciri, Yen kisses Geralt and Triss throws a glare at her. I hated that scene so damn much, it's stupid and shouldn't have been there. (aso I get emotions and all but Yen kissing Geralt is so bitchy, idk even full of gratitude and emotion I wouldn't kiss the man who just dumped me lol, especially not in front of a situation like Triss)

I'm still mad about the women, I really wanted to like them fuck meeee

YOU GOT TO THE PART. Oh thank god, anon, I've wanted to talk about this since we started these conversations lol

Okay, let's set the scene, shall we? You arrive to find that, with our playthroughs anyway, your ex has barged into your home. I say "barged in" because although we (Geralt) know that Yen's help is necessary and she'll be tagging along, the other witchers living there are given no prior warning and, according to Vesemir, Yen teleported in without so much as a "Hello." She then immediately starts ordering everyone around like her servants, failing to explain the situation beyond there being a curse that they have to help with. No, this isn't negotiable. She (still being an ex) takes your old room for herself, which just happens to be the biggest in the keep, and proceeds to toss a bed out the window. It's only later that Vesemir recalls that Triss used to use it, so prior to that everyone apparently just accepted that Yen was destroying their stuff for no understandable reason. Classic Yen. You go upstairs to find her cursing a blue streak at her failed experiment and when you try to lighten the mood, she snaps at you. If you're of the opinion that Yen's every order must be obeyed, this is when you're supposed to drop the conversation entirely, because she said to. Except, funnily enough, you'd like to know why she's up here being The Worst Guest Ever and destroying your property. She tries to justify this by saying that destroying a bed is better than how she could be dealing with her anger over Triss. Be grateful and all that. Except, it's not really about Triss, is it? The line is "You shagged my friend. For upwards of a year. I don't know what your witcher's code says on the matter, but ordinary folk would consider it obscene, base, vile." The blame is not on the woman who knowingly manipulated Geralt into having sex with her while he was vulnerable, it's on Geralt himself! He is the "obscene, base, vile" person for... daring to have amnesia? And when you point that out - "Yen... told you already. I lost my memory" - she yells that she's "lost [her] patience" and teleports you into a lake! This is, apparently, how she really wants to deal with her anger. Not by destroying beds, but by attacking you for things outside of your control. And I do consider it an attack. Yen is meant to be insanely powerful, she is leveraging her magic as a weapon here, particularly when Geralt has spent the whole game commenting on how much he hates portals. Yen knows this. Not just because he says so in her presence, but because she frequently reads his mind, something else he's expressed discomfort with. She's not just demonstrating her power (controlling) and sending him away when he makes a point she doesn't want to acknowledge (immature), she chooses the one thing she knows makes Geralt uncomfortable, perhaps even scared. Then when you've swum your way back to shore and returned to, despite all this, begin her list of chores, she makes a dry comment about how next time she just might drop you high enough for the fall to be fatal. With the next time implied to be, you know, the next time you disagree with her. The next time you dare to do anything other than agree with her every belief and jump at her every command.

The fandom interpretation of all this: "Lol Geralt getting yeeted is so funny. And their banter is just 😍"

Me:

You mentioned red flags and yeah like that ENTIRE SCENE is a crimson banner for me. I mean, by all means, love the fictional ships that are super messed up (I often do), but it astounds me how many fans honestly think this is just a cute interaction with absolutely no problems attached. Nothing to question here, folks. I've mentioned before, but last I discussed this in depth the asker wanted to know if I'd been an asshole to Yen and... that's it. That's the perspective. Any disagreement with her, any pushback, anything that's not complete, blind obedience is something she will not permit AND something most fans take as a given. If you're not doing what Yen tells you to, you're automatically the asshole, and if you're the asshole, you automatically deserve any punishment she chooses to dish out.

Comic spoilers coming up if you want to skip, but this is made abundantly clear in "Curse of Crows." Yen and Geralt are at their best in the moment below, enjoying one another's company on a nice day. Yen asks if Geralt wants to swim and he says nah, he'd rather watch her. She appears to like that idea and, indeed, swims naked while Geralt admires from the shore.

Actually cute right? I really liked this moment! They're cuddled up together and exchanging smiles. It's a rare moment of peace where I can believe that they truly care for one another, outside of passionate sex and not wanting the other dead. Finally, something beyond that incredibly low bar.

...except Yen starts flirting with a young man who shows up, invites him to travel with them, all while refusing to explain why she's interested in his company. The sudden third wheel is clearly bothering Geralt, but Yen continues to ignore his questioning. The answer she finally gives later that night?

She did it purely to mess with Geralt! It's his "just desserts" for "refusing to swim with [her]." She is "not one to be refused - I thought you needed reminding" by giving him "a flick on the nose." When I say that Yen treats Geralt like a dog I mean she literally treats him like a dog. He's a servant who must jump at her every command and if he doesn't, he'll punished for disobedience. He might not even know why he's being punished for a long stretch because Yen enjoys making him think she's a normal person capable of accepting that he doesn't feel like swimming right now - insert the Kaer Morhen scene where she wants to go have sex upstairs, but Geralt wants to catch up with the brothers he hasn't seen in an age here - only to reveal that actually she's made their formerly nice outing uncomfortable because he needs to be put in his place. All of which is followed by, "So... willing to join me now?" The message is very clear! Geralt had better get his ass in that tub unless he wants to be punished some more. Whether he wants a bath right now or not is inconsequential.

This is also the run where she scares the women Geralt was with, despite them being separated right now. Why? "I could."

Claims that Geralt is allowed to return to his companions (who he actually waves away) only for him to realize she's cast a spell to burn him with the water. Yen loves pretending she's okay with things only to punish Geralt for them later - sometimes with physical punishments. And what would have happened if the women had actually joined him again? Do witchers weather hot water better than the average courtesan? Who knows, but Yen clearly doesn't care who might get hurt.

Just like her time in Skellige and at Kaer Morhen, she refuses to explain what's going on. She just expects people to obey her, so-called loved ones included. Geralt was to get her cider, and arrive before her bath went cold, not question what they're doing on this dangerous hunt. He's a servant.

And my favorite, petty moment: transforming her awful inn food into a lavish meal without offering to do the same for either Geralt or Ciri.

"But, Clyde, that's just the comics. They're not really canon." Nah, questions of canon aside, this is 100% Yen's characterization. She's prideful. Immature. Beyond controlling. And punishes anyone who dares to tell her "No." Fans are always pointing out that she's meant to be horrible, she could have been a villain in another life, like any of that explains why I'm supposed to root for this relationship or enjoy her existence outside of being a complex character. Yen is interesting, but she's interesting in a "I can't wait to see her get her own just desserts" way. Not "Wooo now I get to watch this story ignore her behavior again to push a True Love narrative."

She punished Geralt frequently during their first meeting, she punishes him whenever they get together, and, I think, she punished him during the reunion with Ciri. Given our playthroughs, do we really think that after breaking up with her and all this fury over Triss - an anger so deep she destroyed the bed and attacked Geralt - she's just overcome with such joy that she forgets they're not together anymore and forgets the anger she's been nurturing for years? Yen doesn't forget. She's staring at Ciri during that moment, right where Triss is currently running towards them, and then after a considering look at Geralt pulls him in for that kiss. That was calculated. She did that to make a claim she no longer had. To punish them both: make Triss uncomfortable by playing at the "perfect" family reunion; make Geralt uncomfortable by kissing him when she knows he doesn't feel the same way. But of course, the popular reading is that she just loves him so much she couldn't help herself. Riiight.

It's just all SO BAD. (Including, as you say, the ickiness of having Triss lusting after Geralt and referring to Ciri as "little sis.") I love a lot of the women in Witcher - Cerys is a fave, Ciri, Saskia, Philippa, Keira, etc. - but the two I'm supposedly meant to fall in love with are just the worst lol.

Basically:

Half the fandom: TEAM TRISS 🤬

The other half: TEAM YEN🤬

Me: TEAM REGIS 😭

[buddha-in-disguise]

I've been around fandoms for several decades now. Both before the internet, through the earliest days of internet fandom, to the present day.

I can genuinely say, the way Supergirl treats its fans, especially the LGBTQ or BIPOC fans as a whole, has been the worst by some margin. Particularly in regards Supercorp in terms of queerbaiting.

Whether those involved in the production of Supergirl want to admit it or not, Supergirl as it stands has been queerbaiting a large portion of the audience. Without a doubt, in terms of a ship, the largest core group of fans there is for Supercorp, and by some margin.

Have there been some fans who have taken things too far? Absolutely. And every good SC fan I know recognise and understand this, and constantly say this.

Yet somehow, an entire fandom gets tarred with the same brush continually.

But worse still, when anyone tries to address the queerbaiting that has gone on with someone who works on the show, other than the women in general, Jon Cryer (who could teach those BTS of SG a lot on how to engage with fans on SM, and not piss off swathes of fans), and Jesse, there are few instances I can think of where it then hasn't resulted in SC fans getting dumped on, or called delusional, or basically saying it isn't there.

Here's the thing.

As LGBTQ fans, the majority of us - especially the older ones like myself - know exactly what queerbaiting is. How do you think it even became recognised as a problem?

Because we called media out on it. The LGBTQ audiences defined it, via our experiences. So we know exactly what queerbaiting is thank you. We don't need to be told it isn't there or isn't something going on - because we are the ones who wrote up the damn definition!

In all my years of fandoms, never have I seen queerbaiting on the scale Supergirl use. Season 5 - especially 5a - brought the queerbaiting to a whole new level.

So many of us now dread S6, because S5 was so bad in a multitude of ways for the LGBTQ audience, including but not exclusively Supercorp queerbaiting.

And I don't speak for all SC fans, but I do see a lot like me are caught in a conundrum. We all love the majority of the cast. Particularly the women. Sure we all have favourites, but also as a whole, the female cast is loved and respected.

Here's my dilemma. I want to support the female cast. Hell I was a Chyler, Katie and Azie fan long before Supergirl, and have grown to love Melissa, Andrea and Nicole particularly. Nicole as a transgender women especially holds a place dear to us. I will support them all beyond Supergirl.

As S6 will begin filming, I want nothing more than to show them I love, support and care for them. But then I'm at the point where I want to just tell the show to go jump, because they've sucked all the enjoyment I had out of it for me. When you actually dread what the next week might bring, that is not what any show should be about. Yet here I find myself dreading what the show might bring.

I also am questioning do The CW even care about Supergirl any more, especially as they finally got Superman, which they've coveted for years, and made no secret of it.

They seem to forget that Supergirl and Superman have two pretty distinct fans. I like Superman, but I love Supergirl. I'm also just a little bit done with all the iterations of Superman we've had on screen.

Supergirl has always struggled on the social media side of fan engagement as well. Not once have I seen a showrunner actively engage with the audience. Or at least, if they have it was a long time ago. The current showrunners definitely haven't. Hell, one doesn't even have a SM account.

But even if a showrunner or others involved in the show don't engage, when others do, it becomes a nightmare. The last 6 or 7 hours are a case in point.

Again, yes some fans take it too far where Supercorp is involved. Yet, once again, rather than just stepping away, a writer got embroiled into something that didn't need to happen, because they gave out conflicting tweets on replies to fans over Supercorp, and then began blocking fans who were polite and respectful and did absolutely nothing to warrant a block.

Then they also liked a post that called SC fans dicks.

Yet somehow again, we are all the bad guys.

I've no doubt that they felt overwhelmed on how the reactions went. I truly do. But I really don't understand why anyone doesn't just step back. Put out a polite post saying it's all getting a bit too much, and they need to disengage. I think each and every decent fan would understand and respect that. I know I would.

But here's the thing.

Ultimately the writer shouldn't be in that position of trying to answer fans on it all. Nor should they dismiss fans who say it is queerbaiting, if they're not LGBTQ themselves.

The problem is Supergirl social media is so lacking, it places a higher burden on writers and others instead. That is on the show. Entirely.

I also have to question just how diverse is the writers room? Having a number of women, if they are White and cis, when you have a cast of characters who are LGBTQ and/or Black or POC, is not having a good diverse writers room. And it shows.

If you say there is no queerbaiting, but not LGBTQ, you need to stop trying to redefine what is accepted queerbaiting.

If someone says it is a gay agenda, you need to stop with that, because that is homophobic. End of. That's no different that being racist if you write it is a Black agenda.

Supergirl put themselves in this position.

I've had family watch Supergirl with no preconceptions on characters suddenly say: I see something between Kara and Lena. Are they together? And being astounded when not only do they realise they're not together, that they actually have 4 seasons of this and counting.

This has come from straight family. Or my very gay, very into men brother in law.

If others see it who aren't involved as Supercorp fans, who might even be straight - that is queerbaiting.

But here's the thing. It shouldn't need us to say others see it too. If a large segment of audience see it, say it is there, pull out receipts to show why they are saying that time and again, that should be enough.

Yet it isn't.

As much as it pains me - I sense now The CW has Superman, they're going to let Supergirl go by end of S6. I'd be more surprised if they announce a 7th season than not.

Whatever decisions on the shows future they might be making, one thing is clear.

If they don't allow Supercorp to develop, and don't get rid of whatever homophobic block is going on for the show, Supergirl will be left with a legacy of being probably the worst example on queerbaiting your audience ever.

The 100 are still panned to this day over Clexa by LGBTQ fans.

Supergirl still have a chance, a choice to pull it around.

Sadly I doubt that will happen.

In the meantime, I'm stuck on wanting to stop watching the show, but wanting desperately to support the cast. That's the conundrum many of us now face.

The legacy Supergirl will leave is not going to be about empowering women if they don't change significantly for S6.

It will be how they queerbaited, how they dismissed the only full cast Black woman, worse still, who played an LGBTQ role. How they dismissed the LGBTQ as a whole.

Those are legacies that will not die away for LGBTQ fans. The CW in general has tainted itself with the LGBTQ audience in more than one show.

What a mess.

And it really wouldn't take much to avoid all of this. That's what is so disappointing. It is an easy fix.

Apologies for any typos/mistakes as I'm posting unedited.

[hello-yue-here]

Yuetara, zukka, and maiko

yuetara

ship

1) its not one of my main ships. i dont rlly read fanfic for them but if i see a cute fanart of them ill enjoy it and i think i first started shipping it because of good fanarts for them.

2) i like yuetara because of how similar they are. theyre both women from the water tribe. they both understand the misogyny that they have faced. and they both said f sexism im gonna be a strong woman. i also love the tui and la parallel. moon spirit and ocean spirit parallel COME ON. YUE IS THE MOON. KATARA IS THE MOST POWERFUL WATERBENDER. THEY ARE THE OCEAN AND THE MOON. the push and pull they could give eachother. that dynamic ftw.

3) i guess if i didnt like something about this ship would be the fact that if i read a fic or see a fanart w yuetara then than means in that particular au i wont get any yuekka and yuekka is probably my second favorite ship. but then again if i get yuetara than i could get a plethora of other sokka ships to go with it so my sadness disappears in like two seconds. gosh shipping is hard sometimes until you remember ‘hey i have like fifty different universes in my head. all ur ships can coexist in ur brain olivia’ other than that i really see no downsides to this ship. maybe i wish it had more content. maybe if it had more content id ship it a lot more but its not one of the more popular ships so the content is kinda few n far between on my feed.

zukka:

SHIPPP

1) my boys. my babies. my loves. i watched this show for the first time when it came out on netflix and when it ended i really didnt ship anything other than kataang. i came onto tumblr to find fun atla content and one of the very first things i saw under the atla tag was zukka content. i was like oh? whats this? zukka? interesting... i was intrigued so i found a list of fic recs and i fell in love with the ship. the rest is history. its probably my number one ship because it was my very first ship here and im nostalgic

2) oh boy there is so much i like about this ship. i relate to a shit ton of characters in atla. but sokka and zuko may be the ones i relate to most. i relate to sokka because i tend to feel second best a lot to my friends. i try to stay positive but things rarely go the way i plan or hope for them too and while im happy for my friends and their achievements i oftentimes find myself thinking why cant that be me? and i see this a lot in sokka especially in sokkas master. i dont feel special a lot and idk seeing sokka feel the same way and then realizing he is special kinda helped me realize that im special too. on the flipside i relate to zuko because i have wild anger issues and difficulty dealing w my emotions a lot as well. i get broody and short tempered and insecure very often and i tend to push people away and i refuse to ask for help (the amount of teachers and adults and therapists who have told me its okay to ask for help ur not any weaker because of it is astounding. do i listen to them? .....im working on it.) and i saw a shit ton of this in zuko. book one and two zuko rarely asks for help as seen in the blue spirit and zuko alone and he pushes away uncle so many times and even when the gaang iffers to help him in i think its the chase he tells them to leave. when he finally has his redemption and joins the gaang and lets them kinda become a better person i was so happy. i want that for myself yk. seeing him finally win the agni kai and overcome his family that always told him he was nothing was such a win. my sister and i get along but when we were children we were very much like zuko and azula. it was extremely competitive all the time and there was so much toxicity and sibling drama to a concerning extent. we get along great now which im very happy about but yeah their sibling relationship hit a lil too on the nose for me. seeing as i relate to these character so much and want them ti be happy i want to live vicariously through them so seeing them together is amazing for me to project into them. i love projecting onto fictional characters and with them i can project onto BOTH so its a winwin. plus so many zukka fics are so well written and heartwarming and heartbreaking and emotional and fluffy anf UGH the talent here us astounding.

3) what do i not like about the ship? again the list is long. oops. mainly the toxic shippers. there are so many toxic zukka stans that sometimes make it hard for me to enjoy this ship but hey! thats what the block button is for:) i despise how often people infantilize zuko and completely ruin his character for the sake of making him a soft weak lil boy who needs protecting. thats just not zuko for me. and ive seen many many accounts even state that this kind of portrayal of zuko is rooted in racist stereotypes about asian men (now i am white so i personally have never experiences racism but i feel the need to bring that up because it is wrong and attention needs to be brought to it because a lot of poc fans have criticised this) and the same for sokka. some ppl rlly skew his character and make him a big strong brute and hypermasculine and once again poc fans have said that this take is rooted in racist stereotypes. again! these are just my opinions! this is my favorite ship! but i think its important to acknowledge some of the bad parts of our ships as well and be critical where criticism is needed :))

maiko

ship

1) I LOVE MAIKO. “i dont hate you” “i dont hate you too” BRUH. my little heart just burst into flames. im sorry guys but maiko is so cute. they hate everything except eachother. BRUH that is one of the cutest tropes. i shipped them the moment i saw them together onscreen and i was so happy when zukos face lit up in the finale when mai came back.

2) “i hate everything but i have a soft spot for you” TAKE MY MONEY I AM A SUCKER FOR THIS. they are so cute together. like zuko is rarely happy in a majority of atla but mai makes him happy and i- 🥺🥺 HE DESERVES IT. and mai is always so supportive of him. when hes stressing out about the war meeting she tries her best to comfort him. and zuko cares about her too. he may not be the best at showing it but oh my god hes TRYING HIS BEST. i think its a very accurate portrayal of teenage relationships because they arent perfect and they do fight but like,, every teenage relationship does that. and even after everything and how he left her in the fire nation she still had his back at boiling rock. she still risked her life against azula to save his butt.

3) the thing i hate about maiko isnt even about maiko. its about antis who think mai is toxic and that zuko deserves better. that has got to be the worst take ive ever heard. they had a fight in ember island. that is NORMAL. they are teenagers. they are not perfect. but underneath all the rough edges and things they need to work out they still care about eachother so freaking much. i genuinelt believe that neither of them would do anything to intentionally hurt the other and i think thats what matters the most. if anything mai is the best girlfriend in the entire world because zuko fucked up like,, quite a few times. he got rlly jealous and dumped her thru a letter and ppl always say that mai was toxic for being mad at him for those two things. umm she had every right to be mad at him for both of those. and while zuko is allowed to feel his emotions and be angry sometimes as well sometimes he needs to think things thru and realize that hey maybe some if this jealousy is unfounded. BUT EVEN THEN. HE RESPECTED HER FEELINGS AND DIDNT TOUCH HER WHEN SHE SAID DONT TOUCH ME. HE RESPECTED HER. so i hate toxic maiko takes because they are literally so wrong in my opinion.

again all of these are just my opinions!! feel free to agree or disagree but please be respectful!! i will respect whatever u think as well because this is all just for fun :)

[shini--chan]

Hello, can i please get England and Germany(separately of course ^_^") x reader, who's pretty paranoid, but tries to act reasonable ? Like she's afraid that something might happen to him and that someone might be watching them. And also she's really scared that he will leave her for someone better. But at the same time she tries her best not to bother him. (P. S .Thank you for writing all these wonderful things. I hope my language is not too bad and you can understand me)

 Alright this is quite an interesting ask. I’ll just take the opportunity to remind you all that this is a yandere blog, so I’ll be taking this ask as per usual in dark places. Always the pleasure, dear. Your langauge is just on fleek.

Yandere Hetalia England

You would know who irritable he is. Often, his harsh and condescending words would crawl under your skin and infest and spread there like scrabbies. They would be just as irritable and hurtful with his patronizing sneers and haughty tone making you feel so meaningless. Therefore, you would be walking on eggshells most of the time, constantly on the alert that something would set his temper off. You’d find yourself constantly looking over your shoulder when you’re doing something that he doesn’t view very fondly, knowing that it could give him another reason to deliver a round of verbal abuse.

Inwardly you were sweating. You knew that you shouldn’t be doing this. You knew that if Arthur found out there would be snarls of disapproval and pity that was downright sickening, because it would cause him to view you as somebody beneath him. Still, you carried on indulging yourself in a comic that you had picked up in a hotel lobby when he had taken you on holiday to Canada.

“What do you have there, love”, your personal devil gruffly inquired. Already you could tell that he was in a foul mood today. That you had visibly jumped up in your seat wouldn’t help to make your case. Shaking with fear, you quietly squeaked:

“Nothing. Just a magazine.”

Cautiously, you glanced over your shoulder. Arthur had one hand placed on his hip in an authoritative position. It made your mind go blank due to the stress.

“What did we say about lying?”, he hissed in that silk-soft candance that the static before a lightning storm. Eyes narrowed, and arms behind his back as he approached you, you struggled to cough up an answer:

“To not do it.”

“Then why are you lying to me right now?”

You swallowed hardly, as he hovered above you, his stare unwaveringly directed at you. You didn’t answer because you couldn’t – every time you tried to grasp for them your sentences would unravel, like cotton cloth stuck on barbed wire and the words would run away, screaming and laughing, all little children in their own right. Then those too green eyes flicker to the comic held in your shaking hands.  

“Give that to me!”, he snapped but didn’t wait for you to quaveringly hand it over, he instead opted for crudely ripping it out of your hands. You could only watch as he regarded it with utter disgust as if it were contaminated with nuclear waste – and then proceed to tear it apart.

“You never fail to astound me, (y/n)”, he jeered as his hands worked fast, papers filled with flashy superheros and just as dramatic villains performing a ballet as they descended to the floor in flurries.

“Just when I think you’re improving you have to prove that the opposite is true. What is it that you find about these printed pieces of rubbish attractive? They have flat story lines, everyone similar to the other. The characters are one dimensional, their costumes are vulgar, and their speech patterns consist of the vocabulary of an eight-year-old.

“I guess that this could be considered appropriate reading material, for a dimwit. But I won’t stand for such a thing in my lover!”

Other than that, you would fear for him. Not you could genuinely love and care for him perse – except if you’ve developed Stockholm Syndrome or his yandere behaviour started long after you established a relationship. Rather, it would be you caring for yourself – how bad his day was would correlate directly with Arthur’s mood. That’s why it would always be in your best interest to ensure that nothing bad would happen to him, least you want to bear the brunt of his anger and irritation.

Arthur would have threatened you multiple time to drive out in the countryside and dump you there. You would know that only the twisted love he harboured for you would prevent him from following through with that threat, so you would do your best to ensure that he would never tire of you. Without a doubt Arthur would have other plans of what to do with you should his feelings for you turn bitter and they are all not pretty.

Germany

Ludwig would have his own set of rules that he expects you to follow. Unlike Arthur, who would expect you to abide to a certain lifestyle and not deviate from it, all without laying out the parameters, Germany would determine a list of concrete rules that you would have to follow. He would make these very clear to you going as far as to make you recite them all before you would get breakfast.

This way he would drill them into you, to the point that you would find yourself mentally policing yourself for even thinking thoughts that involve breaking one of the rules. You would grow to be paranoid of yourself and would start to view yourself as this sinful little cretin that needs guidance.

Resulting from this, you would also be scared that somebody may be watching you. You would procced to put black tape over any camera that belongs to a digital device. The shame that would stem from view yourself as an unworthy human being would scare you away from the public as well. Not that Ludwig would mind; it would simply mean that you wouldn’t have to worry about you escaping.

Deep down, you would also loathe yourself for being so vulnerable and absolutely hate for other to see you in such a weak state. During the rare times when you would have to deal with another person other than Ludwig, you would find yourself overanalysing the situation and before 5 minutes could be over you would be convinced that the other person hates you and views you as a disgusting, spineless little worm.

All of the aforementioned would cause you to become co-dependent on Ludwig. The thought that he could find somebody better than you would give you restless night. Because who would you be without Ludwig?  

[breitzbachbea]

F: Share a snippet from one of your favorite dialogue scenes you’ve written and explain why you’re proud of it.

I've thought so long and hard about this ask and I am so glad you asked me for it!

Fanfic Ask Game

(CW Suicidal Ideation. It's at least alluded to.)

I was going to present a more serious one, but it's really long and I also have a few gripes with it in the grand scheme. It was the argument between Harry and Charlie in Italian Affairs, Chapter 20 "Tipping Point", Scene 3. The fact that Charlie changed his mind about what they should do without no clear reason has bugged me since writing it but man ... I still love the emotional core so much. Harry's worst tendencies showing (he gets really physically aggressive), Harry and Charlie yelling at each other nose to nose, Marco backing away physically because it makes him uncomfortable. Allusions to how suicidal Harry perhaps still is and how selfish he is in his rage, but Charlie trying to save him whether or not he'll get a thank you. It's so well written and I have to keep it, I only gotta figure out how to give it a stronger foundation. But this testament to Harry's character, Charlie's character and most importantly their relationship is so dear to me. They bicker all the time, Harry jokes about dumping Charlie in the hallway when he comes to him and Michele crying about Marco, Charlie is constantly dragging Harry for his looks, but they do love each other, even when they're both hurting each other sometimes. Charlie made the conscious decision to not let his best friend descend into this hellhole alone and he looks to him as guidance. Harry will pull through when everyone else has given up and you just need that sometimes. Harry hates himself so much at times, but he knows that Charlie loves him, that Charlie cares and that he loves Charlie for being just another weirdo in this godforsaken world. They've always been there with each other. They will be at each other's side until death does them part.

But here's some funnies underneath the cut!:

Here is a huge chunk of my probably favourite scene from "No Rest For The Wicked":

“I definitely don’t have any wisdom in me, though,” Sophie told Michele. “Wait no, I do – Potatoes good. That’s wisdom these days, with everyone losing their shit over carbs or whatever.” She nodded before she rested her head back into her brother’s lap. “Potatoes good.” She patted the exposed skin of her chubby stomach twice. “Potatoes good indeed,” Harry said while everyone else tried to hold their chuckle in. Sadık’s chest jumped as he laughed low in his throat. “Old Irish proverb.” Sadık leant his head back and his stomach shook as he laughed. “Do you have any wisdom to add to that?” Michele asked Herakles. “You’re usually the one with the proverbs, Michele,” Herakles replied. “And you’re usually the one who bores everyone to death with ancient philosophy,” Sadık told him. Herakles’ thighs rested on his lap. “Oh yeah, ‘I know that I know nothing’, that one I could’ve come up with as well,” Sophie said. “Socrates really isn’t that special, I can ask dumb questions, too, that get everyone mad at me,” Harry said and Sadık stared at Herakles with an excited grin. Herakles took a deep breath through his nose and sighed twice as long. Sophie cackled when Harry added: “It doesn’t even have to be a lot, one’s usually enough.” “I mean,” Michele said and took a deep breath as well while he stared unfocused onto the floor. He had picked up his coffee cup and finally turned to look at Harry. “I love you and I love to entertain your ideas, but the stupidity you can put into a single question is astounding.” “Thanks Darling, I know my genius can be hard to handle at times,” Harry replied with a grin and Michele shook his head with a loving, yet furious glare for him before he sipped on his coffee. “First you’re telling me that I’m not dumb as bricks and then you’re like that to Harry,” Sophie said. “And you are right to say it.” “Fucking brat, don’t throw bricks sitting in a glass house,” Harry told his sister. “Why, did one of them ever hit you? Would explain that face.” They giggled together. “So, ancient philosophy, my friend?” Michele asked Herakles, who had spent the past few moments with his hands in front of his face. “Oh, no, I think your friends are far more interesting than any dusty story about philosophy that Herakles has told us a million times anyways,” Sadık said and Herakles dropped his hands.

Just ... the dynamics are SO perfectly captured and expressed here. Harry and Soph as siblings who find great joy in bantering, both with each other and together about something else. Michele and Harry's relationship that oozes of the comfortable love of a couple that has known each other for 25 years. Michele and Herakles as old friends, whose humor lies in knowing each other inside out. Herakles and Sadık's turbulent but nonetheless familiar tone and behaviour around each other - They can't help it, they're both rivals as much as they're lovers. Knowing each other so intimately and weaponizing that against each other, so that things don't become boring between them.

I'm also still convinced that nothing will ever top “Don’t let me cockblock you, Happy fucking.” I've written here already why I love this scene between Charlie, Michele and Harry so much. Enjoy!