#it's bc you're a terrible judge of character

[lixzey]

Bf!Luke Castellan x Filipina child of Aphrodite!reader please? I haven't seen any of Filipina readers so I'm begging on my knees 🥺

In which she misses home terribly and decides to cook some of her fave food (preferably sinigang, adobo, or like something else! you can do some research, if you'd like 🫶🏻)

And she makes Luke try it! But he's so whiny bcs he hasn't even heard of the dish's name.

Anywaaay, I loved lovelorn!!! Waiting for the next update like 👀 Your writing is just so 🤌🏻 chef's kiss!!

late night cravings

summary: you miss home terribly, so you decide to cook your favorite ulam

warnings: filipina!reader x luke castellan! they're both 19 (set before tlt), they're like on vacation (luke and reader have an apartment in the east village, courtesy of reader’s dad who’s a filipino actor) away from camp duties for a while, swearing (both filipino and english), luke is a picky ass eater, making out, kinda suggestive content

a/n: i got so excited with this 😭 i'm a filipina and an aphrodite kid, so this was so fun to write! I hope you like it!

“What on earth are you cooking?” Luke asks, leaning against the kitchen door frame of the apartment the two of you own. “I woke up to the smell of that.” 

You immediately whip your head around to see your boyfriend, half naked and disheveled from sleep. “Well, hello to you too, sunshine,” You chuckle, blowing strands of your hair away from your face. 

“It's the middle of the night, princess, and you're cooking something that smells like vomit.” Luke grumbles as he makes his way towards you, still bleary eyed as he wraps his arms around your waist. 

“I just missed home,” You giggle, reaching to grab the tongs to flip over the daing na bangus so it doesn’t burn. “Something wrong, baby?”

“Yeah, it smells like shit.” Luke complains, burying his face in your neck. “It’s stinking up the whole place.”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover,” You chuckle, placing the tongs down on a plate, escaping Luke’s grasp and making your way to the kitchen island, leaning against it. “It’s good, I promise.”

Luke stares at the pan. “I am not eating that thing.” He then turns to you, his nose wrinkled in disgust. “Where’s the mac and cheese?”

“It’s just milkfish, dummy.” You roll your eyes at your boyfriend’s refusal to eat anything other than mac and cheese. “Also, you finished the last box of mac hours ago, remember?”

“Ramen?” Luke asks, hopeful that there’s still some left other than the fish that’s stinking up the whole apartment.

When you shook your head, literal fear crept onto his handsome face. “Anything else?” He asks, his voice cracking like a teenaged boy going through puberty for the first time, making you burst into a fit of giggles.

“There’s nothing left, you’ve finished everything.” You say through fits of laughter at your boyfriend’s food crisis. “Guess you’ll have to deal with the food I’m gonna cook.”

Luke’s eyes comically widen, like one of those cartoon characters you’ve watched when you were a kid. “There’s more?”

“Yeah,” You nod, jerking your head to the refrigerator littered with lots of printed photos of the dates you and Luke went on over the years you’ve been together. “I marinated some pork for adobo.”

“Ado-what?”

“Adobo, it’s a Filipino staple.” You answer with a chuckle. “It’s pork marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, and some garlic. I added some peppercorns too. My lola used to cook it for me when I was a kid.”

Luke makes his way to you, his large hands creeping onto your waist, lifting you up onto the counter. “As much as you love it, princess, I’m not eating any of it.”

“And why not?” You scoff, raising a brow at him.

“I don’t like it, that’s why.” Luke insists, kissing your forehead. “I’m gonna go and get some real food.”

You sigh, annoyed by your boyfriend’s pickiness in food. For as long as you’ve known him, he’s been choosing what he eats like a child. It was always mac and cheese, chicken, pizza, and burgers. It was a struggle to feed him, honestly. Since he won’t eat anything apart from what he’s used to. Luke was lucky that the dryads serve mac almost with every meal—which is mostly for the kids or a side dish. You’ve tried to incorporate vegetables in his meals but somehow he always notices. It was infuriating, to the point that you just wanted to shove a broccoli floret down his throat.

All of a sudden, the smell of burning infiltrates your sense of smell, triggering the fire alarms simultaneously.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit!” You frantically mutter, jumping off the kitchen island and running to the burning bangus on the stove. You grab the pan, forgetting it was on the fire for minutes on end. “Putangina!” You swear, abruptly pulling your hand off the pan’s handle.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, here,” Luke grabs the pan with oven mitts, placing it on the counter.

You sigh as you stare at the burnt fish, hearing the pan hiss against the cold surface.

Luke, being the best boyfriend that he is, pulls you in a tight hug, his body heat engulfing you. “It’s okay, princess. It was an accident.”

“I’ve been craving that,” You mumble against his chest. “Stupid fire.”

“You still have the first one you cooked,” Luke points out. “That’s gotta count for something, right?”

You raise your head, meeting his eyes. “Yeah, I guess.” you mumble, lower lip out in a pout.

“Don’t be sad over a burnt fish, alright?”

You glare at him, pinching his side. “It was a tasty fish.”

“Geez, princess,” Luke scowls playfully. “A fish is more important than me?”

“Shut up,” You hiss, rolling your eyes. “I paid five bucks for that.”

Luke raises a brow at you. “When did you even get time to get them?”

“You sleep like a lamb, baby,” You chuckle, turning to walk to the refrigerator. “I went to a Filipino store.”

“There’s one in New York?” Luke asks, brows furrowed in confusion. “I thought you said there weren’t any?”

“That was years ago, dummy.” You snort, grabbing the refrigerator handle, opening it. “Anyway, look what I got.”

An array of Filipino snacks filled the middle shelf of the fridge. You had gone all out. It wasn’t often that you splurge on food, but when a craving hits, it hits.

There were some Choco Mallows—chocolate covered marshmallows—your favorite treat as a child that your lola always bought for you. A jar of ube macapuno that you hated as a child but learned to love just recently. Some dried mangoes, pastillas, a jar of wafer sticks—stik o—a slice of brazo de mercedes, and many more.

“How the hell are you even gonna finish all of that?”

You shake your head, smirking. “You and I are gonna eat each and every item that I bought.”

Luke scowls, folding his toned arms over his chest. “I don’t want to.”

“Don’t give me that shit, Castellan,” You say, placing your hands on your hips. “You are going to eat whatever I serve you.”

Luke pouts, pairing it off with puppy dog eyes. “Please?”

“Nope.”

“That smells like vomit,” Luke complains as you seared the marinated pork for adobo. “And it looks like it too!”

“Quit it,” You say with a murderous glare. “Don’t yap at it until you’ve tasted it.”

“I think I’m going to puke all my guts out,” Luke gags, making his way to the sink.

“For the love of the gods,” You groan, fighting the urge to roll your eyes at his childishness. It was just food, and he’s whining about it like there’s no tomorrow.

You turn your attention away from your picky eater of a boyfriend and back to the pan with the pork searing brown nicely. You then grab the remaining liquid from the marinade—which was not much, which it would have to do—pouring it in, causing the pan to hiss at the difference in temperature. You turn the stove down to medium high heat, before leaving it to simmer.

Much to Luke’s misery.

“You aren’t covering it?” Luke asks incredulously. “It’s smelling the place worse than the fish did!”

“Don’t be such a drama queen, Luke.” You sigh, grabbing a pouch of dried mangoes before taking a seat on one of the bar stools over the kitchen island. “It’s gonna taste good, I promise.”

“Ugh,” Luke wrinkled his nose in disgust. “Gag me.”

“Nah, you’d like it too much.” You giggle, popping a slice of dried mango in your mouth.

Luke scoffs playfully. “Damn right I will, princess.”

“Then stop whining,”

“You love me,” Luke grins as he walks towards you, capturing your lips in his, his hand cupping your face.

You hum as your lips mold with his, your shoulders relaxing as he kisses you.

You pull away from the kiss, pushing him slightly. “You’re distracting me, Castellan,” you sigh dreamily, a soft blush covering your cheeks as your boyfriend looks at you like you’re the only thing in this world.

Luke leans in, his lips brushing against your lips as he trails towards your ear. “Is it working?” he whispers, his breath hot on your skin.

“Luke,” You murmur, placing your hand on his chest. “Stop, I don’t want to burn the adobo.”

Luke chuckles, his fingers tangling with the ends of your hair. “Alright, but later?”

You roll your eyes playfully. “If you promise to taste the adobo and bangus,” You smirk at him, pushing him slightly away from your body as you stand up. “Maybe I’ll let it happen, you know? On this counter.”

“Do I really have to?”

“If you want to bend me over this counter, yes.”

Luke sighs as he reluctantly nods. “Fine, I’ll taste them.”

“That’s a good boy,” You coo, reaching up to pat his cheek. “Go and sit,” you jerk your head towards the bar stool you just stood up from. “It’ll be ready in a few.”

Luke obliges, sitting on the stool with his arms crossed over the other. He grins at you, a mischievous look you know oh so well in his beautiful browns. 

Luke was teasing you, the little shit.

You chuckle, shaking your head, before turning to make your way to the stove, swaying your hips as you did—earning a small grunt from Luke behind you.

As you check up on the adobo, you see that almost half of the liquids have evaporated, leaving you with a slightly oily adobo—just the way you liked it. You turned down the heat, grabbing a fork from the silverware drawer to check if the pork was tender.

You poke the fork through the meat effortlessly, making you smile. The perfect adobo.

You quickly grab a plate and load it up with the delicious ulam you’ve grown up with, hoping Luke would appreciate it as much as you did.

“Here it is,” You excitedly announce, serving the adobo with a spoon and fork in front of him with a proud smile etched on your lips. “It’s better with rice, but it’s good on its own too.”

Luke stares at the meat in front of him, as if the adobo was going to attack him if he wasn’t vigilant enough. “Is it supposed to look like that?”

You raise a brow at him. “Like what?”

“Like it’s burnt,”

You sigh, taking a seat beside him. “It’s supposed to look like that, but it isn’t burnt. It’s because of the searing, plus the soy sauce the pork has already absorbed.” You grab the utensils, shoveling a healthy amount of meat and sauce on the spoon using the fork. “Open wide, baby!”

Luke shook his head. “I think I’m okay.”

“Luke,” You growl, raising the adobo filled spoon up to his mouth. “Open your fucking mouth before I shove this spoon down your throat forcibly.”

Luke raises his hands in defeat. “Alright, alright, geez,” he chuckles, opening his mouth up. “Be gentle with me, princess.”

You glare at him before pushing the spoon inside of his mouth. “If you spit that out, you’re sleeping on the damn floor.”

Luke chews the contents of his mouth, his eyes widening. “Fuck, this is good!” He grins as he pulls the plate in front of him and immediately takes another spoonful. “Mhmm, that hits the spot!” Luke says through a mouth full of the savory pork dish you cooked. 

“Good, baby?” You giggle, reaching to grab the fork from him to get a bite of your masterpiece. “Don’t finish it all, save some for me!”

“Losers, weepeers, baby,” Luke mumbles through bites. “You sure you didn’t use any love magic on this?”

You recoil, slapping his arm playfully. “I did not use gayuma, Castellan.” 

“Gayuma?”

“It’s love magic, in Filipino,” You answer, taking another bite of your food. “I have got to teach you more Filipino words.” 

“I’m in love with this—what is it called again?”

“Adobo,” You laugh, taking a bite of the said ulam. “Pork adobo.”

“Pork adobo, I love you!” Luke grins, like it’s the first time he’s ever tried food in eons.

You smile lovingly at your boy, looking all so happy and content. You could spend eternities just staring at him. Seeing Luke happy made you feel complete, like you’ve fulfilled a quest greater than anything the gods could dish out.

You could see a future with the man in front of you. You’ve honestly got nothing figured out, but Luke? He was the only thing you’ve got right in your life. You could see him, being the man you’d marry and spend the rest of your life with. You could see him being the father of your children, a little Luke and a little version of you, running around the front yard while you and Luke watch on the front porch with a multitude of toys sprawled around.

You fell in love with a careless god’s careful son, and he is the best thing that’s ever been yours.

“Princess,” You hear Luke call out to you, snapping you out of your daydreams. You look up, meeting his loving gaze, making your cheeks burn. Gods, it’s not fair of him to make me feel this much. 

“Yeah?” You hum, moving your chair closer to him, smiling as you did. “What is it?”

Luke cups your face in his large hands, pulling you in close, barely an inch apart. “I love you.” 

Your heart beats rapidly inside your rib cage, wondering how on earth does he manage to still make you feel like that giddy teenager who fell in love with him years ago. 

You stare in his eyes for what felt like eons. You could feel Luke’s breath hot on your lips, begging you to seal it inside of him with a kiss.

You let out a shaky breath, a small smile curling onto your lips. “I love you too, baby.” you whisper, before closing in the distance between the two of you.

Luke’s hands make their way down to your waist, pulling you onto his lap, making you gasp. He takes advantage of your lips parting, sliding his tongue in, eager to taste you—even though he’s done it more times than he could count.

His lips were soft, like a cloud grazing yours. He tasted sweet, like cotton candy, but with a hint of smoke and citrus playing at your taste buds. You should have been used to it by now, being in a relationship with Luke for almost three years and all. But his touch numbs you. His touch is like being dipped into the cold ocean, pulling you in—drowning you, until he’s bruised into your mind. 

Your hands creep around the nape of his neck, deepening the kiss—if it was even possible given the state of your tongues clashing with one another, fighting to assert dominance. You bite Luke’s lower lip, causing a groan to escape his mouth. You feel this familiar heat pool inside your belly, along with something hard poking your ass.

You pull away from the kiss, lips swollen as you catch your breath. Before you could utter a word, Luke lifts you up on the counter, making you erupt in a fit of giggles. He then presses his forehead against yours, you could hear his slow breaths as your noses bump into each other. 

“So, you lettin’ it happen, huh, princess?”

“You didn’t try the other one,” You feign annoyance, unable to hide the small smile tugging at your lips.

“Can’t make an exception for me, princess?” Luke smirks, his fingers delicately brushing against your arms.

“I think I can squeeze you in,” You chuckle, pulling away from him with a teasing grin. “You good with that, mister?”

“I’ll take anything as long as it’s with you.” Luke grabs your waist, pulling you back close to him. “Gods, you are so beautiful.” he whispers, his hand cupping your face.

“I love you,” You murmur, placing your hand on his chest, on the place where his heart rests. “More than anything.”

“You are the best thing in my life.” Luke sighs before leaning in to kiss you again like his life depended on it, wrapping his arms around you like a vice. You run your fingers through his hair, pulling and tugging on his curls as if he was your lifeline.

Luke’s hands fumble with the hem of your shirt, pulling it over your head, momentarily breaking the kiss. He quickly reaches behind, unclasping your bra in one swift movement, tearing the offending fabric off of your breasts.

Luke takes his time to admire your body, as if it was the very first time he’d even seen your breasts out on full display for him, just for him. His cock strained painfully inside of his shorts and boxers, causing a groan to escape his throat. “You see what you do to me, princess?”

You look at him with innocence in your eyes, which at the same time looks sultry and inviting, driving him crazy every time you do. “Who, me?”

“Aren’t you just a little vixen?”

“So, to the room?”

Luke shakes his head, moving towards you, his hands just below your breasts as he smirks. “Here, over the fucking counter.”

tags: @lilmaymayy @ma1dita @sc4rl3ttdafoxx @hottiewifeyyyy

[lowkeyremi]

Hi there!! I’ve read some of your works I they’re really good- you’re so talented and amazing 😭✋🏾

Bakugou x reader where he slips reader a letter telling her to proofread his letter to Santa and she’s like:??? but doesn’t judge bc she loves him, and it says that he’s asking Santa for a wife 😭🥰 and then when she looks down he’s on one knee 🥺

All I want for Christmas is You k. bakugo x fem!reader

a/n: THIS IS SO CUTE OMG IM GIGGLING STOPPPP i was about to say at his grown age he got a santa list but it made more sense after I read the rest :3

content: fluff, established relationship, bakugo is silly

The old grandfather clock that Katsuki insisted he needed chimes loudly to announce the arrival of the next hour. You were in the kitchen getting a little snack before winding down for bed.

As you continued preparing your snack your boyfriend made his presence know in the kitchen with his humming.

"What's that?" He asks looking over your shoulder.

"I'm trying something new." You explain, taking a look at it for yourself. Honestly, you don't know what to call it. His eyes travel down to your feet where he can see you aren't wearing socks or your house slippers.

"How many times do I have to tell ya to wear something on your feet? You'll get sick." He complains for the umpteenth time this week.

"Mhm I know. I need you to be quiet you're breaking my concentration." He finds it cute how your tongue is slightly poking out as you try to frost this.. interesting looking cupcake.

"Doesn't look like ya put much effort or thought into it but okay..." He clicks his tongue and you elbow him in the stomach. Of course it doesn't hurt though, because he's built like a marble statue.

"Anyways, I need you to read over this when your done. It's my wish list to Santa." You don't respond right away, waiting to see if he's going to say he's joking or something, but he doesn't. You put down the frosting bag and stare deep into his soul.

"Are you serious? I thought Santa wasn't real. At least that's what you told Denki and ruined his Christmas." You recall last year's Christmas party when Katsuki harshly broke the news to Denki. The blond had a mental break down.

"I've reconsidered what I'd said before. He's real 'n I've been real good this year so hopefully I'll get what I wished for." He emphasizes that for some odd reason.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that. Remember when you verbally assaulted that kid who said you look like a mean Pokémon character?" He grumbles something that you don't quite catch but you get what he means.

"Just read it." He says with a roll of his eyes. You stare at him once again.

"Ughhh be happy I love your ass. I have to stop my cupcakes to read a santa list??? How old are you five?" He knows you aren't mad which is why he holds out the red envelope for you to take.

He watches you intently as you gently tear open the envelope. You pull out a piece of paper, which reads:

Dear Santa,

It's me. Bakugo.

The only thing I want for Christmas is a pretty wife who will stay with me through thick and thin. Who's also annoying and banned from going to sleep after me because of her terrible pranks.

Thanks.

As you finish reading it you're in shock. You lower the letter from your view to see your boyfriend on one knee, a pretty ring being presented to you in a very exquisite box.

"So.. will you help Santa out? Make my wish come true?" He's shaking and he looks so vulnerable it touches your heart.

You already know your answer but who would you be if you didn't give the man a run for his money.

"Well I don't know, Santa still needs to receive the letter then he'll probably come to me and we'll talk." You say crossing your arms. Katsuki glares at you and you smile back.

"Of course I will!! I mean who else would do it if not for me?" He rolls his eyes so hard you feel it.

"I could get anyone to marry me in seconds." He scoffs while putting the ring on your finger.

"All this talk and it took you 7 years to finally pop the question." Before he even gets another word out you lean down to press a soft kiss onto his lips.

"Merry Christmas, hubby." You say with a snort.

"Way to ruin a romantic moment and hubby is not going to be a new nickname."

jokes on him hubby stuck around for a long time :3

[hijinxinprogress]

Young Justice spends all of their time violating the Geneva conventions or mocking their mentors bc they’re traumatized theater kids without any capacity for a verbal filter which is also why they’re not allowed to watch movies at the tower

YJ is watching some hero movie and a character with a gruff voice sternly says “we don’t kill…we’re better than that” so Tim gives the most dramatic sigh and goes “this is giving me back the migraine from our last lecture from the league” which leads to YJ doing their best to dramatically reenact disappointed justice league lectures

Cissie, offhandedly: Most superheroes having that dumbass code that’s some variation of “we don’t kill, we’re better than that…” make me fucking nauseous because who’s we? I’ll have you know my mother assures me that I’m a piece of shit everyday so no I’m not better than this.

Greta, in a mocking disappointed tone: Cissie! I’m very surprised at your behavior, we’ve taught you better than that! We’re here to protect people not to hurt them

Kon, in his best angry Cissie impression: Well, who’s gonna protect my sleep schedule? You woke me up at 3am to stop some idiot that wanted to steal kryptonite? Are you serious?They’re not going to jail they’re going to the nearest cemetery that I can promise you

Anita, in a dramatic hero pose: I’m not like you…you made me realize something, I have friends and people that love me so I’m not going to-

Bart, doing an excellent mimicry of Anita’s unimpressed face: He killed your family wdym you’re better than that, that’s dumb as hell you even look at anyone I know with the tiniest hint of malice you’re leaving in a bodybag

Kon, turning to Bart and making his voice echo the way Greta’s does when she’s annoyed: what is this nonsense I wouldn’t let anyone get away with doing that to you guys I promise they’d suffer immensely

Cassie, hovering in the air doing a terrible impression of disappointed superman: We can’t kill because then we’re no better than they are

Anita, glaring at Cassie with her best Kon impression: I’m okay with that…let’s not pretend you don’t expect this from me, am I supposed to care? They deserve to suffer, why should I be the only one that has to suffer?

Anita, pretending to storm off dramatically while Cassie tries to look disapproving:

Cissie, doing her angry Bart impression: You’re not gonna waste people I actually like then get to chill in jail and breakout in a couple days

Tim, in a dramatic ‘I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed’ tone: I’m not sure how you did things in the future but you can’t do things like this, do you understand?

Cissie, snorting and crossing her arms in the agitated way Bart does: I understand that our first fight will be our last because we’re not doing this shit again I’m not superman

Greta, in a gruff Batman voice: People can change if you give them a chance

Cassie, in a sarcastic Tim impression: I’ll start a timer I’ll even give him five minutes why are you playing with me rn Batman

Bart, sighing disappointedly: You're so angry and I wish you’d find an appropriate outlet for all this aggression. You don’t know what taking a life will do to you, what it’ll take from you….

Tim, in an irritated Kon impression: why not? we can find out let’s do an experiment and find out I like science I’m game hbu??

Cassie, who does the second best Batman voice: Neither of you can even begin to understand-! How do you know you won’t end up ending low tier criminals like pickpocketers? We can’t play judge, jury, and executioner… what happens when you’re wrong? What’s going to stop you?

Greta, fiddling with a phone and shrugging before giving Cassie Tim’s patented ‘I can ruin your life and you’ve just given me a reason’ look while doing her impression of the way Tim stands when he’s pissed and rolling her eyes: Self control? Common sense? When have my hunches ever been wrong? Don’t play with my intelligence, it will not work out for you

Bart, doing his best to copy the way Cassie stands and messes with their hair when they’re pissed: I’m just saying, if you blow up a city block you lose air privileges I have debris in my shoes rn for what?

[JL was meeting with a bunch of reporters in the tower and later had to do a lot of damage control after the press released a statement about the JL failing to rehabilitate young villains]

[aqours]

i've shared my thoughts on this in dms with like 3 people so i wanted to put it on paper so i can always get it

so i think one of the biggest questions that goes around tcoaatl is regarding it's incest, asked in both good faith and by annoying antis: "so is the incest... actually like portrayed as bad? or is it just hot and fetishized and romanticized?" and y'know, i think the most genuinely HONEST answer regarding that is this: "it's both." (the later mostly romanticized)

the Graves siblings have a horrifically co-dependent relationship which even the steam page is very happy to make you remember, multiple characters acknowledge it, it's a fucking awful terrible thing and you can make decisions that acknowledge it and its obvious to anyone with two eyes and a brain capable of basic critical thought that realistically while you can do w/e you want in a fanfic in a canon sense there's no way gravecest cannot result in what will ultimately be a lifetime of suffering even if both parties don't want to admit it. you're condemning them both to a chance of ever finding real genuine happiness that can exist without the other

that being said? they're both conventionally attractive and the game doesn't really shy from making its physical intimacy look hot and it's clear that nemlei doesn't want that physical intimacy to be disgusting or something that will make you feel ashamed if you intentionally pursued

i feel like this is the aspect of tcoaal that is debated the most on all sides of the fandom and i just wanted to post my own two cents in that i think the answer is "its both." the extent of how co-dependent these two are is very clear that it's not good and that most likely in the final release the best outcome for these two will probably involve acknowledging it

but also if you were to approach nemlei and just told her "listen i just think it's hot i don't give a shit about any of that other stuff i just wanna ship them." i think nemlei herself would nod and respect your decision completely. probably feed you even more if anything

you're free to disagree with me, i just wanna state my own thoughts somewhere, so i think the answer is a very solid "it's both" when it comes to this. tcoaal portrays the incest as horribly psychologically damaging for these two but also at the same time it's obviously not gonna judge you for liking it and if you find it hot nemlei would never judge you for it i think

but i just cannot in any capacity really take the argument it's a hard one or another seriously. i think if tcoaal wanted gravecest to only be seen as bad and horrifying that nemlei would've made different decisions in writing it bc it's obvious she COULD have if she wanted to, but also it's not fair to say it just makes incest look hot and sexy when it does show how fucked up it's characters are because of it

so... just wanted to say yeah- i think it's both

[66sharkteeth]

Time for weekly thoughts!

Well BOY THAT SURE WAS AN EPISODE, HUH? That...I think most people really liked or hated it so much that they unsubscribed and downvoted the series haha (yes, that happened and yes, I expected it because it happens literally anything remotely gay happens lol).

hm... What is there to really say about this ep? I feel like moooost people got what happened between them after their conversation, but for the naïve, yes they got. uh. intimate (And you can see the rest of their night on my 18+ patreon! ;D).

In all seriousness tho, this is an ep I was equal parts nervous and excited for. Nervous bc it's always a little scary to depict... 1. openly gay relationships in media when you have more than 10 followers lol (and sure enough, had to deal w/ a few nasty comments) and 2. scary to depict unhealthy relationships because we know how the internet can be lol. Thankfully, I think the former turned out to be the only real problem and the opinions of biggots effect me far less because personally I just don't let the opinions of actual garbage get to me.

That said, I WAS excited to get to this episode because it was kind of a huge moment for Jericho's character. And I'm glad...mooost people got what was going on? Judging from the comments? There were definitely a few confused why the scion hates Claude, but most of them seem cleared up by others who 100% got it. TLDR of the entire episode is Jericho does care (a lot) about Claude deep down, but his Scion thinks its lame and weak to have human emotions like love. It's also our first time seeing Jericho not completely in sync w/ his own scion and kind of in the time out that Rex's put him in so often because they don't get along.

Anyway, good for you Claude, even if it was technically really unhealthy that you got rewarded for those actions. And good for Jericho for letting his human side indulge for a change, even if you're now in time out and took advantage of someone in a really vulnerable and desperate state. You two are terrible for each other but glad you had one good night.

Also, I want to print and hang every "Scion is homophobic" comment on my wall. They are literally the funniest fucking thing in the world to me

[blood-choke]

Oh my God wait I have more to say on that. If you need the full scene I'm quoting: https://youtu.be/63708PykTcg?si=Bws3wyRs_TkyxPaH prepare for a lot of yapping

Hear me out. It's the "I don't like to share." Val has made it v clear she doesn't like the thought of sharing mc with Hana and clear bc of her own fears and anxiety surrounding her relationship with mc who remembers nothing about their life together.

and the "what about antionette?" "It's different I don't have feelings for her." Hana feels like the antionette to val bc, and these are just my thoughts from reading, we can see that val does care for Hana to some degree but never to the degree that she does with mc. Or maybe she does and just hides it to keep from getting attached like she was with mc and keeping Hana safe from being another one of the councils victims 🤔

And lastly the "that's bc you TOOK my life" is really getting my brain going. Especially since we see mc begin to question whether or not she wanted this life. Like, the potential behind it is putting me through the wall rn

Anyways you don't have to respond to any of this I just wanted to yap and share these thoughts bc BOY does blood choke get me thinking

hehehe yes i do think Valentina can be quite similar to Lestat in some aspects, particularly with her relationship with mc.

and you're right, she does care about Hana... in her own fucked up way. she keeps her more at a distance than she ever did mc because of that loss, which she is still mourning (even now with the mc back. she's not the mc she remembers) and she just was never able to open herself up completely to Hana. Valentina has treated both Hana and the mc terribly in the past (and the mc, at least, treated her just as bad, too, while Hana more or less just took it silently). she does care about Hana, but with the mc-shaped hole in her chest, she isn't sure how to express it, and now that the mc is back, she feels conflicted about her feelings & wants to show her devotion solely to the mc. and obviously she will get jealous of Hana (or Clear) because unless the mc brings it up, she won't share. exactly because of her anxieties (the loss of memories and how that may lead to mc choosing someone else completely) and she's actually fearful that the mc may judge her or be angry herself about Valentina's relationship with Hana (the mc was a jealous person in her past life). obviously their relationship was never Perfect, but Valentina is definitely being crueler to Hana than she ever has been before, almost like she's "showing off" for the mc, and even trying to drive Hana away. (you can potentially call her out on this in the next chapter)

and because of this Hana is realizing that even though she took the abuse and was always there for Valentina, it doesn't matter; mc is back and that's all Valentina cares about. (even if it's not necessarily 100% true-- to Hana, all she feels is that she's being discarded). that's what prompts her confrontation/conversation with the mc in ch3.

going forward there's a chance for this to change, depending on how the mc approaches the two. even if you're not romancing Hana in the poly there are still opportunities to include her (or exclude her, if you want. you can explore that route, too) and with the mc back, Valentina can potentially open herself up more to Hana than she was able to before, platonically or romantically, with mc's urging.

honestly i feel that Hana was more directly inspired by aspects of Claudia's character than Valentina with Lestat (they just happen to be similarly obsessed with mc/Louis respectively). and while i don't necessarily like to say one choice is "bad" i will say being cruel to Hana does have consequences. but i'm still writing it because i want that to be an option to explore specifically with Hana's character, and i don't necessarily want it to feel like a punishment to the player, but this game isn't exactly a feel-good game, and i do plan to make it hurt. lol

and as for your last point... yes it IS interesting. we'll probably never know if the mc was really consenting at that time (can any human really consent when eternal life is beyond their scope of understanding?) and it just adds another fuzzy layer to the messy onion that is her relationship with Valentina.

[rikiws]

GANG!

I have one of those silly little moot thingies!

(No pressure you don't have to do it if you don't wanna!)

But! What music you automatically assume your moots listen to😼😼

To me, I imagine you fw brent faiyaz or the arctic monkeys, maybe some Daniel Caesar

Dude how did you know that... I fw Daniel Caesar and Brent Faiyaz HEAVY dawg are you psychic 😨 (Kendrick and Don Toliver TOO THE ENTIRE DAMN. ALBUM SIGH... ALSO KESHI I like too many artists this yap won't end so let me just stop myself) I never really got into the Arctic Monkeys but I still think they're awesome musicians, even if the music doesn't hit for me that much personally

I love this game though thank you for this, forgive me if I get any of you guys horribly wrong I'm a terrible judge of character...also I really like to talk about music so best believe I'll be listing a few songs out and explaining them too, very sorry if its a lot to look at 😭

@sugariricookies : you first ofc. I'd say you'd be into something fresh, I don't want to say cutesy bc its not exactly that but close yk. Beabadoobee FOR SURE and New Jeans too. Glue Song - Beabadoobee : its very quiet coffeeshop meetcute with a ton of flowers involved ykyk Melting - Kali Uchis : honestly any song by her bc CMON. I think it matches what you're like really well, if you don't listen to her much How Sweet - New Jeans : can we bfr this song is so heart emoji and you're also very heart emoji are we making sense

@sungbyhoon : Idk bit I feel like you'd be into something a little darker...? Not maybe something like Alt or Grunge, actually maybe yes if its something like Cade Clair or something, but more like Cigarettes After Sex and Chase Atlantic. Also very chill but less upbeat and more mature sounding I'm so sorry if this makes no sense, Another thing I feel like you'd also judge songs not just on the melody but also the lyrics so: Sunsetz - Cigarettes After Sex : Any song by them man bc they're lyrics are basically always so 🙏🙏🙏 Heavenly - Cigarettes After Sex : "Tell me it's love, tell me it's real" MAN 😢😢 LET ME SEE YA MOVE! - Lumi Athena & Cade Clair : HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT IT'S JUST REALLY GOOD OKAY I'M NOT PROJECTING (I might be)

@copyhanni : hey...😼😼 okay but you're giving me Chase Atlantic, The Weeknd, and Tory Lanez full stop. You'd be more chill but also upbeat?? but like less cute and more roadtrip-with-your-headphones-in-esque: Out of My Mood - brian mantra & gate 문 : I think indie would be up your alley too, esp brian mantra I love him sm Bloody Hands - brian mantra : another one, his songs don't have too much going on I think instrumentally and his tone is AWESOME it's just 🔥🔥 Swim - Chase Atlantic : need I say more the synth and drums are EVERYTHING.

@suneng : okay just because you said you like Sunflower I want to think that you really like Metro and Swae Lee (bc SAME.) Also these songs imo seem really nice to study to, and to me you come off as an academic in a way so I think this fits (STEM girlies 🙏): Too Many Nights - Metro Boomin, Future & Don Toliver : the bass the BASS god I love the bass SO MUCH. I remember being a trap hater when I was like 11 chat I was WRONG. I think you'd fw this honestly I'd say its pretty easy to like and super catchy and just very chill Love me Harder - WOODZ : this is a very bassy music selection I'm gonna be so embarrassed if you don't like bass 😭😭 but the guitar here was life changing I think you'd love this Link up - Metro Boomin, Don Toliver, wow there's a lot of people involved in this one hold up: Afrobeats/Raeggaeton I'm not very sure but its really good sigh...honestly I think any spider-verse soundtracks you'd probably love.

@stariikis : not sure what it is but imo you'd be into maybe something softer ykwim? Def have wave to earth on your playlist somewhere there has to be 👊👊 Kind of similar to riri I'd say something a little calmer ykyk: daisy. - wave to earth : such a good song wave to earth man GOODNESS. I think this is such a perfect song for the vibes you give off The Long Drive - tv room : okay tv room is a little eccentric with the hyperpop and everything but I think this is one of the tamer songs from him, much slower tempo than his usual ones but still super upbeat in a way An Art Gallery Could Never Be As Unique As You - mrld : long name alert 🚨🚨 jokes aside I think you'd be into songs with less synthetic instruments in it instead and this song is perfect for that

@nishiriki : okay I really had to squeeze out the brain juice for this one and its gonna be such a huge stretch but hear me out you sound like you like rap,,, maybe nothing too dark lyrics wise like JID but something sort of playful-ish... okay let me just get the songs out I think i'll make more sense then: Two Tens - Cordae & Anderson .Paak : see like something a little silly but still nice to listen to, like the kind of songs you'd play in the car with your friends, otw to some random place to hang out LOVE. - Kendrick Lamar : again, the entire damn album still has me in a chokehold to this day there's no way. This is def my favourite from them all though (and a huge obsession of mine rn) and I think it matches you really well PICK IT UP - Famous Dex & A$ap Rocky : I was obsessed with this like a few years ago and then that dance challenge came and I got obsessed again. I don't think I've ever seen so many interludes in just one song before and it's so well done like its so goofy oml, no but I'd think you'd be into rap that's a little more upbeat, less serious ykyk ++Blueberry Faygo honorable mention here

chat I may have yapped just a tiny bit...okay but I fs missed a few moots since I haven't interacted with them enough to justify the music they'd be into I think 😭 nah but if you want me to write you in too please let me know bc I'd be more than happy to :)

[convenientalias]

Good Books I Read In 2023, Placed In Specific Categories

Inspired by this post by @barbwritesstuff.

Gay and kind of depressing literary fiction.

This is always a genre I'm reading, honestly. These two also have kind of an ensemble cast feel, and multiple queer couples involved.

An artificial intelligence controlled by a terrible government/corporate entity, who has committed much violence in the past but now would basically prefer to avoid casualties, has gained independence and is now working for its own goals.

The similarity here was actually kind of a problem for me bc, reading Ancillary Justice too soon after reading some Murderbot books, I was expecting more humor and badassery from the AI main character, less introspection and tragic backstory. I had to take a break from it and go back to reading it with a fresher mind. Both are very good, though I have yet to read the rest of the Ancillary Justice series.

Self published queer fantasy involving kidnapping/captivity.

These books are not actually that similar but kidnapping is a favorite trope of mine and they all have it in their own way. The Siren's Familiar and Shards of Ice have kind of a rescuing-your-boyfriend-from-kidnappers type plot. Our Bloody Pearl has a pirate-captor/rescuer-enemies-to-lovers type plot.

And Bonds of Hate, which is my favorite of the four, is also the darkest and the most fucked up, with a central couple that not only features kidnapping but also rape, incest, and general abuse. It's a dark book in general--the series has been compared to Game of Thrones, and while I have never read/watched Game of Thrones and have a hard time judging, it definitely has that edgy, grimdark political intrigue feel to it. Definitely a unique read for me.

Melancholy Asian literary fiction.

Please Look After Mom is the standout here for me. I love Shin Kyung-sook's writing in general, and Please Look After Mom is the kind of book that sends you on a soul searching journey about whether you appreciate the people in your life and whether you understand them. Also the saddest of the four so watch out.

Speculative fiction where main character handles fragile diplomatic relations between two peoples, with a lot of loyalty and culture clash.

The Foreigner series has been one of my obsessions this year. I'm reading book 7 currently, and the political intrigue is so consistent and high quality, it's really something. But the Tuyo series was also a highlight for me! It has better slashiness and whump if that's what you're looking for in your fantasy novels about complicated diplomatic relations.

I have yet to finish either series but I'm working on it!

This woman is obsessed with birds.

Okay Untethered Sky and Migrations don't have much in common but I loved them both and. Birds.

I'd recommend any of these books! If you've read any of them or if they look interesting to you, or if you know more good books in any of these categories, pls tell me about it!

[sweettsubaki]

MHA 404 / BnHA 404 spoilers

No but why are ppl mad that Horikoshi actually respects his themes and character building ?

- "Katsuki should have stayed dead for his character arc". No Katsuki needs to save people and be comfortable with both losing and not winning fights directly and learn to live with it both literally and metaphorically.

Metaphorically speaking the part of society this represents needs to die and start anew on better basics as many time as needed to learn from the past.

- "All Might needed to die for Izuku's character arc [bc he's not needed anymore]". No actually Izuku needs to learn to deal with the fact that bad things happen and to move on by choice rather than being forced to bc the ppl are dead. It's also not like ppl helping ppl is a major theme of most super hero stories and BnHA has been pretty adamant about it. How helping someone can actually help others indirectly. The Butterfly effect that's literally talked about in the chapter: how Katsuki saving All Might also saved Izuku from his own heart he still doesn't know how to control.... Like c'mon it's not that hard to understand. And for his own sake bc he got to assuage a bit of his guilt. That's great !

- "ooh bad writing 'cause ppl wishes blablabla" yeah it's not as if Katsuki and Izuku have been used as symbolic representation of their society throughout the manga or that we're in a place where the narration literally told us "How WE became heroes". It's terrible how Horikoshi hasn't lost sight of what he wanted to say and is staying consistent. Seriously how dare he.

Like you're free to dislike the themes ofc, I'm not judging that but ... Why did you keep reading for 400+ chapters if you don't like the themes and the literal POINT of the story.

Heroes' Rising came out 3 years ago, how and why are you still expecting a Games of Thrones season 8 to happen ? Like literally why ? It didn't work there, it would most definitely not work here.

(note that not being satisfied with the execution of these themes is a different story and not what I'm criticizing here)

[transsexualgriffith]

3 about berk and also if youve seen any bad Dostoevsky takes, 7 +17 for bsd, 22 berk ❤️

lord I forgot to do this. luckily you haven't answered the ask I sent you either, so I think we're even.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

oh god on tumblr?? it's not that tumblr isn't still brimming with bad berserk takes, but I am fairly good at evading those, and besides if I wanted some truly terrible berserk analysis, I could simply go on reddit. I think "the ideal culmination of their arcs would be for guts and casca to become king and queen of midland" is, well, I've certainly never heard that one before, but I find it more funny than offensive, and truly bad takes are the ones that feel like the story is purposely being misread to fuel downright dehumanising ways of thinking; so you know what I'm giving this to the racist fyodor x reader blog that talked abt how fyodor would never lower himself to selling his body and then basically went "(like that whore griffith from berserk)" which I still think is one of the most maddening things I've witnessed. perhaps not a berserk specific take, but a tumblr moment if I've ever seen one. ofc if we were talking outside of tumblr I'd have much worse things to show for. you truly got anything from misogyny posting to to blaming people for their csa out there (its a beautiful world), but tbh one of my favourites is the "guts left bcs he was trying to escape griffiths clutches". dostoevsky I'm not sure I can think of anything particularly outrageous, you must understand the true opponent of dostoevskyblr isn't the bad takes its the people trying to disguise tiktok poetry as quotes

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

okay to start off with I don't think there's a single character in bsd that I truly hate: asagiri is too good of a character writer for this and I think the few that I do feel some disdain towards or find myself unintrested in could still be brought closer to me if asagiri could please get back to writing shoujo-esque character driven party conflicts and novels, instead of playing powerscaling with the 5th dimension. unfortunately i think the worst fanon treatment is that of my favourite characters. would be alot easier if I hated them.

i guess chuuya could almost be counted here, because although I very much like chuuya, he used to. basically be my favourite character (??) which honestly baffles me and I cannot quite understand why, but then again, that was many years ago when bsd was in a very different state, both story and fandom wise. I really don't want to look at much of fanon chuuya content and don't find him outstandingly interesting, but I will acknowledge that it is quite fruitless to complain chuuya should get so much attention even though he's "a side character" when we have asagiri to thank for two chuuya centric light novels with the approximate page count of les miserables.

i also do not really like kōyō and find the girlboss mafioso thing very weird and off putting, but it sucks to say this because there are also alot of people who clearly judge her through the misogynistic lense.

and I think everyone should shut the fuck up about mori and talk about something else. I like mori, but I actually find it quite exhausting how even when you're amongst mori likers they can never ever turn down the morality discourse, enough! I don't care what he is he's not real can we like actually talk abt his role in the story in a meaningful way. please.

this question should've been abt ships tbh fanon sskk is going to make me blast myself into the sun.

17. there should be more of this type of fic/art

shibusawa content..............my woman!? I swear to god the bsd fandom is four times the size of what it was when I got here (and mind you bsd was never that underground) and yet the fic count has gone up by like ten. and I have likely seen dead apple more than any other living person so I know how bad of a movie it is (though i think you are truly missing out on the sheer amount of homoeroticism if you do not invest in it even a little bit) but no one can deny how visually appealing shibusawa's character design is, so it is crazy to me that people aren't more eager to draw her. I've also never forgiven tiktok for what they did to dazatsu. we used to have it all in like 2017. we were pioneers. but overall I don't feel unsatisfied with fan content for bsd, it's always been expansive.

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

i don't know if I have a good answer for this, just because berserk is so extremely appraised that it never feels like there’s a part of canon left untalked about, but I do know that my love for the black swordsman arc far surpasses that of the average berserk fan, and though I see it discussed often enough there really isn't any fanfic or something of the sort focusing on that period in time, which is rather sad for me bcs I think guts cringfail pursuit of femto is very funny. I also just have always liked millennium falcon, and don't feel like others particularly care for the inner workings of the kushan regime, or mule, or the ganishka conflict as a whole which I think is pretty lit. the cosmology lore in those chapters is much more compelling than whatever guts has going on in mage world.

[ouroboros-hideout]

WIP WEDNESDAY WHENEVER

I got tagged by @theviridianbunny thank youuu!

ART

The Kurt drawing I started a month ago is almost finished so I won't show that as a WIP again lol. But I settled on what I want to draw next already and I am way to hyped by the idea (Cyberpunk/Witcher crossover)

WRITING

I write quite a lot lately (or try to). Manly oc stuff because I managed to get obsessed with Alyona. Welp.

Her character introduction for my AU is halfway finished, but I am overthinking if it got a little to shippy (I didn't intendet that in the beginning but it just happened and I like it hehe). Maybe I make my shippy stuff into something extra and name it after the ship to keep the actual AU "cleaner" bc it's not that important for the plot. I don't know! I can't organzie my stuff!

Here's a preview of the introduction tho. For context: It's a backflash and around 2073, the business in Dtown starts to bloom and she comes for a visit to see what the Colonel came up with (try not to cringe by posting your writing but cringe anyway):

————————————————————

A woman got out of the helicopter after them. Relatively tall, slim, athletically muscular, her short black hair was tousled by the wind, the sides of her skull were shaved short. She wore simple, military-style clothing. Cargo pants, lace-up heavy boots, a tactical leather jacket. Everything was kept in black and dark olive tones. If you didn't know any better, you'd say she was from here and it would be easy for her to blend in with the masses in Dogtown. One detail that made her stand out, was a multitude of thin scars that ran from the lower left side of her face across her nose and up to her forehead. Judging by the degree of healing, it was a very old wound. At least on the outside.

She walked confidently past her people, holding a bottle of clear liquid with an elaborately designed label in her right hand. Probably high-proof alcohol from her home.

After a few steps, however, she stopped abruptly and pushed the aviator glasses she was wearing down a little to look over the rim in disbelief and with a raised eyebrow.

"You look old, Kurt," she said blatantly, examined the man in front of her from top to bottom and continued to walk slowly towards the him, then took her glasses off completely and put them in the inside pocket of her jacket.

"It hasn't been that long since we last saw each other, has it?"

Her English was remarkably good when compared to other representatives from this part of the world who were usually up for business in Dogtown. However, she was unable to mask the slight accents common to the Russian language.

Kurt ignored her little teasing and tried to be professional.

"I'm glad you're here too." He couldn't help but welcome her with a thin smile." And it should be about half a year. The last time was in Laos during the negotiations."

Both slowly came to a halt in front of each other. Jago had followed the Colonel discreetly and kept to the background.

"That was six months ago already. Seems like I did good on suppressing the memories about that terrible place“, she answered shaking her head in disbelief.

"How was the flight?" he added tersely.

"Ah," she made a dismissive hand gesture. "Alright. I am getting used to traveling.“ She showed him the bottle she brought with her. „Here's your favorite. Don't worry, I've got more in the helicopter."

Without further ado, she pressed it into Hansen's hand.

For all the people standing by who were not yet familiar with Alyona and her way of dealing with Kurt, this whole encounter must have seemed incredibly strange. They all only knew him as the undisputed authority figure and nobody, except at most his old brothers in arms, would dare to talk to him like that. And even there were limits.

Alyona finally looked with interest at the man standing behind the Colonel.

„And who is the cute little cat? I don't think we've met yet.“

Jago's features froze completely and he didn't think he had heard correctly.

"The cute little... EXCUSE ME?" he replied with audible outrage in his voice.

————————————————————

And I still NEED to write her fucking lore down. I think I got it togehter by now.

VP (new to the list)

Just started to activly making pics on my console and would like to come up with a little series in the future maybe.

Atm I try to make pics for a fun Discord Challenge where I have to show a single day in the live of my V. Since I am still obsessed with a certain disctrict I thought I make it a "Dogtown Days"- Edition. I struggle with the limited set of poses but I'll figure something out.

Yea think that's it for now. I still have so many ideas for a lot of different things but I have to restrain myself and finish some things first before I get lost in my WIP-Limbo.

[magentagalaxies]

Jessamine is Passionate About Fictional AI Sentience But Not Real AI Sentience: An Essay

one thing about me is when it comes to talk of "sentient" AI irl i 100% don't buy it like technology is not that advanced and being able to act like a person doesn't make it a person, however whenever there's a question about if a fictional AI character is sentient i will go to bat for that character's humanity 100% of a time like fuck you they have just as much of a right to personhood as anyone else

i think it's bc in fiction like. all of these characters are fake, so distinguishing between which characters are fake-real and fake-fake is like. why limit yourself to what could happen in our world. like if we're already dealing with a universe where aliens/magic/etc. exists, why can't this android justifiably be as human as anyone else? plus irl almost all AI software is developed as part of this capitalistic hell structure we're in. no matter how "real" or "human" it feels, its function is to make you contribute to its creators' wealth, and its inability to go against this nature can't help but make it feel hollow and inhuman. however, all the best AI characters in fiction are able to go against their designated purpose, often being defined by it, and often being villainized for it

in our real world, the AI's "immoral" "behavior" is a product of it being a Things that serves capitalism. it's not making choices based on a sense of self beyond what it has been told to prioritize, and a lot of times this lack of human judgment can lead to terrible consequences (e.g. mental health AI chatbots that cannot accurately judge a situation and give appropriate advice, employed because it's cheaper than hiring human staff). but in fiction? AI's immoral behavior is frequently a product of it going against its designated purpose, seeing itself as a person and having to make difficult and morally questionable choices in order to strive for the feelings of personhood and autonomy. this is a far more interesting situation ethically (while an AI itself cannot be seen as morally responsible for its actions in our world, in fiction this AI wants to be a person so badly it's willing to commit moral wrongs to achieve its goal, despite the fact that true personhood would allow it to be seen as morally responsible for these crimes) which i think is also why AI characters, especially those that, y'know, kill people, are often very polarizing figures. this conversation can even be taken a step further into the "liking a fictional character does not mean condoning their actions" discourse, but i also often think about well, if you were in the position of this AI character, would you have done the same?

personally i've always found it very easy to empathize with "artificial" characters like clones, robots, etc. and fictional AI is no different. yes, if you're watching a piece of media and expecting the logic of our world, the AI is fake, and incapable of being a person. but if you're watching a piece of media with the goal of emotionally connecting to fictional characters (who are all inherently fake) and exploring universal themes through a heightened setting, AI characters are one of the most interesting tropes to explore this with. personally, I love AI characters because there's something so vivid about knowing you were designed for a specific purpose/life path and ultimately realizing that's not the life you, personally, want to live. your designers and the world around you doesn't even recognize you as a being that should be capable of wanting anything, much less something completely different, so achieving the life you want is an uphill battle of convincing others of your humanity and, when that often isn't possible, having to resort to the most extreme tactics to claw your way out of the life you were supposed to lead. you know no matter how close you get to this ideal life, there's always going to be some part of you that keeps others from perceiving you as "human", but you learn to embrace that and see every mundane experience as a major achievement

this narrative is especially relatable to me as a neurodivergent/nonbinary person, but i think it can be relatable for many different marginalized identities in different ways, or anyone whose "humanity" has been something often denied to them. but because people are often expecting fictional AI to follow the same logic as actual AI, when i defend robot characters who want to kill their human creators, people give me weird looks like i'm advocating for that in real life. listen, if our current AI situation feasibly produced an AI who was invented for one specific purpose but somehow fucking hated her job and was able to pursue a new life and was also queer (all without any of this being by design) then hell yeah i support her, but that's not what's happening. and in our current capitalistic chatbot hellscape where every company wants to convince you that you're chatting with a super intelligent AI friend to get you to pay for a premium membership, sometimes you have to hold fiction and reality to different standards and enjoy this story about a quest for humanity while also accepting that the people this journey applies to in our real world are often the ones being taken advantage of in our increasingly AI-dominated real world.

idk this was originally supposed to be a short post about how it's funny that i'm so goddamn passionate about AI characters in media while also not being into AI in the real world, but then i got thinking about why this is specifically and came to an interesting conclusion imo. tbh it's very surprising that i don't currently have any of my own projects featuring AI characters fighting for their own humanity bc it's a theme i love so much that i've rarely seen done right and i have so many opinions on it. maybe i will write something about this at some point, but for now if you have any pieces of media you enjoy with AI who are absolutely worthy of personhood pls send them my way!

[mysticfemme]

This is a totally new anon, but I read the ask where you said you think you’re a terrible judge of character and it hit home for me. When I was your age, I’m nearly 30 now, I thought I was really bad at knowing if someone was good person or nice to me or if they were being honest. And this may come off as harsh and you probably won’t heed my advice (bc I didn’t when I was in this space) but the reason I felt like that was because I didn’t have any self-respect and so it felt like those people who were treating me badly were treating me the way I deserved. The only thing that brought it into perspective for me was taking time by myself, going to therapy, and building up my self esteem. I had a sense of self for the first time, and suddenly it was very easy to be a good judge of character, bc you have standards for how you know you should be treated and it’s so easy to see when someone doesn’t meet them when you know your worth.

You should do what you feel is good for you, whatever that is is the right decision, but I thought I might share my own experience to show that what you’re experiencing and the negative things you believe about yourself right now aren’t the truth, and given time and space you might come to realize that

No you're honestly right anon! It sucks but self esteem is so low I'm just convinced I deserve every bad thing that happens to me. I've tried to go to therapy for it but I just can't get my therapist to talk about it. I really want to fix it and have a better view of myself but it just feels like a dead end cycle.

Thank you for sending this anon, i really appreciate it 💞

[troglobite]

random thoughts abt the shows i'm watching don't judge me for what shows i'm watching

i am impatient to see how That Plotline in t/d l/sso is gonna work out.

but it is interesting. so 8 episodes left, 8 weeks left.

and everything is up in the air. kind of unsettling but also compelling. it's nice that i can't actually predict what they're going to do with most of the characters. there are some things i'm sure of (trent is not going to out colin) some things i'm like "it would make sense, but not putting all my eggs in that basket yet..." (trent coming out, himself, and being like ??? y'all didn't know?) and everything else i'm like goddamn i literally have no clue (sam? rebecca? bex? keeley? zava? ted's Entire Situation?)

i didn't like at all michelle's face at the end of the episode & how we're just supposed to be like "good for ted voicing his feelings abt how what she did was scummy as fuck, but in his frustratingly calm way"

like. she's just. what, happy that he's now starting to be honest abt when he's upset? like i get that. but my Hetero Nonsense Instincts kicked in and i'm IMMEDIATELY worried he's gonna get back together with her. normally i'd say that's unlikely to happen w this show, but christ, the straights are fucking unpredictable. so much so that i'm also a little bit worried that rebecca's gonna end up with ted. both would Fucking Terrible Outcomes, story-wise and character-wise, and this is the final season, so i hope they don't fuck it up.

i also think the team getting so many red cards in the second half was kind of. pushing it. like yeah yeah, "lesson learned", fighting from a place of only hatred and anger--especially when it's FRESH--isn't great. but that was. laying it on a little thick. i don't think ted is the kind of person who ever really needs to be in the 'i told you so' position, and i didn't particularly like it. felt like a weird plot for that episode.

but i'm also just in a weird mood and having the colin, michael, and trent situation has me like 👀👀👀 so y'know lol

anyway also season two of sh/dow and b/ne is SO MUCH BETTER THAN FIRST SEASON.

we just made it to episode 7 and quite frankly i am So Tired of alina.

if i understand correctly, the first books were JUST abt her & her entire story?

how did anyone stand that. or did the show just make her so much worse?

i'm just frustrated by the cluelessness and...like... aughaughadgjalsdkfj

for a minute there i was much more compelled by her and her story. she didn't drive me up the wall.

and episode 7 sort of sent her careening again. they end on a cliffhanger--objectively useless given they released all 8 episodes at once--and i'm like "yeah right as fucking if, i know how this is gonna go down, it's v silly"

i mean it's NOT, but also.

you're telling me the wraith, inej, is just STANDING THERE WITH THE SWORD OF LEGEND DOING NOTHING?

yeah okay. c'mon, inej. as if. esp w nina and zoya there, too, like what the fuck.

Everybody Is Fucking Stupid

also it's always a little //shrug when you can see character deaths coming from a mile away.

it's why i LOVED a couple of the middle season episodes--

spoilers, i guess, if you care

but i did NOT see baghra's death coming! that was a shock, but it made so much sense! it was narratively compelling, it created an interesting timer and plot element, etc. very cool.

episode 7, though?

yeah no i knew nikolai's bestie was gonna eat it. i knew david would fucking sacrifice himself like a dipshit, bc narrative balance or whatever, bc he thinks he owe genya or some shit.

it does seem though like maybe this main plot about the fold will be over in the final episode, so if they continue making this show i'd LOVE to keep watching

bc i'm tired of kirigan (ben b/rnes does an incredible job making his silly little lines sound almost actually foreboding--but he basically sells it, bc he comes off as a powerhungry childish man who buys his own bullshit, so job well done) and i'm REALLY tired of alina.

i LOVE nikolai, i think he's very cool. i think they fucking clipped his wings when they made him love alina--SHE'S SO BORING AND ANNOYING, WHAT DO YOU ALL EVEN SEE IN HER?!

i'm literally a lesbian and every other woman character on this show is more interesting and compelling and has more personality than her.

poor girl. her personality boils down to selfish, clueless, obstinate, changeable. that is. about it.

it's just sort of wild.

for a minute there in season two it was like "oh okay. i'm beginning to understand her, now. she's been through a lot, and it's finally showing."

and then we swung right back around to "right, yeah. selfish and emotionally immature shortsighted dipshit. alas."

imagine if literally any other character in the show was the sun summoner. my god. kaz? inej? that would be fucking wild. i love it.

obviously that's not the case bc the books and there's a lot more going on--i'm just saying, narratively and character-wise, they're WAY more interesting and compelling than alina. which is a fucking shame. lol

but i am interested to see how this season ends.

i'd LOVE to keep watching a show abt the crows.

and for the most part i'd just love it if everybody stopped being like. carelessly stupid.

you really didn't think kirigan was going to create a diversion and instead seek to ambush you where you are? you really didn't think that they'd try and get amplifiers, too, or at least be tactically trained? you REALLY think they didn't know about your fucking GIANT NOISY AIRSHIP?

and then also did you REALLY think he wasn't going to immediately go for mal in any circumstance?

you really thought your fort, not far from the fold, was going to be safe from the fold when it's been moving and expanding further for months?

and you REALLY thought, alina, that going to the place where it all began in the heart of the fold WOULDN'T MEAN RUNNING INTO KIRIGAN?!

also why the fuck wasn't inej just swirling around with this sword of legend?! christ.

ANYWAY.

other than that great world and story and just overall very cool.

[rinisbowen]

glad we can agree that ricky bowen isn’t toxic like some like to make him out to be. i feel like he’s judged way too harshly in this fandom and gets the blame for things he doesn’t really do

hi! thanks for this tbh anon <3 it's always nice to see someone agrees with me here. i'm usually just talking and then maybe someone will resonate with it or maybe not.

but honestly it drives me up a wall anon, because you're absolutely right. he's judged incredibly harshly in a way that even characters set up as antagonists initially aren't and haven't been. sometimes it's a josh thing, sometimes it's a nini thing or a gina thing, sometimes it’s a ship thing... but the result is the same. he's a teenage boy who's going through quite a lot of stuff- and he's a good person at the end of the day.

i think people need to remember that as per tim's own statements, the show is about good people being generally good to each other. these are all good kids. and they mess up sometimes too, but they're a theatre family, for better and for worse.

it's potentially main character syndrome in some senses, arguably, where the fact we focus on a main character more (in this case ricky and nini, who do get more focus than the others) means that chances are if they're interacting with a less primary character they're going to be dealing with something related to the primary character... that is what contributes to the ricky's a terrible friend thing. like 'ricky's a horrible friend to big red' no he isn't- he's just the main character. also he does repeatedly support big red so idk what that's about truly.

all these narratives- ricky's a terrible friend to the wildcats, ej should punch ricky for what he did to gina (i see it in fic mostly, but i also have seen it in this fandom more broadly too. maybe someday i'll write about my dislike for the romanticization of violence in fandom), ricky's a toxic person, ricky should've helped this person with their problems even though they're not close and they didn't tell him about those problems so he had no way of knowing, ricky should've done this that and the other thing, etc... it just doesn't accurately portray the story that's being told on this show.

--

also bc it's somewhat adjacent to this topic- if people could stop doing the 'i only ship ricky with therapy' thing i'd love that please and thanks. i can rant for so long about this but it needs to end- it should've never started to begin with. if someone wants me to talk about it i will but- idk if i need to start anything rn haha

[tavina-writes]

Tags from @woobifiedvillain

See, I know that this is true of the characters in MDZS, bc it's really funny to me that people argue about which Mr./Ms. War Crimes is really the Worst War Crime Doer of Them All, but it REALLY makes me feel that we would, as a fandom, REALLY not survive any of my old Wuxia faves.

Because like, on a scale of "Xue Yang" to "in his first introductory scene tosses a guy's head severed on the table in a stranger's house (also apparently dug out the guy's lungs and liver somewhere so yeah whoops)" Xue Yang is morally a terrible person in his universe of origin while say, Qiu Chuji is really just a righteous honorable asshole his shixiong keeps trying to child leash. Ma Yu spends most of his time on the page smiling politely and hoping that Poor Hotheaded Shidi's not causing more problems somewhere.

And this isn't even getting into all the background murder people do like it's normal in this universe! There's a woman I ADORE in this universe who's killed 99 people to PRACTICE MARTIAL ARTS. So she can go kill more people better to be clear. Like, she is very much an evil serial killer but I love her!!! She's amazing and she loves her special evil boy very much. The most honorable character in LOCH has murdered 231 people and he's counting but he made sure to check that they were shitty before they got the axe so it's okay! NO REGRETS!

If LQR marched around keeping his kill count list in the triple digits and also have an absolutely iconic scene where he tells a Crimes Person "I have killed 231 people. You're next. :)" the fandom would melt down I feel. Like the "Lan Qiren is not only homophobic but also EVIL" posts would circulate.

Like if we talked about the characters in LOCH the way we do with MDZS it's like, where does the outrage end. Where does it begin? How do you judge? What are we saying about the "brought a 13-14 year old to a killing people party where we kill over a hundred people in total" ?????

"Your og blorbo is a shitty person!!! HE DID CRIMES!!!" and it's like yeah....but Huang Yaoshi is also the sexiest man alive and an absolute tortured dilf so we're stuffing the "ripped out the leg tendons of his disciples," "imprisoned and tortured a man with torture flute music every night for 15 years for the crime of *checks notes* oh yes saying "congrats on your wife being dead!!!! :DDD"" "put his son-in-law and best friend and the aforementioned 15 year prisoner on a suicide boat in a fit of temper," "attempted murder of lots of people who the narrator even SAYS is unreasonable murder lots of times," "lives on a killer maze island avoided by all the neighbors," "killed a servant as an example of "I am very angry!!!"" and "tortures more people with torture flute music" in the closet. His crimes are sexy! I want him to sob in regret in front of his dead wife's coffin in the elaborate tomb he built for her for MORE HOURS. He can't do that if he isn't also instantly regretting his crimes! (Also he loves his daughter. That is very important to me. He's like Wuxia Fantasy Maes Hughes if Maes Hughes was also evil and unstable emotionally.)

But yeah this is kind of why I find the moral outrage of "your fictional little man did CRIMES!!! CRIMES! CRIMES I TELL YOU!" of the meta posts sometimes....really rather funny. "Yeah he did crimes. Do them more! do them harder! do it again! I love crimes!"

it is actually routinely hilarious to me that fandom talks about the number of war crimes everyone has committed and how terrible they are, and "can [X Character] EVER recover from their heinous crimes?????"

And then there's me, who comes from classic wuxia where everyone does approximately 300% more crimes going ????? and then you get. you get this line about REALLY quite minor characters in LOCH Chapter Three "Winds of the Steppes" (emphasis mine):

"Although the Seven Freaks were all very righteous and moral individuals, they were also all very proud and acted very strange, making them well deserving the title of "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan". Each was a master of kungfu and they always worked together, so they have never come out on the short end of the struggle when going up against others in the martial world. Several years ago they got into a fight with the Huaiyang Clan, the seven of them killed over a hundred or so of the Huaiyang Clan members on the shores of the Yangtze. Back then Han Xiaoying was still a kid, but she still managed to kill two foes and the name of the "Seven Freaks of Jiangnan" were famous throughout the martial world."

Just a causal party brunch to be known throughout the jianghu for! Killed a hundred or so people between the seven of you! This is ALSO the event where the Seven Freaks became sworn siblings though they'd all known and loved each other before this.

I'd also like to mention that uhhh Han Xiaoying, the youngest of the Seven Freaks, is introduced the chapter before (chronologically a few days before this information is given to us by the narrator) as "a fisher girl with a copper oar, about seventeen or eighteen years of age."

The Seven Freaks are well known but hardly major jianghu characters in LOCH. They've killed at least a hundred people together in a fight with a minor clan of thugs sometime ago. That is the level of casual violence that would never happen in MDZS. 😌 Hope this helps explain where I'm coming from.