#it’s a special kind of antagonism it really is

[sanyu-thewitch05]

I swear there needs to be a word for the special hatred and bigotry people have towards African Americans/ADOS, because everyone and anyone(including other members of the diaspora) just has so much to say about us. Especially when we remind them we’re an American ethnic group with distinct cultures(Gullah Geechee, Louisiana Creole and Cajun, etc)

[filmfactors]

watched the kid bandits special for the first time

i care him

[renskaji]

the hoodie

ren kaji x reader, wc: 1.8k, req? no.

He’s not expecting for it to affect him as much as it does. 

Your question was innocent enough, a quiet ‘can I borrow a hoodie, Ren?’ murmured in your sweet voice that he never could seem to say no too. Besides, he’s a protector of the town, right? And you’re part of the town.

What kind of Bofurin grade captain would he be if he let you freeze?

He thinks he’ll be fine, that he’ll be able to handle the sight of you in his clothes as normally as if you were wearing your own. His heart always does a little flip when he sees you, but he’s wholly unprepared for the way it stops in his chest when he finally rips his attention from his phone and up to you. 

It’s not fair, really, that you’re oblivious to the effect you have on him. You’re not doing anything special, just hanging out at his house before the two of you are set to leave and meet Enomoto and Kusumi for dinner, and yet Kaji thinks he might combust. 

The sleeves are just a few inches too long on you, and he knows that the hoodie smells like his cologne. He feels a little territorial, honestly, and entirely too smug that you’re about to leave his house wearing his clothes. 

“Does it look alright?” You ask him, voice distracted as you turn left to right and back again in the mirror. You’re inspecting the hoodie like you’re trying to make some grand fashion statement, and Kaji feels the tips of his ears start to burn as he rivets his attention back to his phone. 

“S’alright.” He hums, non-committedly, because there’s really no good way to explain to his best friend that he thinks you should probably only wear his clothes for the rest of your life. That’s a bit much, especially since he hasn’t been able to muster enough bravery to ask you out. 

He can fight off a rival gang, outnumbered, no problem. But he feels like his lungs might collapse if he even thinks about holding your hand. 

Despite the way he keeps his attention focused solely on his phone, he still manages to catch a glimpse of the way you roll your pretty eyes at his half-assed response. He can’t help the way his lips curve up into the subtlest grin at your slight annoyance. Antagonizing you is almost as fun as watching you wearing his clothes. 

“Whatever,” You huff, turning away from the mirror to face him lounging on the bed. You’d been at his side until a few moments earlier when you hopped up and asked for a hoodie, laying on the pillow beside him and scrolling through your own phone while listening to the music blasting through his headphones set around his neck. “Are you ready? Enomoto gave us so much shit last time we were late.” 

The lollipop in his mouth is strawberry, and Kaji swirls it around his tongue as he gets one last shameless glance at you in his clothes. He can’t actually believe his luck—you’re about to go out wearing his hoodie, smelling like him. It’s practically a declaration of who you belong too. 

You’d probably flick him in the forehead if you knew what territorial thoughts were swirling through his mind, but that would mean admitting just why he gets so much satisfaction from you being seen as his, so he keeps his mouth shut and climbs off the bed. 

He keeps his headphones wrapped around his neck instead of over his ears as he follows you out of his house and onto the street. The restaurant Kusumi picked is only a short walk from where he lives, but Kaji still keeps his head on a swivel while at your side—between yourself and the curb, obviously. 

“—and then we went home.” You’re retelling the day before, when you went shopping with a few of your friends from school, but Kaji is only half-listening. He knows you’re used to his attention being split, what with his headphones usually covering one or both ears, but he’s been better about paying attention to you. 

You’re just too distracting, wearing his clothes. 

“Ren, did you even hear me?” You huff, hooking an arm around his and stepping closer to him despite the annoyance in your voice. Kaji bites down on his lollipop—not hard enough to crack it—and your attention snaps to the movement. He really needs you to stop looking at his mouth, because his blush is starting to become uncontrollable and he thinks he might do something stupid. “Earth to Ren?”

“‘M fine.” He grumbles, wishing he had told you no about borrowing his hoodie and knowing that he would give you the world if you had asked for it. 

He knows he’s screwed when you pull him to a stop by the arm you’re still holding. He relents, but shuffles the two of you to the side of the walkway to stay out of traffic. The street is relatively empty, but the action gives him something to do other than face your concerned pout. 

“What’s wrong?” You ask him. He knows the question was inevitable and yet he can’t help the way his stomach twists at your words. He can’t tell you what’s wrong, because that would mean admitting that he’s been fighting affection for you for months. 

“Nothing.” He lies. You know he's lying because he can’t look you in the eyes, and he feels some of his untempered anger bubble up in his chest. It’s not directed at you, never, but at the fact that he just lied to you. That he’s the reason for the pout on your face. 

“Ren Kaji. Look at me.” He winces at the sound of his full name falling past your lips, and he forces himself to meet your eye. He can do that much, because that means he’s only seeing the top of his hoodie in the corner of his vision— “Do you want to skip dinner?”

And miss the chance to show you off in his clothes?

“No.” He’s quick to answer and he’s glad it’s the truth, because it has some of the harshest edges of your pout melting. 

But then you do the worst possible thing. 

You tuck your chin in, digging it below the neckline of his hoodie, while no doubt trying to think of what’s causing his sudden mood. The material comes up above your lips, stopping just below your nose, and he knows you’re just breathing in his scent, no matter if it’s intentional or not. 

He feels a little bit like an untamed animal, going fuzzy at the edges of his mind at the knowledge that you’re wrapped up in something that smells of him. 

He jerks his head to the side and bites on the lollipop between his teeth again. His face is completely flushed, he can feel it burning, and he knows he’s found out when you perk up and tug on his arm to try and get his attention. 

“Is it the hoodie?” You ask, though he knows you’re confident in your guess when you don’t slow down for him to answer. “You should’ve told me I couldn’t wear it, I wouldn’t have minded. We’re not far from your house, we can go bring it back—”

And that’s just not an option for him, so he needs to find the courage. 

“It’s not ‘cause I don’t want you wearin’ it.” He admits, trying to ignore the spike of panic in his chest when you freeze up. It’s almost worst, trying to talk, when his short declaration seemed to get the words to dry up on your tongue. “I think you look… good… wearin’ my shit.” 

He’s never been the best with words, but he knows his point gets across when your pout melts away completely and leaves a wide grin in its place. Kaji thinks it might be worse for his heart to see you so giddy while wearing his hoodie, especially when you lean forward close enough to him to smell your shampoo. 

It’s then that he realizes that when—if—he gets his hoodie back, it’ll smell like you, too. He thinks his brain turns to mush. 

He’s malfunctioning, surely, because there’s no other explanation than total brain destruction and utter hallucination for him to watch as you reach the hand up that’s not holding his arm and grasp the short stick of his lollipop poking out from between his lips.

He opens his mouth on instinct when you pull on the stick, and he watches in complete devastation as you put the candy in your own mouth. Your smirk up at him, stick poking from the corner of your own devilishly curved lips, and he knows the sight will be forever seared into the brightest corners of his mind. 

He can’t think too long about the fact that you’re doing it all while wearing his fucking hoodie or else he’ll combust. 

“After dinner, you and I can get dessert without the others.” You tell him casually, leaning back half a step. Kaji loathes the distance, but he’s too struck dumb by your bold actions to do anything about it. If you weren’t still grinning at him with his lollipop on his tongue with his hoodie on your body, the distance might’ve been enough to help clear some of the fog from his mind. “You can tell me how good I look in your clothes then.” 

Kaji watches as you turn around like it’s nothing, and he swears he’s never felt his brain stall for as long as it does in that moment. But you glance over your shoulder at him just once, and it’s enough to get his ass in gear and take quick steps to catch up to your side. 

He’s openly staring at you, because he thinks he might be able to do that now, and hates how much he loves the smirk you’re nearly knocking him on his ass with. 

“I might need to borrow more of your clothes if this is how you react,” You tease, slipping your hand into his and efficiently suffocating all arguments on his tongue. 

And really, he’s never been able to say no to you.

+ bonus

“What?” Enomoto glances up from his phone when he feels Kusumi poking him in the side. They’re running late for dinner with Kaji and you, and he really doesn’t have time to clean up some lowlife’s mess if he can help it. 

Except, when Kusumi points across the street, Enomoto follows his friend’s direction and finds the opposite of some creep picking a fight in his town. 

It’s you and Kaji, stopped on the edge of the sidewalk and talking about something that has you grinning and him frowning. Enomoto is about to call out to the two of you, but then he watches as you pull the lollipop from Kaji’s mouth and pop it into your own.

“Grrross,” Enomoto huffs, though he’s smiling. He’s reached his limit of dealing with your’s and Kaji’s endless pining after the other. He watches a moment longer as you and Kaji take off down the street once more, your hand finding his friend's easily. “I’m cancelling dinnerrr. I’m not sufferrring thrrrough them.” 

Kusumi nods, agreeing. He has a feeling you and Kaji won't mind the time alone together.

[meanbossart]

Ask compilation: Overnight honkers, Vampire flu, and non-canonical threesomes.

A quick ask compilation I put together. Thank you all so much for your well wishes to both me and my partner during the recovery/break so far!

Hello!

Well, kind of. If he happened upon any other Bhaalspawn he would immediately attempt to kill them regardless of race, unless explicitly instructed to do otherwise by Sarevok or Bhaal himself.

As a Bhaalist (both prior to the campaign and in the case of a bad end) he wouldn't want any competition - especially after Orin's betrayal. In his "canon" state where he denies Bhaal, he would antagonize them for the obvious reasons - and not really believe that they are able to control themselves like he did - but perhaps he wouldn't not be AS gung-ho about murdering them on-site, though he would believe that to be the right thing to do.

Special circumstances could definitely arise! But that's the most straight-forward answer.

To be clear, DU drow just isn't into very "butch" people and generally prefers aesthetics and behavior most commonly associated with femininity and high society; being poise, dressing elegantly, practicing grooming, softer features, less body hair, etc - that just so happens to more often be the women of the races that he is exposed to the most, but he also comes across plenty of high elves, where there is less of a distinction between genders. In those cases his preference is pretty much totally neutral.

Which is to say, he does not care more for Lady Astarion more than Dude Astarion beyond the initial excitement you that would expect with something as novel as your partner growing bangin' honkers overnight.

Yes, but it's kind of impossible to ignore the personality and the fact that Izzantar is a drow - which DU drow isn't very much into at all.

I think there are things that are of detriment to his health; running bodies of water, holy places, entering homes uninvited - these are things that would weaken him and result in something that would appear similar to a bad fever or the flu, save for the high internal temperatures. Rather, being "sick" in his case means becoming more and more corpse-like.

I also don't believe that Astarion is affected by the cold in the same way a humanoid would. He can feel temperature, but unless it reaches a destructive extreme (severe burns, frostbite) it doesn't result in any discomfort for him.

DU drow has no issue buying into Astarion's narrative of "all vampires are conniving backstabbers" and doesn't care if harm comes upon any of them - ESPECIALLY not Petras, who proves himself annoying in record time.

Alas! ANE has already been outlined to the end and I can say with full confidence that Grodderick's and Izzantar's relationship will never be explicitly displayed, since it has no relevance to the ongoing plot.

Definitely the cleavage. He can't properly inspect the feet from that high up.

Because I thought they looked cool, as simple as that, LOL.

They are not infernal eyes, just plain off-white like I depict them in my art (sometimes I lean more yellow depending on my mood). I think in the character creator they're called "demonic white" and I picked those because they were the evilest option.

At this point, I justify DU drow's odd appearance on behalf of him being a bhaalspawn before being a drow - in a way, he isn't a drow at all, rather he only vaguely resembles one in color scheme.

And thank YOU so much for supporting me on patreon!

I have! you can find a couple of pieces like that on my patreon, though obviously there's far less of them in comparison to the gay content.

Glad to hear that you like that art! However, I was just having a bit of fun, as I like to do. The boys are ultimately very monogamous and their friendship with Shadowheart, while very intimate, never breaches into sexual or romantic.

Unfortunately, Shadowheart is very likely dead in that AU 😬 if not dead, she has definitely split ways from them at the end of the game and wasn't particularly close to either, to begin with. Shadowheart is kind of a key part of DU drow's "redemption" - so I doubt that they would have had much of a friendship at any point in the story of that particular iteration of him.

Just "the drow", or nothing at all if they are referring to him directly. If he isn't the only nameless "drow" in the room, they might call him "the big drow" or "our drow" instead.

Astarion uses his usual nicknames on him, and Shadowheart isn't much for them - I guess characters like Karlach would have come up with something appropriate to call him, like "greysteak" or "goldilocks".

No, that wouldn't really work or be very interesting (to me!) because it would just result in them either killing each other or going their separate ways, since DU drow would never accept to be turned into a spawn or want remain in a relationship with that Astarion.

However, there is an alternate universe where Astarion Ascends and DU drow fails Bhaal 😇

[aesthetic-bbyg]

(Smut) Loser!Luke…

who thinks your just another camper. Just another girl, normal, albeit very pretty, but normal. You prance around camp with a kind smile, wave at those you know, even at him sometimes. Nothing that makes you too special that would distract Luke from his duties.

You’re just another camper.

Or so he thought, completely unaware of the truth. The innocent, pretty girl that resided in the Hermes cabin, yet to be claimed, had a dirty secret. He discovered it purely on accident, he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. When he pushed the cabin door open that morning, discovering that you were missing from the daily head count, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.

There you were, shirtless, a tight pair of low jeans stretched out as you bent over to collect the obnoxiously bright orange camp shirt that you’d discarded earlier in the night. The sound of the door being open made you immediately stand up straight, turning around as you gasped and covered your chest. Feigning a wide eyed look once you noticed who it was standing in the doorframe. Allowing a faux embarrassed look to paint your feature as he stuttered out an apology and shut the door.

Though he couldn’t get it out of his head, the sight of the black ink etched carefully on your lower back. A tramp stamp decorating your skin, half of it hidden under the jeans you wore, he wanted to slap himself for being so disgusting. The fact that it was the first thing he noticed because he was gawking at your bent over ass.

He had to collect himself. Who was he, the leader of the Hermes cabin, if he was over here, a flustering mess and potentially growing an uncomfortable bulge in his pants over what? A tattoo? He’s seen some of the campers his age with them, it’s not like it was a new thing. Perhaps it was the placement of the ink, the fact it was only visible to him through an intimate moment. He swallowed thickly, brushing a way the thoughts when he heard the door click open, slowly watching as you stepped out.

“I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to barge in on you like that—“ The boy mentally slapped himself for babbling like an idiot, he definitely knew that his cheeks were embarrassingly pink.

“It’s totally okay, Luke.” You giggled, a smirk playing on your lips as you patted his shoulder, letting it slide down his arm slowly. You’re voice so soft and gentle, yet antagonizing. You began walking towards the others of the Hermes cabin, your eyes staying connected to his until you were fully turned away.

He just watched your figure as you disappeared into the crowd, swallowing back once more as he felt his mouth dry up. You seemed so slick, unlike the image of you he’d built in his mind. You were a sweetie, a pitifully innocent new girl that was just barley getting the grip on this whole camp life within the first month of your arrival. And yet, that smirk, and the shirt? Did you purposefully cut it up so that it was more cropped.

When he’d finally found the strength to step forward, cautiously, almost like he was learning to walk again, he found you within the crowd. The bottom of the shirt looked to be messily torn up, some parts uneven, so you did cut it up. It did it’s job of revealing your midriff, just enough so he got a glance at a gleaming stone that pierced your belly button.

Gods.

You really weren’t like anything he’d imagined, but it only made his pants even more uncomfortable. Luke couldn’t hold it any longer. Desperately, he was covering himself shamefully as he scurried back to Hermes cabin like a deer running away at the sound of a twig snapping. He needed to relieve himself before he thought of presenting himself to the others.

It was humiliating , Luke thought to himself. Having to jerk off because you. The stupid image of you shirtless, bent over. What if he was standing behind you while you were in that same position? Bent over a bed, maybe? Him just pounding you from the back as he got full view of that tramp stamp that stained your skin. It made Luke moan like a pathetic loser, which he was was, but it didn’t make it any less humiliating.

It was all part of your devious planning. To get him this vulnerable, it only took one move and it was like dominos falling perfectly atop of each other. Just a singular sight you shirtless and it had the poor boy bucking into his fist. You would’ve loved to have an image to the noises you were hearing as you pressed your ear up against the cabin door. But of course, as you twisted the doorknob, the same creak that unveiled Luke’s presence earlier that morning, ultimately revealed you entering the cabin.

Luke immediately sat up, wide eyed and hurrying to cover himself with a blanket or pillow. It was a faint sense of deja vu, now the roles reversed. You shut the door, smirking softly as you approached the bed. The boy looked up at you like a innocent little thing that could do no wrong.

“Need a hand?”

[mrsshabana]

Okay I’ve got an idea for you

Soulmate Tattoo AU but Gyutaro never had one as a human and it only develops some time after he became a demon.

𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐮 ♡ 𝐆𝐲𝐮𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐨 𝐱 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫

꒰୨୧ ・Content Gyutaro x female!reader, canon-ish, soulmate au, fluff, angst ꒰୨୧ ・Note I've been meaning to answer this ask for so long! Honestly I wish I could write an entire fic about this but I had to stop myself. I've always wanted to write for a soulmate au so if you want to see more don't hesitate to ask! ♡ (Also I've never written for a soulmate au before so I'm sorry if I did it wrong)

It all happened so fast.

Just a moment ago you were walking home from the night market. And now you find yourself pinned to the ground in a dark alleyway fighting for your life. Some monster grabbing at you, trying to make you his next meal.

He's unlike anything you've ever seen before, but it doesn't take long for you to deduce that he's a demon. You've only heard people tell stories of them, but you never would have imagined they were real.

His large hand wraps around your mouth so you can't scream.

"Pathetic," he snarls, "Just going to let me kill you without putting up a fight?"

You try to kick and scream but you're powerless against him. His lips curl into a sadistic smile. A deep, hyena-like laugh comes from his throat.

"You're so disgraceful, I almost feel bad for you!"

For a split second, he's too busy antagonizing you to notice that you're wiggling out of his grasp. "Fuck you!" you hiss, kicking his groin and desperately crawling away.

Immediately the demon hunches over and groans in pain, "You... bitch..."

Unfortunately, the blow doesn't do as much damage as it would a human, and he's recovered quicker than you expected. You were only able to get a few feet away before he grabbed your ankle.

"You'll pay for th-" he stops mid-sentence and stares at the spot above your ankle.

An intricate pattern lies there, one that you were born with. It looks like a random splotch of ink at first glance, but when you look closer it resembles the shape of a heart.

The demon gulps audibly, suddenly the entire aura around him shifting. Without an explanation, he gets on one knee and pulls up the hem of his pants to reveal a mark that looks identical to yours.

"You... You're my soulmate," you whisper in disbelief.

The demon's hand begins to tremble as he keeps a firm grip on your ankle. "It-it can't be..."

"P-Please, maybe we-"

"Shut it!" he snaps, his teeth getting dangerously close to your face, "I don't care who you are! You're gonna be my next meal!"

He pulls out a weapon you didn't notice he had. It looks strange, like something you've never seen before.

With a look of amusement on his face, he swipes the blade of the weapon across your throat.

But nothing happens.

"...what?" he frowns and presses the blade harder against your neck. But it won't cut your skin.

It really must be true then. This demon is your soulmate, and lucky for you soulmates can't bring harm to each other.

You always heard about soulmate tattoos and how you were destined to find that special person one day. But a demon? Really? Sure, he's pretty cute but he's still a demon!

However, you're honestly just happy to be alive. At least now you don't have to worry about the demon that lurks around the entertainment district making you his dinner.

Meanwhile, your soulmate stares at you with wide eyes, hurriedly stepping away from you as if he's disgusted by you.

"Wait! Please don't go," you reach out to him, "Maybe we can work something out..."

"Tsk, I want nothing to do with you. I don't need a soulmate," he snarls, looking you up and down one last time before disappearing into the night.

You stay in that spot longer than you should, hoping he would return.

Of course, you know that demons are dangerous, but a part of you can't help but feel some kind of unconditional love for him. He is your soulmate after all.

But after some time passes you give up on love. The demon never comes back so you figure there's no point in even trying to find love in the future. If your destined soulmate doesn't even want you, then why would anyone else?

As weeks pass you go on with your life and try to forget about the demon. You're pretty sure he's long forgotten about you, but you couldn't be further from the truth. He's just been really good at hiding it.

Gyutaro hasn't been able to stop thinking about you ever since that night.

He went his entire life convinced that he was unloveable. But then suddenly this gorgeous human shows up on a silver platter just for him. It was a lot to process in the moment, but as time passed he couldn't help but sprout feelings for you. Especially after he stalked you and got to see how cute you are.

It started with him following your scent around the district, finding out where you lived, stealing your mail to get all of your personal information, and then breaking into your home while you slept.

Sure, maybe it's a bit creepy and weird but he's a demon! He has no morals at this point.

When he was a human, soulmates were the least of his worries. He was too busy scrounging for food and trying to survive to care. There were plenty of marks on his body, but none of them were the mark of a soulmate. The one on his ankle only appeared years after he became a demon. But honestly, the thought that this mark was actually the mark of a soulmate never crossed his mind. He always believed that a soulmate was never in the cards for him.

Normally he would never catch feelings for anyone, let alone a human. But when he met you it was like a switch flipped inside of him and he couldn't help but feel drawn to you.

And now, as he spends more and more time around you he begins to get careless. His feelings start to get stronger and overpower his rational thoughts. This whole time he's told himself that he'll never let you see him and he'll always just admire you when you're asleep. But the urge to touch you starts to get too strong. Oh, what he wouldn't give to feel your skin under his fingertips. To just hold you in his arms if only for a few seconds.

As he stands above your bed, looking down at you as you sleep blissfully unaware, he can't stop himself from crawling into your bed with you. It's like his body moves on its own, all of his anxious and self-hating thoughts get momentarily pushed aside. And all he can think about is you, and how right this feels.

You feel large, firm arms wrap around you - slowly waking you from your slumber. Typically someone would feel terrified to wake up suddenly in the embrace of a stranger. But you already know who this is. Your body knew it was your soulmate before you even opened your eyes.

After all of these weeks, you tried to forget about him but you never could. Ever since that first night you met him you felt like a part of you was missing. And he felt it too.

But now you feel complete with him by your side. And for the first time in his life, he doesn't hate himself. He doesn't feel like a disgusting, ugly, disgraceful waste of space.

He feels loved.

[balioc]

Yes, They Despise You, and That's Fine

...the title says it all, really. No matter who you are, there's a tribe out there whose members hate you. Your rites are not their rites, and your gods are not their gods; you are alien and frightening. They think that your ideals are meaningless and perverse, and that you are deficient in the virtues that matter. It seems hideously unjust that People Like You should prosper while decent good-hearted People Like Them are suffering (which is of course exactly what's happening, weighted for psychic salience).

Which is all to say that, very probably - they hate you for the exact same reasons that you hate them.

Or maybe you actually don't hate them! Maybe you're one of the rare people whose heart overflows with compassion and understanding even for those who are truly unlike you. Doesn't matter. They hate you anyway, and your friends and allies hate them just as much in return.

This is one of those rare issues where I can point to all the coalitions and demographics and say: yes, all of you equally, none of you is free from sin.

There are people who'll tell you to put that kind of hatred away from you, for the sake of cleansing your soul and making the world a better place. And, y'know, you probably should. It would in fact be better, for you and for the world. You don't actually need me to tell you why hatred is corrosive and toxic, personally and socially, no matter what kind of argument you can construct that the object of the hatred "deserves" it. You have at least a century's worth of liberal literature, including all the stuff on which you grew up, to explain that idea.

But in fact I'm not telling you to put your hatred away from you. Hate if you want to hate. Whatever else may be true, some people really do deserve to be hated, and - even if you're wrong about which ones (as you probably are), I'm sure not going to convince you of that, not here. And you can build some beautiful things upon spite and antagonism.

What I am telling you is this:

Accept that they will hate you. They will never, ever, ever stop. Resentment is the cheapest, easiest-to-access pleasure that the world has to offer; you will never convince them to give it up. There is no conceivable victory so complete that they'll have to admit that you're Good, Actually. (You can of course win some people over, maybe lots of people, if you're actually trying to do that and not other things - but there will always be haters, and to a monkey brain used to living in monkey-sized tribes, there will always be a lot of them.)

And if they hate you, as they will - what of it? Why should you care? Why should you let it ruin your life? Should it ruin their lives that you hate them, or that your allies do?

Don't let the fact of their hatred make your decisions for you. Those decisions will be bad ones. Don't abandon your actual worthwhile goals in favor of punishing the people who dislike you. That quickly leads to a society built mostly for internecine tribal culture war, which is what we have, and it's a nightmare. They're people, they're your neighbors, they're moral patients, they're potential allies if their interests converge with yours, and - they hate you. And maybe you hate them too. That's just how it goes, when you're trying to live in a big dynamic complicated world.

No one said that you had to invite them to your birthday party.

----------

One final note, apropos to the moment:

If you're reading this, you should assume that absolutely anyone in a position of political power - on either of the big teams - despises you personally, or would if he knew you.

(In this crowd, it's possible that some especially-brainy politico might consider you to be one of his favorite amusing Internet philosophers. But leaving aside that special case...)

You haven't sold your soul for money or power. I know this because you're on Tumblr, which bespeaks a strong willingness to invest in things that will not win you any concrete benefit. Which means that those who have sold their souls, and gotten a good return, consider you to be a contemptible loser. They may make mouth noises about valuing People Like You, as an attempt to court your support. They are lying. They may actually do things to provide tangible support to People Like You, which is great, but it doesn't speak to their hearts.

And if your reaction to that is "I don't care what's in their hearts, that's not the point" - then you need only take that very wise insight and broaden it a little bit.

[twistmusings]

florid and (arguably) azujade are feasting this chapter update. congrats us

Honestly Anon, you're so right.

Chapter 7 is so interesting for Octavinelle - largely because we do get to see so much of how they think of each other and themselves, and we get to see so much of their relationship with each other. Honestly the shippers are thriving, but so are so many Jade and Floyd fans.

CW: Spoilers, Twisted Wonderland Character Shipping and mentions of Neurodivergence under the cut in case that isn't your cup of tea. It's very long and examines Floyd and Riddle's and Jade and Azul's dynamics throughout TWST and is sort of Character Analysis as well. Special note that there are Visual spoilers under the cut that will spoil some of the jokes from this chapter, so proceed with caution.

First, Floyd, who we see is outright distraught when everything goes right. Honestly at this point it makes me, as an ADHD person, struggle to not view Floyd as also having ADHD. I tend to not actually assign the characters neurodivergence or diagnose them, but honestly his characteristics really point to him being understimulated and just generally miserable because he's not doing anything and that's boring him. I have heard this from so many other folks with ADHD and have experienced it myself. I think, truth be told, that Floyd is a really good picture of a young person with ADHD. Especially as someone who was just properly diagnosed later in life - I would get these random, massive intense moods and would never be able to explain them until I began to suspect I had ADHD. If we consider Floyd's general characterization - he hates to be 'bored', he hates to force himself to do things that he doesn't want to do, he had random, intense moods, randomly struggling with some academics while really excelling in the things that interest him, comparing himself to other people and not understanding why he's different ... like, yeah, as a person with ADHD I relate to him so much. It's so interesting to me because Japan in general has a lot of medical bias against diagnosing and managing neurodiversity, so I think generally speaking, he's honestly a really well written example of someone who is struggling. I think his portrayal is probably so important for young people who play the game because it makes them feel normal and accepted, and I can't deny that.

And then Floyd and Riddle... these two are so funny. Like, if you had to ask me any character that shows having a crush on someone else canonically, I would probably point to Floyd and how he acts with Riddle. Considering that they're teenagers and we know neither he nor Riddle have any experience dating (none of the characters except Ace really do), I think it's really charming because like... are they annoying the fuck out of each other? Yeah, and I think that's pretty realistic for people who are 17 who have crushes on each other. Of course, I don't want to say I support people annoying or antagonizing their partners, but they are young people who are still learning how life works. I realize that teasing =/= having a crush on someone, but like...

In the recent stitch event they had this dialogue

Riddle gets so genuinely happy when Floyd praises him. Even Jack takes note of it. And then in Floyd's Labwear...

This interaction is so telling of the sort of relationship that they have with one another - first Floyd interprets their interactions as playing. Second, Riddle takes note that Floyd is in a bad mood which means that Riddle pays enough attention to him to notice when he's having a bad day. And then you have Jade over there just like 👀. It's so goofy but it's kind of wholesome also because it shows that in spite of everything, Riddle still shows concern for Floyd and Jade is a nosy sibling.

I don't know how many people have actually read the comic anthology, but there's a side story with Floyd and Riddle where Riddle is trying to study how to control himself better following his OB and Floyd, of course, comes to bother him and notices him reading advanced books and that ends in this interaction.

Like, is Floyd being a shit? Yes, of course, but he also doesn't take it back when he says that he thinks that it's admirable that Riddle works hard.

They really are the duality. Please enjoy this too-high effort shitpost I made.

And then add the fact that in the most recent story chapters the thing that gets Floyd to wake up is Silver and Jamil reminding him of the entrance ceremony where Riddle threw him through the air, and Floyd essentially being like "Yeah goldfishie is fun that was fun" and that being what snaps him out of it? Like these two are fated to irritate the hell out of each other by the story itself.

Also I think it's such a funny cute touch that the reason Floyd even started irritating Riddle is because Riddle couldn't control his temper and flung him. Floyd was just being curious, and while, yeah he probably should have asked before he touched Riddle's hair because he was curious if it would feel hot, Riddle immediately rose to meet his energy, and generally speaking we know that Floyd is a physically motivated person. He likes to fight, and he likes to test his strength. No one else caused a scene at the Sophomore orientation except Riddle. You know, the character that is almost entirely focused on not breaking rules? Riddle painted a massive target on his own back with his temper. And honestly, what I think does make it work is that even though Floyd teases Riddle literally all the time, he does respect Riddle. Riddle is interesting to him because he's strong and reacts when Floyd irritates him. As I said before, on Floyd's end at least, the antagonism is playful, and considering Floyd's relationship with Jade and Azul it's easy to see why. It's how he was raised to view affection from friends and peers.

Now, how about Riddle's side of things? Well, while we don't get a ton of canon crumbs from Riddle, there's at least a few things that we do get. We know that Riddle sort of resents that Floyd teases him, but he has been told multiple times by other people that Floyd is just trying to get a rise out of him. And yet, every time Floyd compliments Riddle and then immediately starts teasing him, Riddle falls for it. On some level, I'm sure it's because Riddle likes the attention just as much as Floyd, even if for a different reason. Riddle gets put down a lot - from his dorm and from his own mother. But even if Floyd teases him, Floyd also gasses him up because, like I said, Floyd genuinely thinks highly of Riddle. Riddle gets complimented and he gets smug about it because he thinks highly of himself, and it probably feels good to have that recognized.

Compare Riddle's interactions with Floyd to the ones he has with Jade, for example.

From the Spectral Soiree event.

There are a couple reasons why I feel like this is important to note. First, Riddle recognizes that Jade is making fun of him immediately. Riddle also misses Jade's sarcasm. Riddle isn't good at reading Jade - he finds Jade unpredictable and malicious, and interprets this as Jade making fun of him. In contrast, you don't see Riddle outright refuse a compliment from Floyd - he knows that Floyd is being upfront about how he feels when he says the things he does, but he doesn't know that about Jade. Riddle is also the butt of the joke here, whereas if we compare it to the similar situation that he went through with Floyd during the Tropical Turbulence event.

Floyd is teasing Riddle, yes, but in this situation he isn't making Riddle the butt of the joke, he's just causing a little bit of chaos. Floyd already has a plan in place, but Riddle the two aren't arguing with each other. It's also important to note that Floyd is one of the few characters outside of his dorm that Riddle really banters with comfortably.

The other thing is that though they compete with and annoy each other, Floyd and Riddle are actually genuinely pretty nice to each other otherwise. They both compliment each other pretty frequently even if they usually pepper in barbs as they do.

Floyd and Riddle are also pretty similar people, too:

At any rate, that's a lot of screenshots to basically say, yes they do make fun of each other and tease each other, but when they do get onto the same page, they work very well together and seem to have a mutual respect for each other even if they criticize each other. They can identify the aspects in each other that they can't identify in themselves and it makes their chemistry interesting because every time they share screentime it seems like they learn from each other.

Anyway, Florid fans eat well literally any time these two share screen time.

And then Jade and Azul... honestly those two cracked me up the entire time.

First you have Jade's dream with his god awful imagination. Jade literally gets the knockoff versions of Azul and Floyd as I said in the first post about it, but I think it's interesting to see how he perceives both of them. I'll be including images this time.

I'll start with Floyd because HOO buddy if I was Floyd and had to endure this shit.

This is an actual crime.

That being said, Floyd is noticeably more childish in Jade's dream than the actual Floyd is in reality, both in his rather immature visage as well as a more child-like way of speaking.

It's worth noting, in Floyd's dream, Floyd doesn't really pay much attention to where Jade is, and he doesn't really pay any attention to where Azul is either. He says "Eh, Jade's probably with Azul on land because the Mostro Lounge was succeeding." Floyd also makes a point of saying that it's a rule between the three of them - they don't have to stick together - if they don't want to do something, then they won't stick together and whoever wants to do it can do it on their own, or if they don't want to involve someone in something, they don't involve them in it. (Ironically, I would argue that this is one of the healthier dynamics for friendship in TWST that we see. All three of them have discussed and come to understand that if they need to separate ways, they will, they don't want to hold each other back from the things they enjoy.)

Jade on the other hand, and whether Floyd likes it or not, seems to view Floyd as a younger brother. We don't get confirmation as to whether or not Jade hatched first or if Floyd hatched first, but regardless of whichever it is, it seems like Jade views Floyd as his younger brother, and seems to have an instinct to coddle him, even if this portrayal of Floyd is deeply unflattering to Floyd and starts a whole fight.

It's also of note: Floyd didn't expect to be in Jade's dream at all. Floyd talks about how he figures that Jade has just dreamed about him in a similar way that Floyd had dreamed of Jade - off doing whatever he wanted to do. That's not true - Floyd is there, with Jade, and engaging in Jade's interests.

In Jade's official EN school uniform home tap he says:

Though some translations tend to interpret this line differently, and essentially instead say that Floyd is clingier than he seems.

The reason I'm pointing this out is because Jade is the only one of the three who's primary dream features all three of them together. This would seem to point toward Jade actually being the one who's clingier, and to being the one who's most attached to both of them. I can't really say for certain, but I almost wonder if Jade has a bit of a fear of abandonment with regard to Azul and Floyd and that's why his ideal dream world is one where they're both so reliant on him.

And then Azul...

Is Giorno Giovanna in the room with us?

Seriously though, I think it's kind of interesting to see how Azul is portrayed in Jade's imagination.

For reference, here's what Azul actually looks like in his mer form in the same pose.

The thing I immediately noticed is Azul's eyes. Sure, the image Jade has of Azul is a JJBA joke, but there's something else I want to point out about them in particular.

Azul's eyes are an entirely different, brighter color. In fact, it's also a different color from Azul's overblot eye color as well.

We know that Jade's limited imagination means he's working on his own impressions of Floyd and Azul and you're telling me that Jade's impression of Azul is that he looks like a character from a manga known for being about handsome, fabulous men and that he has ginormous, bright, shiny blue eyes that look like sapphires? Hello?????? Jade???

I think this is fascinating because had they just drawn Azul as like a normal old JJBA reference but kept his color palette the same, I could see it just being explained as "oh, neat, Jade thinks Azul is handsome when Azul doesn't" but follow me with this: Jade's imagination is painting them in broad strokes the way that Epel's imagination was doing in his dream. These are Jade's impressions of Floyd and Azul.

Floyd tracks - he sees Floyd as a younger brother and someone he inherently wants to take care of, even if it's not realistic. Floyd is a childish younger brother in a cartoonish way. Azul is motivated by money in a cartoonish way. These are the traits that stick out the most about the both of them to Jade.

So when Jade imagines Azul physically what he sees is Azul being handsome AND that he has these shiny bright blue eyes even if his memory gets the shade of blue wrong. Jade....... honey................ I need you to sit down when I tell you this..........

And then after he and Floyd fight, because Jade is too stubborn to wake up because he can't grasp that what he's seeing is wrong, the thing that finally triggers him to realize something is off is this version of dream Azul checking on him after the fight and being relieved he's okay and then saying that he's afraid he would have lost his "かわいい部下".

The thing that triggers Jade to start waking up is Azul calling Jade his cute subordinate (essentially his cute assistant). I am not exaggerating this. That is literally the phrase that triggers Jade. Jade even repeats it.

AND HE FUCKING PANICS

JADE. I AM BEGGING THE SECONDHAND CRINGE THIS MADE ME FEEL.

From there the dream Floyd of course says he's going to cry if Jade left him and like that just seals the deal. And everyone is super impressed because Jade realized it was wrong by himself and woke himself up.

I don't tend to insert my opinions much in my post but there is not a single person on this planet that is not going to make me believe that Jade did not just gay panic himself awake. I feel like most queer people have experienced something just like this. Jade literally wakes himself up because he's like "no, wait, hold on, Azul wouldn't say that, right?" and then Floyd saying he's going to cry sells it. Dream Azul essentially just fucking "baby girl"ed him and Jade was like "no, actually, that's too cringe for me to even dream about".

Then you have Azul's dream. Honestly there aren't a lot of crumbs there for Jade, but I think it's sort of sweet how even if they're sort of forced to, Jade and Floyd don't want to force Azul to do anything. They have a lot of respect for each other's personal boundaries, and they were fully prepared to let Azul stay asleep and allow him to work it out himself if he wanted to wake up. It doesn't end up working out that way, but it's not hard to tell that both the twins and Azul had respect for each other as individuals.

Another neat thing is that Azul is one of the few people who's dreams aren't inherently things he really wants. They're more of "what-if" scenarios. What if Azul was good at sports and ended up being a high school athlete? What if Azul actually got to follow through on burning that picture of his younger self and then opened a Mostro Lounge branch? I think it's interesting that Azul seems to be kept in these dreams because his imagination is vivid, and not because they're an ideal world perse. In a sense they are - but Azul himself admits that he doesn't really want either of them.

Azul gets so much growth shown in this chapter. He ends up wanting to wake up because he wants to live for himself, and not live for what other people think of him or having to rely on them. Azul still wants to succeed, but he wants to succeed for himself and not because he feels a need to one up the people that bullied him, and he wants to be fulfilled in himself. He's actually working on his mental health, I love that for him.

And, one more thing of note, I think it's so fucking cool that at the end of the book, Azul doesn't freak out about other people seeing him in his true form. In fact, he doesn't freak out about seeing himself in his true form when Idia makes a proxy version of him - he's just thinking about how cool it would be to have a second version of himself. I feel like most people have gotten the sense that Azul has a sense of self-loathing regarding his mer-form, but it seems like if he did at some point, he's made peace with it.

Anyway that's an unnecessarily long infodump about my feelings about the character relationships that we've got in the new update. Like obnoxiously long. So, uh... I'll just end the post with Azul's smiling sprite because I just think it's fucking adorable.

[herstoryheaven]

Descendants Harry Hook x Reader: Love Takes Center Stage

Request: I would love a behind the scenes kinda imagine for Harry x reader but really thomas x reader

Reader: Female

Word count: 1759

Average reading time: 6 min 25 sec

Category: Fluff

Warnings: None

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Disclaimer: All events portrayed in my stories are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events is purely coincidental. Any actions or behaviours portrayed by the characters may differ from reality and cannot be connected to any actual person. This work is purely fictional and intended for entertainment purposes only.

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The lights on set shined brightly, casting a golden hue over the entire area as the crew prepared for another day of filming Descendants 3. The atmosphere was electric, buzzing with the excitement and chaos typical of a major film production. Cameras were being adjusted, lights were repositioned, and makeup artists were applying final touches to the actors. Amid this organized frenzy, Y/N stood in front of a large vanity mirror, adjusting her costume, a shimmering pink dress that perfectly fit her character, C/n, the younger sister of Audrey. The dress glittered under the lights, each sequin catching the golden rays and reflecting them in a dazzling display. It was a breathtaking piece, designed to captivate, just like her character.

Y/N’s heart raced with a mixture of nerves and excitement. This was her first major role, and the importance of the moment was not lost on her. She couldn’t wait to dive into her character and the storyline, bringing C/n to life on the screen. Her hands were slightly shaky as she smoothed down the fabric of her dress, taking deep breaths to steady herself.

“Y/N, ready for your scene?” the director called out, his voice cutting through the noise of the set.

Taking a final deep breath, Y/N nodded, her reflection in the mirror showing a determined and focused young woman. She walked over to her mark, feeling the eyes of the crew on her. Her character, C/n, was supposed to fall in love with Harry Hook, played by the ever so charming Thomas Doherty. As she took her place, she glanced over at Thomas, who was already in character, twirling his hook with a mischievous grin.

“Ah, there she is.” he drawled in his thick Scottish accent, eyes glinting with amusement. “Ready to be charmed, lass?”

Y/N couldn’t help but smile. “Ready as I’ll ever be, Harry.” she replied, trying to channel C/n’s mix of confidence and vulnerability.

The scene began, and Y/N’s character, C/n, and Harry exchanged playful banter. Harry was relentless in his teasing, calling her “lass” with that signature smirk of his, making her character blush and stammer. Y/N threw herself into the role, her heart pounding as she matched Thomas’s energy. Their chemistry was undeniable, and the scene sparks with tension and flirtation.

Off-screen, it was a different story. During breaks, the dynamic between Y/N and Thomas shifted from their characters' playful antagonism to a genuine connection. Thomas, ever the gentleman, never missed a chance to make Y/N feel special. He would saunter over, his smile warm and inviting, his eyes filled with a kindness that contrasted with Harry Hook’s roguish charm.

“How’s my favorite princess doing?” he’d ask, his voice low and velvety, sending shivers down her spine.

“Just trying to keep up with you, Thomas.” Y/N replied, feeling her cheeks heat up under his intense gaze.

“You’re doing more than just keeping up, love.” he murmured, his blue eyes locking onto hers. “You’re stealing the show.”

Y/N laughed, trying to play it cool, but Thomas’s intense gaze made her heart race. He had a way of making her feel like she was the only girl in the room, and it was both exhilarating and terrifying. His presence was magnetic, and she found herself drawn to him both on and off set.

Between takes, they would sit together, sharing stories and jokes, their laughter mingling with the sounds of the bustling set. Thomas was a natural storyteller, his animated expressions and playful gestures keeping her entertained and captivated. He spoke about his home in Scotland, his love for acting, and his dreams for the future. In return, Y/N opened up about her own journey, her aspirations, and the challenges she had faced to get to this point.

Their conversations flowed effortlessly, the connection between them growing stronger with each passing moment. Y/N found herself looking forward to their scenes together, not just for the thrill of performing but for the chance to spend more time with Thomas. He had a way of making her feel at ease, his confidence and charm boosting her own.

During lunch breaks, Thomas would sit beside Y/N, making her laugh with his witty jokes and stories. He had a way of making even the most dull stories sound hilarious and captivating. Today was no different.

"You won't believe what happened this morning." Thomas said, a mischievous glint in his eye as he sat down next to her.

Y/N looked up from her sandwich, intrigued. "Oh, do tell. You always have the best stories."

Thomas grinned. "So, I was in the makeup trailer, right? And the makeup artist had this giant jar of glitter. I mean, we're talking enough to cover an entire parade float."

Y/N laughed. "Oh no, what did you do?"

"I may or may not have accidentally-on-purpose knocked it over." Thomas said, winking. "Let's just say, the whole place looked like a unicorn exploded. And poor Jeff, he was not amused."

She giggled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "You're terrible, Thomas. Poor Jeff indeed."

Thomas leaned in closer, his shoulder brushing against hers. "What can I say? I like to keep things interesting." He reached out, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. The small gesture made her heart race.

-----

One evening, after a long day of shooting, Thomas found Y/N sitting alone, reading her script. The set was quiet, the crew having wrapped up for the day. He approached her quietly, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Mind some company, princess?" he asked softly.

Y/N looked up, her heart skipping a beat at the endearing nickname. "Not at all," she replied, smiling.

Thomas sat beside her, his presence warm and comforting. "You know, Y/N, you’ve got this incredible spark." he said, his voice sincere. "Both on and off screen. It’s impossible not to be captivated by you."

She blushed, feeling a warmth spread through her. "Thank you, Thomas. That means a lot coming from you."

He reached out, taking her hand in his. "I mean it, love. You’re not just charming Harry Hook. You’ve completely enchanted me as well."

Y/N’s breath caught in her throat. "Thomas, I..."

He leaned in, his lips brushing gently against hers in a tender, sweet kiss. It was soft, yet filled with a promise of more, leaving Y/N’s mind spinning and her heart pounding.

When he pulled back, he smiled, his eyes twinkling with affection. "I’ve wanted to do that since the moment I saw you, princess."

She smiled back, feeling a warmth spread through her chest. "I'm glad you did."

From that moment on, Thomas made it his mission to win her heart completely. He’d surprise her with little notes and flowers, each one more thoughtful than the last. One morning, she found a single rose on her chair with a note that read, "Thinking of my beauty, always. - T."

Later that day, during a break, Thomas approached her with a playful grin. "Did you like your surprise?"

Y/N held up the note, her smile wide. "It was perfect. Thank you."

Thomas chuckled, leaning against the wall. "Just wait. I've got plenty more up my sleeve."

His flirty comments were always accompanied by that charming smile, the one that made her heart flutter. He was relentless in his pursuit, but in the most delightful way. Each day, Y/N found herself looking forward to their moments together more and more, feeling the walls around her heart crumble piece by piece.

And as they continued filming, their on-screen chemistry only grew stronger, reflecting the blossoming romance off-screen. Each scene they shared filled with an energy that had everyone on set buzzing. The crew often voiced their opinions on how their performances felt so real, not realizing just how true that was.

During a particularly intense scene, Thomas couldn't help but sneak in a real kiss, catching Y/N off guard but making the moment even more genuine. When the director yells cut, he pulls her close, his forehead resting against hers. "Couldn't resist." he whispered, his breath warm against her lips.

Y/N blushed, unable to hide her smile. "I noticed." she teased.

By the time the movie wrapped up, Y/N knew she had found something truly special with Thomas. Their days were filled with laughter, stolen glances, and sweet moments that made her heart race. 

After their final shoot, Thomas found Y/N in her trailer, packing up her things. Without a word, he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her close. "You know, I'm going to miss this." he murmured, his lips brushing the nape of her neck.

She leaned back into him, closing her eyes. "Miss what?"

"Being on set with you, watching you work your magic." he said softly, kissing just behind her ear, making her shiver. "But mostly, I'll miss having an excuse to see you every day."

Y/N turned in his arms, looking up at him with a smile. "Who says we need an excuse?"

Thomas grinned, lifting her effortlessly into his arms, carrying her bridal style. "Exactly what I was thinking." he said, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Thomas! Put me down," she laughed, playfully hitting his shoulder.

"Not a chance," he replied, spinning her around. "This is way too much fun."

They both laughed, the sound echoing through the trailer. When he finally set her down, he kept his arms around her, his expression turning serious. "Y/N, I've been thinking... Now that the movie is over, maybe we could go on another adventure. Just you and me."

Y/N’s heart skipped a beat. "You mean it?"

"Absolutely." Thomas said, taking her hand in his. "Ready for our next adventure, love?"

"Always." Y/N replied, smiling up at him, her eyes shining with happiness.

As they walked away hand-in-hand, Y/N couldn’t help but feel like she was living a fairy tale. Thomas stopped abruptly, turning to face her. "One more thing." he said, his tone teasing.

"What?" she asked, curiosity piqued.

He leaned in close, his lips hovering just above hers. "I love you." he whispered before capturing her lips in a kiss that was both tender and passionate, sealing his words with a promise.

When they finally broke apart, Y/N looked up at him, breathless and beaming. "I love you too, Thomas."

With Thomas by her side, she knew it was only the beginning of their happily ever after. As they walked away, hand in hand, Y/N felt a sense of contentment wash over her. She had found her prince, and their story was just beginning.

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Copyright: All stories contained herein are the intellectual property of the author. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, or distribution of these stories, in whole or in part, without explicit written permission from the author, is strictly prohibited and may result in legal action. Respect the creator's rights and creativity. For permissions or inquiries, please contact: herstoryheaven@gmail.com.

Request Guidelines: When submitting a request, please ensure that your request does not contain any explicit sexual content or graphic depictions, and avoid any form of extreme violence or graphic descriptions of violent acts. I appreciate your understanding and cooperation in maintaining a respectful and inclusive environment for all readers. If you're unsure about your request or want to request about someone I haven't written about yet, feel free to ask me anytime.

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Requested by: Anonymous

[weirdmageddon]

why i think aradia and john work so well

(with some stuff i’ve been wanting to yap about for ages)

have you guys ever given arajohn / johnradia (idk if its popular enough to even have a standardized ship name) any thought …? i know it seems kind of out of left field. i’ve considered it and i think its. really really good. i have a bunch of thoughts to unpack. come join me. and maybe grab a snack or something because i didn’t realize how much i'd actually have to say about this

(fantastic art by skeletood)

the other day i made a tweet that did rather well where i said, “john and aradia shouldve talked more. its so simple but i like how she actually earnestly answers his questions. so many characters in this comic are so mean to john for just wanting to know more give him a break”

putting it out there now im not big about shipping for the sake of shipping. there needs to be real chemistry. i need to sense that as a reason why two characters would potentially be a good influence on each other. i never knew why i was always so obstinate about this because it’s fictional and not materially hurting anyone, but i think it might be because i’m not sure how to justify it or explain it if not.

i strongly believe john and aradia would have had it made out for them if circumstances allowed it. (what i mean by “ship” or “johnradia” extends to any kind of interpersonal dynamic, even if just a good friendship. it doesnt even have to be romantic, just some sort of dynamic with them.)

unfortunately aradia originally committed herself to staying out of trolling the kids over their timelines, so john and aradia never talked until year 3 on the ship in the dream bubbles but they never had a truly proper one-on-one without outside meddling. i think if john knew aradia better and her story beforehand, she had more time to explain herself and her history, he wouldnt have been unsettled. and also of course if his experience with the trolls didn’t suck so bad because he already had expectations for how antagonizing most of them were.

i found people’s sentiments about johnradia elsewhere too. i remembered that they were both on the song art for ascend, and searched ao3 to see how many fics have been written to gauge how substaintial it’s been in the homestuck fandom. only 17 of them turned up. but the people who do talk about it are either curious about it or really do like it, and that interested me.

clearly it’s pretty niche character relationship to be depicted in any fanwork and i can understand why. despite being so small, from what ive seen it seems universally agreed upon to be nice. i haven’t seen a single person object to it. what ive seen falls into two categories: “wow i didnt think about this before but i actually dig it” or “(starving) finally some good fucking food”

the pattern im seeing is that people think it’s “random”, but i disagree. there is something there substantiating it even if they’re unable to articulate it.

the fanfic these comments are from is chronology of wind. that fic is really, really good, and sadly unfinished. i have more abstract reasons to believe why aradia and john would be good in theory, so actually seeing someone else actually make something with them helped me read it in action, to get a more tangible feel of the dynamic beyond what we have in canon.

i wouldn’t normally make claims about a relationship with regard to homestuck canon by looking at their relationship in a fanfic, because i think you all know by now i am very nitpicky about accurate characterization, and it does not go unnoticed by me when people get it right because for some reason it feels like a one in a million thing (even though it really shouldn’t be?). so this was a special case. the tone was completely consistent with canon. this fic is so in-character i’d basically consider it an extension of canon. to me it’s like they took the same characters and plopped them into this scenario to see how they’d interact. guys… i love that stuff so much. i love fanfiction or fanworks that depict realistic extensions of canon and stays true to the energy and tone of the source, but deepens it. there isn’t enough of it imo. i want to see more of it.

anyway, what i read of their conversations in that fic basically aligned with what i was thinking in my head about what i’d expect it to be like. i was able to compare how aradia and john talked to how aradia and the other characters interacted, their comparative attitudes towards each other—how they’re treated by others compared to how they treat each other.

have you noticed john and aradia’s communication values are both based on sincerity, being in the proper know, treating people fairly, and thanklessly taking on the necessary work that “must be done” in order to have what they really want — a good time that feels meaningful? and they accomplish this without any adjustment in how they talk to each other.

john is always subtly (or not-so-subtly) asking the people around him to answer him soberly and to the point so he knows whats going on and what that means for what his options are. he needs to know to what end he will be applying his absurd energetic drive into making shit happen. aradia honors his time before john can even become uncomfortable with the amount of time being eaten up by conversation. contrast this with rose, who seems to go on for a while with prose-like conversational adornments. in dire situations that need rapid explanation and definitive answers so he knows what to do, this is really the last thing he needs. aradia doesnt waste john’s time. she answers all his questions, and does it politely to boot. his time talking to her doesn't feel wasted.

john's impatience with this sort of nonsense is also why i can’t see something like dirkjohn working out, for example. to me it feels like @entropicbias also deeply understands this on some level because i literally couldn’t have demonstrated what i mean by it any better myself than that. i'm gonna have to to hit him up about how much i genuinely respect that like tbh hes one of the few i absolutely trust to handle writing and depicting these characters in situations and their interpersonal dynamics. and also care about doing their characterization justice as much as me.

of course people are still entitled to like whatever they like, ship whatever they want to. i dont care. but i just don’t think it would work from the perspective of the minds of the canon characters, how they generally think and approach situations. and i can already tell people might ask me how do i know this? what makes me an expert? i’m not more than anyone else is (although i have been called a "characterization expert" from my friends), but i do know that i can pick up on the energetic chemistry between people, including characters, honestly precognitively, without even thinking? like if it’s stiff or tense or awkward, if people aren’t free to express themselves uninhibitedly, if they feel unsafe or uncomfortable. i can sense this almost instantly. it’s something that’s a visceral feeling in my body i cant express and i have to rationalize it after the fact. like i’m doing now in fact writing this big analysis.

> listen to me talk about my special interest boy

for the next section to make sense, you probably want to read this post. i initially started writing it within this post to explain but there was so much brewing i had to explain the context that it turned into something i wanted to post on its own terms.

> okaaaaaayyyyy i read all that

thank you, really. my main point is using the conceptual tools provided by this system to expIain why aradia and john feel nice together and why i’ve seen people positively perceive the idea of a relationship between them even if it seems “random”.

framing them in this system, it wouldn’t be random! there’s a good reason they seem to fit nicely. this is because john and aradia have complementary forms of information metabolism. information metabolism is talked about in this section.

Jung’s psychic types are the types of cognition, or intelligence. But it would probably be easiest to call them types of IM [information metabolism], since the main difference between the types of people lies in their exchange of information with the external world.

Aushra Augusta, Commentary on Jung’s Typology and Introduction to Information Metabolism

aradia megido’s type of information metabolism (otherwise known as a TIM) is LII. john egbert’s TIM is ESE.

aradia and john’s types are duals. you can read more about what that entails here. in theory, their interactions would reflect the duality dynamic. reading chronology of wind, that one really in-character fic that explored their dynamic made me excited because they do!

michael pierce gave an overview of his impression of the characteristics of this intertype dynamic. despite only rough knowledge in socionics while he wrote this, his understanding of duality was spot on to me from my experience and others and i wanted to share it here. (fittingly, i believe he is also LII.)

Now we have the famous duality relationship: in a nutshell, this role is characterized by two traits: 1) a very close psychological distance or intimacy, and 2) a great ease of interacting with each other. It is sometimes described how meeting one's dual can be the event of a lifetime, because it inspires aspects in each party's character that they had never expressed before: the pair may even drop out of society for a time in order to focus on just each other, and to explore themselves through interaction with each other. The curious thing in this relationship is that these parties are rather different in outlook, and when they are not actually interacting as potential friends it's probably more likely for them to dislike or mistrust each other because of how different they are. […] However, when they are able to interact normally, it is a strange and wonderful discovery to realize that the interaction is unexpectedly smooth and invigorating. It's hard for people to describe, but as I understand it: while both parties recognize their differences on the surface, these differences are created by a root structure that coincides perfectly with each other, so that the differences on the surface are entirely complementary and cause no friction at all.

it’s also meaningful to consider that the structure of my own psyche is LII as well. so i’ve got a bit of a bias towards aradia and john.. not in the sense that what i actually say about them is personally biased, but that the bias is moreso my personal attention to people and characters of these two types in particular to see how my own experiences are reflected in them. i really do feel of a reflection of my own thought and work process in aradia and in the more abstract sense she is like an extension of myself. when people say they like aradia as a character i get secondhand joy from that because shares certain specific traits with me. of course i am still my own person though.

these are some of the most apt profiles i've found for these types at a glance. again, think about these characters as you read these descriptions. [from here (ESE / LII)]

ESE (Ethical-sensory extrovert) - john

The trademark quality of this type is a focus on socializing and guiding social situations and interactions so that the people involved can have fun and enjoy themselves. ESEs are typically in the middle of what is happening socially and know about the latest events and what people think and feel about them. They are skilled at bringing people together in fun and interesting ways and making everyone feel actively involved. Their friends know them as people who love life and feel most at home in social situations surrounded by other fun people. In their pursuit of fun-oriented and stimulating social interactions, ESEs typically neglect to structure their own thought processes and views in a way that would help them know exactly what they think and why. They are receptive to others’ attempts to help them introduce more structure and logical consistency in their life and thinking processes. They gravitate most to people who open up to fun and emotional interaction easily, yet are also skilled at systematizing thoughts and views and explaining ideological matters.

LII (Logical-intuitive introvert) - aradia

The trademark quality of this type is a focus on logical, structured thought and generating true assertions and views. LIIs are typically strict thinkers who are concerned that everything fits together in a logical way. They are skilled at understanding, generating, and criticizing logical arguments and instilling their views in the people around them. Their friends know them as people with well-organized thoughts and opinions who know what they think and can elucidate their ideas to others. In their pursuit of logical understanding, LIIs typically neglect their external social interactions and activities that would help them lighten up and experience a connection with other people. They are receptive to others’ attempts to create these fun and lighthearted situations for them. They gravitate most to people who are interested in their opinions and understanding of things, but are also skilled at organizing social interactions and creating a sense of emotional unity.

ive recently consciously experienced the feeling of duality for the first time since i've been communicating with my mom's high school classmate, and it is definitely a real thing. i even remember mom pointing out she noticed when we were all talking on the phone over a year ago that i perked up whenever he said stuff. here is how i explained it:

its bonkers how only once i experience something for myself i’m able to explain in detail what makes it so great based on what my impressions about it were because i tend to have a peculiar way of describing the qualities of an experience. my specialty is deep precision in my analogies for what it’s like. so now i can tell you how conversations with your dual feel… heres the status report. it’s weightless. its so strange. like the topic conversation stretches into infinity that you can pick right back up at any time. it’s hazy and unfocused but still pleasant (unless you’re particularly self-conscious and need to unlearn hiding your true self). but the best parts of it come when you have a specific issue or insecurity that comes with being your most natural self that the world seems to misunderstand about you, or just not give you what you don't even know you’ve been looking for. i think you might mutually intimidate each other at first because you're lowkey both expecting to be made fun of for your inadequacy with certain types of information that the other is nuanced with (and you’re not), but it never comes. you don't feel like what your dual wants in life is wrong. your dual seems so talented in all the ways you hope to shine but you’re always unsure of. for the introvert (me) wishing they felt their own active presence as an object (Se, Ne, Te, Fe) like the extravert does. for the extravert, wishing they felt their own relationships with other objects (Si, Ni, Ti, Fi) like the introvert does. any other intertype relationship (ITR) vs. duality is like the difference between 99% and 100% totality of a solar eclipse, except it’s the level of understanding with another person, like the eclipsing of your own information metabolism with theirs. of course there are other things that influence how well your relationship with this person goes, but i am talking strictly about when it comes to basic communication, the level of understanding you share. sometimes it might feel like you dont have much to talk about or the topic is unfocused, because you two ARE opposites in many ways after all, especially at a glance (domain of interests usually come with specific macroelements. theories about thought structures—like socionics, for instance—are in the domain of intuition, while physical interests and experiences are in the domain of sensorics.) i’m LII in the NT club (researchers) and my dual ESE in the SF club (social-communicative). so they’re constantly providing you with information from their own niche in life that you may be entirely unfamiliar with, but for some reason still interests and relaxes you to hear. you might not feel like you have a lot to say about the topic since but you are fully amazed by this person’s activity. it also makes you feel more sure of yourself and more confident that people truly appreciate and need your natural abilities.

> let’s break it down

here’s some lightly modified descriptions of the information blocks in LII and ESE's information metabolism models from pyatnitsky so you can get an overarching impression of how their type contributes to the informational sphere. i added some of my own adjustments and borrowed some sentences from stratiyevskaya's descriptions. additionally, you can click on the name of the block for an explanation of the role it plays.

i put about a week’s work into these collages but my goal with them was to actually show where i think these information blocks are most pertinent in these characters specifically and where they apply so it’s not just some abstract thing, just as supplementary examples as needed. (for the meaning of these information elements individually you can refer to cysia’s document.)

LII (Logical-intuitive introvert)

EGO (-Ti? -> -Ne!). Analytical thinking. They are well aware of the interrelationships of some objects or phenomena with others, and what laws are in effect or not in effect. On the basis of a comprehensive analysis, they put forward insights about the global essence of specific objects and phenomena, their possibilities. They acutely charge the situation with potential energy. For every situation, there is an archetype.

Super-EGO (-Fi? -> -Se!). Normative ideas about relationships between people and ways to get out of unpleasant ethical situations. Understands ethics as founded on the principles of fairness; to do to one side of the equation that you do to the other. Volitional manifestations in order to protect their living space are carried out only on the basis of personal experience. Because of the limited opportunities to fight back, they react painfully to attempts of any interference in his life. Does not respond to any arbitrary crudeness or volitional pressuring. Does not compromise goals, stubbornly clings to them. Avoids direct confrontation if possible, would rather talk civilly and earnestly. Uses their naturally strong sense of the conditioning of objects over time to avoid collisions with their material interests. Due to this, they may appear as someone with very little weaknesses.

Super-ID (+Fe -> +Si?) Attracts information about a good mood, a specific positive state, or a feeling. They would like to think that they can eliminate serious inconveniences, make the environment around them more comfortable. This skill needs to be evaluated. They are unconsciously activated when there is a need to make the environment more comfortable, which should lead to a better state, raise the mood at least in the immediate environment. In friendly, comfortable, and informal company, their cool exterior thaws and they start lighting up with joviality.

ID (+Te! → +Ni?). Has developed guidelines and methods that relate to specific practical activities, technological effectiveness, and resource use. Spontaneously feels the correct allocation of resources over time, which allows them to effectively solve tasks at an unhurried pace. This pace is deeply rational in nature.

ESE (Ethical-sensory extrovert)

EGO (+Fe! -> +Si?). Perception of the world is fundamentally emotional. Feels the emotional atmosphere well in any situation, knows the relevance of the way of expression, the place and weight (importance) of the internal state in each situation. Flexible approach to solving problems of managing and expressing emotions. They show bright emotionality both negative and positive. Creatively produces around themself comfort, coziness, conveniently arranges space, surrounds others with beautiful things, changing thereby the general condition and mood. Usually opinionated about their tastes.

(wow i really went all out on that this one that tumblr wont even display it in full resolution, so here. john just has so many more lines to choose from, sorry!)

Super-EGO (+Te! -> +Ni?). Practical and technological thinking is tightly based on acquired knowledge and patterns of solving similar problems. Methods of business activity in both general and specific areas are selected based on the opinion of reputable sources, or adjusted to one of the mastered templates. Predicting specific changes in the sphere of their interests is carried out only on the basis of personal experience. He is not able to compare his own method of forecasting with others, so he is sensitive to criticism of poor timing or deadlines, does not like situations that feel like a waste of his time; he is lost in connection with negative events. Guided by purely personal experience, he chooses specific times and deadlines for various tasks with a normative understanding of business activity in general.

Super-ID (-Ti? -> -Ne!). Attracts information about the order, specific logical relationships in the field of activity or interests. Needs someone to suggest specific ways to make connections between phenomena, patterns, and rules. Tries to be reasonable himself, even though he knows that this is not characteristic of him. Sometimes he openly talks of his actions that were poorly reasoned through, as if inviting other people to laugh at his thoughtlessness. The ordering and systematization of thought opens up a new way of understanding of events that are happening around him, as well as new prospects, potential, and capabilities. He likes to think that he understands the essence of a situation and lights up with new ideas. This skill needs to be evaluated. It is unconsciously activated when it is necessary to create order, clear consistency and clarity on a particular issue, especially if their abilities are recognized.

ID (-Fi? -> -Se!). Involuntarily keeps track of communications in their social circle. Without hesitation, they use a variety of ways to establish and maintain relationships that have been developed in his personal practice. Good relationships are important for personal inner confidence in a situation. To prevent unfavorable relationships, they are inclined, often without even realizing it, to act with pressure, forcing a showdown, forcing the partner to change the relationship for the better. Frequently demonstrates his resoluteness, persistence, and purposefulness, as if proposing his behavior as a model for imitation. Usually tells in much detail what obstacles were created before him, and how he overcame them, what he was told in response, and what he replied with, and so on and in the like.

(full res)

you might be able to see already how they would complement each other's thought process nicely. here are some descriptions of what the communication between these types is like:

+Fe! : program function of ESE and dual-seeking function of LII

The ESE periodically tells emotionally charged "program" function stories, telling of how somebody has acted and what they have done. The main orientation of ESE's leading ethical program is: "No one should be offended." The LII carefully listens to these statements, and, demonstrating a full understanding of these issues, develops logical basis for them, e.g. in calm persuasive voice he explains how the ESE has acted justly and fairly. The effusion of turbulent emotions coming from the ESE is counterbalanced by their absorption by the LII, who breaks them down into fragments by asking clarifying questions of the ESE.

-Ti? : dual-seeking function of ESE and program function of LII

The ESE is tuned to accepting information when it's relayed in clear logical form. He issues requests for logical explanations delivered from a point of view of generalized rules underpinning specific life events, which he receives from the LII, who delivers clear unambiguous interpretations, places the dots over all "i's", and demonstrates good understanding of problems that are of concern to the ESE. Not receiving information of this kind, the ESE begins making demands of those around him to be "intelligent" and understand the reasons of his actions.

-Ne! : activating function of ESE and creative function of LII

The ESE feels uncomfortable if he doesn't extend his help to people who are in need of it. His subconscious orientation is: "care and guard the talented", be kind and attentive towards other people. The LII usually meets such criteria by proving in action his aptitude at uncovering hidden capabilities, winning trust, passing on the knowledge. The ESE creates supportive conditions for people who are capable but lacking in assertive "push-through" qualities, among whom the LII finds himself, and a special work regime that protects such individuals from overloads on sensing functions. Newly discovered possibilities inspire and promote the pragmatic and business-oriented activities of the ESE. He can support a new undertaking or initiative with an enormous amount of energy and enthusiasm, light up by new ideas. Only the LII is able to, even having a vague general notion about the subject, construct a developed theory or idea of any issue. This theory shows to be promising in the process of its concrete application within its field.

+Si? : creative function of ESE and activating function of LII

LII tries to take care of their well-being, but may gravitate towards demonstrative asceticism, exhaust himself with work, studies, or exercise. The ESE periodically takes care of creating an environment that "charges" the LII with pleasant sensations: a reception of guests, a good meal, a visit to a theater or a concert, an interesting trip, and so on. At the same time the ESE takes pleasure in this himself.

+Te! : role function of ESE and observing function of LII

The role function of the ESE manifests as business-oriented activity and initiative, supplying interesting information, provision with material assistance to those who are in need, general restlessness and fussy busyness. This function is normative, i.e. the ESE seeks to comply with the norms and accepted ways of doing things. The nuancing of the understanding of these norms, i.e. introduction of activities that go beyond them, is possible only by considering LII's advice and recommendations. The LII serves as a director of this function, adjusting its workings by advocating the necessity of practical application of some beneficial ideas, rejection of useless though spectacular ideas, and the need to ensure standards of life not below average by rejection of equalization.

+Ni? : vulnerable function of ESE and demonstrative function of LII

The ESE poorly feels the flow of time, both physical, which manifests as running late and poor distribution of his strengths over time, and historical, which manifests as poor ability to anticipate consequences of actions and tendency for traditional ways of solving problems. The ESE finds it difficult to make radical choices. The LII fully takes this aspect onto his shoulders. He has an unconscious ability to distribute activities in time, thereby avoiding work stress and overloads, and is capable of making a radical choice. The LII is able to calmly wait and in the necessary moment get to work when the wasteful fussiness of the ESE reaches its critical point.

-Fi? : ignoring function of ESE and role function of LII

On this function the ESE gives advice and makes demands concerning the creation of appropriate psychological distances in form of proper behavior, courtesy and politeness, denouncing rudeness and boorishness. In this manner, the ESE adjusts LII's role function, which in itself contains a set of large psychological distances: a sullen stubborn look, unsociability, etc. With such fine-tuning it becomes easier for the LII to come into contact with people, whereby he becomes more animated, resolves many of his ethical problems that previously frightened him, gains greater insight into human relationships and a more accurate understanding as to whose side to take in situations of conflict.

-Se! : demonstrative function of ESE and vulnerable function of LII

The LII finds it very difficult to exert pressure on other people from his own will and initiative, especially in cases when he needs to attain something for himself. He finds this difficult to do - to press ahead in certain situations, to gather all the required paperwork, to stand in lines and queues, to petition for his own interests, even the ones that are of vital importance to him. He finds it difficult to push a person away, to sharply refuse someone, to quarrel loudly and defend his rights, to put an end to relations that have exhausted themselves. The ESE doesn't directly affect this function, i.e. he doesn't verbally criticize and teach the LII on this aspect, but takes over its functioning completely. The ESE exerts a constant, sometimes intrusive and imposing pressure on other people if there is a need to achieve something, to defend justice and demand fair treatment, to protect interests of those who are close and dear to him. The ESE goes to the right jurisdictions, inspires people around him and directs them towards work and purposeful activity, keeps up a high pace of life himself, and breaks off relations with those who don't deserve trust.

and some miscellaneous excerpts from literature i liked a lot. (i can't remember the sources i used since i've been working on this on and off, for the past week and i was just spilling things onto the post. i think stratiyevskaya?):

Mood - that’s what matters in this dyad - emotions and feelings. Anything that suppresses and overshadows good mood is considered unethical in this dyad and is strongly condemned.

The ESE does not allow the LII to limit him in the possibilities of consuming the amount of pleasures and joys, which he considers to be necessary and sufficient. Fortunately, both partners in the dyad - LII and ESE - are obstinate and unyielding. Both are demanding, unwilling (and not allowing anyone else) to lower the bar of their requirements, unable to give in and make concessions (especially in anything that is of principle for themselves). Both know how to make their partner reckon with their interests and insist on the fulfillment of their demands.

LII is impressed by the emotional generosity of ESE and his spiritual responsiveness. All this finds the deepest understanding in LII, since he is tuned to the same priorities and values. For his part, ESE admires the ability of LII to speak clearly and definitely on every issue. ESE is struck by the harmony of the reasoning of LII, the amazing clarity, accuracy and laconicism of his statements. To ESE it seems that for LII, there is nothing incomprehensible in this world; he can give a comprehensive explanation on every issue. And everything that ESE thought about before is gradually being built into a definite and clear system of views, which he can now very freely and naturally present. Confusion and chaos in his worldview gradually gives way to a stable logical order, as if someone patient and careful was sorting all his thoughts into shelves. Such clarity inspires and activates ESE; he begins to see some prospects for himself, new opportunities. His energy and activity, in addition to emotional and ethical expression, also receives sensory realization: ESE begins to take care of LII and carefully looks after him. If LII is a colleague with whom ESE is especially pleasant to communicate with, he begins to treat him with something tasty, homemade; will make some small, but beautiful and necessary gift (for example: new cologne or a warm scarf).

> okay that's great and all but when are we talking about john and aradia specifically?

yes, that was the point of this post. i just had to build all that up first so i could walk you through my thoughts in a fully substantiated way.

considering chronology of wind again, john doesnt realize it but he needs aradias frankness and insight. even if she’s unable to explicate on vague things, she states the reason why instead of making him feel stupid (it would create a doomed timeline) but thats all john needs to hear. she is self-effacing and only tells him the truth, and we know other people can take advantage of john’s suggestibility in this way. aradia tells john who is or isnt trustworthy, what actions would be useful/necessary and which ones wont, without any selfish personal motive a la vriska or terezi.

^ (juuuust the record my nitpicky ass doesn’t agree with the truth of the classpect interpretation on behalf of the author in the last bit BUT that is beside the point here. the point is that she is answering john’s question in a way that is meaningful for him)

aradia doesnt realize it but she needs john’s friendy goofiness to brighten her up because she is surrounded by people who antagonize her when she’s literally not even trying to get under anyones skin. everybody gets frustrated at her “spooky nonsense” because theyre afraid of their own mortality, basically telling her to put a lid on it because thinking about hard truths makes THEM personally uncomfortable. but to her it’s always just been a fact of life. plugging your ears to reality is ignorance, but at the same time that doesn’t mean there’s no meaning in anything. she wants to help people see this and she dedicates herself to becoming a psychopomp for the deceased and earnestly trying to make people feel emotionally and physically comfortable in their situation through exploring their memories.

john isn’t hostile towards her. by being herself she is immediately able to earn john’s trust when they initially talk. this is also true in canon; the one time they talked when john initially comes up to her, saying “can i ask you something? seem reasonable, and pretty nice.” unfortunately he asked her the one question she didn’t have much to say about, and i can’t blame him for expecting all the troll girls to be basically insane at that point. but i don’t think aradia is insane. yes she is odd, but i think it’s evident that she has a good head on her shoulders with knowledge of the way the universe around her works, and in the end wants to simply bask in watching it play out. i think she deserves to get childishly excited about it, especially considering she was dead for most of her developmental years.

aside from getting his answers answered, john shows curiosity about her and her species and even care about her well-being and state. this naturally comes from their conversation’s ebb and flow. aradia tells this straightforwardly, without bells and whistles and without trying to trick him, unlike the other trolls who seem keen on well..trolling him.. and providing him with unclear answers to those sorts things. maybe aside from vriska, but she did have a little bit of an attitude about it wherein her and john’s dynamic felt uneven or off-rhythm, with a large psychological distance. it’s a different feeling with aradia, however. they exchange information on the same rhythm and so are able to achieve a closer psychological distance in communication.

there are no judgments coming from aradia about john being “stupid”. she doesn’t underestimate him. it’s not just that john wants to understand (although he does), but he needs to understand what he is doing. aradia compliments john about the traits he possesses that allow him to be effective. i guess in a way i’m doing the same thing with john right now.

john is so mobile and strung along by being the action hero going from place to place as a can-do deliveryboy that he never has time to reflect on his losses, think through them, and accept them.

literally who else is more qualified in all of homestuck than aradia for talking to john about these things?

on top of all of this, they have objectively significant connections beyond just mutual self-realization in a way i think could've been fleshed out. there is potential here.

for a story, i can think of a way that a conversation between them could plausibly happen using the systems established in homestuck's mythology. in canon, we see that john never met aradia until year 3 on the golden battleship in the dream bubbles when he goes to sleep.

but john still dreamt out in the furthest ring. that means during those 3 years it was possible for john to have had a dream with her in it, or at least aradiabot. i know john didn't know aradia's name beforehand but let's just explore the possibility that they could have had met before that. remember that all these aradiabots were once this person.

aradia had obtained john's crosbytop, his dads hat, and his wallet quite a while before their sgrub session. theres your entry

imagine john seeing that

memories of dear old dad get stirred up through the link of seeing those items

the dream bubble transforms

john is forced to stand in his memories and explore grief and the meaning of life with aradia

physically being in the space around him would definitely help john reflect easier i think because it will force him to actually exist within the space and talk to someone, taking some time out for this. he wanted to know if anything could've been done or if he was just too late to save them. i know aradia would be able help him slow down and introspect. don't forget the opportunities created by the properties of these spaces that are glubbed out in the furthest ring by the horrorterrors that meld the labyrinthine time and space of their surroundings to the memories of the people and finding others through common points in memory. i would imagine that objects known by multiple people would provide a common point in memory to bring them together.

The bubbles allow the players of Sburb/Sgrub who have lost a life to continue dreaming. The reality constructed in the bubbles is a combination of the memories of everyone inside the bubble accessible to any who has learned the bubble's nature. According to Aradia, it would be quite difficult to exit a bubble to get into a new one, however someone inside a bubble can travel to another one through common points in memory, taking their own memories with them to be integrated into the new bubble. These memories mix and combine, but in general, no new memories are created. Additionally, the bubbles store the consciousness of a player who has lost their dream selves and their original selves, making them double as a form of afterlife; the player is then capable of accessing the memory of anyone else who has gained access to the bubbles. Living players, who have lost or become their dream selves, appear in the dream bubbles when they are asleep. It is in this fashion that the bubbles can be used as meeting places between the dead and the living; even those from alternate universes and doomed timelines can be found in a bubble. Furthermore, in addition to memories, the bubbles can to some extent reflect the thoughts of a player. Beyond that, the bubbles can also behave similarly to Skaia's clouds, showing things that are in some way relevant to the player - such as when coin-flip Dave saw alpha Dave grieving over Bro's corpse - something he was not aware of before being shown it by a bubble.

physically reflect the thoughts of the player…… rubs hands

john and aradia share points in memory related to those objects, and to top it all of they are directly related to john's dad on the same day he died, while aradia grew up with them as bizarre alien artifacts from an archeological dig. the memories are more emotionally charged for john, and i think that distinction would probably be relevant to them both.

to be honest i think after speaking with him for a bit she would readily tell john that she regrets not talking to the kids from the universe her team created sooner before she died, but is glad that she can in the afterlife. in canon, alpha aradia told a doomed dave, "i think its absurd i never introduced myself to you in all that time i spent moping around the lab. guess i wasnt in a very good mood".

now not all the aradiabots would know who john is, because the trolls only found out about the humans once they created the genesis frog and hid out in the lab in the veil from jack who infiltrated their session. the aradiabot in the lab was the last one that survived. so if any one of them would know who john is, it would be the aradiabot that exploded. aradia's dream self ascended to god tier in jack noir's rampage on trolls' derse and took those memories with her which we can assume is what made the last aradiabot explode. its known that any original copy that dies when another rises up becomes a ghost and lives on in the dream bubbles, which would include her. a doomed aradiabot we see in the comic, which was the one that originally landed to alternia in the past, becomes more lighthearted after she dies, a bit more like her alive counterpart.

oh yeah, and the more obvious surface-level connections to top it off? ghostbusters? john ain't afraid of no ghost girl. john would be genuinely interested in what aradia living as a ghost irl on her planet and not as a gaming abstraction in the furthest ring would be like. i imagine she would be able to explain the subjective experience and that she had to prototype herself into the kernelsprite order for her server player to see her. there's also no way john hasn't seen a movie as classic as indiana jones and judging from her poster i can imagine he probably thinks it's sweet that aradia's strife specibus whipkind is a reflection of her own personal tastes, interests and hobbies.

so yeah i've just been chewing on all of this and thinking about it but i know i needed to just get this out there somehow. obviously since i spent two weeks putting this post together i'd be happy to hear your thoughts

[lightningant]

Love love your ronmort essay, couldn't agree more ! Do you have any head cannons about them you want to dissert about cause I'm all ears !!

Some quick ideas to texture the Borgin Tom AU:

-Tom initially looks down on him and is paternalistic and sees him a little like a pet (obviously) but he is so self-assured that he hasn't come to terms with the fact Ron is his special little princess.

-Tom avoids testing his loyalty for a long while, because it requires actually interrogating how important that loyalty is to him. He does constantly test his affection though. Always keep them on their toes.

-When the loyalty test does come he just takes it as a given Ron will be loyal not because he genuinely believes it but because the crashout would be legendary if he didn't and he refuses to entertain the possibility the next year of his life would be dedicated to malding over the kind of guy you'd pass at a grocery store. Luckily Ron is a true ride or die👍

-After learning Tom is a crime lord Ron is actually pretty proactive in organizing any potential conflicts so they don't come to blows. He is doing this out of moral opposition but it does have the knock-on effect of making Tom calm down.

-Tom teaches him parseltongue and Ron ends up semi-fluent. He loves to talk to Ron in parseltongue to fuck with people

-Tom loves it when Ron turns down potential paramours, it puts him in a good mood for the rest of the day. He enjoys hamming up how they don't stand a chance because their romantic rival is ~Lord Voldemort~. He wants to do a Betty and Veronica routine with someone so bad but he can't because if his rival actually stood a chance they would go missing under mysterious circumstances

-For a really long time Ron avoids telling Harry and Hermione that he is some bizarrely well-connected older shopkeeper's Kept Man. Because Harry would think it was weird because they stalked him as children and Hermione would think it was weird AND wrong because they stalked him as children. And Harry would suggest stalking again

-When they do meet, Tom immediately focuses on antagonizing Harry as much as possible. Surviving baby murder has attracted all the aggro Hermione would have absorbed from being the one who got away. Tom thinks it is SO absurdly funny, he loves that he's made an urban legend out of an infant because he didn't like being forced to change diapers. Like naturally only he could do this.

-The Death Eaters are all bothered by Ron. It was okay when Abraxas was the favourite because he's a rich pureblood patriarch of good breeding. Who the fuck is that. ??????

-Having a man in his house to dote on him after a long day has done never-before-seen things to Tom's mental health.

-Ron was really excited to introduce him to his family up until Tom decided to play up his bootstraps backstory and his mom fell over herself to welcome him and Percy fell over himself to look impressive to someone so notoriously well-connected and he earned Fred & George's respect effortlessly and they're all going "how did you pull THAT" while this is happening. He spends an entire month in some level of sulk until they finally have a screaming argument and Tom freezes him out for the longest time they've ever been apart before finally deciding to lure him back with gifts. When Ron doesn't like them he takes it extremely personally but the fact this made him so unbelievably angry does give Ron a clue on Tom's values and he (with help from friends) is the one to reconcile with warm and supportive communication and a shiny object.

[deathworlders-of-e24]

Thomas, Engineer

Part 4

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sparks burst upwards into the goggles Thomas was wearing, the plasma cutter in his hand burning at several hundred degrees, focused to an incredibly fine point. Holding it in his work gloves was awkward at best, but years of practice had made him exceptional at his job. Sixer and Mace might’ve been better at the finer detail work, Padrino had incredible dexterity after all, but making custom tools was well within his wheel house too.

The two bot brothers had asked him to make a special kind of nano wrench while they ran a ‘memory sweeper’ program through his old translator, the one that had caught that rogue signal all those cycles ago. The group had been working on it in their off time between maintenance requests, and they were finally just steps away from the answers they were looking for. All they needed now was to strip the memory code out of the device, and for that they needed itty bitty tiny nanoscopic tools; ergo, while the twins worked their programs, Thomas got to work making the things they’d need.

He was almost done too, when the comm-link trilled. A patch job in the security chief’s office, apparently one of the terminals was unresponsive and the door was getting jammed up on something. Personal projects would have to wait.

“Roomba, we got a job. You coming with or hanging out here?”

[Statement: you operate at greater efficiency when this unit is present]

“That’s right buddy, but I’m asking what you wanna do,” Thomas said.

“Beep.”

[Statement: I would like to assist please]

“Thanks Roomba, I appreciate that.” Thomas held his arm out and the little droid climbed up to his usual perch on the man’s shoulder. “Look at you, making decisions for yourself. Good for you bud!”

Thomas adored the little robot, and as Roomba got smarter, that feeling only grew. Every day the small cleaning drone was getting more clever, his AI evolving ever further, thanks to the upgrades from Sixer and Mace. Pretty soon Roomba would be as smart as Thomas was.

Maybe I’ll teach him how to play virtual chess, he thought. Or I’ll build him a little controller and we can split screen a blaster battle game or something!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two made their way through the ship, waving and saying hello to the many people who stopped Thomas to look at the small robot on his shoulder. At this point in their mission, it was common knowledge that one of the humans had made a cleaning drone their ‘pet’, although Thomas was trying to make it clear that wasn’t the case. Roomba was his own person, he just so happened to have very little legs and it was faster to just catch a ride on his human companion. It probably didn’t help that outside himself and the Padrino, nobody else had the hardware to understand what Roomba was saying, so all they ever heard was Beep.

They made it up to the command deck and knocked on the door to the Chief’s office. It opened halfway before getting stuck, hidden gears grinding, and there was the Chief, leaning on his desk with a data pad in his hand. Thomas figured Chief Ducane was kinda cute, what with his scruffy yet trimmed beard and his various tattoos, but macho wasn’t really his thing on guys. That being said, he could see why some on the crew were whispering about him, the man was built. Thomas tried getting his attention through the crack.

“Reporting Chief, you sent a maintenance request?” Thomas said through the gap in the door.

“Yeah, I did,” Chief Ducane looked up. “Oh right, you’re Thomas right? I don’t remember if I’ve introduced myself yet, I’m Danny Ducane. You’re the guy with the domesticated maintenance droid, right?” The Chief got up to the door and pulled it open himself, the hydraulics groaning as it slid open the rest of the way.

“He’s not…” Thomas started, annoyed, but took a beat. Don’t antagonize the guy who can pull apart the doors. “This is Roomba, he has an adaptive learning AI now, like the Padrino on the crew. He’s not a pet.”

Roomba looked up when Thomas said his name and trilled angrily at the idea of being equated to a house cat.

“Beep.”

[Statement: Please inform the other human that I am not domesticated in any way, and would prefer that not get said again]

“He said you’re being rude,” Thomas explained.

“Beep.”

[Sufficiently put]

Chief Ducane looked at the two of them for a moment before raising his hands in defeat.

“Okay, fair enough, that was a dick move on my part. Sorry little guy, didn’t know you were one of the clever bots.”

Thomas nudged his tool bag with his foot, and the Chief took the message.

“Right, my control console is fritzing out,” Ducane said, shuffling awkwardly towards his desk. “The screen blurs every couple minutes, and the door got stuck this morning, don’t know what that’s about either.” The chief stood there, gesturing to his desk with one hand, the other fumbling to put the data pad down where Thomas suspected he thought he wouldn’t be able to see it. It occurred to him that Chief Ducane might not be the most technologically savvy, considering you could read a data pad from either side, and the exact same script was frozen on his console screen. It looked like a checklist of sorts, but Thomas wasn’t here to snoop classified documents. Unless it’d be funny, then maybe.

“Right,” Thomas said, eyeing the chief, “it’s probably just an electrical short, a little leftover from that solar flare the other day. I’ll have to strip some wiring but it’s a quick fix. Though the door might have to be taken out so I can get into the motors.”

“And how long will that take?” Ducane asked.

“Maybe an hour? Maybe more?” Thomas shrugged. “Takes as long as it takes for me to get in there.”

Thomas looked at him a moment, standing there with his hands on his sides. He could hear Roomba’s mechanical innards ticking and whirring as the little bot held onto his perch on Thomas’s shoulder.

“Guess I should let you get to it then,” Chief Ducane said, clapping his hands and heading for the door, but he stopped before he left, like he’d just remembered he’d left the stove on or some such.

“Hey, just a quick question,” he said, turning back to face Thomas. The chief’s hands were fidgeting, hooking and unhooking his thumbs into his pockets. “Are you acquainted with the Sed engineers? Kor and Taren?”

Thomas thought for a moment, then shrugged.

“Sure, I’ve seen them around. Why?”

“They ever seem real busy for unknown reasons?”

“Honestly? Like you want my work appropriate answer or my actual opinion?”

“Both.”

“Well my work appropriate answer is sure, they seem good at their jobs, usually off together on requests.”

“And your personal opinions?” Chief Ducane pressed, crossing his arms and shifting to stand in the doorway, as if he was keeping Thomas sequestered until he got answers to his odd line of questions. Thomas didn’t need to ponder the question that long.

“Honestly? Honestly they kinda suck,” He blurted out, a little more venomously than he’d intended. “Like, okay, don’t get me wrong, you ask them questions and they give the right answers, they know how things work and they know the right tool for the jobs, but work wise? Half the time nobody can find them. I’ve had three repair jobs handed over to me in the last two weeks ‘cause they’re off somewhere fooling around.”

“Fooling around?” Ducane intoned, “as in…?”

“Well we just kinda assumed they were an item. And look, we’re sympathetic, but the work load is insane on a ship this size with this many conflicting requirements. Temperature differences for different races, atmospheric controls bottoming out, I got a guy with four arms for a boss and even he thinks it’s ridiculous how often stuff around here breaks.”

“So you all just assumed they were off somewhere… doing that, while you all just put up with it? Has anyone seen them like this?” Chief Ducane pushed.

“Roomba did,” Thomas said, tilting his head the little droid’s direction, “while we were doing repairs in the air ducts a couple cycles ago.”

“Beep.”

[Please do not disclose this information]

“Huh?” Thomas put the little droid in his palm and let him stand for himself. “What’s up buddy?”

“What’s he saying?” The chief asked, shifting focus from Thomas to Roomba and back again.

“Beep.”

[Disclosure of this information will bring my work efficiency into question]

Ohhhhhhh, Thomas thought.

“He’s just saying how weird what he saw was,” Thomas shiftily explained, patting the little droid on the head. “We were working some repairs in the ducts when Roomba saw Taren in another part of the ship through the grating. He was on a comm-link and Kor showed up with a thing Roomba didn’t recognize, but from what he told me it was some hand tool I think.”

“So maybe they were just on another job and not screwing around?” Ducane questioned.

“Nah, couldn’t be, I was supposed to be the only repair guy in that part of the ship at the time. Everyone else is still supposed to be in the core room making repairs after that solar flare.”

Thomas took a deep breath and looked Ducane in the eye.

“Chief, be straight with me, is something going on on my ship?”

“What do you mean your ship?” Ducane scoffed.

“Trust me, this ship has already gotten enough of my blood, sweat, and tears man. I probably love her more than anyone else on this boat, so yeah, she’s my ship.” Thomas was getting a tad red in the face as he said this, which was fair, as it was slightly embarrassing to voice this odd idea of his. “Look man, this ship might be just a job to you, but it’s not just that to me, okay? So if there’s something happening here that could hurt her, I’m not gonna let that happen.”

How odd that a simple maintenance request could have such an impact on his day?

Roomba reach up and tugged on Thomas’s earlobe.

“Beep.”

[New Task Uploaded: protect Noah. Confirm?]

“That’s right Roomba, that’s what we’re gonna do,” Thomas said, weirdly amped up now. Chief Ducane stood there looking at him incredulously.

“Is every kid in the galaxy just ready to ride shotgun off to war these days? I swear, you younger guys need to do something more productive and fun with all that extra energy you have.”

“Shove it… respectfully, Chief.”

“Well if it makes you feel any better, I don’t have anything concrete that something is happening, not that I could tell you if I did.” Ducane shrugged and crossed his arms again, leaning against the wall. The data pad behind them on the desk trilled, a new file had been sent to it, and before the tones had silenced themselves, Thomas felt as if his neurons had just taken a bolt of electricity across his frontal lobe. He turned back to face the Security Chief with a dread look tacked onto his face.

“Hypothetically, Chief, if somebody had possibly intercepted a weird transmission while outside the broadcast shields, how important would that be?”

Chief Ducane stared at him a moment, then clasped his hands together in front of his mouth before sighing uncomfortably hard.

“I’d say that’d be pretty important, kid.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I thought you were supposed to be smart!” Danny half accused, walking quickly down the hall away from the lift.

“Man, I’m like actually a genius, I have four degrees, but nobody ever accused me of being smart,” Thomas said, shrugging. “I didn’t want to get kicked off the ship if it was nothing, which it probably is!”

“You wouldn’t have gotten kicked off the ship. If I can’t even get rid of Grite, you’re as safe as can be.”

“Oh, okay,” Thomas said sarcastically, “then I totally should’ve spilled it when, while on a space walk, my somewhat illegally jailbroke translator picked up a rogue signal on the long range communications array for the ship I just got a job on. I’ve seen people canned for less, I could’ve been tried for espionage or something.”

“You did what?”

Thomas and Danny turned on theirs heels to see Odis the Galley standing in the doorway they’d just passed, a ‘coffee’ mug in hand. It had a cartoonish drawing of a purple cow on it.

“Oh good, we’re just telling the whole ship now, I guess,” Danny pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m definitely getting fired.”

“Wait wait wait, Odis is cool,” Thomas vouched. “He’s a real stand up guy.”

“What did you do now humie?” Odis groaned, downing whatever was in his mug before sprinting to join them. His shorter legs had to move twice as fast to keep up with the taller humans.

“So you know that project the twins and I have been working on?” Thomas asked.

“Yeah, you’ve been using your off hours for something that’s not video games, of course I noticed.”

“Fired…,” Danny moaned. “Court marshalled even.”

“Quiet big human, the smart human is talking.”

“Oh no, we’ve established that word doesn’t apply to me.”

“Beep.”

[Thank you for not telling the human I fell down the air ducts]

It was a wonder how the entire ship didn’t know what they were doing by then, seeing as they were not exactly discreet as they headed down to the maintenance decks. When the group of them finally made the locker room, more than one set of eyes was watching them, though it was mostly Chief Ducane they were looking at. It wasn’t exactly normal operating procedures for the Chief of Security to walk into their locker room.

“How is it that you humans are always up to something ridiculous?” Odis asked, shaking his bulbous gray head. “I mean, as a Galley, I’m actually impressed with the level of… what’s a good human word for this nonsense?”

“Shenanigans?” Thomas offered.

“Ridiculous words, ridiculous people…,” Odis laughed. “The cows are cool, but the rest of your world is just a mess of weird, huh?”

The humans didn’t respond, though given any thought, they couldn’t have refuted the Galley anyway.

Sixer and Mace stood at their work table, the terminal screen running thousands of lines of code a second. Thomas would’ve loved to comb through it given the chance, but now wasn’t the time.

“Twins!” he called over, “Got it up and going?”

“Almost, Human Thomas,” Sixer replied.

“Hello, Security Chief Ducane,” Mace greeted.

“Yeah, hi guys,” Danny said. “I hear you all have been working a little side project?”

The two Padrino turned to each other and each gave a quick burst of machine speak before turning back to face them.

“Human Thomas, do you believe it is time to inform the ship’s command structure of our findings?”

“You could say that, yeah,” Thomas nodded.

“Good, because we have finished preparations. We simply need the tool you made up and to see if the sweeper program retrieves any data.”

Thomas patted down his coveralls before fishing the nano-wrench from his inner pocket. He handed the tool to Sixer, who turned back to the table and made the final adjustments.

“Moment of truth, I guess,” he said.

“You realize I’m going to be extremely pissed if you got me down here and all worked up for nothing,” Danny said pointedly.

“Understood… sir,” Thomas swallowed hard.

The computer ran its program, thousands, hundreds of thousands of lines of code fluttering across the screen, the Padrino’s speed was impressive to say the least. They definitely had to teach him that sometime.

After a minute of them staring at the terminal in silence, the screen showed a resounding-

“Nothing?” Thomas and Danny said in unison.

“Correct,” Sixer said.

“Unfortunately,” continued Mace, “the translators are not equipped with enough memory storage to log something the size of a communications transmission.”

“So we’ve got nothing?” Thomas said, hands clenched at his sides. He didn’t know what he wanted the signal to be, but nothing was… incredibly unsatisfying, to say the least.

“Did you try to see recipient data?” Odis asked, eyeing the console code.

“What?” Thomas turned to him, confusion distorting the disappointment on his face.

“With the long range array, it’s got recipient data built into the message, so the thing knows who it’s going to,” Odis explained slowly. “Back in the day, we Galley used to strip data out of long range messages to find new planets to… interact with. It’s how we found the humies first, caught all those messages you kept throwing out into space.” Odis rifled through one of his side pockets and brought out something that looked like a key fob with a port on one end. He popped open a panel in the terminal and plugged it in, hitting a couple keys to sync the programs together. Thomas watched, confusion and disappointment morphing into a cautious optimism. Maybe they’d find something after all.

“And here… we… go!” Odis said smugly, triumphantly hitting the execute key. The screen rolled the code again, but this time information began loading, the computer compiling the data for them.

“And you just happen to have this… why?” Danny looked sternly in the Galley’s direction.

“If it makes you feel any better Chief, most of my free time has been spent with the kid playing Terran video games,” Odis snickered. “Don’t worry about what I’ve been up to, worry about whoever is sending messages to the GAIL High Council.”

“What the hell?” Danny exclaimed, leaning over the console to examine the data.

Sure enough, they couldn’t recover any of the message, the data was just too big for the little device to have caught any. However, Odis’s tracer did show that whatever the signal was, it had gone straight to someone by the name of Mons on the High Council of the Grand Assembly of Intelligent Lifeforms.

“Chief, what the hell are we looking at?” Thomas asked, for the first time actually realizing that something could be deeply, darkly wrong on the ship.

“This doesn’t make any sense, communications can’t go directly to the Council, not without going through Captain Skitch and me,” Danny kept looking at the screen, rereading the data from start to finish, over and over again, before pulling out his data pad and copying all of it down, taking photos too.

“What are you doing?” Sixer asked.

“Making sure whatever we have here, there’s multiple copies so we can’t lose any proof later.”

“Do you suspect there’s another agenda aboard this ship Chief Ducane?” Mace followed.

“… I sincerely hope not, but either way, none of this ever happened. Not a single one of you saw any of this, okay? Nothing and no one,” Danny looked at each of them in turn, making sure they understood his meaning, “is going to hear about any of this. And when I call any of you to my office, it’s double time, understood?”

“You got it Chief,” Thomas said immediately, the others following suit, but with much less gusto.

“Beep.”

[Task: protect Noah in progress]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The work shift ended with no more excitement, however Thomas’s heart rate hadn’t declined even a bit in the following hours. The idea that something could threaten the ship, his ship, the ship he’d almost died for already, filled him with some very mixed emotions, not the least of which was apprehension. It did reassure him that Chief Ducane seemed like a good guy, and that he wasn’t going to take any disciplinary measures against the worker crew for anything, but the idea that they could be called on to actually do something was daunting.

Walking to the mess hall, Thomas realized he’d never actually made any of the requested repairs to Danny office. He pulled a comm-link out of his back pocket and sent a quick “sorry, I’ll be right there to fix the door” text, but was alarmed at what the Chief of Security replied almost instantly.

>Someone searched my office while cameras were out of commission. Nothing is missing. They took advantage of the door being jammed and unlocked<

Another message:

>Don’t come up here, it’ll look suspicious for the both of us. I’ll make another request tomorrow. Tell your friends to be careful, and come to me immediately if you see anything at all<

Thomas shakily put the comm-link back in his pocket and headed back towards the Vending Machines. He saw Odis sitting in the corner and joined him after getting his food.

“You ever think someone in the GAIL could do something pretty bad?”

“What, you think you humans have a monopoly on being kind of shitty?” Odis snorted. “You’re not that weird, you know.”

[altocat]

do you like angeal or genesis better

Right now, Angeal.

I love Genesis, but really the best version of him is the one that the fandom has cultivated over the years. I'm not about to pretend he's particularly well-written in CC, or that he isn't kind of a huge asshole in plenty of spots. Now while I personally find him compelling after heavily analyzing him, I do think he sometimes comes off as a jerk and not as sympathetic as they were hoping for him to be. And yeah, he was INTENDED to be the main antagonist. So makes sense. But they don't really show enough scenes of him being a good friend or a noble soldier to really make the antagonism sympathetic. At least not upon initial viewing.

Angeal, in contrast, started out as a pretty bland throwaway character and has been expanded upon in a very tragically appealing way in both First Soldier and Opera Omnia. I think he really works now. He's not just "Zack's mentor" or "that other First that hangs with Genesis and Sephiroth". He's his own person now. And his relationship with Sephiroth especially has the potential to really be something special if Episode 2 turns out the way I think it will.

Now with all this said, please don't think for a minute I hate Genesis or think he's a terrible character lmao I love him. I love his flaws. I love it when he's petty and theatrical. I love it when he acts like a jerk. I love it when he's being fussy and pretentious. He brings me so much joy, warts and all. And if he gets the First Soldier treatment someday, I think he'll be neck in neck with Angeal. He's my special ginger-haired Little Shit and I love him. So here's hoping.

[lily-s-world]

Julie and the Phantoms vs. Julie e os Fantasmas

I had recently been practicing my Portuguese and listening to music in that language, which lead me to the soundtrack of Julie e os Fantasmas. The original Brazilian version of the show. Funny how music works, because the more I listened to the songs the more I remembered about the show. Which is why I decided to make a list about the main differences between the shows.

First, the Brazilian cast and the name of their counterparts so you know who am I referring to:

Side note before we start, their music is also pretty cool. My favorite one is Essa noite somos um so (Tonight we are one).  You can find it on Spotify:

The Brazilian show lasted 1 season with 26 episodes, which were divided in two parts from 2011 to 2012. However, the show was always planned with one season only, so it had a proper closure.

In the original version, Julie isn’t dealing with the loss of her mother. Her mother is alive but decided to take a job far away from them, which leads to Julie resenting her because she feels that her mother doesn’t care about them and only shows when it is convenient for her. This makes Julie feel invisible across her life.

Both shows revolve around music and how much Julie loves it. Julie (BR) suffers from stage panic, one of the reasons she had never sing in front of people. The phantoms help her with this. Also, her preferred instrument is the guitar.

The phantoms had a more tragic death on the BR version. They were trying to replicate The Beatles’ Abbey Road cover, but where hit by a truck and died instantly. One member was alive, but he retired from the music industry after the accident. They had been dead for over 30 years and were trapped on a vinyl record instead of a CD.  

The phantoms don’t have their instruments like the new version. After they help Julie with her stage panic, she buys them new instruments and decides to form the band.

The name of the band on the show is Os Insólitos (The Unusuals). They play in different venues and parties across the season. Unlike the new version, they sing the same songs repeatedly across the episodes. There are some special episodes where they reveal a new song.

The Julies share basically the same personality on both shows. Martim and Reggie are also really similar, being a flirt and a little bit clueless. Felix is way more anxious and fearful than Alex, he was scared of ghosts since he was a kid and being turned into one didn’t help with that. Daniel and Luke are probably the ones with different personalities, while Luke is this cutie that falls for Julie almost immediately; Daniel is egocentric and cold at the beginning of the show. It takes a long time for him to warm up to Julie and is resentful against the world for what happened to them. He had a lot of character development during the season.

Pedro (Carlos) and Bia (Flynn) learn about the ghost right after Julie does. Pedro and Martim develop a friendship based on pranks and jokes.

Julie, Pedro and Bia are the only ones that can actually see the phantoms. Whenever they play in the band, they hide behind masks and keep the idea as a mystery to attract followers.

Julie and Thalita (Carrie) were also friends when they were younger. The reason their friendship didn’t lasted, was because Julie realized that Thalita was a bully that picked up on other girls. Julie cut out all communication with her, which Thalita didn’t took well and continued to antagonize her until they were teens.

The main difference is that Caleb doesn’t exist in this original version, there is an agent of the Ghost Police that looks for the boys because he is convinced they escaped the rules of death. They should have crossed over, but never did. There also some kind of ghostbuster that is looking for them.

 At the end of the first part of the season, the boy say goodbye to Julie because they are planning to cross over; however it is later revealed that the ghostbuster capture them. They manage to escape and return with Julie.

Daniel develops feelings for Julie in the second part of the season, Julie also starts liking him, but she also likes Nicolas who had been her crush for years. Nicolas and Julie start spending more time together after he broke up with Thalita, and he develops feelings for Julie. At the end of the show Julie ends up choosing Nicolas, because she had liked him longer and he makes this grand gesture for her at school. She has a talk with Daniel about what they feel, and they both decide to still be friends and continue with the band.

Some fun facts: The show was sponsored by Monster High, so you can see a lot of merchandise in the show; Julie even dresses up as Frankie Stein for a Halloween party. The show was super popular, earning nominations for Kids Awards in LATAM.

[cinnamonest]

what if albedo has 3 other brothers (per the 4 stages of alchemy) and they all just antagonize rhinedottir like oops you fucked around and found out ❤️ plot twist (not really) they all secretly compete to see who can make her life the worst living hell possible

This is so funny to me like imagine the BETRAYAL. The anguish realizing you didn't just have ONE other creation, you had multiple… it's like those stories where the husband finds out his wife has a secret child from a past era of her life before she met him 💀

Once it becomes clear they have interest in obtaining you, obviously he does everything in his power to get you away, even if it means relocating somewhere else. The absolute menaces persist, but he can handle that… he's incredibly hostile to them, naturally, and would practically fall apart if they ever got their hands on you, so he becomes exponentially more protective, never leaving you alone for a second... but even so, he has to deal with the psychological burden.

It makes him feel less special… now he's all insecure about it. It's amusing because he's usually a pretty mature person, so when he gets petty, it's actually kind of endearing, in a way, because it's so childish. Total cold shoulder, short blunt replies to anything you say, physically distancing himself. He might as well be outright begging for reassurance and attention. Poor thing.

[officialbruciewayne]

If you could recommend at least five blogs to your followers, who would they be?

ooc. In a way, I'm worried that by only listing five, people not on this list will feel left out, and I do want to start by saying- this is a wonderful community, and every person here has something to bring to the table.

What you create is a living extension of your experiences, and only you can create it, only you can draw from the well of your life.

That said, I did want to take a moment to highlight some of the blogs that are huge influences on me in very different ways!

@timblrdrake - Tim Drake

This is actually where it all started. I have no idea how I started following this blog, but it got me inspired to make my own- a Damian blog, actually -and then that spiraled into Bruce here, and I'm now really weird about a grown-ass man who dresses like a bat.

To be fair, I've always been weird about Batman as a series, history and concept. I get that from my tatu.

But this blog is something special. It's fun, it's got heart, it's got whimsy, and it can hit you in the feelings when it counts. I love the neo-epistolary style, and the strong diegesis. Highly recommended.

@deathstrokewilson - Slade Wilson

The mun behind this blog runs a lot of incredible blogs, but this one has a very important place for me. It was the first time I saw a big collective plot in action, and it was down to them, and also the first close friend I made here.

They're wonderful, they're creative, inspiring, and the prose is a thing of beauty.

I'm especially soft on their depiction of Slade Wilson, because I think it captures a complexity and nuance without compromising antagonism. It's fun, it's pithy, it's in-tune with the man and it has a dramatic range.

@twcfaces - Harvey Dent

Ohhh, ohh. I don't interact too much with this Harvey Dent, but I dream about this blog. It's a beautiful rendition, written by someone I have only ever seen be both insightful and kind, and I have a bit of a fan-enby thing going on here.

Please follow this blog. It's well-written. There's a lot of insight into Dent's portrayal across a WIDE range of media. It's full of nuance and empathy and drama and soul-grabbing feeling.

I love twcfaces so much ;A;

@bruce-but-kitten - Bruce Wayne (best Bruce)

Yeah this is the best Bruce blog out there. No argument. Best.

Truthfully, I wasn't saw which blog I wanted to highlight of @ni0x's, but they are a great example that not all fandom experiences are necessarily centered around one artform, but instead a full one- and that the language of fan spaces is gift giving.

There is so much love in their work, and the improvement has been astonishingly swift. Also, they are the funniest person in the room.

@shirtlessmenincomics - Without whom none of this would be possible

It can be incredibly easy for roleplayers to forget resource sharing and curation is such a key and core part of fandom. Creation is fundamental, yes, both canonical and transformative, but collation and category is important too.

Without this blog, I'd have far fewer thirst traps in my folder. We owe this blog for #thirst trap bruce wayne