#jackie gets to be a bad influence as a treat

[autisticlenaluthor]

jackienat quesiton

how did jackienat start in the first place? how does the jackieshauna of it all affect it? did jackie approach first or nat? what ur headcanon for how jackie parents thought about it(assuming they didn't know they dated but even friendship)

oh i love this question

i have a bunch of pre crash headcanons here that i think would play into the foundations of their relationship. in the wilderness (if jackie had survived) the real start would be nat finding jackie in the cold and bringing her in half dead. imo it has to happen this way because jackie and shauna’s relationship is so complex that it’s only when jackie almost dies for/because of shauna, that their relationship is damaged beyond repair (at least in jackie’s eyes. i think jackieshauna was always doomed. but jackie, at least, would’ve clung onto shauna forever if she could’ve)

shauna is incapable of taking accountability, which would be the relationships true downfall. she never apologizes for what she did- not to ghost jackie, not to melissa, not to anyone. and if jackie had survived, i doubt that would have changed. shauna would’ve acted like if enough time passed, and if she’d been normal towards jackie again, things could’ve been fine. but they wouldn’t be. jackie’s trust and everything else would be irreparably shattered - even if (and she would, she would so many times) she lets herself believe things are okay and goes back to shauna

the jackieshauna of it all would affect it in that, after jackie almost dies, she sees the difference in how shauna and nat treat her.

nat might be emotionally distant and kind of removed, but she’s kind. she apologizes to jackie, even though it was never her fault, and that would go so far. she also stands up for jackie with the group in a way that shauna never did in the wilderness, and she would consistently be kind to her. but shauna, on the other hand, refuses to acknowledge what she did. she thinks lashing out at the others when they’re rude to jackie, or asserting her dominance is enough to fix things (like we see with mel after she got shot). but jackie wouldn’t want this - *she wants the warmth that nat offers.

jackie would also isolate herself even further from the rest of the group. she’d been doing this before doomcoming but it would get worse after the freeze out. she’s borderline afraid of the girls and her trust is completely shattered. but as this is happening - i think it would be how her and nat really get close. they can both relate to being outsiders, and they validate each other in how “off” they feel with The Wilderness as an entity.

when jackie’s recovering, she would likely get the bedroom and so her and nat would hang out there together. they’d work past all the previous animosity they had toward each other, realize how dumb it really was, and become friends first. in the summer, nat takes jackie hunting with her and travis (or alone). jackie isn’t allowed to use the gun and she jumps whenever nat shoots something, but really, nat likes the excuse to hang out with her.

as for jackie’s parents - i can’t imagine they would’ve liked her being friends with nat. they seem like they would’ve turned their nose up at her family and seen her as a “bad influence” for jackie. in the beginning, jackie would definitely have to hide their friendship (and eventual relationship)

-

*when you’re in a suffocatingly toxic relationship that still feels familiar and safe - it’s sometimes impossible to see how bad things are until you form a friendship/relationship with someone who treats you the way you deserve. and suddenly, you realize how bad things actually are. that would be what happens with jackie as her and nat get closer (especially if nat had helped nurse her back to health, which i imagine she would’ve after finding her).

[cryingpariah]

Dragon: Any plans for your day off Sabo?

Sabo: *carrying a heart monitor* Oh I’m just testing out this new thing I learned!

Dragon: And that would be?

Sabo: “The Free Trial of Death!”

Dragon: …The What?

Sabo: “The Free Trial of-.”

Dragon: No I heard you the first time. What is The Free Trial of Death?

Sabo: It’s this technique where you can drop your pulse to zero and not die! Isn’t that cool!

Dragon: …Do you also smell burning toast or is that just me?

Sabo: You can only do it for sixty seconds or you risk actually dying which is kinda lame but still cool!

Dragon: *mildly losing it* Mhm mhm, totally unrelated who or where did you learn this from?

[Some time later.]

Big News Morgans: Planning on pick up the snail anytime soon? It’s ringing off the hook.

Jackie: *hiding behind newspaper* I'm not here.

[2-the-moon-and-2-saturn]

i do think jackie loved shauna a lot, as more than a friend, and it’s obvious from how she looks at shauna. she acted like a great friend too at times – she did look out for shauna and was proactive in it, like how she slipped her her mom’s pills so shauna wouldn’t have to suffer through the flight, and gave her her necklace as a token of protection. even adult shauna thinks of jackie as someone who protected her, as she hallucinates jackie warning her of danger more than once.

however, jackie also talked down to shauna. she demeaned her and knew that she had a huge influence over shauna, which she used to her own advantage. and she made sure shauna knew how much she needed jackie, asserting her own position as a great friend time and again (for example, also in the plane scene when she did those nice things for shauna).

even when doing the activity she proposed in which she had to say nice things about shauna, she made a joke of it and said a bunch of things i’m sure she loved, but that sounded negative. the good thing she mentioned was selfish too, as it spoke to shauna’s ability to be a good friend to her.

i don’t know how much of the bad ways jackie treated shauna was actually a bad coping mechanism with the fact that she loved shauna, but i do think melissa was right in saying jackie kind of treated shauna like shit. because at times, she really did. i haven’t forgotten that jackie she was also the one to first try to send her best friend out into the very cold woods. if shauna hadn’t put her foot down, she could have been the one found under the snow the next morning (though i don’t think she would have, because jackie probably would have come down to get her and reassert how good she was for doing so).

anyways, my point is that, like everyone in this series, jackie was a layered, complex character (and she was just a kid). she and shauna loved each other in ways i think neither of them could really process, and so both acted selfishly and manipulatively.

maybe they could have figured it out eventually if they’d had time, if they’d never gotten into the plane crash. that’s their iteration of the tragedy this entire show seems to boil down to – these girls who never really got to grow into better versions of themselves, because one way or another, that potential died in the woods.

[galindatopland]

PLEASE do share your thoughts on Jackie's parents 👀

THANK YOU for the encouragement. this might get long

let's start with how a while ago i got an anon implying that jackie was pampered by her parents BASED on the scene with adult shauna and them on jackie's birthday. which was the first time it ever occurred to me that people watched that scene and saw something completely different from what i saw. absolutely incomprehensible TO ME to even imagine that because i remember watching it for the first time and thinking that jackie's parents are straight out of a horror movie. there is something so sinister about how they treat shauna all while essentially replacing jackie WITH shauna. shauna gets jackie's gift and i believe (although i'd have to rewach the scene to make sure) shauna blows the candles on JACKIE'S cake and shauna is there with jackie's high school boyfriend. jackie's mother went to her wedding!! the show is not subtle about them putting shauna in the role of the daughter they lost. so why treat her so horribly? when they have no reason to because they don't know she was sleeping with jeff before plane crash before it's revealed to them in that very scene

so what that tells me and how i interpret it is: that's how they were treating jackie when she was alive. there is this insidious sort of cruelty that's masked by fake kindness? but constantly puts you down in ways that's hard to shake off. and jackie was probably Never good enough no matter how much she tried. she only became the Perfect Daughter after death when they could start treating shauna the way they treated jackie. like WHY is jackie such a deeply deeply insecure character? why does she crave validation sooooo bad? and we know she doesn't have a good relationship with her parents from how she talks about her mother when she gives shauna the pills on the plane (and implies her parents are neglectful) and when she says she has curfew and it's very much implied her parents would react badly vs shauna saying she has curfew too but being so unbothered by it she finds time to fuck jeff on her way home lmao. and to me people who fail to notice that are fooled by the appearances. jackie's parents have money and a big house and AFTER JACKIE IS DEAD idealize her. but what they seem not to notice is that the purpose of talking about how perfect jackie was is to belittle shauna. this isn't grieving parents who miss their daughter to me

and now actually let's talk about how i think that interpretation influences jackie as a character. we see how in moments of insecurity she does say things that are... i suppose a mix of self centered and not INTENTIONALLY mean but still hurtful to shauna. but she does usually backtrack and says sorry and her (many many MANY) moments of kindness always come off as genuine to me like she's starved for approval, she craves being loved. i think she keeps coming back to jeff just because even tho she doesn't want HIM she wants to be wanted and wants to be seen as someone who's wanted. but so much of her kindness sometimes feels. how do i put it. anxious? and so i imagine how living with her parents was for her. you're a kid and your parents keep finding ways to belittle you and to shame you but in ways that aren't very obvious especially to a child. you're a kid! you want their approval! so you learn HOW to be and HOW to act to maybe get it. if i am sweet and compliment them and i become the perfect daughter maybe they'll love me. and then you start applying that behavior to all your relationships and you're not even self aware about it. you're a teenager and you're trying so hard

[nastyburger]

Please say more about the awful Asian designs in Danny Phantom. I'm not Asian but I'd love to have a rundown on the elements that make them offensive so I can avoid and critique those elements in other works. And also you deserve to speak your mind about it

im gonna mostly talk about southeast asian designs since thats what i am and the most familiar with and also what i feel are the show's worst transgression with their casual depictions. tw for racist imagery im gonna link pictures.

there's not much to say about the designs aside from, you know, everything but things to note are the unnatural yellow tone for the skin and closed slanted eyes. veggie burger (fan name for the bg character in the middle) also suffers from the huge nose that sometimes shows up in racist depictions. the straight edge/cut hair as well is somewhat stereotypical. this one isn't as bad but in conjunction with everything else its not ideal. i will give the smallest molecule of credit that at the very least dp never gave any of these bg characters buck teeth.

some depictions are better than others, but theres still missteps happening in one aspect or another. kwan's eyes in a lot of shots/episodes can be too skinny and even too slanted, the girl in the middle is almost perfect but her skin is too yellow (she looks kinda okay on my computer screen but i remember when watching dp on my tv she looked real brightly yellow), and principle ishiyama (who was weirdly forgotten about pretty early on in the show and was replaced by lancer doing most of the school stuff despite not being principle?? which is a whole other issue with how dp treats its poc characters) the same usual notes about the slanted eyes but also the upturned nose is pretty reminiscent of racist japanese art during ww2. again it is not the worst way to draw a nose but combined with everything else in this show's depiction of asian characters its not great, they are on thin ice man.

not to mention, principle ishiyama is the only character here with brown eyes. this is a problem that extends to all poc characters in dp and to my knowledge i think ishiyama might be the only one with them tbh. this is, again, a whole other issue though.

i think the thing that bothers me most about these designs though is that dp is very clearly aware that these depictions are bad. the only difference between the first set of characters and the second is one singular thing: they have a clear speaking role.

suddenly when theyre not stock background characters, dp knows how to act when drawing them. i cannot for the life of me find the image of it, but the last jock guy in the first set gets a speaking role in reign storm (he's cosplaying phantom) and he is drawn with proper open eyes! (theyre also blue but whatever) it just makes me sad that this was a clear choice they made.

the show also went in a different direction in the final product, but early development stuff was really drawing from a lot of japanese/asian influences like danny was originally gonna have a motorcycle (pulling from ghost in the shell) and was even referenced in the show via the akira motorcycle reference (which i once again, for the life of me, cannot find. danny took johnny 13's motorcycle and did the classic akira slide i think it was in million dollar ghost?? idk whichever one where the giw are trying to blow up the ghost zone). danny's name was originally gonna be jackie, named after jackie chan, this i assume was given to jack fenton afterwards. and i think the show having a more martial arts direction with the action was also gonna be a thing? that one could be wrong dont quote me on that, there was an episode where danny and vlad have like a weird ninja fight though im pretty sure.

either way my point here is that they wanted to pull from all these influences and it was prominent enough during development that they sprinkle references to it throughout the show and yet their portrayal and treatment of asian characters in the show is so abysmal it just feels Bad™, you know? i cant really put it more eloquently than that, like its very take and no give with it.

it overall just puts a bad taste in my mouth, and its sad that it still affects people years later. like i mentioned in the tags of the post that started this discussion with that whole old trend of putting yourself into the bg of dp screenshots, i felt alienated by that. and its not the people who participated's fault obviously but most of the people i saw participating were white fans (going off of how they drew themselves) and it made me a bit mad that they were able to enjoy the style of the show in a more carefree manner than i ever could. i didnt want to ruin anyone's fun obviously, but a small part of me wanted to bring to light how i wasnt on equal ground with them in that situation.

[yanderecyberpunkimagines]

Yandere Jackie Welles hc's perhaps? 🥺

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Hello! Sorry for the long wait! I hope you'll like what I have written here! I really did try to condense his quirks and overall personality in this little piece as best I could.

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Jackie Welles

* Jackie would be warm, charismatic and intensely loyal, no doubt about it. But when he would meet you, his devotion may balance on the brink of an all-consuming obsession, based on your stance towards him. In the meantime, he’d convince himself that he’s just watching out for you. But deep down, he knows that he can’t stand the idea of you being with someone else.

* Unlike most yanderes, Jackie wouldn’t be delusional. He knows when he’s crossing lines, but he’ll love to override his sense of right and wrong when the need arises in certain situations, and in moments where you aren’t anywhere near the scene. He’ll make sure to be gentle and affectionate towards you. He doesn’t want to scare you. He simply wants you to choose him. But if you don’t… Well... He’s got ways to fix that.

* Jackie will always be physically close to you, using any excuse to wrap an arm around your shoulders, lean on you, or keep you near. He monitors your social circle under the guise of just being friendly, but he’s actually screening everyone in your life. If he decides someone is a "bad influence" (aka someone who could take you away from him), they suddenly stop showing up to the social events you’d participate in. He gets visibly irritated when someone flirts with you. He won’t make a scene unless he knows you’re uncomfortable, but his death glare alone is enough to scare most people away.

* He won’t lie to you. But he’ll try and twist the truth to keep you reliant on him. He’ll imply how dangerous Night City truly is. How many snakes there are in its fluorescent pits. How no one else will ever be as loyal as him.

* When there’s a rival involved, he won’t hesitate to make the disappear. If you catch on and question him, he puts on the sad and betrayed act. How could you think he would ever do something like that? But the truth is, he would, and he has. And he’d do it again in a heartbeat.

* Although he left the Valentinos, he still honors their code. They even define him. If someone disrespects you? That’s a death sentence. Maybe not immediately, but Jackie has his ways. A quiet warning, a broken nose or, if necessary, an open casket. He also still has old Valentinos connections. And while he might not be rolling with them anymore, if he needs to pull favors to keep you in line, or keep someone away from you, he won’t hesitate. All it takes is one call.

* Jackie treats his ARCH Nazaré like a second heart. He pours his time, care, and soul into maintaining it, but even that pales in comparison to his devotion to you. He may teach you how to ride it, not just as a fun activity, but as another excises to have his hands on you without coming off too strong. And when you touch his bike, run your fingers along the frame in wonder? He melts completely.

[ericaportfolio]

From both the votes and the likes from the recent poll, it's meh, but some elements work while some didn't. In my opinion, the animation and designs aged poorly, most action scenes were terribly set up, voice acting was a mixed bag, and don't get me started on how they treated Antoine!!! Were there some good things? Yes, but it does not overshadow the bad. So in The Workshoppers universe, this movie is... not 50% canon. So I'll keep what did work and cut the bad. A LOT OF BAD! So congrats for nobody saying the movie lore doesn't exist, because you gave Jack Frost an evil Azula twin sister! Though I changed her design to fit the Rankin Bass style. TA-DA!!! 

Here is my drafting system to make a new version of Jackie Frost by combining her looks from the sequel, the sequel's book design, and some influences of Jack Frost for a touch. Even the YouTube Channel mindlessgonzo made fun of Jackie being a bootleg Bratz doll. So, get ready for Jackie having some Bratz fashionista influences! I also included Snow Miser and one of the fairies from The Life and Times of Santa Claus as backup ideas. I made two versions of Jackie just to see how she turned out with a skirt or her movie's short pants. A little hint of Jackie's character.

[caelwynn]

Sterling and Hozier

I have a confession.

If you had asked me a year ago who Hozier was, my response would've been, "Isn't that a band?"

Yeah, I know. I, too, am shocked by this. Through a combination of life events and my own tendency to hole up in my own little world, I somehow missed the existence of this man for nearly a decade.

Now, the thing is, I don't know if I would have fallen in love with Hozier's music if I wasn't writing Choices when I finally listened to him. That's not to say I wouldn't have enjoyed it—I certainly would have as it scratches a very specific itch in my brain—but I don't know that I would love it. Why is that?

Well.

After Spotify spent a solid month begging me to listen to something other than Mumford and Sons (I fixate on artists and Spotify hates me for it), I gave in to its algorithm and checked out Hozier's artist page. At that time, three of his top five songs were from his first album: "Take Me to Church," "Work Song," and "Cherry Wine." I enjoyed what I heard, so I put on the entire album to give it a spin.

By the end of the second song, "Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene," I had stopped everything else I was doing, pulled up the lyrics, and sat down to listen to the album in its entirety.

Listening to it, I felt like I'd run into Sterling at the saloon, and he'd decided to pour out his life story to me. Each song reflected some aspect of his character/background/personality that I had in my head but hadn't necessarily made it onto the page yet. "Sedated" and "Cherry Wine," in particular, resonated with how I imagined his prior relationship with Kai (his ex before moving home). This shows up in my most recent chapter of Choices: Summer, and even more so in Choices: Fall as a whole.

More in-depth thoughts on individual tracks (and spoilers for Sterling's mod) beneath the cut:

Honestly, of all the songs on the album, "Take Me to Church" resonates the least for me when it comes to Sterling, outside of how utterly devoted he becomes to whomever he falls in love with. But really, "Work Song" hits those notes better as it reflects how much he wants/needs something, someone, to show him grace.

"Angel of Small Death and the Codeine Scene," "Jackie and Wilson," and "Someone New" jive so well with how I envision his mentality/how he presented himself to people in Zuzu City. He was just around to get fucked anyway he could, man.

"Sedated," meanwhile, shows the contrast/conflict between that desire to distract himself and his wish that someone would give him a reason to leave all that behind. The echo of the bridge behind the final chorus sounds so much like him begging for Kai to save him from himself even as he seduces Kai into that very lifestyle.

"Cherry Wine," on the other hand, is a reflection not only of how Kai treated Sterling, but also how Sterling treated Kai in the end. Sterling has two lines in his mod that directly influenced this interpretation (and it is definitely an interpretation, not explicitly stated. I more thoroughly explore this idea in Fall):

"Look, you're incredibly cute and all darling. And I really enjoy hitting it off with you but… I can't do relationships right now. Not after Kai… I don't ever want to be that toxic person again. Not to you. Never to you."

That's one of the options for how he responds if you offer him a bouquet after reaching 4 hearts. This next tidbit, however, is a bit of dialogue that can pop up in the saloon:

"Is there a lucky someone in your life, farmer? There's been a few in my own life, though I'd say lucky is the operating word. I'd guess it's a bad combination of attracting toxic people when you're a bit of a toxic person yourself. Sorry, just thinking about my ex. He was a really nice guy, broke up with him before I moved to the valley. It was honestly for the best, the best thing I could do for him that is."

Sterling has so many issues. I love him.

"To Be Alone," could honestly reflect his thoughts/emotions towards either Kai or Callie, depending at on what point in their respective relationships you viewed them from. "From Eden" and "It Will Come Back," however, are very much how he views Callie and his emotional attraction to her. While he knows better than to view her as pure or innocent the way he did Kai in the beginning, he still puts her on a pedestal as someone Good and thinks that all he'd do is sully or break her. Yet, he cannot resist wanting what she represents.

"Like Real People Do" is very much the soundtrack for Sterling and Callie's night together in chapter 18 of Choices: Spring.

But "Work Song" really is the culmination of how Sterling feels about Callie, though Choices will take a long, long time to reach a point where he can even admit it to himself.

(Side Note–I picked an opportune moment to discover Hozier for the record: almost exactly one month before Unreal Unearth came out. I spent two weeks memorizing his first album, another two weeks memorizing Wasteland, Baby!, and then dove head first into Unreal Unearth upon release. Saw him in concert three months later, and plan to see him again for my upcoming birthday.)

If you're interested in how I relate other characters of Choices with specific albums, check here.

[ao3feed-doctorxrose]

The Soldier, the Boy, the Rose and the Doctor

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YkTVDpb

by SoulandPsychie

After a chance meeting in a basement, ordinary shop-girl Rose Tyler is thrust into a world once thought to only exist in Sci-Fi; and it turns out it's been happening right under her nose. All thanks to one eccentric bastard in a leather jacket who's being intentionally (and irritatingly) enigmatic, and it's pretty clear he knows way more than he's letting on.

He blows up her job, uppercuts her ex, breaks into her flat and gets himself an APB, and the figure who has been haunting Rose's dreams finally shows their face in the waking world. Her life couldn't get more chaotic. But could it be that this outlandish, leather-wearing "Doctor" is exactly who Rose has been searching for? And could she be, for him?

A canon-divergent rewrite of s01e01: Rose, that came about after seeing some less-than complementary comments on the episode, and naturally deciding to make it ten times worse.

Words: 1536, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who & Related Fandoms

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings

Categories: F/M, Gen

Characters: Ninth Doctor (Doctor Who), Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor (Doctor Who), Mickey Smith (Doctor Who), Jackie Tyler, Shareen Costello, Keisha Jones

Relationships: Ninth Doctor/Rose Tyler, Tenth Doctor/Rose Tyler, The Doctor (Doctor Who)/Rose Tyler

Additional Tags: Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Original Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode AU: s01e01 Rose, the canon definitely wavers but it remains intact in the long run promise, (mostly), Crack Treated Seriously, Unreliable Narrator, Drama, Minor Violence, this baby can fit SO MANY TROPES, Swearing, Ninth Doctor (Doctor Who) is a Bad Influence, seriously he is so fucked up. just an all around fucked up little guy, there's a funky little poem in this too bc I just can't help myself

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/YkTVDpb

[relaxxattack]

hey, so i still havent read knifetrick yet, but i saw the post you reblogged about it being about capitalism's treatment of disabled people. im aware that this is just one interpretation of your work, but did you consciously make decisions about what messages to send within your story? did you purposefully include imagery or motifs or references or anything else to create a particular theme or idea?

im wondering because im making my own story, and im curious about what others put into theirs. i have a few key ideas i want to send with it, so i'm trying to tie all my characters and their arcs and the symbols and everything in my story to it. my brand of autism tends towards the "everything MUST have a logic to it!" and this is an obvious influence on it, but i still also think it's worth putting a lot of thought into it because theyre ideas i really care about. i want curious readers to be able to look into my story and see how it all ties together, and i want to impart messages of compassion onto my general audience as well. i think that all art has messages within it, whether personal or otherwise, and by being aware of what those are you can create a stronger and more cohesive story. at least thematically. if that is what someone wants to do, of course.

i know knifetrick is a story you started for fun. there is absolutely value in that (in your own joy) and i dont think art without intentional purposes or messages is inferior in any way. but did you ever get an idea for an overarching message in your mind, and implement it? its cool if you didnt, or if you did but dont want to say what it is too btw lol. im kinda just looking for the experience & thoughts another author had with their own thing. (i am very nervous sending this ask. i hope i dont sound like im jumping the gun.)

do not feel bad for asking this question, i'm always down to talk about my written works, even if it takes me a bit to collect my thoughts and figure out a response. yes, the truth is i went into knifetrick from the start with a lesson/moral i wanted to explore and teach. a fun fact about me is that i have several younger siblings, who are often being taught things i personally don't agree with. having conversations with them about what is really "right" or "moral" is awkward and not really doable. but stories and characters have always been a good and safe way for us to have this discussion-- why did this character do that thing, what makes this bad guy bad, and so on. this is why with writing i don't just like to tell a story, but i also like to teach a lesson. as patronizing as that sounds, i kind of just think it's pleasing when stories have a good moral behind them. although they don't need to for me to enjoy them. but back to the actual topic, yes. i did intentionally choose to explore the idea of capitalism's failure of certain groups of people in my story. that is what the main plot is actually wrapped around-- there's the obvious struggle with the main character, ran. he is physically and mentally disabled, he is treated differently than his peers. in a way he is fed from a young age the idea that the only way he can be considered equal to everyone else is to have a use to other people; to be the hardest working member of the order. his society encourages this worldview so that they can take advantage of him, but they don't actually care about him at all. they would discard him if he stopped being useful to them. the second example of this is the other main character, jackie. jackie's society also failed to take care of him-- he was orphaned, and then immediately lacked a support system of any kind, personal or governmental. he turned to a life of crime to make ends meet and repress his emotions, but all that did was eventually make his severe depression worse and manifest itself in a lot of anger issues and lashing out. by the time ran meets jackie, he's attempting to turn over a new leaf and take this opportunity he's been given to make an honest living; jackie cares a great deal about the people around him. the missing children are failed by society in the fact that they go missing in the first place, and nobody has bothered to try and find them (although the blame for that rests mainly on watson's shoulders, seeing as he tricked the king into thinking that was being solved). scoots and clem are failed by society as well- scoots is denied the job she actually wants to have due to her disability, and they are very poor. obviously this is made worse when clem goes missing, and since no one else is doing anything, scoots stops working to look for her sister. possibly the most obvious examples i can think of are maia snail and laggius maximus. maia's children are both autistic, with one of the two showing much more severe symptoms than the other. she's dealt with this in the way she best can as a mother, which is give them things they can comfortably work on to get their energy out and be helpful without having to do anything they don't like. society fails them as well, in that laggius is killed in the pit. but the more important part of their story is something snail tells ran: "i would have loved my brother even if he was never useful a day in his life, because he deserves it". essentially all throughout knifetrick, especially through ran, we are shown this idea of usefulness as equivalent to worth; i.e. how capitalism teaches us to view ourselves. we are shown how faulty of a system that is through the various characters. eventually ran realizes that he does not actually have to do anything useful to be worthy of existence, comfort, or love, and that is the sort of “end moral” of the narrative. ran ditches the council, showing that he knows his own worth and refuses to be tied to people who only ever hurt him, and then jackie helps the king start to reform subbin’s systems so that less people will fall through the cracks as he did.

so yes, that is essentially how i explored the idea of capitalism failing disabled people through knifetrick. there’s likely more stuff that i forgot but that’s what i remember off my head right now. anything anyone else sees in knifetrick about this topic is probably fair as well, death of the author and all that. this is what i intended while writing but other people might have seen more things in other characters that i didn’t think of too hard.

i hope that helps.

(bonus: firefox completely froze while i was at the end of this ask and made me fear for my fucking life. it took so much waiting and minimizing the program before i could safely save this to my drafts and then close firefox. terrifying.)

[fereldanwench]

I was a bit of a latecomer to Cyberpunk 2077--I didn't pick up the game until this July, and I didn't really get active in the fandom until August--But in just those few months, this game and community have brought me so much joy, creativity, and inspiration. Even if it's not been a full year for me, I'm feeling the good vibes today and just wanted to get some thoughts out. 💖 (And share some more Goro x Valerie screenshots because we've all come so far.)

The past two years have had their obvious challenges, but even prior to the pandemic, I had been languishing. I was stuck in an unfulfilling job, I was finding it hard to do anything creative, especially writing or drawing, and my social anxiety had gotten really bad. I was inclined to a lot of mistrust and defensiveness after a few shitty experiences, and I became kind of withdrawn and isolated, even in spaces that I used to really enjoy.

When I did get Cyberpunk, it was a big treat to myself: I had quit my job of almost 10 years back in April, and in late June, I started what I thought would be my new long-term gig. I celebrated that Friday by creating my corpo V, and I almost immediately fell in love with the world and the characters. I actually finished The Heist the morning I was supposed to go to a family event, and I remember having the hardest time pulling myself out of the sad feels I had for Jackie, even just after a few hours in the game.

I'm no stranger to getting really immersed and emotionally invested in a video game, but something about Cyberpunk just hit differently. There was a bit of serendipity at play--I very easily related with the corpo!V prologue, especially after my own professional experiences of the past year--But I think I would have vibed no matter when I picked it up. I've actually found myself connecting with it so deeply that's made me realize I've outgrown a lot of my previous favorites. It has me reevaluating not just what kind of stories and characters are important to me, but what kind of relationships and goals are important to me in real life, too.

And it probably goes without saying that Goro has been the biggest influence on me since I started playing. Obviously, I find him obscenely attractive, but that really is just only part of the appeal: he's just this perfect blend of sympathetic, frustrating, tragic, kind, blunt, sincere, smart, and hilarious that is just so compelling to me on so many levels. Goro, Valerie, and their understated but very, very real chemistry got me writing more in 3 months than I had previously written in 3 years.

This has also been one of the most positive fandom experiences I've had in a long time. Not to say that everything is always sunshine and rainbows, but the breadth of creativity, from writing to art to screenshots, and support I see for each other's OCs is unparalleled to any fandom I've ever been in. Plus, y'all are fucking hilarious. The meme game is top-notch.

And a big shout out to all the lovely folks I've met specifically through a shared love for Goro: you all are so lovely and talented and thirsty and I am so grateful to get to fangirl with y'all. 😘

I feel like I could go on, but this is already pretty long and self-indulgent, and I want to get back to photomode, but tl;dr thank you, CDPR, and thank you, CP fandom. Happy anniversary, Cyberpunk!

[kelpiemomma]

The coyote's tail vanishes into the dust as a bullet pings and ricochets off the fence post next to it. Ingo and Emmet groan; the thing's been after their chickens for weeks. Dawn had said she wanted to be the one to take it out, as she treated the chickens like her pets.

"Dammit," Dawn says, "yellow-eyed bastard got away again."

Ingo and Emmet both stiffen. Ingo turns to look at Dawn as she continues to mutter expletives about the "damned, shit-eating varmints" while Emmet, very slowly and carefully, turns the small group standing some ways behind them. They'd all come out to watch, hoping to see Dawn's first defense of the ranch. He puts a thumb up and crosses it over his throat, uses it to point to Ingo, and then motions with one hand for them to run. It's too late, though.

Ingo turns to look over his shoulder at them with one cold eye. The older brother is typically less intense, but hearing their youngest member swearing like a seasoned sailor apparently has got his gears all up and grinding. The crew shivers and puts their hands up, grins of varying sheepishness crossing their faces.

Ingo puts a hand on Dawn's shoulder, gently pushing her towards their little homemade target practice area. "Why don't you go practice for the next time it shows up." he suggests. To her, his voice is nothing but warm and kind. She doesn't look up at his face to see the disconnect, only sighs.

"Yeah, I guess that's a good idea. That way I can nail the fucker between the eyes next time it tries to get one of my girls!" She declares. Ingo's face twitches.

"Indeed." He says tightly as she walks away. Once she's out of ear shot he turns fully to the crew, each of whom is doing their best to look innocent. Jackie turns their head to look at the sky, Cameron is watching a passing train in the far, far distance... Ramses looks distraught, at least, and Ingo counts him out. Nobody is making eye contact with him.

"Who did it?" He asked lowly. "Who taught her how to swear?"

Nobody speaks up.

"I know one of you did. I know one of you was a bad influence. So who was it? Who was speaking like that around her? Who was the bad influence? We're going to have a talk."

The crew look to each other and then at Emmet.

Emmet, who was the worst influence of them all. Who had heard Dawn asking how she could better express herself and provided the words for it. They had all - minus Ingo, Ramses, and Cloud - sat around a campfire and joyfully taught her language that maybe, looking back, a young girl shouldn't know.

Emmet shook his head once and then jumped into action.

"Scatter!" He yelled at he took off running away from Ingo. "He can't get us all at once!"

"I'M GOING TO WASH ALL YOUR MOUTHS OUT WITH SOAP! THERE WILL BE REPERCUSSIONS!" Ingo bellows as all the guilty parties scatter.

At the little home range, Akari giggles to hear her new family's shouts and denials. Missing the coyote shot had sucked, but this more than made up for it. She should ask Elesa for more unique swear words the next time she came around.

[00katrinka00]

Landcaster Legacy Gen 6 Update #14

While Mads was making breakfast, Jackie came into the kitchen and sat down. "Hey, I wanted to talk to you," Jackie said.

"About what?"

"I wanted to ask Mikayla to move in after the term was over," Jackie explained.

"What" Mads exclaimed just as the pan burst into flames.

Mads quickly pounded the fire out. "We've been together for a while now, and I want to take the next step and move in with her," Jackie explained.

"I'm happy you're happy, and I think that's great for the both of you..."

"I have a feeling there's going to be a but," Jackie said.

"I just don't want to be a third wheel around the apartment," Mads admitted. "I definitely think you should ask her to move in, but I think if that's the case then I should move out."

"Are you sure?" Jackie asked. "This is a two-bedroom apartment."

"I'm sure."

"Well maybe you could talk to Ethan during your date tonight, who knows maybe you could move in with him," Jackie suggested.

"We just started dating not too long ago," Mads reminded her.

"But you two have been friends for like three years now so it's not like he's a stranger."

Later that night Ethan greeted Mads with a hug. "I've been looking forward to this all day," Ethan told her.

"Me too," Mads smiled before pulling him in for a kiss.

Mads thought about her conversation with Jackie that morning, "There's some things I wanted to talk to you about," Mads told him.

"That doesn't sound good," Ethan let out a nervous laugh.

"Nothing bad, I swear," Mads assured him.

"So, Jackie is going to have Mikayla move in and I don't want to be a third wheel all the time, and I also want them to have their own privacy. I know we just recently started dating, so this might be too soon, basically I wanted to know if you'd want to move in together?"

"Really?" Ethan exclaimed

"So, you don't think it's too soon?" Mads asked "Maybe a little, but we have been friends for a few years now. Although if I'm being honest, I'd love to be able to see you more," Ethan told her. Mads felt relieved she really wanted to see Ethan more too.

Mads and Ethan continued to discuss Mads' moving plans and it was decided that Mads would move in as soon as term was up. After eating Ethan decided the clean-up while Mads chose a movie to watch in the living room.

After the movie had wrapped up Mads and Ethan continued to chat on the couch. The more Mads got used to the idea of moving in with Ethan the more excited she got, and then her brother's words from the previous night crept up through her mind. "Can I tell you something?" she asked

"Of course," Ethan said. He really had no idea what Mads was about to tell him.

"I really like you, and I want you to know everything about me, even the embarrassing stuff," Mads began.

"The embarrassing stuff?"

"You know how my mom died right before I started High School?"

"It was super hard for me" Mads began to explain "I didn't really know what to do without my mom. My Dad tried to help but it was hard for him because he was dealing with his own grief. I made some friends that were a bad influence, and I did a lot of things that I'm not proud of"

"I still don't see an issue; it was a hard time in your life," Ethan assured her.

"Well, I partied a lot my freshman year. Snuck out of the house almost every night. Ike would always have to come, pick me up and drag my drunken self-back home and hope our dad didn't notice."

"Then sophomore year I started messing around with different boys a lot..." Mads paused and closed her eyes before continuing. "Junior year was when I met Whit, and he forced me to change. Made me join cheerleading pretty much so I could be his personal cheerleader"

Mads pulled away and she was filled with anger looking back at the way Whit treated her "All Whit really wanted from me was to be this perfect girlfriend and I mean it worked. I stopped partying and began to focus on grades and school but he'd always lash out is I wasn't perfect"

Now it was Ethan's turn to get angry. "Basically, I was just always changing to be who everyone else wanted me to be. It wasn't until Whit, and I broke up that I started to figure out the kind of person I wanted to be," Mads finished explaining.

Ethan pulled Mads back in. "I hope you aren't mad," she said.

"I'm not mad," Ethan said calmly. "Well not at you, at Whit. I think it's great that you wanted to share this with me."

"But do you think less of me now?"

"Never," Ethan assured her.

"I think you were mourning your mother, and you let other people pressure you into things you wouldn't have normally done," Ethan told her. "It doesn't make me think less of you, the fact that you chose to tell me all of this just makes me love you even more"

"You love me?"

Ethan hadn't realized at first what he'd said at first but when it finally registered, he said, "I do, I've had a crush on you since the day we met at that party, and every new thing I learn about you just makes me love you more and more."

"I love you too," Mads said.

After a few more hours of talking, both Mads and Ethan had realized that it was now nearly 3 in the morning. Not wanting to disturb Jackie and Mikayla, Ethan let Mads borrow some pajamas and let her spend the night. After all they would be living together in a few short days.

The following morning Mads rushed out of bed and began to panic waking Ethan up.

"What's going on?" He asked sitting up and placing his hands over his head, still clearly tired.

"It's finals day and I haven't studied yet!" Mads exclaimed in horror.

Ethan stood up and tried to calm her down. "You still have a little time before finals start, and you're so freaking smart you don't even need to study, you'll ace your exams no problem," he told Mads. It did seem to calm her down.

"Thank you," Mads leaned up to kiss him

Despite Ethan's words of reassurance, after their kiss Mads still rushed to change and run out the door in order to make it to her final on time.

[lizzybeth1986]

Hi Lizzy. So, I've been reading your stuff the last few months and I really love it! TRR was of particular interest to me because you made me realise that the uneasy feeling I had for some characters (Penny, Kiara, Maddie and Hana) was correct, even though I couldn't put it in words. So, I might be asking for too much but: Do you think post-BLM stories (QB,BOLAS,FA,LOA) have improved on representation or nah?

(Let me see if this ask actually loads and if it does not, fuck you Tumblr 😣)

Thank you for this question! I believe you sent another question after this one on QB alone, so I'll probably talk about that there.

I guess it depends on what you perceive as representation. There are many who will point to the sheer quantity of CoC in the books and call it representation, but personally for me the problem has always been the type of content given to CoC and how their treatment compares to that of, say, white LIs or side-characters (there is also the other question of colorism - which CoCs get better treatment than others and why?). The other thing is since I'm not playing anymore my knowledge will be secondhand at best but I'd highly appreciate it if people who played those books did weigh in.

The thing with the one-year-later update on Rep was that they heavily focused on the increase in the number of customizable characters, and the hairstyles...all of which is great but not when customizable characters are treated like some kind of bandaid for actual representation. Customizable characters tend to often be written as having the same experiences across the board (except for a few rare cases, such as John in The Unexpected Heiress), sometimes with very little thought into how a character of a different race will perceive something or be treated. So qualitatively, you're not going to be satisfied with just that unless your default CoC are themselves treated better.

(there is a whole other argument to be made on how the same fandom who now complains about the "boring", "all of them are the same" customizable characters, happily played into the heirarchies that determined treatment and promoted the same heirarchies - there was always better treatment of a customizable LI when there were many of them in one book, when the LI was only gender-customizable rather than race, or when the default one was a POC you couldn't exoticize. Otherwise I saw fandom treat plenty customizable characters like shit in books with default white/exoticizable brown LIs, and better than normal when a black default character were there. But that is for another time).

In terms of the books you'd cited...well, BOLAS deals with fantasy races, and I'm not sure if they make any direct co-relations to race in the real world but someone who has actually played the book can perhaps answer this better (I didn't follow the book discourse much either, sorry. I do, however, recall fandom having the same level of disdain for Nia that they had for Hana...and tbh I find that disgusting. I hear, thankfully, that she's still center-stage in the boom itself so one plus point for BOLAS I guess?). Similarly for LOA.

I did follow some of the discourse surrounding FA, however, and the treatment for Ayna was par on course with what they'd been doing to desi characters for a while. Whatever I'd seen of the discussions on her treatment reminded me of Teja and Jackie, where either the character was written out in some way, or was written so badly as to lose support altogether. While the fandom may view desis as exotic (well...the only case I've seen of this tbh was Ajay in HSSCA, so it's notable that the male desi got this and the female ones did not), PB doesn't seem to view them on the scale they view exoticizable male characters... so it doesn't surprise me that desi characters - esp desi female characters - lose out. I'm not sure if I've heard anything in terms of the other characters - the posts about Tatum on my dash seemed to be from people who were pretty happy with his treatment IIRC.

I think in a lot of ways I feel like PB views representation a bit more as a numbers game (they do mention the Sensitivity Workshops in that post, but I guess only time will tell what effects we will see) than qualitatively. So honestly all I'll say is that if you're still playing and still wanting to give feedback, it's best to be alert. If you see applause-worthy representation, highlight it by all means but also see if it will be consistent moving forward. If you see them correcting a mistake, highlight that but understand that it may not always result in good treatment thereafter. In the meantime those of us who do benefit from these unequal representations...we need to look into how we promote some of these biases in our own fan content, because the fanbase, sometimes, can and does influence how things are written and changes are made. We got to the point where an Afro-Latine man almost died because PB kept getting away with increasing levels of bad treatment, so if there is any advice I can give based on what I observed of PB and the fandom in the last three years...it will be what I said above.

[simonfarnabyslegs]

for the ask game: Julian, Captain and Humphrey! :)

julian

a song that reminds me of them: a cop out, since this one is canon. any time i hear "i'll make love to you," i think of him singing that at music club (and also mary going "i don't want him toooo" lol). i also feel like he would LOVE britney spears's music.

what they smell like: really expensive but really bad aftershave and too much cologne. also alcohol and sex. but the first thing you notice is the bad aftershave.

an otp: him and robin. there is no other acceptable pairing. i do think it would be funny if he and fanny had a thing though. or him and the captain (alison walks in on them doing something and the captain just yells "WE'RE JUST A COUPLE OF CHAPS IN THE LIBRARY" while julian isn't even trying to keep what they were just doing a secret).

a notp: uhhh him and kitty. she's the only one i would be mad about tbh.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: the way he's like a really awful, bad-influence uncle to alison.

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i can't think of one. we all generally agree that he's a hilarious bastard man and come up with stuff accordingly.

the position they sleep in: he sleeps in the exact middle of the bed, or he starts out on one side, since he's used to sharing in life, but gradually spreads out, and if anyone else tried to sleep in the same bed as him they'd be really annoyed because he always manages to hog so much space and leave them barely hanging onto the edge.

a crossover au i'd love to see them in: very unoriginal, but i'd love to see a horrible histories stupid deaths segment with him.

my favorite outfit they've ever worn: we've seen a couple now actually, unlike some of the other ghosts. but i really do prefer the no trousers look and anything else is slightly unsettling if i'm honest.

the captain

a song that reminds me of them: i really can't think of one. the captain isn't one of my favourite characters so i don't really think a lot about him when i listen to music. sorry.

what they smell like: weirdly, i think he smells like nothing. like. unsettlingly so. you almost want him to smell like something, but he just. doesn't. he's very clean, but he doesn't even smell like soap. it's just. an empty air smell, if you can describe it as such. he smokes, too, so you'd expect a tobacco smell or a smoke smell, but even that isn't there. this man just smells like nothing.

an otp: i don't ship him with any of the other ghosts in the house. i do think him and julian hooking up exactly one (1) time could lead to multiple hilarious comedic possibilities, but i don't want them to be in a relationship.

a notp: i saw someone shipping him with fanny and just... no. that doesn't make any sense.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: i love how he's just got that Dad Instinct. he looked at kitty and alison and went "isn't anyone going to father these young ladies?" and didn't wait for an answer.

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i don't like the patcaps ship.

the position they sleep in: series 1 cap slept board-straight in the bed, almost like he was standing at attention. series 3 cap probably sleeps curled up on his side, or on his stomach, or curled up all nice and comfy.

a crossover au i'd love to see them in: young wwi era cap in series 2 of downton abbey. i don't know if i'd like to see him turn up as a young man in the trenches or one of the patients at downton, or maybe as a medical officer like thomas barrow, in the lower ranks, helping out in the background.

my favorite outfit they've ever worn: *gestures* this?

humphrey

a song that reminds me of them: "blue caravan" by vienna teng. after all the "mr. cheese" stuff, i got to thinking about how he probably has a lot of time to imagine the different lives he could have had if circumstances had been different, and this song is about imagining the perfect supportive, caring partner, but realising that they're not real and it's just a foolish self delusion. or perhaps a lighter, more hopeful version of the same theme, "jackie and wilson" by hozier, where the narrator once again imagines a partner and an ideal life which they haven't achieved yet, but they're still holding out for.

what they smell like: okay so tudors only bathed like once every six to eight weeks or something like that. they believed baths were bad for them. not only that, wealthy tudors' diets were appalling. so unfortunately he probably doesn't smell great. (but luckily i've never had much of a sense of smell, so.....)

an otp: him and someone who actually likes him and wants to talk to him and spend time with him. so far we haven't seen that, so for now i'll keep making up random ocs to set him up with.

a notp: him and thomas, since thomas is so horrible to him.

favorite platonic/familial relationships: i'd love to see him be yet another dad to alison, or to kitty.

a headcanon that is popular in the fandom but that i disagree with: i don't like the whole humphrey and jemima thing because a lot of the stuff is either really fucking uncomfortable, or the people who write it make it weird by babying jemima. she's 11-12 years old and they treat her like she's four years old and that just feels really weird to me. obviously she's a kid and she should be treated like one, but there's also such a thing as age appropriate parenting. also i'm pretty sure jemima is meant to be one of john's kids who also died of the plague so like. acting like she's all alone and hasn't got any parents or anyone at all is so confusing to me because if she's one of john's kids, she's got like twenty parents. we just don't see her with the plague ghosts because like any kid, she probably goes off and plays away from her parents during the day. anyway.

the position they sleep in: when he was alive i feel like he would fall asleep in a normal position, on his back or on his side, but when his valet or whoever went to wake him up in the morning, he was always like, hanging off the bed or laying at a weird angle and they were always like "how the fuck did he even get like that." in death, like. his head just sleeps however it was set down or dropped. and i'm a fan of your headcanon that the body just collapses wherever it is when his head falls asleep.

a crossover au i'd love to see them in: forgive me for saying downton abbey again but i'm doing a rewatch with one of my friends. i'm gonna throw him into the edwardian era as some random gentleman cousin and he and lady edith are going to be poor, pitiful, unlucky-in-love besties who bond over all the ridiculously tragic shit that's happened to them and how they always get bullied or left out of things.

my favorite outfit they've ever worn: he technically only has one outfit (damn the bbc for putting the whole costuming budget into the georgian episode instead of the tudor one. /j), but i like the dressed down version where he's just in the white shirt and the breeches. he looks. very handsome. in that scene. ahem.

[smilepal]

8-13 angsty asks

Character ask meme for @solo-net ☺️

8.) Do they hold grudges? is it hard for them to let go/forgive each other?

Hiro rarely holds grudges, except in certain circumstances. He has a bit of a temper but it usually flares out relatively fast, and he’d rather resolve things quickly after feelings cool a bit. Certain sitiuations would cause him to hold a grudge though. He doesn’t trust people very easily so when he does, it’s a huge deal for him. Having that trust broken, especially if it became a habit/was done more than once would be something he’d have a hard time forgiving too readily. He’s also very protective of his partners/small circle of people he cares about--mess with/hurt them and he wouldn’t be a forgiving person. Hiro used to be worse about holding grudges/holding onto arguments, especially before the Heist. He refused to go with Vic/Jackie, he’d tried to talk them both out of it but they wouldn’t listen and it ended in a huge fight with him and Jackie--he pretty much told the other “if he wanted to go get himself and V killed, that he wasn’t going to be a part of it”. He still feels horribly guilty about it, especially after almost losing Vic as well. It’s contributed to him not wanting to leave arguments unresolved/leave in the middle of them/not going to bed mad at his partners. 

Vic rarely gets seriously mad, and she really hates being mad at the boys.  However, in the event she actually does get mad it’s really hard for her to let go of it--particularly if she feels she's in the right. It usually takes whoever made her mad apologizing or them explaining to V why she’s in the wrong to snap her out of it. If she does realize she messed up though, she’s good at taking time aside and apologizing genuinely/having an open conversation about the matter. 

9.) Is there something big that could potentially tear them apart if it was revealed? 

If Hiro found out the other two were using/manipulating him, that’d probably kill the relationship pretty fast. They were pretty transparent about how serious it was going to be, and finding out they didn’t mean that would hurt him deeply. He has a difficult time trusting people, so someone finally earns it, they EARN it, and he’s incredibly loyal to them. Having that thrown back at him would probably just reinforce the mindset of “don’t trust people” even more--which he’s actively been trying moderate somewhat. It’s kept him alive in NC but it’s been terrible for making allies/long-lasting friends. 

V thinks there is. V thinks if the boys found out how much V has to fight to not just be a human weapon sometimes they would leave her. She was a literal child soldier, she's been trained to kill since she was 8, and a lot of vital things got desensitized. Sometimes she scares even herself with how easy murder is to her. Hiro has a past he’s not super proud of either, and is fucking devoted, and Johnnys literally been in the depths of her brain and seen every shadowy corner of it. He knows lol. But it is a fear of hers, even if it’s not necessarily one that would play out like she expects.

10.) If something already happened to tear them apart, what would make them come back together? is it even possible?

Regarding physical separation--Hiro would want to be back with his people as soon as possible, especially if the separation was under bad circumstances/not something normal like a gig. He misses Vic/Johnny when they’re on separate jobs but he’s definitely more on the independent side (and enjoys a little bit of silence on occasion). Emotionally would be a different story. Hiro would try to leave if he felt V/Johnny were being abusive, but depending on how deeply in a relationship they were, he might have a challenging time with that. Him being loyal to someone is generally a good thing, but it could definitely be taken advantage of by unscrupulous partners, especially because it would make it hard to leave a situation, even if he knows he’s being treated badly. It would be easy physically separating himself, but emotionally would be much harder. 

For V it really depends. Physically, like through distance or kidnapping? They would all fight tooth and nail to be back together. Emotionally though would be a little different.  At least from Vs point of view, there are only two reasons she would remove herself from the boys. A.) She believes herself to be a risk to them.  So the risk would have to pass for her to come back. Whether that means she got a more firm grip on her sanity or she killed all her enemies. B.) The only other reason V would leave would be if she thought the boys had become abusive, emotionally or physically. It would be a really hard decision for her but she's been in an abusive relationship before. She wouldn't want to be stuck in that hell again. Something terrible would have to happen for that to happen though. And I don't know if V would be able to keep herself away forever. 

11.) What’s their favorite pass time when they’re upset?

Hiro usually goes for a long bike ride, and disappears for a few hours. It used to worry his partners but he’d rather just leave and come back when he’s not still upset and talk with them after everything’s calmed down a bit--after explaining that to them, they tend not to worry as much and just let him have his space for a little bit. Occasionally he’ll go out to a club and spend a couple hours dancing or just try to get out of his head for a bit/enjoy a healthy dose of escapism. If it’s really bad he’ll go spar by himself for a bit. He doesn’t trust himself to box with a partner if he’s really upset/the gorilla arms aren’t the best for casual training anyway, so he usually just sticks to a bag. He tries to at least say something before he leaves so his partners don’t worry. 

V goes and shoots things. If it's just something that happened in her apartment and she needs a brief respite, she goes down to Wilson’s and goes nuts at his range. He's even keyed her into the locks so she can do it if he's not there. If it's something more serious/disturbing, she'll go to the Badlands, find a nice cliff and snipe Raffen Shiv from it.

12.) Who do they confide in when shit hits the fan (besides each other?)

Hiro’s first instinct is to go to Viktor. The two of them have a close relationship and Vik was one of the first people Hiro was able to trust after he left TC. He appreciates the other’s warmth but also the fact that he doesn’t take shit from Hiro either. Vik claims that he’s bad at giving advice but sometimes Hiro just needs someone to be patient and listen as he tries to articulate things or mull them over. If it was something less serious he might vent to Claire or Pepe, and vice versa. He’s definitely heard his share of secrets/venting from them before as well. It took him a long time to feel comfortable enough to actually go and talk to people about stuff though--Vik’s definitely been a good influence, in that regard. 

V has a bi-weekly ‘book club’ (let's be honest it's really just a gossip circle) with Delamain and Barry, where she vents about life and the boys. It's a very classy event with coffee, books and hot goss. But for really serious things she'd probably go to Vik or Mama Welles.

13.) Is it hard for them to talk about their feelings openly with each other? if so, is there any way that can be resolved, even in the slightest?

Hiro has a hard time verbalizing his feelings. He doesn’t feel as articulate at it as Vic is, and it can be really frustrating for him. He’s more comfortable showing people how he feels, rather than saying it--especially when it comes to difficult conversations. He’s definitely learned a lot about it from V though, even if it’s still not his favorite thing to do. He’s definitely better about it than he used to be though, where he just didn’t adress feelings at all/bottled emotions up more.

V, on the other hand is super earnest and all about open communication.  She's trying to help the boys be more open but it's definitely an uphill battle. She's gotten really good at reading subtext with them. 

Thanks for asking! These were really helpful to flesh out their relationship more. (and to @shinycorvidae for letting me bug you about Vic)