#like i get when people say we have to take a backseat in discussions of actually LIVING in the 3rd world

[maxellminidisc]

Idk about other latines but lol just saw somebody be like "Everyone I've ever known that immigrated to the US was middle class and rich and that's why I dont take people in the diaspora into consideration". And I'm just like LOOOOOL ok....

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Pick One: Magical Girl Show or Rom-com. You cannot be both.

Early in season four we get the episode Gang of Secrets. An episode that ends with Marinette outing her secret identity to Alya. A touching moment that sparked outrage across the fandom because it meant that Marinette had made the choice to reveal her identity to her best friend while keeping her hero partner in the dark.

This choice spat in the face of the exceptions that many fans had for the series. Thousands of pre-season-four fanfics feature moments where Ladybug and Chat Noir promise each other that they'll be the first to know each other's identities. After the Alya reveal, scores of fanfics were written to salt on Marinette's choice to tell the "wrong" person.

Most of these fics feature a betrayed Chat Noir quitting or otherwise punishing Ladybug for breaking their promise to be each other's first, thereby destroying his faith in their partnership. But that promise was never made on screen. It only existed in the realms of fanfic and, when Chat Noir finally found out in canon, his reaction was largely neutral. He never once blamed Ladybug for her choice or pushed for a reveal or even asked for the right to tell one of his friends.

So what happened here? Why did the fans have such wildly unrealistic expectations of canon? Were their expectations even unrealistic or did canon betray them? The answer to that is not as straight forward as you might think because it all comes back to one of Miraculous' many, many, many writing problems: Miraculous is trying to be both a Magical Girl Show and a romantic comedy, but those are not genres that mesh. You can only be one (or you can be a third thing that we'll get to at the end as it's the easiest way to fix this mess, but I want to mostly focus on where the anger is coming from and why the writing is to blame.)

To discuss this mismatch, we're going to do something that breaks my heart and talk about some of Origins flaws. While I love that episode and unironically refer to it as the best writing the show ever gave us, it's not perfect and its flaws are all focused around trying to set up both genres. Do note that I'm going to use a lot of gender binary language here as magical girl shows have a strong focus on gender segregation and rarely if ever acknowledge gender diversity.

Let's Talk Magical Girls

Magical girl shows are shows that center on young women and their friendships. While male love interests are often present in these shows, the boys tend to take a backseat and function primarily as arm candy while the girls save the day and carry the narrative.

A great example of this is the show Winx Club. This show features a large cast of teenage girls who save the magical universe from various threats with their magical powers. Each girl has a love interest, but the boys are usually off doing their own thing and only occasionally show up for a date or to give the girls a ride on their cool bikes or magical spaceship. I don't even think that we see the guys fight or, if we do, it's a rare thing. They are not there to save the day. They are there to be shipping fodder.

Like most magical girl shows, Winx Club starts with the main character making friends with one of the girls who will eventually become part of her magical girl squad. This brings us back to Miraculous.

Did you ever find it weird that Origins implies that Marinette has no friends? She doesn't even have a backbone until new girl Alya shows up to become Marinette's First Real Friend:

Marinette: I so wish I can handle Chloé the way you do. Alya: You mean the way Majestia does it. She says all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing. (pointing at Chloé) Well, that girl over there is evil, and we are the good people. We can't let her get away with it.

This is a bizarre opening because Miraculous is not about Marinette making friends or learning to stand up for herself. If you skipped Origins and just watched the rest of the show, then you'd have no clue that Marinette wasn't close with her classmates before this year. You also wouldn't know that Alya was new in town and you definitely wouldn't know that Marinette had never stood up to Chloé before this year. So why is this here? Why waste screen time setting up elements that aren't actually important to canon?

Miraculous did it for the same reason that Winx Club did it: magical girl shows traditionally start with the main character making friends with at least one of her eventual female teammates because Magical Girl shows are all about the girls and their relationships. The boys are just arm candy.

But Miraculous isn't a magical girl show. The writers have explicitly stated that it's a rom-com and romantic comedies aren't about female friendship. They might have female friendships in them, but that's not where the focus is. The focus of a rom-com is on the romance and Origins is very clearly all about the romance.

Origins as a Rom-com

Origins has a lot on its plate. It has to establish the villain's motivation for the first time, show us how the heroes got their miraculous, show us how the heroes first met on both sides of the mask, show us how they met their respective best friends, and show us how the heroes dealt with their first akuma. It would be perfectly understandable if this 40 minute two-parter didn't do anything with the romance. They have a full show to give us that!

In spite of this, Origins has some incredibly touching moments for both Ladynoir and Adrienette because romance is the heart of Miraculous. It is the main focus of the show. The driving motivation for both of our leads and the majority of the show's episodes. To tell the story of how their journey started without at least one of them falling in love would feel wrong. That's why we see both of them fall in love!

First we get Chat Noir giving his heart to his bold and brilliant lady, then we get Marinette's heart being stolen by the shy sweet boy who never once thought to blame her for her snap judgement of his character. We even get a touching moment where Chat Noir inspires his lady to accept her role and be Ladybug, leading her to boldly face their enemy and call him out:

Roger: I have a new plan, unlike you! Move aside and let the pros do their thing. You've already failed once! Ladybug: …He's right, you know. If I'd captured Stoneheart's akuma the first time around, none of this would have happened! I knew I wasn't the right one for this job… Cat Noir: No. He's wrong, because without you, she'd no longer be here. (they look at Chloe) And because without us, they won't make it, and we'll prove that to 'em. Trust me on this. Okay? Ladybug: Okay.

I love this moment, but it does lose a little of its power when you remember that we had an Alya-driven variation of this exact same thing five minutes prior:

Alya: HELP!! (Marinette suddenly gets filled with courage. She gets the case out of Alya's bag and puts on the Miraculous. Then, Tikki appears, happy to see Marinette again.) Tikki:(raising her arms) Mmmm! Marinette: I think I need Ladybug! Tikki: I knew you'd come around! Marinette: Well, I'm still not sure I'm up for this, but Alya's in danger. I can't sit back and do nothing.

This scene initially confused me because - if Miraculous is a rom-com - then why would you make Alya the reason that Marinette became Ladybug? Why wouldn't you have Chat Noir be the one in danger so that Marinette chose to fight because of her love interest and then encourage that bond with the later scene of him encouraging her? Why split the focus like this? Why give Alya so much attention?

In case you haven't figured it out, it's because Origins is trying to establish two different genres of show. Two genres that will continue to fight for the rest of the series (or at least the first five seasons).

Magical Girls Vs Rom-com

Why is Alya the one to shake off the nightmare dust and inspire the others during the season five finale? Why is Alya the one that Marinette trusts with all of her plans while Chat Noir is kept in the dark? Why does Alya and Marinette's friendship get so much more focus than Adrien and Nino's? Why was Alya the only temp hero who got upgraded to full time hero?

It's because Alya is Marinette's second in command in a magical girl show and magical girl shows focus on female friendships while the boys are just there to be cute and support the girls.

Why do most of Marinette's talks with Alya focus on Adrien? Why is Chat Noir the only other full time holder of a Miraculous for the first three seasons and then again for the final season? Why do Marinette's friends become more and more obsessed with Adrienentte as the show goes on? Why is the love square's identity reveal given so much more narrative weight than any other identity reveal?

It's because Miraculous is a rom-com and the love square is our end game couple, so of course the story focuses on their relationship above all else!

Are you starting to see the problem?

Circling back to our original question: no, it was not unreasonable for the fans to expect that the Alya reveal would have massive negative consequences for Ladynoir. That is what should happen in a rom-com and Miraculous is mainly written like a rom-com. But the writers are also trying to write a magical girl show and, in a magical girl show, Alya and Marinette's friendship should be the most important relationship in the show, so it makes perfect sense that the show treats the Alya reveal as perfectly fine because the Alya reveal was written from the magical girl show perspective.

When it comes to Miraculous, if you ever feel like a writing choice makes no sense for genre A, re-frame it as a thing from genre B and it suddenly makes perfect sense which is fascinatingly terrible writing! It's no wonder there are people who hate the Alya reveal and people who will defend it with their life. It all depends on which genre elements you've picked up on and clung to. Neither side is right, they've both been set up to have perfectly valid expectations. Whether those expectations are valid for a given episode is entirely up to the mercurial whims of the writers!

How Do We Fix This Mess

At this point, I don't think that we can, the show is too far gone, but if someone gave me the power to change one element of Miraculous, that element would be this: scrap both the magical girl stuff and the rom-com stuff and turn Miraculous into a team show where the friendships transcend gender.

At this point, I've written over a quarter of a million words of fanfic focused on these characters (the brain rot is real) and one thing I've discovered is that it is damn near impossible to keep Adrien and Alya from becoming friends. They're both new to their school while Marinette and Nino have gone to the same school for at least a few years. Alya and Adrien are both obsessed with Ladybug plus Adrien is a natural hype man who loves to support his friends and Alya loves to talk about her blog. Alya is dating Adrien's best friend. On top of that, Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Marinette are all in the same class, meaning that they pretty much have to be spending time together five days a week unless French school don't give kids a chance to socialize or do group projects. If so, then judging them for the first issue, but super jealous of the latter.

Given all of that, why in the world is does it feel like Alya is Marinette's close friend while Adrien is just some guy who goes to Alya's school? Along similar lines, while canon Marinette barely talks to Nino, I've found that Marinette and Nino tend to get along smashingly, especially if you embrace the fact that they have to have known each other for at least a few years.

If you embrace this wider friendship dynamic and scrap the girl squad, replacing it with Alya, Adrien, Marinette, and Nino, then the fight for narrative importance quickly goes away. It's no longer a question of is this episode trying to be a magical girl show or a rom-com? Instead, the question is: which element of the friend group is getting focused on today? The romance or the friendship?

A lot of hero shows do this and do it well. I think that one of the most well known examples is Teen Titans. That show has five main characters and the focus is usually on their friendships, but there is a very clear running romantic tension between the characters Robin and Starfire with several episodes giving a good deal of focus to their romance. I'd say that this element really starts in the show's the 19th episode - Date with Destiny - and it all culminates in the movie that capstones the series: Trouble in Tokyo. The character Beast Boy also gets a romance arc and, while it's more short lived, it's further evidence that you can have strong romances and strong friendships in the same show and even the same episode. You just have to own the fact that boys and girls can be friends with each other, a very logical thing to embrace when your show has decided to have a diverse cast of heroes instead of imposing arbitrary gender limitations on its magical powers.

I couldn't figure out a way to work this into the main essay, but it's relevant so I wanted to quickly point it out and give you more to think about re Origins. Have you ever found it weird how Origins gives both Adrien AND Marinette the "I've never had friends before" backstory and yet wider canon acts like Marinette has this strong amazing friend group while Adrien doesn't seem to care about making friends and instead focuses all his energy on romance? Why give both the protagonist and the supposed deuteragonist this kind of origin if it's not going to be a major element of the show? It makes so much more sense to only give one of them this backstory and then focus that person's character arc on learning about friendship.

[monocle-teacup]

Should Earthspark been a sequel instead of a standalone? I don’t see anyone discussing this.

In ES, we got Optimus who is the same as in G1, Spike Witwicky exists (or he’s a nobody), we don’t know how they got to Earth or how the fight began on Earth, did they have selected allies, who died, what characters exist in this continuity, what happened during the war on Earth that could play a significant role in the post-war, what concepts exists?? A lot of the story is generalized. Nothing interesting, just ‘post-war inspired by G1; make it vague, fill the minor gaps, add some changes and let the imagination fill in the rest’. I could be wrong. But I love that they borrowed some IDW ideas.

New audiences are not going to understand what’s going on and not get into this story. Only fans can watch this with their existing knowledge from other continuities. Watching a standalone show as a fan kinda feels… unfulfilling, empty, I don’t how else to say it. I’m glad it’s a new idea but it’s less satisfying. We don’t know who or what the iconic characters (Autobots and Decepticons) are in this setting, they have smaller roles and don’t have much depth. Especially for new viewers.

IMO, ES should be separate from G1. Even if it was a sequel, it wouldn't save the show from writing quality issues which I'll get to later.

From what I've seen on other sites like tfw2005 and reddit, one of the only times ES gets brought up is when a person asks if it's a sequel to G1. It doesn't help how much G1 fan service ES has. While it's neat long time fans can have a "I understood that reference!" moment, there are also TF fans that are sick of the G1 pandering and want something new. ES was supposed to be that, but then it added the fan service like it knew some people would immediately reject the show because it strayed too much from the typical TF formula. It's pretty telling that ES S2 pretty much scrapped everything from S1 to the point that one of the staff made a tweet about it:

Budget and time constraints are most likely a factor for how how vague things are in ES. However, most of the vagueness feels intentional because the writing quality wasn't up the challenge of doing actual nuance. It'd be hard to really make the Cons and Megatron sympathetic if they were shown being utter bastards like most of them were in G1 and especially in IDW. The writing across all seasons of ES operates on the assumption/hope that the audience won't question anything.

And I know people are probably sick of me bringing this up, but the show's insistence with focusing on the Maltos as well as the way they're written is a huge reason why ES never realized its full potential. How are you supposed to look at the effects of war when the main humans behave like there wasn't a war most of the time? Wanna see more of the actual TF characters doing something? Too bad, this is the Robby and Mo Show. Sure, the TFs do get some time to shine, but they ultimately take a backseat to Robby and Mo. The Terrans were supposed to be a new subspecies of TF, but being a Malto is the most important thing.

So many people like to cite Nightshade as being THE reason ES failed when the reality is that the show's overall writing turned a lot of people away. It being a G1 sequel might've made more viewers stick around longer, but nostalgia can only get you so far.

If the writing was better in S1, I'm 100% certain that ES would've been one of my favorite TF series as well as one of my favorite cartoons in general.

[detectiveguapo3]

Music To Watch Boys To

Chapter 5: Salvatore

Monday, November 10, 2014

7 am

You’re completely soaked, lying on the hood of his car. He’s hovering over you, his lips on yours. His tie in one of your hands, you want him as close as possible. The other hand is in his hair. He bites your lower lip and you moan. His left hand is under your dress, your only source of warmth as it rains. His other hand grips your waist. His lips move to your neck, then your breast. He stops slightly, out of breath. He holds your face in his right hand and whispers, “Me haces arder de deseo cariño.”

You jolt awake as the alarm goes off. Yet another dream about how differently that night could’ve ended. You remove Chase’s arm from your stomach. He’s so fucking clingy. Why is he here every day? His place is better than this shoebox. I totally get why couples slept in different bedrooms in the past. You shower and get dressed. Chase has been driving you to and from work. He insisted, “I never get to see you otherwise.” Truthfully, it made avoiding Nick and an awkward conversation easier.

Chase pulls up to the precinct just as Nick crosses the street with two cups in a coffee holder. He smiles at you and says good morning, then his eyes notice Chase. You both get out of the car. “Hey, man. I’m Chase, the boyfriend. You must be one of her coworkers.” Wait, did we discuss labels? You might as well go with it.

“Nick Amaro, her partner. Nice to finally meet you.”

You gape at your watch and loudly say, “Would you look at the time? We’ve got to get in there. I’ll see you later.” Unfortunately, you decide to point a finger gun at your boyfriend while saying this. 

In the elevator, Nick turns to you and remarks, “Jace seems like a great guy. I don’t know if he’s really your type though.”

His name is Chase and Nick knows that. You don’t dignify whatever this was with a response, you just smile. 

Olivia tells the squad there was an anonymous report about domestic abuse in the Upper East Side. “Fin and Rollins, I want you to check it out. Talk to the couple separately, canvass the neighbourhood.” She then turns to you and Nick, “You’re testifying against Michaelis tomorrow. Barba wants to prep you two in court today.”

You return to the squad room after being grilled in court and watching Nick suffer through the same, for almost two hours. Liv, Fin, and Amanda are in Liv’s office discussing something when you and Nick walk in. “Did you have fun?” Amanda teases. 

“So much fun, I didn’t want it to end.” You reply.

Fin fills in the blanks, “We got nowhere with the Hastings. Then, they practically kicked us out. They said they’re busy planning a big charity ball and don’t have time for a ‘witch hunt’.”

“We can try to infiltrate their social circle, maybe find out if they know anything.” Rollins suggests.

“These people don’t turn on each other easily. And even if we could pull any gossip out of them, how do we get near without raising alarms?” You add.

“Why don’t we ask your boyfriend?” Nick interjects while staring at you.

You furrow your brows, “Excuse me?”

“He has connections to these people, right? He could get us invites.”

“Through his parents, maybe.”

“Then it wouldn’t hurt to try.” Liv declares. Damn you Amaro.

Everyone returned to their desks after the discussion was over. You ended your call with Chase, “He’s going to talk to his parents and he’ll let me know.” 

“Rollins and Fin can’t go undercover to the ball because they’d get recognized. That leaves you and me.” Nick observes. “Do you think his parents would recognize you?”

“I’ve never met them.”

“Really? Huh.” He puts his hand under his chin.

“What?”

“It's just, you’ve known him for a long time.”

“Yeah, but we just started dating.” 

“I’m just saying if I liked a girl, I’d want my mother to meet her.”

You tease, “So do you take Cesaria to meet all your dates?”

“You’re not funny.”

You sigh and place a hand over your heart, “You wound me, Nick.”

Saturday, November 15, 2014

9 pm

You and Nick sit in the backseat, watching as guests arrive in their town cars and rented limousines. He’s wearing a three-piece black tuxedo, with a burgundy bow tie. His bow tie matched the colour of your dress, a floor-length, sleeveless dress with a sweetheart neckline.

He pulls out a $1 ring and takes your left hand, “Will you be my fake wife?”

You wipe away an imaginary tear, “I thought you’d never ask.”

While Nick gets you a drink, you are approached by two middle-aged women. “We haven’t seen you here before.” They observe.

“We’re new to Manhattan, just moved from Miami.”

“We?”

You show them your ring briefly, “My fiance and I.”

Before you can watch around for Nick you feel a hand on your lower back, and he whispers in your ears, “Caio, amore.” Oh great, he remembers that I said that. “Here’s your drink babe.”

You introduce him to the women while his hand stays on your back. Your hand hugs his bicep. They leave to continue socializing and you whisper, “We should try to blend in.”

“Do you want to slow dance?” He asks. “So we don’t draw attention to ourselves.”

You feel curious eyes on you as Nick slowly dances you around the room. 

He takes your right hand from his shoulder and holds it in his. He asks, “Are you cold?”

“I still haven’t returned your coat.” You realize.

“I know.” He says as he takes off his tuxedo jacket and helps you into it.

“Why didn’t you ask?”

“I have others. Besides, you look better in my clothes than I do.”

You wish he wouldn’t utter things like that. It makes you stupid and hopeful. You pretend to fix his hair, he leans down to kiss you and you let him. A newly engaged couple kissing, no one is going to suspect anything. We’re just kissing to protect our cover. There is nothing unprofessional about this situation at all.

In your peripheral vision, you notice two women who interacted with everyone including the Hastings, head to the bathroom. “I bet those two chatty-cathys know something juicy that we can probably use.”

“What’s your plan? Follow them to the bathroom and hope for the best?” Nick asks.

“Exactly.” You deadpan, as you take his hand and try to subtly follow. Please don’t get caught.

[aotopmha]

Being too exhausted to play has made me think about the Dawntrail story again.

I wanted to take a break, but it occupies my brain too much, turns out and I engaged with takes on the internet again.

(Some of it is really dumb and a negativity void with zero substance, which is, in fact, unfun and exhausting, as it is designed to be, so it probably is better to not engage with, but I also do very much enjoy discussing what I love and it offers fantastic springboards for that.)

Spoilers for the Dawntrail story!

You know the complaint that it's "not as good as Shadowbringers or Endwalker"?

Well, I think a lot of people have actually echoed this, but I really like that Dawntrail is not trying to one-up them.

It's really good that it's not only pulling back the scale, but also lightening up the tone.

In particular, there was a complaint I saw that said HW, ShB and EW were these "deep and dark" stories and had issues with DT not being that kind of narrative and I think a story being Endwalker all of the time would become boring in its own right.

If all you see is positivity, eventually it means nothing, but this is also true in the opposite sense.

If all you see is misery all of the time, at one point, it doesn't mean anything anymore.

Eventhough I myself mostly enjoyed it, I can see the argument that it went too far in the other direction and handled some ideas too simplistically, but I think the general idea to do this is a really good, refreshing move.

It's similar thematically (which is actually my biggest issue), but I really like that it mostly focused on new stories with new characters.

I also like that the Scions are taking a backseat.

I saw an opinion that "you can't have your cake and eat it, too" in regards of the Scions being minor roles and you should either write them out completely or entirely focus the story on them, but personally I don't see any issue with this.

They were set up to be support and behaved as such. I don't understand the take that they were "teased" too much when the setup was that it was not their story to begin with.

Now, I do think the friendly rivalry aspect was underutilised. I feel like getting to fight Thancred and Urianger in good fun would've been great, for example.

I love the vibe of adventure we haven't really had for such a long time, and I really think the mystery of the City of Gold might be one of the best ones in the entire narrative because many of the mysteries so far at least have some aspect of retconning to them.

The gate and everything with it is entirely new and didn't need any retconning to fit within the current concepts of the story, whereas you could always tell they had to slightly tweak everything with the Ascians once in a while.

I think the fact that most of the characters that people do like from this expansion are entirely new or characters we knew fairly little about before Dawntrail says it all.

People actually do want new stuff. I think the mostly positive response towards the actual gameplay content says this, too.

So I hope they don't give up on what they've built here despite some of the really loud negative voices.

Don't start trying to do Endwalker or Shadowbringers again before building a new bigger picture.

We've talked about legacy and memory and loss a bunch of times already; evolve from this and do something *entirely* new with new characters and ALSO entirely new theming.

Don't give up on making content just a little more engaging.

That's my worry in light of these very loud complaints.

And the thing is, during the Endwalker patch cycle and even before, these are things so many people wanted.

People wanted a break from the Scions. People wanted the story to reset and relax after Endwalker because it had been within that dark tone for so long.

People wanted us to go back to being an adventurer.

People were tired of the increasingly same-y encounter design (and lack of stuff to do during patch downtime, which you can also see improved in terms of certain rewards; thing is what I've seen is people loving the new content so much they just like playing it and I feel the same way, so it isn't always even more grinds or rewards people actually want).

And that's exactly what they gave us.

Again, I don't know the overlap between audience groups here, but in terms of sentiment, that's the craziest part to me.

They kind of gave us exactly what we asked for.

And I really hope they stick to their guns and get braver from here because new is fun and even if it doesn't always succeed, you can look at what people like and don't like and go from there in a more nuanced way, rather than leaning on overcorrective decisions as they have in terms of certain aspects of the game. It just stops the game from stagnating and getting boring in all aspects.

[familyvideostevie]

october eleventh

day eleven: eddie munson you and eddie go to the harvest festival | fluff and first date vibes! | 1k

Eddie Munson asks you to the harvest festival and you panic a little bit. But you say yes, of course. Why wouldn’t you?

He’s kind of a friend through Robin and if she likes him you know he’s a good guy. You like how he laughs and how he never seems to take things too seriously but he still cares about his friends. You like his ripped jeans and his chain and his metal wardrobe even if it’s not what you wear or listen to. You think he’s funny and he tells you how pretty you look and he seemed just a little nervous to ask you which made him even more endearing.

It’s silly that anyone thinks he’s anything other than wonderful.

Plus, you’ve never actually been to the harvest festival even though you love fall. So, you’re double excited.

With your work schedule and Eddie’s commitments it makes sense for you to meet there. His van is a bit of a hazard so you’re perfectly okay driving yourself there, even if you had a dream last night about making out in his backseat.

You get there a few minutes later than you’d hoped and spot Eddie at the entrance in a heated discussion with a high schooler you know to be Dustin Henderson. The latter is gesturing wildly and Eddie looks like he’s going to tear his hair out. You call his name and he turns, grinning once he spots you.

He shoves Dustin’s hat further down on his head and the kid laughs and heads into the festival, flipping Eddie the middle finger. Eddie shakes his head but turns towards you and meets you halfway.

“Hi,” he says, breathless.

“Hello,” you say. “Did I catch you bullying a child?”

“He deserves it.” Eddie grins, gaze traveling from your head to your toes and back again. “You look nice.”

You look at your own outfit and smile because you agree. “Thank you,” you say. “So do you.”

He’s wearing his usual getup but it almost looks like he brushed his hair and is that…cologne? A little strong but that’s okay.

“Wanna do this thing?” he asks, holding out a ring-clad hand.

“Sure do.” Your joined hands hang between you as he pulls leads you under the arch and onto the grounds.

“Thanks for coming,” he says, squeezing your hand. One of the things you like about Eddie is his confidence but also his seemingly random bouts of nerves. It makes your stomach swoop in the best way to know that you’re one of the things that makes him nervous.

“Thanks for asking me,” you say. You decide to throw him a bone “I’ve been wanting to go on a date with you for ages.”

“Really?” He turns to look at you and looks genuinely surprised. “Could’ve asked me!”

You laugh and knock your shoulders together. “That would be too easy, Munson.”

The festival is like a country fair but a little smaller. There are vegetable and animal judging contests, a pie eating competition, and plenty of games. Pumpkin carving tables dot the fair grounds and booths from local farms sell honey and candles and produce. Ring toss and a wack-a-mole game have long lines, people of all ages and plenty of couples excited to give everything a try.

“What do you want to do?” he asks you. The wind whips down the path and you press a little closer to him.

“There are so many things,” you say, slightly overwhelmed. “We have to get cider doughnuts, right?” He nods. “And maybe a game?”

“Absolutely. We have to crush some kids.”

“And…” You look around before spotting something that makes you yelp with excitement. “Is that bobbing for apples?”

There are three huge barrels of water and they are full of apples. There is a round going on and you drag Eddie over.

“You want to do this?” he asks. You beam at him.

“Hell yeah I do. I was great at this when I was a kid.” You read the board at the sign-up table and gasp. “The prize for the most is 50 dollars!”

“Hell of a prize,” he says, impressed.

“I’m gonna do it,” you say. Eddie laughs. “Atta girl,” he says. You make sure all of your hair is out of the way and Eddie takes your bag and jacket so you don’t get water on them. A lady ushers you to one side of one of the barrels and you look around at the competition. Mostly all high schoolers, and one guy with a huge beard.

“Kill ‘em dead, sweetheart!” Eddie shouts from behind you.

The horn goes off and the music starts and you bob like your life depends on it. It occurs to you halfway through that this probably isn’t a cute thing to do on your first date but you want to win. If you do, you’ll buy Eddie some funnel cake for being a good sport about it. Are you a little too competitive for a small-town harvest festival? Maybe, but whatever.

You hear Eddie chanting your name behind you and you bob and bob and bob and you know you’re all wet but you don’t stop. The music finally cuts out and you stand, water dripping down your chin and into your collar. You wipe your eyes and find Eddie grinning and waiting behind you.

“You crushed it!” he whoops.

“Really?” Your pile of apples is pretty big, truth be told.

“Yeah,” he says, before stepping forward and resting a hand on your hip. You can see some light freckles on his nose this close. “And it was hot.”

That makes your stomach do something funny. Maybe Eddie Munson makes you a little nervous. The good kind,

He leans in like he’s going to kiss you but you put your hand on his chest.

“Eddie, my face is all wet.”

His expression says he very much does not care about that but he leans away to grab a towel anyway. He gently dries your cheeks, your forehead, your chin. Your hairline is a little damp but you don’t care much. You’ll have to come back at the end of the festival to see if you got the most apples but right now you’re focused on how Eddie is tossing the towel over his shoulder and leaning back in and —

You laugh against his lips and wrap your arms around his neck as he kisses you.

thank you for reading <3 reblog, send feedback, general masterlist here! promptober masterlist, find all fics under #fvspromptober23

[bluelavendre]

Title: "Surviving Together"

Fandom: BTS

Pairing BTS ot7 x Reader

Zombie Au inspired a bit by All of us are dead series

Chapter 20: "The Road to Uncertainty"

The tension is palpable as the police car remains parked just outside the cabin. The distant sound of the siren has stopped, but the heavy weight of uncertainty still presses down on everyone.

You can feel the adrenaline in your veins, your heart thumping in your chest as the figure standing next to the vehicle becomes clearer in the light. The officer is tall, dressed in a standard police uniform, and carries himself with the kind of authority you haven’t seen in days. His face is stoic, unreadable, as he surveys the area, seemingly waiting for something—someone.

“Is there anyone here?” the officer calls out, his voice carrying over the silence. His tone is firm, commanding. “If there are any survivors, please respond. We’re here to help. More rescuers will be coming soon.”

The words almost feel like a dream—more rescuers?

The group exchanges tentative glances, not sure whether to trust this officer or to remain cautious. After everything they’ve been through, trusting anyone feels like a risk.

But the officer’s words, so promising, so hopeful, seem like a thread of light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

“More rescuers?” Namjoon asks, his voice low, almost in disbelief. "How do we know we can trust you?"

The officer nods slowly, as though he understands the skepticism in the air. “I know it’s hard to trust strangers these days. But I’ve seen the way you’ve been living. We’re not the only ones out here trying to survive. We have a convoy coming. You’re not alone.”

Namjoon, ever the cautious leader, holds the officer’s gaze for a long moment. Finally, he seems to come to some sort of decision, giving a slow nod.

“Alright, we’ll come with you,” he says. “But we’re not leaving the others behind. You’ll bring them too, right?”

The officer’s expression remains neutral. “Yes. They’ll be safe. We just need to get to the base as quickly as possible.”

The decision is made. With the promise of safety, of a future beyond the virus, the group decides to send the smallest group of people to follow the officer first. After a brief discussion, it’s decided that Taehyung, Namjoon, Jimin, and you will go in the police car, while the rest of the group—Jungkook, Jin, Yoongi, and Hoseok—stay behind, keeping a low profile until more rescuers arrive.

The drive is quiet, the car’s engine humming steadily as it makes its way down the dirt road, cutting through the wilderness. The sun begins to set, casting long shadows across the landscape. As the evening grows darker, the tiredness from the past few days begins to settle in, and one by one, the boys start to nod off.

Taehyung leans his head against the window, his eyes half-closed, struggling to stay awake. Jimin, who’s seated in the backseat next to you, has already fallen asleep, his head resting against your shoulder. Namjoon is still awake, his hands gripping the edge of the seat, but even he seems to be growing tired, his eyelids fluttering every now and then.

You shift in your seat, trying to stay alert, but the steady rhythm of the road and the soothing hum of the engine make it hard to resist the pull of sleep. You fight it for as long as you can, but soon, your eyes flutter closed as well, the exhaustion from the past few days finally taking its toll.

You’re not sure how long you’ve been asleep when the car suddenly comes to a jolting halt, jerking you awake with a start. The others stir around you, the abrupt stop pulling everyone from their light slumbers.

“What’s going on?” Jimin mumbles, rubbing his eyes. Taehyung, too, lifts his head from the window, looking confused. Namjoon shifts in his seat, leaning forward to ask the officer what’s happening, but before anyone can speak, the officer cuts in.

“Stay here,” he orders sharply, his voice cold and commanding. Without another word, he opens the car door and steps out, leaving the four of you in stunned silence.

You glance at the boys, who exchange uneasy looks. Something doesn’t feel right. The officer had been quiet on the road, his stoic expression hiding whatever was going through his mind. The promise of safety, of help, now feels hollow.

Then, through the rearview mirror, you see the officer walking away from the car. He’s far enough now, standing under a tree, but you can still see his form clearly. For a brief second, his posture changes—there’s something almost predatory in the way he stands.

"Stay in the car," Taehyung mutters, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

But before anyone can react, the officer suddenly turns around, striding back toward the car with alarming speed.

Jimin’s eyes widen, a sense of unease spreading among the group. “What’s he doing?”

Before anyone can answer, the officer opens the door again—but this time, there’s no semblance of the calm, collected figure you met earlier. His eyes are wild, a predatory glint flashing in them as he grabs the door with both hands, pulling it open so abruptly that it nearly falls off its hinges.

“Get out,” he orders harshly, his grip tightening. “Get out, now.”

You freeze in place, heart racing. Something’s wrong. This isn’t right.

“W-What are you doing?” Namjoon stammers, his voice shaking with confusion and fear.

But the officer doesn’t answer. Instead, he reaches for you, grabbing you by the arm roughly and pulling you out of the car with force.

“No!” Taehyung shouts, his eyes wide with alarm. He tries to grab the officer’s arm, but the man shoves him back violently.

“What the hell is going on?” Jimin says, his voice trembling. He tries to step forward but is halted by the officer’s violent movement.

The officer, now entirely unhinged, holds you tightly, his breath coming in short bursts. “You’re coming with me,” he growls. “No one can stop me.”

Everything happens in an instant.

You kick your leg out, trying to break free, but the officer is too strong. The sound of your feet slamming against the gravel echoes in the night. Panic rises in your chest as you realize that no one can reach you in time.

Just as you’re about to cry out for help, a voice cuts through the tension like a razor.

“Let go of her!”

It’s Jungkook.

You look up, your heart sinking as you see him running toward you from the distance, his face set in an expression of fury and desperation. The officer’s grip on you tightens, but it’s too late. Jungkook is already charging forward, his strength and speed surprising even you. In an instant, he reaches the officer, shoving him away from you with a force that makes the officer stumble back.

“You touch her again, and I’ll make sure you don’t walk away from this,” Jungkook says, his voice low and lethal. The officer stumbles back, his face twisted in rage.

For a moment, everything stops. The air is thick with tension, and you can’t breathe.

But then—CRASH! The sound of a car engine revs to life from behind them. You turn just in time to see headlights blinding you. The officer looks up, his eyes flickering with a mixture of panic and frustration. The car is coming fast, too fast, and the officer doesn’t have time to react.

The car swerves to the side, and everything goes black.

To be continued...

[lafiametta]

filmtwt has been a bit of a mess when it comes to anora discussion so I’m so glad to see genuinely fantastic meta and analysis here. I fear tumblr will always be unmatched in that regard. and I’ve loved everything you and your anons have been discussing!

I know the film has its flaws but I swear it’s one of the best this year in terms of how real and tangible the characters feel. they might not have a ton of backstory but the ensemble really excelled in making them all feel lived in. like on my rewatch there is SO much going on in the background - igor putting ketchup on every layer of his burger, toros and garnick arguing about their family whilst igor awkwardly tries to start conversations with ani in the backseat, ivan absolutely hammered unable to stand up in the courtroom whilst toros goes from being called ‘the man in the camel coat’ to ‘camel coat’ to camel man’ by the judge, igor eating popcorn out of the smashed popcorn machine etc. it all feels so alive and I honestly think it just elevates the movie.

also I’m so glad you all share my opinion about the end and igor’s intentions because some of the popular takes I’ve seen are…interesting shall we say? and I truly started to doubt my own ability to analyse and critique media lol

I'm so glad you've been enjoying my posts — sometimes I feel like I'm just rambling/screeching delightedly into the void about this movie and it's good to know someone thinks it's worth reading!

I'm totally with you about all the small details that make the movie seem lived-in. You can tell that it was the work not only of the writer/director — who seems to understand the lives of working class people better than your average Hollywood type — and the actors themselves, who added all those personal elements that weren't in the script. (I also heard there was a fair amount of improvisation during filming, so that would have been a place much of that might have been added.) Filming directly on location in all these real places (the strip club, Tatiana's, the diner) with a lot of actual locals also gives it a sense of honesty and groundedness that's not easy to achieve. You've pinpointed so many of my favorite little details (Igor eating the popcorn, Toros and Garnik's familial bickering — and "camel man," lol!). I also love Ani's butterfly motif (on her nail decorations and her t-shirt) and the practice pole she's got set up in her bedroom (visible for a few seconds as her sister is talking to her).

I'm kinda glad I didn't see any of those takes on Igor's intentions, which I can probably guess at. I mean, whatever, people can interpret media however they want (and I think the director and the actors have been pretty tight-lipped on explaining the last scene because they want the audience to have to freedom to read it multiple ways), but I don't really get the sense that they wanted people to walk away with the idea that Igor thinks he's buying Ani with the ring or he's deliberately violating her boundaries by trying to kiss her. We're all entitled to our own takes, though, even if we don't necessarily agree on everything.

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

Angela Well, now Pam and Cece are in the car and they call Jim. They call daddy. This is really cute. So sweet. 

Jenna But this is where Pam is going to find out that Jim is still in Philly and he's not going to make the recital. This investor might back out and Jim can't leave. 

Angela So Jim says Pam will you please film the recital. And he sort of starts talking to her, kind of condescending about how to film it. And she's like, look, I know how to point a rectangle at something and film it. 

Jenna And then he's like, okay. And then it's time to say goodbye. And then there's this pause, and then he's like, hey, Pam, you have to press end, you know, which is sort of meant to be like a dig at her phone skills. Lady... 

Angela Why can't Jim just hang up the phone? 

Jenna This is the scene. 

Angela Oh, that people were pissed off about? 

Jenna For so many reasons. I saw the mail for this episode, and I couldn't believe it. Where should I begin? I'll begin with Amanda C from Montreal, Canada. Amanda says, I have to go on a little rant about Jim, but maybe not from the moment you think. What absolutely grinds my gears about Jim's behavior is when Pam is on the phone with him in the car, and he implies that she doesn't know how to use her phone to video the recital by saying, See, Pam, you still need to hang up the phone. Excuse me, sir. She is driving. Can you not hang it up yourself? And then it will automatically end the call on her phone. Samantha L from Tampa, Florida said, The thing I actually cannot get past is the incident when Pam is in the car on the way to Cece's recital. Why is Jim giving Pam such a hard time for being bad with technology because she doesn't hang up the phone? Pam is driving with your child in the backseat. You hang up the phone, Jim! You're not the one that would need to take your hand off the wheel of a moving vehicle! Let's see. Samantha goes on to say, Who's the one who's really bad with the cell phone technology, huh? Spoiler alert, not Pam. Another letter from Nora E in New Orleans, Louisiana. I want to go on record to say that the tipping point moment when Jim has clearly gone full ass (BLEEP) is in this episode, when he's on the phone with me and he berates her for not hanging up the phone. She's driving. He's at work. He's clearly not in a huge rush to return to his meeting, since he's able to stay at his desk and what? Have a gotcha moment with his own wife? This scene in the car makes me so deeply angry. I need this full dickhead moment to be acknowledged. 

Angela I love that she puts full in front of her curse word. 

Jenna I know. 

Angela Full (BLEEP). I want to use that. He's gone full (BLEEP). 

Jenna I know. I know. So Ange, it's literally what you said. You said it. You're like, why can't he hang up the phone? This is just three of the letters we got about this moment. But this is very good foreshadowing for what is going to happen later, and I think an interesting dynamic in their relationship, which is that and I think some relationships have this. They've got the gotcha person. Oh, I got to point out the little thing. Gotcha. You know, you said that you are good at cleaning out the fridge, but- gotcha. Found a rotten tomato or whatever it is. You know, the gotcha people, the gotcha moments which are just, like, so toxic for a relationship. 

Angela It's petty. 

Jenna Pettiness. 

Angela It's pettiness. 

Jenna Yeah. But Jim's in a mood. He's stressed. He's not handling it well. In conclusion, I hope that us discussing it today on the podcast has brought some of you relief, because the number of heated letters we got about this moment, I felt it. 

Angela We also asked Kelly Cantley about directing this scene, and here's what she had to say. 

Kelly Cantley Cece in the car. Surprisingly, Cece in the car was really hard to shoot because Cece was a little girl and little kids don't do lines. So Jenna, I don't know if you remember, we shot all of your dialogue and then we shot lots of both of us taking turns just saying the lines. I think we started with you doing it. And then we wanted to go from you to the little girl so we would see you talking. So you did it a few times where you would just say her line and she would say it back. And I believe I did it a bunch of times on the speaker in the car. So I actually had forgotten that until I watched the episode again. 

Jenna actually did remember that. I had such a great rapport with those little girls. Not to toot my own horn, but I'm 50 now, which is the decade of tooting your own horn. 

Angela It's time to toot. 

Jenna Bailey and Sienna. I just loved them so much, and we would do a thing where we would do, like, repeat me. So I would say their line and they would say their line, and we made a little game out of it. They did great. 

Angela I thought it was so cute. Those girls were so cute. 

[momsforroadhead]

ok i forgot i wanted to post insane klaine opinions. so here goes.

let me first start by saying that i'm not that emotionally involved in their relationship. there is ONE fictional couple that is extremely important to me and i will never discuss them on here. i think i simply don't have the shippers mindset. so this is all from an entirely serious and scientific perspective i swearrrr like omg i prommy

ok so. i genuinely think the way these two were written, especially kurt's role in this relationship, is really fascinating, especially considering that kurt's character was based on chris colfer (the actor that portrays him). and since he's the show's main and first gay character, and hearing the way ryan murphy has talked about him, i wouldn't be surprised if he was somewhat based on murphy as well. what this results in is that kurt's character feels, imo, a lot more grounded than other characters in glee and, often, that groundedness translates into a kinda more downer arc than many other characters.

kurt, as a character, is defined by all the negative things in his life. the very first thing we learn about him is that he gets so relentlessly bullied he has learned to kinda passively accept it. his mother died when he was young, and his relationship with his single dad, basically right up until the beginning of the show, has been tense and uncomfortable. he gets a crush on finn (and later, in a minor way, sam) and gets told that he is being selfish, that a crush that he is never gonna act on is something he'd doing TO them. he wants to have solos in class, and cultivate his talent, but always takes the backseat to other people. the ONE TIME he wants to stand centerstage, with the defying gravity-off, he THROWS IT to benefit his dad. HIS DAD!!!!! and i could go on and on and in more detail, the boy truly cannot catch a break.

and then here comes blaine and he's a fucking disney prince. mega popular. rich, supposedly, since he goes to dalton and tells kurt that he understands "not everyone can afford it". sure, we eventually learn that he was a victim of homophobic bullyign at his old school, but this is a while after meeting him. for a long time, the only way we see blaine as is essentially perfect and struggle-less. chris colfer has talked about this, about how the klaine relationship was an idealized relationship, which he didn't really love as a plotpoint because it was unrealistic for gay teenagers to meet a perfect guy and stay with him forever.

because that's the thing!! kurt is a downer character! he's based on one (possible two) real life man for whom being gay as a teen was hard! as a fictional character, he has grown accustomed to and almost comfortable with never getting what he wants, with his dreams not coming true. that's at the core of the character. and now he's dating this guy who is entirely built on wish fulfillment! and supposed to stay with him forever! how do you write that!! genuinely how do you make a relationship with a character like blaine satisfying, writing-wise. you have to put conflict in there, to make it interesting, but with a character who's defined by being conflict-free and another who's the most (/only) grounded character on your show... what kind of conflict can you write??

obviously i'm not done but this is already a wall of text about klaine in 2025 which is kinda embarassing and this is more of a conversation anyway so. stopping for now. unless people want to talk about klaine with me which. you know.

[yb-cringe]

im not a qsmper but i AM incredibly nosy and a jaiden of the animation variety fan. what is familioier, why is jaiden specifically being excluded, and WHAT suicide jokes are being made????

KFAKMD ok. lets take this step by step

1) familoier is the qsmp ‘family’ of roier bobby and jaiden. thats what it was originally (bobby is an egg child given to roier and jaiden its a long story)

this later came to involve cellbit as roier and cellbit got married (WAHOO) and before that vegetta as roiers dad and foolish as his? stepdad and leo as his sister.

2) its just misogyny. thats why shes excluded. like no one would ever admit that because they dont want to but to them ever since guapduo got married jaiden has been Nothing but Fun Side Character haha and not a major part of roiers life. not the literal mother of his child.

and also his best friend who was there for him for a major part of his life (post spreen betrayal- lile right off the cuff of that is when jaiden meets him). shes an extremely fuckin important person and CELLBIT makes a huge fucking point of this even

however literally like ever since the marriage happened people have been really quick to discount jaidens character entirely and exclude her from any discussions around familoier.

and at first the assumption is WELL what if its just bc shes not there a ton? interacting with them? and yet id say she interacted with roier more than vegetta and foolish yet somehow theyre always getting included in these aus and fics and art pieces because god forbid we forget the two extra men in this photo of an all male family, one of which hasnt been on in months

3) fjsjfn the suicide joke part is just to imply ‘if you keep doing x then im gonna kill myself’ was originally whag i was gonna say. but its like. ironic ‘no i onow thats bad so im gonna say something else to be less toxic’

anyway this was a huge EXTREMELY MESSY rant. tl;dr im just frustrated by people consistently ignoring jaidens involvement in roiers life and constantly backseating her for the more ‘interesting’ romance plot. like its just the quickest way to tell me you dont give a shit about aroace people, strong platonic relationships, or women just. at all.

[akehoshimystar]

Chapter 5

The moment Kuchiki Yuuto's name was mentioned, Aizawa-kun immediately responded to Mika-san's eye contact.

Shinobu: Sorry, Akke. Let me talk to Shizuka-san.

Takeru: Maro-kun is there too... Yeah, you must have heard the cry. He’s probably happy to hear Tohru-chan's voice. He could tell even through the phone.

Shinobu: Seems like Kuchiki looked up Tohru-san's new residence and contact information from somewhere, and he called to say he was near the apartment... Is he coming alone?

Takeru: Is it just Kuchiki? .….”I brought my friends along so they could watch Maro until the discussion is over" ... Right….

I'm impressed that he's so petty. I want to cut him down so bad.

Shinobu: An unknown number of people are accompanying him. If he said they’re waiting with Maro-kun, my best guess is that they’re in a car.

Did you check the camera footage on the veranda...? That’s our boss.

Takeru: We’re checking the situation now, so please don't go out onto the balcony, just stay inside. Leave the curtains and windows as they are.

It’s still unsure if he knows your room number yet, so of course I won't hang up. I'll even stay with you until the morning. Shall we have a toast?

Ito: (.….Amazing. There's no waste in the conversation at all.)

(That's just how urgent this situation is.)

Ito: I'll be right back.

Shinobu: ……? Sure.

Takeru: ……..?

Takeru: …..Okay, let me hang up for now. I'll floor it and get there in no time, while driving safely of course.

Alright. See you.

Now what’s the plan?

Shinobu: Once we secure transportation, we will go pick up Gucchi in Shinjuku and rush to the scene together. Mika-nee will go ahead on motorbike as mentioned earlier...

Takeru: Oh, you're back. Where were you?

Ito: Sorry for acting on my own. In any case, I thought it'd be better to have some kind of transportation...

So I called Kise-san to check whether we could use the company car.

Takeru & Shinobu: !

Ito: If nothing went wrong, it should be at the dormitory parking lot right now. We can use it however we like tonight

Shinobu: We’ve just decided to go to the scene, and here I was about to contact Yuzuru-san...!

Ito: Oh, that's good to hear. I'll go get the key right away.

Takeru: By the way, Ito, can you drive?

Ito: Yes, I can.

Takeru: Awesome.

We parted way with Mika-san and hurried off to the dorm. When we turned the last corner, just as Kise-san said, I saw a car that wasn’t there this morning parked there. And then….

Shinobu: ………………Ah. He's already there.

Shizuka-san!

A man was typing something on an open laptop on the car hood before turning towards us.

Ito: (That person must be the Dept. Head Fushimi...)

Shinobu: Sorry to keep you waiting.

Shizuka: I didn't wait that long.

Ito: Hello.

Shizuka: Hello. Yashiro-san... Can I just call you Yashiro?

Sorry for making the acting owner drive.

Ito: Don’t mention it. By the way, I can only drive normally...

Shizuka: As long as it’s not scarily ridiculous driving, I don’t mind.

Ito: (Obviously!)

Well, let me change my shoes at least. Excuse me for a moment.

Shizuka: Sorry for saying this, but I have a request. I want you to change your clothes as well.

Ito: ! Yes.

Shizuka: Do you have any jeans other than skinny ones? Something that isn't as feminine as possible.

I'll lend you a hoodie, so just wear whatever top you want.

Ito: Y-Yes... I do have one. Understood.

Shizuka: ……

Shinobu: Shizuka-san, I’ll take a backseat.

Shizuka: Go ahead.

Shinobu: ……………Since you made Yashiro-san change her clothes, does that mean you're planning on having her move as well?

Shizuka: I’m not letting Yashiro out of the car. But, just in case.

Shinobu: Oh, I see. That's good to hear.

Shizuka: Even if the chance is slim, it would be bad if we damaged someone we borrowed. Not that I'm replacing her, but I'll probably move today.

Shinobu: Eh!? Are you serious? Why don't you ask someone to help instead?

Shizuka: None of the ST Dept. is available today. Even if I asked someone who could move right away, they would end up being "borrowed" anyway.

We can’t let Yashiro get hurt, but it's okay for the other staff…. Both I and Kosaka don’t think that way at all.

Shinobu: ……

Shizuka: The only people I can force to do anything reckless at my discretion are myself and you guys.

Shinobu: ...Got it.

But I don't want to pick up Shizuka-san's bones, so please come up with a plan that doesn't involve your self-sacrifice.

Shizuka: Don't worry, I won't do anything inefficient. By the way, I'm the one who'll be picking the bones up.

Shinobu: So we’re the skeletons here.

Shizuka: Not yours, theirs. If you try to put your life at risk without permission, I'll kill you…. socially.

Shinobu: Scaryyyy. It's okay, we know!

At least, I only sacrifice myself when I'm told to.

Shizuka: Well, aren’t you a loyal dog?

Shinobu: How about I give you a paw?

Shizuka: No thanks.

Shinobu: Nyahaha.

Well, I understand where you’re coming from, but please continue to come up with a plan that won't make Shizuka-san do anything reckless.

Shizuka: I'll see what I can do.

Shinobu: Please do so.

Gucchi and Mika-nee may not say it out loud, but I think they both feel the same way about not wanting Shizuka-san to move on his own.

Shizuka: …………I know even without you telling me.

Chapter 6

[luckystarchild]

We all know One Piece is absolutely PHENOMENAL, but nothing is perfect, so as a writer, what would you say is your biggest pet peeve or least favorite part of One Piece as a story?

My biggest issues with One Piece are largely the same issues I have with my own work. And that makes it hard to discuss because I am hyper-aware that these critiques either make me a hypocrite OR make it seem like I'm comparing myself to Oda, which is egotistical AF and equally as obnoxious. Either way, I'm screwed.

That being said...

Narrative bloat vs. subtle foreshadowing. The story is long. That length can put people off of the story and make it feel super bloated. It's a huge barrier to entry. Some stuff that takes place over just a few days in-universe takes hundreds of chapters to convey to the reader. And I'm sorry to say that some of it doesn't feel necessary to the story (here's lookin' at you, Thriller Bark) and can be a bit of a drag.

Some people defend the length and say everything matters and that even small details become relevant later, but IMO, those details/foreshadowing pieces are often delivered in such minor ways that you can't remember the foreshadowing when the plot actually, finally drops. The length of the story and the subtlety of the story are at odds, and that's sometimes a shame.

(Also, Oda did NOT plan everything in advance. He just didn't. Some things are missing foreshadowing that would've been there if he'd planned ahead. He absolutely capitalized on early plot points and expanded them later in the story, but that's not the same as foreshadowing or planning ahead. Oda is a great storyteller, but he isn't a god, and I wish people would recognize he's fallible and stop with this whole deification shit.)

(Also as a person who has an unfinished work over a million words long, and who takes many chapters to show a single day/hour, and who puts in TINY foreshadowing no one can remember after so many words, this is what makes me a hypocrite. Either that or I'm very self-aware. Either way... sorry lmao.)

The other issue I have is the handling of the story's characters, and this once again relates to the length of the story and the problems that length causes.

Much as I love the Straw Hats and think their backstories are all pretty epic, it feels like the characters get their Shining Moment in the Sun when those backstories are introduced before being pushed to the backseat for hundreds of chapters/entire arcs at a time. Then they get pulled forward again for a little while (Sanji in Whole Cake, for instance) before getting shoved into the background yet again to make one-off remarks here and there. It sometimes feels like they get more development in their backstories than they do in the actual narrative, which is... not great, in my opinion.

Example: It feels like Zoro hasn't had anything meaningful to do except fight since he was introduced. He gets some moments here and there (like in the chapter where "nothing happened"), but it's not substantial, and I truly feel like I don't know Zoro all that well even after all this time with him. And that's sad.

Also, the forays into the side characters in other crews are INTERESTING, sure, but sometimes they're just distracting and pointless. Example: Ace's big flashback with Oars Jr. stands out to me as tear-jerker-porn that didn't add much to the story overall. "But that's how he learned to make straw hats!!" I hear people screaming but--I don't actually give a shit how he learned to make them. I'm sorry. I just don't. Take out that whole thing. It's not needed. I simply do not care about the Oars Jr. and Ace friendship that is only relevant for 5 minutes before both of them die. Similarly, Ace also feels like a giant symbol and not a person. I was sad FOR LUFFY when he died, but I shed zero tears over his death itself.

Long story short: There's just not enough narrative to go around to develop EVERYONE properly, and I have New Character Fatigue, and I wish we'd stop meeting new people at this point. (Where TF is Smoker, I ask you? Please, I need him back, it's been like three arcs without him...)

Overall, I just wish the narrative would tighten up for the sake of the plot and the characters. The live action version actually does a good job of this, which I appreciate a TON.

And again, I recognize these same issues could be said of my own work, so go easy on those tomatoes you're getting ready to throw, please!

[watsername]

all fuckinf right i guess let’s get into it

do i care ?? not fucking really .

im gonna preface this by saying this is really not the huge deal that i think people are making it out to be across here and esp on twt. treating this as some kind of event deserving of a deplatform i got it cancellation or worthy of vast amount of neg to people who are still choosing to support sapnap on kick or to sapnap himself is just fucking childish . rey was talking earlier about dt fanvases being prone to give mentality and it’s so fucking true people see one person spreading hate and take it as permission to do the same instead of employing critical thinking and going hey . is it really that serious . does the subject of discussion really deserve it or was i just waiting in my chance to hate him . because the energy it’s giving is very much ‘i never liked him and just pretended to tolerate him but now he fucked up i can drag him’ which is actively something we discourage in dtblr when it comes to dream so to do so to sapnap is kinda hypocritical . even if u don’t like him just . don’t be hateful ??? esp when it’s over a streaming contract don’t treat it like he’s actively spreading bigotry when we know he’s not.

ok ? . let’s get into kick then . why would sapnap be attracted to this platform?? let’s look at what he says in his statement . and this is in no way shape or form going to be the most nuanced or in depth take on what’s going on it’s just a short discussion on the situation

number one he wants something to force him to be more active online bc it seems like his career as a creator has taken a backseat to other ventures he’s been taking recently . the dteam have been travelling near constantly lately between events in spain, france visiting the u.k. going to cons across america meeting up with people sapnap working with nrg he’s been busy . this isn’t sus .

twitch is notoriously fuckinf over creators . it’s still an incredibly hostile place for a lot of people . and sapanps right the megacorp that owns it is dominating the market for streaming with no real competition (other than youtube streaming) meaning that strwaming creators are effectively forced into handing over 50% of their stream profits to a man who is already the worlds richest man fucking iver his employees - who everyone is always saying to stop feeding money into . the 95/5 split for profits on kick is a lot more attractive to streamers for this reason . they’re keeping the money the earned during the streams and not supporting a man who takes in money and refuses to pay his workers - which people are often criticised for as well .

this is something we as the community can’t really comment on - we have no idea what happened in that conversation . we don’t know what plans kick has we don’t know what direction the platform is going to head in . but we do know that it was positive enough for sapnap to change his mind and feel more secure in his placement in the kick contract . that he felt heard in his concerns and feels like those concerns will be heard and he can help i still chnage in the platform to make it a more usable and friendly platform.

this is the last sector i’m taking from sapnap’s post . this is understandable . the dream team are credited with changing the atmosphere and streaming experience on twitch in extremely positive ways . it’s understandable that sapnap believes the same might be possible for another platform with its reputation in the DIRT . and he acknowledges how bad the representation of creators is currently and as a large creator it might well be possible that he can influence change across the platform .

secondly from this . he’s right . if his plan to intervene in the atmosphere on kick goes well it may will incite change on twitch - where he is still streaming - as they may fear that creators will be more incentivised to take contracts with kick instead of twitch. we’ve already talked about how twitch has huge problems in its creator usability and a genuinely successful rival with creator forward procedure and policy may help to create a better environment for creators on twitch - things like misogyny and racism in chats that has gone uncared about may face crackdowns as well as a better deal on monetary splits between the company and individual streamers .

so why is everyone mad . well .

it’s still a shithole of a company . it’s currently platforming horrid people who have been banned from other streaming services for racism. sexism etc because of its leniency with rules - the creator stating that it’s only rules are ‘no pornography, no hate speech’.

in so . its a breeding ground for right wing extremists who have nowhere else to go and giving them major profits from the streams they make . it’s allowing a lot of extremists to make professions built on their bigotry . it’s praying on people’s weak spots by promoting itself as the only streaming service that allows people to gamble on stream . the owner is the co owner of a large cryptocurrency company . it’s entirely unappealing to communities upon communities of people and it’s understandable that people are upset with sapnap attempting to coax his viewers into such a toxic environment .

but it’s also understandable that sapnap feels he will be able to make some impact on the way the company is run . he is openly one of the only people to take a contract there while actively challenging the companies procedure which is a huge start . he’s voiced concerns about the reputation of the platform and how the streamers they host create such a foul represent tati on of the platform that will deter most people from the site . will he be able to change everything ?? fuck no but is his motivation understandable ?? yeah o think so .

so what did we learn here . it’s. a very complicated situation . there’s no right or wrong way to feel . unless you’re just going about spreading hate and acting like sapnap’s committed mass murder or whatever then you should probably take a step back and ask yourself why you’re angry to this extent .

people are always going to make decisions you don’t agree with. and saying ‘well yeah but i don’t like their reasoning’ is fine, you’re allowed to say you don’t think something is worthwhile but you have to remove yourself from your perspective and say okay. i understand why HE thinks it’s worthwhile even when i disagree . simply using the platform doesn’t make sapanp a bigot and he’s expressed his own ill feelings towards the platform because of its user base and stated no desire to be associated with those people and expressed his intention to work with the platform to make it a more friendly experience for everyone .

you can have no faith in that kind of change or support him 100% neither person would be in the wrong for how they feel about the situation . it’s an incredibly complex topic . there is bound to be disagreement . but i will say i don’t think his explanation is worth the mass hate and cancellation attempts it garnered . if you don’t like sapnap that’s fine, but don’t seek opportunity to spread hate just . go look at something you do like . follow him on kick or avoid the platform altogether . do what you want . who care .

[bnhaobservation]

How much do u think Enji and Touya loved each other? Do u think Touya still loves Enji? (And the family too ig)

Let's start from the easy part, with the premise that, of course, this is my opinion and my understanding of the story. Different people might have different understanding and opinions. I'm not Horikoshi, I don't own the truth.

The Doylistic approach first.

Since this is a story targeted to young people that aims to a happy ending and to transmit positivity and so on, I'll be very surprised if it were to end with Touya not loving his family and this having no hope to be fixed. The message would be that the situation can't be saved, that once you screw up there's nothing you can do. Which is realistic but it's a bad lesson to give to youths.

Shonen manga generally prefer to drive home how, with hard effort, you can overcome even Nighteye's predictions of the future, how there's always hope and nothing is the end.

So, of course, since the whole Todoroki family is putting an effort in saving Touya and wanting to reach him and Touya has a sympathetic backstory that basically tells us he became a Villain (and not a Hero as he originally wanted) because his family screwed up, it would stand to reason that the story would reward all this by confirming it's not too late for them to be a family, a functional one.

And, of course, the same applies to Enji, as the story is likely meant to drive home how, despite all his mistakes, he loves his children very much.

Likely, to a Japanese audience, this is meant to feel even more hammered, as Enji is also one of the good guys and therefore needs to love his kids, never mentioning Enji is also the one that, in Horikoshi story, who is meant to be used to discuss of the family as Japanese people view it.

It's highly unlikely Horikoshi would want to promote the image of parents who don't love their children to young readers, more likely he's just interested in showing how parents can make mistakes but, despite them, they love their children and, eventually, (if they stay alive) they can even fix them (so as to get in line with the positive and hopeful message of the story).

The Watsonian answer now.

Touya's feelings (and Enji's as well) are complicate and complex.

Generally, when we talk about "love", we talk about the one of the pure and selfless kind, the one in which you care about someone and wouldn't hurt that person and prioritize that person's need or, at least, consider them as equally important as yours and so on. In short of the one we would call 'true love'.

Actually the definition of "love" is just that 'you like someone/something very much' where the definition of "hate" is 'you dislike someone/something very much' and the one of "indifference" is 'you feel nothing for someone/something'.

Why all those definitions?

We'll get at them soon.

Let's start with Enji because, again, it's simpler.

Enji loved his children. All of them. However in the past his love hadn't been of the 'pure' type, because it had been tainted by selfishness. When interacting with his kids, he has always prioritized himself, his wants and his needs.

He had them so that HE couldn't feel negative feelings, when he didn't know what to say to Touya he dumped him on Rei so HE wouldn't feel uncomfortable, he ignored Fuyumi and Natsuo because HE was busy with his own Hero ambitions, he forced Shouto to train because HE wanted Shouto to fulfil HIS ambitions.

So, even though he loves his kids, for most of his life he had their needs taking a backseat compared to his own, which is... kind of like the ultimate sin in a parent, as we expect a loving parent to always PRIORITIZE his kids.

Enji doesn't, and, in this, he's helped by the culture he lives in. Japan is a country who for centuries strongly believed in what Enji did, kids being viewed as something that existed to serve the parents' ambitions, needs, whatever and nothing else some things Enji did were, for years, presented as something absolutely natural and acceptable for a parent to do in manga and anime.

I've talked in reply to another ask to how in manga/anime they used to depict the idea of tough love and how Enji is probably one of Horikoshi's attempts to subvert that old trope (there are others through the manga).

Now there's a problem that come with being selfish.

Caring about yourself is important, but stretching things too thin is wrong.

There's a nice Aesop's Fable "The Horse and the Donkey" that discusses this (interesting enough it seems in the English version the fable is called "The Ass and the Mule" with the Horse being the Ass litterally and figuratively).

A donkey and a horse travel together with their master but the donkey is overburdened so he asks the horse, who is carrying nothing, help in carrying his load. The horse refuses so, when the donkey dies, the master put all the load of the donkey on the horse PLUS the dead animal's skin.

The horse in the story didn't wish for the donkey to die, he had no ill will toward the donkey he just... didn't want to give up his own comfort. It was so nice he could travel unburdened by any load... why should he care about the donkey's problems?

And this works just fine for him, until the donkey's problems became HIS problems because he had refused to help the donkey.

While the story isn't meant to be a perfect mirror of what Enji did, it shows well the consequences of selfish behaviour.

Out of his selfish behaviour Enji causes his wife to be hospitalized, Touya to 'die' and his children to reject him as a father.

If he had left his comfort zone a little and cared about them more things would have gone differently... PLUS he gets the donkey's skin, aka Touya coming back from death to return with interests all the pain and the damage he suffered psychologically.

Enji's arc is one in which he tries to overcome his previously selfish behavior, in which he starts spending his nights thinking no more at what he can do to get rid of his envy for All Might, but at what he can do for his family, the family he loves, because he has realized his previous behaviour with them was wrong. And this includes his behaviour with Touya, the child he has mourned when he thought he was dead and that he can't fight not even when Touya attacks him.

Shouto fights Touya but Enji can't. He doesn't lift a finger against his son, his behaviour contrasting sharply with how he was with Shigaraki. As far as Villains go, Shigaraki and Touya are the same, and Enji was more than willing to murder Shigaraki but he won't do the same with his child.

Since however he doesn't know at that point how to save him, how to stop him, he thinks he'll die with him even though he admits he never thought about dying before, he wanted to LIVE and atone but instead he's willing to die with him so that this time Touya won't be alone, dying a quite horrible death being burned alive.

So yes, Enji, for most of his life, acted in the wrong way with Touya. Even now what he's doing isn't the best he could be doing, but it's the best he could think of. There's love and it's finally he's trying to express it in the right way, leaving his comfort zone and doing things FOR HIS CHILDREN'S BENEFIT instead than thinking solely to himself.

It's of course a story, so it makes things simplers and, despite this, there's plenty more to say and I've just summarizing the whole thing as overwise this reply would be a 60 pages meta, so don't take this as all that there is.

And now we switch to Touya who, instead, is a more complex case.

Touya started by loving his family and, specifically, his father, very much. When he can't train any longer and feels Enji is ignoring him, he's desperate for his attention.

While from Enji's perspective Touya is disobeying him because he keeps on training, for Touya's perspective he's doing all that to make his father proud, to make his father see him again.

Then he burns himself alive, spends three years in coma and, when he finally comes home, he snaps under the belief his family has conveniently buried and forgotten him and comes to hate them all.

Even heard of the proverb "the greatest hate springs from the greatest love"?

That's his case.

So now it's just hate?

No, the problem is that in Touya's case love and hate or, if you prefer 'odi at amo' are the two faces of the same medal, his hate existing solely and specifically because his love also exist.

"I hate and I love. Why I do this, perhaps you ask. I know not, but I feel it happening and I am tortured." [Catullus 85 by Catullus]

If he could stop loving his family, if he could feel indifference toward them, then what he perceived as rejection wouldn't hurt and wouldn't push him to hate them.

You might say Touya loves his family but hates so intensely the way they handled him he came to identify their behaviour with his family.

He's not just trying to punish them for what they did, he's still trying to force them to look at him, only now instead than positive attention, he's searching negative attention.

It's something children do, in children getting the attention of adults is a PRIMARY need (and with attention I don't mean just the adults watching over them but also showing interest in what they do and giving them emotional care), if this need isn't satisfied there can be psychological consequences which can be pretty severe.

Touya is destroyed, physically and psychologically by his family's neglect.

Sadly, one of the maladaptative strategies to cope with neglect is to try to force the others to pay you attention, we see often in children who are neglected, how, when they realize that by behaving well they don't get attention, they resort to the opposite method, they misbehave to get you to look at them.

Touya becomes the opposite of what he wanted to become, if before he wanted to be a Hero, now he becomes a Villain and destroys society (which he views as complicit in the neglect he suffered) and tries to do the same with all he thinks his father hold dear.

The root is still the same, he wants his father's attention, he wants his father to finally look at him because Enji's indifference (and his family's indifference), the indifference of who he loves, kills him emotionally (and it almost has physically), but things had gotten so warped and out of control in order to have the attention he needs, he tries to kill them all as he can't see any other way for them to finally look at him and be with him.

In real life it would require a lifetime of therapy to unpack all this because, of course, his behaviour solves nothing, this doesn't really make him feel he's being seen, that his family is with him (never mention you can't go around destroying a country but we're talking about Touya's feelings for his family here). He needs genuine positive attention, attention that's given to him freely and unconditionately and out of love, and not because he forced their hand by 'misbehaving', or tried to humour them by making them proud.

He basically needs to feel loved because he's part of the family, not due to what he does or doesn't do, what he can or can't do.

And because he has this need, we know he loves his family, and because this need doesn't get fulfilled, he also hates his family and the two feelings are inescapably tied together and exist together. And yes, it's very warped because this is what happen when two hugely contrasting emotions exist in such a fierce way inside a person. Love and hate are often emotions which are tangled together in one way or in another (for example in Shouto and Natsuo they are in a very different way) but in Touya's case they aren't just tied together, they overlap. It's madness.

The other option for him would be, of course, for him to finally let go of his family, to get indifferent to them. In that case his hate would also eventually die with his love, because what he perceives as his family's indifference toward him wouldn't hurt him anymore, which would result in him not hating their indifference anymore, and so the hate inside him would have no fuel any longer and would die as well.

Honestly though, I don't think Horikoshi will go for this endgame.

The most likely solution to have a positive ending is for Touya to finally realize his family is sorry and not indifferent to him at all, that he doesn't need to kill them and himself to be with them.

Again, I've oversimplified the whole story because here we would need a 6000 pages meta for how complex the whole thing is, so please, forgive me if I didn't dig into it as well as the whole topic needed but the reply would have gotten too long if I had.

Again, all that is just what I think, I don't pretend to know the truth.

Thank you for your ask! I love to talk of the Todoroki family!

[weresilver]

Here we are, part 5. I'm not even going to try guessing how many there are gonna be at the pace this is going.

[Part 1] – [Part 4] – [Part 6]

@madaboutmunson @lamburrito @benjaminrussell @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @dijkstraspath @swiftiebuckleys @spectrum-spectre [Let me know if you want to be tagged!]

TW for homophobic language (from Eddie's father) right below the cut. It is a single paragraph, then discussed with more positive figures in Eddie's life.

Pin a String to My Chest – 5

A child's question

Eddie listened to what his dad said. How could he not? It was his dad talking, he had to pay attention.

Dad's hatred didn't make much sense, though. He kept saying that boys liking boys was wrong — "fags, all of them," he'd say with a ferocity that kind of scared Eddie — and it made them weak, made them fairies, that they "should all just die already."

Eddie, at eight years old, couldn't understand what was so wrong. Wasn't it enough if those people were happy? Did it really matter who that was with?

His mom smiled at him softly, like she always did, when he asked her. "Of course it doesn't matter," she said. "Most people fear what they can't understand, though."

Dad wasn't home then. Eddie knew not to talk a lot when he was; he didn't like how Eddie seemed to have an endless curiosity about the things around him, always asking "stupid, useless questions."

His mom had always been nicer, anyway. So he listened, stored his questions until his dad was out of the house, and then spent hours just talking to her.

Uncle Wayne had the next two days off, so Eddie was picked up bright and early (at 10 am) the next morning.

He was barely out of the door to hug his uncle when his parents started fighting. Wayne smiled tensely when he frowned, glancing back at his front door, but neither of them said anything until they were halfway to Hawkins.

Until Eddie repeated, "Does it really matter if a boy likes another boy?"

Wayne sighed, a little harshly, and Eddie shrunk into the backseat. With a glance in the rearview mirror, his uncle shook his head.

"Your dad is talkin' shit again, huh?" He affirmed, smiling apologetically. "It shouldn't matter, no," he sighed again, this time… a little sadly. "But a lot of folks are just stuck in their ways, y'know?"

"Like who?"

Wayne chuckled, like he did every time there was a follow-up question. "God-fearin' fanatics, mostly. The type that don't really wanna think by themselves, and are glad to follow the first person that'll tell 'em how to be."

Eddie nodded seriously. He didn't think he'd like someone telling him how to be. Not if that was like his dad, angry words at everything and everyone.

"I don't think you'll have to worry, kid," Wayne was smiling at him, looking in the rearview mirror. "Keep asking questions—"

"To the right people!"

"—to the right people," he chuckled at the echoing words, "And you'll be thinking by yourself no problems.

"You'll always have your ma and I to help too, kiddo."

What no one had told him was that "always" and "forever" could mean just two years.

That sometimes, sickness came too quickly and undetected to take everything that was good to him. That his father would spiral and make Eddie his new preferred target, and make his life miserable for a whole year before he was arrested.

At least Wayne took him in. Wayne didn't get rid of art supplies in the middle of the night because drawing was something that "only girls did."

Eddie wasn't even interested in boys like that! His father didn't know him very well, in the end. Not like his mom had known him. Not like Wayne still did... Hopefully...

Where was Wayne, anyway? Eddie... Eddie missed his uncle, he knew that, but... Why? What happened?

He was sure he could hear voices somewhere beyond the darkness that surrounded him, but he couldn't reach them.