#like it's obviously such a common thing that a song you associated with a relationship can hurt too much after a breakup

[jakeperalta]

I don't doubt that taylor's happy free smiley self on stage has been real, but at the same time god it takes a lot of strength to be up there singing love songs about someone when you're raw from the breakup :(

[justagirlluckyme]

My thoughts on the Melanie Martinez and Timothy Heller situation as a fan since 2016/2017

When I first become a fan of Melanie Martinez I was around 8-9 years old and incredibly impressionable. I was too young to understand the gravity of the situation and when I saw people like Crow (formally known as Piper Sweeney) defending Melanie I immediately believed it. Looking back, his arguments were incredibly flawed and his main point was “I’m a victim as well and I didn’t react that way to my trauma so Timothy must be lying.” As well as a fake instagram story where Timothy allegedly admitted to lying due to her mental health issues. There’s so much more to the Crow, Melanie, and Timothy situation but that’s for another discussion.

Another common argument I’ve seen is that Timothy must be lying since she doesn’t fit the perfect victim role. She lacks vulnerability, believability, and respectability. The reason many people believe this is because of many racist and fascist posts she’s made below 👇

Got screenshot from TikTok

Naturally, people find it hard to respect or believe someone like this. But, you can be an awful person and a victim of abuse. Obviously, I will never defend Timothy for these posts as they go against every belief I hold as a human being (hopefully everyone’s beliefs), but someone being flawed and not fitting your perfect blameless victim mentality doesn’t mean you can’t be abused. Again, I don’t like or would ever associate with her but she’s still able to be a victim.

When the allegations were first introduced in 2017 I believe, this was Melanie’s response:

The biggest portion people take out of this is “she never said no to what we chose to do together.” The phrasing of this was very very icky to me. It almost felt like a confession because “not saying no” is clearly not consent. Then again, the part where she says “what we chose to do together” part made it seem as if it was a mutual agreement. But, the phrasing was poor so it’s hard to say. Later, Melanie released the song Piggyback on SoundCloud and to me it was in poor taste. She only released it on SoundCloud because “she didn’t want to profit off of 🍇 allegations.” But it felt very unnecessary. Essentially, it felt like a diss track.

Many people say, “why are we brining this to TikTok and not settling this in a court case?” According to the Washington post, “Just 5.7 percent of incidents end in arrest, 0.7 percent result in a felony conviction and 0.6 percent result in incarceration” Now, imagine those odds against a millionaire celebrity with seemingly no proof other than each others words. There’s not much incentive to want to settle things legally. Though I agree, it may have been better to settle things privately but I understand her wanting to be believed.

Another thing I’ve seen against Timothy is she got the dates of the sleepover wrong when asked about it. Regardless of the dates, both Melanie and Timothy agreed the encounter occurred so it really doesn’t seem important when it happened.

“Why would Timothy stay friends with Melanie after it happened and dress up as her?” Everyone responds to trauma differently. It’s not uncommon to stay in relationships with abusers and if you’ve ever listened to other victims stories, it’s actually quite common. Of course, not everyone is going to react the same way and it feels unfair to say “well if I was in that situation I would never do that!” But the truth is, you don’t know. I’ve never been abused in that way so I have no idea how I would react. Everyone responds differently.

I’ve seen many people say “I hope these allegations aren’t true because I’m seeing her live soon!” Or “I’ve spent so much money on merch this better not be true!” And to that I say, this isn’t about you. This isn’t about you or me or anyone else other than Melanie and Timothy. Yes, I’ve bought Mel merch in the past but I feel the money I’ve potentially wasted is not relevant right now. Yes, this is very disappointing as Melanie’s music and art has essentially raised me, but there’s a much bigger problem than things like that.

There’s so much misinformation being spread by both parties defenders it’s hard to say which proof is true or not. At this point, I’m just waiting for Melanie’s response to all this. As of right now, only Melanie and Timothy truly know what happened that night. Unless some new proof comes out, it’s likely we’ll never know the truth. Everything I stated above is just my thoughts on it all. I feel the need to reiterate this, in no way do I endorse or support timothy for all the horrid things she’s said and done! This is a very sticky situation. She has a poor character and if the 🍇 allegations are true, Melanie does as well. All I know is I’d rather believe a potential victim rather than a potential 🍇ist.

If you are an active Melanie supporter and defender I want you to ask yourself this: if Melanie wasn’t famous, you never listened to her music, never bought her merch, never attended a concert of hers, would you be defending her? Don’t let your belief bias cloud your judgement. If she was an average person with these allegations EVERYONE would be on Timothy’s side. “But I know Mel and her music shows her morals, she would never!” You don’t know her at all. You have no relationship with her and if you truly believe you do it’s parasocial.

This is just my 2 cents on the situation. I tried to be as mature and respectful as possible.

I apologize if there’s any typos. I’m writing this at 2 am as I had many opinions I wanted to share as a long time Mel fan. As of right now, I probably won’t stream her music. People say “seperate the art from the artist” but I find that difficult when my streams directly go to her pockets.

If you read this, thank you! If you have any thoughts to share or points I missed feel free to comment. I will be heading to bed now, goodnight :)

[beecreeper]

Yippie new ask list! 13, 21, 26, 30

13.) Does your OC have a rival? How did it start?

Hm. I guess for Briar I would have to say Orin but like. Briar did NOT give Orin the time of day. That rivalry was ENTIRELY all on Orin’s side while Briar ignored Orin completely (which, of course, just infuriated Orin even more).

And I dunno. Neither Molli, Ferox, or Poppy are ambitious enough to have rivals. Molli’s has such nothing self-esteem that her grandest aspiration is “semi-regular tavern performer”, Ferox is like “please i do NOT want attention or praise for anything please but ESPECIALLY not for the things that I am good at (namely reducing people to piles of wet meat). I want to disappear entirely please and thank you”, and Poppy is just chillin’.

I think I might kinda describe Myrala and Nine Fingers as rivals? Kinda? In Myrala’s tav timeline, when she’s living in Baldur’s Gate and trying to do Eilistraee missionary work, Nine Fingers/the Guild keeps popping up in her life and making things difficult by like, recruiting Myrala’s refugees into guild crews or running projection rackets on people that Myrala is trying to help. Nine Fingers also learns that Myrala used to be a very competent thief in her day and keeps trying to recruit her. And Myrala, who is getting REAL disillusioned with failing to substantially help anyone and constantly struggling to make ends meet, is getting REAL close to taking her up on it.

21.)What song best describes their relationship with their enemy?

Answered here!

26.) What flower do you associate your OC with?

Briar:

Ghost pipe! It’s all white because it doesn’t photosynthesize. Instead, it’s a parasite that feeds on fungi!

Molli:

Daisies. Cute and simple and also my personal favorites

Ferox and Myrala:

They both get Forget me nots. Myrala particularly loved any sort of small, weedy common flowers because they were very emblematic to her of the difference between the surface and the underdark and an example of a small, common piece of beauty that you can find literally everywhere as long as your look for it and appreciate it. But forget me nots were her favorite and, accordingly, they were Ferox’s favorite also.

Poppy:

Well duh

30.) My OC and your OC are friends. This isn’t a question. I’m not asking. (How do they respond?)

Okay I know we’ve already established that Briar and Sunflower are somehow inexplicably best friends. Sunflower manages to strike exactly the right balance of being a good influence on Briar without getting on her nerves and (through what I can only imagine as incredibly clutch persuasion rolls) says exactly the right thing to make Briar doubt herself long enough to not kill Isobel, which in turn starts the chain of events leading to “redeemed” Briar. I like how subdued and not obvious their friendship is. Briar is absolutely not acknowledging that they are friends and not acting necessarily acting like it either, but like it or not Sunflower is somehow the closest person in her life. Really extreme black cat / golden retriever energy.

Also obviously Molli and Sunflower would get along really well, jamming as bards together especially and just being chatterboxes.

For Valora I think, out of my OCs, Poppy would get along with her the best. They both got that yolo zest for life, wanderlust, and curiosity. I can imagine Poppy telling stories about all the places she’s traveled and all the people she’s met and Valora just hanging on her every word. Conversely, Poppy would think Valora is just super cool, ESPECIALLY if/when she learns about the whole Bhaalblob thing.

I gotta ruminate more on the all specific dynamics between my ocs and yours but I’m gonna stop here for now lest I keep typing forever.

[faith--in-the-future]

your tags here…yk this is something i’ve been thinking about as well, how louis’ songs often seem to be like they’re written from female perspective and i’ve always found it really interesting also louis talked about something similar as well…it’s probably down to him being around women all his life but also it truly does seem like some of his songs at least are written about a guy and add to it the fact some his songs having queer themes as well…makes you think huh ✍🏻

also i found it really interesting as well when this reactor said that she never was able to connect to male artist before louis because she’s “female identifying person” (9:47-10:10) and i was like…whoa

I'm too much of a girl 😭😭 oh baby louis u were so sweet and innocent shsh

but yeah totally! and I care to make the distinction here that when I say sometimes his lyrics feel like they're written by a woman I mean that bc generally and stereotypically we're used to hearing this kind of feelings/perspective from women, in particular women writing about men, not bc there's an inherent "womanly" or "mainly" way to write, obviously there aren't and probably in the future the 2 will mix more thanks to more musicians like louis but yeah if u look at the popular songs we've always listened to its much more common to find the themes of not being loved enough, begging for someone's love, saying that for long everything u did was for the other person, losing yourself in a toxic relationship, only becoming who you are now after that person left you (ex: "the day you left me was just my beginning" etc) have usually been brought on by women more than by men. also the way he talks about the flaws of the other person (they don't want to share their feelings with him, they try to act like they never feel any pain, they get lost in their pride and become ugly and unkind) are usually things we associate more with men + he differs from most straight male musicians bc he never sexualizes women in any part of his art

obviously nothing is for certain and I'm not trying to prove anything, the only thing that this proves is that louis is a very interesting and innovative songwriter that doesn't follow the usual stereotypes assigned to his gender and I'm sure that's also why he's able to connect with so many women (also could be one of the reasons why he's not taken very seriously in the indie Boys scenes ?? too soft? idk)

also from the post u linked I saw this

baby louis predicted the soft boy era... he was always ahead of his time 😌

[rookflower]

For the opinion ask challenge How Do you feel about Swiftpaw?

sexuality/gender headcanon: never thought about it before. first thing to pop into my head is transmasc and aro/ace and i like that for him, so uh, that I guess?

rating out of 10: 7/10, there's not that much there but i gotta give it to him the guy makes for some great animations so that definitely factors in

fav thing about them: concise but incredibly impactful character arc for what is basically a background character to whom things happen offscreen. congrats of having one of the coolest deaths in the series, pal

least fav thing about them: i don't think there is anything to Actively Dislike about swiftpaw if i'm being honest, so again probably the fact that he's inherently not a very deep character. not necessarily a fault mind you, just limits my attachment a bit.

when i first started liking them: when he died LOL

favourite moment: i feel like this is self-explanatory

fav ship: n/a, don't think he ever really interacts with any unrelated cats in his age group. besides cloudtail i suppose, but uh, i don't ship them.

fav platonic relationship: brightheart! his apprentice/mentor relationship with longtail is also great, at least fanon-wise.

ship i hate: swiftbright.... they are cousins, sorry. i normally wouldn't feel to mention obviously gross non-canon stuff here but feel like this is a weirdly understated fact considering it's probably the most common instance i see of people accidentally shipping closely related cats.

prefer canon or fanon?: fanon! people have gotten some really cool things out of swiftpaw.

random headcanon: i like to think he grew up very close with his cousins cinderpelt/brackenfur/brightheart/thornclaw, due to being a similar age and not having any littermates of his own besides the deceased and dubiously-canon lynxkit. i also like to think he is named after the bird rather than the adjective, but doesn't tell people that because your prefix being a compliment is cool.

unpopular opinion: he shouldn't "have lived". listen, it feels mean to say that about any character who dies prematurely (just as a young adult in swift's case actually, since his ceremony was overdue), and i've seen swiftpaw lives aus that are really cool, but speaking canon-wise? swiftpaw's death IS swiftpaw's character, and if he'd survived happily he'd most likely be a boring background character who dies between books, or something. swiftpaw died for conflict and tragedy thank u swiftpaw

song i associate with them: neighbourhood ii (laika) by arcade fire

favourite map/amv/pmv: these feel like wildly easy picks and i know everyone's seen them already so im sorry. but come onnnn

my cat walked on my keyboard and added this: ff6666666666666666 , so that's her input

[27emailsicantsend]

Here is Ashlyn’s! :)

Favorite thing about them: So this might sound a little like Kourtney’s, but I promise I see them as two very distinct characters. I really love Ashlyn’s ability to unapologetically be herself. She knows herself inside and out and is so willing to go the extra mile if it is for the sake of authenticity. Integrity seems to be a common theme for her throughout the seasons. Kourtney is more about self-discovery whereas Ashlyn is more about knowing who she is already and not letting outside sources shock that system.

Least favorite thing about them: I know a lot of people were “bugged” by her season 3 but honestly she didn’t really bother me. The only time I remember getting frustrated with her was in s2 when Gina was obviously going through something and she had that line “it’s not that serious”. I have heard other people say this before and it is so invalidating. Nothing irks me more than someone thinking because they’re fine, everyone else should be too. Even writing about it now gets me heated 😂

Favorite line(s):

“I sort of forgot the documentary was even coming out *cue smile*”

When she mouths “milking?”

“I got the part! I got Belle! I’m Belle!”

“I suppose you could say that my dating pool got a little bigger… and so did my heart”

“Oh. That’s why.”

“But I think it could be yours, Anna. And you deserve it.”

“But, you know, I’ve always been interested in psychology ever since losing my unborn twin. In prison. DURING A RECESSION”.

Miss Jenn: You’re giving me uncommon depth. Miss Darbus? Ashlyn: “I’m dying. I’m deceased. Yes.” (And then her parallel to this in 3x5)

OTP: equally Redlyn and Madlyn

nOTP: Ashlyn and Val

brOTP: Ashlyn and EJ

Something I expect from them season 4 (if applicable): I talked about this before, but I very much could see the show going in a “Ashlyn accepting herself/queerness” s4 type of vibe. I think she and Red could break up so she discovers herself, but Maddox takes that as Ashlyn wanting to get with her. So Ashlyn is like “I meant time for myself… play the field ya know” but the whole season ends up being Ashlyn not being good at playing the field and Maddox pining/always being there for her. So then the last episode we either get Madlyn endgame or Ashlyn accepting herself/pursuing single life and hinting towards a future of them as endgame.

Random Headcanon: When Ashlyn comes back from CSL, she tells Red that she’s queer and then they spend the majority of their time checking out boys and girls together (with Red’s uncanny lip reading)

Unpopular Opinion: I love Redlyn and Madlyn equally. I think they both could be good endgames and I would have been happy with the show going either way.

Song I associate with them: “Home” from Beauty and the Beast. I know it’s technically in the show, but I was listening to a Broadway version of it and all I could think of was Ashlyn Caswell. That performance could have won Emmy’s it was so well done. I sob in that scene every time (especially her just hugging Gina without any words, but those unspoken words were enough to redeem their relationship… TEARS)

Favorite picture of them: she’s literally so pretty how could I choose just one 🥹

[usuallyrated2stars]

Raph and Mikey's relationship as "Happiness" by Hobo Johnson.

Hear me out.

Before anyone misinterprets this at all, I will say that I got this idea 5% from my own personal projection, 30% from popular fanfiction, and 65% actual canon. If something seems to be a stretch, it's probably because of that small 35%.

Okay, the song describes the guy realizing that he hurt someone who is naturally talented and is going to live a great life and do things that will greatly surpass him. The twist is that the guy is happy that they will because he still very much cares for and loves this person, and this causes him to reflect on how desolate his own existence is.

In comes Mikey. Mikey is shown to, while not having obvious shows of brilliance like Donnie or the around-the-clock leadership capabilities like Leo, still be incredibly talented. He is the most natural potential according to Splinter, he is quite agile, can adapt well in stressful situations like Dimension X, can calm down or bring up the people around him, creative, DOES have moments of great intelligence, has likely saved his family when all hope was lost more times than I count, the list goes on. However, these things are hard to see if you aren't constantly forced to look past the inattentiveness, hyperactivity, and "stupidity".

In comes Raph. Alongside Mikey, there is a common theme of the negative traits overshadowing the good, but with Raph it is so much worse. His negative traits almost completely define who he is and what he's known as, the angry one. He has explosive anger, is more impulsive, prone to violence, is less than soft with emotions, is usually in the wrong in situations, doesn't possess moments of intelligence like Donnie, not to mention he's always second place to 'almighty Leo', and don't get him started on 'cute, perfect Mikey'. While his teasing and roughhousing with his brothers should NOT be associated with his feelings of anger, jealousy, and inadequacy since they are NOT the reason he does that (obviously it's just a sibling thing), they can still be associated. (Look at the "angry planet makes angry people" episode)

Either way, this is not an analysis on that so I'm moving on. Mikey is seen to be the most teased by Raph. There is roughhousing and mocking (ONCE AGAIN IT IS OF SIBLING VARIETY I AIN'T NO RAPH BASHER) between them the most, a guy who likely only sees the bad in himself and a guy who is so jam packed with potential to do amazing things. Imagine Raph playing around with Mikey and quickly having a quiet realization that the little brother he is messing with has that much talent. That he has so many more positive traits that Raph just can't find in himself. That he's made fun of so many of Mikey's ideas/warnings that ended up being great/true.

He reflects on how Mikey is compared to himself, and sees nothing really good. Raph is really, truly happy and loves Mikey to death, he believes that Mikey deserves the absolute world. He knows that he can do it. But what about himself?

Raph just hurts others and himself. He's loyal, sure, but it's shown to be to a fault on multiple occasions. He's a good fighter, sure, but Leo will probably always be better. He's a protector, sure, but when he succeeds he is labeled as impulsive and unthinking, and when he fails his brothers get extremely hurt and thrown into comas. There's always gotta be something wrong with him and it's a pit that he thinks he's not getting out of, since he's already tried so many times before. I'm never gonna change, I'll probably get way worse, at best stay the same.

He continues to tease Mikey anyway, maybe even more, with this revelation. Anything to distract himself from the impending dread of this thoughts, but all it ends up doing is providing his brain with more ammunition on how he's such a bad brother and that when Mikey finally leaves his 'abusive' grasp then he'll go on to be happier without them, or him. Raph really hopes that he'll find happiness.

((Bonus for comfort: Mikey finds out about this and reassures Raph that he wouldn't be here today without him, that there is so much good and talent that Raph has as well, and that Mikey's not hogging it all. They both tell each other that they'd rather die than live without the other.))

(Listen to the song!! Very tasty (: There are some things I didn't talk about in the post because I went :P halfway, please listen to it!! Adds context!!)

(Also if you hate me now because of my very crappy analysis/comparison post, please tell me in case I completely missed a mark/srs)

[gatheryourships]

I mean... Yeah, that's true, lol. I'm just a bit embarrassed I don't have my character figured out as much as you and others is all. Although part of that is that I haven't spent much time thinking about her. But I think you've inspired (and certainly encouraged!) me to not just think but write more about her. Thanks for that btw! <3

Lmao, ain't it just? Hahaha. That's true. But her mom is just trying to make sure her daughter is set up and okay. She's just trying to be good mom. And as far as anyone there is concerned, who realistically expects a fellow commoner from their hometown to become a huge, well-known hero known across the land? Literally no one. And it's because of idolizing heroes from stories meant for children that she's even like that to begin with. It's a grown woman still clinging onto childhood in their eyes, not a future Hero of Faerûn.

Oh, nonono. Not an arranged marriage. Just the normal "Hey, it's time to find someone and settle down with. Just make sure they're good and responsible and hopefully already have a job of some sort (like a farm or a profitable profession of some sort)."

It only sounds that way because I have so little I've fleshed out for her and the dad thing I had only come up with the previous bit I wrote before scrapping it and starting all over again. Also, I was very tired, lmao. I promise she has a good relationship with her mom. It's just buried under all that busy house work. 😂

Yeah, and also I can't help with tragic drama, lol. But, more importantly, she can't be a hero yet. Not before BG3 events. 😉 I also wanted her to be a bit wet behind the ears, so to speak, hero-wise at the start of BG3 events. She's just a woman with a sword, who only knows how to use it in a basic sense. Barely has any experience at all. And through BG3 events better learns not just how to use her sword but how to be "hero".

That and I really liked the connecting theme of using I Want To Live (the song everyone lowkey associates with Astarion) with her via the playlist I made for her. A "nice" little low moment, where she feels alone and hopeless in comparison to later when she's in a(n actual) relationship with Astarion. Two people's own loneliness and helplessness coming together in solidarity and companionship.

Oh. Um- Yes. Lol. There's a couple main ones for her set within the game's story. And then there's plenty that... well, aren't. 😂 Not entirely sure within all of them if they're exactly her, but close enough they count I suppose. I'll talk about the two main ones here. (If I don't scare you off by horrible and dark they are lmao, oof.) But let me know if you want to hear the other, many AU ideas I have that I will probably write one day (maybe in another millennium or two lol).

The first is obviously Durge!Rosenna. Resisting Durge, of course. I imagine it’s pretty similar to main Rose. Grew up pretty similar, wanting to be a hero, all that. Albeit with a slight, ever growing dark bloodthirsty edge to it all. Gets in a fight with her mother. Leaves. The same.

When she wakes up, on the mindflayer ship, she barely remembers herself. And with a little bit of time that’s all she remembers. Fight with her mother and going to leave. Except as she learns/remembers later is that in her anger she let her dark urge completely consume her. And she went wild. Basically if anyone were to ask about that little hamlet today, it doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a complete ghost town.

From there she went to Baldur’s Gate like she always planned and instead of a hero’s path instead leaned further into her dark urge and Bhaal, eventually teaming up with the other two Dead Three avatars. It’s not until BG3 events she gets mentally knocked back to a morally good, wanting to be a hero version of herself again that things change, thankfully for the better - for her and for everyone else.

The second is spawn!Rosenna. Part of my role reversal AU for her and Astarion, where Rose is the vampire spawn and Astarion (not a vampire spawn, literally just a normal elf - not pale, at least not abnormally pale lmao) is a hero/adventurer type. Think a mix of British Victorian vibes/looks mixed with a Spanish roguish swordbuckler.

Rose has the same backstory (again lmao), except that was 200 years ago. She went to Baldur’s Gate to be a hero and took a job that ended up turning into rabbit hole of one thing after another. Which lead her… straight to Cazador. About to unravel his plans and ultimately possibly reveal him as a vampire (she hadn’t quite gotten there yet, but was quickly getting to that point), he knew he had to deal with her. And with her little rabbit hole adventure, he realized how clever and smart she was (aka: useful). Also, what’s more cruel than to turn a hero into a monster themselves, the very thing they live to fight and destroy.

Instead of a more suave, sex-forward approach like main game Astarion does, she goes for a more innocent, demure (almost romantic) approach. (I suppose a better way to explain it is instead of masquerading as a tempting seductress, she pretends to be an innocent, inexperienced pure maiden instead.) Which our wanna be big hero Astarion unfortunately falls head over heels for when she pulls it on him in order to assure her safety with him and the group. (A Hero and his poor damsel in distress! The story writes itself! …doesn’t it? 😒) (In fairness, this version of him is literally 39. He doesn’t have the 200 years of trauma and distrust he learned from it all. Instead, Rose has that.)

Also, something I realized the other day, was that I had accidentally created a perfect, heartbreaking parallel theme between the two. The wanna-be Hero and the folk hero who’s live was taken too soon and never became the Hero she wanted to be. Where as time goes on, Rose finds herself not just caring for Astarion but trying to warn him against such a path he’s so determined to take. But in turn it helps teach Astarion how to become not only a better person himself but a better hero. And maybe who knows, maybe she ends up being a Hero after all. Even after BG3 events. 😉😭💖

So, because @gunslingerorchid asked, here's a post about my self-insert Tav, Rosenna.

-

I’ll be honest I don’t have a whole lot about her fleshed out. And even trying to write this up for you, so much got changed and rewritten a number of times, and even this response is a complete start over from the very long and honestly confused lore bit I wrote.

Basically what I wrote for the fake BG3 intro post I reblogged on here is pretty much all I got, lmao. But I’ll try to give some more info, as much as I got nailed down right now. Maybe some more that’s not so concrete yet either.

Um, so. Rosenna is an only child, born and raised by a farmer and his wife (last name undetermined) in a little hamlet (also name undetermined) located along the Chionthar river a little ways down from Baldur’s Gate.

Right around that little nook maybe, where the red dot is. I still haven’t decided which side of the river it’s on. But around that area. So that’s it’s between the Fields of the Dead and the Woods of Sharp Teeth.

Rose (for short) lived a nice, little life with her parents. Helped her mom with house chores and what not as commoner daughters do. Also helped her dad a little with the farm - probably a bit less common for daughter to do, but eh. She likes helping and only doing house chores drove her crazy. And it’s something different so she was fine with it, despite getting a little dirty sometimes because of it. Also it was spending time with dad, so… That’s nice. xD

From a young age, Rose had been immersed with stories about heroes. Not necessarily intentionally mind you. Just parents telling their kid stories, censored versions of course. And from there, as she grew up, just got into reading stories about heroes herself.

And between having a good, kind, caring heart and just being a feisty, determined woman who only wants to do right she naturally felt an inclination towards such a life.

However… her mother had another plans for her. Not out of ill-will, just normal life plans that a commoner daughter would typically live. Help her mother until she (Rose) found someone to marry, which her parents were starting to push that onto her, except Rose didn’t have much interest in that. (Yet, anyways. Hero thing first, romance later possibly, ya know.)

What Rose did have an interest in was going to the docks and rubbing shoulders with people who came from Baldur’s Gate and even elsewhere afar, wanting to hear real stories of adventures and journeys from real people that they’ve had, especially recently.

Now it’s here where I’m unsure whether to spin it off as how she picked up some sense of handling a sword. One way is that because going to the docks and rubbing shoulders with strangers is obviously a terrible, dangerous thing to do and her father (and mother) become worried for her and so her father (who’s also maybe part of the citizen militia for the little hamlet - no standing army) decides to teach her (in secret/aka behind mom’s back) so she stops trying to go to the docks (and possibly end up kidnapped or worse one day). Fun, nice, gets interaction with her dad. But like, I just realized it’s the same as the other self-insert for another character I like/liked. So, since I’m already doing that plotline with another character, I’ll probably go with the second option then lmao.

The other one was an idea I had before but was unsure about it (then not now) where she does meet someone from the docks. Not a romantic interest, but thankfully a friendly and honorably decent person. He obviously realized that she’s young (20s, since I didn’t mention that before) and a bit starry-eyed, but she means well and was looking for more in her life, more than this little hamlet could give her. He befriended her and indulged her in giving her stories of his travels and interesting little adventures and happenings he found himself in every time he came into town (only ever stopping by, as did anyone else whoever found themselves at the docks there). Eventually, he himself buys her a sword and trains her how to use it.

From there to BG3 events however… One day it’s too much. Rose’s reckless immaturity has become too much for her mother. So Rose and her mother got in an argument. Her mother had not been oblivious to Rose and her love of heroes, but had hoped that Rose would grow out of it as she got older (she didn’t, it only grew stronger). And enough was enough. It was time to be a grown woman, look for a partner, and settle down and become not just a wife but mother herself. To say Rose was unhappy about this would be a completely understatement. After a yelling match with her mother, Rose quickly packed some things (including her stashed away secret sword) and left home. She got on the first ship to Baldur’s Gate and that was that.

For a year, Rose tried her best there. She got jobs. But they weren’t great. Didn’t pay great. By the end of it, things were… pretty bleak, mentally speaking for Rose. (In my playlist, as confused as it is with this summarization of character, I literally have The Parting Glass (Walking Dead version) followed by the instrumental version of I Want to Live from BG3. I think that says plenty.)

The next morning as she’s going about town is when the mindflayers come and she gets unfortunately (or technically speaking, quite fortunately) snatched up. (Only way to become a hero is go on a crazy adventure right? 😉)

[princesssarisa]

Character ask: Tattercoats

Favorite Thing About Them: I like that she's a Cinderella character who has a real relationship with her "fairy godfather" figure, the Gooseherd. People always ask "Why doesn't Cinderella's fairy godmother come to her sooner?" Well, in this variant, her helper is there from the beginning, and is her best friend. Presumably he waited to use his magic until it could help her in the best possible way, but in the meantime, she has his emotional support all along.

I also love the idea of a magic flute's music being used to transform her rags into a ballgown. Maybe it's my attachment to the opera The Magic Flute that makes me particularly enjoy it, but I think that's a very charming and creative form of magic for a Cinderella type of story to use.

Least Favorite Thing About Them: That she has to be bullied by the household servants as well as neglected in rags by her grandfather, poor thing. Most Cinderella retellings that have actual servants in the house portray them as being good friends to Cinderella, just powerless to stop her abuse (e.g. in Three Wishes for Cinderella or Ever After). It's horrible that these servants are so cruel instead.

Three Things I Have In Common With Them:

I like music.

I like elegant parties.

I think geese are nice birds.

Three Things I Don't Have In Common With Them:

I'm not blonde.

I'm not an orphan.

My grandparents all adored me when they were alive.

Favorite Line:

When the Prince first declares his love for her:

"You would be finely put to shame if you had a goosegirl for your wife! Go and ask one of the great ladies you will see tonight at the king's ball, and do not flout poor Tattercoats."

brOTP: The Gooseherd and the Nurse. In crossover-land, she might obviously be good friends with Cinderella, Donkeyskin, or any other rags-to-riches heroine.

OTP: The Prince.

nOTP: Her grandfather.

Random Headcanon: After her mother died in childbirth, her distraught grandfather blamed her father as well as her, and he either killed him in an insane fit of rage, or else her father left because he was afraid that would happen. This is why he isn't around.

Unpopular Opinion: Her story deserves to be adapted more often. I understand why it's not, because it's so similar to Cinderella, but it has great potential. In the first place, because the magical helper isn't just a deus ex machina, but Tattercoats's best friend whom she has a close relationship with from the start. Secondly, because a grandfather's scorn could be even more painful and poignant than a stepmother's. Third, because the Prince meets and falls in love with Tattercoats in her rags before the ball – so many Cinderella retellings change the story to make this happen, but here it already does.

Song I Associate With Them: None at the moment.

Favorite Picture of Them:

This illustration by Arthur Rackham:

This illustration by John D. Batten:

This book cover illustration by Margaret Chamberlain (my fifth grade teacher had this book in her collection of Cinderella variations rom around the world):

This illustration by Margaret Tomes:

This illustration by Shirley Hughes:

This illustration by an unknown artist:

[witchthewriter]

hey again!! i hope you’ve been doing good, it’s always a joy seeing your writing on my dashboard. i was wondering if i could participate in the ship event?

fandoms : mcu, grishaverse, stranger things

a little about me! : i define myself as queer (attracted to whoever basically, regardless of gender or whatever) and asexual, and i use any pronouns. 

my mbti type is enfp, and i’m a libra if that helps any <3

i’m pretty outgoing! i like talking to people, i just suck at small talk lmao. apparently i come off like i’m flirting with people a lot of the time whoops-

shitty jokes are my jam. i have a mix of 13 year old boy and grandpa humour.

i’m creative but work in sporadic bursts, i’ll do nothing all day but then bust out a painted jacket because i get a surge of energy at one in the morning

big fan of organized chaos, my room is kind of cluttered but i know where everything is. i’ve got a personal vendetta against minimalism

i love making stuff for people and giving them gifts! it’s my love language lmao

i kickbox and do mma, i like the contrast of me having bright pink hair but being able to kick ass ahsgdgg

i also play bass and guitar! can’t sing for shit though

dream job is either as a freelance illustrator or museum curator. something that i’ll enjoy but will still give me time to myself. my idea of hell is having an office job

Want one? Here be the rules 🦋

I actually literally want to be your best friend. You are CHAOS PERSONIFIED and I love it. I really hope you enjoy your ships <3 message me whenever!!!

What the ships have in common:

⋆ They’re lively/outgoing  ⋆ Fun-loving ⋆ Chaotic ⋆ Interesting ⋆ They literally ARE the party / scene/show stealing

𝐌𝐂𝐔/𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥

𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

I ship you with Valkyrie! (Pls keep in mind I haven’t seen the recent Thor movie so if things don’t make sense ... idk man, I guess they’ll just not make sense ;) ) 

I think you would be absolutely brilliant together. Valkyrie would not shy away from you at all; you would make her life even more exciting (which is hard to do btw). I think people would be incredibly intimidated by the both of you too. 

𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠

・Pick each other’s outfits. I think you two would be ICONS. Like seriously. 

・You know she has responsibilities and duties, but she juggles them really well. 

・She likes to call you really over the top names, like ‘sugar bun,’ ‘sweet cheeks,’ ‘bunny boo.’ She likes embarrassing you

・You two love sparring with each other. Both very competitive and are always trying to one up each other. 

・She likes slow dancing with you thought - look up the song, ‘I’m Kissing You’ by Des’ree. It’s literally your guys’ song.

𝐆𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐞

𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 

I ship you with Jesper Fahey! (And don’t worry, I looked up his sexuality and he’s bisexual.) 

 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠

・When he first laid eyes on you, his breath hitched. Even in the Grishaverse you found a way to go against the crowd. 

・Relationship tropes: ‘chaotic duo,’ ‘something usually breaks wherever you too go,’ ‘aggressively supportive.’

・I do feel as if there is angst in this relationship - especially at the beginning. You would see Jesper as this playboy who wouldn’t even notice you. But he thought you hated him. Obviously that wasn’t the case. Not unti lnej was like ‘pull your head out of your asses guys c’mon.’ 

・Wants you to feel as included in the gang as possible. You were probably hired as Kaz’s bodyguard due to your training. That’s how you’re associated. 

・You become a part of the inner circle; it’s Kaz, Inek, Jesper & you. 

𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬

𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 

I ship you with THE Eddie Munson <3 absolute king. Okay, so just like with Jesper, you two would be absolute chaos. Just shenanigans outright wherever you go. I definitely think you and Eddie would be a more traditional couple. In the sense that ... it makes sense you’re together. You’re very similar personality wise. 

 𝐻𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑛𝑠

・Met at your job; you worked in a record shop and Eddie was a regular there. Obviously you knew the rumours about him; his ‘devil worshipping’ and one day you decided to ask him about it... 

   “Summoned any demons lately, Eddie?” You asked casually. 

“Ugh - what was that sweetheart?” He looked at you with his eyebrows raised, one arm on the counter, the other reaching for his tapes. 

   “You know, with your satanic worship and such...” You trailed off, and gave him a cheeky smile. 

“Oh definitely. I was going to ask him about my homework question.” 

・You guys are really cheeky with each other; constantly flirting, until one day one of your friends was in the store as well and asked if you guys were together. 

“What...” you looked at Eddie, and suddenly an idea came into mind. 

“Yeah, how’d you find out?” You looked at your friend with a comical expression; eyebrows raised, eyes wide. 

  Eddie played along, after all he did have a secret crush on you ... 

“I think she might be my soulmate,” Eddie said breathlessly, taking you into his arms and pressing your head to his chest (forcefully it was all very very dramatic.) 

・And when your friend had to go, you said: “why don’t we hang out ... you know ... a date ...” 

    He was shocked. 

And immediately said yes, but tried to play it cool. “I mean ... I guess ... I’ll check my schedule.” 

・I could literally talk about you two all day. You’re so easy to write about - I think the gang would know you previously because you work in such a popular store. 

・You would be great friends with literally everyone. You’re so outgoing and they all love you so much. You teach Max how to defend herself, you talk to Lucas about basketball, Dustin literally has a crush on you etc. 

[noys-boise]

Character ask game luz toh

favorite thing about them: she's such good neurodivergent representation, I love the way her brain works it reminds me of myself. Also her love for cats.

least favorite thing about them: she's way too hard on herself, like girl this entire oppressive system belos built up is NOT the result of you stumbling into him in the past one day I promise 😭

favorite line: "I'm not a witch, but I'm training hard to be one" from back in season 1 still lives in my mind rent free

brOTP: with Hunter. I love that Luz was the one who kickstarted his redemption and basically just adopted him in Thanks to them. Adorable.

OTP: i mean is it really a question? It's pretty obvious. They have perfect chemistry, their relationship was built up beautifully, they're such a good portrayal of a genuinely healthy relationship, they bonded over common interests... I'm talking about the hot guy from season 1 episode 2 of course (it's lumity obviously)

nOTP: like. Anything that's not lumity.

random headcanon: she definitely had a cat at one point. Had a phase when she was just obsessed with the moon for no reason (not because I'm in that phase rn). Also binge watched all of She-ra 2018 in a week max once

unpopular opinion: idk what to say here can't think of any

song associate with them: Ordinary is probably cheating so I'll say lately I listened to Words fail from Dear Evan Hansen because shuffle said so and it made me think of Luz

favorite picture of them:

This outfit gives me gender envy that's all

[sizzlingpatrolfox]

it’s kind of bizarre to see people tweeting free jungkook as if he’s not a grown man that makes his own decisions about who he associates with. What are you gonna free him from? Himself? 💀 Jay Park is extremely problematic caption was odd but jungkook didn’t seem to have a problem with it when he reposted it to his story so I’m not sure why army is up in arms on Twitter acting like jungkook was held hostage against his will. I know a lot of people are joking around about it but there are some people that are genuinely serious

We cant know if his friendships are meaningful to him or not though can we? It all can be for his standard of connection. And yugyeom has been a common factor linking jk with all these problematic friendships and they’ve been friends since forever too so obviously they are close (they have a huge ass matching tattoo even) Maybe people should just come to terms that jk does align with these kinda ppl in the way he thinks. Most of what he has been doing is somewhat questionable for awhile now and this is him being restricted a lot by the company. (with extra protection against any rumours to come out too yet there are still some tea from ppl with common info on the companies he likes to hang with etc.) I hope you’ll post this as i’m not throwing hate around or anything, ppl need to be open to real critical thinking. I keep seeing armies or jk fans making excuses or jokes about jk’s own obvious decision to hang out with that racist trash in the man’s studio when the kinda ppl he links with mostly have been these kinda problematic folks which is a pattern and not a coincidence anymore. He’s a grown ass man i wish fans would just stop making excuses for every distasteful thing they see. And it’s beyond me that despite being uncomfortable most are saying omg no jk doesnt know lol as if, he just don’t care is all. I don’t understand all this selective blindness anymore.

---

First of all, this morning when I woke up I remembered last year after muster I said a lot of times that JK was channeling Jay Park with the way he acts and looks and I laughed a bit. Those comments are probably still out there on the blogs I said it. Maybe it was foreshadowing.

Army is so ridiculous, honestly. While reading the quote retweets of an update account about Jay Park's instagram post, one person said something like "we're here fighting and cursing these people while they're over there actually being friends with them" and it's so real. It's what I always thought, too. Not only about fanwars but also shipwars. You're "fighting" for and trying to prove jikook's relationship only for JK to ignore Jimin and the next second go and hug Taehyung. FOR YEARS armys have been cursing and hating on Blackpink, forgetting that Jungkook used to dance all their choreos and sing his lungs out to their songs at award shows; then Taehyung literally goes and follows Jennie lmao. Twitter is not real life. I think fighting is sometimes funny lolllll but people should learn that it doesn't have any effect on BTS themselves. They're still gonna be friends with people you hate, they're still gonna do things you don't like, say things you don't agree with, etc. They were sending death threats to James Corden for -rightfully- calling them 15 year olds and then BTS were hugging him and going to his show and laughing with him. Billboard has shaded BTS lots of time, even to the point of being racist and they're still working with them. They do not care T_T and armys should stop thinking that they care as much as they do.

Jay Park used the hashtag and laughed about it, it's what he does . He does controversial shit that people gets angry about and discuss on social media and then he laughs about it, he's done it lots of time. I don't know if Jungkook knows that, he probably does tbh but I don't think he cares.

As for the other ask, it's a more delicate topic and I might say some things that maybe some people won't like but the truth is that not everyone has polarizing positions about politics. This doesn't make someone a bad person, it just makes them neutral and other stuff that I'm not sure how to say in English. Jungkook himself is not a polarizing person at all, he's not someone who goes 100% this way or the other, he's always been so neutral about a lof of things. Jungkook is not a racist, but him being friends with, working with, liking people who have done racist things or said racist stuff is just because it doesn't actually damage him. He's not black, he's not muslim. If he knows, he obviously doesn't feel hurt by Jay Park's comments about BTS, which is something that touches him and is personal to him, why would he -or any BTS member- feel hurt about JP doing cultural appropiation. This is not only about JK tho, it's about so many other idols too and BTS as a whole and just about people in general. It's also cultural. Like for example, Koreans are extremely colorist; even BTS are scared of getting tanned and have made unnecessary comments about their skin getting darker during Bon Voyage. Idols say colorists comments all the time, and they don't see anything wrong about it, it's normal for them, it's what they're used to. It doesn't mean they actually hate black/brown people, it's just that they don't have the same polarizing stances about being politically wrong or right. In our everyday life I'm sure all of us have family members, friends, acquaintances that make distateful almost hateful comments and we don't completely cut them off of our lives. Seeing it from the outside, it's easier to say "this is wrong, this is right" but when you're actually in real life, inserted in a particular cultural context, in a particular socialeconomic class, things are not as black and white. I saw korean armys asking why does the international side hate Jay Park... I saw JK solos saying that Jay Park is extremely popular and loved in Korea, and they are right; the man recently collabd with IU. They have no idea, and even if they've seen or heard about him and his racist, misogynistic tendencies, they don't care because it's not that big of a deal to them. The things that are bad for westerners, are not as bad for them. The same as maybe xenophobia or racism against asians would never feel as bad for black people as it feels for asian people. And the same with a lot of other things; transphobia would never feel as bad for a cis person even if they're queer too, etc. You might understand it, empathize with the problematic, stand up against it, but it's hard to have deep, polarizing feelings or emotions about something that you don't actually experience firsthand.

As much as army likes thinking that BTS are sooo into politics and activism, they are not. BTS are not activists. They are respectful and mindful of other cultures, they are not hateful or bigoted but they're also not the SJW that people have convinced themselves they are.

Also it's true that we don't know if they are actually close friends or just acquaintances, working together, or what. But Jay Park is literally the kind of guy that Jungkook has been hanging out with since 2019, it's the kind of guy that Jungkook looks like, too. They are so similar in an ~aesthetic sense, Jay Park does music that Jungkook loves. I am really not surprised that JK seeked him out to hang out with him. That's the vibe of the people he likes. That's pretty much Jungkook's own vibes right now. I don't think he cares a lot about Jay Park being kind of a dick as long as he's nice to him, honestly. I don't buy also that JK "doesn't know". That's why I'm inclined to believe that he doesn't really have deep important relationships with a lot of the people he hangs out with. I feel like I'm repeating myself but yeah, again, JK doesn't seem like the type to see things in black or white, to stand up for or against something completely.

I'm not making excuses for Jay Park, I really don't like him, but personally it doesn't change what I think of JK or at least it doesn't make me dislike him. Yeah I think he doesn't care and that's, uncomfortable at best but it is what it is. I never thought BTS were neck deep into activism or political rightfulness. What I'm trying to say is that idols, BTS, Jungkook, are not as "woke" as a lot of armys think they are, and I personally don't think that makes them bad people.

[shihalyfie]

Takeru’s character song “Focus”

I alluded to this in a prior post (and, to be a bit honest about it, was a little concerned about how it would be received), but I had some friends ask about what I meant about this, so I decided to go more into detail with it! This is also partially in light of the occasion of the Best Partner albums also becoming a topic of interest again, so it feels like a good time as ever!

02 was a pretty prolific time for merchandising and side material as far as the franchise goes, and one of the many things that came out of it was the “Best Partner” series of character song albums (a whole 36 songs for all 12 Adventure and 02 kids plus their partners!). Of these, Takeru’s song “Focus” has been a particular topic of interest for many in the fanbase to its suspiciously loaded language and the fact that, well...it comes off as a romantic song, which is very unusual in a series that infamously didn’t touch on the topic of romance very much in terms of the actual series. Speculation has constantly abounded on what it’s supposed to imply, why it’s written this way, and what it could possibly mean...

But if you look at it closely? It’s probably not meant to be romantic, and it most likely refers to Patamon.

One thing that I do need to point out is context. Many who have been cynical about the song’s alleged romantic implications have generally put forth the idea that the music department was technically separate from the anime staff, so it’s possible that the music staff wanted to bait or provoke fanservice without much connection from the anime production. It is, undoubtedly, true that the music department isn’t necessarily fully tied in with the anime department, and has been fully willing to indulge in questionably-canon silliness (while 02′s Christmas Fantasy is certainly in-character, its placement in actual canon timeline has to be finagled with because of what we know about 02′s actual Christmas, and Tamers’s Christmas Illusion is far more comedic than the series itself actually permits), and, exacerbating this further is the fact that Hikari has her own extremely romantically loaded song, Reflection, which is often submitted as evidence that Focus must be made in the same vein, but tends to omit the fact that the album it comes from (Girls Festival) needs to be taken with a very heavy grain of salt given that it’s a notorious fanservice album that deliberately plays up the “maiden-like” characteristics of all of the girls involved for the sake of, ah, a certain subsection of the audience. (It was also made in 2002, long after 02′s production had ended.)

The notable thing about the Best Partner albums is that all of the material on it is extremely in-character, and this is especially notable because the song lyrics are significantly more obviously relevant to each character in 02 and their relationship with their partner than even the original Adventure character songs were (with said Adventure character songs often toeing into rather vague glosses that are only tangentially relevant to each character, and Mimi’s song on there pretty blatantly being an AiM single shoved onto the album for the sake of being called a Mimi song). Moreover, Focus isn’t just written by some random lyricist they grabbed for it, but regular Digimon lyricist Yamada Hiroshi himself, who was very involved in the anime production in terms of writing 02′s inserts Break up! and Beat Hit!, and, considering everything this series is about, you’d imagine he’d probably have been given some kind of details about what to do with Takeru’s representative song. It would be quite strange if, for some reason, Takeru’s song were the only one to go really off the rails about shipping bait instead of being, well, actually about his character arc. 

I should emphasize that the fact that this song is so commonly read as romantic persists in Japan as well, so whether it was via mishap or not, undeniably, the way the lyrics are phrased definitely make the romantic reading a very reasonable one to pull. The language in the song is extremely “loaded”, and, if it weren’t for the unique circumstances I’m about to describe, most reasonable people can’t really be blamed for taking it this way. However, I will say that all of the most common English translations of various parts of the songs have tended to assume the romantic interpretation as well, and have thus followed up with it by definitively translating it in ways that make it near impossible to read otherwise. So what I’m saying here is that I don’t think it was unreasonable for people to have taken the romantic interpretation, and I don’t particularly intend to blame or criticize the translators who handled this song for also taking it this way, but I also want to make clear that this is not the only way to read the song, and that there’s a very high possibility that this wasn’t the case to begin with.

(Also, since I mentioned Yamada Hiroshi earlier: it’s actually not all that uncommon for him to use heavily-loaded language like this in songs he’s written for the series -- refer to Beat Hit! -- it’s just that people haven’t traditionally taken them as shipping because the context and identity of the songs’ topic matters were so obvious that there wasn’t much need to do speculation about it.)

Let’s take a look into all of the parts of the song that have been traditionally taken as romantic:

"We were together since we were little”

One thing that’s interesting about how this line is phrased in Japanese is that it doesn’t actually specify who was little. And, obviously, if you’re talking about a relationship between humans, you’d think that childhood friends would grow up together, so you’d default to “we”...but, actually, the Japanese text doesn’t rule out the possibility of reading this as “since I was little”. Which means that, yes, Patamon isn’t out of the ruling here -- because, indeed, they met when Takeru was young.

In fact, this actually is a line that arguably should rule out anyone else, especially including the most common speculated topic for this song, Hikari -- because he and Hikari weren’t actually that close during Adventure, and their time “together” was relatively short compared to the rest of the adventure. Remember that the Adventure kids weren’t very close to each other after the events of the series, and Hikari and Takeru didn’t keep close contact between Adventure and 02 -- contrast Patamon being close to Takeru during the entirety of the series, and, bar their periods of disconnect between Adventure and 02, you could say that he’s been the closest to Takeru since this time, especially since Yamato hadn’t been able to be as present for him as he’d wanted.

"Running, rolling around, and always laughing"

Again, this is a line that practically excludes nearly anyone else from consideration. Nobody ever did this with Takeru in Adventure but Patamon, especially since Takeru was trying to present himself as a well-behaved kid in the presence of his elders, and it’s entirely possible he wouldn’t have been willing to do this with anyone else but the outwardly childish Patamon. It definitely would not have been Hikari, who was arguably even more reserved than him during this time.

“It would have been better if I hadn’t realized”/“I have a lot of things I want to tell you, but I can’t really say it”/“I can’t ask that”

Sentiments like “I can’t admit it”, or difficulty with accepting one’s own feelings, is usually associated with developing romantic feelings for another person and being touchy about admitting them, but the thing is that this is intended to be a representative character song, and Takeru is actually abysmally bad at admitting anything in general. And yes, that includes not being able to be straightforward with Patamon himself about parsing his trauma over his death.

Takeru was never able to have a straightforward conversation with even Patamon about the whole issue, because of his nasty habit of never opening up about his problems and never being honest about them. That’s why Iori had to be the one to take matters into his own hands and go out of his way to understand Takeru, because Takeru sure as hell wasn’t going to be able to work through this on his own, or even with Patamon.

“I can’t get you off my mind”

This one’s actually a stock phrase in Japanese that can refer to “being interested” in someone (romantically), but can also refer to something just not really being able to leave your head in general (from being bothered by it, or being very worried). So yes, this could mean anything from a romantic fixation...to simply being constantly worried and concerned about one’s welfare.

“You were always crying”

As far as people around Takeru’s periphery who apparently cried a lot goes, there aren’t a lot! The description doesn’t seem to fit Hikari much, either (she had her moments, but it’s not the kind of thing you’d imagine this kind of extreme descriptor for). Hm, but there is someone who might fit that description...

Certainly, enough that Takeru would remember.

(By the way, Patamon gets sent on the verge of tears in the middle of his own solo song...)

"The door that I couldn't reach that day, no matter how far I stretched out"

Very important part here: that day. There was a very important “day” that seems to be on Takeru’s mind here. What’s repeatedly referred to in 02 as one of the most traumatic and impactful days of Takeru’s life?

Incidentally, Takeru and Patamon’s duet song for this album also just so happens to use “opening door” imagery...

“You’re now standing in the light”

That use of “light” is usually submitted as evidence that it’s referring to Hikari via a pun on her name, but, well, “light” does happen to just mean “light”, after all (and it’s used in many contexts that don’t necessarily have to refer to Hikari in 02 itself). And, well...

Pretty apt description there, no?

"We were always being protected"

It could refer to Hikari, or anyone else Takeru was with during Adventure, but remember that Patamon was always the slowest to evolve (especially given the many circumstances that happened with him in Adventure that kept him unable to actively join the fight effectively for a very, very long time), and Takeru himself also had a pretty nasty complex about holding everyone back.

So, in conclusion...

Despite how loaded the language is, in the end, it’s probably meant to be a song about Takeru handling his trauma regarding Patamon very poorly at the time of 02. Which is, well, what his character arc in 02 was about, so it tracks, doesn’t it?

Bear in mind that, again, this is basically “one readable interpretation of it”, which I also personally happen to back very strongly because I think the evidence simply tracks too much given context -- the details described in the song rule out almost every other candidate that would be relevant to Takeru’s character arc, also happen to describe the events of Adventure too well, and certainly would track much better with everything else in this particular album series mostly being relevant to everyone’s character as reflected in 02. Song lyrics are song lyrics, and interpretation might be in the eyes of the beholder...but, you know, food for thought.

[datastate]

Monomon for the character asks!

THE OG... I RARELY TALK ABT HER WHICH IS A SHAME BUT SHE WAS ONE OF MY IMMEDIATE FAVES (AND STILL NARRATIVELY IS ABOVE LURIEN FOR ME..!)

thank you for the ask bro!! i love her a lot

favorite thing about them:

i can't say her entire character ;v; honestly if i had to choose something though i really admire the grace she accepts hallownest's end with. despite being so obviously prideful in not only her own work, but the work of her scholars and hallownest's people, she is able to set it to rest. everything she's done with her work as a dreamer has ended with her just wanting hallownest to find that peace, too. despite lurien's belief, she doesn't enjoy seeing its suffering and doesn't intend to prolong it indefinitely, but she understands that if it is confronted haphazardly that hallownest will never be put to rest properly and that is why she constructed everything in the first place. she cares about hallownest's people (as is evident in her elegy) and, as difficult as it is, she wants to die with the certainty that they won't be continually desecrated just because of the king's denial to confront the old light directly.

least favorite thing about them:

my main qualm with monomon is, despite it creating SUCH an interesting relationship, her treatment of quirrel. regardless of how their dynamic was in private and however willing quirrel was at the moment, she still held the upper hand. the archive was built in her likeness, quirrel was a common pillbug; she held a position above him, regardless of how close in rank they were with what she granted him upon her own grounds. although she was willing to give her life for the dreamer plan, she similarly pressured quirrel into giving up his life for however long the seals stood. it was a great strategic move on her part of course, but i always wonder how... sudden it was for him. was he involved from the beginning? did he know she was asking his life? they both knew they had little choice outside of this. it's all situational and unavoidable because of the trust and love they have for each other, such that they couldn't fathom another taking such an important role. even if monomon was a perpetrator in this case, i can't blame her entirely and i'm sure current quirrel's feelings toward her are mixed.

favorite line:

"better, an end" just really breaks me. she never wanted to see this fate, she was just preparing for the worst outcome and... wants to ensure they're not desecrated beyond recognition.

brotp:

the dreamers together are just :'] mon is the main link between herrah and quirrel and lurien ofc, but she values them a lot... no big thoughts on them en but they make my heart warm

otp:

i don't really pair her off w anyone aghsmsm but i am partial to herrah/mon!

notp:

typical weird shit aside, mon/lurien makes me uncomfortable though i couldn't articulate why

random headcanon:

herrah makes cloaks for monomon with messages of good-will and all that embedded on the designs... it's written in the weavers' language and an older dialect that isn't used as often these days. serves as both proof of their friendship and monomon cherishes them and enjoys learning more of the weavers even if some of it has been requested [or is done out of privacy] to not be archived

unpopular opinion:

i guess my Unpopular Opinion is just mainly wrt the canyon's purpose in aligning with hallownest in the first place. it serves as a barrier for the mosskin, placing additional pressure on hallownest to remain neutral/trading rather than exploitative. it wasn't because the uomas praised the king or anything, even if it was ultimately more beneficial than previously established, it was to protect the one who protected them: unn.

song i associate with them:

i have a whole playlist for that <3 but hm if i had to choose -> 'when i'm gone' by shawn james is really hitting me rn;;;

favorite picture of them:

i can't find or make a gif of it right now, but... specifically where quirrel is returning her mask. ugh ♡ cinnamon tography

[celestial-ringleader]

https://celestial-ringleader.tumblr.com/post/658246663116341248/mushroom-cookie-bears-send-me-a-character-and

Remy & Pietro??

@lucifers-favorite-child Buckle in y’all because this is gonna be a long one

Remy LeBeau:

favorite thing about them: So. Many. Things. I can’t decide on one so I’m just gonna list off my top three:

- His entire aesthetic is just so cool to me?? I love the idea of his character, just him being a thief (and an heir to an entire Guild on top of it) but I also like how he’s often seen as siren-like with how he can pull people in and smooth-talk his way out of almost anything. Also his eyes are so fucking cool idc what anyone else says. The black with red sclera is just so awesome.

- His powerset, omg people seriously underestimate what he’s capable of. Some think his power is just throwing explosive cards when it’s so much more than that. Like do you have any idea how useful it could be to manipulate energy?? He could literally make a moving object stop because he can just sap out the kinetic energy within it. On top of that he made a missile explode in Excalibur which I think was an interesting way of using his powers.  Also his goddamn reflexes are broken as all fuck, like he can sense a bullet coming even before anyone else notices it and dodge it perfectly. And if he’s quick enough he can hit it back at the person who shot at him. It’s fucking insane. And let’s not forget that in an alternate universe he was able to kill the Dark Phoenix and destroy his whole planet in a fit of his powers overloading. So.

- This is gonna be cheesy, but I love the way he talks. I like how no matter how much time has passed, he hasn’t changed how he speaks and is proud of it. Besides, his accent is just,,,so good.

least favorite thing about them: Aside from the moments where he’s characterized and portrayed poorly, I can’t think of anything.

favorite line: “I ain’t a thief, or an assassin. I’m an X-Man and I’m never comin’ back.” He said that to Belladonna in X-Men: The Animated Series and it stuck with me so much.

But also the line “You need ta get a life. Seriously.” is so good too. Just ANXF in general had a lot of good lines.

brOTP: Oh boy I have so many so I’m listing them off:

-Remy & Ororo Monroe

-Remy & Laura Kinney

-Remy & Anna-Marie (and before I get people asking, I personally don’t ship them romantically. Not saying no one else should, it’s just a personal preference.)

And some bonus crack brOTPs:

-Remy & Neena Thurman

-Remy & Felicia Hardy

OTP: There’s a lot here too,,,

-Remy/Pietro Maximoff (obviously)

-Remy/Fantomex

-Remy/Johnny Storm (this is more of a crack pairing, but I blame rping on discord for this)

-Remy/Kurt Wagner

-Remy/Warren Worthington III

nOTP: Honestly Remy is so shippable with a lot of people so I don’t really care all that much. Like,,sometimes I like people exploring him in toxic relationships (like with Sabertooth or Mister Sinister) so I really don’t care skjvbdkj

random headcanon: I like to headcanon that Remy has ADHD, which mostly shows itself through him having special interests, stimming, and having a bad case of RSD (Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria) because of past trauma associated with him being abandoned by those close to him. Also I like to imagine he uses playing cards to stim and his special interest is science fiction and space operas. Let him be a nerd.

Also he’s an Omega Level mutant. There I said it.

unpopular opinion: Okay, nobody get out the pitchforks and torches, but I don’t like this common headcanon that he’s a himbo and a narcissist. Usually a himbo is described as a character who is dumb while also being kind and beefy, but Remy just doesn’t tick all those boxes in my opinion. He’s incredibly clever and learns quickly, but he also doesn’t waste his time with knowledge that won’t help him. Like maybe he can’t do basic calculus but he understands how to get a lock to break based on it’s materials. Also because he was a physics teacher and I’d buy that he understands physics very well, especially since energy is such a big part of physics. So to me, he isn’t a himbo, he’s just a decent man. And as for the narcissism thing, he just doesn’t fit into the personality of someone with NPD. In fact, most of the time he talks down about himself and thinks himself less worthy....the exact opposite of a narcissist. Sometimes he’s just full of himself because he loves himself for once and that’s perfectly okay to me.  

song i associate with them: “Blood on my Name” by The Brother’s Bright, it has a southern gothic feel and it fits well into his backstory. Also “Poker Face” because why not. And also “Addict” by SilviaHound (yes it’s a Hazbin Hotel song but the vibes fit him so well)

favorite picture of them: I have,,,way too many I like. But these ones are just so good.

Also this one because it genuinely made me laugh

okay and now onto pietro

Pietro Maximoff:

favorite thing about them: There’s so much I love about Pietro so I’ll just list it off again ajkdbvkj

- His powers are actually really fucking cool. Like people think he can just run fast but forget that running fast is just one thing he can do. He can literally vibrate himself fast enough to go through walls, he has been shown to have some control over metal like Erik, he ran faster than the speed of sound (and possibly light), and he can leg press over 2,000 pounds. Also his superhero name is just so good, not even being ironic, the name Quicksilver is so badass.

- I love his relationship with Wanda, like sometimes it’s written really bad but other times it’s the cutest thing ever. Like he feels so protective over Wanda because of the environment they were raised in, but at the same time he learns when to let go of his own insecurities and let Wanda be her own person. Like,,their sibling dynamic is one of my favorites.

- His entire backstory is so tragic and I love it. He always feels like he isn’t good enough and tries to be as good as he can despite it all, but he’s also unabashedly pissed off about the circumstance he’s in. Like Pietro has every right to be bitter and I love seeing him call people out on their bullshit (especially in Quicksilver: No Surrender when he calls out people for marketing and appropriating Romani culture) 

least favorite thing about them: ...I literally can’t think of anything akjdbvkj

favorite line: Oops it’s all gamquick

Remy: Are you being difficult on purpose?

Pietro: What other reason is there to be difficult?

And also-

Pietro: Well, that’s a step up from a blow-up doll, isn’t it?

Remy: Did anyone ask you?

(Yes these are both from ANXF)

brOTP:

-Pietro & Wanda

-Pietro & Lorna Dane

-Pietro & Clint Barton (not MCU)

OTP: Okay I really only have two but I’m gonna gush about gamquick for a minute-

-Pietro/Remy LeBeau: I don’t even know where to begin with these two, I guess to start out with they both just look so good next to one another. They also bounce off one another banter-wise very well and while neither of them take bullshit from anyone, they still don’t mind messing with one another because it’s strictly playful. Also both their backstories are similar and lends itself to them finding solace in one another, they both recognize each other’s pain and will try their best to alleviate it as best as they can. They both understand what it feels like to be abandoned and abused and would never inflict that on each other, they both came from poverty and find it hard to fit into the “normal world”, but also Pietro usually never shows his softer side to anyone, but with Remy he’d make the exception because Remy wouldn’t hurt him like that. It’s also cute to explore them being able to settle down and get away from the superhero life for a while, but also them being a battle couple is A++

There’s just so much to say about them ajbdvkj

-Pietro/Namor Mckenzie: This became one of my favorite Pietro ships mostly because of @imperiuswrecked​ but also because apparently they were gonna be a couple in House of M?? Like that sounds so good to read about! Like Pietro is more carefree than Namor in some instances and it would be nice to see Namor relax a little bit more around Pietro. But also because I love imagining them being That royal couple and it’s so good.

nOTP: Pietro/Crystal. Just no. That ship is a garbage fire and it should’ve burned out ages ago.

random headcanon: Pietro has darker roots because his hair used to be the same color as Wanda’s before his powers manifested themselves. Also I like to headcanon/draw Pietro with darker skin.

unpopular opinion: Sometimes Pietro is seen as being misogynistic towards Wanda and I hate that interpretation of him. He’s protective over her, but he still allows her to make decisions on her own. Also people need to stop blaming Pietro for the events of House of M. For the love of god stop that shit.

song i associate with them: “Dollhouse” by Melanie Martinez

favorite picture of them: Need I say more? Pietro carrying his Cajun bf goes without saying

This was a lot of fun to write out and there’s so much more I can say but for now I’ll leave it here ajdbvkj

Ask Meme

[lesbiansforboromir]

Are there cultural expressions of homophobia in Gondor?

Yes! I have a few posts related to this in various ways here, here, here and here but to be brief;

Gondorian homophobia manifests in the concept of ‘ill-fate’ or ‘doom’. Fates and dooms are very prominent and serious parts of Gondorian social fabric and there are a lot of sayings and wisdoms that include their mention or caution. It’s also important to understand that Gondorian society (in general, as a rule, differing in intensity for both time, class and place but remaining a running thread in the gondorian consciousness) is very sex-suppressed. In polite public society one really shouldn’t admit that sex exists at all, let alone comment on their own relationship with it. 

Romantic love however is VERY important. It is the reached for ideal without reservation or self-consciousness. Men and women are expected to be excited and desirous of falling in love and marrying their soulmate. Romantic poetry is thoroughly encouraged. There is nothing ‘effeminate’ about it. Love songs are victorious and rousing in general! And ‘soulmates’ are considered a part of your FATE, love is an aspect of doom for you, you are either destined to meet the love of your life or you aren’t. And that is regretful but unavoidable. 

And that would not be considered an ‘ill-fate’, it would just be unfortunate. Nothing wrong about it. However, people can have actually HARMFUL ‘fates’, which can be called doomed, ill-fated, cursed etc. To steal a quote, ‘fate awaits you with fell purpose’. And if that is the case, the common wisdom is that you can negatively effect people around you, you can ‘taint’ them with association. You are to be pitied! It is understood to be not your fault, but it is tragic and you would do best to manage it as you can. The concept can apply to many different aspects of life, ill-fated in misery, ill-fated in life-length, ill-fated in purpose etc etc, all usually metaphysical and ominous concepts. You aren’t, say, ill-fated if you’re clumsy. 

BUT to get to the point, to be in love with someone of your same-sex would be considered ‘ill-fated’. Love is considered to be included amongst the forces of the world and for it to be ‘altered from it’s natural state’ (i.e the state that LaCE sets out and that is pushed as the Valar’s and, by association, Eru’s ideal) something must have gone terribly wrong. You are ill-fated!

So gay people are pitied! Medicalisation has been one of the very concrete actions that have come out of this view. And pity and concern has naturally become a thoroughly unbearable response for much of the queer gondorian community, often triggering trauma responses in many. They are also viewed as, (unfortunately, against their will, what a tragic thing it is), dangerous to those around them. The ill-fated could bring all kinds of dooms down upon their associates, projects and families after all! And the ‘acceptable’ behaviour and occupation for those known to be gay is to find a quiet, scholarly passion and to essentially become a monk, tucked away from the world but still contributing to it and keeping yourself occupied. And, of course, you must not marry, nor indulge in your ‘ill-fate’. Be strong! Etc etc. And indeed there are queer scholars who have taken this message to heart and are accepted as experts in various fields. 

I... can’t believe I said ‘to be brief’ ajsdjsd BUT SO, obviously this is not the majority of queer gondorians, there are communities and differing opinions and intra-community debates. Some go fully anti-establishment, not only rejecting the ill-fated mantra but also the sex repression too, also calling it a classist attitude anyway (which it is to a certain extent) and they encourage a wildly sex-positive atmosphere. Some are on the other end of the spectrum and want to be ‘normal but gay’, most are somewhere in the middle with varying opinions that shift here and there. 

And time obviously changes things too! There have been various points in Gondor’s history where the dialogue on queer politics has reached current say british levels of prominent debate and acceptance, with actual queer activists being heard and agreed with in the public eye. A lot of the rest of the time queerness is used as a tool in kind of... fun academic thought exercises that only the high-minded can responsibly engage in. In general the academic community and the queer community have a great deal of bad blood, which is something that Boromir very much internalises (hence his general un-academic reputation and preference for other types of literature). 

OK I’ll stop here but I’ve got quite the historical map in my mind of the up and down nature of Gondor’s very specific brand of homophobia, including a more specific look at current gondorian politics so feel free to ask more questions if you’d like! :D As ever I read this through once and is definitely a stream of consciousness so apologies if it’s incomprehensible.