#like not in a mean way obviously. but she treats him TOO similarly to how his sisters treat him so obviously he wouldnt be into that at all

[strawberryseeded]

NO SHES NOT... this is foreshadowing.. shes gonna be such a hardass (especially if chanyang gets the job lol)....

[luveline]

hiyaa girlyy!! so i have a fic request and it's totally fine if you don't want to write / don't feel comfortable reading or doing it: and also, i'm not sure if someone thought of this yet, but how about spencer just being friends with a stripper. like their are murders ongoing abt strippers and spencer sees reader at one of the crime scènes and everybody's shocked since their sooo sweet and comfortable together? (and bonus point if she wears his jacket or something since it's cold)

thank you for your request! if you have more requests for this pairing please send them my way!

"I tried to call you!" 

Hotch looks up from his phone at the shout. He'd been texting Jessica one handed in an attempt to tell her and Jack that he won't be home tonight, and he isn't usually easily startled, but he isn't expecting you to talk to him. Or call him. 

He blinks back his fatigue —you're obviously not talking to him. You're almost nondescript in your hoodie, but Hotch isn't confident you're wearing any pants, or underwear. It was a rush job to bring everyone out from the club, and you and the rest of the dancers stand on the sidewalk in various states of undress. 

"Can we get some jackets, please?" Hotch asks, turning back to the beat cops standing by. "Thermal blankets? Anything?" 

When he turns back, Spencer's not where he was. Hotch casts his gaze back to you near the club doors, your hair messed up from the scuffle but your face intricate and untouched, just as pretty as the rest of your fellow dancers, and doubly so as you throw your arms around Spencer Reid's tall shoulders. 

"I'm so glad you're okay," Spencer says, squeezing you hard, your heels lifting off of the rain-sullied sidewalk. "I told you to stay home!" 

"I can't stay home, Spencer. How would I make money?" 

"I'll pay for the hours you miss, I told you that, too." 

"Baby, you couldn't afford it," you tease lightly, setting back down. Your hand immediately rises to Spencer's cheek, your painted nails scratching delicately at his skin. "I've missed you. Where have you been?" 

"California, then Albuquerque." 

"Killing bad guys?" 

Hotch doesn't consider Spencer a lonely guy, and he doesn't think he'd ever be collected enough to enter a strip club, and yet. There he is, hugging and checking over a stripper with as much care and tenderness as he'd show any member of the team. And judging by your smile, you're enamoured with him. Whether romantically or otherwise is anyone's guess. 

Morgan's, apparently. "Sorry, I'm sorry, does Reid have a girlfriend? Like, a…?" 

"You can say stripper," Emily says, though she's similarly nonplussed. "I mean, there's no way. Right?" 

"They're just friends," JJ says. 

The team turns to her in betrayal. Clearly, JJ knew about this and said nothing, and Hotch has things to do but this is so thoroughly bizarre that he gives himself five minutes of curiosity; he lets the others berate her for answers. 

"Come on, JJ! When did this happen? How did this happen?" Emily asks, her voice dropping to a scandalised whisper. 

In the background, Spencer peels out of his jacket that barely fits around your shoulders. You wear it anyhow, wrapping your arm through his and leaning on his shoulder. "Thanks, Dr. Reid." 

"I really wish you'd stay home when I tell you too." He rubs your arm amicably. 

"Her old boss was a typical heavy-handed sleaze," JJ explains, voice soft with sympathy. "Spence said he used to see her at the grocery store with bruises. She stayed with him for a few days and found a new club… He said she can smile through anything, even a broken wrist." 

Hotch understands. This part of Virginia pretends to be better than it is, and while you seem happy enough now in your profession, he knows it can't be easy. Spencer did for you what he would've done for anyone. You've clearly seen the good in him, treating him with a real and easy affection, adoring through shivers as you look up at him and ask, "Are you eating enough? You look tired." 

"I'm exhausted worrying about you. You're exhausting. Like, where are the sweatpants I got you? You'll get hypothermia." 

"I was trying not to get murdered. You're lucky I grabbed the hoodie." You turn to the team, as though you've known they were watching the entire time. "You wanna introduce me to your friends?" you ask. Hotch detects a hint of insecurity under all your bubbly sweetness. 

Spencer laughs loudly, ushering you forward with a hand on your shoulder. "Don't chicken out this time." 

"Don't embarrass me in front of the special agents!" you whisper. 

"I'm a special agent." 

"No, you're a doctor. He's a special agent." Your gaze narrows in on Hotch. "Hi, you're the boss, huh?" You eye his naked marriage finger briefly, and he knows you're kidding, but he still has to fight to stay expressionless as you continue, "How come handsome guys like you don't ever wanna see me dance?" 

Hotch puts out his hand. "Aaron Hotchner. It's nice to meet you." 

You shake his hand, though you stay as close to Spencer as you can manage without stepping on his shoes. "Right. Too respectful. It's really nice to meet you too, Agent Hotchner. Can you catch the bad guy soon? I'll end up on Spencer's cough again if I don't make rent." 

Morgan opens his mouth and Hotch promptly shuts him down with a raised hand. "We will. You have my word." 

[larcenywrites]

Could you write about how Tony is with a younger gf that's like half his age? And maybe a lot more energetic than him if you know what I mean 🤭 I understand if age gaps make you uncomfortable and you don’t want to write it though!

I’m into age gaps given the right circumstances, and I completely understand the appeal! I wasn’t quite sure what to write since it’s not something I really put much thought into anyway, but I think it turned out okay and pretty cute :)

Warnings: 18+ for sexual references and themes | mentions of Dom/sub stuff | age gap obviously | like two feminine/she/her pronouns used

💠 Tony doesn't particularly mind either way that his s/o is (a lot) younger than him, but admittedly, he didn't expect that he'd end up with someone younger! He figured he'd prefer someone closer to his age, with whom he could share similar experiences of life...

💠 But the world works in mysterious ways! And it definitely works in mysterious ways when you find yourself in a loving relationship with Earth's grumpiest Avenger! Well... one of Earth's grumpiest Avengers 🤭

💠 It's partly his older age and partly his stressful job that has him tired and irritable, but lucky for him, you found this grumpy old man sweet and handsome 🥰

💠 And now he’s your grumpy old man 🥰

💠 He’s always had a thing for being the more dominant one. He wants to be bigger and stronger, the protector and provider, and his older age helps play into that!

💠 He definitely loves to spoil you! Anything you want!! He just loves spending money on his lovers, but in a way, he’s kinda showing off 🤭 not necessarily to you, but to prove that him being older still has its advantages 😉 a much younger man probably couldn’t treat you this well 💅

💠However… there’s often a difference between how much a person in their early 20s works and how much a person in their 40s works. You may not be used to your boyfriend working like 8-9 hours a day nearly every day! It might be quite the learning curve not having him around as often as you’d be used to :( Tony does feel pretty bad about it, he can remember being much more free and clingy too, so he cuts you some slack when you wanna bother him at work or in the lab 😉🩵

💠 He loves when he can teach you new things! He has a soft spot for it 🥰 even if it’s just the cleanest way to separate the egg yolk or just, like, how to do taxes, he enjoys being helpful and teaching you new things :) it’s cute tbh 🥰

💠 And he also loves getting to watch you practice things and keep learning things!! Are you cooking a ton of new things every day? Awesome! Even if it’s the same stuff or doesn’t always turn out good!! If you’re a college student, he’ll adore watching you work and read!

💠 You’re also from a whole different generation than him, so you’ve probably got a few things to teach him, too 😌💅 From new music to social media! While he’s still not really into the latter, he does enjoy all kinds of music!

💠But because you’re from different generations, his gestures may feel a bit more… old fashioned? But they’re classy! Always bringing flowers, always kissing your hand, always offering his arm for you to hold onto on a walk, offering his coat— it’s enough to make you feel like royalty honestly 🥰

💠 Though, it may feel a bit weird at first hanging out with his little social circle? They’re pretty much all Tony’s age, so you may feel a little out of place. Rhodey is actually quite welcoming though! Well, you weren’t there when he teased Tony about it a little 😅 but it wasn’t aimed at you! Honesty he was just happy to see his friend going out again :) in fact, Rhodey is probably the first person you’ll meet! After all, Tony’s parents aren’t around, and there’s no one else quite so important and close to him 🥲

💠 But don’t worry, Tony feels just as awkward with your similarly-aged friends 😅 and he was very nervous to meet your friends and/or family! Shit, he’s likely the same age as your parents 😭 while that might make things a little awkward as well… it’s actually pretty nice that they can share and bond over their very similar experiences and childhoods!

💠 Sometimes he wonders what his parents would think… but he’s pretty sure his dad was older, too! He likes to talk about them a little bit, and about his younger years. It probably kinda reminds you of how your own parents talk about how they grew up and how different it was from how you did, but it’s much more cute to hear Tony talk about it 😘

💠 Obviously loves to be called Daddy, but the age gap really has it driving him up the wall 😈 it's an authority thing, a power thing, and definitely a Dom thing 😏 and plus, you’re probably more, uh, innocent than he is 😏

💠 Bunny, princess, little deer, sweetie— he has all sorts of pet names to remind you of not just the age gap, but the gap in your power dynamic, too 🥴

💠 He definitely also loves teaching you new things in the bedroom 😈 there’s gotta be something you haven’t done yet if you have been sexually active before, and he’ll be sure to figure it out and teach you right 😌😉

💠 But he is still older, probably a lot older, and that does come with some… differences. Sure, he can go for a while, but once he cums a time or two 😮‍💨 he’s down for the count! So when you still want to go for another round, he’ll probably just have to hype you up while you touch yourself, or you’ll just have to settle for his hand 😅 it is kinda cute, the way you can tire him out 🤭 and he does find your high sex drive pretty hot 😘 he can go again as long as you can wait like an hour or two! The cuddles are great, though, if you do fall asleep 🥰

💠 He calls you the Energizer Bunny since you can go for so long 🤧 but he can remember being like that, too, when he was younger 🥴

💠Sometimes he (maybe a bit sad or insecure) jokes about if only you’d been able to meet him when he was younger, but give him a little kiss and remind him how glad you are to have met him now 🥰🥰🥰🥰

💠 He never thought he’d be insecure about his age, but… he is a little :( especially if you do comment on a picture of a younger him about how hot he was 😔 young age had him so naturally sculpted and more physically inclined. He was very pretty, huh! And while he’s obviously still strong, he’s got a little bit of tummy, and scarring, and crinkles in the corners of his eyes— a shame you didn’t get to see him back then!

💠 “You’re so silly, Tony~” you scold lovingly, interrupting his reminiscing of the past. You enjoy hearing his stories, but not when he starts to beat himself up! Another quick kiss shuts him up 🥰 And eventually he stops worrying so much about it 🩵

💠 But… Tony Stark dating someone younger? Possibly someone even like- half his age or more? It’s bound to gain traction in social media. Of course, some are positive, some are not, but either way, he really doesn’t want to deal with it :/ and he really doesn’t want you to deal with it :( and it kinda makes him feel worse that you have to :(

💠 But he’s gotta admit: your brighter mood and energy has made him happier, even at work! He wants to do stuff again! Like take you to his favorite cities and go on picnics and to the aquarium! Like the dates he took plenty of exes on when he was your age and loved 🥲 sometimes he even comments about how you make him feel young again 🥰

💠 And when he says stuff like that, you’re probably like “🙄 You sound old when you say stuff like that 🤭” but without skipping a beat, he makes sure to correct you.

💠 “I am old 🤨.”

[iridescentscarecrow]

asks on retrospring [archived]: responses containing thoughts on hyuna & luka (one / two)

q. did you notice that in the blink gone mv in Hyuna's third appearance (when she gets close to the screen and the archives start uploading) Luka says the lyrics "Exist for me" [....]?

a. YESS I WAS FREAKING OUT ABOUT THIS ON MY PRIV WHEN THE MV DROPPED; a bit rambly but: it's that beautiful last line in the hylk anakt comic if you remember. i don't think hyuna <exists for luka> in the same way mzsua ivtl manifest themselves, since she's not the subject of his songs: while for others their loves are a manner of self realisation through other, luka obscures himself & Becomes (someone else's) Other. it's a part of the control he maintains on the stage; hyuna doesn't leak through even once other than the brief glance back when she appears in person at the end of r5. (this is something i contrast w/ how hyuna sings too, but then this response would get too long)... this is the exact control that hyuna describes to luka in the anakt comic, the sense of ownership she gets from the stage: "before we get on stage, we do as we're told... [but when i'm singing] my existence, my life.. feels like it's mine." & he responds "but your life is mine, though?" & in a way it is. because she's absent, she's scrubbed herself of any of these sticky connections but he's taken the control she once described to him & made it his, become her embodiment when every other aspect of his life is controlled by heperu. in the narrative, she exists for him & is simultaneously secluded from the audience, the thousand preying aliens, until he sees her on the stage & his easy facade falls...

q. What do you think Hyuna's feelings for Luka are? Her feelings for him were never confirmed, in the artbook profile for her it says that she thinks that she shouldn't have approached him first and treated him well, and she evades saying something else about him, so it implies that she dislikes him, but in every official art that has them (even in the sweet dream mv), she lets him be intimate with her (touch her waist, be close to her, massage her, etc) despite her awkard or angry expression everytime they interact

a. i think quality-wise it's obviously complex & there's much still to learn but i'm less interested in whether it measures as dislike/like than how it falls into alien stage's idealisation-as-love aspect: because in many ways none of this is strictly "love" — the children in anakt are constructing what it must mean out of nothing & this process occurs simultaneously with their manifestation of their own selves. & i think w/ hyuna that mired sort of intimacy in their few official art is best mixed in with her own Evasion & clouding over of luka (in my previous answer where i was talking about how luka thinks about her: he does something similarly divergent from alnst's idealisation form). in her profile she says "i shouldn't have approached you from the beginning and been nice to you... shall we talk about something else?" — the evasion, the shortness, very different from the answers she uses for everyone else. she's kind of refusing to let him become her ghost lol. in the artbook, they say "from the outside, hyuna appears to be moving forward, but in reality, she’s unable to escape her past." i really like how all in has hyuna creating her own, Changed Fantasy with the lyrics about her control through which her own Free self is made manifest coming off as a Kind of proof of life against the way said lyrics r layered with flashes of luka and hyunwoo & her own desperate expression. she's not singing about luka...! she's singing about herself but he appears nonetheless and the lyrics at the points he appears characterise her further to me. like she still makes the gestures mid song, going through the motions of exhibited confidence despite her distressed expression... it fascinates me in how a stage where everyone story-ises another in order to get this individuation (see: ivan),, its not just that hyuna sings about herself,, she does this on top of a Refusal of luka. compare this with luka who always sings in a way where he's obscuring himself! i really enjoy the lyrics from drunk and party [goodbye, i'll release you / from these cold shackles / your body and soul, bruised and broken / your freedom was taken away so you couldn't fly, sing!] because of the way its directed towards Someone else, keeps herself in that area of savior. but the someone else in question is hypothetical, unformed outside their plight, unlike a lot of the other songs. and so now the hyuluka art comes off as this — frame of romance, almost. luka the blissful, blushing bride & hyuna's expression of horror. in the newest art his hand curls around her hip (the location where the brand is on his own body), like he's trying to inscribe himself onto the idea of her, and she's revolted by the idea of this and he can do this, because she's Off Stage. she's the concept of freedom he has made his own... but she's alive and kicking & that's why them actually seeing each other on the stage is such an important moment to me. like,, hyuna lives in a way where she's trying to cut herself off from the sticky connections of the past, the same ones the stage is composed of. and it's really interesting how she saves mizi because she sees herself in her? it makes me think of luka-sua parallels, lol & how sua according to the artbook wanted to preserve mizi's innocence to her detriment, so that she could live within that beautiful innocence of the "heavenly garden", to the point of becoming an obstacle to mizi's growth... and luka's obsession with hyuna's idea of freedom on the stage has me speculating that something in a similar flavour happened there. because hyuna is so obsessed with growing Past it now, in a way, and luka is like a sua who lived. i'm very curious about their past..!

[susansontag]

for people who have read the neapolitan/my brilliant friend quartet, I have a question: how do you interpret the moment in book 3 where professor galiani humiliates elena in favour of lila?

I was reading about people interpreting this moment in the show on reddit, and was struck by all the differing viewpoints. the two most prominent ones focus on lila and her two opposing reactions to elena's dismissal by the professor, publicly trying to make it seem like elena looks down on her by saying to galiani that she didn't invite her to her wedding, whereas outside afterwards badmouthing the galiani family and telling elena she noticed how awfully they treated her. iirc, lila also uses this moment where she seems to be on elena's side to chastise her for placing so much merit on what the educated galianis think and do, further complicating the issue of exactly what lila is thinking at this moment and whether she's trying to play both sides.

one viewpoint is that lila isn't fooled by the professor and thinks she's merely complimenting her as a means of humiliating lenù, and is sincerely on elena's side. the other viewpoint is that she sincerely liked being complimented and focused on, and even partly enjoyed her more educated friend being put down and dismissed by someone she cared about, whilst also simultaneously realising she should feel bad about this, hence the cold comfort she gives lenù afterwards. I think there's merit to both of these viewpoints and will say that, whatever is correct, I do think lila sincerely dislikes professor galiani but also, like most people, loves being complimented.

but what really gets me is: for what purpose does professor galiani treat elena this way? so much focus on lila, the enigma, but not enough people asking why galiani is being such a dick lmao.

I myself wonder if we're supposed to view this moment where elena's mentor (professor galiani) puts her down as parallel to the one in their teenage years where lila's mentor (maestra oliviero), puts lila down. in both cases, we have an educated mentor showing disapproval towards one of them for various reasons. with oliviero it's obvious as she clarifies to elena later—she thinks lila's intellectual talents have been wasted and is disgusted/disappointed at her having become a housewife with, in her opinion, nothing going on in her head. with galiani it's much less clear, but I wonder if we're supposed to use the earlier instance to help us interpret it—when galiani snidely remarks about how elena has 'married well', are we supposed to interpret this as judgement of her, who held promise, effectively resigning herself to the role of a wife and mother (ironically, exactly the same judgement that lila received)? are we supposed to interpret her favouritism towards lila sincerely, so perhaps we could say she views lila as dynamic, involved in the class struggle, whereas elena has chosen the stasis that comes with the role of being a housewife? (interestingly, later on mariarosa similarly says she can't believe elena stayed with her brother and had children with him, a fairly similar view of elena's choices). this once again opposes oliviero's earlier assessment that lila 'chose' stasis and to remain inside the world of the neighbourhood, whereas elena was able to escape it through education and thus was in motion. so they change places, mirror each other, etc, during various moments in the story.

someone else on this reddit thread said that, to them, galiani's comment about marrying well was actually her being jealous her own daughter (nadia) had not done so, but tbh I think that's a misinterpretation of galiani's cutting intent with that remark. I think she's genuinely expressing disappointment and dissatisfaction with elena in some way.

we obviously can't take lenù's assessment of lila's intentions too seriously without understanding that she is prone to reading competition and jealousy into their relationship due to her longstanding feelings of inferiority in that dynamic. but how do you guys interpret both lila's and galiani's viewpoints and intentions during these moments? was lila sincere? was galiani sincere in her praise of lila or did she only want to hurt elena? really curious to know what people thought of this. also note I haven't finished book 3 but I'm close to doing so.

[snowyh2o]

Hazbin Hotel Episode 5 Spoilers!

Just jotting some thoughts down on Alastor’s behavior.

Absolute pettiness aside, and the fact that Lucifer was also beefing with Alastor like, 5 seconds into meeting him, Alastor was freaking beefing with Luci before he even showed up LOL.

Everyone in the hotel witnessed Charlie’s somewhat tense phone call with her dad, except for Alastor who was probably eating breakfast at the time. So everyone except Alastor is getting ready for Lucifer to show up when he finally comes down. He seems curious about what all the fuss is about, but the moment he sees the banner welcoming Charlie’s dad, his expression sours and he becomes visibly annoyed.

Alastor is also aware that Charlie has “Daddy Issues” since he says as much in his advertisement, and it seemed like most of the others hadn’t known until Charlie’s phone call. And then Lucifer walks in the door, hugs Charlie, and we get a pan up shot of Alastor with the subtlest eye twitch EVER. Five seconds into Lucifer showing up and he’s already as pissed as he was when dealing with the Egg Bois.

Which then leads into the actual meeting between the two. Here Alastor is very clearly mocking Lucifer, very similarly to how he mocked Vaggie in the pilot, but still keeps things relatively cordial. (The absolute disrespect of shaking someone’s cane and then STILL wiping their hand afterwards). He actually greets Lucifer the same way he did with Charlie in the pilot, but is uh, significantly less genuine about it lol. And Lucifer, sensing the hostility, starts mocking Alastor as well. This all culminates with Hell’s Greatest Dad and Alastor openly mocking and calling out Lucifer’s absence from Charlie’s life as a father (and that she has someone better now LOL).

Won’t speak too much more about the song except for the absolute shit eating grin Alastor has on when he’s singing “Daaaaad!”, and how Lucifer freaking cooks and then decapitates Alastor, TWICE, in his opening song sequence.

Anyways, a lot of the stuff in episode 5 has been said already, but like, the thing my brain’s been getting caught on is Alastor, Husk, and asking Mimzy to leave. Because like. When Mimzy shows up you can see how much more relaxed and happy Alastor is around her. He openly welcomes her into the hotel, tells her to get settled in, even though he probably knows that she’s likely here because of ulterior motives. This is probably one of the few times in seven years since he’s seen and been able to chat with one of his old friends (he sees Rosie during the overlord meeting, but they don’t get the chance to talk on screen). He’s genuinely happy to see her (they hug!!!) and wants her to hang around.

A little while later though, Husk approaches Alastor and says that Mimzy’s up to something, that she’s gonna bring trouble to the hotel. That she has a history of running to Alastor for protection once she gets in over her head with something. And Alastor obviously knows this. This is probably a conversation they’ve had a lot over the years. Alastor’s confident that he’d be able to handle anything she brought their way, it’s not like any old sinner’s gonna be able to beat him, and who exactly would wanna mess with the Radio Demon? And it’s not like the confidence is unfounded. Regardless of his reputation Alastor is STILL considered an overlord, and no sinner would wanna mess with that.

He says as much to Husk, and tells him not to worry about it. Husk then points out that Alastor has been gone for a while, that nobody knows why, and implying that Alastor’s absence means his reputation’s taken a hit. That people would try messing with him now. Alastor gets a little, jumpy? Startled? Angry? At the reminder of the seven years, and then covers it up by mocking Husk and treating him like a pet, tries to get get Husk to drop the topic. And then Husk bites back, reminding Alastor of his own leash. This sets Alastor off like nothing else, and he’s immediately exercising his control over Husk’s soul, going full demon form for a moment, before looming over Husk and directly threatening him with a painful death. He forces Husk to agree to never speak of it again, before jauntily putting his “I am completely unbothered” facade (the music!) back on and leaving to catch up to the tour.

He never makes it to the tour, because the Hotel is attacked by the loan sharks Mimzy was trying to avoid pretty soon after. By this point, Alastor has just spent the morning having a pissing contest with Luficer (that ended with no winners), been told one of his (likely) few friends was gonna bring trouble to everyone else, had his own situation thrown back into his face unexpectedly, and just lost control of his temper even more so than when he was going at it with Lucifer.

He’s fucking stressed, probably has been for a while, and takes the golden opportunity the loan sharks present to vent it all out on them. It’s absolute overkill and a completely over the top beat down, turning into a fucking giant and shouting how he’s gonna “devour each and every one of you!” And just plain old rampaging. By the end he seems considerably less stressed, and he mentions how it’s been a while since he’s done something like that.

Mimzy comes over, and thanks him for the help. She also somewhat insincerely apologizes for the mess, to which Alastor says that she should go. Mimzy very rightfully thinks he’s joking, and then becomes upset once Alastor says he’s serious. For her, it’s the same as it’s always been, Alastor has never minded cleaning up her messes before, why should that change now? He LIKES helping her and taking care of her. And she’s right, Alastor does like taking care of her. He gets to be relied on and show off his ability, and the company’s not bad either.

But now he’s in a situation where he can’t be so careless anymore. It’s not just himself or Mimzy he’s responsible for. He’s now responsible for the hotel and it’s inhabitants too. He’d just been told that Mimzy would bring trouble, and he’d laughed it off because he could handle “trouble”, but it just got thrown in his face that just because he can handle it, doesn’t mean everything will be perfectly fine.

Alastor arrived late, and the hotel was wrecked. What if something worse happens next time? So he tells her to leave, because there’s more at stake now than before. She’s still welcome to stay if she really tries at redemption, but they both know that’s not her style. So Mimzy leaves, pissed, and Alastor watches her go in silence. Husk watches this happen with a smug expression and a bucket of popcorn.

Anyways, all of this to say is that I don’t think Alastor decided to deal with the problem just because he wanted to get some stress relief. I think he also volunteered because those loan sharks being there is inadvertently his fault. They’re only there because Mimzy was there, and Mimzy was only at the hotel because she was seeking Alastor’s protection. And also because Alastor was the one who welcomed her into the hotel, and didn’t ask her to leave despite the danger her presence posed and the warning he got from Husk. He got overconfident, arrogant, believed that his old reputation would be a good enough shield against attacks, and the hotel payed the price.

So him stepping up was in part stress relief, in part taking responsibility for the mess he’d inadvertently caused, and him showing the world once again that he (and the people/place associated with him) are not to be messed with.

Also, his little almost content smile while watching Charlie and Lucifer duet and reconnect and Lucifer finally choosing to support Charlie despite his fears and like, not actually interrupting the moment despite how petty he was being earlier in the day— I wanna see what’s going on in his little head and shake the answer out. Do you care? For Charlie? Did you not want to ruin this for her?? Were you happy because Charlie was able to find support in a family member? Or happy because Lucifer put aside his own issues to help Charlie because he truly dearly loves her? Or were you happy because you just had a light snack and engaged in some much needed stress relief and didn’t want to ruin the after party show? Who knows?!

[theindependenttrentcrimm]

Amber, House, Wilson and the South Pole Meta Part 1

Welcome everyone to the much requested Amber = House and Wilson = Dr. Milton (the Psychiatrist from the South Pole) meta. I'm going to start with the comparisons between Wilson and Dr. Milton because that contains quite a bit less content and then I'll dive into the House-Amber parallels. Also just finished Wilson's Heart so watched all of Amber's episodes. Warning, this is going to be a long one and thank you all for your enthusiasm

Season 4 Episode 11 - Frozen

A less important but still interesting point is that we begin the episode with a leg injury. The Wilson character cares for the House stand in and says- "Like I'd let anything happen to you, you're the only one who can fix the generators around here." Similarly, House has a specialized and specific skill set- Wilson watches, makes sure nothing happens to him.

"You do realize only one of us has any control over my actions" - Dr. Milton. A crucial part of House's ability to treat patients involves being able to directly override their wishes and do what he thinks is best for them. We see this in his relationships too, every relationship crucially except Wilson. Wilson asks him not to do something, he doesn't. Even if it is in House's best interest to do so (he doesn't biopsy the CIPA patient's spinal nerve because Wilson tells him not to despite having Cuddy's approval). In the episode where the patient mimics whoever seems to be in charge, Wilson is the only person that the patients mimics when House is also in the room. Wilson is the one in charge of this relationship, even more so than Cuddy and House's relationship (again see the mimic patient) and his relationship with Stacy. Dr. Milton's autonomy and choice in this episode is a crucial part of her characterization as a Wilson stand in.

"We have a limited supply of medication and I am not about to waste it" - Dr. Milton. Another trait of Wilson's is his inability to put himself before others or to say no. He's self flagellating much like House is, he gives his liver to a patient, gives his life and almost goes to prison for House, and refuses to put his needs in front of others. The only time we see him put someone else above House is when Amber is dying and only then is he capable of doing that because it is not about him. Similarly, Dr. Milton goes on to refuse a litany of medications that House suggests because someone on her crew might need it. House is frustrated by this because it doesn't make sense, he needs it to be reasonable but its not. Again, he can't do anything about it, however, because he has no control over her actions.

She asks him to show her his apartment before the physical in the name of reciprocity but crucially, she is one of very few patients who take an interest in him and not what he can do for her. She reads him, understands his weak points and brings the discussion back to his leg. She calls him on his posturing and the facade he puts up so he doesn't have to deal with the uncomfortable reality of his pain. Wilson is one of the only other people to do this. His team care about him, obviously, and are interested to an extent in his life but only because of how it affects them. Wilson has been in his apartment, cares about him not what he can do for Wilson. Even Cuddy to an extent (discussing this pre Cuddy and House's relationship) cares about House in ways that are specific to how it affects his ability to practice medicine.

Another interesting point- just before House goes to do the physical on the patient he implies that Wilson is wearing his shirt for someone (we later find out that this person is Amber), however Wilson retorts that it is because the Health department frowns on "topless oncology." It's meant to be a throw away line but in the context of the scene that follows it, his undressing takes on a different, more poignant meaning.

"Of course he is (letting her take part in the differential). He likes her" - Wilson

"He's annoyed by her, doesn't respect her as a doctor, constantly insults her." - Dr. Foreman

Who does that sound like?

Then there is the whole scene where Cate outright states that Wilson is a lot less nice than he seems and states that "indiscriminate niceness is overrated." House is the only one who Wilson shows his true colors to because House is okay to be an ass around, House is safe. "No wonder he likes you" Wilson says because he recognizes Dr. Milton's straightforwardness and curt responses in the way he acts around House.

One of the biggest giveaways however is House's refusal to treat Cate like just another patient - the same way he refuses to treat Amber like just another patient because of Wilson.

"I get enough of this from Wilson." "And yet you keep hanging out with him." House likes it when he's challenged, when someone doesn't just give in to him, when they recognize but don't excuse his misery.

"Being miserable doesn't make you better than anyone else, it just makes you miserable."-> "Because then you're freed from taking responsibility for your misery"

"And from what I've heard, you've spent more time with me than with any other patient" then there is of course the fact that House and Dr. Milton directly compare her to Wilson and Dr. Milton points out that he has spent more time with her. House apologizes and closes out of the call. The next scene is house getting lunch with Foreman rather than Wilson. I.E. he’s not hanging out with Wilson - apologizing for spending too much time.

then Dr. Milton falls into a coma and Sean offers to do anything to save her- house will do anything to save Wilson. He does do anything to save Amber, including risk his life, because Wilson just asks him to. This is why it’s so interesting that they gave Sean a leg injury.

"Listen, I am not going to let you hurt her"- House to sean. In essence this is House talking to himself about Wilson. He appeals to himself. He reassures himself.

The second part will be about House and Amber

[bookishjules]

I can only imagine how sizzy will be like as parents any thoughts on that?

so, so many thoughts.

i am so adamant that simon and isabelle would be some of the best parents. the way they both show their love in their actions, and how together they'd have the protective and self-sacrificing nature of parenting down pat.. the way they have experience with kids from years of babysitting their nephews, and for izzy.. from being there as max grew up.. the way they would both harbor just enough trepidation when approaching parenthood that it would make them just that much better at being parents, if that makes sense..

the way i see it, izzy didn't have the best examples for parents. they love(d) her, yes. but they also weren't all that good at being the adults, and their problems always seemed to come before those of their children. she took on the strength of her parents, but i think as much as izzy had to learn that romantic love isn't necessarily a weakness, she'd have to do similarly with parenthood. because god this child in her arms could break down every brick of the fortress she's built around herself. there's just such an innate and all-consuming love there. and it will obviously scare her, but by the time she and simon have kids, she's learned that there is strength in giving your entire heart up, too. she's learned that the barriers her parents may have put around their love are exactly what she doesn't want to pass on, even though it scares her.

meanwhile, simon.. simon knows exactly what it feels like for unconditional love to be tested and come up wanting. and i believe he will fight tooth and nail to never have his kids feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable at home. i do think that simon would have a decent amount of doubt during izzy's first pregnancy and the early months of that child's life, though, due to the early loss of his own dad. on the one hand, you have the lack of a father to refer back to, both in memory and as a means of advice--thankfully, luke exists, and has existed as a father in simon's life for a long, long time. but on the other hand, simon is all too aware of what it feels like to lose a father too soon, and with the heightened mortality rate among shadowhunters... instead of letting that fear of being forced to leave his child(ren) behind control him, though, he decides to just be that much more intentional with the time he is given with them.

this idea of intentionality is absolutely something izzy would present to simon, as it's one of her greatest regrets when thinking back to max's childhood, despite her being a child all that time as well. it was was a resolution that would have a concluded a conversation i think she had with herself years before she and simon even got married, as she considered whether or not she wanted kids at all. i think she would have gone through something of a "what's the point?" phase before that she doesn't want simon to endure after all he himself had gone through.

and so they're intentional. they have family reading time every night they are able to. simon dm's kids dnd games. they eat meals together. they have game nights and movie nights. izzy sings to them when they cry at night, like her mother used to. they host sleepovers with the cousins. izzy lets them try on her heels for fashion shows. they encourage their kids' interests outside of shadowhunting; this one likes to sing and that one's learning to sew. they take them trick-or-treating in the best nerdy constumes. they don't shelter them from the world, but rather show them the lives and the people they'll be protecting one day. i love you's are abundant, as are hugs and kisses and tickles and teasing.

in my mind their household is the perfect mix of cool and warm. cool like adamas and the truth and the spring. and warm like fire and dark eyes and fresh baked cookies. and maybe it smells like cookies too, like whatever secret recipe they finally got right and refuse to stray from bc they just know they'll mess it up.

[f1zzlest1ckzz]

Lottie the Guardian Angel

word count ; 1.9k

characters ; charlotte emily, henry & sammy emily (mentioned,) william afton, norman (cc) afton, michael afton

warnings ; will treating charlie awfully (belittling her and intimidating her), implied child neglect, child sickness mention

extra ; first fic to do with my fnaf au .. yahoo ....

Henry had gone away somewhere. He had told Charlie he'd be back before dark, but the sun was going down now, so she wasn't too set on his words. She assumed he was at the hospital with Sammy, her brother. Sammy was sick a lot, he was in hospital more than he wasn't. Henry never really told her why he was sick, just that he was. 

This left Charlie at the pizzeria. She's not on her own, obviously, but Uncle Will was never the best at supervising kids, not even his own. Charlie wasn't even sure he was very fond of her. He always acted off around her, which he blamed on the fact that she used to be afraid of him when she was littler. He was working in his office at the moment, doing a great job at making sure Charlie, as well as his own kids who were there, were doing okay.

One might assume he put that responsibility on Michael's shoulders, considering his age, but he was just as bad. Too busy underage smoking with his friends outside to check on Charlie. 

She sighed, resting her head on her hand, her elbow holding it up against the starry-fabric-covered dining table. She could fall asleep there, honestly. She was tired enough from school, and the orangey light from the large windows was quite relaxing. However, when she closed her eyes and drowned out every other noise, Charlie could hear a soft sobbing from the right of her, from one of the storage closets. 

Immediately, she knew what that sound was, and she quickly got up and scurried towards the large door. She tried her best to clack the handle open, but it was no use. Locked. She stamped her foot in impatience, knowing what she'd have to do to get it open. 

Charlie growled, really not wanting to walk down the hall to Will's office. She hated talking to him. Not in a rude way! He was just mean when Henry wasn’t there. He treated Charlie like an animal to shoo away when the guests were over, and then he'd pretend to be her best friend when Henry was around. Charlie knew exactly what he was doing, even at her age, but her dad never seemed to believe her. 

She dragged her feet while she walked, half-sulking about it. 

She knocked on the door to the office as hard as her little hands could. It was large and heavy, you see, so regular knocking wouldn't have made a sound. 

...Nothing.

She huffed and tried again, this time with a, "UNCLE WIIILLLLL," to follow it. She heard an annoyed-sounding sigh from the other side of the door, so she knew he wasn't ignoring her now.

 

"What do you need, Charlotte?" Will responded, raising his voice with a bitter tone. He sounded like he'd rather be talking to anyone else. 

She growled again, immediately picking up on the odd tone in his voice. Charlie decided to imitate him, just to play. She copied his tone the best she could, "I "need" for you to open one of the storage closets for me."

"What on earth for?"

Charlie smirked. There was something so fun about picking on the older man. Despite how big and "scary" he was, she could always push his buttons, so to speak. She did it similarly to how Elizabeth did, but that little princess always got away with it. 

"Well," she started, "your kid is locked in there, and I don't know if you wanna be a good dad for one-" The door opened halfway through her sentence and she quickly quieted down.

Will glared down at her, then did one of those unsettling grins he would always do to the guests that arrived. "What was that, Lottie?" He crouched to her height and she took a spooked step back with a quiet yelp, "You want to repeat that, you little shit? Hmm?" 

Charlotte quickly shook her head.

William smiled again, closing his eyes, content in scaring her. "That's a good girl." He said, patting her on the head, then pushing himself up off the floor again. He towered over Charlie, and for the first time during this entire interaction, she truly did feel small.

"Well?" He gestured for Charlie to get on with it, to lead him where she heard the crying, but she wouldn't move. "You seemed a lot more confident a moment ago, my dear. Where's all of that gone? Hmm?"

She pouted and started walking down the hall again, towards the closet Norman was in. She pointed at the door. "There."

"Ah-ah," Will scolded her, "what do we say, Lottie?"

She felt mocked. She was being mocked. It wasn't fair. She played along nonetheless. "Please can you open it, Uncle Will?" She scowled up at him.

It was almost like he didn't care that his child was potentially upset behind the door. He just wanted to be right and respected. Will smiled again and unlocked the closet door. He, badly, copied Charlie's voice to get at her again, "There," then walked off back to his office.

Charlie blew raspberries towards him when he was out of sight, she wasn't gonna let him win. 

She then opened the door herself, to find Norman still sniffling at the back of the closet, under the large, metal shelves of cleaning equipment. He was holding onto his bag tightly, almost hugging it. He squinted his eyes at the light from the doorway.

"Ohh, Norman-" Charlie walked closer to him and sat opposite the smaller child. Norman had his face covered with his sweater sleeves, which were noticeably damp from crying. "Who locked you in here? An' why were you crying so loud?"

He stayed quiet, putting one hand down by his thigh and pointing towards outside of the closet.

"...Your dad?"

He shook his head, then opened his bag and got out a small notebook with a pen clipped to its cover. The book was Fredbears’ own brand, having a big picture of the infamous bear right on it. It had Freddy, Chica, Bonnie and Foxy on the back, too, but Foxy had his face haphazardly scribbled out. He held it up and pointed at Foxy, frowning at Charlie.

Michael.

Charlie furrowed her eyebrows. "Ugghhh," she leant her head back and rolled her eyes, "has Mike been picking on you again?"

Norman nodded.

Lottie put her hands on his shoulders, "I'll tell him to back off. Howd's that sound?" She softly smiled, and he nodded again. "Alright," she stood up, "I'll be back, okay?"

Norman did a thumbs up, then thought for a moment and flipped his notebook over, pointing at Fredbear on the cover. "F- Fred,,"

"Did he take him too?"

"Mm."

"Kay," she copied his thumbs up, then made her way over to where she  was originally sitting. Charlie looked down for a sec, at the bag against the leg of her chair, making sure her stuff hadn't been moved. There's no way it could have been, obviously, but she liked to be sure. 

She pushed one of the heavy, glass entry doors open with her arm, then with her back to keep it open. She didn't weigh a lot, or very much at all, so she needed to put all of her strength into pushing open that door. 

Outside of the pizzeria was an on-site playground, for paying customers only. Mikey and his gang had a free pass to that playground after hours, aka, his dad would let him linger there if he wasn't causing trouble inside. Anything to get rid of Michael.

His friends had biked home at this point, so he was smoking a cigarette on the swings by himself with Norman's bear at his feet. He'd kicked it around a little with his friends earlier, so it was all dusty and grubby. Nothing a quick wash wouldn't fix, though. 

Initially, Charlie would be within his line of view if he had been watching the door, but he wasn't. He was looking off somewhere else and paying more attention to the sound of the swingset than anything else. She smiled, like the troublemaker she was, once again, and quietly walked up behind him. 

She stayed silent for a little bit, hoping he'd just notice her, but eventually got impatient and pushed him instead. Hard.

"AGH, SHIT-" Mike yelled, dropping his cigarette onto the pavement and falling with it. Next to it, mind you. He strategically landed in a way that stopped him from getting burned.

Charlie walked back around the swingset and stepped on the cigarette, smushing it into the floor with her foot. "Do you want me to tell your dad about this, or are you gonna give Norman his bear back an' leave him alone for a bit?" She said with a growl, glaring down her nose at Michael. 

He lifted himself up with his hands, but remained on the floor. "You're bluffing, Lottie. You don't even like my dad."

"He doesn't even like you."

Mike looked down, not really knowing what to say. He'd usually get mad and try to prove her wrong, but he really couldn't be bothered. He didn't want her to feel right either. "Whatever. You're still not gonna tell him, though."

Charlie put her hands on her hips, "Who says?"

He growled, "You're so annoying." Michael got himself back onto his feet and brushed himself off, then went back to the swings and lifted up the tatty old bear. He felt like the bear was glaring at him and he grimaced a little, looking back up at Charlie and trying to ignore it. He held it out towards her. "There. Will you fuck off now??" 

"You're not gonna come and apologise?"

He glared. There's your answer.

"Fine, whatever. Thank you." She nodded her head and turned on her feet. Mike flipped her off behind her back, as if she'd see. 

When Charlie was inside the diner again, she spotted Norman up on the animatronics' stage, talking to Fredbear. Or, his version of talking. He was more waving his hands around himself while looking up at him, and occasionally making a squeaky yell noise. He seemed happier. 

Really, he shouldn't have been up there. Kids aren't allowed near the animatronics without adult supervision, but who was Charlie to spoil his fun after the day he'd had. 

"Be careful up there!" She shouted from the other side of the room and Norman jumped, immediately turning to see who had shouted, then waving at her with his whole arm. She lifted up Fredbear and made his little arm wave back, his head flopping to the left when she did it. 

Norman squealed and went to get off the stage. He got down on his knees and lowered himself off of it like he was lowering himself into a pool, then let himself slip onto the floor and ran over to Charlie. He jumped up and down excitedly.

"Okay! Okay." Charlie smiled, handing the bear to the little boy. Fredbear was about half his size, Build-a-Bear sized if you want to picture it. 

Norman pointed at one of the dark stains around the speaker on the bear's stomach, and looked up at Charlie with concerned eyes. "Ahh??"

She sighed, "I think Mike was throwing him or something. I'm sorry." She patted Norman's head, "You've gotta be extra gentle with old Fredbear, okay? You've gotta give him a bath, too." 

He scrunched up his face, looking angry that Michael had hurt his little friend. He then nodded at Charlie's request and kissed Fredbear's head. He looked up once more, "Thah you,," he made Fredbear wave at her, too.

[okayto]

Mini-Review: Romantic Killer

Living her best single life, romance is the last thing on Anzu’s mind — until a tiny match-making wizard suddenly turns her life into a clichéd romcom.

Came across a trailer for this and then said, "That's either going to be really good, or really bad." My companion agreed and suggested I test it out and let them know whether it was terrible or not.

Anzu Hoshino is a high schooler with no interest in romance, preferring to spend her free time playing games, eating chocolate, and enjoying the presence of her beloved cat, Momohiki. Unfortunately, when she tries a new game one day, it turns out to be crap, used by a magical creature named Riri as a way to introduce Anzu's new life: due to Japan's declining birthrate, the romantically-uninterested Anzu's life is going to be like a dating sim until she falls in love with someone! And if she doesn't? Say goodbye to Momohiki forever.

Anzu's reaction is understandable.

So, back to my initial hesitancy: "you have to fall in love! Heterosexual relationships are the goal" is obviously a really skeevy theme, and when you're a person who is always happy with aromantic and/or asexual representation in fiction (hi, it's me, I'm a person), it can make you leery. And Anzu can definitely be read as aro/ace, but what's interesting is that you don't have to, the setup is patently absurd and knows it's ridiculous regardless of her orientation.

Some mysterious wizard council decided that a 10th grader needed to be in a romantic relationship or risk losing things she loved. It's compulsory heterosexuality: this character could be aro, ace, aro/ace, gay, or even just a ~15-year-old straight girl who currently has no interest in dating or romance. All of those options are viable, completely normal, and drive home how fucked up the concept of "threaten a teenager so she'll eventually get pregnant" is. (To be clear, the show doesn't dwell on anything beyond "you need to be in a romantic relationship," but even there it's clear that the show recognizes this is a ridiculous proposition.)

Anzu is impossible not to like: she's a happy, healthy teen who really likes what she likes (gaming, chocolate, cats), doesn't care much about what others think but isn't a misanthrope, and her reaction to being told "treat your life like a dating sim or never see your cat again" is to swear revenge on the wizard and do everything in her power to avoid engaging with any of the concocted plots, even as they reach cheap-fiction levels of believability, much to her disgust.

Potential love interest has to move in with her because of Reasons? Time to be Unattractive!

And the thing is, because of Anzu's determination to never get anywhere close to a romantic scenario, the people she meets are able to understand she's a safe person to be around--the first guy she meets, for instance is always having girls ask him out or try to get close--and engage with her without having to worry about hidden motives.

Anzu's determination means she is committed to not putting on a facade, which lets her personality and character shine through. Add to that some Riri-concocted scenarios that force Anzu to spend time with other characters in improbable situations, and what you get is a really, really fun and often-humorous story.

The guys themselves also turn out to be good, fun characters. They get introduced to the plot as obvious love interests, but none of them were conjured out of magic and thus they all have their own reasons to continuing to be around Anzu (although the continual magic contrivances of Riri certainly help them keep their exposure up anyway).

The ironic thing is that Riri's terrible game definitely does enrich Anzu and Kazuki's (potential love interest #1) lives, without question: Anzu gains new friends she enjoys spending time with, Kazuki does too, in a way that he's not been able to enjoy with many people before. The other potential love interests' lives are similarly enriched...but it's never because of romance! Really, this show is a good look at the power of friendship and just community in general.

And while Anzu probably would've been fine if the whole thing had never happened--while she was kinda a loner after-school, there's no evidence that she was harming herself or setting up any future problems (which is, obviously, part of what makes the wizards' scenario so stupid)--Kazuki is a different matter. I don't want to say much because of spoilers, but it's clear early on that he's not just a loner because of his personality, but he's lived through some dark experiences that makes him want to stay away from any kind of relationship talk too.

It's great, and while the story wraps up nicely, I would watch so much more.

Please, I am begging the Powers That Be: give us a season 2 where Anzu and the gang go after the wizard council. Friend hijinks and cartoon violence, it's a match made in heaven. Please.

Verdict

English dub? Yes!

Visuals: Shiny and modern! Except for Riri's game, but that's intentionally bad. Anzu's many faces are very funny as well.

Worth watching? Yes. And I would watch another season, even though the story wrapped up fine. Give me more of this lovely friend group of weirdos who love each other.

Where to watch (USA, as of March 2023): Netflix (sub and dub)

Click my “reviews” tag below or search “mini review” on my blog to find more!

[revehae]

If Indulgence Johnny had a daughter, how would he treat her?

I love your stories ♥️♥️

i think i said this before on my last blog but who cares i’ll say it again!

i think it’s clear that johnny cares for haechan in his own unique way, so i think that would translate similarly with his daughter, possibly even more so. he knows what kind of men exist out there in the world because he’s one of them, so it would be first nature to protect her from the likes of him. so she would more than likely be capable of physically defending herself but he also would teach her to recognize the more subtle signs that someone isn’t good for her.

he also sees women as “weak” so it’s not far-fetched to say that he would raise her to be the opposite of what he perceives as weakness. physical strength is a part of it, but mental strength too. i think he would want his daughter to be more like him kinda? (remember that he said haechan was soft like his mother) seeing as he obviously views himself as this emblem of power.

it’s worth nothing that most of - if not all - of johnny’s animosity towards women is rooted in his childhood/the mother figures he had. he resented his mother for cheating on his father and thus “ruining the marriage,” and it’s mentioned that he never liked his stepmother either because she “blew things out of proportion.” he’s going to raise his daughter to be loyal and reasonable but not necessarily meek.

now i think it’s important to ask whether or not she would inherit his… tendencies, the way that haechan did. which could go many different directions because haechan and johnny are as similar as they are different. johnny kills to feel alive and he mainly likes the physical bits of it (but he does enjoy deceiving women). haechan has a need to psychologically torture his victims so it’s more of a mental thing than it is a physical one. (which is ironic because johnny doesn’t like blood). matter of fact, haechan’s not even interested in the actual killing aspect. when he killed dr. lee he said it was a “means to an end.” were he to continue onto more victims, he would prefer they lived so he could prolong the suffering. i think killing would just be a countermeasure to protect himself

now granted he literally tried to kill his stepmother but that was different that lady pissed him off to no end and he wasn’t attracted to her like at all

what would johnny’s daughter be? i don’t know but that’s just something to think about

[whoredmode]

If you don't mind answering, what do you like and dislike about Johnny/Aisha? I always love your takes!!

no problem! to be absolutely clear i fucking love johnny/aisha and it’s one of my favorite ships of the series. aisha’s one of my absolute favorite characters from the games period so like. ofc i’m gonna love it. it’s not a problem w the ship itself, it’s about how some things were handled, and it ultimately just comes down to the general writing and writing choices of the games themselves.

overall i wish the games would just allow themselves to have slower moments to put some spotlight on other characters. yes this is playa/boss’ story, but what good is that if we don’t get to know their friends/enemies/acquaintances better? especially in the later games, we sacrifice character- or world-building moments for the sake of big set pieces—or worse, we get the most surface level observations or just insultingly bad moments of reflection that offer and say nothing about the character. i actually went into depth somewhat related to this w my big review of the reboot, talking about how sr1 did a great job w showing us side characters’ personalities. and i want more of that. if the games ever leaned a lil more into the RPG aspect and gave us activities w homies or affinity/support conversations or something along those lines, it would go such a long way. and this may seem like a whole side tangent but this all comes back to johnny and aisha.

(and ofc not to say the games never do have moments to understand the side characters better, bc they do, but not as much as i would personally like).

i do not like how the games treat johnny and aisha as they go on. especially aisha. this is an issue lots of pieces of media have and so it’s not just a sr issue but i find it egregious nonetheless: the dead wife trope. now, to be clear, this is something that can be done well, but the trap it always falls into is that the woman in question becomes less a person and more an object. she has no agency. she relinquishes all character for the sake of developing her husband instead. she becomes a plot device. to sr’s credit, at least we get to know aisha before she dies, which is way more than i can say for most proponents of this trope. but it remains that i do feel like the later games somewhat lean into this trope regarding her death. and to be fair, i genuinely like a lot of the scenes that come out of her death. the funeral scene gives me chills every time. it’s a fantastic moment for johnny, punctuated beautifully by the fact that the boss themselves is completely silent. but on the topic of johnny, i don’t think his character is treated any better afterwards either. i mean, they literally killed him off too (and again. to cover my own ass. i know this was a decision they didn’t really have much of a choice in). but even moving on to sriv, they still did an awful job w johnny’s character. it’s still surface level retrospection. it’s still obnoxious characterization of someone who’s been there from the first game written only to have bathetic quips and conflicts that get resolved in one cutscene. like at that point just let him stay dead😭

NOW all that to say. the things i love about them. johnny and aisha complement each other so perfectly well. they have some fantastic banter, they talk like an actual couple, they argue like one, they very clearly have their own language that only the two of them understand. they can look at each other and know what they mean. i look at johnny and aisha i know that aisha was the first person to ever look at johnny and ask if that fight he was just in, that bullet graze he got, those bloody knuckles—did it hurt? aisha sees johnny as johnny, and similarly johnny sees aisha as aisha. he knew her before the fame, before the money, before she had her career taken out of her hands. he was willing to fight for her when it felt like no one else would. she was obviously fine retiring if it meant they could be together. and clearly johnny was alright w a semi-retirement too, even if it meant being in the fucking suburbs. he had her. she made things bearable.

you get the sense that johnny and aisha actually loved each other. we get to see how they interact and play into each other’s characters. not as much as we should, imo, but enough that it leaves an impact. it is, for what it’s worth—even if i just spent a few paragraphs being upset about it—what makes her death as emotional as it is. it’s still a very important moment even if i believe it could’ve been handled better.

anyway. to bring this back to the post that started it all: compare them to the other “official” non-boss ships the game introduced and it’s like night and day. johnny and aisha actually had something valuable to bring to the table. and at least kikidane is funny and just two terrible people being terrible together. the other ones?? idk. johnny and aisha outsold.

[fleshing-out-fodlan]

Ingrid's Relationship with Food

Ingrid grew up in an impoverished territory that had many agricultural struggles. While she herself was by no means malnourished, she definitely grew up knowing food was not something that was guaranteed. This caused her to develop a somewhat complicated relationship with food, to the point where she almost views it as sacred.

To Ingrid, food is something you should always be grateful for and never take for granted, as can be seen in her Share a Meal dialogues.

Obviously, she would react to a meal she likes with excitement, so we don't need to focus on that too much, but even when eating a meal she's neutral to, she expresses great joy at being able to eat it. She describes the experience as "wonderful" and remarks particularly on being able to eat goof quality food everyday. Ingrid was not a malnourished child, we know this from how she talks about the sacrifices her father made so she could eat. But, compared to other nobles, she certainly did not eat particularly well. In her Yuri support, she comments on the food of Faerghus not being as "elegant" as Adrestian or Leicester food but still being "delicious" (interestingly, this does seem to contradict a quote form her Byleth support where she says she ate "extravagant" meals while her father simply ate "meager portions and watered down soup." My interpretation of this is that Ingrid's meals were, in actuality, not all that extravagant but they just seemed extravagant to her as a young girl who didn't have much else to compare her the food to). Building off of that, I want to look at one of Ingrid's White Cloud explore dialogues.

Here, Ingrid again emphasizes the beauty of how they are able to get food "every day," similarly to her neutral meal dialogue. I think the constant emphasis on the consistency of high quality food shows how Ingrid isn't used to this kind of luxury. She is definitely acutely aware of the situation in her territory and likely knows that many people there aren't able to eat everyday. Let's look back at her dialogue for when she dislikes the meal, commenting on how she was remembering the famine. Even when eating something she doesn't like, she is still aware that the experience of just eating the food is a privilege in and of itself. Therefore, she does not complain about the quality of the food, simply reminds herself of those who are less fortunate and forces herself to finish it anyways. Now I want to shift focus to one of her advice options.

This emphasizes how Ingrid believes you should always be grateful for the food you have. Having access to both meats and vegetables would seem pretty luxurious to someone who experienced a famine. She saw her people making many sacrifices and likely subsisting off of meals that were significantly lower quality than anything people eat at the monastery, so the idea that the monastery food still isn't good enough for some people would drive her crazy. This also seems to point at a dislike for picky eaters from her dislike for the second advice option. Being picky is a luxury, it's a privilege, and Ingrid doesn't like seeing people's privileged attitudes towards food. Food is something special to her and it therefore deserves to be treated with respect, and we can see this in her support with Raphael.

Here, Raphael behaves in a very slobbish and carefree manner in regards to his food. The whole C support shows Ingrid getting mad at him for the various ways he is being improper, so you can look there for more examples, I just wanted to choose a short snippet that I felt really represented Ingrid's frustration at the idea. While it is definitely possible to chalk Ingrid's frustration up to her more proper manner, which I'm sure plays into this exchange, I think it's also important to point out just how frustrated Ingrid gets over Raphael's lack of manners when eating, which brings me back to the point I made earlier with Ingrid almost viewing food as sacred. When something is sacred, the way it is treated is very important. If we had an alternate support chain, where a non religious character had poor manners in the cathedral like Raphael currently displays and a religious character berated him similarly to how Ingrid is berating Raphael, that support would make sense. This therefore indicates that Ingrid believes food is worthy of respect and, when you eat it improperly, that indicates a lack of respect and that you are not enjoying the food to its fullest. This high respect for food also believes Ingrid to view food as a more communal experience.

I think this viewpoint is likely influenced by the culture in her territory. Due to the scarcity of food, good quality meals (or at least good quality meals relative to what the Galatea citizens are used to) are likely only experienced on special occasions, with friends and family. Ingrid would likely have internalized this food and viewed sharing good meals as something very special (this is especially true because, when making a meal for someone during a famine, you are spending your limited resources on them when you could instead use them to take care of yourself, showing that you care deeply for the other person). Another part of Galatea territory's culture surrounding food shows up in her working dialogue with Sylvain.

To my knowledge, we don't see other noble characters indicating that food is something you have to earn. The closest we get is Petra talking about hunting for food, but I'm sure if Petra had an unsuccessful hunt she still would've been fed. Ingrid here views food very clearly as a reward, it is not a right it is something you're given after a hard days work. The fact that she holds this viewpoint indicates that this isn't just a reality for the commoners in Galatea territory, but also for her noble family. If the limited food their territory has is being spent on you, you are expected to use the energy you get from it to benefit the territory. After all, if you're somebody who is just going to sit around and do nothing all day, why should they waste their limited resources on you? This attitude likely instilled Ingrid's respect for food at a young age. In well off areas, food is something your parents just give you as a child so it's easy to take it for granted. But Ingrid, if Ingrid has had to work for her food from a young age, she would've been made aware of its value very early on.

Ingrid also utilizes food as a source of comfort, as can be seen below.

Time for a little confession, I gathered all these quotes before writing this analysis and didn't write down where I got them from because I thought I'd just remember. Well, I don't remember where I got the first picture from here, so when I was going back to find context for this quote I wasn't able to find it, oops. So this section is not going to have as much context as I wanted but oh well I think it still makes my point.

In both these instances, Ingrid is dealing with something difficult. In the first quote, she had just started opening up to somebody about her struggles and in the second picture takes place post time skip, meaning she is in the midst of a war. In both these moments, she uses food as a source of joy, as a distraction from whatever she is currently dealing with. This can again tie into the sacredness of food in Ingrid's perspective. Many religious people will use their religion as a source of comfort in difficult times. We can see this in Fodlan with Marianne's character, who often prays when she is feeling stressed or upset. Ingrid's tendency to turn to food during difficult times how she holds food in high regard.

Bonus quote I wasn't able to naturally fit into the flow of my analysis but is still relevant and interesting

[mayasdeluca]

I wanted to write this up and send it to you sooner because I wanted to get the wording right and now that the Jay news broke, it kind of aligns with what I had wanted to say.It's never a good look when the lead(s) of a show get ignored for more fan favorite people especially at conventions. No fault to the actors, it's just who the fans gravitate toward.

I remember when Wynonna Earp was at their first SDCC I think, almost every question from the audience was for Kat. Obviously frustrating to the others on the panel (again not Kat's fault) to where Shamier (I think) joked that he could leave. But I think Mel felt more slighted as she was the lead of the show and might have resented Kat early on (all water under the bridge now). And you even see how Mel didn't participate in those early Earp cons probably because of being an after thought to fans. I mean even now, since the cons seem to lean toward the queer community, the male cast members like Tim, Varun, and Greg are treated like they don't matter and it annoys me so much the way some fans disrespect them.

I see it happening similarly with these Station 19 cons. They saw the pull of Danielle and Stefania (similar to Dom and Kat) and booked them as the con headliners, but then had random additions like Grey and Alberto and Brett. Why not Jaina or Jason the supposed leads of the show? Possibly because there is some "resentment" (for lack of a better word) to the Marina popularity overshadowing the show as a whole. Granted these are European cons so they tend to be a little different but Jaina and Jason and Jay are doing Epic cons so they're not opposed to the whole con scene like say Barrett but maybe they just didn't want to deal with being an afterthought among the predominately Marina/queer fans that show up to these cons. And I'm not including whatever BTS drama has happened or like I mentioned above it is not the actors fault that people gravitate toward them but it could be off putting in any profession when someone gets love and praise and you have to be like um, I was there too. (Which is why I also think the Marina Spinoff hashtag is kind of in poor taste but that's a discussion for another thread).

As for Jay, I was actually surprised when he was announced for the UK con since no one else from the current cast except Grey (who marches to the beat of his own drum) ever went to a con. They kept teasing another guest was going to be announced and I am very curious of who that would have been; I doubt it was Alex all along. They probably invited him cause he was cheap and it made sense since he was part of Jake and Jaicy's intern class and they made a point to add he was part of the queer community.

Anyway back to Jay, unless the mystery guest was Lachlan or Jaina or someone else at 19, it didn't make sense pairing Jay with Jake and Jaicy for Friday as they never worked together. Which is probably why his sales suffered and in turn they couldnt afford to bring him. I feel like some of these cons see the popularity in guests going to other cons but don't actually know the show(s) to know who to put together. I mean for all the BTS drama the cast seem to stick together, if they dicked Jay over like this, do they really think they'll have a chance to get him (or others for that matter) for their 2.0 version they're already planning. And that might even include Stefania saying no even though she had a good time this year.

I have rambled on this enough but my final thought is that we know the fans can be extreme but they really do border on disrespectful when they make it all about Danielle and Stefania or Marina (which granted they were the main couple of the show) and disregard anyone else which even may have been the cause of some of that BTS drama which would be petty but these are actors who need their who's stroked constantly LOL.

I totally see what you're saying with this and have seen it happening with both fandoms you mentioned considering I was in both but I think it's partly unfair to put all the blame on the fans for doing this for a few reasons.

I think the reason that fans of a wlw ship end up getting so invested in a show because of the ship is due to the extreme lack of representation on tv to begin with so we are literally grasping at straws to find any and every kind of representation and sinking into it in every way possible. Of course there should be limits to this when it ends up being invasive to the actresses and boundaries are being crossed but from a strictly on screen perspective, while it may be unfair to said main actress/character who isn't part of the wlw ship that people are watching for, it also isn't fair or right that our community is barely shown on television while you can turn on any channel and any show at any given moment and see a female lead and male lead who inevitably end up getting together at some point in time.

And from a con standpoint specifically, I even saw people start to say after the Jay situation that this should be a reason that people start to buy other guests extras and not just Danielle and Stefania's...but who is someone to say how someone else should spend their money? And I know that there are now a lot of con 'regulars' (I really cringe saying that but don't know how else to describe it) who make it a habit of going at least every year so clearly they are financially able to do so and maybe could buy other guests things to make sure they are able to stay a guest but also if someone is going just to meet the actresses of the ship they like, that should also be okay. It's not really the fan's responsibility to make sure the actor is represented and situated for a con once a con decides to invite them.

Yes it's awkward and uncomfortable when it's not the 'main' who is the favorite or if it's very obvious that there's certain cast members who are more popular than others but I'm not sure how you fix or change that. I also think a lot of is has to do with fan interaction and how interaction the actors are with their own fans. Just as an example, how much of the Station 19 cast really interacted with the fans to build up a connection with them? And I know they can now say they wanted to stay away from the drama and everything but what about before Marina was even a thing? Live tweeting and posting BTS and all that standard promo stuff really goes a long way with people (we've seen it with the Earp cast). But yeah I don't really think there's a real good solution to making it work for everyone.

[loving-n0t-heyting]

Still making my way trudgily thru Vinland saga and thinking a bit about what makes it feel so much more authentic and admirable than a huge amount of similarly themed preachy pop media (artistic sermons about how violence is not the answer). The example in the forefront of my mind is the civil rights arc from the umbrella academy s02, which I was watching pre-breakup with my ex. The good place can fit this mould at times too

I think the fundamental answer is that a lot of competing preachy pacifist propaganda is really selling a sort of complacency and self-congratulation. The height of morality is a moderately intensified version of well-adjusted suburban existence—maybe one that’s more politically involved, maybe one where you don’t call the cops much/ever, maybe one where you’re a bit ahead of the curve on social inclusion and conscientious consumption. But, once you’ve purged it of some unfortunate socially backward residue, a saint looks basically smth like you, the dignified and well-reared middle class liberal

VS refuses to let you indulge this fantasy, vigorously. It repudiates the idea at every step. Some examples [spoilers]:

The heroes are men who have committed or negligently failed to resist inexcusable acts, repeatedly and at mass scale. Thus they cannot present pacifism as a promised means of resting assured of their moral superiority; indeed, especially the protagonist makes it clear that he cannot preside over violent judgment precisely bc he is conscious of his guilt

In one of the most beautiful animanga scenes I’ve ever read/watched, the work viciously attacks the values of family and personal loyalty. Particular “loves” like those between parent/child or husband/wife are not even love at all, they are mere prejudice and favouritism, no different from servile courtiers debasing themselves before a king while exploiting their social inferiors. This is, obviously, a bad fit for middle class morality

It refuses to condemn revolutionary violence in absolute terms. King Canute, reimagined as a femboy 11th cent Lenin of the north sea, is one of the vaunted few who can see beyond to a truly better world. The manga makes clear which route it prefers between egalitarian radical pacifism and ruthless strongman militarism, but it doesn’t let the better man (that is, vicariously, the audience) gloat about it and also makes clear that the latter is at least asking the right questions (a rare and laudable achievement)

The hero’s personal self-transformation is centrally, flauntingly undignified. His pride and dignity are the first things he is willing to toss aside for the sake of his dream of a better world. His pacifism doesn’t allow him to preserve his dignity and honour at all: it treats it instead as one of his first hindrances

It also manages to be so earnest and unsubtle to circle around from cringe to endearing. You can tell she’s really putting her whole heart into it, she really believes she needs to say what shes saying with it and won’t let artistic sophistication and discretion stand in the way of it

In conclusion pls read the manga it is very good :3

[thevagabondexpress]

a mad scientist and an angry fanauthor v. the harmful myth of the cinnamon roll. or, some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc, pt. ii

"Alas, Christopher is far more at home with beakers and test tubes than he is with female company. Let's just hope he doesn't pitch poor Rosamund into the refreshment table." — James Herondale, Chain of Gold

Cinnamon roll. You know the term. You've heard it around. I don't know if it's still in use, maybe I'm dating myself with it. But you know what it means.

Think of someone sixteen years or older that you consider to be a cinnamon roll. Get a good picture of that person, fictional or real, in your head.

I was a cinnamon roll for a very long time. That's how my friends treated me, that's how my first girlfriend treated me, and it's even, in a few cases, a monicker they directly applied to me. And I hated it. It showed that they only cared to know me on this superficial level of "adorable baby too good and pure for this world." They didn't care about the less adorable, less innocent, less naïve, and definitely also a high school student and not a child who lay underneath the oversized spectacles, the choice to keep my business to myself (my school friends simply did not need to know what I read and wrote on AO3 or how foul my mouth could get if I wanted it to) and the long-standing hyperfixation. They didn't want to see about the parts of me that didn't fit their precious archetype.

Does this sound familiar?

Enter Christopher Lightwood. I can guarantee you this was his experience, except that never once do we get enough from his point of view in the series to let us actually see it. Maybe I'm just projecting here (because why wouldn't one project onto their fictional crush) but I had issues with the way Cassandra Clare wrote, framed, and treated Christopher long before his narrative's ending in Chain of Thorns. He was mistreated consistently by the narrative, by the society around him, and unconsciously by his own closest friends.

Think about it. He's consistently dismissed, even by those closest to him, as the cinnamon roll, the mad scientist, the one who's bad at social interaction, the one who's definitely not interested in romance, with no input from Christopher himself whatsoever at all to confirm or deny any of these stereotypes. He's constantly belittled, his friends and even his sister treat him like he's six, not sixteen (upon hearing of his death Charles calls him "Little Kit" as if the person in question wasn't two years away from being a legal adult). They seem to think he can't take care of himself just because he's absentminded, nobody ever tells him anything important (Thomas only realizes he should've told Christopher about Alastair once Christopher's gone), and any time he tries to step out of the "mad scientist" box his decisions are questioned and he's thrown right back in. Say what you will about Grace Blackthorn but she and Henry are the only people who actually get Christopher, who not only understand him but make attempts to understand him at more than a superficial level.

And because nobody's obviously outright hurting him and he doesn't have a deadbeat and/or abusive parent and he's pretty good at just keeping a cheerful face on about it because being angry and mean doesn't do anything but make a situation worse, you don't even realize it until you go back through and look for yourself. And I encourage you to look for yourself. I'm only the pastor, I ain't the Bible.

And guess what? Christopher Lightwood is also a textbook cinnamon roll.

Except he's not. There is no such thing as a cinnamon roll. They don't exist, no more than Santa Claus or Alexandria's Genesis. And that person you've just called a cinnamon roll? Yeah, they're gnashing their teeth, ready to scream.

The cinnamon roll is a myth. A harmful myth, one used primarily in three ways: by allo people against ace, aro, and aroace people, by neurotypical people against people with autism, adhd, and similarly-presenting neurodivergences, and by cis and binary trans people against nonbinary people, to infantalize them, to put them in a neatly definable category, and to keep them in that box where they have no power. As a person who is all three: a grey-asexual, nonbinary, and neurodivergent, it was a deeply hurtful label I couldn't escape.

Neither could Christopher.

And in the end, it killed him.

"some issues a tsc fan sees in tsc" is an attempt to break down the unacknowledged things in tsc that i unearthed reading chain of thorns, rereading the rest of the series in preparation for it, and writing two longform fanfics (one of them a genderbent canon reworking) for the last hours. click on the "some issues..." tag to see more of these.