#like they fall under the same trope category

[starsspin]

i think a lot about how different saxa and naevia are because on the surface they are the strong and wild warrior women type. and yes both have a hated towards the romans tho for naevia it's far more personal, and rightly so. where as saxa doesn't have that same personal vendetta. for saxa its much easier for her to accept spatracus' cause of something greater than herself, even if she doesn't always understand it. where as naevia has a much greater desire for personal vengeance.

[gghostwriter]

Whispered Truths

Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader

Summary: Your weekly reading club with boyfriend, Spencer Reid, has never been as sweet and life-changing as this night Trope: Fluff! Just fluff! w.c: 0.8k a/n: This is actually a request from @bloodredrubyrose and I really liked how this came out. I also used my favorite piece of fiction here as a prop so I hope you like it! Comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated! 💗 masterlist

Couples, no matter how new or old, tend to create personalized dates as a way to strengthen the relationship. Some go on hikes together, some go on travels, while some stay in the comfort of their homes—under a blanket with a chosen book on hand.

You and Spencer definitely fall under the latter category. It was quite obvious from the first meeting that literature would be one of the strongest bonding agents between you and him. After all, it was how you were brought together—crashing into one another at the library with books and miscellaneous items scattered on the tiled floor. A few shy glances and bewitching dates later, you found yourself spending your Saturday nights in the presence of your boyfriend of six months, hosting an exclusive reading club with just two members, you and him.

“I never thought of it that way,” your left hand paving an aimless path through Spencer’s curly hair while the other held the book up high.

The pitter patters of the rain outside softly echoed through the walls. You were propped up on the loveseat sofa, his head resting on your lap as he looked upwards in question in regards to your statement.

“Never thought of which?” His voice low and soft, striking a resemblance to how he gazed at you oh so lovingly. As if you were the most riveting piece if art he had ever laid his eyes upon.

“How water played a big symbol throughout the whole book. It was really focused on during the first chapters but I—I just never quite connected the dots,” you clarified, bring the book to a close.

It was your choice for the week, East of Eden by John Steinbeck—a modern classic and had been your favorite work of literature since high school. Spencer had lent his copy to you last week and you vice versa—both turning brown from age, pages about to fall apart from its binding, annotations scribbled on the margins and any lengthy self reflections written on various notebook pages sandwiched in between.

“Your explanation on the empty pages at the end—how water is capable of bringing both life and death. Water being essential for the crops but at the same time, drowned victims. It’s such a poignant note that I think I just fell more in love with Steinbeck’s writing,” you added. “It also made me realize how water in his novel represents the dual capacity of the human soul for good and evil. How we are all filled with conundrums and contradictions and what makes us different from the other species on Earth is our ability to choose whether we are good or evil—” Spencer had sat up and leaned in, interrupting your musings. “—what?” You breathed out as his lips hovered on yours.

The once cozy atmosphere quickly charged with tension and desire that seemed to ooze out of Spencer. There was little space in between and you had no doubt that from the outside looking in, it looked like he was kissing you but he was not, rather a sliver of air was still given space to pass through. So close but so far.

You studied his features up close. How his long lashes fluttered like butterfly wings beating against the wind as his molten, darkened, hazel eyes flickered between your lips and eyes. How his nose lightly caressed yours in an endless Eskimo kiss. How his cheeks stained into a lighter shade of red. And how his pink tongue peeked out to wet his pillowy lips. 

“I’m in love with you,” he whispered as if it was some kind of national secret that he now felt right to expose.

Your breath caught in your throat. This was the first time he had said it. His love for you had been conveyed with every touch, with every action, and with every silence but this was the first time he had put it into words.

His lips caressed yours—the pressure almost non-existent. A ghost of a kiss to gauge your reaction and consent.

“I love you,” he repeated a little louder this time, eyes locking into the very depths of your soul. “You and your mind have enchanted me since the beginning—so beautiful, so captivating.”

The butterflies set free in your stomach caused you to viscerally shiver in reaction.

“I love you too, Spencer.”

A smile graced his face and it was bright and as blinding as the sun, like it had finally decided to stop hiding behind the clouds and show itself in all of its glory.

He leaned in once more. The pressure from his lips now heavier and headier, trying to stamp his everlasting mark on you and in between all these kisses were whispers of his utter devotion and adoration until there was no more space—until you both became one on his loveseat sofa.

Comments and reblogs are greatly appreciated!

[kokushibitch]

my dmmd au where mink is actually a brown guy instead of being vaguely yellow and grey. left edit is just a skintone edit while the right contains more natural looking feathers. i also gave him a stronger face

i spent a while trying to pinpoint his nation. unfortunately his design contradicted itself a bit and the slapping of random feathers and dreamcatchers everywhere pisses me awf. i wish that the artists had chosen to stick with one specific nation, and the closer i looked it actually wasn't as bad as i initially thought, but there were still some pretty egregious errors made with his design that could be avoided with CURSORY research, and for a company like n+c, big as they are with the resources to do better research, is unacceptable. to be quite honest, i almost hesitate to even make this post because i really don't want people to run with the information ill be discussing. while i am a native dude that enjoys DMMD, i know so many others that dislike mink, his design, and story because he falls into quite a few racist tropes. also, just because i can kind of glean some information about mink's culture based on his character design/home design, does not mean that it's a 100% accurate portrayal of said culture.

TL;DR: i used to think he was supposed to be ojibwe, but upon further inspection i headcanon mink as navajo/dine and afronative, my reasoning below the cut. im gonna make a later post discussing the nuances of his route and the meta racism in DMMD cause its been a loooooooong time since ive played his route. while im not navajo myself (im tsalagi) i at least have the life experience to tell the goddamn difference between nations lol. i also love the inclusion of a rainbow in his design as a fellow indigenous rainbow enjoyer

note: dine and navajo are the same thing, but im gonna use navajo because thats what more people are familiar with.

the easiest way to start would be with his most obviously unique feature, his locced hair. loccing among NA nations wasn't super common, but it did happen due to the culture & rituals around hair (no cutting unless under specific circumstances, braids/plaits end up "locced" from saltwater, etc etc). to me, however, his locced hair didn't feel like a purposeful design choice. meaning, i dont think the artist chose the locced hair because they wanted to convey something traditional about mink's culture, i think they chose it just because it looks cool, or because mink kind of just falls into the "vaguely brown" category. i'd also be okay with interpreting him as black/native, which i think im gonna do because i know that there are (or was, dead fandom) plenty of black dmmd fans that identify with him

his second most unique cultural indicator is his dreamcatcher. unfortunately, dreamcatchers have kind fallen into that "vague native design" bullshit, but they do have a tribal origin: aanishinabe. again though, due to the sheer abundance of people slapping dreamcatchers onto vaguely native characters, i cant say that this is a strong enough point for me to say definitively that he's aanishinabe. also, you dont fuckin wear dreamcatchers. end of, they're not supposed to be on your body.

THEN there are even more important indicators to me that denote exactly which nation he's from.

just judging base on the patterns used on his traditional tapestries, blankets, and runners, would denote some sort of southwestern nation. now they're not accurate designs necessarily, but i can understand and see clearly where they took inspiration from.

the peace pipe on the wall in both his home and his hideout immediately indicate navajo, a southwestern nation. the fact that he has a strong religious orientation to smoking herbs (im assuming in place of tobacco) is also very navajo to me. the pottery in his home & hideout are also very strongly southwestern, as pottery was a very common art in the southwest. the fact that he has an altar at all is unique because altars are actually not common practice and are usually only found in the southwest, which is actually a good detail point whether it was intentional or not. ignore the dreamcatchers which were, again, thrown in randomly

and of course his homeland contains mountains and more importantly, cliffs and canyons which is another southwest feature. there's also his fuckass cowboy boots which are VERY southwestern

IGNORING the dreamcatcher in his hair AGAIN, he's also flexin beaded jewelry. to me, these are just like regular beads, but you could interpret them as turquoise if you wanted. traditional turquoise jewelry is usually inlayed onto silver bands or pieces as well as strung together like so. his white belt also contains a very southwestern design.

as much as some elements of his design annoy the fuck out of me, i love, love, love, love the inclusion of the rainbow in mink's character design. the rainbow is so important to so many different nations, and mink being a religious person, it actually makes a lot of sense for him to have this sort of draw to rainbows or rainbow colored items. specifically in navajo culture, rainbows are used as Bridges between The Navajo and The Holy People, basically communicating with a higher power. a rainbow is also a symbol of the 7 sacred rituals in navajo culture, one color per ritual. here's a youtube video about it, learn something

i do have some thoughts on mink de-loccing his hair in his good ending, but i think i will have to save that for another post further down the line

anways, ive made my case. mink is navajo

[yourpenpaldee]

·˚ ༘₊· ͟͟͞͞꒰➳ WRITEBLR INTRODUCTION.

I don't usually put myself out there as it makes me nervous. But I've been a lurker for way too long, and it's about time I step out of my comfort zone. So, hello! I'm Dee (she/her), twenty-two, and have found my voice with storytelling.

Writing has always been a passion of mine, and continues to be the tool I turn to when I need an outlet to freely express myself. I have, unfortunately, hit a rough patch with consistency, and I'm here to bring all of that motivation and inspiration back. Especially since there are one too many WIPs sitting on the backburner, and they're all calling my name.

As someone who loves to dip their toes into every genre of fiction, I will read anything that peaks my interest. However, when it comes to creating, my works usually fall under romance and mystery. With practice, I intend on branching out into other genres I don't write often. There's a lot to explore in the world of writing, and I don't want to limit myself to only two categories.

Creating this blog provides me the space I need to accomplish the many goals I often dream of achieving. I acknowledge that it all starts with the ability to hold myself accountable. To show up for myself. To become comfortable with the uncomfortable. Putting myself and my projects out into the world is only the first of many steps, and it feels quite liberating.

I aim to use the voice I've found to not only contribute to the progression of POC representation, but to touch on several topics that remain heavily stigmatized in today's media. There’s a joy that runs through my veins every time I see someone like me on my screen or in a book. I feel seen, heard, and proud. I feel important. But as a creator, there’s that itch that can only be scratched when I create. When I make something that lets the next person know that they’re not invisible. That they're valued, loved, and appreciated. That's what I hope for when someone reads a project of mine. For them to feel the same rush of joy flowing through them as it does me.

Wow, I’m a yapper. I'd like to close this intro off with some fun facts, so here are some of my top five favorites with sidenotes because I still want to yap a bit more about the things I adore.

SOLO ARTISTS:

ARI LENNOX ✧ ˚ · . CHOCOLATE POMEGRANATE — GET CLOSE — GOAT — POF — UP LATE

HALSEY ✧ ˚ · . 100 LETTERS — I HATE EVERYBODY — NIGHTMARE — ROMAN HOLIDAY — THE LIGHTHOUSE

HOPE TALA ✧ ˚ · . CHERRIES — EDEN — I CAN'T EVEN CRY — LEAVE IT ON THE DANCEFLOOR — SUNBURN

MELANIE MARTINEZ ✧ ˚ · . ALPHABET BOY — DEAD TO ME — EVIL — NOTEBOOK — STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

HALIMA ✧ ˚ · . DOWNTOWN — FORD CARDINAL — IF LOVE WAS GREEN — SAMANTHA — TALK

BANDS:

5 SECONDS OF SUMMER ✧ ˚ · . AIRPLANES — BETTER MAN — KILL MY TIME — LONG WAY HOME — TEARS!

FALL OUT BOY ✧ ˚ · . BANG THE DOLDRUMS — CHICAGO IS SO TWO YEARS AGO — HEADFIRST SLIDE INTO COOPERSTOWN ON A BAD BET — NOBODY PUTS BABY IN THE CORNER — WHERE DID THE PARTY GO

FLO ✧ ˚ · . CARDBOARD BOX — FLY GIRL — IMMATURE — SUITE LIFE (FAMILIAR) — WALK LIKE THIS

PARAMORE ✧ ˚ · . BIG MAN, LITTLE DIGNITY — CAUGHT IN THE MIDDLE — FRANKLIN — MISGUIDED GHOST — PART II

THE INTERNET ✧ ˚ · . DONTCHA — HOLD ON — LOOK WHAT U STARTED — SOMTHING'S MISSING — SPECIAL AFFAIR

GAMES:

CORAL ISLAND ✧ ˚ · . IF I START LISTING NAMES, I'M GOING TO MENTION EVERYONE. BUT I'M A LOYAL MARK GIRL. AND NOAH... AND MILLIE, EVA, BEN, Y—

DISNEY DREAMLIGHT VALLEY ✧ ˚ · . THIS IS SUCH A COMFORT GAME THAT SOOTHES MY INNER CHILD.

DON'T STARVE [TOGETHER] ✧ ˚ · . I MAY OR MAY NOT STILL SUCK AT THIS GAME AFTER A SOLID THREE YEARS, BUT I'M A WIGFRID MAIN.

STARDEW VALLEY ✧ ˚ · . I LOVE SEBASTIAN AND LEAH, AND I WILL DIE ON THIS HILL IF I HAVE TO.

THE SIMS 4 ✧ ˚ · . WHERE I SPEND A LOT MORE TIME IN CREATE-A-SIM AND BUILD MODE COMPARED TO PLAYING THE ACTUAL GAME.

TROPES:

FAKE RELATIONSHIP ✧ ˚ · . MHM... JUST SAY YOU LIKE EACH OTHER ALREADY.

FATED MATE ✧ ˚ · . I'M A BIT PICKY ABOUT THIS TROPE THOUGH. THINGS TEND TO MOVE VERY QUICKLY BUT I ENJOY IT NONETHELESS.

FRIENDS TO LOVERS ✧ ˚ · . A CLASSIC THAT DOESN'T NEED AN EXPLANATION.

REUNION ✧ ˚ · . ESPECIALLY IF THEY WERE CHILDHOOD FRIENDS AND THEY REMINISCE OLD MEMORIES, OH MY GOODNESS. I EAT THIS TROPE UP EVERY TIME.

SLOWBURN ✧ ˚ · . NO DOUBT THIS IS MY MOST FAVORITE TROPE. THE BUILDUP TO EVEN THE TINIEST PIVOTAL MOMENT ALWAYS MAKES MY HEART THUMP.

TV SHOWS:

CRIMINAL MINDS ✧ ˚ · . YES, I’LL WATCH ALL 16 SEASONS FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME AND FALL IN LOVE WITH PRENTISS EACH TIME. WE WERE ALSO ROBBED OF BEARDED HOTCH CONTENT.

BRIDGERTON ✧ ˚ · . DO I CRY EVERY TIME I WATCH GEORGE AND CHARLOTTE'S STORY? YES. WILL I CONTINUE TO REWATCH IT AND RECITE THE LINES EVERY TIME SOMETHING REMINDS ME OF IT? ASOLUTELY.

THE BEAR ✧ ˚ · . I WISH I KNEW OF AYO EDEBIRI BEFORE THIS SHOW BECAUSE THAT WOMAN IS AMAZING??? LIKE, HELLO???

THE EQUALIZER ✧ ˚ · . *mini spoiler* STILL CAN'T STOP THINKING OF DANTE'S GRIN WHEN HE GOT TO SEE MEL, ROB, AND HARRY'S LITTLE WORK SPOT FOUR SEASONS LATER.

SWEET MAGNOLIAS ✧ ˚ · . HELEN, MADDIE, AND DANA SUE IS HOW I PICTURE MY FRIENDS AND I IN THE FUTURE. MARGARITA NIGHTS, BEING AUNTIES TO EACH OTHER'S CHILDREN, UGH. I LOVE THEM WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

And that concludes this introduction on me and this blog. I would love to connect and befriend other authors, so please don't hesitate to reach out as my DMs will always be open! I'd love to support and read your works, so don't be hesitant to share them with me if you'd like.

I hope you all will enjoy reading my works as much as I enjoy the process of bringing my ideas to life.

divider creds to strangergraphics ♡

[polliwoggers]

been struggling to draw lately so i went through some older stuff of mine and found this, only to realize i never posted it. i don't imagine anybody's still doing stuff for this weird social media-clan au thingy anymore, now that the meme of it has died down, but anybody's free to these names for whatever uses they want, if they want them :)

bonus lore to get it out of my head:

Yarrow-whisker was the previous medic before Quarrypaw, who has yet to gain their full status as a medicine cat in their absence

Geckopaw and Prairiepaw are siblings. Yewtail is only a so-so mentor at the best of times, so Foxfire effectively mentors them both. However, Prairiepaw has swooped in to support Yewtail when they decide to do something stupid and unsustainable on multiple occasions. they really shouldn't have been granted an apprentice tbh. i recently re-read Fire and Ice in the original warriors series so the parallels to Graystripe being a poor mentor to Brackenpaw are intentional

Skypelt came out of retirement to mentor Duskpaw, since they serve such similar real-life purposes. Skypelt doesn't understand everything their apprentice says or does but is generally supportive of such a similar application

Marsh-singer, Whitestep, and Thymeface are all siblings, and are collectively the youngest of the warriors (not accurate to the actual ages of the applications, but eh). to say they are all total gossips would be an understatement. they're also really interchangeable and forgettable. like the Runningwinds of apps.

depending on how positively you want to view the whole "reincarnation" trope some of the canon warriors books have, you could say that Tickpaw is a reincarnation of Musiclight. Otherwise, they just look really similar.

all of the "Cats Outside of Clans" cats are kittypets, with the notable exception of Furzebark, who is a banished rogue with a concerning amount of influence on the Clan(s?). maybe there's a whole band of rogues who are based on insidiously/surprisingly influential applications or online entities! various appstore/playsotre applications could fall under this category, as well as like. roblox, apparently. which is beyond weird to me since that's a game and not a wider application, but it got scarily profitable during lockdown, so...

Redpaw was Yewtail's sibling, but died during their apprenticeship. Probably to the same thing that killed Gravelpounce, but i have no idea what that would be

Flaxflower is generally considered WAY too old to still be alive (since the real internet explorer died a bit ago by now), but since he'd "find a way to be late to his own funeral", he has yet to kick the bucket.

the whole twittypet drama is EASILY the juiciest gossip the clan has had in ages, ESPECIALLY the half-clan checkmark-kits. in-universe, im interpreting the poor management of twitter that's been driving it into the ground irl as a negligent cat owner unintentionally driving their pet to spend more time outdoors with other cats (namely, dashclaw) to get away from them, which resulted in kittens. drummed-up anti-kittypet sentiment aside, many clan cats looking in on the situation just feel bad for her.

Vinewatcher is the most consistently "present" of the StarClan spirits, but is also the most consistently unhelpful. numerous potential prophecies later turned out to just be inside jokes of theirs they decided to continue rehashing into the afterlife. Quarrypaw, having not gotten much experience identifying what makes a legitimate prophecy yet, finds this exceptionally annoying behavior, and would like them to stop. They do not.

[potofsoup]

So.... I kind of accidentally fell into a Batfam fic hole for the past 3+ months and ... ::checks:: read >1000 fics??? Ooops?

Anyway, a fic rec list below the cut -- don't think anything is particularly surprising for anyone who is actually in the batfam fandom, since I stuck to the greatest hits, but in case you're like "Soup, how did you fall into a hole this deep for this long", under the cut are ~20 fics, organized by length. Mostly Tim-centric hurt/comfort because I'm basic like that. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

- Hot Cat on a Tin Roof by Arsenic (4k) This one is super cute -- basically Tim is an omega who has been hiding his heats because his parents were shit and never taught him otherwise, but then Jason finds out and of course mother-hens aggressively.

- phantom pain by envysparkler (5k) A great entry in the category of "Jason finds out that Tim's home life is miserable" -- in this case, he finds out that Tim's dad beats him through an accidental pain transference spell. Tim's dad gets his comeuppance.

- transaction by envysparkler (7k) The one where kid!Tim is touch-starved and goes to pay prostitute!Jason for hugs.

- The Second Stage by nightwalker (8k) Short and full of feels: basically Tim is touch-starved and determined not to bleed on anyone. Unfortunately his family finds out and he gets lots of cuddles.

- Brother Wanted by Vamillepudding (11k) Hilarious one where Tim puts out an ad for a brother and Jason accidentally answers. I love the little!Tim characterization here.

- 1-800-ROBIN by spqr (12k) A great entry in the "Jason Todd finds out and forcibly adopts Tim into the Batfam" category, all told through a series of phone calls. Great Jason Todd voice.

- Our Bodies & Other Fine Machines by SilverSkiesAtMidnight (13k) Tim's parents remain horrible! In this one, they make Tim food-insecure by cutting his food-buying budget and Tim, of course, tries to solve the problem himself. Eventually people figure it out and Tim ends up in a much better place.

- Tell Me I Am by potofrogs (15k) Basically trans!Tim gets kidnapped by Ras and made his "queen", saves himself and comes back to Gotham, and ... manages to recover, confront the Bats and stake out his own life in a generally healthy manner?!! I like that in this one, he doesn't immediately fall back into the Batfam gravity well and instead figures out what he actually wants.

- A Meditation on Railroading by eggmacguffin (25k) Wow this is an amazing fic about gaslighting. It's about Tim being abandoned in Atlanta by his shitty dad and deciding to train-hop his way home. I feel like I understand gaslighting better now.

- The Lone Ranger Never Had to Deal with Bruce Wayne by theskeptileptic (25k) This is a fic where Tim plans to fake his own death and run away to Canada to start a new life. Features hilarious little!Tim logic -- I love how his plans are both very smart but also very stupid at the same time, because he's 11.

- Missed Calls by nightwalker (26k) 5 times that Tim's dad didn't pick up the phone and one time he did. A particularly good rendition of the "Tim's parents are neglectful" trope. A good 5+1 really explores the range of the premise, and this fic delivers.

- His Head is Bloody, but Unbowed by gunpowder_and_pearls (26k) A great Jason POV fic! I love the way this fic captures what Jason's life would be like if he didn't end up getting adopted by Bruce -- the precariousness of trying to hold down two jobs as a 16-year-old and also dealing with a not-healthy home life. (It's okay, he befriends Nightwing and Robin)

- exception by cassiopeia721 (27k) A good character piece where Tim is taught that he's the "exception" -- exceptionally bright and mature, and therefore "kid" rules don't apply to him. Which doesn't do well for his emotional development, of course, as he deals with family neglect and also getting beaten up by Jason Todd.

- a Robin by any other name by redrobin1989 (33k) I love me some identity porn, and in this one, Tim still becomes Robin but refuses to tell Batman who he is. It really does some fun stuff with the "Batman and Tim!Robin is just a professional relationship" premise. (They figure it out in the end)

- Red Letter Day by silverwhittlingknife (41k, 9/? chapters) This is a wip, but deffo worth reading! Basically Dick is trying to be single-parent to Damian and barely keeping all the balls in the air. There's a mysterious calendar date that's marked as super important but he can't remember what it is. He thinks it's for Damian (but it's pretty clear by chapter 2 that it's for Tim). It's got an interesting Dick & Tim dynamic in that they hang out and obviously care about each other, but also there's too many things left unsaid (but Dick is really trying his best!)

- Banshee In A Well by liverobinreaction (bugbee) (43k) In this one, Tim keeps dying and coming back to life. It doesn't leave any emotional trauma around self-worth at all, no sirree. Nor does it feed into Tim's self-sacrifice tendencies at all, either, of course not.

- Dead Boys Don't Scream by Year_of_Summer (49k, 15/26 chapters) Wow I love this fic. Tim feeling neglected by Batfam? check. Tim running off and trying to solve problems himself with an overly-convoluted plan and zero survival instinct? check. Tim making friends despite himself? check. Super cool siren/merpeople mythology? check. All the angst upon Tim's return? check. This fic hasn't hit the comfort part of hurt/comfort, but it's expertly written and I definitely trust the author to deliver! Definitely worth a subscribe.

- The Return by lurkinglurkerwholurks (52k) So lots of fics have this arc of "Tim feels shut out from the Batfam and eventually does something so drastic that the Batfam is forced confront their issues." Which I love! But sometimes I want the Batfam to notice earlier, for them to try to fix things but it's hard and rocky because they're different people with different traumas and hangups. This fic delivers beautifully.

- buy back the secrets by sundiscus (71k, 5/6 chapters) I love the characterizations in this one, particularly Kon! It's a super cute Tim/Kon fic where Kon doesn't know that Tim is Red Robin. Great plotting, too! It only has 1 more chapter to go, so you know things are going to be resolved and okay :)

- Northern Attitude (I Was Raised on Little Light) by theskeptileptic (79k, 16/18 chapters) I absolutely love this writer. Tim is, of course, miserable in this fic (because he wants to be part of the Batfam but his parents basically blackmailed Tim into staying with them and continuing all the child abuse), but everything eventually works out! Tim is a great self-rescuing princess, and my heart of hearts goes out to the AMAZING Jason POV in chapter 20 (which works as a standalone, though it slightly spoils a bit of the plot), where you really FEEL how much Jason loves literature and uses that to guide his life.

[and two bonus super long ones:]

- Liminal Space by Calamityjim (77k) Oh man this fic series has such great comics-style plot! There's inter-dimensional travel, time travel, an utterly manic!Tim who comes up with the best/worst plans. I also ~love~ the YJ!Bart from a dystopian future who uses "crash" and "mode". Oh, and Tim is deeply flawed (and should not be allowed to do dimensional travel), but he still finds a loving, supportive family. (Warning: if you do go further in this fic series, the last fic of the series, "Collapse", is aggressively NOT kind to Clark Kent.)

- Finding the Line by Miss_Lazy_Tuesday (130k) In this one, Dick actually catches Damian trying to kill Tim, and as a result, actually gets Damian and Tim to reconcile before Tim runs off. Then the Batkids basically work together to bring Bruce back, find a magical macguffin, defeat the League of Assassins, and stop a complete re-write of reality. Great characterization and a fun comic plot.

[cripplecharacters]

had to shorten this a bit: What are some thoughts on able bodied people writing a character who becomes disabled through an accident? In this instance a person in a wheelchair. I understand that this is often a tried trope which focuses on the characters “misery of being in a wheelchair” or can devolve into inspiration porn where the person is “cured” Might this fall under the category of “this is a tired cliche Maybe don’t” or can it be done if it’s approached with care and well researched?

Hey!

I believe that it can be done, sometimes quite easily so. While it is somewhat of a trope, for some disabilities more than others, people do become disabled through accidents. That's just a fact, rather hard to argue with that.

The main issue is related to the fact that a lot of abled writers merge the accident - usually an at least unpleasant experience - and the disability into the same thing. As you said, it does often go into the "misery of having x disability or having to use z mobility aid" territory, which is a very tired trope.

I think that the easiest way you can avoid that is to not write about the process of getting used to suddenly being disabled. For example, maybe the accident was years ago, or it happened when they were too young to remember, maybe the traumatic scenario is not even described (it doesn't have to be, really - most people don't love just talking about them for the fun of it). So then the character is disabled through an accident, but you don't have to write about them getting used to the new changes - that's generally better left to disabled writers because it's often very nuanced territory.

The second, harder way would be just "get a sensitivity reader, and go from there". If you do want to write about the process, you need someone to help you with that, in my opinion at least.

Last thing would be that the "accident trope" is, at least in my experience, overrepresented in fiction about disability. This doesn't mean it doesn't have its place, of course, but disability is inherently diverse - most people don't get theirs due to accidents. It's basically always a good idea to add a second (or third, fourth, etc.) disabled character to have that diversity shown. For your character specifically, maybe they're a wheelchair user because of an accident, but they would almost definitely know more people like them and a lot of them would have different reasons for using it - maybe they could have spina bifida, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, or rheumatoid arthritis, or polio, or a million other things. Especially someone who acquired their disability later in life would have community ties, because they would need to quickly learn to navigate a ton of new things, and you need to learn that from someone. Try to think of the community around them - it's a much better thing to focus on rather than just "misery from being disabled".

I hope this helps,

mod Sasza

[theladyofbloodshed]

I have finished that book. My thoughts are under the cut

This book was genetically engineered in a lab based in market research that highlighted the hottest trends in booktok. It is a Frankenstein-esque splicing of Harry Potter, the Hunger Games, Divergent, Eragon, and ACOTAR.

I don't understand why horny dragons make the riders horny.

Much of the world building had me scratching my head. I didn't understand why they were willing to lose so many 18-21 year olds every single year in their training when they're suffering many casualties in the war efforts. It makes no sense. At one point, when the party is held for the king, the infantry numbers outweigh the riders significantly - so why are they seemingly not defending outposts too?

I couldn't understand the differences between the school years. The second and third years all take part in the same trials as the first years together; they should surely be more experienced and have a breadth of knowledge to call upon but they don't. There is little difference between the years.

There were many names mentioned. In Harry Potter, this adds to the richness of the world building because they're not just names thrown in; we actually see them interacting with the MC and they have a backstory and personality - we also see them pop up many times. In FW, the names are pretty much interchangeable. It could be said by a third year or a second year or someone from this class or that one; there's no distinguishing these random characters who make one or two appearances.

Violet falls into the Mary Sue category as deeply as the plot relies on tried-and-tested tropes. From the first page, I could have predicted she would have a special dragon, and special powers, that the bad boy is not really a bad boy.

There was so much telling and not showing. Xaden is so ruthless. Xaden cares for nobody. Then his behaviour is him not punishing Violet for sneaking out, giving her advice, teaching her.

Whilst the cringey modern language put me off (toxic man, how hot everybody is, for the win etc) and Tairn devolves from a grumpy ancient being to a millennial, what I will say is that it was easy to read despite its predictability. I actually preferred the writing to this than in When The Moon Hatched and Once Upon a Broken Heart.

If I was 15/16 I'd have probably been crazy about this book - I was a Twihard.

I liked Liam a lot :(

[heyclickadee]

Fandom salt under the cut. Not really fandom salt. Maybe fandom paprika or fandom ground cloves:

I sometimes feel like the idea that death has no meaning in Star Wars has more to do with backlash to Zombie Palpatine in TRoS and fandom endlessly repeating the idea that no one dies than death actually being uncommon in Star Wars.

Because, yes, there have been some badly handled fake-out deaths and untimely resurrections in Star Wars. But there have been some very well handled fake-out deaths and resurrections, too, and the majority of characters who die do actually stay dead. The ones who don’t tend to fall into one of two categories: either they were originally supposed to die, but then later on someone realized that was a mistake because they just showed up and there’s more story to tell with them, no point wasting a sick ass character design (eg. Maul, Boba, potentially Fennec Shand); or we never actually saw them die on screen to begin with (eg. Ahsoka two times over).

(And then there’s the Palpatine thing which is its own category of one; I enjoy Zombie Palps, to tell you the truth, but that doesn’t mean I think it was a good choice.)

Does that mean they were all well done? Oh, goodness no. But it’s really something that has to be considered on a case-by-case basis. Do I think it was the right choice to bring Echo back? Absolutely. Would I argue the same thing for Fives if he were to come back? No, I probably wouldn’t.

And yes, main characters die a lot less often than side characters, true, but that’s because they’re main characters. They’re the vehicles through which the story is being told so, yes, they’re going to have a bit more plot armor than background characters. Unless it’s Game of Thrones, or something like it where you spend hundreds of pages getting to know a character only to have them die horribly to make a point about the world they live in, when you kill a main character, you really have to kill them. Not everything is or should be Game of Thrones. Otherwise a big chunk of the audience will always be wondering when that character is coming back.

Fake-out deaths can be misused and poorly done. That doesn’t mean it’s a bad trope by itself. A well executed fake-out can be a powerful tool. Theres a lot a writer or a team can do with it. And it doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences; it just means the consequences are different.

[yandere-wishes]

I just found a love in your almost cult yandere clone tropes and their cyares with the Jedi blessings. I mean damn you (later than ever). I'm imagining Cody and Rex and the bad batch. Or just Cody sharing with 😉 .

You made sprout the cult follower in me.

Here at Yandere-Wishes HQ, we try to inspire the inner cult follower in all our fans. We want the dark, deranged side of all our clients to shin through and someday even start cults of their own. 💜💜

I'm very sorry for how all over the place this is, tried to section it off as best I could. I'm still incredibly jet lagged😭😭

I think the reason behind the Jedi giving their blessing so freely to the clones comes from an inner yearning to be loved. The Jedi know their place in the universe, know that a sentiment-free life is what they must endure. Still, if those around them can be happy, then (in a selfless way befitting a Jedi) they can be happy too. Although I'm rather curious as to what would happen if say Anakin or Obi-wan fell for the cyare of their commanders. 

Personally, I think Rex and Cody would definitely share a darling. Same with Echo and Fives (and maybe Tup too). Maybe if you REALLY  want to lean into the cult aesthetic Anon, then what if each squadron has its own cyare?? A darling shared amongst all of them (That's a lot but I'm kinda only referring to the relevant troopers from each squadron 🤣🤣) it would be super cute if all her dresses were in said squadron's colors. Kinda like a personal cheerleader for them. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here lol. 

🧡💙Being Cody and Rex's darling.

💙They're both very busy men. Constantly being deployed to the front lines. Always busy with some mission or another. They've tried to make sure at least one of them is with you, so you're never alone. It doesn't work, there are always long periods of time when you are trapped in isolation. 

🧡I truly believe that Rex and Cody's cyare wouldn't really "feel" like a "cyare", per se. Sure she doesn't have any freedom and is never permitted to make any decisions on her own. But they treat her so well, give her anything she could ever want, and they never hurt her in any way. 

💙Rex and Cody are both strict, not much leniency coming from either one. They have strict rules for they're cyare, under the pretext of keeping her safe. They've seen and experienced all the cruelties of the galaxy. And they don't want ANYTHING to ever hurt you. 

🧡Cody is more affectionate. More open with embracing and kissing you. Rex is much more reserved, stiffer. Yet he can't help but melt whenever your lips push against his. 

501st sharing (Rex, Fives,Echo, Tup, Jesse, Hardcase and Kix)

It's honestly exhausting belonging to all of them. Constantly being pulled in every direction. Sure the 501st is one of the gentler squadrons per se. But they are smoldering, constantly wanting to touch you in some way. It also doesn't help that regardless of the mission one of them is left behind to "watch" you. Not so much out of a fear of you running away but more out of concern for your well-being. I wonder what would happen if Anakin began to develop feelings for this particular cyare.

As for the bad batch I've yet to watch it (Although I've only heard good things) So I can't make a full observation just yet. Although I'd like to think that Hunter and Wrecker are on the "tougher" side, using force to make their cyare submit. Tech falls more into the stalker category. Take all this with a grain of salt, these ideas will 100% change once I've actually seen the show. 

.... All this aside can you imagine Obi-Wan and Cody sharing a darling?? Or even Anakin and Rex sharing a darling?? I mean every cult needs its leader right 😉😘

[williamrikers]

The Undeniable Queerness of Enchanté the Series

(thank you @ranchthoughts for letting me ramble about this in your inbox before turning my thoughts into a post)

there are bls and then there are bls. right? there are dead fish kisses and there are characters who kiss each other like their lives depend on it.

and enchanté firmly belongs in the second category. 1,500-word essay under the cut.

there is such a consistent and tangible queer undercurrent to everything that's happening on this show and i'm not just talking about the fact that several scenes look like they could be the opening scene of a gay porno. or the surprise bondage. or force in drag. or proposing marriage in front of the eiffel tower. no, there's this aching, desperate desire underlying everything. theo has--in addition to his main love interest--four very hot gay suitors who all very obviously desire him carnally... this is some sort of gay manic pixie dream boy wish fulfilment fantasy and i am absolutely eating it up.

there is a vibe to the show that @ranchthoughts called "fanfic-like", and i would argue that that's because enchanté is actually fanfiction of the little prince. (i'm planning on making a separate post soon about how the book was referenced on and used as inspiration for the show.)

enchanté is fully aware of its own fictionality. it is on-the-nose fictional. but that's what makes it so much fun--it's not trying to be something it isn't.

take the reading memories segments in episode 4 [3/4] for example: these scenes were incredibly cringe, like, full-on bad-green-screen terrible-costumes-and-wigs hilarious-acting cringe, but fully aware of their own cringe-ness. (also, gawin was both in drag and naked in the same scene as two different characters, like. get on enchanté's level.) (incidentally, can anyone tell me what character aou/phupha was supposed to be? i got detective conan, monkey d. luffy and momotarō for the others, but i'm stumped on phupha's character.)

and that self-awareness makes it camp! there is such a level of camp to the whole show which feels extremely intentional (especially in the first two thirds), almost like a meta-commentary: "this is the genre. we know it's stupid but we love it here", and i adore that. they know the tropes, they know the bl landscape, and they're just having fun with all of it.

and the whole set-up in itself is a queer allegory, isn't it? theo and akk are "from different worlds", so to speak, hindered in their love not just by their complete inability to communicate but also by their forced separation as children. when they meet again, theo doesn't really belong anywhere, he's an outsider both in france and in thailand, he is unable to act the way thai society expects him to act (e.g. failing to show the proper respect to the seniors), unable to get his parents to understand him while being actively lied to by them (the whole ocean of miscommunication in that family deserves its own post), harboring feelings for his childhood friend his whole life but unable to voice them in a normal sort of way, instead falling back on concocting the most convoluted, immediately backfiring plan to try to make akk jealous and get him to confess his feelings first.

theo is fundamentally isolated because he grew up between two cultures, and neither one quite fits him: when he's in france, he is comforted by thai food and the only people he's close with (his grandmother and sun) are from thailand like himself; but when he's in thailand, he can't quite get used to the social conventions and makes social blunders, he is very slow at writing in thai.

it's such a poignant queer allegory in my opinion. they didn't end up making as much a point of it on the show as they could have, but it very much informed my whole reading of the show and the characters. there is a sort of inability to articulate his experience surrounding theo that makes him even more isolated and screams "baby gay in need of a community" to me. having akk share his experience at the end is something that i'm not a big fan of for other, unrelated reasons (might make a separate post about enchanté's ending and why it fell flat for me), but when looking at it through this lens, it is the only way for akk to really get theo, to really understand his struggle on a fundamental level.

which brings me back to that desire i mentioned earlier: theo desires akk, very much so, there are a whole handful of scenes where akk gets close to him and theo closes his eyes, expecting to finally be kissed by him, but more than that, he desires understanding. he often brushes off his own difficulties and has a tendency to be emotionally clueless (for example about his parents' divorce), but what i see most in his character is the desire to be understood, to be seen by akk, for akk to see him for who he is and to love him for who he is. (akk, of course, has been doing both of those things all along. he's constantly taking pictures of theo, he's watching him through his window--with theo's full knowledge--he is always looking at him, he's always loving him.)

it's not inherently queer to want to be loved as we truly are, i believe heterosexual people experience this, too, but in the context of queerness itself, being perceived as queer by other queer people is indeed a fundamental aspect to experiencing queer love (maybe not in gay for you bls, but i haven't heard of much gay for you happening in real life). not to be unscientific about this, but the vibes of the perception aspect of enchanté are just very queer to me, you know?

oh, and speaking of desire: enchanté in general is very physical. there is a level of intimacy between the actors and the camera that seems incredibly intentional: there are several shower scenes, scenes of theo and akk shirtless, TWO (2) nude gawin scenes (though one of those is sadly a fake-out and he is actually wearing shorts), many, many scenes that include bare feet, which is not something i see super often in bl, at least not to the point that i notice the frequency of it.

enchanté is very rooted in the physical reality of desirable bodies: theo is allowed to openly, physically flirt with saifa, even though that's not even his endgame love interest, phupha uses physical touch in his pursuit of theo, natee shows his obsession with theo by drawing his face/body about a hundred times, and akk and theo are wholly unable to keep their hands off each other. i've joked about the intricate rituals, but seriously, they are constructing so many intricate rituals. there are two separate scenes in which they make up excuses to kiss each other's elbows/arms/backs. they keep touching each other in a thousand ways, in every possible way they can that is still plausibly deniable as physical desire--until they kiss while watching that movie and then it's just a game of chicken of who will confess first. because their physical attraction to each other is undeniable. it's obvious. this was really refreshing to see in a genre that so often plays with the blushing maiden trope, and one character is so often made to pursue the other: on enchanté, akk and theo are equally horny for each other. it's not their lack of physical attraction that keeps them apart for so long.

(sadly, the show then shies away from actually getting very sexually physical: after their desperate, stunning, amazing balcony-kiss, they aren't allowed to be horny for each other in the last two episodes, when they're actually in a relationship. this is just one of the many aspects that i didn't like about the conclusion of the story, because you simply cannot tell me that these two as we got to know them in episodes 1 to 8 would really be as chaste with each other as they're shown in episodes 9 and 10.)

leaving that aside for the moment, let's talk about that kiss. as mentioned right at the beginning, when these two kiss each other on the balcony, it's desperation in its rawest form. these two--and especially theo--crave each other. theo kisses akk like he will die without him. theo kisses akk like he can finally breathe. theo kisses akk like he never wants to do anything else ever again.

i'm a bit obsessed with book's acting here, because of all the kissing scenes i've seen him in, i think this is THE most desperate one. force plays it a bit more subtle, but book's expression is full-on anguish. theo waited his whole life to be kissed by akk, and book portrays that so beautifully, with such depth. it's one of my favorite bl kisses for sure, it's played with so much heart, so much feeling, that it's hard to even think of kisses that compare, apart from the bad buddy episode 5 rooftop kiss.

anyway, all of this to say that enchanté to me is deeply, lovingly queer, and it's a shame that so many people are sleeping on it. (and that includes myself, i was wary about watching this show for a long time because i'd heard so many negative things about it.)

but i'm here to tell you: watch enchanté. it's wonderful, it's hilariously funny, it's endearing, it has book and force in it, and it is extremely queer.

[lovejosephquinn]

Authors Note: This took me 5 hours so I hope you enjoy, I'm really hoping you all enjoy it since I've hyped it up no end lmao 💀🥰

Summary: After a bad break up, your best friend Joe is there to pick up the pieces, the best friend you could ever have hoped for. Except falling for him wasn't ever planned but it's impossible not to when he makes it feel so damn easy

Warnings: reference to cheating, mild violence and angst, fluff and smut. All the categories mixed into one, under 18's DNI. Friends to lovers trope

Word Count: 4.8k

Taglist: @eddiemunson-mylove @choke-me-eddie @quinnypixie @capricornrisingsstuff @ali-r3n @aol19 @aysheashea @wonderheartz @shawnamae87

Something in the back of your mind knew it was a bad idea taking back your ex boyfriend, you'd contemplated the idea of not doing it but you listened to your head more than your heart and instead of standing up for yourself, you'd played into his hands and found yourself heartbroken yet again. You just never seem to learn and clearly this was your own problem to deal with, he'd cheated on you the first time and as the saying goes; once a cheat always a fucking cheat.

You fell to the floor the moment you received the direct message from the random girl who'd sent you a video, him and her together, doing the dirty. She'd found out from a mutual friend of a friend that he was already in a relationship and decided to come clean to you. Not that it made the situation any better, but at least she understood the girl code of sisters before misters.

You sobbed, hugging your knees, your mind all over the place, intrusive thoughts, valid feelings that you were sure to be having; yet there in one respect was nobody to blame but yourself. He'd given you a form of anxiety since the first time he'd done this to you, but it's hard to get out of feeling for someone once you're deep in it, your walls come crashing down once you've entrusted the person you're supposed to be with and then they break you as easily as they fixed you in the beginning.

The whole time you weren't sure whether you wanted to be alone but at the same time you didn't know if you needed the company to help you escape these disgustingly real thoughts which alluded your brain. You had a comfort blanket, your best friend. You didn't want to bother him and once you'd told him you knew he was likely to kick off at you and say the dreaded words of I told you so. It was irritating to know that he was that way inclined, but you knew he'd be right, you'd of probably done the same thing if it were the other way around.

You looked a mess, tears stained your soft cheeks which felt hot to the touch, you felt like you were going to throw up, your hands were shaking, you'd thrown your phone to the other side of your bedroom after receiving the message, screaming in the space of your new found loneliness. It should surely hurt less the second time but it doesn't, it feels worse. You were stupid.

You crawled over to your phone in hope that it'd sort your problems out, you knew you had to make the call, you needed your best friend by your side even if it meant him pissing you off. You looked pathetic, making those stupid whimpering sounds whilst you moved forward, settling yourself on your knees, you pressed onto your contacts, onto Joe's name and your thumb hovered over the green phone icon.

Through blurry eyes you did it and the tone began to blast through your speaker, you heard his voice immediately after which calmed you more than you could've imagined. It was like you'd lost your voice, a simple hello was not easy to respond to when you were in the midst of an almost panic attack. You could've just pretended like you'd pocket dialled him and ended the call, but you just couldn't find it in yourself to hang up on the one person you relied on when you were in such a mess.

"Y/N? Hellooooo?"

"I- I-" You stuttered out, a sharp breath following.

"Are you ok love?"

Your tears immediately resumed on queue. Calmness disintegrating.

"I'll take that as a-"

"No. No I'm not." You interrupted quickly, finishing his sentence for him.

"What the fuck did he do to you?" Joe was quick in assuming and quite right to his guess in why you weren't sounding great.

"What makes you think-"

"Don't play dumb with me darling, I recognise that tone of your voice from the last time that dick hurt you. I swore to you last time I'd let it go, but you made a mistake in going back to him, you forgave him and I know that cry when I hear it."

You absolutely detested how he knew you so well, for the good and for the bad.

"Hit the nail on the head there Joey." You sniffled your nose followed by another hitch of your throat, you dragged yourself over to the wall, backing yourself onto it, reinstituting your previous position, knees back up to your chest.

"I knew it. Do I need to go and commit a crime?" You closed your eyes and shook your head, for all you knew Joe was being serious and would get himself into trouble just for you, he was just that involved in your friendship, cared for you like nobody ever had.

"No. Please don't." You could've sounded like you were begging for him to not, but at the same time you'd of done anything to watch Joe punch his lights out for what he'd done to you.

"And are you going to stop me?"

"Look, I just need you here with me. Are you going to get off of your high horse and do your best friend duties?"

"Are you going to take him back again?"

"No." You sighed.

"No offence, but I'll believe it when I see it." You could've heard a pin drop, way to break your heart even further Joe.

"Please just come over and give me one of those special hugs, I could really do with that shit right now, not with your sarcastic tone of voice that I know and hate."

Joe hummed a snigger, you knew he was trying to joke around with you, but you were having none of it.

"I'm on my way, stay put." Joe ended the call, not like you were going anywhere in this state, but you could only handle being alone for so much longer before you broke down into a state where in the present you weren't sure you could come back from. The best part is that you were just presupposing that Joe was as free as a bird for you, but regardless to your own knowledge; this man would end whatever he was doing at the drop of a hat to be next to you.

You felt like you'd waited a lifetime for the knock at your door and when it came you found some energy to get up off your ass and answer it, the person you'd least expected to be there stood before you.

"Well you look a state." You've got to be fucking joking.

"Get the fuck away from me, I never want to see you again." You bellowed loudly, not even feeling an ounce of quiet in you, the anger seeping out quite abruptly.

"What're you on about?" Oh so he wanted to play dumb.

"Once a cheat always a cheat, get out of my life, I gave you one more chance and you blew it."

"Have you any proof?" He chuckled and you could've swung for him there and then.

You clutched your phone, bringing it up to unlock it with your face ID, pushing the video brightly showing on the screen, the noises that made you want to barf were shattering. His eyes grew wide. Your now ex boyfriend took your phone from your grasp and launched it across the room where it hit the nearby wall, a smash of glass was apparent in it's fall to the ground.

"No proof then." What a malicious bastard.

"How dare you." You ball your fist, bringing it up to and smashing straight into his cheek, violence is never the answer as your mum has taught you through life, but god knows he deserved it.

"Touch me again bitch I fucking dare you." Before you could even step back, his hand was wrapped around your throat, pulling you up onto your tip toes and throwing you back toward the wall your phone had landed. You saw your life flashing before your eyes, not once would you have ever imagined he'd lay a finger on you, a defence mechanism maybe for you striking him? You couldn't be making excuses because there were none for his own violent behaviour, except a pure guilty conscience.

"Get- off- me!" You stuttered as his grip intensified.

"Don't think you're ending things, you won't be going anywhere, you'll come back, you proved by doing that this time." How was he that entitled? You'd took him back based on the bullshit he'd fed you that he'd changed; where as you'd learnt he had not.

"You're- a- fucking- joke." You wheezed, an evil burst of laughter breaking out from the depths of your lungs.

"Takes one to know one." Suddenly, he was launched backwards, a thunderous screech was heard from him and he lost his grip on you and fell to the floor from the force in which he was manoeuvred back.

"Get the fuck off her if you know what's good for you mate." Your ex looked up to see Joe towering over him, a quick shoot of a look to you from your best friend he saw the sorrow in your eyes as you held onto your throat, catching the oxygen that you'd solely missed for a couple of minutes.

"Oh look, your best friend who clearly fancies you to the rescue, surprised you didn't fuck him whilst you were with me." Joe bent down slightly, taking a hold of his t-shirt and bringing him up to his feet back on eye level.

"You're a waste." Joe's pupils had dilated into a state of anger in which you'd never seen before, a different side to him in which you quite enjoyed, way over protective and way over his usual adorable state he carried 99.9% of the time.

"What you gonna do you pussy?" Your ex egged him on to take action upon his words and for the first time you saw Joe strike back. His knuckles caught him square in the nose, landing him straight back down on his behind. His nose seeped with blood and you cried out for them both to stop, your ex stood back up and Joe ragged him to the other side of the room, pushing him toward him and then back again.

"Come near her again, I'll fucking end you." Joe lowly whispered. A threat now made a promise. He wasn't joking.

Your ex stumbled out of the front door and Joe hung his head around to watch him leave until he was out of sight of the hallway of your flat complex. Joe slammed the door shut, bolting the door locked and rushed over to you in a hurry. Grabbing a hold of you instantly, pushing your head onto his chest, one hand soothed your back whilst the other held onto the back of your head.

"It's really over Joe." You couldn't help the overly loud, obnoxious tears that consumed your entire being. You were shaking and so was he, both from different states of anger, stress and upset.

"I know darling, I know." He didn't want to say it, he didn't want to give you the whole talk, that could wait until you'd stopped crying at least. Joe held you in pure silence for a good 10 minutes, stood in the same position, the scent of him engulphed your nose as you wept and wet through his jumper that he wore. Homely. Beautiful. Dreamy.

"Everything will be okay, you know that right? It might not seem that way now, but maybe this needed to happen for you to realise that you can do so much better, you deserve everything above what that prick has done to you." You managed a brief smile and you could realise that he felt it from the way you felt his heart thump in his chest and in turn, his reaction reflected upon yours, your stomach feeling nauseous but in turn relieved from the butterflies which flew through your stomach. Not the first time you've felt that around him, but you never acted on it, shrugging it off; this time felt different.

"You hear me? Tell me you know it'll be alright and that you won't do anything stupid."

"I hear you."

"Tell me." Joe put his hands to your arms, bringing you back to look at you full on, his natural chocolatey gaze which warmed right through you came back to light and you couldn't deny him of his need of response.

"It'll be alright..." You paused.

Joe tried to offer you a sympathetic smile, the type you give to someone in need.

"As long as you're around." You whispered.

"Always." Joe pulled you back in for another sweet hug, not lasting as long this time, he took your hand and brought you over to a more comfier place, also known as your sofa.

You sat across from him but was immediately invited back into his arms, it was a welcoming view and you couldn't actually wait to be back in them. At this point, he wasn't your best friend, he was your hero. You'd shared a moment more intimate in the least intimate of ways and it just felt unlike any other time you'd shared an embrace.

You settled down with your head on his lap, his fingertips played with your hair, brushing through them with no tangles in sight. You were in a calmer state, less tears and less heavy breaths, the air refilling your lungs perfectly. You found your eyes heavy from the amount of anxiety you'd undertaken in the last hour, a lot for the heart to handle.

You opened your eyes in a slightly confused daze, you rolled over to see Joe take his eyes from his phone which he was just aimlessly scrolling through, his smile so much brighter than the last you'd seen it. "Hello sleeping beauty." You rubbed your hands over your face, slightly embarrassed that you'd fallen asleep under the circumstances you had.

"I'm so sorry I dozed off."

"Don't apologise, you looked cute, so was the little snores." You lifted your hand up to tap his face making him laugh out, there's the Joe you knew and loved. Loved.

"Shut up I do not snore."

"I beg to differ." Joe laughed again and it made you giggle in turn.

"Slight change of subject, but I heard a song I've not heard for years whilst you were asleep and it made me think of you. Especially relevant to times like this." Not that he had to bring up the situation of today, but it was necessary to his point.

"Oh yeah what's that?" You saw his cheeks flush and you were not sure if it was rapid regret or that he'd just made it up to bring up a different conversation; but then why would he talk about the whole ordeal?

"Don't cringe at me for this." You chortled his way, his cheeks now a crimson red, he was biting down on his bottom lip and you quickly shut up to show an ounce of respect for what he clearly wanted to show to you.

"Cross my heart and hope to-" You were cut off when he leaned up to stand in front of you, your head thumped down onto the sofa in the warm spot where he'd been pressed to it.

"Don't finish that sentence, up you get." He offered out his hand and you gladly took it, a bemused look upon your features.

He pressed play on his Spotify and threw the phone down onto the sofa, you were suddenly in a state of pure bliss when you heard the notes begin.

If you ever find yourself stuck in the middle of the sea I'll sail the world to find you If you ever find yourself lost in the dark and you can't see I'll be the light to guide you Joe pulled you into him once more, but began swaying from side to side, you were astonished that this side was coming out of him, a private moment you were sharing together, closer than you'd ever felt before with your best friend. Emotions screaming loud and clear. As per, you'd really never acted on them, but there was clearly some hidden feeling toward him that you didn't want to bring to light and make exist, but with this meaningful song playing in the background, it was out of the question for you to not go down that road.

You thought your ears had deceived you when you heard Joe's voice whispering into your hair, slowly moving down towards your ear when the chorus began.

You can count on me like one, two, three I'll be there And I know when I need it, I can count on you like four, three, two And you'll be there...

You'd never believed the words of a song like you did now Joe was singing them at you. You felt alive, electricity was greedily taking over the entirety of your body. You hummed along to the sound of the music, Joe's hands wrapped further around your back, still swaying he continued to voice the lyrics right at you.

You'll always have my shoulder when you cry I'll never let go, never say goodbye You know

As the final chorus blossomed through your ear drums and the song died down, you felt yourself welling up again, though this time you were beaming, you pulled back to take a look at an even more blushed look on Joe's face.

"I hope-"

"That was beautiful, Joe."

"Don't ever let anyone think you're worth any less than that ever again. I for one won't let a soul do so." Joe cooed at you in a mild whisper.

"You're truly amazing." You fluttered your eyelashes down to the ground and you felt the touch of his thumb lifting your chin to look back at him again.

"Is this the part where I confess?" Joe sighed.

"Confess?" Your eyebrows furrowed.

"The song meant more to me than you know and I want you to be able to count on me today and every day after that." You were suddenly sinking into a hole that you didn't want to get out of, you knew exactly what he meant but you wanted to hear it for yourself.

"Nobody will never hurt you again." Joe paused, his hand coming up to your cheek which you innocently tilted to lean on.

"As long-"

"As long as I'm around." Joe smiled, his face grew ever closer. It was more a need than a want now and despite everything that had happened today, reality was coming to light and though you should of probably stopped it there, you didn't.

Your lips collided together in a soft, warm and with meaning kiss. It was like in the movies, when two friends found themselves in this situation, usually fireworks would set off behind them and it'd be a happy ever after type scenario, but this was real life and you knew there'd be hurdles, but you'd cross that bridge when you came to it. No matter how hard your brain told you to stop, your heart begged you not to, you were right in doing so; you listened to your head last time and look where that got you.

Your lips stuck together like glue, becoming more open mouthed now, no tongues but complete passion, something that should not feel so good with what felt almost disallowed, you were tasting forbidden fruit. After what felt like hours, you both let go, panting for breath, staring directly into each others souls, a sweet split second turned heated.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."

"Do not apologise, I- I liked it." You bit down on your lip and he took full note of your body language, eyes flitting between your own and back down to your mouth again.

"That's hot." He bit down on his own lip.

"Ditto." You smirked, matching the wickedly framed smug look staring right back at you.

"For me, it's always been you." Joe's confession. There it was. Handed to you on a plate.

"Maybe I never knew truly, but I do now. Ditto." You mimicked his own version of ditto. The minute the word left your mouth he picked you up, throwing a squeak out of you from not expecting his sudden move, but excited nonetheless.

You wrapped your legs around his waist, arms wrapped around his neck as his mouth attacked to yours once more, more fiercely this time, the fireworks well and truly working their magic. You found yourself against a wall for the third time today but this time it was in good stead, you were making out with your best friend, something you never thought would happen in your wildest dreams. You suddenly could feel his erection pressed against your crotch, slightly rubbing against you which made you shudder under his touch.

"Too much?" Joe spoke through your kiss.

"Too little." You replied.

Joe carried you back to the sofa, slipping you down and climbing on top of you before returning his lips to their rightful place. Tongues fought together wildly this time, noses crushed against each other, teeth clattering, slight groans erupting from each of you as he grinded down back into the same spot he was just pressed into.

He moved down to your neck, sloppily leaving a trail of his own saliva down it which blew heat down to your core, an ache which made you thrust in time to Joe's hip movement, his own little moan giving out.

You tugged at his shirt, dying for the moment you'd start to undress.

"Too much?" You hummed a giggle.

Joe leaned up, removing his shirt and tossed it to the floor beside him.

"Too little." He wiggled his eyebrows forcing another laugh out of you. This time he made his way down, peeling down your trousers in turn.

"Can I? I'm dying to taste more of you." You shoot him a mhmm as a way of silently pleading for him to get on with it.

You shimmy off the bottom half of your clothing as Joe slips himself off the sofa to position himself better, he pulls your underwear to the side, his eyes almost bulging out of his skull.

"What a beautiful pussy you have, holy shit." Joe slides a finger in a straight line between your slit, eyes fully trained on you when he puts it into his mouth and shares a sound of pure delight.

"Fuck yes..." He widens your legs and pushes his face between your folds, instantly sucking at your clit, giving you no room to adjust, eating you out like a ravenous animal, tongue swirling around, curing the aches in which you craved to be touched. Effortlessly, he inserts a finger straight through your entrance, curling it up to feel your walls, the thickness of them makes your back arch, especially as his mouths fully latched onto you with brute force, licking every part of your slick that he can manage.

"J-Joe oooh my- god. Yes." Your hands fall onto his curls, pulling at them, urging him by pressing him down so you could feel more, you wanted more, you needed more.

"You like that, baby. Do I make you feel good?"

"Fuck, more." You can barely speak.

He pushed another finger in, joining the other to stretch you out, your walls hugged his digits as you clenched firmly, writhing your hips back and fourth, riding his fingers as well as you could manage. You could feel the inevitable waiting to happen and just before it did, he made a swap, pulling his fingers out which immediately began rubbing erratically against your clit and his tongue pressed inside your entrance.

You moaned his name countless times, pain not a problem when you were almost yanking at his hair a top his head. The little sounds he made as he darted his tongue in and out of you threw you over the edge, your soul leaving your body and joining the angels in heaven, a slight black out on your part.

Joe watched on as you squirmed about the sofa whilst your orgasm took over you. "Fuckkk, atta girl. That's what I like to see." Once you'd come back down to reality, Joe had already rid of his own trousers, you witnessed his cock for the first time and my god did you like and extremely enjoy what you saw.

"Do you want me to-"

"Joe, just fuck me already." He'd well and truly got you in the mood.

"Yes ma'am." He choked a chuckle, putting a hand up to his head to salute like a soldier.

You went back to biting down on your lip when you saw him spit down onto his shaft, quickly fisting it and tipping his head back.

"God damn it Y/N. I'll bite that lip for you if you carry on."

You resumed in biting down on it once more and you moved into laying back across the sofa, he climbed back on top of you, holding himself up with his hands and leaning down to take your lip between his teeth before tugging it back.

"Don't test me woman." You both sniggered.

"Fuck. Me." You said sternly. He slowly pushed himself inside of you, making you both let out a breathless moan, as tight as you felt to him was how big he was feeling to you, a perfect match. As Joe adjusted himself, he grabbed a hold of your legs and hoisted them over his shoulders for deeper contact, he began to move at a slow pace. You could feel every inch thrusting through you, it was already the best sex you'd ever had, purely because the meaning behind it was something words could never describe.

You made a sound which made some halt to a stop, a worried look on his face.

"Too much?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Too fucking little." You licked your lips.

That was it. He pounded into you, he understood the assignment, you liked it rough, he knew you wanted to be fucked senseless, to forget everything that had happened today and the only way that was now going to happen was if he railed you to the extent you required.

His balls slapped against your ass, your walls clenching around him once more as he hit a spot which had you crying out a noise so loud, it was borderline pornographic.

"Fuck yes, take my cock!" He went harder, rutting his hips as fast he could, you could feel the tip tapping onto your cervix, pushing an orgasm straight out of you, the best part of it all; Joe felt the moment you did. He felt like the slick drip out of you and onto his balls, some even reaching the sofa.

"Where do you want me to- y'know." He panted.

"Anywhere, just cum for me." You whined, as desperate for his release as he clearly was, he wouldn't of mentioned it so quickly if he wasn't already nearing his limit.

Joe pulled out not a moment later, grabbing a hold of your hand and pulling you off the sofa and onto your knees, you acknowledged what he wanted. Opening your mouth, Joe wrapped his fist around his cock and began pumping toward you. Breath fiery and heaving out the air he had left in his lungs, he exploded when you took him into your mouth, his tip enclosed inside of it, gushing out heaps of his warm seed, you swallowed every last drop he had to offer.

You'd of thought after an encounter like this, it could've been the most awkward moment to share between you, but it was far from that. Joe pulled you back onto your feet and you held his hand as you took him into your bedroom.

"Didn't quite make it here huh?" Ugh Joe and his charming whit.

You fell onto the bed, not even worrying about the mess you'd made back in the living room. Joe crawled up next to you, pulling you into his arms, the best embrace you'd ever felt, skin to skin, bare and satisfied.

"Did I mention?" Joe asked.

"I don't know, did you?" You replied in an almost sarcastic tone.

"That I-" Joe pressed his mouth to your hair, your head laying on his chest hearing the beautiful beat of his heart in your ear, which was thrashing.

"I love you." Joe whispered, enough for you to make it out and enough for your own cheeks to flush this time.

"I- I love you too."

There it was. The true confession. The best friend who had been before you all this time felt like he could've been the one biding his time, waiting for you, to give you everything he possibly could. He could be the one who saved you, god knows he already had.

[patiann345]

I'm gonna be honest; I don't think it's fair to blame a single game (BATIM in this case) for the state of Modern Mascot Horror...

That's giving Bendy WAY too much credit hj/

But seriously though; to say that BATIM is at fault for the state of mascot horror and that it started/popularized all the overused trends is just. really really unfair to it. And that's coming from someone who is extremely critical of the series, I WISH I could blame Bendy for everything but alas, I am unable 😔

I think my biggest issue with blaming Bendy, or really any big horror like Fnaf or Poppy, is that.. so many of those trends aren't unique to those games? Bendy takes SO MUCH from games like Bioshock, but we're not blaming Bioshock for mascot horror trends, are we? And yeah, you can say "Well Bioshock isn't indie and it's not mascot horror" but,, where do you think people are drawing inspiration? Yeah, a lotta games may be inspired by Bendy, but a lot of others, INCLUDING Bendy, are inspired by the classics before it.

To talk about some arguments I've seen; saying Bendy popularized "exploring an abandoned facility" feels almost silly considering how many popular horror games and media have done that before. It's been a horror staple for forever, so of course a lot of mascot and/or indie games would follow suit. There's the first Resident Evil, I think Silent Hill COULD count, RPG maker games such as Ao Oni.. And as for film; technically The Blair Witch falls into this category. And the same goes for "cute mascot turned scary" like.. I'm sorry but plenty of games alone were doing that before Bendy. Ever played Tattletail? You could argue FNAF has done this too. Spooky's jumpscare mansion perhaps? And if you wanna look past just games; Gremlins. And yes, I'm counting Gremlins as horror. If you don't, then consider Chucky or Annabelle (though maybe Annabelle is to a lesser extent since she's.. pretty freaky looking before the possession stuff in the film) I'm not. even going to address "free roam gameplay" because. I mean, do I have to? I should not have to go over a list of free roam horror games to tell you why that's 1. not even a trend? and 2. not.. Bendy specific.

All this also isn't considering a lot of other media you could take inspiration from; Creepypastas and ARGs and Books and so on and so forth. A lot of those have contributed to Mascot Horror, ESPECIALLY creepypasta.. Most of the popular ones do fall under the "cute-to-scary" trope such as Cupcakes, Sonic.EXE, the Tails Doll curse, and a lot of lost episodes and haunted gaming creepypastas. You can't tell me some of the big games now aren't slightly inspired.

Also also, a lotta popular mascot horror recently has followed certain tropes and trends, yeah, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily good or bad. People hear "Cliche" and think negatively, but you CAN do a cliche really REALLY well, you can put a super strong spin on it if you try and make it feel new and fresh, even if it's been done over and over before by other pieces of media. Yes, BATIM has "cute-to-scary" mascots, it has abandoned location exploration, and it released in chapters, and so on and so forth. But we're not considering HOW it uses these tropes and if they're done well. We're just saying "Well, it has them so.. blame Bendy ig" and that's, again, not fair! It's not fair to BATIM and it's not fair to other horror media, some of which has served as big inspirations and the sort of "building blocks" for modern horror.

To make something clear, and I know this may upset some people to hear; BATIM is not unique as a piece of horror media. The only thing that sets it apart is the artstyle, and even then, with the release of BATDR, we've been inching away from that rubberhose-1930s style for a more generic look and feel. Bendy is not special, and it's not special as a mascot horror, even by the standards of 2017 when it came out. There were other games doing what it was doing, and there will continue to be games that do what it did.

It is not fair to blame Bendy, and it's not fair to blame any one single game or piece of media. Tropes and trends and cliches come and they go, and whether or not you like the current state of mascot horror, if you agree or disagree that it's a problem (I personally don't think it is and don't. really care tbh?) You cannot blame a single piece of media for the problems you have with a genre.

(Sorry this is so ramble-y!! And if it's not super well structured, I just really wanted to get my thoughts out there akjagsdhljgadslh,, also, I'd love to hear other people's thoughts, if you agree or disagree or are unsure. Think it'd be cool to start a discussion ^^)

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

Let's say you have complete creative control.

How would you write a Marinette (non-Akuma/Amok) corruption arc?

If I had complete creative control, I wouldn't do a corruption arc for Marinette, I'd do one for Gabriel. But I'm assuming you want me to pretend I would do one for Marinette, so I will because why not? How I'd do it would depend heavily on when the writing team gave up and shoved the story into my hands. For the purposes of this hypothetical, I'm going to have to lean into the bad writing, so read on at your own risk.

Current state: as of the end of season five, Marinette seemingly knows that Adrien is a sentimonster. Marinette also has anxiety issues and there's a new butterfly villain on the loose whose knowledge regarding Adrien and connection to Gabriel are unknown. We also have Felix's previous less-than-heroic actions and Nathalie's status as Gabriel's former right hand lady. With all these less-than-awesome people out there, fully aware of Adrien's vulnerability, we have a pretty fantastic setup for an arc where Marinette gets ever more paranoid and controlling in the name of keeping Adrien safe from this new villain. Basically have her spiral into Gabriel 2.0 where her love for Adrien is used to justify terrible things. Not a setup I'd want to watch, but it does fit the show's treatment of The Power of Love so, you know, do with that what you will.

Season three up to near the end of season five: Something to do with Lila making Marinette lose all faith in her friends because, if you're going to write them as terrible friends, you may as well own it. Have Marinette feel like she's sacrificing everything for people who treat her like a villain or a child in spite of all she does, so she decides why bother to be the good guy? Why make all these sacrifices when it never works out for her? I'd probably have her stop showing up to fights like Chat Noir did in Kuro Neko, only if Ladybug did that it would be a much bigger deal. You could even have her full out quit and give Chat Noir her miraculous and the miracle box as a bit of a "fine, you do it and see if you can do it better" thing. Basically anything that lets her go fully selfish due to pressure and poor treatment since it's really not fair that Adrien's the only one who's allowed to miss battles and give up his miraculous when he doesn't feel appreciated.

A variation on this could be quitting because of something like her friends are putting too much pressure on her re:Adrien combined with the show's love of never letting her make the right call when it really matters, so she snaps from all this pressure on every side.

Pre season three: I don't think there's really a great lead up to a corruption in the earlier seasons. Things were pretty great back then. Idk, maybe have her snap from frustration with Chat Noir never taking things seriously, so she starts mimicking him, leading to people getting hurt? (Reminder, I think this is a writing issue when it comes to Chat Noir, but it's there and I said we were going to lean into canon's bad writing for this so here we are.)

And there you go! My takes on evil!Marinette. As I said at the start, I'm not interested in writing any of these. While I do think canon has the setup for them, they rely too heavily on things canon should never have done. Things that don't fit my image of Marinette's core character.

I'm also not big on corruption arcs for heroes. For me, they fall under the same category as the broken partnership/team trope: interesting concept, but one that's rarely executed in a satisfying way. They also tend to be too depressing and/or tragic for my tastes.

My two major hobbies are writing/reading fiction and studying world history/cultures. World history isn't all doom and gloom, but there's a lot of harsh, tragic, and sad things to be found in the past. As such, I've never really enjoyed fictional stories with a hopeless feeling to them. I turn to fictional worlds to escape reality. To go to places full of satisfying endings that are, at worst, bittersweet. If I'm reading a tragedy, I want something that's all or mostly historical fact. Not a matter of judgment, just one of personal preference.

[thenexusofsouls]

Meta: Freya's Psychology - How it Differs From Ravenna's, and Where She Falls on the Morality Spectrum

{i am the caretaker of souls} Just some random philosophical notes on Freya... She is different from Ravenna. Like, and duh, of course she is, there are layers and levels of villains, not all are the same, they're not a monolith, etc. and so forth, but... where is that line past which you say they aren't able to be rehabilitated? Where's the line between truly evil and only partly so? Between evil and affected by trauma? Evil and affected by trauma? How much evil is an acceptable level of "understandable" based on someone's trauma? Some? All? None?

I'm watching Winter's War right now because it happens to be on and I'm just... always fascinated by the interactions between Freya and Ravenna. First of all... seriously, they are both QUEENS and by "they" I mean the actresses, heh. They have amazing versatility with emotion and facial expression and it's like candy for a writer like me to watch them play in a scene together because it feeds my soul, heh, but that aside. When I watch Freya and Ravenna together, the differences between them are so apparent. SO apparent.

I've always wanted to do a deep dive into Freya's character and even compared to Ravenna's, and really get into the question of... is Freya really a sympathetic character, or can she be, or should she be... or am I just sympathetic towards her because I happen to like the character? This is not going to be that because, quite honestly, sometimes I can't tell. Or maybe it is. We'll see how well I'm able to probe her mind right now, haha. I'm in a mood, lol.

My own personal alignment is Lawful Good with Neutral Good tendencies, meaning that I will always be and champion good, and I will usually follow rules and laws but not simply for what they are. If good can and should be furthered by breaking a rule of law, I will consider it. Like for me, good comes first, law second. Lawful Good is the alignment of paladins and the classic White Knight trope in writing, although I of course would never place myself in that category which I often idealize in its purest form when I see it in fictional media. I'd say I'm the realistic life version of what that alignment could idealistically or optimally be under some fantasy conditions, heh, which isn't so pristine or heroic by any means. I'm mostly just a wet blanket to most people, I've noticed, haha. Having said that, I guess that's why I love and tend to gravitate towards writing paladin types.

So... here's a little window into my writing for you, heh... if I'm writing someone who is morally ambiguous, and especially if they are a full-on villain, it's hard for me. Very hard. I don't understand those mindsets very often and so it's difficult for me to get inside the heads of villains or morally gray characters. But... I try, because I do love the psychology of morality and to analyze the reasons behind characters' motivations, the lies they tell not only others but themselves as well, and the ways in which they justify what they do. The way my mind works, though, is very black and white, very specific... which doesn't help me write characters who don't 100% or cleanly fit the definition of a hero or a villain. Understanding where those lines are, why points are sympathetic about a character and which are not justifiable, and how to write villains and anti-heroes accurately and true to their characters despite the limitations of my own brain is something I very much struggle with.

If I can find something sympathetic about a character, there's a chance I can write them, because that's what I use as my anchor. Writing 100% evil characters doesn't interest me at all. I need ones that are evil for very sympathetic reasons, or who do evil things but then also do good things or have good qualities. Those are my biggest challenges as a writer, because it's harder to find that balance in my writing them of what my brain wants to do and what is true to the character.

In watching Snow White and the Huntsman and The Huntsman: Winter's War, I always found myself kindof fascinated by Ravenna while really hating her, heh. Not even her tragic backstory could make me sympathize with her. I enjoy watching her from an entertainment point of view, but I don't feel badly for her, nor do I feel that her actions are justified by her traumatic childhood. But with Freya, for whatever reason, despite me being Lawful Good and that alignment usually not tolerating people who do really terrible things, I always feel so sad for her and so sympathetic towards her. I've never written a thread in which Freya essentially admits that her anti-love policies are crap, that she still loves and wants to be loved, and that she's just done all of this as one long stint of improperly processing the trauma of losing her daughter and being betrayed by a lover. And yet, she reveals almost all of that in the actual movie.

Going back to what I said about seeing the differences clearly between Freya and Ravenna in their scenes together, I notice so much more emotional faltering on the part of Freya than Ravenna. I think I only saw Ravenna cry once in Winter's War, and that was nothing more than her eyes tearing up as she said, "Do you think think I wanted a child? Do you not think I wanted love? But I was not meant for such things. I have a higher calling." I don't believe her when she "cries" during that line. It comes across as performative rather than genuine emotion. The character, I mean, not the actress. The supposedly spontaneous display of actual emotion feels just as stilted and contrived in the moment as does any other of Ravenna's "emotions." Freya, on the other hand... I believe her emotion is real. The way her eyes dart around, the hard swallows, the uncertainty in her expression. And later, when Ravenna starts killing her Huntsman, if Freya's panic for their safety isn't love, I don't know what is.

I refuse to make Ravenna a muse, even though she's been bugging me to do it for about two years now. The reason I won't is because 1) I don't think I would write her well, even though I have kindof dabbled with her as a guest muse as times, 2) I have nowhere to go with her, no development goals, no endgame of redemption, nothing to push her towards. I don't just write characters I like, I write ones that I want better future for, alternate futures for, or that I feel have a plethora of untapped potential for scenarios that were never explored in canon. Ravenna... is a cold-hearted conqueror, she always will be, and nothing and no one can ever change her. But if we look at what Ravenna's done, and what Freya's done, they're almost identical. They're both sorceresses who use their powers cruelly, they're both conquerors, and they both think the world has wronged them and owes them power in return. So what's different about Ravenna and Freya that makes it okay in my mind to write Freya but not Ravenna?

I think maybe it's that Ravenna is out for herself 100% of the time, but Freya isn't? Ravenna, at the end of every day, at the conclusion of every battle or conflict, and in every life or death situation, will always choose herself. Self-preservation and survival is paramount to her in any situation. In the first movie, she sacrificed her own brother to save herself, even though he was her greatest ally. In the second movie, she killed Freya to protect herself, or at least dealt the fatal wound that eventually killed her. No one and nothing will ever mean as much to Ravenna... as herself. That sort of selfishness, at least in my mind, is permanent and never changing. It's also uninteresting to me, because there's no room for development.

Freya isn't... always selfish. And I'm not even sure that I would call it selfishness. I'm really not sure, heh. Usually I don't write a muse unless I really understand them, or I've created them myself, because need to come from a place of deep knowing to write someone, that's just my deal and the limitations of my abilities as a writer. But Freya is that rare exception of me feeling like I really don't fully understand her. There's emotion there, there's love, there's need, there's loneliness, there's heartache and grief... but then she takes all of those things and does such terrible things with them. So is she redeemable or not? My first instinct is to say yes, but then I shy away from ever writing her reaching that point, even though it's probably what I want most for her. Why is that?

Maybe it's that I don't really understand why she does what she does? My best explanation for the many inconsistencies and contradictions in her philosophy on love is that she's lying to herself, processing trauma in an entirely toxic way, and refusing to believe comfortable lies instead of painful truths about her own life. She couldn't deal with losing her child or with the idea that someone she'd loved and trusted had betrayed her (I know it was really Ravenna, but Freya doesn't know that until the very end), so she searched for some greater meaning in it, some answer outside herself. Rather than believe either that 1) sometimes bad things happen to good people and there's no reason for it and it doesn't make any sense, or that 2) she'd been naive and taken advantage of because of that, she chose to believe that there was some grander evil afoot that resulted in her life being destroyed.

Freya's philosophy is entirely meant to make her personal traumas easier to bear. All love is evil and wrong. That's why it hurt her. All men are selfish pigs who just use women and throw them away. That's why her lover betrayed her. Love will always end in tragedy and pain. That's why it happened to her. By believing this, she removes any blame from herself, and places it instead on the universe. This is more comfortable to believe than the reality of... I was wronged randomly and without greater meaning, it just happened, and that's that. Instead, she can now believe that she was but one victim in the multitudes that love has claimed throughout time. Well now how was she to resist or to avoid it, when love is just that insidious and cruel?

Where her evil then comes in is two-fold. First, she knows better. Freya isn't insane, as much as people like to label her as such. She's of sound mind, knows what she's doing, and knows right from wrong. But even knowing that, she chooses to feed her own lies. She chooses to ignore what she knows is the truth in favor of feeding into her own narrative to make herself feel better. Second, she decides to commit atrocities way worse than what was done to her in order to accomplish this.

Freya is hurt by what her lover did and feels vulnerable and taken advantage of, so she conquers to prove she's strong and not a victim, to overwrite in her mind how powerless and fragile she felt all those years ago. She lost her child and now has nowhere to go with her need to be a mother, and she has a need to replace the child she lost. So she takes the children of others and deludes herself into thinking she's saving them, that they're actually better off with her, and that she's saving them from ever having to feel the pain that she felt. In reality, she's causing them all that pain and so much more. She needs to believe this narrative, though, otherwise her whole philosophy on life, herself, and what happened to her comes crashing down, and she'll be forced to face and process the trauma she's never been willing to confront before.

But... Freya does love her "children," she truly does. I think she started out kindof deluding herself with this philosophy of... well I'm taking you from your parents and saving you from love to make you stronger... but then later on, she had to keep up that narrative or she'd have to face that she'd actually wronged them... and the potential fact that none of them actually love her the way she loves them. It's so sad to me to think that she was alone with that love, that she cared so much for them but then at the same time tried to ignore it and pretend like each time one of them died it didn't hurt her, when I think it did. I think a lot of her coldness was an act, and I would challenge her writers to show me more scenes when she was alone in her sanctum, for example after she'd ordered Eric to be killed, either the first time or the second. I think she would have felt real emotion for him, and for all others that had fallen as a result of her orders. But it was clear to me in the way she looked at her Huntsman, the way she spoke to them, the way she feared for them in having to tell them of Ravenna's new orders or when Ravenna attacked them, that she did genuinely love them.

What's even sadder to me, is that I think she believed they loved her too, or at least wanted to believe that. When Eric tries to kill Freya towards the end of the movie, she looks totally shocked that he would attempt such a thing. She even asks, "Why?" so incredulously. What do you mean, why, heh? He tried to kill you before too! He has so many reasons to! But she actually was surprised. Like why would you want to kill me? I find that fascinating. She was either so deluded in thinking she really hadn't done anything wrong to him, or she refused to believe that Eric really didn't think of her as his queen or mother or whatever else as she wanted him to. That's... so sad.

Freya also, aside from the fact that she took them from their parents gave them no choice whatsoever except to become soldiers, treated her "children" pretty well. "I gave you everything," she even says. They weren't starving. They had good clothes and equipment. A lot of the girls' hair was intricately braided, which suggests some amount of downtime and self care of each other, that they would do that for each other. They had personal items, weapons, clothing... Sara even was permitted to keep her mother's talisman. So they weren't like... tortured or starved or even prevented from having their own personality quirks, like Sara's haughtiness, Eric's comical humor, Tull's insecurity, or Leifr's overblown, alpha male arrogance. Eric's moments with Pippa, too, were heartwarming. However, they were psychologically conditioned and physically pushed to their limits, so some might argue that in itself was torture. But I argue that there's a difference in mentality of a ruler, parent, leader, etc. who would expect much from their children/people/soldiers but treat them well in return, rather than someone who just runs them into the ground without care, treating them as expendable objects.

Tiny side note, that scene where Freya is dissociating a bit by her baby's ice-encrusted cradle, or an ice replica of it I'm not sure which tbh, and one of her "children" comes to bring her her owl mask and he's carrying a torch... She has an emotional outburst due to her traumatic relationship with fire and blows out the torch, freeze-burning his hand. He's clearly afraid of her, even as he hands her the mask. A truly heartless, evil queen who had no caring for her children/subjects would not care about his feelings. But Freya does. She bothers to soften her expression and whisper, "It's alright," to reassure him that she's not really mad at him, and that she forgives his transgression. I think that's very telling for her character.

Larger side note here... all three times she orders Eric to be killed, Freya turns away. The first time, she says, "Take him out of my sight," and turns away. She pauses to look back, but decides against it. The second time, she tells Sara, "Kill him," but then turns her back and goes to the mirror. The third time, Eric even asks her, "Why do you turn away, Freya?" as she's being forced by Ravenna to condemn him and Sara to execution. I think this is an important window to see through the coldness of her orders, which many take as her absolute personality. Well she toys with them, she orders them killed, so she's a cold bitch and there's no feeling there. No, I think she does it because she feels she has to in order to maintain power, but it bothers her, and she would have preferred not to do it. She doesn't want to see Eric die, and that's why she looks away all three times. And her words to him when she comes upon him and the dwarves in Sanctuary, "Eric. My Eric. Your queen has missed you," I believe she was being truthful. She did miss him. That's her Eric. Her "son." Her Huntsman. Her subject. Someone she loves.

Another telling line from the first time he tried to kill her, was, "You knew, didn't you? You knew she would betray you and you spared her still." The emotion in Freya's eyes was genuine at that point. There's a coldness, an emotionless mask that she wears that's almost as performative as Ravenna's, but for Freya, it's very consciously constructed. She has to focus to maintain it, whereas with Ravenna, it's natural and even enjoyable to her. When she says that line, a piece of that same incredulity that she has at the end when Eric tries again to kill her is there in her eyes. She really doesn't understand Eric's behavior and his willingness to be hurt for love. Oh, Freya knows love exists, and that it can be real, she's just too hurt and too afraid to admit it. But what she doesn't understand is why someone would allow themselves to be hurt by it, as in her mind, Eric was. In her mind, there's nothing worse than being screwed over by love, so Eric's willingness to sacrifice himself for it is something that is so outside of Freya's ability to understand at that point. She can't be shown it, she has to feel it herself and learn how to do it through experience.

Also, I'd like to point out, going back to her turning away each of three times she order's Eric's death, that... bitch can literally freeze anyone she wants almost instantly. She can throw ice spikes. She can make a big wall and crush someone with it, I mean... Let's face it, if she wanted Eric dead... really wanted him dead, he'd be dead. When she says that line I mentioned up there and he tries to stab her with his dagger, she grabs his arm. At that point, she could have killed him. Easily. She didn't. Some might argue it didn't serve her purposes at that point, but I disagree. He was a thorn in her side and getting rid of him would have been easier for her and it would have "protected" Sara from his "toxic" love. Some could argue that it was beneath her, that a queen doesn't do her own dirty work. Nah, she'd frozen the two dwarves not seconds ago. Granted, she didn't kill them, but they might have easily been killed, since all those people she freezes end up on a life-sized chess board, and when a piece is taken off the board during a play, the person is shattered, essentially killing them. This was seen in a deleted scene where she plays such a game against Ravenna, but I digress. My point is, it would've been so easy for her to kill Eric, and Freya doesn't shy away from using her magic on people. The only reason she didn't, in my mind, was that she didn't want him dead.

And of course, Freya's final line, as she lays dying and is looking at Sara and Eric yet again in love and working together so well, "How lucky you are." That line breaks my freaking heart. It reveals so much, not the least of which is that she, after everything she'd said and done, still admires and envies those in love. It means she views love in a positive light in some regard. She views love like theirs in a positive light, love that's real and stands the test of time. I think she longed for that herself, and in that moment she realizes that it does exist, just... not for everyone. Not for her. But it does for them. And so... how lucky they are to have it. To have each other. My girl breaks my heart in that moment and I think this one line may have been the linchpin in why I ultimately wanted to write her myself.

But after saying all of this, I feel like nothing more than a Freya apologist, and that doesn't sit well with me. I can't figure out whether that's just my own personal alignment butting heads with Freya's alignment, or whether I'm really seeing things that aren't there and making excuses for a character who doesn't deserve the understanding or second chances. If anyone has any thoughts on all of this, I'd love to hear them! Well, read them, heh.

Alright now let's now take a second to think about why Ravenna did what she did to Freya. Because we can, heh. Freya in her youth was no threat to Ravenna, because as I've established, Ravenna is always out for herself and wants to be on top. By making her a sorceress and awakening her magic through trauma, she actually made Freya capable of rivaling her. Why would she do that? Well, I don't think that was her intention, heh. She had other ones...

In their first scene together, Ravenna says to Freya, "I suppose you are my weakness." That right there, might have been enough reason for her to want to hurt Freya. Eliminating any and all weaknesses is important to Ravenna, because weakness could mean death if it's used against her. But I don't think that's the whole reason. The way Ravenna looks at her when she's looking longing and lovingly at her lover at court is... a look of resentment. Jealousy. Is it possible that Ravenna envied Freya's innocence, or was jealous that someone loved her? Could it be that she was jealous that Freya found real love when she's just seducing and killing kings who only want one thing from her? I would believe that if I also believed Ravenna really wanted to be loved herself, but I really don't think that matters to her.

Could it just be that Ravenna resented her sister being happier than she was? Jealous, maybe, that Freya was happy and didn't need magic in her life while Ravenna was a slave to hers? Or maybe it wasn't even that meaningful... maybe Ravenna just saw her happy and wanted to spoil it. But maybe she knew the magic only comes to protect the sorceress, and Freya needed something to be protected from. She might resent the fact that her life is ruled by her magic, having to always feed it with beauty and blood, such as she does. It wasn't really her choice to have it, it was given to her by her mother. Maybe she wants Freya to feel that same kind of magic-made prison? Maybe she resents her carefree freedom to live her life without the burden that magic brings? I really don't know, my understanding of Ravenna is even worse than that of Freya, haha.

Also I wonder... if maybe Ravenna can't have children for some reason? Because at the end of the second movie, that comment she makes of, "Do you not think I wanted a child?" Um, no, ma'am, I actually would never have thought for a second that you did? Given your personality? XD But is she saying there... that she did? Her eyes tear up, which is interesting. Maybe... that is the root of it. Because she didn't turn on Freya until she realized that she was carrying her lover's child. It would also explain why she didn't just go after the lover, but also killed the child as well. Revenge? Retaliation? A temper tantrum? Because she was jealous that Freya could have children and she could not? Meh... maybe not, heh, since the mirror told her the baby would grow to be even fairer than her, blah blah, so I suppose it's possible Ravenna only went after the baby for that reason. But there was no reason to drag the lover into it. She could have just killed the baby, or compelled a random guard to do it for her, she didn't have to make Freya's lover do it. That bit right there... suggests Ravenna's motivation was not only the baby's eventual fairness alone.

So... there's not much of a point to all of this besides me unloading my brain on the subject of... why do I feel so sympathetic towards Freya but not Ravenna, when they've both dealt with trauma... and also, how redeemable is Freya, really? Am I only seeing what I want to see in her, or is there really something to work with there? I don't know, and maybe that's what I like about her as a muse, that I don't have her all figured out yet. That's honestly never been my m.o. before, heh, I usually like to understand a character inside and out before I write them. *shrugs* I guess we'll see the more I write them, how things turn out for her!

No, Ravenna, you will never be a full muse here. Stop asking me! XD

Meanwhile Eric wants me to get rid of both of them, heh. Muses, amirite?

Phew. Okay. Well. That was a thing I just wrote, haha. I have no idea where this came from tonight, but I hope at least somebody enjoys reading it, heh. Now that I've gotten this out of my system, I'm going to get to some other things! =)

[dol-dee]

IK nobody asked buuuuut I'll talk about it anyways.

I somewhat fall into the category of prefering fem iterations of the dol characters. I say somewhat bc, Yeah I like women but thats not the main reason.

DoL HEAVILY relies on tropes and well known character archetypes when it comes to it's NPCs.

A lot of them are ol' reliables and (at least to me) feel very worn out when in their cis male version. Which is why I often gravitate to the version that feels more "fresh" or subversive to me.

For Example: I love my fem Sydney but her particular character trope (corruption of the "pure" religious character) feels a bit more interesting (to me) when its M!Sydney.

Although I will admit that another reason I tend to favor the female versions is that most dol fandom depictions (that I have seen) already have a strong bias towards the male version of these characters. The ground there is plenty covered already and I don't think I can bring much new to the table there.

I don't think most people will care about my particular opinions/List on this , so I'll put it under a cut haha.

Tbf I like to let the game do it's own thing to see what it cooks up in the npcs body, sex and gender department but I do have a few characters that I consistently change like Avery.

Cis M!Avery is just suuuch a tired trope to me (probably bc it's not that uncommon in real life either?) Another man with anger issues who exclusively dates (according to canon aka Vrel) only 18 to 20 year olds? YAWN. idk I could just go look at Leonardo DiCaprios dating chart if I wanted to see that. Obviously, if it does something for you, go right ahead. I'll leave you to your feast, it's just not for me. I need Avery to be a very smarmy, maladjusted butch woman.

Okokok I'll get to the list now (for the characters that I have developed strong opinions about anyways) and I'll go into, what my current/canon run is set to as well as what I prefer depending on what I find more interesting. (with some notes if I have thoughts on the character) uhhhhh Ig I'll do it in Alphabetical order?

Avery: Preferred: F! Avery Current Run: F! Avery (note: I think I went in and manually changed it) - (Nothing more to say really, I already mentioned my reasons. Plus M!Avery just makes me feel icky)

Alex: Preferred: No preference Current Run: M! Alex

Bailey: Preferred: somewhat neutral but leaning towards F! Bailey Current Run: F! Bailey - (Bailey once again seems to have a lot of M! fanworks already and I like the idea of her being either futch or butch. Bailey just strikes me as someone who'd wear a lot of boring suits. Very nondescript/practical)

Eden: Preferred: F! Eden Current Run: F! Eden - (Eden is a case where I really wanted to live my Huntress dbd fantasies out with her but was open to the option of M!Eden. Until I ran into him in my first run and I really didn't like it very much. I prefer her as a hulking hermit woman atp also sad toxic yuri between Eden and Bailey <3)

Harper: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Harper - (Harper lowkey gives me Moira Overwatch vibes (mainly bc of my design lmao) so I have a soft spot for fem!Harper)

Kylar: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Kylar - (I do think same sex PC and Kylar is hilarious considering Kylar is so fixated on getting you pregnant, so in this case: ig whatevers funnier <3)

Remy: Preferred: F!Remy kinda Current Run: F! Remy - (I'm actually kind neutral on Remy's sex and gender but I do think its somehow funnier when it's F!Remy. Like whats going on there that she wants to give other women humongus tits and milk them?)

Robin: Preferred: No preference Current Run: M! Robin - (Robin is cute either way!)

Sydney: Preferred: No preference Current Run: F! Sydney - ( I have no real preference for Sydney and I already mentioned my thoughts on them)

Whitney: Preferred: F! Whitney Current Run: M! Whitney - (I've seen this trope so many times with hyperagressive dudes. It's not doing much for me. To see that kind of behavior with a fem character instead really revitalizes my interest in It! M!Whitney is fine and hes kinda grown on me but I think I'd have more fun with Whitney if they were femme instead)