#like this isn't the worst thing she's done but it's frustrating living with her and i have no choice so i want to complain argh

[sonderdream]

my mom is fangirling over ai art and refusing to believe that it's unethical or even read my numerous sources I offer because "it's blending it! it's original :)" fuck my stupid baka life

[undiscovered-horizon]

[It’s considered good etiquette to ask a man about his wife’s wellbeing. Except if the man in question is Dracule Mihawk.]

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Garp hates having to call Mihawk, mainly because of the warlord's attitude. Used to the usual "yes, sir!" of the Marines, a man with his own will and agenda is not something he entirely knows how to navigate. Especially since both of them know that the World Government needs the warlords more than they need the bureaucracy. And that doesn't exactly help in exercising power.

His attempts at diplomacy have burst into flames each time and today isn't going to be much different:

"How’s the missus?" Garp asks in the nicest tone he can force although he's aware that Mihawk knows how much the vice admiral hates asking for Dracule's assistance.

Mihawk only scoffs. "Are you calling just to spoil my mood or is there another reason for your impertinence?"

"I was just trying to-"

"Don't," he cuts him off in a stern voice. "If you have business with me, speak fast. If you're interested in my wife, I know where you live, Garp. I'd suggest losing your unwelcome nosiness before you lose something else."

Little did Garp know at the time but his little question was possibly the worst strategy he could think of. Dracule Mihawk is not like most men and the mere mention of his wife by acquaintances only enrages him. Work and private life do not ever mix. And he'll be damned if someone tries to breach that, even in the form of a courtesy. Therefore, the rest of the call was filled with openly insulting answers that were bold even for Mihawk. A veiled threat or two also found their way into their rather tense conversation.

You know he's done with Garp when he lets out a frustrated grunt. Sometimes you wonder if this grumpy, forever dissatisfied version of him is the only side of Mihawk his acquaintances know. Maybe he really is two men in the form of one.

He's sitting at his desk, thinking about something and not bothering to get up for now. Considering the fact that his hat is lying on the table and not on his head, Mihawk is probably not planning on going out anytime soon. Then again, judging by his spoiled mood, his homestay is a blessing for the first poor sods that would cross his path.

In slow steps, you stroll to his side, letting your hand brush through his hair. He doesn't say anything, only leans his head further towards you. The thing about Mihawk is that he loved to reject and decline but he never does so to you. No, in your case it's the opposite - he revels in allowing you whatever you want.

So intimidating and combative, yet soft and looking for intimacy. Truly, two men with the face of one.

"My mother used to say that each grey hair is one thing we worry about," you say quietly. "At this rate, love, your whole head will be white by noon."

"Your mother also says that milk goes sour because gnomes piss in it," he retorts. Yes, your mother and her strange folk beliefs... She's probably the only person Mihawk can force himself to be nice to despite his dislike.

His response earns a hearty laugh from you. Clear as day, you can see his posture relax as he listens to the music of your happiness. If he even thinks about the possibility of Garp or any other of his acquaintances hearing it, he might just get furious again.

"Well, nobody's perfect," you say between chuckles.

Then, Mihawk gently grabs your hand and lowers it to his face. With softness and passion that hardly befits a man of his infamy, he kisses the inside of your hand. "You seem to be doing so effortlessly."

[mothiepixie]

If I may, and if you haven’t answered it yet, how do all the boys react to Mottie being/getting sick?

Absolutely!! I hope you enjoy

Sans:

He knows something is off immediately; Maybe he hasn't gotten a call or a text like he's used to that day. He tries to think nothing of it but usually before noon he gets at least a text. He sends a quick meme that he knows would have her key smashing a reply, but he gets nothing. He lets it be and just figured she's busy, but when half the day has gone by that's when he decides to give a call.

The moment he hears her voice, he grimaces at how coarse it sounds. “geez, have you been chewing glass?” And he knows it's bad when she doesn't retort and just hears a quiet sigh.

“yeah, i agree.. not one of my best jokes… hang on, kiddo.” He doesn't give time for Motti to think and hangs up. He'll show up at her house with a bag full of soup and such. He's nonchalant about the hold thing, but he's pretty worried. He doesn't like that she barely responds.

He stays late making sure she's okay.

Boysen:

Their world isn't soft when it comes to caring for others. Boysen has different ways of showing affection, and only will get better in the later years that doesn't have to do with showering in gifts. And so, when Motti first gets sick he is concerned but he's also unsure what to do. He is a bit of a germaphobe and human sickness is always something that disgusts him.

So, there he stands at Motti's side; he has gloves on, clear up to his elbows, an apron while holding a tray of soup, juices and medicine. Through his mask, he tells her sternly that she's to finish it all and to shower after and he'll wash her clothes. She'll thank him and he just says “Don't thank me, just quit being diseased.”

Big Red:

He doesn't realize right away that Motti is sick, but when she blatantly tells him, he inwardly panics. He's reliving trauma from his younger years of when he,or Papyrus, was ill, and they had to hide it. Staying locked away or pretending they weren't weak in fear of someone coming for them at their worst.

He doesn't know how to react other than telling her she can't leave their house and to stay out of sight. It confuses her, and freaks her out a little, and Red gets more angry at himself for frightening her.

He barks at her to relax and obviously she can't now. So in frustration, he asks what she needs and he'll get it. He doesn't know how to take care of her needs since monster illnesses are different from humans, and he hates how he feels helpless.

Although there isn't much for him to do but watch her sniffle and hack her lungs out, he sulks and gets frustrated when she tries to do anything herself. “ya dont gotta get up, damn it! i'm right here!” And will grumble all the way to the kitchen.

Farmer:

It's nearly the crack of dawn when he gets a call from Motti. She can barely get a word out without going into a coughing fit. He hears her sniffling, but he cannot tell if it's because of her stuffy nose or she's crying.

“I'm so sorry, but can I ask you to take care of my animals for me?”

The cracking of her voice breaks his heart. “you never have to ask, peaches.”

He has the majority of her chores done before the sun even rises. Of course, Papyrus helped as well since he was already up, but he pushed Sans to go check on her frequently.

Homemade soup was brought over frequently and Farmer tells her about how sassy Creampuff has been since Motti has been bedridden. Farmer is a master at playing it cool, but when he goes home he lies in his bed worried about her. He doesn't like that she's alone and ill. He thinks about changing that.

Dream:

He senses it and will come to check on her. Although he's never been sick himself, he has felt it through millions of lives and knows just how miserable Motti is.

He is the best at taking care of her because he will know when the symptoms get worse or come back before she does. She'll wake up and he will be there with a glass of water and medicine, urging her to take it before her previous medicine fully wears off. She doesn't have to ask, seek or express her needs and Dream is there with whatever she requires.

With him being there also improves her mood and makes her feel better faster.

Cross:

He fumbles around the most when he realizes she is sick. “Oh whoa, okay. Let's get you to bed, yeah???” but he's quick to make sure she's taken care of. He feels a bit awkward and not sure what she needs so he looks up what's best for humans. But he also realizes humans can die (that's his fault for looking at webmd)

But he'll make chicken soup from scratch, and feed it to her. He doesn't like how miserable she sounds and he will pull her into his lap to let her rest against his chest. He doesn't know how else to help but feed her and comfort her. He's not a big fan of feeling helpless and secretly panicking that she has some terminal illness disguised as a cold.

Ink:

Unfortunately he doesn't really take care of Motti. He will hang around her and keep her company, maybe grab a few things for her here and there, but he's more interested in distracting her. If he drinks one of his vials, then the worry sets in and he comforts her.

Nightmare:

He will feed off her misery and surprisingly that makes her get well faster? Forces the others to take care of her though and gets agitated if they buffoon around. Ends up doing himself and snippily if anyone points it out.

[animezinglife]

Maybe it's my age talking, but I do think the Azriel vs. Lucien thing is blown way out of proportion.

There's a difference between attraction and being in love with someone, and another difference still between having a crush and being in love.

TL/DR: I genuinely think the biggest piece people overlook in this Azriel vs. Lucien puzzle is Elain herself and the layers of her internal conflict. Personally, I suspect it's much bigger than them both.

Here's the thing:

Azriel is gorgeous and is basically described as looking like a dark, fallen angel. He went into Hybern's war camp and got her out of there alongside Feyre, took her in his arms and flew her to safety. He's been kind to her, too. He hasn't pushed her to talk and has a quiet, strong presence that I'm sure is quite comforting to her.

There is zero expectation with him--zero pressure that she would even be able to create in her own mind. There's no "mate" term dangling over them and no friends or family breathing down their necks at every turn, acting like they should be supervised for something they didn't do. They're the only two people in their current circle (exempting Mor, though that's a bit different) who are still single. They both are constantly bombarded with this idea of "mates" and being on the outside of what that means.

I don't think it would be a reach at all to call her and Az friends.

It's not odd or confusing to me at all that she would have a crush on him; be attracted to him, want him to kiss her, or even to sleep with him. It seems completely natural.

I would argue that Az has been a gentleman towards her (and I will stand by the fact that internal frustrations are very different than actions, and that something expressed in confidence to your brother is nowhere near the same as acting out of turn), but I also wonder, too, if there's a part of her that makes her think she doesn't want a gentleman right now.

That while she's handled her trauma very differently than Nesta (thank the Cauldron), there's a part of her that's taken that robbing of life to heart and Graysen's whiny bitch comments/rejection to heart. That it's impacted her self-worth to make her think she is something "other" that's beyond saving or isn't worth the kind of fairytale love she always dreamed of for herself.

If I read into it perhaps a bit too much, I think Az is a little off when he assumes Elain doesn't know about the types of things he's done, whether that be atrocities or something more private. She might even see her involvement in killing Hybern to be some dark thing outside her nature she's having difficulty coming to terms with.

I'm not at all saying Az isn't a good guy who's deserving of love too, but I don't think what Elain's looking for with him in that extra chapter has much of anything to do with love. I think she wants a distraction with someone she thinks understands.

I think there's a chance, too, she's overwhelmed by Lucien being in the same house. Overwhelmed by that strong, involuntary pull she feels towards him and that she doesn't know what to make of him at all.

I will say it until I'm blue in the face, but I genuinely think the only barrier--the only real issue--that prevents her from warming to Lucien in the same or a similar way is that heavy, life-altering M-word that got slapped onto them both on arguably the worst day of her life.

He hasn't had the luxury of being around her as part of her family like Az has. Hasn't had the luxury of Elain seeing him fully through her own eyes without the "mate" label being forced into their lives. Yet it doesn't lessen the pull she has towards him, and that combined with everything she's experienced of mates thus far can't exactly be easy to process, especially after a brutal rejection, lost love, and lost future.

She isn't able right now to see the bond as a choice.

She doesn't even get the chance to evolve naturally into seeing it as a choice with the way her family hovers and breathes down her neck. How suddenly the most un-purity culture people in existence magically start caring a great deal about Elain's choices in that regard and insert themselves into chaperone roles like Elain and Lucien are two teenagers who can't control themselves at a junior high dance.

How confusing and contradictory that must be for Elain, who's been condescended and told by her sisters (namely Nesta) that the Fae don't live by human customs when it comes to sex or anything of the like. How the one time she did take that chance with someone she thought she loved it only got thrown back in her face by both Graysen and Nesta?

And what do we know about Lucien? He's devastatingly beautiful. Elegant yet rakish. An intelligent, educated, trained courtier and the son of a high lord. Even Feyre--a happily mated female--can't go five minutes in her internal monologues without noting how attractive and sexy he is even when he's doing absolutely nothing and minding his own business.

She knows he's Feyre's friend. She's heard some of the stories there. So she is aware, then, of at least some of the qualities her sister sees and admires in him despite their current rocky relationship.

Lucien is, in every way, being respectful of Elain's wishes and giving her space even though her rejection hurts him. He's still warring with the guilt of his own lost love in his mind and with a sense of unworthiness. He's been achingly thoughtful towards her; the epitome of a gentleman.

Elain would know that especially with that bond she doesn't fully understand, he's not someone she could simply have a pleasant distraction with. That he's someone who could see through her in every way she wants to hide and that she would never be able to hide in the mere idea that he simply doesn't press her (in the way Az doesn't press her).

Az feels safe right now and someone still attached to her comfort zone. He's a place she can continue to hide without fully facing her present and future and all Prythian is.

She can't hide her pain or suffering from Lucien in the same way. She can't quietly stare out the window into the sunlight without him knowing and feeling exactly what she needs.

She knows--senses--that she won't be able to separate the most vulnerable fragments of herself from her bond with Lucien. Again, a bond she didn't choose, and doesn't currently see that she still has a choice in.

So, she turns away from it in every way she knows how and looks for new ways to do so.

The way people treat Elain when it comes to her love life is so predictably (to her) unlike how Feyre and Nesta have been treated. Elain has always been different from them both, especially when it comes to love and sex. She's more modest and more reserved; has never been the type to fall into bed with some random man or Fae male. She's more guarded; a bit more protective of her own heart.

Maybe, to some extent, there's something she feels she needs to prove to herself. That she can fit within this more sexually liberated Fae world and that she's not some outsider in need of being treated with kid gloves.

Az, in that capacity, is definitely not someone who will. He's also not someone she can't keep her guard up with and can't keep her vulnerability from.

It would not surprise me either if there's a part of her that wants to deter Luicen (thinking back to Mor's tactic of deterring Azriel when she slept with Helion), but more strongly and importantly, to deter and distract herself from the bond. She doesn't want to allow herself to feel anything towards him.

The fact that she does feel a strong pull and, more likely than not, an overwhelming attraction of some kind makes me think it wasn't fully coincidence that she approached Az on Solstice when Lucien was in the same house.

I think she very much wanted to tie someone else to what she's feeling and try to get Lucien, the bond, and that dreaded M-word out of her mind.

Running the risk of sounding crude, Az could probably achieve that at least temporarily.

But it'd come right back. It's always been interesting to me that everyone seems to note that their bond is strong despite nothing having happened between them yet.

Until Elain acknowledges that bond and Lucien one way or another, that internal conflict she's clearly feeling is never going to change for her.

Two things can be true at once: we can fully acknowledge that neither Elain nor Lucien had a choice in the bond snapping between them, and that until they face it, neither one of them are going to have much choice in anything else at all. Not beyond a meaningless tangle in the sheets with someone else.

I think it would've been worse in the long run for Elain to learn that the hard way.

I also genuinely don't think Elain understands that there's nothing wrong with her for being different than her sisters or being different than the Fae norms. That there's nothing wrong with her for struggling to process this or for being overwhelmed.

She's still healing. She still has wounds she hasn't addressed. She's still hiding and seeking distractions while growing restless about wanting more from her life and being frustrated by her sisters' low expectations.

Feyre and Nesta love her, and it's not the protectiveness from love in itself that's wrong.

But they're suffocating her.

Lucien is, in every way, a person who never could. He's something so different and "other" than what she's used to both as a human and as a Fae while also being a bridge between those worlds. He can function in both. He can thrive in both.

He can see, perhaps too clearly, all sides of her whether she likes it or not.

I think she also very much senses he's the type she could fall in love with. The type she'll never be able to fully distract herself from if she lets herself fall or take that leap.

Her heart's still wounded, and she's not ready to risk opening that again right now.

That doesn't mean she won't be later on, and that doing so won't be incredibly worth it.

She will never find herself or open that chance up to herself, though, if she also keeps hiding in only the channels she knows. The barriers--intentional or otherwise--set around her by her sisters.

I do think that's inevitably going to be the difference between them, though: Elain and Lucien are going to face their reality and find healing together and in each other, and in the process, are going to end up falling in love. Real, true, soulful love.

Lucien's love is the kind that will leave her wondering why she ever thought she'd known what love is in the first place, and what they could find in each other is the kind of love they both deserve.

I cannot wait to see Elain facing her fears when she's fully free to do so. I can't wait to see her getting to know Lucien without the IC watching their every move and making her feel like a caged animal. I can't wait to see her find her strength, her love, and the fullest extent of her freedom.

That's not to say that Az would not have many wonderful qualities he could offer her too, but the person she's going to find more of herself than she every thought possible with is Lucien.

Az, in my humble opinion, is likely going to end up with someone else. An actual mate where he'll find his own healing alongside.

[genericpuff]

Rachel did a live Q&A in the LO Discord server and gave some news about the Animated Series, it’s still happening! (Surprisingly) Any thoughts on that or things you’d like to see from it?

Right, like every other time she's said it's "still happening" with no evidence to actually support it. That's always been the issue and still is.

Sorry, that's not me being snarky at you, I'm more so frustrated and absolutely fucking done with all the empty promises and platitudes.

Best case scenario with what was said during the Q&A was that she said "it's still happening" (worst case was that she didn't address it at all).

Like, how is this:

"I can say that… we are currently doing work on it… and it is going well.. and that it looks really cool and that I wish everyone could see what we’ve done because it looks really really really cool, and it’s happening, but that’s all I can say at this point… I can say, making tv shows takes a really long time, it takes so long" (last night's Q&A)

Any different than this:

Any different than this:

“Um, it’s been really interesting. It’s been educational for me. So, what I—what has been done so far is beautiful. Like, if I could share it, I would. But I can’t. Because it’s very naughty.” - Girl Wonder SDCC (July 2023)

She's been saying this for the last two years since people started getting suspicious it wasn't happening in the first place, and despite all the reassurances that "it's still happening", it doesn't seem to have anything to show for itself. Cast list? Nope. Director? Nope. Writers? Nah. Just a showrunner whose bio still says "TBA" and who, despite having a whole ass 40 minute long interview with Girl Wonder, still didn't have anything to show for what's to come, just more empty promises that it's "still happening" (and a lot of banter about Stephanie's life, rather than her involvement with LO).

In fact, most of what Stephanie talks about in the podcast concerning LO is pitching it, not developing it. And this interview happened just a few months ago. Go listen to it yourself if you don't believe me.

So at this point, I see "it's still happening" as "don't panic" corporate speak for "we're still pitching it and trying to find a network for it so we can actually move onto development." Yes, animation takes a long time, even Hazbin Hotel took about three and a half years to finally release after Prime bought the rights to it in 2020. But LO, again, clearly hasn't even started the animation process yet. And while we're comparing it to Hazbin, note that HH actually had LOADS to show for itself along the way of being developed and did a much, MUCH better job at staying relevant and pulling in new people and hyping it up. Even people who never watched Hazbin before in its indie days on Youtube were hearing about it, it made an active effort to sell itself to new viewers and break out of its bubble on Youtube. Is LO doing that? No, not really. Most of the people who know about it are diehard fans who refuse to read anything that isn't shown directly to them on Webtoons, and diehard haters who are tired of the garbage that gets advertised on Webtoons. Ask anyone who doesn't use Webtoons, and best case, they'll know someone who reads LO, worst case, they won't even know what a webtoon is.

Shit, even the new upcoming Zelda movie has names attached to it, including Avi Arad, Wes Ball, and Derek Connolly. And my god, it's gonna SUCK DICK with that bad of a line-up (the guy who ruined the OG Spiderman trilogy and created Morbius, the guy who directed the Maze Runner films, and one of the leading storywriters behind Rise of Skywalker, fucking YIKES) but hey, at least it has more than one name attached to it.

But okay, if we're gonna play the comparison game, let's be fair and compare LO to some other works in its own lane. Let's Play announced last year that it would be getting an animated adaption, and it already has a studio backing it that is FAR more suited for it than JHC is to LO - OLM, the same studio whose animated for massive franchises like Pokemon, Yo-Kai, and Gudetama. JHC meanwhile has animated... motion capture kid shows like Word Party. Because that's the only kind of animation they actually specialize in when it comes to their in-house services. Sure, they also have Harriet the Spy, but that wasn't animated by them, that was animated by Titmouse Inc (heh sorry).

I'm the Grim Reaper recently had its own animated adaption announced, and who's in charge of it? Oh, only SAM FUCKING RAIMI-

And look, maybe the Let's Play and I'm the Grim Reaper adaptions won't happen either. I just think it's ironic that they both have more to show for themselves in terms of credible names attached to them than what LO has managed to scrape up after five years of promising that it's "still happening" (especially when one of those series is nowhere near as big as LO and the one that WAS as big as LO walked away from Webtoons entirely). For Webtoons' own "worldwide phenomenon", they sure have given LO the shit end of the stick by pairing it with a family-with-kids-under-10 production studio that doesn't specialize in animation and a showrunner who got her start with the Cosmopolitan (weird how LO has so many plugs with Cosmo, huh? Why is JHC producing the show again?)

At the end of the day, nothing's changed. It's still just the ole' "it's still happening" record on a loop, while the comic itself falls further out of favor with people. And it's likely gonna be going behind DailyPass soon, so just think about what that's gonna do to its relevancy after it gets sent away to the equivalent of the Webtoons graveyard.

As I've said countless times before every time this topic comes up, at best, if it is still happening, and I'm wrong about all of this, they are doing the worst job I've ever seen at hyping people up and keeping them informed. It is NOT a good thing that people have to keep asking Rachel if it's still happening.

As for worst case... you wanna know what other projects come to my mind that have fallen into the same state of development hell and decay as LO's TV show? YandereSim and Cryamore. What do you think the popular opinion is about those works and their creators now? Because if you don't know either of those names and are about to google them, let me give you a heads up warning - it's not positive.

If it happens, it happens. It will hopefully be before I get all the therapy I need to undo what LO has done to my brain so that I don't have to make repeat visits LOL But if it's after, hey, maybe the show will be good! Assuming Rachel doesn't, y'know, E.L. James the whole thing. Because frankly, the show will need to cut and rework a LOT of stuff to be any good IMO and I don't think that will be possible if Rachel gets directly involved. But I'm not even hoping for that scenario because there's literally NOTHING to give me that hope, "it's still happening" is nothing more than "don't panic" corporate speak to me at this point. It's cynical, but I just can't waste my energy caring about it anymore.

[isolaradiale]

November was perhaps the most frustrating time of the year for Ofiuco. The Stars were always running maintenance on the island's functionality, making sure that even in a worst case scenario there would still be systems to fall back on if things went wrong outside of their own plans. It didn't happen often, but sometimes things slipped in that they didn't intend on.

But every November the Stars performed a big backup of the island's data. It was a lot of work, and involved pausing the city altogether so that the citizens that lived there had no idea that anything was amiss. That day, in this year's case November 8th, would feel like it had happened to them. Even though it actually hadn't.

"Why does this always fall on me to do? It's boring..." Ofiuco knew the reason. Her main body had evolved past her original schematics, but her robot body within the island's setting had all of the tools installed to make the data backup easier. None of the other Stars were allowed to touch that body since it was an extension of herself.

Ofiuco wasn't focused on the task at hand like she should have been though, so she didn't notice that she had accidentally hit the wrong button. "OOPS!?" At least until it was too late. Just like that, everyone's data in the city had been wiped. "...Good thing this is why we have backups in the first place." Everyone in the city was reconstructed from that backup, but something was wrong. Something that Ofiuco didn't catch at all.

All of the character data had been reinstated but it was jumbled. Characters were recreated as if they came from different worlds altogether, which would lead to a crisis that only some were able to realize. But how long would it take for the Stars to notice?

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Welcome to our last new event of 2024, ALTERNATIVE ALLEGORY!

Ofiuco made a little oopsie that slipped past her radar and accidentally deleted everyone's character data during the yearly big backup. Good thing she had the previous day's basic backup to reinstate them!

But something corrupted the backup, and while all of the characters were reinstated, all of the data has been jumbled up.

Because of this, the characters have been recreated as if they were from different worlds altogether.

Think of this as a chance to design an AU for your character, like Lloyd Irving from Tales of Symphonia as if he were an Ace Attorney character, for example!

All threads must be set on November 9th or later. The characters will believe they lived through November 8th, but the city was in maintenance mode on that day and wasn't actually active!

This event will run until 11:59:59PM EST on Friday, November 29th!

WHAT ARE THE RULES FOR DESIGNING OUR CHARACTER'S AU?

You can pick any series from the masterlist to design an AU version of your character from! You only require mun permission if you're using an original character's world instead. You cannot use a series that is not on our masterlist.

You can design an entire backstory for that character as if they're from that world, however you must abide by our fandom OC policies. This means you cannot give them direct ties to any characters from that canon.

Similarly, you can give them powers or change their appearances according to the setting but must abide by our fandom OC policies regarding what is or what isn't acceptable. That means you can't give them any powers that rival or surpass the main characters. Powers are uncapped for this event so this isn't too limiting.

You aren't required to AU your character if you don't want to! That said, if you want participation for this event you will need to write with someone who is AUed.

Whether your character realizes they have been AUed and remember their original canon or not is up to you! Do whatever you think works better for what you plan!

You can change your character's AU if you'd like! You're not bound to one for the whole event, you can have several!

To make it easier for others to keep track of what you've done, we recommend making a post describing the AU and everything that has changed.

If you have any questions about the event, please send them to the masterlist! We will not be answering them in the Discord server so that everyone can see the answers!

[poorlittleyaoyao]

i still think the worst jgy meta is the victim blaming madam qin one

If we're thinking of the same meta--the one that goes into detail about how long the betrothal/wedding planning process would have likely gone on for--then that meta is SUPREMELY frustrating to me, because the information it brings up is worth considering, but then it draws the conclusion that "Madam Qin is the real cause of the problem here!" which is both victim-blaming and oversimplifies the whole tragedy.

The tragedy of Qin Su is that multiple people close to her decided that she shouldn't know a critical piece of information about herself. If it were just JGY, I think her reaction wouldn't have been as intense as it is, but when QS receives Bicao's letter, she receives with it the knowledge that Bicao, JGY, and her mother have all withheld this from her, and she'll never get closure on it because her mother is dead and JGY is insisting that she carry on like it never happened. QS deserved to know! This was a breach of her trust!

But at the same time, you understand why everyone makes the choices they do, and why they believe that QS will be better off not knowing. In Madam Qin's case, we can assume that she fears for the damage to QS's reputation and prospects in even a best-case scenario if she comes forward. It's fully possible that Qin Cangye could disown QS since she is not his child, or (if QCY is a real one and stands by his wife) that the Qin clan as a whole would suffer retribution from JGS for besmirching his name, since he's Chief Cultivator and they don't have any concrete proof. Madam Qin also would have feared for herself. I mean, we don't know what kind of many QCY was. He could've killed his wife for committing adultery, for all we know! Or JGS could've had her killed to shut her up! Fearing for herself isn't a moral failing!

Understanding how protracted the wedding process would have been just drives home how horrifically trapped Madam Qin must have felt. She's kept the secret of her rape for two decades, and now it's coming back to hurt her in brand new ways, and she feels so powerless that she can't do anything but watch it happen until finally, at the very last minute, she works up the courage to talk to the one man in the situation who doesn't hold authority over her (and is therefore a safer bet)... and it's too late, because her daughter is already pregnant,* and to call off the wedding now would obliterate her reputation even without the incest.

Now she has to live with the regret of not acting differently on top of everything else. It's haunting. It's awful. It's not something to point at and judge her about. And I think it's telling that, IIRC, JGY himself doesn't ever blame her, either. There is no "how dare you blame me when her own mother didn't tell her!" or "I wouldn't have done it if Madam Qin had spoken up sooner!" Instead, he simply states that Madam Qin, like him, was afraid of JGS, shutting down any questioning of either of them. JGY places the ultimate blame for all of this firmly at his father's feet, and that's where it belongs.

*(It should go without saying that I'm talking about my understanding of the novel here, because the show makes the deeply cursed choice to cut the whole premarital pregnancy thing. But it's still JGS's fault there too, and I wrote character study fic about it once if you want to have a bad time.)

[wisp-wandering]

For those of you who don't understand Taco’s complex character, think she's a straight up terrible person, or just want to know my view on her... this is the chapter for you! I will be going over analysis, psychology facts, and head cannons that align with her character.

Let's start with copy and pastes with Ideas I've already conveyed in other media's;

(This is me):

How come nobody here actually sees II in the light of a *REALITY SHOW*. A thing that's meant to bring out the worst in people? Like genuinely it makes me so frustrated that people can't see that. Characters like Steve Cobs/Walkie/Springy have no excuse, as they were never shoved into the environment. But the Gameshow was not only nonconsensual but offers 1 MILLION DOLLARS. in the light of 2011? THATS A LOT OF DAMN MONEY. most gameshows offer 10k, or 100k? 1 MILLION IS A LOT. Just to put it into perspective try to imagine the difference between 100k and 1Mil in marbles.  the human brain simply can't process that high of a number.

Onto the psychological effects. IT CAN PUT HIGH STRESS ON IT'S CONTESTANTS. and I'm just gonna say it right now. What Balloon, Trophy, and Taco did isn't that bad. LIKE I SWEAR. PSYCHOLOGICALLY IT MAKES SENSE FOR THEM TO USE STRATEGY LIKE THIS. The only thing I'll call Them out on was their rude comments and nature after the fact, but you also have to realize it's to exaggerate their negative antagonism towards the other contestants. In a game show like that it invokes behaviours that would otherwise not be part of their character. Trophy can be seen being a better person once not in the Gameshow. Cheesy was rude as shit until he wasn't in the Gameshow, Balloon reflected on his character when he wasn't in the Gameshow, Taco— oh! Would you look at that! Became better when she wasn't in a game show! Sure she acted shitty in some cases, but that was when money was still put on the line. I'm absolutely furious people can't realize that the Gameshow invokes that behaviour. Nobody cancels people from survivor when they act shitty. In fact, they Invited the shitty people TO PLAY AGAIN??? AND PEOPLE ROOTED FOR THEM??? People actually need to look at it from a bigger perspective.

Taco has conveyed the thing I've believed and tried to communicate on multiple occasions. THE GAMESHOW BRINGS OUT THE WORST IN PEOPLE!!! The only problem is that SHE DOESNT BELIEVE SHE HERSELF IS EFFECTED SIMILARLY. She's been berated and convinced she's a horrible person, and that she needs to act the way she does because that's who she is. Taco probably thinks she deserves what she's gotten, and was always too scared to confront Pickle directly. She probably thinks she needs to have circumstance around her change in order for her too aswell, considering how she wanted to go back with the Time Machine, but, when confronted by Mepad she denied it. I feel like the plot is pointing towards a situation where she tries to save everyone, and when confronted by Microphone she breaks down and curses herself out for being a horrible person, friend, and other things similar. Microphone and Pickle. Creating a situation where they show Taco that the game made her the way she was too. That she didn't have to be the villain.

Notice how Taco never blamed Mephone directly for the shortcomings of others? Sure she did say it was for his entertainment, but never that it was his fault. She blamed the game. Something NO OTHER VILLAIN HAS DONE. She taking account for her mistakes, THINKING ITS HER. And not stressful circumstances! She doesn't understand she's not a villain, She's just *human* (or object for that matter). A living breathing being. Mistakes don't make you the bad guy.

Also saying Taco has no will to make try and apologize for the sake of others is stupid too. She clearly wants to. She REALLY does. She's scared to hurt them, she's scared she will hurt the again.

(Spoilers for a Spider-Man no way home)

Its a similar trip to what happens at the end of Spider-Man NWH, she isn't going back because she thinks she's protecting them from herself. She genuinely believes she ruins everything she touches. She tried to do so by sabotaging the challenge!

Taco didn't really manipulate Microphone—??? I know what you're gonna say. "Ohh!! Wisp! Yes she did!!!" But— I mean... Rewatching it? If she is— it's... more of peer pressure than direct manipulation??? I mean. She never forced Microphone to do anything. Applauded her input... LET MICROPHONE LEAVE? There was no guilt tripping or alienation, Direct threats to Microphone and her friends. It was more so pressure about the game. Which was— probably Taco perceiving herself as still in the competition. Needing to out smart the others to get Microphone further. Taco seemed to admire Microphone's pacifist nature after a while. And I believe when she Attacked the aliens in ii14, she acted out of blind fear, like an unexpected twist in a challenge. You could tell her initial reaction wasn't malice, it was more of a natural response. She was more protecting Microphone than anything else. Trying to get her out as fast as possible.

I myself have been through a manipulative relationship, and... While I know all experiences aren't the same.

It doesn't feel malicious. Taco felt genuine. She wants to protect others from her own mistakes and herself. She's unknowingly putting others first! She doesn't even realize it! Taco is trying to be a villain only to mistakenly be good, and when she tries to be a hero, she's mistakenly bad... I feel bad for her. She doesn't understand she... Has it right now. It's sad...

What about the situation with balloon?

Well...

She tried to convince Mic to harm him, but never threatened Microphone or herself. Nor did she try to alienate balloon to make it more appealing. Taco pointed out a situation and gave a morally Grey solution. But she never forced Microphone to go with it, she just warned her of potential consequences.

People often mistake her strategy with manipulation. When... Taco didn't really manipulate anyone. She pretended, and provided input. Knowing actions have consequences from her own experience.

Taco is experiencing the "illusionary truth effect" otherwise known as "gaslighting":

(Online statements)

—...However, repetition itself should not serve as a signal of truth, since it does not add anything new to the conversation in terms of credibility. For this reason, the repetition bias is also called the "illusory truth effect"

the fact that repeated presentation of information or items typically leads to better memory for the material. The repetition effect is a general principle of learning, although there are exceptions and modifiers

In relationships, an abusive person may use gaslighting to isolate their partner, undermine their confidence, and make them easier to control. For example, they might tell someone they are irrational until the person starts to think it must be true.

It is a psychological FACT that if one, or other's repeatedly give you information, even if it's false, eventually your mind will begin to perceive it as true. It's why bullying can negatively effect someone, or even just simply saying, "hey fatty" as a joke. Even if you're the skinniest human being on the planet, If you or another says say it enough, the subconscious will inevitably perceive it as true, despite if you know it's false. Even something stupid, like, "The sky is red." Well, no. The sky is blue. You think. But, if someone were to bash that into your skull every day. Ranting on about how the sky IS RED. You're mind will betray your knowledge.

Everyone constantly talks about her in a bad light. Say she's horrible. A good for nothing liar. She's going to perceive it to be true in the end. And she has...

Saying Taco is nothing but a terrible person, and a villain just isn't true. She's an Anti hero, anti villain AT WORST. Not to mention her childish decisions and mind sets make her seem in her teen years, as per my head canons. That only makes her mind MORE malleable and vulnerable. Taco is a complicated Character. But that doesn't mean she's the worst human on the planet. Please, if you don't agree with what I've said, before you berate me, rewatch the show, or atleast look up the psychological effects and other such I included in this rant. I may add onto this in the future, so keep an eye out for a future Taco analysis.

Thank you for your time.

[crazycoke-addict]

5 Worst things that team Green has done and 5 worst things team black had done

1. Usurping Rhaenyra (Team Green)

Throughout season 1, Alicent and Otto are trying to get Viserys to change his mind about Rhaenyra being his heir, but he never did. When Viserys died, he mentioned Aegon's dream to Alicent, whom he believed was Rhaenyra. Alicent believes that Viserys is telling her that Aegon their son must be king.

The Green Council (excluding Alicent) was already planning to put Aegon on the throne. Aegon is the eldest son of Viserys, and since the succession goes through the male. They believe that Rhaenyra shouldn't be Queen because she is a woman and woman shouldn't rule.

2. Blood and Cheese (Team Black)

After the death of Lucerys, Valeryon. Daemon goes to Kingslanding in secret to meet up with two people known as blood and cheese. Daemon orders them to find Aemond and kill him. However, if they can't find him, then go to the next person. That being Prince Jaehaerys, eldest son of Aegon and Helaena.

While not all team black conspired with the murder of an innocent child. Daemon held more responsibility and is an important figure through team black as king consort and a warrior himself.

3. Killing Lord Beesbury (Team Green)

After Visery's death, the greens are already planning to put Aegon on the iron throne. Lord Beesbury doesn't want to be part of this plan and tells them that Rhaenyra will always be Viserys' true heir and the great house have already served their loyalty to her.

While accusing them of poisoning the King and this includes Alicent. Criston murders him by pushing his head in the ball. Because of this, house beesbury will no longer support house Hightower and even declare war on them for the death of their lord. Criston Cole really messed up for the greens and turned their supporting allies against them.

4. Ordering the blockade (Team Black)

While Rhaenyra and Mysaria had a successful propaganda by bringing in food so that the small folk would turn against the greens. It's worth noting that Rhaenyra ordered the food to be blocked. She could order the blockade to be released and let the food be transported to the small folk.

These are some of the things that Aemond is frustrated with and why they are trying to ally with the Greyjoys. I believe if they use their dragons, they might be burned the food.

5. Exploiting a child's death for political gain (Team Green)

After learning the murder of Prince Jacerys. Otto Hightower see this as an opportunity to get the main houses to surrender their cause by turning this tragedy into a political gain. Otto has Alicent and Helaena to play the dutiful grandmother and mother mourning over their dead son and grandson.

It's upsetting to see Helaena being put through this, and just you forced to do something because it's their duty doesn't mean anything.

6. Committing war crimes in the riverlands (team black)

You know who isn't great at being a diplomat, Daemon Targaryen. Daemon thought it was a great idea to negotiate with house braken by bringing in their enemy, house Blackwood.

House Bracken refuses to support the blacks, so Daemon orders Willem Blackwood to get them to change their minds. Of course, he never told him to commit atrocities, but the fued between Blackwood and Bracken is pretty well known.

7. Parading the head of meleys (Team Green)

This is not only the worst things that team Green has done but rather the most stupidest. Parading the head of meleys was an obvious political gain to make aegon, a heroic person who slain the monster.

I do believe that this was Criston Cole's idea because when you live with and befriended the hightowers, then you know that PR works. While I don't like what they put Helaena through involving exploiting her dead son, it was still a good political gain.

But for meleys head being paraded, Criston Cole has done is break the illusion that house targaryen had been building that being dragons are gods who cannot be touched. Most of the dragons like vhagars and dreamfyre have been living since aegon the conqueror. Team Green had targaryen, and their dragons are in kingslanding. It's a recipe for disaster.

8. Exploiting the small folk (Team Black)

From a political standpoint, Team Green and team black's individual propaganda is a well-done job, and it gave them the success they were looking for. Yet, it's also awful if you watch it from the outside.

Mysaria's whole thing is that she cares for the smallfolk because she herself was one of them. It's also likely that may not know about the blockade, so she genuinely believes that Rhaenyra will be a good queen. However, using the small folk by exploiting them and turning them against the greens, especially with Queen Helaena and Queen Alicent. It is shown that the small folk will be seen as a pawn for both team Green and team black to use.

Team Black just used their weakness by giving them food, but without having to open the blockade.

9. hanging the ratcatchers (Team Green)

This is one of the most vile things that Aegon has ever done as a king besides raping Dyana. During the blood and cheese, Blood ended up confessing that he was ordered by Daemon Targaryen, and while he didn't know the name of the other guy's name and he knew that he was a ratcatcher.

Instead of having Helaena to identify the ratcatcher, Aegon decided that the best option is to hang 99 ratcatchers and place them in the public. I get it. He was grieving, but he weakened team green's claim and potential allies. Him firing Otto and making Ser Criston Cole as hand of the King is also a bad idea as well.

10. letting bastards have access to the throne (Team Black)

Now,I understand why Rhaenyra and Laenor couldn't have kids with each other. They tried to once, but Laenor couldn't go through with it because of his sexuality, so Rhaenyra had to look somewhere else.

The problem is who she chooses to be the father of her children. While Rhaenyra could say that they got their looks from house arryn from their maternal mother's side or house baratheon from their great paternal grandmother's side. It isn't in line with them.

There's a double standard involving Rhaenyra having bastards and other kings/lords having bastards, but the majority of the time, the lords and kings aren't pushing their bastards to take the iron throne. While yes, Viserys accepted Jace as his heir because Jace is a targaryen. It doesn't do much.

Having bastards gain access to a powerful position is a dangerous thing to do, and later on, it has caused many wars and rebellions later on. What's interesting is that the blackfyre rebellion happened came from Rhaenyra's side of her family.

Rhaenyra's reckless behaviour pushes the greens to prevent her from getting the iron throne.

[sunnyy3d]

Hi are requests still open? If they are could you write about Thomas with the reader being Isabels sister, she has always loved him but couldn't say anything as she was already betrothed and died shortly after him due to illness, it wasn't until Allison came and Thomas starting flirting with her that the reader finally snaps and reveals her almost 200 year old feelings for Thomas?

All the Time in the World| Thomas Thorne x Reader

A/N: Thank you so much for this request, I hope you love it!! It was actually so fun to write! I'm so sorry it took so long; it has been a STRESSFUL few weeks... But Happy Valentine's Day <33 I hope you guys had a wonderful day! This isn't necessarily a special, but I made sure to get it out today... Requests Open!!

     I remember the day Thomas died. It was one of the worst days of my life. The only other day that comes close to it was the one that revealed that I was to be betrothed to a man whom I did not love. Even if I tried, I could not love him, for my heart already belonged to someone else.

     Being the eldest daughter meant that I had responsibilities that Isabel did not. Regardless of whether I had found my true love, I was expected to be wed first and fast. And by the time I did, I had the choice ripped away from me.

     My parents wanted me to marry someone with a respectable profession, which Thomas did not fit into. So instead, they passed me along to a viscount. But I had no interest in him. He was the complete opposite of Thomas. He was serious and uncreative, not to mention old. I needed someone to share my love of art with.

     To cope, I made more paintings in my month of betrothal than I had ever before. I put all of my emotions into my art. Both my love for Thomas and my hatred for the viscount.

     Not long after Thomas' death, I fell ill. The doctors said that there was nothing that could be done besides living the rest of my life in peace. When I received the news, I was unsure whether I should be sad that my life would end short or happy that I would not be forced to live a life full of lies. I put the last of my life into my paintings, some of which still reside in the Button house.

     I often think about the life I could have lived if only Thomas had opened his eyes and looked closely. If only he were not so oblivious. But he was not. So, instead, he died fawning over someone who did not love him. I wish he had looked past Isabel's beauty and realized she was not the one who loved him. Alas, there is no changing the past.

     He still has not stopped being obsequious to every woman that walks past him. Even though he knows he has no chance with her, that does not stop him from spouting poetry at her. It is aggravating and, quite frankly, a bit pathetic. I mean, she cannot even see him. If he would just be a little less blind and catch all of the hints I have dropped, he would see a woman who loves him and all his stupidness.

     The only thing that has changed since Alison has shown up is that Thomas is more persistent. Now that he knows someone can see and hear him, he believes he has a chance. Of course, that is not actually true. Alison is like two hundred years younger than him, alive, and married. Honestly, it has never been more frustrating.  

     "Alison, my dear, you are the pinnacle of beauty," Thomas exclaims as I walk into the family room. Hearing the beginning of a rant, I walk straight out. 

     Unfortunately, Alison spots me before I can sneak away. "Wait, wait, I need your help!" she shouts, cutting off Thomas. I freeze right outside the door and debate whether or not I can get away with pretending like I had not heard her. Before I can decide, Alison seals my fate with a little "Please!"

     I sigh and spin around to re-enter the family room. "Yes, Alison?"

     "I was wondering if I could get a little of your artistic expertise?" she smiles shyly, walking closer. Thomas follows behind her like a lost puppy.

     "Of course you can, Alison. I am glad you asked." I really am glad she asked. It is not often that I get to participate in art-related things, being dead and all. Alison gives me a genuine smile and leads me to the other side of the room where the canvas she has been working on lies.

     "Something's off about it, but I'm not sure what it is. What do you think?" she asks while frowning. I tilt my head as I suspect the portrait. It is of Thomas, but she is right; something is off.

     "I think it is absolutely beautiful, Alison. Much like yourself," Thomas praises.

     I roll my eyes. "It is not bad, there are merely a few things that need to be fixed. Alison, I think you made his lips a bit too small. And the eyes need to be fixed as well. Everything else is good though." It only makes sense that I would recognize this; I have spent years yearning for him. With how much time I have spent around Thomas, I would be disappointed if I did not notice.

     Alison squints for a second, looking between Thomas and the portrait. "You're right! How did you notice that so fast?" I can only shrug in response, not willing to reveal the truth. 

     "I think that you have done a wonderful job, it is perfect like it is," Thomas claims. This is starting to get old. Actually, it is old, about two hundred years so. 

     "But that is not true. Besides the fact that nothing is perfect, Alison has only managed to capture your likeness, not you." It is true; she had the portrait of Thomas but had not gotten the more minor details. Though they may seem insignificant, they were the things that made him him. The things such as the sparkle behind his eyes that show his passion or the dimples in his cheeks that show his joy.

     "That is also not true," Thomas states matter of factly. "There are many things in this world that are perfect, and Alison's portrait is just one."

     Unbeknownst to me and Thomas, Alison slowly backed out of the room, trying to avoid the argument. "Oh, of course you think that! Of course Alison is perfect and of course her portrait is perfect! It is missing the most important detail about you! But no, it is perfect because she is," I yell, throwing my hands about. I do not mean to lose my temper, but I have been perfectly calm about this for far too long. 

     “I never said that! I merely stated that the portrait is," Thomas stammers.

     "You do not need to say it, it lies within your actions."

     Thomas looks into my eyes, "Clearly, I would need to say it because my advances have gone unnoticed."

     "It is not that they have gone unnoticed; it is simply that she does not return your feelings! She is married, for god's sake!"

     Thomas frowns, "But just because one is married, does that mean that she does not love another?"

     I hesitate, debating my next words. "No, it does not. And you would notice that if you would just open your eyes."

     "Are you saying?" Thomas cuts himself off.

     "Yes, I suppose I am. Thomas Thorne, I have been in love with you since I first saw you," I avert my eyes from him. "But you never loved me. You loved Isabel."

     I hear Thomas step closer. He grabs my hand, saying my name. "I did not love Isabel. I never did. But you were betrothed to the viscount."

     I finally look Thomas in the eyes. "Are you saying?"

     "I suppose I am," Thomas jokes. "I have been in love with you since I first saw you."

     "But, what about all the other women were infatuated with?" 

     Thomas squeezes my hand, "It may sound ignorant, but they were solely distractions. I genuinely believed you did not love me back, which I now know is stupid. It was the only way I could think to cope." 

     I purse my lips, thinking for a moment. "As nonsensical as that is, I suppose I understand," I say, clasping his hand within mine. I smile, and we stand in blissful silence, enjoying each other's presence. 

     After a moment, my smile drops. Thomas' brows furrow in confusion. "What is the matter, my love?"

     "You are telling me that we have been in the same house for over two hundred years, pining over each other? We could have been together forever ago!" 

     Thomas drops my hand, instead placing it gently on my cheek and softly caresses it with his thumb. "Well, at least we have all the time in the world to make up for it."

[quickdeaths]

@more-than-a-princess

In Anzu's opinion, Alumni Day was a big waste of time at the start of the school year, and even someone with such a lax school work ethic as her could see that the energy would be better spent on giving orientation to the first-years, or something like that. HPA already made a ton of money from government grants and Reserve Course Tuition Fees, didn't it? So what reason was there to roll out the red carpet for a bunch of has-beens who had moved on to mostly-normal lives, in hopes of getting them to cough up some money?

Now, where there was a red carpet of any kind, one could often find Anzu Tachibana there to walk it, whether or not it was intended for her in the first place, but unfortunately, Alumni Day came with its own unique challenges given specially to her - namely, keeping her stupid sister busy. "You know," Haruna muttered as she looked around at the various displays set up to welcome the alumni, "they give a lot of attention to the people who show up only once a year - if that - but as someone who actually works here, I can't say I ever feel so appreciated."

"Well," Anzu said, reaching out to straighten a pinned picture of the new first year class, "they know what your salary is, so maybe they already know your broke ass isn't donating." To that, Haruna rolled her eyes, accompanied by a buzzing of her cell phone from inside her bag - one that she clearly wasn't in any rush to check. "I should flick your forehead for that." "If you could even reach it from down there."

In between bickering and barbs, Anzu noticed one of her friends standing out in the courtyard, and took the first available opportunity to run off from her sister's side. "Sonia-san!" With significantly less force behind it than her usual rushing hugs - Sonia wasn't Shinobu, after all - she wrapped her arms around the other girl with a tight, warm embrace. "Hi! It's so good to see you! Did you have a good spring vacation?"

In Anzu's case, the few weeks between the end of one school year and the start of another should have been prime time for some R&R. Instead, she'd spent the bulk of the time back in Kyoto, checking in on her dad, guesting in a few performances, and taking lots of cherry blossom photos. Well, it wasn't like that was the worst way to spend some time, even if she desperately could use a host rubbing her shoulders and praising her. She had to assume Sonia was similarly busy, especially since Shinobu hadn't mentioned anything about them spending any time together without her, much to her frustration.

By the time she'd let go of Sonia, Haruna had caught up to her. She was probably fifteen centimeters shorter than Anzu, her bleach-blonde hair framing either side of her face, and then gathered in the back into a loose ponytail, and her face done up with carefully-applied, professional makeup. In Anzu's opinion, they didn't look much alike, or have much in common. Even her fashionable outfit - the black blouse with a lilac ribbon over white pants, golden hoop earrings, and sensible flats - was fashionable in a way that Anzu would never find very interesting.

"Oh, this is my older sister," Anzu said, as though it were an afterthought. "She's here too." Really, the only thing similar about them, she thought, was their eyes. "Hello, Nevermind-san," Haruna said with a small wave and a perfect smile. Even if she was annoying, even if she wasn't pretty or interesting or anything like that, Anzu had to admit that her sister had at least some aura. "Haruna Tachibana, 72nd class. I work as a counselor here, but I only think we've passed by each other in the halls a few times, not ever been formally introduced."

The way she said it made Anzu figure that Haruna understood the reason why. Any personal problems she had probably were only to be shared with someone on her family's payroll, or under their influence. "So, how are you planning on appropriately honoring the alumni that came before you today, Nevermind-san," Haruna teased with a demure smile. It was Anzu's turn to roll her eyes, followed by a shake of her head. "You don't have to listen to her, Sonia-san," she cautioned. "My sister is obnoxious."

[new-tella-us]

So this is a part 2.

I'm not really into the "Yandere" genre anymore, I used to be when I was younger... which is a little concerning but hey everyone goes through a "toxic love" phase, hopefully. But my old obsession gives me some knowledge of how it's written.

Yandere Damien...oh boy.

Here's my idea as I don't see too many people pull this. What if the brothers were included in his possessive behavior. Now, of course, the brotherly love he has for his family is not the same as the romantic love he has for Mika but the results can be similar.

He's made himself entirely dependent on his brothers and Mika, unable to see a world where they eventually part ways. Now for Mika, that's not too much of a problem. She isn't leaving him and she's mainly safe. No, it's his brothers that start the first crack in his breaking point.

They're falling in love and that didn't bother him but, they're now considering moving out. They're leaving him behind. They're not leaving him alone but he won't see them everyday anymore. How can he confirm that they're safe if they aren't close enough for his mindreading to work? The one good thing about his powers is that it confirms that everyone he loves is alive.

The second crack happens when he made the mistake of visiting the Pink Lady Cafe. It was a special event that Mika wanted all the boys and their girlfriends to come to. They had a maid theme and all the employees dressed up in their most flattering outfits. At first, it was fun but then Damien's mindreading made him peer into the thoughts of the men around him. Many of their thoughts were... impure to say the least. Many of their impure thoughts were directed at Mika and it made Damien's blood boil. If it weren't for his self control, he would have probably attacked some of the ones with the worst thoughts.

The third and final crack would come from the actions of those around Mika. Friends always asking to hang out, family taking her away, work always asking Mika for overtime. He could barely see her anymore and she looked so exhausted. Always complaining about how the other employees would call in sick, knowing that she would pick up their slack or how classmates like Lisette wouldn't participate in group projects, making her so frustrated. Damien ignored all the good times Mika had with others to feed his confirmation bias that she was secretly miserable. And it wasn't just her, small relationship or job issues his brothers had turned into huge red flags in his mind.

And then, he made up his mind. He would remove these stressors from their lives. He's not a violent guy, he wasn't going to hurt anyone. But slowly, one by one, each brother was calling for a fun brothers' day. And every time that happened, they never came back. Mika quit her job and stopped going outside too.

Everyone, the girlfriends, the friends, Mika's parents, hell even K tried to figure out what was going on. But Damien is a very good actor. Anyone who asked got the same answers. "I don't know where my brothers are, they aren't answering their phones", "Mika doesn't want to talk to you". And sure enough, when Mika's parents finally stopped accepting Damien's answer, he got Mika to parrot what he said. She yelled at her own parents, telling them to not contact her anymore.

Meanwhile, when the doors finally shut, all of Mika's "anger" faded into pure terror at the man that just made her isolate herself from her friends and family. She sits at the dining room table with all the other boys as they are forced to act like how life once was. Not even their thoughts were safe. They forced themselves to block out all their negative thoughts to seem like they agreed with Damien inside and out.

And from Damien's perspective? It's all in their best interest, and maybe one day, they'll agree. After all, memory is fallible, and if you think something enough, you'll be convinced that it's true.

Annnnnd I'm done with yandere stuff for a while

This was part 2 of 2

Here's part 1

[muffinrecord]

Somethin' kind of interesting about Mikoto is that she's this evil gal who is like. Well. I mean, she's trying to end the world, right.

But you see stuff like this and then you look at her quote video,

and like, you start to realize that this is just her way of wanting to stop pain and suffering.

One thing about Magia Record is that it doesn't have straight up evil characters (well playable characters). Everyone is redeemable. Everyone can become a friend.

This can be frustrating sometimes. Promised Blood lead to deaths in Kamihama. Himena tried to commit fascist genocide. Oriko tried to kill Mitama (and totally killed a bunch of people through Kirika before her respective event). Alina is Alina. Like, some of these girls committed heinous things, but at the end, everyone is saved, redeemed, and made into friends.

I think additionally, one can argue that it's out of capitalist desire to do this, not necessarily out of a desire for good writing. You want your girls to have some likable traits, right? Otherwise who the hell would roll for them? You want your precious blorbo to have enough good qualities that people aren't just completely turned off on the concept of them. There are people on tumblr who believe that Alina fucking Gray was in the right the whole time; this is strategic shit on their part. Even if you don't give them enough good to outweigh the bad, you want to give the girl the best kind of ending possible for her (yes even for the girls who died).

That means Alina isn't going to get killed and forgotten about, it means that Himena gets saved before turning into a witch, it means that Yuna doesn't ultimately give into her hatred and become a kimochi monster, it means at the very last moment Oriko won't go through with killing Mitama. Everyone stops just short of crossing that event horizon of punishment and retribution for their actions.

But to be honest, I also kind of like it about Magia Record too, even if can feel "weak" writing-wise. I feel like there is a message behind the story-- that all of these magical girls have a shared suffering, a shared trauma, that only they have ever experienced, and that's why they need to work together. Even if some of them have done horrible things. Because truthfully, the worst thing done was done to them by the society they live (aka Kyubey). Their sacrifices are used to power change that benefits the universe at their expense.

I think one can easily use this as a metaphor for real life issues regarding marginalized people. Magical girls perform invisible labor that doesn't get acknowledged outside of their community as part of the inherent system. I think it's pretty easy to relate this to women as a whole for large parts of history. One reason that men historically have been able to accomplish so much is because their wives were helping them in the background-- either in assisting in the actual research or "simply" by taking over all the household labor and tasks, freeing up their husbands' time to study the universe or whatever. But I don't think you can "just" relate this to women's issues; I think it can definitely be argued that it can relate to a bunch of other marginalized groups.

And with that in mind, I kind of like that all of these girls are able to get along. Every single one shares this one piece of trauma. There are many different ways that trauma can look like-- sometimes it's knowing that you sold your soul for a wish you didn't really want. Sometimes it's knowing that you have to fight for the rest of your life. It might be knowing that your fate is to become a witch. It might result in loneliness. It might result in fights amongst your fellow magical girl peers, because there aren't enough resources to go around. It might be from watching your friends die and become a witch, aka magical girl food.

The really evil characters who are always presented as such are non-magical girls. Yeah, that's again because you want your playable characters to be likeable and sellable-- but it's also fascinating in it's own right. Mikoshiba gets almost no kind displays on her part. One could argue that it's a poor writing attempt to make a villain. One could also argue that she's perpetuating the system and trauma that these girls face and using it for her own advantage, with no regard for the tools she's set up to sacrifice. Acting out and trying to fight back isn't irredeemable. Knowing better and taking advantage of these girls is.

Then we come back to Mikoto, and why I think she's actually compelling, even if she's probably the most "evil" playable character. This girl has suffered a hell of a lot-- in addition to her own horrible homelife and schoollife, she becomes a witch and then a parasite-- but that parasitedom is really just another way to hammer in her suffering. She can't affect the world while she's in Hanna's head, she can only tell Hanna what to do and hope that Hanna follows it-- and sometimes Hanna does. Sometimes she doesn't. And then you have Mikoto seeing all of the various bad ends that magical girls get when they turn into witches. Doom, despair, suffering, and failure are burnt into her psyche. And when Hanna dies, it must feel like Mikoto really doesn't have anything at all, but a cruel universe that toys with her and shows her nice things, only to take them away. The world and all its beauty feels like its a mockery of what she can't have for herself.

With that in mind... yeah Mikoto is like, not a great person or anything, but we see how her problems stem from society's treatment/neglect towards her. It's like the game is saying, "by not protecting our most vulnerable, we make monsters. And that's our wrong, not theirs."

IDK. Maybe I'm really overthinking it? Very possible. But I like that the game points to some of these poor girls and says that they need help, not condemnation. They need understanding, love, and friendship. They need hope. The world can be an unkind place, but it can also be a beautiful one, and they deserve to feel that beauty and love too.

Anyways thanks for listening to my long rambling rant.

[yanderes-galore]

Can I please request the yandere alphabet for Claudia Wolf from Silent Hill 3? Romantic or romantic/platonic are both fine! - 🍂

I read this wrong, I didn't see you said Alphabet instead of Concept 😅 This is actually easier, sure! Hope I got her character right! I struggled a bit but I hope I got her yandere type across.

Alphabet Here

Yandere Alphabet - Claudia Wolf

(Silent Hill 3)

Pairing: Romantic

Possible Trigger Warnings: Gender-Neutral Darling, Obsession, Delusional behavior, Worship yandere, Manipulation, Apathy towards the lives of others, Stalking, Religious themes/Cults, Forced relationship, Murder, Violence, Kidnapping, Trauma, Brainwashing mention, Stalking mention.

Affection: How do they show their love and affection? How intense would it get?

Claudia is a delusional religious fanatic part of The Order. She'd be obsessive about her darling and delusional about them. She'll believe you want specific things when you don't.

I imagine at times Claudia can be very intense. Maybe she worships you at times and tries to "prioritize your happiness". In reality she does things that she thinks will make you happy.

She's been through trauma herself and doesn't want her darling to suffer the same neglect. This makes her obsessive about making you live a good life... when she may just be giving you the opposite.

Her love language would be words more than physical affection, often preaching about how she adores you.

Blood: How messy are they willing to get when it comes to their darling?

Claudia wouldn't be too messy. She'll get rid of those who threaten the "Birth of God" and your happiness. In canon this is shown when she kills Harry and Vincent.

To her... some murder is necessary for happiness.

Especially yours.

Cruelty: How would they treat their darling once abducted? Would they mock them?

She'd treat you like you're glass. She wants you happy and free of pain, after all.

She wouldn't mock you.

Darling: Aside from abduction, would they do anything against their darling’s will?

Indoctrination into The Order, murder of those close to you, really anything to satiate her delusional mind.

For the most part she tries to "listen" to her dearest.

Exposed: How much of their heart do they bare to their darling? How vulnerable are they when it comes to their darling?

A lot. Claudia thinks you're a blessed gift to her. Someone to make her happy while she tries to "resurrect God" and heal her from the loss of Alessa.

You are important to her... she'd never let you go since you must be a gift.

Even if letting you go would truly make you happy.

Fight: How would they feel if their darling fought back?

Frustrated. She's trying to make you happy! Why do you reject her love?

She can't be doing something wrong... can she?

No matter... she'll just try harder... all for the happiness of her dearest.

Game: Is this a game to them? How much would they enjoy watching their darling try to escape?

No. Why would this be a game? She's trying to shield you from the pain of this world.

Why do you want to go back to it?

Hell: What would be their darling’s worst experience with them?

Right before she kidnaps them.

Your loved ones are removed as she thinks they will corrupt and harm you. She thinks they'll hurt you and you'll be safer in her care.

Which is when she takes you in... you still completely traumatized by what she's done.

Ideals: What kind of future do they have in mind for/with their darling?

The future she plans for you may not even involve her. She knows that when God arrives and ushers in an age of happiness she may not be involved/doesn't deserve it. Even if she isn't... any future she has in mind for you is to see you happy.

A strangely nice goal... for such a broken woman.

Jealousy: Do they get jealous? Do they lash out or find a way to cope?

No, not really. She doesn't like others around you but it's not necessarily out of jealousy.

She may yell at others but other than that may try to cope?

Kisses: How do they act around or with their darling?

She's a worship yandere. She praises you and yearns for you to pay attention to her. She'll hold you and whisper how you make life better.

She rants on and on about how she'll make you happy. She tells you about hed religion, God's potential resurrection, and how you're happier with her.

She's a ranting mess who is incredibly delusional. You're the best gift to her. She plans to repay the favor.

Love letters: How would they go about courting or approaching their darling?

She stalks you and plans things out around you. Soon she knows she'll have you in the end. She just needs to make everything perfect.

She's careful when approaching you. She may try to make you join her cause willingly. If not... well...

She has other plans.

Mask: Are their true colors drastically different from the way they act around everyone else?

Not really, everyone sees her as insane.

Naughty: How would they punish their darling?

Isolation and brainwashing. She doesn't wish to hurt you... but you must see things her way.

It's for your own good as they say.

Oppression: How many rights would they take away from their darling?

A lot of them but she'll try to let you be a little independent at least.

Patience: How patient are they with their darling?

Patient. Like... eerily patient.

Quit: If their darling dies, leaves, or successfully escapes, would they ever be able to move on?

That's... hard to tell. She'd be devastated but, if you died, would probably assume you also got reincarnated like Alessa.

Which leads to her hunting some poor soul down to find you... something that will never happen.

Regret: Would they ever feel guilty about abducting their darling? Would they ever let their darling go?

No, she feels when she abducts you it's for the best.

She most likely won't let you go unless you somehow convince her broken mind.

Stigma: What brought about this side of them (childhood, curiosity, etc)?

The childhood trauma she has due to her father and The Order. If you've played/watched Silent Hill 3 you'll know what I mean.

Tears: How do they feel about seeing their darling scream, cry, and/or isolate themselves?

She hates it. As a result she gives it her all to comfort you. You may try to hide yourself but she promises she'll keep you happy and healthy.

And when God lives again?

You won't have to worry about the pain anymore.

Unique: Would they do anything different from the classic yandere?

She's delusional but knows what she's doing is wrong.

She doesn't care if it is wrong.

She wants happiness... for her, you, and the world.

Sometimes you have to do harm to make good in her eyes.

Vice: What weakness can their darling exploit in order to escape?

Trying to convince her that she or you will be happy if she gives you more freedom. It will take a long time but maybe she'll listen?

Wit’s end: Would they ever hurt their darling?

She's so delusional that if she was hurting you she'll either not notice or claim it's necessary for your happiness.

Xoanon: How much would they revere or worship their darling? To what length would they go to win their darling over?

She worships you. She's definitely a delusional worship yandere. She'd go to great lengths to take care of you and win you over.

Yearn: How long do they pine after their darling before they snap?

Before she kidnaps you? A long time. If she feels she has to isolate you to preserve your happiness she'll put together a plan to save you.

Zenith: Would they ever break their darling?

Probably, yes. She's delusional and she may wear you down mentally.

[vechter]

9. 10. 20. and 21. for the ask game? 👀

hi anon

9. alr done but i'll do another: bringing jason back into the fold and getting him all buddy-buddy with the other bats in n52. i like him when he's a lone operator, friendless, haunted by his own death, forever failed by his father and failing him back. he is not calling dick 'Big Bird' or looking out after tim and damian. cass is also not asking him to 'come home'. jason's tragedy is he died. jason's tragedy is he came back.

10. think i did this one too but fanon has soooo many bad takes i will happily give you another: all the bats around/living in wayne manor or the cave. dick, luckily, is somewhat spared from this by virtue of not having lived in the manor for decades but tim and cass are very much not. firstly, this is also a mostly n52 thing, i think- but all of them assembling in the cave before going out on some bust or dealing with an arkham breakout etc. not happening. you could not pay any of those people to be in the same room, especially jason. they're all supremely stubborn people who often bring out the worst in each other. don't get me wrong, all the bats are capable of being empathetic and supportive but in a situation with batman, surrounded by all his partners and sidekicks, the situation is already explosive by sheer virtue of just being. also, tim would not live in the manor after bruce-quest. dick would've dragged him out by the ear if that happened. steph is not sleeping over at the manor nor does she have her own room. cass very much had her own apartment and even if she didn't live there, she would be at barbara's. in fact, the only people who should be living in wayne manor are damian and bruce. (alfred has been dead for a while but him, too, i guess. also unsure of duke's current living situation because i haven't read modern batman in a very long but feel like he would've dipped after his training). anyway, this is all to say, if there really is a situation that requires all hands on deck, they would not be so cohesive even if they tried to be and none of them would willingly stay over at the manor. if babs had time deal to with them and coordinate them, she would punch a screen in sheer frustration.

20. oooh. probably war games. i was already a little annoyed by how many different comics it spanned over and how much i had to switch between runs but i think the main thing was that it was just toooo long. unnecessarily. some good moments in there, tho.

21. hmm. overhyped isn't the right word, i guess but i don't love how much people treat red robin as tim drake gospel. like it's an excellent comic. yost cares deeply about not only tim but the rest of dc and its continuity and it shows!! it's a very rich and layered comic, taking into account the various connections tim has, the various events that have already occurred or are happening simultaneously. but when i read it, ultimately, it appeared more of a letter to tim's grief. and i loved that!! but i didn't love how it ended- the whole harkness thing, the disillusionment etc. idk something about some of the last few issues just felt off. still a very very good comic, tho.

[galvanizedfriend]

What do u think about the fans mainly fans of the originals who say that klaroline was just a hookup and that caroline never liked klaus/ klaus never loved her. I see this sentiment alot on reddit and its so frustrating.

I think people are allowed to have their own opinions and interpretations of the show. Personally I have no hard feelings towards fans who aren't into Klaroline. I have my own opinions, which are obviously very biased, so I think it's fair that people will have their own biased opinions favoring different characters/ships that are more convenient to them. That's really the thing with media in general, different people can look at the exact same thing and have completely different views, and I'm totally ok with that.

Having said that, MY opinion is that Klaroline denialists (lol) have to pointedly ignore/turn a blind eye to a lot of things in order to completely disregard it. 😂 There's a hell of a lot of evidence, even in the final season of The Originals. I like to pretend that s5 never happened too, but it's mostly because it's an awful piece of television writing of which the KC parts and that one episode that is completely focused on Elijah are the only parts that can be salvaged. 🥲

I think that kind of thing tends to come from a new wave of fans who have started their TVDverse journey through The Originals rather than TVD, although ship wars have been around since the dawn of time. If you have only ever seen TO, then I guess Klaroline really doesn't make any sense. Even the crossover episodes that feature KC, the KC bits are kept mostly in the TVD portion. She seems to come out of nowhere in S5. Both are equally canon, one isn't truer than the other, and you need both to get a bigger picture, but some people would rather stick to just one of them. And when you've seen TO first and gotten attached to a certain ship and then go back to watch TVD, you're obviously going to have a biased view over that because what you find there is obviously not going to suit your heart's desire. It happens the other way around too.

The way I see it, it's really hard to simply deny KC when you watch TVD tho. 😂 It takes a LOT of determination lol Klaus was a total puppy for Caroline, in ways he never was for anyone else, and even in the crossover episodes, he still acts the exact same way. And come on 'he's your first love, I intend to be your last, however long it takes?' 😂 If that's not a love declaration 🤷‍

As for Caroline not liking him, it's very complex. When we get down to 5x11 in TVD, and then to S5 of TO, it becomes obvious that he's always messed with her head and she had complicated feelings for him she never wanted to tap into. Which is perfectly understandable. Klaus was a villain in TVD. He killed Elena, he ruined Tyler's life, he ruined Stefan's life, tortured him, murdered Tyler in cold blood right in front of everyone to force them to find the way to make him a hybrid, caused all sorts of havoc all over her home town. Klaus was THE BAD GUY. That's a problem I have with TO that I think gets worse for people who only see that show or who see that show first and then go back to watch TVD: they seem to think Klaus is not that bad. He's just a bad boy with a bad attitude. They fall for that cheap conversation they try to sell with Cami's character, the ~~explainer, that he's just misunderstood and all he really needed was someone to be on his side. No! Klaus is AWFUL. He's killed thousands of people! He's a villain! And that's what makes him such a great character! He never needed redemption. It's way easier for people to find him redeemable when he's done nothing to personally attack them/destroy their lives, which is obviously not Caroline's case. She's seen the very worst of Klaus. He's threatened everyone she knows, including her. And Caroline is someone who, aside from having a very strong however biased moral code, is also INCREDIBLY loyal, so of course it's going to be way harder for her to forgive Klaus and forget about the terrible things he's done to just see that she's an exception for him.

What becomes clear throughout S4 of TVD (for me, at least) is that she was struggling with how she felt and in a lot of denial. A lot of the things she says to him ('people who do terrible things are just terrible people') are really things she's saying to herself. She gets mad at the fact she's obviously ~~drawn to the darkness, and so she lashes out (because, you know, she has a personality 🤷‍). 5x11 makes that very clear as well. She doesn't want Klaus around because he clouds her judgement and it makes her mad that she's probably afraid she's not gonna be able to resist him for much longer and that's only going to complicate her life further. Everyone around her makes her feel guilty for not hating Klaus, so of course she's going to feel reluctant. But when they they do meet again in S5 of TO they're both at a point of their lives where she's ok admitting that she always wanted him to prove to her that he could do better, and that she always knew he wasn't her villain, even if he never hesitated to hurt anyone else around her, she knew she was safe with him (hence why she drove to Nola after him with her kids). She doesn't want him to die, tries to stop him by telling Elijah, and the fact she goes to New Orleans to have a last day with him, having saved that message for years and across different iPhones, probably, tells us that she had, deep down, had hopes that some day, down the line, they'd find each other again. But then they do, and it's too late (and that's really the only part of that season that is written with a certain degree of poetry tbh).

All that to say, Klaus and Caroline were complicated and clashed a lot and that's part of what made it so compelling to me. There were genuine reasons why they shouldn't be together, they were virtually on opposing sides almost the whole time, and I love that about the ship. It forced Klaus to grow a conscience. He wasn't sorry for the things he did, he wasn't trying to become a better person, there was no one petting him on the back and saying 'poor you, misundertood boy'. He was confronted with the consequences of his actions, which is, for me, the best (or worst) thing that could happen to someone like Klaus, unlike with Cami, for instance, who was just there to excuse his bad behavior.

But like I said, my opinions are completely colored by the fact that I 100% support that ship. And the same way I look down on other ships because I can't stand them, I get that other people are going to look down on my otp as well and have wildly different opinions. It's a fandom, we're never going to agree on everything, and I'm totally cool with that. There's room for everyone. Unless they come directly to my doorstep to talk shit about it, it honestly doesn't bother me. I'm all for ship and let ship.

ANYWAY 😂 Sorry for the long ted talk nonnie, I RAMBLE a lot 🥲