#literally he’s so looked down on for being a ‘’basic’’ love interest & seen as boring but

[decompoets]

watching the tmmn fandom lose their shit over the alien but i was always and will die a masaya aoyama fan

[faux-ecrivain]

Yandere Fickle Ex-Boyfriend

(Fickle-Changing frequently, especially as regard one’s loyalty, interests, or affection) (Fifteenth official post)

(Merry Christmas! 🎅)

(Happy Holidays!🎄)

(Yan’s name is Julian)

Yan Ex who used to be a wonderful, caring person. Then all of the sudden, just three years into your relationship, he changed.

Yan Ex who begins to distance himself from you, he seems to be shutting you out, and you don’t understand why.

Yan Ex who treats you as a stranger and not someone he adored, you’re so confused, his behavior is so unnatural.

Yan Ex who has previously been absolutely enamored with you and had done absolutely anything to be with you. Now, he’s acting the complete opposite, he treats you as a nuisance.

Julian groans as you cling onto him (you were just holding his hand), he shakes you off and puts some distance between the two of you. Hurt flashes across your face and you feel the tinge of creep into your heart, which makes way for resentment. How dare he treat you like that? Especially after all he’s done to you.

Yan Ex who had spent years breaking you down and then abandoned you when you gave into him. (You hate him so much)

Yan Ex who begins to pursue someone else, someone who he had sworn wasn’t his type. Someone docile and loving, he had always told you that he liked the fight in you.

Yan Ex who makes a show of romancing this docile person (apparently named Alexis) and practically rubs it in your face. 

Yan Ex who never officially broke up with you, but treated you like he did. 

Yan Ex who’s surprised, after weeks of you being quiet, when you lash out and intimidate him, he’s never seen you so mad! (It certainly makes him feel a specific way…)

Yan Ex who immediately becomes interested in you again, now he’s always touching you and kissing up on you. His behavior has you reeling and you almost fall for it again, until you remember how he treated you and you pull back.

Yan Ex who becomes frustrated when you push him away, how dare you behave like that! Yes, he was treating you in a similar manner, but so what! He’s allowed to, but you’re not. At least, that’s what he believes.

Yan Ex who cries when you break up with him, that’s not fair! Only he’s allowed to break up with you, you can’t do that.

Yan Ex who pouts and whines when you ignore his calls, whilst he internally seethes.

Yan Ex who decides to take action and creeps into your room late at night, yes he did climb up your window, but it’s okay because he loves you! (In actuality he’s basically incapable of love)

Yan Ex who shushes your cries for help and tries to keep you from struggling (unfortunately he isn’t stronger than you).

He yelps when you push him off your bed, his head hits the floor and he groans. Julian frowns and sits up, he pouts and crawls back onto the bed. He latches onto you and begs you not to kick him out! “Please, Please, don’t kick me out! I know I’m a fool, but i still love you!” He cries, his head burrowing into your stomach and his tears (clearly fake) soak your shirt. A sound of disgust escapes your mouth and you push him off again. Which, of course, causes him to whine.

Yan Ex who wants yo be in control of the relationship, he wants to choose when to end this relationship and when to destroy it. He won’t ever let anyone make the first move, he should be the only making decisions in this relationship (yet the moment you concede to his will, he gets bored and pushes you away.)

Yan Ex who will not give up, he wants you to love him again, it makes him feel powerful. 

Yan Ex who puts up a fight when you try to throw him out of the house, literally, he’s kicking and screaming, clinging onto you in a manner reminiscent of how you once did.

Julian whines again as he wraps his arms around your waist. He looks (up/down) at you, his eyes filled with tears and the bottom of his lip wobbles. “Pleeease don’t leave me [Y/N], I know I’m not perfect, but I love you!” You roll your eyes, you highly doubt he could ever love you. He’s just being a big, pathetic baby (no offense to babies). You push him off, he grunts when his bottom hits the floor and he burst into tears (he’s a cute cryer, but you won’t tell him that). “[Y/N]! Stop being mean to meee!!” Julian pouts and wraps his arms, and legs, around you leg. 

Yan Ex who clings to you like a koala, regardless of how hard you try to get him off of you. He’s going to keep clinging to you, until he wears you down and then he’ll probably leave you.  But you don’t give in, you just yank him off your leg and throw him out of the house. 

Yan Ex who bangs on the door, begging to be let back in and begging for you to forgive him.

Yan Ex who quickly turns vicious once he sees that his pouty little act isn’t working on you, he begins to shout threats and tells you to watch your back, because he won’t let you go.

Yan Ex who vows to get revenge, who swears you’ll regret ever getting rid of him.

“Ah, you’ll shouldn’t have done that darling, now I have to punish you.”

(That’s all for now, hopefully you guys enjoy this and hopefully this makes sense!)

(Thoughts on Julian?)

[howlsofbloodhounds]

In the most /lh way possible , I honestly don't really think fanon killermare is ' knock off ' colorkiller ? Like I mean , even Fanon [ Multiple fanon interpretations , there's many .] Nightmare is very different from Color and I think each ship has its own interesting dynamics , so calling it ' off brand [other ship] ' seems a bit . Generalizing to me ??

[ apologies if this is hard to read or comes off as rude ! ]

No I get you. I’m promise im just pissy and also on my period lmao.

But here’s the thing. here’s the thing; people give Nightmare Color’s personality. They give him shit he never did for Killer, the stuff Color did. The stuff he worked on and he risked his life for and he tried so hard to do. And all he got for his efforts was being pushed aside and ignored and only brought up to demonize him and dismiss him and look down on him.

Yeah, I’m talking about the whole “killer falls in love with nightmare because he saved him” stuff. No Nightmare didn’t and this interpretation is so popular people genuinely think it’s true and as a result don’t even know who Color is at all. And when they do find out they’re dismissive or use him as bait for a pointless drama love triangle.

Ive literally had to convince people to care about what was already canon and there because people gave it all away to Nightmare like they did everything about Killer’s character and story. His entire character in fandom revolves around Nightmare, there’s hardly ANY killer centric stories that don’t involve shipping or Nightmare and it’s annoying.

Nightmare is in fact very different from Color; and that’s the thing. Most interpretations I see of fanon killermare hardly seem like Nightmare. It’s basically just Color in Nightmares skin with more sophisticated language.

People take away every single part of Color’s character and achievements and give it to a fanon Nightmare with a bit of a “darker gothic” twist and then complain about how Color and his friendship with Killer is “boring.” And im like; of course you think it’s boring.

You gave everything about his character and color spectrum duo’s relationship away to Nightmare and Killermare for absolutely zero reason. And it’s precisely because of that I have to shift through Killermare after Killermare to get even a smidge of anything with color. People find any excuse to get rid of friendships and ignore it and I hate it.

Color saved Killer. Color is helping Killer. Color is who Killer trusts the most, that’s his best friend, that’s how Killer turns to for safety and protection and stability and the first person he genuinely believed cared about him, one of the most important people in his life. If he’s dropping to his knees and worshipping anyone it’s Color—and Color will pull him back up to his feet and offer him a warm hug instead. Not Nightmare. That’s been the narrative for literal years now and it’s not true.

I haven’t seen any fanon interpretations of Killermare I could get behind besides maybe two that doesn’t make me think “Color could literally be doing and saying this” and the only reason he likely isn’t is because the person doesn’t know Color exists or wants to demonize him and give away all his hard work to a canonical kidnapper and trafficker and abuser.

I’d rather see Nightmare grow and change as a person and actually do something to earn Killers trust and loyalty. I’m sick of it being freely given because people want to ignore his canonical abuse at Nightmares hands. And I want this change to happen precisely because Color challenges him and offers to help him too in the end when he needs it.

So basically: I hate that fanon Killermare often completely ignores what Nightmare did to Killer. I hate what it does to Killer’s character and story. I hate that it ignores Color most of the time or only to demonize him. I hate that friendship or queer platonic relationships aren’t cared about in this fandom as much as romantic or “found family” ones even tho Killer and Color are found family and so are the entire Chromatic Crew.

People are free to disagree and keep shipping whoever they want, that’s not my issue and i don’t want to ruin people’s fun even as i complain. I just wish Color Spectrum Duo, and Color, and bits of Killers canon got more actual care and respect and attention. And also please tag yalls stuff with the proper ships so I can chose not to engage with it (not directed at anyone.)

[kidcataldo]

Strange Magic sequel idea/concept that will never happen (bc the original movie didn’t do so hot and also i do not work in hollywood)

small warning, this is like the entire summary written out

The Bog King and Marianne marry and combine their two kingdoms. Goblins and Fairies now live together, but there’s still a lot of tension between them. The only thing preventing them from clashing is their loyalty to their respected ruler.

This conflict mostly gets resolved with the birth of Bog and Marianne’s first child. Lets call the kid, Onyx (bc he needs a name). Onyx is beloved by both goblins and fairies alike, who see him as their true uniter and a bridge between their two very different worlds. He helps them to see themselves as equals and learn to coexist as one kingdom.

Meanwhile, Roland looks into a mirror and is freed from the love potion spell (his one true love is himself). After coming out of the daze and learning what’s become of the fairy kingdom, he quickly devises a plan to break up the now combined kingdoms.

This, of course, involves kidnapping the beloved prince who unites them. He plans it at the little prince’s first birthday party. Chaos ensues. Something goes awry and the “failed” kidnap results in the kingdom all thinking the prince is now dead. This assumption is amplified with the small wings of the prince being found at the scene of the crime (a protagonist with some type of disability is interesting imo, plus it’s important to the plot). The thought is that some larger creature ate him (and maybe that is how both he and Roland get their injuries).

Roland doesn’t get caught and isn’t the presumed kidnapper. In fact, he’s hurt badly in the confrontation, leading him to flee now heavily scarred, turned “ugly,” not knowing and not caring about what happened to the prince.

The kingdom turns on each other: the goblins think the fairies did it, claiming they can’t stand having a half-goblin heir; the fairies say the goblins did it, thinking they might have gone back to their “savage” ways.

Soon after, it is shown that their son is not in fact dead but rather “lost.”

His disappearance is easily explained with him falling through the cracks between the two kingdoms, literally. Somewhere along the border there is a deep crack that is off limits/folklore to goblins and fairies. This is where the gnome creatures live.

Neither of the kingdoms know this, because the creatures remain hidden, anonymous. Like with the goblins and fairies, everything beyond the darkness is off limits/folklore to them. But they provide “offerings” to goblins and fairies, which is something like coal for fuel and diamond for currency (things that affect their livelihood/economy, but the gnomes do it as a way to appease the “gods” who are really just goblins and fairies). They view Onyx’s abrupt arrival as a task from the gods to raise him as one of their own and learn the ways of the gnome people.

Flash forward to present day:

The kingdoms are more divided than ever. Marianne closes off on everyone and everything, leaving an equally grief-stricken Bog to rule basically both kingdoms alone (with the fairy kingdom not really liking him/disobeying his orders because, in their eyes, he’s not their leader).

Roland remains hidden in the shadows, too fearful of the way he looks to enjoy the kingdoms being divided again. His self-hatred turns to hatred toward others and he vows revenge, but doesn’t know where to start.

Meanwhile,

Onyx is a rambunctious kid with a skill for climbing steep things, such as the walls leading up to the outside world. He works with the gnomes to help mine coal and things, but is often bored of the work mentality. The constant “go! go! go!” is too much and goblins and fairies unintentionally pressure them to keep moving (again, without them knowing the gnomes are down there).

But he’s seen as the gnomes’ protector. And when one gnome nearly falls to his death after lurking too close to the edge, it’s Onyx who takes the lead and rallies all of the other gnomes to work together and save him.

He’s not allowed to climb too far up the wall (both because of the risk of falling and because the outside people are presumed dangerous), but his curiosity gets the better of him one day and he climbs to the very top, only to witness creatures who look just like him. He sees creatures flying and understands the scars on his back were once wings.

Curiosity gets the better of him and he wanders into a nearby village where he sees the things the gnomes work hard to mine being used for their pleasure. A rage fuels him at the very sight. It is in every way an injustice.

Roland spots the lost prince during his trip to the village and plans out his revenge on him, coming to the conclusion everything bad that’s happened to him started with his unsuccessful plot to kidnap him. He follows him. (He’s a drastically different, more evil guy than he was in the original movie here: the point of no return kind of different.)

Onyx returns to the gnome creatures quickly to express his anger: how it’s all a lie and how the creatures above live leisurely while they’re stuck down under working for them in the mines.

The gnomes begin an uprise with the encouragement from the lost prince. They take control of the elf village he visited simply by luck (catching everyone off guard at a party), but understand anything beyond that they will be easily defeated. Onyx, a warrior at heart but with little battle experience, is still encouraging them to try.

The Bog King hears word of this mysterious uprising and quickly flies out there to handle it. A fight ensues with Bog (and his army) easily outnumbering the gnomes. But he freezes at the sight of the one gnome out of place—his son, instantly recognizing the face. Onyx, recognizing Bog only as the leader of the tyrants enslaving the gnomes, throws a sharp object at his wings while he’s halted. And Bog comes tumbling down, his wings severely damaged. The gnomes capture him and drag him down into the crack to hold him hostage.

While down there, Bog is shown the hardships that the gnome people face and agrees something must be done about it.

Later, he and Onyx have a moment where he reveals that he is his father (after he’s absolutely certain this boy is in fact his lost, presumed dead son). His son is resistant to accept the news, and even more resistant of the fact that Bog wants to now take him away from the gnomes and live with the creatures above. He pulls away from his father’s touch, claiming he belongs down here with the gnomes.

Marianne, after learning of her husband’s capture, awakens from her fog and flies up with a fury to rescue him.

By then, Bog is no longer a prisoner and climbing (due to his wings being damaged) with some gnomes up the wall to return to the outside and settle this dispute once and for all. Onyx, despite Bog’s encouragement, does not go up with him.

Later, Onyx has a change of heart (probably after a gnome elder talks with him about it) and he begins his climb to catch up with them. But Roland gets to him first and kidnaps him (again).

Bog hears his panicked call and quickly moves into action to rescue him. Marianne, who hears it too in the middle of kicking gnome butt in the village, moves toward the chaos. They all find themselves near the edge of the crack with Roland threatening to drop the wingless prince. Finally, it’s revealed he is the one who did it all those years ago.

And Roland gives some long speech about never meaning any true harm, that it just all got out of hand, and that he just wanted true love but can’t now because of the way he looks. He holds Onyx’s arm as he speaks, his grip slowly loosening with the threat of dropping him in. Bog, in a panic, is trying to convince him to move away from the edge, that Onyx is innocent in all this. But Roland refuses to listen.

Marianne, witnessing all of this somewhere nearby, moves into action. She hits Roland, who loses his grip on Onyx. Bog flies with damaged wings to catch him before he falls into the darkness.

A fight ensues between Roland and the king and queen. Fairies and goblins alike witness this, their leaders’ first fight together in years. Somehow Roland’s wings get damaged, leading him to hang off the edge with no way of getting himself up. His hands are slipping and he’s pleading for the king and queen to show him mercy. Both Bog and Marianne are unwilling to help, wanting him to fall to his death; he was the cause of all their pain, after all.

Onyx quickly moves into action, rallying the gnomes to work together and save him (just like at the start), much to everyone’s surprise. They’re able to lift him to safety. Roland is crying out his gratitude as Stuff and Thang apprehend him with some fairytale version of handcuffs. Everyone looks to Bog for his sentencing, thinking execution is what he’ll go for. He approaches the fairy with gritted teeth. He wants to attack him, but holds back: “My son deems ya worthy of livin’, so you’ll rot in my dungeon fer the rest of yer days.” Or something like that, idk.

The story concludes at yet another birthday party where the gnomes coexist now with the fairies and goblins, learning how to stop worshipping them as these otherworldly beings. Maybe Griselda takes advantage of their innocence and puts them to work, making them be her chair and hold her drink for her while she sips it. And Dawn has to interfere by scolding her, releasing the gnomes from duty. Bog and Marianne have a heartfelt moment alone and then with their son. And also maybe it’s shown that in the dungeon Roland finds love/friendship somehow with the imp (who, of course, is in prison too), again idk.

The kingdom is once again at peace. The story ends.

—

Anyway, that’s my idea. It’s very different from the enemies to lovers plot in the first movie, but i still think it’s a cool/interesting idea to explore. Too busy with real life to write this fanfic out fully, so you get this instead.

[sturnsbaebackup]

CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS- MATT STURNIOLO

summary: you and matt meet at a wedding where neither of you have anyone to talk to, so you talk to each other.

warnings: drinking & family issues ig?? (this is lowkey based on an actual situation so i apologize that it’s oddly specific 😭)

—

your cousin is getting married tonight, and bless her heart for inviting you to be in the bridal party, but the last thing you ever wanted was to be apart of the wedding, let alone even be at it.

you’ve always been seen as less whenever compared to your cousin, and even your own parents were always fascinated in her. she was the smartest person you’ve ever met and also the prettiest. every family dinner you’d ever have was just filled with questions and conversations for her, and you’d just sit there in silence. no one in your family was ever interested in what you had to say, and you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t killing you inside to see her have an entire night dedicated to her. she always got everything you always longed for.

both sides of her family love her and showed up to her wedding, when you know that wouldn’t be the case for you. the whole entire wedding is just making you want to rip your hair out and curl into a ball, but you need to man up and be supportive. and that’s exactly what you’re doing. as you walk down the isle with your little bouquet of flowers, you watch as all of the eyes look at you with awe. you’ve never felt so appreciated in your life, but that was until you saw how everyone immediately turned to watch as she walked down the aisle. it felt like everyone had forgotten about you nearly instantly.

but what you seem to miss is a brunette boy tucked away somewhere in the first few rows staring right at you. he’s just as bored as you are, but he found it entertaining to his eyes on you practically the whole time. but unfortunately, you never noticed. seeing as you were too focused on trying to not fall asleep while standing in front of everyone.

eventually it’s time for dinner, and you’ve never been more thankful. of course you’re sat at a table with your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. and as expected, the only people who have talked to you have been your parents to tell you how beautiful you look, and they immediately went to join in on other conversations.

you sit through dinner in silence, downing your glass of champagne like you’re at a frat party. your mother glares at you as you nearly finish your second glass, and you just roll your eyes at her. you’re more than capable of pacing yourself, you just need something to take the edge off before you literally rip your hair out.

once dinner finishes, your family starts to linger around the room, leaving you alone at the dinner table. matt is sat a table not too far away from you, and he builds up the courage to come sit next to you. hoping you’re willing to talk to him.

“hey, i’m matt,” he says as he adjusts himself in the chair next to you.

“hi matt, i’m y/n,” you smile, immediately putting your phone down to give the mysterious boy your full attention.

“i saw you earlier and thought you were really pretty, and when i saw you sitting alone i thought it was a good time to take my chance,” he smiles bashfullly.

you chuckle a little, “yeah i’ve been sitting here alone for quite a minute now. you’re basically saving me from being the family outcast right now. so thanks,” you smile nervously. immediately from the look on matt’s face you can tell you’re already saying too much, “shit i’m sorry! that was weird to say… clearly i’ve had a few too many glasses of champagne,” you bite your cheeks awkwardly.

“me and you both, i’ve been drinking a bit too much of god knows what. this wedding is making me want to literally punch the wall,” he admits.

you nearly jump out of your seat when you hear this, “oh my god me too! i’m so glad i’m not alone! can i ask why you’re not having a good time?”

“well, the groom is my old friend from high school. we were never very close, but he was always such a show off. he always got everything he wanted, and it was just really annoying. i have no one to talk to at this wedding, so i’m not really sure why i came honestly. can i ask why you’re not having a good time? i mean you’re a bridesmaid!” he laughs.

“well the bride is my cousin and we were always close, but she was always so much better at everything than me. and like you said about the groom, she always got everything she wanted. maybe that’s why they’re a ‘match made in heaven’ or whatever everyone keeps saying,” you roll your eyes, mocking the people who keep calling the couple that.

“well shit, we really do have a lot in common. i’m glad i came over here. but um can i uh— get your number? maybe?” he asks, scratching the back of his neck.

“of course matt! i’d love that,” you blush.

he smiles at your reply, and you hand each other your phones. after exchanging numbers you both end up talking for about half an hour, before your mother begins practically dragging you away to come take a picture with her. you apologize for leaving matt, but he just gives you a teethy grin as he watches you walk away, admiring as you do so.

maybe coming to the wedding wasn’t so awful after all.

[pomplalamoose]

If you are ever down I would love your take on a Luke with a ND partner, maybe one who isn't expressive or picks up on social cues. says what ever comes to mind. Takes things a little too literally, is blunt in conversations. Like someone who struggles with their tone so people think they're bored or mean when they really have constantly racing thoughts and new ideas and are always open to new relationships.

I'm pretty sure it has never taken me this long to answer an ask before, but I wanted to make sure I'd put the same time and effort into yours as I did with every other one so far. Sadly I never seemed to get the free time to do so until now, so I REALLY want to thank you for your patience, anon, and hope you're happy with the result🩵

Please note though that for requests like these I'm only able to draw from my own experiences which possibly differ from those of others.

Accordingly nothing I said about "you" is meant to impose any kind of insinuations about behavioral patterns on those reading this, nor is it my intention to criticize or sound harsh in any way.

It goes without saying that Luke, as a friend as well as a partner, couldn't be any more wonderful to be around and I believe that especially for someone on the neurodivergent spectrum it's basically a dream come true to date him.

(Apart from that he's definitely that one friend who listens to you when you think nobody else does and waits for you when you need to stop to tie your shoe laces.)

He's empathetic and sensitive to the emotions of those surrounding him and thus would never make you feel like you don't belong, are weird for acting a certain way, or like you'd be better off pretending to be something you're not to "fit in".

And while Luke's connection to the Force certainly adds a lot to the fact that he has no trouble reading you, he would manage to just as well without it.

Still there's no denying how useful his abilities could prove themselves to be in a relationship, especially should his partner struggle with expressing themselves.

I won't go into much more detail though, because many of the things I already talked about in my other posts regarding his understanding and supportive character can be applied here as well.

(e.g. Master Luke Skywalker headcanons, Luke with a partner on their period, Luke x a reader with mental health issues, breaking down in front of Luke)

However I think it'd be really interesting to take a look at his initial reaction to getting to know a neurodivergent person with the behavioral features you described since I believe they differ depending on which Luke era we're talking about.

• ANH Luke wouldn't even bat an eye

• on Tatooine everyone has to put up a rough exterior in order to protect oneself

• it's not a place of friendly conversations and common niceties; people know they're better off minding their business and staying on their own

• you're very blunt and speak your mind?

• you seem unfazed, even bored during most encounters?

• good for you, it's not easy to navigate this corner of the galaxy and much safer to hold others at a distance

• growing up Luke came across a wild array of all kinds of beings too, one more interesting (and really scary) than the other

• he's not put off, instead even used to supposed unfriendliness

• also he doesn't know anything about where you're from and your people, maybe that's just the way they are and how you were raised?

• he probably thinks you're very cool too

• because surely you have seen a lot? Been on great adventures across the galaxy?

• he really wants to do the same

• if you come across as mean without meaning to it's not a big deal, it only makes him want to spend even more time with you

• ("if mean, then why friend-shaped??")

• most importantly ANH Luke judges a person more by their actions than their words, so there is absolutely no need to worry about how he may perceive you

• it's safe to say you're not getting rid of him as it's nearly impossible to shake him off once he decides he wants to be someone's friend

• he's more than delighted once you get to know each other better and it turns out his intuition was right!

• ESB Luke, on the other hand, may be a bit slower to come around

• not necessarily because he dislikes you but because he doesn't have the time nor the patience to put effort into really getting to know you

• people talk and so he probably heard a thing or two that has him eyeing you curiously

• most likely he won't pay you much mind as he's gone most of the time anyways

• generally speaking though, I think you'd get along pretty well, Luke is a friendly and open minded person after all and would surely grow fond of your quirks before even knowing about their source

• still there's a possibility of the two of you butting heads should it come to an actual meeting

• nothing really severe, of course, but still I can see Luke growing easily frustrated at, for example, your lack of expression, or at your questions when you don't quite get something and want to make sure you understood everything correctly

• and while he's not going to show it or tell you outright that he thinks you're a bit annoying, he's not that good at surpressing dramatic sighs or a roll of his eyes

• HOWEVER if you catch him off guard with blunt words said in a tone that could come across as mean it could definitely get a rise out of him

• after all we get to see that he has developed a certain attitude; he's snippy, quick to talk and slightly judgemental

• (mainly towards Han and Yoda but I can see him acting this way quite often because of all that he's being put through)

• I'm sure that under different circumstances Luke wouldn't react as strongly but with how things are during ESB he might hurt your feelings without meaning to

• once the dust settles and he has a quiet moment to himself he'll feel awful though and most likely seek you out to make amends

• naturally RotJ Luke is a different story altogether

• (the character development this man went trough is absolutely crazy, and I'm amazed every time I do comparisons like these)

• before even taking to you for the first time he'd regard you with a warmth and patience you seldom get to experience

• he quietly smiles to himself when he overhears you having a conversation in that special way of yours or when he senses something sparking an idea

• he appreciates your bluntness

• maybe at first you'd think he's laughing at you but don't worry, he just thinks you're cute

• he feels you in the Force, senses your excitement, your curiosity

• it draws him in

• he is able to see you as a whole, not just what you present on the outside, and so isn't deterred by what others would view as a potential attack or criticism

• (take notes ESB Luke)

• once you've grown closer he's always there to point out social clues you might have missed and/or walks you through certain situations to explain how your behavior might have looked to others when it's something you're worried about

• often he knows what you're going to say before you do and, if that's what you want, gives you a sign you agreed upon, letting you know if maybe it'd bet better for you to be silent instead

• (he absolutely explains dumb sexual jokes to you when you don't get them and I don't care how self indulgent this is, I could really use someone to do that for me, thank you very much)

[natalynsie]

Let's Don't Forget About It (Noco Oneshot)

Was Noah a little bit scared for sleepovers at Owen’s after what happened last time?

Yeah. A little.

Trent having a video of Noah cuddling with Cody and kissing his ear for some reason was pretty embarrassing. Also, Owen might have the video by now, Noah wasn’t sure.

But, nevertheless, Noah was invited to a sleepover yet again. Thankfully, this time it was only with Eva, Izzy, Cody, and, of course, Owen. Noah figured he’d be able to stand that. There were only so many things that could go wrong, and even if they did, he only had to live with four people knowing.

“Hey Noah!” Owen greeted, opening the door seconds after Noah knocked.

“Hey Owen,” Noah greeted monotonely.

“Everyone’s already here,” Owen informed. “We’re gonna watch Mean Girls right now.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah! It’s my favorite movie.”

Noah sighed. “Fine. Whatever.”

Noah followed Owen down the thin, dim stairway to the open, carpeted family room. Owen’s house always made Noah feel a certain way. It had three stories: the top one being fairly small, only containing a few bedrooms and bathrooms; the middle one being the kitchen, dining room, living room, one bedroom, and a bathroom; the basement was dim and open, and was covered in white carpet and cheap furniture. It gave Noah a sense of nostalgia even though his home was never anything like Owen’s.

As Noah sat on the couch, he saw Cody on the other end with his head resting on his palm. Izzy was doing cartwheels around the basement, and Eva was cursing at the TV. trying to get it to play the movie.

“Your TV is stupid!” She yelled as Owen walked in.

“Are you pressing enter?” Owen asked, walking up to Eva and the remote.

“Yeah! That’s the button you’re supposed to use when you’re selecting something, idiot!”

“You have to select TV again.”

Eva selected the button and the movie started playing. “Oh.”

Owen giggled and Eva blushed.

“Hey! It’s not funny!” Eva yelled, sitting down on the couch between Noah and Cody.

As Owen skipped through the commercials while sitting on the ground, Eva started tapping her foot.

“Move, Noah, this seat’s uncomfortable.”

Before he knew it, Noah was being picked up and dropped in the middle of the couch and Eva laid on the side of the couch where Noah was previously.

“Wow, real nice of you,” Noah commented.

“Shut up!” Eva responded. “The movie’s starting.”

“Oh come on, everyone’s seen this movie like, a billion times. It’s just Cady talking to her parents.”

“Eva, if you’ve ever been to a sleepover, you would know watching movies is so we can comment on them,” Izzy said.

“I actually never saw this,” Cody stated.

Noah looked at Cody with a look of surprise. “No way. My sister made me watch this with her literally every day for a month when I was 14.”

Cody shrugged. “I never really had any interest in watching it. I’m not big on movies.”

“You’re going to love it,” Owen told Cody.

“You won’t,” Noah disagreed. “It’s so basic and boring.”

“Blah blah blah, WHATEVER,” Eva yelled.

So, for the next few minutes, the group was quiet.

Noah was pretty stiff against the couch, because Eva was right, it was uncomfortable. This part of the movie was pretty boring, but then again, Noah thought the entire movie was boring. Either way, nobody had anything to say so far.

“Why do they have cliques like that?” Cody asked as the camera zoomed through the cafeteria. “Why does their cafeteria even look like that?”

“That’s what I’m saying!” Noah agreed.

“I’ll agree on that one,” Izzy said. “Why do they have to separate the smart asians and the hot asians? We all know that Noah is both so that’s inaccurate.”

Noah coughed loudly. “Sorry, what?”

First off, the movie had not said ‘smart asians’ and ‘hot asians’, it had said ‘asian nerds’ and ‘cool asians’. Second off, Noah had never thought himself to look good, nevermind hot. He was average. Probably a little under that. He hadn’t ever put effort into his looks or cared about them until a couple months ago, and the only people who ever commented on it were Cody and his sister.

He was pretty glad Cody was one of the people who noticed, because that’s really, embarrassingly, who he was dressing up for. But Noah still wasn’t attractive.

“She isn’t wrong,” Cody stated.

Noah stopped. He looked straight forward at the TV and did not dare look at Cody.

Cody thinks I’m hot.

It was moments like these that Noah had to wonder. Maybe Cody did like him. Maybe Noah should ask him out.

But then again, Noah was a coward. And whenever he thought about the moments after they happened, he convinced himself they were totally platonic. Cody didn’t like him and never would.

Noah brought the knee closest to Cody up to his face and laid on it to cover it. He didn’t want anyone looking at him at a time like this, especially not Cody.

Eva snickered from next to him.

Wow. Noah was stuck in a room with people who all knew he liked Cody and Cody.

Noah took a sneaking glance at Cody, who turned out to be looking at him.

“Dude, are you okay?” Cody asked.

“Yeah, why?” Noah lied.

“You aren’t. Are you embarrassed or something?”

“No. I’m not.”

“You totally are,” Cody smiled. “What, do you not know you’re hot?”

“I think it’s because you said it,” Eva grinned.

“What the heck Eva?” Noah yelled. “It is not.”

“You weren’t acting like that when Izzy said it.”

“...I needed time to process. I was surprised.”

“Well, now you can have comfort knowing that you’re hot,” Cody stated.

Noah pinched the top of his nose. “Please stop talking.”

Cody shrugged and went back to laying on his side of the couch.

A few other exchanges occurred while watching the movie, but Noah didn’t really pay much attention.

~~~

“We should have a fashion show!” Izzy exclaimed.

Noah rubbed his eyes. “For god’s sake, where would we find anything fashionable in this house?”

“Oh don’t worry. I brought a ton of extra clothes. Just in case I have to run away and live in the woods, you know? And I have some accessories so we can totally be stylish with it. This movie really inspired me to dress up! Come on!”

Izzy ran out of the room, upstairs, and back downstairs with her bag before anyone even bothered to follow her. She quickly laid out all her clothes on the floor. “Okay, let’s pick our outfits!”

“Izzy, I am not going to fit in those,” Owen said.

“Well this is your house, go get your own clothes!”

“I’m not gonna fit either,” Eva stated.

“Don’t worry, I have some clothes big enough to fit you,” Izzy smiled, handing Eva what remained in the bag. “This is the big stuff.”

“Okay then,” Eva turned, walking into the bathroom to change.

“I’m gonna grab some nice clothes from my room,” Owen told the group before running upstairs.

Noah studied the clothes in front of him. He obviously wasn’t going to wear Izzy’s miniskirts and crop-tops, he would never subject himself to such torture. Plus, even though Noah wasn’t as big as Owen or Eva, he probably still wouldn’t fit in a lot of Izzy’s clothes.

Unfortunately, it seemed most of Izzy’s clothes were tight.

Noah ended up picking some jean shorts, a green flannel, a blue pajama shirt, and hoping for the best.

After changing, Noah looked in the mirror.

Jean shorts were not his style. He figured womens’ clothing in general was not his style. He hated how short the shorts were, he didn’t like shorts in general, but at least they were baggier than the rest of what Izzy had.

The flannel was much more his thing, and was very anti-Izzy. He was surprised she had it at all. He liked it, and figured maybe he should get a flannel of his own.

The pajama shirt he had picked really because everything else Izzy owned was a crop top, and he liked that too.

The outfit worked surprisingly better than he thought it would. But before he exited the room, he decided to wear his own jeans instead. He hated the shorts. A lot.

“Next,” Noah shouted as he exited the bathroom.

“Noah! Get over here!” Owen shouted from down the hall.

Noah walked over to where Owen was standing. “What?”

“We’re gonna go down the catwalk!” Owen pointed to some wooden planks placed going from the hallway into a room. “Izzy’s filming.”

“She’s what?”

“Don’t worry, we aren’t sending it to anyone but each other. Anyways, take a blanket so you don’t ruin the surprise like you already did for me.”

It was at this point Noah realized Owen had been wearing a blanket. “Oh, yeah, okay.”

Noah wrapped the blanket around his body and laughed at the stupidity of it, and then followed Owen into the room of the catwalk. Soon enough, Cody followed.

“Okay!” Izzy yelled as Cody walked into the room, wearing a blanket. “Eva’s getting ready to walk the walk and Cody just came out! Too bad it was the bathroom and not the closet. Anyway, presenting the fabulous Eva!”

Owen clapped and Cody facepalmed with a laugh. And sure enough, Eva came down the catwalk and dropped her blanket, revealing her outfit. She wore a mid-thigh length blue skirt, white tank top, and green jacket. She did a little spin with a straight face before she made it to the end of the catwalk and started laughing.

Noah found himself laughing with her.

“I feel so dumb!” She giggled. “Why don’t you have any big clothes that match!”

Izzy shrugged with a smile. “Owen, you're up next!”

Owen ran around the other door to the catwalk, dropping his blanket dramatically. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt… and a yellow skirt?

He started pretending he knew how to do ballet as he danced the catwalk and the other four of the group laughed.

“Where did you get your skirt?” Noah asked.

“I stole it from my mom,” Owen smiled, sitting down.

“Okay, Noah!” Izzy shouted.

Noah sighed and went around the wall, dropping his blanket on the floor before he got to the catwalk. He stepped on the catwalk and rolled his eyes, struck a pose with one hand up and one on his hip, and stepped off. As he sat down, he smiled.

“Cody, you’re up next!” Izzy exclaimed.

Cody ran around the wall to the catwalk. He was smiling as he dropped his blanket and spun around. He wore a denim skirt, green top, and dark green jacket. With every step he did a different pose and at the end did another spin, looked straight into the camera, winked, and burst out laughing as he walked to his chair.

“Okay okay I’m next! Eva, hold the camera!” Izzy ran around the wall and the catwalk where she revealed herself wearing a pink miniskirt, long-sleeve pink crop top, and a white spaghetti strap crop top over it. She did a front-handspring down the catwalk and did a peace sign to the camera.

“Woo!” Owen yelled and started clapping.

Cody and Noah started clapping too and Eva ended the video.

“Well, you didn’t look half-bad,” Cody joked. “You made that pajama shirt work.”

“Whatever. You look good too.”

~~~

“Let’s play roll call,” Eva suggested.

After the fashion show, the group had changed back into their normal clothes and decided to just talk for a minute. But soon enough, they got bored.

“I’ve never heard of that,” Noah informed.

“Oh, it’s so much fun. I used to play it with my sister and her friends all the time. They always made me be it first, but whatever. And we would probably be better off with more people, but we can still play.”

“So… how do you play?” Cody asked.

“So first, there’s a leader,” Eva began. “Then there’s a kidnapper. The lights all have to be off and we walk around the house in a single file line except for the kidnapper. The kidnapper has to grab people from the end of the line one by one. When they’re taken, they all have to hide. Every once in a while, the leader has to say ‘roll call’ and everyone left has to say present. When the leader is alone, they turn on the lights and start seeking.”

“Sounds fun! I’ll be it.” Izzy grinned.

“I want to be the leader,” Owen added. “I think I’d get too scared not being the leader.”

“Great! Let’s turn off the lights.”

Noah reluctantly stood up as Eva, Izzy, and Owen ran upstairs to turn off all the lights.

“I just know I’m gonna get the shit scared out of me,” Noah stated.

“Same here.” Cody rubbed his arm. “I feel like I’m gonna scream and ruin the game.”

Noah nodded. “Let’s just turn off the lights down here. I think the other three have the rest of the house covered.”

Cody walked off to another section of the basement while Noah went down the hallway, turning off all the lights that remained on. As he came back, he bumped his forehead into something.

“Ow!” Or someone.

“Sorry,” Noah apologized while rubbing his forehead. “I didn’t see you.”

“Well yeah, duh. We just turned off all of the lights in the basement. Where are you?”

“I’m right here.”

Noah stuck his hand out to reach for wherever Cody was so he wouldn’t bump into him.

And his hand met another hand.

“Sorry!” Cody apologized loudly, removing his hand

“You didn’t even do anything,” Noah replied, grabbing Cody’s hand back. He was glad Cody couldn’t see him smiling in the dark. “It would be better to know where you are anyways. Let’s just go find the others.”

Noah wasn’t sure if Cody responded, but it seemed as if he had nodded or something along those lines because he followed Noah up the stairs while holding his hand.

Noah felt the walls around the narrow steps and eventually found himself at a closed door.

“Hello?” Cody asked. “Where are you guys?”

Silence.

“Are you guys there?”

Silence.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Noah asked, pulling Cody through the kitchen while holding onto the wall. “Are we going to play or what?”

Cody followed Noah as he guided him through the house. “Are they trying to mess with us or something?”

“Probably,” Noah responded.

“Where are the light switches anyway so we can find them?”

“I have no idea where the light switches are when there’s no doors. There’s no doors on the main floor except for like, two.”

The two stayed in silence for a minute.

Then, there was a scream.

Cody stopped. “Was that Eva?”

“They’re messing with us. Definitely.”

“Wanna go back downstairs? So we can turn on the lights?”

Noah groaned. “You’re such a chicken. Look, they’re gonna make fun of us if we turn the lights on. I mean, we could probably scare them back if we wanted to anyways. Should we?”

“AAAHHH!” Cody shrieked, running straight into Noah’s back and tripping.

“Cody, what the fuck?”

“Get the fuck up I’m out of here!” Cody shouted, tugging at Noah’s arm.

Noah stood up and held Cody’s arm as they started running. “We’re going to run into something, what happened, are you okay?”

“This cold ass hand just touched my back! No, I am not okay. Where the hell am I and where’s the door?”

“Leave,” a horrifying voice bellowed.

“Okay, that’s demonic,” Noah stated. “The fuck type of prank are they trying to play? And who is that?”

“I don’t care if it’s a prank or what, I am leaving this house,” Cody said. “Oh, this is a doorknob.”

Cody presumably turned the knob and opened the door. “Shit, it’s the basement.”

Noah heard footsteps behind them.

“Fuck it,” Cody said, and ran down the stairs.

“Don’t kill me!” Noah yelled.

“I’m trying not to!”

As Noah and Cody reached the bottom of the stairs, they began to hear a laugh. A familiar one.”

“I can’t take it!” Izzy yelled, flicking on a light switch at the top of the stairs. “It’s too funny!”

Cody sighed. “Izzy you scared me half to death.”

“Me too, honestly,” Noah admitted.

“You, you guys started sprinting!” Izzy cackled. “Oh my gosh. I scared Eva too! She screamed so loud but then I told her to play along!”

Noah rolled his eyes. “Very funny.”

“Are you guys holding hands?”

Noah looked down to his and Cody’s hands. He quickly released his hand and crossed his arms, a slight tint of red on his face.

“How did you get your hand to be so cold?” Cody asked, dodging the question.

“I stuck it in the freezer. I guess I should go tell Owen I’m done scaring people.”

Noah’s mouth fell open. “You mean he didn’t have to fall victim to this torture?”

“Yup! Now, we should play that roll call game. It sounds fun!”

“Nuh uh.” Cody shook his head. “I am done getting scared today.”

~~~

“Can we just hang out and play some music?” Cody asked.

The group was laying on the carpeted floor of Owen’s basement, tired after Izzy had pulled shenanigans instead of playing a game like normal people.

“After all of that, that’s the only thing I want to do,” Eva sighed.

“Nobody loves music like Eva,” Izzy smiled.

“It’s true,” Eva agreed. “I call first song.”

Eva pulled out her mp3 player and picked a song.

Noah listened to the beginning, and it wasn’t even seconds until he recognized the song. “Cemetery Drive? Really?”

“What? It’s my favorite song right now,” Eva responded.

“I’ve never heard this in my life, how did you recognize it so fast?” Cody asked.

“Remember my cousin, Caleb?” Noah returned.

“Yeah…”

“He loves My Chemical Romance.”

“Your family has been relating to this sleepover one too many times,” Owen said.

At this point, Noah glanced to where Owen was sitting up at a desk, opening firefox.

“What are you doing?” Noah asked.

“I want to open this up so we can pick a song that isn’t Eva’s,” Owen stated.

“Thank god. Lemme see.”

Noah walked over to the computer and looked up his favorite song. “Play this when Eva’s music ends.”

Owen smiled. “I love that song!”

“Everyone loves that song,” Noah smirked.

Eventually Eva’s song came to an end and at this point everyone except Izzy was off of the floor. Owen pressed play on the video Noah had pulled up.

Izzy perked up as the song started playing. “Oh my gosh! I love Smooth! Owen, come dance with me!

Man, it’s a hot one

Izzy grabbed Owen and started shaking her arms and his to the beat.

Like seven inches from the midday sun

She twirled around and let go of his hands.

I hear you whispering the words, melt everyone

Cody smiled as he watched them dance and stood up, taking Eva’s hand.

But you stay so cool

Cody twirled as well, copying the same movement that Izzy had moments before. Noah watched them with a small smile, standing next to the wall.

My muñequita

Izzy pushed past Cody and into Eva’s arms.

My Spanish harlem Mona Lisa

Izzy rocked Eva side to side and Eva smiled dumbly.

You’re my reason for reason

Cody made his way over to Owen and Owen himself did a twirl.

The step in my groove

Cody stepped a foot forward and Owen took one backwards.

And if you said this life ain’t good enough

Izzy dragged Noah into the middle, taking his arms and running them both around in a circle before dropping him.

I would give my world to lift you up

Owen caught Noah and picked him up off the floor.

I would change my life to better suit your mood

Eva dragged Noah out and awkwardly wiggled his arms. “I’m not really a dancer,” She smiled.

Because you’re so smooth

Before Noah could respond ‘can any of us?�� Cody stole Noah from Eva and walked backwards to an area free of the other three.

And it’s just like the ocean under the moon

Cody spun him around the same way Izzy did, but didn’t drop him.

It’s the same as the emotion that I get from you

He twirled Noah around before catching his shoulder.

You got the kinda lovin’ that can be so smooth

Cody twirled himself around between Noah’s arms.

Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it

He ducked out and mouthed the words before winking and letting go.

The song continued without lyrics for a few moments, and Noah stood there, stunned. Throughout this entire time, Noah had not had the time to process anything that happened.

Cody had spent a lot of time dancing with him. Everyone else only lasted a couple lines but Cody just… kept dancing with Noah. Maybe he was overthinking, maybe Cody just really liked the song too.

But Cody winked at him.

And Noah’s heart was racing a million miles per hour.

And he was out of breath.

And hoping Cody wasn’t paying attention.

But I’ll tell you one thing

Izzy whisked Cody away from where he had begun dancing by himself.

If you would leave it’d be a crying shame

Izzy spun herself and Cody as they both smiled widely.

And every breath and every word

Owen and Eva took each other's arms and Owen basically threw her around in a circle with one arm around him.

I hear your name calling me out

Eva smiled and did the same to him.

Out from the barrio

Izzy grabbed Noah again just to do a dance move on her own, and Noah just moved to the rhythm himself.

You hear my rhythm on your radio

Owen joined the two with a smile on his face, rocking his hips back and forth.

You feel the turning of the world, so soft and slow

Eva made her way into the circle spinning by herself.

Turnin’ you round and round

Cody yet again returned to Noah and spun him around three times.

And if you said this life ain’t good enough

Eva began to mutter the lyrics to herself while Izzy practically yelled them. Owen and Noah watched them both, Owen mouthing the lyrics and Noah just smiling. Cody began to dance by himself as well, also lip-syncing.

I would give my world to lift you up

Owen held Izzy up by her waist in the air as she giggled.

I would change my life to better suit your mood

Cody turned towards Noah, and while still dancing on his own, opened his eyes and mouthed the lyrics happily in his direction.

Because you’re so smooth

Noah found himself smiling back and started lip syncing to the lyrics himself.

And it’s just like the ocean under the moon

Cody’s grin grew wider and he took Noah’s left hand with his right.

It’s the same as the emotion that I get from you

Though they both did their own independent dance moves, they kept their hands together.

You got the kinda lovin’ that can be so smooth

Noah had gone back and forth with himself a million times. He thought Cody liked him but convinced himself Cody didn’t like him. Noah had gone back and forth with Owen a million times. He thought Cody liked him but convinced himself Cody didn’t like him.

Give me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it

The instrumental part followed these lyrics, and Noah decided to just stop thinking. He was having a good time, he was dancing with his friends, and he was dancing with Cody. He wasn’t required to wonder about whether or not Cody liked him. He didn’t want to bother wondering about it because he was happy enough as is. There weren't enough moments where he just forgot about thinking and embarrassment and just had a good time, and he knew his friends, especially Eva, felt that way too.

Noah let go of Cody’s hand but kept smiling as he made his way to dance with Eva and Izzy.

As the rest of the song faded, Noah fell flat onto his back on the floor.

“I feel you,” Cody laughed heavily, falling next to him. “That was really fun. Owen can you put on Tiny Dancer next?”

“Yeah,” Owen responded.

Noah smiled. This was probably his most successful sleepover so far.

[maxzinn]

Damn why is the HSR fandom becoming way worse than genshin? And whenever there is any controversy aventurine is always somehow involved like leave my boy alone 😭

I'm a cis straight woman okay and no matter which fandom i interact with they always look down on me and assume shit about me even though i try to be nothing but understanding I have had so many tell me that I can't like a certain male character romantically because he is only for the boys/gays. Even like when you tell them you like a certain game/franchise/anime/singer or band they're like 'you have to be queer for liking this' and for some reason they try to convince me that I'm queer even though I'm not and they think that me being cis and straight makes me 'basic' and 'boring' I love jjba, Nana, Castlevania, Final Fantasy, Hsr and genshin impact but literally every fandom I've been is filled with a bunch of judgemental pricks which is sad because I was so excited to talk about my interests :( at first i thought they were being like that because I'm asian but then i realised it's because of my 'basic and boring' sexual and gender identity

and for some reason when I tell them that I'm cis straight they immediately assume I'm a white privileged woman (like i said I'm literally Asian) and i haven't struggled a day in my life which isn't true at all it's so ignorant to assume all of this about me just based off my sexual and gender identity and when I try to speak up they tell me that they're just 'giving me the taste of my own medicine' like what??? What does that even mean?? I'm not even homophobic i come from a conservative country and family but I have done proper research and educated myself on this topic and i treat everyone with respect so why can't they also be decent human beings and respect me too? I still try to be understanding but I can't stand the air of superiority among these people and they're usually under the age of 25 too because other queer people I have interacted with who are older than me don't behave pathetically like these people

(sorry this was so long you can ignore it if you want and sorry if my english is bad it's not my first language 😭 anyways I hope you have a good day/afternoon/night)

(This post is also long sorry hehe)

No cuz for real, it’s getting way more annoying in the fandom (no offense) and it’s even worse on twitter and hoyolab.

In my opinion, I think the toxicity mainly starts with people forcing to everybody that every character in hsr is queer coded and all that stuff. I keep seeing all that posts and comments that this certain character is “implied” which is not true??? It makes me wonder if they even know what the word “implied” means, cuz it basically/indirectly means that it’s canon.

I’m so done with those posts that claims “robin is lesbian and girlkisser so gtfo men” like stfu?

If you have seen the replies on tuonto’s twitter post, there’s like a LOT of people saying that. Like, hc her as lesbian if you want but DONT act like it’s canon and stop forcing your hcs on other people pls.

And when others reply to them saying that it isn’t canon and that they shouldn’t force it, they just straight up say that those people are “homophobic and lesphobic”.

I have no problems with gay/lesbian ships cuz I support all ships equally (except the illegal and problematic ones), but these delulu people are ruining it for the fandom tbh.

It’s funny that being straight/cis is seen as basic and boring now. And that part where you’re being forced to be queer is funny af 😭 are they ill?

You can like all the male characters that you like, none of them have canon sexualities and they’re certainly not canonically gay. If some person says that you shouldn’t like a certain male character cuz they’re only for the boys… then they’re ill, don’t listen to those bs.

It’s so weird that people now argue and force a sexuality onto fictional characters and just assume a certain character’s sexuality based on stereotypes (like aventurine for example) then claims that they’re a queer representation when said “representation” is just based on stereotypes.

It’s weird that a character’s sexuality matters so much when it doesn’t even matter that much, just enjoy the game and the plot? Stop projecting yourself onto them, they’re their own person and they have their own personality. They have nothing to do with your sexuality. And most of all… they’re literally PIXELS

And pls, liking a certain franchise doesn’t reflect anything on your sexuality. You can be a straight woman and like drag shows, you can be a straight woman and like BL and GL. Men can be straight and love skincare, men can be straight and like fashion/makeup. ITS NOT THAT HARD TO UNDERSTAND?? Just stop stereotyping people 💀

[twentyfivemiceinatrenchcoat]

ari this is a THREAT ‼️⚠️ i am cornering u with a knife… that i will use to cut out a slice of carrot cake for u to enjoy while you tell me more of your thoughts on the stsg reincarnation au u mentioned in your tags 🍰 >:3 bc i am nothing if not NOSY !!

i feel like i’d heard abt an au like that before too but the only one that comes to mind rn is this one where suguru’s a barista.. n satoru is soooo starstruck just instantly like he even waits outside in the rain for suguru to clock out 😖😖 in love with how op drew them too the pouty look on satoru’s face in the second one kills me every time like aaaahhh they’re so pretty </33 prettiest boys ever….

LOGAN I GOT SO SCARED 😥😥 ty for the carrot cake i am munching on it happily :33

BUT OKOK i think i’ve figured it out …. i’ve ALSO seen that specific reincarnation au (i love it sm it hurts OUR PRETTY BOYS…..) and i think i’ve also seen some other art for another series entirely where the reincarnated characters met in a museum… so my brain probably just . mashed those two together PHDJDH 😭😭 but ok we ball I’M SO GLAD UR CURIOUS i thought abt it a bit more before going to bed yesterday and my thoughts spiralled into a whole plot PHDJDGB LET ME KNOW WHAT U THINK…….. (warning!! this got long ALSO tagging mickey obv i need stsg nation approval for this @softgirlgonehaywire)

ok so !!!! first of all. satoru is a stem boy in this au. that’s simply how he is. he has literally no interest in The Fine Arts, and just so happens to get dragged to a museum for a school trip. he doesn’t really see the appeal yk?? just a bunch of stuffy rich people (he’s rich too but he’s not like the others he’s down w the poor <33) walking around like zombies….. he just hates the atmosphere bc he sincerely loves interacting w people and everyone in the museum is just staring at the paintings and sculptures and so on w/o even talking abt them :/// yeah. he does Not like art. (he just doesn’t Get It yet!!)

then we have suguru. our beloved. suguru is an art student <3 a bit pretentious about it <33 goes to a prestigious art school and lives and breathes art. he LOVES going to museums and exhibits and galleries just to dissect the pieces, think about their meaning, study them up close…. similarly to satoru i think his feelings about art have a lot to do with his yearning for connection and companionship; satoru doesn’t like art because he sees it as an isolated activity (average stem boy smh he just doesn’t Get it), suguru loves art because it gives him the chance to connect with painters new and old. he’s sooo enamored with the idea that he can forge a kind of connection with someone long dead, just by looking at something they made with their hands and mind. it’s so dear to him. (this is important for the Themes ok bear with me </3)

so!!! basically!!!! satoru is a stem boy, suguru is an art girl, and they happen to be in the same art museum at the same time. one of them is bored out of his mind, dragging his friends around and generally being a disturbance to the peace, the other is delicately and thoughtfully going from painting to painting. lost in his own little world.

they stumble upon one particular painting at the same time.

it depicts a man with long, black hair, clad in robes and smiling with the sun sinking behind him. his face is partially obscured, a little blurry, but his smile is framed almost as the center of the piece. it’s beautiful. the colours are warm, the brushstrokes are delicate, and there’s a tenderness to it that neither of them can quite put their finger on. but it’s so fervent. when they look down in search of the name of the piece and its painter, they see the following:

my one and only — unknown artist. (this is pure love starts playing in the bg)

satoru, for whatever reason, can’t take his eyes of this particular painting. he’s mesmerized. he’s never felt like this before — never felt so moved by a piece of art. suguru can’t turn away, either, but he thinks to himself that he feels a little sick. he’s never looked at a painting and felt as if it was looking right back at him. and no matter how hard he tries, he can’t get a sense of the artist’s intent. he feels like he should be able to, but it’s too out of reach.

finally, suguru notices satoru standing only a couple steps away, and asks what he thinks. smiling politely. satoru is completely entranced, but meets suguru’s gaze, and all he can verbalize is that it’s pretty.

suguru loves to be a contrarian — but this time, he genuinely can’t bring himself to agree.

ok so here i’m thinking they fight a bit <33 it’s how they get to know each other (in typical stsg fashion)!! suguru really doesn't like this painting for some reason, while satoru really loves this painting (for some reason), and feels oddly protective over it. so suguru makes a throwaway comment that pisses satoru off, he gets a little hissy, they bicker a bit, that’s all. suguru offhandedly mentions that he goes to an art school. satoru ends up remembering this.

aaaaand here is where the Plot begins <33 i hope u are still with me logan & mickey here is a treat and a snack for u to munch on while reading because tbh i dont think im stopping anytime soon (you did this 😞😞): 🍨🧋 🍧🍵

satoru, as previously stated, is a stem boy. he’s never cared about art. but this painting makes him feel something, something that he’s never felt before. he’s never felt so fulfilled, and after some contemplation he realizes that must be because he’s an art boy at heart. he’s found his true calling.(<- his own assumption lol) he’s just so!! excited!!! he buys a big canvas and expensive brushes and sits down to make his Masterpiece, certain that it’ll end up mending the hole in his heart, the feeling he’s been plagued by for as long as he can recall — that something is missing from his life. (satoru assumes that this something is art.) (it’s actually suguru.)

after a very eventful evening, satoru discovers that he can’t fucking paint.

and he’s horrified by this revelation bc he’s a GENIUS. he can literally do Anything if he just tries. but he sucks at art. he just can’t do it. he sits down and tries his best to paint but nothing comes out well. there’s a gap between his imagination and reality and that just irks him. he doesn’t know what to do. he’s so used to never needing anybody’s help, but it sure would be nice if he had an art student to help him out a bit…..

……………………

satoru ends up hunting suguru down <33 by going to every single art gallery he can find in tokyo. suguru calls him a stalker. satoru asks suguru to tutor him. suguru thinks he’s insane. (but obv ends up agreeing bc no one can resist the allure of a stem boy finding his true calling) (mickey this wasnt even an intentional parallel to the vamp fic we’re just connected through the hivemind i swear)

and!! while we’re on the topic of suguru — he’s currently having a bit of a crisis because he’s never truly encountered a piece of art that’s made him feel as uncomfortable as my one and only did, and even though he knows it’s a good thing he can’t help but suddenly feel a tiny bit afraid of art. something about the smile of the man in the painting makes him feel a little nauseous, a little guilty. he can’t focus as much when he’s painting anymore, and it bothers him.

he also can’t stop thinking about the white haired little freak in the museum, who seemed so out of place, but looked so sincerely captivated by this one single painting. what does he see in it that suguru doesn’t? he just doesn’t get it.

he figures tutoring said freak will give him some answers.

aaaaand that’s the plot!!! they end up bonding through art and both take their time trying to figure out why they’re so fixated on my one and only. which obv happens to be the final work of satoru gojo, dedicated to suguru geto to keep his memory alive <333 nobody knows exactly where the painting came from, but it’s said to be a symbol of true love. a connection that transcends time. etc etc etc. u get me. satoru and suguru can’t help but feel drawn to it, and it helps them find each other again. they have this feeling towards the painting, towards each other, that they can’t quite put their finger on. something out of reach.

(one time, satoru dreams of a man with a severed arm, framed by the sunset, and wakes up with tears in his eyes.

he feels as if he’s forgotten something important.)

[beevean]

brutally honest opinions on sonadow sonamy and whispangle 🙂

bro :P

Sonadow: I should like it. I know I should. It's a very typical rival ship, and a relatively civil one too. But I just find it so boring, sorry 😭 I can't get invested in their relationship at all, let alone see the spark of attraction. I think the issue is that I see Shadow as his own character first, and Sonic's rival as... fifth? I don't like him as Sonic's mirror at all, I prefer other rivals. <- result of playing ShTH before SA2, probably

Another nitpick I have is that usually this kind of shonen rival ship hinges on some kind of obsession, or seeing the other one as special in some way - something like "only I can defeat you". Sonadow... really doesn't have this. Shadow is just one of Sonic's allies. Shadow was mildly intrigued by Sonic in SA2 and Heroes but then he got used to him. I'm really not sure what they're supposed to see in each other.

Fandom behavior, of course, doesn't help - Sonadow is immensely popular, inescapable, and extremely prone to fanonization. Ever since I was a kid I hated how Sonadow almost always meant "seme Shadow/uke Sonic", and from what I've seen, the terminology has changed but the "interpretation" hardly did.

Back in the day I liked He Is My Master a lot, though. Hugely recommend it to modern audiences. It helps that it was a deliberate parody and breaking of the stereotypes of the time :P

Sonamy: I have a bit of a Wildly Inconsistent™ relationship with this one lol. I went from loving it as a kid, to distancing myself by the time Generations rolled in, to accepting it in a different form. I think it has the potential to either be a very interesting take on such a basic premise, or recipe for utter mangling of characterization to fit the characters into prepackaged molds. Solution: I don't engage with the fandom :P

The only version of Sonamy I like is one where the two are very close friends, engage in well meaning banter, and travel and fight together. The relationship should all be about fun, and trust, and appreciating how far they've come together. Despite how basic it looks, I reject the "settling down and having kids" scenario.

Perhaps I'm cheating :P but I think Sonamy can be cute without sacrificing their personalities that have IMO interesting similarities and parallels.

Whispangle: at its core, it's a very cliché "shy girl/bubbly girl" ship, not my thing but it could have worked out nicely. The scene where Whisper opened up about her past with Tangle and she offered her support, showing emotional intelligence despite her antics, is honestly nice.

It could have worked out nicely. Then IDW proceeded to shit on Whisper at every moment, turning Tangle into an utter insensitive dumbass who blurted out the name of her bestie's dead comrades for literal cool points and she got away with a "oopsie daisy" while Whisper had to profusely apologize for daring to still have PTSD over it. And I didn't forget how then the Duo fiasco ended with Whisper being artificially humiliated just so that Tangle could hug her, give me a break. Terrible. Whisper deserves a better friend.

[myfckingnameisnuwanda]

Sugar Neighbour (Joongdok)

Kim Dokja walks down a hill on his way home, casually talking with his classmate Han Myungoh.

"What is so interesting about this neighbour of yours anyways?" Asks Myungoh, rather bored "You have never talked to the guy and yet he is all you ever talk about this days."

"I have talked to him!" Myungoh raises an eyebrow, doubtful. Kim Dokja squints "Shun the non believer! Shuuun!"

"You have to touch grass every once in a while, Dokja. Too many web novels will vaporize your brain juice."

"Brain juice? Now look who needs to touch grass."

Coughing a little, Myungoh ignores Dokja’s jab and changes the subject.

"So, why is the guy special, then?"

"Well, for starters; he is the most handsome guy I have ever seen. He would give you a thousand slaps across the face, Myungoh."

"Dude, what the fuck."

"And he is so skilful. He probably knows how to make everything. I wouldn't be surprised. Also, nobody can compare to him when it comes to video games. He'd be world champion if he had the time."

"I don't believe you. There are millions of people good at video games. You are exaggerating."

"I'm not. And you'd see him at the tournaments if he could get in them, I tell you." Insisted Dokja, firm.

"Why can't he get in them?" Myungoh suddenly gets a dark look in his eyes "You are not in love with a twelve year old, are you?"

"What the-? No, I'm not! Yoo Jonghyuk's only, like, two years younger than me!"

"Oh, so he is younger."

"Myungoh, I'm nineteen, I'm not a creepy old man."

"Well, you just told me Yoo Joonghyuk is seventeen years old. I don't know, man, sounds like you're on your way to becoming a creepy old man."

"Dude, I'll hit you so hard you will forget your gender."

"Don't threaten me with a good time."

—————

Tap tap tap.

"Hey."

Taptaptaptap.

"Dokja."

"Gmrf."

"You never told me why the guy whom you are assaulting cradles for can't get in the tournaments." Asked Myungoh.

The look Dokja through Myungoh said many things that would have sent him home for the rest of the week.

He sighed, giving up.

"Basically, because he has a cradle of his own."

"... What?"

"So, I only know this because the walls in our apartment complex are paper thin, but his parents died at the beginning of the year, and he has a little sister, a literally newly born baby sister."

Incredulity filled Myungoh's eyes.

Every time Kim Dokja said something new about the mysterious neighbour, Myungoh was more and more sure this was a boyfriend-in-Canada kinda situation.

"And his grandparents have been taking care of them since the deaths of his parents, but they told Joonghyuk since the beginning that they would only do so till he was old enough to take custody of his sister." Kim Dokja continued "Because of that, he dropped out of school, left his hobbies, like the video games, and went on a job hunt immediately."

"That sounds..." Fake "Tough."

"I know, right?"

"Hmm..."

"But, anyways, if he doesn't find a decent job by a week before his birthday, I'll hire him as my cook or something and give him a ridiculously high pay. Don't look at me like that. You know I can and will. I will even give him social security, health, dental. Whatever he wants"

"You are crazy."

"Ah, but Yoo Joonghyuk doesn't know that yet."

"Dokja, are you planning on seducing the guy?"

"Nah, I just want to be able to see that face every day."

"What the-? Why do you say that like it isn't the craziest shit I've ever heard anyone say?"

Kim Dokja sighed again.

"I'm not crazy, you just have never seen him."

"Nah, man, I tell you, you sound like a stalker when it comes to this Yoo Joonghyuk." But even if he was, it wasn't like Myungoh would do much about it.

Kim Dokja was very physically weak, to the point of sickness a lot of times. The neighbour, if he was real, had a very high chance of being able to defend himself against Dokja.

It didn't occur to Myungoh that Dokja may use monetary or mental manipulation against the guy.

"I am not Yoo Joonghyuk's stalker."

"Then how do you know his birthday?"

"..."

Silence.

"... Casualty?"

Myungoh rolled his eyes.

"At least you're a terrible liar. Yoo Joonghyuk will be able to use that in his favour."

[cctine]

Love Parasite | Otome Game Review

Hiii!!

‼️ BEFORE YOU READ THIS: BEWARE OF SPOILERS!! MASSIVE SPOILERS ‼️

I want to write a review on a Switch Otome game called Love Parasite that I recently finished~ It was my first big girl purchase on the console, so I WAS SO EXCITED TO PLAY IT! I did play this some time ago and finished it maybe less than a year ago so it isn’t too fresh in my head but fresh enough where I remember the main things.

I will summarize the summary in my own words (I'm not good at summing things up, so beware). It is about this girl aka the heroine, Cupid, a Greek goddess. She fought with her dad (I forget what god he was) about how love should be between humans, and she wanted to prove to him that they should not forcefully break people up. She goes down to the human realm and experiences ✨love✨ (obviously). She enters this company called Cupid Corporation, where she helps people match up and fall in love. She also finds herself helping these 5 "love parasites" who have traits that make it hard for them to fall in love with others.

There are 5 love interests:

Ryuki Keisaiin - Glamor Parasite

Shelby Snail - Prestige Parasite

Gill Lovecraft - Lovelorn Parasite

Raul Aconite - Obsessed Parasite

Allan Melville - Thieving Parasite

The recommended route to play: Ryuki ➤ Shelby ➤ Gill ➤ Raul ➤ Allan ➤ ???

The route I enjoyed from most to least: Allan ➤ Raul ➤ Ryuki ➤ Gill ➤ Shelby

💘 Ryuki

He is the glamor parasite, and honestly, with the first appearance impression, I did not have any interest in playing his route because he looked like a kid, LOL, but when I did, I actually enjoyed it more than I thought. He has some family issues, which was why it made him the way he is, but getting to know his character, deep down, he is genuinely sweet and nice. He was also so funny because if someone has TERRIBLE fashion, his brain blocks them out, and he sees that person invisible HAHHAH. But I really enjoyed the sweet moments when he got shy and made fun of people who were in bad fashion.

⭐️ Rating: 3.5/5

💘 Shelby

He is the prestige parasite, and his route was BORING! It makes sense because he is seen as a workaholic, making his character dry overall. All he did was work, and they only talked about work. I feel he only liked the heroine because she was good at her job LMAOOO. He looked mysterious and cool, but his personality was bland and too dull. His story was also just not fun (it was just about his company) and the love/sweet moments were just not there. IDK, but he was my worst, and I had a hard time moving his route along because I would get sleepy so fast playing it :’) sorry, I’m being so brutally honest BHAHAH

⭐️ Rating: 2.75/5

💘 Gill

AWWW, okay, his route was SO CUTE AND SWEET. He’s the lovelorn parasite and why is he called that? He is basically too committed to his crush (aka the heroine). I did not like his appearance (with the glasses and nerdy-like), but his personality was ADORABLE! And I loved how he was basically husband material and he literally DID EVERYTHING FOR THE MAIN GIRL!! He was SO IN LOVE TOO. GAH. For one of his bad ends, I remember the girl just became a lazy couch potato because he did everything for her and basically made her not need to worry about anything. But with her change in personality and appearance, he was still deeply in love and omg I find that so sweet because WOW… find a man who is that obsessed with you :p

⭐️ Rating: 3.75/5

💘 Raul

So he’s the obsessed parasite and why? BECAUSE HES OBSESSED WITH GREEK AND MYTHOLOGY!! There’s a huge plot twist at the end and the reason why it’s recommended to play him later in the game is BECAUSE OF THAT. Yes the romance was spicyyy buttttt the plot was also pretty good as well. SPOILER: he is the reincarnation of Alexander the Great and her aunt was in LOVE with that man so she wanted to bring him back in Raul’s body LMAO. BUT this was spicy because they ahm… we’re friends with benefits and he only saw her as someone to sleep with, not someone to love. He grew SO MUCH AND HE REALIZES WHAT LOVE IS!! It was SO CUTE but gave me the ick when they slept together so early on. But wow… I really did enjoy his route.

⭐️ Rating: 4/5

💘 Allan

I lovvveddd him!!! He is a sweet boy underneath all of that hehee. He is my FAVVV route by far because it gets more wholesome as you read through his storyline. We find out that he is her soulmate through heaven and when she was chosen to become Cupid, he decides to jump down and become a succubus to be with her, SO ROMANTIC AHHH but I loved his route bc of that!!! He’s my fav one out of all of them :)))

⭐️ Rating: 4.75/5

💘 ???

This was just the main common ending when you completed all of the other routes. It was good. Honestly, I found the whole plot alright and it’s a simple romcom otome which was super cute :)) I recommend for those who just want to read a cutsie romance story! The art is BEAUTIFUL and I was literally in love with it!

⭐️ Overall Rating: 3.75/5

Gameplay hours: 35+ hours

Soundtrack: 5/5

Art: 10/5 <3

[moonlight-tmd]

LOL

Imagine if the jettwins 'abducted' (by leading him away from the rest of their teams lmao) bee? like, they'd try to convince bee to reconsider prowl as a spark mate, or to promise not to become boring and responsible. bee would be shocked then amused, then explain everything to the twins and that they have nothing to worry about.

also, what's Jazz and Prowl's reaction to this lmfao

Hah, yeah. They would totally pull him to the side when no one's looking and question him. It all depends on what continuity this is in.

I like my "Bee died and Prowl got depressed" headcanon for ProwlBee; original and continuation of it. Btw i added the tag #revival!prowlbee to every post related to it so you can find it easier on my blog.

I imagine Prowl was halfway into his recovery when the Elite Guard visited, he and Bee weren't dating yet. Sentinel got fuckin spooked by Bee and Optimus playing along. The jettwins literally almost trampled the poor bug in attempt to tackle-hug him. Jazz had to save him from them, he gave Bee a big hug and a ruffle on the helm before the twins snatched him away to welcome him back.

This was also the first time Jazz has seen Prowl smiling since the incident. It was truly a miracle. Jazz has heard Prowl's confession back when he was mourning Bee's death, he didn't say anything and let Prowl recover first, he knew something was gonna happen sooner or later.

Now the next time they visit is when Bee and Prowl are together, they've been officially dating for maybe 2 weeks now.

Jazz is hella proud of them. Things went down and they pushed thru it together, good for them. The jettwins however... yeah, their surprise is directed towards a different emotion. They see Bee and Prowl basically clinging to each other on the couch and they immediately know the threat of someone fun being in a relationship. So when everything is going smoothly and nobody's paying attention to the scout at the moment they snatch him and bring him behind the plant and interrogate him.

They didn't really see Prowl when their team visited after Bee's death, they only heard about how Prowl was doing from Jazz. Bee is kind of hurt when they suggest him reconsidering his relationship with Prowl but he brushes it off and tells them that nothing will change and they still will do pranks together. They had a group pinky-promise in the first place, and pinky-promises are not to be broken.

I don't think Bee would tattle on them like this to Prowl cuz he doesn't want Prowl feeling unworthy of being his sparkmate or something so he never mentions anything happening. There is however one thing that has occurred after that... the teasing.

The ungodly amount of romance teasing from the Jettwins. In private and in public. As i said in this post, they would recite the tree rhyme and tease him when they do pranks.

Jazz is a mix of amused and disappointed. Prowl is just amused and bashful, he loves hearing that Bee loves him and Bee's reactions are adorable. Bee is just full on embarrassed and hates it with passion. He doesn't hate everyone knowing he loves Prowl- he would shout it from the highest skyscraper if given a chance, he just hates the twins teasing him like this.

If we go the non-angsty ProwlBee route then;

Jazz would surely be surprised cuz he didn't expect Prowl to find a love interest in such outgoing and hyperactive fella like Bee. No offense, Jazz likes Bee- the little man is funny, has groove and enjoys some nice sax tunes with him. He's happy for them, opposites do attract after all, huh.

The Jettwins are a disaster like in the previous post. They are scared Bee will turn all mature and responsible and lose all his fun because if it so they snatch him and the interrogation happens.

Both Jazz and Prowl are amused by the little teasing shenanigans the twins and Bee have. They both know nothing bad will happen from it but it's still amusing to watch- Prowl might act more affectionate when the jettwins are around just to mess with them. Bee is both blessing and cursing Prowl for doing this. This feels good but he wants to have peace, damn it! Don't hype them up!

[chuuuvi]

Alright I’ve avoided saying anything about the new Taylor album but I think I’ve spent enough time thinking about it now to give my opinion. As a lifelong fan of her music TTPD has been the weirdest experience of any album of hers for me.

First listen was just basic front to back while doing some nonograms and my immediate thought was that this is the worst thing she’s ever released. Like I for real had to take a break to go listen to some 1989 to double check that I don’t just dislike her music as a whole now. (False alarm 1989 is still one of my favorite albums of all time). I spent some time trying to figure out what wasn’t working for me. Most obvious was that the songs feel really dull and samey? They aren’t fun pop songs but they also aren’t the beautiful folksy ballads of folklore/evermore. They felt like they went on forever but also didn’t go anywhere.

All that to say that I was really fucking bored. Thats not enough to make me give up on an album though. I made that mistake with folklore and I wasn’t about to do it again. (I found folklore kind of dull at first listen and just wrote it off as “not for me” before coming back months later and finding a real appreciation for it) What was more concerning is the writing though. I had already seen people joking about the lyrics on this album before I listened and yeah it’s not great. It feels at times like someone doing a parody of Taylor Swift’s writing style. Some of these lyrics are undeniably cringe and thats coming from someone who can withstand a lot of cringe. It’s truly bizarre to listen to because I do think she’s a talented songwriter and she has proved that in past projects but it rarely shines through here.

I was feeling really negative about this album and overall just kind of bummed out that we got a new album from literally my most listened to artist of all time and I didn’t enjoy it with the exception of like 3 songs: Down Bad, Clara Bow, and, the immediate standout for me, I Look In People’s Windows. Heres where things take a turn though. I get a call from my dad (shout out to him! He’s the best ever and I love him) and he was telling me that he listened to the album and wanted to share our thoughts. In case you’re interested his favorites are Fortnight and So High School. I felt kind of bad because I wanted to be excited but I couldn’t give him more than lukewarm opinions on anything.

He then asked me if I could explain to him what certain songs were about with my swiftie knowledge and that kind of perked me up because I realized that I hadn’t done an in depth look into the lyrics yet. I had only listened to it very passively. I basically told him that and said I’d get on it and I could answer any questions he had the next time he called. So with that I went headfirst into listen number 2! I was ready to go with genius lyrics open, taking notes, checking twitter and tumblr and googling stuff. I built a case for my interpretation of every song to present to my dad. And the thing is I was having an absolute blast. It was a complete turnaround from my depressing first listen. I felt like a detective and I spent almost all night on this. I went to work the next day on like 4 hours of sleep but I felt nothing but pure joy and excitement.

I had to ask myself though.. is this a good way to engage with music? Is it possible to say you enjoyed a piece of art if you can only find that enjoyment through picking apart the personal life of the artist? The fun I’m getting from this isn’t the fun I feel when listening to good music it’s the fun I feel from watching reality tv. I mean yes I also have felt the same satisfaction from other Taylor Swift albums but it’s a secondary feeling. Like for example my favorite song of hers is All Too Well 10 Minute Version. I think that song being autobiographical gives it a lot of power but I think it would still be a masterpiece if the whole story was entirely unrelated to Taylor’s real personal life. On the other hand I think most of the songs The Tortured Poets Department would be entirely uninteresting to me if it wasn’t for the clues into her personal life and feelings.

And that brings us to my subsequent listens. This has just been me listening to it in my regular life. In the car, at work when I was away from the counter doing some pricing, at home doing laundry, etc. I haven’t been able to feel the joy I felt during my deep dive into the lyrics again but I also haven’t felt the misery of my first listen either. Theres still more skips than the average TS album but a lot of the songs have grown on me especially after going in depth into the lyrics. The cringe lyrics are immediately obvious but after going line by line like I did I realized that theres still plenty of lyrics that feel like the old Taylor Swift I’ve loved for so long. After all the emotional ups and downs I’ve landed at a fairly neutral position. It’s not a very good album as a whole but I’ve made my peace with that. It’s not as bad as some people are saying it is either. In the end I’m moving my favorites to a playlist and the rest I will not be going out of my way to listen to again. If you are considering listening to TTPD and haven’t yet.. you would probably have a better time with one of her other albums instead. I’d recommend 1989!

[subbyfoxelf]

[movie review] avatar: the way of water (2022)

“the way of water has no beginning and no end. our hearts beat in the womb of the world. water connects all things, life to death, darkness to light.”

pretty bold words from a movie that asks me to not pee for 3 hours & 15 minutes but also asks me to buy & drink a big soda in a ridiculous souvenir cup.

so, yeah. i’ve now seen this in both dolby & imax, and while i think imax was the better experience of the two, i can confirm that (as is usually the case in a james cameron venture) there just isn’t a bad way to see this movie. it’s funny, because most of the interesting things i can think of to say about it are criticisms but overall i definitely enjoyed it?

look, at a base level, the reason i liked this and i’m probably going to like all of the hopefully dozens of sequels this series keeps churning out is that the avatar franchise has become one of the few remaining standard bearers for high-effort filmmaking in blockbuster movies. like, basically every visual you see in this movie was probably created in a computer, but it does not look like it? at all? and i’ve said it before but i’ll say it again, it’s pretty clear that this is attributable to the absolute obsession that james cameron has for making movies look the way he wants them to look, and the fact that he seems to bring other people with that same obsession along for the ride.

the things that were problematic about the first movie (and the expanded universe surrounding it) are still problematic, plus a few new problems that they decided to add on top just so we don’t get bored, but before i start really digging into those things i just want to pause and say that i really miss when this kind of approach in blockbuster filmmaking was… not the norm, exactly, but definitely not as uncommon as it is now? so yeah, at the end of the day if i’m going to be watching some shooty scifi bullshit, i’d love for it to keep looking this good and having this much of an imaginative (but also extremely thoroughly well-thought-out) approach to the creation of a genuinely alien world. because the real star of these movies isn’t jake, and it isn’t neytiri, and it isn’t their kids. it’s pandora.

the movie seems to understand this, too, because yeah we start with jake narrating but it’s over this fucking wonderful shot of the camera just rapidly zooming down to the surface of pandora and then through the trees, and just sort of bludgeoning you with the fact that yeah, we’re back. and what i’ve kind of been dancing around is the fact that it’s pretty clear that creating pandora & bringing it to life was a labor of love for everyone involved, and that’s something that’s been obvious to me since the first movie, and i think it’s why so many people found pandora so achingly beautiful. returning there weirdly feels a little like returning home, or at least returning somewhere you really like being. it carries an actual emotional weight with it.

and, again, this opening narration is trying to very quickly usher us through the last 15 years or so of the sullys’ life but the visuals of these little vignettes are always emphasizing how much the forests of pandora are a starring player in these experiences.

honestly these opening scenes are asking you for a lot, because the status quo has changed quite a bit, and they’re about to hit you with the whole weird clone soldier thing? which still to this day doesn’t really make a lot of logical sense to me, but i’m willing to roll with it because such an entertaining movie is wrung out of it. and also because it fits in great with the thematic thrust of these movies, that the sky people are trying to steal pandora out from under the na’vi, so the idea of them literally appropriating na’vi bodies and shoving their gross human capitalist/military brains in there is just viscerally horrifying.

(... which makes it pretty fucking awkward that one of my biggest problems with this movie/franchise is that it appropriates & profits off of gross tons of indigenous culture…)

yeah okay let’s go ahead & pivot.

the white savior stuff is less visually apparent here because jake spends the whole movie as a na’vi, so that’s nice & i do drastically prefer things this way, but it’s still totally there? but on top of that jake is just the fucking worst father in this? like, neytiri calls him out exactly once for treating his family like a squad he’s the commanding officer of instead of a family? but he just proceeds to continue doing this for the whole rest of the movie and it’s never again a source of conflict? and i’m sorry, that’s not just bad writing, it’s fucking abusive?

in the first movie jake at least realizes he’s kind of a piece of shit and gets his ass kicked constantly for it. this movie acts like he’s just a big damn hero whose only flaw is that he tries to hide & protect his family (the objectively correct thing to do) instead of singlehandedly defeating the sky people. and i just. cannot.

i want to print out flyers about neytiri & staple them to telephone poles like she’s a lost cat, because where the fuck was she in this movie? she’s barely in it, and the one actually kind of big thing she does in the movie (threaten spider’s life to save her get blue!quatritch to release her daughter) is terrible? i just. ugh.

this is mirrored by the fact that when we see jake & neytiri with the omatikaya we barely hear from mo’at, who is one of the fucking best characters in the first movie and is even more awesome in some of the expanded universe stuff so i had a lot of high hopes that we were gonna get to see more of her, but nah, she basically just patches up some wounded and apparently has zero opinions about jake & neytiri leaving. (i mean, obviously that’s not the case, my point is that we don’t hear from her about it at fucking all.)

for that matter, we don’t see jake & neytiri interacting with the omatikaya at all really? we literally just see the clan functioning as a resistance cell against the returning rda. it’s hard to feel the sense of loss that you should feel when they leave because you never get to see them just… being the people? you’re asked to feel the loss exclusively through neytiri getting mad about it for exactly thirty seconds, which is treated dismissively by jake, which by the way is also an awful character moment for him. just. yuck.

i also don’t feel like i got to know the metkayina well enough? i know this movie is a lot more plot-heavy than the first movie, but it just feels like there’s an entire dimension missing this time, and i’m sad about it.

i know i’m starting to sound like i hated this movie, and i didn’t, for all the reasons i stated earlier plus a few more that i’m about to pivot to, but i just need to be really clear that me enjoying this movie is not an endorsement of everything about it? like, i feel like this is less of a star trek situation where i’m like “this 90% aligns with my values but has some issues because sometimes the writers suck” and is more like when i used to like star wars and was like “this is an extremely well-designed universe that it’s fun to immerse myself in and the movies are damn entertaining even if i frequently don’t like the stories that are being told.”

(okay i have to go on a quick tangent here since i don’t talk about star wars much anymore to clarify what i mean. hilariously, the last jedi coming along and actually being a good movie with good things to say is what made it impossible for me to continue enjoying star wars when i realized it had never been that before and was never going to be that again, like, it actually “ruined” star wars for me, but not in the way most people mean when they say that? like it’s probably the only star wars movie i’d rewatch if you asked me to. and i used to rewatch all of them frequently, and write fanfiction & whatnot. i was one of those.)

like the first movie, the way of water is a deeply problematic movie with superficially anti-imperialist themes, but like… considering that the vast majority of tentpole blockbusters are imperialist propaganda with a very thin coat of paint over them, that’s clearly better, right?

like, i think we often do this thing where when something at least superficially aligns with our values we hold it to a higher standard, and i’m not about to lecture anyone (especially if they’re indigenous) if they do that with this movie, it certainly deserves it because wow does it ever not practice what it ineptly preaches, but i am going to say that for me personally i would prefer imperfectly anti-imperialist movies that are made this well over unabashedly pro-imperialist movies that were clearly filmed in empty rooms composed of green screens or that circular led thing that the mandalorian & star trek discovery popularized. (for the record, star trek discovery does a much better job with it, but it’s still pretty obvious at times.)

and the other reason i really enjoy this is because, as much as i’m starting to feel like i kind of genuinely hate jake (but i can still empathize with him and i think the lengths he goes to to throw his own life between the bad guys & his kids is genuinely heroic) and as much as i fucking hate the way neytiri is written in this movie, i fucking love their kids? this jumped out at me even more on rewatch when i was more familiar with the general shape of the movie. when i first saw it i loved lo’ak & kiri but i thought neteyam especially wasn’t characterized nearly as much? like, he was just the “good kid” to lo’ak’s “rebellious kid,” but the thing about cameron movies is that so much characterization happens in the margins and when i was able to pay more attention to the details the second time through is fucking loved & wanted to protecc neteyam?

but yeah, i totally get why we focus on lo’ak. he’s an extremely good boy and i’m super invested in his story going forward. (kiri also rules, but i feel like that’s more obvious.)

also like, this movie has na’vi bullying in it, so uh. yeah. that’s… nice. for me. (sorry not sorry.)

so, uh, yeah. at the end of the day you have a deeply problematic but wildly entertaining movie that is kind of the standard bearer of high-effort blockbuster filmmaking in an age dominated by “just film it in front of a greenscreen & redirect people to the disney+ series”? again i have no beef with anyone who cannot enjoy this movie because of its problematic elements. i’m not out here waving my embarrassing unironic avatar fandom like it’s something to be proud of, and i don’t think i’ll ever really be able to enjoy this franchise in an uncomplicated way, which could very well result in me burning out on it like i did star wars before it, but idk. for now i’m enjoying it. and for me at least, this movie had more than enough to enjoy about it to overcome the things that infuriated me about it.

a-rank

[llycaons]

finally reading the last book of tg/cf and maybe it's an unpopular opinion (I'm not really in the fandom) but the way the female characters are written is a complete let down. Like words can't describe how much I find them lacking. Don't even get me started on the racism (Banyue arc was a slugfest and it took me days to suck it up and read it)

hi anon! I can't speak for popular opinion - I'm not really deep in the fandom either and i get the sense most people just care abt hualian (🙄) - but...yeah....famously almost ALL of the female mdzs characters die, and while that doesn't happen in tgcf, they're not the most impressive. it's not something I think of as mxtx's strong point, tho I do love jyl and rain master and ling wen and jian lan. there's things I liked about a lot of them - lets see how they end up *quickly googles tgcf female characters bc it's been so long*

ban yue: part of the famously extremely racist arc and also a VERY very contrived and boring one. nobody enjoys this arc I think. its a real drag to read and it perpetuates horrible stereotypes. how does she end up...not very memorably I think

ling wen: while I really liked the brief exploration of workplace misogyny, the brocade immortal stuff always baffled me from a character perspective. she ends the story just as overworked and unhappy as before. okay!

xuan ji: overly-emotional woman obsessed with getting a man's attention despite him not being interested. I've seen her character being praised as a depiction of 'stalking isn't romantic' but 1. hc's obsession with xl literally IS portrayed as romantic and 2. this entire character concept is rly misogynistic sorry. she ends the story giving up pm and moving on after he basically yells at her iirc, which is nice in the sense that she finds peace, but it's an anticlimactic finale for her after hundreds of pages of strife

sqx: I don't want to give mxtx credit for creating a trans women/genderfluid character here bc she explicitly ties sqx's gender with shapeshifting and then leaves sqx unable to shapeshift at the end of the story and at peace with her fate. so like. idk EYE think it makes sense to read her as genderfluid or a trans woman but I don't think mxtx sees her the same way and I think leaving her unable to take the form she loves so dearly is a bit sad given how strongly tied her gender has been to her shapeshifting, even tho leaving her explicitly disabled as a happy ending did make me feel some kind of way

yushi huang: YUSHI HUANG!!!!!!! I love rain master I truly do think she one of mxtx's best characters. I do think she's a bit more static and less developed/deep than she could be but her cool disinterest in pm and pm's desperate inept floundering posturing machismo is truly SO so funny to me I love her so much and her backstory is really neat. she doesn't undergo much change in the story either tho so while I do love her she's not really a dynamic character

jian lan: I actually really love jian lan and I think her arc is great. like her personality rules, she's funny as hell, she's very independent and self-reliant and refuses what she sees as pity and fx settling in the end even tho she's a working mother and he's a powerful god offering his support to her. and it foils nicely, if simplistically, with xl being like 'no...true love DOES exist...' and it can be a letdown if you were hoping for her and fx to get back together but I never got the sense they felt that way about each other anymore...I was glad for her to get her baby back and return to her life. she might have the most satisfying arc in the story and that's not saying a lot bc even then it was really barely an arc 😭

re: misogyny in tgcf I always get so pissed off when people praise hc for ~looking out for the abused ghosts~ because let's be real he is such a piece of shit to them and any altruism he shows them is externally imposed by his idolism of xl. I know I've made posts about this before but in that gambler's den scene he fully was allowing men to bet THEIR DAUGHTER'S LIVES being like 'yeah people can bet whatever they want it's their choice' THOSE ARE NOT THEIR LIVES THEY'RE BETTING AWAY!!! WOMEN AREN'T PROPERTY!!! and the way he used those female dancers as props/set dressing to to be ignored when xl showed up and the way he literally ignored jian lan when she KNEELED TO HIM in gratitude because he was too cool to acknowledge her I guess he's actually such an asshole and I resent how the fandom hypes him up so much and how in-universe he's so adored for like???? running a city that shelters ghosts ig but on a personal level he's so narrow-minded and such a mean-spirited and petty dick for NO reason.

sorry I started ranting abt hc. h/l have insane chemistry and their scenes are fun but the way hc acts (esp towards women) and is treated by the narrative is like one of my least favorite parts of the story.

but yeah I feel you. the women are not treated as well as they could have been 😔 but at least most of them are alive! I can't even recommend fgep, which does have great female characters, without serious disclaimers that the main character advocates for genocide against her political enemies (central asian peoples). like I read fgep and I did like it but some of the scenes I had to be like. what the fuck am I reading. also it's a political/military/court drama so there's no fantasy elements

my actual recommendation is to watch the double which is about women in a big way but I'm only like 16 episodes in so idk how it ends either 😭 either way, thanks for the ask! and thanks for reading, please take a look at this campaign to raise money for the family of a journalist in Gaza