#making my fav relationships a little dysfunctional

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

mmmmmm Caliyork angst

California is protective brother first and foremost with an learned distaste for familial authority, the one who's job it is to push away his own feelings to see people for who they really are and them keep those people as far away from the people he loves as possible while they heal

York is/was a shitty parent who only barely acknowledge it

they're laying quietly in bed together, sharing stories and bonding about growing up as colonies and it's this slow build of Cal hearing of hand comments about Gov's earlier days and he just keeps asking more and more pointed questions

until

They were both sitting up now, New York felt Cal's judgment openly bore into him. It had been a time since he'd been the target of such pure disdain from him.

York felt his own hackles raise in defence. "We all made mistakes in those early days, Continental Congress was made for a purpose, he was- just- just-"

"A tool?" York missed the searing venom behind Cal's words, the weight with which they fell from his mouth.

"Yes!" He was exasperated, over trying to justify two hundred year old actions to a state who could never understand, who wasn't there for the chaos and the uncertainty.

The silence that followed was a welcomed break. Until York made the mistake of meeting Cal's eyes.

The disgust was still there but then there was this prominent, inexplicable personal hurt.

His eyes raked over York, desperately searching for something that wasn't there. He forced a sudden joyless laugh. "Not an ounce of remorse in you, is there?"

"It wasn't ideal."

"You abused a child." He stated it so plainly, so confidently, as if a hundred other factors weren't involved at the time. "or let a child get abused, whatever you prefer."

York snapped at that. "He wasn't a child!"

With that, Cal began to get out of their bed.

"Where are you going?"

"Out." His movements were clumsy, distracted. "Away. I-" he took a breath. "I need to think."

The panic that rushed through York didn't make sense but he couldn't bring himself to doubt it as he stumbled out of bed after him. "You're leaving- you're running away over - This?"

"Nothing, is more important to me than this, York!"

"Nothing?" he asked quietly.

"No nothing, If I had to choose between your life and my brother's, there wouldn't be hesitation."

Cal took the moment of stunned silence to snap away. Leaving New York to his own raging thoughts.

[zara-renata]

caleb

i feel like i need to address this because tomorrow is caleb's livestream and the fandom is already being hilarious in the tags, and by hilarious i mean benafflecksmoking.jpg.

I'm really excited for caleb's release. i think infold should have just double downed with the adopted sibling backstory, as it's a cultural nuance that is known and popular in the region where the game is made and where the bulk of its market lives. i understand that they're changing translations and the storyline for the EN audience probably for legal and shareholder, as well as cultural reasons. i have no idea what motivated them to dissolve the adoption through caleb/josephine's deaths, because i know absolutely fuck-all about chinese adoption law--whether the dissolution is realistic in terms of actual law or just for managing the PR of caleb's story, I can't say. but what i do think I know for sure is that the devs always intended for caleb to be a love interest, and I'll be a little pissed if it turns out he's not being released as a LI, won't lie.

i started playing the game back in feb or march 2024 and didn't know they killed caleb, and he was my fav until they blew him up. after i googled and realized they intended to bring him back in the future, i have been excited ever since. If you're bothered by him as love interest, if you are squicked out by the fact that he was raised with mc and was adopted with her, then you're probably not going to enjoy my blog if i end up liking him as much as i hope to like him. i will always love sylus and intend to keep writing about him and enjoying him, but i have room in my heart for more than one LI and the likeliest candidate imo is caleb because of the angst possibilities and meat of his story.

I love dysfunctional relationship dynamics, of the familial, romantic, platonic kinds, and finding the humanity in them. There is potential for so much angst just from the MC and Caleb being raised together aspect alone, and that's delicious to me. And THEN! his death! MC's grief! his coming back potentially a cyborg, and filled with rage, of the trauma of what he went through, MC's rage and trauma of having lost him, there's so much meat. and i like his character model-a guy as big as Sylus, with his soft downturned, pretty purple eyes. before he went boom, he already expressed the fact that he likes to provide for and care for mc, that he wants to protect her. All the things i love about sylus too. sign me the fuck up. And her response was a struggle for him to see her as independent, to prove that she's strong, doesn't need looking after, doesn't need anyone, when he's like please just let me do this for you. I really really am looking forward to them continuing that angle if he hasn't changed so fundamentally because of dying/being brought back.

We likely won't even get half of what i want, if sylus's story is any indication. because despite sylus's introduction, his unhinged, awful behavior has never been properly addressed by the writers. they even make jokes about it in the anniversary event, when we never saw the conversation where sylus is like 'hey maybe i shouldn't have fucking choked and starved you.' So it could be that i end up being disappointed at the writers' lack of exploitation of all of caleb's potential, and he's just a sweet LI in the same vein that the other guys are, and i won't end up loving him like i want to.

but the point is:

i do not have time or interest in arguing with people about why media and fiction are often most interesting when they contain meaty, uncomfortable conflict, and how even silly mobile gacha games can provide a safe vehicle for exploring unhealthy human experiences in an entertaining, thought-provoking, empathetic way. So that's my take, do with it what you will, thanks for reading.

as for my fanfic writing: i have an idea for mc/sylus road trip + hozier lyrics, i have an idea for bestfriend!sylus where mc has a shit boyfriend and sylus just... slowly eclipses him lmao, i have a codependent calebmc fic that i've already started that may never see the light of day because caleb may end up being wildly ooc, but i'm having so much fun writing it, i have a request for zayne + sylus + kidnapped/injured mc, i have some cute ideas for sylus that have come into my inbox in the last week, and of course I'm still thinking about the sylus series, and scenes i want to write now that mc realizes that sylus is in it to win it. I want to do all of these things, I want to enjoy the game. updates may be slower because post-holiday surge at work, lots of contracts to snarl over, and my non-work time is busier this month as well, but i'm still intending to and enjoying writing for lads. thanks for getting this far, i wish you the best of luck and health and happiness whoever you are.

[misc-obeyme]

hello hello, its sibling angst anon again ^^ i loved your response so pls dont apologize for the long ramble, bc i get like that about it too!! also, im glad you liked my song recs <3

speaking of those sibling slideshows i mentioned, for some reason tiktok has filtered them out so when u look them up, they dont show up??? you just kinda get them on ur fyp one day. or atleast thats what happens to me. but if u look up sibling webweaving here on tumblr, ohhh boy. its basically an amalgamation of different types of media be it poetry, song lyrics, shows and movies, and book excrepts all packaged as one that pertain to a theme. my fav is those about mothers and siblings, so unequivocally human. its like walking down a museum tbh.

and agh, i loved your thoughts on the demon bros sibling dynamics. plus yeahhh, its kinda hard to take anything seriously since it is an otome game, BUT who says u cant come up with your interpretations and thoughts? whos gonna stop you? anyway, each brother has a level of depth that is screaming to be fleshed out, but its all very surface level on game. belphegors burdening shame and regret from watching lilith die in front of him, and by extension beelzebub having the same feelings and/or his own guilt. (i remember belph talking about his trauma and the immersion immediately breaks off when an option pops up on the scream, "ask him to kiss you." LIKE. place and time!) asmodeus and lucifer, their entire relationship T_T speaking of which, satan and lucifer?! they're brothers, or say they are and the rest just kinda go with it. but does no one else wanna bring up how satan was even brought to existence? he was literally birthed from luci's wrath during the celestial war. thats like, a gateway for someone to write a long philosophical analysis about him and what it symbolizes. aghhudhwdhwhd i wish i could say more, but i'm literally out of words rn. if i was mc, i'd have to fight everyday to keep it together without breaking down and crying about this. espeically having to live under the same roof as them...ooofff

speaking of complex siblings dynamics, have you see succession? its a show on hbo. its about an ultra rich and powerful family that is ultimately, dysfunctional. theres four siblings and their relationship mean sooo much to me. i wont drop any spoilers just in case you dont know anything, but when i say dysfunctional i meant it!! one of the things i like about this show is that it doesnt have any flashbacks or show the backstories for most of the characters, rather they kinda drop pieces of information randomly and you just go ??? that happened ??? youd think it wouldnt be a good storytelling strategy bc how are you going to emotionally connect the story to your audience? but somehow, the show does it really well. for example, one of the brothers, roman, was heavily abused. and sometimes one of his siblings would go, "yeah i remember when dad used to heavily beat the fuck out of you" offhandedly, like its a cute little fun fact. and youre sitting there like....when did THAT happen??? ofc they wouldnt show it, but if you watch how roman and his father interact on show (roman is so submissive and scared next to his father) it starts to make sense. its like the "show dont tell" but they switch around to "tell and show." subtle interactions like that fully exposes a characters psychology. subtle body language goes a long way. theres also the eldest brother connor, whos seen as the father figure bc their real dad is so neglectful. but tbh connot gets shit on a lot and uuyfuefehfe theres more. i would talk about this all day. sibling angst got me on a chokehold.

anyway, sorry if i made 0 coherent sense but heres the end of the ramble T-T have a good day :3

(if i come back, can i be  🧬 anon?)

Welcome back! And of course you can be 🧬 anon, I will add it to the list!

Oh man, so I did a search for sibling webweaving and I was like woah what is all this lol. I had no idea there was a term for stuff like this, but I'm fascinated! I must not be getting the TikTok videos... admittedly my use of that platform is limited lol.

The thing about the otome game not delving into things means that we all get to speculate and come up with whatever we want. It's a blessing and a curse lol. On the one hand, I like being able to come up with my own interpretations. But on the other hand, it'd be nice to have just a little more depth that what we have.

I have thoughts about Belphie and specifically what happened in the OG with him. That was definitely a situation of, there is so much more going on here than they're bothering to get into. I also get that they can't really do a ton of that, partly due to the medium and partly due to the amount of characters they have to deal with. Like I think they can only choose to flesh out certain characters and the rest kind of end up on the back burner. Which is annoying because there's so much potential for so many amazing stories!

I also have a lot of thoughts about Satan and his relationship to Lucifer and everybody. It's like they give us just enough to make the story dramatic, but in the end everybody loves each other and so on and so forth. I'm not saying both Satan and Belphie shouldn't be able to reconcile what happened to them and move on, but it just happens so fast. It seems too easy. So I kind of headcanon it as, they hide everything. Not just those two, but all the brothers have a certain level of trauma that they just bury deep or at the very least don't display in front of MC. I know they make MC out to be the demon therapist, but nobody resolves their issues in one session and that's all they're normally limited to. But of course they don't have time to get into things that deeply in a mobile otome game lol.

I have not seen Succession! It sounds pretty intense. I think it's always interesting when media use different techniques to tell their story. Of course I have very little knowledge of how TV scripts are written, but for story writing, the way a character reacts can imply all kinds of past history, even if you don't know exactly what happened. Flashbacks are helpful, but I think it's interesting to have a bit of a mix. A character is always going to tell the story of their past a little differently than how it actually happened. And I find that it can reveal a lot about character just to see what they change or leave out when telling it. Of course, who they're speaking to can affect that as well. But it's definitely an interesting concept!

No worries, you made plenty of sense lol! You are always free to come back to my ask box if you so desire! <3

[vividxp]

Tumblr told me my last post was my 100th/101st post and it's a shame that it was a low quality 'lol wat' type of a post. So I guess I will make up for that with some IWTV fic recommendations.

Part of Your World by Weather Mood (basically Loustat!Little Mermaid AU except Lestat is man-eating seamonster). Weather Mood is one of my fav. authors in this fandom, honestly just read all their fics, but this one is new and intriguing.

Magdalena by jollygoodshow - Modern!AU where Lestat and Louis fall out after co-starring in a cult classic movie. Kinda then rewinds back to when they (and Daniel and Armand) were all highschool classmates. That's not the greatest of summaries but I am enjoying the journey here. (EDIT: For some reason the link to the fic no longer works :( )

Saveur de la Maison by pastequesix - Loustat Mafia!AU. So I typically like my Loustat angsty, toxic and dysfunctional to the max and this story is different in that their relationship is less contentious between the two, but I think the overarching plot still challenges them as a couple so it's been a fun read.

[valkerymillenia]

Happy Birthday! Sorry you can’t be with who you want to celebrate today, but I hope it’s a good one and you enjoy your cake 🎉🎂🥳

What did you think of s4 of The Umbrella Academy? Best things/ worst things?

Any fics or stuff you’re workin’ on now?

What are your favorite headcanons for your fav ship?

Thanks ❤️

Hey!

Sorry I took so long to reply but this whole week was hell, every single thing went wrong and I was having trouble focusing enough to answer.

Still, you're the only one that messaged me here and I'm deeply grateful 🥲

Either way- THANK YOU SO MUCH 💕💕💕

My birthday was horrible: couldn't be with my loved ones and the people I have close by didn't care, I barely slept because of pain on my wrist, got woken up way too early by telemarketing, got heavily rained on on my way to see a lawyer about the debt of house (to reason with them so they don't put us in courtb right now), lawyer turned out not to be there because she made a mistake with our appointment and went out of town, got rained on again, all my fun plans had been cancelled and narrowed down to just go with my one friend to a park with some caves (in another city) for the afternoon but the storm got so bad that the park closed down so that got cancelled too, we went to the mall to kill some time before the dinner we were going to have at the sushi restaurant but then her brother got stranded in another district and called her to come get him so all our dinner plans got cancelled too. We cut the cake in a parking lot in the rain so she could take some home with her and I ended up going home and having tasteless leftovers for dinner.

The only things I got for my birthday were the things I got for myself- cookies, cola and one single eyeshadow (couldn't even buy my meds).

It's also been a bad week in general for other reasons too (got sick, the lawyer thing threatening to make us loose our home, money issues, health issues, work issues, and so much more, just everything went wrong).

So yeah, it was terrible but that's why nice messages like this mean so much to me. Thank you.

On the plus side, I made my own cake (goth red velvet) and it was fun and delicious.

(actually made an extra cake too for my neighbors and coworkers because I had enough dough and fondant for it).

As for your questions...

Umbrella Academy s04?

Oh god, it was so bad, it disappointed me so much.

This was one of my all-time favorite shows, I even have an umbrella tattoo (helped by the fin fact that the siblings were born literal hours before me and how much I saw myself in the dysfunctionality of their lives at my age).

Here's the thing- the actors were still great, they always are and they put their whole heart into it, but Blackman fucked everything, it literally feels like he didn't actually want to do this season, the plot just felt so so so lazy and lacking in effort.

I was so happy that we were getting a final season to wrap up instead of cancellation but now I think I would have preferred the loose ends of season 3.

The bad:

Erasing character and relationship growth, the siblings grew so close and did so much to save each other but then in season 4 that didn't even want to be around each other anymore? Blackman took "dysfunctional family", threw away the "family" part and only kept the "dysfunctional".

Ray being handwaved away, Sloane being completely forgotten

Luther not even mentioning Sloane and becoming a happy little stripper, of all things?

The monkey body coming back with Luther's powers???? Wtf? His ape body mutation had NOTHING to do with his powers but they pretended not to remember season 1 at all. Plot hole right there. SO. GODDAMN. LAZY!

Everything about Diego and Lila's relationship and how much they hate their lives after children

Five and Lila???? Wtf???? And then Blackman saying it was because Five deserved love too and Lila was the easiest character to use that wasn't related to her? That's SO goddamn lazy??? And also, as if Five's live wasn't what moved the entire plot for the first season, and why does he need a romance? Ace people exist too and this romance just broke his heart anyway

Allison having no talent, not really learning anything from the previous seasons and making the same mistakes again

Klaus' whole growth tossed away for no reason, season 1 showed us why he needed drugs and season 2 showed us how he could stay sober with the new control he gained but season 4? Nah, let's nerf him, he's too well adjusted and wise now (if too paranoid), so he gets his powers back and goes straight back to drugs and terrible decisions for no real reason, his powers aren't even as terrifying and overwhelming as season 1, it's just there to cause drama

Five being willing to give up his family for a wasteland with Lila? So out of character

Ben... I don't even know where to start with Ben but honestly I could overlook his character's writing issues because of the context

Viktor always wanted to desperately to be a part of the family and then just straight up moves far away and avoids them all for years? Viktor turning so cold and distant and douchy?

Lila's fucking laser eyes? What a lazy way to nerf her character

I actually liked Abigail so much, the reasonable leash on the dog that is Reginald and actually kind, and then they give us that lazy plot twist? She could have been the desperately needed family member to actually show admiration and kindness to the siblings, something softer to lighten the atmosphere and make the ending more tragic and bittersweet but no, let's make her a manipulator

Trying to redeem Reginald not by teaching him a lesson and giving him growth but by presenting someone worse to the plot. Lazy

No musical number for the siblings, and a rather lazy (though not totally bad) soundtrack selection. I'm overusing the word lazy but it's the best word for this season

The fucking giant squid that could have been quirky and interesting but they NEVER EXPLAIN IT

Nobody really remembered the Jennifer incident but then who drew that picture of Jennifer from one of the previous seasons?

Really lazy explanations to fix plot points where they wrote themselves into a wall (including giving the siblings their powers back)

Scraping the Commission entirely

Pogo was done dirty too

The way they started calling it "marigold" as if that had always been a thing (and not a name Harlan came up with)

The "opposite magical particles" thing felt like a pretty lazy way to justify a new world ending threat too

THE GODDAMN FUCKING FLOWER ENDING????? What a slap in the face to the fans!!! Have these beloved characters go through hell and suffer so much for 4 seasons and then give us no catharsis, no balance, only more sacrifice "for a greater good"

The plot hole that even with the flower ending, all the people that exist because of the siblings are still there and their influence is absolutely not gone so why are they???

And so much more, if I keep going I'll give myself am aneurism.

Honestly, I tried to keep an open mind, I kept hoping all the bad was going to pay off in the end, that there would be a good plot twist or some degree of healing or something rewarding in the end, but there wasn't. I tried so hard to like it but by ep 5 I was just angry (should have known something was off when I saw that the episode count for this season was much smaller).

This season made me cry with how bad it turned out.

The good:

The acting was wonderful, you can feel the love these actors have for the roles and each other

The action scenes, incredible action scenes as always (but we could have had so much better one on one fight scenes)

Not awful soundtrack, it's good but still somehow feels half-assed

Reginald finally being told off and the siblings standing up to him, specially Viktor putting the asshole in his place

More of Claire! She finally gets a personality, though I would have loved more Gracie too

Finally addressing Ben and Jennifer

Interesting twists to having the powers back (that were sadly underused, wasted potential)

Klaus being buried alive was horrifying but a truly clever way to torture an immortal, that could have been so interesting for the plot and to address trauma and mental health but no, let's never mention trauma or lasting effects

Jennifer's town

Klaus calling out his siblings

Allison being a protective sister

The special effects

So yeah... I didn't like season 4 and I prefer not to think about it.

As for the other questions...

Any fics I'm working on?

Been on a bit of hiatus due to work, stress and health but I do have plans and will been posting updates to several of my fics soon.

Fav headcanons for my fav ship?

Look, this ask is long enough already, if I start talking about this we'll be here all day. Ask me again some other time 😉

[tofangirlornottofangirl]

so latest chapter tells us how gojo admits he doesn't feel lonely "now" but i wonder oh i wonder, do you think he felt lonely all those years without suguru? without having anyone else that's there for him alone and him as just satoru?

also for your previous ask, i agree about the whole playboy persona, like i just don't see him like that, i like to think he tried to date and is a flirty bastard but i don't think he ever went further than that because he just couldn't connect with people if u know what i mean. i think in an ideal world satoru has a chance to move on and try again, without being obsessed with fighting and all that.

hope all this made sense, im just trying to cope lmao

this is 100% based on my own projections onto him but gojo has looked like a lonely character from the very beginning to even currently, to a great extent, and only some panels in his school years have seemed like he didn't feel that lonely.

i believe humans will do literally anything, and i mean anything, to not feel lonely. it's basically wired into our survival instincts. so tbh any "coping mechanism" or way to stop being lonely is not only possible but kinda understandable.

most people around him are probably honestly just as emotionally constipated, which is why yuuji being there is a pretty shocking and stark contrast to everyone else, and it's because he didn't grow up in the world of jujutsu at all (although he has had a fair share of his own loss and trauma, it is more of the regular human experience variety). even geto and haibara, even though they weren't born into these sorcerer families, grew up seeing curses and probably being kinda traumatised bc of seeing these scary things as children, seeing their effects on people around them, and then being potentially ostracised or trying to hide it, so dealing with it all alone. the only other person we really see being so open at all was haibara but we didn't get to see a lot about him.

nanami as an adult is probably the most emotionally healthy person in the entire story (aside from yuuji like i said) and even then he's not very open at all. but he took time away from the jujutsu world, worked through some of his trauma, and organised his philosophy and opinions about so many things. not a single other character has at all ever seemed like they deal with emotional stuff in a somewhat normal way. this is why i keep bringing in the tinge of nihilism that i think comes with being a sorcerer. like yaga and gojo say in the very beginning of yuuji's journey, you gotta be a little insane to be in this line of work. if you attempt to bring in regular-people morals into the mix, you will go insane, like geto did. you gotta be like that from the start.

all this to say, that i totally expect almost any relationships in the canonverse to be dysfunctional, and if they're actually any kind of functional that's 1. very surprising and 2. probably the result of an insane amount of work and effort being put into making it functional. our favs don't even go to therapy TT not to be a wet blanket or anything this is just what I think of the canonverse. however i have a lot of headcanons where i make it so that everyone is happy (and goes to therapy!!!). i also don't really know how to cope with the chapter or unhappy stuff in my fiction. i just try to ignore or avoid thinking about it until i either have no choice, have an outburst of emotions, or actually forget about it and move on to something else lol. yeah. not great.

anyway! i'm sorry I keep writing these essays on every ask. also, just as an aside, all of my thoughts are obviously coloured by my personal experiences, and it doesn't say on the blog or description, but i'm nd, queer, possibly aroace but who knows not me, and also don't really consider my gender identity as like a solid thing ykwim. so yeah whatever i say is coloured through these lenses. i haven't given a lot of thought to in-universe canon relationships very much because it doesn't seem like the story would ever go in that direction. i tend to mix in headcanons and completely made up AUs into any relationship thoughts i have about anyone in the verse.

[goddslayerr]

SHIPPING INFO //

ANSWER THE FOLLOWING FOR YOUR MUSE(S) SO PEOPLE KNOW HOW SHIPPING WORKS ON YOUR BLOG.

WHAT IS YOUR OTP FOR YOUR CHARACTER(S)?

tbh most of the ships are from...silly lil discord rps and from jokes my friend and i run along with LOL i dont really have any otps w ashton atm aside from the familial bond they have w their captain (my fav cousins ever <3). their relationship is vvvv important to me

HOW LARGE DOES THE AGE GAP HAVE TO BE TO MAKE IT UNCOMFORTABLE?

i dont ship w underaged characters. ashton is 21 and pretty much flirts with anyone so long as they're an adult. but i wouldn't actively ship them romantically w other people's muses if they're over the age of 30

HOW FAR DO STEAMY MOMENTS HAVE TO GO BEFORE THEY ARE CONSIDERED NSFW?

haha now i don't write nsfw on here (at least publicly) bc i find it very embarrassing but when characters start undressing that's where i do jumpcuts and won't write any further

ARE YOU SELECTIVE WHEN SHIPPING?

ehhh i wouldn't exactly say "selective" but i do prefer if we've interacted a few times! there's gotta be chemistry going on first and foremost

WHO ARE OTHER CHARACTERS YOU SHIP YOUR CHARACTER WITH?

like. p much all the characters i ship them w are from non-rp stuff over on discord (they've got like... what, 17 husbands, i think?) but i don't like talking abt that here since it's completely unrelated to this little blog that i've set up

DOES ONE HAVE TO ASK TO SHIP WITH YOU?

yes. i am absolutely clueless when it comes to roleplay relationships but if you approach me about shipping (ESPECIALLY with other ocs) then there's a 9/10 chance that i'd be down for it. i'm not very talkative here but i promise i don't bite

ARE YOU SHIP OBSESSED OR SHIP MORE-OR-LESS?

ship obsessed. mention it to me once and i will be all over it. most of the ships i've made non-rp-wise straight up came from one-off jokes and ended up becoming some of the biggest comfort ships that i currently have

ARE YOU MULTISHIP?

yes! ashton is actually polyam and highly prefers being in open relationships so it wouldn't make much sense if i wasn't multiship

WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE SHIP IN YOUR CURRENT FANDOM?

if youve seen my toyhouse page you might know the answer to this. i love messy and dysfunctional relationships a normal amount

FINALLY, HOW DOES ONE SHIP WITH YOU?

really all you gotta do is ask me and i'll most likely be down. i prefer natural chemistry over pre-plotted ships and i also HIGHLY prefer shipping w other ocs over canon characters (but i'm not completely against it). that's pretty much all there is to it!

[thatmidnightkid]

ok ok i have THOUGYTS on this because. remember the end of the couples’ therapy scene with Sam (a whole different kettle of fish by the way)? Bucky asks her what rule number 2 is. and instead of repeating rule number 2 with the wording we’ve been given so far every time it came up “nobody gets hurt”, she tells him it’s “don’t hurt anyone”. I loved that line and it killed me and solidified my absolute love of this extremely dysfunctional therapy dynamic and my absolute dislike of Dr Raynor as a character (not necessarily that she was written like that, although again, different kettle of fish).

What I love about it is both the implications of that line and the implications it leads me to have about Bucky as a character in tfatws. His whole thing in the series is him trying to make amends, right? As many more eloquent people before me have pointed out and elaborated, no one in his life is telling him that he should not have to because it’s not his fault. My guy was brainwashed. Anyway, as this meta has pointed out, Dr Raynor does not point this out to him either (at least for when we see them) which contributes to their extremely dysfunctional dynamic. The entirety of this making amends arc highlights how warped Bucky’s own self understanding is and while he does improve a little bit on that front through his relationship with Sam and him being reframed in a positive light (even so far as that Karli points out they have to give him something to save to get him off their asses which is incredibly hero coded as opposed to antihero/villain coded) specifically in regards to the GRC/Flagsmashers final showdown situation, it gets shaken by Zemo’s general existence and taunting, by the involuntary removal of his arm that he didn’t know about was even possible (side note this is also one of my fav scenes that i could probably write an essay about) and by Dr Raynor with this line.

Because “don’t hurt anyone” and “no one gets hurt” in this context differ in only two factors. One; the latter also includes Bucky getting hurt himself, whether self inflicted, accidental or due to other people, be that physical or emotional. Two; in the latter, Bucky is not necessarily the aggressor. In the second, he necessarily always is and his own feelings are dismissed entirely because of it. And it seems to solidify this self understanding that Bucky (mistakenly) carries, of himself as an aggressor, as the one who initiates and inflicts hurt on other people. For Dr Raynor, who, as a therapist should always be in their patients corner (to a certain extent depending on the client and the circumstances, professionals please don’t come for me), to almost disregard Bucky’s feelings and on top of that confirm this flawed, false and trauma-borne self image is shattering and horrible. And she does it in an off hand comment, something that has presumably been discussed between the two of them as a rule hanging over Bucky’s head as “nobody gets hurt”. It leaves the implication open that this is what she always thought of as rule number 2, with all the implications that come with it, and leave Bucky with another person not in his corner. I think this plus the removal of his arm by the Dora Milaje (which you absolutely can interpret as a safety should he ever turn against them given the circumstances in which he was given the arm + the fact he prefers to see his arm as the weapon that makes him deadly, not his super soldier existence because it makes him violently uncomfortable as this meta points out) highlights the ways in which Bucky understands himself to be dangerous first and foremost, and as someone who cannot be trusted. (This all on top of the fact that the arm should be prosthetic more than anything because the Hydra arm certainly wasn’t, but, you know. Bucky’s feelings don’t matter.)

I would argue tfatws shows Bucky at his worst mentally.

There are hints of his genuine conviction of these trauma-borne beliefs all over tfatws, and sometimes he leans into it to get away with quite frankly reckless behaviour to the point he almost embraces it (“i am crazy”) but he also shows signs that he knows it can’t be the entire truth. The aforementioned dialogue between himself and Dr Raynor is no exception, and this will certainly depend on your interpretation of Sebastian Stan’s acting, but his face is so resigned and tired when he says goodbye because he’s so fucking done. It’s Bucky being done with Dr Raynor, really. I see him like that in any case. If he doesn’t see the subtlety in the false repetition (or the true meaning if you wanna go darker) he certainly feels as if Dr Raynor has just pushed him into deeply, deeply hurting one of the closest people he has to a friend right now. He’s also certainly been hurt by this entire interaction and by the events leading up to it, and they go completely unacknowledged. “don’t hurt anyone” takes Bucky’s own feelings completely out of the equation as something that fundamentally doesn’t matter, because it’s irrelevant toward Bucky making amends because that’s all that really matters to the people who pardoned him, and Dr Raynor by extension if you want to go there. After implying all of that with one single line, how can you still think this person has your best interest at heart? It confirms the belief that Bucky is an aggressor, Bucky is the one to hurt people, his own feelings and desires do not matter and good writing will pick up on it and bring this arc to a close properly post tfatws.

It pains me to see Bucky like this, but if it’s intentional, it’s beautiful and brilliant writing. I do hope he gets a proper arc to work through the fact that fundamentally he’s a victim first and foremost, because otherwise Ill need a hell of a justification as to why no one fucking sits him down (like the way it happens with other characters in the mcu, it’s not an mcu problem) and tells him he has to stop with that part of his life. It’s over, it’s done, and he’s done the most he can when he didn’t even need to in the first place. If they use this making amends arc to highlight how it’s borne out of Bucky fundamentally being driven by things that could only be classified as good if you wanted to classify them (i’m struggling for the right vocab here, please help me out lol) then i’m actually strangely cool with it. If not…. imma need marvel to justify that. Although given how they’ve yet to justify endgame!Steve….

so random thought, also TW for suicide.

once again bringing up the article where Dr. Raynors actress said Bucky’s therapy was important bc her character was working to keep Bucky from killing himself. I wonder if when they were making the three rules, if they ever talked about rule number 2 including himself. Like when she gave him the rule “don’t hurt anyone”, she pointed out that also meant he couldn’t hurt himself.

[cabeswaterdrowned]

solangelo* and also spoby haleb and spemily 🧘🏼‍♀️

I’ll do solangelo in the other pjo ask you sent and just answer the pll ships here

Spoby

This one I did start out shipping a little in s1 and it soured from there so I combined the first question

What made you ship it / Why don’t you ship it?

I initially liked the dynamic when it started up in late s1, I liked the way Toby and the relationship was being pitched as a place where Spencer could be her authentic self and have support independent from her family and the idea that she would find it with someone who was an outsider who also had a very dysfunctional familial life was a compelling idea to me at the time. I didn’t even mind him being not super interesting at that point because I figured his mellowness was what she liked about him and Spencer finding that charming charmed me a bit (and it supported my Spemily shipping at the time too<33 (not that I still think of Emily as the most mellow person but I’ll cover that further down)).

Really soon after that though I found myself liking them less and less and resenting Toby as a character a lot at points. In s2 they were dry and the least interesting part of Spencer’s narrative, although I didn’t hate it at that point. Early s3 there were a couple scenes I wanted to like, I knew what the story trajectory was for them or the main idea of his A reveal and I kind of wanted to be effected by the angst but… he was just so irritating early on in the season and when the reveal to the audience happened Keenan’s acting just… Could Not carry that storyline At All (ik people on the internet can be pretty negative about Shay and Lucy’s acting in pll and compared to the other main actresses they have more weak moments but they never once flopped like he did constantly :///) and his behavior from then onwards in the show (in retrospect this even started a little in late s2 with his whole “pretending to hate Spencer for her own good/to protect her” thing) was constantly so manipulative and mean-spirited and made Spencer feel terrible about herself in a way i couldn’t stand. And the show would always backtrack to co-sign his behavior and support the narrative of Toby is in the right and Spencer is an awful person who should be grateful to have Saint Toby around (and Spencer hates herself sm so she believes this narrative too! It’s pretty depressing, and I can sometimes get on board with shippy dynamics for my favs with guys who don’t treat them well if the dynamic is contributing to their narrative in a way that I’m on board with (and I do love Spencer’s arc in 3b when she thinks he’s A … everything except the conclusion where he cries once and she forgives him for everything instantly booo (not boo @ Spencer I think this moment really did track for her characterization I read some arguments that it was ooc it’s really not like I said my girl my hates herself sooo much and mistrusts that people will love her for her authentic self/not abandon her because of her family and that just unfortunately leaves her vulnerable to bs from men who are like this :(((, boo @ the writers for subjecting her to this) but what I like about it has little to do with Toby or the dynamic and also for me to take that stance on a ship it needs to be interesting, helps if there’s significant chemistry or an actor who’s really good and makes the dynamic work or the char is developed enough to be either likable or at least hold some weight of his own and not one of those things was working nearly enough here and ultimately I resented how the dynamic effected her both personally and narratively (although narratively it never displaced her in an egregious way that was never an issue for Spencer on this show or really any of the liars except Aria with her showt) way more often. I especially couldn’t stand them together in s4-6a (with the exception of 4.19 which is it’s own thing). Post time jump I mostly just don’t care… with the way they were written in S7 I don’t even think Spencer cared at that point in regards to who she was most into in the love pentagon her preferences definitely read consistently as in her heart it was Hanna>Caleb>Yvonne>Toby then at the end Hanna and Caleb cheated and are together now, Yvonne dead, Emison’s happening so Emily’s off the market, Sparia’s relationship is in a not great place and Aria’s married that demon, it really feels like she’s only contemplating/implied to get back with Toby because she needs Some kind of win so she’s settling lolz. So overall not a fan no. And even in the early scenes of theirs I liked where I thought they worked pretty well together I never got like explosive chemistry from them

(it’s interesting to me that apparently Troian and Keenan’s on-set chemistry was the reason they decided to go with Spoby and not kill Toby off in s1, especially since I’ve now read the first few books and his death was so early he was such a throwaway villain there. Comparing this to other shows where something similar occurred like Veronica x Logan on vmars,… the level of chemistry and the potential of the relationship in question isn’t like explosive or enticing or even that strong the way it was for that example, or other character/actor pairings that weren’t initially planned but happened due to chemistry? And I love like Logan/Veronica Spuffy Ness but this has also happened with plenty of ships I’m not a fan of like Ch**r and J*ffannie but with those examples even though I hate them I do see the chemistry/understanding why they went that way for viewer appeal. Spoby being in this category… perplexes me)

2.What would have made you like it?

If Toby had stayed in that s1 mode of mellow loner-boy balancing out intense ambitious girl and not become so passive aggressive/angry/annoying with Spencer or done so many things out of “protection” for her like the A plot or the police academy or other examples, that clearly actually only hurt her… basically I think the shows attempts to give Toby depth really ruined the ship actually. When they give male chars actual storylines they always come off toxic and horrible and like I said Keenan can’t even act so what’s the point. Generally if Keenan could act and the actors had better chemistry maybe I’d have continued to find something of value there. Also maybe if Toby were a woman he’s be a good char and they’d be a good ship lol

3.Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

What I said about their late s1 scenes working for me pretty nicely, I especially dug the scrabble hotel scene generally the idea of a couple playing scrabble is romantic imo it’s definitely the nerd in me talking there. I also found their dynamic in Shadow Play where Spencer projects certain parts of herself onto the version of him in her head pretty interesting, but not romantic.

Haleb

Why don’t you ship it?

It never engaged me personally, for a starters. In the first couple seasons they’re objectively like cute enough and work well together but I never had feelings about the dynamic like honestly why would I pay attention to Caleb for Hanna when Mona and Emily (and Spencer but I got more into Spanna in the later seasons) exist yk? and then starting in s3 the dynamic and Caleb generally irked me more often than it didn’t and ngl parts of this were motivated by my Mona/Vandermarin staning because the way he reacted to her and it and his dismissiveness towards Hanna when she’d assert her feelings on wanting to take certain steps with Mona like ‘I do want to visit her at Radley’ ‘I don’t want to talk to her at school but I also don’t want you to antagonize her’ I did not care for it at all. Objectively he can distrust Mona (and I adore her but I definitely don’t take a position that the liars and especially Hanna are obligated to forgive her for everything / are unjustly terrible to her, I do have an issue sometimes with the treatment/framing of Mona’s most villainous actions and her overall character compared to a lot of the men who are redeemed at the drop of a hat or presumed to be capable of no wrong but /=/ the liars being the bad guys or something stupid like that) but the way it was played as him having always disliked her and been jealous of her and then as soon as he has an excuse to not want Hanna around her he gets sooo possessive of Hanna in regards to Mona and seems to get off on like being Hanna’s white Knight who protects her from the likes of Mona and in s5 Ali… like yes you could argue that Hanna should be wary of them because of what they’ve done to her in the past but that’s her decision not Caleb’s and I’m biased towards their chars over him so I found it annoying lol. As the show goes on there are more and more instances of him just not seeming to like or respect Hanna to the point where in the finale they’re like married-divorced, + that season I disliked it more than ever as a Spencer stan (and a little as a Mona stan because Caleb giving Hanna an ultimatum in the finale where she has to choose between them grrr).

2.What would have made you like it?

Honestly if Mona didn’t exist I might have had an easier time getting attached earlier on. And then if they hadn’t been ruined. Generally I feel like if I’d watched pll when it originally aired I would have more love for them in early seasons but as it stands I don’t have that nostalgia.

3.Despite not shipping it, do you have anything positive to say about it?

Like I said they were cute enough in the early seasons and Ashley and Tyler work well together, and both of them can act unlike poor Troian being opposite Keenan all the time. And popular girl x outcast is a good trope and these actors were good for conveying it.

Spemily

What made you ship it?

Well I started shipping this one really early on lol I think this and Emaya were the first things to give me shipping feelings in pll (and I started the show fully expecting to be all in on a lot of liar x liar ships and was not disappointed or surprised there) at around the same time I remember really liking the introduction to the dynamic with Emily introducing Maya to her and Maya drawing a line between Emily and Spencer’s competitive drive, ambitiousness, perfectionism and then Emily commenting on why they are different in how they approach those qualities. I got even more into it later in the season when Spencer was shown to be really protective over Emily and they had interesting conflict over Paige and Alison and their own personalities but ultimately made up in a way that cemented their trust and care for each other and that established a pattern for the run. Really after that the more I saw of the dynamic throughout the seasons the more I loved and shipped it.

2.What are your favorite things about the ship?

There’s so much I love about these two together… I love ships where two characters seem like polar opposites at first glance but are actually really similar in far more ways than you’d expect, like at first glance Emily is the soft sweet loyal girl and Spencer is the intense ambitious leader but they really have a lot in common in terms of how driven they both are, how that comes from them both having families that demand perfection but the way that functions is different for both of them in their specific situations, I love scenes where they get to bond over this in subtle ways, they’re both very loyal and leaders scenes between them tend to show Spencer’s protectiveness and tenderness and how Emily can sometimes be very firm and abrasive, I like that when they have conflicts they feel nuanced and their sweet moments of protecting each other fiercely always hit very hard. There’s this whole thing of recognizing parts of yourself in another person and feeling antagonistic towards those qualities but also feeling protective of them that I’m really drawn to. I also love all the moments of what you can read as jealousy on Spencer’s end in regards to her reactions to a Paily and especially Emison I think they’re so interesting and have fun angst potential. Emily’s unwavering faith in Spencer is another thing I really love about their dynamic. Also part of it might be that they’re the two most attractive chars/actresses on the show to me so I just always love seeing them on screen together for shallow reasons lol, and would be very into them making out for the same reason.

There’s definitely more I’m forgetting or just can’t articulate rn

3.Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship?

Well it’s my favorite core four liar dynamic which does seem outside of the popular opinion, I see a lot more love for Sparia Spanna Hannily and I love all those dynamics very much and ship them romantically too but Spemily is like… It for me for some reason. It’s also probably my favorite pll ship overall the only dynamic that really challenges it in terms of levels of love is Vandermarin which I love in a pretty different way for pretty different reasons. I think part of what makes it such a stand out for me in terms of just the liar dynamics is I almost always end up feeling very divided about their conflicts which make them more interesting to me. When they fight it’s so intense and messy but you also get the feeling that they don’t pull punches with each other the way they would with Aria and Hanna because they respect that the other can take it in a way, and for all those scenes where they fight with each other most intensely they also have so many scenes of being the person to comfort and be there for the other two n the most tender way when they’re most vulnerable. And they work so well as a team .. Basically in the words of M@rlene they’re “soulmates” (the one time she was correct!)

Anyway thanks

(Send me a ship and I’ll answer these questions based on if I ship it or not)

[drawthething]

5, 15, 19

5. Who is your favorite side character? One-off character? Antagonist?

Side character: Uh oh you just unlock my Jimmy Jr enthusiasm. Okay okay I'm joking, no rambling this time pffft. My honorable mentions would be Zeke, Rudy, Andy & Ollie, Jocelyn, Ambrose, Branca and Bosco

One-off character: I live for Flip White Fudge and his ma Shelly, they're absolutely legends. There's also the Deli guy whose energy i love :D

Antagonist: Probably Jimmy Pesto 👀Look at that obnoxious annoying awful buttchin. His rivalry dynamic with Bob is so stupidly funny I really do miss it. Him and Trev are also very fun and I kinda wanna see more of his relationship with his kids, they do make one interesting dysfunctional family :D

Honorable mentions would be Cynthia & Logan, very entertaining characters. Their episodes are hilarious and really enjoyable for me

15. Least favorite season?

Alright don't you folks kick me in the butt okay? But season 11 & 12 are just, very disappointing for me. There're only a few memorable episodes, and I can't really recall any moment that's truly hilarious. Most of the storylines are not engaging at all, and I don't think the characters' personalities are as strong and fun as before, like they've all become a less lively version of themselves.

Maybe it's the writing, maybe it's the voice acting. I still love the show, and I appreciate the writers' efforts to make things more emotionally impactful, but comedy and story wise i think it has gone downhill which makes me quite upset :/

19. What’s something you like and something you dislike about the fandom?

Like: This fandom? This tiny funky fandom? I love how fun and creative the folks are. So many great fanworks: the artworks are outstanding, the fics are amazing, and the headcanons and analysis are so interesting :D I love that almost every character or dynamic gets to be someone's fav so I can see them hyperfixating on it for forever. It's a pretty healthy fandom too, I think. No big discourse or whatsoever. Everyone I'm familiar with is so lovely. To all the folks out there keeping the fandom alive, thank you and i love ya :D Be funky and go crazy 🤘

Dislike: Character bashing. I know it's impossible to just enjoy every character of course but eh, sometimes the takes are a little too serious, harsh and one-sided to me. Characters like Jimmy Jr, Teddy, Frond or whoever are flawed in a sympathic interesting way but some folks act like they just committed the worst crime ever and that's all they are. The antagonists? They create conflicts while being memorable and fun (and some of them have *gasp* redeeming traits). We can dislike them of course, but I don't get why someone would want them off the show cuz ya know, they're meant to fulfill a role here. In the end it's a TV sitcom, I think having a more light-hearted and easy take on the characters would make things more enjoyable.

[veliseraptor]

What is your top 5 fav ships (canon or not) in mxtx 3 novels? And why?

you don’t even have to include the “and why” there, anon, I’ll do it all on my own because I can’t shut up about my opinions.

1. Xue Yang/Xiao Xingchen. I rolled into this canon and clearly went ‘why would I devote my attention to the canon main pairing when I could go to the messy fucked up pairing to the left that occupies a tiny fraction of the narrative” and rode that train all the way down to hell, where I live now.

It just...this pairing hits so perfectly so many of my buttons all at the same time. It’s fucked up and dysfunctional and full of misery and tragedy and violence and all those good things that I love to see in a relationship. Xuexiao showed up and delivered me a delicious dinner on a platter. And then carved my heart out and ate it.

And I think one of my favorite things about it is the living on borrowed time aspect of it all. While I yearn for fix-its and will write them forever, one of the things that drew me to this pairing first was the way that it is a ticking time bomb that’s doomed from the start. 

And at the same time you can see the ways in which it could have been different, if only.

One of the other things is how much it’s like. You’d think Xiao Xingchen is functional and Xue Yang is dysfunctional but you’d be wrong. They’re both dysfunctional messes of bad emotional coping mechanisms.

2. Hua Cheng/Xie Lian. I’ve talked about how these two are my favorite main pairing in the three MXTX novels that’re out so far, in large part because of the way that they feel like friends to me long before they get together. And I’m not usually a big ‘friends-to-lovers’ person, but their dynamic is just so...playful, and they so clearly like each other and respect each other and think the other person is just the coolest.

And yes, on Hua Cheng’s end of things I am still like. Please get some sense of self-worth that’s a little detached from Dianxia, please, buddy, you deserve nice things for yourself, but...I think it helps me that Xie Lian is pretty clearly, I think, on the same page. He doesn’t want worship from Hua Cheng. He wants a partnership. And that’s I think what their relationship ultimately feels like to me: a partnership.

3. Shi Qingxuan/He Xuan. I have a type of pairing and a shipping aesthetic and this one landed squarely in it with such force that I was genuinely surprised that it happened as a thing in something I was reading. Like! The betrayal! The friend who turns out to be an enemy who got attached! The contrast between them as near opposites, but prior to the Black Water arc they’re still in tune.

But yeah, I’m here for that sweet, sweet dysfunction, mostly, and the conflict between He Xuan’s desire for revenge and their attachment to Shi Qingxuan, and Shi Qingxuan’s sheltered life and relative innocence.

And did I scream in book four when the fan came back? Oh, you betcha.

I think I also have a...thing for relationships that feel unfinished. That tends to be what drives me to explore a relationship in fic, for sure - a sense that things aren’t done, that there’s more to be dealt with, more ground to cover. And this is definitely that, when it comes to where canon leaves things. 

That’s always going to pull me especially in fandom terms toward getting more absorbed in a relationship and spending more time thinking about it.

4. Jiang Cheng & Wei Wuxian. Speaking of unfinished relationships! I was debating whether to put this one on there or to stick with more ‘typical’ romantic/sexual type ships, but I decided that it’s so important in my head and my feelings that it deserved a spot here. I mean, me and sibling relationships are always going to be a thing, and me and fraught sibling relationships are going to be even more of a thing, and me and sibling relationships where everyone loves each other very much but is failing at expressing it and miscommunicating/communicating past each other is going to have me lying down on the floor screaming.

So here I am! Lying down on the floor screaming.

I just...there’s so much there, in these two’s relationship. In the way that they relate to each other and the way they feel about each other. So much baggage, so many complicated intersections of insecurity and emotional damage that collide in really unfortunate ways. Issues of debt and obligation and shared loss.

It’s such a mess and if you have gathered anything from the majority of this list you may be picking up on the fact that “it’s a mess” is a #1 qualifying trait in most cases for me to pick up a ship.

5. Lan Xichen/Jin Guangyao. Speaking of “it’s a mess!” Oh boy. How does one talk about a problem like Xiyao? I feel like I don’t write much about it only because I feel like others do and better than me, whereas I look at them and just start going “ahhhhhhhhh.” at length and loudly.

But again there’s a lot of ways this aligns with other pairings of mine, both on this list and elsewhere. The mutuality of it and at the same time the underlying darkness. The genuine care set against the ways in which that care is undermined by other factors. And of course the absolute tragedy and suffering of it all.

Reader, I was doomed.

I feel kind of bad that Wangxian didn’t make it on here but it’s only because I tend to spend less active brainspace thinking about them as a pairing, though every time they are on screen doing things together then I do fall in love all over again with how much I love them.

Still weird! Still don’t know how that happened. Them and Hua Cheng/Xie Lian are very much pairing outliers for me.

[hoverboards-and-dragons]

I actually have so many Cal/Austin+the rest of the Texas system ideas and I'm this close to writing a proper fic despite not having written in years, there's not enough of these 2(+), if anyone wants to use any of these ideas I'd kiss you for it

I think part of Austin revels in Cal's hated for Texas, the way his eyes go from soft and affectionate to hard and disdainful as soon as the switch is noticed

Austin doesn't get a lot of things to himself, he only has access to the hobbies he shares with Texas, his social group is whichever of Texas's friends can stand him, he can never trust them to be his friends, that they don't just see him as a small part of an actual whole person, he's been burned too many times before

Austin himself doesn't dislike Texas, he understands his fears and wants to make their relationship better but there's something so comforting in how willing Cal is to see them as two entirely different people, Austin doesn't really think he wants to separate but he still adores that Cal would fight for it, that he so believes Austin deserves it

and he doesn't have to share something that nobody else wants

Texas rejecting Cal so aggressively give their relationship a type of privacy Austin rarely gets, maybe it would better for all three of them if Cal and Texas could get along even slightly but Austin isn't even sure he wants that, he wants Cal to himself, even if that means their flirting is just making gay eye contact while stating policies they know the other will like

and I think this would lead into Austin being easily made jealous when anyone else in the system gets too close, not just insecure about being not being needed but really really possessive

Enter Houston, who decided Cal was hot enough to see what all the fuss was about

Austin told himself it was because Houston was being too pushy, a little sleazy, that they felt entitled to skip parts of the relationship since they've been watching Cal from the headspace even tho Cal had just met them

he was just protecting Cal, like he was suppose to

the pit in his stomach didn't go away when Houston took the hint and asked Cal to a small coffee date

it only deepened when Cal brought up polyamory, its presence had hung in the back quietly as Texas and Cal got more physically comfortable around each other but they never slipped into anything romantic

of course Austin said he was fine with it, Cal deserves it, and he's far too terrified of not being the one chosen to ever forced Cal to chose between them

there's more, obviously, but how Austin fell in love with Cal is it's own post, and so are Texas's feelings about the whole thing and Houston's, and if i write anymore about how this relationship with the other alters develops I may as well just be writing the fic so im cutting it off here until next time

[known-as-naya]

What’s your favourite thing about the Klebekah dynamic and your fave scenes? What was it that drew you to them

Thanks Yuki for asking this, it took me hours to think of all my fav scenes but it was worth it lol ❤️

My fav thing about the klebekah dynamic:

So, klebekah. I simply love them if it isn't obvious by now lmao, their codependent and dysfunctional toxic relationship fascinates me so much. They're litteraly the most important person in each other's life and I love that, I love how they understand one another with just a look, I love how they never gave up on each other for a thousand years despite all the betrayals, I love how they adore and worship one another, I LOVE THEM.

Rebekah was the person klaus loved the most in the world (besides hope ofc) it's actually funny how most of the fandom doesn't realize the impact she always had on him, she was his humanity for a thousand years, she was his constant (along with Elijah ) and he was hers, and as we saw on the show Rebekah was the person he showed affection the most.

As for rebekah, Klaus was the man she ADORED since she was a little girl, he was her big brother, the person she wanted to be like when she gets older, her protector, soulmate and best friend. Rebekah was the only person who never actually tried to change him, she loved him as he is during a thousand years and I LOVE THAT.

-The thing that drawn me to them:

Are a lot of things but THE CHEMISTRY was what made me fall in love, fun fact: but the first time I discovered klebekah I was watching a tvd scene on YouTube a couple of years ago and coincidentally it was their 3×03 Chicago flashback scene with Stefan, and I thought they were a sort of threesome of something lmao and when I knew they were siblings I was shocked but continued to ship them anyway cause why not.

What are your fav scenes ?

Oh boy, this is a very DIFFICULT question cause I practically love all their freaking scenes, but I eventually have to choose so there you go:

-I'll begin with tvd:

-There's 3×03, of course, THIS WHOLE EPISODE IS FULL OF INCEST. the "I'm not your girlfriend", the "choose him or me" Klaus' jealousy, the eye sex, the daggering session, the hand holding, EVERYTHING SCREAMED KLEBEKAH. This ep was such a strong introduction to their strange dynamic.

-3×04: my fav thing about this ep is Klaus taking rebekah to shop and being a child about it. He was so done with her already but at the same time so happy to have her around again. I loved the surprised expression on Stefan's face the whole time, he was not used to this side of Klaus, he was not used to Klaus being wrapped around someone's little finger. I loved their little conversation when she was trying that dress and she said something about women in the 21th century dressing like prostitues and that she got dirty looks for wearing trousers and then Klaus said you wore trousers so women today could wear nothing. Lmaooo it was hilarious.

- 3×15: "I hated you when I learned that you killed our mother but after a thousand years together as a family you're the only one who never left me "

" Aren't we a pair ?" THIS MF LINE GETS ME EVERYTIME. I don't have words to describe what it does to me but I love this scene and the fact that Klaus thought that rebekah was going to show him her torturer's skills makes it better.

-3×18: " you destroyed our family" "I wanted a family they just didn't want me, and now that we're unlinked we're no longer responsible for each other" "so are you leaving ?" "As soon as a get my stakes I'm gone..... I'm gonna make a NEW FAMILY of hybrids" "and if I choose to stay ?" "Then you're just as pathetic as Finn " THIS WHOLE scene was a masterpiece, them looking at each other like that makes me wanna give them a hug:

-3×20: it wasn't really a klebekah scene cause it was Esther in Rebekah's body but the way Klaus smiled at her and agreed to go to the dance JUST for her melt my heart.

-3×22: oh gosh this one, breaks my heart but love it so much " how dare you save Caroline over me ?" " You left me !" "it's always been me, not Finn not Elijah no Kol ME, I LOVED YOU through everything and you don't even care " and then he chokes her and say something he -IM SURE- regrets immediately "you know something rebekah you're right I don't care, from this moment on you're not my family you're not my sister you are nothing " and then he breaks her neck. I HATE THIS SCENE BUT I LOVE IT. these two needed couple therapy. Klaus was horrible, she watched him die, she mourned him, her heart broke. He could've told her about his plan tho ? I'm still wondering why he didn't but I guess he was just being an asshole as usual and took her as granted. And him saving Caroline over her was not it.

-4×04: the flashback hunter scene "YOU TRUSTED HIM OVER ME " "WHAT DID HE PROMISE YOU " "TELL ME REBEKAH " it was like he caught her cheating on him lmaooo. On the same episode there's the famous line "laugh at the girl who loved too easily but I would rather to live my life than yours Nik, no one will ever sit around a table telling stories about a man who couldn't love" the way he looked down after her saying that breaks my heart, cause Klaus could love, he LOVES her, then he daggers her -cause he's a paranoid bastard- and he cries about it.

-Let's switch to TO scenes:

-1×02: this episode is one of my favs but the best scene was when Klaus was choking Hayley after he learned that she wanted to abort the baby then, rebekah slammed him against the wall (it was hot tbh lmao) and she said "it's okay to care, it's okay to want something that's all Elijah was trying to do all he's ever wanted for you, all we've ever wanted." The way he looked her deep in the eyes gets me everytime, he was trying so hard not to cry. Then they sat together, exhausted, and Klaus told her about his plan -that involved giving Elijah to marcel lol- and if she doesn't like it, there's the door.

-1×03: one of my fav episodes too and it has so many good klebekah scenes, “that depends what plan you mean love my plan for global domination or rebekahs plan to find love in a cruel cruel world”  then she giggled and threw a pen at him so lovingly lol. They were teasing and all flirty with each other in front of Hayley and they acted as nothing happened the night before and Klaus never gave Elijah to marcel, after that they teamed up and everything was going fine but Klaus happened. then there's the masquerade ball scene when Klaus called rebekah " you really are a hideously evil little thing aren't you "

and them being jealous watching marcel and cami dancing. later in  this ep theres the famous “you disgust me” scene, the tension was so thick i acually thought they were about to kiss and have sex on that damn piano lmao but klaus as usual disapointed rebekah, she trusted him against all her better instincts and he choose to act against her back cause he thought his plan was smarter.

-I'm not sure in which episode this scene is but I remember Klaus telling rebekah "you were quite resourceful today..... sometimes I think I don't give you your due little sister" it was so cute cause Klaus knows that he doesn't give Rebekah enough credits, and she was so happy to hear him say that.

-1×14: the famous "YOU CANNOT HIDE FROM ME REBEKAH" this episode had me crying the first time I watched it, Klaus was so angry, disappointed and hurt, he could not believe that his baby sister did this to him, that he was in denial for almost a century and he for that she must pay. "Rebekah would not call my father no matter how angry she was " "enough of your lies" even after seeing the truth from the source he still couldn't believe it cause he loved her so freaking much and he thought she did too.

Then them fighting and Klaus getting turned on by her beating his ass up

-1×15: this mf scene.

The kiss, THE FREAKING CLOSE TO THE LIPS KISS. the sexual tension in this scene was HUGE, Klaus finally "set rebekah free" and he was DRUNK doing it. "We don't have to run anymore, we've found a home" and the look on Rebekah's face is priceless, she was shocked and almost guilty cause at this time she has already called mikeal and Klaus was a little too late.

Also in the same episode, THE BLOOD SHARING. Look at them just look at them.

-1×16:

THE BABY MIKAELSON FLASHBACK !! OMG, this scene melts my heart. "Don't be afraid I won't let it hurt you " "will you stay with me till the storm ends ?" And he did stay with her no matter what. I love this scene cause it shows how close and protective they were of each other since forever. Then he gives her the wooden knight so she can be brave. I'm soft.

Then there's this one too ! I love how Rebekah was actually the only one to ever stand against mikeal, she even tried to kill him, just for Klaus. So much devotion.

I'm still not over this one, the hurt on Rebekah's voice as she says those words, Klaus's tears, the whole episode was so angsty but this scene was IT. and then he realised what he did to her, that instead of protecting her he was hurting and suffocating her so he did something he's not used to do, being selfless, and he let her go.

The 1×22 scene: LITTERALY on top of my fav scenes list ! Klaus giving hope to Rebekah proved how much he trusted her "there's no one I would trust more with my daughter's life" and the fact that she came back just for him (and hope) proved that she never really wanted to leave, she just needed a little freedom. Then when he handed her the little toy I WAS IN TEARS OKAY, it was so soft. They were so happy and relieved to see each other again.

-2×09: "if anything goes south I'll be there to pull you out" "you and I on the same team it must me Christmas" he promised to protect her at any cost and she knew he will. Them teaming up against Esther was so great, then the "take me instead" , Klaus was WILLING to sacrifice his immortal life for REBEKAH, if this isn't pure love then I don't know what it is.

-2×17: another episode losing his shit because his wife-sorry sister is in danger. He let Freya enter his mind just to save her (and he was so suspicious about it cause he didn't want her to know his strategies but in fact he was just afraid she'll know about his questionable taste in woman lmaoo)

And this mf scene is so cute, look at their smiles, the forehead touch, his hand on her neck, here on his arm, FOR YOU FOR NOW. I can't believe this is actually canon.

-2×22: "family tradition!" "Minus the family."

"Well, you're here."" In the skin of your choosing, no less."

"Well, poor you. Because that body is such a hardship."

"You would hand over your crown? And do what?" "Raise my daughter... with the help of my sisters. One big, happy family."

" Now, that does sound grand-- minus the giant, Elijah-sized hole in the room. And, whilst your sisters raise your child, what will the child's mother be doing, exactly?"

"This, dear brother, is not what happiness looks like."

This scene was so important, Klaus was wrong and he needed someone to remind him that what he did was not necessary, that he hurt most of his family, and rebekah was there for that. He wished she'd stray with him to "raise" his daughter but after this scene we see Freya offering her Eva's body so she leaves.

-3×09: "you're always leaving" "and I always come back" THEN THE DAMN HUG. their hugs are always so good, the way they close their eyes and hold each other tight and they seem like they never want to let go of each other. Then she has to leave and make Elijah dagger her without telling Nik, cause she wants Nik to be happy for once.

-3×22: "wasn't you who once told me I could talk my way out of hell " and then they smile affectionately at each other and HUG tightly. After this he took her hand and they both walk to their possible end, and she watches him getting stabbed by marcel after she was forced to say all those things she did and didn't think. The whole trial scene was a masterpiece. I love it.

-4×02: this EP was full of klebekah soft scenes. There was the reunion HUG . the way she runs to him the second she sees him and the way he reaches to her and hugs her tightly to his chest.

The kiss on the cheek after "thank you for not abandoning me" and the way he smiles at her was so SOFT OMG.

-4×03: the goodbye hug "Nik you do not need me anymore, I know that I'm your fav sibling and of course I adore you" "you were the only one who never treated me like s misfit, for centuries my only place was by your side...." AND THEY HUG TIGHTLY AGAIN. this was the first time Klaus let Rebekah do whatever the hell she wanted without fighting or daggering and it was revolutionary to her. (The fact that she's his fav sibling and she KNOWS it makes me so happy lmao).

-5×01: their phone call about Elijah. They were both so lost and devastated without him it broke my heart. "How does he look?" "Happy.."

-5×08: "ah Nik always so dramatic"

They were so happy to be reunited after 7 years of being apart, look at them hugging each other so tightly. I LOVE this scene.

-5×12: then there's the goodbye scene, Klaus gave her the cure so he can make up for a thousand years of hurt, "live the life you've always wanted to live, MY SISTER" the way he looked at her so proudly, so in love makes me cry. In my opinion he gave her the cure so they can reunite again in the afterlife. Both him and Elijah can't live or die without her, they're supposed to be together, they're meant to be together and the cure will bring her to them, to him, again. It was such a good scene, the hug, the last glances, everything.

And that's it!!! I'm sure I forgot some other scenes but those are the most important. ❤️

[saturdaysky]

Tagged by @mllekurtz for this fic meme — how did you know I did not wish to be coding right now?

1) How many works do you have on AO3?

Just 7 so far! I've written more, but most of those are languishing in WIP purgatory.

2) What’s your total AO3 word count?

20,340, split between a relative chonker and a handful of 1k ficlets.

3) How many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I've only written actual fics for Critical Role. Other than that, a handful of tiny snippets/rp swaps way back when for Thor. I wrote a fic for Teen Titans when I was like, 13?

4) What are your top five fics by kudos?

Quiet Night, short & sweet wizards getting frisky in the dome smut

Bitter Balm, painful, dysfunctional hand-in-unlovable-hand shadowgast first kiss

the other things that make us, 13k emotionally-grueling words of wizards finding a home in each other

Rare Gift, Trent eats Essek for dinner, metaphorically

A Mind for Literature, silly and snarky romance novel shenanigans

And the other, juicier questions behind the cut for length reasons.

5) Do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I like to! Don't always get around to it for various "bad at responding to all messages ever" reasons, but I do like to respond to the people who take time out of their days to leave a kind word.

6) What’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, hmm. Currently that's gotta be Rare Gift, which in its current form definitely ends with Essek hopelessly trapped in Ikithon's mental interrogation. He started off just as hopelessly trapped, of course, but he didn't realize it.

It has a chapter 2 in the works, and I'm afraid things get much worse before they get better. This is where I reveal that I'm a big fan of the hurt portion of hurt/comfort. :)

7) Do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I'm not a huge crossover fan, really. AUs are great, though.

8) Have you ever received hate on a fic?

I got a flame on the Teen Titans fic when I posted it on fanfiction.net as a tween. I took it down (melodramatically) and then pursued non-writing interests. Writing for CR is the first I've really tried my hand at writing in earnest, and it's been fun.

9) Do you write smut? If so what kind?

I do! You know that post that's like "the plot of this smut fic is that Character A feels himself abandoned by god"? That's my fav genre of smut. 😎 I am interested in relationships with weird dynamics, and that's interesting to explore through smut sometimes. Plus smut's just fun to write, when I'm of a mind for it -- see my #1 kudos'd fic being a silly little smut ficlet.

10) Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Nah, not sure anyone would bother. What's the point of stealing fics, anyway? If someone uploads a fic of mine to like... wattpad, more power to them, I guess. I don't really see it happening, but it wouldn't really affect me if it did. Same reason I do not care at all about anyone using my art for a profile pic or for their D&D characters -- it's harmless.

11) Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not to my knowledge.

12) Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I've co-tossed-around-wip-ideas before! But actually writing fics? No. Maybe someday?

13) What’s your all time favourite ship?

I don't really do all-time favorites because my interests change, but shadowgast will be sticking with me for a long time. I'm betting I will still be fond of it even when my CR fixation wanes.

14) What’s a WIP you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Shadowgast Your Name AU. I have 5k words of this and a lot of thoughts about it, but the complex plot required is daunting, and I'd have to rewatch a lot of early CR to make it happen. But it's such a cool idea you guys :'(

15) What are your writing strengths?

I think I can turn a pretty phrase, and I'm good at capturing emotions, including complicated emotions. I think my dialogue tends to be pretty good. I'm still fairly new at this, so I am learning my strengths as I go. It's fun! I like trying new stuff and seeing if it sticks. :D

16) What are your writing weaknesses?

My fics start off usually as dialogue or internal monologue without any kind of grounding environment, scenery, or visual information, and I think you can tell, haha.

17) What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

I don't really care for it. I think it breaks the fourth wall in a weird way for the POV character to not understand the words spoken, but perceive them clearly enough that I, the reader, can see the complete and correct phrases written out in that language. In that case, I'd prefer something that obfuscates it for me as well so I don't get pulled out of the character's head.

Endearments, single words, and other unobtrusive uses don't really bug me.

18) What was the first fandom you wrote for?

Technically, Teen Titans. Writing for real, Critical Role.

19) What’s your favourite fic you’ve written?

The one I just wrote, the other things that make us. I'm proud of it. :)

I had a lot of fun writing shadowgast trapped between what they want and what circumstances allow, plus all the dysfunctional edges that remain in their relationship despite the deep affection. Also, who doesn't love putting their favs through the wringer til they pull out a happy ending?

I think it turned out very well. It feels like I proved to myself that I can write the kinds of stories I would like to write, which is a nice feeling I did not have before.

Tagging (with no pressure at all, apologies if you've already been tagged) @catalists @marsastronomica @burningdarkfire @ariadne-mouse @renquise @sky-scribbles @aboxthecolourofheartache @callingvoicemail @nellasbookplanet and anyone else who would like to be tagged!

[just-antithings]

Mod el please share all your hetalia ships and feel free to gush about your favs :)

anon i dont know how to tell you that reading this ask literally made me start flapping my arms so excitedly i smacked myself in the face and i dont usually stim that wildly and i had to take a bit to gather my thoughts so i wasnt just an incoherent yelling mess and also to do some stuff for school but shhhh

okay okay so obviously ive mentioned im very fond of usuk so ill save them for last but

im a basic bitch and i just. i love gerita okay like. theyre so cute. i do not have coherent words about them they are just. soft and silly and squishy. geritapan is also very good because im also just an absolute ho for polyships

and also god knows gerita needs a fucking braincell good lord theyre so dumb. japan can be that braincell. japan is the only reason they would get together otherwise theyd just sit there being gay and useless (affectionate)

i also like ameripan! its a funny sort of opposites attract while also kind of similar to the friendly relationship our two countries have irl! i think america can help bring out the dork in japan that he tries to hide and japan is like. america's only impulse control lmfao. ameripan good

from what ive seen of it, lietpol is cute! theyre both kind of disasters and i love the idiots to lovers ships sjfnsnf

hmmmm what else... austria and hungary are cute, natch, and i love how hungary is feisty and austria is quiet and contemplative most of the time, i love characters and ships that break the norm

prucan is cute and funny just because of how fucking different they are and also because the one time canada fucking had enough and yelled at america for three hours makes me think that if the two of them ever got started against some poor other soul it would be a Sight to Behold

but also i saw sth the other day where seychelles remembered canadas name and he was like oh!! u remembered me and im like oh no thats adorable so theyre cute too

i feel like fruks got that rivals to idiots to lovers thing going on, which is Very funny but also like. i dunno i feel like theyre just two old men who just wanna hang out with someone they know well and fine whatever i guess we can kiss too sure

in fics i read my favorite dynamic for them is just. absolutely close, thick as thieves, would willingly die for the other but they also just fucking rib each other nonstop like. romantic or platonic whatever fruk is great

uhhhh what else...

oh spamano is great. romano is just. such a little shit and spain just doesnt care sjfbsb i dont actively ship them but i feel theyre kind of in the background everywhere else and i always feel happy seeing them

*rubs hands together* hohohho boy usuk time

so theyre just. So dysfunctional. the Angst. the Drama. the level of Mutual Care they refuse to acknowledge because all it will bring is Pain and possibly more betrayal like hoooooo boy thats the good shit

they just have so much history (ha) that like. theres so much potential for relationship building there

idk man found family to enemies to begrudging friends again to "i would fucking die for you if you asked but im too scared to let you know that because i dont want either of us to get hurt again" to lovers is the good shit idk what to tell you

thank you again for enabling me anon djdnsnf it made my day!!!

[flybynightwing]

oooo what are ur fav dick relationships

Dick/Kory. Dick and Donna. Actually I love that whole triangle of relationships--the Dick/Kory romance, Kory and Donna’s friendship, Dick and Donna’s friendship, and how they all bounce off of each other. (There’s a reason both parts of my Dick/Kory fic started with whoever was narrating noting that Donna was gone.)

I think Dick and Tim have a really lovely, well-fleshed out fraternal relationship, and I’m even kind of interested in the tensions that spring up in that dynamic later on. (I find the entire Batfamily fascinating in how they feel like a real dysfunctional family, with all the weird inter-sibling dynamics, and how they all reflect off of Bruce in different ways.)

Dick and Cass have almost no canon relationship to speak of, and what little there is is... let’s say “fraught,” but they are my favorite characters and I am going to find a way to write fic about them, by god.

And then obviously Dick and Bruce. I don’t know if I’d call it a “favorite,” because it’s really dysfunctional on a lot of levels, but that level of love and loyalty, combined with that level of anger and resentment, really speaks to me. I think their relationship makes sense. I think it’s incredibly realistic in ways that a lot of the writers probably didn’t even realize. To the extent that I see myself in Dick Grayson, I see myself in the way he relates to Bruce.

Oh, and Dick and Joe Wilson’s relationship is great. More men in comics should stare at each other in awe. Totally platonic awe, we swear.