#maybe it can be the tsundere thing and he becomes a lot less hostile

[omi-papus]

Ryley: Sooooo you have me wondering if you maybe have some… feelings, for this “friend” you're dragging us both to water hell for.

He spoke almost as if to tease him but clearly not intending to be funny as his mood was as apprehensive as could be, even if he had come down from the absolute melt down he'd been reliving every day for the past week. The other man sitting not too far away at the control panel slumped forward, burying his face in his hands.

Cal: That would make a lot more sense now wouldn't it?

Ryley shifts in his chair, sitting weirdly, but apparently he was comfortable. He raised an eyebrow.

Ryley: ¿Is that a yes or…?

He sighed again. Calvin sure did sweat a lot, the other man noticed, only because he could see the stains on his shirt, this was the kind of time that he was sort of glad the prolonged exposure to that planets ungodly salty water permanently fucked up his sense of smell.

Cal: No. No, I don't like Robin like that. Nobody believes me when I say that and if I'm being completely honest, I don't blame them.

Ryely: They probably do because you seem to be a bit too smart to just do all this for a crazy person for nothing in return.

Cal: Clearly I'm not that smart…

Ryley: There's plenty of ways to be stupid. It's very normal to be both smart and stupid at once.

Cal: The hell is that supposed to mean?

Ryley: I don't know, you're smart enough to break me out of jail and dumb enough to WANT to go into 4546b.

Calvin breathed heavy again. That's the kind of phrase he'd use to describe Robin. He thought it wise no to mention that less the escapee started questioning him about his thoughts on that dumbass woman again. It did feel… strange to be put in such a role.

To be the crazy one.

Cal: You're strong enough to knock me out and run. And you've already said you'd rather be in prison than with me, so I wouldn't buy that you're staying here cause you're afraid of Alterra catching you again.

He made eye contact, with something that wasn't quite confidence but definitely wit.

Cal: Why exactly are you still here?

Ryley didn't flinch. That's because he realized this himself the night before. And until now he was actually trying to answer that very question. Sucked that he had to externalize it like this but oh well, maybe talking about it might help him figure it out.

Ryley: Sympathy maybe. Probably pity is the better word.

Cal: For my friend?

Ryley: For you.

Another wave of exhaustion and emotion thrashed through Calvin as he sat a little straighter, trying to find the right words for a second.

Cal: You. You have pity on me. The sole survivor of the Aurora.

Ryley: Is this you feeling pathetic or some sort of “you've suffered so much yet you still care about my dumb problems” thing you're doing right now?

Calvin will never be able to understand why those comments don't make him want to punch him. Even being downright insulted by him felt so dry and intentionless it just made him feel nothing.

Cal: It's freaky how perceptive you are sometimes.

They were fully facing each other now, both fully thrown comfortably and ungracefully onto their chairs. The same way you would, if you were talking utter nonsense with your friends at the end of a drunken party in university.

Ryley: Dude that's not some incredibly complicated social cue to understand. Get a grip.

Cal: Well I'd expect the guy who hasn't talked to a single human in two years to be a little behind on his social skills.

Ryley: I forgot how to speak after a while.

He phrased it as if he expected it to instantly halt the flow of conversation. Some sort of ultimatum, that would make the other instantly regret everything he said and beg for their forgiveness.

Cal: Yhea, laryngeal muscles can atrophy if you don't use them enough and experienced divers learn not to scream often to preserve oxygen. With how you were living, your vocal cords were probably incredibly weak after a while. Especially if you're really one of those people that don't record PDA journals.

Ryley: What the fuck?

He stared at him with a look that was utterly flabbergasted. He couldn't decide if that was insensitive, tone deaf, or actively malicious to say, but it sure as hell left him floored.

Cal: Or are you saying you got some sort of brain damage? Cause if so, you recovered amazingly well, like damn.

Ryley: …

Ryley: Are you trying to fuck with me?

Cal: No…? What… was I supposed to answer to that exactly?

Ryley: l don't know! “Oh I'm so sorry that happened to you”. Like a normal person!

For the first time in a while, Calvin made a face that didn't look like he wanted to digest his own eyelids, one of genuen inocent confusion.

Cal: I figured you didn't want me to pity you.

Ryley: I don't!

Cal: Did you just want me to feel bad or what?

Ryley: Yes! Obviously!

Cal: You know a normal person wouldn't admit that even if it was true.

Ryley: Oh yes, and I'm the most normal person in the world, sure.

Cal: You seem a lot more normal than me. Like you said, I'm heading to 4546b ON PURPOSE. Youre the victim of an accident, and sure youre sure as hell not “normal” as in just about no one in the galaxy has cured the fucking Kharaa, but thats like, renound hero type of “not normal”

He was sounding EXACTLY like Robin right now, and it made him want to vomit.

Ryley: Sucking my dick would be a lot easier than trying to win me over with a speech.

Cal: You're gross, is that a request or a joke?

Ryley: Obviously a joke.

Cal: Well with you its kind of hard to fucking tell.

Ryley: I don't remember flirting with you at any point so I don't know why youd suddenly think I'd seriously mean that now.

Cal: You're a weirdly honest guy! I honestly feel like I have to work duble to take everything you say as completely literal.

Ryley: Oh sure I'm just SUCH an angel.

Cal: Fuck you.

Ryley: Feel free. I dont charge.

Cal: Again?

Ryley: And I'll do it a third time if you dont stop being a kiss ass.

Cal: I'm not kissing your ass!

The man was the most lively he'd ever seen him. Ryley noticed that only when he was angry or annoyed he hopped out of that utterly depressing state of exhaustion and misery he seemed to be permanently stuck in. It suddenly clicked in his head why this “Robin” character was apparently so fond of teasing him. It seemed to be the only way his heart would pump enough blood to not make him go into a coma.

Ryley: I'm sure you'd love to kiss a lot more than just my ass.

Cal: Oh my god, go fuck yourself.

He spat and turned back to the control panel, fully intending to go back to his work and probably drown in it for the next few days. Ryley decided he was going to be nice enough to spare him that fate for a couple of hours.

Ryley: With thoughts of you, I'll do that every night.

Cal: This is literally sexual harassment. Stop!

He didn't look at him. Though he could see his cheeks were red.

Ryley: Does it actually bother you that much?

Ok if he genuinely felt like that, he wasn't about to be that much of a dick. He'd watched enough company seminars to know how shitty that stuff actually is.

Cal: Yes! Now cut it out!

Ryley: Alright, I'm sorry.

Cal: …

He looked back at him with scrutiny, Ryley slowly feeling more regretful, guess those jokes werent as funny as they were to his Aurora roommates.

Ryley: I… I wont say shit like that anymore ok? Calm down.

Cal: Thank you.

He concluded indignantly. They both sat in silence for a moment, Cal seemed somewhat fidgety like he couldn't quite concentrate on his typing or the words on the monitor, eventually he just stopped, but still faced away from him.

Cal: But if you want to talk about that so bad, tell me, is it true that there's all that sex stuff in prison?

Ryley came to life a little bit. Not surprised that he was talking to him again but that he picked such a topic.

Ryley: Didnt happen to me, and the case I've actually heard of where two cell mates that were beside me, that actually seemed to genuinely really like each other. It was weird and definitely annoying to have to listen to when they did go at it, no clue if they were actually full on banging, with no access to, well anything, but they sure yelled a lot. Outside of that it genuinely seemed like they had something.

Cal: Huh. That's a lot more wholesome than I expected.

Ryley: Yeah it was actually kind of hopeful to see. Good thing they were both strong as hell so they never had to worry about anyone bothering them for it.

Cal: That's… kind of sick actually.

Ryley: Yhea.

After the brief awkward silence, Calvin turned around again slightly.

Cal: Did you have anyone? Before the Aurora?

Ryley: No. I'd like to say there's more to it but I just don't date much. It's very rare for spaceship crew, especially Alterra staff. Since there's a whole lot of clauses you have to fill for that.

Cal: Sounds like Alterra…

Ryley: I would gladly become an Alterra employee over a prisoner again, thank you very much, but whatever. And since you're not actually trying to get into these Robins pants. How about you?

Cal softened a little bit, simply at the fact that he didn't even tease him, he just believed him about his relationship with Robin. Ryley couldn't yet begin to understand how appreciated that was.

Cal: I had a fiance.

Ryley: Had. Yikes. How did that go down?

Cal: She thought I was in love with Robin…

Ryley suddenly widened his eyes slightly, instinctively scooting his chair closer to the other man.

Ryley: Hmm… sounds awkward.

Cal: She hated her the whole relationship, I don't quite get why. They were apparently friendly with each other before we started dating. But when we became a thing she just seemed to absolutely loathe her.

Ryley: Did she hate all your other friends too?

Cal: …

Cal: Whatever. When I proposed she said yes with the condition that I cut Robin out and…

Ryley: You said no.

The man suddenly slumper forward again, face in his hands once more. Ryley was left a bit shocked by the sudden exasperated gesture.

Cal: That would make a lot more sense now wouldn't it?

He whispered pathetically. Ryley got even closer. Face almost losing any previous sign of aggression or sarcasm.

Cal: That was at around the same time my friend's sister died. And she insisted on going to 4546b.

Ryley suddenly deflated.

Ryley: You're kidding me.

Cal: I wish I was…

The ship suddenly sounded a lot quieter, or maybe his breathing had just gotten louder.

Cal: I thought it was the only way to give everyone what they wanted. I… I don't know how I could be so stupid…

He sounded like he was confusing this for the very first time, and Ryley genuinely had to wonder if he was.

Cal: She left me anyway… Guess… I guess she saw how much I regreted letting her do that, and decided it wasn't enough.

The other man could no longer decide who was the villain of this story. Until now he was under the impression that Cal was a helpless puppy that was dragged around by everyone around him, and that was still true, but that he essentially lead someone to their death by allowing them near 4546b to get rid of them…

Ryley: And if she hadn't left… Would you not regret what you did?

Cal: Of course I would! I begged my fiance to help me! I thought that even she would understand that nobody deserves that fate and she just insisted that I wanted to fuck her and I just…

He hid his face within his arms against the terminal, not caring how many buttons he was pressing and how that was messing up his code. Ryley was left to sit there and reflect. He could at least decide that he definitely didn't like the fiance, and it definitely concerned him how Cal would have been willing to date and even marry someone so seemingly psychopathic. His feelings towards Cal felt a lot more skewed now that he knew his mistake was at least partially motivated by a petty romantic scuffle. Still, he felt bad for him, even if what he said before felt very true, that Ryley was the one who suffered the most, Calvin had a way of just appearing so utterly miserable that it made him seem even more jaded than himself.

And that was a bad thing. A very bad thing.

Ryley: You won't survive 4546b if You're this depressed before even going in. Not even those precursors could handle it, you'll die.

Cal peaked part of his face out of his hideout. Still refusing to properly look at anything.

Cal: You've ever heard the phrase “Adventurers don't go crazy down in the abyss, because anyone whos in there was already insane”?

Ryley: …No, what movie are you trying to quote right now?

Cal: That's what my father told me once. I could never figure out if he actually made it up or took it from somewhere, but it stuck with me, and now I feel like I understand it more than ever.

Ryeley: You do realize you're calling us both insane, right?

The older man tiredly took his face out of his hands, giving Ryley a slight relief when he confirmed he wasn't crying. He lifted himself up and leaned towards the other ever so slightly, a solid distance, but the firmest eye contact Ryley had ever been given. It felt somewhat heavy on his heart how at that moment it hit him that even when his words could easily be interpreted otherwise, no one had ever made him feel as wholeheartedly respected as Calvin did.

Cal: You know you are.

The survivor took a deep breath and squared his shoulders, looking right back at him with as much of that beholden intensity as he could imitate.

Ryley: Yhea. I am.

[kendrixtermina]

The Team Dynamics of the Three Houses

Essay time! =D

Part One: Team Makeup and Thematic Framework Blue Lions

Overarching Theme: Classic basic fantasy archetypes but with a dark twist (We have Prince Charming/ Guilt-ridden softboy standard-issue JRPG protagonist, Handsome Lech/Idiot Friend, Standoffish Rival, Gentleman Thief, Lady Knight, Sweet nice healer, Adorable spellcaster Girl, the Gentle Giant etc. )

Composition: Has the most people with crests, and the one guy with a naturally occurring major crest. Foreshadows how the crest obsession is particularly bad here, due to Faerghus’ harsh environment and a society that’s both religious and has a serious element of hero worship

History: Notably the most tight-knit group. Everyone knows each other already. It’s basically Dimitri, Dimitri’s longtime best friends, the daughter of Dimitri’s former instructor who heard lots of stories about him and her super nice BFF who gets along with everyone... and Ashe, who didn’t know the others until the academy, but since he is a honest sweety who loves cooking and knight stories, he hits it off with the others right away. 

Atmosphere: Everyone has kind of the same hobbies (cooking, handicrafts, weapons collecting, knight stuff) and a lot of history, some posters have remarked on missing the “family ambiente” in the other routes but since the bonds are stronger they’re also more charged, it’s also been said that it’s the group with the most inter-team drama, especially when you feature in their relatives - You have Dimitri’s whole character arc, all the family drama between the Fraldariuses and the Dominics, Ingrid’s hangups regarding poor Dedue etc.

As expected if you recruit any of them they’ll kinda have a hard time going after their old home, even the tsundere ones. 

The Leader’s position: For all that Dimitri’s friends refuse to drop his honorifics they really are his friends. They’re just all kinda polite with the obvious exception of Felix, and he’s largely tsundere. Despite the afore mentioned drama we see plenty of Dimitri just hanging out with his friends and even coming to them for help, he’s really just one of the bunch . 

Since Faerghus is in chaos everyone’s pinning a lot of hopes on Dimitri and it’s not like he’s completely unaware of that or doesn’t have the corresponding sense of duty, he’s always torn between that and his revenge plan which eventually just takes over. He pursues this entirely on his own, too, with not even Dedue knowing what he’s sneaking around the library for. 

How this “flavors” part one: Gives it a very “personal” touch. Faerghus, it’s culture, recent past and current state of chaos are fleshed out a lot (we learn plenty about the Alliance and the Empire but Claude and Edelgard have greater scope plans) and since a lot of the part I missions concern the instabilities in the kingdom they affect the characters directly. Basically since they’re more “regular” fantasy protagonists we gotta hit em all with the Drama hammer to keep things fresh. And that’s how it continues - They follow Dimitri because of personal loyalty (both toward him specifically, and because it’s in their culture), and Dimitri just wants to protect (or avenge) the people he cares about. 

How this Ties into The Themes: The Kingdom route eventually becomes very much a Power of Friendship story where they all stick it out with Dimitri in his time of need because he’s their friend and they want to be there for him and that makes a lot more sense if there was a big emphasis on friendship/ found family before that, and of course their friendship is what eventually helps him turn his life around. 

How does Byleth fit into this: Dimitri, like Hubert and Leonie, can be filed into the box of those who aren’t immediately awed by their heroic charisma. He doesn’t really get people who aren’t as outwardly expressive as him (eg. Edelgard) But unlike, say, Leonie, Dimitri has no settings between crushkilldestroy and stilted politeness and seldom expresses or responds to overt hostility most of the time. On the one hand there’s a side to him that’s a bit judgemental and vindictive, but that extends to himself too so he’s very ashamed of his flaws and is afraid that he won’t be accepted, so he projects outward that same acceptance that he likes to receive.

So the end result is that he goes out of his way to befriend Byleth, he encourages everyone to speak with them in a familiar manner, insists that they join the victory celebrations etc. Then of course he gets to see that they’re actually quite supportive and so in time they become, as Dimitri puts it “the heart of the group”.

By the time they find out that Dimitri ever disliked them, that’s long past. He’s a very high-empathy, emotional person so once he likes you he really likes you and will regard your troubles like his own. Some ppl might say that maybe the bond feels more special since it took longer to “earn”. He’s practically ready to swear a blood oath with them once Jeralt dies.  There’s an unappreciated Symmetry here like he goes through the trouble to ‘defrost’ them, and then they return the favor by supporting him through his difficult times when they perhaps get to see the ugliest side of him.

Further Dynamic Notes:

So you have a dynamic of working past/ understanding and accepting each other despite one’s flaws and differences. (whereas Claude and Edelgard are interested in Byleth right away, because they’re unusual, but in slightly different ways - Claude can kinda relate to the experience of sticking out itself but is still stumped by being unable to read them, whereas Edelgard sticks out in the same way  so you’re actually on the same wavelenght to begin with)

“opposites attract��� specifically in the way that they balance each other out. A cool steadfast leader type certainly has a grounding effect on Dimitri as a very reactive person, but he also pulls them into the ‘normal’ world a bit after they spend all this time just wandering the world like all places are the same to them. They basically put the magic destiny on the backburner to help him out. They still become archbishop and all to fit the standard fantasy look of it all but not like full messiah like on the church route

Even after the timeskip Byleth kinda plays the mentor role or at least that of the dominant person/ big spoon in the relationship (though Dimitri ends up waaay taler than them especially fem Byleth), “Excuse me this is my emotional support mercenary”

If you go the platonic route you very much stay at „mentor“, Byleth is basically the brains of the operation post timeskip ‘cause the old Mitya can‘t come to the phone right now and Gilbert and Rodrigue would follow him off a cliff

Plot wise, their contribution is to stop the revenge trip when it gets to be a too obvious kamikaze stunt, which they, as a relative outsider to Faerghus and experienced, pragmatic fighter, would do when someone like Gilbert would not

Character journey wise, they refuse to give up on Dimitri and still see the good in him so that he eventually comes to a point where he could envision his own redemption/ come to accept/forgive himself and learn that its okay to move on and live his own life

Byleth can be said to somewhat even out the flaws in everyone‘s leadership styles (while the house leaders help Byleth find their own direction – i didnt come up with this alone there was a brilliant post a while ago that i cant find rn) – In Dimitri‘s case, he has authority/credibility/integrity („Pathos“), being the rightful king with many loyal followers,  and emotional/ personal leadership as an emphatetic person who inspired respect for his character („Ethos“) but is lacking in plans („Logos“)

Golden Deer

Overarching Theme:  Ragtag Bunch of misfits /Unlikely Heroes (let’s see, we have trickster turned lying politician, upper-class twit turned opportunistic conservative, lazy rich girl,  shy glasses boy and his best friend dumb muscle, cursed werewolf girl, stuckup teen genius and the mean money obsessed one )

Composition: Has the most honest-to-goodness commoners - and they largely got in on their own merits, too, while almost all the others had connections. You have a few peeps from the Alliance’s prominent merchant class and one completely ordinary village person whose father was a simple hunter. 

History: Bar the two merchant kids none of them know each other and even they’ve been a little estranged since the demise of Rafael’s parents. There are a few backstory connections (Such as Lorenz’ dad basically having murdered everybody’s dead relatives, or Leonie’s village being in his territory) but they’re largely indirect. They come from a range of different backgrounds and life experiences. Even Claude just showed up the year before and doesn’t know anybody. Of course this is all so you can watch them grow into a team on-screen all leading up to Claude’s epic speech about how they got along despite being from different backgrounds (or be surprised if they show up as one post-timeskip)  

Unlike Dedue or Hubert, Hilda can still be napped early on because she doesn’t really become Claude’s right-hand person until halfway through part oneIf you recruit any of the deer they’ll say that they didn’t have that much ties to their homeland anyways. 

Atmosphere: These are definitely Garreg Magh’s party animals.  Or like a bunch of theatre kids. They’re tremendous fun. “Less complicated” as Claude puts it though some have missed the intensity/drama of the other bunches. The Alliance itself might be full of political intrigues but this younger generation is fairly chill with the important exceptions that are Leonie and Lysithea but Leonie’s lack of chill is largely Byleth-specific, she’s plenty chill in her other supports, and though Lysithea probably donated all the extra chill for the other deer and hence doesn’t have any left, the others  love her anyways wether she wants to or not because try as she might she can’t really get an argument out of them. 

This certainly jives well with Claude’s “friendly surface level extrovert” gimmick they all get along on a surface level and you’ll be hard-pressed to find an ounce of social skills in the Black Eagle house, and the Lions have the Drama Moments, but some have also perceived the deer as not quite as open. 

At the same time they’re not superficial. We have a large abundance of Artsy Ones, we have Ignatz, Claude and Lorenz both write poetry, Leonie isn’t good at it but she does draw etc There’s enough insightful ones for depht and insight to be a significant undercurrent in the group dynamics. They all have different sortts of insight - Hilda can read people well, Ignatz has this sort of intuuitive thoughtful understanding, Lysithea is observant and logically astute, Leonie has street smarts etc. 

The Leader’s position: Precarious. No one knows him, no one trusts him. He just showed up one day, very suspicious timing, not long after his uncle dropped dead (that was Lorenz’ dad but it’s not like anyone knows) and then he’s a shifty weirdo who cannot help being slightly unnerving despite his friendly extroverted demeanor. 

Still he’s a big believer in teamwork, appreciates the value in everyone’s perspective and he can do the friendly extroverted charm well enough to eventually win over most people based on that, though its not until waay after the timeskip that he even considers letting anyone past the soft outer layer.  (In Recruited, Raphael remembers him mainly a lover of feats and merriment)

The longer the story goes on the more the Deer transition to being “Claude’s jolly detective bureau” in which he pulls on all their individual insight for maximum info collection. 

How this “flavors” part one:  It’s taken up largely by Claude’s search for information with the various events being seen in that light.

Claude’s first reaction is often to ask questions and be curious with the emotional response hitting him somewhat later, though it’s definitely also that he keeps up a cheerful face for the team. 

Ironically he’s the only one who came to Garreg Magh for it’s intended purpose: To get a ruler’s education and do networking. Dimitri and Edelgard were already onto Thales courtesy of his having killed their families, him searching on his own, her making preparations for her takeover, and Claude doesn’t know - it’s probably a game balance thing because Claude is the smartest person in the game and if he started out with all the info there would be no plot. 

How this Ties into The Themes: It all builds towards Claude’s big speech about people from different backgrounds coming together. It’s like a microcosm for what he wants to do with the world, to bring people from different places and backgrounds together and have them understand each other.

Lorenz takes until halfway through part II to come around, but come around he does. (markedly, this happens only on Claude’s route, otherwise he sticks with the empire out of self-preservation and opportunism, though he gladly jumps ship to join the kingdom. )

How does Byleth fit into this:  Now I‘ve seen some people saying that Claude initially didn‘t like Byleth or just wanted to use them, but I don‘t think that‘s true. I do think he actually liked them, found them interesting and wanted to befriend them. But Claude, on principle, doesn‘t trust easily, and will in any interaction look at how he can use it.

It‘s a habit born out of both natural curiosity and intelligence (What the 12type eneagramm calls a „Mercury“ Personality type) and the need to survive in a hostile environment where people tried to kill him as a child, and as such it‘s automatic second nature. He has a strong overruling self-preservation instinct.  Claude is suspicious and will interogate people completely independent of how much he likes them. No amount of like makes him trust implicitly.

He doesn‘t have a bad impression like Dimitri, but he doesn‘t immediately click like Edelgard and the curve is pretty nonlinear: With Dimitri we have a clear progression from dislike to like and then the reversal where Dimitri had defrosted Byleth and now Byleth must defrost Dimitri. With Edelgard she likes them immediately out of similarity (like Felix likes Byleth, or like Edelgard likes Lysithea and Petra), and the difficulty/drama only comes later when Byleth‘s connection to the church and Edelgard‘s plots become apparent, but mostly she‘s sad that she‘s „destined“ to be enemies with this person she likes, her level of like never goes down. Claude meanwhile – you might compare him with Dorothea. He‘s used to being able to charm people as well as read them, and Byleth is not only a brick wall, but remains one upon closer examination. They really don‘t know about their past – but Claude takes that as evasions and becomes more and more suspicious.

A big turning point here is the Jeralt situation, where Byleth finally opens up and tells him everything, and Claude realizes they‘re not hiding. And that‘s something I really love about their dynamic – Byleth tells him all and Claude is so interested in them and looks out for them.

Though you could assign each of the three a „turning point“ after which they open up - The diary for Claude (which shows him that Byleth really isn‘t hiding anything) Flayn‘s dissapearance for Dimitri (which convinces him that Byleth cares) and the holy tomb scene for Edelgard (which shows her that Byleth won‘t betray her)

Further Dynamic Notes:

Claude and Byleth relate because they both stick out, but it‘s notably about the experience of sticking out in and of itself, whereas in Edelgard‘s case they stick out in the same way. They’re also alike in that they only found out some secrets about themselves when they were already young adults, Byleth’s magical destiny, and Claude finding out he was related to the ruling house. From how he mentions “not being raised in the lap of luxury” and how his royal connections in Almyra are also “distant”, he might in fact have been raised in a normal village and not known he was the king’s bastard son for some time, though once the secret was out he definitely got some princely instruction like training with Nader. 

The dynamic both interpersonally and as an action duo is very much a complementary one. Dimitri is very different and has that sorta morality chain dynamic going on. And though they each have their specialties that the other is lowkey jelly of Edelgard and Byleth actually fill a fairly similar niche as the charismatic superhumanly powerful field commander. Meanwhile with Claude there’s a division of labor: Claude’s the planner and Byleth’s the enforcer. He repeatedly observes that his plans would be way less effective without someone of Byleth’s caliber to carry them out.

Out of the three lords Claude is the only one where you get the sense that Byleth works for Claude post-timeskip or that Byleth becomes his subordinate. Dimitri’s lost without them, and while Edelgard offers them a formal position as royal advisor after the mock battle and gets this line about how they can’t yell orders at her in public now that she’s the emperor, but it’s phrased in such a way to suggest that she just wants them to yell orders at her discreetly. They certainly balance out Claude’s presentability/trustworthyness problem the way that Hubert quickly puts them in charge of morale to patch Edelgard’s PR shortcomings, but Hubert pretty much says this to Byleth’s face whereas Claude is the only one who knows where the ship is going for the majority of verdant wind. And in the end he’s like “Babysit fodlan for me while I finish world peace” He’s also the dominant one on an interpersonal level, he gives Byleth this speech about how they should use their position more confidently and promise to detective out their mysterious past for them. He also tries dropping hints that maybe Rhea’s not to be trusted though Byleth’s dialogue options are written to suggest that they bought her maternal act and want her back – some ppl said but this way really expositions that „well meaning deception“ aspect of Claude‘s character. He frequently steers ppl toward something they don‘t want but with the hope that they‘ll want it eventually. Perhaps he could be said to have a very fluid/dynamic view of things and people; The other two lords view them more as fixed, hence „I respectfully disagree… lets settle this by stabbing each other“ 

The platonic end result is your basic Epic Friendship, tell each other everything, very supportive, look out for each other, take down a zombie warrior together in an epic team attack, what more could you want I think I‘ve made a whole post about what a good friendo Claude is, initial ulterior motives nonwithstanding… He certainly had strategic advantages in the back of his mind but I don‘t think he ever faked liking Byleth

Plot wise, having The Messiah on his team gives Claude a bargaining chip to seize control of the church with its greater influence. On the other routes, he wisely refuses to touch that particular hot potato with a ten foot pole.

Character wise Byleth‘s influence largely serves to mitigate his jaded cynism. He starts to actually believe his far-flung dreams might happen, so he plays far less defensively than on the other routes.

Claude is smart and charismatic („Logos“ and „Ethos“), his main problem is that nobody trusts him. This is a bit more dimensional than just a flaw though, because he hides his real goals (though they are not truly sinister) both to avoid fights with people who would oppose these goals (contrast Edelgard who declares her intentions openly and deals with the fallout, so she has to fight the knights whereas claude manipulates them) and get the chance to gradually convince them and reveal the truth once ppl agree, also he‘s more a tactician than a strategist and often changes his plans in accordance with what he thinks is doable under the circumstances, and not telling what his plans are gives him the freedom to do that – either way, a downside of that is that no one trusts him. He lacks credibility and, having shown up out of nowhere, has less loyalty and support. Byleth, as a chrch-sanctioned charismatic figurehead, naturally mitigates that.

Black Eagles 

Overarching Theme: Subverted Villain tropes. We have Emperor Evulz / mad science supersoldier, Black Mage classic,  Seditious Chancellor Junior, Sexy Mage, Eccentric Scholar, Pretty Barbarian, Fighting Obsessed Blood Knight and Antisocial Sniper

Composition: It‘s nobles all the way down, even the one commoner used to be famous and is from the capital where all the wealthy ppl live (as opposed to the decentralied alliance and the very spartan kingdom nobles) – The capital‘s a heaven for culture and sophistication but you also see the evident elitism/corruption/inequality problem going on. In keeping with Adrestia being more secular, Ferdinand‘s the only one who‘s explicitly stated to be a believer (in the Marianne support) and he‘s not even super devout

One should also appreciate the irony that the side with the ‚saintly‘ crests is now against the church whereas Faerghus, ruled by the descendants of Nemesis‘ former allies and where he used to have his stronghold are now fighting for the church. But should you go with the church route it also makes a kind of sense as they‘d be goig back to the empire‘s distant origins in a sense.

History:  They all vaguely know/ have heard of each other due to their parents being co-workers or living in the same town, many have at least met each other but at the same time they‘re not BFF like the Lions and many take a bit to warm up to each other.

Another thing of note is that while many of the Lions‘ families were also friends and have been associates since the days of Nemesis, many of the backstory connections for the adrestian studenrs would seem to predispose them to being foes rather than friends, half their dads‘ essentially dethroned Edelgard‘s and are various degrees of complicit in what happened to her siblings, Petra was basically taken hostage by the previous administration, Dorothea has good reason to have beef with the local rich people etc

Atmosphere: I‘ve seen some ppl who played the other routes first say things like how they were struck by how individualistic they are and how there‘s far less team cohesion, or how they „all seem to hate each other“ - I don‘t think that‘s correct assesment but they definitely are quirky, independent-minded or both. They scamper off in all directions when introduced and definitely don‘t bother with formal politeness or friendly facades, if they‘re annoyed with you most of them will probably say so. Even Bernie gives Ferdinand a lecture once XD They‘re basically goth. Though I do think it‘s sorely underappreciated that there definitely IS friendship and admiration between them esp. later in the story, admiration & appreciation being key factors especially since they‘re none too easily impressed.

Of course being independent minded makes it likely that they wouldn‘t blindly follow a leader who‘s up to no good, but it would make them just as suitable to participate in a rebellion

Another thing of note is that while the Kingdom nobles all learned to hold sharp objects in the nusery and many of the deer have street smarts or survival experience having had to live through tough circumstances most of the Eagles are complete greenhorns when you first deploy them – sure many have seen their share of effed up stuff but not in a warlike setting. And you have many of the sensitive/reluctant ones like Bernie, Linny and Dorothea. This of course could either make you think twice about the church sending them on missions or predispose you toward Flayns brand of pacifism.

Of course this just leads to Hubert and Edelgard (and to a lesser extent Petra) to clearly stand out as the experienced ones. El-chan and Hubie dear have most definitely killed a man before. The rest of them will definitely have to measure up to pick up the slack after the two of them leave.

The trajectory certainly goes differently, in CF they all return notably more confident after the timeskip (most notably with Bernie) perhaps in keeping with how Edelgard believes in & promotes self-reliance whereas in Silver Snow they never quite stop being like „AAAAA“ though I suppose the point is that they get their act together and do the deed regardless.

The Leader’s position: Absolute both in terms of power (sorry Ferdie) and dynamics. Definite ‚student council president‘ vibe, she largely interacts with them as a taskmaster/ to make them do their homework. She markedly doesn‘t like this and would like to be one of the bunch but genuinely finds it hard to step out of boss mode.

She does try her best to cultivate an equal atmosphere and for what it‘s worth most do drop the honorifics and tell her when they disagree.  

How this “flavors” part one: The emphasis is certainly on expositioning how much everything in the setting sucks especially on the church‘s horribleness, I mean in the end if she‘s essentially like „We‘ve all seen it this past year“ but of course there‘s also definite foreshadowing that sHE is up to something, there‘s certainly peeps who picked her ‚cause she‘s pretty and she looked more put-together/less obviously dodgy than the others but then didn‘t personal taste wise jive with her character. The whole scene after Jeralt‘s death is definitely a point where you either decide you hate her or love her forever; You get both „WTF“ and „I get it“ type of dialogue options.  

How this Ties into The Themes:

No matter what route yo pick you essentially get a story about going your own way and putting right what the previous generations done fucked up – wether they do this by leading Adrestia back to its holy origins, or by backing Edelgard‘s revolution.

On a political level they either go against their homeland or the previous administration, and personally they‘re all sorta expected to take over their parents‘s job and follow these expectations of proper nobility that they have no interest in and many of them renounce their titles or cut ties with their folks. Only Ferdinand particularly wants his fathers job and even them he means to do it very differently. The happy ending, for most of the eagles, is getting to choose their own paths

How does Byleth fit into this: 

Mostly, they shift the team dynamics from Edelgard as the absolute leader in a lofty, distanced position to her coming closer to being „one of the group“ working under Byleth.

There‘s a reason she later names her elite troop the „Black Eagle Strike force“ in honor of their time at the academy. This is almost the bigger difference, because Byleth isn‘t there for the timeskip. The big change is caused by creating this situation where all the black eagles leave with Edelgard, so she knows she can trust them and having real allies needs the slithers less.

It‘s very hard for her to step out of boss mode for reasons ranging from her personality, backstory, monarch obligations and fear of vulnerability, but having Byleth be the boss for once helps. Some of her most formative experiences were a) Her family betrayed by almost all its allies including her own uncle b) being helplessly dragged around as a hostage. She wants to avoid being helpless ever again at all costs and thus grew to be a very proactive decisive adult which is mostly a good thing but can cause her tome come off blunt and unyielding at times. I mean when she‘s worried that Hubert, her best friend, is hiding some worrysome secret from her she‘s like „Tell me that‘s an order!“ and when he expertly sidesteps that (since he knows her well and understands that she wouldn‘t actually force it out of him) she‘s stumped and doesn‘t know how to tell him that she‘s worried about him – and this is a guy she knows since forever. With the other eagles she really looks out for them but can only really show it through her „leader“ persona, she has this one trick, and when it doesn‘t work (like with Caspar or Linhardt who don‘t really want anyone to boss them around or talk politics) she‘s stumped.

This is hugely mitigated when another person of her caliber shows up with whom she can share the responsibility or even leave it to them so she learns to allow herself to be soft and do stuff like admit her doubts, this starts with Byleth but also radiates into the other relationships. See Caspar and Linhard revising their bad first impressions of her later in the support chains

Further dynamics notes:

A recurring theme is being misunderstood (outright stated in the introduction and that one quote by ladislava – and also in the church route dialogues where Seteth says that „the people will never understand her ideals“ ) and finding someone who understands, which is different from Claude and Dimitri who ultimately want the world at large to understand and accept them. Edelgard has given up on that long ago - her version of the „pep talk“ scene implies she thinks its impossible to truly understand anothers sorrow – I like to think that after her siblings died she found great comfort in Hubert being „not much for condolences“ and talking plans rather than sympathies while everyone else was showing pity for something they couldnt understand. Dimitri is basically traumatized (he relates to Dedue about losing everything and thats why they‘re so tight knit), Claude is basically an outcast and relates to all that dont quite fit in, but Edelgard… yes her family‘s dead much like Dimitri‘s, but in addition to that, she has been through an indescribable science fiction fantasy thing that no one has any context for. She views herself as so altered that she considers herself a whole different person and her past self basically dead. Hence someone like Byleth or Lysithea who could relate to all that is very, very tempting to her – we‘re not told if that‘s the truth or just her perception though, Hubert doesn‘t note her being extremly different, and later on she kinda admids that she herself distanced herself from other people.

Likewise the ship dynamic is ‚birds of a feather‘. Edelgard tells you right away: She feels that she and Byleth are similar and is drawn to them because of that. It‘s not just the mad science background,  both are stoic natural leaders with a bit of a dorky side. This goes both ways – While others are often mildly stumped by Byleth, she can read them pretty well and gets a lot of dialoue like „wow you‘re telling the truth“ or „I can tell you‘re lying“ - that happens so often that it‘s even used to hint that she‘s the flame emperor.

If you had to name a dominant person it would probably be Byleth but overall this combination is disntinguished by being relatively equal and balanced. She likes having Byleth‘s support but repeatedly mentions wanting to support Byleth as well  - As she says after the big mock battle, „sometimes its better to have someone to rely on to support each other through the darkness“. Team dynamics wise they feel a similar niche – the abnormally powerful, stoic charismatic leader who inspires many followers and is a gifted field commander. When they‘re not allies they are foils after all. But as pointed out in their A support despite their similarities each of them have their own particular strenghts that the other envies – Byleth is a better tactician and ultimately better at moral support (though their time powers help). On the flipside, Edelgard is more proactive whereas Byleth struggles with that, and at least her 22 year old self probably has more raw strenght (judging by her stats total and how they‘re evenly matched in the church route reunion cinematic though she isn‘t using her preferred weapon)

If you don‘t marry her then the note the A support ends on would suggest that Byleth sorta gets adopted as a honorary big sister/brother with how El asks them to use her childhood nickname and just lampshading the sense of kinship between them – the platonic outcome is a family bond, which buils as much on similarity and alikeness as their romantic outcome

Plot wise, Byleth‘s presence gives Edelgard something that she wouldn‘t otherwise have: Reliable allies. This means not just Byleth themselves, but the other Black Eagles whom she feels are more firmly on her side as they never defended Garreg Mach from her assault. As she puts it when she tries to recruit you as the „Flame Emperor“, the slighterers will go around causinga strocities but with the sword of the creator on her side she could courttail that better and generally has less need to coorperate even for purely pragmatic reasons so she is free to weaken them ahead of time, kills Cornelia right away rather than work with her etc. Interestingly this is why the front lines are actually further back when Byleth returns than they are in the other routes, but then the war ends the quickest.  

Character journey wise, Edelgard goes from being convinced that she has to give up everything to be a tough leader to allowing herself to just be a person, cummulating in the ending where she pulls a washington/cincinatus, abdicates and gets a normal life.

In terms of leadership style, Edelgard has „Logos“ and „Pathos“ to spare, she‘s described as a remarkable leader who inspires remarkable devotion and has a cause/ rationale – but she‘s got her weakness with inspiring loyalty on an interpersonal level. The followers are loyal to the cause – Edelgard herself is perceived as unapproachable and shady/unsavory, see Dimitri‘s rant about how she‘s „strong“, or statements by herself and Ladislava that people tend to misunderstand her. As a superhuman science experiment she is by definition not a „relatable“ leader. So once Byleth proves trustworthy Hubert immediately puts them in charge of morale and of support/pep talking the reluctant recruits.

(In part II we‘ll get into decision making processes but I think here we have to separate by route rather than house since it’s most evident post-timeskip and dependent on plot events.)

Team Dynamics and Decisionmaking

Empire Route

Here, there is a very clear distinction between inner circle and outer circle. Edelgard and Hubert have their own thing going on and once you prove loyal, you’re in, and you get to see a whole different side to both of them, Edelgard lets down her guard, Hubert acts polite and sympathetic where he was previously suspicious and mocking, and they basically tell Byleth everything, including the unsavory pursuits that they keep secret from everyone else – but overall the secrecy, maintained for realpolitik reasons, never truly stops. Basically those three make all the decisions.

Notable is that if you’ve recruited Lysithea she hovers on the threshold between inner and outer circle. She was fed the cover story of the nuke being a church weapon (though she did’t buy it) but WAS told about the secret assault on Arianrhod. This is prolly cause Edelgard likes her, she can become her main advisor in their paired ending.

Kingdom Route

Dimitri describes himself as as someone who thinks change should come from the people and that the leadership should serve them, for all that he prefers to uphold the basic order of society, and this is reflected in his leadership style – though this also reflects that he is a ‚people person‘ rather than a planner, so the plans are left to his advisors like Byleth, Gilbert and Rodrigue. He is more the emotional/ spiritual lynchpin than the mind or will of the group.

In Azure Moon, especially later on, the decisions are really made by the entire group and you see them considering their next step together. Dimitri spills the backstory as soon as it comes up, telling everyone about his relationship with Edelgard for example.

In early part 2 this is at an extreme in that Byleth, Rodrigue and Gilbert are de facto making the decisions and Dimitri is at best a grumpy figurehead that they‘re putting up because they need him as a symbol, but at the same time he doesn‘t really compromise on his revenge obsession and is just dragging the whole team along/ not really reacting to how they are making him the lynchpin for their hopes. (though it is important to note that he didn‘t ask him too either – they decide to follow him out of friendship or loyalty to his house) yet inwardly Dimitri too is blindly following what he believes are his obligations.

A huge turning point is when he returns after the whole rain conversation and Byleth gets to ask him some variety of „What do you want to do“ in which Dimitri makes a step toward both inner and outer self-directedness, but precisely because of that becomes are more complete/better consensus leader.

I also want to stress that Claude and Edelgard LOVE togetherness and cooperation and equality as concepts every bit as much as Dimitri does they want to be one of the team but they find it difficult. And of course Dimitri’s style has its own flaws too

Alliance Route

While the Blue Lions decide everything together and either variation of the Black Eagles setup has an „inner circle“ that makes the decisions, in the Golden Dear that inner circle is basically just Claude.

Even Byleth doesn‘t find out his plans until part two, and it‘s later still till he comes clear with the team (and still doesn‘t reveal all but points to Cyril as a stand-in) Hilda and Lysithea are discernable as preferred right hand people, and Byleth and Marianne as special confidants, but in the end Claude rarely shows his real self and only he knows the plan. If Hilda and Lysithea pick up alot about him and his true self it‘s because of how observant THEY are and how much Hilda is basically a lot like him.

Claude does all the thinking and motivates followers (from Lorenz to the random merchans who support him) by promising them things they want – because even if he can‘t trust peopöle, he can trust their self-interest.

Church Route

Since you are with the church that is ideally a sort of benevolent parental authority under the supposition that people need guidance and that‘s a good thing it is perhaps fitting that though Byleth winds up the nominal leader, this is actually the route where they are more of a follower. They do watch Seteth says, who is doing what he believes is his duty and mission, and we have Flayn as an innocent, pacifistic voice.

They lost their dad, and the Nabateans are a sort of surrogate family. (wether its one that youre born into or marry into, the wiord „family“ is stressed) – they are the „inner circle“ making the decision and the empire kids, ragtag misfits estranged from their homes, follow. On the one hand they‘re going against their home country on the other they have the saint‘s blood and Adrestia USED to be church aligned so it also makes a kind of sense.

Among the Adrestian kids themselves, Ferdinand and Petra get a chance to shine as the ostensible leaders. They are stalward, competent leader-like people in CF too , but there they are more overshadowed by the much more experienced Hubert and Edelgard.  - Though when you think about it they are like „pure hero“ versions of them who were never forced to become as cold and pragmatic. Ferdinand, like Hubert, is a nobleman from a storied family who is proud of it but wants to fix its tarnished reputation from his corrupt father. Petra, like Edelgard, is a former political hostage who experienced hardship at a young age and worked her way up all on her own, being very serious and competent despite her young age. I prefer the version where they stay buds rly.

It‘s worth noting that Seteth, ‚Heir of Purpose‘, sees it as their families duty to protect Fodlan and is the only one really doing that – his brothers noped out, and Rhea, uneknowst to him, twisted „protect“ into „rule/subjugate“. One might question who gives him the right to decide things because his mom is magic but on the other hand he really is 100% benevolent and I see no sign that he has any greedy intentions especially in in Silver Snow, all the countries collapse and someone needs to keep order, he doesn‘t understand what the empire‘s doing and why just sees their agression and really is rising to the challenge of upholding peace because something needs to do something about the violence. He had withdrawn to protect his daughter but then in the end he‘s the last one who is really doing what Sothis would have wanted. He looks most like her too having the slightly darker, ‚spikier‘ hair.

Further Thoughts

I’m curious to see how Yuri, the Ashen Wolves, and Cindered Shadows compare/contrast to this and i theyll manage to make the dynamics sufficiently different so that its neither a carbon copy or a blabk mary sue ish superlative. 

I mean the other routes are so interesting to dissect because its a tradeof and all have their own flavor so really CS would do better to try to be “different” or, better yet,  “complementary” than “better” or “cooler”

[my-darling-has-forgotten-me]

hey, i'm so sorry on what happened. To get the stone rolling again can i request some dating headcannons for the s, m , t , kino and yui headcannons? Dont push yourself because you always write lots of headcannons. feel free to separate them if you want.

It's fine, I'll write for the Sakamakis now.

Shu~

You two never go on dates... He's too lazy, all y'all do is cuddle. We can smile and cuddle while the fire rooolllls.

All he does is using your tiddies or thighs as pillows and teases you about you being so lewd.

He just sticks his ear phones into your ears and forces you to listen to classical music... Shu, I just wanna listen to Hamilton please.

Overprotective because of his dead boyfriend friend.

Doesn't let you anywhere near Reiji or fire.

Likes playing with your hair and when you snuggle against him.

Not very clingy but an adequate amount.

He's really pervy... So you do it a few times a month, plus he never really uses protection.

Subtly keeps an eye on you.

He's a bottom, but he'll go on top sometimes.

He'd do it anywhere, I think he's an exhibitionist.

Reiji~

I feel like he's a lot like Kent from Amnesia, he warms up to eventually. But you've to be nice to him and treat him well.

He's surprisingly gentle with you.

Reiji is boujie as fuck, so he'll take you to hella fancy places.

But sometimes, he'll prefer to hangout in his lab or room, have tea and have interesting conversations about your interests and his.

Very overprotective when you're around his bros.

He gives you hickeys if he's feeling extra insecure and possessive.

I feel like he's kind of insecure about his personality.

He tutors you in anything you're having trouble and expect him to use a riding crop if you get anything wrong.

Gentleman in the streets, beast in the sheets.

Not the most gentle or generous but it's fine, you both enjoy it.

Bondage is his life...

Absolutely loves aftercare.

Ayato~

Texts you during class and sends you reddit posts.

Makes you watch Superbowl with him.

If he says stuff like 'im the best' and you're just like 'yeah you are!' (unsarcastically) he'll be the happiest boy ever.

He needs to know he's loved and that he's cared about.

Ayato takes you to diners and stuff, maybe clothes shopping and maybe lingerie.

Omg if he sees you near Ruki, he'll just suck your blood in front of him.

Lots of hickeys.

He wants your undivided attention 24/7.

Safe sex? Lol don't know her.

He's too rough, he never spends that long on foreplay tbh.

Has a big thing for moans n' shit.

Can be wholesome but he thinks you wouldn't be into it.

His favorite part is probably going down on his s/o. But I swear to God, if he bites some poor girl down there-

Extra fluffy during aftercare.

Kanato~

Can be a wholesome lil boi.

His tea parties are the shit, he goes all out with... everything.

Loves cuddling with you all the time.

For a date, I can imagine him taking you to a bridal boutique so he can see you try on dresses. That or to hangout in his creepy ass cemetery.

Throws tantrums and has panic attacks if he doesn't know where you are and when he finds you, he'll either hug you or give you hell.

He's like Narancia from JJBA Golden Wind, like he can become very hostile very quickly.

Kanato has been less reliant on Teddy when he started going out with you.

Lots of baking and Jane Austin books.

Absolutely loves it when you play with hair, it makes him tired and it helps him sleep better.

You've to stay near him at all times and you must only have eyes for him.

Rough and wholesome?

Not a big fan of safe sex...

Depending on his mood, he'll ease up and sometimes he'll... Make you unable to walk for a week.

Has a praise kink and y'all always sleep in afterwards.

Laito~

HE WILL TAKE YOU TO SEE HAMILTON!!!!!!!!

Tries to make macaroons and botches them completely.

Laito'll take you to cafés and stuff.

If you play violin, you two will definitely duet.

Makes sure everyone knows about your relationship.

Loves watching cringy movies with you. Like Twilight.

I can imagine him taking you to another country or some shit.

Loves waltzing with you.

I feel like he'd enjoy JJBA.

Opens up slightly to you about his fucked up childhood.

He confides in you a lot and he's not a very trusting person so he must really love you.

Y'all are like rabbits, he's a massive tease and sex can last for a god damn age.

Laito always looks for ways to spice up your sex life.

Wholesome, not really

Meaningless, mostly.

Subaru~

EPIC TSUNDERE.

Dotes on everything you do internally, and if he wants to say it to you, he'll just do the tsundere 'tch'

Loves taking you to amusement parks and haunted houses, he's scared of rollercoasters but he'll go if you really want him to.

He got a bigger coffin so the two of you can sleep in it. He also put blankets and pillows in it.

Very snuggly and gets very flustered if you reciprocate his actions.

Doesnt leave the coffin until you want to.

He loves your sleeping face.

R O S E S .

He loves taking baths with you and loves it more when you wash his hair because it's soothing.

GIVE HIM LOTS OF VERIFICATION.

He can be rough if he wants to or if he loses self-control.

He's very sensitive so he'll be very vocal.

Can be a tease.

Aftercare consists of conversation and snuggies.

[noplotnostory]

Flowey in SwapFell

I consider Flowey a sort of linchpin for the events of UnderTale and pretty much every AU involving a similar backstory. So this post will discuss Asriel and Chara’s personalities in SwapFell and the effects their deaths had on their parents as well as the rest of the Underground.

First things first, this is my interpretation of the SwapFell AU, and therefore not all of the Swaps are widely-accepted Fanon.

For example:

In my headcanons, Asriel is Swapped with Chara. (The reasons for and nature of this Swap (sans any “Fell” elements) are covered in my Flowey in UnderSwap post.)

To summarize my headcanons concerning UnderSwap Flowey: The result of Asriel and Chara Swapping is Asriel being protective--perhaps to the point of possessiveness--of Chara and more prone to reacting in anger rather than openly expressing guilt or sorrow. Also, because Toriel is not an adept gardener, Golden Flowers are not particularly common in the Underground and the essence-infused flower that gets injected with Determination and becomes Flowey is a buttercup.

Now for the “Fell” influences.

I read a multichapter Sans/Reader fic on AO3 a while back that was set in the UnderTale world, but included a sentence that seemed more pertinent to UnderFell (or SwapFell, as the case may be). I don’t remember what fic this was and can’t find a link to it in my drafts, so if anyone reading this knows what fic I’m talking about I would greatly appreciate being re-informed of the title or author so that I can credit them for the idea and provide links on this post.

From what I remember, the sentence was a response to the Reader-Insert-Character asking why monsters are so open and kind to strangers even though they had every right to be bitter about the whole being-shoved-underground-by-humanity thing. The answer was that monsters had developed a sense of community which encouraged being exceedingly helpful towards everyone because intent is so powerful to them that it is actually a lot easier to harm or even kill a monster when they’re caught off-guard by a random outburst of violence, even if the individual lashing out has nothing against their accidental victim. To survive being stuffed all together in the Underground, the only alternative to near-uncompromising kindness would be everyone being on-guard all the time. You can see why UnderFell came to mind.

So monsters are angry at humanity. This is a totally understandable reaction to their situation.

In UnderTale, the area now known as the Ruins was the only populated area of the Underground before Chara fell because monsters were actively avoiding the Barrier, out of fear of what humans might do next. This is also an understandable reaction, and not necessarily one that contradicts the anger. In fact, the entire population of monsters being squeezed into such a tiny place probably made them even more irritated.

And then Chara fell.

Monster SOULs are still made of compassion and mercy, so when the Prince of Monsters found a small, injured human and started growing a little too attached to them, this particular human quickly found themselves under the slightly tsundere protection of the Royal Family. Keep in mind that this is a Swap-verse Chara, who is more passive and open than UnderTale’s Chara and likely willingly gave information on human society’s developments since monsterkind’s imprisonment--as well as Chara’s own history on the Surface. (If you subscribe to the theory that UnderTale is set in the far future and Chara is a modern-day child, then the fact that humans have largely forgotten the existence of monsters would be one of the more valuable pieces of information Chara would provide--particularly since a child is unlikely to have an in-depth understanding of governmental procedures, military technology or pathology.)

Since the composition of monster SOULs make them prone to strong attachments, the bond between Chara and the rest of the Royal Family was strong regardless of monsterkind’s stance on humanity. Meaning that they grieved just as strongly upon Chara’s death and the results of Asriel’s absorption of their SOUL went pretty much the same way it did in UnderSwap.

Toriel declared war. Asgore grieved.

But by the time Flowey was injected with Determination, Toriel had used the impotent rage and fear of monsterkind to reshape the majority of the Underground into a military dictatorship. The only region untouched by her army is the Ruins, home to several just-as-angry-and-scared-but-less-powerful-than-the-rest monsters and a still-grieving Asgore who at one point calmed down long enough to realize that oh, yeah...Chara was human...so maybe only most of them deserve annihilation?

Flowey is still angry at humanity. But with the Underground being even more hostile than he remembers, he wouldn’t be particularly happy to see Chara--or a certain red-SOULed child that eerily reminds him of Chara--be struck down by some random overzealous monster. No, if humanity falls at Toriel’s hands, he wants his dear friend to be right beside him to watch the carnage.

@popatochisssp

[50cyg]

Taiyama Week 2017, Day 8: Freebie! Rant about whatever you like.

Anime Romance Tropes, DATri and Taiyama

So, we have all noticed by now that Digimon Adventure Tri is using a lot of popular Anime Tropes in its films. So, I thought it would be really fun to point out the popular Anime Romance Tropes which Taichi and Yamato have partaken in thus far, and in addition, make some predictions as to what Anime Romance Tropes we are likely to see these two partake in during the last two movies.

So far there have been two really major ones that just about every Japanese review of the films noticed, as well as most westerners.

The first is the classic "Ferris Wheel Date" and it's even been lampshaded in Saikai. That's why Mimi looked so excited and started taking pictures of them (Shipper on Deck Trope). Basically, a ferris wheel ride is supposed to give the couple privacy to talk about their feelings. In romantic shows, this may lead to a first kiss situation. 

here is a link to the classic trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FerrisWheelDateMoment

The second one, which really caused a whole lot of buzz, is the Kabe-don in Ketsui. Kabe-don translates to wall slam (kabe-wall, don- the sound that hitting a wall makes). You’ve likely seen this happening in many Yaoi/shoujo mangas for a while, but it only really gained major popularity around 2014. It's considered a possessive gesture. During a Kabe-don, the bad-ass hero/ more dominant figure will slam his hand (or both hands) against the wall to block the heroine/ submissive figure and prevent her/him from moving away, effectively cornering her/him in place. Then he will lean in closer and the proximity between the two of them creates a sense of intimacy. It can be done flirtatiously, but more often it is done out of intense feelings or anger/frustration/jealousy on the hero's part and he will usually confront the heroine/submissive figure about the relationship between them in some form. There are two common outcomes to a kabe-don: either there can be a tender exchange in which the two will become an official couple/kiss/ anything on that line or the heroine/ submissive figure will slap the hero's arm and run away. 

examples:

http://www.heartofmanga.com/kabe-don-common-shoujo-manga-tropes/

https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%A3%81%E3%83%89%E3%83%B3

http://kotaku.com/manga-trope-appears-in-noodle-commercial-confuses-some-1600201827

and the wikipedia anime glossary defines it as such:

Kabe-don (壁ドン?)

In Japanese, kabe is wall, and don is the sound of slapping against a wall. Literally, kabe-don describes the act of fiercely slapping a wall. One meaning is slapping a wall as a protest which occurs in collective housing like a condominium when the next room makes noise.[24] Another meaning is when a man forces a woman against a wall with one hand or a man leans against a wall and makes a slapping sound, leaving the woman nowhere to go. This has become popular nowadays as a "clever move of confession"

In other words, Yamato and Taichi played that trope so straight, it was just about the straightest thing in Digimon so far. You will even notice that the camera play in that scene makes Yamato appear much taller compared to Taichi than he actually is. Usually, Yamato is only a couple of cm taller than Taichi, but during that scene, even though Yamato was leaning down, Taichi was looking up at him and the angling during that scene made him look like he was at least one head taller than Taichi. The camera work on the close up shots of their faces is meant to emphasize that Taichi is looking up at him by angling the shot of Taichi’s face upwards and angling Yamato’s shot downwards - probably to maintain the classically ideal height difference between male/female or seme/uke in Japan (the One Head Taller Trope). 

I’d now like to take a moment to point out that this effectively makes Toei look like a Yamachi shipper, since they play Taichi out to be the uke during this scene and this amuses me to no end. However, I will also argue that they play Yamato out almost as if he wants to be the uke in the relationship, since he obviously wants Taichi to take charge of situations and is also very quick to obey orders from him in Tri, like when he immediately goes to check on the Digimon when Taichi asks him to. So, in short, I think Tri could very well be playing their relationship out to be exactly what many of us headcanon it to be, a relationship where neither is truly dominant

So, the Kabe-don and the Ferris-Wheel Date are the two most recognizable Anime Romance Tropes these two play out, (they are the biggest and most recognizable anime romance tropes of recent years) but there have also been others, that are slightly less obvious and played slightly less straight but still present.

The first is Yamato's Tsundere behavior, which the Wikipedia glossary defines as:

Tsundere (ツンデレ?)

A character personality which is usually stern, cold or hostile to the person they like, while occasionally letting slip the warm and loving feelings hidden inside due to being shy, nervous, insecure or simply unable to help acting badly in front of the person they like. It is an portmanteau of the Japanese terms tsuntsun (ツンツン?), meaning to be stern or hostile, and deredere (デレデレ?), meaning to be "lovey dovey".[7]

It's lightly implied that Yamato is a Tsundere in Boku ni Totte with the line “Even if my method is wrong, I’m still concerned about you - I just can’t help it” and in Loss, during his conversation with Agumon when he tells him he acts the way he does because he expects too much of Taichi. In other words, his violent behaviour stems from warm, caring feelings that he simply isn't good with expressing which is very tsundere. Then you also have the fact that he is called out by Mimi for being a Tsundere twice, that’s basically the writers slapping us across the face. Sometimes, actually pretty often, his tsundere-ness even plays straight around Taichi: Yamato gets angry, starts fights, storms out with rage, calls Taichi bastard out of frustration (in Saiaki, during the harmonica scene, Yamato says "Taichi no Yatsu" which can I think be translated to either "Taichi, that guy" or "Taichi, that bastard". Yatsu is a slightly/not slightly rude - sometimes vulgar - way to say guy and can also mean bastard) and looks grumpy when Koushiro shows agumon pictures of Taichi. But then, he smiles at Taichi every time Taichi isn't looking (Honorable mention to the Longing Look Trope we likely got during the airport scene) and sometimes when Taichi is looking and they want to make up, gives him a ride on the Vespa (twice?) and the crown jewel: his mad blush during Confessions when he was clearly upset, but wanted to support Taichi. Of course, Taichi isn't the only one Yamato displays Tsundere behaviour towards, for example, he was stern with reprimanding Meiko, but it was because he was worried for her. He is also like that with Gabumon and Takeru to a degree, like when he tells Gabumon to shut up (which is a slightly violent way to phrase yourself). However, this sort of behavior definitely takes a few levels up when Taichi is involved.

Speaking of Yamato giving Taichi rides on his Vespa, there is also the trope where you give your lover a ride on your bicycle (I don’t think it has an official name), except in this case the bicycle is a Vespa 😝

Finally, we have my personal favourite, the classic “Person A is potentially severely injured due to sudden danger (in this case falling debris) and Person B calls out their name with great amounts of concern” Trope (I do not know if this Trope has a name). I love that scene in Confession, I can't believe I forgot to include it in my favourite moments post.

So those are the Tropes we’ve gotten so far, let me know if I missed any 😊

Now moving on to the Anime Romance Tropes we might see, or that I’d like to see, in future instalments (most of these I don’t think have official names).

“Getting locked in a closed space together” Trope - although the ferris wheel kinda covers this one already I could see us getting it again. For example, if Taichi and Yamato get trapped somewhere due to events (like in a building surrounded by enemies, or a ton of debris falls and blocks their path, etc).

“Characters aren't entirely sure if they are in a relationship or not and it takes some kind of catalyst for them both to acknowledge it” Trope – this may very well be exactly what is playing out in Tri right now

“Person A gets injured saving Person B” Trope - I want to see this one play out so badly and I'm honestly not sure which character I'd rather see get injured and I could see them doing either or. On the one hand if Taichi gets injured we could have an homage to episode 51 where Yamato cradles him in his arms 😃 on the other hand it could be Yamato getting injured that gets Taichi to get 100% proactive again.

“Person A is injured and Person B has to patch them up” Trope – I don’t personally want to see this one play out between Taichi and Yamato (because I’d much rather see it play out between Jyou and Taichi) but if Yamato and Taichi get separated from the rest of the group and one of them gets injured it could happen

Headbutt of Love - I love the idea of seeing these two press their foreheads together as a sign of affection, maybe this could happen after they’ve defeated the enemy and they are just sitting next to each other all relieved and then suddenly they lean in close to each other and press their foreheads together all the while smiling cause they know the battle is over and they succeeded by working together ^^

Hand Holding Trope – we better see this trope again or I will be very sour

The Power of Love Trope – I want to see this play out so badly, I want to see a confession trigger their new evolutions

No Romantic Resolution Trope – this is the trope I think we are most likely to get in the final movie between these two

What Tropes do you guys want to see these two partake in next?

I also want to point out I think these two could fit the Battle Couple Trope, but I’m still debating it http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BattleCouple

[honeybeerapper]

Y’all I have this really fun game we should all try!

It’s called “Stan Monsta X”

 It’s easy!

A fun game the entire family can play!

I’ll give you a place to start ^^  This is very long I threw in gifs here and there to make it more easier to read ha. tbh y’all can ignore this long post omg i felt like i had to publish this eventually though

                                                  MONSTA X

                                                       MUSIC

2014-15

No.Mercy Playlist (Their pre-debut survival show) 

Trespass - Debut track of of album of the same name! Very hip hop influenced. I also recommend watching the Beagle ver. for a more funnier less serious side of them

Honestly - A simple MV just them sitting and singing very simple and is a nice break from the regular MV

Rush - A more bright MV compared to Trespass. Here you’ll start to recognize the Monsta X sound ^^

Hero - The Mv where they decided to put a  boy who is afraid of heights on a roof but you would’ve never guessed ! Do you like abs? Their some of that in there. Do you like member focused shots / self-cams? Its in their too! Do you like a pretty catchy song with good choreography? Its here too ^^. This is the track that attracted many people to Monsta X during their first year!

Amen - 10/10 I recommend you watch this 7 times, so you can see each member individually ^^  A very cute boyfriend style member focused MV . This will probably help you when choosing a bias !

Perfect Girl - A sweet self cam MV where the boys sing to you it can be cringey but its cute y’all

Gone Bad - Another self cam MV where the boys are just being goofy/ being themselves

This concludes Monsta X Official MVs of 2015!

While there were solo tracks, mixtapes, OSTs as well as their No.Mercy tracks I just want to show you their officials songs ^^  Do you like them so far ? If not its okay! Maybe their releases of 2016 will be better for you?

                                                   MEMBERS                                    

But enough of music for now! Lets get you to meet the members :3

This will be a quick over view of the members! There are many guides on this site I will try to link a few at the bottom.

Shownu | Position : Leader, Vocalist,Visual as well as the Father

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Bear

Shownu is a very reserved person and at times can be awkward which is his charm. He has visibly come out of his shell over time and is interacting more and speaking. Many doubted his ability to be a leader because he is a quiet person but he does take charge and takes care of his members! 

When Shownu appears of variety shows the host seem to have lots of fun messing with him because of his reserved stiff nature. He will be very polite and straightforward with responses. This type of behavior is why many call him a robot. He has appeared on Weekly Idol, Lipstick Prince, Hit The Stage, Law of the Jungle, as well as Running Man!

Shownu is a very good dancer, he was a back up dancer to Lee Hyori, during his apperance on Hit The Stage he placed 3rd during the finale. He does enjoy dancing more than working out.

He has also released a solo track in 2012, Now I Know apart of the Protect the Boss OST.

Wonho | Position : Vocalist, Visual and Heartbreaker

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Rabbit

Wonho is more than likely the most recognizable member of catching the attention of many people with his looks. Wonho exudes lots of charm and sexiness on stage, often showing his abs or doing one of those side smirk things. He is the second oldest member of Monsta X and was going to be the leader until the position was given to Shownu. 

Without a doubt I can say he is the member who mentions the fans, monbebe , the most. He will honestly find some kind of way to bring the fans up and say some kind words to them which is really cute. He is constantly trying to improve himself to not let the fans down. He does get very emotional if he feels like he has failed monbebe, like during music shows. He does like to be reassured he is doing well and is making the fans happy.

He loves Ramyun probably as much as he loves monbebe honestly.

Wonho really found it important to debut not just to become an idol but to help out his mother financially. Before their debut, his mother was bankrupt and he blames himself because of all the money she spent on him( I am assuming during his Ulzzang days). Though things did turn around because he was able to help her open up a cafe,MOMOCAFE. Wonho often visits and writes the menu himself or draws pictures on the sign but also many other idols stop by and leave signed albums there too.

He composed a song for the fans titled How about u? (its not officially released yet but its on YT)

Minhyuk | Position: Vocalist ,Visual and Vitamin/Sunshine/Moodmaker

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Puppy

Minhyuk is Monsta X’s mood maker, the sunshine, the vitaMIN. In all sincerity this group would probably look to serious if he wasn’t there.  He does enjoy his ability to make the other members as well as the fans happy. Though he does want people to take note that he can’t be this happy and excited all the time that he is like everyone else and can get down or be in a neutral state as well.

He is extra, like extra loud, extra hyper just extra. His reactions to things says it all from screaming over food to drop kicking Kihyun on the beach during their reality show, Right Now! 

Minhyuk is seems to be the most open member, sometimes getting him scolded by the others. He has mentioned his interest in wanting the group to be apart of a nude photoshoot, like Shinhwa. Also during Monsta X-Ray, he revealed his interest in wanting kids,soon after finding out that they would be going to a day care center.

His vocals are deeply underappreciated, he deserves more lines. 

Kihyun | Position: Main Vocalist ,Visual, Mother & Shortest

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Hamster

Kihyun the main vocalist of Monsta X, The Mom, The Short housekeeper. Okay So if you have never heard Kihyun sing before I recommend you do it will show why he was made main vocalist, he has such an emotional voice its really nice. 10/10 recommend his Hyeya cover its so good. 

Kihyun is someone who likes to get things done and he does have a temper but its never like explosive or aggressive. He just complains and nags alot. But even when he is annoyed by the other members he will still take care of them by cooking for them and cleaning the dorm.

Whenever he does or says anything remotely cute he will cringe like that is cute imo. He will legit cringe at himself for being cute. Don’t tell him he’s cute he has a slight eg

Hyungwon | Vocalist, Visual and Sleeping Beauty

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Turtle

Hyungwon is also known as Memewon because of well, everything he does. He is the tallest member of Monsta X and is also a model (technically they all are but he was a model prior to joining ). Hyungwon is described by his members as having a tsundere personality, cold on the outside warm on the inside. He also has a pretty 4D personality with his behavior bouncing everywhere from being a charismatic model to a frog to a praying mantis. Trust me what I just said makes sense.

He is the member in the group who does get the least amount of lines  which does upset lots of fans but when you do hear him it feels like a gift has been given to you. If you would like to hear him check out Interstellar which is a song from their predebut show No.Mercy ft members Jooheon and I.M.

Hyungwon is very good dancer , he believes he is a much better dancer than vocalist. He has released a video of him dancing to choreography that he created with members Wonho and Shownu onto twitter before.

He sleeps alot. Like alot. He has stated that he slept 29 hours straight before. He is also the member who has the most difficulty waking up.

He is the member who speaks Mandarin the best.

Jooheon | Rapper, Visual, Vocalist and the Baby

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Bee

When describing Jooheon  there are a few things that come to mind. Intense rapper, extreme aegyo, deep dimples and scared easily.

Jooheon is Monsta X’s lead rapper who has made several appearances on his own on program such as Weekly Idol and Hip Hop Nation as a producer. He is recognized as having one of the cringiest styles of aegyo , which he has retired for now sadly. 

His talents as a rapper and lyricist are well recognized by many artist. He on and off stage persona may be a surprise to many at first because of of how different they are, with him performing as a tough and fierce rapper on stage and off stage a soft child who’s eyes disappear when he smiles.

Noticed by many fans Jooheon enjoys being praised for his work and will take criticism to mind all the time, thus when he receives very negative words it does affect him greatly.

He has released 2 mixtapes as of now first being Jung Ji and the second Out Of Control (Not Completely Out Yet).

He is currently learning English

I.M/Changkyun | Maknae, Rapper, Visual,Vocalist and 12D

Official Animal Onsie/Counterpart : Wolf / Brown Dog

Stage name I.M but many fans call him by his birth name Changkyun. I.M has a very odd personality, which is why he decided to call himself 12D. He first seems to be a very shy person never standing to far from his hyungs. But once he is let free his more interesting side shows , he will do weird dances, make weird noises or some interesting jokes. I.M like many maknaes tease his older hyungs, be it biting Shownu( on several occasions) or teasing Kihyun because of his height. 

During their survival show, No.Mercy , I.M entered late , during episode 8, which caused many of the contestants to be a bit hostile towards him, even current members stating how they did not like him for joining with an unfair advantage. Though they did warm up to him eventually when realizing he had the same dream of debuting as they did.

I.M is rap style is more calm and smooth which counterbalances Jooheon’s rapping style because of his deep voice which honestly sounds like some type of ASMR. You will also notice he looks to his left a lot as well as touches his face when raps.

He has released two mixtapes Who Am I and Madeleine 

He is also fluent in English because of his time living abroad as a child, though he does admit he is forgetting because he does not speak English often.

                                          Other Guides 

                           better than this, more humor and shorter

http://incorrectmonstaxquotes.tumblr.com/post/155805069597/a-guide-to-starships-newest-boy-group-monsta-x

A guide to Starship’s New Boy Group by incorrectmonstaxquotes

A beginners guide to monsta x  on kpopamino

Your guide to Monsta X  by Wearemonbebe

[dammit-sun-get-off-tumbler]

SUE IS AWESOME MASTERPOST

First and foremost, Sue is a character that belongs to the comic Bitter Sweet Candy Bowl. Second off, this is a ‘masterpost’ of how I feel Sue is just a great friend (especially to Lucy). This will exclude anything from the Bittersweet Club International extra comics for obvious reasons, but I feel that joining it is a great investment if you enjoy the comic. Also, all of this starts at Volume Two and on for reasons. (But Sue does some really cool stuff in earlier chapters, of course!) 

If you do not know what Bittersweet Candy bowl is about, it’s a bunch of highschool aged cats (and dogs!) surviving the supposed “best years of their lives” through cascades of drama, comedy, romance, and FRIENDSHIP. It’s pretty cute and worth a read if you enjoy investing yourself into characters. =)

Warning: this post is super long, and very image heavy! (There’s like 40+ small images with my commentary underneath) All art and characters on this post belong to Veronica Vera!! Also, this is NOT intended to bash Paulo, but I am not going to ignore how they treat each other either.

Sue notices that Lucy is falling behind and approaches her.

Sue sticking up for Lucy and has honest intentions when she is being pressured by other friends to talk about being rejected by Mike

From what I can tell Sue is the only who really comforted her in this frame of time YOU GO SUE YOU GO

Sue is holding Lucys pet, Yashy, who is essentially her daughter really. Shes just holding her!! I feel like this is a big deal since Lucys pets are precious to her! That and Lucy thanks her for holding the critter too.

Still holding Yashy, and they both simultaneously want to leave to continue trick-or-tricking. This snippet of interaction is endearing to me for some reason

Sue notices that something is up with Lucy when Mike mentions Sandy...Knowing Sue I feel she would have done/said something to help Lucy feel better before they were interrupted. 

Not only does Sue have a nick name for Lucy, that she doesnt seem to ‘mind’, but Lucy ACTUALLY abides joining the play. Like..I feel that if Sue was almost any other person in the world Lucy would tell them to FUCK OFF and give them the middle finger while walking away. ALSO this particular interaction is Lucy finding out there is singing in the play that she has to do. Singing is something she is HIGHLY concious about and yet here she is just... “Fine. I’ll sing.” She seems to like Sue enough to do that

Sue touching Lucy, and Lucy giving her a non-hostile answer to her very enthusiastic approach. Not something that happens often at all since Lucy is a very guarded and tense character

This is here just to show that Sue can, in fact, be a dick sometimes. Sue really, REALLY wanted some beneficial, realistic changes to school policies and wanted to be taken seriously especially after having a heated debate with Abbey. Context is important and all but it was still a dick thing to say even if the negativity is residual from clashing with Abbey moments before.

Despite the fact that Sue ends up losing the debate to Daisy, she actually congratulates and encourages her! On a similar note, I think Sue feels pretty ‘invisible’ sometimes herself so this adds a layer of “Sue is awesome” to me to encourage Daisy like that. (Though I AM curious if Sue would have won if Paulo hadn’t intimidated everyone into voting for Daisy behind their backs)

A shoulder touch that is unexpected to Lucy, but gives Sue a non-hostile response. Lucy doesnt give either of them a sarcastic or ill-meaning reaction, only a smile and waving them off. I feel little things like this are pretty significant especially for someone like Lucy. She usually punches first then asks later.

Another instance of Sue being a dick. She’s not perfect, that’s for sure! But I feel this might be more of a jab at Paulo for being a aesthetically  judgemental person than Sue being fatphobic. But none the less, it was ill-intentioned and unnecessary.

Sue encouraging as well as showing concern for something Jasmine obviously wanted to talk about.

 Sue is one of the few showing concern for Lucys shift of emotion and doesnt have ulterior motive. Jess has a crush on Lucy, of course, and Daisy is the host of Lucys birthday party so I’d hope she would notice. (I am not demeaning their concern! Those are legit reasons. I am just highlighting Sues perception towards her friends)

Lucy giving Sue a genuine compliment and Sue wishing her luck! It’s not often Lucy says something nice without a strong undertone of tsundere flavor

Another shoulder touch despite Lucys wrecked, emotional state at this point. Sue sure likes to touch her shoulder!

When the gang finds out that Lucy was no longer attending their school, Sue had the guts to approach her door first to find out what happened. This mostly shows that Sue doesnt really tolerate ‘debilitating’ drama , especially when friends are involved. SHE WANTS TO GET THE BOTTOM OF IT!! No beating around the bush!

You know, I am 99.999% sure that the green book next to Sue is the script for her play and that she feels extra hurt due to the fact that her play didn’t fulfill its intended purpose. She made that play to try and get Mike and Lucy to become friends again but with Lucy gone... I’m sure she feels like she failed pretty badly as a friend. I could be wrong about the script book though.

Context: Daisy put together a study party to help break the ice and move things along in the group. So when she came back with soda like a good host should do, she realized that the air was thick and tried to offer soda even though no one initially reacted due to the mood. In these panels Sue is the first one served so I have a feeling she caved in first for the sake of doing some ice breaking herself. Very minute interaction but I feel this is totally a Sue thing to do.

here is the page preceding it as a reminder/further context!

Maybe I am missing something but I am pretty sure Sue is the very first one to realize that Mike might have been connected to Lucys sudden disappearance. 

Jasmine arrives to the study party and is about to leave when she realizes her ex is there but you can see Sue crumple up a piece of paper with a “oh for fucks sake” expression and chucking it at Jasmine and inviting her to try and break some more ice. She just wants people to get along!

Just some more friendly interactions with Jasmine despite the fact there is a tense air between Jasmine and Paulo. I felt this was pretty cute.

Sue standing up for Mike when Paulo is being a dick to him.

Sue can jump the gun sometimes though! She means well since the whole chapter so far was Dave and Paulo being pretty disrespectful in the museum and her trying to make them behave. 

uuhh I don’t remember why i saved this image but I think it had to do with the fact that Mike might have seen that Sue maybe needed a break from the Paulo shenanigans or that maybe he sees Sue as mature enough to go to the more secluded areas of the museum to invite her to come with him or something... (??) probably dead wrong.

Sue not taking Paulos shit. These two really don’t have the best chemistry. I feel this page and the ones past it really highlight their relationship and how they cope as well as pinpointing some personal flaws. Sue may be intuitive and think outside the box, but sometimes it falls short. 

Here is where this particular interaction starts to happen.

Sue trying to cheer her friends up after Lucy comes up in discussion and the mood starts to falter..doesnt last long at all but she tried

Sue blaming herself and feeling guilty about her play =(

Sue approaches Mike again about having to do with Lucy leaving and wanting the truth about her friend. Doesn’t get very far

Sue helping to pry Paulo off of Mike despite what has transpired =0

Sue notices that Abbey is down in the dumps after Daisy (drunkly) confessed she pretty much still likes Mike right in front of him. She approaches him which i think is pretty significant since these two dont really see eye-to-eye often, especially with political views. She is the only one who noticed him sulking.

This is to show that she at least has a good heart and intentions, even if she might have a little ways to go. (and Paulo not being nice to her as usual)

Sue being happy for Abbey and Daisy but promptly getting made fun of by Paulo. This is a pretty sucky thing to say...

On a similar note, I like how Sue and Abbey don’t see eye to eye a lot but she still is happy for him and they even play MMOs, RP, and cosplay together. The same definitely can not be said of how she feels about Paulo though.

Granted Sue didn’t know of the situation of Paulo in the bathroom like Mike but this was still a dickish thing to say. She probably really was relieved he left to be honest.

Sue showing some more remorse for her play and how it didn’t fufill its intended purpose. She really just wanted her friends to get along...

When Sandy visits and doesn’t recognize Daisy she suddenly feels ultra-self conscious about herself and convincing herself that she is ugly. Out of the whole crowd of friends only Sue and Paulo seem to show concern. (And Abbey too but that is a given) 

Sue tearing up and calling Lucy “Elle” upon her return!

Sue notices that Lucy is uncomfortable and defends her

Sue making Paulo back off, and gets thanked for it

I am just going to put this here because out of all the people in that group, I feel Sue is by far one of the most likable. Brushes off his dick comment. 

On another note, Lucy mentioned her group of friends being ‘ex-friends’ once they find out she hangs out with Augustus but I have a feeling that Sue would be one of the most accepting and would want to understand the context more.

But yeah! I know I’ve probably missed quite a few snippets but I feel this list does its job. These are my interpretations and of course, I do not own Sue so I can be dead wrong on a lot of this.  

[pokefriendsimagine]

GUYYYSSS I MISS THE HCS!! I've noticed the lack of love for the Pokemon Go trio. Can I have some hcs for them? (Especially Spark :3)

BlazI actually do have HCs for those three because I love them to bits??? Especially Sparks who is my actually boyfriend I mean????? Let's do this.

The Trio - There have been asks on whether or not they got into the canon verse and here's what I think.

They're the Team Leaders of a competitive game for young trainers. It's like a sport in the Pokemon world in an almost capture the flag way. They have gyms set up all over the world and all of them are constantly the sight for hostile takeovers. At the end if the year the team who has the most gyms under their reign wins and the key players of that team win the chance to spend the day with their leader and are given a special Pokemon and prize money.

- They've all been friends for years. Candela met Spark first as tweets on their initial journey and used to try in vain to bully him. Spark was either the type to attract need with honey or he was just oblivious but he was always friendly to Candela until eventually she broke and apologized and vowed eternal friendship. Spark accepted.

- Blanche they met around the age of eighteen. She was a three time Pokemon League Champion who was changing her lath to go into Pokemon science instead and was an inspiration to Spark who eventually did the same.Candela and Blanche hated each other for awhile and to this day nobody knows what caused the three to become thick as thieves.

- Blanche and Candela are embarrassed by how immature the rivalry between Mystic and Valor is at times. They love their precious teams but the vocal minority is often cringe-worthy and perpetuate stereotypes about one another.

- Blanche and Candela are together. Went from furious unresolved sexual tension to Spark hooking them up. They’re literally RubyxSapphire.

Blance

- Is fine with she for her pronouns... but actually prefers ‘they’ and is closer to being agender than anything else. (So wait ModOpal, why do YOU use she?) Because I’,m already in too deep and writing this out of order, fight me I’ll take you all on I swear on me absentee mum.

- Has very elegant, very aloof, and very intimidating personality. A lot of people think she’s emotionally detached... and she does suffer from it despite the generally present smile on her far. She’s not as cold as she might come off but she does definitely struggle with affectionate gestures. I imagine she speaks like Sapphire from Steven Universe (her less emotive tone of voice-- not the voice itself but in that vein, ya feel?)

- Comes from a long line of overachievers and spent much of her life as a trophy daughter. Was always flaunted but it;s debatable how loved she would’ve been at home if she hadn’t been quite as successful as she turned out to be. From the time she was young she was groomed to be the very best and nothing short of that was even up for debate. She remains on speaking terms with her family and they don’t seem to mind her life choices (maybe because she helped pioneer a popular new sport) but they do question why she hands out with someone like Spark.And she will cut you loose if you dare utter a syllable of anything negative about precious baby bro (baby bro who is the same exact age as Candela and she).

- Her starter was Piplup. She has a very close bond with her Empoleon and Alolan Ninetails. The two are named (name) and Skaldi respectively. She is kind to all her Pokemon but to this day is still working on her emotional connection to them. Probably a byproduct of her upbringing.

- Was the one to confess to Candela first. It was one of her, funnily enough, more heated moments. They actually were arguing and over what they can’t remember but it was something personal and they were arguing more about how they actually cared and were aggressively sticking up for one another to each other and it gets blurry from there but Blanche grabbed her by the jacket and smooched her furiously.

Candela

- Was a fiesty, high-spirited borderline bully as a kid. She was the type to reject all girly things as lame and weak and used to pride herself on not being like “other girls”. It’s occasionally hard for Candela to look back on her childhood because she knows what a toxic point of view that was to have. While still rough and tumble and not as traditionally feminine she does rock the touches of feminine flair in her attire now and of course encourages the girls of her Team to not be like she used to be.

- Her starter was Chimchar! ... but then she visited everyone and collected all of the fire starters. She needed them all. She needs all fire Pokemon honestly. Fire/Fighting is her favorite combination and aesthetically she favors Infernape, Blaziken and Tysplosion. She tends to name her Pokemon after spices and peppers.

- She’s the Pokemon world’s equivalent of Spanish.

- Comes from a massive family and is the precise middle child in a parade of seven sisters total. She used to not get along with them at all and seeking individuality (or just rebellion) she modeled herself more after her father and spent more time around her same-age male cousins.

- Wanted to live on a volcano when she was five.

- Before she got her first Pokemon she has a Moltres plushie she would throw at people to initiate Pokemon battles. She also used to hug it when she got really upset. The plushie was destroyed when her Chimchar evolved into Monferno and burnt it into oblivion during it’s own rebellious phrase. Candela was heartbroken and had a hard time forgiving it after that.Blanche bought her a higher quality one when they first started dating.

- Is actually an amazing, fluent dancer. Tango especially.~It’s the only time she’s ever been able to startle and fluster Blanche. Normally Candela is the louder, more tsundere one in the relationship (tsundere for lack of a better word.)

Spark

- He started with Pichu as his partner. Now a Raichu, this Pokemon never leaves his side and desires constant touch. His Raichu is named “Ziggy”.

- Laughs too hard at almost any kinda joke (that isn’t mean-spirited). His cheeks and ears turn red, he tears up, he snorts a little and will even snap his knee.

- Texts Candela and Blanche viral silly stuff all the time. The more overused, the more likely it is they’ve had it in their messages.

- Doesn’t bawl or anything extreme but no matter how often it occurs he always gets misty-eyed every time a new egg in his care hatches. He’ll play with the baby Pokemon the way doting relatives will play with a new baby and is totally unabashed about it. All the Pokemon he takes care of love him dearly.

- Had an admittedly lacking childhood, possibly inspiring him to be so loving with newborn Pokemon and his own team. He was given what he needed but felt emotionally neglected by both his parents who weren’t heartless but didn’t have much capacity for affection and probably shouldn’t have have a child to begin with. He was eventually moved in with his paternal grandparents and life immediately started looking up for hi,. They’re still around now and still give Spark the best hugs out of anyone else in his life.

- Was always a huge fan of Lt. Surge and got an autograph from him when he was a little younger and got a picture taken with him. So always among his favorite person items you can find a comparatively tiny grinning with a squatting Lt. Surge, both doing the peace sign and looking like total dorks.Ziggy has a fanboy crush on his Raichu.

- Has trouble dating because people thinks he doesn’t take them or their relationship seriously. He uses humor to combat conflict and to try and lighten any mood and it comes off as him being fully oblivious and thoughtless to the people he’s tried to make it work with. He’ll get plenty of takers but... hasn’t has anything stick.So he’s proud he was able to get his friends together.

- Feels bad for Team Instinct never winning a single year due to having significantly less members than his friends. He’s not bitter and doesn’t mind losing the game itself but he feels bad for all the fans who have sent in letters of admiration, clearly who would love the chance to meet him.Spark just wants to have a big ol’ pizza party with his yellow family, okay?

[charminglatina]

Riverdale Couples and Ships as Romantic Tropes (Part II). 🌹

Here is Part II of the list!

#11. Bughead (Jughead Jones & Betty Cooper; ROMANTIC TROPE: CHILDHOOD FRIENDS ROMANCE)

Childhood Friend Romance

Childhood Friend Romance is a part of romantic plots, when characters develop romantic feelings for someone who they spent their childhood years with. Often the pair will see each other as Just Friends (and may even deny accusations that they might have a different type of relationship); then, when puberty hits or when they meet again after being apart for some time, they will realize that the other is all grown up. If the pair goes through a Puppy Love phase from the very beginning, a Childhood Marriage Promise may be involved. Resistance to see a childhood friend as a potential romantic partner is known as the "Westermarck effect", a theory that claims that people who grew up together before the age of 6 are likely to become hardwired to think about each other Like Brother and Sister, with a Stupid Sexy Friend squicked reaction to the notion of romance. (Other studies question this on the basis that though few of the people they examined had major romantic relationships with childhood friends, many had crushes and romantic feelings that just didn't make it.) Subtrope of Childhood Friends. See also Patient Childhood Love Interest, a subtrope common in Harem Series. Compare also with High-School Sweethearts. Often benefits from First Girl Wins.

#10. Veggie (Reggie Mantle & Veronica Lodge; ROMANTIC TROPE: SLAP-SLAP-KISS)

Slap-Slap-Kiss

"[Punches Hiccup on the arm] That was for kidnapping me. [Kisses him on the cheek] That was for everything else."— Astrid, How to Train Your Dragon

This trope is nothing but universal in romantic stories. It frequently brings to a close the Will They or Won't They? phase of a Romance Arc. When a male and female character spend a lot of time bickering, it is all but inevitable that sooner or later he will interrupt her in mid-rant by suddenly grabbing her and kissing her. (Less frequently, she grabs and kisses him.) The kissed one rarely resists, and usually responds wholeheartedly. Usually this is triggered by their hostilities reaching a climax that results in an exchange of slaps, followed by a moment where both stare at each other in combined confusion and shock, after which they dive into the kiss. Either way, the kiss prompts both to realize that they've been in love all this time — the rationale being that they wouldn't argue so much if they didn't give a damn about each other. Normally results in some kind of permanent change in their relationship. The concept is related to the theory that hate is not necessarily the opposite of love so much as its twisted twin; its opposite would be apathy. Ergo, lots of contained emotion towards a person might be translated into lust given the proper catalyst. Pulled off successfully, it can be... quite satisfying. Otherwise, not so much. This trope is a major factor in Foe Yay shipping, since such arguments between those characters in the actual shows are often similar to examples of this trope (or even get Why Don't You Marry It? reactions). It should be noted that in Real Life it's not exactly a sign of a healthy relationship, with the exception of a little roleplay between consenting adults. Note that this trope is mostly Exactly What It Says on the Tin. If there is no kiss, that's Belligerent Sexual Tension. Dating back at least to William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Compare "Shut Up" Kiss, Love at First Punch, Belligerent Sexual Tension, "Take That!" Kiss, Vitriolic Best Buds, and Destructo-Nookie. Often considered in similar terms to Foe Yay. Tsunderes are often involved on at least one end. Kiss-Kiss-Slap is this in reverse (kissing, then fighting).

#09. Jarchie (Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones; ROMANTIC TROPE: HO YAY)

HoYay

Homoeroticism, yay! Those moments of plot, dialogue, acting, etc., that fans delight in interpreting as homoerotic. It probably originates from the old days, when the homosexuality taboo was serious enough that every gay pairing was considered a Crack Pairing, so when authors wrote same-sex characters as very intimate with each other, audiences largely accepted that they are just very good friends, and moved on, or when authors wrote outright references to homosexuality, most just laughed at the sheer absurdity of the thought. With the gradual dissolution of homophobic moral codes, more and more writers have been able to publish and share their work uncensored, changing media forever. Nowadays, Yaoi Fans and Yuri Fans willingly interpret any interaction as potentially gay, for characters without canonical orientations and even for those specifically stated by their creators to be straight (in which case the author may be very annoyed by the fans' insistence otherwise). Cultural differences also have their say here. The level of accepted physical intimacy between close friends and adult relatives is hardly constant across various eras and nationalities, so, for example, the hugs and kisses which seemed mundane for an antiquated reader may appear blatantly erotic in the eyes of a contemporary one. In particular, the concept of Romantic Two-Girl Friendship — and Romantic Two-Guy Friendship — highly intimate yet platonic, only began falling out of use in the latter half of the 19th century. When this is done intentionally, it's Homoerotic Subtext, or possibly Implied Love Interest or Ship Tease. In the related trope called Foe Yay, even rivals or mortal enemies can get this treatment by fans and writers alike, especially if they have a more friendly past together, or one is inordinately obsessed with the other. In Fan Fic, this is the direct cause of many a Slash Fic.

#08. Choni (Cheryl Blossom & Toni Topaz; ROMANTIC TROPE: OPPOSITES ATTRACT)

Opposites Attract

"Strange extremes meet in love's pathway."—The Scarlet Pimpernel

Strong relationships, in both TV and real life, thrive on how each member compensates for the other’s weaknesses with their own strengths, and vice versa. A Motor Mouth just isn’t as funny if he doesn’t have the Straight Man to torment. Similarly, only when a sweet, shy person is paired up with an equally jerkish one is their kindness and shyness made all the more noticeable. It is all but guaranteed that the characters’ differences will cause more friction than harmony between them. That’s what gives the Odd Couple its fuel for Slap-Slap-Kiss, Will They or Won't They?, and Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other situations. Bickering and mushiness in one package. What’s not to like? The Odd Friendship also has elements of this, but tends to focus on how the differences make them see each other, and maybe the world, through new eyes. Perhaps the serious one is Not So Above It All, or the Shrinking Violet has an inner strength they never knew they had. A Moe Couplet also does something similar to this, focusing on how each half of the couplet brings out the other's endearing or nurturing traits. Opposites attract has become so widespread in buddy cop shows, in the form of Serious White Guy meets Loud Black Guy, that it branched off into its own subtrope. About the biggest challenge in creating a day-and-night dynamic is to keep the attract and repel cases relatively balanced. When the pendulum swings too far toward the repel side and the characters seem more interested in torturing each other than helping out, it’s no longer cute to watch; it’s just masochistic. The key (both in fiction and in Real Life) is to watch the pair's goals. If they want the same thing but use completely different methods to achieve it, it's this trope. If they want different things entirely, it's a divorce waiting to happen. If you add a third-party mediator for balance, you get a Power Trio. Contrast Birds of a Feather. Compare Too Much Alike.

#07. Cheronica (Cheryl Blossom & Veronica Lodge; ROMANTIC TROPE: VILLAINOUS CRUSH)

Villainous Crush

"Just fear me. Love me. Do as I say, and I shall be your slave."— Jareth the Goblin King to Sarah, Labyrinth

This trope applies whenever a villainous character has romantic and/or sexual feelings for a heroic one. If this crush takes a turn for the perverse (and most such crushes tend towards this), this can lead to tropes like I Have You Now, My Pretty, Forceful Kiss, Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me, And Now You Must Marry Me, Scarpia Ultimatum, and Go-Go Enslavement where the villain tries to force their desires upon the character, although none of those require a Villainous Crush. Additionally, the villain may become a Stalker with a Crush. If the crush itself is a motivating factor in their Start of Darkness, then it's Love Makes You Evil. This trope isn't always negative, though. This trope can conversely be a very humanising trait for an Anti-Villain. The heroic character may become a Morality Pet, and can be fairly certain that their villainous admirer will never harm them or allow harm to come to them, barring certain exceptions. They may even step in to protect them from other villains who have fewer compunctions. Taken all the way, it may become Love Redeems. If the feelings are mutual or an actual relationship develops, then it's Dating Catwoman instead. When this is purely subtextual, see Foe Romance Subtext. The specific variant when the Evil Empress captures the hero to seduce him is Villainesses Want Heroes. Not to be confused with Foe Yay, which are purely audience reactions.

#06. Archosie (Archie Andrews & Josie McCoy; ROMANTIC TROPE: BIRDS OF A FEATHER)

Birds Of A Feather

Grace: My mum always said opposites attract. Rich: That's magnets. We're people.—Skins

Relationships, particularly romantic ones, tend to thrive when the people involved are similar. People are simply more likely to get along if they share common interests, values, beliefs, and goals. Thus people with similar personalities will often flow together easily, whether romantically or not. The dynamic of this pair differs widely from Opposites Attract pair. Their personalities can often be interchangeable and both of them can have a same role if they are a part of a group. However, their common obstacle is having a harder time to compensate for each other's weaknesses. Be warned, writers: while often Truth in Television, this trope can sometimes be seen to create a poorly written Love Interest who just happens to be a Gender Flip of the main character. When the commonalities are much fewer but still create a bond, see Commonality Connection. Contrast Too Much Alike.

#05. Beronica (Veronica Lodge & Betty Cooper; ROMANTIC TROPE: ROMANTIC TWO-GIRL FRIENDSHIP)

Romantic Two-Girl Friendship

"It was perfectly acceptable at Baker & Inglis to get a crush on a fellow classmate. At a girls school a certain amount of emotional energy, normally expended on boys, gets redirected into friendships."—Middlesex

At the beginning of adolescence, there is a time when friendship is emphasized, usually junior high/middle school. These friendships can have very strong emotional bonds, and, when two girls develop a close bond, it will almost appear to be a romance. They hold hands. Getting together to do something is a "date." Fights are treated as a "break-up." They're willing to sleep next to each other in the same bed (and maybe even cuddle). They're also sometimes capable of moving and speaking in perfect unison. They may not actually be in a romantic relationship, but it is emphasized in such a way that if they were, you'd assume it'd look this way. In the Western world, this was far more common up until the late 1800s, and applied to both men and women, even into adulthood. It was referred to as "romantic friendship." This practice waned at the turn of the 20th century as adults, particularly men, did not want to be mistaken as homosexual. Note Generally, it still only occurs between young girls, where it is more socially acceptable and not indicative of sexual orientation. In Japan, this is known as "Class S" and is far more common than in the West. Due to the influence of Western female literature,Note the Japanese developed a belief that young girls are expected to have friendships with each other that emulate boyfriend–girlfriend relationships. This is considered a temporary but wonderful part of adolescence, which they can later "graduate" from to "real" relationships with boys. To remain in a "Class S" relationship past middle school is seen as a sign of immaturity, although it is expected that these friendships will continue into adulthood without the romantic elements. The possibility of one or more of the girls involved in a "Class S" relationship being truly invested in the other romantically is usually ignored. If the romance starts to become too passionate, parents may try to intervene to separate the girls. This should never become physical that way; it would "corrupt" the Incorruptible Pure Pureness, which is then traded in for marriage. If the girls do cross the line into sex (or even passionate kissing), they are no longer this trope, instead becoming Schoolgirl Lesbians, and are treated differently. Compare Heterosexual Life-Partners, where it just doesn't seem as romantic but remains a tremendously important personal bond, above and beyond a genuine romantic relationship. Also compare Experimented in College.

#04. Varchie (Archie Andrews & Veronica Lodge; ROMANTIC TROPE: UPTOWN GIRL)

Uptown Girl

"She's a rich girl, she don't try to hide it, Diamonds on the soles of her shoes. He's a poor boy, empty as a pocket, Empty as a pocket with nothing to lose."—Paul Simon, "Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes"

You know the story. It's a love story. Our lovers are from different worlds — one wealthy, one not. The poor girl has fallen in love with the Gentleman Snarker, or the Unlucky Everydude secretly courts the daughter of the richest man in town. And she loves him too. Maybe it was Love at First Sight. Maybe she has a habit of slipping out to the seedier side of town for a night of fun. Maybe they've been friends their whole lives and the difference in status never really mattered. Will their love be enough to let them be happy together?

In any case, this is usually played out in one of three ways:

The poor guy and rich girl mutually fall in love, and neither one cares about their differences in wealth. People around them, however, do, and conspire to interfere with True Love.

The poor guy falls for the rich girl, even though he knows that she's out of his league. Undaunted, our hero engages in some Zany Scheme to get her to notice him or be impressed by him. This usually ends with the girl revealing that she doesn't care if he's rich or poor, and that she loves him for who he is.

The poor guy and the rich girl fall for one another, but he doesn't know she's rich at first. When he finds out, he's either intimidated by her wealth once he finds out, or else doesn't think he's good enough for her. As before, she doesn't care about such things, and has to convince him that he's the one she wants.

When the rich girl wants nothing to do with the poor guy, but slowly warms up to him, it's a different trope entirely. Note that the roles aren't locked by gender: a working-class girl who loves a rich boy also fits this trope, as do two lovers of the same gender. A relationship variant of the Odd Couple and quite often overlaps with Nobody Thinks It Will Work. Also often leads to cases of I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me, either with severe case of insecurity (like the third type above), or simply the poor guy being constantly feeling lucky and appreciative that someone so rich could fall for him. If it's not just the fact that she comes from money, but that he feels like she's above him, she's a Peerless Love Interest. Compare with All Girls Want Bad Boys, which often follows the same socioeconomic groups (or the inverse, if the girl is The Ingenue and the boy is an Gentleman Snarker or Spoiled Brat). Can overlap with Single Woman Seeks Good Man as it is the guy's personality that wins her heart (as is the case mentioned above). Not to be confused with the Brittany Murphy film Uptown Girls, which doesn't use this trope. Not to be confused with City Mouse either. This is transitioning into Dead Horse Trope territory, since interclass marriage is no longer shocking, and the expectation that men should be the breadwinner in the family is much weaker today than it used to be. On the other hand, it may become an Undead Horse Trope with the emergence of culture wars and new waves of social stratification. For the non-romantic variant, see Interclass Friendship. For the version endemic to India, see Type Caste, although that trope is not restricted solely to marriage and relationships.

#03. Falice (FP Jones & Alice Cooper; ROMANTIC TROPE: UNRESOLVED SEXUAL TENSION AKA UST)

Unresolved Sexual Tension (UST)

"To repress one's feelings only makes them stronger."— Yu Shu Lien, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Two people are obviously attracted to each other, but some element of the story is keeping them apart. This tension is frequently referred to as UST in fandom, where it is pronounced "oost" or Yu-Ess-Tee. Also known as "Long Unresolved Sexual Tension". Belligerent Sexual Tension is a way to keep the UST by having the couple fight each other too much to actually get together. They Do is when it gets resolved (Literally Falling in Love might help). Shipping Bed Death and Strangled by the Red String are when it gets resolved badly. Compare All Love Is Unrequited, Will They or Won't They?, Just Friends, Moment Killer (a staple of a UST relationship), Maybe Ever After (a more uncertain version), Cannot Spit It Out. Contrast Official Couple, when the couple is already together, and Friends with Benefits, where the primarybond in the relationship is sex.

#02. Barchie (Archie Andrews & Betty Cooper; ROMANTIC TROPE: WILL THEY OR WON’T THEY?)

Will They Or Won’t They?

"Pam is very attractive, no question. If I didn't have an award show to host, I could easily see having two or three seasons of will-they-won't-they sexual tension that ultimately goes nowhere."—Conan O'Brien, Emmy 2006 opening skit, after crashing, The Office (US)

Two characters, often combative but with obvious Unresolved Sexual Tension, resist going into a full blown relationship for a rather long time. Usually the two characters will be presented so that "they will" is the conclusion to root for; only rarely is the question of whether the writers think they should in any real doubt. Actually ending the dance is a tricky business. It is difficult for shows to recover from the loss of a major source of dramatic tension represented by an unrequited relationship. Many shows Jump the Shark or suffer Shipping Bed Death when the two characters finally get together. A common problem is that the show suddenly becomes about the relationship rather than remaining true to its original premise. Sometimes an attempt is made to introduce a new source of dramatic tension, but it is frequently cheesy and lame. To avoid this, many shows choose to answer the question and end the show nearly simultaneously via a Last Minute Hookup. Of course, the opposite can also occur. Shows can go out of their way to avoid resolving the relationship, making ever-more-desperate narrative leaps. In longer-running shows, they may even have the characters hook up for a little while, only to split up over and over again, until by the time they finally let the characters get actually, technically married, the show has lost its viewership anyway. Belligerent Sexual Tension is often a victim of this. Sometimes a Love Epiphany can be used to have a character realize his/her feelings, but still not resolve the question, just add a new dynamic to it. A fundamental Shipping-inducement strategy. See also Almost Kiss, Held Gaze, Relationship Upgrade, Moment Killer, Everyone Can See It. When a series ends without even a hint of resolution to will-they-or-won't-they, it's No Romantic Resolution. If it's more ambiguous, it's Maybe Ever After. Contrast Friends with Benefits, where they definitelydo it, but without the emotional baggage. Compare Just Friends and They Do. Contrast Platonic Life-Partners and Ship Sinking — they won't. See Just Eat Gilligan if it's a major plot point. See also Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario when they separate for some dramatic reason, spend a time apart, then reconcile (usually with a kiss, which breaks the Will They Or Won't They)

#01. Jeronica (Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge;  ROMANTIC TROPE: BELLIGERENT SEXUAL TENSION AKA BST)

Belligerent Sexual Tension (BST)

"Wonderful girl! Either I'm gonna kill her, or I'm beginning to like her!"— Han Solo about Princess Leia Organa, A New Hope

There's a couple, usually a sometimes sweet, sometimes grouchy female (Tsundere) paired with a secretly-kind jerk (Jerk With A Heart Of Gold), who are not able to admit their feelings. At the top of their lungs. Despite the conflict, there is an attraction. This is usually obvious to everyone around except the couple. Confront them with the obvious, they'll deny deny deny. Sometimes they will progress to admitting their friendship but insist they are Just Friends. Eventually, they can admit their feelings to practically anyone except their loved one. It ends up where both characters dance around admitting their feelings as if the words "I love you" are some sort of death curse, much to the frustration of the audience and the other characters. Older Than Steam, since this is used in Much Ado About Nothing, and has varying degrees of popularity at different times. If there is a Love Epiphany with one of these characters, expect it to change nothing, at least in the short term. This can even be true in established long-term relationships; see Like an Old Married Couple. If the whole relationship is defined by the belligerence, it can become The Masochism Tango. If a pair of outright enemies has this sort of attraction, it's a case of Foe Romance Subtext and when it ultimately goes from subtext to text, then it's Dating Catwoman. See also Slap-Slap-Kiss, No Accounting for Taste, Well, Excuse Me, Princess! and Defrosting Ice Queen. If we're lucky, at the end we may get to see a moment of Aww, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other. Expect this couple to be either extremely popular or completely hated by the fandom. For the platonic version, compare Vitriolic Best Buds and With Friends Like These.... Not to be confused with Hate at First Sight, although it may overlap.