#me: says that the child OC doesn't necessarily need to be a kid

[bo0tleg]

Maverick and Rooster aren't going to be able to immediately fall back to what they were. They care for each other deeply, and saved each others life on the mission, but this sort of shit needs time. One conversation isn't going to cut it with those two.

Look: I like the idea of them falling back into what they were before just as much as the next person, but that's.... not what realistically would happen. And that's ok! It makes sense for them not to know what to do with each other at the start.

For the record: I'm also not blaming anyone for writing fics about them immediately going back to the father-son or uncle-nephew dynamic because, because come on. It's cute as HECK! I'd just like to think about how to explore their feelings and hang-ups about each other in dept!

They're both stubborn fucks and this has been simmering for far too long for anything to be resolved instantly with a single conversation. Bradley un-learned how to talk honestly to people the day he left, and Mav's scared about what honesty can bring. They've sat on this pot for so long they no longer feel it burning their asses, and forgot what they put in the damn thing in the first place, so they stay there. On top of it. Still burning their asses.

Bradley holds onto grudges like it's a lifeline, and one mission isn't going to change that. He listened to Mav in the canyon because he rescinded what he had said with his actions. Mav said that he 'wasn't ready' but then chose Rooster as his wingman, communicating that he is ready and that he trusts him with his life. But that was a life or death situation that Rooster was both present in and could interfere in if he so chose. He saved Mav because he didn't want him to die, and they seem more inclined to deal with it back on the boat, but it's still a long road ahead.

What happened was they rekindled their care for each other, because neither had ever truly given up on it in the first place. Mav never stopped caring and knew it, Bradley did the same without knowing. This just so happens to be the first time they're forced to deal with each other since the fallout.

Just because they care about each other doesn't erase the history that's separated them for all of this time. In fact, it probably makes it worse.

Bradley thought highly of Mav, and he didn't live up to it. Mav wanted the best for Bradley, and did what he thought would be best. Their problems came from the root of care. And it's more bittersweet because of it.

Because of it, resentment and guilt have settled over their shoulders, respectively, and it refused to go away.

They talk, and they try, but it's still not great.

Mav is inclined to just sweep it all under a rug and ignore the lump it forms on the floor. Because of his guilt, he takes all of the blame and sugarcoats Bradley's part in said blame to try and make up for it. Bradley is just as fault as Mav is, but Mav doesn't want to look a gift horse in the mouth.

So instead of fixing things, they look slightly less crooked, but not entirely right. It's a 'their problem' not 'his problem'. They're both at fault, and they both need to deal with it.

Maverick refuses to give up any of the blame, and Bradley is going to refuse to take any of it.

Sure, Mav fucked up, but Bradley blew it out of proportions. Storming off and refusing to talk is a normal response, but not for fifteen years. He barely let Mav explain himself.

Everything "wrong" about himself he blames on Mav. He thinks that Mav fucked him up by breaking his trust as his father figure, so he doesn't trust anybody anymore. He thinks that him being completely emotionally stunted and sensitive to critique is Mav's fault because of the 'your not ready' comment.

Thing is, it's his own fault. It's his fault that he's been fucked up for so long because he never tried to fix what was broken. It's not Bradley's fault that Mav pulled his papers, but he threw away everything, everyone he had before because of a single (justifiable!) mistake. And he doesn't recognize it for what it is, and refuses the blame. Carting it all off to Mav instead of dealing with his own shortcomings.

Mav is aware of this (that Rooster refuses to take the blame), but agreed with Rooster in his analysis of the situation, and takes it all on himself, which is not a healthy mechanism for either of them. It pats Rooster on the head for somewhere he fucked up on, and overloads Mav with guilt that shouldn't be that intense and deep.

But they don't know this. So Mav isn't angry at Rooster, because he's blindsighted by his care.

Thing is, I want someone to be angry. I want someone to be offended on Mav's behalf because he himself won't do it. I don't know who it would be, could be a good number of people, maybe even a child OC.

For fifteen years Bradley left without looking back. He left, and Mav suffered. Someone saw that. Someone was there with him all or most of those years, sitting right beside him as his guilt grew with every holiday that went by, with every letter or call left unanswered.

The obvious option is Ice. However, I want to pull away from that option, because if Ice is dead (stay with me now) it only creates more conflict, more nuance to what's going on.

Bradley cut Mav out of his life, and it's implied that he cut out any association with him too. That includes Ice.

What if he never spoke to Ice either for those fifteen years? Ice died. Bradley went to his funeral. Bradley went to his funeral as a fellow aviator, as an underling obeying orders.

Bradley's face in that funeral was blank.

That is the face of a man watching the burial of someone he once could potentially have considered a father figure that he hadn't spoken with for fifteen years. And he's never going to be able to speak to him again.

At that funeral, I don't think he regretted it. Sad, maybe, but no regret.

The regret only hit later.

He got to mend things with Mav after the Uranium Mission and beyond, but that is no longer possible with Ice.

Bradley regretted what he did, how he neglected them for years, but he regretted it too late for one of them.

I think Brad probably ended up at Ice's grave at some point, and owned up to everything he didn't– couldn't– own up to at the funeral. And he fucking sobbed. Begged. Apologized, over and over.

This is the reason I suggested maybe a child OC, because if the child is Icemav's or just Ice's, Bradley's gonna have a warped perception of them. (Note: When I say "child" I mean that it was their child as in gender neutral for son/daughter, it doesn't necessarily mean the person in question should be an actual kid.)

Bradley's gonna see that kid as penance.

And they're gonna fucking hate him for it.

Bradley is going to look at them and see Ice, and they're gonna hate him for it. Their father is dead, and for the last fifteen years of his life he'd never been truly happy because this prick never bothered to own up to his mistakes. Not even at the funeral Bradley owned up to his shortcomings, and now all of a sudden he waltzes right back like he never left? What the fuck!

Bradley could have done this, idk like a week sooner? But he only came to his senses after Ice died. Their father died and Bradley barely looked like he cared is what they're going to think. But all of a sudden, he goes on a suicide mission and almost died and he's suddenly back? Because when his own life is in danger he changes his mind, but when Ice died he couldn't care less? What the fuck!

That man went to that funeral as a subordinate, not as the son he was.

The kid doesn't have the tinted lenses Mav has on about Bradley. All the resentment Mav doesn't feel, this kid is going to feel for him.

Bradley is going to understand their resentment because of Ice, and is going to focus on fixing that part with them, without noticing that the resentment isn't just because of Ice, it's about Mav too.

The kid is going to be pissed because they are not Ice. Bradley is going to be too worried about making it up to a dead man through his child that he's going to neglect the very much still alive man he ALSO has to make amends with.

But Ice didn't have a direct hand in pulling his papers, so Bradley understands his mistake with him (he shouldn't have cut him out over someone else's mistake). Mav, however, did have a direct hand and he's still bitter about it. And the kid sees it. They see him doing exactly that.

Bradley is focusing on the wrong thing, because he's trying to redeem himself in an impossible way, trying to answer to someone who no longer demands it.

He goes after it because the silence is a more comfortable answer than the conflict he's bound to face from someone who's still alive.

In the process, he's going to hurt Mav.

Bradley's gonna be so caught up in making it up to Ice (the one he can no longer make up to) that he doesn't think to properly make it up to Mav (the one he can still make it up to) because he thinks he has to.

Ice is gone. Ice is gone and there's nothing he can do about it. And If he'd just changed his mind earlier maybe there could have been. Admittedly, Ice still would have died, but maybe he'd have died more settled than he did. He'd have died with the knowledge that his son came back. That his son still cared. But he didn't, and Bradley hates himself for it.

So, he veers to the kid. He doesn't outright apologize other than the first time, but he's gonna treat them like either a piece of glass or a carbon copy of his father figure. Regardless, they're going to hate him for it.

It's not them he cares for, it's what he sees them as. They can see straight through his bullshit because there's no deep emotional connection there to blind them.

They could try to care and love for him for Mav's sake, but it'd be much better if it were on their own terms, that Bradley would care for them as them and not as Ice's child.

On top of that, the neglect Bradley has for Mav is humongous. And he himself doesn't see it because the resentment he feels is still there. Mav was the one who pulled his papers. He blames Mav for his own decisions.

He's alone, and he blames Mav. He doesn't let anyone in or near, and he blames Mav. But it wasn't Mav that made him shut everyone out, he did that on his own.

He hasn't thought about why Mav did what he did, choosing to believe what Mav claimed to be the reason. It's blatantly obvious that Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell of all people would never stop someone from going to the Academy because he thought they aren't capable. That's what they did to him, he's not going to do that to someone who is virtually his son.

Bradley was irrational and stuck to that irrationality for fifteen years. He used the emotional stuntedness he himself created as a guise to not actually process what happened. He refused to think about it, and still does.

He and Mav reconnected after the mission, but it's a frail margin. Bradley was more inclined to listen because he's confused that Mav cares at all. In his rage, he didn't notice that he did it out of love, and doesn't know what to do with it. The entire training, he's confused, pissed and uncertain all the while.

He still doesn't know the real reason Mav did what he did, and doesn't understand the love he still sees in his eyes. Rooster thought that he shattered everything he had with Mav when he felt, most of all cemented it with all the time spent in that state.

By the end of the movie, he knows for certain that Mav loves him, and understands that he, himself, never stopped loving Mav either, despite what he claimed.

Bradley wanted to be a pilot because of his dad. Goose wasn't a pilot. Maverick was.

The betrayal hit him harder because he wasn't running after Goose, he was looking up to Mav. He wanted to be like Mav.

And he became a pilot, even when Mav pulled his papers, even after having the person he did it all for ripped him into shreds. He still did it.

He still wanted to be like Mav. Deep down, he still saw him as a role model even through all of the repression.

But he still doesn't know why. He doesn't know why Mav did what he did, because Maverick himself refused to say why.

Mav isn't going to be doing great either. He fucked up, and he fucked up big time. He shouldn't have pulled Bradley's papers, period. I know about Carole, but still. He should have communicated with Brad about it, and they'd fight about it, but Bradley wouldn't have walked out to never return then.

To worsen matters, Maverick has a horrendous martyr complex that makes him take the brunt of Bradley's resentment instead of Carole, the actual perpetrator.

Over the years, he's blamed himself more and more every year that passed, but I don't believe he ever regretted it.

He fulfilled Carole's last wish. It didn't stop Rooster from becoming a pilot. He gave both of them what they wanted.

But he's trying to protect the Carole Bradley has in his head because he doesn't want to stain his memory of her as he did with himself. This has been discussed a hundred times over, so I will try to be brief.

Mav is scared that instead of him, Bradley's gonna resent his mother. His dying, cripple mother that said that in her death bed. His widow mother who saw her husband die in the skies and didn't want her baby boy to have the same fate. His sorrowful mother that had to watch her friend, someone she considered a little brother, keep going up into those same skies and hear all the whispers the people on the ground flung upon him because of it.

So he took it all on himself. Because he sees himself as expendable in favor of her.

So, safe to say he's not going to be the one to tell Bradley the truth. Because of it, Bradley's resentment is going to continue to fester.

After the mission, Bradley knows that Mav's not telling him everything, but he refuses to talk about it so what the hell is he going to do?

They fix things well enough for them to talk to each other, but don't make it too deep in fear of opening up more wounds instead of stitching the old ones back together.

Mav thinks this is as good as he can get. Bradley is annoyed at Mav's hesitance.

Despite mending things, Bradley is still going to think all of his problems are Mav's fault. And he's a petty bitch, so he won't let it slide.

He hasn't properly processed it due to the lack of information, and can't let go because of it.

He's going to slip in dry comments about how Mav affected his mental health and life because of what he did. He's going to be cagey about everything that happened in the in between. He's not going to know basic shit about Mavericks life because he refuses to acknowledge that he was wrong in more than one way.

And Mav's gonna fucking take it.

He's not gonna say anything, not gonna even defend himself because he thinks he deserves it.

Bradley is a stubborn fuck whose pride has been hurt once, and refuses to acknowledge that it could be hurt again. He's just like Mav when he was younger, but ten times worse in the emotional department (I have no fucking idea how he managed that, but he did).

So yeah, soon enough they're going to be balls deep in miscommunication with grudges held close to their chest.

Maverick wants to communicate but doesn't want to communicate a very important piece of information that could potentially make things better and Bradley straight up doesn't want to if he doesn't have to.

Which means they're going to come to a stand-still. And someone is gonna have to interfere.

If I were to guess, it'd either be Slider or Sarah (Kazansky). Regardless if Sarah is Ice's sister or wife (up to interpretation), she knew how important Mav was to Ice and obviously cares about him too from the few scenes we got of her. Slider also knows, and it's obvious he also genuinely cares about Mav too despite claiming otherwise.

I'd honestly vote for Slider to be the one to do it, simply because he'd also see the Ice favoritism and the Mav neglect, and would pull Bradley's ear about it to hell and back. Because he also knew Goose, and this... entire thing is not something Goose would be happy about, at all. Slider has a much more subdued connection to Bradley, so he'd have no qualms about calling him out on everything.

Especially if he ever found out that Bradley said 'My dad trusted you, I'm not going to make the same mistake.' I sorely believe Slider would end up in jail if he ever heard about that one.

If Sarah were the one to do it, she'd probably be more understanding and much less violent than Slider, but she'd be blunt. That's still someone she cares deeply for they're talking about, and she also saw all of it. She wouldn't sugar coat what needs to be said, but she'd be understanding too. Not you did nothing wrong kind of understanding, but a you had your reasons to be upset kind of understanding.

Either of them would probably do this without Maverick's consent, because that's the only way to get it done.

When Bradley finally comes to know exactly why Mav did what he did, he's gonna be in shambles. Not only for Mav, but for himself.

His entire life has been built around that single happenstance and now it's gone, he was wrong. He was so wrong. He can't go back to being the way he was, he doesn't remember how he was.

He's gonna have to start over, rebuild himself from the ground up to be someone better and spare everyone in his life the suffering. Everyone in his life has suffered the consequences of his resentment. He doesn't know if he can make up for it.

To start over, step number one is apologize.

This right here is were he finally lets his ego drop, and fully apologizes to Mav. Finally owns up to his mistakes to the person that deserves it most. He's not gonna leave Mav be, he's definitely going to demand a full explanation from him and then is going to scold him for it, but he's gonna finally fully let go of the grudge he held this entire time.

That's to say, everything isn't a sea of roses.

Maverick isn't the only person he needs to apologize to, and on top of it, Maverick is probably the only one who is going to let him down easy.

Bradley is going to be on a tight leash with everybody else for a while, and they don't have any hold ups about calling him out on his bullshit. He's going to need to learn how to take critique to improve himself rather than read it as a straight up insult that he's going to get mad about.

Maverick is going to need to learn that Bradley isn't going to up and leave, and that he shouldn't hold himself to such low standards. Not only that, he's also going to need to learn that Bradley is bound to make mistakes just like any other human.

Bradley is still gonna fuck up in some places, but he's gonna be better at recognizing it. Mav's also gonna fuck up sometimes, but he's going to get better at accepting it and moving on.

With time, Mav is going to call Bradley out on his bullshit too, and Bradley is going to do the same when Mav starts doing his 'I'm less important than other people' shit.

They're going to be sad about it because they think that the reason the other does some of the things they do is because of themselves, but that's a story for another time.

They try. That's what matters.

[dangans-ur-ronpas]

oh yeah i saw your reblog of togami fun fact and i think i followed you because you chew on him so well. do you have posts of your thoughts on togami's backstory? (you can answer privately btw)

i straight up don't remember if i've ever posted in length about my byakuya backstory headcanons (if i ever did they'd be catalogued under '#my thoughts' probably, that's the tag i use for my fandom posts) but! just for you i will list a few that i have off of the top of my head

i liked the concept of the togami novel and ended up perceiving the heir struggle as like. not a necessarily organized competition (what with heir prospectives trying to assassinate each other or otherwise blackmail, threaten, or force each other out of the running) but more a survival challenge with occasional tests of cleverness, strength, etc. and byakuya managed to win by manipulation and sheer force of will, and doing things that might be considered 'underhanded' or 'shameful' (see: polaris p polanski) -> testament to ambition

byakuya says something cringe in thh like 'im perfect in every way. wits, ability, and body' which always pissed me off but as a result i ended up seeing him as like. above average in athletics, maybe good agility and reaction time? and capable of self-defense, but definitely nowhere near professional levels, and not in a way that's obvious from looking at him

re: physical ability and 'perfection', i don't think he's an 'ultimate' anything aside from 'ultimate progeny'. like he's not the ultimate stock-broker or the ultimate viola-player, but he can do both things pretty well. more of a jack-of-all-trades master-of-none kind of talent. maybe that eats at him a little, the fact that he won't ever be truly outstanding in one single field until he becomes togami head

also re: physical ability, he gets his blue eyes from his mother's side, so he's more sensitive to light. but his mild near-sightedness and need for corrective lenses is from his father's side. he doesn't know this though, so he blames his mother's genetic for all of it

he was planning to get lasik after becoming head of the family but. well. lol

he's half-french. his mother is french. i dont think ive ever posted about mamagami but ive definitely made mention of her in my fic, though at this point she's more of an oc than anything since there's like, no canon info about her at all. but she's a french sculptor who did not want a child and does not want any relation to the togami family other than having them as like. art clients. a cool lady very dedicated to her profession and could have been the ultimate sculptor, but kind of a emotionally neglectful mother ngl

there probably is some more canon info on papagami , aka kijo togami's character but i haven't really bothered looking for it. instead i made him into a sad little man who kind of hates his role as togami head and would've preferred a more mundane life (like as an architect - i actually did make a post about this somewhere), but he won his generation's heir competition because he felt like he had to, not because he necessarily wanted to. for reasons yet unsaid

byakuya spent the first part of his vulnerable youth being emotionally neglected at his mother's villa/art studio in france (hence the bilingualism hinted in the canon). when he left to join the heir competition after one too many assassination attempts he got one of his mom's business partners and former exes (a guy named 'polanski') to shelter him

byakuya's impressions of his parents: his mom sucks (fair i suppose) and his dad lacks real ambition and isn't suited to his role. or at least, he could be surpassed very easily. byakuya plans to make himself the greatest heir ever seen because of his shit parent combo

byakuya's known pennyworth the butler since birth. i have this idea that each togami kid gets just one togami family servant to help shape them into their roles. pennyworth happens to be the oldest of the roster but also the most experienced, and is kind of a shifty old man (i.e: very cunning and more loyal to the family than the child he's been assigned to, though that changes as byakuya gets older)

byakuya's also probably a girl and bisexual but he''s trying to take over the world through his shitty family's conglomerate and then survive a murder game apocalypse so she doesn't really care about that rn

[chaifootsteps]

Okay SO. Though I call it my Lackadaisy NextGen AU as I have no name for it as of yet, it's really a NextGen AU x a "film noir" murder mystery. As I feel like the 10k words of notes I've written down might be a bit too long for your askbox, I'll just give you the Sparknotes version.

Talia (tortoiseshell), eldest daughter of Calvin and Ivy and our main character, is an 18-yo freshman who started off her first year of college bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. No doubt in part because this meant that she would no longer have to babysit her four younger siblings. This very quickly changes when her best friend, a girl working as a prostitute to pay for her classes, is murdered. As the police are predictably no help, a heartbroken and despondent Talia seeks help from the local private eye. The private eye, Quicksilver (pure gray cat), is based off of an old Warrior Cats sona of mine, and since he already has some lead rolling around in his skull (he's more or less okay with it), he doesn't mind getting into dangerous work as well as he gets paid for it. (He also was an old apprentice of Elsa. Still maintains feelings for her that are an odd mix of "looks up to like a mother figure" and "she was a vicious crush of his when he was 19".)

Things don't go so well when the killer catches on that Talia has gone to Quicksilver, and swiftly tries to kill them, nearly shooting the head off of a very unfortunate paperboy instead. Lawrence (what some might call a "cow cat"), also 18 and middle child of Lacy and Horatio, becomes the unfortunate star witness in the killer's latest murder attempt and now has a target on his back as well. With all three of them needing to get to the bottom of the case before one of them loses a life, they're forced to team up and become a motley crew of investigators navigating the seedy underbelly of Missouri, and all of the lies, corruption, and depravity which lay waiting within it.

There are also a few other characters-- Xavier Savoy, street-smart orphan (dad dead to WWII, mother to the flu) who was taken in by Serafine and the Congregation ("Serafine's harem", as he later started calling it) who's always willing to help for a price, and the gossipy diner waitress Lynn who may or may not be related to a certain Drago, but they're not really as into the whole "catch the killer" as the aforementioned three are. Overall, the AU functions as some sort of new-generation sequel; the other characters are mentioned and acknowledged, but the story mainly focuses on the new characters.

One very important plot-point, however-- Talia doesn't know about Lackadaisy. Neither does Quicksilver. Lawrence knows vaguely about Lackadaisy and Freckle/Ivy's involvement, but not the fact that Talia is their kid. So there's always this backdrop of "something happened in my family's past, but I'm not sure what". Talia is a perfect combination of her father's anger and her mother's wit, and though she doesn't know it (and Freckle hates to know it), she has more of her father in her than any of her siblings. When push comes to shove, well, Talia has a very bloody family legacy, and like it or not, violence runs in her veins.

One last thing-- though certain characters are at least mentioned or known to be alive (Lacey still works under Wick, Wick/Mitzi/Zib are a thing though their current professions are unknown, Quicksilver visits Elsa semi-regularly), others are not. Namely, Rocky, Viktor, Mordecai, Asa, and Dominic. It's not necessarily confirmed whether or not these characters are still kicking, but well... sometimes Freckle will watch his kids do something stupid and get this wistful look in his eye, and Ivy will just cling to his arm and say nothing.

Ack, this got long-- sorry for all the wordy-words, thanks for lending me an ear!

Ahhh, this is fantastic! It combines two of the best things, NextGen AUs done really well and Warrior Cat OCs that have been repurposed into Lackadaisy ones. I would kill or die for these kids and any more details of this story you feel inclined to throw my way, I'll happily lap up.

Also, that bit about Freckle watching his kids put a dagger in my heart, mostly because I can't shake the feeling that it's going to someday be canon.

[miss-andromeda]

2012 TMNT 😁

The first character I first fell in love with: 

This should be a no-brainer...I think you know him. Tall, purple bandana, gap between the teeth, way too smart for his own good...yeah, it's him. 😌💜

The character I never expected to love as much as I do now: 

Honestly, Raph! I started the show thinking very surface-level of him; awesome ninja, anger issues, stuff like that. Then when I started rewatching the show, I started to see how vulnerable and soft he could be with his brothers - along with unbelievably sassy he can be. Seriously, dude has some of my favorite one-liners in the whole show.🤣❤️

The character everyone else loves that I don’t: 

Oh, this is gonna be interesting...I'm gonna be blunt here, Leo. Don't get me wrong, I like him a lot and he has some amazing moments, but he doesn't necessarily have the snark that makes Raph and Donnie stand out, and the sunshine and humor that makes Mikey so endearing. I love Blue, but he's 4th place out of the four. 💙

The character I love that everyone else hates: 

Hmm...probably Shredder. I've seen people say that his motivation is pretty lame (which, in some way, it kind of is) but he's not just a bratty child. He's a really twisted villain and seems to really believe his motivations are completely justified - and you can't deny he's completely ruthless in battle. Really exemplifies the concept of the head of the Foot - and honestly, I think he's a great villain.

The character I used to love but don’t any longer:

Probably April. I liked her a lot when I was younger (the concept of girl power and she's got a potential romance with my favorite turtle? Sign me up!), but once I got older...she really grated on my nerves. Don't get me wrong, I like her in season 1; she's an inexperienced teenager who's dealing with the pain of having her dad be kidnapped and is meeting some new friends along the way. Season 2 onwards? I wanted to strangle her. Not just because of the love triangle (although that is a part of it,) but also because she lost a lot of that awkwardness that made her likable in season 1, and just became a cliche girlboss. But she wasn't even likable there; she just felt like the token female character needed to add "diversity" to the group.

The character I would totally smooch: 

See my first answer. 💜

The character I’d want to be like: 

Probably Raph; minus the short temper, I'd love to have the skills he has and the undying love with an animal - be it Spike/Slash or Chompy. Plus, the sass. ❤️

The character I’d slap: 

Well, I already mentioned April, but I like her in season 1 so that saves her. And it's kind of a cliche choice to pick a villain, so let's pick someone that I've despised since the beginning - even when I was a dumb kid.

Casey.

Does he get better in later seasons? Yeah, I'd say so; he becomes less in your face and more...just annoying, but kinda like Mikey annoying where you can't hate him. But in season 2, I wanted to strangle him too - and admittedly, still kinda do. He's way too obnoxious for his own good, is way too gross in his flirting with April (he's not chauvinistic or anything, but you just roll your eyes a lot of the time), and doesn't back up his bragging or anything with actually being likable, unlike Raph.

So yeah, he's the one.

A pairing that I love:

If you asked me this when I was a kid, I would've said Apritello - April and Donnie. Now, I don't shame anyone if they ship them, but let's just say I way prefer my version in All's Fair in Love and Science (shameless self-promo 😅) where they love each other platonically and April shamelessly teases him about his crush on my OC, Andi.

But to answer, a pair that I love? Mikey and Renet, personally. She captures that inexperience as a Time Master wonderfully, and she never comes off like an idiot - she's just trying to find her footing. And Mikey's so in awe of her that it's kind of adorable. They both have that same kind of childish, free spirit that makes me just want to protect them. 😅🧡

A pairing that I despise: 

Okay, there are two.

One is the aforementioned Apritello. I used to like them as a kid, but watching it in hindsight is just cringeworthy. Don't get me wrong, I am all for Donnie having a crush (and admittedly, I'm a sucker for the love at first sight trope), but did they have to make it so forced and awkward? And I understand April feeling uncomfortable and not wanting to ruin their friendship about his feelings for her, but that's what communication is. And by not having that, she just kept leading him on and making him think he had a chance - only to either ignore him or just continue treating him like just a friend. It was so forced and awkward and...ugh.

And for the obvious - Leorai, Leo and Karai. Okay, who thought it was a good idea to imply that two siblings could have a romance - and have it be canon that one sibling had a crush on the other? Don't get me wrong, I love Karai; she's bar none my favorite female character in the show. And like I said, I love Leo - but the crush he had on Karai is what brings his character down for me. If they wrote him as impressed by her skills and seeing the good in her from a platonic point of view, it would've been sweet - and added another layer to Leo's character. But no, they went with the pseudo-incest perspective and made us all creeped out.

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Thank you for the ask, girl! ❤️

@kikithedreamerwriter @m1dnyt3-w0lf @margoteve @jasminarts01 @thelaundrybitch @raphsmuneca @happymoonangel @android-cap-007

[jungkookstatts]

I bawled after reading wslm 😭 it was so beautifully written, my heart broke along with jk's 💔 if u dont mind, how does jk live out his life now that hes begun to heal? Id like to think that hes so devoted and in love with oc that he doesn't marry anymore or even if he's healed. Idk, they seemed so in love, i feel like they considered the other as their soulmate. In my mind, jk doesnt feel the need to look for a new partner bc the love they shared was enough to last this lifetime and beyond. I imagine him establishing and dedicating a foundation in her name, maybe adopt a kid too whos mom died of the same illness? Probably something that makes him feel connected to oc in some way

I'm so glad you liked ㅜㅡㅜ it was a tough one to read fs.

I wrote a little about JK and the after, like what he would do on each other's birthdays and anniversaries after y/n passed here.

But the healing process for JK is most definitely a long and excruciating one. He defo could not marry anyone else. It's not that he does not want to feel the love of another person again, or that y/n wouldn't want anything but for JK to feel the love of someone else. It's just that he still does feel y/n's love despite her passing. Thinking about or pursuing another relationship when he still feels her love and still loves her wouldn't sit right with him. Y/n was and still is his soulmate. Hence, he would rather wait how ever long it took for his soul to meet hers again in another life. He goes on each day with the memory of her and her love holding him with each breath he takes. And that is enough for him.

As for foundations and kids, it's really hard to say. JK is a CEO, which means he's hella busy all the time. He makes bank, though. So realistically speaking, I'm not sure if he would necessarily have the time for a foundation. But you can bet he's donating whatever he can for research and funds for those who have the same condition as her. Maybe later on in life, like when he's an old geezer and retired, he may join a foundation and participate in it like he always wished he had the time to when he was working.

I feel like maybe. Maybe he would adopt a kid. Just one. It would be bittersweet. JK and Y/n had always dreamed of starting a family. But after her sickness, all they focused on was doing what they could with the time they had, which was just getting married. However, later down the line, he starts your wish of having kids. The baby would fill him with so much love. You can bet your ass he would love that little kid like no other. He would call Y/n mom when referring to her, and he would tell the child stories and show pictures of her whenever they asked. It was a good way for him to heal, too. Talking about Y/n often hurt, but when he was talking about her to his child, he felt reconciled.

Ah. That hurt.

This fic will never not make me shed a tear or two.

-Froot 🌱

[welt-verbessererin]

Fic preference question: How do you feel about fics where Arya gives up her child or seems a distant mother? I’ve come across some recently, and I always find it out of character. But like a moth to flame, I can’t stop reading them. I just don’t see this woman who cared for Weasel, adored Baby Rickon, and played with the babes of Winterfell to walk away from her kid. Maybe be nervous about being a mother, but never walk away. She knows what it’s like to live without a parent.

Asking the easy questions I see 😅

As someone who doesn't want kids and is older than Arya is in most fics when she has her first child: I can absolutely understand being nervous or distant at the beginning.

I think the whole 'mother's instinct' and instant love for your child is questionable at best. Especially if it's an unplanned pregnancy. That's why I always want them to take their time to enjoy their life together before having children.

I'm very picky when it comes to fics about uncanonical children, (or any other OC as main characters) so I don't think I haven't read any where Arya outright abandons her child(ren).

Abandonment seems a bit extreme to me, but if it makes sense within the fic, go for it.

However I get the appeal for the angst potential. Sometimes that's what you need.

I also get the appeal of an unplanned pregnancy as a storytelling/plot device, I just have to stop overthinking about the irl implications, then I can enjoy it 😁

Ultimately I think if a fic is good, anything can work. To me, fanfic is about exploring different possibilities, including the most painful ones. And opposing ideas and characterisisations can co-exist. Neither of them are necessarily right or wrong especially if they're post canon, you know? And even then, characterisations are based on interpretation and who's to say they can even be correct in the first place? But I digress.

Also, nothing wrong with reading fic that has questionable to you elements, like characterisations or premises, as long as you don't go complaining to the author about it afterwards. A lot of the time when I start fics I'm not 100% convinced of, I actually end up really liking them.

[needleanddead]

I would agree to be Lucas' house-spouse if I got the FULL NINE YARDS. I want to be courted (flowers, simple dates, and very little touching. A hand hold, a hug and a couple of quick smooches AT MOST until officially married) The courtship process would just make me feel a little more respected.

I want to have a REAL wedding (doesn't have to be huge, just a few friends and family and I'm able to walk down the isle in a pretty gown)

I want a honeymoon even if it's just a stay in the next town over, I want him to dance with me on late nights when nothings going on (in the comfort of the house or under the stars)

I want him to agree to cook with me on occasion, I want use to go all out for major holidays, and I'd want to parent at least one child together, and from that point we can grow happily old(er) together.

If I don't get that the deal is OFF 👏 THE 👏 TABLE 👏 now could I get those demands or am I gonna get killed?

( this whole ask is basically  "But I'd like the pie heated, and I don't want the ice cream on top, I want it on the side. And I'd like strawberry instead of vanilla if you have it. If not, then no ice cream, just whipped cream, but only if it's real. If it's out of a can, then nothing." and I'm so sorry)

Oooh, see, he wouldn't find any of these demands necessarily unreasonable . . . but that doesn't mean you're getting them </3.

- The courting? He'll do that; he'll probably struggle with not a lot of physical touch because he really wants to hold you! But he's pretty traditional at heart and he can respect that. He's already very likely to bring gifts! He doesn't want to risk taking you out anywhere until he's really sure that you're not going to run, though, so dates might be more of the 'at home' variety!

- The wedding . . . that one's difficult. He's not exactly living off the grid - he has a couple of little vices and creature comforts that means he goes into town every so often, and has some manner of identification . . . But he doesn't really like things being known about him in an official capacity. And, alas, you are probably a missing person! Lots of things need to be sorted out here, including him trusting you to insist that perhaps something horrible happened and Lucas has saved you, actually-- but, again, the traditional mindset means that he gets why you want it. And . . . he'd be lying if he said he hadn't fantasised about having a sweet, small, understated wedding with his beloved.

- Honeymoon would definitely not be too far away from the woods, but you'll be surprised just how fond people in the next town over are of him - and how happy they are he's found somebody! He's on edge all of the time because this kind of public living is really not his forte, but he's willing to try anything for you! He'll dance with you (he likes country music and has a record player; perhaps convince him to buy something a little more romantic).

- He likes cooking! He's been doing it for himself for years. If I've given the impression that his house spouse is a glorified maid, that's not it at all; it's just that he wants someone nice to come home to who keeps the house in order when he can't! He's more than willing to pull his weight. And if you're willing to eat his preferred meat . . . well, he finds something very intimate in cooking together and eating together to begin with. He's not just going to leave you to do everything!

- Christmas, he can handle. Lots of sweet romantic affection to be given around Christmas! The same for Easter; living in the middle of nature really means you get to watch a lot of things happen. New Year's and Halloween are a little more difficult for him; he doesn't like being paranoid or loud noises (military-related PTSD). He'll happily celebrate New Year's with kisses and countdowns, but . . . skip any kind of fireworks, okay? And Halloween makes him nervous. He'll buy candy and you can watch a scary movie (he has a very old television and VHS tapes), and he'll hope that's enough for you! It goes without saying that he loves Valentine's Day, especially with you by his side <3.

- And the child thing . . . He's perfectly happy to not have kids, but if his beloved did want them, that would also be more than fine. The idea of having a kid running around the place makes it feel more homely! By this point, hopefully you're no longer a missing person and there won't be any kind of that drama. There'd have to be a lot of discussion on it, but it's certainly not off the table!

(FWIW: I personally don't really like thinking about kids/family in a Murder OC universe, so this kind of vague answer is usually as far as I'm comfortable going. All of my OCs basically exist in a vacuum of wish fulfilment, as a 'if this is what you want, they're fine with it, and they're fine if not, imagine what you will: but it's not something I'm gonna get further into'! No shade or anything to this ask (I appreciate you ;_; <3) but I feel like it's a good time to express these personal boundaries now it's come up fnkjgbfgkjnbnf).

So! As to whether you get killed . . . I guess that's dependent on how flexible you are to how he feels comfortable fulfilling your demands! He really does just want to make his beloved happy, so he tries really hard as long as he trusts that they love him the way that he loves them!

[thyandrawrites]

Hi, again. Thank you for responding back.

I saw your reply and you said that you're not comfortable with age gap ship and I perfectly understand that and respect it. So can you give your thoughts to my question if my OC and Dabi/Touya were the same age?

Also, my previous question was (just as a reminder) - My OC met Toya and Enji when she was a little kid through her parents. Both my OC and Toya loved each other, especially Toya cause she's the only one who understood his pain. My question is, will Dabi be still in love with her now that he's a villain?

hi again. Mh, I guess it depends on how you write their dynamic, on the depth of their bond, as well as what happens in the middle.

Relationships aren't set in stone. People you get along with at one point of your life might end up going their separate ways at a different stage of their life. There might be a falling out for a lot of reasons: puberty, worldview changes, not enough time spent together anymore that makes that person feel like a stranger, different values and ethics when you grow up, etc.

If I was trying to iron out the specifics of their relationship through time, I would try and analyze how Dabi and your OC's personalities, goals and values change and grow over time. So, for example, we know that adult Dabi is a lot different from child Touya. He's definitely more jaded and disillusioned. He doesn't see the world through rose tinted glasses but realizes the toxicity of the hero system, and how most pros are driven by personal interest and self-righteousness. As a child, he took obvious pride in carrying on his father's legacy, but as an adult he completely rejects it and calls his father out on saddling him with such an impossible weight.

So, just because Touya got along with your OC as a kid doesn't necessarily imply he would get along with her now too. So ask yourself this kind of questions:

- What was your OC's opinion of Endeavor?

- How did she feel after Touya's "death" and did that change her in any way? Did she look into the accident at all, or just accepted it and moved on?

- what's her opinion of the hero system? Is she critical, supportive of it, or somewhere in the middle? How so?

- Under what circumstance does she meet Dabi again? How does she react? Does she recognize him? Does he recognize her? How do they feel about it?

- Would she sympathize with Dabi or judge him a lost cause? Why? Does she have any other reasons beside her childish love for him to want to see him as a person and not a villain?

- How does she feel about their falling out? Is she frustrated that she let it happen, or does she blame someone else for it? Is she angry at Dabi for never reaching out to her?

- How does she feel about the fact that he's still alive but never bothered telling anyone?

After you have answers for these questions, you can consider the romance aspect of their dynamic.

This is just my personal preference, but I wouldn't base a whole fic on the strong bond those two had as kids. Sure, they might've gotten along really well and even loved each other (admitting that kids love can even be as deep and nuanced as adult love), but a good story needs conflict and there's a lot of stuff you can address here to make their relationship more realistic.

For one, I'm assuming they went something like 10 years without contact. That's already one major reason for conflict. From your OC's pov: if I was good friends with someone, was informed of their passing, grieved for him for a decade, and then found out he was still alive all along and never cared to tell me, I would be pretty hurt to say the least. And from Dabi's pov: if I had a good friend who knew everything about my home life, about my abusive dad, enough so to give me comfort and support through that pain, and then found out she still became a hero despite it, never looked into my "death", but instead became another hero cog in the system? I would feel betrayed, forgotten about, trampled on.

Build off those feelings. How do they change and evolve throughout the story? Is there still any sentimentality between them, any affection left, or is it overshadowed by their hurt? Do they feel any bitterness, and if so, does that make them more cruel towards each other? less sympathetic? Or on the contrary, do they wish things had gone differently? If so, does that affect how they treat each other (e.g., by "going easy" on the other person in a fight?)

I think your best bet to make this somewhat realistic is to play the enemy to lovers angle. I don't see Dabi being okay with your oc becoming a hero, and I don't know enough about your oc to gauge if she'd be okay with him being a villain (it really depends on her personality, goals and worldview). But either way, the thing to keep in mind imho is that they aren't kids anymore.

The love they had was a puppy love that didn't survive the test of reality. So either that love festered and became something ugly, like for example insecurity and a fear of being hurt again that makes them close up, or it became something positive, a wish to actively change the circumstances that made their bond wither and die. So for example your oc might be motivated by the loss of her childhood friend into becoming a hero who rescue abuse victims, or she could grow up and forget about Touya entirely until she sees him for the twisted adult he became. And Dabi might resent her for pursuing heroics and for forgetting about him despite everything she knew about Endeavor, or he might be actively blocking out her memory like he's blocking out the thought of the family he's left behind in an attempt to get back at his father.

So. long story short. It depends. there's no clear cut answer. It really depends on the kind of story you want to tell.

I hope this helped somewhat.