#mentorstudent

[happy10thousandyears]

This is so funny to see bc I’m sitting here as a 🚬🪞 mentorstudent yuri man in the corner. Like okay brx deserves a partner that would let his death traumatize him kawoshin level . Okay you are only allowed to comment on brx after drawing 2k fanarts of him goodnight

[batfamspews]

Romance tropes are good and all, but you know what relationship trope is real juicy? Mentor/student. Now before you roll your eyes and brush me off, I’m not talking about the run-of-the-mill Ben Kanobi and Luke Skywalker mentor/student relationship where a wise old man teaches a curious youngster a skill set that makes them priceless. While the student might be frustrated with or appreciative to the mentor, the emotional connection there is pretty shallow. When the mentor dies we shrug it off, the student cries a little bit, everyone forgets them and there’s next to no emotional impact.

No, I’m talking about the relationship between a rebellious, rude teenager deemed worthless by society. Im talking about a straight rod, middle aged mentor with a religious zeal for honor and who has probably never broken a single rule in their life (Bonus points if they had a legalistic, obedience centered job such as a police officer or military veteran). Hear me out here.

Student is a messed up, broken kid either lacking authority or with crappy parental figures that don’t care about them. They’re a rebel and a troublemaker by choice and whether they’re proud of it or not they’re not going to change any time soon. Finally society gets to a point where they’re not going to tolerate student’s crap any longer and are ready to make an example out of them. That’s where mentor comes in. The clean-cut mentor sees the world as a system of values where everything is either right or wrong and there are no gray areas. They are not only the most respected person in society but one of the most adored. In other words, they are the exact opposite of student. When student faces harsh charges for their actions, mentor takes pity on them, resolving that if only someone had taught the teenager the difference between right and wrong they would be a loyal, upstanding citizen. Suddenly mentor is enlightened. What if THEY were the one to take student under their wing and change the course of their life? What a noble cause! Confident in their ability as a teacher, mentor offers to take student under their care and make it their personal responsibility to indoctrinate them. Student is reluctant to accept this because it means losing all of their previous freedom to an unsuspecting, ignorant mentor, but they have no choice. Student knows one thing for sure though. Mentor is going to regret this decision every moment they’re together.

Fast forward and nothing is going according mentor’s plan at all. Student is going out of their way to cause trouble and be disrespectful, and when mentor tries to teach them anything they blatantly ignore them, making it very clear that they don’t care. Mentor slowly begins to realize that they don’t know the first thing about raising children and have never once in their whole life felt so discouraged and clueless. The pressure builds up, until finally after a yelling argument with the kid the mentor breaks and tells them they wish they had never tried to help the student in in the first place. However, what hurts mentor the most is student’s response. “Figures. Nobody’s ever wanted me. I wouldn’t expect you to either.” The matter-of-fact apathy in student’s demeanor kills the mentor. They excuse themselves.

This confirms to student that they aren’t wanted and though they’re not surprised or even disappointed, for some reason their heart feels heavy and they decide to make things easy on the mentor. Later on that night, mentor is summoned. Student had gone behind their back and committed a heinous crime. To the rest of the community the solution is clear. They pat the mentor on the back and assure them that they did everything they could, that just by trying to redeem the lost soul they had proven to be one of the most heroic members of society. However, student has proven themselves impossible to correct and therefore must be dealt with rashly (e.g. they could be hanged for their crimes, sent to a juvenile prison, an asylum, a slave in the coal mines, just whatever works best for the fictional universe they’re in). What it all boils down to is that mentor doesn’t just have the right to bring the student to justice, but they should. It’s not just the fair choice, but it’s the wise, honorable, right choice. It’s the perfect situation for them. Give up the student that’s caused them nothing but pain and be hailed a hero.

They can’t do it. For the first time in their life, mentor is tempted to go against their better judgement, their honor and the wise counsel of their peers and make an emotional decision. Student was wrong when they said that nobody wanted them. Mentor wants them, though they can’t quite explain why.

Mentor is told they’re making a mistake, that their choice is foolish, that they’re just prolonging students overdue judgement, but they don’t care. They have made their decision. Mentor will recompense for student’s actions and though it will cost them both their honor and their physical possessions, they will take student back as their own and won’t give up trying to get through to them. Student is in shock. They had never dreamed that someone would sacrifice so much for a person who didn’t deserve it- specifically them. For the first time in their life they felt wanted. Protected. Heck, even loved.

Student doesn’t change over night, but they’re clearly more respectful towards mentor, more enamored by them and more receptive of their teaching. They no longer see mentor as their slaveholder, but as their protector and friend. Mentor doesn’t go easy on them and student does not hesitate to complain about the workload, but they begin to work with a new zeal because now they have a motive to work. They want to make mentor proud. For the first time they realize they’re desperately starved for mentor’s approval, so they work hard , begin to copy their habits, even go out of their way to do things without being asked. They never talk about their feelings, but they want to be close to mentor. For the first time they know what it feels like to be loved, and they want to return that love in every way possible.

Mentor has no idea what possessed student to change, but nothing in the world could have made them happier. They begin to recognize the student’s longing for approval and it occurs to them how much they want to pay it forth. Mentor knows what it’s like to do great things and be praised for their deeds, but they have never been more proud of anything than the scruffy little public nuisance that lived in their house. Student wasn’t just their responsibility, they became their joy. They were proud enough to call them their son/daughter.

Of course student doesn’t become perfect overnight. Clearly they revert to what they know and cause trouble multiple other times. However, the disappointment master expresses to them when they’re caught is enough to make them realize that they’re former way of living is no longer appealing to them. They value their mentor’s opinion too much and nothing hurts more than their disapproval.

This is just a sample of a mentor student relationship that could work in a variety of different storylines. It doesn’t need to be the main focus of the story (i.e. if the theme is action and adventure, then the student and mentor might be forced to go on a dangerous expedition, or the student might grow up and leave the mentor, or either the student or mentor is taken and the other has to go save them, something like that). What’s great about this relationship trope is that it creates a solid base for an impactful story. It might explain where the student gets their ideals, why they’re so strongly committed to their mission, or why the mentor is willing to give up everything they hold true to in order to save one specific person. If done correctly, imagine how painful it would be to the readers if either the mentor or student had to sacrifice themselves for the other. Imagine the arguments. Imagine them crying because they’re sick with worry for the other one.

The thing that sets this relationship apart from the Obi Wan and Luke mentor/student trope is the focus is on the relationship and not either person’s abilities or personal value. Both the mentor and student have to give up aspects of themselves, but they end up with something they value much more. It’s what’s special about both characters. I believe the lack of this relational foundation in most movies and books is why viewers lack interest in the main character’s goal when they’re looking for someone they care about. If the relationship is the backbone of the character’s motives, then it needs to be the backbone of the audience’s reason to cheer the character on.

What sets this apart from romance tropes (other than romance tropes being ridiculously overused) is that this is a relationship trope almost everyone can relate to. Not everybody has fallen in love, but everyone has had an authority figure in their life and many have had authority over someone else. The audience can relate to the characters, and the relationship becomes more real to them. And while there is absolutely nothing wrong with a romance trope when it’s DONE RIGHT, in my personal opinion, a well executed mentor/student trope tops all else. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for middle aged, honor-centered, FLAWED military veterans and rebel teen nuisances becoming each other’s everything. You can judge for yourself.

[gravity-what]

Wasn't sure if I was actually going to make this post

But after seeing a lesbian artist get shit for drawing Ashi with another women on top of THIS http://gravity-what.tumblr.com/post/160444017159/their-relationship-was-never-mentorstudent-that piece of shit ask I present to you (f-slur warning)

Jashi as an Healthy (For Me So I Don’t End Up Throwing Up Due To My Own AU) Lesbian Romance

It involves the following

• Ashi is still trained in the same cult with her sisters but since Jack (a name she still takes on when she does arrive) is not around yet her and her sisters are just being trained to be Aku’s top assassins. So, in other words, Ashi’s childhood is still the same.

• Ashi still wants to explore the world though and see wtf is going on out there and so, on her and her sisters first mission, she escapes and runs away.

• she managed to hang low and explore a bit on her own before her sisters are sent back out to find her and drag her back. She fights of course but since they aren’t there to kill her she is trying really hard to reason with them and not kill them either because in the short time she’s been out she is pretty sure everything they had learned is wrong.

• and then Jack’s fucking portal from the past opens up right above them and dumps Jack right into the middle of this fight and she is supper confused but these women are wearing masks like Aku’s face and so she figures Aku must have sent them to kill her in that exact moment in time (Aku hadn’t of course. Aku completely forgot Jack was even a thing) and goes with it and just jumps into the fight because this other lady who also seems to be a target is very obviously outnumbered.

• Ashi, not wanting her sisters dead and not knowing who tf this lady with a sword is but knowing /this person is fucking skilled and if I let this go on is probably going to kill my sisters/ grabs jacks arm and just PULLS her away from the fight and they both end up making a desperate run for it.

• they escape and, once they are able to catch their breath Ashi is like ‘who tf are you’ and they trade stories about who they are and Jack goes “I don’t know anything about this world that Aku has created” and Ashi goes “I’ve only been free for a few days and I think everything I’ve been told is a lie, but maybe together we can figure this place out?”

• and they end up traveling together and leaning about the world /together/ since both of them are equally ignorant about it and they eventually develop romantic feelings for each other in their search for time-portals and continuously having to fight off/try and save Ashi’s sisters and they end up being a healthy kick ass lesbian couple with no huge age-gap or power dynamics.

The End.

(Edited to add the top bit so people know what I specifically mean by ‘healthy’ aka: healthy for me specifically (longer explanation: http://gravity-what.tumblr.com/post/160454578659/are-you-really-saying-jashi-as-it-is-is-unhealthy))

[lisasargese]

"Lisa, you're the type of person who needs a constellation of mentors...and miracles. Keep your miracles," Queen Mentor of All. #mentorstudent #mentor #koreanbbq (at Best Dumplings In Englewood)

[denisepatterson1]

My other half. #MotherDaughter #MentorStudent

[lisasargese]

Auntie Mame opened up doors he never knew existed...and he adored her for it. Imagination and adventures of the mind :) #fairytalelife #auntiemame #mentoring #mentorstudent #proflisa #proflisasays #onelittlespark (at Lisa's Place)