#my original response to this was an essay about everything i like about that show

[free-my-boy-grumbot]

tommy. tommy rest assured i like good omens

mutuals i’m bored recommend me your current Interests and i might actually watch/read/whatever them. this is the recommendation window i’m always waiting for. do it

[jules-ln]

Viktor and Jinx as Zaun, Jayce as Piltover, Arcane's use of art movements as a storytelling device

I am once again writing about Arcane because I am mentally ill and I also love Art history

So anyway I've already talk about Viktor being Art nouveau And how Art nouveau's history was similar to Viktor's story, and I wanted to talk about Jayce being Art Deco, because of his fashion choices in the last episode are pretty much art deco

But then I thought, what if it isn't just about Viktor and Jayce, but it's about Zaun and Piltover in general, and how the relationship between these two cities reflects in these two characters

And somehow I ended up writing this because FUCK

Look, I even got subtitles and everything

But anyway, I won't put citations on this because I'm not that crazy so this isn't a serious academic essay, and as anything else you read on the internet, take the parts about Art history with a grain of salt and you should read more about it (yess, this my elaborated plan to get people into Art history)

Jinx and Viktor as the personification of Zaun

Zaun actually has more of a punk on top rather than just art nouveau, a lot of people seem to think it's steampunk, but honestly, I think that's the result of putting punk and art nouveau together rather than it being pure steampunk

The thing that made me connect the characters as the embodiment of the cities was the fact that I've noticed that Zaun actually has a lot of art nouveau elements; is just that this art nouveau elements seem to be old and broken (I would show you but Tumblr's dumb image limit won't let me)

Now, I've actually talked about the story of art nouveau on another post but to make a brief summary, art nouveau started as a way to give common people art, to redistribute it rather than it just being something for rich people, it failed. But the important part is that art nouveau originally was a leftist art movement, like punk. Punk was a response to the social and economic crisis at the time of its origin; but where Art nouveau was a solution (solution that didn't work, mind you) punk was more of a response (again, don't quote me on that lmao)

Similar to this we can see, how both Viktor and Jinx then embody different responses to the same thing. Viktor is proposing a solution for the problems of Zaun (solution that didn't work) meanwhile Jinx is a reaction to everything that has happened to Zaun, she isn't a problem, she's a consequence

But not only are they the responses to Zaun, they ARE different parts of Zaun

We can see this with Jinx in the relationship she has with Vander, Silco and Ekko.

Both Vander and Silco nurture her and Zaun, and she wouldn't be what she is without both of them

That's why neither Silco nor Ekko could leave her. Silco couldn't give her away because that would be equivalent to him giving away Zaun, and Ekko couldn't give up on her because that would be like giving up on Zaun

Meanwhile with Viktor the influence of his style predominantly being art nouveau reflects in the background at different parts of the city,

And most noticeable is that when Zaun is in a better place, the elements of art nouveau are more prominent, like in episode 7 where punk takes a back seat to the art nouveau. It seems that generally art nouveau signifies a better Zaun, or the potential of it being better

We also see a lot of elements of art nouveau in Viktor's commune, and I know that the commune is interpreted as a negative thing. But look at it this way, what Viktor is doing, is probably doing more good than whatever the hell Caitlyn had going on during the first act (no hate to Cait btw)

Like, I know there are Caitlyn fans out there that defend her decisions of using the gray to attack the Chem barons, but in reality doing that wouldn't solve anything, just create a power vacuum that later could be filled by someone worse (like Renata Glasc) without solving the addiction to Shimmer (again, No hate to Cait). But what Viktor is doing, offering a safe space to recovering addicts and sick people, is actually solving the shimmer problem by eliminating the demand of it; and it's making Zaun better

(I also want to point out that the decision of framing Viktor's commune as a mind controlling cult is very politically charged, because even if it's not perfect; think about it; they're framing a commune in which money probably isn't used at all, and that accepts both recovering addicts and sick people freely and without judgment as something negative)

Add the fact that Viktor is one of the few characters that didn't talk negatively about Jinx (If I remember correctly); neither when he is disarming her bomb nor when he's in the commune talking directly to her; this could be interpreted as Viktor always seeing the potential within the Zaun of now

Adding to that, I want to make the point that Viktor and Jinx probably would be friends if they got to know each other. And I think this headcanon is so popular because they both are expressions of Zaun, of course they're going to be similar and get along

Art deco

Now, I'm not an expert in art deco (I've always been more interested in art nouveau and impressionism). But I know some things about it

Basically Art Deco comes from from the words art décoratif; and it was an art movement that emphasized the utility of art; it had different influences like Mayan art, Egyptian art, Art Nouveau, Rococo etc etc

Some of its characteristics are: straight lines, geometric patterns; a lot of gold, lots of triangles, more is more ideology and ornaments

But the important thing is that Art deco is supposed to be a very superficial art, merely decorative (hence the name); that signifies wealth. It also became strongly associated with machinery and progress. I would argue that in recent years there has been a new connotation of corruption and darkness to it thanks to media like Bioshock

It's definitely a perfect art movement for Piltover; to show the shallowness and money the city has. But the show not only attaches this art movement to the city, it also gives it different characters

Mel and Art Deco

This is the part where my ramblings got out of control because at first I was going to just point out how Jayce has an art movement too; then I realized that Viktor also uses clothes with an art deco pattern in them: (red lines to make the pattern more clear)

But that's weird; why does Viktor uses art deco here when later his main style is art nouveau? Then I realized, it's not just about Viktor and Jayce. But as Zaun and Piltover in general

And I realized that because of a character that also uses a lot of art deco without being from Piltover herself

Mel

Mel during the series uses different clothes, but most of them have in common the geometric pattern of art deco

But she isn't from Piltover; she isn't part of the city in the same way Jayce is. While she has a very big connection to it; the simple fact is that Mel's story is about finding herself; and she can't do it while in Piltover. In Piltover she's only doing what she's always done, searching for her mother's approval

Then why is she associated with art deco?

But I noticed, she isn't. Not completely

Let's look at what Mel actually does instead of what she's wearing

Here we can see one of Mel's paintings

Let's not look at what it is, (it's Noxus) let's look at how Mel painted it; it's has more emphasis on colors and ambient, the form is not very defined; it plays with the light, it almost gives you an impression of Noxus

Yes, Mel is an impressionist painter (think Claude Monet (Vincet van Gogh is post impressionsism btw))

And I think this is important for her character because at the end of the season, she goes back to Noxus looking for who she really is; who she is beyond her mother's influence and beyond Piltover. And guess what

If you hate abstract art blame it on Impressionsism. It came to be around the same time of the invention of photography. Photography filled the role painting had of representing reality, and it did it better, faster, and cheaper. So painting had to change to be more abstract instead of simply aiming to represent reality and all of that started (at least within the context of Europe at that time) with impressionsism

What I'm trying to say it's that impressionism was painting as a medium trying to redefine itself again, it was trying to find its own identity apart from photography. Just like Mel is trying to define herself

Now, if Mel is impressionism; it stand to reason that she's using Art deco, not because she's representative of the city, but simply as a way of showing how she adapted to the city, how it influenced her and helped her grow as a person

I was thinking about that before she debuted as a champion, but I think her voice lines kind of confirmed it

So, hers and Viktor's use of art deco signifies how important Piltover is for them; and if you look at it in a certain way, it's could also be a connection to Jayce

Jayce as Art deco

Now, before anything, I want to analyze Jayce's first design, when he's young

Here it is (and Viktor's, for reasons)

And you know, the first thing it jumped out to me while analyzing it, is that there isn't a lot of art deco elements; more than that, it's too simple for art deco, and he looks almost childish; like if you told me the guy was 18 here. I would believe it

But it also applies with Viktor, the clothes make him look so young and are too simple for art deco

So let's see how both of them look after the timejump

Now, Jayce here has his white blazer (is that the right word?) but again, where are my patterns? My ornaments? My geometric shapes and straight lines? There are some on the blazer; not enough that I would call it art deco

But take it off and boom

It's almost the same as his academy uniform, just change some things and colors here and there, but other than that, it's the same

Compared it with how different Viktor looks

Now, I know the first thing that stands out with Viktor is his change in health, but let's look beyond that, his clothes are completely different

Sure, he still uses elements that are reminiscent of his academy uniform, but that definitely isn't his uniform. The shape is different, the pattern is different, even the colors are a bit different. Viktor changed, but Jayce didn't?

That's because Viktor grew up, Jayce stayed the same, just add some things on top

Jayce's character design in season 1 reflects his mental state, he stayed innocent, naive

Now, why does all of these matters? Because it wasn't until I was looking at Jayce's design in season 2 that I noticed he's Art deco;

The straight lines, the geometric patterns, the ornaments. But he only won the art deco elements after he learned about Zaun, after he had to go through what Viktor had gone through. Before that he wasn't ready yet

Now, I think it's important to say that I'm interpreting Jayce as not only related to Piltover, but as the representation of the best of Piltover itself; he's the best side of Piltover in the same way that Viktor is the potential for a better Zaun

A tale of two cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times and I'm a nerd

Now, I think that even after the whole magic plot, Arcane is still fundamentally a story about two cities, and that same relationship it's reflected on its characters; more than that. The dumb ending where Zaun and Piltover forget their differences and work together; I think it was the plan all along and as proof of that, I present to you Viktor and Jayce's relationship

I've seen a lot of people say that the dynamic between Piltover and Zaun reflects itself in the dynamic between Vi and Jinx, and honestly; that doesn't makes sense to me

Because, I understand Jinx being Zaun, I've already said it myself; but Vi isn't Piltover, and the relationship Vi has with Jinx isn't even remotely similar to the relationship Piltover has with Zaun (If you want to make the case, I would say it would be more accurate to say that Jinx is Zaun and Cait is Piltover, and Vi is the person trapped between the two, unable to choose)

But if look elsewhere, you know who would be a perfect comparison for Piltover and Zaun? Jayce and Viktor, and you might say "well, Jayce and Viktor's relationship isn't at all like Piltover and Zaun's relationship either"

That's because, like I've already said, Jayce is the better version of Piltover, and Viktor is the potential yet to realize in Zaun. So basically if Caitlyn and Jinx's relationship is meant to reflect the problems the two cities have in the present. Jayce and Viktor's relationship gives the solution, which is "put aside your differences and work together as equals"

And you can see that as well in their design

Side to side, these two designs exemplify the fundamental differences between Art Nouveau and Art Deco

Art Nouveau looks flowy, soft, feminine, floral patterns, asymmetry. Art Deco is expensive, machinery, modern, sharp angles, symmetry and straight lines, but that's not all

I've already said that Jayce design changed at the end of the season because Jayce finally matured, he's ready to be the best of Piltover, now he has earned the art Deco. But what do my eyes see here?

A flowy soft pattern on Jayce? A Floral pattern even? That's art nouveau right there

And then you look at Viktor's final form (in this picture is easier to see) and What's that on his chest? Symmetry? Straight lines? Machinery? That's art deco

So are you telling me that Jayce will always have some Viktor in him, while Viktor will always have some Jayce in him?

Are you telling me that the best of Piltover will always have some Zaun in it? While the potential of Zaun will always involve Piltover?

And you might think that is a bit of a stretch, but it makes sense with the ending Arcane has

Think about it; the show says that the best solution for the two cities is for them to put aside their differences and work together as equals; and I can't help but think that's what Jayce and Viktor are already doing

Jayce doesn't care that Viktor is from Zaun, and Viktor trust Jayce even with him being from Piltover; and it's only working together that they can reach their true potential. As in every time-line in which they aren't together, they never invent Hextech

The ending of arcane

Tbh, I'm not saying that the ending of the Piltover and Zaun conflict was good even if it was planned all along; but I also think a lot of people expected a leftist masterpiece, like the moment the most revolutionary character is also a mob boss and the main villain of season 1, you can totally tell that it wasn't going to another disco elysium (funnily enough disco elysium also has the mob boss being the union leader lmao)

I'm just analyzing the things I found, and while some might seem like a reach, I'm a 100% death of the author guy and I believe in making my own meaning

And I want to say this is the first time I've seen art history used in this way for visual storytelling. They could've very well just use generic steampunk visuals; but they decided to do something meaningful. Just for that alone I consider Arcane a masterpiece of animation

[acciocriativity]

... MEET CUTE? - A POLY!ATEEZ ONE SHOT

Ateez Masterlist

Pairing: Non-idol!Ateez x Non-idol!Ateez (established romantic relationship); Non-idol!Ateez x Non-idol fem!reader (platonic); Yunho x reader focused (platonic)

Genre: fluff, tiniest bit of angst

Warnings: implied mention of a homophobic father; one suggestive comment; a lot of loose ends that may or may not thighned up in future;

WC: 3, 4k

N/A: This concept has been on my mind for a few weeks now, so here it is! BTW, I really missed posting here. Hey, pretty people 👋

When you moved away from home to attend Seoul University, it felt like the world suddenly became bigger in front of your eyes. You remembered all of your mother’s warnings about how it would be harder now, more responsibilities and obligations would be coming your way, how it would be different from the relatively small high school you were used to. Of course, it was all true, and it was hard to adapt at first. However, you didn’t have the heart to tell her that college was nothing but a bigger high school if you met the right people. That was always the impression you had when the name “Jeong Yunho” was mentioned, or God forbid, if he ever walked by one of your friends.

One of the first lessons you learned was that an A-list celebrity wouldn’t have a chance against Yunho. You knew that for sure because someone made an online poll on the college forum for people to vote on it a while ago.

Some knew him by his excellence in hockey back in middle and high school, which still stands untouchable for his age. At least, that’s what you heard from one of your roommates.

“People dug it in the news?”. You were flabbergasted. You looked up from the open notebook on your small desk to your friend, who showed you the photo from an old news article back in 2007.

It was no surprise that prestige and recognition could get anyone far in life. It was much less surprising that people’s eyes shined at someone who had it all. But the lack of having better things to do was truly impressive. You knew you had 3 essays and a quiz coming up, so that effort would never cross your mind.

“I know, right? But don’t you think he was kind of cute then?”

It was a blurry picture of him on the ice, his face barely there. Still, the number 9 on his back clear as day.

“Yeah, kind of…”. Your voice trailed away as you read the small lines under the photo. “Don’t you wonder why he stopped?”

Others had the chance to cross paths with him in a way or another. That took up most of the surrounding rumors to this day. He was an angel, a true Disney Prince and no photo could ever make him justice, which you believed as much as the next person. You knew he was on the last year now, so the fangirling died down from the original fuss. It was worse then, you guessed.

Still, people were fascinated by him in a way that fascinated you. As far as you were concerned, he could drop everything and become a true movie star, a legendary hockey player for the national team or a worldwide famous model, yet here he is, a diligent student on a path to continue his father’ legacy someday and everyone loved and admired him for that. He truly had it all, but wouldn’t those same people take everything away from him if they could? But who are you to say anything, right? You only ever known him by name and a vague description of how much tall and handsome he was, what would you know.

If his father saw them, no, if he ever dreamed about both of them being anything more… his father would never step foot in a place like this. Those thoughts plagued his mind in moments like these, so it took him some effort to think rationally again. The cold sweat only made him more uncomfortable, waiting for his boyfriend in a simple chair in the so familiar corner of their favorite restaurant was never this nerve-wracking. The window showcased the snow slowly cascading outside. It was supposed to be a nice date, the first snow of the year and all of that, so why. was. he. still. alone?

No sign of an answer from Mingi, he checked his messages again to be sure.

There was no denying that Yunho was an impatient man. He never knew how to wait to get what he wanted, that also apply to have a nice alone time with his boyfriend.

The bell ringing from the entrance bell caught his attention and he fixed his hair on instinct, but it wasn’t Mingi.

There was a uncomfortable pressure slowly forming on Yunho’s chest as he tried yet another failed phone call. Mingi would never have stood him up like this, something must’ve happened. He debated calling Hongjoong, who was still working late shifts and Yunho knew how busy he’s been, nobody really called him at work unless it was a true emergency. So he called Seonghwa instead.

He did his best to seem as casual as he could. Mingi wasn’t picking up his calls, has he left the house yet? It seemed calm enough. Seonghwa told him about a massive traffic congestion on a main street close to their house, but he only seemed to breathe properly when the forgotten phone was found on the couch. Seonghwa tried to ask him if things were alright and he was quick to say yes. They exchanged ‘i love you’s and Seonghwa said something like ‘don’t get home too late’, which made Yunho laugh, because he was the one who told them to “have fun wink wink”. He hang up feeling a bit better.

Mingi was on his way, he only had to be a bit more patient.

His little bubble popped when Mister Kim left a warm drink on his table.

“I didn’t order this, Mister Kim”, Yunho said in a soft yet warning tone as he looked up at the old man smiling at him. “I said I was going to pay for everything today”.

He already drank two cups of coffee in a span of 15 minutes, which he insisted on paying overprice for. Mister Kim is too good for him own sake, and he was away too nice to Yunho and Mingi, both boys he took under his wing a long time ago.

“This one wasn’t me, I swear on the Lord’s name”, Mister Kim said quickly. “This one is from the nice lady who just left”, he whispered as he leaned in.

“Is it? And somehow she guessed my favorite order, hm?”

“Just enjoy it, wouldn’t you? Stubborn boy, tsc, consider it an act of kindness after a rough day”. Mister Kim left shortly after, just as stubborn.

Yunho was speechless for a moment, but couldn’t help his smile. Usually, he doesn’t accept drinks or anything really from “ladies”, knowing well the intentions and feelings behind it. Mister Kim really was too kind for his own good, wasn’t he? Yunho knew he suggested the drink, more than willing to make it for him. Was he really having such a rough day enough for a stranger and Mister Kim himself to notice? However, that was a thought for later, when he finished the warm green tea.

It was only after Mingi and him helped Mister Kim close the restaurant, that he noticed the small “cheer up, bro” written in a black marker on the cup with no pickup line and no phone number.

What a wake-up call right there.

Mingi almost broke his neck from laughing when he saw it. That’s when Yunho decided right then and there he liked that lady, whoever she was.

By the time you were back to that restaurant a week later, you only remembered the taste of the best moon cakes you’ve ever had in a while. You always crave some when you missed your mom’s desserts, but none ever got close to hers as those. Hopefully, there’s still some left to take home with you.

The place itself wasn’t modern by any means, it felt like a voyage back to your childhood the moment you first came in. You were desperate to escape the cold and the smell of fresh coffee and baked cake led you right to the front door that first night. Although old-fashioned to its core, every surface seemed pretty clean and organized. The soft music playing was a plus for you, so you slowly walked to the empty front counter.

This time was no different, except the distinct smell of strawberries and the fact that there was no client in sight. The nice old man was cleaning one of the tables while humming along, it seemed like that was his favorite song. Since he was in no rush to greet you, you slowly looked through the displayed options, happy to see 3 moon cakes left.

“Excuse me, sir?”. You looked at the man once again. He was now working on another table, but he stopped humming, so you took as a sign to keep going. “Perhaps is there a strawberry cake on the oven right now?”

“Do you like strawberries?”, he asked as he took off his gloves and looked in your direction. His tone was as soft as the first time. He really doesn’t look like he ever yells.

“Oh, yes, I do. It’s my all-time favorite flavor”. You couldn’t help the excited tone on your voice. Strawberry cake always meant something good happened, the only good luck charm you still believe in.

“Really?”, he chuckled. “It’s a shame not a lot of people think like you these days. It rarely sold in the past, so I only make it for special occasions”

You nodded, trying not to look so disappointed. “I understand. Would it be possible to place an order for it? I know it’d be an inconvenience and I don’t mind waiting as long as it’s needed to”.

This time he laughed wholeheartedly, so much so his eyes seemed to disappear. You were surprised to say the least at how delighted he was. “Of course, I could. Why don’t you come back later in the evening? I’ll have one ready to-go”

“Wait, really? Thank you so much, thank you”, you bowed down as many times as it felt right to, which he was quick to wave it off. “Before I leave, can I have those 3 moon cakes?”.

Your hopeful eyes amused him to no end. You were an expressive person, it reminded him of someone dear to him, and he could tell you seemed kind and genuine, the type of client he wanted in his restaurant around his boys.

“A diverse taste bud, I see”.

“It’s thanks to my mom”, you smiled and your eyes lighted up when you mentioned her.

You felt like it was your lucky day as you watched him pack your order.

You felt mortified as you hugged the neatly packed strawberry cake in your hands.

Slowly, you blinked as you processed the name you just heard from the tables on the left. There were three round tables together, around 8 boys in total. They were impossible not to notice as soon as you came in the late evening, because not only they were loud, they were all well-dressed and good looking. Maybe there are truly God’s favorites, it was your only thought about them before you moved over to the counter. But now you were sure you heard the name Yunho in the middle of their conversation and you brain stopped working for a second. That was not in your Christmas bingo card. If it was the Yunho you thought it was, then you were just being weird for no reason. It’s not like he was an actual celebrity. But if it wasn’t him, then it was even worse to you. Maybe you were too invested in those silly conversations you had with your friends.

“Miss Strawberry, are you alright?”, Mister Kim, you found out his name, stared at you with genuine concern.

You stood paralyzed in the front counter.

“Yes! Yes, I am”. Your voice reached a few octaves higher and you looked down as you felt some stares on you, your hair covering the left side of your face. “Can I have those, please?”. You didn’t even see what you pointed at on the display, you could only see your reflection. Why were you even hiding? There’s nothing to be ashamed of, you did nothing wrong.

“All of them?”

“Yes, all of it, please”, you said as you suddenly stood tall again.

The determination of your face was enough to tell him you were being serious and he had to try hard not to laugh at your expression.

“Yunho, can you come here for a moment?”, Mister Kim gestured for him to come fast as he moved to grab some to-go bags.

That was enough to direct everyone’s attention to you. Then, it downed on you how silent, except a few whispers, the small restaurant became. There was no music playing, which only now you were able to notice it. Those boys’ voices took so much space and created a new kind of ambiance to the point you didn’t notice the soft hum you became such a fan of. But now that it was all gone, you felt awkward and out of place. At the same time you knew nobody really cared about you, there was an immense pressure on your shoulders to act like they did.

“Can you bend down and help me bag all of the croissants?, Mister Kim asked.

Yunho, who was quick on his feet, started to work with a smile on his face. Even if he wasn’t asked to do so, he’d jump to help as soon as he saw it. The display was too low and Mister Kim’s back is not the same anymore.

“Are you taking the back pain pills the doctor told you to?”, Yunho’s tone was light, but he seemed genuine on his concern.

You heard some murmurs as an answer, but your focus was elsewhere.

After a quick glance anyone could tell that Yunho was as tall and handsome as the Jeong Yunho. But what does that even proves? Yunho was a good name to give a child? You were intrigued, the possibility was there after all. The normal man in front of you could be the Jeong Yunho, which if true, would leave you a little bit upset. You heard Yunho was nice, of course he was, but not ‘helping a grandma cross the street’ kind of nice like this. If that was true, people would have to put more credit on the man’s name, he’d be truly just fucking perfect.

Unbeknownst to you, Yunho’s glance on your direction was as quick, but he didn’t remember seen you there before nor he ever heard of a “Miss Strawberry”. Nonetheless, he was happy the restaurant was getting new costumers.

“Making him work on his birthday, you’re mean Mister Kim”, someone said from one of the tables, the light teasing tone made it clear they knew each other for a long time now.

Although those words weren’t meant for you, still, it was you fault he was helping out on his birthday. Yet, you couldn’t bring yourself to stop him now that he started it. Yunho worked in a efficient and smooth manner, like that was his day job to do so.

“It’s alright”, Yunho said, but nobody seemed to notice but you, it felt like it was for you after all.

“Should I call you instead, Wooyoung?”, Mister Kim said in a serious tone and the boy was quick to apologize and stuff his mouth with the same strawberry cake you had.

After that, the room slowly filled up again with small conversations here and there while Yunho whispered to Mister Kim and once in a while, met your eyes with a gentle smile on his face. The light exchanges were interesting, but you tried not to pay much attention on the words, because you felt like you were intruding on something you were not supposed to, like coming to a friend’s house while they were having family dinner.

The bags of croissants soon took up the whole space on the counter. At the end, there were 9 bags waiting to go home with you and would’ve be impossible for you to carry everything on your own with the cake bag.

“Mister Kim, don’t you happen to have a giant bag, do you?”

He wasn’t sure he had one big enough, still, he went to look for something and this time, he did asked for Wooyoung’s help.

“I can help, Mister Kim”, Yunho said.

“You can help making some company to the nice lady and maybe thank her as well for the tea”, he said as he walked to the back, leaving you just as speechless as the man in front of you.

Yunho saw how surprised you seemed as you realized it was him all along and couldn’t help but chuckle. Now he didn’t feel as bad for not noticing you that day, you didn’t stop to do so yourself.

“You seem caught off guard”, he said as he giggled to himself. Your expression went from shock to embarrassment, he could read you like an open book, which was a nice change of pace. Now that he had a good look, he understood what a deer caught in red lights actually meant, you truly looked like one.

“I’m so sorry, you were in a dark corner and I just thought you seemed a bit upset, I didn’t mean to be rude or anything like that at all and…”

You were rambling, you didn’t know how to stop yourself this time. Your face was hot, you could feel it and the fact that he was actually giggling wasn’t helping your case at all.

Maybe you wouldn’t have stopped talking if you haven’t heard a “hey” that grabbed your attention.

“Are you the green tea lady from last week?”, one of the boys asked you. The first thing you noticed was that he was kind of tall for something sitting down and had a pretty smile.

“Yeah, I am. Didn’t know I got a nickname though”, you managed to say after you took a few seconds to breathe again.

“Would you like to come sit with us?”, the same boy asked again. He had that chill guy kind of voice, that anything he said was cool, laid back and pretty simple.

Now you were truly jealous, that’s how you wanted to when you grew up. You tend to forget there’s people like that, on the other extreme of you.

“Hum, I don’t want to intrude in your gathering, I was on my way home”.

“If that’s the only reason, then let me tell you you’re not intruding. You can take my word for it since it’s my birthday party”, Yunho said and you felt he was sincere with the invite.

Whether he was Jeong Yunho or not, you decided then you liked him.

BONUS SCENE

“Are you all sure it’s alright? No one is going to feel left out if I only take Mingi out?”, Yunho asked once again his six boyfriends.

This was a serious matter to him as he fears he prioritizes Mingi a little much sometimes, even when he tries so hard to give equal love and attention to them all. It’s a constant fighting battle for him, when it doesn’t need to be. This much was said countless times before, yet here he is feeling guilt for nothing.

Jongho felt like they were in a movie or something, because there was no plausible reason for them to be whispering to each other in the small kitchen while Mingi was showering, especially not over this.

“Yes, we are sure. Don’t we all know how he is?”, Jongho asked as he looked around the table and he saw San nodding along. It was a no-brainer for him. Mingi was just… Mingi, there was no other explanation needed.

“He’s going to love the idea, that’s all that matters”, Yeosang said in agreement.

“Isn’t he the sweetest, hum hum? Caring about our feelings and all that”, Wooyoung teased as he pinched Yunho cheeks and anything he could get away with that moment. “You loooveee us so much, don’t you?”, he hugged Yunho for the nth time this morning.

Yunho stared him down, a failed attempt to seem intimidating. He was way too soft with Wooyoung, that’s why he’s such a brat.

“That’s right, unfortunately I do”.

“What the fuck do you mean unfortu- OW! Meanie, we never said slapping as a punishment”, Wooyoung caressed the reddening spot Jongho slapped on.

Jongho only shrugged.

“We should get going, Mingi is going to be suspicious of us like this”, Hongjoong said as he lightly pushed Jongho out of the kitchen.

“Th’is unfair”, Wooyoung whined on Yunho’s chest, who could only giggle at the scene.

[dreamsofbroflovski]

How about a ditzy, naive, cutesy ish ( think cutecore ) fem bodied reader with Craig? :3 I love love love your writing btw!

this request is old enough to pay rent in my askbox at this point.

THIS IS THE FIRST PART TO THIS FIC. next part (the one with the smut) is coming out in a couple of days. i've decided to post pt1 here now to give you guys something while it's not out yet, and also because editing ~6k words right now - while i'm awake and alert - and then the rest later is easier than editing 14k+ all at once when i'm done

i'm so sorry for the wait and for making you guys wait even longer for the smut. but it was better that way

Craig Tucker x Reader - sugar (c)rush - part 1

Also available on ao3! 𓆩♡𓆪 Link to Part 2

Summary: Craig Tucker's unwanted visit to the maid cafe leaves him in a sour mood, but the place might bring something that makes his life the sweetest it's ever been.

Warnings: Explicit Language, Fem!Reader

A/N: This work was originally supposed to be a one-shot, but it started getting too long so it got turned into a two-parter. Next part's the smut!

Yeah, I'm showing exactly my weeb background in this one. If anyone has maid anime recs I'm all ears

Craig Tucker let out a deep contented sigh as he settled on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table in front of it. Contentment that didn’t come only from the physical sensation of sitting down, but also the psychological freedom it represented. He had finally managed to catch up with the downright obscene amount of essays and projects his university course was hauling onto its students, his job was being somewhat easy on him, and his home had finally reached a state of cleanliness that satisfied him - this last one probably being the most surprising concept of all.

For the first time in a bunch of weeks, he was finally able to just relax and do absolutely nothing, without the overwhelming weight of adult responsibilities crushing his shoulders. It was all heading up to be a perfect Saturday.

Had it not been for Clyde Donovan barging through the door of their shared apartment, yelling before he even entered, his arms flailing everywhere as the energy built up in his body tried to find some escape.

“Craig, Craig! You’re not gonna believe this, dude! It’s genius!”

Words that famously preceded disasters.

There wasn’t a single day that Craig didn’t regret moving away with his best friend for university. He figured that, by putting some distance between himself and South Park, he’d at least break free from the bulk of his problems. Turns out, he brought the problems with him and now they just seemed to have gotten worse.

Clyde approached the couch with quick steps, extending his hand eagerly towards Craig, which finally allowed the black-haired man to see that his friend had brought something inside with him - what seemed to be a light pink leaflet for a place or event unknown.

“What’s this?” Craig asked as soon as the paper touched his fingers, still following Clyde with his eyes. Even if reading the information it contained would’ve only taken a couple of seconds, he decided it wasn’t worth the brain cells since his friend would probably just try and explain everything to him anyway; asking him straight up would be less time-consuming.

“It’s a flyer for that new maid café, dude!” Clyde dropped himself next to his friend on the couch, turning to him with pure excitement in his face.

“The new what now?”

“A maid café, dude!” Clyde repeated like the concept was obvious. “It’s a café where all the waitresses dress in those hot-ass maid outfits and treat you like a damn king!”

The brunet held such reverence to his explanation, it made it seem like what he was describing was simply the best thing to have ever graced the planet, a present given by the gods themselves to satisfy his mortal urges. It only made Craig want to know about it even less.

“I’m not going to that.” Craig placed the flyer on the coffee table carelessly, bringing his attention to his phone again.

His friend let out an almost comical gasp of surprise. “What? Why?”

The other male rolled his eyes. Clyde had known him since they were kids, yet he still always came to him with his stupid ideas expecting him to agree with them without another thought, despite knowing full well that Craig was a whole different animal from him. “Because I don’t want to.”

“Please, dude!” Clyde clasped his hands together, looking at his friend with wide pleading eyes. It was clear he was trying to give him the Puss In Boots face, which was terrifying. “I tried inviting the guys from uni, but they won’t come either!”

“Then go alone.” To Craig, it was an obvious solution to a problem that shouldn’t even exist - but he knew that his friend wouldn’t accept it, the ever needy fellow refusing to do anything by himself if he could avoid it.

“Fuck no!” Exactly the response Craig expected to receive. “Dude, I need you there! Can’t just go alone to a place like this, the chicks will think I’m a weirdo!”

“They already would. Because you are.” Apparently Craig’s phone had nothing of value to provide him, because he also threw it at the table, letting it land next to the leaflet.

Clyde pouted, flipping his friend off, and receiving the exact same move as a response. “Fuck you, Craig! You’re an asshole, you know that?” 

That display of irritation at his friend lasted very little, as immediately after he was clinging onto the sleeve of his hoodie, his begging reaching a breaking point. “Come on, dude! I’ll pay for both of us!”

Craig yanked his own arm out of the brunet’s grasp and scooted to the farthest end of the couch with an angry expression. “You said that shit the last four times!”

“I swear I’ll do it this time!” Clyde scrambled around with his hands for a moment, still trying to grab Craig, the movement mirroring the racing of his mind as he tried to figure out a way to make his friend comply with his request. “I’ll do all the dishes for a week!”

When the black-haired male stopped moving altogether, Clyde grinned, knowing he had him in the bag. 

If there was one thing Craig hated more than putting up with his friends’ bullshit, it was doing dishes. Nothing about it was pleasant: the feel of the soggy sponge and the soap on his bare hands, how his shirt would always get wet afterwards, having to touch the gross remnants of food on the plates, scrubbing the grease out of all the pots and pans… He let out a groan of disgust just thinking about it. And, weirdly for a bachelor pad where takeout was regular, he and his roommate seemed to go through an obnoxious amount of dishes all the time, which meant it was a constant task that needed doing and took so much out of his time that he could be using doing something actually productive.

“Two weeks.” Craig lifted two fingers to emphasize the number as he turned his face to the man beside him. “And you’re paying,” he then repeated, not wanting Clyde to forget his earlier promise. His friend nodded enthusiastically, the specifics of his side of the deal going through one ear and out the other as he focused solely on the fact that Craig had finally agreed.

With a grumpy huff, Craig rubbed his eyes with his palms and stood up from the couch, once again roped by a friend into another stupid idea that was sure to end up stressing him out. There went his peaceful moment.

༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚𓆩♡𓆪༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚

Exactly like he thought he would, Craig wanted to spin around and leave as soon as he arrived at the place.

It was like he had been immediately engulfed in a tsunami of cute. The walls were pink with some pictures and drawings of different anime girls framed on them as well as some photos of adorable-looking desserts and drinks that Craig assumed were served there. Frill details had been painted high up on those walls, giving the impression that they hung from the ceiling line itself. The floor was white wood, and the young man would’ve been tempted to just stare at it the whole time and save himself from the assault on his eyeballs caused by everything else, yet he knew that would only provide him temporary relief. Every single piece of furniture that could have a bit of lace or a ribbon definitely got it; the centerpieces on the tables, the ceiling lights, even the backs of the admittedly very comfy-looking chairs. There was a set of shelves at the back, near the counter, which displayed various merchandise items - mugs, cold cups, t-shirts. Craig never understood the whole ‘coffee shops selling merch’ deal to begin with, and the fact that someone would willingly bring those things home to show that they had been to the place was just damn baffling.

He could not comprehend how someone in their right mind would want to spend money to be there once, let alone get a job at the place and have to see this every. single. day. He felt a tinge of sad empathy for the maids Clyde had spoken of earlier, but it was snuffed out of existence when one of those women approached them and opened her mouth to talk. She was every bit as obnoxious as the environment; speaking in a forced cutesy voice that sounded shrill to his ears, explaining every part of the café’s ‘rules’ - no touching the maids, no asking for personal information, no taking photos of the women, maids can only sit down with customers after payment of an extra fee - with way too much enthusiasm for his liking. The uniform she wore consisted of a baby pink dress with white details on the end of the puff sleeves and white frills at the end of the poofy skirt, right above the knee, and her legs were fully covered by a set of opaque white pantyhose. An equally white and frilly short pinafore apron went over the dress, with pockets on the front and a small pin at the bust that said the maid’s name, a piece of information that was forgotten by Craig right after he read it.

Craig tried to keep his cool as the woman escorted them to their table, sighing with relief when she finally let them be and said someone else would arrive shortly to pick up their orders. 

“Hell yeah, dude! Isn’t this great?” Clyde giddily said, taking in the environment one more time, stretching his neck to have a better look at one of the busy maids before turning back to his friend.

The freezing glare he received in response told the brunet all that he needed to know.

Taking note of the menus on the table, both men picked up one each and started scanning through it in broken silence, given Clyde’s continuous exclamations and gasps of apparent joy. As for Craig, it probably made everything worse. All the items available were ridiculously overpriced, and had dumb unnecessary names; it turned out that the visual pollution caused by the excessive pictures of the food was necessary, otherwise he’d never have figured out that a ‘Fuzzy Caramel’ was in fact supposed to be just your average frappuccino, or what on Earth a ‘Delightful Bubblegum Spring’ even was. If there was anything he’d be joyful about, it was the fact that Clyde had promised to foot the bill, and Craig had full intention of forcing his friend to go through with it this time. “Dude, it’s so hard to decide!” Clyde murmured, seeming slightly awestruck behind his menu. “Everything looks so good!”

Craig’s eyes focused a bit on the images all over the menu, unable to find a sarcastic retort to send his friend’s way - everything did, in fact, look pretty appetizing. “Pictures can’t tell you shit,” he settled for pointing out, “This stuff can still taste bad.”

“That’s bullshit,” Clyde shook his head. “If it looks good, then it’s gotta be great. Have you ever seen a hot chick that wasn’t great in bed?”

‘As a matter of fact… ‘, he thought, but decided that that was not an appropriate conversation to be having in that particular environment, settling instead for a small huff that Clyde either didn’t notice or didn’t care for, considering the smug smirk that tilted his lips with the satisfaction of ‘winning’ the argument.

They didn’t get much more time by themselves to really mull that over, though; A soft unknown voice brought attention to a third party that had shown up near the table, the background noise having covered its arrival. 

“Hello there, masters! I’ll be your maid for today! How may I help you this afternoon?”

Both men turned their faces to you, with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Clyde basically gave himself whiplash with how quickly he turned, his whole upper body shifting to your direction as he beamed with joy. Craig, on the other hand, only turned out of basic respect, keeping a straight face and making no sound, a movement quite reminiscent of a robot’s.

“Oh, hey there! I’m Clyde and this is my friend Craig!” The enthusiasm his friend used on that greeting matched what you had on yours, and both had Craig cringing internally, while also taking note of the fact that he hadn’t even answered your question. Clyde always seemed to use more sentences in interactions than what they required.

You didn’t seem to mind, though. tapping lightly on the button in your apron as you responded. “I’m (Y/N)! It’s very nice to meet the masters, and welcome to the café!”

It was a very simple answer, obviously default to a server’s duty, but Clyde’s smile seemed to grow impossibly larger, which blared sirens in Craig’s head. Years of knowing his friend made him silently pray to any possible entity that the guy wouldn’t try and make a pass on you - he didn’t know how much attention the man sitting in front of him had paid to the list of rules that basically told them ‘Don’t Mess With The Maids’, and the embarrassment of getting kicked out of the place in front of every other patron didn’t appeal to him at all, no matter how much he didn’t want to be there.

“That’s such a cool name! Thanks a lot!” Oh, thank fuck. Clyde seemed to have brought a brain cell from home instead of mistaking basic politeness for romantic interest… again.

You made a little hum of approval to accompany your gentle smile, and tapped some things they couldn’t see on the - also very pink - tablet you were holding. “So, what’s it gonna be for the masters today? Have you gone through all of our options yet?”

“Ah, yeah, that!” The reminder made Clyde nod vigorously and turn his face to the menu again, scanning it for his choices. “Let’s see, where was it… Can I have a ‘Soft Maple Mix’, and the…”

Craig tuned out his friend’s speaking after that, making use of the time you spent distracted taking his order to fully size you up. You had a similar sweet and high-pitched tone of voice to the first maid, but he captured the difference straight away - yours was softer, more natural, like it came that way straight out of your vocal cords. The uniform dress was the same, but seemed to fit better in your body; take away the apron and he could’ve honestly mistook you for a client at the place instead of a worker, with the way you wore it so well. Instead of full pantyhose, you had striped knee-high socks on, white and pink in a slightly different shade to that of your maid uniform. Your facial features had their gentleness enhanced by a light layer of makeup, in which he appreciated the lack of bold colors or excessive details, the simple yet still impactful look making for a sight for sore eyes.

Even someone as nonchalant as him wouldn’t be able to deny that you looked adorable. Lovely and approachable, like something worth protecting, and had the setting been another, he’d have no qualms about mentally acknowledging your beauty and admiring it some more. Right there, though, already annoyed by the environment and the situation he was put in, he couldn’t help but wonder if any part of you was even true; everything cute in the place was dialed up to 11 to attract customers, and obviously, being a server, you’d be inclined to match the setting. Very likely, as soon as the shop closed for the day, you’d turn into something completely different - and  if there was one thing Craig disliked, it was fake fucking people. People who could shift their entire personalities around like it was nothing were the worst. Maybe that’s why he grew up to have few friends, but at least he knew he was able to trust the ones he had, considering no one could fake being that stupid.

When Clyde finally finished yapping away his ridiculous order and you turned your face to Craig again, he was quick to straighten his posture and pretend like nothing else had been going through his mind. “What about you, master? Do you wish to place your order already as well?” 

That term you used to refer to him again made him wince, but he just shook his head and didn’t mention it. ”Do y’all have just normal black coffee here?”

The slight frown that dipped your eyebrows showed him that this was not a question you were used to receiving. With such a long menu full of options, most people would’ve been drawn to the many extravagant drinks - but Craig would insist on his simpler choice if need be, even if it’d be irritating to do so. To him, this was the best way to find out if a place was decent or not. Fancier beverages can have damn near anything in them, all kinds of different ingredients and preparation methods that can force a false air of quality into something lackluster; but black coffee is straightforward, its taste speaking for itself, so if it’s bad, he knows to not waste any time trying anything else.

Luckily, despite your weirded-out expression, you didn’t question him. “We do, indeed,” you responded in the normal peppy tone, “Would that be it for our dear master?”

“Yeah, that,” he turned his eyes to the menu again and squinted briefly as he tried to make a last-minute pick among the huge array of food items, “And also a… Huh… This.” He just turned the menu to you and pointed at a picture of a cat-shaped grilled cheese.

“Oh, our Cheesy Kitten Warmth?” 

Craig just nodded once at your words while you noted it down on the tablet, choosing death over saying that name out loud. “Alright, a Cheesy Kitten Warmth it is! Well then, masters, I’ll be off for now, but if you need my assistance you can just call over to me anytime and I’ll be here as soon as I can! “

And just like that, you were off somewhere else with a pep in your step, both young men watching you leave until you disappeared through the kitchen door. When they faced each other again, it couldn’t have been more clear that their opinions on the situation vastly differed, like they did on all other points concerning their visit.

“Duuuuude.” Clyde drawled, turning to face Craig again, “What did I tell you? A-fucking-mazing.”

Now Craig doubted if his friend knew what that last word meant. “You really are a fucking weirdo.”

“Oh, come on, Craig,” Clyde’s smile didn’t falter even through the name-calling, “Don’t pretend like you’re not having fun.”

“I don’t have to pretend, I’m not.”

“Fuck right off with that,” the overeager friend insisted, “Did you even hear what she called us? ‘Masters’. I’ve never had a girl call me that before. It’s the best feeling in the world!”

That was the first time in years Clyde had managed to leave Craig speechless without it being from a sentence so stupid no retort could salvage it. His mention had brought back the memory of your voice calling them that, loud and clear as if you’d been doing it right in that moment - making him ashamed of how much he did like it. Despite knowing that it was yet another part of the job, meant to sway needy fellows just like his friend and fool them into thinking they were actually liked so that they’d come back and spend more money to get the high of feeling adored, he knew the trap had caught him too. His blood had run boiling hot every time that word rolled off your tongue in your honey-coated voice, and his leg had been shaking under the table the entire time, a small outlet for a surge of unfamiliar energy that coursed through him - excitement. Sexual, of course, but not just that. A sense of true power.

Had it been anyone else, they’d have called Craig out on his prolonged silence and his cover would’ve been blown. But luckily, this was Clyde; a man not notoriously known for his long attention span.

“Do you think if I send them my CV, I can get a job in the kitchen?”

And just like that, Craig found a way off the corner his friend had put him in, swiftly adopting his serious mindset again as he tried to dissuade the brunet from showing up with his lackluster resumé and nonexistent cooking abilities to beg for a job - both men finding a distraction as they waited for the food to arrive, not paying attention when you finally emerged out of the kitchen.

No one knew how it happened. Whether something had been on the floor near the table that caught your step, if it had been your own foot over the other, or if you had tripped over nothing at all. Either way, it didn’t matter. Because before anyone could react, your body was halfway to the floor already, the contents of your tray escaping your hands while you held onto the metal as if it could catch your fall, a loud squeal ripping through the background noise of conversation in the café.

Your face landed near Craig’s shoe, both his feet raising off the ground as the surprise made him recoil in his chair - a movement that, although it might’ve prevented you from seeing the creases on his sneakers, did little to save him from the barrage of food and drinks that landed square on his body. Both his and Clyde’s orders hit him square in the lap and chest, the coffee they had ordered making him roar loudly in pain as the extremely hot liquid seeped through the fabric of his shirt. Porcelain mugs and plates broke on the floor, their shards scattering everywhere.  

Almost all of the workers in the room stopped what they were doing immediately to assist both you and your patrons, one of them helping you off the floor and taking you out of view to preserve what remained of your dignity while the others apologized to the pair of clients and started fixing the chaos, picking up the broken dishes and cleaning up the food and drinks from the ground. Someone had shown up with a wet towel to assist Craig in wiping away the mess on his outfit, and he didn’t know what was more humiliating; to have that happen to him to begin with, or to be tended to like a messy child by one of those soft-spoken maids while still knowing that he’d have to go back home in dirty clothes, probably even stained from the coffee.

The owner of the place herself had decided to waive both of the guys’ bills for the day as an apology gift, saying they could order whatever they wanted for that visit, as well as gifting them a fifty percent discount coupon for a possible next time; a deal that personally didn’t interest Craig at all - why the fuck would he return to that place to spend money there when they already screwed him over the first time? - but that pleased Clyde greatly, as he accepted the coupon with a huge smile and was quick to usher his friend back to their table so they could continue eating. 

The pair was set up with another one of your maid colleagues, who was pulling all the stops to make sure the both of them were comfortable and happy in their stay, considering the earlier fiasco. But Craig’s mood was already soured beyond repair, irritated with the theatrical antics that accompanied the food and wanting to just be left alone to eat and go home in his silence. It didn’t help that he didn’t care for much of what he ordered, either - the new cup of coffee that was sent his way felt too sweet, even though he hadn’t put any sugar in it, and his Kitten Warmth Whatever had spent one too many seconds on the grill, the markings on the bread a bit too charred for his specific tastes.

The black-haired man endured what he could for a while, but when seeing that Clyde was on his third slice of cake with absolutely no intentions of ending his indulgence of the free cafe food and the maid’s attention, Craig decided to just call an Uber for himself and leave his oblivious friend to figure out how to get home alone later. 

Not wanting to spend much more time inside, he got up and left the establishment without another word, deciding to wait on the sidewalk for the car, finding the noisy city streets surprisingly much less overwhelming than the corny environment of the cafe. Seeing that the rideshare was a good bunch of minutes away, he leaned against the wall outside, scrolling through his socials absentmindedly as he waited.

His brain faintly registered the sound of the café’s tiny door chime ringing, but he didn’t care much for it, figuring it was just another patron leaving much like him. So he wasn’t aware that it was you who slowly went down the steps outside the door and walked towards him - he was only made aware of your presence once you put your hand on his shoulder, calling out to him softly. “Excuse me, sir? Can- Can I have a moment?”

His whole body instantly tensed in light of your touch, his jaw clenching and grip tightening on his phone - a sight that made you recoil with your hand as you gasped in a much more vocal demonstration of the same surprise Craig seemed to be feeling. It was made painfully obvious he wasn’t one for much physical contact, as he only relaxed once you took a step back.

“I don’t have a bill to pay. They cancelled it.” He said dryly once he noticed you were not close to him anymore, still focused on his phone. Because of you, he wanted to add, but found it best to not make himself part of another scene outside.

You nodded quickly, both your hands moving to clutch your apron nervously. “I know, I know, I just…” You started off meekly, and he did notice how you seemed a bit scared, even. “I just wanted to apologize personally, sir. For dropping your order and ruining your clothes.”

For a brief moment, Craig was taken aback, his face lifting up slightly. He didn’t expect you to chase him outside for something like this, to speak to him personally and face his complaints head-on where the other customers wouldn’t see a thing. However, just as it came, it went - this was all just part of your work protocol, down to the shy behaviour, he was sure of it. For all he knew, your boss might as well have told you to come outside herself, not wanting to lose a potential client and wondering if he could be buttered up with soft words.

“You already said that,” he grunted, looking back down again, suddenly acting really interested in a TikTok that had played about forty-five times on his screen already. “You can leave now.”

Another small nod. “I know I have, sir, but…” You averted your gaze to the street briefly, your hands tugging softly at the white fabric they clutched, “I wanted to come and say it myself. I really mean it, sir. I’m so sorry for causing so much trouble, and I hope you can forgive me.”

Craig finally stopped messing with his screen and turned his face to you, catching your gaze in his. You were quick to drop your eyes to the ground, bending your whole upper body forward in a short bow. He’d never seen such a display before - apologetic submission wasn’t something people usually directed at him, and he would die before admitting that it felt good to see you like that, but it also made him angrier to think it was all an act.

“Fucking stop that already,” his groan made you turn your face up immediately, just in time to catch what was probably the most annoyed eye roll you had ever seen.

“I- I’m sorry?” You stuttered as you asked, mouth slightly open in surprise.

He put his phone in the pocket of his jacket and made a gesture with his hand, as if encompassing all of your body - or rather, everything that had to do with you. “This… Thing, all of it,” he huffed, “Stop.”

Slowly, you straightened your posture, though your expression was still nothing short of confused. “I don’t think I understand…”

“Of course you do,” Craig insisted, “It’s part of your job, acting all cute and shit like that. You don’t need to do that out here.”

“It’s not about my job, sir, it’s-"

“Don’t call me ‘sir’. We’re about the same age. It’s weird.”

“Sorry, ahm…” You lowered your face again, and there was silence as you tried to think of something else to call him, your hands kneading at the apron anxiously as you put all of your brain into that thought.

Noticing your struggle, the man decided to speak up again. “My name is Craig,” he said, “Maybe start out with that.”

“Oh, okay… Mr. Craig.” The man scoffed at the honorific, but didn’t actively complain. “It’s not about my job. I’m really sorry. As a person, not as a maid…”

“Then why do you keep acting like that?” He asked, “You’re outside. You don’t have to pretend to be all meek and shy and shit. Just say what you have to say and go.”

“I’m not pretending!” Your voice went even higher in pitch, if that was even possible. “I’m being honest!”

“Ugh, stop making that voice!” Craig threw his head back and tugged at the strings of his hat, the only thing not soiled by your earlier mistake. “Just say it like normal!”

“I’m not making a voice! This is just how I am!”

At this point, a few people passing by the sidewalk had either stopped completely or slowed their speed to pay attention to your discussion, which Craig noticed. He was getting visibly stressed out. With a huff and a second sharp tug to the strings, he forced himself to calm down.

“Look, no offense, but it’s so annoying.” His deadpan tone had returned. “It’s so fake. Nobody wants to deal with fake shit. If you act like the real you, then maybe people will actually believe when you apologize to them.”

You sighed. “I’m acting like the real me,” you stated back gently, “I can’t be anything else.”

And for the first time, Craig found that he wanted to believe you. It had never crossed his mind that someone could be so kind, so sweet, so cute, straight out their heart. Just… Wake up and be that, like he woke up and acted like a jerk every day. But if you had those words to say, that conviction - even if it felt like it was wrapped in cotton candy -, maybe you both were really being true to your essences.

Before he was able to say anything, though, a black car stopped near the both of you - Craig’s Uber, which he had forgotten he had even asked for. The man didn’t take his eyes off you as he entered the car, but no other sentences were exchanged. The ride home was equally silent for him, bringing home the weight of your argument and the smell of coffee on his clothes, along with the faintest hint of strawberry on his shoulder.

༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚𓆩♡𓆪༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚༝༚

Against his better judgement, Craig ended up visiting the café once more with Clyde, to take advantage of the discount coupon both of them got. That next time, his friend had convinced some other poor souls to tag along on the ‘adventure’, bringing back a bigger group, a concept that made Craig irked with the irony of it; he had not only managed to go back to the place he said he wouldn’t, but brought more paying customers with him.

You weren’t the assigned maid for his table that afternoon, but the black-haired guy still found himself chasing you with his eyes as you scurried around the café, serving your own clients. The extra people in his group meant he could just stay silent while they chatted among themselves, which gave him plenty of openings to sit alone with his thoughts and analyze your every movement, almost as if trying to catch a sign of weakness. No other accidents similar to his occurred during this next visit, so maybe he was just that unlucky, a concept that didn’t seem far-fetched to him. But still, something about you kept him on his toes. You felt more ‘real’ than the extremely fake version of the environment he had in his mind, and he wanted to know to which end that held true.

So began what could only be described as Craig Tucker’s insanity arc.The next time he went, and the one after that, and the others in sequence, he came in fully alone and of his own volition; there was no way he could make an excuse for going to the maid café. It started slow: Just showing up, getting a table in the corner away from everyone, ordering a black coffee like he would at any other establishment and sitting there saying nothing, refusing to play along with the maids’ over-the-top acts and leaving after a while. 

Until a day two weeks later where, by some wicked will of the gods, he managed to have you as his maid again - and it was very evident you were terrified of the ordeal, fidgeting with the fabric of your dress and approaching his table with your spine so straight you looked like you had a broom handle tied to it. Despite all that, you still managed to greet him with grace and politeness, as if his words from the previous exchange hadn’t fazed you at all. 

This brought to surface his curiosity again and led to his next crazy idea - asking to pay for the special fee that would make it so you’d sit with him at the table and engage in conversation with him. He’d seen other patrons doing so, considering them chumps for spending money on such a thing, but he wanted to figure out your deal, and maybe you’d be more comfortable with talking in your safe environment. Obviously you seemed surprised, but didn’t deny his request, adding the fee to his total on your tablet and taking the empty seat in front of him.

You talked for a while. As in, you talked. The first several minutes were spent in awkward silence, as they should considering the tense way you’d interacted the other day, but before you’d consider one of your usual icebreakers for shy clients, Craig did it for you by asking about the job. Not in a fascinated way like the other clients usually did when the subject came into play - which was something along the lines of ‘how does it feel to work in such a beautiful place every day?’ -, but in a more down-to-Earth vein, making it abundantly clear he wanted your true opinions. Which you gave to him. 

He sat in silence as you explained your thoughts, only stopping every now and then for him to order more coffee, a sandwich, or to renew the fee for your stay. The conversation naturally shifted into other topics, but as you babbled away in each of them, he was paying attention to your whole behaviour again; how even the more tense parts of the conversation didn’t seem to make you ‘break’ the ‘character’ he thought you had going on. When night had fallen and he finally left, he wasn’t exactly fully convinced, but he left the café already thinking of conversation starters for a next opportunity that would let him understand you better.

The owner, having noticed how that day went down, made the association that he was more prone to spending more time and ordering extra stuff if you were the one serving him, so she and the other maids began deliberately making sure to try and keep you available around the time where he usually showed up. And he was extremely punctual about his visits. So the next time, and the one after that, and the others, you were there - and, he was internally relieved to see, less nervous about his presence as well.

He never mentioned the first occurrence, and you obviously didn't either. The following meetings were much lighter in spirit, and although Craig didn’t behave as enthusiastically as all the other patrons did, he began sharing more about himself, letting himself engage with your questions rather than just asking you things. What’s more, he actually paid attention to the answers. Most clients were just keen on yapping away and didn’t remember much about the maid herself, since they weren’t going to return as often, but Craig showed up at least two times a week, always to hang out with you specifically, so it didn’t take long for an actual connection to form. 

Along with the vibes, what also changed was Craig’s appetite: he began taking your suggestions on specific dishes you liked from the menu, ordering them for himself and giving his sometimes too honest opinion. The plain black coffee made its appearance here and there, but it now competed with slices of cake and pie, different sandwiches, croissants, iced lattes, and even the occasional tea, all of them with long and cute names you pronounced with a naturality he still lacked.

There was one specific aspect of your interactions that he firmly held onto, though. He insisted that you not call him ‘Master’ or ‘Sir’ during your conversations - the very first customer to actively ask to be called by name. The maid roster had waved it off to a need for a more personal interaction, which you complied to gladly. Yet, it was unmistakable how his head would snap in other directions whenever another maid was in one of the nearby tables, talking to her ‘Master’; like the word drew Craig in, even if he refused to have it used towards himself.

Never would he admit it, but those encounters eventually became the highlight of his days. You were a breath of fresh air from the tribulations of his stressful life. He didn’t have many things that could calm him down the way your gentle voice did, and soon it was all that he could hear in his mind during days of particular irritation - it grounded him, validating his feelings with bits and pieces of advice you did give during your talks, but merged into something much more personal, like you actually cared. It disconcerted him how his heart rate would increase whenever you directed him a question about his experiences, and he’d have to force himself to remember you were just making the conversation you were paid to.

And having your eyes on him for hours, being able to stare at your beautiful face without shame as you hung onto every word that came out of his mouth… He hadn’t realized how much he craved that sort of attention until you came into the picture. Being single was comfortable for him, he had enough problems on his own without having to deal with someone else’s. But he wanted to deal with yours. He wanted you to feel safe with him the way he did with you, to know you past the limits of the tiny table in the corner, to have those stocking-clad legs walking beside him and to hold the hands that kept on bringing him all different kinds of pastries. But he wasn’t a creep, he knew where his boundaries resided with you, and Craig Tucker wasn’t the type of man to let a line blur - he wouldn’t squander his moments of peace over a flicker of interest that might not even be reciprocated. Being your client was all he needed, should be all he needed.

Funnily enough, for a guy so observant, he never noticed how eventually that fee from your table hangouts wasn’t being charged from his credit card anymore. Along with the price of a slice of cake or two.

Dividers by @cafekitsune

[ardentpoop]

my ultimate takeaway from this essay (published 2006) is that it does accurately capture how most viewers respond to sam vs dean as well as sam’s original function as the audience surrogate btwn the two brothers, but it isn’t critical enough of the show’s values - to be fair, expected for the time - and thus does not question whether its characterizations of sam as “bitchy” and “selfish” (in comparison to dean, as always) hold merit at all. it is simultaneously far too accepting of dean’s facade as something purely Aspirational for everyone in the audience.

again, to be fair to the author, this piece was written after only one season of the show had aired, but even as early on as s1 - before dean had absorbed john’s patriarchal role - there were cracks in dean’s larger-than-life facade that the same viewers he consistently distracts from sam with his Dazzlingly Masculine edge dramatically overemphasize to be able to justify their attribution of every “relatable” trait that sam demonstrates much more clearly and intentionally than dean to dean alone, as if the core contrasts between these two characters don’t affect everything about the show. I don’t think it’s accurate to claim that it’s as simple as dean is who we want to be and sam is who we really are. this assumption relies on a usually-subconscious reading of most surface-level dean traits as “good” (strong, manly) and most surface-level sam traits as “bad” (weak, girly). in fact for me personally sam is who I’ve always wanted so dearly to be but I see more of myself in dean than I would like, which makes me very sad as I am unable to gloss over the reality of dean as a monumentally flawed character who does immense damage to himself and others from his uncontested position of authority. if you view the (abuse-enabling) family structure as fundamentally good and surpassing all other forms of human connection, of course you’ll agree with dean/john and (to a lesser but still noticeable extent) the show’s writers that sam was selfish to “walk away” from it in pursuit of a life on his own terms, as opposed to seeing him as I did when I was a miserable teenager as incredibly brave and aspirational for having done so.

I’ll give them this too: the show IS to the bitter(sweet to some) end ultimately about the burden of being “sammy”; to the discerning viewer this never stopped being the case even when the writers finally let their idealization of dean’s facade lull them into swapping him into the Main Character seat in sam’s place, to the overall detriment of the story… although from what I’ve seen no dean-biased viewer would be able to point to this switch as being responsible for the lack of focus and confused emotional beats of the late seasons. the expansion of dean’s role in tandem with the shrinking of sam’s is absolutely beautiful horror for fanartists willing/able to transform the source material with an understanding of why those original surface-level dean traits were only ever amplified over time whereas the definitive surface-level sam traits that primarily existed to further idealize dean’s facade were steadily chipped away at to the point that the audience discusses “bitchy sam” as if he is a relic of the early seasons, and otherwise tends to dismiss the final canon iterations of him as so gentle and toothless as to be “boring.” mind you, this is the same audience that was numbly swayed by the narrative into believing that sam’s anger (suspicious) was a character defect while dean’s anger (righteous) was an asset, and the same audience that carried their narrative-supplied/dean-supplied idea of sam as “selfish” into the last season of the show (s8) that portrayed him pushing back against his restrictive role as “sammy.” every version of sam was doomed to inadequacy for the majority of this audience, because of sam and dean’s respective roles.

TL;DR I wish this shit was easier to summarize so you’d know why I disagree with almost everyone who comments on this show <3

[generouskittentidalwave]

Watching the She-ra reboot after 5-6 years

Hey remember that show in 2018 that came out on Netflix during Tumblr's Twitter era and stirred up enough toxicity to turn you into Dave the Skeleton in the highschool science classroom?

Well BUCKLE IN for a RIDE cause I recently watched that show for the first time after avoiding it for YEARS, after seeing the fans and the haters be so devoted to either the fans praising it like a godsent deity or haters devoting their whole life to finding something wrong with every aspect of the show that it makes you wonder if they realized that they've become the Catra that they sought to destroy, I decided to avoid even touching the show and went about my life in other fandoms.

Well years have passed and like a Hallmark movie time abruptly went on and the drama soon faded, the tides have settled, the war has ended, and neither side remains the same. The fans have grown up, matured and enjoy the show as it is and the haters have lost all that sweet sustenance back in 2019 and have went the ways of the DoDo. With everything finally settled, I joined in on the rush of new fans recently that started rewatching the series and wanted to display my thoughts as well as a first time watcher ^^

I went in well aware of all the criticisms in mind, and having seen the original She-ra, and I just gotta say that my worrisome thoughts on watching it was completely washed away from the start of the show. I was worried of Adora being that one marysue character that is from the bad guys side but is actually a good a guy with the personality of white bread and with flaws of just being "a little bit QuiRkY" but she completely shooed away those fears. She is a well balanced character with a unique and well done backstory, her character breaking away from the steriotypical chosen ones and her having flaws that don't take away her being a good person but instead have their own charm and relatability that makes her very fun and down to earth. She is so golden retriever coded and I love it. What I like most though is that she wasn't "random main character comes in to lead everyone to victory out of nowhere" , instead of making her the unsaid leader, they made her the main character who is the muscle of the group and part of the heart and has to learn overtime and understand their ways instead of making her the leader. It makes way for her to pave and earn her way as being the main character instead of it being given by default by making her the leader and I love that break away. And that break away also helps to counter the fears I heard about the white savior trope by making Adora the way she was and making Glimmer and Glimmer's mom the queen the actual leaders of the rebellion that they helped start.

Love the best friends squad, I love Glimmer's growth and her bond with Adora, I like how she went downhill and built herself back up again as a person as it was very realistic with her being so young and having to replace her mom as queen. Bow is my spirit animal, period, but I really want to know more about his huge family. I imagine that because they are all historians they must go to the academy or similar academies that Bow was meant to go to and I can see why they wouldn't question him not being there as 12 siblings is A LOT to keep track of. Swiftwind is great but he shall always be known as Horsie and the queen's sacrifice hurts everytime I see it, I love how she owned up to her own flaws. Shadowweaver messed up being a mother figure 3 times, she needs parenting classes fr, 'nough said. I love all the princesses but Mermista is my personal favorite. Also why is aunt cast named Castaspella, I can't even say it without dying of laughter 💀🖐️

Now I know some of you are sitting at your computer with 5 monsters in hand and sweat anxiously dripping from your forehead as you dramatically hover over the keys just WAITING to write a five page essay response if I even dare to utter the name Catra and her relationship with Adora. So, I'ma give you my opinion.

Honestly, their romance was the end goal since the beginning and the story made that clear and honestly I like Catra's growth as a character from her knowing she has anger issues and actively working on it to better herself, helping to save others and helping to save Adora in the end. Her realizing that pushing others away to protect herself only harms her and everyone around her in the end and her realistically taking it slow and steady to better herself as a person for herself and for Adora is something a really like. Yes their relationship was hella toxic, especially in the middle (but I do like how Adora recognized that and punched Catra when they were in the portal). The build up was great, the middle ground of her doubling down was great, and I think her growth at the end was great and that the two are happy and not in a toxic relationship with eachother anymore at the end. I think what truly makes it odd is although the redemption was great the time constraints made it so they couldn't flesh it out to help answer and address the past actions that were caused by her, they did so great with her slowly becoming better and better, and so it wouldn't have come off as bad as it did if they had just a bit more time to address everything with that instead of being forced to dive right into it which definitely left a- well- less than good impression to it's audience. But they tried their best with what they could do and honestly for a show as surprisingly dark as this I'm just glad they aren't in a toxic relationship anymore and are happy in the end and that Catra got redeemed. It definitely wasn't trying to romanize abuse, however it came off as such due to constraints and them rushing the ending which gave plenty of ammo to people who already hated the show to have a reason to hate it more. In my opinion if you don't like it that's valid, if you do like it that's valid, me personally I'm not a romance person so I couldn't care enough either way.

Now to address some things I know some people are waiting for, but in speed run fashion. Mara's She-ra design was the fault of the designers not agreeing on what they wanted her to look like, I was expecting her to have brown flowing hair not blonde, I get the stripping of individuality message they tried to go with, it just needed better designers and better execution but that's as deep as it goes. It's not that they are racist, they are more along the lines of "you need a more organized team cause her design changes every five seconds like wtf" kind of situation. I'm glad they didn't automatically forgive Hordak or accept him but I'm glad he was changed enough to not be a killer that's mass murdering people anymore and as long no one is dying by his hands anymore and people don't automatically forgive him then that's fine by me, whatever keeps others from dying a horrible unnecessary death.

Overall, in conclusion, love the show, great depth, great characters, love the humor and amazing magical girl transformations, awesome rep, stronk princess punching things, would most definitely recommend, especially now with all the wave of chaos it's initial release sucked in now evaporated. (Seriously there are full tags and blogs deticated to hating a show about glowing princesses fighting aliens, it's okay to not like a show but come on people there is more to life than that 💀) Enjoy it, have fun, and I hope you have a great day/night! ^^

[adamsc0rpse]

not to barge in or anything but. leckie/chuckler/runner/hoosier is consuming my brain. and you’re the only person who i could think of who would understand.

like in the beginning of episode one. they’re on the troop ship laughing and shouting and being rowdy as hell and they’re all debating over why they’re fighting and runner just quiets everyone down and asks leckie—almost in a teasing, joking way—why they’re fighting and he just casually quotes a POEM and they all get quiet and solemn and look at him like he hung the moon. are you kidding me. they fucking love him. he loves them. are you KIDDING ME.

i’m normal about them. do you have any thoughts about them i’d love to hear them

THE FACT THAT I'M FOR SOME REASON THE PERSON YOU THOUGHT OF ? I'M HONORED..😭🙏 I wanna start off by addressing the scene you mentioned and how Leckie quotes a POEM 😭🙏 because me and my bf were rewatching the show not to long ago and realize when everyone erupts after the awkward silence Runner goes "Leckie, you've gotta STOP this." And I think it's SO funny. I could write ESSAYS about them. I have playlists and everything (they're private, don't try finding them). I could go on and on about how terribly sad they are, especially in the original draft scripts for the show. I think a specific relationship that's not talked about enough at ALL is Leckie and Chuckler. You see a lot for Chuckler/Runner & Hoosier/Leckie, but never anymore than that ? Of course, they're a polycule in my eyes, but Leckie and Chuckler were so close. (especially in helmet for my pillow, but this isn't about that !!) Ex: Chuckler's "buddy :-((" and covering Leckie up when he had enuresis rather than making fun of him and the part in one of the draft scripts where Leckie says he's writing a love poem for him 😭 I love how Chuckler's like the caring one of the group when it comes to literally anything. Getting one of them a drink, taking care of Runner when he's sick, etc. The way they all just seem to get each other and the way they feel comfortable enough with each other to lay together and make sure one another is okay is so sweet to me. Then there's also the tragedy of Leckie being there for Runner and Hoosier getting shot, unable, and hopeless to help them while also having NO idea where the hell Chuckler is ! The fact that just before Hoosier got shot, he tried to tell Leckie that they needed to move, and in response, Leckie yelled at him. The scene with Runner and Leckie on the boat in episode 6 has always meant so much to me because it's just such a sad and vulnerable part. Leckie rushing to tell him that he tried to come back and Runner immediately going "I know." And taking him topside ☹️ There's also a part that I feel like going very unnoticed. In one of the episodes, after a shootout, you see Chuckler put his and Runners helmets together. I've never seen anyone talk about it, but I like to point it out. The scene where Runner pats Hoosier, telling him to rest up and the rest of them going out together, getting ice cream, etc. The INSANE scene of Hoosier cutting Leckies foot 😭💀🙏 and just the stupid ways they joke with each other 😭 ALL of it I could go on about, genuinely. I know that this is stupidly jumbled, but I'm just typing what I happen to think about in the moment 😭 I love Leckies team and their relationship with each other ☹️ I wish I could go even more in depth, but I am blanking right now. 💀🙏

[dearweirdme]

https://www.tumblr.com/dearweirdme/774496734090018816/httpswwwtumblrcomjeonscatalyst77442453643424

All that text and they still can't explain why Jikook barely saw each other during the group's hiatus outside of filming a reality TV show and proceed to laugh about this on said reality show

Hi anon!

Yeah, they can’t.. it’s truly that simple. The original anon of my post from yesterday came back and their response was ‘but your ship…’. It’s impossible for them to explain Jm and Jk not meeting for months and still have them be in a relationship. Anyone who witnessed it knows that what we saw and hear mentioned shows that they were on good terms but just were too busy to make time for each other. It’s a friendship, it always has been.

I truly did not read through all of that text, I’ve seen plenty of essays on all of that probably. It’s mostly just amusing to me that they reacted so strongly. One thing that I did read and found interesting is them saying something along the lines of having seen me as reasonable (or something like that) but after AYS i went insane (or something along those lines). And I know why they feel like that, but the thing is… it’s not me. It’s AYS and it’s the Hybe audit that came after. Jkkrs haven’t managed to process all that came from that and apply it to their ship. Because both AYS and the audit showed that things are created and that fandom perception is something that matters a lot and is actually played into. Jkkrs stay stagnant and do not adjust their thoughts.

They made a comment about me being new and not having lived through everything. I know that and I’ve always been upfront about that. My blog is not just me though. There are so many tkkrs adding valuable insights, so many tkkrs that have been around longer. But also, I did live through Jm and Jk not meeting. I did live through AYS dropping. I know what AYS did to Jkkrs when NY and Jeju dropped and have seen the gaslighting of their own fandom. If you go through their blogs you can probably still find posts of them scrambling. Jkkrs have clung to Sapporo as if it will save them, but I am absolutely sure that they cannot watch NY and Jeju without feeling something uncomfortable tug at them. Because NY had not only the conversation about them not meeting , it also had Jk kinda unbothered by Jm being sick. Jeju had Tae and Jk immediately fall into alignment, and Jk’s reaction to Jm about the spam debate had Jkkrs mad. They won’t focus on those things, but rather on Tae being a nuisance or on ‘sexual tension’ between Jm and Jk. But I am a hundred percent sure that AYS wasn’t what they hoped it would be before it dropped.

[ryttu3k]

Having some Thoughts about Astarion and his perceived intelligence, or lack thereof (it was largely in the tags of this post, which I absolutely recommend reading, but it was getting overly long).

Astarion is perceived as… not very bright. Like it's kind of a running joke in fandom at this point, and it's been bugging me for a bit, so…

INT 13 isn't actually low

INT 13 is actually a fair bit above average! Of the main six Origin characters, only Gale has a higher INT score at 17, which is what you'd expect from a wizard and Actual Nerd (complimentary). Wyll has INT 13 as well, Lae'zel and Shadowheart have the average score of INT 10, and Karlach has INT 8. Of the secondary companions, Halsin and Minthara also have INT 10, and Minsc and - interestingly - Jaheira both have INT 8.

So, far from being one of the dumbest companions, stats-wise, he's actually one of the most intelligent.

Poor planning skills aren't a reflection of intelligence

Yes, Astarion is notoriously terrible at coming up with long-term plans. You know what he also hasn't been able to do for two hundred years? Come up with long-term plans.

He spent about forty years living a normal life, then five times that duration as a slave, being punished for any show of thinking for himself. He tried to make a plan that went against his master's orders, and he spent a year buried alive for it. His only purpose was "to seduce anything with a pulse"; thinking outside of that wasn't just discouraged, it was punished. He's out of practice!

Also, there are a lot of incredibly intelligent people who can't make plans for Assorted Reasons, even without two hundred years of being a puppet to someone else's will. Dyspraxia, ADHD, all sorts of things.

The whole smooth brain thing

This one does bug me, but I also suspect it was a nod to fandom perception. The epilogue has Bing-Bong in it, there were at least parts written well after the game release, and the subsequent fandom response. It's entirely possible, if not likely, that parts of the writing were influenced by fandom perception.

He had low INT in early access

Yes, and they changed it, and he no longer does. Wyll was essentially rewritten between EA and now. Karlach wasn't even a main character in EA. The Dream Visitor was extremely different in EA! Astarion was below average intelligence in EA, and now he's above average ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Neil Newbon says Astarion is intelligent

"I see him as being very intelligent — very erudite — and highly manipulative when he wants to be."

From this interview. I figure he'd know better than anyone save Stephen Rooney, y'know?

The trauma

I mean we can't understate the trauma. The trauma would do a number on your cognitive abilities (and your everything else lbr). And on top of two centuries of going through The Horrors, Cazador repeatedly belittled and infantilised him, hard not to internalise that when Cazador had complete control over his entire existence.

This isn't really meant to be an essay or aimed at anyone in particular and also quite possibly my 'burnt-out gifted kid who valued their intelligence above everything else' is showing but that may be more a Gale thing! Just that the whole 'lmao Astarion is so dumb' trope was bugging me for this, that, and the other reason, so. A post.

[tendebill]

drew the ow strike team as paladins of voltron, because i am normal about them :]

(2 other versions and a fucking essay below the cut!)

ok so im gonna give my reasoning for each of them

Reinhardt - the easierst to pick, the Yellow Lion is the most tank-like (besides the Black Lion, but thats cuz Black is the head + torso), also i think the legs of voltron are supposed to be the "pillars" that allow the team to work well, without them the whole thing crumbles (literally). from what i recall from the actual show, the Yellow Paladin is protective and loyal. Rein was the easiest to match up tbh (plus even the color fits lol)

Torbjörn - not my favourite choice, but tbh i dont think any other lion fits him? besides maybe Yellow, but Rein was too perfect so i couldnt give Torb that one. anyway, the Green Lion is the left hand. i consider the legs to be the "pillars" holding up the team, whereas the arms are the actual damage-dealers/the ones that act on what the leader commands. and as Torb is a dps, that fits just fine. hes not quite a leader, so being the left hand instead of the right is good. plus the Green Lion is inquisitive and curious, and since Torb is a genius, that fits just fine too. i thought he would look weird with green, since i associate him with red-orange-yellow the most, but he looks kinda nice

Ana - i was originally gonna make her blue from the get-go, but i thought it'd be silly to make the remaining three switch lions a bunch, so i can get an excuse to draw Gabe and Jack in multiple suits lmao. but Ana starts out as red, the right hand of Voltron, described as the most temperamental and aggressive. it requires a paladin that can keep up with it and works on instinct most of the time. i feel like Ana would have to BECOME the motherly figure for her team, instead of being one from the start. with that i think she would have been a more "lone wolf" type at first, only later on becoming more mindful of her teammates and how much they need her, which would lead to her becoming the paladin of the Blue Lion - a pillar that keeps the team going along with Rein, a vital part, but no longer in a leadership position. i've seen the Blue Lion described as a "free spirit" too, which i think is also perfect for her :3

Jack - for him i had three options, all of which fit him well: blue, red and black. and instead of picking one, i decided he was going to have three different lions :))) for shits and giggles. so he starts out as blue, a free spirit, very versitile (from what i gathered, the Blue Lion doesn't have a specific "thing" it specilizes in, but instead does a little bit of everything, kinda like Jack). i imagine Jack was the middle-man, an integral part of team-building. he would have been the one to push everyone to work together and follow Gabe's lead, but he was content being on the sidelines most of the time. eventually he takes up more responsibility, sees that he's vital for the team and that he can do more working side by side with Gabe, and so he becomes the paladin of the Red Lion, Gabe's right hand man. then he of course slowly grows to be the actual leader, as Gabe's approach changes and he slowly abandons his original role, passing the command over to Jack. and so Jack's last lion is the Black Lion. also i feel like all three lions fit Jack's color scheme pretty well, so that's another win for me hah

Gabe - since he was the original Strike Commander, i thought it only natural that he would be the first to pilot the Black Lion. the pilot needs to be decisive, stay cool in the face of danger and be someone whose men will follow him into battle with no hesitation - all traits that i see Gabriel would have had to have during the first Omnic Crisis. like i mentioned before, Jack eventually becomes his second in command, and then slowly their roles start to shift. Gabe is no longer content in making decisions for the whole team, he probably also becomes more violent and reckless, relying on Jack to keep him in check. he loses his connection with the Black Lion and becomes the paladin of the Red Lion, Jack's right hand man. the traits of Red fit him well too - aggressive, relies on instinct, temperamental, plus i imagine Gabe is the type to want to get things done as quickly as possible, no matter the risk, to save more people faster. plus, again, the colors match up yaaaay!

fun fact: i never finished watching voltron ^^

also i am truthing anahardt and reaper76 as we speak

[athena-rocks]

I hate Percy Jackson.

I hate the plot that is, and many MANY parts of it. Now that’s not to say the actors are bad or anything, in fact I think they’re incredible. I haven’t watched the show or read the books but from the clips I’ve seen those actors are amazing and deserve respect and praise. But I am going to go over everything I have against the show in this mini essay of mine.

Like the show and want to counter my points? Feel free to! Leave a comment, reblog with your response, send an ask, all is welcome! I may think very strongly on my points but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to hear others out, but please welcome my response as well (also anon is on so if you have thoughts but don’t really feel confident sharing them on your account you can send by anon instead, still gonna get answered and no judgement passed :) )

NOW! ONTO MY RAMBLINGS!

First of all, Athena. As someone whose name is literally ‘athena-rocks’ I’m sure you can guess that I feel very passionately about this and have a lot to say.

The first thing I want to bring up is the whole child thing. Athena is a virgin goddess why does she have a child? From what I understand Annabeth is born from her mind, as in thought. Which is immensely stupid. The only account of asexual reproduction I can think of is Hera and the birth of Hephaestus, but even then she had a pregnancy and he was born, he didn’t just show up?? The only being I can think of that just pop up is Chaos, who is seen as both a God and a thing, it is, it’s primordial, so are Athena’s children in this also primordial? No they’re demigods.

Also the idea that Athena just abandons her children? No! There’s literally a myth that directly opposes it! Erichthonius!

Erichthonius is the first king of Athens, before Athens got super amazing and awesome and totally cool and really popular and thus got the totally cool founding myth of Athena vs Poseidon. He was born after Hephaestus tried to assault Athena, he’s autochthonous meaning born of the earth. Some of Hephaestus’s… seed, got onto Athena’s thigh, she wiped it off and threw it to the earth as she ran away and Erichthonius is born.

Now Athena has no obligation to this child, it’s not hers in any form, it came from the man who tried to assault her, yet she still chooses to look after and raise the child! There! She has no reason to do this but does, so why she would abandon the children that she does have an obligation to?

And by all accounts I can find Erichthonius had a good childhood, he’s half snake creature thing and when the daughters of Cecrops (who Athena had given Erichthonius to with him in a basket and told them not to open it while she did something) saw him and were horrified Athena either drove them mad so they killed themselves or dropped a mountain she was carrying in rage. So she cares about him.

Now, the Medusa thing.

Medusa was a monster, the original Greek myth she was always a monster. I understand the appeal of a woman who can defend herself from any man who would dare harm her by just glaring at them, but can’t she just have always been that? Can’t she have just always been a powerful monster who can always protect herself? I’m mostly upset at the Medusa thing in this context because I’ve seen people shipping her with Athena, which is weird as Athena is not only a virgin goddess but a mythological figure who was and in some sense still is worshipped to this day.

There are myths that also actively oppose this, when Cassandra was raped Athena was so furious she drive lesser Ajax mad so he killed himself and for 1000 years they had to send maidens to become Athena’s priestesses to appease her. But Medusa being raped by Poseidon, someone who she’s been known to have beef with? No. Fuck her.

AND ARES!!

Ares who killed someone for harassing his daughter, A BAD FATHER?? A CRUEL MAN??? Anger issues? Sure! I can accept that! But bad father? No.

I think the PJO series just hates the idea of war God’s being good parents and it shows.

I’ll end here, but if anyone would like to add on to this post or argue against me please feel free to. Just don’t be an asshole, I’m fine to discuss peacefully I’m not fine with just being flat out attacked.

Thank you for reading!

[emohimiko]

Katsuki and Izuku character analysis

this is very unformatted and ugly and apart of a larger essay i wrote a while back but i really wanted to share my thoughts on bkdk

this is also largely?? speculation (as i’ve been told by some) but i believe it has a fair bit of canon backing it up

Ok now Katsuki on the other hand had to step into Deku and get closer to grow. He never hated Deku, he was envious of how naturally heroic Deku was. Katsuki hated himself, never Deku, and he felt weak because he was weak, mentally.

Deku just happened to be the physical representation of that weakness because while he was physically weak, Deku was stronger mentally than Katsuki will ever be. That’s why he called Deku useless, it was him projecting. That’s why he was so shaken at Deku vs Kacchan 1, because Deku was overcoming their physical disparity and Katsuki was still left in the dust feeling weak, which is why Deku vs Katsuki 2 happened after All Might fell. He felt his weakness was responsible for the end of All Might and hated himself even more for that, and in turn he fought Deku even more. But at Deku vs Katsuki 2 he learned to embrace that weakness and deal with it WITH Deku, because Deku was the original source of where that initial weakness feeling came from, it only makes sense for him to be the “cure” for it too. Katsuki also doesn’t understand his own emotions or knows how to deal with them, so that’s why he masks it all with anger because he sees anything else as weakness because Deku was constantly expressing everything but anger and he saw Deku as weak (physically) so he associated most emotions with weakness. Thats also why it’s so important his first action of pure heroism with no ulterior motives was for Deku, jumping in front of OFA/Shigaraki’s creepy finger thingies to prevent Deku from being stabbed. Doing this was him getting over that weakness (also why people say Katsuki grew softer while Izuku grew angrier). Him nearly dying for Deku was the ultimate show of character growth because it proved he could get over himself, his mental weakness, and his feelings surrounding Deku to throw himself away to save him. It’s also why Katsuki’s “death” is PEAK KATSUKI. He 100% went into that battle knowing it was most likely a suicide mission you CANNOT TELL ME OTHERWISE, he was completely focused on stalling for Deku because he finally realized he could accept Deku’s help and he didn’t have to do everything by himself. That’s also why he was so upset when he learned Deku lost OFA, because since he was a baby Deku has been the one thing consistent in his life, every major milestone Deku was there watching From The Sidelines (hehe), whether he liked it or not. Deku is his constant, and he kind of has trouble functioning without him. In short he really needs therapy.

also Katsuki never stopped being friends bc of Deku’s lack of a quirk, he stopped being friends because even though Deku was powerless he was still everything Katsuki wasn’t, a true genuine hero, and he took his help as mocking because that was the one thing he could never beat Deku in, or understand about him. That’s also why Katsuki has wet dreams about that god forsaken river scene because it literally changed his life

also he hated Deku at the river scene bc blah blah weakness he hates weakness blah blah Deku was the personification of Katsuki’s own weakness blah blah gay shit inferiority complexes

He LITERALLY needed to get closer to Deku to flourish because Deku is his weakness

And overcoming his “hatred” for Deku was him overcoming his self loathing and inferiority complex

Katsuki is also Deku’s weakness. Deku also really needs Katsuki. For most of his life Katsuki was the dream he could never have, complete power, confidence, and amazing. That is genuinely the only reason he sat watching From The Sidelines (im so funny i know) for so long, despite all the bullying and hurt Katsuki caused him. That’s also why it was really important for him to prove to Katsuki that he could for once hold his own against him in Deku vs Katsuki 1, it was like him coming out and saying “you have to acknowledge me now.” It’s also why Katsuki being taken by the LOV was just literally the worst for Deku, because Katsuki is also Deku’s constant. He’s been watching him for forever, and been in every major milestone in HIS life. Removing Katsuki from the equation is like having carpet pulled from under his feet, breaking all his bones in the fall, and being told to walk again. That’s also why he repeatedly looses control when it comes to Katsuki. First when Monoma insulted him, it was also like insulting Deku because that was someone he looked towards and followed and rooted for, and it was an insult to everything Katsuki stood for and because Deku is the ultimate hero he just couldn’t sit by and stand for that. When he lost control again at Katsuki’s death it was Deku seeing (again) everything he rooted for, strength and victory personified, literally dead. He also relies on Katsuki in the same way Katsuki relies on him, and having that taken away from him was like removing all his bones. Deku is the heart, the lungs, the brain, and Katsuki is the muscle, the bones, the cartilage. They help each other function

Katsuki is Deku’s drive to win, and Deku is Katsuki’s drive to save

Deku’s first true act of heroism was Katsuki

Katsuki’s first true act of heroism was Deku

please be gentle with me this is the first time i’m posting my thoughts like this

[rise-my-angel]

You are sooooo right about shippers not engaging with Jon as his own character. It’s especially weird for me (despite enjoying Jonerys in theory) to see Jonerys shippers doing this because like. They haven’t met. None of them are show!Jonerys fans for obvious reasons so it’s just the book versions of these characters and they have not met. Literally it’s all speculation about their dynamic. Despite being open to the ship under specific circumstances I don’t think it’s undeniably foreshadowed at all. Everything that gets called foreshadowing is tenuous. You can’t generally definitively call something foreshadowing until the events being purportedly foreshadowed actually come to pass, unless it’s truly really screaming in your face obvious but if it’s that obvious I’m not sure if it’s that good from a writing perspective. I think foreshadowing should only really be clear in retrospect. Shippers also are so selective in what they’ll acknowledge just do they can hold onto these moments. Like jonsas and the Slynt beheading. You’re so right that it is a JON moment. And shippers refuse to acknowledge that George say he was originally going to have Slynt HUNG, not beheaded, until someone pointed out that Jon would want to do it the northern way. Of everyone I think Jonrya shippers do the best at acknowledging Jon as his own character and I think it’s because there’s so much in the actually text demonstrating how much Jon and Arya care about each other. It’s not speculation unlike with Jonsa and Jonerys. It’s just that they read this and think it’s romance instead of sibling love. I can’t say I blame them because of the original outline, but it’s also a ship that is really really not for me because they were raised as siblings.

I actually sent you an ask months ago and forgot to check your response. I finally found it. I discussed how much upbringing influences how we know who our relatives are and that that’s why Jonerys doesn’t make me uncomfortable the way Jonrya and Jonsa do. I’m an evolutionary biologist so I fully understand why incest is avoided. However, I didn’t know how much we actually CAN detect our blood relatives without being raised to know who they are. I fully believed it was entirely upbringing, because upbringing is sufficient to establish someone as “relative” in our brains (ie adopted siblings recognize each other as siblings and are repulsed by the idea of mating despite not sharing blood). But I came to the false conclusion that because it was sufficient it’s the only mechanism. I did some looking into it and you’re right! There’s evidence that we can subconsciously smell our relatives based on MHC complexes—however this isn’t 100% reliable because sometimes our relatives will have differing MHC complexes and nonrelatives will have very similar ones just based on recombination and the gene pool of the population, but that’s why the upbringing factor exists as a supplement to innate biological factor. I appreciated being prompted to learn more!

However I’m not sure George would take this into consideration. Within the universe of the books, I think it’s perfectly feasible that they wouldn’t biologically recognize each other as relatives because there are many cases of non first degree incest (first degree being siblings and parents) being carried out without any disgust. However real life is obviously different I do not blame anyone at all for being opposed to a ship based on real life principles. There are lots of ships I oppose that would be fine in-universe based on my own real life principles.

Anyway I’ve said a lot here and sorry for all the words. I just really enjoy discussion and it’s hard to have any nuanced conversations in the fandom because of the issues we’ve mentioned here and I’m eager to find someone so willing to engage with people who have different opinions

You wrote me an essay, so I wrote you a novel in return. I am sorry in advance but I love rational and calm, respectful discussions and debate and you thus far have been a great sport for my word vomit.

This isn't directed at you personally, but more of a blanket statement in saying, it is just very odd and funny that in this specific fandom, I find myself having to be more knowledgeable about the harmful physical, genetic, and psychological impacts of incest, to explain why I am against it, then those who are for it. It is just very funny how much defending I do about not supporting incest ships, compared to any other fandom where any incest shippers live in the dark because they know it's weird and gross.

That being said, I'm addressing Jonrya first. Because, I have gone on record to say I personally think shipping that is very gross.

Show or Book, that is a dynamic where any romantic implications being attached to it are very uncomfortable. Arya is so deeply ingrained in his head as his baby sister that adding any romance to that makes Jon look incredibly predatory. Arya is still a very young child in the single digits in the books, and Jon is very clearly at the start of the show a man in his 20's.

I do not think claiming anything of the outline is any reasonable argument. It was in an outline which was scrapped for a reason. As a writer, I wouldn't want any of my initial outline ideas to be used as proof of canon. It isn't canon one way or the other and I do not accept it as fair use of evidence for a ship. Jons canon thoughts about her are textbook loving older brother. It feels predatory to make Jons thoughts of a very young, child Arya to be that of romantic. It makes him appear as if his closeness and kindness were all tinted in a different intent towards a child.

Arya in every adaptation, is too young. I will never support any evidence of that ship because it is the exact kind of predatory dynamic which Jonrya fans denounce in other ships involving older man/younger woman characters. I hate this idea of taking Jons point of view and deciding his affection is not brotherly, only when discussing his sisters. It takes away the validity of Jons character being a good big brother, because now his good brotherly nature only towards his sisters is rooted in predatory behaviour whether they realize it or not. This goes for Jonrya and Jonsa both.

Moving on, you did hit the nail on the head about the “proof” about Jon and Dany. Foreshadowing is not a common tool used whenever grrm writes anything. Foreshadowing is a very specific tool he uses to elaborate more on motifs and themes and over arching plots, rather then for every minute character dynamic. Jon and Dany have literally no evidence that a ship will exist. They are not even on the same continent and they are constantly shown to be at extreme moral opposites to one another.

There is no scrap of proof a relationship or even base attraction will ever exist. That is all pure fan theory with no in text evidence. Same with Jon and Sansa. Jon doesn't not think about Sansa because he loves her the most. That is not Jon Snow, we know that. He thinks constantly about the people he loves, and there is no evidence backing up he doesn't think of her often for love that is not also pure fan theory with no empirical evidence. Sansa had rarely ever thought about Jon and when she has more times then not, it was associated in a negative light. Her points of view about her bullying of Arya showcase that, as she insults and wishes to denounce Arya as someone she should care about in ways that connect her to Jon. Wishing Arya was a bastard like him because she doesn't want to call her a trueborn sister. Repeatedly noting Arya looks just like Jon and then exploring the times Sansa constantly thinks Arya is ugly. The only time she has any growth about this is when she is being talked down to when posing as Petyr Baelish's bastard daughter, and she doesn't like being treated that way, but it is not explored that Sansa has literally treated Jon worse then this her whole life. She has not yet even realized she engaged in the exact same kind of classist treatment that Catelyn treated him with.

So much of what Jonerys, Jonsa, and Jonrya shippers do, is look at Jon and discuss it in a way that supposedly symbolizes their ship. They do NOT analyze their female fave and associate how deeply it all ties to their ship. Jons story is always secretly about the ship, but the other female part of the ship is their own story who will only be about Jon when they get together. Jon is not the character they like, it is the girl. Jon is the love interest, the accessory to their story. Not a unique half all of his own.

As for the incest, because these people all function biologically the same as we do, other then when magic is inferred, it is reasonable to assume real life science is included. Grrm does not need to tell me about invisible pheromones or scent markers for me to apply that to the characters. It is indirectly supported by the sheer fact that most characters within the world of asoiaf do not engage in incest and do not support it. Meaning, 99% of the average population of asoiaf are not attracted to their family members what so ever. Meaning it is reasonable to assume the same biological factors are at play here.

But the thing about certain incest dynamics not being carried out with disgust doesn't really apply with Jon ships here. Jons three biggest ships are his little sisters, and his aunt. Two family relations that both physically and psychologically are the most harmful to engage in. The dynamics of incest shown to be the most psychologically harmful is sibling to sibling incest, parent to child incest, and aunt/uncle to nephew/neice incest. Those are such close familial ties with SO many shared biological markers that it is not reasonable at all to think not knowing each other at first would make that biological connection less important. I only met my aunt in my mid 20's and from that moment on she has been as much my aunt in my head as my mother is my mother. Once that knowlede of family is made, it will not be severed. If Jon is not inclinced already towards incest, he will never engage in it with that knowledge.

Dany is his aunt. Dany also, has very inbed genetics to a shocking degree, meaning the biological markers she shares with Jon would be so strong she basically would wreak of red flags. And learning they have such a close biological connection would instantly sever any possible ability in Jon to view her in any romantic or physical attraction sense. He was not raised like her. Jon does not now think incest is normal, and thus he never will.

Also, learning Dany is his aunt would make any physical or romantic dynamics extremely traumatizing for him. The second Jon learns the truth of his birth, Jon will realize that he is related to Dany in the exact way Jon spent his whole life thinking he was related to the woman who was his mother. Jon learning his aunt was actually his mother, would destroy any capability of a relationship with Dany.

That would utterly change every single way he views any character in a motherly or aunt manner. It would destroy that potential in an instant because now Dany is to Jon, what Jon previously thought his mother was to him. It would be traumatizing should a relationship already exist and it would sever any chance of a relationship forming if it hadn't existed already.

The reason the Targaryeans did the most incest and are almost extinct, is because their engaging in incest was not sustainable and it was harmful.

Shown by characters like Egg, who literally grew up his whole life trying to escape the incestual nature of his family. One of his brothers made threats about cutting off his manhood in terms of making a wife for himself. That is not a family who engages in incest beceause they think it is normal. This is a family raised to view their incest in terms of furthering a bloodline because they see themselves as superior to those they rule over. They do not think it is fine, they do it because they raise each other to think it is necessary to further their superior bloodline. And they paid the price. Targaryean women the more inbred they were struggled to give birth, struggled to carry pregnancies to term and often died on the birthing bed with alarming freqency for how short their dynasty lasted.

It is not sustainable and it is harmful. The main plot beat of the story was literally how so many people viewed the incestual relationship of a brother and sister to be an abomination, that wars were started to dethrone them and the population and faith turned against them for it. This is not a world where people think incest is fine, unless it is a learned behaviour their whole life.

People can ship it, it's fine. But despite how much he writes it, grrm time and time again has shown that those in asoiaf who engage in incest, pay a deep, harmful price for it. He writes it a lot, but writing a lot of it does not mean he thinks it is behavior which should be supported for his charcters. Otherwise those who engage in such close incest, would not constantly be punished for doing so.

I have to apply real world logic to being anti incest, because my excuse of “I think it's gross” has been deemed as hateful and unfair. So you can imagine it is frustrating to see my favourite character is primiarly shipped with either women with VERY close biological or familial ties to him, or his rapist.

So, yeah I love talking about Jon but so much of it is me defending why I have never been convinced of any pro incest arguments. It is a goofy situation to be in.

Those who followed me for my pedro pascal content are dying on the inside, I decided I loved Jon Snow and suddenly my blog keeps becoming a haven of debates around the morality of incest.

It is silly silly silly.

[keepyourpantsongohan]

Ayesha Liveblogs Mashle S2

We have finally arrived at the intro song which was my entire reason for starting this show LOL. It is catchy

"Victorious in the battle against the Magia Lupus, all of Lang's coins went to Adler." After all of those fights there was a coin exchange? Cause it seems like Lang just left LOL

"We just shouted him into submission." That's SUCH a funny way to deal with a crisis

"What's the point protecting that magicless blight-blood, Finn?" Not the new slur LOL

LMAO @ Finn mustering up his courage to tell this guy off only for Lance to gravity crush and spit on him. Lance said: Using your words is not enough

"It seems Dot's injuries were more severe than we thought." Is it going to be a running gag that Dot just doesn't get his face animated routinely?

PLEASE why are they having the world's most haunting victory party with the people who lost the fight:

I do enjoy the return of Lance's apron. It's my favourite outfit

"I'll take a hint as I should also celebrate Abyss getting better. That's what betters do." Abel said: I'm still a little evil, don't worry

"I got caught up with some guys claiming to be death row inmates." Lance had a busy evening while off-screen

I also love the return of the owls. The best part of this show

"Lord Abel gained his third line by artificial means thanks to Innocent Zero's power. Genuine triple-liners are even more fearsome." Ohhhhh so THAT'S the lore of Abel's three lines, I was wondering why they hadn't said anything about it

I am shocked we've escalated all the way to the Bureau of Magic calling Mash in so quickly. Where is this going?

"It is a miracle God bestowed upon humans alone." 1) Again, it is striking how religious this society is and 2) Why are anime towns/countries/villages always depicted as a circle?

"You are basically a bug. Bugs should be dealt with quickly." "Okay, but what if things didn't have to be perfect all the time?" Crazy way to respond to an argument for eugen!cs

"Magic is everything in this world. So you need to show us a miracle stronger than magic." Well, at least the Divine Visionary is hearing Mash out?

"That boy belongs to us. Hands off." "Why is Innocent Zero...?" "It seems that boy has unusual origins after all." I do have to wonder why Mash is the only nonmagical person who could do a strongman circus act since birth

"Such flawless actions. You're a treasure." Ryoh's dialogue is so silly

"What are you, a child?" Yeah, actually he is! That's a 15-year-old you're trying to murder, Orter Madl (related to Wirth, I guess?)

I guess Wahlberg thought it was prudent to get ahead of the whole Mash thing by him calling for the inquiry instead of the Bureau

"He's a living legend, the only one to go toe-to-toe against Innocent Zero in his youth." Like Dumbledore, did Headmaster Wahlberg also have a situationship with its leader?

"However, he has an unsual gift to sway people's hearts." Wahlberg said: Maybe Mash's most magical power is friendship

"Our values change alongside history. However, redefining our values takes courage, as we must admit our injustices thus far." This is the most real dialogue thus far. Laws don't define justice. People make laws!! And therefore, people are responsible for the impact of those laws, and for changing them. In this essay, I will—

"You may punish me as you see fit. But I will not change my verdict [to defer Mash's sentencing]." Rayne and Wahlberg and Bliss bowing their heads in supplication on Mash's behalf. Ahhhh

"And he must prove he's strong enough to fight Innocent Zero. That proof is to become this year's Divine Visionary candidate." Well, I guess that's the plot of the season

Also this structure of 'help us to delay your own execution' is very Jujutsu Kaisen. This show just feels like a lot of other media slapped together. Mostly [Redacted] Potter and Naruto

"So you can't use magic?" HAHAHA I'd wondered if Lance knew. The answer is no!

Every time I want to enjoy Lance they need to remind me he's a freak. Anime, I am knocking at your door with a baseball bat

The aesthetic is giving 'you never see four best friends who look like they are going to the same place.' Lance and Finn look like they're going on a date with each other, Mash looks like he's going to school, and I don't know know where Dot's going

"Even though you can't use magic... For my sister's sake, I'm not going to go easy on you." Again, I would love this storyline if you weren't so weird about it!!

LOL why did no one else get a wand? They were too distracted by Mash's megaweight wand?

Tom and Lemon also look like they're going on a date LOL, it's like they designed everyone's day out aesthetic in pairs:

"I've never gone out with friends before." This is actually quite an emotional statement when you think about Regro keeping Mash at home to keep him safe

"See that he cannot participate in the Divine Visionary Candidate Exam. Orca dorm prefect, Margarette Macaron." For someone so stuck on the rules, Orter seems to be ignoring the ones he himself set out

Also why does lipstick seem to be a sign of nefarious intentions in this show. Nice people can't want nice lips?

"You hanging in there?" Brad Coleman, Magic Cop, has truly institutionalized himself as Mash's Weird Uncle

I do love that everyone comes on Mash's home visit

"I'm so touched. To think Mash has made friends." Both sweet and a lil insulting, Regro, hahahah

"They're quite unique, all of them." "Yes, they are." "You must have a hard time." "Yes." Poor Finn LOL

Did Rayne follow Margarette waiting for them to mention Mash or did he just have excellent comedic timing?

"The three prefects boasts some of the greatest talent in Easton." If Abel and Margarette are the other two prefects, I can understand why everyone appreciates Rayne so much LOL

"A few years ago, a tournament was held for 13-16 year olds in the middle school division. One magic user singlehandedly overpowered all the other competitors. They had only been nine at the time." We've found our Zabuza parallel I guess. They split Zabuza in half between Margarette and Abel

Also they? They/them mage, perchance??

LOL does Margarette's magic rely on playing the piano? Seems inconvenient

[Finn watching all of his friends yell at a board game] "I have to keep it going." You've got an uphill battle, baby

"I can't imagine someone with values like you could ever fulfill me." Why does this fight trash talk seem like a breakup?

"Rayne may act aloof, but he always takes care of others." I feel like whoever wrote this show is an older sibling

"And the youngest ever to acquire three lines is... the one named Rayne Ames." What does this mean!!! Are people born with three lines also, or do they only acquire it? Is Rayne's considered natural, as opposed to the earlier artificial? Tell me more!

"In this world, lack of magic is basically having no human rights." That's honestly a charitable way of putting it, Rayne

"An ordinary human would feel despair, no doubt. Jealous of those who can use magic, regretting ever being born, hating society... All of those would be reasonable actions. Mash Burnedead is different. He fights against his own destiny. Not that an underhanded rat like you would ever understand." This speech is actually making me like Rayne more

"I'm terrible at encouraging people. But I'll say one thing. You're embarking on a challenge the likes of which this world has never seen. Nothing good will ever come from your failure. So win. And give your challenge meaning." In the course of this one episode I'm growing to love Rayne

Mash letting his dad know he's happy, so everything til now has been worth it 🥺❤️

Mash making sure his friends have enough coins to qualify for the exam. He's a team player

Why is Orter the way he is. Did a nonmagical person dump him

"I should mention the Deadervants are completely immune to magic. So watch out." Well, I'd say that puts Mash at an advantage, but if you're clever you can use magic on the environment and not the creature. Put the Mashle Minotaur into a hole in the ground, or drop a tree branch on its head

"This exam questions how well you do in a situation where you're forced to flee." That seems like a reasonable test actually

If this adorable cutaway was meant to make me like Max, it worked!:

"It's obvious we'll do better if we work together. So it's only natural. In other words, we have formed an alliance." I've only had Max for 7 minutes, but if anything happens to him, I'll [redact] everyone in this anime and then myself

The tiptoeing, please. I love this alliance, they're so silly

Of all the ways they could've solved the challenge of bursting the balloon to get the key, breakdancing to generate wind power was not on my list

LOL @ Lance completing this task with ease. He really is one of the more qualified candidates

"Actually, I heard all about you from Rayne." Oh??? Are Rayne and Max best friends, cause that'd be SO cute. Doom and bloom 🥀🌹

"It's my ego saying that I want to do something for people like you. So don't worry. It's an important job for a junior to keep a senior's honour." MAX!!!!!!!

MAX SENT MASH AWAY TO KEEP HIM FROM GETTING ATTACKED BY CARPACCIO 😭😭😭

I KNEW they were gonna hurt Max, he was too sweet too soon!!

"Weaklings should keep quiet." Carpaccio brings absolutely rancid vibes to the function

"Also, you keep calling people 'weaklings.' But I have yet to meet anyone stronger than me." Get him, Mash!!

Lol @ Dot flipping the bird at the mirror camera because Mash can't follow the announcer's instructions

"Lance is in a different team. What should we do?" Oh, Finn. I'm sure he'll give as good as he gets

Lmao @ Mash and Dot breaking their crystals immediately

Love how they all naturally agree that Finn is unable to protect himself LOL

"I'm sure they're in bad shape now." I mean, u right Lance

Carpaccio's magic power is 'I'm rubber, you're glue'???? How very Hidan of him

UR SHITTING ME IS FINN'S POWER JUST CAMOUFLAGING HIMSELF LIKE A LIZARD?:

"I'll even lick between your toes." There was no need for that, Finn

"You're Finn Ames. The continuing student who barely made the cutoff." Cs get degrees, Carpaccio!!

Why does Carpaccio have to say everything in such a hateful tone. Calm down, High School Hidan

"The reason Finn didn't use his magic until now was to catch me off guard?" Ohhhh, it's a switching places kind of magic!! That makes sense why he uses it so rarely. Mash and Finn are a scrawnier and more incompetent Yuji and Todo

Finn refusing to give up the crystal at the cost of his own life bc he knows he holds Mash's fate in his hands. He is the BEST friend

"Thus, from the moment I was born, I've never felt any pain." Is that why you're such a dick, Carpaccio? Also what do you mean, were you a newborn and they put a wand in your cradle?

"The most ancient of wands, of which there are only 13." That seems like a lot actually

"But desperately standing against something you fear... My friend is standing against someone overwhelmingly stronger than himself. And to thoughtlessly laugh and look down on him... I won't allow that." Mash said: My friend is weak AND brave, bitch

I'll give Mashle this, they do love to commit to a bit. How will we solve this Self-Inflicted Torture Battle? High-Speed Racquetball

"So pain is something... this horrifying, huh? He withstood this much pain for someone else?" Yeah he did!!! Go Finn!

Also Carpaccio is giving that one Family Guy audio: 'Ow, that hurts! My God, is that what I've been doing to people?'

"The likes of you will never show me the coming of spring." What a poetic burn from Margarette

I assumed they'd pass, but I'm glad they didn't have to fight Lance

"You really do take his side quite a bit. I have no idea what makes him so alluring." Alluring is a CRAZY word to choose to describe why Mash is Wahlberg's fave student LOL

"Why do I train so hard? It all began when Pops told me to. At first, it felt heavy and was so tiring, I really hated it." It makes me feel for Mash that he's strong not out of want, but out of need

"Do you know why humans have arms? It's so they can lift dumbbells." Deranged take. Tell me more

"Want to play a little game?" I don't like the vibes in the room rn

"What's the reason he needs to be a Divine Visionary that badly? Everything is for naught if you die." 1) You all are the ones who put the condition of becoming this to stay his execution, what are you saying? 2) WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE TRIED TO STOP THE ETERNAL FIRE SWORD WITH HIS HEAD

Why does Finn think Regro is Mash's grandpa? It's his dad LOL

"Based on my completely biased reasoning, the crazier someone is, the more powerful they are." You know, I think Mashle is the Glee of anime. I will not elaborate

"This is the power said to be equal to Divine Visionaries." Is the implication of Finn getting ill that hanging out with his brother also makes him sick? I understand why they don't interact much

"My spells are not something you can punch to topple." That's a good change of pace. However, Rayne did defeat you with a bunch of magical swords

So caught up was I in Margarette looking more femme and having hair that I completely forgot Innocent Zero was rushing the school to attack Mash

"It's Innocent Zero himself." Last season, I thought they determined it was the organization name! This is the problem when most people's names are just randomly generated words

"This is my form when I unleash my innate magical power." Margarette said: My kekkei genkai is being nonbinary

"By touching the wall, Mushroom Head felt the sound slightly faster than the attack landing." Every two minutes someone has to narrate these fight mechanics LOL

"No, but Macaron has their secondth. It's only appropriate to see them at a disadvantage." I think this is Lance's way of saying, 'Go Mash!'

Kind of Margarette to explain how to defeat them

"I'm smitten. I accept defeat." That's kinda cute, Margarette has a crush now LOL

Call me crazy but I think Margarette and Mash could make it work. Margarette also prioritized supporting their companions over winning (the twins they were hanging with), AND distributed the gold coins amongst their house. Plus Mash and Margarette are both very fast and competent at hand-to-hand combat. There's some common ground there!

Abyss and Abel look so happy for Mash. He really did turn their mentality around:

Orter must be PISSED he's been unable to orchestrate Mash's failure

I suppose we were due for a Life-Altering Exam Interruption™

Am I crazy or did Innocent Zero's magical effect also look like Lance's gravity magic?

"Oh, how beautiful. I didn't think I'd find you alive. I felt despair thinking I would never obtain you. My dear, sweet son." YOUR DEAR SWEET WHAT?

I probably should've considered this possibility but I didn't. My flabbers are ghasted. My bams are boozled. I did not give a shit who Mash's bio parents were til now

Omg they changed the intro!! Mash dances with his friends and the Divine Visionaries now. Also every time I type that I first mistype it as Divisionaries, which is telling, perhaps

You know, I've gotten to the point where instead of being upset at hateful character designs in anime, I just start shouting, I KNEW IT, YOU SON OF A BITCH. The Sphinx was the writing on the wall:

"Back off, you insignificant speck." Wow, Grandpa Wahlberg got some hate in him HA

"I only wish to become a perfect human. Undying, beautiful and powerful." So you need to absorb a teenage bodybuilder? Okay Off-Brand Orochimaru

"My family exists for my sake. Even Mash Burnedead over here. He exists for my sake. He is mine. He is my son." Mash already has a dad ✋ His name is Regro ✋ We are not accepting new hires

"It's been decades since we crossed wands." I still haven't ruled out a situationship here

"Those who can move, deal with the demons." I love that Margarette, Mash, Lance and Dot are the first to jump into action

"Is it all right to leave it in the hands of a few students?" To be fair Orter and Kaldo are adults and they're also there

Also it is interesting that Wahlberg and Innocent Zero both show you can acquire two lines

"This is a trap. I expect they possess a surefire way to get sweet little Mash." "Seriously, how'd you figure that?" "Just a woman's hunch." "So they have a woman's heart. I was wondering about that the whole time." LOL what does that even mean, Dot???

LMAO @ Mash just completely forgetting Cell War as a person

You know, I do think Mash and Cell have the same colour eyes. Maybe they're related too

"My magic turns the target into infants." Not the babyfication

Sitter Baby said: Yeah, I'll kill a baby, what's it to you?

"What a shameless look on his face. It makes me so irritated." What is your beef with babies, Lance?

"I have to protect Dot in baby form while I deal with these guys." This is an insane way to have a fight:

You know, I take it back, THIS is an insane way to have a fight:

PLEASE NOT LANCE BEING CAPABLE OF KNOCKING OUT A GROWN MAN WITH HIS MAGIC AS AN INFANT. He must've been a tough child to raise

"This is the top of our class, the genius, Lance Crown," said Dot, while Lance trash-talked through the magical pacifier in his baby mouth

I'm glad they turned back quick, I would not have been able to take this fight seriously if they were babies the whole time

"What kind of relationship do Mr. Wahlberg and Innocent Zero have?" Putting my money down on evil and gay

Wow, Faceless Zero with his Magic Coffin is REALLY serving Orochimaru. What do you want to bet he resurrects their teacher LOL:

"He's running on top of my magic." Sure, why not?

"So the same thing twice? Please." Fighting teenagers is brutal

"Adam Jobs. The legendary magic user blessed with overwhelming magical ability who reigned at the top of the Magic Realm for several centuries." Why does Wahlberg get a name and everyone else gets a noun? All this makes me think of is Apple LOL

Also we are confirming that wizards do live hundreds of years

"However, most of his effort in his later years went into social assistance to those who were unable to use magic." What the hell happened to your society since then?

Who is Adam's third student? Mash's bio mother?

Innocent Zero did in fact resurrect their teacher. This show can only have an original thought when it's being silly

Necross Mance's design has no reason to be like that. Except for, you know 😨🤬🤡

"I recall Master was so very fond of you." Innocent Zero said: Teachers are not allowed to have favourites unless they're me

"What's important is not the past, but the present. If you descend the present into chaos, then I won't show mercy, even against my master." That's a healthy perspective, Wahlberg

"The body part you lost just went to a slightly distant spot. It won't kill you." Wahlberg said: He's Necross-Section Mance now

Did Wahlberg just ctrl + alt + delete two whole people LOL

[Orter, tersely] "Quit your whining." [Kaldo, irritably] "It's a calm analysis of the situation." [Kaldo, internally] "I'd like to assist Mushroom Head, but if we leave here, danger befalls the students." Kaldo is growing on me I think

"Forbidden Magic of Body Construction. Dark magic used to create an immortal heart from the hearts of six blood relatives. That is why Father prepared six children as vessels to nurture the heart." I was correct, they are related!

Also I fear it's giving horcruxes. We return to [redacted] Potter

"Basically, it's like how you need protein to create better muscles? So that's the kind of existence I am." Existential Crisis Mode: Protein Shake Baby

"It's quite heavy. My life, that is. For now, I'll take a nap." God, same

"By the way, are you one of my brothers?" "I am not. I am merely a clone created by giving Father's blood to a corpse." Of course, the obvious alternative to brothers

Also, why's Cell War blond then? Bottle bleached clone?

PLEASE Mash just good ole fashioned choking his opponent out. We love a classic

"I care a lot about this school. If you're claiming to destroy it, I'll choke you out as many times as I need to with my muscles." Now that's school spirit

[Narrator] "In the skies near Easton, Ryoh and Nerey Shawn took two whole episodes to finally arrive at Easton Magic Academy." The fourth wall breaks do make me laugh

Rest in pieces, Wahlberg's left arm. I think the rest of him is not far behind

"Did you know that cabybaras run at 50 km per hour? Come to school." I love what a silly teacher they've made Adam out to be. Also it doesn't translate in subtitles, but all of Adam's animal trivia facts are also rhyming couplets:

"It's fine to live for your own sake as you do. But I have lived to this day, saved by all of the goodwill around me." Oh Wahlberg. I'm so sorry you're about to mega-die!

'Hey, Wahlberg, what's your magic's final form?' 'Optimus Prime'

"Thirds spells unleash the power of the gods residing in the wands." Apparently Greek gods specifically, since Rayne's was Ares and Wahlberg's is Uranus

Wahlberg's ultimate control of space is very Gojo's infinity

"With this, I will sever the affinity I have had with you for such a long time, Innocent Zero!" Taking this as confirmation of the situationship. Wahlberg said: We're breaking up

"My Thirds will tear you apart... in exchange for my own life." Wahlberg said: More specifically, I'm breaking YOU up

"This world could be so much better. It could be a world filled with kindness, where we respect each other and accept our weaknesses. That is why I must save them." Wahlberg is such a good teacher 😭

Shout-out to Mash for saving Wahlberg, I can't wait to hear what the hell he's doing to be airborne

He was doing his leg kick. Return of the Weird Bird Boy

"I was raised to be kind to the elderly." Yeah you were, Mash ❤️

There is something cathartic about Mash kicking his icky bio dad in the face

"Your only purpose in life is to elevate me into a higher state of being." Gross reason to have kids, Zero

I guess the theory is a body as tough as Mash's could hold a ton of magic, so Innocent Zero won't experience magical pixelation anymore? Guess Innocent Zero hasn't considered the possibility of absorbing Mash and losing magic completely

"We'll finish this another time." [Hashirama voice] I'll deal with you later

"What was that cut scene just now?" While I hate whenever they make reference to Lance being a Weird Brother, I am a little obsessed with the implication that Dot can read Lance's mind

"But this is simply way too ridiculous, Mash," said Finn, about Mash playing tug-of-war with a giant demon, as if Mash had not played racquetball with a God in front of him earlier that day

"There's no room for someone who can't use magic in this world," said the Student Extras, as if Mash were not the ONLY thing keeping them from being crushed by a Giant Demon Monster

"Whether or not you can use magic... Right now, he's fighting for us and the school. He's giving everything he's got for to fight for us!" THANK YOU, Student Extra #5

Awwww, Mash heard Finn and it gave him the strength to win!! Friendship really IS the most powerful magic of all

"Kaldo, I hear you have sided with Mash Burnedead." You are such a piece of work, Orter

"Mash, the centre of this incident, and the only one who knew the truth, was burdened by this grave knowledge... and went to the beach." So fair, Mash deserves a beach episode

"Considering Mash's circumstances, they're going to make him take the fall somehow." Harsh but realistic prediction, Lance

[Finn, concerned] "Headmaster! What are you doing here?" [Wahlberg, chilling in a swimsuit, covered in bandages and missing an arm] "It's summertime." I accept this reasoning

"The five brothers who flank him are all top-tier magic users in this world." Innocent Zero's brothers? I guess that's where Mash's other five Horcrux Family Members are

"Either I'll win, or I'll lose. That's one in two. A 50% chance. And muscles never lose. So the chances of winning are 100%." Mash said: We didn't cover math in homeschooling

PLEASE LANCE'S REALITY CHECK ABOUT EXAMS LOL

"So I study a little bit every day, thinking it's practice for putting in effort. And you lose nothing from having an academic background." Wow, I didn't think Dot had it in him

"I'm somehow hurt by this." Mash said: I thought we were stupid together, Dot

I do love that they're all taking turns tutoring. Teamwork!

Please, as soon as I said that, they cut to this threatening imagery of the tutoring:

"I'm not bored enough to teach someone who isn't willing to learn." Again, harsh but fair, Lance

"I want to graduate together with you." Awww, Finn

They really knock it out of the park with every animal design. In love with how they've drawn the moles:

"And thus, Mash confronted studying, which he was not so good at." Same, bestie

"Your marks are not what I'd call praisworthy, however." "You scraped by." "Just barely." Again, relatable to me during high school chemistry

LOL @ Lance and Dot taking turns kicking Mash for calling it easy

"It's in the newspaper that the prestigious Easton Academy has a Lackmagic as Divine Visionary candidate." Oh boy

KGJHKGJHGKJG Lemon and Dot just growling at the crowd which is targeting Mash. Good friends indeed!

"If Mash is going to be judged for such a ridiculous reason, I will take the punishment with him!" LEMON 😭😭😭

"But I will become the best in this Magic Realm and prove it to you... that it's okay even if you can't use magic." YEAH MASH

"In one's life, you may never come across even one person who will speak up on your behalf. You have excellent friends." Yeah he does!

You know, this show grows on me more over time. It's a little confused, but it's got the spirit! You can tell exactly which media fixations (HP, Naruto, JJK) have influenced the author, and while there are clear low points (its capacity to address a prejudicial social dilemma, depiction of Necross, generally the lack of women, that character motives and dialogue seem like an afterthought to the plot points/fights to name a few), I would say that I like it more than I don't (great friendships, treating parody as an art form, positive nonbinary rep, a well-structured tournament arc, Mash's closeness with Regro, the loving way that it was ultimately written). It is clumsy but enjoyable. I maintain it is the Glee of anime. It's not necessarily a show I'd widely recommend, but it is a show that appeals to me as a viewer

[gumy-shark]

okayh okay HI you said you wanted to know about the freedom/passion dichotomy thing? ive got the graph and i am going to do my best to explain this to you despite me barely having a grasp of it on myself. THIS IS VERY LONG IM SORRY.

so the first thing you need to know is this just started as a way to split my ocs and help me make character arcs and motivations, and it became a little bit of a habit to categorize my favorite characters this way as well. its is in no means a perfect dichotomy, and im constantly looking for ways to refine it, but for now the best way ive found to illustrate it is this:

basically its which think they represent most... or what they value the most? idk its kind of a case-by-case basis and is dictated by Vibe. like I said THIS IS VERY FLAWED so bare with me pls

when i first started watching lmk i sorted all of the characters i knew into either category. this was within the first four/five days are watching so some of it might be.. off? but i think its still worth something as my first impression of the characters, and it'll probably help illustrate what i mean

Wukong -> Freedom Macaque -> Passion Wukong and Macaque have this thing where one has too much freedom and is learning to temper that with passion (wukong) and the other has too MUCH emotion and is trying everything he can to gain true freedom (macaque) (this is true even when he isn't under LBD's control but is esp prevalent then). they each value the opposite thing they stand for and are trying to be more like the other, without even realizing it. MK -> Freedom Dont get me wrong! He very much has passion! He holds a lot of emotion in that body! but a lot of that passion is the passion for freedom. he just wants to be able to be himself and hang out with his friends, he doesn't do well with all this responsibility :C Mei -> Passion Does this need defending? High sense of duty (mainly towards her ancestors and her friends), and so incredibly passionate. and impulsive. She spits fire when angry! Nothing more to be said honestly. Red Son -> Passion Is a really good parallel to Mei, has too much passion to fit in his body. [In the original notes, I noted that he was 'scared of true freedom, but doesn't know that yet. I'm pretty sure this references his relationship to his parents? Smth smth he's too scared of making them angry so he doesn't explore who he is outside of his relation and loyalty to them?] Pigsy -> Passion this man doesn't need freedom when he as his passion for food. what does he need to be free from? he has everything he wants HEART EMOJI! Tang -> ...Its complicated The thing with tang is that he kind of gets like a character arc with like. Responsibility and his care for his friends? He goes from low passion/high freedom to low freedom/high passion over the course of the show. please note that i am insane about him and if i really wanted i could write a whole essay about him. Sandy -> ??? ONCE AGAIN ITS WEIRD. I WISH THE SHOW FOCUSED MORE ON HIS CHARACTER AND BACKSTORY BC I CANT GET A READ ON HIM.

okay thats the main cast, and HERES THE ALIGNMENT CHART ACCORDING TO THAT. WITH OTHERS AS WELL.

theres not a lot of people without any value of freedom and passion at the same time so the grey area is pretty empty LMAO.

ANYWAYS. I BROUGHT THIS UP TO BEGIN WITH BECAUSE OF THE CHARACTERS WITH EYE SCARS TRIFECTA!!! Basically i see them all of how i described macaque earlier. He's trapped in a situation that he doesn't want to be in, whether it be LBD's control or his situation wiht wukong or his own creepy and standoffish persona/his trust issues making it hard to make real connections with others.

(in contrast wukong loves doing his own thing and just Hanging Out and never stopping his own momentum, but he also has trouble caring about... a lot of things actually. he's just soo easygoing! responsibility harshes his vibe!)

But anyways, macaque's problems are very similar to quackity and tempest's, i feel. Quackity constantly feels trapped by physical threats like techno or dream, and also his own circumstances and trauma (a lot of it from schlatt and manburg). a lot of his actions are him trying to reclaim the freedom he used to feel when he was younger. tempest felt she couldn't be truly herself without her horn, but in trying to get it she got herself in a really bad situation where any wrong move could get her killed.

The passion part comes in play in different ways for them all. Quackity tried not to care about people for a while, but still can never stop being extremely loyal and protective of his friends. Tempest had lots of rage inside her and was so intensely driven to get to her goal. And Macaque canNOT stop obsessing over wukong honestly. All three of them are very passionate, and all three of them are constantly trying to gain more freedom.

This is a super long ask, but thank you for inviting me to ramble about this lmao. I think everyone represents freedom or passion in their own way, and this dichotomy really only matters for characters BUT I THINK ITS FUN. THANK YOU FOR COMING TO MY TEDTALK!!!!!

i had a whole Thing written out and i was so proud of it and then my phone decided to delete it before i could post and not save as draft. but yeah im putting this chart in the microwave and then eating it and then putting it in the fridge so i can keep it overnight and microwave and eat it again. this is so fucking Good. in their attempts for freedom macaque cquack and tempest all disown the people they were when they Were free, bc they want to be unbound entirely, but they Feel too deeply for that to ever be a possibility for them. so they do the next best thing and try to pass those "lessons" they've learned on to others OUGH it makes me sick!!!

[cutebutalsostabby]

Voice Referendum P2

Some very weird anon just sent me a very weird anonymous essay about my post on the Voice referendum (link). I'm not going to give the essay itself any airtime, but I am happy to share some extra info for education purposes.

Terminology

The term "settler" refers to anyone non-Indigenous, regardless of ethnic background. Sometimes it is useful to be more specific, e.g. white, Asian, African and so on, but the Voice was a proposal created for the sake of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aka Indigenous, First Nations or Blak), therefore settler is a useful term to describe the non-Indigenous population - who were, unfortunately, invited to have an opinion on this matter.

The above is not to say that whiteness is totally irrelevant here: while I couldn't find any data on how different racial demographics voted, the survey conducted by Octopus Group and Accent Research (link) shows a telling correlation between those that voted No in the referendum and those that believed (falsely) that white people face more discrimination than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

I also note ABC's analysis (link) that those living in inner city locations were more likely to vote yes than those in rural areas. There are a few ways you could interpret that; one of them is that inner city areas tend to be more multicultural.

Do White People Experience More Discrimination than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People?

No.

Given the above graph, it's not hard to interpret how the anon that messaged me about "shitting on white people" voted, but it's really not hard to fact check this claim: even beyond the catastrophic breaches of human rights during the original invasion of so-called Australia - from murder to disease to destruction of land and property to forced evacuation to the death of several Indigenous languages - the effects of genocide continue today. Indigenous people are about 15 times more likely to be in prison and have a roughly 10-year lower life-expectancy than non-Indigenous people (source). Even before the Voice "debate" arrived, The Guardian reported that discrimination against Indigenous Australians had risen rapidly in 2021 (link). It only really takes a few minutes of independent research for any claims that the Voice would provide "special privilege" to fall apart.

I'm Queer and Have Racial Opinions, Hear Me Roar

Queer settlers are still settlers. Queer white people are still white. Specifically in regards to this part of the message I received:

im a queer woman in a relationship that is not heteronormative and i agree with almost everything the left wing says. i just think

I don't think this lovely lady did think so I'mma cut her off right there. Thanks for your very exciting opinion :) please dispose of it responsibly.

...So Now What?

Well, the vote has already happened, and unfortunately it was a No. Honestly, I'm a bit confused about receiving this ask now? Ah well.

As I said in my last post, I don't think settlers should have been voting on this in the first place, but since we were, I believe it was our duty to vote Yes. All past opinion polls showed that as the majority Indigenous opinion. I do respect that some Indigenous people voted No themselves, whether due to Jacinta Price's perspective on the "Voice of Division" or Lidia Thorpe's as representative for the Blak Sovereign Movement. Indigenous people are not a monolith, nor should they be expected to behave that way. In the case of settlers voting No however: I don't believe there is a good excuse for this. I think it was a racist result. I'm not overly surprised, but I am disappointed. Even so, the Voice was never going to be the end of it.

A few years ago, I made a commitment that at least 1% of my income would go towards paying the rent to Indigenous people (further info here). I've kept this commitment and would encourage others with an income to do the same. I've also written to my local MP to remind him of the unactioned recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody as well as the Bringing them Home Report.

I'd really encourage all settlers, in Australia or elsewhere, to find some way to get involved. Let's make use of our privilege and make the world a better and more equal place for all.

Thanks for reading.