#neither of them have commitment issues. they just happen to be committed to different things

[innocentartery]

”halcarol is toxic!!!” “halcarol should just be friends!!!” well first of all l + ratio and you don’t even understand that the circumstances keeping them apart have nothing to do with their influence on nor feelings for each other… they dance in a constant choreography of interchanging power dynamics because deep down they’re the same. and they’re soulmates who fuck nasty <3

[nadvs]

basketball player!rafe just seems like the "i don't wanna get married but i want to be a father" guy bc of his commitment issues jsjsjsj imagine they've been in a relationship for 5-7 years and had a baby already but rafe hasn't proposed yet, do you think reader would be comfortable in that kind of set up?

YOU’RE SO RIGHT 🙂‍↕️

based on this fic

» au masterlist

YES 100% he genuinely wants to be a dad, but a husband? that freaks him the fuck out. a kid is a big commitment, but he’s ready for it because he knows as long as he does a good job, that child will love him. as it turns out, he knows both children will love him, because they learn she’s having twins.

but a woman can wake up one day and decide she doesn’t want to be with him anymore. a ring and a piece of paper don’t give him any comfort. and he never saw a good example of a marriage.

neither did she, so she’s okay with it. after all, even in their college days, their friends said they acted married. she doesn’t need the title. she hears comments about it, people judging him for not asking and judging her for staying. but she’s happy with things being like this. maybe she’ll want marriage eventually. but not now.

a few years later, he gets a bad injury on the court. potentially career-ending. and his girl does not leave his side. he’s in constant pain and is the worst version of himself. rude, abrupt, distant. she still sticks with him.

one night, while he’s bedridden, he overhears her telling the kids that their dad is sick and not himself right now, but he’ll get better and he still loves them very much. he doesn’t know what he did to deserve her. and throughout his healing period, it gives him time to reflect, and he realizes part of him worries she’s only still with him for the kids.

he gets better. he overcomes it. and he gets back out on the court. he’s not as risk-taking of a player as he once was, but still a damn good one. the night of his first game back, he’s lying in bed with her and he asks her what she would have done if his injury happened and they never had kids. she confidently says nothing would be different.

he buys a ring soon after. they’ve been together for six years, the twins four years old, when he proposes.

she doesn’t see it coming. and he feels like an idiot for waiting for so long. he realizes he didn’t have to wait for her to prove herself. none of it was on her. deep down, he needed to prove to himself that he wasn’t a coward. that he could commit on this level and have the confidence and faith that she would love him enough to commit, too.

she doesn’t have to think about it. the yes is instant.

[bonefall]

Not sure if this is the place to ask or if I should go to Bonebabble, but ooh, Dungeon Meshi mention! I love what you said about low-empathy and apathy, I think I’ll use that in ny own characters.

I wanted to ask why you think Shuro is autistic. I’ve seen a lot of people say it so there must be a reason why, but I don’t think it’s really obvious to me? Like with Laios, autism/neurodivergence is so integral to his story, so it’s deeply obvious. I love the way he’s written! But we don’t see a lot of Shuro, so I’d like to hear more of why people see the tism in him.

@bonebabbles is the better place to send these in the future but it's chill! The vibe right now's loose since we're all coming down from the heaviness of Mooncourse lmao

Honestly, I feel a little 'tism in a lot of the cast of Dungeon Meshi. As a very autistic writer myself, it kind of has a vibe like it was written by someone who's autistic and so it gets peppered into all of her characters. It's something I notice a lot in my own art, too.

But like, when it comes to Toshiro... I can't stop thinking about him. He makes me want to chew the furniture. With every passing day I become less normal about him.

glossary because I had a lot of thoughts about Toshiro Dungeon Meshi i guess. Oh my god this got long

He reminds me of some people I know

His culture clash is very relatable to me in an autistic way

He has a rigid commitment to his values and morals

Miscellaneous Autism Moments

THE LAIOS FIGHT

in conclusion

He reminds me of some people I know

He reminds me of certain autistic men I've met from affluent families. The type who both is taught to repress and mask their own traits, yet also not to be incredibly mindful of the emotions of other people. Because of their status, they don't have to learn how to work out interpersonal conflict because the majority of the people around them are servants or family. People who would never go away if they didn't like you.

So, his vassals have to learn to talk to him and how to carry out his orders. Not the other way around. As a result, Toshiro has a bit of unearned confidence about his leadership abilities and communication skills. NOT in a way that is smug, DO NOT misunderstand me; just in a way that overestimates his own judgement. Maybe he has encyclopedic knowledge for talking to other nobles offscreen, but when it came to his own team, he was ignoring a lot of the good advice they gave him about taking breaks.

Yes, Toshiro is from a high-context culture-- but his communication issues are bad with everyone.

ESPECIALLY his vassals, people he calls family, from the same exact culture as him. They're worried about him, most of them are desperate for acknowledgement, they'd do anything for him, and he doesn't address this until AFTER his brawl with Laios!

His culture clash is very relatable to me in an autistic way

Toshiro knew he was going somewhere that was going to be a melting pot of mostly western cultures. He knew the manners were going to be different, and he came alone, not in a group where he was only interacting with his own people.

Yet he NEVER adjusted his own social behavior.

I'm American and my partner is British. When I first went, I had no idea why they were offering me so much tea. I thought I was being polite by following them into the kitchen, thinking they wanted to move the conversation over there. My partner quickly fixed this by explaining that when someone offers you tea, they're taking a short pause in the lull of a conversation to be a good host.

I am autistic. What someone else might have just figured out through getting an awkward look, I had to be told directly. There are a lot of little things like that.

Toshiro feels like what would happen if the opposite was happening, an autistic person from a high-context culture coming to a low-context culture. He can't properly express discomfort. It's not JUST Laios, King of Autism, that he's having issues talking to. Neither Marcille nor Chilchuck know that "Shuro" is a mispronunciation, and they had no clue that he disliked Laios THIS much.

I even think it's kinda telling that Toshiro felt the most comfortable with Falin out of the rest of the party. The hyper-empathetic autistic girl who goes out of her way to accommodate others.

He has a rigid commitment to his values and morals

A strict, uncompromising moral compass is a hallmark of autism. It's everything Toshiro does!!

When Falin was eaten, he bolted off to assemble the best team he could think of. He believes that love is sacrifice, so he pushes his body and his family to the limit to try and prove how much he loves Falin. Chilchuck freaks out when he finds out that Laios told him about the dark magic, because "HE'S THE WORST PERSON TO TELL!"

LIKE, YEAH! HE SURE IS!

Maizuru also explains that from a very young age, he's been incredibly compliant. He never asks for anything, he's always been a bit sickly and uninterested in eating. He always tries to be on his very best behavior, even if that means not asking for accommodations he might actually need.

In fact, the only food he seems to LIKE eating is what Maizuru makes him. To the point where she ended up getting pulled into the kitchen even when she was on a "mission." Senshi makes a cute comment that it's "love" that Maizuru puts into those meals, but... what if it's actually because she knows the textures and flavors he likes?

Miscellaneous Autism Moments

There's so many little moments that are so incredibly autistic to me.

He sees Falin with a bug and he proposes right on the spot. The other characters are like, "oh that's just how they act in the east" but no the fuck it is not. They don't even know "Shuro" is a mispronunciation, how the hell do they know anything about eastern courting traditions?

I know EXACTLY what happened. I'm beaming you this information directly from the truth.

Toshiro was TOLD that you're supposed to 1. make your proposals a surprise, and 2. you will know the right one when you see them, and NO ONE elaborated any further because he comes from a high context culture. He popped that question the first time both of those boxes were ticked off.

In coming from a high context culture, what he does is strictly follow rules and conditions he was taught.

And that's absolutely why he handed Laios that bell. Because he does care about him and the party, and he's taught that doing these acts of service is a show of that... and he didn't even think ahead to the fact the bell was going to be ringing constantly.

And yet. In spite of that, he ALWAYS keeps it near him.

Before it clicked and I realized why, I used to think Toshiro was kind of an asshole for running off to get his vassals without even telling Marcille and Laios about his plan. Like... how could you not know they were going to do something drastic? The three of them were the Falin Fan Club and he was the most normal member of it. It's so obvious to me that Laios (brother) and Marcille (""Gal Pal"") were going to get themselves in danger.

So how could you just run off like that without telling them? Even if lack of supplies meant they couldn't go back in, how could you just leave them worried sick in the town, thinking you abandoned Falin?

And then it hit me. The man just has low empathy.

There WAS no malice, just like how there wasn't malice in how he was pushing him and his vassals to the limits, just like how there was never malice against Laios. It simply didn't occur to him like that.

He's never been taught to consider the thoughts and feelings of others very deeply and they don't come naturally. He's still compassionate. There's a reason all of his vassals love him!

But THAT'S WHY he never put himself in Laios' shoes, or anyone else's. Empathy does not come naturally to him. All of his good behavior is as a result of his moral code, NOT empathy.

So with that said, why does he love Falin so much? Aside from the wonderful, positive traits he lists when he's asked? I mean, what's really deep down at the core of why he finds these things so lovely?

Well... Falin and Laios are not all that different from each other, to the point where Toshiro gets gently ribbed in a bonus chapter about how if one of them was a girl, Shuro might have loved Laios instead. He waxes poetic about the ways she's different from most women, how she's not afraid of things like insects, her compassion, her face, her laugh.

These are all things Laios does too (in fact in one of the panels where Toshiro is appreciating Falin, she's trying to check if a caterpillar is a male or female), but Falin's personality expresses in a more subdued and introverted way. Closer to how Toshiro is, as a person. So... I think it's because he relates to her.

To both Touden siblings. But Laios makes him see things he doesn't want to.

THE LAIOS FIGHT

We established that Toshiro has a strict commitment to his values, he probably has low empathy, and even taking his cultural differences into account he's bad at communicating.

So then, why was one of his complaints against Laios' obliviousness that he "knows he doesn't mean anything by it, and that makes it worse"? Isn't that kinda specific when you think about it?

If you're neurodivergent, I want you to think back to points in time where you dealt with people who have the same issues you do. Autism, ADHD, PTSD, DID, whatever. Did you ever have a moment where they did something harmless or mildly inconvenient, definitely as a result of the same exact thing you have, and you just... HATED it?

You HATED it even more than you would anyone else doing the same thing. You probably know your response was disproportionate. But YOU don't do that THING they did. Or if you do that, it's less bad somehow. Or you used to do that but don't anymore and it reminds you of when you did.

If you're reflective, you might have realized it might be internalized ableism. I feel like that's a huge part of why Toshiro finds Laios SO. ANNOYING. Laios is like this stupid, idiot, blundering caricature of things Toshiro has been taught to avoid, which violate his moral code. Shuro comes from a place of so many more rules and subtle cues, and it's like Laios doesn't respect any of them.

What STARTS this fight, causes Laios to finally hit back after being smacked, shoved, and shouted at, is being told "YOU'RE NOT TAKING THIS SERIOUSLY."

It's so obviously wrong! Laios, who ran back into a dungeon immediately? Who Toshiro himself called rash? This is NOT a logical conclusion to make about Laios or his party. I think it came from frustration that Laios "does things the wrong way." That it's projection, stemming from that low empathy.

He's not like Kabru in the same chapter, who's desperately trying to get a read on Laios' inner workings and failing. Shuro's just extrapolating his own feelings onto him, because he's recognizing that same "sense" within him. If TOSHIRO didn't follow the rules he sets down for himself, that's not "taking it seriously."

Toshiro follows the rules. Laios does not.

...and Laios is FREE.

He's open and honest in a way Toshiro can never be, not as a noble, not as an easterner, and not as an autistic man. Hell, Laios was ALSO a noble, he gave that up! Threw that away, and then came back to his village and took Falin away from it. If Laios is acting like an idiot, he's acting like an idiot who does everything Toshiro has ever wanted to do. Laios cannot mask and Toshiro resents that.

One of the things Toshiro even explicitly says he HATES about Laios is the fact he's willing to be a burden on other people. Maizuru said earlier that he's NEVER made a "selfish request" before-- but Laios can just open his mouth and ask for help, feeling no shame, just as he did in this chapter when he asked him not to tell the Island Lord about the dark magic.

And then, after they literally come to blows, Toshiro tells Laios some incredibly brutal things, revealing he's NEVER been his friend and he has resented him this whole time. This actually sits with Laios well into the later chapters, but the fight ends and then they're just CHATTING FRIENDLY LIKE IT DIDN'T MATTER.

More honestly than ever before, because Toshiro is returning the effort. He eats some food (the narrative's metaphor for making connections). He thanks his vassals for the first time. He talks about how he wishes he'd told Falin about all the things he adored about her when he still had the chance.

I have to take the panels of his response right out of the manga actually because this little expression here is so subtle, but so meaningful.

(Read <- <- <- that way)

Look at the way that when Laios makes that genuine movement, assuring him with passion that he will be making sure Falin receives this message, Toshiro's gut response is annoyance. But then it softens and he pauses, like he's reconsidering what his response is going to be.

To admit that he envies "this side of Laios" is also admitting that the earlier fight was based on envy.

Laios was like this the WHOLE time. Making these grand speeches about his plans, what his party's been doing, how Toshiro needs to eat something and take a nap. He's ALWAYS been like this. It was Toshiro's mindset that changed.

In conclusion

Something I really like about Dungeon Meshi is HOW MANY of its characters can be read as autistic. Laios is just the most obvious one, with his special interest in monsters and inability to read social cues being central to the plot. His is a more "well known" expression of autism-- it's rare you get characters whose masking is central to their characters.

But it's really refreshing to see characters like Kabru, Falin, and Toshiro. Autistic people are rare enough in popular media to begin with, but we NEVER get characters whose autism intersects with their trauma, gender, and culture quite like these three.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

Derin experiencing and writing the most ADHD-coded experiences taken straight out of the DSM: Not me tho I'm built different

I've been thinking about this and I think the reason that I'm so sure that my quirks aren't symptoms of anything is that all you guys who do have ADHD post about having utterly miserable unrewarding lives full of chaos and instability. My life is relatively chill, I find my writing and crochet to be very rewarding long-term (something which I'm constantly seeing ADHD posts about calling impossible for people with ADHD), I had no particular trouble with my Bachelor's degree or my Grad Dip and dropped out of my PhD only due to a stress-related heart condition (everyne with ADHD here seems to talk about how hard it is to complete higher education with ADHD). People with ADHD here talks about how ADHD makes long term commitments practically impossible; I've been doing my web serials for... what, 5 or 6 years, I think?... and while it's not fun every minute of every day (no job is), it's been perfectly achievable and I'm not likely to stop any time soon. People with ADHD here post about how they're always restless or bored or miserable; I tend to be pretty relaxed and generally happy. They post about how long term projects are horrible and they can't get pride or a sense of achievement from them, only a sense of relief that it's over; I do get a sense of relief when something's over, but I'm looking at the huge patterned blanket I crocheted a couple of years ago right now and feeling pride in it. They post about having highly addictive personalities; the only things I'm addicted to are caffeine and this fucking webbed site. I get bored with predatory 'addictive' games immediately. I was academically very successful in school, was able to focus on things like reading for long periods of time (I'm less good at that now but I think that's the effect of the internet on my brain, not anything intrinsic), and while I do tend to be a very disorganised person I've never been disorganised enough that it's caused me serious unresolvable issues.

My life experiences just do not match up with the experiences espoused by people with ADHD. Life is neither incredibly hard nor miserable for me. I just happen to also be absent-minded.

[3liza]

thank you for speaking rational thought AS AN ARTIST into the ai debate. i get so tired of people over simplifying, generalizing, and parroting how they’ve been told ai works lmao. you’re an icon

some of the worst AI art alarmists are professional artists as well but theyre in very specific fields with very specific work cultures and it would take a long and boring post to explain all the nuance there but i went to the same extremely tiny, hypefocused classic atelier school in San Francisco as Karla Ortiz and am actually acquainted with her irl so i have a different perspective on this particular issue and the people involved than the average fan artist on tumblr. the latter person is also perfectly valid and so is their work, all im saying is that we have different life experiences and my particular one has accidentally placed me in a weird and relevant position to observe what the AI art panic is actually about.

first thing i did when the pearl-clutching about AI art started is go on the Midjourney discord, which is completely public and free, and spent a few burner accounts using free credits to play with the toolset. everyone who has any kind of opinion about AI art should do the same because otherwise you just wont know what youre talking about. my BIGGEST takeaway is that it is currently and likely always will be (because of factors that are sort of hard to explain) extremely difficult to make an AI like Midjourney spit out precisely wht you want UNLESS what you want is the exact kind of hyperreal, hyperpretty Artstation Front Page 4k HDR etc etc style pictures that, coincidentally, artists like Karla Ortiz have devoted their careers to. Midjourney could not, when asked, make a decent Problem Glyph. or even anything approaching one. and probably never will, because there isn't any profit incentive for it to do so and probably not enough images to train a dataset anyway.

the labor issues with AI are real, but they are the result of the managerial class using AI's existence as an excuse to reduce compensation for labor. this happens at every single technological sea change and is unstoppable, and the technology itself is always blamed because that is beneficial to the capitalists who are actually causing the labor crisis each time. if you talk to the artists who are ACTUALLY already being affected, they will tell you what's happening is managers are telling them to insert AI into workflows in ways that make no sense, and that management have fully started an industry-wide to "pivot" to AI production in ways that aren't going to work but WILL result in mass loss of jobs and productivty and introduce a lot of problems which people will then be hired to try to fix, but at greatly-reduced salaries. every script written and every picture generated by an AI, without human intervention/editing/cleanup, is mostly unusable for anything except a few very specific use cases that are very tolerant of generality. i'm seeing it being used for shovelware banner ads, for example, as well as for game assets like "i need some spooky paintings for the wall of a house environment" or "i need some nonspecific movie posters for a character's room" that indie game devs are making really good use of, people who can neither afford to hire an artist to make those assets and cant do them themselves, and if the ai art assets weren't available then that person would just not have those assets in the game at all. i've seen AI art in that context that works great for that purpose and isn't committing any labor crimes.

it is also being used for book covers by large publishing houses already, and it looks bad and resulted directly in the loss of a human job. it is both things. you can also pay your contractor for half as many man hours because he has a nailgun instead of just hammers. you can pay a huge pile of money to someone for an oil portrait or you can take a selfie with your phone. there arent that many oil painters around anymore.

but this is being ignored by people like the guy who just replied and yelled at me for the post they imagined that i wrote defending the impending robot war, who is just feeling very hysterical about existential threat and isn't going to read any posts or actually do any research about it. which is understandable but supremely unhelpful, primarily to themselves but also to me and every other fellow artist who has to pay rent.

one aspect of this that is both unequivocally True AND very mean to point out is that the madder an artist is about AI art, the more their work will resemble the pretty, heavily commercialized stuff the AIs are focused on imitating. the aforementioned Artstation frontpage. this is self-feeding loop of popular work is replicated by human artists because it sells and gets clicks, audience is sensitized to those precise aesthetics by constant exposure and demands more, AI trains on those pictures more than any others because there are more of those pictures and more URLs pointing back to those pictures and the AI learns to expect those shapes and colors and forms more often, mathematically, in its prediction models. i feel bad for these people having their style ganked by robots and they will not be the only victims but it is also true, and has always been true, that the ONLY way to avoid increasing competition in a creative field is to make yourself so difficult to imitate that no one can actually do it. you make a deal with the devil when you focus exclusively on market pleasing skills instead of taking the massive pay cut that comes with being more of a weirdo. theres no right answer to this, nor is either kind of artist better, more ideologically pure, or more talented. my parents wanted me to make safe, marketable, hotel lobby art and never go hungry, but im an idiot. no one could have predicted that my distaste for "hyperreal 4k f cup orc warrior waifu concept art depth of field bokeh national geographic award winning hd beautiful colorful" pictures would suddenly put me in a less precarious position than people who actually work for AAA studios filling beautiful concept art books with the same. i just went to a concept art school full of those people and interned at a AAA studio and spent years in AAA game journalism and decided i would rather rip ass so hard i exploded than try to compete in such an industry.

which brings me to what art AIs are actually "doing"--i'm going to be simple in a way that makes computer experts annoyed here, but to be descriptive about it, they are not "remixing" existing art or "copying" it or carrying around databases of your work and collaging it--they are using mathematical formulae to determine what is most likely to show up in pictures described by certain prompts and then manifesting that visually, based on what they have already seen. they work with the exact same very basic actions as a human observing a bunch of drawings and then trying out their own. this is why they have so much trouble with fingers, it's for the same reason children's drawings also often have more than 5 fingers: because once you start drawing fingers its hard to stop. this is because all fingers are mathematically likely to have another finger next to them. in fact most fingers have another finger on each side. Pinkies Georg, who lives on the end of your limb and only has one neighbor, is an outlier and Midjourney thinks he should not have been counted.

in fact a lot of the current failings by AI models in both visual art and writing are comparable to the behavior of human children in ways i find amusing. human children will also make up stories when asked questions, just to please the adult who asked. a robot is not a child and it does not have actual intentions, feelings or "thoughts" and im not saying they do. its just funny that an AI will make up a story to "Get out of trouble" the same way a 4 year old tends to. its funny that their anatomical errors are the same as the ones in a kindergarten classroom gallery wall. they are not people and should not be personified or thought of as sapient or having agency or intent, they do not.

anyway. TLDR when photography was invented it became MUCH cheaper and MUCH faster to get someone to take your portrait, and this resulted in various things happening that would appear foolish to be mad about in this year of our lord 2023 AD. and yet here we are. if it were me and it was about 1830 and i had spent 30 years learning to paint, i would probably start figuring out how to make wet plate process daguerreotypes too. because i live on earth in a technological capitalist society and there's nothing i can do about it and i like eating food indoors and if i im smart enough to learn how to oil paint i can certainly point a camera at someone for 5 minutes and then bathe the resulting exposure in mercury vapor. i know how to do multiple things at once. but thats me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[phoenixyfriend]

A lot has been happening today that rep calls could affect. UN vetoes, KOSA, Julian Assange, UNRWA's funding crisis and Israel's demands that it be completely dismantled, the large number of bills we just learned are on the docket for the coming week, and even the good news that is recent successes by the BDS movement.

And like... I care about this stuff. I want to talk about it. But it takes an emotional and mental toll to do it, and it takes time, and... there are two reasons to write up reference, update, information posts:

Compensation. I'm not a journalist, but if I were, I would in theory be getting paid for the information I collect and share to my audience. However, I am not, and am doing this for free. I have gotten maybe $5 in donations since I started this project, and while I recognize that this is probably because people are (quite rightly) donating instead to Palestinian charities or local campaigns or something, it's a basic fact that I am not actually being compensated for this work.

Promoting change and activism. This is in fact my main goal: to have a positive impact on current events by giving people a guide on the news and politics because there's so much happening that's hard to keep track of, and if I'm already doom-listening to half a dozen political podcasts, I might as well save other people the trouble, right?

The thing is, like... most of the reblogs on my guidelines and helpful posts are from me, to me. I am the one reblogging. I am desperately trying to get these things to circulate so I can make a difference, but... no dice. Some of the posts are admittedly pretty long (my 'how to call your reps, here's some verbiage' post is 3.4k words), and I can imagine some people are saving it for later, and then maybe forget, or they don't want to share something controversial, and like... I do get that. I do.

But it does mean the posts aren't circulating, and thus they're having less of an impact, and I can't help but feel like there are other things I could be doing to help that would be more effective. More bang for my buck, except it's my time and effort instead of my money. Like, maybe it would have more an effect if I hunted down a wider variety of elected officials I could bother instead of instructing other people on how to bother theirs? Maybe going to protests (which would be a huge commitment due to distance) would be more effective than trying to help ensure that the effectiveness of "I actually have a vote and you are losing it" of calls has the weight of numbers behind it.

Especially since I did try to blaze it, and tumblr mods rejected the post. I don't know why. It's not against ToS, since none of it was disinformation or election interference, which is the only reason given on the FAQ for why things might not be approved for blazing, but who knows.

Maybe tumblr just decided the possible blowback on them for blazing a pro-ceasefire post would be too much.

I don't know. I just... it's just really disheartening to try to help and it gets stymied because, as much effort as it might be, it doesn't reach more than a (comparatively) tiny audience, especially when my relatively low-effort polls and shitposts get easily ten times as many notes with way less energy put in.

EDIT: This is not a post that I need to have reblogged. this is just me bitching. This a vent post. What I am asking people to reblog is my activism posts that I spend hours on to try and help nudge things in a better direction. Please reblog THOSE. This one doesn't need reblogging unless you have an actual comment. Reblogging this post just to reblog, with neither useful comment nor encouragement, is not helping me with my issue of 'not paid, not making an impact' or helping with any important causes.

[adhdo5]

A thing that bothers me about postcanon Xiyaos is that they tend to want to be fixit Xiyaos and in the process not only make it weird but also erase a lot of the appeal of postcanon Xiyao in general. Like I understand why people want to write LXC as purely regretful and oh how I could have killed that guy he was all that mattered in the world but like. He wasn't?

Sorry to say this but as much as Xiyao-Wangxian parallels real and the world and universe a lot of the tragedy is in how Xiyao were never ever going to be able to prioritize like Wangxian were bc Xiyao cannot extricate what they want personally from what they want ideologically. And just saying that JGY's death undoes this in LXC is a) boring b) untrue to the character and c) honestly kind of cringe from a moral evaluation perspective? Yes the thing is in the narrative of MDZS the kind of priorities Xiyao have are futile, because MDZS is about the futility and arrogance of those priorities, and that's why Xiyao are never going to survive MDZS,– and I would certainly say they're misguided and mixed up with awful obligation nonsense, but they're not in fact bad priorities or stupid considerations to have on a grander scale and something focusing on resolving those issues has to expand from MDZS's themes and answer not "what if they simply went Wangxian 2 about it" but "given that they are not and can never be Wangxian and Wangxian happy ending doesn't work for them what kind of story DOES Xiyao happy ending happen in"

And first thing second: a lot of these answers tend to do the thing where their answer is "Xiyao at age 20 was Xiyao happy ending" which is again not only a boring answer but kind of a shitty one! First of all no the fuck it wasn't, otherwise they wouldn't have done all that; second of all Oh so you claim you want a-Yao happy ending and forgive him all his crimes but the only form you want him in is one that in some sense hasn't committed what you perceived as the worst of his crimes yet? The only form you want him in is Meng Yao who does your laundry and cries about needing your support and is only relieved, not angry, not resentful, who's powerless and Yet To Be Corrupted? You want him untainted and want a medal for having a different perception of what "tainted" means? That's what killed him the first time around! Nothing has changed! Xichen-ge, look out!

Fuck that shit!!! Reckon with his crimes! Reckon with the fact that LXC has genuine reason to distrust him and vice versa! They have genuine moral differences and circumstantial disparities and personal-moral grievances with each other no shallower than Nieyao do! Give Jin Guangyao his power and reckon with the things he did for and with it and figure out how they're going to live with that!! You wanna be a Jin Guangyao apologist? START APOLOGIZING

And fucking frankly Lan Xichen has some damn apologizing to do too!! A thing not enough of this talks about is how privilege-blind he is and how he never actually understands JGY's circumstances or the depth of his plight; MDZS if fucking anything asks us to sit with the fact that the world they live in is so cruel as to make those motives to do genuinely horrible inexcusable things legitimate by asking NMJ and LXC to sit with that and both NMJ and LXC fail to do so in turn bc they can't accept that about their society (and tragically even as he is proof positive of that neither can JGY!!!!!!)!!!!!

And the fixation on pre-Crimes Meng Yao is honestly just kind of fucked! It's such an unhinged idea that you should chase not just the lover but the shape of the love you had when you were literally barely out of your teens as life-defining! Not to overestimate LXC's ability to Get Over It, because I do believe that he kind of never does, but it's just so miserable both on the ~kinda fetishizing this dubiously extant Innocence (ew!!!) front but also on the front of like , and you're going to make this too into an obligation for a character defined and crushed by his obligations, and assume this obligation eclipses literally everything and everyone else he cares about??? Miserable! Amatonormative! Literal decades have passed and you're going to say all that character development for both of them didn't happen? For the sake of The One nonsense? I know we're writing fic for a novel where the main couple are Like That and again I'm writing this whole thing because frankly I like postcanon Xiyao I am attached and I am rooting for postcanon Xiyao to get together very easily!! But even Wangxian are absolutely changed by the 20 years and they are resolving ! The problems ! That prevented them from having a relationship before ! It's a whole thing whatever whatever

TL;DR: You are all so amatonormative + make Lan Xichen worse + free my man JGY he did all that shit but free him anyway + in MY postcanon TGCFlike they're divorced

[justjesse116]

I've been seeing a lot of "If Dabi dies it'll be a mercy" lately, and I have some Feelings™.

For the record, my blog is essentially Daddy Issues Central, so I feel like I'm uniquely qualified to weigh in on this situation.

But that's neither here or there, so;

On the one hand, I'm sure Dabi DOES in fact want to live, but wants and needs are different, yes? Would death really be a mercy? That depends. He needs help, REAL help. And that road is a long and winding thing. But I believe in my innermost heart that he'd have the support he needs. If I ever thought my sibling was dead, but then they popped up a decade later, even if they had committed horrible crimes I legitimately believe that I'd give them another chance. And the same with my mother. For all the crime shows she watches, she always says that she'd turn me in, but I honestly doubt she would, and even if she did I think she'd stand by me. There's something about being the first child, your mothers 'first baby'. There has only been a couple times my mother has called me her first baby, but it is never a pretty thing. It's heart wrenching, every time she's called me that it's been voice cracking, heart breaking situations. And every time I look at Dabi, I can almost hear Rei's voice, cracking, "my first baby." I refuse to believe his mother and siblings would abandon him, I reject that possibility absolutely.

And that's not even taking The League into account, because whether you like it or not, Dabi cares about all of them in some way. My whole point being; Dabi has a lot more people who care about him than he thinks, which seems to be a common theme with people who have a low self-worth.

So there's that, now on to the less pleasant side of things. So; would death REALLY be a mercy? And that's the million dollar question, isn't it? Unfortunately, I believe without a shadow of a doubt that Dabi couldn't possibly be happier than if he burned himself alive, taking everyone he wanted with him. I think he truly believes death is the only option, because he's been so miserable, so hurt for a full fucking decade at this point, he just wants it to end. When you've been so thoroughly rejected and neglected by someone who is literally 50% of your life, that hurt never goes away. Then factor in that someone believes their entire family is the same, you've got a recipe for disaster. And whether or not that's the 'good' or 'right' decision, it doesn't change the fact that it's a very human response to perceived rejection. Just because it isn't 'actually' real doesn't mean it doesn't feel VERY real to whoever it is happening to.

So I guess at the end of all this, I say what Dabi really wants is a 50 / 50 shot. Unsatisfying, I'm sure. But I really do think he feels both ways.

But I do need to add in that I NEED this God damn singed fucker to live, because if he dies not only is it going to be thematically awful for him and Shouto, but I personally will never recover.

As sad as it is, this ridiculous fictional character was the only thing that made me realize that I was fixating on my own sperm donor (who I haven't spoken to in over a decade) and that I need to GET A GRIP and fucking move on.

That's the main reason I need Todoroki Touya to live, because I'm selfish and sad and I need to see that he can live through this hell. Because if he can do it maybe I can do it too.

[wenevergotusedtoegypt]

Were you able to get to know your husband's parents before committing? I can't imagine choosing to marry into a family I dislike so much. Actually before I got married I split with a guy because our families just couldn't get along 😅 How do you feel about having to be so stressed about them for the rest of their natural lives? Or do you prefer to not be very close with extended family?

No, neither of us met the other’s parents until we were already engaged, although that wasn’t intentional (I very specifically wanted the parents to be met before an engagement, but, long story for a different post if you haven't been around here to see it previously, we got engaged when we did by accident). We only dated for 3 weeks before getting engaged and my in-laws live over a thousand miles away from us. I video called them shortly after we got engaged and met them in person about a month after we got engaged/2 months before we got married and that was the only time I saw them before the wedding.

I'm not sure that I would've gotten to know them well enough to take issue with them prior to the wedding even if they had been local and I'd met with them several times, though. One of the biggest issues is that my MIL gets offended easily and then instead of speaking to the person who offended her, complains to my FIL and/or my husband and tries to get them to fix it for her. I feel like if this type of thing had happened when we were only dating, my husband just wouldn't have told me about it and I wouldn't have known. The first time I offended her was at our wedding. She called him crying about it the next day or the day after but he only told me about the whole thing much later on. To my face she didn't give even the slightest hint of being upset at the time.

But, even if I had gotten to know them better beforehand, I can't fathom choosing not to marry my husband because of them. It would be one thing if there was some kind of toxic dynamic between him and them that would impact our marriage. But he gets just as frustrated with them as I do. Until this year we typically only saw them in person once a year-ish (less during covid) and the family group chat with them is not very active (mostly just my MIL wishing us a Shabbat Shalom every Friday and us sending a handful of grandchild photos every few weeks). Actual required interaction has been minimal and that means that the vast majority of the time it's a total non-issue, even though when it IS an issue, it's a big issue. To give up the man I love because I have to interact with his parents maybe 1% of the time wouldn't be a rational decision.

Also, to be clear, it's not even that I "dislike" my MIL. She isn't a bad person and she doesn't have bad intentions, she just has severe and completely untreated anxiety, probably also some level of depression, but refuses to recognize that there is a problem and therefore refuses to seek help for it (my husband has tried to get her into therapy and she rejects it out of hand). I feel extremely bad for her. It must be horrifically difficult to go through life the way she does. But also...she is incredibly hard to be around and now suddenly she wants to see us multiple times a year.

[angeart]

the new art for hhau is so good! they look so happy in that moment and the way grians wings fit so nicely under scars and the fact that hes comfortable with that? with hugging scar with his wings? aaaaaaaa

the fact he has a little plush chicken? scar won him something? is so cute? i love it

(hope nothing too bad happens with the "no matter how they want to spin it" that doesnt sound like a very supportive community it sounds like grians gonna have even more selfworth issues and scars gonna be even more overprotective bUT THEY CAN HAVE SOFT THINGS YES? JUST A LITTLE BIT?)

and on another note

the ari au hurts so bad omg

the fact that all of this is just spiralling and spiralling

grians loss of control due to her own actions but also the actions of others but also his mental health and scar just trying to be there but its hard and how do you help a person who desperately wants to just have control over their own life but that control could lead to the loss of their life and the issues that come with a lack of agency especially after a suicide attempt with significant mental health issues and just. how do you help. especially in grians situation where it is so hard to escape the public eye with how big she blew up and how much blowing up the news is doing and how its ruining things he loved and she really just needs to have space and time to heal but how can she heal when the things he loves are being taken away from her along with her privacy and agency from the public first but now also from people he trusts because they cant trust him not to commit suicide and

anyway

it hurts so bad and i will definitely be reading the next part while tearing my heart out of my chest (positive)

-burny anon

YAYY so happy you like the recent hhau art!! <3 the way grian's wings slot under scar's and around him is so precious 🥺 especially since it's a rare and hard-fought gesture!

you know... you say you hope nothing bad happens to them. i was gonna give more teases/spoilers, but maybe not here. you know what i'll give here? consider this:

maybe the community is good for them.

maybe it still damages them irreparably.

:))))

nOW THE ARI AU! ARI AU ARI AU ARI AU

it's so weird to say that it's a much darker au than hhau, when hhau is already made of concentrated angst, but... yeah. it is. and i wasn't sure if people will like it / read it, but yay!

there's so much spiralling there. grian's not doing well at all. (and neither is scar, in different ways.)

and as you say, it's so tricky! grian's desperate to have some control, but it's constantly being taken away. there's no privacy, a crumbling sense of self, everything he loved doing and dreamed of slinking sharply out of reach, turning into something frightening. and on top of that, all of the mental health struggles that lead only to less control... because how can she be trusted with a sliver of control, if this is what she does with it? self-destructive, cornered, and desperate. but what else is he meant to do...?

scar wants to help. he wants to so, so much. but how? what can he do, at this point but be there? and it's so stressful. it feels like grian's life now literally relies on him! he can't make any mistakes here. not anymore. please, please, please.

they're both terrified in different ways, absolutely despondent... but at least they have each other. at least there's that.

(grian thinks scar'd be better off without him.)

(scar is terrified that grian will disappear any moment and he won't be able to do a damn thing to stop it.)

they can't even try to heal quietly. privately. all eyes are hungrily on grian/ari, watching every step, ready to pounce and misinterpret and tear apart. there are hands reaching out with nothing but insatiable greed.

she's not a person. she's an item, a commodity, an object, and... how can she reclaim herself? when everything hurts, and everything is so scary, and there's not a single step to take without pointed fingers and judgement, camera flashes and mobs, ridicule and scorn?

but they can't just stay cooped up inside, curtains drawn, not really living either. so what else is there? (grian certainly only sees one way out, most days.)

... mm. ari au the beloved.

as for the next part, look forward! i stole it from ben so i will be the one writing this one :3c expect some feelings mhm mhm!

[justin-the-tonedeaf-sidekick]

The plots I would write for Bechloe week 2024 prompts if I ever found the energy to:

Drunken Dare:

Established Bechloe, gfs, post college, mid twenties, Bella outting at a club. Beca refuses a truth asking about who the last person she had sexy type thoughts about that wasn’t Chloe or a celebrity. Chloe is there too. So Beca is obliged to complete a dare because she refused. They dare her to get a girls number at the bar. Beca annoyed and pleads for Chloe to help her get out of it but Chloe is drunk and thinks it’ll be amusing - i mean she’s Chloe and they’ve been dating for years, what’s there to worry about?- so she tells Beca it’s ok and to do it. Beca tries and Chloe’s amused watching her for a few minutes until she see’s Beca put her hand on a girls shoulder and slide it down, because woah woah woah touching wasn’t part of this deal and que very jealous & angry Chloe.

There would be some Bella dialogue trying to calm her down and debating if one of them should go over and stop it and every time Jessica or Ashley speaks they say something that they think is helpful but actually just makes it worse, (“she’s way too tall for Beca anyway Chlo’,” Ashley pauses, and Chloe thinks at least that’s true. Ashley continues, “she’s like as tall as a Victoria’s Secret model”)

Ending TBD. Maybe they fight but then Beca says the girl didn’t give her her number and her flopping makes the whole thing kind of funny so Chloe lets it go and they’re cute and whatever.

“You’re up early”

It would have to be about morning sex. Tired, slow moving, morning voice deeper and softer giggles, on the side, sun barely up, soft skin & hair, shoulder kiss from behind, morning sex.

Chloe’s the person who says it after she wakes to early sun when she feels Beca’s hands roaming around her from their spooning position.

That’s it just smut.

Reality TV

Meeting on reality tv (something fake bc idk many. Something like all female queer Bachelor in Paradise vibes but they’re all strangers and they aren’t from other Bachelor seasons. Just singles on a beach and elimination and everything else works the same).

Beca applied just because her friend made her after she lost bet and then she started getting call backs and her friends convinced her it would help her producer career so she goes.

Chloe applied because she wanted to. She’s the flirtiest person alive. She has some Bachelor in Paradise type nick name that implies she’s a flirt.

They give each other the first impression rose after barely meeting or speaking and just out of running out of options, toward end of night.

Then they’re cute and gradually start to like each other and keep giving each other the other’s rose. There’s the typical drama. Chloe’s ex shows up. Beca’s commitment issues surface.

They get engaged in end but there’s some surprise twist like Beca wakes up and the producers are telling her Chloe is gone and they can’t tell her why yet and Beca assumes she’s running but really there was a family emergency & because it was to do with a personal matter they can’t tell Beca until they hear from Chloe. After some time of Beca freaking out, Chloe reaches out so Beca is finally told what happened. She is relieved but worries and bummed Chloe *dramatic host voice* “will not be returning to paradise.” But they do a catch up in another week and follow them home and they have an engagement at Chloe’s family home.

Idk what the family emergency is but probably sick parent.

It would be really cool to some how write in some short scenes from the tv viewer’s POV.

Enemies/Rivals to lovers

A radio station does concert ticket giveaways every Friday. Chloe and Beca don’t know each other.

They each listen to the radion station regularly. Beca playing it in her car when she’s an Uber driver between university semesters & Chloe playing it in her flower shop she owns in town.

The station has lots of different genre concert tickets. Neither Beca or Chloe try to win every ticket, but they do make sure to be available to call in whenever a band either of them likes plays.

They’re both weirdly obsessive about it. Beca has to plan out her Uber pickups and drop offs just right and make sure she’s in a prime cell network spot so she doesn’t lose service.

Chloe uses her cell and the store phone to call in to double her chances. If no one else is working she locks the doors and puts the closed sign on.

For both of them it’s the rush of the competition, and thrill of winning anything for free, let alone concert tickets for one of their favorite bands.

At some point Beca gets through and is the 9th caller but she needed to be the 10th to win. Chloe ends up being the 10th caller and although Beca doesn’t know her she gets angry at this Chloe person.

Then the opposite happens and Chloe gets angry at Beca.

Another time they start to remember/recognize the others name when Beca calls in as the 4th then Chloe the 5th then Beca the 7th then Chloe the 9th but neither of them get it that time.

Even though neither one get it they’re each respectively mad at the other person, blaming that girl for messing up the other and always trying to get the same tickets as her. They’re both unknowingly the other’s self proclaimed rival.

They each end up buying tickets to that last concert anyway. Coincidentally their seats are next to each other.

They talk and chat through some parts and at some point, maybe after the opener, the other is like oh sorry didn’t introduce myself and wait what’s your name?

“Beca? You don’t by chance listen to 108.5 FM radio on Fridays do you?”

“You’re THAT Chloe!?”

So they figure out who each other are and they laugh about it and then they leave and the rest is history- they fall in love, keep calling into concerts but they don’t care who wins now bc they are in love and dating and whoever wins just takes the other with.

I can’t finish the rest of the prompts I have to go to sleep. If anyone wants to use these feel free. I’m a lil stoney bologna so if something doesn’t make sense that’s why but ya know roll with it.

Maybe I’ll finish the rest tomorrow.

[kindnessisweakness2]

Delusional - Part 20

“Im sorry. Please could you say that again?” Delaney spoke softly almost as if any loud sound would wake her up from this dream. The doctor smiled. “Your pregnant. I’d estimate by the level of HGC in your blood, your about 8 weeks. Still very early but with all the stress recently, im not suprised you fainted. It’s your body’s way of saying slow down.” The doctor signed one last thing on Delaney’s chart, before ripping the paper and handing her it. “Here is a perscription for some Anti-sickness medication. This should help you sleep at night. No stressful situations please, you are still very early and the risk of miscarriage is very high still.Please take care of yourself, eat well, sleep lots and i will see you back here for your 12 week scan. Please make your appointment at the front desk as you leave. But in the mean time, anything that worries you, anything that doesnt feel right please do not hesitate to come back and see me.” And with that the doctor left the room in silence. No one could believe it. “A baby! A beautiful Grandbaby!” Gemma finally let the tears spill down her face as her lips settled in a wide smile. “Congratulations guys! Your gonna be the best parents.” Everyone started kissing Delaney on the cheeks and clapping Jax on the back as they made their way out of the room. Delaney turned to Jax once they were alone, “a baby.” she whispered as she choked back a sob. “Our baby.” Jax pulled her in to a tight hug, kissing her deeply. “ I cant believe it." She whispered as she held onto Jax tightly. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you or our family. This times gonna be different. I promise." Jax kissed her forehead as he helped her up from the bed. Delaney couldn't wipe the smile from her face as she looked up at the man she loved. "I love you." Jax Smiled at his fiance. “I love you too. Now lets go book this scan so we can see our boy.” Delaney laughed at him. “How do you know its not gonna be a girl?” Jax shrugged as he opened the door for her. “Just a feeling babe.” Delaney shook her head as they both started to make their way towards the nurses station. Both their faces dropped as Tara was also stood there filling in paperwork. Neither of them missed her eyes light up as they landed on Jax. Rolling her eyes, Delaney stepped forward, ignoring their convosation and gave her information to the Nurse so she could book her appointment. “Okay Miss Carter, What is the reason for your appointment?” The elderly nurse asked and Delaney couldnt help but talk loud enough for Tara to catch. “Its a 12 week Scan. We Just found out we’re expecting.” The nurse smiled kindly at her as she typed on the computer. “Congratulations!” Delaney smiled as she took the appointment card, turning back to where Jax and Tara stood. “Your having a baby?” Tara questioned looking at Jax, who was grinning at Delaney as she took her place under his arm. “Yeah. Abit unexpected but we’re excited.” Tara tried to smile but it was clear she was unhappy. “So marriage AND a baby? Thats a big committment. You sure you can handle all that jax?” Delaney’s face dropped at Tara’s questioning. “What are you trying to say?” Tara Smirked as she could clearly see she was getting under Her Skin. “Jax has commitment issues. Well to anyone other than me. Remember what you said to me that night Jax? You slept around after i left to try and feel something, But the only face you could see when you were inside someone was mine? How it was always me and you couldnt stand the thought of me going back to Chicago?” Delaney looked up at Jax, confusion clear on her face. Jax was glaring at Tara, but from how his cheeks tinged pink she knew he was embarrassed and hiding something. Fuck. She was played. He played her. Their happy bubble burst within the hour. It was never gonna be easy for them. They werent gonna get their happy ending.“Take me home.” She spoke quietly. No anger, no tears. And Jax had to admit that made him more worried.

They drove home in silence. Jax tried to talk to her but Delaney closed off. Completely. Her mind went on overdrive. Running through everything that happened these last few months. If she missed something. Did something wrong. When they pulled up to the house, Delaney wasted no time storming through the front door, Jax on her heels. Both of them Missing the rose petals on the porch. “Babe please. Talk to me. Let me explain.” Jax pleaded. Delaney dropped into one of the chairs around the kitchen table. “Explain what? You having sweet heartfelt chats with little TarTar? Nah no thankyou.” Jax shook his head as frustration filled him. “Fuck Sake, it wasnt like that. Baby please!” Delaney couldnt bear to look at him as tears filled her eyes. “I knew that all this the last few months was too good to be true. Us finally getting the chance to be together after everything with alex. The ATF on the clubs back, fuck my parents turning up. The baby.” Delaney choked back a sob. “Us being a family. Its just not gonna work. Especially with her in town and with your reluctance to let her go back to Chicago clearly shows theres something there for you. I told you previously i wasnt gonna stand in your way with her. I just wish you had been honest before. Before the engagement. Before the baby.” Delaney wiggled the engagement ring free from her finger, and just watching her take it off made Jax feel sick. “Baby no. Please its not like that. Just let me explain. I can fix it please.” Jax cried as he dropped to his knees in front of her. He did the only thing he could do. He begged. Begged to keep her. Begged to keep his family together. How could everything go so wrong so quickly? “I Just think we need some time. So much has happened so quickly. If you want to explore this thing with her. You can, i just cant be around to see it.” Jax cried as Delaney spoke. “No, i dont want her Laney. Please let me explain. Please. I’ll give you time if thats what you really want, ill stay at the clubhouse for the weekend. But i know what and who i want. Monday Morning ill be home to you. My fiance, mother of my child and the only person i love. Please baby.” Delaney captured his lips in her own. She kissed him like she’d never see him again. Like it was the last time. Because Part of her feared that despite what he said, Tara really was it for him. “I love you.” And with one last kiss, she disappeared down the hallway to their shared bedroom, and left a distraught Jaxon in the kitchen. 

Jax didnt know how long he sat at the table for. It was dark outside and the house was silent. Delaney had gone to bed a while ago, Jax wanted nothing more than to comfort her as he heard her cry herself to sleep. But she wanted space and Jax had to respect that. He couldnt believe the nerve of Tara. To drop that on them, ruin their happy moment. Yes, Jax admitted it. He said those things. But she conveniently left out that that convosation was way way back when she first came back to charming. When seeing her for the first time completely fucked his head. Before he realised Delaney was the one. Her and Tara were complete opposites. Tara was his first love, but she was needy and unreliable. You couldnt count on her for fuck all because as soon as shit got hard little Tara packed her bags and ran away. Delaney, was strong. Always there no matter how fucked shit got. She didnt pry, regardless of the situation. She trusted him and trusted his judgement. And he loved her more than anything. Why couldnt shit be easy for them? Why couldnt they catch a fucking break? Thats it. He’d had enough. Grabbing the keys for his Harley Jax softly closed the door behind him, as to not wake delaney, and made his way to his bike. Within seconds he was racing away from their home back towards St Thomas. 

[icedragonlizard]

I really genuinely feel like Susie has gotten way too much vitriol for the whole ordeal of Meta Knight being turned into Mecha Knight.

Truthfully, I don't think the Mecha Knight situation was really quite as bad as some people make it out to be. After you beat him the second time, he breaks out of the armor and quickly flies off. You don't even see scars on his face right before he flies off. He effortlessly flies off.

Some people say that Susie "destroyed" Meta Knight's body and just ruined his life. If that was really the case... then after you beat him the second time and the armor falls off of him, don't you think he would've just sat there crippled and helpless? And that his face would look ripped apart? Neither of those were the case. He quickly flies off, gets the Halberd up and going, and generally has no issue helping Kirby battle Star Dream. He then continues to get the Halberd flying around Popstar at the ending cutscene of the game before the credits.

Meta Knight is literally fine at the end of Planet Robobot! He seems to have walked off the mechanization pretty damn quickly. Immediately after breaking free of the armor, he performed a bunch of exercise without any trouble doing so. He seems to be living life just fine after the incident. I don't buy into the headcanon of him having tons of medical trauma as a result from being Mecha Knight... because otherwise, don't you think his design would've been permanently altered post-Robobot? His design has not been changed at all from it. He was not totally destroyed and ruined by being Mecha Knight.

Now, I understand people in the fandom adore angst (as do I!) and that the Mecha Knight situation does pump out some good angst for fanon content, such as fanfictions. But canonically speaking, the whole ordeal is greatly exaggerated by the fandom. Some people seem to act like it's the worst and most messed up thing that ever happened in the franchise. If I'm being honest, I don't think the Mecha Knight situation was any worse than when Hyness sucked the life force out of the mage sisters, used their bodies as weapons and then sacrificed them (and himself) in order to summon Void Termina.

I mean, to be fair, what Susie did to Meta Knight was pretty messed up... but I think people blow it out of proportion. Like said above, Meta Knight came out of it just fine. And really, there's a lot of pretty messed up shit that happens in the series. I think what Dark Matter did to King Dedede was pretty messed up... it formed a giant eyeball in his stomach, and then turned his stomach into a set of jaws. And this happened in two different games! Also, Francisca literally has a collection of frozen dead people stored in ice cubes... you can't tell me in a straight face that's not messed up. Because it absolutely is!

The level of how much Susie gets demonized by the fandom is just absolutely ridiculous. And some of the worst demonization I've seen of her is purely for Mecha Knight. I have literally seen people say that Kirby should've killed Susie for turning Meta Knight into a robot... bruh, Kirby literally rushed over to Susie to see if she was okay after she got blasted by Star Dream when she seized the machine's controller. You think he would've done that if he had any intention of harming her for Mecha Knight? Kirby doesn't want to hurt people if he doesn't have to! You will never, ever see anyone saying that Kirby should've killed Taranza for kidnapping and possessing King Dedede.

I'm not calling for people to say that, by the way. I do not at all wish to demonize Taranza, but it's just kind of sickening to see the absolute double standard that the fandom has for Taranza and Susie. People literally pretend that Taranza did nothing wrong while screaming about how much of a horrible monster Susie is. In reality, these two characters are very much on the same boat in a lot of ways. They were both minions of corrupt higher-ups and they both committed atrocities in the name of the corrupt higher-ups that they were trying to save. Their atrocities were very similar. Now, Susie's are technically worse because hers were on a bigger scale compared to Taranza's, but it's still incredibly hypocritical to justify one and demonize the other.

I suppose I should also bring up the Star Allies skit of Susie chasing Meta Knight, since people love to use that skit to try to say that he's still 'canonically' scared and/or traumatized by her. I'm pretty sure these skits are not meant to be taken seriously. And if you're insistent in acting like this skit is truth, then how about we do the same for all the other skits? In fact, there's literally another skit where Kirby, Meta Knight and Susie all pose together to basically showcase the 'Planet Robobot team', and Meta Knight doesn't appear to be bothered at all by Susie being right by him in that particular skit.

Now, to be fair, I myself have the headcanon where Meta Knight gets angry at Susie for turning him into a robot and initially hates her for it, but it's not permanent. In my interpretation, his disdain for her slowly chips away and there becomes a point where he's... okay with her. If anything, I feel like he was just really humiliated for being kidnapped and turned into a slave, and while I imagine he did technically feel some hurt for being turned into a robot, I certainly don't imagine it "ruined his life" or permanently messed up his body, or that he'd forever hold a colossal grudge against Susie over it. In my headcanons, he at least lets Kirby pursue a friendship with Susie.

Overall, I feel like people exaggerate Mecha Knight, and that the amount of negativity that Susie has received for it is unfair. Now... let me make myself clear here... it's fine if you don't like Susie. If she unnerves you because of the whole capitalism, colonization and greed themes of Planet Robobot, then that's perfectly understandable. I get that. That's fair. But I really, truly, think that many of her criticisms aren't so valid. I could go on about how I think people make wrong claims about her, like they claim that she's still just as evil as she was in Robobot and that she doesn't care that her father is dead, because I do not believe either of those things being true, but that's for another time. I think the Mecha Knight situation is the most absurd part of her discourse entirely. I've seen people demonize her just because of Mecha Knight, and say she's unforgivable literally just because of that. Dunno about you, but I find that to be ludicrous.

I think how the Kirby fandom treats Susie is as tragic as her backstory.

[owlhead650]

i feel compelled to ask for anything of Saphira, if that is okay

That is more than okay, a predictable yet pleasant request coming from you. Rather than a drawing I chose to write a short story about Saphira. It's about 1329 words long. I meant to make it shorter but I lost track of time and just kept writing. Enjoy.

Pokemon Reborn - Saphira Belrose & Her Culinary Ventures

Saphira was slouching on the couch and crushing her left arm in the process. Not at all a healthy sitting posture, but whatever, she’ll probably right herself in a minute. She was in that frustrating state where her eyes felt tired but her body had lots of energy, she commonly felt this way in the morning. Maybe this wouldn’t happen if she just slept longer and woke up at a better time, she was in the habit of staying up till midnight every day and waking herself up for something at seven.  

As much as she hated the orphanage her nighttime curfew was largely good for her, if nothing else about that place. 

Okay, she forced herself to sit up on the couch. She was home, the Belrose Household hidden in Tanzan Cove. She had to stop thinking about the orphanage at every possible opportunity, she had to stop. 

But how could she?

Her childhood suffering had largely defined the course of her life. She didn’t feel safe so she became strong, the strongest gym leader so she could make her own safety. She was never able to protect herself from what Sigmund did to her, so she just obsessed over protecting others instead. Just yesterday herself, Charlotte and Decibel all went to Labradorra city so that Saphira could plan how to build that youth shelter she was going to commit her career to. 

She hated the place Sigmund built so she was going to build her own place that hopefully would feel to children and teens like the place she wishes she had growing up. Labradorra was even the city where Sigmund died, would she ever truly be rid of him?

She had to stand up and do something. Stop brooding. She went into the kitchen. Neither Laura nor Charlotte were awake yet, it was a Saturday at half seven in the morning. Saphira had meant to also sleep in, but she just couldn’t.

She looked at a pot in the sink that someone was going to need to hand wash. This was the one she used to burn water. Twice.

Yesterday Charlotte had said: “You may not exactly be the motherly type, but we all know you well enough to know you’ll do a way better job than the good Doctor ever did.”

Again with the fucking Doctor. But ignoring Saphira’s own inability to put him behind her, there was something about what Charlotte said which still bothered her. Wasn’t Saphira able to be motherly?

For the better half of her life Saphira’s main love language was violence directed towards The Enemy. If she killed anyone who tried to hurt her sisters then they would feel safe and loved. When she ran out of enemies to kill then she would feel safe and loved. Honestly now that Saphira had the introspection skills to put her previous philosophy into words, it was totally insane. Saphira now realised how mad she once was, and as she sorted the kitchen knives into their drawers, she actually felt relieved that she never used one of them to end Sigmund. It’s possible that killing him would have scarred her so permanently that she would never be able to heal.

Now that Saphira knew that killing people wasn’t a healthy way to express love, she needed to find some other way. Her sister Laura was quite adept at this. Laura had so many different little ways with her words and actions to make others feel better. Saphira decided that learning to cook was a good practical way to start. If she could always make a good meal then in that sense people would trust her and depend on her.

Only issue is that she sucks at it.

After Charlotte had teased her about the whole cooking thing, Decibel had actually said something really sweet to her:

“...Saphira might need to practise some skills like cooking and organising herself, but she already has the caring heart needed to be considered ‘motherly’. That’s the most important part, the rest will come with time.”

That was the first thing Decibel had said in hours. Charlotte was left speechless. Saphira found it both mortifying and gratifying to hear.

So Saphira decided that she would make rashers and sausages for Laura and Charlotte to enjoy when they got up. She put them in the griller and waited, enjoying the smell and the sizzling sounds. 

She checked them. The colour had definitely changed, but were they hot enough? She didn’t want to risk serving them raw. Just leave them a little longer.

A ‘little longer’ turned into ten minutes of her scrolling through funny dragon type videos on her phone. She didn’t look up until she smelled smoke. “...Oh crap.” She flipped up the lid and saw that of the three rashers and three sausages, maybe two rashers were still edible albeit with a crispy flavour. She turned off the griller and put all of it onto a plate. After examining the meat she found that large parts of it weren’t burnt. 

She sliced up the sausages and in the end there were two plates with unevenly sized chunks of meat that were black around the edges, but tasty. At least that’s what she thought from her singular bite.

Charlotte and Laura had come down stairs. “Oooh boy, did you enter the kitchen again?” Charlotte was wearing a vest and shorts this morning. “Well of course I did, we’re both in the kitchen right now.”

“Uh huh.”

“I made breakfast for you and Laura.” Saphira tried to match Charlotte’s apparent nonchalance.

“I can see that.” Charlotte walked around her and took out a bowl to get some cereal.

“Thank you for making food Saphira, it was very considerate of you.” Laura gave Saphira this little pat on the shoulder and ate a sausage which had been cut at some weird seventy two degrees angle.

“It’s not bad.” Laura was wearing a very soft long sleeved pyjama top and similar pyjama bottoms.

“Woah, really?!” Charlotte looked up from her bowl of cheerios.”Saph, your food went from ‘room for improvement’ to ‘not bad’. That’s momentous!” She proclaimed in mock awe.

“...It’s okay guys. Neither of you need to eat my stuff if you don’t want to.” Even if Saphira really wished she could do things to make them happy, it’s no good expecting them to pretend to like it. She didn’t want to be some nuisance to them.

“Wait, Saph. I’m sorry.” Charlotte had caught the sadness in her voice.

“What for?” Saphira had sat down at the other side of the table and ate some of the meat meant for Charlotte. It wasn’t that good.

“For being mean, I guess. I act a certain way to be funny or cool or something, it’s just how I am most of the time. I’ll work on it.”

“No, Charlotte. It’s fine. Really I’m fine.” Saphira’s idea of feeling ‘fine’ is warped due to her circumstances.

“Saphira.” Laura said. “We’re very proud of you and we love you. You’ve grown a lot and changed for the better in a very short amount of time, but you need to realise that you don’t have anything to prove. You don’t need to be the ‘provider’ or ‘protector’ just to be a good sister. You’re enough as you are, just do your best and take care of yourself. Please.”

“...What she said.” Charlotte added.

“J-jeez. I really don’t know what to say to that. Honestly I feel like I could practise cooking for another decade and I’d still be really bad at it.”

“Just do your best Saphira. That’s all you need to do.” Laura insisted.

“I’m with her on that, I think you’re the coolest person I know Saphira. I’m glad you're my sister.” Charlotte and Laura had somehow realised exactly what Saphira needed at this moment. She loved them.

“Yeah. I’ll just do my best then.”

______________________________________________________________

And that's the story. I meant to make it short and funny but the more I thought about it the more I wanted to make it introspective and emotional. These requests have so far only been answered with short stories, with this being the second request I've taken, but depending on the ideas I get for the character requested I could do either. The previous request, the first one, was about Ace Featherstone. I know you might enjoy that one @gree-gon and also feel free to request a different character whenever you like. There's no limit on the amount of requests I can take from one person, just keep in mind that I won't always fufill them quickly or to a super high standard. The requests are more of a way for me to get prompts from people about ideas for what I should create. The inbox is empty so anyone can make the next request whenever, and obviously it doesn't cost you any money.

[cheswirls]

sitting on all of these solid openings for long fics that will more than likely never go anywhere bc i have longfic commitment issues so i'm gonna start pulling some of these bc i don't want them all to collect dust for too long.

so!! here's the (second scene, the first has too many fill-ins i'm not messing w rn) start of the acsb marriage of convenience au :)

-

sabo gets married to his best friend roughly one week before graduation.

the following week is a myriad of different things, but sabo doesn’t think being married contributes to anything. 

an entire hour and a half is enough to finalize the whole affair. they don’t do much more than fill out paperwork and get on the attending clerk’s nerves. neither of them opt to change their names, for convenience. nothing special happens afterwards, both of them too exhausted to stay on their feet for much longer.

the next day is the start of the weekend, and sabo wakes ace up early to go take graduation pictures while he’s still willing to do so. it’s an event neither of them are particularly inclined to, but sabo’s insisted ace pose for at least a handful of shots in his cap and gown, knowing his surrogate parents will appreciate it.

they wrap up when the snowfall that’s been hovering over the left edge of the city finally moves in above campus. a measly hour is spent huddled together with steaming cups of cider before they’re rudely interrupted by an incoming phone call. sabo answers to find they’ve gotten their days switched up, because the moving truck they’d hired is outside of their apartment.

after rushing home and dealing with an event they’d expected to be the day after, they’re left with a much more empty living space and literal pennies to their name. 

lucky for them, ace gets paid the next day. it’s the last of the money they need to close out their affairs in the city they’ve spent the past four years living in. ace will get paid again the day they leave, the funds serving as their gas and grocery money for the long drive back home. his boss, shyarly, has already said to expect something to the tune of a closing bonus, which is nice. nicer still that she’s waiting for graduation to pass to hand it over, knowing a thing or two about college kids in a college town blowing money when they lose their inhibitions.

unfortunately for sabo and ace, it’s a very long fifteen-hour drive back to their sleepy seaside hometown. they get by graduation in their own company (ace has convinced the silvers to stay home and sabo has no proper family to speak of) and withhold from partying (too hard) with the knowledge of their pending long drive the next day.

sabo had photographed ace previously, but during graduation itself, ace is the cameraman. sabo lets him get away with taking more video reels than pics, just ecstatic himself that ace is enjoying himself so much. he doesn’t look at all like the man sabo had had to convince to finishing out his degree. he even seems happy up on stage, grinning directly into sabo’s phone’s camera lens when sabo holds it up for a shot. 

sabo is glad, especially since he knows that ace, unlike himself, is less likely to use the degree going forward. oh, sure, there’s definitely a real possibility for it – there are lots of things you can use a studio art degree for. but ace has fallen in love with his current job, and shyarly has prolonged it by securing him a position as a tech for a local pharmaceutical company back home. once he finishes his last course for his credentials over the summer, he’ll start getting paid as a proper tech, too. (he won’t let sabo forget either – that he’ll have all that money flowing in while sabo slaves away at law school.)

if sabo is happy for ace, ace is over the moon for him. he hoists sabo up in his arms as soon as the ceremony closes and they’re near each other again, holding his phone out to snap a quick selfie of them both. this one he sends to shakky directly, and it’s early enough in the night for it to only take a handful of minutes for her to reply back.

“cute,” ace reads. “also, she wants to know what time to expect us tomorrow.”

“if we leave by ten we won’t be there until after midnight.” sabo tugs ace to a stop, preventing him from walking into oncoming traffic while his fingers fly over the keyboard. “she won’t be home by then.”

“uncle ray won’t be up either. hmm.” ace keeps his thoughts internal and allows sabo to drag him over to where they’d parked. “i’ll let them figure it out,” he decides, pocketing his phone. “we’ll get there when we get there.”

the next morning sabo wakes up later than he should, leaves to procure breakfast burritos with the highest amount of grease possible, and lets ace rise on his own with the promise of food, knowing it will be easier to keep him awake if it’s a self-made choice.

they pack away what little food, toiletries, clothes, and personal items they have left and stuff everything into the car’s trunk and backseat. sabo pulls on shades to beat the morning sun and calls first shift. they definitely need gas, but ace has him pull into the pharmacy parking lot before that, and then bullies him into going inside.

sabo doesn’t really know any of these people like ace does, but he goes along when he gets roped in with the well-wishes. lets shyarly pull him into a one-armed hug while ischilly and camie and all the girls on staff that day fawn over ace before he leaves them for good.

ace takes his narcolepsy pills with a bottle of water while sabo fills up the tank. he’s still feeling the hangover, so sabo lets him sleep through the first portion of their drive. by the time they eat a late lunch and switch over, ace is wide awake.

the same thing cannot be said for when they pull into the silvers’ driveway. to be fair, sabo is just as tired, forcing a yawn into the palm of his hand while his other jerks the door handle open. his feet hit the ground in time with an audible thump, and he glances back over his shoulder to see ace dropped down onto the steering wheel.

“you are so much work,” sabo complains, hoisting his best friend from the driver’s seat. “i’ll be praying for your future spouse.”

ace hums into sabo’s neck; his nose moves and sabo shudders through the ticklish sensation. “sounds weird coming from my current spouse,” he mumbles.

sabo considers dropping him, since apparently he’s cognizant enough to make snarky remarks. should be able to hold his own weight then, no?

instead, he sighs, closes the door with his foot, maneuvers them toward the house, and gives up on retrieving the rest of his stuff until the morning. “don’t say it like that,” he mutters back. “what if someone hears?”

he might as well be talking of the wind, and ace knows it, huffing something like a laugh out of his lips. “we agreed to keep it on the down-low, not a secret. ‘s fine. besides, we should probably tell them both tomorrow, before they find out some other way on–”

ace cuts off without warning, slumping fully into sabo. sabo merely sighs again, adjusting to accommodate ace’s dead weight while he twists the house key in the door.

luckily for him, ace’s room is at the front of the house. it doesn’t take that much time or that much effort to drag him to bed and kick his shoes off. normally sabo would just join him, especially considering how tired he is, wobbling on his own feet. but he feels weird after ace’s comment, so after taking his own shoes off, he backtracks out to the hallway.

there’s no reason to force himself through a shower and risk waking someone. with this in mind, sabo collapses onto the couch in the main room. it’s still just long enough that his feet don’t hang over the edge, but sabo doesn’t take advantage of that tonight, curling his legs close for warmth. 

he’s fast asleep before the house’s remaining occupant gets home for the night, so he misses the blanket pulled over him until the sun is out.

when sabo’s eyes blink open his throat feels pasty. his head is awkwardly turned towards the ceiling and his cheeks are itchy, maybe. he blinks.

it hits that he’s in a familiar place just as the urge to look to the side gets the better of him. aisa is there, on her knees, one little hand pressed into the cushions enough for sabo to feel the dip. 

“stranger,” she speaks up, retreating with just her torso. 

“no, it’s sabo.” he pulls a hand up out of the blanket to push his hood from his head, baring his sleep-mused hair to the world. “see?” his eyes fall to her other hand, where she’s holding a wide-tipped marker, the cap nowhere in sight. “please tell me you didn’t draw on my face.”

“then i won’t tell you,” aisa says bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest. 

sabo sighs. that explains the sticky feeling on his skin. whatever, he’d wash it off later. wasn’t worth getting upset at a ten-year-old over.

he squints. “aisa, how old are you?”

“eleven!” she holds out all ten fingers to show him, the eleventh apparently depicted with the marker. that was right. her and ace were twelve years (and two days) apart in age. it had just been a minute since sabo had seen her. last time him and ace met up with the silvers, she had been away visiting her actual mother. said mother is now back in prison, so (just like ace) she’s a resident at her aunt and uncle’s place until further notice.

as if reading his mind, aisa squints back and asks the same question he’s thinking on. “where’s acey?”

“ahh, probably asleep?” sabo makes to run a hand down his face then remembers at the last second why that’s a bad idea. “we got in late last night. what time is it?” he starts patting around him for his keys, figuring they must have fallen out of his empty jacket pocket.

a jangling sound has him glancing up. “late,” aisa says, jiggling his key ring. “breakfast is over.”

sabo sits up and holds out a hand patiently. aisa snatches her hand back, so he takes another approach. “no school today?”

“snow delay.” she looks up past sabo’s head. “right?”

“it’s about time to head out, actually,” rayleigh says to her as sabo turns his head. he’s retreated (probably) from his favorite spot in the kitchen, travel mug of coffee steaming and ready to go. he nods to sabo and sabo does his best to smile back, but it’s hard when rayleigh parses what’s all over his face and breaks into a grin.

“i want sabby to take me!” aisa stomps her socked foot into the carpet, huffing as she says this. 

“sure thing, kid,” sabo says, diverting a crisis before it can blow up. “got your stuff?” she nods, jerking her head towards the back door. “good. go get your shoes on.”

she takes the keys (ace’s, he realizes balefully. ace’s to turn the car off and get into the house) with her as she goes, running off to parts unknown to hopefully do as he’s requested. sabo watches her go while stretching his arms high above his head, letting the blanket pool round his waist.

“thank you,” rayleigh says, taking a long drag of coffee to keep from saying much else. 

sabo shrugs, finally rising to his feet. “s’no problem. need anything while i’m out?”

“no, you’re good.” he gestures to somewhere over his shoulder. “i should be gone by the time you get back, but shakky will be up later. you boys just dig something out of the cabinets for breakfast, okay? think she wanted to do something special for lunch.”

“sure.” aisa runs back in wearing snowboots and sabo points her towards the front door. “outside. unlock it for me, okay? i’ll be out soon.”

aisa looks ecstatic by the prospect. she’s out the door with her backpack over one shoulder before sabo’s left the living room. he ducks into the bathroom first to wash his face, not wanting to run the risk of ace being awake to see it. 

the scribbles are uncreatively befitting of an eleven-year-old. a fake mustache, angry eyebrows, swirls on his cheeks. ‘stranger danger’ scrawled over the free space in a manner that suggests how little she understands the phrase. 

he washes it all down the drain and carefully teases ace’s bedroom door open while wiping his face on his sleeve. still asleep. typical. 

sabo sits on the edge of the mattress to do up the laces to the shoes he’d left here last night. ace wakes somewhere between shoe one and two, shifting on the mattress to blink up at him when he’s finished.

“where so early?” he mumbles. 

“i’m taking your niece to school.” he stands up. “gonna stop at hatchi’s after. want anything specific?”

“whatever they have left that has meat.” he pauses. “and a cherry soda. definitely need one of those.”

“sure. i’ll be back.”

“wait.”

he hesitates when ace starts wriggling, working himself up onto his elbows. “what?”

“did you sleep here last night?” his brow furrows. “how long have you been up.”

“i slept on the couch,” sabo confesses. ace gives him an are-you-kidding-me look that he does his best to ignore. “and not long. ray’s still here. bet you can catch him before he goes.”

“forget it.” ace flops back over. “‘m going back to sleep.” 

the words are muffled by the pillow he pulls halfway over his face. sabo rolls his eyes. “i’ll be back,” he repeats.

it’s freezing out. sabo shuts the door behind him and takes a second to shiver before moving again. aisa’s huddled in the front seat, legs pressed to her chest. the keys are in the ignition but the car’s not turned on, so sabo does so as soon as he slides in. he cranks the heater and lets aisa fumble for the seat warmer while he adjusts the driver seat from where ace had it. 

“took too long,” aisa admonishes him once her teeth stop chattering. “i turned into a popsicle!”

“yeah, sorry.” he tosses her ace’s coat to drape over her small form. “try that. should warm up in a minute, okay?”

she grumbles something inaudible that he tunes out to slide them down the driveway. if it’s important she’ll say it again.

he takes them by the scenic route after sparing a glance to the clock. they have time, and it feels like it’s been forever since he’s seen the sea. 

aisa enjoys it more than him, pressing her face to the glass to stare out at the calm waves as they speed by. maybe if it stops snowing him and ace can take her to the beach later in the week. the novelty of living in a port town never really fades away – even if it’s too cold to get in the water, walking along the sand is enjoyable in its own special way.

when the waves are out of sight aisa loses interest. she turns in her seat to dig through his and ace’s boxes instead, taking particular interest in their open snack bin.

sabo reaches back at a stoplight and appeases her by depositing a half-empty bag of candy into her lap. she looks up, eyes wide and bright, and he presses a finger to his lips, eyes back on the road. “don’t tell uncle ray about this one, okay?”

aisa swings her bag around to stuff the candy inside. “okay,” she repeats.

he pulls up to the curb and hovers over the gearshift, debating whether to put it in park. “need me to walk you in?”

aisa shakes her head, already done worming both arms through the straps of her bag. she lifts the handle up and kicks the door open, hurtling to the ground as soon as she’s able. sabo reaches over to close the door for her when her first attempt is too soft. “see you later!” he says out the open window. aisa briefly waves at him and then sprints toward the front doors.

sabo doesn’t blame her, rolling the window back up with a shudder. 

his next stop is a little corner-store-slash-take-out-eatery: hatchi’s. named after the cook that ran the place, though he didn’t when the store first opened, taking over after the original owner died of some cause sabo isn’t privy to. their food is good, straight from the sea. they send guys out every morning to collect reasonable hauls and fry it all up throughout the day. fresh seafood is a luxury sabo hasn’t been able to appreciate recently. it’s what pulls him from the warm car when he finally puts it in park.

everything is as it should be. sabo gets called by name before he’s even reached the counter and is offered the last two octopus skewers at a discounted price. he gets a large drink for him and ace to share, mentioning this when he grabs two straws from their holder.

“is ace with you?” he gets asked, one of hatchi’s men leaning on the counter further down to do so. 

“nah, he’s passed out back at his parents’ place. why?”

the same guy gestures up and down at sabo. “looks like his coat you have on. too big for you.”

“oh.” he glances down. he’d shrugged the thing on after managing to leave the car, not wanting to brave the cold clad in only an old sweatshirt. “yeah, it is, i guess. we drove back together last night and our stuff is still mixed in the car.”

“next time bring ace with you!” another guy says, poking his head out from the back where the grill is. “would love to see him again.”

“will do,” sabo promises. he takes a faux-curtsy and slides both straws into the coat’s left pocket. “sorry i’m such a letdown.”

“don’t say that!” someone shoves his shoulder from behind and sabo bends his legs to brace himself. praline comes around the side of the counter, leaning against the edge. she has a tray of steaming styrofoam cups held in both hands, and in a flash several of the cups disappear into eager hands. “we missed you too,” she rephrases. “come together next time.”

“alright,” he manages, straightening back out.

she gives him a cup before he leaves to balance with the others. it’s warm in his hand but he’s left the car on, so he doesn’t give himself the chance to savor it.

after nearly scalding his tongue, he deems it too hot to drink and sets it aside for the entire drive home. in the end he gives it to ace, using it to coerce him from bed when his empty-handed offer doesn’t quite work.

ace moves to the kitchen and slumps deep onto a bar stool to suck down half the hot chocolate. he leaves the remaining half for sabo, too distracted by soda and skewers to bother finishing it.

when he’s done, he yawns into a fist and goes out to the car to dig his medicine out from his travel bag. he ends up shrugging off sabo’s offer to unload and retreats to his room to take a nap while shakky is still asleep.

sabo finishes off the soda and manages the task on his own. most of their boxes were out of the way in the garage, and would stay that way until they were ready to move again. but, considering they would be using everything they brought by car until then, he opts to deposit it all in ace’s room. it’s a scattered mess for now, sabo doing his best to avoid keeping ace up. they’d organize it better later.

he’s coming through with the last of it when murmuring on the other side of the door catches his attention. when he pushes it open he finds shakky sitting on ace’s bedside, talking to him in low tones. she glances up and smiles wider with sabo’s appearance.

“hey.” he shuffles past with his arms full. 

“hi, sabo. i’m so glad one of you is up and being productive.”

he smiles at the slight, but since he’s turned away to set the luggage down, it’s entirely to himself. ace grumbles something that sounds like a protest, flipping over so his words come out more clearly.

“i thought you would go with him,” shakky admits, eyes on ace. “the roads are so icy right now. thought you’d be worried about him crashing and having another medical emergency.”

“i’m much more careful than that,” sabo speaks up, at the same time ace says, “nothing to worry about now that we’re married.”

sabo’s breath catches in his throat. he knows he hears right when shakky’s gaze snaps to him, her eyes growing wide. “ace!” he hisses, looking away. 

“you got married,” shakky says aloud, like she’s testing the words. “when, exactly?”

“right before graduation,” ace answers, still sounding half-asleep as he says it.

sabo flounders, drawing shakky’s attention back to him. “not like that!” he finally says, when he regains the ability to speak.

“oh, i thought you would deny it,” shakky follows, looking thoughtful, now.

sabo drops down on the other edge of the bed. “it’s for legal reasons,” he elaborates. “that’s all.”

“ouch,” ace mutters. his eyes are closed, still unwilling to submit to the waking world. “i’m hurt.”

“shut up already!” sabo barks, pushing at his feet. in response, ace kicks back, and sabo jostles him until he’s half-lying over ace’s legs to keep them pinned. 

meanwhile, shakky’s expression has twisted from open into something sour, like she can’t believe either of them are partaking in a loveless marriage. she watches them tousle with her arms crossed. when sabo’s declared the victor, she speaks up again. “i’m waiting on your ‘good reason’. any day, now.”

“ugh.” ace opens his eyes to stare sullenly at the sheets. “it’s so i’ll be his next-of-kin.”

“we can be that for each other, he means,” sabo follows. “if it becomes necessary.”

she raises one brow in mock-disbelief. “seems like a pretty big commitment for a ‘what if’, hm?”

“doesn’t matter!” ace whines. he shifts his legs from underneath sabo. “it’s already done. just let it alone.”

“alright. fine.” she gets up, gives the room an admonishing look, and then bends down to push a hand through ace’s hair. “unpack. shower, both of you.” (she glances up pointedly at sabo as she says this.) “i’ll come back when i decide about lunch.”

“that went well,” sabo says when they’re alone, words dripping with sarcasm. 

ace’s legs shift up to knock him onto the bed fully.

[vanmarkus]

I’m a new fan (yes a post Bi Buck binge watcher, just finished season 5 yesterday ((yes I have a lot of free time)).

And this is definitely opening up old discourse, so feel free to disregard.

But. I struggled so hard to like Taylor. I tried desperately not to do the “toxic slash shipper who hates the girlfriend” thing, but I just could not like her with Buck. I think as a character, she was great! Love a motivated girlboss who pushes buttons, but not so much when she’s being girlboss mean to her boyfriend. (Not that Buck didn’t deserve it once or twice for his late season 5 bs)

But I just don’t know what it was about Buck and Taylor specifically that I didn’t like. I liked Ana and Eddie. I even liked Ali and Buck.

What was the general fandom temperature regarding Taylor and Buck during Season 5?

hoooo okay.

so first of all, welcome to the fandom, hope you can find fun people to hang out with 💛

mind you, I wasn't around during season 5, I was lurking in the trending tags so I kinda knew what was going on with buddie in general lmao but I only actually watched the show in august (took me less than 2 weeks to binge it all the way through, so believe me I know how you feel) but Taylor Kelly is... well.

let me just start by saying that I love Taylor, but she feels like she's been written by two different writers room (which is actually kind of the cast because Tim wasn't around during season 5) and while I love her bossy, career driven characteristics, I felt mad about how dirty she was done.

and not even because Buck kissed some else, but because she straight up said (paraphrasing) "you cheated on me? i don't think you should've told me about it, that's not why i'm mad" and like. what?

for a strong, confident woman in a committed relationship to just say it's okay if you cheat on me, I don't care, just don't tell me? ngl that gutted me a little bit.

aside from that, Taylor and Buck was never going to work, partially because they are too similiar (work oriented, childhood trauma and abandonment issues that neither of them worked through, implied that they both had a bit of a slutty phase, etc) and partially because their moral codes are the thing that differs the most.

which we knew to begin with; Taylor was introduced as someone who would exploit Bobby's acid trip about his dead family to get ahead in her career. that is a good enough reason not to like her and I personally think that Eddie had his reservations about her for that exact reason.

they both live for their jobs, but Taylor is in it for the chase, the excitement, the recognition; Buck is in it because being a hero and helping people is his life. very stark difference.

Buck also jumped the gun with the moving, right after doing something that you don't normally do when you feel like taking the relationship to the next level. so he kinda put a strain on the relationship even though it seemed otherwise at the time.

then of course Taylor lied to him about working on the story, though she only broke it after they caught Jonah, so people saying that she endangered Hen and Chim are weird, unless they're implying that she followed them and didn't call 911? which would be a choice...

but back to fandom's reception of her and how you don't like her with Buck. you don't have to like her at all tbh, not every character or dynamic will be likable to everyone and that's fine, it's only an issue when people spend their time on hating a fictional character instead of focusing on the ones they like and when they send hate to the actors portraying them... which is something that as far as I'm aware happened to every single actress/actor who played a love interest to Buck or Eddie on the show.

this fandom hates women in general, just look at how most people talk about Shannon, Maddie, Abby, Ana, Taylor, Natalia, Marisol... like. characters are flawed that's why they're interesting, but hating them for having to make decisions in difficult situations? or for literally nothing but dating one of the guys as is the case of Ana and Marisol (though Marisol's actress is a vile human being and her character has a seemingly weird bond with her brother, so there is that).

I'd argue that Taylor is the most hated female character on the show and I regularly see posts that feature her with tags like "taylor kelly jumpscare" and such which I just find excessive...