#no I don’t like this character because I’m ignoring that they’re a messed up person

[stardust-falling]

This is probably swinging a bit of a bat at a hornet’s nest on this website, but I wonder if the rise of purity culture in fandom, aside from other influencing factors, could have something to do with the fact that so many young fans tend to consume primarily media intended for children.

After all, children’s media is usually at least in part focused on teaching life lessons and providing kids with role-models. That’s why you’ll rarely find an anti-hero protagonist in children’s media. In fact, “protagonist” seems to have sort of been conflated with “good guy.”

Of course, not all media follows these standards. First and foremost, you have to remember that characters aren’t people, they’re literary devices, and they serve a variety of purposes. Some might be role models. Some might be anti-role-models. But honestly, sometimes they literally serve to show “what happens if you put a funny little guy in situations.”

More under the cut.

See, the fiction vs reality debate is interesting in this at. We’re humans, and humans are curious things. Sometimes, humans get morbidly curious and speculate about what might happen in some fucked up situation to some fucked up people. They don’t want any of it to happen in real life, but they still want to have an idea. Literally just because we’re curious.

So what do you do? You make a fucked up little man and put him in situations. He’s not meant to be a good person— honestly good and bad don’t matter here because the story’s not about morals but about cause and effect. Characters can show bad things, they can’t do bad things.

Because humans are curious and like thinking about “what ifs,” sometimes people get really attached to these funny little horrible guys. They like seeing them go through situations and imagining how they’d react. Purely because it’s a fun sequence of cause and effect and way easier than trying to enact it in real life. Now, obviously, stories are influenced by creators’ personal biases, but then that just becomes another dimension to the puzzle. That’s how you get character archetypes who end up telling completely different stories. Sometimes, people really like the way one particular creator has figured out a cause and effect sequence for their archetype. So, people end up with blorbos. Funny little imaginary guys, good and bad, who they just take an incredible, scientific joy in watching. Humans have always been doing science.

And that’s where purity culture comes in. Because, with purity culture, these characters are treated like they’re humans with accountability for their actions. Even though they haven’t hurt any real people. It is, in fact, impossible for a fictional character to hurt people. Even if they are treated as a role model— it’s still the fault of the person who decided to view them that way.

Because characters aren’t intrinsically role models. Even protagonists.

Children’s show creators often make their protagonists to be role models for kids. And in that case, when that’s the stated intent, it’s perfectly reasonable to judge that character’s morals. But you’re not judging a person, any more than evaluating a school textbook for accuracy and correct information would be evaluating a person. You’re evaluating the literary device that is a character. Of course, if you primarily consume children’s media, where many characters are role models and teaching moral lessons is often an intent, what happens when you read something with a different premise? What happens when you read, for example, speculative fiction about what goes on in the mind of a horrific dictator?

If you’re used to judging the worth of characters on a moral rubric, then of course you’ll apply that rubric to protagonists of the new media you read. So naturally, you’ll start thinking that, of course the protagonist of this story is a terrible guy and a horrible role model. What about the people who like him? Well, they must look up to him and agree with him in some way, especially if they’re rooting for him. So of course their morals are in question.

Except, they’re not rooting for him because they agree with him. They’re just rooting for him because they’re invested in seeing where his fucked up actions take him and how it ends up.

Same with relationships. Someone who ships a “problematic” pairing might have absolutely no desire to see any relationship like that in real life, ever. But regardless, it’s a very scientifically, morbidly interesting thing that they can’t take their eyes away from.

Anyway, genre awareness is a great thing to have when consuming media. A romance story isn’t about “what makes a good relationship,” it’s about “what makes an interesting and complex relationship to think about.” A horror story isn’t “what should you do in a fucked up situation,” it’s more of “what might people with these kinds of personalities do instinctively in fucked up situations.”

Genre awareness is cool. You don’t need to think about how good of a role model or representation a character is, so much as you need to think about “what is the purpose of this character in this genre and narrative, and how well are they fulfilling that purpose?”

[luna-azzurra]

do you have any advice for writing a love confession without making it grossly cheesy or awkward?

im writing one between long time childhood best friends that are EXTREMELY close and im so stuck

Since these two characters have been best friends for a long time, the confession should feel like it’s built off their history together. Maybe start with a memory that’s meaningful to both of them. It doesn’t have to be a huge, dramatic moment, something small but personal, like a time they supported each other or a running joke they’ve had forever.

For example, one of them could say something like

“Remember that time we got caught in the rain walking home from school, and you made up that ridiculous song to keep me from freaking out? I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately… and I realized that’s when I first started seeing you differently.”

When people confess their feelings, especially in a real and vulnerable way, it’s usually not in flowery language. If you try to make it too poetic or dramatic, it might feel forced. Instead, keep it honest and straightforward. They don’t need to say “I’ve loved you all along” in some grand, movie-like way. Let the confession come out more naturally, almost like they’ve been fighting it for a while and finally just have to get it off their chest.

You could have them say

“I don’t really know how to say this, and it might sound weird… but somewhere along the way, I started seeing you as more than just my best friend.”

There’s no way for this kind of confession to be totally smooth, and honestly, that’s what makes it feel more authentic. They’ve been best friends forever, so there’s going to be nerves, maybe some hesitation or stumbling over words. Lean into that awkwardness, it actually makes the moment more relatable and shows how important it is to them.

Maybe one of them starts talking, realizes they’re rambling, and tries to correct themselves. Like

“Okay, wait, that sounded dumb, let me start over. What I’m trying to say is… you mean a lot to me, more than I’ve probably ever said out loud, and it’s kind of terrifying because I don’t want to mess things up between us. But I’ve gotta be honest, this is how I feel.” The vulnerability in admitting they’re scared to ruin the friendship makes it more heartfelt and real.

This is probably the most important part! These two aren’t just falling for each other out of nowhere, they’ve built this strong, deep friendship over the years. So the confession should acknowledge how much that means to them. Make it clear that the romantic feelings don’t take away from their friendship but add to it.

You could have one of them say something like

“You’ve always been the person I turn to for everything, and that’s not gonna change, no matter what. But lately, I’ve been feeling something more, and I can’t keep pretending it’s not there. I just hope it doesn’t mess things up between us.” This way, they’re emphasizing that the friendship is still the foundation of everything, but they can’t ignore the fact that it’s evolving into something deeper.

Overall, just make sure it feels true to the characters and their relationship. Don’t feel like you have to tie it up neatly with a perfect line or a romantic kiss right away. The beauty of this kind of love confession is that it’s messy and emotional, and it should reflect the complexity of their relationship. They don’t need to have all the answers right away. Let the moment be about the honesty and the fact that they’re finally admitting something that’s been building for a while.

Maybe end with something like

“I don’t know where this goes from here, but I had to tell you. You’re too important to me to keep pretending like I don’t feel this way.” This leaves room for both characters to process what’s happening without forcing a big romantic resolution right away. It’s more about them taking that first step into new territory, which feels more genuine and in line with the close friendship they’ve had for so long.

[the-somwthing]

Okay WHO IS READY FOR MY RANT ABOUT HOW GRIAN “CHEATING” ON SCAR WAS (mostly) GOOD ACTUALLY AND SCAR WAS (mostly) THE TOXIC ONE IN THAT SITUATION

Disclaimers: this is about the characters, does not reflect how I see the CCs at all. I will also be talking negatively about the characters (mostly scar), this doesn’t mean I dislike the characters, in fact c!Scar is one of my absolute favorites and I will defend him till my last breath but NOT RIGHT NOW because I realized that everyone else in the fandom has been defending DL!Scar for the WRONG REASONS and it drives me crazy cuz while I defend even his DL actions there are some that I cannot! And it is the actions that the rest of the fandom thinks are okay!!

Okay, first of all no offense to everyone but HOW am I the only person who sees this 😭 I’m a Scar main through and through you literally just have to ACTUALLY WATCH SCAR’S POV to see how mischaracterized he is in DL fan content.

So where do I start? How about from the beginning of this whole mess: finding your soulmate.

Everyone always points out how devastated Grian was at finding out his soulmate was Scar. Oh, poor Scar, his soulmate doesn’t like him back… ARE WE IGNORING THE FACT THAT SCAR DIDN’T EVEN CARE?? And I don’t mean “he’s acting like he doesn’t care what Grian thinks” I MEAN HE NEVER TRIED TO FIND HIS SOULMATE.

I’m a Scar main as I said, I always watch Scar first. When DL came out, I was actually CONFUSED about the gimmick before watching other episodes BECAUSE SCAR CARED SO LITTLE ABOUT IT. His title and thumbnail was LITERALLY about him and the Jellies being soulmates. I thought “are they connected to mobs?” After watching the episode, by the end of it (at latest) you find out that Scar and Grian are soulmates. I was like “… okay…? Does this matter?” Cuz Scar didn’t act like it mattered. I was convinced that soulmates changed per session because of how little Scar cared. But no, that’s his reaction to finding HIS ACTUAL SOULMATE.

Desert Duo was what Divorce Quartet would’ve been like if they decided to stick together anyways. Actually, not even. It’s what they THINK they would’ve been if they decided to stick together anyways. I think if they stuck together they would’ve been a great team and forgot about the whole nether mess. But DESERT DUO was NOT. Desert Duo was a bigger mess than Divorce Quartet could’ve dreamed of, the divorcees are only winning the toxic competition because they’re actually TRYING to.

Do people forget that Scar was the one who got Pearl into “soulmate torture”? No, they don’t forget, well some do, but others just think Scar was justified. Why? Cuz Grian “cheated” on him? Do we forget that he theoretically only knows that much later in the series? Like bro.

ACTUALLY, THAT’S A GOOD TOPIC TO BRING UP RIGHT NOW. The cheating. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: “cheating” implies that they were TOGETHER. And yes, I AM being lenient with this one, I don’t need them to say they’re in love to be together cuz I get that’s not the point. But how was desert duo’s relationship established? With Grian begrudgingly trying to work with Scar and Scar completely brushing him off.

Like, don’t get me wrong, Grian was mean to Scar. He didn’t put much respect on his name, he BARELY let Scar keep the pandas, and didn’t trust him AT ALL. I think that was wrong of Grian! But then on Scar’s end, he doesn’t care because he’s not TRYING to please Grian. He spends the entire series trying to do his own things and Grian is more of an obstacle than a partner. (To which I think SLAY!!! He’s the REAL “I don’t need a soulmate” character. How people forget that he always declared the Jellies as his true soulmate is beyond me. Oh, right, cuz they purposely pretend he said it AFTER Grian was bad to fit their narrative better.)

So what I’m trying to say here is, THEIR PARTNERSHIP IS NOTHING. Grian is the only one TRYING to maintain a relationship (he’s doing a bad job but he IS trying). So WHY in the WORLD would it be considered CHEATING when the ONE GUY PUTTING EFFORT INTO A RELATIONSHIP is the one who quits and finds a new partner?

The thing I will call Grian a bad person for in the “cheating” scenario is trying to make BIGB a cheater. GRIAN wasn’t cheating, but he was IN HIS OWN WORDS, TRYING TO “STEAL REN’S MAN”. Bro was in it to cause PROBLEMS. Now, I’m a biggri lover okay, I am NOT team “Grian was only using BigB to start drama”. He literally said he was heartbroken when he found out BigB wasn’t his soulmate, the signs he liked him before being stuck with Scar were THERE. I just think Grian felt it would be more fun if there was drama. It’s in his nature. I believe he picked BigB because he genuinely liked him.

Now let’s take a look at what we have:

Grian tries to find his soulmate while Scar doesn’t have an OUNCE of care for the concept of soulmates.

Grian tries to form some sort of partnership, he and Scar’s ideas clash, they aren’t getting along.

Grian is stuck with a soulmate that doesn’t even call him that, who also tortures him just for the lolz. So he gets himself a man who will actually be his soulmate.

I don’t see anything especially wrong with this scenario (other than of course Grian “stealing” BigB lol). Sometimes two people don’t get along, and that’s okay! Grian’s got a new man, why would Scar care when he never cared what Grian was up to before…

WHAT DO YOU MEAN SCAR IS JEALOUS

Now I should probably address that Grian was keeping BigB secret from Scar, which adds to it seeming like cheating. Well first of all he knows that no matter what he IS stuck with Scar so he can’t ruin that, and also AS WE SEE Scar is MAD about this relationship so he had to keep it secret, and also as mentioned Scar NEVER REALLY CARED WHAT GRIAN WAS UP TO!!! So why should he tell him??? Yeah okay it’s not COMPLETELY good but I haven’t been trying to say Grian was perfectly innocent I’m just trying to say Scar is worse.

LIKE RIGHT HERE. WHY IS HE JEALOUS. WHY IS HE MAD AT GRIAN. TOXIC EX ALERT!!! ACTS LIKE HE DOESNT CARE ABOUT YOU, AS SOON AS YOU FIND SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOU HE SAYS “why are you hanging out with someone else”

“Secret soulmate 🙄 I’m your REAL soulmate binch” YOU HAVE BEEN CALLING THE JELLIES YOUR REAL SOULMATE THIS ENTIRE TIME WHY IS GRIAN NOT ALLOWED TO GET HIS OWN REAL SOULMATE???

It just drives me crazy. WHAT AN ENTITLED LITTLE BINCH. Doesn’t care what Grian does AS LONG AS he’s mine. I’ll never say I want him but if he belongs to someone else I’m mad (aligns with his other seasons a bit actually but this is the worst of it). Ignores him, acts like he doesn’t need him, doesn’t want him, but if Grian actually accepts that and moves on? Oh, he’s messed up. I don’t need you, but you better need me.

IT’S SO BACKWARDS AND TOXIC!!! I LOVE IT CUZ IT MAKES ME SO SICK!!! But nobody else in the fandom can seem to see it 😭 it’s all “oh poor Scar he just found out his beloved soulmate is cheating on him 😢” ARE WE WATCHING THE SAME DOUBLE LIFE OH MY GOD?????

It just feels like a huge disservice to Scar to pretend he was focused on Grian the whole time. I LOVED watching him ignore his soulmate and do his own plans!!! I LOVED watching him do his little sanctuary and enchanter things!!! But all fan content of DL!Scar ignores that in favor of “he tried to get Grian to love him and cried when he didn’t 😭” NO TF HE DID NOT!!!!!!!!! HE SLAYED AND TOOK THE ENCHANTER!!!!!!!!! When Grian cheated on him he went ALPHA TOXIC BOYFRIEND MODE not SAD BABY BOY MODE!!!!!!!

I keep saying he didn’t care about Grian, but you can tell he sort of did. You can see him enjoy the things Grian does, see him happy when they do things together… but it’s a rather small thing compared to everything else he has going on. On the surface, he doesn’t care about Grian. But he does. But I’m not saying it’s necessarily as pure as fans make it out to be. He’s possessive of him, which actually makes some sense considering their relationship was originally founded on Grian’s life belonging to Scar.

I could also get arguments that he DID really care about Grian the whole time, he’s just REALLY FREAKING BAD at showing it. That seems consistent with his character, not really being able to show how much he cares. But like, in the case of DL he would be SO bad at showing it that Grian better GTFO lmao.

But like, he mostly starts getting along with Grian better after Grian KILLS BIGB 😭. Probably because now Grian is truly only his and has finally realized that 😁😁😁 YOU SICK ZOOKEEPER

I love toxic Scarian. Don’t get me wrong I love the more wholesome Scarian as well. I get the urge to make DL be “Grian messing with Scar” cuz like trust me I love Grian being the toxic one too. But MAN that is just NOT what happened

I really wonder if Grian chose someone other than BigB. Say Mumbo was in the series and he chose him as his secret soulmate. Would there be more people saying “Scar should’ve listened to Grian now he’s found a better man 🤪”??? It almost feels like this MAJOR mischaracterization is a result of a very popular ship (scarian) getting ruined by a character that isn’t so popular (BigB) and leading to people MAKING STUFF UP to make the new ship (biggri) look bad and the OTP (scarian) look good. Like I already said this mischaracterization felt like a disservice to Scar but at this point it feels like it’s a disservice to BigB, acting like he’s just a prop for scarian, like he doesn’t deserve Grian, Grian should be with the white guy instead 😭😭😭 SHUT UP BIGGRI IS 🔛🔝

Anyways this was a huge mess. Sorry guys. If anyone wants to talk about this whole thing with me more in depth I have more to say about the implications ITS SO ANGSTY 😭 but I just wanted to get the basics out of the way cuz NOBODY EVEN HAS THE BASICS BRO. LIKE HOW DID DL GET SO MISCONSTRUED 😭😭😭

And remember I am a lover not a hater, if you were the biggest biggri hater and biggest scarian lover and always said scar was a poor innocent baby I still love you. Or at least I’m not out to get you lmao.

Also to reiterate I stand with Scar’s decision to go “EFF GRIAN” like he didn’t actually want you anyways slay king do ur own thang. But like. Don’t get mad when he moves on bro ur looking soo entitled right now 😭😭😭 you deserve better anyways king keep your chin up!!!!!!!!! Scar Main For Life (scarred for life)

[starlitangels]

Some Redacted Characters Playing Phasmophobia Headcanons

For any of y’all who don’t know, Phasmo is a kinda glitchy ghost-hunting horror game where ya gotta gather evidence to figure out what kind of ghost is haunting the “map” go watch someone play it, I think it’s hilarious

I’m not gonna play that game myself but I can watch others play it no problem

Shaw Pack

David straight faces through everything. Never sounds scared over the voice chat

Angel is laughing right next to him because he does have a death grip on their leg

Asher never turns his radio off so everyone can hear him at all times

Is also 100% fearless and knows all the background lore hints by heart

He still screams if he gets got by the ghost though

Milo. Yelps. At. Everything. And jumps

Like seriously if Asher puts something down too close to Milo, he will jump

Sweetheart is sitting nearby laughing their head off

Darlin’ plays with their mic muted unless absolutely necessary so their packmates don’t hear them yelp when something startles them

However they are also very efficient and ridiculously lucky when it comes to hiding and surviving hunts. Even better than Asher and he’s totally not bitter about it

That said Darlin’s not afraid to let the ghost get them in order to mess with the others by leading the ghost right to the boys

Milo’s totally not holding a grudge over it

The mates also have nights where they play together but Sam is kinda grumbly so his mic and controls are co-piloted by Darlin’

When the mates play together Angel always charges in headfirst, bold as brass, and ends up somehow doing most of the work and not dying even when their sanity stat plummets. They ignore almost all of David’s advice sitting next to them because they’re better at the game than he is

But they also scream and jump a lot more (most of it for show to entertain their friends who always get a good laugh out of it)

Despite being almost as good as Asher, Baaabe almost always gets got by the ghost first

Usually because the ghost was chasing Sweetheart and true to their Stealth nature even in a video game, they broke its line of sight and hid and the ghost caught sight of Babe

Sam is usually… there. When it’s Mates Night Game Night he stays in the van/truck. Darlin’ is the loudest backseat gamer

—

Solaire Clan

Darlin’ drags Sam into this game

Vincent loves this game

Lovely takes a long time to come around on it because being hunted in the dark by an unseen force kinda reminds them of Adam

Sam doesn’t know how literally anything works to the point where Darlin’ and Vincent tease that he’s refusing to remember what all the items do on purpose. Vincent calls him an old man and Sam shoots back that Vincent was literally born one year after him and just turned younger and to shut his damn mouth

Which of course makes Vincent laugh harder

Lovely eventually tentatively starts playing the game because of how much Vincent is laughing with Sam and Darlin’

And over time Lovely gets really good at it. A lot of it seems like dumb luck but no. They’re just good

—

D.A.M.N. Fam

First of all, the four-person multiplayer limit means Gavin/Freelancer and Huxley/Damien take turns and eventually Lasko and his Water Elemental I presume

Sometimes Damien and Huxley are both on the game and Gav/Freelancer swap, sometimes vice versa, etc.

Lasko screams at everything at first, but as he slowly learns the game he actually becomes the best at recognizing the patterns of each ghost type’s quirks

Damien tries so hard to get good at the game and never seem scared but Huxley’s laughter over the mic always clues the others into when Damien got spooked by something

Huxley jumps occasionally but usually just does whatever Lasko instructs him to do with a “sure thing bro” and his usual chill attitude

Although when he does jump there is always an audible thump over his microphone of his knees hitting his desk

Gavin and Freelancer honestly spend the whole game night messing with each other. Trying to jumpscare one another

Or Gavin is pretending to try to seduce the ghost and the lewd noises he makes while talking to the ghost with the spirit box with the radio on totally don’t make Lasko turn as red as a tomato

To their credit, Freelancer does try on their turn. It’s not their fault they get super focused and then Gavin putting a hand on their shoulder to ask if they want a snack makes them shriek much to the amusement of their friends

Lasko’s Water Elemental is even more chill than Huxley and played this game for ages before meeting the group and does their own thing but always to the benefit of the group. Rarely uses the voice chat for more than a few words announcing their intentions. “Power has been turned on.”—“Freezing temperatures confirmed in the upstairs back bedroom. That’s where the ghost is.”—“The ghost is hunting.”—“Okay. Hunt’s over.”

Freelancer and Gavin refuse to show this game to Caelum

Freelancer occasionally announces a false hunt to freak out the others—and almost always a real hunt starts right as they admit they were messing around and they’re the first to get got

If Freelancer isn’t down first it’s Huxley, who will purposely draw the ghost’s attention to protect his friends

That said the whole group usually survives the whole expedition each round once they get good at it

—

Misc. Bois

Aaron doesn’t play but Smartass does. Aaron becomes a decent backseat driver for lore

Elliott and Sunshine actively sabotage each other and mess around more than they pay attention. They still get everything done correctly anyway

Starlight plays occasionally and Avior never does but he will watch and he is the absolute best pattern recognizer and the best backseat gamer

Guy loves this game to pieces. Sometimes it makes Honey jump. They do play with him a lot but Guy is better at it

Ollie is the Actual Best at this game but no matter how much he plays it and “Gits Gud” as it were, he still gets spooked. His partner will play but not necessarily understand everything they’re supposed to be doing

The Project Meridian bois don’t have time to play right now. Please leave a message and they’ll call you right back

Geordi gets so easily spooked by the noises but he loves the game anyway. When things are happy and fine Cutie gets a kick out of listening to his frantic thoughts

Morgan can’t See his own future so the mystery of what’s going to happen is quite enjoyable because it’s the opposite of meeting new people and immediately knowing them better than they know themselves by Seeing their entire future

Blake can See his own future so the game isn’t fun and he knows what it’s going to be every time

[restinslices]

your hc about the linkuei brothers watching movies are very funny. What would it be like watching horror movies? Or movies about martial arts? I feel that bi-han would criticize absolutely every detail of every blow or movement. You can choose only one type of movie if you want, I understand that sometimes it is difficult to have inspiration to write them. You can ignore this too! Thank you 🫡

I’ve never really been into martial arts movies so I went with horror since I had more experience with those. Hope you enjoy!

I kinda feel like Bi-Han is one of those people that can’t enjoy horror movies because he thinks logically too much 

He can’t go dumb for the movie and that ruins it for him

Take Scream for example (fuck Scream 7. Don’t watch that shit when it comes out), he cannot understand how people are actually killed by Ghostface 

The mask should mess up their vision, plus the robe, plus it’s a regular person. Typically a teenager or young adult. How are they killing that many people? Their victims are pathetic

He immediately knows who Ghostface is, or who any secret killer is. He sees the signs right away and is like “how isn’t it obvious?”

A bummer the whole time 

You gotta shut off your brain and have a good time when watching a horror movie, Especially slashers.

Don’t get him started on the Evil Dead movies 

He’s so mad they read from the book. If he saw Evil Dead Rise, he’d walk out the room

”The book opened when Danny bled on it-“

We know Bi-Han. We’re angry too

A horror movie can fr ruin this mans day

He’d probably like psychological movies or those A24 movies 

“You don’t get it because you have to think”

Yes, he’s one of those 

Shut the fuck up. You are not better than anyone 

Not as much of a bummer

Do I think he loves horror movies? Eh. Probably not

Does he hate them? No

They’re just alright 

I’m getting monster flick vibes from him for some reason

Dracula, Frankenstein, The Thing, movies like those 

My proof? I have none. I can just see it in my head

Do zombies also count as monster flicks or are they their own genre? Either way, I can see him enjoying those too. I think he’d be into the classic monster flicks. The black and white ones 

In general he’s into the older horror movies from years ago. Yeah the effects are bad and maybe the acting is too, but they’re the originals and what got the genre rolling

I don’t think horror is his favorite genre so I don’t see him putting one on out of a “man I really wanna see a horror movie” need. More so out of boredom 

Is also bothered by dumb actions, but he understands that the movie gotta keep moving somehow 

The type that can watch a horror movie then go to sleep immediately after 

Doesn’t stay up to date with new horror movies coming out. He just hears about the popular ones that blow up

Like how Hereditary was everywhere 

He enjoys them. It’s just not his favorite and he doesn’t think about it

His favorite subgenres would be paranormal and home invasion 

Proof? None. I’m just thinking of subgenres and assigning them-

Paranormal movies are easy to enjoy. Any movie with a supernatural element is easy to enjoy to be honest. He can put it on and just relax

Home invasion movies are for days when he really wants to feel some fear in his bones 

The Strangers (original. Not the recent remake) is a good example 

Are the main characters idiots? Yes. Them feeling sad they accidentally killed a friend and leaving the secure room was dumb

But it’s still a movie that gets your blood pumping 

Home invasion movies are scary because home is supposed to be a safe space. These movies break that idea 

Horror movies are supposed to scare you, and he likes it

Hates unnecessary jumpscares 

It’s just super cheap 

Just make the movie good and give genuine scares 

When horror movies really amp up the sex factor, that also bothers him

He can handle sex, but he didn’t choose to watch an erotic movie. Put the scary shit

I’m projecting 

Hates super gorey and/or torture porn movies 

Sorry Jigsaw

[lala3244]

A long year

Second request from @venture-venus!

~I am not sure about this fic? I think it could be better but I never know how to improve what I have already written! Also I am always impatient to post it! I think the characters are a bit ooc, as usual! I also wrote some personal life stories, I am sure they can be spotted 😂~

—————————————————————————

Another idea I had (and I’m unsure if you done this was) what if the brothers didn’t like the mc? Logically speaking we were a forced errand for them to do, imagine having to live with a total stranger for a whole school year. They’re all kinda resentful to them and Mc is gonna be on guard cause like come on- we kinda just got kidnapped to hell, so we’re gonna be a bit distant and nice (cause we still are gonna be nice but we wanna survive). School year goes on and the brothers arnt the nicest to the Mc. Obviously we arnt gonna stand for that and we distance ourselves (still being respectful), but one day they see us hanging with the exchange students or some RAD student and get jealous realizing how messed up they been treating us. Like imagine the Mc calling them by their official titles like “Lord” or “Avatar of ______”, to be respectful but distant.

—————————————————————————

warning: angst, loneliness.

Loneliness. You have known it all your life, you had thought after your kidnapping in the Devildom, it would change. That demons might find you interesting but no, it was the same as in the human realm. You lived with the brothers since your arrival. You tried to start conversations with them but they didn’t seem interested in you so you stopped trying after a couple of days. It was going to be a long year, well, you survived middle school for four years where you were ignored by your friends because the new girl that year was more interesting than you, where your friends told you that they didn’t want to hang out with you anymore, where you would eat alone, where your other friends had different classes so you would find yourself alone a lot and it carried on into your adult life. By now, you were sort of immune to it even though you always hoped, every time you went somewhere new, it would change but it never did. Every night, you would lock yourself in your room after dinner and didn’t come out until breakfast. You would follow the brothers to RAD like a good little dog then they would leave you without a word. Some days you didn’t mind but other days, you would hide in the toilets and cry. You felt stupid to cry for people you barely knew but being ignored every day would start to weigh on you at some point. 

One day, as you looked at the group leaving you without a glance at you, tears started to well up and before you had time to go to the toilets, they started to fall. As you ran to the bathroom, you bumped into Simeon, the oldest angel. He stopped you in your tracks and made you face him. He had witnessed the whole inexistant interaction between you and the demons. He hugged you and you let yourself cry in his arms. You actually didn’t really know who it was but it didn’t matter, someone was worried about you and was hugging you. When you stopped crying, he pulled away. You were glad it was him. You liked him, he had always been kind to you but you never really had the chance to talk to him more. “I’m sorry, Simeon.” You sniffled and he gave you a tissue. “Don’t apologise. I can’t believe they just leave you alone!” You shrugged. “You know they do that every day, right?” He froze and his eyes widened. “What do you mean, every day?” You looked at the sweet angel and smiled. “Never mind. Thank you for earlier. I feel better.” He grabbed your hand. “If you need to talk, I am here. Please, don’t hesitate, okay?” You nodded, blushing because of his sweet gesture. “Come, I’ll walk with you to your next class.” You talked for a bit and swapped numbers. You felt so much better, you had made your first friend! 

For the next class, the professor announced that you had to pair up with someone. You looked at your notebook, you knew that no one would want to pair with you but you were surprised when you felt a hand on your shoulder. It was a demon that was in a lot of your classes and she seemed nice. You knew she had many friends so you were wondering why she would want to work with you but you happily agreed when she asked. She sat down next to you and you started to work on your assignment. She was really nice and smart. She knew the subject and she would answer patiently all the questions you had. When the class was over, she asked if you wanted to work on it more at the library after school as she was going to meet up with some friends to study. You agreed and after this every time you had the same class she would sit with you. 

You arrived at the library and she was there, surrounded by her friends. You got intimidated. You had recognised a few demons that was quite famous in all the Devildom. You just knew there were from powerful, older families. When your friend saw you, she greeted you with a big smile and made a sign for you to come over. She introduced you to everyone. Everyone was welcoming, they introduced themselves and asked a lot of questions about you and how you were doing in this strange world. You told them that you had found it difficult to make friends and they reassured you that you were welcomed with them any time. You smiled at that and you spent the rest of the time, talking and laughing with them. They even decided to walk you home as it wasn’t safe for you to walk alone and none of the brothers had waited for you when you weren’t at the entrance of RAD at the end of the day. You were hurt that they didn’t even check to see if you were alright when you checked your phone. You were actually angry and mad at them. For months now, you had been on time to walk with them and the one time you didn’t, they left without you?! You thanked your new friends and you walked inside the house. you went straight to your room and didn’t leave for the night, not even for dinner. As you expected, nobody came to see if you were alright or just to tell you that dinner was ready. Now, you really knew that they really didn’t care about you. That was proof. You called Simeon and asked if he could come and walk with you tomorrow. He, of course, agreed and didn’t ask any questions, he understood the why. 

Simeon came early the next day and he invited to have breakfast in a coffee shop near RAD. When you sat down, with your drink and your cake, you looked at the angel and wondered if you could trust him with your problems. He smiled at you sweetly and you decided that you could. “Thank you again for coming to pick me up. I can’t deal with the brothers anymore.” You started sobbing. He moved his chair next to yours and wrapped his arms around your body. He rubbed your back while rocking you side to side and he carried on even after you calmed down. You hated yourself to be so weak especially in a world where you are surrounded by predators but it’s been months now and you couldn’t wait to go back to your old life now. You wished you had met your new friends earlier, maybe the last few months would have been better. Simeon pulled away slightly, his arms still around your body. “I’ve heard yesterday they left without you?” You nodded while sniffling. “How did you go home?” You chuckled “ I made some friends, they walked with me.” You wiped your face with the napkins that were on the table. “I see. That could be dangerous you know?” You looked at him, still wiping your face. “Really? More dangerous than alone or with the brothers? Who would care if anything happened to me anyway? Especially here?” He pushed your shoulder so you were facing him. “Me, I would care.” You smiled tightly at him “Maybe, but you would be the only one.” He shook his head and stood up. “Come on, it’s time to go to RAD.” You followed him, perplexed.

You were in front of Diavolo’s office. You were still wondering what was happening. Simeon knocked on the door and you waited for an answer. The door opened and you were greeted by the butler, Barbatos. He let you in and told you to sit on the chairs. Diavolo arrived shortly after and sat in front of you. “Good morning, Lord Diavolo! I am sorry to bother you early but did you hear about what happened last night?” Lord Diavolo looked at both of you confused while you were lowering your head, embarrassed. “No, I didn’t!” Simeon cleared his throat. “Do you ask the brothers how, we, the exchange students, are doing?” Diavolo nodded. “What do they say?” Diavolo smiled. “That you are doing well. That you have a good time, here, in the Devildom.” You laughed. “How would they know that?!” The young Prince looked at you, surprised. “What do you mean?” You kept laughing, tired. “Did you know they left without me last night? They didn’t even check if I was okay. They didn’t even check if I went back home last night and they dare say I have a good time?! Do you know I never talk to them? Do you know they ignore me all day long? You forced me onto them and I guess they resent me and don’t even try to make an effort.” You stopped when you realised who you were talking to and who you were talking about. You looked sheepishly at Lord Diavolo. “I’m so sorry I know they are your friends and I shouldn’t say stuff like that about them. Forget I said anything. I only have a few months left, I don’t want to make my life more difficult because I complained to you.” The future king nodded, understanding your feelings. “Okay, I won’t say what you said to me but I will have a talk with them.” You left and went to your first class. After your talk with the young Prince, life at the House of Lamentations was a little easier. They started to talk to you. They made an effort during breakfast and dinner to include you in small talks. You answered them quietly, sometimes with a follow-up question, you didn’t want them to be mad at you because you ignored them but actually you were used to not talking to them and now it bothered you to do it. They also waited for you after class and if you were late, they would call you.

Tonight, it was your friend's birthday. You couldn't wait to go out! You haven't tested the nightlife in the Devildom yet. You were going to a club The Fall, apparently it was famous in the whole Devildom. She had invited all of RAD, included the brothers. You laughed at her when she told you. "They won't come especially if I am there!" She snickered. "Oh, you'll see they can't say no to a good night out and believe me if you come they'll come too." You looked at her, frowning but she changed the subject.

So you were getting ready in your room. You had gone shopping with your new group of friends, you wanted to get ready with them as they had planned to meet up at your friend's house first but Lucifer had forbidden it. He wanted all of you to go together to The Fall. You found it suspicious but you didn't protest. You were actually scared of the first born. He always had a menacing aura around him when you were near him as if just your presence was annoying him. So you were in your room blasting some human music, not giving a damn about what they would say and you hoped they wouldn't dampen your good mood. When you had your outfit on, you videocalled your friends. You couldn't be physically with them but you still wanted to partake in the festivities they had going on. You heard a knock while you were watching your friend opening some presents before they left for the club as the presents were part of an outfit she had to wear for the evening. You got startled by the knock, it was the first time that someone did it and you weren't used to the noise. It shocked you so much that you dropped your D.D.D and accidentally ended the call. You cursed at yourself and opened the door. You were shocked to see Mammon and Asmodeus, all dressed up in front of you. You actually didn't know what to do. They pushed you out of the way and sat down on your bed. They had a bottle of Demonus and three glasses with them. Mammon opened the bottle and poured its contenant in the glasses and gave one to you. They still hadn't say a word. "hmm... Hi! What are you doing?" They looked at you with big smiles. "Don't ya have that in the human world? Pre-drinks before a night out?" You looked at them, dumbfounded. "W-well, yes." You wanted to say more but held your tongue as you wanted to have a nice night out and you didn't want to argue with anyone. Mammon was still holding the glass "Take it." You grabbed it and took a sip. It wasn't bad. "It's nice what is it?" Asmo was the first to answer "Demonus, I believe it doesn't affect humans as it does demons but we don't have anything else for you." You smiled "It's okay, thank you anyway." Asmo stood up and made you turned around which you did, surprised. "Hang on, it needs some adjustments." He fiddled with your clothes for a few seconds and you noticed that the fabric was less loose and fitting you more where it needed. You looked at yourself in the mirror. " Thank you Asmo! It does look better!". He laughed, "Of course, hon. What were you listening earlier? It was good, can you put it on?" You nodded and went to put the music on. You didn't really talk and enjoyed the music with the two demons while sipping your demonus. Lucifer knocked on your door, it was time to go to the club.

You arrived at the same time as your group of friends and you left the brothers to greet them. You did to them the same as they did during all those months and you couldn't care less. You didn't see but your friends did, how the brothers looked hurt that you left them and they all smirked knowing how they did the same to you for months. You went inside, still oblivious of what was happening. Your friend grabbed your arm when you entered and walked you to the bar. "They have human alcohol, I think! Let's order you some. It's my birthday, you drink with us too!" You laughed and agreed. You asked the bartender what choice they had and you chose the drink you hated the less. All your friends joined you and you cheered a happy birthday with everyone. You liked the music they were playing so you went dancing. At first, you were alone but some of your friends went over to accompany you. You were doing silly moves with them and laughing. Some of the brothers joined you too but you ignored them. You were having too much fun to be bothered with them. After a few hours, Lucifer asked all of you to go home and you argued with him. It might have been the alcohol or that you were tired, you didn't know but you wanted to stay. One of your friends, a noble demon from one of the oldest families in the Devildom came to your rescue, argumenting that he would look after you and coming from his family, he wouldn't mess up because his reputation was at risk if anything would happen to you. Lucifer reluctantly agreed and you highfived your friend. You stayed late to the club and then stayed at your friend's house. You woke up with a headache and you were wondering where you were. You didn't recognise the room and suddenly you got scared. Snippets from last night kept coming back to you and you remembered the argument with Lucifer. You groaned at the memory and he looked pissed. You looked around and saw a form on the bed next to you. You squinted your eyes to see if you recognised who it was and to your relief it was your friend. You tried to wake her up but she wouldn't bugde. You had to go to the bathroom and obviously you didn't know where it was. You tried to find your phone and were glad that it was on the bedside table. You grabbed it and looked at the time. It was late morning and you saw a lot of notifications. You opened them and they were all from the brothers. Where are you? Why won't you answer your phone? Answer... You supposed you had to answer, at least, to one of them.

I am at my friend's house. I was alseep.

Lucifer answered back.

You come back now.

You shook your head.

No one is awake yet and I don't know where I am actually.

Not a second later.

You are at the birthday girl's house? I am coming.

You groaned. You stumbled out of the bed, trying not to wake up your friend. She woke up. "Hey! What are you doing?" You were trying to find your shoes with the light of your D.D.D., apparently you took them off but you still slept in your outfit. "Lucifer is coming to pick me up." She stood up. "Seriously? He knows where I live?" You shrugged. "Yeah, Weird right?". The door bell rung. "Ah! That must be him! I'll see you at RAD. Thank you for last nice it was great!" You rushed to the door and it was Lucifer. He looked inside the room when you opened the door then his gaze fell on you. You must look like a mess as you didn't have time to wash up, the hungover look is never a good look for anyone.

He didn’t say anything the whole time you walked back to the House of Lamentations and you swore he didn’t take that long to arrive. You didn’t really know why he wanted you to come home. It was not like you had something planned with them anyway. You finally arrived after felt like hours of walking. Demons on the street would wave at you and talk to you. Lucifer would pull you by the arm. “Sorry, they can’t talk right now.” You were stunned by the sudden attention. You looked at Lucifer who seemed to know what was happening, you never really talked to him alone like that you didn’t know how to call him. “Sir? May I ask what is happening?” He turned to face you. “Sir? Hmmpf. You gained some popularity last night.” You frowned. “WHAT?!” He pushed you in front of him so you would enter the house. Asmo was waiting for you at the door and he squealed when he saw. “Hon! You are so famous right now! Look!” He showed you the video that made you popular. It actually was on the website of a famous tabloid. You were wondering who had been filming you dancing on the dancefloor dancing stupidly with your friends. You weren’t doing anything special but the video had thousands and thousands of views and comments. You read some of the comments and you were surprised by how nice they actually were. You gave the D.D.D back to Asmodeus and shrugged. “Ok, it’s a weird to become viral.” The Avatar of Lust jumped excitedly. “You have to make a devilgram with me! We’ll have so much likes and comments.” You stared at the demon. “I’m sorry but no, Sir.” Everyone stopped what they were found when you said the word “sir”. Asmo was shocked by your blunt refusal. “What do you mean no? And since when do you call me “sir”?” You started to walk to your room. “Since you’ve never showed any interest in me for months. Now I have friends and “popular”, you are? I don’t think so.” You opened the door to your room and grabbed some fresh clothes and took a shower. The headache subsided after the shower.

the following weeks were uneventful. You still barely talked to the brothers and you would spend most of your time with either your group of friends or with the other exchange students. You had noticed the Avatars trying to include you more with their activities but you would declined. For months, they ignored you and for the few weeks that was left, you didn’t want to get close to them. It was hard enough to leave your friends, you didn’t want it to be harder but you could see their efforts and sometimes you would acknowledge them by actually doing something with them. For example, Satan had learned that you loved reading. He would leave books by your room that he thought could interest you so when you finished one, you would give it back to him and talked about it for a couple of hours with him. You were a bit wary of him as a lot of people told you he would get mad easily but the few times you had talked to him, he had been really nice and would listen attentively to your comments on whichever book. Asmodeus had apologised lots of times by words or by giving you skincare products he thought would be good for your type of skin. Leviathan had heard you liked video games, especially the ones he liked so he would text you to come over. You had refused at first but then you realised that was what most people had done to you your whole life and knowing how shy and introverted the otaku was, for him to be the one asking you to do something was a huge effort so you accepted and you actually had fun. The others were less obvious but if you were in a room other than your own, they would also be there either one at a time or all together. They always started the conversation and you would indulge them. They weren’t that bad now that you knew them a bit more but you didn’t want to be friends with them. They were just your housemates and you didn’t need it to be more. You were just happy, now, with how things were. There were only a few days left before you had to go back to the human realm. You were getting impatient! You couldn’t wait to go back home, to see the sunlight everyday again, to eat human world food. You were laughing and talking all day long with your friends even though your joy to leave was contagious, they were crushed that you had to leave so soon after they got to know you. You were oblivious to the sadness that had been surrounding you, from your friends, from the brothers and even from the demons whom you barely knew. They would glance at you when you walked by and they followed you with their eyes until they couldn’t see you anymore. Your shining soul, which was engraved in their minds, would be missing in their everyday life.

The day before you were to leave, your friends invited you to dinner in the nicest restaurant that existed in the Devildom. You had never been and always wanted to. You had such a nice time, the food was so delicious. They had brought some gifts, small, meaningful presents that were memories of the times spent with them then they decided to go to The Fall, for a last night out together. When you entered, everyone was looking at you as if they were waited for you and they yelled “surprise!” You laughed. You were, indeed, surprised. One of your friends pushed you on the dancefloor where everyone moved so you could walk to the center. The friend signalled to the DJ and it was your favourite song playing. You looked around and your friend grabbed your hand. You didn’t want to dance with everyone watching but she insisted so you laughed and started dancing. Everyone cheered and started dancing around you. You danced for a few songs then you went to sit down on one of the couches. Lucifer, whose stare never left you since you entered, approached you and sat down. “So… you are leaving tomorrow.” You nodded and smiled. “I guess, you can’t wait?” You turned to face him. “Yes! I miss home and human food.” You giggled. “And my family also.” He smiled. “I understand. I would be the same.” People kept coming over to talk to you but Lucifer would stare them down before they even get a chance to say a word. “I’ve heard Lord Diavolo is going to ask you to come back next year.” You laughed. “Oh no! I don’t think so!” His face soured and you didn’t understand why. “Do you want me to come back?” He nodded and looked around. “Yes, I think my brothers and I would like it if you were to come back.” You were taken aback by his confession. “Really?” He nodded again. “We realised we didn’t treat you well and we saw how well you fitted in without us. We…, well, I would like a second chance.” You looked at him to see if he was serious. After a few seconds, you looked away. “I don’t know Lucifer. I spent the first few months alone. I don’t know if I can do it again.” He grabbed your hands. “I swear you wouldn’t be. Your friends will still be there and you will have us. I promise.” You squeezed his hands. “I don’t know. I have to think about it.” He let go of your hand. “I understand. Take the time you need.” He stood up and let you alone as your friends came over to see you.

You had been in your home for a couple of weeks now. You had gone and seen your family, spent all your days outside, soaking in the sunlight, binging in human food. You were eating breakfast when there was a knock on your door. You opened it, wondering who could it be. You froze when you saw Lord Diavolo in front of you. “Good morning! I’m sorry for the impromptu visit.” You smiled and moved aside to let him in, you looked around to see if he was alone. “Barbatos is doing some errands. You have a lovely home.” You walked past him and brought him to the living room. “Please have a sit. Would you like something to drink?” You were embarrassed as you were still in your pjs but the Young Prince didn’t seem to mind. “Yes, I would love to!” So you got to your kitchen and you were running through your mind every possibility of why he was there. Once the drink was ready, you brought it to him. “There you go, I am happy to see you but why are you here?” He chuckled. “Yes, of course, you would wonder that. I didn’t have time to talk to you before you left. I was wondering if you would like to come back a second year in the Devildom?” You sat down next to him. “I-I… Lucifer told me you were going to ask me that but when you didn’t before I left I didn’t think about it and I’m not going to lie that last year was horrible.” His face saddened. “Yes, Lucifer had explained to me everything that had happened and I apologised. If I had known, I would have done something.” You shook your head. “It wasn’t your fault. They did the job you’d asked of them. They just didn’t make me feel welcome.” He grabbed your hand and squeezed it. “I know, the brothers they wanted me to show you something.” He pulled his D.D.D out and put a video on. It consisted of the brothers, each one talking to you about why you should come back. You had tears in your eyes and you were touched by their gesture. “I won’t lie, I am scared to go back, I don’t want to be alone again.” He took your chin with his fingers so you would look at him. “If that happens, I hope you’ll come and talk to me. If for one day, even an hour you feel lonely, I will make sure that they understand how they had failed me and more importantly you!” You laughed at his seriousness and his sincerity. “I will think about it.” He stood up. “That works for me. I’ll come back in a month.” He walked towards the door and you followed him. He turned around and hugged you. “But I do hope you’ll come back.” And he left without another word.

—————————————————————————

THE END

Masterlist

[forestdeath1]

Can I ask your opinion on the fans who don’t care for canon at all?

I hate J.K Rowling as much as the next person but I find it so weird that people hate canon because it was written by her but are totally fine with picking up her world building and create OCs with the names of the characters she wrote. I have been in many fandoms and I have never seen such a weird form of engage with content as in the Marauders fandom.

Oh, this whole thing is just beyond me. I don't support JKR and her hyper fixation on chromosomes, but the Harry Potter world is her world. Saying "fuck canon" and completely changing characters doesn't make you some amazing rebels fighting her views — you’re still using her characters' names, they’re still at Hogwarts, and they still follow the rules she made up. So, they’re not ignoring canon, they're still using it, just in a way that looks like a big incoherent mess. This whole "fuck canon" thing is an illusion. If they want to stand on their moral high ground and adjust their tight halos of sanctity, they should completely give up this world, including the Marauders fandom.

As for canon itself. Look, so many things in this world were created by awful people. If I started deleting every favourite work of mine because the creator was a jerk, I'd be left with nothing. You wouldn't even believe how many authors of your fav works are Nazis, ped*, misogynists, homophobes and transphobes. I know that what JKR is doing is extremely bad because she actively fights on the side of evil, but a book and its author are different things to me. I’m interested in canon and its characters, not the made-up teenage nonsense the Marauders fandom has turned into.

By the way, one day anon sent me an ask that since I write JKR with capital letters, I support her. So, I guess in their view, I also support Hitler, Stalin and Putin. 🤡 I mean, I have neither the desire nor the energy to get involved in this endless online debate about who is holier and who is better. Just enjoy what you like and that's it.

[dumplingsjinson]

Chaotic Roommate Prompts mayhaps?

List of chaotic roommate prompts

Character A hearing a knock on their window. Considering how they live on the second floor, they don’t think much of it — might be a tree branch scraping past with how windy it is tonight. Then they hear it again — the distinct thumping against their window pane. Raising a brow, they pull their curtain aside and see Character B grinning at them through the glass, dangling on a thick tree branch. “What the fuck?!” they yelp, quickly opening the window and being met with a cold draft. “What are you doing, [name]? Are you fucking insane?!” They quickly help Character B clamber through their window. “Sorry,” Character B says once they’re safe and sound on Character A’s bedroom floor. “I forgot my keys, and since you usually ignore anyone knocking at the front door, I figured this was my best bet. Which it was, so no harm done!” 

“Why are you naked.” “Because the air-conditioning’s not working.” “Okay, but you really don’t need to chill out in your birthday suit on the couch of all places. This is a shared space!” “It’s not like you haven’t seen me naked before.” “That’s not the point.”

Character B loudly sobbing over their ex for the eighth night in a row (at least that’s what Character A thinks) and so, being the nosy person they are, they decide to check up on them, only to find out they’ve been sobbing over a 100k worded fanfiction they found on AO3. “Are you fucking serious?” Character A grumbles, while Character B wipes under their eyes with their suspiciously snotty tissue. “It’s not my fault this fic is so well-written!” 

“I’m going to need you to stop coming back drunk at two in the morning, spouting the dumbest conspiracy theories known to mankind because I’m losing a lot of brain cells because of you.”

Character B, when drunk, would end up curled up on the middle of Character A’s bed. Character A has learned the lesson of trying to wake them up during those moments, so whenever this happens, they leave them be and resort to sleeping on the couch.

Character B trying to take care of Character A when they fall sick but instead, make a mess of the kitchen. “…It’s the effort that counts,” Character A says monotonously as they survey the degree of damage done to the kitchen the next day. 

Character B sitting on Character A’s lap when there’re seats and couches throughout the house for them to plop their asses on.

(If they’re close enough) Character B making moaning sounds in the background if they happen to be in the same room as Character A and Character A’s on the phone with their parents. 

“That’s not how you change a lightbulb!” “Well, I’m no lightbulb technician!” “I already told you I know how to change a fucking lightbulb yet you took it to tasking yourself with this!”

Character B sneaking a speaker into Character A’s room and blasting their music to scare the fuck out of Character A and, also, to wake them up. 

“Stop stealing my takeaway, you dipshit!” 

“Okay, you’re not going into the kitchen ever again! You’re not allowed near any sort of stove from now on!” “But—” “No buts, I don’t want this place to be burned to crisps! I want my deposit back, for God's sake!”

“Can you stop telling my parents that we’re dating?” “I’m only sparing you from them asking why you’re still so pathetically single.”

“I know you’ve been stealing my hoodies from my closet.”

“Can you lock the door the next time you take a shower?” “Maybe you should learn how to knock, how about that? Plus, no one gets to see this plump ass very often so you should count yourself lucky.”

[physalian]

On Establishing Authorial Intent vs Character Voice (Specifically, in tragic queer characters)

Coming in hot with another controversial topic.

There is probably a better way to phrase that so what I mean is this: Your book’s message and your characters’ decisions don’t have to match, and if they don’t match, and your protagonist has a very polarizing personality or makes very controversial choices, unless you state otherwise, your readers are going to assume that your character is your mouthpiece.

In other words: If I write, say… a gay man, as a cis, female, queer author, and I write him suffering during the AIDS epidemic, and I write this gay man fitting every single harmful stereotype possible. I write this character that is everything Fox News wants you to believe about gay men and AIDS.

But in the last ¾ of the book, the man has an epiphany with Therapy Speech where I, the author, reveal that I’m not actually a homophobe out to punish my protagonist and perpetuate these stereotypes, and my agenda is not, in fact, to bring the queer community back decades because people are stupid and won’t get to the end of my book to realize that…. Whoo boy, I have f*cked up as an author.

—

Have I dropped enough heavy-handed hints that I read a book that did exactly this? Not a gay man in the 80s, but a queer character nonetheless. Now this was a book that I had to finish. If I didn’t have to read it, I would have quit about ten different times throughout for a variety of reasons, not the least of which being very stiff writing that wasn’t engaging. The actions and thought processes and arc of this queer character were so insulting, so harmful, so off the mark, it was horrifying.

I stopped reading for a day and I’d already drawn all my conclusions and was not very nice in my feedback, but I had to finish it so I did, and the book addressed all my criticisms within the last 100 pages, out of 367.

Meaning: Anyone else would have actually quit and taken away from the book exactly what I did—that this was homophobic propaganda. “Oh but if you just make it to the end-”

Nope, not good enough. I read for entertainment and the book did not hold my attention. I need no more excuse to drop it for something better than being bored, and yet I held on through some nightmarish representation.

So.

How not to do this:

You are completely free and welcome to write unhealthy representations of any minority (why you would if you’re not that minority and not out to make a mess of things baffles me). Not every character has to be smart and well educated on proper representation. They don’t have to be a perfect Mary Sue that makes no mistakes and has no controversial opinions and does absolutely nothing that could hint at being problematic. That’s not what I’m saying at all.

Rather, that character can go ham, but you, as the author, must establish as quickly as possible that all of that is the character talking, not you. Whether it’s a queer character or POC or heck just a woman.

Have a dissenting voice (I like to call them harbinger characters) that serve as the author mouthpiece and is ignored and dismissed by the Problem Character. Harbinger says what the audience is thinking through the flavor and color of a character (so it doesn’t read as super preachy), trying to warn the character about the path they're taking, and Problem Character very cleary doesn’t give a damn about what they think. Critically, the narrative makes sure you know that the Harbinger is correct, and PC is wrong.

Have the PC acknowledge early on that what they’re doing is wrong, minimize it, argue against it, and attempt to justify their own behavior anyway. They know they’re the villain, essentially, and they just don’t give a damn.

Have an equal and opposite healthy character to counterbalance all of PC’s terrible choices. Different from the Harbinger in that they’re less obvious about their place in the story and just living life as that positive representation.

Give the PC a “descent into madness” where they start out a healthy person and through dramatic, understandable, tragic circumstances, they’re forced into this role that they’d never thought they’d succumb to.

Have the PC horrified at their own state of being but too hopeless to think they can escape from it. Have the PC know exactly how harmful they are, to themselves, to other people, and just convince themselves that it won’t get better, that they’re too weak or too afraid or too selfish, whatever.

Because I just rewatched these movies and they’re fresh on my mind, I’m going to use Caesar from the Andy Serkis Planet of the Apes movies. Caesar is your Jesus/Moses archetype: The Martyr. This is the paragon good guy leading his people out from oppression into the blessed lands of freedom. This is the guy with unshakable morals and a compass that points unfailingly North. He is the inspiration to the rest of the cast on how to act and how to be a good, healthy, moral, respectable person. He alone takes on the punishment meant for the group and is literally crucified, he could not be a more obvious paragon and Jesus figure of goodness and purity.

Until he isn’t.

Caesar’s “descent into madness” comes after humans murder his wife and older son, amidst an ongoing war that’s taking a toll on the ape community and his own psyche as they continue to lose numbers and ground and apes defect to the human side because of the villain Koba—Caesar’s foil.

He becomes everything he sought to destroy and his friend points out that he’s become Koba in all but name and his actions inevitably lead to his death because he is so consumed with revenge that he doesn’t escape the climax of the movie when he has the chance, and suffers a fatal injury. Caesar acknowledges this and basically says, “I know what I’ve become. I have to do it anyway. I can’t escape my own rage.”

All of this is believable and understandable and tragic. He was realistically pushed to these horrible ends by the story and we saw what it did to him.

The book I read had the Problem Character flip a switch because they were horny and thought another character was hot.

—

But once again I was faced with an author taking on far more than they were qualified to write, having a protagonist who identifies as a minority that already suffers enough prejudice and misunderstanding—a minority that the author themselves is not part of.

So once again because this keeps happening: You can and should write minority characters. You should not write the suffering of these minorities if you did not live it, because their suffering is not yours to profit off of and you will almost inevitably do it wrong.

[bisexualfemalemess]

BRIDGERTON SEASON THREE PART TWO SPOILERS

I’m actually not ready for this because it’s the last episode of the season and still so angsty but of course it has to be.

Already can’t do this. WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE OPENING SHOT IS COLIN BROODING ON THE SOFA WHILE DRINKING HIS TEA FUCK OFF???? 😭😭😭 Communicate please??? Or at least look at her, colin. I actually can’t handle this. WORST MINUTE OF MY FUCKING LIFE, NOW HE’S FUCKING OFF TO BRIDGERTON HOUSE BECAUSE HE WISHES TO LEAVE????? MAKE UP OR I WILL KILL MYSELF!!!

Fuck off, cressida, not her knowing about lw and black-mailing her??? So much for her redemption arc. Not her telling portia??? Like that’s not your place???? Someone needs to give our baby a break. Aww, portia’s character arc is actually so important to me like not her thinking penelope just always left because her social battery died and she just let her be, that’s actually so cute. I swear if portia turns on her now too i’ll kill myself again, at least we got peneloise back though so maybe i won’t actually. WHY ARE PEOPLE SO PETTY TOWARDS HER ONCE THEY FIND OUT ABOUT WHISTLEDOWN??? LIKE THAT IS STILL THE SAME GIRL YOU KNEW MINUTES BEFOREHAND YOU JUST KNOW MORE ABOUT HER NOW???? At least penelope immediately tells colin this time so he cannot be petty about it.

DOES DANBURY KNOW??? Is this how we get agatha x penelope friendship next season??? Agatha bridgerton coming home????

Ooh a finch x dankworth ball??? Interesting. Oh? Francesca and john moving to scotland?

STOP BROODING COLIN AND TALK TO YOUR WIFE JFC! I love how eloise isn’t choosing sides, our baby girl has truly grown. AH! ELOISE SO TRUE “do not let your marriage be the scar.” Queen behavior, peneloise and polin soulmate-ism. Aww Poor baby pen sounds so tired of all the shit that’s happening to her. I love how they’re trying to figure out how to get penelope out of this situation and i love how colin ‘my wife’ bridgerton made an appearance even though he’s angry with her, 🗣️ He will not stand for anyone blackmailing his wife 🗣️ they’re all so shocked that baby girl’s filthy rich. ALSO LET HER FUCKING SPEAK. this is her mess, she was not looking for help just support and all of a sudden her opinions don’t matter anymore :( Y’all need to let go of your anger towards lw and try to support pen instead of trying to fight her battles for her. She’s just standing in the corner watching as they’re talking about her and what to do :( at least involve her, don’t ignore her and cut her off. Jesusss.

And Benedict’s having a threesome again, interesting but unnecessary.

Protective Colin bridgerton but he’s still angry with her :( “to hear word from home. From penelope, in fact.” STFUUUU STFUUU STFUUU JUST MAKE UP ALREADY WE DON’T NEED ALL THIS YEARNING AND ANGST AND PINING WE GOT ENOUGH OF IT IN PART ONE :((( Aside from that I’m actually so fucking happy that he essentially just called penelope his home, I’m actually gonna combust. I hate how he’s still trying to separate penelope from whistledown “penelope’s no villain” and then he goes on to say that he gets her hate for whistledown???? Did we not just learn that they were the same person, colin? CRESSIDA I STILL FEEL INDIFFERENT TOWARDS YOU BUT BLESS YOU FOR CLOCKING HIS TEA!!!!! “You do not sound as if you hate whistledown. You sound as if you are jealous of her.” PREACH IT! He shut that shit down to fast, like the moment he’s gonna admit that to himself he’s gonna be able to forgive her. THAT FUCK ASS WIG I HATE IT SO MUCH. PLEASE THE RESHOOT WIG MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE A KEN DOLL LIKE ITS SO PLASTIC 😭😭😭😭

PENELOISE SCENE I LOVE THAT THEY’RE BACK. “tell me what you are reading?”With eloise grabbing her hand? 🥹🥹🥹🥹🥹 WAR IS SO TRULY OVER. Colin literally fucked up so bad, not cressida asking for double 🙄🙄🙄 Also penelope’s dress in this scene is so gorgeous. Aww, he’s willing to lie to Benedict for his wife so that the cressida drama can stop. PLEASE JUST MAKE UP YOU IDIOTS. Awwww eloise grabbing her hand in support. I just know peneloise and polin will mirror the christina x meredith x derek dynamic from grey’s with Eloise just bursting into their home unannounced and colin will understand but still be so tired of it.

STOP CUTTING TO BENEDICT THREESOMES THEY HAVE NOTHING TO ADD TO THE STORY IN THIS EPISODE 😭😭😭😭😭

Honestly the lady danbury and violet friendship is so special to me like violet did not care that she was running around with her dad and Agatha loves her more than her brother, that’s so cute.

STOP IT RIGHT NOW THE POLIN SCENE LIKE HE WANTED HER AND HE LOVES HER BUT HE CANT BE WITH HER UNTIL EVERYTHINGS FULLY OKAY BETWEEN THEN BECAUSE HE’S A DEMI SEXUAL KING. THEY NEED TO MAKE UP SO BAD SO THAT THEY CAN MAKE UP FOR THEIR WEDDING NIGHT.

STOP IT HE LOOKS SO DISTRAUGHT SLEEPING ON THE COUCH AND PENELOPE FIDDLING AROUND WITH HER BRACELET AS SHE SAYS SHES GONNA SPARE HIM THE CONFIDES OF A SHARED CARRIAGE ACTUALLY SHUT UO THE ANGST IS TOO MUCH :(

AWW PENELOPE’S LETTERS MADE A COMEBACK. THE FACT THAT HE KEPT ALL OF HER LETTERS WHERE IS MY COLIN BRIDGERTON????

PENELOPE MY QUEEN GETTING TO SEE SOME OF HER MOMS WORST SIDES AND POPPING OFF ON HER. Mother-daughter bitch off! “Oh and from whom?” Well, her family actually. Portia crediting penelope and apologizing for overlooking her, the development is so cute. “We must do better.” So true actually and the fact that it’s coming from portia just shows her development.

Francesca’s wedding was actually so beautiful and her heart to heart with violet beforehand was so cute. Polin sharing a look during francesca’s and john’s wedding and penelope subtly touching him with her shoulder, i’m gonna throw up. STOP THE ANGST.

the bridgerton siblings being chaotic and teasing each other is something so dear to my heart actually.

Penelope’s outfits this episode are all actually so gorgeous, she looks so ethereal in this season in general but especially in this episode. No not her seeing a genuine smile on colin’s face during their wedding party and her smile slowly fading. The angst is angsting.

Aww penelope loves his family so much. The study scene is actually so… “then how am i meant to help you?” “By loving me!” Pop off, pen. Might need to bash his head into a wall a couple times though because our baby boy is very stubborn right now. Like it’s so special to me, her speech is sooo dear to my heart. HANDS, HANDS, HANDS! 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Oh? Penelope writing to the queen AND Violet? What is going to happen?

Lmaooo Benedict got one taste of men and he could not stop. I’m actually crying, my favorite pansexual, (i love you but please stop taking screen-time from polin during their own damn season the irony of people complaining polin got too much screen time last season and now during their own season they barely get as much scenes as the previous leads) IM CRYING BENEDICT DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT THAT WOMAN LMAOOO.

Aww a benedict and eloise swing scene, so on brand. Real el back not giving a fuck about fitting in anymore because she got pen back. ELOISE IS A LESBIAN I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH AND I WISH BENEDICT SHARED WHAT HE FOUND OUT WITH ELOISE SO THAT SHE WOULD KNOW THAT IT’S OKAY 😭😭😭

Penelope’s ball dress looks so gorgeous. AWW SHE PAID FOR THE BALL 😭😭😭😭 SHE’S SUCH AN AMAZING SISTER DESPITE ALL THE SHIT THEY’VE SAID AND DONE TO HER OVER THE YEARS. Not my poor baby standing on the sidelines again 😭😭😭 Where’s colin when you need him???

Oh, the queen showed up. SHE’S PISSED???? PENELOPE WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??? AWWW. Penelope revealing herself to the ton, girl boss. Her entire speech is her admitting her flaws and defending herself in the same breath. She’s one of the best, if not, the best written character on the show and it is about time the haters realize that. The fact that she keeps eye contact with El and Colin while defending herself but also assuring them about their own insecurities while doing so 😭😭😭 I’m crying, Colin actually smiled at her, he looks so proud of his wife 😭😭😭 Stfuuuu. Are we getting that make-up? PENELOPE MY QUEEN INTO THE LIGHT INDEED! AWW THE QUEEN ACTUALLY PARDONED HER OH MY GOD.

The ton needs to stop whispering if you have anything to say, say it to her face, The Featheringtons showing support and phillipa demanding that varley releases the bugs to save her sister from embarrassment 😭😭😭

Colin i’m so serious when i say go to your wife and ask her to dance. AWW THE DANBURY-PENELOPE SCENE. I have hopes for a friendship in season 4. She knew all along and kept the secret 🥹🥹🥹 “who loves the Bridgertons more than I” Especially her soulmates colin and eloise 🥺🥺🥺🥺 Aww penelope and her mother are actually so important to me “my girl” OH MY GOD THAT SCENE FROM THE TRAILER WHERE SHE LOOKS SO FONDLY AT SOMEONE AND THEN TURNS TO SEE COLIN WAS WITH PORTIA. SHUT UP THATS SO CUTE.

She looks so worried, please make-up i swear to god. “That i would not object to an annulment if you requested one.” COLIN WE HAVE 14 MINUTES LEFT IF YOU DO NOT SHUT THAT SHIT DOWN AFTER EVERYTHING SHE’S DONE TO SHOW YOU SHE CARES I AM PERSONALLY GONNA BASH YOUR HEAD INTO A WALL REPEATEDLY.

Oh never mind, the shock on his face, like that was never even a thought to him. He was always gonna stay married to her. FINALLY “you are her.” It took him a while to get there but he finally accepted that part of her and it’s so cute. His speech is actually so…he’s such a healthy male character, the only man ever actually, like you will not be able to find a man that is so in touch with their feelings that he can admit he was jealous and that you’re actually a braver, better person than he is. COLIN BRIDGERTON THE MAN THAT YOU ARE🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️ this speech is so dear to me.

STFUU THE PARALLEL TO EPISODE ONE

Episode 1: “Goodbye, Mr.Bridgerton”

“Pen, i….”

Episode 8:

“You are a very good man, mr. Bridgerton.”

“Now, will you please do me the honor of joining me on the dance floor, Mrs. Bridgerton.”

STFUUU HE ACTUALLY CALLED HER MRS BRIDGERTON THAT IS A WIN FOR ME. Them dancing together will always have a special place in my heart, especially since everything’s resolved and they’re all giggly.

Oh, Eloise moving to scotland with francesca, oh my god. OH??? Francesca bridgerton, i know what you are and Michaela stirling i did not realize your game. Welcome to the sapphic club, fran.

OH????? Penelope riding colin!!!! Yay! I wish they kept in the longer version of the scene since this was apparently originally part of a montage but i’m so glad they finally got their shit together and consummated their marriage. Penelope loves colin’s chest hair so much.

OOOOH? Masquerade ball. Ben’s season next?

Pen’s and eloise goodbye hug was so long actually, they’re the cutest. Penelope’s little wave to her, my peneloise heart 🥹🥹🥹

“Goodbye.” SHUT UP

Oh my gosh, the epilogue. Polin had the heir so fucking cute. THEIR MARITAL BLISS IN THE EPILOGUE THEY’RE SO SICKENING ACTUALLY. Aww phillipa wants her daughter to be a writer so cute. POLIN WRITER COUPLE AND PENELOPE SUPPORTING HER HUSBAND IN WRITING AND PUBLISHING SO TRUE . NO STOP THE TRANSITION FROM JULIE ANDREWS TO PENELOPE’S VOICE WAS ACTUALLY GENIUS I’M GONNA THROW UP.

ALSO THE SYMBOLISM OF PENELOPE AND COLIN HAVING THEIR FINAL KISS BASKED IN SUNLIGHT IN FRONT OF THE WINDOW WHERE SHE USED TO SPENT HOURS TRYING TO SPY INTO HIS ROOM IM GONNA CHAIN MYSELF TO A TRAIN TRACK ACTUALLY.

Yours truly, Penelope Bridgerton

That’s it, i’m checking myself into a mental hospital now. What the actual fuck.

Wow. Awww guys all i want is playing during the credits that’s so cute 🥰

I actually don’t know what to do with myself for another two years until we learn what these characters are up to again. Like this season was actually so special to me i am dying for more especially more polin since they cut that short for some benedict awakenings and setting up for his season but i am glad for the bits that we did get.

Overall i do not have too much criticism for this season so i give it a solid 9.5/10

[sondheim-girly]

alright chat, time to yap about Paul’s very comphet crush he developed on marcia!

warning: this is all based on things that the actors in the musical have said are canon about their characters, im just filling everything in with my headcanons. If anyone’s curious about what parts came from the actors just send me an ask!

-ok so first off, we’re just gonna ignore Darry’s canon age for the sake of these headcanons cuz it’s SO inconsistent in the musical and confuses me endlessly

-Paul, bob, trip and Darry are all in the same grade

-Marcia, Bev, cherry, brill, and Chet are in the grade after them

-and then two grades below them are Melvin and Sergei, but they’re irrelevant to all this (if u ever want me to talk about them tho I have so many thoughts dw)

-ok so it all starts when Paul’s in 8th grade

-even tho they’re all so young the guys are already starting that toxic masculinity thing in how they talk about girls

-and bob already had the biggest crush on cherry (he legit has liked her since forever)

-and b&b already know that they’re gonna get married and have planned out their entire future 🤦

-so there’s this whole expectation that Paul also likes a girl

-and he can’t figure out why he’s never felt that way before

-so one day they’re all in a pe class that mixes the grades

-and they’re all talking about girls and blah blah and someone asks Paul what girl he likes

-and Paul looks over and pretty much randomly picks Marcia

-and so it begins!

-they all make it this whole big thing about how he likes her, and when Bev finds out it’s basically over

-Bev thinks that Marcia is just too weird and needs someone like Paul to make her… more soc and make her mind her own business ya know?

-Marcia’s always been the kind of person to always speak up when she shouldn’t, and she’s too loud, and so she also feels this pressure to try and fit in

-so with some pressuring from Bev, she’s like ‘ok sure I like Paul and I’d go out with him’

-and also girly wants the validation of someone liking her cuz she’s insecure as hell

-so they start dating, and it is SO AWKWARD

-not only are they in middle school, which is always the recipe for awkward dating, but neither of them actually like each other as more than friends

-neither of them even like them very much as friends!

-they go to the movies once, and Paul decides to hold Marcia’s hand because he knows that’s what he’s supposed to do

-and Marcia spends the entire movie like🧍‍♀️I hate this

-after they date awkwardly for a while, Paul decides he should kiss her, cuz like… isn’t that what he’s supposed to want?

-anyways Marcia immediately cringes away from him and is like “sorry I can’t do this anymore! I’m breaking up with you!”

-poor girl was dating the gayest boy in town

-anyways he’s kinda relieved for a while

-but when he goes into freshman year he has this epiphany that he likes darry in the way he was supposed to like marcia

-and he doesn’t fully understand, but he freaks the fuck out and can’t look Darry in the eye for weeks

-so he completely gaslights himself into thinking that actually Marcia broke his heart and he still likes her

-and he keeps this up for a while, but it gets harder and harder to ignore what he’s feeling for darry

-so he kinda forgets about Marcia but keeps her as the default answer whenever the guys are talking about girls and being gross in the locker room

-but while doing that he’s totally messing around with Darry

-they both have so much crazy internalized homophobia but they’re also both so madly in love with each other

-they’ve definitely drunkenly made out on multiple occasions

-and sometimes when they were completely sober

-but they don’t talk about that!!

-anyways right around when Darry and Paul ‘break up’ is when Marcia and trip get together

-which is perfect timing for Paul because he just throws himself in to being ‘heartbroken’ over that instead of being heartbroken over his boyfriend dumping him

-and he’s just so freaked out about the way he felt about Darry that the he just forces himself into liking Marcia more and more

-and then we’re all caught up to canon!

[theratlivinginyourcouchcushions]

Meet Rosetta and Crème!

These two are members of the flock made/inspired by @fishy—friend (I can’t figure out how to tag them) and this post of theirs:

I also added lore! (My thoughts are kind of jumbled on the logic behind it, so there are random spots where it launches into a related idea I had)

While making their designs, I started thinking about the ways that other demons might treat their nightmares, and had the idea that succubi/incubi/ whatever they’re called, keep dreams to entice potential summoners, and that Rosetta and Crème formerly worked under one.

(Wouldn’t it be cool if some demons have their nightmares helping them with their jobs, like torture demon’s nightmares being extremely skilled with “tools”, diseases, dissections and prepping machinery (idk there’s a lot of ways to torture people) or time loop demon’s nightmares being really good at puzzles and noticing small details. I can’t think of good examples but it’s a really cool concept, and it’s not even that far fetched, bc it’s canon that the midway bar has nightmare staff serving as waiters for the “customers”)

Anyway, Rosetta and Crème and the other dreams were treated more like bugs that happened to benefit the demon, so she kept them around.

(demons just don’t care about their nightmares the way Alcor does, but this one just ignore them until she has a job for them. Also it has been confirmed that nightmares are just dreams tough enough to survive in the wild, and that it’s possible for dreams to become nightmares.)

Anyway, Rosetta and Crème are some of the tougher dreams living there, so when their master is killed in a demon battle, they’re some of the only ones to escape before the new demon eats the rest of the dreams. They’re still the only ones to survive in the wild though, and they grow even closer than they were before. (They’re basically sisters)

When they hear about a “kind” demon who cares for his nightmares in ways most of his kind can’t even comprehend, they decide to take their chances, and seek out the comfort of a real home. They join the flock and continue to seduce humans, because why not? And besides, they enjoyed their old jobs, and now they get free food!

(However, they are strictly prohibited from making any moves on Pines descendants or reincarnations of Alcor’s close family or friends (Mabel, Henry, Stan, the triplets, Thomas ect)

Anyways, they live their new home, and family, and have human forms for when they go down to mess with humans. Rosetta is visibly inspired by characters like Verosika Mayday, Miss Heed (I’ve never seen the show she’s in) and a little bit of Angel Dust (Hazbin hotel) she has a similar personality to these characters too. (Mostly Verosika bc she’s a dom)

Cr��me is a reworked version

Edit: I spent an hour retyping this (3 times) bc it keeps cutting off, so I give up now.

[hamliet]

am I the only one who thinks death as a redemption distasteful?

I mean, no, you’re definitely not the only one!

Honestly, the trope is oversaturated now. Everyone and their mother wants to have Darth Vader while ignoring the specific context that made Vader’s redemptive sacrifice work. I wrote about when redemptive death works in the linked meta above.

See, I tend to think the problem isn’t the trope itself, but instead treating the trope as an easy way out, or as a moral necessity when really it should serve the character, the plot, and the themes. The genre also matters. But... yeah, how it's used in 99% of stories nowadays is lame and distasteful. It's giving up, not pushing through. It's bad witing.

Like, writing a story where someone fucks up in every aspect, where they are evil, but in the end have one lone thing they love and sacrifice everything for that love—that’s beautiful. And I don’t think it’s a miserable ending either; bittersweet, but it’s hopeful. It talks about the humanity in each of us that can’t be snuffed out no matter how we try. 

I dunno, man, I have loved ones who are so beyond messed up. I want to believe there is hope for them even if it’s an eleventh hour “wait, I love this one person.” Will that redeem them to the world? No. But is it enough to comfort their loved ones? Maybe. It’s not an easy answer. That’s why redemption via death can work masterfully in a story. It can give life and hope. But it’s so often misused that I also get why people hate this trope now and kinda hate it myself lol.

In stories, actions have consequences. They’re symbols, and so are the characters. If you skirt consequences for a character that’s how you get Marty Stus and such. If death is an established reality in your world, then it’s logical some characters may die. Death is a fair consequence, but consequence does NOT mean punishment. It just means that if something happens in a story there should be a reason it happens, not just “for the sads” or “because they were bad and I want to punish readers who see themselves in them.” If a character has done certain things, and the rules of the world make it clear death is likely, that’s not inherently bad writing. 

But for a lot of the oversaturation of "redemptive death," it’s, frankly, cheap. Because it’s not used as a genuine way to end a characters arc with thematic weight or to honor them. It’s done to give the audience a “there there, we made you care so we won’t kill them off as a baddie but we don’t want to take responsibility for making a complex character and actually use them to add meaning to our story.” And that’s been most of the redemptive deaths post Vader, let’s be real. 

But on the other hand, death is a reality people have been grappling with in stories since the beginning of time. I’m serious; the oldest stories in the world are about humans trying to understand how to live in the face of death.  But death is the only thing that humans are all equal in. The only thing. I wrote about that here.

So when you have people who refuse to acknowledge death at all, and act like killing a character including in redemptive death is a moral statement that they deserved to die when it really isn’t—it’s just a different side of the same coin as the cheap “death redemption” people. Both view it as a moral thing or as an easy way of wrapping up their writing instead of letting it fester so that audiences can continue to think on it, to ponder it, to wonder what if.

Not all stories are designed to preach or teach morality, and even fewer good stories are designed to do that. (Which is not the same thing as saying good stories are inherently amoral, either.)

If a character redeems themselves via a sacrifice that costs their life, then their sacrifice needs to matter. It needs to be dealt with, to bring life or criticism, rather than being an easy hand wave away so that the story can just continue like it didn’t matter. I

Redemptive death itself is not the problem. The problem is bad writing of characters and themes and plots that leads to an oversaturation of a trope in a pale attempt to imitate a good story rather than actually write one.

[ineffable-problem]

Just saw a post in here saying that Aziraphale is 100% in the wrong, that he fucked up, and that he should be punished for how he treated Crowley.

I mean I knew people were picking sides, which I don’t think is necessary. But this was beyond what I was expecting. I’m not going to reblog because I don’t want to give that person notes, but for fucks sake people get some perspective. I get that you can have favorites between the two characters, but that doesn’t mean that you drag them through the mud and tell anyone who’s opinion differs that there delusional.

They both messed up in their own ways. They both had valid reasons why they acted the way they did. Yes they should have communicated better so that they didn’t leave on a negative note, but you have to remember that they spent 6000 years not being allowed to talk to each other like that because they would’ve been punished and/or killed.

I’m not on either side because I think they’d both right and wrong in equal measure. They’re both idiots and thats okay. I love both of the characters and people that refuse to see Aziraphales perspective are just ignorant to what he had to choose from.

Here’s a previous post of mine of me explaining it in further detail.

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk

[carma-tjol]

man i’m trying really hard to be happy about opm but the way they did tatsumaki a few chapters ago left a sour taste in my mouth that i can’t seem to get rid of. i cannot believe what they did to her design i STILL feel betrayed it’s ridiculous

i’ve already bitched about this on twitter a while back but i’ve been feeling upset about it the past couple days so i’m gonna complain again.

pictures of the old way she was drawn vs the new way plus my rambling dialogue on the way fanservice changed in opm under the cut

(old tatsu on the left new on the right)

she looks more like a kid now and yet is simultaneously more sexualized at the same time. it is STRANGE i don’t like it

i think when i read these chapters i suffered the whole time but was in denial about it like “ITS NOT THAT BAD…” until i saw pic #2 and finally said “it is… it really is that bad.”

i’m not even someone who’s super annoyed by fanservice (i mean obviously i’m an opm fan). and i can usually ignore it easily…

as long as it doesn’t fall into 3 categories

1. involves sexual assault/it’s disrespectful

2. the fanservice is just the boring male protag getting boobs shoved in his face

3. sacrifices having a good design for the sake of being “sexy”

the crimes against #3 are straight up egregious.

tatsumaki used to have an extremely solid design. her dress had a lot of emphasis on the iconic tendrils and it complimented her well. her hair was very curly which matched the tornado theme and was an overall joy to look at. her eyes were sharp and cold which also felt iconic for her character and it reflected the harshness of her personality. her freaky eyes were always one of my favorite parts of her design.

In the new design, her dress has been shrunk to try to reveal as much as possible. it doesn’t match the flow of the legs like the old way used to and just feels awkward. the tendrils are translucent too which again. messes with the dress. her hair isn’t as curly anymore it lacks the DRAMA the old hair has. the eyes are too soft now, and it doesn’t feel intentional. i can already hear someone going “oh well the eyes are like that to show she’s enjoying herself.” except the eyes haven’t been changed slightly, they’re changed completely. they look exactly like the eyes of any other character.

I’m giving proportions a whole section to itself lol. they’ve widened her hips, somehow shrunk her already small torso even MORE, and gave her a bobble head, and more emphasis on boobs. looking at her, especially in pic 2, it feels like you just gave a hentai artist a pen and told them to draw tatsu. there’s zero regard for her original design and proportions it’s just skimpy clothes slapped onto an unrecognizable face and body. i mentioned this earlier but they babyifyed her face and made her act more “childish” than she already kind of did while sexualizing her more it’s extremely uncomfortable.

#1… the disrespect…

sexual assault isn’t really in opm for fanservice… yet… (i do not trust murata to not draw some non consensual boob groping at this point) but the disrespect, the objectification and complete lack of regard for the characters is palpable

i don’t read one punch man for the fan service and i never have. the reason why i’ve gotten this far without getting pissed off is that i felt like the fanservice, while excessive, wasn’t totally disrespectful. it felt like the characters were like that, not 100% for the audience, but because they were comfortable with it too. i don’t know how to describe it but nothing about tatsu’s design now says “i dressed myself like this, i feel good, i’m going outside now”

she feels less like a character and more like an object to be placed in situations she wouldn’t be comfortable with and react in ways she wouldn’t typically react, stripping her of her personality to be more “ideal” exclusively with the audience in mind and robbing her of what made her unique in the process.

#2 ehhhh not as applicable

(#2 mentioned because i already wrote about 1 and 3 so leaving it out is awkward.)

saitama truly does not give a fuck lol. he doesn’t even feel like a middleman for the audience he’s just there. the fanservice feels more viewer based than self insert/projection based. that’s the only box opm isn’t currently ticking. saitama hasn’t had his personality revoked for the sake of the audience (YET. again i trust no one anymore)

final thoughts

every time i see the recent chapters and the art style just i think about her and just feel this sadness and sense of betrayal. i don’t think i would’ve had a problem with the psychic sisters arc if the tone and execution were more like the webcomic (rare words from me lol. i love the webcomic but celebrate the manga for its differences) and if tatsumaki was still drawn like an adult. I MISS HERRRR

i even get a little upset seeing fubuki now too. i don’t know if i would’ve if it weren’t for how tatsumaki has been demolished but i look at her and see how she’s posed and how her dress has somehow gotten tighter and feel sad none the less.

anyways i could continue but i actually need to move on with my day and i don’t feel like drafting this to expand on later since it’s just a rant lol. sorry for any grammar or spelling errors i wrote this at 7am after staying up the night before working on a quiz with heavy writing that i didn’t realize would take SIX HOURS. thanks for reading. hope i’m not alone here.

[jasminegazer]

FINALLY FINISHED THIS ART PIECE

I cannot tell you how much I struggled but it was soooooo worth it. This is just a little wholesome angst for my version of MM!/Tottmnt Venus. On the left is Venus holding her little sister Lita. To the right is Dr Tyler Rockwell holding Venus (og post that explains story right here). I don’t know why I keep doing this trend of posting more stuff about these characters when I make artwork of them but I’m starting to think about starting another MM!/Tottmnt au after Difference Between the Appearance. So ignoring that random info dump. Here’s my opinion on how Venus acts like and what her relationship with each of the boys is like:

Her Personality: Venus is a very very very very VERY weird girl. Not like creepy wolf girl weird but like Luz(Owl House) and Marcy(Amphibia) weird. She doesn’t find disgust in the casual weird creatures she meets when her and brothers are getting into shenanigans. Part of this is formed because she was raised around yokai but it’s mainly because she tends to lean towards the bright side of things in very “Welp at least it’s not completely hideous” kind of attitude. But other than that she’s just your usual dorky K-pop loving artistic teenage girl(scratch that there is absolutely nothing normal about this chi overpowered weirdo of a turtle mutant . . . but she is a fellow kpop fan). But one thing that is definitely most unique about Vee that’s sets her apart from her brothers and Jennika is that she is very proud of and comfortable with being a mutant. She doesn’t care if society doesn’t think it’s ideal. She don’t care about society’s ideals period. If it means she gets to live as her true self, which was usually being shunned and forcefully molded into something different by Big Mama, she won’t mind being rejected or called weird. This concept is something that she has raised Lita in and she usually tries to get her fellow turtle mutants to understand as she is confused why they want to be normal instead of themselves.

Vee is a hug friend/family first make sure they’re ok later kind of gal. If you’re someone she cares about deeply and something goes down, she will immediately attack you with a bear hug. She is usually very physical about her affection towards others but can also be somewhat wise when it comes to self worth and personal issues that may be affecting them. But don’t mistake her for her huggable demeanor. If you mess with her or anyone she cares about, you are dead in the water and about to get your butt whupped sooo bad. She can be short tempered with enemies but patient with allies and people in pain who she understands far too well.

PS: Venus and the main turtles don’t become siblings immediately. Though she does live with them for a while she is not officially their sister until Splinter adopts her and Lita(which would happen a month or two after Vee and Splinter meet and Splinter trains her to join his sons in battle).

Anywho now for her relationship with her bros:

Pizza and Boba: Venus and Mikey tend to be the batshit crazy duo. Always think of new crackhead ideas that their siblings could never begin to comprehend. One would stand on the other’s shoulders as they would try and reach for a vent to escape or just to snag the last pop-tart. Though Venus will tend to be a little more mature and aware of when things are getting too serious for jokes and games. They’re the 2 silly goobers of the group giving enemies nicknames. Mikey is actually the one who came up with the nickname Vee when they first met and in response Vee deemed him as Miguel. Speaking of when they met Mikey completely ignored the fact of how weird it was that they met another turtle mutant and immediately threw his trust into her hands and tried to get to her know her as much as he could. They also both try to avoid fighting the most and try to end matter’s peacefully or with a good joke.

Tech and Turquoise: Donnie and Venus probably have the closest relationship with each other out of all the brothers. They are an unstoppable in sync duo on the battlefield. Yet also a peculiar combo. Technology a passion based on logic and strict reasoning and Chi the free flow of life with no boundaries and no clear explanation. Vee opens up to Dee more than she does with anyone(even Leo) and Dee does the same(similarly to how he does with Mikey). When they first met, Dee was the one who pried the most into her past and her life as he had noticed her wounds and scars first. They both love kpop, in different ways, but it still gives Donnie someone to info dump with who will actually understand what he’s talking about. They are definitely the most sarcastic of the group and will eat you up and roast you dry if they can and whenever you dare think about trying it.

Red Fire meets Blue Fire: Raph is the must reluctant to connect with Venus considering she’s technically Big Mama’s niece. When they first met Raph drilled her with questions whenever she messed up the facade she created to protect them from Big Mama. Raph tries to ignore her interactions with him as an attempt to prepare himself for another betrayal. Once Vee finally tells the whole true story of her harsh past, he feels even more conflicted feeling sympathy for her pain. When they do eventually work out their problems Vee and Raph are the sibling duo who tease each the most but still care about each other in the end. Kind of like Luz and Hunter(Owl House). Raph and Venus are also the most short tempered of the group.

2 Shades of Blue 1 Little Sis and 1 Big Bro: Leo is the one who is the most gentle with Venus. He worries his head off about her pain after she reveals how badly she had been beaten down and then shoved back up again. She appreciates it of course but hates how much of a hypocrite he is when he calls her out for saying it’s fine after erupting like a teal volcano of chi. They hold each other up when they reach there low points. Leo always insists that he helps Vee get home after using her chi in battle for fear of her overwhelming her body(which happens quite frequently when she strains herself). And Vee always immediately swoops in and hugs her big bro when he gets upset and needs to just let it all out.

(P.S. When the boys tell her that Leo has a crush on April, Venus thinks it is the most adorable thing ever and starts cooing at her big bro immediately, causing his brothers to tease him for being adorable😜(same thing when she finds out Rasey get together))