#no this isn't a post inviting a fight there's a reason I didn't tag it

[quiescentdestiny]

.

[cherrysnip]

just that — chwe hansol

pairing: vernon x afab!reader

prompt: "are you guys dating?" or that one time you strongly denied your relationship and he got sulky(?)

a/n: another fic for my fave secret dating x brother's bestfriend trope >.<. this was initially posted on another site before i decided to take it down and let it sit on my drafts for a year lol.

It was already two in the morning but you were still wide awake. With all the things you have done the whole day, it was expected that everyone, including you, would doze off as soon as you get on your beds. Unfortunately, you didn't.

The guilt that has been consuming you since earlier is what's actually making it hard for you to sleep. You had been rolling on the bed too many times as if that would help ease the regret you had been feeling (spoiler alert: it didn't).

When you arrived at your vacation house this morning, you and Vernon had tried to be as discreet with your relationship as possible. You going on a trip together wasn't a new sight, anyway. Vernon and your older brother, Wonwoo had been friends since freshmen year of college so the former is usually invited in times like this and so you both thought you could just let this three days pass without anyone knowing what you really have. However, it seemed like Wonwoo already had a hint about it and had been watching you the entire time. And alas! While you were having dinner, the million-dollar question was finally dropped.

"Are you guys dating?"

Vernon was about to answer but you suddenly panicked and was the one who replied instead, "Of course not. He is just like an older brother to me!"

As soon as you said it, you already wanted to take it back. But it was too late. Vernon may not have said a word but the disappointed look on his face spoke volumes. After that, you avoided each other for the rest of the night.

To be honest, this had been a subject of your arguments a couple of times before. Vernon wanted to tell your friends and families that you have been together for four months already but you're against it. It isn't because you were embarassed about your relationship or afraid that your family would say something negative (if anything, they're very very supportive). It's just that you wanted to enjoy the privacy you had without others minding your business, especially your brother Wonwoo who had been protective of you since your fallout with Joshua, even though it had been years and you have already moved on. He's also the reason why your past suitors had immediately scrammed away after going through the interrogation stage.

"Stop scaring them, will you?" You remembered complaining one time but your brother just shrugged.

"If they get scared of me and give up that easily then they're not really willing to fight for you. People like that are not worth it."

You knew you brother means well but sometimes you just want him to tone down the scare meter a little bit. Because if this continues, you might end up being single for the rest of his life.

But then, Vernon happened.

You already knew who Vernon was since he was a senior in high school. Vernon lives alone because the rest of his family is in another country. That's why when he gets a weekend off from the university, he would tag along with Wonwoo to your house to hang out. He is basically a part of your family now. However, the both of you didn't really got the chance to talk to each other because you were busy studying and usually just stays in your room the whole day when Vernon visits.

That set-up lasted for months until your first day in college. Wonwoo was supposed to give you the tour but had to cancel since he had to attend to something urgently. Of course, knowing you would whine about it nonstop, Wonwoo sent another person to guide you.

It's none other than *drum rolls please*, his best friend, Vernon. Surprise, surprise!

"Hi," that was just the first word that Vernon said to you (while sporting that smile that YOU swear would actually make anyone melt if possible), but you already knew you would fall for him. HARD.

You wouldn't admit it at first. The guy's nice (and freaking handsome and hot too) but you didn't want to give meaning to that kindness because you thought Vernon might just be doing it because you are his bestfriend's sister. However, it wasn't easy to supress the feelings when every time your eyes meet or when you smile at each other, butterflies would fill your stomach.

Not to mention, Vernon would also never forget to buy you your fave Iced Americano every chance he gets.

Luckily, it isn't a one-sided affection. Because apparently, Vernon is feeling the same towards you. The confession was nothing grand but for you, it was romantic and perfect.

It was in the middle of the crowd, during the Music Festival as your university's resident band was playing Enchanted by Taylor Swift, when Vernon looked at you directly in the eye and told you, "I like you so much y/n. I know this might be too sudden for you but I've been keeping this for a while and I just want to let it out. It's alright if you won't like me back ---"

"Shut up. I like you too," You replied while chuckling. You found Vernon blabbering cute because most of the time when you're together, you did the most talking and he would just agree and smile at you every now and then.

That was also the night that your relationship became official.

What followed was the happiest four months of your life. But now you're afraid that it would be cut short if you won't reconcile with Vernon as soon as possible.

You weren't able to take it anymore so you finally got up and carefully tiptoed as you went out of the room. You were just about to go to the next room but you heard a soft mumbling sound from the living room. That's when you realized that someone other than you were still up and is watching the television.

At first, you thought it was your brother but when you saw the brown hair peeking on the couch's headrest, it was a confirmation that it was him—your boyfriend.

Biting your lower lip, you walked towards Vernon who still haven't noticed that you were there. It didn't seem like he was focused to what he was watching, he was more like 'spacing out".

"Nonie?" You called softly and poked at Vernon's arm. The latter automatically looked up to you and blinked multiple times, probably making sure if you were really there or just his imagination.

"Why are you still awake?" Vernon reached for your hand and squeezed it lightly. You resisted yourself from crying because of how sweet your boyfriend is right now when he should be mad at you.

"I'm sorry about earlier," you said but Vernon shook his head.

"I should be the one saying sorry, babe. I told you I would respect your decision but I still acted up."

"But I know you're upset about it, Nonie."

"No. A little disappointed, I guess. I just don't want to hide anything anymore, especially our relationship. I don't want this to stay like a dirty secret because it's not."

You nodded and came over to sit on Vernon's lap. Your boyfriend was obviously taken aback but he just let you be eventually. He even encircled his arms in your waist to pull you closer.

"Okay. We'll tell them tomorrow."

Vernon's eyes widened. "Tomorrow?"

"Why are you so surprised?" You let out a laugh. "Are you still not ready?'

"Of course, I am. I've been preparing for it for months,"

"So you're not scared of Wonwoo-oppa?"

"As my friend, no. But as your brother, yes. I can even imagine him strangling me the second he finds about us."

You both knew that's far from Wonwoo's personality so he would most likely not do that but who knows? It could be worse.

"You'll be fine, Nonie. But if ever you get broken bones, don't worry, there's a nearby hospital, we can just--aw" you tried teasing him but Vernon was already pinching your nose before you could even finish your sentence.

"You're lucky I would do anything for you."

—♡—

[xoxoavenger]

How to Break a Heart

pairing: Luke Castellan x Fem!Aphrodite!Reader

summary: Y/N's mother gives her a deadline on when she needs to break her first love's heart, but Y/N isn't in love. Luckily Luke has a plan to fool the goddess; they'll pretend to be in love, and Y/N can break his heart. But these plans never go accordingly.

word count: 4341

warnings: betrayal, no comfort but there is still fluff for most of it

notes: luke castellan has taken over my life i have like 9 drafts so we'll see how this goes (i'm always scared to post for a new character so any love is appreciated greatly)

part 2

masterlist

"How did it go?" Luke asked as Y/N walked out of the Aphrodite cabin. Her mother had requested an IM with her, and Luke had waited outside for her. Y/N didn't look too happy, but she never did after a talk with her mom.

"She thinks it's time." Y/N said, and as much as he wished he could read her mind, he had no idea what she was talking about.

"For what?" He asks, following as she begins to walk into the woods. It's clear she just needs to be on a walk to be away from everyone else, but she's letting him tag along.

"She said it's an embarrassment that I'd become an adult and still hadn't broken my love's heart." She says. "But I haven't fallen in love with anyone yet, and I don't wanna break some innocent person's heart." She stops talking when they reach the river, sitting on the wet ground. He thinks about his pants real quick and then sits next to her, wanting to give her his support.

"She gave you a time limit?" Luke asks, knowing the answer. The Aphrodite kids didn't usually go on quests, but this was a quest of its own. She knew the gods couldn't resist making things more difficult.

"Yeah. Four months. As if I could fall in love with someone in that time, let alone here." She grabs a rock and throws it into the current, the splash barely touching them.

"Maybe you don't have to." Luke whispered, looking at her. She turned to him, brows furrowed as she rested her head against her bent knees.

"I don't think my mom is gonna let it slide any further than she already has. The truth is, I've been putting this off for years. She's wanted me to break some pour soul's heart for two years now. Every time she's visited me, it's always 'what about that Hephestas boy?' or 'that Apollo kid looks so nice now.' I don't wanna know what she'll do if I disobey." Y/N admits, taking a deep breath.

"That's not what I meant." Luke smirked, causing Y/N to frown.

"What are you talking about, then?" She asks, sitting up and looking at him face on.

"If we pretend that we're in love - I mean, put on a whole show that convinces the whole camp," Luke says it quietly, as if Aphrodite may be listening to them right now.

"Then I can 'break' your heart and please my mom without actually hurting anyone!" She says excitedly, watching as Luke nods. "You're a genius!" She cried, throwing her arms around Luke. She was so happy to have this weight lifted off her shoulders. He held her back, and it felt nice for a moment.

"So, what's the story?" Y/N asked, leaning back and pulling her knees up and leaning on them gently now, instead of hiding behind them.

"We just have to pretend to be dating. I invited you over here to ask you out, so we'll walk back to camp holding hands." He said it so simply, she just nodded.

"What about kissing? Won't they get suspicious?" She asked, making Luke chuckle.

"We can figure that out later." He told her, and she just nodded. "For now, we only have to convince our friends."

"And the olympians." She shrugged.

"Only your mom. The rest of them won't care." Luke told her, standing up. He reached out a hand to help her up, and she took it. He then switched hands to hold her's, interlacing their fingers. Y/N had held hands with many boys, being a daughter of Aphrodite, but for some reason Luke's felt different. She was holding the hand he used to fight with his sword, calloused but somehow smooth. She looked at him, and for a moment she wondered if this would work. It was crazy to lie to a god, even if the goddess was her mother. Could she really pretend to be in love and break his heart? Would they still be friends afterward?

Luke squeezed her hand and smiled, and she felt relief flow through her. If there was anyone who could pull this off, it was Luke.

"We got this." He told her, and she nodded.

They walked to camp, hand in hand, and Y/N knew immediately that this idea would work.

"Oh my God!" Her sister Silena called, immediately seeing Luke and Y/N. "Uh, I knew it!" And Y/N pushed down the urge to roll her eyes. She could have come out of the woods with anyone and Silena would have claimed to have seen it coming.

And just like that, everyone knew they were together.

For about a month, they got away with just hand holding, hanging out a little more than regular, going on a couple night walks. But on one of their night walks, Luke brought up what she had been thinking.

"We have to kick it up. If we want people to think we really fell in love in four months, we have to be inseparable." He told her.

"Silena has already caught on. We have to make it look like we got caught doing something." She had been thinking about it, not wanting to go there, but they both knew there was no way around this. They had to make it believable. Everyone had to believe them for this to work.

"The Hermes cabin." Luke nodded, but Y/N furrowed her brows.

"But your cabin is like, never empty." She told him, concerned.

"Anyone who finds us in the Hermes cabin will tell everyone immediately. And we will get found basically as soon as we're in there." He had definitely thought about this.

"We'll get in trouble." She tells him, looking to the side at the water.

"Us getting in trouble for getting caught in a cabin alone together?" He smirks, squeezing her hand. "Yeah, I'm sure your mom will be really angry." When she turned to him he was smiling, and she couldn't help but smile back.

"You're a genius." She almost kisses him, because that's what she would do in the situation, but then she remembered they're not actually dating. She was almost embarrassed, but then she realized.

"We can't do this without ramping our relationship up a bit." She tells him, and he thinks for a second. He turns to the trees, and the smile is on his face once more.

"The younger kids are watching." He whispered, making her blush. Of course their younger siblings would be watching their romantic walk. "If it's okay with you," He mutters stopping and turning to her. He takes her other hand. "I can kiss your cheek. Or we," She drops is hands and grabs his face, bringing his lips to hers. She knew they'd have to kiss in front of everyone sooner or later, and clearly Luke was freaking out a little bit. She felt his hands go to her torso, high above her waist but just a little below her bra line. It made her heart race just a little bit.

Their lips moved in tandem, much more than any first kiss she's ever had before. She forgot everything as one of her hands slipped from his face to his chest. One of his slipped to her lower back, the other going to the back of her head. They broke for one second to reposition, but for some reason it was too much for her. She curled her fingers into his orange Camp Half-Blood shirt and brought him closer once more. She could feel him smile as he curled his fingers in her hair to position her better.

All too quickly, they separated. Y/N blinked a couple times, trying to clear her brain.

"I think they got the hint." He tells her, and she could only stare at him and try to figure out what he just said.

"Yeah," She whispered, realizing he was talking about their rouse. Of course, the only reason they had kissed was to get the camp talking. "They'll definitely be talking about that."

She didn't want to think about how upset she was, or why she was upset. This was fake - everything with Luke was fake.

"We should head back before Chiron comes and puts us on probation or something." She said, watching him nod. She let him lead her back to her cabin, where he gave her a kiss and a wink outside her door.

She was in trouble.

~

The next day, they met up to watch the kids make friendship bracelets. Luke had already made a deal with Travis, and no one noticed when the two left.

"We have a couple minutes until everyone comes in." He tells her, and she nods. He walks over to his bed, the single one in the corner of the huge cabin. Y/N has never seen it completely empty, and when she looks around it seems too quiet.

"How do you wanna," She mutters, heart pounding. She's nervous, and it's obvious.

"Hey," His voice is quiet, and she looks over at him. "We don't have to do anything that you don't wanna do." His hand goes to her har, pushing her hair out of her face a little bit. She had to force herself not to look away.

"We have to." She mutters, a sad frown on her face. They both knew she didn't have a choice for this.

"But we can just get caught alone." He assures her, sitting back on his bed. Y/N stays where she is.

"No, it has to be more. We have to convince everyone." She is convincing herself too, that she has to do this. She doesn't go on quests, and this isn't even courageous. This is something her siblings do for fun. She can do it for her mother.

"Okay," He tells her, grabbing her hands. She's about to ask how they should be set up, but then there's footsteps on the stairs. Before she can think, she practically pounces on Luke. She's straddling him, pressing him against the bed. Their hands became untangled and his go to her waist, lower than their first kiss. She hears the door open, and her heart freezes.

What are they doing?

Before she can mess up the entire plan, Luke leans up and presses their lips together. She doesn't know what to do with her hands, just letting them hold her up while Luke's venture under her shirt.

"Oh my gods!" Y/N and Luke separate with wide eyes. They were planning on getting caught, but not by her.

"Annabeth?" Luke whispers, turning to see his sister in the doorway, hand over her eyes.

"Shit," Y/N curses, getting up. She realizes her shirt is all scrunched, so she pulls it down.

"What a weird camp." The kid next to Annabeth says. Y/N notices him for the first time, a short kid that looked like he was enjoying this drama. He has to be new, because she's never seen him around and definitely never with Annabeth.

"This is strange." Ananbeth crosses her arms and squints. Y/N feels like she can see right through them.

"Oh, Chiron is not gonna be happy." The kid says, smiling. Before Y/N can argue that neither of them would tell the centaur, he walks up behind them.

"That assumption would be correct, Mr. Jackson." She has to remind herself that this was the plan, that they wanted to get caught.

"Chiron," Y/N says, looking up at him as he walks into the wide door frame. Annabeth and the kid move to let him in, also showing Y/N and Luke the amount of people behind him, waiting to see the

"This is unexpected from you two." He says, and Y/N can feel herself second guessing this plan. She doesn't like to be scolded by Chiron. Luke grabs her hand as if he knew what she was thinking.

"We're sorry, Chiron." Luke started, taking a deep breath.

"But we're not kids anymore," Y/N starts, the confidence coming from no where. "And sometimes we need time on our own." She can feel everyone's eyes on her, including Luke's.

"We can talk about this in the Big House." Chiron was clearly peeved, but she knew he couldn't get that mad. Everyone knew why Luke and Y/N stayed even though they were the oldest campers; they would be dead in the real world.

"You're up to something." Annabeth says as everyone leaves.

"I'm always up to something." Luke smirks before looking at the new kid. "I'm Luke."

"I'm Percy." The kid says, looking over at Y/N.

"Y/N." She nods, a small smile on her face. She looked at Annabeth, who knew something was up. She had to ramp it up.

She put a hand on Luke's shoulder and kissed his cheek, squeezing his hand and leaving. It had to be enough for now.

~

As it turned out, Annabeth went on a quest a couple weeks later, so they didn't need to worry about convincing her. But Luke was practically sick with worry for her wellbeing, and Y/N wasn't much better. Her deadline was coming up, and she was actually dreading it.

She was enjoying Luke's presence, enjoying the touches and the attention. She knew it was her mother's powers making her feel this way, but part of it was just her. She actually looked forward to waking up and going to see Luke. She thought about the night that they had fallen asleep in the warm sand, his chest cushioning her head. His arms were around her, and when they were caught in the morning she didn't even care about Chiron's second warning. Luke had snuck them desert anyway.

It helped calm her down from worrying about the kids on a quest, the fate of which would in turn decide the fate of Camp Half-Blood. She hated the feeling of war in the air, the campers fighting. Luke's comfort helped that situation as well. He would always grab her close, making her anxiety calm down and her mind quiet. She had taken to hanging out with him away from everyone's eyes, aside from plans to get caught. They would lay in the strawberry fields, looking at the clouds. Sometimes she would fall asleep, giving away the fact that she couldn't sleep in her own bed at night. As soon as Luke realized this, he made the Aphrodite cabin swear to secrecy when he would sneak in. They were great at keeping secrets when it helped their sister's love life, and her health. She had gotten so used to Luke sleeping in her bed, it was weird to think there was a time when he wasn't.

The first time it happened, she had almost jumped out of her skin.

It was right before the kids left, when everyone started to get uneasy about the Lightning Bolt. She had made a random comment that day when her and Luke were sitting on the dock, because she was too tried from her lack of sleep. They had been 'dating' for two months now, and even before she would tell him these things as his best friend. She had almost fallen asleep with her head resting against his shoulder, and he had shaken her awake. She stumbled to her cabin, not even wanting to tell her siblings about the night, but she couldn't sleep.

Everyone knew she had problems sleeping, so they tried to be as quiet as possible. They let her keep her window open, even though it dried their skin. And though her body was absolutely begging her to sleep, her mind wouldn't turn off.

She jumped out of her skin when she heard Luke's low voice.

"Thank the gods your window is already open." She shot up, heart racing. She looked over to see Luke climbing in. "And also thank the gods you live on the bottom bunk." His voice was so quiet she could barely hear, but at least she knew her siblings wouldn't hear. She knew they would never tell Chiron, since they loved a good relationship.

"What are you doing?" She asked, eyes wide and a smile playing on her face. His scar shown in the moonlight as he sat on the windowsill, taking off his shoes. He handed them to her, and she put them down gently on the ground before lowering himself down on her bed.

"I'm gonna help you sleep." He told her, looking at her in a way that made her heart race just a little. Even in the little privacy, where no one could see them, he was caring for her.

"You don't have to." She turned her head down, feeling self conscious in her bonnet. He smiled at her.

"I want to."

The two settled in, Y/N lifting up the covers for Luke to come under. They switched positions so she could sleep next to the wall, his arms around her immediately. She felt so secure and safe in his arms, more relaxed than she had felt in weeks. He settled his face against her head, giving the softest kiss to her forehead. So soft she was questioning it as her mind drifted away.

When she woke up, she was in his arms. The sun was up, and it was much later than she had woken up in the past month.

"Tell him I went on a walk. And she's sick." Luke was whispering, his voice rumbling in his chest that Y/N was laying against. Given the small size of the bed, they were entangled. Her legs were fused with his, her torso stuck between the wall and Luke's body. Her hand was entangled into his sleep shirt, and she didn't untangle it because that would have given up that she was awake. And she wanted to stay like this a little longer.

And she was enjoying the warm light and the nice morning.

"You know he'll come in here anyway." A boy was saying, but Y/N didn't want to listen. Without thinking, she rubbed her face into Luke's shirt, trying to get more comfortable. She rubbed a leg against his, shifting and sighing.

"If you wake her up," Luke's voice sounded venomous, and it made her start to smile a little. Her head felt so light but also so heavy in a good way. She didn't think she could feel that way.

"Fine, I'm gone." The guy said, and Y/N heard his footsteps walk away. She stretched for a second, settling down so that her leg was thrown over his and she was more on top of him than against the wall. Her hand relaxed, still holding onto his shirt but not as tightly.

"You awake?" Luke whispered so quietly for a moment he didn't think she heard him.

"No." She said quietly, feeling her breathing even out.

"Alright." He brushes his hand against her back, soothing her even more. "Let me know when you're awake."

~

All the Aphrodite kids were working overtime to make sure that Chiron never found out that Luke was sneaking into the cabin and also to keep the Hermes cabin from snitching. And also from keeping the harpies from killing Luke. 

It was a full-time job. 

They usually slept in Y/N's bunk, because her siblings just wanted her to be happy. They all knew that she was supposed to break someone's heart, but they tried not to talk about it. No one else knew about the deadline. 

"Can you tell me how you got your scar?" Y/N asked one night, tracing the mark as they laid in bed. She had been getting so much sleep with him that she was able to stay up a little bit with him now and whisper low enough that no one else could hear.

"You don't wanna hear about it before it before you go to bed." He whispers, eyes going dark and hand grabbing hers, stopping her from touching it. Her heart drops, and she feels like a little kid scolded. 

"You never told me." She mutters, not wanting to push but wanting to know. They'd gotten so close now that she wanted to know everything about him before she no longer had an excuse to be around him all the time. 

Oh gods, how was she going to sleep without him? 

"You're already overthinking." He whispers, and she just huffs and tries her hardest to turn from him while his arms are around her and she's also stuck between him and the wall. For a moment she thought about throwing herself over him and getting up, just to prove a point, but she knew that was taking things a little too far. 

"I just wanted to be there for you like you are for me." She knew that didn't have nightmares like most demigods did; at least, if he got them, he hadn't had any since he'd been with her. But she also knew no one could deal with everything on their own, and if he wasn't telling her, who else was he telling? 

"I'm okay." He tells her, settling in and making her start to get comfortable again. She stretched, leaned against him and let her eyes close, trying to forget about his scar. 

Something about the conversation rubbed her the wrong way. 

~

The kids returned and the war was avoided, and now Annabeth seemed to have her own relationship problems. It made Y/N relieved, then sad, because she remembered that her own relationship was fake. In a few short weeks, she would have to 'break' Luke's heart. But that was in the future, and she could put it off as long as she could. She didn't want to have to break his heart, because she had a feeling it would only break her's.

Everything had been going great until her mother showed up.

This time, it hadn't been an IM. This time, her mother was waiting for her in the strawberry fields where she was supposed to meet with Luke.

"Mom?" Y/N asked, not sure if she was seeing correctly. Her mother's beautiful face brightened, and Y/N just blinked. She had never met her mother in person.

"My favorite child." Her mother said, making Y/N's eyes widen. She thought Silena was her favorite child. "I am so proud of you."

"What?" Y/N had been planning on talking to Luke about their breakup tonight, but her mother thew her off.

"You've broken the most talented swordsman's heart! The pain, oh, it almost breaks my own heart." Aphrodite put her hands over her own heart, and Y/N just furrowed her eyebrows.

"But, I haven't broken Luke's heart yet." Y/N says, thinking about how weird Luke had been acting when he asked to meet her there. She thought it was about them breaking up, but what if it was something else. Could he tell that she had fallen?

"No?" Her mother looked genuinely confused. "I sense such distress, such a hole of love in his heart." Y/N had never seen a god confused, and she didn't like this.

"Something's wrong." Y/N muttered, flinching when fireworks began to be set off.

"Yes," Her mother said gravely, grabbing her daughter's hand. "I will help you find him and set this right." She said it as if Y/N was supposed to break his heart over the pain he must've been feeling. Before she could protest, her mother was teleporting her. She ended up in front of Luke in the forest, her mother no where to be found. Luke looked angry, his sword was pointing right at her. It was actually pressing lightly into her chest, which made no sense. Luke would never do that.

"Y/N?" He asked, eyes widening. The anger melted away a little bit, but he still didn't look like the version of him she knew.

"What are you doing?" She asked, watching him lower his sword but not his guard. His eyes caught on something behind her, and she turned.

Percy was standing there, eyes wide and scared. He had his own sword in his hand, arms lifted in defense.

"Get out of the way, Y/N." Percy said, sounding older than his twelve years. It scared her, seeing this kid forced to mature.

"What are you doing?" She repeated, turning back to Luke. His expression had hardened slightly, but it still wasn't as angry as he had been when she first showed up.

"You don't want any part of this." Luke's voice was deep and dark, and Y/N felt her heart drop to her stomach.

"What have you done?" She rephrased, eyes wide as the fear sprinkled through her body in cold waves.

"What I had to." Luke said, as if that explained everything. "The gods are against us. They need us, but they don't care about us. I mean, have you ever even spoke with your mom is person?" He was trying to use her, and it hurt her feelings.

"I just did." She said quietly, turning fully to Luke. "And she told me you were heartbroken." She reveled at the shock that washed over his face.

"She must have been feeling someone else." Luke answered, and Y/N just shook her head.

"Luke, please." She walked toward him, grabbing his free hand. "We had something. We were pretending to date but you can't tell me you were acting the whole time." She felt tears in her eyes now. "Luke, I love you." She whispered finally. Filling the silence was the wind in the trees, the distant sound of fireworks. But not Luke's voice. He stayed quiet for a moment.

"It'll pass." He tells her quietly, tilting his head.

He might as well have stabbed her, the words hurt so bad. Using her shock, he threw his sword up, and not even letting go of her hand he caught it the opposite way, using the bottom to hit her head and send her to the ground.

"Goodbye," He muttered as he let her hand slip from his, stepping over her to face Percy.

Y/N could hear the breaking of her heart as she let her eyes close. 

//

tags: @avada-kedavra-bitch-187  @one-sweet-gubler

[thebansacredbanned]

ok so I have managed to lose the original fic ask game post that @wishthefish tagged me in a couple of weeks ago bUT I did save this screenshot so I will just randomly talk about these fics for a bit (I am always happy to talk about my fics for a bit, this is an open invitation) SO

I know I've been through the wars

This is part of the greater Xuyao (yes Wen Xu and Meng Yao, no I'm not sorry, they're immensely shippable if you're not a coward) 'choose your own adventure' verse where I basically lose my mind and create diverging timelines in almost all of which Meng Yao suffers terribly bc Meng Yao whump is weirdly easy to write

The cyoa thread for this is 'Wen Xu dies as in canon and Wen Chao decides he wants Meng Yao for himself' -> 'Wen Chao dies as in canon, WRH continues to let everyone else abuse MY' -> 'NMJ conceals the way MY has been treated so no one knows'

All the titles from the greater Xuyao cyao fic come from the The Amazing Devil song "Battle Cries", which I chose mostly because there was a cool lyric for the first fic back when it was supposed to be a one-shot, but also loads of the lyrics from the song work really well

I picked "I know I've been through the wars" for this chapter because unlike in the alternate branch of this fic where everyone finds out, only MY (and NMJ, to a certain extent) have any idea of what exactly MY has been through. Which is good because his trauma isn't being gossiped about! But is also Bad because people who him to be happy (people = LXC) keep accidentally making things worse :3

which then my few beloved commenters were like 'this is so evil!' and i was like 'it's not even that bad' and they were like 'YES it IS', but angst is my default at this point for some reason so I didn't notice oops

At the end MY runs away from the banquet to hide. There's currently one sequel branch for this (NMJ goes to find him and is actually helpful for once (this is largely NHS' fault)). I have some plans for another branch (LXC goes to find him and continues to try to help without knowing the problem) but the way my brain was taking it was almost Too Dark for me so I haven't written it (yet). I might. Or I might be nice to MY for once and have LXC go and actually find out the problem. But then I'd be being nice so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it

This is. Nie Mingjue/Jin Zixun. I am sorry about this one

So when I wrote the first Xuyao installment I really wanted to write but my brain wasn't clicking so I put the sunshot generation into a random name picker, spun it a bunch of times, and decided Meng Yao and Wen Xu would be interesting (it was going to just be a creepy dark fic and then I wrote like three sentences and went oh. it's a love story. oops)

ANYWAY a few months later when I was bored I spun the wheel a bunch more times so now I have a Selection of rare pairs for whenever I feel like it

Mingxun was Not the one I was going to write first but here we are

Basically my initial thoughts were "jin zixun gets bullied into going to war by his cousin and then gets his gay awakening when he gets shouted at my nie mingjue" and yeah I guess that Happened

The title is a lyric from "Helpless" from Hamilton and was @nemainofthewater's fault/idea, which I thank her sincerely for because I hate titling things. I also think it's really funny

This was SUPPOSED to be a short crack one-shot but then wishthefish bullied/persuaded/encouraged to write more and it's annoyingly fun so now there are at least three chapters with the potential of more

Takes place within a mixture of show and book canons, whichever is funnier at any given moment

Really, if Jin Zixun is too busy being distracted by da-ge then no one is causing problems at the hunt and no one is getting murdered by out of control Wen Ning so like. This could very much solve all the problems

[its-moopoint]

While shippers keep track of CT's and S's lives everything they distort is factual correct. No games played as they want followers to believe.

- Spotting C/T & baby is normal and usually people respect her privacy - - C didn't hint anything, she posted a thank you for SOC invite - - Lauren Lyle interviewer mentioned his connection to OL through his good friend T who is married to CB - - Not the first time cast members acknowledge SC aren't together - - CT not doing an IFTA pap walk but attending together as a married couple - - C was happy to be out attending The Fratellis - - CB cut hair for a new movie just like she did for FvF - - CB only mentions T if asked - - CB attending play in NY could also have had another professional reason - - CB can be tagged by friends as normal people do.

SH is doing his own thing completely separate from CB.

ES #realfairy wrote:

Droughlander isn't over …

Droughlander isn't over …

Since February, when the wrap was announced, we've been thinking about some possible mischief that could happen until this season of Droughlander is over.

It was a joke between friends, but looking at the number of hits, I think these 'hunches' could be written about here.

-----------

1 - A discreet fan spots C 'with her family' but doesn't publish photos in the name of privacy ✔️

2 - Sam is seen in the background of random photo/video that suspiciously gets posted to tumblr ✔️

3 - Pap walks with a blonde

4 - Cait hints she's in city X, Sam hints he's on the other side of the world ✔️

5 - Sam does another super expensive meeting for fan ✔️

6 - New Russian video

7 - Interview with random cast member who mentions Caitriona Balfe's husband ✔️

8 - Totally out of the blue random cast member reveals that Sam and Cait ARE NOT a couple ✔️

9 - Cait does pap walk with T at IFTA - in case of a win, there will be a special thank you ✔️

10 - Deux Moi releases note of Sam's sighting with 'a blonde' ✔️

11 - Cait publishes some innuendo about The Fratellis ✔️

12 - Sam appears in a fan photo in a completely unexpected location ✔️

13 - Cait cuts her hair again ✔️

14 - New change in Sam, Priyanka and Celine Dion's film ✔️

15 - Cait gives an interview and the article mentions her husband

16 - PapWalk for Just Jared ✔️

17 - Cait dedicates the new batch of gin to her husband

18 - Monika Askmit does another podcast badmouthing Sam

19 - Cait attends a fashion/cinema/arts event and T appears in the background of the post-event photos

20 - A fight breaks out in the fandon and shippers are thrown into the fire ✔️

21 - Sam appears like an old bloke in the background of a party photo/video

22 - ONE MORE of Sam's 'exes' gets married ✔️

23 - Sam and Cait do ZERO OL promo events together

24 - Sam turns up at a stadium with Sophie or Alex N, OR Marina, or Nico, or Cirdan ✔️

25 - Sam posts a shirtless photo ✔️

26 - Sam appears on a talk show and claims to be single once again ✔️

27 - The Nic couple do something completely over-the-top, drawing the attention of the entire fandon to themselves ✔️

28 - Several models/influencers are pointed out as the new flavor of summer, with the expected insinuations on social media ✔️

29 - BONUS: Cody Kennedy follows Sam and he follows her back (Cody deactivates his IG) ✔️

30 - BONUS: Victoria L (ex Heughan) posts selfie on a beach in Fife, with friends and family - including Sam and Chrissie Heughan, sparking a HUGE row in the fandon ✔️

31 - BONUS: Cait (after a sighting of the happy family in Glasgow) is spotted at a theatre in NY, while Sam, also in the US, was missing ✔️

32 - BONUS Damage containment: Cait appears in a random place with T ✔️

33 - BONUS: Cleveden appears on estate agent's website, put up for sale ✔️

34 - BONUS: Cait and Sam's recordings end at almost the same time and both disappear for a week, then appear out of nowhere in different places around the world ✔️

35 - BONUS: weekly rounds of "Look here, don't look there" ✔️

36 - BONUS: Anna Modler, as well as getting married, is pregnant ✔️

37 - BONUS: Cait is tagged by a friend, watching an Irish football match while Sam is obviously in another part of the world ✔️

38 - BONUS: Graham and Garance launch a drinks company and a big row breaks out in the fandon ✔️

Some things didn't happen, other things happened more than once, overlapping or combining with each other … but some really unexpected things have happened …

It's been fun and it doesn't have to be much more than that.

Anyway, Droughlander isn't over. We'll see how many more items are ticked off this list, or what else might happen …

Sep 1st, 2023

To sum her piece of bullshit up, they are celebrating not knowing where C has been and pretending in their delusion that she was with S but never seen either while he's broadcast his every move.

[cherryblossomshadow]

[Image ID: screenshot of tumblr tags that read:

#file under reasons I don't reblog activism posts with guilt trips attached

/end ID]

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#I didn't want to come back to this #but this is actually really important and so far this is the only person that's said it #This is why it is SO important to THANK a child after they do what theu are told #especially when it was a fight #It's a way to say “I'm not mad anymore. This conflict is over now that you did what I asked. You had the ability to end this at anytime.” #Get that Christian idea of external punishment out of your head!!!#It is never your job to be hell (tags courtesy of OP)

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More notes under the cut:

@enonem

If you shame someone about a behaviour, they will associate it with a negative emotion and thus instinctively want to stay away.

So when you try to shame someone into doing something, they will feel shame every time they start doing it, or even think about doing it, feel bad and stop at the first occasion.

If you want someone to do something, associate it with a positive emotion. So they will feel good about doing it.

So yeah, the corollary for this is indeed praising bare minimum behaviour when it marks an improvement.

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@purplesaline

And honestly given that science has proven positive reinforcement is a far more effective tool for behaviour modification, if you want someone to stop doing a behaviour a better method than guilt or shame would be by positively reinforcing an incompatible behaviour.

In dog training it's called Differential Reinforcement of Incompatible Behaviours and it looks like this: Dog jumps up on people when excited? Positively reinforce lying down when people come visit. The dog can't jump up if they're lying down. Dog barks when they see a squirrel? Positively reinforce getting and holding a toy when they see a squirrel. (It won't necessarily completely negate the barking but it will drastically lower the volume of it. Basically making your dog gag itself lol)

In people it works the same way. Want the kids to stop playing video games inside all day? Positively reinforce going for a walk (give them some cash to go get a slushie or ice cream) or set up a water fight in the back and invite their friends over. The more you positively reinforce behaviours incompatible with staying inside playing video games the more they'll start choosing to go outside on their own instead.

The key is that whatever you use to positively reinforce them has to be more rewarding to them than the behaviour they're currently engaging in, and you don't decide what is more rewarding, they do.

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@tacktrunkstudies-deactivated202

Four Quadrants of Classical Conditioning are positive reinforcement, positive punishment, negative reinforcement, negative punishment. These aren't related to good or bad so much as adding or subtracting a motivating stimulus. When training *new* behaviors to *start* the most effective is positive reinforcement, when trying to reduce or stop existing behaviors positive punishment is the most effective. If you want to inspire change and start someone giving a fuck, you want to use *positive reinforcement* *NOT* POSITIVE punishment. People really are as simple as dogs.

@demons-pubis

My ex, to get me to stop biting my nails, would tell me how ugly they looked, slap my hand away from my mouth, etc. I never stopped.

My current boyfriend simply told me he'd get me a manicure if I stopped. And then I did. 😭

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@technicolor-swarm-of-bees

to add some nuance, though, guilt can be useful but shame never is.

guilt is about a specific thing you did. ('I cheated on a test and I feel guilty about it")

shame is about yourself regardless of your actions ("I'm a worthless dumb person who has to cheat to pass a test")

guilt is situational and can demotivate you from repeating an undesirable action. shame is ongoing and doesn't generally work to prevent any specific behaviours because it isn't about the behaviours—it's about your identity.

this difference is really important to understand especially in queer and disabled circles because many of us live in the shadow of a a built up mountain of shame, accumulated failures and guilt and insults and missed expectations and judgmental things people have said to us. many of us have spent our lives feeling that we simply are not as good as other people, that there's something fundamentally flawed or undesirable about us. the classic example is many people with adhd have had it pounded into them that they're lazy. when we miss a deadline, we might feel guilt over that deadline, but the overwhelming feeling is shame: I once more missed a deadline because I'm a lazy person who never completes things on time.

it's really, really important to recognise shame vs guilt so you can combat the shame and replace it with true and more realistic beliefs about yourself.

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@cherishedproperty

The other thing that can happen is, if you shame someone enough, they start to see the bad thing as part of their identity—not something they do, but something they are. And this can also backfire horrifically.

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@doomhamster

It says something painful about the standards of parenting/teaching in Western society that so many of us haven't been exposed to any other method of modifying behavior.

It says something fucking terrifying about the FUTURE standards of parenting/teaching that so many, even people who consider themselves progressive, are desperate to find a Good Way to be the ones doing the shaming, rather than being willing to even consider encouragement as a way of modifying others' behavior.

#social justice done badly

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@lyndentree63

This makes so much sense of evangelicalism.

Something I wish people understood about evangelical Christians, as someone who comes from those circles, is just how unequipped people are to actually do things. There's so much focus on not doing things, people have no idea how to positively motivate themselves or others. The only behaviour-management tool they have familiarity with is demotivating. And that's heartbreaking.

People just don't know better. They don't have better tools. They're trying desperately to build things, but all they have is a sledgehammer. And that hurts everyone.

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@doctor-fluffy

And in my experience, a person that’s only been shamed into not doing bad things…

it’s HARD to truly care about other people when you’re ruled by shame..

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@selkies-world

Hey, look, it's my logic for how to get people to stop consuming fast fashion!!!! Neat

(You can't shame someone into doing something good, but you can shame them out of something bad & offer them an alternative for them to turn to, then praise them for making the change & pointing out how much better this new option is for them. You can also shame corporations into changing their ways when you take away their profit margin & ask how it feels to not have it anymore - and they'll change their ways in order to get the profit back, or they'll get boycotted & go out of business. BRB, I'm clicker-training people & industries.)

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@sustainpedal

Also, shame works when it makes the person think "1) I'm doing something different from everyone else 2) I want to change my habit/lifestyle, and 3) I know how to change." If one of those three pieces is missing and you keep piling on shame, the person won't change; they'll get bogged down or bitter, withdraw from people they perceive as "better" or "normal", and develop a belief that they are incapable of change.

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@assortedinsanities

Thought about this post yesterday and realized another limitation of the use of shame.

While swearing can be a case where guilt/shame works, it's not a universal tool to make someone stop a behavior.

If the behavior serves a needed purpose, shame will either not stop it, or make the person seek out a different behavior to substitute.

I was specifically thinking about substance abuse when this occured to me, but it can really be anything.

Maybe the kid swears in class, because it gives them a good standing with other students and that is the only way they know how to connect with others. Maybe them swearing serves to give them a tough persona so bullies think twice about going after them. Maybe they are extremely stressed about some aspect of school and this is the only outlet they have for the aggression it builds up.

Basically, while shame can stop a behavior, if you happen to shame someone for some sort of coping mechanism that will backfire. Because if you want someone to stop a problematic coping behavior, you need to motivate them to find a helpfull alternative and that will not be accomplished by shaming them.

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@jukashi

I would add an important note: social negative reinforcement, like shaming tactics, only work if the person you're using them on actually cares about what you think of them.

If they don't care about what you think, attempts to shame them will just make them hostile, and less likely to listen to you. It's very likely to just make them double down on whatever you're trying to shame them about. Example: Me still having long hair despite being bothered about it for most of my adolescence. I don't even actually like having long hair that much! There's just a 'fuck those guys' response still baked into my brain somewhere that makes me not want to cut it, because it'd be like agreeing with them, even decades later.

Important note to the important note: Do not mistake shame not working on someone as them not caring about you. They could just think you're incorrect to shame them - which, you must remember, is always a possibility. Anyone can be wrong about something. The tumblr demographic should be familiar with the idea of being shamed about things by people they care about, and still refusing to change those things.

Important note three, revengeance: If someone does care about you, you'd better make sure you're right before you do any shaming tactics, because shaming someone who cares what you think for no good reason is something that's pretty shameworthy itself.

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@strive-to-be-human

Do not punish behavior you wish to see!

If someone is going to make meaningful steps toward desirable behavior, you have to reward any motion in that direction. You have to help people figure out what is blocking them from doing the desirable behavior, help them find tools or strategies to get around those blocks, and then celebrate attempts to do the thing you want.

If you're thinking to yourself, "Sure, that works on toddlers, but adults should know better," come and sit by me. Would you like a cup of coffee?

I want you to think of a time at work when you made a mistake. Maybe you didn't know better. Maybe you did but you fumbled the task inadvertently. Maybe you knew better and you didn't care. Maybe you thought the established procedure is stupid so you didn't do it on purpose. It's your memory; anything can be true.

Let's imagine - whether or not this is how your specific memory plays out - that your boss pulled you aside and yelled at you for five whole minutes about how horrible (and horribly incompetent!) you are. No questions about how you arrived at the decision process you did... (except maybe the rhetorical, disingenuous, "What were you thinking?!") Just a dressing down. Perhaps even a formal writeup that goes on your employee record.

In this memory you have (or the imaginary scenario), how enthusiastic are you about finding the RIGHT way to do things? Are you feeling uplifted, capable and motivated? Or are you feeling demoralized, embarrassed and paralyzed?

Take that memory of a time when you made a workplace error and rewrite it with me. (How's your coffee? Need a warm-up?) Let's imagine, instead, that your boss pulls you aside and says something like "Hey, I noticed the last time X happened during opening, Y and Z weren't completed. Normally you're pretty great about Y and Z. What's going on?" or "Thank you so much for getting me that report on Company B. Could you also get me an addendum that includes [the thing you forgot to include in the first place]?" or "I've noticed that you're consistently doing [this task] in a [specifically wrong] way. We need it done [the correct way] for [reasons]. What can I do to help make sure [task] is [done correctly] going forward?"

Check in with your body. How does this boss conversation feel? You probably still feel threatened and embarrassed - especially if you live in the US, like me - because we are so primed to hear derision, censure and punishment every time our boss talks to us! But this new boss thinks we're great! They just need us to do a little better. They WANT us to succeed!

Even adults want kindness and compassion. Reward desirable behavior. Do not punish behaviors you wish to see.

If you do 9 things out of 10 correctly and your boss shouts at you over one (1) thing, your brain is not going to go "Cool! I did 90% of these tasks correctly!" It's going to go "Task 10 is the only important one" - which it will find out is not true when it forgets Task 8 - and eventually slides into "I can never be good enough to escape a lecture, so I'm just not even gonna try. Boss gets what I feel like giving and if they don't like my Minimum Effort they can fire me."

Wouldn't it be better if we spoke to each other on good faith, believing that others really are trying their best? I know what world I would rather live in. You can live here, too, if you want. Coffee's always hot. Come back any time.

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@butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway

The idea that you can shame someone out of being a bad person or that shame can reliably be used to dissuede behavior you want someone to stop is so deeply and fundamentally a misunderstanding of what the research tells us.

Shame is NOT in fact a demotivator in the sense of encouraging behavior cessation. Rather it is a demotivator in that it alienates people from the behavior's form and function. If someone *experiences the feeling of shame upon having it drawn to their attention that something they have done or said may not be in line with their values or goals, it is TECHNICALLY possible (tho not as likely as one might hope) for that person to take a functional and non-judgemental approach to changing or addressing the behavior that led up to that feeling. HOWEVER if you *inflict* shame on someone ON PURPOSE to try and get them to stop doing a thing, research tells us that all this will result in is their becoming more adept at hiding that behavior from you and (possibly, depending on where the shame is reinforced) others.

So like. I get that this post thinks it's discouraging "harmful" shaming, but I need to emphasize that it is doing so by saying that "shame is functional" is the same thing, in a clinical connotation, as "shame can be used against others to change behavior IF YOU USE IT RIGHT" and it just....it isn't the same. At all. YOU cannot inflict shame on another person, they have to experience shame as a synthesis of their own recontextualization. What we inflict on each other via "shaming" is not, in fact, shame. It is FEAR. And wielding fear as a motivator for change actually has remarkably reliably *horrific* outcomes.

It is fascinating to me how intensely so many of us cling to the validity of inflicting pain, alienation, and fear on others if only they can do it in the right way for the right reasons when EVERYTHING that we know says that very framework is what makes it so dangerous and harmful to the people around us. Why do even the conversations "discouraging" shame include gestures to the idea that of course it works sometimes!

Please be skeptical of anything that suggests you can induce a negative feeling in someone who is not you on purpose and reliably receive an outcome other than "this person now treats me as unsafe to be vulnerable with". Change requires care, functional reflection of role, and support/compassion from the people around you during the transition. At no point does that include another person TRYING to induce shame, I assure you.

#i want to be gentle in this i really do#in part BECAUSE i know what i know about change and shame#but it is REALLY hard to watch people say something this blatantly misaligned with actual clinical research as if it is the informed belief#it is not#the informed belief is that external-origin internalized shame is ALWAYS bad and harmful#and internal-origin internalized shame CAN BE AND OFTEN IS but may sometimes act as a change impulse if the person is able to#process those emotions in a healthy environment#and anyone presenting otherwise to you has either deeply misunderstood the research#or is selling you a loophole via 'some people i mean behaviors DESERVE to be shamed'

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@partypuppy-nastja

I wrote about this at work a little bit ago, citing some studies for it along the way, for that about negative motivation vs positive motivation:

Not that anybody asked, but I think it's important to understand how shame and guilt actually work before you try to use it for good.

It's a necessary emotion. There are reasons we have it. It makes everything so. much. worse. when you use it wrong.

Shame and guilt are DE-motivators. They are meant to stop behavior, not promote it. You cannot, ever, in any meaningful way, guilt someone into doing good. You can only shame them into not doing bad.

Let's say you're a parent and your kid is having issues.

Swearing in class? Shame could work. You want them to stop it. Keep it in proportion*, and it might help. *(KEEP IT IN PROPORTION!!!)

Not doing their homework? NO! STOP! NO NOT DO THAT! EVER! EVER! EVER! You want them to start to do their homework. Shaming them will have to opposite effect! You have demotivated them! They will double down on NOT doing it. Not because they are being oppositional, but because that's what shame does!

You can't guilt people into building better habits, being more successful, or getting more involved. That requires encouragement. You need to motivate for that stuff!

If you want it in a simple phrase:

You can shame someone out of being a bad person, but you can't shame them into being a good person.

[dreaminginvelaris]

A Response to a Feyre Anti

I made a post recently explaining the dread of having to watch Feyre be abused by her sisters and father, in the Tv adaption. And a Feyre anti made a response, to something that should not be criticized at all considering what I said was just the truth? Feyre was abused. Not only that but they went on and completely twisted the narrative to fit their own ideas and in the process made Feyre out to be cruel and Nesta a saint. complete bull.

I will not be tagging the anti bc they have me blocked (shocker), but also I do not want anyone to go after them, if you come across the post, I don't want it to be through me. it's as much respect I can give to them.

I usually do not respond to those who have something to say with a post of mine or are blatantly talking about me on their blog, unless they're just spreading absolute lies about me or what i "said", it's usually a waste of time to do so. but this post attacked Feyre with outrageous lies and a complete backward interpretation of what actually happened in acotar, so as respectful as I can be, I will be analyzing the anti-response and what truly happened in acotar.

"the audience will only see two sisters fighting-not abuse" "it’s not Nesta you need to worry about. It’s audiences calling Feyre a big dumbass and a bitch" -from anti

if the audience has basic human compassion and empathy for humans IRL or fictional, they will see what's obvious from the start. Feyres abuse. how is it going to look, when they see Feyre walking through the woods, shaking from the cold, starving from hunger, and struggling to find food for her family? only to later see Nesta's treatment of Feyre?"

in the anti's post, they said Feyre was just as "heinous" to Nesta.

is Feyre the one calling Nesta a pig? a smelly pig? ordering her to take her clothes off?

no, it's not, it's dear Nesta. the text goes as "I took my time, swallowing the words I wanted to bark at her" oh yes... how cruel of Feyre. how heinous of Feyre to...stay quiet... at the verbal abuse.

in the same image we see Feyre ask Nesta to do something (kindly might I add) and then inquire why she didn't chop wood like she needs to.

what does Nesta do? acts like a brat and insults Feyre...once again.

considering I'm going off by the story and not the actual screenplay, and assuming they stay true to the story; will the audience not be disgusted by Nesta's behavior? I mean they just saw Feyre struggle to find food and they expect Feyre to go home to a family happy and appreciative of Feyre but instead, they get this familial abuse.

the anti said Feyre basically tells Nesta this:

"If you keep bitching at everyone like this no one will want to be around you or you can’t marry this guy because you’re a waste of space to me"

but what do we see?

"Believe me... the day you want to marry someone worthy, I'll march up to his house and hand you over. But you're not going to marry Tomas."

the word worthy, did that not catch your eye? Feyre said Nesta will have to marry someone worthy, someone, who will treat Nesta kindly and give her the life Feyre thinks her sisters deserve. bc Feyre does think that IDK why anti feyres think Feyre despised Nesta so much, Feyre loved her sisters.

what the anti fails to realize here is that Nesta marrying Tomas would have been actually pretty great for Feyre. in the sense that, Feyre would no longer carry the burden of her sister. Feyre would not have to worry about feeding one more mouth. or worrying about Nesta's constant stealing of Feyre's money. Feyre does not think Nesta is a "waste of space" to her, if she did, it would have been easy for Feyre to discard Nesta, and allow her to marry Tomas. the anti has that twisted.

but that is not even the worst part of the scene. did you see the shameless slut-shaming that came out of Nesta's mouth? how will the audience take to that? do you think most of the younger generation will take it lightly to see a sister slut-shame a sister? a woman putting down another woman? in this social climate? where the feminism movement is alive and flourishing. will they be okay with it? will they still blame Feyre and be mad at her the way the anti says they will be? I hope not otherwise I'm losing faith in humanity.

Lovely words Nesta spews at Feyre. I admit Feyre should have told her then and there that Tomas is abusive. but let's think: Feyre is 19 years old, the youngest, has never had any raising by a parental figure, has been neglected by her whole family, where would Feyre learn to calmly talk to an overgrown brat like Nesta? Feyre telling Nesta who Tomas truly is the duty of a parent, not a sister. I will not condemn Feyre for not knowing that was the perfect time to tell Nesta who Tomas is. especially when Feyre is being tormented and verbally/emotionally abused, its kinda hard to think about something else while you're being told all these horrible words. to us its easy to see where Feyre went wrong but unless you're in the exact position Feyre was in. no one has any room to talk. and even then, every person is different in situations like these.

this part was me analyzing the interactions between Feyre and Nesta since anti had reasons to believe Feyre was just as bad to Nesta and that the audience would see that and hate Feyre. I am now going to respond to the second part of the Feyre Anti's response.

"How will an audience of non-fans react to her not reaching out to her family to tell them she was okay after the reconciliation between her and Nesta? Or not inviting them to the wedding?"- from anti

moving onto acomaf now.

Idk maybe the audience will see Feyre, a depressed, lonely, individual in an abusive relationship while being manipulated by other individuals she called friends, and understand and empathize with her. all throughout the beginning and half of acomaf, Feyre is in critical depression. she wholeheartedly believes she should not be alive. that she is not worthy. she doesn't eat, all she does is sleep, self-care is not important to her or others so why would letting a family know she's okay, a family who BARELY ever cared about her, be a priority? it doesn't seem like Nesta or elain or her father was really fazed by Feyre's lack of communication. her father left on a trip, elain got engaged and Nesta, well we didn't see a tearful welcoming to Feyre on Nesta's part did we?

anti, where is the outcry of her "family" not even really caring if Feyre was safe or not, of what happened to her? it's not like they thought she had died, otherwise, where was the mourning or funeral? no, they just didn't care.

see this is where I know when anti is just full of bullshit. why, WHY, would Feyre invite her family to wedding full of fae? the creatures elain and Nesta fear and hate? for all the talk many anti's spew about Feyre being inconsiderate to Nesta, to her family, you would think Feyre maybe just knows a fae wedding would be the last thing they would want? even then, does Feyre owe them an invitation to her wedding? does she owe them an update on her life? nope. Feyre owed them nothing.

"How about her shit-talking Nesta to a bunch of strangers then having the audacity to ask her to get involved in a war. Oh! This is after she comes into her house and insults their hospitality." - from anti

I hardly think Feyre confiding in individuals who she learned to care about and laying out all the trauma Feyre endured with her family is "shit-talking" but for argument's sake, let's say it is. I still don't see what's wrong? after years of pent-up anger and hurt, would you not let go of everything you withheld inside and explain what was done to you? how you felt? Feyre telling the IC her life story, which contains Nesta's abuse and her family's neglect, was a form of therapy for Feyre. I never read a line where Feyre calls Nesta a "cold-hearted bitch" or called elain "a lazy ditz" she just said the truth. no added embellishments. Cassian was the one who shit-talked Nesta during the dinner scene, never Feyre.

I still don't understand why antis are so against Feyre asking her sisters for help? like the war didn't involve them? they're humans, and you know what the war was about? Hybern wanting to take control of the human lands like they once did and turn them into slaves. those humans included Nesta and elain.

"They could have left the continent" correct, except elain was engaged and refused to leave Grayson. which meant Nesta refused to leave elain. but even so, isn't it the duty of humans to band together and work to overthrow a race of people who want to torture and keep them as slaves? the queens certainly weren't doing their jobs. Feyre asked to use "their" house to meet the queens bc where else would they do it? the queens trust the fae less than Nesta or elain did. but even so, Feyre asking to use their house was a courtesy, that house is rightfully Feyre's. she is the one who sacrificed herself to leave with Tamlin. she did it bravely, courageously, and they got that house thanks to her. they owed Feyre everything. and the only one who acknowledged that was Elain.

that war involved elain and Nesta whether they or Feyre or the anti's liked it or not. not even considering that Nesta and elain are Feyre Archerons sisters, yeah, their family name alone puts a target on their back.

How did Feyre or the court insult Elain's and Nesta's hospitality? You mean when Feyre realized human food differed from fae food? something she did not know about bc she's barely been turned to fae and only had eaten fae dishes? Feyre's grimace towards the human food was an involuntary reaction to someone who is still learning their new body. or was it when Cassian called out Nesta for her cold treatment towards Feyre? if that's the case then fuck decency, I would call out a fake bitch in my presence from minute one. you cant call what Nesta did "hospitality" when all she did was insult Feyre when she didn't even care that Feyre had died, or lost her love bc of abuse, or that her body was changed against her will.

hospitality: the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

did y'all read something different bc this for sure was nothing Nesta gave to her guests?

----

the rest of the anti post moves towards Rhysand and his actions UTM which I won't go into because I'm mainly just addressing the false interpretations this anti had to say about Feyre and her family.

I'm not sure how to sign off now lol, but I guess just that I hope this was enough to show how this anti's arguments were completely ludicrous and have absolutely no compassion for Feyre, and instead all the compassion for Feyre's abusers. This anti had a real spin on what the actual story was, and I hope the evidence I provided was enough to show that. Anyways yeah my brain is fried, and I'm done arguing with Feyre anti's for a while now, I need to go praise my queen Feyre so I can receive some semblance of peace.

anyways, stan Feyre for clear skin xx

[jassackles]

I thought you never would… - Chapter 1

Chapter one

A/N: This story is about Dean and the reader who meet online and get to know each other. The reader is a gamer girl and dean is a gamer boy. The reader is a member of many gaming communities but never really was active in them. When COVID hits she gets bored bc editing isn't that fun anymore so she gets back into gaming. Enjoy reading! :)

Word Count: 1,446 words

"I thought you never would break my heart like that." you said tearing up while you looked at him.

——

1 year and 6 months earlier

You were bored and looked at the supernatural edits on your feed thinking they're so cool, but you? You literally had no motivation to edit anymore. 

Your account was going great not gonna lie but you kinda had enough of it. 

You used to play video games a lot like in 2018, the only thing you did on weekends was playing video games. You definitely were no typical girl. You always got along better with guys then with girls, you never were into drama unless you were involved.  

So you looked at your PlayStation 4 and smiled a bit, You turned the device on, looking through the communities. You were just curious and bored, so you saw some guy named Dean asking if people wanted to join him and his friend Ryan. You were shy about it at first, yeah you were an open person but you also were really closed off and careful about what you were saying. 

You commented on his post and asked if they're still looking since it's like 2 hours ago. You thought you wouldn't get any response but only like 10 minutes later you got one and got invited into the party. You didn't know why but you got nervous? You pretended like you didn't see his response for the next 15 minutes. Eventually you joined and were quiet because they talked and you didn't want to interrupt anything. "Hello?" One of them said and you shyly answered hello. "My name is Ryan." The one said "I'm y/n. Nice to meet you." You said quietly adjusting your headset. 

"Yeah I can tell that your name is y/n." Ryan said and you blushed, your gamer tag was having your name in it. "R-Right." you said. "So..." You said a moment later, "what are you guys playing?" You asked fiddling with the cable of your headset. "We're playing Rainbow (six siege), wanna join?" Ryan asked. "Yeah if the other one is okay with that." you said since you still didn't hear him say anything. "Oh sorry...I'm Dean." He said with a small laugh. You knew you just heard his voice, but it was so deep and he kinda had an accent, couldn't really figure out which one though. 

"Nice to meet you too, Dean." You said with a smile "nice to meet you too, y/n." He said, what made you smile. "For me it's totally fine if you'll join." Dean added a moment later. "Okay, but I'm not that good though." You said honestly, you always just played for fun not for success like most gamers did. You didn't care how many kills or points you got. You just played because it was fun. 

"Oh that's fine, don't worry." Ryan said and you smiled, "Okay." So they invited me to their

game and you started playing. Dean made some jokes, which were funny. Sometimes he was lost which was even funnier tho. Dean had a really deep voice which was kinda attractive. You had no idea how he looked, you couldn't imagine how both of them looked. Didn't even know where they were from.

You never were the person who had many friends, because people always were judging. You also always got along better with guys then with girls/women. They were so dramatic, always looking for something to fight or get mad about. Sooo annoying...

Anyways you kept playing for an hour or so until Ryan spoke up, "so y/n, you're single?" He asks curiously. You never had a boyfriend before and you were almost eighteen, everyone around you had a partner before, but you? You've never had sex before and for you it was so embarrassing. Even tho there was no reason to be embarrassed about it. 

"Yeah, are you?" You asked back "yeah me too, guess we're the singles then." Ryan said with a laugh. "What do you mean?" You asked confused not getting it. "Oh-" he said with a laugh "Dean is in a relationship." "Oh." You said kinda feeling disappointed about it, you didn't even understand why you were so disappointed about it. 

"Oh yeah, I've been in a relationship for a year now and we're going to take a trip to San Francisco." Dean said proudly. San Francisco wasn't far from where you lived, but they didn't have to know right? "That sounds cool." You said. 

You didn't know why, but you felt so drawn towards him. You knew him for maybe like two hours, but you already liked him. You knew, it sounded crazy, but there was just something about him you couldn't figure out yet. 

"Where are you from?" Ryan asked a few minutes later. "I'm from California, you?" You asked curiously. "We're both from Nevada." "That's nice, you guys know each other personally?" You asked curiously. "Uhm yeah we went to high school together." Ryan said. You mostly talked to Ryan, Dean probably was too focused on the game because he hardly talked or answered questions you asked both of them.  

Maybe he was just someone who didn't talk with other girls because he was in a relationship. You never understood how girls could be like that, not allowing their boyfriends to talk to other girls or have female friends. Just stupid and psychotic. 

"That's cool." You said and Ryan laughed. "You really only say that's cool." He said and you blushed slightly. "I don't know what to say else." You said with a laugh to cover up how embarrassed you were, even though there was no reason to be. You didn't know those people and just wasn't sure what to answer. 

"So you guys going to college?" You asked curiously. "Dean is but I'm not." "And why aren't you going to college?" You asked Ryan. "Just haven't found the right way for me or what I wanna study." He said. "That's okay tho." You said. "What about you tho?" Dean asked. "I'm still in Highschool." "Wait how old are you?" "I'm 17." You said "Oh, thought you were much younger." He said with a small laugh. "How old are you then?" You asked curiously "We're both 18, but I'm turning 19 in October." Dean said. "Good to know." You said, again not sure what to say else. 

"When's your birthday?" Ryan asked. "My birthday is September 4h." Yoj told them. "Mine is October 2nd." Dean said. "Mine is April 24th." Ryan said and you nodded to myself. "So your birthday was already." Yoh said. "Yes it was my 18th birthday, but couldn't really throw a party because of COVID." He said with a sigh. "Ugh that sucks." You said. "So guess Dean was the lucky one who got to celebrate his 18TH birthday last year." You said. "Yeah, but I didn't do much tho. My girlfriend, Ryan, two other friends and my step sister just were here." He said. 

"But sounds chilly, just to celebrate with some people." You said. "Yeah, it really was." He said. "That's nice." You said with a smile, even though they couldn't see it. 

After some time you started playing the game 'the forest' which was kinda like Minecraft. It definitely was a relaxing game tho. You didn't have to concentrate too much, had to log trees to build something, which was really cool. You liked that game a lot. 

You started playing and fought against the monsters that appeared sometimes. Dean turned on some music, mostly Juice WRLD, you loved that artist so much. You kinda started to get comfortable, already? You only talked to them for like three hours, but you thought they're really sympathetic. 

You checked the time and saw it was already 1:30am and you had to wake up early because you had theory lessons in driving school. "Guys?" You spoke up a moment later. "Yeah?" They both said. "I think I'm going offline." You said. "What why?" Dean said. "Because I have to wake up early." "I have to wake up early too." Dean said. "Yeah but I have driving school, we could play tomorrow, if you want to." "Oh come on y/n, stay for a bit longer." Ryan said. "Bro, we can play tomorrow." You said with a laugh. "Alright fine." He said. "Goodnight." You said and they said it back. 

You turned your PlayStation 4 off and went on TIKTOK for 10 to 20 minutes before actually going to sleep. You put my phone away and went to sleep.

——

Tell me what you think of the chapter! :)

Read next part here! :)

[storyofmychoices]

Just Have Faith

[Levi Schuler x Laura Day Masterlist]

Pairing: Levi Schuler x Laura Day [F!MC] Book: Mother of the Year, Post-Chapter 10 Word Count: ~1,300 Rating/Warning: Teen (some language).

Prompts: @choicesmonthlychallenge​​ "I've got this"; @choicesbookclub MOTY Replay ; @wackydrabbles 103 "Why did you say that" (in bold).

Synopsis: Following the events of Chapter 10, when Guy refuses to wake up Lily, Laura returns home frustrated and alone. She starts to believe Guy's declarations of winning custody. Levi is there to remind her not to give up. [Emotional Hurt/Comfort]

Before she knew it, Laura was back in front of the apartment building. The street around had quieted since she left a few hours earlier. Her feet moved instinctively forward, carrying her numbly toward the building; her eyes were filled with unshed tears. She found herself in the elevator, pressing the button for their floor, but when the doors reopened, she didn't have the strength to take those last few steps.

The doors closed again, and the elevator remained in place, waiting for another resident to call for its arrival. Her head fell back against the wall, and time ticked on. Her mind kept replaying all those moments that had torn her down since Guy's arrival. It was too much.

The elevator began to descend, dinging as the doors opened for whoever summoned it. Laura sniffled back her worries and shuffled to the corner, hoping to go unnoticed.

Levi strutted in, tossing his hair behind his shoulder. He pressed the button for their floor on his way in. He stopped short, noticing he wasn't alone. "Laura?"

She looked up, her gaze barely meeting his before falling.

His eyes widened as he took her in. He rested his hands on her arms, moving them slowly, trying to bring her comfort. "What's wrong?"

Her mouth opened to speak, but no words made themselves known. A heavy sigh slipped through her lips as she reached to cradle her face in her hands.

"Let me help you to your apartment," Levi offered when the elevator arrived at its destination once more.

"No—" Laura shook her head, her voice barely audible. "No. I can't—"

"Where's Rocket?" Levi questioned, noting her absence. His voice rose with concern. "Did something happen? Is Lily alright?"

"Guy happened," Laura scoffed. Her fingers ran beneath her eyes, collecting the tears that tried to escape.

Levi waited patiently, giving her time. He slowly stroked her back, letting her know she wasn't alone.

"He put Lily to bed an hour early so that he'd have an excuse as to why I couldn't pick her up. He wouldn't hear reason. He wouldn't wake her up. And just like that, he's stolen another night from me." Her words flowed more quickly now as she let out the pain. "What if this is it? Is every day going to be a fight with him until I lose or give up?"

Levi's eyes closed at the news. His jaw and fists clenched.

The elevator shifted downward again.

"Come with me," he asked gently as the doors opened again. Levi took her hand and guided her forward, leading them outside into the night. "Let's go for a walk."

Laura didn't protest; this was better than facing the empty apartment for the fourth straight night. The crisp autumn air was refreshing. She felt her body relax slightly with the cool breeze. "I hate him."

"I know." He offered her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"First, when we were together, he made me feel like crap. He got me to believe that all of our problems were my fault. Then, after four years of learning to accept myself again and doing my best to support Lily on my own, he shows up, flaunting his wealth and status." Laura shook her head in disgust. "Lily should've been home yesterday. Maybe, I"ll get her back tomorrow, but who knows. If I had kept her an additional 48 hours, I'd be held accountable, but, Guy? Never. He's bullying me with his money, and no one sees it."

"I see it." Levi brushed his thumb tenderly over her knuckles. "And if it would help, I'm more than happy to drive over there and deck him for you. Let's just get you an alibi first."

Laura laughed through her tears. "Don't tempt me." She leaned into him further. "I don't know what to do." The words slipped from her lips in desperation. "Who says tomorrow will be any different?"

He nodded in understanding, wishing more than anything that he could make it better for her.

"I'm—I'm trying my best. But it doesn't feel like it's enough." Her voice cracked at the admission. "Maybe, I'm not enough for her."

"Why did you say that?" Levi turned to face her. "Don't ever let him make you feel like that. What you and Lily have is special. It's more than he can even hope to comprehend."

"It's only just started, and it already feels hopeless—"

"It's never hopeless," Levi interrupted. "Isn't that what you told me the other day? That it wasn't too late for my career? That I should have faith that it will work out?"

"Maybe I was wrong." No longer able to hold them back, silent tears slid down her cheek.

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. "Laura, you're her mom. You've been there through the good and the bad. You've put her first in everything. Hell, you moved to a new town with no support just so she could go to a better school and one day achieve her dream. You're an incredible mom and woman. Anyone can see that. As long as you're still standing, as long as you are still fighting, there's no stopping you. Your love will get you through. There's always hope."

Laura wrapped her arms around him, letting the warmth of his embrace soothe her.

"Don't let him get to you. He's not worth it." He stroked her hair softly. "You've got this."

She nodded, taking a step back, trying to compose herself. She let his words settle over her. "I've got this."

"Don't ever let that piece of shit make you doubt yourself. He's not worth it. But you are." He cradled her face in his hands. "What you and Lily have is worth everything. Just have faith in yourself. It's going to be okay."

"Thank you—" she held her hand over his, keeping him there. Laura focused on the warmth of his palm against her cool cheek. A small smile turned at the corner of her lips as his adoring gaze met hers. "Thank you for being everything I've needed since moving here."

"I haven't done anything." His thumb brushed over her cheek. "You did."

"I mean it, Levi. You've been here for everything. You fixed my oven. You baked cookies with Lily and me. You've given me rides. You've babysat Lily (which is no small feat). You helped me get a job. You've been nothing less than a gentleman. You never cease to amaze me." She chewed her lip, watching his smile grow. "I don't know how I got to be so damn lucky."

"I'm the lucky one. You and Rocket have helped me too. In more ways than you know."

"Maybe you can tell me someday." Laura pressed a kiss to his palm.

"Maybe."

"Levi?"

"Yes?"

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "You can kiss me now."

He exhaled a chuckle. "Don't mind if I do."

His lips captured hers immediately, not needing any further invitation. They were soft and warm, encouraging him deeper. The subtle taste of her now-dried tears lingered. He made it his mission to kiss ever drop away. Her tears were a reminder of the pain she had felt. He refused to let any memory of that remain. He peppered her face with the softest kisses. It was then that he realized there was nothing he wouldn't do for her. He had never felt like this before. He would move heaven and earth if it would prevent her from shedding another tear. He kissed his way back to her lips, deepening their embrace.

The sound of someone clearing their throat pulled them apart. "Some of us are trying to walk here." A grumpy, elderly man complained, pushing past them.

Laura cringed, hiding her face in her hands.

"Sorry, bro!" Levi called.

"Youth today," the man huffed, shaking his fist.

Her laughter filled the night air around them.

It was a beautiful melody. Levi smiled to himself, admiring her. It just might be his favorite sound.

Tags in a reblog

[charrfie]

Alright now that its officially Forzen Friday let's try this post again since it didn't show up in the tags last time-

I'M FINALLY MAKING A FORZEN HC DUMP (kinda AU-ish territory but not really idk exactly) AND NONE OF YOU CAN STOP ME

There are also a few other hcs sprinkled in here related to other characters (like Darnold and Sunkist for example) but Forzen is the main focus!! Despite him being a minor character I latched onto him and fleshed him out sm yall have no idea

Everything under the cut bc this shit is gonna be LONG (and there's also some more doodles that take up a bit of space!)

Also uhh if people like this I might take one for another hlvrai character later bc I have a lot to say about everyone!!

Forzen moved from France to the US with his parents when he was around 12 or 13 (yes, I'm aware that Scorpy and Holly are French Canadian and not France French but that doesn't mean Forzen can't be, I'm just being sure to say this now before someone says something to me about it)

He wanted to go to college and eventually become a game dev, but he didn't have the funds or the support for it (his family thought anything to do with games would amount to a career that would go nowhere).

Because of this, he instead was recruited in the US military. He originally had no intent to join, but after constantly being harrassed recommended to join and being entertained with the concept of being able to afford and pay for college, he caved (hence him telling the science team that his only goal is "to graduate").

He doesn't like his job very much if that wasn't clear.

And neither do most others that have the same job like him.

He was put on a "team" of his own, Team Nice, which was likely arranged as a guaranteed way to get Forzen in the way of danger, and with no one else fighting beside him, he would be easily dealt with- no one would have to worry about him bothering them again. However, he somehow manages to survive all of this, of course. Somehow. He likely knows the real reason he was assigned his own team (if you can even call it that), but refuses to fully acknowledge it for his own sanity, and instead pretends that he's some big, important person on a team that ranks so highly, he's the only one qualified to be in it. (I apologize ahead of time for giving one of the most shitposty and throwaway characters in hlvrai this much depth and angst, there was just potential there leave me alone)

Fast forward to the actual events of hlvrai though. This hc is a little outlandish but I really like the concept!!! So, at one point, Forzen is killed, presumably by some kind of creature that was out and about due to the RenCas. The science team + Benrey stumble across him (act 2 part 2 at around 13 min in for anyone curious), and Benrey decides to use the healing beam Sweet Voice on him. While Benrey and Forzen may not be on good terms anymore, Benrey still very begrudgingly cares about him and didn't want to see him get injured or die. Forzen wakes up a minute or so after the science team exits the room, assuming that he just passed out, nothing more, and goes along with things as normal.

He meets Darnold a while after his first (concious) run in with the science team. Darnold has recently dealt with the science team and helped them out, but is pretty bummed that he couldn't travel with them, as everything was far too scary and dangerous for him. Forzen, wanting to escape Black Mesa and the military altogether, ends up making a deal with him that he'll handle all the dangerous stuff if Darnold can show him a way out.

Now, meeting Darnold is a very new experience for him, since Darnold actually enjoys his company, and actually wants to befriend him! At first, Forzen openly tries to act as if Darnold is a huge deal to put up with- he goes along with with the whole "if you're escaping outta this hellhole with me, you better keep up" kinda deal (despite the fact that he kinda NEEDS Darnold to escape and show him the way out). His walls are still very much so raised, and he doesn't let his guard down as he's not used to others caring about him and his safety. But as time passes, he begins to realize that maybe Darnold DOES want to be his friend, and the tough guy act becomes less apparent.

To preface this next one- Sunkist sensed that something was up (he has a next-level sense of danger when it comes to Tommy's safety) and got to BM as fast as he could, searching every hallway for his boy. This is when Forzen finds him!! He figures that taking Sunkist as a hostage would be enough to get extra info out of the team that's been practically plaguing him lately.

Darnold doesn't know about Forzen's plans to take Sunkist hostage, so is completely fine with traveling alongside him. At one point though, Forzen and Darnold get separated (Forzen occupies him, makes sure hes safe and then runs off to deal with Sunkist). Darnold immediately uses his surroundings to model a quick little teleporter device to get Forzen back, because, you know, the man's a genius. Idc if its logical or not just go with it shhh I've gotta fill in the plotholes with something. That's why Forzen disappears all of a sudden after he's cornered by the science team. He just pops back in front of Darnold suddenly, all confused and loopy from the whole teleportation thing.

As things begin to wind down, Darnold and Forzen make it out of BM and start making a break for it, no idea how they'll get away from BM and to safety somewhere- they didnt really think things through.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for Forzen really), however, G-man picks both of them up. He means to drop Darnold off at Tommy's party, as he observed that Darnold helped his son to safety and is grateful for it. Forzen, though, he intends to "deal with" for messing things up so badly with Tommy, Sunkist, and all of Tommy's friends. This is where Darnold finds out about everything Forzen did and frankly gets really pissed with him since he thought he only had good intentions??? Luckily though, Darnold convinces G-man to give him a second chance, let him go to Tommy's party and apologize, and try things again. G-man, for some reasons agrees- probably bc hes in a good mood, as it IS his son's birthday.

The party is pretty uncomfortable to say the least. Tommy's extremely hesitant to talk to Forzen, but he does, and they end up on neutral terms by the end of it. Uneasy, but neutral. Tommy and Darnold hit it off though, and Tommy opens the invitation to Darnold that he can visit his place anytime now that everything at BM is over with.

As everyone's getting ready to leave, Forzen mentions to Darnold that he doesn't have a place to stay, seeing as the entire military was kinda. Yknow. Wiped out. Obviously wouldn't wanna go back to check anyways. And he has no interest in going home to his parents. So Darnold agrees to let him stay with him since they've become good pals over the course of everything.

Over time, Darnold visits Tommy more and more often. He starts bringing Forzen along, which Tommy is iffy of at first, but their dynamic starts to change and become more comfortable once Tommy sees that Forzen isnt interested in being enemies anymore.

Sunkist and Forzen still don't get along for a very long time. Or, well- it's moreso that Sunkist is very wary about Forzen, despite him not doing anything to harm either Sunkist or Tommy.

Oh yeah and almost forgot to mention one of my favorite hcs (that I PROMISE you started out as a joke but then I got attached) is Sunkist can talk!! So his first spoken interaction with Forzen after Forzen comes over to visit for the first time is literally just him being all threatening and laying down the ground rules bc he doesn't want Forzen to hurt Tommy at all in any way. And of course Forzen about has a heart attack bc "HUH??????? THERE'S A DOG THAT IS SPEAKING HUMAN WORDS TO ME"

UHH I HAVE MORE (I've written out so much shit about dynamics and what I'd think would happen even after all of this) BUT I DON'T WANT THIS TO BE TOO LONG like it already is SO I SUPPOSE I'LL LEAVE IT AT THAT FOR NOW!!!! I hope this isn't too ooc either, I just have Emotions about this series and write too much so why not share it yknow

[buddha-in-disguise]

I have so much to unpack from last night's Supergirl episode. Since it ends at 3am UK time, I often tweet a little before I finally fall asleep. But it is now midday, so here goes on further thoughts on it all. I know this is going to be pretty rambling but I hope it makes sense.

First. Up until this half of the season, not only did Supergirl consistently trend in the UK, so did other words associated with it, most notably Kara and Lena.

Since 5B began, the trending has failed to materialise in the UK. The hiatus of two those blocks almost immediately on top of each other hasn't helped, but it is still a salient point.

Now for the rest. I'm not even sure where to start, but I will try my best.

The opening scenes in the bar.

No Nia. No Kelly. Where were they? Nothing was even mentioned. It wouldn't have taken much to have Alex say if Kelly was working, or running late. Anything. Hell, they had Kelly/Dansen and Nia meet up in a bar scenario in 5A. Why suddenly are they not there? They wouldn't necessarily need dialogue (I mean, Kelly has barely had any since Crisis anyway, so what's new?)

Yet in walks William and suddenly Alex is teasing Kara about inviting him. Winn is also there saying, hey it's okay. You barely know the guy, you had a shitty relationship beforehand, but go ahead, date the dude.

We had a prime opportunity for the Danver sisters to do karaoke together. Instead it was with William. At the expense of sister time (so many would’ve loved the sisters singing together).

So much here is wrong for me as a viewer.

If you have a show about female empowerment, yet the lead of that show is having to be told by others that dating a guy she has barely shared any positive moments with, let alone any romantic feelings for beyond a really awkward moment the episode before; that is not empowering a woman.

All too often Supergirl (as the lead in the show) is looking at dating, but not being capable of making her own romantic choices without the interference from others around her.

The only one I can think of who didn't need that was S1 James and to some degree Adam. Kara showed interest, but ultimately made the decisions on her own. Kara also recognised that with Winn, they were better off as friends. Yet S2 began and inexplicably Kara and James had broken up, and the need for Kara to get told to go for it by others began.

Mon-El was extremely problematic. As is William. Both were allowed to lie, to treat women like garbage at times with immunity. Yet here is another double standard. Kara and the Superfriends lied to Lena for 3 years, yet Lena is a bad person for reacting. I will repeat what has been said I don't know how often about Lena's reaction. It isn't without issue in how she is dealing with it. She isn't evil, but she has handled it badly. Her own emotional trauma, that was partly unpacked in 5A helps though explain why she behaved as she has.Yet, Mon-El faced no consequences for his actions. William can be a complete nightmare in how he treated Kara in 5A, but all is suddenly forgotten about or forgiven because of the reset? That is a cop out if ever there was one.

This hypocrisy is what annoys me the most, and frankly it is misogynistic all too often.

I actually pity any woman who believes it is okay for a man to behave as many do towards Kara. The message it sends is awful. I know the men in my family would be horrified by the actions of these love interests. I know of some men watching the show who feel the same way.

As for Lena and Kara. The trauma both have faced has shaped them. Yet Kara appears unaffected by losing her world a second time when Earth 38 was destroyed. On losing Argo. Sure they got it back, but as a changed merged World. You expect us to believe having to watch an antimatter wave destroy those you love has no effect? That being trapped for months with only the other paragons and Lex didn't cause trauma, even with a positive outcome. That seeing Krypton destroyed the first time wasn’t traumatic enough. That’s not something that just goes away. Add in losing Jeremiah, losing Astra (again), the trauma Supergirl must face when she can’t rescue everyone, that has a lifelong impact.

Lena has shown her emotional trauma has also been lifelong, albeit in a different way. To dismiss the emotional abuse Lena has suffered to attack her actions now is pitiful. Winn even suggests to Kara, that in the future, Lena does come through this, and isn't evil personified some want to make her out to be.

Yet Mon-El gets excused, William gets excused. Ugh. I’m sick of the double standard.

So, let’s unpack this further. Kelly Olsen was in the military. She wasn't just trained, but had an active role in the army. She recounted an event at a checkpoint where she was serving in S4. So she had active service, and it was in that moment when Kelly decided she wanted to help others more.

Kelly also knows the stress of keeping an important part of your life secret. She then also fell in love with a woman, someone who was her Sergeant, who was then killed on patrol (another reason we know Kelly was on active duty). It devastated Kelly who hadn't even told James of her relationship.

Later, upon completing her service, Kelly became a psychologist specialising in trauma.

Nia is also someone facing problems. Not only did her becoming Dreamer lead to discord with her sister, as well as the tragic loss of her mother, she has problems with Brainy. Nia offered to be there for Kelly when she was upset over watching Alex get hurt, but we saw nothing to suggest they had a heart to heart. Azie posted something that suggested they filmed a scene that did this, but it never made it on the final edit. Instead, once again we had William taking screen time.

So anyway, the point of all this is: guess who is placed to actively help Lena and/or Kara with the problems?

Kelly. Who apparently doesn't know Kara is Supergirl yet. So while Kara wonders if she should tell William, she could have the exact same conversations with Alex, only substitute Kelly for William. Overall, the plot could easily be maintained, and the established cast get good solid and plausible screen time. She could even talk to Nia about it, yet doesn't.

Another thing I find hard to understand is why haven't they used the link of Kelly, working at Obsidian North, where they could establish the Leviathan link.

If Lex has made the connection to Leviathan, you are telling me, even without Brainy helping them, Alex, Nia, J'onn and Kara haven't made the same connection? C'mon. Two investigative journalists, one who has won the Pulitzer, two DEO trained agents, and if Kelly was brought in, someone military trained; aren't able to make the connections? J'onn has all those computer banks in the tower, and while none of them are Brainy or Winn, he can't use said computing power? Why bother having it, if they are only props in the background. They could even ask Lena to help, since she has shown willingness to work with them if the reasoning was good enough. Leviathan is someone she knows (after all, Lena could have her memories returned by J’onn too). She knows the danger Leviathan poses. She could use the leverage to still get the lens from Obsidian in a similar way to now, but through Kelly if needed.

Actually, if they are using the tower, how does J’onn afford to pay for all this? I can only assume being as old as he is, he made some great investments over time, allowing him to be independently wealthy? But again nothing really suggests this.

Oh as for Alex leaving the DEO, great. After all, she was the Director but hasn’t been able to lead the DEO in all that time. Let alone some of the morally grey areas the DEO skirted around all too often. Still, where will she get her income from? Does she get paid as part of J’onn’s PI firm? Kara barely makes rent and food costs (at least she says her apartment is rent controlled so wouldn’t be able to afford it otherwise), so no way can she afford to help Alex out financially. Kelly might be able to support her, but again I cannot imagine it would be sustainable.

I feel like banging my head against a brick wall.

Onto Nia. I've said this a few times now, but here I go again. Back to William. I get the reason he came along in regards to Russell and so the Andrea connection. That story made sense. What hasn't made sense - William being used as a journalist, when Nia is right there! Nia has barely had any screen time, and virtually none as a journalist; you know - her actual job. I'm not sure what the minutes on screen ratio has been this season between the two, but it has felt completely slanted towards William as a viewer.

Instead of Kara and Nia investigating Leviathan after William was 'exposed' in 5A, now Nia is sidelined again, because they want Kara to team up with William to investigate Lex. Why do they need that journalistic pairing of William and Kara, when Nia - who as a Superhero, is better placed if danger from Lex occurs. But no, they're making it about Kara having to work with William because Lex threatened to kill him. Plus Nia was being mentored by Kara. Is she no longer being mentored by Kara? Are they a team? Even if the mentoring has ended, Nia is still not being utilised as a journalist. As the saying goes, make it make sense!

As for Lex. I love Jon Cryer. I’ve loved his version of Lex, but once again I feel Lena is just as well placed to take on his role in bringing down Leviathan. Why add another villain to this plot? We were told it was Leviathan who were the bad guys for this season, but once again we barely have a glimpse of them, but all the screen time on Lex, also to the detriment of Lena. We could be using this time to begin to mend Lena’s relationships with not only Kara, but the Superfriends. Instead we are getting bit and pieces, that seemingly bear little resemblance to the ‘fight for Lena’s soul’, or the ‘Stronger together, weaker apart’ tag lines the SG team used to market the series in 5A. (See attached photo). So again, this is frustrating for us to watch, as there is absolutely no cohesion to the storytelling. We know it is the ‘nothing is as it seems’ season, but to have no really coherent storylines so far this late on? It is baffling for me.

The sidelining of Nia and Kelly also brings to the fore the way the LGBTQ characters are being treated.

Dansen feels like a long lost legend from the mists of time. As I said earlier, there was a perfect opportunity for a Dansen scene in the opening part of the show, yet we might as well watch tumbleweeds fly past, for all the screen time Dansen or Nia have had. Well, rather haven’t had.

It seems we shouldn't ask for justification as to why William is on the show, but when we say the LGBTQ characters are being sidelined, that it doesn't matter one jot how diverse a cast can be; if said cast are not being given credible storylines or screentime, and if we say as much, we have to continually justify why that is the case. We get told to take what we are given. To insist on better, is oppressing white CIS men (in some cases CIS women have argued the same). This isn't oppressing anyone, but asking that if we get given relationships, given characters we want to invest in, they get the storylines to accomplish that. Supergirl is failing the LGBTQ audience so badly at the moment. So many have the same complaints it is ludicrous to suggest this is just one section of a fandom or trolls.

What I'm taking from all this at the moment is that 20% of the main viewing demographic as per GLAAD figures (and more besides, as I've seen straight viewers recognising the problems as well), have serious concerns with Supergirl.

But keep telling us we are overreacting. Or we should take what we are given. Or that we are delusional. After all, it is the kind of crap we have sprouted at us continually away from Supergirl, why shouldn't it be the case here.

I look at S4, heck even 5A, to what the show is doing now and it feels like an unmitigated disaster. Episodes are running out fast, so even if they increase Dansen, or Nia's screen time, it won't be enough to make up what has been lost. They're running out of time to give us a solid ending that ties up the mess they've created.

I really don’t know where this will end? CW Supergirl - do better. You have some phenomenal actors and actresses in your cast. Do them and your audience justice. Because right now you aren’t at all.

[fandomele]

Same anon here & holy shit I didn't know the SC fandom got that awful. As a rule I tend to stay in my lane and read fanfics about my fav ships so I don't go to Twitter often for content. Fans can be very hypocritical & I think it's b/c people feel the need to justify liking things so much now that they bend over backwards to seem in the right. The Joker is one of my all time fav villains but I'm not gonna pretend he isn't terrible just so people won't judge me for liking a fictional character

yeah, I mean... I have shipped things that weren’t exactly completely healthy for the characters or super progressive or whatever simply because I liked them (while being like “it’s fine if you don’t like it, but I interpret it this way and I can see how it could become healthy if this and that happened, and with therapy, and I like their general interactions so I can also imagine aus where the bad things didn’t happen”). It’s a matter of tastes. And sometimes I do interpret a character in a very nice way and other people hate the same character, that’s fine too, and we can argue whether that character is good or bad or what. Sometimes I will ship the white, straight couple even when given different options if I like their dynamic, I shipped Willow and Oz from Buffy more than I shipped Willow and Tara.  Both canon romances but because Willow and Tara were both sweet together, until it got darker, it was more boring to me than Oz, who was so funny. Simple as that. Legends of Tomorrow? Sara and Ava kinda disliked each other, then flirted and bantered and I was sold. It’s all about personality, I won’t automatically ship something based on gender. But I also won’t claim that I ship Sara and Ava because of wlw representation and shipping something else is homophobic, or that my ships are morally superior and all that. (Though I do feel happy even just when couples that involve minorities exist, because people need that, and give ‘points’ to show who have them. The two things can co-exist)It’s just way different from saying ‘I ship this because -representation- and it’s perfect and healthy and must happen, and if you don’t ship it you are racist/homophobic/misogynistic and evil, and this show is queerbaiting us because... one character cares for the other and the actresses sometimes glance at each other’s lips much like the rest of the population does while talking’. Not to mention how much some of those fans confuse characters with actors and straight up torment real people over their jobs until they get blocked, and then use it as proof that they are bad people. How you behave with other real people really determines if you are a decent person or not, it’s not which character you like that does it. Or even why. 

But then, most of these fans were in the Emma x Regina fandom in once upon a time. They are fans who, beside bullying everybody else while claiming to be the victim, did things such as accusing Jennifer Morrison of supporting rape culture because Jen was happy that fans of her canon ship, Emma x Hook, had made a tea dedicated to it. That level of detachment from reality and entitlement. And they kept getting angrier, getting more people into their group while feeding them their teachings and expecting them to be as angry, and inviting them to be, and attracting other people who felt that way and who made it even worse, and then they all moved to a new fandom, supergirl, where they picked a kinda similar couple, Kara and Lena, and from the beginning were as obsessed and demanding as they were by the end of once upon a time, and from there it kept escalating too, exactly because that’s how group dynamic works. They have reached incredibly unacceptable levels and some day, when supergirl is over, they’ll migrate to a new show where they will start attacking everyone and invading all tags to ‘conquer’ the fandom and fight all those ‘bad shippers’ who ship other ships and must be ‘taught’ that they are immoral for it, and escalate from there as well. It’s a cycle, it just happens that it always gets more extreme as time goes by and more people join in. And the poor normal fans of the same thing are either forced to adapt, to hide, or to stay very far away so they won’t be confused with them. 

And yes, some fans did brag, years ago, about how they were teaching karamel fans a lesson because we were mysoginistic, supporting rape culture, racist and homophobic and abuse apologists for shipping Kara and Mon El, and by posting anti-karamel in all tags and pro-supercorp as well, they were effectively ruining the chance for fans to 1 enjoy the show 2 enjoy their tumblr time 3 find other fans who liked the same things and 4, in the case of young impressionable fans, they made them wonder if they were doing something bad by shipping Kara and Mon El and be ashamed of themselves.So in the end Karamel fans became quieter, didn’t post in the karamel tag because you wouldn’t scroll down to find posts there if you had to scroll down hundreds of anti ones, you’d just get in a bad mood, and only talked to their close friends and mutual followers without tagging, while those supercorpers had ‘won’ the tags.

This is just an example too but I have no doubt that they’ll pull the same ‘technique’ in the next fandom, unless it’s big like the ouat one was in which case they’ll get shut down by several groups of people. But if it’s smaller like Supergirl’s? Yeah, they’ll purposefully ruin the tag system and claim to be doing that because of social justice related reasons and then that they are in fact victims and bullied themselves. And at the same time exaggerate their fave characters’ qualities to make them good and pure and a victim so that they can prove they have the moral high ground on that too. 

[monochrome-monarch]

Hmmmm. . . Well, that I haven't thought of before. Also,, I don't know Gamera well so bear with me as a bullshit my way through this. Also, it was pretty late when I waa writing this but meh.

Since Gamera is a man-made Titan that's made of mana and is biomechanical, he's probably an android or a cyborg though, it's not obvious unless he flies or uses his powers. He was made when a species called the Gyaos were being a bunch of nuisance and dangers that even the Titans can't handle and it doesn't help that they don't listen to Dagon. They didn't contest his position or anything, just outright disrespected him. So, the humans made Gamera to assist the Titans and yeah, he's very effective against Gyaos and made things easier for everyone.

Despite this, Gamera is a. . . Complicated issue among the titans. Yeah, they're impressed that the humans can do that and grateful for the help but also horrified like 'Wait, they can do that???'. Some ingrates are also kinda tempted to destroy him for simply existing. Some don't trust him and simply avoid him. Some wanna befriend him, really but are hesitant about it since they're not sure on what he can do, how strong he is or what his limitations are. Basically, how everyone would react if the elephants at the zoo suddenly made a living, breathing human out of random stuff that they have on them.

So yeah, Gamera mostly hangs out with humans since he's more or less an outcast among the titans. He's a friend to all children and babysits in his spare time. If there's trouble, Gamera usuallyprioritizes the kids first then eberyone else. He's also kinda the local mediator when it comes to human drama, something Mosu and Goji appreciate because that's less problems for them. Despite being a hit among humans, Gamera still feels pretty lonely since he still wants to fit in with the rest of the titans but he's also scared of the possible rejection and even attack.

Dagon usually keeps a close eye on Gamera, makes sure he doesn't do anything suspicious or dangerous. He knows he's a good guy, hell, Dagon kinda wants to take him in but you can never be too sure. He sometimes sends Rodan to spy on him and report back on what he's up to. His interactions with Gamera are polite but brief, mostly to check on him and such. He also defends Gamera if anyone is being a dick to him. Gamera tends to be more formal towards to the Alpha because, yeah, Alpha but he's also kinda scared of him cuz this guy can kill him for any reason, even without a reason. He's usually ready to defend himself if the time comes.

Based on his spying missions, Rodan finds Gamera interesting, almost as interesting as the Ghidorah Triplets, really. He also kinda likes him but definitely has a lot of respect for the guy. Anyone who is a friend to all kids and is a formidable fighter is someone Rodan can respect. Though, despite that, Rodan wants to approach Gamera but is either too busy to or Gamera is busy or he just ends up not following through. A pretty annoying thing but one of these days, he's gonna approach the guy and have an actual conversation with him. He swears on his mum. Meanwhile, Gamera knows Rodan but only the basics like Alpha's son, fastest flying titan, controls fire and lava and a walking disaster. He's pretty weary of him as Rodan has demonstated how chaotic he can be but since Rodan is also a pretty decent guy, Gamera doesn't exactly dislike him. Just finds him annoying but intimidating at times. Does wanna befriend him but he doesn't wanna get rejected or get in trouble.

Goji is pretty neutral about Gamera. Guy isn't a troublemaker, hell, he's a problem solver, really. He's a mediator, too, albeit with human issues. He's also a pretty decent dude judging by Gojira's own observations, especially judging by Gamera's interactions with the humans, Mothra and Dagon. However, Goji is a pretty distant guy, the kind who prefers people approach him than the other way around. Even then, he doesn't fully trust Gamera, always watching him as if waiting for him to do something dangerous, which never happens but still. You can never be too careful, though. Gamera finds him intimidating, especially when he catches Goji watching him. He's kinda antsy around the guy, especially when has his katana on him. Prefers avoiding him, really.

Mothra pities him. I mean, being created to fight a pest species and then getting ostracized for it? That pisses her off. How can everyone be so ungrateful and mean? It's not like Gamera asked to be made that way. She's probably one of the few if not the only one who approaches and talks to Gamera. She's friendly and polite to him, makes sure he's alright and sometimes even gives him snacks. She wants to invite himto her friend group but he always declines. Gamera likes Mosu. She's the closest he's ever gotten to having a friend.

The Ghidorah Triplets have different opinions on him. Ichi is mostly neutral about him but mostly wants nothing to do with him, Ni doesn't trust him and San finds him interesting and wants to interact with him but his older brothers keep on preventing him from doing so. Collectively, they kinda sympathize in Gamera's situation, in being an anomaly but Ghidorah was luckier and was mostly accepted by the other titans. Also, they're not exactly man-made titans as far as they know. Though, mostly they either tag along with Rodan during his spying missions or join Goji in watching the guy, especially when Mothra or Dagon talk to him. Gamera just finds them intimidating, even more so than Goji. They're triplets with the weird triplet hivemind thing, they're unpredictable, have scary resting bitch faces and they're pretty ruthless in terms of combat. So yeah, Gamera wants nothing to do with them.

During Ghidorah's attack on Atlantis, Gamera prioritized on helping the people evacuate as Ghids attacked during the evacuation. Gamera tried his best in helping Mothra, Gojira and Anguirus in fighting off the triplets but he ended up getting sealed away. He was released during the 21st century.

Okay, will post more Gamera if I have more ideas or changed my mind on things. Also, I am so sorry if I screwed up on stuff, especially Gamera.

@heimkoheimkofan

[wyvernseeker]

I posted 10,688 times in 2022

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I tagged 734 of my posts in 2022

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Longest Tag: 105 characters

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My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Watch "Crocea Mors" on YouTube

11 notes - Posted May 26, 2022

#4

Watch "Why SAO Abridged Is the Best Parody Ever" on YouTube

12 notes - Posted February 15, 2022

#3

Analysis - 4Kids And An Enhancement They Added To Yugi and Mai's Duel

When it comes to 4Kids, some of their decisions and choices have been mocked for several a right reason, such as forcibly trying to Americanize certain things and being too afraid to step on parent's toes by bowderlizing many things (though some is understandable even if I may not agree with it, given how moral guardians can act). But sometimes, 4Kids did try to polish the story so that things could flow even just a little bit better. And one such case would be Yugi and Mai's duel in the Duelist Kingdom finals.

In the field between the two, Mai is able to grasp a significant lead on Yugi/Atem due to him not playing at his best, but the reasons for that differ in the languages. In the original Japanese version, Atem basically allows Mai to gain such a lead because he doesn't take her seriously and is focusing on fighting Pegasus. Now, that doesn't sound very much in character for Atem, given how he takes every opponent he goes up against, even when the stakes don't involve high-risk magical shenanigans, seriously and doesn't underestimate them even for a millisecond. And keep in mind, Mai won at least 15 Star Chips (5 extra to pay Yugi back for his kindness) from duelists that Pegasus deemed worthy enough to grant an invite to. And for those of you who don't know (however few it may be), this alarmingly out of character moment also occurs in the manga, which is rather startling. So, what does 4Kids do?

4Kids manages to have the reason for Yugi and Atem's poor performance early in the Duel have to do with a distracted Yugi and fully tying up a mini-arc from when he had his rematch with Kaiba, and lost when Yugi chose to call off his attack with Celtic Guardian when Kaiba pulled out his ultimate Trap Card, Castle Battlement Ledge, with the Pharaoh all too willing to win even knowing that Kaiba would likely end up hurt. When Mai tried to give him Star Chips to replace the ones he lost to Kaiba, he's still too shaken to respond to her and Téa picks up the slack for him, winning them in a duel against Mai. Now, you think that would be the end of it? Not quite. What follows after that but before the Duelist Kingdom finals tears open that barely healed wound. The event in question being Pegasus defeating Kaiba and stealing his soul and the subsequent nightmare Yugi has of Pegasus' captives on monoliths and Yugi's grandpa telling him to use the Millennium Puzzle's power to counteract Pegasus' Millennium Eye.

Yugi's able to put on a brave face and have the Pharaoh duel, but it's clear that what happened isn't just something that would go away in one episode. Subsequently, Yugi wants to get the Duel over with before he thinks Atem gets any ideas about trying to use the Puzzle's power to hurt Mai (remember that in the anime, Atem managed to swap the places of Bakura and Yami Bakura's souls so that they didn't run the risk of sending their good friend to the graveyard). As a result he tries to keep Atem on a short leash and refuses to have him try and work with him, thinking that outmuscling Mai will get the duel finished with faster. Which ends up to their detriment. But it does get resolved, with Mai's help.

Mai still retains her abrasiveness in the 4Kids dub, but the dub also remembers her character development and her desiring a fair fight and win against Yugi. She can tell that he's still hurting, and in her own caring, but rough way, tries to help him get back on track by forcing him to confront the problem, pointing out how Joey taught her to confront her issues head on and to trust in her herself and her own abilities. This in turn finally allows Yugi and Atem to conclude their mini-arc, the former finally choosing to fully trust in the latter again. Atem even apologizes for going against Yugi's wishes of not wanting to win even if it meant hurting someone. As a result of their resolution, they are eventually able to triumph over Mai.

In a case of understated brilliance, 4Kids' dub doesn't add a plot hole but undoes a startlingly out of character moment from Atem done for forced drama. And ultimately, uses these changes to put an end to a mini-arc of Yugi's character development in a satisfactory way. And all without making anyone out of character.

*EDIT: fixed some spelling errors.

16 notes - Posted September 28, 2022

#2

Just recently I rewatched Yugi and Kaiba's rematch at Duelist Kingdom and boy, it was still as painful as it was when I was a kid. But ultimately, as much as Kaiba's stunt with the ledge still pisses me off, Téa giving him a dressing down for such a cheap tactic is still one of my favorite scenes. She minced no words in telling Seto how much of a spineless coward he was to do that, especially when you consider that he could have won the very turn he used Monster Reborn. But there's one detail I noticed, and that was in Kaiba's face.

When Téa went off on him, the expression he has isn't one of nonchalance, but one of rage. And it's also telling on his face that, even if he won't admit it, he KNOWS that Téa is 103% right. Unlike him, Yugi never compromised his principles, and given he has plenty of reason to hate Kaiba, given how he sent his grandfather Solomon to the hospital and ripped up the Blue-Eyes White Dragon he won from him. This one (of a surprisingly smaller than purported number of speeches she's claimed to give) speech from Téa completely craps on Kaiba-boy's ill-gotten victory, even before Pegasus utterly humiliates him in their duel.

Also, it reminded me why Téa is one of my favourite Yu-Gi-Oh! characters even today: she always sticks by her friends and won't tolerate anyone's crap being flung at them. Even if she has nothing to gain, she won't let anyone treat her friends, especially Yugi, badly.

25 notes - Posted September 29, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I imagine that when Summer was pregnant with Ruby, both she and Taiyang asked Qrow if he would love to be an uncle to their budding little red rose. Even if he shared no familiar blood with Ruby, and Raven's desertion of the family could call Qrow's own connection to them debatable, Taiyang and Summer for all intents and purposes considered Qrow a brother-in-law, if not a brother in soul and family overall.

I can imagine that Qrow actually cried tears of happiness at Taiyang and Summer telling him that he's family, especially after everything Raven and everyone else in the Branwen Tribe put him through throughout his entire life. Especially with him reeling over Raven running off on Taiyang and their little yellow sun dragon.

38 notes - Posted July 22, 2022

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