#not sure how many people at this point will be getting into this show and need to watch out for spoilers but just in case lol

[kajibunny]

⋆𐙚₊˚⊹♡ we're just friends! (or are we?) w/ the wind breaker boys ✧⋆⭒˚｡

✿ featuring: hajime umemiya, jo togame, haruka sakura, hayato suo, ren kaji ✿ fluff, mutual pining, hidden feelings (aaaa), suggestive for suo, a lil angst (with comfort) for kaji ✿ a/n: i guess by now everyone can tell that i’m very into the friends to lovers trope ໒꒰ྀི´ ˘ ` ꒱ྀིა~♡ it’s def my fav!!! and these wb bois are all perfect friend material, and ofc boyfriend material too! enjoy, cuties! ✿ wc: 2.3k

— you have a closely intimate friendship to the point that everyone around you thinks you two are dating, though you know you're not lovers (yet), but are definitely more than just friends.

ʚɞ umemiya 

— sharing hello and goodbye kisses with each other.

ꕤ you and umemiya are the definition of 'affectionate', as your love languages both consist of physical touch. but maybe with each other, a little bit too much for just friends.

ꕤ the word "boundaries" did not exist to the both of you once you were within arm's reach of each other. you and umemiya give each other hello and goodbye hugs, sometimes cheek and forehead kisses, as a greeting, right? to be friendly. though he doesn't seem to do that as often to other people, or at all, even. just to you. only to you. 

ꕤ he also loves cuddling up to you whenever he takes a nap on the rooftop, inviting you to join him in picking out some veggies that you two could make a meal together with.

ꕤ while you two were cooking together, you definitely gave off a 'married couple' vibe with the way you held the ladle up for umemiya to taste, the way he had pressed his palm to your back whenever he needed to pass through, the way he fed you with his own spoon and giggling while complimenting how delicious your cooking was, the way he wrapped his arms around you and hummed while he helped you wash the dishes. anyone who saw would have immediately bid their congratulations and would think you two are newlyweds.

ꕤ hiragi took one look at the both of you appearing all lovey-dovey, and the confusion of whether you two were dating or not made his stomach scrunch up in pain. 

ꕤ umemiya calls you such adorable names when referring to you in conversation, too. his tiny bean, his ray of sunshine, his cherry blossom, it was always "his", as if you belonged to him. he was openly affectionate with you and was not afraid to show it.

ꕤ many guys also took a liking to you, but never attempted to even make a move or confess, because they were already under the assumption that you were umemiya's, seeing you two playing with each other's fingers and comparing hand sizes like you were made for each other. but how could that be, you and umemiya were just friends, weren't you?

ʚɞ suo 

— you get a special seat (on his lap).

ꕤ suo just can't seem to keep his eyes and his hands off of you. you always have to be within his vicinity, or he's not sure how he'll be able to stand it. 

ꕤ he sees you at the corner of his eye, after you have made your way back from the restroom. you and the other bofurin first years were at an izakaya, and the moment you returned, all of their eyes were glued to you and suo, as if they already knew something was going to ensue. you two have been friends for a long time, but the way you acted towards each other felt like you two have been lovers for a long time.

ꕤ suo was always up in your space, whether its pulling random pranks on you, inviting you to go out then paying for everything even though you tried to stop him (nothing can stop suo), visiting your home and leaving an endless supply of tea enough to last you a whole year - his excuse being it's there for whenever he comes over, and multiple instances which all prove that suo was no doubt a very clingy friend. not that you minded, anyway. you were used to suo and his antics.

ꕤ he had his ways of persuading you too (he is the master of negotiation, after all), and you just couldn't resist him, as you loved being around suo just as much. 

ꕤ this time, he took advantage of your short absence and made himself comfortable in your chair, and wouldn't even move an inch. "hayato, that's my seat!" you exclaimed. "hm?" suo tilts his head. "you can just sit on my lap, then." he smiles, with that damn mischievous smile you know all too well. you tried to get him to move by gently pushing him back and forth but suo seemed to not have a care in the world. 

ꕤ you can't tell whether suo is serious or joking sometimes, but nirei and sakura seems to have their doubts that you two are "just friends" as you both claim.  "are you sure the two of you aren't dating?" nirei asks you. sakura blushes and lets you know his thoughts, too. "y-yeah...! you two are unusually close!" you always reply to them with an astounding "no!" but suo just laughs and does not affirm nor deny any of their claims. 

ꕤ suo pulls you in close, making you sit on his lap regardless of your little outburst, and you weren't sure if it was hot in the izakaya, or if it's just you, but you certainly felt warmth overcome your body while it was pressed flush against his, his arms wrapped around your waist nonchalantly. "hayato!" you protested, trying to squirm your way out of his grasp, and pushing away all intrusive thoughts about his and your bottom halves being so close together, only separated by thin pieces of clothing.

ꕤ nirei, the most observant of the bunch (next to suo), points out that you even call suo by his first name, and that's another one of the reasons why you two seem like you're dating. 

ꕤ with suo, everything seems to be a mystery. but in suo's perspective, it's all clear. he loves you, whether it's as a friend or as a lover, that's for him to know and for you to find out. 

ʚɞ togame 

— leaves everyone on read except you.

ꕤ togame just doesn't understand why people need to type out what they want to say, aren't calls more personalized? he didn't understand at all, until he met you.

ꕤ you were, to put it directly, a chatterbox in all forms. you loved to talk, regardless if it's chats, calls, or in person, you just yapped your heart out to him everytime, and he lives for it. he wouldn't miss a second of you opening your mouth and giving him a taste of your innermost thoughts. he absolutely adored talking to you, because it was you, and you were special to him.

ꕤ the shishitoren guys thought it was so funny and adorable whenever togame picks up his phone so quickly because he thought it was you calling, then scowls when he realizes it isn't, and immediately silences it and shoves it back in his pocket. this caused him to set a different ringtone just for you, so he could pick up on the very first ring.

ꕤ you were also the first reply he ever sent via sms, a simple "ok" to your long message talking about how you thought it was amazing that he won the town's annual eating contest for many consecutive years in a row and that you were totally ready to challenge him next year by stuffing your face with okonomiyaki and invited togame to join you and have some with you so you could keep an eye on the competition. he found your personality totally amusing, his face immediately lighting up with a gentle smile whenever you sent him messages.

ꕤ anyone who sees how happy he is while he rereads your texts over and over would interpret that as togame being totally, irrevocably, head over heels in love with you.

ꕤ he doesn't actually reply to anyone at all ever, but he wanted to share all his firsts with you, he just couldn't help it. you were captivating, witty in your words, and very very charismatic, bombarding him with the cutest and funniest messages everyday. of course, he doesn't mind at all and is always looking forward to them.

ꕤ you two stay on calls for longer than eight hours at a time talking about how each other's day went, and yet you wonder why people always think you two are dating. normal friends don't stay up until the break of dawn chattering for hours on end, expressing all the things they like about each other, do they? at least togame knows he wouldn't do it with anyone that wasn't you, as he valued his precious sleep time dearly, but as time went on, you became more precious and more dear to him than his sleep time ever could.

ʚɞ kaji 

— play fighting like an old married couple.

ꕤ kaji is the type to never go down without a fight. needless to say, that also applies to you. but your fights with him were different, more banter adjacent, more affectionate and playful. only lasting for a few minutes.

ꕤ kaji had a huge soft spot for you, as even though you did irritate the heck out of him sometimes, somehow he still could not stay angry or annoyed at you for more than one second. he just couldn't resist the way you crossed your arms and huffed with your cute little frown. he thought you were the most adorable angry little thing he's ever seen and wanted to pinch your cheeks out of cuteness aggression and frustration, but he would never say it to your face.

ꕤ one time, you two had a heated argument because he said he could hear you just fine but wouldn't bother to take off his headphones. you argued that it was impolite and that you won't talk to him at all anymore if he does that again, and you two were at each other's throats, giving one another a piece of your mind, until kaji mutters a 'sorry', and you began to sob uncontrollably and let him hold you in his arms while he stroked your hair to comfort you because you two couldn't stand the intensity and tension of being angry at each other for long.

ꕤ you had your less serious fights too, like when you made him a bento box for lunch and you two had a picnic together with his vice captains. you fed him the food with your chopsticks, kaji teasing you by saying "it's bland." and you reasoning out that kaji was 'as salty as his tastebuds'. kaji then asked you if you wanted to have 'a taste of his fists', which ended up with kusumi and enomoto snickering in the background wishing that the both of you would just date each other already.

ꕤ whenever you two argued, your faces were so close to one another's that you were just a few centimeters shy from kissing, the tip of your noses touching. kaji had to hold himself back, a lot. like an insane amount. friends didn't want to kiss and make out with their friends, right? but kaji did. and you did too.

ꕤ his way of apologizing is by suddenly leaving a lollipop with you. he puts them in your bag, or places them in your pocket while you weren't looking. it was his little peace offering, one that you treasured and collected, accumulating dozens of them by your bedside table. kaji would gladly give up his last lollipop for you, and no one could argue otherwise.

ʚɞ sakura 

— blushing wildly whenever you two are around each other.

ꕤ you and sakura always looked like you two were having a blushing competition. the littlest touches and the most minimal contact had both of your cheeks heating up in response.

ꕤ it was like sakura's blushing was contagious. ever since you two became good friends (if you could call it that, though it seemed to be more than that at times), being around him triggered a whole bunch of embarrassing and hilarious but sweet situations.

ꕤ you once dragged sakura off to his very first cherry blossom viewing in the park, and needless to say, with both of you being a chaotic (but cute) duo, it kind of felt like you were on a wild rollercoaster ride with him. 

ꕤ you took a stolen photo of sakura while he was mesmerized by the falling pink petals. you thought he looked adorable, but sakura thought otherwise. he was a blushing mess and told you to delete them, but you said they were cute and that you were going to make it your wallpaper. 

ꕤ sakura chased after you, and tripped over a stray cherry blossom branch, leaving you two in quite a suggestive position, sakura on top of you, pinning your wrist down with his hand. your cheeks were as pink as the cherry blossoms, and tried as you might, you couldn't keep your eyes off his lips. friends don't observe their friends with wanting eyes, do they? 

ꕤ suo and nirei instantly noticed how huge of a klutz you were around sakura. they also noticed how curious sakura was about you, always (not so subtly) asking nirei how much he knew about you, or your likes and dislikes, then asked him not to tell you that he asked about you. but suo told you instead, because they were your biggest supporters and cheerleaders (and biggest shippers, of course) after all. 

ꕤ on sakura's birthday, they made you hold the cake and surprise him, which was a huge mistake, because before it could even reach him, you slipped and fell over him. luckily, sakura had good reflexes and was able to catch you before you completely toppled over. some of the smushed cake ended up on his and your face, which you tried to wipe off as you apologized, but sakura dipped his finger onto the icing that got on your cheek and licked his finger. "t-the cake's not bad, i guess..." he looked away from your smiling face as you greeted him happy birthday in a sing-song tune.

ꕤ suo, being a menace, greeted sakura happy birthday as well as gave him a 'best wishes to the happy couple' greeting card, that sakura threw back at him like it had a virus on it. 

ꕤ sakura definitely had a memorable birthday that year, but now that he thought about it, all of his memories that were memorable to him had one thing in common: you were in all of them. you, the greatest gift he could ever ask for on any and every occasion. 

© kajibunny 2024 / all rights reserved

[dapg-otmebytheballs]

See, when other fans in our spaces don't back us up, don't engage in dialogue with us about general racism and orientalism, treat our posts talking about our issues as something to politely avoid and wait till it's old news etc, the fandom gets emboldened about saying hateful shit to us, about saying racist shit to us, and a lot more. And that's a collective responsibility, because people are feeling emboldened in your communities to be mask off racist and hateful, and you're being a bystander

I won't hide the name, because this person has come into my inbox to be hateful, you wanna be hateful you get blasted, that's on you. But I sure as hell am I gonna post that fucking sticker a thousand times more now since clearly not enough of you have seen it. Since clearly too many people are still hoping they can stay quite and vague about it and be seen as neither controversial not problematic, nice safe space in the middle there. Well, I'm not feeling particularly safe in your spaces but hey, I like to look on the positive side of things, at least all this has shown me who my allies are and who are completely fine letting this behaviour carry on, which at least is safer than to be left guessing.

Be better for fuck's sake, if there's people in your community on your posts on your tags etc etc feeling comfortable enough saying racist shit and sending hate to poc fans over pointing out racist behaviours maybe you should consider that vague posts about the general spectre of "racism" aren't gonna cut it with the solidarity when you avoid us like the plague while we talk directly about racism in this community. You're showing your face, no matter how much you think you may be flying under the radar rn

[manofbeskar]

i always think about how interesting it is for mihawk to keep saying he wants to live a peaceful life, but he has never once passed up an opportunity to run into danger. like his past of hunting marines, and then getting excited when he was getting hunted by marines again after marineford. he moved to a war-torn island inhabited by violent humandrills. he sought out shanks daily for at least a decade for duels. sure he has calming hobbies like gardening, but his actions show him as a man who lives for exciting places and people

i also think sometimes about the possibility that mihawk thought of (and still thinks) of shanks as the only real option for the pirate king. mihawk doesn't care to have the title himself despite being one of the leading pirates at the time (since the golden pirate age had barely started) and standing quite a good chance. compared to shanks, mihawk has more experience leading a grand line voyage. shanks then would have no experience leading a crew or successfully charting a voyage to the grand line himself. mihawk saw shanks's potential for greatness and believed in it, duelled him every day and watched his power grow stronger—to the point of shanks even developing a haki that directly opposes his own (and being the only known user of it so far, so there's a possibility he invented it from how much time he was spending with mihawk?) as roger's son, maybe mihawk expected that, while shanks wasn't ready at the time to find the one piece, that he will be in the future. he's helped shanks grow a reputation (since shanks got famous from how often he was fighting mihawk), grow in power (anti-observation haki and improved swordsmanship over the years). he's watched shanks's crew grow over the years (since there's a chance he might've known shanks before he even recruited his first crewmate)

the big betrayal comes when shanks gave up his arm because of his belief in luffy being able to be pirate king someday. because to mihawk, the title has always belonged to shanks. he's bet everything on him. he's the one who sought him out daily for a decade. he's the one who's helped him hone his skills. he's the one who believed in him when most of the world didn't even know who he was. and now shanks threw away all of that for a little boy? so mihawk stopped duelling him because there's no point if shanks isn't as invested in this as he is. but shanks still had hope mihawk would eventually return, possibly because he may not be aware of how much mihawk believed in his potential >> when mihawk came back with luffy's poster, shanks for some reason still thinks mihawk wants to fight him, even though mihawk just says he lost interest many years ago

mihawk also refuses to fight shanks on other people's orders. and even when he was fighting shanks regularly, despite their duels being so wracked with power that whitebeard said the grand line would shake, somehow shanks never leaves with so much as a scratch on his person. didn't whitebeard even say he thought his scars were given by mihawk? and yet as far as we know, mihawk and shanks have never had any real intention to hurt each other, and have never done so. mihawk left marineford after being ordered to attack shanks, and then questioned buggy for thinking he would attack shanks (and the other emperors) for him >> if even a little part of him still believes in shanks's potential to be pirate king, there's really no reason for him to hinder his progress. adding on that, as shanks doesn't seem to have any interest in competing for mihawk's title of greatest swordsman, mihawk also has no interest in competing for his as the pirate king. they've avoided each other's goals the whole time

mihawk also tells zoro "when a man like you throws away his pride, it is always for someone else" (when he begs mihawk to train him so he can protect luffy). maybe i'm reading too much into this one, but i always thought it was an interesting detail to throw in that mihawk apologises to shanks when he decides to attack luffy. he apologises even though shanks is not there yet, and specifically apologises because he is not going to hold back. it almost implies he has promised shanks to hold back on luffy and his crew—more likely that shanks might've requested this of mihawk when they celebrated his bounty than mihawk volunteering to do so lol. mihawk cares a lot about pride. when he first fights zoro, he humiliates him by not going all out and using kogatana. he apologises to mock zoro. he's cocky and prideful. mihawk doesn't apologise for doing anything because he feels he has nothing to be sorry for. he does whatever he wants, and everyone lets him because he's strong. yet his apology to shanks at marineford could imply he agreed to stand back. and his sincere apology to a man who isn't there, about being unable to continue holding back his power... idk to me that reads as something mihawk would consider shameful. mihawk enjoys being powerful and unstoppable, yet here he is apologising for that because of shanks —who again isn't even there to hear it!

this even ties into my "theory" (i say theory in quotation marks bc honestly it's more of a hope than something i seriously believe in) that mihawk may eventually leave the cross guild and join up with the red hair pirates—either because he's secretly been their swordsman the whole time, and why the RHP has never had a swordsman on the crew (in terms of rank like zoro, not just people who wield swords) or he feels this is his best option—to find the one piece. because if he stays with the cross guild, he'll have to find the OP for buggy who he thinks is a fucking idiot. if he has to find the OP no matter what, mihawk might prefer to spend his efforts on the same man he's believed in from the very start. also just think about how everything we know about mishanks's rivalry is all hearsay from other characters and behind-the-scenes stuff, and we haven't seen either of them go all out yet. just imagine when we finally get that, it's them teaming up. the world's most legendary rivalry teaming up to find the most coveted treasure. i think that'd scare everyone, pirate and marine alike (and not to throw in non-canon stuff here but i mean... mishanks vs the straw hats is already a battle that exists in one of the games 👀 )

and to tie it back to the first paragraph here. because mihawk can't run in the opposite direction of what excites him. and he has spent the past decade trying to find someone who excites him more than shanks. and he has very clearly failed. marineford ended with mihawk being excited to return to his past of when marines used to chase him, and maybe he could be excited too at the prospect of returning to the only man who ever made him feel alive

idk idk i have a lot of thoughts about them!!!! you can tell i'm very brainrotful about them!!!

[barrenclan]

How do you decide on motifs? Like sleep being associated with death, roses being associated with death? And how did you go about assigning each motif to a character (especially more character specific ones)? Like I get that Rainhaze was seen as a coyote in omens because of his association with Ranger, but why is Nightberry associated with visions, why is Cootstorm associated with never changing, conservative ideals?

Here's a good way to think about this: PATFW is not coming out of nowhere. Seems obvious, right? But every decision made is one that I had to intentionally choose, with a goal in mind for what I wanted to do with them. So I don't have real animals, or real people - I have certain stories in mind, and the characters are tools that I use to express these ideas. Let's take two examples brought up here, and I'll show you what I mean.

Asphodelpaw's death. For this story, I wanted to have a big, climatic moment that really jerks around the story, much in the same way that Shellspring's reveal did in TDS. I know that I want Rainhaze to be an exploration of a character who starts out good and turns complicated, and that I want him to not be redeemed. Okay, so how do I make sure Rainhaze is beyond redemption? He'd have to do something really awful, like killing someone important. The rest of the Clan wouldn't be as impactful if he killed them, so it should be one of his family members, and someone we really care about. Okay, who do I want him to kill? Pinepaw is my narrator, so if I want him to keep narrating, I can't kill him. I want Slugpelt to feel the consequences of this murder Rainhaze makes, and I want her to later confront him about it, so he can't kill her. I can't quite get into why I want Daffodilpaw to live yet, because of spoilers, but I have a certain message I want to create with Daffodilpaw, and she can't die as part of it. So Asphodelpaw is the only one left. Okay, why would it be impactful for her to die? Because she just came into herself, and apologized to Pinepaw, and is on track to grow into a better person. So it's extra tragic - and extra irredeemable - of Rainhaze to kill her. There you go, that's the reasoning behind Asphodelpaw's death.

The sleep/death motif. I have suffered from personal difficulties surrounding death, specifically involved with intrusive thoughts before I go to sleep. So those two ideas are very linked in my mind, and because PATFW is a darker story, I wanted to explore it. Okay, how do I work it into the story? Rainhaze is a character who's disappeared, presumed dead, by the time the story starts. Alright, maybe I can work it in there. I used it for the first time in Issue 4, contrasting between Rainhaze and Slugpelt's views on what happens after death. Alright, so now I have a thematic parallel between their characters and their views. Okay, how does this affect the future plot? As Rainhaze gets further involved with Defiance, his views on killing change, and that strengthens this association with sleep. So later, when Slugpelt kills him, I can bring this thematic parallel back around and make it really resonate, because I've built up the connection over the whole story. There you go, that's how you create a motif.

I hope you found this interesting. Often I find that a lot of writing advice is vague and nonspecific, so I tried to make my reasoning behind these things as clear as possible. From the outside, it may seem like absolutely anything can happen in a story, but from an internal perspective there are only so many ways to get to a point I want to make, so those decisions have to lead to each other if I want to create a natural thread.

[calp0sa]

Favorite Headcanons for airy?

i have like 10 million headcanons for him but i’ll list as many as i can from the top of my head

-hes autistic LIKE ME!!! and is specifically very autistic about music (like meee) i like to think he had a huge collection of vinyls cds cassettes etc and its all stuff from the 60s to the early 90s. no doubt he had a bunch of posters for his favorite bands and musicians too. and hes awesome on the guitar, great rhythm guitarist… its a shame he couldn’t make his talent a profession like he once dreamed of doing. oh well, at least the number 1 perk of trucking is that its peaceful and you dont really have to interact with many people! plus trucks have radios, and cd players, so airy would often bring along a few albums to listen to as he drove those long days and nights.

-hes also got a knack for aquatic creatures (LIKE ME) of course, being a literal fish monster himself (cool fact my airy design is like actually a fish monster he can breathe underwater and everything and his limbs are covered in fish scales) airy loves fish both as friends and food. hes particularly fond of freshwater fish, which makes sense considering the fact he grew up around the swamps of louisiana (yes im making him louisianan Like Me shaddap) hes also fond of those fucked up looking deep sea creatures, just so fascinating. i think airy liked to do a little fishing in his spare time. And hes awesome at cooking em but fair warning for those with a low spice tolerance… he loves spicy food btw (like meeeee)

-when airy was in the forest, he kept a log of his thoughts on the computer, in an attempt to hopefully give himself whatever clarity he could. the notes ranged from all brief, to desperate, to hopeless, to spiraling, to borderline dadaist poetry? to insanity, to denial, to whatever, really i think his mind was obviously all over the place on a daily basis. things must have been pretty loud for him, that cassette player was probably one of the only things keeping him together, before he numbed himself n all, which is around the time he ceased writing these notes as he saw no point in doing so.

-ok enough about him suffering we’ll get back to that later Airy’s favorite drink is ginger ale i mean look at that guy and tell me he doesnt fw ginger ale or dr pepper are you kidding me. he can have dr pepper as a little treat (too much soda is bad for anyone especially if youre an old feller like airy) speaking of little treats i like to think he has an insatiable sweet tooth LIKE MEEEE and his favorite treaaats are pumpkin pie, macarons and practically anything chocolate he loves chocolate (im like allergic to not projecting onto my favorite characters if you couldnt tell) maybe airy knows how to bake a little bit i mean he is an object show host after all

-this is oddly specific but airy is a chronic pain warrior #JUSTLIKEME so when he was in the forest he’d make like home made heating pads by wetting a glob of moss and putting it against his face while he had his flame on (he sometimes put it on a plank over a bonfire if he felt like it) this was a bit tricky when he broke his face but im sure he managed he always manages (kinda) (relatively speaking)

-well anyway we’re back to the forest and i just mentioned his broken face So you know how he disappeared for seven months after he did that lol well what if it was because the pain and shock from that incident evoked the long lost clarity he’d been so stubbornly avoiding in order to cling on to his meaningless, fallacious escapism which triggered him and sent him into a state of agonizing self consciousness, reminding him of his earthly death, how he used to be Someone, and how he essentially let himself rot into what is now an empty shell of who he once was. after so many years, the first reflection he saw of himself was seen in something broken; shards of glass, of which he couldn’t stand to look at… as there is nothing comparable to the pain of revelation, the burden of truth after having been so lost and festered into the stagnant waters that surround you. he felt he had no choice, he disposed of the shards into the nearby stream. those seven months were not just a matter of physically healing, but as a means to losing himself all over again.

-Aaaanyway i think airy had a cat at some point in his life i think we can all agree hes a cat person right!!! he had a tortoiseshell kitty named goose and he loved her very much. idk why he named her goose he probably just thought it was funny to name an animal after a different animal.

-OH YEAH lemme bring amelia into this listen i am such a huge fan of the theory of airy being related to amelia so i like to think hes her uncle!! when amelia was little she’d stay over at airy’s house while her parents were away and he’d teach her stuff like how to fish, how to ward off snakes, how to kayak, all that jazz cuz he was an awesome uncle. she was kinda like an actual daughter to him. and amelia was so fond of sunny weather as a child, one dayy at airy’s house she had to stay inside because it was too rainy, so she occupied herself by drawing a little picture of the way she wished earth was; always sunny, sky always blue, grass always green, huh! the way she drew that grass as individual little triangles is all too familiar is it not…

OK I HAVE SOMEWHERE 2 GO now i’ll probablt add more later But thank u so much for asking this i love love love infodumping about anything airy related i heart airy

[reiding-writing]

I don’t know if you were planning on making a part two of the phone call could I request Derek and the time managing to find out about the calls? I also had another idea of how unsub!reader and Spencer would react to the appeal getting through? If you don’t want to that’s totally fine! I absolutely love your work and can’t wait to see more of it! 🫶

A SUCCESSFUL APPEAL

spencer & gn!unsub!reader || 1.0k || unsub!reader masterlist.

WARNINGS: n/a

a/n — there is more unsub!reader to come, don’t you worry

main masterlist.

It’s a little silly how quickly Spencer rummages for his phone once the six o’clock news airs.

It’s harder than people might think to be able to remotely access a news station from a state you aren’t in, but Spencer prides himself on nothing if not his inherent ability to figure things out; And so, right as the logo for the ABC7 broadcast rolls, Spencer is pulling himself away from his desk and into a side room.

He really shouldn’t be so excited about it, so anxious, but the news of whether or not you’d been accepted for your appeal into a psychiatric care institution was a massive development, one that he’d gotten personally involved in after his time with you had ended.

He wouldn’t be able to say how much time he spent slaving away over the most intricate of details in the report for your case, how he made sure every mention of you was as truthful, and as positive, as it possibly could be.

He wouldn’t be able to say how many hours of sleep he’d lost over the course of the last few weeks in anticipation, desperate nervousness in the wait for the court of appeal’s final decision.

But all that didn’t matter right now.

He was watching you live on television, inside a court room, finding out how you were going to be spending the rest of your life.

Being so invested in you, in making sure you lived the best quality of life you could, tore certain shreds of his morality to pieces. How can someone like him, someone who’s whole life revolves around keeping people like you locked away to never see the light of day again, be so desperately hopeful that you’ll get out of the concrete walls you’d been rotting in for half a decade?

How could he be routing for someone who’d taken the lives of eighteen innocent people—nineteen including Nueves.

It was almost paradoxical, the two sides of his moral conscience battling with each other over the want for you to get the reparation you deserved whilst also wanting you to have access to the help that you needed.

He watched the proceedings of your appeal with all the patience of a five year old waiting for dessert, all tensed muscles and bated breaths as the ruling Judge read out your sentence and the application of your appeal, going through, point by point, the outside letters and reports of recommendation for how they should consider you.

It was fifteen minutes of what felt like literal torture, and if it was that bad for him, he couldn’t even fathom how you were feeling.

It was the one of the things you held a genuine, raw, emotion for, and even through the screen he could see the flickers of anticipation in your eyes through your otherwise nonchalant expression.

You were nervous.

Of course it wasn’t nervousness how he’d expect to see it, but it was there, lingering in the back of your expression and coating your irises like a chromatic film, only visible to those who had the right perspective.

He was sure that by the time they were actually announcing whether your appeal had been accepted he wasn’t even listening anymore, his eyes scanning the screen to catch the glimpses of you it showed from each different angle.

Your appeal had been accepted.

He saw the change in your expression before the words even registered in his mind. He watched as the slightest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of your lips, your eyes closing momentarily as you let out a breath you didn't know you'd been holding.

You'd be stepping out of the confines of the prison and into the care of professionals, people who were trained to handle your particular set of circumstances. It was a massive victory that meant a chance for a new beginning, a chance for you to finally receive the help and support you needed.

A small sigh of relief escaped Spencer, his shoulders dropping from the tension he hadn't realised had built up, his eyes remaining glued to the screen as he watched you being led out of the courtroom.

Despite the circumstances, there was a newfound lightness in your step, a hint of hope that hadn't been there before.

It was a strange feeling, knowing that you, someone who had taken so many lives, were being granted this chance. But Spencer would be lying to himself if he said that he wasn’t just as happy for you as you were for yourself.

Finally you were going to get the help that you needed, be able to work through your issues and reform yourself as the person you should’ve been allowed to grow into.

His morality mourned for the people you’d cut ceremoniously out of living.

And his conscious celebrated the reaping of your release into proper care.

You deserved this much, and he couldn’t be more relieved that the appeal board agreed with him.

Spencer was making plans to fly to California before the broadcast even ended.

[coraniaid]

The scene where Willow confronts Faith is Choices is kind of fascinating to me, because ... well.

I like Choices quite a lot, and I think Willow's dislike of Faith is perfectly understandable and in character (and her speech has some fun but probably not intentional foreshadowing for later seasons), but it's hard not to notice that the narrative expects you to be rather more unambiguously on Willow's side than I think is really warranted.

I mean, Willow might not have been the most popular girl in high school, but she has multiple close friends, a nice boyfriend, a stable [and fairly comfortably middle-class] home life, she "represents the pinnacle of achievement in Sunnydale High" in the words of her school's principal, she's trusted enough to teach at the school, in a year she'll be able to go to any college she wants (and, unlike some people, she can afford to go anywhere she wants), she used to hack into government computer databases (before she ever met Buffy!) and now she's teaching herself dark magic "for fun" and she hasn't [yet] ever suffered any real repercussions for either of those things.

On the other hand, from what little we hear about Faith's past we know she grew up poor and that her mother used to get drunk and beat her, that she didn't have any friends and dropped out of high school young, she is very strongly implied on multiple occasions to have been the victim of some pretty horrific abuse before being called as a Slayer, and after being called as a Slayer she got to watch the one adult who ever told her she mattered get killed horribly in front of her before fleeing across the country to a town where she doesn't know anybody, still has no friends, doesn't have a job or go to school and lives alone in a motel in the bad part of town. And when she accidentally killed a man, while trying to do the whole slaying vampires thing she's supposed to be doing, the Watcher's Council -- who never actually bothered to send her a new Watcher of her own -- decided to have her abducted and dragged away to England [a fate which surely nobody deserves].

Yet a part of Willow clearly thinks (and almost outright says) "oh, well, yeah, but she hangs out with Buffy sometimes when I don't get to and she slept with the guy -- not my nice boyfriend! -- who I used to have a crush on (and who I was briefly cheating on said boyfriend with), so it's clearly impossible to say which of us really had things worse and I don't need to feel sorry for her". And -- again, while this is great characterisation for Willow -- it's kind of hard not to notice that the writers think she has a compelling point.

Yes, sure, Faith has defected to working for the Mayor and has a knife drawn on Willow this scene (she's not anything like a blameless victim at this point of the story) and it takes a certain level of physical bravery for Willow to stand up for herself despite that. But ... I mean, come on. "You had friends like Buffy" is only true if you accept it to mean "you had exactly one friend, who was Buffy". "It's way too late" for Faith to seek forgiveness ... how many people has Faith killed at this point? One, by mistake? Giles has killed more people than that. "Some people think you had a lot of bad breaks?" Yeah, actually in Faith's shoes I'd want to hit Willow after she said that too.

I realize that part of the show's central thesis -- something that explicitly came up as recently as Earshot -- is the idea that everybody, regardless of how comfortable their life might seem from the outside, has their own sorrow and pain and (only occasionally metaphorical) demons to fight. But while that's not entirely wrong, it's also ... not entirely complete? Everyone has it bad sometimes, but some people really do have it worse than others. Pretending otherwise is ... not a serious position to take.

Willow's life could be better, but she's not gone through anything like Faith has. I'd argue she literally can't imagine how bad Faith's life has been. She really doesn't have as much moral authority as the show's writers think she has at this point.

[Compare this part of Season 3 with the first half of Season 6, when the show is overflowing with sympathy for Willow's abrupt descent into magic addiction but has no sympathy at all for Amy Madison, whose own magic addiction is just implied to be because she's inherently a Bad Person who Willow needs to avoid and whose own horrific past and abusive mother and complete lack of support system is just entirely forgotten about. Or, indeed, to the weird take of Dead Man's Party, which has Buffy apologize to Willow for ... what? Having problems of her own that don't revolve around Willow? Being too busy mourning the loss of everything she ever cared about to tell Willow how uniquely special and amazing she was for learning rudimentary magic? Not being grateful enough for Willow restoring Angel's soul without bothering to ask Buffy if that was something she still wanted her to try?]

So, the overall effect is ... yeah, it's a good scene. But it's almost a good scene despite the writer's intentions, not because of them. It's much less of an ambiguously triumphant moment for WIllow than I believe we're meant to read it as.

[cinnabonpst]

It’s still crazy to me how some people really think Buck actually wanted Tommy’s attention and not Eddies when Buck literally came out of his mouth and admitted to trying to gets Eddies attention before he even lied straight through his teeth claiming he was trying to get Tommy’s.

And then people are like “He wanted both” ??? Look, I’m not gonna even sit here and say that Buck didn’t at least have an ounce of interest in Tommy, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t have showed up to see Tommy in the first place.

However, it's pretty clear that Buck only ever tried to get close to Eddie during that entire episode. There was not a single instance where Buck attempted to get Tommy's attention. Had he genuinely desired both, he would have exerted himself to get them both, but he did not.

That's the the exact reason why tommy goes "my attention?" At the end of 7x04 because Buck literally was only pursuing for Eddies and even Tommy clocked that himself.

Like, the whole reason why the situation bothered Buck so much was because Tommy had gotten so close and left an impression in Eddie and Christopher’s lives in such a short span of time. So Buck felt fucking threatened because he has never seen anyone be as close to Eddie and Chris besides himself.

And that’s the exact reason why in 7x04, when he goes to vent to Maddie, he is seen grilling the fuck out of Tommy instead of showing genuine interest. If you have a genuine crush, I guarantee you, you don’t go and talk shit about them to your sister💀

“Eddie just met the guy like, two weeks ago, and Christopher thinks he’s so cool”

“try telling Christopher that, he likes Tommy because he does the controls. I was like Chris, it’s not a video game”

“Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think you lie to a child just to ingratiate yourself.”

“Well Chris wouldn’t stop talking about him.”

It amazes me how many people watch that scene and still think Buck really likes Tommy.

I also wanted to bring up the prospect that Tommy may not genuinely be interested in Buck, as evidenced by his lack of interest in him while they are together. If he was, he would have taken action from the start. Tommy did not demonstrate any desire in liking buck or initiating a relationship with Buck at any point in the show but towards the end after Buck claimed he wanted Tommys attention. Which by the way, is a weird way to go about things.

If he wanted to, he would have. Tommy is a pretty confident guy, as the show has already shown, so asking out buck is light work for him, yet he made no attempt to ask Buck out. And take note of the fact that until Buck claimed he was attempting to catch Tommy's attention, Tommy never expressed a liking for Buck or made any moves.

Another thing I've noticed is that Tommy has stated his jealousy and envy of the 118s dynamics at least 2-3 times. If anything, Tommy started something with Buck because being with someone from the 118 would allow him to experience some of the family dynamics there, but I digress.

Returning to my original argument, this conversation between Buck and Maddie reveals in astounding detail why Maddie was taken aback when she learned that Buck was going on a date with Tommy. Maddie surmised that Buck was envious of Tommy rather than the other way around because his entire earlier outburst simply demonstrated his desire for Eddie. That's the reason she goes

"Eddies friend?!" Like, oh. You went on a date with Eddies friend and not Eddie?? you went on a date with the person you were so obviously bothered and threatened by because they were getting too close with Eddie?

Which gets me to my second point: when Maddie says, "Okay. I don't think you are a fraud. I just think you aren't sure about your own feelings yet, and if there's anything you need to tell Eddie, you will, in your own time." I reckon many people failed to take a step back and ask themselves why Buck felt like a fraud. Because, of course, we'd all think of the obvious reasons like 'oh, it's because he acted like an idiot' or 'oh, it's because he lied,' but this is Eddie we're talking about.

Because, in all honesty, Buck is aware that Eddie has no issues with queer people in general. He even had a brief friendship with Josh, who is gay, and is close to Hen, a lesbian. Though a little hesitant, Buck also had no trouble confessing that he liked a guy with Maddie; in fact, after making out with Tommy, he even strolled his ass into a room full of people with soot on his face.

In reality, Buck wasn't really "afraid" of people finding out. But with Eddie, things were very different. When it came to Eddie, he felt like a phony. Tommy was hardly acknowledged at all, and Tommy's feelings over his impetuous response were not even taken into account. Only Eddies.

People will say we "missed the plot" or that we’re "delusional", like no girl, this is the plot😭 The plot is that Buck clearly has feelings for Eddie, and the writers demonstrated this in 7x04 by using Buck's jealousy to highlight it, but buck being buck, he ends up mistaking these feelings for someone else.

They lead us on purpose, but not without providing a few hints for those with media literacy. There's a reason Buck and Tommy's entire buildup revolved around Eddie.

The plot isn't 'well, Buck was envious throughout 7x04, but we didn't know who he was jealous of; turns out he liked Tommy! That's a plot twist! No, Buck was jealous in 7x04, and we know exactly who he was jealous of, but the show purposefully led us astray and had him end up with the opposite person because they're doing the 'I'm in love with my best friend but don't know it' trope for Buck and possibly 'unrequited love but not actually unrequited love' for Eddie in season 8.

[ryanmarshallryan]

Yes Man

Once upon a time, there was a boy named Allen, who was a very picky eater. Once, while his family was hosting a barbeque for their neighbors, Allen turned his nose up at a casserole a local witch had provided for the potluck. The witch decided to give him an enchantment, which forced him to say "yes" whenever offered food of any kind. She warned that the spell could only be broken once he truly appreciated the food given by others.

As Allen grew to adulthood he tried dish after dish, often against his own desires, but nonetheless has a palette of varied experience. Remarkably, he didn’t show too many signs of one who always seems to be eating, as his metabolism was swifter than most.

But all that changed. Reaching his 30th birthday, Allen’s metabolism had slowed considerably since his youth, to the point that he had doubled his weight in only a few years. He had not kept up with acquiring new clothing, and the sight of his fat gut protruding out of shirts too tight to fit became the norm.

It was this view that attracted a feeder named Castien to make Allen’s acquaintance. Castien stumbled upon a bar that Allen frequented. Castien noticed Allen said “yes” whenever the barman asked him if he wanted any more food. He watched as Allen ate plate after plate, trying each of the day’s specials in turn. Allen’s stomach pushed up against the bar, and he showed noticeable discomfort being so full. The barman suggested he might need to be cut off for the night.

“But, come back again soon!” the barman shouted after Allen.

“Yes,” Allen said with a sigh, waddling towards the door.

“My best customer, that one is. Never seen anyone down so much food in one sitting before,” the barman said, noticing Castien watching Allen go.

Castien got down from the bar and cautiously approached the burgeoning man, who politely nodded to him.

“Hey, would you ever want to get food sometime?” Castien said hopefully.

Allen looked mildly surprised at the forward encounter, but shrugged and said “Yes!”

Over the next few months, they met up occasionally, Castien offering more food, and Allen downing it all. Castien noticed that sometimes Allen would look like he didn’t really want to eat more even though he said he did. Castien assumed that perhaps he was just being polite, but wanted to make sure the next meal was something Allen loved.

“I don’t want you to just eat for the sake of it, food should be enjoyed! What’s your absolute favorite?” Castien prompted.

Allen thought for a moment and decided to respond in veiled sarcasm, “Casserole.”

So Castien made one homemade. Well, three casseroles to be exact, as he didn’t expect Allen to stop after one serving. And he was right, as the evening progressed Allen ate not one serving, but an entire dish of one… then another… then most of the other (besides that which Castien had enjoyed himself).

Castien laid his head upon Allen's gargantuan belly as they digested their meal. He contemplatively listened to gurgles and pops of air traveling through Allen's guts.

"How did you get so big?" Castien asked, turning and caressing his hand over the mountain of flesh, watching its rise and fall with breath, slightly quivering under his ticklish palm.

"When people ask if you want to keep eating, just say 'yes' and the rest is history." Allen stated. Allen relaxed into his seat, and watched Castien, who was hypnotically watching Allen’s gut digest. Allen told Castien how he used to be much skinnier, "Back when in my early 20s I barely pushed 140... but now I'm going on 390 lbs and it doesn't seem to be slowing."

"I'm barely 120 lbs, so that means your belly alone probably weighs even more than my whole body!" Castien mentioned.

"Oh, for sure," Allen replied.

Castien continued his musing on Allen's appetite and belly, "I wonder if I would actually fit in there"

"What do ya mean?

"Oh nothing, just thinking - your gut is literally larger than all of me - so I wonder what it would be like to be curled up inside it," Castien put his ear back onto Allen’s belly and listened to the excited gurgles within.

"Oh, you'd be nestled in snuggly for sure, but even then you'd probably have room to stretch."

"You think so?"

Allen looked into Castien’s eyes to try to hint at the magic of it all, “I could literally eat anything, if someone asked me to.”

"Hmm… So if you could, would you eat me?"

Allen thought for a moment. He had never considered whether this would be an option, only joked at the prospect, but he knew the words that were coming out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Yes."

Castien looked up at Allen's eyes and smiled, "Well maybe we'll have to change up the menu one of these days..."

"A menu like that might be a pretty big commitment, ya know."

"A chef may have commitment to his food, but you don't hear anyone complaining. So it all depends, will you be dining on me tonight?"

Allen raised his eyebrows in surprise. The theoretical meal of eating Castien had suddenly become a reality to be done, and in no less time than over the course of the evening, "Yes!"

"Someone's eager for a taste of something new! I'm impressed. I feel like most people would be too picky of eaters to understand such fine delicatessen" Castien joked, gesturing to his body.

Allen had a funny feeling in his gut. Even though he had just downed enough food for a large family gathering, his gut suddenly felt empty, like it was harboring a big mass of air, waiting to be replaced with a large, very Castien-esque meal. His gut started loudly gurgling, catching the attention once again of Castien, who rubbed his palms across it back and forth. Castien looked quizzically into Allen’s eyes.

Allen knew that his mouth would open and his throat would relax without his meaning to, but this time he didn’t try to stop it from happening. He was curious as to whether this meal could indeed occur.

Castien stood up and considered Allen, peering into his throat, which was now inviting him down inside. Castien leaned forward, looking deeper into the abyssal maw until his head made contact with the back of Allen’s throat. Allen gently closed his lips over Castien’s head and swallowed hard.

Castien shivered for a moment, his body reflexively surprised by the sudden jolt in motion, as his shoulders, arms and torso were sucked down into Allen’s esophagus. Allen leaned back in surprise, looking down at the lower back of Castien, surprised that so much fit so easily into his maw already. He could feel his stomach stretching before him, anticipating the large meal on its way down.

Castien wiggled his body and lifted his legs up into the air, as Allen began to swallow them up. In mere moments, Castien’s toes had zoomed past Allen’s tongue and landed deep into Allen’s gargantuan belly. Allen felt Castien writhe inside him and wondered whether he would regret asking to be eaten.

“Wow! You were right, I can still stretch a little bit, your stomach is like a balloon!” Castien shouted.

Allen appreciated how willingly Castien just offered himself up as food, and was bewildered at his excitement about it.

“So how are you feeling, big guy? Big enough meal for you, or do you wanna eat some more?" Castien jested.

"Nah, I'm fuller than I ever have been, bud," Allen said casually. Then he realized he had said ‘no’ for the first time since the enchantment. The spell had been broken. He finally was fed a meal he couldn't help but fully appreciate the risk it took to create it. "You know what, Castien, I think I will eat a bit more. Just for you."

Allen got up, not without great difficulty, and waddled to the kitchen and started sending snack after snack into his awaiting maw, to the delight of Castien who squirmed around in the gluttonous rain of his favorite belly.

[avelera]

I saw the IWTV finale early thanks to a kind soul sharing it with me!

A few (spoiler-y) thoughts:

Really interesting how they reimagined and framed the ending of this take on IWTV with Louis and Lestat mourning Claudia together. It feels like Justice For Claudia in many ways, it feels like a fitting homage to the origins of Claudia's character (the dead of Anne Rice's daughter from leukemia as a child), and in general was just a really interesting way to sort of give this closure the book never did and also use it to realistically allow them both to push forward past their toxic and abuse past into a somewhat plausible healed future.

It was also a decent reminder, to me, that these are vampires. These characters live forever. I would not condone Louis/Lestat in real life because life is too short to keep going back to an abusive ex. But these guys are vampires. Do not do as they do. But genuinely 70 years, a human lifetime, is realistically long enough to say, "Hey, we're new people now, we've learned and suffered a lot, we lost our daughter and it was fucked up. Maybe all we have is each other." And make peace with each other on that front.

BUT NOW I'M WONDERING HOW WE GET ROCKSTAR LESTAT - ok because Louis kind of got Lestat's book motivation for becoming a rockstar? The "Fuck you, come find me," to all the other vampires. Lestat I believe only speculates that as Louis' motivation, but they made it canon (or I could be wrong).

But that was Lestat's motivation for HIS book, making Louis and the others come find him. Since that's been solved with Louis coming to find him (lovely little homage to the IWTV movie with him playing the harpsichord) now I'm wondering if Louis is the one who encourages Lestat to become a rockstar and write down his book.

Thing is, it's not totally contradicted by the book. (SPOILERS) TVL does end with a beat where Louis and Lestat reunite and Louis is kind of his groupie for a bit. Moving that up so Louis is part of Lestat's rise is actually a really lovely touch, it gives them a bit more time together before shit goes down, and I could totally see this version of Louis as Lestat's agent since he's shown to have that business acumen.

Now that Daniel is a vampire (OMG OMG OMG MORE ON THAT IN A SECOND) the risk is no longer so bad for him to come interview Lestat and I'm sure he's salivating to do so and Louis would definitely invite Vampire Daniel to do the interview for Lestat's book, since there's no fear for his safety (or at least, not as much) anymore. And Daniel would jump at the chance. It would be a fabulous framing device, Rockstar Lestat with his agent, Louis, inviting Daniel to interview Lestat for his next book AND it means we get Daniel's snark throughout Lestat's story.

OK SO DANIEL BEING A VAMPIRE. Definitely leaves the door open for past AND present Devil's Minion WITH THE ADDED BONUS of Daniel not going insane after he's turned (likely owed to not being turned while still a drug addled young man so, hey, if there was past Devil's Minion where Armand said no, kudos to him for reading the situation correctly that vampirism would drive young Daniel insane but not Old Man Daniel).

I was SLIGHTLY, SLIGHTLY bummed to see Daniel as a vampire without getting to see the whole Daniel/Armand situation but only slightly. There wasn't enough room in the season, it would have been a distraction, and IMO we can now save it properly for its place in either TVL or QOTD, which I bet are going to be Seasons 3-4 or as many as 3-6 if we stick to 2 seasons per book.

A take on Devil's Minion where past and present Devil's Minion are intertwined would be AMAZING and I've got my fingers crossed that's how they do it. Maybe interweave a bit of Vampire Armand.

I don't think/know if we're going to get a full Vampire Armand season BUT I do believe the show is going to pivot its POV lens to say, hey, everyone's got a point of view, everyone's got a reason. At some point, we're going to get more of Armand's POV and why he did what he did because I imagine his version will be different from Louis', just as Lestat's is, that's the whole basis of the show. And in there maybe we'll get some past Daniel/Armand.

Ok this already got away from me but ANYWAY, those are my thoughts for now.

[lemotmo]

Okay, I basically stalked that blog, sorry not sorry. The other answers you shared were nice but this is the answer. EVERYONE READ THIS ANSWER. You won't need a question synopsis, it will be very clear what they were asked. Also I got the sense from their blog that they're more of a fan of the show as a whole than a hard core shipper. They do clearly like Tommy but they're a Buck lover through and through if you scroll their blog. READ THIS ANSWER!

A. Hi anon, I have been very clear from the beginning that I will support whatever ship the show decides to go with. I have worked very hard at trying to maintain realistic expectations. The problem with your argument is that the show hasn't shown us anything you presented in your ask. The show hasn't indicated in any way that this is a long-term serious relationship for either of them. In fact I would argue that most of the dialogue Tommy has been given would actually indicate the opposite, at least where he's concerned. He has been given very little actual dialogue so I promise you they're being particular with the dialogue they are giving him. And I'm sorry, but no, the show absolutely did not tell us or insinuate in any way that Buck told Tommy to only call him Evan. Lou himself said in one of his cameos that the show won't 'allow' him to call him Buck. If you've been around for longer than season 7 not calling him Buck is usually a bad sign. All his previous partners called him Evan. It's an established pattern of indicating they don't really know him. So far, from the little we've been shown, they're sticking to that pattern. We do however have numerous canon scenes of Buck explaining why he doesn't associate with the name Evan. Going by Buck is a well established CHOICE for him. At this point, Tommy is being written as a plot device. The show hasn't given us anything more than that. Can that change? Sure, but I don't think it will change much. Tim himself said it was a nice introductory relationship for Buck and he didn't want anything heavy (I'm paraphrasing). Oliver said Buck was going to have to work for his next relationship. He said this having already filmed the beginning of Buck and Tommy (and at that point Tommy was only supposed to last 4 episodes but they got renewed and the storyline was slowed down) so I don't think Tommy is the relationship Oliver was referring to. I will once again stress, that's okay. Tommy can be important without being his forever. It doesn't make Tommy meaningless. But it is why, in the end, the cameo videos were a mistake. It's lovely that Lou wanted to talk with people, and I understand why he wanted to do them, but many of those fans have taken those headcanon conversations and tried to argue them as canon fact, like your ask did, and they simply aren't based on anything canon. I hope that doesn't sound mean because I get wanting them to be canon, but, at present time, they're not.

The last part of your ask is confusing to me, I won't lie. You just said yourself that making Eddie canonically queer wouldn't necessarily be a leap, but then you said, in the same sentence, that Ryan shouldn't refer to Eddie as ambiguous. Both of those things cannot be true at the same time. And I'm sorry but at no point, ever has Buck and Eddie's relationship been written as traditionally bro, as you put it. There are countless, professional articles as well as interviews by the actors and creators themselves stating how unique and special their relationship is. The audience knows that as well. It's why they're popular. You can't watch the show and honestly describe them as bros. If they make Eddie canon queer it is not a matter of if they'll put him with Buck. At that point it simply becomes a matter of when. And no, Josh will not be a realistic option. I adore Josh, lots of people do, but a romance between Josh and Eddie is not what anyone wants. Also I'm pretty sure Oliver would commit a crime if they gave Eddie to Josh instead of Buck, lol.

Love, love, love.

Another thoughtful and insightful answer from the anonymous blog.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention Nonny! :)

Once again I ask everyone to stay civil in comments or reblogs. No hate towards this person please. Thank you.

[goldenivy0]

Mate behavior? Don't know him

Why do so many E/riel shippers (mainly the feral ones) pretend that Lucien shows 0 mate behavior towards Elain? Or pretend that Azriel is the only one who risked something for her?

They loooove the scene where Az says he's gonna get Elain back after the cauldron takes her away. Actually, they love that scene so much that I'm not sure how they haven't tattooed it on their foreheads yet. But they seem to forget that these two scenes are also canon:

(This is between Lucien and Feyre)

Why is "I'm getting her back" (from Azriel) so sweet and special but "I'm getting my mate back" (from Lucien) isn't? At this point, Lucien still didn't know that the rumours about the Night Court were false. He believed it was a place of torture, pain and nightmares and STILL he was willing to face those things so he could get to Elain. So he could get her out of there.

Let's not pretend that Azriel was the only one who risked something for her. Elain is Lucien's mate. As for Azriel, God only knows what were his motives to go get her. That bonus chapter really makes you think...

The one thing I wish we could have from more people in this fandom is the ability to put our tastes aside (initially) and be able to look at things in a logical way. Let's put an end to the double standards. Let's put an end to putting certain characters on a pedestal when they don't deserve to be there and not even trying to understand others. Let's see things as they are and not how we want them to be. And for God's sake, let's always try to separate our opinions and points of view from those of the main characters 😉

(BONUS)

[nessjo]

Team Black: Maegor with Teats

Not that long ago a made a post that talked about how I see myself as neither Team Black or Team Green since both sides have their pros and cons, but today I saw a video from 'Valaritas' titled "Why Rhaenyra Targaryen Would Never Make A Good Queen" and it not only strengthened some of my points but it also showed me new ones.

The basic point that it proves is, that the show is very Team Black coded and that for the show, the actions from Fire and Blood were town down. So in this talking about Book Rhaenyra and NOT Show Rhaenyra.

So let's summan up the video (more like quoting it, but hey!):

What makes a good ruler? Wisdom, Courage or something else and which one of these qualities did she possess and would she truly be a good queen?

Rhaenyra was a spiteful, jealous and lustful woman and her only basis for succession was her father's words, she lacked a strong sense of duty and her personal desires led her to make a lot of poor choices.

Yes, she was in a disadvantaged position in Westeros because she was the chosen Heir and a Woman, however despite this circumstances she struggled to embrace her role and fulfill her responsibilities.

Being King or Queen is a grave responsibility and requires them to possess a developed sense of Duty so that they can act in the best interests of the realm.

The problem with Rhaenyra is that she has no sense of Duty and often flouts her responsibilities. She wants power, unfettered power without realising that such a thing doesn't exist. She never tried to make herself more suitable for the throne, instead she just expected everyone to obey her as their Queen.

Firstly the books make it clear, that Rhaenyra became the chosen Heir, just so that the throne doesn't get passed down to Daemon, she was the last chance after the death of her brother for her father to make sure that the throne doesn't goes to his brother. Up until the Rhaenyra was treated simply as a princess and hadn't learned much about being a Queen. Despite knowing her father only became the King because he was a man, she didn't learn anything from history and didn't take any action to demonstrate that she was fit to be a Queen.

One of the most significant criticism of Rhaenyra's irresponsibility is undoubtedly her having three Bastard Sons. The Fact that the future Queen gave birth to illegitimate children is scandalous enough but what makes it worse is that she tried to pretend the were legitimate (which worked in the book better than in the show) and threatened everyone who questioned her and her sons.

In many respects her actions bear a striking resemblance to those of Cersei. Much like Cersei she consistently sought to suppress the truth by silencing those against her, for example she ordered Daemon to behead Vaemond and then to fed his corpse to her dragon, before that she wanted Aemond to be harshly questioned when he made similar claims. She went as far as to endorse murder and torture to perpetuate the lie and failed to recognize that illegitimate children on the iron throne would inevitably lead to a war.

At this point we should also criticise Viserys, because similar to Rhaenyra he failed in his responsibilities as the King. He made her path to the iron throne more difficult rather than easier. He did not educate her in a manner befitting an heir and furthermore he sowed the seeds of Civil War by having three legitimate sons.

In a world like Westeros you can't just throw away centuries old laws of agnetic primogeniture, you can't declare that your daughter will me the next Queen and you can't expect it to happen peacefully. He thought by just saying it, the people would expect it but no matter what anyone says, history is written by the victors and if Rhaenyra would have one the war, it would have paved the way for a woman to become the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. That wasn't the case, you can't convince anyone by saying that your father wanted you to be Queen, when the eldest son has been on the throne for years.

It actually shows their inability to understand the world around them. They both failed to make tough but essential decisions. When Alicent gradually took over the small council, Rhaenyra should have thought about taking decisive action to protect her claim, instead she decided to stay in Dragonstone (a major mistake by her). While there is nothing wrong for the rightful Heir to reside there, she wasn't a typical Heir. She should have been by her father's side from the beginning, engaging in political maneuvers but instead she allowed the Greens to gain more influence in the council and the capital.

She was either naive or some might say foolish and to some extent overly self-absorbed for thinking that the realm would accept and love her just because she was the chosen Heir of King Viserys Targaryen.

Some might argue that if the Greens would have done nothing and had Rhaenyra become Queen that there wouldn't have been a War, which might be true in some extent, as King, Viserys and Rhaenyra had a responsibility to prevent succession crises that could tarnish the heir's claim.

Many of Rhaenyra's problems stemmed from her assumption that she wouldn't encounter resistance for the throne or her disregard for how her actions could be used against her. If she had been more strategic she could have consolidate her power, but she created problems for herself by believing she had an unquestionable right to the throne.

If the event of the Dance of the Dragons didn't happen or didn't play as they did, she would have been at least a mediocre Queen, but it's important to note that it's easy to be a good ruler when your playing on easy mode in a peaceful and prosperous realm with no opposition and all you have to do is not screw it up (this goes for both Rhaenyra and Aegon).

When we look at Rhaenyra we can she an entitled woman who often prioritizes her own desires and interests over the wellbeing of the realm. She had three obvious bastards, displayed unnecessary cruelty to her enemies and married Daemon during a politically tumultuous time without regard of her recently deceased husband (in the book he really was killed).

Above all else she consistently avoids putting herself in harms way to advance her cause, leading to disastrous consequences such as Rhaenys's (and may more) death. Moreover she doesn't know how to please and get along with those around her, often appearing stubborn and spiteful. She lacks skills in navigating political situations, she's not adept at fighting or commanding and she fails to effectively utilise people who could support her.

She doesn't seem to have a clear plan in her mind and when her carelessness combined with her growing paranoia following the loss of her children, it became evident that she no longer could be a good Queen. In her short time in King's Landing she began to see enemies all around her and couldn't handle the pressures of being a Queen.

Her attempt to imprison Addam Velaryon solely based on insanity and paranoia is a clear example of her unsuitability for the throne. She is a woman that sought power for its own sake, believing it was her rightful claim, a similar sensebof entitlement can be seen in Daenerys as well (Valaritas has another whole video about that, so feel free to check that one out).

At the end of the day the books may have a bunch of rumours that sometimes exaggerated a lot but still there is a reason why she's called MAEGOR WITH TEATS.

While King's Landing was suffering from starvation, she hosted an extravagant part for her son Joffrey's birthday. She increased taxes and earned the nickname "Maegor with Teats", reflecting her all harsh actions without remorse. She never cared enough about the realm and it's people and she always prioritised her own desires.

This is why Valaritas and I think that (Book) Rhaenyra could never be a good Queen.

P.S.: I wrote this not the minor the work of Valaritas, especially because I basically wrote word for word what he said. His summary is just to perfect to phrase it any different and I for myself am a person that overall enjoys reading something like this more that just clicking on a YouTube link in a post. Non the less I'm putting the video down here for those that rather watch the video then read my text version (with slightly different words here and there)

[queelsolsalga]

Connor being so sickeningly in love with Markus but also feeling unable to show it… really believing there’s something wrong with who he is and how he expresses himself to Markus- and just deciding to accept that fact to the point where it’s sort of inconvenient for him??

Markus all the while only sees the endless amounts of sweet things Connor does. He just thinks Connor shows affection by acts of service, and responds indifferently to affirmations. He really didn’t think anything was wrong— and the both of them were so busy anyhow that when Connor says “we should break up” he feels like he’s been slapped in the face. He literally just doesn’t respond with anything except “what??”

Connor lays it all out for him.

“We don’t have sex. Which I don’t think is necessary and you say you can do without, but I can tell you feel bad initiating and so we just stopped. I never tell you I love you, I have never said this to you and you say you know how I feel but I can tell that when you tell me you love me you expect me to respond accordingly. I don’t know why I can’t. Because I do feel very strongly for you I just don’t feel deserving and I… I often feel less than. Not that you are in any way trying to make me feel this way— I just know that I don’t feel and cannot express love the way you do. We probably won’t work, Markus. No matter how much… it won’t work.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The other day, we discussed what we would do if we could get married. I told you I wouldn’t mind and that I’d like being married to you… and we argued because of that response. That was my honest assessment of your question and you told me I didn’t care enough. Marriage is a huge deal but it’s all on the same playing field for me— just a choice. It doesn’t mean I don’t care or that I don’t want things, I just care about perspective. I am miserable when you hold me in the morning and shower me with love that I don’t return to you as you’d want. I don’t know what I’m going to want in the future— I’m not as sure as you about our futures.”

And Markus is honestly kind of pissed, because this whole time he thought he was in a loving relationship when Connor was waking up every day, in his arms, feeling disgusted with himself. No amount of reassurance Markus gave had gotten through. After years of being a safe person for so many people, the person he loved and relied on most in the world felt uncomfortable in their relationship. An utter failure of an attempt, he’d basically called it. And no matter how Connor put it, he felt like a horrible partner for once again giving into his own ideals and simply asking, after all Connor had shared, “Do you love me?” in hopes of Connor just saying yes and the relationship being saved with some counter speech.

Now Connor is legitimately annoyed. Markus stares into his soul for an answer and Connor looks back at him with a disappointed pout. He gets up.

“I understand that you accept and love me, Markus. But I really wish you’d listen to me.”

And he leaves.

[luck-of-the-drawings]

POOR GABRIEL MONTEZ! YOU NEVER SAW THIS COMING DID YOU? ALL YOU WANTED WAS POWER. SECURITY. SAFETY. & THATS EXACTLY WHAT YOU GOT! JUST IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR BODY. LETS JUST HOPE NO ONE FUCKS THIS UP. LETS JUST HOPE YOU WONT HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS.

[s-wordsmith]

Something I really need Stranger Things fic writers to know is that no one in rural America was locking any doors in the eighties apart from the government and businesses. I remember when there was a big stink about "we gotta start locking our doors now how am I supposed to remember that every time I leave the house." People didn't lock the doors when they were home until at LEAST the mid-aughts, a lot of people STILL don't. "Oh we can't get into so-and-so's house/car because we don't have the keys!" You do not need the keys, just open the door. "I'm alarmed because I went over to so-and-so's house and their front door was unlocked so I instantly knew something was wrong." It would be much weirder if it was locked. If I showed up at my friend's house and the door was locked I would immediately assume something was wrong. If I lived in a town regularly invaded by monsters and patrolled by mobs of government agents/Russian spies/jocks with guns, I would assume my friend was currently being hunted.