#not to mention you are carrying around a fucking weapon. so of course they're gonna be wary and feel threatened

[sycamorality]

liking scavengers is the liking bugs/spiders of the rain world fandom

[givemeuniversalcrossovers]

Dumb things I think about regularly, in a Soul Eater x MHA crossover Crona would be absolutely fucking besties with Toga.

My reason being, Crona has a mcfucking type of person he likes especially and that is Blonde woman. He got his momma medusa a blonde woman, he got Marie his surrogate mother figure and Maka his bestie a blonde girlie. What do they also have in common? They paid attention to him, medusa though negligent was his primary care giver, Maka extended a hand of friendship and Marie really cared about Crona during his dwma arc.

You're telling me that Medusa wouldn't look at LOV and go yea they look disposable in the meantime they know this world they're evil I'll use them as needed? She'd absolutely plot to manipulate use and leave them to take the fall I'm just not smart enough to talk about the specific how's and what she'd do. It also gives her somewhere to leave Crona when she doesn't wanna deal with him as she's doing her own thing cause if Soul Eater people just appeared in the mha world she'd have lost her base so can't keep him there.

Can you look me in the eye and tell me Toga wouldn't look at this gender ambiguous twink with pink purple hair in a dress and wouldn't go "A girrrllllll, a bestieeee" like fucking on sight she'd see Crona immediately go that's my new bestie yes girlie I'm gonna do your hair it's a fucking mess and paint your nails. Of course Crona actual gender is lmao who knows and canonically a they them though I tend to see them as a boy, but I don't think Toga would give a shit honorary girl status.

She'd essentially kinda play the Maka role narratively but evil lmao bonding with Crona and Crona would in turn be soft that's a friend and likely protective of Toga like he is Maka canonically and now probably impossible to redeem cause Toga would genuinely care about him I think. And oop loyalty to LOV. And like I think the others would like him even if he's weird™️ not even mentioning Ragnarok. They'd probably be to some level sickened by what medusa did I mean yikes melting someone down and fusing them into someone's blood, also raising your child as a living weapon to do your bidding for a goal you want to achieve stripping said child of really any personality means to combat that is urg I think they'd hate it sure they're evil but like they've kinda chosen fallen into that line of work Crona really was forced and molded into it since birth.

This is purely because I want Crona to become this badass as I think he'd really be able to grow into one with LOV and cause I think he should get a cool outfit and confidence and carry Toga around. I mean I think Dabi would absolutely mercilessly roast him over his dress robe and be like nah you look stupid let's get you some proper fucking clothes trousers and so many belts lmao. I have an agenda lmao this is just fun for me. If anyone's also had this thought and made this post I'm sorry lmao

[spottedbread]

Ok I never told you guys what happened. Tw: Guns at school, bandaid solutions, strong language. It's also just a generally long rant

So on Tuesday a middle schooler brought a gun to school. He went through the entire day with it and no adult knew. Of course the kids were going insane on their phones about it. They find out later that evening that the guy had a fucking gun and for the next two days there's almost nothing done; no announcement, no statement, just quietly punishing the students and moving on. So okay.

We're out of school on Friday because of "rumors" (which dude shut the fuck up we know what happened we're not stupid. Some of my sophomore buddies have been freaking out the entire fucking week about it). So yeah okay 3 day weekend. Maybe they bought some weapon detection or something. I mean it has been a MINIMUM of 30 years with this school having a total of ZERO metal detectors in the building so maybe they took some action?

They release a video statement on Facebook that night. They're not, in fact, getting metal detectors over the weekend. Instead, we as students aren't allowed to have backpacks until further notice...??

Actually let me find it. Okay "Anything large enough to hold a spiral notebook is prohibited until further notice." Okay. What the fuck. Do these people HEAR THEMSELVES. They go on to say that they'll "talk about" weapon detection.

Yknow maybe if all our funding for the past thirty fucking years didn't go to the football team that ISNT EVEN THAT GOOD then maybe we would've HAD weapon detection and that wouldn't have happened. But I do also understand that they have to pour all their funds into trying to make good sports teams because our test scores sure aren't getting them any extra funding that's for sure.

Anyways there are no clear backpacks, no drawstrings, and lunch boxes are subject to search. And the lockers that usually COST MONEY TO HAVE are being given out for free, but only during 4th period and after. So okay. Alright. Yknow make our trips from one end of the building to an entirely different building that much harder, gotcha.

Oh and if you have sports equipment or god forbid you have band or Orchestra, you have to drop that shit off in certain areas. Music kids have it a bit better, they're putting it in the classroom. But God forbid a kid taking History of Music for his fuckin humanities credit wants to ruin your life for the next little while and takes your shit. Oh and the sports kids have it worse. They're being told to put their things IN THE GYM. Not even in a holding area, just on the fucking BLEACHERS. Yeahhhhhh. I shouldn't have come to school today what the fuck are these people thinking.

Because it's one thing to just not have metal detectors. I mean it's been long enough but what fucking ever. But disallowing us to bring our work in any decent way (my sympathy to people who can't even carry their shit in their ARMS btw), making people put their stuff for extra activities in public locations, offering a lackluster option in these 30 year old lockers which you typically have to pay for, not even mentioning that they're waiting until TUESDAY to hold a school board meeting over it when they have the power to call off school and extend the weekend to maybe fucking FIND AND IMPLIMENT A DECENT SOLUTION INSTEAD OF RUSHING OUT A STATEMENT ON FRIDAY (I bet somethings gonna happen btw. Tensions are too high, some kid's gonna stick a gun down his pants. If I don't post for a while then you know what happened). It's all rushed and not thought through. And they also are just putting more police officers on campus on top of having MORE adults who aren't police watching over us at all times. Because that'll ease tension. They're honestly doing nothing to ease the tensions around here and something bad is going to happen.

I wanted to bring my backpack so bad. I was going to until my parents who were going along with my idea suddenly switched their attitudes last night. Then I just felt like feigning sick just to not go. I mean I shouldn't have to put up with this, I'm in AP and dual-credit courses I don't have the time to deal with this shit. But I ended up bringing nothing except my choir binder. Because they're making their priorities clear; they want to wring out as many school days from us as possible instead of taking the proper time off to actually impliment real security (because if the lot of adults at these schools can't stop a kid from smuggling a gun in then what are a few more gonna do for them?) So I'm making mine clear too.

TLDR: Middle schooler brought a gun to school. My school made us not allowed to have backpacks in response. Also they added a bunch more police officers and aren't making metal detectors a priority.

[servrz]

other than all that though, i definitely have some thoughts on the state of the game as a whole

first of all, nokk needs some kinda lifeline. her ability is a shell of what it used to be. her gun has been nerfed to shit (one of the things that bugs me most about it-- it's an smg. with less damage and a lower fire rate than the FUCKING R4C. yet it STILL has more recoil). frag grenades don't carry the same weight they used to. she needs something soon if she wants a place in the meta, because she's a bottom 3 op in the game rn imo (i think only sens and blackbeard are worse than her atm. in fact, i think an argument could be made that blackbeard is BETTER than nokk right now). i think another gun might be a good option if they don't want to buff the fmg (the c8-sfw seems like a popular community suggestion), but bringing her ability back to its old state is the number one most important thing we need to see

secondly, defender power creep. ill be the first to admit, i think theyve handled this pretty well so far. tubarao was reigned in a bit and azami got her kibas nerfed. i also think that EVERY attacker gun that isn't a shotgun receiving acog may have been a bit overboard, but it has addressed this issue in a way (i think they should balance the acogs like they used to). however, there's still a lot of work to be done on two ops in particular, and i think we all know who i'm gonna call out-- changes need to come to solis (as much as i hate to admit it) and DEFINITELY fenrir. they already addressed that solis is going to be adjusted over the course of the next couple of seasons, but i dont recall hearing anything about fenrir. taking one of his mine activations away could be something to tool around with, but i've always had a particular image in mind: first, a short delay period before the gas kicks in might be a good idea. right now, the toxin activates pretty much instantaneously when the mine is triggered, and adding a delay would make it easier for attackers to escape it before its effects are felt. second, i think that they should make the period in which the gas wears off dependent on how long an attacker is exposed to the gas. in other words, it wears off quicker if you haven't been in it for long, and gradually takes longer to wear off as you stay in the gas for longer. i'm no developer, but i think fenrir needs some adjustment and this could be something to test

for my third point, i mentioned it in the last paragraph. i don't think that just throwing an acog on every single attacker rifle/smg/dmr is a great call. here's what i'm afraid of-- when a gun is seen as overpowered, ubi has a habit of just nerfing it into the ground. they used to be nerfed by taking scopes away, but now that scopes are out of the picture, they're nerfed by reducing its damage or, most commonly, INCREASING ITS RECOIL. so, let's take the r4-c for example. it was in a good spot prior to this season, when it only had a 1x scope. if you wanted magnification, the g36c was the alternative that traded off damage and fire rate for that scope. now, they both have an acog, so the magnification trade-off no longer exists. the r4-c is the clear-cut choice. but i don't want to see a gun like the r4-c get its recoil nerfed if the acog makes it an "overpowered weapon" and makes the g36c inferior. the most sensible solution in my mind would be to just TAKE THE ACOG AWAY AGAIN. ash still would have magnification in the form of the g36c. creating that trade-off again would help make the g36c a viable option, and prevent the r4-c from getting an unnecessary recoil nerf because its 2.5x scope makes it "overpowered." you could apply this same logic (albeit maybe to a lesser degree) to iana, or nomad, or basically anybody with two assault rifles that have acog now. i just don't think an acog on EVERY. SINGLE. ATTACKER RIFLE. is a good idea. because looking at ubisoft's weapon balancing track record, i think they will resort to nerfing recoil and damage on guns that would be perfectly balanced if they just simply took the scope away.

my fourth thought is bring back the year pass. whatever they're cooking in place of it is bad. i don't like it and it will taste like shit. whether they're just removing it altogether or making a subscription service or whatever the fuck, i don't want it. and i don't think most people are gonna want it either. the year pass was super convenient and rather popular for people that will play the game over the course of the whole year. bring it back to us

my fifth and penultimate point is, please ubisoft for the love of god, DELIVER ON YOUR CONTENT THIS YEAR. this game was dying and, thanks to some bald-headed lunatic on twitch, it has a second shot at life here (you are LUCKY he chose this game as his big thing). i try not to be critical, but i've always believed in brutal honesty and i'm just gonna be flat out. you have consistently fucked up a lot of things in terms of gameplay, balance, and overall quality of life. just about every change or feature implemented was either half-baked, changed significantly so that it isn't even close to what was promised, delayed over and over again, or simply stupid and ill-advised. i still love you guys and still love this game, but a lot needs to be improved goin forward. based on the roadmap for year 9, it seems like you guys are committed to quality of life changes and overall balancing. i like what's laid out here, but it needs to be implemented well. if you want siege, which is likely your biggest and most consistent cash cow, to keep this kind of popularity it's seeing now, it needs a decent amount of content. additions and changes need to be well thought out. they need to be done properly and not released in a half-assed state. and finally, please just listen to the community. i know it can be hard with the millions of different opinions and ideas that everyone has, and how every single person thinks that they're a fucking developer (something even i'm guilty of from time to time). and some of these people trying to yell into the void to get their ideas heard (i.e. me) are just flat-out dumbasses and have no idea what they're talking about (i.e. not me, i don’t think). but i feel like a lot of changes over the past couple of years weren't warranted, and when the community pushed back, the changes were rarely altered and just went through as they were (the changes to frag grenades being one particular instance that i saw a lot of resistance on). i know you can't just listen to a community and do as they say, and i know you can't please everyone. but i do think that overall we could be heard a little bit more. i believe that how you handle community feedback has improved, but there’s still plenty of room for it to get better. and i say all of this with as much love as i can possibly say it with

and finally, this is my seasonal plea to give ash her stuns back. that is all

[askthiscpblog]

Hehe sorry to be a bother, but I still ship Jane and Imani... could they meet? Sksksks sorry I know you must be tired of romance asks, especially these Jane and Imani ones but they're so,,,, cute,, feel free to ignore this if you want!

Jane was out and about during the day, more often than anyone else in the house. It was the little magic boon she got, able to cover up what EJ could never fix about her burns. She was wearing a shorter black dress, around mid-thigh, with a t-shirt top and fishnets down her arms. It was one of those days she decided to look nicer than her usual. Jane was going to downtown for a night on the town. Being that Sally is too young, a girl’s night was an alone night for her. Doesn’t mean she won’t find any fun though.

Imani almost never left her house aside from business, and that’s what she was on. Well, not her usual business. She wasn’t heading out to fuck anyone, not that she would complain if the night led to that. She was out to find someone to have fun with while she rode out her manic episode. She had traded out her tight curve-hugging dress for a faded Marvel t-shirt and skinny jeans. She was going to play it casually, but of course, she still had her heels on. After all, she had to have a weapon on her even when she wasn’t carrying her purse. The heels had blades in them. Blades sharp enough to make the paranoid woman feel secure as she walked down the street, ignoring people’s occasional bewildered stare at the towering masked woman. Her eyes roamed the streets, looking for someone interesting to charm into wreaking havoc with her.

Jane kept her purse around her, looking around for a place to head to. Alright, it was still a little too early for the clubs tonight. So instead she decided to go to a classier bar, drinking a martini watching the crowd. Imani spotted something that sparked her interest. A bar instead of a person like she had anticipated but her intuition was telling her to go, and she wasn’t one to ignore her intuition. So, she did. She walked directly to the bar, ordering a shot of whiskey to fuel her fire. As she drowned her worries with the liquid, she noticed a woman with a martini in her hand and a mask on her face and she couldn’t help but turn her body to get a better look.

Jane looked over at everyone, trying to pick out who would be an easy target for a fun night. Granted, she was going to head to the gay club tonight. Better chance of picking someone she liked up than here. But after a little, her gaze moves over towards the woman who also had a mask downing whiskey. She was looking at her too, so it was a contest now. Imani crossed her arms over her chest, not breaking eye contact. This woman was gay. Hella gay. The gayest. And if she wasn’t then she was in for a shock when she came home with Imani. Imani set her now empty shot glass down on the bar and walked over to the masked woman. She looked down at her before she spoke, a smile forming under her mask.

“Hello there beautiful. I happened to notice that pretty mask of yours, and it sparked my interest. That, and the aura of glamour magic you give off.” She stuck her hand out to shake, “I’m Imani.”

That made Jane smile under her mask, seeing how quick this woman was to pick up what was around her. Yeah, she wasn’t stupid. Or at least, she was observant.

“Well well, aren’t you a clever person? Nice to see that someone has some brains around here,” she responded, bringing up her drink to her mask. For a second it looked like it melted to her face as she took a sip, acting it was like her real face. But blink and it’s gone, just back to a normal mask.

“Jane.” The one eye that Imani had left widened, and she eyed this woman, Jane’s, mask.

“A beautiful name for a beautiful lady… and you have got to teach me that trick. I guess I’ve been doing things the hard way this whole time, eh?” Imani crossed her arms over her chest, tilting her head to the left, analyzing. Jane didn’t come off like a threat, she wasn’t radiating bad mojo, so Imani decided not to give bad mojo back and to be friendly.

“What brings you here this evening Jane? Usually, ladies like you don’t drink alone at places like this unless they’re on a mission.”

“Well, what makes you think I’m not on a mission? Waiting for the more fun and welcoming places open up,” she mentioned, putting the glass down onto the counter and circling the rim with her gloved hand. She gave a sly smile under it, though it couldn’t be seen If she focused more it’ll meld into her face again, this woman already figured out the magic. So, what more could she do?

“But no, otherwise I am here to have fun. Love your name too, by the way. Unique, and I like unique things. And I could teach you if you care to sit and talk with me until the other place opens.”

“I would love to, after all, I’m never one to turn down the attention of stunning women. Especially when they’re offering to teach me new things. Learning is one of my favorite things.” A smile made its way onto Imani’s face under her mask as she watched Jane. This woman radiated a certain kind of energy, one that Imani hadn’t tasted before.

“Who taught you that trick, if you don’t mind my asking. I know some teachers don’t like to be talked about. It’s not somethin’ I’ve seen before.” Jane froze at the question for a split second when asking who taught her. Technically, she taught herself. But the power came from something else, her boss which she didn’t want to talk about. At least, not now with a stranger after a raid in a bar.

“I picked it up from my boss, but I could show you a thing or two. Thing is, you gotta have the talent for it. Think you got it pretty lady?” she responded, smiling under that mask. Imani let out a small chuckle, looking down before looking into Jane’s eyes.

“Oh, believe me, I know I do.” She leaned back, raising her brow at the woman in front of her. She usually kept her practices a secret, a secret for her sisters and brothers and other siblings from Africa only. But she supposed that if this woman was going to show her something, she might as well give something in return. She twirled one of her coils, watching it spring back after she stretched it out. It was therapeutic.

“If you’re interested, I might be able to teach you something too… that is if you’re not too white meat for it. Well, more than I was already planning to teach you the second I saw you.” Oh, this woman had spunk, attitude, and everything that made Jane smile. She was good, and she knew the game that Jane played. It was obvious to the trained killer, as a person who talked one of the most famous ones. And found him, countless times.

“Alright, so what are you wanting to know the most then? Trade for trade. Also depends on how long we plan on being together, for this night anyway.” Jane leaned forward, taking the martini glass but kept her posture. Almost challenging Imani, but not in a dominance way. Imani noticed the change in the way Jane was leaning, and smirked.

“I’m dying to know that little mask trick of yours. I do hate giving everyone a flash of my scary lookin’ face every time I take a drink or smoke.” She answered the subtle challenge with a change of her own body language, leaning forward a bit and putting most of her weight on the foot closest to Jane. She had to admit she did like this woman. She was classy, more so than Imani was used to, and wasn’t challenging in a way that made her a threat. Instead, she was challenging enough to be a turn on.

“What do you want to learn most, hmm? Hoodoo is a powerful tool if you get someone who knows how to work it right. I surely wouldn’t mind spending the night with you to teach you some of my tricks.”

Jane watched her change her posture, seeing how it shifted to mirror match hers. Oh, this girl was good. Picking up her martini, she stands up to walk over to a booth off in the corner. Her long black dress trailed behind her in the wind she made, not touching the ground due to the clack of her heels against it. Getting to the booth, she spins around and slides on in, to graceful for a basic human as she does so. Her other hand was held out, using her finger to wave “come over here” to Imani. Imani couldn’t help but enjoy the view from where she had been standing when Jane walked away and followed when Jane beckoned for her. She walked in her steps of threes, her heels clacking against the floor. She sat opposite to Jane, crossing her left leg over her right and putting her hand under her chin.

“My, if you had told me the view from the back was as good as the view from the front, I would have suggested we move much sooner.” She leaned forward a bit, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

“Now, I know you didn’t get me over here away from the rest of the bar to do naughty things, so why move? Are you gonna teach me your lovely trick?”

“Maybe because I could teach you a thing or two without others…interfering or interrupting anything,” she told to her with a devilish grin under her mask. Jane took the drink she had and lifted it to her mask again, it fades in and out like it did before. But instead of a sip, she drank the entire glass before setting it aside.

“Hoodoo sounds interesting, please do tell me more.”

“Hoodoo… is everything to me. It’s called many things, rootwork, juju… sometimes devil worships by ultra-religious bitches.” Imani couldn’t help but enjoy watching the mask fade in and out, it was so fascinating to her. A part of her started to explore the science behind it, if there was in, or if it was all magic.

“Hoodoo was made by slaves trying to preserve parts of their culture while in shackles which is why we prefer it to stay to people with…” she lifted her hand up, “melanin. But I can teach you some things without giving away everything. Judging the glamour magic, you’ve got going on, I’m going to guess you are the type of woman who likes to lure in her prey instead of running around for it like a savage. I can respect that.” Imani ran her nails over the surface of the table, looking down at it, thinking for a moment before looking back into Jane’s eyes. Imani couldn’t help the grin that came to her face before she spoke. She was really fucking gay and this woman? Definitely her type.

“I can teach you a little trick to help you dispel suspicion. I use it to make my sugar mommies and daddies ignore the whole scarred face thing. Of course, if you want, I could teach you much more than that… although it would probably stop being me teaching you hoodoo and me teaching you other things.”

“Oh, you think I am that easy of a catch, do you? I would like to see you try.” Jane responds immediately, giving the same devilish grin under her mask.

“And yes, apparently you and I don’t fall far from the same tree. Sure, let’s start with the dispel suspicion then and the melding mask. I think it will go smoothly if everything doesn’t end up getting tossed to the wind in conversation.” Jane put one hand on her cheek and leaned in on it, the other one having her nails thrum against the wooden table in a smooth pattern.

Imani let out a small laugh, “I think you’ll be one of the hardest women to get in my bed. But whether we end up there or not, I’ll be happy getting to talk with someone that isn’t a total asshole or completely boring.” The sound of Jane’s nails tapping against the wooden table made Imani relax, it was a soothing sound. She shifted, cocking her head to the side.

“Do enlighten me, Jane. Do I have a chance with you, or are you going to keep me on a hamster wheel? I’ll be more than happy to continue to chase after that fabulous ass of yours, but I’d like to know before I waste too much energy making gris-gris bags to try and get you in my bed.” Jane thought about it for a minute or two, about getting into bed with this woman. Yes, she was pretty, nice, tall, and overall gay as hell, and she loved that aura about her. At the same time, she was a killer like herself and didn’t want to change anything after the raid. Gotta be smart about this sort of stuff.

“Sorry to say, not tonight. But I do believe however you have my attention enough to warrant a second, maybe even a third depending on how tonight goes,” she responds, moving to pull her mask up and off to the side some. Her skin was white, but not as bleached as her attackers. More like a very pale person, someone who doesn’t go into the sun often. Good eyes will show some burn scars creeping up her face from her neck. Her guard lowering the magic to show this woman. It is obvious that she has had surgery on most parts, it’s smoother than it should be for scarred skin. Patchy skin grafts. Imani couldn’t help but smile at the sight of this woman’s true face. She took it as a sign of trust, even at a superficial level.

“I’ll focus my efforts on upping my game for next time. Maybe show some cleavage, wear a nice wig, get my nails did…” she tapped her nails against her mask, “I don’t mind being blessed by seeing a part of your beautiful face, but I really don’t think you want to see the hellish thing that’s under this. I don’t want to give such a gorgeous being such as yourself a reason not to want to see me again, now do I?”

“If you think I am a picky person, you’re absolutely right.” Jane joked, waving over a waiter. She ordered them both a bottle of wine, chilled, and not to dry. Even added in some small snacks for them to eat while teaching one another. “You have nothing to worry about, I have no right to judge anyone. I count myself fortunate to know a very good doctor who did the best he could.”

“He definitely did an amazing job, you’re stunning. Give him my compliments.” Imani unclipped her mask, taking it off completely and shaking out her curls that were pressed down from the tight straps. Her hand ran over the scars that covered well over half of her face, feeling how they swelled above what was her normal skin. Redish and inflamed, she never let them heal. Too paranoid for medical help from her friends, she let them be. A smile inched its way onto her face, “Now that you’ve seen my face are you still certain you don’t wanna tap this right here and now?”

She snorted as she giggled, “Sorry… it’s been a long time since I’ve been interested in someone that wasn’t paying me to be.”

Jane saw the balls this woman…Imani takes off her mask to show her the face. Well, that was something. Seeing her scars, she gives a small smile under the mask before taking off her own. And her burn scared face was revealed, matching something like Imani. It folded in over itself, twisting and turning with pits and sunken in sections. And this was all after she got the surgery, seeing the off colored patchiness of where old and new skin overlaps. She had no eyebrows either, drawn on with makeup. Looking at the surface, it was obvious she had burn scars, but the makeup works to distract it.

“Hey, no worries here about that. I don’t plan on paying you for anything more if I can help it.” Giving a wink, their bottle shows up with two glasses and a bucket of ice. Imani couldn’t help but smile at this woman, no matter how self-conscious she was about the lopsided dumbass smile that she had.

“My, you do know how to flatter a girl.” Imani tapped her nails against the wood, looking at Jane for a minute. She couldn’t help but admire her, her makeup skills, her obvious good taste in fashion. And her speech. And… well, everything. She took a deep breath, preparing to summon some energy and a cocky smile appeared on her face.

“Now… I’m gonna teach you some juju.”

[blitz-and-hearth]

Exactly!!! I also really enjoy how obvious it is Magnus is into Alex right away, but also how he's completely unaware he's falling in love until hes already head over heels. And something that's pretty underrated in the fandom is how Alex is just as kind hearted and caring as Magnus, just shows it in a different way. She died trying to save someone even though she could of walked away and undoubtedly knew she was out matched and out numbered. Alex has that typical untouchable badass and edgy "don't touch me or you'll lose your hand", but that's not really who she wants to be, or at least that's how I read it. She's badass for sure, but it seems like she isn't all that much of a loner as she comes across. She goes from punching Sam in the face to forming a sibling bound very quickly, and also making friends with Halfborn to the point she's joking around with him the second time Magnus sees her. Alex wears pink sunglasses and does snow angles on the rainbow bridge, she gets flustered just watching Magnus being his dorky self, she's not the lone wolf badass character type that a lot of people seem to read her as. That harsh shell, the sharpness Alex has to her, that's something I think a lot of trans people understand in a way cis people probably don't get, at least not immediately. See like... Alex is way braver than I think I might ever be. The unapologetic and openness about her identity is kinda a shell shock to me even now. I still feel like I can't correct cashers I'm never gonna see again when they misgender me, I can't imagine flat out telling strangers I'm trans and won't take their bullshit while in a new environment I'm essentially trapped in since I'm dead. Of fucking course Alex is a bit cold and stand offish, of course she's wary of Magnus and has a hard time being open about her emotions, she has to be. She carries weapons not just because she's a demigod that might attract monsters, but because there's just normal people who could try to hurt or straight up murder her just for her identity. Cis people get real mad about trans people, but I feel like nonbinary and gender fluid people especially are targets since they're out of the neat little gender boxes society loves. After getting disowned and kicked out, living homeless which is an especially vunrable and dangerous status to be in, of fucking course Alex has some trust issues. She wants to make these connections, friendships, a sibling bond, a romantic relationship, but it can't possibly be easy for her. The first two come easier I'm sure, like I mentioned she made friends with Halfborn despite him saying some low-key insensitive things (but he is like a hundreds years old Viking so he handles it pretty well all things conisdered) pretty quickly and ends up having a pretty close relationship with Sam, but it's pretty clear she held Magnus at a bit more of a distance. Not only would it be trust issues, but she was almost definitely worried about how Magnus would take it if she confessed she liked him like that. Sure now he's accepting, but would Magnus still be cool with her if he knew she had romantic feelings for her. Sometimes when you're queer or trans, people will get very fucking angry if you even hint you might be into them like that.... Oh man I've been rambling about this for awhile, had more feelings about Alex than I realized I guess. Tldr, Alex is kind hearted but has a lot of trauma and the bravest character Rick ever wrote

I'm thinking bout Alex a lot like I do for every pride month and damn Rick did go pretty hard for his first trans character huh? Like he's not perfect with his rep but he didn't pull any "oh I just don't like labels" dancing around treating Trans like a dirty word bullshit, Alex was very blunt about her identity not about to water it down just to educate the cis people around her. Fucking Halfborn and TJ, characters from 100s of years ago, were unphased and both pointed out trans people existed in their day too not some new invention. Alex not only gets a romantic interest, but it's Magnus, the main character! Magnus doesn't even have some gay panic when he realizes he's in love with Alex, which is probably the most impressive thing cause cis people love having weird "am I gay oh no" moments over trans people for some reason. Blitzen and Hearthstone will always be my favorites but Alex and the lines "I will decide what is manly, unmanly, womanly, or unwomanly for me" and ""so why not call yourself, like, they and them? Wouldn't that be less confusing than just switching back and forth with the pronouns?" "Less confusing for who? You?"" very much live rent free in my head at all times