#of themselves. and give them no development outside of their Favorite Guy. like all of the characters arent going to be how they were

[komeeder]

i cant stop thinking about nwp logistics. when the survivors woke up from it what was it like. was it like when youre in a dream and it feels so real then you wake up and the reality of it is gone. do the memories feel like real life. and for the people that died during the simulation what happened to them while it was still ongoing...... were they something like ghosts like in among us just spectating? were they still in the code but just not in any way conscious, was it more like dreamless sleep or like a vague confusing and jumbled fever dream, when they got up did they have to be told the events of the simulation that they missed or did they just somehow... know? despite not exactly consciously witnessing it? and then waking them up...... we got 2.5 with komaeda but what about the others????? was it really easy for some and more difficult for others, and how fast did any of them wake up..... what were their 'worlds' like and what happened to wake them up. world destroyer took a violent route with komaedas but maybe depending on the person it didnt have to be violent?

forever thinking of sdr2

[ronearoundblindly]

For Cevans + Bucky.. I curious what is each of their ‘toxic traits’ or ‘red flags’ in a relationship… assuming characters like Lloyd do find themselves in an actual monogamous relationship. Whether it’s jealousy, excessive possessiveness, manipulative behavior.. etc I’m curious to know your thoughts on whose what 🥰🖤

o.0 ok this is interesting...

And since you specifically brought him up, I'll start with Lloyd--Warnings for sexual references and toxic behaviors. MINORS DNI.

Lloyd Hansen

Not sure if there's a name for this trait, but I believe Lloyd would have a huge issue merging sex and feelings. He can fuck without thinking and be selfish. If he grows to actually respect someone?? Well...if he does care, I'm not sure he can bring himself to use a partner the same way he would a throwaway hole. Lloyd might have a bit of trouble bringing that pedestal down once he puts you up there.

That's what was so beautiful and easy for him before: he never cared; he could just enjoy himself and not give a shit about anyone else. This might lead to him finding release with others (cheating) when he can't bring himself to treat you the same way he did before catching feelings.

Steve Rogers

Passivity. (Is that a real word for this? Whoops.)

He's so patient and so stoic and so fucking passive, you just want to wring his neck sometimes. He will not ask if/when something seems off/awkward between you. Steve just waits for you to bring it up if you ever do. He doesn't really take charge inside your relationship. He will answer any question you pose straight to him, but otherwise, fucking nothing.

Bucky Barnes

Doomsday mindset. Buck spirals like crazy and always assumes the worst. If you laugh really loud at someone else's joke? You like them better. You're going to leave him. If you don't text or call him for one day? You don't want to talk to him, aren't thinking about him, and have moved on.

He relies heavily on proximity to assuage these fears, so leaving on extended missions is akin to torture. There's always a period of having to smother him in reassurance once he returns. Every. Single. Time.

James Mace

His greatest strength is his greatest weakness: practicality.

Mace is the fucking worst at casual romance; I bet you didn't even know this guy liked you until his tongue was deep in your mouth. It all seemed just professional, or just friendly, until suddenly it didn't, meaning Mace offers zero reassurance that you two are going anywhere. He may assume you two are fine...all the time...because he said he was fine and happy that one time three months ago. That's good enough, right?

Y'all know I love this boi to the sun and back, but his emotional openness is extremely lacking. He's the type I can see being broken up with A LOT simply because he won't fight to stay together/connected. He takes it for granted that you are together.

Curtis Everett

Lack of communication. Curtis will let things fester until the last second. He is a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to everything, bless, but Curtis is not a fan of deep and emotional conversations. This can--and often does--make you feel like your relationship develops super slowly and isn't solid/stable. He cares for you, but it's difficult to tell if you two are ever on exactly the same page until the end of the chapter. Playing catchup is frustrating.

Jimmy Dobyne

Womp. My least favorite of the toxic traits (weirdly, because it's not even the actual worst)--Jimmy is that old-school, typical man who expects a certain amount of subservience from his partner. He's not going to cook if you're there. He's not going to clean when you can instead. When it comes to you're own kids, he's defers to you unless specifically asked (when alone), not when in public.

And that's really the problem with this behavior: it looks to outsiders that he treats you equally and pulls his weight because he absolutely can. He just defaults to being the breadwinner/man of the house.

This could be overcome but only if you force the conversation a bunch of times. You work and are tired at the end of the day, but for some reason it's 'different' when he is tired from working and unwilling to do anything at the end of the day.

Johnny Storm

Petty, mindgame, stereotypical manipulations. Johnny is notoriously 'in-tune' with the ladies, but he is SO USED TO bimbos who play the games of dating (i.e. acting uninterested to make men chase them, saying the opposite of what they mean, etc.) that he plays them, too. He doesn't act as interested as he is. He plays it cool and hard to get and indifferent. He behaves as if any decent amount of time and affection is smothering and clingy. He doesn't let himself be vulnerable in any way...

...until well after most girls would have given up.

Jake Jensen

Insecurity. He's inexperienced and second-guesses everything he does. He takes advise from all the wrong people and gets it from places. Jake is not confident enough to trust his instincts, and it gets him into more trouble than he even realizes. After an extremely long time (and endless patience from his partner), Jake comes into his own, gets comfortable, and might take the lead every now and then.

Ari Levinson

Excessive possessiveness 100%. I've touched on this in a B&B story, but Ari doesn't own a whole lot. One of those few things is you.

I actually believe he's able to tamp this urge down a good portion of the time. However, if Ari is worn down or drunk, he can't moderate that you are his, he wants you right here, and he will fucking fight. You have to keep him on his best behavior around newer friends or business folk. He doesn't understand that professional courtesy might look similar to flirting. Sometimes you'll need to butter up men, but you'll also need Ari to not be around for that.

Ransom Drysdale

Also possessive but mostly JEALOUS. Jealous to the point a frequent stocking stuffer at xmastime is Jelly Bellies. It's a running joke; even if he doesn't particularly like every flavor in the bag, they are his jelly beans. Ran won't share. He fucking hates it. He hates sharing you for any amount of time or reason. Having family and friends is vaguely okay (male friends...eh, attractive male friends can eat shit), but having coworkers who get your attention? Fuck right off with that. Come home to him. Hold his hand. Sit in his lap. Don't smile at that person. Don't go out when you could stay with him.

[Main Masterlist; Who Would... Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

[daisynik7]

Rush

Chapter 1: Reputation

Pairing: Eren Jaeger x f!reader

Rating: Explicit

cw: explicit language, college au, fraternities and sororities, eventual smut, underage drinking

Summary: After an uneventful freshman year, sophomore Eren Jaeger joins Alpha Tau, the top fraternity at University of Paradis. In the aftermath of last semester’s scandal, the fraternity makes the decision to partner with the academically successful but socially unpopular sorority Sigma Nu Kappa in hopes of building back their reputation.

As a new member of Sigma Nu Kappa, you meet the mysterious Eren through your roommate and now sister, Mikasa Ackerman. His good looks and intensity pull you in at first. But like it is often portrayed in television and movies, finding love in a frat house is never that simple.

Notes: Chapter title inspired by "End Game" - Taylor Swift

ao3 | Next Chapter

Rush Series Masterlist

Rush Series Taglist

----------

Alpha Tau fraternity. Arguably the hottest, most popular frat at University of Paradis. Ask any sorority girl who their favorite type of guy is. Nine times out of ten, their answer is “an Alpha Tau”. The same answer applies if you ask any goddamn independent who the worst type of guy is. Girls want to fuck them, guys want to be them, GDIs want to hate them. And that’s why they are the kings on campus. 

For the past ten years, Alpha Tau has always had the most numbers when it comes to recruitment, also known as “rush”. Every potential new member puts them at the top of their list. But that didn’t mean they had the most members.

The thing about Alpha Tau is that they pride themselves on being exclusive. As if a fucking frat wasn’t already “exclusive” enough. They are notoriously critical when it comes to accepting new members, often spending hours during rush week to decide who is worthy of being a brother. The basis of this is usually looks, athletic ability, legacy, and sometimes even academic prowess.

That’s how current sophomore Eren Jaeger and his best friend, Armin Arlert, managed to finesse their way into the elusive club. Eren’s older half-brother, Zeke, who graduated from Paradis a few years back, was a legend in Alpha Tau, known as “The Beast”. Zeke told him all kinds of wild stories about his college shenanigans, specifically about his time in the fraternity. Crazy parties, drunken adventures, all the hot chicks he hooked up with. It sounded like a dream come true to Eren after his horribly boring freshman year. That’s what inspired him to rush this year as a sophomore, dragging Armin along with him.

Once the frat found out Eren was a “legacy”, being related to “The Beast”, he was a shoo-in. He also persuaded them to give a bid to Armin, convincing them that he is the smartest and most strategic man they’ll ever meet, right next to Erwin Smith, the current president of the fraternity.

The others in his pledge class are Connie Springer, Jean Kirstein, and Marco Bott. Jean and Marco got in based on their athletic ability; they are members of the college soccer team. Connie was recruited purely for his funny personality and good nature. And maybe also the fact that he is a massive stoner, which they took a liking to.

Tonight is the first chapter meeting that the new pledge class is allowed to attend. After a few weeks of new member development, taught by the strait-laced and straight-edge senior Levi Ackerman, Eren and his class are officially Alpha Tau brothers. Now the fun begins.

As they fall in line outside the chapter room, Armin leans in close to Eren and whispers, “Some of the members got kicked out.”

He whips he head around and asks, “Huh? Are you serious?”

“Yeah. I heard that the last president, Nile Dok, messed up big time last semester. He was turning a blind eye to all the problematic members. They were caught cheating and trying to pay their way out of trouble. Obviously, they didn’t get away with it.”

As some of their other brothers start falling in line in front of them, Armin continues in a slightly hushed voice. “Also, they called themselves the Mega Pornstars, or the MPs for short. They had their own group chat, rating the girls they’ve hooked up with and ranking them. They had a whole list. Someone in that chat let it slip to Erwin, who immediately brought it up to Nile. And Nile knew about it all along. He was in the group chat himself, but never participated in it. But he knew about it. Saw what they were saying and didn’t do anything to stop it. So now, with Erwin being president, those members were immediately suspended during the summer. And the ones who graduated, he stripped them of any association with the fraternity.”

“How do you know about this? You seem to have all the details.”

Armin looks down to his side, and in an even quieter voice, replies, “Mikasa told me.”

Mikasa.

At the mention of her name, Eren instantly feels guilt. Ever since he decided to rush, he hasn’t had time to spend with his other best friend. Well, truth be told, he hasn’t made the effort to spend time with her. Armin, on the other hand, has. Making him feel even worse.

Realizing what Armin just said, he asks, “Wait. How does Mikasa know?”

Armin gives him a small smile and states, “Mikasa joined a sorority.”

~~~

Rushing a sorority was not something you thought you’d be doing the start of your sophomore year of college. But somehow, a few weeks later, you find yourself sitting beside your roommate and now pledge sister, Mikasa Ackerman, in your first chapter meeting as an official member.

The two of you have an interesting relationship. You were roommates in your freshman year, but it almost felt like you lived alone. She was always out with her friends and she only came back to the room to sleep and bathe. While she wasn’t necessarily your best friend, the few times you interacted were always cordial. Sure, she is a little intense, but she is never rude. Just absent.

It surprised you when you received a text from her over the summer asking to be roommates again. You thought she didn’t care enough to even consider you. Honestly, you felt a little honored. Despite her intensity, you always found Mikasa Ackerman to be cool. Aside from her dashing good looks, she had a confidence about her that just screamed badass. You lacked confidence yourself, finding your looks to be unassuming and plain. It didn’t help that your freshman year turned out to be as uneventful as you were hoping it wouldn’t be. How does one even find a party to go to? The few friends you made are just as home bodied as you, so spending time inside the dorm was the norm.

Sophomore year has proved to be much different than last. Mikasa, who used to be a ghost roommate, is now your friend. She spends most of her time with you now. Obviously, you don’t question it. Instead, you embrace it. You like Mikasa. It’s fun hanging out with her. It’s like you’re making up for lost time.

When she suggested rushing, you couldn’t help but think it was a joke. But no, she was dead serious. And as if Mikasa wasn’t already convincing enough, she asked you, “Don’t you want to be more social this year? Go to college parties? Meet boys? Have fun?”

And that’s how you end up as an official sister of Sigma Nu Kappa.

The thing about Signa Nu Kappa, or SNK for short, is that they aren’t the most popular sorority on campus. Notoriously, women rank it last on their interest list during rush week. On paper, it’s an organization that has great academic reputation, making it well liked among the professors and staff. They are the ideal representation of what the Student Affairs Committee want a sorority to look like. However, to the fellow students, they are boring. They don’t party. Their social reputation amongst the other organizations in Greek Life is essentially nonexistent. It’s also seen as the place where all the women who couldn’t get into their first pick, maybe even their second or third, end up joining. The rejects.

Is it true? Maybe for some women. But after getting to know the sororities during the first week of recruitment, both you and Mikasa end up ranking SNK first. You feel comfortable with the women there. While the other sororities are nice, it’s Signa Nu Kappa that feels like home, as cheesy as that sounds.

Now, after a few weeks of getting familiar with the sorority and Greek Life in general, you and Mikasa sit beside each other, attending your very first chapter meeting as Sigma Nu Kappa sisters. Current president, Hange Zoë, stands at the podium, reading announcements off a piece of paper.

“Welcome new babies to your first official Sigma Nu Kappa chapter meeting! Woohoo!”

The other sisters clap, beaming at you and the rest of your class. You give Mikasa a knowing smile, which she returns. Hange reads off a list of housekeeping items, none of which apply to you considering you don’t live in the house yet.

“Okay! The boring stuff is out of the way. I’ll let our Social Chair take the stand now!”

Petra Ral, another senior, take’s Hange’s place at the podium. “Hi sisters! I have a very exciting announcement to make. This semester, we are being paired up with a fraternity in the effort to build stronger relations with the others in Greek Life.”

This news creates a buzz around the room. You hear one of your pledge sisters, Sasha Braus, squeal two seats down, “Ooohhh boys?!”

Petra continues. “Now I know we don’t have the best reputation for being the most social sorority, and this partnership might be a little bit out of the comfort zone for some of you. But we strongly believe this is a great way to improve the status of our organization. We don’t want to be seen as a sorority that only performs well academically. If we want more women to join us, we need to be seen as fun! Which we are! They just don’t know it yet!”

Hange exclaims, “Well said, Petra! There’s no doubt that we are a fun group of women. People don’t know it yet. But they will soon enough!”

“So which frat are we pairing up with?” Nanabe, another senior, asks.

With a bright smile on her face, Petra announces, “Alpha Tau!” The buzz in the room is even louder now.

Suddenly, you feel Mikasa stiffen beside you. You turn to her and whisper, “Are you okay?” There’s a worried look on her face, but she doesn’t say anything.

Three seats down, next to Sasha, you hear a sarcastic snort from Annie Leonhart. “Great. We’re getting paired with a bunch of disgusting pigs.”

Christa Lenz, who sits to your other side, leans forward to ask innocently, “Annie, what do you mean?”

Ymir puts her arm around Christa’s chair and answers, “She means exactly what she said, sweetheart. Alpha Tau is a frat of disgusting pigs.”

Mikasa snaps her head towards Ymir and yells, “They’re not!”

You and the rest of your pledge class are taken aback by her outburst. Annie leans forward to face Mikasa with a smirk. “Don’t worry, Mikasa. I don’t include Armin when I say that. But everyone else in there can choke and die for all I care.”

Mikasa glares at her, fury in her eyes, looking like she’s ready to attack. Before anything escalates, Hange joins Petra at the front. “Okay, listen everyone. I know this is a very…controversial decision. Now, let me reiterate that what is said in this chapter room, stays in the chapter room. Got it?” She eyes you and your pledge class before proceeding.

“Alpha Tau is very close to being on probation by the Student Affairs Committee. Some of you may already be aware of this, but a small group of their members participated in some very inappropriate conduct. Since Erwin has been president, those members have been kicked out and properly dealt with. Erwin has made sure that they no longer represent Alpha Tau in any way whatsoever. Both Erwin and Levi Ackerman, their vice president, came to me and Petra wanting to form a partnership this semester in an attempt to improve their besmirched reputation. By pairing with us for a semester, they hope to prove to the committee that they can be a respectable fraternity, both with academics and towards women.”

Nanabe questions, “Why us? The other sororities perform fine academically too. Seems so out of the blue they want to partner with us.”

“Well, based on numbers, we have the highest average GPA. Also, truthfully, none of the other sororities were willing to partner up with them. Considering the circumstances.”

“What circumstances?”

Hange pauses, unsure whether to continue or not. “Okay. Let me say this again. What is said in this room stays in this room. The now banned brothers from Alpha Tau made a list ranking the women they had sex with.” There are a few gasps and shocked reactions at this news. It makes you sick hearing it. “This includes many women from the other sororities. So, naturally, the presidents of each of those sororities are choosing to distance themselves from Alpha Tau, at least for this semester, once all the smoke clears. Until then, we are the only sorority who has a clean slate with Alpha Tau.”

Petra adds, “Also, both me and Hange are close to Levi and Erwin, respectively, and they’ve been wanting to pair with us for quite some time. Now that they are prez and vice prez, they have more say in those matters and are finally making it happen.”

“So, we’re just supposed to be okay with pairing with a fraternity that ranks women based on their skills in bed? How is this okay?” Annie argues.

“They kicked out those members! The current brothers had nothing to do with it!” Petra cries out.

Ymir chimes in with a smug expression. “Wasn’t their last president in on it too? That Nile guy? And is it true they called themselves the Mega Pornstars?”

Hange answers with a frenzied look, “Nile didn’t participate in it! And he’s already graduated, so it doesn’t matter anymore! But yes, unfortunately the Mega Pornstars thing is true.”

More groaning surrounds the room. You look over at Annie, who crosses her arms with a furrowed brow, silently sulking. Turning your head the opposite way, you see Ymir whispering to Christa, who eyes are wide with shock, the poor thing. Suddenly, Mikasa stands up straight, the unexpected movement making you flinch.

“My vote is yes for this, President Hange! We have to help them get their reputation back. For Armin…and…and for Eren…” She stops talking, looking deep in thought at that last part.

Eren? He must be the other friend. The one she no longer hangs out with.

Hange looks over at her, confused. “Uhh, we don’t technically need to vote on this, but thank you for the vocal support, Mikasa. Look everyone, I know this is unprecedented, but I can assure you: This is going to be beneficial for both parties. They need our help to build back a good reputation; we need their help to further improve ours. It’s a win-win.”

“We’re going to be collaborating with them mostly for charity events. But we were thinking we can also have a couple of exchanges, for fun. Oh, by the way, for our new members, exchanges are social events between a sorority and fraternity. We haven’t gotten down to the nitty gritty details, but I will update you soon on a schedule of events!” Petra explains.

The president takes over again and ends the chapter meeting, thus ending the conversation on Alpha Tau all together. You and Mikasa gather with the rest of your pledge class to walk back to your dorms. Sasha is the first to bring it up once you’re well away from the house. “So, what do you ladies think? About the whole Alpha Tau thing?”

Ymir scoffs, “Well, you all certainly know how Annie and I feel. I’m trying to convince little Christa here to feel the same, but she’s not having it.”

“I just think we should give them a chance. Just like they’re giving us a chance, right?” Christa says, as sweet as ever.

After having a few minutes to digest the information, you say, “I agree with Christa. I think we should go in with an open mind. I trust Hange and Petra’s judgement. I don’t think they’d put us in a situation that would harm us. This Erwin Smith guy seems nice enough.”

“It’s not Erwin Smith I’m worried about,” Annie says.

“Annie, stop being so cryptic and just tell us what you know!” Sasha exclaims, biting into a piece of bread that she somehow conjured from her pockets.

“There are these two guys I know in there. One of them isn’t so bad. Bertolt. He’s actually okay. The other, well. He’s just a straight up dick. Reiner. Reiner Braun. Straight up asshole.”

“What makes him such an asshole?”

“He’s just a typical frat boy. Obnoxious, cocky, a player. The three of us went to the same high school. They’re a year older than me.”

“Just because he’s a fuck boy doesn’t mean they all are! Armin’s in there, and he’s a total sweetheart! Right Mikasa?” Sasha turns to Mikasa, begging for a comment.

Mikasa stares at the ground with her hands in her pocket. Quietly, she replies, “Yes. Armin is a sweetheart.”

“Isn’t your other friend in there too? Eren? What’s he like?”

You try not to let your curiosity show, but you can’t help but perk your ears up to Sasha’s question.

Mikasa stays quiet for a few seconds, before saying, “He’s nice too.” No more elaboration.

“See, Annie? All we have to do is avoid this Reiner guy and it should be fine! Don’t let one rotten potato spoil the whole bag!”

“Why does it always seem like you’re talking about potatoes, you doofus?” Annie snaps.

You all veer off into different directions, saying goodbye for the night. As you and Mikasa walk towards your dorm, you let a comfortable silence fall between you, not wanting to cross any lines with your roommate. At the door, Mikasa mutters, “Wait.” You turn to face her, listening.

“I’d like to get some things off my chest.” You mentally brace yourself for what she’s about to reveal to you.

“I know that you’re probably wondering who Eren is. He’s my best friend. Him, me, and Armin. We all grew up together, but Eren is practically a brother to me. And I know you must have been curious why all of a sudden, I’m hanging out with you more than them.” She swallows before she continues. “The truth is, ever since he rushed Alpha Tau, he’s been too busy to hang out with me. Sometimes I think he’s forgotten about me completely. Armin still makes time to see me, but even he’s too busy nowadays. So, I joined a sorority to make more friends and be more social, instead of sulking in my own loneliness. And I don’t harbor ill feelings towards Eren. Maybe I did at the start, but not anymore. I just…I just want to make sure he doesn’t forget about me.”

She stares at the ground the entire time, arms crossed over her chest. “I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. For being my friend. And going through this with me. And since we’re going to be seeing a lot of Alpha Tau now, you should know about Eren, since you’ll probably be seeing him too.”

This is the most you’ve heard her speak. It stuns you for a few seconds. You let a moment of silence pass before you walk towards her and put an arm around her shoulder. “Mikasa. Thank you for telling me. I know it’s not easy opening up.”

She looks at you, expression still serious. “It’s not, but I feel like you should know.”

“I appreciate it. Hey, I know it feels like you may have lost a brother, but at least you gained a sister, right?”

Finally, a small smile forms on her lips. “Yeah, I guess that’s one way to look at it.”

“You should just try talking to him, tell him how you feel,” you suggest as you swipe your ID to open the door to your dorm.

“I’ve tried to text him, but he never responds. I can’t ever get a hold of him.”

“Well, maybe this collab with Alpha Tau is exactly what you need to reconcile with him.”

“I guess.”

Back in the room, the two of you change into pajamas and start getting ready for bed as you continue to chat about other topics besides Eren. Once in bed, you turn to your side and contemplate the night’s events.

There’s no denying that this partnership with the most popular fraternity on campus excites you. Disregarding the giant shit stain from the bad apples, everyone knows that Alpha Tau are the “cool” guys on campus, whatever that means. Maybe this is exactly what you need to work on your confidence. It’s a good opportunity to meet new people, maybe practice a little bit of flirting. Maybe even make some new friends.

One thing is for sure: You are determined to make this year more exciting than last.

~~~

Erwin Smith, Alpha Tau’s chapter president, stands up straight in the front of the chapter room. His first announcement of the night is regarding “big brother” assignments.

“New pledge Armin Arlert. Your big brother is Bertolt Hoover.”

Bertolt, who sits in front of them, turns around to give Armin a kind smile, which is returned.

“New pledge Eren Jaeger. Your big brother is Reiner Braun.”

Right next to Bertolt is blond-haired junior Reiner Braun, who turns to give Eren a cocky smirk before saying, “Hope you’re ready to fucking party, man.”

Eren smirks back. “Hell yeah. You gonna show me the ropes?”

The blonde only scoffs as he turns back around to face the front.

Eren nudges Armin before paying his attention back to the president. After he reads off the other big brother assignments, he says, “I’d like to give the floor to our vice president, Levi Ackerman.”

“Good evening, everyone. Welcome new members to your first chapter meeting. On a serious note, I have some news that I know most of you are aware of already.” He explains the situation about Nile Dok and the “MPs”, more or less of what Armin told Eren just a few minutes earlier. “I know it’s a bit of a hit to our numbers, but those members did not exemplify the values of Alpha Tau. President Erwin did what needed to be done.”

“Hear hear!” one of the seniors yell, followed by some cheers from the others.

Another senior that Eren met a few days ago, Mike Zacharias, says, “Fuck the MPs. And fuck Nile Dok.”

“Mike,” Erwin warns from the side. Nile was Erwin’s big brother, unfortunately.

Levi continues. “Honestly, we should be ashamed we let those fucking pricks into our organization in the first place. But what’s done is done. Now onto my other big announcement. To atone for what those fucking shit stains did, Erwin and I have decided the best way to move forward is to pair up with one of the sororities on campus.”

This news results in an overwhelming round of cheers and hollering from the brothers, to which Eren can’t help but join in on. He nudges Armin again, who smiles.  Jean, who’s seated on Armin’s other side, leans in close to whisper, “Who do you think it’s gonna be? I hope it’s the Delta Mu’s, they’ve got the hottest chicks.”

Connie chimes in, “Eta Iota girls are hot too. Walked by them while they were doing their porch yells last week.” He lets out a low whistle.

“Oh yeah! All the sororities had their first chapter last Sunday,” Armin notes.

Levi raises his voice over the commotion. “Alright brothers, settle down, settle down. After a lot of discussion, we’ve decided that the sorority we’re pairing with is Sigma Nu Kappa.”

A different outburst fills the room now. There are a few cheers, mostly from the seniors, but there is an overwhelming sound of disappointed groans.

“Sigma Nu Kappa? Are you fucking serious?” Reiner grumbles to Bertolt, who just nods with a neutral expression on his face.

Armin, on the other hand, can’t help but grin and exclaim, “Yes!”

“You know about them?” Eren asks.

“That’s Mikasa’s sorority!” he answers, excited.

Eren still can’t get over the shock that Mikasa Ackerman, the girl he grew up with over the last ten years, the woman who looks like she couldn’t hurt a fly but can actually kick your ass, is now in a sorority. It’s something he has to see to believe. And given this announcement, he’s going to see it sooner than he expects.

“Now, I know a lot of our brothers aren’t familiar with the sisters of Sigma Nu Kappa. This is a great opportunity to get to know them. Most of us seniors are familiar with the other seniors in Sigma Nu Kappa and I can say with full confidence that they are a group of fine, albeit unique, women,” Levi tells them.

Erwin stands up and walks beside Levi, adding, “Yes. It’s in all of our best interests to be respectful and welcoming to the sisters of SNK. As Alpha Tau men should be to all women. I will not tolerate disrespect or harassment of any kind. I am quite close to President Hange Zoë, so be warned. Any hint of misconduct, you are out.”

“Petra, who is their social chair, and I are working on a schedule of events. We plan to have our first exchange in two weeks, followed by a volunteer event a week after that. I’ll send an email reminder later, along with role assignments for the exchange. Any questions, you can come directly to me. My room is on the second floor.” With that, Levi adjourns the meeting. Before they file out, Levi yells, “Pledges. Meet in the kitchen in five minutes. I’d like to have a word before you leave tonight.”

Armin and Eren tail the rest of their pledge class as they make their way downstairs towards the kitchen.

“This is exciting! I’ve been curious about this sorority ever since Mikasa told me she was rushing. She said this was her top choice.”

“Why didn’t she say anything to me?”

“I’m sure she tried to, Eren. You don’t ever respond to her texts.”

“Well, how am I supposed to respond to a text that just says ‘Eren’? If she has something to say, she should just say it.”

“Oh, Eren,” Armin responds, shaking his head in disappointment.

They gather in the kitchen, waiting for Levi to meet them. He comes down two minutes later, a stern look on his face, as usual.

“Pledges. Just wanted to clarify some things. An exchange is a gathering between a sorority and fraternity. I know I said I have some role assignments, but I can assure you, you will not have any assignments during our first exchange with Sigma Nu Kappa. We want you to enjoy your first party as official Alpha Tau brothers.”

Jean responds, “Hell yeah. Good shit, Levi!” Marco follows with a cheerful, “Yay!”

When the vice president dismisses them, Armin and Eren make their way towards the front door to start walking to their dorm. Before they reach the handle, Reiner’s voice booms from the top of the stairs.

“Eren! Armin! Bertolt and I are getting McDonald's. Want to come?” 

The best friends look at each other for a second before agreeing with a resounding, “Yes!”

A few minutes later, Eren and Armin ride in the back of Bertolt’s Honda Civic while Reiner occupies the passenger seat. Classic 80s rock blasts through the car’s speakers as they ride off campus with the windows rolled down.

Reiner turns the volume lower on the car to speak. “So, what did you guys think of your first Alpha Tau chapter meeting?”

Armin replies, “It was cool! I’m excited to be paired up with Sigma Nu Kappa.”

Reiner scoffs, similar to what Eren heard earlier in the chapter room. “I don’t know about these Sigma Nu Kappas. I heard they’re pretty lame.”

“My best friend is in SNK, she’s in the new pledge class,” Armin says, a bit defensively.

“Annie’s in there too,” Bertolt adds.

Another scoff from the blond. “Annie? Now I know for a fact they’re lame if they gave her a bid.”

Eren notices Bertolt’s grip on the steering wheel tighten but doesn’t say anything in response.

“Hey, Eren. Did Zeke ever tell you how he was my big bro when I first joined? He was a senior when I was a freshman, and he already had two other littles from the previous pledge classes. But he still picked me up. Dude was a legend,” Reiner says.

“I didn’t know that. I guess it’s fate that brought us together,” Eren responds, with a deadpan expression.

Reiner laughs. “You’re a little crazy, you know that? You say some weird shit, but I like you. This is going to be fun.” He turns towards the front and blasts the music on high again, drowning out any potential for further conversation.

Eren nods his head along to the music, leaning his face towards the open window to feel the coolness of the night air against his skin. The breeze blows through his long hair as he repeats the sentiment from Reiner in his head.

This is going to be fun.

[tarjapearce]

Hey, I wanna say i really really like the way you write fics. It feels??? Natural?? To read it?? Always an adventure everytime I read a fic of yours.

How do you write so good?? I'm a writer as well and I'd love to hear your tips and tricks ^^

First of all, I wanna thank you for liking the crap stuff I write. (Cause I'm genuinely amazed some times that people just like it and I'm not saying this because.)

⚠️⚠️LONG AND POSSIBLE CONTROVERSIAL ANSWER AHEAD ⚠️⚠️

It's kinda funny, ngl. Lemme tell you something, I don't know if you guys struggle with Impostor Syndrome a lot like me, but everytime someone gives a compliment like this my brain just goes into self sabotaging mode.

In the outside its :

But in the inside, my brain immediately goes:

Cause I'm aware that I can do better. (And we will ~) it's weird. I'm always striving to do better.

As for the tips and tricks, I'm surely not the right person to ask advice from 😅, but Imma just tell you this from what I experience and from my perspective (Hopefully won't get backlash from this, if not, R. I. P. me jsksj) Be warned though, it's kinda contradictory cause writing is hard yo!

1. You gotta read. Either books or whatever your favorite genre is, but you gotta read. I consume fan fics and non fanfics cause you learn from other people too. I read fanfics mostly to know new words, how the character develops and the like.

I read more spanish stuff than anything. Which I try to transfer to what I write.

2. I try to keep it as simple as possible. With that I mean to not over embellish words cause it gets boring and weird. Sure, everyone wants to make their fanfics pretty (nothing wrong in that) but sometimes I feel that less is more. Like, nothing wrong if you wanna poet the f- out of your fic. (THIS IS A DOUBLE EDGED ONE SO BE CAREFUL!!)

I mean there is a huge difference in reading:

"The anger and frustration on her way of living was taking a toll on her mind"

and:

"Her nemesism had muddled her mind into an endless spiral of what ifs and what not, and frankly if her mind could speak, it'd beg for a break."

It's hard to pick one style, but as long as you keep it consistent, I guess it's all good (?) (Funny cause I always aim for the second one and end up in the first jsksj and I dont even know myself if I'm keeping it consistent)

3. Get yourself a beta reader that doesn't coddle you. It helps alot!!!! Cause again, compliments sure are nice, but they don't tell you where you could get better. ✨( Unless the reader provides puntual feedback on what they liked and what not. Those are my favorites and a rare gem ❤️)

4. I know this one is hard because everyone at some point have done this. But IF YOU COMPARE yourself to other writers? You'll lose yourself. Not only you'll lose motivation cause you seem unable to write like them, but you will fall into this... vicious circle of self deprecating and burnout. And the self doubt sky rockets nonstop.

Everyone is different. Everyone learns in a different pace. Trust me, I wanted to make great stories with a good looking writing when I had the slightest idea of what I was doing (Still do!) 😂. Writing fanfics is not a competition to who writes more beautiful/good/professional than others. Or who has more notes or the most canon-stuck character, or the cause let's face it, none will get a character's personality to a 100%!!! (And that's ok cause it's fanfiction and we all have a different approach to the character either emotional or mental) .

Personally for me, the cockyest thing someone can do is to claim to know a character more than the creators themselves. Kinda rude for me, if you ask . Like, sure feeling a deep connection with a character doesn't mean it'll grant us instant access to their whole self. Characters just like us evolve. Either for the good or the bad, but they don't remain the same, so knowing them completely is a big fat lie. Unless stated by the creator. (But we're delusional in this site, so~)

I mean, sure characterization is something we all struggle since we guide ourselves by some of the character's most prominent traits and make them their default personality. (I've sinned in this jsksj so don't worry)

5. HAVE FUN AND TAKE BREAKS. I mean it. The favorite things I've written is where Im genuinely having fun writing it. But also after a well deserved rest. Cause if something doesn't feel right, it won't be right. And burnout is easier to get at than we actually think.

6. I recently started to follow writing advice blogs, one of my favorite @heywriters.

@she-who-fights-and-writes. (They have amazing writing resources, so does Pinterest and YouTube. Seize them!!!)

But yeah, I'm still an amateur on this, I make emphasis in the 5th one tho.

Hope this helps you? ;w;.

Love you❤️✨

Thanks for stopping by. ❤️

[amazing-spiderling]

For the character ask game, Scott Summers and/or Kurt Wagner, #7 & #12

<3

7. What’s something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

Scott: People making jokes about Scott yelling "JEAAAAN :00000" all the time will never not be funny to me. IDK there's just something about people who end up marrying their high school sweethearts that's a little wacky. And as much as I enjoy ragging on the guy, I am glad that the fandom has come around and is appreciating his character development, especially from the last 20 years of comics.

Kurt: I've literally never met an X-Men/comics fan that doesn't like Kurt. Like he may not be their FAVORITE, but he's kinda the unproblematic fave of the fandom, so if you bring him up, the odds of people having something positive to say are pretty high. If anything, I think people are better about criticizing a bad writer or bad production decisions for any wonky characterization, rather than jumping to, "this is why this character sucks" like I've seen them do for other characters in comics.

12. What’s a headcanon you have for this character?

Scott: Wow, my feelings about Scott are kind of a jumble. I haven't read that many comics that focused on him specifically, so I feel like I'm drawing from all of the various media interpretations... I hesitate to make a claim about comics Scott because I'll say something like, "he writes a blog about baking" and someone is going to come in and be like, "X-Factor explicitly stated that he writes about gardening".

Okay, upon a little thought, I do have one. After he was resurrected following whatever the hell was going on between the Inhumans and Mutants in "Death of X", Scott felt REALLY BAD about what happened to my boy Alchemy, and we didn't see it, but offscreen he made sure that Tom was at the front of the line for Mutants to bring back to life on Krakoa. He yelled at Emma about it, too. (That last part probably was elaborated on, but I want to imagine that he was mad about that death in particular, since she used his voice/commanding personality so heavily and ended up getting Alchemy killed without a second thought.)

Kurt: I guess I'm not really sure if this is a headcanon or just like, a gut feeling- but... I don't see Kurt ever settling down, getting married, having kids. Which is kind of a wild thing to say because the man is HUSBAND MATERIAL THROUGH AND THROUGH and Marvel writers who get to take a swing at future versions of the X-Men love giving him a family... but he's always married to some rando who showed up in one (1) forgettable comic from 30 years ago that nobody remembers. It's sort of the problem of having chemistry with everyone, but then maybe not having a "spark" with one person in particular.

My use of the word "spark" here is intentional- as those familiar with his arc during the recent Krakoa era of X-Men comics might have picked up. Kurt creates the idea of a "spark" as a universal concept for Mutants of any/all faiths to embrace, a means to protect the sanctity and respect for the miracle of life. He was one of the few to recognize the need for Mutants to have something outside of themselves to pursue, and it came at no small cost to himself. In fact, he became something of an outsider, observing the community he loved, so that he could better serve them- and that I think is the crux of the issue. His "true love" is not another person, it's the preservation of a dream, and providing hope to all mutants. Even in the alternate world where he married Wanda and they had TJ, the couple lives apart from one another, each a part of their own respective teams because while they loved each other, they realized they could not focus on their duty when they were together. The mission still came first. I don't know that I mean he should join the conventional priesthood (if only because time has shown not enough comics writers are well versed enough in organized religion to write convincing and compelling comic stories about it) but his devotion to the Legionaries was close enough for me.

It's a bit of a double edged sword- I think it's something that makes his character unique, and I could turn this idea over and over in my head endlessly, but it comes at a bit of a cost from a meta perspective. I think part of the reason there's not as much fiction for the poor boy is because he doesn't have really solid canon ship fodder (NightWolves shippers have all my respect, mind you, but somehow it seems to draw a niche crowd?), so he tends to sit in the background like charming blue set dressing. It's okay though, we all still love him.

[imagine-knb]

GOM+RAKUZAN ATTITUDE TOWARD THEIR YOUNGER SISTER. WHAT ARE THEY LIKE AS OLDER BROTHER?

Kuroko

whether he has a lot in common with his sister or not, he always makes sure to mostly treat her with the respect he wishes to receive from her

mostly, because she is the only person he will purposefully use his low presence on just to scare her from time to time; he calls it the obligatory older sibling teasing

Kise

prior to his younger sister's birth, Kise was the youngest and often was the most spoiled sibling, so he held some resentment when she was first born

went into this sibling relationship thinking he'd be a bully to her, but upon seeing her chubby baby face, he completely changed his mind and now spoils her rotten like he once was

Aomine

when his parents first announced that his mom was pregnant with his sibling, he was adamant it would be a boy, so he was extremely disappointed when he actually gained a sister

he doesn't give her the time of day to her face and is actually a bit of a bullying older sibling, but if anyone else were to make her cry, they would find themselves at the ends of his fists

Midorima

when it comes to his sister's academics, he's the perfect older brother in helping her study, making sure she gets good grades just like him, and ensuring she understands the material

when it comes to matters of the heart however, he really has no clue and will sometimes just sit there — extremely confused — when she rants about boys

Murasakibara

for the longest time he actually hated being around his younger sister because his parents would always make him share everything with her; snacks, toys, everything

by the time his sister actually started developing a personality of his own, they no longer wanted to hang around each other as much, so he never grew up having much of a relationship with her

Akashi

he always felt the need to protect his sister from the truth about their father, so he could sometimes come off as a bit overprotective or overbearing in that regard

in actuality, he just wanted his sister to have a more happier childhood than he had; it always warmed him to the core whenever she gave him one of those large, genuine smiles

Mibuchi

one of the best older brothers you could ever ask for, he's always genuinely interested in the hobbies and likes that his little sister has and encourages her to follow them

he's a bit of a gossip, so it's one of his favorite things to do with his sister; he knows the name of all her classmates and knows all the drama that goes on between all of them

Nebuya

absolutely an overprotective older brother in the sense he feels like no guy — whether they be dating her or just friends — is good enough for her unless they can beat him

his presence alone has scared off guys that have had crushes on her and she always says he's ruining her love life, but he simply laughs it off and says they're only worth it if they stand up to him

Hayama

he treated his younger sibling like a built in friend, didn't matter if they came out a boy or a girl, so his parents actually blame him a little for how ungirly his little sister is

the type of older brother to teach his younger sister how to swear at boys, but then make her promise to never do it in front of their parents; he still ends up in trouble because she definitely slips up

Mayuzumi

he's a rather uninvolved older sibling and doesn't actually talk to his younger sister much outside of family functions like dinner or vacations

he doesn't actually start getting close to her until he moves away to university; he decides forming a relationship with her is better late than never in that regard

[zoeykallus]

How've you been doing? Love how amazing your writing always is btw. I was wondering, if you wanted to, if you could make something for the batchers (post order 66) finding out their kid has the force / is force sensitive. I don't remember seeing if you'd done something like that before so sorry if you have. I just love your headcannons for the boys reactions to stuff with their kid. Only if you want to do this though. Hope you have a good day / night!

Aloha! Nice to read you again 😊 Interesting thought, it's probably angsty for them, considering the empire hunts down force sensitive beings. Let me see what my mind comes up with 😁

The Bad Batch HCs - Force-Sensitive Offspring

Warnings: Angsty

___________

Hunter

When he notices it for the first time, he looks around hastily. Hunter fears someone may have seen his child just levitate the toy. He vacillates between pride and panic, not really knowing how to handle it at first.

One thing is for sure, he must keep the child hidden, away from strange, prying eyes. He will tell his brothers, but no one else. Protecting his child is his main mission now, he will not compromise that mission at all, no matter what may come.

Hunter is a loving Dad through and through, he'd die to keep his kid safe and sound.

There are moments when he feels so proud and fascinated, while watching his kid growing up, but his deeply worried and scared moments are probably just as often and intense.

One thing is for sure, his child can always be assured of Hunter's love and protection, no matter what.

Echo

He panics, very much so. For the sake of the child, however, Echo keeps his wits together. His first impulse is to seek help and advice. His first thought in this regard, is Rex, an old friend he has always looked up to and trusted. He may be with CF99 now, but Rex is still his first port of call in such a situation.

Of course Rex, along with Gregor and Wolffe would immediately offer shelter and protection. Since CF99 in a way always moves in the focal point, Echo would probably be urged to accept just by his concern for the child. It would not be an easy decision, as he now has a close relationship with the guys from the batch.

Should he accept the offer, Uncle Gregor will probably be the favorite uncle who regularly makes the child giggle.

Rex will also contact Ahsoka, who agrees to help the child with the Force side of his/her existence.

Wrecker

He is so incredibly proud. However, Wrecker is also well aware of the dangers. He talks openly with his brothers about the matter, including his worries and fears. He can be sure that Hunter, Tech, Echo and even Crosshair are ready to adapt and protect the child.

Omega will have her true joy in taking care of the little one, the two will have a close relationship in the future. Omega is smart and kind-hearted, a great role model for the growing child.

Wrecker is a force of nature when it comes to protecting his family. He does everything to ensure that his child grows up safe and in a loving environment. He doesn't have to worry about that with his brothers, each one of them is willing to give everything to ensure that.

Worry or not, Wrecker is a lively, loving guy, he will be a very good, loving father and adapt to the circumstances as best he can and do everything to make sure his child has a decent childhood.

Tech

He is extremely fascinated, of course, with the awareness of the dangers of this development. Tech will tap every source of information at his disposal to learn everything about the Force in minute detail.

So he knows about the dangers that emanate not only from the Empire, but also from the Force and its abuse. So Tech is also focused on protecting his child from themselves, and not only from outside influences.

It is important to him that his offspring is decent and kind-hearted. Tech knows that Rex has contact with Ahsoka and will put out feelers in that direction, hoping Ahsoka is willing to help.

Tech is a very loving, protective father, but he is always fully aware of all circumstances and takes them on to help his child on the right path. His mind is extraordinary, but even he has his mental limits, and he is not too shy to ask his brothers for help and advice when he is at a loss.

This child is lucky to have Tech as a father.

Crosshair

He is desperate. Crosshair remembers all too well how willingly, loyal to his position, he condemned the Jedi. Here and now he is ashamed of it, plagued by nightmares, coming to terms with all his past decisions that are eating away at his existence. Now there is this child, his child, his flesh and blood.

He will try not to let it show, but he is in agony. He loves his child, wants to do the right thing, and at the same time he is plagued by a deep guilt. Crosshair needs his brothers, now more than ever. Fortunately for him, Hunter, Tech, Werecker, Echo and Omega, too, willingly and resolutely reach under his shoulders to support him.

He is never alone, with any of his worries, when he needs someone, there is always someone there.

"You're family, Crosshair, no matter what happened in the past," Hunter says firmly, reaching for his brother's shoulder, "We'll protect and care for your child together."

A nod goes around, his brothers agree, all for one and one for all. This child has a very protective father, one who will never neglect his duties and is willing to put his heart and soul into ensuring their safety.

Ko-Fi (If you feel like giving me some coffee)

@rintheemolion

@andyoufollowyourheart @clone-whore-99

@brynhildrmimi @kaliel2310

@misogirl828 @tech-deck

@meshla-madalene

@chxpsi

@thebahdbitch

@nahoney22 @ladykatakuri

@darkangel4121

@ttzamara

@arctrooper69

@padawancat97

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@echos-girlfriend

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@starwarsnerd111

[maya-matlin]

hiiiii ashton <333 I know we've talked about it before but I recently was on a video and saw some comments that angered me and you know I ship leyton and brulian too but I just wanna hear your thoughts because you always give the best ones!! why do you personally prefer brucas over leyton? why don't you ship leyton? and what do you think about the comments from people saying how leyton were always supposed to be endgame even though s2&3 it certainly didn't feel that way!! and about the comments saying that chopia breaking up had nothing to do with it even though they broke up before brucas actually got back together and they could've very easily not put them together after chopia broke up if they wanted to lol I'm just very curious about your thoughts and don't really wanna discuss it in messenger tbh this is easier so I get all your opinions lol I love you so much and you always give the best responses and answers when I ask you things!! 💞💞💞

I literally don't, but thank you for saying that 💙💙 First things first, I did ship Lucas and Peyton in the past. So on some level, I understand the appeal because I also fell for them when I started watching One Tree Hill. Truth be told, one day I just snapped out of it. Before season 6 even premiered, I was watching my season 5 DVD and finding myself frustrated with the LP story line while appreciating the dynamic between Brucas. Anyways, since then I've watched every episode multiple times and analyzed both by myself and sometimes with others why exactly I don't root for Leyton and prefer Brucas. To me, they're representative of a lot of tropes that will never be my favorite. Meant to be from the pilot couples are always going to be a hard sell. The chemistry had better be something special and the ongoing story needs to be more than, "I immediately know you better than everyone else in your life after having a handful of conversations." There are always exceptions to this rule. Sometimes I fall for the ship fast (Stelena, sorry). Other times it takes until nearly the entire first season or until the second (Ephram/Amy from Everwood, Max/Liz from OG Roswell, Spelivia) for me to get past the beginning and appreciate what the couple is at the heart of it. Needless to say, this sums up Leyton (derogatory). So much of their connection is told to the audience rather than shown. From day one, it's automatically clear that this is the couple to root for. Their only real obstacle, Nathan, is a comically terrible, borderline abusive boyfriend, so the fact Lucas in early season 1 is the anti Nathan pushes him incredibly hard as Peyton's ideal match. Once Brucas starts up, there's an immediate difference in energy and chemistry. Both Lucas and Peyton take themselves so seriously. It's always deep feelings and angst and brooding and "oh, we want to be together, but the circumstances are just too hard." And meanwhile, it's only like episode 9. Brooke has deep feelings and her own insecurities, but on the outside she doesn't take life super seriously and is someone who acts rather than internalizing everything. Brooke's influence on Lucas's life feels like a breath of fresh air. Lucas begins to loosen up and see that there can be more to life than his preconceived ideas of how the world works and how everyone should be acting. On Lucas's end, he encourages Brooke to develop her intellectual side and see that she has so much more to offer than being the life of the party and someone who gets validation from sleeping with a lot of guys. Lucas is the first person Brooke wants to get serious with. Even better, this is a story line we actually get to see play out. When Lucas and Brooke talk about what they like about each other, it all tracks because we've been watching their attraction bloom and seeing how in a lot of ways, they're at their best together. Sorry, this is getting long. This is all solely based on season 1. By the end of the season, Lucas and Peyton cheat for the first time. This sadly becomes a pattern for them. Brooke is emotionally devastated. And though Lucas immediately seems to feel guilt over hurting Brooke, it takes him time to see how far he's strayed from the type of person he wants to be.

Season 2 is a massive gamechanger for Brucas. This is the first time they're truly able to be friends. Without the expectation of a relationship, Brooke and Lucas are able to connect on a deeper level. Yet again, this is something shown to us rather than told. This is the kind of relationship both took the time to develop. Much like in season 1, Lucas encourages Brooke to invest in her more intellectual, soulful side. Lucas himself works on being more selfless, taking the time to improve as a person. Unlike when Lucas pined for Peyton while she was dating Nathan and embarked on an affair during his first relationship with Brooke, this time Lucas allows Brooke's relationship with Felix to play out without any interference while still being a friend. Lucas is aware of his own feelings, but he also knows how badly he hurt Brooke in the past and has no reason to think a second chance is even a possibility. When Lucas kisses Brooke after months of close friendship and opening up to each other emotionally (albeit with Brooke understandably on guard post cheating and Lucas hiding his rediscovered feelings), it feels earned. The third season is a mixed bag. At its best, season 3 Brucas is a perfect mix of seasons 1 and 2 Brucas. Both seem to be equally emotionally invested in the relationship working out and view each other as basically their endgame. But the fun and the lightheartedness exist, as well. Brooke is still someone who brings light and fun to Lucas's life. On Lucas's end, it starts to get murky as the show gets closer and closer to the shooting episode. After spending so much time veering away from the possibility of Lucas and Peyton together with emphasis on Lucas's love for Brooke, the strength of the Brooke/Peyton friendship and even how Lucas and Peyton are actually able to be platonic, healthy friends themselves, everything gets destroyed so that the show can return to Leyton. On the one hand, it's not as though it's totally out of nowhere or implausible because again, the narrative went so hard in Leyton's favor during the first season. But at the same time, it doesn't feel believable to me when it finally happens. Lucas seems to flip flop from getting past his breakup with Brooke to declaring Peyton is the one he wants next to him when his dreams come true in mere seconds. The writers LOVE to make Lucas in denial about his feelings for Peyton. Past the first season, we don't get Lucas pining for Peyton. We just don't. We got Lucas pining for Brooke during season 2 and part of 3 and even Lucas wanting Lindsey back after she leaves him at the altar, but for the lion's share of LP's history, it's Peyton desperately wanting Lucas and somewhat being willing to sacrifice everything just for the chance of being with him. So because of this, Lucas becomes an almost passive love interest where he's told over and over again what he should want and what his true feelings are until he just kind of.. says fine, choosing Peyton. That alone is why I prefer Brucas. It's the more compelling story line and relationship. Plus, the chemistry.

And I hate to do it, but this vs this:

Chemistry is unpredictable, always up for debate, and shouldn't always be the deciding factor in what a person ships. My shipping preferences have been all over the place in this area. But when the writing is lacking and the chemistry isn't really selling the story either, these moments that are supposed to be powerful and come across as passionate somehow come across as phony and put on. In my opinion, Chad and Hilarie had buddy chemistry while Chad and Sophia had the passionate, in love type of chemistry due in large part to literally being in love and married in real life.

As a viewer, I really resent being told that Lucas was simply denying his true feelings for no other reason I can think of except maliciousness when he spent basically two and a half seasons wanting Brooke over Peyton. The romantic relationship with Lucas and Peyton during seasons 4 and 6 seems like the healthier option on the surface, but it comes back to how I feel about Lucas as a passive love interest and Peyton's arc being so wrapped up in whether or not she gets the guy. This is pretty much spelled out towards the end of season 3. During a conversation between Brooke and Peyton, Brooke confides in Peyton that during Lucas's absence she realized that she wasn't as reliant on his physical presence as she thought she'd be. From Brooke's perspective, all this means is that Brooke is somehow capable of loving and being happy independently of the man she loves. But on One Tree Hill, this is supposed to imply Brooke either doesn't truly love Lucas, is falling out of love with Lucas, or that Peyton loves Lucas more because she doesn't desire independence outside of him. It's a gross message to say the least. This brings me full circle, back to season 5. Between seasons, Lucas proposed to Peyton and broke off the relationship when she didn't accept his proposal. Objectively speaking, not the worst thing in the world and a valid thing to do if this is a deal breaker. But this causes the Lucas/Peyton relationship to be heavily imbalanced and in Lucas's favor over Peyton's. Lucas stops feeling like the kind of person who follows his heart and more this desperate guy who wants to marry someone to the point the bride doesn't actually matter. If I go along with the idea that Lucas was in love with Peyton throughout the intervening years, throughout season 5 and for the entirety of his romance with Lindsey, what does that say about Lucas? One, he's the kind of guy who is so out of touch with his own emotions that nothing he says should ever be trusted. Or two, he's an asshole and will willingly commit himself to another woman under false pretenses just because he didn't get what he wanted from his first choice on his terms. Peyton's love for Lucas is meant to be undying and unconditional, causing her to behave in such selfish, desperate ways. Lucas, on the other hand, proves that his affection for Peyton is very conditional. He's not willing to compromise. He doesn't want to wait around for Peyton to catch up with where he is.

And in the mean time, Lucas bouncing between Peyton and Lindsey actually means season 5 Brucas is a very good alternative for Lucas. It's all very unspoken, but the chemistry and the connection between Lucas and Brooke never goes away. Much like in season 2, the possibility of romance is very much off the table. Brooke returns to Tree Hill not to win Lucas back, but because she misses her hometown and sees herself settling down there. Because nothing is being pushed on either end, it's much easier for adult Lucas and adult Brooke to be friends in a way that's impossible for Lucas and Peyton. They're able to relate to each other outside of high school and their past romance. A flashback reveals that Lucas was the first person Brooke told that she wanted to have a baby. During the time Brooke is taking care of Angie, Lucas becomes the kind of person Brooke can depend on and lean on for emotional support. Even outside of season 5, there's a consistent theme of Lucas being the best, most selfless version of himself with Brooke. It's as though Brooke's influence in Lucas's life mixed with their season 1 history almost demands that Lucas be better when they're together. Both Brooke and Lucas are in the place where they're looking to settle down. In a moment that's kind of a contrast to season 3

Unlike in season 3 when Lucas was trying to fight for Brooke but kind of clueless when it came to working out what she wanted from him, this time Lucas realizes that no matter how strong Brooke seems to be, she needs him to show up for her. There will always be endless potential for season 5+ Brucas, in my opinion. Their strong bond and complementary desires for a future shine through even as the narrative reminds us over and over again that Peyton is the one who loves Lucas most and that anything that isn't about Peyton is merely "denial" or Lucas "hiding his heart." Anyways, Lucas literally fantasizes about marrying all of his major love interests, Brooke included. The dream sequence wants us to believe Brooke and Lucas want very different things, making them fundamentally incompatible. The entirety of seasons 5-9 disagrees with this, but Lucas still ends up with Peyton.

When it comes down to it, I don't like the people Lucas and Peyton are around each other. As friends, it's mostly okay. They certainly share common interests and Peyton lacks the trust issues Lucas's other girlfriends have considering she's always the other woman. But.. so much of their love story comes across as incredibly forced with so many holes in it. Their arc throughout the first six seasons does NOT hold water. Peyton isn't allowed to be a fully fleshed out person with goals that don't perfectly align with becoming Mrs. Lucas Scott. Lucas holds all the cards, resulting in him becoming far more selfish and almost childish in the way he acts like season 1 Lucas who is still butthurt his crush didn't want to commit to him after one make out session. Even in the final season, I don't see much if any growth. It's the final season for both characters and the show played out the beats of broken up Leyton, so they're put back together. So much of what happens between Lucas and Peyton is heavily reliant on the idea of everything coming full circle without any regard for how one or both have changed since then. Brucas doesn't have this problem. If nothing else, Brooke and Lucas's relationship goes through multiple changes, with each phase feeling much more mature and deeper than the one before. Even though their past and Brooke's trust issues are recurring problems, their actual dynamic always remains in the present.

As for your last question, I'll never know for sure what discussions were like behind the scenes circa seasons 2 and 3. But based on how season 2 played out, I think there's a very good chance the endgame shifted. The underlying tension and romantic affection between Lucas and Peyton was completely gone. Lucas realized he wanted to be with Brooke and never seemed to consider Peyton. Even Peyton, who has ambiguous moments that refer to possible feelings for Lucas even before the shooting, doesn't have this during the second season. She spends far more time pining for and loving Jake. When Peyton expresses displeasure over her relationship with Lucas, it's that he hasn't been the kind of friend that shows up for her emotionally. Lucas's response to this is to bring Jake back to town LOL. In terms of season 3, it gets confusing. Chad and Sophia didn't separate until multiple episodes into the first half of season 3. Meaning, the groundwork was already being laid for Brucas's failed friends with benefits/casual relationship to become a deeper romantic one even before Chad and Sophia split up. But at the same time, Lucas's friendship with Peyton was also being prioritized again with more references to their romantic past coming up outside of Brooke's insecurities. So with that in mind, it seems like LP was a possibility even as Brucas was rebuilding their relationship. However, I think the Chad/Sophia split permanently closed the door on any legitimate Brucas once their season 3 arc was completed. Personally, I don't think Peyton ending up with Lucas was set in stone until the end of season 3. Had Chad and Sophia never split up, I definitely think we would have seen another round of Brucas at some point because the chemistry alone would have demanded it. Plus, the gross producers capitalizing on the real life Chad/Sophia romance. In a universe where Chad and Sophia never broke up, my gut says Lucas ends up with Brooke. But nothing is 100%. To sum up my thoughts, I think there was a plan in place during season 1. I think another plan emerged during season 2. In season 3, the endgame was literally up for grabs. But Chad and Sophia's breakup sealed the deal.

I love you, too! I'm so sorry for making you read all this.

[calliecopper]

Been getting back into Stranger Things recently and this is probably a hot fucking take but Nancy and Steve works 100x better than Nancy and Jonathan romantically in my humble opinion.

Stranger Things is clearly a show that leans heavily into 80's archetypes and cliches. One of the classic cliches is the popular/smart girl dating the jock guy, but then she falls in love with the loner underdog. I feel like season 1 definitely hinted at this being a possibility, but what I really loved was that they didn't actually do it. At the end of the season, Nancy gives Jonathan a kiss on the cheek, and then he walks away, and Nancy goes to sit next to Steve. It felt almost like a final goodbye to the potential romantic feelings that could've been there. It directly goes against what you'd expect the series to do, like season 1 actually does a lot, especially with the teens.

Two teenagers having sex? They should die while the smart "not like other girls" girl lives to fight the monster, right? No. The teenagers live, and the smart friend dies without anybody there to witness it.

The loner dude and the smart/popular girl are sharing a bed? There should be some tension there, right? Nope. Nancy is fucking traumatized, and she just doesn't want to feel alone; she's bonded with Jonathan through trauma, and in that moment romantic and sexual feelings are nowhere near her mind, she's simply seeking out comfort in somebody who made her feel safe in a moment of need.

There are more examples of this, how the show both honors 80's cliches while also subverting expectations. But then season 2 rolls around, and things change.

Obviously, Steve, as a character, subverts the typical 80's jock douche cliche that he very easily could've been. He has undergone the most character development and change of any character in this series, and it's clearly served well as he's now a fan favorite. This process did begin in season 2.

But season 2 also gave us the beginning of Nancy and Jonathan's romantic arc. Now I'll admit, 14 year old me was SCREAMING for them to kiss back in 2017, but as I've grown older I feel more and more icky about it. It plays right into what fans were expecting to happen, even when the characters themselves - to me - seemed to display little to no romantic interest in each other until Murray outright says it.

Nancy and Jonathan are victims of a very cheap trick to build romantic tension between two characters- outside influences and characters.

The woman after Jonathan is arrested who says that only love can make somebody be so crazy, even though Jonathan was completely justified in beating the shit out of Steve because he was being an asshole, and was not at all implied to be an act of jealousy based in feelings for Nancy.

Mike asking Nancy if she likes Jonathan, which is a question that really seems to come out of nowhere and feels like a very unlikely thing for Mike to have asked given the current situation.

Then, the most egregious of these examples, Murray telling the two characters that they have romantic tension. This breaks the very basic writing rule of "show don't tell" in the most literal way.

The only reason Nancy and Jonathan ever had tension is because of that 80's cliche, and outside people telling the characters they liked each other.

Then, you have Nancy and Steve. I find their romance in season 1 to be incredibly compelling in multiple complex and fascinating ways.

These characters are never TOLD to have tension with each other. They're never INFLUENCED to like each other. From before the show starts, they're already seeing each other. It's clear that both characters actually like each other just because they like each other, and not because of shared trauma or outside influences. A fascinating aspect of this is Steve's typical jock douche demeanor that has Nancy questioning Steve's intentions with her.

The show sets up the idea of Steve "corrupting" Nancy through Barbara. "This isn't you," she tells Nancy, right before Nancy goes upstairs to sleep with Steve, which has been set up as something she's hesitant to do. It's very clear that Nancy is petrified that Steve is only interested in her for sex, and after she does sleep with him it's clear that she feels a sense of shame or upset. With the 80's cliche, this probably would be the case. Steve would've only used her for her body, then she would run into Jonathan's arms and be treated with the respect and love she deserves. But then, Steve is still interested in her. He actively defends her against his friends when they're teasing her about Barbara. He's shown to be worried about her multiple times between Barbara's disappearance and when he finds her with Jonathan.

Steve is given redeeming qualities that show how much he genuinely cares for Nancy, even if he is somewhat consumed with his own woes. Then, on the flip side, we see genuine conflict that feels a little less forced than that between Nancy and Jonathan. Steve is self-consumed and more concerned with getting in trouble than giving the police valuable information about Barbara's disappearance. This is incredibly believable for his character at this point. Then, when he thinks Nancy is cheating, he's a complete douche to both Nancy and Jonathan, and rightly gets his shit kicked in for it.

But then he shows genuine remorse for his actions in helping clean up the theater, and then going to apologize to JONATHAN. Not only to Nancy in order to get back into her good graces, but to the other person he GENUINELY hurt because he GENUINELY wants to right that wrong.

Now this isn't a "Jonathan is a horrible character" party, he definitely is a good character, and Steve is not "better" just because he's a fan favorite.

I have a difficult time articulating my thoughts clearly and stringing them together to make them coherent, but my point is:

I feel like Nancy and Jonathan would've worked way better as platonic best friends bonded through trauma. I feel like this would've allowed Jonathan to operate more as his own character instead of being turned into "Nancy's sidekick" for most of the series. It also would've allowed Nancy to just have a friend even after Barbara's death.

I also feel like Nancy and Steve would've worked better as a sort of "slow burn, right person wrong time" romantic relationship. Nancy is no doubt traumatized and feels guilt for Barbara's death, which happened to take place while she was with Steve. The basis of the Nancy/Steve fight that ultimately ends their relationship is that Nancy doesn't feel like she can just move on. To paraphrase, Nancy is saying "Pretending like we're in love, like we're just dumb teenagers at a dumb party, like we didn't kill Barb, is bullshit." Then Steve, still being a bit of the self-consumed guy he is, focuses only on the "like we're in love" piece. "You don't love me?" he asks. And I think that this just pisses Nancy off. I'm telling you that we killed Barbara, that I can't live with myself and this guilt, and you're worried about our relationship? "It's bullshit."

I don't necessarily think that Nancy didn't love Steve. I think that she simply wasn't in the right place to love ANYBODY. And I think he was still too immature for Nancy to maintain a relationship with him.

Nancy can't be with Steve because she's simply too consumed with her guilt, and Steve is too consumed with maintaining a sense of normalcy to confront that guilt head on. She NEEDED Jonathan in that moment, because he shared that guilt in feeling responsible for Will's disappearance. He had just as much a desire to burn Hawkins Lab to the ground. It wasn't until Steve was FORCED to grow up in order to protect Dustin, Max, and Lucas that he finally let go of that desire to be normal.

I think both Nancy and Steve needed those two-ish seasons to grow and heal for them to even consider reigniting that flame. Then, in season 4, when Nancy sees Steve as somebody finally willing to do the hard thing and be an adult, I think she finally starts to consider allowing herself to love him again.

So, in my ideal version of events, Nancy and Jonathan would've been really close platonic friends, and Nancy and Steve would've been tragic lovers who simply couldn't find the right time for each other.

Anyways that's my word vomit. Don't take this as a ship war thing cause that's stupid I think everything is good I just wanted to express my preferences

[greatbigbellies]

ANNOUNCING THE 2023 PREGNANCY KINK ADVENT CALENDAR!

After months (Yes, months) of planning and on and off work throughout this year, I am excited to unveil the 2023 Pregnancy Kink Advent Calendar! From December 1st to December 24th, I have new, unreleased, completely original content going up EVERY day. These range from written kink fics (clocking in at approximately 1k words each with some longer exceptions), some batches of pictures, both bare bellied and with a fake bump, multiple kink audios, AND a video floating around in there! I’ve been working hard planning, writing, recording, and editing everything for this for a while now, and I’m super excited to show it all off. I began work on this back in APRIL, so it’s been a labor of love (pun intended) that I’m really proud to have finished in time for december this year. Those vague calls for kink audio ideas that never seemed to come up again? Those repeat posts asking what people would scribble on my belly? Yeah, those were all for this. Which means if you sent something to me in response to those, congrats, it probably made it in!

So settle in and enjoy! New stuff drops starting 12/1/2023 all the way up to and including christmas eve! This whole thing was a fair bit of work but a LOT of fun to do, and if it gets enough positive interaction, I would be very open to doing it again next year. Check back every day for something new!

Additional details, context, and a bit of “developer commentary” under the cut!

So… what should I expect from this?

This is a larger scale project that I’ve been building for well over half a year, and I did my best to provide some variety to it. There is, of course, some good ol McPreggo content in there. Because it’s one of the most popular things this blog has to offer, I get a ton of asks about it, and it’d be silly of me to not give that crowd some love. That said, if you’re not really into McPreggo or rapid preg as a whole, fret not, there’s lots of other content to enjoy! Most of the written pieces involve longer progressions split over multiple posts. This is by design, because I didn’t want any one post to be too long (advent calendars are supposed to be easily consumed ‘treats’, but not whole presents unto themselves), but it’s hard to do anything meaningful with only 1K words to a post. If you’ve read my older stuff, like some of the comms I fulfilled a few years ago, you know the buildup and foreplay is really my strongest aspect, and it’s no different here (if you haven’t but would like to, the ‘commissions’ and ‘writing’ tags on my blog will take you where you want to go). Nothing in the calendar has any outright SEX scenes in it, but there’s plenty of pregnant contrivances and paragraph long descriptions of heavy bellies that you’ll find something you’ll like! There’s over 13k words cumulatively across all the writing, so there’s a wide breadth to enjoy!

The audios range from 3 and a half to 6 minutes long, with one more experimental, slow burn exception. They range from sweet to spicy, and might be my favorite content in the whole calendar. While previously I had been taking a premise and improvising most of it, these new ones are pretty tightly scripted, and I genuinely think they came out better for it. Less repetition, more creatively, and was able to work in some sound effects to set the scene and tone for some of them. I think you’ll enjoy them!

Outside of that, I’m going to leave the rest as a surprise. Like I said, I’ve got audio, video, pictures, and writing, so there’s a lot to look forward to!

Is this something I’m supposed to pay for?

Absolutely not, this is all free. I made this because I wanted to, and wanted to share it with people. This blog is 5 years old now and is sporting well over 5K followers, which is to say it has way more popularity and staying power than I expected it to when I made it. You guys are great, and wanted to, in my own weird way, treat everyone who has been following, sending asks, and chatting with me so far. If you really genuinely would like to give back, I have tips turned on for my blog, but I’m putting this out there not expecting anything back.

This is THE PEOPLES preg kink content, damnit!

Are you going to do this again next year?

If people enjoy it, then I would like to, yes! I’m not some harsh corporation with strict engagement minimums to uphold, so I don’t know what “enough” interaction looks like to justify a 2024 edition but if people are liking and reblogging, and I get an ask or two about it, then I’d call that a win! It’s just good to know that hard work is appreciated, y’know?

If anyone else out there likes the idea and wants to do something similar, I would be very excited at the prospect of collaborating in the future. It’s not lost on me that this whole production doesn’t have any kink art, but believe me, you don’t want to see me try to draw something resembling a person, let a lone trying to make it sexy. Even if someone wanted to contribute a single article, a written piece, some art, an audio even, even just 1 “day” of content for people to enjoy would be amazing. Any outside contributors would, of course, receive credit for their work and have their main tumblr (or other kink social media) listed in their post.

Honestly, if I had enough people reach out and want to contribute, I would likely just create a separate sideblog JUST for pregnancy fetish advent calendars, so it’s not going up on any ONE contributor’s blog to benefit them above anyone else. I didn’t want to reach out to artists in the community going “hey would you like to draw some free art for this thing I’m doing that I’m gonna post in december, I swear”, because that just reads like a scam. I’m hoping that, having made and rolled out everything myself at least once, it can stand as proof that I am genuine about this kind of thing. A way to prove for someone that has the drive and bandwidth to work on this, that I’m not going to take credit or otherwise run off having gotten free art/work.

If you’re reading this and have something you would be interested in contributing to the calendar next year, my DMs are open, and it is never too early!

Any other questions, or just to share what you think about it all, shoot me an ask or a DM!

[flowertab]

How about that new NWoS trailer?!

The following will consist of an overly long series of disjointed fangirl thoughts/ramblings.

First of all this game is beautiful. And it looks and feels like a true Layton game, which is the most we can possibly ask for! That feeling of curious surroundings, weird and wonderful buildings, a town where you want to explore every cranny…the developers had previously expressed doubt about creating a Laytonesque setting in America, but they succeeded.

I was so pleased to see that the classic screen by screen, ‘point and click’ dynamic is still in place! It looks like they’re embracing what makes Layton distinct without feeling the need to shake everything up. Bonus points for including the hint coin in the lamppost; sure to make any Layton fan feel right at home! Even Luke’s comment about the gears making him dizzy brings back memories of Unwound Future. One of my favorite new touches is how Layton and Luke are visible in the foreground as the scene is examined, it looks so dynamic and expresses the scale of their surroundings! It reminds me of the rare occasions in the games that you would actually see them outside of dialogue/events (like when they’re standing by the canal outside of town in Curious Village).

Speaking of Layton and Luke, they’re both looking great!! It just tickles me to see them in a fresh look but still very much themselves. Luke has definitely grown up, and his face shape is less round, but eyes are bigger/more animesque? It just gives him this very eager, bright-eyed look, and he does seem ready to take on anything! Since our only look at him so far from the previous teaser was more of an intense moment, it’s great to see his cheerful personality shining through. Even Layton comments that he seems to be having a splendid time, and who can blame him? He’s just having the time of his life to be at the professor’s side again! (On a random side note, Luke’s satchel seems to be missing. Does he not carry it anymore? Will he be taking on more action and it would’ve gotten in the way?)

Not only are Layton and Luke voiced throughout the trailer, but even the NPC guy is! This is pretty unusual. I wonder if there will be a lot more voicing in this game compared to the others, or if it’s just for the sake of the trailer’s flow. I also wonder if we’ll have a lot of little cutscenes like when the duo is approaching the correct door. The 3D animation looks much smoother (and less unintentionally humorous/distracting) than it did on the 3ds! That being said, I’m still holding out for the iconic 2D scenes to come back!!

The music is pleasant, and definitely reminiscent of Torrido, which makes sense as it’s also a Western American town (I think). And is that our new puzzle theme? I quite like it; the “music box” backdrop reminds me of Last Specter, while the rich instrumentation makes it stand out compared to the others. (I’ve heard it compared to PL vs AA multiple times though, so while I don’t remember that theme enough to say, I’m assuming that’s true!) I really like when that lilting harmonica (?) kicks in. I do, however, await the return of the iconic chunky accordion. The puzzle itself seems like exactly my favorite type, deduction/process of elimination. How cool to see the memo and everything being utilized right on top of the scene! It reminds you that the two are really solving a puzzle right in front of them. I wonder how this puzzle might change in the final game, as they’ve already shown the answer…oh, and let’s take a moment to appreciate that glorious solving animation! I recall two-person animations being a feature of the crossover that I really liked, and it only makes sense when the puzzle was solved by working together. Just seeing those two as a team again makes me so happy!!

This is more on the random side but…Eggmuffin? I mean, Eggmuffin? Is that really his name?? I had a hard time taking it seriously every time they said it. It sounds like one of those names that would be changed in localization—but then, if any series can get away with using something so silly until we just accept it and stop finding it weird, it’s probably this one. I have also heard it speculated that it may be an alias, though why he would want to be called this is beyond me.

All that aside, there’s just something about this game that already feels nostalgic to me, even while being so fresh and unexplored. I can only think that’s simply because it is a Layton game in every sense of the word. For a longtime fan who hasn’t experienced that anew in roughly ten years, it’s like coming home.

…and that is the only reason I can stand waiting until 2025! Oh dear, I hope they overestimated to play it safe, especially since reportedly the puzzles are all finished and production is moving smoothly. But, in the end, if it is truly the Laytonesque adventure it looks to be, it will be worth the wait—and I thank the development team for caring enough to not to rush it. I’ve waited this long.

(looks like I’ll be playing through the series again to help hold me over throughout next year! Layton fans, let’s hold fast! We’re in this together!)

[darkacey]

I'm curious about a bunch of these so I'll just ask the bunch together:

Whose ur favorite bachelorette(s), non romanceable chara, monster, non-mc otp and a headcanon you have?

Oh boy this is gonna be a doozy of an answer lol

Fav bachelorette — I’m super gay for (most of) the guys, so honestly none of the bachelorettes appealed to me as marriage candidates. That said, I really identify with Lucy’s whole arc and feeling disproportionately responsible for my loved ones. I especially like when these characters actually get a chance to take care of themselves. Sure, I don’t exactly like the way RF5 goes about it (the forced truth mirror was kind of heavy handed and took away her agency…), but everything else was nice. My runner ups are Beatrice and Scarlett. Bea is just a sweetheart, I have nothing bad to say about her. As for Scarlett, well, I got attached to her because she became such an important supporting character in my fic. I didn’t intend for her to be the closest thing Ari has to a best friend, but she surprised me.

Fav non-romanceable character — Heinz, hands down. That goofball has a terrible first impression in-game and he’s really done dirty by only being characterized by his ineptitude and lazy attitude, but man, I’ve gotten so attached to him because of his role in my fic. I was really able to develop his backstory and personality into exactly what I wanted since there was so much room for reinterpretation. Before I started this fic, though, I probably would have said Terry or Misasagi. Both of them have good heads on their shoulders, and I like the mysteries they represent.

Fav monster — Chipsqueek! Those little red squirrels are the cutest dang thing on the planet. They’re kind of useless as a battle companion, but I like bringing them around with me just because anyway. Also, in every RF game I’ve played (Frontier, rf5, and currently rf3 special), I’ve named the first one I’ve caught Poppy.

Non-MC otp — I’m a multishipper, so I won’t say there’s only one way I like characters to be shipped. That said, I’m particularly fond of Cecil/Fuuka (thank you Aashi for selling me on them!) and Martin/Ryker. For other pairings, I think Lucy/Priscilla is cute, but I’d be really interested to see Priscilla/Reinhard (Priscilla gets to live out her princess dreams) and Lucy/Murakumo (competitive bleeding heart plus the expert judge of games). Outside my fic, I also love Lucas/Terry (courtesy of @kardia-library-official for introducing me to the idea).

A headcanon — oof I have so many at this point, it’s hard for me to remember what’s actually canon and what’s stuff I’ve dumped into all of its plot holes. I think a big one for worldbuilding is that I named the town that’s near Rigbarth (the one that Ryker goes to when he steals that crown). It’s called Fenarva, which is sort of a portmanteau based on the names of all of the other villages/towns of Norad. I imagine Fenarva is closer in size to a city, and it has ports for regular ships and airships. They get travelers from the mainland, Isle of Elves (this also needs a name), the Eastern Continent (gods please Marvelous give us an actual name for this country when Project Dragon is released), and Fenith Island. Most of the tourists who visit Rigbarth come from Fenarva, too, since it’s only about half a day’s trip to get from one town to the other (well, travel takes longer now because of the recent increase in monster attacks…). Rigbarth’s economy really relies on these folks and the people from the other side of the Gadeus Grasslands too (still need to put another town over there too). Also, for everybody else writing fics based on RF5, y’all are free to use Fenarva, too.

I have other, more interesting headcanons especially about gods in general and what sort of god Lucas is, but a lot of it gets into spoiler territory. Unfortunately for all of us, however, I have yet to figure out how to work in these things into my fic. It’ll come up eventually, somehow, but probably not until late Act II or somewhere in Act III. I hope y’all can bear with me until then.

[iggyfing]

okay okay okay lemme say my thoughts on base stormblood

overall: didn't like it as much as hw. not that i didn't like it, bc it def had its moments. i think it suffered from splitting the conflict onto two fronts but that's also the neat new thing it did this expansion.

the two midgame primals weren't integrated into the story nearly as well as hw's ones were, and the fact the first one was yet another shake-up of how we understand primals to function but then no one really talks about it afterwards? egregious. the fights themselves were pretty fun. i wanna do emanation again here soon bc i had fun w it despite my rage at the whole story around it. (finalfantasy still doesn't understand how religion works)

tell you what i did enjoy from start to finish: the whole substory on the azim steppe. trying to glean lore bits to integrate into kuzhuk and dagasi's backstories. i need a pronunciation guide tho. i was totally sold on hien as a character from the moment he said he was gonna win the naadam. go off king!! that's so unhinged.

the return of the king (for lack of a better term) is one of my favorite fantasy tropes, and i really wanted it in heavensward and they didn't give it to me!! but it's here and handled decently enough, so.

stormblood was ultimately more lyse's story than the wol's. you the player and your character are just along for the ride.

except when it comes to zenos. listen man you know me i love me an antag who's obsessed w the protag to the point of hardcore projection and i was eating good w those last few scenes. "farewell, my first friend. my enemy." is SUCH a line i am chewing off my own leg. i honestly wish he was in it more but alas! rule of threes. if only it could have been contrived to meet him here and there without fighting.

(all to say, i'm gonna have to work to develop cillien here bc outside of zenos being the sort of unhinged disaster he could very well have become if on'danya hadn't saved him and kuzhuk hadn't approached him pre-/early-arr, there isn't much for the wol this expansion)

notable in that it didn't end on a terrible cliffhanger like base hw. there are still plenty of loose threads hanging, but none of them as excruciatingly pressing as that one. you may remember my panic.

anyway, on to patch content! have a screenshot!

post credits spoilers under the cut

ALSO. I FRICKIN KNEW IT. I CALLED IT. AND I'M KICKING MYSELF FOR NOT MAKING A POST ABOUT IT IMMEDIATELY AFTER DOMA CASTLE WHEN I THOUGHT OF IT.

yeah you introduce this guy by having him row across the ocean and you think i'm gonna buy being shot multiple times, crushed under rubble, and drowned in the river is enough to take him out? not likely. love that crazy old man.

(garbage screenshot bc i was too busy doing a victory dance at being right to get a better one)

(also just getting it in here now before i forget: i'm not convinced zenos is....... gone?? like maybe he is dead but i don't think he's dead dead. wacky echo stuff could be an easy handwave explanation. if he somehow frickin fused his consciousness to the wol's body as some sorta extrapolation of lahabrea and igeyorm in hw or like he did w shinryu, that'd be sick and i would hate it and it'd be so good.)

[yourbuerokrat2]

Gen fic: A trollface in the Continuum or a brief history of memes

@startrekwintergiftexchange​

Prompt:  Vulcans or trek aliens of your choice discovering memes.

Since the Qs are one of my favorite species (although I tend to ignore the Q Voyager episodes more often than not) I thought their reaction would be funny. 

Also Q gets to infodump about some quirks of his favorite species in the form of a collection of outdated and current memes and a brief history of them. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

“What is that?” a question every Q asked themselves and each other when they found their way in one of the least popular corners of the the Continuum and come across a room. A room that was not just a translation of what’s actually there in order for a lesser mind to understand, but an actual room. Or perhaps to be more precise, the door to a room. 

A light brown, quadratic door, which shared a strange resemblance to the doors found inside the USS Enterprise. 

It was Qs room, because apparently he had chosen to adapt a few things from the species he was supposed to judge. One of these things was privacy in a place where all Q were connected and there was just no need for it. 

Qs.... spouse/partner/main political ally/’mother’ of his child had once humored him and opened the door. The door had slowly been shut close afterwards with her not so much as entering the room and despite some curious inquiries she refused to speak of what was inside the room.

Junior on the other hand had just shrugged and went to go on some ‘self-exploration’ that was in most other species ‘normal’ for his current stage of ‘development’: 

Now these were already some unusual circumstances in a Continuum that used to be more or less static for the last millions of years. 

But the latest scandal and controversy regarding their strangest member was a poster hanging on the outside of the door.

“Well, it is obviously supposed to be a parody of a human face.”

“Do you think its a parody of his human”

“Nearly impossible, I have done a brief research on this guy. He doesn’t really ‘smile’ much least of all anywhere near like that.”

“Don’t tell me we are going to have to worry about you ...”

“Oh don’t worry. I barely understand what Q sees in these humans. Besides, he and I have had a ... conversation after he became aware of my research.”

“Well, what is this picture then?”

Behind the ongoing discussion, which more and more other Qs joined in, not really having anything better to do, a flash appeared. 

“It is called a ‘memes.”

Turning around they found the owner of the door and the room behind it. Smiling at them in a rather annoying way that showed how much he joined knowing and understand something they didn’t. 

Giving what a human would call a defeated sigh, one of the Qs asked “What is a meme?”

“I am glad that you asked. “  and with a snap of his fingers the Continuum took on the shape of a 19th centure english classroom. With nearly all of the present Qs as students sitting on small wooden chairs while the most infamous of them took on the robe of a teacher. Unfitting for the times however a powerpoint presentation was shown in front of the ‘class’.

One of the more serious and not at all pleased nor really curious Qs spoke up

“I swear Q, you are incredibly close to getting exiled. Again.”

“Shush. I am merely showing some of my research on Humanity I have conducted for the Trial. 

Authorized research, if I may add.”, Q said, looking at the Q who had dared to show a little bit too much interested in the Enterprise and Humanity. 

Going back into his role, Q went on.

“It all started with this.”

“Ah, I see.” one of the Qs wanting to show that they knew and understood everything from the start, talking to his neighbor. “This is one of their cave paintings.”

“Not really”, Q said. “It’s a bit later than their cave painting. This picture was used by American soldiers in one of their wars, the one call ‘World War 2′. At first just an inside joke on their military ships and vehicles it quickly became an inside joke wherever they went during this war. The british soldiers soon decided to do their own and came up with this

While the Australians had this

“I like their cave paintings more”, said another Q in the back.

“But it’s only when the humans had created what is known as the  internet, when it really starts to get weird.

One of the first things to spread across Earth through it was this.

“A virtually created infant?”

“Dancing, yes. And this was just the true beginning. The twenty-first century started it all, with what some scholars would call ‘the Experimental period’ from 2000-2004.

Memes from that area for example were:

“You now?”, one ofo the more serious yet curious Q said after a few seconds watching the video of a dancing and singing banana animation.

“Maybe it’s wrong of us to judge them? After all, they as a species seem... mentally unwell if not to say insane.”

“Shush” came from two other Qs who were actually entertained for the first time in more than three thousand years. 

“Then”, Q went on with a near dramatic ais of importance “came the Evolutionary Period from 2005-2011″

“Believe it or not, they origin from the same year of 2005

2006 however brought back old favorite pictures of humans. Cats, a species of which a few vulcans and even the android on board of the Enterprise seem to be fond of.

“There are numerous more examples like these. Just a picture of a feline with a text that is mostly supposed to be relateable to people who live with one.”

None of the other Q really understood the context or the precise meaning of these memes, but since none of the other Q asked they didn’t want to appear stupid by not understanding such seemingly simple concepts the pictures were reffering to

“In 2007 a particular song amongs various ‘meme songs’ is notable that would keep the status of a meme for years to come

“Q, we are just here to understand your pictures, not whatever it is human qualify as music.”

Grumbling about none of the Qs having any kind of appreciation for creativity and art, Q stopped the video and the song and went on with his presentation. 

“Then in 2008 a man named Carlos Ramirez posted a few comics on an internet communication board called 4chan, which would spark a variety of other meme comics called the Rage comics. 

I chose the trollface, because I found the expression quite humerous and fitting to a trickster.”

“So it represents someone who enjoy getting on other peoples nerves.”, said rather factually. 

Q chose to ignore that comment, instead, 

“Other pieces from this period include

The question of “what’s a monday?” went through the metaphorical head of many Qs. Yet, again, out of the discomfort of being thought of as stupipd, no one bothered asking. 

Feeling instantly better about their own intelligence, some Q even laughed. 

“Following the Evolutionary Period, came the Transitorial Period, which was really short only from 2012-2014″

“And Humans find these reminders of their own mortality.. funny?”

“Yes, quite a few do.”

“But ever since 2015 these things have exploded in variety. The basis of all of them, that something relatable to a lot of other humans is shared. Often in a way to make the other humans laugh or relate. For example, there are quite a few on a collective hatred for the day ‘Monday’, often shown, once again, through the picture of a cat. 

I am guessing that everyone now has somewhat of a understand of what a ‘meme’ is?”

A few nods and more than a few eyeroles were there.

Thinking that he has shared enough of human culture and has taken what fun he could get out of educating his fellow Q, Q snapped his fingers and everything was back to how it was before the lesson. 

Ignoring most of the others, who were already on their way to other places, Q went to the door, opened it and entered his room. 

[felikatze]

gonna talk abt obscure shit again my favorite thing abt the webcomic estio is how it plays on cinderella tropes only to hit you with the "estio is clinically depressed and a bit fucked up actually."

like yeah the start shows him as the poor attic child hated by his peers and family bcuz he can talk to animals which is VERY disney princess of him. and when he ditches it's understandable.

but then it reveals that like. bcuz of the bullying and abuse n empathy mind reading shit he truly does not care for humans at all

like he'll be nice to honest people (honesty as verified by mind-reading) but if you're a piece of shit he'll tell people to kill themselves lmao.

ACTUALLY rlly neat how the comic has that shitty duke go like. "you can read the hearts of animals? just animals? but where is the line to animal drawn? sentience? soul? if you cant answer then you can just read everyone's hearts"

which yeah. tracks. we already knew he can read people too. but then he has to use his powers more for. job security. (we know how it is), and he hates them at first because he can just hear how shitty people are really

but then it introduces honest to god telepathy and the intro is. so benign! he's using telepathy to help a girl understand how to take care of an abused dog. he's helping a man finally get through to his traumatized wife.

then again. where is the line drawn? if he can give people his thoughts, can he give them feelings? impulses?

i'm just rambling at this point but who's gonna stop me. honestly.

his shitty background already establishes a rather. baseline distate for humanity in general and then we have the store lady with the Mood Ring Orb which shows estio's mood as deep black. great sign! and then we have the shitty duke and his shitty son trying to take advantage of estio, so when his life is threatened-

well. turns out he can control people. to make them stab themselves.

and he likes it.

fucking. incredible character development. i geniuenly do love it.

because again!! estio plays on so many princess tropes! he seems like a poor introverted softboy who really needs a hug (he does to be fair) and he's so unassuming at first. and he does do good like rescuing neju and the dog and the guy and his wife.

but he's not naive. at all. after all, he can read minds. how can he be naive if he can hear everyone's true intent? it doesn't matter how lacking his social skills are, there is no ruse he will ever fall for. there's no plot that can escape his notice.

the best character development is just how he learns to love this. it's like. morally not good. but it is banger. what if cinderella told her stepsisters to throw themselves of a bridge.

he's not sad that people died. they wanted to kill him first so they can get bent.

he just killed four people i'm so proud of him <3

and after that he just goes on being his usual unassuming self except now he is Aware that he wields basically unlimited power over everyone and nobody can force him to do anything ever again

except he's also not used to getting his basic needs met meaning he doesn't really. know how to use this for his benefit outside of "no u"-ing at everyone who wants to harm him. like my guy you can keep the big bed and not have feathers in your soup. it's fine. if you sleep outside again you are going to get fucking hypothermia

the writing is a little heavy-handed sometime but his development slaps. go off king

[motownfiction]

charlie, daniel, steph, WILL

it's not a secret that charlie was (both in the text and outside of it) named after charles foster kane, ill-fated protagonist of citizen kane. i've written a lot of meta about that, specifically about how everything for them is about love. they want to make sure they have enough of it for themselves, but they don't really know how to give it out to others. i guess this is me revealing that charlie's character arc and development really isn't that original because it has so much in common with that of his namesake. like kane, charlie seeks relationships with younger women who fawn over him because, well, they fawn over him. elenore is his susan alexander. the difference, of course, is that charlie actually knows a little better than kane. he's cognizant of his shortcomings, and in knowing better, he is somehow worse. he's addicted to doing the wrong thing because he enjoys the attention. and why wouldn't he crave negative attention? he's charlie doyle, musical prodigy, mother's favorite son. no one ever told him he was wrong. no one ever refused him anything. he's bitter about that, so while he wants positive attention from fleeting lovers (elenore included), he craves negative attention from the people who will stick around. that's how he's able to tell the difference between infatuation and love. because for charlie doyle, it still is all about love.

everyone kind of thinks it's weird that daniel's best friend is charlie. it's even weirder that he doesn't give a specific reason why. i'm not sure he's fully conscious of it, so it's a good thing i am. daniel is drawn to charlie because on some level, daniel knows that charlie is himself if he'd ever gotten a reprieve from the horrors of childhood/adolescence. both are highly emotional, highly introspective, and highly concerned with their mothers' opinions of them. but where maggie always let charlie be a kid, even way after he was grown up, linda (without knowing it) parentified daniel. and when daniel looks at charlie, he sees what it would have been like to be a real teenager. he doesn't see somebody who had to go around proving he wasn't like his dad despite sharing such a similar face. charlie is daniel, unencumbered. and for a little while, that makes him daniel's hero.

i've mentioned this in passing, but i think one of steph's first crushes was lucy. there are a lot of reasons for that. firstly, i think it's really funny and cute if sam and steph, a couple, had early crushes on lucy and will, another couple (the couple, some might say, and by some, i do mean myself). but secondly, lucy is exactly the kind of person steph would be drawn to. steph likes people who aren't like anyone else. she likes the rare birds. lucy, with her intelligence, organization, and willpower, is one of those rare birds. i think when steph looks at lucy, she sees someone so strong, so impressive, so interesting, she can't help but want to know more about her. in part, this because steph is (as a child, anyway) afraid to embrace her own uniqueness. she's even bitter about how eccentric her mother is because she just wants to be normal, like kim. but if she can stand and watch other people be strange ... if she can admire them ... then she will. steph is drawn to the people who would be able to bring out the best in her. lucy is one of those people, albeit as her friend. and steph has to be grateful for that.

i'm obsessed with will's masculinity. that's not a secret, though i do want to take some extra time here to think about it. many times before, i've said that will is my favorite of the guys because there is nothing immediately special about him. he's married to an exceptional woman, he raised exceptional daughters, and his late best friend was also a genius. but will himself ... you look at him, and he's just some guy. even between sam and daniel, will is just some guy (daniel isn't "just some guy" because he's slept with 939439459 women, which gives him a reputation LMAO). but that works in terms of their gender expressions, too. on one end of the spectrum, you have sam, who sees no problem embracing what one might call feminine (makeup, pop music, certain films). and on the other end is daniel, who doesn't really do toxic masculinity so much as ... lothario masculinity? will isn't either of these things. he is the only boy in a family of five sisters who mercilessly make fun of him. he has only been with one woman in his entire life, and he never wanted it any other way. he goes into psychology not to be a pretentious asshole but because he genuinely likes emotions and wants to learn more about them. will's masculinity is one of such balance. almost no gender stereotypes apply. i think i do a fair job of keeping sam and daniel away from gender stereotypes because even when they fall into them, they kick and scream their way out. but will ... he almost never falls into any of those clear categories. he's just will. and just will is pretty impressive.