#one of those late night thoughts

[xremus-is-deadx]

Asexual vampires must have it really difficult...

Can you imagine "look I'm sorry Vlad, I know garlic bread was your lively hood, but you're not alive anymore so put the plate down."

[aroaceleovaldez]

I was reading a post about CoTG and I realized: Rick has seemingly started to write every character pairing with the exact same dynamic, and he's not good at writing that dynamic and it doesn't make sense for 90% of the characters he writes it for.

It's that very specific dynamic of one half of the pair who is almost aggressive to the other party - "teasing" them constantly/insulting them, affectionately punching/judo flipping/maiming/etc, seemingly almost always exasperated with the other - and said other party usually just accepts this treatment or blanketly views it fondly, and may generally be framed as more incompetent than their partner and a little bit of a doormat (particularly relating to being insulted/teased/etc by their partner).

We start seeing this dynamic in HoO with Percy and Annabeth, as a sort of semi-inconsistent twist on their rivals-to-friends-to-lovers dynamic from the first series. Then the dynamic pattern develops further with Leo and Calypso. Then Magnus and Alex. Then Nico and Will, particularly in TSATS. And now in CoTG, it's Percy and Annabeth again but even more in this direction.

I know people have talked about Nico and Will's relationship over the series rapidly being shoehorned into Percabeth Two™, and it's extremely apparent in TSATS that Rick's doing it on purpose (including directly quoting Percabeth scenes but minorly tweaking them to be Solangelo). But recognizing it as an overarching trend in Rick's later books honestly reminds me a lot of how Rick started trying to apply the "Percy Formula" so-to-speak to nearly every protagonist in HoO (and then try to replicate similar character archetypes with Magnus and Apollo's narrations - moreso Magnus in being jaded and sarcastic, very much trying to be first series Percy. He only sounds unique because Rick failed at making him Percy 2. Apollo is more akin to later-series Percy characterization of being goofy and incompetent. Apollo [and Zeus] even got retconned to give Apollo a more similar backstory to Percy's). Rick seems to have decided that he thinks the audience wants this specific dynamic but 10 times over, except he's not good at writing it the first time because it's a bastardization of the time he did a different thing okay.

And Rick also seems aware of that too! Because he retconned Calypso and Leo at the end of TOA, probably because he realized how absolutely awful it was reading when they were written with that dynamic of Calypso just functionally hating Leo and constantly being aggressive towards him! The only time Rick's actually made the dynamic even semi-successful was with Magnus and Alex, because it actually fits within their characters, their dynamics with each other, and their environment. Alex beheading Magnus on the regular works out fine because there are no repercussions to that in Valhalla, Magnus will be fine, so it does genuinely come off as humorous. And Alex has been effectively established to be abrasive at times but have her genuine feelings shine through regularly, and that meshes well with Magnus' jaded-and-aloof-but-quietly-very-empathetic character. And Magnus has been established to, yes, not be great at combat, particularly compared to Alex. They are the only time that flavor of dynamic in that form was effective and cohesive.

Percabeth is no longer rivals-to-friends-to-lovers badasses on equal levels with shaky pasts who finally found some form of permanence with one another. Now it's super smart doting and affectionately aggressive girlfriend and her silly goofy 50%-of-the-time incompetent boyfriend who she judo flips/pushes off cliffs/etc - but affectionately~! Solangelo is trying to riff off of the early series "Poseidon & Athena are enemies" dynamic that Percabeth had but with Apollo & Hades being "opposites" but learning to accept each other, except it ends up with Will just coming off as a huge asshole and Nico being retconned to a complete doormat about it - when prior to that those characterizations would be completely contrary to their established characters (even just from TOA!). Calypso in HoO gets retconned from her PJO characterization to being snooty and aggressive, and Leo's false persona gets merged into his just normal personality except he just also becomes a doormat but more goofy than Nico with occasional haha-dark/depression-humor! Which Nico also got. Which was also a bastardized Percy trait that got redistributed.

It's exhausting. Rick write more than one relationship dynamic you can do it I promise

[dayurno]

robin cross and kevin day parallels actually go so crazy. they both spent their formative years in a basement underground with exy-obsessed captors. they both saw exy as freedom. they both were isolated even within the foxes’ group of outcasts. they were both under andrew’s protection. it cost kevin jean to leave the nest and it cost robin another girl’s life to escape her kidnapper. robin carried her racquet with her to self-soothe and kevin restrings the net of his when he’s anxious. they’re even bird coded

[trobeds]

i know the hunger games isnt about romance i know it isnt a love story but. theres just something so beautiful in the way peeta is the personification of what it means to heal and he /is/ the dandelion and the bread and the hope that things can be better even if they wont be fixed. even if the nightmares dont stop he will still hold her. wake her up and tell her shes alive. shes safe. and when its over and done and theres no more saving or protecting or trying their absolute hardest to die if it means keeping the other alive, the horrors dont stop. but katniss will still find that comfort in peetas arms.

[starry-bi-sky]

realizing i have. a lot of untapped trauma potential for clone^2 danny because i just Fully Processed Four Months Late the fact that his parents were capturing and torturing ghosts in the basement before he became Phantom. and the fact that he was on house rest for 2 weeks. during that time period. and he wasn't really leaving the house. he could hear their screaming through the floorboards

*points at clone danny* i can give you suuuuuuch a bad time babe ahaha. i've got two untouched years before you meet damian what fucks you up before then

[deeply-unserious-fellow]

I know Robbie is supposed to be one of those edgy ass losers who constantly talk about how fucked up they are in the head despite having a completely normal homelife, but like... Idk man, he lives in a graveyard with parents who use glass caskets WITH BODIES INSIDE for tables, casually call him by his full legal name when they aren't even mad for some fucking reason, and are just kinda. Scary in general. I think he kinda has a right to be Like That, y'know? Obviously I'm not trying to excuse him being a douche or whatever(seriously who the fuck beefs with a 12 year old because the kid has a crush on their girlfriend?), but I think a lot of his personality makes much more sense when you look at him through the lense of "this is a 16 year old who was raised in a relatively isolated and scary part of town, with parents who do not treat serious things like death with the gravity those subjects deserve". Nobody that was raised in that kind of environment is gonna turn out well adjusted are you kidding me!?

[pm-00]

one could argue that spiderbit works so well because of the trust, the devotion, the communication etc etc, but i truly think it's due to their ability to commit to the bit together. that post that's like "my ideal partener is someone who will 'yes and' me no matter what"? yes that is about q!roier and q!cellbit and that's really what love is all about

[aitsuheart]

My favorite dynamic are probably friends who are dating because they get to be both

The best of both worlds, a cute friendship dynamic and a cute romantic relationship

And soriku

Yeah they're that.

They are best friends, gonna say it louder for the people in the back who say "oh no a gay pairing why can't they be friends"

But they're also dating

[cactuupng]

dadsuma and mumbo this and that, what about uncle evil x and mumbo

I like to think they have some things in common

[coconut530]

Bump in the Night & Nevertober Day 9: Nobody’s Child & Hypnosis

[theyreinsensibleshoes]

im so scared. i'm so so so fucking scared.

[changingplumbob]

Today was a writing catch up day. I was seriously behind in writing to my SBL screenshots as it's the best save to play when I'm too tired to do things like write. Anyway I cropped photos and wrote for another 50 posts to give you an idea of how behind I was. Tumblr wouldn't even let me upload all the photos today because of the photo limit. It was a lot of work and I'm so glad it's done, but definitely a lesson to not fall so far behind again. Also got another Knightstone part done before bed.

Thank you to the ones who sent me lovely flowers in my inbox. I am meaning to pass them on but my brain has been focused on writing so I forget but I will get to it, they've made me smile.

It's been a productive day but alas a day without Dragon Age Inquisition. I'm going to try get a good play in tomorrow, although I may have to adult and vacuum the house first. I'm thinking I'll do the Storm Coast but could always wake up in the mood for something different.

[pookieisdokyeom]

Something about Mark Lee makes me giggle and blush. Like, i don't even know NCT like that (I haven't even listen to a single full NCT song).

All ik is the 127 reference, 2 BADDIED 2 BADDIE 1 PORSCHE!!!, Mark Lee + Johnny, WayV (I only Xiaojun tho so... and thats only cause of his oreo hair)

But Mark Lee is so pookie bear while also being so incredibly hot like idk bro 🥵🫣😳😘

[myhairsadisgrace]

I finally wrote something that's not 100% platonic for day 6 of @maylor-week!

Take a Chance With You (1230 words)

Chapters: 1/1

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Relationships: Brian May/Roger Taylor

Characters: Brian May, Roger Taylor

Additional Tags: Pre-Relationship, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, early days of the band, Academic Stress, Period-Typical Homophobia, or at least a brief suggestion thereof, small appearance from freddie and john

Summary: Brian is stressed. Roger helps him realise some things that should have been obvious.

[jj-dyl]

jey uso being so over is such a double edged sword for me. on the one hand, jey is finally getting the recognition he deserves and i could not be happier genuinely. i remember fighting for my life when people used to say jey could never be a main eventer. and now he’s undeniable.

on the other hand, tho, i feel it’s completely flanderized him as a character. “yeet” is who he is now. he used to have so much depth. he used to be so genuinely exciting and interesting to listen to. the way even the smallest micro expression would build on his character and story. even in ring i feel like he’s a little more watered down than before. and don’t even get me started on the feud with jimmy. it came across much more “lighthearted rivalry” rather than the genuinely emotional feud it should have been.

don’t get me wrong, the “yeet” thing is fun and i still love jey. but idk. i miss pre-summerslam jey uso.