#she loves to cause problems on purpose she's probably the worst of them all lol

[guinevereslancelot]

not my two co-teachers asking me if i know anyone who would want to work here bc we need more teachers. sorry but all my friends know about all the insane coworker drama i'm always complaining about so they wouldn't ever work here lol

[sunlightandsuffering]

Also for the pple who ARE wondering about Jedi AU!!!

I started it! It's very cute, I will give u the intro lol!!! I would love to see it, see the light of day!! :D :D

Mikasa comes to Eren at sixteen, prim and shy, but ever eager to please. Eren is twenty-one and he is not at all impressed with the assignment. 

Everyone else heralds it as an honour, what a big achievement to have your own padawan learner when he’s barely an adult himself. 

Eren on the other hand sees the ‘honour’ for what it really is: babysitting. And not just for him, but for Mikasa as well.

Because his own master had been drawn away on other assignments, missions that Eren couldn’t go on. And the Jedi Order couldn’t have their most rebellious young master running around the galaxy unsupervised. So, they’d given him Mikasa and said here, teach her. They’d successfully saddled him with more responsibility than he’d ever wanted and effectively knee-capped him from doing anything too crazy… Not that the things he did were ever really that crazy, they just weren’t so perfectly in line with the Jedi Order’s world philosophy. She’d stepped off the ship in a blaze of barely contained excitement, he could tell, even as quiet as she was that she was practically bursting with energy, but she’d been raised by the order, so what could he really expect? Orphaned at a young age and found miraculously on the burning remains of her planet, Mikasa had been taken in by a wandering Jedi and raised at the temple. 

For all intents and purposes, she was the perfect specimen, everything a Jedi should be and so not who Eren had wanted to teach. 

She’d looked up at him dutifully, waiting to be spoken to, eager to receive orders and Eren knew immediately she was going to be a problem. They were so diametrically opposed it was laughable, and he thinks the Order probably is laughing at him, payback for causing them so much trouble over the years. Eren sighs, reaching his hand out for a shake, “I’m Eren Yeager, I’ll be your new Master.” “I’m Mikasa,” she tells him sweetly, finally letting a small smile overtake her lips, “I look forward to working with you.” Oh, this was going to be a struggle of epic proportions, he can already tell.

The longer Eren spends with Mikasa, the more sure he is that the Jedi Temple moulded her to be everything he isn’t, to be his worst nightmare personified. 

Because that’s exactly what she is. 

“Well, Master I think we should follow Jedi protocol and it says to call –” “Mikasa,” He tells her warningly and she shuts up, her mouth pursing shut, she’s used to it at this point. 

This is how 90 percent of their discussions go these days. “The other masters will be mad,” she sing songs as Eren drags a dead droid away from the wreckage of the ship he’s trying to access. 

Eren sends her an unimpressed glare over his shoulder, grunting as he hefts the droid out of the way, “Yeah, well the Jedi Order can stuff it, there’s a lot of things they get mad at me about.” “Why do you insist on doing everything incorrectly? Maybe if you did things the right way like I tell you to, then you wouldn’t get in so much trouble.” “Who’s the Master here, Mikasa?” She shuts up again, huffing in irritation and Eren has to remind himself it’s him, he’s literally the master here, their very small age gap and her immense knowledge of Jedi principles blurs the line sometimes. He’s only five years older, sometimes it’s a little hard to boss her around so much, especially when to top it all off she’s almost as good of a fighter as him. He curses away to himself as he steps into the abandoned ship, because of course, he had to be paired with the most gifted Jedi of the new generation, topping even him in her midiclorian count and with the uncanny natural ability to simply kick ass. Her fighting skills are amazing, almost on par with his own, her only fatal flaw is perhaps that she’s such a rule follower. It blinds her in other aspects, makes her too trusting, too sweet. 

Something that could one day get her killed. Eren looks back sharply at the thought, his pain-in-the-ass little padawan nowhere to be found, standing guard until she’s given another order, proving his point. Eren sighs, “Mikasa get over here brat.” He hears her make a little noise of affront at being called a brat, she gets all cute when she’s huffy, like an angry kitten, and then there are footsteps as she enters the ship. She’s hurrying so fast she runs right into him and Eren grunts as her little body collides with his at full speed, but he’s quick to steady her, firmly grasping her shoulders. 

“Mika,” he chides softly, “Be careful okay, and remember to follow me okay, what if there were still enemies out there, what if something happened to you?” There’s a pretty blush staining her cheeks, but still, she protests, “I can take care of myself!” Eren quirks an eyebrow up at her, his hands rubbing softly up and down her biceps, “And what did I say about that?” Her cheeks puff up as she repeats his words back to him, “I can’t say that until I can beat you in a spar three times in a row.” “And have you?” He questions, because yeah, sometimes being her Master is a little bit fun. “No,” she grumbles out in irritation and he smirks, giving her a playful love tap to her cheek before letting her go and she gasps in response, “Eren!” 

“Master,” he corrects easily, already slipping further into the ship to investigate and now he’s really pissed her off, her usually sweet, quiet presence raging behind him. She’s stomping around the ship, showcasing her rage at being spoken down to, and Eren can’t help his smile as he inspects the engine controls, trying to grasp what exactly went wrong here. He hears something fall but doesn’t look back, engrossed in attempting to revive part of the ship, maybe he can find an old flight path if he gets it going. 

His fingers fiddle with buttons and wires, all the while Mikasa seems to be making a lot of noise behind him, a lot more noise than he thinks he’s ever heard her make before. Mikasa really is the perfect padawan, or well she probably would be for any other Jedi, intelligent, kind, brilliant fighting skills, quick on her feet, all qualities necessary in a great Jedi. 

Eren would have preferred someone more flawed, an orphan with maybe a bit more emotional damage he could counsel, someone more similar to him. Not quite such a rule follower, someone who he could really bond with, who might look up to him. 

Mikasa isn’t any of those things. Except for right now it seems as Eren turns around finally after something else goes crashing to the ground. His padawan is glaring at him from where she’d very obviously knocked something over, sweet, docile Mikasa who never allows her emotions to get the better of her is evidently, very displeased with him. 

And most interestingly, demanding his attention, even more as she stares him down, those quicksilver eyes raging, purposefully knocking something else right off the shelf next to her. She’s exactly like a cat, a displeased little creature that gets what it wants. Eren can barely repress his smile, maybe there’s still hope for him yet, some fire in those pretty silver eyes of hers. 

He’s almost giddy at the thought because maybe she’s not a completely lost cause, maybe he can still corrupt her just a little, mould her into being a truly great Jedi instead of a standard foot soldier, someone who thinks for themselves, assesses the situation and decides the next course of action instead of consulting the damn Jedi temple on everything. “Miki,” Eren hums and she perks right up at the name, it’s one she favours and something he doesn’t call her often, reserves it for special circumstances. “Are you mad at me?” “What gave you that idea?” “Miki,” he chides, beckoning her forwards and she stomps towards him angrily. 

She stops just before him, glaring up at his tall frame, evergreen locked with silver and Eren smiles, full and genuine at the cute little expression of rage on her face, eyebrows knit together in irritation. “Tell me what’s wrong?” “Master, you always dismiss me! And you rarely let me fight, even though I can. At the temple I was the best, I beat all the other kids, and I- I was so excited when I found out I’d be training under you, but you never let me show off, never let me fight.” She deflates towards the end of her monologue and Eren hums in acknowledgement, “It’s not because I don’t trust you Mikasa, I’d just rather watch you fight in more controlled environments first. It’s only been a few months, I don’t want to throw you head first into battle.” “But-” He tuts her, his hand slipping up into the tangles of her hair, pushing her bangs back behind her ears, he’s always had a fascination with that sleek pretty black hair of hers, how soft it is, how it feels under his fingertips, “Don’t worry I’m going to let you fight Mikasa, but once you can beat me three times in a row, which I know you will do.” He gives a soft little yank at one of the dark strands of her hair, “You’re a great fighter Mikasa, brilliant, especially with your lightsaber, but you fight predictably. Just like the Order teaches, the same spar you’ve done a hundred times. That’s not how real enemies fight, that’s not how I fight.” Eren smirks, his hand combing out her hair now, something Mikasa leans into, has always enjoyed the rare time he shows her affection.

“I fight dirty, and I always win. There’s a reason I’m so revered at the temple, that my missions are always successes, albeit with perhaps more damage than I’d usually like. It’s because my methods differ from the Jedi temple, and I think that’s something you need.” 

“Oh,” she murmurs softly, eyes now shut, like a cat, as he continues to finger his hands through her hair, his other one slipping up to join in the soft thick strands. She makes a little noise of contentment as he gathers the thick dark mop of her hair in his hands, leaning in as he styles it into a makeshift bun, using his own hair elastic to fasten it at the base of her head. He presses a soft kiss to her temple as he finishes, affection she’s never had, that Eren can’t help but give, something the Jedi Order frowns upon but Mikasa needs more than anything, such a touch-starved child. 

His hands skim down now, settling over her shoulders, “Do you understand now? It’s not because I don’t trust you, it’s because we’re already training Mikasa, and if I have my way you’ll be the best Jedi the order has ever seen.” “Even better than you?” She breathes curiously, her eyes soft and warm now, pliant, heather grey. He chuckles, “Of course, you’re my padawan after all, you’ll have to be better than me.” Mikasa smiles, such a full and beautiful smile, so bright he almost has to look away, “I have to train all those bad Jedi habits out of you though, I think they sent me the worst recruit they could find.” At this, she smacks him and Eren cackles, pinching her side. 

“At least I know how to cook.” Eren guffaws, “Barely!” “I’m better than you!” “Not by much.”

Sometimes, Mikasa wonders how Eren ever thought she wouldn’t fall in love with him. 

Force, how the Jedi Order had thought she wouldn’t fall in love with him? It’s like they were hoping for it. Even when she was little, she could remember hearing about the trouble-making padawan that no matter how he went against the Jedi temple rules, never had an unsuccessful mission. She had been enamoured, who was this boy, this legend in the making? And then as she’d gotten older, moved up the ranks herself, set to become a padawan, she’d seen him in action and she’d been star-struck. Only once in battle before she’d been ushered away to safety, only a glimpse, but the way his hair had stuck to his forehead, slick with sweat, blood spattering his tunic, forearms pulled taut as he held his light-saber. He’d looked like a vengeful God, and for reasons unknown to her, she hadn’t been able to get him out of her head ever since. He’d appear in her dreams, always standing over her, shirtless, saving her life, the lines of his back cut like there should be wings there. 

She’d seen him only once more before she’d become his padawan and it had only elevated him further in her mind, up high on that pedestal she could never reach, never even hope to touch. He’d been in the middle of the council, and she’d been sneakily walking by only to hear the voices of the council. And Mikasa, ever the dutiful student, hadn’t been able to help her curiosity. What she saw had been the dressing down of a lifetime as Eren stood in the middle of the council, being utterly ripped apart for his most recent mission. She’d been nodding her head along, agreeing, until Eren had finally defended himself, speaking of all the lives he’d saved. 

That had shut them up rather promptly and Eren had been smirking when she’d finally disappeared down the hall, her heart beating with far more than just the adrenaline of listening in on a top secret meeting. 

Because Eren had looked particularly handsome that day, his hair windswept against his cheeks, the long cloak the Jedi typically wore conspicuously absent to display lean muscle instead. 

And now, at sixteen, the peak age for puberty, when hormones are running high, especially in battle, the Jedi Order had thought it was a great idea to pair her off with a handsome rebellious twenty-one-year-old? It was cruel, to be honest. Everyone else she knew had older men with beards for masters, shrivelled up and half dead. And here she was with probably the best-looking boy she’d ever seen in her life, and he was around her all the time. Mikasa knew she would be a good Jedi, it was what she was born and raised for after all, she’d spent countless hours sparring, mastering her use of the force, everything to be the best she could possibly be. But lately, she finds what is thwarting her the most is the whole ‘no attachment’ part of being a Jedi. 

Because it’s becoming really hard for her not to get attached. 

Eren steps out of the bathroom, clad in only a towel, his other hand occupied in drying his long hair, water dripping down the divots of his abs. Her mouth suddenly feels very dry and he sends her a wink as she eats her soup. Yeah, it’s becoming really, really hard for her not to get attached. He disappears down the hall to his quarters and Mikasa spends ten minutes fanning herself, chanting the Jedi Code over and over again. 

No attachment, absolutely none, not allowed!

But really in hindsight how did they expect her not to fall in love? 

Eren is passionate, almost to a fault, and since she’s joined him on his missions as his padawan she’s realized that he’s particularly passionate about her safety. 

In a way, it’s kind of flattering, and in other ways, it makes her heart almost beat out of chest. 

He’s always saving her, even when she doesn’t need saving, he’s always there. And afterwards, he’s scolding her for ever being in danger in the first place, as if it isn’t part of both of their jobs. 

But it’s afterwards, that’s the part she adores the most, after the lecture and the yelling when he’s tucking her into his chest and whispering into her hair how much she scared him, that she shouldn’t go out and be so reckless. To which she always replies cheekily, “Isn’t that what you trained me to do?” He always pinches her side for that particular comment but it never gets old, being wrapped in the warmth and safety of his arms, it feels like coming home, like safety in a way the Jedi temple never has. 

“Mikasa,” Eren chastises her from the head of the ship where he’s piloting them off towards some faraway planet for their next mission, ready to shoot them into hyperdrive, “What are you doing?” He can tell she’s up to no good just by the sound of her footsteps, how she tries to soften them just slightly, her breathing clipped as she tries not to let him hear her. He spins in his chair to find her slipping out of his room and he quirks an eyebrow curiously, repeating his question, “What are you doing?” She winces as she’s found out, slumping in place. She’s cute, adorably messy all dolled up in her pyjamas, hair tucked up behind her in a messy bun that he aches to pull into a proper one. Always her damn hair. 

“I had a nightmare,” she murmurs, “I was gonna go sleep in your bed.” “C’mere,” he beckons her, his hands just itching to properly tie up that silky hair of hers and almost as soon as she’s within reach he’s dragging her to his lap, turning her around. She shuts her eyes blissfully as she leans back into him, her head tilted against his shoulder as he massages her scalp, gathering the sleek strands into a soft bun at the base of her skull, one that won’t come out so easily like hers did. “What was the nightmare about?” He murmurs as he ties it up with her pretty red ribbon. “Losing my parents.” She doesn’t miss a beat, and Eren sighs as he turns her in his lap, her hair now secured properly. “Are you scared?” She shakes her head, grey eyes tearing up, “I just miss them.” And before she can stop herself the tears are rushing down her cheeks in hot streaks, more than Eren is equipped to deal with. He sighs, rough hands coming up to wipe at her tears tenderly, “I’m not going to bed anytime soon I have to pilot us to the next planet, but why don’t you sit with me? You can keep me company.” “Okay,” she murmurs through her tears and Eren settles her in the chair next to him, piling her up high with a soft fuzzy blanket as he tucks her into the large swivel chair. “Better?” He asks and she nods, wiping the rest of her tears into the blanket and Eren smiles, his hand finding her knee to lovingly stroke, “You’ve got me now, I’m here and I’ll never leave you.” “What about,” she sniffles slightly, “What about when I become a master in my own right?” Eren chuckles, “We’ve got a few more years but even then I think I’ll keep you around Miki, you’re not so bad.” She smiles through her tears, resting her head on her knees as she looks at him, “Would you have stayed with your master if you could?” 

Eren shrugs, his hand still resting on her knee comfortingly, and Mikasa shivers as he strokes over sensitive skin not covered by her blanket, his hands so big and warm.  “Probably if I could have, but you know the council wanted me doing my own thing, cause less chaos that way, you know how it is.”

It’s quiet for a moment and Eren smiles at her softly, squeezing her knee, “But I’m happy how things turned out, I got you instead and that’s not bad at all.”

Her breath hitches and she feels like she can’t breathe, her eyes drawn towards his lips and the chiselled cut of his jaw, so brutally beautiful, the harsh angles of his face contrasted with the soft length of his eyelashes, those brilliant green eyes.

He’s stunning, and she just wants to lean across the controls and kiss him, has to grip the arms of her chair just to stop herself.

[gratuiciel]

omg i love that premise so much and i love that kisaki is literally torn between the options "show vulnerability" and "fuckin die" sjfhsgdh i found a few explanations about the main concepts already but thanks! i think i'll have to read a few stories about it now to see how this can play out (for research purposes of course). also yay women! in this hypothetical (take)hinakisa fic you speak of, would hina be an alpha? 👀

lmaoo at hanma having fun while kakucho isnt xD not all right hand men are born equal. on the flipside, i feel like manila kakucho and mikey wouldve gotten along, being essentially empty inside and also izana's living weapons. u mean u have a kisaiza darkfic set during the height of their rule when mikey is still alive? of course i'm into that xD

tragic hinakisa yuri 🥺 kisaki being so obsessed with power and recognition from other nobles that she doesn't even realize hinata would've ran away with her if she'd only asked (and when she does it's while hinata is dying in her arms)

gotta wonder about dragons and religion cause there's definitely some stuff to dig here. i don't know if you've ever played fire emblem three houses, but in it there's a whole ass fake religion that's been made up by a dragon shapeshifting lady to divide and control the humans after her dragonmom's death at the hands of them, and after like 1000 years she uses her influence and shady magic to try and revive her mom into a human vessel (somehow the blue dragon in vox machina reminded me of all that. those darn dragons always causing problems!) i feel like there could be dragons and also dark magic surrounding shinichiro and mikey. shinichiro mightve sacrificed himself or maybe a dragon to revive mikey but mikey came back Wrong. not sure where kazutora fits in all this, at first i just made him a musician cause he's in a band in the final timeline xD but other than that he'd probably be more qualified as a thief/mercenary. maybe he intruded on the ceremony of mikey's ressurrection hoping to steal something (he wasnt expecting to find anyone in the castle's underground tunnels, also baji helped him bc he knows the castle well. neither of them knew mikey was dead, they were told he was sick and decided to look for uhhh some sort of mcguffin that is supposed to be sealed under the castle and could heal any illness (let's go with that for now lol)) and then he broke shin's concentration at the worst possible time (oopsie)

and that's not even half the cast yet xD koko as a merchant and inupi as his bodyguard of sorts, maybe a mercenary too (he doesn't seem very knight-like to me, then again neither does hanma lmao except for the loyalty part)

not written with the same characters but

"kisaki" is homonymous with the japanese word for queen/empress (more specifically: the king/emperor's wife) and idk i feel like there's something to be done with that

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 305: Worst Intervention Ever

Previously on BnHA: Shinomori, whose name took me an entire week to memorize, was all, “nice to meet you Deku, I’m ten feet tall, do you want to know how I died?” and without waiting for an answer explained that he kicked it from old age at forty thanks to good ol’ OFA. Deku was all “wait a minute, then how come All Might, who’s fifty-five and is definitely dyeing his gray hair, is still alive?” First and Shino were all, “we really have no fucking clue but we think it’s cuz he’s quirkless, JUST LIKE YOU!” So basically, since quirkless people don’t exactly grow on trees these days, Deku is probably going to be the last user of OFA. The chapter ended with Nana being all, “psst, Deku, about my grandson. Uh, can you kill him?” which is sure to lead to a very interesting conversation this week.

Today on BnHA: Nana And The Gang are all “so, Deku, how can we put this delicately. The thing is, we’re pretty sure that AFO really fucked my grandson up, so on the off chance you can’t save him, how would you feel about, you know... [throat slitting gesture].” Deku is all “idk you guys, I kinda feel like he’s really just a traumatized child at heart and he’s in a lot of pain and stuff and so I should try to help him.” The Vestiges are all “BUT WHAT IF YOU CAN’T” and Deku is all “BUT I WANT TO TRY, DAMMIT” and the Vestiges are all “well when you put it that way, we, uh, were just testing you, so congrats, you passed!” The chapter ends with First being all, “ANYWAY SO WHY DON’T YOU TWO SHY BOYS STANDING OVER THERE IN THE SHADOWS COME SAY HELLO” before we CUT AWAY FOR ANOTHER WEEK, goddammit.

seriously, Nana

just... have you met Deku?? look, if you really want Tomura dead, just sic him on the U.A. first years and tell Shouto and Honenuki that it’s a training exercise

oh my god lmao

we’re too far away to see Nana’s face here so I will just assume that she turned and is staring DIRECTLY INTO THE CAMERA for this one line lmao. “I just wanted to clarify in case anyone felt inclined to take my dialogue out of context and spend an entire week complaining about it”

oh my god?! are you all purposely trying to make me sad??

someone stop me before I launch into an impromptu rant about all my Tomura feels. WHY IS NOBODY STOPPING ME. oh my god but yes, exactly. he’s just in pain all the time. this is exactly why I think Tomura has such high redemption potential even though so far he seems to lack so many of the redemption arc essentials such as feeling remorse, wanting to change, and taking responsibility for his actions. the reason why I’m willing to overlook all that in his case is because Tomura has essentially had zero agency his entire life. AFO molded him into a killer by making sure he was in constant mental agony, and making it so that the only thing that even slightly relieved that agony was killing peeps. like, please don’t think I’m making excuses for him or anything, but if you take a child and manipulate their existence to make it virtually impossible for that child to grow up as anything other than a killer, and basically never give him the chance to be anything else, then no shit he’s gonna be a killer?? he’s basically never had the choice not to be. it’s never been an option for him. anyways I feel like I am EXPLAINING MYSELF SO BADLY but nonetheless I am prepared to die on this hill

anyway so now Nana is all “that’s a rhetorical question btw because Our Hearts And Minds Are One so we can feel everything you feel bro.” so yeah, that’s interesting

now Banjou is getting started on the “let’s try and talk Deku out of wanting to save Tomura because it’s insane” part of their OFA Mystical Space Void Reunion agenda

look, Banjou, I feel you, I really do. you guys don’t think it’s realistic that Deku can defeat Tomura without killing him. so if it’s a choice between killing Tomura vs letting Deku and everyone else in the entire world die, then duh, you think Deku should kill him. I get it! and if this were a real life mass murderer I’d totally agree with you. but the problem is that this isn’t real life, this is a sympathetic shounen villain with a tragic past who might as well have FUTURE REDEMPTION ARC RECEIPIENT stamped on his forehead at this point

so First is all “look, there’s absolutely no doubt my brother has fucked this kid up good and proper by now”, which, again, fair

though, that’s kind of exactly my point though. everything that Tomura is, everything he’s done, he’s done because of AFO. AFO has so effectively shaped his personality and his worldview by this point that it’s all but impossible to penetrate that. he’s AFO’s puppet. but the problem is that rather than treating him like a victim, you all are treating him like a casualty. like he’s already a lost cause. but good luck trying to convince Deku of that

WHOA WHAT, RANDOM SUPER-IMPORTANT AND BIZARRELY UNRELATED EXPOSITION DROPPED IN JUST LIKE THAT??

way to still not reveal Sixth’s name, btw. THE PEOPLE WANT TO KNOW, DAMMIT. but also so this confirms something we basically already knew already, which is that not even AFO can steal OFA. it literally can’t be taken away by anyone unless the owner wills it. SO SUCK ON THAT AFO YOU EGG

(ETA: so I have no idea why this was omitted from this translation, but apparently the Sixth’s name was revealed as “En”, which is obviously not his full name but at least it’s something. also he most likely has a fire or smoke-related quirk based on the kanji used, 煙.)

so Banjou is saying that Deku’s “lack of an iron will” could be a disadvantage against AFO. hahaha what?? Midoriya “I’ll break all of my bones without blinking an eye just to protect someone” Izuku lacks an iron will? do tell

he says this is going to be a test of Deku’s determination. well yeah, no shit. but just not in the way you guys think

OH HELLO AGAIN

darker hair again here! but I don’t trust the contrast in these scans at all after last week. his coveralls are way darker than they looked before too, and you can clearly see he’s standing in the shadows now

(ETA: yep, once again the raw shows that his hair is considerably lighter than what’s shown in these scans here. although there’s no mistaking now that his hair is consistently being colored in this slightly darker shade, and it’s not just the lighting.)

anyways lol First was saying something about how AFO can’t steal OFA, and they’ve spent all this time cultivating it as the ultimate weapon against AFO, and blah blah blah. go on then, keep lecturing

NANA GODDAMMIT NONE OF THIS IS YOUR FAULT

girl what?? you did everything in your power to protect your family, and AFO, fucked up man that he is, targeted them anyway. there is one person and one person only to blame for what’s happened to Tomura, and that potato-faced asshole needs a good kick in the balls

NANA GODDAMMIT DON’T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE

SO HELP ME GOD!! I WILL GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST HUG YOU’VE EVER HAD!! THAT IS A THREAT

so now Nana is all “I’m just going to call my grandson a Thing to ensure that fandom has only the freshest, grass-fed no-hormones-added discourse this week”

I don’t even need to drop into the tags to know exactly which specific people are going to respond to this, and what kind of posts they are going to write lmao. everyone’s all caught up in the “that thing”, and meanwhile I’m over here completely hung up on this “nay” that’s appeared out of NOWHERE you guys. look at that. she really said “NAY”

Nana, my love, my dearest, I feel you girl I really do. but he’s not an unforgivable manifestation of pure evil, Deku is exactly right actually, he’s a boy in pain. you guys need to stop questioning Deku’s shounen protagonist instincts here and just let him work his sparkly magic. “let’s try and convince Midoriya Fucking Izuku that he can’t save someone” is a plan that is NEVER going to turn out well you guys

“DEKU GODDAMMIT WHAT IF WE CAN’T SAVE HIM” lmao it’s like an intervention

“DAMMIT DEKU JUST ADMIT YOU HAVE A SAVING PEOPLE PROBLEM!”

RED ALERT IT’S ANOTHER CLOSE-UP OF THE BACK OF MISTER TWO BON CLAY’S HEAD OMG

(ETA: I was too distracted with freaking out about Two and Three to really appreciate how ridiculously handsome First looks in this panel. but on my second readthrough it stood out so much that I had to go back and add an extra bullet point just to talk about how hot he is. look at him. wtf.)

THAT IS DEFINITELY AN UNDERCUT. THE PLOT THICKENSSSS. also those are fucking exhaust vents on Mister Three’s neck. MISTER THREE COULD YOU POSSIBLY BE RELATED TO THE IIDAS, PLEASE TELL ME YOUR SECRETS I’M DYING OVER HERE

so now Deku is launching into what will undoubtedly be a “saving people problems require SAVING PEOPLE SOLUTIONS” heroic counter-speech!

I mean, they can already feel the “lol nah I’m gonna try and save him” feelings running through him lol. ~OuR hEaRtS aNd MiNdS aRe CoNnEcTeD~ and all that. this is just a formality, but that doesn’t mean I don’t love a good shounen protag speech

oh wait hold up, do you mean to tell me that the whole “hearts and minds are connected” thing I was just mocking just a paragraph ago actually allowed Deku to feel what Tomura was feeling?? like literally feel it??

YET AGAIN these Tomura feels are pounding on my front door you guys?? they just will not quit?? people my house is already full of feels, does it look like I need you to sell me any more of them?? -- what do you mean, they’re free??

AW YISS THAT’S IT DEKU. THAT’S SOME GOOD SPEECH RIGHT THERE

I appreciate the contrast here between the Douchebag Triumvirate of Overhaul, Muscular, and Stain versus the Misguided Twosome of Gentle and La Brava. never let it be said that Deku doesn’t know the difference between a redeemable villain and an unredeemable one

OH NO -- OH MY GOD

someone please help me I need directions to the OFA Spooky Galactic Nebula Realm in this fictional Japanese manga land. it’s not on google maps. I need to give these two babies a big hug and wrap them up in a blanket and treat them to some McDonalds Happy Meals please help

other things: (1) ENDEAVOR CHILLING OUT IN DEKU’S “PEOPLE I HOLD DEAR” PANEL LMAO NEON DISCOURSE EXTRAVAGANZA, (2) “ONE FOR ALL IS A POWER TO SAVE, NOT TO KILL” I’M ABOUT TO CRY DEKU I LOVE YOU SO MUCH HOW IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE TO FEEL ALL THIS LOVE, (3) [SLAMS HANDS ON TABLE] THERE’S YOUR MOTHERFUCKING IRON WILL!!!!!!!! -- I’m sorry, please don’t call security, I’ll be good

I just randomly remembered that Deku is still saying all of this in his muffled “FMMPHHMMPHMM” voice and I’m somehow cracking up lol. so actually it’s a very good thing Their Hearts And Minds Are Connected, otherwise they’d no doubt be all, “...what?”

(ETA: so I completely missed this on account of it literally not being visible in the scan at all, but in the raw you can clearly see Baby Kacchan and Baby Shouto fanboying over All Might in two of these panels, and excuse me, ma’am??

thank you very much Deku for including them in your montage, particularly since you’ve never seen Baby Shouto before lol. amazingly accurate image you managed to conjure up, all things considered.)

SDKFJLSKHG -- AS IF ON CUE???

HE’S SO ADORABLE HELP?? Trippy Space All Might looks like he’s about to cry, and First is all “don’t crack a smile... you have to be Firm and Serious here... dammit, don’t smile” omg

anyways! YOU GO DEKU. “MY QUIRK MY RULES, BITCHES” damn, son

KLJLKKHLG TRIPPY SPACE ALL MIGHT LITERALLY ACTUALLY IS CRYING ALL MIGHT HOW COULD YOU DO THIS TO ME

“I JUST... [CLENCHES FIST] REALLY LOVE SAVING PEOPLE” FUCKING HELL LMAO THIS IS THE WORST INTERVENTION OF ALL TIME

Deku is literally all “sure, maybe I’ll have to kill him, but have you guys also considered, MAYBE NOT??” it’s no use Nana he’s too powerful

LMAO FIRST

“like I’ve been saying this whole time, you should definitely try saving Shigaraki Tomura.” “but, uh... First, didn’t you just -- ” “shut up”

(ETA: clearly it’s not just his brother who inherited those smooth-talking genes.)

so now Deku has turned back into a sixteen year old and his clothes have gone missing again. just OFA things

dskljdlsklgk

yes... sure... “testing” you...

HEY

FIRST OF ALL, DAMN YOU HORIKOSHI YOU MADE NANA CRY. even if I’m pretty sure they’re actually tears of happiness/relief. and SECOND OF ALL, “TELL MY BOYFRIEND I SAID HI” DJSKDLKJJL ANYWAY MAYBE GRAN, NANA, AND MR. SHIMURA WERE IN A THROUPLE

[SCREAMS]

WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE?? WHY WOULD YOU END IT THERE!!!!!

(ETA: and two-to-one odds that we cut away to some other scene once they finally start to turn around next week. I’M CALLING IT NOW. giving myself a week to brace myself for the rage.)

fucking hell. well if anyone needs me I will be adding Horikoshi fucking Kouhei to the list of irredeemable villains, peace

[strangeradventuresofp]

must have been the wind (five x reader)

A/N : this is HEAVILY inspired by alec benjamin’s song lol if u havent listened to it i suggest u do its so good also five is aged up, 18 as always unless otherwise specified !! hope u enjoy loves<3

Five often roamed the halls of the Umbrella Academy mansion. Probably to remind himself that it wasn’t going to collapse anymore, after him and his siblings managed to stop the apocalypse. It was still so surreal to him, and he really didn’t have much of a clue of what to do with his life, so, he just moped around the various, decked out corridors, unsure of what his purpose was. Mostly, he spent his time in the kitchen or at Griddy’s, either drinking coffee or alcohol. Not so much alcohol anymore; after you shared your dismay with him he -mostly- cut it all out. And, of course, Five spent a fair amount of time with you. He had taken a special liking to you after his brothers, Klaus and Diego, had found you trying to run away from someone in your past. They had brought you here to look after you and keep you safe. This obviously led to you being very close with the two men, and evidently, the rest of the Hargreeves as well. They acted as if they were your big siblings, which you were incredibly appreciative of, as you had never really had a strong bond with your own family. 

Your bond with Five, however, was different. You liked him, and he liked you. Various flirty comments had been made between the two of you, but neither of you ever admitted you liked each other. In fact, you both acted as if you had absolutely zero interest in ever being with each other, but everyone knew that wasn’t true. You had taught him how to make coffee just how he liked it, after he begged you six times a day to brew him some more. You liked to think it was just so he could hang out with you, but you knew that black coffee was his one true love. It wasn’t terribly unlikely though, Five did everything he could to hang out with you.

It was a particularly stormy Monday, and it wasn’t unusual that you and Five were the only two in the house. Luther had accompanied Allison on her shopping trip. Diego was probably trying to fight crime again. Vanya was at violin rehearsal, and nobody ever knew where Klaus was unless he was present in the house. Five was messing with the things on the table in the lobby before he heard a glass smash in one of the bedrooms above him. His brows furrowed in concern and curiousness. He quietly made his way up the stairs, meanwhile hearing gentle sobs coming from your bedroom.

You quickly wiped your face, and turned around to face the open door, with Five stood in the space.

“Y/N? I heard some noises when I was downstairs, I was just wondering if you’re okay?” As you smiled, Five studied your face, noticing how puffy your eyes were, and how red your face was, frowning.

“I think your ears are playing tricks on you. Thanks for caring, Five, it’s really nice of you. I wish I could tell you about the noise, but I.. I didn’t hear a thing. It must have been the wind.” Five didn’t believe a word of what you said, and frowned, eyebrows knitted together in an attempt to figure you out. “Sorry, Five, but I would really like to be on my own right now.” You smiled apologetically before closing your door, leaving him stood outside it, taken aback. Suddenly, a blue flash appeared and Five was stood back in your bedroom.

“Y/N-”

“Are you kidding me? I just told you I wanted to be alone.”

“I’m trying to figure out what’s wrong.”

“What’s your problem, Five?”

“Why won’t you tell me?”

“Because I want to be alone, like I said!” You knew his intentions were good, but it made you upset that he didn’t respect your wishes first time around. He opened his mouth to speak as you pushed him out of your bedroom and closed the door once again. He sighed, and decided he wouldn’t try again, even though he couldn’t bear the thought of leaving you so upset, on your own.

A few moments later you heard the front door open and close, looking out of your window to see him leaving, presumably to get himself a coffee. Even though you had taught him months ago, he still insisted that you make it, because ‘yours just tastes better’. 

It wasn’t long before Five found himself inside the doughnut shop, wanting a black coffee, as always. He was surprised to see his brother, Number Four, already sat at the counter.

“Hey, hey. Ben’s sat there.” Five sighed and took the seat the other side of Klaus and put his head in his hands. “What’s up, brother?”

“Y/N’s upset, and I don’t know why. And I don’t know how to help. And she won’t let me talk to her because she wants to be alone,”

“You gotta respect that she wants some alone time. Try talking to her later.”

“But she’s partly upset with me. I made her mad earlier and I just-” Five sighed, trying to find the right words. “It makes my heart ache to know that she’s upset. It’s like the worst pain I’ve ever felt. And I don’t know how to make her feel better.”

“Just buy her flowers or.. Or a doughnut or something, I don’t know. Just do something that she’ll like.”

“But how am I supposed to-”  As Klaus looked to the side, he saw a quick blue flash and noticed his brother was no longer sat beside him.

“Thanks, Klaus. No problem, Five!” He sighed and looked at Ben. “I don’t get enough credit form you people.”

~~~

A few hours and a hundred tears later, you heard gentle knocking on the wooden door. You mumbled a ‘Come in’ and opened your eyes to see Five stood by your bed, which you were curled up in, holding a cup in one hand and a bag in the other. He noticed your eyes hadn’t gotten any less puffy, and suspected that you had continued crying after he had left your room.

“What do you want, Five?”

“I brought you doughnuts. And some hot cocoa, with marshmallows. I tried to make it how you like it, but you’re always better at that sort of stuff.” He grinned sheepishly as he put them down on your bedside table, and you felt the bed dip as he took a seat beside you. You sat up to face him, frowning.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“I also bought a few movies I know you really like. I thought we could watch them.”

“We? You don’t like any of the movies I like.”

“I know but.. I thought you might want some company. And I want to apologize for, you know, earlier. I overstepped and I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry.” As you looked at him, you noticed a shy smile on his face, that brought out his dimple. You smiled, pulling him into a hug. He wrapped his arms around gently, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Thank you, Five.” You placed a gentle kiss to cheek, causing both you and him to gain red cheeks. Five pressed his lips to yours almost immediately, unable to hold his feelings for you any longer. Your mouths moved with each other rhythmically, and as you smiled against his lips, his hand reached up to cup your cheek. The kiss lasted a few minutes before the two of you pulled away from each other, your forehead leaning against his.

“Put the damn movie on.” Smiling, you pushed him away, making room for him on your bed while he started the movie up. He sat beside you, his arm gently rested on your shoulders. You hugged around his waist, listening to his heartbeat. Kissing your forehead, he moved the hair out of your face.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be crying so much. I won’t ask what’s wrong, but I’m always here for you, Y/N. You can tell me anything. Nothing could ever make me think any less of you.” Once again, your lips collided, moving with each other in sync, huffing when he pulled away from you, earning a quiet chuckle from his parted lips.

“Five?” He hummed in response. “What are we?” Your eyes met his as his brows furrowed.

“I don’t know.” You sighed, hoping for a better answer, before he opened his mouth once again. “I like you.”

“I like you too.”

“Be my girlfriend.”

“Okay.” Snuggling more into him, you felt him plant a kiss to your temple and you grinned. 

~~~

“Hey! Guys, you gotta see this! Five and Y/N are spooning!” Klaus shouted to the rest of the house, stood in the doorway of your door.

“Klaus, what are you doing?” Five rubbed his eyes, propping himself up on his elbow, feeling you stir in his sleep beside him. Other footsteps could be heard coming down the corridor as the other siblings piled into the doorway.

“Little Number Five and Y/N.. Who would’ve thought?” Klaus placed his hands on his heart, grinning at you and the boy.

“Um.. Everybody?” Allison giggled as the others in the doorway laughed. Five shushed his siblings, gesturing to you. “Okay, okay. Let’s leave them alone.” Very quickly, the doorway became empty, and the door became closed again, and Five lay back down, facing you, smiling at how adorable you looked.

“Mm.. Five, what are you doing?” Your heavy eyelids pulled themselves open to look at your boyfriend, watching him smile at you.

“You’re just beautiful.”

“Shut up.”

“Make me.” The ends of his lips turned up into a smirk and he kissed you quickly, before pulling away and grinning cheekily. “Make me a coffee?”

my masterlist

A/N : hiihi thanks 4 reading ! i actually rly like this and im proud of it so i hope u guys like it too and i hope u all have a lovely day<3

[aceofwonders]

A4, A19, F6 for the big 4 whitestone NPCs!

thanks alana! 💖 // big ol'honkin' oc questions list

Are they a pessimist or an optimist?

Belvedere — he grew up with like the most Optimistic person as a father and he really absorbed that. so much so that when he lost his father it all took a turn to extreme pessimism for a while BUT belvedere is returning to whitestone with newfound purpose and is determined to hold onto that optimism he used to have!

Nolan — oh buddy boy! he definitely tends towards pessimism, especially in recent years. certainly doesn’t help that he has made it his mission to take down the mob in whitestone and he keeps getting thwarted over and over again with seemingly no progress RIP

Velora — I wanna say she is a pessimist but she isn’t super mopey about it? if that makes sense? she often sees the worst aspects of things first and assumes the worst will happen but she always confidently stands up to handle whatever it is without a complaint.

Runi — she is very much an optimist! she is one of those people who constantly goes on about how they will make it through the tough times/they will figure it all out. anything can be solved with the right knowledge at your disposal and collaboration!

What instantly irritates them or puts them in a bad mood?

Belvedere — he typically takes everything in stride but Controlling people definitely set him off. freedom is something he finds very important and is a big theme around his character.

Nolan — I feel like he is in a Bad Mood 70% of the time so like lots of things lol but to list a few off the top of my head; lazy/selfish people, hot weather, disorganization, not getting his Coffee

Velora — idk why but the first thing that comes to mind is the specific scenario of someone not taking her advice and then complaining when whatever it was went poorly for them? have no idea if that makes sense it’s just her facepalming like "yeah dummy if you actually listened to what I suggested then maybe that shit wouldn’t have happened" and she is just in a Mood after that.

Runi — definitely people being overly cruel/mean for no real reason other than the sake of it. sends her into a real grumbly mood. probably also people who refuse to listen and learn.

How much do they work? What do they do? Do they enjoy it?

Belvedere — he hasn’t had an official job in a few decades and is going to be jumping into leading the chamber of whitestone at the beginning of the campaign and is gonna end up working A Lot so that transition is gonna be interesting lol he is gonna have quite a bit to get in order cause his main goal is to help the city and make it a better place. I feel like he is going to step into his new role surprisingly well and actually enjoy it more than he thought he would.

Nolan — oh he 100% overworks himself it’s a problem. he is a detective and recently has been focusing on organized crime. he does really enjoy helping/protecting the citizens of whitestone and really loves investigation work and piecing things together it is very satisfying for him.

Velora — she is definitely a busy woman and works more often than not. she is on the chamber and is in charge of the grey hunt. she spends most of her time training/organizing the hunters to protect the city from threats in the forest. she really enjoys being out in the field and loves training and helping people master their skills. the political aspects of her job are a bit tedious to her but she deals with it.

Runi — she’s got a pretty good work/life balance surprisingly. she works at the library, mainly cataloging and organizing. she also works for the cobalt soul and kinda runs a little archive of her own in whitestone. all of her work is fun to her honestly she just loves all of it even the ‘mundane’ stuff.

[yikestripes]

Satisfying

@dissatisfactionbuthuman here you go !! i really ran with this request LOL

i actually have the cracking thing i was referring to- it’s called hip dysplasia but there’s also a shoulder type (i have both)

request: Omg can you please do a fic where Spence has a kink for something super common for the reader to do like stretching or something and she keeps doing it around him accidentally!?

word count: 1,566

warnings: talks of kinks? nothing really, sliiiight hints at smut.

You raised your arms high above your head, hearing a satisfying crack come from your shoulder joints. You resumed your paperwork, not knowing that you had caught Spencer’s attention. A small blush crept up to his cheeks as he turned back to his own work, trying to ignore the thoughts that were itching at the back of his mind. You rose shortly later, a resounding crack from your hip sounded as you walked past Spencer’s desk, and he swore you started doing it on purpose. You two had only been dating for about 2 months, after a long drawn out confession had taken place one night after an especially long jet ride home. There was no way you knew about one of Spencer’s most guarded secrets yet; he never told anyone about his cracking kink, and he definitely didn’t intend to scare you off so quickly by telling you now.

The only question was, did you somehow find out and now were trying to tease him with it? There was no way. He had made sure not to tell anyone else in the office and unless you were a mind reader, there was no way. He abandoned the thought for the better part of an hour before you were all called to the conference room for a briefing.

Good. Spencer thought. This will definitely take my mind away from everything- especially her. You sat by his side and let your hand come to rest on his forearm, something you would do every time you were near each other. It was a simple gesture, whether it was to remind her that Spencer was all hers, other women, or just to remind herself that he was still there, it didn’t really matter. Spencer took your hand under the table to save yourselves from a look from Hotch regarding your ability to work together, which you’d received more times than either of you would like to admit.

You looked back and smiled at Spencer, who was chewing his lip as he was clearly thinking about something that was not related to the case. You squeezed his hand gently to grab his attention, but he shook his head slightly and offered you a tightlipped smile. He was acting strange, especially for Spencer, but you shrugged it off and pretended to pay attention to the rest of the case. You could study up on the plane; first, you had to figure out what was bothering your boyfriend.

As soon as Hotch announced wheel’s up, you were already out of the conference room, sitting on Spencer’s desk with your go bag in hand.

“What’s up, Spence?” You asked, raising your eyebrows.

“N-nothing,” He said, offering you a real smile. You narrowed your eyes at his retreating back, but decided it was better not to push it.

The jet ride was completely uneventful; you, Spencer, JJ, and Emily traded theories back and forth about the latest sicko while discussing whether or not the latest kidnapped victim was dead or not. You announced your desire for coffee, standing up and going to the back of the plane; another crack from your hip rang out as you felt a small release in your back. You had joint problems that stemmed from sports and an undiagnosed disorder that affected a few if not all of your biggest joints, including your shoulders and hips. This was the cause for all of the popping and cracking every time you moved a stiffened joint.

Little did you know, you were driving Spencer absolutely wild- more so than usual, that is.

“Hey, JJ- Has (Y/N) a-always, um, cracked like that?” He asked, trying to make his desires less obvious.

“What do you mean?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Um, well, whenever she stands up after sitting for some time or moves her arm suddenly…” Spencer trailed off.

“I guess so. She told me that she has some thing in her joints that cause that, why? Does it freak you out?” She grinned.

Spencer’s eyes widened.

“U-uh,” He swallowed hard. “I mean I guess so, yeah. Is that weird?” He lowered his voice.

“Not at all! It used to absolutely DISGUST my cousin whenever i’d crack my neck or my back around her. It’s some sort of phobia I think,” Spencer breathed a sigh of relief when he realized what she was saying.

“What’s disgusting?” You asked, handing Spencer the other mug in your hand.

“Oh, we were just talking about how cracking joints disgust some people. Our dear doctor apparently isn’t too fond of it!” She said with a laugh.

“You never told me that,” You said, suddenly feeling slightly self conscious.

“Well I-I never thought about bringing it up before, I guess.” He took a long sip from the mug before excusing himself. You burned holes into the back of his head as he headed towards the bathroom.

“That was weird.” You muttered, reopening the case file.

***

“Looks like our unsub decided to dump the body in a hurry,” Spencer announced, pulling on a pair of gloves.

“Yeah, this is a pretty foot-traffic heavy area so I guess someone was coming.” You responded.

“It completely forced them to change their M.O, they didn’t have time for the rest of their usual ritual.”

Your knee cracked as you crouched down next to the body, grimacing at the sound.

“I’m sorry.” You whispered, looking up at Spencer. He rubbed a gloved hand on your shoulder blade and smiled.

“No need to apologize, my love. Hey- what’s that shiny thing?” He pointed to a dangling silver necklace that was hooked on a nearby branch.

“Oh, this must have been the necklace she was wearing the morning of the kidnapping. It’s amethyst,” You placed it in a bag and handed it to one of the crime scene investigators, removing a glove to call Hotch.

The rest of the investigation had been pretty easy, the unsub had been lingering around the dumpsite for a little longer than he should have, just to get off from his crime a few more times. You stood outside of the small farmhouse, looking over the sea of flashing lights and reporters that surrounded the crime scene.

You tilted your head and earned a satisfying crack from your neck, and did the same on the other side.

“Oof,” Spencer whispered, grimacing.

“Does it really bother you that much? I didn’t realize you were standing right-” Spencer cut you off with a kiss, mid sentence.

“It doesn’t bother me at all.”

“But JJ said on the plane-” He placed his hands on your shoulders, and leaned forward so your foreheads were touching.

“I was lying, (Y/N). I don’t hate the sound of cracking, I, uh…” He trailed off and licked his lips, breaking eye contact. Your eyes widened as he looked down at the ground.

“Spencer Reid do you have a k-” Spencer’s own eyes widened as he clapped his gloveless hand over your mouth.

“Shhh!” He said as you glared.

“What?”

“I don’t want the entire state of Texas to know!” He hissed. You rolled your eyes.

“Alright alright, I won’t say anything. How long has this been going on? Since before we were dating? My joints crack literally ALL the time.” You thought back to earlier that morning, when he could barely take his eyes off of you while you were doing paperwork. You had gone back and forth to the copy machine probably 3 separate times, various joints in your legs cracking each time you stood up. Spencer swallowed and offered a small grin.

“Does it bother you?” He asked, his brown eyes gleaming.

“No! No. It’s absolutely fine. I just wish I had more control of when it happens,” You lowered your voice and cocked a single eyebrow. Spencer bit his lip when Morgan started calling out to you from across the field.

“Hey, Lovebirds, get over here! We’re leaving.” You winked at Spencer and walked in Morgan’s direction, pausing to crouch quickly, earning you a small crack. Spencer dropped his jaw and kept close behind you, causing you to giggle.

“You’re the worst.” He muttered in your ear.

“Mmmmhm,” You hummed.

You boarded the plane shortly after, sitting down in the back, and immediately taking off your shoes and curling your legs underneath you. Spencer sat next to you and pulled out a book. Very quickly into the flight, you got bored. You looked around the cabin and the majority of the team was asleep, save for Hotch, who was filling out the remaining paperwork with the help of Rossi. Spencer was still reading beside you, running his thumb across your knuckles without breaking his concentration. Suddenly, you felt the urge to crack your fingers. You grinned mischievously and took your hand back.

You started by cracking your index finger, which he either didn’t hear or actively chose to ignore. You cracked your middle finger and ring finger, which caused a blush to rise in his cheeks. You cracked the rest of your hand and got to work on the other when he finally gave you the attention you were searching for. He set his book down on the table in front of you and looked at you, and raised his eyebrows. You grinned wider and wiggled your eyebrows.

“Later, we’ll be home in 20 minutes tops.” He whispered in your ear. You saved the rest of your cracking for when you got home, because you had a ton pent up.

[thequibblah]

⭐️ would love some commentary on that dancing scene (or really any commentary on the various parties thrown by the marauders) from the party happening next to the Potions Club party ⭐️

WELL WELL WELL

"This is...a lot of trouble to go to." "It's the Marauders. They love trouble."

i love writing party scenes (as i'm sure you all know lol) and one of the best/worst things w the marauders parties is striking a balance between their, uh, audacious plans, and what's realistically possible at hogwarts without getting caught. (aka literally why i made up the dodgy lodgings). i went back and forth so long on whether or not they could plausibly have managed that with slughorn's dinner next door, but then was like ah whatever the party has to happen for plot reasons so.... plot ex machina??

anyway, i love using parties to establish character — what a brilliant stage of teenage performance they provide. i love contrasting the hogwarts parties to, say, evan wronecki's — for instance, how lily and co. are more at ease in the former, as seventh years, with their classmates hosting, than they were at evan's nye bash

i also love that it gives me space to establish who is and isn't popular, so to speak, but also who acts or doesn't act the way we presume popular kids will act

doe, for instance, who is by all accounts a level-headed and non-wild person, has a more exciting time on net at marauders' parties than mary (drinking game, kissing remus), though she's not a big drinker and isn't really into parties. but she's comfortable in her own little social circle at a bigger event (like with michael at evan's) and so isn't bothered at all by the marauders' do, because...

She did, in fact, trust the Marauders. Her general belief in the inherent goodness of people notwithstanding, she didn't think they would do anything to harm their friends. Intentionally.

this bit always makes me laugh

as with many things, i feel very saddened that i didn't get to make more out of the fools' olympics (although one could argue that The Dance was a pro) — as in, i wish i'd been able to squeeze more of it into the story itself. i could probably come up with a list of tasks and who completed them LOL

WAIT OH MY GOD I TOTALLY FORGOT ABOUT THIS it just might be my favourite part of this chapter

"How did you do that?" Gillian said, glancing between the other two girls. "Just — drink it without a second thought?" "Practice," said Mary. "Scottish — constitution," David said hoarsely. "I once drank some of Mrs. Skower's All-Purpose Magical Mass Remover," said Priya.

priya is all i aspire to be

can i say, too, it's hilarious to me how many people worried niamh would be a james love interest? i feel like you will not rest easy on that count until he and lily are together... but that is not where the danger lies babes

circling back to popularity/unpopularity, another fun outlier. gillian is first established, in 33, as someone with friends (we see her around sara and in the seventh-year ravenclaws' compartment) but she's not exactly at ease at the party either — recall how she hesitates when mary invites her. only later, in 38, do we realise that our opinion of her has been skewed by the narration (from doe, who naturally assumes any friendly, nice person must have a wealth of friends and be floating through life; and mary, who naturally assumes anyone she isn't bored by must have the social skills of a medieval noblewoman at court), and she's a bit of a pariah in her own house

david, on the other hand, is just flat-out not in his element. and not because of the drinking or the, er, general revelry (see: summer with mary!), even though he doesn't partake much in either. unlike doe, the company breaks rather than makes his enjoyment — he's acutely aware, the whole time, that his cooler, more liked brother is around:

"Not your scene?" "What gave it away?" said David drily. As one they looked at Chris...

...and mary has intuited as much too, even though she has a lot more in common, superficially speaking, with chris than david

so, i think while i was writing this chapter i made a post complaining about how, as much as i love juggling the constraints of historical fiction, i hate that music from the 70s limits me in terms of tracklists. i.e., when i say a certain record is playing i can't just hit shuffle and go somewhere entirely different to set the mood shortly thereafter

this problem was because i wanted, NAY, NEEDED, to have "martha my dear" playing in the aftermath of that mary and david interaction. of course, time passes in that section break, but since "come and get it," which they talk about it, is a sirius song (though it could be a mary song), and i feel too strongly about needle drops to let that conversation go without a soundtrack. germaine even correctly guesses the white album is on because of mary:

Apparently Mary got fonder of the White Album the drunker she was.

...and of course the song itself makes me squeal with how very mary it is — not that it is something she would listen to, necessarily, or identify with (it would hold up too close of a mirror, ha), but it sounds like it could've been written about her ("hold your head up, you silly girl/look what you've done/when you find yourself in the thick of it/help yourself to a bit of what is all around you," which really sums up the entirety of her portree holiday, lol)

BUT! if "martha my dear" is to play here, then i have some Serious Chronology Concerns. i knew germeline had to kiss and jily had to dance and ideally in that order. but what would those scenes be soundtracked by!!!! i was limited to side two of the white album!!!

so i did the healthy thing and panic-listened to the white album. "don't pass me by" was, right away, an easy lock for the dance, because it's danceable, but not in a way that would've scared lily off. lyrically, it feels GREAT for jily in this moment, on the cusp of lily's realisation ("waiting for your knock, dear [...] i don't hear it, does it mean you don't love me anymore?" vs OF COURSE "don't pass me by [...] 'cause you know darling, i love only you"). i feel about "don't pass me by" the same way as NYT critic nik cohn: it's "straight ahead and clumsy and greatly enjoyable, backed by a beautiful hurdy-gurdy organ," which, if that isn't everything i wanted to evoke with the dance itself!!!!!!

ok we'll circle back to this, but onward with the musical discussion

thus i had four songs to choose from, between "martha my dear" and "don't pass me by," for the germeline scene — "piggies," "blackbird," "i'm so tired," and "rocky raccoon." the latter is on my sirius playlist, so auto-no; "piggies" is, well, like that, so also a no. "blackbird" is a certified germaine classic that was written personally by paul mccartney for germaine, but it seemed too introspective for the moment. i don't think i'd ever listened to "i'm so tired" before this panicked searching, and honestly it must be some wild luck that it is. just SO RIGHT!!!! it's so lethargic and tortured and angsty and, well, a bit of a stoner song, so.... it's THERE

AND NOW for the dance! true story, i initially wanted jily to have a real conversation, after the party. i had the dance in there and then james would catch up with lily after to be like, "hey i was wrong actually, you should write to petunia." but then i realised i wanted james and sirius to have a conversation about the bike/money, and i wanted it to strike a different chord, tonally, than the jily conversation. then i realised it would be too much to have both and i'd need to condense that conversation into the dance. VERY nearly cut the dance in favour of the conversation but wow i am glad i didn't

The tinkling piano signalled the start of the next song; she extended a hand, very matter-of-factly, to James, "Come on, this is a good one."

not pictured: james having a fucking breakdown

obviously, i could have gone the route of a genuine dramatic dance, but as previously mentioned lily would have chickened out, and i wanted to have this be an experience she could look back on and pine about because of how fun it was and james totally doesn't like her back

Loath as she was to admit it, this most indelicate of waltzes suited the plodding chords of "Don't Pass Me By." And worst of all, once they had stopped stepping on each other's feet James started to sing, in the poorest possible Ringo imitation she had ever heard in her life.

by the way, attentive readers of blink three times will recall:

He finally starts to lead — thank goodness, because she’s not the one who was forced into formal dance lessons as a child...

so in 36, this is james being drunk, but it is also james being silly on purpose because not only is he JAMES and so he must take the mick, he also knows it will put lily at ease

okay, and this bit:

"Don't pass me by, don't make me cry, don't make me blue," they both shouted rather than sang, "'Cause you know darling—" Lily broke off, laughing, dimly aware that she had done so to avoid saying I love only you while staring right at him.

from the FIRST MOMENT i picked out "don't pass me by," i knew i knew I KNEW that lily would have thoughts about this line. at this point in the story if someone questioned her about it she would probably have a full-scale breakdown about her male friends vs her female friends ("but no... i suppose i wouldn't mind saying it to remus.... but that's different!" how is it different, lily? "it's different!")

anyway, the bottom line is she could NOT abide saying it. i enjoyed writing that because 1. same girl and 2. it felt like a nice bit of close foreshadowing for her realisation, which i knew was coming soon. so that's a really circular way of saying, i knew what it meant but ideally to readers it was just oh this will mean something far-off in the future!!! which is usually true for me but SURPRISE babey it was just two chapters away!!!

note btw that lily "falls for james"

Lily spun faster than she’d intended to. The room was a brief, kaleidoscope blur. Then there was James. “Jesus, Evans,” he said, steadying her as the next track began.

>:)

and after i thought tracklists would fuck me up, i turned them into my WEAPON!!

Huffing, she stepped out of his arms. (There were some songs you could sing along to with your mates, and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” was not one of them.)

(so, you know, keep in mind that for the rest of this conversation, paul is in the background howling "no one will be watching us/why don't we do it in the road?")

also:

"...I’m not drinking tonight, but I’d better get the royal treatment after we win on Saturday."

and then what happened <3

wait jesus oh my god i really went hard on this huh

She only saw its result: the easy grin had given way to an expression so serious it was almost sweet.

LILY??????

and hey, remember when:

...because in chapter 26:

Dex’s measured opinions about the wizarding world seemed more the result of upbringing and inexperience than ill will, but Lily had not expected a radical change of heart.

...but then in 36:

He was right, damn it. And a part of her had known all along, had sought him out expressly so that he would say the opposite thing to her. He’d gone and proven her wrong. She broke the staring match first [...] “What brought on the change of heart?” “It’s a long story, and I expect it’ll have an unsatisfying end if I told it to you.” Lily scoffed, but James had on that maddening grin that meant he would not budge. “Oh, all right.” Softer, she added, “Thank you.” He began to back away, towards the bar. “It’s give and take, Evans.”

in conclusion, i never forget, besties

[hopevalley]

Season 8, Episode 1: Open Season

Work was busier than expected on Monday, but the deep dive into the first episode of S8 begins now!

Scene 1: Narration, Elizabeth and Nathan, Lucas

The awkwardness between Elizabeth and Nathan was...palpable at first lol.The best part about the non-narrated part of the scene is twofold: Nathan interacting with Jack is a well-needed and very nice touch, and of course it’s always nice to see that Nathan is patient concerning Elizabeth’s situation and reassures her that she can let him know when she’s ready to go to dinner with him.

My problem with the whole thing is that...if she hasn’t spoken up about wanting that dinner date yet, and she’s not saying yes she’d like to get dinner with you now, it’s like...any sane person would assume at this point in the story that Elizabeth isn’t interested in Nathan. Worse, Nathan isn’t the kind of man who wouldn’t take a hint. I’m pretty sure this is why the opening scene felt just a little bit off. I think they ought to have let Elizabeth be a little more enthusiastic about the idea while still failing to commit to it. 

To be fair to the writers, I can’t imagine it was easy for them to figure out how to open this season after such a long time gap. They let a whole winter elapse between last season and this one. How do you explain literally no major development with the love triangle in that amount of time? Especially after the way the last season ended?

Random consideration: the camera focuses on Elizabeth’s face a lot and makes her wedding ring clearly visible.

Boom, the flashback with Lucas. I think having him leave out of jealousy was a better idea than having his mother fall ill (we’ve certainly seen that enough at this point), and maybe we should also consider the fact that while Lucas was gone, Nathan didn’t really jump on the opportunity to woo Elizabeth himself.

I wonder if we’ll get an explanation for that or not. What makes Lucas so sure that after 4+ months, Elizabeth hasn’t started courting Nathan? Maybe he kept in touch with someone in town? Or he just knows Elizabeth well enough to know she wouldn’t feel quite ready to commit in that time frame anyway?

I did really like Lucas’s opening scene with Elizabeth. Honestly, he was quite likable, here: admitting he was wrong, admitting his shortcomings, apologizing. All good things. “I’m ashamed I let my jealousy get the best of me... The worst of me.” That’s such a good line.

It didn’t feel equal in enthusiasm to the Nathan scene, but I’ll have more thoughts on that later. I do believe it was on purpose.

--

Scene 2: Clara and Jesse’s Fight, The Café

I like the concept of some marital discord for Clara and Jesse. Marriage is easier said than done and like any serious relationship, it’s a lot of consistent maintenance. It starts out pretty well, with Jesse sleeping in the other bedroom. At this point I fully expected to find out Clara kicks in her sleep or she snores a lot or something that’s funny to hear about but really difficult to actually deal with in real life. Color me disappointed later, but I’ll get to it.

--

Scene 3: The Mercantile, Ned, Florence, Carson

This just set up things with Faith’s situation so there’s not much to say, but as always I do love Florence. I hope she gets some good scenes this season. And I love Ned so I hope the same for him.

Henry coming in to mail a letter was interesting, though. I’m not sure it’ll mean anything in particular later, but...it’s possible.  Then again, maybe he’s just here to set our expectations regarding Faith’s return (of course it’s a long trip from Chicago) or Carson’s worry (a bit unreasonable unless he expected to hear from her at a specific stop).

--

Scene 4: Nathan, Dylan

Dylan is such an incredible scumbag. The spurs were a nice touch. He says things almost fondly (“She’s growing up... My little girl.”) and then wants nothing to actually do with Allie. 

The guy’s actually a pretty good actor. The way he segues into being glad for Allie’s sake that Nathan wasn’t the one killed. If the next words out of his mouth weren’t a demand for go-away money you’d almost feel those words were genuine!

--

Scene 5: Lee and Rosemary’s Return + Faith’s Return + Dylan Part Two

Lots of energy in this scene, both good and bad. I always appreciate what Lee and Rosemary bring to the show. I genuinely just don’t care that much about Faith. I’m ready to ship her with Cowboy Brett Brewer. He gets a name, which makes me wonder if he’s gonna show up again. :3

Lol at Carson’s jelly face:

I MEAN...

Not a fan of Faith’s outfit...but to be fair we’ve never really seen Faith outside of uniform. That just doesn’t strike me as something she would wear to travel in...?

Dylan approaching Jack and Jack speaking to him was so hilarious to me. “A puppy!” It’s extra funny after he looked afraid of Rosemary. Nathan intervening was undoubtedly for the best, but I can’t imagine why he would have approached Elizabeth or Jack. He doesn’t know who they are, or their connection to Nathan. Maybe too convenient. Might have been better to have him approach someone else entirely--like Opal.

--

Scene 6: Nathan and Allie

It’s great Nathan’s officializing the adoption but he had literal years to do this and only chooses now, when there’s a threat? Legally Dylan doesn’t have a leg to stand on even in that day and age (he did the abandoning in the first place + Nathan is a lawman)... It kind of ruined the cute moment for me, and I think it will come back in a bad way later.

I don’t mind Nathan’s inability to confide in Elizabeth in this situation. At this point, she doesn’t need to know, and the situation is just weird enough that he probably doesn’t think he needs to dump his own problems on her.

--

Scene 7: Carson and Faith

I’m the jerk who just chanted “BREAK UP BREAK UP BREAK UP” during this scene in my head. I just...don’t care about Faith and Carson.

--

Scene 8: Bill and The Gals

I hate that they keep retconning Bill’s ability to cook well with every passing season. In season 2 and 3 he was more than satisfactory. In S4 he made dinner for Dottie and it was really nice. Now he’s godawful and doesn’t taste his own shit before letting other people try it? Come on.

This is the kind of stuff the writing team needs to cut out of the story. It’s not funny. 

Worse, outspoken Fiona lying to Bill? I just don’t see it. At least Molly told him the truth...but I still am just SO tired of seeing this shit. It makes me think new writers only watched the last couple of seasons instead of all of them.

Also, if Bill is literally running the cafe most of the time, if he was bad at cooking, then...the place would have shut down ages ago. What they should lean into if they wanna do a cooking joke is that Bill isn’t good at creating recipes from scratch. Maybe he doesn’t have a strong sense of taste (my husband has this issue so it’s the first thing that comes to mind) so he’s likely to over-do things like spice or sugar or salt on accident. There’s also a lot of room for jokes about his “taste” in things that can come of it (women, clothes, et cetera).

--

Scene 9: Lee’s Pants

Good scene, 10/10, wouldn’t change a thing. I hope this pants thing becomes a running gag. This is the good kind of humor I want in my life. And I like that Jesse wants to emulate Lee. It’s wholesome. 

--

Scene 10: Rosemary and Clara

The ribbon as a tissue was funny, but it was just SLIGHTLY too over the top for me.

--

Scene 11: Faith and Carson Again...............

“Were you jealous of that cowboy?” I think he should be. The cowboy is better. I don’t give a damn about these characters. And I genuinely hate that the strumming is Carson’s Thing Now. At the very least we should get some Carson and Bill doing a duet together which would be cool.

It just felt like it was shilling Paul and had nothing to do with the characters.

--

Scene 12: Mmm Money

This is arguably the most interesting scene in the episode. Lucas nodded at Nathan. Nathan went to Lucas for money. Lucas didn’t need to get the scoop to find out why Nathan needed it to loan it to him. Elizabeth is officially the least interesting part of the love triangle.

They treat her like she’s such a prize to be won, but I’m starting to worry that she’s become the new Lorigail on the show.

Anyway this scene had some gay vibes and I liked them.

--

Scene 13: Rosemary and Elizabeth Catch Up

YES. GOOD SCENE. It starts off fun and it gets serious, and the transition feels really natural. “Did he have reason to be [jealous]?” I’m genuinely glad this is in the episode. It needed to be. I hope Rosemary continues to ask the hard questions.

Elizabeth needs to face either dating one of them, or dating neither of them so that everybody can get on with their lives. If you’re not that enthusiastic about either of them I’d say...maybe don’t date either of them idk.

--

Scene 14: Nathan and Bill Talk

"If he sees you with me, then...” The problem with this scene is uh...twofold, let’s say.

Issue 1: ThEN HE WILL WHAT, NATHAN? WHAT HAS HE EVER DONE BEFORE THAT WAS SO BAD if he’s not a hard criminal? Maybe an example would be useful here...?

Issue 2: The old Bill Avery would have heard “if he SEES YOU with ME” and mentally been like, “all right so it’s only bad if he SEES ME” and spied on Nathan.

Nathan wanting Bill to stay behind in case Dylan doubles back isn’t a terrible idea, but it almost comes across more like...the writers just want Nathan alone.

--

Scene 15: Oil

I like the discussion and that Hickam gets to do something. I feel like Henry is low-key advising against shooting the well, and that Lucas and Hickam will end up doing it and causing an issue. It’s just setting up for the future and it’s nice to see those kinds of scenes in the series again!

--

Scene 16: Jesse and Lee

I’d like this scene more if I felt it gave us ANY insight into the problem Jesse and Clara are having. It mostly comes across like Jesse gets home and does nothing at all until bedtime and Clara is lonely. Could have been a better scene. It’s mostly just repetitive right now.

--

Scene 17: Nathan Cancels the Date

“Tomorrow’s Saturday.” Nathan’s like uhhhhh. This actually works really well to do what it’s supposed to do. By that I mean, he seems “off” so Elizabeth realizes he’s a bit stressed and leaving town = mountie business = dangerous.

I kind of wish Rosemary and Elizabeth would talk more about this, but maybe that’s coming in an episode soon...?

--

Scene 18: The Barbershop

Just a cute nice scene that shows a good friendship between Fiona, Clara, and Faith. I like this stuff. Keep it coming, Hallmark!

--

(Skipping Scene 19 because it’s just Nathan riding around...)

--

Scene 20: Lee and Rosemary Scheme

I really enjoyed this little bit where they decide to buy something for Clara and Jesse and we don’t get to see what it is. Super wholesome and very fun!

--

Scene 21: Nathan gets Ambushed

This scene was absolutely wild. Probably one of the best scenes like this that they’ve ever done. Dylan taking Nathan’s hat, “Take care of my little girl” after he takes the money and Nathan’s gun. It was super good.

Also, not too fake that Nathan was on the ground that long. If you got roped off of your horse you’d have the wind knocked out of you super hard lmao.

--

Scene 22: Bill & The Girls

Clara and Fiona are so cute. Bill playing the “Dad” figure to them both is really nice and it’s good for him. “I’m a lawman. I get to sneak.” What a Bill response. 

--

(Skipping Scene 23 since it’s just Nathan finding his horse.)

--

Scene 24: Lucas visits with Elizabeth

Lucas and Elizabeth are flirting via a nursery rhyme. I...don’t like that LOL. But Lucas’s “Helen Bouchard taught me to read and after that I was on my own.” She really sounds unloving. This was a pretty decent scene, though.

Also, Grand Isle Louisiana had a major hurricane in 1909 and 1915.

They also seem to have been hit by more mild hurricanes in 1916 and 1917, but the 1915 one was a Cat4, so...the most notable.

--

Scene 25: Rosemary and Lee in the Dress Shop

This tries to solve the issue of Clara and Jesse’s marital problems, but it doesn’t actually do that. “Let Jesse read when he gets home.” “I’ll talk to Jesse.” Meh.

--

Scene 26: Barbershop

“Why do this when you’re so good with women’s hair?” I fully expected Fiona to say, “That’s where all the hot gossip is, of course.” I do like  her gumption, though!

--

Scene 27: Nathan Finds Dylan

“I had to let you ambush me, so I had grounds to put you away.” COLD BUT EFFECTIVE. I appreciate this.

Imagine getting to be this smug. I wish it were me.

Anyway, long-term thoughts on this are mostly that...there is just no reasonable way Dylan’s story is over yet. It’s too juicy of a storyline to let go this easily. Allie is going to find out what Nathan did and she’s going to struggle to come to terms with it, especially after her grandfather really did try to turn his life around. Why couldn’t it be the same for her father? Why couldn’t she get lucky like that?

I hope it feels satisfying, whatever they choose to do. Otherwise this was just wrapped up too neatly/too quickly.

--

Scene 28: Nathan Returns

Very good scene. Nathan’s in a good mood and he does my favorite trope of all time when one person in the relationship has a child: “Why don’t we all go?” You already all know each other, so why not? It’s wholesome and good, and it shows he doesn’t care how he gets to spend time with Elizabeth, as long as he does.

Also, it takes a lot of the pressure off of her for the duration of the date and at its conclusion. This was a cute and good scene, one of the better they’ve had, I think.

--

Scene 29: Jesse and Lee Talk

This was a nice attempt at a talk, but it really comes off like Jesse has stopped loving Clara for no reason. That his romantic interest in her is what is causing the failure in their relationship.

The problem is: WE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS CAUSING IT. NOBODY EVER SAID. 

I agree that love isn’t “just” a feeling or “just” an emotion. It’s ALSO a choice. Marriage is a commitment you choose to continue every day. That is all good.

“Choose love. Then you feel it.” is probably some of the worst dialogue they’ve put in the show, though. Yuck. It left a bad taste in my mouth. It feels like it’s shaming people who legitimately fall out of love or who are in bad relationships. “If only you chose to work harder.”

I don’t think that was their intention at all, but it really soured the scene. I would have MUCH rather have had Lee get Jesse to talk about what’s wrong and then offer him pointers on how he could do better. Maybe he’s stressed out and losing himself in books, or he wishes Clara would sit and read with him because that’s something he always wanted. Or maybe Clara would be down for reading time if he read to her while she did her sewing.

There’s so much they could have done here to really send this home, but it didn’t work very well. At the very least Lee could have said, instead of ‘choose love’: CHOOSE COMMUNICATION. Make sure she knows you still feel that way about her.

The biggest thing is like, Lee could also be very encouraging in saying like, the honeymoon phase doesn’t last forever but just because things settle down doesn’t mean the love is less.

THERE IS SO MUCH GOOD STUFF THEY COULD HAVE WRITTEN FOR THIS but they chose “Choose love. Then you feel it.” WTF. That’s awful advice.

--

Scene 30: Jesse and Clara

Him bringing her flowers was a nice touch, and her getting him the book was also nice. The tandem bike was SO unexpected to me and I loved it. It’s just goofy enough that it works. The best part is that they know it’s not going to fix anything, but it’s still a fun and nice thing to do, and that’s wonderful for Rosemary and Lee. They both like to make the people they care about happy.

--

Scene 31: Mama Bouchard

MILF ALERT.

Elizabeth is just so shook at all of this she doesn’t say a damn thing for so long it made my palms feel sweaty.

“Someone ought to take an interest in your writing, don’t you think?” I rewatched the episode to understand the tone, and it’s a little hoity-toity/uppity, but she actually doesn’t sound condescending. It’s good for an editor to meet the author, after all, and meet to talk about their writing/book. This has always been custom, even in the early 1900s. Authors didn’t usually get their work published by an editor they’d never met (though of course, you will find some exceptions). 

From the little we saw, Helen seems fine. The preview for the next episode tells us she’s UH, AN EDITOR DOING HER JOB, so I’m not looking forward to the editor being the bad guy, but I guess I’ll have to deal with that when it arrives. (To be clear, Elizabeth has never proved to the audience that she’s a Good Writer, let alone a Great Writer. She’s also not experienced which means her work probably NEEDS SOME WORK.)

Anyway, Elizabeth is immediately rude as HELL. Nobody can make an excuse for this. Helen isn’t THAT big of a deal. There are other publishers. Your father is filthy rich. If she changes her mind about your book you can pub to someone via your father if you have to. Like...Helen wouldn’t have taken you on if she didn’t see any potential in you. 

Even if it was a big deal, Elizabeth has NEVER been a flake. EVER. 

This is a classic case of a writer forcing the character to go out of character in order to bend to what the plot dictates. 

If I were Nathan, I’d drop Elizabeth like a brick.

How to fix this scene? I’ll honestly have to think about that for a while. This was the first hint of truly bad writing this season. The bit with Lee and “choose love” was careless writing, but this scene with Nathan is just Bad.

The thing is, I KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. I know they put this in there so that it looks like she’ll choose Lucas because she never even goes out with Nathan, and then BOOM. I know it’s meant to be this big thing about how she’s scared to feel anything for Nathan because Lucas is the safer option and also a good man (so why would she fall for the more frightening option?).

But this was not the right way to do this type of scene. I hope to God in the next episode someone says something about it. Allie could tell her it was rude and it hurt Nathan’s feelings/you shouldn’t have said yes if you didn’t want to. It’d be fully in character for her. Rosemary could also say something similar. If they do, I might be able to forgive this...but if it’s not called attention to by the other characters, then it’s a massive failure as a scene to me.

--

Did I miss anything? Do you want my thoughts on something in particular? Shoot me a message HERE and I’ll do my best to answer! 

[victorie552onepiecespeedrun]

Reading One Piece pt 189: *Blasts Benny Hill Theme At Full Volume*

Chapter 436

Thoughts:

- Fpos/cs: “Junior Lieutenant Spacey regrets running away from the enemy” aww, this is horrible! They have war on the moon! (I look at that tiny guy and feel what I believe Chopper was designated to cause in readers)

- “Guys, you’re all prepared to deal with that matter about Usopp, right!?” is that Zoro asking? Probably. And I’m not sure they’re prepared. But they should at least know how they feel I guess?

- Lol at Sanji, he still can’t deal with his bounty poster :D

- askhgjsfdkhsjk his face

- lol

- ah, they explained Nami’s poster. She thought she was posing for the town’s magazine but she got tricked

- yeah, Chopper got the worst deal out of it for sure. Being named a pet AND being worth 50 Beri!? Is that even a dollar

- (give me a second)

- (Guys. Google tells me 50 yen(JPY) is worth 0,48 dollar(USD). It’s not even HALF A DOLLAR, I’M SO SORRY CHOPPER)

- Ok, Straw Hats are leaving their house for good. Let’s see their new ship

- Oh look, marine headquarters. WHICH marine headquarters, I kind of would like to know. Where are they? At what island? What if someone would want to draw a map or make a fanfic about marines life (ok, I’m just causing problems on purpose, nevermind)

- LOL, they don’t have Sanji’s photo cause they forgot to take off the lens cap :D

- With Galley-ga guys! SHOW US THE SHIP!

- Luffy: GIVE US THE SHIP!

(aww, it’s exactly how he made Kaya give them Merry! That’s so sweet and hilarious)

- SHOW US SHOW US SHOW US

- YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

- IT’S SO BIG!

- “twice as big as Merry”!!!

- “Show me the kitchen! Kitchen!” I think Sanji loves the new ship the most at the moment :D Show the man his kitchen, team

- The head is a lion!

- Lawned deck! Do you understand? THEY HAVE GRASS ON THEIR SHIP

- They also have trees. Maybe even not Nami’s orange trees :D

- Nami is happy about sails :)

- Chopper found a slider. That ship has everything

- “A fridge with a lock!!!! Thank you Franky!!!” Sanji’s dreams just came true. This is great

- Oh look, Franky isn’t here

- Franky wants to sail with them but… doesn’t want to sail with them?

- Nevermind it’s all nonsense anyway. Stop saying stupid things and get on the ship Franky. When you’ll show up, that is

- “Just take him by force” “By force!? Can we really!?” Luffy sounds pretty excited about that if you ask me

- On Franky’s House, Frankies, to Franky: Bro, the f*ck you doing here

  Franky: Chilling

- They will throw him out of his own house, lol

- Frankies: GET THE HECK OUT OF HERE

  Frankies: WE GOT YOUR PANTS

  (…what)

- What

- What is happening

- …ok then

- Franky’s yelling about their ship cool features while running naked through the city. Ok

- That’s not what I pictured but it was folly of me to expect normal recruitment and departure from a Straw Hat. Silly me :D

- IS CANNON??? REALLY NECESSARY???

- *wheezes* WHAT IS HAPPENING

- “This is a great ship” “it sure is”

- “BE OUR NAKAMA!”

Come on, Franky! Don’t be a tsundere and say yes!!!    

rOP 188  rOP 190

[toooldforfandom-liveblogs]

She-Ra and the Princesses of Power S01E10 - The Beacon

My first thought after reading that title is "oh, the distress beacon Entrapta had in her castle." Maybe that's how they are going to find out she's alive? If it's even something that'll be dealt with this season. If it isn't that... hmm, I'm not sure what else it could be. Maybe something related to Glimmer's blocked powers? Or something related to She-Ra's powers?

I have no idea so let's do this!

I'm not sure what to think here. While in a practical sense she's right (why group the most important/powerful people in the world in one strike team instead of y'know using actual warfare and soldiers as a distraction), I doubt the show agrees with her.

I'm guessing there's some context that I'm missing, maybe whatever happened to the previous Princess Alliance was in part because they were together?

Well, this is a cheery way to start the episode.

Welp, everything they achieved during the season has been completely destroyed. I doubt Glimmer and Adora are going to blame each other but there's definitely going to be some self-blaming. Adora because of her plan, Glimmer for being captured.

Oof. Just oof.

lol at the mood whiplash between heavy emotions and defeat and this op

Ah, a precious new glimmer face that doesn't involve torture.

"nevermind, please carry me and let's not talk until next year"

That hesitance before saying loss is them reading through their Netflix contract figuring out if they can say death or not.

It's weird how they are both treating Entrapta's loss as serious business but also kinda lightly? I guess it makes sense if we consider no one really knew Entrapta so she's more like a long lost cousin than anything else. I'd still expect more... insistence from Angella though, Entrapta _did_ die saving her daughter.

Sure.

This is another one of those cases where I'm both thinking "this is really dumb" but also "it makes a ton of sense." From outside, this is the worst possible decision Glimmer could make right now, Angella has a lot more resources than they have to help her.

But, I completely understand _why_ Glimmer is being like that. It's one more excuse for her mom to keep overprotecting her and trying to escape that has been Glimmer's major motivation this season.

I have the feeling that recharging is going to make it worse since it means more energy to glitch out.

Can't believe Undyne Undertale works for the horde.

secret giggling Catra in the back

I'm glad that they went this way, with the flip-side of "takes all your credit" being "takes all the blame"

heeello there entrapta. Wow your death didn't last much at all.

nice callback to "Didn't you do something like this to relax in the horde?" "Uh, no. We hit things."

This is probably the one way Adora has to manage her stress.

welp

Can't believe this show is going to make me feel bad about angella.

Scorpia is an absolute treasure.

And now Catra meeting Entrapta in the Princess Ball has a reason. Because she already knows who she is, her first reaction is not to try and attack her but rather just a sigh because well, dealing with entrapta is worth a sigh.

Huh, that's an interesting tidbit to drop just like that. So Angella is immortal, is _Glimmer_ immortal too? How long has Angella lived? Long enough to have met the first ones?

Adora really needs to visit a therapist.

...ripe? What are they?

I bet this episode was the one reason they had to make it so high.

Of course she'd say that, it's a chance to see She-Ra in action _and_ to get healed. Win-win.

My brain is breaking while trying to figure out how Entrapta's hair works. Wouldn't making that second "tentacle" be enough to make the hair thin enough to escape? If she can make that second tentacle wouldn't it be incredibly easy to just move all her hair out of the shackles?

It's always refreshing to see "villains" that actually care for each other.

Catra is really good at manipulating people, probably thanks to Shadow Weaver's example, but the way she's using her own experiences makes it even better/worse.

Also interesting that they are hiding Entrapta's face.

The thing with Catra is that I can't tell when she's being honest. I _think_ she's genuinely sympathizing with Entrapta while at the same time planning how to use her. Like with Scorpia, she empathized with her but she also had a reason to do it. I wonder if that duality is going to cause her problems later on.

oh no, you're making me feel bad about Entrapta now.

my heart

I'm still thinking about that one picture with her and some robots that seemed to be taking the place of her parents. How many times has she been "left behind"?

Catra thinks she's being all evil and manipulative while Scorpia in the back is just going "yeah, that sounds right, worked for me"

I doubt Catra _wants_ to be protected but Scorpia is _such_ a good friend.

For some reason I don't really mind Entrapta joining the horde, I'm just hoping that they don't take advantage of her. That sounds weird but Scorpia _is_ happy there, why not Entrapta? There's always time for a heel-face turn later on.

She-Ra being a dork with super powers is one of the best parts of her entire character.

Can't wait to see Glimmer turned into a rainbow.

I'm never going to get sick of this joke.

Interesting. So the Horde doesn't know about the first ones? That seems wrong. I'm guessing they are actively blocking info about it and they actually want to destroy it.

Oh, the tower. With three episodes left maybe the finale is going to be there?

Yeah, I love this joke.

Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh. Even if it's true, that still gets an "ugh" from me, especially after that "I won't apologize" line.

Wait, what? Protect Bow? Oooooh, is Bow supposed to be her bodyguard?

I didn't expect the self-blame party to include Bow.

What with princesses liking arson. First RWBY and now She-Ra.

She's trying so hard to reconnect. I'm not a parent myself (thankfully) but I think everyone can at least understand the struggle to understand and connect with someone who seems to be pulling away.

Glimmer has some valid reasons to be doing it (teenager + being overprotected is a pretty bad combination) but I can't fault Angella too much for trying to do everything she can.

Of course, like most problems, it could get solved by talking, maybe this dinner is a chance?

Oof.

Wow.

I knew Glimmer had some issues with her self-esteem but damn, I didn't expect _this_. I guess this is the disadvantage of having an immortal parent who's also a queen. High expectations to live up to, self-imposed or not.

Daaaaaaaamn. Was it in battle or did Micah die rescuing her? It'd be an interesting parallel to Glimmer's kidnapping.

And, I hadn't really thought about this but, Micah being dead is a pretty good reason for Angella's "helicopter mom" tendencies.

Oooooooh, that's worse than I thought. And it explains why she's been mostly reactive in the war with Glimmer being the one who wants to take a more active role.

I'm still curious about what exactly happened in that battle and afterward. Have we heard how long was the first alliance? I can't remember, but it has to be less than 20 years ago considering Glimmer's age (unless she's also immortal and 300 years old)

Are Netossa and Spinerella also immortal? That'd explain why they look the same in the mural.

Aw, that got me teary-eyed a bit. It's probably not the end of their problems but they've at least started talking.

Lots of guilt all around

I was going to say "WHY DID YOU THROW AWAY THE SWORD" but there it is.

Vulnerability seems to be the theme of this episode. Or rather, choosing to be vulnerable or not.

The alliance is gone, Entrapta’s death is too much to bear and the princesses choose to all return to their own respective kingdoms, literally closing themselves off the world in the case of Frosta and Mermista.

We don’t see what happens with them afterward but everything that follows is about how that seems to be the worst choice to make.

Entrapta decides to help Catra not because she’s evil or wants revenge but because she finally feels understood. Would she have turned so easily if she _really_ believed in her new friends? How long has she lived alone in that castle? How many times has she been left behind or branded a problem because of her behavior? Sure, she usually acts like she doesn‘t care but that doesn‘t mean it‘s true.

Catra’s intentions are definitely not pure but she’s speaking from her own experiences and that’s enough to make the princess relate to her.

The opposite happens with Shadow Weaver. She refuses to be vulnerable and apologize, choosing to feed Catra a line with how it was all to prepare her. All this achieves is to alienate her further.

On the other side of the war, Glimmer spends the entire episode trying to avoid her mom, but it’s only after her insecurities explode and Angella opens up with her own that they can start mending their relationship and fix Glimmer’s glitching.

Adora is the clearest example, it takes dropping her defenses and revealing her self-doubt to herself and the world before the forest lets her through to the Beacon.

The best thing about all of this is that the episode didn’t beat me over the head with the “moral” of the episode. Besides Perfuma’s words, it’s all in how the characters act and the consequences. It has faith in the viewer to get it and that’s pretty neat.

Some jumbled thoughts:

* I’m not a big fan of diagnosing characters of real-life stuff but I wonder if Entrapta was written to be neurodivergent on purpose instead of just being an excuse to make her funny/frustrating.

* Bow seems to be the only one handling things more or less okay (even before they talk things out) but who knows, maybe he’s bottling it all up to explode in the future.

* I’m trying to guess what will happen next. They have to heal Glimmer and fix up the Alliance but neither of those things seems finale worthy. Maybe Angella is going to attack the Horde? There’s also the question of what’s going to happen with Adora and Catra, maybe another vision revealing more of what it all means?

* How long before the Princesses find out that Entrapta is alive? It’s probably going to be pretty sad, twice. First, when they find out they abandoned her in enemy territory and second when they realize she doesn’t want to go back with them.

I think that’s all for now, until next time!

[jinxofthedesert]

Hi there! Annoying anon that loves rambling about the Valeska twins is here again 🤣 Let the discussion continue! 😂 Yeah, I totally get your point of writing such stories as a means of fulfilling wishes. I guess it makes sense from the writer's pov that they want to give these characters a different (better) treatment. Valid point, but still, they don't feel real to me.

(Below this is the rest of the messages, put together. Farther down, below the line, are my responses)

It's like I'm reading a story with a character that's called Jerome/Jeremiah Valeska and looks exactly like him, but it's not truly him (just like you said, at their cores they are bad guys). But it's perfectly understandable and all right that people want to give them a rest from their chaotic lives haha 😊 everybody’s got their cup of tea ☕

Damn, yes, these stories are so hard to find! I imagine that writing something of the sort and investing so much in such complex characters can be draining and daunting, so yeah I get the reason why there are not so many fics out there... and OCs are so difficult to write haha you are right. They take too much time and effort 🤣

Yeah, I guess Ecco was not the best example. It's very true what you say about Jeremiah's and Ecco's relationship. In the show it was portrayed as a professional one. So we don't really know if there's anything else beyond that, save for some level of concern. So I guess I should have gone with Bruce instead because, just like you said, Jeremiah went totally bonkers when he realized that Bruce was the only one who saw past his resemblance to Jerome.

Basically, what I was trying to say is that in these fics there's not really that same vibe of evil obsession and lunacy from the twin's side. Maybe just some sort of heightened jealousy when their partner is addressed by other characters, but not in a really "Valeska" way. In fact, it is also strange when Bruce is completely absent in these stories when the twins' obsession revolves around him.

Yeah, there is sooo much to explore, so that is why I am very curious to see how people construe their backgrounds, but usually it's just the repetition of the show with some added scenes and dialogues here and there 😅 I would love to see something a bit different, but well, I guess I am being very demanding 🤣 Don't worry about it and thanks so much for replying! 😘 I am now doing some research in different sites 🤣

It's a bit weird because even though I enjoyed the show, I have to say I merely watched it to see ma broski boys in action 🤣 so If I wasn't so lazy (and didn't have other unfinished projects) I would try to write something (my mind is already full of vague ideas OMGGG 😏🤔😂), but I don't really know much about other characters or subplots, so I would not be sure how to tackle it 🤔 Thanks again for the lovely discussion! 😊

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

Hi anon! Don’t you worry about your rambles, they’re not at all annoying! I find it rather fun to discuss the twins. 

I’m sorry you’ve not been able to find the content you’re looking for; usually, I always run into comments on Tumblr or Pinterest about how you look for certain fics and when you can’t find them, then it’s time to try a hand at writing it yourself. I’ve done that and, even though I enjoy writing, it’s still pretty hard, especially to find a drive to do it when I really am not feeling it.  With the twins not feeling real, I understand, ‘course I now think I’m at the point where I might read anything if I’m gifted with more content lol (though there are some tags that, if I see them, I don’t touch if I can help it). 

I think, usually, with most writers, it’s easier to take a character like Jerome/Jeremiah and, instead of doing the tremendous work that comes with trying (emphasis trying) to change them, they do a few things and that’s enough for a road to recovery. Because, most of the time, they’re not writing to change the character, or even to make it realistic; sometimes they’re just writing, or they wanted to try a different aspect. There can be so many reasons and sometimes digging deep and getting a character 100% correct isn’t at the top of the list of what you want in that story. Personally, I’ve learned to broaden my sense of disbelief with characters and just enjoy what I manage to find, especially since the Gotham fic-oriented content is sooooo small 😢

After reading your last message, I actually went onto Ao3 and searched ‘character studies’ under the characters and yeah, there’s not much, I read a few and I honestly wasn’t sure what to think (not to call anyone out). It reminded me a lot of my years reading batjokes on fanfiction or, again, Ao3 where, if you search long enough, there’s a fic for almost all your needs. There have been some good gems in there that delve into character studies and helping these characters try and become better. Comparing that to Gotham’s arrangement of fics is sad, to say the least, but batjokes in all media have a lottttt of years to have such a collection of wonderful content. (Even if you’re only a Gotham fan, stretching out into the actual Batman fandom can be very rewarding, even if your next step is into the Nolan movies or even Batman in general cause you can replace the characters in your head if you really want too)  I think one big problem with Oc’s is that, in a way, they’re easy to make, but in the worst way. You can create a character to put in the place you want, a blank space and they’re just nothing. This comes up a lot in anime type works, where the main character is so blah for the purpose of the audience (reader in our other case) to put themselves in the place of the main character. This also happens in a lot of movies as well, instead of fleshing the character out and allowing them to move and breathe the way THEY would and not how the audience thinks they themselves would. Because of this, oc’s can be very flat. There are the exception, of course although I have no examples since I don’t remember the last Oc story I read . . .  *wracks brain* yeah no idea. Though I’m sure it’s somewhere in my saves.

Even if one doesn’t ship Jeremiah with Bruce, it���s very difficult to ignore/brush under the rug that there was definitely an obsession and that originally, during their weeks of spending time together, building the generator, there started a friendship. The first is very obvious, show-wise (and friendship kinda came with the territory) and the gay subtext can be there if you look at it that way. As much as an interesting character Ecco is, she’s both not important enough in the show (sorry Ecco lovers) or to Jeremiah or to anyone for that matter. While with Bruce and Jeremiah, with how their first meeting go’s and all the meetings that follow after (very willingly on Jeremiah’s part even though I’m sure before this NO ONE was allowed in the inner parts of his bunker for long periods. Probably not even Ecco) the relationship is much more pronounced than anything we’re given prior.  I like to think that even though Bruce was manipulating Jeremiah when they first met, he actually did see him as his own person. Even though he, like Jim and Harvey, have personally bore witness to Jerome’s tyranny. (And that only twists the knife harder when Jeremiah eventually loses his mind because both him and Jeremiah saw him as his own person and in a way Jeremiah doesn’t become like Jerome, he becomes worse)

One could argue that since we didn’t see a ‘true’ way the Valeska’s love that any type of them showing affection might never seem very Valeska. Unless one looks at their reactions and interactions with Bruce as something more than just ‘wanting to kill him’ or ‘obsession’. This would be another reason I’m don’t read much in the oc-area or out of the romantic’s lol mainly because the moment they take Bruce out of the picture, everything seems off. Jerome, while willing to divide his attention, only does it with specific people, who are: Jim, Bruce, Jeremiah, and, on occasion, Oswald (though he’s much less in comparison to the ‘big three’). Other then them, we don’t see him hyper-focus on anyone else in the show, and if he does, it’s for a second and to simply kill them after. If these three aren’t integral to his behavior and actions then things feel flat and out-right ignoring his obsession with Bruce and his inner darkness can be unrealistic. With Jeremiah, this is much worse because in canon, once No Man’s Land starts, all he can think about is Bruce. Everything he does in that setting and before this even started was for Bruce. This type of obsession is . . . well, something that can’t simply be ignored, it’s a big part of his character and also very integral to just who he is after the spray. It may not be as bad at the start of the spray (because he’s too busy rebuilding Gotham in his image) but literally second to that desire is his connection with Bruce. If there were a summary of Jeremiah as a character it would be IMPOSSIBLE to write it without Bruce (same with Jerome though his might be a footnote, depending). So him suddenly focusing on someone else is . . . odd (even with Jim he doesn’t give his full attention too and, in the finale, Jeremiah only starts moving around and doing shit when he realizes that Bruce has come home early and that it’s time to finally come back to the spotlight). Especially since he’s supposed to be the ‘Joker’ in the Gotham world, which, technically speaking, means this obsession with the Bat (a.k.a Bruce) will only ever get worse from here (not to mention the fact he knows Batman is Bruce because he remembers the prophecy Ra’s told him, which we’re shown in the finale when he first sees the Bat and comment’s ‘you’ in a knowing way; this can be argued he’s just recognizing that this is what the prophecy was talking about or that it’s Bruce but personally I think both cause the prophecy was about both of them.).

It’s hard not to repeat things in canon though, believe me, I know and if you ever try writing a time travel story, it’s much worse cause then you have to change literally everything if you’re doing it that way.  Nah, you know what you like; the only problem with that is it’ll be hard to find it most of the time. I wish you luck in searching! Hopefully, you’ll find something.

Same. My older brother introduced me to the show and his way of doing so was first telling me it was a batman show, that I would LOVE Oswald’s aesthetic and that there was a Joker-type character just introduced. I was sold lol. There’s been a lot of drama with the show though, concerning the twins and I honestly wish they’d just stuck with Jerome or if they did still use Jeremiah that he wasn't just . . . a backup plan for killing Jerome off. And, if they’d been allowed to go on for a few more seasons, I wouldn’t have been surprised if they would have also killed Jeremiah and a third (never heard of) Valeska twin (triplet) would show up, playing into the overall Joker lore about there having been three. 😒🤨😑 Which I find humorous because they did so well with Jerome, he was a well-rounded, fleshed out character and, as much as I love Jeremiah, it’s hard not to consider what we could have gotten if Jerome had lived *wistful sigh* I won’t lie that the drama hasn’t affected how I watch it too these days, or at least left me with a lasting impression.  I was very invested in the first few seasons, it was a good show, minus the plot-holes and annoying characters (yes, some annoy me and there are some I can’t stand) but when the twins were on screen, it was probably the show at its best. If they had implicated them more so into the main story I probably would have watched all the way to the end (I can admit, I’ve never seen season five, but I saw many clips, have been completely spoiled and DID watch the finale lol and . . . I think I saw some of season four? Maybe, not sure anymore.) because when they’re also interacting with Bruce, perfection. I could watch that shit for days. 

Also, if you did write it, it wouldn’t have to be about other characters if you don’t want it to be. You’re talking to me, who has never seen the last few seasons and when I wrote my first fic ‘Blindly Evident’ literally all my scenes I had to LOOK UP because I only knew the base of what the scene was even about lol. So sometimes, you can totally bullshit your way lol and somehow it turns out to be really good and you like it. Or it’s just snippets of small scenes with your characters (I’ve been writing a fic like that for awhile because it’s fun and easy and yet you can make it so thought provoking because these snippets are so smallll.) I would implore you to give it a go. Even if you have no idea what the other characters are doing or even what their names are. 

I feel like this has just become me rambling about Gotham and writing tips at this point lol but you’re welcome~ I am here to try and help and always willing to listen about Gotham and talk (or rant, I’m not picky lol). Thanks again for your ask, anon! Hope you find that content you’re looking for 🥰🧡💛

[evakuality]

Druck: my complicated feelings

First, I really do have to preface this by saying I haven’t watched much of this season.  Watching s4 of the original in real time was probably one of the hardest experiences I’ve had in fandom.  It was so good and so promising and then ... well, we all know what happened.  So after watching episode one of Amira’s season, and wary that it could all happen again, I made the decision to back off.  The plan was to watch the entire season when it was over so long as it had gone well.  That means that I know what happened because I still follow blogs and see gifsets, and I sometimes go into the tag because I needed to know if it was going badly.  But I’m insulated in some ways because I didn’t have to see this happen ‘in real time’ so to speak.

I’ve seen so many different reactions to this week’s episode and, as with everything, they’re all valid because they’re all people’s valid personal feelings.  Still, I’d like to give my perspective as something of an outsider but one who has been following along.  So under the break (because as usual I can’t be concise), are my thoughts on this whole business and why what I feel is complicated.

So, the way I see it, there were several complaints about Sana’s original season.  

1.  She wasn’t the focus of her own season, constantly overshadowed by other characters’ drama, particularly Noora and whatever was going on with William.

This one, I think Druck did a pretty good job of addressing in the bits of the season that were Amira’s (we’ll get to the other part of that when we get to another complaint).  Mia was gone and the bits we saw with her were all in support of Amira and Amira’s plot.  That plot was organic and built fairly well, from what I could tell.

2.  Other characters’ drama was used to exploit emotion in a way that was insulting to the groups represented (eg Even and his backstory)

This one, again, was dealt with well.  That whole side plot disappeared and Mohammed’s reasons for losing his religion were based in more personal things.  It stopped the weird ‘why did Even’s story affect Yousef that much?’ stuff and made Mohammed a seemingly more rounded character (lol, says me, who hasn’t actually watched it) with an interesting backstory of his own.

3.  The love triangle was nonsensical and didn’t really serve any purpose except to make Sana jealous and push her into some very bad behaviour.

Again, dealt with well.  This whole plot again dropped away pretty quickly, and the confusions of her relationship with Mohammed were things that came from their own merits.  It was Amira and her own hangups that caused the issues and the distance.  

4.  Sana’s world was quite narrow.  The only Muslim people she really interacted with were either family or related to their friends.  She didn’t seem to have a friend group of her own.

Spectacularly destroyed.  We see (or hear about) various different people from Amira’s circle all in various stages of life and all with different takes on what it means to be Muslim.  This helped shape both Amira and her story and how she felt, and also gave a lot more nuance to Mohammed and how or why he might have come to the feelings he did about religion.  It showed a complex, diverse group of people and gave Amira’s story complexity and interest.

5.  In order to really hammer home Sana’s feelings of isolation, the development of the girls was regressed so they could be ignorant, particularly Vilde.

This was mostly also dealt with well.  The weird bit with Kiki seemed a bit off (and it may be because I didn’t watch but it seemed the resolution to that was ... also strange), but mostly the girls were pretty good and the friendship they’d built wasn’t sacrificed for pathos and drama.  The biggest problem here is that some of the girls were sidelined in favour of others.  But overall, pretty good.

So far, so good, right?  It all looks pretty cool.  Not perfect, but doing quite well.  So why did I call this ‘my complicated feelings’?  Well, the big problem is that there was other stuff that added some problems or made others worse.  So let’s look at those now.

1. Mia gets an entire episode to herself in a season that should be about Amira and worse, this pushes the ‘Sana only got 9 episodes!’ complaint to ‘Amira only got 7!!!!!’

So, okay.  Druck did a good job of focusing on Amira during those seven episodes, and that’s great.  It really is.  But the problem here is that because they dropped some of the plots (thankfully the stupid love triangle thing but also the bus and cyberbullying things) they were left with less material to work with.  Instead of actually filling that with things relevant to Amira (more discussion of Mohammed and his home, some more development of helping Amira reconcile her Muslim side with her German side, better preparation for her tript o Australia and all that means for her), they chose to return to a main from a previous season with clips that were almost entirely unnecessary.  Amira’s story got told in messages and Mia’s (which could and should have been in messages) was told in clips.  It’s a baffling decision ad it’s no wonder people are unhappy about it.

Some uncharitable parts of me wonder whether writers just have no idea how to write a romance after they ‘get together’ if they can’t show a physical relationship.  Both Sana and Amira’s stories were cut off once they got their man.  Yousef was sent away so it didn’t have to be dealt with, and with Amira we get this strange shift into Mia’s PoV.

2.  Depending on how many episodes there are left and how they are split we get either some mains with far fewer (and shorter!!!) episodes, or we get mains that aren’t Amira get fully fleshed out ‘goodbye’ episodes when she doesn’t.  

So either Mia gets 11 episodes and the final one is split 3 ways between Hanna, Matteo and Amira (so they get 10 1/3, 10 1/3 and 7 1/3 respectively), or Amira gets the final episode which still means 11 for Mia, 10 for Hanna and Matteo and 8 for Amira - still vastly different and still a problem.  OR, probably worst of all, there are two left and Hanna and Matteo get them and so they all get 11 and Amira gets 7 (or potentially one of them gets one and Amira gets one and the numbers are still completely out of whack).  The biggest complaint about Sana’s season was that it was Noora 2.0.  And while Druck did a good job of avoiding that in the seven episodes that Amira got, this is still a huge problem.  No matter what they do, they can’t balance this out in any way that doesn’t make Mia ‘the’ character of Druck in the same way that Noora was ‘the’ character of Skam (or at least in a way that doesn’t make it obvious that Amira is the ‘lesser’ main in her own season!!!!!).  And either we get a ‘goodbye’ to the other characters as well and thus make the inequity between the numbers worse, or we don’t and Mia is the total focus.

For the record, for those who are all ‘no-one would complain if this was Matteo or Hanna’ - this is why it’s worse that it’s Mia.  Noora was the problem in Sana’s season, so for this to be Mia rather than one of the other two ... it’s salt in the wound of the seven episodes.

3.  Druck hinted at wlw representation, but it seems like it’s being given at the expense of Amira and her story.

This one is just baffling.  If they really are going with Mia ‘getting’ a girlfriend at this point, then it’s weird.  First, a rebound relationship is just not great rep.  They don’t usually last and that’s a weird message to send about wlw.  Also, Sara and Leonie were right there.  So much has been playing out on instagram that it could even have been done there if they didn’t want to ‘waste’ clips on it.  But this feels like a cop out, and worse, it feels bad that it’s been done at the expense of more time with Amira.  Again, the fact that it’s Mia pulling this focus away from Amira is salt in the wound.  For a show that seems to realise just what issues people had with the original, and has mostly reacted well to them, this is all so tone deaf.

Obviously, it’s not over yet.  But the thing is we can see what’s happening here and at the very least the imbalance is upsetting and nothing that happens in the next week or two can change that.  Even if there’s one last episode and it’s Amira the whole way we can’t just ignore the fact that one character has been elevated.  And that character wasn’t Amira in HER season.

So that’s why my feelings are complicated.  I will probably still watch Amira’s 7 episodes when this is all done.  I think they look good enough that I want to.  But.  There’s a sour taste because of how this last part is playing out and I’m not sure that I can overcome that enough to watch even if the next week isn’t about Mia.

[thatyanderecritic]

been reading a lot of yandere stuff and it feels like the targets of the yanderes' love are not allowed to feel anything besides fear or all-purpose kindness (or arousal in the dubcon/noncon works). ex: they can't feel frustrated enough at their situation to vent (without the yandere/world deciding to "punish" them violently for it). its pretty frustrating... yeah twisted love is cool, but why does it seem like a lot of yandere works lack the romance and are just rape/torture porn fantasies?

And I OOP.... You just spilled all the tea on this message box anon. 

Anyways, Kai here to answer to the call of rants! Cause this pathetic sack of flesh (That’s me, Kai!) just loves to bitch and moan about yandere stories :) So let’s ponder why this is the case...

All the blame falls onto the author. I mean, they’re the only person who’s writing these stories after all. It’s not like these characters are real, ya know? But why is it that authors just like to copy one another? Well, I have a bunch of theories but none of them particularly nice. But they’re the hard truths.

1. Authors who write yandere stories are simply unimaginative and they just copy their predecessors.

While writing is a passion, I know there’s a grind in wanting views and increasing in popularity. I can’t tell you the type of schemes Julie and I came up with to make this blog more popular on tumblr since the demographics here seem to want the yandere aesthetics or the dramatics. Sometimes, authors just like to chase those clicks and views. So the appeal to the majority and what is a safe to write is normally the go to. Since they see that other people who write ‘X’ about yanderes get to cum money, they don’t really have the incentive to think outside the box or explore an avenue they were interested in because other people might not want to explore that avenue with them.

Or they aren’t schemers (like Julie and I lol) and are simply that unimaginative. They see something they’re predecessors wrote and go, “I like that” then just copy it thinking they’re doing something original simply because they’re the one writing it now. Let me say this now before anyone mistaken me: there’s nothing wrong in writing an overdone trope or following a path of your favorite author/story. Tropes are fun and if you like a certain thing, that’s cool. There’s a reason why the liberal arts study previous works compared to, say... the sciences. You wouldn’t study a medieval medicine practice since it’s outdated. But you would study the Scarlet Letter to widen your horizon and develop your craft. And that’s the important key: “wide your horizon and develop your craft”. The problem with most writers is that they see a book and consider it the word of god. It is terrifying when I hear people say something like “I’m trying to copy Stephan King’s writing style”. Fucking yikes my dude! Besides the fact that Stephan King is generally a bad writer, you shouldn’t mimic a teacher but become your own person. Take a technique or two you like and blend it to your style. Don’t become a chameleon (unless you are going to parody/satire said author). If you’re going to do a trope, I say consider two things: 1) Are you planning to do anything with the trope? Are you going to push it forward or explore a facet that you don’t think others explored? and 2) If you don’t plan to push it forward and just do a gratuities writing of the trope, are you willing to accept that fact? Are you going to accept it and not cover your ass when someone comes around to point out  that it’s a copycat of another story (Ex. The Hunger Games Series and the Divergent Series)? Are you willing to stand up and say “Fuck yeah I was inspired by them and made my own version because I love the trope.” If you’re will to answer these two points confidently, then go for it. Cause the worst thing you can do with a trope is A) Not do anything with it and B) Lie to yourself that you’re doing something new.

This suddenly reminded me when I saw one of these writing blogs complaining about getting copy and paste writing requests. They were complaining about wanting to be original and not wanting to be a commodity. Well... first of all, if they don’t want to be a commodity then stop writing people’s requests, the fuck lol. Next it’s laughable that they think their original. Let’s ignore the fact of the complete irony that they think they’re writing something original when what they’re writing is a plot given to them by a stranger and also that they’re a fandom writer (oops, spilled the tea again). There’s really nothing “original” anymore since we can point out a specific trope and trace it back to an ancient text that done the exact same thing. What is “original” is the blending of tropes, the reactions of tropes, and the element that authors put in their writing to give it life. Cause at the end of the day, if you entertained an audience, then you won.   

2. Authors who write yandere stories secretly hate yanderes.

Okay, so this is a theory that Julie came up with and I probably won’t have a lot to write on it compared to the first point. Anyways, the theory is that some of these authors who write yandere stories just hate yanderes. I mean, look at half the shit that are yandere stories. Straight up torture, clickbait yanderes, and scumbags. This is what people imagined a yandere would be. You can at least tell the difference between someone who liked yanderes or hate them. For example, when yandere’s has a “gentle moment”. If it’s genuinely sweet and soft, then that person probably likes yanderes. If not, then that person probably doesn’t and can’t get their head out of “I hate yanderes” mode. We can also look to the first point about scheming and getting them views for tossing in a yandere. Just like the otome game community, even if the product is shit, we’ll still eat it up because it’s a product for a community that doesn’t get a lot of products of their bias. 

3. Authors who write yandere stories are simply bad at writing romance.

Again, probably not a lot to write on this point since I spent it all on the first point. Anyways, as this point state, sometimes authors are simply bad at writing romance or not interested in romance. It just happens, you know? An author will bite off more than they can chew and end up making a mediocre story. And that, combined with point one and maybe point two, then of course no one can make an actually good yandere romance story since they can’t get out of their head of “Romancing a scumbag”. Also, sometimes people read a story thinking it’s a romance story when really, it isn’t. It happens and we can’t fault the author too much since they either need more practice or it’s our fault for assuming it’s a romance to begin with. Also, can I complain about all these people who tag some stories as a romance when it’s clearly not? Now they’re the real villains here. 

4. Specific authors who write yandere stories have a fetish for rape/torture porn.

Okay okay. I get it, some people got their fetishes and coping mechanisms. Put down your pitch forks. What I’m annoyed about are people who don’t acknowledge their fetish or at least state it at the beginning of their stories. Come on, don’t be those tagging jackasses who incorrectly tag their shit. Not everyone likes your fetish. You stay in your clearly defined lane and I stay in my clearly defined lane. Cool? Cool. Well, on this website. People are pretty good at their tagging and warnings. The problem are the jackasses outside of this hell site. If tumblr is hell, the rest of the internet is the void.

Well, tbh, this point isn’t too bad. People do what people do and I can’t complain too much. And hey! I would rather read these rape/torture porn stories versus the copy cat stories. At least we get porn and the possible reward of being able to jack off to it. It’s just that nine times out of ten, the “yandere” isn’t a yandere. What a surprise. 

Anyways, I hope writing this post help vent out your frustrations anon. 

Julie: Just edited Kai’s rant here. She’s really spilling all the tea 🍵.

[glowwormsmith]

I wanna know ALL the angst questions for Iris, my latest fascination, because I’m always a slut for Eden’s Gate ocs and her playlist is full of BOPS seriously you have excellent taste in music 👌💕

asdfds thank you!!💗 I’m glad you like the playlist for her, I worked hard on it. It’s half sad, soft girl who loves her flower girlfriend, half horror movie villain lol. I also really like talking about Iris, since she’s an unrepentant follower of Faith and Joseph and I can make a complex villain. Let’s get into the angst.

oc angst questions here for reference!

(cw for child abuse/domestic abuse/mental illness/sexual trauma mentions/self-harm/suicidal thoughts and idealization below the cut. Let me know if you need anything else tagged.) 

💙 If Iris were dying near Faith or Joseph, her final words would be nothing but gratitude and love for saving her, accepting her into their family and giving her purpose. With Faith, she would tell her she was the only person she ever loved and promises she’ll wait for her in the afterlife, even if she doesn’t truly believe in such deep down. If she is dying in the presence of her enemies, she will curse their names and go down like a bitch: taunting and spitting poison at them, defiant to the end. 

In my story, Iris survives the Collapse and the events of “New Dawn;” she’ll most likely die of natural causes down the road, which the Deputy and Iris’s other victims find unfair.

💧 The worst physical pain she was in was when her father brutalized and locked her up in the basement for three days when she was fourteen because she was hanging out with a girl after-school and they came across her giving the girl a kiss; she doesn’t remember much about her past that was rife with abuse, but this moment has stuck in her mind due to the fact that this was the first instance of severe abuse and when she became a prisoner within her own family.

The worst pain she was in mentally was when Faith died. She had mainly healed from her past thanks to being with Faith and the Project; even when the Project was under siege by the Resistance, it was fine because she had Faith. When she came across Faith’s body in the river, Iris had a complete mental shutdown, simply holding Faith’s body in her arms and sitting on the river bank, talking to her as if she were alive. Only Joseph was able to pull Iris away from Faith and Iris needed time alone/with Joseph to process her grief.

🔷 While Iris does not regret leaving her dysfunctional and abusive family, she notes that it was a great leap of faith that culminated in more abuse while on the road; the only reason she never tried to go back was because she could not bear to be locked up again under the grip of her cruel and sadistic father, uncaring and cold older sister, and an awful uncle, aunt and cousins who helped in the abuse.

She was abandoned by her birth mother when she was ten, who had been her only source of comfort. Her mother’s abandonment gave Iris both a feeling of low self-worth but also a desire to be as brave as that woman to leave her prison one day, even if it was into an unknown and uncaring world.

🔵 Her home life was never pleasant and it grew worse when her mother ran off when Iris was ten. She became a captive within her own family at fourteen and she developed severe depression, anxiety, severe anger problems, suicidal idealization, and even sadistic tendencies as a result. She was able to escape after killing her sister in a fit of rage, though it didn’t get better as Iris became homeless and was further exploited on the road.

It is all a blur to her and she prefers it that way, with only a few key memories standing out in her mind. She had to overcome a lot of sexual trauma to show physical affection for Joseph and Faith, and even then they are the only two she allows to touch her. She has an inherent distrust of law enforcement (her aunt was a detective that helped to keep any suspicious people away) and has developed a fear of men, dogs, sex-repulsed, sharp objects, confined spaces and loud voices. She also wonders, in her moments of self-reflection, if she would have been a better person without her dysfunctional family, or if she was always this cruel and vindictive.

❄️ She regrets having to turn to prostitution, thievery and even murder while she was homeless. While she knows it wasn’t her fault that her family treated her awfully, she feels shame and disgust over what she had to do on the road, to the point where she wonders if she should have just died instead of kept going. Faith and Joseph have to continuously remind her that no, she’s not “dirty” or “bad” for having to survive and that if she chose to die, then they would never have gotten the chance to know her. While it makes her feel better to hear this from the two people she loves, the negative intrusive thoughts refuse to go away, so she copes by projecting onto others, becoming a bully and tormentor herself.

💦 She tended to self-harm before Eden’s Gate and she still tends to do it at her lowest of lows or if no one’s around. She also has the urge to be a huge asshole to others, as a way to get her pent-up frustration and bitterness and negative emotions out. This unfortunate habit is supported by EG because, even though Joseph wants to save as many people as possible, he allows his followers to fight the Resistance and she takes the opportunity to be cruel to “sinners.” 

She has become somewhat reliant on the Bliss, since being in the Bliss makes all the bad thoughts go away.

🌊 Iris is a pretty mean-spirited and petty person, but she can hide it well to put up a sympathetic and sincere front. When she’s hit her low, she drops the facade and goes hard; pray you aren’t on the receiving end of her anger or if you’re dealing with her during an episode.

If she becomes triggered or has a panic attack, she’ll dissociate and find a quiet place out in the woods to curl up and wait to settle her mind. She’ll look to Joseph or Faith for comfort and reassurance she is fine, that they won’t leave her or let anyone harm her.

☄️ She does, though it has gotten better due to healing from Joseph and Faith. She only opens up to these two, though she has enough emotional intelligence (probably due to healing from them) to understand that they are the only two she can even genuinely love at this point.  She is complex: on first glance, you’d think she wasn’t affected by her past at all, but more time and learning about her history that her experience has shaped Iris into her current personality and behaviors, even if she suppresses much of her memory.  By the time of “New Dawn,” she has completely forgotten her past and only knows Eden’s Gate; the only trace memory of her past life is that “monsters made me a monster.”

🔹 She has scars on her arms and thighs from both self-harm and the abuse from her family. Her family were more careful not to leave evidence of the abuse, so most of the scars from them are mental. She hates looking at the scars because she sees them as her weakness and impurity, so she covers them up when she can.  Iris has gotten so good at burying her past that most of the Resistance or even regular EG members simply believe she is an asshole or monster, without realizing that her past has made her this way.

To quote Daenerys Targaryen, “If I look back, I am lost.” Iris refuses to dwell on the past, purely seeing them as monsters she had to face before she found her true family, her true father who loves and protects her, and her true love of her life.  By refusing to give thought to her birth family and life on the road, she both allows herself to bury the abuse and let the trauma and hurt manifest itself in her personality, relationships with others, and behavior.  It’s both good and bad, and just like the Seed family, she really needs proper counseling but will never truly get it so she copes in different, sometimes even unhealthy, ways.

📘 Theme: Meet-Cute (have an angsty drabble with a happy/hopeful ending lol)

I want to die.  I don’t want to, but I do. It hurts too much to keep going, but I’m too scared to end it.

It was funny how Iris realized the folly of her desire to both live and not live, how beautiful it would be to lie down in the field of white bell-shaped flowers, close her eyes and stop breathing, rotting back into the soil and letting her bones become home to the flowers and weeds and worms. 

Before she was taken out of school, her English class had read Hamlet and she had been idealizing Ophelia since, a beautiful death, and she had looked at any river she passed with a longing to enter it and not come out. But then she remembered her mother, the ghost of a woman whose only true strength came in her running away into the unknown, and any attempt to end her life was half-hearted and abandoned, with the next thought turning to how she would get her next meal, with only three dollars in her pocket.

It doesn’t matter now. Food, shelter, dying by my own hand. They’re found me. Iris had seen them when she wandered into that small town, putting up pictures of her at sixteen near a dive bar and speaking to the town’s preacher. She had frozen only briefly before he slunk back into the shadows of the forest line and kept wandering. They had been searching for her the whole time since she killed the Bitch and left the Cage; the Monsters that had the nerve to call her blood. She allowed a small, bitter chuckle that it took two years to cross her path; she always knew she was the smart one among them...And then a hysteric sob burst out as she fell to her knees, her tongue tasting iron as her lip broke. She would die easy by their hands; they probably wouldn’t even kill her as they dragged her back “home.”  The memories were coming back, no matter how she tried to push them down into the darkness: the Beast’s hands and voice and evil laughter, being dragged into the Dark Room again, feeling the pangs of hunger....Iris stopped her sobs, only letting the tears form but never cry.

No. She would not let herself be drawn back there. Not after escaping, not after putting herself through cruelty on the world just for the sake of freedom. Only she had the right to her body and mind and thoughts; no one, especially those Monsters, were going to take it away. Only she would be the decider of her fate.

Just as Iris was about to reach into her pocket to pull out the switchblade and steel herself to fight against her survival instinct, she heard singing. It was soft at first as Iris looked up and around the field of bell flowers.

“H-Hello?” she called out, voice hoarse. Perhaps I’m already dead. She then stood up and walked towards it, both curious and more of her survival instinct keeping her alive as long as possible.

The singing became clearer as Iris spotted a figure twirling in the field. It was a pretty sound, but there was no lyrics, just melodious humming and chiming.

The singing belonged to a beautiful young woman and Iris felt any unease at meeting a strange ease; she only had fear and mistrust of men, and this girl...was an angel. She was clad in a pure white dress, her dirty blonde hair hanging loosely to her shoulders and she was holding a flower as she danced without a care in the field. Even her bare feet looked untouched and mildly muddied, which only endeared Iris to this wood nymph.

She then took note of Iris, who was conscious of how dirty and plain she looked compared to the lovely girl’s pristine appearance, with matted red hair, grimy face, stench and tattered clothes she pulled from Goodwill and hardly replaced. Rather than look surprise or disgusted, the angelic girl smiled kindly.

“Hello, friend. Do you need help?”

“I...” Iris was unaccustomed to speaking to anyone in such a pleasant manner since her time on the road, let alone anyone asking her for help so kindly and without any secondary motivation. She blinked in confusion then looked behind her, afraid her family would suddenly appear with their horrid faces and harsh words to drag her away. She must have looked panicked when the girl’s brow furrowed in concern, though the sweet smile was still on her face.

Iris saw the girl open her hands towards her and she feared she would be touched so she drew back, but the girl kept her hands open, waiting for Iris to take them herself. Iris felt her hands fold together and began picking her skin with her nails, her eyes drawn towards the soft, clean hands. She had no right to touch them with her own dirty ones.

“I can take you to my home. We have warm food, showers and a place to rest. You seem to have been traveling for awhile. There’s no need to be afraid of me. My name is Faith; what’s your name?”

“...I-Iris. Umm...” God, she’s so pretty and kind. Like a real angel. Can someone like me be so lucky to be in her presence?

“That’s a beautiful name. Iris, would you like to come home with me?” Faith asked. “You’ll be safe there.”

Iris felt her mouth twist into a scowl. “Nowhere’s ever safe.” She cringed and thought that Faith would turn away from her now that she showed her ugliness, but Faith nodded and gave a quiet hum in agreement.

“I know all too well how unsafe this world and people can be. But there’s no where quite as safe as Eden’s Gate,” Faith said. “I know I’m a stranger to you, but all friends start as strangers, and if you come with me, you’ll finally feel the safest you’ll ever be.”

Iris looked to Faith and noticed her brown eyes, like a doe’s. All the barriers she put up with people melted away as she looked at the open, beautiful face, the soft lips curved in a smile. Iris gulped. Who knows how long the Monsters will be in this area for. “Alright. I’ll...I’ll take a leap of faith.”

Faith let out a chuckle at that, which sounded wonderful to Iris’s ears, and the girl took Faith’s hands into her own, was lead out of the field and into a new life.

[yaboylevi]

Hello there! I couldn't help but notice that salty anon asking about your stance on Levi so I'll ask again because it sure sounds interesting! Do you mind telling us how you feel about him?

Okay, so the original question from a dumb hater was how I could even support a romantic ship between Eren and Levi if I am not a Levi fan*.

*If a ”Levi fan”, like that idiotic anon meant, is someone who excuses all of Levi’s bad behaviors, then no, I am not a fan.

Premise no.1: I’ve loved Levi for so many years, he’s been part of my twitter handle in the past, is in my Tumblr url, icons on various social media, I have a lot of merchandise and not only for “the sake of the ship”. I genuinely used to love him to the point that he was my favorite character alongside Eren, I couldn’t pick one. So I guess I am a bit of a fan, after all.

Premise no.2: I am a gigantic bag of salt about this topic so tread carefully if you’re easily offended. I won’t sugarcoat my VERY BIASED opinions, and if you strongly disagree, that’s perfectly fine. I won’t change my opinion with the information we currently have, because this isn’t a gut reaction I spent two seconds on, I actually soul searched (lol) for the reasons as to why I felt so negatively about Levi. He was my fave, and I felt deeply hurt and confused and frustrated, so I thought long and hard about it. I am open to change my mind if anything else comes out of him in the future.

Also, I have already spent a lot of words on how I feel about Levi’s character as of late, here, here, and here, here, here and here for example, also here and here (I haven’t exactly been silent about it lol) but let me reiterate it into one incomplete post. It’s really freaking long, and a wall of text at it. I don’t expect people to put up with this messy rant, but suit yourself if you want to.

@ the people who sent these new questions almost a month ago, I’m sorry this isn’t the reply you hoped for. If you guys want a more positive take on this, just look through my ereri meta tag.

Levi as a character can be simplified in 3 points, in my opinion: 1) the deep, caring feelings he has for his comrades and as such the responsibility he feels for them and their deaths; 2) his violent side and how he resorts to violence to solve situations. These 2 merge together into 3) what used to be his main goal, free humanity. He lent his strength (that at times he uses for violence/to get his way) to the cause: helping in freeing humanity inside the walls because the sense of freedom is worth everything.

So, harsh opinion: I believe he has lost sight of his goal – as Isayama has stated in the past even though I didn’t wanna believe it because it made zero sense and cheapened everything I loved about Levi – and he has fallen back into his worst behaviors. Add to that a lack of active presence and engagement in the actual story, and you get this predictable, background character that I can’t for the life of me enjoy currently. Because apparently, he forgot how to live on his own without Erwin’s guidance (and here I’d have another bag of salt to pour but this would get too long, and I don’t have the patience to word it in a way that wouldn’t bring me the ire of his fans).

I don’t know if Levi is really supposed to be seen this way, but at least to me, the focus has been mostly on this: his anger/violence/flaws, and his lack of involvement.

I never liked the way he resorted to violence to “resolve” not life-or-death situations or simply to vent his frustrations, in the first place. It’s something Eren had to let go of, he was rewarded when he used his wits, abandoning pure rage for the sake of revenge, and it’s always been Isayama’s intention, imo, to show as much with the story in general and with Levi as well, as Levi has never been rewarded for it either.

So, witnessing his character revert AGAIN to kicks and straight-up sadism, as a fan, has been a big disappointment. Then, the shift of his goal because “saving humanity” wasn’t Erwin’s goal, after all, has been another point of disappointment – but this happened way before the current arc. His obsession with “making the dead soldiers’ sacrifices worth it” can be commendable, but the way he’s going about it is totally blind and dictated by anger and loss of hope, in a way, so I don’t see it as something positive either. He lacks vision, he lacks a voice in the things that are happening around him as if he doesn’t care whatever happens to all of them, as long as he can make Zeke suffer and kill him. I know it’s not totally the case, because we have seen (and I want to believe) that he still cares about his comrades who are still alive, as seen during the battle in Liberio and his reticence at following direct orders to kill Eren, but at the same time, the obsession with “repaying the lives of the dead” is making him being absolutely heartless for the sake of his “hope” (like, I’m paraphrasing here but he literally went “let’s go to war again and let Historia become a shifter if she so wants to, who cares, more deaths, yay”), though he himself doesn’t seem to care about hope and freedom and all this stuff that much anymore, or he would’ve spoken up about the mess Paradis and Hange were throwing themselves into, like Eren did.

Another point of dissatisfaction is that it seemed to me like he was forming stronger bonds with the 104th and he was becoming better at voicing his opinions without becoming violent, but I guess he either regressed, or I always read him wrong. His violence in 114 was downright revolting to me, I felt nauseous and, in a way, I’m glad he got k.o’ed. It put a stop to his metaphorical downfall, at least — I see post-timeskip Levi as a cheapened, worsened, “hyperfocused-on-just-one-side-of-him” version of the Levi I used to love in earlier arcs and he was only getting worse, imo.

And, as a special mention re: his violence and his relationship with Eren… It was interesting to observe how he slowly changed in regards to Eren, learning how to lift him up and get the best out of and for him, caring about and paying attention to Eren’s emotional state when no one could or would. It was also very interesting how he opened up to Eren just because he wanted to help him, always, from the beginning. THAT’S what really made me fall for the ship and for Levi.

Also, he thought that violence wasn’t the answer with Eren, and I guess I can excuse him for his behavior in Shiganshina because it was a charged challenge of sort for every character. But he really did think that nobody could make Eren submit with violence, yet he’s the one who tried to do exactly that as soon as they met again in ch.105. I was so disappointed that their relationship seemed to have regressed so much, I kept being hopeful only because of his face/words after the kick: he felt betrayed and saddened by Eren, so it meant he still cared deeply about him. And yeah, he does, but the reasons are also partially…bad. 

Don’t get me wrong, I believe he cares about Eren as a person, the boy he met and decided to protect all those years ago, but now saving Eren has become deeply intertwined with saving his last remaining goal: making it up to the dead soldiers (and I’ve already explained why I think it’s not a “positive” goal). And it’s unfair and a skewed view, imo, because Eren really didn’t have much to do with every single death. But I think it’s Levi being desperate about it all, he clings to it or he’d lose it if he had to, um, reconsider his current mindset. He’s like…grasping at straws, I feel. Like he was doing with Erwin when Erwin revealed his true colors. Levi ended up reconsidering his own ideals and goals, back then, but in a bad way (he had no goals of his own, he just blindly followed Erwin, who cares about humanity, right? Even though he seemed to care oh so much before).

I guess it’s the downfall of the “Hero”. @/Isayama, was this necessary? Is this entertaining? I am personally not a fan of this, there were so many ways to challenge Levi’s belief & trust in Eren, and to still have Levi be an active player. This just feels like a cheap way to get him out of the picture and turn him into a really secondary character. He doesn’t feel like a main player in this arc.

So long story short, I’m very disappointed in his development. I was willing to go along with it in the hopes that it would be leading us to something very interesting and it seemed it could go into a good direction as I stated here. But when he seemed to be confirmed basically dead (literally, or anyway when it comes to his importance in current events), I’ve kind of lost all hope in regards to his character, and I felt so done about it. He is either gonna stay this way, or there’s gonna be some small, cheap, background-ish closure (though atm I fail to see how, seeing as the story is about to end) and if that’s the case, I fail to comprehend the purpose of his arc, then. I don’t think his is an unreasonable development, I just fail to see how the direction Isayama has decided to “develop” him in has any relevance to the story and its themes, as he used to be a major player with some good-ass, relevant presence in the story. As I said in some posts I linked above, Isayama may have lost motivation to develop Levi any further and dropped it from the “main players” roaster, probably when he decided to change Levi’s motivations halfway through the story (because yes, the problems I have with Levi started towards the end of Uprising).

I used to be a great Levi fan, if my username and icon are anything to go by, and I still like him when I reread some parts as I stated elsewhere, because I really, really love when he interacts with the 104th or like, with his subordinates or even Hange. It’s fun to watch and even cute, when he’s not being a violent arsehole. So it’s really a shame that it’s come to this.

And yeah, I’m sure some people may have noticed already, but the ereri content on my blog has become quite scarce, S3 and the shitfest that went down there in regards to Eren&Levi parts also dampened my hype for the ship, my dissatisfaction with Levi’s character and the way his interactions (or lack thereof) with Eren went recently just pissed me off. But I loved this ship for like 5 years, I’m attached to it, and I am capable of separating the good parts of it from the bad ones (though it’s become increasingly difficult). And most importantly, I still love the way their canon relationship was developed up until before the serum bowl. Almost nothing has happened with them since then, so that’s why I was still really hyped for the next 2 years, but recently, and with Levi’s return, I’ve just grown more frustrated and bored with it.

After all, I fell in love with the romantic fanon ship BECAUSE the canon relationship was so interesting, had potential, and seemed to be going some incredibly cool directions, as both the characters seemed to be similar, had the same goals and understood each other on a basic level. It turned out to be almost nothing in the end, but alas.

So, how can I ship them if I don’t like one of them?

I still like Levi, especially when I reread the early arcs. This doesn’t mean I have to accept the worst sides of him that have apparently taken over his whole personality. His violence ISN’T a flaw I - or anyone, imo - should accept. Snoring IS a flaw we can/have to accept if we love someone. Violence is something that must be overcome. My annoyance with people implying they are better fans because they accept and embrace and excuse him and his violence, compared to those who don’t like that, is also a factor in my frustration. Understanding why exactly he’s the way he is is part of being a fan of a character, wishing for him to become a better person and ultimately letting go of toxic (yeah) acquired behaviors, imo, is better than defending and hyping them up. Some people even LOVE and WISH that violence will be his downfall because it’s violence for the sake of avenging [redacted] so it’s sooo romantic. lmao, ok. And I won't even get started about the ones who SERIOUSLY say that adult characters don't need to change, because I'm gonna start laughing for 3 hours straight. Dudes, there's not an age where you stop changing. If you stop trying bettering yourself at age XX, then I already know you're a shitty adult irl, goodbye.

Anyways, back on track. As I said in another post I may have linked above, I thought his encounter and resolution with Kenny would have amounted to something in this regards, since Levi used violence to get acknowledgment and to feel like he was “worth” something, imo, but it was only a set up for serumbowl. Wasted chance.

And I get it that violence is the way he was taught to deal with things, but 20 years have passed since then and he had a whole character arc in Uprising about opening up, trusting, feeling trusted in return, and feeling good and grateful and happy about that BECAUSE he was open with his squad and learned that it was better to use words rather than fists. So I thought he had grown out of it at least a bit. But I mean, there are other characters who have regressed or haven’t changed at all after their supposed character arc, and that dampened to a great degree the enjoyment of such characters for me (Historia, Ymir, Reiner), so whatever I guess? I can definitely see it’s something of a “cruel” way of storytelling Isayama really seems to like, maybe because he wants the characters to suffer. I guess you can’t have a story if all of your characters become better people and overcome their flaws…well, actually you can, but I guess Isayama doesn’t want this to be that kind of story.

But anyway, just to be clear, it also ties in with wanting the characters you love to better themselves and let go of things that ruin their lives or that have roots in trauma. Wouldn’t you want that for someone you love, even and especially in real life? So, if his violent tendencies have been portrayed as “wrong”, Bad Coping Mechanisms, and rooted in childhood trauma, why is it so frowned upon in this goddamn fandom to wish for him to let go of them, since it’s something that has caused him and characters around him pain or distress or downright failure. Overcoming these flaws would mean he’d feel better about himself, and others, and his past, etc. Why is it SO wrong to wish him the best? Lmao, I don’t get it.

So when his “real fans” be like “Levi’s violence is a part of him, you don’t love him for real if you can’t accept that part. anyway he’s perfect the way he is”, I’m like…that’s actually bullshit. I just want him to be a better person, just like I wanted to be a better person when I had detrimental (for me and for the people close to me) behaviors due to mental health stuff.

It’s not even on the same level of wanting him to stop being rude, that’s part of his charm. Violence…is not a cool personality trait, and it’s something you should want him to get over.

–

I still love lots of things that were shown in the manga in regards to Eren and Levi, so I don’t get why I should justify myself for liking them together just because I don’t like some parts of one of them. I still think some of Levi’s best personality traits came out when he interacted with Eren, and I like the Levi who cares about Eren the most. Hence why I ship the goddamn ship. That’s all there is to it, really. Here I talked about what I loved about their relationship, though now I feel like a bit of a hopeful fool.