#shouldn't let romance change your entire character

[forsakenjjk]

How would each JJK character love you?

(feat. gojo, geto, nanami, choso, inumaki & sukuna.)

Gojo.

Has a deep fixation on being your only one. Yet, is always afraid of the influence you have in his heart - no amount of limitless could ever protect him from the damage you could inflict. A deep passion, yearning that almost consumes his entire thoughts, acting impulsively when it comes to you - no gentle rain, but instead a hurricane that sometimes threatens to engulf you.

There is nothing Gojo wants more than to be seen. Long past the titles and power, he wants to be truly vulnerable, to love slowly - the heart wants what it wants. Something that proves to be a paradox soon enough. The need for calming waters and comfort is often seen by him as uninterest on your part, his ego getting the better of him in those so craved deep connection moments. He was the strongest, the best, why couldn't you simply do what he wanted?

The strongest sorcerer was strong for a reason. He had no weaknesses. And sometimes, selfishly, he would think that would be for the best as he lay next to you in bed. A contradiction he endured daily.

Geto

Refusal.

There was no space in Geto Suguru's life for romance. He had carefully planned his entire life, having an unexpected intrusion required a very simple solution: death.

But he couldn't. It felt as if he was being mocked by some sort of mighty being, to be so gentle, soft… weak. That word often rang around his brain when he looked at you, if it was meant to you or to him he could never quite make out. Sometimes he can't speak in your presence, the nerves and butterflies he feels make him disgusted. Yet, in the privacy between you two, he reaches out and touches you so softly - as if you were glass.

It's a severe whiplash. To be so loved and cared for in private and then have a severely detached person when in the presence of others. Suguru was complicated, he never failed to let you know that. But how could you give him up? With those sweet words, gentle touches… the reassurance that he couldn't live without you. Those were things you craved to hear from the man.

Something he knew, and used it for his advantage. 

Nanami 

How can one express such tenderness? To have everything he touches embedded with love? 

Nanami holds a deep yearning to be better. Always challenging himself to be deeper, bolder and yet so very gentle with your heart. He thrives on seeing your smile, the wrinkles on your face when you laugh - all thanks to him. In those quiet moments with him, peace settles in like soft rain as he tries to desperately try to pry you open.

Wants to know your past, your shames, your fears, everything that makes you - truly you. He somehow manages to make you fall in love with him even before hugging you, the ghostly touch of love itself wrapping around your heart. And you can feel that painful, unique tug at your heart when he refuses to acknowledge your relationship to others.

There is simply too much for him to lose. And for what? He’s yours, and he will continue to be so. You have no reason to feel such childish possessiveness, is what he thinks.

Toji

Late night calls, a repetitive cycle of hot and cold that drives you mad. 

Why does he do this? Toji himself would harbor self-hatred for putting you through these tormented feelings inside him, unsure of how to respond to your questions of what are we. His feelings for you would change depending on the day, where in one he would be the perfect partner - attentive, doting, kissing you so passionately to remind you that he's yours, and will continue to be so.

And then, a fall out. There are no text replies, not a call back… it's as if you're screaming, pleading for something to come back to a void. Why? Why does he run away every time he finds himself looking at your eyes and seeing a version of him that's different? Shouldn't he want to finally be loved and vulnerable with another one? Then why does he feel so repulsed by it? He doesn't want this… or does he?

He comes back. There's a part of him that knows how fucked up he is, how wrong all of this is - but he can't help but comeback to the place he wants so desperately to feel like home. You.

Choso

The more time he spends around you, the more he slowly starts to realize what he feels.

Maybe it's the sweet, ghostly memory of you that makes his heart skip a beat. Or perhaps the way your eyes always search for him in a crowded room, but one thing he knows for sure - there is a need; to hold you tight, to never let you away from his sight. A deep engraved worry settles in his chest whenever he can't see you, that soon turns into a typhoon of panic. There are multiple attempts to reach out to you, through a text or a call. 

He loves you as if you were made of glass. Treats you as if you'd break by anything, anyone. Choso will always become hyper-vigilant, since to him, love is safekeeping. Soon enough it turns into an almost obsession, that proves to cause more harm than good when it feels almost… suffocating. Any sliver of independence you have will be ripped off you, with Choso wanting to spend every waking moment by your side.

There is no you anymore - it's we. 

Inumaki

There isn’t a touch as tender as Inumaki’s. Whatever he can’t properly convey to you through sign language and texts, he’ll convey with the most romantic touches; desperately wanting to make eye contact with you, listening to the calming sound of heartbeat… almost as if he wanted to make up for what he couldn’t give you. The thing that often, so aggressively consumed him inside.

Inumaki loves you. The way he’ll never be able to say it to you out loud eats him alive, even more when people around him throw the word so carelessly around, sometimes not even meaning it fully. A big part of him will try to push you away, while the other doesn't want to let you go - the mixed signals are perplexing at times. It's a suffocating feeling, always feeling lesser than what you truly are.

The only way he knows to express such suffering is to simply cry in your arms. A stark contrast to the carefree and tender man you love - reduced to almost nothing by mere unforgiven insecurity. 

Something that haunts all of us, in a way.

Sukuna

Hades would envy Sukuna.

There is a deep engraved possessiveness in this love, there is no escape from the King of the Curses grip on you. The way his eyes slightly soften when you're around, the way you could have anything your heart aches for, to the way those around you almost… fear you. Those would be the main course of such love.

With it, comes extremely toxic behavior. Because why would Sukuna simply turn weak after his thousand years of ruling? Why should he let you do as you please when he gives you everything? …is there even a purpose to keep you around?

There is a give, and an expensive take. If you're unwilling to play your part as the pretty puppet he wishes you to be, he'll make sure to pull just the right strings. Is a curse such as Sukuna capable of love? Sometimes he'd ask himself such a thing, as he'd stare at your tears flowing down your pretty face. After all, he'd done this countless times, it would only be a matter of time until you learned your rightful place, beneath - not an equal.

You could have anything your heart ached for, except his heart. 

[suiana]

I'm so hungry hrhrrggr anyways!

✎ yandere! male lead headcanons . . .

✎ warnings . . .

― slight nsfw, possesiveness, manipulation etc.

(gn! reader x male yandere! oc)

✎ yandere! main character who got hit by an incoming truck and was reincarnated as the male lead of a dark fantasy romance novel he had read during his previous life.

✎ yandere! main character who is the attractive yet possessive oldest son of the grand Duke. getting spoiled since young, this main character slowly began to lose some morals that he had in his previous life.

✎ yandere! main character who was supposed to fall in love with the poor and kind female lead when he saw her working as a maid during your debutante ball. but how could he fall for her when you were there? you were stunning, magnificent even. how could he stick to the original storyline?

✎ yandere! main character who immediately asked for your hand during your first dance as a legal adult. shit, he could feel himself falling even more. he used to never believe in love at first sight but... that has changed. yes, it truly has.

✎ yandere! main character who felt his whole world change upon meeting you in person. in the novel you were described as arrogant and condescending. but you were the exact opposite? so calm and humble you were... how could he fall for the cliche female lead when your entire personality was foreign to him?! you felt like a real person, not like the others who acted exactly like how they were described in the book! he had to know you better!

✎ yandere! main character who is not only more hooked, but also fucking aroused when you politely tell him that you're not interested. oh? so you were a real being! you must've known what happened to your character in the original novel which is why you're trying to shy away from him right? haha, don't worry! he's not like his original self, he won't repeat the actions like his foolish original self~

✎ yandere! main character who is appalled when he sees you turn to the son of the northern duke for refuge. what? you reject him but go for that fucking...boy who just sits down in a corner and reads all day?! what the fuck?! no he doesn't care that he's your only friend, you shouldn't be talking to other men when he's right there!

✎ yandere! main character who slowly goes insane from your lack of attention. even when face to face with the original female lead, he can't get you out of his mind. hey, you've taken over his life so you should at least take some responsibility?!

✎ yandere! main character who is thankful for the fact that the original male lead is a genius and an evil mastermind that could plan the destruction of someone without even getting physically involved. oh, how he's going to use this to his advantage~

✎ yandere! main character who acts like a flirty himbo with you to try and show you that he really is harmless and means no harm! look, he doesn't even like the original female lead! so stop shying away from him, hm?

✎ yandere! main character who scares you with his drastic change in personality. what the hell...? he wasn't like this in the previous runs... what happened?

✎ yandere! main character who has already started the downfall of the northern duke's son. that'll teach him to not mess with what's his. you belong to him, and him only. and he will get you to see that.

✎ yandere! main character who has his last strain of sanity snapped as he sees you try to reject him. no, no, no... you shouldn't be rejecting him. you shouldn't be! why would you?! can't you see how much he loves you?!

✎ yandere! main character who claims you as his in front of a whole bunch of other nobles. now, you wouldn't get to leave. you can't leave. you're his. his alone.

✎ yandere! main character who is tired of your constant protests about how you don't want this and how you just want to be free for once. oh and you accidentally let slip about how you've lived this life multiple times... now, he can't let you go now can he? what if you get taken advantage by someone? he wouldn't be able to protect you! too bad, you're stuck with him now whether you like it or not.

✎ "hey cutie, why do you keep trying to leave me? I'm not that scary am I?"

[brigdh]

I want to talk about Izzy's rant to Ed in episode 10, the one that brings out the Kraken. I've seen a lot of different descriptions of what is going on in this scene – death threat, homophobic slurs, etc – and I don't think either of those are what's actually what's happening.

Let's look at it closely, line by line, and the way Ed reacts, from the very beginning of the scene.

Ed: Well, feels nice to tidy up a little. Can't believe I was living like this. Can you, Iz? Izzy? Izzy: I'm going to speak plainly. Ed: Wonderful. You know we share our thoughts on this ship.

Izzy, cont: This, whatever it is that you've become... is a fate worse than death.

Okay. So there we've got what some have interpreted as a death threat. But does Ed seem threatened? He's startled, certainly, put on his back foot – literally – but he doesn't look afraid or alarmed to me. He draws in a slow breath, assessing the situation, but overall seems more confused than frightened.

In fact he laughs it off with his next line:

Izzy then escalates the level of aggression in the conversation:

But Ed, again, looks more confused than anything. Check out that furrowed brow, that head tilt! This is a man going "what is your deal?", not a man thinking "uh-oh, you might kill me!".

Extremely noticeably, even when Izzy storms right up into his face, Ed holds steady. He doesn't run, doesn't lean back, doesn't hunch his shoulders or drop eye contact – there is no vulnerability or defensiveness in Ed's body language at all. Ed is in supreme control of this confrontation – look at the slow way he deigns to turn back to the paper Izzy's holding! As though he's making the point that he chooses when to turn, not Izzy:

Then we have the "homophobic slur". But watch closely:

Ed does not react to "namby-pamby", "silk gown", or "pining" at all. He doesn't even blink. He barely seems like he's hearing Izzy. His entire attention is on the picture.

Ed's body language and behavior changes at one word and one word only, and that is "boyfriend". As soon as Izzy says it, Ed's furious:

(It's even easier to notice when you actually watch the scene instead of using gifs, because Izzy really draws out 'piiiiiiining', putting a lot of time between the first half of the sentence and 'boyfriend'.)

Why is the use of the word 'boyfriend' so important?

Well, what has Ed been doing all episode? He's been crying in a blanket fort and singing sad songs, yes, but he's been keeping a careful level of mystique about why he's doing it. Ed often uses distanced circumlocutions instead of directly acknowledging his emotions, but he's doing it in this episode even more so than usual:

Here are the lyrics to his song:

(Version one, with Lucius) Hanging on By a thread Hanging on Shouldn't let go If I let go, all will fall Fingers bleeding down to the bone now Can't let go Nothing makes sense Hold on Hold on Hold... on

(Version two, performed for the whole crew) Just let go Make yourself let go Make it go away Away, away today Life's a hard sad death And then you're Deaaad

Notice something? There is no mention of Stede, or love, or break-ups, or abandonments, or relationships in general. All Ed discusses is a vague life-sucks attitude, which could apply to basically anyone under any circumstances. He seems pretty okay with people knowing that Blackbeard is having some sort of weird emotional breakdown as long as he convinces himself that no one knows it's specifically from having his heart broken

This is true of everything Ed says and does for this entire episode. He never once even mentions Stede's name, unless "Farewell, Bonnet's playthings" at the very end counts. The only thing Ed openly admits to feeling bad about is a fictional character who's having a hard time "holding on" (holding on to what? he never says). There are no allusions to heartbreak or romance anywhere in his dialogue.

Now, Ed's not stupid. I'm sure he knows Izzy and Lucius and the rest of the crew can connect the dots and realize that something bad happened with Stede, even if Ed doesn't fill them in on the details. But Ed is also traumatized, and has a whole host of coping mechanisms set up to help him avoiding thinking about things that he doesn't want to think about. If he's not a murderer because "technically the fire killed those guys", then no one knows he's heartbroken because technically he hasn't acknowledged it.

Until Izzy says the word 'boyfriend'. Suddenly the secret is out, and Ed can't handle it. Izzy knows his weakness. That's why this word effects Ed more than anything else Izzy says in the whole scene.

At the end of the confrontation, he hears the crew calling for another song. Look at Ed here. He looks as haunted, as disturbed, in this moment as he does at any point in Izzy's rant.

This is an important part of the scene, not just a closing note. Because if Izzy (the Caribbean's most emotionally constipated man) can see through him, obviously the whole crew can too.

Obviously Lucius – who advised Ed on his and Stede's relationship, who played along with Ed's 'fictional character' claim, who wrote down Ed's lyrics – can do so most of all.

There's a direct emotional logic to Ed killing Lucius because he had a fight with Izzy, and it doesn't involve Ed having been threatened or hate crime'd at all. Ed doesn't deal well with his own feelings (from Stede), so he chooses to become Blackbeard/the Kraken and gets rid of all the witnesses who saw otherwise.

[comikadraws]

The "No Regrets" Line

At the request of @the-real-sasuke-uchiha and because this seems to be a common point of critique of Itachi Uchiha.

So yeah. This is the explanation all of you have been waiting for. I've got Japanese raws, researched the original expression used, and now I'm here to let you know how haters never seem to understand this scene.

Length: • 1.8K Content: • The "Wrong" Translation • The Correct Translation • A Quote Taken Out of Context

DISCLAIMER: Blue links are sources. The art in the header is mine but drawn referencing Kishimoto's original art.

The "Wrong" Translation

We all know it. We all have heard it. It regularly comes up in anti-Itachi discourse to show fans how much of a remorseless monster Itachi truly is. It's the infamous "I have no regrets" line at the end of the Kabuto fight.

And it shows up not just in the manga but in the official English Sub and Dub as well. So it should be perfectly fine, shouldn't it?

Well. Before anybody's attention span gives out, this is indeed a translation error. Sort of, at least. The English translation is "correct" but it sacrifices nuance for the sake of a simpler, crispier line. Unfortunately, this nuance just so happens to be a vital puzzle piece to understanding both Itachi and Sasuke in this scene. The lack thereof became the origin of many misconceptions about Itachi's words and, therefore, his true character.

So, instead of its true meaning, many people who read "no more regrets" ended up interpreting the line somewhat like this:

"I never regretted anything I ever did. Just deal with it, Sasuke."

And that interpretation has since turned into a stubborn misbelief within the anti-Itachi part of the fandom, so much so that it has developed a life of its own. People no longer analyze the entire scene but instead, they rip two panels out of context. They no longer quote Itachi's "I have no more regrets" but instead simplify it further to "I have no regrets" as if he never had any regrets, ever.

Don't believe me? Here's a compilation!

DISCLAIMER: I intentionally did not include sources or usernames in the compilation to avoid unnecessary witch-hunting of people who just didn't know any better or fell victim to Itachi hate propaganda. If you recognize a comment of yours and would instead like to be credited as its author, please let me know.

The Correct Translation

But now, let's take a look at what Itachi was actually meant to say in that scene. I found a Japanese raw and had a friend (who is studying Japanese) translate it for me.

Kana: もうこの世界に未練はない Rōmaji: Mō kono sekai ni miren wanai. English: I have no more attachments to this world.

If you don't believe me, you can literally enter that full sentence into Google Translate and it will provide you with the exact same translation.

And by now you probably wonder "How the fck did this happen" because the mistranslation appears to change the message of Itachi's words drastically. One speaks of resignation; The other is complacency. What rid the translator here?

Well. The secret lies in the Japanese word 未練 "Miren". It is one of many words in Japanese that express feelings of regret, each with different nuances. 後悔 "Koukai", for example, could have been a perfectly viable option had Itachi meant plain regrets or remorse for his actions. But "Miren" expresses a more complex emotion.

To better understand the meaning of "Miren", I checked three different Japanese-to-English dictionary sites [1] [2] [3]. It translates to a multitude of different words, including "lingering affection", "attachment", "reluctance", "ruefulness", and "regret". When in use, it means a reluctance to abandon or depart from something. I was told that "miren" often appears in the context of breakups, expressing an attachment to a past romance. The regret part refers, in this case, to a life that could have been or once was that you refuse to let go of. Having "Miren" means that you want to stay and that you would regret leaving. Not having any "Miren" means you are ready to move on.

Itachi uses this expression in reference to 世界 "Sekai" (World) to mean that he no longer feels a lingering attachment to the (mortal) world or life itself. He considers his own job done - Not because he thinks himself to have finished the job but instead because he has no belief in his own ability to change things for the better. With nothing left to salvage, he is ready to move on.

It is not that Itachi thinks he is a good person. He is simply just giving up. This becomes more apparent when viewing the line in context.

A Quote Taken Out of Context

What should probably be mentioned as well is that while the "no regrets" translation definitely does Itachi a disservice, haters usually also rip the line out of its original context unnecessarily. Not that I entirely blame them, as the trajectory of both Sasuke's and Itachi's thoughts is not exactly straightforward. Add to that that the butchered translation can easily be twisted to imply a different meaning entirely - especially when followed by the younger Uchiha's reaction - and you might end up interpreting Sasuke's words somewhat like this:

"You have no more regrets? You have been and are aiding the village that ruined you - That ruined me! And it is your fault! How dare you say you don't regret that?! How dare you side with them? How dare you make those your last words?!"

The outrage becomes very pronounced, is what I am saying.

At first glance, it seems as though Sasuke searches for any signs of his brother's guilt and regret, fishing for an apology, perhaps. But anybody who has paid any attention at all already knows that Itachi has expressed his guilt and regrets multiple times over already.

Aside from being shocked and disheartened to learn that Sasuke has joined the Akatsuki, he consistently frames this turn in Sasuke's path as a result of Itachi's own actions. While, yes, he recognizes "Madara's" involvement in all this, he rather says "It's my fault you became what you are now" and "I turned you into a criminal" than distracting from his own responsibility. And then when Sasuke describes Itachi as "perfect", the one thing that Itachi points out, in order to contradict this notion, is his attempts to manipulate Sasuke, characterizing them as mistakes or a character flaw of his. Itachi even denies himself the right to berate Sasuke for his decisions because he knows the weight of his mistakes.

So no, Sasuke knows that Itachi experienced profound guilt over his actions and feels deep regret - Both for their manipulative nature as well as for the effect they had on Sasuke. Sasuke has no reason to demand an admission of guilt he has already received.

But then, what does Sasuke want from Itachi? For that, let's take a look at the true context of this scene.

It begins with Sasuke's realization that, with the release of the Edo Tensei, Itachi is going to disappear yet again. Their words are meant to be interpreted somewhat like this:

"The dead revived with Edo Tensei will disappear." "But that means you will leave as well." "I know, but I accept that outcome. Even if it will be the end of me as well, I will have protected Konoha - my homeland. But beyond this, there is nothing else left for me to help with. I have no other purpose in the world of the living."

And it is not before this that Sasuke has his outburst. Much like Itachi's line about lingering attachments, the intent of Sasuke's words changes now that the mistranslation is out of the way. And much like last time, context reinforces this interpretation of Sasuke's response.

"Why would you sacrifice yourself for Konoha again? What they did was unforgivable! You should want to stay rather than help them at the cost of your life."

Sasuke clearly frames Itachi as the victim in the first part of his outburst. He is angry at Konoha not because of what they did to him but because of what they did to Itachi. He then builds upon that.

"And even if you do forgive, I still won't. I will remain their enemy. You helping Konoha will be futile. I need fixing. You've said it yourself. Both your guilt and the threat I pose should be a lingering attachment to you! So beyond Konoha not deserving your attention, I actually do require it! You are not done in this world yet."

In the second part, Sasuke picks up Itachi's own words and turns them against him. He makes himself out to be both a threat and a mistake to appeal to Itachi's wish to protect Konoha as well as his guilt over failing Sasuke.

In his mind, he must either convince Itachi that Konoha is not worth the lingering attachments or remind Itachi that Sasuke should be considered a lingering attachment (or rather, unfinished business) as well. The idea is to make one option more appealing than the other. Upon success, Itachi will stay.

The reason why is elaborated on in the next chapter. He still needs to learn the truth from Itachi but also he is longing for his older brother that he still feels affection toward.

I am not saying that Sasuke's hatred for Konoha doesn't play a role or that he is not indignant over Itachi's dedication to saving the village. It is simply that Sasuke is not just merely having an outburst, as his words are more deliberate than that, even while wrapped in anger and incomprehension. Sasuke isn't actually being malicious but desperate instead. It uncovers a layer of vulnerability in his character.

Back to Chapter #588, Itachi knows that Sasuke is not looking for an admission of guilt from him. So instead of an apology, Itachi responds, saying he is not the one to change the younger Uchiha. Instead, he believes it is Naruto who can and will stop Sasuke.

Itachi's reasoning here is that he no longer believes himself fit to steer Sasuke onto the right path. The older brother has made too many mistakes to believe himself worthy or competent enough to take on such a role in Sasuke's life. This decision was made more than 30 chapters prior (or more than 200 chapters ago, actually), when Itachi decided to leave Sasuke to Naruto.

(Obviously what is actually going on is that Kishimoto must shoehorn Naruto into the equation, but I am trying to explain Itachi's in-universe reasoning)

It is certainly a heartbreaking interpretation in which Sasuke seeks justice and wants his brother to understand his crimes, admit to them, and take it all back. One in which, instead of a brother, all he is given is a mindless puppet of Konoha.

However, the true meaning of the scene is that Itachi already has accepted his crimes. He already has sought justice for them. But this acceptance, this guilt, and those regrets are exactly the reason why Itachi is ready to move on. There is nothing keeping him in life because, in his opinion, he isn't worth it. Sasuke, instead, wants for his brother to stay. It is a longing that Itachi cannot fulfill - Not when this selfishness will get people killed or possibly spell the end for Konoha.

Isn't this a tragic way to look at it, too?

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 21]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.3K

You groaned, falling back onto the bed... Well, the pile of clothes that were on your bed. You have spent the last 2 hours trying to find an outfit to wear and you were on the verge of giving up. Today, you were going to go out with Yunho. Instead of just dinner, he planned to meet and hang out before going for dinner.

But what do you wear to a date?

Both you and Yunho decided that it was best to keep this to yourselves for now, not wanting any unnecessary attention on the two of you. Well, except one person.

"You're supposed to be getting dressed. Not getting comfy on your clothing pile." Jongho clicked his tongue.

"I'm trying!" You whined, kicking your feet like a child.

"Wait, I think I know..." You found a dress. It was a flowy summer dress, white with small blue flowers all over. You went to the bathroom to change.

"What do you think?" You came out, showing Jongho the dress. He sat on the bed, drinking his coffee.

"This is the one." He nodded.

"Think so?" You stared at your reflection, twisting slightly to make the material flow around you. While you don't have a definitive style, you definitely do not usually dress this girly. The only time you do is during events or when you meet your father and stepmother.

"So let me get this straight. I'm the only one that knows about the date between you and Yunho hyung. Not even your other half, Seonghwa hyung, knows?" Jongho asked.

"Yes. Well, I'm not sure if Yunho told Mingi... But essentially, you're the only one that knows on my end." You replied.

"Why?"

"Because the more people know, the more expectations there are. And you know, Hwa is... protective of me. I'm already stressed out enough." You sighed.

"Hey. Don't worry about it, hmm? There's nothing to be stressed about." Jongho rounded the bed, holding your hand.

"It'll be okay." He rubbed the back of your hand with his thumb.

"Thanks, Jong." You smiled appreciatively and went to finish getting ready. You took a shower, styled your hair a little and put on some light make up. However, you did need to watch a few YouTube tutorials on how to do that. You wanted to look natural and not be too over the top.

"Here, I made you an omelette." Jongho said when you emerged from the room. You fixed all your jewellery on, your mother's earrings being your most prized possessions.

"How do you act on a date?" You asked as you took a bite. Jongho blinked before he burst out laughing.

"I have no idea how to answer that sort of question." He snickered before eating his own omelette. You shot him a look for laughing.

"Well, I'm asking you because you go on the most blind dates with people. How do you act then?" You jabbed right back at him, making him roll his eyes.

"Those blind dates are with strangers. You know Yunho hyung. You shouldn't have to act differently." He shrugged.

"Yeah but I know some guys feel friend-zoned if a girl acts too familiar with them." You said.

"I'm sure Yunho hyung just wants you to be you. Be comfortable around him. If any of you act awkwardly, it'll just make the entire thing awkward for the both of you. Just enjoy yourselves and each other's company." Jongho smiled.

"Do you like Yunho hyung? In that way." He added.

"I think I do? Maybe... I don't know, I'm trying to figure that out but it's hard. You know I hate addressing my emotions... It just messes me up." You groaned.

"It's okay to not be sure, (y/n). Going on dates is to find out your feelings for each other, see compatibility too." He said.

"I do really care for him. It's feelings that I've not had before and it's daunting..." You gulped.

"There's no obligation when and to be a couple at the end of it, okay? Be patient with yourself, you don't have to share everything with him right from the start. Take things at your own pace." He advised.

"Alright, I should get ready to go. He's picking me up in 10 minutes." You stood up, running to get your tote.

"I'll clear up here and lock up. Don't worry about it." He waved you off. Grinning, you went over to hug him and give him a peck on the cheek.

"Thanks, Jong. I mean it when I say, you're a lifesaver." You giggled. He hummed and patted your back, wishing you luck before you left the house. As you stood in the lift, there was a slight nervous churn in your stomach. Should you have asked Yunho for a dress code? Were you over or under dressed?

"(y/n)." Yunho was already there, waiting for you. He broke out into a big grin when he saw you, pushing off his car that he was leaning against to greet you.

"Wow, you look amazing." He said.

"Are you saying I don't usually look good?" You raised an eyebrow. His eyes widened, going into a panic.

"N-No! Of course not. What I was trying to say was that you look different but a good different! You are always pretty." He settled with that, his ears burning red.

"I'm just kidding, Yunho. Thank you." You chuckled. He lifted his head, the smile returning to his face. He was glad you weren't awkward or uncomfortable, that you could still tease him like always.

"Here, I got you this." He turned around and took something out of his car to hand to you.

"I know it seems like I always give you flowers but-"

"I love them, Yunho." You smiled, leaning in to look at the beautiful bouquet of baby pink tulips as you cradled it in your arms. For some reason, you knew you would never get tired of the warm feeling you felt when Yunho gave you flowers.

"Shall we?" He opened the door to the passenger side for you. You bowed your head and sat in the car, making sure your dress wasn't caught before he closed the door.

"So where are we going?" You asked. Yunho went quiet, pursing his lips at your question.

"What's wrong?" You tilted your head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, (y/n). I spent the whole night trying to research on where to go on a first date and the answers are all so generic like amusement park, zoo, aquarium, cafe." He apologised.

Hearing Yunho put so much dedication to this date made the churning in your stomach turn to butterflies.

"Well, I haven't been to the aquarium before." You laughed with a small shrug.

"We'll go there!" Yunho declared with a big, excited grin. He appreciated that you didn't make him feel like a fool for not knowing where to go or that he had to Google ideas for a first date. Instead, you helped him pick a place. As long as Yunho could spend time with you, he'll go anywhere.

"Aren't you going to ask me why I haven't been to the aquarium before?" You asked as he drove. Usually, that was the reaction, one of shock and disbelief.

"I'm sure you had your own reasons." He shrugged. Yunho believed that if you had wanted to tell him the reason, you would have.

"Thanks for not prying." You mumbled. This was the first time someone so respectful of your privacy.

Yunho pulled up to the parking lot of COEX aquarium and came out to open the door for you. You wondered if you should leave the bouquet behind in the car or take it with you.

"I'm worried leaving it in the warm car will cause it to wilt." You said honestly.

"Bring it with you then. We can take turns carrying it." Yunho encouraged. He was just glad you treasured the flowers so much.

"Alright." You nodded shyly and started the walk with Yunho out of the carpark to the ticketing booth. The two of you walked side by side, keeping to each other's pace. Yunho secured the tickets and gestured for you to walk through the barrier first.

"So, where to?" Yunho asked as he held up the map for the both of you to see.

"Honestly, Yunho. You can decide. I've never been here before and I trust your taste." You chuckled. Yunho laughed along and tucked the map back into his pocket.

"We'll just follow the path then." He smiled. You nodded and walked with him. Luckily, the aquarium wasn't too crowded.

"Woah." You said in awe at all the big tanks of fish.

For the first time, you were the one in childlike amazement while Yunho looked on at you fondly. He knew he was lucky to be the one to bring you for your first aquarium experience.

"This is cool." You leaned in to one of the smaller tanks to observe all the breeds of fish living together.

"There's more in front." Yunho pointed and you nodded with an excited smile.

Venturing through the aquarium, Yunho never rushed you, letting you take the lead on what you wanted to see. Honestly, Yunho just wanted to keep seeing you smile. Your excitement wasn't annoyingly loud or dynamic, instead you quietly smiled with sparkling eyes as you looked at each exhibit.

"Oh, they let you touch the starfish." You said, reading the sign at the Marine Touch Lab. Although you handle seafood and raw meat, you've never touched a starfish before.

"Do you want to?" Yunho asked. You thought about it before nodding your head slowly. Yunho took your bouquet from you.

"Don't you want to pet it too?" You turned to him.

"Go ahead, I've done it before." He chuckled, encouraging you.

"We should do it together." Suddenly, you took Yunho's freehand, surprising him. Holding his hand in yours, you pet the starfish together. Yunho's eyes focussed on you the entire time.

"The texture is weird..." You mumbled. Yunho chewed on his bottom lip, his ears burning red.

"Mmm, the water is cold." Yunho added randomly, the words not really forming in his head because of how flustered he was. He knew you probably didn't think too much about it like he did, you just wanted to pet the starfish together.

"D-Do you want to pet the other fish?" Yunho asked as the two of you pulled your hands out of the starfish tank. You looked around at the other marine life there.

"Touching those fish would be like handling them before I cook them right?" You stated.

"I don't think you should talk about cooking fish in a place like this..." Yunho burst out laughing, making you laugh as well.

"Oops, I did not notice. But practically speaking, it's the circle of life. I'm sure those carnivorous fish each the other small fish too." You shrugged. Yunh nodded in agreement.

"Let's wash our hands and continue." He said. Like the gentleman he was, he let you use the sink first.

"Ocean kingdom." You read out as you entered.

"People like to sit here and watch the sharks." Yunho informed. You nodded and found an empty spot to sit with him for a while. He removed his jacket, draping it over your legs since you were wearing a dress. Because of how empty it was, it was nice and peaceful. Yunho was still casting secret glances at you.

"You can lean on me... If you'd like." He added that last part hastily, not wanting to make you uncomfortable or creep you out. But even if you did feel that way, you never expressed it.

"It's surprisingly peaceful watching the sharks swim." You said, leaning your head on his shoulder.

"Hmm, they're misunderstood. They aren't the killing machines people make them out to be. Only when bothered or disturbed."

"I agree." He felt you nod in agreement. Yunho relaxed slightly, he liked this moment with you. The awkwardness was finally gone and you could both be comfortable.

"I'm really enjoying myself, Yunho." You said softly.

"I-I'm glad." Yunho replied, resting his head softly against your own as his cheeks heated up.

After sitting for a while more, you moved on to the marine mammal village because there was a little food stall selling snacks for people to buy. While Yunho stood in line, you went to find a seat to sit down. You were texting Seonghwa since he was looking for you.

'You'll be gone the whole day? - Seonghwa'

'Yeah, just getting some air then going for dinner. I think I just need some time to clear my head and I'll be okay. I'll see you tomorrow morning? - (y/n)'

'Alright, sweetheart. I'll come pick you. Stay safe and let me know when you get home, please? - Seonghwa'

'I will. - (y/n)'

Realising Yunho still wasn't here, you looked up to see him wandering around. He held the tray, looking around for you like a lost, confused puppy. It was really so adorable, you want to take a picture.

"Yunho." You stood up slightly, raising your hand.

"Oh!" Yunho perked up, a happy yet relieved smile appearing on his face as he came over to you.

"I contemplated just sitting here, watching you go around looking for me." You chuckled. He pouted at your words, placing the tray down before sitting. You giggled at his reaction, he really reminded you of a golden retriever. You split the drinks, you ordered a sprite so you assumed the coke was his.

"I didn't know which corndog you wanted. There's a potato and a plain one with sugar. Take the one you want and I'll eat the other one. Or we can split it? Half each." Yunho said.

"Let's split it." You smiled, taking a fork and eating some of the fries. Even if you were sharing, Yunho still let you take one first.

"Cheers." Yunho grinned, holding out his corndog. You gently knocked the corndogs together before taking a bite.

"Ooh, it's hot." He huffed, taking a sip of his drink to cool his mouth down. You dipped your corndog in mustard and ketchup. Once you were both halfway done, you swapped.

You didn't mind sharing food with Yunho, you've eaten off the same plate and probably shared drinks while working. It didn't bother you at all.

"You have sauce here." You took a napkin and wiped the corner of his lip for him.

"Thank you." He smiled shyly. Just like before, you and Yunho shared some small conversations, nothing too serious but it was fun and comfortable. When the food was done, you split to wash your hands and use the restrooms before continuing.

"I didn't know they have manatees here. They're so cute." You said with a giggle, standing close to the glass as a manatee swam by. You place a hand on the glass, as if petting them.

"You like manatees?" Yunho asked.

"Well, not my favourite animal but they're just cute big blobs that float around water. What's not to like?" You chuckled.

"True. They're apparently really nice and gentle. Even with humans, they're fearless in interaction. Don't have it in them to be mean to predators." Yunho said.

"Like you?" You mocked.

"I-I can be mean!" Yunho argued. But he would never be mean to you, not intentionally of course. He was still human, he could still get annoyed and angry. He bickers with Mingi and Gunho all the time.

"Sure~" You sang and reached up to pat his head. Almost instinctively now, Yunho leaned down so you could reach him. The two of you walked into the famous underwater tunnel. You stood there, eyes following the big manta rays that swam over your head. Yunho couldn't take his eyes off you.

*click*

Yunho's eyes widened when he realised how loud his phone's camera shutter was. You turned your head, catching him red handed with his phone held up.

"Come." You waved him over, pulling him down slightly so you could stand together, your faces at a more equal height.

"1, 2, 3." Yunho counted down before taking the photo. He stared at it for a few seconds. He liked it.

"Excuse me, could you take a photo for us, please?" Yunho asked one of the staffs passing by. He wanted some of you and him standing together. He handed his phone over to her.

"Alright, look here!" She said. Yunho held his arm out for you to take and you slowly held his arm, posing for the photos.

"You're too tall." You looked up at him as you giggled.

"Maybe you're just too short." He looked back down at you. When the photos were done, you and Yunho bowed gratefully to the lady. Yunho scrolled through the photos. He didn't know the staff caught the moment you and Yunho were looking at each other.

"I like that one..." You said, peering over his shoulder as he scrolled.

"Me too." Yunho smiled.

"Send it to me?" You requested. He nodded and sent all the photos to you. You scrolled through the photos on your own, a soft smile appearing on your face.

"Let's go." Yunho and you continued the rest of the aquarium path. The last attraction on the path was the penguin exhibit.

"That's cute." Yunho pointed to draw your attention to the baby penguin standing on his parent's feet.

"When I used to train at a restaurant in Tasmania in Australia, there was a penguin islet. There were penguins there, living on the beach." You smiled fondly at the memory.

"I didn't know penguins can live in warm weather." Yunho said.

"I guess they're different species of it. The ones in Australia look very different from these ones." You shrugged.

You and Yunho took another photo together in front of the penguin exhibit. Right in front of the exit, there was a gift shop. The two of you browsed together, looking at all the cute souvenirs there. You held a matching penguin keychains. Was it too fast for you to want this with Yunho? This was only a first date.

"Yunho?" You left the keychains, realising that Yunho had momentarily stepped away from your side. You found him just as he was exiting the cashier.

"What did you get?" You asked.

"It's for you." He smiled, holding the bag out. You blinked in surprise and received it. Opening the bag, you picked up the small plush.

"A manatee plush? It's adorable." You laughed, holding the plush to your chest.

"Yunho, you've been paying for everything so far. And I know you're going to insist on paying for dinner later. Please at least let me pay my share of the entrance tickets?" You asked.

"It's alright, (y/n). I just want your first time to the aquarium to be special. As long as you're happy and had a great time, it's all worth it." He smiled.

"I did have a great time. And I'll repay you somehow." You poked his chest.

"You fed me and still continue to feed me. That's more than enough repayment." He laughed. You did really have a great time. Although, you knew a big part of the reason why you had a great time because you spent it with Yunho.

"Shall we go?" Yunho made the first move first, boldly holding his hand out to you. You stared at his hand for a few seconds before slipping your hand into his.

"Let's go." You smiled.

You were glad he didn't think all this was 'too fast' because you didn't know how you should be acting. This was all new to you.

But if this wasn't too fast for Yunho, then there was nothing for you to be afraid of.

~

Series masterlist

[autistichalsin]

Gameplay changes I'd make to BG3 if I was in charge:

(Under a read more bc this is an insanely long list)

Ability to make party changes without going back to camp; I.E. "hey Lae'zel, go back to camp and tell Karlach to come here."

Able to see companion approval at all times even if they're not in the party

Able to make checks with any character, not just Tav. You used to be able to do this to an extent by having other characters do conversations, but when they made it so Tav was prioritized back in patch 6, they changed it so that even if you click with another companion, it switches to Tav. Ideally they would fix it so that if the conversation triggers automatically, it prioritizes Tav, and if you deliberately start a conversation with another companion, it recognizes that you wanted that.

Better item sorting. "Most recent" actually sorts by when you acquired the item.

Ability to text search for an item if you know its name.

Ability to mark an item as a favorite so you don't accidentally sell it/drop it/send it back to camp.

Quest items don't count against your weight total.

Quest items that are no longer relevant are no longer marked as quest items.

Either allow for character leveling past 12 (Even if class leveling is limited to 12) or adjust the difficulty across the board so you scale more evenly. Act 1 becomes a bit easier, act 2 remains about the same, act 3 becomes a lot harder. I should not hit the level cap early in act 3.

Alternatively, at least give a reward in lieu of XP when you hit the level cap. Items, gold, a points system that lets you use excess XP to buy additional spell slots/wilshape charges/rage charges/bardic inspiration, something.

Story mode; battles are disabled, allowing you to solely explore and focus on the story elements.

Dark Urge as a companion.

Ability to change who your unfortunate murder victim is, outside of Alfira and Quill. Maybe it's Zevlor, or Rolan, or Kagha.

More recruitable evil companions. Kagha, Wulbren, and Ethel are a good start.

Halsin recruitable in act 1 or at least no later than the start of act 2.

More reactivity for story developments after act 1, particularly in act 3 when it drops to little comments here or there.

More reactivity for Dark Urge story elements in particular, especially everything related to the Orin fight.

Ability to fast travel to quest-related markers.

Ability to hook up your companions. Let me smooch Halsin but hook up Karlach and Wyll, or let me romance Wyll while hooking up Halsin and Astarion!

Change point and click lines for characters to reflect story developments (resist Durge should sound less unhinged, Lae'zel shouldn't reference Vlaakith after turning away from her, etc)

Let your love interest answer questions about you during the love dryad test. You can select the right answers beforehand, and then they'll answer right or wrong depending on a bit of approval and a bit of luck/dice rolling. Halsin, of course, will automatically know you fear krakens.

Fighting Gortash at the coronation is actually an option that doesn't break the bridges and doesn't disable fast travel into Wyrm's Rock once he's defeated.

Give the gnomes the ability to fix Karlach's engine, or at least work on a prototype.

Option to speed up or entirely skip enemy turns, coming back to you and giving you a brief recap of who was hit and for how much damage/what status effects. This would make the courtyard, in particular, less of a slog. I should not be able to finish my turn, take a pee break, and come back to the enemies still attacking.

Ability to make it more clear what your relationship with Halsin is in a polymance- keep it as a one night stand/physical relationship, make it a poly romance with your other partner as your nesting partner, or even make it a throuple. Similarly, if the latter, add scenes of your partners getting to know each other better, kissing, etc.

Don't tie so many plot events to long rests while stressing that the player needs to hurry to avoid ceremorphosis. Either drop the facade that there is a rush, or make these plot developments happen outside of camp.

Consequences for using tadpoles beyond one (possibly two as of patch 7) dice rolls. Make it so using too many will cause you to squid, no matter what.

Ideally, bring back the plot that was teased in act 1, where instead of being the Emperor, you Dream Guardian was your tadpole, trying to seduce you to let it take over.

Better balancing for Rangers at higher levels, as as it is now, you basically have to multiclass them to get any decent use out of them. After level 5 any additional levels spent on Ranger are wasted.

Improve Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster to use the class's standard stat instead of int or wis for their spells.

All wildshape attacks minus three of the four myrmidons should count as unarmed for the purposes of tavern brawler and other similar things that buff unarmed attacks working.

Make the Emperor/Orpheus a fully autonomous party member, allowing you to give them equipment (and allowing them to use potions/spells they didn't already have on hand) during the final battle.

Fix pathfinding for characters you don't control, and especially fix them automatically jumping back to the other side of a gap just because you had to switch to a character who wouldn't make the jump before.

Improve Fly so that it is better than Jump outside of like 2-3 levels.

Some kind of enemy-rush mode where you see how long you can last against all the bosses in the game would be amazing.

Ability to either return to the city and finish up some quests before the epilogue.

New game plus.

Origin Halsin and Minthara.

The game does a better job of remembering that Halsin isn't tadpoled, and also does a better job of not always assuming that if you're in a poly relationship with him, you want the other partner prioritized for literally every scene.

Resist scene for Minthara and Halsin.

Recruitable Aylin and Isobel. Ideally, you can also romance them and become their third.

Dye preview, as well as clothing and armor previews.

Armor scales in weight with your size, so the same armor put on a small character will weigh less than the same armor on a large character, allowing little characters more options.

Druids automatically revert to human form for cutscenes, then return to wildshape after without losing a charge.

Orin can kidnap any character, including your romanced companion, but to compensate, there are less steps needed to access the Temple of Bhaal.

The kidnapped companion is not guaranteed to be unharmed even if you save them; depending on how long you took, they might have been badly tortured and receive a status debuff that lasts several days.

Faith-leap trial is fixed so that you can actually solve it without either a guide or cheesing it.

Let Wyll dump Mizora as a patron, then become an Archfey warlock with Thaniel and Oliver as his patrons. Wyll then becomes a nature defender.

More autonomy for Wyll in his quest. You can't make the pivotal choices of his story arc for him, and instead, your ability to convince him is tied to dice rolls that have a DC scaled to your approval, like for SH.

Able to take Scratch and Owlbear home in the epilogue, instead of only being able to send Owlbear with SH, Halsin, or you if romanced to either.

Let Karlach stay in the House of Hope if Hope lived, allowing her to live in Avernus without having to constantly fight and fear Zariel.

More interesting Speak With Animals conversations. They drop dramatically after act 1, and by act 3 there are very few times I use the spell anymore, just to talk to the kitties.

Able to cast certain spells (I.E. Hero's Feast) on all recruited characters, not just those in the active party.

54. Fix the morality system for Paladin oaths so that it's more clear what actions will break your oath ahead of time.

55. Give players more chances to fix things if a character turns temporarily hostile. I shouldn't lose a vendor, quest, etc for good because of a failed persuasion roll. There should be one more chance to fix it.

56. More deities for players to choose from; if not for Clerics, at least add more at the Stormshore Tabernacle. Ideally, allow even other classes to talk about having a favored deity, as most in the Realms do, and it would be interesting to, for example, be a Ranger, worship Mielikki, and have dialogue with Halsin, Jaheira, and Minsc.

57. Act 3 gets more unique music instead of largely reusing tunes from acts 1 and 2.

58. More companions so that every race and every class has representation.

59. Elves act more elven. Halsin and Astarion can have conversations in Elvish. Arnell is not confused by Shadowheart choosing her own name.

60. Free healing by Halsin. He is a world-renowned healer and would be great to see him use it more. Also, more shown of him researching medical conditions, helping sick/injured civilians in Baldur's Gate, etc.

61. The Shadow Curse breaks as soon as Ketheric dies or Thaniel and Oiver are reunited, whichever comes later, so the player can see the lands not influenced by the curse. Move the cutscene that plays on leaving the lands to this point, just without the bit of the party leaving the land.

62. Ability to save Art Cullagh so he won't die shortly after the game ends.

63. After you defend Halsin's portal, you get to play a side-quest where Halsin fights through the Shadowfell, finds Thaniel, and fights his way back. OR, you can delegate the portal defense to your other party members, and join Halsin in the Shadowfell to help him find Thaniel.

64. Introduce a weather system and a day/night system.

65. When you knock out a character using non-lethal attacks, the character is actually treated as alive, letting it be used outside of Minthara, Minsc, and Alfira.

66. Scene of Withers telling the players who he really is. Dark Urge players can become Withers' Chosen after they reject Bhaal, while Tav and non-Shadowheart Origins can be it from earlier on, maybe a scene early in act 2, and Shadowheart can be it after turning from Shar.

67. The Dark Urge's Urge manifests in battle, causing them to sometimes waste an action torturing a victim who's already been downed, or to turn hostile on allied characters.

68. More references to the Dark Urge being chronically ill as a result of their brain injury- this is brought up periodically in act 1 and then dropped for the most part. This could even lead to scenes of romanced characters comforting them when they have a headache or fainting spells.

69. More intra-party conflicts besides SH and Lae'zel, and the possible Halsin-Minthara ultimatum. Let the evil characters get angry at Gale for wasting magical items and try to kick him out.

70. Implement the Halsin-Minthara ultimatum, but don't make it an ultimatum; instead Halsin simply signals his intention to leave, and if you want him instead of Minthara, you bring up sending her away. Also make it clear that the Absolute still hunts Halsin for what happened in the Grove and for fighting Ketheric 100 years ago, showing that even without a tadpole, he has stakes in this too. Also make it clearer that Minthara is severely triggering his past trauma with all her pro-slavery talk, possibly causing him to gain a status debuff if he's near her. That way people will stop demonizing Halsin there will be more of a feeling of balance in the ultimatum.

71. Ability to rescue children (particularly the orphaned ones in act 3) and bring them back to camp for Halsin and/or Jaheira to mother.

72. When you're in the final battle, the companions who aren't fighting at your side are instead on a sidequest evacuating the city and fighting the midnflayers who are terrorizing the citizens. Alternatively, just for this one battle, you can bring all your recruited companions with you (it would certainly help make that courtyard fight more balanced if you aren't using invisibility potions).

73. Platonic paths get just as much weight as romantic ones. You can become Karlach's best friend forever and go on friendly outings with her. You can train with Lae'zel. Etc.

74. Setting for romance/sexual encoutners/offers to be turned off entirely.

75. Explorer difficulty allows you to multiclass still.

76. More quests for evil players.

77. Every romanceable character has at least one action that will cause them to break up with you, and every companion has one that will cause them to leave the party (outside of sinking approval to -40).

78. Option to turn on a "confirm action" button, so that accidentally clicking on an item in red that's right next to a communal use item doesn't get you aggro'd.

79. Optional choice to add in random encounters.

80. Reintroduce class-specific tadpole powers from Early Access.

81. Ability to help people in the city more; you can offer refugees shelter at your camp, feed or pay all beggars, etc. Telling the rich they suck for not helping is great but I want to be able to do more.

82. Sidequest for that Druid who's trying to save the dying tree in Baldur's Gate, ideally with special Halsin and Jaheira interactions.

83. More conversations like the one with Halsin and Jaheira in act 2, where controlling a character lets you talk to another and unlock special dialogues you don't otherwise get.

84. The circus is now a proper carnival, including magic-fueled rides, treatos, and a tunnel of love. Also, the Bhaalists are trying to interfere with the rides and get people killed, which you have to stop.

85. You have the option to tell owlbear cub that you don't want to give him the potion to make him grow faster because he deserves to stay a cub and grow naturally.

86. You can give companions little gifts, like SH with the night orchid. You can give Halsin his pipe back.

87. You can choose to join a companion in the endgame even if you haven't romanced them. You can move to Halsin's commune or keep Astarion company in the Underdark.

88. Ability to evict companions from your camp at any time, with a corresponding chewing out from the companions who stayed unless you have a really good reason for it.

89. Bring back the datamined bits where companions who left your party would later show up in the courtyard battle, tadpoled (if not already) and under the Absolute's control. (Maybe with a scene showing how it happened, including the tadpoling for Halsin and Jaheira who wouldn't have been infected before).

90. Bring back the datamined scenes from the morphic pool where the netherbrain would make the party have hallucinations corresponding to their insecurities. Including the option to comfort them after, especially your romanced partner.

91. Optional ability to cook meals yourself, maybe with a little cooking minigame like Pokemon has. Different foods can give you different status benefits the next day.

92. Ability to travel back to any act at any time before the final point of no return.

93. Act 1's point of no return is either entering the Underdark or the Mountain Pass, or entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands, but not either entering the Shadow-Cursed Lands from the Underdark or entering the Mountain Pass.

94. A gardening mechanic for edible plants and such would be fun, so you could have a steady supply of camp supplies and certain alchemy ingredients. Especially mushrooms since Minthara literally has her own mushroom farm.

95. Camp library so you can keep all your books, notes, and letters in one space to read without cluttering up your traveller's chest.

96. Alternatively, there are multiple traveller's chests for different items. Armors and weapons in one, scrolls, potions and other magical items in another, food and alchemy supplies in another, etc.

97. Ability to take care of and comfort characters who've been poisoned, infected with contagion, etc.

98. Let Halsin, SH, and the player cuddle more animals.

99. Every class gets a unique camp follower a la the Oathbreaker Knight.

100. Vendor of common things (animal speaking potions, some alchemy ingredients, camp supplies) in camp for the whole game.

[soshadysoquiet]

TUA S4 thoughts.

Below, spoilers.

Okay. Lord gonna need some strength to get through this coherently.

Basics first:

The Music: Maybe 2-3 good songs. Dissapointing. Let's talk of a mo about Baby Shark: to me it wasn't funny, the song being such a social media present one in this world really took me out of the show. Yes sure the funnies of parents having to listen to kid music and them being stuck that way but I really wish they'd taken the time to make an original annoying jingle. TUA is usually such a delight for the ears that this hurt me bad! Plus they then kept changing whether the song was on or off, seemed like Diego could control it somewhat, but then why would he turn it back on for them riding into the final battle?

The Dialogue: Felt forced and cheap in places. They can use the word 'fuck' now and seem to therefor have decided they don't need to make the characters have witty insults for each other.

The 'Themes' of the show: Why has my quirky family drama been turned into a 90's romance film. Who asked for this. No.

The "Plot": When your own characters don't care about the plot for the sake of shindigs you think will be more entertaining then you know you fucked up. It made sense the first 2 series them having side quests. Less so in the third. Even less so now. Literally at times they had to say to each other 'oh yeah shouldn't we find Ben?' I'll be here in the corner raisining. Also they came up with these 'stages' for the apocalypse but had one guy throw up, a couple things go boom and then they merge, it was one of the least threatening depictions of apocalypse I've seen - though that could be that it wasn't shot in very interesting ways.

Also side note for why there were so many shots that started upside down and rotated? Like I get if Klaus is upside down, and yeah the umbrellas are inside out, but it (plus the Bennifer monster) gave me too many stranger things vibes.

Now the sub-cast:

Jennifer: Love that for 1/2 the protagonist of the apocalypse she had little to no love put into her character, I legit kept forgetting her and Ben were part of the storyline. I loved that she was birthed from the squid, but why put something eerie and cool like that in and make it have meant nothing? Such a waste.

The villains [Gene, Jean and Abigail/Psy(sp?)]: Whilst I liked the idea of memories infecting the timeline, literally all of these guys was Tell don't Show. And for a series with only six episodes I do not want my time wasted with some side-character villains getting a dance number over the main cast. Despicable. Also there were WAY too many villains here especially if you then also count Reggie as one. Literally make Jennifer be trying to link up with Ben and coercing him (then Viktor could break through to him briefly from past experience of a similar relationship - the symmetry is nice) and have Abbigail be pulling the strings. There were so many side characters of no import that I lost track of the main cast. Hell, make Kenny's Mom be the bad guy I'd have loved that! Also, I like that Abigail was somewhat evil, but then they tried to make her good too? No thank you. Pick a lane not everybody needs redemption.

Special RIP to Diego and Lila's twins that Never Even Got Names 💀 fucking hell that's lazy ass writing.

Now the main cast:

Viktor: He deserved better, why bother to introduce that he's had a girlfriend, slept through the entire town, and owns a bar when you then don't talk about any of it. He's told to 'grow up' it's so specific, what does it mean? Also since last we saw he was the sort of ride or die for his love type (with both Leonard and Sissy) this is a frustrating turn with no explanation. Also his whole fight with Reggie and getting things off his chest arc felt forced and not as well written to me. And his character seemed to have been given zero changes from the last 6 years. I miss when his powers actually had a sound element to them rather than just, Havoc from X Men hands. You're taking the Viktor out of my Viktor.

Allison: We have no explanation of how she and Klaus found each other and fell in together. No info of how she and Reggie parted ways. We only hear that 'Ray left her' and nothing else. She says no one wants her at the party but then seems to know Gracie? Has she talked with Any of them since? Nothing was addressed from the end of last season, or even referred to being addressed in the past. I don't see the point of her new powers, or any of them having slightly off or new powers when then some of them don't? Either way, her rumours are so classic and now she's floating people? I see the link and if they'd been developing new powers over 6 years fine but no. You're taking the Allison out of my Allison.

Luther: Praise be, I did like Luther this season. He mentioned Sloane (shock horror, a love interest from a time gone by being brought up?!?! In TUA!!??) he was cracking me up and was really being Best Boy. Although I felt a lot of his dialogue was flat, and it seemed really out of character for him to start attacking the piñata? I don't think we've ever seen him physically lash out unless angry? It looked to me like 'oh yeah here's another silly gimmick that will be a haha. Diego, sure. Luther, no. They also decided (not surprised but always so disappointed) to make him getting ape-i-fied again humorous and not the soul destroying thing it would be. Also, why was he ape-i-fied??? His ape-ness came from the serum not the marigolds? Generally though, I really did enjoy him this season.

Diego: Love that we're throwing every over used marriage-in-pieces trope in the book at these two. Love that. Especially as they seemed to have sorted out some of their communication issues. I get their trajectories but was so deeply, Deeply bored watching it. Diego was sadly pretty dislikable for the whole season, which was real sad because I had grown to love him. There were some funny moments don't get me wrong, he's got too much personality to be a boring character, but whilst they didn't have to have a perfect marriage it was so dull and in hindsight such an obvious set up for the bleh that was to come. Plus they threw in a 'don't make me turn this car around' type moment to show how 'he's a parent now look wow' but I can't imagine any of the siblings hearing that and not laughing at him.

Lila: Again, marriage and wrong-conclusions and it was so boring. She's such a fun character and she was reduced to 'ooo how can we make her be a cheater and with Five' Why do you even need to do that? I just feel sad about it. And it doesn't help that we Don't Know Two Of Her Kids Names and neither her nor Diego seem to think of them for however long they're on the road, and she mentions them only once in the 7years of subway hell and both of them seem relatively undistressed without them. Sure, parents do need a break, but if you don't care about the kids visibly you know for sure I the audience member ain't gonna. Also why the eye lasers save for again a brief gag? It makes no sense when she then also has mimics abilities?

Claire: Let's give Claire a side note at this point. I do so hate it when shows decide to make children their parent's brains and moral compasses, take little to no time to show any bond between parent and child until the last 2 episodes, and instead choose to spend that time showing us how naturally fractious a relationship they have. Love that, so much. Never seen it before really. I get it's normal, but when ever other part of the show is cookie cutter predictable I don't need this too. Give her an actual personality that isn't "the wise old rebellious teenager"

Ben: Wow. So glad that A) I had to hear a character explain crypto currency for me, so glad we wasted precious time of a 6 episode series on that. B) Ben had changed 0%. C) that he had Even Less input and impact at the end emotionally than in any previous season and this one was About Him! And do you know why? Because D) they basically used star-crossed-lovers-can't-help-ourselves and made him use every creepy stalker OTT moving way too fast line in the books especially when Jennifer at a lot of moments was verbally saying she wasn't into it.. Also why does he talk about her like he's a 12 yr old and, idk, it was a shame to have no real impact from him until the end when he's suddenly scared and pushing Viktor away to save him but we see no connection from him and Viktor previously as to why he'd listen it would make more sense if it had been Klaus or Luther at this point.

Klaus: Now, I know a lot of his storyline this season came from the comic, and sure it's good material, that should probably have been used Throughout the seasons rather than crammed into 1 day. But let's chat for a hot mo: Now I like that we got to see him be nasty rather than the precious uwu Klaus that I've been guilty of perceiving at times, and that we see some of the negative effects of addiction on the family for the first time. Great moments, important. BUT. I'd have felt his rage out at Allison and turn to drugs would have been a lot more impactful if they'd bothered to show him waking up to the sound of being screamed at, barely able to hear his siblings, struggling to focus on them and wanting to drown it out. But we don't get that, the horror of what this means for him. Then we proceed to got through this whole let's have him want to get shot by a drug dealer (don't quite get why - or how Claire knows he's immortal now? did the powers back thing ever come up??) have him kidnapped and forced to prostitute himself, take more drugs (but still use his powers?) Develop a new power though without using the comic's fun quirk that he has to take his shoes off, and then bury him alive. Wow. this guy had plenty going on, but sure. Then -he can save himself, I thought this might become something poignant - he's able to conjure the dog to Go to Allison and lead them there, but no, he just gets rescued again. Gee I wonder what grave he's in Mom? All I don't know Claire, how about the Only One That's Been Dug Up? I thought it was really interesting to see his moments as a teen with Allison, and how he was living with her and thought they handled the worry about death/germs etc thing well tbf. Though also how the hell did he get home from being 13 hrs away and why nobody cared to go with him was pretty low.

Five: Dear lord that moustache was awful and I'm glad they all called it creepy and he had no concept. I despise 2 things they did here: made it canon that he gets romantic with Lila. Made going back into the literal apocalypse that he spent time having flashbacks about barely if at all affect him - it's unsure if his hesitation going back into it the second time was hesitation to go in there, and that's what I hoped they would do, but then, no. no. Please, Pleeaasse don't take away this nice, safe space I had in this nice, safe 'you literally can't sexualise him with anyone it would be so problematic' character and say 'they held out 7 years but yeaaahhh they hook up.' don't see why it was needed. It didn't 'heal' him, it was a plot for conflict but I've got plenty of other conflict plots that can end with Lila and Diego fighting without having to make every damn character have a god damn love interest! I loved their bond before, it was so fun and special to see a male and female not have to fall in love, and they ruined it. And it was for nothing? And they didn't have time to make the 7 years feel like 7 years and it was lazy writing for cheap conflict in my opinion. I hated it, I hate that it's "canon". I don't think I can describe just how awful I found it and unnecessary. I also don't buy that Five would be willing to not drink the marigolds as much as the others, or that there would be a timeline full of given up fives that sit around a diner. It was fun to watch though. And up until they started the montage in the subway and we knew where it was going I was enjoying Five in this season. that boy has had such a shit life and this is how it ends?

I will say that the flashback to them as kids was my favourite part of this series. It's always good to have a little deeper insight into how they interacted as children but I do have some Opinions here too of course: Reggie saying 'you look ridiculous' to Viktor, no, he made their outfits? I felt that was lazy writing when Reggie in the past has laid into Viktor's insecurities much more keenly: 'That outfit is only for your brothers and sisters / we've been over this, you're not special take it off / I will not have you wasting time with frivolity when the Academy has important work to do, leave us." etc. Also I thought there might be something different about why they all forgot their Ben memories. It was brutal yes, which I appreciated, but I can't believe that these guys wouldn't see their father kill their brother and not One of them flip their shit? Idk, it was a little... good and bad I guess.

I think that's it for now, if anyone read this far then well done! I might write a fix it post in a bit for my own entertainment.

[kirain]

oh God I hope, those ‘how dare you pick Gale?!’ anons, don’t annoy you too much or sour Astarion for you. Both are great romances and I’m glad Gale gets some love as well.

Admittedly, Astarion fans have kind of been souring his character for me, but I'm trying very hard not to let that happen. My friend and I were actually talking about this yesterday, funny enough. She's an Astarion fan, but she admits the hateful energy people have for Gale is pretty hypocritical, because everything people hate about him also blatantly applies to Astarion. The insecurity, the emotional outbursts, the trauma, the arrogance—they're literally two sides of the same coin, and liking them shouldn't be a competition.

When I first met Astarion, we didn't really vibe, but I was content with his character ... until I started getting anons and comments on Tumblr, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube from people bashing Gale; calling him an incel, possessive, selfish, etc., and all in comparison to Astarion, for some reason. It seems like every time I write a nice comment or analysis of Gale, I'm challenged by Astarion fans who berate me for liking Gale more. Or for romancing him at all. I've received the weirdest comments, from people saying Gale supposedly abused Mystra (even though he's the victim in an unfair power dynamic) to someone telling me his grooming "isn't a big deal" because he was probably in his late teens to early twenties the first time Mystra "slept" with him. 😕

Someone even told me he's like an alcoholic who can't stop drinking, and as someone who grew up with an alcoholic father, that's both insulting and completely incorrect. You can't just walk away from an addiction after one conversation, the way Gale can. I know it's just a game and normally I enjoy a good debate, but some of the comments I've received are downright feral, to the point that I'm hit with ad hominems and accusations. I like Gale, therefore I must be a horrible person, stupid, an incel-lover, a glutton for abuse, etc.

There are entire subreddits and YouTube videos dedicated to hating on Gale, as if he's the main villain of the game or something. And even more scary, some fans have taken their discourse to the actors directly. Apparently when Tim Downie was on Neil Newbon's podcast, people in the comments were calling him an incel and telling Neil not to give him a platform. Tim is just a nerdy British guy with a wife and kids, he probably doesn't even know what an "incel" is. Luckily the mods caught most of it and banned a lot of users, but the comments were getting spammed with Gale hate.

But I'm trying not to take it out on Astarion, as I know it's not really fair for me to do so. I also know this is probably just a vocal minority of vicious fans that don't represent the community as a whole. Plus, I think Neil Newbon did an incredible job and he seems like a genuinely nice person. I don't want to hate his character, especially since I know Astarion can change. In fact, I just finished his personal quest and found his little "thank you for saving me" speech to be quite sweet and heartfelt. And thank you for your kindness. You're the first person who's told me you enjoy both characters and that you appreciate both of their romances, so that restores some of my faith. ❤

[peterparkouryo]

no way remedy | ꕥ

before the storm | ꕥ

warnings: fluff. angst

word count: 3.7k

a/n: i just want to say this story was made in january of 2022 so the writing is horrible 😭 istg it’ll get better after chapter three

ˏˋ°•*⁀➷ taglist

YOUR DATE WITH PETER WAS GOING AMAZING. You'd never would had thought someone like him could be such a romantic. Not that you're complaining, but given how long you've known the boy, it was hard to assume he could be the movie sort of romantic guy.

Your date consisted of a walk in Central Park ( a classic) and some ice cream from the local convenient store because fall was approaching rather quickly and the ice cream truck was no longer in season.

Now to be fair, you were never a hopeless romantic type, but when you had met Peter, he changed your life (in more ways than some). He had made you see the colour you were too blind to see because your life was always filled with darkness by choice. He helped you be more optimistic than pessimistic as you always were. You felt as if Peter was the sun to your moon, and sure that was probably cheesy but it was the honest truth.

Currently, you two were hand in hand, walking to your apartment instead of swinging, because you were afraid of heights and of course you trust Peter with your entire life, but being more than three feet above the ground was a terrifying thought.

When you had found out about your boyfriend being the friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man, it was when you and your friends were on the school trip that quickly turned to hell. You had always had an inkling that he was your city's hero, but you were never really sure. It wasn't until your sister Michelle, told you her suspicions as well, and you were eyeing him ever since. Of course you only eyed him for that one reason, well that's not true, you had eyed him because one, you wanted to know if he was Spider-Man, and two, you had an major crush on him.

It wasn't major per se, but every time you secretly read a romance novel, you'd picture the two main characters were yourself and Peter, an insane thing to think, but you couldn't help it.

After the school trip, and Mysterio's pandemonium, Peter confessed just how much he liked you, which was a total surprise to you. You had always thought it was one sided, and he had his eyes set on your sister, but it only seemed that way because the boy is truly just that awkward. 

You're glad things are the way they are for now.

"So, same time tomorrow?" Peter asked, swinging your hands back and fourth, the upcoming August wind blowing mercifully against your faces.

"A second date?" You quizzed, gazing at him with a small smile.

Peter shrugs.

"Sure, why not." He smiled back, giving your hand a soft squeeze.

Given this was your first official date after all the chaos that happened on your trip, you couldn't really say no to a second one, knowing that since this one went without problems and normality, the second one shouldn't be as bad.

"I'd love to." You beamed just as you two arrived at your apartment building.

"Awesome." Peter smiled, letting go of your hand, watching your figure walk to the building's doubled doors as you opened it, stopping in your tracks to turn around to give him a final wave, which he reciprocated. 

Your building wasn't fancy, not that you mind, and you were grateful you had a place to live, to be able to go to sleep in a nice warm not so comfy bed.

You walked up the stairs to your complex, and you would had took the elevator if it wasn't broken for the fourth time this month.

Your phone dinged with a notification, a text from Peter asking if you made it to your door okay, and your heart flutters at his thoughtful concern. You reply with a 'yes', grabbing your key from the back of your pocket and putting it in the keyhole before unlocking it.

Once you entered the abode, you're hit with a familiarity of books, the pages either crumbled or worn out with a tear. The soft noises of the TV in the living room filling your ears and being the curious person you are, you travel to the noise.

Your father is sitting on the couch, watching an old show made in the sixties, a habit you adored about him.

"Hey." You greet him, setting down the flower Peter had gave you when he arrived at your apartment, into an empty flower vase on the end table next to the couch.

"Hey hun, how was your hangout with your friend?" He asked, turning his attention away from the TV to look at you.

"Dad for the last time, it was a date, not a hangout." You corrected, rolling your eyes as you fixed the flower into the vase.

You had told your father about the date, and also about the fact you were dating Peter, but he was either forgetful or just didn't really like the idea of you dating anyone. Peter tried his hardest to make your dad appreciate him, but it was pointless, and that may be because your dad did not care about his attempts of overawe.

"Oh, right. With Peter?" He quizzed, raising an eyebrow.

You hum out your response, flipping over the ceramic flower necklace attached to your neck.

It was a white astrantia flower, one of the petals cracked, but you didn't mind, it still had special meaning and gave it a sort of character, you suppose. Peter had given it to you shortly before his confession back in London on the landmark bridge. He rambled about what it meant to you and why he was going to give it to you and you only had smiled and gave his cheek a quick peck to shut him up.

The flower meant a lot to you, because anyone and everyone you met had told you how strong you were and how you would be the first to defend anyone you cared for. Your bravery was an inspiration to others, something Peter would remind you of any chance he got.

"Your sister should be home from her shift shortly." You hear your dad tell you as you make your way to your bedroom.

You say nothing, going to your bedroom and closing the door.

Your room wasn't much, just a room filled with shelfs of clutter and books, notes of affirmation attached to your wall near your closet, and Polaroids above the headboard of your bed that consisted of pictures from your trip and adventures with MJ.

Your favourite polaroid was your recent one with Peter, the two of you sharing a ice cream, but instead of the two of you being a cliche and licking it, you were holding up the cone as ice cream melted, a bright smile adorning your face as Peter reciprocated it, his hand also nursing the waffle cone.

You grabbed a pin from the drawer of the nightstand near your bed, your grip on the polaroid picture, closing the drawer and climbing on your bed holding the picture to the pinboard.

Before you could put the photo on the pinboard your sister practically bursts through your bedroom door, causing you to drop the polaroid, it slipping between your headboard and falling under your bed. You mutter a curse, getting off your bed and turning your gaze toward MJ.

"Sup, loser." She greets with a straight face, decorated in her work attire, her teal shirt with a hint of pink on the end of the sleeves the same pink colour also peaking from her collar, a mess.

"What happened?" You question, ignoring her greeting as you gestured toward her shirt that had a few stains.

"Some moron didn't know how to drink coffee, and I tripped with a donut in my hand." MJ shrugs, going over to your bed before laying down with a huff.

You nod, doing the same.

"Sounds horrific." You say, placing your hands on your stomach.

"How was your movie cliche date with spider boy?" MJ asked with a hint of curiosity. 

It made sense sister knew Peter was Spider-Man. You had nothing to do with her finding out, she told you how it was kind of obvious to begin with and she confronted him before things took turn for the worst during your time in London.

"It was," You started, pondering your thoughts as the curly haired girl expectingly looked at you. "Surprisingly great." You finished with a smile, your sister rolling her eyes.

"I always knew he'd turn you sappy." She sighed, sitting up from the bed, scanning your room.

You roll your eyes as well, staring at the ceiling.

"You're just jealous." You say back.

"I have Ned." MJ joked, causing you to chuckle.

"You apply to MIT yet?" She asked quietly, fiddling with her hands.

"Yup, just waiting for the letter." You tell her quickly, feeling your heart tighten in your chest at the mere thought of rejection.

You, MJ, Peter, and Ned had this almost impossible plan to apply for the same college, because you four were just that inseparable and even if you and MJ breathed being introverts, you were genuinely glad you met Peter and Ned. One being your best friend and significant other and the other being your best friend, but together, you'd die for them.

"Same." MJ says with a smile before the girl gets up from your bed and makes her way to your door.

"I'll be with Peter tomorrow for our second date." You tell her randomly.

"Gross." Is the last thing she says, exiting your room as the door closes.

You roll your eyes, dismissing her comment before turning off your light to enter a much needed slumber, anticipating tomorrow, your mind already filling with the things you and Peter could do.

peter parkour: omw, be thesr soon

peter parkour: thers

peter parkour: teher

peter parkour: nvm

you: don't swing and text :)

You quickly stuff your phone in your pocket after sending the message to Peter, warning him about his bad habit of swinging and texting. You were already nervous with the date you didn't expect, but adding him and his hazard swinging to the mix wasn't helping. 

Unfortunately for you, Peter had insisted that you two go on a swinging date, then go to Delmar's, which was at it's third instalment, and he promised for your third date that he would let you pick out what you two could do. You would hold him to that too.

You had hope that your current outfit was too much of a hassle for Peter to navigate with, because you know it would be difficult if he had to swing with you with the outfit you were wearing.

Your outfit wasn't plain, but it also wasn't extravagant either. You had barely just any energy when you were picking it out. You had borrowed a grey cable knit cardigan from MJ's closet, hoping your sister wouldn't notice, but given her observant personality, you doubt she wouldn't. You had paired it with a charlotte skirt you found in your closet with your black high top converses, because well, why not?

It wasn't that you didn't want to swing around with Peter, but you didn't, at all. There was nothing the boy could do that would convince you to do it, not anything that you knew would work. Somehow though, he convinced you anyway saying it would be fun, and a "one time thing only", which you only hoped was true.

A knock at your window broke you from your thoughts, your attention gazing over toward Peter, who was in his newly made suit, the classic red colour now assigned with black.

You send him a smile, going to your window and opening it to let him in.

"Sorry I took too long, there was this whole thing with Happy and May that I had to sort out, then it got all weird so I just left." The boy rambled, entering your room before taking off his mask.

"It's okay." You laughed, fighting the urge to fix his unruly curls.

"You look great, by the way." Peter adds quickly with a flustered face.

It always amazed you at how shy and awkward Peter could be at times when it came to complimenting you, or just giving you words of affirmation at any given time. It quite literally surprised you when he had the guts to ask you to be his girlfriend.

"Thanks, you too." You say just as shyly. You had no idea why you had said that anyway, he was only wearing his Spider-Man suit, but it was still the truth anyhow.

"I only wore this because I didn't want to go swinging." You admitted, watching the boy give you an eye roll.

"I promise it's not that bad, not unless you make it that way." Peter tells you, approaching your figure before taking both your hands in his spandex covered ones.

"And I promise to never let you fall. I will always be the one to catch you." He adds sincerely, and you swear your heart grows three sizes at his words.

Like you said before, Peter always finds a way to give you words of affirmation no matter what.

You give him a shy smile, your cheeks practically burning at his words, giving his left one a peck.

"Alright, let's go before I change my mind." You tell him, the boy letting out a breathy chuckle.

"Okay, okay." Peter says, tugging his mask back onto his face.

"Is MJ here?" He questioned as he exited your room, sticking to the building in front of your window.

"Yeah, why?" You ask, taking a hold of his hand he had it held out for you.

You wrap your legs around his hips, connecting your arms around his neck, clinging onto the boy for dear life and he wasn't even swinging yet.

"Just asking." Peter shrugs, closing your window for you.

"Ready?" He asked, one hand gripping around your waist.

"Never."

"Great!"

Everything happens rather quickly from you two being still at the outside of your window to Peter all too swiftly, without warning swinging you both through the city, your heart pounding wildly against your chest.

"Oh my god!" You scream, closing your eyes as you bypassed buildings, burying your head into his neck.

Your boyfriend seemed to pay no mind to your screeching. It surprised you, supposing you were quite literally screaming into his ear, which you hoped you didn't do too much damage to. However, your heart was no longer in your chest, instead at the bottom of your stomach, you felt like you were going to puke.

What really surprised you throughout this whole torturous swinging was the fact your skirt wasn't a problem at all, not that it would've been anyway because you were smart enough to wear shorts underneath.

"I'm not looking! I'm not looking!" You continue your whines, feeling the swift wind blowing wildly in your face, hearing Peter's cheers as you continue to navigate through the city.

Peter was keened on making sure you felt safe when swinging with him, though you did, it still didn't help with your fear of heights. Sure, you hated this, but you know somewhere deep down inside of you, you enjoyed this, maybe just for a bit though.

You let him be in the moment, him at one point doing some sort of trick where it seemed he was going to drop you, but doesn't, something that made you let out a loud throaty screech in fear.

After awhile though, the swinging thankfully comes to an end after your pleading of asking him to drop you in the middle of Times Square.

When he does, you two land near a lamp post, your hair that was in an up do, probably a mess from the rush of wind you induced. 

"You okay?" Peter concerns, watching your body relax as you catch your breath.

You nod, unable to form any words, your throat aching from all the screaming you did.

"Yeah, just-" You start, "never do that again." You warned him, watching him nod in understanding.

"Ever." You added, making him laugh.

"Alright." Peter reassures.

"You still want to go to Delmar's?" Peter asked unsurely, tilting his head in curiosity. 

You thought about his question for a moment. He did promise you he would, but in all honesty you really didn't feel like it, at least you thought you didn't. Plus Delmar's was all the way in Queens while you two were standing in the middle of Times Square, which wasn't anywhere near the deli.

"Maybe tomorrow?" You suggested raising an eyebrow.

"Oh okay, sure." He agreed.

"I'll just have my dad pick me up, because, you know." You tell him, hoping he caught on to what you were trying to get at.

"Right, understandable." Peter chuckles.

"See you tomorrow?" He questioned, and you give him a nod as your answer before going in for a hug.

You two mutter your goodbyes, you watch the spider boy swing to the lamp post you were near, causing the birds that were sitting there to fly away in alarm.

You were just about to pull out your phone to call your dad to pick you up, the spider boy also about to leave before something on one of the many screens in the Square catch your attention.

"This is breaking news." the anchor from a Led screen announces, dragging most of the civilians who were wandering the Square's attention, as well.

"We come to you know with revelations about last week's attack in London." An anchor on a big screen you were staring at says, Peter turning around to look at another one on a much bigger screen.

You furrow your eyebrows in confusion, curious as to what new information could possibly be provided.

"An anonymous source provided this video." The anchor says, your eyes gaze to Peter who was already looking down at you. It didn't take a genius to know that he was confused and fearful underneath his mask.

"It shows Quentin Beck, aka Mysterio, moments before his death." The man adds, a small crowd gathering near you to watch the screen.

"A warning, you may find this video disturbing." He adds.

Your head unknowingly tilts in confusion, watching the screen switch from the news man to a video footage of the former villian at the London bridge.

"I managed to send the Elemental through the rift." Beck says fearfully.

"But I don't think I'm gonna make it." He exclaims, and you almost could roll your eyes at his victimized act.

"Spider-Man attacked me for some reason." Beck lies straight through his teeth, you knew it was a bold face one, Peter as well, but you feared the many people that lingered around you who was either watching or not would believe him. You really hoped they didn't.

"He has an army of weaponized drones, Stark technology." He informs wearily, the video glitching every chance it got.

The ironic part about that sentence was that army of drones were his weapon, the same weapon the man used to try to delusion you and your friends, the same weaponized drones that he tried to kill you with. Somehow, he managed to make it seem like Peter was using the Stark technology for bad reasons, which wasn't the case at all.

"He's saying he's the only one who's gonna be the new Iron man." Beck spits out yet another lie.

Your face falls in disbelief, no longer in its curious expression as it was before, you glance at a couple people who had their phones out, recording the scene ahead of them.

The footage then glitches, or cuts to a new footage of Mysterio, or Beck, laying limp on the ground as Peter stood before him, talking to the AI glasses Tony Stark had given him, EDITH.

"Are you sure you want to commence the drone attack?" The AI lady's voice asked.

"There will be significant casualties." She warned.

"Do it. Execute them all." Peter tells, but from your knowledge you can tell the video is heavily edited, chunks of what actually happened cut out for reasons you weren't so sure of.

Gun shots were being fired in the video, most likely destroying the drones, but it probably seemed as if it was doing something way worst, you had no idea since Peter was the only one there, able to know what actually happened.

"This shocking video was released earlier today." The anchor mans says, coming back into frame of the screen, and you feared the worst.

"On the controversial news website." The man adds, and you figured it was probably the Daily Bugle, to which was true since the man says it anyway, the screen cutting to the news website, showing a grumpy old man known as J. Jonah Jameson.

"There you have it folks, conclusive proof that Spider-Man was responsible for the murder of Mysterio." Jameson informed.

You gave your surroundings a quick look over, the crowd that was small much more bigger.

"An interdimensional warrior who gave his life to protect our planet and who will no doubt go down in history as the greatest superhero of all time." You watch the bias anchor say, you were now starting to see why this news website was so controversial, your blood boiling at the praise Beck was receiving undeservingly. 

Peter once again looks at you, and if you weren't so focused on his reaction you'd miss his body demeanour practically pleading for the both of you to get out of there, not wanting to face the public any longer.

You were about to call out his name, but the next words from the screen stops you.

"But that's not all folks." Jameson exclaims, your head snapping back toward the screen in-sync with Peter's.

"Here's the real blockbuster." He says and your face turns into yet another curious expression, your eyebrows furrowed.

"Brace yourselves. You might wanna sit." Jameson warns.

The screen shows Beck once again, the video glitching more evident this time, due to the damage it had most likely faced.

"Spider-Man's real-" The man starts, the video footage glitching. "Spider-Man's real name is-" He tries again, looking around in alert before the screen glitches to black for a second, and your heartbeat quickens, hoping what you think was about to happen didn't.

Unfortunately the screen glitches back to Beck, his face only getting inhumanly bigger on the screen as the worst came to settlement, his final words shocking everyone around you.

"Spider-Man's name is Peter Parker!" Beck exclaims, the video cutting to an familiar image of your boyfriend, being plastered on many Led screens in the Times Square.

"Oh, shit." You say with dread, hearing people gasp in disbelief, a few citizens pointed to your boyfriend who still remained sat on the lamp post.

What was supposed to be an innocent date, turned into something much worst. You had no idea what to do, and you figured neither did Peter, the one who surely whose head probably was exploding with a million thoughts.

[animentality]

(Leaps in askbox now its clear) Howdy! I'm curious about your opinions on the companions, like initial thoughts and now that you've clocked in an unhealthy (affectionate) amount of hours? We know what you'd change but how about everyone as is? Thanks!

Alrighty, I can finally answer this one...

Ok.

Man. This is gonna be a long one.

We're gonna start with the shorter opinions first.

Minthara:

I have not done a run where Minthara was alive in Act 2. I literally know almost nothing about her.

I think she's hot and has the sexiest voice of all the female characters, but I know nothing about her story, other than she was a lesbian with Orin. I do wanna try and romance her, but.

Who knows if I'll ever get around to it.

Minsc:

I get that he's a fan favorite from the old games, but I kind of hate him. He feels like fanservice, and I didn't get a nostalgia boner for him, so he does nothing for me as a character.

I honestly kill him. Not out of malice, just more out of, why even have him be here?

Plus I tend to go through the entire game without swapping my party members, because I'm pretending it's a real dnd campaign.

And I ain't changing my team comp for this weirdo who only shows up at the very end.

Sorry to his hamster when I kill him, though.

Jaheira:

She's ok. I don't hate her, but she doesn't do it for me. I don't get why she's Russian. And apparently the only Russian in the whole game.

She also feels like fanservice.

Plus she fucking drops ice storms on everyone's goddamn HEADS when they're already in Hunger of Hadar, and honestly?

We have beef. I let her die sometimes, for that crime specifically. I also skip her house, because it doesn't have good loot, besides the scimitars, and I don't play races or classes that use scimitars. like ever.

Halsin:

I like Halsin generally, he's inoffensive to me, but his "romance" is so bad. It's shallow, it feels tacked on, which it was, and everyone knows how much I HATE how little his sexual trauma is focused on.

I romanced him twice, and both times, I was underwhelmed and kind of shrugged him off.

He should just be a fling option like Mizora. He shouldn't have become a "romance" option. It's fine for him to be a big buff bear hippie that you can fuck, but a companion?

He's got nothing to do with Act 3. It's a detriment to his character and the game, tbh.

Ok, that's the smaller ones out of the way. Now mains:

Astarion:

I got into BG3 for Astarion.

I fully admit it. I saw a scene of him screaming at Tav for blasting him with the sun beam from the githyanki creche, and it was funny as fuck.

Neil Newbon is highly charismatic, and truly elevates a character I don't find that physically attractive. His personality and enthusiasm shine through, and his voice acting is superb. And I am a sucker for angst and redemption and themes of abuse and breaking free of toxic relationships. And darkly, I admit. I do like the more twisted nature of his backstory, the way he had to use his body to survive, has a bad relationship with sex, and was tortured repeatedly. As anyone who reads my writing knows...I am a disgusting sadistic pervert.

That being said.

I no longer like Astarion. Well. No. I like Astarion.

I don't like his fans, or his rhetoric. Astarion has the better writing of BG3, but the lack of nuance from his fans annoys the shit out of me, and overexposure to him as a character, since Tumblr and TikTok are obsessed with him?

No me gusta. I don't hate him as a character, but I can't stand to see Astarion is so perfect posts. He's not, and that's the whole point. He's awful, but you people don't appreciate that. I don't want to see Astarion x Tav headcanons. And I especially do not care about the BookTok crowd being obsessed with him because they just like a dommy vampire, and disrespect his narrative with absolutely no self awareness.

BookTok Astarion is SO GODDAMN BORING. They really just reduce him to a hot dommy vampire daddy, and that's why I never take BookTok recs. Pure garbage.

So. TL;DR - I got BG3 for him, but overexposure to his fans made me be significantly less interested in him. It's a good thing. If I was obsessed with Astarion, I'd be forced to interact with his fans. Thank god for Gortash... I'm free of that prison.

Lae'zel:

I loved Lae'zel the minute she was mean to me.

She's hot as fuck, like seriously, so hot, her neck makes me sweat something fierce, and her voice is sultry and raspy and hostile. just how i like my women.

But I admit...she's too fucking meta. gameplay wise, she's probably the strongest companion you can have for DPS...so I admit...I've had her on my teams so much, that I am sick of her.

And again! It's not because she's badly written. I actually think her character is really strong, and really awesome. I also think her arc is amazing, going from this devoted cult member to basically saying I'm going to fucking kill a god.

I actually teared up a little at the creche this one time, when I had to beg her to stay, and she was like, you knew I had no other path to follow, but this one, or something like that.

But.

But I have beaten the game with her in my party like three times. I've had her in my party on Honor mode like...a million times.

So, tl;dr - I love her to death, but gameplay wise, she's so strong that I can't play her anymore.

Shadowheart:

Ok...I admit it.

I don't like Shadowheart. I find her boring visually, because she's just this generically hot white girl. She was designed to be the companion that all straight cis white men would want to see naked, and that's fine but uh.

Does absolutely nothing for me.

I don't care for her personality either. I don't like her lines, all coy and vaguely condescending. I don't really like how mean she is to you, and it's different from Lae'zel, because at least Lae'zel came from a warrior culture that doesn't put much value on flowery language. Lae'zel makes sense.

Shadowheart is an amnesiac who's just mean to you because.

I also don't care for her story, at all.

Don't care about Shar's Gauntlet or her kidnapped backstory. Don't give a shit about her parents. Don't care that she's scared of wolves or that her hand hurts.

I like the overarching thematic bridge that her character exists on, specifically that the gods will demand everything of you, and will hurt you for their own amusement.

But as a companion...no.

I have never been interested in romancing her. I never have her on the party, except to get that achievement.

I also don't like clerics. I think they're kind of weak, tbh. They're heal bots. They're really only good for spirit guardians, glyph of warding, and removing status effects. Just don't care for that. I'm an all dps team, we have no room for healers.

TL;DR: I don't think Shadowheart is interesting design wise, story wise, or gameplay wise.

Karlach:

I loved Karlach the moment I saw her, I fell deeper in love with her the second I heard her voice, and I knew I would die and kill for her, when I saw her excited "I love you" confession scene.

Seriously.

I have said this before, and I will say it again.

Out of all of these characters, romanceable or not...

I would only marry Karlach in REAL LIFE. I'd never date a man like Gortash or Astarion. I might be friends with Gale, but he's too smart to be my boyfriend.

But Karlach. She brings the wife energy. She could throw me over her shoulder and bash me against the concrete, and I would say thank you, ma'am.

she's also so fucking fun to play. barbarian options in bg3 are so goddamn funny. you can intimidate everyone and just break shit. it's great. you can also constantly throw people AT PEOPLE. And it's great. She's way more fun than Lae'zel because of it.

No notes. Top tier character design. My wife.

But also FUCK the developers for only giving her two fucking quests, one of which is a FETCH IT quest and the other is just a lame boss fight.

And FUCK THEM for only originally giving her an ending where she either dies or becomes a mindflayer. WHY.

And the Avernus ending still annoys me, because the ENTIRE PARTY should be there too.

FUCK YOU LARIAN. Why do you hate Karlach???? You're monsters. She's never done anything wrong, and yet all you do, is wrong her.

Bullshit.

Wyll:

Ok.

Hard truth time.

Wyll is the hottest male companion.

Like.

No cap. Everyone who says Gale, or Astarion, or Halsin-

Incorrect. It's Wyll. He is literally so hot, with the white eye and those sexy throat scars. Hrrrrrrr.

Also, controversial opinion. I actually like his devil form.

I think it makes him even hotter. I do wish he had wilder hair, though.

That being said...

He's horribly underwritten.

I went in, thinking, he's so kind and nice and hot...and then I was disappointed by how little they gave him.

He, like Karlach, got hit with the cut content curse.

And it's so ugly.

And gross.

And honestly, I suspect it's racist.

But yeah.

I think he's really sweet and I like romancing him and all. But they didn't dedicate any time or effort to his romance, and I hate that. But not him. Never him.

TL;DR - my first impression of Wyll was wow, he's hot, I wanna know more about him, and my last impression is, wow, he's so hot, I hate that he has nothing going on because Larian simply didn't bother to give him shit to do.

Gale

Alright, I left Gale for last, because he has the MOST complicated relationship with me.

So I initially missed Gale, because my friend failed the strength check to get him out of the portal.

So for a while, I didn't even know he existed.

Then I started to see more of him on Tiktok and Tumblr, and I was like oh...ok. So...we missed him. Damn.

So I decided to try romancing him fairly early on....only to find out...

I absolutely despised that when he dies, he killed me with necrotic damage.

That pissed me off. In the early days, when I was new to the game, I think I once had a whole team wipe, because Gale and Lae'zel went down, and then Karlach went rampaging, set me on fire, and then died to Gale's necrotic...which is funny in hindsight, but it was annoying at the time.

The eating magical items thing was mildly annoying, but that was far worse.

I pretty much never ran Gale for a long period of time.

As the Dark Urge, I'd often kill him, in fact, just so I wouldn't have to deal with his Arcane Hunger.

And honestly, initially, I kind of disliked his personality too.

I think the first scene I ever saw of him was when you tell him he's ok in bed, and his response is like, I guess I'll go kill myself.

And honestly, I thought he had incel vibes because of it. Then add to the fact that he's rude to you, no matter what, when he needs his third item...and also add that to the annoying gameplay, PLUS the fact.

That I was rocking Sorceror and Warlock for most of my early runs, so didn't need a wizard...I said, no. No Gale.

I don't like Gale.

BUT.

Here's the thing, right?

I got into Gortash... and then I stepped away from Astarion. Started being obsessed with the Dark Urge...

And then I noticed that all of my Durgetash friends were super into Gale, and I didn't get why...

But then weavewithshadow specifically alerted me to the fact that... there are Gale and Gortash parallels...specifically, that they're both brilliant, scruffy, are blinded by ambition, can't appreciate the things they have, and keep chasing after things they can't quite reach.

And then I was like...ok, maybe I've been harsh on him...

So I did his romance...and I felt bad.

Because he's actually very sweet.

And his voice is reallllly lovely when it's soft and fond.

He's a poet...and then I felt bad for all the times I had chewed off his arm.

And honestly, with experience...I now know what to feed him. Mostly garbage magic items like Komira's dumb locket or the ring of color spray from the harpies' nest, or those dumb boots that electrify the water you stand in.

Plus, I'm smart enough to know how to keep Gale alive now, so the necrotic thing isn't an issue.

So.

So. TL;DR I had a very complicated relationship with Gale, first with his mechanics, then with this random out of context scene where he's kind of nasty to you. But I came around, and honestly...right now...I like him more than Astarion.

All he wants to do is...live.

And I relate to that.

And his romance scenes are nice, and he has more of an arc than most of the other companions, Astarion aside.

So there you go, anon.

This took forever to write.

Thanks for the ask, though.

[recreationalfanfics]

Omg I love it! Here's another half baked thought, In your opinion, for yandere AC characters, which do you think are more likely to play mind games/do mental manipulation vs those who forgo it entirely?

OKAY, SO I HAVE BEEN THINKING ABOUT THIS A LOT AS WELL SO HERE ARE MY THOUGHTS ON IT.

Yandere Altaïr would be one of them but I think it would be a mix of isolating you so that you depend on him as well as intimidating you. You are the target of his affections and he unknowingly treats you like one of his missions. His objective is to get you to rely on him one way or another. Yes, he will try to romance you but if he sees that its not reciprocated or your being a bit difficult, he will give a gentle reminder about who he is and what he does and how he's doing this for your best interest.

Yandere Ezio and Yandere Jacob would just try and gaslight you into thinking you're dating them. Like Ezio calling you pet names and kissing your cheek and having his hands on you and if you try to push him away, he laughs it off but still will try to touch you just somewhere where you're not so uncomfortable. Yandere Jacob will just try to get rumors going where people think you're dating and hopefully you'll realize your actually his soulmate!♡

Yandere Arno Dorian would 100% do this with his darling. He knows his natural charm will work on them but its not drawing them in he's concerned about, it's keeping them. He already lost Elise so when he finally accepts his feelings for you, he has to ensure that you won't leave him and that you'll NEVER want to leave him.

Yandere Ratonhnhaké:ton would never. He knows the odds aren't in his favor but there's something so unsettling to him about tricking you into loving him. He knows his love for you isn't pure and rather twisted but he does genuinely want you to love and rely on him. So yes, even you are scared of him and you're intimidated by him, he wants to show you that you shouldn't be afraid because he loves you!

Yandere Edward just would want to get to the point. Yes he does have some tact when it comes to approaching you but he'd really rather not play mindgames. If you resist, that's fine, he can deal with that but he doesn't care because, like Arno, he lost someone already and he refuses to let it happen again. He will isolate you with him on the Jackdaw if he has too, so it wouldn't really matter if tried to mentally manipulate you or not, you're stuck with him either way.

Yandere Evie would not be opposed to a little manipulation but it wouldn't be super intense either, she is absolutely smitten with you and she'll do her best to hide her yandere motives a lot better than Jacob. She will observe you from far away and change little aspects of her style and mannerisms to fit the image of your ideal partner to open up to her abit more and let your gaurd down.

[brujitaadinbo]

You know; I was discussing the series with my friends team Dinbo in our group chat and despite our differences on things about the series; We didn't have any problem about Osha and Quimir developing feelings, BUT….

We began to see and notice something that in particular makes me quite angry, which is the hypocrisy of the toxic SW fandom.

and here comes my not at all humble opinion and what I take into account from my friends. The fact that Osha and Qimir are enemies then lovers can be accepted and everything is fine. BUT let's be honest, Qimir's true intentions are other, intentions that are not good and can affect Osha; If in history they manage to develop Qimir for a redemption, well at least something like Kylo Rey would happen Although that does not mean that in both cases there is toxicity and manipulation, there is even aggression and that SHOULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED OR NORMALIZED. as has happened lately in SW material

nor deal with the premise of "we are trying to put dark romance in this content" because then that message becomes so repetitive that later it seems as if they were trying to tell us that it is something good, which it is not.

Because Qimir has a much better developed gift of persuasion to convince Osha, more polished than Kylo.

And that's what we think is really screwed with that hypocritical SW fandom that hides behind "there must be variety in the universe, they must let a man and a woman be friends"

It's just that you only like that when the couple is not to your liking, just like Din and Bo katan.

They foamed at the mouth, because "they shouldn't always put a man and a woman together, it's an imposition" when from season 2 they show us that dynamic between them of "enemies then lovers"

but what they really didn't like is that this couple left that level of toxicity that could have escalated due to Bo Katan's small manipulative movements. In season 3 everything was a reboot and redemption, it is obvious that a couple must be healthy for it to prosper!!!

and that's what they don't like, this fandom always takes the worst and enjoys it, it likes morbidity and conflict. That is why they hide that "they are just friends" when season 3 is very evident and their entire relationship is documented as a deeper connection than simple battle companions.

Regardless of whether Din is inspired by Pedro Pascal, of course it is the essence but it is not his tastes or preferences. The fandom gets carried away by their own projections when it suits them.

It seems ridiculous to me that in “Osha Qimir” they like more that level of morbidity that they themselves can develop and well here it is a “man-woman”

so??' Where is the coherence in what they discuss with Din and Bo or even Ezra and Sabine?

It is simply that, their own projections and they believe that with that, the other part of the fandom will be discouraged by something that is very evident that they show us that they want to happen.

Now take Katee's statements, sorry but… she said many things before and the fandom does not forget. He started that game of "it could be, we still don't know" then he took control of this shipment and even talked about material that was eliminated, which did happen and after the actors' strike, everything was silence and retracting what was said, which even Carl himself contradicted…. so???

And Brendan Wayne himself replicated this game and at the end in a certain podcast interview he mentioned how he wanted to interpret Din's feelings towards Bo, as if it were him and his wife.

That even Screen Rant changed everything he said because from the beginning they don't like that Din and Bo are paired together, so they resort to playing dirty and doing ridiculous things like negative publicity for this shipment in their mediocre notes Internet.

The truth is that I find the hypocrisy of that toxic fandom pathetic and sad, especially on Twitter. They are not going to impose their preferences and projections on characters that do NOT belong to them. This is so simple and clear to understand because it is reality.

I just hope that just as they give "Qimir Osha" the opportunity Give it to other couples developing in SW.

Just as it is happening to Din and Bo Katan because they had a great positive change and are standard bearers of an unconventional family but that represents a healthy and strong bond.

I wish Qimir and Osha would allow it. May Qimir develop positive feelings towards her, take care of her and not let his own Sith interests win, may he and Osha not be consumed by the dark side and give us a better ending than Rey and Kylo, ​​because they weren't allowed to; being together.

This is the way.

[hello-nichya-here]

I really want Mai to have more depth than "I only changed because of my bf" but we don't see her ever go through the realization that imperialism is bad and what the FN are doing is wrong, so why did she change if it wasn't for Zuko? It definitely wasn't a political/moral decision and I don't think it was because of hatred towards Azula, because we don't really see her mistreat Mai when she fails missions or disobeys orders or being disrespectful. If anything, we still see them vent to each other and playing wing(wo)man for each other, so they seem to be close friends.

So of it wasn't about being against imperialism/racism, and it wasn't about hating Azula and it wasn't about Zuko with, what was it about?

1 - Mai's decision to change sides not being about "I realized imperialism is bad" doesn't mean it was all about Zuko. She clearly didn't like being told what to do, it is not that hard to assume she'd one day realize she was ALWAYS gonna end up being bossed around, by her parents, by Azula, by anyone with more power, in a system like the one she lived under.

2 - Mai doesn't hate Azula. That doesn't mean there was nothing wrong with how their dynamic worked. When refusing to follow Azula's orders in "The Drill", Mai says "She can shoot all the lightning she wants at me." It doesn't matter that, either out of a rare moment of mercy or just because she was too focused on other things, Azula didn't do anything about it - knowing that there's always a very real possibility your friend will hurt or KILL YOU if you don't do what they want you to is more than enough reason to decide "I really shouldn't be friends with this person."

3 - Mai loved Zuko and she wanted to make sure he would survive. Where's the sin in that? Zuko and Iroh saved each other a billion times, including after fights (see Iroh helping in "The Chase"). Same for the Gaang. Why is "I don't really agree with you, but I care about you so I won't let anyone hurt you" only a bad thing when Mai does it?

Why is Mai, who had an entire season of characterization in which Zuko is only mention twice and VERY briefly, reduced to "lives solely for her boyfriend" when she saves him, but he doesn't get the same treatment when he says "I left my girlfriend behind even though I really didn't want to, because leaving Ozai put a target on my back and I couldn't drag her into this mess"?

Sounds like yet another case of this fandom being VERY sexist. Male character does a nice thing for his love interest? That's just seen as one side of character. Female does the exact same thing? She's "defined/held back by romance and has nothing going on outside of it" - again, even though we spent an entire season watching Mai doing her thing, with Zuko rarely coming up.

Hell, even if Mai HAD been defined by her relationship with a guy, that wouldn't automatically mean she was a bad character. Azula's every action revolves around what would or would not please her father, to the point of destroying her friendships with Ty Lee and Mai, with ocasional moments of her trying to salvage her sibling bond with Zuko, and she immediately gets absolutely jealous and resentful towards Ty Lee because she's the one getting all the attention from random boys Azula doesn't care about, yet she still wants their praise more than she wants the praise of her female friend.

We saw where that need to be "perfect", the absolute best at everything, and please a man that did not hesitate to ditch her on what was supposed to be THEIR glory day and even gave her the title she always wanted - only now it was completely hollow, since he greated a higher ranking position for himself anyway - led her, and it was not pretty.

"Character needs to reconsider their priorities" does not always translate to "This character was poorly written." And like I already said, "boyfriend obsessed" doesn't even apply to Mai in the first place.

She ditched her parents and ran around traveling with Azula because it would offer her more freedom than she had in Omashu. But she was not Azula's equal, so when she had to choose between her and Zuko, the flawed but loving boyfriend that never tried to abuse his status as a prince to control her and was trying to get his shit together, it really is no wonder Mai chose the obviously better alternative.

If anyone want to see me rant about how this fandom should PUT SOME RESPECT ON MAI'S NAME ALREADY, here's the thing:

[protosymphonette]

apparently I shouldn’t ask you your fallout 4 opinions? Now I want to ask you your fallout 4 opinions :)

i warned you about my fo4 opinions bro. i told you dog.

most of these are like. technical and story related. bee tee dubs

ok under cut because i have a lot to say and most of it is TOXIC because i LOVE TO COMPLAIN

listen. listen. i have a lot of feelings about this game. most of them aren't very good. so lets start with the ones that are mostly positive.

i think a thing fo4 did really well was the companions. a lot of their arcs are more realized than the other fo games (despite the fact that 2 of them don't even have full names, but i digress), they have more unique voicelines... and being able to romance them doesn't hurt either. honestly, half the reason i found myself willing to continue playing the game was getting all of the companion questlines and such. i also like how connected it was to fo3 character (like with li, maccready, maxson) and storywise (the institute, railroad, synths), made me feel Smart for getting the references. the way weapons... work? i guess is the best term? is also pretty decent- though the more advanced display hurts my eyes whenever i use energy weapons (which is always because they are the only guns worth using in any fo game)

i'll probably add more positives as i go, but- now time for parts of the game that i don't particularly enjoy... i don't like how many gameplay changes they made. like with the perks and special system (why would they change it. why remove skills?? why start all special stats at 1? the removal of skills really gets me; like, they were a more tangible and easier way to recognize what, well, SKILLS you had and just removing them entirely makes no sense) and the pip boy ui (WHY did they make holotapes go into general "misc" as opposed to having their own "notes" section??? you use holotapes like 40x more often in this game why. what the hell todd) the weapons and armor system irks me too, somewhat- the fact that once you progress to a point in the game in which you are like, unable to see if an armor/weapon is better than what you have because of all of the goddamn superfluous adjectival modifiers. i wish single piece armors were more practical- the mix-and-match nature of the new armor system is... i don't mean to be like, petty, but its Fugly. i know it's the wasteland but, DAMN, my guy's fit is trash! there are too many modifiers to armor, too, i feel. like, ballistic v energy v whatever damage resistance... all i want to know is if this thing is better than this thing, and you're tellin me it is SOMETIMES but not all the times? my iddy biddy pea brain came here to have FUN and SHOOT not to think about strategy in armor. tldr for my technical qualms with this game: they shouldn't have changed allat. it was great and fun as was.

storywise i don't... to put it succinctly, i don't like this game's story. it's boring to me. i don't necessarily care about my son, or my spouse, with the 5 minutes i spent with them during the tutorial and the "hey honey!" holotape you gave me is doing nothing to change that in any way. also, while on the subject of spouses, the game tries SO HARD to railroad (heh heh) you into being the male sole survivor- he NARRATES the damn intro ffs (and replacing the legend ron perlman is a crime which can never be forgiven) AND is a veteran (combat+power armor experience) and nora... is a lawyer? a job in which it would make no sense for her to already have power armor training or experience with weapons. (oatus the power armor ui is fucking ugly and gross too and i've literally never used it outside its introduction with the minutemen because of this) i think the fact that i don't give 2 shits about my son is why the institute is soooooo dry to me. like, why am i supposed to side with these assholes? because my son who is an old man is, what, their dad? or something? (also shaun being the gen 3 synths "father" and you being able to romance a whole slew of gen 3 synths is... weird, plainly put) also the factions are just boring to me. like no flavor at all. i don't want to bring up Beautiful Golden Child New Vegas (but i do) but like... obsidian did the "choose a faction" thing a whole helluva lot better. like i don't really give a shit at all about any of the stakes or factions within fo4 like even a little bit all i care about is my Guys who are my Friends and we Kill People Together.

also this is like very petty and opiniony but i don't like how good the graphics are i feel like fallout is a game franchise meant to look a little shitty

tldr; fallout 4 would be such a good game if it was a good game

[makeitmingi]

The Cat and Dog Game [Chapter 17]

Genre: Romance, Fluff, Comedy

Pairing: Yunho x Reader (y/n)

Characters: Chef!Reader, RestaurantOwner!Yunho, MaitreD!Hongjoong, Waiter!Yeosang, Waiter!San, Waiter!Mingi, SousChef!Seonghwa, SousChef!Wooyoung, PrepChef!Jongho

Summary: Yunho's dream was to open and run his own restaurant. But he doesn't know anything when it comes to cooking. Until you came along and accepted the job, bringing with you a small crew. How will the black cat tame the energetic golden retriever?

Word count: 3.1K

The kitchen crew left a little later than usual, having to prepare for a little more extravagant dinner last minute. Yunho knew that he would have to properly thank them for what they did. Hongjoong, Yeosang, Mingi and San stayed a little later than normal too, to help clean up the place just a tad more.

"Why am I nervous?" Yunho asked himself. He couldn't seem to calm his anxious heart down so he drove back to the restaurant, hoping to distract himself with a task there.

What he didn't expect was to see the kitchen lights on and hear someone bustling around.

"(Y/n)?" Yunho blinked in surprise, pausing at the doorway. You were in your own world again, music blasting in your ears as you worked on your dish in front of you with a focussed frown on your face.

"(Y/n)." He called out a little louder this time, not wanting to surprise you like last time.

"(Y/n)." He repeated, randomly sliding a spoon your way. You looked up as the spoon came into your view.

"Oh, Yunho. What are you doing here?" You straightened up, removing one AirPod, just as confused about his presence as he was with yours. He offered a small smile in reply and a tiny wave.

"Couldn't seem to sit still. What about you? Shouldn't you be resting before dinner service?" Yunho asked. You merely shrugged in reply, returning back to what you were doing. Yunho watched on curiously, seeing you marinate meat.

"Grab a stool and sit. Unless you're planning to stand the entire way?" You spoke. Yunho went out to grab a spare foldable chair, making sure he wasn't in your way.

"Are you nervous?" Yunho suddenly asked. He watched your hands pause for a split second before continuing.

"No. Are you?" You questioned back.

"I think so." He replied honestly, letting out a small sigh. Silence hung in the air of the kitchen for a while, only the sound of you massaging the marinade into the meat was heard.

"Why?" You continued the conversation, removing your gloves and round the counter to grab the pressure cooker.

"I don't know... I... I encouraged my parents to come. They've been nothing but supportive in regard to this... But..." Yunho trailed off.

"You still haven't felt like you've succeeded and made them proud? Despite them telling you otherwise. Especially since you opened this with your late grandmother's money?" You finished. Yunho's eyes widened slightly, you were spot on. That was exactly how he felt without being able to word it.

"That's right..." He rubbed the back of his head. You had now moved to the stove, closing the pressure cooker lid and turning on the flame, setting the right pressure for the meat.

"I know it's dumb."

"No, it's not. It's completely normal to feel that way." You said, coming back to where he was.

Casting a glance over at Yunho and seeing his sad face tugged at your heart a little. You put your knife down on the board.

"Yunho, let me be real with you. At that point, you're the only one that can change the way you feel. No amount of comforting or assurance will remove that nervousness." You told him.

"Do you think you've done anything worthy of shame in opening this restaurant?" You asked.

"No, I don't. I feel like I've poured my heart and soul into opening this place into the dream that I had with my grandmother." Yunho said. All the effort from himself and his friends to put this place together, there wasn't an ounce of regret in it.

"Then? Do you feel like you've wasted your grandmother's money in this?" Yunho shook his head. If anything, he wished his grandmother could see what he's done with the place.

"But there's still things I could have done better. If only I had known from the start..." He sighed.

"Of course. There are always things to improve on. But you're learning, this is a learning process. I told you that when you opened."

Yunho remembers fondly, you helping him when he hid in the walk in, nervous and worried of what could go wrong on opening day. You gave him courage.

"There's still a lot of things you will learn and improve on in the future. It won't always be smooth sailing." You said.

"But you just have to keep going and take them head on. That's what you're good at, right?" You let out a small chuckle. Yunho's head shot up as a grin formed on his face. You were right, once again, he had to keep going. He couldn't let the negative thoughts cloud his head and affect his performance.

"Did someone tell you that? To keep going." Yunho asked curiously.

"My mother. She used to tell me that while we worked in the kitchen. Every cut, burn, fail, she told me to just keep going." You replied, picking up your knife.

"She sounds like an amazing person." Yunho said kindly. You didn't reply to that, merely letting out a hum.

"I guess I'm also nervous with the other parents coming too, I feel responsible for the 'careers' of their sons. They could be doing other things out there but they may feel 'stuck' here with me."

"I know how you feel." You said.

"You do?"

"Every kitchen I've been in, I've had Seonghwa, Wooyoung and Jongho with me. You've seen how talented they are. They could easily have secured a position at top restaurants. And yet, they give up so many offers to be with me." You explained.

"Because you're a good leader, (y/n). In many ways, you've given them so many opportunities I'm sure are not present in those professional kitchens out there." Yunho said.

"That may be true. But they could be earning more, have a stable job position, gain accolades." You shrugged.

"How do you overcome that feeling?"

"You don't... Until today, I always tell them that they can leave if they want to, I won't be mad. But they're stubborn, they always call me ridiculous." You had a soft smile on your face as you spoke.

"However, because of that, I know I can count on them and rely on them. I couldn't ask for a better team." You said.

"I feel the same about my friends. I'm so glad I have them with me, doing this with me."

"Then take each moment you have with them. Focus on what you have now, the confidence and faith you have in them. There'll always be 'what if's and doubts. It's a part of life. Every day, I ask Seonghwa why he's still with me. And after so many years, he still hits me on the back of my head for asking." You chuckled.

"I'm sure you're the same with Mingi." You said. Yunho nodded.

"He's been with me all the way, through everything that's happened in my life. The good and the bad." Yunho reminisced the memories of him and Mingi in middle school.

"So what are you making? I saw the list with everyone else's names on their dish." Yunho asked.

"Galbi tortelloni in seolleongtang broth with egg garnish and flavoured oils." You replied, walking into the pantry.

"Wow." Was all Yunho could say in reply. You hummed, cutting open the bag of gochugaru and pouring out what you needed onto the weighing scale.

"What's all that gochugaru for?"

"One of the oils is Korean chili oil. Take gochugaru, fry it in beef tallow then drain it." You said, going to the stove.

"Bring that over, please?" You requested. Yunho jumped to his feet immediately, bringing over the metal bowl with the gochugaru inside. You added some minced ginger into the mix and heated up the beef tallow, letting it melt and get hot.

"What other kind of flavoured oil are you making?" Yunho asked as you stirred the gochugaru in the melted beef fat to heat up.

"Spring onion oil. Just makes it fancy instead of sprinkling spring onions on top to garnish." You shrugged. Yunho nodded, watching you with interest.

"Now we turn off the heat and let that steep for 15 minutes then we drain it." You said.

"What are you going to work on now?" Yunho trailed behind you, following you back to the bench.

"We're going to make pasta." You retrieved a large metal bowl to hold all the ingredients that you were going to procure. It warmed Yunho's heart at how you naturally just said 'we' instead of 'me' or 'I'.

It seems like you didn't even notice it, just including him in without him having to offer his help as if it was second nature. He would never want to point it out and make you feel self conscious. And risk you stopping that habit, he liked that it was a sign you trusted him enough to rely on him comfortably.

"Eggs, oil, salt, tipo 00 flour." You placed the bowl of ingredients down on the bench.

"What po?" He tilted his head.

"Tipo 00 flour. It means that it is milled a lot finer than regular flour. It's made from softer types of wheat, giving it more protein and less gluten." You explained.

"Cool." He watched you accurately measure out the ingredients so the proportions will be right.

"Learning for to make fresh pasta or noodles in general has been one of the biggest game changers for me in culinary." You told him.

"Is all pasta made like this?" Yunho bent down next to you.

"Not really. Some use semolina or semola flour, which is hard durum wheat. It gives a tough texture, I use it if I want the pasta to keep it's shape like macaroni. But since I want to shape this pasta, I do it this way to get a softer dough that easier to work with."

"Wait, you're going to put galbi in the pasta?" Yunho's eyes widened. You nodded your head.

"That's why I have galbi jjim cooking in the pressure cooker. I'm going put chunks of meat inside. I also have seolleongtang cooking for as long as I have to make a rich broth." You pointed.

"Does cooking it in the pressure cooker make it taste better?" He knew his mother and grandmother used to use one too.

"Not exactly. I just don't have time to let it slow cook to soften. So using a pressure cooker speeds it up."

"I can't wait to taste the dish, (y/n)." Yunho grinned excitedly. You couldn't help but throw your head back in laughter. He was acting like the customer, not the owner.

"This is for the diners tonight." You shook your head.

"Well, I've got to eat too. Plus, you can't cook galbi jjim and not let me have some when you know it is my favourite. That's just being cruel." He pouted. Once again, you didn't know what came over you as you reached out to pat Yunho's head. It didn't help that his seated position made his height more reachable.

"I'm sorry! That really just keeps happening." You retracted your hand as realisation hit you. Yunho smiled softly, boldly reaching out to grab your wrist. He placed it on top of his head.

"I told you before. Don't apologise. I'm fine with it." He laughed. Yunho felt your hand just sit there for a bit.

But then, you moved. Your fingers gently carded through his hair as you stroked his head.

"Luckily I haven't started touching the flour yet." You commented.

"I'll be fine with that too." He said kindly. It was weird to describe, you've never really initiated physical contact with those outside your circle. But feeling Yunho lean into your touch made you soften.

"You're too kind, Yunho." You chuckled, pulling away and going to wash your hands so you could handle food again.

"I liked it so it wasn't me sacrificing anything." Yunho confessed shyly, his ears red.

You went back to work with Yunho accompanying you. You filtered out the chili oil and made the pasta dough, setting it aside to rest. Yunho had helped you with the hand kneading of the dough, even if it did take him a while to get the technique right.

"Here, try it. It's not done but we're getting there." You handed him a small bowl of the seolleongtang after having skimmed the impurities away from the top.

"Smells good." He leaned in to take a whiff. Yunho brought the bowl to his lips and took a sip.

"It's amazing. It's so good." He said, tasting the rich broth on his tongue. Yet, it wasn't too heavy or greasy.

"Hang on, taste it like this." You drizzled some chili oil and the green onion oil over the top. You looked at Yunho expectantly as he took another sip of the broth, now with the add ons.

"Now, tell me what you taste." You encouraged.

"The chili oil coats your tongue first, adding heat to cut the richness of the broth. Then you taste the green onion oil, it gives a fresh after taste."

"That's the intention." You smiled, happy with his answer. Yunho slowly drank the rest of the broth, wanting to savour the taste. His eyes still followed you as you moved around the kitchen to prepare. You made the egg garnish that will go on top of the dish, setting it aside for later.

"Take a break, (y/n). You've been on your feet for so long, take a seat." Yunho said, bringing his now empty bowl to sink to wash.

"Once I'm done with this." You replied. You rolled up the sheets of egg yolk and sliced it with your knife, doing the same with the sheets of egg white, to form noodle like strands.

"Yunho?" You turned around and saw that he wasn't there anymore. Leaving the kitchen, you found him outside.

"I made you a hot chocolate." Yunho blinked with the cup in his hand, about to bring it in to you.

"Not coffee?" You raised an eyebrow.

"Seonghwa hyung told us not to feed you too much caffeine..." He revealed with a wince. You rolled your eyes, mentally cursing Seonghwa for coming between you and your coffee.

"Thanks." You mumbled to show your unhappiness but gratefulness nonetheless. Yunho laughed at how grumpy you were when he told you what Seonghwa did. It was like you were trying not to throw a tantrum in front of him.

You sat at one of the side tables together, enjoying a short break and your drinks. Yunho sat opposite you, drinking his iced chocolate in solidarity with you.

"You can have coffee, you know?" You raised an eyebrow.

"It's okay. I don't mind this and I wouldn't want to tempt you to drink coffee." Yunho smiled. Gosh, he was too nice for his own good.

Your phone rang and you held the device, seeing Wooyoung calling you. Looking up at Yunho, he blinked back in confusion. You answered the call, sliding the phone to him.

"Yah! Where are you?!"

"Umm... Hi, Wooyoung." Yunho replied hesitantly while you looked out the window innocently, not wanting to be a part of this.

"... Yunho? Is that you? Why are you answering (y/n)'s phone? Where is she?"

"Hi. Yes, it is me. (y/n) handed the phone to me after answering so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say... We're both currently at the restaurant actually." Yunho spoke, a little worried with how Wooyoung was yelling but you seemed unaffected by it. Almost like you were used to this.

"Wait, wait. You're both at the restaurant? Did you even leave at all? I know (y/n) did because we dropped her home."

"Oh, I did. Don't worry. I just came in early and bumped into (y/n), who was already here. Do you... want to talk to her?" Yunho asked. You shook your head, mouthing 'no'.

"It's fine, she's probably hiding so she doesn't get in trouble. We're here to pick her up but I came upstairs to find her apartment empty."

"I see." Yunho looked at you with wide eyes and panic. You were stifling your laugh with your fist.

"Yah, (y/l/n) (y/n), I know you're listening now. Don't think you can use Yunho as a shield. You're gonna get it from us, especially Seonghwa hyung. Thanks, Yunho. We'll be there in a bit."

"Alright. See you." Yunho said and Wooyoung hung up. You let out a sigh. The boys wouldn't have let you come in early to prepare if they knew, worrying about you and wanting you to get enough rest. So you snuck here.

"Okay, Yunho. So you gotta protect me when the 3 come in here." You put your hands together.

"I'm sorry, (y/n). But all 3 of them scare me in some way." Yunho said.

"That's betrayal right there. Aren't golden retrievers supposed to be loyal and protective?" You asked jokingly, making Yunho shoot you a flat look.

"Why didn't you tell them you were coming here early to prep? They must have been worried." Yunho asked.

"Well, if I told them, they wouldn't let me come. Some times, I just want to cook. It's my own form of relaxation and doing it alone grounds me, brings me peace." You said.

"But they see it as me overworking." You scoffed. Any distraction away from your parents would suffice for you.

"They're just being good friends that are concerned about you." Yunho said. He knew how they felt because he would be concerned about you too. His words reminded you of Seonghwa's words this morning, him telling you how genuinely worried Yunho was about you when you called in 'sick'.

"Thank you for being a good friend and worrying about me, Yunho. But I'm okay, don't worry." You smiled softly, grateful that he openly cared for you even if you were new friends.

"I'm glad to hear that." He returned the affectionate smile. You looked out the window, leaning on your hand.

"If I had known you wanted to cook alone to get some peace, I would have come outside a lot earlier. I hope I didn't bother you." He said.

"You know what, I did get peace. I think I liked having you there with me in the kitchen." You confessed. If Yunho was shocked by your words, he didn't show it.

"Really? I wasn't too distracting?"

"Not at all. I thought I wanted to be alone. But you being there made me realise how much I didn't want to be alone. And when you left the kitchen first, I just hated the idea of being left on my own."

~

Series masterlist

[r-osehips]

snooped your tags, so: 12 and 16 for the year end book asks? please and thank you!

YESSSS thank you oh my god

12: Any books that disappointed you?

16: What is the most over-hyped book you read this year?

THE FUCKING OVERSTORY. Jesus CHRIST. ok, the descriptions of trees and how they communicate with one another and with the wider ecosystem, those descriptions were beautiful, though sometimes they edged into purple prose. but as soon as this man (author Richard Powers) starts trying to write human beings, it all goes to hell. no one is convincing. every attempt at romance is hamfisted and always heterosexual (except for the two bi women who sordidly had sexual histories with women that they never dared speak of and which the men around them found arousing). the way he describes the character who uses a wheelchair it is some of the most jaw-droppingly ableist language I have read in a modern novel, and also sooo so repetitive and hitting you over the head with the same adjectives every time. and then there's this female character who he has a huge boner for, which, great, i can support that in general, but unforch for him this resulted in weird objectifying language and ridiculous situations, such as, for example, the scene where this girl (who briefly was dead and soaking wet and naked, he described that vividly) -- this girl has been living in a redwood sequoia for months. no shower, no soap, no haircuts, no nothing. she's filthy. and she's, canonically, 200 feet in the air. and this logger who wants to kill the tree, he's shouting up at her and the guy she's with (and they are, i cannot emphasize this enough, 200 feet up). she leans over the railing of the treehouse to yell back at him. he says "WOAH you're GORGEOUS what are you doing up there when you could have any man you wanted!" and she's like "aw ha ha you should see me up close" and it's like. HE CAN'T SEE HER. HE LITERALLY CAN'T SEE HER. YOUR OBSESSION WITH HAVING YOUR MALE PROXIES HIT ON HER AND OBJECTIFY HER HAS LED TO THE DESTRUCTION OF YOUR LAST SHREDS OF PLAUSIBILITY. SOOOO FUCKING STUPID in a good book this would have been ENDEARING but no -- no, not here! because this, despite its countless awards and accolades, IS NOT A GOOD FUCKING BOOK. and yet it is so long. and it drags so much. and for what.

(from this prompt list if anyone wants to ask more)

EDITING TO ADD: WAIT. I forgot the thing I ACTUALLY hated the most about it!!!!!!!!!!!!! which is that. ok. so there's a refrain that happens throughout the book where a mysterious voice inside a character's head intones something like the most miraculous beings in 4 billion years of existence need our help. and the characters understand this to mean that the trees need the help of humans, because, like. deforestation. climate change. rampant destruction of forest ecosystems. etc. and that would be very fitting because the whole premise of the book is about the wonder of trees.

BUT NO. it turns out that the voice was THE TREES TALKING ABOUT HUMANS. as in: the trees are saying that WE need THEIR help and they feel soooooooo bad for us and they're simply begging for us to LET THEM SAVE US because it's ALL ABOUT US and the trees only matter because they're important TO US.

and I just think that if you are good at writing trees and shit at writing humans, and you're trying to write a sweeping novel about the glory and genius of nature, and you purport to be critiquing the destructive self-centeredness of much of modern humanity, then maybe you shouldn't undercut your entire fucking narrative by putting humans at the center of the universe. GOD. it's so stupid.