#show her how they didn't want to just save themselves but everyone else who had been beaten down by the church of the bulb

[wispythreads]

The Sugar Plum Fairy's goals...

Completely understandable that they needed to be opposed, but I still don't see her as bad. She's just, well. Not human. As far as she can tell, she is making the best, easiest choice she can see for the people who matter most to her. There isn't anything wrong with wanting to be hidden, after seeing what has happened to those like you. In her own way, she is being exactly how she wanted to present herself to other people, kind and sweet, extending that desire and method of self-preservation to that which she considers worth saving.

And, to a being that is a living spell, why would it matter if all of Candia lost its physical place in the land of Calorum? Why would it matter if the people she was saving had to "die" in the process, when, as far as she can tell, they are still just as alive in the home she's made for them as they were in Calorum?

[deadboyswalking]

Right after Zoro and Sanji get engaged, only hours from the proposal, they have an interesting late-night conversation.

"Gonna have to be a long engagement, Curly."

"And why's that?" Sanji asks sleepily from his comfortable position lying on Zoro's chest, "Having second thoughts already?"

"No!" Zoro replies, a bit too sharply before softening, "It'll just be a while until we can get back to the East Blue."

Sanji is silent for a long moment.

"Do you still have... family there?" he asks.

"No, but you do," Zoro says quietly, "You'd be sad if your old man weren't there."

Oh. Sanji hasn't even had a chance to think about Zeff yet, but Zoro has. Though Sanji was the one to propose, Zoro has clearly been thinking about this for a while. Zoro knows how important Zeff is to Sanji, how much Sanji loves The Baratie and the chefs there, and he's already planning for them to go back home for their wedding.

It's so different from Whole Cake Island, an unfamiliar and extravagant place where Sanji had been surrounded by detested blood relations, enemies, and strangers while he awaited political marriage to a sweet girl he barely knew. But Zoro knows Sanji and knows what he really wants, even if Sanji would never make a fuss and bring it up himself.

Sanji has never felt this loved.

"Yeah, the geezer would probably kill me if I got married and didn't invite him," Sanji finally says, his voice thick with emotion, "And The Baratie is the only place I'd trust to make my wedding feast."

"We could invite my sensei," Zoro adds, "And Johnny and Yosaku, if those two idiots haven't gotten themselves killed. I think they settled down in Nami's village."

"What about Mihawk?" Sanji asks.

"If I haven't defeated him yet, sure," Zoro grumbles, "He likes fancy restaurants and he'd probably get along with my sensei. Perona too since she'd haunt me forever if I left her out. What about Ivankov?"

Sanji grimaces, mostly for show.

"I'll invite Iva, but I don't think he'll show up. He's way too busy with his kingdom and the Revolutionary Army to go all the way to the East Blue just for our wedding."

Zoro hums in thought.

"I think you're wrong about that. Who else?"

Needless to say, by the time they finally fall asleep their tentative guest list has over 500 names on it. Even if Zoro and Sanji aren't quite as sociable as their captain (who they'll definitely have to restrain from inviting everyone he's ever met to their wedding), all of the Straw Hat Pirates have made many friends on their journey and will make more by the time they get back to the East Blue.

Sanji's last thought before drifting off in the arms of the man he loves is wondering how much advance notice he should give Zeff before his beloved restaurant is swarmed by all of the friends that the lonely little boy he saved grew up to have.

[justyouraverage-simp]

she's in good hands// t.s, s.r

pairing: steve rogers x reader (romantic), tony tark x daughter!reader (platonic)

warnings: tony being a bit of a douche to steve, tooth rotting happy relationships

summary: tony was very protective of everyone he cared about but his daughter meant the most to him out of anyone so when he has to face the music that shes growing up he finds it hard to accept especially when it comes to boys but not just any boy captain america

*gif not mine*

Y/N swore she could never love anyone as much as she loved her dad, he was the only man she needed in her life. The two were peas in a pod, they were best friends and after Y/N got her heart broken who was there to pick up the pieces? Her dad.

Everyone swore Tony wouldn't be a present father, that he would send his child off the first chance he got. Just like his parents did to him. But Tony used that to be better, he became the worlds best dad at least in Y/N's eyes and to him that's all that mattered.

****

When the avengers were formed they all was told to keep their hands to themselves when it came to Y/N. No one risked to see where the line was because Tony had never been so passionate about something in his life. His little girl (although she is now 24, she will always be the little girl he used to play tea parties with and dress up with her like princesses) was his world, she saved him when he lost his parents, she gave him a reason to keep going and he will always protect her.

What Tony wasn't prepared for was her getting to the age where she was interested in boys and becoming more curious about them and her feelings. She didn't have a mother figure in life really other than Pepper then eventually Nat became an auntie/ older sister to her, so it was down to him to teach her everything and it was the first time Pepper had seen Tony unsure of himself.

Y/N went through her fair share of rough relationships, the worst being a three year relationship that ended with her being cheated on. Tony was furious seeing his girl crying over someone. She swore to him she was done with men, that he was the only man for her, the only one she needed. She was happy being single and free. That was until 2011 when she met Steve Rogers.

*****

Y/N and Steve both agreed to keep the relationship a secret to start with so the two could find their footing without the whole world watching their every move. And also so they could work out how to tell Tony without putting him or Steve into an early grave.

"Hey, how would you feel about telling my dad about us?" Y/N said looking up at Steve who had his arm draped over her shoulder as they cuddled into the sofa.

"As long as you want to I'll do whatever you want sweetheart you know that" Steve says.

"I know I'm just nervous"

"I know you are but we love each other right?"

"Yeah"

"So your dad will see that and how he hasn't noticed yet I don't know but we will show him that I'm not like the others" Steve says placing a kiss onto Y/N's forehead.

It was a few hours later and Jarvis had made Y/N and Steve aware Tony was back from his mission with Nat and Clint. Everyone meet in the living room to welcome the three back when Tony looked up at his daughter suspiciously.

"Why are you being weird?" Tony says bluntly.

"Wow nice to see you too dad"

"Honey you know what I mean, your quiet and your not as happy to see me" "I just need to talk to you when you get a minute"

"You can talk to me whenever you need, I'm your dad"

"In private please?"

Tony and Y/N walk to her bedroom, Steve following behind sneakily to be there for Y/N.

"What's going on kiddo"

"I'm just going to come out and say it" Y/N says running a finger through her hair "I'm dating Steve"

"As in Captain America?"

"No Steve from down the road, yes Captain America"

Steve takes this a time to walk through the door and wraps his hand over Y/N's.

"No" Tony says quickly

"No?" Steve says "What do you mean no?"

"I mean nope, not happening, over my dead body. How else do you want me to say it, I can say it in another language if that helps you Cap"

"Dad, I wasn't asking you if I can, I'm telling you because I don't want to hide him. I want to hold his hand or sit next to him on the sofa without having too worry someone will catch on. I want you to be able to accept that I'm not your little girl anymore I've grown up" Y/N says getting more annoyed at her dad.

Seeing how passionate his daughter is makes him realise she loves Steve, not in the same way she loves Tony but the way he loves Pepper. It made him realise he will always be the man who taught her what to expect from men, to not accept anything less than 100%. Steve however he showed her what 100% is, he showed her the meaning of true love. He chose her and he would risk everything to make sure she knew how much she loved him.

Tony looked between the two of them "Rogers promise me something?"

"Yeah Tony?" Steve says unsure of what he's signing up for.

"Promise me you'll look after my girl, she's my world and if you hurt her I will not be held responsible for what happens"

"I promise, I will always protect her and I will always do what's right by her" Steve says looking down at Y/N lovingly, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

"Just because I know your together doesn't mean the PDA can come out thank you very much" Tony says as he leaves Y/N's bedroom shacking his head.

*****

That evening Y/N is cuddled back up to Steve on the sofa dozing off slightly as the Avengers all have a movie night which was tradition when someone came back from a mission.

"Tony I'm surprised you haven't blasted Steve to another planet for touching Y/N" Nat says looking over at the two.

"Nope, she's in good hands and I'm okay with that" Tony says as he watches Steve admire his girl sleeping.

[jinnie-ret]

black friday

han jisung x plus size!reader

genre: angst, fluff at the end

content warnings: body size insecurities, reader talking negatively about themselves

word count: 1.8k

summary: it should have been a nice, fun evening out, but your insecurities win and jisung is just as upset as you are when he finds out why

Here it is, the first imagine of my 1K followers event, thank you so much everyone! Just to preface that everyone is beautiful. You are all worthy and the way your body looks does not define you. Be confident in who you are because there is a part of you that every single person out there will appreciate. I myself have gone through body image issues and I still do, so some of this is coming through my own experiences. Just because reader is plus size and feeling down does not mean this reflects how everyone plus size feels, again, this is just my own personal experiences mixed in. If you ever wanna talk then just pm me and love to you all <3

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It was just a dinner.

Just a fancy evening dinner party for JYP, and you were Jisung's plus one of course, being his girlfriend it only made sense.

The invitations clearly stated that it was a black tie event, meaning that you were to arrive formally dressed and that you'd probably expect a glass of prosecco to be handed to you upon entry.

Now that, didn't sound too bad.

What did, was the pressure of finding something new to wear, that you felt suited your shape. It was a difficult feat, you felt like. You'd only order from places guaranteed with a return policy, because you knew for sure that what would seem like a small thing to someone else, would make you wish that you never bought the item in the first place.

You had many memories of going clothes shopping as a child, and breaking down into tears in the dressing rooms because the top was too clingy or the trousers didn't fit right or the dress didn't look right on you.

No one should have to feel like that as a 7 year old kid. No one should have to feel like that, ever.

And when it wasn't just the clothes not fitting right, it was how they suddenly became itchy after, and you wanted nothing more than to get it off of your body, feeling hot with anxiety. But then there was the music blasting in the shop, and your mum asking you to show her your outfit even though your vision was so clouded with tears and you felt like you could barely breathe.

To put it simply, it was overwhelming. It was even triggering, sometimes, going shopping for something to decorate your body when it was the thing you hated the most about yourself.

Why should you like it?

Because of Jisung.

He never failed to bring you up after you hit your lows. Feeling isolated and barren in your thoughts, like you were curled up into a dark corner, locked away for no one to save you, and yet his hand would reach forwards and pull you out, being your lifeline. You needed your lifeline right now.

Doing your makeup helped for sure. It was a great way to make you feel confident yet you didn't feel like you needed to rely on it to feel pretty. You loved how your highlighter showed off your cheekbones and how your eye makeup made the colour pop out. Painfully, Jisung would always wonder why the same thing wouldn't apply with clothing. Of course, you had your casual style that you had gotten used to, but when it came to things outside of your comfort zone, you were nervous - like anyone else would be.

The dress looked stunning in the picture. On the model, not you, you thought. Why did it cling to you like that? Why did it show off your love handles? Why couldn't it have flown outwards instead of making you feel like you look like a rectangle?

In reality, none of those things mattered. It was your personality shining through that really mattered, because others would notice your melodic laugh and your kinds words much quicker than forming an opinion on your body. Again, these were all of the things Jisung would say to you but they never registered in your mind.

Smoothing down the fabric of the black dress, you bit your lip as you stared at yourself in the mirror.

"Ji! I so should have worn a suit, babe!" you call out twisting awkwardly on your heels just to check over every inch of your body in the mirror.

You heard him chuckle as he entered the bedroom, eyes widening as he looked at you.

"Babe, you look amazing no matter what, don't worry, yeah?" Jisung walked behind you, kissing you on the cheek as he scanned his bedside table for his cologne.

"I-i think this part doesn't look right though..." you frowned, pinching desperately at the smooth fabric between your thumb and finger, trying to stretch it out so it doesn't cling to you. You didn't even realise how hard you were biting on your own lip, breaking the skin as red pooled yet blended in with your red lipstick.

"Babe, you look sexy as hell right now, I'm serious," Jisung murmured into your neck as he wrapped his arms around your waist, trying to ease your worries. "The dress looks amazing on you, plus, your curves look great in the dress. There's nothing to worry about," he added on, knowing that you would end up comparing yourself to anyone else because you always felt like you were bigger than everyone, and that that was a problem.

Jisung waited for your response as he placed small gentle kisses on your neck, but you were clearly so anxious that you began to zone out.

"Babe, hey look at me. Look into my eyes," Jisung's arms tightened slightly, successfully gaining your attention as you blinked and looked at him in the mirror.

"Hmm, yeah?" you frowned, sighing and desperately trying to hold back your tears.

"There you are baby, listen, I love your body, I love your curves. And no one can tell me or more importantly you, otherwise. You look incredible in that dress," Jisung moved in front of you so you wouldn't look at your reflection anymore and instead focus on him and his words.

"I just want a perfect body, Ji, it's not fair," your eyes watered as you let out a sob, voice cracking.

"No, no, no, oh baby, it's alright, I've got you," Jisung cuddled you tightly against him, heart breaking at your cries. If only you could see what he sees and what everyone else did too. He smoothed down your hair, fingers twisting in your curls as he did so.

"I hate it, I hate it, Ji, I hate my body, I hate my skin-" you whimper into him, floodgates opened and no filter on the words that came tumbling out of your mouth now that you were in the comfort of the guy you loved the most.

"Darling, look at me, just breathe for a second, yeah?" Jisung reluctantly pulled away from you, wishing he could hold you in his arms forever and protect you from any harm the world would try throwing at you.

"O-ok," you sniffled and nodded, looking upwards as you blinked your tears away in effort of not messing up your makeup, like that would have made a difference.

"I'm sorry this dinner party has stressed you out so much, if you want we just have a nice relaxing night and-" Jisung offered another option, seeing right in front of him the mental toll that the idea of going to this event had taken on you. To him, you had seemed fine all week, so it must have been building up for a while.

"No, please don't. I... I want to go for you, I really do, it's just hard. I wanna be perfect like all your other friends," your shaky voice stopped him from carrying on as you placed a hand on his chest and adjusted the tie he was wearing, effectively distracting your own mind.

"Don't worry about my friends. Your body is none of their business. I'm sure they'd think you look amazing too. I know I could never keep my eyes away from you, I just wanna hug you and grab your love handles and kiss your cheeks and squeeze your-" Jisung rambled pressing little kisses all over your face to get you to laugh, and when he was successful, he let out a chuckle of his own.

"O-ok, o-ok," you pecked him on the lips before taking a few deep breaths and sat back in front of your vanity, quickly making a start on retouching your makeup.

"I wish you didn't worry so much, baby. I know I can't force you to see things how I do but if I could stop you from having all these thoughts in your head I would, you know that right?" Jisung stood behind you, mesmerised as you got yourself ready again, and he couldn't help but play with your hair.

"I know babe, I know- ow!" you winced, batting his hands away from your hair, "you tugged too hard," you wrinkled your nose at him.

"I'm bored, hurry up, I wanna take pictures of us for my Instagram story," he whined, shaking you gently by the shoulders. He was glad he had calmed you down and brought out your playful mood again, and for a moment he was worried about suggesting the idea of pictures when that's partly what you were stressed out about. He was relieved when that didn't throw you off.

"You always wanna take pictures of me," you shake your head fondly at him, putting your lipstick down and standing to grab your handbag.

"Of course I do! You're my girlfriend! Look at this picture," Jisung brought out his phone and quickly found a picture in his gallery, "I love this one here, because you look pretty like the sun. But then in this one here, you're pretty like the wind," he even zoomed in on your face, admiring you.

"Ji, babe, my hair has gone everywhere in that photo haha," you laughed when he zoomed in, seeing your face screwed up in the photo with your hair flying back behind you, some of it sticking in the air.

"Mmm, don't care, you're pretty to me no matter what. Now, come on, let's go," Jisung shoved his phone in his pocket and kisses you for a second, always having to do so after you freshly put lipstick on, a habit of his, you could say.

"Ji, you look so handsome tonight by the way," you scanned him up and down, a black suit and his fluffy permed hair with curls that still lasted from a performance the other day.

"Hey! We gotta go! Don't flip this round on me, you!" Jisung grabbed your hand and tugged you towards him, laughing at your blank stare at him. "We'll miss the whole event at this rate... don't look at me like that," Jisung stopped still.

"Like what?" you tilted your head to the side, eyes shining and staring right back up into his.

"Like..." he blushed, "come on, if we stay any longer I'm not gonna be able to keep my hands off of you," he turned around, intertwining his hand with yours and leading you out of the bedroom, turning the light switch off on the way.

"Wouldn't be so bad," you giggled, before he whined once more.

"Babe!"

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[elizais]

hi! can you do a little something like if dazai and reader knew each other in the PM and stay together and go to the agency? not like a fic thing more like a short little thing of all of the ada together! if not don't worry x

of course!! i love requests 🩷🩷

"remember this one?"

osamu dazai x fem!reader established relationship, reader was in PM with dazai, fluff warnings: ??

everyone knew of you and dazai both being from the port mafia, it was rarely brought up anymore. the agency enjoyed having a big group hang out every few weeks at someone's place, nothing over the top but it usually ended up in a couple of arguments over a board game. (monopoly ended up being banned for a year after kunikida and dazai got into a screaming match at yosano's place.)

and tonight, it was yours and osamu's turn to host. at some point during the work day, ranpo suggested unsolved cases online. nothing serious, just thefts. and that was the plan!

everyone was turning up in casual clothes, kunikida being the first to arrive. osamu greeting him at the door of a home he had certainly not expected to belong to dazai. how you two were together was also a mystery to the man. how you could put up with him? nobody knew.

when kunikida was admiring the interior, osamu read his mind and answered his unspoken question with, "when you are an executive in the mafia you get good savings, kunikida-kun!" he smiled.

"where is y/n?" kunikida asked dazai as he was getting kunikida a drink. "she's gone to grab ranpo, and to approve of whatever cases he wanted to solve. to make sure he doesn't get too out of hand for a relaxed evening."

kunikida and dazai simply watched tv as they waited for everyone else, dazai trying to gossip but kunikida shutting him down immediately. you and the others all walked in with a box in hand with the cases. the only person who couldn't make it being fukuzawa as he was meeting with a friend.

"osamu? can you get everyone drinks please?" you asked as he and kunikida walked towards you and your group. "of course, bella!" he smiled before asking everyone what they wanted and grabbing the snacks.

everyone made themselves at home as you and atsushi chose a case, a comfortable silence between the two of you as you flicked through the large thefts that were forgotten about years ago. "how is this one, y/n?" atsushi spoke as he shown you some papers conjoined with a paperclip. the summary being two unknown teens stealing miscellaneous objects from an office. roughly amounting to $2000 in damages.

not looking over it too thoroughly, "looks good!" you spoke as everyone else filtered into the living space.

although ranpo was the one who suggested it, he knew it would be you and him gossiping whilst everyone else racked their brains over why they would have done it. and that was just what had happened!

everyone else was trying to figure out who and why as it just seemed weird to steal stationary and other random items!

you and ranpo were sat on one of the couches talking as everyone else was sat in a circle on the floor in front of you with paperwork being passed around.

"so.. did you hear about-" ranpo begun, trying to gossip about the cafe's workers drama before getting cut off by osamu tapping you on the knee from where he sat on the floor with the others cross legged.

" 'donna! remember this??" he shown you the photo caught on cctv that was incredibly blurry whilst giggling. squinting, you took the piece of paper before letting out an "ohh! yeah, of course i do!" quiet enough so only osamu and ranpo would hear.

the photo showing an approximately 15 year old boy dressed in a suit with bandages over his eye, black dress pants with a white shirt and a black tie. next to him, a young girl close in age who was smiling and wearing a long black coat too big for her and also formally dressed, carrying a bunch of staplers.

ranpo didn't tell the rest of the group and neither did you two, laughing quietly as they got incredibly frustrated with how it seemed that the thieves done it just to confuse people (which is exactly why you both done it).

would you ever tell people that you both done these thefts as teens whenever you were bored? maybe. but tonight while everyone was stumped? not a chance.

a/n! the poll for bf!chuuya has been written but is in my drafts for tomorrow for those who voted for him. i will do more polls in the future but school has started again and homework/sports are heavy rn !!

reblogs are appreciated and covered in glitter

[snakeunderyourboot]

can I talk about about Miraculous Team from s2 finale? I'm going to talk about Mireaculous Team from s2 finale

IT HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL

Like, narratively, at the end of s2 Hawkmoth got a new powerful ally Mayura, who can create senti-beings, which makes Akuma much more powerful than before. Even if LB and CN know that the peacock miraculous is damaged, they don't know to what extent and how exactly it affects its holder. The fact that Mayura even goes through wielding damaged miraculous already shows her huge trust and support of Hawkmoth and whatever his plan is.

So as the power of the antagonist grows, the protagonists also need to become stronger. The antagonist should always be a step ahead, BUT the protagonist should follow not so far after them because if not, it would be atomic bomb vs coughing baby. So LB and CN on their side, have themselves, a box of miraculouses, master Fu(debatable but okay), and some power-up additions. Only the 5-min rule after transformation is still present, they can't go around to give away all miraculouses because then it would be a repeat of the butterfly miraculous situation, and master FU isn't exactly helpful(especially later in the season where he is literally hunted by HM)

So. LB and CN need help

And if bad guys can team up, why can't good guys team up too?

And so we have a Mirauculous Team with now extended use of mirauclouses! We have Rena Rouge, who is secretly Alya, best friend of Marinette (or secterly LB), whose lifelong dream was to be a superhero. Now, I am sure, that being a superhero and having access to ALLL information that was hidden from the public, would go great for a young journalist who already had some fuck-ups and posting not great information. Also, sometimes your dream of a superhero doesn't match with reality! So is it really worth it to be a superhero? Sure, you want to help but are you really capable of providing such help if your first thought is content for your blog? Also also NOW IT"S YOUR TURN TO LIE TO YOUR FRIENDS. How does that feel?

And we have Carapace, who is Nino, best friend of Adrien, whose literal definition is being chill. Sure when needed, he will rise to the occasion, but again - is it really worth being a hero? Nino is a good person, he fought tooth and nail to get Adrien his birthday party, but saving the whole world? Nino?? The simple guy who just loves his friends and family and wants them to be okay??? That guy???? Also also LB and even sometimes CN would talk hours about responsibility and how important miraculouses are, but like...aren't they making it worse? Maybe the HM would fuck off after awhile, if other miraculouses didn't show up. Maybe the path of least resistence IS sometimes a good path. Why no one talks about it?

And last but not least we have Queen Bee or Chloe Bourgeois, the person who literally no one wanted to have a miraculous in the first place but it happened so we ball I guess. Chloe really admires LB but you know how idols tend to be when you actually meet them. And yeah okay, Chloe fucks up a lot in the first months of having a miraculous on semi-permanent base and LB criticize her, but she always tries to make up with expensive goods and screaming how much LB is better than anyone else. She doesn't understand why LB keeps asking her to treat normally. How LADYBUG can be a normal person??? She is a goddess, someone so cool and realized and everyone loves her and she keeps getting praise for just existing and...why does LB sometimes seem to be so human, so exhausted and stressed? That doesn't make sense...also also now that Chloe has miraculous she can't lose it. She needs to be better, to keep miraculous. But what does this "better" entitle? Better at battle, at powers, at SCHOOL?? How would famous Abry react to that I wonder?

As a cherry on top, we have LB and CN trying to learn how is it to work in a bigger team, to share responsibility and to help each other. It was them for a while and now there are new people and change is scary. How would that affect the love square?

The most important bit is that all members of the Miraculous Team have connections to LB and CN civilian life. They are all intervened, and they are all people we know and love and want to know more about! Sure, a lot of conflicts I brought up based on some of my vague ideas, but they could be explored!

The arc where Alya posts some crucial miraculous info on her blog, which HM notices and uses in the next battle, which hurts some of the members of the team. The arc where Nino is so convinced he is not cut out for hero life he practically searches for excuses to be put out of the team (one of the battles really scared his little brother and Nino wasn't there to help. If he cannot help his brother, how can he help the whole city?). The arc where Chloe tries to be good, is more or less okay at it, and then fails spectacularly(does it mean they will take her miraculous please no she can't lose pollen she can't lose someone who loves her as she is pleas no)

As a bonus, we could have had a Master FU BEING AN ACTUAL MENTOR INSTEAD OF just some lore-exposition guy. If he is so guilty about his past mistakes, well, here are 5 traumatized teenagers, the least you could do is actually help them. And no, not only Marinette, give others some advice too.

By the end of s2 we would have a good team of characters we already loved and now love even more, that are complicated and interesting AND GUESS WHAT the formula of "marinette has a problem with her life, akuma somehow related to it happens, LB fight it, everything is resolved, Marinette has some real-life lesson" STILL WORKS. Just now we can pair up Marinette with some other characters and if they happen to learn something too then GOOD. Kids can draw parallels and understand the lesson regardless

I just love those kids....I think they had a really good opportunity to spice up the show but leave the premise more or less the same.

And yeah we have "Miraculous Team" in s6 now, but all the points I mentioned before are non-existent now. There are too many people, for an antagonist who is so far less threatening than HM. It can change but that wouldn't fix the whole issue. All of Marinette's class doesn't have this much connection to her, as her literal best friend, her childhood friend, her crush and her rival/bully.

Anyway

I gushed enough(I didn't, but I am sleepy)

[fluffyglass]

Gramble gets sick a lot. Everyone knows it. Lack of nutrition doesn't help, and what he does eat isn't the best for him either. Eggabell's nearly given up on him at this point. She just can't help a grumpus who doesn't want help. She'll check up on him if he hasn't left his barn in a few days, but as his state gets worse, it gets harder for her to come up with options aside from the obvious. She can't spend all her time babying a grown adult who starves himself on purpose.

So, he doesn't get better. He leaves his barn less and less these days, usually barely managing to get out of bed. What little energy he has is sapped away as he sleepwalks, spending his precious seconds aimlessly wandering the town instead of doing anything else. He'd love to get outside more. Play with his snax. Walk around town. Talk to people. But he doesn't. He lays in bed all day, trying to will the pain away.

After Eggabell disappeared, there was nobody to look after him. Wiggle tried, but she didn't know what to do. Gramble might have left town sooner, if he could, but he didn't. He couldn't even try to recover in bed anymore. Day and night he jolted himself awake in the corner of his barn, making sure nobody helped themselves to his kin. Sometimes he'd fall asleep, and when he woke up, they were gone. He could never catch them in the act. But slowly, it stopped happening. Snaxburg grew quieter every day. Wiggle stopped coming back. He would have been alone, able to rest, able to finally recover...

But Wambus was in the barn that night.

There never was a fight. Filbo just didn't know how else to describe it. Gramble had spent the last of his strength releasing his snax, so he could barely keep himself upright even before Wambus's fist collided with his skull. Gramble could barely tell what was happening, but he'd thankfully accepted it. He was going to die. But he was going to die having saved his family. The pain never stopped, even when Triffany showed up. Even as Gramble forced himself up off the ground. Even as he wandered away from town, calling out for his kin, faintly. Ever so faintly.

Gramble was going to die the moment he collapsed on the beach.

[dreamingcricket]

Hi Cricket! I soaked up your Tav/Halsin snippet, about them being injured and shrugging off Halsin's advances, it's absolutely sweet! I kindly request another Tav/Halsin if you don't mind... My Tav is a naive little sunshine and as a tiefling bard loves to dance, sing along and play on her fiddle, I imagine her having skirts that flow around her feet whenever she danced and plays around camp or inn's for some coin. Halsin being in love with Tav and like totally unable to hide it and it's obvious to everyone but Tav themselves. I would love for him to join her dancing, maybe something slower, more intimate with meaningful touches. He loves seeing her so at ease in rare moments like this, even when he's a clumsy dancer. 🤭

I'm so happy people are enjoying these!

Halsin was unused to revelry. 

He couldn't speak for every druid, of course, their kind ranged far and wide in both calling and temperament, but the Emerald Grove was prone only to subdued rites. He certainly couldn't fault the refugees for wanting to release some tension, however, and he wanted to show his appreciation to the small band that had saved him and his grove alike. Her, especially. 

And of course she was at the center of it all.

She reminded him of a celestial center, the hub of a wheel around which everything else turned. She glowed in the firelight, all orange and gold and purple, skirts flying as she fiddled. Music seemed to follow her everywhere. She danced like water, one pattern to the next without pause. It was beautiful. She was beautiful.

“You’re staring.” Shadowheart was difficult to read, as she appeared behind him, goblet in hand. He couldn't tell if her observation was meant to be an admonishment or not.

“I know.” He was usually reserved, if not stoic, and his developing feelings bubbling to quickly to the surface was alarming, but it would do no good to deny it.

"We all know. You're not subtle, Halsin." 

His attention was drawn back to Tav as she laughed. The sound was like the sun on his face.

Shadowheart followed his gaze. “Nobody blames you, Halsin. But she should know.”

“I don’t want to rush her.”

“Under any other circumstances, I’d agree. But we’re running out of time, and…” She shakes her head, clearing the morbid thought. “Just… everyone knows.

She finishes her number with a bow, and yields the stage to Alfira, who begins to pluck a lively tune. Her eyes lock onto Halsin’s and she bounds over, holding out her hands.

“Come, dance with me?”

He could feel the eyes of the camp upon him. Knowing. Halsin coughed. “I’m not much of a dancer. I may trample your feet.”

“That doesn't matter!” She giggled, and leaned in conspiratorially. “Everyone’s too drunk to notice anyway.”

Suddenly, she was pulling on his hand, tugging him to the wide patch of dirt that served as a dancing circle in the middle of camp. His heart hammered against his ribs, and it wasnt from embarrassment. 

He could vaguely recollect the steps, some hazy memories of his youth floated back to him as they began to whirl. A tavern dance, not refined in the slightest, but light and fast, more momentum than intent. While there was something to be said for his particular brand of ursine grace, it didn't lend well to dancing, and he let her lead. Her hands were so small in his, and she flitted around him, almost birdlike. 

“You’ll have to slow down, Tav, I’m not as young as I used to be.” 

She giggled, twirling under his arm. “I think you’re a fine dancer.” 

“The wine has apparently gone to your head, as well.”

“Perhaps. Or maybe it's just good company.”

The music slowed, and their pace changed. They circled each other, hand in hand. She held his gaze, not defiantly, but with tender trust. He hoped beyond hope he wasn't reading too far into her gaze. 

There was an ease to her here he hadn't seen before. The weight she carried throughout the battle at the goblin camp (and how fierce she had been, she had torn through their ranks like a diving hawk) had seemingly lifted. She wasn't a warrior, her hands were gentle as they gripped his, and so small. He loved her already, but even more so like this, when she was unburdened.

He wondered if this was what she was usually like, sans tadpole. There’s a terrible pang in his chest at the thought: that her days were numbered, that she might be doomed. It's quickly followed by a wash of righteous fury. It wouldn't happen. He wouldn't let it. 

She stepped in close. Their palms pressed together, chests nearly touching, and he nearly stopped breathing. She was so close, if he only leaned down, their lips would touch. He was halfway to her, his rational brain screaming to stop and his instincts screaming to kiss her until she couldn't breathe.

And then she pulled away, dropping into a curtsy. The song was over. 

There was already a  buzzing flock of people vying for her attention. Halsin released her hand and bowed out of the center of camp, excusing himself as she leaped onto a rock to begin a new number. 

It had been a long, long time since anyone had made him feel this way. 

He rolled into the grass, reveling in the coolness against his heated skin, and prepared to trance. 

Halsin smelled her before he saw her. Lilac and honeysuckle and musk, and the scent of the open road. She moved to lay beside him in the grass, and whispered, "Can I join you? Everyone is quite drunk, Karlach is sleeping in my tent for some reason, and I’m getting really tired."

"Of course."

He didn't expect her to nestle into his side, his heart began to hammer in his chest, his skin became hot. 

She gazed upwards, and pointed into the sky, at a smattering of stars. "That's the huntsman." Her hand drops back down. "At least I think it is. We didn't have much time for stargazing at home, and the city lights are so bright. But here? I feel I can see every single one."

Halsin pointed upward himself, “The… spine of the dragon? I realize… I don’t know exactly how to say it in common, that’s as close as I can get.”

She hummed. “I can see it. With the wings, there.” She gestured lazily, and he became aware of how close she was for the second time that night. He was less intimidated by his own feelings here, without the watchful eyes of the party, and only the music of night time insects, the grass rising around them like a shelter. She turned her face toward him, blinking slowly, and clearly holding back a yawn. “I think… I’ll just sleep here.”

“That’s fine by me.”

The rhythm of her breathing slows and evens out, and he brushes a stray lock of hair away from her cheek, running his thumb over the apple of her cheek. 

Tomorrow, she would take up her burdens again. She would brave her future with the noble ferocity he had come to admire, he was sure, but he would miss this carefree night. 

Whatever it took, he’d ensure she had many more to come.

[apomaro-mellow]

Tommy + Carol Cameo on bingo Steddie, I feel like that could be interesting

Oooh let's do a second take on this. This one's post s4

Eddie watched from the door as Steve primped himself in the mirror. Normally it was endearing, sometimes even enough to get him hot. But tonight of all nights, it wasn't doing anything for him. Okay that was a lie, it was doing something for him but not as much as it usually did.

"You promised you would be nice", Steve said, fiddling with his hair like it wasn't already perfect.

"I promised I wouldn't bite. And you know that's different."

Steve wiped any product off his hands and then stuck his thumbs into the corners of Eddie's mouth. "I know." He let his thumbs trace his boyfriend's canines lovingly. "But you know what I meant Mr. Wordsmith."

Twenty minutes later, they were sitting across a from Tommy and Carol in the booth of a diner. Steve had run into Carol in the middle of the street and somehow they'd awkward conversationed themselves into having this double date.

After a long silence, Tommy spoke up first. "What are we even doing here? He dumped us, remember?"

"Yeah, a good fuckin' call if you ask me", Eddie said.

"Hey, you were the one bitching a fit when we found out they were dating", Carol said, glaring at Tommy.

"Because he-you know that he-", Tommy started and stopped.

"Carol said you guys wanted to make amends", Steve said. "I don't really know how, but I...", he took a breath. "You guys were grade A assholes but I was too. And I miss you...us." He took Eddie's hand under the table for strength.

"Yeah, well, why'd you never come back?", Tommy asked.

"Because I can't go back to that person. And it's not because of Nancy or anyone else. I'm not that person anymore."

"No, you're the kind who hangs out with losers. And now even worse you're hitching your wagon to a-"

"Don't", Steve stopped him in his tracks because he knew what word was about to drop from Tommy's lips. Murderer. Official reports didn't do much for small town opinions.

"But you know how it looks, right?", Carol raised a brow. "You're about to be like him, a town pariah."

Steve knew they believed what everyone else did. That Eddie was responsible for the Spring Break murders. He couldn't tell them everything, he wouldn't burden them with that but... He shared a look with Eddie before turning his attention back to them.

"I wanna show you guys something."

They went out behind the diner and Steve took a deep breath. "Eddie didn't do anything. It was...someone else. I can't tell you anything, but I can show you." Slowly, he lifted up his shirt to reveal the scars left behind by the bat bites.

Carol's hands went to her mouth while Tommy stood there with a heartbroken expression.

"Jesus, Stevie. Were you, were you fighting a bear or what? Shit."

"How are you-? What happened?", Carol whispered.

Steve let his shirt down. "I can't tell you everything. But I can say that I'd be dead if Eddie wasn't there." As well as Nancy and Robin, but Steve wouldn't bring up their names now. "Eddie's a goddamn hero. Even if this town will never know it, I won't stop saying it."

"I'd jump in that lake every time, tiger", Eddie smiled.

Carol had so many questions. And she was pretty sure only half of them would only be answered. But they had come here to make amends. And there was one way she could do that.

"So, if Munson wasn't responsible...if he was out there helping and s-saving you, then Jason Carver incited a whole mob based on what? Just hearsay?"

"Hearsay, conjecture, and a healthy dose of fearmongering", Eddie said, hands in his back pockets.

Carol and Tommy shared a look. She wiped some stray tears from her face and Tommy sniffled a bit as they composed themselves.

"Well, we can't make Eddie a hero. But we can do the next best thing", she said.

Eddie raised a brow, intrigued while Steve waited, already having an idea of what she had come up with.

"Gossip is a powerful thing. And Jason's not around to defend himself anymore", Carol said.

"And as I recall, you were pretty good at spitting venom too", Tommy said. "I know you said you're not that guy anymore, but what about using those powers for good?"

Steve considered it but not for very long. "Between the three of us, we could probably run his cronies and their families out of town."

Steddie bingo under the cut

[allwormdiet]

Gestation 1.5

I wonder if Taylor's night is gonna get any better

This is actually a really good passage for the building tension. Lung's not gonna kill our protagonist in the fifth chapter of the novel but she doesn't know that. She can see her options narrowing down and her chances getting slimmer, she doesn't know there's like, a million plus words more to her story. This could be it, and this really sells it.

Okay actually I'm gonna circle back to something I totally missed in 1.4, which is the mild comedy in Taylor hacking multiple EpiPens in her kit as a teenager with, I'm gonna guess a modest allowance? You can tell this was written by someone who hasn't had to put up with US healthcare, that's minimum like $600 bucks of medicine, and frankly I don't think it's going to be any cheaper when the predominant pharmaceutical company is run by a Nazi.

Sweet of her dad, and also I cannot imagine facing down a hitter like Lung with nothing but a can of pepper spray, Jesus Christ that's stressful. This never comes up in the retellings, Taylor has cast-iron balls to pull this stunt.

Kudos on this, it's such a cool descriptor, and again: huge props to Taylor for staring this down and not running like hell.

Side note, either Lung's eyes are a magnet for violence or else Taylor is compelled to target the eyes. Maybe both. See if it keeps happening with either of them I guess.

Something something Jurassic Park reference, also do we need the reminder that he has an accent

YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH IT'S THE CAVALRY BABY

Listen I know I'm a little spoiled here and the bias is showing but I already love these kids, look at em! They decided to swing at Lung for the sake of the girl who'd already pried him off their backs, they didn't need to save her but they did. I can't wait for them all to break my heart one way or another, it's gonna rule.

Grue is real as fuck for his costume, it's so cool.

Also I desperately want to know what the conversation was like for the Undersiders to decide "yeah fuck it let's put up our dukes against the head of the ABB." Who voted in favor of that?

The "but yeah" really sells the underlying youth of the character, btw. Gonna go out on a limb and guess there's a lot of kids who feel like they need to hold themselves like adults (and then don't really know how) in this story.

Squad squad squad squad

Quick and dirty introduction to the team, good enough start as anything, also lmao at Taylor just standing there with jelly legs trying to process this and completely unable to make words happen. Poor girl

"Certainly least" my ass, kid's got style.

Can Tattletale actually stop herself from talking? Not like in a power sense I mean in a needing to be smart way. I assume she can but it's not out of the question that she just cannot put a lid on it. I've known people like that.

Also an effortless display of trust and teamwork. Tattletale says boogie and Bitch is on it immediately.

So the fox parallels just start immediately, okay. Everyone always compares her to a fox, or makes her fursona a fox, or describes a vulpine grin, and I figured that was drawing on the text but I didn't think it came up literally in the first chapter she appears.

There's a couple different emotions I feel at this last paragraph. Per usual I feel bad for Taylor because this truly just has not been her night, she gets like half a W against fucking Lung but gets scared half to death, saved by villains, and then mistaken for a villain as well. Awful way to start a career.

On the other hand, Taylor, honey, you're terrifying and used a bunch of venomous and painful insects in order to break up a gang meeting, you're in all blacks and grays with big ol yellow eyes, your entire aesthetic screams villain, this is at least partly your own fault.

On the third hand, knowing full well how important the Undersiders are gonna be, and how feared Taylor is gonna be as a future villain, it's not hard to look at this like. Well what's so bad about them being villains, and what's so bad about being mistaken for one. Obviously it's a matter of morality and perspective and stuff like that, Taylor seems to only now be dipping her toes into moral flexibility, but the gift/curse of future knowledge means there's something, I dunno, a little sweet about this encounter.

Current Thoughts

Tired. Dragging my hands down my face rn. Last one for tonight.

This was a cool sequence. Rough introduction to the Docks and ABB aside, the fight between Lung and Taylor was super cool, a great feeling of the momentum shifting between the two as Taylor's bugs stop being able to keep up with the fire, the desperate play with the pepper spray, and being just. Fully backed into a corner until she's saved by the cavalry. If this is how the fight scenes keep going for this series then I think I'm in for a fun ride.

Also yaaaaaaaaay the team has been introduced, I can't wait to find out how much of the perception of them I've gotten through fanworks and my own half-baked osmosis is going to contrast with their canon personalities. Grue being all serious and Tattletale being a smirking know-it-all literally described as fox-like feel like solid indicators, if nothing else.

Next chapters tomorrow. It's Armsmaster right after, right? See what he's like.

[multifandombullshitbabes]

It makes me so mad seeing people genuinely believe that Alicent is just sacrificing Aegon just because. Like no!!! Fuck, did y'all watch that scene with your eyes closed??

Leading up to that scene, we have Alicent that knows there's abt to be a war, she started it (it was gonna happen anyway but whatever), but she tried to stave off the guilt of it by believing that she was doing her dying husband's a favor. She thought she was doing good even if i caused so much pain.

Then, she learns it was a complete misunderstanding already too late: the first big event of the war has happened, and it was only a taste of what's to come. Even then, it already brought so much grief, not even talking abt the grief from the first episode. And before that convo with Rhaenyra, Alicent could lie to herself and think that it was all for something, it was all meant to be just like Viserys said (even though she had her doubts, but who was she to refuse his dying wish?). Now? She doesn't have that anymore, and she is now scrambling and improvising, just keeping it going cuz wtf else is she supposed to do.

But her tipping point? When she realized that the one true innocent in all of this, Halaena, would not be spared in this war, no matter how much she tried to not think about it. That scene where they both run away from their hungry and angry subjects, that's when Alicent realizes, in a kind of foolish way, that she as well was going to suffer, not just Aegon or Aemond, but Halaena and herself as well: that even though they wouldn't go into battle themselves, they wouldn't be spared.

Honestly, she already knew this of course, she just didn't want to think about it too much: that in a war its not only those who battle who die, but also everyone else. It is here that Alicent realizes the true point of war: nothing. It is only death and casualties, no winners.

This is WHY she has that scene of running away and swimming into the lake. She cannot bear to think that she's doomed so many innocents to die, something she was aware of before but now has lived the reality of it firsthand with her own sweet daughter. She understands the futility in her actions, in her petty schemes, in following her fathers footsteps, in trying to be a good Christian girl in a society that hates women, etc. She understands that nothing fucking matters. So, she might as well save her daughter and granddaughter this fate of death if she can; especially because she KNOWS she cannot save either of her sons.

And that's the thing: Aegon is at the center of this conflict, he is likely to die; Aemond is their biggest weapon in this war, he is very likely to die. Alicent, in a very dark way, has already resigned herself to losing both of her sons, Aegon since he was born and Aemond since the war happened. Aegon is that one death that she is constantly reminded of, every time she looks at Rhaenyra she sees the one that has the power and right to forfeit his life, as they literally say in the show multiple times. Is it logical? Not really, considering we don't have evidence of Rhaenyra herself thinking like this. But since the men think it that way, it must be the only truth ever, and so the story goes.

Could Alicent have denied Viserys wish and let things be? Sure, but then she wouldn't be Alicent, the one desperate to be seen as a dutiful wife that gave birth to the rightful heir to the throne and who should feel very bitter about and so she does (and she does, but she also admits that Rhaenyra would've made a fine queen, she knows that the world wouldn't have ended if she let things be). It is that heavy subject of her being the only witness to his last moments and so she feels naturally duty bound as his wife to carry his last message. I cannot fault her for this, no matter the consequences of it.

And when we get to that last scene, we see all of this, just as Rhaenyra says: that, per her father's wish, she should be the heir and therefore Aegon NEEDS to die. And Alicent doesn't want to accept this truth, because that is her child, but she knows it to be true. Neither woman likes this, Rhaenyra is literally shaking and crying, Alicent looks like she can barely breathe in that entire scene. They are both mothers, and one knows exactly how bad it is to lose a child and the other knows she is about to find out how it feels.

However, they both believe this is the best that they can do in this shit situation, to avoid more innocent deaths, to stop this war from moving forward, to let each other lead their own lives as they wish. Aegon has to be sacrificed in name of the Targaryen line, and it is fucked up and Alicent does not choose this willingly but only because she knows it will happen either way, since Aegon quite literally cannot defend himself right now. She knows he is going to die, so she might as well do it in a way that ensures peace to the realm if she can.

Im sorry, bit that last scene was amazingly written and so well acted and performed and it is so disappointing seeing people being fucking foolish about it. So so sick of it. Alicent loves her children despite all of them being a product os statutory rape, the reason why she lost her vest friend, the reason why she had to resort to her cruel and petty ways, just like her father. She still loves them all and it is heartbreaking to watch.

[transfemlogan]

Let's Talk About "Watering Down Characters" (& Very Specifically Remus Sanders)

I am responding to THIS POST, "Why I think people should be allowed to “water down” Remus", by @radioactive-dazey and creating a discussion around this topic. I feel like the idea of changing a character's personality is heavily talked about and done within every fandom aaannd with this post being talked about, I want to step in and say some things because I have Many Things To Say.

And before anyone says shit: I am a ts criticiser, yes, but I criticise everything about the fandom and show— not just Thomas. IDGAF that we have "better things to talk about", I've been talking about those things for like 4 years now and now I'm criticising the fandom. I can do it all.

Feel free to respond with your own opinions if you're replying to me. Can't say I'll reply to them all, but I like hearing what people have to say.

I am very aware that watering down characters is an inherent part of fandom. No matter what fandom you join or what media you get into, there is always a huge part of that community that waters characters down, changes their entire personality, or writes them differently. I do agree that this is just What Happens when you are in fandom. Not everyone understands source material, not everyone has the same opinions when analysing a show, and not everyone cares about it that much.

Personally, I don't get why you would talk about a piece of media and change everything about it, because then you're not enjoying the media, you're enjoying something completely different. But this is fandom and people have fun in different ways and I agree that you need to learn when to look the other way and let people exist.

However, I run a critical blog and my fun is criticising.

"It can be hard to write intrusive thoughts in a respectful way, so people avoid it."

OP brings up that writers may not know how to write intrusive thoughts and so they avoid it, in order to not "writing wrong". Which is alright to do! You don't have to write about serious topics... BUT... if you are voluntarily choosing to write about a series that includes the topic that you don't know how to write about, maybe... you should take the time to learn how to write it.

If you don't want to write about intrusive thoughts, I don't think you should be forced to, but if you are writing a character that controls intrusive thoughts, it makes zero sense to completely remove that aspect when you simply should not write him.

It's brought up how mischaracterising Remus leads to the misunderstanding of intrusive thoughts themselves and stigma surrounding them. Changing Remus' character is fun and all, until we remember that he represents something very serious and important. It's something that actively impacts people. Which is my issue with "escapism" within fandom (touched on later in this post). When people actively ignore real issues happening within the fandom, or in this case, the real issues the series itself is about, by ignoring Remus' character, watering it down, or completely changing it, you are causing more harm to intrusive thoughts and the disorders that are connected to them.

Let's bring up an example: Jimmy from Mouthwashing.

Mouthwashing is a game about a very heavy topic: sexual assault. You play as Jimmy, the main perpetrator, though all the men in the game have a role to play (bystander affect, toxic masculinity, etc).

The fandom is already watering down these characters and topics. Introducing shipping to a game with characters that shouldn't be shipped; making the characters all sweet, perfect, stupid angels who didn't know any better; implying that if Anya had told someone else then she would've been saved, and it's her fault she told Curly in the first place. I could go on and on.

Obviously, Sanders Sides is about different topics. Obviously, Remus is not the same as Jimmy. This isn't a perfect comparison.

But it'd be completely strange if someone told you they were using Mouthwashing as a way to escape real-life issues. That they're writing Jimmy differently, or completely removing the sexual assault entirely, because it's "hard to write".

This is at best super fucking stupid, and at worse actively harmful (which it is). If you can't write the topic of SA, simply do not write for MW in the first place. The same applies with Sanders Sides, and any other piece of media.

"Writers use writing/fandom to escape real life and may not want to talk about those topics."

This is not an inherently wrong statement, but it does ask a question:

If you are joining a fandom to "escape real-life topics", why are you joining one that talks about those real-life topics?

Sanders Sides is a web-series that discusses morality, intrusive thoughts, anxiety, catholism, and other heavy-hitting topics. With the introduction of the dark sides, with certain plot points and arcs— Sanders Sides is very much about those "real-life topics". If you are trying to avoid writing about intrusive thoughts, writing for a show that talks heavily about intrusive thoughts and has an entire character that controls intrusive thoughts isn't... a bright idea.

I know there's this entire talk about using fandom to escape, which is something I have talked about repeatedly on this blog, mainly when we talk about racism within fandom. When you bring up serious topics, people flee and get upset because this is their "safe place", when in actuality, it's a safe place for them and no one else. They are using the phrase "escapism" and "safe place" as a way to spout racist rhetoric without consequences. We all know how I feel about the idea of "escaping through fandom."

The statement "I don't write Remus in character because I'm escaping real-life" makes me raise an eyebrow, because.... the entire show is about that. You're escaping through something that has exactly what you escaping from— that's like if I said I was avoiding my triggers by watching something that included my trigger.

The better answer is just don't watch.

It's the same sentiment I held throughout the fandom after Remus was introduced. "Can you please tag 'duke dont look' or 'remus tw'? He squicks me out." I respect your triggers and squicks and I acknowledge that sometimes they can stem from strange places and be "irrational", but... if your trigger is an entire character, it makes more sense to simply leave the fandom instead of ask everyone to collectively keep in mind your feelings.

If you don't want to write intrusive thoughts, that's okay and I respect this, but maybe you shouldn't be writing for Sanders Sides in the first place if you "can't handle" what the series is about.

I know Sanders Sides did not start off like that, I understand if it was a way to escape at the beginning stages of season one, but it is more serious now. If it's including topics you cannot handle, then you need to take care of yourself and leave.

This mentality of "this makes me uncomfortable, so I don't have to partake" is such an interesting one. Mainly because people think their uncomfortableness always stems from a good place, a place that isn't allowed to be questioned. You can't get mad when someone is feeling bad, because those are their emotions. "If I am feeling uncomfortable, you should respect me and let me be."

But the issue with this is that sometimes (a lot of the times) the things that make you uncomfortable aren't inherently an issue. Sometimes it is an underlying thing you need to work through. Sometimes it's good to step outside of your comfort zone.

I have agoraphobia, which is the fear of leaving my house and going outside. If I was constantly letting this fear control me, I would never leave my house. This feeling doesn't stem from a good place. I need to be comfortable leaving my house and I need to force myself out.

You don't let uncomfortableness or fear control your morals. Just because something makes you Feel Bad, doesn't mean it is Actually Bad.

Which is why I think this debate is brought up. It's always talked about how one feels about Remus, how one feels about intrusive thoughts.

"What if they don't like writing about it?" "What if they don't feel comfortable writing something they don't know?" "But Remus makes me uncomfortable, I can't accept him."

Your feelings, while okay to have, are not always "valid."

You can feel how you want about Remus, but no one is forcing you to write him. When you write fanfiction, you are voluntarily writing it. You are choosing to create content within the media.

If you don't like the content in Sanders Sides; if you don't know how to accurately write intrusive thoughts; if you won't learn how to accurately write them; if you can't handle the topics that are in the series, itself; then why are you here? Why are you choosing to write it? Why are you in the fandom?

Change him all you want, but a better option is simply don't write him in the first place. You have no reason to mischaracterise him when writing him is a chose you actively chose to do.

Sure, it boils down to personal interpretation and "what you want to write", but if your interpretation is going completely against what is represented in Sanders Sides, then what are you here for? Which wraps all the way around back to my own personal opinion on mischaracterising characters:

If you're changing the characters completely, then do you even like them or their story or source material?

[ultimatemissadhd]

You guys want complex characters but you couldn't even understand Kyoko Kirigiri - Kyoko defending post.

So today I'm gonna talk about Kyoko framing Makoto because you guys only foucs on Makoto in here which drives me insane.

Yes, it was unfair that Makoto got framed. But don't forget that Kyoko was getting framed too, it's not like Kyoko framed Makoto for a murder she committed. The dead body belonged to Mukuro who died chapters ago.

Of course, Kyoko could have pulled out an inspirational speech and sacrifice herself for Naegi but there was no place for that bullshit.

Haven't you seen the bad ending? If Kyoko dies, they never get out of the killing game, the tradegy goes on forever and they don't even know.

And Kyoko knows that. Kyoko knows she's the only person who can end the killing game with all the information and evidence she got. As much as, some of these were in her room, that still wouldn't be enough for others. Plus they would probably have no reason to go there after she dies, I also wouldn't be surprised if Junko got rid of the evidence in Kyoko's room after she died.

The whole reason why the trail was in the first place was because Junko wanted to stop Kyoko from destroying her killing game. Kyoko knows that.

Now, Kyoko finds herself in a situation where she's about to get executed and the "if you vote the wrong person then you all die" rule is not going to help her anymore since the whole thing is rigged and she's being framed by the mastermind. She knows that if she dies the killing game will never and go on forever AND SHE'S RIGHT. She's nervous, she's scared, she's in a point of no escape.

She has to choices:

1. Die and lnever defeat the mastermind and have everyone locked in there forever, mastermind wins, all the deaths meant nothing.

2. Frame someone else, live and defeat the mastermind and then avenge the deaths of everyone including the person who got framed.

There's no place for sacrifice bullshit here.

Kyoko choses to save herself, not because she's selfish or arrogant but because she believes in her abilities and the knowledge she has.

Makoto ends up being the person who gets executed instead and that's s pretty much a random thing because it really could have been anyone. Yes, she feels guilty and yes, she knows it's unfair. But it was the only thing to do so she can end the killing game.

Makoto survives and she goes to look for him and saves him and she does it pretty quickly. She goes there, brings him food and water, then helps him get back to the building. If she didn't care about him, she wouldn't think about what happened to him.

The fact that she was the only one to do so, maybe because she detailed map of the school that she got from some secret room, however the fact that she threw herself down the trash to save Makoto shows that she cares. But I think it's safe to say that if she didn't go down there, there's a huge chance that no one would.

In conclusion, chapter 5 is not all about Makoto. I hate when people make it all about him and how it was unfair for him and JUST for him. Because if you think about it, it wasn't fair for anyone and Kyoko had no choice, just like everyone else. They couldn't just not vote, they had to vote for someone.

Kyoko is an interesting character because like I mentioned before, what you'd except from a Danganronpa female support character would be inspirational sacrifice to let the protagonist solve everything by themselves and "I believe in you" and blah blah.

That scenario just doesn't work here because Makoto alone doesn't have enough information and knowledge to defeat the mastermind by himself.

Another thing is that Kyoko apologies and explains everything as soon as she sees Makoto.

Makoto forgives her not because he is a loser people pleaser although he is but not here but because he knows Kyoko and trusts her and he knows that she has those information that could help save the killing game, he knows that without her they wouldn't defeat the mastermind.

Kyoko Kirigiri is a character with her own morals, brain, way of thinking and mind. She is a deep powerful character who was one of the main reasons Junko was defeated. Yet, she gets very little credit. This would bring us to talking about the anime but that's a topic for another day and another rant.

[fast-moon]

DS9 Season 2 Thoughts

I've made it through the second season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine after missing out on it during its original run due to being too young to understand it at the time. Let's see how it holds up now!

1. The Homecoming: Kira goes to rescue a Bajoran prisoner who she hopes can unify the planet, but it turns out all the legends about him are just that, and he's just some guy who's not up to the task. But Sisko knows how religious people work, and insists he play the part anyway, since they won't be bothered about whether any claims about him are real or not.

2. The Circle: The plot continues to be too real as a government official conspires with the leader of a small but vocal conservative religious sect to use terrorism to overthrow the government and install themselves. Even the more liberal religious leader still has naughty fantasies.

3. The Siege: The three-parter misses the landing by naively believing that religious extremists attempting to overthrow the government would actually reconsider if shown proof that they're secretly being funded by an enemy power who wants to use them to destabilize the country.

4. Invasive Procedures: Okay, seriously, is Dax just utterly emotionally dissociated from her current body? She shrugs off constant sexual harassment and objectification, she was indifferent about being executed for a crime she didn't commit, she didn't treat Bashir's sexualized replica of her as any kind of violation, and now she's like, "Welp, this guy wants my liver squid. Oh well, bye, guys." Also, I get that Quark's an entertaining POS, but there are certain things he's done that he really should be facing consequences for.

5. Cardassians: Our fabulous Cardassian tailor returns! I'm not sure how I feel about sending the kid back with his bio dad, but if it had ended with him staying with his adoptive family, I'm not sure how I would have felt about that, either. It was a crap situation for that poor kid either way.

6. Melora: The station crew trip over themselves trying to improve the accessibility of the station for a new special needs crew member. Gosh, if only they were that worried about its accessibility for their permanent crew member who still has to contort himself into unnatural shapes on a daily basis in order to utilize its systems. #JusticeForOdo

7. Rules of Acquisition: Quark's new business partner starts hitting on him. His partner then turns out to be a woman, which actually ends up making it even more scandalous.

8. Necessary Evil: Oh, cool, a film noir episode that shows what the station was like under Cardassian rule. Quark finally gets some comeuppance but is saved by plot armor. Odo explores his inner Columbo. He was also apparently a lab subject and then a sideshow attraction before Gul Dukat hired him as security, so good lord, someone give this poor slime a break.

9. Second Sight: A woman in an unhappy marriage literally dreams up a self-insert OC to pair with Sisko.

10. Sanctuary: An entire nation of refugees comes through the wormhole and demands to settle on Bajor because it's their holy promised land. They get denied, then get pissy because one deeply religious group annexing territory from another deeply religious group and then having to live side-by-side has historically worked out so well in the past.

11. Rivals: Prince Humperdinck brings aboard a gatcha game that breaks the universe's RNG.

12. The Alternate: It's finally Odo's turn to get infected with the crazypox that he usually has to save everyone else from. Although, even without the crazypox as an excuse, I think he's earned the right to throw a violent temper tantrum after all the bullshit he's had to put up with. Also, "Wasn't that pillar over here before?" "It was in my way; I had it moved." is living rent-free in my brain due to how deliberate the inclusion of this exchange was yet how utterly pointless it ended up being. A red herring is one thing, but the entire pillar subplot simply vanished entirely following this scene and it left me so confused.

13. Armageddon Game: Aliens gift Sisko a deepfake video of how they would have killed O'Brien and Bashir if they were actually halfway competent about it.

14. Whispers: O'Brien becomes paranoid that everyone is conspiring against him, and it turns out he's right. Nice subtle touch to having him repeatedly order coffee throughout the episode, since his coffee habits in the previous episode were what initially clued them in that he was a fake.

15. Paradise: Sisko: "Excuse me, are y'all with the cult?" Alixus: "We're not a cult, we're an isolated commune that rejects technology and--" Sisko: "Yeah, this is it."

16. Shadowplay: Odo and Dax figure out everyone in the village is a hologram because the episode title gave it away. Also, I really hope that Odo remains aro-ace and the rest of the crew come to respect that, instead of constantly teasing him about his lack of a sex life and ultimately forcing him into thinking he needs a relationship to be happy. He already has to contort himself into uncomfortable shapes to conform. Don't force him to contort into conformity any further. #JusticeForOdo

17. Playing God: Huh. So there are rats on space stations. Also, Dax discovers a potentially universe-destroying proto-universe and decides to dump it in the Gamma Quadrant for them to deal with.

18. Profit and Loss: Quark teaches us that when a woman says "no", she really means "yes" if you hound and threaten her long enough.

19. Blood Oath: Curzon Dax continues to posthumously make me question Sisko's choice in friends, as Jadzia Dax now feels obligated to attend a Klingon murder party that Curzon RSVP'd to.

20-21. The Maquis: Humans set up colonies next to a known bear cave, whine that the Federation won't protect them from the bears, start an anti-bear movement.

22. The Wire: Bashir goes into a panic after his boyfriend ODs. Honestly, Bashir really needs to stop chasing women and recognize he has way more chemistry with Garak. He's always been annoyingly shallow and self-serving to the point that I wouldn't trust him as a doctor no matter how skilled he was. But this episode actually let him give a damn about someone without objectifying them, which is good progress. Hopefully it sticks. Also, Sisko's proclamation to keep Quark locked up "forever" in the previous episode didn't seem to last very long. But at least now I know where the "Especially the lies" meme comes from!

23. Crossover: Bashir learned nothing from the previous episode and goes right back to womanizing and talking incessantly about himself. Damn. Kira's meets her mirror universe counterpart who instantly falls in love with her, which... same.

24. The Collaborator: The liberals lose the election because they're more concerned with their candidate being 100% unproblematic than preventing the entire planet from falling under the rule of a goddamn religious tyrant. (throws table in a fit of "this is too real")

25. Tribunal: O'Brien goes on vacation to Planet Kangaroo Court, which is actually a bit more relaxing than what he usually has to put up with.

26. The Jem'Hadar: are truly truly truly outrageous. And really want to meet a Klingon, and I know we're getting Worf eventually because he's on the series splash screen. But until then, bring on the Dominion!

I found Season 2 generally a bit better than Season 1. I was really uncomfortable with Bashir in Season 1, and he was a bit more tolerable in Season 2. Downright redeemed in "The Wire", then he regressed immediately in the next episode, so I still have a fairly low opinion of him. Dax is another character I'm having trouble caring about since even after two seasons I still have no clear idea of "What would Dax do?" in any hypothetical situation.

Like, if a bunch of monkeys got loose on the station, I can imagine that Sisko would order a containment field and then go monkey-hunting with Kira, who would spend the whole time exasperated like, "Really?! Monkeys?!" O'Brien would technobabble together a monkey trap while grumbling about how this sort of thing always happens to him, Bashir would tell a long-winded story about how there was a similar incident with Emus back at the academy and how much of an adventure it was and he ended up saving the day and then a bunch of women were swooning all over him, Quark would stash a couple of monkeys away to sell later, and Odo would have grumpily already rounded them all up because he's the only competent crew member (and relieving Quark of his monkey stash). And Dax would just... kind of stand there I guess. Maybe quip about how one of her previous incarnations had a monkey. But she just doesn't have enough of a notable personality for me to go, "Yep, that's a Dax thing to do, all right." So far she still feels uncomfortably like a fetish character with little actual substance.

Also, the depiction of the Universal Translator analyzing a new language in "Sanctuary" made me even more perplexed as to how it even works. So, they started out speaking an unknown language, and over the course of the episode, the UT learned it and started translating it. Okay, cool. Except that implies that the aliens -- and probably everyone on the station -- are all actually still speaking their native languages and the UT is just real-time translating them all. But how does this work in a conversation? If Sisko speaks to Kira and Quark, how do they both hear something they can understand? Where even is the UT? They'll beam down to a planet and lose all their equipment but can still communicate with everyone fine. And how does the UT know to stop translating, like when someone will yell in Klingon for one sentence and then switch back to English?

I wonder if there's ever an episode where the Universal Translator malfunctions and everyone has to figure out how to communicate with each other. Heck, might be an opportunity for Dax to actually do something since she's the one most likely to be a polyglot.

Anyway, on to Season 3!

[andreal831]

In your opinion, would Elijah still have decided to die by his brother’s side if Hayley was still alive?

*Spoilers for Season 5 of The Originals*

In my opinion, the entire decision for Klaus and Elijah to die together was out of character.

Neither Elijah nor Klaus would die and leave Hope alone. I know she had her other family, but Klaus and Elijah always viewed themselves as family before the others. They would have wanted one of them to stay behind for her. Klaus dying for Hope really made no sense. He would have rather someone else die than leave his daughter an orphan.

To me, Elijah has always been a little suicidal so him dying was not a surprise to me. Him allowing Klaus to die, made no sense. That being said, if Hayley was alive, yes I think it may change some things. But even with Hayley alive, if it was a choice between him and his brother, he would still have been the one to sacrifice himself. He tried to do it in season 4 to save Klaus with Hayley standing right there.

Elijah is one who was always ready to sacrifice himself to protect his family. If it was ever even remotely a chance his death could save them, he jumped on it. I think it's partly because he didn't feel he deserved to live and experience any happiness, but also because he loved his siblings much more than he loved himself.

I've always viewed him erasing his memories as a way to kill himself. He erased himself rather than be separated from his family and Hayley. If he could sacrifice his life and it would allow his family to be whole once again and allow Hayley to have the support of his family, he would sacrifice himself.

So if everything else had happened the exact same way in Season 5, except for Hayley's death, I think he may have tried harder to find another way. But, if they were unable to, yes I think he still would have sacrificed himself.

Now, if there was zero way to save Klaus, I think he would have stayed for Hayley and Hope. They wouldn't have both died leaving everyone behind. But again, I don't understand how Elijah didn't make Freya give him the entire Hollow and cut Klaus out of the decision-making, splitting it made no sense for Elijah's character.

I also think it would be good character development for him to not die with Klaus. Showing that he was breaking away from his toxic codependency on Klaus, but it would be based on no real development because, if anything, they just became more dependent on each other as the show went on.

Thanks for the ask!

[torchstelechos]

sorry to be deranged about loop and siffrin in your inbox but that loop song has me thinking about a world where Siffrin loses that fight and Loop actually goes through with it. imagine how it'd be for the rest of the party

you go through all that weird stuff at the start of the day. siffrin randomly becoming hypermean and fucked up to everyone for no reason. running off alone. 1v1000ing the entire House like a living whirlwind. 1v1ing the king.

a star shows up and starts yelling about timeloops and wishcraft. Odile has to create a new craft on the go to handle that while everyone fights through a reality broken House after Siffrin (they had to bust down the doors??? the doors they usually can't go through??? since they would of closed behind Siffrin)

you save Siffrin, you find out they've nearly killed themselves with their craft insanity, then All That Stuff happens with Bigfrin. it all works out. you resolve your issues

and then your friend gets fucking gutted by the star that helped you in the first place trying to take his place the literal minute you lose track of him again, literal minutes after

like.

goodness. what does literally anybody even do or think here.

Oooouuuggghhh yeah it's soooo fucked up!! Especially if Loop tries to justify it because... That's not Siffrin anymore? Even if Siffrin was acting different that morning and was going through hell, Siffrin was still kind and never harmed anyone else if they could help it. Then the Star who helped you AND Siffrin to the point of it being detrimental to the Star goes and kills your friend. Your family member. Because they were Siffrin once, and they want to be Siffrin again, but they changed too much and tried to force a change on Siffrin which wrought only destruction, killing the chance that Siffrin and Loop had of being healed and helped. They could have had it all, they could have had a family again but they destroyed it. With their own two hands.... again, and again, and again.

If we were to discuss the characters though... Odile would try to kill Loop without hesitation. She already attacked Siffrin when from her perspective he was only maaaybe a danger to the party. If she realized someone had killed her friend, gutted them on the offchance they could take their place? Her family member? They would be dead before they could even say a word.

Isabeau... I don't think he would hesitate either. Not after almost losing Siffrin and being called a coward by him, only to then lose him immediately after you resolved to no longer hold back from him? Isabeau would go for the throat. But it would happen after wailing and screaming and denial. We already saw how he'd reacted to Bonnie...

Mirabelle would try to revive Siffrin before realizing they were dead long before she could have done anything. The person who gave the most to the journey, the one she thought didn't care, the one who was rude and mean and kind and caring and scared. So scared. Died alone? After she just promised to be feeling buddies with them? I think she would shatter over this, she already had so many issues with forcing everyone into something they didn't want to do, only to find one dead at the hands of someone she had trusted to be kind to them? She would also go for the throat.

Bonnie. Bonnie.... Bonnie would scream, would cry, would rage, would despair... This is the reaction that would break Loop. Because I think Bonnie would look at them and call them a monster.

There is no coming back, there is no redo, there is no second try. Only going forward with the decision you made that ruined your family and yourself. You cannot die, but yet... You cannot live either. Do you make another wish? Do you go back? Do you help another Siffrin? Do you try again?