#still bullshitting myself into headcanons

[grapecaseschoices]

@roxaro​

Now to answer the question the way you asked it. 

Hiyam

Performance: What are they thinking and feeling while they’re performing? How do they act on stage?

Britney’s Circus is playing in the back of their head, I imagine. Hiyam wants to both ensure that people get their money’s worth as well as make sure that they catch eyes. They don’t have to be center stage but the gazes must return to them more than once. Enjoy the spectacle but remember who you’re here to hear, right? They definitely love to dance. Both choreographed and with the flow of the music, the beat of the crowd. Think JLO in ‘Get Loud’. 

A rhythmic hype man. 

Lala

Band Name:  How did they and the others come up with the band name? Has the name changed since it was founded?  

The band name is DramaWhore.(Not as I mistakenly wrote ‘HeyKittyKitty’. Though that’s cool too.) It was their un on bloomic panic. Well, they were originally Popcorn Emoji when they were younger. DramaWhore came about when one of the band members was like, “Give us the info, you know we’re a whore for drama.”  (Seven? Rowan?) And Lala was like “YOU’RE a whore for a drama, I just like watching people dig themselves into a hole.” It became a fun squabble -- but the name stuck in the back of their mind. First they tried Whores for Drama. But DramaWhore worked better, especially when it was smushed together. 

Bethany Josnel

Tattoo: Did they keep the tattoo with Seven’s initials? Why/why not? What was that decision/execution process like?   (Bonus: What do they think of Seven keeping their tattoo?)

No. They broke up. The fight made things feel sort of final. And holding onto that felt more painful than letting go. It also seemed like the mature thing to do, he felt it would help his friends worry about him less. It felt like the next step thing to do. So with a heay heart (and mostly clear mind), he went and did it. (He’s ... surprised. And frustrated. Maybe a tad confused. But he’s even more certain that that removing it is the best decision)

Alana

Development: How did you come up with your character? Is their design still evolving? How do you think they might develop through the story?

Alana came about from the sweet options from Bloomic Panic. Being heart eyes over their RO (toasty), being a seeker of the truth, being cheery and supportive all those traits came about as I was flowing through choices on the game and deciding what kind MC vibe I wanted (same did Lala). When I finished the game and began contemplating more fleshed out MCs, I tried to take those traits and expand on them. (As seen here).

It made me realize that it had been a while since I had a rose-colored romantic (most of mine ended up being burned out of it or I just didn’t play anymore/were on hiatus), especially one that was just of the nicer/sweet side (I mean like I have Emile but they’re only nice to three people and a bitch every other day). So I started getting the vibe for Alana. It is still very tentative. I think I have most of her skeleton, I’m familiar with the sketch of her, her beats but I haven’t fully filled her out. So I’m hoping this will be the place I get to do so!

I’m hopin she stays a romantic but is more bold about saying what she dislikes, what bothers her, maybe stops biting back her pain. I look forward to playing her ‘I’m a fool for love’ stages. 

[acewizardinspace]

The truth is, sometimes there is no watsonian answer.

Lets say for a moment a character is established to hate the color green. Then in one scene we see them wearing a green scarf. This is never mentioned or explained. It can be fun to come up with watsonian (in universe) explanations for this behavior. Maybe he got it from this other character who loves green, or maybe he changed his mind. But when those explanations actually directly contradict what happens on screen, then there is a problem. Lets say it is impossible for him to have met this other character and gotten a gift, or he mentions his hatred for green again two episodes later meaning it is impossible for him to have changed his mind.

Now your fun watsonian headcanon instead of adding meaning actively detracts meaning. Now it makes the story worse not better. Now the story stops making any amount of sense because you insist on calling attention to something the creators never wanted you to. This can be fun for AUs and headcanons, please keep with it! But it is a shit basis for shit literary analysis.

The truth is, sometimes his scarf is green because that is what the costumer designers had on hand. The truth is, sometimes there is no watsonian answer.

[bougiebutchbitch]

me: I’m so tired and done with nart drama

also me: HGGGGGG

look, every time I try to dip toes back into the nart fandom I see posts like ‘you NEED to draw this character like THIS because of THESE screenshots of them ignoring all the screenshots where they look different, not because there’s anything wrong with drawing them differently but because it’s MY personal preference and if you don’t adhere to that you’re interacting with this character in a way that is WRONG’

Like, I love plus-size Hinata, and there’s plenty of material to support that reading in the anime/manga. But I’m not gonna go on long rants about how anyone who draws her differently is drawing her wrong? Even if I would much prefer it if everyone drew her as plus-size?

If someone is whitewashing characters, that’s one thing. If someone is drawing a fat character as super skinny constantly, that’s another thing. But this... really isn’t that? It’s shitting on fanartists for not conforming to a fandom preference, and it just comes over as... kinda mean?

[rirabeko]

Some of Baji's mischaracterization that gives me the ICK

It's 2024 and there are people out there who still can't understand Baji's character and mischaracterize him heavily, mostly because of the Bajifuyu ship.

DISCLAIMER: You can ship whoever you want. I'm just tired of seeing my favourite character constantly being mischaracterized because of toxic shippers. Also I'm not a shipper myself, I do not romanticize any of the relationships I mention below.

The biggest issue with Baji's character is the fact that Bajifuyu shippers (and sometimes just the fandom in general) constantly ignore Kazutora's role in Baji's life, meanwhile Kazutora made a huge impact on Baji's character. You can clearly see it not just in the anime or in the manga, but in the spin-off too.

Baji and Kazutora were that duo, they were a literal separated team within Toman. They met naturally, become friends instantly and spent most of their time together (many times without Toman). It's accepted by the fandom, that Kazutora's first real friend was Baji, but also Baji's first close friend was Kazutora.

Obviously Mikey and Baji were close as kids, but after Baji moved to a different place they weren't that close. I bet this is the reason why Baji didn't know about Shinichiro's bike shop, since when they met regularly Baji was a little kid and Shinichiro was a teenager without a bike shop. It also shows that Mikey and Baji aren't that close, they are more like childhood buddies than close friends.

I can talk about this for hours but now I only wrote it as a small disclaimer, before I get into my points, so let's go.

I am sick of it when:

they call Baji stupid (he literally outsmarted Kisaki, being smart not equals only book smart)

people headcanon him as a mean, aggressive, abusive bf (he is canonly no.1 best lover and he literally died because he has a heart of gold, let this bs go pls)

they can't understand the reason behind his suicide and make it a ship war (ICK)

people can't accept the fact Baji loves his friends differently, and not everyone is his bestie (it doesn't mean he does not love them, or prefers someone over the other but love can be different towards different people and it's absolutely normal!)

they make his character all about Bajifuyu (he is an individual, stop bringing up Chifuyu EVERYTIME when it comes to Baji. His character is much more than a guy in a dominant-submissive fanmade yaoi ship people like dragging him into!)

they make Chifuyu the good, perfect friend while constantly dragging Baji down and made him the bad guy in their relationship (I could write a whole essay just about this being a bullshit)

when they romanticize Bajifuyu (Baji canonly sees Chifuyu as a younger brother figure said by Baji's mom, but there are people out there who still believes unironically that they are in love... WHY?)

they ignore that Baji is very caring and affectionate not just towards Chifuyu, he is like this because these are his own personality traits. He behaves like this with everyone who's close to him. (Mikey, Kazutora, Ryuusei and just Toman in general)

people say Chifuyu was the only one who understood Baji's feelings and aims (the literal reason Baji died was because no one really understood his goals and behaviour, not even Chifuyu)

they romanticize Chifuyu's obsessiveness towards Baji (if Chifuyu was a girl, he would be cancelled for this behaviour immediately, but the double standard won again)

people make his death an opportunity to romanticize Bajifuyu (biggest ICK)

they say Baji is only distant with Chifuyu beacuse he is a tsundere (there are so many situations when Chifuyu truly annoys Baji, e.g. he said it many times that Chifuyu's infatuation really disturbs him and asked Chifuyu to stop)

Bajifuyu shippers ignore and hate Kazutora just because he disturbs their ship

they say Baji was a bad influence to Kazutora (Kazutora hung out with gangs even before he met Baji, he was already a part of the underworld. the reason Kazutora turned out that way was his abusive father and his horrible childhood in general. Baji literally saved him, and he could finally be himself around Baji without any judgement or harassment)

they ignore or even DENY Bajitora's bond because of Bajifuyu

they accept Bajifuyu, Kazufuyu or even the Bajitrio but HATE Bajitora (the biggest bullshit ever)

they can't recognise the fanservice of Bajifuyu and calls them canon because of the clear fanservice acts

people think Bajitora is one sided (more Baji sided) meanwhile Tora loves Baji more than his own life and shows it many times how much he loves Baji and how much Baji means to him

they accept that Chifuyu never changed his hairstyle after Baji made it for him (and obviously they romanticize it) but they are hating because Kazutora looked exactly like Baji in bad toman timeline

people ignore Bajitora and always forgets that they are very close to each other in every timeline. the new panels Wakui drew were also about Kazutora putting Chifuyu to his place after Chifuyu completly ignored Tora and disturbed his time with his best friend. (we all know Kazutora is very possessive with Baji for obvious reasons and does not tolerate being disrespected by someone)

The list could go on and on but these are the main problems I still see in this fandom when it comes to Baji's character.

I'm tired of seeing this amazingly well-written character turns into a boring, abusive, mean guy by the fandom who is only an abuser in a toxic fanmade yaoi ship.

SIDE NOTE:

To all the people who dislike him/call him mean and aggressive because he beat Chifuyu up:

This anime is based on a manga which takes place in the early 2000's gangster world in Japan. He is the captain of the 1st division, he is the leader, and his role is not just to be the strongest in the division but also to manage his team, bc this is also what a leader does. If someone is disrespectful, breaks the rules and shows a bad example to the others he has to punish them. In this world this is how things go. This won't make him a bad person, or an aggressive jerk. Baji can be very calm and collected when it comes to leading his division. He is a very good leader, who takes care of his teammates, so no surprise he is really loved by his division. 

Also when he beat Chifuyu up before joining Valhalla: he hated himself for doing that. But he had to, he had no other choice. And Chifuyu had every right to stand up against Baji and tell him he's not doing it. But since Chifuyu never questions Baji's decisions as the captain of the first division he agreed with this one too, and also because he wanted to help him. Chifuyu knew exactly what he was doing when he let Baji doing this to him, and he went along with it. Stop bringing this up everytime and use it against Baji.

[imaginesheaven]

Bar owner!Reader x TF 141

Friendship headcanons

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injuries, a bit of angst?

This literally turned almost into an Oneshot *haha* I couldn’t help myself ;D Enjoy~

Your bar “Tango Down” is known by almost every soldier and police officer. It is the ultimate spot to meet for drinks after a hard work day or mission. Since your bar has a very good reputation you are also known and well respected.

Of course, the Task Force 141 visits frequently when they are not away for a mission. “Hey, (Y/N)”, Price greets as he enters the bar firstly. To hear his voice once again brings a big smile on your lips, “Look who’s still alive! The usual, boys?” They give you all nods as they take their places on their usual table.

Years ago, when you first opened your bar Price was one of the first customers you had. Still to this day he is your favorite and most frequent one. After the Task Force 141 was built he brought them to this place, where you all grew extremely close with time. Even grumpy Ghost has a soft spot for you.

“Good to see you all. How you are doing?”, you put the drinks down on the table. A flash of fur whizzes between your legs right into the loving arms of Soap. “Bloody Jesus, Cougar! I wish this freaking dog would love me as much as he loves Soap”, you roll your eyes playfully annoyed as the soldiers cuddles your “scary” Belgian Malinois named Cougar.

“Sometimes I believe you are only here for Cougar”, Soap shrugs his shoulders grinning like he isn’t even sorry for stealing your dog away every single time he steps into the bar. “We brought you a present”, Gaz can’t contain his pure joy as he holds out the bottle of Whiskey. “Thank you so much! That goes directly into our cabinet for special events!”

Price started this tradition years ago when he started to visit your bar regularly. Every time he came back from a mission you got another expensive and exotic bottle of alcohol like Whiskey or Wine. John was and is still incredibly grateful to have you at his side after hard missions talking to him, pouring drinks and keeping his mind occupied with happy thoughts. The Task Force 141 keeps this tradition still going. Here and there when there is a reason to celebrate you pop open one of the bottles with them.

“Don’t worry, love, at least Ghost, Gaz and I are here for you”, Price puts his hand on your shoulder smirking as you take a seat with them. Soap is way too distracted to follow the conversation at all. He keeps playing with Cougar. The two of them have an own tradition. Soap gets Cougar after every mission a new toy to play with him.

It’s usually very calm and quiet in the bar due to the high number of soldiers and police officers. They can keep everything in order for you if you need it, but you are actually able to sort it out on your own. Just like this evening…

“What is going on here, Kick?”, you ask your bartender. He rolls his eyes annoyed, “Just a round of men making trouble. They keep talking trash about the soldiers.” You let out a whistle to call Cougar to you, “We take care of it.”

“Guys, your time is over here. I don’t tolerate little boys talking bullshit about real men”, you stand your ground against the five men. They might be taller than you, but it doesn’t intimidate you at all. They start to laugh, “How about no? What will you do?” Apparently, the leader of this little gang takes out a handgun from the back of his jeans.

Without flinching you grab his hand aiming the gun at the ceiling punching with the other against his throat. That leaves him choking for a few moments as you take the gun apart leaving it useless at the table. The guy doesn’t have enough yet trying to grab you. Quite painful you twist his arm as you push his face against the surface of the table. “Leave. Now”, as you let go of the men they bolt out of the bar scared for their dear life.

For a second the silence is deafening in the bar until the Task Force 141 starts cheering. They others follow suit very fast, but you wave them off with a red dust on your cheeks, “Stop it, please.” You store the gun behind the counter, “Drinks on me for everyone … BUT ONLY IF YOU STOP CHEERING!” Within a second everything is back to normal.

“Stop messing with my jukebox, Soap”, you have your back to the machine as you prepare the drinks, but you are sure he is already on his way to turn on a certain song. Soap loves messing with you and getting on your nerves playing one song over and over again until you lose your bloody mind.  

He looks at you with his puppy eyes, “Come on! It’s my absolute favorite song!” Smirking you roll your eyes and make your way towards the table with new drinks. “What did we just witness? You absolutely wrecked this guy”, Gaz stares at you in disbelief. “You were in military, right?”, Ghost recognizes a soldier when he sees one and you were for sure one. You let out a sigh, “Yeah, Special Forces for a few years.” Price raises his eyebrows surprised. “Don’t you dare to take a look at my file, John. That’s the past”, you wink at him grinning. Sometimes you could read him like an open book.

“Enjoy your drinks, boys!” The team shares a brief glance. Every time they are at your bar they learn something incredible new about you. It is like you are a never-ending pit of surprises. It makes them wonder what person you have been in the past. Especially John Price. He might have a look into your file nevertheless.

The night comes to an end. You keep sorting out the rest of the bar alone as the light goes out suddenly. The little hairs on your neck start to stand up and your senses tingle to warn you from the oncoming danger. Upstairs where you live above the bar you can hear Cougar barking. You already brought him up so he can rest. Now you realize your mistake. He would have protected you.

A hand grabs your neck from behind as the first punch lands. The fist collides with your stomach and the pain leaves you breathless. You can’t see their faces in the dark but you are more than sure that these are the troublemakers from earlier. They keep beating you. The pain is just overwhelming until the darkness takes over.

Captain Price enters the bar followed by his team. To his displeasure you are not behind the counter to greet them with your usual bright smile. “Kick, where is (Y/N)?”, Soap asks the bartender. They all feel that something is very off and they don’t like it at all. Even Cougar can’t be seen anywhere.

“(Y/N) is upstairs. Recovering. I’m not sure about company, but I guess you can try”, Kick knows it would be useless to tell them you don’t want to see anyone. They are going to make sure you are okay and no one will stop them. Price makes his way upstairs followed by the others.

They can hear Cougar barking at them coming up the stairs. “It’s okay, Cougar, it’s just the boys”, you say calmly to the dog as you pet his soft fur. Cougar greets them happily when they come through the door. Of course, the dog makes his way towards Soap to beg for some scratches. After a few head rubs Cougar is satisfied and comes back to your side placing his head onto your leg. You have never seen the dog that clingy, but he is ready to protect you with all he has.

John seems cool, collected and focused on the outside, but on the inside he is raging. Just like the others. Your face shows the last remnants of the beating. A black eye, a bloody, split lip and so on. They don’t even want to imagine what bruises your clothes are hiding. “It’s okay. It looks probably worse than it actually is”, you try to downplay the truth, but all of them can see it in your eyes. These troublemakers broke you a little bit and no one was there to protect you.

Ghost takes a step forward and grabs your chin softly to take a closer look at your face, “This is absolutely not okay. They made it personal.” Without a further word he let go of you giving Price a short nod. They know what they have to do.

“Wait! Please be careful. All of you”, you grab Price’s sleeve to keep them from leaving. There is no chance you can stop them at all. You just want them to come back to you safe and sound. John gives you a reassuring smile, “Of course, love.”

With that they went away to deal with the problem. None of the men told you what they did to the troublemakers and you never asked. They would literally give their life to keep you safe. After that everything just went back to normal.

“Johnny! No!”, you try to pry the beer bottle out of Soap’s hands as he reaches over the counter. “You have to be faster than that, sweetheart!”, he celebrates his achievement and takes a gulp from the beer. “No jukebox for you for a whole week! It’s like I’m dealing with children!”, you give up laughing. Price shrugs his shoulders, “Now you know how I feel.” You lean against the counter watching the boys. Gaz and Soap try to out beat each other in darts, while Ghost gives Cougar some head scratches hidden beneath the table. No one should see what a softie he turns into around you and Cougar.

This is literally perfection for all of you.

   Bonus

“Isn’t that the owner of your favorite bar?”, Laswell hands Price the file after he bugged him for weeks, “Are you sure that’s right?” John shrugs with one shoulder not really interested in getting a lecture, “Yes, just making sure who’s serving me drinks. I’ll take that with me.” He leaves Laswell’s office with the file under his arm. John is going to take his sweet time to read through your past.

Laswell leans back in her chair dialing your number, “He got your file, (Y/N).” She almost can hear you grinning through the phone, “Almost everything is classified so John won’t learn much about me. He just could have asked, you know? Thanks for letting me know, Kate. Greet your wife!”

[seyaryminamoto]

Azula's most overlooked characterization element

Why, hello there.

It is I.

And I'm back on my bullshit.

I didn't WANT to be. But a bunch of factors pulled me back in.

For the record: I'm not here to start any fights or light the fuse of arguments that I most likely won't have time or interest in responding to. What I AM here for... is to prove that there's something out there a bunch of people are delighted to sleep on because acknowledging it would render maaaany simplistic interpretations entirely invalid...

That group of people includes the fandom, of course. And the original show's staff. And the liveaction's staff, to a fault. Surely the TTRPG ones too. And absolutely, the comic book writers.

Hell, I'll even include MYSELF in that group, even though I'm making this post right now.

I found it really curious that I very recently saw this element mentioned in a pretty neat blog I follow, @atla-lore-archive, I absolutely advise anyone who hasn't checked out said archive to do it if you wish to understand a lot of the "extra lore" the fandom had access to, back in the old days when the turbonick ATLA site still existed and used to be the only source of deeper knowledge about the fandom besides the occasional interview that most people didn't even know where to track down.

But the funny thing is that the post I'm talking about proved that even Turbonick forgot about the people this post is about :')

And that would beeeeeeee...

*cue drumroll*

Lo and Li!

What makes Lo and Li an important subject to discuss?

Why, a lot of things. Among them, the fact that almost nobody brings them into the core focus of any analysis made about Azula's character. I've personally mentioned them once or twice I believe, mostly as negatives, there's but ONE positive aspect I've ever found of them: them being non-benders MIGHT be a reason why Azula isn't shown as being quite so obsessive with firebending supremacy as Zuko was supposed to be.

But that's very much the sole good thing I can think to say about them and it's completely subjective, as good as a headcanon, because we don't even KNOW if they influenced Azula in that sense!

Why do they seem to get overlooked quite as much? Why... let's start thinking about it, shall we?

Lo and Li are Azula's firebending teachers. As far as anyone can tell, they're also her advisors. These two people should be an essential part of Azula's life... but ironically, we seldom see them with her. Most times, Azula isn't around these two. Whenever she is? It doesn't usually look like she's having a good time.

And that's no surprise, considering her first scene with those two very much puts forward a dynamic of cold distance between Azula and her mentors: Azula is bending LIGHTNING. We have not heard of other lightningbenders until that point, and once the full show wraps up, there's only THREE (Azula, Ozai, Iroh). Out of those three? Only one is a fourteen-year-old girl. It's very easy to assume Azula's lightning is actually a skill she mastered unusually early in life, perhaps relatively recently, hence the practicing... but she's pulling it off. She's succeeding. She's doing something that genuinely catches a first-time viewer off-guard!

And Lo and Li's entire opinion of what she did is: "Almost perfect. One hair out of place."

This tells you the Fire Nation's idea of "imperfection" is... insane. Strict. Imposing. Unyielding. Unforgiving. Azula's reaction isn't to get angry at Lo and Li for saying what they did: it's to get angry at herself and try again.

But... that's not the only instance where we see Azula getting angry around Lo and Li.

The next few times Azula is around them, she doesn't seem to have much of an emotional reaction (one is when they tell her to find other allies, the other when they herald her as a great hero who returned home from Ba Sing Se). In the second of these scenes, Lo and Li are praising Azula as incredible, beautiful, all sorts of grand things...! And Azula smiles. She smiles at the crowd. She's not smiling at the old ladies who are praising her... she's mostly just happy to know her people are welcoming her as a hero indeed! Most the fandom would go "true! what an ungrateful bitch! She should've been happy that Lo and Li complimented her that way!!" Me? I wouldn't say that at all. Not just because I love Azula to pieces? But because the only information we have of Azula's dynamics with these two... doesn't seem compatible with the idea that what Lo and Li are saying here is for AZULA'S benefit.

Anyone who's had a hypocritical parent/caretaker/teacher must have endured awkward, horrible, unpleasant moments where this adult figure treats you like shit in private but in public holds you as this grand example, and a perfect child, and they never seem to stop saying they're soooo proud of you even though you NEVER felt that what they're saying is true. Maybe the first few times, you're naive enough to believe it. By the tenth time of incongruent messages? You start to realize they're talking you up as a way to make themselves look better. They're trying to show they're doing their job at raising you/training you, be it whatever it may. The praises are not FOR you... they're for a third person to hear and think "Oh, this adult's so cool, saying nice things about this kid they're responsible for! Nice!"

... You're starting to get the picture now, I'm sure.

Lo and Li reappear in the Beach. Azula is notably chill, enjoying the ride, talking casually with Ty Lee, telling Zuko to lighten up and to stop taking Ozai's choices personally, right? She seems... content. Relaxed.

Then, everything changed when Lo and Li attacked.

We don't even see why Azula is making this face at first. But she does it AT ONCE when their ship reaches the dock.

Who is there indeed...?

The stars of our post! :') if it isn't our elderly twin ladies... who brought Azula to a very disappoting beach house. And when Azula sees the house in question, she makes THIS face.

Judge however you may... even Ty Lee is weirded out by the beach house, going by that expression. Zuko and Mai aren't impressed either. But Azula? The look on her face isn't merely disappointment if you ask me... part of it looks a bit like embarrassment too? This isn't at all what she was expecting when she arrived (she has her old beach house for standards, which makes this extra underwhelming, I'm sure). She counts on Lo and Li to provide them with a place to stay, it goes implicit... and then this is what they do. It most likely isn't what she promised the other three in terms of where they'd stay, hence, I'd dare say there's a component of embarrassment here.

Shortly afterwards, we have our well known scene with Azula being utterly unconcerned with Lo and Li's apparent wisdom to the point of yawning over it. This, too, tells you she's just not interested in whatever those two have to say or bring to the table. Then, they show up again at mealtime and I think Azula just ignores them the whole scene.

After this? Lo and Li vanish until the finale. And what do they do in the finale? Why... it's the first time anyone expresses a verbal concern over Azula's wellbeing! Ah! A sign that Lo and Li have SOME affection for Azula! This time, you pesky Azula fans, you CAN'T twist this into a bad thing! For sure!

... Can't we, tho? :')

What IS Azula's reaction to: "We are concerned for your wellbeing"?

"My father asked you to come here and talk to me, didn't he‌? He thinks I can't handle the responsibility of being Fire Lord. But I will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history."

And here, my friends, is when we have finally hit the jackpot.

Lo and Li could have been Azula's Irohs. She could've had TWO of him! Then you'd say: "hey! Ozai is such a dick he let Azula have two elderly wise ladies guiding her but only gave one old wise dude to Zuko! Rude!" and it would be further proof of Ozai's favoritism of Azula, right?

... But actually?

Lo and Li are no such thing. Lo and Li aren't moral compasses for Azula in the least. Lo and Li are not beacons of wisdom that genuinely help her sort her way through life. Worth noting: THEY COULD HAVE BEEN WRITTEN THAT WAY. They're not. They're not part of mysterious secret societies, they don't help Azula in any objective, significant, tangible way... there's very much nothing to say they EVER fulfilled the role Iroh did for Zuko. What role, then, were they fulfilling instead?

Why... I think we ought to listen to Azula, shouldn't we?

My take: Lo and Li are OZAI'S STAND-INS.

Someone's going to say "hey why would you assume that when Azula said this in the middle of a breakdown?? Surely she was just DELUSIONAL and PARANOID and ashdgkadhsgkjgh...!"

... Let me counter that one with a fun little analysis excercise:

WHY are Lo and Li Azula's firebending teachers and advisors?

The finale very directly tells us these two are not benders. We could've assumed they were! They're not: Azula's teachers are non-benders.

Has a single person out there ever asked themselves WHY this is the case?

How the hell is Azula, prodigy of the blue fire, epic lightning, cruel and powerful and precise and deadly bending... training under two elderly nonbenders?

Bringing this to a real-life example: do you remember what it was like when you were in P.E. classes and your teacher told you to spend 20 minutes jogging, and if you ever stopped you had to do 20 crunches and then get back to the jogging, and every time you stopped he'd tell you the same thing and you'd want that guy to vanish from the face of the planet? I don't know if that was only my experience, but I rather doubt it.

What did kids typically think/say when that happened?

"I wanna see that old fart doing the same shit he's making us do..."

It's a headcanon indeed to say that this is how Azula must have felt over Lo and Li, but it's VERY likely to be the case. But I'd dare say, in Azula's case, it's even worse because, to put it in another way? It's like taking programming lessons from someone who's never learned a programming language. They'll tell you you're getting things wrong without knowing how to help you get them right because they just DON'T KNOW what you're doing, and are outright INCAPABLE of what you're trying to achieve. They can't offer good guidance based on experience because they have ZERO experience on that subject! And yet they want PERFECTION from you! They expect it!

Lo and Li are these teachers for Azula. We only see them in one scene? And yet everything in the rest of the show suggests that they bring nothing important to the table for Azula, be it professionally, be it personally, be it emotionally... not in any aspect of life.

And this, if you ask me, is why the OG show barely ever brings them into scenes. Why the comics flat-out forgot they existed and even featured people like Sozin and Azulon in Azula's beach hallucinations but NOT the two ladies who looked after her and trained her. Why the live-action didn't even FEATURE them.

And us? The fandom? The fic writers?

I HAVE NO IDEA WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME I READ A FIC THAT HAD LO AND LI INVOLVED IN IT.

I'm not even saying as main characters, I don't even know if that exists, frankly: I mean as minor, or background characters. I have NOT seen those two be used in basically ANY fics I've read. I've scarcely used them in mine! In fact, I PURPOSEFULLY got rid of them early on in Gladiator because I didn't want them to sabotage and get in the way of Azula's progress as a character and I believed they'd do exactly that. They were an obstacle rather than anything useful, so I did away with them and then realized they could still occasionally serve some purpose in certain situations: I even had Azula visit them once and they were actually helpful! Fancy that! But... that's it. That's as far as I could go with them. I can't do MORE with those two because they're not characters one particularly feels compelled to work with.

And from what I've seen? That's the case for everyone.

So, I ask again:

WHY ARE THEY THERE?

WHAT IS THEIR ROLE?

WHAT IS THE POINT OF AZULA HAVING NON-BENDING TEACHERS?

Let's go further and further into logical thinking here, shall we?

Azula is a child. Fourteen years of age at the time she's introduced in the OG show.

Azula has no power over many things around her, particularly, her upbringing. That's in the hands of the adults around her. Her mother, up until she vanished, had some hand in it, then, it all falls to Ozai.

Ozai has been Azula's sole parental figure since Ursa left.

Ozai is the one who would reasonably call the shots regarding Azula's education, as all parents are wont to do... ESPECIALLY when he's a king with absolute power over his children.

... so, Lo and Li? Ozai either gave them the position as Azula's teachers personally, or someone else (Ursa) did, and Ozai either didn't WANT to remove them from the role (cue "Ozai being sentimental over Ursa" theories), or Ozai didn't give a flying fuck about who was training his daughter (cue "Ozai is an abusive dick without a heart or a brain" theories).

Anyone, of course, would likely interject here to say surely Ozai ALSO trained Azula himself because that's what he'd do with his favorite kid, right? See. I don't even disagree with that notion.

BUT IT'S A HEADCANON.

We have zero evidence that Ozai trained her! None! I totally will write that into Azula's backstory in many of my stories, but there's NOTHING in canon to suggest this actually happened and that Ozai was genuinely, actively, frequently involved in her progress as a firebender. Assuming he HAD to be is, still, a headcanon. You can't say that with any more certainty than mine when I say I believe Azula loves spicy foods. Does it seem to be something that would fit with her character? I think so! But if eventually canon goes "AZULA CAN'T STAND SPICY FOODS LOL JOKE'S ON YOU!" I... can't even say a thing about it. People's food tastes aren't reflective of their personalities. They really could do whatever they want in that respect. And that's the case for ANYTHING that isn't part of the show's storytelling or the character backgrounds or any texts we consider canon!

POINT BEING: Ozai, regardless of what you want to headcanon, had Lo and Li as Azula's teachers. HIS FAVORITE CHILD... and her only official instructors are two non-benders. Yang added Kunyo as an old instructor of Azula's when she was young, sure! But Kunyo was sooooo qualified that baby Azula was already kicking his ass. So, for that matter? He doesn't really seem to have been a cornerstone of her firebending development and the only other known teachers for Azula are Lo and Li.

For the last time: Azula's teachers are NON-BENDERS. AS CHOSEN, SANCTIONED, APPROVED AND ACCEPTED BY OZAI.

And with those two remarking on absolutely STUPID stuff like "one hair out of place"? Azula still became the incredible firebender she was.

Cue, now, the irony where Zuko was stuck in the basics 3 years after setting out of the Fire Nation... WITH IROH ACTIVELY SERVING AS HIS MENTOR.

You're not gonna tell me that Lo and Li would EVER be better instructors than Iroh, or are you? Because that makes no sense. Full-stop. Iroh is supposed to be the most profound and complete firebender thorughout the show because he's spiritually enlightened even though I admit I think that's bullshit and he doesn't just teach Zuko how to set things on fire, he actually makes him learn theory and spirituality and his teachings are more profound than just "ONE HAIR OUT OF PLACE".

So.

Banished as he is, disgraced and seen as trash by Ozai, Zuko STILL has a better teacher than Azula does.

... Is this LOGICAL? Is this NORMAL? Does this make SENSE?

If you think Ozai's favoritism of Azula takes the shape of "I'll give you every little thing you ask for, sweetheart, I love you very much, here, have ten million doll houses so you can set them on fire, and all the ponies you ask for and on your next birthday I'll buy you a baby dragon and you'll get your own region of the Fire Nation to govern and a fancy title..."?

Then Lo and Li, unfortunately, are right here to be a HUGE contradiction with your interpretation of Ozai and Azula's relationship.

Azula should have THE BEST teachers. Azula does not. Azula doesn't even LIKE them. Azula is openly shown to dislike them! To be annoyed around them, ANGRY when they're teaching her, she feels they're here to keep tabs on her for her father! In a sense, they're Ozai's SPIES on her! :')

Hence? Ozai's favoritism of Azula MIGHT not be what everyone keeps pretending it is. Maybe Ozai didn't do everything to make Azula get things EASILY... and to be fair? That's not what Zuko said anyway. People interpreted it that way... but that's not REALLY what he says:

"Everything always came easy to her. She's a firebending prodigy, and everyone adores her. My father says she was born lucky. "

Every line in this statement is absolutely questionable and all of it sounds like buuuuullshit to me. This is ZUKO'S perspective. And sorry not sorry, but it's tell-don't-show. People swear by his opinion of Azula and pretend he's absolutely objective about it. He's not.

But "Everything always came easy to her," does not mean "EVERYTHING WAS ALWAYS HANDED OVER TO HER ON A SILVER PLATTER." And yet this is what the fandom has constantly interpreted it as.

Azula might just be a prodigy. Maybe she started out ten steps ahead of her brother: this does not mean she needs no guidance, no training, no help. She's seen training herself over perfectionism in her very second scene of Book 2. And the guidance she gets in order to achieve perfection is actually, objectively, stupid.

This is what Ozai chose for her. This is an OBSTACLE for her growth, just as much as Lo and Li were obstacles for me when I was starting with Gladiator! Azula doesn't have it EASY: she just works herself so damn hard that even shit that should HINDER her does NOT do that. And even when her brother objectively has spent THREE YEARS with an advantage in the shape of being trained by one of the VERY BEST firebenders out there? Azula is still beating Zuko at it. With two non-benders as her teachers.

Where am I going with all this?

To the fact that Lo and Li are overlooked in just about every instance of the fandom.

To the fact that nobody includes them, and their influence on Azula, in their analyses of who Azula is.

I've seen a shitstorm rising over the Netflix characterization of Azula: SHE'S TOO ANGRY, they say. Non-stop. She's sooooo hysterical, all the time! She's just pissed perpetually!

Well. I haven't finished the show yet. But the scenes I've seen Azula in so far? They don't fit the fandom's view of Azula because...

... they're not taking Lo and Li into account.

As usual.

:')

Azula's reactions around Lo and Li being frustration, anger, irritation EVEN in scenes like The Beach, where Azula was FINE until she sees them? That shit is storytelling that went over sooooooo many heads, EVEN MINE! When I saw people going on about how canon Azula is... not insecure? Not angry? Has no frustrations and was only ever smirking 24/7? I... didn't feel that was right. I knew it wasn't right. And when I thought about it hard enough? I realized that one reason why this interpretation of Azula is IMMEDIATELY dismissable is because of Lo and Li: those two constantly made Azula angry. Even if that wasn't their intent, it's nonetheless the effect they'd have on her. And Azula didn't like having them around. She CLEARLY didn't appreciate them the way Zuko does Iroh, for instance! And this could be taken as a flaw on Azula's part... if we EVER saw evidence that these two ladies actually love Azula as a grandchild, or so. If we had any evidence that they actually have cared for her in ways nobody else ever did. If maybe the ones Zuko talks about, upon saying "EVERYONE LOVES AZULA" were these two! And maybe he was jealous of them! Maybe he wanted two old ladies to watch his every move and tell him his every flaw!

... Clearly I'm joking about that last thing, but anyway...

There's nothing to tell us Lo and Li were anything but Ozai's assigned watchdogs to keep control and tabs over Azula. That Azula's immediate reaction upon hearing that someone cares about her is "Oh fuck off, my dad sent you here because he doesn't trust me!" is... telling. It's not just paranoia speaking, even if it sure can be read that way! It's actually Azula's perception of those two, which is 100% supported by what we saw of the twins throughout the show, WHENEVER we did see them: their roles in Azula's life are indeed to keep tabs on her, to keep her under control, to pressure her into perfection, AS OZAI'S AGENTS! Seen this way, it MAKES SENSE for Azula to disregard their concern and immediately assume it's FAKE. She isn't even shown to doubt it, never questions that MAYBE they did care about her! She assumes they don't...

... And considering that, as far as I know, the official concept is that they BOTH LEFT when Azula banished one of them only? That they didn't contest her command, staying to look after her even if she only wanted one? I mean, clearly Azula can't tell them apart, so they could've taken turns: one watches over Azula for 12 hours and the other for the next 12 hours, I don't goddamn know! But they didn't do that. They LEFT. And if they left? It means they don't care remotely as much as they say they do. Not to the point where they'd challenge Azula's orders and help her when they KNOW she's not okay.

And all of this further supports my point.

When we see Azula in the liveaction being angry, bitter, irritable at Ozai's choices?

I see a reflection of the same dynamics that the OG too subtly weaved into Azula's relationship with Lo and Li. I see Azula reacting against Ozai's control over her because she feels it's DISTRUST. She feels it means her father STILL needs to be convinced that she's competent, powerful, ready to do his bidding. It isn't a case where Azula's irritation comes from wanting to rebel against her father... it's Azula wanting her father to UNDERSTAND that she's 100% his supporter and will put everything on the line to serve him and the Fire Nation.

And it's very damn easy to read that exact same thing into Azula's dynamics with Lo and Li as it is to see it EXPLICITLY STATED in the liveaction.

My point?

What the liveaction did is not nearly as much of a distant characterization choice as people think it is.

Ozai is Azula's Achilles' Heel. Everything she became, everything she grew up to be, was for his sake. He molded her to become those things and simply didn't give a shit about raising a daughter, he treated her as a weapon, and absolutely pitted his children against each other, just as much as OTHER adults in their lives did. But the impact of Ozai on Azula in the OG is easy to ignore. Why? Because we SELDOM see them interacting. Because we don't get that side of Azula's character fully explored. Because they didn't want to explore Ozai's character either! They were as cheap as they could be with all these aspects and so, only the people who really got into analyzing things on a deeper level would be able to say, without a doubt, that Ozai abused Azula emotionally with all the expectations and demands he put on his own child. Through the golden child-scapegoat dynamic that people have been bringing up non-stop in the past years.

So, proving herself to her father is what Azula wants to do, more than anything. Proving worthy of his favor, of his approval, is the closest thing she can get to feeling loved. Which is depressing as fuck. Azula gets zero affection: it's not even conditional affection, there's NOTHING for her besides approving words if she gets anything right. And this show's work with Azula's character? It was meant to make these things less invisible to all the fans who like to pretend none of it exists. And yes, I've seen them, crawling all over Twitter shitting themselves in fits of rage because how dare that show pretend Azula EVER had a bad time in her perfect flawless life!!

Well, the irony is that the OG gives you a smidge of evidence -- and yet that's enough -- to show that Ozai was doing very similar things to Azula in ATLA, and her reactions to it?

Huh. No smirks for Lo and Li.

No smirks for the symbols of Ozai's control over her life.

It's almost like the confidence, the smirks, the apparent ease with which she handles everything? Is a front that crumbles easily whenever it concerns the ONE PERSON with power over her life.

I don't believe, worth noting, that Azula's power comes from rage. I've seen people say that in fandom in the past and I find it a completely absurd take when Iroh himself spells out that her bending is about control, about precision, and it's Azula's FURY that makes her a sloppy mess in the finale. It's even INTENTIONAL that when she shoots lightning a second time, in her second establishing scene, THAT SAME HAIR FALLS OUT OF PLACE. She's still angry. She didn't get it "right" this time either. She's imperfect and she's trying NOT to be, but she cannot succeed. And upon bending lightning with emotions (rage/frustration)? That hair falls YET AGAIN out of place. Proof that she's not going to achieve the perfection she's being FORCED (indeed, by her father and the people who are here to represent him, Lo and Li) to strive for.

The liveaction had Ozai pushing Azula for a perfection she couldn't attain either. She's perfectly content in her cruelty at Ozai's side, right until she hears the Avatar was found and that Zuko has a shot at taking away the privileges she's been basking in so far. That she WASN'T nervous about this in canon is pretty damn obvious: OZAI SENT HER TO HUNT ZUKO DOWN FOR BEING A FAILURE. We never saw her reaction to learning that the Avatar was out and about. We have noooo idea what was canonically going on with her back then. The first time we see her besides the flashback is Azula receiving a mission that tells her she's STILL #1 and Zuko is no threat to her because Ozai thinks he's a failure. Thus? She had nothing to fear. Here? Ozai is actively using Zuko as bait to pressure Azula further. And if you're so confident in Ozai's good parenting skills as to believe he somehow WOULDN'T do that? Sounds like you don't understand the very basic and simplistic Fire Lod Ozai from ATLA, and that's not something to be proud of. So probably stop screaming your bad takes at the top of your lungs, because being incapable of understanding Ozai in canon is not a badge of pride, just saying...

FINAL POINT...

This post is not written expressly in the defense of the liveaction and its characterization of Azula. To this point, what I've seen of it doesn't feel WRONG or OFF unless you're the kind of person who thinks Azula is only capable of smirking and if she stops doing that she stops existing or something. Only people who cannot understand the depth, nuance, subtleties in Azula's story would ever be claiming that Azula's relationship with Ozai COUDLN'T be like this, or that Azula couldn't possibly be frustrated with her father or his choices when it's soooo clear what Ozai is going for, and why it's working. But in order to read Azula as a character capable of this range of emotion, frustration and ambition, all at once? You have to be able to treat this character, be it in the liveaction or the OG show, as a human being.

And that's what most the people criticizing this specific change are determined not to do. It's what makes them uncomfy. It's what rustles their jimmies.

Yes. I'm saying it in this very demeaning way because I actually find it quite ridiculous to be this insecure over the portrayal of a fictional 14yo in two TV shows. Whether the liveaction sticks the landing or fails catastrophically, I do not know... but I do know that if it's forcing a bunch of people to rethink Azula's character, and making them panic at the idea that she could EVER have human emotions, even if they're AWFUL human emotions?

Then I'm afraid you're only convincing me that, as bad as that show could ever get? It's getting SOMETHING right. I do love to see misinterpretations of Azula getting slammed in the face by the reality that all those beliefs, headcanons and takes in bad faith are actively, categorically untrue: none of which makes Azula a fundamentally good person, worth noting! But it makes it very clear that reading her as a one-dimensional basic villain, which is what the anti-Azula-redemption crowd actively does, is literally only possible if you overlook, ignore and fail to understand her character and her complexities, be it in the liveaction or in the original show.

There. I said my piece.

Another post, regarding the rest of the liveaction, is bound to come later. I'd say stay tuned but it might take me a while to write it at all. So... wait around and maybe you'll see it someday!

[bemyawakening]

Do you still take requests for the cod bois 👀 ?

Can i have a imagine with alejandro and afab reader where reader is apart of the 141 task force and she normally is bubbly and outgoing around them but once she met alejandro she gets really shy and starts blushing and stuttering and really worries abt him all the time and everyone of the task force 141 knows dat reader is in love with him so they tryna hook those two up and tease her all the time about it.

😭😭💕💕

HOW YOU FELL FOR ALEJANDRO HEADCANONS (f!reader)

I absolutely love this request, thank you for the request! You asked for an imagine, but I thought of doing headcanons! Got some ideas - I hope you all will like them!

warnings: curse words, tiny tiny nsfw mentioning Alejandro calling you a princesa (yes, it's a warning, because I melted when I wrote that)

The first time you saw Alejandro—you begged for the Earth to open up and swallow you whole. You were in the middle of a mission to catch Hassan. You were determined to do your job well, to make sure your name didn't vanish in vain, but you threw away your dignity as soon as you saw Alejandro Vargas. The Mexican Special Forces operator and the Colonel of Los Vaqueros.

You didn't take Spanish in high school, chose French instead, and you regretted that decision after almost seven years of graduation.

"If I was informed of seeing such a lovely woman, I would've presented myself better."

These were his first words to you. The Mexican accent of his was making English sound so much better and you lost your soldier's composture over him. The slicked-back raven locks of him made you inhale deeper, the military vest was suiting him better than your teammates—you felt your cheeks heat up.

You don't remember what you replied to him—a bunch of stuttering mess, embarrassing bullshit because Soap did not let you live peacefully after that.

Why? Well, to Task Force 141 you were their most skilful sniper - never missed a single shot. You were professional, but you knew how to have fun. You still tried to forget that one night in the bar where you sang karaoke with Soap to Whitney Houston's song. You didn't even remember it, you were that wasted, but Gaz made sure to record it and show it to you both in the morning.

However, the team hasn't seen you flustered. You weren't interested in your teammates even if you did once walk into a room where almost all of them were shirtless and you couldn't look at them for the rest week, but apart from that, it was just friendly bickering. A deadly younger sister, they called you.

Soap was flabbergasted from seeing your red cheeks. That's all it took to make you stutter? A handsome Mexican soldier with a good pick-up line? Oh, he won't let you live normally after this.

The following weeks weren't better. It took some planning to catch the drug cartel boss. And that meant more time spent with Alejandro.

You couldn't be in the same room as he was—you became fidgety and you couldn't stop moving. Avoiding his gaze, he teased you, playing the wounded knight:

"Come on, princesa, is it so bad in my base?"

It almost seemed like he was cornering you. You specifically avoided staying in the same room as he, choosing to be amongst others even though you loathed spending time with others so much. But what could you do? That man was everywhere.

Soap didn't let you live. "My God, lass, he just said good morning and you melted on the floor." "Soap, I'll cut your tongue out and feed it to the neighbourhood dogs." "Why can't you just admit you like him?"

Let's say the only reason Soap's tongue was still attached was that Colonel Alejandro showed up in the room.

"Colonel, I have some matters to discuss with you." You'd start the conversation, only to feel too small under his alluring gaze. "It's Alejandro, princesa."

Jesus fucking Christ—what was breathing?

The worst happened when you openly tried to forget about the attraction. First of all, it was unethical - he was of a higher rank than you. Secondly, the mission in Mexico was limited. Your work schedule was scattered. Thirdly, what good could come out of your unbelievable stuttering? You could barely hold a conversation.

The night before your biggest mission, you all decided to spend it together. To hang out. Mostly because Soap was eager about learning Spanish and Rodolfo was having a blast teaching him the necessities.

You were calm. Only because you took one shot of tequila and it eased you up enough to not feel cramped in the same room with Alejandro.

But then—

"Alright, truth or dare?" Soap immediately suggested, his eyebrows raising in a wicked manner. Receiving a grunt from almost all of them, Soap scoffed: "Come on, I'll start."

And so it did start. During the time, Ghost retrieved a knife Soap has 'borrowed' from him for safe-keeping. Gaz had to take a shot of tequila without salt and lemon—poor guy, he wasn't really a drinker. Soap then wanted to give Ghost a dare to take off his mask, but by the glare from the Lieutenant he knew better, so he shut up just in time.

"Come on, lass, truth or dare?" Soap finally asked you.

"Dare," you breathed out. You always chose the dare. It was something that soldiers always did—if you even thought about choosing truth, be sure that you will never hear the end of it. You have been called a chicken for choosing the truth once.

The smirk on Soap's face alerted you before he said anything. Well, maybe you were fine with being called a chicken after all. Nervous, you moved in your seat, leaning forward, fidgeting with your fingers.

"Seven minutes in heaven with Alejandro. Come on."

Breathing out, your cheeks were red - you knew that. "No-no," you immediately looked at Alejandro. "You don't have to do this!" Turning back to Soap, you gave him a glare, promising yourself that you will pour a bucket of cold water over him when he will be asleep. "Give me another dare without involving the others."

"You've been avoiding me, princesa. Perhaps I do want to spend those seven minutes with you," Alejandro replied and your body slightly rushed down with pure, intoxicating fire.

Alejandro raised on his feet and helped you get up as you both left the room away from the others. Stopping just beside the place where you were sleeping, he leaned to the wall, crossing his arms, looking at you. "Why are you avoiding me?"

Inhaling, you tried to pretend that you were fine even if you knew you looked like an idiot. Pushing your hands into the pockets of your hoodie, you were acknowledging the distance between you two, which made you feel not as flustered. "Avoiding you? No—why would you think that?"

"Corazón, eyes on me," he demanded, his rough undertone making you breathe out deeply.

Forcing yourself to raise your head, you noticed that he moved closer beside you. You weren't able to hold eye contact as your eyes dropped on his cargo shirt, his muscles flexing underneath it. Jesus—

"Are you going to keep avoiding me? Or you're going to speak the truth?" Alejandro was so close. His scent was fresh—just after showering with a hint of cologne and citrus. You just wanted to bury your body in his and stay there forever.

"It's unethical," you finally managed to say something, while looking into his eyes, getting lost in them.

"I'm up for some paperwork," he admitted, his hands softly moving on your clothed waist, pushing you closer. "Are you going to admit it?" His hands slid underneath the fabric on your bare skin, making you inhale deeply, shivers littering your back in a delicate manner.

"I can't even look at you normally," you breathed out, his presence surrounding you so lovely.

Chuckling, he moved his hands up, feeling your warm skin, pulling you even closer. The move made your hands end up on his shoulders—his muscles, fuck. "If you give me a chance, I'll make sure you'll never avoid my eyes again."

The husky voice of his electrocuted your brain and the fluttering of your heart made you sigh in ecstasy. It was so easy to give into his warmth, into his scent, into the huskiness of his voice.

And God, you two did the paperwork.

Soap knew what happened since you didn't show up in your bunk bed, with a happy grin on your face in the morning. Surprisingly, you walked there at the same time as Colonel, not sharing eye contact as usual, but everything was visible in your body language.

And the fact that his biceps had fresh, red marks.

"So what happened—?" Soap smugly asked. Judging from your reddening cheeks, he knew everything.

And God, the mission went well. And you were the one who helped to get him out of the betrayal of Graves. When it was time to leave back from Mexico, you couldn't help but feel sad.

Alejandro was attached to you. There was something so satisfying about you not being able to be close to him. You were the one who helped him to get back his base. He likes you.

"I'll visit you," he promised. "How could I not?"

You knew he would, but you couldn't help and give him one last hug before departing to the plane. His hand in your hair, crushing you with one of his arms, pulling you closer.

"I'll take you on a date, princesa. Enough with meeting in the bases," he murmured against your collarbone and your cheeks reddened.

You looked forward to that date. Because you went weak in your limbs from thinking about him.

And in the plane, you hit Soap on the head because he couldn't stop wiggling his eyebrows. You swore you heard Ghost chuckle.

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

Random Collection of MGSV Things I Noticed

Venom hallucinates Skull Face or, hallucinates around Skull Face in both the Skull Face mission and directly thereafter. In one, he's just distorting how he looks and sounds, in the second, he just full out see's Skull Face behind Kaz when he's quoting him.

When Code Talker is put back in the chopper after Metallic Archaea, Venom sits him in the seat, but Ocelot buckles him in. This task apparently needed the both of them to pull off. (I guess Venom couldn't just sit Code Talker down and buckle him up too?) You can drive a whole ass tank in front of soldiers and sometimes they just won't notice. But they will sometimes notice your car and put C4 on it to blow it up.

I/ Venom kicked Huey right before accessing the Walker Gear and it stopped him from doing any of his whining or even his usual narration for the entire mission. He was blissfully silent.

Huey has a bag on his head the entire time Skull Face confronts Venom with Sahelanthropus after you rescue him. Because of this, I assume that Huey is going strictly by sound, and the way Skull Face is yelling, to understand what is happening.

(I've mentioned this one before but) Huey tries to lie and claim that he never met Hal-somehow forgetting or thinking Venom wouldn't notice that he had a full on picture of Hal with Strangelove at his desk in the lab.

*This one is from Reddit, but if you're really struggling with Quiet, weather modification+rain will distract her for a few moments. The same trick can be used on the Skull soldiers.

*Shared in a video-you can hit Mantis with the blast arm if you're absolutely struggling with that mission task.

*Mentioned before but this still amuses me: Ocelot implies that Skull Face killed Josef Stalin.

Venom was most likely seasick for most of the boat ride. (See boat tapes for how disgruntled he gets talking about it)

*Another tip from Reddit that I've used myself: You can do offline combat deployments to destroy weapon sheds, transports etc. If you do this and attack outposts and guard posts afterward, they can't call in back up or resupplies temporarily. This is 50/50 on effectiveness and by region.

It is always raining in the cut scene when Venom boards the chopper before the Skull Face mission.

Soldiers knocked out and then put in dumpsters and toilets will NOT wake up for HOURS (nobody asked but the longest I've waited is an hour and a half or so in real time) and the other soldiers will not find them. Sometimes this extends the alert for a long ass time though, so be gentle with it.

Something to separate Venom from Big Boss I never thought of before? When Huey is yammering about cloning to Venom, he quips "It'd make a good movie" (Also implying Huey's talk is bullshit). I find this interesting because we know Big Boss barely watched movies, or gave them any thought at all.

Adding to that, Venom is more logic minded. He outright dismisses Ocelot when he talks about the supernatural, and doesn't appear to hold any belief in it. Whereas Big Boss does, and has personal experience. (This, granted, is something I'd brought up before, but I still find it interesting).

To continue, Venom is hinted to be more sentimental than Big Boss. We all know about making the diamonds from the soldiers ashes. But he also tells Kaz he wants to keep Sahelanthropus on base 'as a mark', and as 'proof we brought at least one crisis to it's end'. (I'm aware this sort of thing has multiple meanings)

When Code Talker is talking about the vaccinations (the infamous ones that render all the men infertile), he later clarifies that it is 'almost certain' meaning that there is a chance it wasn't a 100% guarantee. (Just in case anyone wants to have some fun with headcanons there wink wink)

I'll add onto/expand this list maybe periodically, but I'm in a retrospective mood again so here we are ;)

Add your own too if you like!

[missalenkos]

Today, I was rewatching The Hunger Games and watching the love triangle between Peeta, Katniss and Gale got me thinking of the last lines of Mockingjay and one of the main reasons I love Shenko so much (yeah, there's a connection, I promise).

"On the night I feel that thing again, the hunger that overtook me on the beach, I know this would have happened anyway. That what I need to survive is not Gale's fire, kindled with rage and hatred. I have plenty of fire myself".

There are loads of differences between the situations and characters, I know that. I also know Shepards can be different personality-wise depending on the background we choose, if we tend more to paragon or renegade and so on. However, I still think they all share the fact that there's a huge responsibility on their shoulders and that they all will do whatever it takes to end the Reapers. Yeah, Paragon/Renegade Shepard will have different ways of going about that but, despite what our personal headcanons might be, the truth is that in-game, all Shepards end up working for Cerberus and destroying the Alpha Relay because that's what they think they NEED to do. We also talk a lot in fandom about how Shepard seems (maybe unknowingly) almost suicidal in the sense that they will throw themselves almost blindingly into anything because, again, that's what they NEED to do.

And, of course, it couldn't be any other way, because as Anderson says in the opening scene of ME1, that's the only kind of person that can protect the galaxy.

However, although they are special, the people surrounding them are almost as equally important and while, yes, it's great and necessary to have all kind of friends and companions, what they really need is a cornerstone, someone to hold the kite so they won't drift too far away, someone who can contain their fire so they won't end up burning. Being that cornerstone is not easy, because, sometimes it will mean saying "yes, let's freaking steal the Normandy" and "let's go on a crazy adventure", but sometimes it will also mean asking the hard questions, calling them on their bullshit or saying "lets stay home for dinner (because you need to get some actual rest)".

And that's Kaidan. No one could be that cornerstone better than him because he's thoughtful, caring, gentle, capable, straight forward but ready to own his mistakes, has himself already sorted out and has his own moral compass.

People like to hate him for this, but I'm 100% convinced that it's actually what Shepard needs in the long-run.

Actually, he's the only companion that was hand-picked by Anderson, and I'm sure he knew exactly what he was doing there by having him in the same crew as Shepard.

And, well, that's it. Just another reason to love our canadian biotic brought to you by Katniss Everdeen 🤷🏻‍♀️

[ryuichirou]

What is your take on twst boys' body hair? I know their cards show they don't really have any, but maybe you have any thoughts about it?

Anon, hi!

As you might have noticed, I myself very rarely draw body hair due to my personal preference. And, as it always does, my personal preference is definitely going to make me biased in this post… But still, as always, I’ll try to be as objective as I can! Well, as objective as a headcanon could be lol

Let’s goooo

Riddle – a little baldie. It’s not like he is completely unable to grow any body hair, but he is, once again, a late bloomer… Out of every non-cursed non-animal non-fae character, Riddle is the least hairy. He copes by thinking that it’s better not to have any hair at all than to be gross and stinky about it. Very mature of him.

Ace – if one looks closely, it’s possible to see hair on his legs and a little bit on his arms, but he is a ginger, so they’re pretty light and thin. His pubic hair are a bit thicker, but it’s not like he has a bush or anything. He also heard that some basketball players shave their armpits to improve performance, but since it sounds like too much work, he decided that it’s bullshit.

Deuce – his hair is more noticeable than Ace’s since it’s darker, but unlike Ace, he does believe that shaving improves athletic performance, so he actually started to shave his legs… but then stopped because Ace made fun of him. But then decided that his running got worse with hairy legs, and shaved again. Now he is kind of stuck, but he is embarrassed either way somehow. When Ace was making fun of him, he said that Deuce should also shave his pubic hair off, and Deuce called him an asshole and an idiot, but started to kind of think about it… what if it also helps?

Trey – kind of hairy, he probably has the most noticeable arm hair out of all non-beast characters. While some of the characters could get away without shaving their face every single day, Trey isn’t one of them: he shaves every morning. He doesn’t think about his body hair much, but he would still choose to wear pants instead of shorts + longer sleeves a lot of times. He also shaved his arms for the Stargazing event…

Cater – look, another redhead with ginger fuzz lol His is even less noticeable than Ace’s though, because his hair is of a lighter hue in general. He trims and shaves his pubic hair sometimes, but it’s mostly due to boredom plus wanting to see what looks best on his body.

Leona – hairy like any other beastman. His hair is long and thick, not as long and thick as his brother’s though, plus they are somewhat less noticeable on his arms. The idea of shaving doesn’t even occur to him. Other than his face of course.

Ruggie – hairy boy, not much to say here. His legs are especially hairy… although he is probably the least hairy out of the beastmen of the cast. He shaves his face, but somehow his beard/mustache always grows in patches, so it’s for the best.

Jack – definitely the hairiest one of the cast. Grey/white hair on his arms, fuzz on his back, some chest hair here and there (definitely going to get more of those as he gets older), a massive bush with a gradient from white to black down there… Sometimes I feel like he has an undercoat… wait, does he? Anyways, he also tried shaving his legs once for track and field, and got frustrated because it took ages + he broke a razor. So he doesn’t do it anymore. He shaves his face every day though, but soon he’ll have to do it twice a day.

Azul, Jade and Floyd – merpeople who don’t have any body hair whatsoever. The first time they learned about the idea of body hair they got very visibly surprised. Floyd finds the idea of body hair very funny, he is someone who could glue some hair to his chest just for the sake of messing around. But he’ll get tired after a couple of minutes…

Kalim – his dad is super hairy, so he is probably also going to end up hairy, but for now he doesn’t have a lot of hair. There is white fuzz in his armpits and between his legs, maybe some white hair on the lower part of his legs here and there. Miraculously he can’t grow any hair on his chin, but this is definitely going to change one day.

Jamil – if he didn’t shave at all, he would be kind of hairy, but he shaves pretty regularly. The moment Jamil started shaving his face, he started shaving everything else too. “Might as well”, “I wear sleeveless shirts so my armpits are showing”, “It would look stupid if I stop here”, and voila, Jamil ends up with his entire body silky and smooth. He hates shaving (with his type of hair it takes so much time) but loves the result too much.

Vil – he also shaves regularly, but he doesn’t have a lot of body hair to begin with (it’s also very thin), so he doesn’t have to do it every single week. He does it purely for the aesthetics. He tried growing out his pubic hair, but it didn’t feel right to him, so he shaved it right off. In terms of taste though, he loves hairy men sometimes, but he strongly believes that body hair needs as much care as any type of hair, so if you have a bush you have to at least trim it.

Rook – he used to be hairier before joining Pomefiore. He still remembers Vil’s upset face as he looked at Rook’s transparent and yet very burnt little arm hair. A lot of Rook’s body hair is rather light, but the lower it gets, the thicker and darker it becomes. Anyways, he also shaves these days lol A lot of times he is smoothly shaved everywhere. It’s not like Vil absolutely requires him to be this drastic (just trimming pubic hair a little bit + shaving legs and armpits would suffice!), but Rook is a maximalist sometimes. He also has to shave his face regularly.

Epel – he can barely feel some fuzz on his body and he is super excited because he feels like it’s a sure sign that he will grow a huge beard very soon. He copes by thinking that his dad and grandpa are both hairy men, so technically he should be one too! Maybe he’ll become as hairy as Jack! It’s already happening, he can feel it! Yeah, he is pretty bald lol Some fuzz on his cheeks and between his legs are the only things he has going for him right now.

Idia and Ortho – no hair; somehow Shrouds’ curse also cancels it out. Idia is terrified of hearing a firecrotch joke though, he feels like it would cause his psyche irreparable damage. Ortho doesn’t care about body hair much, but he had a phase during which he really wanted to be able to grow it just because.

Lilia and Malleus are also completely hairless because they are a certain type of fae. Not all fae are as smooth as them, and Lilia technically should have some body hair because he is a bat, but somehow he ended up not having any. And Malleus kind of forgets that people are supposed to have hair on their bodies…

Silver – his pubic hair is so… soft. So tender and pearly white, it’s very fuzzy and doesn’t even feel like proper hair. He is like a beautiful unicorn… or a princess. He doesn’t have much and never really thinks about it. He did notice that he has hair in places his father doesn’t though, it kind of scared him as a kid lol

Sebek – he is the hairiest one out of the Diasomnia four. It’s probably due to the fact that he is only half-fae, and it kind of drives him insane, especially as he compares his body to Silver’s. How come he has more body hair than Silver?? How come his are thicker and darker?? He is also the only Diasomnia boy who shaves his face regularly, but it’s not as often as other people have to shave. Once every three or four days? Kind of.

[rius-cave]

Most of the headcanons I've seen about Adamsapple in Eden were portraying them having a good relationship, like Lucifer being sweet and kind to Adam, overly interested in him, liking him etc. while Adam being way more innocent back then and of course very curious. While I like the idea of them being in love even back then and having this cute relationship between them, I also like to play with the thought that Lucifer didn't always like Adam (and vice versa). What I mean is, Lilith and Adam never really got along well, they had their constant conflicts and such, mainly rooting from their different personalities, as in I imagine Adam being this kinda obnoxious person who's full of himself, stubborn and doesn't like when things don't go as he wants (not exactly in a toxic way, like I don't think of him as an actual bad person, rather like a big child lol). While I see Lilith as a way more mature and collected person who's had enough of Adam's "childish bullshit". (I know it sounds kinda stereotypical but my goal isn't that lol I can just genuinely see it, also canon!Adam is a walking stereotype so it's hard to ignore it haha)

So, assuming that both of them were created at the same time, when Lucifer started visiting the garden he warmed up to Lilith first, they started spending time together. Lilith regularly complained about Adam, how he acted so childish/talked too much about insignificant things/followed her etc. (again, I don't think she was cruel, she was literally the first woman, had so much to learn and expressed how she couldn't get along with Adam). Lucifer listening to her all the time, and also being fond of her, involuntarily started to develop doubtful feelings about Adam. Of course Lucifer was sweet and kind, he didn't hate the man, but all of Lilith's talk had an effect on him, and Adam's behavior when they interacted just deepened it further (although Lucifer himself didn't exactly find him annoying, Lilith's talk just caused him to focus on Adam's "problematic" behavior more and he subconsciously confirmed Lilith's words).

Meanwhile Adam obviously noticed that Lucifer was spending way more time with Lilith and didn't seem to feel too pleasant about him, he was kinda offended about that and started to dislike Lucifer.

However, I can imagine them interacting at one point, cause like, Adam obviously felt bad about feeling excluded and that neither of them liked him, so once when it was just the two of them with Luci, he kinda snapped and confronted him about it. (I can't really imagine him as a person who keeps it in, I rather see it as he was offended which led to him becoming frustrated and telling it straight into Lucifer's face angrily.) So he told him that he doesn't understand why they both dislike him but it's not fair and he's so much better than them anyway yada yada but it was clear that he was upset and hurt. That would be the point when Lucifer realizes the situation and it would become a turning point in their relationship??

It got kinda long lol sorry

My dear friend, this? This is what I strive for.

I'll be the first person to admit that my characterization of their Eden personas is allllll over the fucking place. My apologies, I try to be better 😂 but I agree with you almost a 100%

I love depicting them as friends in Eden, but if I had to be realistic? In canon he probably didn't care much for him LOL or at least not as much as the fandom likes to believe. I also want to see more of this scenario with an adamsapple endgame, I'd like to do it myself, but to be truthful I wouldn't really be sure how to do it.

I like to think of Eden!Adam as, yes, more innocent, but he was still a bit of a shit, sarcastic and sassy (not an outright asshole, but his personality had a bit of a spice to it ya know?) I try to let this part of him show as much as I can in my newer depictions of Eden, but well I'm not sure if I've succeeded lol

I think that, if he's a brat now, he'd be even MORE SO in Eden. Basically, exactly what you said that he'd be obnoxious, full of himself and childish, just more out of a place of immaturity rather than malice.

I also really like this characterization of early Lilith. Yes, I absolutely see her as more mature and independent, more thoughtful and observant than Adam ever was, and of course those personalities clashed.

I absolutely love the idea of Lilith planting seeds of doubt in other people. In fact, that's a personal theory I have about the current Lilith and why Charlie's and Lucifer's relationship is so stranded. I think there must have been a lot of miscommunication and Lilith, whether on purpose or not, fed a lot of ideas about Lucifer to Charlie. She isolated her and fed her ideas about who her father was and what he thought of her, creating this wall between them that is now only starting to crumble down. So, the idea of her doing the same thing between Adam and Lucifer? Fuck yes. I want Lilith to be a manipulative bitch, whether she's doing that with malice or not LOL.

Adam immediately going head first into confrontation sounds very likely to me too! I'd absolutely agree, except I don't think this would make Lucifer actually realize the situation. Depending on how bad the argument was, I could see Lucifer thinking that oh Adam really is just that toxic or whatever other misunderstanding comes up. They're both idiots and unless Adam expresses his feelings with something other than anger, I think Lucifer would be more prone to bite back, or just simply not understand the deeper issues.

Overall I'm in LOVE with this description though!

[whiskersz]

Hi, could I request a gender-fluid reader who’s masc aligned but feels insecure bc they like wearing stuff/presenting fem a lot and feels imposter syndrome when they are fem aligned once in a blue moon, especially bc some people were transphobic to them and made some jabs about their relationship not being genuine or that no one would want them bc of it with Husk and Angel separately?

Sorry for the word vomit, thanks and hope you have a nice day :)

Hey!! This has been in my inbox for a while, because I wasn’t sure what to write exactly since I didn’t want to do it in the wrong way. Hope headcanons are okay, and while I’m of the opinion that anyone can date anyone (as long as it’s legal) I still informed myself on what some GF people experience in relationships, since Angel is Gay :)

Angel Dust

Angel doesn’t like people dictating on how you two should live your relationship at all.

He knows very well that he fell for your masc-aligned side and you guys discussed this many times, with you reassuring him that it’s okay if he doesn’t feel as attracted to you when you’re feeling more fem-aligned.

You guys also discussed your preferences in regard to how your partner dresses and when it came out that there’s next to none and both of you are free to wear anything you like, you both immediately felt way more comfortable in the relationship.

So he highly dislikes when random individuals try to convince you or him that your relationship is not genuine and that you’re not deserving of love, and he will outright insult them and get into fights with them if these comments are being spewed in hearing distance.

Back at the Hotel he definitely reassures you that he does want you as a partner with a kiss and some cuddles, and if he needs to he’ll even list all the reasons why he’s attracted to you again for you to hear.

He’ll also remind you that he loves you and how stylish you are, and will even offer to lend you some of his clothes if one day you want to feel particularly pretty, as he owns a lot of fem things, and in case you’re not the same size some of them are even pretty oversized so you should find something that fits you either way.

I Headcanon that Angel would probably own some pride stuff, so he would definitely get some for you as well to remind you that he’s your number one supporter!

Husk

Husk is honestly chill with dating anyone; it doesn’t matter what their gender and sexuality are, or how they dress, or what they like to eat for dinner on a Saturday night...if he likes you, he’s going to try and make his best impression and be all gentlemanly with you. He’s going to do things he wouldn’t do with anyone else such as cuddling and gifting you roses.

So if somebody calls your relationship not genuine, it doesn’t take him much to call them out on their bullshit and prove to them that it’s nothing of the sort.

He also highly despises when people are transphobic to you, and he will try to reason with them but this is Hell after all and he doesn’t expect to find many souls worth explaining this kind of thing to down there. So after a while he just leaves it and leads you elsewhere.

He absolutely loves the way you dress, when you get all pretty for him it makes his heart skip a beat. Same thing for when you try your best to look handsome; he will look at you up and down with a smirk that he can’t really hide.

In a relationship, Husk is very romantic and affectionate, so after he’s done dealing with the people who insulted your relationship he’s going to shower you in kisses accompanied by his deep purrs.

It’s very obvious though that you took those words to heart, so he’s also willing to take you out somewhere if you need your mind to get clear once again. He doesn’t want you to turn to unhealthy coping mechanisms such as alcohol or anything like that as he does, so he’d rather spend time with you and slowly get you to trust his words instead of trusting theirs.

[randomalistic]

Anyways here’s a rambling infodump thing about all the similarities between Spamton and Turbo and then some. (you should bully me for this)

My fixation on both of them… they feed into eachother.

3 foot tall FREAK !!!!!

THE INSANE SMILER…

Glitchy and pixelated

Full of envy, pent up hatred, DESPERATELY CRAVES REVENGE.

Kinda ugly </3

Or at least. Unconventional!

Used to drive a car when he was popular

I know there’s a difference between being a car spokesman and being a racer but it’s close enough <3 Spamton would not know how to drive a cungadero they just told him to pose in there and smile. Ok Headcanon OVER !!!!

Had it all in the 80s/90s before losing the spotlight

Turbo did his bullshit in 1987 (actual road blasters release year) and Spamton did his bullshit in 1997

Only really known as an unspeakable rumor and lives in infamy

It’s more like everyone “moved on” from Spamton and forgot about him (or at least tried to forget about him…) where with Turbo what he did was so bad that he’s only known for that ONE thing

Goes in hiding for decades

Spamton has his alleyway dumpster, and maybe other areas of cyber city with low traffic. Turbo’s hiding was implied to have been in the depths of game central station until Sugar Rush was plugged in. (Which I think was asked about in an AMA) Both are like. ~30 YEARS of hiding 💀

Would go any length for the same attention again

The interesting thing about this is Turbo DOES win. He does get that attention back by disguising as King Candy and being able to race again, and he keeps it for however long Sugar Rush was around for before the events of the movie. Spamton never gets it back…

But at least Spamton doesn’t get INCINERATED so I’d say he’s better off, even if the best outcome is him becoming an item

Dependent on some kid for his plan to work

Although Spamton’s relationship with Kris (dependent on them helping him) is pretty different than King Candy’s relationship with Vanellope (dependent on her not interfering) I still think it’s funny that they both have beef with children

Later attempted murder of said kid

Quality villains out here not even hesitating to kill kids to get what they want !!!

Imitated/fabricated identity

Spamton imitates Swatch, Turbo fabricates (?) King Candy

Stupid catchphrase

NOW’S YOUR CHANCE TO BE [TurboTastic!]

BOSS BATTLE FORM IS FUCKKKKED

They essentially have the same monologue of “THANKS TO YOU I'M MORE POWERFUL THAN EVER!! But it's not enough... so I'm going to kill you anyways"

I think King Candybug’s Face resembles SNEO in a weird way. Mostly just the big eyes and weird nose and THE SMILERRRRR. They have very similar vibes! I will stop myself now!

Virus/malware adiacent

Turbo literally claims he’s a virus by the end of the movie and Spamton is Spamton

Critically Acclaimed Tumblr Man (and hated)

From my RESEARCH. (Aka. Looking up art of him) Apparently a lot of people on tumblr liked Turbo in 2013. And those people have since become spamton people (perhaps ……) I guess that is me now too. Really unfortunate

Lore ties into a real life video game (Petz & Road Blasters)

In the sweepstakes spamton was kinda confirmed to come from a Petz game. I also didn’t know road blasters was Real until I started looking into it . (TurboTime is fake tho) But there’s a very specific similarity for you. Fucked up characters blurring the lines into real life my beloved

Rivalry/broken friendship with Those similar looking fellas (I’m running out of brain power here)

Spamton had the Addisons, which were like his friends? Fellow advertisers. Looked a bit like him, just taller with different colors. Spamton left them after becoming a big shot because he thought he didn’t need them anymore…

Turbo had the “turbo twins” (the 2 other blue racers in his game) idk if that’s their official name cuz they kinda barely exist in canon.. I think it’s popular fanon that Turbo is shorter than both of them, but that’s actually not true. But I’m still gonna count it. Anyways he KILLED them when he got turbotime unplugged. THEYRE DEAD.

Extreme temperature related death (is this a stretch)

Less of a similarity and more of an interesting contrast

Turbo burns to death when he’s INCINERATED in diet cola mountain. I could ramble about this a lot but. That’s for my second account

And Spamton NEO (in snowgrave at least) is FROZEN SOLID by noelle. He shouldn’t have asked for that ice cream man

Anyways I get similar vibes from those guys..

I hope they explode.

Also thinking more about this is making me realize how similar in concept deltarune and Wreck it Ralph are. As in, those apps and computer programs in the computer lab ? Yeah they’re alive and theres a whole ass cyber city and mansion and theres a ton of little guys living in there! (And same goes for the card kingdom in chapter 1)

Like if there was a dark world created in an arcade, it would probably look something like the WIR world. In a way, lightners would be the “players” because everything the game characters (darkners) do is to serve the players. I’m just saying !!!! These pieces of media are both Really Good!!!

[amingethia]

*Blink blink* The Bayverse guys 'building surf' all the time. Jumping out of an airplane is way different. Please provide an example that shows Bayverse Raph is afraid of heights.

fine. Here is my evidence that Raph is afraid of heights (or at the very least traumatized by the bullshit Donnie makes him do)

Also please note this is technically more of a headcanon, which means I don’t need proof because I’m not claiming it’s canon, but since you insist.

During the airplane scene when he has to hype himself up, none of his brothers have any problems jumping out of a plane. Yes, jumping from an airplane is different than regular rooftops and heights, but he’s literally the only one who has any problems or even thinks about a chute.

anyway here’s the clip

Number two: Raph kissing the ground when he finally gets out of the river. This is forgivable because not only did he jump from a plane but he also fell out of a crashing plane into a river, moving fast enough to physically skip on top of the water a few times (which HAS to hurt)

Mans was so happy to be on land.

Number three: Leo has noticed Raph’s fear. near the climax of the film, when they go to jump onto the moving Kraang ship parts, he makes a point to ask Raph if he’s gonna be okay. Mind you his actual words are “you got this?” But this is brothers speak for “hey, I know you might not be okay, you don’t have to do this if you’re scared”

And yes, Raph is able to jump anyway, but that’s what we call “character growth”

Anyway, it might not be a BIG fear, or a debilitating one, but everybody has small fears too. Like he’s still able to do his thing and swing around across buildings etc, but huge heights scare him at least more than they do his brothers.

All that being said, this isn’t shown as much in the first movie, and maybe because this small fear stemmed from trauma of the climax where they all thought they were falling to their literal death.

Anyway, I see a lot of myself in the turtles, they’ve been my comfort characters for literally most of my life at this point, so maybe I have this headcanon more because I have a small fear of heights and I want to see more of myself in Raphael, and maybe you don’t agree with it at all, but that’s why it’s a headcanon. It’s fun. Just like how 2012 Leo and the toaster do not get along, or all the people who headcanon one or more turtles as transfem, or the many MANY people who all agree Rise Leo is definitely gay, (which technically borders on canon at this point)

[autistichalsin]

I have seriously started typing and then deleted it four times, because I am so frightened that any tiny miswording will get this post mocked, or have people doubt my sincerity. I think I'm going to just have to tell myself to go ahead and post it, hoping that it will stay in the circle of people who know me well enough through my posts to read this as it is meant to be read, and to quietly acknowledge that if anyone uses this as a chance to mock or snark, it says more about them than me.

So here goes; this is a message to all of the survivors who read my posts.

First, to the ones who have reached out to me: thank you. You may not realize it, but you're actually kind of giving me a gift when you do that. Because when you do that, you're not only telling me that you trust me enough to share this with me, which honestly makes me feel honored, but you're also helping me. You're making me feel less alone, too, and you're sort of... well, if you guys deserve healing (you do), then I guess I do, too, even if I still have this voice in my head that maybe feels like what happened to me was a weird karmic punishment for not being able to protect my loved ones when they had certain things done to them. You make me feel less alone in the weird journey I'm taking. And it's a gift to be given your stories, and trusted with them, and to be able to turn the absolute utter bullshit we were given into something good. Seriously, please don't ever apologize for sending me your stories- you're helping me just as much as the other around, maybe more. They're a gift, not some kind of, like... burden.

(Honestly I think that the proliferation of terms like "trauma dumping" have really worn out their welcome. Like, there's a conversation about boundaries to be had for sure, obviously don't go and tell people about heavy things without their permission, but that term has caused so many people to be afraid to share their authentic lived experiences with people who do want to know, who have given their consent. We need a new term that conveys the importance of consent before bringing up potentially harmful topics, but that doesn't stigmatize people asking for help. Do you guys remember that TikTok video a few years ago with the therapist saying her clients were "trauma dumping" on her? That term has got to go.)

Second, to anyone who may be lurking and wants to reach out, too: I'll be here when you're ready! And until then, know that the posts I make are for you, too.

Third, to people who aren't survivors who are on this page: thank you for being here, too. Thank you for contributing to these conversations that help remove the stigmas, that help us feel seen and supported.

Every single message I get, whether it's a request for a headcanon or fic, or a survivor's story, or something else, is really something I treasure. Whether it's a serious message or something silly, I love hearing what you guys feel you need to say! It just... I don't know. There's something that makes me really giddy about seeing an ask. Someone wanted to tell me, in particular, these things, and read my response, in particular, to it. It feels so much more personal and sweet and authentic than what Twitter cultivates.

Lastly: I JUST REALLY FUCKING LOVE YOU GUYS A LOT, OKAY????

[pass1onepr1ncess]

I need everyone to look me in the eye and explain to me with no bullshit why they think that Diavolo x Doppio is proship. Abusive and/or toxic? Potentially- still not proship. And I swear to God if your only reasoning for this is that they're alters in the same body and/or in the same system I need you to sit down right in front of me, better yet lay down and listen to me very carefully.

Being in the same body/system does not equate to being related in any way. I've seen people say that "Doppio and Diavolo are brothers!" No they're not. They're two alters in a system. Similarly, I've seen other people say that - and this is even stranger because where they got this from I have no clue- Diavolo is also Doppio's dad like he's Trish's. No, he's not. They're alters in a system. Even if we go based on canon and throw fanon and headcannons out the window, their relationship outside of being the Boss and his right-hand man is never specified. Literally all we have to go on is that Doppio is comforted by Diavolo's presence and that Diavolo refers to him almost exclusively with words of endearment. This could be platonic, sure. Familial? Possible, but highly unlikely.

I'm not saying that alters in a system can't be related. The alters that our brains cook up can be anything, and familial relationships between alters is a thing. But specifically in the case of Diavolo and Doppio, this is never stated. Therefore, while you are allowed to headcanon them as such, do not force that headcanon onto others when it's not true in the source media.

And if you think that DiaDop is proship because it's an in-system relationship, buddy do I have news for you. Alters have in-system relationships all the time. I, myself, am in an in-system relationship with the Sheila E in our system. Another friend of ours has an in-system relationship in their system. System friends that I knew before that we don't talk to anymore had in-system relationships, and I've seen other systems online talk about their own in-system relationships.

If your only problem with DiaDop is that they're in the same body/system, I can only assume you're a singlet and to that I say:

Fuck off. If you don't know enough about how systems work, you don't get to make that decision. Especially if the decision in question is accusing a harmless ship of being incestuous or pedophilic. Which- by the way- they're both adults! It would be a different story if one of them were underage even in the same system, but they are both grown ass adults! Even with the changes in their body between them fronting, Doppio is described to be a young adult!

And lastly, if your only other reason for accusing DiaDop of being proship is because you don't like it and have some need to justify that dislike? I think you need to do some introspection. I mean this in the best possible way, but if you feel like you have to justify your discomfort for something as small as a pairing of fictional characters, you might want to look in the mirror and ask yourself why that's the case. Especially if you're going to the lengths of accusing that fictional pairing of being proship.

This whole next bit is gonna be my personal thoughts- but might I just add that the whole thing of Doppio's comfort in Diavolo's presence or on "calls" with him and Diavolo calling him "My Sweet Doppio" and other such things really feels to me like implied romance. Especially in the only Jojo part (other than SBR) with canonical queer representation (SquaTizi and Sorlato), it's a bit hard to ignore, in my opinion!

Anyway, I've seen people be weird about DiaDop for a while now and I was just gonna hold my tongue, but the more I thought about why they would think that the more I realized that it's all singlets who just don't understands systems and assume they can talk for all of us. It pissed me off, so here I am.

If there's any reason to call DiaDop proship that I haven't debunked, please enlighten me. But otherwise? Shut up.